Soaring Swallows Startle Dragons

Chapter 3

Jianghu Tempest

Part 4 (15)

Master Jade Numen originally wanted to step aside and yield the sectmaster position back to his senior sectbrother, but Master One Yang adamantly refused, saying, “You’ve already completed the great ceremony to take over the sectmastership, how can it be performed again to change it? I’ve already found a place, once I’ve paid my respects to Sectmaster, I will leave.” Sure enough, Master One Yang stayed at Three Clarities Palace on Gold Crest Peak for ten days, then left Mount Kunlun and settled down to a quiet life in Mystic Metropolis Abbey in northern Zhejiang and rarely went back to Mount Kunlun. Master One Yang’s idea was to wait for the romance between Master Jade Numen and Master Wise Perfected to mature and for them to consummate their relationship through dual cultivation, then return to Three Clarities Palace. But Master Jade Numen and Master Wise Perfected saw through First Brother’s plan, and so they no longer spoke of their romantic feelings with each other. Besides, Master Wise Perfected’s heart had first belonged to First Brother, yet she also was afraid of hurting Second Brother. This delicate situation persisted for decades, no one mentioning it to the other, but inside they were secretly in anguish. Now Master Wise Perfected was in her fifties and all that had naturally become a thing of the past, but the delicate situation with her sectbrothers had never been opened up, because it was awkward for them to lay bare their secrets.

Master Wise Perfected was lost in thought, making it hard on Yang Menghuan and Shen Xialin, who were still prostrate on the ground and didn’t dare get up. It was the young Daolady who did not stand idly by but went over to Master Wise Perfected and said softly, “Shifu, aren’t you going to ask them to rise?”

Master Wise Perfected snapped out of her reverie and noticed Menghuan and Xialin kneeling side by side, and she smiled plainly. “Get up you two!” said said as she opened the letters in the moonlight and read them.

Her faced changed slightly after reading. She turned to Miss Shen. “You’re Shen Xialin?” Miss Shen nodded.

Master Wise Perfected frowned. “Do you wish to join and become a disciple of the Kunlun School?”

The young lady nodded again and turned to Big Brother Huan. Yang Menghuan said in a low voice, “Hurry up and kowtow to Shifu.”

Miss Shen kowtowed once again and said, “Lin’er honors and salutes Shifu.”

Fortunately, Master One Yang’s letter already explained Miss Shen’s background and asked Master Wise Perfected to take her into the Kunlun School, so this acknowledgment rite was merely a formality. When the rite was completed, Master Wise Perfected helped Xialin up and said, “That one is your senior sectsister, go pay your respects.”

Miss Shen turned to her and curtseyed. “Elder Sister.”

The young Daolady put her hands one over the other and returned the curtsy, then too Xialin by the hands and said, “Little Sis, call me Tong Shuzhen.”

Yang Menghuan didn’t wait for Master Wise Perfected’s instructions but took two steps forward himself and bowed. “Senior Sister Shuzhen, this Little Brother is Yang Menghuan.”

Shuzhen returned him a smile. “You look much older than I, and you’re First Sectuncle’s disciple, yet you still call me Senior Sister?”

Menghuan said, “i think I didn’t join the school earlier than you?”

Shuzhen’s eyes welled up. “I’m an ill-fated person with no father and no mother. When I was three Shifu rescued me and took me to Mount Kunlun, eighteen years all told.”

Menghuan said, “Then I should still call you Senior Sister. I’ve only been with my teacher twelve years.”

Shen Xialin went “Mm” and said, “Big Sister Zhen, I don’t have any parents either, I’m just as pitiful as Big Sister.”

Master Wise Perfected was thinking of how to handle the major situation before them, because Master One Yang’s letter told her that he had obtained the treasure map and had resolved to go with Greatmaster Clear Karma of Sunshade Monastery to Mount Kuocang in the south of Zhejiang and look for the Return to the Origin manual. He wanted Menghuan and Xialin to stay at Three Clarities Palace on Gold Crest Peak. If he managed to get Return to the Origin he would head back to Mount Kunlun at once. He also exhorted Master Jade Numen and Master Wise Perfected not to go to Mount Kuocang to look for him… Master One Yang never dreamed that Master Wise Perfected would come to northern Zhejiang looking for him.

Master Wise Perfected mulled this over for a while, then said to Menghuan, “Your sectfather has obtained the treasure map and has hurried off to Mount Kuocang. I’ve heard rumors for several days but didn’t really believe them, thinking they were mistaken, but now I can confirm that they were absolutely true. If I had not chanced to run into you tonight, I would have had to waste a trip to Mystic Metropolis Abbey.”

Master Wise Perfected paused, then said, “Your sectfather expressed in his letter that he wanted you and Xialin to stay at Three Clarities Palace, but things are different now. Your sectfather didn’t expect that I would come to northern Zhejiang, It’s more than 10,000 miles from here to Mount Kunlun, and word of the treasure map has leaked out. Although you two have over a decade of martial arts training, you don’t have a bit of jianghu experience. I wouldn’t feel comfortable going to Mount Kunlun. It would be better for us to go together to Mount Kuocang to find your sectfather, and we can lend him a hand.”

These words woke Menghuan up and he immediately told Master Wise Perfected in detail about all the encounters with masterhands trying to intercept them they had had the past two days.

Master Wise Perfected frowned when she heard all this. “Mount Hua sectmaster Eight Armed Divine Codger Wen Gongtai, the Three Geese of Diancang, and Snakeman Qiu Yuan are all jianghu men of great repute, and the Heavenly Dragon Gang’s power and influence extends all over Jiangnan, they definitely should not be taken lightly. Your sectfather is greatly skilled, but it’s not enough to handle so many masterhands. Fortunately, these people are all after the treasure map. Until they get it, they probably won’t resort to sinister methods and hurt your sectfather. Tonight we’ll advance south on the double, traveling day and night…”

Suddenly, Master Wise Perfected turned her lightning-flash starry eyes to a large tree three staves away and said, “What eminent person has arrived and why is he hiding. Could it be that Master Wise Perfected is not worthy of meeting His Excellency?”

Before she finished, a loud peal of laughter emanated from the thick mass of branches and leaves in the big tree and a mass of black flew up in the moonlight like an enormous bird, soaring up three or four stave before somersaulting in the air and, faster than a meteorite or a waterfall, landed and stopped just five or six steps away from Master Wise Perfected. He had a youthful face and white hair and a silvery white beard, and he wore a gray cloth robe and held a bamboo staff. He smiled and said, “This old rotter is Wen Gongtai, wildman of the remote highlands. I’m no eminent person, how can I compare to the Three Master of Kunlun?”

Yang Menghuan saw it was Eight Armed Divine Codger and feared he was about to start trouble, so he gripped the hilt of his sword, readying himself as Wise Perfected smiled thinly and said, “So it’s the grandmaster sectmaster of Mount Hua. This humble Daoist failed to greet you properly, is Your Excellency here alone?”

Wen Gongtai roared with laughter. “That’s too much, you flatter me. As expected, the Three Masters of Kunlun have a well-deserved reputation. There are two others, but they’re just keeping an eye on this old codger.”

Master Wise Perfected called out loudly, “Why not invite everyone out to see us?”

Five staves away in the shadows came two voices laughing, and as they laughed two figures shot out like arrows in a rustle of wind and a Daoist and a layman appeared. The Daoist was told with a swarthy face and a long beard, big round eyes and drooping brows, and he was over fifty. The other was dressed as a scholar with a pale face and no beard, wearing a squarecap and a blue robe. He looked very much like a teacher.

Eight Armed Diving Codger said, “Let me introduce them to you three. These are two of the Three Geese of Diancang, the first and third in seniority. This is Master Wise Perfected of the Three Masters of Kunlun.”

Master Wise Perfected smiled, “I’ve long admired the Three Geese of Diancang’s great name. What luck to be able to meet two of them today. This humble Daoist is quite fortunate.”

The middle-aged scholar gave a cupped-fist salute and said, “The Three Masters of Kunlun’s chivalrous name is known to all the martial world, their Celestial Dipper Palm and Split Second Swordplay is unrivaled in the jianghu. This brother is very fortunate, never imagining I’d run into you in northern Zhejiang.” Saying that, he waved his palms and a gust of invisible force was propelled out.

Master Wise Perfected cocked a willowy brow and swung the dust whisk in her right hand, left palm held before her chest and bowed. “You flatter me, this humble Daoist is not worthy of such praise.”

She used her bowing movement to expel her internal perfected force, two streams of strong, ferocious forcewind surging out, rippling Master Wise Perfected’s plumage robe and wobbling the middle-aged scholar’s shoulders.

Wen Gongtai smiled. “You two are too polite, we’ll meet again on Mount Kuocang.”

Saying that, his left palm shot out level and a stream of forcewind cut between the two of them, but he himself turned and bounded off and sped away.

The middle-aged scholar watched Wen Gongtai leaving and called after him, “Brother Wen, slow up, why don’t we go together?”

Then he turned to Master Wise Perfected. “Our next meeting is not far off. I can’t let Old Wen get there first, I have to be going too.” With that, he pulled the swarthy-faced black-robed Daoist by the sleeve and they ran off together.

Master Wise Perfected watched the three recede into the distance and looked to the sky and sighed. “In my moment of carelessness, they certainly heard what I said about First Brother’s whereabouts.” She lowered here head and said to Menghuan, “Oughtn’t we get moving as well?”

~*~

Mount Kuocang was located in the southeastern section of Zhejiang, thousands of miles away from northern Zhejiang. Master Wise Perfected thought of the danger First Brother was in and hurried along day and night. She had been roaming the jianghu a long time and was well-experienced. With her leading the way there was no need for Yang Menghuan to worry too much. This was Miss Shen’s first journey and everywhere was novel for her. Too bad they were in such a hurry that they couldn’t stop to fully enjoy the sights.

After more than twenty days they entered the Xianju County region. Xianju County was a mountain city within the Mount Kuocang mountain range. It wasn’t some bustling place, but there were inns and taverns of all kinds. Master Wise Perfected took Menghuan and the others and chose the largest inn for them to put up in.

Master Wise Perfected told the waiter to set a table of the finest vegetarian fare, and after they ate, she said to Yang Menghuan and the others, “Tomorrow we’ll enter the mountains. The Kuocang Mountains are a continuous chain with a forest of magnificent, oddly-jutting peaks, perilous cliffs and deep ravines, numerous difficulties and dangers. It won’t be easy to find someone there. I don’t know how long we will have to wander in the mountains. You all get a good sleep tonight and early tomorrow morning we’ll enter the mountains.” With that she closed her eyes and sat quietly, and Yang Menghuan and the others went back to their respective rooms to sleep.

Those twenty-plus days of travel, Shen Xialin and Tong Shuzhen had been rooming together. Miss Shen was open and candid, pure and sincere, she told Tong Shuzhen everything.

That evening, because they had checked in relatively early, by the time they finished eating it was not yet dark out. Shuzhen and Xialin weren’t sleepy, so they sat by candlelight and had tea and chatted. The young lady asked Shuzhen, “Big Sis, now that I’ve joined the Kunlun School, will I be a lady of the Dao like you in the future?”

Shuzhen said, “Not necessarily. It depends on if you want to, but most of our Kunlun disciples wear Daoist attire.”

Xialin sighed. “At first I really wanted to become a renunciate. But if I become a lady of the Dao I won’t be able to hang out with Big Brother Huan very often, so I don’t want to become a renunciate. In the future, if Shifu forces me to dress as a Daolady, Big Sis, will you speak up for me?”

Shuzhen was touched at how earnest she looked, and her face overflowed with love. She grabbed her hand and said, “Bis Sis will definitely help you out, but Shifu would never force you to become a renunciate.”