DEMI GODS AND SEMI DEVILS Book 1 of 5 (Adventures of The Youth) by Jin Yong

Subtle Steps And Hanging Threads Part 4

"Perhaps they couldn't tolerate it any more. Deep inside the deserted mountains or ridges, they started doing this thing and that thing. And in the midst of all darkness, they unleashed the move 'Flipping the carp over' and oh, how could it be? – they fell into somewhere miles deep into the valley!"

At this point, both men started cackling nastily.

Duan Yu sank deep into his thoughts: At that food stall Miss Mu shot both Gan and Ge to their deaths, how could it be that the No Measure Sword disciples weren't able to find them? Hmm... Right. It must be that the stall owner was afraid of attracting trouble, so he quickly buried the corpses somewhere. So when the No Measure Sword disciples came to investigate, everybody naturally kept silent, seeing their fierce looks and their weapons and all.

Wu Guang Sheng spoke again, "The East and the West Factions of No Measure Sword merely lost two disciples. How big a matter could it be? The Emperor isn't in the least worried yet the eunuchs are. Why would the Sacred Heralds of Nimble Vulture Palace be so anxious? Why must they be in such a hurry in apprehending those two people?"

"This, you need to use your brains more to find the answer."

Silence ensued. "You know my mind isn't in the slightest quick. After thinking this to that, here to there, I just couldn't figure it out."

"Let me pose you a question, then," Yu Guang Biao said: "the Nimble Vulture Palace is so keen on taking over our No Measure Palace — why is this so?"

Wu Guang Sheng was lost in his thoughts. "Senior Apprentice Tang once said, the reasons most likely have something to do with the No Measure Jade Wall. The very moment Sacred Herald Fu arrives here, she would enquire non-stop about the divine silhouette, swordplay, and everything else up the No Measure Jade Wall." After an afterthought, he added, "That's right! All of us had to abide by the instructions Sacred Herald Fu set for us – the swearing of oath of never to divulge the slightest thing about the divine silhouette at the Jade Wall; yet both Gan Guang Hao and Ge Guang Pei had already escaped from No Measure Palace. Neither of them made the oath! There is no telling whether they wouldn't mention it to the outside world!"

At this point, he slapped his thigh in revelation, exclaiming, "Right! Right! Nimble Vulture Palace went through all this effort just to silence those two rascals."

"Hush! Don't make so much noise; there is somebody next door, have you forgotten?" Yu Guang Biao whispered warningly.

An abashed-looking Wu Guang Sheng nodded. "Indeed, indeed."

For a moment, neither spoke. Finally, Wu Guang Sheng broke the silence. "That rat Gan Guang Hao sure has infinite blessings; having the fortune to cuddle Ge Guang Pei, such a white and fleshy little cute gunnysack in his arms; having the luck to skin her as if she were a sheep.... Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Damn it. Even if he really did get dissolved into a bloody mass, he didn't... didn't really.... Hehe..."

From then on, the two men's conversation has been reduced to a lowly mixture of vulgarities and obscenities. Duan Yu was unwilling to eavesdrop any further, but the lewd and dirty jokes and laughters continually coursed through the wall separating them – much to Duan Yu's dismay; so trying to shut the noises away was impossible. The only way out for him would be to concentrate on the various channels, meridians and acupoints. Indeed, all it took was a short while of deep concentration, and the vulgarities nearby vanished without a trace as if they had been switched off, no matter how loud they were.

The following day, Duan Yu continued his training on the 'Graceful Steps upon the Waves'. He followed the footwork illustrated in the scroll very closely, and began trying them out step by step. This footwork was either inclined to the left or slanted to the right: none of the steps taught was to advance and retreat directly. Even though he was confined to a small area, all he need was to remove the table and chairs and he could perform the footwork without any obstructions; after a period of training, he had learned more ten-odd steps.

Suddenly, an idea struck him. Later, when somebody comes to give me lunch, all I need is to perform these weird, diagonal steps and it would take me no time at all to move round him and escape past the door. It is unlikely that he would be able to catch me. By then, I would be able to escape this place instantly and avoid the horrible fate that awaits me if I stayed – wait till the day I became an Oldie White-faced?

He was brimming with joy as he thought about this. I must train this set of footwork very diligently to the extent of total familiarization, he thought firmly, Should I take a wrong step by accident and fail to escape, they might shackle my legs together from that point onwards to prevent me from escaping. By then, even how delightfully incredible 'Graceful Steps upon the Waves' might be, every step I take would be restrained by the metal chains; I will really have to become Oldie White-faced no matter how much I dread it.

Lost in thoughts, Duan Yu involuntarily made dizzy circles with his head.

Without further ado, he speedily ran through the hundred-over steps he had learnt in his head. "I need to reach a stage whereby I need not even think about the steps in my mind; the mere lifting of my legs would result in a rapid succession of the following steps."

Suddenly, he sighed. "I, Duan Yu, a stinky male, had to learn those graceful and delicate 'Graceful Steps upon the Waves' from the Tranquil Lady Goddess Luo. What qualities of 'Dust settles on her gauze stockings' do I possess? More likely mine's a poor imitation in the form of 'Dust settles on his naked bottom', I guess."

Chuckling merrily at himself, Duan Yu stepped on the position of 'Central Confirmation', followed shortly by an immediate turning towards the 'Already Fording' spot. What he didn't expect was that the moment he changed positions from 'Exultation' to 'Venom', a sudden blast of blazing energy surged upwards – towards his dantian, paralysing him instantly. His body rocked forwards as he lay resting against the tabletop – lifting a finger suddenly became an impossible feat.

Feeling stupefied, Duan Yu attempted to grasp the table by its sides and lift himself; little did he know that not a single of his muscles or bones complied. Not even a tiny finger. His current situation was reminiscent of a horrible nightmare gone wrong: the more anxious he was, the more helpless he became.

He had absolutely no idea that 'Graceful Steps upon the Waves' is an extremely profound branch of martial arts. The reason for this skill being taught near the end of the scroll was for the practitioner to master 'Divine Skill of the Northern Darkness' and absorb fairly substantial amounts of internal energy before he or she could start training on the intricate footwork.

Every single step of the 'Graceful Steps upon the Waves' was designed as such that when a step was made, the momentum and movement of the practitioner's entire body blended entirely and intimately with his or her internal energy; it amounts to much, much more than the mere lifting of limbs and moving about. Duan Yu had hardly any internal energy. Before then, he would always made a step before a momentary pause, with which he used to contemplate the next step. Then he would follow by retreating another step, which he then paused to think again. As such, he has had consistent intervals of rest in his blood flow, therefore no such obstructions occurred.

This time, however, he had memorized the steps and even attempted to try them all at once in one single breath; the blood flow in his channels and meridians went topsy-turvy, paralysing him in the process. In fact, he almost suffered from fire-deviation. Fortunately for him, he only moved a few steps, and was trying it out at a comfortable pace; therefore the extent of internal injury hadn't reached the fatal stage of the utter destruction of his own channels due to the immense blood pressure.

Flustered, Duan Yu struggled even harder to move; but the more he did so, he felt the suffocating pressure at his chest and abdomen intensify. To add to all these, he began feeling somewhat nauseous, but he could hardly vomit. He let out a sad sigh, ceased struggling and allowed nature to take its course. As he did so, the frustratingly painful feeling inside him began to subside.

Lying immobile against the table, Duan Yu saw the scroll in front of his eyes. Having nothing else to do, he studied those unfamiliar steps he had yet to try and thought them out in his mind, imagining himself trying them out step by step. About an hour later, he had learnt another twenty-odd steps, and to his surprise, the pain in his chest had almost fully dissipated.

It was almost noon. Duan Yu had finally understood all the steps that were illustrated in the scroll. In his mind, he decided to try them out by imagining himself starting on 'Bright Concealment', moving along several other positions like 'Adornments', 'Already Fording', 'Dwelling People'; and eventually completed stepping – or rather, imagining himself stepping – on the positions of all sixty-four Trigrams and ended nicely on the position 'Without Embroilments' after moving in the direction of a huge circle.

The fact that he had finally completed learning the entire footwork was overwhelming; ecstasy welling inside him, Duan Yu leapt into the air clapping his hands, exclaiming in delight. "Amazing! Amazing!"

The moment these two words left his lips, Duan Yu realised he could finally move again. Unknown to him, his internal energy had unconsciously followed the thoughts in his head; as he completed one full cycle of 'Graceful Steps upon the Waves', his blood flow did the same, unclogging blocked meridians in the process.

He could barely contain his excitement and surprise that were threatening to burst from within. In his head, he tried to go through all the positions of the sixty-four Trigrams in his head a few more times. For fear that he might commit the same mistake as before; he moved each step very slowly -- every step made had to be followed by a few deep breaths.

In this way, all sixty-four positions had been completed. Duan Yu saw that he had finished one huge circle; meanwhile, his body was bursting with renewed vitality and vigour. Unable to bear his excitement any longer, Duan Yu gave a cry in joy.

"Amazing! Amazing! Utterly amazing!"

From outside the door, came a roar of annoyance. It was Yu Guang Biao's voice. "Why are you screaming your head off? Whatever your old man, I, have said, I don't eat them back! You say a sentence, you eat a palm!"

Having said that, he unlocked the door and flounced inside. "Earlier, you made three sentences, so you shall eat three palms! However, on account that you are a first-time offender, I shall discount you two slaps; just one palm would suffice."

He advanced threateningly towards Duan Yu, his right palm poised to strike Duan Yu's cheek.

This palm didn't contain any hidden stances beneath it; neither was it anything special. But Duan Yu, lacking martial arts, couldn't block it with his arms. Slightly tilting his head to one side, Duan Yu instinctively moved his feet diagonally and landed on the position of 'Swallow' from his current position, 'Well'. And voila! Duan Yu managed to evade the slap.

Yu Guang Biao was furious. He thrust out his fist forcefully and rapidly towards Duan Yu. Meanwhile, Duan Yu was still contemplating which step to move (he has hardly familiarised himself with the 'Graceful Steps upon the Waves' footwork) when the blow struck his chest with a loud peng. The fist has struck his 'Shan Zhong' acupoint.

The 'Shan Zhong' acupoint is vital to the human's body. The moment Yu Guang Biao threw out his fist, he instantly regretted his actions and feared he might inflict too heavy a damage for Duan Yu to handle; if anything happens to Duan Yu, he might not be able to account for it.

What he did not expect, however, was that the moment the fist came in contact with Duan Yu's chest, Yu Guang Biao felt his arm suddenly depleted of energy. What was even worse was that he felt some sort of emptiness in his heart! Yu Guang Biao could barely register this strange phenomenon when everything reverted back to normal. Seeing Duan Yu unhurt, Yu Guang Biao, relieved, said, "Although you have managed to dodge my slap, your chest received my knuckle sandwich; that still counts as one slap."

With that he disappeared from view as he left the room shortly after. Clunk! The door was locked once again.

The strike might be loud, but strangely enough, Duan Yu felt absolutely no pain in that strike. Unknown to him, whatever energy that was present in Yu Guang Biao's fist earlier has been transferred into his 'Ocean of Energies' in his 'Shan Zhong' acupoint, where it will be stored permanently.

It just happened so coincidentally. Had Yu Guang Biao's fist struck anywhere except his chest, Duan Yu would have been considered extremely lucky to have avoided injury, yet no matter what, he would not be spared from the excruciating pain. However, the 'Ocean of Energies' in his 'Shan Zhong' acupoint was the exact location where the 'Pure Energies of Northern Darkness' would be accumulated and stored.

The number of times he had tried cultivating this skill is too little; he has zero foundation in this skill. It would thus be impossible for him to perform the various feats needed to absorb internal energies from other sources at this stage: using the 'Less Merchant' acupoint to leech the internal energies of other people, channeling these energies via his Lung Meridians up to the 'Sky Shock' acupoint in his Ren Meridians, and sending them once again for permanent storage in his 'Shan Zhong' acupoint. Even if he had reached that stage after plenty of training, he would rather die than to do what he considers an immoral act – stealing stuff from others' for his own benefit.

In this case, however, it was the other party himself who had forced his own internal energies right inside Duan Yu's 'Shan Zhong' acupoint. Duan Yu could not resist the energy transferring process; the moment the fist touches the chest, the internal energy would gain entry into his body. It was as though gold coins and gold bars flew towards his backpack from outside the heavens, yet, the foolish lad was oblivious to all this. In fact, he even thought: What an unreasonable brute. How much could a few sentences of 'Amazing!' offend him so much? He hit me for absolutely no reason.

The internal energy that was originally Yu Guang Biao's continually revolved and vibrated in Duan Yu's 'Ocean of Energies'. In an instant, Duan Yu felt his chest tighten. He immediately thought of the two channels in his body – the Lung Meridians and the Ren Meridians, and the effect was immediate: a faint warmth began to spread throughout these two channels. It circulated the channels once before dissipating back into the 'Shan Zhong' acupoint, bringing the pain along with it.

Unbeknownst to Duan Yu, the tiny warm circulation he has just experienced in just a short time had earned him some amounts of internal energy, which, upon storage, can no longer leave his body.

From a helpless lad without the tiniest trace of internal energy, Duan Yu finally acquired a little. All these began thanks to Yu Guang Biao's forceful punch at Duan Yu's chest.