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

Sword Qi And Lines Of Jade Smoke Part 3

In the course of half a day, Duan Yu had already circulated his internal energy through every single passageway as drawn by the paintings. He felt as energetic and vigorous. Without anything to do, he once more began to study the 'Shaoshang', 'Shangyang', 'Zhongchong', 'Guanchong', 'Shaochong', and 'Shaoze' sword pictures. He saw that the red lines and black lines intercrossed in numerous and complicated ways. He thought to himself, "How could anyone memorize such annoyingly complex sword techniques? Besides, martial grand-uncle has already stated that non-monks are not allowed to learn it." He immediately stopped looking at them. He felt a bit hungry, and thought to himself, "Why haven't the apprentice monks brought any vegetarian dishes and rice yet? I might as well secretly creep outside and look for some food." But at that very moment, he suddenly detected a gentle, fragrant scent of white sandalwood, and heard from the sound of a Buddhist chant waft in from afar.

Elder Kurong said, "Shanzai, shanzai! The Shining King of the Great Wheel has graced us with his presence. How well have you learned your respective skills?" Bencan replied, "Although I still have not mastered it, I believe I know enough to fight our enemy." Kurong said, "Excellent! Benyin, I don't want to walk. Invite the Shining King of the Great Wheel to come to the Muni Pavilion to hold discourse with us." Abbot Benyin said, "Yes!" He left. Benguan retrieved five cassocks, arranging them in a row on the east side. On the west side, he put a single cassock. He sat down on the first cassock, Benxiang sat down on the second, Bencan the fourth, and Emperor Baoding the fifth, leaving the central cassock for Abbot Benyin. Duan Yu had no place to sit, and so stood behind Emperor Baoding. Kurong, Benguan, and the others reviewed the techniques on the manuscripts one last time before finally gathering them up and placing them in front of elder Kurong.

Emperor Baoding said, "Yu'er, very shortly a fiercebattle will erupt here. Sword qi will be freely flying across the room, andthings will become very dangerous. Your uncle won't be able to divert anyattention to protecting you. Why don't you go outside and take a walk?" A burstof misery suddenly filled Duan Yu's heart. "From everyone's tone of voice, itseems as though this 'Enlightened Lord of the Great Wheel's' martial arts is atan extraordinarily high level. My uncle only just learned the 'Shaochong'sword; I don't know if he'll be able to win or not. If some sort of mistake orerror occurs, what sort of unthinkable thing might happen?" He replied, "Uncle,I...I want to stay with you. My heart is ill at ease, imagining yousword-fighting with others." By the time he finished the last few words, hisvoice was already choked with sobs. Emperor Baoding's heart was moved as well."This child really has a filial heart."

Elder Kurong said, "Yu'er, come sit by my side. No matter how powerful theEnlightened Lord of the Great Wheel is, I guarantee that he won't be able toharm a single hair on your head." Although his tone of voice was as calm andicy as ever, his words conveyed an extremely proud and lofty confidence.

Duan Yu replied, "Yes!" He walked in front of elder Kurong, but did not darestare at his face. He, too, knelt and stared at the wall. Elder Kurong's bodyframe was much larger than that of Duan Yu, totally covering Duan Yu's smallerbody. Emperor Baoding was both moved and relieved. Previously, elder Kurong haddemonstrated the 'Art of the Withered Meditation' in shaving his head,displaying a power that more than allowed for him to show disdain for theheroes of this age. It would be more than enough to protect Duan Yu.

In a very short amount of time, all sound disappeared from the Muni Pavilion.

After a long period of time, Abbot Benyin's voice could be heard. "EnlightenedLord, you grace us with your dharmic knowledge. The Muni Pavilion is this way."Duan Yu heard another voice answered him. "Abbot, thank you for going to thetrouble of guiding me." The second voice was extremely gentle and mild, refinedand courteous. It definitely did not belong to a vicious, violent tyrant whotook what he wanted. From the sounds of the footsteps, around ten people were headedtheir way. He heard Benyin push open the wooden door while saying, "EnlightenedLord, please enter!"

The Enlightened Lord of the Great Wheel replied, "Excuse me!" He entered theroom, then immediately folded his hands in a gesture of respect towards elderKurong. He said, "I, Jiumozhi, a junior from Tibet, pay my respects to aneminent monk of an elder generation. Eternal or not eternal//twin trees bloomand wither//north and south, east and west//not false, not empty!"

Duan Yu wondered to himself, "What did those four lines mean?" But elder Kurongfelt a shock in his heart. "The Enlightened Lord of the Great Wheel is reputedto possess a vast and boundless learning. He lives up to his reputation! Assoon as he saw me, he laid bare the history behind my practice of 'WitheredMeditation.'

In a past age, the great forefather of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, passed away fromthe world between the twin Sal trees of the city of Kusinara. He was surroundedin every direction by twin Sal trees. Each twin tree had one side which wasblooming, and another side which was withered. They became known as the "FourWithered, Four Blooming." According to Buddhist scriptures, the twin trees tothe east had the meaning of, "Eternal and ephemeral." Those to the south hadthe meaning of "Joyful and joyless." The twin trees to the west signified"Myself and not myself," and the twin trees to the north signified "Peacefuland restless." The flourishing and blooming trees symbolized the truth andreality of nirvana: "Eternal, joyful, myself, peaceful." The withered treessymbolized the real world: "Ephemeral, joyless, not myself, and restless." TheTathagata Buddha passed away between these eight states of existence; thehidden meaning of this was, 'neither withered nor blooming, neither false norempty.'

Elder Kurong had been quietly practicing the art of 'Withered Meditation' fordecades now, but had only managed to reach the level of being 'half withered,half blooming'. He was unable to progress to the next level of being 'neitherwithered nor blooming, but also withered and also blooming.' Upon hearing thewords of the Enlightened Lord of the Great Wheel, he immediately became sternand said, "Enlightened Lord, you have come from afar but I did not come out togreet you. Forgive my discourtesy."

Jiumozhi, the Enlightened Lord of the Great Wheel, replied, "This junior monkhas long heard of and admired the glorious fame of the Heavenly DragonMonastery. For me to be able to see its stately and grand structures is asource of great joy to me."

Abbot Benyin said, "Enlightened Lord, please be seated." Jiumozhi thanked himand sat down.

Duan Yu thought to himself, "I wonder what this 'Enlightened Lord of the GreatWheel' looks like?" He quietly turned his head and snuck a look past elderKurong's side. He saw a monk wearing a white cassock seated on a hassock in thewestern corner. He was not yet fifty years of age. His face was inclinedupwards and seemed to have a precious light emanating from it, similar to thatof brilliant pearls or precious jade, a natural sheen. After taking but a fewglances at him, Duan Yu felt a sense of veneration and kinship towards him.Taking a glance outside the door, he saw eight or nine brutes with savage andfearful appearances. Clearly, they were not from the Central Plains; thus, theymust be attendants or servants which the Enlightened Lord of the Great Wheelbrought from Tibet.

Jiumozhi folded his hands together and said, "Thus spoketh the Buddha: 'Withoutbirth, there is no death; without filth, there is no purity.' My mind is slowand dull; I am unable to see past love and hate, life and death. In all mylife, I have had an extremely close bosom friend; he is a man of the GreatSong's Gusu's province, surnamed Murong, with his personal name being Bo. Inthe distant past, I met with him by chance and discussed martial arts andswordplay with him. Mr. Murong had a deep knowledge regarding every singlemartial arts form in the entire world. He gave me pointers and tips for manydays. I have always remembered this. I will never dare to forget the greatbenevolence and deep kindness which Mr. Murong showed me in transmitting to meso many high-level skills and techniques. Unexpectedly, heaven did not extend agift of long life to the great hero, and Mr. Murong has departed to the WesternHeaven to enjoy bliss. I have a presumptuous request which I hope all of youelders can grant."

Abbot Benyin said, "Enlightened Lord, your close relationship with Mr. Murongwas no doubt predestined. Now that the karmic ties which bound you have come toan end, why try to force it? Mr. Murong is now joying the delights of theWestern Heaven, greeting Buddha before his lotus pool. How could he possiblystill care about the martial arts learning of the mortal world? EnlightenedLord, isn't it a bit pointless for you to act in such a way?"

Jiumozhi replied, "Abbot, your advice is very cogent. But from birth mydisposition has been silly and wild. Despite secluding myself in solitarymeditation for over forty days, I nonetheless found it impossible to forget myformer friendship with him. In the past, when Mr. Murong was discussing thesword techniques of the world with me, he was resolute in his opinion that the'Divine Sword of the Six Meridians' was the best in the world. The fact that henever had a chance to see it with his own eyes was his greatest regret in allhis life."

Abbot Benyin said, "Our monastery is secluded here in the distant south. For usto be esteemed so highly by Mr. Murong is a great honor for us. But why is itthat in the past, Mr. Murong himself did not come personally to ask for achance to see the manuscript of this skill?"

Jiumozhi let out a long sigh. A grieved expression was on his face, and he didnot speak for a long time. Finally, he said, "Mr. Murong knew that thismanuscript was the most precious treasure of this venerable monastery,transmitted down generation to generation. Naturally, he would not be permittedto view it. He knew that the Duan family, despite being the rulers of Dali, hadnever forgotten the code of righteousness and their former ties with thejianghu. He knew that the Duan family loved the common man and was filled withbenevolence. He could not bring himself to steal or forcibly take themanuscript." Benyin thanked him, saying, "Mr. Murong praised us too highly.Since Mr. Murong esteemed Dali's Duan family so highly, you yourself as hisclose friend, Enlightened Lord, should take his wishes into consideration."

Jiumozhi replied, "But that day, I made a regrettable boast; I said to him, 'Iam the national instructor of Tibet, without any relations with Dali as well,and Tibet itself has no diplomatic relations with Dali. Mr. Murong, if it'sinconvenient for you to retrieve it, allow me to do so for you!' After a manhas made a promise, he cannot go back on it no matter what! I made this promiseto Mr. Murong, and no matter what, I cannot renege on it!" And as he spoke, helightly clapped three times. From outside, two of his men brought a woodenchest into the room, setting it down on the floor. Jiumozhi simply flicked hissleeve, and the chest calmly opened by itself, exposing a brilliant, gleaming,small golden box. Jiumozhi withdrew the golden box and held it within his hand.

Abbot Benying thought to himself, "Does he think that we monastic folks mightbe moved by precious treasures and gifts? Besides, after administering Dali forover a hundred and fifty years, how could the Duan family lack for gold orsilver ornaments?" He watched as Jiumozhi opened the lid of the golden box andwithdrew the contents. It was actually a trio of old, worn books. As Jiumozhicasually turned the books over, Benyin shot them a look. The books had bothpictures and words, written in cinnabar ink. Jiumozhi stared at the books for along time. Suddenly, tears began to fall from his eyes, splattering on hisclothes. He had a look of uncontrollable grief on his face. Benyin and the restwere all totally astonished.

Elder Kurong said, "Enlightened Lord, you miss your old friend and are unableto sever your attachments. Aren't you ashamed to be called an 'eminent monk'?"Hanging his head, Jiumozhi said, "Master, you possess great wisdom andremarkable ability. I cannot measure up to you. These three books are filledwith top-level martial arts techniques, and were written down by Mr. Muronghimself. They explain the essence and training methodology behind Shaolin's 72Ultimate Techniques, as well as the way by which one might defeat them."

Everyone who was listening was shocked. They thought to themselves, "The fameof Shaolin's 72 Ultimate Techniques shakes the world. Supposedly, aside from anextremely wise monk who managed to learn twenty three of these techniques atthe beginning of the Song dynasty, no one has ever learned more than twenty.For Mr. Murong to be able to understand the essence of Shaolin's 72 UltimateTechniques is very difficult to believe. The claim that he actually managed tofigure out the weaknesses of each technique is even less believable."

Jiumozhi continued, "Mr. Murong gifted these three scrolls to me. I studiedthem intently, and reaped great benefits from them. My desire is that I mightexchange these three precious scrolls for your venerable monastery's scroll ofthe 'Divine Sword of the Six Meridians'. If all of the eminent monks here wouldbe willing to permit me to fulfill my promise, my gratitude would beboundless."