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

Sword Qi And Lines Of Jade Smoke Part 5

The black smoke grew thicker and thicker, showing that the attack was extremely aggressive. Jiumozhi was secretly surprised. "To launch an all-out attack like this is like the saying that a windstorm cannot last all morning, and a rainstorm cannot last all evening. How can this possibly be sustained? Elder Kurong is an eminent monk of this age. How could he use such a rash, aggressive method to fight his opponent?" He felt that Elder Kurong couldn't possibly be that inexperienced; thus, he must have some other trick up his sleeve. He immediately tightened his defenses and raised his guard mentally, preparing himself to immediately act as according to the situation. After a short period of time, the four lines of smoke suddenly began to split. One became two, two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen, rushing towards Jiumozhi from all directions. Jiumozhi thought to himself, "An arrow at the end of its flight is a spent force. Nothing worth even talking about." He executed his 'Blazing Flame Sabre' technique and blocked every single line. As soon as his internal energy touched the lines of smoke, they split and fell apart, filling the entire room with smoke in the blink of an eye. Jiumozhi was not worried in the slightest, generating his internal energy to protect his entire body.

As the smoke and the mist thinned by degrees, he could hazily see that Benyin and the other five monks were on their knees, a solemn expression on their faces. A look of great grief and indignation could be seen on the faces of Bencan and Benguan in particular. In a moment of clarity, Jiumozhi suddenly realized the truth. He secretly cried out, "Oh no! This old monk, Kurong, knows that they aren't a match for me, so he actually burned the manuscript of the 'Divine Sword of the Six Meridians!'"

His guess was correct. Elder Kurong had used the force of his 'Solitary Yang Finger' to set the six manuscripts ablaze. Afraid that Jiumozhi would prevent him from doing so and snatch the manuscripts by force, he used his internal energy to push the smoke towards Jiumozhi, forcing Jiumozhi to stay on the defense and exert his efforts towards protecting himself. By the time the smoke dissipated, the drawings had been long since reduced to ashes. Benyin and the others were experts of the 'Solitary Yang Finger' who had spent many years mastering it. As soon as they saw the black smoke, they knew what caused it. They thought to themselves that their martial-uncle would rather die with glory than live with dishonor [lit., 'would rather be a broken jade vessel than an unbroken clay pot'] and was willing to destroy this most precious treasure of their monastery rather than let it fall into enemy hands. Fortunately, the six of them had each memorized a portion of the technique. Once their powerful enemy departed, they would simply recreate it from memory. Only, a priceless artifact which had been handed down to them by their ancestors had been totally destroyed.

Now, the Heavenly Dragon Temple and the Enlightened Lord of the Great Wheel had formed between them a long, deep, and bitter enmity. It would be difficult for there to be any sort of peace between them.

Jiumozhi was both startled and angry. He usually had a very high opinion of his own intelligence and stratagems, but today he had been defeated by Elder Kurong twice in a row and witnessed the destruction of the manual of the 'Divine Sword of the Six Meridians', earning himself a bitter enemy without any reward at all. He stood up and folded his palms together. "Elder Kurong, why did you need to be rigid and inflexible to such an extent? That you would rather shatter the manuscript than allow it to fall in the hands of others shows your lofty style and temperament. That your venerable monastery's most precious treasure was destroyed in part due to the actions of this humble monk is a source of great regret for me. Fortunately, it was impossible for any one person to fully learn the martial arts on this manuscript. Thus, it does not really matter whether or not it was destroyed. I take my leave now."

He turned around slightly. Not waiting for Elder Kurong or Abbot Benyin to reply, he suddenly struck out and seized Emperor Baoding's wrist, grabbing his wrist acupoints and saying, "My humble country's ruler has long wished to meet with Emperor Baoding. Your majesty, I'll have to invite you to make a journey to Tibet with me."

Everyone was greatly startled by this totally unexpected turn of events. This sneak attack was executed so unexpectedly that despite Emperor Baoding's own formidable level of martial arts, Emperor Baoding fell to it. Jiumozhi had seized the "Lieque" and "Pianli" acupoints on his wrist. Emperor Baoding hurriedly exerted his internal energy to protect himself. In the blink of an eye, he had made seven attempts to break lose, but was unable to each time. Abbot Benyin and everyone else present felt that this ambush was too despicable and contemptible, totally not in keeping with his station as an elite martial artist. However, they managed to control their anger, and yet remained unable to think of a plan for rescue. With Emperor Baoding's acupoints under the control of the opponent, his life could be taken at any point in time.

Elder Kurong laughed. "He once was Emperor Baoding, but has since abdicated and become a monk. His religious name is Benchen. Benchen, since the ruler of Tibet wishes to meet you, you might as well go." Helpless, Emperor Baoding could only say, "Yes!" He knew what Elder Kurong was trying to do. Jiumozhi considered him the ruler of a country, and thus a priceless hostage. But with Elder Kurong describing him as having already abdicated his throne, he was no longer a priceless royal hostage, but only a monk of the Heavenly Dragon Monastery, making him a useless personage of little importance. Perhaps, in that case, Jiumozhi would release him.

Ever since Jiumozhi had entered the Muni Pavilion, Emperor Baoding had not said a single word or revealed a single hint of his real origins. But, in order to execute even a single sword of the 'Divine Sword of the Six Meridians', one must be a first class master martial artist, with an extraordinarily deep and profound internal energy cultivation. The people within the wulin who could be considered first class masters were well aware of who the others were. Jiumozhi had not come to Dali unprepared. Before arriving, he had carefully made inquiries regarding the appearance and ages of each and every member of Dali's Duan family, as well as the disciples of the Heavenly Dragon Monastery. He had an eighty or ninety percent understanding of each person's temperament, habits, and achievements in martial arts. He knew that aside from Elder Kurong, the Heavenly Dragon Monastery had four more martial arts masters. Now, a 'Benchen' had appeared out of nowhere, a person he had never heard of before, and with an extremely powerful internal energy that was not one whit inferior to the four other 'Ben' generation monks. Seeing his majestic poise and judging from his features that he came from a luxurious background, Jiumozhi guessed that he was Emperor Baoding.

Hearing Elder Kurong say that Emperor Baoding had already abdicated the throne and become a monk, Jiumozhi's heart was swayed. "I've long heard that in each succeeding dynasty, the Duan's of Dali would often abdicate and join the monastery. It is not altogether unbelievable that Emperor Baoding might do the same and join the Heavenly Dragon Monastery. But if an Emperor were to abdicate and become a monastery, there would be grand ceremonies held throughout the country, with gifts of food being given to monks and rituals made before the Buddha. Pagodas would be renovated and new temples would be built. It would be a huge public affair, not something kept so low-key and under wraps. Even my Tibet would, upon hearing the news, send an envoy to congratulate the new monarch. There's some trickery involved here."

He replied, "Regardless of whether or not Emperor Baoding has abdicated, he still needs to make a trip with me and pay a visit to my humble country's ruler." As he spoke, he tugged on Emperor Baoding's hand, intending to immediately exit.

Benyin loudly shouted, "Wait a moment!" His form flickered, and he, along with Bencan and the other monks, simultaneously moved in front of the door. Jiumozhi said, "I have no intentions of harming Emperor Baoding, but if all of you force me to, then there's no other options I can take." His right hand feinted towards the back of Emperor Baoding's heart. The power of his 'Blazing Flame Sabre' was all-conquering and unstoppable. With Emperor Baoding's meridians already under Jiumozhi's control, Emperor Baoding was helpless to resist and had no way to defend himself. If all of the monks of the Heavenly Dragon Monastery were to attack at once, not only would they fear 'breaking the dishes in order to pelt the rat', they still could not be certain of victory. And yet, Abbot Benyin and the others were still hesitant. Emperor Baoding was the ruler of Dali. How could they allow an enemy to kidnap him and march him away under duress?

Jiumozhi loudly shouted, "I've long heard of the fame of the eminent monks of the Heavenly Dragon Monastery. I never would have imagined that they would be so irresolute over such a small matter, like little boys or girls. Please make way for me!"

After seeing his uncle being captured, Duan Yu was extremely anxious. At first, he thought to himself that with his uncle's level of martial arts, there was no need to fear. He thought that his uncle was just being patient for now, and when the right moment came, he would free himself. But the more he watched, the more Duan Yu felt that something wasn't right. There was a look of great arrogance on Jiumozhi's face and his words were proud and overbearing, whereas Benyin, Benguan, and the others looked anxious, angry, and helpless. As he watched Jiumozhi head towards the exit with Emperor Baoding in tow, Duan Yu was filled with fear and worry. Without pausing to think, he shouted, "Hey you! Let go of my uncle!" Following this, he came out from behind Elder Kurong.

Jiumozhi had long ago seen a young man hiding behind Elder Kurong, but was unable to guess who that person might be, much less the reason why he was sitting in front of Elder Kurong. Now, seeing him come out, his curiosity compelled him to turn his head and ask, "Might I ask who you are, sir?"

Duan Yu replied, "Don't ask me who I am! Let go of my uncle first!" Stretching out his right hand, he seized Emperor Baoding's left hand.

Emperor Baoding said, "Yu'er, don't mind me! Leave quickly and go to your father, and tell him to immediately ascend the throne and take on this heavy responsibility! I am an old monk who is like a lazy cloud or an untamed crane; what is there to be concerned about?"

Duan Yu exerted all his strength to pull at Emperor Baoding's wrist while shouting, "Quickly let go of my uncle!" The 'Shaoshang' acupoint of his thumb was touching the acupoints on Emperor Baoding's wrist. With him now exerting his strength, Emperor Baoding's entire body trembled, and he immediately felt his internal energy flowing outwards.

At this exact same point in time, Jiumozhi also felt his internal energy being drawn away from him. His countenance immediately changed drastically. He thought to himself, "How is it that the Duan dynasty of Dali learned the 'Great Art of Energy Dissipation?'" He immediately gathered his internal energy to fight against this evil, heterodox martial arts.

Emperor Baoding immediately felt as though two fierce and powerful streams of energy were jerking at his body. He immediately used the technique of 'Borrowing a Sabre to Strike a Knife', forcing these two streams of internal energy to directly face each other. At this moment in time, these two streams of energy were principally facing off against each other ,with very little focused on his wrists. With a wave of his hand, he broke free from Jiumozhi's grip. Together with Duan Yu, he floated backwards and retreated. He cried out to himself, "How shameful! That I was able to escape is all thanks to Yu'er."

[Translator's note: DRATS! Too bad Emperor Baoding is such a martial arts master, else Duan Yu would now have the internal energy of Jiumozhi, his own (which should be superior to Jiumozhi), AND that of Emperor Baoding by the start of chapter 11. What fun!]

Jiumozhi was more than a little bit startled by this turn of events. He thought to himself, "Another powerful martial artist suddenly appeared in the Central Plains. How could I have been totally unaware of this? This person is very young and is only around twenty years of age. How could he have reached such a level of martial arts? He addressed Emperor Baoding as uncle; he must be of a younger generation in Dali's Duan family." He slowly nodded and said, "I've always thought that the Duan family of Dali only specialized in their own ancestral martial arts. Only now do I know that a learned member of their latter generation made friends with the Old Man of Xingxiu and studied the strange martial arts technique known as the 'Great Art of Energy Dissipation.' Strange, how very strange!"

Although his martial arts learning was profound and vast, even he mistook Duan Yu's 'Divine Art of the Northern Darkness' as the 'Great Art of Energy Dissipation'. Only, wanting to conduct himself according to the dignity of his station, he changed 'Old Freak' into 'Old Man' in referring to Ding Chunqiu. Likewise, the people of Wulin all considered the 'Great Art of Energy Dissipation' as a vile art and an evil skill; he chose to describe it as a 'strange martial arts technique'. Just now, in their brief exchange, he felt that Duan Yu's internal energy cultivation was definitely not inferior at all to that of Ding Chunqiu, the Old Freak of Xingxiu. He definitely was not Ding Chunqiu's disciple or student, and thus used the phrase "made friends with".

Emperor Baoding let out a cold laugh. "I've long heard that the Enlightened Lord of the Great Wheel was wise and farsighted, flexible and accommodating, with extraordinary understanding and knowledge. I wouldn't have imagined he would say such absurd things. The Old Freak of Xingxiu is an expert at plotting and sneak-attacking, despicable and without shame. How can the the sons of the Duan family possibly have any relationship with him?" Jiumozhi's face reddened slightly, and his heart trembled. The eight words Emperor Baoding had used, 'Plotting and sneak-attacking, despicable and without shame', were clearly meant to refer to his own earlier actions.