Sword Snow Stride Book 1 Chapter 25

Book 1 – White Horse Out of Liangzhou
Chapter 25 – Women Down the Mountain Are Tigers

Jiang Ni seemed to be obsessed with watching the fruits and vegetables grow little by little. Whenever she had free time, she would squat in the vegetable garden and stare at them; too bad that the Shenfu Dagger would have to be used as both a hoe and a machete. _{Translated by foxs}

One day, Xu Fengnian took advantage of the night where the moon and the stars were lacking, to go – with good intention, out of kindness – to the vegetable garden to spread manure. The outcome was that he was caught red-handed by Jiang Ni who could not sleep. She went crazy and chased him half of the mountain with the Shenfu.

The following few days Xu Fengnian did not dare to go back to the thatched hut, for his meal he caught some wild animals and roasted them to deal with the situation.

At first, Hong Xixiang did not dare to follow his lead with dishes with generous amounts of fish and meat, but later on he could not resist the gluttonous worm in his belly causing mischief. Once he started, there was no stopping it. Whenever they met, he would throw meaningful glances at Shizi Dianxia, while his mouth grinning widely asking what did you catch today? This was completely in violation to the clear admonition and monastic disciple on the mountain.

Xu Fengnian admired himself for being able to endure this bull rider’s garrulous talk by his ears every day, just like the gadfly on the Si’s [see introduction and Chapter 9] butt.

After moving hundreds of books up the mountain, naturally Xu Fengnian did not want to be a two-legged bookcase. When he read something that he did not understand, he grabbed Hong Xixiang to come and explain it. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

The most interesting part was that many seemingly brilliant styles that could not be neutralized, oftentimes in another secret manual there was a method to break it. This kind of conflicting views that require patient research benefited Xu Fengnian the most. Presently, whether Shizi Dianxia’s saber technique was high or low, it was hard to say, but his insight has progressed several levels up.

It was during this time that Xu Fengnian took the ‘Da Pi Ji Ji’ [lit. big brown bear striking skill], which had been lost in Jianghu for a long time – as the manual to train his form. The styles were concise, but each move was hard, fierce, and overbearing, simple but ferocious and domineering, striving to be deadly with one move. He also asked Wudang for a set of no-name fist techniques, which tend toward yin [from yin-yang] and soft. Xu Fengnian originally did not like it, but Hong Xixiang with brazen face [idiom: shamelessly or cheekily] and legs of a tripod [idiom: stable or immovable] recommended it, bragging with a deluge of heavenly flowers [idiom: extravagant embellishments] that it only lacked not being the number one in the world.

At first, Xu Fengnian still refused. With dry mouth and tongue [idiom: to talk too much], the Shishuzu had no choice but to give his all, displaying some moves that he already mastered. Even Xu Fengnian had to admit that he was really shocked by this demonstration: the bull rider picked off a handful of bamboo leaves, which he casually scattered in the blustery wind, and then his figure followed the bamboo leaves, his palms stretched out. Xu Fengnian only saw his body swaying around like he was intoxicated, ‘bouncing randomly’, but all the bamboo leaves were glued back to the palm of his hands. _{Translated by foxs}

Nibling on a wild pheasant leg, Xu Fengnian picked up the fist manual, yet all along he failed to grasp the main points, he had no choice but to inquire, “This fist technique, the more I train, the more it looks like something that women would play, you are not trying to swindle me, are you?”

The exploitative, afraid-to-speak-out Shishuzu rubbed the grease by his mouth, he declared in deadly earnest, “How could Xiao Dao [little Taoist] dare to fool Shizi Dianxia?”

Xu Fengnian asked suspiciously, “Who created this fist technique?”

Shishuzu’s eyes rolled around randomly, he swallowed big mouthful of wild pheasant meat, let out a dry laughter, and said, “Shizi Dianxia, I won’t hold up your saber training, I’ll go to let the bull out.”

Xu Fengnian pressed the scabbard on Hong Xixiang’s shoulder, he laughed coldly and said, “You don’t talk, I’ll beat out everything you eat.”

The Shishuzu spoke mysteriously, “Xiao Dao accidentally found it on the top floor of Xuan Yue Gong [Mysterious Peak Temple]; it is very old, I cannot verify, presumably it was some qianbei zhenren’s [older generation master (zhenren is honorific title of Taoist priest)] heart’s blood.”

Xu Fengnian pulled the saber back, his qi sank into his dantian [pubic region, a point two inches below the navel where one’s qi resides], he drew six circles in succession in the air according to that set of fist techniques, one circle within another. It looked similar, but he always felt that compared to the bull rider’s trick in the bamboo forest the other day, the difference was several mountains away, not to mention that the similarities in expression and spirit, the similarities in shape and appearance, were just passable. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Busy leading along the Si, the Shishuzu watched Xu Fengnian’s posture, he nodded slightly, and said with a brilliant smile:

“This set of fist techniques were derived from Bagua [Eight Trigrams] to Sixiang [four divisions of the 28 constellations: Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, Black Tortoise], Sancai [three talents] and Liangyi [two rites/appearance: heaven and earth, yin and yang] all the way and back, but it’s still very far from Taiji [Tai Chi, the Absolute or Supreme Ultimate, the source of all things according to some interpretations of Chinese mythology] and Wuji [everlasting/unbounded].

Shizi Dianxia’s techniques are already quite agile, the circles are alive, the opening and closing are orderly; it was extremely difficult to do, much faster than me when I started. However, there are still some small flaws that need to be corrected. If the ‘Da Pi Ji Ji’ is said to be a method of ten-thousand jin crushing to death a thousand jin, this set of fist techniques is an ingenious trick of using two taels to move a thousand jin.

During practice, Shizi Dianxia need to remember one thing. The fist hit the ground where the bull lies, seek small rather than big, seek stillness rather than movement, only then can you obtain the beauty of all things in life. Arriving at the peak, not even one feather can be added, a fly cannot fall, the falling of one leaf heralds the coming of autumn [idiom: a small sign can indicate a great trend], the sprouting buds tell the coming of spring.” _{Translated by foxs}

Xu Fengnian mulled it over quietly, then he sneered and said, “Only the fist hit the ground where the bull lies has some use, the rest are nonsense.”

Hong Xixiang chuckled, but he did not refute.

Narrowing his eyes, Xu Fengnian laughed and said, “Bull rider, you like eating meat so much, this mountain has the greatest number of yellow cranes, how about you trick them down?”

Forcing a laughter, Hong Xixiang said, “Unacceptable, unacceptable. Wudang’s red-crowned cranes are psychic, plus they are all my childhood playmates, killing them is more difficult to bear than killing me.”

Xu Fengnian teased him, “Did you ride on the crane’s back to play? When Taoist immortals ascend to immortality, don’t they kind of ride a crane to ascend to heaven?”

Shaking his head, Hong Xixiang said, “Never thought about that, I have been afraid of heights since I was a child.”

Xu Fengnian spoke contemptuously, “Afraid of going down the mountain, afraid of heights, afraid of women, what is there that you are not afraid of?”

Hong Xixiang sighed heavily, he looked miserable.

The bull rider suddenly perked up his ears and said cautiously, “Shizi Dianxia, I’m going to take care of the bull first, you’d better go back to the thatched cottage and take a look.” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Gripping the Xiudong Saber tightly, Xu Fengnian hurried back anxiously. Who in the mountain ate a bear’s heart and leopard’s guts and came to cause trouble for him? If by any chance [orig. one in ten thousand] there was one, definitely it could not possibly be an ordinary character [in a play].

The thatched cottage was in sight, Xu Fengnian’s figure stopped suddenly, he then proceeded slowly through the bamboo forest.

Outside the hut, there were three uninvited guests with unfamiliar faces. They were not wearing Wudang sackcloth or silk Taoist robes, in the middle was a gongzi ge with delicate stature, wearing rich and gorgeous clothes.

No one was more familiar with the family with extravagant lifestyle’s way of doing things than Xu Fengnian, in just one glance he was able to tell that he came from an extremely well-off family. This kid’s Sichuan embroidery knitted garment workmanship was extremely fine, rare article that had price but could not be found in the marketplace. But all these were secondary; in his hands, he was fiddling with two night pearls of exceptionally good quality, they were acclaimed as dragon pearls and phoenix eyes. Each one was a top-quality knickknack, putting the two together as a set was even more difficult, a tribute would never be more than this.

There were two middle-aged men standing by this with-arrogant-expression gongzi ge’s side. One had a big waist and a sturdy build, complete with the customary swallow chin and tiger beard, leopard head and eyes like rings. According to Xu Fengnian’s point by point commentary, this guy’s [orig. male servant, derogatory] appearance was similar to men who could ward off ghosts and exorcise evil spirits. This big man had two simple and unadorned pair of sabers hanging on his waist, one long and one short. He was standing a bit farther away. _{Translated by foxs}

The other was gloomy man with a white face and no beard, he stood closer to the gongzi ge, stooping slightly, his hands behind his back. His clothes were plain, spotlessly white garment, giving the impression of a gloomy and cold silver-ringed serpent.

Standing in the middle of the vegetable garden, Jiang Ni’s eyes were red, she glared at these three persons, her lips were already bleeding from her own bite, her delicate cheek had a five-finger palm mark, which was already red and swollen.

The vegetable garden she cultivated with utmost care has been completely destroyed, the wooden stakes completely collapsed, the young sprouts were completely broken, they were nearly turned upside down with their roots to the sky.

With good intentions Shizi Dianxia was merely watering and spreading manure on it, he was chased to be killed by Jiang Ni. Now that her vegetable garden was pounded to this plight, surely she would stake her life to fight, only the opponents were of many men, a great force, plus they were not benevolent people with the heart of mercy, so she could only suffer pent-up unspoken grievances.

Perhaps in Jiang Ni’s view, Beiliang Wangfu was a luxurious but miserable birdcage, but other than the raising-bird Shizi Dianxia, who would dare to gesticulate while talking to her [idiom: to criticize or give orders summarily]? To say nothing of slapping her. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

With both hands wrapped in cloth and grasping the saber, Xu Fengnian’s countenance sank like the water, he walked straight towards the three people with bare feet.

Jiang Ni, this Shizi can bully her, you guys must not bully her!

I don’t care which divine figures your Die, your Niang are!

The poised, elegant gongzi ge lightly cocked his head, the tip of his nose had some tiny freckles, he cast a glance at the walking-straight-toward-him Xu Fengnian, his face showed contempt. When his eyes caught sight of the Xiudong Saber in Xu Fengnian’s left hand, he slowly said, “Yo, that saber looks good, I like it very much. Go, break his hands, give the saber to me.”

Hearing this, the man looked at Xu Fengnian, his eyes revealed a little bit of pity.

From beginning to end, Xu Fengnian did not utter a word.

Ten paces away from the strong man, he suddenly rushed forward, Xiudong went out of its sheath, at three-step distance, it hacked down in an extremely crisp and sharp saber strike, creating a whistling gust of wind. _{Translated by foxs}

The originally-did-not-intend-to-pull-his-saber man’s copper-bell-like eyes flashed with a burst of sharp light. No one saw how he drew the saber, but the short saber on his left waist blocked Xu Fengnian’s swift and fierce saber strike.

The hilt of the short saber was wrapped in gold and silver threads, the craftsmanship was of superior quality, it was a good saber specifically designed for close hand-to-hand combat.

When Xu Fengnian’s blade was blocked, he did not just blindly oppose strength with strength, he seized the opportunity to rebound and draw a stunning big arc, subsequently his figure turned around and the second saber strike swept across.

The imposingly stalwart [note: the word here is ‘kui’, Chapter 8] big man revealed a hint of astonished expression. Quickly he set aside his thoughts of underestimating the enemy. His right foot pulled half a step back, his left arm whirled like a big wheel and chopped down from high in the air. He no longer took the defensive position, but wanted to draw support from his natural divine strength to destroy the dried-up, rotten, saber-wielding kid before his eyes and sweep him out that he could no longer lift the saber.

Having been taught by the white-haired Lao Kui when to store up energy and when to pull back his strength, Xu Fengnian evaded the blade, suddenly he exerted the extra thirty-percent power that he had been concealing. His speed was almost as lightning-fast, flint-stone-spark as the double-sabered big man, he simply dodged the big man’s brutal and tyrannical wheel chop. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Intentionally or otherwise, Xu Fengnian integrated the bull rider fist technique into his saber method. His body like a spinning top, he spun around continuously, instead of decreasing, his speed increased. Combined with the rolling saber technique that he comprehended by himself, it was simply like seamless heavenly clothes. Within the crisis hitting him on the face, in an instant, he burst into the realm that previously he was unable to attain. He truly accomplished it in one go. The qi movement swelled and swept away endlessly. Xu Fengnian exhaled, his breathing straight and relaxed, to the extent that the second time Xiudong swept across, the momentum far surpassed the first time.

The man’s saber hit empty air, he glowered with his big eyes. This kid did not know when to advance or retreat, life or death; his single saber weird, the angles were tricky. Among his peers, it could be considered unique and not easy to achieve. Pity that he had to destroy this talent.

Finally annoyed, although he still had not drawn out the long saber in his right hand, the short saber in his left hand began to no longer leave any leeway. Without any warning at all he cracked his wrist that it created popping noise, the blade abruptly arose in a picking up at an angle motion, as if he was fishing out a big whale from the East China Sea, and suddenly struck Xiudong‘s exceptionally clear and bright blade.

That sentence ‘one feather cannot be added, a fly cannot fall’ – had not jumped out of Xu Fengnian’s brains, hence he subconsciously staked out everything, exhausting all his strength to sweep back, his feet stepped on a series of chaotic small arcs and circles, until finally he could be considered stabilizing his figure. _{Translated by foxs}

Swallowing a mouthful of blood back into his stomach, the Xiudong in his hand did not tremble at all.

The strong man with double sabers was not in a hurry to pursue and attack, he loftily remained motionless.

The gongzi ge who said he wanted to break Xu Fengnian’s hands whispered something to the beardless man by his side.

Xu Fengnian ripped away the cloth strip on his right hand, from his left hand, Xiudong turned to his right hand; he simply fixed his gaze at the big man’s – who was probably as heavy as three Jiang Ni – short saber in front of him. He clucked his tongue and said, “Good saber. I thought that once Dong Yue [East Yue (same character as Vietnam, but maybe he was not referring to Vietnam)] Kingdom is subjugated, the Qi Dang Dao [qi is a name of a tribe, dang – party/group/faction Saber] that was used exclusively for the Dong Yue’s royal family and its descendants have all been confiscated into the national treasury. The big one is called the Qi Dang Man Dao [man – barbarian/bullying], and the small one is called the Qi Dang Jin Dao [jin – brocade/embroidered work]. I never thought that I could see this pair of fine things’ [orig. jiaren, usually referring to beautiful person] Lushan’s [Mount Lu] true color[1] here.”

The strong man with the Man and the Jin – pair of sabers hanging on his waist showed a surprised look on his face. Pulling the corner of his mouth, he said, “Your eyesight is not bad.” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Pretending to know the heavenly true way, Xu Fengnian said, “In that case, aren’t you the vanquished kingdom Dong Yue’s imperial family? Such a nice dog bereaved of its home, why did you paw your way to Wudang Shan to bite people?”

His weak point being poked, the strong man did not get angry at all, his skill in calm-qi cultivation was just as excelling the common as his saber technique skills, he merely maintained his expressionless face and spoke indifferently, “I gave you time to stop ten times to rest, is that enough?”

Xu Fengnian’s right hand grasped the Xiudong, he did not say anything at all.

Getting impatient, the gongzi ge with freckles on the tip of his nose said, “What are you prattling with him for? I just want the saber. After breaking off this man’s hands, whether he lives or dies, submit it to the will of heaven!”

The cloth on his left hand covered in blood, against everybody’s expectation, Xu Fengnian raised the scabbard. Was he afraid that his opponent had two sabers, with his one saber he would suffer losses?

Seeing this situation, cold laugh appeared on the people of the vanquished kingdom Dong Yue’s faces. _{Translated by foxs}

Xu Fengnian dashed forward without any regard of his life again, the rolling saber was like a snowball. The achievement of saber training for half a year was displayed to the extreme saturation. The wandering-ghost-without-living-descendants-to-pray-for-him leftover from the Dong Yue, treating it as no big deal, broke through Xu Fengnian’s styles, which were without any sequence to talk about – one by one, deliberately waiting for the instant where Xu Fengnian simply had to take a breather before thoroughly making his killer move. This kind of torture was like a saber being held against the neck, without allowing the person under the saber to breathe out.

The instant the qi in Xu Fengnian’s dantian was completely exhausted, he blocked the opponent’s powerful and heavy diagonal chop head-on. At the same time, the scabbard in his left hand flew out like a heavenly steed soaring across the skies, shooting like an arrow, piercing straight toward the gongzi ge‘s chest. The Dong Yue swordsman’s eyelids jumped. Violating the big taboo of battling disposition of troops, he turned his head to determine whether this damn throw would bring evil consequences that he would be unable to undertake.

This was originally Xu Fengnian’s best chance to injure the enemy, but when from the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of the big man’s right hand moving slightly, Xu Fengnian knew inwardly that the turn of events was not too encouraging; he forcefully suppressed the urge to take the chance to draw the saber, he retreated again and again. Sure enough, at the same time as the Dong Yue lonely soul turned around, the Qi Dang Man Dao already left the sheath, a two-chi-deep crack was cut in the mud in front of Xu Fengnian.

It shocked the eye, astonished the heart. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Xu Fengnian took the time to not only regulate his qi, but also look at the Xiudong scabbard.

Only to see the fair-and-clear-skinned man in white stretched out his arm and gently nipped Xu Fengnian’s sure-to-win scabbard.

It was unclear whether the gongzi ge did not react to the crisis at all, or because he naturally had the elegant demeanor of a great general, he laughed aloud and said, “You, an embroidered pillow with insignificant talent – want to kill me? You are not afraid of making a fool of yourself? Do you know who these two people in front of you are?!”

Seeing that the Dong Yue swordsman had no intention of moving the saber, Xu Fengnian finally had the opportunity to carefully size up the gongzi ge that so far Shizi Dianxia only called a few times as the freckles. In his heart he suddenly understood, so he smiled and said, “Xiao Niangzi [little woman (polite)], why don’t you tell me, see if you can scare me.”

The gongzi ge’s face turned very red; raising his leg, he kicked the fair-and-clear-skinned middle-aged man by his side and screamed, “Kill him!”

The man finally opened his golden mouth, his voice sharp and ear-piercing, neither yin nor yang, “Courting death.” _{Translated by foxs}

Without seeing him move, the Xiudong scabbard shot towards Xu Fengnian’s neck like a thunderbolt.

The Dong Yue swordsman standing in front of Xu Fengnian tapped the tip of his toes to get away.

If he did not dodge, a big hole would pierce through him first.

Xu Fengnian closed his eyes, not accepting misfortunes as decreed by fate [ren ming], but gambling with his life [du ming, same ‘ming’ character].

The wind suddenly arose, Shizi Dianxia’s bamboo forest, with hundreds and thousands thickets of tall and straight green bamboo, unexpectedly bent toward everybody at the same time, looking like they took a worshiping posture, exactly the same as the eighty-one peaks facing the big summit, looking like all the mysteries known only to heaven were being pulled.

An old Taoist priest floated out with an indescribable immortal appearance.

He casually ‘picked up’ the scabbard. After halting his steps, he put it down slightly, accurately placing the Xiudong in Xu Fengnian’s hand into the scabbard.

The old Taoist priest stood beside Xu Fengnian in relaxed, calm manner.

The guy who disguised herself as a gongzi but was exposed by Xu Fengnian to be a woman kicked the man who threw the scabbard again, she cursed, “You useless thing! Kill, kill them all for this gong [lit. palace; maybe short for gongzhu (princess)?]!” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Hiding in the bamboo forest, the young Shishuzu sighed with sorrow and said, “One must really not go down this mountain, all the women down the mountain are all tigresses.”

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[1] Mount Lu faces rivers on three sides. The topography of the mountain is extremely grand, with verdant hills and limpid water, the scenery is singularly beautiful. But because it faces the river and leans against water, the mountain is always covered in fog, making it very difficult for people to clearly see its true appearance. (baike.baidu)