Sword Snow Stride Book 1 Chapter 59

Book 1 – White Horse Out of Liangzhou
Chapter 59 – Small Umbrella, Big Tornado

Shu Xiu stood in daze, she did not dare to move. The water sword just shot past her head, messing up her fine black hair. The purple silk ribbon scarf used to tie her bun fell into the mud, the exquisite gown that wrapped and accentuated her figure was blown forward at the same time. The water sword appeared to be a thin line, yet it carried an astonishing sword qi, which was buzzing endlessly inside Shu Xiu’s ears for a long time. _{Translated by foxs}

The pale-faced Shu Xiu did not use a sword, yet she was this shocked. Lu Qiantang, who had studied and researched the way of the sword for thirty years, was slightly slack-jawed even more. The best sword has always been the way of the sword [jian dao], not the sword technique [jian shu]. Furthermore, whether the sword intention was full of power and grandeur or delicate and frail, it had no direct correlation with the scale and the size of the sword qi. This finger flick of the old man on the carriage was really like an extreme line of tidal wave of his hometown’s Guangling River. The eighteenth of the eighth month every year, the magnificent scene of the tide was unparalleled in the world. For Lu Qiantang, the Guangling River was the best place to appreciate the ‘Sound of Hundreds of Thousands of Soldiers Midnight Tide’, where he built a thatched cottage near Haiyan Pavilion, to watch the tide and train sword for several years before he reached his current skill level.

Lu Qiantang looked at the carriage. The silhouette of the old man in sheepskin fur coat was indistinct, inwardly he was somewhat apprehensive. Among the six shou ge nu [guarding-pavilion slaves] in the armory, he had never heard of a grandmaster of the way of the sword with such a great, overbearing sword intention. Lu Qiantang pondered over and over, he still did not dare to take it lightly. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Together with Yang Qingfeng, they stared fixedly at the red-armored man who fell to the ground and did not rise up. Lu Qiantang noticed that this weak middle-aged man who was not much to look at, his pair of hands seeped out wisps of blood. At some point, there was talisman drawn in blood at the back of his hands, which unexpectedly the heavy rain was unable to wash away. As for whether it was Longhu Tianshi’s talisman or Mao Shan [Mount Mao[1]] incantation to exorcist ghost, Lu Qiantang was not proficient in such matters, so he was unable to ascertain.

Yang Qingfeng squatted on the ground, all ten fingers of both hands were inserted in the mud, the mud immediately boiled over. Even more amazing was that dozens of silver-white mole crickets burst out of the flesh of Yang Qingfeng’s withered arm.

Knitting his brows, Xu Fengnian asked, “Is this water armor really dead?”

The old man whose bun was pinned with Shen Fu took the oil-paper umbrella from Qing Niao, he sneered and said, “It’s easier said than done. Although compared with Ye Hongting’s Huang Zi Qi Yun [yellow and purple qi application] armor in the past these five Fu Jiang Hong Jia was far inferior, there was no justification of dying with just one random finger strike. At that time, when based on the Jin Gang Realm Ye Hongting faced an enemy, he would entangle the opponent for several days and nights, until he died of exhaustion. Only in the case of Han Shengxuan, who peeled off the armor along with the skin – it was different; otherwise, no matter how much he was seriously hurt or beheaded, Ye Hongting would not be seriously affected [orig. does not hurt, does not tickle]. Condensing the Huang Zi Qi Yun to be the armor was a unique school’s great natural magical power. Since the red armor was created according to the five elements, only by gathering the five elements would it begin to display a good trick. Since laofu has made my move, I don’t mind sending Buddha to the West. Even if he was more troublesome, he could not possibly be as disgusting as Ye Hongting in the past.” _{Translated by foxs}

“Found it.”

The old man looked towards the east.

Qing Niao’s figure shot out.

“Since you’re hiding and won’t come out, laofu will take one armor off first to see if you still have the patience. The five elements already lost the water, I want to see how you are going to unleash your best water grinding skills.”

The old man just kicked the ground, and, holding the umbrella, he flew over Shu Xiu’s head. His foot landed, it kicked the Fu Jiang Shui Jia’s, who was about to get up — chest, precisely on the hole that was blown out by the string of water droplets sword.

Lu Qiantang’s Chixia Sword and Yang Qingfeng’s meticulously deployed Yang Shen Qu Gui [raising gods expelling ghosts] technique were dashed away by the old man’s hand. It would be easy to say that he was being unreasonable, but neither Lu Qiantang nor Yang Qingfeng showed the slightest bit of resentment. They just took advantage of the situation to retreat. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Holding the umbrella, the old man kicked again and again, pounding the Water Armor’s head into the muddy pit. It did not stop there; instantly he put away the umbrella, and used it as a sword. This time, compared with the water sword of water droplets connected in series to form the Azure Dragon, the sword intention was even more boundless. The heavy rain filling the whole sky was swept along by this umbrella, forming a huge rain tornado around the old man. The old man raising the umbrella as a sword recited quietly, “One Sword Immortal Kneels.”

Only to see one umbrella, one tornado like a flowing river of silver piercing the Fu Jiang Shui Jia’s head. The downpour on the trail suddenly stopped. The raindrops did not fall but bounced back upwards. It was as if someone had used human power to rebel against the way of heaven and forcefully blocked it.

A slight popping noise.

The old man reopened the oil-paper umbrella and unhurriedly walked back to the carriage.

Light and graceful, Qing Niao returned. Shaking her head, she said, “The enemy has retreated.”

Sitting on horseback, Xu Fengnian still had his eyes closed in deep concentration. This ought to be a sword strike that could only be launched by a terrestrial-spirit immortal [see Chapter 56]? _{Translated by foxs}

Himself trained saber without training sword first, it was indeed the right decision. If he had been training sword early on, and then gained first-hand knowledge of today’s Zhi Xuan two sword strikes, he would surely fall into psychological shadow, which was impossible to get rid of. Even if he temporarily left the sword’s heart, there would be some disparities between the sword qi and the sword intention, but perhaps he would no longer have the courage and the confidence to lift the sword.

When saber and sword contending for supremacy, speaking about the number of front-ranking martial art masters, both sides are very different from each other, but speaking about a handful of people who are at the very top, one person could raise alone to fight at close quarters and face a troop disposition. However, grandmaster who uses sword would firmly suppress great expert in saber technique by one notch, especially the immortal who was hailed as the Sword God by Jianghu in successive generations, which one was not a martial art master who has almost reached the top of the way of the martial arts?

Li ChunGang of the previous generation was unrivaled under the heavens with his Mu Ma Niu. Deng Tai’A, the number one person in the way of the sword of this generation, even wielded a peach blossom branch and no one dared to fight him. Cao Guanzi, that kind of haughty, domineering mighty talent, also claimed to be worthy of being ranked above the eight, the only one ashamed to be following closely behind Deng Tai’A. This remark marked a clear chasm between Wang Xianzhi and Deng Tai’A and the other eight major martial art masters, in which Cao Guanzi was one. Whatever happened to Wang Xianzhi, everybody in Jianghu had long regarded him as a celestial-pavilion, immortal-realm figure, a prodigy that only appeared once in five hundred years. But Deng Tai’A was different. After all, he has gained some popularity, the Peach Blossom Sword God, even some people inside the Da Nei [see Chapter 27] of the imperial palace constantly had this legend in mind.

Xu Fengnian asked in a low voice, “Shui Jia [water armor] is dead? The mastermind behind the scenes already retreated?” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

The old man, who wielded a sword but his two hands did not need to use sword –haughtily ignored Shizi Dianxia, merely beaming with smiles, he asked Jiang Ni, who actually did not see anything clearly, “Xiao yatou, laofu still have some remains of courage, right?”

Jiang Ni only vaguely saw the heavy rain and tornado that appeared out of the empty sky, only she was a bit too far, plus as a layman, she only knew how to watch the excitement, her shock level was far less than that of Lu Qiantang, Shu Xiu and others, not to mention that she had previously seen a person of the great wider world! At that time, Bai Hu’er Lian’s pair of sabers swirling the wind and the snow looked a lot better. The sabers looked a lot better, the person was good looking even more! Therefore, this time the old sword god making his move, probably he could not escape the outcome of throwing flirtatious glances toward a blind person.

Seeing the little girl’s confused look and plain expression, Li ChunGang laughed aloud. He reached out to grope the Shen Fu, his mood was really not bad. Those months and years when the Mu Ma Niu had not been broken, the sound of patting the horse’s butts, the sound of tooting of the horn, the sound of stinky cold air [all mean boot-licking], it was really tiresome to hear, still not as comfortable to him as this xiao yatou’s bewildered look. _{Translated by foxs}

The old man handed the oil-paper umbrella back to Qing Niao. When he got into the carriage, he said casually, “Maybe the opposite side still does not want to rip their face and break their life with you, this kid, so he is willing to leave behind this Water Armor. If you act quickly, you might still be able to learn some of this Fu Jiang Hong Jia’s profound mystery. If you wait until the puppet inside the armor completely lose his vitality, the knowledge of the ghost painting talisman on the red armor’s head will also be gone.”

Xu Fengnian’s expression appeared complicated. He hesitated for a moment, raised his cupped fist toward the old man, and then galloped his horse towards the spot where the Mu Jia [wood element armor, most probably a typo] was killed by the umbrella sword.

Waving his hands to dismiss Lu Qiantang and Yang Qingfeng, two men, Shizi Dianxia squatted in front of the Fu Jiang Hong Jia Ren. The armor on his head had been shattered by the sword, but the seal-character design engraved on the red armor was exquisite beyond compare.

What would Xu Fengnian think that he was most proud of? Naturally it was not his saber technique, which could only be considered venturing from one’s thatched hut for the first time [idiom: novice], but his memory. The engraving on the body of the man in red armor was the Taoist three-purity talismans and Buddhist Sanskrit incantations, which Xu Fengnian could only know one and understand half, thanks to him following Wangfei Niang’s belief in Buddhism, plus in his early years, he often listened to Wei Shuyang’s talk about the gratitude and grudges of the Taoists’ talismans three sects.

Shu Xiu steeled her guts trying to shelter the drenched Shizi Dianxia from the rain, but facing the man in red armor, Xu Fengnian spoke coldly, “Get lost!” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Shu Xiu’s countenance froze.

The corner of Da Jian [big/great sword] Lu Qiantang’s mouth twitched slightly.

Yang Qingfeng walked to an appropriate distance, not too far, not too close to Shizi Dianxia and the Fu Jiang Hong Jia, and spoke respectfully, “Shizi Dianxia, Xiaoren [lowly one] knows a little bit about the Talisman scheme, may I come closer and take a look?”

Without even looking up, Xu Fengnian simply asked bluntly, “Can you keep the soul and qi mechanism to stay a little longer?”

Yang Qingfeng bowed slightly, with a card up his sleeve, he said, “Can do.”

“Don’t disappoint me.” Xu Fengnian drew the Chunlei Saber, he picked one of the man in red armor’s arms, and carefully looked at every detail of the red armor on the arm. His chest was exploded by the old man’s finger, most were already beyond recognition, but both of his hands and feet were intact.

After cautious and solemn Yang Qingfeng knelt down, shocked, he laughed bitterly and said, “Shizi Dianxia, this armored-man seems to have been dead a long time ago.”

Xu Fengnian’s hands and feet movement over the dead body was like moving clouds and flowing water, not the least bit frightened by the fact that Yang Qingfeng revealed. Knitting his brow, he said, “It seems?” _{Translated by foxs}

Yang Qingfeng’s heart skipped a beat, he spoke heavily, “I’m sure.”

Xu Fengnian did not dwell on this issue, he asked, “What clues did you see?”

Yang Qingfeng firmly fixed his gaze at the man in red armor, he spoke slowly, “Definitely more than half came from Longhu Shan Tianshi Dao’s [celestial master way] Da Lian Qi Shi’s [Taoist great refinement qi scholar] writing brush. It is said that the water is no longer deep, there is a dragon spirit. This Tianshi Dao talisman and Gezao Shan[2], two sects, the difference is precisely here. Longhu Shan never cares about whether the talisman has a formal shape or not, they only seek to have one qi linked up; there’s the qi, then there will be the spirit. Shizi Dianxia, look at the cloud-patterned pine texture made with the ancient seal script on the arm. It is the most famous cloud seal script of Longhu Shan, repeated layer by layer, up to seven layers. Too bad it is not the eight-layer purple firmament cloud seal script that marks the sign of the underworld. As for the most complicated nine-layer heavenly script, it only exists in Longhu Shan’s annals, there is no authentic copy of it. This piece of Jiu Gong Ge [nine-palace grid/pattern] talisman is different. It came from Gezao Shan’s ‘Lingbao Ban Shan Jing’ [spirit treasure moving-the-mountain sutra]. The Lian Qi Shi’s [see above] penmanship is clearly different. As for the image of Tianzun [heaven’s venerable] on the left leg, it is unmistakably the Mao Shan [Mount Mao, see footnote] talisman, both the form and meaning are excellent, just one step away from the immortal level. As for those Buddhist scriptures and Sanskrit texts, xiaoren does not dare to presumptuously ascertain. But xiaoren thinks that inevitably there are spider’s thread and horse track [clues] from the Tianji Lou [mystery-known-only-to-heaven building] of the Shangyin Academy.” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Xu Fengnian took the Chunlei to knock on the armor, the sound was sharp and clear. Stabbing with the tip of the saber, he did not see any dent; he asked, “What is this red armor made of?”

Shaking his head, Yang Qingfeng said, “Xiaoren does not know, this is the first time I’ve seen it.”

The corpse inside the red armor gradually turned into fragments of ashes, and then was washed away by the rain and turned into mud. Just like the old man said, the knowledge on the armor was blurred and faded, in the end only the badly damaged armor remained.

Xu Fengnian stood up and put the Chunlei Saber back, just as behind him Wei Shuyang and the Da Ji Ning Emei flew off their horses. Xu Fengnian found that Ning Emei’s hand holding the Bu Zi halberd was continuously oozing thin blood, the bag on his back only had a few short halberds left.

The general in charge of the military dropped both knees heavily on the mud, his eyes turned red, he said loudly, “Mo Jiang [inessential, the end of the line – general] is incompetent. More than forty men of the Feng character battalion are killed or injured, yet failed to detain the big man in red armor, only managed to cut off one arm! Ning Emei only asks Shizi Dianxia to give Mo Jiang thirty light cavalry to go forward to chase and kill. If I fail to catch that assassin, Ning Emei will come taking my head to seek audience!”

Xu Fengnian was amazed, “Ning Jiangjun cut off the armored-man’s arm?”

On the side, Wei Shuyang nodded slightly. _{Translated by foxs}

It was indeed a bloody and violent battle. Although the Feng character battalion was a light cavalry, facing the unfathomable Fu Jiang Hong Jia Ren, no one was afraid of death or injury, especially the battle formation that had been honed for many years, it displayed the strength that was beyond Wei Shuyang’s, who was watching from the sidelines – imagination. Ning Emei fought at the head of his troops, the iron halberd swept away a thousand army. In addition, every time it was thrown, the short halberd on his back screamed in the wind, unexpectedly the man in the armor’s arm was chopped by Ning Emei. Even though Wei Shuyang was a Taoist who came out of the world, he was, after all, still living in Jianghu, inevitably in the past he somewhat looked down on the professional military men of the battlefield. Today, seeing it with his own eyes, he realized when professional military men, valiant soldiers came together to become troop formation under the command of a great general, how they could sweep everything before them.

Xu Fengnian chuckled, he spoke indifferently, “Ning Jiangjun, take all the Feng character battalion back to Beiliang. I don’t need you to worry about here. Such a nice and well Beiliang elite troops, there is no reason to suffer losses in Jianghu.”

The tall and sturdy Ning Emei lowered his head, inserted the big halberd in his hand into the road and stood it upright. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Ning Emei refuses! The Feng character battalion refuses!” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Xu Fengnian’s face did not show any expression, he said, “Not afraid of death?”

Ning Emei’s heavy voice like thunder, he said, “When did Beiliang Tieqi ever afraid of death? They only want to die on the battlefield!”

Xu Fengnian mounted the white horse, he spoke indifferently, “Then follow me. Ning Emei, you send the fallen soldiers back to Liang territory first, I will continue at reduce speed to wait for you.”

Ning Emei pulled his halberd, he accepted the order and left.

The heavy rain, without spending any money, was still generously pouring down on the big earth from the pitch-black sky. The caravan returned to quiet. Ning Emei went back to make funeral arrangements. Lu Qiantang carried the spoils of war, the red armor on his back. Shu Xiu sat on horseback in a daze, lost in thought. A rarely seen smile appeared on the usually-solitary, reclusive Yang Qingfeng’s rigid face. This made Shu Xiu, who was keeping pace with him, when she saw it, come back to her senses, but her mood became all the more gloomy.

Xu Fengnian laughed at himself, “Feng character battalion, why are you looking for death?”

※※※※

The Yingchuan officials, who had braved the rain to travel thirty li out of the city to welcome Beiliang’s number two biggest nobility, were anxious and terrified while waiting for the post horse soldier to come with the news that made them look at each other in dismay: Shizi Dianxia had taken the trail to reach the city gate.

Zheng Hanhai had a wry smile on his face, he shook his head and said to Jin Lanting, “Let’s go.” _{Translated by foxs}

The deputy Duwei [captain] of Eastern Jin, Tang Yinshan spat on the ground, walked out of the pavilion, and said angrily, “Return to the city!”

Led by a polite and modest, trembling with fear low minor government official, Xu Fengnian was taken to the elegant scholar Jin Lanting’s private residence. It occupied a large area, the courtyard was deep. They kept geese, planted lotus and grew Japanese bananas; it was indeed a clean place with pleasant scenery. How fortunate that in such a tiny Yingchuan, they were able to find such a place which was not tacky, with feng shui [geomancy] of a blessed land.

All along, Yingchuan’s low minor government official did not dare to say one word more than necessary, it was also not surprising that he was afraid of Shizi Dianxia like a jackal, wolf, tiger and panther. Cultivating officialdom in the imperial court, government officials and low-ranking officers were as different as sky and earth. Even from one official position to the other, there were countless thresholds. Six-Pin rank was a threshold, upper three-Pin was another big threshold. Apart from regional governor general, high official, anybody below three-Pin could be considered little carp who has not jumped over the dragon gate, only compared to other fish and shrimps they were just a bit more stout and strong. Only those wearing three-Pin official attire adorned with peacock or tiger, leopard patches would be considered officers who stood out among their peers. For civil officer, they could exchange their three-Pin peacock patch with two-Pin golden pheasant, and finally to the one-Pin red-crowned crane. Oh, this would precisely bring honor to their ancestors.

In his room, Xu Fengnian changed clothes, and then Qing Niao helped combing his hair. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Xu Fengnian took out the ‘Yu Gong Dili Zhi’ [see Chapter 54], spread it on the table, and pointed out several prefectures and counties. He laughed and said, “Look, in the two prefectures sharing a common boundary Yongquan and Beiliang, there are more than a dozen people with real power, whether they are civil officials or military generals, they harbor enmity toward Xu Xiao. One-third of Da Jiangjun [Great General] Gu Jiantang’s former subordinates settled in these two prefectures. Within Yongzhou, except for Yingchuan, I am afraid we will not see any good faces in the future. But outside of Yongzhou, the situation will get better. These past two years, Lu Qiu’er has organized things, plus there are also some old Beiliang generals who have control over prefectures and counties. At that time, there will inevitably be several wine goblets and gambling chips lie intertwined [idiom: big party], and maybe countless concubines and pretty maids rushing over to warm this Shizi’s bed. I remember with Lao Huang in the past, being robbed and lost my horse in the middle of Yongzhou, and as we reached Jizhou we became completely penniless. Indeed we cannot speak of two things on the same day.”

Qing Niao looked out the window and said, “Jiang Ni is waiting in the courtyard with a book and an umbrella.”

Xu Fengnian laughed and said, “She has her eyes on profit. Go and let her in.”

Qing Niao led Jiang Ni into the house. Xu Fengnian pointed to the luggage on the table that Qing Niao was responsible for, he ordered Jiang Ni, “Don’t rush to read the book, grind some ink first, I want to draw something.” _{Translated by foxs}

There were some top-quality familiar fine writing papers in the room, but Xu Fengnian was very particular about writing brush and paper. Jiang Ni opened the luggage and picked out a Guandong Liaowei [see Chapter 24] first, but then she saw the familiar fire clay ancient inkstone. On Wudang Mountain, it was used to make a deal with her, but Jiang Ni already threw this ancient inkstone, which earned the Western Chu’s Huangshu [imperial uncle] Jiang Taiya the title Tianxia Gu Yan Bangyan [see Chapter 28] into the Xi Xiang Chi [sic; it was Bai Xiang Chi]. Why did it appear again?

Jiang Ni looked at it carefully, and ran her fingers gently over it. She read the poem at the bottom of the ancient inkstone, it was indeed ‘Xi Chu’s millions of ji shi [halberd warrior], who could strive?’ Jiang Ni tighly grabbed the ancient inkstone that was warm in the winter and cool in the summer, she really wished she could smash the treacherous, despicable and shameless Shizi Dianxia with it. Having no other choice, her eyes turned red, she cursed angrily, “What’s going on here?!”

Hiding a smile on his face, Xu Fengnian said, “I gave it to you, but you threw it away. I, this person, am stingy, so I went to the bottom of Xi Xiang Chi to retrieve it.”

The rim of Jiang Ni’s eyes was moist, her lips were trembling.

Xu Fengnian imitated the tone of her voice perfectly, “Shen Fu is mine! Mine! The fire clay ancient inkstone is mine, it’s still mine!” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Jiang Ni pounced at this muddled-egg [bastard], sobbing, she screamed, “I kill you!”

Xu Fengnian turned his head to look at the ‘Yu Gong Dili Zhi’, he stretched out a leg to block the advancing little clay figurine, and said softly, “All right, don’t make a fuss, consider I am giving this ancient inkstone to you.”

Jiang Ni wept bitterly, “It was originally mine! You, this brutish-skinned scoundrel! I will learn sword from Li ChunGang and stab you to death with one sword strike!”

Xu Fengnian narrowed his eyes, he sank into deep thought.

Unable to deal with temporarily unable to master sword technique, the little clay figurine had no choice but to hit his knee with the ancient inkstone.

Xu Fengnian clicked his tongue and said, “Li ChunGang? This old man’s morality and conduct are indeed not like a sword god …”

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[1] Mao Shan is a school of Taoism that is well known for its “supernatural” rituals, e.g. exorcism etc. (Courtesy of CFT during Deer and Cauldron translation project)

[2] https://en.daoinfo.org/wiki/Mt._Gezao Mt. Gezao, in the southeast of Zhangshu municipality (formerly Qingjiang county) of Jiangxi province, is named after the fact that its shape is like a pavilion and its color is black. It has 99 peaks and stretches for more than 100 kilometers. It is regarded as the 36^th grotto heaven.

Mt. Gezao is the ancestral mountain of The Numinous Treasure Sect of Daoism (Lingbao Pai). Daoists of this sect said that their founder, Guo Xuan, set up an altar and a fireplace in Temple Woyun in the eastern peak of Mt. Gezao, and refined golden elixir after touring the series of the famous peaks. After he attained Dao, he ascended the Heaven.