Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain by Jin Yong (26 page)

"Lynx pretended to give himself up to Wu Sangui, the traitor. He was given an official rank. Lynx soon won the confidence of Wu for he was considered daring, resourceful and cunning. He felt that he would not qualify as a True Hero if he merely sat by and watched the Dashing King's Dashun Dynasty slip into the hands of Wu. He vowed to avenge the wrong. He needed to stir only a finger to have Wu assassinated. Being as clever as he was, Lynx designed a plan well in advance, unwilling to let Wu get away so easily. In the course of several years, he devised an ingenious and impeccable scheme, drawing on all his wits. He laid the ground for a number of incidents which would eventually contribute to Wu's demise. He tried to increase the Manchu Emperor's suspicion of Wu, while at the same time attempting also to inculcate a feeling of anxiety in Wu, feeling assured that the plotting of a revolt by Wu would then be inevitable. Lynx informed the Imperial Government that Wu was mobilizing forces in the Yunnan Province and that he was rampantly defying authority; at the same time he was feeding Wu with information based on his spying on the various checking and preventive measures being taken by the Manchu Court.

"It was held that within a matter of years, Wu would definitely turn his back on the Royal House, sparking off uprisings across the kingdom and depleting the strength of the sovereignty. This would provide the Dashing King with a timely opportunity to stage a coup and return. Even if Wu's rebellion were swiftly put down and the Dashing King failed also to restore his sway in the end, Wu and all his clansmen would certainly perish, which, in itself, had more to recommend it than taking just Wu's life.

"At the time when his three sworn Brothers, Miao, Fan and Tian, journeyed to Kunming, to attempt to murder the traitorous Wu, Lynx had already ripened his scheme, and was ready to reap the harvest. Hence Lynx, at the critical moment, barred his three sworn Brothers from executing their own plan, lest his own should fail completely.

"In the same year, on the fifteenth day of the third moon, Lynx and his three sworn Brothers were drinking in the Immense Pool. As he was about to confess to them both that the Dashing King was still alive and that Wu was about to rise against the Manchu Court, the three sworn Brothers, dreading his prowess, and thus not daring to spare him another minute, seized upon him and dispatched him on the spot. While Lynx was breathing his last, he blurted out, with tears rolling down his face, 'It is a shame that I can never deal with the major issue.' This then was the major issue to which he was referring. Lynx went on to tell the three myrmidons, 'At the Crag Canyon, the Generalissimo.' He was, in fact, referring to the Dashing King's call to monkhood in the Monastery of Benevolence at the Crag Canyon. The name assumed by him when he took the Buddhist vow was Kino of the Heavenly Mandate. The Dashing King lived to the ripe age of seventy and passed away in the second moon of the year Jia Chen, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi. When the Dashing King staged his coup, he resumed the title 'the Generalissimo of the Heavenly Mandate Uprising'. The name assumed by the Dashing King when he renounced the world should really read 'King of the Heavenly Mandate'. As he wished to live incognito, he changed the 'g' in 'King' to 'o' to give him the new title 'Kino'."

From the story rendered by Orchid, the Company gathered the impression that Lynx was vile and malicious. Never could they imagine that, hidden in the account, was a secret of resounding consequence. They found it difficult to credit, as the event had taken too strange a turn.

The expressions on their faces told Quad that the Company was not yet wholly convinced by his words, as did the startled look on Orchid's face. Quad, therefore, pursued his account in this way: "Miss Miao, a while ago you mentioned that, on the fifteenth day of the third moon, Lynx's heir presented himself at the residence of his sworn Uncles. He talked to them for a short while in a secluded nook. The minute the three myrmidons emerged from the room, they each slashed their blades across their throats. What kind of conversation do you think they could have had while in the nook?"

To this, Orchid replied, "Could Lynx's son have related to the three myrmidons the pains taken by his father in devising his scheme?"

Quad answered most approvingly, "You are right. If the three myrmidons had not regretted having wrongly taken the life of their sworn Brother, would they have slit their own throats in public? The Dashing King was still alive at the time and the secret had to remain concealed. It is a pity that these three boorish fellows had once again been blinded by their sense of loyalty and the code of chivalry. Taking the life of their sworn Brother was already one fatal mistake, and taking their own lives without leaving word with their children that Lynx's son should not be made to suffer for it, was another irredeemable mistake. At that moment, they must have been so deeply drowned in their own sorrow and remorse that they simply overlooked everything else. Ever since then, the animus incurred by the four families was to pass on by ancestral transmission to the progeny of each of the four families.

"Inside the private room, the son of Lynx of the Sky told his three sworn Uncles that this secret could only be divulged after a hundred years, in the year Yi Chou. By that year, the Dashing King would have passed away, even if he were destined to live to a great age. If the secret had been divulged too soon, the Manchu Court would certainly have conducted a massive search, which would have again put the Dashing King's life into jeopardy. The Hu Family has known this secret for a long time, but the other three families had not. By the time the secret was handed down to Master Gully of the Hu Family, the one-hundred-year period had expired. This allowed him to dispatch Yama, the osteopath, to the Gilt-faced Buddha with an explanation.

"The second message, which Yama was to convey to Phoenix, concerned the circumstances surrounding the death of the fathers of the Gilt-faced Buddha and Tian the Young Master. These two elders never returned after making a journey to the land beyond the Pass one year earlier. Their loss was reported some ten years before Master Gully and Phoenix the Knight-errant challenged each other to a duel.

"The two elders were both adept fighters, spoken of with awe by their Brothers-at-Arms. As their sudden disappearance was shrouded in mystery, it was held that the person who dispatched them must be a renowned warrior. Master Gully's usual domicile was the land beyond the Pass. His family was an inveterate enemy of the Miao and Tian Families. It therefore did not take anyone long to come to the conclusion that Master Gully was the culprit. For ten years or so before the incident in question, the Gilt-faced Buddha and Tian the Young Master had been making enquiries through the length and breadth of the country, but all to no avail. They failed even to make the acquaintance of Master Gully. Finally, the Gilt-faced Buddha's last ploy was to boast that his sobriquet was the Invincible Under the Sky. He hoped thus to taunt Master Gully into journeying from beyond the Pass. His enemy read his intention, and therefore did not pay heed to it. Meanwhile, Master Gully continued to travel far and wide in search of the two old ones, Miao and Tian. Only by locating them could he then hope to meet the Gilt-faced Buddha in person and prove his innocence.

"Where there is a will, there is a way. After carrying out a reconnaissance for years, Master Gully finally succeeded in obtaining information about these two. By that time, his wife was already with child. She was a Southerner. She suddenly felt terribly homesick as she neared her delivery day. Being an affectionate and loving husband, Master Gully therefore accompanied her on the trip to the South. When he arrived at the town of Tang, he was challenged to a duel by Fan the Ringleader and Tian the Young Master. Later, he was challenged to another fight by the Gilt-faced Buddha.

"When Master Gully dispatched Yama on his mission, he wished the Gilt-faced Buddha to know that soon after he had escorted his wife back to her village of origin, he would take him to retrieve the body of his father in person, so that Phoenix the knight-errant could gain first-hand information concerning the circumstances surrounding his death. The two seniors, Miao and Tian, had died in such disgrace that Master Gully felt it would be wrong to recount the circumstances to their heirs in person; the best way was to take them to the site and let them discover the truth for themselves.

"The third part of the message that Yama was to take to Phoenix was about the poniard once wielded by the Dashing King. This poniard houses an enormous treasure. Needless to say, there is both gold and silver, as well as countless numbers of precious stones and prize jewellery."

The Company was greatly surprised on hearing this. It seemed to them that the poniard did not even have room for a tiny ingot, so how could there be room to house a countless number of precious stones and prize jewellery?

Quad carried on with his story: "That evening, Master Gully explained to Yama everything in connection with the treasure. You will be surprised if you listen to what I shall tell you next.

"After the Dashing King had taken the capital, the Imperial Court of the Ming Dynasty, families of the Royal Household, ranking vassals, and army generals soon surrendered. These people had all led lives of wealth and luxury. The Dashing King's military officers decreed that they should relinquish their fortunes as ransom. Within a few days, the treasure poured in in heaps and piles, its worth reaching an astonishing figure. Later, when the Dashing King withdrew from the capital, he commissioned his trusted army leaders to convey the treasure to a secure place for concealment. He had been intending to use this priceless possession for maintaining and rewarding his followers to attempt an eventual come-back. He drew the hiding place for the treasure on a map and locked the key to decipher the map in the poniard. Before making his escape from Jiugong Mountain, the Dashing King handed both the map and the poniard to his myrmidon, Lynx of the Sky. When Lynx was killed, the map and the poniard then found themselves transferred into the hands of his sworn Brothers. Not long after this, Lynx's heir regained possession of these two articles by force.

"In the course of the past hundred or so years, and in the course of the ensuing battles, these two objects kept changing owners. The poniard eventually remained in the safekeeping of the Tian Family of the Dragon Lodge, while the map became an heirloom of the Miao Family. Neither families knew that a great secret was hidden in each of their possessions. Hence, no attempt was ever made to retrieve the hidden treasure. Though this secret was known to members of the Hu Family who had been passing it down from generation to generation, they, likewise, could not recover the lost treasure as they had in their possession neither the map nor the poniard.

"Master Gully furnished the Gilt-faced Buddha with information about the hidden treasure, asking him to retrieve the goods of value and distribute them as alms to all the poor. He even suggested staging a revolt using this fortune, to drive the Manchus beyond the Pass, and then returning the rule of China to the Hans.

"Each of the three secrets Master Gully entrusted to Yama for transmission to the Gilt-faced Buddha carried an implication of great consequence. Master Gully was baffled, until death, by the Gilt-faced Buddha's insisting on challenging him to a duel and coming to grapple with him, even after his having divulged all the secrets. The Gilt-faced Buddha might have, after all, assumed the title of a knight-errant in vain, as he failed even to distinguish right from wrong; or, he might have refused to credit any of the three strange messages. To him, perhaps, all the events seemed too strange to believe." When Quad reached this part of the story, he heaved a heavy sigh.

* * *

All this while, Century had been listening with rapt attention in silence. Suddenly, he broke in, "I know the reason why the Gilt-faced Buddha insisted on challenging Gully to a duel. But I do not intend to dwell on it at the present moment. Answer me this one question: why are you here on this mountain?" This was the question everyone had long been awaiting.

Immediately, Quad came forward with an answer, in awe-inspired tones, "I am here to take vengeance for the death of Master Gully."

"Take vengeance? On whom?" returned Century.

"On the one who took the life of Master Gully," shouted Quad, with a sneer in his voice.

Orchid turned pale with horror, muttering, "Are you trying to harm my father?"

Quad hastened to assure her, "Master Gully did not die at the hands of the Gilt-faced Buddha, but was dispatched by a creature known formerly as Yama, a one-time osteopath, who later renounced the world to become a monk, with the assumed name of Tree."

The Company assembled was startled on hearing this, thinking to themselves, "How could Gully possibly have been dispatched by Tree?"

Suddenly, Tree raised himself to his full height. He let out a loud laugh and said, "Well, I dare you to kill me. Attack me at once!"

Quad replied, in a quiet tone, "I have already set my hand to it. I vouchsafe that you will not survive seven days and seven nights from this hour."

Everyone shuddered when this verdict was pronounced, wondering how Quad had managed to play his vile trick in the dark. Tree could not hide his fear, and yet remained undaunted as he bawled the words, "You think you can plot against me, thick-headed as you are?"

Quad immediately answered sharply, "It will not only be you. No one on this mountain, male or female, young or old, will last for more than seven days and seven nights."

On a sudden, the Company feared for their lives. Some started to their feet, dumbfounded, while others were wide-eyed, preparing to stand up. Since reaching the summit, everyone had been gripped by a feeling of acute uneasiness. Quad's last sentence may have struck the ears as ludicrous, yet, under the circumstances, it was enough to fill everyone once more with a gloomy foreboding. The Company was gripped by fear, powerless to express what was preying on their minds.

At length, Tree spat angrily, "What have you mixed with the food and drink?"