A Martial Artist's Death, the Nation-Guarding Junior Protector

"What do you want?"

Lian Youming walked ahead of the others along the long passage.

The woman smiled. "Naturally, old medicine to prolong our lives... and those treasures."

Firelight flickered on all sides, illuminating the carvings on the stone walls and the strange writing on the stone tablets.

Lian Youming grew curious. He had been captured anyway and had calmed down. He strolled along without the slightest tension on his face. "Which of you hasn't licked blood off a blade? You're still afraid of death?"

A rugged, bearded man in a blue Mao suit scoffed. "Boy, do you really not understand, or are you playing dumb? Didn't Li Da ever tell you about a martial artist's death?"

Lian Youming shook his head. "I don't have a master."

The gaudily dressed lady giggled. "Fine, I like the look of you, so I'll open your eyes a little. To martial artists, every bone in the human body is a shackle. Everything we do is merely a process of turning clumsiness into skill and breaking those shackles. When ordinary people grow old, their limbs naturally stiffen and become clumsy, all because their Qi weakens, their strength wanes, and their essence and Qi disperse. In a sense, practicing martial arts is about retaining that essence and Qi, even strengthening them, and restoring youth."

The woman folded her arms. Though she wore ankle boots, her footsteps were silent and light.

"Restoring youth has never meant turning back your years. It means accumulating essence and Qi. They're strongest in a person's prime. What martial artists do is build on that level, strengthen it, and prolong it. Keep it going until you're sixty or seventy, and you, too, can restore your youth."

At this point, the woman asked him, "With every breath we martial artists take, our blood vessels swell and our body heat rises. Our flesh becomes like a furnace. Do you think that's good or bad?"

Lian Youming walked unhurriedly. After a little thought, he answered with a question. "So that's why we need to temper our sinews and bones, and use internal breath to temper our organs-to bear that burden?"

The woman said approvingly, "Not bad, though still a little shallow. It isn't about bearing it, but harmony. The stronger your essence and Qi, the hotter the fire. But the body is a cage of shackles, like a furnace. Too much fire damages it, yet the fire can't be extinguished. Even an ordinary person might fall seriously ill if their essence and Qi surge too fiercely. What about martial artists? We need the spirit's assistance. Whether the furnace fire burns high or low depends entirely on the mind's control: stirring it, suppressing it, or letting it flow like clouds and water. The three elements of essence, Qi, and spirit must blend like milk and water, indistinguishable from one another."

Lian Youming looked thoughtful. "So having overly vigorous essence and Qi is bad, too?"

The woman sighed. "It isn't bad. Training, training-in the end, what you train is control over yourself. But people grow old. Essence and Qi can still be strengthened with outside supplements, but how do you strengthen the spirit? Once the body ages, the spirit declines, and the heart turns to dead ashes, the furnace fire loses control. Then the essence and Qi inside you rush outward and scatter like a raging fire. That is a martial artist's death, the calamity of dissipating cultivation."

Someone else chimed in. "You must have heard of Du Xinwu? He was a peerless master, yet he died from dissipating cultivation, too. Before he died, his body shrank until he was like a monkey. That was because the essence and Qi surging outward crushed every bone in his body. Once the essence and Qi were gone, his muscles and sinews contracted, as though a pair of invisible hands were trying to crush him."

Lian Youming's eyes shifted. "Then as long as I keep my spirit vigorous, I won't face that calamity?"

"Easier said than done." The woman sighed repeatedly. "The body aging and the spirit declining doesn't mean your spirit ages along with your body. Rather, all the things in this world, its countless changes, birth, aging, sickness, death, and every kind of suffering are blades that wound the spirit and sever thoughts. When you grow up and grow old, when family leaves, your lover passes away, and friends die, can you remain unmoved? Once a thought stirs, if you can't hold your mind steady, a deadly calamity might descend upon you."

The bearded man grew interested, too, and cut in. "Boy, never mind martial artists-even ordinary people sometimes die of grief when faced with parting and death. Some fall seriously ill; some go white-haired overnight. Those are all results of essence and Qi rushing outward and dispersing. A martial artist's essence and Qi are far more violent. Once they surge outward, it's like a great river bursting its banks. In an instant, they can drain all the life from a person's body... tsk, tsk, tsk..."

At this, everyone showed deep fear and wariness toward this "martial artist's death."

Lian Youming was somewhat skeptical. They were making it sound far too mystical.

"Have you seen it yourselves? Or experienced it personally?"

They all fell silent again.

"No, we've only heard of it. Only peerless masters who retain their vigorous essence and Qi to a certain age encounter that calamity of dissipating cultivation. Though we're all capable fighters in our day, we're still some distance from being peerless masters."

Lian Youming rolled his eyes. Every one of them had spoken with such certainty and conviction, yet after all that, it was only hearsay.

He suddenly thought of the Mountain-Guarding Old Man, and the strange scene when they first met last autumn: the old man exhaling gray Qi as his frame rapidly collapsed.

Could that have been a manifestation of "dissipating cultivation"?

"Then why are you still fighting over it?"

The woman snorted. "Li Da wants that dose of old medicine to save someone. How could we let him have his way? Besides, it might be useless to ordinary people, but to a peerless master, it's priceless. What the hell do you know?"

A thought stirred in Lian Youming's mind. "You seem very afraid of Li Da?"

The bearded man sneered. "If you belonged to the White Lotus Sect, you'd be afraid, too. That's the 'Nation-Guarding Junior Protector.' We all started practicing martial arts by tempering our sinews and bones. That boy watched first and trained afterward. Before he was ten, he'd already made a circuit through the north with an extraordinary master. The old one sought people out to fight, and the young one watched from the sidelines, seeing thousands of fighting methods from every school and sect."

Lian Youming clicked his tongue. "That impressive?"

The group talked as they walked, walking as they talked.

After winding this way and that for some fifteen or twenty minutes, they passed through a wide-open stone door, and the view before them suddenly opened up.

A massive natural cavern came into view. Countless wooden crates lay stacked or scattered about, along with plenty of Kwantung Army equipment and supplies. Canned food, uniforms, and steel helmets were piled haphazardly into something like a small mountain.

Seeing the others behind him staring, Lian Youming swept out a foot. A crate fell and shattered with a crash, spilling sealed rolls of silver dollars, along with gold bars and silver ingots. Beneath them were even numerous antique paintings and calligraphy sealed in wooden boxes, as well as old books and ancient texts.

Lian Youming glanced casually over them, and his eyelid began twitching wildly. On one moldy volume were the unmistakable ancient characters for "Yongle Encyclopedia."

There also seemed to be traces of fierce fighting nearby-fist marks, footprints, and the like-but it appeared to have happened long ago. Cobwebs tangled together, and dust lay thick. The moment they entered, dust filled the air.

Many skeletons also lay around the wooden crates. Apart from some Japanese soldiers, there were actually several figures dressed in Manchu clothing, as well as others in fitted fighting clothes and long gowns. They looked every bit like styles from the Republican era.

Just as the group arrived, quite a few people rushed out of another tunnel leading into the cavern.

Lian Youming glanced over and saw the two from the Xingyi Sect among them. Clearly, these were forces from the various martial sects.

The two sides immediately faced off in a tense deadlock, swords all but drawn, killing intent surging.

Lian Youming shouted, "What are you standing around for? Hurry up and take it!"

At his shout, everyone strode toward the crates. Having entered a mountain of treasure, how could they return empty-handed?

Lian Youming was not pretending. He genuinely wanted to take something. Large items were hard to carry, and gold was too heavy, so he could only steal glances around while rummaging through the antiques. Didn't training and nourishing himself cost money? Didn't marrying and having children cost money? And if he married a glutton, could he afford to feed her with a meager family fortune?

Then he hunched over and slipped toward the entrance.

"Bye-bye, folks!"

But several figures suddenly blocked his path. The lady was there again, smiling as she said, "Boy, don't bother showing off those little tricks. Be good and turn around. Listen, and don't make us whip you. We'll pull down your trousers and whip your backside."

But as Lian Youming straightened, his eyes suddenly lit up. He walked straight around them. "Li Da!"

"What are you yelling for? Li Da's not... Li Da!!!"

The woman looked at Lian Youming with some distaste, thinking this was another of his little tricks. But when she turned, she saw a tall, lean figure slowly approaching through the tunnel. Her expression changed dramatically, and even her voice turned shrill.

Li Da walked with his hands behind his back, his tone airy. "Let him go. You can each pick any two things here to take away, and I can pretend none of this happened. Otherwise, don't blame my fists for showing no mercy."

"You got it?" The woman looked uncertain, then sneered again. "Good. That saves us the trouble of looking for you."

Li Da seemed to have been through a fierce battle. His clothes were slightly soiled at the hem, and there was blood on his cheek. Yet his expression remained unchanged, as innocent and carefree as ever. He could not even be bothered to raise his hands as he approached step by step.

"Kill!"

As the cry rang out, several White Lotus Sect experts sprang like hares and swooped like falcons, kicking off walls and running along them. Techniques rose and fell as they unleashed fists and feet, deadly moves following one after another.

The grin slowly vanished from Lian Youming's face. His pupils seemed to shrink to the size of beans in an instant as he stared at Li Da in a daze, full of disbelief.

At that moment, he finally saw what a great master was.

Facing that unbroken onslaught of wind and driving rain, Li Da turned left and right, hopped forward and back, as though eyes covered his entire body. He actually walked through the group's watertight killing moves, circling past several people, avoiding wave after wave of fists, and slipping through layer upon layer of kicking shadows. Finally, amid everyone's gasps of shock, he stood before the woman.

The entire cavern fell deathly silent.

"Could you have already reached that realm?"

The woman looked grim, her mouth and tongue dry.

Li Da said gently, "Still a long way off... Let's withdraw first. Something strange is hidden in this fortress, and the map is missing a section, too. Going deeper could be extremely dangerous."

Lian Youming could not help asking, "Is the map wrong?"

Li Da sighed. "It only maps the Kwantung Army Underground Fortress. There are more passages deeper in. There seems to be a great tomb hidden there."

Hearing this, Lian Youming immediately thought of the other leather map in the Jade Casket. It was also of Changbai Mountain. Could it be a map of the tomb?

So that was it. This Underground Fortress actually connected to a great tomb. No wonder it was so difficult to navigate.

He was curious. "Did you get it?"

Li Da smiled. "You want it, too?"

Lian Youming shook his head. "If you didn't get it, wouldn't I have been bait for nothing?"

Li Da smiled faintly. "Fortunately, yes. Presumably, certain beings in the tomb didn't want me going any deeper, either. It just took some effort... Come on, let's get out first."

At the prospect of leaving, delight first flashed across Lian Youming's face, followed by a trace of puzzlement.

Li Da had gone to such trouble to lure these White Lotus Sect members out. Shouldn't there have been a major clash? Were they really just leaving like this?

And these experts from the various sects...

For a moment, Lian Youming hurriedly went back over everything that had happened.

He suddenly remembered a title he had heard someone outside mention earlier, while he was in the wooden cabin.

Vice Sect Leader.

Lian Youming raised his brows. As he followed Li Da out, he looked toward those White Lotus Sect fiends.

Following the air circulating through the tunnel, he also faintly caught a rank smell, just like the one he had smelled outside.

Tracing the source of that rank breeze, Lian Youming stole a look and saw a cold-faced woman in black walking to one side with the two Xingyi Sect experts.

The Beast-Driving Technique?

He had pondered this before and asked some elders in the villages. The methods he learned amounted to only three: stimulation through sound, raising and taming beasts from infancy, or guiding them with scents.

That rank smell had been present when the tiger appeared outside earlier...

As his thoughts raced, Li Da suddenly said softly, "You go on ahead."

Lian Youming's heart tightened. He immediately understood what was about to happen, changed his pace, and hurried forward.

At the very moment Li Da spoke and Lian Youming quickened his steps, the Xingyi Sect expert who moved like a monkey suddenly gave a strange laugh. "I told you we couldn't fool him. A sneak attack is rather old hat... But you really are arrogant, daring to lure us out all alone. Nation-Guarding Junior Protector, do you think you're Sun Lutang? You want to uncover our Vice Sect Leader's identity? Dream your grand spring-and-autumn dream."

Sure enough, they were all White Lotus Sect plants.

Up ahead, Lian Youming suddenly turned and shouted, "It's that woman in black!"

Li Da smiled. "I know. Hurry and get farther away."

Lian Youming knew he could not help and would only cause trouble by staying, so he planned to hide behind them and take a surprise shot.

But before he could draw his pistol, just as he reached a bend in a passage and had barely caught two breaths, he suddenly felt a vicious presence rushing at his face as a rank wind churned. Directly ahead, an enormous beast came pacing toward him, its fangs bared. Drool mixed with blood dripped from the corners of its mouth, trailing all along its path. The thick stench of blood was almost enough to make him vomit.

Its heavy footsteps seemed to tread on Lian Youming's heart, pressing down until he could barely breathe.

What came into view was a striped tiger-and a gaping, blood-filled maw.

"Roar!"

Hearing the tiger's roar from the other end of the tunnel, the woman in black stepped out from the crowd. Her features were lovely and cold, her brows and eyes filled with menace. She said icily, "I sprinkled a beast-luring drug on that boy. He's as good as dead... I am Gu Yutong, Vice Sect Leader of the White Lotus Sect. Let me experience your skill!"

Li Da finally lowered his hands to his sides. "The roads of the martial world were never easy to travel. Clouds overturn, rain reverses, and treacherous changes abound. A tiger may be vicious, but it is no match for the human heart. He has to make his own way through... Still, whether he dies remains uncertain. You, on the other hand, are certainly in some danger."

Between the rise and fall of his words, within that tiny space, killing intent suddenly erupted.

(End of chapter)