Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Volume 5 Chapter 12 part1

Book 5 Chapter 12 - The Battle of Two Clans

Xiang Yushan made arrangement that the three stayed in the cabins on the second level just below the top deck; the other three cabins across the hall, two belonged to Big Sister Xiao and Xiang Yushan. As for the last cabin, Xiang Yushan did not reveal the occupant's identity to them.

For the last few days, Susu has been tossed from side to side, she was already exhausted. After the banquet, her qi bubbled up, she immediately went back to her room to sleep.

Kou Zhong went to Xu Ziling's room to chat. "This time we are doomed,” he said, "Looks like Su Jie has some interest toward that Xiang fellow. I don't understand it, even toward someone like Liu Heita she did not show any regards, but toward this fellow, whose face green and whose lips white all year long, who looks like he never have enough to eat, she could have good impression.”

Xu Ziling was certain, "I have no doubt that Su Jie's real sweetheart is still Li Dage. I just don't know what had actually happened between the two of them that made Su Jie's heart seems to be dead to him. No way! We must not let Su Jie fall in love with this fellow with dirty past.”

Kou Zhong said, "Unless we leave right away, it is very difficult for us to get involved in this kind of matter. But if we avoid the problem by walking away, we must think first whether Su Jie will be willing to, also not only it does not make sense, we will even lose the opportunity for revenge. Could it be that we can take the account book on our own and stop the sedan chair to cry out our grievances? [Translator's note: the picture here is stopping government official on the street (who was usually traveling by riding sedan chair) to lodge a complain.] With one chop Yuwen Huaji would be able to kill us.”

"Do you trust that Xiang kid?” Xu Ziling asked, "If we dare to believe his words, simply hand over the account book to him, let him deal with it. And then we can go to Luoyang to look for Li Dage. That would be better than watching Su Jie with worried frown all day long.”

"What do you mean worried frown?” Kou Zhong countered, "Didn't you see that Xiang kid managed to coax happiness from her just now? But your proposal worth considering; if we came across Yuwen Huagu in Jiangdu, our little lives would be difficult to protect!”

Xu Ziling shook his head and said, "Still won't work. Niang's enmity must be avenged by us personally, if just because of little difficulty we then use someone else to achieve it, we are practically letting our own conscience down.”

Kou Zhang was cross, "Crooked, it was you who said it; straight, it was also you who said it, but now you seem to blame me?”

Xu Ziling smiled apologetically, "Just consider I am in the wrong! Hai! That loose Dajie [big sister] seems to be very interested in you; perhaps tonight she is going to grope your bed!”

Kou Zhong jumped in fright, "Don't talk nonsense,” he said, "If she found out that I am a green-head kid [i.e. a rookie], and afterwards she revealed my sealed red-packet, will I still a face to live my life? Ha! When we return to our hometown in brocade gown later, we must visit the biggest brothel, that Tianxian Lou [tianxian - fairy, lou - storied building], to look for that place's most popular Miss Yuling to accompany us for a drink. Who knows? Based on our status, we may be able to get intimate with her.”

Xu Ziling was not the least bit interested; he said, "If you want to go, then you can go alone! Just make sure you won't bump into Yuwen Huagu.”

Kou Zhong was astounded, "Since when did you change your nature? Previously, didn't you want to hang around in the brothel more than I do?”

As if he still had some lingering fears, Xu Ziling said, "Every time we went to the brothel, which one did we have good ending? If you don't have the guts to look for a woman to accompany you for a drink, just ask that Xiang kid to come with you. Perhaps Tianxian Lou also belongs to his family.”

Kou Zhong's eyes grew big. "Ha! I get it,” he said, "Your interest is on that Zhen Sao who sells steamed buns [see Book 1, Chapter 1 & 2]. Kid, you are really bad!”

Xu Ziling was so angry he nearly punched Kou Zhong to teach him a lesson. "Am I that kind of person?” he furiously asked, "Zhen Sao is Old Feng's concubine. If you keep speaking nonsense, I won't talk to you anymore.”

Kou Zhong laughed and said, "Daye, please calm down. I just saw that you are too uptight, so I deliberately provoked you. You knew so well that brothels are very dangerous, yet you still want me to go alone to take risks? Can you be considered my brother?”

Unable to argue with him, Xu Ziling helplessly said, "Just do whatever you want to do! But you must never let Su Jie know.”

Kou Zhong was greatly delighted, "We have learned a little bit of disguising skill anyway, we could disguise ourselves as a bit older men, Yuwen Huagu has not seen us for many years, even if he came face-to-face with us, I guarantee that he would not have any idea.”

Right this moment suddenly there was a knock on their door, Xiang Yushan's voice said, "Are two Dage still awake? May Xiaodi come in to chat for a moment or two?”

The two boys frowned, but they really had no reason to refuse; without any better option, they had to let him in.

Xiang Yushan sat comfortably in front of them; he said with a laugh, "I am accustomed to sleep late, I can't sleep before the third watch [between 11pm - 1am]. I am really jealous of people who have the good fortune of falling asleep as soon as they lie down like Miss Susu.”

Kou Zhong stood up; he left the bed and walked over to sit in one of the chairs by the window. Giving Xiang Yushan a sidelong glance, he said, "No wonder your face is green your lips white all day long, like people who are drowsy.”

Xiang Yushan let out a wry smile and said, "My countenance is unsightly, but it's definitely not because of lack of sleep, but two years ago, when I was training internal energy, I suffered fire deviation. Kou Xiong misunderstood!”

Xu Ziling was astounded, "So that's how it is. What exactly was the martial art that created a problem?”

Xiang Yushan seriously said, "Have you heard about the ‘Yin Hou' [Empress Yin] Zhu Yuyan?”

The two boys shook their head with blank expression.

Xiang Yushan said, "I am not surprised that you have not heard about her. ‘Yin Hou' Zhu Yuyan is the Sect Leader of Yin Gui Pai [not sure if it means anything or perhaps a place name: yin - negative/feminine (from yin-yang), gui - tenth in order, pai -sect/school]. It is said that this Sect is the most mysterious gang or sect [bang pai] in Jianghu, extremely heretical. They are the mortal enemy of the equally mysterious, unfathomable Ci Hang Jing Zhai [again, not sure how to translate this: ci - compassionate, hang - boat/to sail, jing - calm/not moving, zhai - building/fort]. Every once in a while, both factions would send out their prominent disciples to have a life or death decisive battle against each other. It is said that whichever faction lost, for the next twenty years no one from that faction is allowed to take even half a step in Jianghu. Fortunately, for the last hundred years or so, Ci Hang Jing Zhai has always been the winner, otherwise, if Yin Gui Pai appeared and do evil, I really don't know what kind of disaster would befall the Jianghu.”

Listening to his narration, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were ‘you look at me, I glance at you', thinking that anything that happened in Jianghu, nothing could be considered too bizarre.

"So this Zhu Yuyan is very formidable?” Xu Ziling asked.

Xiang Yushan breathed out a mouthful of cold air, "Do I need to tell you that? Our previous generation considered her to be the number one martial art master of the heretical world. According to our intelligence, after nearly a hundred years, the most outstanding masters Yin Gui Pai sent out are extremely confident that they would defeat Ci Hang Jing Zhai's representatives in the next battle. If that were the real case, the ups and downs in the Jianghu would have another variable that is a lot more difficult to predict.”

"Is this person a man or a woman? Young or old?” Kou Zhong wondered. [Translator's note: in Chinese ‘he' and ‘she' sounds the same, although Xiang Yushan used female radical.]

"That, I do not know!” Xiang Yushan replied, "My father has a bit of relationship with one of Yin Gui Pai elders, the information we have actually came from him, but it is limited to that much. Those who want to enter Yin Gui Pai, every single one of them must make heavy oath never to divulge any Sect matters to outsiders. That elder was drunk and had a slip of the tongue; afterwards he was extremely remorseful and implored my father not to tell others what he had just said.”

Kou Zhong was baffled, "If that's the case, why is it that you have no scruples in telling us about this matter now?”

Xiang Yushan angrily said, "Because it was because of him that I trained and damaged my body. Before leaving, he wrote a secret instruction on how to train martial art, telling my father to practice it. Realizing that he himself is not a good material to train upper-class martial art skill, my father handed over the secret manual to me. Who would have thought that it was something harmful? If the practitioner cannot refrain from sexual desire, his meridians and qi will deviate and he will perish. Not only that, once one started, one will be addicted and will practice endlessly until fire deviation occurs. Fortunately I have always been lazy, plus I don't like to sleep around with women. After suffering fire deviation, Jing Xian [sic, I think previously it was Xiao Xian] Bangzhu [gang leader] wasted considerable energy to save me, so that I did not become a handicapped person. Tell me, should I keep a secret for someone like him?”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling stared blankly; it was only then did they realize that such a vicious, despicable man existed in the world. They could not help sympathizing with this Xiang Yushan fellow.

Kou Zhong cleared his throat and said, "I can't believe you don't like sleeping with women.”

Xiang Yushan embarrassedly said, "It's not that I don't like sleeping with women, it's just that I don't like to frequent brothels [orig. to pick the flowers and trample the grass], unless it's with the woman that I really like. After fire deviation, my power diminished considerably, otherwise, why would I stop if I achieved any success?”

"Are you completely recovered now?” Xu Ziling asked.

Xiang Yushan dejectedly replied, "If I am fully recovered, my countenance would not be so unsightly. Every time there's a wind or a rain, extreme cold or extreme heat, I am aching all over and the pain is so unbearable that I wanted to commit suicide. That old thief indeed inflicted much suffering to me.”

"It can't be treated?” Kou Zhong asked.

Xiang Yushan sighed. "I lost track how many people have examined me, final verdict was unless someone with both extreme heat and extreme cold innate qi helping me unblocking my eight extraordinary channels, it would be difficult for me to recover.”

Kou Zhong's heart was moved, "Can two people do it?” he asked.

"Not impossible,” Xiang Yushan replied, "But to succeed, both cold and heat must be of common origin. Ay! Ordinarily, when people cultivate internal energy, they would lean to either hot or cold. The most appalling thing is that these two aspects must be innate qi. Martial art master who has this kind of innate qi, to find one is already very difficult, much less someone who simultaneously has both hot and cold qi? I have already given up early on!”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at each other; and then both of them burst out laughing at the same time, "Kid!” they said, "You are saved!”

By daybreak the next morning, the ship sailed past Chen Liu. Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, Susu and Xiang Yushan, four people were having breakfast inside the cabin. Susu said in amazement, "Xiang Gongzi must have had a very good sleep last night, you look a lot more spirited!”

Xiang Yushan excitedly said, "It has nothing to do with me sleeping well, but the chronic ailment that has been plaguing me for the last two years has been cured half by the two Dage last night. One more night and then I will be completely recovered. Kou Xiong and Xu Xiong have become like my second parents.”

Kou Zhong was still alive, but he had no spirit, "Not only I am not your parents, I am not your, this old kid's Dage. You are merely counting your chicken before they are hatched, just one night and I am so exhausted that I feel like I am dying, and you want me to do it again tonight?”

Xu Ziling still had lingering fears as well, "Turns out Xiang Xiong's injury is so severe; I will need at least two days of rest before I could continue.”

After asking what had happened, Susu said, "If you want to save someone, you have to save him to the end! Today you ought to sit in meditation to cultivate your internal energy, once your spirit is restored, you ought to send streams of qi to cure Xiang Gongzi's injury.”

Xiang Yushan was both grateful and apologetic; he said, "You should take two-day rest.”

Kou Zhong was unhappy, "We'll see about that!” he snapped, "Right! Last night I forgot to ask you why the battle between Dugu Clan and Yuwen Clan is so fierce. Logically, since Yang Guang's birth mother was from the Dugu Clan, compared to the Yuwen Clan, they have a lot closer relationship with the imperial household, why would they let Yuwen Clan gain an upper hand?”

"It's a long story [orig. as long as a bolt of cloth],” Xiang Yushan respectfully replied, "All Yang Jian's [first emperor of Sui (541-604), reigned 581-604] five sons were born of the Empress from Dugu Clan. At that time Yang Jian was immeasurably content, thinking that since they were blood brothers who shared the same mother, there would not be any strive over power or battle over the throne. Who would have thought that Lao'er [second son] Yang Guang would murder his father and brothers in cold blood? Not only that, he also raped Yang Jian's beloved imperial concubine Madame Chen, and promiscuously slept around women's apartment at the palace. Dugu Clan people have the most detailed knowledge about these matters; therefore, Yang Guang is extremely wary of them. For that reason he turned to the Yuwen Clan and trained them to control the Dugu Clan. Naturally there are a lot of others details in this matter that outsiders are not supposed to know, and thus I am not clear on it myself!”

Chapter end