Book 9
Lu Miaozi said apathetically, “Before my death, can you come here to see me every night?”
Xu Ziling nodded and said, “As long as I am still here, I can accompany Mister every night to chat.”
Lu Miaozi said, “If it were Kou Zhong, he would have been very eager to learn all kinds of skill from me; you have neither greed nor ambition, and are at home wherever you are. Thirty years ago I would have chosen Kou Zhong instead of you; but today, you are my best choice.”
Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling said, “Compared to Mister, I am a complete layman; I am afraid it would be hard for me to learn anything in such a short period of time, or live up to Mister’s expectation.”
Lu Miaozi smiled slightly and said, “Success or failure, you and I need not worry about it; just consider it an idle chat. Were it not for coincidentally meeting you in this time, I would not have any interest to hand down the understanding I gained during the last thirty years to you.”
Xu Ziling mused, “Supposing Kou Zhong asked me what I learned from Mister, it would be difficult for me not to tell him honestly.”
Lu Miaozi was unable to help laughing; he said, “You are very forthcoming; but what I am going to teach you is the ‘natural way’; it will be useful only for someone with indifferent attitude toward life like you, Kou Zhong will not be interested. What’s the harm in telling him honestly?”
Xu Ziling breathed out a sigh of relief. “That’s good,” he said, “I thought Mister was going to teach me how to build all kinds of mechanism and gadgets.”
Lu Miaozi laughed involuntarily again; he appeared to be considering the best way to unload everything in his mind to the young martial art expert with extraordinary natural ability in his presence.
Kou Zhong flew to the top of the bell tower on the Ranch Master’s residence. He saw row after row of roof ridges extending continuously to the distance. There were lantern lights everywhere, and guards, maids and servants walking along the corridors connecting the buildings.
Using the technique he learned from Chen Laomou, he quickly determined which building ought to be the main building, and that building should be the guesthouse. With further investigation, he was sure he could find where Li Xiuning was staying tonight.
He could not refrain his heart from sighing.
She was scheduled to see and talk to him the next day, yet he still wanted to see her tonight; if it was not superfluous, then what was it?
But soon his mind was flooded with blazing fire of desire. He was about to fly toward his target, a cluster of courtyards, when in a distant building he saw a shadow flashed.
Greatly astounded, Kou Zhong temporarily pushed Li Xiuning’s matter to the back of his mind and flew out to pursue.
Lu Miaozi slowly stood up and walked over to the window. Looking out at the steep rock wall of the opposite cliff, with his back toward Xu Ziling, he said in heavy voice, “Between the Heaven and the Earth, everything has its own law, as well as many superficial changes, but no departure from the original stand. The law has its own beginning, and also has its end.”
Xu Ziling was astounded, “The law has its own beginning, this logic is quite simple and easy to understand, but it has its end? I remain puzzled after pondering over it a hundred times.”
Turning around, Lu Miaozi smiled and said, “Didn’t I just say that after spent considerable time and energy for thirty years, I finally obtained an unexpected discovery? This is precisely the answer to your question.”
Xu Ziling smiled wryly and said, “Mister keeps dangling a carrot in front of me; can’t you just speak out?”
Lu Miaozi cheerfully said, “I just want you to have a deeper impression, hence I intentionally used some tricks.”
After pondering silently for half a day, Lu Miaozi slowly said, “Great spread out is numbered fifty; forty is used, nine remains. These two sentences are from ‘The Book of Changes’ [Yi Jing], which has always regarded as a teaching method of divination, simply because divination uses fifty stalks, which evolved into several methods. Except for one, I don’t know how many heaven and earth principles are hanging on these two sentences.”
And then he asked, “Have you read ‘The Book of Changes’?”
Xu Ziling’s thick face turned reddish; he shook his head indicating that he had not.
Lu Miaozi sighed and said, “When our ancient predecessors said anything related to these methods, due to their beliefs that mysteries of heaven must not be revealed, they always ‘hid the head and showed the tail’. Due to the proceeding sentence, ‘dividing two will take the shape of two’, which is precisely a divinatory diagram method, people have taken wrong steps in life, not knowing the usage of the hidden principle, and the principle of the hidden usage in the preceding two sentences; it is indeed the deepest layer of meaning of the law.”
It was the very first time that Xu Ziling had any exposure to the ‘changing principles’. His interest greatly piqued, he said, “Those two sentences sound interesting. What Heaven and Earth’s secret they actually contain?”
Remaining tranquil and calm, Lu Miaozi said, “Fifty is the perfect number. When the number reaches fifty, all living things under the heavens are on their places; there is no movement. However, if one number is missing and becomes forty-nine, there will be a lot of empty positions open. The other forty-nine will thus be on the move, there will be thousands changes and ten thousands usage; there will be no limit.”
Xu Ziling slapped the table and shouted with praise, “This explanation is exquisite beyond compare.”
Lu Miaozi was astounded, “Do you really understand what I was saying?” he asked.
“What’s so difficult to understand?” Xu Ziling asked in consternation, “Just like fifty chairs will seat fifty people. If these people are not allowed to change position, or allowed to go somewhere else, naturally there won’t be any changes. But if there was one less person vacating one chair, it’s only natural that there would be a lot of changes.”
After staring blankly at him for quite a long time, Lu Miaozi sighed and said, “You, this kid, indeed have superior natural talent; probably there won’t be any second person in the present age with that thought. What you just understood is precisely the essence of the law. It is called the ‘escaping first’; what has escaped is precisely this ‘one’. All the things that those river diagrams and stream books are talking about are no more than nature [innate] and nurture Bagua [eight divinatory trigrams of the Book of Changes]. From nature and nurture, the heaven and the earth exchange position, the universe turns around, and thus the change begins.”
After a short pause, he continued proudly, “Any knowledge between the Heaven and the Earth, including martial art and life, in its highest realm is how to find back this escaping ‘one’. Only after this ‘one’ is found will everything begin to return to the perfect ‘before the Heaven and the Earth discerned it’ realm. This is the greatest discovery I made after thirty years of hard thinking.”
Xu Ziling’s body shook severely; his tiger-eyes shot an unprecedented level of flashes. In that instant, he grasped one kind of mystery within a mystery, relating to the secret principle of the Heaven and the Earth.
Kou Zhong pushed his speed to its limit.
Inside his body, like flashes of lightning the vortex of cold energy traveled back and forth at an astonishing high speed within his meridians, enabling him to move nimbly with the same freedom of action of the fish swimming in the water; compared to before, the difference was like the Heaven and the Earth.
His feet landed on the back of a building’s roof, and he swiftly slid down to the ground. Passing through a moon gate at the entrance of a side garden, he swiftly moved across toward the back of a thicket, barely missing an elderly maid’s sight, who had just opened the window to look out. Somersaulting over the perimeter wall, he flitted diagonally to the top of a building nearby, and then ricocheted toward a horizontal branch protruding from a big tree next to the building. Borrowing the elastic energy of the branch he flew toward the top of another building, from where he just caught sight of the shadow was shooting up at an angle toward the top of the Inner Castle’s external wall.
Kou Zhong jumped in fright; but then immediately realized that the opposite side must have used flying rope with hook or similar tools; otherwise, other than Ning Daoqi, Bi Xuan, or other martial art masters their caliber, who could leap straight onto the city wall over fifteen zhang high?
Who was this person?
Kou Zhong’s toes pushed on the branch of an old Banyan tree by the wall; unleashing his qinggong and exerting his entire strength he flew to the top of the wall just like a fish leaping out of the water.
He was still about a zhang away from the top of the wall when he ran out of momentum. While Kou Zhong was groaning inwardly, suddenly he felt the vortex of cold energy within his body grew and multiplied without end, giving him a boost of power.
Greatly delighted, he raised a mouthful of true qi and lightly set his feet on the wall.
Due to its geographical advantage of inaccessible natural barrier, the Flying Horse Ranch’s defense was concentrated on the outer wall; they guarded against the outsiders but not against the insiders. Therefore, the Inner Castle defense was not as tight. Anybody who was familiar with the situation and knew how to avoid several sparsely located sentry posts and lookout towers, plus in possession of first class shenfa, would be able to enter.
Kou Zhong was an expert in escaping and hiding. As soon as he reached the top of the wall, he lay prostrate while craning out his neck to look back and forth.
The mountain town’s chain of buildings below the city wall extended all the way until the outside city wall.
Beyond that wall was the vast pasture, with tents everywhere and where the horses and the sheep whinnying and bleating.
After entering a small house with a courtyard, the dark shadow did not reappear. Kou Zhong sighed inwardly, knowing that he had to cancel his desire to meet Li Xiuning privately, a rare opportunity in thousands of years.
Leaping down the wall, he darted toward the building where the dark shadow disappeared.
Lu Miaozi’s face was radiant with a divine light, as he spoke word by word, “This ‘missing one’ or ‘escaping one’ is circulating around the world continually, it roams around incessantly, while at the same time exists inside all living things. Laozi [Lao-tze] called it Dao [Tao, ‘the way’], Sakyamuni called it Fu [Buddha/Buddhism]. The idea behind Fu is consciousness [Buddhist enlightenment]; thousands changes and ten thousands usage, there is no limit.”
Chapter 9 - Part 2
Xu Ziling slapped the table and said with a sigh, “This is indeed the most formidable xinfa [lit. heart law/method, I think I translated it as ‘mental cultivation’ before] in the martial art study; just like during the life and death battle, this ‘escaping one’ also circulating incessantly following the moves. If one can accurately grasp this concept, then one would be able to determine the opponent’s life and death.”
This time it was Lu Miaozi’s turn to be bewildered; frowning, he said, “I have never thought that this principle and martial art theory are related.”
Xu Ziling explained matter-of-factly, “Within the duel itself, the qi is produced by the orifice, and the original spot of the qi creation is the life and death orifice. If this orifice was broken, even Ning Daoqi, Bi Xuan and their peers would undoubtedly die. Supposing during the time the true qi is circulating within the body this orifice is also constantly moving, it will be just like the ‘escaping one’, with constant change following the Heaven’s enumeration. And thus the enemy would have no ability to grasp it or break it.”
Stunned, Lu Miaozi stared at him for half a day. He sighed and said, “This xinfa of yours, not only it has never been recorded in any ancient books or martial art manuals, nobody has ever mentioned it either. Ay! I always boasted that my intelligent surpasses others, just because I had extremely vast knowledge. It was only because I failed to focus on martial art that my accomplishment could not reach Ning Daoqi and his peers’ level. Who would have thought that only after seeing you today, I realize what exceptional talent in martial art study is really like?”
Xu Ziling said sheepishly, “I was just blathering; but this is really an interesting principle, I must study it carefully with Kou Zhong. I hope Mister would not mind?”
After staring blankly for quite a while, Lu Miaozi said, “Why would I mind? It seems to me that just now you have not fully expressed yourself; would you care to elaborate some more for me?”
Exerting himself, Xu Ziling said, “Just based on the qi orifice within one’s body: during battle, there will always be the strongest and the weakest points, which are also moving incessantly following the style’s changes. Being able to avoid the strong and strike the weak is the most formidable technique to control the enemy.”
Frowning, Lu Miaozi said, “This method maybe effective in dealing with ordinary martial art master, but Ning Daoqi, Zhu Yuyan, and the likes, I guarantee there won’t be any weak point to be found.”
Xu Ziling begged to differ; he said, “It’s not that they don’t have any weak point to exploit, it’s just that the strong and the weak merge together, so that others cannot find it! Supposing we can be one step ahead in finding the next move’s changes, by striking into an empty point, we can make them revealing the weakest point. Heavens! I finally understand the Yijian method. It’s like anticipating the next piece; each move is forcing the opponent to have no choice but to respond, to have no choice but to expose their weak points.”
Listening to that, Lu Miaozi was dumbstruck. It was quite half a day later that he regained his composure. First he revealed a bitterly self-deprecating expression, and then with a hoarse voice he said, “Now you can grasp the essence of this principle better than I do. I can teach you anything and you can use this profound theory to learn about landscape and building architecture, mechanism and various other subjects.”
Kou Zhong flitted across the rear courtyard of the big building. Passing through a long corridor, he reached the courtyard connecting the front and the rear sections. Pulling himself up, he waited on the roof for a moment before leaping back down on the ground, and moved toward the shadow under the window on the west side of the building. Just as he was about to take a peek inside, someone in the house cried out, “Huh?”
Kou Zhong was greatly shocked. Unexpectedly this person was so superior that he was able to detect his approaching; his martial art skill was definitely better than the one wearing black night-walker outfit Kou Zhong was stalking earlier. Not daring to be careless, like a lightning he hid behind a cluster of trees nearby.
A gust of wind ensued, a man in dark clothes flew out of the window, his luminous eyes scanned the surrounding, and then he jumped onto the roof.
The person in black clothes just now also jumped out the window, walked around the building to the west window, and called out in tender voice, “Nobody’s here! Are you sure you did not hear it wrong?” She was wearing a hood, so that only her eyes and nose were visible.
At his hiding place, Kou Zhong mused inwardly, ‘Turns out it’s a girl,’ but he was sure that he had not heard her voice before.
The man jumped down to the ground. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he said with a laugh, “Perhaps a rat passed by! It’s always good to be a bit more careful.”
Kou Zhong cursed in his heart, ‘Your Die is a rat!’ Narrowing his eyes until they appeared as a line, he looked at the man.
The man was between twenty-four, twenty-five, not too tall, but his shoulders broad and his waist solid. Although he could not be considered good looking, but there was a hint of manly man in him.
He was talking and laughing with the woman, but there was no smiling expression on his eyes; they look grim and callous. Under his thick eyebrows, his two eyes continuously scanned every nook and cranny in the dark courtyard, but somehow he missed the underbrush only about ten paces away from him.
The women spoke intimately, “How could I dare not to be careful? Aren’t I afraid to receive punishment from you like the other night?”
The man burst into lewd laughter; the arm around her waist moved toward her fragrant butts and he said, “It’s getting late, the old guy will be back from the feast soon, and I need to make a report. If we are successful this time, I can guarantee endless glory, splendor wealth and rank for you to enjoy.”
‘What a pity!’ Kou Zhong cried out inwardly; unexpectedly he would not have the opportunity to eavesdrop their plots.
Unwilling to part, the woman said, “The old ghost still has to deal with a lot of things, he would not be back this early. The night is still young!”
The tone of her voice was so suggestive that even Kou Zhong who was eavesdropping also felt the enticing force; he could not help praying to the Heaven that the man would stay, so that he could learn more about their secret.
Who would have thought that the man remained unmoved? His eyebrows slightly rose, his face was back into its callous expression, and he said with a sinister smile, “If we are delayed, I might be falling under your coquettish hooves’ punishment; go back quickly!”
The woman whined, “You really have a heart of stone; you already sent me to sleep with the old ghost, leaving me unsatisfied every night, and when a rare opportunity arises, you still refuse to comfort me. Hee! But what nujia loves the most is your heroic air and generosity. Off we go!”
After kissing each other in the mouth, the two people promptly left in separate directions. Without the slightest hesitation Kou Zhong ran after the man.
If he heard that s1ut’s voice again, he was sure he would be able to recognize her. Right now he was most curious about how this man would overcome the Ranch’s natural stronghold to go back to the outside world.
Besides, his hands were terribly itching right now.
Lu Miaozi said cheerfully, “Garden landscape design is a natural design. The gist of it is to bring out the power of the scenery, just like painting a dragon and dotting in the eyes. In such a clear matter like this, in addition to the things mentioned above, it has to be wide open and clear; not only it will harmonized mental cultivation, it will also trigger the mystery known only to Heaven. Thus this is not a simple principle at all.”
Noticing that Xu Ziling was nodding continuously, he asked in amazement, “Such an ethereal, difficult ideas, yet you are listening with smiled of exultation?”
Xu Ziling calmly replied, “Since setting foot in the Castle, I already have the feeling that Mister has just described. It’s just that I can’t describe it as exquisite and as thoroughly and in appropriate terms as Mister did, so when listening to it, I am very delighted.”
Lu Miaozi was dumbstruck for a while. Finally, half delighted half frustrated he said, “I really want to find something that when you hear it, you won’t understand. Ha! Actually, I ought to be happy, just like meeting an intimate friend or something; otherwise, it would be like casting pearls before swine [orig. playing lute to a cow], perhaps I would have been so angry that I lost several days of my life.”
After taking a long, long breath, Lu Miaozi went on, “Although there are countless changes in landscape design, only nine are important, i.e. space, light and shade, partition, lining, form, hue, climate, scent, and the type of fruit you want to offer. Do you have it memorized?”
Xu Ziling repeated what he said, word for word.
“Do you understand it?” Lu Miaozi probed further.
Grabbing his head, Xu Ziling said, “Mister explained it so clearly, what’s not to understand? However, from those nine items, I can’t think of a way to use the last two in martial art; the rest may be put to good use. It’s only now do I understand that on the highest level, all that Mister had said so far are interlinked.”
Lu Miaozi smiled wryly and said, “When did I explain that? Even if you beat me to death I would have not believed that merely based on these several sentences you already understand the essence of what I researched for many years. Why don’t you explain to me the first key point, space?”
Xu Ziling smiled and said, “What if I explain it incorrectly?”
Lu Miaozi roared in wild laughter; patting Xu Ziling’s shoulders vigorously, he said, while still laughing hilariously, “Over the last thirty years, I have never been as delighted as tonight; I can even say that perhaps my life has just been extended for a few days. Go ahead! Do you think I, Lu Miaozi, am so narrow-minded that I can’t even tolerate mistakes?”
And thus Xu Ziling explained, “Space is something that exists everywhere. For example, when two people are facing each other, the space between them will change constantly; whoever grasps this space concept will grasp the chance to seize victory. Landscape design is the same way, it suggests the concept of space; for example: a residential building behind a high wall; there is a far-reaching concept of space, as if there is an abyss behind the house. All those level plains/high plains, high/low or visible/invisible, looks big in the midst of small, are all about space composition. Am I wrong?”
Remaining calm and collected, Lu Miaozi asked, “What about light and shade?”
Xu Ziling replied, “Actually, it is directional issue; facing the sun or facing away from the sun, the scenery will be completely different. Take the tall forest grown at oblique angle west of Mister’s small two-story building for example; they can provide heavy shade during the full light of day. Another example would be under the bright sun or moonlight, the shadows on the wall moves, banana shades cover the window, parasol tree [Sterculia platanifolia] shades extend on the ground, Chinese scholar tree [Sophora japonica] shades cover the front courtyard. Just by exploiting this kind of light and shade, we can create unlimited creative concept.”
Without giving Xu Ziling time to think, Lu Miaozi skipped to the fifth item, form.
Staying casual, Xu Ziling replied, “That is like painting dragon with fine points; i.e. involving linked items in the landscape design. For example courtyard, atrium, moon platform, intersection, and the like; also ancient vines, old trees, balcony, benches, railing, fence, or perhaps gazebo, veranda, elevated pavilion, rotunda, rockery, fishpond, small bridges, and so on, stitched together to form the scenery, so that people will look it with pleasure.”
Lu Miaozi slapped the table and sighed, “You, this kid, have finished your apprenticeship. Get lost now! Come back tomorrow!”