Chapter 4: The Nameless Divine Monk
So this wasn’t the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber world Song Qingshu had imagined, but a strange world.
Hearing Zhou Zhiruo mention the Guo Jing and Huang Rong couple who guarded Xiangyang, the peerless Dongfang Bubai atop Black Wood Cliff, and the Khitan Southern Court King Xiao Feng who once stirred up storms of blood and slaughter across the Central Plains martial world...
Song Qingshu’s expression changed again and again.
After a lot of careful probing, Song Qingshu finally confirmed with a strange look on his face that this was a world built jointly from Jin Yong’s fourteen novels.
In this world, the Song and Liao dynasties had fought for more than a hundred years, each winning and losing in turn. Then, in the Liao rear, two Jurchen tribes rose up: the Heilongjiang Jurchens and the Jianzhou Jurchens. The Heilongjiang Jurchens founded the Jin Empire, and after several great battles they drove straight into the heart of Liao territory, nearly wiping the Liao out entirely. Fortunately, another nomadic people on the steppe, the Mongols, rose up and began pressing into Jin’s rear, forcing Jin to halt its assault on Liao and turn its main forces to deal with the Mongols instead.
At present, the two powers were locked in stalemate along the Yellow River basin and the Chang’an-Tongguan line. Only then did Liao get a breathing space, trapped in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. But a few years ago, the Liao emperor Yelü Hongji had gained Xiao Feng, a battle god-level figure, and together with an alliance with the Mongols, signs of revival had slowly begun to appear.
The Jianzhou Jurchens had founded the Manchu Qing Empire, conquered the Ming Empire, which had been suffering from both internal and external troubles, and occupied vast lands stretching from Liaodong to Hebei, Shandong, and Yangzhou.
Now, the only state founded by the Han Chinese that remained was the Song Empire south of the Yangtze, relying on natural barriers to resist the iron cavalry of the nomadic tribes as they pressed south.
Of the powers in the world today, the Mongols were the strongest. Yet the struggle to unify the Mongol tribes had been brutally bloody. The great khan Temujin’s sons had all died in battle, and few of the generals from his own generation or the generation of his nephews and sons were left alive. Fortunately, the third-generation grandsons were remarkably capable. His sixth grandson Hulagu followed Temujin as he led the Mongol main force westward, splitting into two routes: one to attack Khwarezm and the federations of Eastern Europe, the other to strike the powerful Persian and Arab states.
Before his western campaign, Temujin had left behind Chaghan, son of his late sworn brother Muqali and the Ruyang Prince, Zhao Min’s father, to command a force in the Western Regions, suppress the Ming Cult and the Muslim tribes, and keep the Western Xia properly in check so they would have no time to expand.
He sent his fourth grandson Kublai to lead an army at the Chang’an-Tongguan line to advance against Jin, and his eldest grandson Möngke to lead another force from Sichuan against the southern Song. After Möngke died in battle, Kublai absorbed his troops. Now, in the Nanyang-Wancheng area, he was pressing north against Jin toward Chang’an and Luoyang, while also striking south at Song’s Xiangyang. Among the Mongol princes, his momentum was unmatched for a time.
The seventh grandson Ariq Böke was left to hold the Mongolian grasslands with his own army, eyeing the Manchu Qing with hostility. But the young Qing emperor Kangxi was also a man of great talent and grand ambition. He personally held Yanjing, while his subordinates, Prince Pingxi Wu Sangui and Prince Bao Hongli, held Shanhai Pass and Shengjing, forming a pincer formation. Together with an alliance with the Jin state of the Heilongjiang Jurchens, their momentum was actually beginning to overtake the coalition of Ariq Böke and Liao.
As for Tibet, Dali, and those small border states, they were merely struggling to survive, so there was no need to go into detail.
After stunned silence, Song Qingshu digested all of it, but he still had lingering doubts. Was this really a fusion of Jin Yong’s fourteen-novel world? A flash of inspiration came to him: there was one person in Shaolin right now who would certainly be able to give him the answer.
Song Qingshu said he was going out for a walk, and Zhou Zhiruo nodded without a care. Song Qingshu let out a sly laugh and muttered all the way as he walked, “This woman’s feelings for her husband really are thinner than paper. It looks like only Zhang Wuji can stir up any waves in her heart...” It took him a long while before he finally remembered that his top priority right now was to heal his meridians and then survive in this super-chaotic world, not to get jealous over Zhang Wuji.
He made his way to Shaolin’s Scripture Depository and explained his purpose to the guest monk. Knowing that he was the husband of the Emei Sect leader, the other man did not dare slight him. Seeing that Song Qingshu only wanted to browse the Buddhist scriptures, the monk made a registration and led him inside. “Young Hero Song, our temple has always welcomed those with fate to read the scriptures. The first floor holds editions from many different versions, so Young Hero Song may browse freely. However, the second floor and above contain the temple’s martial arts texts. Young Hero Song is not a disciple of our sect, so please do not make things difficult for this humble monk.”
“Much trouble for you, Master. I understand.”
Song Qingshu knew the monk was speaking politely. The second floor of the Scripture Depository was a Shaolin restricted area, guarded all year round by experts. Let alone his current helpless state, even if his martial arts had not been damaged at all, he still would not be able to go up there.
Song Qingshu flipped through the scriptures aimlessly. He had no real interest in them; he was only turning pages at random while searching for a certain figure.
He wandered around for most of the day and still had not found the person he was looking for. Song Qingshu could not hide his disappointment and thought that perhaps he had guessed wrong.
“Eh...” Unknowingly, he had wandered into a dim corner and saw the words Lankavatara Sutra. Thinking of how the Nine Yang Manual had once been hidden inside it, Song Qingshu reached out excitedly and opened it.
Even though he knew full well that Zhang Wuji had already learned the Nine Yang Manual, proving that the scripture had long since been removed from the Scripture Depository, he still clung to a sliver of hope. As expected, the pages inside were empty, and Song Qingshu let out a disappointed sigh.
“Amitabha!” A Buddhist invocation from behind startled Song Qingshu. Turning around, he found a gray-robed monk standing silently behind him at some point.
The other man wore the lowest-ranking Shaolin robes and held a tattered broom. He was thin to the bone, gaunt and withered, with only a few long whiskers left on his face, all of them white. To anyone else, he looked like nothing more than a frail old lay monk who was about to die. Yet Song Qingshu was filled with a jumble of emotions, never expecting that this legendary nameless monk truly existed.
“Junior Song Qingshu pays respects to Master.” Song Qingshu bowed very respectfully.
“Eh?”
Nameless had not expected Song Qingshu to be so courteous toward him, and he was greatly intrigued. “This old monk is no master of anything. I only saw Young Hero Song walking around the Scripture Depository, skimming the other scriptures at a glance, until you saw this Lankavatara Sutra. Young Hero Song picked it up without hesitation, and after seeing its contents, you showed disappointment. Out of curiosity, this old monk came forward to meet you.”
“Junior was harboring a bit of wishful thinking. In the end, I found that it really was just fantasy, which is why I seemed somewhat disappointed.” Song Qingshu hesitated for a moment, then said it tactfully.
“This old monk has been in the Scripture Depository for more than forty years. If I remember correctly, there used to be a Nine Yang Manual tucked inside this Lankavatara Sutra, but later someone took it away. May I ask whether that was the thing Young Hero Song was looking for?”
Nameless was indeed very curious. Song Qingshu was so young, so how did he know these hidden secrets? And from the look of it, he seemed to know a great deal about Nameless himself as well.
Having been exposed so directly, Song Qingshu felt a little awkward. “To tell the truth, Master, I was indeed checking whether the Nine Yang Manual was still inside.”
“Oh.” Nameless gave a hearty laugh. He did not ask how Song Qingshu knew such secrets, and instead asked with concern, “If this old monk is not mistaken, Young Hero Song’s meridians are now completely severed. Even if you found the Nine Yang Manual, you still would not be able to cultivate it. Why go to all this trouble and add more worries?”
“I beg the Master to save me.” Thinking that the other man might be the only person in the world who could save him, Song Qingshu lost some of his composure in his excitement.
“Since Young Hero Song’s life is not in danger, why would there be any need for rescue?”
Nameless helped him to his feet. “If you want your martial arts restored, forgive this old monk for speaking bluntly: with your meridians completely severed, this is already beyond the reach of human power. Even this old monk is helpless.”