Chapter 12 – Great banquet for heroes, Part 14
Yang Guo was not in the mood to talk to him, he held Xiao Longnu’s hand and went over to the side and they sat down shoulder to shoulder on the rock base of a pillar. His heart was bursting with joy.
Huo Dou turned around and said to Zhu Ziliu, “Since you are not using a weapon, we’ll fight with our fists.”
Zhu Ziliu said, “Not so. We Chinese are a polite nation, not like the barbaric Mongols. In a treaty, one uses a pen to communicate; the enemy has a pen but no saber, so who needs a weapon?”
Huo Dou said, “Since it is like this, prepare!” He opened his fan and swept it across. Zhu Ziliu slanted his body, a step to the side and swung his head. His left hand swept lightly across himself, the pen in his right hand went towards Huo Dou’s face. Huo Dou moved his head to avoid it; he saw the opponent’s movements were light and his stances strange. He didn’t dare to attack, waiting to see through his kung fu clearly before making a decision.
Zhu Ziliu said, “The enemy’s pen can sweep away a thousand soldiers, you need to be careful.” As he said this the tip of the pen went forward. Huo Dou learned martial arts in Western Tibet, Jinlun Fawang was very knowledgeable, there was nothing he didn’t know about the central plains’ martial arts. When Huo Dou’s training was drawing to a close, he decided to go to the central plains to make his name, and so Jinlun Fawang taught him how to defeat the proudest kung fu of the central plain’s most famous sects. How could he know that he would meet up with Zhu Ziliu, the weapon he used was strange, his stances were unimaginably strange, he had never heard of such things. He saw the pen tip stroking across and hooking down; it was as if he was writing but the places where the pen was pointing were the places of the body’s main pressure points.
Zhu Ziliu is the number one calligrapher of the northern sky, though he practices martial arts he hadn’t stopped studying literature, in the end, the more he practiced his kung fu the further refined it became and eventually the two arts became connected to each other. The “Solitary Yang Finger” and calligraphy became one. This kung fu was his own invention; if the opponent was stronger but didn’t have a background in literature, it would be extremely difficult for them to defend against this martial art. From literature and literature on martial arts came a kung fu where both literature and martial arts have reached an extremely advanced state.
Luckily, Huo Dou has studied under a Han scholar when he was young, he had read books and recited poems, and was able to defend against this attack. He saw the tip of the pen flashing across, in the calligraphy was the aim of sealing pressure points, in the pressure point sealing was the aim of calligraphy. It was like a silver hook and metal scull, the strokes were swift and powerful and in the midst of this there was a leisurely and elegant air.
Guo Jing wasn’t versed in literature, as he watched he thought this kung fu was extraordinary.
Huang Rong’s father taught her both martial arts and literature, when she saw this excellent kung fu, she couldn’t stop herself from admiring and enjoying it.
Guo Fu went over to her mother’s side and asked, “Mother, he’s holding that pen, stroking it here and there, what kind of game is that?”
Huang Rong was concentrating on the battle and just replied, “The Fang Xuan Ling Inscription.”
Guo Fu didn’t understand and asked, “What Fang Xuan Ling Inscription?”
Huang Rong was absorbed in the battle and didn’t reply.
The ‘Fan Xuan Ling Inscription’ is a work written by the Tang minister Chu Sui Liang, and it is also a refined calligraphy style. The people before them have judged Chu’s book and likened it to ‘a girl from heaven scattering flowers’; the calligraphy style was firm, graceful and elegant, concentrating on creating beauty, every stroke was airy, completely focusing on this aspect. Zhu Ziliu’s “Solitary Yang Book Finger” uses a pen as the finger; every stance was measured and cautious, like a pen writing a book.
Though Huo Duo did not understand the intricacies of the “Solitary Yang Finger”, at least he had read the ‘Fang Xuan Ling Inscription’ before, he knew that the horizontal stroke will be followed by a vertical stroke, he defended well, and he didn’t show signs of losing.
Zhu Ziliu saw that he knew this style of calligraphy; he called out and shouted, “Careful! A cursive calligraphy style is coming.” Suddenly he took off his hat and shot it at him, his sleeve flew across the air, and he dashed forward madly, his stances not following the style. He looked as if he were mad, crazy, drunk, as if a spell was put on him, the pen’s aim raining down, the finger moving like a dragon and snake.
Guo Fu was startled and laughed as she asked, “Mother, has he gone mad?”
Huang Rong said, “If he drank three cups of wine then the pen would be even better.” She picked up a wine pot and poured three cups, she called out, “Brother Zhu, drink three cups to further you enjoyment.” The cup was in her left hand, the middle finger of her right hand flicked it, and the wine cup flew steadily across to him.
Zhu Ziliu raised his pen and brushed down, forcing Huo Dou to the side as he caught the cup, drinking it in one go. Huang Rong flicked the second and third cup over in the same way.
Huo Dou saw the two of them offering wine in the battle, not even noticing that he was there, he wanted to wave his fan and knock the cups out of the air but Huang Rong followed Zhu Ziliu’s pen’s intent, she flicked out the cups in the gaps. Huo Dou was unable to knock them out of the air.
Zhu Ziliu drank the three cups dry and called out, “Thank you. That is very handsome “Divine Flicking Finger” kung fu!”
Huang Rong laughed and said, “Very spirited ‘Zi Yan Tie’!”
Zhu Ziliu gave a laugh and thought, “I have always thought that I am clever, but I am still a level below that girl. I have studied this skill diligently for over ten years; just one look and she saw through it.”
The work that he was using now was Zhang Xu’s ‘Tie Yin Tie’ of the Tang dynasty. Zhang Xu has been given the title of ‘Cao Sheng’, the saint of cursive calligraphy. Du Fu’s poem ‘The Song of the eight drinking Immortals’ says; “Zhang Xu’s three cups passes onto Cao Sheng, the hat is removed showing his head in front of the king, the pen descending on the paper like a fog.”
Huang Rong offered him three cups firstly to acknowledge the class of kung fu he was using, secondly, once the influence of wine increases, the calligraphy will be even better, and lastly she wanted to dampen Huo Dou’s spirits. She then saw Zhu Ziliu write ‘The Bold Man Fights for the Road’, on the ‘road’ word, the pen hooked up and brushed across Huo Dou’s clothes. The heroes all laughed as Huo Dou retreated backwards.
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