Since no one suggested a good name for 呼延十八鞭 technique, I'll translate it for now as "Huyan 18 whips". I hope someone will come up with a better name for it in the future.
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Xiao Zhonghui seized the bundle, turned around and bestrode Zhou Weixin’s mount; this technique was bold, fast and required much agility. She held horse’s reins and shouted: "Hurry!" but the horse’s four legs stood firmly as if nailed to the ground, unexpectedly the animal was completely motionless. Xiao Zhonghui kicked the horse’s belly, but it bent its two knees. She shouted: "Not good!" and was about to jump down from the horseback, but it was too late, her acupuncture points had already been blocked, and she was not able to move.
A man appeared below horse’s belly, it was that old blind man. Nobody knew when he got rid of escorts’ team, came quietly and hid himself under the horse’s belly. He held out a hand and took the Twin Sabres from Xiao Zhonghui’s hands. Ren Feiyan placed the child on the ground and stroke with her sword, Lin Yulong followed attacking from the flank. Blind man took the Twin Sabres from their sheath to ward off, “Ding, Dong” was heard as the swords held by Lin and Ren broke. They both stared blankly, at the same moment they felt pain and numbness in their acupuncture points located at waist and they were unable to move a single step.
Zhou Weixin, with a force of mad tiger, shouted: "Blind thief, either you or I die!" He took his iron whip and performed a stance from "Huyan's 18 whips" called "Total Annihilation"; the horizontal smash was directed towards the blind man. He didn’t try to dodge, lifted the longer one of the Twin Sabres, thrust forward, but strange to say, he neither thrust in direction of iron whip nor stabbed Zhou Weixin’s chest. Instead, he pierced the sabre’s sheath lying inside the bundle, then joined it with the sabre. He used the sheath as an iron whip, and performed exactly the same move, "Total Annihilation". Zhou Weixin’s iron whip, that weighted 16 jins[1], was at once stopped in mid-air and could not move even one thousandth of fen[2]; whether he should be called "Iron Whip that Quells Eight Directions" left a great room for discussion.
While the weapons were locked in a stalemate, a shout was heard; the iron whip was shaken by the blind man’s internal strength, Zhou had to release the grip and it flew out of his hand. As a result of this "Iron Whip Fly In Eight Directions" stance, Zhou Weixin’s web between the thumb and forefinger was torn, his palm was covered with blood. Blind man gave him a supercilious look and sneered: "Haven’t you learned the last stance of “Huyan's 18 whips”?"
Zhou Weixin was really surprised as this was not a trivial matter. Although "Huyan's 18 whips" was known as a technique with 18 whip stances, only 17 stances were handed down from ancient times; his master had said that the last stance is called "Simultaneously Breaking 10 Spears". During the Northern Song Dynasty, when general Huyan Zan was attacked from all sides by the enemies, he used a mace to break 10 pikes. Every move of this whole whip technique relied on internal force alone, at present age only his martial uncle possessed this remarkable skill. Zhou Weixin had never seen his martial uncle, he only knew that he was imperial bodyguard, the leader of "Seventh Great Division", always residing in imperial palace and never going out, thus Zhou Weixin never had the opportunity to pay his respects. Then, struck by this idea, he trembling asked: "Your... your surname is Zhuo?" The blind man said: "Correct." Zhou Weixin was pleasantly surprised, he prostrated himself on the ground in salute and said: "Disciple Zhou Weixin kowtow before martial uncle Zhuo".
The old blind man smiled faintly and observed: "It’s good that you know who Zhuo Tianxiong is." Zhou Weixin replied: "When Master was alive, he frequently mentioned Uncle’s divine power. Disciple did not recognize Uncle, that’s why just a moment ago he offended Uncle. A saying in Jianghu goes: “Those destined by fate will come a thousand miles to meet, those who are not destined won’t meet even if they live opposite each other.” I am not aware when Uncle arrived from Beijing?" Zhuo Tianxiong smiled and said: "The Emperor sent me to join you."
Zhou Weixin was both terrified and happy when he said: "If not for Uncle’s help, this Twin Sabres, I am afraid, would have fallen into the hands of bandits." Zhuo Tianxiong replied: "The Emperor’s sharp eyes can see through thousands of miles. He had anticipated, that something might go wrong while this pair of sabres was transported to Beijing. When you left Xian, I followed closely the escort’s team. When you were falling asleep at night, what were your mouth blurting out, ah?"
Zhou Weixin’s face went red, usually so talkative, he was speechless now. He thought: "Martial uncle followed us all the way, even at night he listened to me talking in my dream, yet I was perfectly unconscious of his presence. If it was not my martial uncle but a robber planning to steal the sabres, wouldn’t I had already lost this insignificant life of mine? There is a saying in Jianghu: “A man cannot bother about ten thousand things, it’s fate that arranges everything during his lifetime.”"
Zhuo Tianxiong said: "Your fellows have little courage, at this moment they are hiding I do not know where. Call them and let's hasten on with our journey." Zhou Weixin assented. Zhuo Tianxiong lift the pair of precious sabres and shook of the dust, when he felt the cold air it was producing while being moved, sign of genuine force, he could not restrain himself from exclaiming: "Good sabre!"
Zhou Weixin was about to go out from the forest, when he heard someone calling on his left side: "Hey, Zhuo, unlock my acupuncture points and we will have a fight, a?" Another, feminine voice, added: "You take people off guard, block acupuncture, what kind of hero are you?" Zhuo Tianxiong turned back, but he saw only Lin Yulong and Ren Feiyan each holding half of a broken sword, striking a posture as if they were longing to chop, but suffered pain in their whole body’s and were unable to move a single step.
Zhuo Tianxiong extended his finger and flicked the short sabre, clang of metals sounded, it was like the dragon’s hum, long and uninterrupted. Then he stated: "No matter how many bandits there are, if one comes, you seize one, if two comes, you seize two." Turning to Xiao Zhonghui he added: "Miss, you also will follow me to Beijing to see the capital and it’s glamour." Xiao Zhonghui pressingly exclaimed: "Quickly let me go, or else you will regret it endlessly!" Zhuo Tianxiong laughed and said: "Since you speak like this, I even more cannot release you. Moreover, I want to see how you will make me regret it endlessly."
Xiao Zhonghui secretly circulated her inner force, trying to open her leg acupuncture points, but her inner force turned around at her waist; the more she was anxious, the more she felt pain and numbness in her whole body. After repeated efforts she achieved nothing, her pretty face got very red and her eyes were filled with tears, but they were unable to drop.
A shout was heard outside the forest, someone was humming loudly: "The emperor values heroes, book can teach you (how to be). Everything else is low-grade, only study is above all" [3]The man entered the forest. Xiao Zhonghui saw it was precisely the young scholar seen last night at the inn, called Yuan Guannan. To be seen in such an embarrassing situation by so many people was difficult to bear; her heart was so heavy that the tears, like pearls, rolled down her cheeks.
[1] jin= 0,5 kg
[2] fen= 0,33 cm
[3] “Prodigy Ode” by Wang Zhu (汪洙) (active ca. 990 AD, a poet and a court calligrapher)