Fangs of the Black Tiger: Tales of the Swordsman Vol. 2 (A Wuxia Story) Read online

  Fangs of the Black Tiger

  Tales of the Swordsman Vol. 2

  JF Lee

  Copyright © 2021 JF Lee

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

  If you like what you’re reading and want more, please sign up for JF Lee’s newsletter at jflee.co

  Cover art © JF Lee

  Cover design by JF Lee

  For that kid who just wants to read an adventure about daring wuxia heroes in a language he could understand.

  This one is for you.

  Contents

  Main Characters

  I. Prologue

  Chapter 1

  II. THE BOAT OAR AND THE METEOR HAMMER

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  III. LITTLE RABBIT

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  IV. THE MAGISTRATE’S VOW

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  V. THE WAR FOR HE’BIAN

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  VI. BEGGARS AND MERCHANTS

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  VII. THE LOST SWORD OF CHANG’SHA MONASTERY

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  GLOSSARY

  Notes

  Acknowledgements

  Also by JF Lee

  Also by JF Lee

  Looking for more?

  About the Author

  Main Characters

  Li Ming

  The legendary swordsman of Blue Mountain and practitioner of the destroyed sect’s Sword of the Nine Dragon’s technique. He is the master of the sword Sorrow. The first disciple of Master Guo. He’s been searching for the last ten years for his master’s murderer, the former general Shazha Kui.

  Shu Yan

  A 14-year-old serving girl from Madam Gu’s brothel. On the run for a serious crime, she hires the swordsman to take her to her hometown, thinking that’s where she will find the answers she’s looking for.

  Han Mama`

  The middle-aged wife of a cook that was killed by the military. She runs a small restaurant in the city of He’bian. She is also one of the city’s most powerful crime bosses.

  Hou Song

  Han Mama’s right hand man. A bookish type, Hou Song runs the extensive spy network that fuels Han Mama’s organization.

  Tao Jun

  The martial brother of Li Ming, and the second disciple of Master Guo. While he hasn’t abandoned the quest to look for their master’s killer, his wealthy family has forced him into becoming a magistrate—a job that he alternates between being brilliant at and terrible.

  Bai Jingyi

  A young merchant woman that runs the Righteous Will escort company. A formidable practitioner of her family’s Flying Spear technique. She hires fighters from the jianghu to help out with the business.

  Cha Luoying

  The beautiful daughter of an incredibly wealthy merchant. A talented musician that has a thirst for adventure and the beauty of the world.

  Feng Zemin

  A mysterious young woman who is far deadlier than she appears.

  Shazha Kui

  A former general and master of the Northern King Saber technique. He came to Blue Mountain ten years ago seeking to learn from Master Guo, but when he refused, Shazha Kui killed him. He disappeared after his clan was exiled after their betrayal at the Battle of Three Gorges and has not been seen in years.

  Part I

  Prologue

  1

  The Dong’shui valley below was lit in gold from the setting sun. In the distance, the silhouette of karst mountains loomed over the town. The bamboo forest shivered in the summer evening breeze. The two most senior disciples of Master Guo made their way home to the Blue Mountain Pavilion. Li Ming and Tao Jun had ‘borrowed’ Sorrow and Joy—taking the treasures of Blue Mountain out to train with them. A small gesture of rebellion, one that was likely to be met with fury.

  Master Guo had forbade anyone from training with the legendary weapons. He had spent a month at the Temple of Eastern Light, in deep meditation and discussion with the Three Sages of the North. After his return, Master Guo’s new sense of enlightenment cast doubt on his martial way.

  The other disciples were in an uproar.

  “He can’t just give everything up!” Fourth Brother had complained. “What about the legacy of Blue Mountain? It’s been a force for good for hundreds of years! And now when we’ve been asked to help bring order to the land, we’re supposed to sit back and do nothing?”

  As the eldest disciple, Li Ming’s duty was to outwardly agree with Master Guo’s reasoning. He scolded Fourth Brother and told him to show proper respect to their master. Secretly, however, Li Ming agreed with him and had something else on his mind.

  “General Shazha Kui needs our help to bring order to the kingdom,” Li Ming explained to Tao Jun as they walked. “There’s a reason the emperor chose such an honorable man to put down the rebellion.”

  Li Ming had been impressed by the General and his mannerisms. He was not just a typical master of the jianghu1 with martial strength. He was a man of refinement, intelligence, and incredible insight.

  A man to be admired.

  “Are we really going to give him these weapons? It seems wrong,” Tao Jun asked, hugging Joy to his heart.

  “He will be a worthy keeper of the swords. He is a man of fine character.” Li Ming said. Sorrow still felt unfamiliar in his hands. But it was an elegant, responsive weapon, and it felt almost eager to please its wielder. It was clear to him that it would take a great master to use it to its full potential. “The rebels are dangerous. General Shazha needs every bit of help he can get.”

  “Yeah, but….”

  “And he promised that he would return them when the task is done.”

  “I don’t like this Ming. Master Guo—”

  “—Master Guo is being short-sighted. He won’t help them, because he doesn’t realize that the general’s request is bigger than the legacy and wugong2 techniques of one sect. We’re talking about the fate of the empire! That’s bigger than just Blue Mountain. There are thousands of lives on the line here.”

  “He’s going to be so angry,” Tao Jun complained, shaking his head. “He’ll probably break our legs.”

&n
bsp; As they walked the trail to the entrance of Blue Mountain Pavilion, Li Ming was struck by how still everything was. The bamboo trees no longer shook in the breeze. Not a breath of wind in the air. The absence of birdsong.

  Something was wrong.

  The martial brothers exchanged an uneasy look and hurried without speaking. The gate of the villa was open. No one greeted them. The eerie stillness continued. None of the sounds of the evening came from the villa. At this time of day, they should have at least been able to hear Grandma Chen’s singing as she cooked. Her off-key voice carried. Swords in hand, they crept through the gates.

  They ran to the first body they found. Old Man Ye, the personal servant of Master Guo, lay face down in the dirt of the courtyard. It looked like he was slashed from behind. His blood sank into the earth between heavy footprints in the dirt.

  They looked around. More bodies—the other servants.

  Third Brother’s corpse was missing an arm.

  “What…what happened?” Tao Jun asked in horror.

  Li Ming didn’t answer. Instead he sprinted to the quarters he shared with his wife, Master Guo’s daughter. The growing dread had turned into a full panic. His heart raced, and the only thought he had was to find his family. Tao Jun followed close behind. They found Fourth Brother slumped outside of the doorway, bloody hands clutching his lower abdomen. Grandma Chen wept as she tried to dress his wounds.

  “Fourth Brother, what happened here?” Tao Jun asked, kneeling down to the wounded man’s side.

  “The Shazha…They tore everything apart looking for the swords,” he eyed the weapons that Li Ming and Tao Jun held. “I’m glad you had them. Master Guo must have foreseen their greed and sent you away with them, didn’t he?”

  They shared a look, and Tao Jun just shook his head.

  “Yes. He told us to keep them with us,” Li Ming lied.

  “Good. I’m glad. Keep them…safe,” Fourth Brother gasped, and then was still.

  “Stay with me Fourth Brother!” Tao Jun shouted, shaking the man’s body.

  “Rongfei? I have to find Rongfei,” Li Ming pushed past him and entered his quarters. The once tidy home was a mess, signs of a struggle everywhere. Sixth Sister knelt by two bodies, and her hand rose to cover her mouth when she saw Li Ming enter.

  “Rongfei? Xulin?” Li Ming asked, but he already knew the answer.

  “First Brother,” she said, holding back tears. Her voice cracked. “I’m sorry.”

  At the sound of her voice a familiar sense of déjà vu came over him. The dream. He was in the dream again. He had been here before, tried to turn back, to shout, to run, to change something, anything. He tried willing the ending to change. Maybe his wife and child escaped into the forest. Maybe they hid in a secret chamber of the pavilion.

  But nothing ever changed. Week after week. Year after year.

  Against his will, his feet carried him forward.

  A blue-striped blanket of coarse fibers. He knew beneath it were the bodies of his Rongfei and Xulin—his wife and daughter. The blood drained from his face. He knelt beside them, unwilling to pull the blanket back, but his hands moved of their own volition. He couldn’t even shut his eyes. Every time he tried to resist, he found that same sense of horror as he was drawn forward.

  The blanket was rough under his touch. His hand shook.

  But instead of his wife’s face, he found a young woman staring back at him. A face he had grown to know quite well.

  Shu Yan.

  Her long dark hair covered part of her face, passive in death. Her eyes opened, accusing.

  Li Ming woke with a start.

  Part II

  THE BOAT OAR AND THE METEOR HAMMER

  2

  Shu Yan’s head throbbed.

  The girl woke up to rumbling and jostling. Waves of nausea threatened to overwhelm her. Cold metal bit at her wrists. A stiff breeze cut through her robe and she shivered. She opened her eyes and she shut them immediately. Too fast. She tried again slowly this time, and her surroundings came into focus: hay, wooden planks beneath her, a pile of rags in the corner of the cage, grey light filtered through the overcast skies.

  She was bitterly cold. Her body stiff from lack of movement. Her chest ached. She tried raising her hands, heard the clank of chains, and felt her arms restricted by the weight of cuffs on her wrists. Snowflakes flittered through the wooden bars of the cage, landing on her palms.

  Wooden bars! Her heart began racing, jolting the rest of the grogginess away. A cage? A CAGE! She was in another cage. She let out a low moan. Her breath quickened, an icy hand gripping her heart. She grabbed at the bars, forcing them with her strength, but the wood didn’t even groan against her efforts.

  The cart rattled down the road, hitting a pothole hard enough that she struck her head against the bar. She muttered a curse and rubbed her head.

  “Finally awake, little whore?” a voice jeered at her. An ugly man with a thick wiry beard trotted his horse beside the cart. There was something familiar about his scowl, the way it dragged across his red, pockmarked face. She saw the bandage around his arm and the ugly, red cut on his face and flashes of memory came to her. Li Ming’s knife in her hand as she made quick slashes to keep the bearded man back. His howl of pain, a spray of blood on the floor mats of the inn.

  He slapped the bars of the cage with a wooden pole and Shu Yan barely pulled her hands back in time to avoid getting her fingers crushed.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he sneered, and then as if on impulse, he scratched at the wounds on his face. He kicked his heels into the horse and rode to the front of the column.

  A cage! A cage! A cage! She stifled a low moan as tears threatened to spill.

  “What’s wrong with you?” a young woman’s voice asked. Shu Yan’s eyes shot around looking for whoever spoke. No one on horseback, and it didn’t look like the voice would belong to the guards marching alongside. “You’re so noisy.”

  It was then that she realized that it came from what she dismissed as a pile of rags. Another person sat in the cage with her. Her muddy, dirt-stained face looked only a few years older than Shu Yan. Her dark hair matted and greasy. A girl—not a girl—a young woman. There was a wildness in her eyes that Shu Yan didn’t trust. Her clothes were tattered and grey, threadbare in places and stank of alcohol and urine.

  “I’m not freaking out,” Shu Yan lied.

  “And I’m Emperor Xia,” the young woman gave her a grotesque smile. “You watch it. If the guards give us trouble, I’ll kill you myself.”

  Shu Yan shuddered at the sight of the young woman’s ugly smile. It was devoid of any warmth or care, much like the cruel smile that played across Madam Gu’s lips before she beat Shu Yan as a child. She turned away from the girl in rags, forcing herself to calm down. She focused on the rapid beat of her heart, the heavy exhalations, counting each breath in the way the Swordsman taught her.

  In between breaths, memories entered. Madam Gu, her painted face in the lantern light. Her lilting laugh as she handed a handful of coins to the slaver. The slivers piercing Shu Yan’s feet as she was dragged out of one cage and shoved head first into another. The stench of the unwashed cage, the fecal stains and vomit. Salty tears on her cheeks. So many tears.

  She pushed back against the memories, forcing herself to look away from the bars. Her eyes traced the wood grain, following it to the piles of hay in the cage. And thoughts of the ogre in the mountains entered. His anger. His pain. Their shared misery of being imprisoned. The peace when he closed his eyes for the last time.

  Eventually she calmed down. She didn’t know how much time had passed. Out of the corner of her eyes she could tell the young woman in rags watched her with mild interest. “Better now?”

  Shu Yan nodded without making eye contact with the young woman, instead trying to see beyond the confines of the cage. From what she could tell, she rode in a cart in the middle of a convoy. Mud splashed up from the wheels and onto the sides. At least ten guards dressed
similarly in dark blue overcoats soaked with rainwater and mud trudged alongside through the muddy road. They carried swords, maces and spears, each worn and chipped. Stolen weapons, probably looted. Bandits? At the head of the company, she thought she counted four men and a woman on horseback, including the man with the wiry beard. Their clothes didn’t match the guards or each other.

  Where was she? A caravan? It reminded her of the days she’d spent with the swordsman and Bai Jingyi’s Righteous Will escort agency—though this seemed like a budget version compared to the well-armed and trained guards that Jingyi hired. She would never let any of her people carry broken weapons.

  This time, however, Shu Yan was the cargo. Somewhere in the distance, a man moaned from another cage as the carriages rattled down the road.