The Tale Never Ends

The hairs on my back stood up like needles as soon as I heard the shrill voice. Sister stood in front of me, crouching warily as if ready to pounce and her ice sword gleaming white-bluish in her hand.

I weaved my fingers, making the hand seals to summon the Shiyan Blade to me. The air screamed with a sharp whistle and my sword appeared overhead, lowering itself gently into my grasp. The crisp, disembodied voice of the intruder came again from deep inside the alleyway, “Heh heh heh… You really are the Spirit of the Shiyan Blade! Remarkable!” “Who are you?” I growled into the darkness but Sister interjected brusquely, “Strike first, questions later! Show no patience for fiends like him!” Her fingers, forming the Seal of the Sword, moved and she directed her ice sword to charge at the enemy like a lunging spear.

Suddenly, there was raspy ringing in the air like a chorale of chimes despite the lack of a breeze. Like the bells commonly worn on a person’s bracelet or a bangle. Sister’s figure shuddered uncontrollably in front of me and she began shrinking in at an alarming rate! In mere seconds, she was gone, with only the clothes she was just wearing in an unkempt heap! “SISTER!” I screamed with horror. Then from within the folds of the clothes strewn on the ground, a little white fox popped its head out, staring at me with fear and disbelief in its eyes. Sister had been reduced back to her original form!

“What is happening? How is this possible? Sister assuming her original form during battle!” The voice of the figureless intruder bounced off the walls, “We have methods to deal with fox demons like you. So I’d advise that you sit tight while I have my little chat with the Spirit of the Sword.” A fearful dread dawned upon me. “Is this person one of those who had been watching and directing things from the shadows? One of the invisible hand conspiring against Father and me?” With another spurt of courage, I found my voice and croaked, “Who are you?”

Footfalls echoed and a dark figure emerged from the blackness. With a crew-cut hair and a Polo T-shirt to go with a large mink trench coat, the common fashion fad for people in North-east China, the gaunt man, his cropped pants swaggering maladroitly, drew closer. “You looked really like a DJ, my friend.” I stifled a giggle. I almost half-expected him to break into a dance in his goofy outfit. As a student of music, his flamboyantly weird clothing was not something I find tasteful, hence the hint of derision in my voice.

But to my surprise, the intruder laughed jovially. “How can you tell? I do some deejaying once in a while.” “Your costume, I guess. But let’s not stray further. Who are you and what do you want with me?” I replied. “Fret not, Master Spirit. I only want to talk. I am known as Jin Qichen.” “I see. And what about the one behind you now digging his arse?” A visible hint of surprise flashed across Jin Qichen’s face before he burst into laughter. “Remarkable indeed! You really are extraordinary!” He raised a hand and motioned for his companion to join him.

The newcomer emerged from the shadows, a man with beggar-like locks of hairs hanging down his face and crumpled, disheveled clothing of a peasant. On his waist, a belt hung with numerous bells made of copper and bronze. It must have been these instruments which have undone Sister’s magic, I mused and Jin Qichen introduced his companion, “This is Na San. My servant.” I merely nodded, signaling the intruder to go on.

“I’m here with a proposition, Master Spirit. We wish to invite you to join us on a collaboration.” “Oh?” “As you undoubtedly realize, you and your sword combined is one of the mightiest weapons in existence. An ancient legendary weapon with awesome power. I’m sure you understand the invincible might one commands when one wields such an instrument. Like how Arthur achieves his kingship with Excalibur. So, this is my proposal: join me and let us rule the world together…” “No,” I cut him off before he could finish.

Strangely, Jin Qichen seemed hardly perturbed by my blunt rejection as if he had expected me to refuse him. In a silky voice, he prodded again, “It might surprise you to find out that underneath Changbai Mountain lays one of the fourteen dragon leys of the lands! All you have to do is to rekindle the life of the dragon ley for me and the entire country will bow at my…”

“No can do.” I rebuffed him flatly again without any patience to let him finish before it was my turn to speak, “It might have failed to occur to you that a celestial being has been sent down from Heaven to put an end to all dragon leys since the fall of the Qing Empire. There is no more dragon ley. Even if any does survive, a mere mortal like you would never be able to wield its influence and sheer magnificence to achieve kingship.” “But I would. With your help!” Jin Qichen answered, as sharp as a blade. I shook my head. This time, I turned my attention to his manservant Na San. “And you there, quit shaking your bunghole or I’ll drive my sword through your arse.”

Na San stopped at once at my threat and the chiming stop. Lo and behold, Sister turned back into her human form as soon as the ringing ceased and she scampered to my side. “Be careful of that man’s bells, Little Brother!” Big Sister whispered worriedly, “My powers fail whenever he rings his bell that I cannot even maintain my human guise! Beware!”

Unbothered by the momentary intermission, Jin Qichen was hardly dissuaded from continuing his sales pitch. “I’d hope you would at least consider my proposition, Spirit of the Sword.” I scoffed crustily. “There’s nothing to consider. I would never help you even if I indeed possess such power. What’s more, why would I need you for if I have such power to awaken the dragon leys on my own?” Jin Qichen turned rapacious suddenly, his voracious eyes gleaming with desire and greed. With his hands trembling as they rose when he spoke with brimming frenzy, he said, “Think about it! Work with me, and everything you desire shall be yours! Woman? Money? What is it you want? Everything! All of them! Shall be yours!” That looked so funny to me that I burst into a fit of guffaws. “And what makes a deejay like you believe you can achieve these accomplishments?”

Jin Qichen erupted into a peal of maniacal laughter all of a sudden like a deranged madman, leaving us quietly staring at him. When he finally stopped, he said, “This is the Will of Heaven! Can’t you see this, Spirit of the Sword! We are destined to meet! We are meant to work together!” “This is getting too much,” I was starting to feel. Beginning to feel annoyed by this senseless brouhaha, I glared at Jin Qichen, “And the fact that you are aware of who I am makes me curious and wary to who you really are.”

What I said seemed to have struck logic into him. In a relatively calm voice, he said, “When the Empire of Manchuria fell so many years ago, both the Dragon-slaying Blade and the Sword of the Nine Drakes were taken by the spymaster Dai Li. Then came the news of his aircraft mishap. Since then, all we’ve heard was that the Sword of the Nine Drakes ruined and the Dragon-slaying Blade lost. Completely lost from the world. But now, here you are! The emergence of the divine weapon of the legendary Yan Di of the South! You and I, were are fellow kins of his descendants. With the power of the Shiyan Blade, we will surely be able to reawaken the dragon leys and bring forth the resurgence of the Qing Empire! And I shall be the first Emperor of the renewed Qing Empire!” He screamed hysterically, his furor fermenting with insanity that I could only grimace at the nonsense he was babbling.

“And have you not heard that the Manchurians of the Qing Empire were the descendants of Qing Di of the West, not Yan Di and certainly not Huang Di?! You should be looking for the Shiqing Blade if you indeed with to resuscitate the dynasty of your forebears.” The Jin Qichen smirked. “The Dragon-slaying Blade is no more,” he said, “You are all I need. Just by helping me, we can forge a kingdom that would last through ages! Are you not intrigued by any of this?” “Dragon leys do not last forever, you fool! You sure have a lot of catching up to do! A mere mortal like you spending your days constantly lulling in delusions of grandeur! Don’t you have something better to do!? And how come you by the knowledge that I am the Spirit of the Shiyan Blade!? Who told you about the Blade that was Lost?”

Jin Qichen’s face hardly shifted from the smirk he was still wearing. “That is hardly your concern. But if it is so important to you, swear me your fealty and the knowledge shall be yours!” A hand gripped on my arm and I turned to see Sister shaking her head imperceptibly, urging me to not agree. “But of course I wouldn’t,” I almost blurted. First things first, I did not wield the power to awaken dragon leys. But even if I did, Heaven forfend a bolt lightning might shoot down from the sky to kill me for trying to act against the wishes of Heaven by hoping to resurrect the Qing Empire. I looked at the intruder and smirked derisively as I tossed the Shiyan Blade into the air, allowing it to spear through the cobblestones a foot from where Jin Qichen was standing. “Go if you will,” I said to him, “Take the sword. That I can borrow you at least. But I’ll never help you achieve the kingship you so believe you deserve.”

His face changed suddenly, revealing a devilish and ravenous glare that betrayed his thirst for power at the sight of the invincible Shiyan Blade now sticking out of the ground like Excalibur in the stone. He lunged for it, ripping it out of the ground and sending gravel spattering on the ground. Just then, Na San formed up to his master and whispered into his ears. Something he said smothered the intense craving for power blazing in his master’s eyes and Jin Qichen tossed the Shiyan Blade to the ground, allowing it to clatter harmlessly on the puddled cobblestones of the back alley. But I was actually bothered of something else; the Shiyan Blade would have weighed a tonne in the hands of a mortal. Yet Jin Qichen was able to yank it free from my grasp and swing it like a normal sword! “He is no mere mortal after all!”

“It is true then. The Shiyan Blade and its Spirit must be one. Otherwise, the Blade is nothing but just a piece of worthless steel. This I do know,” Jin Qichen remarked with a hint of disappointment. I snorted coldly and picked up my weapon. “Tell me the truth and answer my question. And enough of all that day-dreaming… Otherwise…” Forming the Seal of the Sword, I released the Shiyan Blade from my grasp and it hovered briefly over my head before it lunged at Jin Qichen with a blinding speed before stopping precariously at a mere hair’s breadth away from biting into the skin of his forehead.

Jin Qichen raised his hands in a surrendering gesture and muttered mockingly, “Easy, Spirit.” “Then answer my question!” I growled. With his hands still raised, Jin Qichen shrugged. “Very well. A show of good faith would not hurt, I guess.” He remarked dryly, “There was indeed someone who told me who you are. But the knowledge of the Blade that was Lost is known to me since I was a boy. This matter is a secret closely-guarded within my brethren.”

“Your brethren?” I gasped suspiciously.

“My brethren. My family. Jin. Although tens of years ago, we would have been known by the name Aisin Gioro and I would have been Aisin Gioro Qichen.”