[Tian Ya Ke (Re-)Readalong] Chapter 21-23

[rekishi]

Welcome back! I'm writing this from the electronic and internet desert (i.e. my childhood home), so my abilities for research are a bit limited. Like in the desert where there sometimes is water, there is some internet in these parts.

Today's chapters are:

Chapter 21 – Poisonous Scorpions
Chapter 22 – Sage Doctor
Chapter 23 – Old Tales


Zhang Chengling gets rescued! Zhou Zishu gets poisoned and made a (literal) cut-sleeve! Wen Kexing lurks (and cooks)!



Chapter 21

• "Out of habit, Zhou Zishu was about to supply an understated response. Something along the lines of “a mere nobody”, like he had answered Guxiang. But then he caught sight of the bruise on Zhang Chengling’s neck.
  
  Suddenly, the thought occurred to him that he had downplayed himself for half his life at the Imperial Court already. Why should he be polite with a bunch of deceitful riffraffs?
  He had repressed the impudence within him for too long. Wasn’t he a wandering hero now?"


• "Anybody who dabbled in martial arts knew that the neck, like the chest, was a vital part, which had to be defended at all costs. In fact, people would protect these places by instinct, so anyone who dared to strike at the neck was either sure their opponent was weaker, or overconfident in their skills."


• "He could remember his father telling him when he was a kid that kung-fu was a multiform art. Some experts were as solid as a boulder and as stable as Mt Tai itself; some were so powerful, they could overcome any stronghold; and some were as fast as lightning, and as swift as the wind. But those powers all proceeded from kung-fu techniques that could be recognised. The most frightening masters sought to be soundless and shapeless, to move in ways that were indescribable. At first glance, they’d look like a springtime rain — lithe and silent.
  Zhang Chengling’s father had summed up their art using two phrases: as speedy as a graceful bird, they make light out of the ton."

Chapter 22

• "Zhou Zishu found a small stream nearby and washed his hands in it. Awkwardly, he did his best to wrap his torn sleeve around his arm. The sensation of Wen Kexing’s lips still lingered on his skin.
  
  He felt it clearly: after having sucked out the venom, the guy had licked his wound.
  
  It had made the vein at his temple throb on the spot — Wen Kexing had done it on purpose, for sure.
  
  With an irritated gesture, Zhou Zishu yanked off his second mask and flung it into the water.
  
  That Wen Kexing guy was truly a shameless nutcase, he thought. It was the first time in his life he ever met somebody whose appetite for men was so indiscriminate and openly flaunted, he could get into heat in plain daylight and target even somebody who looked like himself."


• "“Hey, over there,” he called out. “Since he is intent on following you, why don’t you just let him tag along? If you can’t bear to see him, why then have you saved his life so many times?”
  
  At a sluggish pace, Zhou Zishu got up on his feet and came closer. He thrust out his hands to warm them by the fire. The acupoints on his chest were getting painful, and it made him feel chilly.
  
  “I’m asking you,” Wen Kexing said again as he nudged Zhou Zishu with the point of his shoe.
  
  Zhou Zishu answered in a slow voice.
  
  “I wanted to.”"


• "Only then did Wen Kexing speak to the boy again.
  
  “Why are you bad at kung-fu? Didn’t your dad teach you?” he asked.
  
  “He did,” Zhang Chengling muttered. “But I’m just slow on the uptake, and haven’t studied hard. I’ve forgotten almost everything now.”
  
  Wen Kexing pondered those words for a moment before shaking his head.
  
  “When I was little and my father was teaching me, I didn’t like to practise either. Not unlike you. Though it’s true, I wasn’t too slow on the uptake…” 
  
  At that, though he kept his eyes shut, Zhou Zishu couldn’t refrain from letting out a sneer.
  
  Wen Kexing ignored him and gave the boy a once-over.
  
  “Would you like to learn kung-fu?” he asked."


• "“Your surname is Wen… Back then, ‘The Sage Doctor’ of legend, Wen Ruyu — who was he to you?”
  
  Wen Kexing’s entire body seemed to jostle in shock. It was a long while before he answered in a low voice.
  
  “He was my father.”
  
  Zhou Zishu opened his eyes then and studied the other man’s profile. 
  
  When he spoke again, his tone had grown solemn.
  
  “I’ve always heard that Sir Wen Ruyu was a good man. The Sage Doctor who wielded the ‘Autumn’s Light’ sword, and who accomplished many charitable acts in jianghu alongside his wife, the genius physician Gu Miaomiao⁷. They saved countless lives before retiring in seclusion, at which point nobody ever heard of them again. Please accept my apologies. I hadn’t realised he was your esteemed father.”"

Chapter 23

• "An elegy to halcyon days past, a lament of a previous life that shall never return.
  
  What could Zhang Chengling have been thinking whilst he listened to it?"


• "“The Eighteen Patterns of Autumn’s Light developed by your late father were once reputed throughout all of jianghu. I watched you. You only taught the boy three moves, and none of them belonged to those Eighteen. But then, I thought it over and figured that all variations on the Patterns were contained in the three moves you demonstrated. Brother Wen… as the saying goes, bluer than blue, you have surpassed your father.”
  
  Wen Kexing’s reply was quiet and likewise whispered.
  
  “His swordsmanship was certainly not as good as mine, but when it comes to medicine, I am less than a novice. I know only enough to bandage a wound. And that to cure a cold, you’ve got to sweat it out.”"


• "“Not everybody on this planet is a good person, so most people aspire to become one. Even a bad person would try to pretend to be a good person.”
  
  He paused before carrying on.
  
  “As to why… I think it’s because the only way to have others like you is to be good to them. To be sincere in one’s desire to not hurt people and do good deeds. That’s the only way to make friends, to have a family, to have people who want to frequent you and be nice to you. Think of it this way: if there is somebody who remains alone all their life, and who has to guard against everybody else in the world; who likes no one, and who’s attached to nobody; with only themselves to take care of — wouldn’t that be quite a sad life, too? So, you see, being a bad person is simply too painful.”"

ZZS strangling people by the neck again and displaying that despite having only half his previous abilities, he's still better than any old ruffian (and other people don't expect him to have these abilities considering how emaciated he is).

We get a wonderful display of ZZS' skills, partially through ZCL's eyes and he is in awe of his shifu. On the one hand, that's rad! He should be! On the other, while ZCL's own martial arts are weak and under-developed (through his own neglect and his condition), but ZCL is also the son of a martial arts sect leader and probably has seen people execute some awesome martial arts. But ZZS is a class of his own and ZCL recognizes that very well.

At the same time this is our 'proper' introduction to the Poisonous Scorpions. What do you think about them? They do come across a bit as amateurs, no? Thirteen Scorpions and ZZS makes short work of all of them? Amateurs. Well, at least compared to ZZS. ^^; (Let's keep in mind, WKX can sort of keep up with a ZZS at half strength. Hmmm.)

What's actually interesting about this chapter is that we get some information on how Ghost Valley works, because ZZS says “The Ghost Valley has rules. Once a ghost, you are condemned to the shadows and can’t come back to the realm of the living, except on the fifteenth of the seventh month. I’ll hand it to you, you’re quite the brave one to dare come to Dongting and wreak havoc in plain daylight.”

(I think someone (trobadora??) has mentioned this previously?)

What ZZS is referring to here is "[中元節] Zhongyuan Jie, or the Ghost Festival, which falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the Lunar Calendar (usually around August/September on the Western Calendar.) The seventh month is ghost month, when the gates to the underworld are open, so the gods patrol more diligently. The festival celebrates the underworld, and offerings are made to the dead to appease their spirits and help them move on." (explanation adapted from the TGCF translation by Suika, who wrote it better than I could have so I'm not re-inventing the wheel here).

So! Ghost Valley does have a huge loophole, and I actually think maybe the ghosts can get out the whole month, not just on zhongyuan jie, which might explain how WKX has been going about his outside business. Is one month enough to maintain an "old love"? Or, for that matter, a relationship of some sort beyond sexual in nature. Well, either way this does provide some insight. Question is, does WKX keep to the rules?

Well, WKX at least is back to his sleeve cutting ways, of course. Ahem.

Interesting that WKX apparently lurked in the shadows and never saw any point in interfering, Which...well, he didn't need to, both ZZS and ZCL were perfectly safe with ZZS there. It's only when ZZS gets poisoned by one of the Scorpions that WKX steps in, which… Yeah, ZZS can handle himself and I'm mostly sure he would have if it had looked like ZZS would have been in a pickle. Otoh, in a good way he didn't have to step in and reveal himself to Sun Ding, which might have been impractical.

Also kids, please never try to suck poison from a wound. It doesn't work! I know it's a tried and tested technique in wuxia and xianxia (and many Wild West movies/novels), but please don't try this at home, it'll lead to tears. What is interesting is that in TYK, WKX is the one with the Scorpion Poison antidote, rather than ZZS who is that one in SHL. So Wu Xi probably was never exposed to Scorpion poison (and why would he) while WKX has been enough or is afraid enough of it to actually carry the antidote - unless he knew they'd run into them, which I personally doubt.

This strikes me as curious, because later on, it's ZZS who knows more about the Poisonous Scorpions in general and the Scorpion King in particular.

(ZZS providing food and eating it, I'm still crying excuse me. Also, WKX taking up the food preparation without any discussion is interesting, because this looks like a dynamic beyond 'I hunted, you cook'.)

I like that ZZS is talking plainly with WKX and vice versa. Neither of them has much point in hiding anymore (except WKX' GV stuff, and I almost think that's already almost off the table as well, at least as far as ZZS is concerned). I'm not sure ZZS would have admitted this much, that he saved ZCL because he wanted to, before leaving Court or even to anyone else.

We get some insights into WKX as well, and here's a line that I really like where he talks about his father ("When I was little and my father was teaching me, I didn’t like to practise either. Not unlike you. Though it’s true, I wasn’t too slow on the uptake."). I don't think ZZS quite knew who WKX' father was beforehand, though that secret was obviously up as soon as WKX started to show ZCL some of his moves. But considering what drives WKX' at this point still, I think it means something that he brings it up with ZCL.

Has he taught GX some of his father's technique? Because I'm not sure he has. What does it mean, that he is now teaching ZCL? Does he want to leave something behind, even if it's just to someone like ZCL who is...not great at martial arts and of whom we don't know yet that he has great potential? Does WKX want ZZS to know and showing ZCL his father's unique technique is his way to make that happen?

So many questions.

Also of note, this is the point in time where ZZS and WKX' teaching start to mingle. ZCL won't be a disciple of Siji Manor here, because ZZS doesn't seem to have an interest in going back, but I don't think that ZZS and WKX' teaching/techniques will ever be wholly separate in ZCL.

I clearly have feelings about this moment!

We learn so much about WKX here, and so much of what makes him the man he is. It's an incredibly intimate moment between ZZS and WKX here, who're two men who are both grappling with their past in different ways (and with regaining their humanity, though I think this is actually surprising to both of them).

ZZS is showing his desires here, but also the fact that he's on a path he doesn't want ("if there is somebody who remains alone all their life, and who has to guard against everybody else in the world; who likes no one, and who’s attached to nobody; with only themselves to take care of — wouldn’t that be quite a sad life, too?"). I'm not sure he realizes that that's the path he's in right now for what remains of his life - the three years he has from the Nails - because all his friends either think him basically dead (HLY, if he could be called a friend) or are out of reach (JBY, WX). The only people around him now he has any sort of connection to in the life he has chosen to live are ZCL and WKX… And it's irony that he says these words and they don't touch his heart.

Does this path make ZZS a bad person? Does it WKX, who in the end only has had GX up until now?

There are so many masks and deception between them and yet these words…

I think this is the most honest conversation they've had until now - and I'm not surprised WKX practically asks ZZS to take the three bows with him. And this is a WKX who knows about the Nails, and therefore must know that time is limited at best.

What does everyone think? I have a lot of feelings about this chapter, what's everyone else's reading?

We'll continue on August 24 with chapters 24+25, which will conclude volume 1!