(The Jade Cliff Under the Moonlight)

After all that mess, the moon has risen to the middle of the sky. Duan Yu kept on walking west. Even though he does not know any kungfu, his youth enabled him to keep this up. After about 10 kilometers he has already arrived in the back mountains of No Measure Mountain. He suddenly heard the sound of water running. Feeling thirsty, he went searching and found the creek. Under the moonlight the creek water looked clear and beautiful. Just as he put his into the creek, he heard sound of a branch cracking followed by the footsteps of 2 people. Duan Yu immediately lied down by the creek, not daring to make a noise.

Someone said: “There is a creek here, let’s get a couple of drinks here before continuing.” The voice sounded familiar to Duan Yu as he suddenly recognized it as Gan GuangHao, the disciple of Zuo ZiMu. Duan Yu became even more still. The 2 of them walked up to the creek and started drinking. After a bit, Gan GuangHao spoke up: “Sister Ge, looks like we are already out of danger. Let’s rest a while before going on.” The girl seemed to have agreed as it sounded like both of them sat down by the creek.

The girl spoke up: “You sure that the Divine Farmer Clan won’t have anyone this way?” Her voice is shaky, obviously scared. Gan GuangHao tried to calm her: “Don’t worry, this path is as hidden as can be. Even some of us in the East Faction don’t know about it, not to mention the Divine Farmer Clan.” The girl asked: “Then how did you know about this?” Gan GuangHao replied: “Every 5 days, my master would take some of us here to try to crack the secret of the ‘No Measure Jade Cliff’. All these years, all we did was stare at the rock like a bunch of retards. Master kept on saying something to the effect of ‘to get things done you must show perseverance and determination’ and ‘good things come to those with aspirations’. But I really just can’t stand it anymore, so sometimes I excuse myself to do that kind of personal business to come out here and wander around. That’s how I found this path.”

The girl laughed a little and said: “So you don’t want to put in the work and ran off. I say in your faction, you probably have the least perseverance and determination.” Gan GuangHao laughed and replied: “Sister Ge, in the competition 5 years ago, when I lost to you….” The girl cuts in: “Don’t you say that you lost to me again. You pretended that your inner strength was weaker and let me win on purpose. Others can’t tell, but don’t you think I know?”

Duan Yu thought to himself: “So this girl is a disciple of the West Faction of No Measure Sword.”

Gan GuangHao replied: “The moment I saw you, I swore to myself that I will spend the rest of my life with you no matter what. Luckily such a rare chance came today with the Divine Farmer Clan coming to attack. Not to mention that pair of bastard guy and girl and their stinking marten. The entire Sword Lake Palace was a mess, giving us such a great opportunity to run away. Wouldn’t you say that this is ‘good things come to those with aspirations’?” The girl laughed a bit and tenderly replied: “I say ‘good things came to those with aspirations’ for me as well.” Gan GuangHao replied: “Sister Ge, if you treat me this way, then I would listen to whatever you say for the rest of my life.”

The girl sighed: “With us betraying our masters and running off like this, we can’t ever stand in the martial world ever again. We should go as far away as we can, find a nice and secret place and hide there away from our masters and sect members. I’m scared just thinking about them finding us.” Gan GuangHao replied: “I say you don’t have that much to worry about. Seems like the Divine Farmer Clan came prepared this time. Besides the 2 of us, I don’t think anyone else would be able to escape.” The girl sighed again: “Hopefully.”

Duan Yu became very angry and thought to himself: “The 2 of you becoming husband and wife and running off when seeing that there is trouble is really no big deal. But why wish death upon your master and martial brothers? Such evil hearts.” But he was still wise enough to figure out that if they found out he is here they would kill him to keep this quiet. So he still did not make a noise.

The girl asked: “What is the big deal about this ‘No Measure Jade Cliff’? You have lived here for 10 years now, haven’t you at least found something?”

Gan GuangHao replied: “Since we are together now, I have nothing to hide from you. Master said that a long while back, at that time his master was the head of the East Faction, under the moonlight, he often sees faint reflections practicing swords on the cliff. Sometimes it’s a man, sometimes it’s a woman, and then other times they are sparring. The kind of sword skill they were displaying was something that he has never even dreamed of, much less heard of or seen. It is as if they were angels. He hoped to learn a couple of moves, but not only are the reflections on the cliff just too fast and too amazing, but they also seem supernatural as if nonexistent. He just can’t make out anything clearly, much less learn a move or 2. The angels don’t appear regularly either, sometimes they appear every night, sometimes there are months between appearances. My master’s master became so obsessed with the reflections on the cliff that he actually became worse and worse at our own sect’s sword skills and doesn’t even train his students anymore. That’s how the West Faction won later on. Sister Ge, when your master’s master came to live in Sword Lake Palace, did she see anything?”

The girl replied: “I heard from my master that her master saw the images on the cliff as well. But grand master only saw the woman and never seen any of man angel. Maybe it was because her master was a woman so only the female angel appeared to her. But after 2 years, she was gone as well. Her master also said that the sword skills were incredible, but they were just too fast and the reflections were too blurry for her to see it clearly. The cliff is separated by the canyon and the Sword Lake, so she couldn’t get closer to have a better look. Grand master obviously received a gift from the heavens, yet she just cannot learn even a move or 2. For that you can just imagine how she felt inside. After the reflections stopped appearing, she would spend days upon days staring at the cliff. She just got weaker and weaker until she died of illness about half a year later. She died lying on the peak, and would not let her disciples move her back to Sword Lake Palace. Master said that even as she drew her last breath she was still staring at the cliff.” She paused a bit before continuing: “Brother Gan, do you really believe there are angels? Or are our grandmasters lying to us?”

Gan GuangHao replied: “I don’t think both our grandmasters made up such a story to deceive their disciples. Even if we believed it, then what? Besides, Martial Uncle Sheng told me that he saw the images with his very own two eyes. But are there really angels in the world? That I do not know.”

The girl asked: “Is it possible that it’s two masters practicing swords in front of the cliff and was reflected onto the cliff?” Gan GuangHao answered: “Grandmaster thought about that as well at the time. But right in front of the cliff is the Sword Lake, and west of the lake is the canyon. Even if the 2 master martial artist knew how to walk on water and were practicing on the lake, grandmaster would have seen them. If they were practicing on this side of the lake, then they really are too far away to cast any kind of reflection onto the cliff.” The girl said: “After my grandmaster died, her disciples performed rites and prayed in front of the cliff every night, hoping the angels would appear again. But they never did see it again. My master also wants to just get one glance at the angels, but it just so happens that we have lost both contests to your East Faction in the last 10 years.”

Gan GuangHao replied: “From now on, there is no East or West Faction between us. We East and West is connected in marriage and merge as one….” The girl moaned a couple of times and said: “S… stop that!” Obviously Gan GuangHao is trying to get a little closer with her, but the girl is refusing. Gan GuangHao spoke up: “From this day forth, if I ever betray your heart in anyway, then let me fall into this creek and become a turtle.” The girl coquettishly laughed: “You turn into a turtle? Then what does that say about me?”{Note, in Chinese street talk, a turtle is a man whose wife is cheating on him.}

When Duan Yu heard that, he can’t help but let out a laugh. As soon as the laughter came out he knew he was in trouble. So he jumped up and started to run. Gan GuangHao’s voice came from behind him: “Who is it?” His voice was followed by the sound of his footsteps, coming after him. {Duan Yu seems to have problems controlling his sense of humor doesn’t he?}

Duan Yu can’t believe his luck and ran for his life. Suddenly, a flash of white came from the west. A girl with a sword in hand is coming down the slope as if to cut him off. Duan Yu let out an “Ai-Yo!” and turned toward the east. All the while he kept on praying: “Great Benevolent and Merciful Bodhisattva, please bless and protect your humble disciple Duan Yu out of this mess!” He can still hear the footsteps of Gan GuangHao chasing after him so he kept right on running. After a while, he started having trouble keeping this up and his breathing became very hard, Gan GuangHao suddenly spoke up: “Sister Ge, block that pass over there.”

Duan Yu thought to himself: “You giving your life away is really no big deal. But if you die you are taking Miss Zhong’s life with you, as well as all the people in the Divine Farmer Clan. Now that indeed is a sin. Amida Buddha and Bodhisattva.” Then his thoughts turned: “Duan Yu my good man, so what if they become turtles, what does that have to do with you? Why did you laugh for no reason whatsoever? With that laugh you have killed dozens of lives! Only unrivaled beauties can bring down cities with a smile or a laugh. Who do you think you are with this little laugh of yours? What are you planning on bringing down?” Even though he is blaming and scolding himself in his mind, his legs had not let up yet. By now he doesn’t really care where he is going, just as long as it is deeper into the woods.

{A little commentary by me. Duan Yu here refers to a idiom saying that unrivaled beauties destroys cities and kingdoms with a smile, it comes from a true story very early in Chinese history. However, it also is a basic concept in ancient Chinese culture. As expected in such chauvinisticic society as ancient China was, many failures of kings and lords are not blamed on themselves but on women whom they associate with. There are many examples of this. In 771 BC, King Zhou You’s own personal ignorance and foolishness that led to his demise was blamed on his consort Bao Si (who’s famous smile was worth 1000 gold pieces). At the end of the Spring and Autumn period, the fall of the state of Wu was not blamed on the Lord of Yue, who put an end to Wu in revenge for an earlier loss, but on the fact the Lord of Wu was infatuated with Xi Shi, a girl from the state of Yue. In A.D. 755, An LuShan, a trusted official of the Emperor of Tang rebelled and almost overthrew the Tang dynasty. The Emperor of Tang’s failure as a ruler was not blamed, his favorite consort, Consort Yang, was! Jin Yong himself delved into this particular phenomenon of Chinese history in Duke of Mt. Deer and its story about Chen YuanYuan. To me, the section during which Chen YuanYuan reflected on her life was the best part of all of Duke of Mt. Deer and one of the most thought provoking and poignant sections that I have ever read. Actually all of this is not really commentary but merely some observations that I have made. }

After running for a while more, Duan Yu’s legs felt completely numb and soft. Suddenly he heard the sound of water running, very loud sound in fact, as if the tides were just coming in. He looked up and saw a huge waterfall falling off of a cliff to the northwest. Over the water noise, he heard Gan GuangHao’s voice: “Just ahead of you is the restricted area of our sect, no one can enter. If you just go forward a few more meters, you would be trespassing and will die without a burial place!” Duan Yu thought to himself: “Even if I don’t trespass into the restricted area, it’s not like you’ll let me go. Best I could hope for is dying with a burial place. Really not much difference between having a burial place and not having one.” So he picked up his speed even more. Gan GuangHao shouted even louder: “Stop now! Don’t you want to live? Just ahead is…..”

Duan Yu laughed and replied back: “I want to live, that’s why I’m runnin….” Before he could finish his sentence, his foot suddenly had nothing to step on. He doesn’t know any kungfu and is in such a hurry, how could he possibly pull back from that? So he just fell. He screamed: “Ai-Yo!” But by now his body is already more than 20 meters below the top of the cliff where he lost his footing.

Duan Yu wildly waved his arm around, desperately hoping to be able to grab onto something. But as he is doing so, he fell another 200 meters or so. Suddenly his bottom hit something and his body was sprung back upwards. Turns out that he fell onto an old pine tree that was growing out of the face of the cliff. With a terrible rumble, the huge trunk of the pine snapped, but the force of Duan Yu’s fall had been mostly cancelled out.

Duan Yu started to fall down again. This time he reached out with both his arms and grabbed onto another trunk of the pine tree. So there he is, hanging in midair, swinging back and forth. He looked down and did not see the bottom of the canyon, merely clouds. At this moment, his body has been swung against the cliff. He immediately reached out with his left hand and grabbed onto a shorter branch close to the face of the cliff and found a place for his foot to balance himself. Only now was he finally able to calm down and slowly move his body completely up against the face of the cliff. He looked up to the old pine tree and said: “Grandfather pine, thank you so much for your display of your abilities that saved my life. Back then your ancestor helped Qing ShiHuang (first emperor in Chinese history) get out of the rain and was granted the title of ‘5th Rank Senior Official’. But how can saving a life compare with protecting against the rain? I’m going to give you the position of ‘6th Rank Senior Official’. No, on second thought, definitely ‘7th’ or ‘8th Rank Senior Official’!”

He looked around him carefully and saw that the cliff has a huge crack in it, one which he might be able to use to scale down. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and thought: “Gan GuangHao and that Sister Ge of his surely would have thought that I am dead by now. No way in the world could they have guessed that I would be rescued by an ‘8th Ranked Senior Official’. They have probably already left the mountain to work on their ‘merging of East and West Factions’. Who knows what kind of danger is on the bottom of this cliff, but my life is living on borrowed time anyway, doesn’t really matter where I lose it again. But since Bodhisattva is protecting me, it’s better not to lose it for her.”

So he started to slowly descend along the crack. Inside the crack grew a lot of weeds and small plants, so there really is no danger of losing his footing and falling again. The only problem is this cliff seemed to go on forever, after a while, his clothing were full of holes and rips from the plants along the crack, not to mention his hands and feet. After what seemed like forever, he still haven’t reached the bottom, but fortunately as the cliff gets to the bottom it became less and less steep, not straight down anymore. So by then Duan Yu was able to just half-roll and half-crawl down, which is much faster.

But the sound of water splashing just kept on getting louder and louder, Duan Yu started to worry again: “What if the bottom of this is white water rapids?” Large water pellets were hitting his face, which was actually kind of painful.

Before he had too much time to think all this over, and it wasn’t like he had much choice in the matter, he has reached the bottom of the cliff. When he stood up, he could not help but to scream in astonishment. For on the cliff on the left side there is a waterfall falling from the sky like a jade dragon falling from the sky into a big and unusually clear lake. Despite of the waterfall, the lake is not filled up, meaning that there must be a way for the water to leave the valley. The water where the waterfall enters the lake is in turmoil; however, merely a little bit over 20 meters away from the waterfall the waters become calm and flat as a mirror. The moon shines down onto the lake as there is also a moon shining back from the lake.

Facing this scene, Duan Yu was left agaping, not even able to sigh in astonishment. He looked over to the side and saw several bushes of camelias by the lake shore, looking as if they are alive under the moonlight. The camelias of YuNan are the best in the world and Duan Yu has always loved them. So now he actually stopped thinking about the predicament he is in and walked over to get a closer look at the flowers. All the while muttering to himself: “Even though there’s lots of flowers here, there are only a couple of types really. And only these few ‘Feathered Shirt, Rainbow Skirt’ are better than the ones at my house. These ‘Lotus Every Step’ over here, on the other hand, aren’t pure at all.”

After enjoying the camelias for a while, he walked over to the lake and drank some water. The water felt clean and soothing on the tongue with an unusual sweetness as a cool and smooth string of water went all the way into his stomach. After recovering from the drink, he stood up and walked along side the lake shore hoping to find a way out.

The lake is oval in shape, and more than half of it is hidden underneath bushes of flowers and trees. He walked from west to east and then back again to circle the lake once, which a trip of about 1 and a half kilometers. It turns out that the cliff surrounds the lake on all 4 sides with no paths out. The side that he fell from is the least steep portion of all, so it is impossible to climb on the others. Looking up, he sees that the cliff extends to above the clouds. Getting down from halfway was almost impossible, but climbing back up really is impossible. Duan Yu thought to himself: “Even someone with the best kungfu in the world won’t be able to get up there, so it’s obvious there is not much difference between knowing or not knowing kungfu.”

By now it was getting close to dawn, but the entire place remained incredibly still. Not a single trace or sign of an animal, not to mention humans; the only thing that could be heard was a couple of birds chirping at each other. Duan Yu started to worry again: “It is no big deal if I starve to death here, but then that would mean that Miss Zong would die as well. I can’t let her down like that. Not to mention my mom and dad are probably worried sick about me.”

He sat down by the lake and worried in vain, unable to come up with a single idea as to what to do. In desperation, he started to imagine: “What if I can turn into a fish, then I could swim up the waterfall and get out of here.” He turned to look at the waterfall more closely, suddenly he noticed that the cliff besides it is smooth like jade. He figured that this is probably due to the fact that a long time ago the flow of water was much more than it is now and wore the cliff to its present smooth state. Then the water flow decreased and exposed this smooth as glass and bright as a mirror part of the cliff.

Suddenly, the conversation between Gan GuangHao and that Sister Xin of his flashed in Duan Yu’s mind: “So this must be the ‘No Measure Jade Cliff’ that they were talking about. They said that back then, when the moon is bright, the head of both East and West Factions often saw images of angels practicing swords on the cliff. This cliff is right besides the cliff, for the image to reflect onto it, they really have to be practicing in the middle of the lake. If I stand here on the east of the lake my image could reflect onto the cliff as well, but the cliff on this side is straight up and blocks out the moonlight, which would make that impossible. Ah! I get it! Must be because there are some waterfowls flying close to the surface of the lake so their images were reflected onto the cliff. From afar, then of course, the movements are incredible, fast, and strange. They have already assumed that it was angels practicing swords, so that is what they thought they saw everytime. Of course, they can’t make anything out of the display of ‘sword skills’ and eventually went down the wrong path and became obsessed.”

Once he figured all this out, he couldn’t help but laugh a little. It has been 15 to 16 hours since the dinner at Sword Lake Palace and he is getting very hungry. So he walked over to some bushes that had greenish red wild fruits grown all over them. He picked one off and bit down, it tasted just as sour as can be. But as hungry as he was, he didn’t care and ate 10 or so in a row. After filling up somewhat, he suddenly felt tired and sore all over his body. So he lied down on the grassy knoll and had a great sleep.

This was one of the best sleeps that he has ever had. By the time he woke up, the sun is already slightly to the west. There was a rainbow in the middle of the lake, just as beautiful as can be. Duan Yu knew that rainbows in this place is common because of the waterfall so he thought to himself: “To be able to see such a scene before I die means that my fortune is not bad. And to think that I would die here among the flowers on the lakeside, not bad elegance there either. Such a beautiful lake, too bad the camelias aren’t really of great standards.”

After sleeping, his spirits has picked up greatly: “Maybe there is an exit in this place hidden behind the trees and the bushes. I was too much in a hurry last night and might have missed it.” So he once again walked alongside the lake in search of an exit, all the while humming favorite tunes of his. He carefully searched everywhere with the greatest care but behind all the bushes and trees were still just faces of the cliff, going straight up into the clouds. He didn’t even find a snake hole, not to mention a real exit.

The tunes that he was humming got quieter and quieter while the heart became heavier and heavier. When he got back to where he fell asleep his legs felt weak and he had to sit down. He thought: “Miss Zhong tried to save me, but ended up giving her life away as well.”

Now that he is thinking about Zhong Ling, he took out her shoes from his shirt and looked them over. Remembering back to her small and smooth feet as well as her beautiful face, he had to bring the shoes up to his lips and kiss it several times. Putting the shoes back into his shirt, he thought to himself: “Seems like I don’t have a chance, and that means neither does Miss Zhong. If she was here and the 2 of us can spend what’s left of our lives together here on the shore of this lake, that would be great. Too bad she is with that goat beard SiKong Xuan, no fun there. I wonder if she’s thinking about me right now as well?” {I relate to Duan Yu on many levels, as I think what he thinks about here is exactly what I would be thinking as well}

Nothing to do, so he went over to the fruit trees to eat more fruits. Suddenly, he realized: “I have searched everywhere but here! The cliff might pull a ‘Far as the edge of the world, but close to be in front of my eyes’!” He pulled the fruit tree branches aside, but shook his head in disappointment. Behind the tree is another bare rock covered with vines, no exit whatsoever. But a closer look revealed that this rock is smooth to the point that it looks just like a copper mirror, only it is much smaller than the one by the waterfall. Duan Yu suddenly thought to himself: “Could this be the real ‘No Measure Jade Cliff’?” So he pulled some of the vines off the rock. But besides being unusually smooth, there is nothing special about the rock.

Suddenly an idea popped in his head: “Nobody would ever know that I died here. No harm in carving a couple of words on this rock. Um, how about ‘Duan Yu of DaLi died at this place’. Could be quite fun.”

So he pulled off all the vines off the rock. Then he took off his robe, dipped it in water in the lake, and wetted the rock. Then he used some grass to brush the rock a bit. By now the rock really does look like a piece of jade.

He found a rather sharp rock on the ground and started to carve on the rock. But this rock turned out to be unusually hard. After much work, he barely carved out “Duan”, but the word was carved shallow and tilted, without the slightest trace of writing technique and skill. Duan Yu threw down the sharp rock and thought to himself: “If someone sees this later, they would think that this ‘Duan Yu’ doesn’t even know how to write his own name. If I carve these 8 words, what kind of stinking legacy is that to leave behind?” Besides, he wrist was very sore.

After it got dark again, he ate some more of the sour fruits and fell asleep. He dreamt that a pair of flowery shoes was flying around in front of his eyes. The shoes were green with yellow flowers, Zhong Ling’s pair. He immediately tried to grab them, but the shoes kept on flying around like a pair of butterflies, he can never seem to catch them. After a while, the shoes flew higher and higher. Duan Yu anxiously shouted: “Shoes! Please don’t fly off!” This shock woke him up. Finding out that it was all a dream, he rubbed his eyes, felt his shirt to make sure that the pair of shoes are still where they should be, and stood up. He looked up at the full moon, the silvery light shined down onto the lake making it look like a layer of silver. His eyes followed along the surface of the lake. Suddenly his whole body shook, for on the jade cliff opposite of him was an image of a person!

Needless to say, he was surprised beyond belief. Immediately he took a deep breath and shouted: “Angel! Save me! Angel, save me!” The image shook a bit, but did not reply. Duan Yu has by now calmed down a little and looked at the image more carefully. The image is very faint and hard to see clearly, but the person is wearing a robe and a scarf, obviously a man. He ran forward several steps to the lake’s shore and shouted: “Angel! Save me!” The image shook somewhat and got bigger. When Duan Yu stopped, the image stopped moving as well.

After the initial puzzlement, he immediately understood: “It’s my own reflection.” He jumped to the left, the image on the cliff jumped to the left as well. He took a step right and so did the image. By now there is no doubt in his mind that it is his own image, but he is still puzzled: “The moon is on the southwest, how does it manage to shine my image on to the cliff?”

He turned around, only to see that on the rock which he had carved “Duan” earlier in the day there was also an image of him. Only this image is alot smaller, but much more pronounced. He immediately understood the whole situation: “So the moon shines my reflection onto this little rock, which in turn reflects my image onto the big cliff. It is as if I was standing between 2 mirrors, the big mirror would reflect my image in the small mirror as well.”

Now that he has thought about this, he can’t help but think there is nothing special about this “Mystery of the Angel Images” that has puzzled “No Measure Sword” for decades: “There really were someone standing here practicing swords and their image got reflected onto the cliff. There used to be a man and a woman, but later on something happened to the guy, either he left or died, and only the woman was left here. She lived here all alone and after about 2 years she died of loneliness.” Thinking about a beautiful woman losing her love, living in this canyon all alone, and finally dying in sadness, he couldn’t help but be a little depressed.

Figuring all of this out, his excitement earlier has now subsided. With nothing else to do, he started to wave his arm and legs wildly, pretending to be practicing kungfu: “Hopefully Zuo ZiMu and ShuangQing just so happens to be at the top of the cliff. When they see that ‘Angel’ suddenly appeared on the cliff again, they would think that the angel is trying to teach them kungfu. Then they will try hard to learn this ‘kungfu’ that I’m showing them so they can pass it on to posterity. Hahaha!” The more he thought about it the funnier he felt, so he started laughing heartily.

Suddenly a thought popped in his head and he stopped laughing: “These 2 people only practice swords in his canyon once in a while. If they don’t live here, then there must be a path in and out of here. Else no matter how good their kungfu is, it is still way too much trouble to climb the cliff twice everytime they want to practice swords. Maybe once in a long while, certainly not ‘often’.” A ray of hope appeared to him: “I’ll go and carefully look for a way out. Didn’t Gan GuangHao say: ‘Good things come to those with aspirations’? Hehe, he aspires to marry his Sister Ge, then I will aspire to get out of here.”

So he sat down with his arm around his knees. Looking at the moon reflected in the lake, surrounded by all this quiety serenity, he started thinking: “‘Good things come to those with aspirations’. That saying is true. But Confucious also said: ‘Those who like are better off than those who know, those who are happy are better off than those who like.’ That saying fits my style much better. Mom and dad sometimes call me ‘obsessive’ because I always get obsessed about stuff when I was little. Lik