Previously
前情
Previously: last time, the great assembly of the Beggars' Sect in the Apricot Grove turned, before it ended, into a coup aimed at one man — Qiao Feng. A letter thirty years old was torn open before them all, in black and white: he was no man of Han, but a Khitan. The brothers who had honored him as a god the day before looked at him now with wholly different eyes. Qiao Feng handed over the Dog-Beating Staff and left the sect alone; and from that day the jianghu held one more Khitan whom every man cried out to kill — and one more black guilt laid on him, the death of Vice-Chief Ma Dayuan.
话说上一回，杏子林里那场丐帮大会，开到末了，成了一场冲着乔峰去的政变。一封三十年前的书信被当众拆开，白纸黑字：他不是汉人，是契丹人。昨天还敬他如神的帮中兄弟，今天看他的眼神全变了。乔峰当众交出打狗棒，孤身离帮；江湖上从此多了一个人人喊打的契丹人，还背着一口黑锅——副帮主马大元之死，被人算在了他头上。
That one letter fell like a stone and shattered everything his life till then had rested on: the seat of chief, the bond of brothers, the three characters "Qiao Feng of the North" that every man knew. One thing only he meant to make clear — who he truly was, and what in truth had happened beyond the pass at Yanmen.
这一封信像一块石头，砸碎了他前半生认下的所有东西：帮主之位、兄弟之义、名满天下的"北乔峰"三个字。他要弄明白的只有一件事——自己究竟是谁，当年雁门关外，又究竟发生了什么。
After he left the sect, a girl came to travel at Qiao Feng's side. Her name was A'zhu, a maid of the Murong house of Gusu. The two went on, one just behind the other, along the same road.
离帮之后，乔峰身边多了一个姑娘，名叫阿朱——姑苏慕容家的丫鬟。两个人一前一后，走在同一条路上。
A'zhu was a master of disguise and of the mimicry of voices; her origins were told in an earlier chapter (Tianlong 04, Mantuo Manor). She travelled the road with Qiao Feng, bound for Shaolin together. And that shared road would later, at Juxian Manor, become the very reason Qiao Feng could not leave her to die.
阿朱精通易容口技，来历前面的篇目（天龙04《曼陀山庄》）已经交代。她与乔峰一路同行，同赴少林；这一趟同行，后来在聚贤庄上，成了乔峰非救她不可的由头。
Chapter 1: Two Travelers, and a Storm at Shaolin
第一回 结伴同行疑远客 同赴少林起风波
Now Qiao Feng, having left the Beggars' Sect, went north. The girl at his side was named A'zhu, a maid of the Murong house of Gusu — the Murong being a martial clan of Gusu in Jiangnan, seated at Canhe Manor at Yanziwu, where A'zhu had grown up from childhood. The two travelled as companions, bound together for Shaolin. Shaolin Temple was the pole-star of the martial world of the Central Plains: a monastery a thousand years old, and the true school of the martial arts; its abbot in this generation bore the dharma name Xuanci, a monk revered by all under heaven.
且说乔峰离了丐帮，一路向北。身边这个姑娘叫阿朱，是姑苏慕容家的丫鬟——慕容家是江南姑苏的武林世家，庄院在燕子坞参合庄，阿朱自幼在那里长大。两个人结伴同行，同赴少林。少林寺是中原武林的泰山北斗，千年古刹，武学正宗，如今寺中方丈法名玄慈，是天下敬重的高僧。
Shaolin Temple stands upon Mount Song, and for a thousand years has been a holy ground revered by monk and layman alike; its monks number above a thousand, its discipline is strict, and a common man of the jianghu cannot so much as mount its steps. The jianghu of that age turned on one word, "righteousness": a kindness owed must be repaid, a wrong must be avenged, a word once given could cost a man his life. Qiao Feng had lived his whole life by that word — and just for that, the whole jianghu's turning against him now came so easily.
少林寺坐落于嵩山之上，千年来是天下僧俗敬奉的佛门重地；寺中僧人逾千，戒律极严，寻常江湖人物上不得山门。那时的江湖，讲的是一个"义"字：恩要还，仇要报，一句话许出去，命都能搭上。乔峰半生正是照这个字活过来的——也正因如此，如今满江湖翻脸，才翻得那样痛快。
The road was anything but calm. Qiao Feng carried the three words "a Khitan" on his back, and wherever he went there were pointing fingers; and a lone girl following a man hunted by the jianghu could mean, to other eyes, only one thing. Watching them pass, folk took them for a pair of runaways:
这一路并不太平。乔峰身上背着"契丹人"三个字，走到哪里，都有人指指点点；一个孤身女子跟着一个被江湖追杀的男人，落在旁人眼里，自然往一处想。旁人看着他们，只当是一对私奔的男女——
"The two travel as companions; from the look of them, they must be eloping."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised / new revised edition 「结伴同行，瞧模样定是私奔」
——《天龙八部》（修订版／新修版） That line reached A'zhu's ear, and she lowered her head.
这一句话落到阿朱耳朵里，她低下了头。
"A'zhu blushed, and turned her head back with a tender look in her eyes."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised edition 「阿朱脸上一红，眼色温柔的回眸」
——《天龙八部》（修订版） Blush she did, yet not one step did she slow. She followed Qiao Feng, and went on as before.
脸红是脸红，脚下却一步没有慢。她跟着乔峰，照旧往前走。
Qiao Feng walked on ahead. These idle words he had not failed to hear; he simply did not take them to heart. What weighed on him just now left him no room to think of other things.
乔峰走在前面。这些风言风语，他不是没听见，只是没往心里去。眼下要紧的事压在心里，他顾不上多想别的。
The girl had another art to her name: disguise. Another face, another voice, and standing before you she might pass for anyone, even to those who knew her well. In the new revised edition she is written changing her voice to Qiao Feng's, so that whoever she imitated, she sounded the part; and she herself said that in former days she had once played the monk of Shaolin Temple. Of this skill Qiao Feng said nothing aloud, but he kept it in mind.
这姑娘另有一桩本事：易容改扮。换一张脸，改一副嗓子，站在人前，连熟人也认不出她。新修版里写她改作乔峰的声音说话，学谁像谁；她自己也说过，从前扮过少林寺的僧人。她这一身本领，乔峰嘴上不提，心里是记着的。
On a road where a man is hunted, this art of disguise is more useful than any blade. A'zhu's worth lay not in martial skill — she could not take a blade for Qiao Feng, but she could quietly clear the road before him. On this road she helped him hide his whereabouts, and he shielded her from harm; a man and a woman travelling together through a jianghu that cried for his head managed better than either would have alone. Neither put anything into words; they simply walked on together.
在被人追杀的这条路上，这一手改扮的本事，比刀剑还实用。阿朱的用处，不在武功上——她不能替乔峰挡刀，却能替他把前头的路悄悄挪开。这一路，她替他掩饰行藏，他替她挡避风险；一男一女，在人人喊打的江湖里同行，倒比一个人走得安稳些。两人谁也没有说破什么，只是走在一处。
The road was not long in the walking, and the bell of Shaolin Temple was soon to be heard. And it was from that night that the trouble began.
这一路走得不慢，少林寺的钟声，已经听得见了。祸事，也就从那一夜起。
As they neared Shaolin, Qiao Feng could hold back no longer and asked: "What are you going to Shaolin for?" A'zhu only smiled and answered with a sigh, saying no more. Qiao Feng did not press her — she had shielded his whereabouts all down the road, and he trusted that she had her reasons.
眼看要到少林，乔峰到底忍不住问了一句："你去少林寺干什么？"阿朱只是笑了笑，答了一个"唉"字，不肯明说。乔峰也不追问——这一路她替他遮掩行藏，他信她自有道理。
In truth A'zhu had one pressing matter hidden in her heart. Her art of disguise was prepared for just this night: in the scripture-hall of Shaolin Temple was kept a manual of martial art, and she meant to take it out under cover of darkness. To whom she would give it, and for what use, she did not say, and Qiao Feng did not ask.
其实阿朱此去少林，心里早藏着一件要紧事。她那一身改扮易容的本事，正是为这一夜预备下的：少林寺的藏经阁里，收着一部武学秘籍，她要趁夜把它取出来。取来交给谁、作什么用，她不说，乔峰也不问。
Qiao Feng went up the mountain to see one man. Shaolin was no strange place to him: as a boy he had trained within its walls, and the master who had taught him was the senior monk Xuanku — the great monks of the temple for several generations had all borne the character "xuan" in their dharma names, and Xuanku was one of them. He had come to ask his master one thing, face to face: the affair beyond the pass at Yanmen thirty years ago, which the jianghu talked of everywhere and not one man could tell clear. If anyone on earth still knew a scrap of what had passed, it could only be this master who had taught him martial arts from boyhood.
乔峰上山，为的是见一个人。少林寺于他，不是外处：他幼时在寺中习武，授业恩师是寺中高僧玄苦大师——寺里几代高僧的法号都带一个"玄"字，玄苦便是其中一位。他这趟上山，是要当面问师父一件事：三十年前雁门关外的旧事，江湖上传得沸沸扬扬，却没一个人说得清。这世上若还有人知道当年的一星半点，恐怕只有这个从小教他武功的师父了。
The two came to the foot of the mountain, each with their own thought, and went up their separate ways. And that night, one calamity after another broke out in the temple.
两人到了山下，各怀各的念头，分头上山。这一夜，寺中接连出了变故。
First, Qiao Feng. He climbed the mountain and went straight to his master's chamber. Outside the door he first called in a low voice, greeting his master.
先说乔峰。他上了山，直奔师父的禅房。到得房外，先低低叫了一声：
"Master, I trust you are well. Your disciple Qiao Feng kowtows to his master."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised edition 「师父安好，弟子乔峰叩见师父。」
——《天龙八部》（修订版） No one answered, and a thread of lamplight showed through the door's crack, the stillness dreadful. He pushed the door open and went in. There lay Xuanku on the ground, struck by a palm blow of dreadful force, at the point of death.
房里没人应声。门缝里透出一点灯光，静得怕人。乔峰推门进去，只见玄苦倒在地上，受了极重的一掌，已是奄奄一息。
Who had dealt that blow, no one knew at the time. Only this: someone had gone up the mountain before Qiao Feng, and struck first.
这一掌是谁打的？当时没人知道。只是早有人抢在乔峰前头上山，先下了毒手。
Qiao Feng rushed to raise his master up and called to him again and again. Xuanku opened his eyes a little, knew his disciple, and with the breath nearly gone from him called "Feng'er," saying that all these days he had been thinking of him; before the words were done, his head sank, and he passed into nirvana.
乔峰抢上去扶住师父，连声呼唤。玄苦微微睁眼，认出是徒儿，气若游丝，唤了一声"峰儿"，说这些日子正在想念他；后半句话没有说完，头一低，就此圆寂。
"To pass into nirvana" is the Buddhist way of saying a monk has left the world: no word of "death," but "perfect rest" — his merit complete, returning to stillness. Qiao Feng had grown up in the temple and heard the phrase times without number; tonight, shouted by other mouths, it spoke of his own master.
"圆寂"是佛门的话：僧人辞世，不说"死"，说"圆寂"，取的是功德圆满、归于寂静的意思。乔峰自幼在寺中长大，这两个字听过不知多少遍；今夜从旁人口中喊出来，喊的是他的师父。
Just then the monks of the temple, drawn by the noise, came crowding in. The moment they saw Qiao Feng holding the body, one cried out that Master Xuanku had passed into nirvana.
就在这时，寺中僧众闻声赶到，一见乔峰扶着师父的尸身，早有人失声喊了出来：
"Master Xuanku has passed into nirvana!"
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, new revised edition 「玄苦师父圆寂了！」
——《天龙八部》（新修版） At that cry, every eye in the room fixed itself upon Qiao Feng. The foremost senior monk demanded in a stern voice what cause there could be for striking down his brother Xuanku, and asked that Qiao Feng instruct him.
这一声喊过，满屋子的眼睛都钉在了乔峰身上。当先一位高僧厉声喝问：
"You have struck down our brother Xuanku. For what cause, I cannot tell, and I must ask that you instruct me."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, new revised edition 「击死玄苦师弟，不知所为何来，还盼指教。」
——《天龙八部》（新修版） Qiao Feng could not defend himself with a hundred mouths. He owned plainly that his birth was not yet clear to him, and that this was why he had gone up the mountain by night to ask his master's guidance — but those words, spoken now, not one man in the room would believe. He was a Khitan; that alone would serve to condemn him. And his master lay dead before their eyes, with none in the room but himself as the one outsider. The guilt of the master's murder fell upon him on the spot.
乔峰百口莫辩。他坦言自己身世未明，这才趁夜上山，想求师父指点——可这番话，此刻说出来，满屋没一个人肯信。他是契丹人，光这一条就够定罪了；何况师父死在眼前，房里只有他这一个外人。杀师的罪名，当场就落到了他头上。
Another man in his place would have cried out his innocence or fled for his life. Qiao Feng neither cried out nor fled. He laid his master's body gently down, bowed to the monks with clasped hands, and in a clear, carrying voice set out plainly what he had come for; and at the last he took his master's vengeance upon his own shoulders — that vengeance he would seek out himself. And with that, he turned and walked away.
换作旁人，此刻不是喊冤，就是夺门逃命。乔峰既没有喊，也没有逃。他轻轻放下师父的遗体，向众僧团团一揖，朗声说起自己的来意；末了把师父的仇揽在自己身上——这仇，他自会去查。说完，转身就走。
The monks would not let him go. At a word of command they took up their weapons and closed in a ring around him — the serialized edition puts it plainly:
众僧哪里肯放他走？一声令下，各执兵刃，把他团团围住。连载版里写得明白：
"All closed in a ring around him, lest Qiao Feng should slip away."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, serialized edition 「各人团团围住，以防乔峰逃脱」
——《天龙八部》（连载版） Qiao Feng knew well enough: these men before him were the men he had grown up among; the elders among them were his martial uncles, and those of his own generation his fellow-disciples, trained at his side. Of the matchless art that was his, this night he would not use half its force. A blade came — he gave way; a staff came — he turned it aside; a man barred the road — he gave the arm one gentle push and opened a seam. Beset by the whole temple, he fought his way backward step by step, wounding not one man, until he had backed out through the gate.
乔峰心里有数：眼前这些人，是他自幼相处的人；辈分高的，是他师伯师叔，同辈的，是一起练过功的师兄弟。他这一身天下无双的功夫，今夜却半点不肯用足——刀来，他让开；杖到，他格开；有人拦路，他只在臂上轻轻一拨，推出一条缝来。满寺围攻，他且战且退，竟没伤一个人，一步一步，退出了山门。
Not that he could not beat them. Had he truly struck, not a monk there was his match. He held back because within these walls lay his master's fresh-dead body, and the boyhood years of his training; what he wanted was the true killer, not these men kept in the dark. For a man wronged by the whole world to hold his hand so — that holding back is harder than any fighting through.
这不是他打不过。真动起手来，在场僧人没一个是他的对手。他不还手，是因为这寺里有他师父的新灵，有他学艺的少年时光；他要的，是那个真正的凶手，不是这些被蒙在鼓里的人。一个人被全天下误会到这个地步，还能收得住手——这一份收，比杀出去更难。
Out through the gate, and the night lay deep. Qiao Feng was about to go down the mountain when a figure swayed up from the roadside and pitched down before him. He rushed to raise it up, and knew by the moonlight it was A'zhu — her face ashen, her breath faint, and yet not a wound to be seen on her whole body.
出了山门，夜色正深。乔峰刚要下山，忽见路边一个人影，摇摇晃晃地过来，扑地栽倒在他面前。他抢上去扶起，就着月光一认，竟是阿朱——脸色惨白，气息微弱，浑身上下，却瞧不见一点伤痕。
His master dead, the guilt laid on his own head; and A'zhu, in one night, hurt to her last breath. Two calamities had fallen in a single night and driven Qiao Feng out of Shaolin Temple. Yet he had no time to cry his innocence, and no time to ask what had passed — if the one before him were not saved at once, she would not live.
师父死了，罪名落在他头上；好端端的阿朱，又伤得只剩半口气。一夜之间，两桩变故砸下来，把乔峰从少林寺里赶了出来。可他没工夫喊冤，也没工夫追问——眼前的人若再不救，就没有命了。
Chapter 2: A Wound Only One Man Can Heal
第二回 掌伤佳人求国手 路指阎王问死生
Where had A'zhu's wound come from? The story must go back to that night at Shaolin Temple. After the two had gone up the mountain by separate ways, A'zhu disguised herself as a monk of the temple and stole in under cover of darkness to the scripture-hall, to take the scripture she had come for. She had scouted the way the first night; this night she came to seize it for certain. But the book had no sooner come into her hands than a figure rose out of the dark.
阿朱这一身伤，从何而来？话还得说回少林寺那一夜。两人分头上山之后，阿朱改扮成寺中僧人的模样，趁夜摸进藏经阁，去取那部她要的秘籍。她头一晚已经来探过路，这一次是来取个准；谁知经书刚捧到手里，暗处便多出一个人影。
It was an old monk, who might have stood guard there no one knew how long. He saw that this "monk" before him was no monk at all, and without a word he struck with his palm. That blow was one of Shaolin Temple's highest arts — in the revised edition it is called the Great Vajra Palm, in the new revised edition the Great Vajra Fist, a small difference of name over the same art beneath. Struck by such a palm, a body shows little on the outside, but the organs within are hurt beyond measure.
那是一位老僧，也不知在阁里守了多久。他看出眼前这个"僧人"是假的，一言不发，一掌拍来。这一掌，是少林寺最高深的掌力之一，修订版里叫"大金刚掌"，新修版里作"大金刚拳"——名字小有不同，说的是同一门功夫。一掌落在身上，外表看不出什么，五脏却伤得极重。
A'zhu took that blow head-on, knew she could gain nothing this night, and fled with the last of her strength out the temple gate, only to collapse before Qiao Feng.
阿朱硬受这一掌，知道今晚讨不了好去，拼着最后一口气逃出山门，一头栽倒在乔峰面前。
This palm art runs in the hard, forceful line — the three words "Great Vajra" take exactly the might of the Buddha's guardian vajra-warriors. Trained to its depths, it will kill a common fighter where he stands; that A'zhu kept a breath at all was great good fortune.
这门掌力走的是刚猛一路，"大金刚"三字，取的正是佛门护法金刚的威猛之意。练到深处，一掌下去，寻常好手当场就要毙命；阿朱能留下一口气，已是万幸。
Who struck the blow, the book does not say outright; it lets slip only a question. That question asks after a "senior brother" — when it was that he used this palm art — and leaves no name behind. By that thread of meaning, the one who wounded her must have been a monk of very high standing in the temple. Whether or not it was the abbot Xuanci, the text keeps only this hint, and never nails it down.
出手的是谁，书里没有明写，只透出一句问话。那句话问的是一位"师兄"，问他是几时使过这门掌力的，并没有留下姓名。照这层意思，伤她的当是寺中一位辈分极高的老僧；至于是不是方丈玄慈，文本只留着这层暗示，不曾坐实。
To wound a body with Shaolin's own palm art, the striker must be a man of the temple. This passage names no one, and yet it chills more than a name would: that the oldest and most upright of the schools of the Central Plains should itself be drawn into this bloody affair. Who exactly had hurt A'zhu, Qiao Feng could not yet find out; the one thing he could ask after now was this — where might there be someone to save her.
少林寺的掌力伤人，动手的自是寺内之人。这一节没有点名，却比点了名更叫人发凉：中原武林一座最古最正的门派，竟也牵进了这桩血案里。伤阿朱的究竟是什么人，乔峰暂且问不出；眼前能问的，只有一件事——哪里有人救得了她。
How grave was the wound? Those who saw it knew in their hearts: in the world of that day there was one man, and one only, who could heal her. That man bore the byname "the Rival of the King of Hell."
这一伤重到什么地步？当时看过的人心里都清楚：当今之世，除了一个人，再没有第二个人治得好她。这一个人，外号"阎王敌"。
"The Rival of the King of Hell": the King of Hell is the god who rules life and death in folk belief, and once a man is in his grasp he is lost; the three words "Rival of the King of Hell" name a man who can contend with that king and win. His surname was Xue, his given name Muhua, and he was the first physician of his day, known through the jianghu as the "Divine Doctor Xue."
"阎王敌"——阎王是民间传说里管生死的神，人到了阎王手里，就算死定了；"阎王敌"三个字，说的是连阎王也争得过的对手。这人姓薛，名慕华，是当世第一的名医，江湖上多称他"薛神医"。
For wounds grown past all remedy, where every physician under heaven shook his head, his was often the only road left.
疑难到了极处的伤，天下医家都摇头的，病人往往只剩他这一条路。
Her life hung upon this one man. Qiao Feng took her on his back and set off to find Divine Doctor Xue.
她的命，就系在这一个人身上。乔峰背起她，一路去找薛神医。
Of all else Qiao Feng could take no thought. He knew only that the one in his arms would die unless she were saved; and the man who could save her was one man alone, and wherever that man was, he must go. From this moment on, every step of the road from Shaolin to Juxian Manor was a step toward that one man.
乔峰此刻顾不得旁的。他只知道，怀里这个人若不救，便活不成；能救的人只有一个，无论那人在哪里，他都得去。从这一刻起，从少林到聚贤庄的这一段路，他一步一步，都是朝着那一个人的方向走的。
Chapter 3: The Heroes' Banquet
第三回 英雄宴上无好酒 聚贤庄中尽仇家
Enough of side talk. Word was got: Divine Doctor Xue was at Juxian Manor. Juxian Manor was a great estate some seventy li to the northeast, along the river road.
闲话少叙。打听到的消息是：薛神医人在聚贤庄。聚贤庄是城东北七十里处的一座大庄院，走的是沿河的官道。
"Some seventy li to the northeast, at Juxian Manor."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, serialized edition 「此去东北七十里处的聚贤庄上」
——《天龙八部》（连载版） But this journey was not so simple as going to a physician. At Juxian Manor a great banquet was laid, called the "Heroes' Banquet" — a gathering of the heroes of the realm. And the hosts were none other than the manor's masters, the Twin Heroes of the You family, joined in name by Divine Doctor Xue.
可这一趟去，不是求医那么简单。聚贤庄上正摆着一场大宴，名目叫"英雄宴"——天下英雄相聚之会。做东的，正是庄主游氏双雄，与薛神医联名。
The Twin Heroes of the You family were two brothers: the elder named You Ji, the younger You Ju, and together they were masters of Juxian Manor.
游氏双雄是兄弟二人，兄名游骥，弟名游驹，是这座聚贤庄的主人。
The Twin Heroes of the You family were men of standing in the jianghu, and the manor kept the widest of acquaintance; once a notice went out, martial folk near and far would answer to the name. Those who came belonged to many schools and sects; some were strangers, and some had once been on friendly terms with Qiao Feng — men who had clinked cups with him as brothers at old tables, and who now had turned their faces from him and taken up their blades. The feast was hosted in the joint names of the You brothers and Divine Doctor Xue; so full an attendance showed no small design.
游氏双雄在江湖上是有名望的人物，庄上结交极广，一纸帖子撒出去，远近的武林同道都肯应一声。这一回来的，各门各派都有；有不相识的，也有与乔峰有过交情的——旧日在酒桌上称兄道弟，如今翻过脸来，各持刀剑。这场宴由游氏兄弟与薛神医联名做东，人来得这样齐，可见所图不小。
Yet the banquet's theme was not reunion. In those days the martial world of the Central Plains had boiled over — once word spread that Qiao Feng was a Khitan, and with the old score of Ma Dayuan's death laid beside it, every man ground his teeth. The Khitan rode south year after year, burning and killing and plundering, and the people of the plains hated them to the bone; let the cry of "Liao dog" be raised once, and no old friendship could hold against it. And so this great company hurried to Juxian Manor: they came under the name of the "Heroes' Banquet," but to a single purpose — to take counsel on how to deal with Qiao Feng.
宴席的题目，却不是为了相聚。这些日子，中原武林可炸开了锅——乔峰是契丹人的风声一传开，加上马大元之死的旧账，人人切齿。契丹人在北边年年南下，烧杀掳掠，中原百姓恨之入骨；一声"辽狗"骂出口，什么旧日的交情都压不住了。这许多人赶到聚贤庄来，赴的是"英雄宴"的名，办的是同一件事：商议怎么对付乔峰。
Not long before, when the jianghu ranked its names, it still said "Qiao Feng of the North, Murong of the South" — and Qiao Feng's name stood above the Murong of the south. In the turn of a hand, the same men would wipe those two characters from the martial world. A name of that kind takes a dozen years to lift up, and one letter to bring down.
就在不久以前，江湖上排起名号，还是"北乔峰，南慕容"——乔峰的名字，压在南边慕容家之上。转眼之间，同一批人就要把这两个字从武林里抹去。名声这种东西，捧起来要十几年，塌下去只用一封信。
And here the death-trap lay plain. To save A'zhu he must enter Juxian Manor; and in Juxian Manor sat none but men come to take Qiao Feng's life. The hosts meant to kill him, the guests meant to kill him — and the one physician who could save A'zhu was seated in the very midst of them all. Not to go, and A'zhu must die; to go, and he walked into the net. Of these two roads, Qiao Feng could move along only one.
到这里，死局就摆明白了。要救阿朱，就得进聚贤庄；而聚贤庄里坐着的，全是来取乔峰性命的人。主人要杀他，客人要杀他；偏偏那唯一能救阿朱一条命的大夫，正坐在这一干人中间。不去，阿朱必死；去了，等于自投罗网。这两条路，乔峰只挑得动一条。
To the heroes at the banquet, to kill Qiao Feng was to rid the plains of a scourge, and a feat that would make a man's name; to Qiao Feng, to enter this manor was to save a human life. One side for fame, one for right; both would stop at nothing — and this was what made the day so deadly.
对赴宴的群雄来说，杀乔峰是替中原除害，是扬名立万的一件大功；对乔峰来说，进这一座庄，是为了救一条人命。一边为名，一边为义，两边都豁得出去，这一场才格外凶险。
He chose the latter.
他挑的是后一条。
His mind made up, Qiao Feng took A'zhu on his back and followed the road northeast. He did not walk fast, for fear of jouncing the one he carried; and he dared not walk slow, for fear of losing her last thread of life. The road to Juxian Manor he walked over in his mind again and again, reckoning each step: give back one step, and A'zhu was lost; take one step forward, and he was lost himself. And at the manor gate, he did not falter.
计议已定，乔峰背着阿朱，顺着官道往东北去。他走得不快，怕颠着怀里的人；又不敢太慢，怕误了她最后一线生机。去聚贤庄的路，他来来回回在心里走过许多遍，每一步都在盘算：退一步，阿朱就没了；进一步，自己就没了。到了庄门前，他反倒没有犹豫。
"Qiao Feng, braving the deadliest risk, brought A'zhu to Juxian Manor."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, serialized edition 「乔峰冒着奇险将阿朱送到聚贤庄」
——《天龙八部》（连载版） Note: Though Ten Thousand Bar the Way
旁注 · 虽万千人吾往矣
"Though ten thousand men bar the way, I go on."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised / new revised edition (title of Chapter 19) 「虽万千人吾往矣」
——《天龙八部》（修订版／新修版，第十九回回目） This line comes from the Mencius: if a man searches his own heart and finds that he stands in the right, then though ten thousand stand against him, he goes on all the same. In that one step into Juxian Manor, it was this word "go" that Qiao Feng walked.
这一句出自《孟子》，书里的话是：自己扪心自问，若认定站在理上，那么对面纵有千万人拦着，也照样往前走。乔峰这一步踏进聚贤庄，走的就是这个"往"字。
"If on self-examination I find myself in the right, then though the foe be thousands and tens of thousands, I will go forward."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised / new revised edition 「自反而缩，虽千万人，吾往矣」
——《天龙八部》（修订版／新修版） Chapter 4: The Parting Wine
第四回 举碗共饮绝交酒 从此休提旧日情
Now Qiao Feng, carrying A'zhu on his back, entered Juxian Manor. The hall was thronged with heroes; seeing him come in, every face changed. But Qiao Feng was in no haste to strike. He set A'zhu down, and asked for one thing only — a bowl of wine.
且说乔峰背着阿朱，进了聚贤庄。庄里群雄满座，见了他进门，人人变色。乔峰却不忙动手。他把阿朱放下，开口只求一样东西——一碗酒。
The wine's name in the original is the "parting wine"; the "wine of severed ties" in this piece's title is the same bowl.
这碗酒，原文叫"绝交酒"；标题里的"断义酒"，说的是同一碗。
This was no plea for mercy, and no challenge either; to ask first for a bowl of wine at the door was Qiao Feng's own way — to say what must be said before any blow fell. That bowl was the dignity he kept for himself, and the last stretch of road he would give to old friendship.
这不是求饶，也不是邀战；进门先要一碗酒，是乔峰的做派——把话说在动手的前头。这一碗酒，是他留给自己的体面，也是他留给旧日交情的最后一程。
In the jianghu, to drink a bowl of parting wine before a fight is a rite of the gravest kind. Once the wine passes the lips, kindness and loyalty are settled on both sides, and from then on blades may turn against one another with neither owing the other a thing. Who of common men would dare to drink such a bowl lightly? Yet Qiao Feng meant to drink it — bowl by bowl, with every man in the hall.
江湖上动手之前，先喝一碗绝交酒，是极重的规矩。酒一入口，恩义两清，从此刀剑相向，谁也不欠谁。寻常人哪敢轻易喝这一碗；乔峰却要向满庄的人，一个一个，喝过去。
A man about to be set upon by a whole manor, who at the door does not strike first but asks for wine and cuts the old ties first — this composure was Qiao Feng's own way. Not that he did not value his life; but before he lost it, he would settle the debts of feeling that were owed.
一个要被满庄人围杀的人，进门不先动手，反倒先讨酒、先断了旧情——这一份从容，是乔峰的做派。他不是不要命；是要在丢命之前，先把该了的情分了了。
The word "parting" means precisely the cutting off of friendship. Raising this bowl, Qiao Feng meant to make an end of words with every hero in the hall: the old friendship, drunk down in this one bowl, and from then on neither side owing the other anything. And what that bowl meant, one line of narration in the book lays bare —
"绝交"二字，就是断绝交情。乔峰端起这碗酒，是要跟满庄的英雄好汉把话说绝：旧日的交情，就着这一碗酒，一饮而尽，从此两不相欠。这碗酒究竟是什么意思，书里有一句旁白，说得最透——
"It meant to blot out all the debts of kindness and loyalty in one stroke."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised edition 「乃是将往日恩义一笔勾销之意」
——《天龙八部》（修订版） — "to blot out in one stroke": to wipe away all former kindness and former loyalty with a single stroke, and leave nothing between the two.
——"一笔勾销"，就是把从前的恩、从前的义，一笔抹掉，再无干系。
Bowl by bowl, Qiao Feng drank with the heroes at the tables, turning away no one who came, and drank his way from each to the next. Yet among them were men he held unworthy: when such a one pressed up to drink with him, he set his bowl down, cold, and turned him back — saying that a man like that was in no way fit to drink this parting wine with him.
乔峰举碗，一盏一盏，跟席上群雄对饮。来者不拒，一个一个地喝过去。可席上也有他看不上眼的人：那样的人凑上来要同饮，他把碗一按，冷冷地挡了回去，说凭对方这样的人，也配不上和他喝这碗绝交酒。
Of the heroes at the tables, some drained the bowl at once, saying nothing; some lifted it to their lips and paused. With one bowl of wine down, men who had once called him "Chief Qiao" would from that day on have nothing left between them and him but drawn steel. That one bowl weighed more than a thousand catties.
席上群雄，有的端碗就干，一言不发；有的举碗到手边，又停了一停。一碗酒下肚，从前叫过他"乔帮主"的人，从今往后，便只剩兵戎相见。这一碗，重过千斤。
Among the company was one who had been his friend: Bai Shijing, an elder of the Beggars' Sect. Bai Shijing too sat among the heroes that day, and old ties or no old ties, this parting wine he came to drink as well.
席上另有一人，是与他有旧交的：丐帮长老白世镜。白世镜此刻也坐在群雄之中，旁的交情不论，这一碗绝交酒，他也来喝。
"Bai Shijing had always been on terms of deep friendship with Qiao Feng."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised / new revised edition 「白世镜素来和乔峰交情极深」
——《天龙八部》（修订版／新修版） The others came on orders; Bai Shijing was different: this bowl of his was drunk out of his own heart. The deeper the old friendship, the more bitter the bowl — he honored Qiao Feng as a true man, and knew that from this day on they served different masters, and could never turn back.
旁人奉命而来，白世镜不同：他这一碗酒，喝的是自己的情分。旧日的交情越深，这一碗越苦——他心里敬乔峰是条好汉，也知道从今往后，各为其主，再无回头。
The wine had come to its end, and so had the words.
酒喝到这儿，话也就说尽了。
Chapter 5: One Man Against Three Hundred
第五回 孤身独斗三百客 游氏双雄自刎亡
But hold. Once the bowl was set down, all faces were torn bare. Three hundred-odd skilled hands in Juxian Manor rushed him at once. Qiao Feng stood alone in the midst of the hall, his strikes like wind — the book tells how he moved: one light and unhurried shout, one empty-feigned palm, plain to look at, and yet the men before him went down one after another. From the moment he drank the first bowl of parting wine, this fight had held no turning back.
且慢。酒一放下，脸就撕破了。聚贤庄里三百来个好手，一拥而上。乔峰一人立于厅心，出手如风——书里写他出手，是轻描淡写的一声断喝、一掌虚拍，看着平平无奇，对面的人却接连倒地。这一战，从他喝下第一碗绝交酒起，就已经没有转圜的余地了。
By the end of that fight the hall's tables and screens lay smashed to pieces; the floor was strewn this way and that with the fallen. Qiao Feng stood in the middle of the hall, his clothes ripped in several places, blood running down him, and yet his feet had not given back half a step.
这一场打下来，庄里的桌椅屏门，尽数打烂；地上横七竖八，倒了一片。乔峰立在厅心，衣裳破了好几处，血顺着身上往下淌，脚却没有退过半寸。
Three hundred-odd men filled the hall; one to one, not a man of them could stand against Qiao Feng, but three hundred closing in at once made a net with no gap in it. Qiao Feng thrust and broke this way and that within that net, and every step he shifted cost him the wrenching free of seven or eight hands.
满庄三百余人，论单个，谁也不是乔峰的对手；可三百人一并围上来，就是一张密不透风的网。乔峰在这张网里左冲右突，每挪一步，都要挣开七八只手。
With blades set before his face, Qiao Feng was not without hesitation. He was no lover of slaughter; yet this whole manor was his old jianghu, the brothers and friends he had trusted half his life. To cut his way out through these men, every palm fell as if upon himself.
刀剑架到眼前，乔峰不是没有犹豫。他不是嗜杀的人；可今日这一庄人，是他曾经的江湖，是他半生信过的兄弟朋友。要他从这些人里杀出去，每一掌都像打在自己身上。
In that blood-letting, what no one looked for was the end of the manor's masters, the You brothers. This pair were the hosts of the feast, and the first of all to seek Qiao Feng's life. Yet as the fight wore on, the color drained from both their faces —
血战之中，最出人意料的是庄主游氏兄弟的结局。这一对兄弟，本是此宴的主人，也是要取乔峰性命的头一个。可打到后来，两人的脸色都变了——
"The You brothers' faces were the color of clay, their spirit ashen and beaten."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised / new revised edition 「游氏兄弟脸如土色，神气灰败」
——《天龙八部》（修订版／新修版） — faces yellow as clay, all their former fire gone, nothing left but the look of death. In the end these two were not killed by Qiao Feng: they cut their own throats, and died by their own hands.
——脸像土一样的黄，先前的凶焰全没了，只剩一脸死气。末了，这两人不是被乔峰打死的，是自己抹了脖子，自刎而死。
"That the You brothers, the manor's own masters, should have cut their own throats."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, serialized edition 「庄主人的游氏兄弟竟会自刎」
——《天龙八部》（连载版） This, even those present had never looked for: that the manor's own masters, the hosts of the Heroes' Banquet, should take their own lives. And much that came after at Juxian Manor was to grow out of the death of this pair.
这一层，连在场的人都想不到：堂堂庄主，英雄宴的主人，竟会自刎。庄上此后的许多事，都要从这一对兄弟的死上生出来。
With the manor's masters dead, the gathered heroes lost the heart of their command — yet the will to kill Qiao Feng was not one whit less. Not all of them perhaps knew why they hated him; they knew only that this Khitan before them was a man whom the world ought to kill.
庄主一死，满庄群豪没了主心骨，可是要杀乔峰的心，半分没有减。他们未必都知道自己为什么恨他，只知道眼前这个契丹人，是天下该杀之人。
In that one great fight Qiao Feng stood one against many, and the slaughter shook the heavens; but a man is still a man. Many as were those he wounded, he took no few blows himself, and in the end he was hurt grievously within and without. He knew in his heart that this weight of wounds had brought him to the point where he could hold out no longer.
这一场血战，乔峰以一敌众，杀得惊天动地；可人毕竟是人。他伤的人虽多，自己挨的也不少，到后来，身上里里外外，早已伤得极重。他心里清楚，这一身重伤，已经到了撑不住的地步。
Chapter 6: A Rope from the Dark
第六回 黑衣人潜身救难 大英雄绝处逢生
Now Qiao Feng, after that one great fight, could hold out no longer. Just then a figure appeared beyond the hall — black clothes, black cloth, face hidden. With one sweep of the arm a long rope came flying, coiled around Qiao Feng, and in that single leap he was pulled out of the thicket of blades and gone from sight, as quick as he had come.
话说乔峰血战一场，终于撑不住了。就在此时，堂外掠出一个人影——黑衣黑巾，看不出面目。那人手一挥，一条长长的绳索飞过来，卷住乔峰，借着这一掠之势，竟从刀丛剑网里把他救了出去，转眼不见了踪影。
Who his rescuer was, the black clothes never told. To this point in the book he is only "the man in black," and never named. Through the blade-light, one line, sharp as a wound, was left behind —
救他的是谁？那一身黑衣，始终没有揭破。书里到这一节，只作"黑衣人"，并不点明姓名。刀光剑影之中，只留下一句刺心的痛语——
"Qiao Feng, O Qiao Feng — you have truly lived your life as a man in vain."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised / new revised edition 「乔峰啊乔峰，你当真枉自为人了。」
——《天龙八部》（修订版／新修版） — a man brought to this: the brothers of other days would kill him, the heroes of the realm would kill him, and before he could even drink a bowl of wine to beg for another's life, he must first cut loose his own past, clean away. The taste in those words, only Qiao Feng could swallow.
——一个人活成这个样子：旧日的兄弟要杀他，天下的英雄要杀他，连替人讨一碗求命的酒，都要先把自己的来路断个干净。这几句话里的滋味，只有乔峰自己咽得下。
His life had been dragged out of the thicket of blades; yet whether the hand that pulled him was friend or foe would not be known till later. All he could hold in his own grip now was one thing: to live, and to search on.
他这一条命，是被人从乱刀里拖出来的；可拖他出来的那一只手，是敌是友，日后才见分晓。眼下他能攥在手里的，只有一件事：活着，接着查。
His life, then, was plucked back from under the wild blades of Juxian Manor. And A'zhu's wound, in time, healed: when the book speaks of her again, her face no longer wears the ashen color of the day she lay gravely hurt.
他这一条命，算是从聚贤庄的乱刀之下捡了回来。阿朱的伤，后来也好了：书中再写到她时，脸上已不是当日身受重伤时那副灰败的颜色。
A'zhu lived, and thereafter went with Qiao Feng along the whole road of his searching. Her life from then on was wound together with his, and could not be parted.
阿朱活了下来，往后便一路陪着乔峰查案。这姑娘的命，从此与乔峰缠在一处，再也分不开。
Word of Juxian Manor ran quickly through the realm. In the telling, Qiao Feng was a wicked Khitan who repaid kindness with hate; yet those who had with their own eyes seen him drink that bowl of parting wine kept each his own account in his heart, and none spoke it aloud.
聚贤庄这一场，很快传遍了天下。传出去的话里，乔峰是恩将仇报的契丹恶人；可亲眼见过他喝下那碗绝交酒的人，心里各有一本账，谁都不说破。
After that night at Juxian Manor Qiao Feng's life was saved, yet the old case of his birth, far from clearing, narrowed with every step. One by one the guiding clues were pinched off, until at the last every word bent toward a single name. And before that name could be settled, he and A'zhu had a promise between them — to go beyond the Great Wall, to herd cattle and sheep, and never again trouble themselves with the affairs of the Central Plains.
聚贤庄这一夜过去，乔峰保住了命，可他要查的那桩身世旧案，非但没有眉目，反倒越查越窄。指路的线索一条一条被人掐断，到头来，所有的话都朝着同一个名字去。而在查清这个人之前，他与阿朱还有一桩约定——到塞外去，放牛牧羊，一辈子不再问中原的事。
What weight that promise carried, the next instalment will show. In the end it comes to this: cattle and sheep beyond the Wall — a promise made to empty air.
那约定，要到下一回才看得见分量。终究是：塞上牛羊，空许一约。
To search on, the truth he turned up could only grow heavier. He knew it in his heart, and he would search all the same — for this was the road that one word, "righteousness," the word he had lived by half his life, had given him.
查下去，真相只会越来越沉。他心里有数，却还是要查——这是他半生信的那个"义"字，给他的路。
To know what happened next, hear the next chapter: An Empty Promise of Herding Beyond the Great Wall.
欲知后事如何，且听下回《塞上牛羊空许约》。