Previously
前情
Previously: on Piaomiao Peak, Xuzhu drew out the Life-and-Death Talismans tormenting the Thirty-Six Caves and Seventy-Two Islands. Others would have fought to become master of Vulture Palace. He finished the task and wanted no more of it; his one wish was to return to Shaolin and answer for the vows he had broken.
上回说到，虚竹在缥缈峰替三十六洞、七十二岛的人拔了生死符。旁人争着要的灵鹫宫主人，他做完了事便不肯再做，一心只想回少林，认下自己破过的戒。
Duan Yu had left before him. He was still following Wang Yuyan, and Wang Yuyan was still following Murong Fu. Zhuang Juxian, the Beggars' Sect's new chief, had scattered heroes' summonses across the realm, announcing that a leader of the Central Plains martial world was to be installed. The summonses did not invite anyone to Mount Shaoshi, but word of a gathering was enough; men of the jianghu went of their own accord. Murong Fu was moved too: if the Beggars and Shaolin wore each other down, he might profit from the middle.
段誉比他先走一步。他仍是跟着王语嫣，王语嫣仍是跟着慕容复。丐帮新帮主庄聚贤向天下撒了英雄帖，说要立一位中原武林盟主。帖子上没请人到少室山，可江湖上的人一听有热闹，自己就去了。慕容复也动了心：丐帮与少林若斗得两败俱伤，他正好从中取事。
Xiao Feng had travelled the farthest. In Liao he heard that A'zi had disappeared. He followed her trail to the Central Plains and learned that she had gone with the Beggars' Sect to Mount Shaoshi.
萧峰走的路最远。他在辽国听说阿紫失了踪迹，一路找到中原，才知道她随着丐帮的人上了少室山。
Chapter 1: Nineteen Riders Up the Mountain
第一回 十九骑上山
Thousands had already gathered on Mount Shaoshi. The Beggars' Sect had started it: their new chief, Zhuang Juxian, had sent out the summonses and meant to have a leader of the Central Plains martial world installed. The ground belonged to Shaolin, but the men on it had not been invited by Shaolin. Every school and faction had come with old accounts of its own. Before any leader had been chosen, the Xingxiu disciples began boasting from the side of the ground: their master, the Old Immortal of Xingxiu, was first under heaven, and even the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms were beneath his notice.
少室山上已经聚了几千人。这一场是丐帮起的头：新帮主庄聚贤撒了英雄帖，要立一位中原武林盟主。地方是少林的，人却不是少林请来的。各门各派到了山上，各自揣着旧账。盟主还没争出结果，星宿派门人先在场边吹起来，说师父星宿老仙的武功天下第一，连降龙十八掌也不放在眼里。
From the foot of the mountain a voice answered: "Who says the arts of Xingxiu surpass the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms?"
山下有人接了一句话："谁说星宿派武功胜过降龙十八掌？"
Then came the sound of hooves. Eighteen riders parted, and a last rider came through their midst: Xiao Feng. With the Eighteen Riders of Yan-Yun he made nineteen. The horses were superb and the men among Liao's finest fighters; nineteen riders entered the crowd with the momentum of an army.
蹄声跟着上来。前面十八骑分开，最后一骑从中间走出，正是萧峰。他与燕云十八骑加在一起，是十九个人；马是好马，人是辽国顶尖的好手，十九骑冲进人堆，声势却像一支军队。
"Eighteen flying horsemen of Yan-Yun, charging like tigers, raising wind and smoke."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, new revised edition, chapter 41 title 「燕云十八飞骑，奔腾如虎风烟举」
——《天龙八部》（新修版·第四十一章回目） Xiao Feng had no attention to spare for the crowd. The first thing he saw was the girl in purple held in Ding Chunqiu's hand: A'zi. Her eyes had been blinded, and her pressure points were sealed so that she could not even cry out.
萧峰没工夫看人。他一眼先看见丁春秋手里抓着一个紫衣姑娘，正是阿紫。她双眼已经盲了，穴道又被制住，连喊也喊不出来。
Xiao Feng urged his horse forward and struck with one palm after another, each the "Dragon Repents" of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms. Each new force drove the one before it. Ding Chunqiu dared not meet them head-on; he threw A'zi upward and fell back to protect himself. Xiao Feng advanced once more, caught the girl as she fell, and released her sealed pressure points.
萧峰拍马上前，一掌接一掌，用的都是降龙十八掌里的"亢龙有悔"。后面的掌力推着前面的掌力，丁春秋不敢硬接，只得把阿紫抛起来，自己向后退。萧峰再进一掌，伸手把落下来的姑娘接住，顺手解开她的穴道。
Hearing his voice, A'zi called him brother-in-law. Xiao Feng's heart tightened. Before A'zhu died she had entrusted her sister to him, and now he blamed himself for failing to watch over her. He could not yet know that much of what had happened to A'zi since then had not simply been done to her by others.
阿紫听见他的声音，喊了一声姐夫。萧峰心里一酸。阿朱临死前把妹妹托给他，他只当自己没把人看好，哪里想得到她后来遭遇的许多事，并不全是别人加给她的。
What he remembered was the pair of eyes beside Little Mirror Lake:
他记得的还是小镜湖边那双眼睛：
"A thousand li of blur, as in a dream; two eyes shining bright as stars."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised edition, prefatory ci 「千里茫茫若梦，双眸粲粲如星」
——《天龙八部》（修订版·书前词） This was not the moment to settle accounts. Xiao Feng carried A'zi to her parents, Duan Zhengchun and Ruan Xingzhu, and asked them to care for her. Then he turned to look for a way down. He had come to save her; now that she was safe, he did not want another slaughter.
这时不是算账的时候。萧峰把阿紫送到她父母段正淳、阮星竹身边，请他们照看，转身便准备寻路下山。他此来为救人，人既救到，不想再添一场厮杀。
But the people on the mountain would not let him leave. At Juxian Manor some had lost fathers and some brothers. Add that Xiao Feng was a Khitan and now Great Prince of Liao's Southern Court, and the cries of thousands turned upon him at once.
可山上这些人不肯让他走。聚贤庄那一战，有人死了父亲，有人死了兄弟；再加上萧峰是契丹人，如今又是辽国南院大王，几千人的喊声一下全冲着他来了。
Duan Yu stepped out of the crowd. Xiao Feng told him to stand clear, but he refused: when they swore brotherhood they had promised to share adversity. He would not leave his elder brother standing there alone today.
段誉从人群里站出来。萧峰叫他避开，他不肯：结拜时说过有难同当，今天不能只剩大哥一个人站在这里。
Murong Fu came forward too. He had just reasoned it out with his followers: to restore Great Yan, he must not make an enemy of every hero under heaven for Xiao Feng's sake; instead, he should use this day to win their hearts. So before the assembled crowd he challenged Xiao Feng, presenting the fight as service to the heroes of the Central Plains.
慕容复也出来了。他方才与随从商量得明白：要复兴大燕，不能为一个萧峰得罪天下英雄，倒该借今天收揽人心。于是他当着群雄向萧峰挑战，把这一战说成了替中原豪杰出力。
For years the jianghu had placed two names side by side:
江湖上多年把两个名字排在一处：
"'North Qiao Feng, South Murong' — the two have always been named as equals."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, new revised edition 「"北乔峰，南慕容"素来齐名」
——《天龙八部》（新修版） Ding Chunqiu followed. Xiao Feng had just driven him back with several palms, and he could not bear the loss of face; he insisted that he had merely been yielding. You Tanzhi came too. Now called Zhuang Juxian, chief of the Beggars' Sect, he wore a veil over his face. His father and uncle had taken their own lives at Juxian Manor, and he laid that blood debt entirely at Xiao Feng's door. The three took their positions and closed around Xiao Feng.
丁春秋随后跟上来。他刚被萧峰几掌逼退，丢不起这个脸，硬说刚才是自己相让。游坦之也出来了。他如今叫庄聚贤，是丐帮帮主，脸上罩着面幕；他爹和叔父在聚贤庄自刎，他把这笔血债全算在萧峰头上。三个人各占一角，把萧峰围在中间。
While the confusion lasted, the Xingxiu disciples used poison to kill the Khitan horses and stop Xiao Feng from using their speed to break through the encirclement. The nineteen horses fell one after another. The eighteen riders killed several of the poisoners on the spot, then turned back to guard Xiao Feng. He looked once at the dying horses and told the three opponents not to trouble themselves taking turns: they could come together.
星宿派门人趁乱下毒，要毒倒契丹骏马，叫萧峰没法借马力突围。十九匹马一匹接一匹倒下，十八骑当场击毙几名下毒者，再回身护住萧峰。萧峰看了一眼死马，叫那三个人不必轮番来，一起上。
He struck first at Ding Chunqiu, turned the force toward Murong Fu, and sent his third blow at You Tanzhi. You threw his head back in time, but the wind of the fist tore his veil apart and showed the ravaged face beneath. After three moves Xiao Feng had not yielded; each of the three men surrounding him had given ground.
他先击丁春秋，再借势转向慕容复，第三拳到了游坦之面前。游坦之仰头避过，面幕却被拳风撕裂，露出底下伤痕累累的脸。三招过后，萧峰没退，三个围他的人倒各自退了一步。
Xiao Feng shouted: "Bring wine."
萧峰喊了一声："拿酒来。"
Chapter 2: Three Brothers over Wine
第二回 酒里的三兄弟
A Khitan warrior took a great leather bag from one of the horses. Xiao Feng drained one bag and passed another to Duan Yu. He told him that today they would probably never leave this mountain; since they were brothers, they might as well drink freely before dying together.
契丹武士从马背上解下大皮袋。萧峰先喝了一袋，又递给段誉。他跟段誉说，今日多半出不了这座山，既是兄弟，死也痛痛快快喝一场。
Someone among the Shaolin monks answered: "Elder Brother, Third Brother, if you two are drinking, why have you not called me?"
少林群僧里有人接话："大哥，三弟，你们喝酒，怎么不叫我？"
The man who stepped out was Xuzhu. Xiao Feng had never seen him before and could not understand why this little monk addressed him so. Duan Yu laughed, drew Xuzhu forward, and explained: the two of them had already sworn brotherhood, and they had counted Xiao Feng in as their elder brother too.
走出来的是虚竹。萧峰从没见过他，一时不明白这小和尚为什么这样称呼。段誉却笑了，拉着虚竹过来说：他们早拜过兄弟，连你这个大哥也一并算在里面了。
This went back to the days on Piaomiao Peak when Xuzhu was drawing out the talismans. One night, Duan Yu had just watched Wang Yuyan go down the mountain with Murong Fu and was sick at heart. Xuzhu carried his own thoughts of the Dream Girl in the ice cellar and dared not speak her name or explain where she came from. Vulture Palace served wine. Each talked about the woman he loved; neither spoke a name, and somehow every sentence answered the other.
这事得回到缥缈峰拔符的那些日子。有一夜，段誉刚看王语嫣随着慕容复下山，心里难受；虚竹心里也装着冰窖里的梦姑，又不敢把姓名来历来处说出口。灵鹫宫摆酒，两个人各说各的心上人，偏都不提名字，竟句句接得上。
Duan Yu thought Xuzhu loved Wang Yuyan too; Xuzhu thought Duan Yu knew his Dream Girl. The misunderstanding did not drive them apart. Instead, two men who did not know how to console themselves first consoled each other. After more wine Duan Yu spoke of his sworn elder brother surnamed Qiao and wished the three of them could swear together. Xuzhu answered that the two of them could bow first and bow again when they found Elder Brother one day.
段誉以为虚竹也爱王语嫣，虚竹以为段誉认得自己的梦姑。误会没有让两人说散，倒让两个不知怎样安慰自己的人，先安慰了对方。酒喝到后面，段誉提起自己还有一位姓乔的结义大哥，恨不得三人同拜。虚竹便说：我们两个先拜，日后见到大哥，再补一次。
That night they compared ages. Xuzhu was three years older than Duan Yu and took second place; Duan Yu kept his former elder brother in first place and himself took third. So when Xuzhu called out "Elder Brother" and "Third Brother" on Mount Shaoshi today, he was not claiming kin at random. He was using the order they had settled that night.
那夜两人叙过年纪，虚竹比段誉大三岁，居第二；段誉把原来的大哥留在第一，自己居第三。所以今天少室山上，虚竹叫出的"大哥、三弟"，不是乱认亲，是那一夜已经说定的排行。
When Duan Yu had explained, Xuzhu bowed to Xiao Feng. With thousands surrounding them, this little monk had still stepped forward to acknowledge him as elder brother. Xiao Feng said little; he knelt and returned the bow. Before the heroes of the realm, the two men bowed to each other eight times.
段誉把经过一说，虚竹便向萧峰下拜。萧峰眼看几千人围着，这小和尚仍肯走出来认他这个大哥，也不多说，跪下与他对拜。两个人在天下英雄面前拜了八拜。
Thus Xiao Feng was eldest, Xuzhu second, and Duan Yu third. The wine bags passed from hand to hand. Their enemies still stood beside them and the roads down the mountain were still barred, but the brothers drank first.
于是萧峰居长，虚竹第二，段誉第三。三只酒袋在人手里传，旁边的敌人还站着，山下的路还封着，酒却先喝了起来。
The oath did not make the three men safe. As soon as the wine was finished, Xuzhu pointed to Ding Chunqiu. This man was a traitor to his own school and had killed the Shaolin masters Xuannan and Xuantong; this fight belonged to him. Before the words were all out, he attacked with both palms.
这一拜，不等于三个人从此就安全了。酒才喝完，虚竹便指着丁春秋：此人是自己师门的叛徒，又害死玄难、玄痛两位少林高僧，这一场该由他来。话没说完，他已经双掌攻了过去。
At the same time Xiao Feng engaged both Murong Fu and You Tanzhi. Duan Yu did not enter the fighting immediately; the eighteen Khitan warriors formed a ring and guarded him. For the moment three brothers faced three powerful enemies, but not yet in three separate duels.
萧峰同时接住慕容复和游坦之。段誉没有立刻开打，十八名契丹武士围成一圈，把他护在中间。场上一时是三兄弟对三名强敌，却还不是三组一对一。
Chapter 3: The Fighting Divides
第三回 三处交手
Fighting two men alone, Xiao Feng could still attack at first; after more than a hundred exchanges the struggle grew harder. You Tanzhi's palms carried a cold poison, while Murong Fu was skilled in "Star-Shifting," turning an opponent's force aside or even sending it back. The signboard of the Murong family was these eight words:
萧峰以一敌二，开头还能抢攻，百十招后便越来越吃力。游坦之掌里带寒毒，慕容复又善用"斗转星移"，把对手的劲力移开，甚至借来还回去。慕容家的招牌，正是这八个字：
"Take the other man's way, and give it back to him."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, new revised edition 「以彼之道，还施彼身」
——《天龙八部》（新修版） Murong Fu was holding some strength in reserve and letting You Tanzhi receive more of Xiao Feng's palms. From inside the ring Duan Yu understood: if he did not come out, his elder brother would eventually be worn down by the pair. He refused to remain protected and broke out of the circle to draw Murong Fu away from Xiao Feng.
慕容复还留着几分力，让游坦之在前头多接萧峰的掌。段誉在圈里看得明白：自己若不出去，大哥迟早要叫这两个人拖住。他不愿再让人护着，抢出圈子，要替萧峰分走慕容复。
But Duan Yu had never fought a battle like this. After a few turns of the Lingbo Steps, Murong Fu knocked him down and planted a foot on his chest. Duan Zhengchun and the Crocodile Deity of the Southern Sea came to rescue him, only to be driven off; when Duan Zhengchun was wounded and spat blood, Duan Yu's desperation finally released the Six Meridians Sword from his fingertips.
可段誉没有经过这样的恶战。他用凌波微步绕了两步，便被慕容复打倒，胸口还挨了一只脚。段正淳与南海鳄神来救，也被慕容复一一逼开；段正淳受伤吐血，段誉一急，指尖的六脉神剑终于发了出来。
The sword was not a blade in his hand. It was invisible force shot from the fingertips, and until now it had worked only fitfully. At last all six meridians fired together, forcing Murong Fu to change weapons again and again.
所谓剑，并不是他手里真有一把剑。那是从指端射出的无形劲力，时灵时不灵；这会儿六路齐发，才逼得慕容复连连换兵器。
With Duan Yu drawing Murong Fu away, Xiao Feng had only You Tanzhi left to face. He stopped trading directly with that cold-poisoned power. He struck several palms to draw You into full resistance, then swept low with one leg. You's inner power was deep, but his hand-to-hand experience was shallow. Both lower legs broke, and he fell.
这边段誉分走了慕容复，那边萧峰便只管游坦之一个。他不再跟那身寒毒硬碰，连发几掌诱游坦之全力招架，随即低扫一腿。游坦之内功虽深，拳脚上的临敌功夫却浅，两条小腿一齐折断，倒在地上。
Now free to help, Xiao Feng did not take over Duan Yu's fight. He only told him that changing among all six sword methods left gaps at each transition; he should use just one for the moment. Duan Yu obeyed and used the Shaoshang Sword alone. His hand steadied. He then changed to the Shangyang Sword and drove Murong Fu step by step toward an old locust tree.
萧峰腾出手来，没有抢着替段誉打，只告诉他：六种剑法一齐换，转换处就有空门，不如先专使一路。段誉依言只用少商剑，果然稳了下来，再换商阳剑，把慕容复一步步逼到大槐树下。
Meanwhile the people of Vulture Palace arrived. Granny Yu brought the palace divisions and the people of the Thirty-Six Caves and Seventy-Two Islands. A message from the four Plum, Orchid, Bamboo and Chrysanthemum attendants had told them that Shaolin meant to make trouble for Xuzhu, so they had travelled through the night. Xuzhu first ordered them not to insult Shaolin, even while he continued to exchange moves with Ding Chunqiu. Their arrival drowned out the Xingxiu disciples, and some shouted advice to their master: use the Life-and-Death Talisman.
另一头，灵鹫宫的人也到了。余婆婆带着诸部和三十六洞、七十二岛的人，是接到梅兰菊竹四姝传书，听说少林要与虚竹为难，才星夜赶来。虚竹先叫他们不得辱骂少林，手上仍与丁春秋拆招。他们一来，星宿派门人的叫喊便被压了下去，还有人高声提醒主人：用生死符。
Duan Yu paid no heed to the shouting around him. One stroke of sword-force cut off Murong Fu's cap, leaving his hair loose; Murong could do little but defend. Wang Yuyan cried out in alarm, begging Duan Yu to spare him.
段誉不理周围的喊声。他一剑削落慕容复的帽子，慕容复头发披散，已经只剩招架。王语嫣急了，喊段誉手下留情。
Duan Yu stopped his second stroke. He loved Wang Yuyan and would not wound her by killing her cousin. But Murong Fu could not bear that pause. Defeat was humiliation enough; to owe his life to a woman's plea was worse. He rushed back with judge's brush and steel hook, determined to stake his life on one last attack.
段誉第二剑便停住。他爱王语嫣，不愿让她为表哥伤心。可慕容复受不住这一停：输剑已经难堪，靠一个女人求情活命更难堪。他反而抡起判官笔和钢钩扑回来，要与段誉拼命。
Afraid of killing him, Duan Yu no longer knew how to strike. The judge's brush sank into his right shoulder, and the steel hook came down toward the back of his head. Xiao Feng reached in from the side, seized a vital point in Murong Fu's back, and lifted him off the ground.
段誉怕伤他，反而不知道怎样出手。判官笔刺进他的右肩，钢钩跟着向脑后落。萧峰从旁一把抓住慕容复后心要穴，把人提了起来。
He looked at the man and said only this:
他看了这个人一眼，只说了一句：
"I, Xiao, am a man worth the name — and I am ranked with the likes of you!"
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, new revised edition 「萧某大好男儿，竟和你这种人齐名！」
——《天龙八部》（新修版） Murong Fu was thrown away, rose, and drew another sword. This time he did not rush at Duan Yu; he laid the blade across his own neck. Those nearby tried to stop him, but they were too late.
慕容复被掷出去，落地后又拔剑。这一次他不是扑向段誉，是把剑横到自己颈上。旁边的人要拦，已经来不及。
A hidden missile flew from the slope and knocked the sword away. A grey-robed monk with a covered face walked up to Murong Fu. First he asked whether Murong had a son, then whether he had ancestors. Murong was unmarried and had no heir. The grey monk struck at that point: if you die today, the Murong line ends with you. What will be left to restore Great Yan?
坡上飞来一件暗器，把长剑打落。一个灰衣蒙面僧走到慕容复面前，先问他有没有儿子，再问他有没有祖宗。慕容复尚未婚配，自然无后。灰衣僧便拿这一点喝醒他：你今日死了，慕容氏到此绝后，还拿什么复兴大燕？
Duan Zhengchun had already used the One Yang Finger to seal the pressure points around Duan Yu's wound, and Ba Tianshi was about to pull out the judge's brush. Meanwhile Murong Fu lowered his sword, knelt, and admitted his error. The grey monk used the Murong family's Canhe Finger, but did not give his name. As its force swept past, the judge's brush sprang back out of Duan Yu's shoulder and stuck in the ground. A second man in black, also masked, dropped from a tree. The two seemed to have fought before, yet neither would explain who he was. After a few questions they sat side by side beneath a tree with their eyes closed. The crowd had seen one marvel after another, and still no one knew who these two men were.
段正淳已经用一阳指封住段誉伤口四周的穴道，巴天石正要拔出判官笔。那边慕容复收住剑，跪下认错；灰衣僧使出慕容家的参合指，却不报姓名。指风过处，段誉肩头的判官笔反跃而出，插入地下。随后另一个黑衣蒙面人从树上落下，两人像是早已交过手，又都不肯说明来历，问了几句，便到树下并肩打坐。山上的人看了一场又一场奇事，谁也不知道这两个人是谁。
Chapter 4: Twenty-Seven Incense Scars
第四回 二十七点香疤
The two men beneath the tree remained still, but Xuzhu and Ding Chunqiu were still fighting. The Chrysanthemum attendant took strong wine from a Khitan warrior and sent it toward Xuzhu in a jet. Xuzhu caught a handful, secretly used his inner power to freeze the wine into thin slivers of ice, and drove them into Ding Chunqiu's pressure points with his palms.
树下的两个人不动，虚竹与丁春秋还在打。菊剑从契丹武士那里取来烈酒，以酒箭送到虚竹手边。虚竹抓了一把酒水，暗运内力，把酒凝成几片薄冰，随着掌势送进丁春秋的穴道。
This was the Life-and-Death Talisman. The ice melted inside the body, but the inner power it carried remained in the meridians, setting several pressure points itching and aching at once. Ding Chunqiu swallowed antidote after antidote without relief. At last he could hardly stand and clawed at his clothes and beard. Xuzhu gave him half a pill to suppress the itching, but that would only ease it for a few days; it did not draw the talismans out.
这便是生死符。冰入体便化，附在冰上的内力却留在经脉里，几处穴道一齐麻痒。丁春秋连吞解药也压不住，终于站立不稳，抓挠着自己的衣襟和胡须。虚竹给他半粒镇痒丸，只能暂缓几日，并不是已经替他拔除了符。
Seeing their master fall, the Xingxiu disciples at once changed their tune and asked to take Xuzhu as their new master. A moment before they had shouted "Old Immortal of Xingxiu"; now they shouted "Master," changing sides faster than a hand turns over. Ding Chunqiu clawed at the ground, Murong Fu had held a sword to his throat, and You Tanzhi lay nearby with broken legs. The scene answered the old line:
星宿派门人见师父倒了，立刻改口要拜虚竹为主。方才他们喊"星宿老仙"，如今喊"主人"，换得比翻掌还快。丁春秋抓地，慕容复横剑，游坦之断腿躺在一边，这一场正应了那句：
"Old devils and petty clowns — not worth a single blow; to beat them brings no honour."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised edition, chapter 42 title 「老魔小丑，岂堪一击，胜之不武」
——《天龙八部》（修订版·第四十二章回目） Xuzhu had no heart to receive their worship. Shaolin's discipline still awaited him: broken vows, joining another school, learning outside arts — each had to be answered for. Abbot Xuanci first said that expulsion could not be avoided, but the beating might be remitted. Jiumozhi laughed coldly nearby: with so many Vulture Palace people present, Shaolin was willing to change even its own rules.
虚竹却没有心思受他们跪拜。少林的规矩还等着他：破戒、另投门派、学了别派武功，都得一件件说清楚。玄慈方丈先说，破门还俗免不了，杖责可以免。鸠摩智在旁冷笑，说少林见灵鹫宫人多，连寺规也肯改了。
Xuanci accepted the rebuke instead of resisting it and ordered the discipline monks to proceed with the beating. Xuzhu did not use his power to protect himself; he bent forward to receive the punishment. One monk lifted his robe to expose his back, while another raised the precept staff.
玄慈受了这句讥刺，反而认错，命执法僧照常行杖。虚竹也不运功护体，伏下身领罚。执法僧捋起他的僧衣，露出后背，另一人举起了守戒棍。
Before the staff fell, a woman in the crowd cried: "Wait. What is that on his back?"
棍还没落，人群里一个女人先叫起来："且慢，他背上是什么？"
It was Ye Erniang, second of the Four Great Evils. These were no ordinary ordination scars. Nine marks lay in a neat pattern across Xuzhu's lower back, burned there in infancy and enlarged as his body grew.
是叶二娘，四大恶人里排第二。她看见的不是普通受戒疤。虚竹腰背之间整整齐齐有九点，是幼年烧下、随着身体长大的旧疤。
She pushed the discipline monks aside, rushed to embrace Xuzhu, and tried to examine the rest of his body. Xuzhu recoiled again and again. Only then did Ye Erniang give her proof: soon after giving birth, she had burned nine incense scars on her son's back and nine on each buttock. She asked whether he had nine more in each of those places.
她推开执法僧，扑过去要抱虚竹，又伸手要验他身上别处。虚竹吓得连连闪开。叶二娘这才说出凭据：她生儿子不久，亲手在孩子背上、左右两股各烧了九点香疤。她问虚竹，另外两处是不是也各有九点。
Xuzhu stood dumb. There were indeed nine in each place. No one but himself and those closest to him could know so private a thing. If Ye Erniang had not made the scars, how could she describe them exactly? He stopped avoiding her, let her embrace him, and called her Mother.
虚竹呆住了。那两处确实有。这样的隐秘，除了自己和极亲近的人，没有别人知道。叶二娘若不是那个烧疤的人，怎能说得一点不差？他不再躲，任她抱住，叫了一声娘。
Ye Erniang wept. She said her child had been stolen soon after birth; ever since, she could not bear to see other people with sons and had stolen their children. That explained her cruelty without paying for any of it. Only now did the crowd understand that she had stolen so many children while never finding her own.
叶二娘哭了。她说自己的孩子生下不久便被人抢走，这些年见不得别人有儿子，才去偷别人的孩子。那是她作恶的缘由，不是她作恶的抵偿；只是到这一刻，众人才知道，她偷过那么多孩子，自己的孩子却一直没有找回来。
The masked man in black beneath the tree stood up. He first asked whether the six scars on Ye Erniang's face still hurt, then admitted that he had stolen her child and clawed her face.
树下那个黑衣蒙面人站了起来。他先问叶二娘脸上的六道血痕还疼不疼，接着承认：孩子是他抢的，血痕也是他抓的。
Ye Erniang started toward him but feared his martial arts and stopped; she could only demand why. The black-robed monk did not answer. He pointed at Xuzhu and asked: "Who is this child's father?"
叶二娘要扑上去，却又怕他的武功，只敢追问为什么。黑衣僧不答，先指着虚竹问："这孩子的父亲是谁？"
Ye Erniang said again and again that she could not tell. Xuzhu came forward to ask too, and still she refused. The black monk then recounted, piece by piece, how in her youth she had met a man of very high standing, borne his child, and received money from him to provide for her life. Ye Erniang still defended the man: she had seduced him, she said, and she had refused to implicate him.
叶二娘连说不能说。虚竹也过来问，她仍不肯。黑衣僧便一点点说出她年轻时与一个身份极高的男子相会、生子、那人给她银两安排生活的旧事。叶二娘仍替那人辩，说是自己引诱他，是自己不愿连累他。
The black monk then named the three sets of Buddhist incense scars, twenty-seven in all, and concluded that the father must be a renowned Buddhist monk. Ye Erniang collapsed. When she came to, she wanted only to take Xuzhu down the mountain. At last the black monk explained why he had stolen her child: someone had stolen his own child and destroyed his family, so he had sent hers into Shaolin, letting another man taste the same separation between father and son. He had left the baby in Shaolin Temple's vegetable garden for the monks to find and raise.
黑衣僧又说出三处二十七点佛门香疤，断定那人是个佛门中有名望的高僧。叶二娘撑不住，晕了过去。她醒后只想带虚竹下山，黑衣僧这才说出自己抢孩子的理由：也有人抢走了他的孩子，弄得他家破人亡，所以他要把她的孩子送进少林，让别人的孩子也尝一尝父子分离。他当年把婴儿放在少林寺的菜园里，让寺僧拾去抚养。
With that, he pulled away his veil. Xiao Feng rushed forward and knelt before the old man. The old man opened his robe to show a wolf's-head tattoo on his chest; Xiao Feng uncovered the same wolf's head on his own. The black monk was Xiao Yuanshan, the father Xiao Feng had believed dead beyond Yanmen Pass.
说完，他拉下面幕。萧峰抢上一步，跪在这个老人面前。老人扯开衣襟，胸口有一个狼头刺青；萧峰也露出胸前同样的狼头。黑衣僧正是萧远山，萧峰一直以为死在雁门关外的父亲。
Father and son recognised each other, but the reunion did not end in joy. After the ambush, some of those present had entrusted the baby to Qiao Sanhuai and his wife. The child took his foster father's surname and was called Qiao Feng for many years. Xiao Yuanshan, however, held that the couple had stolen his son and never told the child his true origins, so he had killed them. He also admitted that Xuanku, the master who had taught Xiao Feng his martial arts, had died beneath his palm.
父子相认，话却没有停在团圆上。当年在场的人把那个婴儿托给乔三槐夫妇养大，孩子从养父的姓，叫了许多年乔峰。萧远山却认定这对夫妇夺了自己的儿子，又一直不告诉孩子真正来历，便把他们杀了。连教萧峰武功的玄苦，他也承认死在自己掌下。
Xiao Feng had hunted the "great villain" along a long road, fearing it was himself and suspecting others; in the end the man standing before him was his own father.
萧峰一路追查的"大恶人"，怕过是自己，疑过是别人，最后站在他面前的竟是亲爹。
Xiao Feng did not push the guilt away. What his father had done, he said, was no different from what he had done himself; he had borne those names for years already. But the leader of the ambush at Yanmen Pass was still alive, and that account remained to be settled.
萧峰没有再推。他说父亲做的事，与自己做的也没有什么分别，这些恶名他已经背了多年。可雁门关外带头埋伏的那个人还活着，这一笔仍得问清。
Chapter 5: Two Men Answer for the Past
第五回 两个人认账
Ye Erniang tried to leave with Xuzhu, but Xiao Yuanshan stopped her. He demanded that she name the child's father, or he would name him for her. Ye Erniang turned back and knelt, begging him not to destroy that man's reputation.
叶二娘扶着虚竹想走，萧远山叫住了她。他要她把孩子的父亲说出来，否则便替她说。叶二娘回身跪下，求他不要毁掉那个人的名声。
This time the first man to speak was not Xiao Yuanshan. It was Xuanci.
这一次，先开口的不是萧远山，是玄慈。
Xuanci called Xuzhu forward and studied him for a long while. He acknowledged that this little monk who had grown up in the temple was his own son. He also acknowledged that he had not known the child was there in the temple; he had known only that his son had been taken, and for all these years had not known whether he lived or died.
玄慈把虚竹叫到面前，看了许久，承认这个在寺里长大的小和尚就是自己的儿子。他也承认，自己从前并不知道孩子就在寺中，只知道儿子被人抢走，这些年一直生死不知。
Xuzhu had only just found a mother; now he found a father. One belonged to the Four Great Evils, the other was abbot of Shaolin. Yet neither claimed innocence. Ye Erniang said she had kept silent because she would not drag Xuanci down. Xuanci said he had done the deed himself and could not leave her to bear it alone.
虚竹刚认了一个母亲，如今又认了父亲。一个是四大恶人，一个是少林方丈。可两个人都没有说自己无罪。叶二娘说这些年是自己不愿连累玄慈，玄慈说事情是自己做下的，不能叫她一个人担。
Then Xuanci answered for another account. Thirty years before, outside Yanmen Pass, he had led the ambush on Xiao Yuanshan's family. The company had believed an urgent report that Khitan warriors were coming to steal Shaolin's martial manuals, and so had laid the ambush. Later they learned the report was false, but those wrongly killed could not be brought back.
接着，玄慈认下另一笔账：三十年前雁门关外，带队伏击萧远山一家的人就是他。众人当年以为接到的是急报，说契丹武士要到少林抢夺武学典籍，因此半途设伏。后来才知消息有假，可错杀的人已经回不来。
Xuanci raised his head, looked toward the grey-robed monk beneath the tree, and spoke the name Murong Bo. The man who had brought him the false report was this old friend of many years. When he later heard that Murong Bo had died of illness, Xuanci had mourned him; he had never imagined that the man was alive and hiding in Shaolin all along.
玄慈抬起头，望向树下那个灰衣蒙面僧，叫出了"慕容博"三个字。那个把假消息递给他的人，正是这位多年故交。后来听说慕容博病死，他还以为故人已逝，没想到对方一直活着，也一直藏在少林。
The grey monk removed his veil. Murong Fu stood stunned before calling him Father. He had been defeated, tried to take his life, and been lectured about his ancestors by a nameless old monk; only now did he learn that this was the father he thought long buried.
灰衣僧扯下面幕。慕容复怔了一下，才叫出爹爹。他今天先败、再求死、又被一个无名老僧拿祖宗教训，到此刻才知道，那个人是自己以为早已下葬的父亲。
Only now did Xiao Feng learn that the ambush at Yanmen Pass had not been merely a misunderstanding; someone had deliberately sent a false message. Xuanci then offered his own inference: the deaths of Xuanbei, Ke Baisui, and others had probably also been Murong Bo's doing. Xiao Feng stepped forward and demanded that the chief culprit answer with his life.
萧峰也到这时才知道，雁门关那场伏击落到最后，不只是误会，还是有人故意递了一句假话。玄慈又说出自己的推断：玄悲、柯百岁等命案，恐怕也是慕容博所为。萧峰上前，要这个罪魁祸首领死。
Murong Bo did not accept the challenge. He turned and fled into Shaolin Temple. Xiao Yuanshan and Xiao Feng pursued from either side, and Murong Fu followed his father. The four figures soon vanished among the yellow walls and tiled roofs. Others tried to follow, but Shaolin monks formed a line and stopped them.
慕容博没有接战，转身逃入少林寺。萧远山与萧峰一左一右追去，慕容复也跟着父亲。四道身影很快进了黄墙碧瓦之间，剩下的人要追，却被少林僧结阵拦住。
On the ground before the temple, Xuanci still had to carry out his own house law. He first ordered Xuzhu beaten one hundred and thirty strokes. Only after the last stroke did he declare him expelled and returned to lay life. Xuzhu would no longer be a Shaolin disciple, but he was punished by Shaolin's own rule, with no reduction because the people of Vulture Palace stood nearby.
前山这边，玄慈还得把自己的家法执行完。他先命虚竹受杖一百三十棍，受完了才宣布破门还俗。从此虚竹不再是少林弟子，可罚他的时候是按少林弟子的规矩罚的，一点没有因灵鹫宫的人站在旁边而减。
Then Xuanci ordered the discipline monks to give him two hundred strokes. He was the abbot, and his offence was the vow of chastity; he said his punishment should be doubled. When others begged for mercy partway through, he refused to stop. Ye Erniang tried to throw herself forward and take the remainder for him, but he sealed her pressure points and ordered the beating to continue.
随后玄慈叫执法僧打自己二百棍。他是方丈，犯的又是淫戒，说罪该加倍。行到中途有人替他求情，他不让停；叶二娘要扑过来代受，他点住她的穴道，仍叫继续。
When the two hundred strokes were finished, Xuanci called Ye Erniang and Xuzhu to him and took one of each by the hand. He said he had thought of them both through all these years, and only today had acknowledged everything he should. Then he stopped his own meridians and slowly closed his eyes.
二百棍受完，玄慈把叶二娘和虚竹叫到身边，一手抓住一个。他说自己这些年一直记挂他们母子，直到今天才把该认的都认了。说完，他自绝经脉，慢慢闭上了眼。
Seeing him dead, Ye Erniang drove a dagger into her own heart. Xuzhu poured true qi into his father while trying to staunch his mother's bleeding. Xue Muhua came to examine them, but neither parent could be saved.
叶二娘见他死了，也用匕首刺进自己心口。虚竹一边给父亲渡真气，一边想替母亲止血，薛慕华赶来查看，两个人却都已经救不回来了。
That day Xuzhu had first found his mother, then his father. He had taken the beating and been expelled from the temple. Now he knelt beside two bodies, unable even to remain the little monk who had wanted to go home and accept his punishment.
虚竹这一天先认娘，再认爹；杖责受了，山门也出了。最后他跪在两具尸首旁边，连那个本想回去受罚的小和尚都做不成了。
Chapter 6: A Broom on the Back Mountain
第六回 后山一把扫帚
Now for those who had fled into the temple. Murong Bo entered the Sutra Library. Xiao Yuanshan guarded the door, Xiao Feng the window. Jiumozhi and Murong Fu arrived soon after, leaving three men facing father and son.
且说逃进寺里的那一路。慕容博进了藏经阁，萧远山守住门，萧峰守住窗。鸠摩智与慕容复随后赶来，阁里一时成了三人对父子两人的局面。
Seeing that he could not break through, Murong Bo changed his method. He offered to surrender his life if the Xiao father and son would grant one condition: Xiao Feng, as Great Prince of Liao's Southern Court, must lead an army south. Murong Bo would rise in the Central Plains, and Tubo, Xixia, and Dali would be invited to take up arms at the same time. Five powers would divide the Song empire, and the Murong clan could take land from the southern realm and rebuild Great Yan.
慕容博见硬闯不得，换了一个法子。他说自己愿意把命交出来，只要萧氏父子答应一件事：萧峰以辽国南院大王的身份举兵南下，他在中原响应，再约吐蕃、西夏、大理同时举兵。五国瓜分大宋，慕容氏便能从南朝取得土地，重建大燕。
Only now did he himself explain the purpose of that false message. He had no feud with Xiao Yuanshan and had even been Xuanci's friend. He had set them killing one another not out of private hatred, but because unless Song and Liao fell into chaos, his Great Yan would never find an opening to rise from its ruins.
直到此刻，他才把那句假消息的用处自己说透。他与萧远山无仇，与玄慈还是故交，之所以要他们互相残杀，不是因为私怨，是因为宋辽不乱，他的大燕便永远没有从废墟里站起来的空子。
Murong Bo bared his chest and invited Xiao Yuanshan to take his revenge. Xiao Feng smashed a wooden table with one palm. His mother's murder could not be traded, he said, and Liao's soldiers could not be sent trampling the lives of people in both Song and Liao for the sake of one family's vengeance.
慕容博露出胸口，叫萧远山来报仇。萧峰却一掌拍碎了木几。他说杀母之仇不能拿来做买卖，大辽的兵也不能为了自己一家的仇，去踩宋辽两国百姓的身家性命。
From outside the library someone praised him with a Buddhist invocation. When the others pushed open the window, they saw an old monk in a worn blue robe sweeping the long veranda with a broom. He said he had been in the temple forty-two years, or perhaps forty-three; he could no longer remember clearly. But he remembered perfectly well which books Xiao Yuanshan and Murong Bo had taken from the library over the years.
阁外有人赞了一声"善哉"。众人推窗看去，一个穿旧青袍的老僧拿着扫帚，正在长廊扫地。他说自己在寺里待了四十二年还是四十三年，已经记不太清，可萧远山、慕容博这些年从阁里拿过什么书，他记得清清楚楚。
The old monk first asked Jiumozhi why, after practising so many Shaolin arts, his body was already showing signs of ruin. Then he named the pressure points where Xiao Yuanshan and Murong Bo suffered hidden pain and numbness. All three had taken him for a menial sweeper; only now did they learn that their secret injuries had long been visible to him.
老僧先问鸠摩智，练了那么多少林绝技，为什么身子已经露出败象；再一一说出萧远山和慕容博身上隐痛、麻木的穴道。三人本来都当他是个扫地杂役，听到这里，才知道自己的暗伤早被人看在眼中。
His reasoning was not mysterious. Buddhist martial arts were meant to protect the faith, but their highest techniques could wound and kill. If the practitioner lacked the corresponding compassion, every new level of skill laid down another level of violence and injury.
他的道理并不玄：佛门武功本是护法用的，上乘招数却能伤人杀人。练的人若没有相应的慈悲心，功夫每深一层，戾气与伤病也多积一层。
"The Buddha's law seeks to carry the world across; martial art seeks to kill."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised edition 「佛法在求渡世，武功在求杀生」
——《天龙八部》（修订版） When Xiao Feng heard his father's injuries described exactly, he knelt and begged the old monk for a cure. Murong Fu instead tried to lead his father away, unwilling to receive this instruction before others. Xiao Feng rose to stop them. As the two sides prepared to fight again, the old monk raised a palm between them and dispersed both forces.
萧峰听父亲身上的伤被说中，立即跪下求老僧救治。慕容复却想带父亲离开，不愿在人前受这份指点。萧峰起身拦住，双方又要动手，老僧抬掌一隔，把两边的掌力都化开。
The old monk did not heal anyone at once. He first asked Xiao Yuanshan: if there were a way to cure Murong Bo, would you save him? Xiao Yuanshan answered that he would sooner cut the man to pieces; of course he would not save him.
老僧没有立刻医人。他先问萧远山：如果有办法治慕容博，你肯不肯救？萧远山说恨不得将他千刀万剐，怎么会救。
The old monk said he would take that revenge for him first. He walked up to Murong Bo and brought down a palm. Murong Bo raised a hand but failed to stop it; he fell breathless to the floor. Murong Fu attacked the old monk, only to be gently pushed back beside a bookcase.
老僧说，那便先替你报仇。他走到慕容博面前，一掌拍下。慕容博抬手没挡住，登时气绝倒地。慕容复扑上去攻老僧，也被轻轻推回书架旁。
Xiao Yuanshan had waited thirty years for this moment. Yet when he saw Murong Bo lying on the floor, he was suddenly lost. Even if the old monk had not killed the man, he said, he no longer seemed to want to kill him himself. Once every enemy was dead and the revenge complete, he did not know where he was to go next.
萧远山等了三十年的就是这一刻，可真看见慕容博躺在地上，他反而茫然了。他说，就算老僧没有杀这个人，自己好像也不想再杀了。仇人都死了，仇报完了，他竟不知道接下来该去哪里。
The old monk pointed to Murong Fu and asked: if a son comes to avenge his father, must Xiao Feng then avenge his own father in turn? If the killing went on from generation to generation, what day would ever end it? With that, he turned and struck at Xiao Yuanshan.
老僧便指着慕容复问：儿子若来替父亲报仇，萧峰是不是又要替自己的父亲报仇？这样一代一代杀下去，哪一日才算完？他说完，转身一掌击向萧远山。
Xiao Feng struck instinctively to save his father. The old monk used a feint to draw away half his force and still landed the blow on Xiao Yuanshan; Xiao Feng's other palm hit the old monk squarely in the chest, breaking ribs and drawing blood. Xiao Yuanshan also fell.
萧峰本能地出掌救父。老僧用一记虚招引开他一半掌力，仍击中萧远山；萧峰另一掌却结结实实打在老僧胸口，打得老僧吐血断骨。萧远山也倒了下去。
The old monk lifted one man in each hand and carried them out of the Sutra Library. Xiao Feng and Murong Fu chased after him, believing their fathers had been killed. In a grove on the back mountain, the old monk set the two men down and explained that they were not truly dead. This was turtle-breathing: reducing the breath to the faintest flicker, as a tortoise does. Their internal injuries were so grave that they first had to be put into that state; carrying them at a run moved their blood before the slow work of healing.
老僧一手提一个，带着两人出了藏经阁。萧峰与慕容复在后面追，只当父亲都被他打死了。到了后山林间，老僧把两人放下，才说这不是真死，是龟息：让人暂时闭住气息，像龟一样把呼吸降到极微。他们内伤太重，须先这样护住，借奔走活一活血脉，再慢慢救治。
He seated the men cross-legged facing each other, placed their four hands together, struck their pressure points, and guided their inner breath back and forth. One had an excess of yang, the other an excess of cold yin; he made each supply what the other lacked. Xiao Feng and Murong Fu watched beside them. This time neither man raised a palm.
他让两人盘膝相对，四只手互相握住，一边拍击穴道，一边引导内息往来。一个阳气太盛，一个阴寒太重，便叫两个人以有余补不足。萧峰与慕容复守在旁边，这一次谁也没有再出掌。
"A king's grand design, a sea of blood's deep hate — all returned to dust."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised edition, chapter 43 title 「王霸雄图，血海深恨，尽归尘土」
——《天龙八部》（修订版·第四十三章回目） Only when the two men opened their eyes again did the old monk ask: if you had truly died just now, what would remain of restoring Great Yan or avenging a murdered wife? Having travelled once from life to death and from death back to life, what could you still not let go?
两个人重新睁开眼，老僧才问：刚才若是真死了，还谈什么兴复大燕，报什么杀妻之仇？这一条从生到死、又从死到生的路走过一遍，你们心里还放不下什么？
Xiao Yuanshan answered first. He thought of all the people he too had killed over the years. If every bereaved family came seeking revenge, a hundred deaths would not repay his own debts. He asked the old monk to accept him as a disciple; he would not return to his former road.
萧远山先答。他想到自己这些年也杀了许多人，如果每一个苦主都来寻仇，自己死上百次也不够还。他求老僧收录，不想再走原来那条路。
Murong Bo answered after him. Commoners are dust, he said, and emperors are dust too. To restore Great Yan is emptiness; not to restore it is emptiness as well. He also asked to become the old monk's disciple.
慕容博随后说，庶民是尘土，帝王也是尘土；大燕复国是空，不复国也是空。他也求老僧收为弟子。
The old monk had not simply announced that their hatred was over. Each man had spoken aloud of what he could no longer hold. Only then did the old monk nod, adding that formal ordination must come from the senior monks of Shaolin; he himself was only a sweeper.
这不是老僧替他们宣布"你的仇没了"，是他们各自把放不下的事亲口说了出来。老僧这才点头，又告诉他们：要正式出家，还得请少林寺的高僧剃度，自己不过是个扫地的。
Xiao Feng stood nearby, watching his father return from death and then choose to remain in the temple. The old case at Yanmen Pass, which he had chased for half a lifetime, at last had no next villain to pursue. Murong Fu stood there too. His father had only just returned to him, and the man who had taught him to restore Great Yan with his whole life had now said with his own mouth that restoration too was emptiness.
萧峰站在旁边，看着父亲死里复生，又看着父亲要留在寺中。追了半辈子的雁门关旧案，到这时才没有下一个仇人要追。慕容复也站着，父亲刚刚回来，那个要他一辈子复兴大燕的人，却亲口说复国也是空。
Meanwhile, on the ground before the temple, the crowd had begun to break up. The Beggars were turning to go down the mountain when Bu Butong, one of Murong Fu's followers, called them back. He explained that Yi Dabiao of the Beggars' Sect had gone to Xixia on the sect's business and had taken down a royal proclamation on his return. Bu and his companions had found Yi gravely wounded on the Ganliang road; before dying, Yi had personally entrusted the document to Gongye Qian, asking them to pass it to the Beggars' elders. Having explained that he was not the man who had received it, Bu told Gongye Qian to take out the proclamation and hold it up for all to see: the princess of Xixia was to choose a husband, and young men from every land could present themselves. Some saw the wealth of a royal consort, some saw Xixia's soldiers, and one man thought of a woman whose name and face he did not even know.
且说前山将散未散时，群丐正要下山，慕容复的随从包不同叫住了他们。他说丐帮的易大彪奉命去西夏公干，回来时揭了一张皇榜；他们在甘凉道遇见重伤将死的易大彪，易大彪临死把榜文亲手交给公冶乾，托他们转交丐帮长老。包不同说明这榜不是交在自己手里，才叫公冶乾取出来，提在手中给众人看：西夏公主要招驸马，天下少年子弟都可以去应选。有人看见的是驸马的富贵，有人看见的是西夏的兵，有人心里想的，却是一个连姓名和容貌都不知道的人。
To know what happened next, listen to the next instalment.
欲知后事如何，且听下回分解。