Trail of the Unseen

It was a beautiful day.

The soft wind breezed cool air. The sky was cloud free and the emanating blue sky reflected just the right color to the yellowish leaves fallen from the trees surrounding Shaolin temple.

The beautiful scenery had the quality of a picture on a postcard and easily engulfed the feeling of those who had the chance to see it, and sometimes it had a peculiar impact of making one forgets about their problems, at least for a moment.


Regrettably the head master of Shaolin, Pek-bin Siansu had no interest nor had time to witness God given pictures. His mind concentrated on other affair and so did his 108 Lohan1 line-up members who stepped slowly behind him.


Their faces bore seriousness, their eyes fixed to the stone walk ahead. No one talked, nobody paid attention to the gorgeous view. Their expressions showed unmistakably a difficult burden at their hands.


Based on their looks averaging in their fifties, clearly they have acquired high degree in mental power resulting through systematic training for dozens of years. But they succeeded not in eliminating the worried, embarrassed, and furious feeling calibrated on their faces.


Their numbers were far from small, yet they moved with no sound striding to the side of the temple and stopped in front of a simple hut but well treated.


The hut was built from bamboo with a closed door at the left side distinguishable from the other shaolin buildings which were made from bricks and stones.


Although the simple hut was well treated, it still appeared very old. The bamboo sticks mildewed here and there. Whoever the occupant was, for sure his age would not have been young.


About ten feet away from the hut, Pek-bin Siansu stopped his walk. With an eerie precision, 108 of his men stopped at the same time. It was not choreographed nor planned. It's the aftermath of years of practice synchronizing motions among Lohan line-up members.


"I apologised for disrupting Goan-kim Guru from his meditation" spoke Pek-bin Siansu softly.


He appealed only once.

Apparently he wasn't interested in repeating his statement. He sculpted motionless. No one moved, no words were spoken.The sound from their robes, blown by the wind against their clothes scratched the eerie silence filling in the gripping emptiness.


The flow of time seemed to stop. It refused to budge a notch although the frozen moment failed to prevent the sun fell from the sky and set to the west.


Bell from not-too-distant temple tallied five times. Scenery of hundreds of people stood like statues did not seem to change. A flying black crow calmly settled on Pek-bin Siansu's shoulder and cawed its harsh annoying cry.


Did the shadow of death begin to haunt Shaolin monks? A feeling of uneasiness emerged in the mind of Pek-bin Siansu. Did he take the right decision?


Suddenly the black crow on his shoulder flew abruptly, startled by the screeching noise of the bamboo's hut. From the opening door, a figure moved with a lightning speed and stopped right in front of Pek-bin Siansu.


A thin figure wrapped in a blue-shabby-cloth crossed his legs and sat on a hardened belt that stood upright stabbing straight down to the stoned floor. His body floated and wobbled in the direction of the wind supported only by his belt.


It was really an astonished display of Goan-kim Guru's Qi2 power.


"I believe congratulation is in order! It seems you have perfected the Diamond-Sutra's Qi power" said Pek-bin Siansu while bowing to give his respect.


Goan-kim Guru, sibak3 of Pek-bin Siansu took a deep breath:

"Amitabha! It's not even close. Thirty years of practice, I've only achieved level of three. I need probably another five dozens of years to reach level of eight, level of perfection"


He failed to conceal his disappointment in his voice when he said:

"Obviously, I am short in talent to master this particular sutra4"


Pek-bin Siansu was in shock. He raised his head and gazed at his sibak for a long time. For the last hundred of years, Goan-kim Guru was considered to be the most talented throughout history of Shaolin. He was known to be the only one who has mastered all 72 styles of Shaolin 's wushu5! And words out of his own mouth:"he's not talented enough!" were just too difficult to swallow.


"Forgive me, Sibak. Has not sifu6 completed the Diamond-Sutra for less than ten years?" asked Pek-bin Siansu curiously.


Goan-kim Guru smiled and said gently:

"Your sifu indeed needed only a decade to learn the Diamond-Sutra, but that's not what I've been practising"


After a silent moment he continued: "It's called Shravakayana... Shaolin's 73rd style of wushu written by Da Mo7 himself"


All his life, Pek-bin Siansu has lived in Shaolin. He was convinced more than ever that Shaolin has been known to its 72 wushu styles since Da Mo the founder of Shaolin created Lohan movements. For the first time he heard the existence of Shravakayana-Sutra. Where did it come from, this seventy third of style?


Seemed to understand Pek-bin Siansu's confusion, Goan-kim Guru explained: "Nobody else has ever mastered this style except Da Mo. It was not a surprise even you as the head of Shaolin clan never heard about it. Apparently, this lost knowledge would be buried once more along side with me"


For seconds, he looked dejected. His face colored by disappointment with the complicated problem he's facing. But quickly he heaved a sigh and his smile was again restored; What a powerful show of his mental capacity.

"You interrupted my meditation certainly as the last resort to face the difficult situation" he said.


Feeling uneasy, Pek-bin Siansu nodded. He has disturbed his sibak who has faced a wall for three decades in peace. He did it because simply he did not see any other way.


Around three months ago an extraordinary incident took place in the Shaolin temple; the arrival of six uninvited guests.


Six guests who had quite special status, they were the head of big clans in the world of martial arts (Jianghu8). They had good relations among each others and from time to time made a visit to one another, but never six of them had come to Shaolin at the same time. Unless...something awkward had happened that compelled them to come.


Pek-bin Siansu brought his peers to Bamboo-leaves gazebo to sit and to drink tea enjoying the Song-shan9 valley scenery famous of its beauty.


"Thwack!" Three-inches thick table made out of Song tree, hard like a steel iron, without warning was broken into pieces chopped by Ouw Hek-tong, the head of Kongtong-pay10 who was known with his short temper. The antique tea-cups jumped out of control, the spill splashed everywhere.


Pek-bin Siansu took a deep breath and said causally:

"I know you are here not to admire Song-shan beautiful view. I just did not know this furniture was not your choice of design"

"You got to return them back!" said Ouw Hek-tong furiously.


He stanched with a position ready to fight. Although he was short, his stocky body were well-built. Though he was known as being impatient, he's also known to posses extra ordinary courage. Rumor had it, he tracked down the gangsters who killed his pupils and he opposed over sixty bandits, alone! Though he experienced serious injuries that almost killed him but none of the gang's members lived.


He was ready to berate the head of Shaolin clan who he knew excelled in martial skill even surpassed his own capacity. It didn't bother him. Why retreat if his heart still beats. This simple principle made Ouw Hek-tong famous for his bravery in a fight.


"Amitabha11, I'd return them back soon as I knew what it was" Pek-bin Siansu said patiently.


Without uttering a word, Ouw Hek-tong attacked Pek-bin Siansu. Explosion and howling wind with damaging strength were the result of his right-hand moves. Pek-bin Siansu swiftly drifted his body away from the blow. Like a sheet of light leaf, his foot landed six feet from them.


"Hit first, ask questions later. Definitely the wrong method to approach a problem" said Pek-bin Siansu while gazing sharply at his attacker.


"Hold it!" exclaimed Thian-ki Totiang, the head of Wudang-pay12 Clan taking few steps closer to them.


Pek-bin Siansu glanced at him for a second, and said slowly:

"It seems you all have come in to terms to challenge Shaolin clan. If you think I have taken something from you, I also think you have left me with nothing"


Thian-ki Totiang raised his eyebrow, he looked puzzled.

"You owe me an explanation" Pek-bin Siansu continued.


Thian-ki Totiang thought for a moment. He took a small box out of his inner pocket and tossed it to Pek-bin Siansu. The box drifted slowly in the air like it was handed by invisible force.


Pek-bin Siansu raised his eyebrow, he was a bit surprised by the immense Qi's power of Thiank Totiang. Quickly he mobilized his Qi's power and scooped up the box.

"Boom!"


The powerful Qi's clashed in mid air. Pek-bin Siansu's body were shaking hard while Thian-ki Totiang must retreat five steps to normalize the pushing force.

"Amitabha, a spark can start a fire that burns the entire house. If you force me to play this game of violence, it will impact the safety of seven clan's members" Pek-bin Siansu said in a sad voice.


The six guests glanced at each other, their faces looked tense.The clash among their members not only would threat the livelihood thousands of people, but also would tip the balance of peace in the jianghu's world.


"Do take a look at inside the box" requested Thian-ki Totiang after giving some thoughts.


Pek-bin Siansu took a peek at it and taken out its content. To his surprise, the box contained nothing unusual, only several sheets of leaves. Six sheets of dried leaves marked with the same symbols. He was about to ask questions when he started to notice the unusual.


The symbol was not inked, rather it was scratched as if it was carved without damaging the surface back-end of the leaf.


His face began to tense!


"The scratched mark on the leaf, is it true can only be caused by Shaolin's finger-shooting style?" urged Thian-ki Totiang.


Indeed, only Shaolin's finger-shooting style was zenned enough to equate the task.

"Indeed, it resembled Shaolin's finger-shooting style" Pek-bin Siansu replied.

"It's similar or an exact match?" Thian-ki Totiang persisted.

"It's difficult to say" Pek-bin Siansu responded after a moment of silence.


Suddenly, he flicked his finger pointing to the side of the wall, about ten-feet away.

"Boom!" A hole the size of a finger as deep as three inches was drilled at the stone wall.


Involuntarily, the six guests mouthed uttering sounds. Clearly, they were shock witnessing this powerful show-down.


With a soft smile, Pek-bin Siansu said:

"Though the symbol has similar energy's signature with Shaolin's finger-shooting style, I can assure you Shaolin's members has nothing to do with it"

"What make you so sure?" asked Thian-ki Totiang.


Pek-bin Siansu thought it for a moment before he said:

"Not counting Goan-kim Sibak, I can safely say among all Shaolin's members I am the only one who have zenned finger-shooting style to the highest level. Though it's quite perfect, yet not good enough to duplicate this mark"


"Are you saying you are not powerful enough to leave a mark like this?" exclaimed Ong Pek-tan, the head of Beggar's clan with a disbelieve.


After taking a deep breath, Pek-bin Siansu explained:

"A controlled force is far more difficult to perform than a destructive one. This symbol has the same depth, smooth around all edges, and does not tear the bottom side of the leaf. Only those who have staged the level of "In-sync with desire" can carry out this impossible action.


Thian-ki Totiang fell silently. From the clash a moment ago, he has evaluated Pek-bin Siansu's Qi power. Though about a half or a notch more powerful compare to him, but he was sure the head of Shaolin's clan has not yet reached the stage of 'In-sync with desire'.


He was telling the truth.


"You asked many questions and I have answered many answers. Now is my turn to ask. Actually, what on earth has happened?" asked Pek-bin Siansu seriously.


Thian-ki Totiang drew a deep breath and explained quietly.

Evidently, someone stole the heirloom of the six clans kept in a special room. The library was guarded day and night, yet the thief managed to steal and vanished without a trace. The only trailed mark was a dried leaf left intentionally on the empty book-shelf of each clans.


"Is it...?" Pek-bin Siansu for some reasons discontinued his question.


Siong Han Kie the head of Huashan-pay13 seemed getting his drift.

"Is it possible it was an inside job?" he said.


The head of Kunlun-pay14 clan, Ho Kek-ong went along to explain:

"this possibility was our first thought. But after months of investigations, we concluded, it's just not possible the theft was carried out by someone within"


"So it's ascertained the crime perpetrated by the outsider?" firmed Pek-bin Siansu.


With a deep low-voice, Thian-ki Totiang replied:

"The evidence also revealed it was impossible for an outsider to penetrate our heavily guarded libraries"


Pek-bin Siansu calmly gazed at Thian-ki Totiang while returning the box he held. Slowly Thian-ki Totiang explained that the library in Wudang-pay was guarded by Go Sam-beng who had defeated Kui Tok Sin Mo who had stirred Jianghu's world by slaying men indiscriminately thirty years ago.


Pek-bin Siansu's heart sank. His sidai15 Ang-lee Siansu had fought the butcher and lost. He could only imagine how powerful Go Sam-beng's wushu skill.


The voice of Pheng Eng-lauw, the head of Taishan-pay16 interrupted Pek-bin Siansu from his train of thought.


"Our investigation has hit a dead end. We knew nothing who broke-in. But one thing we know for sure, the scratched mark on the leaf is the work of finger-shooting style and aside Shaolin-pay17, who else in Jianghu's world has the finger style with the most striking effect?"


The seven head of clans fell silent for a long time, filled with uncertainty.

"We better go inside to talk" Pek-bin Siansu broke the silence and led them entering the conference room.


After tea was served, Than Ki Totiang continued his story:

"Kay Ong as the head library's security at beggar's clan headquarter was in-charged when the event took place"


Involuntarily, Pek-bin Siansu raised his eyebrow. Kay Ong was known as the king of a thief. Not only he's mastered the art of stealing, he's also good at wushu's skill.


Jiang-nan, the coastal south area of yantze river, was hit by a long drought causing repeated failure of crops harvest. Kay Ong saw people suffered from hunger, took actions by stealing tons of rice from nine warehouses tightly guarded by government troops.


It's just hard to believe the king of thief got a snicth.


Their meeting was interrupted with a sudden appearance of Ang-lee Siansu, Shaolin's second man in command.

"Mo-tian sidai, the head of library, wants to have a word with you, sihing18"


The meeting room was quiet. Their faces turned white without they even realizing it. Pek-bin Siansu closed his eyes and said:

"Bring him in"

"Sidai apparently wants to consult sihing in private" said Ang-lee Siansu a bit hesitate seeing unfamiliar faces present.

"Does he have on him, a sheet of leaf?" guessed Pek-bin Siansu with the throbbing heart.


Ang-lee Siansu rather surprised with the accuracy of his sihing's guess. He nodded:

"Yes, he does. Apparently he wants to hand it to you in person"

"Bring him in right away!"


Minutes later, Mo-tian Siansu in tears kneeled down in front of Pek-bin Siansu.

"Sihing...?!"

"I know what happened, the fault is not yours" muttered Pek-bin Siansu taking a sheet of leaf from his sidai. A fresh leaf marked with symbol precisely the same as those in the box.

"Sihing, only death can justify my failure!" screamed Mo-tian Siansu. His body suddenly sprung directly to the wall with head first.


Pek-bin Siansu startled. He was focusing his attention on the fresh leaf. He didn't anticipate his sidai's action. Everyone in the room got caught by a surprise, it seemed no one could prevent Mo-tian Siansu suicidal attempt. It's too late to save him!


Goan-kim Taysu who didn't see Mo-tian Siansu in the crowd closed his eyes.

"Is he dead?" he asked bitterly.


Pek-bin Siansu didn't answer right away, rather he issued a dried leaf out of his pocket and handed over to his sibak who took it with the puzzled look. Nothing unusual about the leaf, just a regular dried leaf that easily found laying around on Shaolin's yard.


"His life was spared because of it" said Pek-bin Siansu continuing his story:

When all who were at the conference room stunned and were too late to do anything suddenly a drifted object entered from nowhere and quickly came into contact with the tip of Mo-tian Siansu's head gently.


Strangely enough, the motion of Mo-tian Siansu's body decelerated as if it was held by the invisible hand. His body seemed to stop several seconds in the air, his head almost hit the wall only few inches away. Then his body fell downright to the floor.


Pek-bin Siansu right away summoned his QingGong19 to grab his sidai's body. A quick check up, he knew his sidai was out of danger. He breathed a sigh of relief. His eyes glanced at the object that adhered to Mo-tian SIansu's head.


Pek-bin Siansu looked tense. He muttered slowly:

"This is odd. Mo-tian's thirty six TouchPoints20 were incapacitated. is it possible the fresh leaf attached to his head locking his blood vessels?"


Goan-kim Taysu a bit surprised with what he just heard.

"Piggy-ride style" he whispered.

Pek-bin Siansu turned to surprise. He heard about this style. It's a technique to pass Qi's energy thru an object and controll it from a distance. But this technique was more like a hearsay in Jianghu's world, nobody has ever mastered or even knew the know-how.


"Finish your story" requested Goan-kim Taysu.


Evidently the sleeping-TouchPoint21 of Mo-tian Siansu was also locked. His loud snore was a relief to Pek-bin Siansu. It's a sign his sidai was not wounded.


Pek-bin Siansu and the others took turn to unblock Mo-tian Siansu's TouchPoint. Everone tried, they succeeded not!


"Let him sleep for twelve hours. His TouchPoints will be unblocked automatically" A soft but clear voice was whispered onto their ears.


Everyone in the room startled and felt a bit embarrassed. They have excelled martial-art and become the head of the biggest clans for a long time, yet they failed to detect the presence of this person nor they succeded to determine the source of the voice.


The voice clearly did not come from outside the room. It also clearly did not come from inside the room. This voice sounded exactly like a whisper from someone who stood close to them.


They also faced a difficulty to tell whether it's a man or a woman's voice. Who can differentiate a whispering sound?


"No need to stay here any longer. Except Shaolin's sutras, the other books has been returned to their original places" the mysterious whisper again reverberated in their ears.


"When our sutras will be returned?" demanded Pek-bin Siansu.

"Within a hundred days" answered clearly from the low area of Song-shan's valley. It was a man's voice.


It's difficult to imagine, someone could speak from such a distance and continued to be heard crystal clear.

"Can we trust what he said?" asked Pek-bin Siansu bitterly.


Seven main leading figures in martial-art's world, evidently succumbed to the will of this mysterious man. They were too powerless to do anything about it but gave-in. This incident really struck their self-confidence.


"Yes, we can trust what he said" said someone who suddenly entered the confence room.


Go sam-beng who just emerged aged in his fourties has a lean body, a bit taller than most, gave his salute to show some respects and said to Thian-ki Totiang, his sihing.

"The stolen sutras of Wudang-pay have been returned to their original places"

"Has the library not been secured so this thief can go in and out as he pleased?" reprimanded Thian-ki Totiang with a sour face.


Go sam-beng bowed to conceal his embarassement, he replied:

"I was on guard in front of the library's door so did members of Wudang's I- Ching-style sword22 team who were on alert at their hiding places. We were confident even a fly could not enter the library without us knowing it"

"Clearly the thief was bigger than a fly, how did he manage to return our sutras unbeknownst to you?" challenged Thian-ki Totiang.


Go sam-beng swallowed not only his saliva but also his pride when he said:

"Because we all fell asleep"


That was an extraordinary incident!

Go sam-beng as well as members of I-Ching-style sword team selected because their wushu skill failed to guard Wudang's library. Unbeknownst to them, their sleeping-TouchPoints were locked.


Go sam-beng was the first to regain his consciousness, he felt the cold wind blew to his back. When he turned around he noticed the library's door was wide opened. With a lighting speed, he entered the room and stood struck dumb when he witnessed the stolen books were neatly stacked like they were before.

"Are you sure they are the original sutras?" insisted Thian-ki Totiang.

"I have checked them one by one, I am sure all the sutras are original"


Thian-ki Totiang took a relief breath. He has no doubt about Go sam-beng's words. He knew his sidai had a passion to read. Go sam-beng could easily recognize the originality of the books since he has read them hundred of times without getting bored.


Go sam-beng soon afterwards added:

"I am sure the thief who has an extraordinary wushu skill will not want to tell a lie, indeed there's no use for us to gather here any longer. Wudang-pay got the news first since we are the nearest to Shaolin. If you all go home I am certain you will receive the same message" he said to the head of beggar's clan and also to the others.

"Though the stolen sutras have been recovered, the fact remained we have been beaten sensely. This feeling is difficult to recover" muttered Thiank-ki Totiang sadly.


He was not embarrased to state his defeat. Every head of the clans experienced the same fate including Shaolin-pay famous as a wharehouse of knights with excellent wushu skills.


Together with Go sam-beng, Thian-ki Totiang left the conference room.

"Totiang, are you just giving it up, accepting a defeat, and refusing to discuss the best way to deal with this thief?" the head of beggar's clan protested.

"I am not giving it up nor accepting a defeat. I am refusing to give a discussion simply because this thief is just too powerful for us to deal with" replied Thian-ki Totiang while taking a stride to out.

"Is it true nothing we can do to challenge this thief?" muttered Pheng Eng-lauw.

"I admit the Wudang wushu skill is not excellent enough for now, yet I believe many rooms still are left for improvements" said Thian-ki Totiang bitterly.


With the demoralized feeling, they acknowledged the truth of his words. Seven foremost Jianghu's head of clans experienced a tragic defeat in the hand of someone whom they never met. They were routed even without a single fight!


One by one the head of the clans said goddbye and left the conference room leaving Pek-bin Siansu who stood motionless lost in his thought holding two sheets of leaves; One sheet of a regular fresh leaf and a dried leaf marked with symbols.

***********************************

1Lohan: Martial-art movements Bodhidharma introduced originally to the Shaolin monks

2Qi also commonly spelled ch'i is a fundamental concept of traditional Chinese culture. Qi is believed to be part of everything that exists, as in “life force”

3Sibak (師伯) is the senior fellow of your teacher in a martial art school. Si means teacher. Bak means an uncle that is elder than the father. Source www.wikipedia.org

4Sutra refers to an aphorism (or line, rule, formula), or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual.

5Wushu consists of two Chinese characters. 武 (wǔ), meaning "Stop the Conflict", martial or military, and 術 (shù), which translates into art, skill or method.

6Sifu is a Chinese term for a master or teacher.

7Da mo founder of Zen Buddhism and Shaolin martial arts, known as Damo (達摩) in China

8Jianghu has been termed as the Underworld, the World of Vagrants, or sometimes the World of Martial Arts.

9Song-shan A Song mountain where lies Shaolin Monastery.

10Kongtong-pay Wushu/kunfu school located at Kongtong mountain.

11Amitabha In Chinese, his name is given as 阿彌陀佛 (Āmítuó Fó), where Āmítuó is the Chinese representation of the first three syllables of either Amitābha or Amitāyus, and Fó is Chinese for Buddha (a very early borrowing of the first syllable of the Sanskrit word)

12Wudang-pay Wushu/kunfu school located at Wudang mountain.

13Huashan-pay Wushu/kunfu school located at Hua mountain.

14Kunlun-pay Wushu/kunfu school located at Kunlun mountain.

15Sidai or Shidi (師弟) means junior fellow students in a Chinese martial art school.

16Taishan-pay Wushu/kunfu school located at Tai mountain.

17Shaolin-pay Shaolin's Wushu/kunfu school located at Song mountain.

18Sihing or Shixiong (師兄) means senior fellow students in a Chinese martial art school.

19QingGong translates to "light body skill", and consists of two main skills: One being the ability to perform vertical jumps of a height many times that of the human body, and the other being the ability to travel long distances with a flitting, continuous motion as if flying.


20 Dim Mak or "Touch Point" (dim mak is an approximate Cantonese pronunciation of 點脈, as subset of 點穴, pinyin diǎnxuè) is said by its adherents to train attacks on pressure points in some styles of Chinese martial arts to kill, incapacitate, or otherwise control an opponent.

21 Sleeping-TouchPoint when touched or blocked can cause someone to fall asleep.

22The Wudang I Ching-style-sword Wudang martial-sword skill performed by a team based on Chinese Book of Changes (often spelled as I Jing, Yi Ching, Yi King, or Yi Jing ; also called "Classic of Changes") is the oldest of the Chinese classic texts.