Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny Page #2

Again.

Again.

Your curiosity with the boy...

I'm not curious.

Then what do I now mistake for curiosity?

Hopeless!

Irritation.

- Must we train here?

- Yes.

True skill is not a blazing flame.

Again.

Too much blazing flame!

This does not concern you!

A thousand broken sticks and swords

won't teach as much

as the one that bends to your will.

Touch me, however you can.

Or me!

Ignore him. Strike me.

A predictable attack

has a predictable outcome.

Again.

Keep practicing.

Be unpredictable.

Light Body Skill.

Where did you learn that?

My teacher. She taught me.

So, your teacher was a woman?

What is her name?

You would not know it.

And why do you no longer study with her?

She died.

Years ago.

I see.

I will practice.

Your patience will be rewarded.

Perhaps you need a bigger hole?

Like your mouth?

Which is always open?

I could try that.

You could try...

Or you could let me go.

Let you go? So you can thieve again?

Bring your spoils

to that monster Hades Dai?

Lord Dai is a great warrior.

Under his hand,

the Martial World will be peaceful.

Your master is a murderer.

Thunder Fist Chan.

Things must be quite dire for you

to pledge your sword

for five measly taels of silver.

No gold convoys going out this season?

I was protecting that convoy from raiders,

raiders that you hired out to.

How these southern boxers from Zhejiang

retell history when it suits them.

You mock Zhejiang, do you?

Easy, boys.

We have all been hired for the same cause.

But does anyone know what that is exactly?

All the wine we can drink?

I didn't hear that part, Ma.

It was implied.

I heard whispers that it's kept there.

In the House of Te.

The Green Destiny.

The blade was forged--

Forged with a technique

that dates back to the Qin era.

A technique lost to history.

A blade that could carve through

Damascus steel.

Nobody who was wielding the blade

was ever defeated in a duel or battle.

Silent Wolf, is this true?

Are we being hired to guard a sword?

I wonder how he got his name.

I bid you welcome.

Excuse me.

Explain how a man returns from the dead.

We were to wed.

I mourned for you.

Shu Lien--

That name is not yours to speak.

I was dead before that duel.

Long before.

I did it for you and Li Mu Bai.

Deny it all you will,

but I knew you loved him, not me.

When Hades Dai and I

fought on Vulture's Peak...

I took the only path I could see.

Hades Dai left me for dead.

And I made my way to the mountains,

and chose a life of solitude.

Up there I found what Mu Bai and I

had strived for long ago at Wudang Temple.

Enlightenment.

Detachment from everything.

Even my old life and all that I loved.

I stayed away because I knew

that as long as I was alive,

Mu Bai would not ask you to marry him.

Nor in your death.

Such was his honor.

You feigned your death for nothing.

It wasn't feigned.

It was deeply felt.

That was your choice,

and you made it for all of us.

I have made peace with your passing,

and so it will remain.

You are needed and you're here.

Your skill and courage are not forgotten.

All else is.

And you are?

Snow Vase.

Student of Master Yu Shu Lien.

I have not known her to take a student.

So you know her well.

Well enough.

How?

This is not the place for story.

Another time, then.

Your teacher...

Is she content?

She's in mourning.

Of course.

I do not speak just of Sir Te.

You move as quietly as ever.

Not so quiet that you would not hear.

You have taken a student.

Yes.

They are connected somehow,

she and that boy.

He roars, but I feel a gentle soul

may sleep within.

- And your student?

- I am not certain.

I see darkness in her eyes.

She could be an even greater threat.

To us,

or those we guard against?

Time will tell.

Her teacher may have been Han Mei,

the renegade swordswoman

from Willow Valley.

She's gone many years.

So she taught Snow Vase quite young.

Too young.

Miss Snow Vase?

- Raise a cup with us.

- Yes, come in.

Come on, Snow.

To Sir Te and to his house.

They say a woman who can hold her wine

is a woman a man will want to hold.

Who says that?

I do.

We drink to remember,

but it seems you drink to forget.

How do you take the measure of a man?

Which part of a man?

Ma, behave.

I said nothing.

The wine was asking.

Ask your heart.

I do. My head answers.

The greatest battle of them all.

And you are hardly the only

who fights it here.

Where is Silent Wolf?

He guards with Thunder Fist.

So Master Yu, what is she like?

Pierce its heart.

True skill is a key in the moon.

Listen... with your nose.

A predictable attack has

a predictable--

You asked to be taught.

And clearly,

there is much you need to learn.

How long, teacher?

Until the shadow moves from here to there.

Twice.

You learn quickly.

That's good.

Snow Vase. How do you know her?

I do not.

Then her interest in you?

Your master believes

you have interest in me. True?

Talk to me. I am bored.

- Lonely.

- Neither is my problem.

- But what if you are their solution?

- Stop talking.

A single smile and you have my word:

I will fall silent.

How can you fall silent

and yet give a word?

How can you hold so much wine

and not smile?

This is territory

allied to the Red Desert clan.

We have cut off their supply.

Come the New Moon,

West Lotus will own this entire territory.

But this is merely Lingbao.

Not Peking.

Mantis will go where an army cannot.

While you soldiers will gather

at the Twin Rivers and prepare for war

against all rival clans

in the Martial World.

I will succeed where Wei Fang did not.

What do you see now, prophet?

I "see" nothing,

but I hear word.

Just as you heard word that Wei Fang

would succeed in his raid?

Give another false prophecy,

you'll not only have no eyes,

you'll have no tongue.

But then you wouldn't know

of the honored guest

who now resides at the House of Te.

One thought long dead has returned.

Thunder Fist will guard the south gate.

Turtle Ma, we are vulnerable here.

I will watch the first half of the night.

Pack up and leave now.

West Lotus is cruel and merciless.

Everybody please be careful.

Guard!

They've come for me.

I've come for you.

They leave destruction,

death in their wake.

Do you still stand with them?

Do you still stand with them?

Look out.

Where's the sword?

He does not know.

The sword is in the east courtyard.

Once I hold the blade,

you will be the first to fall.

You will not find it there,

nor take it from here.

Master Yu!

Let him go.

Release him.

Give it to me now or he dies!

The House of Te will fall.

As will the followers of the Iron Way.

Who are you?

My parents were slain

by the sword you hold.

On clear nights, I still hear them

calling to me from the other world.

One word...

vengeance.

Such a pity to die for a fee.

Not for gold, it's for the Iron Way.

My brother died for the Iron Way.

It was worthless.

You should have found yourself

a better cause,

as I did.

Shi! No! Get away from her!

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