Xue MuHua—Su XingHe

Xue MuHua is a disciple of Su XingHe, whose public identity as the Deaf-Mute Old Man concealed a history of rivalry, injury, and strategic silence. Xue’s account of their relationship reveals how Su’s troubled contest with Ding Chunqiu shaped both his own life and the unusual education he gave his students.

Identity and Disclosure

At Xue MuHua’s residence, Xue begins explaining the affair to XuanNan, Deng BaiChuan, and the others after asking his senior fellow disciple Kang GuangLing for permission to speak. The exchange makes clear that Xue is not merely reporting rumors about Su: he identifies Su as his own master and recounts the circumstances behind the name by which others know him.

The listeners are startled. They understand Mr Intelligent to be the Deaf-Mute Old Man, and believe that he was born deaf and mute, with all his followers likewise unable to hear or speak. Xue corrects that account: Su was neither deaf nor mute by nature. The silence and the practices associated with it began only about ten years earlier, after conflict with Ding Chunqiu.

Su XingHe and Ding Chunqiu

Xue traces the line of instruction back to his own grandmaster, who took two disciples: the elder, Su XingHe, and the younger, Ding Chunqiu. The two were originally near equals in martial arts. Their relationship changed as Su’s interests broadened beyond combat: he studied music and the zither with his teacher, while Ding and Su pursued martial arts with differing degrees of focus.

According to Xue, Ding eventually turned against his teacher. In the ensuing confrontation, Su was injured, while their grandmaster fell into a deep ravine and his whereabouts became unknown. Su’s varied learning had also divided his attention from martial arts, leaving him at a disadvantage against Ding. He nevertheless used the eight trigrams and a complex metaphysical formation to disrupt Ding’s sight and hearing, creating a stalemate rather than allowing Ding to defeat him outright.

Ding could not break the formation or kill Su. He also believed that the grandmaster had kept powerful sect techniques from both disciples and expected Su eventually to inherit their manuals. Rather than force an immediate resolution, Ding made a pact: if Su remained silent and did not speak, Ding would not trouble him. Xue presents this agreement as the immediate cause of Su’s silence, set against the danger and uncertainty surrounding their grandmaster’s disappearance.

A Master’s Silence and His Disciples

Su wrote a letter expelling his original eight disciples, then adopted the outward appearance of deafness and muteness. His later disciples and followers had their eardrums pierced and tongues cut, and the group became known as the Deaf-Mute Sect. Xue distinguishes Su’s own silence, adopted under the pact with Ding, from the treatment imposed on the followers who came after him.

Xue suggests that Su may have regretted allowing his attention to drift from martial arts into miscellaneous studies, because he believed that distraction had contributed to his defeat. In his account, the discipline of silence was therefore more than a disguise: it also marked a rejection of the diversions he associated with his failure against Ding. The explanation is Xue’s interpretation of his master’s choice, not a claim that Su himself states in the scene.

The original eight disciples had, however, been encouraged to develop accomplishments beyond martial arts. At the time, Ding had not yet rebelled, and Su had not yet concluded that such pursuits weakened his martial ability. He even gave them special instruction. Kang GuangLing, the senior of the eight, learned the zither from Su; Xue’s account thus links the varied skills of the disciples to their master’s earlier, more open teaching before the rupture with Ding.

The Relationship’s Significance

The relationship between Xue MuHua and Su XingHe is revealed through a layered account: Xue identifies Su as his master, then explains why the teacher became known under a false public description and why the sect’s customs took their unusual form. The distinction between Su and his followers is central. His apparent deafness and muteness began as a response to Ding’s pact, while the bodily restrictions placed on later followers turned that personal silence into a sect identity.

The account also gives Su’s teaching a history of change. Before Ding’s betrayal, he taught the eight disciples both martial arts and individual miscellaneous skills; after the contest, he withdrew from speech and maintained a silence that protected him from renewed conflict. Xue’s explanation connects the master-disciple bond to the larger feud between Su XingHe and Ding Chunqiu, showing how a private rupture shaped a teacher’s public persona and the education of his students.