The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 164 Arrival in Xiangyang
In the world of Jin-style martial arts, there are very few truly rare and precious materials; things like the Vermilion Fruit and the Everlasting Azure are all just legends.

In the world of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, only Liang Ziweng raises medicinal snakes. However, considering the timeline, it's uncertain whether Liang Ziweng was already raising snakes at this point, and at least for now, they don't seem to have any effect.

Other things, such as century-old ginseng, are not something he can find now, and even if he only has one or two, it won't meet the needs of cultivating the silkworm transformation.

After pondering for a long time, Wu Chengyu finally thought of the Bosiqu snake. The gallbladder of this snake is extremely potent and can enhance a person's physical strength and arm strength, as well as internal energy. It can be considered a rare and precious treasure. Most importantly, there are so many of them that they fill the mountains and valleys. They can be eaten as food for several months.

With a plan in mind, Wu Chengyu didn't delay. He found a merchant ship in Yangzhou bound for Hubei. The Yangtze River doesn't flow through Xiangyang. His plan was to disembark in Yichang and then head north to Xiangyang.

The merchant ship departed from Jiangsu, passed through Anhui, and took more than a month to enter Hubei Province, stopping frequently along the way. It was going to reach Yichang in another day.

Wu Chengyu's only advantage now is that his five senses have not been affected. These days, he has been listening to the conversations of the people on the ship and has gained a new understanding of current events.

Wu Chengyu's astonishing assassination attempt at Langdang Ridge on that day directly changed the political landscape of the Song Dynasty and completely altered the original course of history.

Shi Miyuan, a treacherous minister who could have wielded immense power in the court for over twenty years and was no less ruthless than Qin Hui, met his demise just before reaching the pinnacle of his life.

The death of Shi Miyuan shocked the court and the public, affecting everyone from Emperor Ningzong of Song and the court officials to ordinary people.

Especially in the imperial court, the position of Right Chancellor was effectively vacated. With the pro-war faction already wiped out, the original Shi Miyuan faction immediately split into several forces, along with other cooperating factions, and fought tooth and nail for Shi Miyuan's position.

During the month that Wu Chengyu drifted in the Wu River, after constant infighting and compromise among various forces, Zheng Qingzhi, the patron of the Wu family's upper echelons, ultimately emerged victorious. In history unknown to Wu Chengyu, Zheng Qingzhi was the successor to the position of prime minister after Shi Miyuan's death.

Emperor Ningzong of Song had already ordered Zheng Qingzhi to take over Shi Miyuan's position and become the new Privy Councilor.

Following the normal trajectory of development, Zheng Qingzhi will become the new Right Chancellor of the Song Dynasty next year. It is conceivable that Wu Chengyu's third cousin, Wu Chenglian, will also rise in rank and have a limitless future.

After Zheng Qing took office, he resumed negotiations with the Jin delegation, and the first issue to be discussed was the restoration of Qin Hui's titles and posthumous names.

Originally, it was the Jin state that made the request. Shi Miyuan persuaded Emperor Ningzong of Song, and Emperor Ningzong finally agreed. The news that Qin Hui's title and posthumous name would be restored was first spread. Then, Shi Miyuan used this pretext to eliminate dissidents and unstable factors such as Yue Fei's army.

The official edict restoring Qin Hui's titles has not yet been announced to the world.

Meanwhile, on the Jin delegation's side, Wanyan Hongyu was utterly terrified by Wu Chengyu's assassination attempt. Wu Chengyu had killed Shi Miyuan right before his eyes, and then killed four other experts, each of whom died a gruesome death with incomplete limbs.

In particular, the five finger holes in the head of the Jin Dynasty swordsman under his command terrified him so much that he wet himself on the spot, and afterwards he couldn't sleep at night and was in a daze for several days.

He was no longer as resolute as before in his response to Zheng Qingzhi's demands. He was also afraid. Wanyan Hongyu had developed an instinctive fear of martial arts masters in the Jianghu. If he insisted on restoring Qin Hui's title, what would happen if another master came to kill him?

In fact, the Jin Dynasty didn't care at all whether or not Qin Hui's title and posthumous name were restored. He was a powerful minister of the Song Dynasty who had been dead for many years and was once a lackey of the Jin Dynasty. What was there to mention?

They only wanted to test the Song Dynasty court's sincerity in negotiating peace, which is why they dragged this dog out again.

After Zheng Qingzhi's reasoned arguments, Wanyan Hongyu, in a state of panic, finally brought the matter of Qin Hui to a close. However, Wanyan Hongyu refused to budge on the annual tribute of 300,000 taels of silver and the reward of 3 million taels of silver for the army.

Emperor Ningzong of Song remained terrified of the Jin Dynasty. To expedite the peace treaty and force the Jin to withdraw its troops, he disregarded the cost and the burden on the people. Thus, the Jiading Peace Treaty occurred as planned. Wu Chengyu's assassination, aside from eliminating Shi Miyuan and preventing Qin Hui's restoration of his reputation, did nothing else change. The Southern Song Dynasty remained unchanged, irrevocably on its path to destruction.

However, Zheng Qingzhi was the one who ultimately benefited. Shi Miyuan spread rumors that he would restore Qin Hui's reputation, and he immediately became a notorious traitor in people's minds.

Now news has spread that Zheng Qingzhi persuaded the emperor and the Jin envoy. In an instant, Zheng Qingzhi's reputation became unparalleled, and everyone praised him. The common people are sometimes that simple.

As Wu Chengyu pondered these thoughts, he found it amusing. Without Shi Miyuan as a powerful ally, the eldest and second branches of the Wu family were already poised for further advancement. Considering that the third branch had fallen out with the eldest and second branches because of him, he feared that his fourth uncle, Wu Zhengliang, would not have an easy future.

A day later, the merchant ship slowly sailed into the Yichang dock, and Wu Chengyu silently disembarked alone.

The journey from Yichang to Xiangyang is a full 500 li (approximately 250 kilometers), and Wu Chengyu dared not travel alone. He decisively sought out a security escort agency in Yichang.

Just then, the escort agency was about to escort a merchant caravan to Xiangyang, and Wu Chengyu spent three taels of silver to secure a seat on the caravan's carriage.

The journey involved traversing mountains and valleys, though there weren't many main roads. However, it was generally peaceful, and the caravan took a full seven days to finally reach Xiangyang, a city that holds an important place in both The Legend of the Condor Heroes and The Return of the Condor Heroes.

Wu Chengyu walked aimlessly through the streets of Xiangyang. His current physical condition allowed him to move slowly, and his sickly appearance drew the attention of those around him, who all avoided him.

However, Wu Chengyu quickly found his own goal.

People from Hubei don't eat snakes as much as people from Guangdong and Guangxi, but as a type of wild game, there are always some people who enjoy it.

There are indeed people selling snakes on the street. They are usually snake catchers who catch wild snakes in the mountains and bring them to the city to sell.

Wu Chengyu stepped forward and saw an old man in front of him, dressed in coarse cloth clothes, with a face full of wrinkles. He must have been traversing mountains and valleys for many years. His skin was tanned dark. He was squatting on the street corner with five or six bamboo cages in front of him, each containing a snake of a different color.

Wu Chengyu stepped forward. He didn't know much about snakes, but he could roughly identify it as a rat snake, as well as several other venomous snakes with triangular heads.

When the old man saw people approaching, he assumed it was a customer and quickly greeted them.

"Sir, do you wish to eat snakes? I caught these in the mountains a few days ago. Don't worry, these are all poisonous, but I've already removed their fangs and venom glands, so they're completely safe."

Seeing that Wu Chengyu looked weak and listless, the old man gave up his bamboo stool and pulled Wu Chengyu to sit down.

Wu Chengyu didn't want to stand on ceremony anymore, so after sitting down, he returned the courtesy slightly and asked.

"Old man, have you ever seen a kind of venomous snake with golden scales and fleshy horns on its head in the mountains near Xiangyang? It's extremely ferocious."

　I've been writing 10,000 words a day for the past ten days or so, and the pressure has been immense. Yesterday, my cervical spondylosis flared up a bit, and I felt dizzy and weak. I managed to write some things that I wasn't very satisfied with. I went to bed early last night, but I couldn't sleep soundly until I finished my task. So, I got up again at four o'clock this morning to write. I'll post two chapters first, and I'll continue writing the rest. I'll post two more chapters before noon. My minimum goal for today is four chapters.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)