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

Chapter 75 Beginning
At midnight, the moon is full in the sky, and the stars are few. It hangs alone in the sky, feeling sorry for itself, which makes the town under the moon not completely dark and without anything in sight.

Lingshan Town is a small village outside Wuxi City with a small population. Facing Taihu Lake and backed by Xiaolingshan Mountain, it is a place with auspicious feng shui, with the Azure Dragon on the left and the White Tiger on the right.

In later generations, an 88-meter-tall bronze Buddha statue would stand here, and it would be known as the Lingshan Scenic Spot.

However, during the Song Dynasty, apart from the dilapidated Xiangfu Temple on the mountain, not many people came here, and Lingshan Town could hardly be described as prosperous.

As midnight approached, the night watchman, who usually kept watch, was nowhere to be seen. Apart from a few barks from dogs, Lingshan Town was eerily quiet.

With a package in his left hand and a person in his right, Chen Xuanfeng walked alone across the main street in the center of the town. He took large strides, as if the person in his hands had no weight at all, but his steps were extremely light and almost imperceptible.

The person he was carrying had his head drooping, his limbs dragging on the ground, and bloodstains on his body. He looked to be no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, and was now unconscious and unresponsive.

Chen Xuanfeng and Mei Chaofeng have been hiding here for half a month. Last time, the two committed a big crime in Jinling. They originally just wanted to find a few ordinary people to practice their skills, but who would have thought that one of them was actually the nephew of the owner of the largest martial arts school in the area. The owner gathered martial arts masters in Jinling to surround and intercept them.

The disciples of Peach Blossom Island were naturally far superior in martial arts to ordinary martial artists, but they were simply outnumbered. The two fought hard and killed more than a dozen people to break through the encirclement, but they were still seriously injured. Chen Xuanfeng's external martial arts were excellent, and he could still hold on despite his injuries, while Mei Chaofeng was almost unable to walk.

The two fled to Xiaoling Mountain near Wuxi and found a valley to recuperate. In half a month, Chen Xuanfeng recovered 90% of his health, and Mei Chaofeng was able to get out of bed and walk without any problems.

However, the two had run out of medicine. Under the cover of night, Chen Xuanfeng broke into the only pharmacy in Lingshan Town, taking not only the medicinal herbs but also the shop assistant. After recovering from his injuries for many days, he still needed to practice his skills. Without a living person's head to test his moves, Chen Xuanfeng didn't know how to cultivate the Nine Yin White Bone Claw.

Under the moonlight, Chen Xuanfeng remained alert, but he was completely unaware that someone was following him from behind, hiding in his shadow like a persistent, silent leech.

A masked man dressed in black was crouching down with his head down, looking like a dwarf, completely shrinking behind Chen Xuanfeng, who was about 1.8 meters tall, following him slowly and steadily, always keeping a distance of less than 30 centimeters.

The masked man's attention was not on Chen Xuanfeng, but rather he was completely focused on Chen Xuanfeng's shadow under the moonlight. He walked on tiptoe the whole time, stepping on Chen Xuanfeng's shadow with every step.

The masked man predicted Chen Xuanfeng's next move entirely based on his shadow. To be able to do this, he must have possessed extremely high levels of lightness skill and agility, as well as astonishing senses, allowing him to completely anticipate Chen Xuanfeng's every action.

Before the wind stirs, the cicadas sense it. When Chen Xuanfeng speeds up, he speeds up as well. When Chen Xuanfeng slows down, he slows down first. The distance between the two remains unchanged, like a willow leaf falling on the water. A gust of wind blows, the water ripples, and the willow leaf undulates gently.

As Chen Xuanfeng approached the town entrance, he suddenly noticed that a ghostly lantern was hanging from the large locust tree by the roadside. The eerie white light sent chills down his spine, and Chen Xuanfeng immediately became alert, as he clearly remembered that there was no such lantern on the way he had come.

He stopped and quickly turned around to observe his surroundings. In the dark corners where he couldn't see, he could feel the breathing of countless people, and he could even feel their gazes fixed on him.

No matter how Chen Xuanfeng turned, the masked man's figure would subtly adjust, shifting to the other side like a ghost, always keeping himself in Chen Xuanfeng's blind spot. Even now, Chen Xuanfeng hadn't noticed anyone following him, but he knew his whereabouts had been exposed and someone had come knocking. He just didn't know which martial arts force it was. These two had committed many atrocities in recent years, making them enemies everywhere; every martial artist in Jiangnan wanted them dead.

Just as he decided to ignore the commotion around him and prepare to use his lightness skill to quickly leave the town, he suddenly felt two hands gently placed on his shoulders, and at the same time, his neck felt cold. Someone had actually blew a breath onto the back of his neck.

The feeling was like being possessed by a ghost. In great fear, Chen Xuanfeng immediately released the waiter he was holding with his right hand, turned around and struck with all his might, but hit nothing at all.

Chen Xuanfeng hurriedly retreated ten feet away. When he looked around, he discovered that a masked man had suddenly appeared next to the waiter who had been thrown to the ground. The masked man grabbed the waiter and threw him backward. Then, a vague figure appeared in the darkness, grabbed the waiter, and immediately disappeared into the darkness.

When facing an enemy, one must seize the initiative. As soon as the masked man threw out his waiter, Chen Xuanfeng pounced forward. He exerted force with both legs, moving with lightning speed, covering a distance of more than 10 feet in the blink of an eye. Before his hand arrived, his palm strike had already reached the masked man's chest. It was the Peach Blossom Island's most proficient technique, the Splitting Palm.

The masked man calmly raised his right hand, drawing an oval shape in the air with his palm. At that moment, the invisible air seemed to form a vortex between his palms.

As soon as Chen Xuanfeng's palm strike landed, it was as if it had encountered an invisible force field. The palm strike automatically rotated and struck back at Chen Xuanfeng's head.

Chen Xuanfeng was terrified. His body, which was in mid-air, did not have time to change position. He barely managed to use his internal energy to block the palm strike. With a loud bang, Chen Xuanfeng was slammed back like a ball. In his haste to resist the palm strike, blood immediately flowed from the corner of his mouth due to the conflict of internal energy.

He staggered to his feet, his face pale and stiff. From the brief exchange, he knew he had encountered a formidable foe. Since leaving Peach Blossom Island, he had met many martial arts figures, but none of them had ever caused him to suffer such a heavy loss in a single encounter.

Most importantly, the opponent's methods were truly bizarre, and Chen Xuanfeng simply couldn't understand how the opponent managed to turn his palm strike back.

"Chen Xuanfeng, you have committed numerous evils and are abhorrent to both gods and men. Today, I will turn your bronze corpse into a real corpse."

"Who exactly are you? Don't play tricks. I'm not someone to be trifled with. Be careful, or you might not leave alive."

The masked man was none other than Wu Chengyu, who was half a head shorter than Chen Xuanfeng, but whose aura completely overwhelmed Chen Xuanfeng.

He had grown considerably taller than a year ago, and his frame had become robust after practicing the Ox and Horse Stance. Chen Xuanfeng could not recognize him as his former junior brother based on his physique alone.

Wu Chengyu looked at him as if he were a dead man.

"If I say you're going to die today, you must die. Even Huang Yaoshi couldn't stop you. That's what I said."

　Happy Mother's Day to all mothers around the world!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)