The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Starting from the Bodyguard

Chapter 12 Counterattack, Bloodthirst
An autumn breeze swept across the mountains and fields, the sun warm. The leaves rustled, and the sunlight seemed to flicker as well, as Zhou Yan emerged from the woods.

In front of him, the robust wild boar had collapsed to the ground, making grunting noises as its limbs twitched.

"That beast has real stamina." He laughed and cursed, walked up to the wild boar, pulled out his dagger, and killed it instantly.

Zhou Yan could easily lift the wild boar, which weighed over 300 pounds, and at this moment he didn't care whether his clothes would be stained with blood.

He pulled out the long arrow and put it in his quiver, then used his dagger to cut open the boar's belly, keeping the heart and liver intact, and took out the intestines and discarded them in the bushes. He crouched down, bent over, grabbed the boar's front legs with both hands, stood up steadily, and strode towards the forest where the green horse was grazing.

As they walked, pig's blood dripped continuously, and the stench of blood was dispersed by the wind blowing through the forest. Suddenly, Zhou Yan felt a tightness in his leg, as if someone had reached out and hugged him tightly, or as if a thick rope had bound him tightly.

Zhou Yan was taken aback and looked down. He saw a large, bright red snake coiled around his legs and swimming up. The snake's head moved up and down, and in an instant, he felt a strong constricting sensation on his abdomen.

Zhou Yan's pupils contracted sharply, and his hair stood on end.

He couldn't understand how he could encounter such a large snake in the mountains in early autumn.

Moreover, in people's minds, a bright color might mean it's extremely poisonous, or it might just be camouflage, but who would dare to take that gamble?

He forced himself to calm down and slowly inhaled, only to be met with a pungent medicinal smell mixed with a fishy odor. It was the snake sticking out its tongue to lick his cheek.

Zhou Yan's arm moved suddenly, and the wild boar behind him crashed to the ground with a thud, raising dust in all directions. He leaned back, and with his hands coming together and apart, it was as if a bloodthirsty dragon's mouth had gripped the snake's neck.

The snake was incredibly strong, and its body tightened in pain.

Zhou Yan held his breath in his chest without exhaling, his arm suddenly sank, the muscles in his hand thrashing like a giant python, his fingers sinking into the snake's neck.

At the same time, a series of soft popping sounds rang out from both the person and the snake.

Zhou Yan felt as the giant snake contracted, its force like a thousand pounds squeezing into his muscles and bones, as if piercing and tearing, causing a nausea in his chest. His arm muscles bulged continuously, and as he squeezed out all his strength, he suddenly twisted his hands together, unleashing the power of the Plum Blossom Fist. In an instant, his ten fingers became like hooks, piercing into the snake's body. He let out a loud shout, and with a burst of breath, he snapped the snake's neck with a crack.

Suddenly, I felt a stream of snake blood, carrying the smell of medicine, flowing out from between my fingers.

Why does it taste like this?

The thought had barely formed when a heartbroken, teeth-gritting voice suddenly echoed through the forest: "Master's precious snake is dead. Prepare to die!"

"Don't kill him. Capture him and bring him before Master, then chop him into eight pieces."

The autumn sunlight shifted slightly, and two men dressed as ginseng hunters rushed over. The first man threw a punch at Zhou Yan, while the second man pulled out a medicinal hoe and pounced out menacingly.

The large snake was still coiled around his legs, preventing Zhou Yan from moving. He hurriedly said, "It's a misunderstanding. The snake attacked me. I will compensate you."

"Kid, ten lives wouldn't be enough to compensate for this."

The man charged forward with undiminished force, his fist whistling as it came right in front of him.

Zhou Yan turned his head and punched the other man's face, his fist scraping against his cheek. He grabbed the other man's shoulders with both hands and brought down a vicious headbutt.

"Oh!"

"Ah!" The man screamed hysterically as his head snapped back, spraying red blood into the air.

Zhou Yan channeled his energy outwards, and as soon as the giant snake relaxed its grip slightly, it pushed the man's body forward.

The man wielding the hoe never expected Zhou Yan to have such an unreasonable and unconventional fighting style. With a loud bang, the three of them collided and fell to the ground.

Zhou Yan rolled to the man's side, pulled out a dagger, and plunged it into the man's chest.

The man dropped the hoe and gripped Zhou Yan's wrists tightly with both hands. "You thief...you scoundrel, your master will drink your blood and cut you into a thousand pieces..." Zhou Yan's mind jolted, and he thought of someone: the ginseng immortal old monster Liang Ziweng.

"Are you disciples of Liang Ziweng?"

"It's too late. There's no use in regretting it now. Just wait... to die."

"It truly is Liang Ziweng's precious snake."

The man, whose consciousness was gradually fading, looked at Zhou Yan, who not only showed no fear but was instead excited, and suddenly felt that he had been too sharp-tongued.

The giant snake was gradually weakening. After a few spasms, it loosened its coils around Zhou Yan. He rolled over and coiled the snake around himself.

Zhou Yan had no clear idea of ​​how to maximize the benefits of this precious snake, which the Ginseng Immortal had fed with cinnabar, ginseng, and other medicines. Therefore, the best way was to do what Guo Jing did: swallow the snake's blood and try to absorb the medicinal properties through diligent practice.

It was not a safe place to linger, and Zhou Yan, disregarding the wild boar on his back, was about to leave when whistles rang out, and three more men dressed as wild boars rushed out of the woods.

It turned out that Liang Ziweng had come to Daxing Prefecture from Liaodong on a job, and he brought this great snake, which was about to complete its merits, with him. When he left Shanhaiguan and approached Zhongdu, he visited a friend and asked his disciple to take the great snake to Daxing Prefecture first.

He made this arrangement because he was worried that something like "people die for wealth, birds die for food" would happen to his friend, who was greedy for the treasure snake, hence this scene.

As autumn approached and the weather gradually turned cold, the precious snake was sleeping soundly and there was nothing to worry about. However, Zhou Yan was hunting in the mountains when a wild boar that had been shot with an arrow ran wildly, and the smell of blood stimulated the precious snake.

The giant snake broke free of its cage and, drawn by the scent of blood, coiled around Zhou Yan.

The disciples of the Ginseng Immortal Old Monster split up to search. First, two disciples encountered Zhou Yan, and the fight attracted three more people from the vicinity.

Seeing the precious snake hanging on Zhou Yan's body, clearly lifeless, and with two junior brothers lying on the ground, the three disciples, their eyes bloodshot with rage, brandished their steel knives and medicinal hoes and launched a vicious attack.

How could Zhou Yan be afraid? The two men's martial arts skills were far inferior to the Four Ghosts of the Yellow River, and he guessed that the three men in front of him were about the same.

He rushed forward, snatched the knife in an instant, and chopped upwards with his fist from under his arm. This move was exactly the same fist technique that Lu, the镖师 (bodyguard) of the Sihai Escort Agency, had used at Songhelou. Zhou Yan remembered it. Since his opponent's cultivation level was not high, he used it as he saw fit.

"Thump!" The man who was punched fell backward and headfirst.

The man holding the hoe a few meters away realized how fierce the madman was. He kept retreating and calling for help, but the other party's hurried retreat could not avoid Zhou Yan's leisurely steps.

An astonishing flash of light suddenly descended like thunder.

"puff!"

The autumn leaves were shaken for a while by the splattered blood.

Zhou Yan's strike was the same sword technique used by Shen Qinggang, one of the Four Ghosts of the Yellow River, when he faced Li Mochou. With his outstanding memory, he remembered it clearly. Although he only had the form, he used it with astonishing strength, enough to kill Liang Ziweng's disciple, whose martial arts were mediocre.

The last man put up a stubborn resistance, but as soon as he rushed over, Zhou Yan's palm struck the man's shoulder and neck directly. Amidst the rapid and continuous crackling sounds, Zhou Yan took three steps forward, while the man took three steps back, having received countless punches and slaps to his head, neck, and shoulders.

This is the "Yanqing Fist" that Zhou Yan is proficient in and skilled at.

The other person trembled and fell to the ground.

Now that things had come to this, the only option was to eliminate them all. Zhou Yan finished them off and quickly left with the python.

Once he had some distance between them, without any hesitation, he grabbed the snake's neck hanging around his neck, bit down hard, sucked on it, and swallowed it in large gulps.

(End of this chapter)