The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Starting from the Bodyguard

Chapter 133 Raising Snakes, Enlightenment

The Chu region connects with the three Xiang regions, and the Jingmen region connects with the nine tributaries.

In the early summer, merchants from the south and north traded in Xiangyang. The night market was illuminated by thousands of lights, and red-sleeved beauties thronged the tall buildings.

Inside the time-honored pharmacy, the shopkeeper personally greeted Zhou Yan, speaking solicitously: "Young master, please take a look. Cinnabar, ginseng, deer antler, lingzhi, he shou wu, huang jing, tiger bone powder... all packaged for you. Would you like to check them again?"

"No need, just take several sturdy bamboo baskets of different sizes that can hold pythons, and a pestle and mortar."

"Please wait."

Zhou Yan and Sha Gu's journey north from Lin'an brought them some joy. Sha Gu suffered a traumatic experience and developed a mental disorder, yet she remained carefree, finding happiness in a single string of candied hawthorns.

She herself could endure the hardships of living outdoors.

The silly girl knew a few moves of the Peach Blossom Island "Azure Wave Palm Technique." In case of unforeseen events along the way, Zhou Yan taught her a few moves of the "Yue Family Scattered Hand" grappling skills and also passed on the "Five Tigers Breaking the Gate Saber" to her.

At first, Zhou Yan was quite troubled by the fact that Sha Gu was distracted and making slow progress. Later, he figured out a trick: he used food to motivate her, and Sha Gu became more focused.

When the two arrived in Jingzhou, Sha Gu had already learned knife skills and grappling techniques. Zhou Yan didn't need to teach her any other skills. He figured that once they got to Snake Valley, he could just give her some snake gall to nourish her and build up her strength.

Hu Yanlei and others have already headed north, while Zhou Yan and Sha Gu have arrived in Xiangyang, where he is purchasing rare medicinal herbs needed for snake farming.

These medicinal herbs alone would cost a lot of money, but Zhou Yan carried several ingots of gold given to him by Lu Chengfeng, so he had no worries about money.

The shopkeeper handed four sturdy bamboo baskets and a mortar and pestle to Zhou Yan, saying, "Young master, this will cost two hundred and forty-six taels in total."

The shopkeeper rounded down the price and gave Zhou Yan a bamboo basket and a mortar and pestle as extra gifts.

He paid with gold, put the medicinal herbs into a bamboo basket, hung it on his yellow horse, and led the silly girl out of the city straight to Snake Valley on the outskirts of Xiangyang.

……

"Silly girl, this is it."

As the sun rose in the southeast, suddenly voices were heard.

The shed that the porters built in the forest outside Snake Valley is still there.

Zhou Yan took the bamboo basket off the yellow horse. In addition to the medicinal herbs, the basket also contained the earthenware jar he had bought when leaving Xiangyang, which was used to make snake soup and store snake gallbladders.

Knowing the terrain, the "Jade Lion Under the Night" didn't need to be called. After being unsaddled, it went to graze in the woods on its own, and the yellow horse obediently followed.

Zhou Yan wasn't in a hurry to find the giant eagle. He told her where to get water, and the silly girl took the water bag to fetch water. He then used a knife to cut down tree branches and rebuild the roof.

When the silly girl returned, the shed, which she had been resting in, was now able to provide shelter from the wind and rain.

Zhou Yan then took a bamboo basket and led the silly girl to the mountainside on one side of Snake Valley, where he spoke.

"Brother Eagle, I've come to see you."

Zhou Yan used his internal strength to generate sound, which traveled for miles.

"唳"

A powerful echo reverberated through the valley. Several dozen breaths later, Zhou Yan saw the giant eagle appear on a ridge on one side of the valley. The eagle let out a long cry and charged straight down from the mountaintop. It ran swiftly, like a galloping horse.

Silly Girl rode her horse the whole way, often chattering to the yellow horse as if it were a companion. When she saw the eagle, she shouted excitedly and ran past it.

The eagle suddenly stopped and tilted its head to look at the silly girl running towards it.

"Eagle, this is fun! Good eagle, let me ride it."

Without saying a word, Silly Girl leaped onto the back of the giant eagle.

The eagle, annoyed, flapped its wings and slammed the silly girl to the ground.

"It's fun!" Silly Girl got up and wouldn't let it go. The eagle jumped away helplessly, looking at Zhou Yan as if it wanted to ask for help.

Zhou Yan stepped forward with a smile: "Silly girl, don't make a fuss. I'll give you roasted snake later."

Silly Girl obeyed and stopped trying to ride the eagle, but she still curiously reached out and tugged at the eagle's feathers.

"Brother Eagle, I've come to catch a few snakes to keep you company for a few days."

The great eagle cried out with great joy, striding towards Snake Valley.

"Silly girl, go pick some mushrooms and wait in the shed."

As the two traveled together, Zhou Yan taught Sha Gu how to identify edible plants while hunting with a bow. When it came to food, Sha Gu had an amazing memory, so picking mushrooms, wild vegetables, and wild onions was a piece of cake for her.

"Yes, big brother, silly aunt knows."

The silly girl happily departed, singing a folk song.

Zhou Yan and the giant eagle headed towards Snake Valley.

"Brother Eagle, have you been harassed by anyone lately?"

The eagle let out two soft cries.

Zhou Yan felt relieved; it seemed that Gongsun Li, the former master of the Valley of Heartbreak, had kept her promise.

He had entered Snake Valley in early winter and early spring, and the scenery was not much different between the two periods. Now it was summer, and the valley was lush with trees on both sides. Sunlight pierced through the green canopy and shone into the valley, leaving only some broken pillars. Dust swirled in the light, and the dense forest with its thick layer of decaying leaves exuded an exceptionally strong fishy smell.

They had traveled less than half a mile when a Bodhi snake, as thick as an infant's wrist, appeared.

Zhou Yan remarked that when he brought Huang Rong here, it would take several miles into the valley to find a venomous snake of this size, but now they could find it in just a few hundred steps.

When the large venomous snake saw Zhou Yan and the giant eagle, its triangular head snapped up.

If he knew Huang Yaoshi's "Finger Flicking Skill," catching snakes would be much easier. He thought this as he rushed out.

In the dim light, the giant venomous snake shot towards Zhou Yan like an arrow.

"Snapped"

The sword sheath struck the snake precisely at its vital point.

The snake writhes a few times after landing and then dies. Zhou Yan took out the snake's gall bladder with a dagger and put it into a small earthenware jar. "Brother Diao, here you go."

He tossed it over, and the eagle pecked at the snake, swallowing it whole in a few swift movements.

The man and the eagle continued on their way, while the small snake avoided them. The sound of the small snake darting away in a panic could often be heard from among the bushes and decaying leaves. After traveling another two or three miles, the large eagle ran a few steps and stood in front of the dense bushes, crying out three times in succession.

Zhou Yan laughed, luring the snake out of its hole, letting the eagle use its ambush tactics to its advantage; the eagle had already mastered them to the extreme.

Triangular snake heads, gleaming menacingly, emerged from Zhou Yan's sight—one, two, three…

Ten snakes, each as thick as a baby's arm, emerged one after another.

Ten venomous snakes shot towards the giant eagle like arrows. Zhou Yan darted out, his figure spinning across a distance of several feet, his sword still sheathed, unleashing a Seven Stars strike. With several sharp cracking sounds, seven large venomous snakes fell to the ground, four dead and three wounded.

The giant eagle, however, pecked the other three to death.

The sculpture is intelligent and doesn't rush to eat; it waits for Zhou Yan to retrieve the snake's gall.

He used a dagger to remove the gallbladders from the snakes one by one, keeping one large snake for himself and throwing the rest to the eagle. He then put the three live snakes into a bamboo basket.

"Brother Eagle, this is enough for today."

"唳"

One man and one eagle left Snake Valley. The eagle returned to the valley, and Zhou Yan went into the forest.

Silly Girl had already picked mushrooms and wild orange leaves and had been waiting for a long time.

Zhou Yan shot and killed a civet cat with a bow, stewed it into a snake soup, and then began experimenting with methods of raising snakes.

"One mace of cinnabar, two mace of ginseng, three mace of deer antler, one ounce of polygonatum, one ounce of lingzhi, one ounce of tiger bone powder..."

"Grind the nine ingredients into a fine powder, mix with 'flying dragon' blood, and make into pills..."

"Flying Dragon" is actually a hazel grouse.

Zhou Yan took his bow and went into the mountains. After a short while, he returned with a hazel grouse in his hand. He did not miss a single detail of the medicine-making process. After working hard for a while, he placed the pills into the bamboo basket with great hope.

……

"Phew!" Zhou Yan exhaled heavily.

The time was noon the following day. The three large venomous snakes had taken the pills, but they all died.

Could it be due to the principle that "oranges grown south of the Huai River are sweet, while those grown north of it are bitter," or perhaps the large venomous snake was already injured? Let's try again with a healthy, undamaged large venomous snake.

……

"call!"

"Died again."

Two days later, the silly girl looked at the stiff, venomous snake in the bamboo basket and said with a grin.

"Where exactly did things go wrong?" Zhou Yan pondered deeply. Could it be that they had to start raising snakes from juveniles?

……

A torrential rain began to fall, and the silly girl's voice rang out: "Dead."

Zhou Yan laughed and said, "It's indeed dead. We can roast it and eat it."

He wasn't upset, and wondered if he should try finding a viper after the rain stopped and the sun came out.

Heavy rains caused a flash flood in the mountains. The valley where the giant eagle lived had a stream, but now the flash flood was deafening.

Although several experiments on raising the Bosqu snake failed, Zhou Yan consumed snake gallbladders, circulated his qi and blood, and used his pulse qi to stimulate his internal strength, which increased his internal strength after more than ten days of diligent practice.

He practiced boxing in the turbulent waters of the Jingzhou River, but although the river currents on the bank were swift, they could not compare to the torrents flowing through the valleys.

Zhou Yan decided not to go to Snake Valley for the time being, and let the silly girl, who had gained a lot of strength after eating snake gall, practice her palm and knife techniques on her own. He then took a rope and went into the valley.

But the stream that used to flow gently in the field of vision had become a roaring torrent, extremely rapid.

Zhou Yan secured the rope to a tree trunk in the forest, tied it around his waist, and waded step by step into the torrent. He found a huge rock, poured the weight of a thousand pounds onto his legs, and stood firmly on his feet.

Turbid waves surged into the sky, carrying rocks as they roared in. Zhou Yan slightly bent his left leg, bent his right arm inward, and with a whoosh, pushed outward, slamming his palm onto the rock.

With a loud "thud," Zhou Yan's arm went numb, and an arc-shaped curtain of water opened up in his field of vision. The rock was thrown several feet away and landed in the rapids.

With each breath, Zhou Yan channeled his internal energy into the Sanjiao Meridian of Hand-Shaoyang, moving through acupoints such as "Guanchong," "Yemen," "Zhongzhu," and "Yangchi," unleashing his internal strength and then executing "Jianlong Zaitian" (The Dragon Appears in the Field).

He traveled north, diligently practicing the "Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms," and comprehended the energy cultivation method of the fourteen palms taught by Hong Qigong. After arriving at Snake Valley, he ate snake gallbladders for several days, which improved his internal strength. At this time, he used the Subduing Dragon Palms move by move to fight against the torrent in the mountain flood, just like fighting against a powerful enemy. He suddenly understood the subtle application of force in many palm techniques as if he had been enlightened.

……

The giant eagle stood on the hilltop, gazing intently at Zhou Yan practicing the "Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms" amidst the torrent. Gradually, a figure seemed to appear in its scarlet eyes.

Wielding a heavy sword, he cleaved through the waves.

Gradually, the figure transformed back into Zhou Yan, whose movements were as graceful as a soaring dragon.

Suddenly, Zhou Yan stopped on the boulder. The torrent was raging, but large raindrops still created dense ripples in the rushing water. He thought to himself about the method of using force in the move "dense clouds but no rain," which he had been trying to figure out the true meaning of.

The Book of Changes says, "Dense clouds but no rain, sometimes there may be wind." Many rain clouds but no rain fall is because they are waiting for the wind to blow. The power of this move doesn't lie in the "dense clouds but no rain"—that's merely the accumulation of power. The real killer lies in the "sometimes there may be wind." Once the wind blows, the force can break the enemy. But how to unleash this force? The application of force in this move is completely different from "The Dragon Overreaching and Regrets" and "The Flying Dragon in the Sky."

As Zhou Yan's thoughts drifted slightly, a huge wave suddenly surged up and exploded in his chest.

As he flew out, he thought of the imperial city of Lin'an, and the scene where Ouyang Feng waved his sleeves, causing everything he touched to collapse.

"I understand."

Zhou Yan was amidst the waves when he let out a loud laugh.

(End of this chapter)