The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Starting from the Bodyguard

Chapter 178 The Legacy of Yue Fei, Huang Rong Presents a Spear
The middle finger peak of Iron Palm Mountain is the burial place of the successive leaders of the Iron Palm Gang. Zhou Yan thinks it's normal to pay attention to feng shui.

He looked at Huang Rong silently.

"Let's go."

Zhou Yan was taken aback. "Should I go first?"

"What do you say?"

What were you doing just now?

"To find your way. The moon will soon be setting. If we don't refer to the stars, we might get lost on the way back."

Zhou Yan glanced at the setting moon and inwardly scoffed, thinking, "You're overthinking it."

He strode forward, with Huang Rong following behind. Along the way, the woods were dense, and occasionally the cooing of owls could be heard. Huang Rong couldn't help but quicken her pace to stay closer to Zhou Yan.

The two walked about half a mile under the moonlight when their view suddenly opened up. The trees in front of them had been cut down, revealing bare ground.

“There are no trees to provide cover here, this must be the place,” Huang Rong said.

Zhou Yan saw a dark cave about ten feet ahead and immediately rushed towards it. When he got close, he saw that it was a cave with a jade-like entrance that was very neatly constructed.

"Could it be inside?" Huang Rong, who had followed, asked.

"I'll make a torch."

"it is good."

Zhou Yan turned back into the forest, used pine branches to make a torch, and returned. When he entered the cave, he shook the tinderbox to light the pine branches.

The two walked deeper into the cave, turning two corners, until a spacious natural cave suddenly appeared before them. By the light of their torches, they could see more than ten skeletons inside, some sitting, some lying down, each with a different expression. Some skeletons were scattered on the ground, while others were still in perfect human form, and some even had ancestral tablets or other such items. Beside each skeleton were weapons, hidden weapons, tools, and treasures.

Huang Rong trembled slightly, "This seems to be a place where bones are buried."

"Yes, this should be the place where the remains of the Iron Palm Clan's past leaders were laid to rest."

Huang Rong looked at the skeleton and her heart trembled. She said, "If the 'Wumu's Legacy' is in the stone cave, it must be next to Shangguan Jiannan's skeleton."

This is a reasonable speculation.

Among the successive leaders of the Iron Palm Clan, Shangguan Jiannan, who was once under Han Shizhong's command, had a connection with Yue Fei's army. When Yue Fei was unjustly killed, Han Shizhong brought out his belongings and entrusted them to Shangguan Jiannan for safekeeping and protection.

"Let me look for it."

Zhou Yan had actually seen a wooden box placed on a skeleton on the east wall of the cave.

He walked eastward, his gaze fixed on the skeletons sitting or lying on the ground, hoping to find the Iron Palm Clan's martial arts manuals.

“I think that spear suits you.” Huang Rong suddenly followed, pointed to an iron spear not far from the skeleton on the east wall, and leaped down to land next to the spear.

Zhou Yan took two steps to the side and also reached the gun.

The iron spear was completely black and showed no signs of abnormality; the spearhead was indeed completely embedded in the ground.

Zhou Yan held the gun in his right hand, twisting his wrist to lift it.

He has a pair of iron arms, eats snake gall, and practices the "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" (a traditional Chinese medicine text), which greatly increases his internal strength. When he exerts force, it is more than a hundred jin (approximately 50 kg).

With a "crack," cracks appeared on the stone surface like earthworms crawling through holes, and Zhou Yan pulled out his spear.

"Huh?" he exclaimed in surprise.

"What's wrong?"

“Try it.”

Zhou Yan handed the spear to Huang Rong.

Huang Rong caught the spear with one hand, and immediately felt its unusual weight. She then held it with both hands and said, "This spear is at least twenty pounds heavier than the iron spear you use."

"really."

When Zhou Yan got his hands on the iron spear, he felt it weighed over forty jin (about 20 kg).

Huang Rong, with her sharp eyes, added, "This spear is dark, but its weight far exceeds that of ordinary iron spears. The material resembles a type of iron stone that Father once mentioned, called Xuan Tie. Weapons forged from this iron stone are exceptionally sharp." Zhou Yan instantly thought of the Xuan Tie Heavy Sword.

He took the gun again, handed the torch to Huang Rong, and thrust it forward with both hands.

With a "thud," the palm-width spearhead pierced the stone wall.

The spearhead was completely embedded, not entirely due to the sharpness of the spear tip, but also due to the weight of the spear and Zhou Yan's arm strength. However, he knew that it would be absolutely impossible to pierce the iron spear into the stone wall so easily using the same amount of strength.

It is indeed a powerful weapon.

Huang Rong smiled and said, "When you escorted me to Taihu Lake, you used an iron-rimmed bow, but now you're using a giant ox-horn bow. It must be because your skill has increased and the bow is lighter. The same goes for weapons. This black iron spear is just right. I'll use this spear from now on."

Zhou Yan let out a shout, Li Mochou presented him with a bow, and Huang Rong gave him a spear.

“It does come in handy.” Zhou Yan didn’t draw his spear, and said, “Look over there, there’s a wooden box in the skeleton’s arms.”

Following Zhou Yan's direction, Huang Rong looked in the direction indicated and saw a skeleton not far away that was indeed the case.

She walked over with a torch and said, "There seem to be words on the box."

Huang Rong adapted to the environment of the stone cave and stopped trembling. She took the torch and held it close to shine the light on the box, where she saw the four characters "Key to Breaking Gold" engraved on it.

Zhou Yan approached and said, "Could it be that the 'Wumu's Legacy' is inside?"

As he said this, he reached out his left hand and gently lifted the lid of the box.

The torchlight illuminated two booklets, one thick and one thin.

Zhou Yan picked up the thin booklet and opened it. It contained Yue Fei's memorials, proclamations, inscriptions, letters, and poems from over the years. Then he picked up the thick booklet and opened it. A line of characters written with sharp, delicate strokes caught his and Huang Rong's eye.

"Careful selection, rigorous training, fair rewards and punishments, clear orders, strict discipline, and shared joys and sorrows."

“It’s military strategy. This is the ‘Wumu’s Legacy’,” Huang Rong suddenly said thoughtfully, looking at the spear stuck in the stone wall. “The thin book contains poems, inscriptions and other relics, while the thick book contains military strategy. These bones must belong to Senior Shangguan Jiannan, and the black iron spear is next to him. Therefore, this spear is very likely a relic of General Yue, the weapon he used.”

Hearing Huang Rong's analysis and considering the weight of the Xuan Tie spear, Zhou Yan thought it was possible. Thinking this way, he couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder. He had learned the Yue Family Boxing Manual and the Yue Family Spear Technique from Zhang Wangyue, and now he had obtained the Wumu Legacy and the very likely spear used by General Yue. Furthermore, Yue Fei was a disciple of the original owner's ancestor, Zhou Tong. This series of events was truly as wondrous as a bridge.

Huang Rong had already flipped through the military treatise at lightning speed. She said, "I thought there was also General Yue's martial arts manual, and I was thinking of giving it to my father. But it turns out to be just the military treatise. How about this: I'll give you the military treatise, and give my father the memorials, petitions, inscriptions, letters, and poems. He often says that he wishes he were decades younger so he could meet General Yue and he would like these."

"I'll make a copy and give it to you."

"Why?"

"It will be kept safe by Master Huang, so there is no chance of anything going wrong."

“That makes sense,” Huang Rong said with a smile.

Zhou Yan, torch in hand, searched the cave thoroughly but found no martial arts manuals. He left the cave untouched by the jewels and weapons, and said, "Mission accomplished. Shall we go back?"

"it is good!"

Huang Rong carried a wooden box. He drew his spear and went forward. When he reached the cave entrance, he extinguished the torch.

The two returned to the cliff edge by the same route and met up with Liang Xiaowu. Huang Rong used a rope to descend first, and in less than half an hour, the three of them landed safely one after another.

Zhou Yan led the way, with Liang Xiaowu bringing up the rear. By the time they emerged from the valley, the moon had already set, and the brightly lit stone village and stone houses were clearly visible in their field of vision.

"It feels like the Iron Palm Clan is celebrating something joyous," Huang Rong said, following Zhou Yan.

"Indeed," Zhou Yan thought to himself, but inwardly wondered if Qiu Qianchi was ultimately going to marry Gongsun Zhi?
The thought passed quickly, and he regained his senses and continued on his way.

The night was dark and the wind was strong, making it easy to lose one's way in the dense forest. Huang Rong used the stars to determine her location and kept correcting her course. Suddenly, a sharp sound rang out as she walked forward.

"Someone has broken into the mountain."

Then Zhou Yan heard a loud clang from the cymbals, like the sound of a gong being struck.

Suddenly, a striking bright red kasaya rapidly approached.

“Master Lingzhi? Could it be that Yang Kang has come to Iron Palm Peak? That’s why Stone Village is so brightly lit. If Yang Kang comes to Iron Palm Clan, Ouyang Feng must be with him.”

Zhou Yan broke out in a cold sweat.

(End of this chapter)