The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Starting from the Bodyguard

Chapter 243 Falcon, Iron Falcon

Zhou Yan moved with lightning speed, like an arrow shot out in anger. Dust from the food stall's muddy floor exploded in circles beneath his feet, resembling gray lotus flowers, extending in the blink of an eye to the square table where the burly man had landed and shattered. At the same time, he sprang up, using both hands and feet, punching the monk's throat and kicking his chest, aiming for the ascetic.

Zhou Yan used the same moves he had learned from Shi Bowei of the Ten Thousand Beasts Manor during the Grand Banquet of Heroes in Zhongdu.

The opponent's martial arts originated from observing wild beasts in the mountains and forests, and also incorporated wrestling techniques, making it very suitable for close-quarters combat.

When Zhou Yan used the same technique, it had the power that even Shi Bowei would admire.

Suddenly, the burly man was slammed onto the table, shattering it. Zhou Yan rushed over and made his move. It all happened in the blink of an eye. The monk didn't have time to grab his copper staff. He used his right hand to strike his throat with the "Invincible" move, but Zhou Yan's feet slammed into his chest. The monk coughed up blood, screamed "Ah!" and flew to the ground, rolling around continuously.

"It's you!"

Bao Yin recognized Zhou Yan and roared angrily. His arms and fingers crackled as he used his Vajra Finger to strike Zhou Yan.

The monk was merely the least skilled disciple of the Fire-Worker Monk. While he was indeed better than Huang Rong, he was far inferior to Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan's arms jerked, and the "Strengthening Divine Claw" suddenly twisted towards Bao Yin. The two exchanged seven or eight parries. Suddenly, Zhou Yan's right hand circled and hooked in front of Bao Yin's eyes, turning left and right. Suddenly, his left hand stretched out, and with a "plop," five fingers plunged straight into Bao Yin's forehead.

With his left hand still gripping the monk's head, he pushed him forward. A man from the Western Regions martial arts world drew his sword, bypassed Bao Yin's corpse, and attacked. Zhou Yan drew his sword with his right hand, and inside the restaurant, a sword light flashed out like lightning. Before the man could react, his entire arm, covered in blood, flew through the air.

"Ah!" The screaming man was instantly smashed to the ground by Bao Yin's corpse.

In an instant, Zhou Yan killed Bao Yin and two others, and seriously injured the other two.

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. The remaining five martial arts men from the Western Regions, seeing Bao Yin killed and the monk seriously injured, dared not fight and fled in all directions.

The sound of pebbles whistling through the air rang out. The three burly men who had turned their backs to Zhou Yan were hit on the head by pebbles, staggered a few steps, and fell to the ground.

Using his ancient tomb-style lightness skill, Zhou Yan moved swiftly, stabbing the monk and several heavily wounded men to death with a single sword strike to the left and right. Only then did he calmly walk out of the restaurant.

Huang Rong had already stopped the two who were trying to escape.

She fought one of the men, her fist meeting his. The man swayed for a moment, then leaped into the air and attacked again. Huang Rong flew up, her right foot landing on his fist and her left foot on his head.

The man's knees buckled, and he knelt on the ground with a thud. Huang Rong landed on the second man, dodging his fierce slash, and swung her right fist at his ribs.

With a loud "bang" like the sound of a drum, Huang Rong, who had broken one of her opponent's ribs, suddenly lowered her body, dodged the man's backhand slash, and then threw a powerful punch at the man's thigh.

The punch was swift and unpredictable. The man staggered backward, Huang Rong following closely like a shadow. Her fist techniques were like a storm, raining down on him. The man was first punched in the shoulder, his long sword falling to the ground. Then, relying on instinct, he took several more punches in succession. Suddenly, his movements became chaotic, and Huang Rong struck him in the face. In Zhou Yan's view, the man's cheek was instantly deformed, teeth mixed with blood spurting out, and he fell to the ground like a wooden stake.

"Not bad fist technique." Zhou Yan had never seen Huang Rong use this fist technique before. He praised her and stepped forward to kill the man with a single sword thrust.

"It's the 'Little Vajra Fist,' which I tricked out of the Fire-Worker Monk. Originally, I wanted to trick him into giving me the 'Great Vajra Finger,' but the monk was cunning." Huang Rong smiled charmingly, her expression showing a hint of pride. Zhou Yan let out a shout and leaped to the side of the "Night-Shining Jade Lion," taking the giant ox-horn bow.

The man who had been kicked twice by Huang Rong and knelt down had already gotten up, leaped onto his horse, and galloped more than ten steps. Zhou Yan drew his bow and nocked an arrow. With a "bang," the arrow shot out like a meteor, piercing through the man's back.

Huang Rong said happily, "I was just worried about how to escape, but I didn't expect to run into the caravan. Chief镖师 Liang is really clever."

Zhou Yan crouched down and touched the corpse, taking out the money pouch from it. He then turned and walked towards the restaurant, saying, "What's going on with you? You were with the Fire-Worker Monk at Shaoshi Mountain. I didn't see you when the Monk left. You must have left the mountain with Island Master Huang."

Zhou Yan continued searching people, taking money and silver to find martial arts manuals. Huang Rong, who had come along, said, "Father and Hong Qigong agreed to go to Shaoshi Mountain. On the way, we met Ouyang Feng and his nephew. I disliked that scoundrel, so I went to Shaoshi Mountain first. Unexpectedly, at the foot of Songshan Mountain, we met Huogong Toutuo. He wanted to take me as his disciple, so I tricked him out of 'Little Vajra Fist' and a box of 'Black Jade Broken Ointment'. After that, I thought of Zhongdu."

"And then we ran into these people," Zhou Yan asked.

"You're really clever," Huang Rong said with a smile. "I underestimated the Fire-Worker Monk. He actually arranged for Bao Yin to lead these people to wait at the foot of the mountain, and we ran right into him. My martial arts are inferior to Bao Yin and the Fire-Worker Monk, but luckily I met you."

Zhou Yan searched the monk's body one by one, finding nine money pouches containing a total of more than a thousand taels of silver. He also found a book on staff techniques on the monk's body. He threw two money pouches to the restaurant owner and said, "This is compensation. Please take care of the body. If it's convenient, we can open the restaurant in another location."

"Thank you very much, young hero." The shopkeeper was overjoyed.

Fearing trouble, the diners in the restaurant had already fled as fast as they could. The innkeeper buried the body without any hesitation.

The swords worn by the slain martial arts masters from the Western Regions were all made of snowflake-patterned steel, of exceptional quality, far superior to ordinary steel swords. Zhou Yan picked them up one by one, and then took the octagonal bronze staff that the monk had dropped on the ground. He weighed it in his hand; it was over thirty pounds, not as heavy as the Xuan Tie Heavy Spear, but still a fairly handy heavy weapon that he could give to Zhang Wangyue.

The镖头 (镖头, a type of镖师, is proficient in all eighteen martial arts), but he uses a heavy sword to conceal his identity. In fact, his most comfortable weapons are spears and staffs. In the battle during the Lantern Festival two years ago, he wielded a bamboo staff and unleashed a set of "Five Brothers Eight Trigrams Staff" techniques. The staff's momentum was fierce and unstoppable.

Zhou Yan took all the weapons out of the restaurant and hung them on Bao Yin and the others' horses. He said to Huang Rong, who had followed him out, "Go back to Zhongdu by yourself."

Huang Rong asked, "Where are you going on your escort mission?" "Yumen Pass."

Her eyes sparkled with delight as she exclaimed, "The lone smoke rises straight from the desert, the setting sun hangs round over the long river. I've never been to the desert before, but I'll go with you."

“I’m a bodyguard. You’re neither the employer nor a bodyguard.”

"I am your friend."

"That's not OK."

Huang Rong leaped onto the carriage and drove it herself. "Chief Escort Zhou, I'm going to Yumen Pass. See you on the way."

"Giddy up!" Huang Rong was quite pleased with herself, thinking to herself, the more you try to stop me from going, the more I'll follow you. What can you do about it? As the carriage sped along, Huang Rong suddenly said, "Shi Bowei is in Liangzhou. I'd like to go to the Ten Thousand Beasts Manor to see the tigers, leopards, and lions."

Zhou Yan smiled and shook his head, then leaped onto the "Night-Shining Jade Lion" and urged his horse to chase after the escort team.

……

Zhang Wangyue told the caravan to slow down, and in less than half an hour, Zhou Yan caught up with the group. Huang Rong had already been traveling alongside Zhang Wangyue, Huyan Lei, the Indian monk, and others.

As Zhou Yan approached, he overheard a conversation: "Golden dolls are golden salamanders. I keep several pairs at home. If you need any in the future, Master, just have Chief Escort Zhou ask me for them."

"Excellent, excellent, thank you, young master."

"Master, please don't be so polite."

Zhou Yan chuckled, indicating that the chief镖头 (bodyguard/escort) intended for Huang Rong to travel with the镖队 (escort team).

The clanging sound came from behind them. Zhang Wangyue and the others looked over and saw Zhou Yan driving his horses over, both of which were covered with weapons.

Hu Yanlei laughed and said to Zhang Wangyue, "It was Brother Zhou who started the practice of finding silver and martial arts techniques by looting corpses. Now, every looter is more skilled than the last."

Huang Rong chuckled softly, recalling the scene in Baicao Valley in Xiangxi where Liang Xiaowu and the others had obtained the Five Poisons Sect's martial arts techniques from a corpse.

"They were members of the Vajra Sect, and they've all been dealt with." Hearing the conversation, Zhou Yan rode forward, picked up an octagonal bronze staff, and said to Zhang Wangyue, "This staff is more handy than a heavy sword; Chief Escort, you might as well take it."

Zhang Wangyue took the staff, weighed it in his hand, and looked at the coiled dragon carved on the staff. He said, "It is indeed a good weapon. Thank you, Brother Zhou."

"There's also a cultivation manual."

Zhou Yan handed the booklet he had taken from the monk to Zhang Wangyue. The chief镖头 of Fu'an flipped through a few pages and said, "It's 'The Mad Demon Stick.' This stick technique originated in the Sui Dynasty. The folk stick techniques such as the Sheep Stick, Eyebrow Stick, and Pilgrim Stick all originated from this stick technique. That monk had used it when he was at Shaoshi Mountain, so his martial arts skills were not weak."

Zhou Yan said, "That's true. However, his fist and foot skills are lacking, and I caught him off guard. He didn't have time to use his staff technique before he was seriously injured."

"So that's how it is." Zhang Wangyue changed the subject. "Miss Huang said she was going to Yumen and Liangzhou, so she asked me to go with her and be with the high monk."

"The head镖师 (bodyguard/escort) has the final say."

Huang Rong pouted, her lips parted in a smile.

Zhou Yan called Liang Xiaowu over and gave him a snowflake-patterned iron sword. The young镖师 (bodyguard/escort) was overjoyed, and he then distributed the remaining long swords to the镖师 (bodyguards/escorts) who used swords in the镖局 (bodyguard/escort agency).

Huang Rong's addition greatly enriched the meals for Zhou Yan, Zhang Wangyue, the Indian monks, and others. She could always make rich and delicious dishes with the simplest ingredients.

After sunset, the caravan, having eaten, continued on its way. After midnight, it suddenly changed course and headed due north, heading straight for Mongolian territory.

……

As time passed and the sun rose and set, eight days later, the caravan arrived at Jiuyuan, the hometown of Lü Bu in Yunnei Prefecture. They continued their journey upstream, but the land became increasingly barren, with unchanging, cold, iron-gray mountains in sight and more and more Gobi deserts.

The Fu'an镖队 (bodyguard team) began preparations for crossing the Gobi Desert.

In March, the temperature gradually rose by midday. From the direction of Xingzhou in the Western Xia Kingdom, a cavalry force of about 500 men rippled the air and sped toward the Liangzhou line, constantly sending out scouts and releasing gyrfalcons.

The cavalry, nicknamed "Iron Falcons," were targeting the Fu'an镖队 (escort team).

(End of this chapter)