The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Starting from the Bodyguard

Chapter 55 The bow is destroyed, but the person remains.

Zhou Yan descended with a rope, and after only four zhang (approximately 10 meters), he could see a pine tree as thick as an arm extending from the cliff slightly to his right.

He continued to descend several feet, until his waist was level with the tree branch, then touched the cliff face with his left foot, swung his body over, and used the move "Black Dragon Twisting Pillar" to firmly hug the pine tree.

He steadied himself and quickly tugged at the support rope with his free right hand.

The two slipknots on the tree stump at the top of the cliff were untied and fell down one by one. He then gathered the two ropes, held his breath, and clung to the pine tree like a gecko.

After more than ten breaths, Gongsun Zhi's indignant voice rang out from the cliff top: "That kid is truly vicious. He actually tied a packet of lime powder to the long arrow, making it impossible to guard against. Hey, where did he go? This is a cliff."

Qiu Qianchi said, "So young, yet so clever and cunning."

"A ruthless and cunning person like this, if caught, will be executed without mercy. Miss Qiu, how are your eyes?"

"It's alright, I retreated in time. How about you, Valley Master Gongsun?"

"Something seems off."

Zhou Yan heard it clearly. He chuckled in a low voice. It was a little trick to fool girls. If a girl were innocent, she would probably say, "Let me take a look."

Then he heard Qiu Qianchi say, "Since that's the case, let's let that kid get away with it and head back quickly."

"It's alright. For Miss Qiu's sake, we must find that boy no matter what."

There was a rustling sound at the top of the cliff, which then fell silent. After several breaths, Gongsun Zhi's voice suddenly rang out: "Boy, I see you. Come out."

Amidst swirling clouds and echoing sounds, Zhou Yan remained steadfast and unmoved.

"There, don't run away."

"Hmm... Valley Master Gongsun, that kid must have left long ago using some means. Let's search along the ridge."

"Don't worry, Miss Qiu. After dawn, I will arrange for my disciples to search the area and capture that brat to avenge you."

"Thank you, Valley Master."

The wind rustled past the top of the cliff, the footsteps faded into the distance, and Zhou Yan breathed a sigh of relief; he was safe for the time being.

Zhou Yan circulated his qi and used the gentle aura emanating from the jade Guanyin to eliminate the physical fatigue caused by the continuous fighting and long journey.

After about half an hour, he regained his composure and, using the same method, continued to tie knots and descend using two ropes, falling more than ten feet without any danger.

As night deepened, the moon was obscured by clouds, its radiance vanished, and all around was pitch black. He dared not take any risks, so he straddled a pine tree, leaned against the cliff, and waited for dawn to break before the rope lowered him into the valley.

……

As dawn broke, Zhou Yan rubbed his aching hips and legs. Looking down, he saw towering peaks, ethereal and shrouded in mist, with the valley floor nowhere in sight.

Fortunately, the sparse pine branches and protruding cliff peaks within a range of about ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) were all in sight, so he continued tying knots and descending. After several repetitions, about half an hour later, the slope of the cliff began to rise and fall, the wind dispersed the fog, the sunlight shone obliquely, and the valley below gradually became clear. He then increased the speed of the rope descent.

When you are about 50 or 60 feet away from the valley floor, you no longer need to use ropes to descend. You can land safely by using the dense bushes and branches.

He began to pull in the rope, when suddenly a foul, fishy stench wafted into his nostrils from the damp wind. With a rustling sound, a massive, triangular-headed python, as thick as a baby's wrist, emerged from a tree below, its scarlet forked tongue flicking in and out of the air.

"Hiss..." Zhou Yan gasped, his breath coming in a sharp, swirling sound.

In an instant, four large snakes reappeared basking in the sun in the bushes below. The snakes were covered in a faint golden light, their heads raised, looking ferocious. A chill suddenly ran down Zhou Yan's spine and spread to his limbs and bones.

Based on common sense, how could he not tell that the four Bosphorus snakes reaching out their bodies were signs of being threatened and about to attack? The worst part was the terrain: a steep cliff, with his entire body exposed to the snakes' mouths.

In a flash, Zhou Yan made her decision.

The bundle contained medicine to repel snakes, but rather than risk taking the medicine, it was better to draw the sword and fight.

I have swallowed the blood of a giant snake, but I cannot be sure if I have the constitution to be immune to snake venom, so I cannot fight it recklessly.

Zhou Yan turned his body around, staring at the five snakes, one large and four small. He made a loop with the rope behind his back, then placed his left hand on the knife.

The next moment, he threw the rope in his hand, which accurately lassoed a tree branch ten feet to his right.

Zhou Yan wasn't good at throwing grappling hooks, but he had long since honed his skills by escorting mules and horses along the way from Zhongdu with Hu Yanlei, Wang Kui, and others.

The standoff between man and snake was broken the moment he threw out the lasso. The four large snakes shot towards Zhou Yan like arrows. As his body swayed, he held the rope in his left hand and drew his straight sword in his right, unleashing a move called "Night Battle in All Directions." The surging sword light swept across half a zhang of space with sharp force.

With a whoosh, blood and blade light burst forth, and the heads of the two Bodhi snakes were severed. Their bodies, still brimming with momentum, crashed into the cliff where Zhou Yan had previously landed, producing a dull thud.

After swinging past, Zhou Yan landed below the tree branch, his toes slamming against the cliff face. His body swung up, his form like an eagle, and he pounced towards the other two large snakes.

The straight blade resembled a sword. Zhou Yan unleashed the "Night Rain" move from the Quanzhen Sword Technique. The blade light swirled, as if hundreds of rays of light had formed an incredible arrangement in the vast expanse of space, enveloping the entire area where the two snakes had fallen. Grass clippings and twigs flew everywhere, and specks of snake blood were splattered on the bushes and stone walls.

Before Zhou Yan could catch his breath, the giant python, as thick as an infant's wrist, pounced with a terrifying aura. In the blink of an eye, an iron bow appeared in his hand, which had abandoned his straight sword. In a flash, Zhou Yan's body plummeted, and the python's triangular head burrowed into the iron bow. The bowstring, as the young man fell, swiftly cut into the python's seven-inch neck.

A man and a venomous python, the python above and the man below, plummeted from a cliff five zhang high.

The venomous python struggled desperately, its body contorting, effectively preventing Zhou Yan from falling. The sinewy bowstring dug deep into the snake's body, and blood seeped out, staining the string red.

About ten feet above the ground, the venomous python coiled around a tree branch. With a series of cracking and thudding sounds, the branch snapped, the bowstring broke, and both the man and the python crashed to the ground.

Zhou Yan landed and rolled, and with a loud thud behind him, the venomous python crashed down.

He drew his dagger, turned around, and saw the venomous python twisting and thrashing in his vision, but its head remained immobile, just like a person with a broken cervical vertebra.

"call!"

Zhou Yan breathed a sigh of relief. The bowstring tightened around the venomous python, breaking its seven-inch-long bone as it fell.

As his body relaxed, he realized that his legs were weak and the areas where he had been scratched by tree branches during the fall were burning and painful. Looking at his clothes, he saw that they had been torn to shreds.

Zhou Yan reluctantly moved a large stone, walked forward, and smashed it down with all his might. With a loud "bang," the head of the venomous python was smashed and became a bloody mess.

The gentle aura emanating from the jade Guanyin pendant hanging around his neck continuously dispelled his fatigue. Zhou Yan calmed his breathing, rested briefly, then got up and walked to the side of the venomous python. He used a dagger to cut open its abdomen and took out a deep purple snake gall.

Without stopping, he used tree branches and his hands and feet to climb up the steep cliff and took out the gallbladders of the other four Boscis snakes one by one. The four gallbladders were slightly lighter in color than the dark color of the venomous python.

Zhou Yan sighed. Such was the wonder of fate. He had searched desperately but could not find it. However, he was chased by Qiu Qianchi and Gongsun Zhi. He escaped from a desperate situation and stumbled into Snake Valley. In this unbelievable way, he killed the giant venomous python that might be the Snake King.

　There will be another chapter tonight, so it's a two-chapter update. Sorry for the delay, everyone.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)