The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Starting from the Bodyguard

Chapter 68 A daughter in my family has grown up

The clouds are low and dusk, and the snow dances back to the wind.

In the mountains and fields on the outskirts of the city, gunfire was faster than the wind and snow.

Zhou Yan's spear whirled wildly, the circles growing larger and faster, the snowflakes swirling and turning under the force of the spear tip, appearing from afar like a giant white python.

Suddenly, the spearhead emerged from the arc formed by the swirling snowflakes. The spearhead was not steady; it danced in front of him like a snake flicking its tongue. In an instant, Zhou Yan pushed the spear forward seven or eight large steps, and the snowflakes on the ground exploded wherever he passed.

This is a common technique in all spear fighting styles. The name "Zhongping" (meaning "balanced and stable") implies stability and balance. The attack follows a single line, and all the damage is concentrated along this line. When mastered, a single thrust can reach the chest, abdomen, shoulders, and neck.

Zhou Yan's internal strength is now quite advanced, and his arm strength is strong. Following the method of circulating internal energy in spear techniques, he infuses his spear with internal energy and unleashes external force. This makes the seemingly ordinary flat spear thrust out, with the spearhead flickering erratically due to the elasticity of the steel. Not only the chest, abdomen, shoulders, and neck, but the entire area covered by the spear's momentum is targeted for thrusts, making its killing power astonishing.

Suddenly, Zhou Yan gripped the gun, his hands sliding smoothly to the middle of the barrel. He moved his body with his steps, the steel gun spinning with his body, swinging like a stick or a whip, leaving countless afterimages in the wind and snow, with loud thuds echoing in the air.

His spear technique has completely departed from the Yue Family Spear, Huyan Spear, and Yang Family Spear styles, and is more akin to the unpredictable and ever-changing spear techniques of Zhang Sanqiang, the leader of the Ming Cult.

In the battle at "Zui Xian Lou" in Xiangyang, Zhang Sanqiang only fired three shots, but all of them were won by surprise. In particular, his powerful and rounded killing moves, which he used to wield the middle of the spear with both hands and pluck the spear tip, had a profound influence on Zhou Yan.

Since he started practicing marksmanship, he has been constantly trying to incorporate that shooting technique into his own practice, and now he has gained quite a bit of experience.

In an instant, all the spear shadows vanished. Zhou Yan turned around, his sharp edge thrusting out. With a backhand thrust, the palm-width spearhead sank into a large tree as thick as a leg. The branches and leaves trembled instantly, and the accumulated snow fell in a flurry.

Zhou Yan unleashed his inner strength, flicked and twisted his wrist, causing the spearhead to roll and crack. The tree exploded in the center where the spearhead had pierced it.

He drew his gun, walked back a few steps, and looked around at the trees. There were marks from the gun tip on the trunks of more than a dozen poplar trees of varying thicknesses.

The Yue Family Spear technique doesn't have such moves; it's a remnant of the spear technique he used when he performed Zhang Sanqiang before.

Zhou Yan exclaimed with delight, "If this shot had landed on someone's waist, it would have been no less severe than being chopped in half at the waist; their internal organs would probably have been pulverized."

With that thought in mind, he planted his spear in the snow and walked toward a cliff not far away.

The cliff was five or six zhang high. Although it was not as straight and steep as if it had been cleaved by a knife, it was still impossible to climb it using both hands and feet in this kind of weather.

Zhou Yan used the "Golden Goose Skill" to guide his Qi, creating a unique circulation of pure internal Qi between the Kidney Meridian of Foot-Shaoyin and the Gallbladder Meridian of Foot-Shaoyang. With each breath, his pelvis expanded, and his hips, sacrum, and coccyx all moved. He felt as light as a feather as he ascended into the air. His body rose straight up to a height of ten feet, and as he descended, his toes lightly touched the cliff face, rising several feet higher. Then, like a goose in the clouds, he shifted horizontally several feet before finally falling from the sky like a swirling snowflake.

Zhou Yan's face showed joy. His "Golden Goose Skill" was improving day by day, especially the technique of turning in the air, which was a life-saving technique in battle.

As dawn broke, around breakfast time, he stopped his cultivation, took his steel spear, bow and arrow, and the four rabbits and three pheasants on the ground, and headed towards the yellow horse.

After Zhang Wangyue taught the Yue Family Spear Technique, Huyan Lei and Yang Tiexin, who had broken through their inner barriers, were the first to teach the Huyan and Yang Family Spear Techniques. Spear training is different from boxing; it's difficult to practice in one's own courtyard. Every day at dawn, he would go to the镖局 (bodyguard agency) to fetch his horse, then head out of the city to the outskirts of the mountains and fields to hunt, practice spear and sword techniques, and cultivate the Golden Goose Skill. With an iron will, exceptional comprehension, and tireless practice, his progress in all techniques was naturally rapid.

"drive"

With a soft shout, the yellow horse galloped away, its hooves kicking up snow on the ground.

They rode swiftly towards the city and onto the official road. As they moved forward, Zhou Yan heard thunderous hoofbeats behind him. He spurred his horse to make way, and the yellow horse slowed down, moving slowly along the side of the official road.

Dozens of fine horses roared through the wind and snow, galloping past Zhou Yan. He saw that the man on the tall horse was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with a cold and hard face, as if carved by a knife and axe. His cloak billowed like clouds in the wind and snow, making him look very imposing.

A short while later, a young man of Central Asian descent rode up, his waist bulging, presumably with a soft whip or similar weapon wrapped around it, followed by several men with curly hair and yellow beards.

"Is this a group from the Western Regions?" Zhou Yan wondered, puzzled, as the caravan drove away.

……

Green tassels and cooking smoke rise straight from the trees; emerald-veined streams meander along the bridge.

Zhou Yan appeared alone on horseback outside a small courtyard on the outskirts of the city.

He dismounted, took two rabbits and a pheasant, pushed open the wooden gate and entered the courtyard. As the door creaked open, Yang Tiexin came out from the hall.

"Senior Yang, the rabbit and chicken are in the yard."

Every morning he would practice martial arts and hunt, and when he returned, he would bring back one or two prey for Yang Tiexin and Huyan Lei.

Yang Tiexin and his daughter initially declined, but it has long since become a habit. "Thank you, Brother Zhou."

Yang Tiexin smiled and thanked him. Mu Nianci came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of hot tea.

"Master Zhou quenched his thirst with tea."

"Thanks!" Zhou Yan picked up the brick tea, gulped it down, and handed the porcelain bowl to the other party. "I'm leaving now, see you at the escort agency."

"Let's eat together!" Yang Tiexin said.

"No, I still need to go to the leather goods shop."

"I see. See you later."

Everything was a heartfelt conversation, natural, casual, and honest. Zhou Yan was discharged from the hospital, mounted his horse, and left. Mu Nianci took the wild rabbit and pheasant and began to prepare them.

"Father, Zhou the镖师 has sent so much game. Why don't we invite the镖头 (head镖师), 胡延镖师 (Huyan镖师), 王镖师 (Wang镖师), and 时镖师 (Shi镖师) over for a get-together?"

"Very good!"

"My daughter will make a few more jars of wine tonight and leave them there."

"Very good."

Yang Tiexin said "very good" twice. Mu Nianci was already plucking feathers and cleaning the pheasant. Hot water was steaming in the wooden basin, and swirling snowflakes occasionally landed on her face, turning into water droplets. The girl, with her sleeves rolled up, raised her arm and wiped the water off her face with the back of her hand. Her eyebrows and eyes were gentle, and her expression was joyful.

"My daughter has come of age."

Yang Tiexin stood in the courtyard, looking at the scene before him, and thought to himself.

"Father, go back inside so you don't catch a cold."

"well!"

A smile graced Yang Tiexin's weathered face as he turned and went inside.

……

Zhou Yan entered the city and rode his horse to the leather goods shop.

He traveled north from Xiangyang to cultivate himself in the Taihang Mountains. He hunted a leopard, took its leather belt back to Zhongdu, and delivered it to a fur shop. He asked the shopkeeper to have it made into a fur coat, which he intended to give to Huyan Lei as a token of gratitude for the money he had spent on the "Night-Shining Jade Lion."

The old-established leather goods shop was undoubtedly skilled. Zhou Yan took the fur coat, paid the shopkeeper for the workmanship, and rode straight to his lodgings. Because he had taken the fur coat, he happened to detour and pass by the Sihai Escort Agency.

As Zhou Yan passed the gate tower, he saw that the gate of the escort agency was wide open and bustling with activity inside.

It shouldn't be deserted, right? He thought, puzzled.

Lei Luo, Helian Chuncheng, and the young Hu man Yin Kexi stood under the eaves of the corridor. Sihai Dongjia's gaze swept across the space of several feet and saw Zhou Yan outside the镖局 (镖局 is a type of security escort agency).

“Young master, the man outside the escort agency is Zhou Yan, a bodyguard from Fu’an. All the troubles in the world started because of the competition for escorting goods, and he was the one who stole the goods.”

Upon hearing this, Yin Kexi said:
“My father praised this man when he returned from Fenglingdu. I’m going to meet him.”

……

Zhou Yan frowned in thought on the long street. Just as he was about to leave, a shout suddenly came from the corridor of the escort agency:
"Sneaking around like this, who's spying on us?"

The sound followed the whip's arrival. In Zhou Yan's sight, a soft whip, like a dragon soaring from the sky, flew swiftly towards him.

　Originally, the young master of "Changfeng Escort Agency" was Helian Chunshui, but after a suggestion from a reader, I felt it was necessary to change the name. This is because Helian Chunshui is a character in Mr. Wen's novel "Against the Tide," and has a significant role. Therefore, I changed Helian Chunshui to Helian Chuncheng. This is to prevent readers from mistaking the novel for a crossover martial arts story.

　　Thank you to all the authors who voted for me! Keep up the good work, I'm planning to add more chapters.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)