Chapter 91: Dragon and Tiger Duel in the Capital, Huang Rong Repays a Favor
The sound of the steel staff and bronze cymbals clashing turned into ripples pushing outwards. Monk Lingzhi intercepted Ke Zhen’e, both of them favoring powerful, heavy strikes. Amidst the rumbling collision of weapons, their intertwined figures moved like a grinding mill, shattering lanterns hanging on the street wherever they passed, the scattered flames fanning out like a peacock’s tail.
“Go to the Prince’s Manor and find Senior Ouyang,” Liang Zi Weng shouted to his disciples accompanying him, raising his right hand and shooting three Zi Wu Bone Piercing Nails towards Zhu Cong, who was rushing at him.
Zhu Cong reached out and grabbed a Zhao Wang Manor’s personal guard beside him, using him as a shield. With a loud cry, all three iron nails struck the personal guard.
Liang Zi Weng, however, used the opportunity to block Han Xiaoying and Guo Jing.
Amidst the chaotic fight, Wanyan Honglie stood up and picked up a steel knife from the ground. Although the situation was perilous, his long experience in battle kept him from losing his composure. He retreated towards the members of the imperial clan, his gaze rapidly scanning the surroundings. Upon seeing Ouyang Ke and Wanyan Kang rushing over, his heart filled with joy. “Master Ouyang, help me capture these bandits.”
“Your Highness, do not worry,” Ouyang Ke laughed heartily. He employed the White Camel Mountain’s lightness skill, “Instant Thousand Li,” his figure flickering as he appeared before Zhu Cong and Han Baoju. Immediately, he unleashed his family’s peerless skill, “Divine Camel Snow Mountain Palm,” his movements elusive as he attacked with his palms, blocking the two.
Wanyan Kang also arrived at this moment, snatching a spear from a personal guard.
“Protect Father!” he roared, charging forward with the spear. “Walking Tiger Step,” “Incense for the Heavens,” his spear tip flashing as it thrust directly at Guo Jing, who, using the “Yue Maiden Swordplay” technique, was fighting alongside Han Xiaoying against Liang Zi Weng.
Wanyan Honglie felt increasingly at ease, but in the next moment, he saw over a thousand feet away on the long street, more than ten people were swarming towards them with ill intentions.
“Where have so many villains come from?” Wanyan Honglie turned and said to the members of the imperial clan, “Let’s go!”
He had only taken a few steps when his body suddenly stopped. He reached back and wiped his lower back, and Wanyan Honglie saw black blood on his hand. He realized he must have been hit by a poisoned hidden weapon.
“Your Highness…” The personal guards surrounded him. Wanyan Honglie said urgently, “Go to the Prince’s Manor and find Master Ouyang.”
More than ten personal guards surrounded Wanyan Honglie, beginning to retreat towards the Prince’s Manor.
From a hundred feet away, Cui Changshun, who was adept at opportunism and scheming, shouted, “Quick, quick, protect His Highness!”
The runners from the Fu’an Escort Agency arrived at the Changfeng Escort Agency and became escorts.
Shi Xiangui, Cui Qingshan, and others defected. Helian Chuncheng, who wanted to compete with the Fu’an Escort Agency, was overjoyed. Shi Xiangui remained the head escort, but his monthly salary doubled. Cui Qingshan and the other escorts who defected also received the same. He also promoted Cui Changshun to escort.
Helian Chuncheng did not care about Cui Changshun’s low martial arts skill; he was buying over Shi Xiangui, Cui Qingshan, and the others.
Cui Changshun was a scoundrel who shifted with the wind and was good at scheming. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As long as he could connect with the Zhao Wang Manor, killing Zhou Yan would be as easy as crushing an ant.
Seeing the people from the Prince’s Manor retreating, he anxiously shouted loudly.
Zhou Yan had already approached, and behind him was Huang Rong wearing the Earth God mask. Further back in the crowd, Zhang Wangyue, wearing the Huang Lingguan mask, was moving through.
…
The noisy sounds were like boiling water. The long street was filled with overturned tables and chairs, fallen lanterns, and discarded dragons and lions.
As Zhou Yan moved forward, he bent down and picked up an iron lion head from the ground. He began to gather his momentum, and after a few steps, a sharp whistling sound arose. The iron lion head in his hand was raised with a swish.
A terrifying killing intent permeated from the flank. Cui Qingshan, feeling a chill down his spine, turned his head to scan. Within his sight, a man wearing the Kitchen God mask suddenly spun his body, and the huge lion head, as if carrying the momentum of heaven and earth collapsing, smashed down fiercely.
“Changshun, be careful!”
As Cui Changshun turned his head, the lion head had already enlarged in his vision. He raised his hands in the “Heavenly King Holds Pagoda” stance and screamed hysterically, “Uncle, save me!”
“Bang!” The lion head fell.
Zhou Yan already had iron arms. He had diligently cultivated Quanzhen Internal Energy, consumed Big Treasure Snake blood and snake gallbladders, and had over ten years of diligent cultivation of internal force. He cultivated both internally and externally. How could this falling iron lion head not carry more than a hundred pounds of force?
With a “crack,” Cui Changshun’s arms were smashed to pieces. The iron lion head then landed on his face.
Black hair and red blood splattered into the air.
Cui Changshun, who had just been promoted to escort, collapsed on the ground like a puddle of mud.
“Ah!” Cui Qingshan howled and took out his iron abacus, lunging at Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan pulled his arm back, and the iron lion head flew back, only to be thrown out again by him.
Cui Qingshan swung his abacus, smashing it down like a millstone towards the iron lion head.
With a “bang,” the lion head was knocked to the side. Within Cui Qingshan’s vision, a dark, hard boot enlarged and came towards him.
With Cui Qingshan’s cultivation, how could he smash the lion head with just an abacus? Zhou Yan merely wanted to finish quickly and had held back some strength, feigning a move. His true killing move was the “Whirlwind Sweeping Leaves Leg.”
The lanterns hanging on the long street were swept by the lion head, flying about erratically. Some lanterns exploded with a “bang,” scattering debris. Zhou Yan’s right foot instantly coiled inwards and kicked out, then retracted and swept.
Amidst the dense “bang bang bang…” sounds, Cui Qingshan continuously retreated, his chest covered in dusty footprints. Zhou Yan’s legs moved in a continuous sequence, alternately concealing and revealing, his movements unpredictable. He kicked Cui Qingshan in the jaw, sending the man’s large body tumbling backward and falling heavily to the ground.
Zhou Yan stepped forward, intending to stomp on the man’s head.
From behind him, Huang Rong, wearing the Earth God mask, paused.
“Whirlwind Sweeping Leaves Leg? How does an escort know Father’s martial arts?”
A soft whip, appearing out of nowhere, coiled around Zhou Yan’s ankle like a poisonous snake as he was about to stomp on Cui Qingshan. He retracted his foot and suddenly retreated half a zhang. Sensing a whistling sound from behind him, he was about to counter-slash with “Shenlong Tail Whip” when Zhou Yan suddenly heard a voice.
“It’s one of us!”
As the voice fell, Huang Rong appeared in his peripheral vision.
Zhou Yan was stunned. Although the newcomer wore the Earth God mask, with this voice and figure, who else could it be but Huang Rong?
Didn’t she go to Lin’an Prefecture? How did she end up in Zhongdu?
“Hey, who taught you your leg techniques?” Huang Rong asked and answered herself, “I’ve come to return the horse.”
“It’s a long story, I’ll explain later.”
Zhou Yan swung the lion head and smashed it towards Cui Qingshan on the ground.
Yin Kexi, unable to attack Zhou Yan, instead entangled Cui Qingshan with his soft whip, yanking him away.
The lion head in Zhou Yan’s hand landed with a “bang,” shattering the ground tiles and sending debris flying.
Yin Kexi rescued Cui Qingshan. Shi Xiangui, unsure of the strength of Zhou Yan, who wore the Kitchen God mask, dared not be careless. He picked up a dragon head from the ground and charged at Zhou Yan.
Most of the people who performed dragon and lion dances during the Lantern Festival came from martial arts schools in Zhongdu City and possessed considerable strength and external style martial arts. Therefore, the lion heads and dragon heads they used were mostly cast iron. The former head escort of the Fu’an Escort Agency wielded it like a large iron hammer, charging ferociously.
On the chaotic long street, Zhang Wangyue, wearing the Huang Lingguan mask, leaped up and pulled down a bamboo rod, as thick as a man’s wrist and a zhang long, from which a lantern was hanging. He was a descendant of the Yue Family Army and was proficient in both spear and staff techniques.
Zhang Wangyue wielded the “Five Lang Bagua Staff,” his bamboo rod moving like an angry dragon’s dance, rushing and whistling as he intercepted Helian Chuncheng and the others.
The young master of the Changfeng Escort Agency was greatly surprised. This man wearing a mask had exquisite staff skills and was not to be underestimated. He ignored Wanyan Honglie, leaped up, and also pulled down a bamboo rod, charging towards Zhang Wangyue.
…
Zhou Yan glanced back in the direction of the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan. The fierce fighting had already engulfed the entire block. The flames of burning lanterns flickered, and dust billowed, the situation appearing to be in a stalemate.
He quickly withdrew his gaze and said to Huang Rong, “I know what you mean. You can leave now.”
As he spoke, he swung the lion head and charged at Shi Xiangui.
Huang Rong looked at Zhou Yan’s retreating back and muttered, “You still haven’t said who taught you your leg techniques.”
As she spoke, her figure lightly leaped out, meeting an escort who had defected from Fu’an to Changfeng. She slashed diagonally with her left palm, punched with her right fist, and simultaneously kicked out with her right leg. This move, “Three Consecutive Strikes,” was a single technique but contained three attacks.
This was a move she had learned from Hou Tonghai when pursuing him. The escort was immediately thrown into a flustered retreat. Huang Rong pressed her right thumb against her little finger, extending her index, middle, and ring fingers like a three-pronged fork, using a fork technique called “Night Yaksha Probes the Sea.”
With a “puff” sound, the escort, whose chest had been struck, fell backward. Huang Rong, her movements elusive, attacked Cui Qingshan, who was being protected by Yin Kexi.
She had long seen that Zhou Yan intended to kill the man.
A favor for a favor.
Zhou Yan had borrowed her horse, so she would help him kill this person, and even a few more, to settle their debt.
Her mindset was exactly like Huang Yaoshi’s; she would rather teach Zhou Yan a cultivation technique than owe someone a favor.
After staying up all night and writing ten thousand words, I spent the morning revising and didn’t even have time to write a word of thanks for the VIP section. So, I’ll keep it simple. Thank you to all the great readers for your support of this book; I am truly grateful. Now that it’s on VIP, I feel liberated. I won’t worry about the numbers anymore and will quietly and steadily write a good novel. I will write a passionate and exhilarating Jianghu. Thank you, Wuxia, thank you, Jianghu, thank you, great readers.
