Chapter 12: Counter-Kill, Blood Feast
The autumn wind swept across the mountains and fields, and the sun was warm. The leaves swayed, and the sunlight seemed to flicker with them. Zhou Yan emerged from the woods.
In front of his eyes, a robust wild boar had already fallen to the ground, grunting and twitching its limbs.
“This beast truly has endurance,” he cursed with a laugh, walking up to the boar and ending its life with a dagger.
Zhou Yan could handle a wild boar weighing over three hundred jin. At this moment, he didn’t care if he got blood on himself.
He pulled out the long arrow and put it into his quiver. Using his dagger, he opened the boar’s abdomen, preserving the heart and liver. He took out the intestines and stomach and discarded them in the bushes. Crouching down, he gripped the boar’s front legs with both hands, stood up steadily, and strode towards the mountain forest where the Qingcong horse was grazing.
As he walked, pig blood dripped continuously. The scent of blood was then dispersed by the wind blowing through the forest. Suddenly, Zhou Yan’s leg tightened, as if someone had grabbed it, or as if a thick rope had bound him tightly.
Zhou Yan was greatly startled and looked down. He saw a large snake, entirely vermilion, coiling around his legs and moving upwards. The snake’s head darted in and out, and in an instant, he felt a strong constricting sensation in his abdomen.
Zhou Yan’s pupils contracted sharply, and his hair stood on end.
He couldn’t understand how he had encountered such a large snake in the mountain forest during autumn.
Moreover, in his mind, its bright color might indicate extreme venom, or it could be camouflage. But who would dare to gamble?
He forced himself to calm down and slowly inhaled. A pungent medicinal scent assailed his nostrils, mixed with a fishy odor. The snake was actually extending its tongue to lick his cheek.
Zhou Yan’s arm moved swiftly. The wild boar behind him crashed to the ground with a thud, kicking up dust and smoke. He leaned back, and with a movement of his hands, he grasped the large snake’s neck as if a bloodthirsty dragon’s maw had seized it.
The snake was incredibly strong and tightened its body in pain.
Zhou Yan held his breath in his chest, his arm suddenly sinking. The muscles in his arm writhed like a giant python, and his fingers dug into the snake’s neck.
A series of fine popping sounds erupted from both the man and the snake.
As the large snake constricted, Zhou Yan felt a thousand jin of force pressing into his muscles and bones, as if being pierced and torn. His chest churned. His arm muscles bulged continuously. He poured out all his strength, twisting his hands sharply. He unleashed the explosive force of Plum Blossom Fist, his fingers instantly hooking into the large snake’s body. He let out a roar, and as he exhaled the breath from his chest, with a *crack*, he snapped the snake’s neck.
Suddenly, a stream of snake blood with a medicinal scent flowed from between his fingers.
“Why does it have this smell?”
As soon as this thought crossed his mind, a heartbroken, gritting-teeth voice suddenly echoed from the forest: “Master’s Big Treasure Snake is dead. Pay with your life.”
“Cannot kill it. Capture it and bring it to Master. Then I will dismember it.”
The autumn sunlight flickered. Two men disguised as Ginseng Guests rushed over. The one in front swung a fist at Zhou Yan, while the one following behind drew a medicine hoe and lunged forward ferociously.
The large snake was still coiled around his legs, and Zhou Yan couldn’t move. He quickly said, “It’s a misunderstanding. The snake attacked me. I’ll pay compensation.”
“Kid, ten lives wouldn’t be enough to compensate.”
The man charging forward continued his punch, his whistling fist reaching his face.
Zhou Yan dodged to the side, the fist grazing his cheek as it passed. He grabbed the opponent’s shoulders and brought down a fierce headbutt.
“Bang!”
“Ah!” The man let out a hysterical scream, his head snapping back heavily, and red blood sprayed into the air.
Zhou Yan exerted force to push outwards. As the large snake loosened its grip slightly, he pushed the man’s body and lunged forward.
The man wielding the medicine hoe never imagined that Zhou Yan would employ such unreasonable and unconventional fighting tactics. With a *boom*, the three of them collided and fell to the ground.
Zhou Yan rolled to the man’s side and plunged his dagger into his chest.
The man dropped the medicine hoe and tightly gripped Zhou Yan’s wrist with both hands. “Thief… You scoundrel, Master will drink your blood and then… thousand…”
Zhou Yan’s mind jolted. He thought of a person: Ginseng Immortal Old Freak Liang Zi Weng.
“Are you Liang Zi Weng’s disciples?”
“It’s too late. Regret is useless. Wait… and die.”
“It really is Liang Zi Weng’s treasure snake.”
The man whose consciousness was fading looked at Zhou Yan, who was not only unafraid but even excited, and suddenly felt he had spoken too much.
The large snake was gradually weakening. After a few spasms, it loosened its coils around Zhou Yan. He flipped over and stood up, draping the large snake over himself.
Zhou Yan had no clear idea how to maximize the potential of this treasure snake, which the Ginseng Immortal Old Freak had fed with cinnabar, ginseng, and other herbs. Therefore, the best method was like Guo Jing’s: swallow the snake blood and then try to absorb its medicinal properties through cultivation.
It was not advisable to linger in such a dangerous place. Zhou Yan didn’t bother with the wild boar on his back. Just as he was about to leave, whistles erupted, and three more men in similar disguises rushed out from the forest.
It turned out that Liang Zi Weng had been recruited from Liaodong to Daxing Prefecture and kept this great snake, which was about to achieve its full potential, by his side. When he visited a friend near Zhongdu after passing through Shanhaiguan Pass, he had his disciples take the Big Treasure Snake ahead to Daxing Prefecture.
His arrangement was naturally to prevent the kind of incident where “man dies for wealth, birds die for food” from happening to his friend. The friend might covet the treasure snake, hence this scene.
As autumn arrived, the weather gradually turned cold. The treasure snake was sleepy and quiet, and there was nothing to worry about. However, Zhou Yan was hunting in the mountain forest, and the wounded wild boar ran wildly, its blood scent stimulating the treasure snake.
The large snake broke out of its cage and followed the scent of blood, coiling around Zhou Yan.
The disciples of the Ginseng Immortal Old Freak searched separately. The first two disciples encountered Zhou Yan, and the fight attracted three more nearby.
The three disciples saw the treasure snake hanging on Zhou Yan, clearly lifeless. Two of their junior brothers lay on the ground. Their eyes split with rage, and they attacked with steel knives and medicine hoes with ruthless hands.
How could Zhou Yan be afraid? The martial arts of the previous two were far inferior to the Yellow River Four Ghosts, and he assumed these three were no different.
He charged forward, snatching a knife in an instant. His fist struck upwards from under his armpit. This move was precisely the fist technique used by Escort Lu of the Four Seas Escort Agency at Songhe Tower. Zhou Yan had memorized it. The opponent’s cultivation was not high, so he naturally employed it.
“Bang,” the man who was hit staggered backward,
A few meters away, the man holding the medicine hoe finally realized the ferocity of the madman. He retreated, calling for help, but the opponent’s rapid steps forward couldn’t be avoided as Zhou Yan advanced leisurely.
A terrifying saber light suddenly descended like thunder.
“Pfft!”
The autumn leaves were shaken by the splattering blood.
This saber strike by Zhou Yan was also a saber technique used by Shen Qinggang, the “Soul Severing Blade” among the Yellow River Four Ghosts, when he fought Li Mochou. With his excellent memory, Zhou Yan remembered it clearly. Although it was only a form, it was executed with astonishing strength, sufficient to kill the disciples of Liang Zi Weng, whose martial arts were ordinary.
The last man resisted stubbornly, but as soon as he charged forward, Zhou Yan’s palm edge directly chopped down on his shoulder and neck. Amidst a series of rapid, dense sounds, Zhou Yan advanced three steps, and the man retreated three steps, having taken countless blows to his head, neck, and shoulders.
This was Zhou Yan’s specialty, Yanqing Fist.
The opponent trembled and fell to the ground.
At this point, there was no choice but to kill them all. Zhou Yan delivered the final blows and quickly departed with the python.
After putting some distance between them, he hesitated no longer. He grabbed the snake’s neck hanging from his collar and bit down, sucking forcefully, swallowing large mouthfuls.
