Chapter 164: Love Makes One Reckless, Binding the Dragon and Killing Enemies
The tree crowns were covered in snow, white and blue, with branches bent by the heavy snow drooping towards the ground like taut bows.
Zhou Yan, with the Qingfeng Sword on his left shoulder, stood still among the dense leaves, his feet planted on thick branches. The Ox Horn Giant Bow in his hand slowly drew into an arc, its arrowhead tracking the movement of an escort from the Changfeng Escort Agency about eighty to ninety feet away.
Below the large tree where he was located, Ni Mo Xing led three escorts, moving cautiously. The escorts held knives in their left hands and clutched hidden weapons like throwing darts and Bone Piercing Nails in their right.
“Come out, Li Xiaolong, you turtle hiding in its shell.” The escorts, their gazes fixed on the surrounding bushes, taunted while preparing to counter any sudden movement.
“Bang”
The twang of the bowstring echoed chillingly in the night. The arrow, as thick as a thumb, pushed through the air, whistling into the darkness, and sped towards the escort nine feet away.
After shooting the arrow, Zhou Yan dropped the giant bow and plunged headfirst towards Ni Mo Xing. The “Flying Dragon in the Sky” from the Subduing Dragon Eighteen Palms suddenly descended upon the opponent.
What preceded his descent was the rustling of snow falling from the branches as the arrow flew.
Hearing the bowstring, Ni Mo Xing looked up sharply. The figure, enveloped in wind and snow, brought his palms down with overwhelming momentum.
Ni Mo Xing felt that no matter how he dodged, he was still within the grasp of the descending palm strike. He let out a strange cry and punched out.
With a boom, Zhou Yan’s body seemed to pause in mid-air, and the fine snow around him scattered outwards in an arc.
Ni Mo Xing felt his arm go numb and sore, his tiger’s mouth on the verge of splitting. He staggered and spun away as if drunk.
Zhou Yan landed, his body sinking suddenly. A Hu People’s escort’s decapitating knife strike flashed past his head with a chilling intent. He didn’t get up, and in a flash, his Whirlwind Sweeping Leaves Leg kicked out with a thud at the escort’s calf, sending the burly escort flying sideways.
Zhou Yan instantly sprang up, grabbed the escort, and pushed him towards the two remaining escorts.
The two men’s hair stood on end. Disregarding their comrade’s fate, they hurled throwing darts, and their ferocious knife lights simultaneously surged towards Zhou Yan.
“Ah!”
The escort struck by the throwing darts and long knife let out a hysterical scream. His body, like torn cloth, fell to the ground. Zhou Yan employed a cultivation technique from the Yue Family Fist Manual, his fists, claws, and elbows attacking like a storm. He pressed forward relentlessly, like an iron ox plowing the earth, and in a blink, pushed the two escorts to the trunk of the large tree where he had stood. The moment the two escorts leaned against the tree trunk, Zhou Yan ferociously struck their Adam’s apples with his Crushing Hardness Divine Claw.
The trees swayed in the moonlight, and large clumps of snow crashed down. Zhou Yan bent down and swooped, “whooshing” as he darted away, disappearing into the deep night after a few leaps.
Since his transmigration, he had engaged in over a hundred battles, big and small. His rich experience and utilization of opportunities were far beyond what Ni Mo Xing, whose martial arts were not much inferior to his, could compare to.
In less than ten breaths, he had shot one person and killed three. Half of Helian Chuncheng’s escorts, selected from the Changfeng Escort Agency, had been eliminated.
Hiding behind a tree in the distance, Lin Chaoying’s maid, illuminated by the sparse moonlight, watched this scene clearly. She let out a soft sigh. In her senses, Zhou Yan, who could use Quanzhen Swordplay, was like a ferocious beast.
“Damn it!” Helian Chuncheng, who had rushed to reinforce, looked at his subordinates, who had no breath left and were half-covered in snow, and cursed with a dark complexion.
Ni Mo Xing, still shaken, said, “His martial arts are probably on par with Young Master Ouyang. Any one of us, combined with the Young Master, could take his life, but this little thief is too cunning.”
“Concentrate your search together. That little girl must be nearby,” Helian Chuncheng said.
“Makes sense,” Ouyang Ke nodded.
The group no longer scattered, maintaining a distance of four to five large steps between them, fanning out to search in the direction Zhou Yan had disappeared.
……
White snow filled the streams, a thousand paths silent; icy water washed the rocks, a stream cold.
Li Mochou, dressed in green, walked along the stream with her purchases. Seeing the Ancient Tomb approaching, she couldn’t help but quicken her pace. Suddenly, a scream startled the wild birds into flight.
“It’s from the Ancient Tomb.” Li Mochou’s expression changed, and she immediately thought of the despicable man she encountered in Datong Prefecture.
She immediately dropped a bag of rice, candied fruit, and pastries, and drew her sword, rushing towards the Ancient Tomb.
Concern clouded her judgment, and all the Jianghu experience Zhou Yan had lectured her on was cast aside. As she moved forward, she anxiously called out, “Master, Junior Sister.”
Her clear voice carried far in the quiet night. Ouyang Ke’s complexion brightened upon hearing it.
“The main target has arrived, it’s that woman. I can recognize her voice.”
Helian Chuncheng quickly said, “Capture this woman first, then force Li Xiaolong and the old woman to appear.”
“But, be careful not to injure her, and watch out for the silver needles,” Ouyang Ke cautioned.
Nearly ten people moved through the forest, rapidly closing in on Li Mochou.
“Sister, danger.”
Little Dragon Girl crawled out from a rock crevice and followed the sound.
Concern clouded her judgment, and she too had completely forgotten Zhou Yan’s instructions.
……
Zhou Yan entered the depths of the wilderness, contemplating how to secretly kill a few more escorts. Suddenly, he heard Li Mochou’s voice. He smiled wryly, turned, and lunged forward like a leopard, sword in hand, rushing out madly.
“Sister, there are bad people.” Little Dragon Girl’s voice, at the very moment Zhou Yan charged out, echoed anxiously in the night.
Helian Chuncheng, who was surrounding Li Mochou, sneered and said to four escorts, “Capture the girl.”
“Got it.”
The four escorts changed direction, rushing towards where Little Dragon Girl was.
The moon cast sparse shadows through the trees. In Little Dragon Girl’s sight, several figures appeared with swift movements. She cried out, “Ah,” and only then remembered Zhou Yan’s instructions.
“Oh dear, this is bad.” Little Dragon Girl changed direction and ran towards the bushes not far to the flank. After a few steps, she caught sight of Zhou Yan’s figure rapidly approaching. His grey robe billowed in the strong wind. Before she could utter “Sister, danger,” Zhou Yan scooped her up, placed her on his back, and put her into the cloth bag for the Ox Horn Giant Bow.
The Ox Horn Giant Bow was longer than Little Dragon Girl, so placing her in the bow’s cloth bag was no problem.
Zhou Yan untied his waistband and, without delay, secured the bag to his back. Then he said, “Close your eyes.”
“Mm,” Little Dragon Girl nodded heavily.
“Right, why do they call me Li Xiaolong?”
“Sister’s surname is Li, and my name has the characters ‘Xiao’ and ‘Long’. When I first encountered them, I thought it was you, but I didn’t see the bad guys carrying a bow, so I asked if it was Big Brother Li Xiaolong. They said yes, and it was revealed.”
“Very clever. Close your eyes and count to thirty, then open them.”
“Got it. One, two…”
The Qingfeng Sword in hand, his figure moved like a flying goose.
Within the silhouette of the black night, five figures approaching from different directions intertwined.
“Eight, nine, ten…” Little Dragon Girl’s clear voice echoed in the whistling wind.
In front of Zhou Yan’s eyes, the Hu People’s escort’s long saber flashed with fierce power, slashing down violently. From the left and right sides, other saber lights formed like flowing water.
“Swish,” lime exploded in the night, rolling out like surging clouds. Zhou Yan’s Qingfeng Sword flicked and drew an arc, like a moon ring in autumn clouds. The nascent saber lights from the escorts on the flanks were instantly broken. A red blood bead, the size of a bean, burst from a throat, and blood gushed out uncontrollably.
Zhou Yan took a step, circling behind the escort in the center who had been blinded by the lime. He placed a palm on his back, sending him flying towards the escort holding throwing darts, who was the only one unaffected by the lime.
In the silver glow of the moon, Zhou Yan and the left-flank escort crossed paths. A bloodline, like a wriggling earthworm, bloomed and widened on the escort’s neck.
He charged towards the last escort, the one with intact eyes and holding throwing darts, and swung his sword down.
The escort had just dodged his colliding companion when the white sword light filled his vision.
“Pfft.”
Astonishing blood exploded like fireworks under the moon.
“Twenty-two…”
Little Dragon Girl’s voice rang out clearly in the night.
