Chapter 183: Five Venoms Divine Palm, Sword in Bamboo
The journey was uneventful. After two days of riding, Zhou Yan, Huang Rong, and the others entered Tung Phoenix Mountain.
The sunlight was warm, and they saw strange peaks rising like clouds, solitary peaks standing out, green cypresses shading the peaks, and clear streams gurgling. As far as the eye could see, a hundred flowers bloomed in competition, red like fire, white like snow, jade green, and indigo blue, a tapestry of splendor that was dazzling.
Huang Rong exclaimed, “Such a magnificent scene is truly not inferior to the valley of the Gongsun family.”
“Indeed.”
“So being an escort is not good at all; living in the open, enduring hardships, earning meager escort fees. If you were to find such a Peach Paradise and cultivate martial arts, in time, you would surely not be inferior to Iron Palm Water Floating or Western Venom. I could also visit you to explore secrets, just like visiting Iron Palm Mountain.”
“You are not a fish, how can you know?”
“You are not me, how can you know that I do not know the joy of fish?”
“Do you have one or two good friends?”
Huang Rong smiled, “I happen to have one or two. On the island, there is an Old Urchin imprisoned by Father. We get along well, so he counts. And then there’s you.”
Zhou Yan let out a scoff. It was difficult to reason with Huang Rong.
“If Hundred Herbs Immortal can cure Mei Ruohua, will you return to Zhongdu?”
“Naturally. And you?”
Huang Rong thought to herself, Hou Tonghai cannot be killed in a short time. She would naturally go wherever was fun and then hire Zhou Yan to accompany her. Thinking this, she smiled, “First, let’s go to Luxi to discuss the Dao with Chef Ren, then to Guiyun Manor to take Shagu back to Peach Blossom Island to see Father, and give Wumu’s Military Writings and Grandpa Yue’s belongings to Father.”
“Excellent.”
Huang Rong nodded with a smile, contemplating how to hire an escort to take Zhou Yan out of Fu’an next time. The Head Escort was clever and could not use the same trick again.
“Ah!” Suddenly, a scream broke Huang Rong’s thoughts. Zhou Yan’s voice rang out, “It sounds like there’s a fight in the valley.”
Liang Xiaowu and the Runner immediately became vigilant. Zhou Yan said, “Drive the Horse Carriage into the forest. I’ll go take a look.”
“Got it.”
The Runner drove the carriage. The wheels rumbled, and the Horse Carriage disappeared into the forest. Liang Xiaowu, who had already recovered from his injuries, and the Runner, holding knives and Hidden Weapons, guarded Mei Chaofeng.
Zhou Yan and Huang Rong, like Bluebirds fluttering in the valley, appeared and disappeared intermittently in the forest, rapidly approaching the source of the sound.
The deeper they went into the valley, the more it opened up like a hidden paradise. The trees were verdant, the clouds vast. In the depths of the valley, a path paved with Bluestone wound its way towards a lush Bamboo Forest. Beyond the Bamboo Forest, several bamboo houses were hidden, with about twenty people faintly visible.
The wind rustled through the Bamboo Forest, and the two figures, agile like Flying Ducks, disappeared into the woods.
Spring sunlight spilled into the lush Bamboo Forest, and the rustling wind filled their ears. Zhou Yan’s body stretched out, his movements like a rising goose. He ascended two zhang, stepping on bamboo branches and hugging bamboo trunks, steadying himself on them.
Huang Rong’s lifelong learning was most proficient in Lightness Skill. After consuming Snake Gallbladder and having her Meridians cleared by Huang Yaoshi at Guiyun Manor, her Internal Force greatly increased. Her figure was like a wisp of light cloud and smoke, landing on a Green Bamboo beside Zhou Yan.
Looking down from above, their vision was unobstructed, and listening to the wind, they could clearly hear the conversations.
As far as Zhou Yan could see, there was an old man with a youthful complexion and white hair, with eight or nine Boys behind him.
A Black-Clothed Man stood with his back to the two. The more than twenty people seen earlier were all male retainers.
The old man and the man were separated by several zhang. The grass and trees on the ground were withered, a scene completely different from the surrounding colorful and green landscape.
“It’s poison,” Huang Rong said in a low voice, withdrawing her gaze from the withered ground.
Zhou Yan could also see it and was secretly astonished. The poison of Western Venom was famous throughout the world, but he had never experienced it. To be able to kill the vitality of flowers and grass within several zhang of the ground, the skill in using poison was not much inferior to Ouyang Feng.
Truly, the world is vast and full of hidden talents.
He then thought that the white-haired old man should be Hundred Herbs Immortal. There were not many Boys behind him. He assumed Hundred Medicines Sect was like the sects in “Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils” or the Divine Farmer Sect, but in reality, they were worlds apart.
Suddenly, a voice came from the white-haired old man: “Hundred Medicines Sect has no connection with the Five Venoms Sect. You harm my disciples, do you really think I cannot deal with you?”
The Black-Clothed Man laughed heartily, “Good. How about we each rely on our own abilities? If you defeat me, the Five Immortals Sect will not enter Western Hunan. Otherwise, we will join your sect, how about it?”
Zhou Yan was stunned. Five Venoms Sect?
It seemed this was not a sect conflict like the rise of the Iron Palm Sect, annihilating the Hengshan Sect to establish its might.
The Five Venoms Sect used poison, and Hundred Medicines Sect detoxified. They were natural enemies. If Hundred Herbs Immortal refused, the other party would surely resort to killing.
As Zhou Yan thought this, he suddenly heard Hundred Herbs Immortal angrily say, “The Five Venoms Sect merely covets my cultivation techniques and secret manuals. Do you think my old eyes are dim?”
“So, are you joining or refusing?”
“Bah! How could I, an old man, associate with scum and thieves like you!”
The Black-Clothed Big Man sneered, “You don’t know what’s good for you. I’ll take your old head and make medicinal wine with it. Aren’t you called Immortal Elder? Immortal Elder’s head steeped in five-immortal wine, how delightful.”
Before the man’s laughter had finished, two Boys angrily shouted and rushed forward: “You can’t insult Master!”
The Black-Clothed Man lunged like an Eagle, his hands striking out.
“It’s the Five Venoms Divine Palm! Disciples, retreat quickly!”
Hundred Herbs Immortal’s sleeves whirled and danced as he met the man. His Agility was elegant and beautiful, like a dance. His palm strikes were light and effortless, graceful and natural. The Black-Clothed Man’s palm techniques and movements were like lightning and ghosts.
The clash between the two erupted to its peak in an instant. Their palms struck each other, producing thunderous and torrential roars. Zhou Yan and Huang Rong could even see rolling white smoke around them.
A scream of “Ah!” rang out, just as Zhou Yan had first heard it. In his vision, a Boy clutched his throat and fell to the ground, rolling around.
“That man from the Five Venoms Sect secretly used poison.”
Zhou Yan nodded, and his body suddenly slid down from the Green Bamboo. His feet landed, and his Ox Horn Giant Bow was drawn like a full moon.
The Spring Breeze bent the bamboo tips, and sunlight bathed the green forest. With a “whoosh,” an arrow pierced the light and shadow, heading straight for the Black-Clothed Big Man. In a flash, Zhou Yan picked up a second Long Arrow and moved nimbly through the Bamboo Forest. The incessant sound of arrows rang out with a steady rhythm of “bang, bang, bang…”
Fifteen Long Arrows were shot in an instant, all hitting their mark.
Zhou Yan’s Qingfeng Sword was drawn from its scabbard. Sword Light flashed and disappeared, and a series of sounds could be heard as a row of bamboo trees was cut in half.
A long Bamboo Pole shot out like an arrow from the Bamboo Forest, flying directly towards the Black-Clothed Big Man and his remaining subordinates.
Zhou Yan fully unleashed his Lightness Skill, his body like a wave-breaking chop, charging through the Bamboo Forest and Sea of Grass, appearing ten zhang away from the Black-Clothed Big Man of the Five Venoms Sect.
The big man was caught off guard by the arrows. After barely dodging the arrows attacking him from behind, a whistling Bamboo Pole appeared in his vision. He roared and struck away two Bamboo Poles with his palms. Grabbing one, he held it with both hands and thrust it towards the charging Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan’s body did not pause in the slightest. His Longsword thrust straight forward, its clear light like a sudden flash of cold lightning. It brushed into the bamboo tube, and immense Internal Force instantly surged out from major acupoints like “Yuji.” The Internal Energy External Influence caused the Qingfeng Sword to employ a “twisting” force. Within the one-cun space of the bamboo tube, the sword tip vibrated, like thousands of fine Snake Lightnings roaming. With a “swish,” and as Zhou Yan continued to advance without stopping, the bamboo pole turned into flying debris. Zhou Yan’s person, like a willow catkin in the wind, suddenly floated before the big man and delivered a fatal blow to his throat with his sword.
“This, this…”
The big man staggered back, his mouth seemingly about to utter words of disbelief, but all sound was stuck in his throat. In the big man’s ears, there was only the sound of blood washing over shattered bones.
The spring light blurred, and Zhou Yan transformed into an unseen shadow.
The big man’s eyes lost their focus, and he fell to the ground like a wooden post, leaning backward.
Huang Rong, standing at the tip of a bamboo whistle, had a smile like a flower.
“This is the most elegant, dashing, and beautiful time I’ve ever seen him wield a sword.”
