Chapter 52: Eastern Heretic Escort, Killing with a Borrowed Knife
Moonlight and cloud shadows lingered, the sounds of waves and flutes entered his ears.
Zhou Yan felt his body and spirit were so heavy that he could barely bear it, his breathing rapid, every sinew twitching, sore, numb, and stiff.
Staggering, he walked out of the river waves. Without bothering to put on his upper garments, he sat cross-legged, silently circulating the Quanzhen Cultivation Method taught by Wang Chuyi, making his mind empty and clear, free of any thoughts, his soul not wandering outward, his spirit not straying, sitting in quiet contemplation.
He felt the immense pressure from all directions lessen considerably, and he felt a bit more energetic. However, the flute music suddenly turned sharp, like the hurricane that rises before a tsunami, carrying the might to destroy and crush everything.
He felt his mind become like boiling waves, about to explode at any moment. Guiding Energy with intent became an empty phrase. Just as his inner energy scattered and rushed chaotically through his meridians, the flute music stopped.
Zhou Yan was already drenched in sweat, his whole body exhausted. The gentle Qi emanating from the Jade Guanyin hanging around his neck seeped into his body, relaxing his muscles and activating his collaterals, dispelling fatigue and weariness.
Without looking around, he guided energy with intent, consolidating his internal force. After dozens of breaths, he finally opened his eyes.
Directly in front of his gaze, the moonlight outlined a person, tall and thin, wearing a green cloth robe, with a strange expression. His two eyeballs seemed to be able to move slightly, but apart from that, his muscles, mouth, and nose were all stiff as wood and stone, like a dead man’s head on a living body, causing an initial chill to run down one’s spine.
Knowing the Jianghu of Legend of the Condor Heroes, Zhou Yan was certain that the other party was Huang Yaoshi.
Huang Yaoshi had already observed him while he was regulating his breath. Seeing Zhou Yan calm his breathing in a very short time, he was somewhat surprised. Although he had only unleashed about thirty percent of the power of “Azure Sea Tide Sound,” this young man could endure for so long and quickly stabilize his inner energy. Among the younger generation, he was already commendable. The old beggar had taken a good disciple, but why did he also know Quanzhen Sect’s internal energy?
The Eastern Heretic looked at Zhou Yan again. His bare upper body had well-defined muscles, especially his shoulders, arms, and chest, with symmetrical muscles like a butterfly spreading its wings, ready to fly.
Externally cultivating muscles and bones, internally cultivating a breath, cultivating both internally and externally. At this age, one in a thousand.
Thinking this, his gaze shifted to Zhou Yan’s shoes and trousers. Indigo blue trousers were tucked into thousand-layered sole boots, a waistband with a cloud pattern and the character “Fu” was tied around his waist, and a dark green Jade Guanyin hung around his neck.
Huang Yaoshi’s gaze fell upon the quiver, straight saber, and bundle Zhou Yan had placed by the campfire.
He saw through everything, understood subtle clues, and thought of the escort archer from the Fu’an Escort Agency at the Fengling Ferry crossing.
How could the old beggar’s disciple be an escort? Huang Yaoshi thought strangely.
As Zhou Yan had guessed, Huang Yaoshi was looking for Huang Rong.
He doted on his daughter immensely, so when Huang Rong left Peach Blossom Island, he naturally had to search for her.
The world was vast, and the sea of people was boundless. How easy was it to find someone?
However, Huang Yaoshi knew his daughter’s personality like the back of his hand, knowing she was playful and loved excitement. Her personality was stubborn, so if she ran away from home, she would naturally want to get as far away from Peach Blossom Island as possible.
Therefore, Huang Yaoshi searched all the way, specifically traveling through prosperous areas from Jiangnan to the north, Lin’an Prefecture, Suzhou, Wuxi, Yangzhou. After finding no results, he went north along the Yangtze River, passed through the Han River to the Yellow River, and after passing Luoyang, intended to go to Chang’an and Zhongdu City.
His love for his daughter was extreme, truly putting in great effort.
Passing through Fengling Ferry, the teahouses and inns were all talking about the battle between the Fu’an Escort Agency and the Yellow River Gang at Fengling Ferry, which had become a classic segment for storytellers. Naturally, Zhou Yan’s feat of drawing his bow to shoot water ghosts and Huang Rong’s legendary battle against the Three-Headed Flood Dragon in the waves were included.
Huang Rong was dressed as a man, but as the saying goes, “subtle clues foreshadow events miles away.” Huang Yaoshi was an extremely intelligent person. Hearing that a fifteen or sixteen-year-old young man was like a dragon in the abyss, and even shouted something as ridiculous as “The Yellow River Gang is exposed, why aren’t you acting yet?”, the Eastern Heretic immediately thought of his daughter and inquired in detail about the young master’s appearance.
Everyone said the same thing, and Huang Yaoshi confirmed that the person was Huang Rong.
Afterward, Huang Yaoshi went south along the Yellow River, inquiring about the whereabouts of the person with three flesh tumors on his head and the handsome young man. Like father, like daughter, Huang Rong had pursued Hou Tonghai. Knowing his daughter better than anyone, the Eastern Heretic also tracked them to Jingzhou.
Then, by sheer coincidence, he saw Zhou Yan practicing by the river tide, displaying “Kanglong Regret” and “Shenlong Tail Whip” from Subduing Dragon Eighteen Palms. Huang Yaoshi’s disciples had all been expelled from the sect, and his mantle had no successor. Seeing Zhou Yan’s cultivation had reached a considerable level, he decided to test him with “Azure Sea Tide Sound.”
As a result, he also discovered that Zhou Yan knew Quanzhen Sect’s internal energy cultivation method.
As the Eastern Heretic, he had seen all sorts of wonders, but to possess the martial arts of both the Central Divine and the old beggar, and for him to be an escort, he was somewhat perplexed.
Seeing Zhou Yan look over, Huang Yaoshi directly asked, “Are you the old beggar’s disciple?”
Zhou Yan stood up and cupped his hands, saying, “Senior, who might you be?”
“You answer what I ask.”
Zhou Yan was shocked by Huang Yaoshi’s martial arts, but he felt no awe, so he spoke neither subserviently nor arrogantly, “I have met Hong Bangzhu twice and received his guidance in martial arts.”
“And the Quanzhen Sect cultivation method?”
“It’s the same with Yuyangzi and True Master Wang.”
“Since it’s by chance, why not become the beggar’s disciple or join the Quanzhen Sect? Do you want to have your cake and eat it too?”
His words were sharp, each one like a knife, Zhou Yan sighed inwardly.
“I am an escort, traveling the Jianghu. Swords and knives have no eyes. The rules of the Quanzhen Sect and the Beggars’ Sect are strict, so it is naturally inconvenient.”
“How can a disciple of the Quanzhen Sect or a favored disciple of the beggar be compared to an escort?”
“You are not a fish, how can you know the fish’s joy!”
Huang Yaoshi snorted coldly, but inwardly he greatly admired Zhou Yan’s words. Changing the subject, he suddenly asked, “Are you an escort from the Fu’an Escort Agency?”
Zhou Yan was stunned, as if he had heard Huang Rong’s words in the reeds by the Jingzhou river: “Are you still selling your ‘Night-Shining Jade Lion’?”
“Indeed!” Zhou Yan replied steadily.
“Did you encounter a young master around fifteen or sixteen years old at the Fengling Ferry crossing who attacked the Yellow River Gang?”
Zhou Yan suddenly understood. Huang Yaoshi was looking for Huang Rong, had been to Fengling Ferry, heard rumors, deduced that Huang Rong was disguised as a man. Then he searched south from Fengling Ferry and arrived in Jingzhou.
He then smiled and said, “I saw him on the Yangtze River in Jingzhou a few days ago. He was pursuing the junior brother of the Yellow River Gang Leader, Ghost Gate Dragon King Sha Tongtian, the Three-Headed Flood Dragon Hou Tonghai.”
Huang Yaoshi was overjoyed and asked, “Do you know why they pursued from Fengling Ferry to the Yangtze River in Jingzhou?”
Zhou Yan replied, “Perhaps it was related to Hou Tonghai insulting the young master’s parents and ancestors.”
Huang Yaoshi inhaled silently.
Zhou Yan appeared calm, but was quite nervous inside. He had spoken the truth, but he was also using a borrowed knife to kill, and the target was the Eastern Heretic Huang Yaoshi.
“Do you know where they went?”
“The young master said Hou Tonghai was going to Lin’an Prefecture.”
Upon hearing that Huang Rong was going to pursue Hou Tonghai to Lin’an Prefecture because he had insulted her and his beloved wife, Huang Yaoshi felt a pang of sadness, regretting his harsh words to his daughter on Peach Blossom Island. On another level, his killing intent towards the Three-Headed Flood Dragon was burning.
Huang Yaoshi learned the specific whereabouts of his beloved daughter from Zhou Yan. He should have thanked him, but when had the Eastern Heretic ever said such a thing to anyone? He thought that the escort had also received guidance in martial arts from the old beggar, and there was a connection. Leaving without a word would be highly inappropriate, wouldn’t it be equivalent to owing the beggar a favor?
Thinking this, Huang Yaoshi said, “I will exchange this cultivation technique for this information, and we will be even. Watch carefully, I will only go through it once.”
The Eastern Heretic did not ask if Zhou Yan would learn it or not, and spoke vividly: “This cultivation technique is called ‘Whirlwind Sweeping Leaves Leg.’ It is for trapping desperate enemies and attacking weary foes, like a swift wind sweeping away autumn leaves, clearing them all in an instant. As one move comes out, the next follows, each move connected, each link tight…”
Within Zhou Yan’s sight, Huang Yaoshi supported himself on one leg and swept the other leg in a series of horizontal movements. While called a sweep, it was full of variations. The single leg would suddenly bend inward from an outer circle, its momentum like lightning and fire, then suddenly conceal and reveal itself, in an instant circling, extending, kicking, turning, and bending, dazzling the eyes.
Suddenly, layer upon layer of condensed leg shadows receded, and the surrounding wild grass slowly sprang back up. The Eastern Heretic’s figure was as graceful as a startled swan, as agile as a roaming dragon, and had already departed.
