The Return of the Condor Heroes: Starting with a Suicide Note and Conquering All Realms

The fragments of blood-red words in my mind shattered instantly.

Lin Yuan abruptly stopped. Yang Guo, who was on his back, lurched forward due to inertia and nearly fell to the ground. Lin Yuan grabbed Yang Guo's wrist and pulled him firmly to his feet.

"Never approach from the front..."

Lin Yuan silently recited those seven words in his mind. Cold sweat trickled down his temples and into his collar. The last one of him died before he could even finish writing his will. Ouyang Feng had gone mad, his nerves in a state of extreme stress. Any living thing that approached him head-on would be seen as a deadly threat, triggering his indiscriminate Toad Style counterattack.

When searching for someone in the wilderness, the view is wide open with no blind spots. If you encounter them, you'll always meet them head-on.

Desperate.

Lin Yuan immediately turned around and pulled Yang Guo to change direction.

"Brother Lin, where are we going?" Yang Guo asked in a low voice.

"Go into town."

The two avoided the main road and entered Jiaxing City through a hidden drainage ditch at the foot of the city wall.

The city was pitch black. Curfew had begun. Only a few groups of constables carrying torches ran back and forth on the streets, their leather boots making a jumbled sound on the cobblestones.

In the southeast, the flames of Lu Family Village illuminated half the night sky in crimson. The air was thick with the acrid smell of burning wood. In the far distance, occasional muffled booms echoed—the explosive sounds of clashing, extremely powerful internal energy. Guo Jing's Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms had already clashed with Li Mochou's. Even from several miles away, the violent shockwaves still caused snow to fall from the city walls.

Lin Yuan led Yang Guo along the moss-covered walls, making their way through the narrow, dark alleyways. He tried to walk as quietly as possible, avoiding the patrolling officials.

Suddenly, a series of vulgar curses came from the street corner ahead.

Lin Yuan stopped and peeked out, looking towards the street corner.

Three street thugs in tattered cotton-padded coats were punching and kicking a tall old man. The old man was curled up on the ground, his hands covering his head. He was tightly protecting half a roast chicken covered in mud in his arms.

The old man's clothes were torn to shreds, and his hair was a tangled mess. A nauseating stench drifted into the dark alley on the night breeze.

"You old bastard, how dare you steal Grandpa Sun's chicken!" A pockmarked ruffian swung his carrying pole and slammed it hard on the old man's back.

"Bang!"

The dull thud echoed through the empty street. The old man didn't utter a sound, but simply hugged the roast chicken in his arms even tighter.

Yang Guo peeked out from behind Lin Yuan, his brows furrowed. He clenched his fist and was about to take a step forward when Lin Yuan grabbed his shoulder.

Lin Yuan stared intently at the old man who had been beaten.

Within his dantian, the faint sensation of energy generated by swallowing the Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pill was now throbbing uncontrollably. This wasn't fear; it was the body's instinctive tremor in the face of overwhelming superior power.

Lin Yuan stared intently at the air around the old man.

With each strike of the carrying pole, the old man's back muscles would contract with an extremely subtle force. Accompanying this contraction, a barely perceptible distortion appeared in the air around him. That was a terrifying, tightly contained inner energy, about to spiral out of control.

Ouyang Feng, the Western Poison.

The world's number one martial arts master is currently being beaten to the ground by three low-level hooligans.

Tired of beating the old man, the pockmarked ruffian threw down his carrying pole and pulled a rusty wood-chopping knife from his waist. He spat on the ground and raised the knife, aiming it at the old man's arm.

"You want to eat chicken, huh? I'll chop this hand off and see how you eat it then!"

The old man suddenly let out a low gurgling sound from his throat.

The sound wasn't loud, but it drowned out the distant explosion of true energy.

A dozen cracks silently appeared in the bluestone slabs of the ground. A deathly, violent aura instantly locked onto the entire street. The prelude to the Toad Stance was complete. In the next second, these three hooligans, along with all living things within a three-zhang radius, would be blasted into a bloody mist.

Lin Yuan's brain was working frantically.

"Never from the front."

He grabbed Yang Guo by the back of his collar, pressed himself against the wall, and quickly moved to the old man's side and rear. This was an absolute blind spot for the old man.

Lin Yuan bent down and picked up a piece of frozen, hard mud from the base of the wall.

He exerted his strength and slammed the mud clod hard at the scoundrel who was holding a knife.

"Snapped!"

The clod of mud struck the rogue's wrist with pinpoint accuracy. The rogue cried out in pain, his machete veering half an inch off course and striking the flagstone, sending sparks flying.

At the same instant, Lin Yuan placed his hands on Yang Guo's back and pushed him hard.

Caught off guard, Yang Guo stumbled out of the dark alley and fell directly in front of the old man.

Lin Yuan stood in the shadows to his side and lowered his voice, then roared out with all his might.

"Father! We've been looking for you so hard!"

That cry of "Dad!" exploded in the quiet street.

The old man's body suddenly stiffened.

The destructive true energy that was about to explode from his body was abruptly halted in his meridians the moment he heard that word. The old man suddenly raised his head, revealing a pair of cloudy, bloodshot eyes beneath his disheveled hair.

He stared intently at Yang Guo, who had fallen in front of him.

Yang Guo was thrown around, feeling dizzy and disoriented. He looked up, his face blank. His bruised, thin, and stubborn face was now fully exposed to the old man's view.

Yang Kang's image overlapped and magnified in the madman's mind.

The old man let out a violent gasp. The raging true energy within his body instantly transformed into a layer of gentle yet indestructible protective aura, enveloping his entire body.

Enraged, the ruffian who had been hit on the wrist switched hands, picked up the machete with his left hand, and slashed at the old man's neck.

"You old madman, die!"

The machete came into contact with the old man's body at a distance of about half a foot.

No sound was made. The rusty blade instantly turned into iron powder. An invisible force rebounded.

Before the three hooligans could even scream, they were sent flying two meters into the air, crashing heavily into the stone wall across the street. They coughed up blood, slid down the wall, and immediately lost consciousness.

The old man didn't even glance at the three hooligans.

He threw away the roast chicken he had been protecting for so long, rushed forward, and hugged Yang Guo tightly in his arms.

The old man was incredibly strong. Yang Guo's bones creaked as he was strangled, and he couldn't even breathe properly. He struggled desperately, pushing against the old man's foul-smelling chest with both hands.

"Let me go! You've mistaken me for someone else!" Yang Guo shouted.

The old man wouldn't let go. Tears and snot mingled, streaming down his filthy face. He buried his head in Yang Guo's neck, muttering incoherently.

"Good son... good son... Daddy's here... Daddy won't let you suffer anymore..."

Lin Yuan stood in the shadows to his side and behind, his back pressed tightly against the cold brick wall.

He was breathing heavily. His undershirt was completely soaked with cold sweat, sticking to the wound on his back and causing a stinging pain. But he didn't even flinch.

The bet was won.

He timed his attack precisely to avoid Ouyang Feng's blind spot, thus successfully evading the indiscriminate attacks of the Toad Style Kung Fu. Furthermore, by calling out "Father," he successfully rekindled Ouyang Feng's obsession with Yang Kang.

Lin Yuan calmed his breathing and slowly emerged from the shadows. He remained at Ouyang Feng's side, never crossing that invisible line of death.

The old man held on for a long time before finally loosening his grip a little.

He looked down at Yang Guo and reached out to wipe the mud off Yang Guo's face. Then, he turned around, picked up the half-eaten roast chicken covered in ash from the ground, tore off a piece of the fattest chicken leg, and stuffed it directly into Yang Guo's mouth.

"Eat...son, eat quickly."

Yang Guo had been starving for three days. When he smelled the aroma of meat, his instincts overcame his reason. He didn't care about the dirt and began to chew greedily, even crushing the bones and swallowing them.

The old man watched Yang Guo eat, a look of extreme satisfaction on his face.

Suddenly, the old man's smile froze.

He stopped tearing the chicken. His nostrils twitched twice.

The old man slowly turned his head, his cloudy eyes fixed on Lin Yuan standing to the side.

Lin Yuan carried the "One-Finger Divine Skill Essentials" and the Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pill, which he had picked up from Wu Santong. Both items carried the aura of the Dali Duan family and Peach Blossom Island.

What Ouyang Feng hated most was Duan Zhixing's One-Finger Divine Skill.

The old man's facial muscles twitched violently. The kindness in his eyes vanished instantly, replaced by an extremely violent and ferocious glint.

"You..." The old man suddenly stood up, his tall figure exuding a suffocating sense of oppression.

He stared intently at Lin Yuan, his voice hoarse and filled with murderous intent.

"You...reek of Prince Duan's stench!"

Before he could finish speaking, the old man suddenly raised one of his withered hands. A faint black aura emanated from his palm, and the surrounding air was instantly sucked away, heading straight for Lin Yuan's face.