Chapter 123: The Price

Because they were worried about falling rocks, the village had been built far away from it. However, at the other party's gesture, everyone noticed that a small section of the mountain path was illuminated by two torches. Four bandits stood there, holding two children in their hands.

The children were very young, looking to be only four or five years old.

The bandit on the east side of the boundary line asked Zhu Xiuer, "Are those two your children?"

Zhu Xiuer had long since widened her eyes, staring fixedly at the two children, but at this moment she shook her head vigorously: "No! No!"

"No?" the bandit laughed, "Then it has even less to do with you."

He Yue also saw that something was wrong and urged anxiously, "Wait, you cannot..."

Before he could finish, the bandit raised his hand and made a gesture.

Then, two childish screams were heard on the mountain path; his accomplices picked up the children and threw them straight off! That was a mountain cliff fifteen zhang deep!

Zhu Xiuer let out a shriek, rolled her eyes back, and fainted.

Ceng Feixiong caught her in one motion and handed her to his subordinates to steady her.

He Chunhua said angrily, "This is outrageous! The children are innocent; what kind of grudge or hatred do you have to commit such a heinous act!"

"The children are innocent?" It was Lu Yao who answered, walking out from behind the house and sneering at him, "It seems Magistrate He also knows that this woman is not innocent. Magistrate He, I ask you, we clearly agreed to divide the area and live on either side, so what is the meaning of you secretly snatching away my people?"

He Chunhua’s heart sank. Lu Yao had indeed discovered that Wang Pangzi was missing and was now venting his anger on Zhu Xiuer. This bandit leader was too vicious; upon discovering he had been played, he wanted to kill to vent his rage without a second thought! "That fatty was about to commit a crime against the Zhu woman, which is why we stopped him; this happened before the boundary was drawn." He Chunhua raised his head slightly, "If you kill her children, do you no longer want your subordinates' lives?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Lu Yao snorted, "Give him back, otherwise I will slaughter you all until you are pissing your pants right now!"

"Eh?" He Chunhua suddenly shielded his eyes with his hand and pointed behind him, "What is that?"

"Magistrate He, do not try to change the subject." Lu Yao gave a cold, mirthless smile; was this a trick only played by little brats? Little did he know that as soon as his voice fell, a subordinate not far away let out a loud "Ah—" full of agony.

At the same time, the sound of something piercing the air rang out behind Lu Yao.

He did not turn around immediately, but instead crouched down and then spun, his right hand producing a giant axe from nowhere to block in front of him.

The surface area of this weapon's axe head was almost like a small shield; although it was far from as exaggerated as the Mengshan giant axe He Lingchuan had seen in his dream, when Lu Yao curled up, the axe head could at least block the vital parts of his upper body and his knees.

With two "ding" sounds, the arrows struck the axe face and missed.

Another arrow swept silently from above.

If Lu Yao had turned around directly, this arrow would have fed right into his throat.

This "pin"-shaped archery technique was a bit familiar... A fierce light flashed in Lu Yao's eyes, and he roared, "Stop! I am Lu Yao! Our own people do not fight our own people!"

Little did he know that at this moment, He Chunhua also shouted, "Rebels! General Lu, quickly capture the rebels!"

Above the few houses on the west side of the village, closest to the dividing line, more than a dozen government archers immediately appeared. They lay on the roofs, also firing arrows with a "whoosh," returning the favor to the ambushers.

While shouting, He Chunhua clutched his head and fled back, his body glowing with a pale green light.

That was the aura of the State Decree being activated.

In an instant, such light appeared on all the government soldiers.

Seeing this, the attackers no longer had any doubts.

Besides officials appointed by Wang Ting, who else could wield primordial power?

As He Chunhua retreated, Ceng Feixiong and the others immediately stepped forward to cover him, using their battle qi to block several stray arrows.

Everyone greased their feet and slipped away so fast that they had already retreated behind the houses before Lu Yao's men could react.

Only then did a troop rush out from the darkness, pouring into County Magistrate Village like a tide! Tonight there were no stars or moon, and the wilderness was devoid of any light. This troop did not even light a single torch.

Coupled with the fact that the commotion in the village had attracted everyone's attention, Lu Yao's sentries had not even noticed that this troop had already arrived at the village!

Seeing the person at the very front, Lu Yao was stern and fierce: "Wu Shaoyi, are you crazy? How dare you shoot at me!" He pointed back at the west side of the village, "Your target is over there!"

"I am shooting at you!" Wu Shaoyi laughed loudly, "Brothers, charge! Kill this treacherous, faithless villain!"

He gritted his teeth as he said these four words. In the past, with Hong Xiangqian suppressing him, he could not deal with Lu Yao, but the grudge between the two sides had only deepened, until in the end, they could not even stand the sight of each other. Now that he saw him again, the hatred and anger rushed to his head, and he could not stop it! He was skilled with a long spear, but because he had come on foot, he had abandoned the long shaft used on horseback and switched to a short spear. He did not say another word, aiming straight for Lu Yao's eyes and thrusting; the speed was so fast it left a trail of afterimages.

Lu Yao naturally used his axe and shield to block repeatedly, but by the third block, he had raised them to his face; the tip of the opponent's spear tapped lightly on the edge of the giant axe, bounced, and the spear shaft bent inward in an arc, actually bypassing the axe head and stabbing straight at his eyes like a venomous snake! This was Wu Shaoyi's unique skill, which he called the Flood Dragon Probing the Sea; he did not know how many government soldiers' lives he had reaped with it. Fortunately, Lu Yao had once been in the same camp as him and was well aware of this, so he tilted his head violently, avoiding the fate of being blinded.

However, the battle qi released by the spearhead was like a needle; although it did not touch his skin, it still left a long wound under his eye, deep enough to see the bone.

Lu Yao let out an "Ah" and swung his shield backhanded.

Wu Shaoyi did not dare to take it head-on and retreated two steps.

Lu Yao was instantly enraged; he didn't even wipe the blood from his face, rushed over, and unleashed three heavy axe strikes while cursing: "I kindly called you over to join forces, I kindly called you over to fight the government soldiers, and you only know how to fight among yourselves? Has your brain been eaten by a dog?"

"You ambushed seven hundred people at Suozi Rock; was that also kind?" Wu Shaoyi couldn't be bothered to talk to him further and simply ordered his men, "Kill! Kill every one of Lu Yao's subordinates!"

Seven hundred people? Hearing these words, Lu Yao felt a jolt and suddenly understood.

Damn it, he had fallen for that corrupt official's trap! "This is a scheme to sow discord! I used those seven hundred people to ambush the corrupt official!" he shouted hoarsely, "Men, capture the corrupt official!"

He looked behind Wu Shaoyi and saw a massive force of more than two hundred people; it was more than enough to surround his Lu Family Army three-to-one, and he was also furious: "Didn't you also bring all your men!"

"Since you ambushed seven hundred people first, don't blame me for bringing everyone!"

Enemies are especially jealous when they meet; the battle between these two great generals entered a white-hot stage from the very beginning. In just a few words, Lu Yao had already been wounded in the face, with a hole poked in his cheek and two bloody gashes on his right leg—this was done deliberately by the opponent to slow his mobility; but his counterattack was extremely fierce, and Wu Shaoyi did not fare well either, suffering an axe wound on his left arm that almost severed a tendon, and taking a heavy shield strike to the chest that broke at least one rib.

(End of chapter)