Chapter 45: Cleaning the Battlefield

While speaking with Lu Dage and the others, besides one who had suffered an arrow wound with a serious injury, the remaining brothers had all bandaged their wounds and gathered together.

"Lu Dage, how should we deal with these Eagle Dogs?", one of the burly men asked.

"Xiao Wu, take two brothers to search around the Broken Temple thoroughly, be meticulous, guard against any fish that slipped through the net outside, report immediately if you find any clues. As for these Eagle Dogs...", Lu Zhiyi looked at Wu Chengyu with a troubled expression.

Niu Wanrou interjected: "What's there to say? Kill them all. More than a hundred of our uncles' generation died at their hands over ten years ago."

Lu Zhiyi also wanted to leave all the Eagle Dogs here, but feared that too much slaughter would offend Wu Chengyu, after all, in his eyes Wu Chengyu was still a child.

Lu Zhiyi said sternly: "Brother Chengyu, it's not that I, Lu, am ruthless, but the stakes here are too great. We all have families to support, and even you, brother, have been dragged into this today. If we let any of them escape, there will surely be endless trouble. The Imperial Court will definitely not let us go."

Wu Chengyu naturally understood the reasoning. Since he exposed Wei Shujuan's true face, there was no room for compromise. The direct and collateral branches of the Wu family totaled over a thousand people; what he did today was enough to implicate them all.

Wu Chengyu just didn't want to kill so many people with his own hands in one breath; a normal person really couldn't bring themselves to do it, they'd have nightmares.

But if Lu Zhiyi and the others wanted to act, Wu Chengyu would absolutely not stop them; at most he would turn his head away and not look.

Adults only look at profit and harm when doing things. We're already in the Martial World, where would so much kindness and soft-heartedness come from.

"Cutting the grass without removing the roots leaves harm to oneself. Chengyu may be young, but he understands this principle. Lu Dage, go ahead and do it. I'll take my sister and Sister He to rest behind the statue for a while; we're very tired after this night of tossing and turning."

Lu Zhiyi laughed heartily after hearing this, and Niu Wanrou even slapped Wu Chengyu's 32A pectoral muscle, laughing until her waves surged.

"Surely my brother, not pedantic, so refreshing. Sister likes you more and more."

Wu Chengyu was slapped until his vision almost went black and he nearly fainted. He hurriedly dodged away from Niu Wanrou, first taking A Ku, who was a bit dazed and sleepy after being frightened, from He Zhiyu's hands, then pulling He Zhiyu behind the shrine, spreading some straw on the ground, and carefully placing A Ku on top.

But he didn't forget to poke his head out from behind the statue and say: "Lu Dage, killing without looting the corpses means you deserve to have no meat to eat. These people should have plenty of good things on them; we just suffered a big loss."

Niu Wanrou answered first: "Brother, don't worry, how to clean up the battlefield after a battle is also a required course for the Yue Family Army Descendants."

Not long after, the sounds of the Eagle Dogs begging for mercy, threatening, and screaming at the moment of being killed came to their ears. Over a hundred people in one breath, incessant. Fortunately A Ku had already fallen asleep; instead, He Zhiyu's face was pale and she trembled slightly. After all, she was just an ordinary woman.

Wu Chengyu wasn't feeling well either, enduring it forcefully. The key was that his hearing and sense of smell were too good; the screams and the increasingly strong smell of blood made him restless.

After a while, the screams finally ended, and Wu Chengyu heard Yu Xiaowu leading people back.

"Lu Dage, we've searched carefully within a few hundred meters around. The wind and rain were too heavy tonight, many traces are gone, but indeed no other figures were seen."

"Good then. Xiao Wu, first take people to pile these corpses together. Everyone rest for a while. I see the rain is weakening. As soon as it stops, regardless of whether it's dawn or not, we'll set off immediately and leave here."

"Brother Chengyu, Sister He, I have something to discuss with you."

He Zhiyu and Wu Chengyu came out from behind the statue, both trying not to look at the corpses, but there were still three corpses lying in the main hall that hadn't been moved.

The first was Wei Shujuan, killed by a slash to the throat, dying with eyes open, her face full of resentment.

She was originally an Imperial Court spy. To track down the Yue Family Army Descendants, she didn't hesitate to marry Cao Mao, hiding and plotting for many years. Unfortunately, her schemes backfired and she ended up causing Qingqing's death. Wu Chengyu naturally had no fondness for her, but the corpse now looked like a little girl; those who didn't know would think Lu Dage and the others were incredibly inhumane.

The second was Tian Shi Monk, a Shaolin expert, chief disciple of the Dharma Hall. Wu Chengyu remembered that the Shaolin Abbot who appeared last in *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* was called Tian Ming. It seemed that if this Tian Shi didn't die, he would at least be a First Seat of the Dharma Hall.

Although this guy was ambushed by Lu Dage and the others, his character was really bad. He was arrogant and underestimated the enemy during the fight, and was distracted at a critical moment. His death wasn't the least bit unjust.

The last one was He Zhiyu's husband, Cao Mao, a complete fool from start to finish, but with a poisonous mind and heavy sins. The key was that his tastes were quite peculiar.

Lu Zhiyi called He Zhiyu out precisely to discuss Cao Mao's matter.

"Sister, Cao Mao is dead. Should he be disposed of together with these people, or should we handle his funeral separately? After all..."

He Zhiyu shook her head and said: "Since he's dead, Cao Mao is no different from the other corpses here. There's no need to handle him separately."

After speaking, she stepped forward a few steps, looking at Cao Mao who still refused to close his eyes. Her gaze held both resentment and a sense of relief.

"Since Lian'er was fake, your Cao family has no one left after your death; your line is extinguished. My He family has been harmed by you until only I remain."

"But you never expected that I've already been pregnant for two months. Rest assured, it's yours. But after he's born, he will only take the He surname. Your Cao family will have no descendants."

... Once a woman has hatred, even the waters of three rivers and four seas cannot wash it clean.

As soon as He Zhiyu finished speaking, she turned and returned behind the statue, secretly grieving.

Yu Xiaowu led people to casually throw these three corpses onto the small pile of corpses nearby, then led people to stand guard outside the Broken Temple.

Lu Zhiyi and Niu Wanrou pulled Wu Chengyu to the previous campfire. The campfire hadn't gone out yet. Wu Chengyu casually threw a few pieces of firewood on it, then poked it a few times with a piece of wood. The campfire immediately rose again.

Beside the campfire lay a pile of loot searched from the Eagle Dogs: a large pile of bows and crossbows, dozens of short knives and short spears, and some strange weapons: Judge's Brushes, Emei Thorns, Iron Buddha Dusters, Iron Abacuses, Funeral Sticks, and even a Nine-Toothed Rake.

Do the Imperial Court's Eagle Dogs also play so fancy? Wu Chengyu picked up the Nine-Toothed Rake. It was made of refined steel, weighing forty or fifty catties. Wu Chengyu thought it was too heavy and immediately threw it down.

The brother who used this weapon was also quite wronged. The temple was so small and there were so many people; he simply couldn't use it freely, and then he was killed. Life is just so impermanent.

Wu Chengyu was daydreaming when Lu Dage handed him a large stack of banknotes.

"Besides some scattered silver taels, these Eagle Dogs also have quite a few banknotes. I roughly counted them; together they come to six or seven hundred taels. Forget the silver taels; these banknotes belong to you, Brother Chengyu. Brother Chengyu, absolutely do not decline. If it weren't for you tonight, even if we fought our way out, I estimate not many of us would be left."

Dividing the spoils is always happy, but one still has to decline a bit, pretending to be polite.

Sister Niu was impatient. She grabbed the banknotes and stuffed them into Wu Chengyu's collar, and incidentally touched his pectoral muscle again.

Wu Chengyu was speechless. At this moment, Sister Niu's face suddenly resembled that fat cook quite a bit.

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(Chapter End)