Chapter 123: The Cost

The village had been built far away due to concerns about falling rocks. However, when the other party pointed, everyone noticed a short section of the mountain path illuminated by two torches. Four bandits stood there, holding two children captive.

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

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

Zhu Xiuer had already widened her eyes and was staring intently at the two children, but at this moment, she vehemently shook her head, "No! No!"

"Not yours?" the bandit chuckled. "Then they have even less to do with you."

He Yue also noticed something was wrong and urgently said, "Wait, you can't..."

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

Two childish screams immediately echoed from the mountain path as his accomplices picked up the children and threw them off!

That was a cliff fifteen zhang deep!

Zhu Xiuer shrieked, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

Zeng Feixiong caught her and handed her over to his subordinates to support.

He Chunhua angrily exclaimed, "Outrageous! Children are innocent. What kind of grudge or hatred makes you commit such heinous acts?"

"Children are innocent?" Lu Yao retorted, emerging from behind a house and sneering at He Chunhua. "It seems Lord He also knows this woman is not innocent. Lord He, I ask you, we clearly agreed to live with a division, so what does it mean that you secretly captured my man?"

He Chunhua's heart sank. Lu Yao had indeed discovered that Fatty Wang was missing and had consequently vented his anger on Zhu Xiuer. The bandit leader was too ruthless; upon realizing he had been tricked, he immediately resorted to murder to vent his rage!

"That fatty was about to assault Ms. Zhu when we stopped him, and this happened before the boundary was even drawn." He Chunhua slightly raised his head. "You killed her children; do you no longer care about your men's lives?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Lu Yao snorted. "Return him, or I'll wipe you all out right now!"

"Oh?" He Chunhua suddenly cupped his hand over his eyes, looking into the distance, and pointed behind Lu Yao. "What's that?"

"Lord He, don't try to change the subject," Lu Yao said with a cold, forced smile. "Is this a trick only children play?"

No sooner had he spoken than a painful scream of "Ah—" came from one of his subordinates nearby.

At the same time, the sound of something cutting through the air came from behind Lu Yao.

He didn't turn around immediately; instead, he first squatted down, then spun around, conjuring a huge axe in his right hand from seemingly nowhere, holding it in front of him.

The axe head of this weapon was almost as large as a small shield. While it wasn't as exaggerated as the Mengshan Great Axe He Lingchuan had seen in his dream, when Lu Yao crouched, the axe head could at least cover his vital upper body parts and knees.

With two "ding-ding" sounds, arrows struck the axe head, missing their target.

Another arrow silently flew past from above.

If Lu Yao had turned around directly, that arrow would have gone straight into his throat.

This "pin"-shaped archery formation seemed a bit familiar... A fierce glint flashed in Lu Yao's eyes as he roared, "Stop! I am Lu Yao! Our own people don't fight our own people!"

Just then, He Chunhua also shouted loudly, "Rebels! General Lu, quickly apprehend the rebels!"

Above the westernmost houses in the village, closest to the boundary line, more than ten government archers immediately appeared. They lay on the rooftops, also firing arrows rapidly, retaliating in kind against the attackers.

While shouting, He Chunhua clutched his head and fled back, but a faint blue glow emanated from his body.

It was the aura of the Edict of the State being activated.

In an instant, all the government soldiers emitted the same light.

Seeing this, the attackers no longer had any doubts.

Who else could wield primal energy besides officials appointed by the royal court?

As He Chunhua retreated, Zeng Feixiong and others immediately stepped forward to provide cover, blocking several stray arrows with their protective aura.

They fled with incredible speed, giving Lu Yao's subordinates no time to react before they had already retreated behind the houses.

Just then, a force surged out of the darkness, pouring into Xianling Village like a tide!

There were no stars or moon tonight; the wilderness was completely dark. This force didn't even light a single torch.

Furthermore, the commotion in the village had drawn everyone's attention, so Lu Yao's sentries failed to detect the approaching force until it was already at the village's doorstep!

Seeing the person at the very front, Lu Yao shouted sternly, "Wu Shaoyi, are you insane? How dare you shoot me!" He then pointed back towards the west of the village. "Your target is over there!"

"I'm shooting at you!" Wu Shaoyi laughed loudly. "Brothers, charge! Kill this treacherous scoundrel!"

As he spoke these four words, he gnashed his teeth. Previously, with Hong Xiangqian suppressing him, he couldn't deal with Lu Yao, and the animosity between them had only deepened, reaching a point where they loathed each other beyond words. Now, seeing him again, hatred and rage surged to his head, utterly uncontrollable!

He was skilled with the long spear, but since they were attacking on foot, he had foregone the long pole weapon used on horseback for a shorter spear. Without a word, he aimed for Lu Yao's eyes and thrust, moving so swiftly that he left a blur in his wake.

Lu Yao naturally raised his axe-shield to block repeatedly, but by the third block, the axe was already held high in front of his face. The tip of the opponent's spear lightly tapped the edge of the great axe, bounced, and then the spear shaft curved inward, actually going around the axe head and striking directly at his eye like a venomous snake!

This was Wu Shaoyi's unique skill, which he called "Dragon Exploring the Sea," and he had used it to claim countless lives of government soldiers. Fortunately, Lu Yao had once been in the same faction as him and was aware of this technique. He sharply turned his head, narrowly avoiding being blinded.

However, the protective aura emanating from the spear tip was like needles. Although it didn't touch his skin, it still carved a long wound beneath his eye, deep enough to show bone.

Lu Yao cried out "Ah!" and swung his shield with a backhand motion.

Wu Shaoyi dared not meet it head-on and retreated two steps.

Lu Yao was instantly enraged. Without wiping the blood from his face, he charged forward, unleashing three powerful axe swings—a vertical chop and two horizontal slashes—while cursing loudly, "I kindly called you here for a rendezvous! I kindly called you here to fight the government soldiers! And all you damn well do is fight among yourselves! Has your brain been eaten by dogs?"

"And was it 'kindly' of you to ambush seven hundred men at Shaozi Rock?" Wu Shaoyi didn't bother to argue further. He simply commanded his subordinates, "Kill them! Wipe out Lu Yao's men!"

Seven hundred men? Lu Yao flinched upon hearing these words and suddenly understood.

Damn it, he had fallen for that corrupt official's wicked trap!

"This is a counter-intelligence plot! Those seven hundred men were meant for ambushing the corrupt official!" he shrieked at the top of his lungs. "Lads, capture that corrupt official!"

Seeing that Wu Shaoyi had brought more than two hundred men, far outnumbering his Lu family army with more than enough to engage in a three-on-one fight, Lu Yao also became furious. "Didn't you bring all your men too?!"

"You ambushed seven hundred men first, so don't blame me for bringing all my forces!"

When enemies meet, their eyes turn red with fury, and the battle between these two great generals immediately escalated to a fever pitch. In just a few exchanges, Lu Yao suffered injuries to his face, with a hole pierced through his cheek, and two new bloodied wounds on his right leg. These were deliberately inflicted by his opponent to slow down his mobility. However, Lu Yao's counterattacks were equally fierce; Wu Shaoyi fared no better, sustaining an axe wound on his left arm that nearly severed a tendon, and a heavy shield blow to his chest that likely broke at least one rib.