Chapter 126: Price Because of the risk of falling rocks, the village had been built well away from that cliff.
But once the brigand pointed it out, everyone saw that a short stretch of mountain road was lit by two torches. Four brigands could be seen standing on the road. Two of the brigands were carrying torches, while the other two each held a child in their arms.
The children looked no older than four or five years old.
From the eastern side of the line, a brigand called to Zhu Xiu’er, “Those two are yours, aren’t they?”
Zhu Xiu’er’s eyes were already wide, locked on the children. Yet she shook her head violently and said, “No! No, they’re not!”
“They’re not?” The brigand grinned. “Oh, so they’ve got nothing to do with you?”
He Yue realized what was about to happen. “Wait, you can’t—”
Before he could finish, the brigand made a hand signal.
Two shrill cries split the air. His comrades heaved the children out and hurled them straight off the cliff!
The cliff was fifty meters high!
Zhu Xiu’er screamed, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed in a faint.
Zeng Feixiong caught her before she hit the ground and handed her to a subordinate to steady.
He Chunhua roared, “Outrageous! Children are innocent! What grudge or hatred drives you to such inhuman cruelty?”
“Innocent children?” The reply came not from the brigand earlier, but from Lu Yao himself. He strolled out from behind a house, sneering. “So, does that mean that Lord He knows that this woman isn’t innocent? Tell me then, why was it that when we agreed to divide the village east and west, you secretly seized one of my men?”
He Chunhua’s heart sank. It looks like Lu Yao finally noticed that Fatty Wang was missing, so now he’s venting his anger on Zhu Xiu’er. Still, this brute is too much of a savage. Discovering he’d been tricked, his first thought is actually to kill in reprisal. “That fat man tried to violate Mrs. Zhu. We simply stopped him, and he went to our side before we even marked the boundary,” He Chunhua said coldly, chin lifting. “You killed her children. Is that how little you value the lives of your own men?”
“Value them?” Lu Yao gave a harsh snort. “Hand him back, or I’ll have your people slaughtered where they stand!”
“Oh?” He Chunhua suddenly shaded his eyes and pointed behind him. “And what’s that?”
“Don’t try to distract me, Lord He.” Lu Yao’s grin was wolfish. “That’s a trick for children.”
But even as the words left his mouth, a cry of pain rang out nearby, raw and full of agony.
At the same time, the hiss of arrows sliced the air behind him.
Lu Yao did not whirl around immediately. Instead, he dropped into a crouch and spun, a massive axe appearing in his hand as if conjured from the dark. He raised it before him.
The axe head was broad as a shield, though not as monstrous as the giant axe that He Lingchuan had once seen in his dream. Still, the axe head was large enough that it covered Lu Yao’s torso and knees as he hunched behind it.
Clang, clang! Two arrows struck the axe head and glanced away.
Another arrow, nearly completely silent, slipped past overhead. If he had turned straight around, that arrow would have gone clean through his throat.
Hm? That style of archery is familiar. Lu Yao’s eyes flashed cold, then he bellowed, “Hold your fire! I’m Lu Yao! Don’t shoot your own!”
But at that very moment, He Chunhua’s shout cut through the night, “It’s the rebels! General Lu, seize the traitors at once!”
From the rooftops of the nearest houses on the west side, over a dozen state archers popped up, loosing volley after volley of arrows. They returned fire in earnest, their arrows screaming down toward the ambushers.
He Chunhua shouted as he ducked back, arms raised to shield his head. A faint azure glow shimmered across his body.
It was the aura of the mandate token flaring to life.
In an instant, every state soldier became covered with the same glow.
The attackers froze. Who but an official of royal appointment could command origin energy?
As He Chunhua fell back, Zeng Feixiong and the others surged forward, their shields of vigorous qi deflecting several stray arrows. Then, without giving Lu Yao’s men the slightest chance to react, they melted away behind the houses.
At that moment, a tide of troops burst from the darkness, flooding into Immortal Spirit Village like a breaking wave!
There was no moon, no stars. The area was almost pitch black. These troops did not carry a single torch. And with all eyes fixed on the chaos in the village, Lu Yao’s sentries never saw them coming until they were already right before them.
When he caught sight of the man in the lead, Lu Yao’s voice thundered with fury, “Wu Shaoyi! Are you mad? How dare you shoot at me? Your target is over there on the western side!”
Wu Shaoyi only laughed savagely. “You’re my target! Brothers, cut down this treacherous dog!”
His teeth ground on each word. In the past, with Hong Xiangqian above them both, he had not dared settle accounts. However, the hatred had never stopped festering, the grudge growing ever deeper. Seeing Lu Yao now, he could barely contain the urge to kill.
Wu Shaoyi typically used a long spear, and it was the weapon with which he was most skilled. However, that was a weapon he generally wielded while on horseback. Tonight, fighting on foot, he swapped his weapon out for a short spear. Without hesitation, he thrust straight for Lu Yao’s eyes, the tip moving so fast it left ghostly afterimages.
Lu Yao raised his axe and blocked again and again. But on the third strike, Wu Shaoyi’s spearpoint barely kissed the edge of the massive axe, then flexed inward like a serpent, curving around right for his eye.
. This was Wu Shaoyi’s signature technique, Flood Dragon Exploring the Sea, and it had reaped countless state soldiers’ lives. But Lu Yao had once fought beside him, so he knew the move. He twisted his head just in time, avoiding having his eye taken.
Even so, the vigorous qi released by the spear lashed out like needles. The needles of sharp qi managed to carve a long gash under his eye, deep enough to show bone.
Lu Yao roared in pain and swung the axe right at Wu Shaoyi.
Wu Shaoyi dared not take the strike head-on and sprang back two steps.
Blood streamed down Lu Yao’s face, but he did not bother to wipe it. His fury erupted. He charged, axe whirling in three savage strokes, cursing as he struck, “I called you here in good faith for an alliance! I called you here in good faith to fight the state troops! And you, you brainless dog, choose infighting instead!”
“You call it good faith when you hide seven hundred men at Whistle Rock?” Wu Shaoyi spat. He raised his voice and ordered his men, “Kill them all! Slaughter Lu Yao’s rabble to the last!”
Seven hundred? At those words, Lu Yao jolted, and the truth hit him.
Damn it. This fucking dog official screwed me over! “It’s a trick! Those seven hundred were lying in wait for the state troops, not for you!” His roar shook the night. “Brothers, take that dog official’s head instead!”
But one glance at Wu Shaoyi’s ranks only caused his blood to boil wildly. The man had not brought just two hundred; he had brought nearly his entire army. With how things currently were, Wu Shaoyi’s men outnumbered his three to one.
“You hypocrite! You brought all your men too!”
“You set the ambush first, don’t blame me for meeting you with full force!”
With their bone-deep grudge against one another, their clash erupted at once into a maelstrom. In only a few breaths, Lu Yao’s cheek had been pierced through, and his leg gashed twice. These were deliberate strikes meant to slow him. But his counterattacks were brutal. Wu Shaoyi staggered back with a slashed left arm, tendons nearly severed, and a rib cracked from a crushing bash with the axe head.