Chapter 00123: The Price
# The Price
Chapter 123
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 123: The Price
The village was built far away from the cliff to avoid falling rocks.
But as soon as the bandit pointed, everyone noticed a small section of the mountain path illuminated by two torches.
Four bandits stood there, holding two small children in their hands.
The children were very young, only about four or five years old.
The bandit on the eastern side of the boundary asked Zhu Xiuer, "Are those your children?"
Zhu Xiuer had already widened her eyes, staring intently at the two children.
But now she shook her head vigorously, "No! They're not!"
"Not yours?" The bandit laughed, "Then they have nothing to do with you."
He Yue also sensed something was wrong and urgently said, "Wait, you can't..."
Before he could finish, the bandit raised his hand and made a gesture.
Two high-pitched screams echoed from the mountain path.
His accomplices picked up the children and hurled them off the cliff!
It was a fifteen-zhang-deep ravine!
Zhu Xiuer let out a piercing scream, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.
Zeng Feixiong caught her and handed her to his subordinates to hold steady.
He Chunhua roared in anger, "How outrageous! These children are innocent! What grudge do you hold to commit such a heinous act?"
"Innocent children?" It was Lu Yao who responded.
He walked out from behind the house, looking at He Chunhua with a cold smile.
"It seems Magistrate He knows that this woman is not innocent. Magistrate He, let me ask you, we agreed to divide the village east and west. What do you mean by secretly capturing my men?"
He Chunhua's heart sank.
Lu Yao had indeed noticed that Fatty Wang was missing and was now venting his anger on Zhu Xiuer.
This bandit leader was too cruel.
Once he realized he had been tricked, he immediately resorted to killing to vent his fury.
"That Fatty Wang was about to harm Zhu Xiuer, so we stopped him. This happened before the boundary was set," He Chunhua said, raising his head slightly.
"You killed her children. Do you not care about the lives of your own men?"
"Of course I care!" Lu Yao snorted.
"Return him to me, or I'll slaughter all of you right now!"
"Eh?" He Chunhua suddenly raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sun and pointed behind Lu Yao.
"What's that?"
"Magistrate He, don't try to distract me," Lu Yao said with a forced smile.
This was a trick only a child would fall for.
But as soon as he finished speaking, a painful scream came from one of his men not far away.
At the same time, a whistling sound came from behind Lu Yao.
He didn't turn around immediately.
Instead, he crouched and then spun around, his right hand somehow producing a giant axe, which he held in front of him.
The axe's surface was almost as large as a small shield.
Though not as exaggerated as the Mengshan axe He Lingchuan had seen in his dreams, when Lu Yao crouched, the axe could at least protect the vital parts of his upper body and his knees.
"Clang! Clang!" Two arrows struck the axe's surface and missed.
Another arrow silently flew past from above.
If Lu Yao had turned around directly, that arrow would have pierced his throat.
This "品"-shaped arrow formation felt familiar...
Lu Yao's eyes flashed with a fierce light, and he roared, "Stop! I'm Lu Yao! Don't attack your own people!"
But at that moment, He Chunhua also shouted, "Rebels! General Lu, quickly capture the rebels!"
On the roofs of the houses nearest to the western boundary, over a dozen archers appeared.
They lay on the rooftops, firing arrows in retaliation.
He Chunhua shouted while covering his head and retreating, his body emitting a faint blue light.
It was the glow of the Sheji Token activating.
In an instant, all the soldiers emitted the same light.
Seeing this, the attackers had no more doubts.
Who else but officials appointed by the imperial court could wield such power?
As He Chunhua retreated, Zeng Feixiong and others immediately stepped forward to cover him, using their qi to block several stray arrows.
The group moved swiftly, not giving Lu Yao's men any time to react, and quickly retreated behind the houses.
At that moment, a troop surged out of the darkness, flooding into Xianling Village like a tide!
Tonight, there were no stars or moon, and the wilderness was pitch black.
This troop didn't even carry a single torch.
With the commotion in the village drawing everyone's attention, Lu Yao's sentries hadn't even noticed this troop until they were already at the village's entrance!
Seeing the man at the front, Lu Yao's face turned grim.
"Wu Shaoyi, have you gone mad? How dare you shoot at me!" He pointed to the west of the village.
"Your target is over there!"
"I'm shooting at you!" Wu Shaoyi laughed.
"Brothers, charge! Kill this treacherous scoundrel!"
As he said these words, his teeth clenched.
In the past, with Hong Xiangqian keeping him in check, he couldn't deal with Lu Yao, but the enmity between them had only grown deeper.
By now, it wasn't just mutual dislike—it was outright hatred.
Seeing Lu Yao again, his anger surged uncontrollably!
Wu Shaoyi was skilled with a spear, but since he was attacking on foot, he had abandoned his long pole and switched to a short spear.
Without a word, he thrust the spear directly at Lu Yao's eyes, the speed creating afterimages.
Lu Yao naturally raised his axe to block, but by the third strike, the spear tip lightly tapped the edge of the axe, causing the spear to bend and curve around the axe, striking like a venomous snake toward his eyes!
This was Wu Shaoyi's signature move, called "Dragon Probes the Sea," which had claimed the lives of many soldiers.
Fortunately, Lu Yao had once been on the same side and was familiar with this technique.
He quickly tilted his head, avoiding blindness.
However, the spear's qi was like needles.
Though it didn't touch his skin, it still left a long, deep gash under his eye, almost reaching the bone.
Lu Yao let out a loud cry and swung his shield backhand.
Wu Shaoyi didn't dare to take the blow head-on and retreated two steps.
Lu Yao was now furious.
Without wiping the blood from his face, he charged forward, slashing and swinging his axe in a flurry of strikes, all while cursing, "I kindly invited you to join forces! I kindly invited you to fight the officials! And all you know is infighting! Has your brain been eaten by dogs?"
"You set up an ambush with seven hundred men at Whistle Rock—was that also kindness?" Wu Shaoyi didn't bother arguing further and simply ordered his men, "Kill! Wipe out all of Lu Yao's men!"
Seven hundred men? Hearing this, Lu Yao shuddered and suddenly understood.
Damn it, he had fallen for that damned official's trick!
"This is a scheme to turn us against each other! Those seven hundred men were meant to ambush the officials!" he shouted hoarsely.
"Men, capture that damned official!"
He looked behind Wu Shaoyi and saw a massive force of at least two hundred men, surrounding his own troops with a three-to-one advantage.
Enraged, he yelled, "You brought your entire force too!"
"You set up an ambush first, so don't blame me for bringing everyone!"
When enemies meet, their eyes blaze with hatred.
The battle between these two generals escalated to a fever pitch from the very beginning.
In just a few moments, Lu Yao had been wounded on the face, with a hole pierced through his cheek, and two bloody gashes on his right leg—deliberate wounds meant to slow him down.
But his counterattacks were fierce, and Wu Shaoyi didn't fare much better.
His left arm had a deep axe wound that nearly severed a tendon, and his chest had taken a heavy shield blow, breaking at least one rib.
(End of Chapter)