Chapter 581 - 380: This Battle

Chapter 581: Chapter 380: This Battle

He thought, "If my guess is right, the people of the Lu Family Stronghold should still be at the General’s Tomb. Pang Damao said that Lu Hongyan didn’t enter the tomb. Perhaps there’s a chance to... execute a decapitation strike!"

Wang He had already decided to wipe out the Lu Family Stronghold, so he wouldn’t be soft-hearted.

The Lu Family Stronghold was no simple target. They had over a hundred people, all equipped with rudimentary gear, and their territory boasted two Arrow Towers. A head-on clash was ill-advised. However, his Crossbow Machine Carriages packed massive firepower. If they encountered the enemy in the wilderness, there was a very good chance of successfully assassinating the Lord of the Lu Family Stronghold.

He thought, "Once the Lord dies, the Lu Family Stronghold will no longer be a threat!"

He had, of course, seen Lu Hongyan as well. Seeing her clad in Battle Armor and riding a Golden Lion, he was instantly captivated, feeling a sense of admiration.

A short while later, they arrived at the General’s Tomb.

The General’s Tomb looked like nothing more than a wild, unmarked grave on a barren hill, swallowed by overgrown weeds. To Pang Damao’s astonishment, Lu Hongyan simply waved her hand over the burial mound. The ground trembled, and a stone gatehouse slowly rose from beneath the earth.

"The General’s Tomb instance has appeared. General Lu, take your people inside!" Lu Hongyan said coolly.

Looking exhilarated, Lu Junsheng immediately motioned for his "subordinates" to enter the stone gatehouse. Pang Damao was shocked once again—anyone who stepped through the stone gatehouse instantly vanished.

"What is going on?" he muttered.

Unable to comprehend the situation, Pang Damao dragged his feet and hid at the very back of the group. Soon, Lu Junsheng’s entire group—including Lu Hongyan’s Golden Lion Mount—walked into the stone gatehouse and disappeared. Only Lu Hongyan and Pang Damao remained at the scene.

Lu Hongyan glanced at him. "Why haven’t you gone in yet?"

Pang Damao naturally had no intention of going in. He had witnessed far too many inexplicable things today and decided to head back to report to the Roasted Chicken Immortal. Without a single word, Pang Damao turned and bolted.

Lu Hongyan watched him run off in confusion. "What’s wrong with you? Why are you running? I might be the Second-in-Command of the Black Mountain Stronghold, but it’s not like I’m going to rob and murder you!"

"Black Mountain Stronghold!"

Pang Damao abruptly skidded to a halt mid-sprint. He turned his head to look at Lu Hongyan, a flash of ruthless hatred in his eyes. "You’re the Second-in-Command of the Black Mountain Stronghold?" he demanded, his voice low.

"Yeah, what about it?" Lu Hongyan asked in return, sensing that something was off about this Indigenous Person.

"Everyone from the Black Mountain Stronghold deserves to die!" Pang Damao roared. As if possessed by a completely different persona, his eyes turned bloodshot as he actually charged straight at Lu Hongyan.

"What are you doing?!" Lu Hongyan took a step back, slightly flustered, but quickly regained her composure. Drawing the Longsword from her waist, she said coldly, "You have a death wish!"

By now, Pang Damao was fully healed, and not a single wound could be found on his body.

"Da Mao, you’ve always been pretty sharp. What happened to you this time?"

"If the Immortal Master hadn’t saved you, you’d probably be buried in the dirt by now!"

"Who hacked you up like that?"

"Da Mao, don’t tell me you ran into Mountain Bandits!"

Listening to the crowd’s chatter, Pang Damao sat in a daze. His eyes darted around for a few moments before he suddenly threw himself to his knees in front of Wang He. "Lord, I ran into the Second-in-Command of the Black Mountain Stronghold! Please, Lord, avenge me!"

"Black Mountain Stronghold?" Yang Wanli’s expression turned grave. He stepped up to Wang Yi and said, "Lord, the Black Mountain Stronghold is the den of a formidable gang of Mountain Bandits. They are incredibly powerful and utterly ruthless. Even the bandit-suppression troops from Kaiyuan County have to detour around them! Ten years ago, Da Mao’s entire family was beaten to death by the people from the Black Mountain Stronghold. This child has actually had a very bitter life."

Wang He looked at Pang Damao, who was completely devoid of his usual slacker demeanor, and muttered, "So that’s how it is!"

Yang Wanli turned back to Pang Damao and asked, "Da Mao, are you sure you didn’t see wrong? What would people from the Black Mountain Stronghold be doing in our remote backwater?"

"She said it with her own mouth! How could it be fake?" Pang Damao insisted.

The crowd listened in silence, deeply moved when they learned that Pang Damao had actually dragged his knife-wounded body all the way back from the General’s Tomb. According to his description, the tomb was roughly three miles north of Pottery Village. To crawl from there to here was at least seven or eight miles, if not a full ten. For him to drag his heavily injured body over such a long distance was truly astonishing.

Hearing his account, Wang He immediately realized that the Lu Family Stronghold was a Player’s territory and that Lu Hongyan was definitely a Player. However, he wasn’t quite sure whether the Lord of the Lu Family Stronghold was her, General Lu, or if both of them were Players. He would need to see it with his own eyes to be certain.

Pang Damao continued, stating his desire for revenge and begging Wang He to kill the Black Mountain Stronghold’s Second-in-Command, Lu Hongyan. Stripped of his usual frivolous and grinning demeanor, he was dead serious. However, Wang He did not give a definitive answer, only instructing him to go back and get some good rest.

"Lord!"

Very well, based on the provided Chapter content and your request, I have conceptualized Lu Hongyan’s ending, focusing on the plot where Yang Wanli fails due to physical exhaustion, and Pang Damao returns to fight for his life fueled by deep hatred, ultimately achieving a counter-kill:

**Lu Hongyan’s Ending (Continuing from the end of Chapter 32)**

Inside the dense forest, it was muddy, wet, and freezing. Lu Hongyan slumped to the ground, her back against a large tree, panting violently. Cold sweat mixed with the blood on her forehead and slid down her face. A freezing broadsword was pressed tightly against her neck, the chilling aura radiating from its edge making the hairs on her body stand on end.

Holding the blade, Yang Wanli’s breathing was equally unsteady. Although he had been saved by the Ghost Gate Thirteen Needles, his newly recovered body was still weak from severe injuries. He had chased her all the way here running purely on the fierce adrenaline of seeking vengeance. Now that he had stopped, his vision continuously went black, and his arms felt impossibly sore and heavy.

"Hmph, little girl, you run quite fast," Yang Wanli forced himself to hold on, his voice laced with suppressed pants. "Falling into this old man’s hands, consider your luck to have run out. Mr. Wang wants your life, so don’t even dream of leaving here alive!"