Huang Rong from The Return of the Condor Heroes: Brother Jing, let's get a divorce.

At this moment, in the dense forest on the outskirts of Black Wind Valley.

The woods were pitch black, not even a sliver of moonlight could penetrate.

Yang Guo carried Cheng Ying on his back, with Lu Wushuang beside him. The three of them waded through the rotten leaves, one step at a time.

Yang Guo's left leg was wrapped in a thick strip of cloth. Although the bleeding had stopped, it still hurt terribly with every step he took.

The heavy black iron sword, weighing seventy or eighty pounds, was slung over his back, making him pant heavily. The scabbard would occasionally hit the tree trunk beside him, making a dull thud.

"Damn it, this broken sword is really heavy."

Yang Guo cursed and stopped, leaning against a large tree.

Lu Wushuang quickly came over and reached out to support his arm.

"Husband, does your leg still hurt? Why don't we find a dry place to rest for a while?"

Lu Wushuang's voice was very soft, completely lacking her usual fierceness.

Yang Guo glanced at her sideways and grinned.

"Stop resting my ass! The smell of blood in here is so strong, it'll attract all the wolves in the mountains soon. Do you want to stay and feed them?"

Lu Wushuang pouted and puffed out her chest.

"Feed the wolves if you want. Anyway, you can't run because your leg is injured. I'll hold the knife in front of you and let the wolves eat me first."

Yang Guo reached out and pinched her buttocks hard.

"I haven't had enough to eat yet, how could it be the wolf's turn?"

Lu Wushuang blushed and nudged him with her elbow, but didn't dodge, letting him pinch her.

As Cheng Ying, perched on Yang Guo's back, listened to the two bickering, she felt a pang of jealousy and a bitter taste in her mouth.

She pressed her face against Yang Guo's neck, wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders, and gently scratched at his clothes with her fingernails.

"Brother Yang, you bled so much and still had to carry me. It's all my fault."

Cheng Ying's voice was soft and weak, full of self-reproach.

Yang Guo held her legs up with his hands and bounced them up a little.

"Steward Cheng, your health is indeed too weak. Once we return to the city, you need to practice your internal strength properly. You can't just stay in the room doing accounts all day."

Cheng Ying bit her lip and whispered, "I'm doing this for your own good. Once I've mastered martial arts, I can help you fight enemies in the future, instead of having to hide in the pit and watch you fight desperately like today."

Yang Guo burst into laughter, and his laughter echoed far and wide through the woods.

"You two little girls, what do you take me for? I'm the leader of the Quanzhen Sect. Do I need your help to kill a few Tartars? You two should just get better and help me out in bed."

Lu Wushuang spat lightly: "Shameless, you can't stop talking about that trivial stuff."

Cheng Ying blushed, buried her head in Yang Guo's shoulder, and stopped talking.

Yang Guo suddenly felt a sharp pain in his thigh and couldn't help but gasp.

Lu Wushuang quickly squatted down and used the dim light to examine the wound on Yang Guo's leg.

The tightly bound strips of cloth were already soaked in blood and stained black, clinging stiffly to the skin.

"We need to change the cloth strip; this one is too dirty, and the wound will get infected."

As Lu Wushuang spoke, she lifted her Taoist robe and reached out to tear the hem of her inner garment.

With a ripping sound, a clean strip of fine cotton cloth was torn off.

Lu Wushuang deftly untied the dirty strip of cloth from Yang Guo's leg.

The wound was about half a finger long, with the flesh turned outwards, and it looked horrifying.

Lu Wu's eyes reddened, and he sniffed.

"You're so stupid. If someone's wielding a knife at you, wouldn't you dodge? Why did you have to fight them head-on?"

Yang Guo reached out and touched her head, ruffling her hair.

"You don't know anything. If I had taken a step back, his spear would have been stuck in my stomach. This little scratch is nothing."

Cheng Ying slid off Yang Guo's back and barely managed to stand by holding onto the tree trunk.

She took out a delicate little porcelain bottle from her bosom and uncorked it.

"Brother Yang, this is a secret wound medicine from Peach Blossom Island. Just bear with the pain."

Cheng Ying sprinkled the medicine powder evenly on the wound.

Yang Guo winced in pain.

"Ouch... Butler Cheng, did you put chili powder in this medicine? Why does it hurt so much?"

Cheng Ying looked distressed and took out a handkerchief to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Good medicine tastes bitter, but this medicine stops bleeding and promotes tissue regeneration very quickly."

Lu Wushuang used a clean white cloth strip to re-bandage the wound, tying a tight, secure knot.

Yang Guo moved his legs and felt the medicine dissipate, making the wound feel much cooler.

"Let's go. We need to find a clean place quickly. As soon as it's light tomorrow, people from Xiangyang will definitely come to investigate. We absolutely cannot let them see us."

Yang Guo said in a deep voice.

Lu Wushuang stood up and asked in confusion, "Why can't we run into them? You killed so many Tartars, that's a great achievement. Guo Jing and Huang Rong will definitely thank you properly, and they might even give you a high-ranking official position."

Yang Guo sneered and patted the heavy sword on his back.

"Thanks my ass! I'm holding this big black sword right now, how am I supposed to explain this to them? Besides, Chief Huang is very shrewd. If she finds out I single-handedly slaughtered three hundred elites, she'll definitely make me do everything from now on. How am I supposed to live a comfortable life in Xiangyang City then?"

Cheng Ying nodded in agreement.

"Brother Yang is right. The tallest tree in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind. It's better to keep this a secret and make a fortune quietly."

Yang Guo picked Cheng Ying up again.

"Let's go, let's take a detour!"

At the same time, on another official road.

Wu Dunru and Wu Xiuwen rode tall horses at the head of the procession.

Behind them followed a thousand yawning Xiangyang infantrymen, the column stretching out in a long line.

Wu Xiuwen wrapped his blue silk robe tighter around himself and sneezed loudly.

"Brother, this night wind is damn cold. We've walked over twenty miles and haven't seen a single Tartar. Did those beggars from the Beggars' Sect give us the wrong message?"

Wu Dunru's face was also not good, and he was whipping the roadside weeds with his horsewhip.

"Who knows? Master's wife insisted that we bring so many people out. A thousand people on the ground, making such a big commotion, the Tartars aren't deaf. They probably heard the news and ran away long ago."

Li Erniu, a subordinate general, rode over on a skinny horse and struck up a conversation.

"Young Masters Wu, our brothers are truly exhausted. We were woken up in the middle of the night, and we're starving. How about we set up camp here and continue searching tomorrow morning?"

Wu Xiuwen lashed Li Erniu's horse's rump with his whip, and the horse neighed.

"Forget about setting up camp! The outskirts of Black Wind Valley are just ahead. The Tartars are definitely hiding there. Pass down the order to speed up! Anyone who dawdles will be court-martialed!"

Li Erniu dared not speak out in anger, and could only suppress his rage and pass on the order to urge the soldiers to move quickly.

The group walked another five miles.

The scout galloped back, its hooves clattering loudly on the ground.

"Young masters, something has happened up ahead!"

The scout shouted from horseback.

Wu Dunru drew his fine steel longsword: "Have we encountered the Tartars?"

The scout jumped off his horse and pointed to the edge of the dark forest ahead.

"We didn't find any alive, they were all dead. The ground was covered with bits of flesh and broken wood, and there were several large pits that were still emitting black smoke."

Wu Dunru and Wu Xiuwen exchanged a glance, both of them dumbfounded.

"Let's go take a look."

Wu Dunru spurred his horse and galloped ahead.

The team quickly arrived at the scene of the incident.

A thousand soldiers, holding torches, stared blankly at the horrific scene before them. The entire area was silent, save for the occasional gasp of shock.

As Wu Xiuwen rode on his horse, looking at the Tartar officer on the ground, his armor and body smashed into flat pieces, his stomach churned violently. He lay on his horse's back and vomited a mouthful of bile.

Wu Dunru forced himself to dismount and walked to a corpse.

He poked the smashed ironwood shield with his sword sheath, and wood chips immediately fell to the ground.

"Brother, this...is this something a human would do?"

Wu Xiuwen wiped the filth from the corner of his mouth, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

Wu Dunru swallowed hard.

"I don't know. What kind of monster could have smashed it like this? It definitely wasn't done by anyone from our Xiangyang city."

Li Erniu walked over, looked at the corpses scattered on the ground, and laughed instead.

"Young masters, the Tartars are all dead, which saves us trouble. The carts are all blown to pieces, there's nothing to steal. Can we go back to the city and report?"

Wu Dunru's eyes darted around a few times, then he suddenly slapped his thigh.

"Why go back to the city? This is ready-made military merit right here!"

Wu Xiuwen was taken aback: "Brother, what do you mean?"

Wu Dunru lowered his voice and leaned close to Wu Xiuwen's ear.

"The Tartars are all dead. Who knows who did it? We brought a thousand men out with us. When we go back, we'll say that my brother and I led the charge and fought a bloody battle with the Tartars, ultimately annihilating them all. Their heads are still on the ground."

Wu Xiuwen's eyes lit up, but he immediately shrank back.

"Brother, is this going to work? These corpses are all smashed to pieces. We brothers used swords, so Master and Mistress will be able to tell just by looking at the wounds."

Wu Dunru gritted his teeth and snorted nonchalantly.

"What are you afraid of? If the gunpowder explodes, we'll just say it was gunpowder that killed them. As for those who were crushed, we'll say they were run over by an overturned cart or trampled by horses. Anyway, there's no way to prove it when they're dead. We can't let the military merit of these three hundred Tartars go to waste. We must take it back to shut our teacher's wife up!"

Wu Xiuwen rubbed his hands together and nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, that's what we'll do. Let that brat Yang Guo see how we brothers can achieve such great feats!"

Wu Dunru suddenly turned around, drew his long sword, pointed it at the corpse on the ground, and shouted at the soldiers.

"Brothers, listen up! These three hundred Tartars were wiped out by our desperate fight tonight. When we get back, we'll reward everyone according to their merits. Now, cut off all the Tartar heads on the ground and put them in sacks. We're returning to the city in triumph!"

Li Erniu and the soldiers looked at each other in bewilderment.

Everyone knows that the two young masters are trying to claim military merits fraudulently.

But since there's a reward to be won, who would be foolish enough to expose it?

"Alright, young masters, you two are awesome!"

Li Erniu took the lead and shouted a sentence.

The soldiers drew their swords and began cutting off the mutilated heads on the ground.

Many heads had already been smashed and deformed, with bone fragments exposed, making them extremely difficult to cut. The soldiers cursed under their breath as they cut.

Wu Dunru and Wu Xiuwen stood aside, their faces full of pride, as if they could already see the scene the next morning when Guo Jing and Huang Rong would look at them with newfound respect and praise.