Chapter 334: Chapter 196: To Be Faithless Is to Die (Part 3)

’He only had one thought—wait for the County Town to stabilize and recover, then annex them one by one!’

"Wait!"

He Shujun stopped Cheng Zongyang and said with a dark expression, "I can sign, but you must promise me two things. One, Lu Yan’s corpse must be delivered! This is non-negotiable. Two... my He Family’s Martial Artists!"

Cheng Zongyang stared at He Shujun for a moment before suddenly smiling. "Apologies, but all sixty of them died that night. Their bodies have been burned to ash. I had no intention of wasting food on them."

He Shujun’s expression grew dark and uncertain.

Cheng Zongyang found it rather amusing. ’Each family lost the combat strength of ten Eighth Grade Martial Artists right off the bat. That’s no small loss.’

’None of the families had retaliated. They were just waiting to expose his secrets.’

He also wanted to see what the man wanted with Lu Yan’s corpse. But then he added:

"Rest assured, I will bring you Lu Yan’s corpse!"

Hearing this, much of the frustration in He Shujun’s heart dissipated.

’Why not take action myself?’

’The answer was simple. If two evenly matched families came to blows, a third party would only swoop in to pick up the spoils.’

’Now, by letting Cheng Zongyang eliminate his biggest problem, he could deal with the rest of the Lu Family without suffering many losses.’

’Moreover, their two families could theoretically watch each other’s backs, making other families hesitate to move against the He Family. Of course, he held no such hope.’

’Of course, he had another objective: to use this opportunity to probe the true strength of the Cheng Family.’

’As for the Celestial Break Gang, he didn’t even consider them a threat.’

’Thus, his third objective was to probe their strength and see if Lu Yan could eliminate Cheng Zongyang, thereby luring out the rest of the Cheng Family. If luck was on his side, couldn’t he seize another piece of territory in the chaos?’

’Otherwise, he never would have signed such a ridiculous agreement with a mere teenager.’

’In this day and age, using a mere agreement to restrict a family’s pursuit of profit?’

’How naive!’

It was precisely because of these plans and objectives that when Cheng Zongyang handed the Beast Hide Scroll to He Shujun, the man signed his name and pressed his Blood Fingerprint onto the hide with surprising smoothness, the marks not fading away.

This took Cheng Zongyang by surprise.

’He had assumed the man was being two-faced and would be deeply reluctant, but he had actually signed it willingly.’

’Now, he was even more curious about why He Shujun wanted Lu Yan’s corpse.’

’The man’s willingness meant there was a greater prize waiting for him, one that far outweighed the risk of the He Family being devoured by other families as a result!’

Cheng Zongyang’s gaze toward He Shujun held a profound, hidden meaning as he smiled and said:

"As the Dao says, a man without integrity cannot stand. I hope Patriarch He remembers the contents of this agreement well, or the price may be more than you can bear. You can keep this agreement. Oh, right. The intelligence I asked for last time."

He didn’t take the Beast Hide Scroll back, leaving it with the man as a reminder. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

This made He Shujun frown. He then said with a wry, mocking tone, "Leaving the agreement with me... aren’t you afraid I’ll destroy it? You won’t be able to use it to bind the He Family then."

As he spoke, He Shujun took an envelope from a nearby book and handed it to Cheng Zongyang.

Cheng Zongyang took it and rose to his feet, leaving only a single sentence as he departed: "We move at midnight. You have a little over an hour to prepare."

’Destroy it?’

’He’d be thrilled if the man broke the agreement.’

At this, He Shujun’s expression changed. "Why so rushed! It takes time to deploy men...!"

However, his only answer was the sight of Cheng Zongyang’s back as he walked out the door.

"You bastard!!" He Shujun growled, grinding his teeth. His gaze fell upon the Beast Hide Scroll on the table, turning chillingly cold.

Then, he immediately went to arrange his men.

’Minor details could wait; the main task was at hand!’