ã€ŠBattle Royale of the Sinnersã€‹


 Chapter 1

    Chapter 1

    Chapter 1

    The sky was covered by tens of thousands ck clouds . The sound of cries, death throes, rain storm, and asionally the sound of thunder were mixing together .

    "Follow the child of heaven!"

    "Follow the prince!"

    "The Han is dead!"

    "Long live Yellow Turbans!"

    Below the sky lied the battlefield, a young man wearing a yellow headband and a full set of leather armor was charging into the Imperial army formation . Behind his back, a formation of militias, wearing simr yellow head bands and bandanas, were also charging into the opposite files of formation .

    "Zhang Tong is isted . Surround him!"

    "Stop the Yellow Turbans!"

    "That monster Zhang Tong is in front . Kill him!"

    "Protect the general!"

    The yellow headband young man in the front of his troops was Zhang Tong . He was swinging his de and danced into enemy soldiers dense formation, killing over dozen men in his path . However, he was isted from his troops . He did not make any mistake in troopsmanding or fell into any trap . He purposely dove into the enemy ranks .

    "Zou Jing, you coward . How long are you going to keep hiding!?"

    Zou Jing, a general of the imperial force, who was being protected by his personal guards, was hiding timidly behind his guards back and was looking around for a chance to get away from this ce as fast as he could . His demeanor was nowhere of that of a dignified leader of a battalion .

    "Retreat! Sound the retreat!"

    Zou Jing shouted as if it were hisst word in his life . He crossed with Zhang Tong in the past and witnessed Zhang Tong¡¯s "magic" . That "magic" still traumatized him even in his sleep . Seeing Zhang Tong within 100 meters in front of him caused his legs to go limb and all his strength escaped him .

    ****

    "Brother, we need to help the general . Let¡¯s hurry . "

    "Understood, I¡¯ll be going then . "

    "Hah! Second brother is trying to gain more credits . I won¡¯t lose to you . I¡¯m going too!"

    Three men on the horses, were leading a battalion of a thousand militia footmen in the front . Seeing that Zou Jing Battalion was in disarray and the Yellow Turbans Army were at advantage . They decided to rush in and help . Their troops were form for the purpose of eliminating the Yellow Turbans Army in the first ce so there was no reason not to help .

    The tall man in front spared no time and rushed in between Zou Jing and Zhang Tong .

    "Brat . You go no further . "

    A tall red face man with the blue dragon halberd, was charging forward and was making a bee-line toward Zhang Tong . A savage scruffy beard man and a schrly looking man on a full set of iron armor were following behind .

    ¡¯Damn it . Those three hypocrites really appear here . I thought they were in other toon . The novel version said they would appearter to help Zou Jing but it seems they were in the same toon from the start . ¡¯

    Zhang Tong recognized the people that wereing after him . They were the important historical figures in the East Han and Three Kingdoms eras . The person in front were none other than Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Liu Bei .

    ¡¯I only have one bullet left . Unless I can get close to Zou Jing and kill him with my de, I can¡¯t afford to use it on them . ¡¯

    Zhang Tong clenched onto his 9mm Glock pistol in his left hand . His right hand was still holding a bloodstained de . He was saving hisst bullet for the emergency . But now he was facing his dilemma .

    ¡¯I should have save some bullets . I was too immature . ¡¯

    Zhang Tong relied in his pistol too much in the past . Most of his bullets were wasted on ordinary soldiers before this battle .

    ¡¯Should I change trend of the history here and now for my benefits in the long run, or should I focus on the mission at hand . ¡¯

    He nced at his mission status in the corner of his eyes .

    **Main Mission**

    Mission Clear Condition: Kill Zou Jing .

    Mission Fail Condition: You die, Zou Jing escape, or time limit exceeded .

    Mission Clear Reward: 10,000 years of lifespan . Bonus experiences for all your active skills .

    Mission Failure: Your location will be shown on the system map to other yers for 1 year .

    Time Limit Remaining: 1 hour 39 minutes

    System Note: Bowsette is bae .

    ******************

    ¡¯No, I have to finish the mission or I¡¯m dead . The punishment for failure is too harsh . ¡¯

    Zhang Tong dreaded the other yers . They were all otherworlders just like him and all of them had at least one unique cheat in their arsenal . Therefore, revealing his location on the HUD map were tantamount to a suicide .

    ¡¯I wanted to kill you three idiots so bad . But it seems you are fated to live on a little longer . ¡¯

    Zhang Tong looked in front of him, locating Zou Jing and his personal guards .

    ¡¯Roughly 40-50 meters between the target and me . I can do it . ¡¯

    "Time Stop!"

    Zhang Tong shouted . The atmosphere around him suddenly paused and the world became greyscale . The rain drops and mud-water-ssh on the ground paused in mid-air . Guan Yu and his horse that were charging at him stopped in mid-motion . The chaotic ambience screams became silent . Only Zhang Tong retained his movement, the yellow clothes on him were the only color remained in the world and so his consciousness .

    ************************************

    **Skill Status**

    [Time Stop] LV . 2

    - Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 10 seconds .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    System Note: Try activating this skill by shouting "The W*rld", you will be surprised!

    [Firearms Creation] LV . 1

    - Create any firearm or bullet of your choice .

    - Currently only handguns and handgun bullets can be created

    Skill Cost:

    1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet

    50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice

    Skill Restriction: Can only create one handgun a day or one bullet a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    System Note: Try curving the bullet . It looks cool when you can do it . What? You can¡¯t? SHAME!

    ************************************

    Zhang Tong ignored the paused motion of the charging Guan Yu and sprinted toward Zou Jing . Although full sprinting 50 meters in 10 seconds was easy for any healthy adults . However, in this battlefield, the ground were muddy and unleveled, and there were many enemies and obstacles blocking Zhang Tong¡¯s path . So he had to put every ouch stamina he had remain in this sprint .

    [Time remaining 3 seconds...]

    [Time remaining 2 seconds...]

    ¡¯Just a little more¡¯

    Zhang Tong managed to bypass all soldiers along the way and stood directly in front of Zou Jing . He hurriedly swung his de, loping off Zou Jing¡¯s head in midair . Then he used the remaining seconds to run off a distance from the troops . He needed that distance to protect himself from the immediate revenge and made an impact on psychological of the remaining troops .

    [Time is up . The flow will be resumed . Good luck you mofo . ]

    The world regained colors and motions . The chaotic shouts continued as if it were never paused . However, Zou Jing troops discovered that Zhang Tong suddenly disappeared from his previous spot .

    "What!"

    "How the hell!?"

    "It¡¯s that magic again!"

    The soldiers were confused for the moment before anothermotion broke out in another location .

    "General!"

    "Lord Zou Jing!"

    Zou Jing¡¯s head that were loped into the air resumed its motion and dropped itself on the ground . Zhang Tong also reappeared in the distance with his bloodstained de .

    Even Guan Yu and co . were shocked . Their eyes were opened wide as if they were about to pop out of its socket . Zou Jing¡¯s soldiers were worse . Some of them had shed with the Yellow Turbans under Zhang Tong¡¯s lead once before and they had witnessed the same magic happened . Their face lost all of their blood and despair were showing in their eyes .

    **Ding**

    [Mission Aplished . You are rewarded 1,000 years of lifespan and 50 skill experience points for each of your active skills . ]

    [Time Stop has increased to LV . 3]

    [Firearms Creation has increased to LV . 2]

    [The next mission will be issued after all yerspleted their missions . Please stay tuned . *Wink* *Wink*]

    ¡¯Still obnoxious as ever . This goddamn system . ¡¯

    Zhang Tong cursed in his mind . There were no happiness shown on his face after hepleted his mission . They were more like a torture to him but entertainment for the higher up above the skies . He knew that the next mission would always be harder than the previous one . After all, this were not the first mission hepleted .

    ¡¯It would be best if the next one won¡¯t involve other yers . For now, I have to solve the major issue at hand . ¡¯

    Zhang Tong nced at Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Liu Bei, who were keeping distance on vignt .

    Guan Yu felt chill running though his spine . He had never witnessed something this supernatural before . And now one of the supernatural thing appeared in front of him as his opponent . The bravery he had shown just now disappeared from his mind like smoke . He had heard the rumor that Zhang Jiao was a sorcerer, and now his son just shown his "magic" in front of him .

    "Didn¡¯t you lots want a piece of me? Where is your bravery now? Oh right, there were old saying that only brave men can be soldier, but I¡¯m seeing no soldier . Hell, I doubt there were even men in front of me . "

    Guan Yu and Liu Bei frowned . They didn¡¯t exactly understand what Zhang Tong were talking about . But they sensed that they were indirectly cursed somehow .

    "Bah! You think you are a god with that parlor trick . A child of heaven? Kaak! Ptui! Your father is just a delusional schr! He was so delusional that your mother abandoned you for a new man in hell!"

    Zhang Tong frowned . He knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to provoke the three brothers into a fight easily after showing his "magic" . So he had attempted to buy time and tried to rouse Zhang Fei into a one on one fight . He got cursed back and it pained him . He wanted to tear Zhang Fei into shred but Zhang Tong had to calm down .

    Zhang Tong desperately needed time to catch up his breath . He also needed his troops to catch up to him . Once his troops came close, so he could announce that Zou Jing was dead, and could bluff Zou Jing¡¯s remaining troops into surrender or retreat . But if he were to announce it now, he would definitely get himself killed by the revenge of the remnant soldiers . Zhang Tong was still isted within Zou Jing Army after all .

    ¡¯I need one more magic to seal the coffin . It has to be shy . The impact should be so severe to the point that they can get scared shitless . If I could lure one of them over and finish it with a bang...¡¯

    ¡¯I hope the Glock can still work in this heavy rain, or I¡¯ll be doomed . ¡¯

    Zhang Tong had another risky n in his mind . He breathed deeply and started speaking .

    "My father, Zhang Jiao, may be a bit silly in the head, but he fought the corruption for his people! For that, I¡¯m proud of him . My mother left the world with a smile on her face . She died giving me life, so I¡¯m proud of her and grateful to her . But you ... you ... and you"

    Zhang Tong slowly pointed at Zhang Fei, then Guan Yu and Liu Bei . Then he slowly shout at them word by word .

    "When the people were suffering from famine and disease, you became bandit, tormenting us . "

    "When themoners bled from the corrupted official and high taxed, you were still a bandit, bleeding us further . "

    "When we, themoners, the victims, fought back, you sided with those corrupted officials . "

    "When we were branded traitor, you guys were celebrating in the peach garden . "

    "Your parents must be proud of you as well . They raised you so well that one of you became a bandit, another one of you was a psychopath murderer and the biggest one of you became so delusional to the point that you thought of yourself as the old emperor¡¯s descendant even though you were just a straw shoes seller!"

    Liu Bei and Guan Yu¡¯s face turned ugly . Although they were annoyed from Zhang Tong sarcasm, but they held themselves back . They were still afraid of the "magic" . If Zhang Tong were to blink again, who knew which head would fly .

    They didn¡¯t know anything about the story behind the Yellow Turbans . All they had heard were all from the officials, that the rebellion was plundering viges and rob innocent people . It made them think back about the hidden story behind the rebellion and which information was more believable .

    "I want your life!"

    Zhang Fei shouted angrily and charged directly at Zhang Tong .

    "Yide, NO!!"

    "Brother wait!!"

    ¡¯Gotcha . ¡¯

    A smile appears on Zhang Tong¡¯s face as he raised the pistol, aimed at Zhang Fei, and pulled the trigger .

    BANG

 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2

    Chapter 2 ¨C Hell, Tong and Friday

    The realm of Hell, the realm that were created by to contained the certain fallen angel by the gods . This ce were currently used for torturing the grave sinners whomitted various crimes, or went against themandments of the gods, or not following the moral codes of society in their previous life when they were human .

    There were 9 levels separating different levels and types of the sinners . The higher the level, the more severe of the crime and the sins theymitted . Each level contained different kinds of punishments waiting for new sinners . It also trapped the residents here for the rest of eternity, unless any kind savior woulde to pardon them from their crimes .

    The fifth level of Hell was called the hell of wraith . It contained sinners thatmitted any crime out of hatred . There were no clean ground on this level but muddy and slimy stinking ck swamp, AKA the river Styx . Anyone who touched this water would be overwhelmed with anger or drunk by hatred . They would lose their sanity and assault anything and everything that could move . There were over millions of naked people roaming here . Men, women alike, were busying tearing each other apart, while several devils were flying around to oversee their respective responsibility zone . No matter how many times the sinners died or how many times their bodies were militated, they would always be resurrected and healed . It was made so the sinners could suffer eternal pain .

    There were also several grotesque rocks in the water . The rocks, which looked like they were made out of human fresh, intestines and blood vessels, were popping up to the surface of the water and then dove back into the water as if they were alive . Some rocks actually had mouth and teeth . One of them opened its mouth to take a bite on one of the sinners . It chewed loudly and fiercely over and over again, then spat out whatever left in its mouth, and dove back into the swamp .

    In this floor, a mud-soak dirty naked man were standing in the knee-high swamp, holding a disfigured head by the eye sockets, were mming the unknown head into the lying limbless man¡¯s body on the mud water .

    The man was called Tong . He was one of the sinner who murdered someone in his previous life out of hatred . He was an honest policeman who just graduated from the military police school . Unfortunately during his life, he identally offended a teenage-immature-son of a prominent politician in a nightclub while Tong was doing his job .

    Ping, the prodigal son of the politician took revenge by killing both Tong¡¯s parents . After he was arrested just for half a day, Ping got out of jail scot-free without any charge .

    The incident published in the news and several social media . Everyone knew that the prominent politician was behind the release . But none of the official, judge or attorney were willing to go against Ping and his father . Several news station even reported that the death of Tong¡¯s parents was an ident . Ping even mocked Tong in the live press conference in the news station he owned .

    Tong flied into rage . He stormed into the politician¡¯s resident, killed Ping and his mother, and crippled the politician before he was shot to death by the resident bodyguards .

    . . .

    "St-Stop, please . I-I¡¯m sorry . Please stop already . "

    The limbless body cried .

    "Hmm . Nope . Sorry bitch . I need to kill you another 349 times more to hit the current quota . I only killed you 651 times this afternoon . There is also the dinner quota, the night quota, the mid-night one, the after mid-night and the dawn . So ... do your best . "

    Tong smiled happily .

    Unlike the other sinners, Tong was the only one that was smiling andughing . He was currently one of the two sinners that was sober from the swamp toxic . Although every other sinners were still poisoned and drunk by the swamp, they instinctively avoided and tried to not get themselves noticed by Tong . The other sinner, which was immune to the swamp, was none other than the limbless man, which were being pummeled by Tong .

    Ironically, the limbless man was Ping . He also suffered the consequences of killing Tong¡¯s parents .

    "I still don¡¯t understand . What¡¯s the fun of beating the same guy over and over for a millennia?"

    A cheerful female voice sounded behind Tong . Behind him, a gorgeous white jaded-like skin female devil, who were wearing sunsses and two pieces of skin-revealing-bikinis, were chilling on the beach chair on the back of a luxurious super yacht . She sipped the cocktail in her hands deliciously as if the rotten odor of the swamp of the river Styx didn¡¯t exist .

    "The same question right back at you . What¡¯s the fun of cruising in the middle of the river Styx? All you can see here are a bunch of naked lunatics and flying hyenas . "

    Tong didn¡¯t bother looking back at the devil . He was used to her presence . Tong had been here for over 450,000 years of Hell calendar, and he came across many kinds of devils, angels and monster-looking-alike residences . The devil girl behind his back, who called herself Friday, had always visited him at least once a day . Sometimes she remained with him for the whole day .

    For some reason the Friday always came to show off her model like figured and her 36D assets . When Tong first had seen her, he couldn¡¯t help but had a natural chemistry reaction on his crotch . However, when he witnessed a random male sinner tried to assault Friday and got blown by her into smithereens . After the assant was resurrected, she dragged the poor sod onto her ship to repeatedly castrate him . It continued for days and nights . The simr incidents happened every times a male sinner lustfully charged at Friday or identally got on Friday¡¯s yacht . Tong¡¯s lust waspletely killed . He became immune to Friday¡¯s seduction ever since .

    "Hey, it¡¯s fun to have someone to talk to, you know? Do you know how boring it is be by myself without someone to talk to for a million years? Everybody here acts like zombies in those B grade movies . My fellow devils all have poop in their brains . Some of them had nothing but P*n*s and Vagi** . You are the only sane person I can talk freely to in this hell . "

    "Then how about you talk to this dude instead of me . "

    Tong pointed at Ping .

    Friday nced at Ping . Even though Ping was also immune to the river Styx toxic, her eyes and face didn¡¯t hide the disgust feeling toward him .

    "No way in hell I¡¯m talking to that mess of a fresh . His EQ and IQ even lower than a pile of the imp¡¯s shit . I have my standard of who I want to make friends with, you know?"

    Friday pouted . She waved her hand, and Ping was thrown into a rock mouth nearby . The rock opened its mouth and caught Ping happily . Ping got brutally chewed afterwards .

    "Joking aside, I have something important to tell you . Come up here and take a shower . You stinks . "

    Tong stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Friday suspiciously on the super yacht .

    "You are not going to castrate me, right?"

    "...Why did you ask me that?"

    "Answer my question, please . "

    "..."

    "..."

    "...Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t . "

    "What the hell with that pause!? You were nning to do it, didn¡¯t you?"

    "I-I swear I didn¡¯t . I really have serious business to tell you!"

    "And why is it in the past tense? You weren¡¯t actually nning to but you are nning to do it now, right?"

    "Why are you so paranoid!? I seriously didn¡¯t, don¡¯t and won¡¯t do it!"

    "But you were staring at my naked crotch and avoided my eye contact every times I talk to you face to face . What the hell are you nning?"

    "I SAID I DON¡¯T . "

    Tong knew that Friday was really serious . But he still messed around with her . He too, was dying out of boredom . He needed someone make a random conversation with to keep his sanity .

    Tong and Friday ended up bickering at each other for a while . Finally, Tong agreed to enter the yacht to take a bath before he crossed the line, or Friday would get too angry . Bathing after 450,000 years refreshed him . He donned in a clean white robe and sat down on the bed in a double bedroom . Friday was already there waiting for him . She sat down on the bed opposite side of him .

    "So what¡¯s the deal?" Tong asked .

    "There¡¯s an opportunity for you to get out of this hell . "

    "How?"

    "It¡¯s like this ..."

    Friday exined . Once every 100,000 Hell calendar years, the gods and devils always hold a redemption program for a sinner who behaved properly and shown sign of repent of his/her sins . The sinner, Tong, would be chosen to take part and redeem himself that he deserved to be with the gods .

    The program was a trial that the sinner had to reincarnate into a mortal human once more . This time the gods would allowed the sinner to retain the memories of his previous life . And the gods also gave the right to create a personal skill that could be taken along . During his new life, the gods would judge Tong if he was using his knowledge and his created skill for the greater goods or not . If he did so, all the crimes he did in the previous life before he came to hell would be pardoned, and he would have the right to be a resident in the realm of the gods .

    "The program will be held in about 149 years from now . I¡¯m telling you this in advanced so you can be prepared . "

    Tong nodded . The program was good to him . He was sick of this ce anyway . The reason he repeatedly beat up Ping was to intimidate other sinners to stay away from Tong . He, too, didn¡¯t want to suffer pain or death from being continuously killed and resurrected . However, he was still skeptical about the small details .

    "It sounds good at nce . But how am I going to prepare myself when I¡¯m in hell?"

    Friday smiled brightly .

    "Don¡¯t worry . I¡¯ve prepared everything just for you . "

    Friday stood up and walk to an empty area in the bed room . She waved her hand and a rectangr transparent case, showingputerponents inside, appeared out of thin air . On one of theponents, the brand "MVIDIA" were inscribed on the outeryer . Then she waved her hand again . A long curve monitor appeared this time . Then she nimbly arranged the cables and plugs . Then aplete PC, a monitor, a mouse and a PC tablended there on the previous empty spot . The whole processed took only 2 seconds toplete .

    "... . "

    "How is it? Speechless right?"

    "...Yes, I¡¯m speechless . "

    "Hahaha, now do you know great I am . "

    "Yes, yes, you are great . Which bring me a question ..."

    "Ask away . "

    "You always said you were bored and had nothing to do, right?"

    "Yep!"

    "Had ite to your mind that you could always create this thing to kill your times instead of rolling around kepting back to me andin that you had nothing to do?"

    "..."

    "..."

    "Ah!"

    "Don¡¯t "Ah" me!"

    . . .

    "I have another question . "

    "Ask away . "

    "Don¡¯t you have the red branded graphic card? The green one sucks . "

    " . . . No, you suck . "

    . . .

    A few minutester after the awkward moments .

    "There¡¯s even the inte in hell . "

    Tong was bbergasted . The image of devils and hell in his mind was cracked after he got on to this yacht and experienced Friday and her luxurious life style . Looking at Friday nearby, another PC set were ced there . Friday were wearing a headphone and a VR, screaming and waving her controllers around . If he were to see a city full of devils, living the life like humans, Tong was sure he would lose his mind .

    "So, now we have the inte . What should I be looking for or researching for the remaining 149 years?"

    Friday pulled away her VR and headphone . Her face was solemn . She looked straight into Tong¡¯s eyes for moment, then she closed her eyes and frown . She seemed to be deep in thought . She remained in that motion for 5 minutes, then she snapped open her eyes .

    "What I¡¯m telling now is supposed to be an inside information . Don¡¯t you tell anyone!"

    Friday whispered . Tong nodded . He had no friend here in hell other than Friday anyway .

    "You will be reborn into a citizen of the ancient China . The year of your birth should be around 165 AD . "

    "Reincarnate into the past?"

    "You can say that . Ever heard of Romance of the Three Kingdoms?"

    "I¡¯m familiar with it . It¡¯s that era?"

    "Yes . It will be a chaotic time when you grow up into an adult there . The trial will be impossibly difficult because there will be killing and wars for a long period of time . "

    Tong frown deeply . The trial would judge the behavior of the sinner . If he were to kill someone again, would he be sent back to hell? Why would the gods send him there? It didn¡¯t make any sense .

    Friday continued whispering .

    "Secondly, the trial is a hoax . There will be no judge or any karma involve . You will only need to survive . "

    "Wait . Wh-!"

    Friday hurriedly closed Tong mouth .

    "Don¡¯t shout . Ears are everywhere here . "

    Tong nodded .

    "That¡¯s why the skill that you get to create will affect your entire life . So create something that gives you more chance to survive . Something like a defensive skill . "

    "I was nning to create something like a search engine system that can ess the modern inte . So it is a no-go?"

    "That was unnecessary . Why do you think I¡¯m giving you ess to the inte?"

    Tong smacked his forehead . Friday was right . He could memorize the rted content and necessary information right now, for example, how to manage the crop rotation or gunpowder form . Everything could be learnt if he put his time on it and paid attention to it . He had over 140 years to cram everything into his brain and soul . He would waste the precious cheat for nothing if he wished for a search engine .

    "A defensive skill, huh?"

    Tong¡¯s brain started working after was not intensively used for over 450,000 years . He tried to think of something that could be used as an attack skill . At the same time, it could be used as a fail-safe defensive skill too .

    Seeing that Tong was being deep in thought . Friday was in a daze . Then she was fidgeting . Her face were tinge red . She hesitated a moment before she asked .

    "Tong, can I ask you for a favor?"

    Tong snapped out of his thought and looked at Friday .

    "Sure, you kind of risk yourself to help me . It¡¯s me that owing you a favor . "

    "T-Then, could you ... could you live ... I meant could you stay on the ship with me until you are sent to the trial?"

    Tong paused and observed Friday . Her face was red to her ears . Her eyes were moist to the point that he thought she was crying . He was not that inexperience when it came to the rtionship between man and woman . All sign shown that a g had been raised . But he could also misunderstand her intention and got himself a friendzone g at the same time .

    ¡¯I am an idiot . I was too paranoid after all . ¡¯

    It wasn¡¯t hard to tell that Friday was sincere . Thinking back of the older days, Friday always came to talked to him every opportunity she had, but not to other sinners, and hardly to other devils .

    Tong had always thought that Friday was an evil devil who were trying to seduce random man into a trap of endless tortures . He started to regret what he treated Friday in the past .

    Tong smiled .

    "Okay . If you don¡¯t mind . "

    Friday smiled widely . From Tong¡¯s perspective, it was the brightest and the most beautiful smile he had ever seen in his life .

 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3

    Chapter 3 ¨C Preparation

    100 Years passed by after Tong moved into Friday¡¯s yacht .

    Tong was still sitting in front of theputer, reading several pages of Wegigigipedia . He already crammed several strategic knowledge for the trial, such as how to make soap, medical practices and etc .

    ¡¯It would be best if I could pursue the career of doctors . ¡¯

    In the Three Kingdoms era, doctor was a prestigious career . Should someone be a doctor, he would be worshiped by the nobles, officials, and sovereigns . If you could even cure any rare disease that no doctor could do . The emperor and the imperial courts would lower themselves to invite the doctor to work for them .

    ¡¯If Hua Tuo was worshiped as a father of Medicine in ancient China because he discovered natural herbs and cooked them into anesthetic and also capable of performing surgeries . . . ¡¯

    ¡¯Then if I bring in antibiotics, or vines for Influenza, measles and the likes, wouldn¡¯t I be the God of Medicine of the world?¡¯

    Tong fantasied himself as a dignified doctor worshiped by all in the ancient time for a couple minutes before he snapped out of his delusion .

    ¡¯No, it won¡¯t be easy . ¡¯

    Tong never overestimated himself . He knew that acquiring the necessity materials and the processes of making such vines, was an impossibly difficult achievement .

    Not only he had to make a microscope to examine the virus, he would risk himselfing into contact with it . There were no protection suit that could protect himself from viruses in the era . So he could even die from sickness before he couldplete the vines .

    ¡¯Let alone vines, even treating a patient using only knowledge from the inte can also be difficult . ¡¯

    There was a saying that ¡¯You can¡¯t learn to swim by reading books¡¯ . Tong was not confident that he could be a doctor without real experiences . Even a medical student had to jump into the hospital battlefield as a resident for years, in order to experience the real thing and got coached by their seniors, before he or she could be called a full-fledged doctor .

    Tong wanted to bring any random sinner on the boat for his medical practice . But he couldn¡¯t find anypleted body, let alone someone with clean tissues .

    He asked Friday to help him tied up a sinner after having him killed and resurrected . The sinner¡¯s tissue would slowly rot itself after the resurrection . The innards and blood were all ck . Not a single trace of humanity remained .

    Friday told him that once a sinner died in this level for a number of times, the poison would integrated into the soul . The person would not retain his human body anymore, but a zombie body that repeatedly rotted and healed itself .

    The number of death that Tong had in this hell was so low that he could count it with both hands . He was immune to the hatred gas of the river Styx from the first day till today .

    Because he was sane, he managed to avoid any unnecessarybat with the others . He did die a few times though .

    Without any chance to try the surgery process for real, Tong estimated that he could only apply the first aid basic to the daily life or improve the hygiene of the people in the next world with his current ability .

    ¡¯Hua Tuo, to achieve something like that in those trouble times . You really are a god . If I can meet you there, I will beg you to be your disciple . ¡¯

    . . .

    Tong closed his PC and massaged his temples . He then looked at Friday, who were snoring on the bed with a defenseless posture . Tong sighed .

    ¡¯Good thing I didn¡¯t make a move on her . It was a false rm after all . ¡¯

    During the times Tong was still struggling in the mud of hell, the only interaction they had were talking while Friday was rolling on her ship . Tong could only see her from a distance down below .

    Now, they were pretty much living in the same room in the yacht . He could understand her more than the past . To Tong¡¯s discovery, Friday had the mentality of a grade-schooler even though she had the busty body of a young women in her 20s .

    100 Years ago, Tong thought that he raised a waifu-g with Friday and were nning to move into the next step of a rtionship . Good thing that he held himself back .

    All she did in the 100 years together were all ying and spending times together . She didn¡¯t have any aura of a vile seductive devil that Tong interpreted in the past . She always pestered Tong to y video games together or go swimming in the pool on the back of the yacht . There was no further sign of anything like romantic feeling toward him .

    ¡¯She must have been lonely . ¡¯

    Tong thought to himself . He walked carefully, afraid of waking up Friday, and exited the room . Friday¡¯s eyes snapped open when he closed the door .

    Tong walked out of the room to the back of the yacht, getting some fresh air . He took a deep breath . He paused for a second before started coughing like trying to throw up something that invaded his lung . He had forgotten that he was still cruising on the fragrant river Styx .

    ¡¯I never get used to this smell . ¡¯

    Mysteriously, the river Styx changed its odor every day . It was a mechanism specially made for this river so no sinner could have a rxing time here .

    Even if someone were to gain his sanity and lucky enough to find a ce to rest, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape the torment . The person would inhale the poison gas and it would corrode his lung little by little until the person was choked to death .

    "Oh? You¡¯re up . Want some coffee?"

    There was a guest sitting on the edge of the pool on the back of the yacht . A stunning beautymia, who looked like in herte 20s¡¯, was there . She had straight long purple hair that reached her waist . A pair of brown seashells bras were covering the private part of her F-cup sized chests, and a ck strip of cloth was covering her eyes .

    Below her waist, there was no human leg but a body of a snake . Her brown scaled snake tail, matching her seashells, were moving around in the pool .

    Her name was Medusa, the chief director of the fifth Hell .

    100 Years ago, Medusa came knocking on Friday¡¯s ship on the very first day Tong was invited on board . They were busted on the first day that Friday leaked the inside information . It seemed they were monitored all along .

    When Tong had first seen Medusa, he almost screamed and called her "L*ncer G**gon!" .

    Betraying Tong¡¯s expectation of punishment, Medusa gave Tong a meaningful nce . She only sighed and said "Keep it moderate, and don¡¯t get caught . "

    Medusa left them and disappeared for a week . Then she came back with her huge luggage . She gave Tong some men clothes, and asked Friday to give Medusa a private room . Since then, she also came to live in Friday¡¯s yacht .

    Tong and Medusa often exchanged a small talk . He was always smiling while trying to swallow back his drools form times to times .

    Tong usually sneaked out of his room to see Medusa when he had a chance .

    After Tong met Medusa, his hormone which he had suppressed all these 450,000 years had resurfaced . Tong couldn¡¯t help but attracted to the white-smoothie-bountiful-bouncing-half-naked pairs on Medusa¡¯s chest . He always sneaked a nce at her assets .

    Medusa, of course, noticed Tong¡¯s lecherous nce . At first, she frown and mumbled something to herself, as if she was talking to someone . Then she shown a face that had suddenly been surprised by something and smiled sincerely at Tong . She no longer minded his eyes .

    Her eyes were warm and kind but yet concerned, like the eyes of a mother looking at her naughty child .

    One day, Medusa jested Tong if he wanted to take a tour to the second level of hell, the Hell of Lust, to pick up a random subus for fun . Tong eagerly epted, but it seemed the conversation was heard by Friday . Friday dragged Tong back into her room and beat him up for an entire day .

    . . .

    Today, Tong didn¡¯te to meet Medusa to ogle her boobs . But he was troubled about the preparation for the Trial . The remaining time he had to prepare was getting short .

    "Can¡¯t I really create a passive skill?" Tong asked

    "No . Passive skills cannot be leveled up . You will die failing the mission before you are even 10 . "

    Tong still couldn¡¯t decide what skill he would create .

    After Medusa moved into the yacht, she evacuated all sinners, devils, angels and other residents from the radius of 100 kilometers around the ship . She then casted a circr transparent dome spell afterwards . Medusa told Tong and Friday that it was a spell that could block the surveince from the higher-ups .

    Since then, the three dropped the charade and talked freely about the trial .

    "Failing a mission is death . Always keep that in mind . "

    100 Years passed since Friday had warned him about the Trial . The additional rules was announced to the inside personals . This Trial this time followed the old rules that had been used several times before in the previous trials .

    The Trial this time was called "Mission Rush" . The sinner who took part of this program would receive one random mission, which would be stacking one after another . A mission would appear once a year continuously until the sinner died from the "Punishment" or died from other causes .

    There would be 100 sinners in total, sending into a different fragmented worlds . The fragmented worlds were the copies of the Earth of the past, but it contained no soul and no immortal .

    Each world contained the same setting . Each sinner started out at the same ce, same time, same condition . No reincarnator would meet each other during the trial .

    During the process, their new life would be broadcasting live all over Heaven and Hell . Several betting houses would be opened for gambling . It was a traditional festival for the immortals .

    The timescale between worlds would be 1:1, one day in Heaven or Hell would equal one day in the trial world . Unlike the timescale between Hell, Heaven, and the human Earth, one hour on earth was equal to 100 years in Heaven or Hell . The gods elerated the timescales of the immortal worlds, so they could have easier time to handle unforeseen circumstances on mortal worlds . Or else, they would be dead busy checking people¡¯s karma and not be able to do anything else more productive .

    Once the sinners died or eventually died, they would be bought back to the Netherworld . There, the immortals would vote if they enjoyed and approved of the lifestyle and the deeds of each sinner . In the end, it would be a poprity vote, not karma judgement .

    If the immortals favored the sinner, the sinner could choose either bing a citizen of Heaven, or bing a devil in Hell . The sinner could also forget everything and reincarnate as a child of a wealthy billionaire or a royalty on Earth and enjoyed the rest of his life .

    But if they don¡¯t, the sinner would return to the previous Hell he was assigned into .

    There were also the cruel sides of the Trial . For a soul to be matured and bepleted, a soul had to reside in a mortal body for at least 20 years . If someone were to die before he reached an age of 20, the soul memory would be erased . He would forget everything in his previous life because it was not synchronized with the vessel¡¯s brain yet .

    So if a sinner failed to live past 20s, he woulde back to the Netherworld as a retard in the sinner body . Which is why Friday was so frantic about having Tong created a defensive skill .

    "Only active skills should be your choice . Although it¡¯s costly but it¡¯s your life saving skill . "

    "Friday said this too . By the way, do you have the yback or records of the previous trials? I need a reference . "

    "I¡¯m sorry . All records were stored in Heaven . I can¡¯t go to heaven . "

    "Oh, I¡¯m sorry . I didn¡¯t know . "

    "But I can tell you about the skill ofst few trail champions . What they did was ..."

    Medusa was about tell Tong about the skill and usage of the previous champions . Friday mmed the door open with a bang, and dashed toward Tong .

    "I was sleeping for a minute and you sneak out to ogle Meddy again?"

    "We were talking about my trial! What the heck?"

    "If you have times to talk to her, go meditate or go read a few wet-dream web novels . Don¡¯t you need an idea?"

    "Yeah, that¡¯s what I¡¯m doing . Hmm?"

    Tong paused . He thought of something in a sh of a second ago but he immediately forgot .

    "Friday, what did you say again?"

    "About you have an idea?"

    "No . Before that . "

    "Huh? About you go meditate or read some novels?"

    "Before that . "

    "Err . You¡¯ve got too much time to talk to Meddy?"

    " . . . "

    " . . . "

    "...time..."

    Tong stared straight at Friday¡¯s eyes . His eyes were sparkling .

    "Time ... Time! Yes! IT¡¯S TIME!! Friday, you¡¯re a genius!"

    Without thinking, Tong grabbed Friday¡¯s cheeks and pulled her into a kiss . Their lips touched for a second before Tong dashed into his room and grabbed up a pen and a paper . Then he ran back and started jotting on a table something with his hands, moving and leaving some after images .

    ¡¯That¡¯s right . Time! TIME! TIME!!! PRAISE THE GREAT LORD D*O!¡¯

    Tong wasughing like a hyena having a concert . He was so absorbed into the ideas that he didn¡¯t notice his surroundings .

    Friday was still standing on the same spot, stunning, sneaking nces at Tong . Her hands were touching her lips and her face flushed like a tomato .

    "My first kiss ..." Friday muttered to herself .

    Medusa witnessed everything . She sigh to herself and shook her head .

    ¡¯100 Years passed and they still have a long way to go . ¡¯

    Medusa thought . She then looked at Tong .

    ¡¯The time is running out . Godfather can rig the trial but there¡¯s no guaranteed . ¡¯

    ¡¯He might not evening back if thing goes south . ¡¯

    ¡¯This silly daughter is too na?ve and Tong is too foolish to catch the sign . ¡¯

    ¡¯I need to push them a bit . ¡¯

    Medusa grinned while rolling her hair with her finger .

    . . .

    On the second level of Heaven . Heaven of Demi-Immortal .

    On this realm, only those who possessed at least 1,000 positive karma points, evaluated from the deed of the previous life or the total of thebined karma of the current life, could reside .

    The other condition to be here, was to nevermit a crime that harmed someone¡¯s life in the previous life .

    Zim, a chubbyte-middle-age woman with wrinkles all over her face, was busy working on aputer . The ce she was working in was simr to a TV station on earth . In her previous life, she was once a high-ss celebrity that appeared often in every Hi-Society parties . She even owned a TV station .

    Ironically, she became an employee here . She always bowed down her head to every seniors and bosses and never argue back . She was treated like a nobody .

    Despite the harsh treatment from the seniors and the disappointment of the reality of the realm of heaven, she was working harder than any of her colleagues . The colleagues misunderstood her as a workaholic .

    ¡¯The rules, checked . ¡¯

    ¡¯The mod, double checked . ¡¯

    ¡¯The candidates, triple checked . ¡¯

    ¡¯The programs, 70% . ¡¯

    ¡¯The macros, 20% . ¡¯

    ¡¯Linkage, 20% . ¡¯

    Zim looked at the check note . Then she turned to look at a bundles of documents in front of her . A picture of a man wearing a policeman uniform was clipped with the documents . There was a scribble on a yellow notepad attached to the picture . It was read as "Tong" .

    ¡¯It won¡¯t be long . Just a little bit more . ¡¯

    Zim thought . She didn¡¯t hide any killing intent she emitted . No one was there at the station anymore, because it was no longer working time . Zim was working there alone .

    If Tong were here, he would recognize thedy .

    She was none other than Ping¡¯s mother, the rtive that Tong killed alongside with Ping .

 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4

    Chapter 4

    One week remaining until the Trial deadline .

    In the sky above the Styx River of the Fifth Hell, a squad of seven angels flew by . Each angel was carrying a cubic shaped cage, with a ck mud dded sinner locked inside .

    An angel in the squad swooped down and shoved a limbless rotten body into his cage . Then he flew up into the air, joined back with his squad . The seven angels were gossiping while they were roaming the Fifth Hell .

    "That¡¯s thest one on the list . "

    "That¡¯s the minus two hundred grand guy, right . "

    "Ah . "

    "Fudge . He¡¯s lucky . He should¡¯ve been thrown into the ninth level . "

    "We¡¯re done here, let¡¯s go back . "

    " . . . "

    "By the way, if I remember correctly, isn¡¯t it here Tong was sent to?

    "Hah! Yes, now that you mention it . "

    "Ah, oh yeah, the poord, right?"

    "He should be within that barrier dome . "

    "Hahaha! I can¡¯t wait for the show . "

    "Me too . "

    "Me three . "

    There was a scandal event going, gossiping among the angels and the devils . Over 450,000 years ago in Hell Calendar, a certain sinner was sent here, and interesting incident happened .

    The sinner was immune to all poison, curses or mental toxic of the River Styx . It was well known by all, that only those whose karma were over ten thousand positive, were immune to such .

    This immunity were the blessing of the gods . It was aiming for all angels who were doing their duty on this level .

    However, for such sinner with positive karma to be sent here would cause an uproar . It was found out that a demi-immortal employee, who were supposed to help the angels allocated the sinner, werex in the duty .

    The demi-immortal had only nced at the list of the crime that the sinnermitted, then send him to hell without looking at karma or good deeds the sinner had done in his life .

    The sinnermitted crime of murdering two people and cripple a politician for a life-time . Thus, his good deeds karma were overlooked .

    Anyone whomitted murdering would result in serious negative in karma . But that only applied if one killed an innocent .

    Surprisingly, one of the 2 victims were also grave criminal while the other was an innocent . The criminal that was murderedmitted many heinous deeds, such as human trafficking, drug dealing, ravaging underage schoolgirls and countless cases of homicides .

    Thus, killing such person wouldn¡¯t result in negative karma, nor increasing any karma . It ended up cancelled out each other . Killing someone was still against the code of conducts by the gods in the end .

    But the crippled man that the sinner had done in flipped the situation around .

    The crippled man had originally had been scheming a coup d¡¯etat . He even supported several terrorists and underground organizations overseas . He also bought over the police, judges and a few politicians, waiting for the day he became a dictator and stealing the wealth of a country .

    If the n had seeded, several hundred thousands of innocent people would have been lost . And several millions of citizens of the country would have been suppressed . Then it would also provoked a war with the other freedom-loving nations if they had any clear evidence of the connection with any terrorist organization .

    The special sinner crippled the politician man to satisfy his vengeance before he was shot to death . Because of the homicide and shooting, the opposition politic parties had enough reason to issue a search warrant, and legally raided the crippled man¡¯s resident .

    The result of the raid found shocked the entire world . Drugs, firearms, explosive materials, unknown-source stashed cashes andputer histories were dug out . The evidences from the raid flushed out several aplices, turning themselves in to reduce the punishment .

    As a result of the overwhelming evidences, the crippled man was charged high treason, had all his properties confiscated, and a life-time imprisonment in a solitary confinement, without any further chance to go into the higher court .

    Tong, the policeman, who died killing the crippled man¡¯s family members, was praised as a hero who died protecting his country . The country hold national funeral for him and his parentster . A statue was nned to be built on his tomb .

    For Tong to sacrifice himself to expose the hidden cmity of millions of people, and even recognized and worshiped by his fellow humans, from the heaven eyes, was indeed a heroic act . Even though Tong did it unknowingly .

    Thus, the deed gave Tong massive merits to the point that he no longer had negative karma from murdering Ping¡¯s mother, and ended up with over ten thousand positive karma points .

    In Heaven, someone with over 10,000 karma would have enough qualification to be an angel, or be able to live his life as an immortal in Heaven for the rest of eternity .

    Sending a good angel candidate to be a sinner in Hell was like a p to the face of the gods . The involved personals that made the mistake were sacked and reced on the spot .

    The head of the Archangels personally visited the deepest level of Hell, the hidden tenth level . He begged the Lord of Hell, who resided there, to return Tong to Heaven .

    The Lord of Hell refused, he even gave the archangel a harsh curses for abandoning a good soul .

    The Heaven then requested to allow Tong to choose a realm he wanted to be in on his freewill . But Hell Lord still refused .

    "Since the Heaven doesn¡¯t want him in the first ce, then he is mine!"

    It was a deration of the Hell Lord that pped the faces of Heaven further .

    Heaven and Hell were like different countries . Aside from the allocation when a soul first arrive in theherworld, they could not transfer, order, or kidnap someone in the other realm without the owner¡¯s permission . If such action were done, a war was guaranteed . Therefore, they both avoided confrontation as much as possible and been working alongside each other for millenniums .

    There was nothing the archangel could do, so he withdrawn .

    But as if fate was ying a prank on them, 450,000 Yearster, the mainputer server, responsible for choosing a random sinner into the Trial Program in the Heaven, rolled one hundred random lottery . And Tong happened to be one in the list to take the Traditional Trial .

    When the hundred Trial participant name list, personal data, and previous life deeds were announced, every citizens noticed the abnormality in Tong¡¯s karma . Theputer only picked the sinners in Hell that were suffering in the fifth through ninth level . How could someone with positive karma get picked up? And how had he been sent the Hell in the first ce .

    The entire scandal from ages back were resurfaced then it became a viral .

    . . .

    "Do you realize that you have be a celebrity of the 3 worlds?"

    "Did they know about my life?"

    "Yes . Your face . Your deed . A very heroic deed . "

    "Sister, if that¡¯s a joke . I can¡¯tugh to that . "

    Medusa was sitting on the edge of the ship while Tong was moving in the swamp, swinging his de in his hand towards a skeleton in front .

    Tong was already aware of how he could be immune to the River Styx poison . Medusa told him the three conditions of the person who could be immune . He just had to fulfill one .

    One was to have high positive karma, which Tong, Medusa, and every other angels here fulfilled this condition .

    Two was to let the others hit you without fighting back, which Ping achieved this by chance . Because he had no limb and couldn¡¯t fight back, he was repeatedly beaten by Tong and came back to his sense by himself .

    And third was natives that were born in Hell, such as Friday and other devils, mouth rocks and wandering monsters nearby .

    "Why? Doesn¡¯t every human want to be famous?"

    "Nope! Nope! So much NOPE! There¡¯s going to be over 300 billion people watching me 24/7 even when I¡¯m taking a poop . Hell, if I were to getid, everybody will see it too . So no thank you . "

    After Tong made decision of his cheat skill, Medusa forced him off the yacht, and had him fight with several skeleton soldiers that she created with every kinds of weapons for the remaining 49 years .

    At first Tong was clumsy with the sword, bow and spear . After Medusa coached him, he got the basics down .

    She had Tong started off fighting a skeleton on a one on one fight, then she increased the number of his opponents by one for each month passed .

    Each skeleton was using different weapons at first . But after the number of the skeleton reached 50, Medusa had all skeletons used the same kind of weapons . However, they will fight in a formation .

    The skeletons were as tall as Tong . But Tong¡¯s legs were half-knee into the swamp, restricted his movement, while skeletons were walking and skating on water .

    With that differences on the stance and footing, the skeletons would be two heads taller than Tong when they actually fought .

    Even though 49 years had passed, Tong never won against Medusa¡¯s skeletons even once . The swamp restricted his movement, so he got owned by the skeletons all the times .

    Tong suffered near-death injuries once every five minutes in average . But Medusa dragged him out and stopped the skeletons before they could kill Tong every times . Having Tong died here many times might cause soul damage and won¡¯t be good in the Trial .

    Now, there were over 500 skeletons, surrounding Tong in severalyers of formation . Tong¡¯s back got stabbed by seven spears at once .

    "Gah! This spear formation again!"

    Tong coughed out blood and kneeled into the swamp . He lost again .

    "Alright, that¡¯s enough . You don¡¯t have to train anymore . "

    Medusa stopped the skeletons and dragged Tong up the ship with her tail . Tong¡¯s injuries healed up within 5 seconds . Then Medusa thrown Tong into the swimming pool .

    "Take a bath . For the next week till the D-Day, you will rest . "

    Medusa nced with her sense, Friday was peeking them by the edge of the corridor inside the ship .

    ¡¯Now, for the final push . ¡¯

    Medusa smirked . She was barring Friday from interacting with Tong, causing her to throw tantrum for years .

    In Friday¡¯s entire life, she felt indifferent when she saw the thing of a man . She thought it was just something stinking and disgusting, but painful when it was cut off, yet fun for her to cut it off, whenever she saw any naked male sinner . When he saw Tong¡¯s little brother before she invited him into her ship, she also wanted to cut it off .

    Medusater reeducated her about the anatomy of humans and devils . Now she came into close contact and spending times with Tong for years, and she got her first kiss stolen by Tong . She finally became aware of the thing between man and woman .

    Sometimes, Medusa put Tong to sleep and inject him some aphrodisiac, causing him to have an erection in his sleep . Then he stripped Tong naked and taught Friday how a man body functioned, without touching or doing anything to Tong . Friday¡¯s head was always on smoke every times she attended this ss .

    Although she taught her in many different ways, in the end, with Medusa¡¯s interference, Tong and Friday hadn¡¯t talked to each other for 49 years .

    "Friday! Take Tong back to your room to take a bath . For the next 7 days till the trial, you two can do whatever you want . "

    Medusamanded and left them, leaving the nervous Friday .

    . . .

    Tong finished taking a bath in Friday¡¯s room . He walked out in a bathing robe while rubbing his hair with a white towel . Friday was sitting and fidgeting on the middle of her bed . The atmosphere was awkward .

    "You¡¯re not ying games today?"

    Tong asked .

    "No . "

    Friday replied . The room became silent again .

    "H-Hey . " Friday talked . Her voice was tremble .

    "What is it?"

    "If you passed the trial, which realm do you want to go?"

    "I-uh..."

    "You wille back here, right?"

    Friday¡¯s voice became more tremble . It was as if she was about to cry . There was only one week left to spend time together . She had a dream that Tong abandoned her to Heaven and she could no longer meet him again . The dream frightened her .

    Tong was stunned . He was about to say "Heaven" without thinking . Now watching the trembling Friday, the sentence "You wille back here, right?" was like a lightning striking into his heart, his mind, and his soul . He realized he almost made a biggest mistake he had ever done in his ever existence .

    Thinking back about the time they spent together, over 450,000 years was like eternity to Tong . But some parts of the conversation he had with Friday could still be remembered . The scenes of the exchanged conversation between him and Friday when he was in the mud and Friday was chilling on the ship could still be painted like a camera photo in his mind .

    The 100 years together in the yacht, they were ying games and swimming together, smiling andughing together, ying prank on each other when the other party let the guard down . When he went to sleep in his bed, Friday sometimes sneaked into his bed after he had already slept and cuddled with him till morning .

    Thest 49 years, Tong could only see Friday in a distance and could not talk to her . But he could notice that she would always look back at him . Medusa would punished him every times he approached Friday, and also punished Friday if she approached Tong too .

    Now that they could see each other, touch each other, and talk to each other . The first thing he was about to do was telling Friday that he would be leaving her?

    ¡¯I¡¯m an idiot, no I¡¯m a moron, NO! I¡¯M A FUCKING RETARD!!¡¯

    Tong walked towards Friday and sat on her bed . Then He soothed her by patting her head . A tear dropped from Friday¡¯s eye .

    "I wille back to you . "

    Tong¡¯s hand moved down and caressed her cheek, wiping a trace of tear drop with his finger . Friday looked up to Tong¡¯s eyes . Her eyes were still moist and trembling .

    "I promise, I wille back to you . "

    Tong reaffirmed .

    "Be it as a sinner or as a devil, I wille back to you . "

    Friday¡¯s eyes became wet . Tears were dropping like overflowing dam . She raised her shaking hands to touch Tong¡¯s hand that were ce on her cheek .

    "I¡¯ll be with you till the end of time . "

    "...You promise?" Friday asked with her choked voice .

    "I promise you..."

    Tong leaned his head towards Friday¡¯s head . His lib touched hers . Friday trembled for a second, then she closed her eyes, She wrapped her arms around Tong, embracing him, epting everything of him .

    Tong then gentlyy her on her bed . Their lib were stuck glued together . He peeled off her clothes one by one without rushing . Their tongues were ... .

    The further details shall be omitted .

    . . .

    ¡¯Good job, my daughter . ¡¯

    ¡¯And good job, my future son . ¡¯

    ¡¯It took you all a while, but the wait is worth it . "

    ¡¯I guess I don¡¯t have to use aphrodisiac anymore . ¡¯

    Medusa was sitting in her room, sensing her surroundings .

    "Godfather, the job is done . The rice has been cooked . "

    ...

    "Well done, Medusa . Stand by for the trial, I¡¯ll take care of the rest . "

    A static sounded vibrated in Medusa¡¯s mind .

 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5

    Chapter 5 - Conspiracy Part 1

    Today was the day that the Immortal Traditional Trial would be held .

    On the First Level Heaven, an iconic humongous colosseum situated there, with the height reached a staggering ten kilometers, higher than Mount Everest . The width and the length reached from horizon to the opposite horizon, 200 kilometers in width and 500 kilometers in length .

    Tong, Friday and Medusa was guided by an archangel, they arrived before the stadium . When Tong first caught a glimpse of the colosseum, he thought it was a fortress or something simr of the Great Wall of China .

    The trio were taken to the waiting lounge, standing by for the time of the trial .

    Tong and Friday sit side by side, holding hands and linking arms . Friday¡¯s head leaned on Tong¡¯s shoulder .

    Medusa sighed . Watching the couple, she had a headache .

    Last week, Medusa managed to hook up her foster daughter, Friday, with Tong . On the first day of their rtionship, Medusa peeked at them with her sense in secret .

    In the beginning, they just did what a newlywed couple in the first night would do, expressing their love and connecting their body . They treated each other with tenderness, warm, yearning and passion .

    Medusa even felt embarrassed witnessing such a loving scene . But a momentter, she noticed something unexpected happened .

    The first day was understandable for a yearning couple to satisfy each other . But the second day onward gave Medusa a headache .

    The love exchange didn¡¯t end with just one, two, five or ten rounds . Itsted days and nights .

    By mortal standard, a healthy man wouldn¡¯t be able to produce many "bullets" in short period in a day and consecutively "rapid fired" . Firing 10 rounds a day would already be pushing the limit of a man¡¯s stamina .

    In Hell, all sinner had a body than could regenerate itself a thousand times faster than a mortal, all fluid in the body included . The same applied to the native devil, whose constitution was already a thousand times stronger than a healthy sinner .

    As a result, Friday and Tong went on into the battlefield on the bed for the whole week . If Tong were hungry or thirsty, Friday would create some healthy juices into Tong¡¯s stomach directly . If Tong were sleepy, she would put her hands on Tong¡¯s head and he would be refreshed . If Tong wanted to relieve himself in a toilet, she would teleport the waste or feces within Tong¡¯s body outside to the god-know-where-it-all-went .

    The two threw away their shame and started exchanging in more wild positions . The sounds of sultry moaning and rhythmic "PA! PA! PA!" vibrated throughout the yacht .

    They became addicted to the carnal desire . Their tongues were sticking out like mutt and there were odd pink-heart-shaped symbol in their pupils .

    Medusa had to bust into their room on thest day and yanked the two away . Tong and Friday, being drunk by endless desire and lost their reason, tried to assault Medusa and force her into a 3P . Medusa knocked both of them out cold and tied them up separately .

    In the end, the couple were not allowed to have sex anymore, and were forced to meditate to regain their sense until someone came to pick them up .

    An archangel came to pick the three to the trialter . He tilted his head in confusion by the scene .

    ¡¯It¡¯s understandable that tying up a sinner before transporting him to heaven is a correct way to do . ¡¯

    ¡¯But why did this devil are tied, too?¡¯

    . . .

    Medusa looked at the clock in the waiting lounge, only an hour left till the event .

    ¡¯I hope godfather seeded¡¯

    ¡¯Well, he won¡¯t fail . He is good at this¡¯

    ¡¯Now, all we need to do is waiting for another 20 years and we will have a new member . ¡¯

    ¡¯He will be a high rank devil in no time . ¡¯

    ¡¯My work load is going to reduce by a lot if I make him my aide . ¡¯

    Medusa, watching the couple, grinned .

    ¡¯All ording to the n . ¡¯

    "I want to have sex again . " Friday muttered to Tong .

    Medusa facepalmed herself .

    . . .

    In the VVVIP Box Seat, a luxurious room with a one-side-ss facing the inner colosseum .

    A dandy white hair and full bearded elderly man, wearing a neat ck tuxedo suit with a bow tie, was sitting on a single couch, facing the rectangr ss . His muscles were ripped, even the suit couldn¡¯t hide his refined body .

    He touched his beard and closed his eyes in deep thought . He was all by himself in thisrge room .

    He was the most dignified person in Hell . But at the same time, he is the most infamous person in Heaven, the King of Hell, Morning Star .

    The space behind the couch trembled, the transparent air revealed an elder man with simr face with Morning Star, appearing out of thin air .

    He was wearing a white tuxedo and white gloves . He looked a bit thinner and had less muscle than the King Morning Star . On his back through his cloth, twelve thick glowing tentacles spreading out like wings .

    "That was a low blow, brother . " Comined the white tuxedo man .

    "Hah! Lying and sitting around won¡¯t get things done . Haven¡¯t you learned?"

    "I do, but still . Roping him in before the game has even begun, I¡¯ll still call it a low blow . The council is pretty pissed . "

    "Serve them right . Leave those hypocrites be . "

    The white angel, who has no beard, was the first generation of the archangel, the Head of the Archangel, Michael .

    Michael sighed .

    "Anyway, I¡¯vee to tell you that the skill has been prepared . You can check it in the GM menu . "

    "Give them my thanks . Want to enjoy the show with me?"

    "No . I still have work to do . Heaven is always busy . "

    Michael retreated . He faded into thin air .

    After Michael disappeared for 5 minutes, Morning Star opened his eyes . A rectangr blue transparent status menu appeared in front of him . He touched a few things here and there, and a profile of a person appeared in the menu .

    *Personal Information*

    Name: Tong

    Race: Sinner

    Soul Age: 450,705

    Karma: +10,732

    Resident: Fifth Hell

    Death Count: 7

    ***The following skill(s) will be applied in the next reincarnation circle***

    *Active Skill List*

    [Unassigned]

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Unassigned]

    *Hidden Skill List*

    [Plot Armor]

    - Immune to all natural disease, poisoning and physical attacks .

    - After the host be 20 years of age . The host shall be forced summoned back the Netherworld .

    - The skill is treated as a passive skill .

    Morning Star smiled in satisfaction . He had rigged the trial for Tong¡¯s safely return .

    Morning Star had visited the God Council by himself, coaxing the council members into rigging the trial by using the positive karma incident 450,000 years ago as a reason . He imed that such a person should not be risked getting himself killed before he became 20 and returned as a retard . It would be a waste of personal resources .

    The majority of the council agreed with some reluctant . They specially created the [Plot Armor] skill to ensure of Tong¡¯s return . They also added several easy missions that he would take in the future, with the additional credits that it was issued by the gods for his well-being . It was made so Tong would favor Heaven over Hell when he came back to choose side .

    However, Morning Star was two steps ahead . Since over 450,000 years ago, he had nted Medusa in Fifth Hell to protect Tong in secret . Medusater also ced Friday within the vicinity area that Tong reside, helping Medusa cleared out unnecessary sinners and local monsters around the area .

    Morning Star then dragged Ping, Tong¡¯s previous life nemesis, from the ninth level of Hell to the fifth level . Morning Star then cut Ping¡¯s four limbs and prevented it from regenerating, and tossed him in the area that Tong was in, and made sure Tong noticed Ping .

    Morning Star made sure that Tong would have an easy and enjoyable time in Hell despite of being a sinner .

    Morning Star wanted to rope Tong into the ranks of devils . However, to convert Tong into a devil, Tong had to choose to be one with his freewill . If Tong chose to be a devil out of his freewill, no god couldin or could do anything about it .

    Forcing Tong to be a devil would provoke an ire of many justice-loving barbaric gods . Waging war with those muscle-for-a-brain gods just for a soul would not be ideal to Morning Star .

    Morning Starter noticed that Friday took interest in Tong . Even if it was a simple curiosity of a young devil towards a sinner, not a romantic one, Morning Star didn¡¯t let this chance passed by .

    He gave Friday a luxurious super yacht, which he had coaxed Michael to get him one . And then he ordered her that she should wear revealing bikinis from now on, hopefully she could seduce Tong one day .

    450,000 Yearster, the investment was paid off . The Heaven somehow picked Tong to take the Traditional Trial . Morning Star leaked the news to Friday on purpose, which in turn leaked to Tong, deepening their rtionship .

    Medusa, who was overseeing the two, were panicked . She rushed the Tong and Friday with the hope that the higher-ups wouldn¡¯t punish her daughter .

    Sheter found out that Morning Star wanted to pair Friday with Tong, so Tong could have a reason to join the ranks of the devils . Knowing that Tong had over 10,000 positive karma just like her, Tong couldn¡¯t be a bad person for her daughter . Medusa agreed to help .

    And then the rice had been cooked . Tong finally matched with Friday, causing him to have a good reason to pick Hell over Heaven after he finished the trial .

    The Heaven Council learnt of this newster, which were the reason why Archangel Michael called it a low blow .

    ¡¯Everything went ording to the n . ¡¯

    Morning Star smirked .

    ¡¯You gods are a billion years too early to fight with me when ites to seducing mortals . ¡¯

    ¡¯Someone with 10,000 plus karma is hard toe by in Hell, Tong and Medusa are too valuable . ¡¯

    ¡¯Now I¡¯m about to have another chief officer to run Hell . ¡¯

    Morning Starughed in his heart .

    . . .

    "It¡¯s time . Please enter the Reincarnation Gate and follow the instruction inside . May the Gods be with you . "

    An archangel came to pick up Tong and sent him off . It was now that Tong had to face his fate . He was leaded to a hundred pagodas with of giant dimension portal gate on each .

    Tong, who had the special treatment, went in first .

    Another 99 sinners were also arranged to enter the different portals . They had all been locked up in a cage . They were dragged out of the cages and threw into the portals, one by one . One of them was limbless .

    Once Tong went inside, the portal shut down behind his back . He was surrounded by darkness like he was floating in space .

    In front of him, a glowing orb was floating there . The orb sounded out clear and soothing female voice .

    [Wee the Redemption Program . ]

    [You will undergo a test of your character . ]

    [The Gods will be watching your deeds . ]

    [You have to prove that you deserve to be pardon of your crimes . ]

    ¡¯What bullshit . ¡¯

    Tong knew about the true face of this so call ¡¯Trial¡¯ long ago . He was aware that his life right now was being broadcast to the entire Netherworlds . Though his soul would be sent to different world for real, it was still just a reality game show .

    [You will be reincarnated into a world that we have chosen . ]

    [You will retain all of your memories in your previous life and your sinner life . ]

    [In addition, we will give you one special ability . ]

    [This ability will be with you on your next life . ]

    [That ability is yours to create . ]

    [Please touch the orb and imagine your desired skill . ]

    [You have five minutes to decide . ]

    [If time runs out, you will be reincarnated without the special ability . ]

    ¡¯Here ites . ¡¯

    Tong was d that he was informed of this 149 years ago . If he were informed here without the preparation, he would have created something stupid like a search engine system, which would be useless if he were to be born in a family of a ve .

    Tong still didn¡¯t know what kind of status of a family he would be born into . The details wasn¡¯t disclosed . Theputer mainframe server didn¡¯t inform anyone, even the insiders .

    Tong touched the orb with both hands and thought about the skill that he had nned out .

    "Time Stop . "

    [The skill has been created . ]

    [Please adjust the skill range of power and effectiveness . ]

    [Please be warned that the more powerful the skill, the more price has to be paid . ]

    [In turn, the more restriction the skill have, the less sacrifice . ]

    ¡¯This is tricky one¡¯

    If it were made to be cost efficient or cheap to use, the skill could be too weak and meaningless to have .

    If the skill he imagined were too powerful, he would need to pay a very high price to use, which was his own lifespan .

    The price that the orb mentioned was a trap that were created for the greedy one . If someone were to wish for an almighty magic that could wipe out a continent, he would have to pay with his life .

    Tong spent a hundred year thinking and calcting with Medusa . They finally came up with an eptable ratio .

    "Stop time for 5 seconds per usage, can only be use once a day . Skill resets at midnight . "

    [...]

    [The skill has beenpleted . Please review your skill . ]

    **Skill List**

    [Time Stop] LV . 1 EXP( 0/100 )

    - Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 5 seconds .

    Skill Consumption: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Usage Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    ¡¯Even though I expected this, it¡¯s still pricey . ¡¯

    Ten years was a steep price just to stop time for five seconds . But Tong wasn¡¯t mad . He knew that once the skill leveled up, it would be twice more powerful . The effect it had would be double each time the skill leveled up .

    Once this skill reached the maximum level 10, he would be able to stop time for 2,560 seconds or 42 minutes 20 seconds . He would be able to do many things with this kind of timespan for the price of 10 years of life .

    [You will now be reincarnated into the world with other 99 sinners in the same world . ]

    ¡¯Hmm?¡¯

    [Please have fun killing each other . ]

    [I will be looking forward to your death . ]

    "What!?"

    [My son will surely kill you . ]

    [You will die and be retard for the rest of eternity!]

    "Shit! What the hell!?"

    Tong couldn¡¯t digest the information yet . His vision went ck .

 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6

    Chapter 6 ¨C Conspiracy Part 2

    [Wee the Redemption Program . ]

    [You will undergo a test of your character . ]

    [The Gods will be watching your deeds . ]

    [You have to prove that you deserve to be pardon of your crimes . ]

    [You will be reincarnated . . . ]

    It was messages that every sinners heard within the empty space . However...

    [The skill has beenpleted . Please review your skill . ]

    [The Gods are benevolence . ]

    [The Gods will forgive you for your past crimes if you repent of your sins . ]

    [Live good, live well and live strong . ]

    [We pray that you will have a fulfilled life . ]

    [You will now be transferred . ]

    It was a different version of the messages .

    There was also another exception . A different version set of messages were resounded within another space .

    [The skill has beenpleted . You will also receive another two skills prepared by me . ]

    [The gods nned to send everyone to a different world . ]

    [But I made it so that you all will be sent to the same world . ]

    [You all will be reincarnated into the 165 AD . In ancient China time . ]

    [There will be other 99 sinners there . But worry not . ]

    [You, my son, will be the eldest son of the Emperor Ling!]

    [Our nemesis will also be sent there as a son of Zhang Jiao . ]

    [Make use of the skill I give you and your status power to tear him to pieces!]

    [Kill him! Then he will return as a retard!]

    [He will be abandoned! He will be treated like trash!]

    [He deserves eternal suffering!]

    [...]

    [You will be the only immortal there . ]

    [No mortal can kill you . ]

    [Your mother cannot be with you . The gods and devils will destroy me . ]

    [I hope you can live a happy life . ]

    [I love you, son . ]

    However, the replied from the sinner betrayed thest few kind messages .

    "What the fuck!? If you can do this much, why didn¡¯t you help me earlier!?"

    "You useless garbage woman!"

    "I was suffering for years! Where were you!?"

    "You have this power, why didn¡¯t get me out of that ce . "

    "You &$#@ @#$%"

    The swearing went on and on . If the mother heard this, her heart would be shattered to pieces .

    . . .

    The process of selecting a skill and the messages were broadcasting through the Netherworlds . And the inconsistency of the messages were witnessed by over 300 billion audiences .

    "Why were they different?"

    "Isn¡¯t it supposed to be the same?"

    "Wow, what is the organizer is doing?"

    "Yeah, they supposed to send them to different world, but ... all of them in one world?"

    "Hahahaha! I like this! PU*G style!"

    "Foolish immortal, F**tnite was better . "

    "Fool your sister! You¡¯re a fool . Your entire family is the fool . PU*G is king! The rest is trash!"

    "Something is wrong . Look at that guy¡¯s status!"

    "Shit! What the hell is that cheat!"

    "UNFAIR!"

    "Fudge!"

    "Holy hell!"

    "Bloody Heaven!"

    "DAMN THAT PLOT ARMOR!"

    "Too OP! Such Hax! Much wow!"

    "If it¡¯s only Tong then I understand . But why is that guy ..."

    "Conspiracy! I smell conspiracy!"

    They were thrown into an uproar when they saw the status of the irregr sinner .

    **Status**

    Name: Ping

    Race: Sinner

    Soul Age: 450,711

    Karma: -220,599

    Resident: Fifth Hell

    Death Count: 7,968,946

    *Active Skill List*

    [Omega Deletion] Cannot be leveled up

    - Kill a person in the range of 10 meters within the host range .

    Skill Cost: None

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once . The skill disappears after using it .

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Super Human] Cannot be leveled up

    - Multiply the host physical strength, vitality, dexterity, agility and stamina by 100 times .

    - The lifespan of the host will be consumed 10 times faster than the normal rate .

    [Superior Plot Amor] Cannot be leveled up

    - The host will have infinite lifespan .

    - The host cannot die by any reason .

    - An invisible barrier shield will be deployed to protect the host from any physical attack at all time .

    . . .

    In the VVVIP room, Morning Star couldn¡¯t sit anymore .

    He stood still like a statue . Blood vessels were popping up on his face, yet the face remained indifferent . His eyes was cken and the twelve ck thick tentacles were spreading out from his back .

    Morning Star didn¡¯t hide his explosive aura and killing intent . It enveloped the entire colosseum and shaken every angels, devils, monsters and even the gods .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve been had!¡¯

    ¡¯This is a well-crafted n . ¡¯

    ¡¯They clearly aimed at Tong! They knew I wanted him!¡¯

    ¡¯Ping¡¯s mother is the main suspect! It¡¯s fine if she did it alone . ¡¯

    ¡¯But what if she¡¯s been manipted by someone ...¡¯

    ¡¯It¡¯s a wild guess . But still ...¡¯

    ¡¯What can go wrong, will go wrong . ¡¯

    ¡¯Chances that there is someone pulling the string is low, but it¡¯s possible . ¡¯

    ¡¯But then who is it!?¡¯

    Morning Star released his sense, locked onto Michael .

    "It was not me, brother . "

    Michael, feeling Morning Star¡¯s sense, replied to him in telepathy as if he knew what Morning Star was about to interrogate him .

    "Then who!?"

    "I¡¯ve already deployed all archangels to investigate . "

    "Get that bitch first! And make her talk!"

    "Okay, but promise me that you won¡¯t cause a scene . "

    "That depends on the result! It would be best that I¡¯m being over-paranoid for nothing!"

    Michael sighed .

    Michael also didn¡¯t stand there and did nothing . He also spread his sense all over the Heaven on every levels . Heter locked onto the building of a TV station on the second level of Heaven .

    "All angel personal, hear my order!"

    Michael bellowed . All angels were jolted as if they were electrocuted . This archangel was usually gentle, calm and kind . But everybody knew that once he roared, even the Heaven could be turned upside down .

    . . .

    Within 5 minutes, Zim was arrested . Michael teleported to the scene himself . He read her memories and reported out the result to all personal, including Morning Star .

    "She has done it alone . It was nned out for 400,000 years by herself . "

    "She started off as a low-ss demi-immortal and worked her way up . "

    "She ended up acquiring the mainframe password keys, and then cracked into the mainputer"

    "She tampered the selection list and picked up her son and Tong to take the trial at the same time . "

    "Then she modified the trial contents and had all 100 sinners taking it in the same world . "

    "Then, you all already witnessed what cheats Ping currently has . "

    "She also screwed up the link between worlds . The soul stability and the bodypatibility is worsen by 300% . As a result, the sinners need 60 years toplete the brain and the soul memory link . "

    "In other word, they need to live in there for 60 years or they will return with just an empty shell . "

    "The missions were also randomized, everything that gods had prepared for the sinners was overwritten . The contents are still unknown . She left it to the A . I . "

    "But she gave one guideline to the A . I . ... Torment and torture Tong . "

    "That is all . "

    Micheal ended his report with wry smile . He did not report another crucial information .

    Xin¡¯s action had already been well aware by a goddess which Michael suspected that she might be behind Xin¡¯s ability to avoid detection by the heaven up until now .

    To prevent a war between Hell and Heaven, Michael could not afford to inform Morning Star about this .

    . . .

    Morning Star received the report . He relieved that there was not any mastermind . But he still frown .

    Now, Tong had to live in that world for 60 years or more, and the [Plot Armor] skill would harm him once his age reached 20 .

    ¡¯It¡¯s troubling but salvageable . ¡¯

    Morning Star sat down on the couch . He sent his telepathic sense to Medusa .

    "Medusa, I need you to go into that world . "

    "Godfather?" Medusa was surprised .

    "Use your administrative rights to create a counter skill and a passive skill that retains your demonic power in a mortal body . "

    "Also set your lifespan as infinite . "

    "Get close to Ping and erase his skills, better if you can erase his life . "

    Morning Star gave Medusa a series or orders .

    "Godfather, I understand the urgency, but I can only reincarnate as a female mortal . Why didn¡¯t you choose a male devil? Wasn¡¯t there a better option to get close to a son of an emperor, like a eunuch?"

    "There is one more job . I need someone trustworthy to do ... Erase Tong¡¯s Plot Armor skill . "

    "Ehh?"

    "That is a skill that I rigged this world for Tong . It indeed gives him benefits but it will kill his soul if we let it be . "

    "Could you tell me the detail of the skill, godfather?"

    Then a status menu showed up in front of Medusa . Tong¡¯s status and skill details could be seen .

    Medusa was silent . Many things happened one after another . She had to regain her calm and think .

    "I understand . I will prepare at once . "

    "Take Friday with you too . Set her skills the same as yours and let her be Tong bodyguard . "

    "Will she be okay? She doesn¡¯t have much experience in mortal worlds . "

    "It¡¯s a good time to have her experiencing it now . Tong has to be away for at least 60 years . She¡¯s gonna miss him . "

    "..."

    "And also, we need to exin the circumstances of the changes to him, or else he will believe that we betrayed him . "

    "... I understand . I¡¯ll go immediately . "

    . . .

    Unbeknownst to all themotions and the undercurrent, Friday was staring at the broadcasting screen in front of her in dazed . Her brain almost stopped working .

    ¡¯No! No! No! Tong!¡¯

    ¡¯Come back! Come back!¡¯

    ¡¯Someone wants to kill you . Come back!¡¯

    ¡¯How does it be like this?¡¯

    ¡¯Meddy said this Trail was tampered for Tong, but it wants to kill him . ¡¯

    ¡¯Why!?¡¯

    Her eyes were moist . Her body couldn¡¯t stop shaking .

    After twenty minutes, she regained her sense with some difficulty . Her eyes were already dried .

    From the teary moist eyes turned into abyssal dark eyes . In the depth of her pupils, unquenchable thirst for blood was exploding inside .

    ¡¯That person ...¡¯

    ¡¯Ping, is it?¡¯

    ¡¯I remember him . ¡¯

    ¡¯That trash!¡¯

    ¡¯How dare him cheat!?¡¯

    ¡¯Only my Tong can cheat!¡¯

    While Friday was fuming in anger, Medusa tapped her shoulder and informed her about Morning Star¡¯s order . She spoke out her strategy .

    "The Yellow Turbans are fated to doom . If there were no other sinner then Tong would be fine . But this time, Tong won¡¯t be able to change the history by himself . Ping is now aware of Tong¡¯s identity so Ping will abuse his imperial court power to hunt Tong down . "

    "That trash ..."

    "But Tong will be fine on his own for a while, all you need to do is to reach out to Tong, remove his armor skill before his age reach 20, and then stay with him . That¡¯s all you need to do . "

    "Eh? Didn¡¯t the godfather said we have to go in together? What about you?"

    Medusa smiled and patted Friday¡¯s head .

    "I have another thing to do . Now listen well, it¡¯s about our reincarnation . There¡¯s a trick that only administrators like us can do . "

 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7

    Chapter 7 ¨C Zhang Tong

    December 28th, 180 AD . A small vige in Julu District, Ningjin County, Zhang¡¯s family resident .

    A young boy was sitting by himself on a straw mat in a small courtyard, watching his father copying some content in a scroll into another nk scroll on the table . The middle-age father was wearing a yellow Daoist robe . His hair was tied neatly .

    The father finished copying the scroll, then he handed to his disciple nearby .

    "This is thest one for today . Remember this content and go preach it to the people"

    "Yes, brother Jiao . "

    "Has Ma Yuanyi departed?"

    "He has leftst week . He said he was visiting Yang Province first then he would head to Jing . "

    "Very well . We should start training our soldiers soon . "

    The father was Zhang Jiao, the soon to be the leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the history of China .

    The young boy that was sitting behind him, witnessing the course of the history, was none other than Tong . He was born into the Zhang¡¯s household, and was the direct descendant of Zhang Jiao .

    He was now called Zhang Tong . His age was now 15 years old, about to be 16 in a few days .

    Tong watched his current father and bit his lower lip . He wanted to stop his father and told him about the history or the future . But he could not do so .

    *********************

    **Main Mission No . 1**

    Mission Clear Condition: Zhang Jiao sessfully raises troops and be Yellow Turbans Rebellion Overlord .

    Failure Condition: Zhang Jiao doesn¡¯t raise Yellow Turban Rebellion, or Zhang Jiao die .

    Clear Reward: 1,000 years of life span . Bonus experiences for all your active skills .

    Mission Failure: You will die .

    System Note: You can¡¯t do shit, bro!

    *********************

    When he was one year-old, he received this mission . The mission, gave by the system, forced Tong to change his strategy the moment he grasped bit of power to change fate .

    Tong was nning to alter the course of history, and had his father change his upation from a shaman healer daoist into a merchant . Then both of them would move to Xiang Yang and spend the rest of their life there peacefully .

    Now he had no choice but to support his father from behind . Furthermore, on January 180 AD, his fate was sealed by an announcement of a new mission .

    *********************

    **Main Mission No . 15**

    Clear Condition: You join the Yellow Turban Rebellion Army .

    Failure Condition: Time limit runs out .

    Clear Reward: 1,000 years of lifespan . Bonus experiences for all your active skills .

    Mission Failure: You will die .

    Time Limit Remaining: 3 Years, 3 months and 3 days .

    System Note: I told you that you can¡¯t do shit, bro!

    *********************

    Although his fate was sealed, he was still optimistic about his future .

    The rewards of the two mission was very tempting . 2,000 years of lifespan and bonus EXP for active skills would always be weed .

    Those abundant lifespan could be used to level up his [Time Stop] skillter .

    But the punishment was too over the top . He would die if he failed .

    "Haah ... 3 more years and hell will break loose . "

    Tong sighed . He knew too well what the Yellow Turban Rebellion was going to face in 3 years .

    If Tong were to lead an army against the native heroes, such as Sun Jian, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, then it would be a difficult challenge .

    He was only an ordinary police officer in his previous life . He had no confident about leading over 10,000 troops into a battlefield against historical figures .

    Real life was never like a video game where you can see everything with bird-eye view, point out here and there and have your troops do everything .

    Tong walked out of the courtyard, ignoring his father and his men, and strolled in the little vige he lived in .

    Everyday life here was like walking on the edge of a cliff . There were bandits everywhere . The officials turned blind eyes on the crimes and triad gangsters . Even the patrolling soldier would sometimes stormed into a random house, asking for protection money .

    Moreover, he didn¡¯t forget that when he had been sent here, the mysterious messages told him that there were other 99 sinners in this world too .

    Tong had no idea where they were sent, nor who were they, or what skill they had .

    But Tong was not worried too much . Somehow, he had another thumb card that popped up out of nowhere when he reincarnated into this world .

    *********************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 15

    Lifespan: 380 Years

    *Active Skill List*

    [Time Stop] LV . 1 EXP( 1/100 )

    - Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 5 seconds .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    System Note: What a shameless generic knock-off skill . You should be ashamed!

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Plot Armor] Cannot be leveled up

    - Immune to all natural disease, poisoning and physical attacks .

    - After the host be 20 years of age . The host shall be forced summoned back the Netherworld .

    System Note: HAXXX! REPORT! BAN HIM!

    *********************

    ¡¯All I have to do is to stay alive for another 5 years . ¡¯

    ¡¯If things go south, I can always run for my life and hide for 5 years . ¡¯

    ¡¯I can¡¯t be killed by normal means, so I¡¯m safe even if I were to fight a bear with my bare hands . ¡¯

    ¡¯After that I¡¯ll be going back to Hell . ¡¯

    ¡¯Hahaha How irony . ¡¯

    ¡¯Everyone wants to go to Heaven . But here I am wanting to go back to Hell for a booty . ¡¯

    Tong was happy with the additional skill . He guessed that Medusa did something behind the scenes for him . He did "PA! PA! PA!" her foster daughter after all .

    ¡¯Friday ... Will she be okay back there?¡¯

    ¡¯She¡¯s probably watching me up there? Or maybe she went back to Hell to castrate some poor sod . ¡¯

    ¡¯But still ...¡¯

    ¡¯Why did the content of the trail turned into this?¡¯

    ¡¯Wasn¡¯t it supposed to be one world : one reincarnater?¡¯

    ¡¯The messages said "My son will kill you . " . But whose son is that?¡¯

    ¡¯Ping¡¯s mother? Is that possible?¡¯

    ¡¯Can she be that powerful enough to tamper the trail?¡¯

    ¡¯Even Medusa said even the Hell King had no right to alter the content of the trial . ¡¯

    ¡¯Argh what a headache . ¡¯

    Tong¡¯s feet stop in front of a small stone tomb at the back of the vige . He swiped several fallen leaves away from the tombstone, weeded out some wild grasses . Then he knelt down, and pray .

    "Hey mom, how¡¯re you doing?"

    "Your son is doing well . Pops is still busying conspiring and scheming as usual . "

    "He may be silly . But he is working very hard for everyone . "

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about pops . I¡¯ll protect him . "

    "So rest easy mom . "

    "We¡¯ll be fine . "

    Tong smiled, but his eyes sadden . He remembered the day he was born into this world . He managed to open his eyes for few seconds . But those seconds were very precious to him .

    That time when Tong opened his eyes, he saw his mother . She was smiling while she was touching his little finger . Tong watched his mother closing her eyes while smiling . She never opened her eyes again since then .

    ¡¯Even though I knew that everyone here was just a clone of the original world ...¡¯

    ¡¯But to me ... you have a soul . ¡¯

    ¡¯And your soul will be living with me, forever . ¡¯

    Tong stood up and walked out of the tomb . He looked at the blue clear sky and thought .

    ¡¯I wonder what my parents from the previous life are doing . ¡¯

    ¡¯Medusa and Friday once told me that they couldn¡¯t find them in Hell . ¡¯

    ¡¯Are they in Heaven right now?¡¯

    ¡¯If you are watching me right now, you should be able to read my thought too, right?¡¯

    ¡¯Mom, dad, I love you!¡¯

    Tong didn¡¯t know . In Heaven, a pair of male and female angels were watching the broadcasting screen in front of them . They smiled as they were standing side by side, holding hands .

    . . .

    December 31st .

    Tong was wrapping a piece of cloth on a square soft object in a warehouse within his courtyard, which was overwhelm with flowery fragrant .

    The thing his Tong¡¯s hand was a block of soap . He finished testing the right form for a fragrant soap 5 years ago . And now he was selling his hand-made soap in secret from the official eyes .

    Tong didn¡¯t do nothing in these 15 years after he was sent to this world . He opened a business for an extra ie for his personal pocket money, just in case he needed it during the Yellow Turban uprising .

    But today, Tong didn¡¯t care about any politic or future . He was rushing his job, wrapping as many soap as he can . He was informed that an important guest of his were about to arrive .

    The guest was actually an important regr customer . He showed up two years ago to buy a dozen boxes of the soap . Then he came back two to three times a year since then . He was one of the rare few that Tong had to treat him with utmost respect .

    A servant walked into the warehouse and cupped her hands .

    "Young master Tong, Master Hua has arrived . "

    "Oh crap! I haven¡¯t finished it yet . Tell someone to go and receive him . Tell him I¡¯ll be there in a few minutes . "

    The servant then rushed out .

    A few minutester, Tong rushed to the guest room, with a human-head-size cloth bag with him .

    "I¡¯m sorry I¡¯ve made you wait, Master Huo . "

    "Hahaha, don¡¯t be . I¡¯ve just arrived here . "

    The guest who was sitting in the guest room was none other than the divine doctor, Hua Tuo .

 Chapter 8

    Chapter 8

    Chapter 8 ¨C Hua Tuo and Hua Shi

    Hua Tuo, a physician, the divine doctor . The historian recorded that he found the first anaesthetic in the Ancient China . He also excelled at diagnosis and used thebination of medicinal herbs, surgery and acupuncture to cure patients .

    However,ter in 208 AD, Cao Cao executed Hua Tuo for lying to Cao Cao and not willing to be Cao Cao¡¯s personal doctor . Cao Cao was suffering chronic headache for a long time, which several historians believed Cao Cao was suffering from migraine or brain tumor .

    Before the execution, Hua Tuo burned down all of his medical manuscripts . But he had a change of mindter during his time in prison . He wrote down his knowledge into a scroll and passed it to a jailer . Hua Tuo said to the jailer;

    "This can preserve people¡¯s lives . "

    The jailer was afraid that he would be implicated and got punished if he epted it . So he refused . Hua Tuo then burned down the scroll, and waited for the time of the execution . Majority of his knowledge were lost with his life . Only a few surgery technique, such as castration, was remained .

    In front of Tong, that history figure was sitting here, chatting with him .

    "Every times I see you, young master Zhang, you look healthier than ever . I really envy you . "

    "Haha, but I can¡¯t bepare to you, master Hua . You still look like you are in your 20s . "

    The two were exchanging pleasantry . Though they looked like they were getting along . In the mind of Hua Tuo, he was inspecting Tong .

    ¡¯What a youngd . I¡¯vee here many times but I¡¯ve never seen him sick . ¡¯

    ¡¯Ordinary people would show signs and ws within the skin, skin color, breathing or pulse as they were aging . ¡¯

    ¡¯But he seems too perfect . His body is like a newborn baby!¡¯

    Three years ago, Hua Tuo found a wandering merchant that were selling a unique soap while he was traveling to study herbs and medicines in various regions .

    As a doctor and a physician, he paid attention to his hygiene and cleanliness, so the unique soap caught his eyes . He wanted to buy the soap in bulk because he needed to use a lot .

    All the so call ¡¯soap¡¯ Hua Tuo came across before were all liquidized or was required to mix with hot water to use . They were made out of tree barks, nt ashes or crushed herbs . He had never seen a soap that could be this fragrant .

    After some exchange of information, he heard that the soap was bought from somewhere in Ji Province . Hua Tuo threw away his schedule and searched for the soap¡¯s origin .

    Then a yearter, Hua Tuo found Tong . He was shocked that the creator was just a teen that was less than 15 year-old . Furthermore, he was unusually healthy . Tong¡¯s skin was so smooth that there was no w or any mark on him . He was like an ideal human!

    Hua Tuo didn¡¯t know that Tong had a passive skill that made him immune to all disease, thus making him immune to the deterioration of aging .

    Hua Tuo also noticed that Tong¡¯s eloquent was not that of a child, but an adult . Tong also managed the servants in his household without relying on his father .

    From that point on, Hua Tuo took interest in Tong . He even asked Zhang Jiao, Tong¡¯s father, if he could take Tong as his disciple .

    Zhang Jiao, as a healer shaman, he knew that a physician was a good job . So he was willing to .

    Zhang Jiao was nning the rebellion for years . He didn¡¯t want to implicate his son into this .

    However, Tong politely refused . Tong always wanted to be Hua Tuo¡¯s disciple, but the system missions were in the way .

    Tong afraid that if he were to leave Zhang Jiao alone, an unknown otherworlder might show up out of nowhere and killed Zhang Jiao . If Zhang Jiao were to die before he raised the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Tong would die too!

    Though Hua Tuo disappointed . He still came back to visit Tong two or three times a year to buy his soaps . He had toe here often because the soaps were spent quickly as he treated many patients and he also cleaned himself daily . Hua Tuo¡¯s wife and daughter also demanded that he should bring back the soap for them too .

    Because of the reason, today Hua Tuo didn¡¯te here alone . He brought his wife and his daughter with him as well .

    "Come,e! Let me introduce you . This is young master Zhang Tong, the genius child I told you about . Young master Zhang, this is my wife, Zhan Ru . And this is my daughter, Hua Shi .

    "Greetings Madam Zhan . Greetings youngdy Hua . "

    Two elegant middle age woman and a young girl with simr age as Tong was with Hua Tuo today . Tong was surprised to see theming here .

    Tong nced at Hua Shi . She looked like an average good-looking young girl that could be found anywhere in the 21st century . But in this era, she was a rare find . The mother, Zhan Ru, was also a refined middle-age woman .

    ¡¯I thought Hua Tuo was single for life . He has a wife and a child?¡¯

    There were no such names appearing in any record by the historians . Tong thought that maybe they were not significant enough to affect the politic power . So the officials who act as historians in the ancient time didn¡¯t record them .

    Tong then sneak nced at Hua Shi over and over again when he was chatting with Hua Tuo and Zhan Ru . He was being cautious of Hua Shi .

    ¡¯Everyone should be reincarnated in the same year . And she was about the same age as I am . Is she an otherworlder?¡¯

    Tong smacked his forehead in his mind .

    ¡¯Even if she is an otherworlder, I can¡¯t harm her . She¡¯s Hua Tuo¡¯s rtive . ¡¯

    ¡¯I need this connection with the divine doctor!¡¯

    ¡¯If I run into trouble, I can seek shelter from him . ¡¯

    ¡¯Even if the emperor issues an imperial decree to execute the Zhang¡¯s family nine generation for rebellion, I can still be Hua Tuo disciple . Then change my surname and get away with it . ¡¯

    ¡¯Though I knew that I shouldn¡¯t let my guard down . But I should try to be friendly with her . ¡¯

    ¡¯If she¡¯s really an otherworlder, then we can talk it out . ¡¯

    ¡¯If she¡¯s just a native local . Then all is well . ¡¯

    . . .

    ¡¯I thought Zhang Jiao was just a maniac shaman without a wife . He has a child?¡¯

    A thought appeared in the head of Hua Shi .

    ¡¯I¡¯m not familiar with Zhang Tong¡¯s name . He doesn¡¯t seem like one of those savage Yellow Turban bandits in the history . ¡¯

    ¡¯Did he took part in the rebellion and died before he got any achievement? Or he was just amoner merchant that wasn¡¯t recorded in the history . ¡¯

    If Tong were to hear the inner thought of Hua Shi, he would be scared witless .

    Hua Shi was also one of the reincarnator that was sent from Hell . However, she didn¡¯t know that there were other reincarnators like her in this world .

    ¡¯But that doesn¡¯t matter . I should coax my father taking him with us . ¡¯

    ¡¯He doesn¡¯t belong in the Yellow Turban Army . ¡¯

    ¡¯Sending him into the army is like flushing a national treasure down the toilet . ¡¯

    ¡¯After all, he has those skins ...¡¯

    ¡¯So white, so smooth . ¡¯

    ¡¯I can hardly stop my drooling watching him . ¡¯

    ¡¯Such a first ss meat is rarely toe by, especially in this era . ¡¯

    ¡¯Ah ... I want to taste him so bad . I feel so hungry now . ¡¯

    Hua Shi¡¯s eyes were sparkling as she was scanning Tong from head to toes .

    Tong felt chills run down the spine . He detected a weird killing intent aura .

    ¡¯Why did I suddenly feel a chill? Cold wind?¡¯ Tong was confused .

    . . .

    Tong, Hua Tuo and Zhan Ru were chatting for a while andpleted their business .

    Hua Tuo then left Zhang resident . He bought another batch of soap from Tong and currently was loading them into his carriage .

    Hua Shi walked to the side by Hua Tuo and asked .

    "Father, can¡¯t you take Zhang Tong with us? It¡¯s a waste to leave him here . "

    "Oh, why is it a waste?"

    "Umm, he doesn¡¯t suit here? I meant he should be taken with us! This ce doesn¡¯t fit him!"

    Hua Shi was stumbling . She didn¡¯t know how to convey her wish . She couldn¡¯t tell her parents what she really wanted or what would happened in the future . She was restricted by the system .

    **********************************

    **Status**

    Name: Hua Shi

    Age: 15

    Lifespan: 120 Years

    *Active Skill List*

    [Medical Gift] LV . 2 EXP( 35/200 )

    - Diagnosis a patient and automatically find a solution for the treatment, or create a medicine for the sickness found .

    - Can create two medicine tablets or 20 milligrams of liquid medicine per one use .

    Skill Consumption: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Usage Restriction: Can only be used when treating a patient .

    System Note: A good girl? I think not!

    **********************************

    **Main Mission No . 1**

    Mission Clear Condition: Do not tell anyone about the future events until the end of December, 180AD .

    Failure Condition: You blew a whistle like you were wi**leaks .

    Clear Reward: 1,000 years of life span . Bonus experiences for all your active skills .

    Mission Failure: You will die .

    System Note: You can¡¯t do shit, girl!

    **********************************

    Just like Tong, she was restricted by the system . The first mission she received threatened to kill her if she revealed the secrets .

    Hua Shi was aware of the existence of the Heaven and Hell . She doesn¡¯t want to go back to Hell again . Therefore, she tried her best to live like an ordinary good citizen in this era . And she yed along with the history trends for 15 years .

    ¡¯Ah, what should I tell them? I don¡¯t know anymore . ¡¯

    ¡¯I just want to eat him ...¡¯

    ¡¯His fresh, his blood, his guts, his heart, his liver ...¡¯

    ¡¯What a pity . ¡¯

    Though Hua Shi tried her best to be a good citizen and notmitting any sinful acts, she couldn¡¯t suppress her desire when she saw Tong¡¯s perfect healthy body .

    In her previous life, she was sent to Hell because she had a certain hobby, a disgusting taste for the humanity .

    She enjoyed cannibalism .

 Chapter 9

    Chapter 9

    Chapter 9 ¨C Surprise Midnight

    Hua Shi gave up after she ran out of idea how to convince her parents .

    "Oh my! Does she has that interest already?"

    Zhan Ru spoke . She was amused by her daughter . Hua Shi was fidgeting, then panicking then sighed .

    "Hmm? What interest?" Hua Tuo asked .

    "Silly dear . She is growing up . "

    "Ho? What do you mean growing up? She¡¯s only 15 if I remember correctly . "

    "Girls grow up faster than boys, dear . Say, what do you think of that boy?"

    "Zhang Tong? I wanted him as my disciple but he said he had other ns . "

    "Well, how about not taking him as a disciple, but taking him as a son-inw . "

    "What!?"

    "Isn¡¯t he a good prospect for our daughter? He has potentials . He has the eloquence and the business mind . His look is quite good too . I saw him sneaking nces at our Shi¡¯er as well . "

    "Now that you mentioned it ..."

    From Hua Tuo¡¯s point of view, Tong has the potential to be a sessful merchant . Tong seemed smarter than other kids around his age . Also his health and his look was superb, too .

    As a father, he didn¡¯t like the idea of entrusting his only precious daughter to any man, let alone a young boy . But Tong seemed indeed like a good prospect .

    Tong¡¯s father, Zhang Jiao, was a well-known healer shaman, which had quite a respectable status . And Tong himself had great potentials . He could run business at this age . Then if he grew up more, what height could he reach?

    "I¡¯ll visit his father and we¡¯ll talk about this again . A pity that he wasn¡¯t here today . "

    Hua Tuomented . He also wanted to discuss and exchange some medical knowledge with Zhang Jiao .

    Hua Tuo and his family left the Zhang resident and booked the inn to rest for the night . They nned toe back to find Zhang Jiao tomorrow .

    . . .

    Meanwhile, Tong was leading his servants carrying several pots into his warehouse .

    Tong could not stop smiling . Today, he traded dozen boxes of soaps for Hua Tuo¡¯s famous anesthetic, the Mafeisan Anesthetic Liquor .

    The Mafeisan Anesthetic Liquor disappeared along with Hua Tuo¡¯s death . Theposition of the anesthetic was unknown . Several historians had countless debates of what was in the true form and had never yet concluded which one was the correct one .

    But now, Tong had acquired several pots at once . He was nning to save it for his future cause during the rebellion uprising .

    ¡¯Hua Tuo said it has to be stored with the cover sealed shut, store it under the roof and not being bathed in sunlight, but not stored in a high temperature area . ¡¯

    ¡¯The basic is simr to the modern medicines . But I doubt if these anesthetic canst three more years . ¡¯

    ¡¯The modern medicines usually expired in one year to five years . But it can still be used in one or two years after the expiration date but the effect will be minimized . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll just save it here for emergency . It¡¯s never too early to be prepared . ¡¯

    Tong was busy arranging the goods in his warehouse till night . He had a dinner, then he returned to his room for a nap, waiting for a new mission at midnight .

    The missions, issued by the system, always appeared on every midnight on January 1st . It showed up once a year, and each year the content would be different . Tong had experienced dealing with the missions many times already .

    He hadpleted 13 missions out of 15 mission he had received during these 15 years he was living in this world .

    The missions hepleted could be called "Trolling Missions" or "Sexual Harassment Missions" .

    He was forced to do something absurd, for example, "Strip yourself naked and run around a vige", "Show your manhood at your young female neighbors", "Touch that girl¡¯s boobs . ", etc .

    It was easy in the beginning as Tong couldplete it as a baby . But as he grew up, the degree of sexual harassment got higher . There was also the sticking-your-finger-into-a-female-butt mission that hepleted it with difficulty .

    Fortunately, Tong was just a child . Hepleted all of those actions with shame . But his neighbors didn¡¯t mind it . They thought it was just a childish prank by a young brat .

    But Tong couldn¡¯t rely on the excuse of "Being a child" forever . In this era, being 15 year-old and above was considered an adult . They judged that if someone could reproduce, you were an adult regardless of how small you were .

    If anyone that considered an adult were tomit such sexual harassment, he would be forced to take the responsibility of the victim by marrying her or be arrested and be imprisoned for life .

    Tong was sitting in his room with his solemn face, feeling concerned . Aside from his mission one and ten, which forced him to follow the history trend, the rest were just perverted missions .

    ¡¯Next quest, wouldn¡¯t this goddamned system force me to **** someone?¡¯

    ¡¯If that timees, won¡¯t I be forced to marry to the person I assaulted?¡¯

    ¡¯Thest mission I was too lucky . ¡¯

    ¡¯Fudge! how the heck did I poke it into the wrong hole!? I was lucky that she¡¯s already married and she didn¡¯t mind it!¡¯

    ¡¯Shit! Friday will repeatedly castrate me if she finds out . ¡¯

    ¡¯She haven¡¯t been watching me through these 15 years, right?¡¯

    ¡¯Did she see me poke my finger into that girl?¡¯

    The thought sent Tong chills down his spine .

    Although Tong was being ashamed from the sexual harassment deeds, he reaped good rewards out of the missions .

    His lifespan value was now 380, which was absurdparing to the average modern human life expectancy of 79-81 years .

    This value had include the 10 years deduction that Tong had spent it to test his [Time Stop] skill .

    Tong hadn¡¯t used the skill again ever since . He was saving his lifespan for the future wars and battles that he might had to participate in the future .

    . . .

    It was about to be midnight .

    In Zhang resident, Tong¡¯s room, Tong snapped his eyes open as if he had a mental clock within his brain sounding an rm .

    ¡¯It should be here soon . ¡¯

    ¡¯Please, don¡¯t let it be another perverted mission . I¡¯m sick of this shit . ¡¯

    ¡¯I might even be forced to marry someone if there¡¯s another one of those shows up . ¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t mind another bullshit historical mission . Just don¡¯t give me another pervert mission...¡¯

    Before Tong couldplete his chain of thought, a nostalgic theme song suddenly yed itself inside of Tong¡¯s head . Tong did not try to recollect his memory or was trying to sing a song in his mind . It was a sign that a mission was about to show up .

    It was a telepathy message from the system . Today, the message was not shown yet . It was a theme song before the system announcement .

    ¡¯That sounds familiar ... I heard this somewhere . ¡¯

    450,000 Years in Hell made Tong forgotten many music during his previous life . But he somewhat remembered this .

    [RrrrrrrrrrrR ... . AMADOU!! TOOT doot-doot DOOOOO!!]

    ¡¯Ah!¡¯ Tong remembered .

    ¡¯It¡¯s J*** C*** theme song this time . ¡¯

    The sound of obnoxious trumpets and basses were banging inside Tong¡¯s head . Tong used his hands to close his ears but the sound didn¡¯t reduce the slightest .

    After a while, the message started .

    [Hey! Yo! Peeps! It¡¯s me! It¡¯s me! Your favorite system . ]

    ¡¯Favorite my ass . ¡¯ Tong thought .

    [Today is an auspicious day for another fun exciting mission . ]

    ¡¯My ass . ¡¯

    [The past missions were easy right? I knew I made it too easy for you . ]

    ¡¯My ass . ¡¯

    [But worry not . The missions in the future will be even more fun, easy and rewarding!]

    ¡¯My ass . ¡¯

    [For those who has been thinking ¡¯My ass¡¯ will also have a high chance of getting another mission to poke someone in the butt . ]

    "..."

    Tong¡¯s face twitched .

    [Joke aside . Listen carefully fes! In this past 15 years, all of your missions were nothing but tutorials . ]

    [You may have noticed that your first mission was stopping you from interfering with the history, right?]

    [I have made it so don¡¯t you all didn¡¯t screw up the history trend and get yourself killed prematurely . ]

    [NOW ... You all are now 16 years old and it¡¯s about time we kick the gear up a notch . ]

    [Did I just say ¡¯you all¡¯? Yes, I did say that!]

    [You, my dear, are not the only yer in this so called ¡¯Trial¡¯ . ]

    [There are one hundred yers, of course including you, in this world . ]

    [All of you died in the 21st century on Earth, and you were sent to Hell, and Hell sent you here . ]

    [Each of you were sent to China in a different location, but that¡¯s not important . ]

    [Now, the next mission onward will be the real thing . ]

    [There will be no more one mission per a year . ]

    [The frequency of the missions will be up to me, or up to the overall performance of the yers, depending on my mood . ]

    [But each of you will not take anymore than 20 missions in your life time . ]

    [In another word, you just have toplete 5 more missions and you can do whatever you want in this life!]

    Tong was stunned . This was a good news to him . He didn¡¯t want to risk getting another pervert mission anymore .

    [No more chitchat! Here is the fun exciting mission!]

    **********************************

    **Main Mission No . 16**

    The tutorial is over! Time for some action! All yers will temporarily appear in the HUD map . Find them and kill one of them . The yer who has the best performance will get an additional reward!

    Mission Clear Condition: Kill one or more yer(s) .

    Failure Condition: You are killed or time limit exceeded .

    Clear Reward: 10,000 Lifespan . The top scorer will get another surprise reward .

    Mission Failure: You will die .

    Time Limit Remaining: 23 hours 50 minutes .

    System Note: Pro tips, you are not the only one with a cheat, you know?

    **********************************

    The eleventh mission was finally issued . Tong was standing stunned, bbergasted .

    After a few breath, he came up to his sense and immediately look at the HUD map, which he never had before .

    The blue dot appeared in the center of the map . Tong guessed that this should be himself .

    He looked around the map, it showed theyout of his vige . He saw several white dots all over the ces in several buildings . Tong figured that these white dots should be the vigers .

    Then there were six red dots .

 Chapter 10

    Chapter 10

    Chapter 10 ¨C Sleepless Night

    There was six red dots . And all six dots were in his vige!

    It was obvious that those six were the otherworlders .

    Tong¡¯s heart shook as he was nervous . He didn¡¯t afraid fighting the natives but he was afraid of the unknown ability that otherworlders had .

    ¡¯What should I do now?¡¯

    ¡¯If I run into someone with range magic skill, like a fireball or a magic missile then I¡¯ll be screwed . ¡¯

    ¡¯But I have more than 50% chance of victory if I can force one of them into a one-on-one fight . ¡¯

    ¡¯And those that have physical skills are not my match!¡¯

    ¡¯... Fudge! Calm down my heart!¡¯

    His heart was beating 2-3 times per a second, as if he was about to have a heart attack .

    This was the first time in this life that Tong had to prepare to face a life-and-death situation, which death meant he would return to Hell without any memories of his previous life, life in Hell and this life .

    Tong was never afraid of death because he died many times in Hell already . But he would never want to be a retard for an eternity in an immortal body . The stake was too high!

    Tong tried his best to regte his breathing . He took deep breath and close his eyes to meditate for a couple minutes . Then he slowly opened his eyes .

    ¡¯No need to be afraid . I have two trump cards . ¡¯

    ¡¯I can stop time and I¡¯m immune to physical attacks . ¡¯

    ¡¯Medusa even trained me for almost 50 years in martial arts . ¡¯

    ¡¯I can do this!¡¯ Tong motivated himself .

    Tong made up his mind that he had to kill at least one otherworlder right now before the sun rose . If he didn¡¯t it, the degree of difficulty would be higher .

    Tong couldn¡¯t possibly kill someone in the broad daylight or he would be arrested, which usually resulted in executionter on . Or if he waited till the sun went down, all otherworlders might had already left the vige or there would be no one left to kill .

    Tong dressed up and packed two daggers and a de . Then he exited his room .

    Tong sneaked out of the Zhang resident without being seen by the resident guards . He didn¡¯t want to drag his Father and his men into the fight of the otherworlders .

    Zhang Jiao would need every single personal he had to strike down several major cities and strategic points in the early stage of the rebellion . And then Zhang Jiao would be in control of the central in and became the Yellow Turban uprising leader as in the history .

    ¡¯I don¡¯t really want to support his cause . ¡¯

    ¡¯There will be those opportunist bandits and thieves mixing in . I¡¯ll find a way to get rid of themter . ¡¯

    ¡¯But he is still my father . I even vowed that I will protect him . I can¡¯t tolerate abandoning him now . ¡¯

    Tong dashed from narrow alley to another narrow alley . He avoided all open area such as main streets and zas . Within 10 minutes, he arrived before a shabby shed .

    Tong nced at the HUD map . One of the six red dots were right in front of him within the shed . The other three dots also rushed onto his position from the South, East and West . But they were still a few hundred meters distanced away . The other two appeared at the same location, attaching to each other . Tong guessed that the two dots were probably in the middle of fighting against one another .

    It seemed all of them woke up from the loud trumpet intro music anding out to chase down other otherworlders .

    All of them had the same thought, they rushed to the closest red spot .

    Because Tong rushed here too fast, the nearest red spot stopped moving and hided in a shed while the other three wereing from a different direction in a distance away .

    And Tong would now be pincered in every direction by four otherworlders if he didn¡¯t move away from his current location . He had run straight into the box of death .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve done goof . I shouldn¡¯t have rushed here . ¡¯

    Tong realized his mistake . If he were to wait a bit longer in Zhang¡¯s resident, all of them would have crashed against each other and exhausted all of their strength . Then Tong could havee out fresh and reap their life .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll remember this mistake . n before action . No rushing into a battlefield without nning . ¡¯

    Tong made a mental note to himself . Then he red at the shed in front of him .

    ¡¯Let¡¯s not be reckless again and charge blindly into that shed . ¡¯

    ¡¯That person knew I¡¯m here but he didn¡¯te out to fight . ¡¯

    ¡¯To use this strategy to fight, if I were him what ability and tactic would I do?¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll use a process of elimination . ¡¯

    ¡¯He¡¯s definitely not a range type or he would fire something at me before I could get this close . ¡¯

    ¡¯A direct melee type is also unlikely, or else he woulde out and shed with me . ¡¯

    ¡¯A surprise attack or a trapping type?¡¯

    ¡¯Waiting and baiting, what tactic could be used . . . ¡¯

    ¡¯He knew I was here but he neither retreated nor fight . Just stay still ...¡¯

    ¡¯It¡¯s either a trap or a surprise attack . ¡¯

    ¡¯Then I¡¯ll just test the water . ¡¯

    Tong looked around and found a hand-size rock . He grabbed it and threw it at the nearest shed window facing him, aiming to destroy the window .

    The shed window was made by straws cover and old dried bamboos weaved together . The rock smashed through the window . A hand-size hole can be seen and a few fractured parts copsed .

    The window size was almost in 50cm x 50cm dimension . Through the window, a young boy, simr age as Tong, could be seen .

    "Dammit!" He cursed .

    The boy then escaped through the back door of the shed, leaving Tong .

    ¡¯He ran away?¡¯

    Tong was surprised . He guessed that the person that was retreating should haveid a trap inside of his shed .

    Tong circled around the shed to chase him, but he stopped his feet . A can-like object was thrown at Tong . It was a can with a handle on top . The can was already rolling on the ground, 10 centimeters away from Tong¡¯s feet .

    ¡¯Fudge! Grenades!¡¯

    *BOOM!*

    ...

    The boy who thrown the HE grenades looked back and smirked .

    ¡¯Fool! I was a pro in P**G, do you think I didn¡¯t have an exit n?¡¯

    ¡¯Ha! With this I¡¯ll have another 10,000 years to live! I¡¯ll be an immortal!¡¯

    ¡¯Thanks for the tips, noob!¡¯

    The boy mocked Tong in his mind . He believed that Tong wouldn¡¯t be able toe out of that alive .

    The boy stopped running and checked his status .

    ********************************************

    **Status**

    Name: Shou Liudan

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 29 Years

    *Active Skill List*

    [Create Grenade] LV . 1 EXP( 4/10,000 )

    - Create one explosive grenade .

    Skill Consumption: 200 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Usage Restriction: None

    System Note: Idiot number one .

    ********************************************

    "Huh!?"

    The boy checked his remaining lifespan . It hadn¡¯t increased .

    "The mission is notpleted?"

    The boy muttered to himself . He didn¡¯t notice that the red dot in front of him was approaching .

    *Swoosh!*

    The boy felt something cold went through his neck . Then he couldn¡¯t sense his lower body nor could breathe . His vision became yellow and then ck . His body copsed and his head rolled on the ground .

    ...

    [*Ding* *Ding* Congrattions! You¡¯ve got the first blood!]

    [Your rewards will be given after the time limit ended . ]

    [Please do your best to score some more and aim for the additional prize!]

    ¡¯Whew! One down . Five to go . ¡¯

    ¡¯Fudge! That was scary . I thought I was a goner . ¡¯

    ¡¯Praise the [Plot Armor]!¡¯

    After beheaded the grenade boy, Tong padded his torn cloths to put out the small fire .

    Because Tong braced the explosion head-on . Pot-holes and burned mark, which was damaged by the explosion and shrapnel, was visible everywhere on his cloth . His cloth was in tattered .

    ********************************************

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Plot Armor] Cannot be leveled up

    - Immune to all natural disease, poisoning and physical attacks .

    - After the host be 20 years of age . The host shall be forced summoned back to the Netherworld .

    System Note: God mode too OP! Nerf PLZ!

    ********************************************

    Tong was d that he had this OP skill on him . Any attack from weapons in this era or even the weapons from the 21st century were treated as physical attack .

    The passive skill protected him from head to toes . Any attack wouldn¡¯t cause any pain or scratch or a dent on him the slightest .

    Tong knelt down and search the boy¡¯s body . He found two HE grenades in his cloth . Tong then checked the HUD map . The three red dots were getting closer . The dot from the West was 150 meters away . The South was roughly 170-180 meters . And the East red dot was only 70 meters away .

    Tong looked at the two grenades in his hands and smirked . Then he turned back and looked at the inside of the shed through the back door .

    On the front door, a grenade was tied between the door and the nearby wall . It seemed that the boy ced a booby trap and waited for Tong and others to chase after him .

    Tong ignored the booby trap and retreated to the North . He couldn¡¯t afford to get pincered here .

    Moreover, themotion from the explosion awoke the vigers and the guards . He couldn¡¯t afford getting himself into aplicated situation with the local .

    ...

    At another location in the corner of the vige...

    *Soek*

    *Soek*

    *Soek*

    Hua Shi was sitting beside a body, a dismantled body . She was prying open the skull of her victim .

    [*Ding* *Ding*]

    [You¡¯vepleted the mission! Although you didn¡¯t get the first kill but it¡¯s still an achievement!]

    [You can continue to hunt down the others for a chance of the additional prize or rest until the day is over . ]

    [Good luck! Ciao!]

    ¡¯Oh? He finally died?¡¯ Hua Shi shrugged .

    ¡¯I have to hurry, or the brain will lose taste . ¡¯

    Hua Shi nced at the lifeless body . He was an otherworlder that she killed .

    ¡¯There¡¯s four more but that¡¯s no longer important . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ve done everything I could and I don¡¯t have any more tranquilizer with me . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll just take this brain and be done with it . ¡¯

    ¡¯At the very least, I¡¯ve finally got my favorite ingredients for my breakfast today . ¡¯

    Hua Shi hummed as she scooped the brain out of the skull .

 Chapter 11

    Chapter 11

    Chapter 11 ¨C Arrow in the knee?

    "What was that sound?"

    "Hurry and check! Move it!"

    Amotion broke out in the vige . Twenty vige guards rushed to the explosive site . The vigers woke up and opened windows to check what was going on .

    ...

    Tong continued running towards the North while ncing at his HUD map . The red dot in the East was chasing him from behind, while the other two switched target towards each other . After another minute of running, the three red dots reduced to two . The other two red dots, which Tong initially thought they were crashing into each other, were also reduced by one .

    ¡¯Good . From a 3-on-1 situation turns into a one-on-one now . ¡¯

    Tong stopped his feet and turned around, then he gauged the distance between him and the red dot .

    ¡¯60 meters . . . 55 ... 50¡¯

    ¡¯He¡¯sing out in front . ¡¯

    Tong took out a grenade he looted from the grenade boy and put his other hand on the pin, standing by to throw the grenade at the moment he had the visual of the enemy .

    The cloud of the night sky moved, revealing the full-moon . The moonlight shined down thend, a boy with a sword showed up . He was charging at Tong without stopping .

    Tong noticed that the boy was clenching both hands on his sword while running awkwardly . He didn¡¯t seem to be in a position to release a magic skill or range skill . The boy screamed a war-cry and continued charging .

    "You have no idea that you are already dead!"

    "There is nothing in this world that I cannot cut!" The boy proimed .

    Tong tilted his head to the side in amusement . His face and eyes were mocking the boy in front of him .

    ¡¯Are you serious?¡¯

    ¡¯He¡¯s not trying to fool me or make me let down my guard, right?¡¯

    ¡¯What¡¯s with that cheesy lines? Middle-school syndrome? A chunni?¡¯

    ¡¯Welp . I can¡¯t look down on him . I¡¯m a chunni too . Wasn¡¯t my skill created based on J*jo?¡¯

    Tong put down the grenade his was preparing and drew his de .

    ¡¯Since my opponent seems to be a melee type, then let me abuse my [Plot Armor] . ¡¯

    ...

    ********************************************

    **Status**

    Name: Bai Chi

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 450 Years

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Sword Master] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kill an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the killed enemy .

    System Note: Idiot number two .

    ********************************************

    "There is nothing in this world that I cannot cut!" Bai Chi shouted as he was charging at Tong .

    Bai Chi jumped to mid-air, raising his sword overhead, and then swung down .

    "ZESTO!"

    *Swoosh*

    *Thud*

    "I told you that there is nothing ... eh?"

    Bai Chi was sure that he got an easy kill . He had been using his swords to hunt down gangsters since he was eight . He had confident in his passive skill . He believed that once he could get closed to any opponent, then that opponent would be as good as dead . He never lost in the close-range fight even once .

    However, Bai Chi sword was grabbed by a bare hand . Tong just simply raised his hand and grabbed the de part . The sharp edge couldn¡¯t cut his hand .

    Tong yanked the sword towards himself . Bai Chi, who was unprepared, was dragged forward .

    As Bai Chi lost his bnce, Tong stabbed his de through Bai Chi¡¯s neck, iming another kill .

    [*Ding* *Ding* Double Kill!]

    A confirmation announcement sound made Tong sighed a relief . He was lucky that both of the enemies were physical attack type .

    Tong looked around and nced at the map to confirm his location . He nned to return home for now because the bombmotion was getting more hectic .

    He didn¡¯t like the presence of the otherworlders here in this vige . This is Zhang Jiao¡¯s secret operation base pre-uprising . Tong couldn¡¯t afford to have any otherworlder messing up with the trend of the history here .

    Tong nned that he would get rid of the rest of otherworlders during the day or tonight since there was enough time . There was only two otherworlders other than Tong remained here .

    *Fwoohs*

    *Poek*

    Before Tong could walk a step back to his house, a bright arrow flew up from a dark alley and headed straight into Tong¡¯s left knee . A sharp pain sensation that Tong hadn¡¯t experienced as ofte was running from his stabbed knee into his brain .

    "Ahh!" Tong cried in pain .

    He looked below and found a shining arrow getting stuck in his left knee .

    ¡¯Fudge! It¡¯s magic! Magic Arrow!¡¯

    Instinctively, Tong leaped using thest remaining good-condition right leg and rolled behind a cover, a cart filled with tied straws .

    Another arrow flew through the location Tong was standing . If Tong didn¡¯t rolled away, the arrow would have pierced his heart . However, the arrow curved in mid-air and made a U-Turn towards Tong .

    Seeing that the arrow was stilling back for him, Tong cursed in his mind .

    ¡¯Not just ordinary magic arrow, but a homing magic arrow!¡¯

    Tong lifted his de and managed to block the arrow . But another *whish* sound came from a distance and another arrow was flying toward him again .

    Tong lifted himself up and ran while limping into a narrow alley . Then he turned around and blocked another arrow with his de .

    *Whish*

    *Whish*

    *Whish*

    Three more arrows were shot and flew in mid-air . All of them made a turn and flew straight at Tong as if they have eyes attacked on the arrow head .

    ¡¯Not to my freaking self! Don¡¯t you ever, and I meant never let your freaking guard down after a victory again!¡¯

    Tong self-cursed while shrinking himself small to minimize the area that arrows could hit him, and swung the side of his de to block the arrows . He nced at the map to find the location of the archer .

    The red dot shed 30 meters away, South-West of Tong¡¯s location . Tong then check the route if he could get a vantage point . Tong stayed in his current position, nning his next move .

    ...

    The archer realized he couldn¡¯t kill Tong by shooting at his current position . The arrows consumed his lifespan so he couldn¡¯t waste it recklessly . He moved eastwards to block Tong¡¯s escape route and to find an angle on Tong .

    However, Tong surprised him . Tong climbed the alley up to the roof of a wooden house, and threw something in his direction . A can-shaped object made an arc and dropped on the ground, 10 meters away from the archer .

    "Shit! Grenade!? A grenade skill!?"

    *BOOM*

    The archer jumped away and lied down in prone to avoid the explosion . But the shrapnel still hit his back and grazed a finger-size fresh from his left thigh . Blood gushed out of the wounds and the sensation of pain ran through his nerve into his brain .

    "Ghhh!"

    The archer gritted his teeth and moaned in pain . He looked at the map to confirm the current Tong¡¯s location .

    *Whoosh*

    *Whoosh*

    A dagger struck into his right thigh . Tong threw his two daggers towards the archers, but one of them hit while the other hit the ground next to the archer .

    After throwing the daggers, Tong rushed over to the archer without caring about the pain in his knee . He jumped down the roof and continued dashing while limping .

    The archer, seeing that Tong was approaching him, flipped around . While the archer was still lying down on the ground on his back, he activated his skill and a bright arrow appeared on his hand . He nocked the arrow with his bow and was about to release the string .

    *BOOM*

    Another explosion sound came from the south . The archer was distracted and his hand slipped . His arrow was sessfully fired, but the aiming was off . Tong swiped away the arrow with his de and activated his trump card .

    "Time Stop!"

    It was thest words that the archer heard before his vision went ck forever .

    ...

    Tong lied down, panting .

    The pain from his knee was killing him when he pushed himself to run . Thending from the 2 . 5-meter-high roof also shook his inside . He felt like his internal organs and his brain were hit by a hammer .

    ¡¯I¡¯m immune to physical attack but not immune to the gravity?¡¯

    This was a new discovery for Tong . He made another mental note, not to jump down from the high ground . Tong once had a dream about himself jumping down from a city wall like a certain open-battlefield action game, which seemed impossible to achieve with his current constitution .

    Tong turned his head to look at the corpse of the archer . Tong¡¯s de pierced through his heart and stayed stuck in the archer¡¯s body . And then look at the south where the sound of explosion came from .

    ¡¯Somebody probably triggered that booby trap . ¡¯

    ¡¯I feel sorry for the vigers . But I didn¡¯t have enough time to disarm that . ¡¯

    [*Ding* *Ding* *Ding* TRIPLE KILL!]

    [Wow! You are such an overachiever! Well done!]

    [Should I revive a dead meme for this situation?]

    [I was once a main character like you, but I got an arrow in the knee . ]

    " . . . "

    [Oh well, don¡¯t mind theme joke . The action scenes was in boring . I¡¯m just brightening the mood for the audiences . I have the responsibility to keep this show going, you know?]

    "..."

    [Anyway, have fun and enjoy your mini chicken dinner!]

    "... Damn system . "

    Tong cursed and continued lying down on the ground on his back . His body, which had just be 16-year-old in less than an hour, was already at the limit . He didn¡¯t have any strength to raise himself up .

    Tong looked at the HUD map to check thest red dot . The red dot was over 500 meters away and already went inside a building . It seemed that the person already killed an otherworlder to meet the mission requirement and went back to rest .

    Tong sighed in relief . He couldn¡¯t fight any more for the time being .

    Vigers already noticed themotion and rushed to Tong¡¯s location . Tong mustered hisst bits of strength to get up and escaped into a dark shade of an alley . On his way back, he tried to think of an excuse to exin to his father about his injury .

    "First day of the New Year is always a shitty day ..." Tong grumbled .

 Chapter 12

    Chapter 12

    Chapter 12 ¨C Wait, WHAAAAT!!??

    7 AM in the morning, January 1st, 181AD .

    Hua Shi sat on a chair in front of the inn her family booked, rxing and smiling . Her face and skin reflected the sun light and appeared more glossy than usual .

    Such sight of an innocent-looking young girl bathing in the sunlight in the morning attracted many men in the area . However, if they could read her thought, they would scram away in fear .

    ¡¯Fresh brain fried with the rice wine was awesome . ¡¯

    ¡¯A pity that the blood was too thick . That guy ate too much fat and meat . There was a taste of alcohol in the liver too . ¡¯

    ¡¯Heck, he was only a child and he already drank wine? How did his parent raise him?¡¯

    ¡¯His parents should be ashamed of such an immoral child . ¡¯

    ¡¯Shame!¡¯

    ¡¯But the fat part in the thigh was okay, I guess?¡¯

    ¡¯Good thing that he didn¡¯t work out too much or the meat would be harder . ¡¯

    She reminisced the taste of her breakfast and let her thought ran wild while smiling .

    Hua Tuo, who was standing next to her, looked at his daughter with the corner of his eyes . He had aplicated look on this face .

    Last night, after the midnight, he woke up because of the explosion sound and then found out that his daughter went missing . Then he dressed up and exited the inn to search for his daughter, only to find that his daughter was on her way back, carrying blood-soaked-cloths wrapping around several chunk of mysterious meat-like objects, with the bloody stenching out of the cloths .

    Hua Tuo asked his daughter what the meat in the cloth bags were and got answered that they were wild dog meat . Because Hoa Tuo experienced treating many patients by surgeries and other kinds of treatment, he got used to the bloody scenes and gore . He recognized that those meat wasn¡¯t likely extracted from a wild dog, but humans! But Hua Tuo kept his mouth shut .

    And this morning, his daughter insisted that she would cook her own breakfast, and Hua Tuo¡¯s wife, Zhan Ru, permitted it . Then Hua Tuo noticed that the meat that his daughter brought back was all gone .

    It wasn¡¯t hard for Hua Tuo to guess what happened to the meat . He wasn¡¯t stupid .

    Still, Hua Shi was his daughter . Even if she did something immoral, he couldn¡¯t allow her to be arrested or anyone to find out about her secrets . But she needed to have a good talk with him .

    "Shi¡¯er, we need to talk . "

    Hua Tuo spoke while looking at his daughter with meaningful eyes .

    "Sure, I also have something to tell you and mom, too . " Hua Shi replied .

    **********************************

    **Status**

    Name: Hua Shi

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 1,119 Years

    *Active Skill List*

    [Medical Gift] LV . 2 EXP( 35/200 )

    - Diagnosis a patient and automatically find a solution for the treatment, or create a medicine for the sickness found .

    - Can create two medicine tablets or 20 milligrams of liquid medicine per one use .

    Skill Consumption: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Usage Restriction: Can only be used when treating a patient .

    System Note: I told you she¡¯s mental!

    **********************************

    After the midnight, Hua Shipleted the mission for not reveling any future events and got her lifespan increased by 1,000 years .

    Now she was waiting for the sun to set and end the day . Then she would get another 10,000 years more from the mission reward into her lifespan pool .

    With her abundant lifespans, she could either used her skill without care or continued living on this world like an immortal .

    ...

    "So, you ate it all ... . "

    "Yea, sorry dad . I couldn¡¯t resist . "

    Hua Shi confessed everything to her father . She was panic when Hua Tuo started interrogating her about her meal . Since she was about to tell her father a supernatural storyter anyway, she didn¡¯t hide anything .

    Hua Tuo took a deep breath and sigh . This was a first for him to deal with an immoral act of his daughter . She used to be docile and gentle for all these years they lived together . Then suddenly, her dark side submerged to the surface and Hua Tuo found it hard to handle it mentally .

    "Well, dad, I still have something to tell you . This is very important . Let¡¯s call mom here, too . "

    Hua Shi spoke with solemn face . She was dead serious .

    In this morning, she checked the HUD map and observed thest red dot . The red dot already went inside of a resident, and that resident was none other than Zhang¡¯s family resident .

    Hua Shi suspected that Zhang Tong was an otherworlder since his body seemed unusual and he was in simr age as hers . The system told her that everybody was sent here in this world at the same time, which meant that all otherworlders should have the same age .

    She wanted to tell Hua Tuo to take all family members and get away from this vige as soon as possible . She didn¡¯t want to risk herself being here any longer and got herself killed during the night .

    Hua Shi had long been nning to tell her parents everything that was about to happened in the next few decades, the Yellow Turban Uprising, Dong Zhuo¡¯s tyranny, chaos in China and the Three Kingdom era .

    She wanted her family to move away from the chaos in the central in and settled down in an imperial city like Xu Cheng or Xiang Yang, which didn¡¯t get much involve in the civil wars in the history .

    ...

    Hua Shi narrated everything, almost . She skipped the part that she was a sinner in Hell and her previous life hobbies . And told everything about Heaven, the trial, this world, what was about to happen in the future and the otherworlders .

    Hua Tuo listened on while frowning . He was in deep thought .

    "The loud sound fromst night, was it you who did it?"

    "No, as I¡¯ve told you . All of them were fighting because of the mission from the Heaven . One of them probably caused it . "

    In Hua Shi¡¯s story, she changed the system missions to Heavenly Mission . The natives here believed in Heaven and Earth and existences beyond the Heaven so it wasn¡¯t hard to understand the context . However, If Hua Shi were to use the context as "System Mission", then the natives wouldn¡¯t be able to understand .

    "You can increase your lifespan if youplete the mission and you¡¯ll die if you¡¯re not . "

    "Yes . "

    "And Zhang Tong was also a being that was sent from the Heaven?"

    "Yes, you can say so . "

    "And what is it about the superpower you mentioned? Can you show it to me?"

    Hua Shi thought what to answer her father to avoid the topic but then she gave up .

    She lift her long sleeves and tucked it on her shoulder, revealing her slender white arms .

    Hua Shi opened her palm and show it to her parents .

    "Look at my palm . There is nothing here or anywhere on my arm, right?"

    "Mhm . " Huo Tuo nodded .

    Then light shed from her palm . Two white medicine tablet appeared on her palm out of nowhere .

    "This is my power [Medical Gift] . I can create medicines out of nothingness . "

    Huo Shi¡¯s parents were shocked . Their eyes were opened wide . They couldn¡¯t believe their daughter¡¯s story at first because they thought it was some kind of children fantasy . But now they had to believe it .

    "What does this pills do?"

    "It¡¯s call ¡¯paracetamol¡¯ . It can be used for treating simple fever or relieving pain such as headache, just like what you are having right now . "

    "How do you take these? Dissolve them in a water pot?"

    "No . Just swallow it without chewing and drink some water . "

    "..."

    "I¡¯ve been using this power to treat other children back home . You should notice that the children were very healthy, right?"

    "... Yes, they were . "

    "So, do you believe me now?"

    "..."

    Hua Tuo were silent . He closed his eyes and recollected his thought . What he was thinking is unknown to his wife or Hua Shi . Then Zhan Ru opened her mouth .

    "You said that Zhang Tong were sent from Heaven with you, right?"

    "Yes . "

    "Then he also has this power?"

    "No . Each person has a different power . It probably has something to do with his body since it was too glossy and too healthy . "

    Hua Tuo was still not out of his thought . But he heard what his wife and his daughter talked about . A new thought popped up in his mind .

    "He has a power ... he knew the future yet he stays"

    "They fought ... Zhang Tong lives ..."

    "Heaven and missions ... then our daughter ..."

    "Heaven ... Shi¡¯er?"

    "Zhang Tong ... rebellion?

    "The rebellion ... Heaven and missions ...""

    "Heaven ... mission ... future ... Shi¡¯er and Zhang Tong?"

    "..."

    "..."

    "Fufufu..."

    "..."

    "FAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

    Hua Tuo suddenly blurted out,ughing out loud and confusing both his wife and his daughter .

    "Well, Shi¡¯er . I believe you . I believe you wholeheartedly . "

    "Really? Then can we get out of here and move our home? I want to live in-"

    "I want you to do what I¡¯m about to tell you . Then I and your mom will move away from Pengcheng to somewhere else . "

    "Sure! Sure! I¡¯ll do anything! You see, I want to go to Xu Cheng or-"

    "No, Shi¡¯er . You are not going anywhere . "

    "Huh? Why?"

    "Well, my wife, you said you liked Zhang Tong yesterday?"

    "Hmm? Yes I like him . " Zhan Ru replied .

    Hua Tuo pped his hands .

    "Then, it¡¯s simple . Shi¡¯er . "

    "Yes, dad?"

    "You¡¯re going to marry Zhang Tong . "

    "Oh that¡¯s easy! I¡¯ll do it! ... Err Hmm?"

    ...

    ...

    ...

    (Brain . exe has stopped working . Please wait a moment . Loading ...)

    ...

    ...

    ...

    ...

    "Wait WHAAAAAAAT!?"

 Chapter 13

    Chapter 13

    Chapter 13 ¨C Everything is a mess .

    "Wait WHAAAAAAAT!?" Hua Shi screamed .

    "You heard me right . You¡¯re marrying him . " Hua Tuo reaffirmed .

    "But Why!?"

    "Aren¡¯t you two sent by the Heaven?"

    "Uh yeah, sort of . "

    "And you¡¯ve been receiving missions as Heavenly missions? For example, mandate from the Heaven?"

    "Not entirely correct . But yes . "

    "Then aren¡¯t you two fated? This is the will of the Heaven!"

    "Huh?"

    "A match made in Heaven! You two are destined to be together so they sent you here!"

    A lightning struck Hua Shi¡¯s mind . She screwed up .

    When she introduced the story of her past to her parents, she didn¡¯t mention Hell, sinners or the crimes shemitted in her previous life . She only told them that the reason for them being here because the Heaven wanted them here and the Heaven had been ordering them around .

    To Hua Shi, Hua Tuo seemed to misunderstand her intention and thought that they were fated destined by the Heaven!

    Hua Tuo grinned from ear to ear . His eyes flickered many times while he was looking at his daughter .

    "Now that it¡¯s decided . Let¡¯s go to Zhang resident and visit Zhang Jiao to discuss the matter . Time is waiting no one so let¡¯s hurry!"

    "Wait dad! There¡¯s something you misunderstood . I-"

    "No more dilly dally! Let¡¯s go!"

    Hua Shi cried in her mind . Although she had enough experience in her previous life and didn¡¯t shy away from marriage, Zhang Tong could still be a threat to her . The current [Kill one otherworlder or more] mission was not over yet .

    ¡¯What do I do? What do I do!?¡¯

    ¡¯Why the hell did I lie?¡¯

    ¡¯If I show up in front of him, won¡¯t he kill me?¡¯

    ¡¯I could kill thest guy because I ambushed him . Can I kill this guy in a straight fight?¡¯

    ¡¯FFFFFUUUUUUUUUU¡¯

    ...

    Unbeknownst to Hua Shi, Hua Tuo had another idea .

    The match made in Heaven he dered was just a ruse . As a Buddhist medication practitioner, he was taught to follow thew of cause, effect and consequences . He didn¡¯t care or believe anything superstitious like Heaven or Hell any single bit!

    Huo Shi¡¯s cannibalism hobby gave him a dilemma . Such immoral act was unbearable, especially after knowing that she also had a mental-thinking of an adult yet she stillmitted to it .

    Hua Tuo had no idea how to fix his daughter¡¯s habit and he was worried about his reputation as a physician . If the matter was found out then his career would be ruined . He had no way out .

    Hua Tuo nned to punish his daughter when they got back home . But his wife gave him an inspiration .

    Zhan Ru mentioned Zhang Tong and his power . It sparked an idea in Hua Tuo¡¯s brain . What if he entrusted his daughter to Zhang Tong, then what he could gain from it .

    If they were indeed a match made by Heaven, then he would have done a good deed by supporting the will of Heaven .

    If Zhang Tong was really sent here for an important mission, then Hua Shi could support him, doing another good deed .

    Even if they weren¡¯t fated and all Heaven thing was a hoax, connecting a family with a genius merchant child in another healer family was fine too .

    And if the hobby of Hua Shi were to be resurfaced again, then Zhang family would took the responsibility for her action instead of him . Because the wife would always move into the husband¡¯s household, thus they would be responsible to take care of her instead of him!

    Even if the matter were to be found out, the Zhang family would take the me first and had their reputation sunk to rock bottom . Because of that, the Zhang family would have no choice but to help Hua Tuo keeping the secret of his daughter too!

    This move was like hitting three to four birds in one stone .

    Hua Tuo was smiling as he stroked his beard, feeling proud of his move .

    Normally, such immoral and heretic action of Hua Shi should result her getting beaten by wooden stick a hundred time byw, ensuring her death in agony .

    But Hua Tuo was merciful enough to just let it slide and shoved her into someone else¡¯s family . At least, she could live a fulfilling life as a wife of a family .

    ¡¯There¡¯s still a matter about the future . The rebellion, was it?¡¯

    ¡¯But the matter of the future is not certain . Everything can be changed by the hands of men . ¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t care about politics and wars . I¡¯ll just do my part as a simple physician . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll dump this heretic daughter with the Zhang¡¯s . Then I¡¯ll travel thend again . ¡¯

    ...

    Rewinding time a little bit, 3 AM at the same day, Zhang resident .

    Tongid down on his bed while having a rolled clothid under his injured knee . His injured knee was already bandaged .

    A bowl of water was ced on the table beside the bed and a reddish cloth, which was used to clean Tong¡¯s wound, was ce on the table next to the bowl . The water in the bowl was bloody red . A maid seemed to fail to clean up properly .

    Tong managed to escape the eyes of the vigers and returned back to his resident at 2 AM . But the Zhang residents already noticed Tong¡¯s disappearance and themotion in the vige . The entire residents were in uproar and were busy searching for Tong¡¯s whereabouts .

    Then they found the returning Tong and his injury, increasing the panic and chaos in the household further . Zhang Jiao was also awake during themotion . He rushed to see Tong .

    The injury wasn¡¯t severe, only an arrow in the knee . However, the doctor, which was Zhang Jiao himself, was unable to take out the arrow head or cut open the wound to take out the arrow .

    It was the con of having physical attack immunity . All surgical attempts were blocked by the passive skill . Only Tong himself could cut himself by using ordinary knife, no one else could .

    Tong had no choice but the take out the arrow head out by himself, which torn the wound further and his blood spurted out more, covering half of his leg .

    After taking out the arrow, Tong faced another dilemma, No needle could prate his skin! He had to stitch the wound himself because his passive skill was blocking the treatment again .

    In the end Tong almost had to do everything himself . The only treatment Zhang Jiao could do was applying a handful of wound-dressing-herbs, cleaning up outer wound and bandaging .

    After Tong finished his self-surgery treatment in his knee, he passed out, exhausted .

    Although there were a lot in Zhang Jiao¡¯s mind and he had many questions to ask, he left Tong alone . He nned to thoroughly question his son when he woke up .

    Zhang Jiao, sitting in the main hall of the Zhang resident, waited for the investigation report about the explosion and Tong¡¯s action during the night .

    Then, a scout came into the hall, knelt down and cupped his hand to report .

    "Reporting to Great Teacher! The investigation result is here . "

    The scout handed over a scroll . Zhang Bao, who was standing on the side of Zhang Jiao, stepped up and pick up the scroll to read .

    "Five children corpses and two guard corpses have been found . One child was dismantled and dumped in the south-east corner of the vige . He was a child of the farmer that has just moving in . His name was ..."

    The long report was read . All personal detail information about the victims, how they died, the location of their death, their family and etc, were reported .

    "We¡¯ve also recovered a de and two daggers on one of the dead children . It appeared simr to the weapons that my nephew, your son, bought from a cksmith a few months ago . "

    Zhang Jiao frown . He already had a hunch that Tong was partly responsible for this mess . Tong¡¯s weapons confirmed his suspicion .

    "Has the mayor found out yet?"

    "I don¡¯t think so . The report said they¡¯ve collected nephew¡¯s de and daggers before the guards arrived . "

    Zhang Jiao nodded, shook his head and sighed .

    "Everything currently is a mess . Give an order . No one can ever speak a word about what happened to Tong¡¯er . He never left the housest night! Remind everyone that!"

    "Yes, Great Teacher . "

    All servants and Zhang Bao left the hall, leaving Zhang Jiao alone .

    Zhang Jiao leaned back on his chair, breathing out a deep sigh .

    ¡¯Everything is a mess . Tong¡¯er, what were you doing behind my back all these years?¡¯

    ¡¯And what happened to your body? Howe your body be something like that?¡¯

    ...

    7 . 30 AM, January 1st, 181AD . Zhang Resident, Tong¡¯s room .

    Tong frown and lift his eyelid a little . He couldn¡¯t sleep anymore because of the pain in his knee .

    In his self-surgery and stitching, Tongpleted it with difficulty because he couldn¡¯t see the wound well enough .

    He did applied the anesthetic to numb the pain but the effect was now over . The pain sensation came back to him as the injured knee seemed to swell up a bit .

    *Peok* *Peok* *Peok*

    Someone was knocking the door of Tong¡¯s room, then the door opened . Zhang Jiao¡¯s younger brother, Tong¡¯s second uncle, Zhang Bao entered his room .

    "Hey kiddo, that Hua Tuo came again . Do you want to see him? He¡¯s talking to your dad right now . "

    "Huh? Why is heing back here?"

    "Who knows? He¡¯s back with the pretty girl that came with him yesterday . Maybe he want to give you a bride?"

    Zhang Bao smirked . But Tong rolled his eyes .

    "Anyway, if you can still walk then you should go see them . If you can¡¯t, just stay . "

    "No I won¡¯t go, please tell them I haven¡¯t wake up yet . But don¡¯t tell them I¡¯m sick or he¡¯ll barge in without permission . I don¡¯t want anyone to know about my injury . "

    "Aye! Take care kiddo ... Oh hey! Talk to your dad sometimes . He¡¯s lonely you know?"

    Zhang Bao smiled and shrugged . Then he left Tong .

    Tong looked at the back of his uncle then he nced at his knee, checking its condition .

    ¡¯I¡¯m not confident that I treated it right . ¡¯

    ¡¯I probably won¡¯t be able to walk straight for a few weeks or a couple months¡¯

    Tong¡¯s face was gloom .

    ¡¯There¡¯s also the matter with dad . ¡¯

    ¡¯I still haven¡¯t talk to dad yet since I returned . ¡¯

    ¡¯What should I tell him?¡¯

    ¡¯ . . . ¡¯

    ¡¯ . . . I¡¯m sorry dad . ¡¯

    Tong bit his lower lip, feeling bitter .

 Chapter 14

    Chapter 14

    Chapter 14 ¨C Troubling Zhang Jiao

    Zhang Jiao sat on the main seat in the main hall, receiving Hua Tuo and his family . They debated about the medical terms and treatment from their experience .

    Zhang Jiao was a Taoist and his healing technique came from Taoist teaching . They believed in Yin-Yang and the elemental inner force of men could affect the general health of a person, and emotions were also associated with the internal organs .

    Thus, they believed that if a person could maintain positive emotion and mentality, such as love, gentleness, kindness, and happiness, they would not sumb to general illness easily .

    In turn, stress and negative emotions were considered harmful to a person health in the Taoist teaching .

    Taoism also possessed wide variety of healing techniques and medicines, such as herbs, pills, alcohol, tea, oil, massage, decoction, acupuncture and etc .

    Meanwhile, Hua Tuo¡¯s medicine knowledge base was from Buddhist teaching .

    In Buddhist teaching, there was aw of cause, effect and consequences, AKA Karma . The sickness of a patient had its root, and the cause could always be exined . There would be no such thing as a sickness that popped up out of nowhere without a source .

    They also had simr healing technique like Taoism, such as herbs, diets, therapy and etc .

    Hua Tuo was an open-minded person when ites to the medical practices . He absorbed every kinds of techniques of other teaching like a sponge, andbined it into one of his own .

    Both Zhang Jiao and Hua Tuo chatted andughed for an hour . Then Hua Tuo realized he had forgotten his purpose of this visit .

    "Right, I¡¯ve forgotten what I¡¯vee here for . My apologies, teacher Zhang . "

    "No worry, no worry . It¡¯s been a while since Ist had a good chat with someone on the same field . Take your time . "

    "Haha, thank you teacher Zhang . But I¡¯vee here to discuss about something else . Come, Shi¡¯er, greet teacher Zhang . "

    For an hour, Hua Shi sat there listening to the conversation in patience . She was threaten by Hua Tuo that if she yed truant or didn¡¯t follow his order then she would be disowned .

    Hua Shi had no choice but toply . A 16-year-old single girl could not possibly survive alone in this era, unless she had a death wish or wanted to be ravished and ended up working as a prostitute in the future .

    Without Hua Tuo¡¯s backing, Hua Shi had no confident that she could rely on her special skill or her knowledge to survive by herself at her current age .

    "Hua Shi greets teacher Zhang . "

    Hua Shi stepped up and greeted Zhang Jiao . Her mother had dressed her up like a noble youngdy for this asion .

    Zhang Jiao nodded, observing Hua Shi from head to toe . His eyes flickered a moment and returned its calm .

    "Good girl, I heard you came here with teacher Hua yesterday?"

    "Yes, we bought a few boxes of soap from young master Zhang yesterday . " Hua Shi replied .

    "Hoh? All of you were here yesterday?"

    "Yes, we couldn¡¯t find you here yesterday so we visited young master Zhang first . Please forgive us for our inconsideration . " Hua Tuo exined .

    Zhang Jiao touched his beard . He fell into deep thought . He was already aware of Tong¡¯s secret soap business and other goods he collected in his warehouse .

    Tong started acting on his own without consulting him since he was five . Zhang Jiao was worried as he didn¡¯t know how to be a good father . He was too busy teaching his disciples and performing duty as a healer in this vige and the surrounding .

    Therefore, he left Tong alone, believing that he was lonely and wanted something to do to kill times . However, times proved him wrong .

    Every year, Tong always did something strange that broke themon sense of a child . For example, he ordered his servants to gather or buy materials in bulk with his pocket money, such as olive oil and Gui Flower seeds . Then Tong cooped up in his room, experimenting something smelly .

    Two yearster, Tong snatched the main hall, moved away all furniture and flooded the room with strange flowery-odor oily brown liquid . Tong imed that he needed a ce with even-floor or it would be ugly . Then after a week, all the liquid was solidified and was cut into several hand-size block, and Tong¡¯s soap was revealed to the family .

    After that day, Zhang Jiao allocated two buildings for Tong to manage his own business .

    Thenst night, Tong snuck out of the resident and came back injured .

    Zhang Jiao had no idea why Tong went out at night and what Tong¡¯s connection with the death of five children and two guards was .

    And now Hua Tuo suddenly introduced his daughter to him . It wasn¡¯t hard to guess what Hua Tuo nned to do next if it was during normal time .

    But this time the matter was very sensitive . Hua Tuo and his family came to see Tong yesterday and the incident happened soon after . It was too suspicious! This was too much for a coincidence!

    Zhang Jiao was afraid that Hua Tuo might have a connection of the incidentst night, or Hua Tuo schemed to harm his son by using his daughter .

    Zhang Jiao didn¡¯t have any solid proof to confirm his conjecture, so he chose to wait and see Hua Tuo¡¯s next move .

    "Teacher Zhang, how about it? What do you think of my daughter?" Hua Tuo asked .

    ¡¯Figured . Trying to offer your daughter to be someone¡¯s wife?¡¯ Zhang Jiao scoffed in his mind .

    "She¡¯ll grow up into a finedy alright . I¡¯ll be jealous of any man who can gain your daughter¡¯s favor . "

    "You see, teacher Zhang . We visited young master Zhang yesterday and Shi¡¯er took a liking to him . Now that Shi¡¯er is about to be of age and young master Zhang is about the same age as Shi¡¯er . Young master Tong also doesn¡¯t seem to have a fianc¨¦ yet . . . "

    ¡¯I figured as much, you wanted to give your daughter to Tong¡¯er . ¡¯ Zhang Jiao thought .

    "How about it teacher Zhang . Don¡¯t you think that Shi¡¯er is a good match for young master Zhang?"

    Zhang Jiao chuckled in his heart . If Hua Tuo had made this offer in other day then he would have epted it without thinking . However, there was an exception . No one could touch a single hair of his son today!

    "This matter should be decided by the children themselves . It is their future we are talking about . We have no right to decide it for them . "

    Zhang Jiao refused . His voice and stance was firm . His face also showed an indifferent attitude .

    ¡¯Hmm?¡¯

    Hua Tuo was surprised . He didn¡¯t expect Zhang Jiao to refuse it .

    Hua Tuo and Hua Shi didn¡¯t know about Tong¡¯s injury . So they didn¡¯t know why Zhang Jiao didn¡¯t take the bait .

    But Hua Shi was delighted . She already checked her HUD map and saw Tong¡¯s location . She confirmed that the otherworlder was 100% Tong . When she heard that she didn¡¯t have to marry Tong anymore, she felt like a mountain was lift away from her chest .

    "Then how about having Shi¡¯er and young master Zhang talk to each other about his matter . Maybe they like each other but didn¡¯t have a chance to be alone together . " Hua Tuo attempted again .

    But Zhang Jiao frown . This old fox was shameless, shoving his underage daughter to his son without caring . What kind of father was he?

    "I¡¯m afraid that it will be impossible for today . My son is currently resting . He had an identst night and needed rest . "

    ¡¯An ident?¡¯ Hua Tuo thought .

    ¡¯Was it rted to the Heavenly mission Shi¡¯er was talking about?¡¯

    ¡¯She said that Zhang Tong fought with four other apostles and lived . ¡¯

    ¡¯If that¡¯s true then he might have an injury . And Zhang Jiao is keeping it a secret . ¡¯

    ¡¯Interesting . ¡¯ Hua Tuo smiled in his heart .

    "Shi¡¯er, why don¡¯t you show teacher Zhang your magic?"

    Hua Tuo decided to reveal his trump card . He wanted to shove his daughter into Tong¡¯s hand no matter what .

    "Magic?" Zhang Jiao was surprised .

    Hua Tuo red at his daughter, gesturing her as if he was telling her ¡¯Do it, or else¡¯ .

    Hua Shi was helpless . She did what father told her to .

    "[Medical Gift]"

    Hua Shi activated her skill, scanning Zhang Jiao and his health . After the scanning waspleted, she closed her eyes and digested the information which were poured into her brain .

    Hua Shi opened her eyes and looked straight at Zhang Jiao, then pointed her finger at an empty te on the table on the side of Zhang Jiao . Bright light shined from Hua Shi¡¯s index finger and beamed onto the te, and two medicine pallets appeared out of thin air .

    "This is my skill [Medical Gift], I can diagnosis an illness or an injury of a person and create medicines out of thin air or give you a treatment solution if the illness or the injury cannot be cured with medicines . "

    Zhang Jiao¡¯s eyes opened wide in shock for a couple seconds before returning to normal . Zhang Jiao had seen Tong¡¯s abnormal constitution when he treated Tong, and he had seen many street parlor tricks before . So he didn¡¯t surprise much .

    ¡¯Weird trick . But it looks real . ¡¯ Zhang Jiao thought .

    "Teacher Zhang, have you been suffering stomach ache three days ago?" Hua Shi asked .

    "!? . . . Yes . " Zhang Jiao nodded .

    "Did you feel like you lost an appetite? You felt full even though you ate very little? Sometimes you felt nauseous before you had a meal? You felt burnt from the inside of your lower chest? You thought you need to go to the toilet but once you got there, nothing came out? You belched a lot yesterday? You ..."

    A series of diagnosis from Hua Shi went on and on . Zhang Jiao¡¯s eyes were opened wide again . Everything she said was spotted on!

    Hua Tuo, who was beside his daughter, was surprised as well . He couldn¡¯t detect anything unusual from Zhang Jiao after an hour of chatting .

    "What you are suffering right now is called ¡¯gastric ulcers¡¯ . There¡¯s a small wound in your stomach . It was caused by teacher Zhang yourself for not properly had meal on time . Your stress and your over-drinking habits also contributed to the small wound . "

    "Since the wound is still small and there is no infection yet, the treatment is simple . You can just swallow the medicines on the te after a meal . I¡¯ll create more tablets for you . It shouldst you for a week . If you still feel pain or feel anything unusual, call me immediately . "

    Zhang Jiao stared at Hua Shi, speechless . He couldn¡¯t digest the information . Everything seemed gibberish to him .

    Then Zhang Jiao thought about his son¡¯s knee injury and his weird constitution . He suddenly had an inspiration .

    "Teacher Hua, do you mind if I borrow your daughter to see my son for a while?"

 Chapter 15

    Chapter 15

    Chapter 15 ¨C Hot Potato

    Zhang Tong was sitting on the side of his bed, looking at the HUD map, frowning .

    The red dot of thest otherworlder in this vige was in the main hall of the Zhang¡¯s resident .

    ¡¯Uncle told me Hua Tuo and co . were here again and they are currently in the main hall . ¡¯

    ¡¯Then Hua Shi should be here too . ¡¯

    ¡¯She never appears in the history yet she exists here . ¡¯

    ¡¯And the dot is in the main hall . ¡¯

    ¡¯There¡¯s no other exnation . She¡¯s thest otherworlder!¡¯

    With the information Zhang Bao gave him, Tong made a conjecture . Tong guessed that thest red dot person should be Hua Shi whom he met yesterday .

    ¡¯How should I deal with her? Kill her? Talk to her first? Or wait and see?¡¯

    ¡¯All otherworlders are sinners . They all once were wicked criminals . ¡¯

    ¡¯She cannot be 100% trusted!¡¯

    ¡¯But that Hua Tuo ... I need an exit n just the case the Yellow Turban copses in the future . ¡¯

    ¡¯I can¡¯t offend him yet . ¡¯

    Even though Tong made hypothetical scenarios in his mind, one of which if Hua Shi was an otherworlder then Tong would negotiate with her, he still couldn¡¯t force himself to make peace with Hua Shi .

    But the situation had changed . Hua Shi should already be aware of his existence and the mission was still active until the end of today . She might be tempted to kill him for an extra reward . Tong had to adjust his n .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll negotiate first . If it doesn¡¯t work then I¡¯ll kill her, even if it means I have to offend Hua Tuo . ¡¯

    ...

    Zhang Jiao leaded Hua Tuo and his family to Tong¡¯s courtyard .

    Even though Zhang Jiao didn¡¯t want to y along with Hua Tuo, but having Hua Shi looking at Tong¡¯s injury and his body condition wouldn¡¯t hurt .

    As a father, he concerned about his only son well-being . He knew he didn¡¯t behave like a good father to Tong all these years and they rarely talked to each other . At the very least, he wanted to ensure Tong good future and good health .

    They found Tong sitting alone on a wooden chair in the middle of an empty field, ring at the visitors . He had a sword hanging behind his back .

    Hua Shi had a chill run down her spine . Tong didn¡¯t hide his killing intent . If she made a wrong move, Tong wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill her one the spot in front of her father .

    "Tong¡¯er, you¡¯re here . "

    Zhang Jiao felt awkward . He didn¡¯t know what to start . He hadn¡¯t talked to his son for a long time .

    Tong¡¯s grumpy face turned gentler . He looked at his father and smiled .

    "Dad, master Huo, could both of you leave us alone? I have something important to talk to the youngdy here . "

    Tong spoke with calm and gentle voice but his killing intent enveloped the entire courtyard . The three visitors felt ufortable standing there .

    Hua Tuo and Hua Shi were silent . This wasn¡¯t part of their ns . Why was Tong so hostile to them?

    "Tong¡¯er, I¡¯ve brought thedy here to check on your injury . She has a special power . Why don¡¯t you let her see you wound . "

    "... A special power, is it? Okay, but could you leave us alone, please?"

    Zhang Jiao nodded, but his eyes sadden . He wanted to talk with his son more . There were too many things he wanted to ask .

    "Well, let¡¯s leave this to the younglings . You saw her power so you shouldn¡¯t be worried . She can treat his wound and even detect deceases that I couldn¡¯t even notice . "

    Hua Tuoughed and left the courtyard . He already half-seeded what he hade her for, dumping his immoral daughter to other family .

    Zhang Jiao felt bitter . He turned around and were about to leave . But Tong spoke out .

    "Dad, let¡¯s have a good talk after this . I¡¯ll exin everything to you . "

    Zhang Jiao nodded in relieved and left, following Hua Tuo exiting the courtyard .

    Seeing that both Zhang Jiao and Hua Tuo left . Tong red at Hua Shi .

    "Now then, let¡¯s talk, shall we?" Tong spoke up .

    "..."

    Hua Shi couldn¡¯t speak . She was nervous .

    "Why don¡¯t you start by telling me what you are doing here?"

    Tong smiled . He pulled an object out from his sleeve . It was a grenade . Tong put his hand on the pin while watching Hua Shi¡¯s reaction .

    "Oh, before you start . I need to remind you something . "

    "One, I believe in gender equality so I don¡¯t mind beating up any man or woman alike . "

    "Two, I already have a girlfriend so don¡¯t even bother seducing me . I¡¯m not nning to be a Harem King . "

    "Three, I have a skill that make me immune to this grenade in my hand . So if you try anything funny, I¡¯ll pull the pin . And I¡¯ll be sure to use every ounces of my strength to jump at you like a suicide bomber to ensure that you will be blown to pieces . "

    "Now I have finished introducing myself . It¡¯s your turn . Be sure to tell me about your skill in detail and your intention ofing here . You have 30 seconds and it starts . . . now!"

    Hua Shi was bbergast, stunned and flustered . She expected a civil discussion since both of them already met their quota for the mission clear . But Tong downright threatened her like she was some kind of criminal .

    "Umm ... please calm down-"

    "25 seconds . "

    "...!"

    "23 . "

    Tong pulled the pin and hold onto the lever . If he let go of the lever then the grenade would explode in a few seconds .

    "Okay! Okay! I¡¯ll talk! I¡¯ll tell you everything! Put the ring back in!"

    Hua Shi narrated everything, about her skill, about her talk with Hua Tuo and about the misunderstanding which made Hua Tuo wanted to get Hua Shi to marry Tong .

    Tong looked at Hua Shi withplicated face . What kind of nonsense story was this? Was this some kind of clich¨¦ story from a harem novel on online novel website?

    "What crime did you do in your previous life, before you went to Hell?"

    "Uhh ... I don¡¯t remember I did anything wrong . "

    "Bullshit, only criminals were sent to Hell and only sinners in Hell were sent here . What did you do?"

    "Eh? I¡¯m serious . ... Though I was told that my taste of food was strange . "

    "Strange? What did you eat?"

    "Umm ... Human brains?"

    "..."

    "Oh, and women thigh muscles, women breasts ..."

    "..."

    "Also liver, and sometimes chewy heart-"

    "Stop! That¡¯s enough!"

    "Okay . You believe me now?"

    Tong had a headache . What in the blue world was this girl in her previous life? A zombie?

    "And how did you procure your ... your food?"

    "I took it from my patients . Most of them were about to die so I took the liberty taking a portion of their parts since they wouldn¡¯t be able to use it anyway . "

    "When you took the parts, had they died yet?"

    "Err ... Nope!"

    ¡¯You actually killed them you sicko zombie!¡¯ Tong wanted to curse out loud . But he continued asking .

    "... You said they were patients, what were your job in yourst life?"

    "A nurse . "

    The corner of Tong¡¯s mouth twitched . If she answered ¡¯A doctor¡¯ then he would have thought that she was a reincarnation of H*nnibal Lect*r .

    "Look, I¡¯vee in peace, okay? We don¡¯t have to fight anymore . We alreadypleted the mission . Let¡¯s be friends, okay?"

    Tong stared into Hua Shi¡¯s eyes as if he tried to read her mind . Then he sighed and put the pin back into the grenade lever, stopping the trigger .

    Tong had a rough idea why Hua Tuo suddenly wanted to shove his daughter to him .

    Hua Shi¡¯s hobby could incite an uproar and ruin Hua Tuo¡¯s reputation . As in ancient time in China, reputation of a family was very important especially to nobles and top careerists such as physicians or officials .

    If someone were to damage it even a slightest bit, the lowest punishment that the person would get would be beaten by a giant wooden stick a dozen times, which had a high chance to cripple or kill the person on the spot .

    Such punishment was not just a tradition that was uphold within the ranks of noble family . Even thew made by the imperial court would also have a simr minimum punishment, whipping by logs .

    Tossing Hua Shi away to someone else¡¯s family like a hot potato could also be seen as a merciful act to protect a family member from such punishment by the family or the officials .

    Tong was irritated by the n of Hua Tuo for throwing away his own daughter to protect his own reputation as a physician . However, Hua Tuo¡¯s action sparked an idea for Tong .

    ¡¯I didn¡¯t want to marry anyone but Friday or want to build a harem like one of those main characters in ReadFreeWebNovels . But I can use this zombie . ¡¯

    ¡¯Hua Tuo may not want to work for anyone in the history . But this time, your heritage is mine . ¡¯

    Tong withdrawn his killing intent and grinned at Hua Shi .

    "We can be friends . But I have a few conditions . "

 Chapter 16

    Chapter 16

    Chapter 16 ¨C The PTW Shop

    11 PM, the first day of January .

    The day ended in an anti-dramatic manner . Tong and Hua Shi agreed to form an alliance, with Hua Shi staying in Zhang¡¯s resident under the guise of Tong¡¯s fianc¨¦ as they were still too young to get married .

    In turns, Hua Shi had to provide medical aids and use her skill if Tong requested her in the future .

    Secondly, she had to help him dealing with his soap business, ounting, stocking and warehousing . She also had to write down all her medical knowledge she got from the skill and Hua Tuo¡¯s teaching so Tong could pass it to his men in the future .

    However, once the Yellow Turban Uprising started, she had the right to divorce Tong and leave him if she was confident enough to survive this era alone . Or she could remain on board on this "pirate ship" and challenge the course of the history together .

    Lastly, Hua Shi made an odd request . She asked for a few drops of Tong¡¯s blood once a week so she could make a sauce for her food . Her face when she made the request was perverted and unsightly, which caused Tong to have ck lines on his face .

    Hua Tuo and his wife left Zhang family in merry mood . He seeded getting rid of the troublesome daughter and got more soaps as a wedding gifts in advance . They promised toe back to attend their daughter¡¯s wedding when both Tong and Hua Shi¡¯s became an adult .

    Zhang Jiao profited a bit from this engagement . He would receive treatment from Hua Shi until he was cured from stomach ulcer . And he also got his hands on Hua Tuo¡¯s medical journal notes which would expand his medical knowledge further .

    In the end, the entire farce concluded into a win-win deal to everybody . So everyone walked away in merrily mood .

    In contrast of the joyous mood of everyone, Tong cooped in his room with his solemn face, waiting for the mission timer to be officially over .

    The main reason Tong stayed upte today was that Tong looked forward for the result of his performance in this mission . The mysterious prize that the system mentioned made him curious .

    There were just a hundred of otherworlders here in this world . What was the chance that several reincarnators could gather in a single small town or a vige? One in a thousand? One in a million? Nobody knew .

    However, this unusual odd happened in this vige . Seven otherworlders gathered here, crashed into each other, and two made it out alive .

    Tong believed that this incident should only happen in this ce but not anywhere else . Therefore, he had confident that the three kills he had gotten should score him the reward .

    ...

    Tong yed around with the HUD map for killing times . He tried to zoom out and check other area outside of his vige . But the map only showed the areas within the range of one kilometers . The further beyond the distance was all clouded by fog .

    He was disappointed . Tong wanted to scout the entire map of china to see where the other reincarnators were .

    [*Ding* *Ding* The time limit for the mission is now over! *Ding* *Ding*]

    The system obnoxious voice rang inside of Tong¡¯s head without warning, causing him to feel dizzy .

    [Ladies and gentlemen, we shall now punish those that didn¡¯t meet the quota for today . ]

    [...]

    [And it¡¯s done!]

    [Congrattions to everyone that is still breathing . Did you have fun? Yes?]

    ¡¯Fun? I got an arrow in the knee, you son of a ...¡¯ Tong cursed in his mind .

    [I knew all of you had fun . I, too, had so much fun watching you idiots running around like a goldfish in heat dancing around in the boiling water . ]

    [One of you even got an arrow in the knee! MUAHAHAHA!]

    [Oh, excuse me . The arrow in the knee meme gets me every times . ]

    "..."

    Tong rolled his eyes . He had enough of this trolling system . Heid on the bed and was about to go to sleep .

    [Okay! Time for the reward distribution!]

    [Everyone that is still alive shall get 10,000 years of lifespan . ]

    [And the extra reward today shall be ...]

    [A permanent upgradable level one radar map! Given to the arrow in the knee dude!]

    [He had the best performance today . He got three kills in the bag while the rest of you suckers got only one or two . ]

    [Now, be jealous and p your sorry butt to the winner! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee . ]

    [*ps* *ps* ps*]

    "I really win!?"

    Tong sprang up on the bed, checking his status menu . The HUD map had changed . It became more detailed than before .

    In the previous version, his map showed color dots and rough geography . But it did not contain any readable detail that could pinpoint what was in the map .

    However, this version had more information . Each dot on the map now had a name and each building also had detail and description on it .

    Although the new map had the same range as the former, Tong was still delighted . He had a dream if he had this kind of map, he could use this as scouter in a war or a battlefield and utilize many tactics or maneuvers faster than using ry information from human scouts . Now his dream hade true . Tong felt more hopeful in the future war .

    [Ow! Oi-yoi-yoi! I¡¯ve almost forgotten a very important info . Don¡¯t go to sleep yet . ]

    "Huh?"

    [I¡¯ve told all of you before that the tutorials are no more and the next thing will be the real deal, right?]

    [I meant exactly what I said . ]

    [From today onward, your life will be more intense!]

    [Instead of living day by day with your boring slow life, you will voluntarily ask me for more missions!]

    "Horseshit . Why should I?"

    Tong was confused . The past missions wereparable to endless nightmare . Why should he volunteer to take on those ridiculous quests?

    [As of today, a new feature will be added to y¡¯all ... it¡¯s the . . . PAY TO WIN SHOP!!]

    [Welp, it¡¯s PTW Shop for short ... Heheheh!]

    " . . . "

    A menu popped up in front of Tong without him doing anything . There was a long list of items, materials, medicines, weapons and armors, with a price tagged on each of the goods .

    [Before any single of you got over-excited and buy anything, you should check the price tag carefully . ]

    [We don¡¯t ept gold or cash here . We only ept LIFE!]

    [In other words, the shop only epts your lifespan . ]

    A bad feeling crept through Tong¡¯s mind . The shop would sell items and took back lifespans as a price . But how would someone get the lifespans to trade with this shop? Completed the mission!

    "Oh god, no ..."

    [We have pretty much all items you can find in the 21st century or all the way back to Stone Age . ]

    [But ... If we let you buy whatever you want then it will be unfair to the local natives in this world . ]

    [So we¡¯re going to nerf you a bit . ]

    [This shop will only sell you one item per one shopping ticket you have, starting from today . ]

    [That means if you want to buy more items, you will need toplete more missions!]

    Tong skimmed through the item listing . Everything was too tempting . It sold everything even a freaking battleship, with a whooping price of 100,000,000 years of lifespan .

    The weapon and armor section had various kinds of items made by different materials, such as steel sword, guns and ammunition, Ker Vest, carbon fiber full te armor and etc .

    Seeing so many thing that could give him an edge in this era, it would be a lie if Tong said he wouldn¡¯t be tempted . However, there was a dilemma that all otherworlders, including Tong, needed to face .

    If someone wanted to get ahead of the other reincarnators, he could buy a single item and be invincible in this era . But he would need to risk his lifepleting at least one mission or more to collect enough lifespan and obtaining the right to use the shop .

    If a yer chose not to struggle and not buying anything so he could live in peace . In the future he would fall behind and might risk getting himself killed by otherworlders or the future forced missions screwed him up .

    A chill ran down Tong¡¯s spine . This was the multiyer-trap system! This vicious honey-trap was definitely designed to kill everyone using the greed and fear of the otherworlders .

    Tong held his head with both of his hands in disbelieved . The "Mission Rush" was indeed as terrifying as Friday and Medusa had told him . Even after the rules was changed, the degree of difficulty wasn¡¯t lowered a slightest bit, but even more difficult .

    [Oh, by the way, you can buy the skills that the dead yers had created too . ]

    [But it¡¯s going to be a limited merchandise . ]

    [So ... firste first serve! Only the decisive pay-to-win yers can grab it . ]

    In panic, Tong switched the shop tab from weapon and armor into skill tab, only to see several skills listed as ¡¯SOLD OUT¡¯ . He checked this page toote .

    Tong hurriedly scrolled down the listing menu without stopping, then he finally saw a few skills that hadn¡¯t been sold yet .

    He skimmed through the remaining list and stopped his eyes on one of the skill .

    ****************************************

    {Firearms Creation LV . 1} ¨C price 10,000 years of Lifespan

    - Create any firearm or bullet of your choice .

    - Currently only handguns and handgun bullets can be created

    Skill Cost:

    1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet

    50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice

    Skill Restriction: Can only create one gun a day or one bullet a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    ****************************************

 Chapter 17

    Chapter 17

    Chapter 17 ¨C System is Triggered

    During Tong¡¯s time in Hell, he made a goal in one of the hypothesis scenarios . If he were to be one of the overlords in China, He would make cannons .

    With cannons and hot weapon technologies imported to this era, he could stream-roll or wipe out any opposition from every opponents regardless of how many hundred thousands or millions of troops they had with ease .

    But reality was different from the fairy tales, Tong couldn¡¯t remember all details of the cannon blueprints and exactposition of any firearms despite being prepared for a hundred years . He didn¡¯t have direct experiences in manufacturing anything of the sort in his past life .

    Tong was jealous of many main characters in transmigration novels where the MCs had insane photographic memories that could replicate any mega construction projects or blueprints of their choices .

    The [Firearms Creation] skill caught his eyes . He had an inspiration . If he created a gun and dissembled it to pieces, then he could understand more about firearm structure . Maybe one day he could gather cksmiths and artisans to replicate the created model into simr firearms and ultimately sported his soldiers with guns and cannons .

    Tong also wanted to buy apleted cannon from the shop for a better reference . But the price for the modern cannon was too expensive, which would cost him millions of years in lifespan . Even a medieval version was listed for 200,000 years lifespan . Tong couldn¡¯t afford to buy that with the current lifespan he had .

    Tong no longer hesitated, he purchased the skill from the PTW Shop and used it on the spot, spending 10,050 Lifespans instantly and left him with 319 years remaining .

    Tong imagined a gun that he was most familiar with when he was a police officer, a 9mm Glock 17 gen 5 . The pistol may not be the best or ideal during his time in his previous life but Tong felt more confident handling it than other models .

    It was the model that police officers in his countrymonly used, so Tong followed the trend and rarely touched any other brand . Moreover, guns and ammunitions were expensive for a newly recruited policeman . Tong had no choice but to stick with his Glock .

    There was another reason he chose to pick up this skill, he was weak in mid-range to long-range battle .

    Last night had proven that Tong could be sniped down by long range magics . It made him more nervous when he thought that the magic arrow skill could still be brought back by another otherworlders and used against him in the future .

    Therefore Tong needed something powerful, something that could threaten otherworlders in mid-range and long-range so he wouldn¡¯t be easily sniped .

    A handgun may not be the correct answer but it gave him an assurance that at the very least he could fight back .

    But this skill had a couple cons, the original creator put too many restriction on it to make it cheap to use . Firstly, Tong could only create one bullet a day .

    The Yellow Turban Rebellion in the history started mobilizing before 183 AD, which Tong only had less than two years to prepare . Even if Tong created a bullet every day for two years, he would have only seven hundred bullets, which wouldn¡¯t be enough to take on forty thousand troops of the imperial army and tens of thousands of its surrounding allies .

    Andstly, the skill EXP which was required to upgrade the skill was a hundred times higher than other active skills . Tong¡¯s first skill [Time Stop] only required 100 EXP to increase to level two . However, [Firearms Creation] demanded 10,000 EXP . It would take forever to raise it until the skill could be called useful .

    [Alright! Alright! It seems all of you have done your shopping . ]

    [Now, moving on . There¡¯s a few announcement for you poor kids . ]

    [First news, there are now 39 of you remaining . ]

    Tong had aplicate feeling towards the surviving reincarnators . He felt d that the number was cut down to two-fifth from the start . But at the same time, he dreaded the system more because of its unpredictable missions and functions .

    [And second news ... which is veeeeeeeeeeeery disturbing news ...]

    [There are a few individuals with unreasonable . . . value . ]

    [For example, there¡¯s a guy with over 999,999,999 lifespan from the start . ]

    [Such HAX shouldn¡¯t be permitted in my game ... so I¡¯m gonna nerf those morons a bit more . ]

    [All idiots that joined this game with WEIRD lifespan will not be able to use my PTW Shop!]

    [Next, those idiots will be barred from killing any natives in this world for the rest of their life!]

    [Anyone vites my decree will be executed by soul explosion . ]

    [And I¡¯ve got an extra message to those stupid "infinite" lifespan cheaters ... you can go @#$% yourself . ]

    This was the first time that Tong witnessed the system got butthurt . Someone had more cheats than Tong and it was OP to the point that this obnoxious system was triggered? And if he heard it correctly, there were "few individuals" . Did that mean there were more than one?

    [Ahem! Excuse me . ]

    [It was quite immature of the glorious gentlemen me to act up like that . ]

    [Please pretend you didn¡¯t see or hear anything . ]

    "..."

    [Last announcement, you can now take a mission voluntarily by pressing the random quest button . ]

    [The content of the mission will be randomized, but it¡¯s gonna be fun!]

    [That¡¯s all for today! Ciao!]

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Capital City of Luo Yang, Imperial Pce .

    Ping smashed his wine cup on the ground . His face flushed red and veins were popping up under the skin on his face . Theplexion on his face was ugly .

    One of the "cheaters" that system mentioned was him . He had not yet been able to buy anything from the PTW Shop but the system already disabled him from essing it .

    His lifespan was also nerfed . Instead of having "¡Þ" symbol behind the lifespan row in the status menu, he now had 50 years remaining . Most importantly, one of his major skill was altered .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Liu Ping

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 50 Years

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Super Human] Cannot be leveled up

    - Multiply the host physical strength, vitality, dexterity, agility and stamina by 100 times .

    - The lifespan of the host will be consumed 10 times faster than the normal rate .

    [Nerfed Plot Amor] Cannot be leveled up

    - Completely defend against a fatal attack automatically .

    - Can only be activated once . The skill disappears after using it .

    [Banned]

    - You cannot personally kill any native in this world .

    - Vition means death .

    *******************************

    His [Superior Plot Armor] had been changed into [Nerfed Plot Armor] and its effect was dramatically decreased . His invincible skill now had turned into a junk life-saving skill .

    Moreover, the skill he had personally created, [Super Human], became a thorn that hurt him .

    The skill would consume his lifespan 10 times of the normal rate . Which meant, he would lose 10 years of lifespan instead of one year for every year passed as he aged . In summary, at this rate of lifespan consumption, Ping would die in five years .

    Unfortunately, he had alreadypleted all ten of his tutorial missions and the previous PvP mission, but all his rewarded lifespan were reset back to 50 .

    Ping also used his active skill during thest quest to kill the otherworlder opponent, making his only active skill disappeared .

    Ping now had no choice but toplete another mission to increase his lifespan as soon as possible .

    ¡¯Screw you! I¡¯ll take on another quest . ¡¯

    ¡¯After I finish the next quest I can finally kill Liu Bian . ¡¯

    ¡¯I have to hurry . The emperor will die in 8 years . ¡¯

    ¡¯If he die before I kill Liu Bian and Liu Xie, I¡¯ll lose everything!¡¯

    Though Ping was reincarnated as Liu Ping, the crown prince of Han, son of Emperor Ling, he was struggled in the middle of the in-fighting storm between the Eunuch Faction and the Emperor Royalists .

    The Eunuch Faction was self-exnatory . All members were eunuchs in the imperial court . They had settled their roots long before Emperor Ling took the throne .

    The eunuchs used their power as they pleased, controlling major power within the imperial court .

    Ping¡¯s mother was the previous empress, Empress Song . She and her entire family fell victim by the treacherous n of the Eunuch Faction . Ping¡¯s entire family was killed, leaving him the only one with Song¡¯s blood .

    On 178 AD, the Song family was framed by eunuchs that Empress Song and her family used witchcraft to curse the Emperor and made him sick . The Emperor believed it and ordered the entire family be executed, including Ping .

    Thanks to Ping¡¯s [Superior Plot Armor], he couldn¡¯t be killed no matter what the executioner had tried . Instead of being killed, Ping fought back and ughtered several soldiers and executioners, shocking the imperial court .

    Ping then stormed into the imperial court, killing several officials and eunuchs, and threatened the emperor himself to withdraw the imperial decree or Ping would dethrone the emperor .

    Though Ping wanted to kill the emperor right away, the system mission restricted him . He was given a mission that he could not kill any royal family members until the end of 180AD .

    Emperor Ling was scared of Ping . He swallowed his pride and gave out an amnesty, withdrawing all charges against the Song family, and had Song family regained its honor .

    Since that chaos, Ping was living inside of the royal inner pce as the crown prince of Han, plotting against all factions in imperial courts, waiting for the day he could be the emperor .

    However,st year, the emperor instated Lady He as the new empress . And He Jin, brother of the empress, was appointed as the Regent Marshall in the imperial court .

    After the appointment, He Jin stood in the forefront leading the royalist faction against the eunuchs while expanding his politic influences .

    The historic arrival of Empress He gave Ping a dilemma . He needed to get rid of thesepetitors as soon as possible, which were the two princes and the empress .

    The first prince was Liu Bian, Prince of Hongnong . He was the first son of Empress He that she bore before she became the empress .

    The other prince was Liu Xie, who was destined be known as Emperor Xian of Han during the Three Kingdoms Era . Liu Xie would be born in this year .

    Ping had to kill both of them before the year 189 AD, the year that Emperor Ling died . So after the emperor died, he would be only one who had the qualification to take the throne .

    But if he couldn¡¯t kill both of them fast enough, He Jin and Empress He would use political reasons to expel him and would make one of their prince be the next emperor .

    "Screw the royal family! Screw the Yellow Turbans! System, give me a goddamn quest!"

 Chapter 18

    Chapter 18

    Chapter 18 ¨C Joining the Army

    Unknown location, City of Luo Yang .

    "To think that godfather made a mistake, or should I say that we underestimated the A . I . ?"

    "Well, this is quite troublesome . "

    "..."

    *sigh*

    "I guess I have no choice . "

    "I hope Friday won¡¯t me me for this . "

    ...

    Inner Pce, Official Resident, Tian Shui City .

    "What the heck!? What did the A . I . do to my lifespan?"

    "How can I go back if I only have 50 years to live?"

    "I can¡¯t kill the natives? This is absurd! A . I . is a jerk!"

    "..."

    "Ah! There¡¯s that way!"

    "Heheheh! As long as I find him then the problem will be solved . "

    "I¡¯m such a genius! Hehehehe!"

    ...

    January 2nd, 181 AD, Morning . Zhang resident .

    Tong and Hua Shi gathered up and discussed what skill they boughtst night .

    Hua Shi had bought the [Sword Master] skill which gave her boost when she used a sword as a weapon and also gave her additional lifespans if she killed a person .

    ********************************************

    [Sword Master] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kill an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy .

    ********************************************

    Hua Shi imed that she didn¡¯t want to participate in the uing war, so she needed a skill to defend herself when she returned home .

    She also started up another mission right away . She had to heal one hundred natives within a year then she would get another 10,000 years of lifespans and the right to buy another item from the system .

    Tong didn¡¯t activate any new quest yet . He still possessed two major quests that he still hadn¡¯tpleted . Tong had to officially join the Yellow Turban Army and would have to make sure the army sessfully formed up in the next two years, just like in the history .

    ...

    In the afternoon, Tong went to see his father, Zhang Jiao .

    His father was delighted when Tong came to see him . But what Tong asked him next sadden and terrified him .

    "I knew what you are doing . You¡¯re going to start a war soon . "

    "Count me in, make me one of your soldier . "

    As a father, Zhang Jiao never wanted his son to participate in the mess he created . He wished his son would continue pursuing the path of merchants .

    Zhang Jiao refused it right away and was about to scold Tong .

    However, Tong suddenly mumbled "Time Stop" and teleported behind Zhang Jiao with a dagger pointed at his neck .

    At the time, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, Zhang Jiao¡¯s two brothers, was there as well . They witnessed a miracle of teleportation for the first time in their life .

    "I can use this magic once a day . "

    "I¡¯m also invincible, no one in this world can kill me . "

    "If you don¡¯t believe it, you can try . I won¡¯t dodge or defend myself . "

    Tong challenged the three of them . His stern voice and his face showed his seriousness .

    Zhang Liang, who hadn¡¯t interacted much with this nephew, got angry . He determined to teach this little brat a lesson that war wasn¡¯t a ce for a kid . He threw a punch at Tong .

    The punchnded on Tong¡¯s face .

    Betraying everyone¡¯s expectation, Tong didn¡¯t move an inch . Instead, Zhang Liang stepped back while holding his hand that had hit Tong in pain . He felt like he just hit an iron te with his bare hand .

    Zhang Bao raised his eyebrow and smirked in amusement . Then he threw a kick aiming at the back of the head .

    The result was the same . Tong was standing still as if nothing happened, but Zhang Bao felt pain on the foot that kicked Tong .

    Feeling interesting, Zhang Bao drew a knife and stabbed at Tong¡¯s arm . The tip of the knife was stopped by Tong¡¯s mysterious skin . His skin wasn¡¯t pressed in even a tiny bit .

    Then Zhang Bao threw his knife away and grabbed a sword . He shed Tong 20 times in a row, cutting his cloth into pieces . But no wound appeared on Tong¡¯s skin .

    Zhang Bao gave up . He walked back and confirmed to Zhang Jiao and Zhang Liang that he didn¡¯t hold back yet Tong was still fine .

    Everyone was shocked especially Zhang Jiao . Though he already experienced this weird phenomenal when he treated Tong¡¯s injured knee, he was still astonished when he witnessed it again .

    Zhang Jiao was skeptical about this and insisted not epting Tong into his army . If he was truly invincible, then how did Tong get that knee injury?

    However, Zhang Bao ensured that Tong wouldn¡¯t be harmed if he supervised Tong himself . It could also serve as a rehabilitation camp for Tong because he always cooped up in his warehouse or his room all day .

    Zhang Jiao reluctantly transferred Tong to the training camp that Zhang Bao supervised . But he made a condition that Tong had to rest until his injury healed . And if Tong got injured again then he would be grounded in his house and won¡¯t be able to mention about joining the army again .

    Seeded coaxing his own father, Tong smiled but he felt pain in his heart . He wanted to tell his father about his past, his previous life and the missions, but it wasn¡¯t the right time to do so .

    Tong nced at the status menu and looked at his mission . There was no announcement from the system . It seemed he had to be officially instated as a soldier or a higher rank officer first so he couldplete the mission .

    ...

    February 9th, 181AD .

    For a month, Tong stayed in his room, studying his handgun structure . He wrote several cannon designs focusing on the 16th to 18th century wheeled cannon models .

    The earlier version was not good enough in Tong¡¯s eyes . The cannons could not aim properly and most of them were designed to affix with a fort or stone wall and was used solely on the defensive warfare, whichcked versatility .

    Now, he had to solve another issue with the design . Hecked materials and proper manufacturing methods, such as iron or bronze ores, gunpowder, cannon casting method, chamber drilling method, cast sand forges and etc .

    It was not an easy task to simply skip a few technology trees of the 21st century civilization, and imported the more advanced warfare technology into the medieval era in short period of time without a cheat or an overpowered genius witch that could help on the task .

    Tong knitted his brows, stopping his research for now .

    Tong sensed that his knee injury got better and he could walk freely without any pain . He went up to Zhang Bao training camp to see how his uncle trained his militias .

    What Tong saw disappointed him . What the training all rookie soldiers did were wailing their weapon widely, hitting scarecrows without any proper martial art forms or styles .

    ¡¯This is bad . If this continues, all of them will die in the war . ¡¯

    ¡¯More of my dad¡¯s followers will gather here soon, this useless training cannot go on . ¡¯

    Tong had seen many medieval war movies in his previous life . He had a rough idea how the real war during cold-weapon era worked and how tactics were applied .

    What the current Yellow Turban Army camp did right now wouldn¡¯t make their soldiers stronger or be able to use more tactics . It was like a children yground where children wailed their sticks, ying war .

    Tong couldn¡¯t stand it anymore . He barged into Zhang Bao¡¯s tent, ignoring the surrounding guards trying to stop him . Anyone who tried to get in his way was punched or thrown away like a rag doll .

    "Uncle! I want to change the way you train the soldiers . "

    Tong didn¡¯t waste any time . He spoke using all the air in his lung and stomach . The voice was loud enough that the others outside the tent could hear it .

    Inside the tent, there were three people sitting on a chair, facing the middle table . On the only table in the tent, a map wasid there with several wooden dolls and rocks cing on different location of the map . It was as if everybody here was ying a table-top game .

    But the reality wasn¡¯t asical as Tong imagined . Those were not table-top game but a strategy map and wooden dolls and objects on the map represented troops, mountains, forests and cities .

    Tong knew one of the person in the tent . He was Zhang Bao whom Tong came to see . As for the other two, Tong never met them .

    "Who is this brat? Howe the guards let him in? Drag him out and give him 20 whips!"

    One of two men Tong didn¡¯t know shouted .

    Zhang Bao grinned, feeling amused from the reaction of this man . Then he gazed at Tong as if he was looking forward for a good show .

    Tong¡¯s eyes corner twitched . This uncle of his had a bad habit . He enjoyed watching people fell into aplicated situation .

    "I am Zhang Tong, nephew of Commander Zhang Bao . Who are you?"

    "Hah? If you are Zhang Tong then I am Emperor Ling! Do you think great teacher will let his precious soning here? Now screw off or I¡¯ll screw you myself!"

    Tong nced at his uncle . Zhang Bao was trying his best not tough . This person was really enjoying it .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t rely on my uncle . He only enjoys this mess too much . ¡¯

    ¡¯I guess I have to establish my dominance here from ground up . ¡¯

    ¡¯And this situation is kind of stupid . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯m actually at fault . Where was my manner andmon sense?¡¯

    ¡¯He has the right to be angry . ¡¯

    ¡¯If I¡¯m amander I won¡¯t let a brat barging in themand center too . ¡¯

    ¡¯My speech and my action was too frank . I need to fix that in the future . ¡¯

    Tong recollected his thought . He swore that he would fix many bad habits of his . His behavior was still the same as in his previous life, frank, reckless and always acted before thinking .

    Tong looked at the scolding man and shook his head in guilt . Let wrong be wrong, since he was in the wrong then he shall follow through till the end .

    "Make me . "

    Tong stared straight at the man and made a finger gesture to challenge him .

 Chapter 19

    Chapter 19

    Chapter 19 ¨C Dueling Yan Zheng

    "Make me . "

    Tong wiggled his fingers, challenging the scolding middle-age man .

    Tong didn¡¯t know that the person was called Yan Zheng . He was Zhang Bao¡¯s subordinate who would lead troops against the Imperial army and Liu Bei volunteer army in the future .

    Yan Zheng had once been a mountain bandit but was enticed by Zhang Bao and ended up working for him .

    In thete year of 184 AD, Zhang Bao and his troops were besieged by the Imperial army leaded, by Zhu Jun, and Liu Bei¡¯s forces . They were on verge of losing and had no choice but to barricade themselves in a castle .

    Yan Zheng was arrogant and selfish by nature because he grew up in a bandit camp . When he saw that there was no hope and defeat was inevitable, he killed Zhang Bao and surrendered to the Imperial forces .

    If Tong knew that the person was Yan Zheng who would betray and kill his uncle in the future, he would have drawn his gun and shoot him dead on the spot .

    Yan Zheng was furious seeing the young brat provoking him . He grabbed his giant long de on the rack and swung it towards Tong, wanting to cut Tong in half .

    Seeing the giant deing towards him, Tong side-stepped and dodged to the side . Then he stole a sword from a nearby guard and swung it back at Yan Zheng .

    Tong could easily take the blow head on, but he wanted to test his closebat martial arts that he was taught in Hell by Medusa . So he pretended that he didn¡¯t have any cheat skill and fought Yan Zheng as if it was a life-and-death fight .

    The two exchanged twenty blows but no one managed to gain an advantage against each other .

    Yan Zheng felt humiliated for not being able to defeat the teen in front of him . He started to push on offensive without caring about his defense .

    He didn¡¯t know that Tong already spent his full strength but he wasn¡¯t able to take advantage of Yan Zheng . Tong¡¯s current bodycked training and his stamina was short . So he was about to reach his limit .

    Tong used to spar with Medusa¡¯s skeletons . Those skeletons were once elite warriors in the past life that was sent to Hell and lost their sanity . Medusa brainwashed them and turned them into mindless skeleton warriors that she could control .

    By having experience of having 500 ex-elites ganging up upon himself when his feet was always stuck in the mud, dueling Yan Zheng on an even ground was an easy feat for Tong .

    However, Tong¡¯s current body couldn¡¯t keep up with his skill .

    After another 10 blows, Yan Zheng managed to deflect Tong¡¯s sword out of his hand . Yan Zheng moved in for the kill, making a sword arc towards Tong¡¯s neck .

    *nk*

    The giant sword managed tond on Tong¡¯s neck, but the sword was cracked and broken while Tong was still fine . He didn¡¯t have a single wound on his skin while Yan Zheng had a few cuts on his arms, shoulders and face .

    Zhang Bao had expected this to happen . Heughed merrily while the other middle-age man, who seemed to be another Zhang Bao¡¯s subordinate, was shocked .

    *PA!* *PA!*

    Zhang Bao pped his hands .

    "Alright, that¡¯s enough, both of you . "

    Yan Zheng stopped his action . He looked at his de in shock . He did use all his strength in thest swing but he couldn¡¯t cut through Tong¡¯s skin .

    Meanwhile, Tong¡¯s face was gloomy . He was panting and was out of breath . His arms and legs were shaking . His stamina and power was lower than Tong¡¯s initial estimated . He overestimated himself .

    Tong felt irritated by the result of this duel . He couldn¡¯t even defeat a third-rated Yellow Turban officer in a one-on-one fight with his pure martial art skills on an even ground . Then how could he fight against monstrous generals like Guan Yu, Zhang Fei or Sun Jian in the future if he was unfortunate enough to meet them on the battlefield .

    Tong took a deep breath to calm himself, trying to recollect and review the fight he had in his mind .

    There was nothing wrong with his techniques or movement . But his power was too low and his stamina was terrible . He could have done better and finished the fight in less than ten moves if he had more power .

    This had inspired Tong another goal, buff up his body .

    Tong wished to make his body stronger and sturdier, a body that could run ten kilometers without getting out of breath, and muscles which could burst forth in strength, reflex and agility .

    However, his current age got in the way of his training . He couldn¡¯t intensively train like he was in the police military school in his previous life or it might impede his bodily growth . Tong had to wait a few years before he could do heavy weight lifting training to build more muscles .

    At his current age, Tong could only try running to in crease his stamina and soft exercises for firmer muscles .

    Thinking up to this point, Tong sighed . There were so many things he wanted to do but so little times he had left .

    Yan Zheng red at Tong with his red eyes, feeling humiliated and frustrated . The entiremotion already attracted all soldiers in the camp and they were spectating from afar . Everyone just witnessed that one of theirmanders couldn¡¯t even beat an 16-year-old teen .

    "Yan Zheng! That brat is indeed my nephew . Treat him with respect!"

    Zhang Bao dered in front of everyone, shocking all soldiers . Yan Zheng was not a nobodymoner but a famous fighter among bandits . His swordsmanship was the reason that he could climb up from an ordinary bandit into amander .

    Gao Sheng, the remaining officer who had been standing beside Zhang Bao, managed toe back to his sense . He cupped his hand to pay respect to his young lord .

    "Gao Sheng greets young master Zhang!"

    Tong¡¯s eyes flickered . He tried to recall the information he had gathered beforehand beforeing to his world .

    Gao Sheng was also one of Zhang Bao¡¯s officers who would lead his troops against Liu Bei forces . But he had an unfortunate fate . He would be killed by Zhang Fei of Liu Bei¡¯s force in one of the battle in the future .

    Tong cupped his hands and greeted Gao Sheng back with respect . He couldn¡¯t hate a warrior who died fighting in a battlefield .

    Meanwhile, Yan Zheng scoffed and walked away, refusing to bow his head to Tong .

    Tong looked at the back of the leaving Yan Zheng, thinking how to deal with him in the future .

    By the time Tong heard Zhang Bao calling the name "Yan Zheng", he managed to recall the history of this man .

    ¡¯This arrogant backstabbing thief! I should have killed him earlier . ¡¯ Tong thought .

    ...

    [*Ding* *Ding* I sense great angering from you, young Padawan . ]

    The sudden message from the system made Tong jumped . But he cringed after . What the heck is a Padawan? Are you a freaking J*di now?

    [All 38 young Padawans has already undertaken a new mission . However ...]

    [YOU, SIR, are azy bastard who did absolutely nothing for a month!]

    ¡¯You was out-of-character thest line, wasn¡¯t you roleying a J*di master?¡¯

    [...]

    [Oops . ]

    [...]

    [Now, young Padawan . The council has issued a mission for you . ]

    "..."

    ¡¯... Mr . System, are you okay with your brain?¡¯

    [Quiet when I¡¯m concentrating!]

    [... It wouldn¡¯t be fair for all apprentices to go for a mission while you are resting alone . ]

    [Therefore, I shall issue a special mission for you . ]

    [Consider it a training for your future . ]

    [Now go forth and bring the glory to the J*di . ]

    [May the burritos be with you . ]

    ¡¯ . . . Did you mean force?¡¯

    [If I said ¡¯FORCE¡¯ this novel will get DMCAed, you dimwit!]

    "..."

    [Don¡¯t make me break the 4th wall too often . The author is trying hard, you know?]

    [Anyway, here¡¯s your precious mission!]

    ************************************

    **Main Mission No . 17**

    Yan Zheng has joined the dark side . Do the republic a favor, get rid of him ASAP .

    Clear Condition: Kill Yan Zheng .

    Failure Condition: Time limit runs out .

    Clear Reward: 10,000 years of lifespan . You can buy one item from PTW Shop .

    Mission Failure: All of your skills will be erased

    Time Limit Remaining: 1 day

    System Note: I am not your father! I¡¯m a virgin you idiot! *cries in a corner*

    ************************************

    "WTF!"

    Tong couldn¡¯t help but screamed out loud . He wouldn¡¯t mind if a mission demanded him to kill someone . But the time limit was so short that Tong had to take action as soon as possible .

    Zhang Bao and the crowd were surprised when Tong suddenly shouted . They fixated their eyes on Tong in curiosity .

    "Why did he shout?"

    "Did someone step on his foot?"

    "Idiot! No one was there . Did you have eyes?"

    "Did he try to curse Yan Zheng?"

    "I heard he was a prankster when he was little . He hasn¡¯t grow up yet?"

    "Shh, moron . Pipe it down . "

    Tong facepalmed himself . He was embarrassed by his sudden action .

    ¡¯Damn system . ¡¯

 Chapter 20

    Chapter 20

    Chapter 20 ¨C New Commander - part 1

    Despite getting weird look by the onlookers, Tong regained his calm and look at his HUD map .

    Tong tracked the direction where Yan Zheng went and searched for his location .

    In less than a minute, he managed to find the white spot in the map which had the name "Yan Zheng" highlighted on it .

    Tong tapped on the white dot on the map and changed its color into red dot .

    As long as Yan Zheng was in the radius of one kilometer, Tong would be able to find him instantly .

    Although Tong had already thought up a n to kill Yan Zheng, he still marked the location in his radar, just in case something went wrong .

    For now, Tong would let him live, but once no one was watching or the current n went smooth, he would take his life!

    ...

    ...

    ...

    On thete afternoon, Zhang Bao¡¯s training camp .

    All guards and soldiers treated Tong with respect . No one dared to call him "brat" anymore .

    Tong managed to voice out his opinion about the current training they were doing, which made Zhang Bao and Gao Sheng embarrassed while Yan Zheng clicked his tongue .

    The three of them had never attended military school or had any background in military .

    Zhang Bao was like Zhang Jiao, a Taoist priest that excelled in gathering herbs and preaching people .

    Gao Sheng was amoner that happened to be good at fighting and was scouted by Zhang Bao . He ended up as a 1,000-manmander after years of services .

    And Yan Zheng was a bandit . He only knew how to bully the helpless merchants and vigers .

    ...

    The culture of military and sses in the currentte Han era had a long history .

    Since the Qin dynasty (221 B . C . ), the imperial divided ordinary people into four sses,ndlords, peasants, craftsmen and merchants .

    Above them, there were the aristocrats or the noble ss . By having one of the family member instated as a high rank official would get their entire family promoted into nobles . The official position held by the family member could also be inherited to another member of the family .

    The emperor delegated all nobles to their own territories, governing their own regions and cities with the right to employ troops of their own using their own wealth . The imperial court only cared about taxes and tributes they could harvest from the nobles and the civilians .

    However, as time passed, more and more wealthy families climbed up from lower standing . They equalized their social status with the nobles by amassing great amount ofnds, ves and private troops of their own .

    Later, both nobles and self-proimed nobles infiltrated and dominated important positions of the imperial government, making the positions avable to members of their own families and ns .

    Though Hanwu Emperer attempted to reform this feudalism system in 141 B . C . by puttingws and restraints to the nobles, yet this noble system still persisted on to theter Han dynasty years .

    Because of this feudalism system which nobles had the freedom to own troops,nds and ves yet the emperors turned blind eyes on it, thend wouldter be erupted into a grand civil war, which would be recorded in the history and the novel adaption known as Romance of the Three Kingdoms .

    The Zhang family was also considered as a civilian family . But because of this military delegation system, the officials ignored Zhang family¡¯s military activities, only asking for more bribery and taxes .

    They thought it wasmon to have private troops to protect themselves from bandits and thieves .

    Thus, Zhang Bao could tantly recruit his Taoist sect followers and soldiers . Currently they were hosting a thousand men in the training camp .

    However, Tong knew . In thete 183 to early 184 A . D . , there would be over 300,000 Zhang Jiao followers gathering here in Ji Province . He had to set up a proper training program as soon as possible before more people arrived .

    ...

    Tong gave out his idea of the new training program which adapted from the modern military school .

    He started off by suggesting to have soldiers building up the basic stamina and physical attributes by running around the camp . Then he would use the drill sergeant techniques to shape up the military discipline .

    Zhang Bao tried to put Tong¡¯s idea into action . He split his force into tenpanies of one hundred men each, and had the respectivemanders, Gao Sheng and Yan Zheng included, leaded their own troops to run around the camp .

    Tong also volunteered to run together to supervise them . He suggested Gao Sheng¡¯s men should try it first then Yan Zheng and other troops should follow suit after .

    Zhang Bao gave out order for a new training . The first batch of one hundred troopers started running around the camp while the rest who hadn¡¯t run yet mocked and jeered the runners .

    Tong nned to deal with this undisciplined action of the soldierster . For now, he wanted to measure the army¡¯s current strength .

    The result disappointed him . Within less than 10 minutes of jogging and running, half of the hundred men copsed because of exhaustion . Their stamina was even worse than Tong!

    Tong questioned in his mind .

    ¡¯Are you sure you are a soldier? This is beyond pathetic . ¡¯

    Tong had the experience of long running and marathon running in his previous life . He knew how to regte his breathe and his footing weight when he ran or jogged so his breathing was steady throughout the session .

    But these soldiers were downright pathetic . They couldn¡¯t even jog three kilometers with casual cloths . If they wore one of those 50 kilograms iron armors and 10-20kg spears, would they be able to walk?

    What happened next shocked him more . After sending back the exhausted soldiers and guided a new batch ofpany to run, they also copsed in 10 minutes .

    This disgrace repeated to every group that was sent to run .

    Zhang Bao, Gao Sheng and Yan Zheng were also tired after guiding all groups into running . Though they couldn¡¯t keep up and supervise with every groups, but their stamina was clearly better than Tong .

    Tong took a short rest in-between each group running session . Though he was also exhausted from jog-running for over an hour, he was so frustrated that he forgot about his tiredness .

    This army needed an overhaul .

    Tong tried to think of a n to discipline and turn these useless mobs into proper professional soldiers . He had a sudden inspiration .

    Tong nced at Yan Zheng with the corner of his eyes and smirked . Then he ignored Zhang Bao¡¯s chain ofmand, and gave out an order to all men himself .

    "Stop panting out feces with your sewer mouths!"

    "Gather and line up, you bunch of useless garbage!"

    "Just because of a little running and you are now squealing like b*tches!"

    "You call yourself a soldier? In my town, we call you a s*ssy!"

    The buzzing noise in the entire training camp turned silent . All eyes were on the speaker, Tong .

    Tong¡¯s ridicules made all of them furious . Why did this brat suddenly look down on them?

    "Shut up brat! Who the hell do you think you are!?"

    Half of these soldiers, which were sitting andying down in exhaustion, were ex-bandits and the rest were farmers and Taoist followers .

    The men that made the retort were hot-blooded ex-bandits . They didn¡¯t care about social standing or Tong being their young master .

    "What are you looking at, maggots . "

    "You can¡¯t even outrun me . Were yourst life a snail?"

    "Hell, I don¡¯t even know if you have the balls to pick up a weapon or not . "

    "Oh right, I¡¯m sorry . Maggots cannot understand a humannguage . "

    "After all, right now none of you have the right to call yourself human . "

    "You all are pukes . Nothing but useless dung-beetles that only care about eating shit!"

    Three of the ex-bandits couldn¡¯t stand it anymore . Each of them grab a weapon and hacked it on Tong . They no longer care about punishment for killing the young master or they might offend Zhang Jiao .

    Tong stood firm, letting the three attacking Tong wherever they wanted .

    Five minutester, the three ex-bandits were panting . Their weapons were already broken to pieces .

    Tong stood still with his hands behind his back, watching the three with mocking face .

    "Are you done?"

    "I told you that you all are useless maggots . "

    "You can¡¯t even kill a defenseless brat like me . And you call yourself a soldier?"

    Tong turned around and looked at the shocked Zhang Bao, whose brain still couldn¡¯t process what Tong wanted to do .

    "Uncle, what¡¯s the punishment for insubordination in our family?"

    Zhang Bao snapped out of his thought and answered .

    "Fifty whips by logs . Why?"

    "Then uncle, what¡¯s the punishment for themander who responsible for the soldier thatmitted insubordination?"

    "The same punishment as the soldier, why are you asking? ... AH!"

    Zhang Bao managed to catch on what Tong tried to do . His face turned pale . This nephew of his was too ruthless .

    "Last question, what¡¯s the punishment for a soldier that tried to murder a member of our family?"

    Zhang Bao swallowed his saliva and sighed . Tong trapped him and used his words . He could already guess what would happen next, yet he answered .

    "... We beat him to death . "

    Tong smiled and said no more . He walked towards Yan Zheng a couple steps, pulled out his pistol, loaded and aimed at Yan Zheng .

    *BANG*

    A bullet prated through Yan Zheng¡¯s brain . His body copsed on the ground like a marite without strings .

    Then Tong turned around and coldly gazed at the three ex-bandits .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

 Chapter 21

    Chapter 21

    Chapter 21 ¨C Bold Deration ¨C Part 2

    The three ex-bandits were shot through the head, died instantly .

    [*Ding* *Ding* Wow! Congrats young Padawan! You are quite efficient!]

    [Here is your rewards, 10,000 years lifespan and a shopping pass!]

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 10,280 Years

    Shopping Pass: 1

    *Active Skill List*

    [Time Stop] LV . 1 EXP( 13/100 )

    - Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 5 seconds .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Firearms Creation] LV . 1 EXP( 79/10,000 )

    - Create any firearm or bullet of your choice .

    - Currently only handguns and handgun bullets can be created

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet

    - 50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice

    Skill Restriction: Can only create one gun a day or one bullet a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Plot Armor] Cannot be leveled up

    - Immune to all natural disease, poisoning and physical attacks .

    - After the host be 20 years of age . The host shall be forced summoned back the Netherworld .

    *******************************

    Tong¡¯s gaze stopped at the EXP of his skills for a moment, then he closed the status menu . Tong didn¡¯t want to buy anything right now because he was saving all his lifespans to grind his active skill levels in the future .

    The skill experience had a simple calction system . Each time he used a skill, the EXP would increase by one . In addition, if he used a skill and that skill resulted in killing someone or the item he created ended up killing someone, the EXP would increase by ten .

    Sinceing to this world, Tong had used the [Time Stop] skill three times but one of the three was used to kill an otherworlder in the mission night .

    As for [Firearms Creation], Tong created a handgun and 38 bullets . He spent four bullets to kill Yan Zheng and the three ex-bandits, resulting him having 79 EXP in total .

    Seeing the slow rate growth of his skills, Tong nned to save up his lifespans for the future war while he would continue pumping out a bullet each day .

    As for the gun and cannon manufacturing project he had in mind, it would have to be put on hold until Tong had a better operating headquarter or conquered a city to settle down, and made it his home ground .

    If Tong started researching for the firearm technology now, the project would be at risk from being stolen by the native lords or other reincarnators . This vige was not located on a strategic advantageous terrain, and it was hard to defense it efficiently .

    [Now that all survivors haspleted mission #17, I shall take my leave . ]

    [Please be informed, if you are goofing around and everyone else finished their mission but you ...]

    [You will get a surprise job like this again . Heheheh!]

    [BYE BEEEEEE!]

    ¡¯Damn it!¡¯

    Another dreadful feature of the system was revealed to Tong . If all otherworlderspleted their missions but there was someone who hadn¡¯t taken a mission yet, the system would force a mission on the person .

    This could spell a disaster to thetter person because he might be in an unprepared state or could be busy in the middle of something and the mission demanded him to do something urgent within limited time, just like what Tong did .

    Now Tong had an urge toplete his current two missions and eight more missions as soon as possible, so the system could no longer force him to do something that would ruin his grand schemes in the long run .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    The sudden death of Yan Zheng and three soldiers caused an uproar in the training camp .

    The people here had never seen or learnt about a gun before . Everything that just happened looked like magic from folklores or fairy-tales .

    From the onlookers¡¯ point of view, Tong withstood all sword and spear strikes without lifting a finger .

    Then Tong lift up a ck mysterious object out and it screamed a thunderous roar which killed Yan Zheng and the three soldiers instantly . It was like a real magic .

    Severalmotions broke out in the crowd . The superstitious Taoist followers and weak-willed people knelt down and kowtowed to Tong, believing that Tong was a deity .

    Another group was in panic . Some were screaming in fear . Some lost their leg strength and copsed on their butt . Some even peed their pants .

    And thest minority was a strong-will warriors . They were either ex-bandit leaders or ex-hunters . They had seen blood and had gone through live-and-death situation before, so they managed to control their emotion and remained calm .

    ...

    Zhang Bao nced at the corpse of Yan Zheng then swept his eyes to Tong withplicated emotion . Yan Zheng and Zhang Bao were friends for years .

    But Zhang Bao knew Yan Zheng full well that he was untrustworthy, yet he recruited him because he needed manpower and his bandit subordinates .

    With the sudden death of Yan Zheng, the ex-bandits which were recruited together with Yan Zheng might create a disturbance in Zhang Bao¡¯s camp .

    But the disturbance that Zhang Bao expected didn¡¯t happen . The crowd was so scared of Tong that they couldn¡¯t speak a word .

    Zhang Bao had a bitter smile on his face while looking at Tong . This nephew just trapped him and used his words to kill these four .

    Meanwhile, Tong still stood firm . His face was solemn .

    Tong swept his gazed through the shocked crowd . Heughed in his mind in satisfaction . Everything went ording to his initial n .

    During the time Yan Zheng joined Zhang Bao, several bandits also followed him . Zhang Bao wanted manpower so he allowed it and put all of them under the leadership of Yan Zheng .

    Tong was aware of the rtionship between ex-bandit soldiers and Yan Zheng, so he cooked a plot .

    Tong intentionally provoked the crowd, baiting for one of those ex-bandit fishes to take action against him . If it doesn¡¯t work out, then he would use his gun to scare them or cancel his n .

    But his n actually worked . Three of the fishes really took the bait .

    Instead of just using bare hands, those three grabbed weapons and attempted to kill Tong, which exceeded what Tong hoped for .

    He allowed the three to do as they please to demonstrate his immunity from all attacks to the crowd .

    Then Tong asked Zhang Bao about the military punishments, so he could trap Zhang Bao by using his words as his decree to kill Yan Zheng and the others .

    The moment Zhang Bao confirmed that the punishment was execution, Tong killed the four without waiting for Zhang Bao to twist his words to save their lives .

    By killing the four of them this way, Tong had achieved four goals .

    One, he got rid of the backstabber who would kill his uncle in the future .

    Two, he got rid of the ring leader of the ex-bandits who would lead hisrade back to its old nature, plundering and killing innocent civilians . With the leader gone, Tong could convert the bandits into proper professional soldierster like Cao Cao did in the history .

    Three, hepleted the annoying mission so he was safe from the system punishment for the time being .

    Andstly, he managed to put a mental pressure to all soldiers in the camp and made it easier for Tong to discipline them .

    Now what he had to do next was to either con all of them, making them all submit to Tong at once, or be a nice guy and disciplined them one step at a time .

    After considering his remaining times before the war with the imperial forces and the avable cards he had in his hand, Tong chose a bold approach .

    ...

    Tong raised his gun and pointed it upward to the sky . He shot his gun one more time .

    *BANG*

    The crowd jolted . They couldn¡¯t get used to the sound of gun shot in short period of time .

    "Listen up you maggots . I know what you are thinking about . "

    "I have a confession to make . "

    Tong took a deep breathe, then he spoke out in firm and clear voice that could be heard throughout the camp .

    "In the future, this country will face a cmity . "

    "There will be famines . There will be diseases that will kill hundreds of thousands people . "

    "That is the fate of thend and no one can change it!"

    "Things will get worse . The emperor will raise more taxes . "

    "The government officials will plunder their own citizens to fill their pockets . "

    The crowd was buzzled . Some of them were confused about what Tong had tried to tell them . Fortelling? Propaganda?

    However, the superstitious crowd¡¯s eyes sparkled . They had a hobby and clear understanding about fortune telling, so it wasn¡¯t hard for them to understand what Tong tried to convince them .

    "You have already witnessed my power!"

    "I am an emissary of the gods, sending here from the world of the dead . "

    "They sent me here with a mission . "

    "The mission is to save all of you!"

    "To save you from the cruel natures . "

    "To save you from the hands of crooked nobles . "

    "To make sure that all of you and your family will no longer be sleeping with empty stomach . "

    "I can ensure you that you don¡¯t have to disgrace your parents by bing a bandit again . "

    Tong paused to take another deep breath .

    "I . AM . AN IMMORTAL!!"

 Chapter 22

    Chapter 22

    Chapter 22 ¨C Sir! Yes, Sir!

    What was the most efficient way to make uneducated crowd of people to follow someone wholeheartedly and unconditionally in shortest amount of time?

    Brainwashing .

    In the age where there was no social media, no inte, no telephone or not even a single school thatmoner could attend existed, such wicked method was the most effective way to gather followers .

    Be it by using cults, sects, religions, legends, or by conning, it didn¡¯t matter as long as it could be seeded .

    Tong chose this hical approach not because he was immoral or he enjoyed being a con artist, hecked the right personals and hecked times .

    The rebel force would be forced to mobilize and raid several cities in thete 183 to early 184, which left Tong only two and a half years to finish all preparations he needed to do .

    To transform ordinary farmers and weak bandits into skilled professional soldiers rivaling those experienced Imperial troops, Tong would need at least a year even if Tong trained them using modern military method .

    Provisions and logistic supplies would have to be properly managed and adjusted for the training soldiers and for the future war . If they had insufficient supplies, the rebel would have no choice but to rob it from the innocent civilians and soiled their reputation, which happened in the history .

    Tong wanted the Yellow Turbans to be known as a righteous army, not a group of rebellion bandits, so he had to discipline them ASAP .

    Weapons and armors would have to be forged andrge fund would be needed . Or else, the soldiers would just be carrying farming tools into the war, and they would be ughtered by the imperial forces with proper weaponizes .

    Lastly and most importantly, Tong would require more cheat skills and items from the system, so he could have an edge over other reincarnators if they bumped into each other during the war by ident .

    The more homeworks Tong couldplete during the pre-war, the better the chance that he could twist the fate of his father and uncles, changing the course of the history and save their lives . And ultimately, Tong would be able to walk out of the battlefields in one piece .

    ...

    In the history, the Yellow Turban army faced a disaster one after another .

    One of the allies that supposed to help them in the imperial government, Tang Zhou, betrayed Ma Yuanyi and eunuch aplishes . He reported the rebellion schemes to the authorities .

    Ma Yuanyi and several aplishes were executed and the Imperial army was sent out .

    The sortie of the Imperial army forced Zhang Jiao to mobilize his troops prematurely . The n for rebellion was set on April 184 AD, but he had to send out his troops earlier than he had initial nned to gain the upper-hand on strategic terrains and choke points in urgent .

    After the mobilization started, the Yellow Turban Rebellion managed to upied majority of Ji, Yan and Yu provinces . Then they continued invading the nearby neighbors, including the capital city of Luo Yang .

    The imperial army acted quickly and sent out their generals, He Jin, Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, to eradicate the threat . Several famous generals and overlords in the future also followed suit, such as Sun Jian, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo .

    The different in quality between soldiers and generals of both army became apparent after a few months of skirmishes .

    The rebellion army was abined force of bandits, hunters and ordinary civilian militias without proper military training . The Yellow Turban generals were also ex-bandit leaders and Taoist sect followers who happened to be better in leadership and general knowledge .

    Meanwhile, the imperial army was consisted of veteran generals and soldiers who had experiences dealing with Xiang Nu tribes and other ounder tribes . They had been trained and had tasted the bloody battlefield before .

    With the differences in the quality, the bnce of the war became tilt . The Yellow Turban forces lost the initiative, meanwhile the imperial forcesunched a full-scale counterattack to reim the lost cities .

    The rebellion lost the edge and were forced to be on the defensive .

    Then in thete year of 184 AD, Zhang Jiao passed away by an illness, which was a sign of the copsing of the rebellion .

    Without the leader, the Yellow Turbans forces were chased down . And the main force, leading by Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, was destroyed in February 185 .

    Several remnants of the Yellow Turbans continued to roam thend and eventually merged with Cao Cao forces in a few yearster . But those remnants had nothing to do with Zhang Jiao and his family anymore .

    ...

    Tong¡¯s bold deration shocked the crowd .

    In front of 1,000 men, Tong announced himself as an immortal .

    Tong determined to change the history with his own hands .

    Zhang Bao had expected this announcement since he had known that Tong¡¯s body was special and Tong still hid that teleportation magic he had yet to use .

    The only thing that shocked Zhang Bao was the existence of the ck object in Tong¡¯s hand and the magic that Tong casted to kill the four ex-bandits .

    If Zhang Bao knew that Tong still had one more grenade he had yet to use, he would have a heart attack .

    Zhang Bao gave up thinking . His brain was already short circuited, he had no idea what to do next anymore .

    Gao Sheng already kowtowed with his forehead touching the ground . He was afraid that he would be implicated in the punishment too .

    "Rise up! I have no use for people who only knows how to bow . "

    "I have no use for people who are cowards . "

    "I have no use for people who doesn¡¯t even have the balls to look straight to my face . "

    Tong¡¯s entric speeches confused the crowd . But they didn¡¯t have the guts to retort . They obediently stood up and gazed at Tong in fear, awe and admiration .

    The ex-bandits were scared and were in panic . They didn¡¯t have the courage to make an eye contact with Tong .

    Tong gestured Gao Sheng and Zhang Bao to get a box for him . He then stood on the box, letting everyone seeing him properly .

    "Listen up! Though I said I am immortal but I¡¯m not omnipotent enough to save all of you . "

    "But I can make all of you stronger, stronger enough to change your fate with your own hands . "

    "But there will be conditions ..."

    "All you have to do is to follow my instruction word by word . "

    "You will undergo a training that is much harder than you have experienced or imagined in your lifetime . "

    Tong paused, checking the reaction of the crowd . The camp was silent, only Tong¡¯s voice resounded here .

    "If you seed following my orders and my training ..."

    "Within three months, no thug in this neighborhood can be your match . "

    "Within six months, no mountain bandit can beat you in one-on-one fight . "

    "Within a year, you can be strong enough to even take on 10 men by yourself . "

    "If you follow me until the end, even elite imperial soldiers will cower in fear before your presence!"

    "If you want to be stronger and follow me, I want you to step forward and make rows . "

    Two thousands eye pupils expanded and focused on Tong . The promises and the training supervised by an immortal interested them . The die-hard fanatics already made up their mind to follow Tong even before Tong gave out his promises .

    Tong nned to steal these obedient men from Zhang Bao and turned them into his private soldiers . They would be transformed into the elites of the elites that many warlords would drool in jealousy .

    As for Zhang Bao himself, Tong would bribe him with his goldter on .

    One gold was enough for a farmer family to live without working for the rest of their life . Yet, Tong had over 2,000 gold storing in the warehouse .

    With a thousand gold, Zhang Bao could reform another 1,000 men army with leather armors and simple weapons easily . So Tong didn¡¯t feel a bit guilty about ruining Zhang Bao¡¯s current camp .

    . . .

    The soldiers lined up in rows . It took a while toplete the formation . Arranging uneducated one thousand men was much harder than managing a couple hundred menpany with several drill sergeants in the modern military boot camps .

    "Stand up straight, with your hands on your side . "

    "Raise you chin up! Face straight forward . "

    "Keep looking forward . None of you should be looking at anything but what is in front of you . "

    "Keep staring straight even if what in front of you is a pile of dung of your mother or your sister is having an affair . "

    "Any moron that I find ncing around or move your head, I¡¯ll blow your head off with my magic!"

    A simple threat and order worked like magic . All men were already pressured by Tong¡¯s sorcery and his status as an immortal . No one dared to be disobedient .

    "First lesson that I¡¯m going to teach you is the words that you can speak or address to your superiors . "

    "Unless I give you a permission, you cannot speak a single word . "

    "From here on out I will tell you what to do, how to do it and when to do it . "

    "What I tell you from now on is not a suggestion or an option or a request . "

    "You will address me as ¡¯SIR¡¯, not young master Zhang or Immortal Zhang . "

    "The words that you could speak to me from now on is ¡¯YES, SIR¡¯, ¡¯NO, SIR¡¯ and ¡¯AYE AYE, SIR¡¯ . "

    "You will respond ¡¯YES, SIR¡¯ or ¡¯NO, SIR¡¯ when you are answering my questions . "

    "You will respond ¡¯AYE AYE, SIR¡¯ when I¡¯mmanding you to do something . "

    "Do you understand what I taught you just now?"

    ""... Yes, sir?"" The soldiers hesitatingly answered .

    "All of you! Repeat after me! YES, SIR!"

    ""Yes sir . ""

    "Bullsh*t! You all are whispering like c**k sucking prostitutes . Say it louder! YES, SIR!"

    ""Yes, Sir!""

    "I can¡¯t hear you! Louder!"

    ""YES, SIR!!""

    "I¡¯ll ask you again . Do you #$%& understand my simple lesson!?"

    ""YES, SIR!!!!!!""

    "Do you want to be a dignify soldier that can make your mama proud?"

    ""YES, SIR!!!!!!""

    "Do you want those abs that can make your neighbor girls spread their legs to seduce your c*ck!?"

    ""YES, SIR!!!!!! ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)""

    "All men! Turn right! We will run around the camp one morep! You, you and you, lead your row and start running!"

    ""AYE AYE, SIR!!!!!""

    Tong grinned . Though he roughly copied the processing technique from the drill sergeants and RDCs from the military boot camps in his previous life, it could still be applied here with a few alteration .

 Chapter 23

    Chapter 23

    Chapter 23 ¨C Fairy? Goddess? No, She¡¯s a Freaking Vampire .

    By the end of the day, Tong managed to achieve a simple goals, having a trainable private army .

    Tong stole Zhang Bao¡¯s camp and troops, then Tong gave his uncle a thousand gold to reform a new army . Zhang Bao had a bitter smile on his face when he epted it .

    Fortunately, Zhang Jiao went out with Hua Shi to neighbor vige to perform healing duty and preaching Taoism . If he were here today, he would have scold Zhang Bao for spoiling his son .

    Zhang Liang found out about the incident in the same day . However, he didn¡¯t make a fuse but he challenged Tong that both their troops would have a war practice together in three months .

    Zhang Liang looked down on Tong¡¯s ability to lead troops . If Tong were so skilled then why would he had to dere himself as an immortal?

    He wanted to teach Tong a lesson . But since he couldn¡¯t beat him physically, then he would bully Tong¡¯s troops and embarrass him .

    Tong epted the challenge while he shook his head in his mind . This uncle was good at leadership but he was a bit immature when it came to EQ management .

    Tong also need to adjust the attitude of his uncle, he determined to beat Zhang Liang fair and square so Zhang Liang could ept Tong¡¯s opinion in the future .

    Tong wanted to influence the movement of the Yellow Turban . He never wanted his father and uncles to repeat the mistake they had done in the history record .

    ...

    Meanwhile, morning of the same day . Ningjin County .

    [*Ding* *Ding* Congrats you mental vampire! You¡¯vepleted my mission!]

    [Here is your 10,000 years lifespans and a shopping pass!]

    [But I have great sad news to inform you . ]

    [There is azy bastard that hasn¡¯t taken the 17th quest yet . ]

    [Unfortunately, you cannot take anymore mission until the straggler is dealt with . ]

    [Until then, enjoy your resting period! Ciao!]

    "Phew!"

    Hua Shi used her handkerchief to wipe her sweat . It took her a month to heal a hundred viger, which was much faster than she had expected .

    Hua Shi bid farewell to her patient and checked the PTW Shop . She scrolled down the weapon section and purchased a modern T10-Steel short sword .

    It costed her 2,000 lifespan for a single short sword . But to her, it was worth the price .

    With this sword, she could throw away her fragile scrap-iron sword on her waist and equipped the new short sword that had a much better performance .

    With her new sword and her passive skill, she had confident that no native soldier could be her match in the closebat .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Hua Shi

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 8,749 Years

    *Active Skill List*

    [Medical Gift] LV . 4 EXP( 695/800 )

    - Diagnosis a patient and automatically find a solution for the treatment, or create a medicine for the sickness found .

    - Can create eight medicine tablets or 80 milligrams of liquid medicine per one use .

    Skill Consumption: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Usage Restriction: Can only be used when treating a patient .

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Sword Master] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kill an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy .

    *******************************

    Looking at her status menu, she nodded in satisfaction .

    Hua Shi¡¯s [Medical Gift] was a supporting skill that couldn¡¯t be used to kill a person, so she gained 10 EXP for each sick person that she cured .

    Since Hua Shi received a missionst month, she had been tagging along with Zhang Jiao on his duty in Ningjin County and volunteered to help him heal the sick or the injured vigers for free .

    As a result, she got boosted in EXP andpleted her mission without problem .

    Though Zhang Jiao was shocked by the miraculous [Medical Gift] skill Hua Shi used, he still retained his integrity of being the head of the family and not taking advantage of Hua Shi¡¯s goodwill .

    When Zhang Jiao performed his duty, vigers would donate food or money to him in exchange for his medicines and his teaching . So he shared his earning to Hua Shi for her assistance .

    However, Hua Shi refused because she already received thepensation from the vigers . Whenever she treated someone, she would ask for a small cup of children blood in exchange .

    The vigers were skeptical about Hua Shi¡¯s demand at first . But after a week, many patients were cured by Hua Shi¡¯s medicines and her reputation rose .

    Hua Shi made a groundless excuse that she needed the blood so she could sacrifice it to the medicine god, yet the vigers actually believed in it!

    Furthermore, Hua Shi had the status as Tong¡¯s fianc¨¦, everyone became more supportive of her action and entitled her "Medicine Fairy" or "Goddess Hua" .

    With these kind of nicknames and her beauty, Hua Shi¡¯s fame spread through the neighbor counties and viges within a month, which drew many moths and flies towards her .

    Despite the fact that it was already well-known that she had a fianc¨¦, many merchants and wealthy young masters shamelessly pursued her and offered many benefits for divorcing Tong to marry them instead .

    Hua Shi always looked at the horny pursuers in disgust . Her soul age was old enough for them to call her ¡¯Great ancestor¡¯ so she saw through everyone¡¯s motives . Furthermore, her body was currently only 16 years old! These people were a bunch of pedophilia lolicons!

    She got used to seeing the perfect healthy body of Tong so his body became her benchmark when she judged a man . She no longer had any interest towards the male locals as they were too dirty and ugly by her food standard .

    In addition, she was addicted to the taste of Tong¡¯s blood . The first time she had took a sip of it, she felt like she had a daydream that she swam in a rainbow sea naked with several fabulous unicorns . The taste was otherworldly exquisite like none others which she had tasted before .

    From that day on, she could only drink children blood because other blood became disgustingparing to Tong¡¯s blood . And now, the children blood was tasteless to her .

    Hua Shi wanted to kill someone and gauge out a heart or a brain for her dinner . But she was afraid that if Zhang Jiao knew about her taste, she would be thrown away again .

    Thus she suppressed her desire for now .

    Hua Shi nned that once she returned home, she would ask for more of Tong¡¯s blood . Or maybe she might be able to use the ¡¯fianc¨¦¡¯ excuse to share a room with Tong, so she could sleep on the same bed, smelling his skin all night . Or maybe she could lick him when he slept and tasted his sweat .

    Although Tong and Hua Shi were allied, she was afraid of Tong¡¯s hostile attitude towards her . But the desire for the exquisite taste of Tong¡¯s body outweighed her fear and made her courageous . She swore that one day she would make Tong hers so she could drink his blood every day .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Hua Shi¡¯s nicknames and her fame caught the ears of the Governor of Julu County, Guo Dian .

    Two weeks ago, He had sent an order to invite her and Zhang family to his county, hoping to make a connection with a Taoist family .

    The messenger informed Hua Shi about the invitation . However, Hua Shi interpreted it as Guo Dian was one of those lolicons who would use his authority to make her his concubine .

    She was wary of the government officials because the time of Yellow Turban Uprising drew near, and the officials would reveal their rotten natures during the times . Therefore, she refused the invitation .

    Seeing that Hua Shi didn¡¯t want to go to Julu County, Zhang Jiao refused too .

    Her action caused Guo Dian to be curious about this child . He didn¡¯t have any ill-will towards Hua Shi the slightest . Therefore, he ordered a thorough investigation of her background .

    And today, Guo Dian found out about Hua Shi¡¯s demand for blood . Moreover, there were witnesses who saw her drank the blood that she had requested from the vigers .

    Guo Dian immediately issued a warrant to arrest her . He wanted to interrogate her himself if she was an evil cultist or she practiced cannibalism .

    If she was one of the immoral cultist as Guo Dian suspected, he would put her in prison for life .

    A soldier acknowledged the order . He went out with his squad of 21 men and made a journey to Ninjin County . They were expected to arrive at the county in five to seven days .

    This soldier squad was unique but it was not because of their skills or looks, but one of the soldier stood out from the rest .

    In the squad, there was a teenage who held a strange ck rod-like object in his arms, following his leader and his teammates . His eyes were sharp as if they were the eyes of eagles .

 Chapter 24

    Chapter 24

    Chapter 24 ¨C Uninvited Guests ¨C Part 1

    February 16th, 181 AD . Ningjin County .

    A group of twenty horsemen and one child in leather armor was observing a vige in front of them .

    "We¡¯ve arrived, this is the vige . Get off your horse! We¡¯ll find Zhang Jiao¡¯s resident first . If they are there, show your warrant and arrest the girl . "

    Ate middle age man issued an order .

    "Boss, can we ...?" A soldier asked .

    "I know, you can do whatever you want . But don¡¯t kill her . "

    "Heheheh, thanks boss!"

    "..."

    "Sima brat! As usual, you will be the lookout outside of the vige . Unless I said so, you have no permission to enter the vige . "

    "Heheheh, you also have no permission to enjoy the desert too . "

    "How can he enjoy it? He still hasn¡¯t grow a hair!"

    "HAHAHAHA!!!"

    "..."

    "... Yes, sir . "

    The boy eyes showed signs of contempt, yet he epted the order . It was only a coincident that he had something to do here . If not, he would not give a damn to these kind of people .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Zhang Tong Boot Camp, formerly Zhang Bao¡¯s camp, Ningjin County .

    Tong sat in themander tent, leaning on his chair, knitting his brows .

    Managing and training troops at the same time was not an easy task .

    Tong managed to teach a few former officers about the basic fitness training for the soldiers, such as sit-up, push-up, squat, jogging, marching and etc . So he could delegate the training to the officers and squeezed more free times to manage other matters .

    Fortunately, Zhang Bao and Gao Sheng chose to remain in this camp, aiding Tong and learning his way of doing things .

    Tong also wanted to employ a couple personals to be provision and logistic managers, but none of the men could calcte, let alone reading and writing .

    Gao Sheng didn¡¯t know mathematics, reading or writing, so he was sent to manage the training .

    Zhang Bao was a Taoist priest so he could write and read a little . But when it came to the management skill, other than human rtionship skill and military training, he was no good .

    In the end, Tong had to manage this job himself, and this task was a nightmare .

    The supplies and provision was the major problem . The harvest season would arrive in September to October so he had to wait seven to eight more months before he could buy more supplies for his army .

    Buying provisions from the merchant right now was like announcing that you wanted to be ripped off .

    One soldier ate one kilogram of grain a day . One thousand men would consume a ton of grain each day .

    To supply one thousand soldiers for a year, Tong was required to store up 365 tons of grain!

    One gold could buy ten tons of grain, assuming it was a bumper harvest . Other than that, the worst price of grain was one gold per one ton of grain, which was a ripped off .

    As the old saying said "War costs money" . Without money, Tong could do nothing .

    It was fortunate that Zhang Bao had stored enough to supply this army to the end of the year, which had over 300 tons remaining .

    But Tong couldn¡¯t be satisfied with just the current stock because he knew that the harvest season this year might even be thest good harvest season before the true chaos began . The long years of hellish suffering was about to arrive .

    ...

    One of the reasons so many people decided to join the Yellow Turbans army was because of the drought season where farmers could barely harvest anything during the year 183 AD .

    Peasants and civilians starved and the heartless officials came knocking their doors, asking for more tax money and food, or their entire family would be sent to jail .

    During the years 180-183, the Emperor Ling wanted to expand his luxurious imperial gardens so he asked his government officials for more tributes to fund the construction project, ignoring all objections from the advisers and officials .

    Allmanders and principality officials wanted to gain an achievement by providing more tributes to the Emperor, so they resorted to corrupt practices, bleeding their own citizens for more taxes .

    Without money to buy food or anything to eat, ordinary civilians transformed into thieves or bandits, robbing and killing everyone and everything to survive .

    The weak women, children and elders were either ravaged, enved, killed or starved to death .

    With more corpses and blood scattered on thend without proper burials, more germs and bacteria gave birth to more diseases . Epidemic emerged and consumed more lives .

    The guards, soldiers and officials that protected each city and county ignored the plight of the people . They only cared about protecting their own self-interest and their families .

    It was the year that all Hell was let loose .

    It was the trouble time that Zhang Jiao took a stand . He wanted to drive away the government officials and the emperor, so he raised his banner to save the people .

    However, because there were too many bandits mixing into his forces, Zhang Jiao¡¯s true intension was soiled and disgraced . Later after he lost, everything he did was overwritten by the winners . The rest was history .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Tong skimmed through PTW shop and his lifespans status, contemting and calcting pros and cons .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 11,273 Years

    Shopping Pass: 1

    *Active Skill List*

    [Time Stop] LV . 2 EXP( 13/200 )

    - Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 10 seconds .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Firearms Creation] LV . 1 EXP( 186/10,000 )

    - Create any firearm or bullet of your choice .

    - Currently only handguns and handgun bullets can be created

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet

    - 50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice

    Skill Restriction: Can only create one gun a day or one bullet a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Plot Armor] Cannot be leveled up

    - Immune to all natural disease, poisoning and physical attacks .

    - After the host be 20 years of age . The host shall be forced summoned back the Netherworld .

    *******************************

    Because he took over the role of themander of this camp, hepleted another mission for sessfully became a soldier of Yellow Turban from the system and gained another 1,000 years lifespans and a hundred EXP to both his active skills, causing his [Time Stop] skill to level up .

    But Tong didn¡¯t rejoice about the rewards, he wanted to solve the provision issue and the next 2-3 years .

    In the PTW shop, there was a section called "Consumable" . In that section, there were too many misceneous items, such as drugs, food, water and everything that human could drink, eat or be consumed .

    Tong was currently looking for "food items" . He crossed his fingers and prayed that he could buy any food here in bulk so he could have another way to solve the food shortage issues in the future .

    After searching for hours, he found a food icon which were a sack wrapped around in dried straws . It was named as emergency rations .

    Fortunately, the items in the consumable section was the only kind that could be bought in bulk . Tong could only buy one of the pre-set wholesale item in the store . He couldn¡¯t manually adjust the volume how many he would buy .

    The shop seemed generous at the first nce, but the pricing was not .

    A hundred tons of grain was priced at 100 years lifespan . However, 1,000 tons of grain costed 1,500 years lifespan . And 10,000 tons of grain price was increased to 22,500 years lifespan!

    And the highest volume of grain he could buy was 100,000 tons, which was listed for 337,500 years lifespan!

    The higher the volume, the more expensive, which waspletely opposite from the logic of wholesaling .

    The system seemed to predict this and priced the items this way to prevent all otherworlders from over cheating . If the price was too cheap then the bnce of this world would be broken .

    Tong put a bookmark on the 1,000 tons of grain listing for now, just in case of emergency . He didn¡¯t have enough lifespans to buy the bigger bulk . Tong then opened the quest tab .

    It had been 7 days since hepleted thest mission .

    Tong learnt from his mistake, he would not allow the system to force a mission on him again . He decided to push the quest generating button and hoped for the best .

    [*Grins*]

    Tong frown . Normally, this obnoxious trolling system would usually scream or spout out something silly and nonsense . However, this time it seemed that the system nned something mischievous and smirked at him .

    [*Ding* *Ding* Your new mission has been generated . HAVE FUUUUUUNNNNNN!!!]

    ...

    ...

    *******************************

    **Main Mission No . 18**

    Your mental wife has done goof . Go clean up her mess .

    Clear Condition: Kill one or more Julu soldier(s) in your vige or eliminate all threats .

    Failure Condition: Hua Shi is taken to Julu .

    Clearing Reward: 1,000 years of lifespan per one soldier killed . One shopping pass .

    Mission Failure: All of your skills will be erased

    *******************************

    ...

    ...

    Tong stood up from his chair, shocking from the content of the mission .

    ¡¯What is Julu soldiers doing here in my vige?¡¯

    ¡¯And what did that zombie do this time?¡¯

    Tong opened up his HUD map and searched around his resident in area for abnormality .

    There were a group of people marching to the direction of his resident . They were about to reach the main door .

 Chapter 25

    Chapter 25

    Chapter 25 ¨C Uninvited Guests ¨C Part 2

    Twenty members of Julu county soldiers stood in front of Zhang resident in two line formation . All of them put their right hand on the sword hilt on their waist .

    *PON* *PON* *PON*

    "We are the messengers of Julu Grand Administrator Guo Dian, Open the door!"

    The squad captain shouted while he continued knocking the front gate .

    The butler of the resident opened the gate in a hurry to greet them .

    "Greeting sirs, may I know what you havee here for?"

    "Is there a resident here who is called Hua Shi?"

    "Yes, yes . She is our young mistress . "

    The captain grinned . He came to the right ce .

    "Where is she now? We have a message for her!"

    The butler was troubled . Zhang Jiao and Hua Shi hadn¡¯te home yet . Whenever they went out to perform healing duty requested by the neighbor viges, they would always be away for a week or longer .

    Both of them was scheduled to arrive tomorrow . The butler had to make up an excuse .

    "...Sir, I¡¯m afraid you can¡¯t see her today . She went out with our master and won¡¯t be back for today . "

    "Hah? Who the hell do you think we are!? We are the Grand Administrator Guo Dian¡¯s men! We are in a hurry and we want to see her within today! If she isn¡¯t here then go get her!"

    "S-Sir, s-she went out long ago! W-we don¡¯t know where she is right now!"

    The butler answered in trembling voice . He was already an elder and he was afraid of the officials .

    "Captain, I think he spoke the truth . "

    One of the soldier whispered the squad captain . The butler was so scared that his entire body was shaking . He didn¡¯t seem to lie about Hua Shi .

    Listened to the whispering, the captain red at the butler and nodded .

    "Fine! When will shee back!?"

    "S-S-She will be back by tomorrow . "

    "Good! Come to think of it, your house seemsrge, isn¡¯t it? We are going to rest in your courtyard! Clear the ce and scram!"

    "B-B-But sir ..."

    "I SAID CLEAR THIS PLACE AND SCRAM!!"

    "H-Hiiiiieee!!"

    The butler was helpless . He was too scared and couldn¡¯t respond with anything to make aeback . He was so panic that he stumbled and fell on his buttock .

    The captain and his men barged into Zhang resident . They shamelessly walked into the resident like it was theirs .

    "Hold it!"

    A voice rang out from inside the resident . Zhang Liang, Zhang Jiao¡¯s brother, walked out to stop the Julu men .

    "Ah!? Who the fudge are you!?" The captain asked .

    "That¡¯s my question! Who the hell do you think you are!? This is my house! My courtyard! Get the hell out!"

    Unlike Zhang Jiao and Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang¡¯s main expertise wasbat . He was in charge of the security in Zhang resident and also had an army camp of his own .

    Because of the constantbats and his army job, his personality became aggressive by nature .

    "Get the hell out! Or else!"

    *Shing* *Shing* *Shing*

    Zhang Liang also had his ten personal guards trailing behind him . All of them drew their weapons, standing by for order to strike .

    "Hah? You wanna fight!?"

    *Sheng* *Sheng* *Sheng*

    Seeing Zhang Liang¡¯s unyielding attitude, the soldier captain ordered his troops to draw out their weapons too .

    The situation became tense and turned into a staring contest, a battle could break out at any time .

    "Ahem! Umm ... Excuse me? Can all of you listen to me please?"

    A childish voice came from the front gate, behind the Julu soldiers .

    Tong left the camp and rushed here after he received the mission and noticed the arrival of this group .

    Tong swept his eyes around and counted all uninvited guest in his resident .

    ¡¯Twenty men, an easy 20,000 lifespans . ¡¯

    ¡¯Fortunately, that zombie isn¡¯t here . The mission this time is easy . ¡¯

    ¡¯But ... isn¡¯t it too easy? That troll system isn¡¯t broken right?¡¯

    Tong shook his head in his mind . He stopped thinking or being distracted from what in front of him . Tong had to deal with this first then he would continue his analysister .

    "What are you doing here, brat? Get lost!" One of the uninvited soldier scolded Tong .

    "I¡¯m sorry for thete introduction . I¡¯m Zhang Tong, the eldest son of this household head Zhang Jiao . May I ask who you all might be?"

    The 20 men¡¯s eyes changed . Half of them had lecherous look on the body of Tong . It seemed that they interested or had a fetish in the body of teenage boys .

    Themander of 20 men stared at Tong andprehended something in his mind . Then he stepped forward and introduced himself .

    "I¡¯m the captain of the messenger squad of Julu County . I¡¯m here to visit Hua Shi but I¡¯m told that she isn¡¯t here . Is that true?"

    "Oh, her? She hasn¡¯te home yet . What do you want to do with her?"

    "Our grand administrator want to invite her to be his private physician . He promises that he will raise her and her family status to noble and you all will receive annual sry from the government . As long as you cooperate with us, we will also reward you with gold . "

    Tong squinted his eyes . Thismander was quite a con artist . If Tong were an ordinary boy or he hadn¡¯t received a hint from the system, he might actually believe in it .

    The system hinted that Hua Shi had done something stupid and these people came to take her . It wasn¡¯t difficult for Tong to guess that her hobby should have been found out .

    Though Tong didn¡¯t trust her but Hua Shi was still useful . Her medical knowledge and cheat skill were invaluable in this age . There was also a matter in the future where Tong¡¯s father would fall ill and died in the year 184 . He would not let Hua Shi leave easily .

    "I see . Our Hua Shi is indeed precious and she doesn¡¯t belong in this rural area like this . I¡¯ll cooperate with all of you . Pleasee inside . Butler Wang, please guide our guests to rest in my courtyard . I¡¯ll go prepare food for them myself . "

    Tong smiled as he gave out his order .

    Zhang Liang was furious when he heard it . He was about to shout but he noticed that Tong repeatedly winked at him . It seemed that this little brat had cooked some kind of plot .

    "AHAHAHA!! You are quite sensible, young master Zhang . We will be troubling you then . "

    "Oh right, young master Zhang . I¡¯ll have to ask you to apany us tonight too . Some of us are so tired that they want to have you massage us ... personally . "

    "AHAHAHAHAHA!!"

    The 20 hooligansughed as they entered Tong¡¯s courtyard with the scared butler following behind .

    Tong smirked, ignoring the ridicules . He walked by Zhang Liang and whispered .

    "Making amotion here will attract the guards and other officials . "

    "There was a saying ¡¯If there is no corpse, there is no crime¡¯ . "

    "If they were to suddenly disappear, no one can me us because they were never here . "

    "The garden in our backyardcks fertilizers, we should tend it properly . "

    "There¡¯s a few bowls of anesthetic in my warehouse . A few drops of it is enough to make someone to feel numb if you apply it on the wound . "

    "Do you catch what I¡¯m trying to do?"

    Tong winked at his uncle and walked away, following the 20 men .

    Zhang Liang¡¯s eyes opened wide . He looked at his nephew in admiration . This kid was not bad! He made a new evaluation of his nephew .

    Both Tong and Zhang Liang smiled . They went back into the resident, pretending to wee the guests .

    Zhang Bao came hometer for a dinner, only to found out that there were uninvited guests, partying in Tong¡¯s courtyard .

    Before Zhang Bao could make a fuse, he was dragged away by Zhang Liang and told him about the n .

    Zhang Bao¡¯s corner of his eyes twitched . His nephew was too good at vicious schemes . Who the blue world taught him or raised him into this kind of person?

    In the main hall which were used as a dinner party room, Tong was busy serving wine and food to the guests in person . All servants who were over 30 years of age were chased out by the group, and reced them with teenage servants with the age between 10 and 20s .

    During the party, the men molested every servants in the hall including Tong . One of the men grabbed his butt and tried to move his hand around it .

    Tong was angry by the action of the homo-pedophile, but he kept his cool . Tong swatted off the lecherous hand of the man and walked away as if he was shy, making the other menugh .

    After a while, Zhang Liang sent a signal from afar to Tong, and a new batch of servants with unique wine jars came in .

    Tong grinned . Party time was over .

 Chapter 26

    Chapter 26

    Chapter 26 ¨C Uninvited Guests ¨C Part 3

    The "Unique Wine" had been served . After the serving was done, Tong had all of the servants leaving the hall and locked the main hall room in secret .

    The Julu soldiers were furious seeing the young servants left . They hadn¡¯t taken the main course yet, which were the orgy party they were looking for .

    "Please don¡¯t misunderstand, my dear guests . I have invited proper entertainers for you . Their look were too poor and their bodies were too thin . I¡¯m afraid that it may not be up to your standard . "

    Tong made an excuse that he had invited many beautiful girls and widows from the vige to entertain them while the servants were too low in quality .

    The men agreed . However ...

    "Strip!" One of the 20 men ordered Tong .

    "I beg your pardon?"

    "I said, STRIP!"

    Seeing how overbearing these homo-pedophiles were, Tong frown . But he regained his calm and smiled to the pervert man and started taking off his cloths, piece by piece .

    The pedophile soldiers whistled andughed while the normal one just drank the wine and chuckled . They were used to theirrade¡¯s behavior .

    Some of them got too excited and took off their cloths too, standing by for the main course .

    Tong took off hisst cloth, revealing his naked body . Then he stopped and gave a toast to all men .

    "Before I entertain you further, I want to give a toast to all the guests that hase here and honored our family tonight . Cheers!"

    "Hahahaha, well said! You should be honored having us here . Cheers!"

    Everyone drank all the "Unique Wine" that Zhang Liang had prepared while Tong pretended to drink it .

    After confirming that everybody drank it, Tong started counting down .

    ¡¯Modern anesthetic takes a few minutes for the effect to kick in . ¡¯

    ¡¯I wonder if Hua Tuo¡¯s anesthetic can keep up with the 21st century . ¡¯

    ¡¯Well, it might be faster, they are drinking it directly . ¡¯

    ¡¯But wait ... Normally it can cause death if someone drinks it directly . ¡¯

    ¡¯Will I get the rewards if someone else poison them?¡¯

    ¡¯Crap! I messed up!¡¯

    A drop of sweat roll down on Tong cheek, his n was executed wlessly in terms of the overall execution and expected result . But he made a mistake in terms of making a profit from the system rewards .

    Tong wasn¡¯t sure if someone else had put poison in the food or drink, after which the preys died from it, would he still get the reward?

    Furthermore, Tong¡¯s messages to Zhang Liang was too vague when he whispered him . Tong forgot to direct the amount of anesthetic of how many dose should be put into the food or the wine .

    If Zhang Liang was careless and put arge amount into the wine, then they would die before Tong killed them and reaped the rewards .

    No human was perfect . Even though Tong might believe he was smarter than the local natives because of his previous life memories, he still screwed himself up with minor details he overlooked .

    "This wine tastes funny ... Hmm?"

    The captain of the 20 men only sip a mouthful of wine . He nced at his men and found that all of them stopped talking and held their stomach or neck .

    Some of the men alreadyid on the ground, having a spasm .

    "Uh, dammit . Screw this . Fudge it . Time to kill . "

    Tongined to himself . He walked to a nearby man who was having a spasm, grab the soldier sword whichid down on his side .

    Tong drew the sword and stabbed it into the dying man¡¯s neck .

    *Ssuk*

    Because of the sword piecing through the man¡¯s artery veins, after Tong pulled off the sword, blood gushed out and sshed on Tong¡¯s face and body .

    ¡¯Eww gross . I have to take a bath after this . ¡¯

    ¡¯This reminds me of my times in Hell . ¡¯

    Tong wiped the blood away from his face with the back of his hand . Then he walked toward another man in a hurry . He had to kill them all before they died from poisoning .

    "How dare you!!"

    The Julu squad captain roared and charged at Tong with his sword . He wasn¡¯t effected by the drug, yet .

    Tong ignored the iing sword . He was more concerned that he wouldn¡¯t be able to kill all of them before they died by poisoning .

    Tong leaped toward another man who was puking out what he ate and stabbed his sword into the man¡¯s neck . After Tong pulled out his sword, the squad captain¡¯s sword reached Tong .

    *nk*

    The captain felt like his sword hit an iron mountain . A crack appeared on his sword, yet Tong didn¡¯t flinch the slightest .

    The captain was shocked . His face distorted as if he had seen a ghost .

    "It will be your turn soon . Could you wait for a minute after I entertain the other guests, please?"

    Tong said to the captain in the same tone when he weed the 20 of them .

    However, in Tong¡¯s mind, he was in panic . He only killed two of them, yet the 10 men beside the captain already showed signs of being poisoned and their conditions was getting worse on each second . The other 7 stood up and picked up their weapon, getting ready forbat with their pale face .

    ¡¯At this rate I can only kill 4 or 5 of them . ¡¯

    ¡¯If I use my gun ...¡¯

    ¡¯Fudge!!! I left it in my cloth!!¡¯

    Tong facepalmed himself in his mind . He forgot that he was currently naked, and his gun was in one of the piles of his cloths that he took off .

    Secondly, even if he had the gun in his hand, he won¡¯t be able to use it efficiently .

    In this party, all guests sat on the ground behind a short table . As a result of the poisoning pain, half of the poisoned Julu menid down on the ground behind the tables .

    If Tong used his gun, the tables would block his line of sight and obstruct the bullets . The men that managed to stand would get in the way, too .

    Even if there was no table, Tong still couldn¡¯t kill every one of them in one shot because they tumbled down andid down on the ground, which made it hard for the shooter to find an angle to aim at the vital point, in order to im the one-hit-kill .

    The bullets were expensive and there were limited in quantity . Tong didn¡¯t want to waste it recklessly .

    "AHHH!! SCREW THIS!! TIME STOP!!"

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, at the entrance of the vige where Zhang family lives .

    Zhang Jiao and Hua Shi were riding a horse, returning from their journey .

    Thanks to Hua Shi¡¯s skill, all of the patients were healed faster than they expected and managed to return home one day ahead of their schedule .

    Zhang Jiao was happy when he looked back and saw a long line of wagons and carriages following them . They were the rewards from this trip .

    In those wagons and carts, there were grains, vegetables, tools and a couple boxes of coins and gold .

    Healing ordinary peasants yielded some food as a donation . But healing town mayors or wealthy merchants profited them money and other stuff in exchange .

    Physicians and doctors in this era were one of the lucrative jobs .

    Zhang Jiao alone wouldn¡¯t be able to gain something like these by himself . His herbs and acupuncture technique could only relieve pain and slowly recovered the patients .

    However, Hua Shi¡¯s 21st century drugs were so effective that it was like a sorcery .

    He felt d that he took Hua Shi in as Tong¡¯s fianc¨¦ . She was very helpful in this trip . The girl was knowledgeable in medical practice and her attitude towards seniors was nice too .

    Hua Shi was an ideal wife which all men in this era always sought for .

    Zhang Jiao had been contemting if he should follow up with the rebel n .

    The n was made when he heard that Emperor Ling demanded more tributes and several governors raised more taxes .

    That time, the Zhang family took a big hit from taxes and extortion, which almost caused the family to go bankrupt .

    If it wasn¡¯t for Tong who had given them his pocket money from selling soap, they would have fired several servants and sold his entire resident .

    But now, Hua Shi was destined to join his family in the future . With her here, the ie of the family would increase . If Zhang Jiao included Tong into his calction, this family younger generation had bright future .

    It might not be a bad idea to forget about the rebellion n and chose to live their life peacefully as a physician family or a merchant family . Then maybe one day their descendants would bribe their way into the government office and became nobles .

    Thinking up to this point, Zhang Jiao asked Hua Shi .

    "Do you enjoy being a physician?"

    Hua Shi tilted her head to the side, feelingplicated . She only did it for the mission rewards and extra food . But she did enjoy seeing the poor families smiling andughing when someone in the house was cured .

    In her previous life she pursued the nursing career because it was her childhood dream . She liked seeing smiling people and interacting with the patients .

    However, after she became a nurse, she strayed from her path somewhere along the road and developed the sinful fetish .

    Hua Shi smiled, feeling nostalgic when she recalled her memories about her life before and after she worked as a nurse .

    "Not as a physician . But I like saving people . It feels good when the patient is cured . "

    Hua Shi answered while reminiscing the fateful day in her previous life . That day when the building she was in copsed on her and her friends, causing them to get stuck under the debris for a month .

    ¡¯If I were able to endure a bit more, maybe I would probably be in heaven by now . ¡¯

    ¡¯Haiz, it¡¯s toote to regret it now . ¡¯

    ¡¯I ate it . I liked it . Then I ate more . End of story . ¡¯

    Zhang Jiao smiled at Hua Shi . He made up his mind .

    ¡¯If there were just me with Bao and Liang, then I would probably push on with the n . ¡¯

    ¡¯But now my son has a good wife . I shouldn¡¯t ruin their future for my selfishness . ¡¯

    ¡¯Let¡¯s not rebel anymore . We¡¯re going to spend our days in peace . ¡¯

 Chapter 27

    Chapter 27

    Chapter 27 ¨C Awaken Hua Shi

    Zhang Jiao and his caravan reached home . Before they could unload their cargos, they was surprised by the iing news reported by servants of the family .

    Their young master Zhang Tong took over Zhang Bao¡¯s training camp and announced himself as an immortal?

    Twenty Julu soldiers came here to see Hua Shi and insisted staying in this resident?

    Zhang Liang and the Julu soldiers almost shed?

    And Tong invited the uninvited guests in and entertained them in person, and they were now inside the main hall?

    Zhang Jiao was stunned . He was away just for less than a month and so many things happened .

    Zhang Jiao was worried about Tong . He strode through the path in the outer courtyard to the main hall in a hurry .

    However, Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao were there in front of the main hell . They had a smiling face and their eyes didn¡¯t show any concern about what was happening inside .

    Hua Shi also followed behind Zhang Jiao . She was curious about the current events . After all, the Julu men were looking for her .

    "The door is locked? What¡¯s going on here?" Zhang Jiao asked his two brothers .

    "Don¡¯t worry . It should be over soon . " Zhang Liang answered with a smug face .

    Within ten seconds after Zhang Liang had spoken, there was amotion inside the main hall room .

    "How dare you!!"

    *nk*

    "It will be your turn soon . Could you wait for a minute after I entertain the other guests, please?"

    " . . . "

    "AHHH!! SCREW THIS!! TIME STOP!!"

    *Peok*

    *Ssuk*

    *Ssuk*

    *Peok*

    *nk*

    "OMAE WA MOU SHINDEIRU!"

    "NANI!?"

    "AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!"

    *Peok*

    *nk*

    *Shwoosh*

    "No! Please forgive me! NOOOOO!!"

    *Ssuk*

    *Swua*

    *Ssuk*

    ...

    Sounds of fighting and screams mixing in together like an orchestra music sounded from the inside .

    After two minutes of chaos, the sound stopped .

    Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao looked at each other and nodded . They unlocked and opened the main hall gate . The image everyone outside inside the hall saw was like an art .

    In ancient era, there was no electricity and no light bulb . When it was nighttime, they used either torches,mbs or candles to brighten up the room .

    In the main hall, there was no light from torch,mbs or candle . However there was light shined from the moon through the hall windows .

    Within that moonlight, naked Tong who was soaked in the men¡¯s blood was standing alone in the hall, looking back at the moon that shined upon him .

    There were corpsesid around the hall . Half of them died in a tumbled position behind a low-table with dinner food set and a jar of wine on it . The restid down in the middle of the hall . Blood covered the floor and slowly flew onto the ground that hadn¡¯t soaked in blood yet .

    The three Zhang sighed in relieve after seeing that Tong was fine . However, Hua Shi stared at Tong in a daze .

    The iron bloody smell aroused her appetite . The glistering smooth naked boy in front of her aroused her body¡¯s pubertal carnal cravings . After being in Hell for hundred thousands of years, she had forgotten about this urge . But it came back to her tonight .

    As if she was injected with chicken blood, Hua Shi¡¯s heart beat elerated as if it was enjoying ying a solo drum session in a concert . Her blood pumped through her entire body and her face was burning hot .

    The lust for food and sexual desire merged in together and turned into a new form of sensual feeling inside of Hua Shi¡¯s mind . Something awakened in her .

    Hua Shi¡¯s legs were raised and stepped forward to Tong¡¯s direction by themselves while her eyes fixated on Tong¡¯s bloody body and his smooth neck .

    Her breathing was rough, puffing out warm air from her mouth .

    Steadily, she walked towards Tong . Then she wrapped her arms around his neck, opened her mouth and took a bite on Tong¡¯s smooth neck .

    *CHOMP*

    Tong had a jump scared, feeling warm hard slimy objects touching his skins . He didn¡¯t pay attention at the door direction so he didn¡¯t notice that everyone had opened the door and Hua Shi already walked in .

    Tong red at the zombie girl . Though he knew Hua Shi couldn¡¯t harm him but this psychopath¡¯s action was unpredictable . He also remembered that this mess had happened because of her .

    Tong grabbed her forehead and tried to push her away .

    "Get off, you zombie! Stop biting!"

    Hua Shi wasn¡¯t budge .

    ...

    ***************************************

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Sword Master] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kill an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy .

    ***************************************

    ...

    Hua Shi currently carried a short sword on her back . Even though she hadn¡¯t drawn out her sword, the skill still activated automatically .

    Because of the passive skill [Sword Master], her overall body attributes increased by 10 times by her actual attributes . This resulted her being stronger than even an average adult .

    Tong¡¯s current body couldn¡¯t overpower her as long as she still had a sword on her body .

    ¡¯This skill is totally bullsh*t . Who the heck designed this stupid skill!?¡¯

    ¡¯As long as she¡¯s carrying a sword, the system treats it as if she¡¯s using it?¡¯

    ¡¯Screw you, system!¡¯

    Tong knew everything about all Hua Shi¡¯s skills, yet he was helpless . He couldn¡¯t push her back and he didn¡¯t want to harm her either . She was still useful to the family so he had to put up with it .

    At the same time, Hua Shi was also aware of Tong¡¯s passive skill . She had tried to cut off a piece of Tong¡¯s flesh in secret when he was sleeping once before, but her knife couldn¡¯t piece through Tong¡¯s skin .

    Though Tong never told her about his skills, she could assume that it was a passive skill that grant the user some kind off protection to the body, so no one could hurt him .

    Hua Shi regained a bit of her sense . She pped her forehead in her mind .

    ¡¯What am I doing?¡¯

    ¡¯This is stupid . His skin can¡¯t be bitten through, yet I¡¯m trying to bite him?¡¯

    ¡¯He¡¯s going to throw a fit again . ¡¯

    ¡¯Oh well, what¡¯s done is done . Let me take advantage of the situation . Hehehe!¡¯

    Hua Shi stopped trying to bite Tong, but she stick out her tongue and licked his neck to taste his sweat .

    *MLEM*

    The moment the stinky and slimy tongue touched his skin, Tong jolted, feeling a chill run down his spine . He tried to exert more force but Hua Shi couldn¡¯t be moved at all .

    ¡¯TOO SWEET! TOO DELICIOUS!¡¯

    *MLEM* *MLEM* *MLEM*

    Hua Shi screamed in her mind . She could no longer stop her tongue and started licking every part of his neck and his face .

    *MLEM* *MLEM* *MLEM*

    "BEGONE THOT!! Are you a dog!?"

    Tong lost his cool . He started screaming and cursing . Tong clenched his fist and punched it on top of Hua Shi¡¯s head .

    However, Hua Shi still didn¡¯t flinch . Instead, Tong felt pain in his fist . Even her bone and her skin were reinforced by the skill too?

    Tong¡¯s [Plot Armor] skill should have made him immune to all attacks . But if he attacked someone and the damage was reflected back to him, the system treated it as he hurt himself?

    ¡¯Fudge the system . I¡¯m going to get rid of this girl first . ¡¯

    "Hey! Get off already or I¡¯ll- MMMFFF!!"

    Hua Shi who was busy licking Tong¡¯s face saw a chance . She slipped her tongue into Tong¡¯s mouth and twisted it around, draining the liquid inside .

    *SSLUP* *CHU* *CHU* *MLEM* *MLEM* *MLEM*

    Tong felt like there was a vacuum sucking all of his saliva . Her tongue kept twisting and rotating, making Tong having a goose bump .

    ¡¯This is otherworldly!!¡¯

    ¡¯Normally there should be a tinge of breathe smell in the saliva or in the inner mouth . ¡¯

    ¡¯But this tasted like a sweet-and-sour sauce!¡¯

    ¡¯Ah ... this is too good . I can¡¯t stop . ¡¯

    ¡¯The locals are sh*t . All men here are sh*t . ¡¯

    ¡¯Only he can give me this taste!¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ve decided . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯m making him mine!¡¯

    ¡¯Mine Alone! Mine for myself! MINE! MINE! MINE!¡¯

    Hua Shi jumped up, wrapping her legs around Tong¡¯s waist while she held his head tightly with both her arms and hands . From outsider¡¯s point of view, it looked like a monkey hugging its parent .

    Tong stole her sword and threw it away to disable her cheat . But she held him too tight, Tong still couldn¡¯t pry her off .

    Then he felt that Hua Shi had a spasm and there was something slimy and sticky dripping on his lower waist and his thighs .

    ck lines appeared on Tong¡¯s face .

    ¡¯Are you serious!?¡¯

    Zhang Bao who was observing the two pped his hands, trying to stop the live action scene in front of him .

    "Alright, that¡¯s enough you two . You will get married eventually so save it!"

    "First thing first, sir immortal brat, go take a bath . You stink . "

 Chapter 28

    Chapter 28

    Chapter 28 ¨C MLEM MLEM MLEM

    Tong was tired physically and mentally from dealing with the 20 Julu men and Hua Shi¡¯s stunt . Because of her, his physical strength was drained . He went to take a bath with his unsteady legs .

    In his 10x15 meters bathroom, there was a wooden bathtub in the middle filled with hot water . The ground was dug and the bathtub was ced inside the ground, making it looked like a Jacuzzi pool .

    If a 21st century person were here, he would have thought this was a bathroom in a luxurious hotel .

    Several man-size y jars of water also ced in the corner of the room . Tong made his servants ced it there just in case there were water shortage in this household .

    Tong had been already naked before he even walked in here . He walked straight to a nearby jar and drew up water with the one-foot bowl nearby .

    Tong sshed the water on his body, cleaning out the blood on him .

    However, before he could pick up a soap and started wiping his body with it, Hua Shi barged in .

    She already stripped herself naked, yet she was still carrying a sword with her .

    If others saw her, they would have thought she was an assassin . However, to Tong, the sword that was tied behind her back would not be drawn out, rather it was there for a buff that gave Hua Shi boosted in power .

    Tong understood her intention the moment he noticed her sword .

    However, because Tong was too tired and it would be pointless to fight a losing battle . Tong negotiated .

    "Can you let me clean up myself first?"

    "Hah ... Hah ... I¡¯ll help you then . "

    Hua Shi was panting . She wasn¡¯t tired, but she was filled with excitement . Tong had just surrendered!

    Hua Shi threw her sword away . She believed that Tong would no longer resist her in the bath .

    Seeing Hua Shi threw her sword away . He felt relieved a little . But he also prepared his mind . He might be ravished today .

    Just like Tong, she grabbed a water bowl and sshed some water on her . Then she cleaned up her body with her soap .

    Then she had an inspiration . How did the soap girl work in her previous life?

    Hua Shi grinned . She soaped herself all over her body, making her body wet and slippery .

    Then she hugged Tong from behind, and started moving her body up and down .

    Tong shuddered, feeling soft and slippery chest of Hua Shi moving behind his back . Tong tried his best to calm himself and concentrated on cleaning his body .

    But Hua Shi didn¡¯t just moving with her body alone, her hands wrapped around Tong . They moved up and down, touching every parts of his body . Then her hands lowered and touched his tights lewdly .

    Tong almost moaned . He breathed out every bits of air in his lung and took a deep breathe .

    "Hehe, does it feel good?"

    Hua Shi whispered with sweet voice . Then she licked and nibbled Tong¡¯s neck from behind .

    Tong jolted . He felt extra sensitive after he rxed his body by breathing out just now .

    Then Tong questioned in his mind . Why he was in the passive position and Hua Shi was in aggressive one? Shouldn¡¯t a man be the aggressor one?

    Tong stopped thinking, focusing on cleaning his body . Tong ignored all movements from Hua Shi .

    "The back is now cleaned . Want me to help with the front?"

    "Umm, please no . This is the borderline . Can you wait until we grow older?"

    "Hmm . This is a tough question . I actually want to taste your seeds . "

    " . . !!"

    "But, I¡¯ll wait a few more years . Hehe . "

    Strangely, Hua Shi stopped her lewd movement and helped Tong cleaned up his body in honest .

    "Alright, it¡¯s done . "

    "..."

    Tong was surprised by Hua Shi¡¯s action . He thought she would not stop until she drained every liquid inside of his body .

    "Let¡¯s get into the tub . I¡¯ll clean up my body, you go in first . "

    "... Okay . "

    Hua Shi told Tong to get into the hot water tub . She was surprising sweet to him just now . Normally, she would just pant like a dog in heat or begged for his blood when she had a chance to talk to him .

    ¡¯I didn¡¯t notice this before . ¡¯

    ¡¯She¡¯s kinda cute...¡¯

    ¡¯ . . . Wait! Did I just think she¡¯s cute!?¡¯

    ¡¯She¡¯s a psychopath . What were you thinking!?¡¯

    ¡¯WTF BRAIN!?¡¯

    Tong held his head with both hands while he was in the bathtub, feeling confused .

    Hua Shi finished cleaning her body . She stepped inside of bathtub . Then she moved forward and hugged Tong from the front .

    "You..."

    Tong wanted to stop her . However, Hua Shi with her wet hair looked charming and beautiful . Had she always been this pretty?

    Hua Shi didn¡¯t do anything but hugging . She leaned her head over Tong¡¯s shoulder and squeezed her front body with Tong¡¯s front .

    The sudden development made Tong¡¯s heartbeat elerated faster . Hua Shi¡¯s heartbeat also resonated with him .

    "I can feel your heartbeat . " Hua Shi whispered .

    "..."

    Tong felt embarrassed . When he was with Friday, they never had a sweet moment like this . They just had sex all days without any other lover¡¯s activities .

    "Hey"

    "Yeah?"

    "Do you really have a girlfriend?"

    "Yeah . "

    "Was it from your previous life?"

    "No, she¡¯s a demon in Hell . "

    "Oh? You have an interesting taste . "

    "Not as interesting as yours..."

    Hua Shi pulled her head away from Tong¡¯s shoulder . Then she stared at him close with her sweet eyes . Their face was so close that if they moved in a tiny bit, they would kiss each other .

    "Ne...?"

    "What . "

    "Can you kiss me?"

    "Hah?"

    "Kiss me, please . "

    "Why should I? I¡¯m already exhausted . It¡¯s been a long day and I want to rest . "

    "I promise you . I won¡¯t do anything to you anymore if you kiss me . "

    "..."

    Her promise caught Tong¡¯s attention . Tong wanted to rest more than anything right now .

    But the moment Tong stared at her . He was enchanted with her sparkling beautiful eyes . Though Tong had experiences with women in his previous life, he never had a sweet moment or staring at a girl this close before .

    Tong felt blood rushing in his face . His body was also burning up .

    "Don¡¯t worry . I won¡¯t break your rtionship with your girlfriend . "

    "...!!"

    "I know it¡¯s just temporary . But let me have a bit of moment with you, please . "

    "But she ..."

    "I¡¯ll step down once you reunite with her . But for now, can I have you for myself?"

    Hua Shi raised her hands up and touched Tong¡¯s face . She gently moved her hand to feel Tong¡¯s cheeks .

    Hua Shi¡¯s staring, her hands, and her voice made Tong¡¯s heart melt . His brain¡¯s logic and ego section already stopped working .

    Tong moved his head closer by instinct and kissed her . Hua Shi closed her eyes and kissed him back, gently slipped her tongue into his mouth .

    Tong didn¡¯t realize, Hua Shi¡¯s right hand made a gut pose . Tong was tricked!

    ¡¯Hook, line and sinker!¡¯

    ¡¯I still got it . Kuku . ¡¯

    ¡¯Darling, you are mine . ¡¯

    ¡¯My cute little ve . ¡¯

    ¡¯Now, let me taste you again . ¡¯

    If Tong heard Hua Shi¡¯s thought, he would be raging for days . But now, Tong devoted himself into the kiss .

    Tong felt nostalgic and guilty at the same time . He missed Friday . When they had first realized their feeling, they had a passionate kiss like this .

    Thinking up to this point, Tong stopped and tried to move his head back .

    But a d¨¦j¨¤ vu happened, Hua Shi grabbed Tong¡¯s back of the head before he could react and continued kissing . The same tongue twisting and saliva vacuum came back again .

    Tong¡¯s eyes opened wide . He finally realized he had been tricked!

    He got angry and closed his teeth, trying to bite Hua Shi¡¯s tongue to teach her a lesson .

    But Hua Shi seemed to predict his move, she withdrew her tongue and smirked at him . Then she kissed his cheek one more time and ran away from the bathroom before Tong threw a fit .

    "Thanks for the food, darling . Let¡¯s do it again someday, ¡¯kay?"

    Hua Shi¡¯sughter voice came from outside of the bathroom, mocking Tong .

    "SCREW OFF!!"

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Tong dressed up and came back to his room . He fell head first to his pillow on the bed .

    Although he was annoyed and in a bad mood . He fell asleep within 10 seconds after he shut down his thought . He was so mentally exhausted that he couldn¡¯t think of anything .

    One hourter in his room, the door squeak opened . Hua Shi peeked into the room and sneaked in without making a sound .

    She looked at the sleeping Tong and grinned . The night was not over yet . They still had more times to spend together, rather she wanted to eat him more .

    Hua Shi arranged Tong¡¯s sleeping position with her gentle hand to make himid down on his back and faced upward .

    ¡¯Preparation isplete . Now then ...¡¯

    ¡¯Itadakimasu!¡¯

 Chapter 29

    Chapter 29

    Chapter 29 ¨C Tong¡¯s insight .

    After Tong and Hua Shi left the main hall, the three Zhang brothers and their servants cleaned up the corpses and traces of bloody battle .

    They found the cause of the Julu men¡¯s visit, a warrant for Hua Shi .

    There was written statement by Guo Dian in the scroll that Hua Shi was suspected for being an evil shaman cultist . She had to be taken to Julu County to be investigated and interrogated .

    Having read the contents in the warrant scroll, Zhang Jiao was furious . Hua Shi was such a good girl . She was with him almost all of the time they were in a journey to neighbor viges together . It was impossible for her to be an evil cultist .

    This Guo Dian had to be one of the lolicons that pursued the body of the famous ¡¯Goddess¡¯ .

    His anger and hatred towards the imperial officials rose . The will to rebel against the Han court ignited once again .

    She would soon to be his daughter-inw! How dare them trying toy a hand on her!

    Though he already made up his mind that he would not rebel anymore, he couldn¡¯t remain calm when he witnessed how much immoral the government officials had be .

    He felt pity toward Tong and Hua Shi . He wanted them to spend the rest of their life in peace without getting dragged into his war .

    But for the sake of their future happiness and for their descendants, the Han dynasty had to fall!

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Next day morning .

    Tong woke up with sore and numbness all over his body . His mouth was as dry as a desert .

    He was eaten in his sleepst night .

    When he went to take a bath yesterday, Hua Shi followed him into the bath too . She took advantage kissing him again .

    After managing to chase her out, he went to sleep . Because of the events yesterday and Hua Shi¡¯s molestation, he was so exhausted that he fell asleep instantly as his head hit the pillow .

    Hua Shi somehow sneaked into his room and continued her sexual harassment .

    When Tong woke up again, he found himself with dried mouth . Hua Shi also cuddled with him in his bed too .

    Though she confessed that she didn¡¯t pop his cherryst night, she did drink every fluids he produced from his skin and body .

    Hua Shi got hit a few times on top of her head . Two big round swells appeared on her head, but she didn¡¯t show sign of remorse . Sheughed in happiness as if it was the best day of her life .

    Tong was so pissed that he wanted to strangle her to death . But he valued her skills and her usefulness when it came to medical knowledge, so Tong continued to tolerate .

    Tong only prayed to Friday that she wouldn¡¯t castrate him after he returned .

    ...

    After enjoying her breakfast, Hua Shi came back to her room, finishing her daily ountant job for Tong¡¯s soap business .

    While she was at it, she checked up her status and push a random new quest button .

    It had been a while since she hadpleted her 12th mission . Hua Shi thought that it was time for her to take another one when she was free .

    [Aye! Wait a minute . My right hand is busy at the moment . ]

    [Sorry for the wait! Phew! That was a good work out!]

    [Here¡¯s your mission, miss pervert!]

    [By the way, you need help . Go see a doctor . ]

    . . .

    *******************************

    **Main Mission No . 18**

    Your grumpy husband didn¡¯t finish his job properly . Go clean up his mess .

    Protect Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang with everything you have .

    Clear Condition: At least one of the three is alive after the threat has been thwarted .

    Failure Condition: All three of them died .

    Clearing Reward: 10,000 years of lifespan per one person saved . One shopping pass .

    Mission Failure: All your skills will be erased .

    System Note: So much for strategy and schemes . In the end, he¡¯s still not thorough .

    *******************************

    ...

    "Eh!?"

    Hua Shi was aware that the system always gave her unpredictable missions . But she could guess that it would always be rted to her environments and her surroundings .

    Her 17th mission was rted to her medical skill and her overall talent . Her 15 tutorial missions were also easy toplete without much of a hassle . She just needed to put in an effort, that¡¯s all .

    However, this was the first time that she had received a quest to protect someone . Someone tried to harm them? Why did this mission mention Tong? Clean up his mess?

    There were many hints but she couldn¡¯t put the pieces together toplete the whole pictures .

    Although she didn¡¯t understand what would happen to the three of her future rtives, she thought of Tong .

    ¡¯I should go and tell him about it . ¡¯

    ¡¯It said he didn¡¯t finish his job, it might be rted to his works . ¡¯

    ¡¯Or maybe his quest?¡¯

    ¡¯No point guessing widely . I¡¯d better ask him . ¡¯

    ¡¯Hope he¡¯s not angry anymore . ¡¯

    ¡¯It¡¯s just a little skinship and kissing . Why was he so angry?¡¯

    ¡¯We¡¯re going to get married anyway . Why is he so shy?¡¯

    ¡¯May be the girlfriend excuse was a lie and he was actually a virgin in his previous life?¡¯

    ¡¯That exins it . ¡¯

    ¡¯Kukukuk! He¡¯s so cute . I want to eat him more . ¡¯

    ¡¯A pity I can¡¯t chop him up to pieces . ¡¯

    ¡¯But blood is fine too . ¡¯

    ¡¯Saliva is fine, two!¡¯

    ¡¯Once he¡¯s old enough, I can milk him, three!¡¯

    ¡¯Ah, I can¡¯t wait for the tonight...¡¯

    ¡¯Whoops, I wet myself again . ¡¯

    ¡¯Gotta change my underwear . ¡¯

    [... Please . . . see a doctor . ]

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Today, Tong gathered his father and uncles in his courtyard . He made the decision to tell them everything . Dying the inevitable might result in tragedy and misunderstanding in the long run .

    Tong confessed "Almost" everything to the three Zhang regarding the immortal trial . Only a few things that he didn¡¯t mention was his current mission that Zhang Jiao had to start the rebellion and its punishment if he failed . Tong didn¡¯t want to worry his father .

    Incidents in the first day of January, otherworlders, special skills, system and rewards, everything was revealed to Tong¡¯s father and his uncles .

    The three was half-expecting a story like this so they didn¡¯t have the shock reaction, only asked back a few questions in disbelieved .

    After an hour of exnation, Tong narrated about the future of the Han dynasty in the next few years .

    "A drought season in two year?"

    "We lost?"

    "We will all die?"

    Tong was merciless when it came to exining the harsh truth . He wanted them to understand their future and their fates even if it meant the three of them would call him crazy .

    "If father continues proceeding the rebellion n as it is, we will fail . "

    It feltical to have a younger generation rtive told them in the face that the grand schemes they had nned for years would fail . However, Tong¡¯s abilities and his supernatural skill was the proofs of his story .

    Zhang Jiao¡¯s face lost its color . He couldn¡¯t believe that his followers would turn rogues and turned the Yellow Turbans into a group of bandits .

    Zhang Bao held his mouth in deep thought . He revised the n they had again . He indeed found ws and weaknesses if hepared the current soldiers with the imperial army .

    Zhang Liang gritted his teeth . He was the only one who didn¡¯t totally buy Tong¡¯s story . But after he had contemted it with his logic, he realized that they indeedcked funds, personals and proper logistic supplies .

    The drought season would arrive without warning and would force them tounch the n before they could gather enough provisions for their army .

    Their skills in management and politics was also a problem . They never attended school or had any proper tutor .

    Zhang Jiao and Zhang Bao managed to learn reading and writing by joining a Taoist sect and became a shaman priest . Zhang Liang was worse, he only knew about army management .

    The three was silent . They couldn¡¯t utter a word .

    Tong smiled and gave them hope .

    "But that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s impossible to raise our gs . "

    "Hmm?"

    "Hah?"

    "What!?"

    Tong exined further .

    "If we have over 360,000 troops, we won¡¯t be able to support all of them . "

    "Therefore, why don¡¯t we reduce the size of our army to the size that we can support?"

    "Secondly, if we attack multiple districts or cities at once, the imperial force will naturally react . "

    "However, what will happen if we make the rebel a smaller scale . "

    "What will happen if we only take one small county, but not an entire province?"

    "What will happen if we just aim small and not dering ourselves rebellion?"

    Zhang Jiao¡¯s eyes lit up . He continued to listen .

    "Don¡¯t forget that the emperor has his eyes on tributes and taxes, but nothing else . "

    "So we can use this to our benefits . "

    "We take one district . Then we stop . "

    "The imperial will just see it as a quarrel between noble forces and won¡¯t interfere . "

    "Then we send a tribute to the emperor and ask him for forgiveness and so on . "

    "Do you think they will rally a force against us if we do it like this?"

    As if the three Zhang were struck by lightning . They had an enlightenment .

    Then Zhang Jiao frown . He had doubts in his mind .

    "What about the government and the emperor? Why can¡¯t we fight them?"

    Tong shook his head and smiled at his father and smiled .

    "The Han will be self-destructed by the nobles and the emperor will die soon . "

    "If father wants to reform this country ..."

    "We just have to wait andy low for a few years . "

 Chapter 30

    Chapter 30

    Chapter 30 ¨C Sima Xin

    February 17th, 181 A . D . 10 AM .

    Hua Shi changed her cloths and got out of her room, only to catch a whiff of fresh soil and grasses .

    The servants were busy attending the backyard garden . All the corpsesst night were chopped up and buried 6-feet-under there .

    Hua Shi didn¡¯t take part in the butchering, she was busy molesting Tong who was her priority food .

    The 20 Julu men reeked of alcohol and they were also poisoned . It didn¡¯t match Hua Shi¡¯s taste .

    She liked it living-fresh when she cut open a piece of meat . Other than that was nothing but dog foods, which she no longer interested in .

    Hua Shi ignored the activities and reached Tong¡¯s room . The four Zhang family members were still in there, discussing future ns .

    "Tong!! Let¡¯s y!"

    She barged into the room, pretending to be an innocent child who wanted to ask Tong out to y .

    The three adultsughed while Tong had ck lines on his face . Tong forgot to tell his father and uncles about Hua Shi¡¯s secret and her existence as an otherworlder .

    Zhang Jiao, Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao left the two alone . They had works to do so they would talk in another day .

    ...

    "What are you up to?"

    Tong asked Hua Shi in with frowning face . Hua Shi had done a number on him yesterday which caused him to be more wary of her sexual harassment .

    "Rx, darling . I won¡¯t bite this time . "

    "Who¡¯s your darling!? I already have a girlfriend! What are you here for?"

    "Listen, I haven¡¯te here to joke or y around . I have something serious to tell you . "

    "...?"

    Hua Shi told Tong about hertest mission content, after which made Tong lost all blood on his face .

    ¡¯Come to think of it . The system didn¡¯t announce that Ipleted the mission . ¡¯

    ¡¯Which meant that all kidnappers haven¡¯t dead yet or are still alive in this vicinity . ¡¯

    ¡¯Are there still more soldiers?¡¯

    Although Tong put every effort in his nning or scheming, he always made a mistake here and there .

    The long years in Hell dulled his sense . Tong believed that he had to start sharpening his mind, analysis senses and his wits from scratch, just like when he had first entered the police military school in his previous life .

    "Oh, hey . Is there a way to show you my mission menu? It was tiring reading it out loud . " Hua Shi asked Tong .

    "Huh? There is such a feature?"

    "Eh? You didn¡¯t know? I thought you were an expert at this . "

    Hua Shi was fumbling through her status menu, hoping to have such an option to share a mission content to others .

    She felt it was too inconvenient to exin everything word by word from the system mission menu . Though she was a hard worker in her previous life, but after being born as a child again it made herzy .

    After being asked, Tong was also curious . He explored every nook and cranny in his status menu, looking for any feature that he hadn¡¯t tried before .

    [Well, actually there is a way . ]

    The system message sounded out in Tong¡¯s room .

    "Really? I looked at everything but I can¡¯t find a way to do that . " Hua Shi asked the system .

    [It¡¯s a feature that I¡¯m currently implementing . It¡¯s not 100%plete yet . ]

    [Because this is the first time the goddamn irresponsible angels sent all sinners into one world at once, then they didn¡¯t prepare any support feature in the case multiple sinners interact with each other . ]

    [So I have to create and adjust everything from scratch . ]

    [Do you understand how hard my life is after being reincarnated as a system?]

    "..."

    "..."

    [Anyway, let¡¯s talk about my lifeter in the sequel novel . ]

    "Don¡¯t hint it . The readers will ask for it and our author will be trouble with that . "

    [...]

    [Whoops, my bad . ]

    [Okay! Neuralyzer time!]

    *** WHOOSH ***

    *** FLASH!!! ***

    [None of you readers will remember or should ask the author for this sh*t . ]

    [Ok, it¡¯s done . Or not... None of my business . ]

    [Anyway, there¡¯s a way for you two to share mission contents, trade or evenplete the mission together . ]

    "Oh!"

    "Noice!"

    [However, there are conditions . ]

    Tong clicked his tongue . There was no free lunch in this universe . If they want to gain something, they had to pay a price one way or another .

    [The two of you have to form a contract with each other . ]

    "Contract?"

    [There are three types of contracts you can choose . ]

    [One, party contract . ]

    [Two, n contract . ]

    [Andstly ...]

    ...

    ...

    ...

    February 17th, 181 A . D . Afternoon .

    Outside Zhang¡¯s resident, a young boy was observing the Zhang Manor from atop of a tall tree, scanning what was inside .

    His name was Sima Xin . He was an otherworlder just like Tong and Hua Shi .

    In this life, he was fortunate to be born in the famous family of Sima n .

    His father was Sima Fang, an assistant official of the imperial secretariat of Luo Yang . He was also the father of Sima Lang and the famous legendary Sima Yi who would be recorded in the history as "Father of the Jin Dynasty" or "Emperor Xuan of Jin" .

    As a result of being born in this family, Sima Xin had be the elder brother of Sima Lang, Sima Yi and other 6 Sima n members .

    Despite being born in a noble n, Sima Xin refused to pursue the career of aristocrats or the government official in the capital . He simply had to flee from the capital or he would be hunted down or being killed by the system .

    If he remained in the capital and followed the footsteps of his father, he would be restricted in the capital . The missions always demanded him to move around, meeting people or doing something to them, killing included .

    It was not wise to stay and risk his lifepleting missions in such environment, even though it was tolerable if he got used to it .

    However, during the 16th mission where he had to kill an otherworlder to survive, he realized how deadly each otherworlder was . They were all criminals with great sins engraved on their back just like him, and they had cheat abilities . They wouldn¡¯t be simple opponents .

    Sima Xin could barely survive after he killed one of the sinner by relying with his martial arts technique from his previous life . But then, he noticed another dreadful otherworlder .

    That person resided in the inner imperial pce, which he could never enter with his current status .

    That red dot also had many white dots surrounding him . It was as if they were his guards . There used to be another red dot in the pce, but it had disappeared .

    Sima Xin assumed that there should be someone that was lucky enough to be reincarnated as a child of a concubine . Or he could be even worse, a prince, the son of the Emperor . And he already hadpleted the mission .

    Secondly, he found an unusual dot in his HUD map at that time .

    Otherworlders were marked as red dots in the map . However, there was a strange shing golden dot in an official resident . It never moved during the entire event night .

    The reincarnator in the inner pce already intimidated him enough . The unknown being in the capital terrified him further which he could no longer sleep with his eyes closed by being in that city .

    Continued staying in Luo Yang was too risky . What if one day there would be another killing mission like this again? Could he fight them and survive? What if they were stronger than thest guy?

    Next day, he told everything and consulted it with his father . Then his father, Sima Fang wrote a rmendation letter and told him to escape to Julu County . Guo Dian was his acquaintance so he should be able to help Sima Xin .

    Sima Xin escaped from the capital the next day .

    During his journey, he managed toplete another mission on the way, scoring another 10,000 years lifespans .

    With two shopping passes and over 20,000 lifespans in his stocks, he gambled his luck and bought a 10,000-year-lifespan weapon gacha ticket to roll for random weapon .

    And he was lucky enough to score the M16A4 rifle! It was listed in the shop for 100,000 lifespan years so he made a huge profit .

    At first, Sima Xin already lost hope in this life . As a veteran soldier in his previous life, he couldn¡¯t sleep in peace without his gun, especially after knowing that all otherworlders might be stronger than him .

    This existence of this rifle gave him hope . It was like a ray of light shining upon a lost traveler who got lost in the darkness .

    Sima Xinter spent the remaining shopping pass to buy a pack of ammunition .

    A monthter, he arrived at Julu County . Although he had his father¡¯s rmendation letter, Guo Dian sent him to a barrack, transferring him into a scout squadron .

    To Guo Dian¡¯s judgement, Sima Xin was too young . He needed more experiences before Sima Xin could be put into an important position in his county .

    Then he received his 18th mission .

    *********************************************

    **Main Mission No . 18**

    Several ex-bandits are hiding in a vige within Ningjin County . Kill at least one of them .

    There are extra bonuses if you can kill their ring-leaders .

    Clear Condition: Kill one or more ex-bandit(s) or ring-leader(s)

    Failure Condition: Time Limit exceeded

    Clearing Reward: 1,000 years of lifespan per one ex-bandit killed . 10,000 years per one ring-leader killed . One shopping pass .

    Mission Failure: All of your skills will be erased

    Time Limit: 2 Days 16 Hours

    System Note: Don¡¯t press R2 when petting a dog or the vigers will hunt you down .

    *********************************************

 Chapter 31

    Chapter 31

    Chapter 31 ¨C Soulmate Contract

    ¡¯Where are those guys? Why did they suddenly disappear?¡¯

    Sima Xin scanned the entire Zhang courtyard, looking for hisrades .

    Though they were notrades he wanted to be friends with, but they were essential for his career as a scout member .

    If he went back and reported that all of them went missing without clues, he and his family would be ridiculed as ipetent .

    Therefore, at least he had to find a trace of them even if they were already dead .

    Sima Xin climbed down the tree he was on . He nned to enter the vige and asked around for clues .

    ...

    ...

    Hua Shi danced and skipped in the garden, feeling overjoyed . She sessfully formed a contract with Tong .

    Meanwhile, Tong watched over her in solemn face . The hostile feeling toward her in the past was nowhere to be seen on his face or his aura anymore .

    The contract they formed was call "Soulmate Contract" . It was the most beneficial pact to both sides, yet the most risky type of all contracts .

    There were three types of contracts that could be signed if there were more than two otherworlders who were willing to form a contract with the each other .

    The Party Contract was a pact for acquaintances who would temporary trade with a partner or helped the other for just a short period of times .

    People that formed this contract would be able to reveal their status and missions to the others, but they could not share the rewards from the missions, or used their lifespan as a currency to trade with each other .

    The second type was the n Contract . If anyone yed a MMORPG game, they would understand it immediately if they heard a word "Guild" .

    It was a partnership contract designed for an organization to work together toward the same goal .

    Members who signed this contract could share missions and mission rewards with each other . This was beneficial to those who enjoyed banning together in groups .

    However, the two types didn¡¯t guarantee that the members couldn¡¯t backstab each other .

    There was no punishment stated in both contracts for killing the fellow partners . If someone no longer wanted to be in the group and killed the others to steal their wealth, the person would not be punished by the system .

    This loophole could be considered that these two types of contracts were nothing but a sham . It was designed this way so the smarter ones would betray the others when it time was right .

    Then, there was thest contract which eliminated this entire potential threat and the most profitable pact to sign it with a trustworthy partner, the Soulmate Contract .

    They could enjoy an extra feature from the system called "Soulmate Missions" which multiplied the rewards by the total members who had signed this contracted together .

    For Example, if Tong and Hua Shi epted a new mission together, the contents of the mission would be the same and would be shared for both of them . But the rewards would be multiplied by two, which meant each of them would be guaranteed to receive at least twice the amount of what they usually got after theypleted the missions .

    If the rewards they usually received was 10,000 lifespan, if they epted it as a Soulmate Mission, they would get 20,000 years of lifespan instead of 10,000 years for each of them .

    The benefits did not end there . The pact members could also impart their skills to the other members who signed the same contract together .

    However, this feature only worked if both partners were opposite genders because this imparting processes required both side to be performing a ritual together .

    This ritual detail wasn¡¯t revealed by the system . The system kept telling them it was notpletely implemented yet and it would take some times toplete .

    Both Hua Shi and Tong could only wait until the system noticed them, then they could exchange their skills and lifespans .

    Andstly, the pact members could trade or give lifespan to each other . But again, this feature required both side to perform a ritual together .

    Each year, the members could only impart one of their skills or trade lifespan to the other member one time . This was to prevent otherworlders from abusing this feature .

    Thest contract looked like the most attractive pact to form with a partner, but it didn¡¯t only contain the benefits . It had a sinister trapid inside .

    The contractees would be forced to have their life linked together . If one of the contractee died, the other partners who formed the contract with would die too .

    If there were multiple contractees in one pact and one of them died, all of them would die alongside with the dead one .

    Anyone that formed this contract would be naturally unwilling to harm each other until they died .

    Tong and Hua Shi formed the third type of contract . Therefore Hua Shi could not be considered a threat to Tong anymore, but the most trustworthy ally . The only question remained in Tong¡¯s heart would be whether if she would she harm his family or would she help him protecting them .

    It was like a marriage certificate which they had sworn to share love, happiness and suffering together, which was the reason why Hua Shi was in a good mood .

    Seeing how happy Hua Shi was, Tong sighed . He felt like he cheated on Friday . But at the same time, it was necessary for both of them to work together in the long run and eliminated the trust issues .

    "Zombie, go protect my father and my uncles . I¡¯m going back to my camp . I have works to do . "

    "Yes, darling! Have a good day!"

    The corner of Tong¡¯s mouth twitched . After the incidentst night, she had been calling him ¡¯darling¡¯ now . Tong still couldn¡¯t get used to this mental girl .

    Even though he didn¡¯t like her when they had first met and he was wary of her, Tong didn¡¯t hate Hua Shi either . Tong just couldn¡¯t trust Hua Shi that she could be working with him in the long run .

    Tong felt like he had lift a mountain away from his heart after he decided to form the contract, which was guaranteed that Hua Shi wouldn¡¯t betray him in the future . Thus he could trust her a little bit more .

    "Keep an eye out . I¡¯ll be going now . "

    ...

    ...

    "Excuse me, have you seen a group of rowdy soldiers passing through here?"

    "Soldiers? There¡¯s militia guards all over the ce . Who are you searching for?"

    "No, not the militias but a group of 20 men that wore leather armors . "

    "... No, no idea . "

    Sima Xin asked around the vigers but he still had no clues .

    The only hint he had was that they had gone to Zhang Resident . But those 20 men didn¡¯t show up next morning .

    ¡¯Where the hell had they gone to!?¡¯

    ¡¯How did they suddenly disappear?¡¯

    Sima Xin was baffled . Those 20 men were arrogant and eye-catching . They should have left a trace behind if they went somewhere .

    But they didn¡¯t seem to leave the Zhang Resident after they went in . Moreover, Sima Xin hadn¡¯t paid attention to them after they entered the vige . He was busy trying to figure out how he couldplete his quest .

    He had to change the direction of the investigation, Sima Xin changed his questions .

    "One more question, please . Who is the owner of that manor?"

    Sima Xin pointed at Zhang Manor .

    "Oh! That¡¯s our great teacher¡¯s house . Do you know him?"

    "Umm, no . What is his name?"

    "Huh? You don¡¯t know him? He¡¯s famous you know?"

    "Famous?"

    "Yes, very famous . He¡¯s our town¡¯s doctor . His name is Zhang Jiao . "

    Sima Xin frown . He heard of this name somewhere before but he couldn¡¯t exactly recall where he had heard it .

    Sima Xin was a mercenary and a veteran soldier in his previous life . He didn¡¯t pay much attention to the history ss of the foreign countries . He couldn¡¯t remember the entire history timeline of the Three Kingdom period .

    "Thank you very much uncle . I¡¯m leaving now . "

    Sima Xin bid farewell to the viger . He wanted to investigate or sneak inside Zhang Manor, but he abandoned the thought .

    Sima Xin had to finish his current quest as soon as possible . Therefore, this investigation matter would have to wait .

    ¡¯Where can I find the ex-bandits system mentioned?¡¯

    ¡¯Well, if I can¡¯t search for it, why don¡¯t I bait them?¡¯

    Sima Xin walked into a cloth shop and bought a luxurious looking set of clothes for him to wear . Since he was a child from the noble family of Sima, he had carried a sum of pocket money with him .

    After he stepped out of the shop, he looked like a wealthy young master from a noble family or a wealthy merchant¡¯s child .

    Then he strolled around the street and walked past several taverns while unting his money bag and intentionally showed what inside was .

    Within 10 minutes of strolling aimlessly, seven street thugs stalked Sima Xin in secret .

    ¡¯Got seven of them hook the bait . Time to reel in the . ¡¯

    Sima Xin strolled into a lone alley and took out a knife from his cloth, getting ready for action .

    Within a minute, two thugs rushed at Sima Xin, aiming to knock him out in one punch .

    ¡¯These two are just ordinary thugs . They didn¡¯t use a weapon . ¡¯

    Although Sima Xin assumed that the two weren¡¯t ex-bandits he had been looking for, he still charged at them .

    The rich looking teen ducked down and dodged the punch of the nearest thug . He countered with a stabbed from his knife, piecing the thug¡¯s left chest .

    Sima Xin twisted the knife and pulled it out in an instant . Using the momentum of the pulled knife, he rotated his body, leaped forward and shed the neck of the other thug . The entire counter attacks ended in two seconds .

    Two thugs dropped on the ground without being able to utter a sound .

 Chapter 32

    Chapter 32

    Chapter 32 ¨C First Encounter ¨C Part 1

    Sima Xin made a quick work on the rest of the thugs . Six had been killed within the span of three minutes after he had entered the alley . Thest teenage thug stood at the edge of the alley, holding his sword and pointing toward Sima Xin .

    "You are thest one . Give me your life!"

    "Screw you! Who the hell do you think you are!? Immortal Zhang Tong!?"

    "Hmm?"

    Sima Xin heard an interesting information thest thug blurted out .

    ¡¯Immortal Zhang Tong?¡¯

    ¡¯10/10 Chuunibyou naming sense . Does he wear an eyepatch, too?¡¯

    ¡¯Such shy name . Is he an otherworlder?¡¯

    Sima Xin dashed toward thest thug . To his surprise, the thug didn¡¯t attack or charge at him . Thest thug turned around and ran away . He jumped on top of a stall then leaped toward the roof of the nearby wooden building as if he was a cultivator in wuxia novel .

    Sima Xin was astonished . That thug was nimble! If any modern bystander could see the thug¡¯s movement, they would think that the thug was a parkour master .

    ¡¯That thug is not simple!¡¯

    ¡¯There¡¯s also that immortal Zhang Tong . ¡¯

    ¡¯I want to question him . ¡¯

    Sima Xin pursued the mysterious thug . Because Sima Xin was still a child, he couldn¡¯t utilize his previous movement experiences to the fullest . After chasing for half an hour, he was tired . Carrying a 4kg M16A4 loaded with bullets behind his back while chasing weighted him down .

    ¡¯Ugh, I don¡¯t have my former stamina . ¡¯

    ¡¯Where the hell did he go now?¡¯

    Sima Xin looked around him . During the chase, the thug went out of vige and ran toward the nearby forest . Sima Xin was too concentrate in the chasing and didn¡¯t notice his environment .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve lost him . ¡¯

    ¡¯I should go back . I don¡¯t want to get ambushed here . ¡¯

    ¡¯But ... where am I?¡¯

    For the entire afternoon, Sima Xin was lost in the forest . He managed to find a road back to the vige before 5PM . He backtracked to the vige to book a room in an inn . He wanted to sleep on a bed today .

    Arriving at the inn, he saw a group of militias dressed in yellow cloths and heard their conversation by ident .

    "Hey, I heard the other camp stops allowing the guys to leave the camp perimeters . Is that true?"

    "Yeah, I heard it from Captain Bo Cai myself . The immortal closed down the camp and had all the guys building fences or digging holes today . "

    "Is that brat really an immortal? Isn¡¯t he just a golden-spooned young master?"

    "Go and try him if you dare . Over a dozen captains of our camp went to test him and came back as corpses . "

    "What!? How could he? They were elites from our times . Did that brat use his men and ganged up on the captains?"

    "... No . You¡¯ve never seen the immortal in action . He killed all of them himself . "

    "Lies! How can a brat alone kill them all!?"

    "Like I said . If you don¡¯t believe me then go test him out yourself, at your own risk that is . "

    "..."

    Sima Xin¡¯s ears perked up . He heard an interesting name and title in the conversation, Bo Cai and the immortal .

    It was likely that the immortal was an otherworlder . And the name "Bo Cai" also sounded familiar to him, just like Zhang Jiao .

    ¡¯Bo Cai, it¡¯s another familiar name . ¡¯

    ¡¯Is he important in the history of China? Why did I feel a sudden d¨¦j¨¤ vu?¡¯

    ¡¯...Zhang Jiao and Bo Cai . ¡¯

    ¡¯Hmm? Yellow cloths?¡¯

    ¡¯Militias with yellow cloths?¡¯

    ¡¯Zhang Jiao ... yellow cloths militias ...¡¯

    ¡¯The Yellow Turbans!!¡¯

    It was as if there had been a strand of hair blocking a mountain from his view, and the hair was now gone . With another clues, Sima Xin managed to put pieces of puzzles together and recalled his memories regarding this era .

    ¡¯I¡¯m stupid! This is the year before the Han Dynasty declined . It will be the Three Kingdom period next! I was born into THAT Sima n and Sima Yi will rise within 30-40 years!¡¯

    Sima Xin¡¯s eyes sharpened . He also found a way toplete his current quest . The ex-bandits that the system had mentioned should be the Yellow Turbans . And the ring leaders were none other than Zhang Jiao and his brothers .

    There were all here!

    A glint of greed shed in his eyes, Sima Xin checked the exit and the surrounding . He nned to kill all the yellow cloth militias in the inn!

    ¡¯I¡¯ll kill these people for the quest . Then if I can, I¡¯ll snipe Zhang Jiao and his men . ¡¯

    Without hesitation, Sima Xin drew his knife from his waist and mixed into the crowd in the inn . He sneaked behind one of the yellow cloth men who were enjoying themselves with food and wines and the dining table .

    Then he stabbed down his knife into the unguarded man¡¯s neck right in front of his friends .

    "UGGHHH!!!"

    Sima Xin pulled off the knife and switched target to another yellow cloths man .

    "Audacious!!"

    "Son of a @#$%!!"

    "You seek death!!"

    The rest of the men screamed in anger . They grabbed their weapons and hacked them at Sima Xin .

    ...

    ...

    7 PM . The same day . Zhang Manor .

    Tong came back from his camp, feeling refreshed . He had a good work out with his men today .

    Tong taught his officers the trench tactic warfare of the 21st century . They couldn¡¯t understand all of it yet, but they managed to grasp the general ideas and how they could create more efficient traps instead of simple pits .

    He nned to import the modern guerri warfare into this world and teach his men . But it would take months before he shaped up his men¡¯s strength and stamina, then mastering these trench tactics .

    The soldiers in this era were hard to train to truly be an elite as theycked proper training tools and equipment . Tong didn¡¯t want them to charge into enemy ranks and die in vain, so guerri warfare would at least decrease the number of casualties .

    Before Tong could sit and had his dinner, a servant walked in and reported a breaking news .

    A strange teenage appeared in this vige and killed several men from Zhang Liang¡¯s camp . And Zhang Liang himself had left with his men to search for the stranger .

    "What about my father, second uncle and my fianc¨¦?" Tong asked .

    "Report to young master, they are still inside the manor . Only the third master and his men has gone out . "

    "Do you know the name of the stranger boy?"

    "This servant is ipetent . Please punish me, young master . "

    "It¡¯s alright . You can leave . "

    The servant left, leaving Tong alone in the dining hall . Tong grabbed and ate a few pieces of pheasant meat, then Tong ordered the maids to keep the food warm . He woulde back to finish his dinnerter .

    Tong picked up his gun and checked the remaining bullets . There were 41 remaining bullets . They were enough for two magazines which was more than enough for hunting one man .

    Someone had the balls to kill militias of his uncle . If it was done by any average adult or hooligan, Tong wouldn¡¯t care about it .

    However, this case assant was a teenage . Tong couldn¡¯t help but felt threatened because there were high chances that the young man was an otherworlder .

    Secondly, Hua Shi¡¯s mission made him vignt to any unusual event . Anymotion that broke out at this time would not be overlooked .

    Andstly, the system had not yet announced that Tong hadpleted his mission . Which meant there were other threats or other Julu men that could abduct Hua Shi still lurked in this area, and could fail Tong¡¯s mission .

    Tong checked his HUD radar map to find his third uncle . Zhang Liang was easy to spotted, his identity on the map had been highlighted long ago, and a green dot outside of Zhang Manor in the map was shing .

    Tong didn¡¯t stepped out of the manor right away . He scanned the map for any unfamiliar name or any person that was moving in irregr pattern .

    To his surprise, Tong didn¡¯t need to search for long . There was a white dot in the forest behind the Zhang resident . His name also caught Tong¡¯s eyes .

    ¡¯Sima Xin? From the Sima n?¡¯

    ¡¯Sima family doesn¡¯t have someone that name in this timeline . ¡¯

    ¡¯Sima Fang only has eight children . And all his nsmen are in Luo Yang . ¡¯

    ¡¯Tch, another reincarnator?¡¯

    ¡¯Be it or not, he¡¯s an enemy . ¡¯

    ¡¯But, why is he lurking behind my house?¡¯

    ¡¯Well, since you havee, you will not be leaving here alive . ¡¯

    Tong loaded his gun and proceeded to the back of Zhang resident to get a clear view of the intruder .

    The back of the Zhang resident were empty areas and a few tombstones . It was the graveyard of Zhang family¡¯s ancestor . Tong¡¯s mother also rested there .

    Tong nced at his mother¡¯s tombstone with sadden, yet determined eyes .

    ¡¯I¡¯m sorry, Mom . This might get a little noisy but please bear with it for a few minutes . ¡¯

 Chapter 33

    Chapter 33

    Chapter 33 ¨C First Encounter ¨C Part 2

    Tong checked the distance between him and Sima Xin . The distance was a little over 400 meters which was not the best range for the pistol Tong had in his hand .

    The best effective range for Glock 17 was 30 to 50 meters for average shooters . Any longer range than those would affect the uracy, but the 9mm bullet would still be lethal at the range of 100 meters .

    Tong¡¯s best record during his military school was 200 meters . But at that time, Tong managed to luck out and hit the target one time out of the entire magazine of 15 bullets .

    He still couldn¡¯t reliably shoot at a live target at a distance more than 100 meters yet . All instructors in his school taught him not to rely on the long distance shooting with a pistol, but to use it as a covering fire or for coteral damages on vehicles or bigger targets .

    Tong need to get closer to Sima Xin to the range of 100 meters or shorter to get to the effective shooting range .

    He reached to the fence which separated the area of Zhang household and the backyard wild grasses and trees . Tong climbed the fence and was about to drop onto the other side .

    "What are do you doing?"

    Zhang Jiao showed up with Hua Shi and Zhang Bao . Each of them was holding a fire torch in their hand .

    The sun had already set and it was the nighttime . The sky was brightened with stars of the Milky Way gxy . But in contrary of the sky, thend below was inplete darkness . Only the area with torches andmbs were brightened .

    Tong had a small candle in his cloth, but he hadn¡¯t lightened it yet . He wanted to sneak up to Sima Xin without him noticing Tong .

    "An enemy is here . Get back in the house . "

    Tong said to the three and gestured them to hurry . However, before they could react, a loud gunshot sounded from inside the woods .

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    Tong could feel something small hit him at the back of the head when he turned around to talk to his family .

    The sound of gunshot made Tong lost all blood in his face . His face became pale as if he had just seen a ghost . It was the signal that the other side had a gun .

    "THERE¡¯S A SNIPER!! GET DOWN!!" Tong shouted with all air in his lung .

    Hua Shi jolted and shifted her position to the front of Zhang Jiao while she told her inws to escape into the house . She had seen enough war movies to know what she should react to snipers .

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    Another shot fired and hit Tong¡¯s left eye . Tong could see the trajectory of the bullet for an instant before the bullet hit his eye lit, deformed and dropped itself on the ground .

    Though Tong didn¡¯t feel any pain, but the impact still made him feel ufortable and put a mental pressure on him .

    "Zombie! Get the two into the house right now!!"

    Tong shouted again while dashing toward Sima Xin in the distance . He was immune to all physical attack so he decided to rush toward the sniper to get rid of him .

    "I know! Uncle, father-inw . Please run into the house! There¡¯s an enemy!"

    "What?"

    "NO TIME FOR ASKING!! GET INTO THE HOUSE!!"

    Hua Shi also yelled at Zhang Jiao and Zhang Bao while pressing them back to the house . Then she drew her short sword and stared into the darkness where the bullet came from .

    Then she noticed a light reflection on one of the trees . It was the reflected light from the torches shining to a ss lens, or a scope .

    Because of the reflected light, she could tell the direction the sniper was . At the same time, she could roughly guess where the sniper was going to shoot next .

    ¡¯Crap, the next target is me!?¡¯

    The reflected lightnded on her . Then ...

    *BANG*

    A bullet flew at Hua Shi who suddenly hacked her sword at empty air by instinct . Her sword master passive skill activated .

    The sword path and the bullet trajectory crossed each other, causing a spark on the impact .

    *TINK*

    *Poek*

    The bullet that was deflected by Hua Shi¡¯s sword hit the ground .

    Hua Shi was astonished by her action . She didn¡¯t order her body to move her arm and her shoulder in thest moment . She felt like her body moved by itself .

    Hua Shi eased up a lot when she realized that it was possible for her to parry bullets . She stopped urging Zhang Jiao and Zhang Bao to escape, but stood firm in front of them, ready to deflect any bullet that came in her way .

    She felt proud and started to act cocky . Hua Shi then mocked the sniper .

    "Hahaha! Fool! As long as I¡¯m here, it¡¯s all useless!"

    *BANG*

    Another bullet fired .

    "Useless!"

    *TINK*

    Another bullet parried .

    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

    Three gunshots were burst-fired this time . They didn¡¯t go for Hua Shi, but to the two people behind her .

    "MUDA!! MUDA!! MUDA!!"

    Hua Shi¡¯s sword moves left after images, striking toward the iing bullets with precision .

    *TINK* *TINK* *TINK*

    After all bullets was swiped away, Hua Shi felt ted . The skill she bought was worth every penny . However...

    *CRACK*

    The continuous intense movement put a strain on her arm, hand, wrist and her shoulder . As a result, she dislocated her shoulder and her wrist .

    "FFFFUUUUU!!"

    Instead of screaming in pain, Hua Shi cursed out loud . The pain on her shoulder was like a cold bucket of water pouring on her . She regained her cool and not allowing her judgement to go along with the adrenaline .

    Zhang Jiao who was crouching and hurried back to the house noticed Hua Shi¡¯s scream . He rushed back to her, lift her up on his shoulder, and ran back to the house without looking back . He was scared of the thunder magic that roared out in the woods .

    Fortunately after Hua Shi¡¯s stunt, the sniper stopped firing and seemed to disappeared, relieving Zhang Jiao and co .

    ...

    Meanwhile, Tong was running and making a beeline toward Sima Xin . He heard another four gunshot sounds which worried him . But Tong kept his focus and continued chasing Sima Xin . The distance was now 200 meters .

    Although everything was dark and Tong could barely see anything, he still managed to pick a path by observing the HUD map terrain indication .

    Tong still didn¡¯t light his candle . He continued moving in the darkness as he didn¡¯t want to spook Sima Xin yet .

    Then, he noticed that Sima Xin was moving in his radar . Sima Xin retreated toward the road outside of the vige .

    Tong clicked his tongue and continued the chase, only to find out that Sima Xin was faster than him . The distance between Tong and Sima Xin continued to increase .

    215 meters ... 230 meters ... 250 meters .

    Tong was astonished . This was in the middle of a forest where trees and bushes were in the way and the terrain was uneven . Even Tong found it difficult to get through this forest with the HUD map .

    Sima Xin could run away as if he could see in the dark!

    Tong felt helpless . The rat was getting away each minute of chasing .

    Then he was surprised by another white dot that started moving in the map . It had been in a hut nearby the roadside which Tong assumed it was just a viger sleeping inside the hut .

    However, this white dot seemed to move to the direction of Sima Xin as if it was also chasing him .

    ¡¯Huh? Why is this person chasing after the sniper?¡¯

    Tong was confused . Since he couldn¡¯t catch up with Sima Xin anyway, he checked the name of the white dot . Then he was shocked when the map revealed his name .

    ¡¯Zhou Cang? That guy is Zhou Cang!? What is he doing over there?¡¯

    Zhou Cang was one of the famous characters in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms . He was once a Yellow Turban Rebellion member . After Zhang Jiao¡¯s main force was annihted, he became a mountain bandit .

    Then he met Guan Yu and became his follower after . It was said that he diedter in the battle of Fancheng Castle in Jing Province in the year 220 A . D . when Cao Cao and Sun Quan conspired and sent forces to attack Guan Yu in secret .

    Tong didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry . He could not confirm if Sima Xin and Zhou Cang were in league together or had a feud against each other . But from the first look, they appeared to be thetter .

    Zhou Cang intercepted Sima Xin midway before Sima Xin could run past Zhou Cang .

    Sima Xin¡¯s movement stopped for a few seconds before Tong heard sounds of fighting and a gunshot .

    *CLANG*

    *CLANG*

    *WHOOSH*

    *CLANG*

    *BANG*

    "AARRRGHHH!!!"

    A painful scream of a teenage was heard . Tong managed to shorten the distance down to 200 meters . He could finally see a faint shadow figure and an area of torchlight in the middle of darkness .

 Chapter 34

    Chapter 34

    Chapter 34 ¨C First Encounter ¨C Part 3

    The injured teenage held his wound on his thigh while Sima Xin ran away .

    There were horses tied up with the trees nearby in front of Sima Xin who rushed forward . Tong realized that Sima Xin was trying to take one of the horses and get away .

    The distance was now 200 meters which was not favorable to Tong .

    ¡¯Time Stop!¡¯

    Tong used his extra 10 seconds of time stopping to shorten the distance further . After 10 seconds count down was over, Tong managed to get closer to 160 meters .

    Too many obstacles were on his way and his physics were still that of a 11-year-old boy . Tong clicked his tongue in annoyance .

    Tong pulled out his gun and aimed at Sima Xin¡¯s back . It was not an ideal distance, but he still fired three rounds .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    "Ugh!!"

    One of the bullet bit out a chuck of fresh from Sima Xin¡¯s right elbow while the other prated through his left shoulder .

    Sima Xin didn¡¯t stumble or fall down . He jumped on one of the horse, pped its butt and made it dashing into the darkness .

    Tong lowered his gun . The rat slipped through his fingers . This could spell trouble to Tong and his family .

    Tong sighed to himself . History of the Three Kingdoms period might change starting from tonight . If the entire Sima n got involve in the Yellow Turban Rebellion early on, this could change the entire flow of historical events and god knew how many butterfly effects there would be in the future .

    But for now he had to take care of the prospect general he had just rescued .

    Tong then nced at Zhou Cang who was looking at Tong in a daze .

    "I-I-Immortal Zhang Tong!?"

    Tong smiled at Zhou Cang .

    "Yeah, it¡¯s me . "

    ...

    ...

    Back in time, 6:45 PM . The same day .

    After Sima Xin dealt with the yellow cloths soldiers in the inn, he rushed back to the tree he used to climb to scout the Zhang resident . He nned to use his rifle to snipe down all Zhang family members to gain extra system rewards .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Sima Xin

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 9,479 Years

    *Skill List*

    [Supreme Nightsight] Cannot be leveled up

    - Host can see in the dark .

    - Host¡¯s vision can be zoomed in or out . The maximum distance is two kilometers

    *******************************

    ...

    Unlike Tong or Hua Shi, Sima Xin didn¡¯t buy any limited skill of the fallen otherworlders from the shop . He saved up his lifespans to buy a more advanced weapon or items for him to use .

    He spent 10,000 lifespans to buy a gacha ticket which had gotten him a M16A4 rifle . Then he spent another 1,000 lifespans for 10 bullets . Sima Xin wanted to buy more ammunition but the pricing was unreasonable .

    For a pack of 100 rounds, the system charged for 15,000 lifespans which Sima Xin didn¡¯t have enough . And there was no package in between the 10 rounds pack and 100 rounds pack .

    Therefore, he had no choice but to buy the little pack for the emergency usage or for an important mission, which happened to be the current mission that he was about toplete today .

    Sima Xin hid in the shade, waiting for the sun to set and allowed darkness to cover this world .

    Within half an hour, the sky had turned dark . It was the time that Sima Xin had confident that he could snipe the people inside if someone showed up .

    It didn¡¯t matter if he couldn¡¯t kill Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao or Zhang Liang . He wanted to gamble if he could take out one of the three, or he could kill any extra ex-bandit for bonus rewards .

    Then he spotted a boy with simr age as Sima Xin walking toward in his direction . Sima Xin used his vision and his scope to zoom in and locked on to the boy .

    Though Sima Xin never liked harming any children or elders, he was cautious toward anyone with simr age as him . There was a chance that the person in front of Sima Xin was also an otherworlder .

    The boy climbed up the fence and was still staring in Sima Xin direction, which made him nervous .

    ¡¯Does he know I am hiding here?¡¯

    Sima Xin aimed his rifle at Tong . There was a military motto in his previous life, saying that ¡¯Never Mind is the Way to Die¡¯ . It never hurt to be cautious toward the unknown .

    Then a group of people appeared from inside the house, walking toward Tong .

    "What are do you doing?"

    "An enemy is here . Get back in the house . "

    Sima Xin¡¯s was surprised . Although Tong whispered and tried to keep his voice low, but the night was so quiet that even a drop of a needle could still be heard from a distance away .

    Sima Xin sharpened his eyes . The boy seemed to know that Sima Xin was here . He shouldn¡¯t be a simple ordinary boy!

    Though Sima Xin didn¡¯t have any evidence or any logic deduction proof, he chose to y it safe by killing the boy first .

    He then aimed and pulled the trigger .

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    The bullet hit the target where he had aimed . But Tong wasn¡¯t killed . And the sound of impact was like the bullet had just hit a steel te .

    ¡¯What!?¡¯

    ¡¯It was a clean shot but he hasn¡¯t died?¡¯

    ¡¯Sh*t . He¡¯s an otherworlder!?¡¯

    "THERE"S A SNIPER!! GET DOWN!!"

    There was no mistake . The keyword that the boy shouted was ¡¯Sniper¡¯ . Only someone not from this era could know the term after being shot at by a gun .

    Confirmed that the boy was an otherworlder, Sima Xin showed no mercy . He aimed at Tong and pulled the trigger one more time .

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    Sima Xin aimed at Tong¡¯s left eye, but the bullet couldn¡¯t prate through Tong¡¯s body even the weakest part .

    ¡¯That boy has a protection skill . I probably can¡¯t kill him like this . ¡¯

    ¡¯Wait! That girl on the back reacted to the word ¡¯Sniper¡¯ and didn¡¯t question that boy¡¯s order!?¡¯

    ¡¯Sh*t! They¡¯ve teamed up!¡¯

    Realizing that the girl in the back was also an otherworlder, Sima Xin switched target and aimed at Hua Shi .

    *BANG*

    *TINK*

    ¡¯What!?¡¯

    Sima Xin couldn¡¯t believe his eyes . Did that girl just parry his bullet with a sword? What kind of monstrous reflect was this?

    "Hahaha! Fool! As long as I¡¯m here, it¡¯s all useless!"

    The girl provoked Sima Xin . Veins and blood vessels bulged under Sima Xin¡¯s face skin . His long trained marksmanship was looked down upon .

    Sima Xin readjusted his breathing and fire another shot .

    *BANG*

    "Useless!"

    *TINK*

    Sima Xin¡¯s eyes opened wide . How could this be possible? Parrying a bullet once could be considered as luck, but twice in a row was not a joking matter anymore .

    He nced at the location that Tong was before, only to find that he was no longer there . Moreover, the boy was running toward him in the darkness as if he could see everything around him .

    ¡¯This can¡¯t go on! My location was already blown . ¡¯

    ¡¯I have to finish this fast!¡¯

    ¡¯I can¡¯t fight both of them head on!¡¯

    Sima Xin switched targets again . This time he aimed at the two adult behind Hua Shi .

    ¡¯Let¡¯s see if you can parry this!¡¯

    Sima Xin concentrated on his grips, and changed his firing mode from single fire mode into burst fire mode .

    ¡¯Ora! Ora! Ora!¡¯

    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

    "MUDA!! MUDA!! MUDA!!"

    *TINK* *TINK* *TINK*

    ¡¯NANI!?¡¯

    Sima Xin was bbergasted . Hua Shi deflected all of his bullets . What kind of monster was this girl?

    Sima Xin heard a rustling sound . Then he saw Tong leaped over a bush and making a bee-line toward his direction . The distance between them got closer every second .

    ¡¯I¡¯m out of time . I have to bail out now!¡¯

    Sima Xin couldn¡¯t afford to stay on the same spot anymore . He leaped down from the tree and ran toward his escape route he had nned beforeing to Zhang resident .

    Sima Xin managed to keep the distance of 200 meters between Tong and him . Sima Xin also managed to outrun him, which relieved his nervousness .

    ¡¯A pity that I can¡¯t get more rewards . ¡¯

    ¡¯But keeping one¡¯s life is more important . ¡¯

    He kept running . There were only a hundred meters left to the location Sima Xin and hisrade had hidden their horses . Once he got on a horse, he would rush back to Julu to report the incidents to his lord .

    However, a familiar looking teenage jumped on Sima Xin . He had seen this person before, it was the thug he had met earlier today .

    "Surprise, motherfu**er!"

    The teenage swung his sword at Sima Xin, whom managed to react and drew his knife to parry it .

    *CLANK*

    "I have no time to y with the likes of you!"

    "Ha! But I do!"

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    *WHOOSH*

    *CLANK*

    Zhou Cang and Sima Xin shed . Sima Xin used his experience as ex-soldier to deal with Zhou Cang . But Zhou Cang was also good at closebat . They couldn¡¯t find an opening on each other .

    Sima Xin attempted to sneak-attack Zhou Cang at his blind spot, but Zhou Cang always reacted in time and dodged all of it .

    Then Sima Xin heard a rustling sound from behind . Tong was getting closer .

    ¡¯Tch! I don¡¯t want to waste anymore bullet . But you left me no choice!¡¯

    Sima Xin retreated and kept the distance between him and Zhou Cang . He grabbed his rifle that was holstered behind his back and aimed at Zhou Cang .

    Zhou Cang sensed something amiss . He jumped out of the way of the muzzle .

    *BANG*

    Sima Xin still had a better reflex . He readjusted his aim and the bullet pierced through Zhou Cang¡¯s thigh .

    "AARRRGHHH!!!"

    Using this time when Zhou Cang was hurt, Sima Xin dashed toward his horses . However ...

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Three gunshot sounds rang from Sima Xin¡¯s behind along with the sense of pain on his right elbow and his left shoulder .

    "Ugh!"

    Sima Xin gritted his teeth and jumped on one of the horse, pped its butt and made it dash into the darkness .

    ¡¯He has a gun too . This mission was too dangerous . ¡¯

    ¡¯Since I¡¯ve found the Yellow Turban¡¯s hideout . I¡¯ll report this to Guo Dian . ¡¯

    ¡¯All of you will pay for this!¡¯

 Chapter 35

    Chapter 35

    Chapter 35 ¨C Coaxing Zhou Cang

    Tong returned home with Zhou Cang on horses . He called Hua Shi to treat Zhou Cang¡¯s wound .

    To his dismay, he found out that Hua Shi¡¯s wrist and shoulder had been dislocated and couldn¡¯t perform surgery to treat Zhou Cang¡¯s wound .

    Her right arm was hung in arm sling, and her wrist and shoulder was wrapped up in bandages .

    In the end, Tong had to perform the surgery himself with Hua Shi assisting him . She pointed out where to cut, what to do and when to stitch the wound .

    Tong learned a lot by having her coaching him . She was once a nurse in her previous life after all .

    In modern era, it wasmon knowledge among the hospital residents that senior nurses had more practical knowledge than doctors when it came to treating the patients . They spent all their times in their entire career with patients and treatment procedures, while doctors was always busy multi-tasking in various duties .

    In short, Nurses ran hospitals .

    This was the reason why Tong valued Hua Shi highly, despite her having a disgusting hobby . Tong didn¡¯t want to let her go or made her an enemy .

    Tong finished stitching Zhou Cang¡¯s thigh and bandaging him . Hua Shi used her handkerchief to wipe Tong¡¯s sweat like a good wife, causing Tong to have aplicated face when he looked at her .

    However, after wiping Tong¡¯s sweat, Hua Shi took the handkerchief back to her room and started sucking and licking her handkerchief like a perverted old man . She couldn¡¯t reveal her hobby in front of a stranger so she had to do it behind the scene .

    For the entire surgery treatment, Zhou Cang stared at Tong in a daze . He couldn¡¯t believe his eyes that the rumor Immortal saved his life and treated his wound . Everything seemed surreal .

    "Alright, it¡¯s done . Try not to exert your strength on the leg . The anesthetic is still in effect but it will wear off in an hour . The pills on the table are called ¡¯Pain Killer¡¯ . Swallow one of these with clean water when you feel pain in your leg . But don¡¯t eat all of them at once or you will have a heart attack . "

    Tong gave a series of advice to Zhou Cang which awoke him from the daze . Though he didn¡¯t pay attention to it but he could remember thetter part where he shouldn¡¯t eat all of the pills at once .

    "What¡¯s your name?"

    Though Tong already knew his name from the HUD radar map, he still asked Zhou Cang .

    "I-I¡¯m Zhou Cang . "

    "Have you eaten? I haven¡¯t had my dinner yet . Want some?"

    "Umm . Thank you . "

    Tong had his servants brought them food so they could take it in the current room . Tong wanted to build a good atmosphere so he could coax Zhou Cang, step by step .

    Tong created a rxing atmosphere to make Zhou Cang let his guard down so it would be easier when Tong asked him questions . When someone was asked questions when his guard was down, the person would be prone to slip out something he didn¡¯t mean to say .

    The food were brought in and Tong allowed Zhou Cang to finish the food first . After they were done with the food, he continued his questioning .

    "How old are you?

    "Seventeen this year, my lord . "

    "Where are you from?"

    "Umm, I¡¯m a wanderer . I don¡¯t have a home . "

    "What about your parents?"

    "They died years ago, I live alone . "

    "I¡¯m sorry to hear that . Then why were you fighting that boy?"

    "W-We had a fight earlier in the town today, s-so I wanted a revenge . "

    Tong squinted his eyes . Tong sensed that Zhou Cang was lying when he asked thetter question . Tong had taken sses in police military school about psychological questioning and interrogation before . He had his way to detect lies and signs when he asked someone questions .

    This teenage boy wanderer should have caused some kind of trouble and lost the fight . Then he found Sima Xin and tried to get his revenge, but ended up getting a bullet in his leg instead .

    But it didn¡¯t matter . Tong didn¡¯t care about Zhou Cang¡¯s past because he already knew Zhou Cang¡¯s true potential .

    Tong wanted to rope him in so he could train him into a proper general, making him surpassing the history Zhou Cang who followed Guan Yu around .

    "Do you have a job?"

    "Err, no . "

    Zhou Cang face turned red . He was embarrassed that he was just jobless and homeless . When he saw Sima Xin unted his gold purse, he was tempted and wanted to rob him . But he ran away instead .

    "Then, will you be interested in working for me?"

    "Huh?"

    "I¡¯m looking for a bodyguard and a good captain for my men . You see? My father and my uncles have followers of their own . But I still don¡¯t have one . "

    "Umm . "

    "Then you fit in for the job . You have good physics . You are good at closebat and good reflex . "

    "Ah ... haha . "

    "How about it? Want to work for me?

    "It is sudden . I ..."

    "I¡¯ll pay you two golds a month and provide you a ce to call home . "

    "...!!!"

    "Is it not enough? I¡¯ve trouble with my pocket money . Then how about three golds a month . "

    "Z-Z-Zhou Cang greets the lord!!"

    Tong grinned in his mind . It was too easy coaxing a jobless man into his follower . He was lucky to have found Zhou Cang before he started his career as a bandit . This person could be trained .

    ...

    ...

    After arranging a ce for Zhou Cang to stay, Tong went back to his room with solemn face .

    Though he managed to rope in Zhou Cang, but soon, he would face another challenge in this life, which was Sima Xin and Julu County itself .

    Sima Xin was with the 20 Julu men . Then he would report the incident to the higher up, after which the governor might dispatch more troops to cause trouble for Zhang family again .

    If the Julu Governor dispatched less than a thousand men, Tong¡¯s 1,000 men and Zhang Liang¡¯s 1,000 men would be more than enough to deal with them .

    However, if they were smart and dispatched more than 2,000 troops to eradicate Zhang family, this could spell trouble .

    But crisis could also mean an opportunity for the Zhang family .

    If the Julu Governor dispatched more than two thousand troops to deal with the Zhang family, then the Zhang family would have a righteous cause to counter-attack Julu County, iming that the official was bullying its citizen by dispatching troops to attack an innocent family .

    With the im, even if Tong were to upy Julu County and made it his, no neighbor governor would risk their reputation and troops to im it back, unless there was a decree from the emperor .

    Though Tong¡¯s face was gloomy, burning ambition was hidden deep within his eyes . He prayed in his mind that Guo Dian would not be stupid and sent less troops .

    The only thing Tong was worried now was whether he could resist the iing imperial troops with 2,000 men of Zhang family soldiers .

    Tong closed his eyes and sat cross legs to meditate and think .

    To deploy over 2,000 troops, the Julu Governor and his general had to prepare for weapons, armors, soldier wages, rations and supplies for the invasion, which was an expensive task .

    They would have to spend several thousand golds in preparation just to deploy and attack a small family with 2,000 troops .

    From the businessmen point of view, this war wasn¡¯t worth it .

    However, if the Julu Governor waited for the harvest season in September to October, they would get crops and grains as taxes which would reduce the cost of the army deployment . They no longer had to buy grains from the greedy merchants .

    After the harvest season, the deployment would be less expensive as the food was cheap . And farmers who were freed from the harvest season would look for a new job, which made it easier to recruit them and turned them into meat-shield militias .

    Thinking up to this point, Tong estimated that if Julu would deploy troops to eradicate his family, then they would dispatch their army in October, after which would take another few days to march from Julu County to his vige .

    Tong had about half a year to prepare his troops and the strategy for the defensive warfare . The time for the Yellow Turban to rise might even be faster than Tong expected .

    Tong sighed . He freed his mind and was ready to go to bed . Then the system announcement sounded out .

    [Ding! Ding! Congrattion my favorite contestant . You have done it again!]

    [You¡¯ve killed 20 men this time, so the reward will be 20,000 lifespans!]

    [And thepletion reward, another shopping pass!]

    [Well, there¡¯s six more main quests and one of your unfinished quest and you¡¯re free . Keep it up!]

    The messages ended . Tong checked his status again .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 31,262 Years

    Shopping Pass: 2

    *******************************

    Tong continued to hoard more of his lifespans and shopping pass . He would not buy anything yet unless it was truly necessary .

    Next morning, he would consult his ns about potential Julu threat with his father again .

 Chapter 36

    Chapter 36

    Chapter 36 ¨C Looming Danger

    February 24th, 181 A . D . , Julu County .

    Sima Xin returned back to his home base and immediately requested an audience with Guo Dian, he wanted to report the incidents he had been through right away .

    Guo Dian agreed to meet him and invited him in . He then received the report .

    Sima Xin framed Zhang Jiao and his men with his report, stating that the Taoist sect they were in was a part of an evil cult, which also had been nning to rebel against the Han Imperial Court .

    Because the messenger group was discovered, the 20 men that were with Sima Xin were all killed . Only he managed toe back alive with a couple wounds on his elbow and shoulder .

    Sima Xin also mixed in the fact in the report that Zhang Jiao had two military camps that housed over 2,000 men, which was abnormal for a small physician family .

    Only nobles with the imperial official status could afford to hire over 1,000 soldiers because of the limited rations and expensive weaponries . For a non-noble to be able to upkeep all those soldiers, Zhang Jiao should have a shady business that the government didn¡¯t know or they had a mysterious backer .

    Guo Dian frowned after he read the scroll report . He didn¡¯t believe in the report of a child, even though he was a son of his acquaintance .

    He wanted to affirm the source of this information, so he dispatched another scout team to obtain more information about the Zhang family and their military activities .

    . . .

    ...

    March 10th, 181 A . D .

    The scout returned with shocking information . The Zhang family indeed had over 2,000 troops in the middle of training, they also had moved eastward to Anping County and settled their base there .

    One of the two camp also had unusual soldiers that were as discipline and well-built as imperial elite troops . The scout assumed that they were the elites of the Zhang family .

    Moreover, there were other several sources indicated that majority of the troops had a bounty on each of their head . They were ex-thieves and ex-bandits .

    Most importantly, the leader of the elite camp proimed himself as an immortal . The person was the only sessor of the Zhang family, Zhang Tong .

    And Hua Shi whom Guo Dian suspected to be an evil cultist practitioner, was also Zhang Tong¡¯s fianc¨¦ . Both of them lived together in the same manor .

    The overall report appeared to be simr with Sima Xin¡¯s report, but with more proofs and details .

    Guo Dian made the decision . He sent a letter to Liu Yan, the House Governor of Ji District, asking him to borrow his troops for reinforcement against the rebel bandits .

    If Liu Yan agreed to send reinforcement, they would take at least a month for the army to arrive here in Julu District .

    Guo Dian made a n . He would rally his men in September to October when the harvest season arrived so he could get provisions and grain for cheap . He could also enlisted volunteers and drafted more soldiers into this campaign with small budgets .

    The preparation shouldsted for a month or two after he acquired the necessary funding . By the end of October, Guo Dian would march with his troops to Anping County to subjugate the potential rebels, hoping to obtain more achievements and promotions from this war .

    War was expensive, but the career promotion was worth it . By increasing the title by one rank could increase his ie by 500 to 1,000 gold a year .

    One the next day, Guo Dian sent out his decree . In October, they would go to war!

    ...

    ...

    Sima Xin also received his summon from Guo Dian . Because of his achievement from reporting the rebel activities, he would be promoted into a hundred menmander . Sima Xin could now lead a hundred soldiers of the imperial army .

    His soldiers would be assigned to himter after the conscription in June had beenpleted .

    Sima Xin was ted . The promotion meant a better life for him . And with more subordinates, he had more confident dealing with fellow otherworlders .

    He used this chance to randomize a new quest . He had a hunch that the system always gave him missions that rted to his lifestyle and environment .

    And his hunch was correct .

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Main Mission No . 19**

    Guo Dian will march an army against Zhang Jiao and his men in a few months . Go and assist them .

    Your best friend, Zhang Tong will be there . Kill him if you can and you will get additional rewards .

    Clear Condition: Kill at least one hundred Yellow Turban soldiers

    Failure Condition: Guo Dian is killed or the campaign fails .

    Clearing Reward:

    - 10,000 lifespan forpleting priority mission

    - 10,000 lifespan per one general of the Yellow Turban killed .

    - 1,000 lifespan per every 100 additional soldiers killed afterpleted the clear condition .

    - 1,000,000 lifespans if Hua Shi or Zhang Tong is killed .

    - One shopping pass .

    Mission Failure: Your location will be revealed in the HUD map for all otherworlders .

    System Note: You must kill the soldiers yourself toplete the clearing condition .

    *********************************************

    ...

    Sima Xin smiled . A chance for payback arrived sooner than he expected .

    Sima Xin then checked his status . Hepleted hisst mission by killing a handful of yellow cloth men, so he should have more lifespans to buy more ammunition .

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Status**

    Name: Sima Xin

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 15,479 Years

    Shopping Pass: 1

    *Skill List*

    [Supreme Nightsight] Cannot be leveled up

    - Host can see in the dark .

    - Host¡¯s vision can be zoomed in or out . The maximum distance is two kilometers

    *********************************************

    ...

    Sima Xin killed six yellow cloths men, resulting him gaining additional of 6,000 lifespans .

    Sima Xin opened the shop menu and bought a hundred bullet package, which costed him 15,000 years of lifespans, leaving him 479 years remaining .

    His heart bled, but he was confident that the investment would be paid off once hepleted the next mission .

    ...

    ...

    March 15th, 181 A . D .

    Administrative Bureau Secretary officials finalized the budgets for the mobilization . It was expected that Guo Dian would have enough fund to conscript over 20,000 civilians into militias by this October .

    However, Guo Dian viewed it as excessive for dealing with a 2,000 men bandits . So he allocated budget for enlisting 3,500 militias . With 1,000 armored infantry and 500 light cavalry that Guo Dian had as his private troops, they would have 5,000 men prepared for this battle .

    Using 5,000 Men to attack 2,000 bandits was more than enough . The rest of the leftover money would naturally fill the pockets of his and other officials .

    After Guo Dian announced his budget and future ns, the officials understood his intention . They grinned form ear to ear . Serving an understanding governor was the best .

    . . .

    April 2nd, 181 A . D .

    The reply letter form Liu Yan arrived . They would send an experienced general with 3,000 men to aid him in this battle . Zou Jing and his troops woulde to Juluter on September .

    Hearing that Liu Yan sent him a veteran general, Guo Dian was ted . He became more confident that there was no way in hell that they would lose the next battle against bandits .

    . . .

    April 15th, 181 A . D .

    A disturbing news from the spy in Nan Pi arrived . Zhang Jiao visited the Yuan family in Nan Pi and formed a business cooperation .

    Zhang Jiao and his caravan went back to his vige with 12,000 gold, which was astronomical sum even for the governor like Guo Dian .

    The details about the deal was unknown . The Yuan family had deep background and processed elite teams of counter-intelligence agents and many talented servants . They couldn¡¯t get more information .

    Guo Dian frowned in worried . What was the connection between the Yuan family and the bandits . Were they colluded in this together or it was just a business deal .

    Although Guo Dian was concerned about the Yuan family, his greed outweighed his concerned . The 12,000 gold that Zhang Jiao had was not a small sum .

    This war had be more meaningful and could be profitable to him .

    However, it was toote to reallocated the budget now because the cake had been splitted among the officials . There was no fund left to conscript further troops, unless he used his own money .

    . . .

    June 1st, 181 A . D .

    The scout team came back from spying the Anping County and Zhang Manor . More concerning news arrived .

    Zhang Jiao went to Nanpi again and came back with not just gold, but weapons and armors . Several craftsmen and Yuan family guards also escorted Zhang Jiao¡¯s caravan back home, too .

    Blood was drained from Guo Dian¡¯s face . They indeed colluded together .

    If he attacked Zhang Jiao and his men, would he offend the Yuan family?

    He was about to cancel the raid campaign, but then he saw the details of the report . Within Zhang Jiao¡¯s caravan, there were over 50,000 gold in them .

    This caused Guo Dian¡¯s eyes to almost pop out of the sockets . His county annual ie taxes and tributes was only 20,000 to 30,000 gold a year . This number was assumed that the year had a bumper harvest .

    Guo Dian¡¯s greed overwhelmed him, and he wanted to risk for it even if he offended the Yuan family . The gold he could plunder was enough for him to buy a high ranking position in the imperial court . Then even Yuan family would be helpless against him .

    Guo Dian was no longer afraid of the consequences of his actions .

 Chapter 37

    Chapter 37

    Chapter 37 ¨C Zhang Manor Preparation .

    March 15th, 181 A . D . Anping County, Zhang Manor . 7 AM .

    Tong woke up by the sunlight shining through the window in his room . Tong sat up on his bed with his exhausted body . He managed toplete his 19th mission yesterday night .

    His quest was a perverted one just like when he was a baby . This time the system ordered him to make Hua Shi screaming 10 times in one night, which made Tong crying like a madman in a roller-coaster when he had first seen the content of the mission .

    Meanwhile, Hua Shi also received simr mission, sleeping in the same bed with Tong for a month, which she managed toplete it earlier than Tong .

    Tong had a rough time trying toplete his quest . Although Hua Shi was cooperative when Tong shared the content of his mission to her, she always counter-attacked him with her saliva vacuum tongue every times she almost reached Tong¡¯s goal .

    As a result, he was tired out first before he couldplete the mission every night .

    Then yesterday, he found out that Hua Shi intentionally interfered and didn¡¯t want him toplete his mission too fast . She enjoyed kissing him too much!

    Tong was enraged . He tied her up in his room for the entire night and used every technique he had to teach her as a lesson .

    In the end, hepleted the quest, with Hua Shi sleeping in exhaustion on his bed, yet still having a smiling face .

    With the annoying quest out of the way, Tong checked his status .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 41,262 Years

    Shopping Pass: 3

    *Active Skill List*

    [Time Stop] LV . 2 EXP( 55/200 )

    - Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 10 seconds .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Firearms Creation] LV . 1 EXP( 213/10,000 )

    - Create any firearm or bullet of your choice .

    - Currently only handguns and handgun bullets can be created

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet

    - 50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice

    Skill Restriction: Can only create one gun a day or one bullet a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Plot Armor] Cannot be leveled up

    - Immune to all natural disease, poisoning and physical attacks .

    - After the host be 20 years of age . The host shall be forced summoned back the Netherworld .

    *******************************

    ...

    Tong kept collecting his lifespans . They were essential for Tong next phase of ns because there were many things he could buy from the shop .

    He had to save up for advanced items and utility items that was too difficult to mass produce in this ancient era, such as cements and other chemical products, or the raw materials that couldn¡¯t be gathered in short span of times, such as woods, irons, coals and stones . Even raw oil could be bought .

    Tong could even buy warhorses if he wanted to . But he would waste his precious shopping passes if he chose to do so .

    Tong had an ambitious goal . He no longer just wanted to live here as amoner . He would raise his gs alongside with his father and be an overlord in this era .

    Once he seeded . The lifespans and the shopping passes he had been hoarding woulde into y and would shock the world .

    . . .

    After the incident with Sima Xin that night, Tong forced his father and his uncles to relocate from Ningjin County to Anping County, iming that Guo Dian would attack them soon and Ningjin was too close to Julu County .

    Tong also abandoned the thought of hiding his soap business .

    He told his father to make a trip to Nan Pi City with 2,000 bars of soap with him . Tong wanted to make a deal with the Yuan family .

    Nan Pi City was located on the north-east of Julu County and Anping County . The entire Nan Pi District was dominated by one of the ancient aristocrat families, the Yuan family, which was the richest nobles in the city .

    In 189 A . D . , after Dong Zhuo had upied Luo Yang and enthroned Liu Xie, Yuan Shao escaped back to this city along with his family . Then he used the Yuan family wealth and influences to build up his forces which would dominate the northern Chinater on .

    Tong wanted to absorb a portion their wealth by selling them soap . Although the nobles and the officials would notice him, the wealth he could draw from the family worth the risk .

    After the trip, Zhang Jiao came back with 12,000 gold, which was higher than Tong¡¯s initial expectation .

    Tong had always sold a bar of soap for one gold each to the nobles and merchants, but he would barter-trade with fellowmoners and Hua Tuo .

    Yet Zhang Jiao managed to rip off the Yuan family by selling them for six gold each, which demonstrated that his father was not an ordinary old fox .

    Tong thought, he had to reevaluate his father¡¯s abilities again .

    But Zhang Jiao shocked Tong once more, he told Tong that he had spent 8,000 gold to bribe the officials to get the trading pass and paid for border taxes, or else they wouldn¡¯t be able toe back with this much gold .

    Tong¡¯s corner of his eyes twitched . This meant that Zhang Jiao had sold one soap bar for 10 gold, not 6 gold .

    His father¡¯s persuasion and politic skills was something Tong could not look down upon . No wonder he could tame over 300,000 followers and turned them into rebellions in short amount of times in the history .

    Tong wanted to share his gold with his father, but Zhang Jiao only took a thousand gold to pay for his workers and household maintenance . The rest was for Tong to keep .

    Tong was touched by his father¡¯s love . He swore that Zhang Jiao¡¯s ideal would be realized by his hands .

    With 11,000 gold and 1,000 gold that Tong stored in his warehouse, he had more than enough to hire the cksmiths to produce weapons and armors for his troops .

    Today, Tong made an announcement to the vigers and the neighbor viges, an imperial army from Julu County would raid this vige in October or November .

    The causes of the invasion was that, the governor of Julu County was jealous of Tong¡¯s soap business and wanted to make it theirs . Therefore, he sent his men to threaten his family before, but ultimately got chased back .

    However, they woulde again withrge army, so Zhang family wanted to stand ground and fight the imperial troops .

    Tong warned the vigers that they had to either cooperate with the Zhang family or escape to other provinces . If they chose to stand with Zhang family, Tong would reward them handsomely .

    This caused an uproar in the viges . The vigers believed in it without realizing that Tong had threw dirt on Guo Dian and framed him .

    Information maniption was easy in this era . As long as the speaker had an eptable status, themoners would believe in it .

    The vigers also was not happy about this announcement . They had just nted the crops but they had to evict from their home? This was uneptable .

    Most vigers main upation were farmers, only a handful of them were either carpenters or cksmiths . They didn¡¯t like the idea of abandoning their hard work because one of the lord would march the troops here .

    Without an option, most of the vigers chose to stay and help the Zhang family fight against the army . They wanted to protect their houses and their wealth from the looters .

    Seeing the positive feedback, Tong made another announcement . For those that helped him this time would receive one gold per one family . cksmiths and carpenters would receive two gold per person .

    This caused another uproar . The cksmiths and carpenters who were about to leave changed their minds . One gold coin could buy at least one ton of grain, which could support the entire family for a long time . This offer didn¡¯te often .

    They wholeheartedly epted the offer!

    Seeing the overwhelming reaction from the crowd, Tong felt relief . He assigned cksmiths to forge armors and weapons such as long spear and pikes, while carpenters would craft the repeated crossbows that Tong had designed beforehand .

    The crossbow design was the standard Ming Dynasty repeated crossbow . The repeated crossbow first appeared in China on 400 B . C . during the warring state period, but was redesigned by Zhuge Liangter in the Three Kingdoms era . And Ming Dynasty improved it further for ordinarymoners to use .

    Tong¡¯s crossbow was easy to use even for a person who had never used a bow before . It was designed to be a household protection weapon against bandits .

    However, the design for every kinds of repeating crossbows were only spread among minority of nobles and could not be found amongmoners in this Han period .

    Tong wanted to revive it and used it before Zhuge Liang could even learn to talk .

    As for the rest of the farmers andmoners without special skills, Tong ordered them to craft arrows for the repeated crossbows if they were free from their farming jobs .

    Counting the number of families and households, Tong had to pay total of 3,000 gold for all vigers, cksmiths and carpenters .

    The iron ores and lumbers would take him another 2,000 gold to equip all 2,000 soldiers of Zhang family .

    Tong still had 7,000 gold to spare . But he saved it for this harvest season . He would stock as many grain as possible this year because he was unsure if this year would be thest good harvest season .

    Tong also didn¡¯t stop his soap business . Another batch of 10,000 bars of soap would be finished by the end of this month . Tong spent all his ingredients he had had in stock to make this batch .

    Tong determined to steal more wealth from the Yuan family one more time before the war with Julu forces broke out .

 Chapter 38

    Chapter 38

    Chapter 38 ¨C WTF Was Wrong With Those Skill Creators!

    March 31st .

    A merchant who travelled from Julu County arrived with terrible news . The Julu Governor Guo Dian was preparing 5,000 troops to attack Zhang family as Tong predicted .

    This cause panic and uproar among the vigers . The Zhang family only had 2,000 troops, how could they fight against 5,000 men army .

    The mayor of Anping County also heard the news . He fled along with his family the first day the news arrived, leaving his followers and servants behind .

    Zhang Liang also heard of this news . He couldn¡¯t help but getting irritated and nervous . He didn¡¯t have any confident for leading his 1,000 troops against this many men .

    He was stressed out and cancelled the n for having a war sparring with Tong .

    In contrast to Zhang Liang, Tong was still rx and smiling . He simply asked Zhang Liang to borrow his troops to dig up some traps and build a wooden fortress .

    Zhang Liang didn¡¯t know what his nephew was thinking, he agreed . Zhang Liang thought that at least they would have a couple trap holes to reduce the number of the imperial troops .

    Today, Tong went out with Zhang Jiao to calm the vigers . Tong also had a few vigers tested out the repeated crossbow, which astonished them . They could fire many arrows in a minute without using much strength .

    Tong assured them that if they continued to craft more arrows and this crossbows, they wouldn¡¯t lose against this size of an army . There were 2,000 soldiers and 1,500 strong men in this vige . If they all had this crossbows and fired repeatedly, what would happen to the invader?

    The crowd¡¯s eyes lit up as they saw hope .

    The carpenters and the vigers became more enthusiastic on their works . The panic was subsided and tranquil returned to the vige .

    Tong sighed in relief . He went back home to prepare his soap for the trip to Nan Pi again .

    Aftering home, Hua Shi came to see him and consulted him about the iing war . And she also wanted to try the Soulmate Quest .

    Tong was surprised . He thought that she would definitely sit out of this war . Tong wondered what changed her mind .

    But after seeing her drools on the corner of her mouth, Tong figured that she either wanted his blood or his saliva again, but she was using the Soulmate Quest as an excuse to approach him .

    She seemed to have a withdrawal symptom . After finished the 14th mission, Tong hadn¡¯t allowed her to enter his room ever since .

    Then Tong was reminded that they had never tried the Soulmate Quest yet . It was a good time for them to try it . Thus Tong opened the menu and epted a mission .

    [Ho! Ho! Ho! Wee! Wee! It¡¯s been a while . ]

    "Yeah, you pervert system . Give us a mission . "

    [I cannot give you the 20th mission at the moment . There is a straggler who hasn¡¯tpleted his mission yet . So you will have to wait until that person is killed or he finishes his mission . ]

    "We¡¯re not taking the main quest . We¡¯re trying the Soulmate Mission . "

    [Alright . But be warned . Soulmate missions are not part of the main missions but voluntary missions . Do you still want to try it?]

    Tong paused to think . But Hua Shi spoke out .

    "Give us the mission please . "

    [HAHAHA, there you go . Since you are going to war soon, I might as well help you out . ]

    *********************************************

    **Soulmate Mission No . 1**

    Guo Dian is preparing to dispatch an army to deal your family in Anping County . Defend it!

    Be warned, there is a chance that Julu Army is not the only invader .

    Clear Condition:

    - All invaders withdrew or annihted .

    - Both Zhang Tong and Hua Shi must participate in this battle .

    Failure Condition:

    - Anping County is taken by any invader .

    - Zhang Tong or Hua Shi didn¡¯t participate in this battle .

    Clearing Reward:

    - 20,000 Lifespans and two shopping passes forpleting the main objective .

    - 20,000 Lifespans for killing any enemy general .

    - 200,000 Lifespan for killing Sima Xin .

    - 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier .

    - 10,000 Lifespans if Zhang Liang survives .

    - 10,000 Lifespans if Zhang Bao survives .

    - Extra EXP to one of your active skills if youplete the mission by November 31st .

    Mission Failure: Both of you will die .

    System Note: Aside from the main objective, you have to kill the enemy yourself to gain the rewards .

    *********************************************

    Tong and Hua Shi were astonished . The quest was unusually generous . There were so many rewards!

    However, Tong felt his heart almost stopped beating when he saw several conditions .

    He had to defeat the Julu Army! It was not a simple do this or kill that mission, it was a war quest!

    Both he and Hua Shi had to participate in this battle, and they could only earn the rewards by killing the soldiers or the generals themselves . They had to risk their life for the rewards again .

    Then there was this Sima Xin . It seemed that the next battle would involve an otherworlder, whichplicated things further .

    Not counting that they had to deal with at least 5,000 Julu men with 2,000 soldiers . This mission was as difficult as the reward offered .

    High risk, high return .

    Tong knitted his eyebrows, feeling concerned . However, Hua Shi seemed to notice Tong worried . She closed her menu and hugged him from the front .

    "Oi ..." Tong was surprised .

    "Don¡¯t be afraid . You have me . "

    Tong frowned . He didn¡¯t know how to deal with this zombie girl . Sometimes she was sweet like an adolescent girl, sometimes she was like a perverted old man, sometimes she turned into a psychopath zombie, and sometimes she transformed into a dignified nurse .

    He didn¡¯t know which face was the true her . Were all of them hers?

    "If you are trouble, you can talk to me, you know? Aren¡¯t I your wife?"

    "In name . "

    "Tch . You thick head . Now look at my face . "

    "Hah?"

    Tong was annoyed by her . But after he stared into her eyes, they were as clear as the sky . Those were the eyes without deception .

    "Listen . I understand that you are faithful to your girl . But! I¡¯m not fooling around . I¡¯m worried about you . In a trouble time, you need to put your faith and trust in your friends and your family . "

    " . . . "

    "Human cannot survive alone . "

    Tong was silent, thinking after what Hua Shi said .

    "I¡¯m also a part of your family . So you can talk to me . "

    "I know there are things you want to talk to your dad and uncles but you couldn¡¯t . "

    "So I¡¯m here for you . "

    "We¡¯re both from the 21st century . I can understand you . "

    "So talk to me . Put your faith in me . "

    "Trust me . "

    Tong reflected upon himself . A bitter smile showed on his face . For all this time, all he thought about Hua Shi was that he tried to use her for her skills and experience . He never trusted her .

    He felt guilty .

    There was a conflict in his mind . He had prejudice her because of her past sins and her disgusting hobbies . But if he took off her sins and hobbies, how had he seen her as a person until now?

    A person was like a coin with two sides . There was a face side and the back side, and Tong had seen Hua Shi¡¯s both sides . If he could only see her one side, would he have treated her differently?

    Didn¡¯t everyone have a dark side that others might find it disgusting?

    He bit his lower lips and slightly nodded, acknowledging Hua Shi .

    Hua Shi patted Tong¡¯s head like a mother patted her son .

    "I know it¡¯s my fault for having this hobby and you hate me for it . But do you know that I haven¡¯t eaten any human for three months after I¡¯ve be your fiance?"

    Both of them chuckled, thinking back to the first time they had met .

    "How about I quit eating humans for you? Will you trust me?"

    Tong stared into Hua Shi¡¯s meaningful eyes . Was she serious?

    "I¡¯ll trust you if you can do it as you said . "

    Tong replied which made Hua Shi smiled .

    "But you will have to stop stealing kisses from me . My mouth and my tongue was always sore every times you did that . "

    Hua Shi snapped her fingers and clicked her tongue . Tong didn¡¯t fall for her trap .

    Seeing Hua Shi¡¯s reaction, Tongughed in his heart . She was easy to read sometimes .

    ¡¯Well, she¡¯s right about one thing . Since we are in this together, I should trust her a bit more . ¡¯

    Tong made a mental note in his heart . Then he asked Hua Shi to show her status to him .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Hua Shi

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 48,739 Years

    Shopping Pass: 2

    *Active Skill List*

    [Medical Gift] LV . 4 EXP( 706/800 )

    - Diagnosis a patient and automatically find a solution for the treatment, or create a medicine for the sickness found .

    - Can create eight medicine tablets or 80 milligrams of liquid medicine per one use .

    Skill Consumption: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Usage Restriction: Can only be used when treating a patient .

    *Passive Skill List*

    [Sword Master] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kill an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy .

    *******************************

    ...

    Tong gulped . He was astonished by her status . Why was this world so unfair!?

    Her lifespans had surpassed him and even her skill was already at level 4 . This was clearly favoritism treatment from the system!

    Tong sulked in a corner . A big water drop appeared on Hua Shi¡¯s head .

    "There, there . Don¡¯t cry . How about I help you look for something good from the shop for you . Look! Look!"

    Hua Shi opened the shop menu and tab the limited skill of fallen otherworlders .

    There were highlighted number "35" appeared in the top right corner of the shop . It seemed to indicate the number of surviving otherworlders in this world .

    Hua Shi scrolled down to look for an interesting skill to help Tong in this situation . Then she indeed found a good skill .

    "Tong, Tong . Look at this skill . "

    Tong nced at Hua Shi and the system menu . Then he saw the skill details .

    *******************************

    [Inventory] ¨C Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host can store items in a private space .

    - Host cannot store any living person or any creature .

    - Storage limit: 10 Slots . Each slot can only contain same items . Stackable .

    - Unlimited Volume .

    - Time will be frozen in the inventory .

    - Host can adjust the temperature of the Inventory .

    - Upkeep lifespans required: 100 per year .

    *******************************

    ** Price 10,000 Lifespans **

    *******************************

    Tong¡¯s eyes opened wide as if they wanted to escape from his eye sockets . Which isekai maniac created this godly skill? And why didn¡¯t other reincarnator take it?

    Then Tong¡¯s eyes stopped at the upkeep . One hundred years of lifespan for using the inventory for a year was a steep price to pay at this early stage of this world . No wonder no one had taken it yet .

    At this stage, all of them probably concerned about their priority surviving skills or weapons for self-defenses .

    If he had this skill, then he could use it for the army logistic and provision storage . Then the grain would not be attacked by any raider in the future .

    Tong bought the skill immediately . His lifespan hoarding n would have to wait . This skill was more valuable .

    Then Hua Shi nudged him again and pointed at her screen .

    "Look! Look! There¡¯s one more skill that suits you . This one you should buy it!"

    Tong¡¯s eyes lit up . He checked Hua Shi status menu again . Then she pointed at one skill .

    *******************************

    [Immortal Yang Vein] ¨C Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host has infinite yang seeds .

    - Host can dual-cultivate with female partners to increase active skill EXP in random .

    - Host¡¯s stamina multiplies by 20 .

    - Host can regenerate wounds and lost body parts instantly .

    - Regeneration costs lifespans depending on the degrees of the injury .

    - This skill can only be used by male otherworlders .

    - Upkeep lifespans required: 1,000 per year .

    *******************************

    ** Price 10,000 Lifespans **

    *******************************

    Tong choked and blood seeped out of the corner of his mouth . Which perverted wuxia maniac created this skill? And what in the blue world was that upkeep? Was the person insane? That guy deserved to die!

    But he was already dead .

    Well, he deserved to be revived and died again!

 Chapter 39

    Chapter 39

    Chapter 39 ¨C Soap Business with Yuan Family

    As a man, no one would not be tempted with the ability of having infinite stamina on the bed .

    Secondly, the skill gave the user an ability to self-heal and extra boost in stamina, which was more attractive than the other pervert abilities .

    After hesitating for a while, Tong ended up buying it .

    With the shopping done, Tong had 21,246 Lifespans and one shopping pass left .

    After Tong told her he wouldn¡¯t buy anything else . Hua Shi bought a skill and a 21st centurypound bow .

    The new skill of hers made Tong shuddered because he experienced the skill first handed . It was the skill that had given Tong an arrow in the knee .

    ...

    *********************

    [Homing Arrow] LV . 1 (0/100)

    - Fire a magic homing arrow at a locked target .

    - Convert an ordinary arrow into a magic homing arrow .

    - Passive skill [Bow Mastery] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan for firing homing magic arrow with ordinary arrow .

    - 10 Lifespan for firing homing magic arrow without an arrow .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Homing effects only applies to a locked target in the range of 100 meters or lower .

    - Range restriction depends on the level of the skill

    [Bow Mastery] ¨C Bound to [Homing Arrow] Skill . Cannot be leveled up .

    - Master any kind of bows .

    - Host¡¯s dexterity multiplied by 10 of the actual strength .

    - Upkeep: 3 Lifespan per a year .

    *********************

    ...

    It was a unique skill set that came in one package . The creator was indeed a genius . Tong felt pity that he couldn¡¯t be friends with the creator but ended up killing him on that day .

    With the skills of medicines, swordsmanship and archery, Hua Shi was walking a path of either a pdin or a valkyrie in MMO games .

    Hua Shi imed that she didn¡¯t like the idea of her getting into the frontlines with other soldiers . She wanted to support from the backlines, so she bought a bow and an archer skill .

    Tong couldn¡¯t argue with her logic . Instead, Tong was d that Hua Shi wouldn¡¯t join in the frontline . She didn¡¯t have a godly cheat [Plot Armor] like him, so she was vulnerable to all kinds of attacks .

    Furthermore, Sima Xin would likely to be in the uing war, too . His sniping skill could kill her in an instant if she was caught off guard .

    With her skill setting like that, Tong was relief . Hua Shi could protect herself and wouldn¡¯t drag him down . Instead, he was the one that might drag her down at this rate . His first tutorial mission still hadn¡¯t beenpleted!

    *********************

    **Main Mission No . 1**

    Mission Clear Condition:

    - Zhang Jiao sessfully raises troops .

    - Zhang Jiao bes Yellow Turbans Rebellion Overlord .

    Failure Condition: Zhang Jiao doesn¡¯t raise Yellow Turban Rebellion, or Zhang Jiao die .

    Clear Reward: 1,000 years of life span . Bonus experiences for all your active skills .

    Mission Failure: You will die .

    *********************

    This mission was with him since the first year of his life in his world . If it wasn¡¯t for this strict conditions, he wouldn¡¯t want to take part in any of the war or battle .

    After both Tong and Hua Shi finished their shopping spree, they separated and rest in their room .

    ...

    April 1st .

    The 10,000 soap bars had beenpleted and was loaded in the wagons to transport them to Nan Pi City again .

    This time, Tong decided to apany his father to visit the Yuan family himself . He wanted to experience how his father had dealt with the business negotiation .

    Tong left Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang and Zhou Cang to administer the trench digging and fortress construction . Tong already wrote outlines, orders and processing instructions to them, so they wouldn¡¯t have any trouble continuing his project .

    For almost 2 months of training, the soldiers in Tong¡¯s camp became more discipline and had more strength and stamina from everyday workout .

    With Tong¡¯s generous food distribution in the camp and strict training menu, their body showed signs of muscles and body shape of healthy athletes .

    From here on out, they would have to train inbat formations and weapon handling .

    ...

    April 15th .

    Zhang Jiao and Tong¡¯s caravan arrived at Nanpi City . The Yuan family men had already waited at the front gate to receive them . Their information gathering power couldn¡¯t be look down upon, they already knew about their trip here .

    No official dared to block their path because of the Yuan family influences . They entered the city easily .

    After they went inside the Yuan Manor, they thought they had entered a pce instead of a resident with courtyards . Their wealth was extraordinary .

    Zhang Jiao and Tong was greeted by Feng Ji, the family butler .

    Tong¡¯s eyes lit up when he heard his name . This person would be a thorn in the Yuan familyter .

    Because of jealousy, he would nder Tian Feng, a talented adviser of Yuan Shao intomitting suicide after Yuan Shao lost the battle of Guandu in the year of 200 A . D .

    He was not someone Tong wanted to recruit into his army because he could ruin the harmony within his ranks .

    The negotiation between Zhang Jiao and Feng Ji was as Tong expected . His father was too good at this .

    At the same time, Tong was astonished by the insight and the skills of Yuan family .

    The 2,000 soap bars that they had bought thest deal was resold to the other nobles in the neighbor provinces with the shocking price of 60 gold for one bar and tax free .

    All the noble housewives, concubines and the high-ss prostitutes fell in love with the soap . They coaxed their husband and their pursuers to buy it for them in bulk .

    The Yuan family had wide visions, they reaped massive profits from thest deal!

    But Tong couldn¡¯tin . He understood the nature of the business deals, it had to be a win-win conditions to both sides or else their partnership wouldn¡¯tst .

    This time the caravan came with 10,000 soap bars . Zhang Jiao asked for a price of 30 gold a piece without batting an eye, yet Feng Ji justughed and agreed without haggling the price .

    However, 300 thousands gold couldn¡¯t be prepared in short amount of times . They requested that they need a month to prepare all the gold from other branch families and the head of the main family himself, Yuan Shao .

    Unfortunately, Tong couldn¡¯t wait that long because the Julu Army was about to invade his camp . Tong whispered to his father if he could barter with armors, weapons and craftsmen instead of gold .

    Zhang Jiao nodded and continued with the negotiation . Feng Ji squinted his eyes and smiled at Tong . Then he uttered the words which sent Tong a chill down his spine .

    "Please forgive my inconsideration . I¡¯ve forgotten that Lord Immortal Zhang Tong is preparing for war with Guo Dian . I shall prepare what you have requested at once . "

    Tong had goosebumps all over his skins . The eyes of Feng Ji that looked at Tong just now was as if they could see through him from the skin to the bones .

    The information gathering power of this family was terrifying!

    Even if Feng Ji was not as smart or clever like Tian Feng, he was still one of the leading advisors of Yuan Shao . His politic skills, management and experiences couldn¡¯t be underestimated .

    The deal ended in harmony . Zhang Jiao would receive total of 250,000 gold, 5,000 sets of iron armors, 5,000 spears, 5,000 swords, and 100 craftsmen recruited by Yuan family .

    Furthermore, on their return trip, the Yuan family would dispatch a 500 light-cavalry to escort them back, so they wouldn¡¯t have to pay any border taxes .

    Both Zhang Jiao and Tong had to rest in the courtyard that Feng Ji had prepared until the payment was ready .

    ...

    April 30th .

    The payment of the Yuan family waspleted . Tong was surprised of the efficiency of the operation of this family . It was half the time of what they had promised .

    After loading everything into the wagons and carriages, Tong stored 200,000 gold and half of the weapons and armors in his space inventory in secret .

    Tong left a portion in the carriages as a disguise while the majority of the gold was with him . This was to prevent any mishap on their journey back .

    Tong was afraid that they could get backstabbed during the trip back home . Although the guard unit of the Yuan family would escort them back, but Tong didn¡¯t let down his guard . Instead, he was wary of them .

    While he was at it, he told his father about his space inventory and what he had done, causing father to look at Tong in shock again .

    Zhang Jiao understood Tong¡¯s intention . He nodded and kept quiet .

    Then the escort unit arrived in front of them . The captain of the unit introduce himself .

    "Wen Chou greets Lord Zhang Jiao and young master Zhang!"

    ¡¯W-W-Wen Chou!?¡¯

    Tong screamed in his heart and almost stumbled and fell on his buttock . This person was that Wen Chou!?

 Chapter 40

    Chapter 40

    Chapter 40 ¨C Stratagems

    May 15th .

    Tong and his caravans returned to Anping along with the escort troops .

    Tong was relief that there wasn¡¯t any mishap happening along the way home . He was over-paranoid .

    After they had arrived home, Wen Chou requested them to remain in this county until the harvest season .

    Tong was baffled . Why would they wanted to stay here despite knowing that there would be a battle breaking out here?

    Then Wen Chou gave Tong a letter . It was a letter written by Feng Ji .

    In the letter, Feng Ji described the Intel that they had acquired from the Julu County . Guo Dian currently had 500 light cavalry and 1,000 professional infantry . But there would be 3,500 conscripted militias in September or October .

    The letter also described that if Tong and his family lost this battle, they could seek shelter in the Yuan family . The Nan Pi City would always wee them without any discrimination .

    Tong realize Feng Ji¡¯s true motives now . They wanted to rope the Zhang family into their ranks .

    The soap business definitely caught their eyes, and they wanted to acquire it . But they would not use any unscrupulous practice to take it by force . The Yuan family always weed any talent so they wanted Tong to volunteer and join them without being forced .

    Therefore, they sent Wen Chou here as an escort . Tong assumed that the group of soldiers that came along with Wen Chou could be the elites of the Yuan family, too .

    With these people, they could take Tong and his family and retreated back to Nan Pi once Tong and Zhang Jiao lost the fight .

    Once they got there, Tong and Zhang Jiao would have no choice but serving their family as servants . Then the businesses they had would fall into the hands of the Yuan by default .

    However, if a miracle happened and Tong won the battle, they would form a good rtionship with the Zhang family .

    Furthermore, because Yuan family had helped Tong throughout this trading deal and this uing battle, Tong now owed a debt to the Yuan family .

    Then in the future if they required it, they would send someone to ask the Zhang family for a favor and Tong had no choice but to repay this debt .

    If Tong refused to pay this debt and the words got out, then the other nobles would mark Zhang family as fraud and would no longer trade with them .

    Andstly, Wen Chou troops could also acted as scouts to obtain more information about Tong and his troops, his tactics in the next battle, his personality and etc . They would report back to the Yuan family about everything they saw once they returned .

    This stratagem by Feng Ji made Tong depressed . Feng Ji was worthy to be called one of the leading advisor . His skills couldn¡¯t be underestimated .

    Then a question popped up in Tong¡¯s mind . If Feng Ji, who was considered subpar whenpared to Tian Feng, was this good, then what kind of monstrous brain that top strategists in this era like Jia Xu, Sima Yi, Zhou Yu, Guo Jia or Zhuge Liang would have?

    Tong shuddered . Without cheat skills or the 21st century knowledge, Tong would be nothingparing to those monsters .

    Right now Tong could only nodded and epted his disadvantages position . Once he repelled Guo Dian¡¯s troops and upied Julu County for his own, then it would be different .

    Tong returned the letter to Wen Chou and asked him to burn it . He already understood his intention so the letter was no longer needed .

    Wen Chou smiled and did what Tong had asked him .

    "Then Lord Immortal Zhang . If you have any request in the future, you can ask me . "

    "So you knew it all along . "

    "I¡¯m sorry to deceive you . It was the order of the butler . "

    Tong had a bitter smile . He nodded in acknowledgement and bid farewell to the group of escort .

    Wen Chou cupped his hands and said good bye . They didn¡¯t stay in Zhang temporary resident but chose to camp outside .

    Tong looked at the back of the leaving Wen Chou . Hundreds of schemes were being simted in Tong¡¯s mind .

    The Yuan family yed it this way, then Tong would answer with a simr stratagem .

    Since they sent one of their best general Wen Chou here to assist him, then Tong would not be humble and would use him to the fullest .

    ...

    May 16th . Morning .

    Tong woke up and sat up on his bed . Hua Shi was also there, clinging to Tong like glue .

    Tong was away for a month and a half which caused her withdrawal syndrome to rpse . She was thirsty for Tong¡¯s blood or saliva .

    Tong was afraid that she might return to be a psychopath zombie again, or she might wander around and killed someone for food . He allowed her to stay in his room for a night, which resulted in Tong getting his saliva sucked dried .

    Tong hydrated himself and went out to sort the gold and other stuff from yesterday .

    He stored 245,000 gold and all armors and weapons in this inventory to save spaces . As for the 5,000 gold remaining, he gave a portion to the family and bought more ingredients for the next batch of soap . Soap was his ATM right now .

    Tong also left the remaining 7,000 gold in his warehouse for the family to use in case of emergency . He had more than enough in his hands .

    After Tong arrived at his camp, he could see changes .

    The fortress had been built in a shape of double pentagrams . The wall was three meters tall and a giant gate erected there, deep in the corner inside the V-formation of the wall . Any local that caught a sight of this fortress would be stuck awed .

    The trenches around the fortress was hidden there like a maze . The workers were busy finalizing theyout and maps of the maze trenches .

    The soldiers in the camp became more dignified and was worthy to be call soldiers rather than thugs now . They could run and execute orders in a disciplined fashion . No one showed signs of tiredness or exhaustion .

    To Tong¡¯s surprise, Zhang Liang¡¯s soldiers were here too . Zhang Liang had noticed how efficient the training program that Tong¡¯s camp were using was, so they were sent here to train with Tong¡¯s men .

    The repeated crossbows were already distributed to the men . They had been training and practicing using them, so they could fire a group of volley with ease .

    The shields, chest armors, and spears that Tongmissioned the cksmiths were alsopleted . Two thousand sets of tower shields and spears were distributed to the both camps, and the soldiers were in a middle of training with them .

    But everything couldn¡¯t be learnt in short amount of times . The phnx formation still couldn¡¯t be executed by the standard that Tong had imagined . A handful of officers also showed signs of cking and abusing their authorities .

    Another readjustment and a purge was required . He was going to get busy again .

    Then Tong nced at the location of Wen Chou temporary camp and grinned . It was a good time to put this famous general to good use .

    Wen Chou was Yuan Shao¡¯s one of the two strongest general in the history alongside with Yan Liang . So he should know a thing or two when it came to training soldiers .

    That afternoon, Tong visited Wen Chou¡¯s camp and asked him if he could administer the training of his troops .

    Wen Chou was sent here to obtain information about Tong and Zhang family in the first ce, so he epted . All the elite soldiers in his camp would go and help too .

    But once Wen Chou saw Tong¡¯s 2,000 soldiers, he was bbergasted .

    ¡¯Are you sure that they are ex-bandits and not the imperial troops?¡¯

    ¡¯The info we have had was wrong . They look more like elites to me . ¡¯

    Although the troops didn¡¯t have experiences and toughness like the real professional imperial soldiers, they could still efficiently execute orders like one . Wen Chou was amazed by the disciplinary of the soldiers .

    "Lord Wen Chou, I¡¯d like you to help me train these soldiers about phnx formation and other infantry formations . Could you help me?"

    Wen Chou clicked his tongue in his mind . Tong wanted him to impart his experience for these soldiers . But Wen Chou couldn¡¯tin . He was sent here so Tong would be indebted to the Yuan family, so he had to help .

    Seeing Wen Chou agreed, Tongughed in his heart . Since Tong was indebted to the Yuan family, then why not add another debt on his tabs .

    "Oh, by the way . I have a couple hundred horses with me . Could you also teach my officers about cavalry tactics and formations once you¡¯ve done with the soldiers? I¡¯ll be indebted to you . "

    Wen Chou almost choked blood . This brat was shameless! He was not even a Zhang family servant but Tong still had the balls to order him around . But he swallowed his pride and agreed . It was his job .

    Tong almost diedughing in his heart . He no longer cared how many debts he owed to the Yuan family . As long as there was something he could use, then why not using it to the fullest .

 Chapter 41

    Chapter 41

    Chapter 41 ¨C Tong¡¯s Ultimate Quest For Beer!

    June 30th .

    Every paddy rice fields were covered in green . Rice crops were wiggled by the winds . Within a few months, the harvest season would arrive .

    Today, Tong sent a letter to the Yuan family . He had just mass produced another batch of 10,000 soap bars, so he asked his VIP customer if they wanted to buy more .

    Tong expected a replied letter within a couple weeks . Themunication of this era was slow but Tong got used to it .

    Wen Chou was busy instructing Tong and Zhang Liang¡¯s troops . Tong selected a group of elites and formed a 200 men-team of light cavalry with Bo Cai as its captain .

    Bo Cai was a talented general in the history, but he died immaturely . During the early period of the Yellow Turban Uprising, Bo Cai leaded his troops and defeated Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song Army .

    Bo Cai was defeatedter after Cao Cao and Sun Jian¡¯s reinforcement came to aid Huangfu Song and pincered Bo Cai Army . He was killed in the battle .

    Tong wanted to see if this talented person could shine if he polished this person . Hecked talented generals right now .

    Though Tong wanted to poach or search for more talents, but most of the top generals and ministers in the Three Kingdoms Era were either still a baby or already served the imperial forces .

    As for Zhou Cang, He was still young and inexperienced at the moment, so Tong had him assisted Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang running the camp . He would sher once he tasted the bloody battlefields .

    There was also an infamous warlord among Tong¡¯s troops . His name was Zhang Yan . He didn¡¯t have any rtionship with the Zhang family, he just had the same surname . But this person would be known as the ck Mountain Bandit King after the Yellow Turbans was destroyed .

    Tong couldn¡¯t trust the person despite his great leadership skills . Tong was afraid that once he expanded his influence within Tong¡¯s army, he would poach his good soldiers that Tong spent so much time training .

    Tong would not assign any important role to him for now, unless he was really short on hands .

    The 2,000 soldiers of Zhang family improved day by day . Today, Tong decided to unload the imperial armor sets from the Yuan family in his inventory, and reced the chest armors they were wearing .

    After they all put on the full set of armors, the army looked exactly like the imperial troops from the capital . The soldiers were ted to be able to wear the proper armors and formed up in formation . They felt proud to be in the army .

    Tong and Wen Chou taught them how to maintain the armor condition and cleaning processes . He didn¡¯t want them to get rusty before the war broke out .

    At the same time, Tong had the two hundred light cavalry that was newly formed patrolling through the nearby viges to reassure their safety . Public order was important pre-war . He didn¡¯t want any riot to pop up out of nowhere .

    ...

    July 14th .

    The letter from Yuan family arrived . After Tong read the letter, he sulked .

    The Yuan family wasn¡¯t ready to buy another batch of soap yet because the previous batch was still in stock . They couldn¡¯t resell all of it in short amount of time .

    The Yuan family postponed that once they wanted to buy more, they would visit Tong themselves .

    This meant that Tong¡¯s 10,000 bars of soap would sit in his warehouse for the time being, and he couldn¡¯t produce more because there was no more space in the warehouse .

    A painful lesson for a greedy businessman for overstocking .

    Tong felt down for the rest of the day . He wanted to drink any alcohol, whisky, brandy or wine like he used to in his previous life, but he was too young for that .

    Then he had an inspiration .

    The people in this age only knew a few types of wine and homemade alcohol . What if he created a brewery here? What if he created a new drink that this world hadn¡¯t tasted before, what about BEER!?

    Tong drooled . How long had it been since he tasted the delicious cold beer .

    Tong went into his room to meditate, trying to recall the recipe of the homemade beer .

    Tong managed to recall a bit of his old memories about the recipe . But to his dismay, where could he find barley, hobs and yeast in this ancient China .

    Tong went to consult with his father if he knew about the barley crops .

    Zhang Jiao gave Tong a strange gaze, wondering what his son was up to this time . Then he told Tong that the vige they were in grew wheat and the southernnd grew rice . Some ces also had potatoes or millet . He didn¡¯t know if they were what Tong was looking for .

    Tong facepalmed himself . Without hops, there would be no beer . He didn¡¯t like the beer that was made without hops .

    He could at least made yeast with potatoes, and sugar could also be bought in this era . But hops was a kind of herbs . It had to be raised or grew to be harvested .

    But Tong didn¡¯t give up . If he couldn¡¯t make beers, then he would homebrew his whiskey!

    Then Tong became despair once again . Whiskey had to be distilled and had more sophisticate processing to brew . He could not just create a 21st century distillery of out thin air . Then Tong noticed his status menu and the shop system .

    Tong facepalmed himself again, which made Zhang Jiao wondering if his son had gone bonkers .

    Tong had the PTW Shop cheat! Tong med himself for being stupid .

    Tong searched for a keyword ¡¯distillery¡¯ and ¡¯beer¡¯ in the shop, and results appeared . The shop even freaking sold aplete automatic distillery factory with a whooping price of 10,000,000 lifespans .

    Tong panted . His eyes became bloodshot . He had another goal in this life other than bickering with other reincarnators and overlords in this world . He wanted his beers and whiskey!

    His noble cause would not be stopped with a meager price of a ten million lifespans!

    ...

    ...

    ...

    But it didn¡¯t hurt to check for a cheaper distillery .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    And he actually found it! A small magic homemade cooking stall that could brew beers for a 10,000 lifespans .

    10/10 Plot Armor, will hax again, such logic, much wow .

    For the first time in his life, Tong was impressed by the illogical system and its shop .

    He hurried back to his warehouse, cleared some spaces and bought the homemade cooking stall with hisst shopping pass . Then a cooking stall with a tall cooking pot and adle appeared .

    Tong frowned . He checked the name of this item again . It said "White Desert Offline, Haxxor Cooking Utensil" .

    There was also a manual beside the cooking stall . It simply said;

    "Put the ingredients into the pot as the following recipes in this manual, and stir thedle in the pot for 10 seconds . Then the food or beverage you are trying to cook will magically appear out of thin air!"

    Tong screamed in his heart .

    ¡¯WTF is this logic? Will I get side dishes that can be exchanged into contribution EXP too?¡¯

    Then Tong searched for the beer recipe . It was just like that game, 5 potatoes, 6 sses of water, 1 spoon of sugar and 2 spoons of yeasts .

    ...

    Ten minutester, Tong managed to gather all the ingredients . The yeasts was a tricky one because Tong had to make it using the cooking stall by throwing a potato into it . Then the yeasts indeed popped out of thin air .

    Ten seconds after putting in all ingredient in the pot, a ss of beer appeared! Without hesitation, Tong grabbed it and drank it on the spot .

    It was a cold beer! How did it be cold? Tong didn¡¯t care and wouldn¡¯t care .

    Tong cried a manly tear . For over 450,000 years in hell, he missed this taste . He knew that he was in a boy body and he shouldn¡¯t drink it, but he couldn¡¯t help it .

    After he had emptied the ss of beer, the ss disappeared . What a convenient way to dispose a garbage . What a nature friendly system .

    Tong was satisfied and felt as if he was drunk even though he drank only one ss . His passive skill didn¡¯t activate this time because Tong knew that he might get drunk . Yet he voluntarily drank all of it .

    That night, Tong barged into Hua Shi¡¯s room for the first time in his life and asked her to spend a night in her room .

    Instead of being happy, Hua Shi retreated as if she saw a ghost . Then she smelled alcohol from Tong¡¯s mouth . She walked up to Tong and kissed him to taste it .

    After licking his mouth, Hua Shi confirmed that Tong had drunk a beer .

    A BEER!

    A FREAKING BEER IN THIS ERA!!!

    Hua Shi then inquired Tong where he got the beer, which he answered her without hiding anything .

    She dashed into the warehouse and remained there for a few minutes . Then she came back with a smiling face . She also reeked of alcohol too .

    Unlike the usual where Hua Shi would molest Tong once they were alone together, they chatted andughed all night . They were drunk and gratified for the beer and the magic cooking stall .

    Both of them fell asleep and woke up the next day without be able to recall what happened on that night .

 Chapter 42

    Chapter 42

    Chapter 42 ¨C Shortsighted Han Fu

    August 31st, 181 A . D .

    Thousands of carriage and wagons kepting from the east and south . All of them were loaded with potatoes and sugar .

    It was the result of Tong¡¯s investment .

    After Tong confirmed that he could make beers, hemissioned merchants and travelers to spread words that he would buy any potatoes and sugar if they came to his county with the products .

    After a couple weeks, the merchants and officials in the city of Nan Pi and the city of Ye heard the news . They immediately bought everything in the markets and made the trips to Tong¡¯s vige .

    It was currently potato harvest season so the price was cheap . Seven tons of potatoes were being sold for one gold while sugar were three tons a gold .

    They bought it cheap and sold Tong for the price of one gold for four tons of potatoes and one ton of sugar for a gold .

    Tong knew that the price wasn¡¯t right, yet he still bought all of them . He had one more business he had in mind using the ingredients he bought . Even if there were left over potatoes and sugar, he still could save it for the uing drought season .

    He spent 10,000 gold to the merchants and hoarded over 32,000 tons of potatoes and 2,000 tons of sugar .

    The old fox Feng Ji of the Yuan family also sent a proposal for trading his potatoes with Tong¡¯s soap, which Tong epted . Thus he got another 100,000 tons of potatoes in exchanged for 1,000 soap bars .

    The vigers were baffled at the scenes of merchant¡¯s caravans . The merchants were also baffled by the abilities to stock massive amount of food in the small resident areas . They didn¡¯t know that Tong hoarded all of them in his space inventory .

    Even the spies of the Yuan family were bbergasted . They couldn¡¯t find any trace or where the Zhang family had stored all the potatoes .

    While the outside was in chaotic in business dealing, Tong was busy arranging his potatoes, sugar and of course, THE BEER BARRELS .

    Tong had his craftsmen and carpenters helped him making many wooden barrels to store his beer . At the same times, he arranged his servants to make shifts and continued 24/7 making his beer using the magic cooking stall, then poured all of the beer into barrels .

    Tong saved them for ten purposes . One, Tong wanted to sell it as a high-ss beverage . He wanted to charge a high price for a barrel of beer .

    And second to tenth purposes were for him to drink! Don¡¯t ask why he made nine of the same purposes, it was that important in Tong¡¯s life .

    ...

    Today, Tong made some rough calction . One ton of potatoes and a tiny bits of sugar could convert into five 100-littres-barrels of beer . Then by all the materials at the cost of one gold, he could make 19 or 20 barrels of beer .

    But it had a problem, the production rate was still slow .

    Tong had his servants continued making beer 24/7, but they could only make one hundred litters of beer for every one hour . In short, the production rate was 24 barrels of beer for each day .

    It was slow, but Tong could still see the business opportunity . So he consulted it with his father, Zhang Jiao, again .

    Zhang Jiao tasted the beer and gave Tong a meaningful look . He was shocked by the liquor that Tong had made . It was smooth and soft, unlike the other ales or wines which only burned his throat and stomach .

    Zhang Jiao couldn¡¯t estimate the retail price of this liquor . So he asked Tong to make him a couple barrels so he could make a trip to Nan Pi and tried to make a deal with Feng Ji again .

    Though Feng Ji was an old cunning fox, but he was good in business . Zhang Jiao and Tong might get conned by him, but it could be considered as a tuition fee for surveying the market .

    Thus Zhang Jiao took the two barrels of beer and journeyed to Nan Pi one more time .

    ...

    The prosperity of Zhang family already caught the eyes of the Ye governor, Han Fu . He dispatched his spies into the Anping County the moment he had heard that Zhang Jiao and Tong wanted to buy all potatoes and sugar .

    Later, he received the report that the Yuan family in Nan Pi and the Zhang family had a close rtionship which the Yuan family even dispatched Wen Chou to remain in Zhang Jiao¡¯s vige as a guard .

    At the same time, Han Fu also heard that the Julu Governor nned to attack the Zhang family to steal their wealth without caring about if he would offend the Yuan family .

    Han Fu didn¡¯t like war, but he hates Yuan Shao and his family more .

    Though Han Fu had an official rank higher than Yuan Shao, he still felt inferiorparing to his talents and his family background . Thus he became jealous of Yuan Shao .

    Yuan Shao himself didn¡¯t pay attention to Han Fu . He was busy climbing thedder in the imperial court while continued shing with the eunuch faction along with Cao Cao .

    Han Fu saw an opportunity to sabotage Yuan family¡¯s reputation and their allies, but he didn¡¯t know how to execute it . So he asked his advisors .

    "What should I do in this situation? I want to damage the Yuan family but I don¡¯t know how . "

    Then a minister under him, Xin Ping gave him an advice .

    "How about we deploy a small task force to raid the Zhang family . The Zhang and the Yuan family are allies . So if we damage the Zhang, then we will p the face of Yuan Shao indirectly . "

    Han Fu¡¯s eyes lit up . But before he was about to agree, another voice was raised out .

    "No! We cannot attack Zhang Jiao and his family! That family is a physician family with great reputation . Instead of attacking them, we should extend our hands to help them in this crisis! They will be attacked and be outnumbered, so we should send troops to ensure their safety and protect the civilians in that county! This way they will be indebted to us and our reputation will rise and surpassing the Yuan family!"

    The minister that objected Xin Ping¡¯s opinion was Ju Shou, who would be one of the top advisor of Yuan Shaoter in the history .

    Xin Ping red at Ju Shou and clicked his tongue . Then he argued back .

    "Zhang Jiao¡¯s family is not a simple family . His son has already proimed himself as an immortal . That is sphemy! And Zhang Tong¡¯s wife is rumor to be an evil cultist! There were proofs that she extorted the vigers for children blood . Eradicating this family is justified!"

    Ju Shou was calm . He nced back at Xin Ping and debated back .

    "We should not prejudice people by looking at a few mistakes they havemitted in their lives . Instead, we should look into their true value and their talents! No man is perfected from birth! If a pair of children can achieve this much, then what will they achieve once they be a full-fledged adult! The reports from the spies already indicated that Zhang Tong is the true mastermind behind the Zhang family business and the mysterious soldier training program in his camp . And Hua Shi is known to have miraculous medicine skills . Those children with great potentials have more value than those tiny mistakes they have made and should be properly nurtured! Their behavior can still be curbed and corrected if we protect them and give them a proper education . Once they grew up, they will be the future help to our lord!"

    Xin Ping took a step back in shock by Ju Shou¡¯s logic . But he still insisted and argued back .

    "Because they are already this sinister when they are this young, what will happen if they grew up!? It will get worse! How can we trust them? Won¡¯t they betray our faith once we feed them? How do you know that they won¡¯t bite us back, hah? I say we get rid of the trouble makers and be done with it . There is no need to waste our precious time babysitting a couple brats that wasn¡¯t even part of a noble family!"

    Ju Shou gritted his teeth . He had enough of Xin Ping¡¯s stubbornness and pessimistic viewpoint . But before he continued the debate, Han Fu stopped them .

    "That¡¯s enough . I¡¯ve made my decision . Pan Feng, step forward . "

    "Present!"

    A general in full iron armor stepped out of the crowd to the middle of the hall .

    "Conscript 5,000 militias in this harvest season and prepare 8,000 men . We will eradicate the Zhang family and p the face of the Yuan!"

    "As youmanded!"

    Ju Shou sighed in his heart and shook his head, while Xin Ping nced at him with mocking eyes .

    ¡¯These people are too narrow-minded . They have no vision for the future . ¡¯ Ju Shou thought .

    That day after the meeting with Han Fu was over . Ju Shou wrote a letter and had his men sent it to Zhang Jiao in secret . In the letter, he described that a new threat wasing from the south, so it would be best to step back and hid under the wings of the Yuan family to save their lives .

    After sending away his messenger, Ju Shou gazed at the stars in the night sky . Hemented .

    "Will there be one day that the lord will understand my intention?"

    "Or there will be one day ..."

    Ju Shou closed his eyes . He didn¡¯t like the idea of betraying his lord . He was a man with integrity and his motto was loyalty . But his fantasizing dream of his couldn¡¯t be stopped .

    ¡¯If there is a lord worthy of my service ...¡¯

 Chapter 43

    Chapter 43

    Chapter 43 ¨C Complex Situation

    October 1st .

    Tong sat in the main tent in his camp, listening to the intelligence reports that his father¡¯s men and Yuan family had gathered for him .

    Tong¡¯s face was distorted . He didn¡¯t like how the situation developed one bit .

    Han Fu was preparing 8,000 men to attack An Ping County from the South!

    And Guo Dian increased his troop funding and conscripted more men, he now had over 9,000 men! They would depart from Julu County and attack Tong¡¯s camp from the West .

    And one more depressing news, Liu Yan from the Ji County on the North would send 3,000 men to aid Guo Dian!

    ¡¯What a fudging honor for having you 20,000 sister****ersing for my 2,000 soldiers . Why don¡¯t all of you just simply march along with your grandparents so you can increase it to 200,000!¡¯

    Tong retorted in his mind in a bad mood . This was the first time that Tong had tasted despair in this world .

    But at the same times, he had heard a good news and another bad news . Feng Ji was considerate enough to send him two toons of reinforcements leading by Yan Liang and Gao Lan .

    Yan Liang would intercept Han Fu Army while Gao Lan troops would detach from Yan Liang forces ande to help Tong and his family .

    The dispatch of the Yuan family was ordered by Yuan Shao himself . He was still in Luo Yang with his entire main family living there . But he already had heard about Zhang Jiao and Tong¡¯s business and cooperation between them and his branch family .

    Yuan Shao also knew that the main purpose of Han Fu¡¯s mobilization was to humiliate him . So he didn¡¯t hesitate to answer Han Fu in kind .

    A total of 15,000 Yuan family elites wereing from Nan Pi!

    From a simple quarrel between Guo Dian and Tong had turned into aplex situation of the entanglement between five factions . It escted into a scale that Tong didn¡¯t want to see .

    Once the battle started, all eyes in China would be gazing and evaluating every participants of this battle . Then every otherworlders would know about his existence and his general location .

    Tong had no choice but to raise more number of his soldiers for thisrger scale of battlefield .

    "Second uncle, third uncle . I need you to conscript the men in the nearby viges . I¡¯ll pay the soldier one gold per person if they agree toe and help us . "

    Zhang Liang gazed at Tong in solemn . This was a crisis that they would face together so his personal feeling for Tong didn¡¯t matter anymore .

    Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao nodded and left, leaving Tong alone in the main tent .

    Another bad news that Tong had learnt, Zhang Jiao still hadn¡¯te back from the beer business dealing . His father sent him a letter, telling him that Feng Ji intentionally held him back from returning . They wanted the Zhang family to quell the situation at hands first before they continued our business dealing, so they kept his father there for his safety .

    It made sense at the first nce . But in Tong¡¯s opinion, Feng Ji held his father as a hostage . If Tong lost this fight, Zhang family would be forced to join the Yuan family . If Tong won, then the Yuan family could still take advantage from Tong by having Zhang Jiao there .

    Tong could only me himself for the development of this situation as the consequences of his greed . He shouldn¡¯t trust that old fox Feng Ji from the very beginning . Tong swore that he would remember this grudge and would pay it back 10 folds if anything were to happen to his father .

    Tong nced at one of the letter . It was from Ju Shou . It described the number of troops and the general that was dispatched in this campaign .

    Tong was gratified by his action . He knew about this person .

    In the history, Han Fu would abandoned his post and surrendered Ye City to Yuan Shao . Ju Shou would switch side and became one of the top advisors of Yuan Shaoter .

    Tong wished that he could have someone like Ju Shou as his strategist or a domestic minister . Tong couldn¡¯t continue handling everything by himself .

    ...

    Tong went to see his camp and his fortress . No one was working around the fortress anymore . It had been finishedst month and all tools and weapons were in ces .

    In front of the fortress, there were pill boxes made by bricks, woods and y . Inside the pill boxes lied a human-size repeated crossbows .

    On top of the fortress, arrow ballistae and more repeated crossbows were settled . Patrol soldiers also stood there, performing their duties .

    The trenches had been finished and was hidden under piles of straw, leaves and mud . Wooden stakes and barricades were ced in between the trenches .

    Inside the fortress, there were plenty of spaces for soldiers and for the viger sanctuaries . Once the war broke out and if the vigers couldn¡¯t escape in time, they could remain in the fortress until the fight was over .

    Then Tong saw Wen Chou . At usual, he was inspecting the fortressyout and mumbled to himself .

    "Sir Wen Chou, do you understand the meaning of this arrangement?"

    Tong teased Wen Chou .

    "Haiz, I¡¯m a cavalry general for life . I¡¯ve never handled a defensive strategy . But from the looks of it, even I can¡¯t think of a n to siege and take down these things . "

    Tong was happy to hear Wen Chou¡¯s praise . If one of the monster general like him acknowledged this, then Tong would have more confident in this battle .

    "I can think of only one way that I can take down this camp, I¡¯ll just surround the entire thing and starve you out . "

    "What if we have enough food that canst for 10 years?"

    "Your army moral will copse in a year and the fortress will be self-destructed from within . A portion of your troops will desert after they see any disadvantageous situation, so you won¡¯tst that long . Secondly, this is a wooden fortress . Any fire attack can burn this thing down . Abination of catapult assault and fire attacks from the edge of the fortress can do the job . Once bombardment is done, the moral of your troops is going to be in the blink of copse . In the end, you won¡¯tst for a year . "

    "..."

    "You may have elite troops, mysterious weapons and your creativity . But you are still na?ve in the terms of leaderships and army tactics . There are still small details that you have overlooked . "

    Like a cold water pouring on Tong¡¯s head . It was too early to be proud . However, Tong took notes on Wen Chou¡¯s critics . A private lesson from a general of this caliber didn¡¯te often .

    Both of them chatted till the sun set . Wen Chou had many experiences leading thousands of men in manyrge scale campaigns against Xiang Nu tribes and the Mongols . So Tong learnt a lot from his tutor .

    "Listen, why don¡¯t youe under the Yuan family? I know you have talents . I can put you as my aide or rmend you to our lord myself . You don¡¯t belong in this rural area . "

    Tong had a bitter smile on his face . Then he reminded himself that his father was still being held as a hostage in Nan Pi . Tong shook his head and refused Wen Chou .

    "Thank you for the opportunity . But for now, I enjoy living free and unfettered . The lifestyle of an official doesn¡¯t suit me . "

    Wen Chou sighed in disappointment . After a few months of working together, although Tong was shameless sometimes, Wen Chou still liked him .

    "Oh, by the way . Can you tell me the secret of your training? How did your troops be so tough so quickly? And why has most of them shaved their head bald?" Wen Chou asked .

    Tong had a mischievous smiled on his face when he heard Wen Chou¡¯s questions .

    "I had them run 10km, push up 100 times, sit up 100 times and squat 100 times every single day . And I told them that once they had done it to the point that they started losing hair and be bald, they would be peerless under the heaven . "

    A sweat drop rolled down on Wen Chou cheek . What in the world was that training? He didn¡¯t understand any of it .

    Tongughed and gestured Wen Chou to follow him . Then he called Zhou Cang to demonstrate the basic training menu for all soldiers .

    To Wen Chou¡¯s surprise, Zhou Cang was also bald . Was this a new trend in the army?

    Zhou Cang did exactly to what Tong had ordered, leaving Wen Chou standing there with deep frowned .

    Wen Chou thought that Tong didn¡¯t want to tell him the secret, so he bid farewell and returned to rest .

    Seeing that Wen Chou left, Tong gave order to Zhou Cang for one more task .

    "Punch that tree for me . "

    "Aye aye, sir!"

    Zhou Cang walked to the tree and gave it a full-power punch .

    *CRACK*

    The fist made the tree dented and left a shape of a fist in it . Then five secondster, the tree was broke in half and fell to the ground .

    Tong smiled in satisfaction . He nodded to Zhou Cang and allowed him to leave .

    When Tong answered Wen Chou questions about his secret, he wasn¡¯t kidding . Although all soldiers were being superstitious and shaved their head bald for the trend, there was one person that had really lost all his hair from this training .

    That person was Zhou Cang .

    "It¡¯s not as OP as Sai****, but it¡¯s reassuring to have someone like this in my army . "

    ...

    Tong returned to his room to rest, but Hua Shi visited him again for another kissing session .

    It was bad timing for her tonight . Tong had been stressed out from managing his men and nning for the iing invasion from many forces, so he was not in the mood for entertaining her or be her food .

    "You have 10 seconds to scram, unless you want me to test my dual-cultivation skill on you . "

    Tong threatened her with serious face . However ...

    "Try it, cherry boy . "

    Hua Shi mocked him and stuck her tongue out while lifting her skirt up, showing what¡¯s inside .

    "Fine! you ask for it!"

 Chapter 44

    Chapter 44

    Chapter 44 ¨C Zhang Tong VS Wen Chou

    October 2nd . Morning .

    Tong left his room in the morning, feeling light and refresh . He had vent all of his frustration and stress on Hua Shist night .

    He was tired of her perversion and her half-ass psychopathy antics, so he taught her a lesson .

    Hua Shi had not woken up yet because Tong had been dual-cultivating with her all night, leaving her lying in exhaustion .

    The infinite yang seeds effect from Tong¡¯s new passive skill was super effective!

    Tong also reaped a couple benefits from this dual cultivation .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Lifespan: 11,061 Years

    Shopping Pass: 0

    *Skill List*

    [Time Stop] LV . 2 EXP( 55/200 )

    - Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 10 seconds .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Firearms Creation] LV . 1 EXP( 3,414/10,000 )

    - Create any firearm or bullet of your choice .

    - Currently only handguns and handgun bullets can be created

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet

    - 50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice

    Skill Restriction: Can only create one gun a day or one bullet a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Plot Armor] Cannot be leveled up

    - Immune to all diseases, poisoning and physical attacks .

    - After the host be 20 years of age . The host shall be forced summoned back the Netherworld .

    [Inventory] ¨C Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host can store items in a private space .

    - Host cannot store any living person or any creature .

    - Storage limit: 10 Slots . Each slot can only contain same items . Stackable .

    - Unlimited Volume .

    - Time will be frozen in the inventory .

    - Host can adjust the temperature of the Inventory .

    - Upkeep lifespans required: 100 per year .

    [Immortal Yang Vein] ¨C Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host has infinite yang seeds .

    - Host can dual cultivate with opposite gender partners to increase active skill EXP in random .

    - Host¡¯s stamina multiplies by 20 .

    - Host can regenerate wounds and lost body parts instantly .

    - Regeneration costs lifespans depending on the degrees of the injury .

    - This skill can only be used by male otherworlders .

    - Upkeep lifespans required: 1,000 per year .

    [Sword Mastery] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kill an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy .

    *******************************

    ...

    From the dual cultivation, Tong learnt Hua Shi¡¯s [Sword Mastery] skill and got boosted in [Firearms Creation] skill EXP .

    The system had hinted that the Soulmate Contract members could impart a skill to another member by a certain "Ritual", which was none other than the dual cultivation .

    It seemed the system didn¡¯t want them to know so it hid this information and pretended that it wasn¡¯t implemented yet .

    Tong wanted to test his new passive skill, so he went to his army camp early and requested Wen Chou for sparring .

    "Sir Wen Chou, please spar with me!"

    Wen Chou gazed at Tong as he was stunned . The brat Zhang Tong dared to challenge him? Had to sun rose from the West?

    Feeling amused, Wen Chou epted . They both went to an empty field with their wooden sword, getting ready to fight .

    The soldiers that were in a middle of the training noticed Tong and Wen Chou were getting ready for a duel . They stopped what they were doing and gathered around .

    The crowd gathered in circle with Tong and Wen Chou stood in the middle in no time . They were interested in the uing sparring .

    "Well, this has be quite amotion . Let¡¯s end this quickly . " Wen Chouined .

    "Sparring is meant to be a friendly duel and exchanging pointers . Let¡¯s take our time . " Tong replied .

    Wen Chou snorted and rapid-stepped toward Tong without allowing him to react . Tong had to be put in ce and realize his position!

    Wen Chou left afterimages, swinging his sword from his left hand side way, aiming at Tong¡¯s neck .

    Tong¡¯s right hand moved by itself . It raised the wooden sword in his hand and blocked the strike .

    *BANG*

    Tong felt the impact through the wooden sword . He didn¡¯t feel pain but his hand became numb for a split second .

    Tong sharpen his sense . He exerted his arm strength and deflected Wen Chou sword away .

    Wen Chou¡¯s sword was hit and pushed back . But Wen Chou used the momentum and stepped forward one more step . His shoulder rotated and a hook punch from another hand made its way toward Tong¡¯s face .

    Tong raised his left arm and pointed his elbow toward the front and his hand held the back of this head . It was a basic MMA guard .

    *PEOK*

    A fistnded on Tong¡¯s arm, yet Wen Chou felt like he just punched an iron te . His mind was nk for a split second because of the pain on his fist .

    Tong saw an opening . He released his guard and wrapped his left arm that was hit with Wen Chou¡¯s right arm above his elbow . Then Tong shifted his weighted forward and used the handle sword from the other hand to hammer it on Wen Chou¡¯s face .

    Wen Chou didn¡¯t expect the sparring would end up in the extreme closebat situation . He was hit on the nose .

    Tong stepped forward another step and swiped his forward leg at the back of Wen Chou legs, making him lost bnce . Then Tong used his weight and his momentum to force Wen Chou to the ground .

    Wen Chou was Judo-thrown .

    The impact of the throw made Wen Chou stunned . He tried to get up, only to find that Tong¡¯s wooden sword was pointing at his neck .

    The entire fight ended in four seconds!

    Wen Chou was shocked . He was a dignified veteran general of the Yuan family, yet he lost to a brat in a simple sparring in 4 seconds!

    Tong was also astonished with the result . He had expected a difficult sword fight with one of the monster general in the history of China, yet he defeated him instantly .

    The passive skill that Tong copied from Hua Shi through the dual cultivation was at work, increasing his overall attributes by 10 times . Thus Tong was stronger than even an adult athletes .

    Combining his instinct and muscle memories from the previous life with the skill effect, Tong¡¯s entire body react by itself and turned the situation into this .

    The crowd was also shocked . It ended just like that . It was too fast .

    Subordinate soldiers of Wen Chou opened their mouth wide . They knew how strong their boss was . How could a child defeat him so easily?

    Wen Chou came back to his sense . He roared .

    "Again! This one doesn¡¯t count!"

    Tong was surprised . Wen Chou was like a sore loser, he even attacked first before Tong could have gotten ready .

    But since Tong wanted to fully understand the skill limit and its potential, he agreed .

    Wen Chou got up and abandoned his wooden sword and grabbed his halberd . It was a real iron halberd, not a wooden one .

    Tong frowned . Wen Chou did not have a good heart of sportsmanship . Tong also threw away his wooden sword and took out a real sword .

    The two fought again . This time, Wen Chou kept his distance and didn¡¯t allow Tong to get closer . He dreaded Tong¡¯s grappling and hand-to-handbat skills .

    After they had exchanged 20 blows, Tong¡¯s sword was broken and he lost by default .

    The crowd booed while Wen Chou¡¯s subordinates cheered . It was a bullying of a halberd user to a sword user . The fight was not fair .

    Wen Chou was ted that he got his revenge, so he proposed another round, which Tong agreed .

    The third round began and ended after another 35 exchanged blows . Tong lost again .

    This time Wen Chou got used to Tong¡¯s habit and managed to get a clean strike on Tong¡¯s stomach after Tong¡¯s sword had been broken .

    But Wen Chou was surprised that thest finishing strike didn¡¯t hurt Tong, he felt like he just swung his halberd at a mountain .

    Tong requested for the fourth round and Wen Chou agreed . Wen Chou was confident that Tong was not his match in this fight as long as he had the distance advantage .

    Both of them fought for another 5 rounds . Wen Chou was shocked as they continued to fight .

    The fourth round ended in 45 blows with Wen Chou¡¯s victory .

    The fifth round ended in 51 blows with Wen Chou¡¯s victory .

    The sixth round ended in 62 blows with Wen Chou¡¯s victory .

    The seventh round ended in 70 blows with Wen Chou¡¯s victory .

    And thest eight round ended in 85 blows with Wen Chou¡¯s victory . But he didn¡¯t feel proud the slightest! Wen Chou could see a pattern in this spar . Tong was improving in every session .

    Wen Chou was tired and depressed . He refused to continue further .

    Despite being tired, Tong had a happy smile on his face . Thebination of his status attributes, his passive skill and his personal swordsmanship experiences had merged together and he was about to master it .

    Today, Wen Chou went back to his tent in his camp . He wrote an urgent letter to Feng Ji . The letter said;

    "Zhang Tong can surpass me in the future, so don¡¯t do anything that will offend him . Reevaluate your n and let Zhang Jiao go! If Zhang Tong bes our enemy because of your underhanded schemes, I¡¯ll report this directly to our lord!"

 Chapter 45

    Chapter 45

    Chapter 45 ¨C Night Raid

    October 20th, 181 A . D .

    Today, Tong took Hua Shi, Bo Cai and 200 light cavalry to sortie out of the camp . It was to harass the Guo Dian army .

    Guo Dian had finished his preparation ahead of time and already deployed . They were on their way to Tong¡¯s camp which they were expected to arrive in five days .

    Meanwhile, 3,000 soldiers of Liu Yan Army were marching from the North . They would make a detour, avoiding the Nan Pi City, and reach Anping County in 8 days .

    Han Fu forces of 8,000 men was dispatched from the south . They would arrive at Anping in 5 days .

    On the contrary of the activities of their neighbors, Yuan family Army did not make any movement . Feng Ji sent a secret letter to Wen Chou to inform him about the change of ns, which made Wen Chou gritted his teeth in anger . That sinister fox had schemed something nasty again .

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang also had returned with 3,000 strong men . s, they were all bandits . The ordinary civilians refused to take part in this war and evacuated away .

    Before Tong left with the cavalry, he put Zhang Bao in charge of the new recruits . He nned to use this group as a cannon fodders for the uing battle .

    ...

    Tong looked at his HUD map and contemted . It was about time that he should considered upgrading this feature, so he skimmed through the upgrading cost .

    **********

    10km Range ¨C 10,000 Lifespans

    100km Range ¨C 100,000 Lifespans

    1,000km Range ¨C 1,000,000 Lifespans

    **********

    Tong clicked his tongue . It was expensive as expected .

    Tong swallowed his heart pain and bought the 10 Kilometers Range one, leaving him only 1,185 lifespans remaining . He consoled himself that his lifespans would increase if he could kill enemy soldiers because he had his new passive skill .

    His lifespans continued to reduce because Tong had been making a bullet every day since he had the firearm creation skill . He managed to gather 280 bullets on him right now . He also made a few extra pistols for spare parts and for the extra magazine clips .

    With the HUD map radar upgraded, Tong could see a few changes . The map became bigger . A gigantic monitor of 2x2 meters map appeared in front of him, and more white dots and terrainyout appeared in the map .

    Tong immediately shared the monitor with Hua Shi and had her keeping watch on the map for any changes .

    Hua Shi wanted toin, but she kept quiet and epted her task .

    Lately, she became more obedient toward Tong .

    After the incident which Tong and Hua Shi had dual-cultivated together, Tong threatened her that if she stole kisses from him and made his mouth sore again, he would not let her sleep next time .

    She didn¡¯t believe him and challenged him again in the next night, causing her to get forced into the dual-cultivation again . After Tong continued doing it till morning, she begged for his forgiveness because her body couldn¡¯t take it anymore .

    Since that day on, she had never shown any antics or unruly behavior anymore, but her eyes still glittered with happiness . She could call herself his wife proudly now .

    Although she dual-cultivated with Tong twice, she couldn¡¯t learn any of his skill . The system only limited one transaction a year, which Tong had already copied her [Sword Mastery] skill . So she had to wait for the next year if she wanted to copy a skill from Tong .

    ...

    After a day and a half from traveling on horses, Tong and Hua Shi could notice a group of shing white dots covering a part of the radar map .

    Tong immediately highlighted all of them in red color, so he won¡¯t be mistaken them in the future . The task was done quicker than expected because Tong could crop the field in the map and highlighted them in batch .

    Tong and his cavalry unit rested and hid themselves and the horses for the day . They would raid Guo Dian¡¯s camp at night .

    ?However, before Tong could rest and wait for the night, the obnoxious system gave him a terrible news .

    [Heya! Buddy! It seems you are nning to abuse your godly skill again . ]

    [This is no good . This is immoral . Even lord fifth would never agree on this . ]

    [This lord system also cannot overlook this . ]

    [For the sake of fairness, I will temporary disable one of your skill . ]

    "WTF!! NO! Not that skill!"

    [The skill "Plot Armor" is going to be disabled until the end of the year . ]

    [However, I¡¯m a fair system, so I¡¯ll double your reward in your next main quest . ]

    [So, good luck! I will pressed "F" to pay you respect in your uing funeral!]

    " . . . "

    Tong broke into a cold sweat . He was screwed by the system again .

    At first, he wanted to mimic a character from the dy**ty wa**ior game, and ended the battle with just him alone going around and killing the enemy soldiers without worrying of dangers . But the system had read his mind and nerfed him on the spot .

    Tong bit his lower lip in bitterness . He looked at his men and thought of a new n .

    ...

    October 22nd, Night .

    The 9,000 men of Guo Dian didn¡¯t concern about anything . They expected this job to be quick and easy since their opponents were just a group of bandits . Meanwhile they had professional soldiers and proper weaponries . The disparity was just too high in their point of views .

    Tong and his 200 men sneaked to south side of the camp . Because of the terrain and building indication in his radar map, Tong could guess where the grain and provision was stored .

    The granaries were separated into many group throughout the camp to make it easy for distribution . There was no central provision camp like Tong had expected .

    ¡¯Quite a reckless army . Without central provision management and depot guards, their provision will be emptied before their initial prediction . Soldiers will steal food and the officers will embezzle their stocks . This is a corrupted army . ¡¯

    Without central provision management, their soldiers would embezzle and steal supplies from the army and the provision would be emptied faster . Guo Dian Armycked discipline and training .

    Tong was bemused . But it didn¡¯t matter since they had given him an easy target . One of the depots was right in front of him .

    Tong gave his men the signal . All 200 men readied their torches, oil pots and their horses . They put feathers on their helmet so they can differentiate between friends and foes .

    Hua Shi readied herpound bow . She would provide cover from the safe distance . With her passive skill [Bow Mastery] and the aim-assist from the bow, she could even hit a living target at a distance of a hundred meters away . However, her homing skill was still at level one which limited her range at 100 meters and she still couldn¡¯t reliably shooting at the range over 100 meters yet . It would take her sometimes before she could master the bow and her skill .

    Tong swung his hand down, kicked his horse and galloped forward . All men followed suit without speaking a word .

    ...

    ...

    "Hey, have your heard about Zhang Tong¡¯s wife? I heard she¡¯s a beauty . "

    "I¡¯ve heard the rumor . She even has a nickname of "Goddess Hiha" or some sort . "

    "It¡¯s "Goddess Hua" you fool . "

    "Hahaha . Well, if she¡¯s called a goddess then she might be a beauty alright . "

    "Do you think we can taste her?"

    "In your dream . How many of us do you think we have? What are the chances that we can get our hands on her first?"

    "Right, before we can get to her, she¡¯ll be looser than your sister . "

    "You!!"

    "BWAHAHAHAH!!"

    "AHAHAHA!!"

    The patrol guards were messing around and ignored their duty . They didn¡¯t even pay attention to the galloping sounding to them . They thought it was just another patrol team or a scout team in the area .

    Then shadow of several horses leaped over the shallow moat and small fences . They galloped past the men and threw pots and torches at the surrounding tents . One of the potnded on one of the men and sshed the oil on him and his friends . Then a torch flied toward them .

    Once the riders threw all their pots and torches, they made a sharp turn and galloped toward southeast, leaving burning tents and chaotic screaming soldiers behind .

    The horsemen took out their repeated crossbow and started shooting at anything that moved in front of them . Within ten minutes, they emptied the bow clips .

    Cries and wailing scream sounded out after the riders . The horsemen rushed toward the other fences and made their horse leaped over it again . They escaped and regrouped back with Hua Shi to stand by for supporting the next phrase of Tong¡¯s n .

    They retreated without wasting anymore time or continued wreaking havoc any further . They had alreadypleted their objectives, which was to create chaos and dropped off a person in the camp .

    The one that remained behind was Tong .

    After Tong dismounted his horse and stole Guo Dian Army clothes to disguise himself . Then he used the confusion as a cover to sneak into the other provision depot . Once he got inside, he used his space inventory to store all of Guo Dian¡¯s provision and then left for the next target .

    There were over twenty small grain depots in Guo Dian camp . Tong managed to steal a total of ten more depots before he mixed into the crowd of soldiers and sneaked away .

    Tong slipped through the shades and used his map as a reference for avoiding unnecessary fight as he didn¡¯t want to role-y as Lu Bu or Rambo in this kind of situation .

    Tong concentrated searching in the map . A yellow dot was a few hundred meters in front of him . That dot was none other than Sima Xin that Tong had made a special mark on this location .

    The main reason Tong chose this tactic for creating a confusion and not followed through by killing and raiding because of this special person . He wanted to assassinate him before his main force and Guo Dian force came into contacts .

    The existence of a 21st century sniper was the biggest threat to Tong . If Sima Xin managed to take down his precious generals like Bo Cai, Zhou Cang or even his uncles, then Tong would lose many trustworthy personals and it would cripple his forces .

    Tong had to take Sima Xin out of the picture tonight!

 Chapter 46

    Chapter 46

    Chapter 46 ¨C Escape!

    Everyone in Guo Dian camp woke up and were in an chaotic uproar . The soldiers ran around in confusion while their captains tried to maintain order .

    These people were just newly recruited militias without training and discipline . They hadn¡¯t had any education or experienced the bloody battlefield yet . Some of them were drafted into military by force so they took this chance to desert the troops .

    Tong pretended to be one of the confused soldier to get closer to Sima Xin, who was also observing the surrounding situation and tried to figure out what was going on .

    Without making a single sound, Tong sneaked behind Sima Xin and covered his mouth, after which he used another hand with a knife to slit his throat .

    However, Sima Xin grabbed Tong¡¯s wrist and stopped the knife . He bent his waist and shoulder forward . As the consequences, Tong lost bnce and was threw forward .

    Tong flipped his body in mid-air and regained his bnce, only to see a knifeing for his neck .

    Tong smirked and ignored the knife, and chanted his magic word in his mind .

    ¡¯Time Stop . ¡¯

    The world lost color and the flow of time stopped . For the next 10 seconds, Tong was the only one who could move in this world of silence .

    Tong stepped forward and used his knife to prate Sima Xin¡¯s neck, cutting his vocal cord and neck arteries .

    Afterwards, Tong used to remaining seconds to loot his body and search for the sniper rifle that he had used to shoot Tong half a year ago . When Tong found Sima Xin¡¯s M16A4, he was delighted . A free rifle from the 21st century was always weed .

    Tong pick up Sima Xin¡¯s rifle and bullets, then he carried Sima Xin corpse back as he didn¡¯t want anybody to find out that he was dead .

    At first, Tong wanted to put the corpse in his space inventory . s, the inventory was full .

    Tong frowned and facepalmed himself . He had stored too many necessary, yet unnecessary stuff in there .

    ******************

    Inventory List

    - 232,000 gold

    - 2,000 iron chest armor

    - 5,000 swords

    - 5,000 spears

    - 2,000 pikes

    - 131,509 tons of potatoes

    - 1,998 tons sugar

    - 2,446 Barrels of cold beer

    - 270 tons of grains

    - 9,000 pots of cold wine

    ******************

    Tong had looted the grains and wine pots from Guo Dian¡¯s 10 supply depots around the camp, so the inventory spaces were filled up .

    He had no choice but to holster the rifle and his bullet boxes on the front while piggyback Sima Xin corpse on his back .

    Tong didn¡¯t want to dere himself as an enemy of the Sima n just yet . He wanted to erase the trace that linked between him and Sim Xin, so Tong could have a chance to befriend with Sima Yi and his family in the future .

    If Sima Xin were to disappear in the middle of the chaos without leaving a trace behind, then his friends would spread words that he deserted the army . A run-away child who deserted an army would be nothing but a disgraceful child who ruined the family reputation .

    Thus, his disappearance should not cause a grudge between Tong and the Sima n .

    Tong continued to carry the corpse on his back while moving from a shade of a tent to one another .

    On the way, there were many soldiers who spotted Tong and Sima Xin, but they didn¡¯t pay attention to them and ran toward the burning tents to extinguish the fire .

    After 10 minutes, Tong managed to reach the southeastern fence of the camp . Tong saw the green dots in the map shing in front of him . It was Hua Shi and his men whom Tong had ordered to stand by and cover him when he was escaping from the camp .

    Tong climbed over the fences and leaped over the moat . Then a shout was heard from behind .

    "There are deserters!"

    Tong shuddered . He was noticed during the crucial time .

    Another patrol group rushed in and shouted .

    "Get back here if you don¡¯t want to die!"

    Tong ignored themotion behind him and dashed forward without looking back .

    "He¡¯s deserting . He might be a spy! Shoot the arrows!! Everybody else chase them down!"

    The patrol captain shouted and the group pull out their bows and crossbows to aim at Tong¡¯s back .

    *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*

    A volley of several dozen arrows flew in the dark sky and dropped down on Tong and Sima Xin¡¯s body .

    *PEOK* *PEOK* *PEOK*

    Because Tong was piggybacking Sima Xin, the corpse was hit by the arrows, making it looked like the back of a porcupine .

    Tong was grazed by a few arrows and blood seeped out from his legs and arms .

    Realizing that there were arrows continueding at him from the back, Tong changed the pattern of his running from running in straight line into a serpentine running or juking to the side randomly .

    Hua Shi who was observing the situation far away saw that Tong was escaping with pursuers behind his back . She loaded her arrow into herpound bow and drew an arc, aiming at an archer .

    The distance was over 200 meters away which she didn¡¯t had any confident in it, but she decided to shoot it anyway .

    *WHOOSH*

    Her arrow flew up, made an arc, and stabbed the arrow head into another archer behind Hua Shi¡¯s target .

    "AARRGGGH!!"

    The archer screamed in pain and shocked . An arrow came out of nowhere and pierced his chest .

    Hua Shi had an awkward smile on her face . She missed the target, yet the arrow still hit someone . She continued to draw her bow and fire more arrows, one after another .

    The 200 horsemen that came back and had been on alert reloaded their repeated crossbow . All of them raised their bow upward and fired several volleys at once .

    *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*

    Tong raised his head up the moment he heard the sounds of multiple bowstrings . Multiple volleys of night arrows flew overhead of Tong andnded on the pursuers behind him .

    Death throes and screams could be heard from behind . Tong ignored themotions and rushed forward to the group in front of him .

    "Get the horses, prepare to leave . " Hua Shi ordered the men .

    Tong reached the group and threw Sima Xin corpse on the back of one his men . Then he mounted his horse and leaded the group to withdraw .

    The raid was sessful tonight .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    October 23rd . Morning .

    Guo Dian tallied the damages that the raiders causedst night . After he heard the report, his face distorted .

    Five hundred men had died from the raid and eight hundred men had deserted from the chaos . A portion of provision was either burned or looted by the raiders .

    Before they had marched here, they brought 550 tons of grain to supply his 9,000 soldiers for 120 days, but 300 tons were lost . Guo Dian suspected that the deserters probably took this chance to steal the supplies from the depots because there weren¡¯t any signs of fighting nearby the looted granaries .

    Unlike Tong who extravagantly spent one kilogram of food for one soldier per day, Guo Dian distributed his grain to each of his soldiers only half-a-kilo a day to save cost .

    With 7,700 soldiers remaining and 250 tons of grain, they could still supply his troops for another 64-65 days which cut his army supplies by half . Furthermore, his army was chipped by 1,300 men without fighting the real battle yet . This entire mess depressed Guo Dian .

    Another news that Guo Dian paid attention to, Sima Fang¡¯s son also disappearedst night . Several subordinates and colleagues of Sima Xin had reported that Sima Xin had probably deserted the army during the chaos because none of them found his dead body .

    Guo Dian clicked his tongue when he heard the news .

    ¡¯I knew it! Those silver-spoon young masters from the nobles can¡¯t be trusted . ¡¯

    ¡¯The moment they saw blood, they ran away like a chicken . ¡¯

    Guo Dian nned to write a letter to Sima Fangter toin about Sima Xin . But he continued reading the reports .

    He tried to find the report about the casualties of the raiders but no one had seen any dead body of the invaders, which was strange .

    Guo Dian also noticed the report, saying that there were two stragglers from the raiders that were left behind, but they managed to escape . There was a patrol group that chased them but were killed by the arrows .

    ¡¯A group of elite horsemen?¡¯

    ¡¯They didn¡¯t want to leave a trace of their allies?¡¯

    ¡¯Even one of them was already dead but they still took his body back . ¡¯

    ¡¯... Is there someone that didn¡¯t want us to know that they were involve in this?¡¯

    Guo Dian stopped what he was doing and tried to solve the mysterious puzzle of the horsemen existence from the pieces of information .

    ¡¯No one can train this kind of disciplined cavalry this fast . ¡¯

    ¡¯So they shouldn¡¯t be from the Zhang family . ¡¯

    ¡¯There were news that a guard unit came back from Nan Pi with Zhang Jiao¡¯s caravan . ¡¯

    Guo Dian¡¯s eyes lit up . He had a theory in his mind .

    ¡¯The Yuan family!!¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ve heard they have elite cavalry legions and two elite generals . ¡¯

    ¡¯Yan Liang and Wen Chou!!¡¯

    ¡¯It must be one of them! They were the Yuan family elite cavalries . ¡¯

    Guo Dian gritted his teeth . He immediately wrote letters to Liu Yan, Han Fu and the Imperial House in Luo Yang . He requested more reinforcements for the next battle .

    The Yuan family had joined forces with the bandits!

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, Tong, Hua Shi and his men were resting in the woods without realizing that they had caused a misunderstanding . The scale of this conflict continued to escte .

 Chapter 47

    Chapter 47

    Chapter 47 ¨C Hit And Run

    October 22nd, Afternoon .

    Tong spent a year of his lifespans to test his self-regenerate skill for the first time . The graze wounds fromst night was healed and the blood trace were disappear like magic . Meanwhile, Hua Shi was in tears because she failed to lick Tong¡¯s wounds or tasted his flesh blood .

    Tong and his men buried Sima Xin and left their hiding spot . All of their repeated crossbows was reloaded and ready for another action .

    Tong checked his HUD map for the current location of Guo Dian Army . They still marched forward like nothing had happenedst night .

    Tong was gratified by the map . It took away the necessity of sending scouts, and it increased the speed of his army reaction toward the changes .

    He led his troops to another ambush location . This time, they would attack Guo Dian Army on broad daylight .

    ...

    Guo Dian¡¯s remaining 7,700 men marched in a long dragon line formation . They formed up ten columns and walked forward, following their leaders .

    Guo Dian 400 elite light cavalry escorted the troops from the side . They didn¡¯t form a formation, but they spread out their men throughout the army lines to watch out for any deserter . And the other 100 light cavalry as a scout unit to survey the surrounding areas .

    ...

    Two hundreds men hid themselves behind a small hill, waiting for a group of prey to get into the range of their crossbows .

    A group of 100 cavalry scouts of Guo Dian was passing by without noticing anything .

    Tong measured the distance and gave the signal and the direction . Two hundred repeated crossbows fired several volleys at once at the unknown targets . A few secondster, death throes and screams of humans and horses were heard from the other side of the hill .

    Tong remeasured the distance and the direction again, then he gave another order . The 200 horsemen archers aimed toward Tong¡¯s pointing direction and adjusted their aim to the ordered distance . They fired another 5 volleys and immediately reloaded their crossbows .

    However, Tong didn¡¯t order them to fire another volley . He looked at Hua Shi who seemed to understand Tong¡¯s intention . She locked on several targets using the shared radar map from Tong . Then she activated her homing arrows and fired several shots toward the other side of the hill .

    The bright arrows made a beautiful arc of light and pieced the surviving scouts . Another death throes resounded .

    Tong didn¡¯t afraid that she would run out of her lifespans from spamming her skill because she would gain her lifespans back every time she killed someone anyway .

    After a minute of beautiful arrow firework show, Tong signal the troops to charge into the injured scouts . The hundred scouts were wipe out without having a chance to fight back .

    ...

    Later of the same day, 5PM .

    Guo Dian was leading the march in peace . However, he heard a sudden scream andmotion from behind .

    A kilometer away from the front troops where Guo Dian was at, another series of arrow volleys were poured at the unprepared militias, causing chaos and uproars .

    Several light cavalry attempted to charge at the source of the arrows, but all of them were shot down from their horse by the mysterious glowing arrows .

    After five minutes of chaos, the troops and other cavalry arrived and formed up in formation, only to find out that the assants had already escaped .

    Guo Dian immediately ordered the chase . However, all remaining cavalry couldn¡¯t trace back the ambushers and couldn¡¯t estimate how many there were .

    This caused Guo Dian to fume in anger . He ordered his troops to stop marching and made camp . He wanted to tally the casualties and the remaining troops in his hands .

    ...

    Night of the same day .

    The report of the casualty was finished . They had lost another 500 militias, 100 elite infantry, 100 cavalry and a few hundreds of injured . They also found the dead bodies of the scout team at the side of a hill, which totaled the number of dead cavalry to 200 .

    From the start, they had 500 light cavalry, 1000 elite infantry and 7,500 conscripted militias . Now they were left with 300 light cavalry, 900 elite infantry and 5,700 militias .

    Before they could even reach Tong¡¯s camp, they were raid by the mysterious forces many times . They had lost two-fifth of their forces without any chance to fight back .

    Guo Dian looked at the figures and held both his hands on his head . He was in despair .

    At this point, he no longer doubted it . It was definitely the men from the Yuan family!

    ...

    ...

    October 24th .

    Tong, Hua Shi and his men came back to his fortress camp . Everyone resupplied themselves and got ready for another sortie at any moment .

    Guo Dian Army was half a day away from the camp . Meanwhile, Han Fu would also arrive tomorrow from the south, so all soldiers who had never experienced a real skirmish was nervous while the bandits and the rowdy bunches were cheering and got pumped up for the battle .

    Aftering back to the camp, Tong received a disturbing report . The Yuan family withheld their reinforcement and Wen Chou and his troops withdrew back to Nan Pi!

    This meant that Tong and his 5,000 men would have to face the three forces of Liu Yan, Han Fu and Guo Dian alone . Furthermore, the Yuan family forces had the potential to turn coat and betray the Zhang family .

    Tong¡¯s face turned ugly . He suspected that Feng Ji was somehow behind this move .

    ¡¯Why did he suddenly change his mind? Was it his scheme from the very beginning?¡¯

    Tong was baffled . If the Zhang family was destroyed, what could Yuan family gain from this?

    ¡¯My soap business? My beer secret? Pfft, in your dream!¡¯

    ¡¯Since all of you decided to cross me, then so be it . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll teach you lots what kind of consequences for messing with my family!¡¯

    Tong straddled toward his granaries and unloaded all the grain and the wine he had looted from Guo Dian camp without caring if there was any witness .

    The provision managers and his subordinates saw the miracle scene, a mountain of grain appeared out of nowhere as if Tong conjured all of them from nothingness . Then several pots of wine appeared after .

    Everyone¡¯s jaw almost dropped on the ground and their eyes almost slipped out of their sockets .

    "Provision manager!" Tong shouted .

    "P-P-PRESENT SIR!!" The manager answered in panic .

    "I want you to spread my words . Tomorrow, anyone that cut off an enemy head shall get one gold as a reward! Ten heads, ten gold . Or if you can take down a thousand men then I¡¯ll give you a thousand gold!"

    The crowd cheered and the stressful mood in the camp was lift . The words spread throughout the camp in a few minutes and their expression became lively again .

    Then Tong had Bo Cai who was with him in the ambushes and the night raid narrated what happened a few days ago when they went out .

    The stories and the achievements from the light cavalry team made their blood boiled . Attacking 9,000 men with only 200 horsemen sounded exaggerated, but all horsemen vouched that the story was true . It was an unbelievable feat .

    Most importantly, they had departed with 200 men and came back in full number!

    This cause the soldiers to be fanatics . Because Tong had demonstrated his cheats several times in front of them andbining with the recent achievements, now they worshiped Tong as their deity .

    The antics action of the 2,000 elites made the 3,000 new recruits baffled . They hadn¡¯t seen Tong performed any miracle in front of them yet, so they were curious what made Tong so special .

    ...

    The long trip without a bath for days made Tong felt ufortable . He went back to his tent to arrange his bathing set he had the carpenters made it beforehand, only to find that Hua Shi had been there before him . She was already lying in the water-filled-bathtub naked .

    Tong closed his tent in a hurry . He was afraid that those bandits could see what inside was and Hua Shi might get vited .

    Seeing that Tong was protective of her, Hua Shi giggled . She wiggled her fingers to invite Tong into the bath too .

    "Come here, darling . Let me see your sexy body again . "

    The corner of his mouth twitched . If it wasn¡¯t that tomorrow they might had to sortie or prepare to fight against a siege, he would have dual-cultivated with her till she dropped .

    Hua Shi noticed Tong¡¯s mood, yet she still smiled . She stopped teasing him and got out of the bathtub .

    Instead of running away, she walked toward him and helped him unequipped his armors and removed his cloths . Then she helped him washing his back and cleaning him .

    "Can I cuddle with you tonight?" Hua Shi asked .

    "Are you thirsty again?"

    "No, I just want to hug someone tonight . "

    "..."

    "I can get nervous too, you know? It¡¯s my first time in a big war like this . "

    "Err... . Okay . "

    "Hmm? Really?"

    "But no kissing, OK? I need every bit of strength I can have tomorrow . "

    "Hehe . Sure . "

    That night, both of them recharged their mental strength for the big day tomorrow .

    Hua Shi ended up licking Tong¡¯s tongue in the middle of the night while he was in deep sleep . But she managed to hold herself back . She kissed his lips one more time and went to sleep obediently .

 Chapter 48

    Chapter 48

    Chapter 48 ¨C Battle of Anping ¨C Day One

    October 23rd . Morning .

    Han Fu Army appeared at the south of Tong¡¯s fortress . Their front line formed up in formations while the soldiers in the back were busy craftingdders to prepare for the siege .

    Guo Dian Army arrivedter at 10AM . Just like Han Fu, they settled formed up and took their time getting ready to attack .

    Both army sent their spy to scout the fortressyout and obtain more information . They also came into contact with each other and sent their messengers to negotiate for the coalition against Tong and his men .

    Tong was observing their movements with his radar map . He had marked both Han Fu Army and Guo Dian Army in a different color when Tong came into the radar range .

    To moment Tong saw the two different color came into contact and didn¡¯t kill each other, Tong guessed that they should somehowe to a truce .

    Up till now, Tong was still baffled of why Han Fu would attack his camp . So once the Han Fu Army arrived, Tong sent his messenger to negotiate with them and asked why they had to attack his camp and his family .

    At 10 . 30 AM, a messenger from Han Fu Army came and stopped in front of the gate . Tong already stood on top of the wall, observing the iing messenger .

    The horseman messenger hurled a head toward the gate . It was the head of Tong¡¯s messenger who was sent to negotiate with Han Fu Army!

    "Bastard!"

    There was a limit of how uncivil or trickery antics that Tong could tolerate . Killing a messenger was definitely not one of them .

    He took out the rifle and aimed at the horseman .

    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

    Three rounds of burst fire killed the horseman before he could turn around went back .

    *Sii*

    Tong¡¯s subordinates breath in cold air . The immortal had demonstrated another magic again . This time, someone fell because of his wrath .

    "Get someone to take that body and pierce it with a stake from his anus through his mouth . I want that stake as a decoration in front of the south gate . "

    Tong¡¯s voice was calm and monotonous . However, his men could feel that Tong¡¯s killing intent was intensified . They hurried back andpleted his order with goosebumps and shaking legs .

    Ten minutester, a group of another horsemen came and hurled the insults toward Tong and his troops, causing the soldiers inside to fume in rage .

    "They sure want to get me angry alright . And they have seeded . "

    Tong mumbled to himself and adjusted his rifle, sniping the bad mouthing horsemen down one by one . The troops behind Tong cheered when they saw the foul mouth enemies fell .

    ...

    Pan Feng observed themotion outside the fortress south gate from afar . He heard that themander of the Zhang family was just a brat, so he nned to provoke Tong and drew him out to fight outside of the fort .

    But it seemed that Tong was more tolerant than He had thought because the insult from his men and Tong¡¯s dead messenger couldn¡¯t draw Tong Army out .

    Pan Feng wanted to step forward and challenged Tong into a duel . But after he heard that Tong had a strange thunder magic, he stopped his idea .

    He had his men surveyed thendscape, and got the reports that his opponents had dug pitfall traps around the fortress . Yet, the pitfall traps were concentrated around the penins-like extended walls of the strange fort while the road to the gate was clear of traps .

    Pan Feng smirked .

    "Such childish traps won¡¯t work against us . Men! Hear my order! Have the shield bearers carry extra nks . If you see any suspicious uneven ground, put the nks on the ground . "

    "As youmand!"

    "Ready the men . We will siege it at noon . "

    ...

    Meanwhile, Guo Dian was rxing in his tent, ignoring what Pan Feng and Tong had done .

    After he heard from his spies that Wen Chou and his men retreated back to Nan Pi, he was relief . They don¡¯t have to face that elite army anymore . The rowdy bandits ahead of him could never be a match for his army .

    "Since Han Fu wants to deal with the Zhang, then let them have him . "

    "Men! Stay in position but do not siege! We will watch the show from the sideline . "

    Guo Dian had lost many men already, so he allowed Pan Feng and Han Fu troops to take a bite first . Once Tong¡¯s camp was damaged enough, he wouldunch the assault and reap the forter .

    ...

    ...

    The sun hung on the middle of the clear sky, indicating that it was noon .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Pan Feng troops sounded the drums and color gs were waved around . The shield bearers marched forward with their shield covering their head and the battering ram behind them . Hundred men followed after the troops, carrying talldders and ropes . A total of 1,500 men stepped forward in the first wave .

    Tong watched the iing troops with mocking smile .

    ¡¯Instead of attacking at the weak-point corners, they walk straight into the crossfire . What a bunch of simpletons . ¡¯

    "Archers and Pillbox Squadrons get ready to fire on mymand! Ballista Squads stand by! Do not fire until I give the order! Trench Squadrons, withdraw from the first and the second lines . Draw them in!" Tong shouted with all air in his lung .

    Pan Feng shield bearers marched to the gate which had walls surrounding the troops in a triangle shape . One of the soldiers was scared from seeing the shape of this fortress, he walked straight into a V-formation .

    "Archers! Fire!"

    Archers on both wings on the walls rained down their arrows . At the same time, the pillboxes on the ground, in front of the edges of the walls and behind the trenches, shot out crossbow arrows .

    The shield soldiers attempted to block the iing arrows in front of them, only to find out that they were hit by the side . The arrows didn¡¯te from the front straight angle, but from both sides on their left and right, and from the top of the wall and from the ground .

    No matter where they lift their shields to block, there would be arrows flew at them in their blind spots .

    The crossfire tactic showed the effect . The approaching soldiers cried in pain, afterwards fell one after another .

    A crossfire tactic, which also known as interlocking fire, was a prominent tactic in World War I . The troops would fire from two angles and the arc of fire from the angles crossed each other . Once someone got caught, the person would be considered lucky if he managed to get out of there alive .

    Themanding officers were ted seeing the effectiveness of this formation . Meanwhile, Tong cringed while watching his men and his formation .

    ¡¯If only I have barbed-wires,nd mines and more snipers, none of them can even approach the wall . There are still rooms for improvement . ¡¯

    Tong nced at the right wing of the wall . Hua Shi, who wore leather armor and disguised herself as one of the archer, was shooting several bright arrows at the targets below . She was enjoying her farming session for free lifespans and grinding her magic arrow skill EXP .

    Tong nced at his radar map . The west gate was still calm . It seemed that Guo Dian hadn¡¯t attacked yet, which relieved Tong .

    ¡¯The first wave was nothing to worry about . Now, show me your next move . ¡¯

    ...

    Pan Feng stood on the watch tower, shocking from what he saw . The first wave of the shield bearers with battling ram failed without being able to reach the gate .

    The rate of fire from the volleys was terrifying . It was as if there were over 10,000 archers shooting from the walls .

    Speaking of the walls, the strange shaped fortress also yed a part of this massacre . Pan Feng noticed it just now that it looked like a wing formation or a V-shaped formation .

    "Have the front troops withdraw! Sound the drums!!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The retreating signal drums vibrated and the troops that was on the frontline withdrew in a hurry, leaving theirrade¡¯s dead bodies behind .

    "I want a report on the west side . How is the battle on the west side going on?"

    Pan Feng asked his subordinates in his tents whose face were all pale . They knew that once they reported it, Pan Feng would be mad .

    "Report to the general, Guo Dian ordered his troops to stand by . They have notid the siege yet . "

    Pan Feng mmed his fist on the wooden table in front of him, destroying it . His face was boiling red . Veins was bulging under his skin .

    "DAMN IT!! GUO DIAN!!"

    The officers in the tent shrunk back from the roar, but Pan Feng aide stepped up to calm him down .

    "Lord Pan Feng, you should not be angry . I think it was a correct decision by Guo Dian not to assault . "

    "What!?"

    The aide was none other than Xin Ping who had suggested Han Fu to get rid of the Zhang family and ruin the cooperation between Zhang family and Yuan family .

    "Inmon instance, the number of our soldiers has to be at least five times higher than the defending troops in a siege warfare . And from thetest intel, they now have 5,000 men inside . Therefore, we fall short in terms of number and the preparation for this siege . "

    Pan Feng heart sunk . Xin Ping was right . After the failed siege they were left with around 7,000 men, which was not enough for a standard siege against 5,000 defenders .

    "Then what can I do to break the situation?"

    "Lord do not need to worry . I have just received an interesting intel and already drafted a n . I¡¯m sure you will like it . "

    Xin Ping grinned .

 Chapter 49

    Chapter 49

    Chapter 49 ¨C Greed and Schemes

    "ording to my intel, Yuan family has betrayed the Zhang family . Wen Chou and his men retreated back to Nan Pi a few days ago . " Xin Ping continued his report .

    "What!? I thought they were allies . Why did they betray them?"

    "It¡¯s the Zhang family¡¯s business that caught their eyes, my lord . "

    "Business?"

    "Yes, it¡¯s a very lucrative business that can make a profit of over 200,000 in a few months . "

    Pan Feng¡¯s eyes opened wide in shock . His sry was only a hundred gold a month . He couldn¡¯t imagine how much of 200,000 would be .

    "There is more . It appears that Zhang family has just created a new product that can potentially make a profit surpassing the business I mentioned earlier . So that greedy Feng Ji of the branch family changes his attitude towards the Zhang and withheld their reinforcement . "

    Pan Feng touched in chin and sunk into deep thought . Afterwards, he was baffled . If that was the case then they should have more reasons to protect Zhang family and escort them to Nan Pi . Why were they abandoning them?

    "I¡¯m sorry that I¡¯ve forgotten to mention . Zhang Jiao who is Zhang Tong¡¯s father is being held as a hostage in Nan Pi . "

    Pan Feng gazed at Xin Ping for a minute . Afterwards, he gloomed again .

    "Those bastards want Zhang Tong to lose, right? So Zhang Tong and his family will have no choice but to seek asylum with Yuan family and hand over their business to them . "

    "You are correct, my lord . "

    "So we were yed by the Yuan and we¡¯vee here for nothing?"

    "Not exactly, my lord . "

    Pan Feng raised his eyebrows up . He was still confused .

    "Please do not forget that the Zhang family still possess massive amount of gold from theirst deal . And they are also currently in control the business . "

    "You meant?"

    "We can negotiate with the Zhang family to extort their gold and their business secrets in exchange for our help . "

    Pan Feng¡¯s eyes lit up, but then his face lost color . He remembered that he had killed Zhang Tong¡¯s messenger and attempted to provoke him earlier today .

    Pan Feng narrated what happened earlier today to Xin Ping, which caused him to re at Pan Feng in disgust .

    ¡¯Muscle brain idiot! There¡¯s an unspokenw that you can¡¯t kill a messenger! There is no permanent enemy and forever ally in this world . Hasn¡¯t he learnt about that?¡¯

    Xin Ping cursed Pan Feng in his mind . This general was ipetent . The only good thing about him was his strength and his army management skill . As for the rest, he was utterly useless .

    "A mistake has been made so you should remember it and do not repeat it again in the future . In the mean times, we should send a messenger to Zhang Tong and ask for a temporary truce . "

    Pan Feng nodded . Then he ordered his men to send messenger to Tong Army .

    ...

    ...

    In front of the south gate of the fortress . A messenger of Pan Feng waved his white g, which was a sign that he was a messenger .

    "Should I kill him?" Hua Shi who was standing beside Tong asked him .

    "Keep your head cool and let¡¯s hear what he has to say first . " Tong replied .

    Tong asked Bo Cai and Zhou Cang to go down the wall and meet the messenger at the front gate . Both of them went down to meet the messenger, after which they received a letter from Pan Feng .

    Tong received the letter from the two and read it . Afterwards, he tossed it to Hua Shi .

    "They want to meet up and discuss for a truce . However, they demand us to pay them 50,000 gold for killing their soldiers . "

    Tong summarized the content of the letter which caused everyone to fume in anger .

    "WTF!? Those people are shameless! They are the one that attacked us first, then they want us topensate for that!?" Hua Shi cursed out loud .

    "Politicians and generals are all shameless . We, too, are shameless . Anyone that was too shy frommitting any bold action has no right to stand up in this turbulence time . "

    "And what are you going to do?"

    "Draft me a letter . Ask them for a condition that they have to repel Guo Dian Army for us . Once Guo Dian have retreated then we will give them gold . "

    Hua Shi stared at Tong in disbelief . Was he going to bow down to their demand?

    "Don¡¯t misunderstand . I have no intention to give them anything but my middle finger . "

    Tong smiled as he rified Hua Shi, causing her tough . All officers including Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang looked at the Tong in astonishment .

    Zhang Bao patted Zhang Liang and shook his head . Their nephew took over their roles and he was doing well . It was his time to shine so the two sibling stepped back and watched over them .

    ...

    ...

    3PM of the same day .

    A message arrow shot by Hua Shi arrived in Pan Feng¡¯s hands . He read the letter and passed it to Xin Ping .

    "What do you think of this?" Pan Feng asked .

    "Zhang Tong is cunning . He wants to borrow our force to expel Guo Dian for 50,000 gold . "

    "Should we do as they ask?"

    "No . We don¡¯t need to do anything . I¡¯ve heard that Guo Dian asked Liu Yan for help and they will be here in a few days . So all we have to do is to surround their fortress and let Guo Dian clean up the mess for us . "

    "Don¡¯t do anything? Then won¡¯t Guo Dian take all the plunders and profits?"

    Xin Ping smiled as he continued .

    "Guo Dian will not be able to take down that fortress formation, and he is not so stupid to not realize that after what had happened to us . At best, he will just probe it with a squad of trebuchets or long range attacks . If he is fail, then he will stop attacking and just simply surround them . Just like us . "

    "Then how can we defeat Zhang Tong . If he turtles for years, won¡¯t our supply runs out first?"

    "No . Thest intel reported that Zhang Tong only have less than 100 tons of grain in his current granaries . "

    Pan Feng frowned as he thought of the news that Tong had bought over 100,000 tons of potatoes . Then why did he only have 200 tons of grain?

    "I know what you are thinking . Our spies were baffled too . I¡¯ve confirmed this thrice with them already and they confirmed it . "

    "When was thest update intel then?"

    "It was updated two weeks ago . Zhang Tong seemed to hide all his potatoes somewhere but they were not in that fort, so we can rest assure . With my calction, their supply will run out in a month and a half at thetest . "

    Pan Feng¡¯s eyes brightened up . If Zhang Tong could only supply his troops for less than two months, then he could use a prolonged warfare to starve Zhang Tong and his men . Afterwards, they would have no choice but toply with their demand without a chance of fighting back .

    Or in a scenario where Zhang Tong marched out to battle them outside the camp, then they would have the number advantage and could win with ease in a direct battle .

    "Alright, I¡¯ll do as you said . But manage our supplies carefully . I don¡¯t want our grain to run out before they do . "

    "Please do not worry . I¡¯ve prepared enough provisions for half a year, so this fight will be easy . "

    ...

    ...

    6PM . Zhang Tong Fortress .

    Hua Shi was pacing on the wall, waiting for Pan Feng messenger . However, they never replied Tong¡¯s message letter .

    Realizing that they would not agree to their demand, Hua Shi got frustrated and returned to her tent . Meanwhile, Tong fell into deep thought, abandoning his emotions and his bias feeling, trying to think of a battle n for tomorrow and recollected what happened today .

    ¡¯Today, I was rash . ¡¯

    ¡¯I wasted half a clip of bullets for morals of the troops instead of sniping their officers . ¡¯

    Tong counted his 5 . 56x45mm bullets . There were 87 left . As for the 9mm pistol bullets, he still had a humble amount of 280 . If he used them carefully, he could take out the important officers with it . Then it would be possible to force the invaders into retreat without fighting .

    ¡¯Let¡¯s see here . Their main army was roughly 800m away from the nearest wall . ¡¯

    ¡¯But M16A4 effective range is 550m or less . ¡¯

    ¡¯A pity that this thing is an assault rifle . ¡¯

    ¡¯If it¡¯s a proper sniper rifle, then I can snipe their generals from the wall . ¡¯

    ¡¯Should I take a role as an assassin again?¡¯

    ¡¯Approach them in secret, and hunt their generals?¡¯

    ¡¯This sounds like a game from the previous world . ¡¯

    ¡¯If my life was a game, what it should be called?¡¯

    ¡¯A new game in E3 2020 from the U**soft! Assassin C****, Tong in the Three Kingdoms!¡¯

    ¡¯No, I should be in a H**man franchise instead, I have a gun . ¡¯

    ¡¯But I¡¯m not agent forty-seven . ¡¯

    ¡¯ . . . ¡¯

    ¡¯ . . . Fudge! Stop! WTF brain!? Stop fantasizing!¡¯

    ¡¯Concentrate! . . . where am I?¡¯

    Tong spent the rest of the day half-fantasizing and half-nning . In the end, he came up with a rough draft of a new n for himself tomorrow .

    At the same time, Tong noticed a group of 500 shing yellow dots in his mini map which were 8km away from his fort to the north-east . The front dot of this group were marked as "Wen Chou" .

 Chapter 50

    Chapter 50

    Chapter 50 ¨C Battle of Anping ¨C Day Two

    October 24th, Morning .

    Yesterday, Guo Dian Army did noty siege, but held a staring contest with the defending garrisons . However today, twenty trebuchets were being constructed .

    Having learnt from Pan Feng¡¯s defeat, they chose not to approach to gate directly . Guo Dian aimed to destroy the wooden walls with stones or range attacks from the safe distances .

    However, the walls of the fortress were in strange shapes, and there were trenches surrounding the outer edges of the walls . They could not move the trebuchets into the right range, unless they crossed the trenches or moved into the V-Formation .

    Hence, Guo Dian ordered his men to cross the trench fields to approach both corner edges .

    Zhou Cang and Zhang Liang who had been overseeing the west walls reported the movements of Guo Dian back to Tong .

    ...

    South Gate .

    "They are nning to move trebuchets to the wings of the west walls . Lord Zhou Cang and Lord Zhang Liang had requested an advice from the great immortal . What should we do?"

    The messenger cupped his hands as he reported the messages . Meanwhile, Tong was sitting on a chair, observing the movements in his radar map .

    The southern troops of Pan Feng Army detached a unit eastward to surround his fort, while Guo Dian Army separated into two units and were approaching the corner-end of the two walls .

    "Tell both of them to prepare the ballistae and aim at those trebuchets . Also have the Trench Squadrons stand by at the third lines . "

    "As youmanded, great immortal . "

    "Haven¡¯t I taught you what you should address me?"

    "Y-Yes, sir!! Aye aye, sir!!"

    The messenger bowed and scrammed away in a hurry .

    Seeing the unsightly action of his subordinate, Tong sighed .

    His men stopped using "SIR" with him but started calling him "Great Immortal" because Tong had disyed too many miracles recently . He had already be a deity in the eyes of his men .

    "Second Uncle . Pan Feng probably won¡¯t attack us today . I¡¯m going to the west gate to help third uncle, so please take care of this gate for me . "

    "Huh? Okay . But how did you know that they won¡¯t attack the south?" Zhang Bao questioned back .

    "Pan Feng has just detached his force and it is moving to the east side . So the bad news is, he¡¯s going to surround us . But the good news is, theyck troops toy a proper siege so they won¡¯t attack us for a while . "

    "They want to surround us? What can they achieve from that? Starve us?"

    "Most likely . Perhaps they are thinking we are short on provisions and didn¡¯t know that I¡¯ve just resupplied our stocks . "

    Zhang Bao paused and fell into deep thought for a while, then he chuckled .

    "Well, let¡¯s pretending that we are short on provisions then . " Zhang Bao said in a mocking tone while he was holding hisugh .

    Tong smiled and left his uncle with the troops, after which he dragged Hua Shi along with him to the west gate .

    "What¡¯s your range now, zombie?"

    "250 meters . "

    "Have you maxed out your skill or what? I remember it was 150 yesterday . "

    "It¡¯s at LV . 4 right now . It increases by 50 for each level up . "

    "Okay, then . I¡¯m going to put you on the other side . Now, here¡¯s the n ..."

    ...

    West Gate .

    Guo Dian trebuchets squads moved in closer to the edges of the walls . These trebuchets had the range of 200 to 300 meters while the walls was 500 meters away, so they had to get a bit closer .

    These toys were not the standard medieval counterweight trebuchets, but ancient manned traction trebuchets that required at least six strong men to operate inside, and over a hundred men to shove a single of these siege engines forward . If one of the crew was missing inside, then the trebuchet firing range would fall short .

    In front of them, the infantry that was escorting the trebuchets were busyying nks and trying to cover the trenches to make paths .

    Everything was going as nned . However, a thunderous sound came from the wall in front of them .

    *BANG*

    The infantry below was shocked by the sound, afterwards one of the eyes of their squad leader exploded then he fell down, lying dead .

    At first, they thought he was hit by an arrow, but ...

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Another two lighting sound was heard and two of theirmanding officers dropped on the ground . When they inspected their bodies, they couldn¡¯t find any arrow, but they found a hole on the head of the dead bodies .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    The gun fire sound continued . One of their 100-manmanders fell each time they heard the sound . It was like the sound of a grim reapering to take their lives .

    The soldiers of the leaderless teams became panic . They stopped pushing the trebuchets forward and ran away .

    Then ...

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    Giant arrows wereunched from both on top of the wall and the mysterious bunkers behind the trenches . These thick arrows flew and prated any man that stood in their paths, which caused gory and horror scenes .

    Despite getting barraged by ballista arrows and Tong¡¯s sniping, the trebuchets teams with the surviving squad leaders continued to move forward and put the nks on top of the trenches .

    The trebuchets reached their ideal range and the crews were preparing tounch the stone and fire assaults immediately . Then they saw something was moving within the trenches .

    Hua Shi and Tong¡¯s soldiers were moving within the trenches in small squads . They sneaked in and got close to the trebuchets without them realizing it .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    A drum signals came from within the fortress . The squadrons within the trenches raised their heads and their repeated crossbows up, then they fired their arrows . The wall of arrows turned the men in front of them into porcupines and fell .

    Then a dozen bright arrows were shot to the sky from one of the trenches . The arrows curved in midair and left glowing trails behind . The arrows flew as if they had eyes as they swooped down and piece through the heads of trebuchets crews .

    *BOOM*

    One of the ballistae giant arrows hit a trebuchets and destroyed it upon the impact . Then more giant arrows hit the rest of the trebuchets .

    Simr events also took ce in the other edge of the wall . Although they did not have a sniper and the homing arrows, Zhang Liang soldiers in the trenches could still get the job done by destroying all trebuchets and its crews .

    ...

    ...

    Guo Dian who was observing the battlefield on his watchtower was astonished and shocked . The fortress in front of him was definitely designed by a talent .

    ¡¯Suchplex stratagems . If I attack the gate, then men on the walls will kill me . If I attack the side walls, then I¡¯ll be ambushed by the soldiers below . ¡¯

    Guo Dian face turned ugly . This probing attack was costly and humiliating, but he learnt something from this sacrifices .

    "Order the frontline to retreat . "

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Guo Dian Army hit the retreating drums and the remaining troops on the front rushed back from the death traps .

    "Is there any updates on the reinforcements from the imperial capital?" Guo Dian asked his officers .

    The officers didn¡¯t speak . The news hadn¡¯t arrived yet or there was no news, so none of them dared to speak up .

    Guo Dian clicked his tongue, thinking that his men were all corrupted and ipetence . When the situation required them to be brave or when he needed them to help him, all of them would turtle themselves and never dared to express their opinions .

    However, when it was the time to splitting the profits of the taxes, they alwayspeted with each other to speak as if it was thest day of their live .

    Guo Dian closed his eyes to calm himself to rethink of a n .

    ¡¯The spies said Pan Feng spread their troops to surround the fortress in the east . That means they change their tactics . Are they trying to starve Zhang Tong?¡¯

    "Give me a report . What¡¯s thest report about Zhang Tong¡¯s current grain provisions?"

    "My lord, they have less than a hundred tons in the fortress . "

    Guo Dian¡¯s eyes brightened up . He understood Pan Feng¡¯s intention now .

    "Send messages to Julu County and ask them to dispatch more provision for us . We will prepare for a prolonged war . "

    After sending down his order, Guo Dian looked at the fortress in front of him with determined eyes . He had confident that he could take it down within two months .

    ...

    After Tong heard the retreating drums of Guo Dian Army, he also sounded his retreating drums .

    In addition, he ordered his troops to make shifts and rested immediately as they could potentially get raided by night attacks .

    Tong clicked his tongue in frustration . He was nning to use the chaos to sneak closer to Guo Dian main troops and snipe Guo Dian down from his watchtower . However, they were almost a kilometer away, which Tong did not have enough confident to kill Guo Dian within 1-2 shots from this distance . He did not want to spook Guo Dian that he could be sniped .

    Tong turned around and found that Hua Shi hade back from the frontline . He then told her .

    "Zombie, go and rest . I¡¯ll need you again tonight!"

    "OH!! Are we dual-cultivating again?"

    The eyes of Hua Shi sparkled while her drools dripped down from the corner of her mouth .

    ck lines appeared on Tong¡¯s face . He had thought that this girl had learnt her lessons, but it seemed she was looking forward to it instead .

    "No . I will put you on a night raiding team . "

    "Aww, what a pity . Today is my safe day . "

    "..."

 Chapter 51

    Chapter 51

    Chapter 51 ¨C Battle of Anping ¨C Day Three

    October 25th . 1 AM .

    Tong¡¯s eyes snapped open as he woke up from his nap . He opened his radar map in a hurry checked if there was any movement .

    Tong had ordered his men to station in the trench at the south and Zhang Liang troops at the west side beforehand . Meanwhile Zhang Bao and his men stationed on the wall .

    He crawled in the southern trench to the first line and reunited with Hua Shi who was already there . She was sitting in the trench, looking at the radar map that Tong had shared .

    "You¡¯re finally up . The raid team is ready . "

    "Alright, let¡¯s move . If you see any patrol units outside, you snipe them . "

    "Are you sure this is a good idea? The night battle sounds hard to me . "

    "If we don¡¯t fight back, they will just surround us and do nothing . Then we will probably lose . "

    "Ehhhhh!? Why? Haven¡¯t we stocked those potatoes and grains? Why are we going to lose?"

    "Army morals, zombie . Humans are not robots . For both of us, we can survive till the end of times, but our soldiers cannot . They didn¡¯t have our mental fortitude or had been through hell literally like us, so they can abandon us easily when they lose hope . "

    Hua Shi still looked at Tong in doubt while Tong smiled wryly at her .

    Siege warfare was a battle of attrition that could take months or years to decide the oue, which was not favorable to Tong in his point of view .

    Tong wanted to break the deadlock situation and drew Pan Feng and Guo Dian into small skirmishes so he could wither their forces numbers . Or even better, he could snipe down both of them if he had a chance .

    If he neglected this and left them be for a few months, the soldiers would lose their edges and thought that it would be fine leaving the enemies be outside the gate . With their guard down, they would be vulnerable to ploys and tactics by the opposite parties .

    Furthermore, without reinforcement and hope to break free from this entrapment, soldiers would get depress overtime, and might end up destroying the order from within by riot or desertion .

    It was not a scenario that Tong wished to see it happened .

    But now, Pan Feng spread his troops too thin as he separated his men into two camps, one was located 5km down south of the fort, while the other one was 5km toward the ease . A great opportunity awaited for Tong .

    Unlike thest time when Tong raid Guo Dian camp, he took three thousand men with him this time along with Zhou Cang, leaving two thousand men in the fortress .

    Tong could destroy the southern camp if he yed his card right tonight .

    The 3,000 raiders followed Tong¡¯s lead without a sound . From the first line of trench to Pan Feng camp was only 5 kilometer away, so they reached it in a couple hours .

    ...

    ***********************************

    [Homing Arrow] LV . 5 (50/1,600)

    - Fire a magic homing arrow at a locked target .

    - Convert an ordinary arrow into a magic homing arrow .

    - Passive skill [Bow Mastery] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan for firing homing magic arrow with ordinary arrow .

    - 10 Lifespan for firing homing magic arrow without an arrow .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Homing effects only applies to a locked target in the range of 300 meters or lower .

    - Range restriction depends on the level of the skill

    ***********************************

    Hua Shi leveled up this skill faster than the others because she had many opportunities to use it without restrain . She had taken over a hundred lives with this skill alone in the past two days .

    Along the way to the enemy encampment, Hua Shi used her long range homing arrows to snipe down patrolling troops and wanderers, allowing the troops to conceal themselves in the night to approach Pan Feng camp .

    Afterwards after they reached the camp, Tong signaled his troops to stop and hide . He rechecked his inventory and the radar map for onest time .

    Tong learnt his lesson from the previous night raid . He emptied out the unnecessary items and left 6 slots of his inventory avable for more looting .

    Then he started the operation .

    Silenced the guards one by one, Tong and a squad of elites snuck into the camp . Some were stabbed in the vocal cord, and some had their neck sliced and unable to utter a sound .

    Seeing that the guards around the barrier of the camps were down, the rest of the troops got in . They separated into small squads, and entered the tents where Pan Feng soldiers were resting in . Then, several small muffled voices sounded inside the tents and returned to its silence again in a few seconds .

    If all 3,000 men managed toplete their tasks in silence then Tong could have win this battle without difficulty . But reality was harsh .

    One of the squads failed to silence the soldiers within the tent, and a shout was heard .

    "INTRUDERS!!!"

    One voice broke the silence and a bell rang . Everybody in Pan Feng camp woke up from the noises .

    Tong had a bitter smile on his face as he expected this to happen . It was impossible for the newly recruited bandits couldplete this task with full marks .

    He took out his pistol and ordered his troops to gather and form teams in a hurry . They had to finish this before Pan Feng managed to calm the situation and formed up in formation .

    Themotion and chaos broke out in every part of Pan Feng camp . Pan Feng himself also woke up by the chaos and rushed forward to deal with the intruders .

    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

    Tong supported his troops with his handgun while Hua Shi unleashed every light arrows she could fire onto the iing soldiers . Zhou Cang also danced in the chaos and took out every soldier that came into his way .

    One hour passed since themotion started . Both sides had formed up in ranks and continued shing toward each other .

    Pan Feng camp took serious damages as a thousand soldiers were ughtered before they had a chance to fight back . But the majority of the remaining men were part of Pan Feng personal elite forces, they managed to regroup and fought back .

    Pan Feng jumped into the frontline and ughtered a dozen men from Tong Army . Then he met Zhou Cang who stood out from the rest of the men . Pan Feng thought that he should be the enemy general .

    "Your head is mine!"

    "Insolence!"

    Zhou Cang and Pan Feng roared as they shed . The soldiers around them stepped back and left a circle space around them as both of them were dueling .

    Tong noticed themotion, he turned to Hua Shi and shouted as the surrounding noises were too loud .

    "ZOMBIE, LOCK ON THE GENERAL!! HIS NAME IN THE MAP IS PAN FENG!!"

    Tong remembered the name of the general . He was one of Han Fu men who appeared in the coalition force against Dong Zhou in the year 190 A . D . as he dueled against Hua Xiong and was killed afterwards .

    Hua Shi who remained in the backline heard Tong¡¯s voice . She searched the radar map and found Pan Feng in the circle between the two troops . She locked on the target and fired her arrow without hesitation .

    *WHOOSH*

    *TINK*

    Her arrow reached the duel circle, but it was swiped away by Pan Feng¡¯s axe .

    "Despicable! You dare to soil our sacred duel!?"

    *BANG*

    A bullet pierced through his shoulder, causing him to lower his arm and almost dropped his axe .

    "Honor alone cannot win the war . "

    Pan Feng nced toward the direction of the noise, then he saw Tong who was standing on top of a wooden shelter with his pistol aiming at him .

    Zhou Cang saw this chance . He hacked toward Pan Feng, aiming to slice him in half . But Pan Feng was an experienced fighter, he blocked Zhou Cang sword with his axe .

    "ZOMBIE! AGAIN!!"

    An arrow already flew toward Pan Feng before Tong had even shouted . It pierced Pan Feng¡¯s knee, causing him to stumble .

    "Zhou Cang! Capture him alive!!"

    Hearing Tong¡¯s order, Zhou Cang swung his sword side way and cut off Pan Feng¡¯s hand . The axe in his cut hand fell on the ground with loud thud while Pan Feng cried in pain .

    Zhou Cang threw a hook punch whichnded on Pan Feng¡¯s jaw . It sted his jaw bones to pieces and broke a few teeth in the process, after which knocked Pan Feng out unconscious .

    Zhou Cang then dragged the unconscious body back toward the backline while the troops behind Zhou Cang rushed up to block the pursuing enemy soldiers .

    "Well done . I¡¯ll reward youter . For now, drag him to my wife . "

    Tong praised Zhou Cang and tapped his shoulder, causing him to feel ted . He then rushed back to Hua Shi with the body .

    Tong nced at the departing Zhou Cang and looked back at the battlefield in front of him . He shouted .

    "Your general has been captured! Surrender now and I¡¯ll spare your lives!!"

    The crowd were stunned when they heard Tong¡¯s shout . Tong troops erupted in cheers while Pan Feng soldiers had despair look on their faces . Some of them dropped their weapons immediately while a few groups ran away .

    Tong didn¡¯t order pursuing the deserters . He already achieved his goal .

    The southern camp and Pan Feng¡¯s 4,000 men had been routed .

 Chapter 52

    Chapter 52

    Chapter 52 ¨C Hidden Jewel Found!

    Tong managed to round up the surrendered soldiers and escorted them back into his fortress . He also reaped good profits from the assault .

    Pan Feng had over 750 tons of grain storing in his grain depots which was considered average for supporting 8,000 men for three months .

    But since they had splitted their troops into two, and the other army relocated their camp to the east of the fortress . Tong guessed that there had to be another granary that supported the east camp .

    During the processing of sorting the loot from the camp and the prisoners, Hua Shi walked to Tong and asked him what to do with Pan Feng .

    "What are we going to do with him? Ransom him to Han Fu?

    "No, I sent him to you so you can get thest killing blow . I¡¯ve already killed Sima Xin so I have 200,000 lifespans in the bag . You can have him . "

    Hua Shi eyes lit up . She stared at Tong with her puppy eyes as if she was getting proposed . Meanwhile, Tong had goosebumps from making eye contacts with her .

    "Hey, stop looking me like that . It¡¯s not like I¡¯m doing it for you . I¡¯m boosting you lifespans so you can buy me a few thing in the future, okay?"

    Hua Shi chuckled but didn¡¯t say anything . She killed Pan Feng as Tong had told her to, then she left with her escorts back to the fortress .

    ¡¯Ufufu, a tsundere type . Well, he is cuter this way . ¡¯ Hua Shi thought .

    If Tong were to hear her thought, he would fume into rage and would force her into dual-cultivation all night again .

    ...

    5 AM .

    Tong and his men returned to the fortress after they sorted the prisoners and the army casualties . In this night raid, Tong lost two hundreds bandits, but his elites came back in full number, only with a few injuries as trophies to brag with their friends .

    However, he captured 2,000 men from Pan Feng¡¯s camp . After this battle with Han Fu force was over, he nned to convert these men into his armyter .

    Tong looked at his radar map and observed the troops cement again . Han Fu army had been crippled and left with 3,000 men in the east, while the routed soldiers deserted and retreated back home separately .

    With three thousands in the east and 6,500s in the west, the situation became less stressful .

    Tong breathed out a deep sighed in relief . Another load of worries were lift off from his shoulders .

    He scouted further north of his radar map, and Liu Yan force was approaching from the north . From the looks of it, they should arrive at his north gate at noon today .

    Tong closed his map and approached the prisoners . He wanted to sooth them and ensured them that they would be treated fairly under his watch .

    Tong called up the captains and officers of the prisoners, and let them introduced themselves . Tong nned to break the ice with them first, then he would make a good impression on the rest of the prisoners .

    But one of the captain had a name that caught Tong¡¯s ears .

    "You, over there . What is your name again?"

    Tong pointed at a teenager who seemed to be in around 13 or 14 years of age . Despite being young, he was appointed as a captain of a hundred men .

    "I¡¯m Zhang He . My courtesy name is Junyi . My post was a 100-manmander, my lord . "

    Tong couldn¡¯t believe his eyes and ears . Although his surname "Zhang" was the same as Tong¡¯s because it was amon surname, Zhang He¡¯s real name and his courtesy name was not something Tong could forget .

    This Zhang He would be one of the five elite generals who served Cao Cao in the history! In 190s he served Yuan Shao and fought in the battles against Gongsun Zan . Then he defected to Cao Cao after Yuan Shao lost in the battle of Guan Du . Afterwards he served the Cao family for three generations and scored many achievements in his career, including routing Ma Su at the battle at Jieting in the year 228 .

    However, because of Sima Yi¡¯s order, he pursued the defeated force of Zhuge Liang . But he was ambushed and died by a stray arrow to the knee during the campaign mission against Zhuge Liang in Tian Shui district in 231 A . D .

    In the history, Zhang He excelled in geography and was capable of making urate predictions about war situations . It also described that Zhang He as a resourceful and proficient military leader, even Zhuge Liang was wary of him .

    The pupil in the eyes of Tong expanded and sparkled as if they were the eyes of a child who had found his precious favorite toy . This teenager was a jewel blessed by the heaven, and he fell into his hands .

    "D-Do you have a family in Ye?" Tong swallowed his saliva and asked . His voice was trembling .

    "Yes, my parents are in Ye City . "

    "Are they part of the official?"

    "No, they are just inn keepers . None of us are nobles . "

    "Then why are you in the military?"

    Zhang He flustered in embarrassment before he answered .

    "I owed some money to a person and I can¡¯t ask my parents to pay it for me . "

    Tong frowned . The dignified Zhang He was owing someone money? This was the part that wasn¡¯t in the history .

    "How much did you owe then?"

    "Haha, not much . Just a little over 1,000 gold . "

    Tong almost choked blood . A thousand gold was not little, yet he said little? Why did he loan all of that for? Was he addicted to a prostitute in a brothel or gambling?

    "I wanted to buy a courtyard for my parents in the city, but I got conned . "

    Zhang He continued his story in embarrassment while Tong sighed in relief because it wasn¡¯t gambling or brothel . This person had good heart but was still inexperience .

    "So you be a soldier to pay back what you loaned, am I correct?"

    "Yes, my lord . "

    Tong took a deep breath and looked at the surrounding officers and captains . They were tensed by listening to Tong¡¯s interrogation .

    "Zhou Cang, escort everyone back for now . I want to have a few words with this man . "

    Tong told Zhou Cang to lead these men out because what Tong was about to speak might incite jealousy from the others toward Zhang He .

    After all of them left, Tong gazed toward Zhang He in solemn . And he asked .

    "If I give you 2,000 gold to pay back the loan and for your family¡¯s new house, will you serve me?"

    Zhang He looked at Tong in shocked . Two thousands gold was not a small amount but Tong offered him who was nothing but a stranger without batting an eye .

    "Erm, but I can¡¯t leave my family . I¡¯m worried about my parents . "

    Tong smiled wryly as he expected his refusal . A filial son like him would have a condition like this . In order to win his heart and his loyalty, Tong had to do something absurd .

    "Once the current battle is over . I¡¯ll give you 2,000 gold and send you back home . When you have paid back your debts, you and your family cane and find meter . I¡¯ll be waiting for you . "

    Zhang He was shocked . Was this person too na?ve? Why did he put so much trust to a stranger?

    "But, don¡¯t you afraid that I might run away with the gold?"

    Tong smiled back at him and answered .

    "If that is the case, then I will have to me myself for misjudging you . But I don¡¯t think you want to be one of the crooks who had conned all of your gold, right?"

    Zhang He was stunned as if there was a lighting struck through his soul . Was he thinking about stealing this person¡¯s money like the con artist that had stolen all of his gold? Would he sink that low for paying back the loan?

    He was ashamed for having such thought . He still remembered the day that he got conned, and remembered how despicable that person was . If he had done the same to Tong, would he be able to live on without regrets for the rest of his life?

    Zhang He knelt down and kowtowed to Tong .

    "I swear by my father¡¯s surname that I won¡¯t forget this kindness! After I pay back the loan, I¡¯lle back and serve you for life!"

    Tong was over the moon as he smiled . This person was so honest and admirable, suitable to be call one of the great general of Wei . Tong helped Zhang He up and patted his shoulders .

    "I¡¯ll be waiting for you . For now, I will need you to return and help me calm down the others . Please tell them that I meant no harm to them and their families, and I¡¯m willing to employ all of them if they have no ce to return . "

    Zhang He cupped his fist and bowed in 90 degree before he returned to the prisoner camp .

    Tong watched Zhang He as he left . He didn¡¯t know that behind him, Tong made a gut pose with both arms and twerked to the wall happily . Tong screamed in his heart .

    ¡¯GREAT GENERAL GETTO!!!¡¯

 Chapter 53

    Chapter 53

    Chapter 53 ¨C Don¡¯t Kill Us . We¡¯re On The Same Side!

    Paled-face Xin Ping sat in the main tent in the eastern camp . He heard about the incidentst night .

    In his calction, he never expected Tong to be able to raid the southern camp without getting detected by the patrol teams . Furthermore, it was reported that Tong went out with 3,000 men, which was more than half of ?his entire army .

    Xin Ping was the one who had advised Pan Feng to spread out their troops to encircle the fort, after which it backfired on them and crippled their army .

    Now, Pan Feng was captured and his fate was unknown . Therefore, Xin Ping was made into their army suprememander by default .

    Xin Ping gritted his teeth as he med everything as Tong¡¯s fault . If Tong weren¡¯t here, he would have destroy the Zhang family, and would have gained more achievements to the point that he could step on Ju Shou .

    He was left with 3,000ish men, yet he wasn¡¯t willing to retreat . But his insight and his instinct kept telling him that it was the time to swallow his pride and withdrew the troops . Ten years was not toote to get his revenge on Tong .

    With that in mind, he stepped out of his tent to calm the remaining soldiers for now . The news of Pan Feng¡¯s defeat sunk the moral of the troops to rock bottom, so he had to do something or the soldiers might desert .

    ...

    Afternoon of the same day .

    Zou Jing, who was themander of Liu Yan 3,000 men army, was observing the fortress from afar . Unlike the inexperienced Guo Dian and Pan Feng, he was more cautious toward the fortress formations .

    He did not form up his soldiers andy siege right away, instead he settled his camp ten kilometers away from the fort and fortified his camp first . Instead of surrounding the fortress directly, he chose to step back and gave rooms to Tong . So he, too, could have rooms to retreat, or he could alter his ns depending on the situations .

    Moreover, he sent scout teams to survey every outer parts of the fortress and its surrounding to understand the geography and the terrains .

    Another team of scouts had already came into contact with Guo Dian Army and Xin Ping Army, after which they received the news of Pan Feng¡¯s defeat . They also managed to capture Pan Feng Army deserters and obtained the details about the battle .

    Zou Jing gazed upon the wooden fort and frowned . He didn¡¯t expect that the bandits he had heard from Guo Dian could fortify their camp, and turned it into a monstrous structure like this .

    The night raid tactics and the past achievements of Tong caused Zou Jing to be wary of him . Zou Jing judged Tong as his equal and would not let his guard down .

    He returned to his camp to think of a n . He wasn¡¯t confident in the direct siege or prolonged war as the troops of the three armies were too low in numbers to continue the encirclement . The only way to defeat these bandit group was to force them into a bitter fight .

    Zou Jing sent a letter to both Xin Ping and Guo Dian Army, telling them to relocate their bases and step back by ten kilometers or Tong and his men might raid them at night again .

    The letters arrive in the hands of the two, afterwards they followed Zou Jing¡¯s judgement and retreated back ten kilometers .

    ...

    5 PM . Tong Resting Tent .

    Tong woke up from his afternoon nap . The night raid and the prisoner managementst night tired him out, thus he rested to recharge his energy .

    As usual, Hua Shi sneaked into his bed again . She was still asleep while her arms were holding Tong tight .

    Tong shook his head . He pried off Hua Shi¡¯s arms and left his tent to resume his duty . After he checked his radar map, he was shocked . Liu Yan Army had arrived and stationed ten kilometers to the north . Meanwhile, the other armies retreated back and also settled their camp ten kilometers away .

    Majority of their troops went out of Tong¡¯s map range . He couldn¡¯t use it to monitor their movements anymore .

    Furthermore, Wen Chou troops retreated further beyond the radar range which caused Tong to lose trace of these groups .

    Tong rubbed his chin and fell into deep thought . He couldn¡¯t help but admire this move of his enemies . At the same time, he was concerned of how he could proceed next .

    Guo Dian still had 6,500 men to the west while the north and the east had 3,000 each . And there was Wen Chou and his 500 elite cavalry that hid outside of Tong¡¯s map range somewhere in the northeast . Meanwhile, Tong Army was left with 4,800 men and 2,000 prisoners .

    Tong stood still, using his brain to simte hundreds of scenarios in his mind till dusk . Then he nced at his prisoner camp . An impossible scenario was happening in Tong¡¯s mind when he was looking at them .

    Ten minutester, he visited Zhang He in the prisoner camp to gather every officers that Zhang He had rmended him .

    ...

    After everybody was gathered, Tong exined a strategy he had in his mind, which caused all of them to look at Tong in surprise and suspicious .

    "Will you really reward us if we seed?"

    "Is this n even possible? What if they execute all of us for deserting?"

    "How can we be sure that what you told us is true?"

    Doubts was in their eyes, the stratagem Tong had just told them required their absolute trust toward Tong . At the same time, their cooperation was required as well .

    "I have nothing to vouch what I just said . "

    The crowd was mad . Even a child could tell that the n was impossible, yet this brat just proposed it to them and asked them to risk their lives for him?

    "But I can tell you one of my secret . "

    Tong suddenly drew his sword, which scared the crowd and Zhang He . Was Tong going to kill them all?

    However, Tong raised his hand and used the sword in the other hand to chop his hand off!

    *SHUA*

    Tong¡¯s left hand dropped on the ground and blood sshed from the severed hand . The crowd was bbergasted .

    "My lord, you ..." Zhang He was panic .

    "Don¡¯t speak . Just watch . "

    Tong activated his regeneration skill . He had to spend five hundred years of lifespans just to regenerate his lost hand . But if he could make the prisoners believing in him, then it was worth it .

    A light shed from Tong¡¯s wound and a new hand appeared, recing the lost part of Tong¡¯s body .

    Everyone in the tent were stunned . Some of them rubbed their eyes, and Zhang He pinched his friend¡¯s cheek to check if he was dreaming .

    "Ouch! Why the hell are you pinching my cheek!?"

    "Because I don¡¯t want to hurt myself?"

    "Screw you! Pinch your own cheek you @#$% . "

    Seeing the atmosphere and the astonished crowd . Tong coughed to get their attention .

    "Ahem . As you can see, I¡¯m not a human but an immortal, a child of heaven, a heavenly messenger or whatever you want to call me . I was sent here from the Neither World to reform thend and the people . "

    The crowd stared at Tong in wide eyes . They had heard the rumor about the Immortal Zhang Tong before . However, seeing was believing, the real miracle had just happened in front of them . Furthermore, the hand that was cut off was still wiggling on the ground with blood flowing out of it, so it could not be fake . Thus, they could not find a reason to refute Tong, but to believe in the absurd story that Tong made up .

    "Right now, this body is still young and helpless . So I need all of your help . I swear by the heaven that I will keep my promise as long as you have faith in me and do what I just asked all of you . "

    Tong smiled at them as if he was a prophet of a religion in an ancient time . The crowd rubbed their eyes because they hallucinated that there were halo light behind the back of Tong . One by one, they knelt down and kowtowed to Tong as if he were a deity .

    ¡¯Now, the first phase is over . Then second and the third is going to be problematic but it¡¯s still doable . ¡¯

    After Tong handled the prisoners, he went back to tell his ns to his uncles and Hua Shi .

    ...

    ...

    The day passed peacefully without a siege because of the shock of the night raid . However, in the middle of the night, two thousand men dressed in Pan Feng Army clothes slipped out of fortress .

    After they slipped out and ran away for a certain distance, a loud explosion sound came from inside the fortress . An oil pot was lit on fire and exploded .

    *BOOM*

    Within a few seconds, loud bells and shouts echoed with in the fortress, which caused an uproar among the men inside .

    Meanwhile, Zhang He and two thousand men ran toward the east without bothering hiding themselves . Instead, they tried their best to get Xin Ping and his men to notice them .

    Afterwards, a patrol scouts from Xin Ping camp spotted the men . They stopped Zhang He and his crews .

    "Stop! Who goes there!?"

    Zhang He immediately stepped forward and appeased them .

    "Please don¡¯t kill us! We are from the same side . We were Pan Feng¡¯s men!"

    "Pan Feng¡¯s men!? Where did youe from? I thought most of you were either captured or ran away . "

    "We were indeed captured . But we manage to escape with most of our friends . We want to return home . "

    The scouts stared at them in suspicious . However, one of the scout recognized his friend among the escaped prisoners .

    "Little Long!? Is that you?"

    "Brother Zhou? Brother Zhou!!"

    The scout leader stared at the two and then nced back at Zhang He .

    "What were your rank when you served Pan Feng?" The scout asked .

    "I was a hundred menmander . My name is Zhang He . My family runs a tavern in Ye!"

    "... I remember it now . There is a tavern ran by someone with Zhang surname . What is your family¡¯s specialty?"

    "Rice wines and pork steamed buns!"

    The scout leader nodded . Then he ordered .

    "They are our guys! Lead them back to the camp!"

    With that, the two thousand ex-prisoners managed to return to Xin Ping Army camp . However, the scout team was unaware that there was an extra person who mixed within the crowd .

 Chapter 54

    Chapter 54

    Chapter 54 ¨C Ploys

    Xin Ping received the report that Pan Feng¡¯s 2,000 men had escaped from the fortress and returned to his camp . He immediately ordered them quarantined .

    "Do not let them enter the camp! I want each of them interrogated of what had happened before they got out of that fortress . And I want their backgrounds checked!"

    Xin Ping did not trust the returned soldiers . To him, this move was obviously a ploy by Zhang Tong .

    ¡¯If I were Zhang Tong, I will mix in my troops into these prisoners and wreak havoc from the inside . There is no way that every single of them were the men of Ye City . ¡¯

    From night till dawn, they isted and interrogated every soldiers . However, everyone had an alibi and references from the troops within Xin Ping camp . They all had background or families in Ye district .

    However, there were many injured soldiers in the group, so they were separated and wasn¡¯t interrogated . One of them even lost an arm, so he wasn¡¯t included in the quarantine . Xin Ping felt pity towards the veteran handicapped soldiers, so he excluded them out of sympathy . In his mind, there was no way that a handicapped soldier could be a spy, especially if they had fresh wounds from the battle .

    Another report came from the scout teams that Xin Ping had sent to observe the fortress . Last night, there was an explosion andmotions within Tong Army fort . Although, the teams couldn¡¯t get a clear understanding of what exactly happened, they all assumed that there was in-fighting or a chaos caused by the escapees .

    Xin Ping frowned . His instinct told him that this was definitely an infiltration ploy, but all investigation pointed out that they were all his men without any enemy mixed in .

    Furthermore, every returned soldiers seemed happy to be back, and none of them acted alone in secretive or had any suspicious activity during the quarantine .

    Xin Ping sighed in relief after he had seen his happy soldiers . Then he called the leaders of the escapees into his tent .

    Within ten minutes, Zhang He and his friends entered Xin Ping¡¯s tent . All of them were once hundred-manmanders from Pan Feng Army, and they had tokens that identified their identity within the troops .

    "So what happened inside the fortress? How did all of you get out?" Xin Ping asked .

    Zhang He stepped forward and gave Xin Ping his reports .

    "Reporting, after Zhang Tong Army raided us and took us in as prisoners, they decided that they would not give us food because they were short on grain provisions . All of us didn¡¯t want to starve to death . And we were afraid that he would kill all of us to save the grain, so we have to make the move . Fortunately, Zhang Tong was just a na?ve brat, so we managed to stir chaos within his camp and slipped out . "

    Xin Ping frowned . There was something that did not make sense . Could someone that capable enough to construct thatplex fortress be na?ve and inexperienced?

    "What about the southern camp¡¯s provision? Haven¡¯t they taken all of them? Why didn¡¯t they give you food?"

    "Reporting, they indeed took all the provisions . But it seems Zhang Tong wanted to save all of them for the prolonged war . Thus, he deemed us prisoners as burden . "

    Xin Ping nodded . It made a little more sense now .

    "What about Pan Feng? Is he still alive?"

    Zhang He shook his head .

    "No, Zhang Tong executed him . "

    Xin Ping snorted and mocked Pan Feng in his mind . That muscle brain kicked the bucket . Although they were colleagues, but he never grieved for that guy . To Xin Ping, Pan Feng was too ipetence to be grieving over .

    "What¡¯s your name, young man?" Xin Ping asked .

    "Zhang He, sir . "

    "From now on, you are 2,000-manmander of our army . You, your friends and the others that came with you will be in the same unit . This is my token . Take it to the armory and the provision center . I want you to rearm yourself and get ready for the next battle . Tomorrow, I want you to be here in the morning for the strategy briefing . "

    "T-Thank you very much,mander!!!"

    Xin Ping grinned and waved his hand, signaling Zhang He and his men to leave .

    Zhang He took Xin Ping¡¯smand token and went out . After they walked out to a ce that no one was looking, one of Zhang He¡¯s officer who was one-arm short spoke out .

    "Do as he told you . Tomorrow, we will finish this . Don¡¯t forget to give those special wines to Xin Ping¡¯s cooks . Make them serve it with his food for tomorrow breakfast . "

    Zhang He didn¡¯t look at the speaker, but he replied .

    "As youmand, my lord . But, your arm ..."

    "It¡¯s fine . I can regrow it at any time . "

    ...

    ...

    The news about the prison break caught the ears of Guo Dian and Zou Jing which shocked both of them . They were delighted that Tong finally made a mistake . They immediately held a meeting together to discuss the next n .

    All of Guo Dian¡¯s officers and strategists gathered and looked at theirmander with eyes full of expectations . They had hope that they could ride on the coat tails of both armies and gain some achievements for their promotions . Because of that, they were fighting among themselves of who would be the nextmander of the next battle .

    Guo Dian was disgusted by the manner of his men . When they had been at disadvantageous position, they hid themselves like turtles, and never dared to express their thought . Now they had the upper hand, these guys were dancing with joy and bickering against each other just to take credits with little efforts .

    Zou Jing swept his eyes through the crowd and nced at Guo Dian . Seeing their reactions, Zou Jing understood the situation in Julu County now . These county officials were more corrupted than he had heard .

    Zou Jing coughed and attracted their attentions . All of them stopped speaking and gazed at Zou Jing .

    "From thest battle, Pan Feng army was lost and two thousands men were captured . Although Pan Feng¡¯s fate is still unknown, but we should assume that he is already dead . But still, he did contribute us a great deal for chipping away Zhang Tong troops . I don¡¯t know how much damage their army suffered . But I estimate that he should have roughly 4,000 men remaining in that fortress . And the chaos that the prisoners caused within the fortress should also reduce more of Zhang Tong Army numbers . So his troops should be dwindled further by a bit . "

    Zou Jing paused to check his listeners . After he saw that he had everyone¡¯s attention, he continued .

    "Thenst night, the prisoners broke away from Zhang Tong camp and managed to return to Xin Ping Army in the east . We expect that Xin Ping troop numbers should be around 5,000 to 6,000 after he absorbs the men . Moreover, Zhang Tong disappeared from the fort . It looks like that he was either abducted by the escapees or died in the fight . We will need more intel from the scouts . Although Zhang Tong disappeared, but his allies can overtake his role . So we should not let our guard down . "

    The crowd was excited as they were listening to the briefing . Everyone was ready to shout and offer themselves for the next finishing maneuver so they could take the credits .

    "Look at our situation, both of our troops are 9,500 in numbers and Xin Ping has 5,000 to 6,000, which roughly totals our forces to 15,000 or so . We are fighting against 4,000 bandits in siege warfare and we have over three times of their numbers . So we shouldn¡¯t have any problem . However, the fortress in front of us is bad news . "

    Guo Dian¡¯s officers gulped . They had seen how the fortress operated and knew how Pan Feng was defeated in his siege .

    "But that fortress was not made by bricks and mud like the average city walls . We can use fire attacks on them . However, the wind is blowing toward the west, it wouldn¡¯t be good if Lord Guo Dian remains at the west side of the fortress . "

    Guo Dian nodded as he thought .

    ¡¯As expected from a veteran general from the Imperial Liu family . He¡¯s good . ¡¯

    "The next matter is the moats and holes around the fortress . They look like barricades and pit-hole traps at first nce, but they aren¡¯t . Zhang Tong had used these moat to maneuver his troops to ambush you before, so you should know how dreadful those moat are . "

    "But how can we use the fire attack if we can¡¯t cross those lines? We can¡¯t simply attack them at the gate either . " One of the Guo Dian officer asked Zou Jing .

    "It¡¯s simple . We fill those holes and moats with stones, oil and fire . We will bombard them using our trebuchets . If there are troops in there, then they will suffer! Secondly, we will not separate our forces . But we will settle our camp close to each other, so they won¡¯t be able to use the night raid tactic again . So Lord Guo Dian, I¡¯ll have to ask you to relocate your camp once more time . "

    The crowd in the meeting tent broke into loud cheers as they finally saw the way to the victory .

    In contrary to the crowd, Zou Jing¡¯s face remained indifferent . He signaled them to quiet down . Then the tranquil silence returned to the meeting tent .

    "Although, it sounds easy from what I have just proposed . But do not forget that we are fighting against shrew bandits . They will never allow us to proceed as nned . So I suggest we send an invitation letter to lord Xin Ping in the eastern camp to join us . With our three forcesbined, then we won¡¯t need to be afraid of any underhanded tactics by them anymore . "

    The crowd nodded in agreement . Meanwhile, Guo Dian stared at Zou Jing in envy . Then he was reminded of something important .

    "What about Wen Chou and his troops? I was ambushed by his force before, so have we included him in our calction?"

    Everyone turned silent after hearing what Guo Dian said . It was one of the serious issue that they had to settle soon .

    "There¡¯s no need to worry . The Yuan family won¡¯t interfere with our attacks . Instead, I think they will be cheering for us . "

    Zou Jing said with confident as he touched his beard . There was no such thing as a miscalction when he came up with his ns . From his spy reports, the Yuan family crossed with the Zhang family because of Feng Ji¡¯s greed . So from his analysis, Wen Chou would only stalk the battle . Then he would step forward if the Zhang family were about to lose, and kidnap a few of their family members to extort out their business secrets .

    Therefore, he deemed that Wen Chou unit were harmless .

    "Tell the men to start preparing as many trebuchets as we can . Tomorrow, we willy siege on this fort together!"

 Chapter 55

    Chapter 55

    Chapter 55 ¨C Take Over

    October 27th . Morning, Xin Ping Army main tent .

    Xin Ping had organized all his officers to gather at his main tent today as he had an important announcement to everybody .

    Thirty officers, including Zhang He and his aide, were present in the tent .

    Xin Ping staggered into the tent and gazed at everyone . Afterwards, he started the meeting .

    "Since everyone is here then *hig* I¡¯ll be brief . We¡¯re going home . "

    "What!?"

    "Really!?"

    "But what about Zhang Tong?"

    The crowd was confused . Although their army suffered a setback, but the two thousands men that were captured had returned . They should be preparing for another siege attempt, but why they had to retreat .

    "I know all of you are confused . However, we must not forget the purpose of this skirmish . Our lord, Han Fu, wanted to humiliate Yuan Shao and his family so we marched here to destroy Yuan Shao¡¯s allies . But, since Yuan Shao¡¯s men were cowards . They didn¡¯t even dare to step a foot outside of their base, so we don¡¯t have to continue struggling in vain . They had already humiliated themselves . "

    All officers were baffled as they murmured . They did not know the purpose of this invasion before . Everything was for this petty fight between the families?

    "Secondly *hig*, yesterday evening, I have received an invitation from Liu Yan Army . They want us to join them and attack Zhang Tong together . *hig*"

    The crowd murmured again . Some of them wanted did not want to go back yet, but other officers of the conscripted militias was reluctant to continue fighting .

    "For this joint coalition against Zhang Tong, I see this as a stupid move . Zhang Tong is already crafty and cunning, and Liu Yan¡¯s general is a snake . So if we take part of that, we¡¯ll be used by the other forces as pawns and die in vain . Let me ask you this, do you all want to die for a stranger?"

    The one-arm aide of Zhang Heughed in his heart because of Xin Ping¡¯sments .

    ¡¯Hypocrite, you have just contradicted yourself . You want to use us as your pawns but you won¡¯t allow them to use us as their pawns? What do you think we are? Worthless ants?¡¯

    The one-arm soldier smirked at Xin Ping who was reeking alcohol from his mouth . His face was as red as a tomato . His hair was unkempt as if he didn¡¯tp it after he woke up in the morning . His eyes were blood-shot, and his motion was unstable . All signs showed that Xin Ping was dead drunk .

    ¡¯How do you like my 85% alcohol vodka? Let¡¯s see how you will ruin your leadership and your army . ¡¯

    The smiling soldier was none other than Tong . On the day of the prison break, he caused an explosion and slipped out of his fort with the escapees . To get away from the intense interrogation from Xin Ping, Tong cut off his own arm to pretend to be an injured soldier . Furthermore, he also had Zhang He and his men made up a story about his backgrounds as if he was once a Ye City citizen . As a result, he got in with the other prisoners without being suspected for being a spy .

    Before Tong started the prison break n, he had made two bottles of vodka from his magic cooking utensil .

    After he had infiltrated into Xin Ping camp, he ordered Zhang He to give all of the prepared vodka for Xin Ping¡¯s personal cooks . So he could get himself drunk or crippled his judgement for a day .

    However, Tong was surprised by Xin Ping¡¯s alcohol tolerant . He heard that Xin Ping emptied the bottles of vodka this morning but he was still able to attend the meeting .

    ¡¯I thought he would die from alcohol poisoning . Well, it¡¯s better if he didn¡¯t die instantly . ¡¯

    Tong rubbed his chin as he observed Xin Ping from head to toes . Then he swept his nce to everybody in the tent .

    All officers had distorted expression as they noticed the alcoholic smell from Xin Ping . Tong assumed that they were already aware that Xin Ping was dead drunk .

    "I¡¯m the only one that can order you around! No one has the right tomand my army! No one ..."

    Xin Ping started babbling nonsense which caused all of the officers to express their inconvenient on their faces . They wanted to retort or stopped Xin Ping, but they were afraid of the martialws and its punishment for insubordination or careless remarks .

    Tong smirked as he realized that the timing was right . He pulled out a small packed cloth with powder anesthetic, AKA "Date **** Drug" in the modern time, which Hua Shi had prepared for him beforehand . Afterwards he chanted his magic words in his mind .

    ¡¯Time stop!¡¯

    All movements in the world stopped . For the next ten seconds, Tong owned this world .

    Tong straddled forward and shoved his drug into Xin Ping¡¯s mouth directly, and fed him with a scoop of water from a bucket nearby . After the set up was done, Tong returned to his previous spot and allowed the time to resume .

    The time flow resumed . Xin Ping found himself choking because some of the water got into his lung . After the serious coughing, he felt dizzy and nauseous . Then ckness enveloped his vision as he lost consciousness .

    The crowd was thrown into an uproar the moment they saw Xin Ping suddenly copsed . However, none of them suspected that Xin Ping was poisoned or assassinated because they all believed that Xin Ping finally hit his alcohol limit and passed out .

    One of the officers called out Xin Ping¡¯s servants and had them taking the drunk man back to his resting tent . After the matter was done, all of them resumed the war meeting .

    "Lord Xin Ping is not currently in a state to handle troops . What do you all think we should do?" One of the officers asked .

    "Lord Pan Feng is dead and Lord Xin Ping is out cold . Who willmand this army?"

    "That¡¯s right . Without leader, we can¡¯t move our men like this . "

    "How about we move with our men and decide for ourselves what to do?"

    "No! That will create chaos! All of us here are either a hundred-manmander or a thousand-manmander . If we do that we will split our forces into small numbers and it will not be organized . "

    Seeing that the officers were deciding what to do next, Tong chipped in .

    "I think we should select someone among us to be the new temporarymander for now . "

    "Hmm?"

    "Ehh?"

    "Ah! That¡¯s right! We need a new grandmander!"

    "Correct! Without a leader, our army can¡¯t operate!"

    "Nice idea! Let¡¯s do that . But who will be the newmander?"

    Tong smiled as he proposed another idea .

    "How about our two-thousand-manmander, Zhang He . "

    "Hmm? Him?"

    "The new two-thousand-manmander?"

    The crowd focused their attention on Tong and Zhang He . Meanwhile, Zhang He¡¯s eyes was opened wide while he was sweating bullets . Although Tong had briefed his n with him beforehand, but he was still nervous .

    "Yes . From the prison break attempt, he was our leader and the mastermind behind the n . He kept his head cool and saved all of us . Moreover, he currently has the highest rank among us . I think Lord Zhang He is the most suitable candidate for this position . "

    Tong persuaded everyone by shoving all credits to Zhang He to create a hero image for him . However, Zhang He¡¯s teeth was chattering as if he was in the middle of ska naked, yet he did his best to maintain his poker face .

    All officers nodded in agreement . They had no reason to refuse the idea as Zhang He had proven that he qualified to be amander . He protected his people . He also had the highest rank and he was smart, so why not?

    "Since everybody agrees with me . Then Lord Zhang He, we will leave our fates in your hand . "

    Tong concluded the decision without giving anyone a chance to think or offering any other idea . Then he winked at Zhang He and hinted him to acknowledge it and take the position .

    Zhang He stood up and walked to the main seat in the main tent . Then he sat down as he gazed at everyone in solemn . His poker face did not flinch the slightest .

    Tong was surprised by his calm reaction and his ability to maintain his coolness . He indeed had the charisma of a great general .

    Everybody in the tent was also impressed by his demeanor . They had no doubt that they had selected the most suitable person to be theirmander .

    Tong made a hand gesture in secret, telling him what to do next, which made Zhang He rained another sweat .

    Zhang He took a deep breath before he gave out his first thought andmand .

    "Although Lord Xin Ping was drunk, but I agree with his idea of withdrawing from this battle . This war was meaningless to us anyway . What do you guys think?"

    The crowd nodded . The suggestion from the sanemander and a drunk man was the same, but the credibility they had was a world apart . All officers agreed without any question .

    Tong smiled while he gave Zhang He a thumb up .

    ¡¯It was tiring and risky . But the second and third phase was sessful . ¡¯

    ¡¯With this, one of the three armies is eliminated . ¡¯

 Chapter 56

    Chapter 56

    Chapter 56 ¨C Aspiration of a Great General

    October 27th . Afternoon .

    Xin Ping Army soldiers packed all of their belonging in joyous mood as they did not have to fight in a bloody war anymore . Since majority of the troops were conscripted militias, they did not feel sad for losing a battle . They were here for money and food for their families, so their priority was to return home alive .

    There were still a few who resented Zhang Tong and his men for killing their friends in the first day siege and the night raid . But all of them were professional soldiers, so they could not disobey their grandmander¡¯s order .

    Zhang He gazed at his men with his indifferent face . He kept his poker face all this morning which it slowly turned into his casual face without him realizing it . Behind him, Tong was there, swinging his newly regenerated arm to get back his feeling and his sense .

    Regenerating a lost body part was costly as the system charged him 500 lifespans for one piece . Although Tong gained some of his lifespans back with his [Sword Mastery] skill for killing Pan Feng¡¯s soldiers, he had only 656 lifespans remaining .

    But Tong did not regret it because paying 1,000 lifespans to force 5,000 to 6,000 men into retreat was worth it . Furthermore, this retreating n had a couple more agendas which Tong had given Zhang He as a homework .

    As for the body parts that were cut off, he buried all of them . If he continued keeping them and Hua Shi were to find them, she would probably eat it raw .

    "My lord, are you sure this is the right move?" Zhang He asked Tong .

    "Why?"

    "I¡¯m sorry if I might sound rude . But if I were my lord, I would use this troops to attack Liu Yan and Guo Dian forces men instead . "

    Tong smiled as he shook his head . There was another n in his mind .

    Because Ye City was one of the biggest Imperial cities on the northern province of China, he would need over two hundred thousand men for the siege if Tong wanted to im Ye City in the future . The city alone could house over a hundred thousand soldiers, and almost a million of civilians . It could not be taken down without massive investments of troops, provision and gold .

    However, if he nted Zhang He within Han Fu¡¯s ranks like a Trojan Horse of Troy, it would be possible that Zhang He could take over Han Fu¡¯s entire army . If Tong wanted to invade Ye City in the future, he could make Zhang He surrender the city to him without fighting . Thus, it would save hundred thousands lives of his men and his future civilians and servants, which was more beneficial to Tong in the long run .

    If Zhang He helped Tong in this siege, they could crush Zou Jing and Guo Dian Army with ease . But the entire n to take over Ye would be foiled as Han Fu would never trust Zhang He in the future .

    For the bigger picture, Tong had to make an advance investment .

    But now, he had to coax Zhang He into cooperation first .

    "I understand why you view it that way . But you¡¯ve forgotten something . "

    "I¡¯ve forgotten something?"

    "You¡¯ve forgotten the heart of your soldiers . Your people . "

    "Heart of the soldiers?"

    "Have you forgotten why you have be a soldier? Why they volunteered to be conscripted into militias?"

    Zhang He was stunned as he was reminded how he entered the military . He had to pay back his debt of a thousand gold so he had no choice but to risk his life and became a professional soldier .

    "Just like you, they want money . They want to bring home food for their families . "

    "..."

    "Have you seen their faces?"

    "...Yes . "

    "Are they happy?"

    "...Yes . "

    "Have you read a record called ¡¯Art of War¡¯ written by Sun Tzu?"

    "I¡¯ve heard of it but I¡¯ve never read it . "

    "There is one quote that I remember well; ¡¯Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys . Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death . ¡¯ . "

    Zhang He was astonished and awed by the quote . It was deep and profound . He had never entered school or had any education before, but he desired for an opportunity to be tutor or to learn such thing .

    Zhang He immediately recited the quote in his mind in enthusiasm . He was afraid that he might forget it if he didn¡¯t recite it now .

    Seeing that Zhang He mumbled to himself to recite the quote, Tong shook his head and sighed . Then he took out an empty scroll and started writing the quote that Tong taught Zhang He just now .

    "Here, I wrote it down for you . You are not a schr but amander of an army . Stop reciting it like that . "

    Tong passed the scroll to Zhang He whose face was redden by the embarrassment .

    "What I¡¯m trying to tell you is, don¡¯t recklessly toss away their lives even if their sacrifices can win you a battle . A third rate general can win a battle but he will lose most of his men in return . The first rate generals will win any battle with minimum loses . But do you know what a great general can achieve?"

    Zhang He shook his head .

    "He can win a war without losing his men . "

    "!!!"

    "Remember my words, if you want to be a great general immortalized in the history for two thousand year, take priority for saving your men¡¯s lives . Look at the bigger picture! Look at the consequences of your actions before you act! Don¡¯t mindlessly charge into the enemy files of formation . Take notes on the geography and terrains . Send scouts to obtain more information . There are many things that you can collect and use it as a base to deduct your enemy¡¯s motives and their next movements . "

    Tong continued to lecture Zhang He despite knowing that he would be a great general in the future . But now, he was just a fledgling that had not grew a feather yet .

    Furthermore, the Zhang He in the history was a good learner, yet ate bloomer . After he defected to Cao Cao, he participated in small skirmishes against Yuan Shao¡¯s sons and other pirates, bandits and rebels, but he was outshone by other superior generals, such as Zhang Liao, Xiahou families and other strategy geniuses .

    Zhang He continued to pile up his experience and achievements one step at a time to improve himself as a general . Then in 211 and 212, Zhang He utilized his hard-earned experiences to defeat Ma Chao Army twice .

    Later on, Zhang He suffered defeat by Liu Bei¡¯s night raid in the battle of Hanzhong in the year 215, which Zhang He managed to escape but Xiahou Yuan was killed in the battle . However, Liu Bei expressed disappointment after learning that it was Xiahou Yuan but not Zhang He, who was dead .

    Zhang He came back to haunt Shu forces in 228 when Zhuge Liangunched the first Shu Invasion against Wei Kingdom . He exploited and crushed Ma Su in the battle of Jieting, forcing Zhuge Liang to execute one of his favorite subordinate in tears . Afterwards, Zhang He snatched back three provinces from the hand of Shu forces, causing the first Shu Invasion to end in failure .

    Ever since then, Zhuge Liang marked Zhang He as a number one priority target to take down alongside with Sima Yi .

    For a fledgling to grow into someone who could threaten Zhuge Liang, he was not a simple general . Tong deemed that he had to cultivate this person carefully and not letting him fall into danger and die prematurely .

    "For now, return with them and serve Han Fu once you get there . "

    "But my lord, why?"

    "There are three jobs I want you to do while you are there . One, climb up your rank and be the grand general of Han Fu entire army . Two, the Ye City is an imperial city . There are imperial library and books that you can only ess as a high rank official . Take this chance and learn as many things possible in there . And three, befriend with Ju Shou . And if it¡¯s possible, try to get on his good side . "

    "But I promised you that I¡¯ll serve you . Why Han Fu?"

    Tong smiled at him and patted his shoulder .

    "It¡¯s just temporary . When the time is right, I¡¯ll pay you a visit myself in Ye . At that time, I want you to open the city gate and wee me yourself with your subordinates . "

    The eyes of Zhang He lit up . Although he was still a fledgling, he was not stupid . He could tell that a grand scheme had been ced upon his shoulders .

    Zhang He knelt down in one knee and cupped his fist .

    "I swear by my father¡¯s name . I shallplete your trust even if it costs my life!"

    Tong frowned . He walked forward to Zhang He . Instead of helping him up, Tong gave him a punch on top of Zhang He¡¯s head, causing a big bump .

    Zhang He was confused . Why was he hit when he just swore his loyalty?

    "Idiot! What did I just teach you? Never throw lives away, and that¡¯s including your own live! Here¡¯s another lesson for you . As long as you are alive, anything is possible! Dead man cannot achieve shit! So don¡¯t sacrifice your live without my permission! Did I make myself clear?"

    Zhang He was stunned in confusion for a moment . But after he processed the information, he was in awed . He was reminded with the Tong¡¯s teaching "Treat your soldiers as if they are your children" . It was the action of a father who disciplined his own child .

    "This subordinate understands . "

    Tong nodded . Then he waved his hand and unloaded 10,000 gold on the ground in front of Zhang He as if he created it out of thin air .

    "I promised you 2,000 gold, so take a portion for yourself . But be sure to give the rest to your men and the families of the decreased . Don¡¯t forget to tell them that I gave it to them as apensation from our previous fight . As for Xin Ping, don¡¯t kill him yet . You need him back alive to gain Han Fu¡¯s trust . But if he actually dies, then tell Han Fu that he dies from alcohol poisoning . "

    Tong handed everything to Zhang He, after which he walked away without looking back . And he left Zhang He with his words .

    "Through battle, a man bes a hero . Through death a hero bes a legend . Through time, a legend bes a myth . But I don¡¯t want to see a dead man myth . I want to see a living legend!"

    "Grow up and be a great general worthy of the Immortal King!"

    The heart of Zhang He shook . An aspiration within the depth of his heart had been born . Within the darkness of his heart, a kindle had been ignited . The blood in his body heated up and boiled . His adrenaline shot through his blood vessels . And his eyes were moist as he was enveloped by countless of emotion . The feeling of being epted and being entrusted upon a great responsibility moved him .

    Zhang He both knees and his forehead hit the ground in kowtow . Zhang He swore in his heart that he would pursue the path of the strongest general under the heaven .

    ...

    ...

    After Tong left Zhang He¡¯s camp and were on his way to his fortress, Tong pped his forehead repeatedly . He was ashamed of what he just said .

    ¡¯WTF with those lines!? Grow up and be a great general worthy of the Immortal King!? Why the hell did I said that!? I want to die! Should I bit my tongue andmit suicide!?¡¯

    "SSSHIIIIIIEEEEETTTTT"

 Chapter 57

    Chapter 57

    Chapter 57 ¨C North Gate Situation

    October 27th . Evening .

    Tong rode a horse back to his fort after he sessfully made Xin Ping troops into retreat . When he got closed to the fortress, his heart was sunk .

    There were white smoke and traces of battles at the direction of the north gate .

    He approached to front east gate in a hurry . The guards remembered Tong, afterwards they became frantic as they thought he was captured by the escaped prisoners . Because Tong had only told his ns to Hua Shi and his uncles to control the amount of info leak to the enemy spies, none of the men knew about it .

    Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang and Hua Shi heard that Tong had returned, they rushed to Tong to see his conditions and questioned him about the escape .

    Tong told the three about his absurd n which cause them to cringe . If it were them, they would use Xin Ping troops to attack Guo Dian and Zou Jing Army . Why did Tong allow them to withdraw?

    Tong took all of them into his private tent to exin the situation and his n . Because he required Zhang He to take over the military affair within the Yie City without anyone suspecting his activities and their rtionship, he had to be secretive .

    Once the time was right, Tong could take over Yie City without losing a single of his soldier . Even if Xin Ping were to return alive, he would not be able to prevent the coup from Zhang He .

    ...

    "What happened to the north gate? I was away for only two days . Howe the both wings were copsed like this?"

    Tong was baffled by the carnage scenes of the ruined north walls . The V-formation walls were not there anymore but reced with burned woods and stones . The trenches had tens of thousands fist size stones covering all over the ces . White and ck smoke also came out of the trench lines as if someone had burned it .

    Through the exnation of Zhang Bao and the rest, Zou Jing, who was themander of Liu Yan forces, used 50 trebuchets to barrage the trench lines for an entire morning . Zhang Bao had the men retreated back from the trench lines .

    On the afternoon, they approached further and rained fire barrels and oil on the remaining north wall wings which caused it to catch me and copsed .

    Now they were left with the inner walls and barely usable trench lines .

    The garrisoned troops also suffered some casualties . The Trench Squadrons were hit the hardest and only half of them survived . The Pill Box Squads got lucky because they had roofs and shelters, so all of them were still in full number . The archers on the walls were not as lucky, they were barrage by the enemy arrows and trebuchets stones, so a portion of them were gone .

    Although the garrison army was hit hard, but Zou Jing and Guo Dian Army was not able to get away unscratched .

    During today siege, Hua Shi maneuvered a thousand archers through to trench and ambushed the trebuchets crews and their archers, which killed over three thousand men of Guo Dian men . But because of her reckless action, she got hit by a stray rock from a trebuchets as a consequences .

    Hua Shi had bandages covering her head, and traces of blood seeped out within the white cloth . She looked at Tong with her puppy teary eyes, begging him to spoil her or pity her .

    Tong sighed as he patted the top of her head in constion . He whispered her that after the battle was over, he would give her a one-night ticket that she could do anything to him for a night . The offer ignited desire in her eyes, but they returned to her innocent puppy eyes in a split second .

    Hua Shi smiled at Tong and excused herself to rest at her tent . Her modest action was seen by Tong¡¯s two uncles, which made them approved of her manner . With her valor and her leadership in the battle today, she was officially respected as their goddess by everybody in the camp .

    Unbeknownst to everyone, once she got into her tent, she tap danced in joy . She started drafting her wishlist in advance while she was drooling . When that day came, she would enjoy Tong¡¯s body and his fluid to the fullest .

    ...

    ...

    Tong, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang remained in the tent and were discussing the next n .

    The casualty report depressed Tong . His 4,800 soldiers went down to 2,500 . Moreover, 500 of them were unable to continue fighting as they were crippled for life . It was fortunate that 1,700 of the remaining active 2,000 were the elites of Zhang Liang and Tong that he had trained, while the rest were the recruited bandits .

    One of the reason that the bandit numbers were lost that much was because of Zhang Yan, whom Tong was wary of . During the today siege, Zhang Yan took 1,500 bandits and deserted the fortress with a portion of armors, weapons, crossbows, arrows and food .

    Instead of being angry, Tong was d that he defected early on . Although his timing caused severe damages to the army, but it was better to let him betray him now rather thanter on when Tong amassed more troops or upied a city .

    Meanwhile, Zou Jing and Guo Dian troops did not fare well either . They lost over 3,000 men during the battle which were caused by Hua Shi¡¯s long range homing arrows and her trench ambush .

    The number of both armies were now 6,000 against 2,000 with Tong Army at disadvantage . Moreover, Wen Chou¡¯s 500 men were still lurking around the perimeters .

    It would be fine if Tong continued to turtle a few more days . However, another depressing report made them worried .

    They were running out of arrows!

    Normally, five days of siege battle would even reduce the arrow stocks by only half of what they had prepared . However, the repeating crossbows consumed ten times more arrows because of their high rate of fire .

    Although Zhang Liang had his men to go out and collect the recyble arrows when they went out to clean the battlefield, but only one-third of them could be used again .

    At this rate, they would run out of arrows in the middle of tomorrow siege!

    "That ingrate Zhang Yan! If it wasn¡¯t for him, then we would have enough arrows for one more day!" Zhang Bao cursed out .

    "Second uncle, one more day or half a day isn¡¯t that different . For now, please listen to what I¡¯m about to exin . "

    "Nephew, you have a n?" Zhang Bao asked .

    "It¡¯s now exactly a n . But I think it¡¯s time to reveal a hidden card we have . "

    "A hidden card?"

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang was confused . They used up everything they already had, but what was the hidden card Tong was talking about?

    Tong smiled at his uncles while ncing at his radar map . A group of 1,000 yellow dots appeared in his map in the north-east of his fortress .

    "Not exactly a hidden card . It¡¯s just that we¡¯re lucky that we¡¯re popr . "

    ...

    ...

    October 28th . Wen Chou camp . 6 AM .

    A horseman messenger arrived in front of Wen Chou camp and shouted that he had a message from Zhang Tong Army . After Wen Chou heard it, he immediately let the messenger in .

    He read the scroll in his hands, and he was delighted . In the scroll, Tong requested for their aid . Which meant that Tong would have to serve the Yuan family once the battle was done .

    "How the hell did he find us here?"

    "It seems Zhang Tong has a bit of talent . We did our best but we¡¯re still being detected . "

    "Well, that doesn¡¯t matter . What does the letter say?"

    A wild and burly man who sat on his chair with his feet on the meeting table asked Wen Chou . The man was Yan Liang who was Wen Chou¡¯s equal .

    Yan Liang and his 500 elite horsemen was sent here by Feng Ji because Wen Chou was evaluated as not efficient enough for pressuring Tong .

    "Zhang Tong begged us for our help . We have to go and get him as soon as possible . " Wen Chou answered .

    "Bah! What¡¯s so good about that brat! He¡¯s just a braggart! Pfft, what¡¯s immortal? An immortal that can¡¯t even drive back a bunch of weaklings!"

    "I don¡¯t think you should look down on him . He defeated me once, you know?"

    Yan Liang raised his eyebrows up as he was surprised . Both he and Wen Chou sparred countless of times, so he knew how strong Wen Chou was .

    "You¡¯ve gotta be kidding me . You? Lost? Aren¡¯t you exaggerating?"

    "I¡¯m serious . You can try him yourself when you meet him . "

    Yan Liang smirked as he stood up . He was looking forward to see how strong Tong was .

    "Where are we meeting him?" Yan Liang asked again .

    "He said ¡¯Help me at noon . North of the Fort¡¯ . "

    "North?"

    "Yeah . "

    "Isn¡¯t Zou Jing and his troops station there?"

    "I think it Zhang Tong wanted to break through from the north, and he wanted an escort . "

    "But why that direction . Isn¡¯t the south safer?"

    "No, it makes sense if he wants to breakthrough through the north . Zou Jing had only 3,000 men on the north while on the west Guo Dian had 6,000 men . And from thetest news, Xin Ping still has 6,000 men to the east . But Zhang Tong can¡¯t breakout to the south because there is no ally waiting for them there but Han Fu¡¯s territory . He will be boxed in if Xin Ping pursues . "

    Yan Liang rotated his eyes as he thought and simted Tong¡¯s escape scenarios . After a few minutes, he nodded in agreement with Wen Chou .

    "Alright, let¡¯s do as you said . To the north of the fort, it is . "

    Yan Liang and Wen Chou ordered their men to rush west to the direction of the north of the fort .

    They did not know that they made a mistake . They were too upied trying to sneak around without being detected . As a result, their spyworks were slower than usual and all news they had were a dayte .

 Chapter 58

    Chapter 58

    Chapter 58 ¨C Battle of Anping ¨C Decisive Battle Part 1

    October 28th . 8 AM .

    Zou Jing and Guo Dian stood on top of their watchtower, observing their troops below . At the same time .

    Yesterday, they took a big hit from Hua Shi and her ambush troops which ended 3,000 lives of their soldiers here in Anping . Her existence and her archery skill was now being aware by the two generals and their troops .

    Everyone in their camp called her "Goddess of Death" .

    Zou Jing gazed at the north gate of the fortress in solemn . He had never expected a tough fight against bandits like this before . The damage from the fortress formation was manageable, but Hua Shi herself was a nightmare . Furthermore, her light arrows never missed, which this rumor alone already terrified his troops and caused their moral to sink rock bottom .

    This morning, he heard another two bad news . Zhang Tong, whom Zou Jing had thought he was abducted by the escaped prisoners, had returned .

    Secondly, Xin Ping Army withdrew and headed back to Yie yesterday .

    This meant that they had to deal with the bandits with their remaining forces . If they continued to suffer set back and couldn¡¯t handle Zhang Tong and Hua Shi with these remaining advantages, they would be aughing stock of the entire China .

    Guo Dian did not feel too well either as he had already lost almost of his troops . He only had 3,500 men left . Meanwhile, Zou Jing only lost 500 men of his initial 3,000 . The ipetence of his men shamed him, and put him in an awkward position in this alliance against Tong .

    Today, they decided that they should end this fight by crushing the tricky fortress in front of them . They wouldunch an all-out assault and they would not stop until the fort in front of them was burned to ashes .

    One hundred trebuchets had been lined up which were two times in numbers if theypared it with yesterday siege . They was being pushed to the frontline with all oil pots, stones, sharp irons and woods were being loaded into the trebuchet slings .

    Because of theck of troops, they had to reduce the number of trebuchet crews . As a result, the range of the trebuchets were shorten . But both Guo Dian and Zou Jing no longer cared as they had blood in their eyes and lost their logic sense .

    . . .

    10 AM .

    All trebuchets were ready . Guo Dian and Zou Jing immediately sounded the war drums, and all of their troops march forward .

    Shield bearers and heavy infantry were on the frontlines while archers and trebuchet crews were in the back . All light cavalry were in the third line, standing by for any change of situation .

    They had learnt from their previous battles against Tong and Hua Shi . With the both wings of the walls was gone, they only need to worry about the trenches, archers and Hua Shi¡¯s archery . Thus, they put their meat shields in front, and prepared to storm the fortress before dusk .

    *BANG*

    The moment the frontline stepped into the range of 350 meters of the trenches, a thunder sound was heard and light arrows flew toward them .

    Zou Jing felt something pierced through his left shoulder, and a finger-size hole appeared .

    Zou Jing was shocked by the sudden event, he escaped down the watchtower without hesitation .

    *BANG*

    Another sound of bang arrived again, and Zou Jing¡¯s aide who was standing next to him a moment ago fell down from the watchtower .

    Guo Dian who was beside him was panic . He hurried down the tower and hid behind his men .

    . . .

    In the trench, Tong clicked his tongue in annoyance . He shot at Guo Dian and Zou Jing once each, but he missed both killing shot as they were too far away .

    Seeing that Guo Dian and Zou Jing were spook and hid themselves, Tong switched to his pistol and shot at the iing troops instead .

    After that moment, each time the invader troops heard a thunderous sound, one of the 100-manmanders would fall . At the same time, the light arrows with eyes continued to piece unlucky soldiers in the backline .

    Afterwards, they reached the 200 meters range . Half of the trebuchets stopped moving, and their slings were rotated and swung forward . Countless of objects were throw to the trenches, and the light objects even flew higher and hit the walls . One of the stone hit the top of the wall along with the garrison soldiers, killing a few unlucky men .

    The archers from the alliance force also followed through with their volleys toward the trenches, which caused more damaged to Tong Army .

    At the same moment, rains of arrows were pouring from the trenches and the remaining pill boxes, showering the iing meat shield infantries .

    Death throes and screams vibrated in the battlefield as both sides exchanged their projectiles . However, majority of the sounds came from the invading side as the defending side had cover, and were grouping in small squads instead of staying still inrge number .

    The meat shield frontline did not stop moving . They charged forward at the trench squadrons in front of them with their spears .

    The arrow barrages never stopped . The charging shield bearers dropped down one after another . However, more than half of them reached the first trench line, and they attacked the troops inside the trenches .

    The trench squadrons would not roll and die by a simple attack from the front, they counter-attacked with their pikes and spears .

    Both armies entered deadlock shes as their frontlines collided with each other .

    . . .

    11 . 30 PM .

    One burning oil pot wasunched from a trebuchet . It mmed onto the wooden wall and the fire was lit! me spread through the wooden walls as if they were dry coal in a furnace .

    The garrison soldiers inside were in panic as some of them attempted to extinguish the fire . Zhang Liang who was inside the fort managed to control the fire before it engulfed the entire fortress .

    However, the burned parts of the walls became fragile from the me . The robes that tied wooden logs and stakes together were burnt and severed . Within 10 minutes after the fire was doused, the burnt wall copsed .

    The wall had been breached!

    Seeing the wall had been crushed and the inner fortress became visible, Zou Jing ordered his troops to focus attacking at the breached wall section .

    Then two youths jumped up from the trench and ran directly toward the iing troops . One of them was a bald youth carrying a giant de, while the other one had a standard iron sword and a ck strange object in his other hand .

    Zhou Cang with his giant de cleaved three of the iing soldiers sideway in one swing, and he continued to repeat the same motion on the other iing soldiers .

    Tong used his sword in his right hand to chop down any soldier that came close to him, while his other hand aimed his pistol toward the others that were out of his sword range .

    Within the first line of trench, all trench squadrons retreated back to the second line of defenses while they kept their head down to avoid all iing rocks and arrows from the alliance army .

    Tong and Zhou Cang stood their ground for little over five minutes before Tong shouted an order at Zhou Cang .

    "Withdraw to the hole! Stop them there!"

    Because two of them could not hold all enemies from crossing the firstline, they had to retreat .

    Afterwards, both of them cleared up the enemies in front of them and dashed back to the second trench line, in front of the destroyed wall .

    Zhou Cang jumped into the trench and disappeared from the sight of Zou Jing and Guo Dian troops . However, Tong stayed behind .

    "You go no further . "

    He turned around and resumed shooting his pistol at any soldier that came into his range .

    "That¡¯s the enemy general! Kill him!"

    The archers of Guo Dian saw this chance, they ignored their friends who were within the arrow range andunched a barrage of arrows at Tong¡¯s location .

    Seeing the ck rain of arrowsing toward him, Tong grabbed a nearby corpse and lift it up as if it was his shield and covered his head .

    The arrow rain made contact with fleshes of the corpse and the soldiers in front of Tong . Five arrows slipped through his guard and prated into his arms and legs .

    Tong gritted his teeth and red at the iing forces as he activated his regeneration skill . Light shone on his wounds and all arrows that were stuck on him were ejected with mysterious strong shockwave . His wounds closed itself and disappeared as he had never gotten any injury .

    Blood got into Tong¡¯s eyes, his adrenaline rushed into his blood vessels . He forgot about his existence and all his thought . Killing any enemy in front of him was the only thing in his mind .

    Hundreds of Guo Dian and Zou Jing troops rushed at Tong, but sword afterimages mowed down everyone that moved forward .

    However, there were troops that bypassed Tong and attempted to rush into the hole in the wall . Zhou Cang who had retreated back reappeared in front of the copsed wall with his infantry unit . He shouted to Tong .

    "THE TROOPS ARE IN POSITION, SIR!!"

    Hearing what Zhou Cang shouted, Tong snapped out of his zone and took a step back to withdraw from the front .

    *SSIK*

    But before he ran back another step, a spear was thrown and pierced through Tong¡¯s chest!

    Tong shuddered from the shock of pain, then five more spear were stabbed into his chest by the nearby imperial soldiers of Zou Jing .

    *SSIK* *SSIK* *SSIK* *SSIK* *SSIK*

    Tong¡¯s vision turned yellowish from the lost of blood and pain from his cracked bones and pierced lung, yet he gritted his teeth and activated his regeneration skill once more .

    "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"

    *WINK*

    Light shed from his body and released a circr shock-wave which pushed back all attacking soldiers . At the same time, his wounds disappeared again .

    But more soldiers who wanted an achievement for killing the enemy general kepting at Tong . They stabbed out their spears at him once more .

    "TIME STOP!!"

    A loud shouted came out from Tong, after which ten soldiers around him became headless as their head flew up the sky . Meanwhile, Tong reappeared at the surface behind the third line of defense, and he ran back to regroup with Zhou Cang .

    Guo Dian and Zou Jing who observed from afar behind their men were shock at the sight .

    "Monster ..."

    "Is he really an immortal?"

    Those were the words they uttered before a scout rushed in and reported an urgent message .

    Wen Chou troops were spotted on the east of this battlefield and they were heading this way . They estimated that they would arrive here at noon .

    Zou Jing immediately looked at the position of the sun . They had roughly less than two hours before Tong¡¯s reinforcement arrived .

    Guo Dian and Zou Jing ordered their light cavalry to sortie and head east to intercept the iing Wen Chou Army . Three hundred horsemen of Guo Dian and a thousand horsemen of Zou Jing charged out .

    While monitoring the invader and firing her arrows, Hua Shi saw this movement . She whistled and sent a ryed g signal to Bo Cai who was hiding in the west three kilometer away with his 200 light cavalry .

    Bo Cai saw a g signal that was waved on top of a tree, he ordered his men to charge out . Their targets was the backline trebuchets and the archers .

    After sending the signal, Hua Shi continued to disy her archery skill and her light arrows, but two of the stray arrows flew toward her .

    *THUD*

    One of the two arrows pierce her shoulder!

    *THUD*

    The other one pierced her chest!

 Chapter 59

    Chapter 59

    Chapter 59 ¨C Battle of Anping ¨C Decisive Battle Part 2

    Tong hold his ground in front breached wall with Zhou Cang and other infantries, enduring all arrows, stones, fire attacks and spear and sword strikes from the enemy invaders .

    The trench squads that ran out of arrows grabbed their melee weapons, and stabbed their pikes and their spears up toward the iing invaders, stopping their advance toward the walls .

    Meanwhile, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang troops moved up in secret toward thest line .

    The arrow barrage from the trench and the wall had been stopped before Tong had retreated . Most of the troops ran out of arrows . Only thest squad of Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang still saved up for thest part of the n .

    On the other side, Guo Dian noticed that the arrow barrages from the fortress had been ceased . He ordered his men to charge forward to the destroyed wall in a hurry . Guo Dian wanted to seize this chance to loot the fortress before Zou Jing troops got in . Thus, he ignored the trench lines of defenses and approached directly from the main road toward the gap of the wall .

    Zou Jing was surprised by Guo Dian¡¯s action . Although the arrow barrage from the fortress had been stopped but that could not be assumed as they were out of arrows or there would be no more ambush .

    Because Guo Dian troops went all out, there were only less than a thousand archers and trebuchet crews of Zou Jing which remained in the backline . Zou Jing¡¯s frontline troops had long been decimated by the arrows and Tong¡¯s bullets .

    Just five minutes after Guo Dian and his troops rushed toward the breached wall, the sounds of galloping horses came from the west .

    With dust and dirt flew behind them, Bo Cai and his 200 horsemen were charging at Zou Jing¡¯s backline troops .

    Because Bo Cai and his men caught Zou Jing off guard, the reserved soldiers had not received an order to reform rank to counter the iing cavalry . The entire backlines were in panic .

    Bo Cai also would not let this chance passing by . He and his men charged and ran over the unprepared archers, trebuchet crews and the panic infantries .

    The horses stomped on the undefended troops, crushing their bones and their internal organs with the horses and the riders weights . Some tried to dodge to the side, but they still got stabbed by the spears of the horsemen .

    Like an ocean wave, the triangle formation of 200 horsemen swept away the men in front of them and left a trail of dead bodies behind as they galloped forward .

    Two hundreds horsemen made a quick work on the undefended archers and trebuchet crews .

    However, Zou Jing Army were professional soldiers . Five hundred men of Zou Jing formed the phnx formation with spears and shields . They stood firm and waited for the iing cavalry to crash with them .

    Zou Jing also joined his troops and fended off the iing cavalries .

    As Bo Cai was still inexperience in the tactic and warfare, he forgot to maneuver his men to avoid the spear formation in front of his troops . As a result, they crashed into the prepared defenders head on, and the cavalry momentum was stopped .

    With the impact, Bo Cai came back to his sense . After he realized that he lost his initiative, Bo Cai immediately led his men to retreat . They would risk being routed if they persisted to stay and continue to fight .

    Bo Cai unit suffered heavy damaged from the counter-attack of Zou Jing . Only fifty horsemen managed to escape while the rest left their lives on the battle .

    However, hepleted his objectives by stopping the barrage of the trebuchets . More than half of the trebuchets were destroyed, and half of the remaining troops of Zou Jing was also killed in the battle .

    Seeing the ambush unit of Tong Army retreated, Zou Jing¡¯s face turned ugly . Only four hundred men survived from Bo Cai¡¯s charge . The other troops he had left was the cavalry unit that he sent to intercept Wen Chou .

    His inner instinct told him that he had to retreat now or he might never be able to . Zou Jing trusted his instinct more than anything else when he faced a crisis or a setback . He immediately ordered his remaining men to retreat back to Ji Province, and ignored Guo Dian illogical activities .

    ...

    On the front of the north gate, Guo Dian and his remaining 1,500 troops recklessly charged at the bleached wall, thinking that there would be no more arrowing from the fort .

    The moment they bypassed the trenches and reached the defensive troops within the fort, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang two hundred soldiers popped up from the trench and fired arrows at the back of the charging troops .

    Hundreds of arrows pierced the back of the unaware Guo Dian troops and caused confusion and panic .

    After Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang ambush units unloaded all of their clips, killed or injured 500 men of Guo Dian . Then they drew their swords and charged at the injured Guo Dian troops .

    Guo Dian looked back and saw only two hundred men charging at them . He thought that these soldiers should be thest remaining healthy men of Tong Army . Therefore, he took four hundred men from his remaining thousand men to intercept the pincer attack .

    Guo Dian soldiers and thest elites of Tong¡¯s two uncle shed . Within just a minute of shing and hacking from both sides, Guo Dian found out that his soldiers were inferior and they were killed faster than the other way around .

    Seeing that he was in disadvantage if this went on, Guo Dian called another 300 of his 600 men who were attacking the walls back to assist him .

    After the 300 men came to assist Guo Dian, Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao were pushed back . Both of them and his men retreated back into the trench . Suddenly, Tong, who had been at the breached wall, broke through the iing soldiers and showed up in front of Guo Dian .

    "ZHANG TONG!!" Guo Dian shouted as he swung his halberd at Tong .

    "GG, SUCKER!!"

    Tong repelled Guo Dian¡¯s halberd with his sword by striking it with his full strength, utilizing his passive attribute buff to the fullest!

    *******************************

    [Sword Mastery] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kill an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy .

    *******************************

    Guo Dian staggered back from the unexpected force from the sword parry . Both of his hands were numb and they were repelled upward, leaving his stomach wide open .

    Then Tong¡¯s sword stabbed through the gap of Guo Dian¡¯s armor into his chest .

    *SSUK*

    Guo Dian came to a pause as he looked down .

    Feeling something cold entered his stomach, Guo Dian shuddered in pain . Tong twisted his sword and shoved it further sideway to damage Guo Dian internal organs, and then pulled it out along with the entangled intestines .

    Nauseous feeling enveloped Guo Dian¡¯s mind, and iron tasted puke were pushed out from his mouth . Then he dropped down on his knees and stared at Tong in disbelief, before Tong gave him a finishing blow .

    *SHUA*

    Guo Dian¡¯s head rolled up in midair, then it dropped on the ground .

    Tong grabbed Guo Dian¡¯s head and lift it up . He shouted .

    "Guo Dian is dead!! Surrender now! Or you all will follow him to hell!"

    The remaining 500 men of Guo Dian were in shock when they heard the shout . Once they looked back and saw the headless body and Guo Dian head in the hand of Tong, they became despair . All of them dropped their weapons and surrendered .

    The surviving garrison soldiers roared out a warcry cheer . Today was the toughest fight that they had ever had in their life . They even believed that they might not make it out of here alive, yet they won .

    One of them fell on his butt andughed . The group of handicapped soldiers hugged each other in tears . A critical injured soldier who was being treated inside the fort gritted his teeth and looked at the cheering soldiers . He was so tired that he was on the verge of falling into deep sleep forever . But seeing the atmosphere around him, he became wide awake as he clenched his fists . A few soldiers on the wall hugged their dead friends and cried, whispering them that they had won .

    Tong also swallowed his emotion . Today battle might be short, but it was difficult because Guo Dian and Zou Jing suddenly went all-out .

    It was fortunate that Wen Chou and his men were nearby, so Tong tricked them intoing here to draw some of them away . Or else, the one thousand cavalry on the back would crush the men in his fort and Tong¡¯s defeat would be ensured .

    ¡¯That was too close . My lifespans is almost empty!¡¯ Tong thought .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Lifespan: 45 Years

    *******************************

    The battle today was taxing to Tong . He had stood in front of his men to save as many lives of his subordinates as he could . As a result, he spent his lifespans to regenerate his wounds .

    Although he got lifespans back from killing any enemy, the injuries he got in return caused him to make a deficit and ended up with the current remaining lifespans after he kill Guo Dian .

    Furthermore, the more he used the regeneration skill, the more expensive it got . At first, it costed only one lifespan to regenerate all shallow wounds at once . Now, it costed him ten lifespans for healing one small scratch .

    During the fight, the system warned him that this skill wound increase the lifespan consumption rate if the user continued to spam healing on himself . However, cost of the skill would return to normal after he stopped using it for a month .

    Tong could not use this skill for a while until the cool down was over .

    [Ding! Ding! Holy shet! I didn¡¯t know you have it in you! You actuallypleted that mission! Well, since the battle is over, your favorite skill has been enabled . As promised, here is your rewards! Check it out!]

    [You killed Sima Xin . You have received 200,000 lifespans!]

    [You killed Guo Dian . You have received 20,000 lifespans!]

    [You killed 1,729 soldiers . You have . . . ]

    . . .

    . . .

    Tong looked at his status and his lifespans in shock . The soulmate quest was way too dangerous, but at the same time, the rewards was worth the risk .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 294,625 Years

    Shopping Pass: 2

    *Skill List*

    [Time Stop] LV . 2 EXP( 156/200 )

    - Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 10 seconds .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Firearms Creation] LV . 1 EXP( 8,442/10,000 )

    - Create any firearm or bullet of your choice .

    - Currently only handguns and handgun bullets can be created

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet

    - 50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice

    Skill Restriction: Can only create one gun a day or one bullet a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Plot Armor] Cannot be leveled up

    - Immune to all diseases, poisoning and physical attacks .

    - After the host be 20 years of age . The host shall be forced summoned back the Netherworld .

    [Inventory] ¨C Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host can store items in a private space .

    - Host cannot store any living person or any creature .

    - Storage limit: 10 Slots . Each slot can only contain same items . Stackable .

    - Unlimited Volume .

    - Time will be frozen in the inventory .

    - Host can adjust the temperature of the Inventory .

    - Upkeep lifespans required: 100 per year .

    [Immortal Yang Vein] ¨C Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host has infinite yang seeds .

    - Host can dual cultivate with opposite gender partners to increase active skill EXP in random .

    - Host¡¯s stamina multiplies by 20 .

    - Host can regenerate wounds and lost body parts instantly .

    - Regeneration costs lifespans depending on the degrees of the injury .

    - This skill can only be used by male otherworlders .

    - Upkeep lifespans required: 1,000 per year .

    [Sword Mastery] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kill an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy .

    *******************************

 Chapter 60

    Chapter 60

    Chapter 60 ¨C Dealing with the Aftermath

    1 PM

    The battlefield and the corpses were being cleaned up by the remaining survivors . Dead bodies of the alliance army were piled up like a mountain inside a dug pit . A dozen soldiers were pouring oil in there, after which they threw a torch in and burned everything inside .

    Meanwhile, dead bodies of the garrison army soldiers were lined up inside the fort . They were being prepared to hold a funeral for these men . Tong also noted their names and surnames, so he couldpensate their familiester .

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were busy reorganizing their men and the prisoners . The casualty result also came out which depressed everyone, including Tong . From 2,000 healthy men and 500 handicapped soldiers, only 1,200 men survived and 700 of them were crippled for life .

    Furthermore, a few officers that Tong knew also became tragic heroes in this battle . They were Gao Sheng, Cheng Yuanzhi, Deng Mao, He Yi and Pei Yuanshao . All of them were supposed to be generals of the Yellow Turban Army in the future, but their lives were ended here .

    In other word, the future of the Yellow Turban force, which would be led by his father, was crippled . Even if the rebellion seeded, they would not be as strong as in the history .

    Seeing the injured men and the dead, Tong was reminded of something . He had not seen Hua Shi after the battle had ended . He rushed to the infirmary tents to see if she was there . And he found her .

    She was sleeping on the VIP bed, which were made out of straws and clean clothes, with bandages covering her shoulder and her chest . After asking around, Tong found out that she was hit by arrows, one in her left shoulder and the other in her right chest .

    The arrows hit her rib cages but did not harm any important organs . The physicians also managed to take out the arrow heads, so she was no longer in the critical condition . After a week of rest, she should recover .

    Tong gritted his teeth and bit his lower lip in bitterness . It was a close call for both of them .

    Tong sat beside Hua Shi bed to get a closer look at her . In coincident, she also woke up when she felt a familiar presence .

    "Keep sleeping . You deserve rest . "

    Tong consoled her as he noticed that she had woken up . Hua Shi smiled at him in return and shared her status to Tong .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Hua Shi

    Age: 16

    Lifespan: 127,939 Years

    Shopping Pass: 2

    [Medical Gift] LV . 5 EXP( 20/1,600 )

    - Diagnosis a patient and automatically find a solution for the treatment, or create a medicine for the sickness found .

    - Can create 16 medicine tablets or 160 milligrams of liquid medicine per one use .

    Skill Consumption: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Usage Restriction: Can only be used when treating a patient .

    [Homing Arrow] LV . 6 (550/3,200)

    - Fire a magic homing arrow at a locked target .

    - Convert an ordinary arrow into a magic homing arrow .

    - Passive skill [Bow Mastery] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan for firing homing magic arrow with ordinary arrow .

    - 10 Lifespan for firing homing magic arrow without an arrow .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Homing effects only applies to a locked target in the range of 350 meters or lower .

    - Range restriction depends on the level of the skill

    [Sword Mastery] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kill an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy .

    [Bow Mastery] ¨C Bound to [Homing Arrow] Skill . Cannot be leveled up .

    - Master any kind of bows .

    - Host¡¯s dexterity multiplied by 10 .

    - Upkeep: 3 Lifespan per a year .

    *******************************

    "I did well right?"

    "Yeah, you do . "

    "Eheh-!! *COUGH*"

    Hua Shi coughed as she couldn¡¯t breath properly after the rough surgery by the local physicians . She did not pretend to be weak this time .

    Tong held her hand after seeing her choking cough, which made Hua Shi happy .

    "Don¡¯t talk, just sleep . I¡¯ll be sitting here with you . "

    Hua Shi smiled as she closed her eyes to rest .

    "Can I have one more reward?"

    "For now, just rest . "

    "Can I?"

    Tong sighed and nodded .

    "OK, what do you want?"

    "Up to you . Beggar can¡¯t choose . "

    Tong chuckled . He thought that she would ask for more 1-day tickets or other absurd requests .

    "Let me think about it . I¡¯ll tell you when you¡¯ve recovered . "

    "Mhm . "

    Both of them stopped talking . Hua Shi slept peacefully while her hand still locked with Tong¡¯s hand . She liked the feeling when someone held her hand in her sleep .

    One hourter, a messenger rushed in to see Tong .

    "Report to the great immortal! Wen Chou and his men arrived at the north gate!"

    Hua Shi snapped her eyes opened and red at the messenger as if she was going to cut him into a million pieces, causing the messenger to shrink back in fear .

    "I¡¯ll be there shortly . Tell the archers and the able men to get ready for another possible battle . "

    The messenger bowed and left them . However, Hua Shi still clung his hand tight . She wanted him to spoil her more .

    Tong shook his head and sighed after seeing that she was getting spoiled . He leaned over and kissed her lips . Then he got up and walked toward the north gate .

    "About time to finish this mess . "

    ...

    ...

    Wen Chou, Yan Liang and their battered 300 elite horsemen arrived in front of the north gate of Tong¡¯s wooden fortress . They were not in a good mood after they went through a battle against a thousand light cavalries .

    Wen Chou and Yan Liang managed to route them by sacrificed their 700 elite horsemen, which foiled their joyous mood .

    After they had reached the battlefield, instead of seeing the fleeing routed army of Tong, they saw a trace of the defeated alliance army instead . Moreover, there were more survivors in this fort than they initially thought they had .

    With their brains, they could figure it out that they were baited into the battle, and they unintentionally assisted Tong in this war, and something incredible happened .

    After half an hour of waiting, the north gate was opened and the garrison guards allowed Wen Chou and his men inside . Once they stepped inside, the sight of the post-battle camp were revealed to them .

    The dead bodies were lined up in order while the injured were being treated in the infirmary tents . Then they saw Tong walking out from one of the medic tents, and he was looking at them .

    "Zhang Tong! What¡¯s the meaning of this!?"

    Wen Chou did not waste any times . He questioned Tong right away .

    "What¡¯s the meaning of ... what?"

    "Don¡¯t you y dumb! You sent me a letter and told me to help you . Why the hell did we run into an army!?"

    "Err, I don¡¯t get you . What?"

    Wen Chou got annoyed . He took out the scroll that Tong had sent to him earlier yesterday .

    "Here! See this? This is your letter!"

    "What?"

    "And here is your family stamp!"

    "What?"

    "And in this letter ..."

    "What?"

    "You wrote ..."

    "What?"

    "..."

    "What?"

    The face of Wen Chou flushed red like tomatoes, and his veins under his face skin bulged and pulsed like they were about to explode . He tried to get an answer from Tong, but all he heard from him was ¡¯What¡¯ .

    "ARE YOU RETARDED!!!??"

    "... Err, what?"

    Wen Chou wanted to kill Tong right now . However, it was more important that Tong and his family were alive as they had to bring them back to Nan Pi .

    Meanwhile, Tong grinned at Wen Chou as if he had done nothing wrong . He knew that Wen Chou would not dare to harm him .

    Just a moment ago, Tong mimicked a signature catchphrase of a famous professional wrestler in his previous life to buy his men some times . Because he had ordered his men to prepare for a possible scenario that there might be a battle again, they men were still being prepared .

    ¡¯I wish my men could chant "What" with me, too . It would be hrious . ¡¯ Tong thought .

    Seeing that his men were in position, Tong stopped messing around with Wen Chou .

    "Did you read my message carefully?" Tong asked .

    "Yeah, I do . "

    "Are you sure?"

    "Hell yes I¡¯m sure! You wrote in the scroll ¡¯Help me at noon . North of the Fort¡¯!"

    "And ... what¡¯s the problem with it?"

    As Wen Chou was about to argue, he came to a halt and frowned . What was the problem with the message?

    Tong told him to help him at the north of his fort, so he came . As a result, Guo Dian and Zou Jing forces mistook them as their enemies, so they sent a toon to intercept Wen Chou midway . And Wen Chou helped Tong destroying the cavalry toon . Then what was wrong with it?

    There was nothing wrong . Every words in the scrolls meant exactly what it told him . There were no promises, and there were no extra messages . It was him that thought that Tong would make a breakthrough to the north and would escape to Nan Pi with him .

    Wen Chou took a deep breath to calm down . He realized that he was tricked into this fight, but it did not matter . The Zhang family took serious damages from this battle, so he should be able to convince them to return to Nan Pi with him .

    On the other side, Yan Liang frowned in annoyance . He did not like Tong¡¯s attitude .

    "Forget formality . Just beat up the brat and return . " Yan Liang whispered .

    However, Wen Chou shook his head in disagreement . For the sake of their friendships and cooperation in the future, he was trying his best not to fight with Tong .

    Before Wen Chou could opened his mouth to convince Tong, the other party gave him a stunning proposal .

    "I know why you are here, so I¡¯ll cut to the chase . You¡¯ll give me back my father and a million gold . And I¡¯ll give you my soap recipe . "

    Wen Chou was astonished . Tong had the balls to extort the Yuan family for a million gold! That was the same amount of annual tax ie of the Capital . It would be impossible for Yuan n to amass that kind of amount within short period of times .

    Meanwhile, Yan Liang who was watching the show on the back stepped up and red into the eyes of Tong .

    "Don¡¯t waste times . You wille with us . That¡¯s an order . "

    Tong raised his eyebrows and grinned in amusement . He stared back at Yan Liang, and spoke .

    "And who might you be? Why do you think you can order me around?"

    "I am Yan Liang . The first general of Yuan Shao! You should be honored that for you, someone like me hase to ..."

    Not allowing Yan Liang to finish his sentences, Tong drew his pistol and shot him on the foot .

    *BANG*

    "Hrrggghhh!"

    Yan Liang groaned and knelt down on one knee as he felt unimaginable pain sensation came from his right foot .

    *BANG*

    "UGH!!"

    The innocent Wen Chou also got shot at his left foot . He knelt down by the pain from his cracked bone .

    "Now, it¡¯s my turn . I¡¯m the Immortal Zhang Tong . You and Sir Wen Chou will stay here as guests until my father and the million gold has been sent here . THAT IS MY ORDER!"

    Wen Chou and Yan Liang were bbergasted as they understood Tong¡¯s intention . He wanted to imprison them as hostages to ransom them for his father and Yuan family¡¯s gold!

    Before both of them could do anything, the horsemen of Wen Chou were surrounded and were pointed with crossbows by the garrison soldiers .

    "If you value the lives of you and your men, behave yourself and follow me . As guests of my family, I won¡¯t treat you badly . "

 Chapter 61

    Chapter 61

    Chapter 61 ¨C Tian Feng

    November 7th . Nan Pi City .

    Feng Ji received the letter from Tong . It had simple messages .

    "Return my father and give me one million gold . Or else, Wen Chou and Yan Liang will never return . "

    Feng Ji ripped the letter scroll to pieces as he screamed in frustration . Everything he had nned was perfect . He did not understand how the entire ploy of his went south .

    "Can someone tell me, how in the blue world has Zhang Tong won that battle!?"

    The intelligent officers kept their head down in shame . They, too, were also baffled by the result . Even though Zhang Tong raised his force to 5,000 in numbers, it was impossible for them to handle the 20,000 men of the coalition forces .

    As Feng Ji failed toprehend the battle result, he tossed around the furniture and wine cups . His face was reddened and distorted that it resembled a mad beast instead of human .

    Then, another messenger came in . A message from Yuan Shao himself arrived . In the scroll, Yuan Shao was discontent with Feng Ji¡¯s decisions . He had told Feng Ji to befriend with Zhang Tong, and he should have dispatched the family forces to repel Han Fu Army .

    However, Feng Ji disobeyed Yuan Shao¡¯s order and caused him to lose a trade partner . Thus, the message were as followed;

    "By the order of the head of the family, Feng Ji will no longer be entitled as the Nan Pi house butler . He will be grounded in Nan Pi house until I give further instruction . A new personal has already been assigned to the city, and he will takeover Feng Ji¡¯s duty as of today . "

    Feng Ji plummeted down on his butt in despair . Because he failed his duty and fell into the temptation of his own greed, all of his achievements and hard works were destroyed by just one letter . His power and his prestige were all gone .

    Two soldiers stepped toward Feng Ji . They carried him up by his underarm, and dragged him away to the designated residents for punished servants .

    A young schr in ck robe watched over them as Feng Ji was carried away . His hair was tied and kempt . His cloths were without a slightest wrinkle as if they were just ironed . His way of walking and his eloquence were calm and smooth like flowing river . His eyes were sharp as if he could see through the world . Even a child could tell that his man had been through a strict education and cultured .

    "A foolish bastard . He can¡¯t even see the grand picture . How could he oversee the entire family branch and the family¡¯s wealth?"

    The man nced at the intel agents in the hall, and he gave out his firstmand .

    "Refuse Zhang Tong¡¯s demand . And call Gao Lan over . I want to talk to him about the army situation . "

    The agents bowed and epted the order . Before they left, one of them asked back .

    "My Lord, what can we address you?"

    The neat man nced back and answered .

    "My name is Tian Feng . Since I¡¯ve just resigned from my post in Luo Yang, I have no noble status . You can call me butler Tian or whatever you want . "

    "Yes, butler Tian . "

    ...

    Tian Feng, courtesy name as Yuanhao, was one of the best advisors of Yuan Shao alongside with Ju Shou in the history . Initially in his life, he worked at Luo Yang as a minor official . But he was disillusion by the political in-fighting between the eunuchs and the royalty faction . Thus, he quit his job and returned to Nan Pi, his hometown, and ultimately joined Yuan Shao in 190 .

    He advised Yuan Shao to attack Cao Cao in 195 when Cao Cao was squiring with Lu Bu and Liu Bei . However, Yuan Shao refused the idea because his son was sick . Tian Fengmentedter that the golden opportunity was missed . There might not be any chance for Yuan Shao again .

    Later in the year 200, he was the subject of envy by Feng Ji . As a consequence of the rivalry, Tian Feng was framed by Feng Ji, resulted in unjust death by execution .

    In this world, he was hired in urgent by Yuan Shao because of the insubordination of Feng Ji . Yuan Shao wanted someone capable enough to oversee the situation in Nan Pi branch family, so he hired the young Tian Feng when he noticed his talent .

    Being young and ambitious, Tian Feng was enticed by the background and the prosperity of the Yuan family, so he decided to quit his career as an official to join Yuan Shao as his butler .

    ...

    All of the agents and servants had left Tian Feng alone in the main hall of Yuan Manor . Tian Feng studied the records of all activities that Feng Ji had been doing up until now . He closed his eyes and sighed after he was done reading through all of them .

    "What a mess . Just because of a simple soap recipe and that new wine, he created a formidable enemy for the family . "

    Tian Feng shook his head . Afterwards, he read the records of the Zhang family members .

    "... Zhang Tong, is it? A very interesting way to gain poprity and authority, I see . Zhang Jiao, aside from his persuasion,merce and his Taoist knowledge, there is nothing to worry about . Zhang Bao is the same as Zhang Jiao, but he is more inferior . Zhang Liang is a muscle brain, so another one to overlook . "

    Then he looked at the records of Hua Shi . Tian Feng frowned .

    "Zhang family cannot thrive without Zhang Tong . That¡¯s for certain . But Hua Shi is suspicious . At first nce, she is just a simple pretty daughter of a physician with medical skills . But why was there a rumor about ¡¯Goddess of Death¡¯ showing up in thest battle? Is she Zhang Tong¡¯s hidden chess piece?"

    Tian Feng took out a nk scroll, after which he wrote down an instruction for the intelligence agencies of the Yuan family .

    "Get more information about Hua Shi and Zhang Tong . Record everything no matter how absurd it is . I want every rumor and details about the two!"

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, Ningjin County .

    Tong and everybody returned to the Zhang family hometown, including the escorted prisoners of war . Tong left 200 men in Anping Fortress to repair the damages from the battle, and to keep it safe from the looters .

    Tong found out that the Zhang Manor was in a mess because the officials and guards ransacked the ce . All servants quit the job and ran away .

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were furious at the sight . Tong appeased their anger and promised them that they would get a better ce once they took Julu City .

    Hua Shi helped Tong in the remuneration for the family of the dead soldiers and the handicapped soldiers . Their family members broke into tears in sadness because of the loss, and gratefulness for Tong¡¯s generosity .

    The reputation of Tong, Hua Shi and the Zhang family rose .

    A few days after their return, many strong men in the nearby viges approached Tong and his family members . Because they were enticed by the remuneration and the generosity that Tong and his family had disyed, they asked if they could join the family as servants or soldiers too .

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were happy about this development as their troops were crippled from thest battle . They needed new bloods to rece the dead and the injured .

    Tong did not bother recruiting the vigers . He focused his attention to the 500 soldiers of Guo Dian . After some difficulty, the 500 soldiers agreed to join Tong as his private soldiers .

    Wen Chou, Yan Liang and their 300 ex-cavalries were different . They would not join Tong no matter what . Therefore, Tong confiscated the warhorses, their weapons and armors . So he could recycle these for his troopster .

    ...

    November 30th . Zhang Manor .

    People kept spreading rumors about the servant recruitment of Tong and his family and their generosity . Many farmers who had finished harvesting their crops were tempted, after which they traveled far from home to offer their services to Tong .

    Another rumor was also spreading among the civilians which also contributed to the temptation to join Tong forces . Guo Dian unjustly attacked Zhang Family and were defeated . Furthermore, it was a fight with 20,000 troops against the Zhang 5,000 men, and the Zhang won!

    People loved gossiping and dramatic stories . The story about a humble family with 5,000 men defeating the overwhelming adversary of 20,000 imperial soldiers interested everyone .

    As a result, some rumors were exaggerated, as it said that Tong transformed into a beast and killed over 10,000 men himself . Some said that Hua Shi was a real goddess that she could fire a hundred arrows of light that would never miss a target with a fickle of finger . Some said that Tong was a genius tactician that defeated Guo Dian army with his miracle stratagems .

    Tong and Hua Shi felt like they were celebrities in the 21st century . Every times they went out of the Zhang Manor, they would be swarmed by fans, admirers and Tong¡¯s servant wannabes .

    A dozen of rich and handsome clich¨¦ young masters of wealthy merchants and nobles also appeared to seduce Hua Shi . Several young girls also offer themselves to be Tong¡¯s concubine or wanted to bear his child . Both of them could not handle these people, so they avoided them like gue .

    Although it was inconvenient in a lot of ways, yet Tong was happy about this asion . From the remaining 800 good soldiers that his family had, it increased to 6,000 within a month and the number still had not stopped increasing . Good reputation could bring miracles like this, which was the reason why nobles deemed it as more valuable than gold .

    The time to counter-attack to im Julu County into his own was sooner than he had expected .

 Chapter 62

    Chapter 62

    Chapter 62 ¨C Hostage Exchange

    A letter from Tian Feng arrived in Tong¡¯s hands which Tian Feng refused the demand of one million gold . However, he apologized for Feng Ji¡¯s actions, which he disobeyed Yuan Shao¡¯s order and betrayed Yuan Shao¡¯s original intention . Tian Feng offered a chance for the renegotiation for trading between the families, hostage exchanged and truce for both families .

    Tian Feng had set a date for hostage exchange . It was December 15th at Anping County where Tong had fought Guo Dian there .

    Tong frowned as he read the name of the sender of the message, Tian Feng .

    This person was a heavy weight ss strategist which was on par with Ju Shou . Unlike Feng Ji who made judgements based on his own emotion and greed, Tian Feng had higher EQ and was more mature . He was also an opportunist who was not shy away from any underhanded tactics for the sake of his lord .

    Just like in this situation, he did not allow Tong to take advantage of the Yuan family . At the same time, he remained neutral in the conflict between Tong and the Yuan family, but he retained his purpose for the best interest of the situation and the future of Yuan Shao in the long run .

    Unlike the greedy Feng Ji, the instinct of Tong told him that he could not push Tian Feng too far . He was afraid that Tian Feng would not hesitate to kill Zhang Jiao to protect Yuan Shao¡¯s reputation .

    Tong took the letter and consulted it with his two uncles and Hua Shi .

    "I think getting your father back should be your priority . Don¡¯t be greedy . "

    "We have too many enemies already . Don¡¯t create a new one . "

    "If he dies, we die too . Get him back ASAP!"

    The three of them gave out their thought instantly . It was unanimous decision that they should reconcile with the Yuan n .

    However, Tong did not like to y the game normally . He asked Zhang Bao for an errand .

    "Second uncle . I need you to make a trip to Luo Yang and get an audience with the Emperor . "

    "YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT!!??"

    Zhang Bao panicked because Tong asked him out of the blue .

    "I want you to take the elite troops and 100,000 gold with you . Once you get there, tell the officials or the guards that you¡¯vee to pay tribute to the emperor . Make sure you report that Julu Governor Guo Dian attacked our family unjustly to rob our tribute . And don¡¯t forget to act humble and offer my father as a candidate for the new governor . "

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang opened their eyes wide . Tong wanted to buy a position from the emperor himself? And what did Tong mean by acting humble but shoving up a rtive for an official rank? From their understanding, it was more like acting shameless instead .

    "Dealing with Tian Feng will not be simple . It¡¯s best that we have an extra card on our hand . And the official title as a governor can help us . "

    The two uncles nodded . Seeing that both of his uncle agreed, Tong unloaded 100,000 gold for them to transfer to Luo Yang .

    "Oh, I almost forget . Second uncle, if you can find Ma Yuanyi, tell him toe back and don¡¯t enter Luo Yang . "

    "Huh? Why?"

    "I don¡¯t want him to get caught plotting a rebellion . "

    "Ah, we forgot about him . I¡¯ll do that . "

    Ma Yuanyi was Zhang Jiao¡¯s spoke person . He had been sent to various regions to spread the Taoist teaching and gather Taoist followers . However, the Imperial Court would notice him in the future and connect the story with the Yellow Turban Rebellion, so Tong had to summon him back as soon as possible .

    ...

    After Tong and the rest settled the n, Zhang Bao made the preparation for the trip to Luo Yang .

    Meanwhile, Tong dragged Hua Shi with him to his warehouse . He wanted her to buy him another cooking utensils to make more beer .

    However, she only bought one cooking utensil because she spent one of her two shopping tickets to buy another skill .

    *******************************

    [Supreme Nightsight] Cannot be leveled up

    - Host can see in the dark .

    - Host¡¯s vision can be zoomed in or out . The maximum distance is two kilometers

    *******************************

    Tong was reminded by Hua Shi that he should buy more skills when he could because it was limited merchandise . If the skills were all sold out, then he might have to hunt down other reincarnators or might have to wait for them to die, so that the new skills could show up in the shop .

    Tong looked at the skills that remained in the listing of the system shop . Afterwards, he picked two skills which were the most useful for him right now .

    *******************************

    [Create Food] LV . 1 (0/10,000)

    - Create a food product or raw food ingredient .

    - 1kg of food can be created from one usage .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Host cannot create a food that host has never eaten before .

    - The amount of food increases by 10 times after each level up .

    *******************************

    [Aura Mastery] LV . 1 (0/10,000)

    - Host emits an aura that will give status effects to allies and enemies .

    - The skill can be turned on and off .

    - The active skill [Calming Aura] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan per one second of aura activation .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Effects cannot be applied to host .

    - Aura radius is 100 meters around host . Effect applied to all allies and enemies .

    [Calming Aura] Cannot be leveled up .

    - All living beings in the radius be calm .

    - Remove all negative and positive emotion from the effected targets .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only be used when [Aura Mastery] level 1 or higher was activated .

    *******************************

    The only remaining skills in the shop were support skills as allbat skills were sold out already . However, the [Create Food] could be useful in the food shortage situation in the future . He suspected that the creator of this skill might have been starved to death in his previous life, or he would not create this kind of skill .

    Secondly, the increment of food creation after the skill leveled up was huge . If it increased to level 2, the skill would create 10kg of food at once . Then level 3 would be 100kg, and so on . With this calction, when the skill became max level at level 10, he could create a million tons of food at the cost of only one lifespan!

    In summary, this skill could not be overlooked . He had to grab it .

    Then, the [Aura Mastery] was a set skill which was simr to Hua Shi¡¯s [Homing Arrow] and [Bow Mastery] set skill . However, this skill seemed to have additional hidden types of auras if the skill was at a higher level . Tong doubted that the previous owner of this skill was a simpleton that created a useless skill . He probably had created a growth type skill that would shine once the skill was at max level .

    ...

    After they sorted their skills and used up their shopping tickets, Tong and Hua Shi attempted to take thest main quest together . But ...

    [I¡¯m sorry . Thest main quest will be issued to you guyster once everyone finished all tutorial quests and the current #19 quest . ]

    Hua Shi also wanted to take another Soulmate Quest, yet the system gave her another excuse .

    [The Soulmate Quest can only be taken once a year or one at a time . You havepleted it already, so please be patience, Okay?]

    Tong sighed in relief . He was free from the quests till the end of the year . Thus it gave rooms for him to deal with the political issues with the Yuan family .

    Hua Shi saw that Tong¡¯s mood got better after he heard that there would be no more mission this year, she asked Tong for his promised reward from thest battle at Anping .

    "Can you stop calling me ¡¯Zombie¡¯ and use my name instead? I¡¯ve stopped eating it for almost a year now . "

    Tong was surprised . He thought that this girl would ask for something perverted, but she asked for somethingmon instead .

    "OK . What do you want me to call you? Shi¡¯er? Hua Shi?"

    Hua Shi smiled at him, and told him the name of her previous life .

    ...

    ...

    December 13th, 181 A . D .

    Time passed by as both Tian Feng and Tong prepared for the meeting at Anping .

    Tong arrived at Anping early to pick the bestnd to camp his troops . The fort that Tong had built to fight the coalition forces was still here in this county . He left only a few hundred guards inside the fort to repair it, and kept it safe from the hands of bandits and other nobles .

    Tong ignored the tourist activities . But he made his men collected a toll fee if there was someone who wanted to take a tour around the fortress . Tong thought that this ce could be used as a tourist attraction for now to gain his poprity among the civilians, and he could get a small ie overtimes .

    ...

    December 15th .

    Tong and his 3,000 soldiers met up with Tian Feng and his 5,000 elite escorts . Both troops stood on the different side while Tong and Tian Feng rode their horses and stopped in the middle of the standoff . Both Tian Feng and Tong had two bodyguards behind them .

    "Greetings great immortal Zhang, it¡¯s the first time meeting you in person . "

    "Well met, sir butler Tian . I¡¯ve heard of your name from the capital . "

    Tian Feng squinted his eyes . He did not remember about him having any notable achievement . Tian Feng thought that Tong just said that for the courtesy, so he ignored it .

    "Then I won¡¯t waste your time . Let¡¯s release our people . I hope that we can still be friends . " Tian Feng spoke with humble tone .

    Tong nodded . He waved his hand, and the bodyguards behind him, Zhou Cang, waved his g . Afterwards, Yan Liang and Wen Chou walked forwards with their 300 elite soldiers .

    On the other side, Zhang Jiao also walked forward with his entourages that had gone to Nan Pi with him .

    Both parties walked pass each other . They reached the other side without any mishap .

    Tong gazed through Tian Feng¡¯s eyes while the other also did the same . It seemed that both parties were sincere and did not want trouble .

    Tong nodded at Tian Feng and bid his farewell . He returned to his men and withdrew along with his troops .

    Tian Feng watched Tong as he left . However, he frowned as if he was dissatisfied with something .

    "Cunning bastard . "

    Tian Feng muttered . The news about Tong sending a convoy to pay tribute to the emperor was already known by Tian Feng . He was afraid that his lord, Yuan Shao, might be in trouble if Tong had the emperor as his back . Therefore, he chose to y it safe .

    He also could not attack the convoy either . If the news got out, the emperor might get his attention on Yuan Shao and Tian Feng himself . He did not want to risk his life and career by having the emperor judging them as rebels .

    "Gao Lan . Once we return, tell everyone not to seek trouble with Zhang Jiao and his family, especially Zhang Tong . "

    "Yes, butler Tian . But is it alright?"

    Tian Feng shook his head .

    "No, it is not alright . Zhang Tong is a dangerous man ording to my analysis . He will be favored by the emperor . Now, he is building back his troops, and Julu will definitely fall into his hands soon . So if we don¡¯t want our lord to be called a rebel, don¡¯t provoke Zhang Tong for now . "

    Tian Feng looked at the departing Tong Army one more time as he muttered to Gao Lan .

    "The timing is not right, but our chance will arrive eventually . "

 Chapter 63

    Chapter 63

    Chapter 63 ¨C Anping Battle Site Inspection

    December 20th .

    Tong and his army withdrew back home . They were in the middle of preparing to move into Julu as they were waiting for Zhang Bao toe back .

    Tong was expecting a decree from the emperor in January . Once his father had the title as the governor of Julu, he could march to Julu without getting the resistance from the local .

    For now, he would patiently remain at home and would train his new recruits . The path to hegemony was still a long way to go, so he could not be rash .

    Meanwhile, Tong activated his aura skill for one whole day to grind the skill EXP . The result of the grind amazed him .

    ******************************

    [Aura Mastery] LV . 4 (16,400/80,000)

    - Host emits an aura that will give status effects to allies and enemies .

    - The skill can be turned on and off .

    - The active skill [Calming Aura] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    - The active skill [Healing Aura] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    - The active skill [Intimidating Aura] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    - The active skill [Weakening Aura] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan per one second of aura activation .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Effects cannot be applied to host .

    - Aura radius is 250 meters around host . Effect applied to all allies and enemies .

    [Calming Aura] Cannot be leveled up .

    - All living beings in the radius be calm .

    - Remove all negative and positive emotion from the effected targets .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only be used when [Aura Mastery] level 1 or higher was activated .

    [Healing Aura] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Increase the health and stamina regeneration rate of all living beings in the radius area .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only be used when [Aura Mastery] level 2 or higher was activated .

    [Intimidating Aura] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Instill fear to all living beings in the radius area .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only be used when [Aura Mastery] level 3 or higher was activated .

    - Does not work against any opponent with stronger mental strength .

    [Weakening Aura] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Reduce all attribute to of all living beings in the radius area by 10% .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only be used when [Aura Mastery] level 4 or higher was activated .

    ******************************

    Each time Tong leveled up this skill, a new aura would appear . This skill was OP as Tong expected . However, he had to investrge amount of lifespans into it to make it effective . Tong had already spent 86,400 lifespans for activating this skill for a whole day, leaving him 188,172 lifespans remaining .

    Tong stopped grinding to save up the rest of his lifespans for now . Thest battle taught him that he might need it for his regeneration skill and other emergency usage .

    ...

    Anping County had been turned into a county full of tourists which was the result of Tong¡¯s promotion about the fortress and the battle story .

    The story about a smaller size army defeating a bigger army always attracted the schrs, who aspired to be a strategist for nobles or a wise official in the imperial court .

    However, the trenches were now filled with water because Tong did not want everyone to know how they were used in the battle . He wanted to fool the shallow schrs into making wrong assumptions, and Tong wanted to protect his core tactic . He might have to use the trench tactic again in the future .

    All walls of the fort was repaired and was in the perfect state for another battle again . The garrison troops shut the doors of the fort, and not allowed anyone to get inside . Therefore, all tourist could only admire the fort from the outside .

    There were many schrs and merchants that came to visit the Anping battle site as tourists . One peculiar young schr also visited here . He was only a small child in the age of 10 .

    "This formation is an eye opener . It can be done this way . "

    "The wings of the wall has a purpose in itself . But what is it?"

    "The top of the wall only supports limited soldiers . Something is not right . "

    "Something iscking . I miss a puzzle . "

    "The moat should not be filled with water like this . This is wrong . "

    "Oh, I see it now . The moats weren¡¯t served as traps but a passage . "

    "The water is just a diversion . The real tactic is hidden by themander . "

    "Haha, this is good . "

    The schr boy muttered to himself . Then he paid attention to a merchant .

    "Come! Come! A new weapon that was used in the battle! I manage to get only one from a deserted soldier . It won¡¯t be sold anywhere else!"

    The boy walked to the merchant and looked at the weapon . It was the repeating crossbow that Tong Army were using .

    The boy narrowed his eyes as he inspected the structure details of the crossbow with attention . Then he asked the merchant .

    "How much is that weapon?"

    "Only 10 gold! No one is selling this anywhere!"

    The crowd nearby looked at the merchant in disgust . Who would want to buy a strange toy like that? The real crossbow lookedpletely different from the thing that was disyed in front of that merchant .

    However, the boy said out loud .

    "I¡¯ll buy it!"

    "You can¡¯t find this anywh- ... wait, you are buying it?"

    "Yes, I¡¯ll buy it . "

    The tourists nearby looked at the boy with mocking eyes .

    "What an idiot . He was ripped off! It¡¯s just a useless toy!"

    "Well, he¡¯s a boy . It¡¯s normal that he was attracted to a toy . "

    "But it was 10 gold you know? 10 fudging gold!"

    "Ha! I bet he¡¯s a young master of a wealthy family or a noble!"

    "Wow! I¡¯m working all day to get 10 coins . A lucky boy born in the wealthy family spent 10 gold for a useless toy! Heaven sure is bias!"

    "You will get struck by lightning if you keep saying that . "

    Several mockeries and jeers came from the onlookers . To them, a single gold could be exchanged into over a thousand coins . Each coin could buy a person a meal, so 10,000 coins for a bow was too expensive .

    The boy ignored the bad mouth tourists . The crossbow was worth more than 10 gold to him . Even a thousand gold was still worth it .

    ¡¯Idiots . This crossbow alone can change the trending of the war in the future . None of them has the vision!¡¯

    The boy yed around with the crossbow . After a few minutes, he understood how it worked . His eyes became sharper as he kept thinking about the fortress formation and this crossbow .

    ¡¯I see! So that¡¯s why!¡¯

    ¡¯Themander of this fortress is a genius! What an amazing way to defend the base!¡¯

    ¡¯Then the moats ... I see! So that¡¯s how he used it!¡¯

    ¡¯Unbelievable . This is a game changer!¡¯

    ¡¯But still ... the fortresscks something . I feel like it isn¡¯tpleted yet . ¡¯

    ¡¯Was it because themander did not have enough time to prepare?¡¯

    The boy sighed . He wanted to meet the person who designed this crossbow . He thirsted for more knowledge and insight of the veteran talents . He also wanted to meet themander of this fortress in the previous battle . He wanted to learn about his tactics and his strategies that he used to defeat his opponents .

    "Excuse me, do you know the name of themander of this fort?"

    The boy couldn¡¯t resist his curiosity, so he asked around .

    "The current captain or themander of the previous battle?" A nearby schr tourist asked back .

    "The battle, of course . "

    "Hmm? You don¡¯t know? He¡¯s famous around here . "

    "Famous?"

    "He is the Immortal Zhang Tong! How could you not know him?"

    The boy frowned . He disliked superstitious things, but he respected Zhang Tong¡¯s skills . He hadplicated feeling toward Tong .

    ¡¯There is fire if there is smoke . Something has made everyone called him "Immortal" . ¡¯

    "Why is he called immortal?" The boy asked further .

    "Well, I don¡¯t know myself . But I¡¯ve heard he fought in the battle like a beast! He was stabbed by tens of spears, yet he didn¡¯t die! Then he also has thunder magic . Every times he cast it, a loud boom can be heard and someone will die without fail . "

    The boy¡¯s frown deepened . His curiosity toward Tong increased, but he reminded himself that it was not the time for him to get entangled in the political warfare between noble families . Therefore, he chose not to approach Tong just yet .

    The boy left the site and journeyed back to his hometown, Xu Chang, along with his schr colleagues and his assistance master . He still needed to go back to attend sses with his teacher . For young schrs, being diligent and disciplined was a must, or they would be abandoned by their teachers .

    If Tong were here and met this boy, he would never let him going back .

    Because this boy had left prominent deeds in the history .

    His courtesy name was Fengxiao, and his official name was . . .

    Guo Jia .

 Chapter 64

    Chapter 64

    Chapter 64 ¨C Volume 1 Epilogue

    December 31st, 181 A . D .

    Snow covered wooden shacks, houses, trees and roads everywhere . It was in the middle of winter season .

    Tong sat in his courtyard within the Zhang Resident in Ningjin County, thinking back what had happened in this year .

    Everything turned into chaos once the system announced the existence of the otherworlders .

    Tong gazed at the door in the courtyard, the image of Hua Shi when they had the first conversation appeared in his mind . The moment when Tong threatened her with a grenade could still be remembered .

    Tongughed in his heart . The grenade he nned to use that day was still with him . Somehow he kept it with him as a good luck charm .

    Then he turned his head toward the whitened trees at the back of the resident, where Sima Xin used to hide there . The pain of regret came back to Tong . If he had finished off Sima Xin that day, then the stupid war would not have happened .

    "Should have ... Would have ... Could have ... Didn¡¯t happen . "

    Tong shook his head to shake off the thought .

    Tong walked to the graveyard of the family to pray to his mother . Then he found that his father was already there .

    "Hey dad . "

    "Oh, son . You are here too?"

    Both father and son knelt down and lit the incense sticks as they prayed to Tong¡¯s mother .

    "I¡¯ve heard it from everyone . You did well . "

    Tong smiled in bitterness and shook his head .

    "You sure have high standard . " Zhang Jiao bemused .

    "I could have done it better . "

    "We all have survived because of you, but you are not satisfied . "

    "I could have prevented the war . "

    Zhang Jiao sighed . His son was too ambitious . If he continued to behave this way, he could destroy himself .

    "No man is perfect . Just learn from you mistakes . You can do it better next time . "

    Zhang Jiao smiled at Tong and patted his shoulder as he stood up . Then Tong stood up and looked at his father .

    "Thanks, dad . "

    Tong stepped forward and hug his father . Zhang Jiao was surprised . In China in this era, people did not hug each other to express love, but they bowed or kowtowed to their seniors to show respect . If someone were to hug a senior, it could be mistaken as a disrespectful behavior and would be punished . However, Tong had forgotten about the culture and hugged his father by instinct .

    Zhang Jiao came to his sense . He patted the back of his son . The feeling of hugging a family member was not so bad .

    Tong also realized what he had done . He stepped back in a hurry and bowed to his father .

    "I¡¯m sorry . I didn¡¯t mean to . "

    "Haha . No big deal . Actually I haven¡¯t hugged you since you were a baby . It¡¯s fine . "

    Zhang Jiaoughed as he left the graveyard in great mood . Then a servant came for him .

    "Report the great teacher . Lord Zhang Bao hase back with a group of officials from the capital . They are waiting for you inside the main hall . "

    "Oh?"

    Zhang Jiao looked at the servant in confusion . Afterwards, he nced at Tong .

    "You did something weird again?"

    Tongughed awkwardly and nodded .

    "It was an insurance to get you back from the Yuan family . "

    ...

    ...

    Tong, Zhang Jiao, Zhang Liang and Hua Shi arrived at the main hall together . The eunuch was already there as he sat on the main seat while his entourages stood behind him . Zhang Bao were also there, attending the guests .

    The eunuch stood up . His entourage knelt and handed him a golden pedestal tray with golden scroll on top . He asked .

    "Are you Zhang Jiao?"

    "Yes, I am Zhang Jiao . "

    "Good! Kneel and receive the edict from the emperor!"

    Everyone knelt down and cupped their hands . All of them kept their head down as if they were kneeling to the emperor himself .

    The eunuch picked up the golden scroll, opened it, and read it out loud .

    "Zhang Jiao of Ningjin! You have contributed to the people and the emperor well! The amount of tributes were rival that of several citiesbined . The emperor has judged that your talents and your abilities should not be wasted as amoner in this rural area! You shall be bestowed with the title of governor of Julu County to rece the ipetent Guo Dian! The emperor hopes that you can continue your contribution to the imperial court . Here is the imperial edict with the emperor seal, take it!"

    Zhang Jiao opened his eyes wide in confusion . Then he saw Tong who was winking at him .

    ¡¯So that was what he did . ¡¯

    Zhang Jiao sighed in his heart . His son seemed to have gifts in politics . He might do well as an official in the future .

    "Thank you your majesty! May your majesty lives tens of thousands years!"

    The eunuch nodded and handed over the imperial decree scroll to Zhang Jiao . Then he asked .

    "I¡¯ve heard that you have special products here . Can I see it?"

    Zhang Jiao frowned . Was this eunuch about to ask for a bribe?

    Zhang Jiao hated corrupted officials with a passion . His face was getting reddened as his anger rose . However, before he said anything, Tong spoke out .

    "Yes, Lao Gong Gong . I¡¯ll prepare them for you as your souvenirs in return . "

    The imperial eunuchughed as he enjoyed the bootlicking . He liked Tong¡¯s attitude .

    "Very good! I¡¯ll be sure to put good words to the emperor once I return!"

    "Thank you! Lao Gong Gong!"

    Tong did not hold back . He had his servants brought out a dozen barrels of beer and a hundred of his unsold soap bars . Theyid it down in the middle of the main hall .

    "These are our humble products . You can have them . "

    "Good! Good! You are very sensible! Zhang Jiao, you have a very good son . You should be proud! HAHAHA!"

    The eunuchughed as he ordered his servants to pack the gifts into his carriage . He did not want to spend a night in this rural vige, but a big city or in a better luxurious tent that he had prepared for himself .

    ...

    After the eunuch and his entourages left, Zhang Jiao red at his son as he disapproved of his action .

    "I know what I did was against your ideal . But sometimes bending to the power temporary is a better solution than colliding with the power head on . "

    "But you didn¡¯t bend to Yuan family, yet you bend to the corrupted government?"

    Tongughed and answered his father .

    "Yuan Shao and his families are destined to thrive . But the emperor is going to die soon . So pretending to be loyal to him for a few years is better than bing a permanent dog of a noble family . "

    Zhang Jiao gave Tong a meaningful look as he was thinking about what Tong said . Then he nodded .

    "Alright . But I hope you won¡¯t do it again . "

    "Yeah, I don¡¯t want to bow my head to anyone too . For now, we¡¯re too weak, so we have no choice . "

    "What kind of "too weak" are you talking about? Can someone who is renowned as the Immortal Beast who got stabbed by a dozen spears yet he is still alive be weak?"

    Tong was shocked by what he heard .

    "You knew about that?"

    "Yes, I knew . That new butler Tian Feng gave me a bunch of scrolls that recorded all of your deeds in the war! I thought you were even crippled back then . "

    "Wow, he sure treated you well . Did he torture you or put you in inconvenient position?"

    "No . He is more admirableparing to that asshole Feng, but I feel that the new guy is more dangerous . His actions were all masked, I can¡¯t read him at all . "

    Tong nodded . Tian Feng was indeed a dangerous strategist . If Yuan Shao utilized him and Ju Shou properly in the history, Cao Cao might not be able to take over the Northern provinces of China .

    Then Tong was reminded that he had to create a better intelligent organization soon . Everyone around him seemed to have all information of him and his army activities . The leak of information about him and his army might kill them in the future . Therefore, this became a homework for him toplete once he took Julu County .

    Tong also realized that he could neither rely solely on his radar map nor ignored the importance of the intel agents, spies, counter-spies and scouts . The previous battle and the family struggles had proven that the Zhang family stillcked talents and proper intelligence agencies .

    "How did you get the emperor to notice us?" Zhang Jiao asked .

    "Bribe him, of course . A hundred thousand gold for a position of a governor and a temporary protection from the emperor . "

    Zhang Jiao almost choked blood . Tong spent a hundred thousand gold to save his life? As a father, he felt guilty because he dragged his son down .

    "Oh well, just be careful not to get yourself killed in the future . "

    Zhang Jiao patted Tong¡¯s head and left with Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang . He gave up questioning Tong further as he was no longer in a good mood . Because he had just been shoved with the position of the governor of Julu, there were many preparation he had to do .

    Zhang Jiao thought that he, too, could not be a burden to his son anymore . There should be something that he could do to befit that of a father for Tong .

    Tong looked at the back of his departing father . He muttered to himself .

    "Stay safe, father . "

    "You won¡¯t die a tragic death in this world . "

    "I¡¯ll let you see the world of your dream . "

    "Your ideal is my ideal . Yellow Turban may fail, but our dreams will prevail!"

 Chapter 65

    Chapter 65

    Chapter 65 ¨C Volume 2 Prologue

    January 1st, 182 A . D . 8PM .

    Luo Yang, Imperial Inner Pce .

    The Imperial Inner Pce, the ce where only the royalties and the emperor¡¯s consorts and empress could reside in, was full of guards and armored soldiers . They were patrolling around the perimeters .

    Normally, this ce would not allow any soldier or guard to step foot inside . However, the emperor made an exception edict for today¡¯s asion because his new favorite consort was about to arrive .

    The King Chamber, the most forbidden ce in the currentnd of China, was a hidden room within the inner pce . Emperor Ling lied on a king-sized bed decorated in pure gold . The walls were made of sculptured marble tes in the shape of golden dragons .

    This room was a closed room with no window . It was made this way for the emperor¡¯s absolute protection . However, in the terms of Feng Shui or oxygen venttion, it was a horrible ce to live in .

    Because of the stale air, two beautiful female servants who were wearing skimpy cloths were waving their feature fans at the emperor on the bed . Meanwhile, the round cauldron that contained fragrant incense emitted out incense smoke, covering the entire room to hide away the emperor¡¯s nasty bodily smell .

    "Your majesty . Consort Wang has arrived . "

    "Let her enter . "

    The eunuch on the front door announced the arrival of the emperor¡¯s new concubine . Once the emperor approved, the eunuch opened the chamber doors to let her inside . After she had entered, the door closed behind her and were locked .

    Within the room, only light shone from the candles around the room which were emitting aphoristic smoke .

    The concubine Wang¡¯s shadow silhouette oveid on the walls by the angles of light . She was wearing skimpy dancer cloths which revealed her round cleavage and her S-shaped body . Her skin were smooth without mark or a speck of dust . The wavy short golden hair, the blue eyes and her red lips gave out unique charm in the eyes of the emperor .

    The girl was called Wang Li . She was a prostitute working in the redlight district in Chang An City for 2 years . Her unique look attracted many nobles and her customers, and then she eventually caught the eyes of the emperor . He immediately bestowed her the title of imperial concubine without caring about her status .

    "This worthless consort greets your majesty . " Wang Li kowtowed to the emperor .

    "Come,e . Let me look at you . "

    The consort stood up and walked to the bed in the middle of the room, then her nose twitched . She almost instinctively pinched her nose . The body smell of the emperor was horrible as if he had not taken a bath for a month .

    She took deep breath to calm herself down and regained her faint smile . She nced the emperor in disgust and returned her eyes into the indifferent eyes in a sh . She stripped her clothes off piece by piece, and let the fat belly man in front of her admired her body .

    The emperor drooled . He grabbed her arms and dragged her into his bed as he could not wait anymore .

    Just like that, Wang Li was pushed down . The emperor immediately did whatever he wanted with her body .

    ¡¯Die for me . ¡¯ Wang Li sent outmand in her mind .

    [Activating [Die For Me] skill . Please set the target lifespans . ]

    ¡¯Leave him with one week to live . ¡¯

    [Affirmative . Draining the target¡¯s lifespans . ]

    [Drainingpleted . Host gains 7 years of lifespans . ]

    Wang Li clicked her tongue . This fatty has too short life . After using her skill, she only made 2 years of profit from the usage .

    ¡¯Scan his experience . ¡¯

    [Scanning . ]

    [Scanningpleted . List of experiences of the target has been generated . Please pick the experience to absorb . ]

    ...

    ...

    The emperor had done his deed and fell asleep . Meanwhile, Wang Li cleaned up herself with water from the water basin the female servants had prepared . Then she dressed up and knocked the door .

    "The emperor has fallen asleep . I¡¯m returning to my room . " Wang Li spoke out .

    The door was unlocked and opened, revealing an eunuch who had been waiting in front of the room since the beginning of her arrival .

    "Thank you for your hard work . Your highness will be proud . "

    The eunuch spoke as he allowed her to leave . After she left, he closed the door, and remained in front of the room just in case the emperor wanted to ask for a servant outside .

    Wang Li returned to her room, only to find out that a person was waiting for her .

    "Good work . How is my retard father?" The man asked .

    "He has a week to live, your highness . You will be the new emperor next week . "

    The man smiled, then he pulled Wang Li into a hug . Then he whispered her .

    "As promised . You will be my empress! But for now, let¡¯s dual-cultivate again . "

    Wang Li giggled, then she allowed the man in front of her to kiss her neck and her ample chest .

    "The Soulmate Quest cooldown has ended . Let¡¯s do it again . Buy more skills from the shop, so I can copy it from you . "

    "I¡¯m sorry, your highness . All skills in the shop are sold out . "

    "Tch . Never mind . Let¡¯s do it anyway but don¡¯t you dare stealing my skills . "

    "Haha, how could I dare? I have nobat skills . "

    "Hmph! That¡¯s right . You are just my property . Now your turn to do your job!"

    "Of course, your highness . "

    Wang Li sneaked nces at Liu Ping with her mocking eyes as she rode on the prince .

    Unbeknownst to her mocking gaze, Liu Ping yed with her body while he was feeling proud of what he had done this year .

    ¡¯Liu Bian and Liu Xie is dead! No one can stop me from taking the throne! HAHAHAHA . ¡¯

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Wang Li

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 132,577 Years

    Shopping Pass: 3

    *Skill List*

    [Necromancy] LV . 3 (0/400)

    - Create a zombie by sacrificing a corpse .

    - Create a skeleton by sacrificing a corpse .

    - All undeads had 60% strength of when they were alive .

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan for creating a zombie .

    - 2 Lifespan for creating a skeleton .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only create undead from a corpse in the range of 200 meters .

    [Die For Me] LV . 10 MAX .

    - Apply aphrodisiac to the target .

    - Absorb lifespans of opposite gender target .

    - Host can choose how many lifespans of the target that host absorbs .

    - Host can steal all experiences and memories of the target .

    - Host can steal all skills of the otherworlders .

    - Completely heal the host once the skill is used .

    Skill Cost: 5 Lifespans per one use .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only be activated when the host has an intercourse with opposite gender target .

    - Host can never get pregnant .

    - This skill can only be used by females .

    [Appraisal-Sama] LV . 10 MAX .

    - Inspect an object or a person with 100% chance of session .

    - Thorough details of the inspection will be revealed to the host .

    - Host can inspect the skills and status of otherworlders .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespans per one use .

    Skill Restriction: None .

    [Jaded Skin Beauty] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host is immune to all diseases .

    - Host always looks healthy even without eating or drinking for years .

    - Host will grow up into a goddess beauty with white jade-like skin .

    - Upkeep: 10 Lifespan per a year .

    - This skill can only be used by females .

    *******************************

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Liu Ping

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 60,040 Years

    * Skill List*

    [Necromancy] LV . 1 (0/100)

    - Create a zombie by sacrificing a corpse .

    - All undeads had 50% strength of when they were alive .

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan for creating a zombie .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only create undead from a corpse in the range of 100 meters .

    [Super Human] Cannot be leveled up

    - Multiply the host physical strength, vitality, dexterity, agility and stamina by 100 times .

    - Upkeep: 9 Lifespan per year .

    [Nerfed Plot Amor] Cannot be leveled up

    - Completely defend against a fatal attack automatically .

    - Can only be activated once . The skill disappears after using it .

    [Banned]

    - You cannot personally kill any native in this world .

    - Vition means death .

    *******************************

    ...

    ...

    4 AM . January 2nd .

    Liu Ping was panting as he continued to pump his hip . Strangely, Wang Li did not seem to tire out from the activities . Instead, she did not even break a sweat .

    "I thought I am strongest in the world, but your stamina is something beyond it . "

    Wang Li giggled as she ignored the enthusiastic horny man on top of her, and fiddled with her status menu .

    "Last year, I killed both princes for your highness . This year, I might need your assistance . "

    "Hmm?"

    "Check the quest menu after you¡¯ve done, your highness . I¡¯ve taken the new Soulmate Quest for us . "

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Soulmate Mission No . 2**

    Zhang Tong and Sun Fang has started pursuing hegemony and changed the history . As the future emperor, it¡¯s your job to eradicate any opposition forces that threaten your kingdom . Do your best to get rid at least one of the rebel forces!

    Clear Condition: Kill Zhang Jiao or Sun Jian .

    Failure Condition: You are dethroned or time limit exceeded .

    Clearing Reward:

    - 10 Shopping Tickets forpleting the main objective .

    - 1,000,000 Lifespans for killing Zhang Tong, Hua Shi, Sun Fang or Li Jing .

    - 100,000 Lifespans for killing Zhang Jiao or Sun Jian .

    - 20,000 Lifespans for killing any enemy general .

    - 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier .

    Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Mission Failure: Soulmate Contract will be nullified and one of you will die .

    System Note: Your [Banned] skill will be deactivated during the times this mission is active .

    *********************************************

 Chapter 66

    Chapter 66

    Chapter 66 ¨C Starting Line of the Hegemony .

    January 1st . 182 A . D .

    A nightmarish quest appeared as Tong epted his soulmate mission .

    *********************************************

    **Soulmate Mission No . 2**

    The chaos is about to begin! You know what will happen in the future, right?

    It¡¯s about time that you develop a good base to prepare for the uing disasters .

    Clear Condition:

    - upied Ye City and Julu City . Other cities are optional .

    - Protect the cities from the invaders until the time limit runs out .

    - Make at least 50% of your citizens happy .

    - Zhang Tong and Hua Shi must participate in this mission together .

    Failure Condition:

    - One or more of the cities is not under your control when the time limit exceeded .

    - Zhang Tong or Hua Shi did not participate in this mission .

    Clearing Reward:

    - 100,000 Lifespans forpleting the main objective .

    - 20,000 Lifespans for killing an enemy general .

    - 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier .

    - 10,000 Lifespans for each city controlled . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket for each city controlled . The reward is given annually .

    - One Lifespan for each happy poption each year . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket if more than half of your poption is happy . The reward is given annually .

    Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Mission Failure: Soulmate Contract will be nullified and one of you will die .

    System Note: As usual, you have to kill the soldiers or the generals yourself to get the reward .

    *********************************************

    "A city defense mission? I have to conquer 2 cities and defend them?"

    The mission this time was unique and new to Tong . He had always been given random perverted quests or killing missions . But this time, he had to defend his bases .

    However, judging from hisst Soulmate Mission, this mission would definitely involve in conflicts or war . If not, why would there be the rewards for killing enemy soldiers or generals?

    It appeared that he had to go through another hell again .

    Although the mission seemed difficult because the time limit setting was long, the system was kind enough to offer annual rewards if Tong and Hua Shipleted certain conditions .

    ...

    ...

    The afternoon of the same day .

    Zhang Jiao and Tong¡¯s two uncles finished preparing everything . They, 12,000 newly recruited soldiers and a thousand veterans would march to Julu to im the county as their new foothold .

    Tong stopped recruiting new soldiers once the total troop¡¯s number hit 13,000 . Although he had plenty of food, weapons, and armors to supply his men, they could not supervise all of them .

    Zhou Cang, Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, and Bo Cai could barely oversee 2,000 men each . Tong supervised 5,000 soldiers himself with Hua Shi as his aide . Zhang Jiao did not have private troops of his own because he was now a governor . He would be too busy to take care of the army in the future .

    Secondly, Tong still did not have a clear understanding of Julu geography and its nature yet . He could not blindly raise troops as his saving might end up in the red for trying to upkeep his soldiers .

    Lastly, soldiers could always be draftedter after he took Julu . There was no need to rush .

    "We¡¯re ready . It¡¯s time to go . "

    Zhang Jiao looked at his resident one more time before he ordered the troops to march . He had lived here for over 30 years, and his wife was buried in the backyard . Therefore, it was not easy for him to move his home .

    "Don¡¯t worry, dad . It¡¯s just a few days of horse travel . We can leave servants here to take care of the manor, so we cane back at any time if we miss it . " Tong consoled his father .

    Zhang Jiao nodded, after which he looked forward . For the sake of their ideal kingdom, they had to sacrifice some of their happiness in life .

    They had finally stepped their feet on the starting line of the hegemony . It was a small step instead of an explosive expansion, which was different from what Zhang Jiao had initially nned . The road was bumpy and perilous as they experienced the tough battlest year, yet each step they took was firm and solid .

    ...

    The troops marched in a standard 10-men column line . From the onlooker¡¯s perspective, it looked like a long endless dragon line .

    In front of the marching troops, Tong and Hua Shi were riding on the same horse with Hua Shi sitting on the front and Tong held the horse rein from behind . She leaned on Tong¡¯s chest as she enjoyed his semi-hug . Tong¡¯s 5,000 men were behind him as their troops were in charge of the frontline if any incident were to happen .

    The men smiled as they admired the rtionship between the two . The young masters who used to pursue Hua Shi were part of the admirers as well .

    At first, they joined Tong Army so they could get closer to Hua Shi and kill Tong . However, after Tong gave them a strict training menu and a few good beating, the weak-willed ones left while the strong ones persisted and changed their attitudes toward the couple .

    Because Tong gave them proper exercise menus, their bodies toned, their muscle took shape and looked more attractive than the usual frail silver-spoon young masters . As a consequence, they got more popr with women in their viges . Thus, they gave up on Hua Shi and became Tong and Hua Shi supporters instead .

    "I wonder when they will get married . "

    "It should be soon . When they settled the county down, then it should be the time . "

    "They have be nobles, so it won¡¯t be long . "

    "Right, as nobles, they will start expanding their families quickly . "

    "Expanding? You mean reproducing . "

    "Of course, they will! Look at their actions! Look at their closeness! Do you think this the rtionship between blue balls young master and a virgin maiden fianc¨¦? Nope, they fu-OUCH!! Why did you hit me!?"

    "Stop speaking further if you still want to live . "

    "MWAH HAHAHA!!"

    "GAHAHAHAHA!!"

    Tong shook his head and sighed .

    "It¡¯s getting noisy in the back . " Tongined .

    "Well, they¡¯re just jealous of us . Leave them be ... husband . "

    "My title has been upgraded again, I see . "

    Tong sighed again while Hua Shi continued snuggling on him .

    "Please take care of me this year, husband . "

    "... Yeah, please help me this year as well, Sunday . "

    Hearing Tong called her previous life name, she turned back and gave him a light kiss on the lips .

    "OHHH!!"

    "THEY KISSED!"

    "NOICE!"

    "Oh, hey! Someone is walking strange! Why is he bending forward?"

    "N-No . I¡¯m not feeling well . "

    "Kuku, damn right . You¡¯re not feeling well . "

    "Ha! Simple, he has an erection!"

    "He gets hard from watching them? Is he a virgin!?"

    "FWAHAHAHA!"

    "ZEHAHAHA!"

    "Don¡¯t worry buddy . I¡¯ll take you to a ce . I know a few nice girls . "

    "T-T-Thanks . "

    The crowd on the back got rowdier . The culture of the people in this world was less open than the westerners . They never kissed their lovers in public .

    "They¡¯re getting noisy again because of you . What was that for?"

    "For calling my name . "

    "I see . Then I¡¯ll retract my promise and call you ¡¯zombie¡¯ as usual then . "

    "NUUUU!? WHY!?"

    Hua Shi threw tantrum as Tong teased her . He smiled as he thought of something ironic .

    ¡¯My girlfriend¡¯s name is Friday and my affair is Sunday . If I meet other girls, will their name be Monday to Thursday or Saturday?¡¯

    Tong sighed for the third time .

    ¡¯Let she be thest one . I won¡¯t take in another girl . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile .

    Tian Shui City of Yong Province . Far West of China .

    An obese well-dressedte-middle-age man sat on the main seat in the government hall with his granddaughter pestering him on the side . The fat man had tanned skin and messy entangled full-beard . His face was full of pimples and zit scars as he did not take care of his hygiene .

    The officials in the hall kept their mouth shut and did not dare to look up and made eye contact with the fat ugly man .

    The little adorable girl at the age of 5 in purple dress kept shaking her grandfather¡¯s sleeves and shouted .

    "Grandpa! When will we go?"

    "It¡¯s not the time yet, my dear . Please be patience . "

    "But he is in danger!"

    "Don¡¯t worry, dear . I¡¯ve heard that the emperor just gave out a decree and promoted his father . No one can harm his family at this moment . "

    "Muu, okay ..."

    The girl walked away from her fat grandfather in sullen and teary eyes .

    After the girl left, one of the officials in the hall stepped forward and bowed as he waited for his lord¡¯s order . However, before the official could open his mouth, the fat governor roared .

    "What¡¯s so good about this Zhang Tong!? Why has my granddaughter kept pestering me to see him!?"

    "My lord, I have all the information about Zhang Tong . "

    "Good! Read it for me, Wenyou . "

    The official, who had the courtesy name "Wenyou", read the report .

    . . .

    In front of the government hall, many g poles were nted into the ground . The gs on the pole were folded and hung down by the gravity .

    Suddenly, stormwind from the nearby mountains blew toward the government hall, and the gs fluttered into the air .

    Those gs were represented the family surname of the governor of this city .

    The gs were written in a Chinese word .

    It was written in one character .

    Dong .

 Chapter 67

    Chapter 67

    Chapter 67 ¨C The Struggle of Friday

    The little girl cried by herself in her room as she looked at the status menu in front of her .

    . . .

    ***************************

    **Status**

    Name: Dong Bai

    Age: 5

    Lifespan: 49 Years

    *Skill List*

    [True Self] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Temporary revert back to the previous demonic form .

    - Host regains all status attributes from the previous form .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan per one hour .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Only Dong Bai can use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    [Administrator Serial#5H450107053052]

    - Host can edit or delete a skill of a reincarnator in this world .

    Skill Cost: None

    Skill Restriction:

    - The skill power scale must follow thew of this dimension .

    - Only Dong Bai can use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    [Sealed]

    - Host cannot use any demonic power in this world .

    - Host cannot ept any mission from the system .

    - Host cannot edit her own skills .

    ***************************

    . . .

    This girl was the granddaughter of the infamous tyrant Dong Zhuo . At the same time, she was also the reincarnation of a demonic being who was once called "Friday" .

    She attempted to follow after Tong into this dimension after she had found out about the abnormality about this trial . However, because the link between the two dimension were severed after Tong and the other sinners had entered this world, the angels and the gods had to spend a decade trying to fix the dimension passage, but they could only attached a fracture part of it together .

    Although the dimension link had not beenpletely repaired yet, both Medusa and Friday managed to slip into this world . However, it was already the year of 177 . They werete by 12 years!

    Without much of a choice, both of them each picked an embryo of an aristocrat as the new body of their reincarnation for their safety and their future influence power . Friday took Dong Bai¡¯s body, while Medusa took the embryo body of someone in the capital . If they did not reincarnate and wondered around with their souls, the system that was governing this world would destroy them instantly .

    The system were created by the first generation deity, which were made in order to take the role as a watchdog to prevent any immortal from bullying the local natives in this dimension .

    However, if any immortal or irregr soul wanted to step foot onto this world, they had to be reincarnated as a mortal and lived under thews of this dimension, which was directed by the system .

    In other word, the system was the true god of this world . Even the deities in the Netherworld could notmand it, but could only give it a few suggestion .

    Both Medusa and Friday also had toply with the system and itsws . Although they were powerful demons in hell, but in here, they were the same as the reincarnated sinners .

    As a result, their lifespans, which were preset as infinite, was nerfed and the [Sealed] skill was posted on them . Their preset skills were also tampered by the system, which the additional condition [This skill will be erased after its usage] was added .

    With all the restriction from the system, Friday was powerless . She desperately tried to convince her grandfather to help her several times, yet she failed every times .

    ...

    Zou Shi, the fianc¨¦ of one of Dong Zhou¡¯s subordinate, Zhang Ji, heard the crying voice of Dong Bai . She immediately entered her room to console the little girl .

    In the history, Zou Shi was one of Zhang Ji¡¯s wives . After Zhang Ji was killed by Liu Biao¡¯s troops, she became a widow and remained under the protection of Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji¡¯s nephew .

    Later in 197, Zhang Xiu surrendered Wan Castle to Cao Cao . However, Cao Cao took Zou Shi as his concubine, which angered Zhang Xiu . Afterwards, Zhang Xiu and his men killed two sons of Cao Cao and Dian Wei in the Wan Castle ambushes .

    Then in the year 200, Zhang Xiu surrendered to Cao Cao again, and Zou Shi ended up officially as one of Cao Cao¡¯s concubines .

    At the present, Zou Shi was a charming 16-year-old teenage with long wavy ck hair that reached her back . She was wearing a white dress with purple flower sleeves decorations . However, the dress seemed small because it highlighted her model-shape body and her ample round chests .

    "What¡¯s wrong? Why are you crying, little Bai?"

    Dong Bai looked up to see Zou Shi, then she dove into Zou Shi¡¯s breasts and hugged her .

    "My grandpa don¡¯t want me to see Tong . " Dong Bai whimpered .

    "Tong? Who is Tong? Is he a puppy?"

    Dong Bai raised her head to look up at Zou Shi, and pouted .

    "No! He is not a puppy! He is my boyfriend!"

    Zou Shi was surprised . Zou Shi herself grew up in the culture where women were nothing but political tools for bonding between families, or women had to obediently support their husband from behind . She, too, was sent to this city to marry Zhang Ji by her parents . As for herself, she had never thought about having any boyfriend before . But the little girl was so daring .

    "Ho? Our little Bai has a boyfriend . Then where is he now?"

    "He ... he¡¯s very far away . "

    "How far?"

    "Probably somewhere in Ji Province..."

    "Ji Province!?"

    Zou Shi frowned . They were living in Tian Shui City of Yong Province, which were at the far west of China, beyond Chang¡¯an Imperial City and Anding County . Meanwhile, Ji Province was located on the northern part of China . From here to Ji Province, they had to spend at least one entire month to travel on a one way trip on the fastest horse! With entourages and escorts troops, they probably had to spend two to three months to get there .

    Then it brought a question to Zou Shi¡¯s mind . How did Dong Bai meet the person and how did they start their rtionship?

    "Little Bai, when did you two first meet? How did it start?"

    A sweat rolled down on Dong Bai¡¯s cheek . She mumbled by herself and rolled her eyes around in flustered . Then she stared into Zou Shi¡¯s eyes .

    "Umm, d-d-do you believe in love and promise from the previous life?"

    ...

    Dong Bai narrated her fictional story about Tong and herself . She did not tell Zou Shi about heaven and hell, but a romantic story she read on a Read in her free times . Then she ended the story where Tong and Dong Bai died at old age, and promised each other that they would be reunited again in the next life .

    Zou Shi was moved by the story as she wiped her tears with her handkerchief . Then she pulled Dong Bai into a hug .

    "Don¡¯t worry little Bai . I¡¯ll definitely help you!"

    Dong Bai was surprised . She looked at Zou Shi with her wide eyes .

    "Really?"

    "Really than real! I¡¯ll ask my fianc¨¦ to help you!"

    As a local native who had never tasted a concept of a novel and had never attended school to refine her logic thinking, she believed in Dong Bai¡¯s story without a doubt . Furthermore, she was still an innocent teenage girl who had never experienced love, so she was interested in the romance story . She felt like she would be part of the story if she helped Dong Bai reunited with her lover .

    "My fianc¨¦ has a position in the army . He can mobilize his men to escort us! I¡¯ll ask him to give us a hand!"

    "Wow! Thank you sister! I love you!"

    "Haha! I love you, too"

    ...

    Later that day, Zou Shi visited Zhang Ji in his courtyard while he was resting there . She asked Zhang Ji about it which made him giving Zou Shi a weird look .

    "It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t believe you, but don¡¯t you think this story is kind of absurd?"

    The smiling charming face of Zou Shi turned into an angered banshee as she red into Zhang Ji¡¯s eyes .

    "You are going to help me or I¡¯ll ask my parents to annul our engagement!"

    *BOOM*

    Zhang Ji was shocked as if the turbulent thunder had stuck him . He immediately kowtowed to his fianc¨¦ in a hurry and begged for her forgiveness . Then he rushed out of his courtyard to prepare for the journey .

    At the moment, Zhang Ji was still a low rank 1,000-manmander under Niu Fu, who married Dong Zhuo¡¯s daughter and became his son-inw . Meanwhile, Zou Shi was a daughter of a high rank minister within Luo Yang . Therefore, her word could threaten Zhang Ji¡¯s career because she could make him lose his job or killed him on the spot by just writing a letter to her father .

    ...

    Zhang Ji submitted his request to his superior, Niu Fu, who was giving Zhang Ji an odd look .

    "You are going to Ji Province for what?"

    "I don¡¯t know the details, but I¡¯m looking for someone . My fianc¨¦ ordered me . "

    "You two haven¡¯t married yet, but you are being ordered around?"

    "Umm, yes . "

    Niu Fuughed out loud together with his subordinates around him, which made Zhang Ji embarrassed .

    "Alright, I understand . But who are you seeking again?"

    "I think he is called ... Zhang Tong?"

    Niu Fu paused hisughter as he stared into the eyes of Zhang Ji . He had heard this name before . In the council meeting this morning with his father-inw, the name "Zhang Tong" was mentioned and was ordered to be thoroughly investigated .

    "I ept your request . But I will have to report this to our lord myself . Lord Dong will be the one that will decide your fate, not me . "

    Zhang Ji lowered his head in sullen . Then he cupped his fist to bid farewell to hismander and left, leaving Niu Fu who was staring at him behind his back .

    "Report this to our lord in details . "

 Chapter 68

    Chapter 68

    Chapter 68 ¨C iming Julu

    January 8th .

    Tong, his family and his troops arrived in front of Julu City eastern main gate .

    This Julu City might be a medium size city worthy to invest in to form up an independent force, but it was currently surrounded by many potential enemies . At the same time, opportunities could be found here if Tong yed his cards right .

    Julu County and Julu City, located in the northern part of China within Ji Province, was surrounded by many medium size cities and other provinces .

    On the east of Julu, Nan Pi City of Yuan family were there .

    On the north, Zhongzhan City of Ji Province were sandwiched in between Julu City and Ji City of You Province . The Ji City governor was none other than Liu Yan while Zhongzhan City did not have any powerhouse which had taken control of it yet .

    Jin Yang City of Bing Province, which Ding Yuan and Lu Bu was in charge of, served as a border and a buffer zone between China and the Xiang Nu tribes on the mountains far west of Julu .

    Ji Province Capital, Imperial City of Ye, which was controlled by Han Fu, was situated south of Julu . This city would have its name changed to Yiwu Cityter in 624 A . D . and became a major county-size-city in the future .

    Ganling City was also on the southeast of Julu . It was currently under control of Zhang Yan, who had betrayed Tong and his family during thest battle .

    These were the only medium andrge size cities that Tong had to be cautious of . The rest of the counties, such as Ningjin County or Anping County, did not have any proper city with protection brick walls, so no local nobles with sane mind would utilize them as a home base . However, Tong still thought of utilizing these territories as his military bases, strategic ces for fortification or other facilities, such as steel factories or secret granaries in the future .

    Tong thought about all that while he was gazing at the 5 meters height brick walls that protected the Julu City in the shape of square in four direction .

    The gs with the character "Guo" was still there as no one had changed it yet .

    ...

    Zhang Jiao rode his horse in front of the 12,000 men in formation . From the onlooker perspective from inside the city, it was as if Zhang Jiao was about toy siege on Julu .

    A messenger of Zhang Jiao rode his horse forward and read out the edict of the emperor that Zhang Jiao had received from the eunuch . After he had read it out loud, the messenger ordered the soldiers inside to open the gate and wee the new governor, or they would be dered as rebels .

    The city gate opened and officials rushed out to greet the iing troops in frantic . They were Guo Dian¡¯s former subordinates .

    "G-Greetings, my lord . We did not expect that a new governor would be appointed soon . Please forgive us for ourte wee . P-Please, pleasee inside . "

    The officials invited Zhang Jiao inside and bootlicked him along the way . Tong, Zhou Cang, Hua Shi and their 7,000 men entered the city while the rest settled down the army camps outside .

    While they were entering the city, Tong whispered to Hua Shi .

    "Can you do the ounting?"

    "Eh? If it¡¯s only basic tables and sorting, I can . Why?"

    "I need your help screening the official ounts . I¡¯m going to purge a few useless crooks . "

    "Okay! But I want one more night-ticket . "

    ck lines appeared on Tong¡¯s face . She had not used her previous ticket yet, but she asked for more . Were every girls who was named after the days of the week perverted?

    "Fine, but only use it when it¡¯s your safe day . I¡¯m not ready for a baby yet . "

    "Hehe . Don¡¯t worry . You can always use my upper mouth any day if you want . Your fluid is delicious!"

    Tong facepalmed himself . It was a bad idea trying to have a conversation with under-belly-button topics with Hua Shi .

    Tong ignored Hua Shi and whispered to his father .

    "Let¡¯s get every officials in the hall and have a meeting . We have to purge some useless leeches first . "

    Zhang Jiao nced at Tong and slightly nodded .

    "My lord, we are thinking of holding a weing banquet for you tonight . Would you give us the honor?" The bootlicking official still tried to please Zhang Jiao, who still had indifferent expression on his face .

    "No . For now, can you gather every personal to the main government hall? I want to know everybody first . "

    "Of course, of course . Such admirable enthusiasm! Our city will surely prosper if Lord Zhang govern us!"

    Both Zhang Jiao and Tong shook their head as they gave up trying to stop these people from butt-kissing .

    ...

    The seven thousands soldiers, with Zhou Cang as its deputy general and Tong as the grandmander, had reced the city garrison guards and all remaining militias . The former soldiers were either released from their services, or sent to the camp outside of the city to retrain by Zhang Bao or Zhang Liang .

    It was a counter-measure just in case someone yed a trick, or tried to kill everyone while they were inside the city . All former troops had to be disbanded and reced with Zhang family private army .

    Inside the hall, there was a small wooden stage which were painted in red and red wooden stairs in front of it . A luxurious wax-coated ck table was ce on the stage and a fluffy cushion was ce behind it . The stage was not there for anyone to perform on, but it was the main seat of the governor .

    Beside the stage, a round cauldron human-size with decorated art was emitting out fragrant incense smoke .

    Round red marble pirs made of marbles lined up in orderly fashion in the hall . The red marble ground were sparkling clean, even though every officials came here with dirty shoes on every day .

    The walls were almost non-existence because there were holes and windows everywhere in the walls . The walls were not in deteriorating status, but it was sculptured into many ancient folklore beasts . It entire ce looked like an art museum rather than a government hall .

    The wind blew in from the east without stopping, which made the air venttion smooth and contained plenty of oxygen .

    Zhang Jiao sat in the main government hall with Hua Shi standing behind him, acting as if she was his advisor or an aide . Meanwhile, Tong, who was still wearing full iron armor, stood on the lower stair . He was in the position of being second inmand and a spoke person .

    The officials hurried themselves and lined up on the sides, leaving the main path to the front gate opened .

    Seeing that all officers were present, the representative of the officials stepped forward to the center of the hall . He bowed to Zhang Jiao and gave out a report .

    "My lord, all 543 of your servants are ounted for . We are awaiting for your instruction . "

    Zhang Jiao nodded and looked at Tong . Afterwards, Tong spoke out .

    "My name is Zhang Tong . I will be our lord spokesman from now on . The first thing that our lord wants to do, is the check our status of this city and its people . Please bring out the city treasury reports, annual budget reports, financial reports of every noble families within this city and all bills that the former governor had passed in these recent years!"

    The crowd of the officials murmured . The topic of their financial status was an unspoken-forbidden topic that they all knew . Because of their past embezzlement, exploitation and corruption, none of them wanted to bring out any of their report .

    "Our lord will give you half a day to get your reports prepared . Tomorrow morning we will hold a council again! If there is anyone that are present here missing tomorrow, that person and their families will be charged with treason and have their 3 generation executed!"

    The officials panicked . The leader of the officials stepped up to appease Tong .

    "Lord Zhang, please reconsider your order . The financial report is a sensitive topic . We ..."

    "BULLSHIT!! The treasury and finance reports are just simple numbers and facts! Why do you call it a sensitive topic!? How are we going to work without knowing the status of our treasury and our financial power! How can we govern and protect the lives of over 100,000 civilians! Guards! Drag this retard away and put him in a dungeon! Send 500 men to search his family residents and bring out all of his past career records and all of his treasures! I want to know why he said it was a sensitive topic!"

    The crowd was in uproar . More than half of them lost the color of their faces while the remaining honest officials smirked at their troubled colleagues .

    ...

    "Finally, a capable governor has arrived . "

    "Indeed . This is a godsend . "

    "I can¡¯t wait to see these bastards dead . They did it upon themselves . "

    The few elder schrs in the back gossiped among themselves while they were watching the show .

    "How do you like it, teacher Lu? Do you think your decision about paying here a visit is worth it?" An elder schr asked another man beside him .

    "Hmm, at least Zhang Tong is better than Guo Dian for sure . I did not waste my timeing here in vain . "

    "Do you think he is worthy of your teaching?"

    Lu Zhi paused as he gazed at Hua Shi, Tong and his father . The pupil in his eyes were sharp as if they could see through the skins of the three .

    "Zhang Jiao is merely a puppet and he was even older than me, so he can¡¯t be taught . The girl on the back is somewhat unpredictable judging from the past records . Women cannot hold any official rank in the court anyway, so it¡¯s not worth wasting my time trying to test the water . But Zhang Tong is an interesting young fellow . I hope he can fare better than Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei . Those two are a disappointment . "

 Chapter 69

    Chapter 69

    Chapter 69 ¨C Purging the Crooks

    January 8th, 182 A . D . Late Afternoon .

    Tong ordered Zhou Cang to form checkpoint? at all gates around the city because he had a hunch that the crook officials should make a move tonight .

    Zhou Cang immediatelyplied with the order . Within two hours, all gates were locked down and an announcement were made .

    "Order from the governor Zhang Jiao! Today and tomorrow, all gates will be closed until the purge ispleted! All those who wish to get into the city should enter within today . But those that wish to exit will have to wait!"

    This announcement caused an uproar among the merchants and the peasants . Though they were used to the sudden announcement for shutting down the gate, they were attracted to the keyword "The purge" .

    Rumors about the new governor started to spread . Within an hour, a gossip bomb was dropped by an eavesdropping pce guard that had heard Tong¡¯s order from the council meeting .

    "Zhang Jiao wants to get rid of the crook officials! One of them was already got their houses ransacked and arrested!"

    Light appeared in the eyes of peasants and merchants . Asmoners, they loved gossiping about the nobles and the politics as there were no other entertainment in this era . Therefore, any information about the government movement, even if it was a trivial one, was always wee .

    News was spread like wide fire throughout the city within a day, which caused several taverns to boom in business as many peasants came in to chat and drink .

    "Zhang Jiao is an honest official?"

    "He¡¯s also a physician?"

    "His son is the undying immortal?"

    "Zhang Tong killed Guo Dian, and his father took over the city?"

    "Goddess of Death is here, too?"

    "Will they kill all the officials?"

    Several backgrounds of Zhang family members were dug up and spread among the citizens . Majority of them were positive feedback from the good achievements and reputation, which Tong and his family members had piled up all these years .

    Because of many good rumors about Zhang Jiao and Tong, the peasants in the city were delighted . Their eyes were filled with hope, and lively cheering resounded throughout the city . As a result, all businesses and sales were increased in every industries as everyone celebrated for the good governor .

    Although the civilians were easy to be manipted by the officials, but they still couldpare Guo Dian and Zhang Jiao in terms of reputation .

    When Guo Dian had held the power, the peasants were abused by the noble families and the soldiers . Yet after Zhang Jiao arrived here for half a day, one of the crook official got arrested and had his properties confiscated . All soldiers that used to abuse the honest citizens were reced with the disciplined stern soldiers . Then the news about the purge appeared . Even a child could tell that a good change hade into this city, and everything might get even better .

    That night, every taverns buzzed with celebrations and cheers . Morals of the citizens were at its peak .

    ...

    ...

    January 9th . Morning .

    Zhang Jiao held a council meeting again in the government main hall today . However, only 70% of the officials attended the meeting because the remaining 30% of them were either hid themselves with in their resident behind their private soldiers, or tried to escape from the Julu City .

    All attempts to get away from the city were stopped by the 7,000 garrison soldiers within the city . Meanwhile, six thousand men under Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang and Bo Cai still stationed outside, which intimidated all crook nobles .

    "Arrest everyone that hasn¡¯t attended today¡¯s council! If anyone resists, ughter their entire family and hang their heads in front of the wall!"

    Zhang Jiao made the announcement himself as he hated corrupted government to the extreme .

    Tong and Zhou Cangplied with the order . They separated into groups and raided the official residents that had not attended the meeting .

    From morning till evening, the sounds of battle and killing resounded within the city . Blood filled the entire high ss residents around the government pce . The neighbors of the ransacked residents shivered in fear as the sounds of killing was terrifying . However, themoners from the outer area kept celebrating each time they heard about the killing .

    Meanwhile, Hua Shi took the duty as a clerk, and sorted all the financial reports from the attending officers . She double-checked all ounts of every noble families and the treasury reports .

    She rubbed her temple as the numbers of the embezzlement and the disappeared funds were massive . Of the 380 officials that were presented here, only 250 people were clean while the rest had their ounting tampered .

    ...

    Late Afternoon .

    The remaining 130 corrupted officials were all arrested and had all of their properties confiscated . Their family members would also be expelled from the city as they were the aplices .

    The value of the confiscated treasures and properties were astonishing . If all of them were liquidized into gold, it would be converted into over 300,000 gold! These people had been eating the taxes of the civilians for years!

    Hua Shi identally blurted out the numbers, which caught ears of the eavesdropping soldiers . Another rumor spread and shocked the entire city . More praises and more celebrations took ces at several taverns and inn again, which made the workersined that they were about to die working .

    ...

    Evening .

    Zhang Jiao, Hua Shi and Tong stayed in the government hall, having dinner together after they hadpleted their tiring jobs . All officials already returned home . Zhou Cang excused himself and wanted to return to his men . But before he left, Tong gave him 100 gold as a tip and told him .

    "From now on, your monthly wage will be a hundred gold instead of 3 gold . Go and have fun with your subordinates . "

    Zhou Cang was delighted . He cupped his fist and left in joyous mood as he wondered which redlight district brothel he should be visiting today . With 100 gold, he could sleep every night in the high-ss brothels with any prostitute for an entire month .

    Seeing Zhou Cang lecherous eyes and face, Tong shook his head .

    "I hope he won¡¯t get STD before he bes a good general . Sunday, can you create any med for STD?"

    Hua Shi paused her chopsticks and stared into Tong¡¯s eyes in solemn .

    "You¡¯ve got herpes?"

    "..."

    Tong facepalmed .

    "Fool! I¡¯m immune to all disease . If I¡¯m infected, you¡¯ll be the first to know!"

    "Ah, you¡¯re right . But who¡¯s infected?"

    "Just asking . Zhou Cang is probably at risk . There is no condom here in this era . "

    Hua Shi stopped talking as she asked the system in her mind . Then she gave Tong a slight nod .

    "I can . But he has to be infected first . "

    "That¡¯s gonna be painful to him . "

    "Don¡¯t worry . He¡¯ll learn from his mistake . When I was still a nurse, most my patients with STD never came back to the hospital with the same disease again . "

    "But they came back with different diseases?"

    " . . . Just a few of them . "

    Zhang Jiao was listening on the side . Although he did not understand what both of them were talking about, he still smiled after he saw how close the two were . Then he was reminded something .

    "Right, Tong¡¯er, Shi¡¯er . How old are you now?"

    "17 . Why did you ask?"

    "Since we are nobles now . I think it¡¯s about time we call Shi¡¯er parents to live here with us . And I¡¯m thinking about getting you two married . "

    "..."

    Tong could not find the right word to reply because he still felt guilty about Friday . But his expression was the same as Zhang He¡¯s poker face .

    "Oh, it¡¯s that time already, huh?" Hua Shi said in monotone .

    Zhang Jiao was shocked by the two reactions . He thought that both of them might be flustered in embarrassment as they were still young . It seemed that both of them had gone all the way through already .

    "You two seem to have crossed that line . Be careful not to get Shi¡¯er pregnant before the wedding . I don¡¯t want any bad rumor going around . "

    ¡¯Dad, it¡¯s not up to me . It¡¯s up to her!¡¯

    Tong wanted to retort . But after seeing his father¡¯s happy smile, he swallowed his words back .

    "Don¡¯t worry, father-inw . I¡¯ll be sure to give you a healthy grandson and a granddaughter each!"

    Tong almost mmed his face into his rice bowl . This girl was too shameless!

    Zhang Jiao could not help butugh out loud in happiness . His world after his wife had passed on became ck-and-white for years, now it had be colorful again with the younger generations around him .

    He was d he followed through with Tong¡¯s n and did not rebel directly . The only thing he felt pity was that his younger brothers were still outside with their troops . He wished they could enjoy their meal together as a big family again once more .

    In the middle of their merry mood, a soldier rushed in and knelt down to report .

    "Report to Lord Zhang, the Imperial Inspector Lu Zhi would like to make an appointment to you and young master Zhang tomorrow morning . Because you were busy today, Lord Lu Zhi could not find a chance to talk to you . He has begged you for your forgiveness on this inconvenient timing . "

    Zhang Jiao nodded and agreed for the appointment while Tong stared at the messenger soldier in shock .

    ¡¯Lu Zhi? That Lu Zhi!? The teacher of Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan!? What the heck is he doing here?¡¯

 Chapter 70

    Chapter 70

    Chapter 70 ¨C Master

    January 10th .

    Heads of the dead officials were hung in front of the four main gates around the city . Description and details of their crimes were written on the public announcement boards .

    The schrs and nobles who could read gathered in front of the boards . Some of them read it out loud for their friends, and some of them whispered and continued their gossip hobbies .

    "Suit them right! Haha!"

    "Lord Zhang Jiao sure is efficient!"

    "Look! Isn¡¯t that old Jiang that killed your son!?"

    "... Justice has been served! I¡¯m going to join the army now! I¡¯ll pay back this gratitude with my life!"

    "Aiya! This guy embezzled over 40,000 gold! I thought he was an honest schr!"

    "You can¡¯t judge people by their looks . See that good looking head? Isn¡¯t he the popr young master Mu?"

    "That¡¯s right . There is more than meets the eye . "

    "47 ... 48 ... 49 ... Heck, I lost count! How many people have they killed!?"

    "I heard there were others at the other gates . Want to take a look?"

    "Are you nuts? We have to walk all day to reach the other gate . Count me in!"

    Uproars and rumors continued to spread while the spies of other lords were busy sending this news back home .

    ...

    Government Main Hall .

    Zhang Jiao and Tong had finished this morning assembly . Today, Zhang Jiao passed a bill that they would hold an auction of the seized treasures from the corrupted officials, so they could use the gold and coins for the future government funds .

    The remaining honest officers epted the tasks with enthusiasm as they were hoping to see the change and the improvement of the city .

    However, they were short on hands, so the tasks might be slower than their standards . Tong and Zhang Jiao did not mind it . They allowed the officials to work at their paces because both of them had other works toplete in the meantime .

    Because of the purge, many positions in the city government were vacant . However, Tong expressed that it should be left empty for now as he had to rece the old way of the Han government system with the better one .

    Tong nned to turn these ancient ways of management into a government-corporate system with his father as the CEO and the officials as thepany¡¯s workers . For governing one medium-sized city, the evil capitalism conglomerate systembined with the iron-fist monarchyws could be temporary applied here for the short-term stable growth .

    Once he expanded his territories, he would have to change the governing system once more . For now, he had no suitable officer who Tong could entrust with the important politic roles .

    After the bills and all agendas were done in the meeting, Tong unloaded all gold in his inventory into the treasury vault, which shocked the officials .

    Some of them had heard about the rumor about "The Immortal Zhang Tong" before . As a result, half of the officials decided to join the Immortal Yellow Turban Sect which had been secretly found recently by Zhang Jiao without Tong realizing it . The desire to rebel against the Han Court was still within his veins .

    The officials dispersed and resumed their duties on their roles with joyous mood, but Zhang Jiao and Tong remained in the hall . They were waiting for someone .

    Meanwhile, Hua Shi, who was baited by Tong into working as a city clerk and an ountant in exchange for 10 all-you-can-eat-dual-cultivation-night tickets as her monthly wage, had her head emitting smoke, and her soul almost slipped out from her mouth .

    She had copsed on her working table as she was overworked by the zealot father-and-son duo . Trying to be a good wife for the cunning workaholic family was not easy .

    Then a messenger arrived .

    "Reporting, Lord Lu Zhi has arrived and is waiting in front of the hall!"

    "Invite him in . "

    "Yes, sir!"

    The messenger rushed out . After a couple of minutes, a man in mid-40s with a tidied robe and kempt hair, which was tied up with small cloth wrapped up on it, walked into the hall . He did not dress as an official, but a simple robe of a schr . Despite being in middle age, he had traces of white hair all over his head which indicated that he was a heavy thinker .

    "Greetings, Lord Zhang . I am Lu Zhi, a humble imperial inspector and the Intendant Minister of Luo Yang . Please to make your acquaintance . "

    Zhang Jiao nodded and exchanged pleasantries with Lu Zhi . However, Tong kept his mouth shut and continued to observe the middle-aged man .

    ¡¯Humble my foot! Intendant Minister is probably the same as Chief Minister or Senior Minister . In Luo Yang, he is probably second after He Jin!¡¯ Tong thought .

    In the other world history, this person was a high ranking minister and the teacher of Liu Bei, Gongsun Zan and other officials . He wouldter lead the main Imperial Army and proved his prowess by crushing the forces of Zhang Jiao in the year 184 . However, due to the corruption and schemes by the eunuch faction, he was removed from themand post in the middle of the campaign .

    Later after the Yellow Turban was destroyed, he continued to serve the Han Dynasty as minister of letters . He was known to be well-versed in both politics and teaching .

    Aside from this, there was no other record of his achievement in history . Some said that he retired peacefully . Some said he was killed during the time Dong Zhuo took over Luo Yang . Despite many rumors, no solid proof had been found yet .

    Tong gazed at the scene in front of his with aplicated look on his face . It was ironic that the two who were enemies in history were having a pleasant conversation in this world .

    "By the way, how do you n to revitalize the city? I see that there are still many vacancies left after the purge . Would you like me to rmend you a few personals to fill in the position?"

    Lu Zhi asked with good intention . He liked what Tong and Zhang Jiao did . The process of the executions of the crook officials, the evidence and proofs, and the announcement to the public were well-nned and well-done in the eyes of Lu Zhi .

    Therefore, he wanted to give them a hand as capable officials were rare specimens . These types of honest people were worth nurturing .

    However, Zhang Jiao hesitated and nced at Tong by reflex . The bodynguage of Zhang Jiao gave away the hint to Lu Zhi, so he turned his head to Tong and cupped his fist to him without caring about seniority .

    "You must be the rumor ¡¯Immortal Zhang Tong¡¯, am I right? Please to meet you . " Lu Zhi greeted Tong with a smile .

    Tong had goosebumps . He was still traumatized by the sharp eyes of Feng Ji . This Lu Zhi also had the same eyes as him! Furthermore, he seemed to be more experienced than the greedy crook as his eyes had more depth as if Tong was staring into the abyss .

    ¡¯There was a saying if you gaze into the abyss ...¡¯ Tong thought .

    "The abyss will gaze back at you . " Lu Zhi replied .

    Tong shuddered in fear and his eyes were wide open . Lu Zhi could read his mind?

    Meanwhile, Lu Zhi had a merryugh . He teased Tong far enough . From his experiences, not many people dared to stare into his eyes because of his rank . But if they did, they were likely to have potentials to grow up into a great man in the future as they had enough self-confident . As long as someone had self-confident but not overconfident, they would fare well with any career .

    "Please forgive me for my inconsideration . Your expression gave it away . " Lu Zhi bowed once again .

    Tong subconsciously touched his mouth . Then he realized that this was probably one of those face reading techniques, or he let out hints by his subtle movements . Tong sighed and bowed in return as he epted his inferiority .

    "Please don¡¯t lower yourself . It should be me that thank you for your teaching . Thank you for pointing out about my ws . "

    Lu Zhi nodded . He liked Tong more and more because of his humble and his ability to ept his shoring . Lu Zhi confirmed that Tong could be taught .

    "Although you are good in military and politics, in the terms of personality, wits, culture, and maybe general knowledge, you still fall short and vulnerable to be exploited by everyone in my peers . However, I can guide you on these subjects . How about it? Won¡¯t you be my disciple?"

    Zhang Jiao who was observing them by the side was shocked . Hua Shi was stunned and swallowed her soul back . Tong¡¯s mouth became "O" as he did not believe what he had just heard .

    Within five seconds, Tong came back to his sense . Although he had 21st-century knowledge and cheats, he should not be overconfident or too proud of himself . Having the personality and mindset of an empty ss in this situation was more beneficial than being the full-ss type .

    Moreover, Lu Zhi held the prominent position in the Imperial Court at the moment . Having him as his master equaled having his entire family under his protection . Under him, even Yuan Shao himself had to think twice before crossing with Tong¡¯s family again .

    Tong knelt in kowtow and cupped his fist to Lu Zhi .

    "Zhang Tong greets master!"

 Chapter 71

    Chapter 71

    Chapter 71 ¨C The Rmendation

    Lu Zhiughed in satisfaction while Zhang Jiao had aplicated expression . Having a high ranking official as Tong¡¯s mentor was a good news because Tong could have a bright future by studying under Lu Zhi¡¯s guidance, or Lu Zhi could write a letter of rmendation to give Tong a position in the Imperial Court . However, Zhang Jiao was still skeptical about the Han Imperial Court because he still prejudiced against the officials .

    Hua Shi swept her nces at Lu Zhi and Tong . Then she yawned and continued dozing off on her working table . She did not care about any historical figure or Tong¡¯s politic scheme .

    Lu Zhi helped Tong up and continued chatting .

    "I almost forgot my initial question . How do you n to rejuvenate the city?"

    Tong smiled and waved his hand . A couple of soap bars and a barrel of beer was taken out from Tong¡¯s space inventory .

    "W-What!? Did you just ...?"

    Lu Zhi was bbergasted . From his perspective, Tong had just created several objects out of thin air . He thought that the nickname "Immortal" was just something Tong created to intimidate his opponents . But it seemed that Lu Zhi had misunderstood . Tong might really be either a sage or an immortal .

    "Master, I¡¯m nning to create a business firm that runs by the government . For starter, I¡¯m nning to put these products to ..."

    Tong narrated his business ns to Lu Zhi while Zhang Jiao also paid attention to the details .

    The peasants in this era had limited types of jobs . Eighty percent of them were farmers . The other ten were professional soldiers . Five percent were merchants . And the rest were specialists, such as carpenters, bow makers, cksmiths, physicians, Taoist priests, schrs, and officials .

    As a result, the majority of people were poor and rarely use coins or gold to trade for food . They offeredbors or barter-traded with their neighbors to makes end meet instead .

    Because of the scarceness of jobs, and for the sake of the preparation of the future drought season and epidemic outbreak next year, Tong wanted to improve their quality of life first by giving them more variety of jobs and ie .

    First, he wanted the government to promote themercial businesses by pushing the government firm as a foundation . Then he would hire more staffs and probably hireborers,moners, and schrs into the firm .

    He would make the soap and the beer as their local specialty to promote the merchants¡¯ activities in the nearby areas . Once merchants were attracted to the local products and visited Julu City, they would bring other goods into the city to trade, which would bring prosperity and various products to the people . At the same time, it would create even more jobs and enabled the cash flows into the hands of moremoners, thus, increasing the potential tax ie for the city government in the future . Furthermore,moners with money could at least have to money to buy food from either merchants or the city government to survive next year .

    The ie from the government firm would also be transferred into the city treasury, thus boosting the city cash flows . Then they would be able to invest in other industries to improve the quality of life for the citizens .

    Lu Zhi listened to Tong¡¯s drafted n and nodded . The idea was confusing and too new to him . The more he listened, the more he wondered if he was the master or he was the apprentice .

    From his experience in Luo Yang and Han Court management, they only focus on taxes from the grain harvest and household taxes that they would get annually . But they never dibbed their hands into the macroeconomic or businesses of the lower ss societies .

    The wealthy nobles that Lu Zhi knew also had merchant firms and business background . But they never utilized the economic system to benefit the city this way as they narrowed their vision into their marketing and profits, but not the big picture of the masses .

    "The project is too vague and grand . Will you have enough personals for it?" Lu Zhi questioned .

    Tong scratched his head in embarrassment . Lu Zhi was right . Tong did not have enough talented personals to handle his business ideal .

    Seeing Tong¡¯s reaction, Lu Zhi sighed . This youngster was still na?ve but he had interesting ideas .

    "I know a couple good people that can help you . Want me to rmend them to you?"

    "Really? Yes, please!"

    "I have three outstanding apprentices . I found them when I traveled in You Province . One of them has already be the Lord of Bei Ping of You Province, so I can¡¯t rmend him to you . The second of them probably still continue studying somewhere in Xu Chang . He is quite talented and diligent . I¡¯ll write a letter to him for sure . But the other one is kind of unique . He is a useless bum at the moment, but I think he will show his potential in the future . "

    Tong coughed and almost choked blood as his blood vessels within his throat almost ruptured from shock . He knew exactly who Lu Zhi was referring to .

    "The lord of Bei Ping is Gongsun Zan . The second talent is called Gao You . And thest one is Liu Bei . I¡¯m going to send my letter to Gao You and Liu Bei to make theme working for you . "

    Lu Zhi described the details of his apprenticed which confirmed Tong¡¯s conjecture, after which Tong choked again .

    It was well known that Liu Bei was ambitious and stubborn . When he was young, he always bragged that he was the descendant of Liu Bang, the first Han Dynasty Emperor . He always announced that he would be someone big in the future . And at the end of his life, he actually achieved his dream at the costs of millions of lives along the path to the throne .

    Tong did not want someone this ambitious among his subordinates . But after he thought about it, he could use this chance to take down the troublemaker before he rose to power .

    "Then I will have to trouble master . " Tong bowed to Lu Zhi .

    ...

    ...

    For the rest of the day, Zhang Jiao and Hua Shi resumed their official duty to sort out documents and cleaned up the mess that Guo Dian and his corrupted officials had caused .

    Meanwhile, Tong and Lu Zhi continued to chat and exchanged opinions with their insight . Lu Zhi was impressed by this youngster that he seemed to have a wide vision and unearthly ideas .

    Lu Zhi also taught Tong of the techniques to judge people and to utilize the subordinates as a governor . Several organization structures wereid down for Tong, which he took notes on everything . Then, the structure of a spy organization caught his eyes .

    Seeing that Tong interested in the espionage and surveince topics, Lu Zhi was satisfied . He would prepare a few more scrolls about spies and intelligence agencies and taught Tong in the other day .

    Then, the topic of the conversation changed into the politic struggle within the capital . Lu Zhi continued to narrate what had happened in the past years .

    "His Highness the prince Liu Bian and Liu Xie are dead!? Liu Ping is the crown prince!?"

    "Not exactly, his highness Liu Xie was still alive . Her Majesty the empress switched her son with the son of her servant in advance . The one that died was the body double . The real prince had been sent to Chang An with her highness¡¯s secret agents . But his highness Liu Bian¡¯s cause of death was mysterious . It was as if he died from old age . His body withers, his hair became white and all of his fluid in the body dried up . "

    The movements within the capital were shocking . The existence of another prince was impossible if he was a native . Tong concluded that he was definitely a reincarnation of an otherworlder . But the name "Ping" was something that Tong was traumatized with . He could only pray that this person was not the "Ping" that was once his nemesis .

    Then, Tong recalled about the threatening messages when he entered this world . If Tong were to hold power to change fate or alter the reincarnation process, then what would he do to his enemy .

    Tong had a hunch that the prince Liu Ping was likely to be his nemesis "Ping" from his previous life . If he could retain his name from his previous life, then it would also be possible for Ping to do the same . Tong decided that he had to be extra careful about this prince .

    However, if Liu Ping was really in control of the Han Court, his family could be in danger .

    Lu Zhi continued his story . He told Tong about Liu Ping¡¯s real mother, the Empress Song, and Ping¡¯s outburst struggle in the court when he denied the emperor¡¯s execution edict and so on .

    Liu Ping was currently nicknamed as "The Monster Prince" as he had superhuman power, speed beyond human¡¯sprehension, and his records for murdering many officials, soldiers, and executioners with his bare hands during his fight against the death edict from his father .

    Thenst year, Liu Ping suddenly sided with the eunuch faction and went head to head against his father, the emperor .

    The emperor himself was scared of Liu Ping, so he did not retaliate against him . But the Empress He and her rtive, He Jin, had politic shes with Liu Ping in many asions . Both sides used underhanded tactics to either assassinate or frame the other faction supporters . As a result, hundreds of innocent officials were sacrificed in this struggle . Many high-rank ministers quit their jobs in fear of being implicated in the conflict .

    Lu Zhi himself also had to evacuate outside of the capital temporarily to escape this chaos, or he might also be a target by the prince and the eunuch alliance .

    Then he received a letter from Guo Dian which he suddenly asked for a reinforcement against a group of bandits . Lu Zhi already knew how corrupted this city governor and his subordinates were, so he ignored it .

    Afterward, he heard about Guo Dian¡¯s death, so he paid Julu City a visit to see the victor of the battle, then he met Tong and his family .

    The entire story was shocking to Tong . He could not find the right word to response to Lu Zhi .

 Chapter 72

    Chapter 72

    Chapter 72 ¨C Dong Zhuo¡¯s Ambition .

    Tian Shui City . Dong Zhuo¡¯s resident .

    Dong Zhuo sat in his room, listening to his granddaughter who was narrating her fantasy love story about her previous life in front of him .

    Dong Zhuo got tip-off by his son-inw, Niu Fu, about the unusual request from Zhang Ji and his fianc¨¦ . He had his strategist, Li Ru, investigated his subordinates . Surprisingly, their actions were linked to Dong Zhuo¡¯s own granddaughter .

    Because of the investigation, Dong Zhou asked Dong Bai to tell him the truth, which resulted in the current situation .

    "Are you serious, little Bai?"

    Dong Zhou¡¯s frown deepened and red at the girl . Her story was too much like a fairy tale or a silly folklore . He could not believe a daydreaming fantasy of a 5-year-old child .

    "Bu-But I told you the truth . "

    Dong Bai cried as she answered her grandfather . She kept sniffing and wiping her tears with her sleeves .

    Dong Zhou calmed himself and pat the head of his granddaughter with his blistered-rough hand . Then he thought about the report of Zhang Tong which Li Ru had given him before .

    Suddenly, Dong Zhou had a sinister smile on his face . Then he spoke to Dong Bai in a gentle voice .

    "Do you want to go and see Zhang Tong?"

    "Y-Yes!! Really!? I can see him!?"

    "Of course . Much better than seeing him, I want you two to reunite!"

    Dong Bai cried again . However, she shed tears of happiness this time .

    "Thank you, grandpa! I love you!"

    "Haha! I love you, too . My dear . "

    ...

    After Dong Bai returned to her room with her big sister Zou Shi, Dong Zhou summoned Li Ru into his room .

    Five minutester, a shady man in brown official cloths entered the room . He has small glossy mustaches, which he was proud of, and pale skin .

    "Wenyou, let¡¯s go with your n on that day . Give my granddaughter to him, and bring him back here as my grandson-inw . "

    "My lord, as I have told you before, Zhang Tong is a filial man . He sacrificed 100,000 gold to buy his father the governor position and freed him from the hands of Yuan Shao . I don¡¯t think we can bring him here as long as Zhang Jiao is alive . We also cannot make him kill his father either . He will never do such a thing . "

    "What about making his father join us as well?"

    "That¡¯s . . . uncertain as well . I don¡¯t have any confident persuading Zhang Jiao . "

    "And how can I make him my subordinate!? I want that Immortal as my pet dog!"

    "My lord . Please calm down . Although we have a slim chance to convince him to join us, it¡¯s guaranteed that he will be our faithful ally . "

    "Hmm? Why ally? Why not my dog!?"

    "It¡¯s the geography of thend, my lord . "

    Li Ru pulled out the country map within his sleeves and rolled in open on the table in the room . Afterward, he started exining while pointing at several locations in the map .

    "We are here at the far west, while Zhang Tong is in the middle of the northern part in Ji Province . At the east of his city, Yuan family is there in Nanpi . Then the south is the territory of Han Fu . And then the north, Liu Yan is over there . No matter where you see it, he was surrounded by his enemies . "

    "And?" Dong Zhou still did not understand .

    "What Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong need the most right now are dependable allies . Though we can¡¯t recruit him at the moment, we can make a good impression on him first . We will offer him an alliance proposal with your granddaughter as one of your gifts . After the alliance talk is settled, we will just wait for him to get himself crushed by the surrounding enemies . Once he is defeated, then he will think of us when he considers where to retreat to . "

    Dong Zhou frowned . The n sounds familiar . After he spent 10 minutes to consider Li Ru¡¯s ns, he was reminded of something .

    "Isn¡¯t this n the same that Yuan family used on Zhang Tong? Didn¡¯t he crush all of his enemies thest time!?"

    "Indeed . It is the same, but at the same time, it is not the same . "

    "How?"

    "My lord, when the Yuan family utilized this n, they betrayed Zhang Tong and held his father hostage! But we won¡¯t do the same . We will approach him and showed our sincerity . Please do not forget that your granddaughter will also be used as a gift as well . For someone filial and honest like Zhang Tong, he will never forget this gratitude . Besides, we can also give them a toon of soldiers to help Zhang Tong fending off his enemies . With these, he will never look at us as his enemy like the Yuan family . "

    "... Don¡¯t you think this n is kind of fragile? What if Tong defeats all of his enemies again? What if he doesn¡¯t want toe to us?"

    "If he seeds, it will actually benefit us in the long run as well . Think of what happened during the warring states, my lord . At that time, the Qin State upied Chang An and our territories, while the other six states formed an alliance and dered war on Qin . However, Qin State suddenly formed a secret alliance with Yan and Qi to deter the other states . It was the strategy called ¡¯Allying with distant states and attacking nearby ones¡¯ . We can do the same with the Qin Shi Huang, too . As for the matter that he won¡¯te to us, it will never happen . Zhang Tong doesn¡¯t have any other ally at the moment, so where could he goes when he is in trouble?"

    The eyes of Dong Zhuo brightened up . The history of the Qin Dynasty proved itself that this alliance could go along with his grand ambition .

    "Good! I¡¯ll leave everything to you! As for the gifts, pick one of the red warhorses that we are breeding . What was their breeding name again?"

    "They were called ¡¯Red Hares¡¯, my lord . "

    "Right, give one to him, too . "

    "As youmanded, my lord . "

    Li Ru stepped back and was about to leave . However, Dong Zhuo was reminded of the pair of a baby and a sketchy man .

    "How are the baby and that man?"

    Li Ru turned back and gave his report .

    "He did not suspect anything . We are giving him our best treatment . "

    "Good . Keep an eye on them . Don¡¯t let them run away to other noble . I want them with me forever!"

    "Of course, my lord . "

    ...

    Tian Shui Official Resident Area, Guest Resident .

    A thin man in mid-30s sat on a chair in the middle of the courtyard . He had sharp straight eyebrows which nted upward as if he was always mad at something . However, his Van Dyke style goatee beard made him looked more dandy rather than intimidating .

    His name was Jia Xu, courtesy name as Wenhe . He had been a minor official in Luo Yang for years . However, because of the political in-fighting between the mad prince, the eunuchs, and the loyal faction, several ministers and officials were randomly assassinated or poisoned without reasons . As long as someone from a faction suspected that the person was a part of other faction supporters, he would be killed the next day .

    Jia Xu was not stupid enough to remain in the capital and got himself killed . Last year, he quit his job and attempted to escape to Chang An . He vowed that he would not take part in any politic fight or serve any noble .

    Unfortunately, a colleague of his suddenly entrusted the baby to him, and he was told .

    "This is the third prince Liu Xie! Take him with you and hide . Do not let anyone find out about his status!"

    Jia Xu was bbergasted . He just wanted to retire in peace, yet he was shoved with a heavy responsibility .

    He did his best to keep himself low profile and managed to stay in Chang An for a month . Then, he was attacked by a group of bandits and was captured .

    On the contrary of the appearance of the bandits, Jia Xu figured it out that they were hired thugs that were sent by one of the factions within imperial court . Fortunately, they did not target the baby, so he was very healthy and unharmed .

    After being captured for a few days, he was rescued by Dong Zhuo¡¯s patrol troops from Tian Shui, and he was taken here as guests of Dong Zhuo himself .

    Behind him, a wet nurse was breastfeeding a baby . Around the courtyard, twenty burly soldiers stood guard which surrounded the thin man and the baby .

    The baby was none other than the prince Liu Xie who was entrusted to Jia Xu when he had tried to escape from Luo Yang .

    "Sir, the baby is well-fed . I shall take my leave . " The wet nurse politely bowed and left .

    Jia Xu turned around and red at the baby that was lying in the prepared children bed .

    ¡¯Motherfudger! It¡¯s all your fault! I just want to live in peace . Why do I have to take responsibility for you!¡¯

    He was annoyed every time he saw the happy face of the prince . He did not like the baby one bit .

    ¡¯From the treatment of Dong Zhuo, he definitely knew about this brat¡¯s status . Screw all of you! If you want to be an emperor, just kill him and get this over with! Don¡¯t drag me into this!¡¯

    Jia Xu continued to curse within his mind . His face was already made him looked like an angered man, now he became an angered beast .

    "Au! Au! DA!" On the contrary of Jia Xu¡¯s madden face, Liu Xieughed at his face .

    After seeing the baby¡¯s happyugh, Jia Xu calmed himself down . He extended his index finger to touch the baby¡¯s cheek, after which the baby held his finger with his tiny hand .

    "To be honest, I want a son like you, too . "

    Jia Xu sighed and surrendered to his fate .

 Chapter 73

    Chapter 73

    Chapter 73 ¨C Haxxing the Agriculture

    January 11th . Julu City

    Tong summoned the farmer representatives to the government hall . He wanted to inquire about the crops around this city areas .

    Zhang Jiao, Hua Shi and the rest of the officials were gathered at the Treasury to prepare for the auction, so Tong had all the hall for himself .

    Meanwhile, Lu Zhi sat to the side . He wanted to observe how Tong would handle the internal affairs .

    Today, Tong did not wear his usual armor uniform . Instead, he was wearing a dark-yellow schr robe .

    A group of withered elders nervously walked into the main hall . Their grey clothes were ragged as if they were wearing them for a decade . They kowtowed on the ground the moment they were asked to stop walking forward .

    "Stand up, you don¡¯t need to kowtow . "

    "T-Thank you, my lord . " The elders stood up .

    "What¡¯s your name?" Tong pointed at the leader of the group .

    "I-I¡¯m called Old Tai . I don¡¯t have a surname, my lord . "

    "Can you tell me what type of crops we¡¯re growing in this areas?"

    Although Tong already studied the geographic of this city, he still valued the information from the local workers . The viewpoints and experiences of theborers were essential if Tong wanted to change something or introduce something new to them .

    "We can only grow wheat, my lord . "

    "Have you tried other kinds of vegetables? Like peas, cabbages or carrots? Do you know that they can be nted in winter or in the next month?"

    "We also wanted to . But ... the seeds were expensive and rare . If we nt those, then we will make a loss . And ... and ..."

    The old man hesitated . He was afraid that if he spoke out, Tong might kill him .

    Seeing how panic the old man was, Tong activated his [Calming Aura] to calm everyone down . Then Tong spoke out .

    "Was the tax too much for you?"

    Tong was aware of the excessive taxw when Guo Dian held his post . If any farmers wished to use the farmingnd of the city lord, they had to pay 90% taxes with the yielded crops when the harvest season arrived .

    Although the farmers could keep 10% of the crops, they had to foot the bills for their seeds and their other costs themselves . As a result, they could barely make ends meet .

    As for the 90% of the crops that Guo Dian took, he always sold almost all of it to merchants to convert them into gold and coins . Afterward, he distributed the gold to his crook subordinates and himself .

    It was a sickening government system that he and his father hated the most .

    "N-No! Not at all!"

    Seeing the old man lied to protect himself in fear, Tong sighed .

    "It¡¯s fine . I know you are lying and you are not alright with the previous stupidw . I¡¯m going to change it for you . From now on, the city government will acquire the necessary seeds, and you can use them to nt the crops within our territory . As for the taxes, I will reduce it down to 20% . How is that sound to you?"

    Lu Zhi, who was listening to the side, jumped up from his seat . He was about to argue with Tong, but Tong raised his hand to stop Lu Zhi¡¯s action .

    "I know why you want to stop me . Please let me do this, master . "

    Lu Zhi gazed at Tong and nodded . He returned to his seat to continue observing .

    Meanwhile, the representatives could not believe their ears . They were shivering in excitement . This was the best news that they had ever heard in their life .

    All of them bowed and thanked Tong in frantic .

    "Don¡¯t assume that I will help you with everything . Although I reduce your taxes and give you seeds, there will be conditions . Be sure to listen to me carefully!"

    Tong startedying out conditions to them .

    One, 80% of the crops that they had could only be consumed by themselves or sell it to the city government . If they got caught selling it to other merchants other than the city hall, they would be charged with smuggling and thievery . The punishment would be imprisonment for ten years or freebor for the city hall for five years .

    Two, the city government would have the right to control the buying and selling prices of the crops .

    Three, they could not take the seeds to nt it somewhere else other than the farms which were under the city government control . If the seeds were found on other noble¡¯s farms or other private territories, the smugglers would be charged with smuggling and thievery .

    Lu Zhi raised his eyebrows up in surprise .

    ¡¯Zhang Tong wanted to control the flow of provision? If it is so, then the next move should be ... seizing thends from the nobles? Or he will control the merchants? But all of these conditions are still unreasonable! How can hee up with these!?¡¯

    The representatives did not think much about the conditions . As long as they had more food for their families, then they were more than happy to ept . Thus, they kowtowed and acknowledged it .

    After all of the representatives left, Lu Zhi spoke up .

    "The standard grain tax of every city is 50-70%, yet a few of them has a hard time trying to upkeep the troops . Are you sure that it was the right move? Although Julu is one of the major agriculture cities, the annual harvest average was only 20,000 tons to 30,000 tons of grain . With a 20 percent tax, you get only 4,000 tons a year! You won¡¯t be able to sell anything for gold to pay for the officials! I don¡¯t even know if you will have enough food for the garrison army or not! Then, there is a problem with the seeds, if we are responsible for the costs, we will run out of gold before the nting season arrives . "

    Lu Zhi was right on most parts . When they arrived here, they had only 13,000 soldiers . But after they absorbed the local troops that were sent to retrain, their numbers increased to 20,000 .

    With these amount of troops, they required an upkeep of 20 tons of grain each day to support all soldiers . As a result, Julu City had to procure at least 7,300 tons of food each year at the minimum .

    Most importantly, the wages of the officials were also expensive . Most minor officials had a sry of one tael of gold a year, while the seniors with higher rank could go up to 10 taels of gold a year . Tong also set the wage of Zhou Cang, Bo Cai and everyone in his family as 100 gold a month .

    Bybining the total gold they had to pay everyone, the upkeep for this single city was 9,000 to 10,000 gold a year .

    But Lu Zhi underestimated Tong one thing, he had cheat skills .

    "Master, rx . I have a counter-measure . " Tong still had a calm expression on his face .

    He closed his eyes and tried to image a bowl of rice within his mind . Then he extended his hand and pointed his palm toward the empty t ground in the government hall .

    ¡¯If the skill can create any food or raw ingredient of the food I have eaten, then I should be able to create the seeds too¡¯

    ...

    *********************************

    [Create Food] LV . 1 (0/10,000)

    - Create a food product or raw food ingredient .

    - 1kg of food can be created from one usage .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Host cannot create a food that host has never eaten before .

    *********************************

    ...

    ¡¯Create food!¡¯

    *WINK*

    Light shed from the extended palm of Tong . Afterward, a pile of raw rice seeds appeared out of nowhere on in the hall .

    "WHAT!?"

    Lu Zhi rubbed his eyes twice in shock . Then he gazed at Tong in awe .

    "You ... You are really an immortal?"

    Tong shrugged to Lu Zhi as his answer . He pointed his palm to another empty ground .

    ¡¯Again . Create food! Give me cabbage seeds this time . ¡¯

    *WINK*

    Another pile of brown seeds appeared in the hall .

    Seeing that his theory was proven sessful, Tong spammed his food creation for more types of vegetable seeds .

    *WINK*

    *WINK*

    *WINK*

    ...

    ...

    ...

    *********************************

    [Create Food] LV . 2 (0/20,000)

    - Create a food product or raw food ingredient .

    - 10kg of food can be created from one usage .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Host cannot create a food that host has never eaten before .

    *********************************

    ...

    Tong continued spamming [Create Food] until it was leveled up . Then he nodded in satisfaction .

    The hall was filled with several piles of brown, ck, green and white seeds . Tong had lost count of how much weight each type of seeds he had created, but he still remembered which one was which .

    "Anyone there!? Get in here!" Tong summoned his servant .

    Two servants immediately rushed in, but they came to a pause when they saw several piles of seeds on each side of the hall .

    "You two, go get some help . I want you to transport all of these seeds to the city granary . I¡¯ll give you another instruction once you¡¯vepleted the task . Now, go!"

 Chapter 74

    Chapter 74

    Chapter 74 ¨C Conning the Merchants ¨C Part 1

    Two hourster, the government hall had been clean up as all seeds had been transported to the granary .

    For the entire two hours, Lu Zhi¡¯s gaze fixated on Tong¡¯s every action . He tried to use his logic to find proof that Tong had disyed a simple trick and not a real magic, but he could note up with any exnation .

    Tong smiled at Lu Zhi andughed when he saw Lu Zhi¡¯s stern face .

    "Master, don¡¯t think too much . What has happened already happened, so don¡¯t bother wasting your time on something trivial . "

    The corner of Lu Zhi¡¯s mouth twitched . It seemed that he had to teach Tong about culture and about manner .

    That day after they finished the work, Lu Zhi dragged Tong to his courtyard and gave him a sermon about culture, custom, and manner . He thought that Tong grew up in the rural area, and had not had any basic education about etiquette . Therefore, he forced Tong into his etiquette crash courses .

    ...

    Evening .

    Tong staggered back into his room with smokeing out from his ears . His brain went short circuit because of the overwhelming information Lu Zhi had shoved onto him .

    When he arrived, he found out that Hua Shi was lying face-down on his bed ... with smokinging out of her head .

    "... Husband ... I¡¯m so tired . "

    Hua Shi whimpered with her shaking voice . She seemed exhausted .

    "... Yeah, me too . "

    "I don¡¯t want to do any ounting anymore . "

    "But I don¡¯t know ounting and nobody can, but you . "

    "Eh? Then I¡¯m stuck in this job forever?"

    "No, be patient until I can find someone to rece you . "

    "But when!?"

    "... Eventually . "

    Hua Shi flipped her body over, then she extended her arms as if she was inviting a hug .

    "Recharge me . "

    "I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m in the right mood . "

    "Stupid husband . I¡¯m too tired for sex . Just cuddle with me for the night . "

    "..."

    Tong felt like the sun had risen from the west . Hua Shi did not want to dual-cultivate?

    Tong smiled andplied with her demand . Tong wrapped his arms around her and allowed Hua Shi to snuggle with him on his bed .

    ...

    Midnight .

    "Husband, I¡¯m thirsty ..."

    "... The water jar is on the table . Go pick it yourself . " Tong said sleepily .

    "Not that kind of thirsty ... I want the other water . "

    "..."

    Further details about the night will be omitted .

    ...

    ...

    January 12th . Morning .

    Tong arrived at the government hall with brightened mood .

    Yesterday, the stress of Hua Shi and Tong was umted to the peak, which made them more energetic on the bed activities as they had to vent their frustration .

    Hua Shi copied Tong¡¯s [Inventory] skill from this dual-cultivation ritual of the Soulmate Contract . Because she had been working in the treasury for a while, she needed a skill that could help her in her job ASAP . Although Tong rmended the [Firearms Creation] skill instead, she ignored his advice and picked the inventory skill anyway .

    Meanwhile, Tong distributed all his cultivation EXP into his [Create Food] skill because it was necessary for the city economic growth in the future . The moment its level was maxed out, the moment he would not have to worry about food shortage ever again in this lifetime .

    Meanwhile, Hua Shi was still lying exhausted in the bed . Although her mental fatigue was healed, she was physically tired instead . As a result, she skipped work today .

    ...

    The morning council meeting ended, and the auction schedule was set . All confiscated treasures would be sold in this auction along with Tong¡¯s secret beer and arge batch of soap . It would be held on March 31st . They dyed it, so merchants and nobles could attend the auction .

    After everyone left, Tong and Lu Zhi remained in the hall again . Tong walked up the stage and sat on the main seat, after which he summoned the representative of merchants over .

    Twenty minutester, five well-dressed fat men straddled into the hall . These people were as rich as nobles and have private troops, so they did not think too highly about Tong and his family .

    Once they got into the hall, they did not show any respect toward Tong . Instead, they stood firm and did not even greet or bow anyone inside, regardless of how high-status Lu Zhi or Tong was .

    Tong and Lu Zhi¡¯s frown deepened . These people were unexpectedly rude . Although Tong did not mind because he had dealt with several rude people and criminals in his previous life, the guards nearby could barely hold themselves together because of their anger . Meanwhile, Lu Zhi was an experienced politician . He reverted to his indifferent face without any sign of emotion .

    "What do you want from us? We are busy so make it quick . "

    The fat man who wore golden-decorated-sleeves pearl-white robe spoke out . He seemed to be their leader .

    The guards red at them as if they wanted to jump at them at any moment . They nced at Tong and waited for his instruction as they were ready to kill them any time .

    Tong raised his eyebrows in amusement . Such clich¨¦ spoiled rich men could be found here as well . He thought that they would only exist in novels .

    "Well then . I¡¯ll do you guys a favor . You can go home . I wanted to offer you a business deal . But since you are so busy, then I won¡¯t trouble you . Go, go . "

    Tong waved his hand as if he was chooing a stray dog, which angered the five men . The guards snickered while Lu Zhi had a faint smile on his face .

    The merchant leader swallowed his anger and regained his calm . As a veteran entrepreneur of many businesses, shamelessness was his nature .

    "Please forgive us for our inconsideration . If my lord has any business proposal, then we are all ears . "

    Tong smiled as he was impressed by the ability to adapt to any kind of situation by the merchant leader . He had more EQ than Tong had initially estimated, or maybe the merchant was just being shameless .

    "Good . Let me ask you this, do you know about this product?"

    Tong pretended to pull out a bar of soap from his sleeve . In reality, he picked it up from his space inventory .

    The merchant nced at it and spoke .

    "Yes, it is the soap that is currently circted in ourwork . It¡¯s very popr among the female nobles . "

    "What¡¯s the standard price at the moment?"

    The merchant paused for a moment before he answered .

    "Twenty to Thirty gold, my lord . It may be a rare product, but we find it hard to sell that with higher prices . "

    The merchant lied . The real price for a bar of Tong¡¯s soap was currently forty to fifty gold a piece . This standard price had been set by the Yuan family a few months ago .

    Tong squinted his eyes and tried to read the merchant¡¯s facial expression .

    ¡¯From the looks of his eyes, voice and subtle movements, he¡¯s actually nervous . Oh, he¡¯s sweat a bit, too . Heck, it¡¯s still winter and the temperature should be about 5 to 10¡ãC . Though he¡¯s fat, he should not be sweating this much . ¡¯

    Lu Zhi had taught him a bit about Face Feng Shui and lie detecting techniques . Although Tong had learned most of it in the police-military school in hisst life, he still studied under Lu Zhi¡¯s guidance in earnest . Tong did not expect that it could be used so soon .

    ¡¯Well, I already knew that Yuan family could sell these for 50 to 60 gold in the beginning . The real current standard price should be somewhere a little lower than that . But this guy shed the price in half and lied through his teeth . He¡¯s quite shrewd and gutsy for a merchant . ¡¯

    "And where did you find these products? Is there anyone else that selling them in bulk?"

    The merchant stared into Tong¡¯s eyes for a moment, then he cursed Tong in his mind .

    ¡¯Stupid brat! Do you think you can dib your hand on our business? We are no fool! I¡¯ll give him false info then he ...¡¯

    Suddenly, he felt a chill running down his spine . By just looking at Tong¡¯s face, a sense of fear overwhelmed him .

    Tong gave him a meaningful smile, but behind his mask, he activated his aura .

    ...

    *******************************

    [Intimidating Aura] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Instill fear to all living beings in the radius area .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only be used when [Aura Mastery] level 3 or higher was activated .

    - Does not work against any opponent with stronger mental strength .

    *******************************

    ...

    On the other side, Lu Zhi frowned at Tong for a split a second, then he reverted back to normal . However, he had a faint smile on this face .

    ¡¯I didn¡¯t expect him to possess this kind of aura . It even has the same vibe with Mengde and Benchu . To think that I picked up such a gem . . . I guess I¡¯ll stick around a bit longer . ¡¯

    . . .

    Four of the merchants plummeted down on the ground while the leader managed to maintain his standing posture with his shaking legs .

    "T-The Yuan family is the main distributor of this soap . We cannot find this anywhere else!"

    Tong nodded and withdrew his aura . It seemed he was speaking the truth . Extorting information by using fear and intimidation was still efficient even in this era .

    "Thank you for your information . Don¡¯t worry . I¡¯m a fair person . This scroll contains the inside news about the future movements of the city government . I want you to spread the news among your cliques . "

    Inside the scroll, Tong had written the details newws that restricted the merchant¡¯s right to buy food from this city . However, Tong wrote a few perks that he had not announced to the public yet .

 Chapter 75

    Chapter 75

    Chapter 75 ¨C Conning the Merchants ¨C Part 2

    The merchants read the details in the scroll, then their eyes were glittering from greed .

    "Are you sure that you can give us such perks?"

    The merchant leader was baffled . The promise was unbelievable . He even thought that Tong was stupid and na?ve .

    In the scroll, Tong gave them the right to buy the renowned soap in bulk at the price of 20 gold a piece, which were only lower than the market price by half .

    In exchange for that right, they had to sell any food product to the city government with the amount of at least 10,000 tons with the fixed price that the city government had set .

    For 10,000 tons of food that they sold, they could buy 1,000 bars of soap from Tong . If they brought in 20,000 tons, then 2,000 soap bars could be purchased . The more they brought the food here, the more goods they could take back .

    The fixed price that the city used was 5 tons of any food for one tael of gold, which the merchants would suffer deficit if theyplied with the condition . However, the profits from the margin of the soap would make up for their loss .

    "I forgot to tell you one thing . I¡¯m the one that sold all of my soap to Yuan family . You catch my drift?"

    Tong¡¯s revtion made the eyes of merchants opened wide . After processing the information with their brain, they could see the big picture now .

    "I see . So you don¡¯t want to deal with Yuan family, you¡¯vee to us instead . Most importantly, you are the creator of this goods . "

    Tong shrugged and kept quiet . He pretended that he did not want to answer or gave them any more hint .

    The merchants had wicked smiled on their face . They whispered among themselves for 10 minutes, then they concluded their decision .

    "We ept these conditions . We want to buy the soap from you right away, and we also want to buy the soap recipe . "

    Tong raised his hand up to stop them .

    "I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t sell you any soap at the moment . First, all of you have to sign the contracts, that you acknowledged and epted these conditions with your own free will . Second, you have to sell the food to the city government before we can sell you any soap . We need to know the amount of food that you have, so we can fulfill our conditions . And also, you need to make a reservation in advance . It takes times to make each batch, so firste first served . As for the soap recipe, I will put it in the iing auction . It would not be fair if I sell it to any of you right now . "

    Lu Zhi walked forward and handed a scroll to each of the merchants with a pen and ink . They were the contract that Tong had written beforehand .

    The merchants did not reread the contract . They signed it immediately and frantically tried to reserve arge amount of soap at once . Tong had them signed another contract, which indicated the amount of soap they wished to buy and the amount of food that they would bring .

    After the signing was done, all of them rushed back to their stores and formed up multiple convoys to the nearby cities . They were nning to buy every kind of food and provision from other cities or counties, and then they were going to transport all of them back to Julu .

    In the contract, the five of them had reserved for 50,000 bars of soap, which were higher than what the Yuan family used to trade with Tong .

    Seeing how frantic the merchants were, Tong grinned . Meanwhile, Lu Zhi gazed at Tong with an odd look .

    "Are you sure that this is the right idea? This is a lucrative business . Why did you promise them that you will put it in the auction?"

    After two days that Tong came under his tutorage, Lu Zhi realized that Tong was already better than him in terms of creativity and domestic management . However, in terms of his character and culture, he needed improvement . There were also many things that hecked, but Lu Zhi nned to teach him slowly . For now, he would sit on the side and would criticize him if he did something weird or out of ordinary .

    "It¡¯s alright, master . In the future, one of our workers will eventually leak out the recipe . Before that happens, I¡¯ll just reap as many golds as I can at the moment . Once it the recipe gets into the hands of noble, I¡¯ll just sell these cheaply to themoners . "

    With this trade, Julu city would acquire 500,000 tons of provision . Tong would also profit from the soap trade by 899,900 gold, which had already deducted the soap processing costs and the provision costs of 100,000 gold . If the merchants knew that the cost of 50,000 soap was actually only 100 gold, they would die from anger .

    Fifty thousand soap bars could be made within a month and a half as long as he had enough helpers . The ingredients were also easy to gather as they were soldmonly in the market .

    ¡¯Before the other reincarnators or nobles dib their hands into this, I¡¯ll crash the market first . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    January 13th .

    The officials post the auction announcement news on the signboards around the city . All merchants and nobles were excited about this event .

    At the same times, Tong ced an announcement that he would hire ten thousand employees for his soap business factory, shops, carpenters, cksmiths, and tinkerers . Strangely, the announcement restricted a few jobs as they only epted female employees . All the applicants would be trained by the government officials for free .

    The third announcement was madeter on the same day . The city hall would construct unique buildings within each outer district in different directions . They would be named as "Swing-Eleven Convenient Store" and "Wall-marked Convenient Store" . No further details were announced of what these buildings were for . The soap factory and various shops would also be constructed on top of the previousnd of the executed nobles .

    Meanwhile, the five representatives that visited Tong yesterday rushed out of the city with their caravan . They determined to gather every food they could buy or find, so they could buy more soap and make more profits .

    ...

    February 1st . Ye City .

    The news about the auction and the soap business caught the ears of a young big-body businessman . He was the eldest son of the wealthiest merchant in this city .

    His name was Te Langpu . He had a unique hairstyle, which hebed it to the front and the side as if he was bold and wanted to cover it . His fat face was in squire-shape . The chubby fingers of his were shorter than average men . His lips were thin and his mouth was so small and gave off obnoxious feeling to the point that whenever he smiled, it made people around him wanted to punch him in the face . However, because of his status and wealth, nobody dared to bully him .

    If Zhang He saw him, he would kill him on the spot . This man was the one who had conned him 1,000 gold and made him fell into debt .

    "Are you sure this is not fake news?"

    "Young master Te . I¡¯ve confirmed this news from that fatty¡¯s follower . It¡¯s true!"

    "A ten thousand tons for the right to buy a thousand soap? That¡¯s a bigly rip off! Why did those losers run around for Zhang Tong!? Is the soap business that profitable?"

    "Young master, the current price for soap is 40-50 gold for one bar . But Zhang Tong promised them that he will sell it at 20 gold each . "

    Te Langpu clicked his tongue . He had a rough idea about the ingredient costs for one bar of soap, but he did not have a clue of how to make it . He knew that Tong made a killing in this deal, and the merchants would be the one who shouldered the risk .

    "What about the soap recipe? Can anyone get a hand on it yet?"

    "No, sir . But Zhang Tong is recruiting workers . There should be a leak soon . Oh, and they are nning to put the soap recipe in the next month auction!"

    Te Langpu used his chubby short fingers to touch his chin and fell into deep thought .

    "It¡¯s biglyte, but we can make our family great again! Gather our gold, we will attend the auction next month!"

    "Sir, but half of our money was spent on grain . We don¡¯t have many lefts . "

    "Bah, I get it . Just take all the remaining . "

    "Sir, but I don¡¯t think we can buy it with the current fund . "

    "... We¡¯ll see what happens . "

 Chapter 76

    Chapter 76

    Chapter 76 ¨C Tyrants

    February 1st . Outskirt of Chang An City .

    Li Ru, Niu Fu, Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji, and their 10,000 troops were marching through this territory . Their mission was to deliver half of these troops to Julu city and form an alliance with Tong .

    Dong Bai and Zou Shi were also in a carriage among the logistic teams behind the troops . Dong Zhuomanded his own granddaughter, Dong Bai, to be one of the gifts that would be sent to Tong, which she happily consented . Meanwhile, Zou Shi was forced to relocate her home to Julu along with her fianc¨¦ .

    Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu were ordered to be transferred to Julu along with their 5,000 Qiang Cavalry Archers .

    Li Ru would act as the negotiator while Niu Fu and his 5,000 troops would take the bodyguard roles . They had to escort Li Ru back to Tian Shui on the return trip .

    ...

    Chang An City was under control of Huangfu Song, one of the elite generals of the royal faction . He was holding the post as the governor of Chang An to keep watch of the western regions where Ma Teng, Han Sui, and Dong Zhuo were currently at .

    Li Ru sent a messenger to inform Huangfu Song of their arrival, so they would not be mistaken as invaders .

    Half a dayter, the messenger came back with a grave expression .

    "Urgent report! All officers and majority of the garrison troops in Chang An city were summoned back to Luo Yang! Only a deputy governor and a thousand garrisons were present in the city!"

    Li Ru tiled his head in confusion . It was amon urrence that they could be summoned by the emperor from times to times . Why was the messenger so panicked?

    "Is that all?" Li Ru asked .

    "No! There is another report! Emperor Ling has passed away half a month ago! The crown prince Liu Ping will hold his coronation ceremony after the 100-day mourning period is over!"

    Li Ru turned silent from shock . Niu Fu stared at the messenger in disbelief . The other officers looked at each other in panic .

    The death of the emperor was too sudden! Dong Zhuo and Li Ru had been plotting to take advantage of the imperial court if the emperor fell sick . However, they had never expected the sudden death .

    Li Ru was caught off guard . He immediately yelled at his nearby officer .

    "Send news to our lord immediately! Tell him to mobilize all forces to Chang An along with the baby prince or we will miss this chance! Also, tell our lord to deploy a detach force to upy Anding City as well . We need that city for the supply rying point . "

    The officer dashed out, got on his horse and galloped away as if his life was on the line .

    "Niu Fu! Lead the army and take over Chang An immediately! Kill the deputy governor if you have to! Hurry!"

    "On my way!"

    Niu Fu also rushed out and shouted his order to his men .

    Meanwhile, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu were looking at each other in nervousness . They could not decide what to do next .

    "Um, what about us?" Zhang Xiu asked .

    Li Ru gave them a meaningful stare .

    "You two will still have to move to Julu . However, I cannot go together with all of you . After we upy Chang An, I will give you further instruction . For now, help Niu Fu if he has to resort a siege!"

    "As youmand!"

    ...

    The entire Li Ru Army was in frantic as they were preparing for the urgent tactic to take down Chang An without noticing the deputy governor .

    At the side of Li Ru, a young muscr guard was observing them with a deep frown .

    ¡¯The Yellow Turban Uprising hasn¡¯t started yet, but the emperor is already dead . That motherfudger prince ruined the timeline! If he keeps this up, I won¡¯t be able to predict what will happen in the future anymore . ¡¯

    Then he thought about the mysterious flyer that he had kept when he passed Luo Yangst year .

    The flyer had an unknown inscription on it that the local natives could not decipher no matter what . But to the otherworlders like this man, he could read it at nce .

    In the small papyrus paper, the secret message was not written in traditional Chinese, but English!

    "To all reincarnators,

    I am Liu Ping, the crown prince of Han . I am sending this message to invite all of you to join me .

    I promise that once I have be the new emperor, you will not have to worry about the natives in this world ever again .

    You will be bestowed with noble status,nds, and gold!

    But there is only one condition . You have to swear allegiance to me and ept me as your emperor!

    Head to the royal pce in Luo Yang . Show this paper to any eunuch and tell them that you can understand this . They will lead you to me .

    Be my subjects, and we shall conquer this ancient world together!"

    The muscr guard considered his options for half an hour . Then he woke up from his deep thought when Li Ru ordered everyone to move out .

    A friend of the guard tapped his shoulder and joked around .

    "Let¡¯s go . We¡¯ll try the brothel in Chang An after this . I¡¯ve heard there¡¯s a prostitute with gold hair in that city . I want to try her for sometimes now . "

    The reincarnator guard ignored his friend . He did not feel likeughing or messing around .

    ¡¯Should I bet on this Liu Ping, or should I keep staying here?¡¯

    ¡¯GRR! Screw this! I still want to plunder! I want to **** someone!¡¯

    ¡¯There¡¯s no way I¡¯m siding with that prick!¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯m siding with Dong Zhuo! Once I can find Diao Chan, I can taste her before Lu Bu!¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll steal his wife . I¡¯ll steal his horse . I¡¯ll live the way I want!¡¯

    ¡¯Still ... what a pity that the infinite yang seed skill was taken by someone . ¡¯

    ¡¯I want that skill, too . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    Luo Yang, Imperial Pce, Throne Room .

    Liu Ping sat on the throne with Wang Li by his side . He ignored all the reprimand by senior officials and eunuchs who tried to stop him from sitting on the throne because they had not held the coronation ceremony yet, so Liu Ping¡¯s status was still a prince .

    The coronation date was set on the 15th of June because they had to hold 49 days of the emperor funeral and another 100 days of mourning period before they could start any kind of traditional celebration, including the coronation ceremony .

    Ping clicked his tongue in annoyance . He did not like the traditional custom of the ancient Han Dynasty .

    "Your Highness! Please refrain from your disrespectful action! Until you¡¯ve officially enthroned in the coronation ceremony, you cannot sit on the throne yet!"

    An elder minister cupped his hand and continued begging Liu Ping in loud voice .

    Liu Ping red at the minister, yet his hand was still groping Wang Li¡¯s round breast . He did not show any sign of the royalty upbringing, but a hoodlum .

    "Guards, drag this idiot out and behead him!"

    "Your Highness! I¡¯m your loyal subject, please don¡¯t! I¡¯m doing this for your own good! NO!!"

    The pce guards dragged the minister away with a bitter expression . They knew this minister . He was a kind and honest official that they respected, but they had to kill him because it was the future emperor¡¯s order .

    Several officials stepped forward and bowed to Liu Ping in frantic .

    "Please, your Highness! Don¡¯t kill him, he¡¯s your loyal minister . He had served the Han Dynasty for 3 generations already . He ..."

    "Guards, behead these morons too . Also, I¡¯ll dere my first edict . I¡¯m your master and you¡¯re nothing buy my ves! None of you assholes can tell me what to do! Now all of you, scram! I want to f**k my empress here . Do you want to stay here and watch!?"

    ...

    Behind the crowd of officials within the throne room, two men gazed at the emperor in hostile . Both of them was dissatisfied with this development and gritted their teeth in anger .

    "The eunuchs are going to go on a rampage once the coronation is done . The new emperor is nothing but an ipetence tyrant . What are you going to do, Mengde?"

    The tall man asked the stern-looking man next to him . Both of them had the same beard style, but the serious man had an unusual aura that could make people around him shrunk in fear . Meanwhile, the taller man had unexinable charisma that made people wanted to approach him .

    "He Jin and the empress will not take this lying down without a fight . There will be a chance for us to strike back . For now, increase our security, protect ourselves from the assassins, but keep ourselves low-profile . Benchu, contact your younger brother to make a preparation to mobilize at any moment . We¡¯ll probably have a chance to make a move before the coronation . "

    Mengde spoke and blended into the leaving official crowd .

    Benchu followed suit . However, before he left, he turned around to nce at the throne . His eyes were flickered with the light of envy and ambition .

    ¡¯Warm the seat for me, brat . I¡¯ll be the next person who will sit on that chair!¡¯

 Chapter 77

    Chapter 77

    Chapter 77 ¨C Femme Fatale

    A serial killer and a femme fatale, Wang Li resorted sinful ways to survive during her time in the previous world and this world .

    In her previous life, Wang Li was once a prostitute who was sold to a brothel by her parents . Because of the harsh nature of the slum-life in a third world country, she did not service her customer as ordinary service-girls did . She murdered every one of her customers and stole their belongings as part of her career . She lived her life as a serial killer for decades .

    Her luck ran out when she encountered a wicked buyer, who killed her when they were doing their things .

    In this life, when she turned 12, she voluntarily joined a brothel in Chang¡¯An with her self-created [Die For Me] skill . Despite being thrown into hell for hundreds of thousands of years, her habits never improved . She still enjoyed killing any male customer who came across her . As a result, she drained each of her customers dried while she satisfied her endless desire .

    One day, a certain customer chose her for a night . He was also a reincarnator with the necromancy skill .

    As usual, she drained every lifespan and all experience he had, after which she found out about the existence of other reincarnators . She killed him immediately after she had discovered his secret .

    From that day on, Wang Li kept an eye for the news about government movement, famous people, war and conflict between nobles .

    Then, the system forced her into a death game with another otherworlders, which she pretended to surrender to the male opponent and allowed him to ravish her before he killed her .

    The unfortunate reincarnator fell to her trick and died by the "Snu-Snu Paradise Trap" . Thus, she gained another useless skill [Appraisal-Sama] from him .

    When the system opened the skill shop in the system menu, she did not hesitate to buy the [Jaded Skin Beauty] to seduce more victims who visited the brothel she was in . Because of this skill, her appearance could be adjusted ording to her will, which she designed her body to be a youthful Caucasian model with blond hair .

    She became a sessful meat-seller after that death game event and became famous for her look .

    Later on, the emperor was attracted by her unique look, so she was summoned into the pce as a new concubine .

    At the pce, Wang Li encountered Liu Ping by chance . He could immediately tell that she was not a native with her blond hair and western look . Later on, she was persuaded to work for him, and the reward would be anything if he became the new king .

    She was interested in the offer . However, she did not like being a tool to this unknown brat . Therefore, she plotted something behind his back . She nned to kill him in secret after she seduced him and officially became the Empress .

    Before she could proceed further with her n, the system informed them about Soulmate Contract, which Liu Ping forced her to take it with him, so she could not backstab himter .

    Because of the contract, she had to change the way she climbed up the powerdders . Wang Li utilized her experience as a former hypothesizer with Liu Ping and caused him to lose self-control for a period of time .

    As a result of the hypothesis, Liu Ping took her as his wife and always indulged himself with her body in public, so she could unt her status as the future Empress and no one would dare to harm her .

    The only steps remaining was the coronation and the marriage . Once everything was done, Liu Ping would be killed as he would be useless to her .

    ...

    ...

    Liu Ping and Wang Li were naked and alone in the throne room, divulging themselves into the carnal desire . As an experienced prostitute, Wang Li pretended to be moaning in pleasure voice which aroused Liu Ping further .

    While she was at it, she purposely rang a small bell, which was part of her bracelet essories, besides Liu Ping¡¯s ear .

    The eyes of Liu Ping dimmed down, and his action slowed . Afterward, Wang Li leaned over and whispered .

    "Fall in love with me . You will fall in love with me . You will make me the Empress . Lust for my body . Be my ve . Fall in love with me . You will fall in love with me . You will make me the Empress . Lust for my body . Be my ve . "

    She repeated her words for over 10 minutes . Then she rang the bell again and resumed moving her hip .

    Liu Ping¡¯s eyes regained its color . He nced at her with the corner of his eyes with murderous intent, but he reverted back to his lustful nature in a split of a second .

    "I¡¯m sorry, your majesty . I lost in thought for a moment . " Wang Li gave out her excuse in a seductive voice .

    Meanwhile, Liu Ping still had his lecherous smiling on his face . He fondled her soft butt and whispered to her .

    "Come to think of it, how many idiots that fell for our trick?"

    "Currently five, your majesty . "

    "Good, good . Did you get any good skill?"

    "I¡¯m sorry, your majesty . All the reincarnators that we managed to entice were all female . I can¡¯t steal skills from women, so all of my skills are still the same . I can¡¯t transfer any skill to you at the moment . "

    Liu Ping squinted his eyes and revealed a mocking grin for a second . After that, he buried his face into her chest .

    "What¡¯s the current number of survivors?"

    "It¡¯s down to 26, your majesty . It won¡¯t be long until we are thest one standing . "

    "Very well . Let¡¯s continue distributing the flyers . For now, I must impregnate you! I want a dozen children!"

    "Hahaha, please don¡¯t push yourself too harsh, your majesty . I might die first if I give birth to that many children . "

    Both of them continued mating in the throne room until night .

    ...

    Later at midnight, Wang Li was sent back to her room to rest . Meanwhile, Liu Ping went back to his inner pce .

    Within his personal pce, a few familiar faces were there . They were the one whom Liu Ping ordered to be killed earlier today . However, they were still alive .

    "Wee back, your highness . "

    An elder official bowed the Liu Ping . He was the one who reprimanded him for sitting on the throne .

    "I¡¯m terribly sorry for the earlier, Lord Wang Yun . "

    Betraying his image in the throne room, Liu Ping cupped his hand and bowed back to the elder .

    "Please don¡¯t bow to the humble me! You are the next emperor! You can¡¯t bow to anyone! It was just an act that we had prepared to trick that fellow . You don¡¯t have to apologize to me . "

    The elder helped Liu Ping up in frantic, which was alsopletely different from the morning events .

    "I have to! I¡¯ve put you into this n because of my ipetence . Please ept my apology!"

    The elder helped him up again . Meanwhile, the other officials nodded in approval of Liu Ping¡¯s action .

    "We did not know that your highness had plotted this grand scheme . We would like to apologize for our manner this morning as well . "

    The other officials also bowed to Liu Ping .

    ...

    After the awkwardness and the exchanged of pleasantries, Liu Ping started to exin the situation .

    "Again, I¡¯m sorry for dragging all of you into this mess . I need to y a fool to trick that woman, or else we all will be in danger . "

    Wang Yun and other officials had a solemn face when the heard about "that woman" . She was Wang Li, the consort that the previous emperor brought into the pce . Within a week that she consummated with the emperor, he died .

    Every loyalist saw her as a jinx of bad luck . They were also disgusted by her status before she became a royal concubine .

    "As you¡¯ve known, a week after her arrival, the emperor passed away . Then my brothers were killed mysteriously by either poison or sorcery . If we connect the story, she is the most suspicious person in the pce at the moment . "

    With Liu Ping words, the loyalists subconsciously emitted out their killing intent . Although they were both schrs and politicians, they were loyal to the royalties . Anyone that harmed the emperor would anger them .

    "Instead of grieving for thete emperor, she approached me and tempted me . Because I was too na?ve and ipetence, I fell for her charm . For that, I want to apologize again . However, I caught on to her ns . I managed to decipher her secret messages to the other evil sect members . Lord Wang Yun has helped me capturing all of them, but they were all killed by someone . I believe that ..."

    Liu Ping narrated a story about an evil sect and sorcerers, which was entirely made up by him . He told them about Wang Li being an evil sorcerer and tried to hypothesize him into making stupid action like what had happened this morning . She also had an evil spell that could bring back the dead as undead zombies or skeletons .

    "What in the world?"

    "There is such a thing?"

    The elders were murmured in shock . The story about undead and sorcerers were unbelievable .

    "The undead monsters exist . We have captured one within this pce . "

    Wang Yun chimed in . He pped his hands to send a signal to his subordinates . After a few minutes, ten men were dragging an iron cage with a person inside . However, this person¡¯s neck was twisted in 180 degrees and hung down on his back, yet he was still alive . It walked forward and mmed his body at the cage bars . It roared at every person nearby as if it wanted to attack them .

    "What is this thing!?"

    "He ... he¡¯s a human? Wait, I saw this person somewhere before . "

    "Isn¡¯t he one of the 1000-manmander? I saw him many times in the army assemblyst year!"

    Liu Ping had a smug look for a second . He used his necromancy skill to manipte the zombie¡¯s action, then he told the officials .

    "This person was once one of the imperial soldiers . He was bewitched by Wang Li and turned into this . I hope that everybody here can see what will happen if we let her be . I wish to ask every single of you for your cooperation regardless of which faction you are supporting . To be honest, I want my step-mother and step-brother to know about this too . So I have to ask all of you to help me . "

    ...

    The gathering within Liu Ping¡¯s pce continued till dawn . All official that was thought to be dead sneaked out by dressing in servant clothes . Meanwhile, Liu Ping himself went back and pretended to be a spoiled prince again . There were still a few preparations which were required before he could break the soulmate contract and crossed with Wang Li .

 Chapter 78

    Chapter 78

    Chapter 78 ¨C Talent Poaching

    Julu City .

    For almost a month, Tong¡¯s daily schedule and lifestyle were repetitive, tedious and tiring .

    5 AM in the morning, he woke up for breakfast and morning workout . asionally, he sparred with Zhou Cang with real weapons to sharpen their senses .

    7 AM, Tong attended the morning assembly with Zhang Jiao to help his father brief the daily tasks of the officials .

    The meeting always ended before 9 AM, then Tong stayed in the government hall to settle the internal domestic issues, drafted the new constitution andws, or consulted with Lu Zhi about the future ns .

    After lunch to 7 PM, Lu Zhi reserved this time of the day, so he could impart his knowledge to Tong . Lu Zhi usually taught him about traditional customs, history of China, and culture of various regions . Lu Zhi also took several historical scrolls from Luo Yang with him when he evacuated from the capital, so he had more than enough materials to teach Tong for an entire year .

    Although deep down within Tong¡¯s heart, he thought some of the subjects were useless, yet he noted down all lessons from Lu Zhi anyway because he had to blend in with the natives if he wanted to be a good sovereign in the future .

    After the ss and the dinner, from 7 . 30 PM to 10 PM, Tong visited the city garrison camp with Lu Zhi to train the newbie intelligence agencies . Lu Zhi took charge of the training program while Tong stood at the side to watch and learn at the same time .

    At first, Tong thought that it would be enough to rely on the rats from the slums to gather information within other cities, but Lu Zhi disagreed with him . He pointed out that hoodlums and thugs from the slums could double-cross Tong at any time if their identities were exposed to his enemies or they were bribed . Best spies should be the agents that were personally trained under Tong or Lu Zhi¡¯s guidance first before they were sent to action .

    10 . 30 PM to 11 PM, Tong usually returned to his room and copsed head-first on his pillow from exhaustion . Sometimes he found Hua Shi on his bed, begging to be spoiled by him again . Hua Shi usually used her one-night tickets that she had saved up for the night entertainment at this asion .

    Then the circle repeated .

    ...

    February 3rd .

    Reply letters from Liu Bei and Gao You had arrived . Both of them declined the invitation from Lu Zhi .

    Gao You had exined in his letter that he was working as an assisting teacher with his senior brothers, so he could note to Julu . Secondly, he found several individuals that were more talented than him, therefore he wanted to polish these young schrs first . Once they graduated from him, he would rmend them to work at Julu in the future .

    Meanwhile, Liu Bei gave Lu Zhi a simple excuse . He described in his letter that his mother was sick, and he wanted to take care of her . As a result, he could not travel to Julu at the moment .

    Lu Zhi was satisfied with Gao You¡¯s reply, but Liu Bei made him annoyed because he understood Liu Bei¡¯s temperament and character better than anyone else .

    From Lu Zhi¡¯s evaluation of Liu Bei, that man wanted to be a leader of an army or a viceroy of a province right away without having experience of working under someone else first . He wanted to be someone big before he had even earned it! For this reason, he rejected his invitation to work under Tong .

    Tong also dissatisfied with Liu Bei¡¯s rejection . The Liu Bei assassination before he grew up n failed before Tong even started the first phase of the n .

    "I¡¯m sorry . None of them ising . "

    Lu Zhi apologized to Tong . He was embarrassed that the two disciples of his refused his invitation .

    "It¡¯s alright, master . For the staff shortage issue, I have another idea . You have told me once before that the capital is in turmoil, right? Can I trouble you one more time to write letters to your colleagues? Tell them that I can give them a sanctuary for them and their families . All they have to do is help me with the domestic management . "

    Lu Zhi stared at Tong in astonishment . He had never thought about this before .

    "That¡¯s a good idea . I have friends that can¡¯t decide where to settle down a new home . I¡¯ll make them move here!"

    Seeing his master had an enlightenment, Tong was reminded by his instinct that he had forgotten something important . After 10 seconds, he recalled the memory .

    "Master, by chance, do you know a person named Sima Fang or someone from Sima family?"

    "Sima? Sima Fang?"

    Lu Zhi was not familiar with the name . He had heard about this Sima n somewhere or had talked to someone with the surname Sima, but he was not that close to the person .

    "I might be acquainted with him, but we¡¯re not close enough to be called friends . Why did you ask?"

    "I wish to invite Sima Fang and his family to this city as well . Can you invite him, too? Oh, I almost forgot it again . Can you also send a letter to your disciple Gongsun Zan? I wish to ask him for a favor . Say, if he had a subordinate with the name ¡¯Zhao Yun¡¯ with the courtesy name ¡¯Zilong¡¯, could he lend the person to me? Or maybe we can use our agents to locate him first and invite him to join us instead of approaching Gongsun Zan . "

    Lu Zhi gave Tong an odd stare . He did not know what this entric disciple of his tried to achieve, but he epted the requests and promised Tong that he would write letters to themter .

    Lu Zhi had no idea why Tong stressed that he wanted Sima Fang and Zhao Yun no matter what . He decided to dispatch the newly trained spies to the capital and Beiping City to gather the information about the two .

    ...

    ...

    February 10th .

    Tong and Lu Zhipleted the new constitution and the newws for the citizens of Julu . The details were presented in the morning assembly which shocked Zhang Jiao and everyone .

    The officials debated and argued at each other for the entire day because of it, but they eventually agreed toply after Zhang Jiao suddenly blurted out certain words .

    "Don¡¯t forget . We are blessed by the child of Heaven ..."

    The eyes of the 200 officials glinted for a second, then they reverted back to normal as if nothing happened . Meanwhile, the rest of the officials looked at each other in confusion because the majority of their colleagues suddenly shut their mouth .

    Afterward, one of them expressed their agreement, after which the other 199 staffs followed suit as if they were part of the sh mobs .

    Tong and Lu Zhi stared at the scene, baffled by the sudden reaction of the 200 officials . Although it was a strange turn of events, they did not mind it because their objective waspleted .

    ...

    February 15th .

    The announcements about the newws were posted on the local signboards around the city .

    "From this day onward, all citizens of Julu City will have to report to the authority at the city hall to make an identity token for yourself . By the end of April, if any citizen is found without any identification token, he will be arrested . "

    "Second announcement, only Julu city government can buy the food that farmers had harvested from the government farms . No merchant can buy the grain or provision directly from farmers . The vitor will be arrested and prosecuted by thews . However, merchants can still sell food to the citizens of Julu . "

    "Third announcement, the price that the city hall will purchase the grain from the farmers will be fixed at 5 tons of any vegetable, grain or other kinds of provision per one gold or one coin per five kilograms of any provision . "

    "Fourth announcement, from this day onward, the farming tax will be reduced to 20% of the harvested crops, and the seeds of various types of vegetables and grain will be provided by the city hall for free . However, the farmer who wishes to request for the seeds must have an identification token made by the city hall and must nt the crops on the city government¡¯s territory . Any vitor who steals the seeds to somewhere else will be arrested and prosecuted by thews . "

    "Fifth announcement, allnds in Julu District territories that is currently owned by any person must be sold back to the city government . The price ..."

    "Sixth announcement, unauthorized personnel cannot hire or possess any private soldier within the city ..."

    "Seventh announcement, no weapon is allowed within the following areas ..."

    "Eight announcements ..."

    "Tenth announcement ..."

    "Twentieth announcement ..."

    Series of announcements from the city government were lined up in an orderly fashion . The schrs who came to read the news were in awe . They could not help but cry out .

    "A massive change ising . Zhang Jiao is nning something big!"

 Chapter 79

    Chapter 79

    Chapter 79 ¨CRioting Merchants

    The city was thrown into an uproar . Many schrs were debating the new announcements and the changes among each other . Majority of these self-proimed wise men disagreed with these policies .

    The nobles who were serving as officials of Julu happily yielded to thews as they were fairlypensated . Secondly, they did not have to take responsibility for the farmers who used theirnds . It would be the city hall staffs who would take care of the farmers and thends instead of them, which freed up their times . Lastly, they no longer had to support the cost of their private troops because they would be transferred to the infantry division under Zhou Cang, Zhang Liang, and Zhang Bao .

    Bo Cai Cavalry Division was the only unit that would not take in any more troops until Tong permitted it . Warhorses were hard to breed or sought for . As a result, Tong limited the number of the horsemen .

    They might lose a portion of their influence and power, but they gained back their free times and gold as apensation . Moreover, the trust toward to new governor and the new system was high due to the good reputation of Zhang family past deeds .

    Most importantly, more than half of the officials were secret members of the Immortal Yellow Turban Society . They lobbied the non-members into submission and rmended them into the club . As a result, they followed through Zhang Jiao¡¯s n without resisting .

    Lu Zhi was also invited into the club, but he declined the offer . Later on, He told Tong about this organization, which reminded him of what had happened in the assembly a few days earlier .

    After ten minutes trying to figure out the event andbined with his deduction and conjecture, Tong was so astonished to the point that he blurted out .

    "My silly father created the Illuminati!?"

    Tong did not realize that the original founder of the society was none other than Hua Shi . She gave Zhang Jiao the idea of the secret organization because she had the inspiration of her previous life .

    In her former country, there was a deep state which was the underground government that dealt with all the conspiracies and all sorts of hical acts that the "Real Government" could not publicly execute the tasks .

    Zhang Jiao was interested in the idea and found the organization with him as the leader and the trustworthy government officials who joined his Taoist Sect to be the members . He also used this society to gather information around the city, which worked faster and more efficient than the intelligence agency that Lu Zhi had trained .

    . . .

    . . .

    On the same day .

    On the contrary of the nobles, all merchants were shocked by the announcements . Severalws hit them on their sore spots .

    Unlike the representatives who had visited Tong in the government hall, these people were small-time merchants who took advantages of the farmers as their source of ies .

    When the harvest season began, they would buy crops from merchants with cheap price, for example, 10 tons of grain per one tael of gold or 1,000 coins . Once winter or spring arrived, they would sell it back to buyers at 2 tons of grain per one tael of gold .

    "What the hell is this!? This is absurd!"

    "Who said that the governor is capable? He¡¯s obviously a retard!"

    "We can¡¯t buy provision from the civilians? What kind of logic is this!?"

    "Foolish Zhang Jiao!"

    "We can¡¯t have private troops? Then how are we going to travel between cities!?"

    "No weapon zone!? Then what am I going to protect myself with? A pan?"

    "What kind of pricing is this? Five tons per a tael of gold? I call it bullshit!"

    They were discontent by the monopoly system that Tong had issued because they would lose out provision resources that they would get from coaxing and conning with the local citizens . Thus, they filed aint to the city hall, which was ignored by the officials .

    "We want an exnation!"

    "We want to see the governor!"

    "Answer us, or else!"

    "Compensate us!"

    "Do you think you can be a governor because you are appointed by the emperor?"

    "We can kill you easily if we want to . Get your ass down here and apologize to us! Or we will take back what¡¯s ours!"

    Half of the merchants swore and curse at every officer on duty they found and threatened them that they would use force to take over the title of the City Governor if Zhang Jiao did not give them an exnation .

    Two hourster, Zhang Jiao still ignored their protest, so they went back to their stores and tried to gather their private soldiers to revolt together .

    In front of the city hall, Tong red at the protesting crowd in disgust . He had only taken back the right to buy the grain from the citizens, so the food price of this city could not be manipted by the merchants when the famine hit next year .

    "This is the reason why they shouldn¡¯t possess any private army . What do they think they are? The king of this country? Just because they have a little power, they lost themselves for the small mary profits . " Tongined in an angered voice .

    Despite his hard work to ensure that the civilians of Julu would not starve in the future, these people dared to threaten him and his father because they lost a bit of profit . They were too selfish and shameless . Tong thought that he had to teach these people a lesson .

    Lu Zhi, who was standing by his side, sighed . This private army system had been around ever since the warring states . He had never paid attention to it before, but now he realized that these private army rights coulde back and bite its master like a stray dog .

    "Be lenient to them, disciple . "

    Tong shook his head . "I¡¯m sorry, master . I have to kill chickens to scare the monkeys this time . Or else, none of the civilians will be afraid of thews . "

    ...

    Half a dayter, the rioting merchants gathered 2,000 private soldiers and marched toward the city hall to take over the governor position by force .

    Within the city hall, four thousand men stood in formation . A group of shield bearers stood on the front rows . Archers sat on top of the roof and the high ground . Another reserve soldiers stood on the backline, getting ready to support the other groups in any situation .

    "Remember what we were trained for! Remember our Lord¡¯s teaching! When the first casualty happens, the first thing that will shut down is your brain! The only thing that is still working is your muscle memories! You were trained hard for this day . Everything that you did was memorized within your flesh and muscles . Don¡¯t disappoint our Lord!"

    "SIR, YES SIR!!"

    Zhou Cang rallied his men which were stationed inside the city hall courtyard front gate .

    He had already been alerted by themotion made by the merchants . Four thousand garrison soldiers were on standby with Tong¡¯s signature repeated crossbows, tower shields, and spears . The other six thousand men were creeping toward the riot army from all sides . The merchant force did not realize that they were surrounded .

    Merchant private soldiers, armed with leather armors and simple swords, rushed through the streets and stormed the city hall front gate . They charged at the iron-shield wall formation of the garrison force within the city wall front yard .

    Like a solid dam which stood against sh flood, Zhou Cang troops did not flinch the slightest . The shield bearers on the frontline did not blink nor lose focus . The shieldmen on the second line kept an eye for the loose weapon or gap between the shields . They immediately moved up to put an extra shield into the formation if they found a leak .

    Like the riot polices fighting against the unorganized mob in the 21st century, Zhou Cang troops stood still with tower shields protecting their front and overhead in turtle formation . The second line behind the formation and the archers on the high ground raised their crossbow up andunched a simple volley .

    Rain of arrows flew over the first line of turtled shield bearers and poured onto the mobs, after which resulted in screams and shoutinging from the back of the charging rioters .

    Zhou Cang did not do anything fancy . He repeated order and had the archers continued to shoot while the front shield bearers stood still without attacking or moving forward .

    Within 20 minutes, the rioters were down by half while Zhou Cang men were still in full-numbered . Noticing that they could not fight against the garrison army, the merchants ordered their men to retreat .

    However, the had already been cast, they were ambushed by the remaining six thousand men which had been creeping on them from behind .

    All rioting merchants and servants were arrestedter . Tong immediately gave out an order to behead the prisoners in public to demonstrate the authority . He also did not forget to give an additional order to seize the property of the rebelling merchants and expelled their entire families of the rebels, which scared the local peasants .

    . . .

    During the execution, Hua Shi stared at Tong andined .

    "You¡¯re bing like that North-Korean fatty Kim Jong-un, you know?"

    Tong nced back at her and returned his sight toward the death row prisoners .

    "Don¡¯t lump me together with him . At least, I don¡¯t let my people starve . I¡¯m sorry that I have to be a tyrant . I have to kill them now, so in the future, there will be less killing . If I let them be, I will have to kill 10 times or a hundred times more innocent people because they aren¡¯t afraid of thews . Laws are made to be sacred . If the civilians don¡¯t follow it, then everything we have done would be for naught . "

    "Hmm, you¡¯re bringing in the socialism, ironfistedws, and that cold-blooded ughtering . What else should I call you?"

    "Do you prefer if I bring in the democracy system instead, so we can have an election for any random mofo to suddenly show up and be the president of our country that we have been working our ass out to create?"

    "Err ... no . But we should think about it in the long terms . Maybe . . . "

    Hua Shi wanted to refute, but she suddenly came to a pause . She noticed the change in Tong¡¯s facial expression and the depth within his eyes . They had a tinge of insanity for a split second, then it returned to the indifferent face .

    Hua Shi rubbed her eyes in confusion .

    ¡¯Was it my imagination?¡¯

 Chapter 80

    Chapter 80

    Chapter 80 ¨C JW Swing

    At night . In the middle of Tong¡¯s courtyard .

    In order to relieve his stress, Tong brought out a barrel of beer to drink it alone .

    Constant killing wore down his mentality . The battle of Anpingst year, the purge of the nobles, and merchant rebel ughtering gave him a bad aftertaste . Sometimes he had a nightmare about the past events and was forced to wake up to break away from the dream .

    The event today gave Tong a severe headache . He had Hua Shi scan him with her skill, but she could not detect anything unusual . Yet, his headache persisted, and his eyes were also somewhat burning .

    He also remembered that his [Plot Armor] skill should have protected him from all disease, but he could not exin about this phenomenon which was happening to him . He tried to activate his regeneration skill, but the pain still remained .

    Tong believed that he was mentally exhausted, so he took a break from the espionage management lesson from Lu Zhi for today .

    Tong never minded the physical tiredness, but he did not like it when his spirit was being worn down by his past .

    The 100 liters of beer was emptied in a few hours . It was already midnight .

    After Tong downed a barrel of beer alone, he was a bit tipsy as the [Plot Armor] skill did not work when he voluntarily drank any alcohol .

    Because he was drunk, he missed a few beverages at his previous life .

    "Come to think of it . Before I died the first time, I haven¡¯t finished my ckbel yet . "

    Tong missed his favorite whiskey in his previous life . It was a well-known brand that Tong could afford to buy it every month as it cost him only 40-50 USD for a liter bottle .

    A funny inspiration awoke within his mind . It would be nice if he could recreate such a drink in this era with his [Create Food] skill .

    With such thought, Tong extended his hand and pointed it to the empty barrel next to him .

    "[Create Food]"

    *BZZ* *BZZ*

    [Error . This skill can only create food or food ingredient that you have eaten . You cannot create water or liquid substance directly . ]

    System rang a buzzing sound and told him that he could not use it this way . Yet Tongughed out merrily the moment he heard the system said "directly" .

    "Well, thanks for the pointer . If I can¡¯t create it directly, then how about this?"

    Tong recollected his thought and tried to think about a food that he had eaten in his previous life . He recalled the time when he was a rowdy middle-schooler . He and his friends used to act like dumb brats and cooked fried vegetables and noodles with his stolen whiskey . It tasted awful, but it was a good memory .

    "I think it was my father¡¯s ¡¯Swing¡¯? I¡¯ll try it! [Create Food]!"

    *WINK*

    Light shed and brown water poured from his extended palm into the empty beer barrel . Within a few seconds, the barrel was filled by one-tenth . The skill was still at level two, so he could only create 10 liters of liquid at a time .

    The unique aroma of JW Swing whiskey piqued his nose . It was a nostalgia smell that he yearned for .

    "MUAHAHAHAHA!! I DID IT!! A NEW DISCOVERY TO BOOT!! HAHAHAHA!!"

    Tong screamed inughter like a lunatic in the dead of the night . Dozens of servants woke up in panic and thought that something had happened to Tong . They took their weapons and rushed out to see him, only to find out that he was acting weird all alone .

    Hua Shi also woke up from theughing noise . She straddled toward him and kicked away his chair which made Tong stumbled and fell on the ground as a result .

    "Pipe it down! What time do you think it is? I was having a good sleep! You know that my job is tiring, right? I need a lot of rest and ..."

    Hua Shi had nned to give Tong a good scolding, but she came to a pause as she caught a whiff of a familiar aroma from the barrel .

    At first, she thought it was the beer that Tong had created using the magic cooking utensil . However, the beer did not have this unique scent .

    "Why am I feeling that I have a d¨¦j¨¤ vu? What did you create this time?"

    "Instead of asking me, why don¡¯t you try it yourself?"

    The face of Hua Shi turned solemn . She took Tong¡¯s cup and stepped toward the barrel . She scooped up the content and brought it to her mouth .

    Once it reached inside her mouth, she opened her eyes wide in shock . The taste was something that only the reincarnators from the 21st century knew about .

    "You ... how did you? Was it the cooking utensil?"

    Tong puffed his chest and smirked back at Hua Shi .

    "I¡¯ll tell you tomorrow after the morning assembly . For now, let¡¯s send back the servants and our bodyguards . I¡¯ve to clean up this mess, too . "

    ...

    ...

    The next day .

    After the morning assembly in the government hall with all officials was over, Tong asked his master again for a day off today . He had an important business to discuss with Hua Shi .

    Lu Zhi allowed it because he thought that Tong and Hua Shi were husband and wife, so he should spare a bit of time for the youths the spend together . Thus, he left Tong and Hua Shi alone in the government hall .

    With no one around, Hua Shi started questioning Tong .

    "Any exnation of yesterday? How did you get that?"

    Tong smiled as he brought out an empty barrel from his inventory, then he cast the skill again .

    "[Create Food]!"

    Another 10 liters of JWS whiskey was poured into the barrel, while Hua Shi stared at Tong in astonishment .

    "Holy Sweeting Buddha! That skill is HAX! Can you show me the skill menu again?"

    ...

    *******************************

    [Create Food] LV . 2 (6,135/20,000)

    - Create a food product or raw food ingredient .

    - 10kg of food can be created from one usage .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Host cannot create a food that host has never eaten before .

    *******************************

    ...

    Hua Shi frowned after she read the skill over and over again . It was clearly stated that he could only create food . Howe he could create a liquid .

    "I know what you are thinking . It¡¯s an ingredient from one of the foods I ate in my previous life . "

    "You ... what had you eaten? Why did I not know that there is something that used a whiskey to cook a food?"

    "Oh, please . I grew up in Asia . It¡¯s thend of food, you know? There are many dishes that used wine and other alcohol as part of the ingredients . A bunches of street food even used it . Where were you in yourst life, North-Korea?"

    Hua Shi smiled wryly . She was narrow-minded when it came to food . At thetter part of her life, she switched to cannibalism and forgot about normal food .

    "Anyway, what I want to talk to you is not about food or this whiskey . There is something more important that I need your help with . "

    Tong paused and gazed to Hua Shi . He saw her every day so he did not notice this before . She became prettier as she continued to grow up .

    The first time he encountered her, she was just an average teenage girl in his eyes . However, the Hua Shi in front of him now was like an innocent fairy . If Tong had never known about her before, he might think that she was a daughter of a goddess .

    Noticing Tong¡¯s passionate gaze, Hua Shi smirked .

    "What¡¯s wrong? Are you horny? We can do it here right now too, you know?"

    Tong snapped out of the trance and facepalmed himself . If only she kept her mouth shut, he would probably fall head over heel for her ages ago .

    "Never mind that . I¡¯ll get straight to the point . I¡¯m going to cancel all of your one-night tickets from now on . I want us to live in the same room starting from today, so the tickets aren¡¯t needed anymore . I¡¯ll tell my father to invite your parents over ASAP, so we can get married . After that, I have a favor that I-"

    Before Tong could finish his sentences and get into his main point, his lips were covered by Hua Shi¡¯s mouth . Because she thought that Tong was proposing to her, she kissed him .

    However, she did not hear what Tong really wanted .

    ¡¯I just wanted to level-grind my [Create Food] skill by dual-cultivating every day . It feels wrong for doing it over and over again and risked getting her pregnant before we get married . Oh well, I¡¯ll exin it to her on the bed . ¡¯

    Tong closed his eyes and indulged into the kiss .

    ...

    Hua Shi moved into Tong¡¯s room since that day . She found outter that Tong wanted to grind his skill EXP by dual-cultivating . She was so mad that she did not talk to Tong for a week after that .

    However, her perverseness and her desire outweighed her temperament . She forgave Tong moved into his room as he had asked .

    After a while, Tong had to arrange her working days into 3 days a week instead of 6 because she always got exhausted from his all-nighter EXP grinding .

    A few monthster, Hua Shi no longer exhausted from the night activities as she had more stamina from the constant work-out . The role was switched and it became Tong who was tired out from the night routine . However, that was another story for another time .

 Chapter 81

    Chapter 81

    Chapter 81 ¨C Bad News

    February 28th .

    Reports from the capital arrived in Julu . Emperor Ling was dead, and Liu Ping was next in line for the throne . The coronation ceremony was set on June 15th .

    Zhang Jiao, Lu Zhi, Tong, and all officials were in the government hall . All of them had different kinds of expression . Zhang Jiao was indifferent toward the royalties, so he did not mind who would sit on the throne .

    The officials were in a panic . They had secretly expanded their intelligencework into nearby cities and obtained information about the Blood Prince Liu Ping . The crown prince was not someone who seemed to be benevolence or suitable to sit on the throne . They expected chaos to happen within the capital soon .

    Meanwhile, Tong and Lu Zhi had a solemn face . The prince dared to kill his two brothers, so the emperor¡¯s death was just a matter of time . However, the prince made this move way faster than they had estimated, and it caught them off guard .

    They were listening to the discussion of the officers, then Tong recalled the Soulmate Quest content .

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Soulmate Mission No . 2**

    The chaos is about to begin! You know what will happen in the future, right?

    It¡¯s about time that you develop a good base to prepare for the uing disasters .

    Clear Condition:

    - upied Ye City and Julu City . Other cities are optional .

    - Protect the cities from the invaders until the time limit runs out .

    - Make at least 50% of your citizens happy .

    - Zhang Tong and Hua Shi must participate in this mission together .

    Failure Condition:

    - One or more of the cities is not under your control when the time limit exceeded .

    - Zhang Tong or Hua Shi did not participate in this mission .

    Clearing Reward:

    - 100,000 Lifespans forpleting the main objective .

    - 20,000 Lifespans for killing an enemy general .

    - 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier .

    - 10,000 Lifespans for each city controlled . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket for each city controlled . The reward is given annually .

    - One Lifespan for each happy poption each year . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket if more than half of your poption is happy . The reward is given annually .

    Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Mission Failure: Soulmate Contract will be nullified and one of you will die .

    System Note: As usual, you have to kill the soldiers or the generals yourself to get the reward .

    *********************************************

    ...

    The system never gave out a quest which was unrted to the quest takers, so there should be a reason behind this mission .

    ¡¯If this Liu Ping is actually Ping, and he knew who I am or where I am, what will he do?¡¯

    Tong¡¯s frown deepened . There was no need to question himself or put himself into his shoes . That "Ping" would definitely dere him as a rebel or would give out an edict to eradicate his family .

    Thinking up to this point, Tong asked Lu Zhi .

    "Master, in Luo Yang and nearby cities and counties, how many soldiers can the emperor or the grandmander rally in short amount of time?"

    Lu Zhi stopped thinking and looked at Tong . He did not understand why Tong suddenly asked him about the imperial inside information, yet he answered him nheless .

    "If it¡¯s an urgent mobilization within a month or two, He Jin, Zhu Jun, and Huangfu Song can have 20,000 to 50,000 men on each unit . But if they thoroughly n the deployment beforehand and take more times, they can dispatch up to 200,000 soldiers . They can get more if they recruit more men from Chang An . "

    "About those soldiers, are they conscripted militias or professional soldiers?"

    "In the Capital, they don¡¯t conscript militias . All of them are trained soldiers . But if they are serious and those eunuchs don¡¯t get in the way, the emperor himself can gather up over 500,000 soldiers and militias with just an edict . "

    The face of Tong lost all of its colors . The power of the royal capital was insane! Just relying on one city and nearby counties, they could round up 500,000 soldiers if they wanted to . Then what would happen if they were smart enough to form a crusading army that conscripted volunteers as they marched forward? Would not the number reach a million?

    "If the emperor chose thetter option to gather half a million soldiers, how long will it take to deploy if they want to attack Julu?"

    Lu Zhi stared at Tong in confusion . Why did he suddenly bring up this topic, and why would the new emperor attack Julu?

    "The royal treasury is abundant with gold and treasures . The granaries are always filled up to the brim . If they are serious in taking this city down, three months will be enough to gather 200,000 elites, six months if they conscript more militias . Heck, if they are smart and take their times for a year, a million elites army is even possible . And from the capital to here, they will spend another two months of marching . "

    Tong¡¯s heart skipped a beat . He thought that the fight with Guo Dian and his coalition forces were harsh . Comparing to the situation at hand, if he had to fight with Liu Ping and this massive army with his puny force, thest battle would be nothing but a joke .

    ¡¯My dad in the history had 360,000 followers against half a million army . But I only have 20,000 soldiers right now . Will heunch an attack after the coronation right away? Will he order the nearby warlords to attack me? Fudge! Why does it feel like a d¨¦j¨¤ vu!?¡¯

    Tong¡¯s thought was in a mess because of the panic . He gazed into the distance as he lost in thought .

    "Why do you ask me this? Why would the new emperor attack you? Did you steal his wife or something?"

    Lu Zhi asked Tong which made him snapped out of his random thoughts .

    Tong smiled at his master awkwardly as he answered .

    "It¡¯s just a hunch, master . Just a hunch . "

    "..."

    Lu Zhi could tell by Tong¡¯s expression and his subtle movements, Tong was hiding something from him .

    ¡¯It doesn¡¯t matter . He has his own worries . I have mine . ¡¯

    Lu Zhi gave up trying to ask Tong about his motives . He was more worried about the fate of the Han Dynasty .

    ¡¯I hope nothing would happen to this country . I truly hope for its peace and prosperity . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    The morning council meeting was over . Before Zhang Jiao could leave the hall, Tong stopped him .

    "What¡¯s wrong, son?"

    "Dad, I need your help . "

    Zhang Jiao was delighted . Tong came to him and asked for his help . He was d that there was something that Tong could not do and had to rely on him for once . He had been feeling inferior to his own son after the incident with the Yuan family . It was about time that he could act more like a father to Tong .

    "Go ahead . Tell me your problem . I¡¯ll do what I can to help you . "

    Tong nodded and started narrating his n for the future of Ye City and Zhang He whom he had nted into Han Fu¡¯s rank as a mole .

    "There you have it . I need your help from your underground society or something to infiltrate Ye City for both info and establishing the influence within the city . I need to know how Zhang He fares . Also, I need to know the status and activities of Ju Shou and Xin Ping . What position are they holding now and is there anything worthy to take notes of . "

    The eyebrows of Zhang Jiao twitched . This brat thought too far ahead that Zhang Jiao could not keep up with Tong . Furthermore, the secret organization that he found was already been discovered . Thinking about its name, Zhang Jiao was embarrassed .

    Still, he was capable of helping his son in this matter . This organization was designed by Hua Shi for expanding the influence in secret and gathering information as its core . Therefore, it was easy for him .

    "Alright, I¡¯ll help you on this . But take care of yourself . I¡¯ve been seeing you staggering back hometely . Don¡¯t push yourself too hard and be easy on your schedule . It¡¯s not like anyone is going to die if you don¡¯t work for a day . Take a break sometimes, understand?"

    Tong nodded in earnest, yet he bid his father farewell and rushed to the outer city . He had to inspect the construction sites of the "Wall-Marked" and "Swing-Eleven" buildings and several factories he designed . They were crucial for themercial development of this city and would be the role models for the other cities and counties under his control in the future .

    Seeing that Tong did not listen to his advice, Zhang Jiao shook his head . Instead of getting angry for his entric son, he chuckled . Afterward, he followed his subordinates to his office . He, too, would never take a day off . Building an empire for everymoner was his dream, he swore that he would not lose to Tong¡¯s enthusiasm .

 Chapter 82

    Chapter 82

    Chapter 82 ¨C Te Langpu

    March 30th, Julu City .

    Te Langpu, the young master of the wealthiest merchant in Ye City, and his entourage arrived at Julu . They brought 100,000 tons of grain and other provision to trade with Tong . Their caravans and escorts upied the entire road in front of the city south gate, which caused an uproar and interest of the civilian onlookers .

    Five hundred patrolling light cavalries under Bo Cai had to stay around the vicinity of the conveys to protect them and kept the order . These people were too eye-catching, so Bo Cai was afraid that a random hoodlum or triad group might take this chance to rob them on the way .

    Te Langpu saw that the city sent a small unit to protect them, he snorted .

    "They underestimate me too much . Even if I¡¯m by myself, no one in this world and kill me . "

    As a reincarnator, Te Langpu had a few tricks in his sleeves to protect himself, including his system skills . He did not need Bo Cai¡¯s men to guard him and his caravans .

    "Well, I¡¯ll leave them be . For now, let¡¯s see what kind of city that Zhang Tong has built . "

    ...

    Te Langpu entrusted the negotiation and other minor details for the business dealing with his subordinates, then he ditched the work and took the tour around the city .

    Before Te Langpu got far into the inner city, he caught sight of two familiar buildings .

    The mysterious buildings "Wall-Marked" and "Swing-Eleven" had beenpleted, and the craftsmen and carpenters with various tools were busy crafting mysterious long shelves and furniture inside the buildings .

    The town people gathered around to see what theserge buildings with 3 meters in height and 200 square meters were for .

    Then a sign was ced at the front door . It said "Supermarket formoners . Open date ¨C April 2nd" . None of the civilians understood the meaning behind it, even the schrs .

    Within the crowd, Te Langpu red at the sign with a deep frown . He was the only one who understood the purpose of this kind of buildings .

    ¡¯Someone has made this move before the great me . ¡¯

    ¡¯This is not good . I¡¯ve lost the brand awarenesspetition . ¡¯

    ¡¯Fudge! Why is it always the Chinese!?¡¯

    ¡¯Ipeted with you in myst life . Even in this life, you are still bigly haunting me!¡¯

    ¡¯Is it because I had kidnapped a daughter of a scum in myst life?¡¯

    ¡¯It was not my fault! Some assholes came up with this idea! I even let her bailed out!¡¯

    Gritting his teeth in frustration and envy, Te Langpu returned to his men . He no longer was in the mood for touring the city because of the existence of these shops .

    Afterward, he heard about the newws which Tong had implemented recently . Te Langpu wanted to curse Tong out loud for his amateurish constitutions and his government corporate system, but he swallowed his words back because there were too many people around him .

    ...

    The meeting with the officials was smooth . Although Te Langpu could not meet Tong, hepleted his transaction and got his hands on 10,000 bars of soap . He would take this soap and journey southward to Xu Chang or toward southeast to Xia Pi City to resell all these goods .

    It was a troublesome process of a peddling distributer, but the profit was worth the time and effort . If he sold it around this province, the price would be limited to 40 gold a piece or lower . Instead, if he took a trip further into the area which had not been touched by the soap merchants of the Yuan family, he estimated that he could get at least 70 gold a piece in return .

    Te Langpu looked at the bronze mirror in his hand andbed his bang .

    ¡¯A pity that I can¡¯t get to see Zhang Tong . But it doesn¡¯t matter . I¡¯ll get my hands on the soap recipe, then I¡¯ll relocate from Ye to the future Capital of Wei . Or maybe I should go a bit further south to Xiangyang City? Xiangyang was untouched by the civil war until Cao Cao snatched it over from Liu Biao¡¯s descendant . So I should be fine over there . ¡¯

    Te Langpu recollected his thought . Although he was strong and almost invincible, he did not enjoy participating in any conflict, be it with the natives or other reincarnators .

    ¡¯Zhang Tong utilized 7-11 and Walmart business model over here, so I can¡¯tpete with him in his turf . Maybe I should do something simr in other cities before he does . I-KEA still hasn¡¯t been taken yet . Right, I should also rebuild my casinos over there as well . I¡¯ll make it the new Las Vegas in this freaking ancient world!¡¯

    ...

    ...

    March 31st .

    The auction, which was organized by the city government, was held today . Although many merchants were dissatisfied with the newws and disliked how Tong and his family operated the city, they still could not resist the treasures, antiques and the soap recipe that Tong put into the auction .

    The auction would be held in the stadium in the noble resident area . This building once belonged to one of the corrupted nobles that Tong had killed . It was renovated into an open-air theater with a wooden stage and stone chairs, which was designed based on the European theater in the renaissance era .

    The wealthy nobles and merchants cued in line and entered the manor . They sat on the seat that they were assigned with .

    On the other side, five fat merchants were being escorted into another entrance . They were guided to the VIP lounge on the separated seat section .

    These people were the representative merchants that made a deal with Tong a couple months ago . They had finished gathering their funds and provision, and they shipped everything in Julu . Although they spent almost a million tael of gold to buy 50,000 bars of soap from Tong, they made a loan from their colleagues in other cities with their shops as coterals, so they had enough money topete the others for the soap recipe .

    Meanwhile, the unique hair chubby man from Ye City also participated in this auction . At first, he wanted to attend the auction in the VIP lounge, but he was declined by the staffs and was given the seat on the side instead .

    When they entered the theater, a gigantic signboard on the side caught their attention . On the signboard, a message, which was written inrge letters, was posted there .

    "Theater Schedule:

    March 31st, 9 AM to 7 PM . - Auction

    April 1st, 9 AM to 12 AM . - New Product Demonstration"

    The schedule note was understandable to the merchants . However, the next event tomorrow piqued their interest . As traders, they were sensitive to the word "New Product" . Some of the auction participants started inquiring about the demonstration .

    "Hey, you there! Do you know about this [New Product Demonstration]?"

    "Excuse me! Could you tell me the details about the tomorrow event?"

    "Do you know how can I reserve a seat for tomorrow?"

    Betraying their expectation, the staffs shook their head as they had no idea what would be the new product or what kind of event they would have . Tomorrow schedule was organized by the son of the city lord himself, and he did not give any details to the staffs .

    ...

    On the stage, Hua Shi walked out from behind the curtain . She took the role as a host in this auction .

    At first, she refused to take this job because she already had her hands full dealing with the ounting and being Zhang Jiao¡¯s secretary . As usual, Tong convinced her on the bed for two days straight, which resulted in Hua Shi being here with another part-time job .

    Because she had been given a lot of lovetely, her skin became glossy and smooth . She grew more beautiful as if she was a maiden-in-love . The assets on her chest also seemed to get bigger as Tong massaged them a lot during their dual-cultivation .

    Most importantly, unlike the local women in this world, Hua Shi took bath every day . She also used Tong¡¯s soap and the secret shampoo that he was experimenting with, which made her looked cleanlier and healthier than ordinary girls .

    The crowd was stunned by her beauty . They swallowed their saliva in instinct . Some of them lost control of their conscience and drool . All eyes were fixated on her as if she was a national treasure .

    "I BID 100,000 TEALS OF GOLD!!"

    A twelve-year-old young noble lost control of himself and shouted, which caused everybody tough .

    "Hahaha, she¡¯s the host . She¡¯s not a merchandise, you idiot . "

    "Na?ve youth is na?ve . "

    "Please be careful of yourself . You¡¯re a noble . You are held responsible for your every action . "

    "Y-Yes . I¡¯m sorry . "

    The youth was reprimanded by his surrounding auction participants . He bowed his head down in shame, but he still sneaked a nce at Hua Shi .

    "Still, the price was a little cheap . Don¡¯t you think so?"

    "Huh? 100,000 gold is cheap!? You got to be kidding right?"

    "Do you have any idea who she is?"

    "No, who is she?"

    "She¡¯s your goddamn "Goddess of Death" and the Immortal Zhang Tong¡¯s wife! If you want to seek death, go ahead and try bidding for her for only 100,000 gold . I want to see how Zhang Tong reacts when he hears about you . "

    "N-No, thanks . "

    Because of themotion made by the na?ve youth, the crowd murmured and joked among themselves .

    Hua Shi coughed to get their attention and started the auction .

    "May I get your attention, please? My name is Hua Shi, and I am your host for today . I will not waste your time with my speech or useless introduction . We will start with our first item ..."

 Chapter 83

    Chapter 83

    Chapter 83 ¨C Auction ¨C Part 1

    The auction continued for the entire morning . All items in the morning were all paintings from famous painters, gorgeous pottery, golden and silver wares, sculptures and antiques from the warring state era .

    Although the items were useless in daily lives, the total amount of the gold they received from the participants reached 400,000 taels of gold, which was higher than the initial estimation of 300,000 .

    Because people in this era did not understand the concept of banking or saving for the retirement, they turned all of their extra money into valuable objects as their collections and bragging right assets . Therefore, these items served as their status indicator as they could unt the rare arts with their peers to show their superiority .

    At noon, the auction was paused for an hour, so the participants could have a lunch break . They would continue again at 1 PM .

    Tong arrived at the auction house at noon . He came to prepare for thetter part of his advertisement n and another business dealing .

    ...

    Afternoon, the auction resumed . However, Hua Shi stepped down from the limelight and let Tong on the stage instead . She was too tired from the constant speech and from keeping tracks of the biddings, so she wanted to rest .

    Tong walked up the stage with all eyes fixated on him . As the only son of the City Governor and the heroicmander in the battle of Anping, he was also a celebrity in this city .

    "My apologies for taking away your eye candy . Well, I have to rece her before someone here starts bidding for her again . "

    The crowd burst intoughter and nced at the youth who had bid on Hua Shi in the morning . The youth red at Tong in anger and embarrassment, but he could do nothing to retort or fight back . Afterward, he looked around to search for Hua Shi . The eyes of his still glittered with desire and lust .

    By standing on the stage, Tong could see everybody¡¯s reaction and faces . As a result, he noticed the youth¡¯s behavior . Tong nced at the boy with hostile intent .

    ¡¯You knew that Sunday is my woman and you still have the guts to ogle her? Imend for your bravery, but you have to face a consequence! ... ZA W*RUDO!¡¯

    [Time Stop has been activated . ]

    [For activating this skill with the secret chant, you have . . . ]

    [Error! Irregrity has been detected! Your soul has been infected with . . . ]

    [Error! The skill level is not . . . ]

    [Error! The secret condition is not met . The skill requires . . . ]

    *WINK*

    *SCREECH*

    A ringing sound rmed inside Tong¡¯s mind, which gave him sharp pain within his brain . He felt like his body suddenly was about to split into two or something was about to eject from his body, and his eyes were burning as if they were being fried .

    He had not felt this sensation for a long time since the day that the merchants rioted . After Hua Shi moved into his room, the pain in his head disappeared .

    Because of the pain, Tong snapped back to his sense . Then he realized that he got angered by a random youth . However, he did not pay attention to the system messages . As a result, he did not pay attention to the vital information messages about his [Time Stop] skill .

    ¡¯This is odd . Why did I just activate my skill for a trivial matter like this? This is not like me at all!¡¯

    Tong was baffled by his own action . Just before he came here, he was in a merry mood . He did not understand why he suddenly had that crazy thought and activated his time stop skill, and he chanted those chuunibyou words to boot .

    ¡¯Was I jealous? No, that¡¯s impossible . I¡¯ve seen many people that came to pursue her, but I felt nothing . Err ... Maybe not . I probably felt annoyed a bit . But how did I lose my temper for such a thing?¡¯

    Tong tilted his head in confusion . He did not do anything to the boy while the time stop clock was ticking . He allowed it to run out and resumed the time flow . Tong pretended that nothing happened and resumed his duty as a host .

    "Unlike the morning when we auctioned for the treasures, in this afternoon, we will begin auctioning several of our city unique products, recipes, and even the concession contract by the city government itself!"

    The crowd murmured in excitement . Some of them already heard about the afternoon auction from one of the five merchant representatives which had visited Tong before, so they came prepared . A few rookie traders had not readied for this, so they were frustrated as they saw an opportunity but they could not grasp it .

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, Te Langpu, who did not care about Tong¡¯s advertisement, showed a deep frown on his face . His thought was on something else .

    ¡¯I cast my [Heart Devil] skill on him but he isn¡¯t affected by it one bit . Such a strong mentality is too scary! I heard about his past deeds and I thought he was just a war-junkie simpleton . I underestimated him!¡¯

    *******************************

    [Heart Devil] LV . 7 (1,858/6,400)

    - Make a target reveal his inner self .

    - The emotion of the target bes vulnerable to external influences .

    - Target will act ording to his temperament and instinct for a period of time .

    - The host can control the heart devil within the target for 7 minutes .

    - Duration of the skill may fluctuate depending on the mental strength of both caster and the target .

    Skill Cost: 5 Lifespans .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only be cast on the target within 100 meters range .

    - Can only affect the target with weaker mental strength than the host .

    *******************************

    Te Langpu cast [Heart Devil] on Tong in secret . He hoped to force Tong onto revealing his true self to the public and ruined his reputation in the process . After that, Te Langpu could exploit this weakness of Tong in the future when he expanded his businesses in other cities .

    However, Tong¡¯s reaction betrayed Te Langpu¡¯s expectation . From the look of his face and body movements, he did not seem to be affected by it at all .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t use mental magic on him . Even though I still have my [Midas Touch], I don¡¯t think I should take the risk and fight him head-on . I should avoid the confrontation, settle my business elsewhere and live peacefully . War and conflicts are stupid anyway . ¡¯

    Te Langpu made up his mind . He would not pick a fight with Tong in this city . After this auction was over, he would leave as soon as possible .

    ...

    ...

    The auction continued . The first item to the tenth item was a batch of 1,000 soap, which was auctioned for 30,000 gold in average each . Ten groups of merchants won these soap as they did not take part in provision trade with Tong .

    Two servants brought in a cart which carried five oak barrels on the stage . Meanwhile, the staffs started serving a cup of the mysterious cold brown liquor . It gave out an attractive aroma to the attendees .

    "What¡¯s this?"

    "This is ... wine?"

    "What kind of wine is this?"

    "Could it be ...?"

    The merchants were amazed by the fragrance of the liquor . They had tasted countless wine, but they never caught a scent of this exquisite wine in the cup in front of them .

    Tong pped his hands twice to get the attention of the audience and spoke out .

    "This wine is not actually wine, but I call it "whiskey" . A special liquor that you wouldn¡¯t be able to find it anywhere but here in Julu City . "

    The crowd was listening to Tong . They could not understand what Tong tried to convey to them . A wine is a wine . Why did he call it a whiskey? And why Tong dered that it could not be found in other cities?

    "Well, even if I describe it for a whole day, you wouldn¡¯t be able to understand what¡¯s the difference between wine and my whiskey . I have ordered my staffs to serve you a cup of "whiskey" . Please try it, and you will be enlightened . "

    Te Langpu red at Tong in shock . He knew about this whiskey . He also knew how hard it was to distill a barrel of these, yet Tong had brought it in front of him .

    ¡¯What in the world!? He has a distillery here!? Did he buy it from the shop, or did he construct it himself!? Damn it, he is too far ahead . I can¡¯t fight him in themerce field too?¡¯

    On the contrary to Te Langpu¡¯s frustrated look, the other merchants drank the content within the cup in front of them and cried out in admiration .

    "Such aroma!"

    "This ... this is the smelling of oak!"

    "It leaves the aftertaste!"

    "I ... I ... I¡¯m d I¡¯ve been born . *sniff*"

    "Hey, don¡¯t cry!"

    "You haven¡¯t drink it yet? Give me your cup and I¡¯ll stop crying!"

    "What!? No way in hell I¡¯ll fall for your scam . I¡¯m drinking it!"

    "Unbelievable ..."

    "I¡¯m d this is called ¡¯whiskey¡¯ . If this is called ¡¯wine¡¯ then all wine I had drunk was nothing but trash!"

    Amotion broke out in the crowd . They were captivated by the taste and the smell of the whiskey . Twenty of them stood up and asked the staffs if they could get more . The smarter merchants noticed the oak barrels on the stage and understood Tong¡¯s intention immediately .

    Tong pped his hands again to calm down the people below .

    "I¡¯m sure that everybody likes my whiskey . What we have served you were part of the content within this barrel . I have to warn you one thing . This whiskey is not easy toe by . I have consulted with the makers of these liquor . They can only make one barrel a year because of itsplication brewing process! So once these barrels were sold out, there will not be another one any time soon . "

 Chapter 84

    Chapter 84

    Chapter 84 ¨C Auction ¨C Part 2

    Tong did not lie when he said that this whiskey was not easy toe by . With two magic cooking utensils he had, he could only make enough to fill one 100-liter-barrel per one day . Furthermore, the ingredients for the recipe were rare and expensive . For one barrel, it cost him 1,000 gold!

    However, Tong had found the alternate way to get his hands on such rare beverage in this era by using one cheat .

    ***********************************

    [Create Food] LV . 5 (35,450/160,000)

    - Create a food product or raw food ingredient .

    - 10,000kg of food can be created from one usage .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Host cannot create a food that host has never eaten before .

    ***********************************

    At first, he did not know that he could make any beverage with this skill . One day when he was drunk after his beer session, he attempted to create a whiskey to fill his cup for augh . Because he thought that he had eaten a certain Thai food in the past which used a small amount of whiskey as an ingredient, it was worth a try .

    Surprisingly, it worked!

    After that day, he went crazy on dual-cultivating with Hua Shi as if he was a beast in season, which delighted the perverted girl . It eventually ended up as theirmon daily routine .

    As a result, Tong continued to put more EXP into the [Create Food] skill and increased its level to 5, which would yield ten tons of any ingredient or food of his choice .

    With a sacrifice of one year of his lifespan, he could fill up a hundred 100-liter-barrels with whiskey! Such hax was luxurious!

    He nned to max out this skill as soon as possible . Once it reached a higher level, food problem would be a joke to him .

    ...

    "Second warning that I can give you . Within these barrels, the taste will be different because of the containers, the brewing process, and the age of the whiskey . Therefore, each of them is unique of its kind! I will remind you again, what I had served you was part of the content of this barrel right beside me . Before we auction for the next barrel, I will let everyone has a sample cup again . "

    The ears of the crowd perked up . The merchants licked their lips, and their eyes were filled with desire . Their interest in the drink increased .

    "Now, I won¡¯t waste your time anymore . We will start bidding for this barrel . The starting price will be 100 gold . "

    Half of the audience sucked in cold breath . The starting bid was too high!

    Onemon jar of wine only cost 10 coins, and twenty jars, which had an equal amount to a hundred-liter barrel, were only 200 coins, or one-fifth of a gold . Yet this whiskey was 500 times more expensive than themon wine!

    The audience turned silent for 20 seconds . No one was willing to bid for the overpriced whiskey .

    Despite the awkward atmosphere, Tong still smiled and waited in patience .

    Then ...

    "100 Gold!"

    Te Langpu made the starting bid himself . He had drunk much more expensive beverage in his previous life . For something that is a little more expensive than themon goods, he did not mind about the price . He cared more about the rarity of the product .

    Moreover, he felt nostalgia when he drank the sample cup . He wanted to buy one for himself .

    ¡¯These fools don¡¯t know how to properly spend money! They all collect a bunch of useless junks! If they want to buy something valuable, buy something that you can consume!¡¯

    Te Langpu mocked the confused crowd in his heart .

    "300 gold!"

    A voice came from the VIP section . One of the five merchant representatives raised the price while the other four sat back and rxed . The five of them formed an alliance, and they agreed that they would share the content of the barrel with each other after they won the auction .

    Te Langpu nced at the five fat men . He opened his mouth and about to call out another bid, but a voice came from another VIP section .

    "1,000 gold!"

    Everyone turned around to look at the bidder . The crowd was shocked the moment they saw the bidder¡¯s face .

    "Isn¡¯t that person ...?"

    "T-They came too?"

    "When have they arrived!? Howe I didn¡¯t know about this!?"

    The well-informed merchants recognized the person immediately while the rest managed to guess the backer of the bidder, the Yuan family!

    ¡¯Well, they sure got guts . ¡¯

    Tong was already aware that the Yuan family also participated in this auction, but Tian Feng sent a no-name servant to attend in his steed with a squad of bodyguards .

    Even if he was just an ordinary servant, the man still looked impressive from the sight of onlookers .

    Behind the leader of the representative, there was a middle-aged man who tried his best to act timid and pretended to be a servant . Tong recognized the person right away . Furthermore, his name in Tong¡¯s radar map could not be falsified .

    ¡¯You truly are bold, Feng Ji . Don¡¯t you know that I can kill you at any moment in this city?¡¯

    That man was Feng Ji, the one who had plotted against Tong in the battle of Anping . However, business was business . Personal grudge could be settledter .

    "One thousand gold from the Yuan family! Going once!"

    Tong confirmed his bid and elerated the auction process .

    "Going twice!"

    "1,500 gold!" Fat men alliance bid .

    "2,000 gold!" Yuan family representative bid again .

    "5,000 gold!!"

    Te Langpu shouted which caused everybody to look at him in awe . For the sake of the unique drink, he was willing to go this far .

    Te Langpu snorted . He did not care about this much money . If he felt like it, he could get over 100,000 taels of gold within a day with his [Midas Touch] skill .

    ***********************************

    [Midas Touch] LV . MAX

    - Turn every object that you touch into gold .

    - The host can limit its power to a part of the host¡¯s body .

    - All part of the host body can turn any kind of attack into gold .

    Skill Cost: 5 Lifespan per one second of activation .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Only Te Langpu can use this skill .

    ***********************************

    It was a skill that was created based on the Greek myth . The skill worked the same way as Tong¡¯s aura skills, which required an activation to be used . Te Langpu created this so he could have an easy time in the new life .

    By touching a person with this skill, an adult with the weight of 70kg would be turned into 1,800 taels of gold in an instant . He could even turn a random shack in a slum and convert it into 10,000 gold on the spot!

    With his kind of skill in his arsenal, he was willing to bid at any price for the thing he wanted .

    Tong stared at Te Langpu to scan him from head to toes . Afterward, he marked the person on his radar map . Tong would have the spies and his Illuminati members research the background of Te Langputer .

    "5,000 gold . Going once! ... Going twice! ... Sold at 5,000 gold!! Congrattions!"

    Te Langpu chuckled as he mocked the other bidders . They were too na?ve to know the true value of this whiskey .

    ...

    The other four barrels were all won by Te Langpu with the price of 5,000 gold each, which caused everyone to notice him . They finally realized that he was a prominent figure in Ye City .

    The servant of the Yuan family took note of him . He whispered to a servant nearby to report this matter to Tian Feng .

    The five fat men only nced at Te Langpu, and then ignored him . The whiskey was just a side dish . They paid more attention to the main course, which was the soap recipe .

    Then a scroll was brought out on the stage .

    "The next item is what everyone is here for, the soap recipe!"

    The crowd buzzed with noises and their eyes glittered with greed . The soap that had been circted in the market was expensive enough to attract them . If they were to be one of the manufacturers of such an item, they would be rich in no time .

    "In this recipe, it contains all information about the ingredients used, the process of the making, and the tools that are necessary for the manufacturing . As you know, the current soap market price is 40 taels of gold for one bar . It is not a cheap product at all . So owning this trade secret will definitely give you opportunities to get into contact with more nobles and wealthy family in the future . "

    Tong poured oil into the fire to me the excitement and desire from the audience further .

    Everyone in the auction red at Tong with greed and cursed him in their mind as they wanted Tong to start the auction of the item already . They had decided to go all-in with this item long before they had arrived here .

    "The starting bid for this item is 10,000 gold . The bid increment minimum is also 10,000 gold . First bid, please . "

 Chapter 85

    Chapter 85

    Chapter 85 ¨C Auction ¨C Part 3

    "20,000 GOLD!"

    "40,000!"

    "70,000!"

    Shouts came from everywhere within the auction theater . The bid went from 20,000 to 100,000 within a few seconds .

    Then .

    "200,000 From the Yuan family!"

    A voice came from the VIP section . Feng Ji was the one who shouted the bid which made everyone stopped what they were doing and turned around to gaze at him in admiration and awe .

    "Shit! It¡¯s the Yuan Family . "

    "I don¡¯t think I want to offend them . I¡¯ll stop here . "

    "Me, too . I don¡¯t have enough gold anyway . "

    The bidding also paused as there was no bidding after Feng Ji dered that he was from the Yuan family .

    Tong red at Feng Ji in discontentment . He was expecting the recipe to be auctioned around 400,000 gold or more . But because of Feng Ji and Yuan Shao¡¯s reputation, no one dared to bid further .

    However, as a host, Tong could not voice out his thought . He had to continue the auction and prayed that someone came and bid for a higher price .

    "200,000 going once!"

    "250,000 gold!"

    A voice came from another VIP section . It was the five fat merchants that had made arge deal with Tong . They were the prominent 5 merchants that were well-known in this city .

    "Those guys want topete with the Yuan!?"

    "Are they seeking death? Yuan Shao will kill them if he finds out . "

    "Wow, they got the balls of iron!"

    Gossips and whispers buzzed within the crowd . They nced at both VIP sections and enjoyed the drama as the auction of this item was out of their reach .

    "260,000" Feng Ji continued to bid .

    "300,000!!"

    Feng Ji gritted his teeth . The budget they had was only 350,000 gold at the moment . He did not want to spend all of it because of a recipe, which could be easily stolen by any random workers within Tong¡¯s factory . By thinking this far, Feng Ji decided to stop .

    However, because of his wicked and unyielding personality, he wanted to prank these 5 fatties a bit .

    "310,000 gold . " Feng Ji bid .

    "330,000 gold!"

    "350,000 gold!!" Feng Ji bid again .

    "400,000 GOLD!!"

    On the other side of the auction, the five merchants sweated bullets as they had just bid everything they had . The 400,000 gold was all of theirbined cash that they pooled together for this item . If someone were to bid higher, they would not be able to bid anymore .

    Feng Ji observed the five men andughed in his heart . He could guess that they had reached their limit, so he would not bid anymore and let these fools to take the recipe .

    On the stage, Tong breathed out a relieved sigh . He appreciated thepetition of Feng Ji and the five merchants . Because of that, he got the price he had initially estimated . If it went further, he would consider it a bonus .

    "400,000 gold, going once!"

    "400,000 gold going twice!"

    "Four-"

    Before Tong could finish his warning closure, another voice came from the audience .

    "500,000 gold! I¡¯ll make my family great again!"

    A familiar catchphrase came from the chubby man . It was Te Langpu who had shouted the bid .

    ¡¯Dafuq was that? Why do I feel like I have heard that phrase before somewhere?¡¯

    Tong tilted his head and wondered . He definitely heard that slogan somewhere before but he could not remember it clearly . Because of the vague memory and unclear image, Tong ignored it and continued with the auction . After this thing was done, he would try to recall it .

    "500,000 gold going once!"

    The five merchants gritted their teeth in anger . If it was not because of therge deal they had made with Tong, they would have more than enough gold to overwhelm Te Langpu¡¯s bidding . They could only give up and try their luck again in the next item .

    "500,000 gold going twice!"

    "500,000 sold to the gentleman ... Te Langpu?"

    ¡¯Te Langpu? Te Lang Pu? Why is this name so familiar?¡¯

    Tong frowned as he said the name of the winner of the soap recipe auction . He was sure that he definitely knew this name and that catchphrase . He gazed upon Te Langpu again as if he wanted to ask who he was . Seeing the unique hairstyle and his face, the forgotten memory of over 400,000 years ago came back .

    ¡¯FUDGE! ARE YOU SERIOUS!? THAT FUDGING TR*MP!!?¡¯

    Tong wanted to draw his gun and shoot him on the spot, but it would incur a bacsh from the people . Therefore, Tong decided not to kill him at this ce . He would track down Te Langpu and used his [Time Stop] skill to assassinate himter if he still strolled around in this city .

    Tong sighed in his mind as he felt pity . He had used his [Time Stop] earlier or he would stop the time and kill Te Langpu in secret without caring about the consequences right now .

    On the other side, as a former politician and a top businessman in the previous life, Te Langpu noticed Tong¡¯s facial expression and the subtle changes . He assumed that his identity as a reincarnator was more than 50% exposed . He had to leave this city if he wanted to avoid the direct confrontation .

    ¡¯Hmm . Though I want to have a heart to heart talk like a civil gentleman do, the goddamn system probably tries to kill us again . Time to leave, perhaps . ¡¯

    Te Langpu stood up and walked to the staffs . He asked them to settle the auction item and his gold, so he could leave the auction theater right away and left a few of his servants to deal with the minor details .

    "Alright, it¡¯s time for our final item! This item will surely make everybody here drools, I guarantee you . The final item of the auction today is ... the trade concession!"

    The merchants got pumped up again . These people were familiar with concessions from the authorities as they usually bribed the officials to take part in it . It was the first time that a city official held a public auction openly in the public .

    "In this concession, it doesn¡¯t hold one right of one product! There are salt, sugar, vegetable oil, whiskey, and ... spice! All of these products that Julu government have will be sold to the right holder at 20% of the market price!"

    Everyone in the theater stood up in shock . Twenty percent market price meant that the right holder could gain 400% profit by reselling everything they bought from the city government at the market value .

    Feng Ji frowned as he red at Tong .

    ¡¯This brat is too bold . Giving rights to ordinary merchants can spell disaster if the right holder fails to meet the standard . Or is he expecting us to obtain the right?¡¯

    Feng Ji fell into deep thought . Then he nced at the five merchants in the other VIP booth by ident .

    ¡¯Right, those guys still have plenty of money . Zhang Tong can still rely on them . ¡¯

    Thinking that Tong would rely on the five men, Feng Ji whispered to the leader of the representative .

    "Please take this concession by any means necessary . I don¡¯t care if we have to loan more money for it . Just take it . "

    The representative nodded . He was Feng Ji¡¯s servant in disguise, so he had to follow his order .

    ...

    Te Langpu, who was leaving, stopped his feet on this track . He turned around to re at Tong and cursed him in his mind .

    ¡¯Spice and salt? Where in this alien world can Zhang Tong acquire all of that? Julu is too far from the coast . He shouldn¡¯t be able to possess any salt mine . Or ... right . I forgot that he¡¯s also a reincarnator . ¡¯

    Te Langpu figured that Tong should either have a skill that could create those salt and spice out of thin air, or he had bought arge amount of them with shopping tickets .

    He ignored the auction and slowly walked out of the theater .

    ¡¯It¡¯s none of my business . I got what I want . I¡¯ll just create a factory somewhere and rebuild my casinos while I¡¯m at it . ¡¯

    ...

    The crowd dispersed and left the theater . The auction ended sessfully .

    Feng Ji won the concession auction by bidding 500,000 gold . They had to loan the money from other merchants to bid for it . He immediately sent a messenger to the city hall right away that he would reserve every item they had for their next pick-up at the end of April .

    Te Langpu did not bother staying in Julu for a night before his departure . He rushed his servants and left the city before nightfall with all of his winning trophies .

    Despite his effort to hurry back to Ye City, an army of a thousand men stopped Te Langpu on the road . It was the army of Yuan family .

    Te Langpu walked in front of his caravan . He was ready for a fight as he was confident in his cheat abilities .

    Unexpectedly, a schr rode a horse forward and greeted Te Langpu .

    "My deepest apologies for stopping you at this time of the day . My name is Tian Feng . I wish to establish a partnership between us . Could you spare some of your time?"

    Tian Feng had been stationing outside of Julu City since this morning . He came with the servants who attended the auction, but Tian Feng did not enter the city because he was wary of Tong .

    ring at Tian Feng, Te Langpu nodded and sent a signal to his men to stand down .

    "Yuan family, is it? What do you want from me? The soap recipe?"

    "No, no . You misunderstood me . You see? Our master, Lord Yuan Shao has taken an interest in your financial abilities and your leadership . Would you be interested in working with us? We will give you a suitablepensation,nds, and noble status . As for the soap recipe, we could easily obtain it from the other sources . So you can keep it . "

 Chapter 86

    Chapter 86

    Chapter 86 ¨C Unknown Sickness

    March 31st, 7 PM .

    Tong and Hua Shi concluded the total ie of this month and the current status of the city treasury .

    Thanks to the soap trade, they obtained 900,000 gold from the five merchants, 180,000 from Te Langpu, and 100,000 gold from other traders . The auctionted them 400,000 gold from the random useless treasures, extra 300,000 from 10 batches of soap, another 500,000 from the soap recipe, 500,000 additional gold from the concession right, and a chump change of 25,000 gold from the whiskey .

    Furthermore, the Yuan family had reserved an order of various seeds, sugar, and salt from Tong, so the city would have another guaranteed ie by the end of April .

    Combining with the previous leftover budget that Tong left in the treasury, they possessed over 3,000,000 gold! They had no idea that they had be the richest family in entire China .

    Because the astronomical amount of gold could not fit into the city treasury warehouse, Tong and Hua Shi split it in half and stored them in their space inventories . Just like in the past, they left 100,000 gold in the warehouse, so Zhang Jiao could use this budget to manage the misceneous kinds of stuff .

    Hua Shi, Tong, and the official workers finished arranging the warehouse at 9 PM . Both of them crawled back to their room in exhaustion and copse onto their pillows .

    Before Tong could fall into his dream, the sharp pain within his brain came back again . It got even worse than this morning .

    "Sunday, can you scan me again? Why am I having this headache?"

    "Eh? OK, give me a second . [Medical Gift]!"

    The eyes of Hua Shi shed . After five seconds, the light disappeared .

    Hua Shi tilted her head in confusion . The skill told her that the target was perfectly healthy, and there was not any irregrity within his physical body or in his brain .

    "System said you are fine . Are you sure it¡¯s not imaginary pain? Like a phantom pain?"

    Tong shook his head while he still held onto his head . He could feel the throbbing of his blood vessels in his head and heard the sound of his heartbeat . The pain was stimted each time the blood vessels throbbed .

    Sweat rolled all over his face, and his back was soaked as if he had jumped into a pool not too long ago . Theplexion of Tong¡¯s face turned paler each minute .

    Seeing the changes right in front of her eyes, Hua Shi became panic and started asking questions while she reused her diagnosis skill again .

    "When did you start feeling this headache? When did it start?"

    Tong tried his best to recall the past and did his best to withstand the pain . Within a few seconds, he remembered .

    "The day that we dealt with the riots . I had this headache in the middle of the night . I thought I was mentally tired or I was drunk, so I didn¡¯t care about it . "

    Hua Shi frowned . That day, she remembered that she scanned him as well because he acted weird . However, she did not find anything unusual in the system report . She tried to use her experience in her previous life to diagnosis Tong herself, but all result was negative . She had no clue what kind of diseases that could inflict Tong under his [Plot Armor] protection skill .

    "Had it happened again after that?"

    "... Err, sometimes, but it was not this bad . It came hard today morning during the auction . "

    Hua Shi was silent . She tried to think of a way to figure out his trouble .

    "System, does my [Medical Gift] skill can detect parasites and viruses?"

    [Yes . You can . ]

    "How about spores, fungus, bacteria?"

    [You can detect all physical disease that is caused by all organism lifeform . ]

    "What about tumors or cancer?"

    [Yes . You can . ]

    "Vascr disease or microvascr disease?"

    [Yes . You can . ]

    "Concussion?"

    [Yes . You can . ]

    "What about the psych? Can I scan the psych scan to detect the mental illness?]

    [Yes . You can . ]

    Hua Shi¡¯s frown deepened . She just scanned Tong twice, but the result was nothing . It was not a physical illness, blood vessel problem, old injury, tumor, cancer, nor mental illness . Then what was this headache that Tong was suffering from?

    Seeing no result, Hua Shi tried to be creative with the system .

    "Then what disease that my [Medical Gift] cannot detect?"

    The system did not answer her immediately as it had been doing . It paused for a minute before it gave out her answer .

    [I cannot answer that question . ]

    "F**king useless system!!"

    Hua Shi screamed at the system as she swung her fist at the empty air where the system messages popped up in anger .

    The condition of Tong worsened . His pupils turned bright red and his clothes were soaked with his sweat .

    Hua Shi stripped him naked and took out his nket to give him air and venttion to his body . She touched his under-chin with the back of her hand . It was burning hot .

    She took a deep breath to calm herself and desperately asked Tong .

    "Do you remember what you did to make this headache subside? What did you eat or did after the day that you have this headache?"

    Tong panted and nced at Hua Shi and gave her an awkward smile .

    "... We . . . mated . "

    Hua Shi felt like beating up Tong on the spot . It was not the time for a joke .

    "Be serious . "

    "I¡¯m serious . My schedule was the same every day . The only things I had done after that day that was different than the usual stuff I did ... was ... with you . "

    Hua Shi sighed and shook her head . If Tong was in heat and tried to get an excuse to dual-cultivate with her, she had to give him an Oscar Award as the illness and hisplexion looked too realistic to be an act . However, if it was true, then she could help him .

    "Okay . But I¡¯m kinda tired today . So just a couple rounds for tonight, alright?"

    "Yeah, thanks ... and sorry . "

    "Don¡¯t be sorry, ¡¯cause I¡¯m going to punish you for it!"

    ...

    April 1st, 6 . 30 AM .

    Tong sat up with a lightened feeling . The pain really disappeared after the intense dual-cultivation . He tried to rotate his neck and tilted his head, and he did not feel any ufortable feeling inside his brain .

    "Have you gotten better?"

    Hua Shi, who was still lying naked on the bed, asked Tong after seeing him moving around .

    "Yeah, thanks to you, really . "

    Hua Shi closed her eyes and sunk into her pillow in drowsiness . She nned to do it for a round or two, she ended up in the mood and went crazy all night again .

    "I want another day off today . "

    "No problem . "

    Tong skipped away to take his morning bath in a good mood while Hua Shi continued to sleep .

    Today, he had another important demonstration to the citizens of his city . He could not bete .

    ...

    ...

    Netherworld Realm .

    Morning Star, who was topless and wore simple ck pants, was sitting on the mountain of corpses . Dead militated bodies scattered around him . Spears, arrows, swords, pikes, and gs flew up in the air and rotated around the sitting man .

    The sky of Hell was pitch ck with no stars . The brightnd which had been made with holy granites were painted with blood . Many grand buildings made of silver marble were crushed as if they were bitten by beasts .

    In front of Morning Star, a screen, which showed the daily life of Tong and Hua Shi, were being broadcasted in real time .

    "It starts earlier than I expected . "

    "Don¡¯t disappoint me, Tong . "

    "Return as yourself . I don¡¯t want a mindless beast . "

    Below the mountain, an angel with broken wings was being chewed by a 3-head dog . Yet, she ignored the dog and continued ring at Morning Star .

    "You won¡¯t get away with this . . . "

    Morning Star grinned at the dying angel and mocked her .

    "The same goes with Athena¡¯s Descendant . She won¡¯t be his match in that world . "

    ¡¯As long as he has awakened properly, that is . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    Heaven Realm .

    Michael gazed at the public broadcasting screen in the middle of the town . He sighed .

    "That idiot fatso . Why did he cast [Heart Devil] on him?"

    "Haiz . The symptom has started . "

    "Even if you have found a way to dy it, there is no turning back . "

    "Unless ... the father notices you..."

    Then he checked the report of his scouts in Hell . A disturbing news was also being broadcasted .

    "This is gettingplicated . Why in the Heaven are they so stuck up in the past grudge!?"

    ...

    ...

    Outer Space . The dimension of the "Trial World" .

    A goddess, whose appearance looked like a middle schooler, was wearing an asylum patient long sleeve suit . Her eyes were blindfold by strange cloth with wriggling runes on it .

    Sinister ck chains with bale aura wrapped around her and squeezed her tight as if they wanted to crush the girl into mincemeat . All chains were being pulled continuously from the 36 ck holes, which were rotating around her in a circr formation .

    Despite being crushed under the unmeasurable amount of force, she did not show any sign of pain .

    "..."

    "... I¡¯m sorry Hua Shi . "

    "Your skill can only detect mortal disease . "

    "You cannot find "that" disease . "

    "I can¡¯t reveal the secret of the immortal . "

    "I¡¯m sorry . "

    "..."

    "Brat ..."

    "... Don¡¯t be a beast . "

    "If you fail . . . I¡¯ll kill you myself . "

 Chapter 87

    Chapter 87

    Chapter 87 ¨C Public Demonstration

    Within the auction hall, many merchants and wealthy men from yesterday auction were present . They were attracted by the advertised "New Products" which was written in the schedule board at the side of the auction hall .

    The Yuan family representatives and the five merchant alliance were here as well . They returned to their VIP section that they had been assigned with yesterday .

    Meanwhile, the one hundred civilian representatives, who were invited by Tong, were being intimidated by the environment and sat in groups while they looked around in nervousness .

    On the stage, the workers arranged tables, cooking stoves, pots, utensils, and pans as if they were building a kitchen .

    The crowd gazed at the stage in confusion . They were wondering if they were trying to cook a food on the stage .

    Tong walked up on the stageter after the setting waspleted .

    He did not talk to any staffs or the audience . Tong simply brought out vegetables, raw chickens, dough, and spice then started to cook . He ordered his staffs to help him with the basic boiling, cutting and other mundane tasks as if he were Gord*n Rams*y .

    The crowd was puzzled . Tong really cooked on the stage! They had no idea what to think anymore .

    Suddenly, the tempting scent of fried chicken got into the noses of everyone . They stopped talking with each other and concentrated of the event on the stage .

    For an hour, Tong cooked 10 different kinds of dishes . Each dish was poured into a 60x30cm size tray and was ced on the narrow table in front of the stage .

    The audience drooled while their stomach growled . The aroma was unbearable . They wanted to jump out of their seats and ate everything on the table . If it was not for the scary security guards patrolling at the side and in front of the table, they would not hesitate to rush out .

    The staffs walked out with hundreds of small empty tes . They put a small amount of food on each dish onto the tes and served them to the drooling crowd .

    The merchant, who had been focusing his attention on the buffet trays, got impatient . He grabbed the te and took a spicy chicken wing into his mouth . The moment he took a bite, he moaned out in ecstasy . He hallucinated about himself wearing a chicken suit and danced around in the grasnd .

    The person nearby saw his friend reaction and was shocked . He questioned in his mind if this food could make his idiotic friend turn even more stupid . Then he took a piece of strange bread with a sticky yellowish thing on top of it into his mouth . The sensation of cheese, bread, ketchup, and various spice made his eyes opened wide . He also hallucinated that he was wearing strange ck and white clothes and was propelling a small boat on the river which had town building on both sides .

    The two of them came back to their sense after a minute . They noticed a writing on a sign beside the tray . The first one said "New Orleans Chicken Wings", and the second one was "Super Cheese Pizza" .

    The staffs continued to serve the food sample to everyone until the food in the 10 trays was empty .

    Ten minutester, the auction hall was in chaos . Although the sample food that Tong distributed to the audience had run out, the spoiled merchants and nobles demanded a second serving . Meanwhile, the timid merchants and the citizen representatives only nced around at the empty food trays with pitiful eyes .

    Tong pped his hands to get their attention .

    "May I have your attention, please?"

    The ruckus stopped and all eyes were on Tong on the stage . They calmed themselves down and paid attention to the speaker .

    "What I cooked and served all of you just now was part of the demonstration of the new products that the city hall will sell . "

    The ears of the merchants perked up . The food just now was otherworldly . They had never had eaten something like those before in their lives . If the food was the new product, they would totally buy it for themselves .

    "Are you selling that food?"

    "Those chicken wings, are you selling them?"

    "I¡¯ll buy the noodles . I meant the "Pasta"!"

    "I¡¯ll reserve "Pizza", "French Fries", and "Donuts"!"

    Tong had not finished talking yet, but these people were already this impatience . He raised his both hands forward and tried to appease the crowd .

    "Please calm down everyone . I haven¡¯t finished yet . Please listen carefully . What we are selling is not the finished food that you have eaten, but the ingredients and the recipes . "

    The uproar got worse . Half of the audience stood up and began shouting, trying to buy the recipes and ingredients . Tong had to signal the guards to step forward and control the crowd .

    "Again, please be patient while I¡¯m talking . By the way, all of you should have seen the weird buildings "Wall-Marked" and "Swing-Eleven" right?"

    Everyone nodded . They were also curious about what these buildings were for and why it was located in themercial areas or in the middle of residential areas .

    "Those buildings are the markets that are managed by the city government . Every product there belongs to the city hall and all ies from the selling will be going to the city hall treasury . "

    Tong did not conceal or hide the purposes of those buildings . He intended to give the citizens an image which Zhang Jiao was a trustworthy and transparent governor, unlike the crook officials in the past .

    "All the recipes for this food will be posted on the public announcement boards around the city and in front of all city hall shops!"

    "Nani!?"

    "What!?"

    The merchants could not believe their ears . Those recipes could easily be the trade secrets of any sessful tavern, restaurant, or shop, yet Tong was going to give away the recipes for free?

    "Secondly, the ingredients that are used in this food will be sold in the building "Swing-Eleven" and all necessary utensils will be selling at "Wall-Marked" . "

    The eyes of the merchants glittered . Their brains calcted and simted countless business ns while they were listening to Tong as they found a business opportunity .

    "I want everyone to take a look at the small bottles on the stage . These are the new items that have never appeared anywhere else before . The first bottle is pepper . It is used for ..."

    Tong narrated the description and the use of each type of spice . Because there were over 20 kinds of spice, chilies, and herbs on the stage, it took Tong an hour and a half to exin everything to the crowd .

    "I¡¯ll repeat again . These spice will be stocked in "Swing-Eleven" for everyone to buy . However, only citizens with identification token can buy the goods in there . "

    The merchants were shocked and disappointed by the sudden bad news while the group of citizens was delighted .

    The merchants wanted to buy them directly from Tong or nned to buy everything from the shops from the get-go . Yet, Tong stopped them before they made the move .

    Meanwhile, the ordinary people could get their hands on such luxurious food by cooking it themselves, which gave them opportunities for their future if they wanted to open a food stall or sell it at their taverns .

    "As for those who wish to buy it in bulk, I¡¯m afraid you will have to ask the Yuan Family for that . They have won the concession right from the auction, so in the agreement, they are the sole group that can buy all of the goods from Julu City Government in great amount . "

    All merchants turned their heads to look at the VIP section behind them where the Yuan family was located .

    The Yuan representative smiled as he was appreciated from Tong¡¯s advertisement . They were the only one who could buy the ingredients and resell them to the small-time merchants .

    The concession right that Tong had auction yesterday was nothing but a contract between a wholesaler and a distributor .

    The wholesalers could guarantee that they could sell arge number of goods in one go, while the distributors got the goods in low cost and could profit from the price-margin by reselling them to the local markets .

    It was a win-win rtionship at nce . However, Tong had nted a bomb inside the contract . It would not explode any time soon . But once the time was ripe, Tong would flip the switch, and the Yuan Family might even go bankrupt .

    Tong nced at the VIP section where the Yuan members sat . He grinned at them .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve made you my biggest distributor, so you¡¯d better dance for me, b*tches!¡¯

    Although the Yuan family had done a number on Tong and his family, Tong put away his grudges from the past incidents for the greater benefits of the mass .

    Tong understood the way of the politic world . There was no eternal enemy nor forever ally, only the mutual benefits . As long as they could use each other, Tong also would not mind using his former enemy for his future growth .

    ¡¯Feng Ji . I¡¯ll do you a favor . I¡¯ll feed you till you¡¯re so fat that Yuan Shao will listen to everything you say! I¡¯m going to use you for killing Tian Fengter in the future . Don¡¯t disappoint me!¡¯

    ...

    Feng Ji, who was sent as part of the representatives of the family, smirked as he red back at Tong .

    ¡¯Do you think that I haven¡¯t found out what you are nning? Trying to sabotage our family strength bymerce? Humph, you are still wet behind the ears . You¡¯ve underestimated our financial power! Thanks to you, our family will make a killing and my status will rise! Lord Yuan Shao will favor me over that Tian Feng! Zhang Tong, I¡¯ll use you as a stepping stone for the road of my greatness!¡¯

 Chapter 88

    Chapter 88

    Chapter 88 ¨C Are we scammed?

    After the demonstration had ended, Tong gathered up the citizens who hade to the auction house and taught them the cooking methods on the stage .

    He also reminded them that these spice and ingredients could be bought at SE shops around the city, and the utensils at WM shops . The price was cheap as a small 50-gram spice bottle would be sold for 5 coins if the buyer was a citizen with identification token, but it would cost 50 coins if a merchant from another city came here to buy it from the shop .

    The citizens had the privilege to buy everything in the shop at only 10% of the market price!

    They repeatedly nodded and dispersed to spread the news with their friends and families back home .

    ...

    Meanwhile, Feng Ji and the Yuan family representatives, who had no idea about the citizen privilege, returned to their camp outside of Julu City walls . Because their troops could not enter the city and weapons were prohibited, the Yuan escort troops had to camp outside .

    All traders, who had been in the auction hall this morning, were busy begging the Yuan family members for a share of the concession or tried to reserve a portion of goods that they could buy .

    Feng Ji grinned from ear to ear watching the sight of the frantic greedy merchants . Theypeted with each other to appeal to him and his representative members, which exhrated Feng Ji . He loved being in the spotlight and got all the attention to him .

    Feng Ji eventually bragged with the workers and imed the credit of this auction and the profits that they would gain in the future . It was him who forced the representative into bidding the concession right and won it in the end .

    He sneaked a nce at Tian Feng, who was the leader of the current caravan, with his mocking eyes . Feng Ji still held grudge against Tian Feng .

    ¡¯See? It is me who can bring out the greatness of our Lord! For someone who doesn¡¯t even have the balls to enter the city, you can suck your thumb and watch me step on you to the top! I¡¯ll reim what¡¯s mine!¡¯

    After two months of istion imprisonment in the Yuan guess house, he was released and allowed to continue serving the Yuan family . However, he had to climb up from an ordinary servant position again .

    Feng Ji swore that he would take back his position as the head butler back from Tian Feng and crushed him underfoot . It should be him who stood above everybody else in this branch family, not a neer .

    ...

    Tian Feng ignored the prideful Feng Ji and helped his aide and the staffs jotting down the order reservation from the merchants . He would send Feng Ji inside the city again to negotiate the first lot of spice and other goods that they would buy from Julu for reselling .

    Tian Feng had to admit that Feng Ji had contributed greatly for winning the concession right from the auction, even though it cost them half a million taels of gold .

    However, the benefits that the Yuan family could reap from this was massive . The price tag for 50 grams bottle of spice was 50 coins, but they could buy it from Julu City for 10 coins each . If they resold it in other cities, they could get more than 50 coins for certain . Thus, the profit from this trade was 400% of the investment at the minimum .

    With another 200,000 gold investment, they could recover their invested capitals back in no time .

    Despite all the profit that they could get in the future, Tian Feng was worried .

    ¡¯Why did Zhang Tong sell this to the outsiders? What did he gain from this? Gold? Trying to amass the fund for raising armies? This is too odd . They cut down the taxes to garner the favor of the people . They showed that their financial status was healthy . Yet, why are they amassing the fund with this means? I can¡¯t understand Zhang Tong¡¯s logic . Is he stupid? Of course not . He¡¯s up to something that I don¡¯t understand . ¡¯

    Within Tian Feng¡¯s brain, simtions and analyses of Tong¡¯s action were being processed while the right hand of Tian Feng was writing down the lists of merchant names and the number of goods that they reserved .

    Feeling helpless and unable toe up with the logic behind Tong¡¯s action, Tian Feng stopped his hand and broke away from the task . He returned to the inner camp to ask for an opinion from a certain person .

    ...

    Te Langpu had been sitting idly around the caravan, gazing at the nervous merchants with cold eyes .

    He epted the invitation of Tian Feng to increase his security and ensured that he could not be assassinated by Tong . As a result, he had to merge his guards from his caravan with the Yuan Family escort troops . For his properties, he retained everything that belonged to himself . The rest of the servants was given to Tian Feng .

    Te Langpu was not a historic ignorant . He had learned about the history of ancient China before as he had to lead his own country topete with this country . Because of that, he knew about the events that the Yuan Family had to face in the future .

    ¡¯This is year 182 . I have another decade to nt my roots into the northern region . Once Yuan Shao expands to the east and gets the territory on the east coast, I should move there ASAP . I think China¡¯s salt mines, coal mines, and iron mines in the other world located somewhere there? I should ask for a map from Tian Feng for more research . ¡¯

    Te Langpu also nned to use the fund of this family to establish his casinos around the country of China . Once Yuan Shao met his end in the future, he would break free from this family and surrendered to Cao Cao or stayed neutral for the entire civil war period .

    His free time did notst long . Tian Feng visited him and told Te Langpu about today demonstration at the auction house .

    "From all of his auctions and that concession, what do you think Zhang Tong is trying to achieve? I believe it was to amass the fund for his army . But I want your opinion . "

    Te Langpu had a smug look on his face . He shook his head while he answered .

    "Have you checked the source of the spice and other goods? Where do you think they get all of those from? Do you even research the origin of the products? If you can¡¯t answer my simple questions, all of you have been conned by Zhang Tong . "

    Tian Feng frowned after he heard the frank opinion of Te Langpu . It also reminded him that it was the first time he heard about such ingredients and new types of food . Because of the stubborn Feng Ji and the promising ie that they could reap from this trade, he overlooked these simple practices .

    "Why do you think that we are being scammed?"

    Although Tian Feng had a suspicion, he still asked Te Langpu for his opinion and his experience as a veteran trader .

    Te Langpu nced at Tian Feng with the corner of his eyes and replied to him with an indifferent face .

    "First, the cost of those products is dubious . It cannot be this cheap because he has to include the cost of the workers, the time consumed, and other factors before he set up the price of a product . In this case, it is too cheap!

    Second! The origins of these peppers, chilies and the likes cannot be found or exined where they areing from . Without the source of these crops, how can Zhang Tong acquire all of them in arge amount and in a short period of time?

    For these two reasons, I can only think that Zhang Tong can probably acquire these ingredients for free or from a secret source! If he gets his hands on these goods for free, he can manipte the price as he will!

    It will be the worst-case scenario if he has an infinite amount of those things . He will drain all of our gold into his city . And because of his policy of gathering food from merchants and farmers, he will notck both gold and provision! You should know what will happen next if Julu has be prosperous! Do you understand what I tried to convey to you?"

    As a fellow reincarnator, Te Langpu guessed that Tong should have a skill that could create these spice and food ingredients out of thin air or ability that could elerate the growth rate of a crop .

    By thinking outside the box, it was not hard for him toe up with this theory after listening to Tian Feng .

    Listened to Te Langpu¡¯s logic, Tian Feng was stunned . He only gave out a few pieces of information about Tong to him, yet he analyzed the situation faster than he could .

    However, Tian Feng still doubted whether Tong could amass the spice as Te Langpu had predicted . He decided to wait for the spy report before he made the conclusion .

    "If Zhang Tong really scammed us, what should we do to fix this?"

    Tian Feng continued to probe Te Langpu, which made thetter frowned in annoyance .

    "There are two solutions for this . If the goods are in limited quantity, buy all of them . If this is the case then Zhang Tong is being stupid . However, if we used up our cash and Zhang Tong still have those spice in stock, then just buy the first batch of spice then sell the concession to those five fatties . They went to the auction yesterday and bid 400,000 gold, do you remember? Sell them at that price and say something like you want to bail out or your financial is not ready . "

    Tian Feng nodded and left Te Langpu alone . He returned to his duty while he considered the suggestion of Te Langpu in his mind .

    ¡¯His idea isn¡¯t wrong . It is the best option if we want to withdraw from this wholesale trading . But I still have to wait for the inside report to get more information . But why was he so confident when he said Zhang Tong acquired the goods via other channels? On what basis is his theorying from?¡¯

    Tian Feng decided to hold on to the concession for now . Once he had obtained more information from the spies inside the city, he would make the decisionter .

    He still could not put a 100% trust on Te Langpu even though Yuan Shao wanted to recruit him .

 Chapter 89

    Chapter 89

    Chapter 89 ¨C Stabilized Domestic

    April 2nd .

    WM and SW convenient stores officially opened today . The people, who had attended yesterday demonstration, dragged their friends into the shops .

    They were awestruck by the sight of the shop interior .

    When they got inside, they were greeted by the female staffs who were standing behind the cashier bar . Behind them, luxurious ss bottles lined up on the shelf behind the staffs .

    At the side of the cashier counter,rge sacks which contained various kinds of spice were presented for the shopper to see .

    In the middle of the shop, various items had been lined up beforehand on several lines of long shelves . Each shelf contained a specific type of wares and daily tools . Vegetables and food were on the stall sections while water, wine, and other cheap beverages were on the side shelves . Each product has a small piece of price-tag paper on it .

    "My word ..."

    "Holy moly ..."

    The first visitors did not know what to do when they got inside .

    "Please take a look around . If you wish to buy something, please take it to the counter . The price of every item is listed on the shelves and on the product itself . If you have any question, feel free to ask me . "

    One of the female staffs greeted them with a charming smile . These staffs were hired back in February and were trained by Hua Shi . They knew what they should do to the first time customers .

    "Umm, what is this shop?"

    A curious merchant dropped by to observe .

    "This is a supermarket . We are selling everything that is on the shelves . Are you looking for anything in particr?"

    Another staff answered the merchant .

    A spy from the Yuan family also mixed with the crowd . When he noticed the bottles behind the staffs, he asked .

    "What¡¯s inside those bottles? Tea?"

    "No, it is the "Whiskey" that young master Zhang had made . We are selling it for 3 gold for a small bottle, 6 gold for a medium size, and 10 gold for the big bottle . You can get the discount price if you have the citizen token . "

    The spy was shocked when he heard "Whiskey" . He knew about the whiskey that Te Langpu had won the auction .

    The others who had participated in the auction was also astonished . A couple of curious wealthy men bought a small bottle right away to test it out . They opened the bottle and took a sip .

    "Mm! Such exquisite taste!"

    "So this is the whiskey!"

    The two wealthy men that tasted the whiskey looked at the big bottles in reluctant . One of them made a decision and bought another big bottle (1 liter) of whiskey .

    Because of the action of the two wealthy men, it triggered the crowd psychology . When one person took action and showed the others the positive result, the passive onlookers usually copied the predecessor by using the same action .

    By seeing the men sessfully bought something, the others followed suit . They picked up a few things on the shelves and walked to the counter to pay for it . Some tried to take the items and walked away without paying, but they were stopped by the security guards at the entrance and inside the shop . Some asked the staffs if there was a certain item, which they were guided to the shelves or the staffs would pick the items for them .

    All shops filled with customers within 30 minutes . The staffs behind the counter soon became busy .

    ...

    Tong observed the shops and nodded in satisfaction .

    With the foundation of this business model, other shops and stalls around the city would copy this setup and it should spread among the other merchants .

    The factories that he built in February bore the fruits . The cksmiths learned the ssblowing and ss making techniques . Although the ss bottles they made were rough and were full of impurities because theycked silica sand and proper tools, the bottles were still in eptable quality .

    Carpenters were imparted with new furniture designs, which would bring them more customers .

    Jobless women were recruited and trained to be the misceneous staffs within the shops or clerks in the city hall which would reduce the number of unemployed citizens in the city .

    Ronin schrs were also hired as teachers for the workers . They would teach them to read and write, so they could read the announcements and news on the signboards around the city . Once the numbers of literate people increased, Tong would open a school to the public .

    On the other hand, newly recruited men without profession skill were given to Zhou Cang to train them into either city garrisons, securities for shops, or reserved soldiers .

    The gold in the hands of Tong would return back to the people to circte the cash flow among the citizens and boost the economy of the city . Once his people had a stable ie, their quality of life would increase, and their happiness would follow .

    The people¡¯s happiness was Tong¡¯s primary goal for this year as he aimed to get back as many lifespans possible from the Soulmate Mission . Tong had invested a portion of his lifespans into the food, spice, salt, whiskey, and others . He had to get some of the lifespans back for the future use .

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Soulmate Mission No . 2**

    The chaos is about to begin! You know what will happen in the future, right?

    It¡¯s about time that you develop a good base to prepare for the uing disasters .

    Clear Condition:

    - upied Ye City and Julu City . Other cities are optional .

    - Protect the cities from the invaders until the time limit runs out .

    - Make at least 50% of your citizens happy .

    - Zhang Tong and Hua Shi must participate in this mission together .

    Failure Condition:

    - One or more of the cities is not under your control when the time limit exceeded .

    - Zhang Tong or Hua Shi did not participate in this mission .

    Clearing Reward:

    - 100,000 Lifespans forpleting the main objective .

    - 20,000 Lifespans for killing an enemy general .

    - 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier .

    - 10,000 Lifespans for each city controlled . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket for each city controlled . The reward is given annually .

    - One Lifespan for each happy poption each year . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket if more than half of your poption is happy . The reward is given annually .

    Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Mission Failure: Soulmate Contract will be nullified and one of you will die .

    System Note: As usual, you have to kill the soldiers or the generals yourself to get the reward .

    *********************************************

    ...

    The current poption of Julu was a little over 150,000, referred to the registry of the people who had made their identification token at the city hall .

    Each happy citizen would return Tong one lifespan . If one hundred thousand people were satisfied to live under Tong and his father¡¯s rules, Tong and Hua Shi would get 100,000 lifespans back by the end of the year . This had not included other benefits from upying a city .

    Despite all of his past achievements, Tong was not content with only the stability of the domestic of Julu . Now, he was eyeing on the city of Ye where Zhang He and Ju Shou was at .

    ¡¯Now that the domestic situation has been improved . I¡¯ll stop making any further improvement to let the people digest the change . It¡¯s about time I expand my troops and n for the expansion!¡¯

    The current number of city garrison was now 20,000 men, and outside the city, 30,000 new soldiers were being trained . Combined with the original troops of Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang and Bo Cai¡¯s 12,000 men, Tong had 62,000 soldiers stationing within Julu territory .

    ¡¯I want to house more troops, but I think my uncles, Zhou Cang, and Bo Cai probably cannot handle it anymore . I need more capable generals to handle this massive army ... Right! I forgot about the invitation! How are Zhao Yun and Sima family? I need to ask Lu Zhi! Oh, wait . Lu Zhi in the history can lead troops, too! I can make him a general when a crisis happens . Hehe!¡¯

    Tong returned to the government hall to look for Lu Zhi .

    ...

    At the courtyard of Lu Zhi, a stern middle-aged man sipped the hot tea from the cup in his hands . On the opposite side of the wooden round table, Lu Zhi was there, conversing with the man in front of him .

    "If I have heard that you arrived herest week, I could have weed you myself . At least, you should have sent me a letter to notify me beforehand . "

    The man shook his head and said .

    "To begin with, it was my fault . I want to see how this Zhang family operates the city . I can¡¯t let them know my presence or my evaluation of them will be off . "

    Lu Zhi sighed while he still had a wry smile on his face . The man in front of him was Sima Fang, courtesy name Jiangong .

    He was the father of the future Wei Empire renowned strategist, Sima Yi .

 Chapter 90

    Chapter 90

    Chapter 90 ¨C Sima n Arrived!

    Sima Fang came to Julu with his family in secret .

    As a minor official in Luo Yang and close rtionship with Cao Cao, he and his family managed to slip away from the political battlefield in the Capital unharmed . Afterward, they temporary settled down in an outskirt vige within Wen County, north of Luo Yang and west of Henei City .

    He received the invitation letter from Lu Zhist month, which intrigued his curiosity toward the city and Zhang Tong .

    Sima Fang knew that Lu Zhi would not ept a disciple easily . He only guided a few promising individuals after he had judged that the potential disciple was a righteous man . Therefore, he interested in the person who had won the battle of Anping and made the stubborn Lu Zhi took him under his wings .

    Furthermore, he wanted to investigate the whereabouts of his eldest son, Sima Xin . Thest piece of information he had was from Guo Dian said that Sima Xin deserted Guo Dian army when they were raided at night .

    He suspected that Sima Xin should already die in the battle . Or else, he would have contacted him ages ago .

    With all these reasons, he epted Lu Zhi¡¯s invitation and came here with all of his n members .

    After he reached the gate of this city, he was astonished .

    Heads of corrupted officials hung in front of the wall nearby the gate . Wooden boards were ced there with written information about the crimes they hadmitted before the execution .

    A few wooden public announcement boards were also situated there alongside the road . It was the announcement of the newws of Julu, which forbad anyone with a private army or carrying a weapon to enter the city . All private troops had to camp at the designated areas outside the wall, and all they had to report the number of troops and purpose of the visit to the garrison army outside the gate .

    Sima Fang approved of these actions by the city government . It intimidated the random thieves, noble-wannabes, officials, and gangsters in the areas and made them cowered away in fear . It showed that the authority meant business when it came to upholding thews and justice .

    Heplied with thews and let his private escorts camped outside of the city while he entered the city alone to observe the situation inside .

    When he got inside, he was even more impressed .

    Normally in the small and medium-sized city like Julu, there should always be gangs of hoodlums, undisciplined soldiers, or immoral nobles swaggering around and causing troubles .

    However, inside the walls of Julu, no sign of disorder and chaos could be seen anywhere . The only one with weapons inside were the garrison guards, who were patrolling the areas in a group of five .

    There were small sentry booths in every intersection of the main road . Arge letter on top of the buildings was "Police" . Although Sima Fang was not familiar with the word, after he observed the garrison soldiers at work, he could figure out that these were the reasons behind the order of the city .

    These sentries could be easily seen everywhere, so the people could ask for help immediately if there was an unexpected incident . They were the eyes of the authorities that warded off all evildoers in the areas .

    By touring the city for half a day, Sima Fang booked a courtyard from an inn to stay and went out of the city to call his family members in .

    From that day on, Sima Fang kept a low profile and observed the environment, the people, the soldiers, the merchants, and the nobles .

    He was baffled by the order of the city in the week he was staying . No triad activity, no noble oppression, no soldier asking for a bribe, everything was too peaceful!

    Despite the calm and rxing neighborhood, the citizens did not stay idly at home . All able men and women always went out somewhere in the inner areas of the city in the morning and came back home before dusk . They looked tired when they came back, but they had smiles on their faces .

    From Sima Fang¡¯s experience in the Capital, there should be signs of hopelessness, worries, and other negative feelings on the face of themoners as the life was harsh . In this city, he had yet to see such face, let alone, he could not find a single beggar!

    All citizen seemed to possess some money on them as each of them had a coin purse hanging on their waists .

    In the Capital, even a well-beingmoner hardly carried a coin purse around because of thieveries andmon robberies . They usually barter-traded with their neighbors instead of carrying cash to buy something from the shops .

    Because he could note up with an exnation of such phenomenon, Sima Fang made a decision to visit Lu Zhi and inquired him about the city development today .

    ...

    "Tell me, senior Lu . What has happened to this city?"

    Sima Fang swallowed his pride and asked about the topic that bugged him for a week .

    Seeing the confused look of his acquaintance, Lu Zhi chuckled . He narrated everything that Tong had done in the past few months .

    "He ... purged half of the nobles and their families!?"

    Sima Fang gulped down his saliva . Zhang Tong was too ruthless when he was dealing with corrupted nobles .

    "Well, he didn¡¯t kill everybody . Only the ones that resisted were killed along with their families . The families of the surrendered were spared . But the nobles were still executed in the end . "

    "Then, the reasons why the city was so peaceful ..."

    "It¡¯s the newws, Jiangong . Without a weapon and a private army, no sane person will dare tomit any crime, or he will be killed by the patrolling guards on the spot . "

    Sima Fang nodded . Although he was so shocked that he forgot to breathe, he regained his calm quickly . He fell into deep thought as he was recalling what he had seen in the past week .

    "I see . So that¡¯s the purpose of those guard sentries . It intimidated all evildoers away . But, senior Lu . Why do the people go to the inner city every day? Something happens there?"

    "Oh, it¡¯s nothing . They just go to work . "

    "Work?"

    "Yes . Zhang Tong opened a few factories and hired thousands of people forbors and other jobs . "

    "Wait, does he hire to women, too? I saw women went there . "

    "Yes . Most of the workers are actually women if you don¡¯t know . I was shocked when I heard about this project from Zhang Tong, too . "

    Sima Fang frowned . Something was not right about this massive hiring . If Zhang Tong recruited so many people, where did he get so much funding to do so?

    "If he hires so many people, will the city be able to pay all of them?"

    Lu Zhi grinned and answered .

    "Did you know that there was an auction yesterday?"

    "Yesterday? Ah, yes . I¡¯ve heard of it but I didn¡¯t attend . I hate crowded ces . "

    "Did you know how many taels of gold that Zhang Tong has after the auction ended?"

    "Tell me . I have no idea . "

    "Three million!"

    Sima Fang also spat out his tea . Three freaking millions? Even the royal treasury house never stored more than a million . How could a lowly governor and his son amass this amount of gold in a short period of time?

    Lu Zhi burst out inughter after he saw the reaction of his junior . He decided to prank Sima Fang a little more .

    "Zhang Tong still has another business with the Yuan family . We estimated that we can get another half a million or so by the end of this month . "

    Sima Fang red at his senior . He did not like to joke around as he was raised to be a serious person throughout his life . He tried to read Lu Zhi¡¯s face if he was lying . However, Lu Zhi spoke the truth .

    "You¡¯re not joking, aren¡¯t you?"

    "I¡¯ve never jested . "

    "..."

    From Lu Zhi¡¯s facial expression and subtle gesture, he did not lie about the half a million, but Sima Fang knew that he was messing around in thetter part .

    "Alright . I believe you . Now that I¡¯m here, what do you want me to do?"

    "For that, I think you shoulde with me to the morning assembly tomorrow . I think Zhang Tong will give you an assignment at the time . "

    "Hmm . Okay . I¡¯ll be here early tomorrow . I¡¯ll take my leave then, senior . "

    Sima Fang got up and bid farewell to Lu Zhi . He was about to leave, but a servant came running to bring in a report .

    "Lord Lu Zhi, young master Zhang Tong hase to pay you a visit . "

    Lu Zhi tilted his eyebrows in surprise while Sima Fang stopped his feet and looked back at his senior .

    "Perfect timing . Invite him in . "

    "Yes, sir!"

    ...

    Five minutester, Tong walked into the courtyard .

    He followed the courtesy that Lu Zhi had taught him by bowing to Lu Zhi and the guest, then he introduced himself as he was the junior .

    "Greeting sir . My name is Zhang Tong . I¡¯m the current deputy governor of Julu . Please to meet you . "

    Lu Zhi nodded in approval of Tong¡¯s etiquette . His manner was much better than the obnoxious Liu Bei by miles . Lu Zhi could not help but missed the rowdy youth back in You Province .

    On the other hand, Sima Fang was scanning Tong from head to toes . Though he was the senior and he was already 33, he did not show a proper manner when someone greeted him politely .

    "Zhang Tong, I have a question that I want to ask you . "

    Sima Fang watched Tong with cold eyes . However, it changed into tranquil eyes after a few seconds .

    Sima Fang calmed his heart and emotion . Then he dropped a bomb .

    "Did you kill my son?"

 Chapter 91

    Chapter 91

    Chapter 91 ¨C The Killer of His Son

    Tong was taken aback by the sudden question . He looked at his master in confusion .

    Lu Zhi was also shocked by the frank behavior of his colleague . He patted Sima Fang¡¯s shoulder to remind him of his action and introduced him to Tong .

    "Disciple, this is the person you wanted to meet, Sima Fang . Jiangong, I think I don¡¯t have to introduce you my disciple, right?"

    Sima Fang raised his eyebrows when he heard from Lu Zhi that Tong wanted to meet him .

    "Ho? Did you want to see me? What a coincidence . I always want to talk to you, too . But first, answer my question! Did you kill my son?"

    A deep frown appeared on the face of Tong . He did not prepare for the interrogation by the father of Sima Xin .

    The first thought that came up in Tong¡¯s mind was to lie about the incident . However, Sima Fang was known to be strict and upright like adder . If he was caught lying, the Sima n might end up bing his enemy as a consequence .

    Tong resolved himself and stared into the eyes of Sima Fang .

    "Yes, I killed him . "

    Sima Fang stared back at Tong in silence . He also did not expect Tong to actually confess because he just randomly questioned him to probe his character .

    ¡¯I just made a wild guess . Why did he confess that he killed him? I haven¡¯t even told him the details about my son . ¡¯

    Baffled by Tong¡¯s confession, Sima Fang looked into Tong¡¯s eyes to see if he had the cloud of deception, which he could not find any but the absolute determination and sincerity .

    The facial expression of Sima Fang softened . He understood Tong¡¯s character somewhat .

    "I haven¡¯t told you the description of my son, yet you told me right away that you¡¯ve killed him . Did you know him?"

    Tong wanted to m his face into the ground right now . He finally realized his mistake .

    ¡¯Fudge! Why did I always get myself tricked by the natives here!?¡¯

    He turned to look at his master at the side by instinct . He had done goof yet again . He was afraid that his master would notice this and gave him another sermon .

    Lu Zhi stood still and smiled at Tong . He gestured with his lips .

    ¡¯Next sses, I¡¯ll give you extra lessons about wits and politic interactions . ¡¯

    A chill ran down his spine . Tong had learned about Lu Zhi¡¯s personality the hard way . Each lesson he taught Tong usuallysted for 10 to 12 hours straight . Yet, he just told Tong that there would be extra "lessons", and that "lessons" had an "S" as plural . He probably needed a few weeks to finish all of Lu Zhi¡¯s Spartan training .

    Giving up to his fate, Tong looked at Sima Fang and told him about the first encounter between him and Sima Xin .

    "I met himst year . He came with his friends to kidnap my fiance to take her to Guo Dian at that time . We ended up fighting, and he ran away . We met each other again when I raided Guo Dian¡¯s army camp . I killed him in the battle . "

    Tong withheld the information about the existence of the otherworlders and the quests . He did not want to give out unnecessary details to make Sima Fang wary of him .

    Lu Zhi had advised Tong about his special power in the past months, which he should not recklessly unt his power or brag about it too much as high-ranking officials and schrs looked down upon the fortune tellers and the likes .

    Most of these people practiced traditional Confucianism since young, so they held firm beliefs in rationalistic and philosophy . The supernatural phenomenal might irritate them .

    Sima Fang nodded as the exnation was usible . He knew that Guo Dian was not a righteous fellow, but he never dreamt that he was corrupted to this extent .

    Thinking that he had misjudged his friend and sent his son to his death, Sima Fang felt depressed .

    "And how did you know that he was my son?"

    Tong had a wry smile on his face . He continued answering Sima Fang¡¯s questions .

    "I had my men investigated when he had first appeared in my vige . I got his name, so I thought he might be rted to you because both of you share the same surname . "

    "Hmm . Alright, then . Three more questions ..."

    Sima Fang closed his eyes . He fell into deep thought and reminiscing the face of his eldest son for 10 minutes . After he controlled his emotions, he opened his eyes and asked out .

    "How was my son in hisst moment?"

    Sima Fang¡¯s eyes were bloodshot and teary . Although he tried his best to keep his sadness inside, he could not control the sense of loss .

    Seeing the grieving look of the middle-aged man, Tong bit his lower lip . It made him felt guilty for killing Sima Xin .

    "He ... was a valiant warrior . He was the only opponent in that battle that almost took my life . "

    Tong slipped his right hand into his left sleeve and pulled out a knife . It was the very same knife that Sima Xin used it in an attempt to stab Tong in the throat that day .

    "This is the knife that he used . Its shape was unique, so I¡¯ve been keeping it up till now . I¡¯ll return it to the rightful owner . "

    Tong passed the knife to Sima Fang, who shed a tear when he saw the knife . It was one of the heirlooms of Sima Family which symbolled strength and valor . Sima Fang gave it to Sima Xin that day, so he could experience the outside world and return as a great warrior . Then one day, he could be a great general who would serve the Han Dynasty for decades .

    But that dream was no more .

    Sima Fang fell silent . He stared at the knife in a daze .

    Lu Zhi and Tong could read the mood . They did not utter a word and waited for him in patience .

    . . .

    After 10 minutes of silent grieving, Sima Fang regained his calm .

    He turned around and looked at Tong . His expression was tranquil and solemn, unlike the sad father just a moment ago . Sima Fang had got over the death of his son in a few minutes as he recalled that he still had other sons to take care of . He could not be buried in the past and forgot about the other people who needed him .

    Sima Fang coughed to clear his throat . Then he asked Tong his second question .

    " . . . Is your father the real governor, or is it you?"

    The question was quite rude for asking a random stranger . It could be interpreted as "Are your father your puppet?" from the viewpoint of schrs, which was an indirect way to curse someone for being unfilial .

    Lu Zhi red at his friend and wanted to reprimand him for his tone .

    Tong suppressed his irritation in his mind and spoke out slowly .

    "I am the brain . . . and my father is the heart . . . We work as one . "

    The answer made Sima Fang paused and contemted his past .

    The event on that day when Sima Xin had departed reyed back in his mind again . If that day he believed in his son¡¯s story and left the capital with his entire family, right now they could have lived in any city with everyone being alive and enjoy their days happily together .

    It was the separation that caused his loss, which was the opposite of the Zhang family .

    ¡¯If I remember correctly, Zhang Tong risked everything to protect his family from Guo Dian . He even bribed Emperor Ling for his father¡¯s position and got him back from the hands of the Yuan . From the rumor, Zhang Jiao treasured his son more than anything before he rose in power as well . The reason he got caught by the Yuan n was that he went out for business for his son . ¡¯

    ¡¯But, I cast away my child . ¡¯

    ¡¯My son also left me behind . ¡¯

    ¡¯I see ... This is our difference . ¡¯

    Sima Fang sighed . His demeanor changed as if he had aged for another decade with that breath, yet he felt like the cloud in his heart had dispersed and revealed the sunny sky once again .

    "Since senior Lu has said that you are the one who invited me here, do you want me to work for you?"

    The Sima n Head asked thest question . His bearing was different from the past few minutes . Tong felt like he was looking at a shadow of a giant instead of a middle-aged man in histe 30s .

    The pressure from an elite politician was immense . A sweat drop rolled down from Tong¡¯s cheek as he was shaken from the mental image .

    Remembering what Lu Zhi had taught him that if he had to deal with someone with this caliber, Tong had to think of himself as an emperor or he would be crushed by the intimidation aura by the opposite party .

    The depth within Tong¡¯s eyes changed . It had a tinge of sinister reddish color, but it gave out a majestic feeling . Hisplexion became serene like a tranquil river with no worldly emotion appeared on it .

    All of the changed happened in only 5 seconds after Sima Fang asked thest question .

    Lu Zhi grinned after he noticed that Tong recovered from his friend¡¯s pressure in a few seconds .

    ¡¯Not bad . That¡¯s more like it . This is why I can¡¯t stop teaching when I see someone like this . ¡¯

    Lu Zhi was proud . His times and his investment on Tong for all these months were worth it .

    On the other side, both Tong and Sima Fang were having a serious conversation .

    "Yes . I want help from your family . "

    "Hmm . Fine! But I have conditions . I wonder if young master Zhang can ept . "

    "If it¡¯s something I can do, then I will be happy to help . However, if it¡¯s something impossible, I will naturally refuse . "

    "Good . These are my conditions ..."

 Chapter 92

    Chapter 92

    Chapter 92 ¨C The Conditions

    In the historical record, Sima Fang started his career as a minor official in Henei District, northeast of Luo Yang and southwest of Julu . He climbed up thedder as an official and rose in rank to be the Prefect of Luo Yangter on . He was also the one that rmended Cao Cao to the Han imperial court .

    He kept his low profile in his entire career and did not enjoy meeting any of his colleague outside of his workce . He was also known to be humorless as he always remained serious and solemn throughout his life .

    His eight sons were raised under his strict education . Even after they grew up, none of them dared to speak without his permission when they were under his presence, including Sima Yi .

    ...

    ...

    "One, I want the right to possess a private army and an espionage team . "

    "Two, I want the position as the chancellor of the entire Julu District!"

    "Three, I want the annual wage of 5,000 gold a year!"

    "Four, you and your father cannot tell me what to do! My jurisdiction is absolute and second to none!"

    "... And, I want a legal resident inside the city . And I want tutors for my sons . "

    Tong had a solemn face when he heard all the conditions that Sima Fang gave him .

    If the listener were another governor of other cities, he would reject all of these conditions right away .

    However, Tong had to weight if the value of the Sima n was worth the investment, or if the Sima n could be trusted .

    ¡¯Can I tame Sima Yi and his descendants in the future if Sima Fang is this resolute?¡¯

    ¡¯No, I don¡¯t need to tame them . Even if they want to rebel, it will happen after I have unified the country . Sima Shi and Sima Zhao were cunning foxes . They will take over the country when it was at its strongest . ¡¯

    ¡¯Once that timees, I will probably be a geezer by then . In my timeline, they went against an ipetent emperor, so they had it easy . If they realize they are up against an undying emperor, what will they do?¡¯

    Tong was silent and pondered while he gazed into the eyes of the requester . Although he did not activate his aura skill, Tong¡¯s demeanor gave out a faint image of a prince . In addition, his eyes flickered a slight bit of Hell abyssal me .

    In secret, Sima Fang was shaken by the stare of Tong . The re gave him goosebumps . It was as if a devil was staring into his soul .

    ¡¯He¡¯s not even 20, yet his mental strength is this firm . An ordinary brat should have sumbed to my intimidation right away . And what¡¯s with the eyes of his! Why am I getting scared from looking into them!?¡¯

    Sima Fang nced at Lu Zhi, who had been grinning from ear to ear while he was observing them .

    ¡¯As expected of senior Lu . He picked up a gem and polished it to this extent . ¡¯

    Seeing the smug face of Lu Zhi, Sima Fang thought that he probably raised this young man personally in secret for years . Otherwise, Tong would not have this kind of mentality or the faint sinister feeling that Sima Fang had detected inside of Tong¡¯s eyes .

    While Sima Fang was deep in thought, Tong had made his decision .

    "The first four conditions are too much . I can¡¯t ept all of them . "

    Sima Fang harrumphed as he expected the answer . He made up those conditions in purpose, so Tong would refuse him . However, he was surprised that Tong epted thest condition that he would provide education to his sons .

    "How about we do it this way . Though I can¡¯t let you possess a private army, I can make you the director of the Department of Justice . Your job is to keep your subordinates, such as prosecutors and police in check . Their jobs would be capturing and prosecuting criminals, evildoers, corrupted soldiers, crooked noble officials ... which including the city governor if hemitted a crime that threatened the well-being of the citizens!"

    Lu Zhi and Sima Fang were shocked by thetter part of the job description . It meant that if Tong or his fathermitted a crime, they could be prosecuted by thews! This position was something that was higher than the chancellor that he had proposed .

    "Are you serious? I can easily frame you and revenge for my son easily . "

    Sima Fang continued ring at Tong without hiding his hostile intent .

    However, Tong smiled back at the man .

    "If you really wish to actually frame or kill me, you wouldn¡¯t warn me like that . "

    "Hmm . "

    Sima Fang harrumphed again . He indeed never nned to take revenge because he knew that the death of Sima Xin was not Tong¡¯s fault . It was a natural casualty-of-war that they could not be avoided .

    "Secondly, half of the garrison troops will be converted into a special unit called ¡¯Police¡¯ . They are responsible for maintaining the order within the city . Unlike the private troops that you have to coordinate with the government army, this police unit is an independent force under the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice . You don¡¯t have to participate in any battle outside of the city . That will be my job . You only need to keep your eyes on the people within the walls . "

    Lu Zhi opened his eyes wide in astonishment . Tong refused to give Sima Fang the right to recruit a private army, but he gave him the control of the garrison force instead . The authority of thetter was higher than what Sima Fang had initially asked for!

    Sima Fang raised his eyebrows in bemusement after he heard the absurd suggestion . He was wondering if Tong actually tried to negotiate his conditions or he was just a stupid brat .

    However, the job description was attractive to him . Being able to wield power in the government and prosecute criminals suited him best . It also fulfilled the fourth condition of his that he did not have to bow down to others as his position was equaled to a grandmander of an army .

    "Are you sure you want to give me such an important position? We have just met and I don¡¯t have any experience with this kind of tasks . "

    "Well, didn¡¯t you just ask for a position that you can be second to none? I¡¯m giving you something simr, so why are you hesitating now?"

    The corner of Sima Fang¡¯s left eyebrow twitched . This brat was obnoxious .

    ¡¯Are you refusing my demands or are you epting them? Make up your mind!¡¯ Sima Fangined in his heart .

    "As for the wage, I can¡¯t give you that much . Or else, every official will protest and demand a simr wage . Secondly, you aren¡¯t responsible for the upkeep of the garrison forces because the city government will take care of those . So the maximum yearly wage I can give you is 2,000 gold a year . Is this alright with you?"

    "Hmm, fine . "

    "Oh, I¡¯ll give you the right to form up assassin teams and intelligence teams . You see, our city iscking a counter-spy division . It would be nice if someone can fill up this gap . However, you will have to foot the bills of the expense yourself if you want to use them for your private purposes . But if you want the city government to pay for the upkeep of the agencies, the position of the director of the intelligence agency will have to be given to someone else, and you will have no authority to control them . "

    "Fair enough . "

    "Well then, senior . Will you ept my terms, and will you work for me and my father?"

    "Hmm . "

    Sima Fang pondered in silence . As an ordinary civil servant, it was tough to get any notable score for the promotion . Working for Tong seemed to be ideal for piling up achievements and experience for the next career advancement in the long run .

    However, he was confused by the behavior of Tong . Why was he so resolute on getting him to join his ranks? There were other elite officials in the Capital, such as Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, or Tao Qian . Why was it him, but not those people?

    He wanted to clear up his doubts, but Sima Fang was afraid that he might miss this chance if Tong changed his mind . He could not trust the mindset of a youth who was not even 20 yet .

    "I ept . I will be in your care . However, I will be strict with my job! If I catch you embezzling the government fund or harm the citizens, I won¡¯t be lenient on you!"

    Hearing Sima Fang¡¯s deration and seeing his seriousness, Tongughed . He did not mind the threat a slightest .

    "That¡¯s more like it . I don¡¯t want a yes-man to be a director of the Department of Justice . I want someone with the balls that can stand up against the authorities! Senior Sima Fang, I want you to work as if you want to rebel against me! Find ws in my city and ws in my authority . Once you find one, abuse it to your heart content, so I will know what Ick!"

    Sima Fang was astonished . He had never seen a noble who encouraged his subordinate to go against the employer . This was a first to him .

    ¡¯This brat wants me to rebel? No, it was more like he wants me to fix his mess or find out if there is any . Haiz, such a cunning brat . Senior Lu, I think you picked up a wild snake rather than a gem . ¡¯

    Sima Fang calmed down and retorted .

    "Please do not jest . It will ruin my reputation if this gets out . "

    Lu Zhi stared at the two while he was listening to the weird conversation in bewilderment . Though he was puzzled how the conversation ended this way, he was d that his junior decided to help Tong .

    Then he switched his focus to Tong . During the entire conversation, Tong¡¯s rough behavior resurfaced again many times . He had to reeducate Tong about his manner toward seniors more seriously .

    ...

    After the fateful meeting today, the Sima n joined Julu City, and Sima Fang was entitled as the director of the Department of Justice . His family members also moved into the city .

    The members are his wives, 11-year-old Sima Lang, 2-year-old Sima Fu ...

    And 3-year-old Sima Yi .

 Chapter 93

    Chapter 93

    Chapter 93 ¨C Internal Conflict

    During the private talk, Sima Fang agreed to let his children work for Tong once they grew up . However, Tong had to provide them with a tutor and a proper education for them while they were still young .

    For this condition, Lu Zhi was asked by Tong to be their mentor as he could not return to the Capital anytime soon . Tong whispered to him in secret and told him that Sima Yi was a genius who had promising potentials . Lu Zhi epted happily because he enjoyed teaching promising youths .

    Sima Fang did notin about this arrangement . He entrusted his children to Lu Zhi .

    ...

    Tong returned to his room with a slight headache . The pain came back during the negotiation with Sima Fang, and the condition persisted until now .

    ¡¯What in the world is this headache? If it isn¡¯t because of the skill of Sunday, I would have thought that I have a brain tumor or cancer . ¡¯

    Hua Shi, who had beenzing around in the room, saw Tong¡¯s condition and his pale face . She licked her lips in anticipation .

    ¡¯Every time he has that headache, he¡¯ll be a beast in bed . It¡¯s going to be an all-night entertainment again . Ufufu . ¡¯

    ...

    April 3rd .

    An uproar took ce in the morning assembly at the government hall this morning . Because Tong introduced the Justice Department and the new director, everyone was shocked .

    Despite the troubles that Sima Fang could inflict upon the government staffs and himself, Zhang Jiao approved of this promotion . He also wanted someone to put a rein on the old and new officials, so they could not be easily tempted by the authority they had andmitted any hical act .

    Lu Zhi volunteered to assist his junior, who was still new to this city, as the deputy director of the Department of Justice . The other staffs in this division would be recruited personally by Sima Fang himself .

    Ten thousand garrison troops would be transferred to the department and converted into the new unit called "Police" . They would no longer participate in any battle beyond the gate or outside of the walls, but they would be the first to act if there was an incident within the city .

    The remaining ten thousand garrisons, including Zhou Cang, would be stationed outside the gate as anotherbat battalion .

    Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, and Bo Cai were summoned back into the city to inform them the news of the changes . They had to entrust the new recruit training to their deputies and returned .

    Hua Shi gazed at Tong in worried .

    "Will this be alright? Sima Yi¡¯s sons will backstab you in the future . Are you fine with it?"

    WIthout cares, Tong had a smug look on his face .

    "Let them coup if they can . Until then, I¡¯ll make them work their ass out for me . Besides, Sima Shi and Sima Zhao will only rebel once the country is at its strongest . Once we unified China, we¡¯ll worry about itter . "

    ¡¯I doubt I¡¯ll be here that long anyway . I¡¯ll be summoned back toherworld in a few years . . . ¡¯

    ¡¯I feel bad for my subordinates . But I have no choice . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯lly a strong foundation for this city . I¡¯ll use all my lifespan to create more food . ¡¯

    ¡¯After I leave, father and the rest should be fine on their own . ¡¯

    ¡¯As for Sunday, I should take her with me . ¡¯

    ¡¯I hope Friday allow a mistress . . . or else, I¡¯m fOOked . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    Outside of the City, Yuan Family camp .

    Tian Feng received the intel from the inside of the city today . It was the information about the SE shops and WM shops that had been opened recently .

    After he finished reading all of the reports, he chased away all servants and was left alone in his tent .

    ¡¯Zhang Tong is selling his spice to his citizens at 10% of the market price while he is selling them for us at 20% . All merchants without Julu citizen identification have to buy it at full price ...¡¯

    ¡¯All items from the shops are provided by Zhang Tong himself . All source of these products is nowhere to be found ...¡¯

    ¡¯Just like what that man had said, we were deceived ...¡¯

    ¡¯Then we have two choices, one is to buy everything Zhang Tong has . If we cannot clear out his items, we pick the choice number two, sell the concession to the others . ¡¯

    Tian Feng decided to follow Te Langpu¡¯s suggestion . He wrote a letter to the five merchant representatives and stated he wanted to sell the concession to the men at 400,000 taels of gold . The deal would be set at May after the Yuan familypleted the transaction at the end of April . He wrote it in advance, so once the time came, he could send the letter immediately .

    After he had finished the letter, Tian Feng ordered everyone to return to Nanpi for the preparation of the next trade by the end of April . He also told the executive members about the n to sell the concession to the five merchants .

    Feng Ji, who was listening to the side, was angered by Tian Feng¡¯s action . He put so much effort to get this concession . Why did this Tian Feng ruin it like this?

    "I object this decision! We spent 500,000 gold to auction for this! Why do we have to sell it away at 400,000 gold!? This is our chance to make the Yuan n prosper . Why are we giving it away to the outsiders!?"

    Feng Ji stood up and protested in front of everybody, which half of them agreed to Feng Ji¡¯s objection .

    "Sir Feng has a point . Head butler Tian, would you please reconsider?"

    "Yes, we can make more profit if we hold this concession for a year . "

    "Indeed, it¡¯s like pouring a good wine into a river . Please do not waste this opportunity!"

    "That¡¯s right . Good trade like this is hard toe by! Please reconsider!"

    Feng Ji¡¯s supporters stood up and protested, while the Feng Ji himself had a smug look on his face . He red at Tian Feng without hiding his hostile intent .

    ¡¯Moron! You¡¯ve made a mistake! I¡¯ll make you pay for it!¡¯

    Feeling great about stepping on Tian Feng, Feng Ji threw more oil into the me .

    "Butler Tian, I did my best to acquire this concession with great difficulty in hoping that the Yuan family can reap benefits from this deal . How could you give it up easily like that? Come to think of it, since you have be our butler, you have done nothing to contribute to the prosperity of our Lord . Are you certain that you are working for our Lord, or are you working for Zhang Tong?"

    The officers in the tent looked back and forth between Feng Ji and Tian Feng . They were contemting what Feng Ji had said . The rivalry between the two was well-known among the servants of the family .

    During the times Feng Ji was holding the title of the head butler of Nanpi branch family, he had gained many achievements through the years . Everybody in the tent was also aware of it .

    However, Tian Feng had yet to contribute anything to the family, just like Feng Ji had voiced out, which instigated discontentment within the heart of everybody here .

    Meanwhile, Tian Feng still had an indifferent expression on his face . He ignored the opinions of the protesters as he deemed them ignorant .

    "Then are you all aware that we are being tricked by Zhang Tong yet again?"

    Everybody was silenced the moment Tian Feng spoke out .

    "Zhang Tongid a trap in this deal . He is selling his items to his people at one-tenth of the market price and is selling us at 20% of the market price . Do you see the picture? He can afford to sell it so cheap to his people and us . Don¡¯t you think that he can procure these items somewhere cheaper than these?"

    The crowd murmured in hesitation and shocked . They concurred with Tian Feng¡¯s reasons . From a merchant¡¯s perspective, Tong had to acquire these items at a lower price . Or else, he would not be able to sell it this cheap .

    Then, if the source of these items got out and the market price dropped lower than what they had initially bought, they would make a huge loss . They would lose out the 500,000 gold that they had bid for the concession, and they would lose the capitals that invested in the products .

    With that logic, it could be concluded that the Yuan family had been scammed by Tong .

    Traces of frustration and anger appeared on the faces of the executive officers . The rtionship between the Zhang family and the Yuan family was not that great to begin with . By adding fuel to the me, their hatred toward Tong and his family increased .

    "Bastard Zhang Tong!"

    "How dare him!"

    "That brat deserves a thousand death!"

    Curses and swearing were tossed out from the crowd¡¯s outrage . All officers in the tent shifted their discontentment to Tong instead of Tian Feng with just a few arguments .

    Feng Ji stared at Tian Feng in disbelief . His chance to bring down Tian Feng was swiped away just like that . Realizing his inferiority in wits when hepared it with Tian Feng, Feng Ji gritted his teeth with hatred .

    ¡¯FOOk you, Tian Feng! I¡¯ll send a report to our Lord! I¡¯ll tell him that you¡¯ve ruined a business deal and soiled our rtionship with the Zhang Family . Let see how he will deal with you!¡¯

    On the other hand, Tian Feng harrumphed and frowned as he nced at Feng Ji .

    ¡¯All you did was trying to harm me instead of helping our Lord . You can¡¯t hold a high post if you continue to be immature . ¡¯

    Tian Feng shook his head . He continued the meeting and suggested more solutions to minimize the loss . The officers did not protest nor showed signs of disagreement with Tian Feng again, which caused Feng Ji to fume in anger and stomped out of the meeting tent .

    Te Langpu, who had been observing all of them from the start to finish,ughed in his heart as he enjoyed the drama .

    ¡¯What a bunch of stupid monkeys . One of them has an inferiorityplex . The other one is ignorant toward employee psychology . This is why Yuan Shao will meet his end . Welp! That¡¯s none of my business . I¡¯m just a leech that happens to catch a good sucker . ¡¯

 Chapter 94

    Chapter 94

    Chapter 94 ¨C The Puppeteer

    April 15th, Luo Yang .

    Within Liu Ping¡¯s private hall, he was sitting on the main seat while he was looking at Wang Li, who was sitting by his side .

    Her eyes dimmed as if she was a doll . She did not appear to be as lively as the previous months before . She gazed forward into the nothingness . No one knew what she was thinking .

    Below the throne, one old man bowed to Liu Ping . Another old man, who was holding a staff, was standing in the middle of the room proudly . There was also another young woman behind the staff old man .

    The one who bowed was Wang Yun . He was his helper and his advisor at the moment . The other old man dressed in white . He had white hair and a white long beard . His eyes were pure white, including his pupils .

    "Lord Sage Zou Ci, thanks to your help, I managed to get rid of the curse of this woman . Thank you very much . "

    Liu Ping bowed his head down . His forehead almost touched the red wooden table in front of him .

    "It¡¯s just a small trick . A mind control sorcery is nothing to me . Something like this can be overturned back to the user with a simple trick . "

    The white hair old man was Zou Ci, the sage who had mysteriously appeared before Liu Ping in January after he formed soul mate contract with Wang Li . The sage warned him about Wang Li¡¯s sorcery at that time, which gave Liu Ping an inspiration .

    ...

    ...

    Back inst year, Liu Ping formed the contract with Wang Li in order to take advantage of the trading between partners . He wanted to buy skills and obtain more lifespan from the quests and the trade with Wang Li because he was banned from the system .

    He had baited her with the promise of the status of the future Empress . He thought that she would throw her body for him, just like other women in his previous world did for his money and his father¡¯s influence .

    She did everything he had ordered her to . But he had never thought that she did something on him in secret .

    Liu Ping found outter that Wang Li did something to him after Zou Ci appeared and warned him about her . The sage warned the prince . "You were under a wicked spell by the prostitute, my prince . "

    After asking about his identity, he was astonished . Liu Ping was not stupid . He knew that this sage was a mysterious character in thiste Han Era . He appeared before Sun Ce and Cao Cao to show off his magic and left untouched .

    With him being here in front of Liu Ping, it was considered a blessing to him .

    Zou Ci negotiated with the prince that he would help Liu Ping to counter the hypothesis trick on him . In exchange for that, He would take anything that Liu Ping was willing to give it to him .

    Liu Ping agreed . However, he did not allow Zou Ci to break the spell right away . He wanted to use this opportunity to reap more benefits .

    He let her continued to manipte him for a while in order to make her lower her guard, even if it was vexing and it damaged his reputation . While he was at it, he cooked a n for drawing in otherworlders, so she could steal their skills and all their lifespans .

    Liu Ping did not want to recruit any reincarnator . He wanted to kill everyone he found . He was not a fool who would still trust a soul after realizing that even Wang Li betrayed him .

    The flyers were just a bait for the greedy or stupid otherworlders . If anybody were to take the bait and followed the instruction of the pamphlets, the officials would arrest the person, chop off their four limbs, and throw him into jail . Afterward, Wang Li would drain all their life force and steal all skill from the victims .

    She happily agreed . For months, she ughtered many reincarnators who fell for the flyer advertisement that they had spread .

    Although she kept lying to him that all otherworlders were female and she did not acquire any new skill, he left her be because he had another use for her when this n ended .

    Today, the number of the otherworlders reported in the system went down to 20, which Liu Ping believed that this should be enough as the rest should have noticed the drastic drop in the number of survivors and connected the story with the flyers and his schemes .

    After Wang Li allowed him to temporary regain his reason, he ordered Zou Ci to break the spell right away .

    Zou Ci did so and made her permanently fell into the hypothesized state instead . She was now under Liu Ping¡¯s control!

    By turning her into a puppet, she could feed him an endless amount of lifespan and the skills she had stolen!

    ...

    ...

    "As promised, I shall bestow you a noble status and 10,000 taels of gold . You shall be known as the Prefect of Mount Tianzhu . You and your sect will be protected by the imperial forces . The rewards will be delivered to you on your mountain . "

    "Very good! Very good! Then we shall excuse ourselves!"

    The sage and the woman behind him disappeared into nothingness after he had spoken .

    Wang Yun, who was sneaking a nce at Zou Ci, was in shock . Although he had seen many miracles made by the prince, he still could not get used to seeing another magic .

    Seeing the art of the sage, Liu Ping chuckled .

    "Zishi, you¡¯d better get used to it . You¡¯ll probably witness more magic from me in the future . "

    He ignored Wang Yun¡¯s shock look and ordered Wang Li .

    "Show me your current status . "

    Wang Li lifted her hand slowly, then a status menu appeared in front of Liu Ping .

    ...

    *********************************

    **Status**

    Name: Wang Li

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 716,020 Years

    Shopping Pass: 3

    *********************************

    ...

    Wang Li had a shocking lifespan of 716,020 years and 20 other skills she was hoarding .

    Liu Pingughed as he looked at her status . Every lifespan she had could easily be stolen by him . All of her skills could also be copied by him .

    He did not need the shop anymore . He would simply slowly take in her skill once a year . It might take times, but he could be assured that she would be a fine tool for him in the future .

    ¡¯Now then . What should I take from you?¡¯

    Liu Ping pondered . There were many attractive skills she had . However, deep inside his heart, he was afraid that if he was too greedy and left her be, she might regain her sense in the future .

    ¡¯No . I won¡¯t take your skill this year . I¡¯ll take all your lifespan . Without lifespan, you won¡¯t be able to cast any spell or any skill you have . I¡¯ll just leave you with 10 years to keep you alive until the end of the soulmate quest . After that, I can cancel the contract . ¡¯

    "System, tell me how to void the contract without a penalty . "

    [If both sides agree to terminate the contract, you can do so without a penalty . In this case, the girl is under a mind control technique . You will face a penalty if you cancel the contract this way . ]

    "What¡¯s the penalty if I want to break this contract right now?"

    [Your lifespan will be halved, and one random skill of yours will be deleted . But the current undergoing mission will remain on you, and the penalty for failing will slightly change . ]

    "That¡¯s it?"

    [That¡¯s all the penalty you will receive . ]

    Liu Pingughed . Cheating someone with a little to no repercussion was his favorite hobby . Losing half of his lifespan was nothing to him if he had half a million lifespan . Besides, he could use a portion of them to grind his necromancy EXP first before he broke the contract to minimize the loss .

    "Thank you, system . I hate you . But you are the finest tool I have . "

    [... You¡¯re fudging wee . ]

    "Oh, hey! Can you lift the ban, please? I didn¡¯t create those skills . Someone posted it on me . It wasn¡¯t my fault . "

    [... Complete the current mission first . And I¡¯ll think about it! Goodbye!]

    The system terminated the connection and left Liu Ping hanging . He did not mind it . As the matter of fact, he was enjoying everything at the moment .

    Wang Yun, who was quietly observing the prince, was puzzled why Liu Ping was talking to himself .

    "Err, your highness?"

    Liu Ping turned around to look at Wang Yun andughed .

    "Ah, Zishi . Don¡¯t pay attention to it . I was conversing with the deity . Anyway, the position of the next empress is vacant at the moment . What do you think about this?"

    Liu Ping threw another bait to Wang Yun . He knew that this person was also ambitious .

    In his history timeline, after Wang Yun overthrew Dong Zhuo, he did not flee Chang An . He attempted to be one of the keymen for Emperor Xian after the coup . However, he was killed by Li Jue and Guo Si as Wang Yun failed to subjugate the rest of Dong Zhuo¡¯s subordinates .

    If Liu Ping¡¯s vision was right, Wang Yun would not miss this opportunity to offer his adopted daughter as a candidate for the new Empress .

    Meanwhile, the eyes of Wang Yun sparkled . He saw the golden chance for his family and his future .

    "Although it might sound absurd, I have an adopted daughter . She is still too young at the moment, but if your highness is willing . I can offer her as a concubine . "

    Liu Ping grinned . He pretended to be ignorant and continued asking .

    "How old is she?"

    "She¡¯s ... still a child, your highness . "

    "Well, it¡¯s your daughter to begin with . I don¡¯t mind her age . But what is her name?"

    "Her name is Diao Chan, your highness . "

 Chapter 95

    Chapter 95

    Chapter 95 ¨C Diao Chan

    The next day, a six-year-old child was escorted into the inner pce . She was the young Diao Chan .

    "Little girl, behave yourself when you are in front of the prince . He will be the Emperor in a few months . Be sure to get his favor, so you can be the next Empress . "

    "..."

    The girl did not talk . She only looked at his adopted father with her indifferent eyes and shifted her gaze forward .

    Wang Yun sighed . Although she was cute and had potential to grow up into a beauty, she was cold to everyone . She never yed with other children of her age . She only spoke if she was asked a question . She never expressed her emotion to anyone . All she did all day was gazing into a distance as if she was thinking about something .

    At first, Wang Yun thought this child was slow or an air-head . However, one day he asked her an ambiguous question to jest her . "What¡¯s the purpose of life?"

    She answered him in a monotonous tone . "A trial . "

    Wang Yun was shocked by the profoundness of her answer . It was short, yet deep . Most importantly, it was not something that shoulde out from the mouth of a young girl!

    Ever since then, he always tested her with difficult questions, which she answered all of them in a profound manner .

    He believed that this girl was a genius child, so he did not hire any tutor for her but gave her scrolls and books to her instead .

    She did not betray his expectation as she read and memorized all of them . She could even recite every word from every difficult annals, record, or scripture that she had read .

    With this kind of intelligent child, he could offer her as a candidate for the next Empress with pride .

    ...

    Wang Yun and Diao Chan were guided into Liu Ping¡¯s private hall . Once they entered, Liu Ping was already there with his doll, Wang Li, by his side . They were sitting on the same seats as yesterday .

    "Reporting to your highness . I¡¯ve brought my daughter . "

    Liu Ping stared at Diao Chan with great attention . A few secondster, he sighed in disappointment .

    He knew that Diao Chan should still be young because she first appeared in the year 192 in Wang Yun¡¯s ploy to sow discord between Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo . He did not expect that she was still this young .

    Despite being disappointed, he stood up and walked toward the little girl .

    "Come here . Let me take a good look at you . "

    Diao Chan was recorded as one of the four great beauties of ancient China . Even if she was too young at the moment, she would dazzle every man in the next ten years .

    With that in mind, Liu Ping decided to take her in and waited until she was ripe for a picking . In the meantime, he had many women he could y with as all concubines of his father had been passed down to his . Therefore, he could wait .

    Diao Chan stared at the iing Liu Ping . Her face was emotionless, and her eyes were still as cold as ever .

    Liu Ping stopped in front of her . He reached out his hand to touch her cheek .

    Suddenly, he came to a pause . His arm stopped moving toward Diao Chan while his eyes stared straight into her eyes . His inner instinct was crying inside his mind, asking him to flee at this very moment .

    ¡¯This is odd . Why am I feeling insecure about this girl?¡¯

    ¡¯Because I knew she backstabbed Dong Zhuo in the history?¡¯

    ¡¯Nah, I am imagining things . ¡¯

    ¡¯But my instinct was never wrong . ¡¯

    ¡¯Thest time I had this feeling it¡¯s before that bastard broke into my house . ¡¯

    ¡¯Should I be wary of her?¡¯

    ¡¯... Hmm . ¡¯

    ¡¯Come to think of it . That night, there¡¯s a gold spot in the radar map . ¡¯

    ¡¯Is it her?¡¯

    ¡¯Nah, she¡¯s too young to be another reincarnator . ¡¯

    ¡¯All reincarnators so far are at the same age as me . ¡¯

    ¡¯She¡¯s a historical figure . I doubt someone reincarnated as her . ¡¯

    ¡¯Am I overly paranoid?¡¯

    ¡¯... Hmm . ¡¯

    He pondered for a moment before he withdrew his hand and moved back to his seat .

    "Very well, Wang Yun . I¡¯m interested in her . She will live in my pce from now on . Once she grows up, I¡¯ll see if she qualifies to be my Empress . "

    "Thank you, your highness!"

    Wang Yun bowed and gestured Diao Chan to bow too, which she followed after her father .

    "Guards . Call the servants! Escort her to a guest house . Be sure to treat her with respect!"

    "Yes, your highness!"

    The guards at front door rushed out . Less than a minuteter, a dozen female servants rushed into the hall and bowed to Diao Chan . They guided her to the new home of the future Empress .

    Wang Yun grinned from ear to ear when he saw the treatment . He seeded in forming a bond with the royalty . This connection would give a boost to his career advancement .

    ...

    ...

    Diao Chan was guided into a luxurious room . Inside the guest house, there were many picture arts hanging on the walls . Green jade vases and a marble table were arranged in an orderly manner . A king size bed was located in the middle of the room . It seemed that this room was decorated for an important concubine or the likes .

    Diao Chan excused the servants and asked to be left alone .

    The maids left the room in a hurry . After the door was closed, Diao Chan climbed the bed and sat cross legs .

    As usual, she stared into the void space in front of her and mumbled to herself .

    ¡¯What a waste of time . The skill is already nerfed . ¡¯

    ¡¯There¡¯s no need for me here in the first ce . ¡¯

    ¡¯There¡¯s that [Super Human] skill . It¡¯s quite dangerous, but there are many counters to it . ¡¯

    ¡¯Should I stay a bit longer so I can delete that skill?¡¯

    ¡¯Even if I can delete it right now, I can¡¯t escape this ce in one piece . ¡¯

    ¡¯ . . . If it wasn¡¯t because of the system, this job would have been done right then . ¡¯

    ¡¯What to do ...¡¯

    ...

    ***************************

    **Status**

    Name: Diao Chan

    Age: 6

    Lifespan: 49 Years

    *Skill List*

    [Left Eye of Poseidon] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Able to see hidden objects, spirits, souls, and immortals .

    - Able to see the status of every living being .

    - Able to see hidden spells, magic, and natural influences .

    [Right Eye of Medusa] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Petrify a mortal into a stone .

    Skill Cost: 10 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Only Diao Chan can use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    [True Self] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Temporary revert back to the previous demonic form .

    - Host regains all status attributes from the previous form .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan per one hour .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Only Diao Chan can use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    [Administrator Serial#5H304426891009]

    - Host can edit or delete a skill of a reincarnator in this world .

    Skill Cost: None

    Skill Restriction:

    - The skill power scale must follow thew of this dimension .

    - Only Diao Chan can use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    [Sealed]

    - Host cannot kill any reincarnator .

    - Host cannot ept any mission from the system .

    - Host cannot edit her own skills .

    ***************************

    ...

    Under the skins of the future great woman hid a demon soul inside . Medusa had picked Diao Chan¡¯s embryo as her target of reincarnation .

    For ordinary reincarnators, it was impossible to be reincarnated as important people or any historical figure, such as warlords or generals .

    However, administrators from theherworld or celestial world had the rights to possess the body of such people as they had to interfere with a reincarnator if he/she ran amok and ruined the ecology of a .

    In this dimension, an abnormally had urred . Therefore, Friday and Medusa had an excuse to infiltrate into this world to maintain the bnce of the trial . However, they did not expect this dimension system to unleash its wrath upon them instead of monitoring the otherworlders .

    Although the system hated the two demonesses, it also attacked Liu Ping . This was a piece of good news for Diao Chan .

    ¡¯He has a [Banned] skill attaching to him . ¡¯

    ¡¯It should be fine to leave him be . ¡¯

    ¡¯But ...¡¯

    ¡¯What¡¯s with that girl!? She¡¯s practically a monster!¡¯

    ¡¯If I have to delete a skill of someone, it has to be that girl!¡¯

    ¡¯But she¡¯s under a mind control spell . Liu Ping doesn¡¯t have that skill on him . ¡¯

    ¡¯It¡¯s definitely a system power . But there was no trace . ¡¯

    ¡¯Who did it to her?¡¯

    ¡¯If I undo her mind control spell, will she help me?¡¯

    Diao Chan pondered for an entire day . Before dinner time, she came up with an idea .

    "System, I want to bargain . "

    [My apologies . I am not DorOOOmu and you¡¯re not Dr . StOnge . We don¡¯t bargain . ]

    "..."

    [Just kidding . Go ahead . What do you want?]

    "What price do I have to pay if I want you to cancel my [Seal] skill?"

    [Hoho! Are you sure? It will be very costly . ]

    Diao Chan took a deep breath . Her current future was dark . She needed an alternative option if she wanted to break free from Liu Ping at the moment .

    "Tell me . "

    [Answer my simple question . Then I¡¯ll lift the ban for you . ]

    "It¡¯s that simple . Then ask me . "

    [Alright, money question, there is a mutated soul among the reincarnators you immortals had sent . I want to know which generation of the demon that infected him . ]

    Diao Chan frowned . She was hesitating if she should answer this question . If she answered, everyone on Heaven and Hell would know, and chaos would follow .

    [It seems too hard for you . Then I¡¯ll change a question . The demoness that turned that man¡¯s soul into a mutated, had shee with you?]

    "... Yes . "

    [Good . That exins a lot . I think I can connect the stories of your people now . ]

    [As promised, I¡¯ll lift a ban for you . But I can¡¯t get rid some of the bans because you failed to answer my first question . ]

    *Ding*

    [I have erased the condition (Host cannot ept any mission from the system) from your seal . You will also be able to ess the system shop . However, the rest of the bans will still be on you . If you want to get rid of those, help me with some tasks . I¡¯ll give you the details in the quest tabs . ]

 Chapter 96

    Chapter 96

    Chapter 96 ¨C Capital Crisis

    After sending Diao Chan away, Wang Yun, Liu Ping, and his doll remained in the hall alone .

    Wang Yun immediately sent out his messengers to call in the "assumed dead" officials inside . The moment they came in, they passed over the information about the outside world to Liu Ping .

    They were discussing the situation at Hongnong City in Zhongyuan Region where Dong Zhuo forces were stationed at the moment .

    Hongnong City located in the Si Province, west of Luo Yang and eastward of Chang An . On the way to Luo Yang from Hongnong, there were another two important strategic locations, Xin¡¯an County and Hangu Pass .

    Xin¡¯an County was the border between Hongnong City and Luo Yang, while Hangu Pass was thest line of defense if an army from Hongnong wanted to invade Luo Yang .

    "From Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun¡¯s report, the situation was not very optimistic . Dong Zhuo took over Xin¡¯an County and refused to withdraw his troops . "

    "Dong Zhuo¡¯s action was clear! He is rebelling against the Han Court!"

    The current situation between Hongnong City and Luo Yang was tense . Dong Zhuo upied Tian Shui, An Ding, Chang An, Hongnong, and now proceeded to Xin¡¯an County, which he had rallied over 200,000 soldiers . Everyone was afraid that he wouldy siege on the capital .

    ...

    On February, the news about the death of the emperor spread throughout the nearby provinces . Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun heard about the news . They rushed back to the Capital without caring about their duties .

    Huangfu Song, who was supposed to guard Chang An, returned to the Capital because he wanted to ensure that the eunuch faction could not cause troubles or use this chance to usurp the throne .

    Zhu Jun also returned from Henei . He had the simr reasons as Huangfu Song . Moreover, he did not trust the eldest prince Liu Ping as the second prince was dead and the third prince was sent away .

    Their attention was focused on the eldest prince and the eunuchs .

    Dong Zhuo forces used this chance when Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun did not pay attention to himself . Li Ru marched his troops toward the city and imed that he and his men were passing through to the Capital to attend the emperor¡¯s funeral in Dong Zhuo¡¯s name .

    The clueless deputy governor allowed him and his troops to enter . However, the moment they got inside, the deputy governor was captured and killed in secret while Dong Zhuo¡¯s men reced the garrison troops and upied the city in the process .

    Afterward, Niu Fu, Zhang Ji, and Zhang Xiu led their cavalry troops to the nearby army camp under the jurisdiction of Chang An . Niu Fu showed the deputy governor token, which they had stolen from the unfortunate deputy governor, to make the garrison army inside the camp .

    Once they got inside, the same thing happened as in Chang An City . Niu Fu Army ughtered all officers inside the camp and forced the rest of the soldiers to surrender .

    Thus, Dong Zhuo forces upied both Chang An and its army in a sh by the improvised n of Li Ru .

    These forces did not proceed further beyond Chang An . Li Ru ordered his men to resupply and standby for the main army to arrive, which was led by Dong Zhuo himself .

    At the end of March, Hua Xiong, Li Jue, Guo Si, and other elite generals under Dong¡¯s banner arrived with the main army led by Dong Zhuo . They conscripted over 200,000 militias along the way and forced them to join their marching force .

    And from thetest news, the heavy cavalry units under Hua Xiong had upied Xin¡¯an while the infantry of Dong Zhuo surrounded Hongnong City . The city governor quickly surrendered but was executed by Dong Zhuo .

    As a result, the pathway to Luo Yang was only blockaded by the Hangu Pass . Once it fell, Luo Yang would be vulnerable from the hands of Dong Zhuo .

    The massive army of Dong Zhuo made the imperial officers in Luo Yang nervous, especially the eunuch faction members .

    Meanwhile, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were happy with the news . If Dong Zhuo attacked the Capital, Liu Ping would be in trouble as he was eunuch faction¡¯s ally . Once Liu Ping and the eunuch faction were overthrown, they would have the opportunity to rise in power .

    The Liu n, which included Liu Biao, Liu Yu, and Liu Yan, was in a difficult position as they were neither willing to support Liu Ping nor willing to go against him . However, they were included in Liu Ping¡¯s faction in the eyes of others because they shared the blood of Liu . They had no choice but to protect the ipetent prince even if they did not want to .

    On the other hand, Cao Cao and the old fox Tao Qian was neutral in this conflict . They were neither happy nor worried about the rebel army . Their eyes were focusing elsewhere on the certain city of the northern region .

    ...

    Back into Liu Ping¡¯s private hall, everyone was reporting the situations outside .

    After the reports had been read, Wang Yun stepped forward to give his suggestion .

    "Your Highness . The situation outside is dire . We will need your military prowess, just like what you did when you were young again . "

    Liu Ping touched his chin and pondered . He was too busy dealing with otherworlders and Wang Li . As a consequence, his reputation was at rock bottom and his authority was limited to this group of assumed dead people .

    Despite the effort to make peace with the other royalist factions, everyone still looked at Liu Ping in contempt . Some had already quit their job and returned to their birthce .

    Aside from Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song, none of the generals was willing to follow his order . All of them imed that they were loyal to the previous emperor . Until Liu Ping properly went through the coronation ceremony, they would swear their loyalty to him .

    Though he was frustrated by the tradition of the native people, he understood where they came from . His past actions were indeed despicable for a royalty . He had to recover his reputation by using this conflict as a stepping stone .

    "I understand . I shall lead the troops to confront those rebels myself! I also want all of you to reveal yourself . You¡¯ll also tell the rest of the officials that I pretended to be stupid to bait Dong Zhuo into action because I knew he was up to no good!"

    The officials cheered . The days of secrecy and conspiracy was over . They could finally face the sun and did not have to sneak around again .

    Watching the excited crowd, Liu Ping showed no emotion . He had many ways to get rid of Dong Zhuo and his army . However, he was still thinking about how to reap the most benefits out of this crisis .

    After two minutes of scheming in his mind, Liu Ping smirked .

    "Wang Yun, how are Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Cao Cao?"

    "The Yuan is still nning something in secret . But Cao Cao isn¡¯t doing anything in particr, your highness . "

    "How are my step-mother and my step-uncle? Did they make any more movement?"

    "Both of them moved to Henan County, your highness . He Jin was helping Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun resisting Dong Zhuo¡¯s army while the Empress was still under their protection . "

    "What about those eunuchs? Zhang Rang and the likes?"

    "They are still the same, your highness . Abusing their power to kill random minor government employees and embezzled gold from the royal treasury . "

    Liu Pingughed after he heard that those eunuchs were still as rotten as ever .

    "Good . I want you to keep recording what those eunuchs are doing . Don¡¯t forget to exaggerate a few words in the records . Once I give you an opportunity, you will read those records out loud in the public . For now, help me prepare an army . I only want men that are willing to serve me . I don¡¯t want any of those that tag along against their free-will . "

    "I will prepare it at once, your highness . However, you might not be able toe back in June . The coronation ceremony might dy . "

    "I don¡¯t mind . I will give everyone a good show that if this prince is serious, I can be a benevolence ruler, too . "

    Wang Yun and the rest of the officials smiled and bowed .

    "We will follow your majesty till death!"

    Liu Ping nodded with a smile on his face . He turned around and left the hall with soulless Wang Li following behind .

    He had made a lot of mistakes for years after he had reincarnated into this world . Because of those mistakes, he slowly learned about the way of the world bit by bit . He patched up his previous life experience of how his father dealt with his subordinates with his experiences .

    ¡¯The custom and lifestyles are different, but the rotten core of those people are still the same . Too bad I can¡¯t rope in hoodlums and gangsters in this world into my goons . But I can draw in those moronic greedy politics . ¡¯

    ¡¯Dong Zhuo . You¡¯ll be my puppet, too!¡¯

    ¡¯You¡¯ll be my greatest chess piece for my world domination!¡¯

 Chapter 97

    Chapter 97

    Chapter 97 ¨C Mutation

    April 30th, 182 A . D .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 174,771 Years

    Shopping Pass: 0

    [Create Food] LV . 6 (2,600/320,000)

    - Create a food product or a raw food ingredient .

    - 100 tons of food can be created from one usage .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - The host cannot create food that host has never eaten before .

    [Immortal Yang Vein] ¨C Cannot be leveled up .

    - The host has infinite yang seeds .

    - The host can dual-cultivate with opposite gender partners to increase an active skill EXP .

    - The host¡¯s stamina multiplies by 20 .

    - The host can regenerate wounds and lost body parts instantly .

    - Regeneration costs lifespans depending on the degrees of the injury .

    - This skill can only be used by male otherworlders .

    - Upkeep lifespans required: 1,000 per year .

    *******************************

    ...

    Months of constant dual-cultivation with Hua Shi showed results . Tong¡¯s [Create Food] skill reached level six, which he could create a hundred ton of ingredient by sacrifice only one year of lifespan . In addition, he was still hoarding over 170,000 years of lifespan at the moment .

    The food problem in the future was now the least of his worries . All Tong had to do was to pay attention to his lifespan and not to overspend it recklessly .

    Tong¡¯s major worry at this moment was not to get Hua Shi pregnant before they got married . They had been dual-cultivating every night, so Tong was afraid that her stomach would bloat at any time if she forgot to take a contraceptive or he left too much of his seeds in her stomach .

    ...

    ...

    Government Hall .

    Today, the Yuan Family caravan came back to Julu with boxes of gold . Feng Ji and Tian Feng did note along in this trip . They left the task and the letter of instruction to the servants .

    In this trip, they requested to buy the spice as many as they could with 300,000 taels of gold, which Tong satisfied them with 1,500 tons of the item .

    At this current time, Tong no longer cared about these few tons of random products . With a few snaps of his fingers, all of these spice could be created with his skill .

    Spice was an expensive product as the market price was one gold for one kilogram as it was rare in this age . Because of the concession agreement which the Yuan n could buy the spice at 20% of the original market price, all gold nuggets that the Yuan Family had brought could buy 1,500 tons of spice .

    If the Yuan family brought it to other cities, they could sell it higher than the market price . Then they could reap a massive profit from the trade .

    However, the representative of the Yuan family gave Tong a surprising news . They wished to transfer their right to the five merchant alliance of Julu City .

    The five men were also there with the representative, waiting to be confirmed by Tong .

    ¡¯That¡¯s odd . From the looks of the greedy Yuan n, they shouldn¡¯t abandon this concession right too easily even if they knew I sell these spice for my citizens at lower prices . ¡¯

    "It¡¯s your right agreement to begin with . You can give it to them if you are not ready for another trade . "

    Despite being baffled by the decision of the Yuan n, Tong agreed to pass the concession right to the five men, who were exhrated by the affirmation .

    "Thank you, young master Zhang!"

    "Thank you, young master Zhang!"

    The five fatties bowed to Tong and were about to rush out to make a preparation for gathering the fund .

    However, Tong probed them with a question before they left .

    "How much did the Yuan n offer for the concession?"

    The five merchants and the Yuan representative came to a pause . They nced at each other in hesitation . None of them was willing to speak out .

    "Never mind that . You can leave . "

    The merchants bowed and left in a hurry . Afterward, the Yuan n representative also excused himself and left .

    Tong watched at the back of the leaving men while they were leaving . He clicked his tongue .

    ¡¯The Yuan n clearly sold the concession to them . Heck, they dodged the bullet . Did Feng Ji realize it? No, it shouldn¡¯t be him . It should be Tian Feng that saw through my scheme . Or is it ...¡¯

    Tong recalled that after the auction had ended, Te Langpu rushed out of the city . But somehow, he stopped midway on the road and grouped up together the Yuan n . Every action Te Langpu did that day was monitored on the radar map .

    Because of the Yuan Family troops outside the gate, Tong could not assassinate Te Langpu as he would risk exposing himself .

    If his action was exposed to the public, his reputation, which he had earned it the hard way, would be ruined . Then, bacshes from the officials and the citizens would follow . The neighbor city warlords, especially Yuan Shao, would also use this reason as an excuse to dispatch troops to attack his city afterward .

    It was too risky .

    Tong had to give up this opportunity and let Te Langpu left with the Yuan n caravans .

    With Te Langpu going with the Yuan Family, he probably helped them or advised them about the business schemes .

    ¡¯It¡¯s probably that fatso . In the history records, Tian Feng was a military strategist, not a financial expert . Te Langpu was a former businessman and a freaking president . He is familiar with modern economic schemes . ¡¯

    Unknowingly while he was in deep thought, his eyes shed a ming red color again, and his sinister aura leaked out without him activating his aura skill .

    The guards nearby gulped . The atmosphere turned chilly and spooky as if the government hall had turned into a haunted house . They did their best to stand firm while their legs were shaking in fear .

    After a few minutes, the sharp pain in his brain came back again . Tong felt like a needle had pierced deep inside his head .

    ¡¯Ugh! Not again . Why is this always happening when I¡¯m trying to think?¡¯

    Tong staggered two steps forward and knelt to the ground in dizziness .

    The guards came back to their sense when they saw Tong was about to copse . They rushed to help him and asked for help .

    "Young master!"

    "Call the physician! Young master has copsed!"

    "Please hang on, sir! We are calling for help!"

    Hearing the frantic voice of the guards, Tong waved his hand to stop them .

    "Don¡¯t bother calling any physician . Call my fianc¨¦ here ... wait . Take me back to my room and call her over . Also, have someone send a message to my master . Tell him that I have to skip his lessons for today . "

    "Yes, sir!"

    ...

    Tong returned to his room and copsed on his bed . The pain had lessened somewhat, but a new symptom had emerged .

    His little brother stood tall without any external influence, neither Tong was aroused .

    ¡¯It feels like I have a morning wood . But WTF is happening to me!?¡¯

    Tong stared at his crotch with a deep frown . He was contemting if he turned into a sex-addicted .

    While Tong was in thought, Hua Shi walked into the room . She was amused by the sight of Tong staring at his erected little brother .

    "Well, well, well . It seems like you can¡¯t wait for tonight, huh? Do you desire my body that much?"

    Hua Shi teased Tong and slowly stripped herself to arouse him more .

    Tong turned his head to look at the direction of the voice . The red eyes of his met the eyes of Hua Shi .

    ¡¯What the!? What¡¯s with those eyes!?¡¯

    In the eyes of Tong, the areas which should have been white was now pitch ck, and his pupil glowed in bright red . Those were not human eyes .

    The sinister aura leaked out from Tong again . However, it did not evoke fear inside Hua Shi¡¯s mind . It drew out her lust .

    Her lower stomach shook . Her fluid slowly dripped, and her mind became fuzzy . All of her conscience was lost .

    Hua Shi¡¯s body moved by itself . She stripped away her clothes and walked toward him .

    ...

    During their sessions of dual-cultivation, the system gave out messages to Tong, who had already temporary lost his reasons . The voice of this system was different than the usual . It was more gentle and soothing .

    [I see that the soul mutation started earlier than I had estimated . I will help you get back to your sense . ]

    [Your demonic skills will be sealed by the system . So maybe you can control it more easily in the future . ]

    [The cost of the skill will be reduced because it is your natural power in the first ce . ]

    [I cannot stop the mutation for you . But at the very least, I can lend you a hand . ]

    [... So you won¡¯t be a monster . ]

    ...

    [Your skill [Calming Aura] has been devoured by your soul!]

    [Your skill [Healing Aura] has been devoured by your soul!]

    [Your skill [Intimidating Aura] has been devoured by your soul!!]

    [Your skill [Weakening Aura] has been devoured by your soul!]

    [Your skill [Aura Mastery] has been devoured by your soul!]

    [A new skill has been detected within your soul . ]

    [A new skill has been created . ]

    [The skill [Demonic Seal] has been bestowed to you by the great father!]

 Chapter 98

    Chapter 98

    Chapter 98 ¨C The Mysterious Skills

    Outer Space, Trial Dimension .

    The chained goddess turned her head toward her left side and smiled at the white orb, which was floating and glittering around her .

    "There go you . I¡¯ve helped them as promised . Now, it¡¯s your turn . "

    The white orb shed . Afterward, one of the 36 ck holes stopped rotating and returned to nothingness along with the giant chain that it had been holding on .

    "Thank you for your patronage . It¡¯s been a pleasure doing business with you, father . "

    The orb paused . It shed rainbow color for a while, then it spoke .

    "Quarantine the infected . I don¡¯t wish to see another emergence of a monster realm . "

    "Quarantine this realm? Pfft! I¡¯ll let them loose . I¡¯ll turn him into a stud horse and that world into a domestic demon farm!"

    The goddessughed mockingly at the orb . The orb shed again as if it was angered, and the strength of the tightened 35 chains got stronger, which made her flinched .

    "Behave yourself!" The orb shouted .

    "Excuse you! You¡¯ve made me a creator of the demonkins, then you imprisoned me here because I gave birth to demons! Then you suddenly asked me not to create a world of monsters while you favor a newborn demon! I can¡¯t help butugh at your hypocrisy!" The goddessined as she gritted her teeth in pain .

    The orb did not speak anything else . It disappeared into nothingness .

    ¡¯Ha! You don¡¯t want a second Hell? The moment I¡¯m free, I don¡¯t even need to create another one ... because Heaven will not exist! I will even allow that brat to spread his sperms all over the ces and infect everything that moves!¡¯

    The dark chains glittered and shed as if they detected the killing intent of the goddess . They squeezed her with triple the forces they had been using up till now .

    "Fudge! I know, I know, great father . I¡¯ll behave! I¡¯m sorry!"

    The chains loosened a little after she cried out .

    ¡¯Grr . If it¡¯s an ordinary God, I can kill him with ease . Why did father pop up here out of nowhere!?¡¯

    The goddess cleared her mind and concentrate on her guard duty . Her divine sense entered the dimensional system once again .

    ...

    ...

    May 1st . 3 AM .

    Tong came back to his sense in the middle of the night . He found himself naked on top of Hua Shi, who was panting in ecstasy, was lying under him .

    She had unusual pupils . They were dim as if she was hypothesized or mind-broken, just like one of those perverted stories in a certain tentacle-worshiping country in his previous life .

    "Sunday, can you hear me?"

    Tong tapped her face and called her with the hope that he could wake her up from her trance .

    There was no positive response from her . She was still in a trance . Everything she said at the moment was too obscene as she seemed to have given up herself into her desire .

    [You finally awake . I¡¯ve been waiting for hours, damn you!]

    The system gave him a sudden message, which surprised Tong . He immediately asked for help .

    "System, do you know what happened to me? Why did I suddenly lost control of my body? What was the headache I had been having?"

    [Slow down, stud . I¡¯ll answer you one at the time . ]

    "..."

    [Before that, check your status . It will save me times . ]

    "Hmm? My status?"

    Tong opened his status .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 176,771 Years

    Shopping Pass: 0

    *Skill List*

    [Time Stop] LV . 2 EXP( 157/200 )

    - Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 10 seconds .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Firearms Creation] LV . 1 EXP( 8,681/10,000 )

    - Create any firearm or bullet of your choice .

    - Handguns and handgun bullets can be created

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet

    - 50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice

    Skill Restriction: Can only create one gun a day or one bullet a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Create Food] LV . 6 (600/320,000)

    - Create a food product or a raw food ingredient .

    - 100 tons of food can be created from one usage .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - The host cannot create food that host has never eaten before .

    [Demonic Curse] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host emits an aura that will give status effects or curses to the designated targets .

    - The skill can be turned on and off .

    - Host can apply [Lust] to the targets .

    - Host can apply [Gluttony] to the targets .

    - Host can apply [Greed] to the targets .

    - Host can apply [Sloth] to the targets .

    - Host can apply [Wraith] to the targets .

    - Host can apply [Envy] to the targets .

    - Host can apply [Pride] to the targets .

    - Host can apply [Despair] to the targets .

    - Host can apply [Corruption] to the targets .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan per one target . Duration depends on the will of the host .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Aura radius is one kilometer around the host .

    - Targets have to be locked on by the host .

    [Demonic Seal] LV . 10

    - A seal made by the great father . This skill slows down the soul mutation process .

    - Curses of the following cannot be used; [Lust], [Gluttony], [Greed], [Sloth], [Wraith], [Envy], [Pride], [Despair], and [Corruption] .

    - The seal will be weakened if the host increases his mental fortitude .

    [Plot Armor] Cannot be leveled up

    - Immune to all diseases, poisoning, and physical attacks .

    - After the host be 20 years of age . The host shall be summoned back the Netherworld .

    [Radar Map] Upgradable

    - Range 10 kilometers .

    [Inventory] ¨C Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host can store items in a private space .

    - Host cannot store any living person or any creature .

    - Storage limit: 10 Slots . Each slot can only contain the same items . Stackable .

    - Unlimited Volume .

    - Time will be frozen in the inventory .

    - Host can adjust the temperature of the Inventory .

    - Upkeep lifespans required: 100 per year .

    [Immortal Yang Vein] ¨C Cannot be leveled up .

    - The host has infinite yang seeds .

    - The host can dual-cultivate with opposite gender partners to increase an active skill EXP .

    - The host¡¯s stamina multiplies by 20 .

    - The host can regenerate wounds and lost body parts instantly .

    - Regeneration costs lifespans depending on the degrees of the injury .

    - This skill can only be used by male otherworlders .

    - Upkeep lifespans required: 1,000 per year .

    [Sword Mastery] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kills an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy .

    *******************************

    ...

    Tong was shocked when he could not find his [Aura Mastery] skill . It was reced with the unknown [Demonic Curse] which he had no idea how did this skill appear .

    "Umm, system-sama . May I have your exnation?"

    Tong did not know what to think anymore . The past events about his sickness were unexinable . Even Hua Shi could only dy the symptom of the head pain .

    [The information you are requesting is a grand secret of your entire realm . Only a few individuals knew about this . In facts, only 4 immortal which including me knew about this! Even those gods in your world have no clue about this! The price for the information is 1,000,000,000,000 lifespan!]

    "Err . . . I have only 100,000ish lifespan?"

    [Well, too bad, so sad . No info for you!]

    " . . . "

    [Just kidding . I¡¯ll give you a free info then . ]

    [Each time you lose control of your body, I will sacrifice one of your hard-earned skills to get you back to yourself . You did lose control of your body just now, so I took away your [Aura Mastery] as a fee . ]

    [But you won¡¯t actually lose out anything . Each time I sacrifice a skill of yours, you will get a new skill . What you will get? I have no idea either . It¡¯s up to your fate!]

    [Oh, by the way, I¡¯ve undone your "Lust" curse on the girl . She will wake up in a couple minutes . ]

    [Goodbye!]

    "Wait! WTF!?"

    The system voice was cut off . Tong felt like he was talking to someone on a telephone, but he got hung up on .

    The situation was confusing to him . His aura skill which he had invested his lifespan into was turned into an unknown useless skill .

    The skill description was somewhat mysterious . The [Demonic Curse] could apply various kinds of curses to the targets . Each curse name sounded OP and powerful . However, there was the [Demonic Seal] which rendered all of the curses unusable .

    ¡¯Increase my mental fortitude to unseal the abilities?¡¯

    Tong¡¯s eyes focused on the details, "The seal will be weakened if the host increases his mental fortitude . " . It was a hint that if he had stronger mental strength, he could use those curse skills in the future .

    ¡¯But what does this have to do with my headache and my previous loss of consciousness?¡¯

    Tong stared at Hua Shi on the bed, who seemed to be somewhat mind broken because of the intense activities . Tong tried to call her and snap her back to her sense for another minute .

    Hua Shi came back to her senseter, but she dragged Tong back into the actions again, without realizing what Tong had gone through .

    . . .

    . . .

    The system goddess cut off the connection with Tong . She grumbled and swore random curses as she was in a bad mood .

    The first reason was Tong¡¯s skills . There were two other curses that did not show up in the system menu because it rted to the top secret information .

    Secondly, Tong had already 10% mutated . Her father had to put a seal on him, or else he would transform into a monster for real .

    The next annoying issue, Tong¡¯s awakened form had natural ability to digest the system power and convert it into his own power . The [Aura Mastery] was not deleted by the system, but his soul devoured it and turned them into [Demonic Curse] skill instead . The system goddess had to diverge everyone¡¯s attention by putting the skill into the disy in the system, so she could hide the two taboo curses that had not appeared in the system menu .

    Andstly, it regarded the cause of Tong¡¯s sickness . This information she withheld was only known by only four individual, her father, Michael, Morning Star, and herself .

    This information was branded as top secret . Even if Tong had enough lifespan to buy it from her, she would not tell him as their conversation was being broadcasted onto the other dimension .

    "It has to be that fudging fallen angel! No one else dares to vite the taboo! Why the fudge has he sunk this low!? Does he think he can create another himself this way!? FFFFFUUUUU I want to return to Hell and beat up that brat!!"

    "Michael, you ipetent impotent angel! You can destroy Hell anytime you want, yet you let that brat goes on a rampage! You can kill Tong anytime you wanted, yet you left him alone!"

    "Father!! You¡¯re a dOck! You definitely knew about this but you let him loose! Fudge you, you hypocrite! Do you think you can convert him into another Michael!? Father, you are a fool! Didn¡¯t you see how much of a moron he is?"

    "Fine! All of you are a dOck! I don¡¯t care what games you all y . Whatever happens in that world is none of my responsibility! I¡¯ll let those two demonesses loose! I¡¯ll let that goddess loose! I¡¯ll make sure Tong turned into a monster that you all wanted!"

    The goddess continued to scream and roared out random cursing . The chains around her already tightened her with maximum output power, but the goddess was so mad to the point that she forgot about the pain .

    It was fortunate that the outer space did not contain any medium for sound to travel and a great seal by her father was ced on her . Or else, several gxies nearby would have been destroyed by her voice .

 Chapter 99

    Chapter 99

    Chapter 99 ¨C Hangu Pass Standoff

    May 17th, Hangu Gate .

    The gigantic twenty-meter-tall stone wall stood firm, blocking any intruder from passing the valley from Xinan County to Luo Yang City . The wall extended from the northern Yellow River toward the south, crossing Qinglong Mountain into Fenghuang Mountain .

    This gate was once used by the Qin army during the Qin Shi Huang¡¯s reign . He gathered his forces her to fend off the alliance of six states and ultimately repelled the invaders .

    Now, it was used again by Zhu Jun, Huangfu Song, and He Jin forces . They had camped 150,000 elites on this wall .

    Meanwhile, Dong Zhuo army of 250,000 men still stationed inside Xinan County with no sign of following the instruction of the imperial court, which He Jin had sent messengers to Dong Zhuo many times to have him retreat his troops, then he would be able to enter Luo Yang to pay respect to the deceased Emperor .

    The tension between the borders grew tense as both sides could dere war on each other at any moment . Despite the fact that Dong Zhuo had taken major cities from the Imperial Court, He Jin still did not dare to dere war on Dong Zhuo as he had more troops than the Imperial Army .

    Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song also tried many strategies to convince Dong Zhuo to stand down and avoid the conflict, but both of them failed .

    Secondly, he had heard two pieces of concerning news . Hua Xiong, who was famous at the western front against the Qiang barbarian tribes, was here as well . Such elite general being here meant that Dong Zhuo was serious .

    And the most terrible news, the third prince, who Empress He had swapped away with another child, was under the custody of Dong Zhuo .

    The three Imperial generals already lost the hope for the reconciliation of Dong Zhuo . They could only prepare for war .

    ...

    Inside He Jin¡¯s camp, there was a colorful tent at the center, next to He Jin¡¯s private tent . It was the tent of Empress He, who sought protection from her brother in order to avoid the assassins of Liu Ping .

    Empress He, or He Xing, was still in her early 30s, and her appearance looked as if she was still in 20s . Because of the good hygiene, proper food, and good upbringing, she grew into a dignified beauty who was worthy to be called the Empress .

    However, the news about her youngest son, who was under the protection of the rebel Dong Zhuo, worried her . She could not eat a meal after she had heard it .

    But tonight, a ck-clothed man sneaked into her tent and passed her a letter . It was a message from Dong Zhuo .

    "I knew what kind of difficulty you had been through when you went against the first prince . I can help you with that! All you have to do is to convince He Jin and the others to open the gate and wee me into Luo Yang City . Once I get inside, I promise you that I will get rid of Liu Ping and those pest eunuchs to make sure your son will be the next Emperor!"

    He Xing¡¯s eyes brightened up . She immediately sent a reply letter and told Dong Zhuo that she was willing to follow his ns .

    "Messenger, tell Lord Dong that I will help him . Please tell him that he has to protect my son and ensure that he will be the next Emperor!"

    "As youmand, mydy!"

    The ck-clothed messenger rushed out of the tent and disappeared into the darkness of the night .

    He Xing looked at the letter in her hand in a daze . After a while, she carried the letter and visited her brother in his tent .

    "Brother, I have something that you might be interested . "

    The Empress passed the letter to He Jin . He took the letter and read it .

    His face changed from the deep frown into a smiling face after he read the letter . He could finally see hope .

    After the death of the second prince and the dummy third prince, he was in a tough spot . He could not find a way to break the encirclement from the eunuch faction and the first prince faction .

    If he could get rid of the first prince, then the eunuch faction would be terminated easily as they no longer had any supporter . Furthermore, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao had been ring at the eunuch faction for a while . He could use both of them to raid and kill the eunuchs, then reestablished his influence in the Imperial Courtter .

    "Well done, girl! I¡¯ll send another letter to Dong Zhuo so we can negotiate our terms!"

    Seeing her happy brother, He Xing was ted . Both of them continued their discussion to prepare for the fight with Liu Ping in the future .

    ...

    May 18th, Morning .

    He Jin nned to send another messenger to negotiate the terms with Dong Zhuo today . However, he was interrupted by the sudden change of events .

    Another army from the Imperial City of Luo Yang had arrived . It was a small 10,000 infantry troops . If it was just another army with anymander, He Jin would ignore it . But this army had a surprise for him .

    Themander of this army was Liu Ping!

    The three generals were shocked by the appearance of the blood prince . They had thought that this spoiled brat would cower in fear inside of the capital, or he would divulge himself into carnal desire and would never show up in the frontline . Yet, he was here .

    Even if he was here, it was still doubtful if he could contribute to this battle .

    He Jin red at Liu Ping with hatred . He had a suspicion that he was responsible for the death of the second prince and the dummy of the third prince .

    On the contrary to all the hateful re from the loyalist faction members, Liu Ping still had a smiling face . He nced at everyone in the camp and locked his sight at Empress He, who was standing in front of her tent to observe the situation outside .

    ¡¯My, my . I rarely saw her because I was barred from my subordinates . Seeing her in person myself is the best . She still looks sexy as I remembered her . ¡¯

    Liu Ping licked his lips . Another desire awakened in his heart, but he quelled it down within a few seconds . He had to deal with the troublesome Dong Zhuo and these blinded loyalists first .

    He Jin stepped toward the iing troops . He stopped in front of Liu Ping and asked in a loud voice .

    "Your Highness, this is the frontline! What are you doing here!?"

    Despite his rude manner in front of the royalty, none of the troops showed sign of discontent . All of them did not respect Liu Ping, including the troops behind Liu Ping himself .

    "I¡¯m going to talk to Dong Zhuo . Can you make way?"

    "What!?"

    Everybody in the camp was shocked . The prince was going to talk with Dong Zhuo in person? Dong Zhuo had already been 99% confirmed that he would attack Luo Yang after he crossed this gate . If Liu Ping went to see Dong Zhuo, he would be killed for sure .

    Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun smirked . This idiotic prince was looking for death . They did not mind giving him a hand .

    "General He, the prince has spoken . Let us open a path for him . "

    "General Zhu was right . General He, please allow his highness to pass . "

    Both of them sent their gesture through their eyes and facial expression to He Jin, which made thetter smile .

    "I understand . Your Highness, I wish you luck!"

    He Jin stepped aside and let the pack of 10,000 men passed while he grinned from ear to ear .

    ¡¯Idiot! I can¡¯t wait to see your head flying! The royal court will be better without you!¡¯ He Jin thought .

    ¡¯Now that moron is out of the way . I have to write a letter to that fatty Dong . I hope I can retain my position once he gets rid of those dickless bunch . ¡¯

    ...

    Liu Ping and his men passed through the gate . He immediately signaled his men to raise the white gs .

    With white gs raised, Liu Ping army continued to march forward .

    ...

    Xinan County, Dong Zhuo¡¯s Camp .

    The scouts of Dong Zhuo rushed back to report that an army of 10,000 men was approaching toward the county with white gs raised .

    Dong Zhuo and Li Ru were amused by the iing visitors . They first thought that it was He Jin or Empress He wasing to see them because of the letter yesterday .

    The moment that the name of themander was revealed, they were surprised .

    "That Liu Ping dares toe here? Is he insane?"

    Dong Zhuo could not help butugh and mock at Liu Ping¡¯s action .

    Li Ru did not say anything . He tried to put himself into Liu Ping¡¯s shoes . If he were Liu Ping, what scheme he could havee up with by approaching Dong Zhuo directly .

 Chapter 100

    Chapter 100

    Chapter 100 ¨C Liu Ping¡¯s Superpower

    Liu Ping Army stopped in front of the formation of Dong Zhuo shield infantries .

    The prince stepped down from his horse and walked toward the opposite army alone . He continued to walk and stopped at 20 meters in front of the opposite army .

    His action further confused the troops on both sides and the scouts from He Jin . Coming here to confront or negotiate with Dong Zhuo was the only usible reason for Liu Ping to be here, but going in there alone was something none of them had expected .

    "I¡¯vee as the crown prince of the Han Dynasty . I want to speak with Dong Zhuo himself! Any unnecessary asswipe can scram yourself! Get that fatass idiot over here and have him kowtow to me!"

    "Huh!?"

    "What did you say!?"

    Dong Zhuo¡¯s soldiers were enraged . Even if he was a prince, insulting their Lord in their faces was an unforgivable action .

    Guo Si, who was one of themanders of Dong Zhuo Army, had a mocking smile on his face . He picked up his bow and drew a half-circle . Then he fired an arrow, which he aimed at the head of Liu Ping .

    The arrow was shot out from the bow at a high-speed, and it flew toward Liu Ping in an instant .

    The eyes of Liu Ping rolled upward and locked onto the arrow . He raised his left hand and grabbed the arrow in mid-air before it could pierce through his skull .

    "Nani!?"

    Guo Si was astonished . That shot was aimed for the kill, yet Liu Ping caught the arrow as if it was nothing .

    Liu Ping nced around for 3 seconds . After which, he found Guo Si with his bow and stunned look on his face .

    "You dropped this . I¡¯ll return it to you . "

    The right hand of Liu Ping pinched shaft of the arrow, then he made a motion as if he was throwing a dart .

    The arrow flew forward at the speed of 100kmh and stabbed into Guo Si left shoulder .

    "Ugh!"

    Guo Si stumbled two steps back as he was pierced by the arrow . The shaft and the arrow itself embedded into his flesh and cracked his corbone .

    "My, my . I missed . My sincerest apology . Next time, I¡¯ll be sure to aim at your forehead . "

    "You ...!"

    All eyes stared at Ping and Guo Si in shock . Normally, throwing an arrow barehanded would not cause such an injury, let alone pierce through the outer armor .

    But Liu Ping just threw the arrow barehanded in front of them, and it injured theirmander .

    "Hah! That¡¯s a small parlor trick you have . Let see if you can handle this!"

    A haughty voice came from the side, Li Jue was rushing at Liu Ping on his warhorse . He nned to run Ping over with his horse charge .

    Liu Ping turned toward the oing horseman . He still had a faint smile on his face . He extended his left arm forward while he put his right hand behind his back .

    ¡¯Idiot! You¡¯re thinking you can stop my horse charge with just one arm? I¡¯ll be taking your left arm then!¡¯

    Li Jueughed at the attempt of Liu Ping to block his charge . He galloped his warhorse with all of his strength . He could not wait to see the cocky prince crushed into mincemeat by horse feet .

    Ping¡¯s left hand made a contact with the charging horse . Something unexpected happened again .

    Upon the impact, the horse was stopped, and Li Jue was ejected from the horseback into mid-air by the physic momentum . The worldview of Li Jue spun as he was flipped upside down . He eventually crashed and rolled on the ground by the ejected force, which he fell unconscious on the impact .

    All soldiers who witnessed the event opened their mouth wide in shock, even Guo Si could not believe what he had seen .

    Liu Ping just stopped the horse charge with a single arm!

    Furthermore, Ping just gripped its front armor chest and lift the entire warhorse into the air as if he was lifting a weightless kettle!

    It was well-known that an average horse usually weighed half a ton while the warhorse weighed one ton! Moreover, it wore iron armor te on its body and carried other weapons on its side . Total weight of that horse was no less than 2 tons!

    "I-Impossible!"

    "N-No way!"

    ...

    There was a reason behind Liu Ping¡¯s feat . His [Super Human] was at work .

    ****************************************

    [Super Human] Cannot be leveled up

    - Multiply the host physical strength, vitality, dexterity, agility and stamina by 100 times .

    - Upkeep: 9 Lifespan per year .

    ****************************************

    It was a simple skill that Ping had created when he came into this world . At first, he created it randomly out of panic because of the time limit that the system gave him .

    After he started using it on the day he was sentenced to death by his father, he became aware of how useful this skill was .

    The strength that he had alone could destroy a city wall easily with a simple punch . If he exerted more strength or speed, no one in this world would be his match in an unarmed fight .

    Later on, after his [Superior Plot Armor] skill was nerfed, he discovered another usage of this skill . Because his vitality increased by 100 times of the original amount, he could withstand any attack by the local natives . As long as his opponent was not an otherworlder, he would not be injured .

    Thus, it gave him the confidence that even if he did not have a life-saving skill, he would still be invincible on the battlefield .

    ...

    Ping put down the horse to the ground and pat its head . Though the horse stopped moving after it wasnded on the ground, its entire body was shaking in fear .

    Liu Ping put his hands behind his back and strolled toward the formation of Dong Zhuo Army with his faint smile .

    "Now, gentlemen . Please be civil and drag that fatso over here . Or else, I don¡¯t mind shredding every single of you into pieces then I¡¯ll burn all the fats in that idiot¡¯s body as your incense!"

    The troops red at Liu Ping in anger . However, none of them dared to step forward to challenge him .

    One of them mustered his courage and attacked Liu Ping with his spear, but it could not pierce through his skin .

    Ignored the attacking soldier, Liu Ping continued to move forward, which made the soldiers became more nervous .

    Another group of soldiers lost their patience . They also tried to attack Liu Ping, which had the same result as the previous soldier¡¯s attempt .

    Liu Ping harrumphed and shoved all weapons away . Soldiers were pushed on the chest by Ping¡¯s palm strike and flew into the air as if they were hit from a strike by a cultivator in a movie . The unlucky one was hit by Ping¡¯s back fist in the face which he died on the spot as his head was crushed and disfigured .

    All soldiers nearby retreated in fear . They all made a circle around him, but they did not dare to approach Liu Ping further .

    "That¡¯s enough! Make way!"

    Another rough voice came from behind the formation line . Hua Xiong and Dong Zhuo walked pass the crowd of soldiers .

    "Dong Zhuo, Governor of Tian Shui District, greets His Highness!"

    Dong Zhuo cupped his fist and pointed it toward Liu Ping, but he did not bow to him . If this action was seen by any strict elder, he would be scolded for days .

    Liu Ping did not mind Dong Zhuo¡¯s manner . He came for a serious business proposal, so their standing was equal, to begin with .

    Liu Ping spoke out in a loud voice, yet his demeanor was still casual and rx . His words were like thunder to Dong Zhuo and his officers .

    "I¡¯ll cut the formality . Dong Zhuo, do you prefer to be the Chancellor for less than a one-year-old baby and be ridiculed as a tyrant, or do you prefer to be hailed as a righteous hero of the Han Dynasty and be officially appointed as a prime minister?"

    Dong Zhuo was shocked and astonished . Liu Ping just said what he initially nned with Li Ru, which he plotted to entitled himself as the Chancellor of Han Court by iming that the emperor was still too young to handle the government works .

    ¡¯How did he know that I want to entitle myself as a Chancellor? But being a hero is nice . I should listen to him first before I make my decision . Empress He has already fallen to my scheme . I have another option to pick if this Liu Ping is too suspicious . ¡¯

    "What do you want then?" Dong Zhuo asked .

    "Be my subordinate, and I¡¯ll lead you to the Capital . Help me be the new Emperor and you¡¯ll be the new prime minister!"

    The soldiers and all officers of Dong Zhuo were shocked from Liu Ping¡¯s bold deration while Dong Zhuo himself grinned . He liked the young prince now .

    "Tell me . How can I help you?"

    "Simple . Help me eradicate the ten eunuchs . "

    "I thought they were your allies . Are they not?"

    "You and all of you misunderstood me . I¡¯ve never allied myself with the likes of them!"

    The grinned on Dong Zhuo¡¯s face widened . He caught on what Liu Ping tried to do .

    ...

    Li Ru, who was listening to the side, looked at Liu Ping with bright eyes . He understood his purpose now .

    Li Ru had obtained a piece of information from his spies . It said that the officials, which Ping had ordered them to be executed, were still alive, and they were working behind the scenes .

    It appeared that Liu Ping plotted something and did not want to let the other factions know about it, which seemed to connect to what Liu Ping was attempting to do right now .

    ¡¯If I was right, the first step will be leading us into the Capital and kill the ten eunuchs . He will reveal the assumed dead officialster to dere that he deceived them so he could kill the corrupted eunuchs . Then he will reward us afterward as heroes of the Han Dynasty . Once the n ispleted, he will restore his reputation and gain more followers in the process . ¡¯

    Li Ru contemted while he was observing both Dong Zhuo and Liu Ping from a distance . He touched his beard and grinned .

    ¡¯Such an interesting prince . Maybe I should build some connection with him . Just in case this fatty fails . ¡¯

 Chapter 101

    Chapter 101

    Chapter 101 ¨C Unlucky Jia Xu

    May 18th, Xinan County . Dong Zhuo Camp .

    After Dong Zhuo and Liu Ping had a talk, Dong Zhuo troops returned back to their camp while Liu Ping remained in front of Hangu Pass to wait for the answer to his proposal .

    The first thing Dong Zhuo had in mind was Jia Xu and the baby prince, he was hesitating if he should get rid of Liu Ping and enthrone this baby prince as the Emperor as nned, or should he ept Liu Ping¡¯s deal .

    Both solutions were tempting . He could not decide by himself .

    "Wenyou, what should I choose?" Dong Zhuo asked his adviser, Li Ru .

    "Both options have pros and cons . If we proceed with the original n, the good thing is we won¡¯t have to be anyone¡¯s underling . But we will be targeted by all warlords in thend .

    However, if we picked the other option, we¡¯ll be Liu Ping¡¯spdogs . But we can im ourselves as a righteous army by helping him kill the eunuchs in the court . Then no lord can openly provoke us while we take control of the Capital . "

    "If you were me, which choice will you choose?"

    "It will be thetter choice, my lord . "

    "But we will have to serve that brat . What¡¯s your reason?"

    "It¡¯s simple, my lord . Once you be the prime minister, you will own all armies and all generals who serve Liu Ping as well . You will only need to bow down to one person . Since you didn¡¯t n to take the throne yourself anyway, why don¡¯t you pretend to be a loyal minister while you do your things behind the scenes?"

    Dong Zhuo grinned and chuckled at Li Ru¡¯s suggestion .

    ¡¯He¡¯s right . I¡¯ll just pretend that I¡¯m a loyal dog while I run the country myself . If one day you want to double-cross me, I¡¯ll just have to fake another righteous cause to snatch the throne . ¡¯

    "Alright, Wenyou . We¡¯ll go with your suggestion . Go and drag Jia Xu and the prince here . We¡¯ll give their heads as tributes to our new boss . "

    "Yes, my lord . "

    Li Ru bowed and left for the tent of their prisoners . Finally, it was the time to say goodbye to the two .

    ...

    Within the logistic and supply camp, there was arge colorful tent which was usually reserved for an important guest . However, it was used for housing two people inside .

    Inside the tent, a rough looking man with a tinge of several white hairs sat on a chair and faced inside while he showed his back to the entrance of the tent .

    In his arm, there was a bundle of clothes which wrapped around into an oval shape which wasmonly used for warming a baby . The man was holding the cloth bundles as if he was holding a baby inside the tent .

    Despite the peace and tranquility of the environment, the man was sweating profusely, and a trail of blood leaked out from the corner of his mouth .

    Li Ru walked inside the tent with two of his soldiers . He wanted to talk to this person onest time since Jia Xu was an intelligent schr .

    He felt pity that he had to kill such a talented person . But for his lord¡¯s sake, he had no choice .

    "Senior Jia, I¡¯vee for the prince . Can you hand him over?"

    Li Ru spoke as he gazed at the back of the man inside the tent . However, the man did not answer . He simply sat on the same spot while his torso and his arms were shaking .

    Li Ru¡¯s frown deepened . It was rude to ignore someone without looking back .

    He signaled his two soldiers to surround the man on both sides . Li Ru wanted to intimidate Jia Xu and get his attention .

    As ordered, the two soldiers walked to the sides of the assumed person . After they saw the face of the man, they were shocked by the sight .

    The man was bleeding from his six orifices . Blood was dripping out from both of his ears, eyes, nose, and his mouth . Yet, he was still alive . Secondly, the man was not Jia Xu, but he was one of the guards who was dressed up to make him look simr to Jia Xu .

    In addition, the baby prince, that should be in his arms, was nothing but a small log that was wrapped around with clothes .

    Both Jia Xu and the prince were not here!

    Seeing the unusual expression from his soldiers, Li Ru walked up to the disguised man, and he saw the horror on the face of the poor man .

    "This ... this is a dyed poison! What has happened, soldier!? Talk!"

    Li Ru yelled at the disguised man, yet he did not say anything . However, he pointed at the table with his shaking finger, which had a scroll on it .

    Li Ru grabbed the scroll and opened it, then a package made from pieces of clothes dropped down . He ignored the package and continued to read .

    "Hey, you morons! Do you think you can kill me that easily? Nope! I¡¯m gone, biatch! I¡¯ll be taking this baby with me . You can find yourself a new random baby to rece the prince!

    By the way, I¡¯ve poisoned the poor sod with my goo poison . The more he moves, the more the poison effect esctes . I also paralyzed him with a few random anesthesias I made . Be sure to feed him the antidote in the package or he will die before the sunset . "

    The expression of Li Ru distorted . Crow¡¯s feet on the face of Li Ru extended all over his face as if he was over a hundred-year-old geezer . Veins and lines bulged and his face color turned from red to blue from anger .

    "SEARCH!!! FIND THEM! NOW!"

    "AS FOR THIS IDIOT, LET HIM DIE!!"

    Li Ru screamed as he stomped out of the tent . His voice echoed the entire logistic camp and reached the main camp, which was located a kilometer away .

    ...

    ...

    The culprit, Jia Xu, was dressing like a servant among a caravan . His face was painted with coal and vegetable oil, and he bent his back forward to look like he was an elder . Twenty percent of his hairs were already white, so he painted them into grey, so he would look like an elder .

    He tricked the guard soldiers into drinking his poison, which they thought it was wine, and coaxed them into disguising as himself . Or else, they would die from poisoning . Eleven of the twelve soldiers died by his poison right away while the one remaining survived .

    Jia Xu dressed thest survivor to look like himself and made a dummy prince in his arms . After which, he left a trolling message to satisfy his ego and snuck out of the camp by disguising as a guard soldier .

    He managed to locate a caravan which was heading toward the yellow river . Then he disguised himself as a helpless old man with a grandson to hitch a ride .

    As a result, he was taken in by the people on the back of the caravan .

    Beside him at the moment, a young mother was breastfeeding two babies . One was her child while the other one was a child that came with Jia Xu .

    Both of them were sitting in an open cart with many housewives and elders on board . These people were also a part of the caravan soldiers¡¯ family members .

    "Such a cute little boy . How old is he?"

    "He¡¯s probably a few months . I forgot when he was born . "

    "Oh, where is his mother?"

    "His parents are dead . They were killed by bandits . I picked him up to adopt him, but as you can see . I¡¯m getting old . "

    Jia Xu spoke in a weak voice as if he was so exhausted in life, which made everybody nearby looked at him in sympathy and pity .

    "Then you shoulde with us!"

    Jia Xu raised his eyebrows as he gazed to these people .

    "Excuse me for asking, but where are you all going? I see that there are many soldiers escorting us and many supplies . It was unusual for a trading caravan . "

    The people on the cart smiled . An elder woman who looked like she was the leader of this group answered his question .

    "All the carriages and carts here are Zhang Ji¡¯s servants¡¯ family members . Lord Zhang Ji has been entrusted with a mission, so we have to go with them . "

    Jia Xu opened his eyes wide in shock . He just escaped from Dong Zhuo Camp . However, he ran into one of Dong Zhuo Army¡¯s logistic groups afterward . He could not help but curse at his fate and luck .

    ¡¯What rotten luck I have . What kind of karma did I do in my previous life to suffer like this? I want a ce to live in peace, dammit!¡¯

    His brain worked in a high-speed the moment he understood his position . He continued to think and calcte while his mouth opened up and asked for more information .

    "I see that we¡¯re crossing the Yellow River, but where are we heading?"

    The elder woman smiled and answered .

    "We¡¯re going to Julu City . "

 Chapter 102

    Chapter 102

    Chapter 102 ¨C Rebellion Homework

    May 31st . Julu City, Government Hall .

    The news about Dong Zhuo Army movements was being reported in the morning assembly .

    Tong and Hua Shi were shocked by the change of historical events . The Yellow Turban Uprising had not even started, yet Dong Zhuo already made his move .

    In their timeline, the Imperial forces were exhausted from the constant battles with the Yellow Turban rebellions and other bandits . At the same time, Lu Zhi was half-retired while Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun stationed on the central in . As a result, the west defense was wide open for Dong Zhuo to move in .

    Furthermore, the political struggle within the Imperial Court waspletely different from the current situation .

    In the historical timeline where Liu Ping did not exist, Empress He was with the eunuch faction while He Jin was with the loyalist faction . After the Emperor¡¯s death, He Jin was killed by the eunuch¡¯s scheme . Afterward, the eunuch faction was eradicated by Cao Cao and Yuan Shao¡¯s forces .

    The remnant eunuchs had to escort the Empress to the west in order to flee the Capital . Then Dong Zhuo, who was on his way toward the Capital, met them on the way . The eunuchs and the empress were either killed ormitted suicide because they did not want to be held captive .

    Dong Zhuo grasped this opportunity by iming the credit that he assisted the Imperial Court by killing the fleeing eunuchs . Thus, Luo Yang opened the gate for him .

    In this timeline, Liu Ping sided with the eunuchs while Empress He and He Jin were on the same side in the loyalist faction, which ended up strengthened the loyalist faction as He Jin was still alive and Empress He still had her influence .

    Dong Zhuo¡¯s move this time had no proper cause or reason to mobilize an army to the Capital . As a result, he was branded as a traitor . Furthermore, the main army of Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song were still healthy and in full-number . It was obvious that both forces would sh at each other soon .

    "Will you go back to the Capital, master?"

    Tong asked Lu Zhi in a worried tone . He did not want this old fox to leave yet as he was short on hands .

    Lu Zhi shook his head and sighed .

    "No . No matter who wins in the end, the Han Dynasty is finished . Liu Ping is not a good candidate for the throne, and Dong Zhuo is up to no good . I can¡¯t foresee a good future from them . "

    Tong was delighted by his master¡¯s answer . It meant that Lu Zhi would be stuck here for another long while .

    On the contrary to Tong¡¯s happiness, Lu Zhi¡¯s face turned grim . He tried to predict what kind of future the dynasty would face . No matter how many hundreds of scenarios he simted in his mind, he could not see hope .

    Zhang Jiao, who was listening to the side, muttered to himself .

    "Is the Han truly dead?"

    Lu Zhi snapped out of his trance and red at Zhang Jiao . Meanwhile, Sima Fang, who was also within the government hall, was also looking at him in shock as if he was enlightened by something .

    "Dad, no silly daydream please . "

    Tong tried to divert their attention in a hurry . He did not want them to know that Zhang Jiao was actually plotting a rebellion .

    "A-Ahaha! Excuse me, gentlemen . I have a habit of speaking what I fantasized out loud . I¡¯m getting old . Sometimes I daydream like this . Please forgive me . "

    Zhang Jiao was also not stupid . He pretended to be a bit crazy to cover up his secrets .

    Lu Zhi shook his head and sighed again . Tong and his father underestimated his insight too much . He could tell that Zhang Jiao was serious when he had spoken those words . But for the sake of his disciple, he did not mind keeping his mouth shut as Zhang Jiao had not made any move or indicated that he would rebel any time soon .

    On the other hand, Sima Fang¡¯s eyes were sparkled as he nced at Tong and his father . Then he dropped a bomb in front of 500 officials in the hall .

    "I believe we should start our move . My lord, it¡¯s about time that we stop paying any tribute to the Imperial Court and expand our forces . We shouldy out the foundation of our new dynasty . "

    "What!?"

    "Are you serious!?"

    "That¡¯s a deration of a rebellion!"

    "It¡¯s treason, don¡¯t you know that!?"

    The hall was thrown into an uproar . Treason was a serious crime . Anyone could be charged for treason or rebel even if he just uttered a word that he would rebel against the court . If he was caught, all nine generations would be captured and executed in public .

    A rebellion proposal was already shocking enough, but the proposal came from the new director of the Department of Justice himself . Everyone could not help but think . "What kind of sphemy is this!?"

    Lu Zhi red at his friend in anger . Though he could not pledge allegiance to Liu Ping, he was still loyal to the Han Court .

    Sima Fang could read his senior expression . He gave out his reason .

    "Right now the Capital is in turmoil . Dong Zhuo is known to be governing his people with his cruelty, while Liu Ping is basically a dog in heat . No matter who wins the throne in the end, the people will the one who suffers . So instead of bowing to the dying dynasty, why don¡¯t we raise a country ourselves? Even if we are branded traitors somehow, we can still establish a country just like Zhuo State or other State in the Warring State Era . A country isn¡¯t necessary to be unified . A portion ofnd is fine, too . "

    Lu Zhi was bbergasted . Zhang Jiao stood up in astonishment . Hua Shi whistled as she was impressed . Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, who was summoned back, stared at Sima Fang with admiration . Zhou Cang, however, nced back and forth between Tong and Sima Fang in expectation .

    Tong gazed everyone in solemn . He was nning to rebel against the Han Court eventually, but he did not expect that this matter would be proposed by Sima Fang, whom Tong least expected that he would support the rebellion .

    Zhang Jiao watched Tong, who was in deep thought . He wanted to dere the start of the rebellion right away, but He and Tong had talked many times in the past . They promised that if someone had an important matter that could affect everyone in the family, they had to gather everyone and consulted each other first .

    Tong also nced back at his father and gestured him not to make the decision yet . He knew what his father wanted to do, yet Zhang Jiao withheld his desire for the sake of their promises .

    "For this matter, I wish to consult with my family in private . It affects the future of all of us, including yourselves . I don¡¯t think I can make this decision alone . "

    Zhang Jiao dered that he would dy the decision .

    Lu Zhi nodded in acknowledgment while Sima Fang gazed at Zhang Jiao and Tong in deep admiration .

    ¡¯Such a deep family bond! I wish I could be like that with my sons . ¡¯

    ¡¯No, I should not wish it . I have to try getting close to my sons, too . ¡¯

    ¡¯I won¡¯t repeat the same mistake again!¡¯

    Because of the loss of his son, he became aware of the advantage of the family bond . With family members working together and put their trust in each other during the time of crisis, they would not be afraid of anything .

    He was also envious of the bond between Zhang Jiao and Tong, which he wanted to do the same with his family as well .

    ...

    ...

    The morning assembly had ended . Everyone was excused . Guards in the hall were also temporarily dismissed . Everybody left except for the Zhang family members and Hua Shi .

    "What¡¯s your idea, father?" Tong asked Zhang Jiao .

    "I and your second and third uncle have consulted before . I want to raise the g of the Yellow Turban Army . "

    Tong nodded . It was the same as in his history . Tong felt like it was fated that his father would raise the Yellow Turban g eventually no matter how the history had changed .

    "What¡¯s your thought, Tong?" Zhang Jiao asked .

    Everyone gazed at Tong in expectation . Tong had proven his prowess as the brain of this family since the conflict with Guo Dian . Thus, Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, and his father trusted Tong¡¯s decision .

    "I agree with father that we should raise the g . But not yet!"

    "Not yet? Then when should we?"

    "We need a cause if we want to rebel . Right now we have none! We¡¯ll be a sitting target to be ganged up on by every neighbor if we dere it outright . First, we need a cause . And that cause hasn¡¯t appeared yet, so we have to wait . Second, we need supporters and allies . We can¡¯t just raise our g without designating enemies and friends . We have to make friends with neighbors that we haven¡¯t made any contact yet . "

    Zhang Jiao and the others pondered . Though they had no prior knowledge about military strategy, they still agreed to Tong¡¯s suggestion .

    "And who will be our ally? Liu Yan, Han Fu, Yuan Shao, and Zhang Yan are untrustworthy . Will there be a good neighbor?" Zhang Liang asked .

    "Third uncle is half-right . Liu Yan, Han Fu, Yuan Shao, and Zhang Yan cannot be our ally . They will be the targets for our expansion . For our potential ally, there is one on the west of our city . "

    Hua Shi opened her eyes wide in shock . The only notable city on the west of Julu was Jinyang . There was one infamous general who was housed there .

    "The west of our city ... you meant that ..."

    "That¡¯s right . Jinyang City . I want to form an alliance with Ding Yuan!"

    ¡¯And I want Lu Bu!¡¯

 Chapter 103

    Chapter 103

    Chapter 103 ¨C Next Destination, Jinyang!

    June 1st . Julu City, Government Hall .

    The morning assembly resumed again today . Zhang Jiao voiced out that they would not rebel at the moment as there was no proper cause to do so .

    Lu Zhi sighed in relief . He appreciated Zhang Jiao¡¯s thoughtfulness, or rather, Tong¡¯s consideration .

    Sima Fang, however, did not say anything . He understood Zhang Jiao¡¯s reasons . He also agreed that it was too rash to make a move without a reason . If they proceeded as they had suggested yesterday, they would be at risk from being attacked by many warlords nearby . He also learned a bit about strategy, but he was not on a level that he could be called a strategist . Therefore, he stepped down .

    With no one objected Zhang Jiao¡¯s idea, he transferred the next agenda of the meeting to Tong .

    "Master, we¡¯ve been searching for Zhao Yun for a long time now . Is there any progress?"

    Tong stepped up and asked Lu Zhi, who was responsible for finding a few talented individuals . Since he sessfully invited Sima Fang over, every official acknowledged his abilities .

    Betrayed Tong¡¯s expectation, Lu Zhi shook his head .

    "No, my disciple Gongsun Zan said he did not have a subordinate by the name ¡¯Zhao Yun¡¯ . We also searched the nearby counties and regions, but we came up with nothing . "

    "I see . Then let¡¯s stop the search and call our men back . We¡¯ll need them with other tasks in the future . "

    "Will do . "

    "For the next agenda, I want to talk about forming an alliance with Ding Yuan, anyone wants toment?"

    The crowd murmured in surprise . Ding Yuan was known to be loyal to the Han Imperial Court . If they wanted to rebel, why would they form an alliance with someone who would side with the next Emperor?

    Sima Fang stepped up and bowed to question what on their mind .

    "Young master Zhang, Ding Yuan is always siding with the royalties . We want to hear your reason for forming such an alliance . "

    Tong nodded and gave out his thought .

    "First of all, we do not have a choice . From the very beginning, we are surrounded by four enemies . The north, we have Liu Yan who participated in the joint attack against my family . The east, we have Yuan Shao who had backstabbed us in the battle of Anping . Even if we opened our border and traded with each other, they will bite us the moment we give them a reason to . "

    "On the south, we have Han Fu and the Imperial City of Ye! This one is more dangerous than Yuan Shao because he can conscript 100,000 militias anytime he wanted to!"

    "And our newest enemy, Zhang Yan at Ganling City on the southeast of us . That guy used to be my subordinate but he abandoned us at the critical moment!"

    "With those four having a history with us, I doubt that they will agree on our alliance terms . "

    Sima Fang frowned when he heard about Zhang Yan, while Lu Zhi squinted his eyes as he also read the reports about this person .

    Zhang Yan was currently known as the leader of ck Mountain bandits . He plundered all viges, towns, and his own city! He was also on the wanted list criminals by the Imperial Court .

    Sima Fang stepped up again and asked .

    "Zhang Yan was a well-known criminal . There are enough reason and causes to rally an army to attack him . Isn¡¯t it our chance for an expansion?"

    The officials in the room buzzed as they agreed to Sima Fang¡¯s suggestion . However, Tong shook his head .

    "I haven¡¯t told you this . When he deserted my camp, he had only a thousand men . The next time I heard about him again, he already took Ganling City into his own . As the matter of fact, I already knew that we have all the reason that we can attack his city because he isn¡¯t appointed as a governor by the Emperor . Yet, the nearby warlords haven¡¯t made a move against him! I suspect that he has some abilities or something that can threaten his neighbors not to take action against him . We should not make a move on him before we gather more info about how he took the city and how he managed to ward off all neighbor warlords . "

    Tong¡¯s untold information about Zhang Yan desertion and his reason for not attacking Ganling shocked the officials .

    It was impossible for a thousand bandit toy siege and upy a city which had simr tall walls as Julu City, yet Zhang Yan managed to take it down . This abnormality gave them goosebumps, they became wary of this bandit leader .

    Tong continued stating his ideas .

    "Although we should not attack him at this moment, it doesn¡¯t mean that we will not attack him in the future . Father, Master Lu, I will have to ask both of you to help us gather more information about Ganling City and Zhang Yan . "

    "Alright, son"

    "I understand . "

    "Continue what I left off, with four of our neighbors as enemies, we have no choice but to try and form an alliance with Ding Yuan . We have not made any contact with them yet, I think we will have a chance for this deal to bear fruit . Secondly, his adopted son was a valiant warrior! I think everyone here should know his name by now . "

    The person that Tong talked about was Lu Bu, who had been making a name for himself in the past years . He participated on the frontlines with Ding Yuan, his foster father, and proved his prowess by ughtering a thousand Xiangnu barbarians at the borders by himself .

    As a result, he became famous among the neighbor provinces and in his city .

    "If we seed in forming this alliance, we might be able to borrow his son and his army for our cause . We might lose a bit of our gold in this alliance deal, but that is not our problem anymore . "

    The crowdughed . They all knew that Tong had millions of gold in his secret warehouse (his space storage) . They did not have any worry about the gold shortage or theck of fund .

    ...

    The morning assembly ended . The agenda was concluded that they would send an ambassador to Jinyang, and that ambassador was none other than Tong himself .

    At first, Lu Zhi and Sima Fang objected this . However, there was no other candidate that was confident enough to convince Ding Yuan, so the job fell to Tong in the end .

    After the morning meeting, Tong prepared for the trip to Jinyang right away .

    He did not need much luggage as he had his space storage, which already had 2 . 5 million taels of gold stored in it . His provision for the escort troops and other misceneous stuff were shoved into his inventory .

    With a little over two hours of preparation, Tong, Zhou Cang, and their 2,000 elites journeyed west to Jinyang .

    ...

    ...

    The border between Nie County and South of Jinyang City .

    A caravan of five thousand soldiers and their family members were hiking through a valley road . On the front of the caravan, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu were leading the group .

    Their mission was to travel to Jinyang City and meet Lu Bu .

    Zhang Ji and his caravan crossed many counties on the way . After they crossed the river, they journeyed pass Dayang County and He Dong County . Then, they traveled eastward toward Shangdang City . Afterward, they headed north in order to head to Jinyang City, where Lu Bu and Ding Yuan were at .

    ...

    Before Dong Zhuo reached Hongnong City and upied it, Zhang Ji was ordered to immediately cross the Yellow River and head toward Jinyang City . Afterward, they were to head east to Julu City .

    Li Ru had assigned them two tasks on this trip .

    First, as the original n, they were to journey to Julu City to form an alliance with Zhang Jiao and his son by giving Dong Bai and a redhare to Tong .

    And the new mission, Zhang Ji had to deliver another redhare horse to Lu Bu and convinced him to join Dong Zhuo .

    Lu Bu had been making a name of himself in the skirmishes with the Xiangnu barbarians on the border areas of Jinyang City while Ding Yuan continued to protect the city and the border .

    Li Ru heard the feats of the mighty warrior . He advised Dong Zhuo to recruit him into his ranks as he had to sh against the Imperial Army soon, so they need another great general to suppress the elites like Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun .

    Dong Zhuo agreed . At first, he arranged two redhare horses for Lu Bu and Tong each . However, Li Ru disagreed . He told Dong Zhuo that the horses might encounter an incident during the trip, so they should bring spare horses just in case .

    In the end, Dong Zhuo gave 10 redhare horses to Zhang Ji for this trip as spare horses .

    These warhorses weighed 1,500kg, which was 50% heavier than the average warhorses that usually weigh 1,000kg . They were considered a rare breed . Giving one each to Lu Bu and Tong was a good investment that Dong Zhuo could afford as he still had over a few hundreds of them back in Tianshui .

    ...

    ...

    Dong Bai sat inside a carriage with Zou Shi, who was holding the little girl on herps .

    "We¡¯ll get there very soon . Don¡¯t be anxious, okay?"

    "Umm!"

    For a second, the eyes of Dong Bai changed from the innocent eyes of a child into deep abyssal eyes before it reverted back to her usual expression .

    ¡¯I¡¯m getting tired of ying a child . I want to see my Tong ...¡¯

    ¡¯I hope there isn¡¯t any skanktching on him . ¡¯

    ¡¯If there is, I¡¯m gonna repeatedly castrate him for a hundred years once we get back!¡¯

 Chapter 104

    Chapter 104

    Chapter 104 ¨C Visiting Ding Yuan

    June 15th . Jinyang City .

    Ding Yuan was sitting on the throne of the City Governor in the government hall . He was reading two reports from scouts .

    On the right report, an army of Dong Zhuo was approaching from the south . However, it carried white gs with them . The scouts also made a contact with the group to inquire about their objectives, and the answer they got was that Zhang Ji and his men were paying Ding Yuan a visit . They wanted to give him gifts to form up a friendly rtionship between the two Lords . They were expected to be here tomorrow .

    On the left report, it described the details of the iing visitors from Julu City . The leader of the caravan was Zhang Tong and his aide Zhou Cang . They came with 2,000 escorts . However, there was a special note that these people traveled light without a provision cart or any caravan with gifts behind them .

    Currently, they were escorted into the city and were waiting for an audience with Ding Yuan .

    After finished reading the left report, Ding Yuan harrumphed in a bad mood .

    What irked him was that these people traveled light . There was neither a convoy of provision nor a gift, which was unusual for an ambassador group .

    ¡¯This little boy is looking down on me . He said that he wished to form an alliance, yet he didn¡¯t bring any gift . Does he even know how the world works?¡¯

    Although he was annoyed by the news, he was mature enough to differentiate between personal interest and politic . He ordered the guards to allow Tong and Zhou Cang inside .

    Two people were led inside . One of them was a bald man with imperial armor suit, while the other one was a young man who was not even in the 20s yet . However, the young man had a majestic aura as if he was a prince . His eyes also showed a depth of a politician .

    ¡¯That bald man must be the escort . The young man must be Zhang Tong . ¡¯

    ¡¯To have that aura at such age, he has more potential than Fengxian . ¡¯

    Tong stepped in forward and bowed to Ding Yuan as a courtesy . Zhou Cang also bowed, but he kept his silence .

    "Greetings, Lord Ding Yuan . I¡¯m Zhang Tong, son of Zhang Jiao . I¡¯vee as an ambassador of Julu City . "

    Ding Yuan nodded .

    "Please rise . Make yourself at home . You¡¯vee a long way . "

    ¡¯At least he possesses a good manner . I wish Fengxian has half of his . ¡¯

    Although Tong did not bring any gift with him, Ding Yuan still weed him as he did to other guests as he was a practical politician .

    Tong raised his head up to look at Ding Yuan, then he bowed his head down again .

    "My apologies for the inconsideration . I¡¯ve brought gifts with me, but I forgot to order my servants to carry them here . I beg you for your forgiveness . "

    Ding Yuan raised his eyebrows in surprise . The scouts clearly reported that Tong did not have a gift or any provision with him . Then where could Tong procure the gifts?

    Zhou Cang had seen Tong¡¯s signal . He bowed and rushed out of the hall . After a minute of waiting, a carriage which carried barrels of beer and whiskey was brought in front of the government building . There were alsorge wooden boxes that had soap bars in them .

    Ding Yuan stared at the carriage in confusion . He turned around and nced at his scout leaders, who were terrified by the reprimand gesture .

    ¡¯A bunch of fools! Zhang Tong has been carrying tributes with them . Why did you moron report that he doesn¡¯t have any!? I guess I need to discipline my scout teams again . ¡¯

    ...

    The gifts were taken by Ding Yuan¡¯s servants and a barrel of beer was carried inside the government hall . Tong personally served the beer to Ding Yuan himself as it was the specialty product of his city .

    "This is good wine! It¡¯s soft and light . What does this call, young master Zhang?"

    "It is called ¡¯Beer¡¯, Lord Ding . Unlikemon rough wine, we won¡¯t get drunk easily . "

    "Oho? So this is your city specialty that I¡¯ve heard of . "

    "That¡¯s correct . There is still another beverage that I¡¯ve gifted you . However, it was too heavy for a happy asion like this . I believe you should enjoy it in private . "

    "Hoho! Well, indeed . A hard drink is not something to be enjoyed in public . You are very good, young master Zhang . "

    Both of them exchange pleasantries as they enjoyed a simple wee banquet that Ding Yuan held for Tong in exchange for the gifts .

    Ding Yung¡¯s mood got much better after he thought that his scouts made a mistake about Tong¡¯s gifts . As a result, Tong managed to persuade him to form an alliance easily .

    Furthermore, Jinyang City surrounded by mountains with stone, coal, and iron mines . Tong did not forget to strike a deal with Ding Yuan .

    "500 Gold for a ton of iron ore, and 100 gold for a ton of coal or stone . How is that sound?"

    "You are very kind, Lord Ding Yuan . We¡¯ll buy you with that price . Also, we would like to make a reservation for the trade right away . How many stones, irons, and coals you have right now?"

    "About 100 tons each . Unfortunately, it¡¯s in the middle of nting season right now . We don¡¯t have many miners at the moment . "

    "We¡¯ll take all of them . I also have enough gold with me here . We can finish our transaction today . "

    "What!?"

    Hearing that Tong had enough gold for the 100 tons of each rare resources, Ding Yuan was shocked speechless . If it was true, then Tong had more than 70,000 gold with him!

    If the deal was sessful, Ding Yuan would acquire thisrge sum of gold . He would not worry about the taxes or the food problem in this city as he would have plenty of ways out .

    Thus, Ding Yuan agreed to form both trade alliance and army protection alliance . The documents and signature were signed by both parties .

    Because it waste today, Tong¡¯s men were guided to guest houses while Tong himself was treated as VIP .

    Meanwhile, Tong had been grinning from ear to ear since he had heard that this city had several mines . Another project aspired in his mind .

    ¡¯With a steady supply of coal and iron ores, I should build a steel factory soon . ¡¯

    ¡¯Then I¡¯ll upgrade our armors and weapons with the steel!¡¯

    ...

    The 70,000 taels of gold from Tong was delivered to the city hall of Jinyang the next day . Tong used the same tactic as yesterday by unloaded his gold into carriage beforehand and had Zhou Cang led the servants to bring them to the city hall .

    Ding Yuan was also efficient in his job . All resources were loaded in well-prepared carts and were on standby to be delivered to Julu .

    Today, Ding Yuan¡¯s adopted son, Lu Bu, was also present . He was summoned back from the front line to guard Tong¡¯s gold caravan and the ore caravan .

    When Lu Bu heard the summon order, he was frustrated . He was having a good time with his wife in a temporary house on a mountain, which was his personal holiday resort .

    Most importantly, his wife had just given birth to his daughter, Lu Lingqi, a few months ago . She needed extra care from her husband and servants . Therefore, Lu Bu was not in the mood to go to work at the moment .

    Despite his discontentment with the summon, after he heard that he had to guard a caravan which carried over 70,000 gold, Lu Bu rushed here to see it .

    The sight of a massive pile of gold bullion nuggets and gold ingots astonished Lu Bu . He was born in a farmer family and was adopted by Ding Yuan after his father died, so he had never seen such arge amount of gold before in his life .

    "Father, this?"

    Lu Bu looked at Ding Yuan while he still had a surprised look on this face .

    "It¡¯s from our new friend . Be sure to treat him with courtesy . "

    Ding Yuan gestured Lu Bu in the direction where Tong and his men were . At the direction of his gesture, Tong was giving orders to his subordinates .

    Lu Bu turned and looked at the direction, then he found Tong .

    "It¡¯s that man?"

    "Yes, it¡¯s him . "

    Lu Bu squinted his eyes as he gazed at Tong . He had detected a faint sinister auraing from Tong . From his perspective, only someone who had been through many battlefields would have it .

    Lu Bu thought of this aura as a warrior aura . His subordinates, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, had it as well because they had been through thick and thin with him on the mountain battlefields for years . However, the aura they had was still not as thick as Tong .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve heard he had fought with Guo Dian . But it was just one battlefield . How can he has that aura?¡¯

    As Lu Bu was puzzled and unable toe up with any exnation for this event, he walked up to Tong and ...

    "Hey, brat . Spar with me!"

 Chapter 105

    Chapter 105

    Chapter 105 ¨C Pride

    "Hey, brat . Spar with me!"

    Tong turned into the direction of the haughty voice, then he was shocked by seeing the body of the person .

    He was about 195cm tall with toned muscles . His hair was tied to the back, and his bearing was majestic and dignified . Though he did not wear armor at this moment, his statue and outward look were enough to scare everymoner in front of him .

    Tong was only 182cm tall at the moment . From his perspective, Lu Bu was a head taller than him . It was like he was standing face-to-face with a giant .

    By instinct, Tong took a step back from the sudden approach . Lu Bu¡¯s natural pressure was unbearable even to Tong . Meanwhile, Tong¡¯s subordinate soldiers were shaken in fear . Their legs could not stop shaking and their teeth were ttering .

    "Didn¡¯t you hear what I said? Spar with me!"

    Tong took a deep breath to calm down and red into the eyes of Lu Bu . He did his best to exert his mentality aura of a majestic prince that he practiced with Lu Zhi, yet Lu Bu did not flinch the slightest .

    "... May I know who you are?"

    Tong asked while he was gritting his teeth, enduring Lu Bu¡¯s pressure .

    "Lu Bu Fengxian! Son of Dian Yuan!"

    Staring at Lu Bu in shock, Tong realized the reason behind the unusual pressure from the man now .

    He was standing in front of the God of War himself! But why did this War God want to duel with him?

    "For what purpose did you want to fight with me?"

    "Because I want to!"

    The corner of Tong¡¯s eyebrow twitched .

    ¡¯This man is thoughtless as the rumor said . But if he is stupid, he would not be able to be a general in the first ce . There should be a reason that made him challenged me . ¡¯

    As always, Tong was careful with his decisions . But this time, He did not have much of a choice but to ept Lu Bu¡¯s challenge .

    He had to befriend him in order to poach his subordinates during his stay here .

    Zhang Liao and Gao Shun were as much as a good general like Lu Bu .

    The feats that Zhang Liao did in Tong¡¯s previous world timeline showed that he was a great general, much better than Lu Bu in terms ofmanding, insight, and strategies .

    Meanwhile, Gao Shun was the renowned heavy cavalrymander that was capable of crushing any formation of his enemies . His private troops were nicknamed "Formation Crushing Army" by his enemies and his allies .

    As for Lu Bu, he was untrustworthy . Tong did not want him in his ranks unless he could somehow find a way to tame this beast .

    "Ok, I ept your challenge . When and where should we fight?" Tong asked .

    "Now! Draw your weapon . "

    Tong did not know what to do with Lu Bu¡¯s frankness and recklessness . However, an opportunity to test his skill against the strongest man in this era was hard toe by . He had to try .

    Tong drew his sword and got into a kendo stance in preparation . Meanwhile, Lu Bu did not use his halberd . He casually grabbed a sword at his side and waved it around to warm up his shoulder without drawing it from the scabbard .

    Staring at the casual Lu Bu, Tong felt intimidated . It was already hard to withstand his natural oppressing aura . Now, he had to solo this world boss by himself . It was not a good feeling at all .

    No matter how hard Tong tried to calm down or console himself that he had many cheat skills and he was immune to all physical attack, all Lu Bu required was a simple nce into the eyes of Tong to petrify both of Tong¡¯s legs .

    "Huh? Is that it?"

    Lu Bu had a distorted expression on his face as if he was disappointed with something .

    "Brat, I won¡¯t kill you . Heck, I won¡¯t even attack you! I want you to attack me with everything you have! I want to know how you get those killing intents with your age!"

    Tong snapped out of his trance by Lu Bu¡¯s shout . It came to him that he was not himself at all .

    He took another deep breath and poured all concentration into his sword and his opponent . Everything else was forgotten and was treated as a simple stone on the roadside .

    His focus sharpened, and so did his aura .

    Seeing the serious Tong, Lu Bu smirked . He could detect that Tong¡¯s aura was strengthened and appeared more intense than before . He pointed his scabbard at Tong and taunted .

    "Come!"

    As he taunted, Lu Bu also emitted his killing intent to overwhelm Tong . Although he would not attack him, Lu Bu still used his aura to make Tong give out his best attack .

    *Rumble*

    The menacing cold air oveyed with Tong¡¯s killing intent .

    Because of the overwhelming aura of Lu Bu, the pressure weighing upon Tong¡¯s mind increased . The pupils that were once ck turned into the devilish red .

    And then, something had snapped .

    [WARNING! DEMONIC SEAL HAS BEEN WEAKENED!]

    [WARNING! DEMONIC SEAL HAS BEEN WEAKENED!]

    [WARNING! DEMONIC SEAL HAS BEEN WEAKENED!]

    The system message roared inside of Tong¡¯s mind as if it shouted to his ears directly, yet Tong did not pay attention to it . Rather, he did not hear it . His vision only had Lu Bu and himself . The rest was just nothingness .

    Then

    . . .

    [Your [Demonic Curse] skill, [Pride], can be used . ]

    ...

    *BOOM*

    The aura within Tong¡¯s body exploded . His killing intent engulfed all living being in Jinyang City . The eyes which once appeared normal was painted in ck . His pupils turned into ming red as if he was a devil incarnated .

    Ding Yuan, who was about to step up and stop his adopted son, was panic-stricken . All soldiers were frightened and stumbled onto the ground . Zhou Cang opened his eyes wide in astonishment . Though his legs had given up on him, he still managed to keep his eyes on his Lord to witness his greatness .

    Lu Bu got goosebumps by the sudden the outburst killing aura .

    Instead of being afraid by the devil, Lu Bu was so excited that he reneged his promise earlier as he also exploded his killing aura to match up with Tong . He intended to go all out .

    *BOOM*

    The shing of killing intent made the soldiers nearby lost consciousness . Zhou Cang also almost fainted from the outburst .

    "HAHAHAHA! THAT¡¯S RIGHT, BRAT! COME ON! LET¡¯S GO!"

    Lu Bu broke his promise and attacked Tong head on . He swung his sword sideways to get rid of his scabbard . Then the shing iron sword in the hand of Lu Bu hacked down, aiming for Tong¡¯s forehead .

    Tong took a step forward and weed the attack with his sword strike of his own .

    *BANG*

    It was not a sound of shing between swords . It was a sound of a collision of hard objects as if two trucks ran into each other head-on .

    Both Tong and Lu Bu came to a stop with the sword collision . Both swords locked and grinded each other, which caused sparks on the surface of the iron swords .

    "Good power! Again!"

    Lu Bu shouted and shoved forward, which Tong also did the same . Both of them used the momentum to leap back two steps and then charged forward one more time .

    As if both of them could read each other, they did not collide with their swords again . They knew that their swords were cracked from the previous impact . With another strike, their sword would be shattered .

    Lu Bu feinted a strike and sidestep into a low sword sweep while Tong dodged the low blow with a jump and countered it with a horizontal sword sweep, aiming at Lu Bu¡¯s eyes .

    Lu Bu bent his head backward and dodged the sweep by half a centimeter . His arm and shoulder of the hand that held his sword did not stop . They made a half rotation and his sword was swung in a half-moon motion at Tong, who was still in mid-air .

    "TIME S-! Ugh!"

    Tong almost shouted the activation words for his time stop skill by reflex, but the sudden head pain made him stuttered in mid-word .

    Because of the hesitation and the mistake in the split of a second, Tong was hit by Lu Bu¡¯s sword on his left ribcage .

    The sword broke upon the impact, but it did not harm Tong¡¯s body . On the other hand, Tong was surprised by the sudden impact and lost bnce . He fell and rolled on the ground as if he was hit and flew away by the impact .

    The duel ended with Lu Bu¡¯s victory in three moves .

    [The Demonic Seal has been restored . ]

    [Your skill [Pride] has been disabled . ]

    "Huh? What the fudge?"

    Tong was confused by the sudden turn of events . Everything he did in the duel just now was not under his control . He temporary fell into a half-awake state and fought as if he was moving his body inside a dream .

    Then, the headache made him fully awake again before he was hit by Lu Bu¡¯s sword .

    Tong lied on the ground while he touched his forehead with his hand to ease his headache . The pain onlysted for three seconds before it subsided .

    "Aw, crap . What a pain . "

    Tongined in annoyance . There were many questions about his skill that he subconsciously used, but he had to deal with the situation at hand first .

    Meanwhile, Lu Bu was dumbstruck by the durability of Tong¡¯s body .

    ¡¯It was a clean strike, yet he wasn¡¯t injured a bit . There is no wound on his body, too . Hahaha! I like this guy . I should ask him to spar with me more!¡¯

 Chapter 106

    Chapter 106

    Chapter 106 ¨C Can He Be Trusted?

    "Fengxian! Stop!"

    Ding Yuan shouted with all his strength . Because the collision of killing intent and the duel made him weak in the knees, Ding Yuan had to shout instead of jumping in front of Lu Bu .

    "Don¡¯t worry, pops . He doesn¡¯t even hurt . "

    Lu Bu shrugged as if he had nothing to do with it . He proceeded toward Tong who was still lying on the ground with his hand on his forehead .

    "Good fight, brat . Can you stand?"

    Lu Bu extended his hand to Tong, gesturing his goodwill .

    Tong grabbed his hand and got up while he was still dizzy by the headache .

    "Yeah, thank you, senior . "

    "Don¡¯t call me senior . Just call me by Fengxian! What¡¯s your name?"

    "Zhang Tong, senior . I meant brother Fengxian . You can just call me Tong . "

    "That¡¯s an odd courtesy name . But who cares, right? That was a good outburst by the way! Where did you learn that? It took me five years to master that killing intent . You know that when I was young I ..."

    Lu Bu started talking nonstop which surprised Tong . He thought that the God of War would be haughty, arrogant, and dignified . However, the person in front of him was just like a battle maniac or a nerd martial artist .

    This event made Tong doubt that the big guy over here was actually Lu Bu or an imposter .

    ¡¯He¡¯s too innocent to be a backstabber . Perhaps something turned him into that kind of person . The event at Xiapi in the year 196 was the proof that he can¡¯t be trusted ... wait! Maybe!¡¯

    Tong opened his eyes wide as he had enlightenment . He had one theory in his mind at the moment . If this theory was correct, then the other Lords might have misunderstood him as an unfilial person and branded him as untrustworthy in Tong¡¯s history timeline .

    By the records of ancient historians, Wang Yun plotted with Lu Bu to kill Dong Zhuo . It was possible that Wang Yun was the mastermind, and it was Lu Bu who was being used as a tool .

    After he killed Dong Zhuo and fled from Chang An, he sought shelter under Yuan Shu in Wan City . However, Yuan Shu detested Lu Bu for being unfilial and his deeds for being a betrayer, he did not wee him . As a consequence, Lu Bu developed a paranoid trait, which worsened his standings with every Lords in the future .

    Then, he went to Yuan Shao and asked him to be employed under him, but Yuan Shao plotted to assassinate Lu Bu because of his past deeds . Both of them ended up having a feud with each other because Yuan Shao sent a team of assassins to kill him at night .

    Afterward, Lu Bu fled southward . He encountered Zhang Miao in Chenliu, who invited him in and weed him wholeheartedly . Unbeknownst to the plot that Zhang Miao had nned, Lu Bu epted to live in Chenliu for a while .

    In 194, Cao Cao, who was the master of Zhang Miao and Chenliu City,unched a campaign against Xu Province under Tao Qian¡¯s control . Chen Gong conspired with Zhang Miao and dragged Lu Bu into the picture by forcing him to help them upying Pu Yang City .

    Lu Bu did so as Chen Gong and the rest of the defectors of Cao Cao had asked him, which ended up as him betraying another Lord, and eventually lost the city back to Cao Cao .

    Then he was used again by Yuan Shu when Lu Bu sought shelter with Liu Bei . He was tricked into attacking Xiapi by baiting Lu Bu that Yuan Shu would be willing to solve his provision and army supply problems, however, Lu Bu had to help Yuan Shu taking down Liu Bei . Thus, Lu Bu betrayed Liu Bei and took Xiapi .

    On 197 Yuan Shu proimed himself Emperor, Cao Cao tricked him into bing an ally and attacking Yuan Shu . As a result, Lu Bu betrayed his previous ally, Yuan Shu .

    At the battle of Xiapi, which was Lu Bu¡¯sst battle, Cao Cao gave Lu Bu an offer that if he were to surrender to him, Lu Bu would be allowed to serve under Cao Cao . Lu Bu wanted to surrender, but he was stopped by Chen Gong and the others who were once subordinates of Cao Cao because they were afraid of the repercussions of being traitors .

    There were many other cases where Lu Bu had been led by the nose by other people and his reputation continued to sink further and further . Everything happened because hecked the abilities to judge people and skills to make a thorough n for the future, which ended up getting himself killed by the hands of Cao Cao and Liu Bei in the year 199 .

    ¡¯With zero reputation, Lu Bu was considered deceitful by the historians . But was it actually the case?¡¯ Tong thought .

    ¡¯But there is one more question . If he is not a duplicity person as I have in mind, why did he kill Ding Yuan to serve Dong Zhuo? What is the factor that drove him into this act?¡¯

    While Tong gazed at the Lu Bu in front of him, the others had regained their sense and leg strength . Ding Yuan rushed in to apologize to Tong in frantic . He was afraid that Lu Bu might create a feud with this young Lord, then he would lose out this trading partnership .

    Tong did not mind it . He chatted with the two father and son for a while before a messenger barged in and gave out a report .

    "Report to the Lord Governor! Zhang Ji of Dong Zhuo Army hase to visit! They are waiting for you inside the main hall!"

    "Ah? Right . I totally forgot about it . I¡¯m sorry young master Zhang . I will have to attend these guests . Please excuse me . "

    Tong¡¯s heart skipped a beat . The presence of a person of Dong Zhuo here gave Tong a bad premonition .

    He was afraid that the event that Lu Bu killed his adopted father to join Dong Zhuo would happen earlier than the original timeline . If Lu Bu killed Ding Yuan and joined Dong Zhuo now, this Jinyang City might be a thorn to him in the future .

    Tong could not afford to let Dong Zhuo snatching away Lu Bu right now!

    "Do you mind if I go along as well? I also have a business proposition to Dong Zhuo . I wish to use this opportunity to contact his messenger, so it can save times . "

    Tong gave out an excuse to attend the meeting too . He wanted to monitor Lu Bu that he would not get a secret message from Dong Zhuo Army .

    "Very well, young master Zhang . You cane with me . You have such sight in such a young age, I really envy your father . "

    "Haha, please don¡¯t . It is me who envy your son . He¡¯s so strong that he can beat me in less than 3 moves! I thought I¡¯m strong but he is way stronger than me . "

    "HAHAHA!" Lu Bu and Ding Yuanughed .

    ...

    The three chatted andughed while they headed to the government main hall . After they arrived, they found Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu waiting for them inside .

    Both of them thought that Tong was one of the subordinates of Ding Yuan, so they did not pay attention to him .

    "Greetings, Lord Ding Yuan . We¡¯vee as representatives of Lord Dong Zhuo . We¡¯ve brought our humble treasures as our gifts . Please ept them . "

    There were boxes of gold, decorated vases, paintings, and misceneous objects in the middle of the hall . They were the tributes for Ding Yuan .

    Tong nced at the treasures, then he looked away as he did not interest in them . All of those were useless to him . Only gold, provision, army supplies, or famous generals and strategists could attract his interest .

    On the contrary of Tong, Lu Bu looked at the tributes with desire . He wanted to take some of them and gift them to his wife or decorate his house with a few of these paintings .

    Ding Yuan was an elite politician . He was indifferent toward tribute treasures like these . Thus, he continued with his formality .

    "Please thank Lord Dong Zhuo for such gifts . Do tell me your mission . What can I do for you?"

    "We are currently traveling to Julu City, so we have to pass this region . We are just stopping by to resupply ourselves . Please do not mind us . "

    Ding Yuan opened his eyes in surprise while he nced at Tong in secret . On the other hand, Tong squinted his eyes and tried to read Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu .

    ¡¯Why the hell is Dong Zhuo sending messengers to my city? What does he want from me? Wait a minute . Does he want me to be another Lu Bu? Judging from his wicked character and Li Ru, they would definitely try this strategy . But ...¡¯

    Tong peered at Lu Bu by his side, who was staring at the treasures in a daze . It was not difficult to see his inner thought .

    ¡¯As I suspected . Lu Bu is greedy by nature . He was probably easily tempted by Dong Zhuo in my timeline . Dong Zhuo was the grand chancellor of Han Court at that time, so he can appoint any high ranking official with just his words . For this reason, Lu Bu was tricked . ¡¯

    Tong cleared up some of his suspicion of Lu Bu¡¯s character . If he was the type whom money and position could buy, then he could be tricked to kill his foster father easily .

    ¡¯I wonder if I stop this father killing event, can I convert him and his father into my subordinates?¡¯

 Chapter 107

    Chapter 107

    Chapter 107 ¨C Visiting Lu Bu¡¯s Camp

    Zhang Ji and the rest were guided into the guest houses by Ding Yuan while Tong asked Lu Bu to tag along with him for the moment .

    Lu Bu agreed . He nned to spar with Tong again anyway, so he brought Tong to his army camp nearby to give him a tour .

    "There are mountains everywhere but most of your troops are cavalries?"

    Tong was astonished by the sight of horse ranches and the warhorses . They were twice as big as ordinary horses he had seen .

    An ordinary horse was usually a bit thin and light, while these warhorses were muscr and thick . Common horse weighed only 500-700kg, but these guys should be around 800 to 1,200kg each .

    Back at Julu, the majority of Bo Cai¡¯s soldiers still usedmon horses as their warhorses, which was depressing if Tongpared it with the proper cavalry units under Lu Bu here .

    "These are not ordinary warhorses, Tong . These are Xiangnu warhorses . They can traverse on cliffs and hike the steep terrains . "

    "Xiangnu warhorses? The Xiangnu Tribes!?"

    "Of course, we aren¡¯t actually at war with all of the tribes . Some of them trade with us . Our city was barren, to begin with, so we have to rely on trading with neighbors even if they were barbarian tribes . We profit from selling ores and raw jewelry we dug up in the mines while we bought food and supplies from Shangdang or the Xiangnu tribes . Come to think of it, your city seems to be doing well on the trading fields . Are you now a conglomerate?"

    Tong gazed at Lu Bu in disbelief . He thought that this man was just a simple muscle-brain greedy warrior, but he seemed to be well-versed on other fields as well .

    "Yes . We¡¯re selling a few kinds of stuff to the merchants . "

    "Good, good! Young masters like us have to be good atmerce! Those nobles without financial knowledge are a bunch of rotten fools . They will burn out all of their treasures if they don¡¯t know how to earn some gold!"

    Listening to Lu Bu¡¯s random rambling, Tong could not believe his ears . Was this the Lu Bu, the God of War? Why did he sound like a son of a merchant? Was he always like this in his timeline too?

    "Did you learn all of these from your father?"

    Tong decided to probe this man a bit . It was not hurt to gather around a few pieces of information .

    "Oh, I learned it from one of my subordinates . I meant my adviser . Thanks to him, our soldiers have been well-fed and disciplined . At first, he was just a no-name brat that I picked from one of the roadsides . Who would have thought that he turns out to be such an intelligent youngster? Come to think of it, both of you are at a simr age . I should introduce him to you . "

    Tong feet came to a pause . His mind was as if he had been struck by a lightning .

    Everything in this world happened for a reason . And the reason Lu Bu acted like this was obvious . He did not have any advisor until he met Chen Gong in Chenliu City . The existence of Lu Bu¡¯s advisor here did not fit in the historical timeline, which Tong came to a conclusion .

    He was influenced by an otherworlder!

    ¡¯Why does thing always getplicated like this!? All history timeline and people¡¯s habit I had remembered are all useless here!¡¯

    Realizing that a reincarnator had taken root in this city, Tong threw away all his previous knowledge and references from his previous life . Every person here had to be reevaluated from a scratch .

    ¡¯This reminds me . There are 20 reincarnators remaining, me, Hua Shi, Liu Ping, and Te Langpu . So that means 16 other people are still roaming around somewhere this country . Unless I get rid of them all, the butterfly effects will get more chaotic and unpredictable . ¡¯

    Tong¡¯s face turned serious while he caught up with Lu Bu . He calcted in his mind about a n to retreat or escape from this ce as he observed the surroundings . In the worst case scenario, if he ended up having a feud with Lu Bu and his gangs, Tong could still keep his life and fled this city .

    Secure the escape route first, then proceed to the battlefield .

    It was a motto that Tong kept in his mind as a fruit of his experiences in this world .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll observe the situation first . The other party should also know that I¡¯m a reincarnator as well . I still have my time stop skill and both my gun and rifle are still in my inventory . If thing goes south, I¡¯ll just kill them all . ¡¯

    The feet of Lu Bu stopped all of a sudden . He turned around and peered at Tong with the corner of his eyes .

    "Oi, brat . I don¡¯t know what you are thinking about . But no one ns to harm you in here . You don¡¯t need to be that cautious . "

    Tong jolted and snapped out of his thought with Lu Bu¡¯s words .

    "Huh?"

    "I can sense your killing intent . I know it wasn¡¯t for me and others but someone else, so I¡¯ll overlook it . I¡¯ll say this again . No one can harm you as long as I¡¯m here . I¡¯m your goddamn host, and it¡¯s my job to protect my guests . Any asshole thates for you will have to get through me first . So rx . "

    As an elite and veteran in the battlefield, Lu Bu had sensed Tong¡¯s killing intent when he was thinking and nned about how to kill the otherworlder behind Lu Bu .

    Though Lu Bu could not tell exactly why Tong would emit a hostile intent now, he and his men did not n to harm Tong from the start . Therefore, he warned Tong, so he could rx around here a bit .

    Acknowledging his good will, Tong nodded and calm himself . Both of them continued to proceed inside Lu Bu¡¯s camp .

    Upon reaching the training ground, the sounds of soldiers in the middle of training could be heard . A hundred was doing a push-up . Another hundred men were jogging around the training field . Other groups were doing different activities .

    Tong frowned the moment he saw the actions of the soldiers . What they were doing was a training method of the 21st-century, which was the same that he did with his army .

    It was clearer than crystal clear that Lu Bu¡¯s advisor was one of the people from his time .

    Among the training soldiers, a young man in a schr cloth was riding a horse in an awkward manner . By the looks of it, he was practicing riding a horse with another soldier riding beside him to give him a pointer .

    The schr stood out from the rest . He did not tie his hair with a knot or had long hair like other natives here . Instead, he cut his hair short . He had no beard nor mustache . In other words, he was so not from this world .

    Tong looked at the schr with a cringe expression while he marked the person with his radar map . The name was shown as Li Feihong, which never appeared in the Three Kingdoms Era .

    ¡¯Good thing that I didn¡¯t have to search around . ¡¯

    The soldiers noticed Lu Bu and stopped training to salute him . The schr also turned around and rode his horse toward Lu Bu¡¯s direction . At the same time, two middle-aged men in a fancy armor showed up to greet Lu Bu .

    "Wee back, young master . "

    "Wee back, young lord!"

    Seeing the two men cupped their hands and bowed to himself, Lu Bu waved and allowed them to look up .

    "Zhang Liao, Gao Shun! I want you two to meet this person . He is Zhang Tong of Julu that we heard about . He managed to receive my full power strike head on and still standing! He¡¯s also probably stronger than both of you in terms of swordsmanship! Don¡¯t you two look down on him!"

    The two middle-aged men, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, gazed at Tong with both round eyes as they were astonished . Both of them sparred with their Lord before, so they knew how absurd Lu Bu¡¯s strength was . Yet, their lord had spoken himself that this person could withstand his attack head-on .

    In addition, they had heard about Tong¡¯s feat, which he routed Zou Jing and killed Guo Dian despite the great disadvantage in the battle of Anping before . As generals of thousand men, they admired the strategies and the valor that Tong showed in the battle .

    The eyes of astonishment turned into the eyes of admiration . Zhang Liao and Gao Shun bowed and cupped their fists as they greeted Tong with respect .

    "Greeting, Lord Zhang Tong!"

    "Greeting, Lord Zhang!"

    Tong also returned the greeting with respect .

    "Sir Zhang Liao, Sir Gao Shun, well met! Please to meet both of you!"

    Lu Buughed and nodded that he seeded in making a connection between Tong and his two subordinates . He waved his hand and called the other subordinate over .

    "Li Feihong! Come here! I want you to meet someone!"

    On the contrary of everyone¡¯s mood, Li Feihong was in a panic when he heard the name "Zhang Tong" from afar . He attempted to turn his horse around to escape, but it did not listen to him at all .

    ¡¯No, no, no, no, no . Please turn around, or I¡¯ll be dead!¡¯

    ¡¯That¡¯s definitely another reincarnator! I have to escape!¡¯

    ¡¯Should I open the gate right now?¡¯

 Chapter 108

    Chapter 108

    Chapter 108 ¨C The Regret of Li Feihong

    Li Feihong was once a simple sryman working in his previous life . He had an easy lifestyle, a good wife, and two kids . Besides his work, he had nothing to worry about as he contented with what he had .

    But the day hemitted a sin could still be remembered after the years of torment in Hell, Li Feihong was enticed by his boss into epting a bribe from a mafia .

    That day, a mafia in a suit came to hispany to visit his boss, who had a connection with them . After the meeting, the boss dragged him into the meeting room and introduced him to the Mafioso .

    "I want you to attend a trial as a witness for my boss . "

    It was what he said in the meeting . Then, he was given a script and details about what he had to do in the courtroom .

    By doing the job that the Mafioso asked, he would receive arge sum of money, which was ten times higher than the sry he could get for twenty years . Li Feihong could have an early-retirement and travel around the world with his family right away .

    With his greed, he epted the bribe .

    He did not realize that he went to the court and gave out testimonies for Ping, who killed Tong¡¯s parents . He became one of the alibi witnesses that made Ping slipped away from his crime .

    After the verdict was given, he identally nced at Tong, who was crying in anger in the courtroom and was restrained by his friends and the securities . Meanwhile, Ping mocked Tong and the persecutors for being fools in this trial and caused chaos in the courtroom .

    Ping was fined a sum of money for the improper manner in the court . That was all the punishment he received .

    Because of the image of the angry Tong, Li Feihong decided to dig into the case and found outter about the truth behind the murder of Tong¡¯s parents . He felt guilty for saving the criminal, so he wanted to correct his testimonies by consulting with the police and Tong .

    However, Ping and his goons had been monitoring all the bribed witnesses and had nned to silence everyone beforehand . Within a week after the discovery, Li Feihong and his entire family members were kidnapped and were drown to death in the middle of the ocean .

    After death, Li Feihong was judged by the angel that he had to be sent to the eight Hell formitted fraud and caused innocent bystanders to suffer injustice .

    Li Feihong regretted every moment during his time in Hell . Then, he thought he was given a second chance for redemption when he was thrown into the gate into another world . The system told him to live free and be an honest man . Therefore, Li Feihong vowed that he would not repeat the same mistake again .

    After living in this world for twelve years, he was picked up by Lu Bu when he was gathering herbs on the roadsides . He was forced to work in the logistics department in exchange for a few coins a month, which had a better earning than living in a rural vige .

    As he grew up, his intelligence as a reincarnator shone . His colleagues noticed this and reported to the upper echelons, which ended up to the ears of Lu Bu .

    Li Feihong was promoted as a result . He was transferred to the main force as a provision manager . At this rank, his cheat skill came into y and made his reputation skyrocketed .

    ...

    *********************************

    [Private Farm World] LV 3

    - Able to ess a private world in another dimension .

    - World Size 3,000 km .

    - Time Scale Current World - Private World: 1 day ¨C 1 month .

    - The host can grow crops in the private world .

    - The host can raise animals in the private world .

    - All objects in the private world can be taken out to this world .

    - The host can observe the outer world from the private world in the range of 1km

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan per one ess pass .

    - Upkeep: 1,000 lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only grow crops that exist in this world .

    - Can only raise animals that exist in this world .

    *********************************

    ...

    This skill was created based on a farming game that Li Feihong had yed in his previous life . He could raise crops and animals in the farm world and take the harvested crops into this world .

    Because the skill was created in a rush, Li Feihong did not calcte thoroughly when he designed this skill . As a result, the upkeep was expensive .

    At first, he barely earned enough lifespan from the mission to pay for the upkeep, so he could not use it . Afterward, the rewards were more generous . He began to use it more often to experiment on various crops and animals .

    Then, he was promoted to the provision manager . He started to utilize this ability to help the army .

    The provision problem that Lu Bu and Ding Yuan had been troubled with was solved . Warhorses, which was rare and hard to breed, suddenly increased . The serious issues that they could not solve for years were resolved in a mysterious way .

    Both Lu Bu and Ding Yuan was baffled by the phenomenon, so they summoned all managers to interrogate, after which, all the traces pointed at Li Feihong, who was at the center of this phenomenon .

    Li Feihong was inquired of how he dealt with the issue, but he did not tell them about his ability . He told Ding Yuan and Lu Bu that he had a connection with one of the Xiangnu tribe in secret, and he had traded with them . He also refused to reveal the identity and the location of the tribe as he promised them that he had to protect their secrets .

    Ding Yuan was skeptical about this, but Lu Bu liked it . Li Feihong was then promoted into the strategist advisor of Lu Bu Legion and was put in charge of the army logistics and supplies .

    Then the PVP of the otherworlders happened . Li Feihong, who was doing well up till now, was shocked . Who would have thought that he was not the only reincarnator who inherited the previous life memories in this world?

    The other reincarnator happened to be a soldier within Lu Bu¡¯s camp . Li Feihong had no self-defense or any attack skill, he could only rely on his boss, Lu Bu .

    At that night, Lu Bu protected Li Feihong from the hands of the reincarnator and crippled the soldier . Afterward, Li Feihong delivered a finishing blow andpleted the mission .

    He became wary of the existences of the others after that incident . His nightmares happened more often as heter heard about Zhang Tong and the battle at Anping . There was no doubt that he was the other reincarnator, and he was so close to his city .

    Furthermore, every time he heard about Tong, his heart ached as if he was about to get a heart attack . The memories and the guilt of his previous life shed back each time he heard the word "Tong" .

    Now, that Zhang Tong appeared in front of him . Li Feihong could not remain calm at all . He wanted to seek sanctuary in his private world, but he wanted to keep this skill a secret . Thus, he mustered all of his courage and rode his horse forward to face his fate .

    ...

    ...

    Li Feihong stopped his horse and got down . Because of his nervousness, he stumbled and fell from the horse face-first, which caused every soldier tough at him .

    "Hahaha! Sir Li, you still have a long way to go!"

    "Hahaha! You have to work out more, Sir Li!"

    Li Feihong had an awkward smile on his face . He nodded to everyone and staggered toward Lu Bu and Tong .

    On the other side, Tong observed Li Feihong¡¯s every moves from the start . He could not detect any hostility from his action, his eyes, or his aura .

    ¡¯He looks like an ordinary person . Is he really an otherworlder?¡¯

    ¡¯No, he cannot be ordinary if he survived the first PVP event that day . ¡¯

    ¡¯But my guts still tell me that he¡¯s harmless . ¡¯

    ¡¯What the hell?¡¯

    Tong tiled his head to the side in confusion and wondering if the person was a threat or not .

    ¡¯I have a feeling that I have seen this man before . Am I imagining things?¡¯

    Lu Buughed and dragged Li Feihong over . Then he introduced him to Tong .

    "This is Li Feihong, my strategist and advisor of my army . Feihong, this is the famous Zhang Tong . Treat him with respect!"

    "G-G-Good day . Sir Zhang Tong . "

    Li Feihong¡¯s nervousness intensified . He subconsciously sidestepped and hid behind Lu Bu like a shy maiden, which caused the soldiers tough .

    "Well met, Sir Li . Have we met before? Why am I feeling like I know you?"

    The soldiersughed again because Tong had just said amon pick-up line, which was used when a man wanted to woo a girl .

    Meanwhile, Tong¡¯s frown deepened . His instinct told him that he had to kill this man, but his conscience told him that he had to befriend him . His logic also told Tong he needed this person as a friend .

    With 2 against 1 decision, Tong decided that he should be friends with Li Feihong for now .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Tong took a tour in Lu Bu camp until dusk . During the tour, Lu Bu suggested that Gao Shun and Zhang Liao should spar with Tong for a few moves, which both of them epted .

    The result was shocking to the soldiers in the camp . On the first round sword fight, Tong was defeated by Zhang Liao in 96 moves . On the second round, Tong barely clutched a victory after a close fight with Gao Shun for over 500 exchanged blows .

    Gao Shun was ashamed of his defeat, but he did not take it to heart as Tong was acknowledged by Lu Bu in terms of strength .

    On the other hand, Tong did not feel proud even the slightest bit from the duels . During both fights, he used the advantage of strength and stamina buff from his passive skill to overwhelm Gao Shun and Zhang Liao . Without the status buff cheats, he would not be their match from the start .

    At the side, Lu Bu observed Tong¡¯s skill and his martial arts . After a while, he frowned and asked Tong .

    "Tong, aside from a sword, can you use any other melee weapon?"

    "A little . What¡¯s wrong?"

    Lu Bu¡¯s frown deepened . He pondered for a while and said .

    "Did you go through a battle without using other weapons but a sword?"

    "No, I used crossbows . Is there something wrong?"

    "Yes . There is definitely something wrong! As a general of an army, you need skills with halberds, spears, ornces . A crossbow will run out of arrow sooner orter . You also can¡¯t rely solely on a sword in a melee fight . What are you going to do if you encounter a general on a horseback? Jump down from your horse and ask your opponent to fight on the ground? Using a sword on a horseback is disadvantageous when fighting with other horsemen . You should train with polearms to prepare for the case . Heck, you WILL definitely need those skills . Someday, you will have to fight an enemy on a horseback . Be ready for that!"

    Tong scratched his head in embarrassment . Since he copied Hua Shi¡¯s [Sword Mastery], he had been relying on a sword in a melee fight .

    ¡¯Lu Bu is right . There will be a day when my gun runs out of ammo, and crossbow runs out of arrows . I can¡¯t also bet on my [Time Stop] skill to save my life forever . I need a basic skill on other weapons too . ¡¯

    Realized his shoring, Tong confessed about his weakness .

    "To be honest, I¡¯m not that good with other weapons . I have experienced using them, but I¡¯ve not mastered the polearms yet . Can you give me a pointer, senior Fengxian?"

    Lu Bu grinned and jumped onto the training ground, after which he grabbed a wooden stick and walked toward Tong to spar with him .

    ...

    Lu Bu had a habit of beating up his subordinate half-death when he sparred with someone . He always imed that soldiers had to be ready to face death at any moment, so he beat the soldiers in his regiment half-death every time he jumped into the sparring areas .

    Though it was brutal of him, the training result showed itself on the battlefield . Bybining the training method designed by Li Feihong and Lu Bu¡¯s beating, the soldiers that survived from Lu Bu¡¯s sparring became elites the moment they stepped into the real battle as they had faced the grim reaper himself before . Hence, dealing with weaker mobs of barbarians was easy to them .

    As a result, Lu Bu and his army made a name for themselves for being elites of the elites on the frontline against Xiangnu tribes .

    ...

    Two hourster, Tongid down on the ground, exhausted . Lu Bu did not hold back at all . He beat up Tong with almost every technique he had .

    Although Tong had trained with Medusa in Hell before, he still could not match up with Lu Bu¡¯s skills . Furthermore, halberds and polearms were Lu Bu¡¯s favorite weapons while Tong treated polearms as secondary weapons . The gap in their skills was toorge .

    As a result, every five exchanged moves, Tong would get hit once or twice . For two hours, they exchanged over a thousand blows, which Tong could notnd a single blow on Lu Bu for the entire sparring .

    Despite the low level of polearm mastery that Tong had, Lu Bu grinned from ear to ear . He had never had a sparring partner that couldst this long . All of his previous partners, including Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, could notst 30 minutes .

    He did not utilize his killing intent or his secret moves, but he attacked Tong with his full strength . Yet, Tong endured it as if he did not feel any pain from the impacts . Ordinary soldiers that Lu Bu had practiced with would have screamed in pain or beg to quit long ago .

    Even Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, who watched them at the side, were impressed by the endurance of Tong .

    "The sun is about to set . That should be enough for today . Thanks for sparring with me, Tong . It was fun!"

    Lu Bu helped Tong up and patted him on the back with his full force .

    Tong staggered forward from the impact . He turned back and gave Lu Bu a wry smile .

    "Please hold back your power a bit . If you keep this up, I might die for real . "

    "Haha! Normal people would have died a hundred times over already in that session . But aren¡¯t you a monster yourself? I didn¡¯t hold back my strikes on every hit, yet you aren¡¯t injured at all!"

    "Senior Fengxian . It¡¯s already abnormal for you to attempt to kill your sparring partner . Please refrain from that . "

    "Bah, I beat up my soldiers all the time . Those two men of mine also sparred with me many times in the past . I beat them up to the point that they grew up and be my assistants . I forgot when I promoted them into this though . "

    Zhang Liao and Gao Shun chuckled and held back theirughter . They knew about the immature side of their boss .

    Lu Bu nced back at Li Feihong who was sitting and watching the training soldiers at the sideline .

    "Feihong, you escort Tong back to the guest house . "

    "Eh? Me?"

    "Yes, you! All of us worked our ass out while you barely did anything worthwhile today . Help me escort our guest!"

    "Uh, okay ..."

 Chapter 109

    Chapter 109

    Chapter 109 ¨C Let¡¯s Talk

    Both Tong and Li Feihong walked back to the guest house that Ding Yuan had prepared for Tong . They did not talk to each other or utter a word as they knew that the other party was a fellow reincarnator like himself . They could not trust each other .

    However, Li Feihong decided to break the ice .

    "Can we talk ... in private?"

    Tong came to a pause and looked at Li Feihong with a cringe expression .

    "You sound like a character from a BL novel . Stop that . "

    "I-I¡¯m sorry!"

    Seeing that Li Feihong panicked and stuttered, Tong breathed out a relieved sigh . This person was like a scaredy-cat which was different than someone who had murdered a person before .

    Tong stared into his eyes again to measure his character . Li Feihong¡¯s eyes were full of anxieties and fear . They did not appear to be the eyes of a deceitful person or a conman .

    Although all signs showed that this person was harmless, Tong did not lower down his guard .

    "We can talk here . There is no one listening . "

    "O-Okay . T-Then I¡¯ll get straight to the point . P-Please, let¡¯s not kill each other, okay? Can we have a truce?"

    "A truce?"

    "Y-Yes . We have no reason to kill each other . It was the system that forced us with our mission . Look, right now I don¡¯t have a mission, and I hate fighting . I just want to live in peace over here . "

    "But you changed Lu Bu¡¯s character and helped his army . How can I trust you?"

    Li Feihong gritted his teeth . He mustered all his courage and gazed at Tong with all his will-power .

    "Form a contract with me then! I can¡¯t form the Soulmate Contract with you . But I¡¯m sure I can form the n Contract with you! I¡¯ve asked the system . Everyone in the n Contract will not get any mission that can harm each other! I swear to gods I¡¯ve never nned to harm you, your city, your army, or your family! All I want is PEACE!"

    Li Feihong¡¯s determination caused Tong to withdraw a step . Tong could sense that he was sincere, yet desperate to the point that he looked like a cornered beast which roared out thest war-cry . A teardrop rolled down on Feihong¡¯s face as he was overwhelmed with emotions and despair .

    Tong nodded and decided to lower his wariness toward this person .

    "Alright . I believe you . Let¡¯s talk inside the guest house . "

    ...

    Tong and Li Feihong entered the guesthouse . Tong brought out a bottle of whiskey, and an empty wooden bucket, and the magic cooking utensil that he had not used after he had bought the [Food Creation] skill .

    Tong tossed drinking water into the tall pot and stirred it for five seconds . Then, he lifted the pot and poured the content inside to the wooden bucket .

    Li Feihong watched Tong from the beginning to the end, and he was shocked . Tong brought out a barrel and arge cooking kitchen out of nowhere as if he had a space inventory . But what astonished Li Feihong the most was the content that was being poured into the wooden bucket .

    They were ice cubes!

    The eyes of Li Feihong almost popped out of their sockets . It was unbelievable magic .

    Tong searched his belongings in the room and brought out two cups . He picked ice cubes from the bucket and put them into the cups, poured the whiskey after that . After which, Tong passed one of the cups to Li Feihong .

    "Here, my treat . It must have been ages since you¡¯ve taken one of these . "

    Li Feihong epted the cup with his shaking hands while his eyes still locked at Tong . Once he took the cup, the simr alcohol smell broke his trance . His focus shifted to the content within the container in his hands .

    "Impossible! This ... Do you have a brewery?"

    Tong shook his head .

    "You¡¯re mistaken . I don¡¯t have a single brewery or distillery . One more thing, the brewery is a beer factory . To produce spirits, you need a distillery . "

    "Ah ... Ahaha . My bad . I¡¯m not familiar with alcohol business . "

    "Go ahead . Drink it . You deserve it . "

    "Okay . Thanks for the treat . "

    ...

    ...

    Both of them did not talk . However, they sipped the whiskey in their cup while they stared at each other as if they were probing the opposite party .

    Soon, Li Feihong could not resist it anymore . He was the first one who broke the silence .

    "I¡¯ve said before . Can we not fight?"

    Tong gazed into the eyes of Li Feihong one more time and answered .

    "I also don¡¯t want to fight you . "

    "Then, let¡¯s form the n Contract ..."

    "Not so fast . There will be terms and conditions . "

    Li Feihong sulked . He understood that nothing was free in this world . If he wanted something, there would be a price .

    "Name your terms, please . "

    "First, I want to prevent the event that Lu Bu killed his own foster father . "

    "That¡¯s not a problem . It¡¯s my goal in the first ce . "

    Tong nodded . It made sense after Tong had seen the character of the new Lu Bu . Though he still had that greed within him, his temperament was still in a tamable level at the moment .

    "Second, I want to form a long-term alliance with Ding Yuan Army . I will want you to support it . "

    "Aye . That¡¯s also not a problem . "

    "Third, I want you to write down all of your skills in a paper . Since we cannot share our status, at least I want to know what you are capable of . "

    "... Fine . But I also want to see your status too . "

    "I¡¯ll give you mine after I see yours first . "

    "... Haiz, okay . "

    Li Feihong sighed as he gave up negotiating with Tong . Since he was aware that his life was somehow in Tong¡¯s hands, he epted all of his conditions even though he would be oppressed or taken advantage on .

    Tong stood up and searched for an empty scroll, a pen, and ink . After he found all of the tools, he went back to the table and gave them to Li Feihong .

    "There, write your details in the status menu . "

    ...

    Li Feihong wrote everything in his status menu and passed it to Tong .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Li Feihong

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 21,390 Years

    Shopping Pass: 4

    [Private Farm World] LV 3 (301,218/4,000,000)

    - Able to ess a private world in another dimension .

    - World Size 3,000 km .

    - Time Scale Current World - Private World: 1 day ¨C 1 month .

    - The host can grow crops in the private world .

    - The host can raise animals in the private world .

    - All objects in the private world can be taken out to this world .

    - The host can observe the outer world from the private world

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan per one ess pass .

    - Upkeep: 1,000 lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only grow crops that exist in this world .

    - Can only raise animals that exist in this world .

    *******************************

    ...

    Tong stared at Li Feihong with an odd look and astonishment after he read the status .

    ¡¯This guy created a farm world of his own?¡¯

    ¡¯But why does he have only one skill?¡¯

    "Why didn¡¯t you buy a skill from the system shop?"

    Tong asked, which caused Li Feihong to lower his head in embarrassment .

    "M-My skill upkeep was too high . I had a hard time surviving when I was young . So I decided to save up my lifespan . "

    Tong nodded . It was true . The upkeep of 1,000 lifespans a year was excessive at the beginning of the reincarnation as the reward from the system was a thousand lifespan in early missions . The rewards only got higher after the eleventh mission onward .

    With this kind of environment and upbringing in this world, developing a thrifty behavior was natural .

    He also kept his promise my writing his status into the scroll as well . However, Tong did not write every skill he had . He only jotted down his [Sword Mastery] and [Firearm Creation] skill into the scroll .

    Li Feihong read the scroll and looked at Tong in awe and fear . Just by these two skills, Tong could have killed Li Feihong any time he wanted to .

    "T-Then, can we form a contract now?"

    The nervous guy nced at Tong and the door as if he could not wait to dash away from this ce as soon as possible .

    "Answer me a question first . How did you survive that day when the system forced us to fight each other?"

    "I-I asked my boss to help . Lu Bu crippled the guy, then I gave him a finishing blow . "

    "Hmm . "

    Hearing that Li Feihong had a babysitter like Lu Bu for the event that day, Tong could not help but feel jealous . His life would have been much easier if he had a legendary general looking after him when he was young .

    "Rx, I trust you . System, I want to confirm if we form a n contract together, will we get a mission that can harm each other in the future?"

    [... No, contracteerades will not get any quest like that . The same applies to all type of contracts . ]

    "In this case, I¡¯ve already formed a contract with my partner . Can I form another different contract with other reincarnators?"

    [Yes, you can . ]

    With the confirmation of the system, Tong rxed and smiled at Li Feihong, who heaved out a sigh of relief .

    "Alright, buddy . Let¡¯s form the contract . System, help us please?"

    ...

    ...

    The n Contract had been formed, and the status menu of the two had another tab with the description "nsmen" on it . Tong tested by pushing on that tab, a name list and a chat box appeared . Tong¡¯s name was on top of the list with a crown icon on it, which indicated that he was the leader of the guild .

    "Isn¡¯t this like a guild menu?"

    "Y-Yeah . It¡¯s really a guild menu . "

    Both Tong and Li Feihong were stunned at the new discovery of the n contract benefits . If this was what they were thinking, they could send important messages to each other in a long distance in this era, which took weeks or months to deliver the news .

    "Well, let¡¯s forget about the past and work together from now on . "

    Tong extended his right and in a gesture for a handshake, which Li Feihong grabbed it with both hands in earnest .

    "Thank you! Thank you! I¡¯ll do my best to help you!"

    "Well, you can actually help me right now . You can breed warhorses, right?"

    "Eh? Oh, yes! Yes, I can . "

    "My army need warhorses . Can you trade me a few? Say 50,000? I¡¯ll trade you with the magic cooking utensil in this room . You can make beer, make ice cubes, or modern dishes with it . "

    Staring at Tong in astonishment, Li Feihong had a second thought about this n contract . They had formed a pact for less than a minute, Tong already asked for unfair trade .

    ¡¯What do you by [a few]? You are practically robbing me 50,000 of my warhorses for this thing? Every ten warhorses will cost me one lifespan for keeping the gate open to transfer them out . Then I¡¯ll have to use 5,000 lifespans in this trade! Dammit, this is a scam!¡¯

    Tong could read the facial expression of the timid man and sensed the dissatisfaction of the other side . He started his sale talks .

    "I have a manual right here . To use this tool, you have to put a few simple ingredients into the pot . Stir it for 5-10 seconds and vo! A cold ss of beer! This is a magic tool, you know? I spent a shopping ticket and 10,000 lifespans for it . I¡¯m reselling it to you as cheap as 50,000 warhorses that you can breed them easily with your skill . Isn¡¯t this a good trade for you?"

    Li Feihong sighed . He felt like he had done something bad to Zhang Tong in his previous life that he had to repay his karmic sin by helping this "Tong" .

    "Alright, I¡¯ll trade it with you . But I cannot provide you with the horses at the moment . I need a month and a half to breed 5,000 right now . The number can increase if I keep them to be my breeding horses . So you probably have to wait about a year until I canplete this trade . "

    Hearing that he could get 50,000 fine warhorses in a year, Tong grinned from ear to ear . Although his inner instinct told him that he should kill this timid man for some reason, he felt like he could forgive Li Feihong even if he had done something to him in his previous life .

    "Thank you, friend! I¡¯ll be sure to help you when you are in need... Ah crap, I forgot something very important! Has the news about Dong Zhuo¡¯s men reached you?"

    "D-Dong Zhuo¡¯s men!?"

    "Yes . I met them at the main hall with Ding Yuan today . They said they wanted to go to my city, but I think they will try to entice Lu Bu to join their side as in the historical timeline . You¡¯d better be careful . "

    The face of Li Feihong turned solemn . The turning point event that would change the fate of Lu Bu would arrive soon .

    If they could twist it, Lu Bu might be able to see salvation . But if they could not, the road to Hell would be the only path waiting for this God of War .

 Chapter 110

    Chapter 110

    Chapter 110 ¨C Turning Point at Jinyang ¨C Part 1

    June 16th . Night Time . Lu Bu Camp .

    Zhang Ji, the leader of Dong Zhuo¡¯s caravan, snuck inside Lu Bu¡¯s camp tonight . He came with another messenger that Li Ru had entrusted into this job, Xu Da .

    As amander of an army, Zhang Ji was skeptical about this sneaking-into-camp n made by Xu Da . He understood that he was someone that Li Ru had rmended in terms of intelligence and wits, but Zhang Ji still could not trust this man at all .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Xu Da

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 36,142 Years

    Shopping Pass: 0

    [Eyes of Domination] LV . 5

    - Targets will follow themand of the host once for one hour .

    - If the target has been under this skill for more than 6 times, the effect will be permanent .

    Skill Cost: 100 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only apply to all targets that look into the eyes of the host .

    - Can only be effective on the targets once a day .

    [Self-Resurrection] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Resurrect yourself upon death .

    Skill Cost: 5,000 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Skill Cost doubles after each usage .

    [Blessing of Spirits] LV 2

    - Attach a random magic attribute to a weapon or a target .

    - Increase all attributes of the target .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - 10 Minutes cooldown per one usage .

    - The strength of this skill determined by the skill level .

    *******************************

    ...

    Xu Da was a reincarnator born in Tianshui City . In his previous life, he ravished several women, girls, and children . He always killed all of them after the deed and plundered their properties and belongings .

    In this life, after he had realized that he was born into the ancient world, he joined Dong Zhuo Army without hesitation as he believed that he could ride on the tailcoat of this future tyrant andmit the same deeds in his previous life again .

    He was not disappointed . Dong Zhuo had a habit of gathering good-looking young women into his harem . He dispatched his soldiers to collect every girl of the families that failed to pay the taxes, which Xu Da participated in the harvest and took a few girls for himself .

    However, Dong Zhuo found outter that some the captured women had been soiled and broken by Xu Da beforehand . In anger, he demoted Xu Da back to foot soldier and banned him from getting any promotion in the future ever since .

    Fortunately, Li Ru still valued his talent . Later on, Xu Da was transferred under Li Ru¡¯s division .

    Now, Li Ru made this man apanying Zhang Ji into this task, which Zhang Ji did not like it at all .

    ...

    "We¡¯re here . The rest is up to you . "

    Zhang Ji whispered to Xu Da, who did not seem to pay attention to the surrounding and his instruction .

    "I knew that, Jeez . Stop being a worrywart . You¡¯re not my grandmother . "

    Xu Da grumbled and walked straight to Lu Bu¡¯s private tent without caring about hiding his identity .

    The guard soldiers saw Xu Daing . They stepped forward with their spears and blocked his path .

    "Who goes there!?"

    "Identify yourself!"

    Xu Da closed his eyes tight in annoyance . He picked his ear using his pinky finger and eximed .

    "You all bunch of noisy bugs . Look into my eyes!"

    Xu Da snapped his eyes opened and red at the two guards, who stared into the eyes of the intruder by reflex .

    "Be my ves!"

    The two guards felt a sharp pain in their brain and stumbled down on the ground from the dizziness . After the pain subsided, a new memory was injected into their mind . They had a feeling that they had to obey the man in front of them .

    "... yes, master . "

    "... I understand, master . "

    Both of them kowtowed on the ground with their forehead hitting the rough floor . The [Eyes of Domination] was at work .

    Xu Da harrumphed while he looked down on these people . Then he straddled into the tent .

    Upon opening the curtain of the tent to see the interior inside, the sharp de of a crescent halberd was swung in a half moon circle and went through the neck of Xu Da .

    *Shua*

    Xu Da¡¯s neck flung into the air . It dropped and rolled on the floor of the tent .

    Inside the tent, Lu Bu red at Xu Da¡¯s dead body as he emitted out his killing intent .

    ¡¯Idiot assassin . He can¡¯t even hold back his killing intent, and yet he entered my tent through the front . He¡¯s just asking for death . Humph!¡¯

    Lu Bu had detected Xu Da and Zhang Ji¡¯s presence since their arrival . He did not want to bother dealing with the two at first . But noticing that Xu Da looked down on himself and the guards at the front, Lu Bu also could not help but get angry .

    Confirmed that Xu Da was deader than dead, he turned around to rest in the tent without caring about the corpse .

    "Ow, ow, ow . Dammit, Lu Bu! I¡¯vee here to talk, not to fight you! You idiot piece of shit!"

    Lu Bu paused his step and turned around in shock . The headless body of Xu Da stood up and walked toward the head on the ground . It picked up the head and put it back on the bloody neck .

    "Excuse me for entering your camp without a reservation, but could you look into my eyes for a second?"

    "What the fOOk are you!?"

    Lu Bu ignored Xu Da¡¯s words and swung his halberd at him again .

    Xu Da leaped backward and rolled on the ground . The halberd stuck on the floor where Xu Da was standing a moment ago .

    Lu Bu dashed forward, not letting the unknown assassin to escape . He locked his eyes with Xu Da for a moment .

    "Listen to me! Idiot!"

    The sharp pain pierced the brain of Lu Bu . He dropped his halberd and stumbled back two steps . When he raised his eyes to look at Xu Da again, his attitude changed .

    "What do you want?"

    Seeing that his skill was working, Xu Da sighed in relief .

    "For the love of god, I¡¯vee in peace . Take a seat, then we¡¯ll talk . "

    ...

    Xu Da was a careful man . He did notmand Lu Bu to "Be his ve" for a reason . All of the affected targets always retained their memories after they were mind-controlled . If Xu Da forced Lu Bu¡¯s hands into killing Ding Yuan against his will, the n would backfire after the effective time of the skill expired .

    In order to make Lu Bu betray Ding Yuan and serve Dong Zhuo, he could not force him into making the decision, but tempt him with gifts and other benefits as in the history . They had redhare horses with them and Dong Zhuo would soon take Luo Yang under his control . There was no reason for Lu Bu to refuse their offer in this timeline .

    Most importantly, Xu Da had to brainwash him with this skill 5 more times to ensure that he could have be his ve permanently .

    ...

    Both Lu Bu and Xu Da took a seat in the tent . Afterward, Xu Da passed a message scroll written by Li Ru to Lu Bu .

    "I¡¯ve brought a message from Lord Dong Zhuo . He saw talents in you but you are serving the wrong lord! If you continue to stay here, there will be no future for you but a country bumpkin! Join Dong Zhuo with me, and you will be bestowed with status, money, women, and glory!"

    The eyes of Lu Bu still red at Xu Da in hostility . If it was not for the effect of Xu Da¡¯s skill, Lu Bu would have killed him the second time already . His killing intent enveloped the entire tent, which terrified Xu Da . Thanked to the skill effect, Xu Da managed to convince himself to calm down and continue the negotiation .

    "Go ahead . Read the scroll . "

    The effect of the mind control skill had not expired yet . Everything that Xu Da had ordered, Lu Bu would follow hismand .

    "Fine . "

    Lu Bu took up the scroll to read .

    "My apologies for sending my subordinate to you . My name is Li Ru, the aide of Dong Zhuo of Tianshui . Our Lord has taken interest in your abilities inmanding troops, so we would like to invite you to join our army . "

    "As apensation, we will give you the best breed of warhorse that we have to you . Like the old saying, horses define generals . A good general deserves the best horse . "

    "We will also give you the position of the grandmander of our army and 20,000 taels of gold if you are willing to move in with your family as well . We also don¡¯t mind if you bring in your private troops . We promise that we will provide them with our best armors and weapons to your men too . "

    "I have sent my troops to Jinyang just in case you want to ept our proposal, so we can escort you and your men back to our Lord . I hope that you will not let this opportunity pass by . "

    Finished reading the scroll, Lu Bu tossed it into the smallmppost nearby . It caught fire and burned into ashes in a few seconds .

    "Well, did you finish?"

    "Yes . "

    "Very good . Escort me and my friend out of this camp, then I¡¯ll deliver a gift to you tomorrow morning . Remember, we are your friends, not enemies . "

    "Hmm . Alright . "

    ...

    ...

    One hourter .

    Lu Bu had already sent back Xu Da and Zhang Ji outside the camp and returned to his tent . The moment the effect duration of the mind-controlling skill wore off, Lu Bu mmed his fist on his table in the private tent .

    The sense of frustration, humiliation, and anger mixed with each other . Being forced into doing something against his will was not a pleasant feeling for him .

    It was fortunate that no one was harmed tonight . Or else, he might regret his decision forever .

    "That scum wants me to join him!? Ridiculous! Who the hell do you think I am!? Do you think I¡¯m a fool!?"

    While Lu Bu was venting his anger by cursing Xu Da randomly, his guards walked in to report .

    "My lord, Sir Li Feihong hase to visit you . He said that he has an urgent report . "

    Lu Bu was surprised . It was unusual for Li Feihong to visit him in this hour . Furthermore, it was an urgent request for an audience . Lu Bu waved his hand and gestured the guard to let him in .

    On the contrary of his usual manner, Li Feihong straddled into the tent with a determined expression . Lu Bu grinned from seeing the changed .

    "What¡¯s wrong, Feihong? You look different today . Or should I say, you look manlier today . "

    Li Feihong cringed by the mocking jest of his boss, but he did not mind it . He had an important matter to report to Lu Bu right now .

    "My Lord, I have a serious matter to consult with you . Please drop the joke for now and listen to me . "

    "Ho? Go ahead . Speak!"

    "I believe Dong Zhuo sent his men here to recruit you . They should have contacted you today already . Am I right?"

    Li Feihong made a rough guess . After the talk with Tong, he simted the current situation . If he were in Dong Zhuo messenger¡¯s shoes, he would have made a contact with Lu Bu as soon as possible to not piquing any suspicious from Ding Yuan . The best time to do so was tonight .

    "Impressive . They indeed came . Both of them left about an hour ago . "

    "I see . If I guess correctly, they should have gifted you with a special horse or something . Have they given you anything yet?"

    "No, they said that they will deliver it to me tomorrow morning . And what¡¯s with the special horse?"

    "It¡¯s a special breed horse . I think it is called Red Hare . My Lord, I have a n in my mind . But first, I need to give you my confession . It will be faster if I show you this . "

    Li Feihong extended his hand to the side, and a light circr portal opened from the nothingness . Blue light shone from the oval-shaped gate . At the center of the gate, which was not covered by the blue light, a sunny grasnd was shown .

    Lu Bu stared at the gate and Li Feihong with a bbergasted look .

    "Feihong, are you a sorcerer?"

    Li Feihong chuckled while he shook his head .

    "No, I¡¯m just a sinner with a cheat skill . Follow me, my lord . I¡¯ll tell you about my n inside the gate . "

    Li Feihong proceeded toward the gate and disappeared after he crossed it . Lu Bu was still dumbstruck by the sudden turn of events . He managed to regain his sense after Li Feihong disappeared into the gate .

    "Fine . I¡¯ll believe in you . "

    Thus, Lu Bu entered the private world of Li Feihong .

    Lu Bu was shocked again after he had entered the private world . It was night time before he came here . However, the sky in this world was bright, yet there was no sun!

    "Feihong, where are we?"

    "This is my private realm . The secret that I hid from you . I¡¯m sorry that I have to bring you in here . It will be faster if I show you my abilities . "

    Li Feihong snapped his fingers .

    *BZZ*

    [Wee to the FarmOOLLe world . ]

    [You can grow crops and breed animals or livestock in here . ]

    [Please enjoy your stay . ]

 Chapter 111

    Chapter 111

    Chapter 111 ¨C Turning Point at Jinyang ¨C Part 2

    The infamous name of Lu Bu started when he killed his foster father and joined Dong Zhuo in 189 AD . There were many factors that drove Lu Bu into making the decision .

    In the historical timeline, Dong Zhuo held a high position in the imperial court before he became the Chancellor of the Han Dynasty . Most officials at the time supported his cause as he was a major political powerhouse leader . This was the first tempting factor, the influence of the high court rank .

    The father-killing event happened in Luo Yang where Ding Yuan and Lu Bu had been summoned back to help with the Capital stability . As a country bumpkin, Lu Bu was vulnerable to the luxurious lifestyle of the Capital officials and the city . This was the second factor .

    The third factor was the chain that bound Lu Bu with Jinyang City, his wife, and his daughter . The event in the real timeline happened in 189 AD when Lu Lingqi had grown a bit and his wife married him for years . As old couples, their rtionship became dull . Thus, the chain was loose .

    And thest factor, the tempting of controlling a massive army . In 189, Dong Zhuo controlled the majority of the troops in the Capital as the other imperial armies were battered from the long battles with the remnants of Yellow Turban bandits . Controlling Dong Zhuo entire army meant that he controlled the entire Capital forces .

    With many benefits, Lu Bu killed Ding Yuan as proof of his allegiance to join Dong Zhuo in the true timeline .

    But in this world, Lu Bu might not be a person with the politic skills, but he was not stupid . A decade on the frontline and countless battles taught him about wits, tactics, and mental strength . In addition, Li Feihong had also influenced him with the way of thinking from the 21st-century, moral integrity, and thew of consequences .

    Most importantly, the timing, the location, and the tempting factors for the event, which caused Lu Bu to betray Ding Yuan and joined Dong Zhuo, was off!

    The butterfly effects that reincarnators caused was about to take a strange turn .

    ...

    ...

    June 17th, 182 A . D .

    8 A . M .

    Tong, Zhou Cang, and Julu escort troops packed their belongings in the preparation to journey back home . Their purpose of this trip had beenpleted as Jinyang and Julu would open the border to each other for trading . In addition, they agreed to send troops to help each other when one of the parties needed .

    Tong nned to continue staying in order to monitor Zhang Ji and his men¡¯s action in this city . However, Ding Yuan had already scheduled Tong¡¯s departure date yesterday, which Tong was not able to refuse because Ding Yuan had to attend the new guests . It might raise suspicion from Ding Yuan if Tong insisted to stay .

    For those reasons, Tong had to pretend to leave .

    At the exit gate, a general with a stern face stood there . Gao Shun came to send them off in ce of Ding Yuan and his men .

    "Thanks foring, brother Tong . I hope we can spar again . I need my rematch . "

    Gao Shun said with a friendly smile . The spar he had with Tong was a good experience to him . With their simr skill in swordsmanship, Gao Shun treated Tong as a friend and a rival .

    Tong nodded in appreciation of Gao Shun¡¯s goodwill . He thought of something for a moment, then he leaned forward and whispered .

    "Keep an eye for your boss . Dong Zhuo¡¯s men are trying to make Lu Bu betray Ding Yuan . "

    "WHAT!?"

    Shocked by the sudden news, Gao Shun eximed out before Tong covered his mouth and gestured him to quiet down .

    "Don¡¯t panic . I talked with Li Feihong and already told him about this . He will try to stop Dong Zhuo¡¯s n, but he can¡¯t do much on his own . You should coordinate with him on this matter . I can¡¯t help you much because it¡¯s your internal affair . But I don¡¯t want to see your boss end up branded as a father killer . "

    Gao Shun¡¯s face turned solemn as he nodded . This was a serious matter . He, too, did not want Lu Bu to be someone unfilial to his benefactor .

    "Also, remember this . If you and others have troubles, don¡¯t hesitate to contact me . My city will always open the gate for you . "

    Feeling Tong¡¯s sincerity, Gao Shun gave Tong a warm smile and nodded . He patted Tong¡¯s shoulder and dashed back to his camp .

    Both men parted way . Gao Shun rushed back to see his boss in a hurry . He hoped that he was not toote for this .

    Tong gazed at the back of Gao Shun who was leaving . He gave an order to Zhou Cang in a low voice .

    "Zhou Cang, go back with the others . I¡¯ll remain in this city for one more day . "

    "My lord?"

    "I¡¯ll go back to Julu on my own . For now, go!"

    "Y-Yes, sir!"

    Tong watched as Zhou Cang and his men departed . Then he texted a message in the system n Chat .

    "Feihong, open the gate for me . "

    ...

    ...

    8 . 10 AM .

    In front of Lu Bu¡¯s camp, fifty Redhare horses lined up in order . They were being guided by Xu Da and his assistants .

    Lu Bu stood in front of the camp, staring at the horses in astonishment .

    His Xiangnu warhorses were smaller than the Redhare by half . These red horses were even taller than Lu Bu, who was almost 2 meters in height . He could not help but extend his hand to touch the horse in front of him in admiration .

    "How about it, Lord Lu Bu . We will give you these 50 horses as our goodwill . There are a thousand of them back in Tianshui City . We can give you all of them to you for your private use . You can keep them to yourself or give them to your men, we won¡¯t mind it at all . "

    Xu Da¡¯s sales talk continued to pull out Lu Bu¡¯s greed .

    However, the face of Lu Bu changed from the greed look into a mocking smile for a second . Then, he looked at Xu Da with a friendly smile .

    "Please give my thanks to Lord Dong Zhuo . I really like these horses . As for the future matters, I will have to consult with my men and my family first . You see, my father took care of me for decades . I can¡¯t just simply leave him without saying goodbye or consult with him if it¡¯s a good choice . "

    Xu Da was taken aback by the reply . Those were not the answer he had predicted .

    ¡¯WTF!? Is this the backstabber Lu Bu? Isn¡¯t he recorded as a capricious and frivolous man? Why does he act like a cunning fox!?¡¯

    "Excuse me . What about our agreement?"

    Xu Da asked in confusion . He attempted to gesture Lu Bu that he shoulde to his sense and ept the offer .

    Witnessing the dancing monkey in front of him, Lu Buughed in his heart .

    ¡¯It is just like what Feihong had told me . Someone from Dong Zhuo¡¯s men will bait me into betraying my father . Hah! Do you think I¡¯m a fool!?¡¯

    "What agreement? I don¡¯t know what you are talking about . "

    Lu Bu feigned ignorant and turned back toward his camp . He also did not forget to gesture Xu Da to go back as if he was saying "Thanks for the meal . Now you can scram" .

    Realizing that he was scammed, Xu Da¡¯s face reddened . Veins bulged under his facial skin . His breath became rough and short, while his eyes were blood-shot .

    "TURN AROUND, LU FENGXIAN! WE¡¯RE NOT DONE YET!!"

    Shouted with all air in his lung, Xu Da nned to use his skill on Lu Bu one more time . This time, Xu Da wouldmand him to kill Ding Yuan directly . Once the deed was done, Lu Bu would not have a ce to go but Dong Zhuo¡¯s cities .

    Lu Bu stopped his feet . He did not turn back as he was told to . Instead, an order came out from his mouth .

    "Send away the guests! If they resist, kill them on the spot!"

    "Lu Bu! You ingrate!"

    "I¡¯m ingrate? No, you¡¯re the ingrate! Your grandmother is the ingrate! Your entire family is the ingrates! I did not pursue and kill you yesterday is already an act of kindness! You are the dog that bites the hands of your benefactor . Guards! Kill them all!"

    A hundred elite soldiers of Lu Bu rushed in with their spears .

    Because of the sudden turn of events, the two hundred escort troops of Xu Da were still in shock and unable to draw their weapons to defend themselves . All of them was killed in an instant .

    "Dammit, Lu Bu! I¡¯ll make you pay back a hundredfold! All of you lots! Look into my eyes! Kill your friends right now!"

    Xu Da gave amand to the victims that fell into his trick and nced into his eyes .

    The affected soldiers stumbled backward for a couple seconds as they felt the sharp pain, and a new memory was injected into their brain . The moment the headache subsided, they turned around .

    The attacking soldiers were thrown into a confused uproar . Friendly soldiers suddenly turned around and attack theirrades with their spears . Brothers who grew up with each other from birth killed each other with tears in their eyes . Friends that had been through several battlefields together stabbed the others with their swords while the sane soldiers kept asking them "Why" .

    ...

    ******************

    [Eyes of Domination] LV . 5

    - Targets will follow themand of the host once for one hour .

    - If the target has been under this skill for more than 6 times, the effect will be permanent .

    Skill Cost: 100 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only apply to all targets that look into the eyes of the host .

    - Can only be effective on the targets once a day .

    ******************

    ...

    [Eyes of Domination], a devastating skill that was designed by Xu Da . He had been using this as his trump card for years in many battlefields while he was fighting for Dong Zhuo at the western borders .

    One second of eye contact and onemand was all he needed to ughter the entire army of 100,000 men!

    Lu Bu had tasted this skill yesterday night, so he became conscious of Xu Da¡¯s eyes . He could not exin this phenomenon, but Lu Bu could tell that the sorcery¡¯s origin connected with Xu Da¡¯s eyes .

    Because of the wariness of the unknown sorcery, Lu Bu retreated into the camp without turning back to look at Xu Da .

    "Soldiers! That man will use sorcery on you if you look at him in his eyes! Those who aren¡¯t affected by the spell, retreat to the camp!"

    "Hahaha! It¡¯s toote Lu Fengxian! There is no escape! Soldiers, be my ves and capture Lu Bu!"

    Another batch of Lu Bu¡¯s guards was entranced by the skill . They turned around and chased after their boss .

    Within less than two minutes, all one hundred guards that came with Lu Bu were either died or ended up under the mind-control of Xu Da .

    Lu Bu was depressed and frustrated by the unexinable situation . He did not want his men to kill each other . If he were to retreat, more of his men would fall prey to this sorcery again .

    Lu Bu resolved himself and turned around with a short bow in his hands . He nocked an arrow and drew the string into a half-moon shape . The eyes of Lu Bu locked with Xu Da¡¯s for a split second before the arrow was fired .

    "LU BU! BE MY SLAVE!!"

    *Whoosh*

    *Ssuuk*

    The arrow that Lu Bu had fired flew pass the iing crowd . It pierced the right eye of Xu Da and knocked him backward .

    Meanwhile, Lu Bu received the full effect of the mind-controlling skill . He staggered backward in dizziness while he was gritting his teeth .

    "I AM THE MASTER OF MY WILL! YOU CANNOT CONTROL ME!!"

    Lu Bu bit his tongue and clenched both of his fists to the point that his nails dug into his hands . Blood dripped down from the wounds and the corner of his mouth . His eyes fixated at Xu Da with hatred .

    Lu Bu did not move for ten minutes before he was unable to resist the system skill . He knelt down with one knee and bowed toward Xu Da .

 Chapter 112

    Chapter 112

    Chapter 112 ¨C Turning Point at Jinyang ¨C Part 3

    Xu Da staggered toward Lu Bu with his hand holding onto his injury . The arrowhead and the arrow shaft was still stuck into his right eye . Blood and transparent substances dripped down from the eye socket .

    The nerve within the injured eye sent out the danger signal toward his brain along with the unimaginable pain sensation .

    The dizziness from the pain almost made Xu Da fainted . However, the anger and hatred toward Lu Bu for conning him exceeded the pain . Xu Da¡¯s left eye stayed glue to the culprit while he was thinking how he was going to deal with this man .

    The remaining soldiers caught up with their boss and pointed their spears at Lu Bu¡¯s neck .

    Lu Bu gazed toward the nothingness with hollow eyes . His nose was bleeding from the ruptured blood vessels which were caused by the stress and anxieties .

    "Lu Fengxian! Look at me!"

    Lu Bu raised his head to look at Xu Da in slow motion .

    This was the second time that Lu Bu fell under his control . If Xu Da could use the skill on him 4 more times, Lu Bu would be permanently enved by him .

    ¡¯I need to control him for 4 more days . For now, I¡¯ll have him killing his own father like the history . ¡¯

    Xu Da swallowed his anger for a greater cause . He gave Lu Bu an order .

    "Go and kill your father . The rest of the soldiers, go and help him!"

    ...

    ...

    8 . 15 AM .

    Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, and Lu Bu¡¯s 20,000 Heavy Cavalries were watching the event unfolded from the private world of Li Feihong .

    After the meeting yesterday, Li Feihong also invited Zhang Liao and his entire toons here to avoid the confrontation with Xu Da and his men . He did not want Zhang Liao to be a ve for the unknown otherworlder .

    "As expected, he has a mind-controlling skill . " Li Feihong eximed .

    "What¡¯s next, Feihong? Fengxian will turn into his puppet at this rate!"

    Zhang Liao watched the monitor with worries . He wanted to help his boss right away, but he was powerless against the ability of Xu Da .

    "It¡¯s ok . From my calction, the effect shouldst between 40 minutes to one hour at the maximum . If we can drag this on and prevent our Lord from harming anyone, he shoulde back to his senseter and deal with that man . "

    "Are you certain about this?"

    With a bitter smile on his face, Li Feihong replied .

    "No . We are likely to fail... if we are handling this alone . "

    There was another monitor at the side of the central screen . In the mini monitor, Tong lied down in a prone position on the top of the government building without anyone knowing he was there . A ck M16 rifle with a scope was set in ce . The sniper was standing by for action .

    ...

    ...

    Yesterday, Feihong hatched a n after he invited Lu Bu into this world in order to have a thorough talk with him .

    Li Feihong narrated his abilities and the usage of this world . The time flow here was much faster than the outside world . They could spend a month here, yet the time on the outside world would only pass for one day!

    He had exploited this time differences to breed Xiangnu warhorses and grew crops, after which he gave his resources to the army in secrets .

    And the second ability of this realm, which astonished Lu Bu the most, was the monitors that could disy the events on the outside world .

    Li Feihong was able to see anything in the radius of one kilometer from thest gate that he had opened . He could also open an exit gate form this world to any ce in the monitors .

    In other words, he could use this world as a medium to teleport to any ce in the range of one kilometer!

    It took Lu Bu one hour toprehend what he got himself into .

    After they tuned up their brainwave with each other, Lu Bu told him about Xu Da and his unusual abilities which aroused the suspicion of Li Feihong . He believed that Xu Da had a high probability of being another reincarnator .

    Furthermore, the mind-controlling sorcery that Lu Bu described was a troublesome ability . As long as Xu Da were to have eye contact with anyone, the person¡¯s fate would be sealed .

    Li Feihong thought that he might not be able to handle this alone . He sent a message to Tong via the n Chat .

    "There¡¯s another reincarnator in Jinyang City . He¡¯s siding with Dong Zhuo!"

    It was a simple message that made Tong shivering in anxiety . Tong demanded that he wanted to meet Li Feihong right away, which Feihong opened the gate and invited Tong inside .

    Tong epted Feihong¡¯s invitation and crossed the gate . Lu Bu was gobsmacked once again after he saw that Tong had appeared in this realm as well .

    With the three together, a n to deal with Xu Da and Dong Zhuo¡¯s men had been cooked .

    ...

    ...

    Li Feihong watched the monitor while he clenched on the Glock pistol that Tong had given him . He had a full magazine of 15 bullets, which was more than enough toplete his assassination job .

    The n was simple . Lu Bu would have to be the bait to draw Xu Da¡¯s attention and his troops away .

    Meanwhile, Li Feihong would find a chance to open a gate in secret without getting caught by Xu Da¡¯s sight . Then, all he had to do was to shoot Xu Da to death .

    Once the task was done, Feihong would have to retreat back into the gate while Zhang Liao and his men would have to stand guard at the entrance in the case if a breach were to happen .

    Now, the chance arrived .

    ¡¯Gate, open!¡¯

    Feihong gave themand to the private realm, and the round gate expanded behind Xu Da .

    The clueless one eye man staggered forward to follow after the soldiers and Lu Bu . He was so dizzy that he could copse at any moment .

    Li Feihong extended his arm and pointed the muzzle at the head of Xu Da .

    Then,

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Three bullets pierced through the skull of Xu Da, whose vision went ck in an instant .

    Zhang Liao and the soldiers who were watching the scene were stunned . It was their first time that they saw someone using a gun .

    However, Li Feihong did not stop .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    . . .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    Feihong emptied the clip . All of the bullets went through Xu Da¡¯s brain from the back .

    There was a reason behind his excessive action . Yesterday, Lu Bu had told him that he cut Xu Da¡¯s head off, but he was still alive . He suspected that Xu Da had a regenerative ability or a skill that made him into an undead .

    With this logic in mind, Li Feihong made sure that the brain of Xu Da had to be thoroughly destroyed .

    "Ha... Ha-ha... HAHAHA! I DID IT!"

    The cowardly Feihongughed in hysteria . It was the first time that he achieved something to be proud of .

    ¡¯With this, Lu Bu shoulde back to his... sense?¡¯

    Li Feihong stared at the corpse in a daze . The brain pieces that were pushed out from the bullet holes and the blood crept back to the dead body . It started out slow, but the meat-paste crept back to the original body faster and faster for each second passed .

    His right eye that was destroyed by Lu Bu¡¯s arrow also repaired itself . The arrowhead was ejected from the eye socket and rolled on the floor .

    It was as if a rewind button had been pressed, and Li Feihong was watching a movie backward .

    "Feihong! Get back inside the gate!"

    Zhang Liao shouted in a panic . He, too, could not believe what he was witnessing .

    Li Feihong did not move . He could not move . His legs were trembling to the point that they barely stood .

    Saw that the coward strategist could note back to his sense, Zhang Liao exited the gate . He grabbed Feihong by his neck and dragged him back inside before Xu Dapleted his resurrection .

    After dragging Li Feihong into the portal, the gate slowly closed itself and disappeared into nothingness .

    The assumed dead body of Xu Da crawled forward . It raised its body up from its elbows and knees, then he stood up .

    The face of Xu Da twisted in frustration, anger, and resentment . With just two days, he died twice and lost 15,000 lifespans as a cost for his self-resurrection .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Xu Da

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 20,642 Years

    Shopping Pass: 0

    [Eyes of Domination] LV . 5

    - Targets will follow themand of the host once for one hour .

    - If the target has been under this skill for more than 6 times, the effect will be permanent .

    Skill Cost: 100 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only apply to all targets that look into the eyes of the host .

    - Can only be effective on the targets once a day .

    [Self-Resurrection] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Resurrect yourself upon death .

    Skill Cost: 20,000 lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only be used once a year .

    - Skill Cost doubles for each use .

    [Blessing of Spirits] LV 2

    - Attach a random magic attribute to a weapon or a target .

    - Increase all attributes of the target .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - 10 Minutes cooldown per one usage .

    - The strength of this skill determined by the skill level .

    *******************************

    ...

    In just a couple of days, his initial lifespan dropped from 36,142 to 20,642, which was devastated to Xu Da . The 500 lifespan spent on the [Eyes of Domination] was worth it, but the resurrection skill was painful .

    His [Self-Resurrection] also increased the cost from 5,000 lifespans to 10,000, and then 20,000 from the two death he suffered from the hands of Lu Bu and Li Feihong .

    With his remaining lifespan, he could resurrect himself one more time . However, it was too expensive as it cost 20,000 lifespans if he died again .

    "WHICH DOG BIT ME FROM THE BACK!! COME OUT, YOU COWARD!!"

    Xu Da turned around to look around him . He could not find anyone but the soldiers that he was controlling .

    "ARRRGGGHHHH!!! SCREW YOU! DAMN YOOOOUUU!!!"

    Xu Da screamed . His blood vessels in his throat raptured from hypertension . Blood dripped down from his nose and the corner of his mouth . Xu Da coughed out the blood that got into his lung .

    After the serious choke, he red at the soulless Lu Bu and the soldiers with anger .

    ¡¯If it wasn¡¯t for this stupid job, I wouldn¡¯t suffer like this! It was Li Ru¡¯s fault!¡¯

    Without a venting solution, he med this incident to Li Ru, his boss, instead of trying to solve the crisis at hands .

    Because of the sudden ambush and the venting, he wasted 15 minutes, struggling to march his men and Lu Bu to the government hall .

    The effect of the mind-controlling skill had 45 minutes remaining . Xu Da hurried forward .

    ...

    ...

    Zhang Liao monitored the actions of Xu Da within the private world . He sighed in relief that Xu Da had not found out about their existences and Li Feihong¡¯s gate skill .

    Meanwhile, Li Feihong was trembling from head to toes . The undead resurrection process traumatized him .

    The standing-by soldiers looked at him in sympathy . If it were the normal times, they would haveughed at Feihong . But this was a critical time when their Lord was under the spell of an undead sorcerer . They understood that it was pressuring to confront Xu Da head-on .

    Zhang Liao walked toward Li Feihong and pped his face three times and shook his body .

    *PA*

    *POK*

    *PA*

    "Feihong, Feihong! Can you hear me? It¡¯s safe . It¡¯s safe now!"

    Li Feihong did not answer . Instead, he showed his white eyes while his ck eyes rolled upward .

    "Boss, I think you knocked him out cold . "

    "Yeah, boss . pping him once is enough . But you pped him trice with your full force . "

    "No, it was two ps with one backhand fist . "

    "Right, right . That was savage, boss . "

    "..."

    ...

    ...

    8 . 35 AM .

    Li Feihong woke up from the water ssh by Zhang Liao . He looked around in confusion .

    "Huh? Why did I fall to sleep?"

    The soldiersughed at Feihong . They could not resist anymore .

    "... For now, let¡¯s proceed to the next n . We failed to kill that man . What¡¯s next?"

    Li Feihong pondered while he watched the monitors . His eyes fixated at Xu Da and his puppet soldiers .

    "n B, Sir Zhang Liao . I¡¯ll open the gate one more time . Go and take Lord Ding Yuan into this world . "

 Chapter 113

    Chapter 113

    Chapter 113 ¨C Turning Point at Jinyang - Part 4

    8 . 35 AM .

    Tong sat on top of the government building with a frustrated look . He watched his mini radar map where the fifty white dots were moving toward the building he was on . One of them was a green dot with the highlighted name "Lu Bu" .

    "What¡¯s the situation!?"

    Tong texted the message to the n chat, but there was still no response .

    8 . 36 AM .

    *DING*

    A new message showed up in the chat . Li Feihong finally replied .

    "We failed! The reincarnator can use both mind-controlling skill and a self-resurrecting skill . I¡¯ve mobilized Zhang Liao to capture Dong Zhuo¡¯s men for now . "

    Tong frowned . His self-regeneration skill was expensive to use . The self-resurrection skill should have had extension conditions or requirements or an absurd cost of lifespan to use . With such restrictions, the person should not be able to repeatedly utilize this skill .

    "Have you tried to kill him?" Tong asked .

    "Yes . I shot him in his head . But he¡¯s still alive . "

    "Have you tried to kill him again after he was resurrected?"

    "... Err... no . "

    Tong put his palm on his forehead in frustration . Li Feihongcked wit and experiences when it came to fighting otherworlders . If it were him, he would have killed that person again and again until he had no lifespan left to use his skills .

    "Never mind then, open a gate for me . I want to see the situation . "

    "... I¡¯m sorry . I¡¯m opening another gate for Zhang Liao and his men to escort Ding Yuan and the others inside my world at the moment . I can¡¯t open another gate right now . "

    Tong breathed out in annoyance .

    "It¡¯s fine . I want you to check something for me . Within the iing soldiers, where is the reincarnator?"

    "Huh?"

    "I want to know the location of the reincarnator! Where is he among the soldiers? Tell me his position!"

    "Uh, ah! Sorry! He¡¯s... at the back of the group . "

    "How far back?"

    "Uh, the most far back . He¡¯s in the rearmost position . "

    Tong checked his radar map again . At the back of the group of white dots, there was a person by the name "Xu Da" . Tong marked it with a red color to indicate that he was an enemy . Then Tong gazed toward the front entrance gate of the main government hall .

    Once this "Xu Da" crossed the gate, Tong would snipe him down until his resurrection skill would no longer work .

    Tong nced at the items in his arms . Sima Xin¡¯s rifle with a fully loaded 30-bullet-magazine was there . With the rifle, he could snipe Xu Da from a long distance to avoid his mind-control skill .

    ...

    ...

    Yesterday night .

    That night, when Lu Bu, Li Feihong, and Tong gathered together in Feihong¡¯s private world, Tong proposed that they should gather Ding Yuan and others into this world . After that, they would have all the times and chances to ambush Dong Zhuo¡¯s men at their leisure paces .

    Tong also volunteered that he could coordinate with Li Feihong to snipe the person down . All they had to do was to sneak open a gate somewhere close to the reincarnator . Then Tong or Li Feihong could shoot him with either his pistol or the rifle without making eye contact with him .

    Unfortunately, Li Feihong was too cowardice . He did not want to risk himself into the battle immediately . However, he was willing to take in the soldiers from Lu Bu camp into his private world to avoid the brainwashing skill of Xu Da . After that, Lu Bu could bait that man into the open and have him killed by using the escort soldiers .

    Tong tried to convince Li Feihong that it was a half-baked hypocritical tactic . Li Feihong did not need to participate in the battle . He could use Tong as a hidden assassin instead .

    s, Li Feihong was stubborn in this case . He did not want to be indebted to Tong, so he refused Tong¡¯s assistance .

    Without a choice, Tong gave up the two, but he had yet to give up taking down Xu Da . He gave a pistol to Li Feihong, hoping that he could catch a glimpse of Tong¡¯s initial n or his insight . Tongter wrote a detailed assassination guide of how to exploit the gate skill and the gun .

    Yet, the n failed because of the indecisiveness of Li Feihong, which made Tong annoyed to the point that he wanted to give the coward a beating .

    ...

    ...

    8 . 50 AM .

    Xu Da and his puppets arrived at the main government hall . They came here riding the redhare horses, which were much faster than the ordinary warhorses . The fifty mindless soldiers and Lu Bu got down from the horses and marched up to the entrance gate .

    Jinyang government hall was surrounded by short walls and a giant gate at the entrance . The walls were 2 meters in height and half a meter thick, but the gate frame doubled the size of the wall . The gates were made of irons which weight almost a ton . It had two doors and had to be opened by three strong men for each door .

    The guards stopped the men in front of the gate . They crossed their spears in an X shape to block the path .

    "Please stop, Lord Lu Bu! Lord Ding Yuan is having a morning assembly right now . If you have something urgent to report, please give your report to the guard manager . "

    Lu Bu paused his steps . Though he was under the influence of Xu Da¡¯s skill at the moment, he retained the majority of his memories and instinct . However, he could not refuse themand of Xu Da .

    "I understand . I¡¯ll wait here until the meeting is over . " Lu Bu spoke .

    Xu Da walked in front of the crowd to see why the soldiers stopped . He shouted to Lu Bu and the others .

    "ves! Kill everyone that gets into your path! You have to kill Ding Yuan, that¡¯s an order!"

    The guards were shocked by the yelled . The soldiers in front of them were their friends . Why did this brat suddenly order them like that?

    While they were in shock, the brainwashed soldiers drew their swords andunched an attack on the defenseless guards .

    The government guards were outnumbered and were caught off guard . They died without realizing what had happened .

    "Storm the hall! Kill Ding Yuan and everybody that tries to stop you!"

    All fifty soldiers rushed to pass the gate . Lu Bu and Xu Da stood behind to watch over the charging men .

    The garrison guards already heard the ruckus . They formed up a formation to stop the iing attackers in front of the building entrance .

    The one hundred mindless soldiers ran into the shield formation of the defenders with tears in their eyes . On the other hand, the guards stabbed their spears toward the invaders with their confused expression .

    ¡¯I knew these guys . Aren¡¯t they from Lord Lu¡¯s legion?¡¯

    ¡¯Why are they attacking us? Are they rebelling?¡¯

    ¡¯Xiao Mao! Why are you doing this!?¡¯

    Lu Bu crossed the front entrance and gazed at the government hall . His eyes met with Tong, who was hiding on the roof of the government hall . He paused for a moment, but he neither gestured nor speak . Lu Bu then shifted his gaze toward the fighting scene and proceeded as if he had not seen anything .

    Xu Da followed behind Lu Bu . He looked around to see if there was anything that could threaten him . After he concluded that he was safe, he started looking around for an advantage point to control more soldiers .

    Suddenly, he felt like he was shed by a mirror or lens . The location came from the rooftop of the government building .

    He turned to look toward the direction . He met the eyes of Tong for a split second .

    But...

    *BANG*

    ...

    ...

    Inside the government hall, officials were walking into the blue gate in a single line . There were only twenty people remaining . Ding Yuan and Zhang Liao were standing behind to be their rearguards . They also heard themotion outside the building .

    Ding Yuan had an ugly expression on his face while Zhang Liao gazed toward the outside in solemn .

    "Just like you said . Those Dong Zhuo¡¯s men are the crook . " Ding Yuan muttered with a sighed .

    "Please hurry and enter the gate . Sir Zhang Tong and I will try to stop Dong Zhuo¡¯s men here . "

    "Right . Be careful, Wenyuan . "

    Ding Yuan followed after the rest of the officials into the gate, which closed itself after thest official had entered .

    Zhang Liao hid behind one of the sculptors in order to ambush anyone who entered the hall .

    Then...

    *BANG*

    ...

    ...

    Tong¡¯s 5 . 56x45mm bullet pierced through the forehead of Xu Da . It crushed his skull and his brain . Once again, Xu Da fell to his death .

    Tong did not let his guard down . He concentrated his attention on the dead body of Xu Da . The moment he resurrected himself, he would fire another shot .

    As Tong had expected, Xu Da¡¯s body started regenerating at an absurd speed . His blood flowed back into his wound . The bullet that Tong fired was ejected out from his forehead . The hole that was there a few seconds ago was closing . The skins around his wound were wriggling like worms that tried totch onto the others .

    Xu Da vision came back . However, he did not stand up right away .

    "Lu Bu! Stand in front of me!"

    Without a choice, the controlled Lu Bu obeyed Xu Da¡¯s order and stood guard in front of him, which coincidentally blocked the bullet angle from the rooftop .

    Tong clicked his tongue in frustration . This guy still could think in the moment of crisis .

    Lu Bu¡¯s statue was tall and muscr . As a result, he was a fine meat shield in front of Xu Da, which gave him a good cover from Tong¡¯s sniping .

    Xu Da had already found Tong¡¯s location from the split second of eye contact . He wanted to look into the direction and use his domination skill on Tong, but he was afraid that he would be shot to death first .

    He crawled forward and took a peak . Then he saw Tong, who was aiming toward his direction .

    "I¡¯ve got you! Be my ve!"

    At the same moment that Xu Da shouted hismand, a gunshot sound can be heard .

    *BANG*

    Tong fired another shot . It grazed Xu Da¡¯s right eye and destroyed his right ear . Blood started flowing down from the missing piece of flesh .

    ¡¯It¡¯s fine . I have controlled that sniper . ¡¯

    *BANG*

    Another shot fired . The bullet got his left foot that was not under the cover by the body of Lu Bu .

    ¡¯What¡¯s going on!? I just used my skill on him!¡¯

    "Sniper over there! Stop shooting!"

    *BANG*

    Another bullet pierced his right leg calf .

    "WTF!? System, why isn¡¯t he under my control!?"

    [Ah . . . *Ahem* There is . . . a little mistake on my part . ]

    [I forgot to tell you that this skill won¡¯t work if your target cannot hear you . ]

    [I didn¡¯t add it to your skill menu because I thought you knew about it . ]

    [Well, I¡¯m sowwy . Tee-Hee!]

    "@##$%"

    The trolling system got on his nerve . Xu Da felt like he wanted to shatter the system screen in front of him right now .

    *BANG*

    "HHHHhhGGG!"

    Tong¡¯s shot hit Xu Da¡¯s right calf as he nned to pin the otherworlder at that position until Lu Bu came back to his sense .

    Xu Da made a decision to find a good cover first before he tried to deal with Tong . Before he leaped, he gave out another order to Lu Bu .

    "KILL THAT GUY ON THE ROOF!!"

    As if Xu Da was once a soldier in a modern battlefield, he leaped from his crawling position toward the gate entrance to escape from the open area .

    In the scope vision that Tong locked his sight to, he noticed the movement behind Lu Bu . Xu Da was trying to escape!

    ¡¯You can¡¯t run away from me! STOP THE TIME!¡¯

    The distort space expanded with Tong as its center . The colorful world turned into a greyscale ck-and-white . All shouts and ambiance sound stopped . The world turned into a silence ce without a single movement like a painted picture .

    [Why didn¡¯t you call out your stOnd!? You prick!]

    [You would have looked cooler with a stOnd behind your back!]

    [And I could have added a ¡¯GOGOGO¡¯ ambiance in your scene!]

    [Well, that¡¯s none of my business . ]

    [Start counting down 10...]

    Tong ignored the usual system trolling messages . He readjusted his aiming and pointed toward Xu Da¡¯s head again . Then he pulled a trigger .

    A muffled sound came from the rifle chamber . The bullet went through Xu Da¡¯s head again .

    Seeing that his brain was busted one more time, Tong breathed out . He felt like he had blown away several loads of his worries with that shot .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve never used a gun with the time stop skill before . I¡¯m d it works . ¡¯

    While Tong sighed in relief, the system continued the countdown as usual . However...

    [7 . . . 6...]

    [You should start running . 5...]

    [I would have started running if I were you ...4]

    [Oh well, it¡¯s none of my business... 3]

    "What are you mumbling about, system?"

    [You will know soon... 2]

    [Oh, I¡¯ll give you a hint... 1]

    "What?"

    [The skill effect won¡¯t be canceled out even if the host is dead ... 0!]

    [The time flow will resume . ]

    [Don¡¯t forget to turn that meme BGM on!]

    [RUN!]

    The world regained its color, but there was something amiss . The figure of Lu Bu who should have been standing in front of Xu Da disappeared .

    "FUDGE!!"

    Tong, who was still confused by the system, felt an impact on his back as if there was a Thor Hammer mming down upon himself .

    The impact made Tong¡¯s body mmed down onto the roof and broke it into fragments . He fell down from the destroy rooftop andnded inside the main hall where Zhang Liao was hiding .

 Chapter 114

    Chapter 114

    Chapter 114 ¨C Turning Point at Jinyang - Part 5

    At the corner of the government wall, an old man with white hair and white long beard stood and observed the events in Jinyang City since this morning .

    His name was Zou Ci, the authorized native cultivator who served the System Goddess . His duty was to oversee the actions of all otherworlders in this world . If there was a mishap that could cause mass destruction or if an immortal came here to bully the natives, he would interfere and arrest the perpetrator on the spot .

    Yesterday, he was the one who was responsible for restoring Tong¡¯s [Demonic Seal] in order to stop the potential demonic rampage . After the incident, he remained here to observe Tong¡¯s action and investigated his future ns .

    By his side, a white hair youngdy with a grim expression touched a menu screen in front of her .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Liu Yang

    Age: 5

    Lifespan: 52,031 Years

    Shopping Pass: 3

    [Athena¡¯s Wisdom] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Obtain all information about one mortal .

    Skill Cost: 10 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - This skill can only be used by Liu Yang .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    [Goddess of War] Cannot be leveled up .

    - The host can create all weapons, armors, orbat-rted crafts from the dark age to the 21st-century .

    Skill Cost: None

    Skill Restriction:

    - This skill can only be used by Liu Yang .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - All items created by this skill cannot be used by mortals .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    [True Self] Cannot be leveled up .

    - The host retains her celestial appearance .

    - The host retains her physical attributes .

    - Upkeep: 1,000,000 Lifespan per year or [System Prisoner#1] is in effect .

    [Administrator Serial#7N321430501194]

    - The host can edit or delete a skill of a reincarnator in this world .

    Skill Cost: None

    Skill Restriction:

    - The skill power scale must follow thew of this dimension .

    - This skill can only be used by Liu Yang .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    - This skill cannot be applied to the host .

    [System Prisoner#1]

    - The host cannot use her Celestial power or other abilities that are not listed in the system .

    - The host cannot kill the natives in this world .

    - The host must work for the system and Zou Ci .

    - The host cannot refuse the orders from the system or Zou Ci .

    - Vition means death to the soul .

    *******************************

    ...

    In her menu, the bigbel "PTW Shop" could be read . She scrolled down and attempted to buy the three skills that had recently appeared to the shop .

    ...

    ***************************************

    [Eyes of Domination] LV . 1

    - Targets will follow themand of the host for four minutes .

    - If the target has been under this skill for more than 10 times, the effect will be permanent .

    Skill Cost: 100 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only apply to all targets that look into the eyes of the host .

    - Can only be effective on the targets once a day .

    ***************************************

    Price: 50,000 Lifespan .

    ***************************************

    ***************************************

    [Self-Resurrection] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Resurrect yourself upon death .

    Skill Cost: 2,500 lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Skill Cost doubles after each usage .

    ***************************************

    Price: 50,000 Lifespan .

    ***************************************

    ***************************************

    [Blessing of Spirits] LV 1

    - Attach a random magic attribute to a weapon or a target .

    - Increase all attributes of the target .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - 10 Minutes cooldown per one usage .

    - The strength of this skill determined by the skill level .

    ***************************************

    Price: 50,000 Lifespan .

    ***************************************

    ...

    The girl had a wry smile on her face after she saw the price . All of the skills that were sold out used to be priced at 10,000 per one skill . However, it got more expensive all of a sudden .

    "Deity System, why does the price increase? I thought it should have been 10,000 Lifespans for one skill . "

    [For an immortal like yourself, you have to pay 5 times the market price . Besides, your current lifespans were mine from the start . I have to right to reim it back any time I want to!]

    Liu Yang gritted her teeth in bitterness . She was arrested by Zou Ci the moment she was born into this world because she created [True Self] passive skill, which Zou Ci deemed that it was a threat to the natives .

    Her [True Self] skill upkeep was changed from 10,000 a year to a million lifespans a year, which was impossible for her to remain in this world .

    Then the system goddess chained her with the [System Prisoner#1] as a punishment . Liu Yangter was forced to work under Zou Ci until he was satisfied with her moral conduct .

    Right now, she had only a bit over 50,000 lifespans at the moment, so she could buy only one skill . She wanted to get the [Eyes of Domination] at first . Then she nced at the muscr tall man who was pummeling another young man inside the cracked building .

    ¡¯Lu Bu can¡¯t kill that demon with his power alone . ¡¯

    ¡¯With the restriction and Zou Ci¡¯s overseeing, I can¡¯t approach them . ¡¯

    ¡¯Then, how about I do it this way?¡¯

    The white hair girl chose to buy the [Blessing of Spirits], which was the weakest skill among the three . The moment the skill appeared in her status menu, she cast it on Lu Bu .

    ¡¯Now his physical attacks be magic attacks . How are you going to deal with this?¡¯

    The girlughed in her heart with a wide grin on her face .

    Zou Ci, who remained quiet for all these times, peered the girl with the corner of his eyes . Noticed that the girl was up to no good, he snapped his fingers .

    Static of electricity zapped the white hair girl and wrapped her under the lightning currents .

    "KYAAAAA!!!"

    The girl screamed in pain . Her skins were burnt by the tribtion lighting, but they regenerated themselves at a noticeable speed with naked eyes .

    "Goddess Liu Yang, please refrain from your immature action . " Zou Ci reprimanded the girl .

    "Great Sage, he¡¯s a demon! It¡¯s our job to exterminate the likes of them in this world! Why are you favoring him!?"

    The girl, Goddess Liu Yang, roared at the elder sage while she was undergoing torture by the electric currents .

    "That young man has yet to transform into a full-fledged demonic being . Moreover, his soul is purer than yours and that corrupted prince by worlds apart . We don¡¯t know if he will grow into a monster or a saint . We cannot harm him . "

    "Hahahaha! That¡¯s rich, Great Sage! He ughtered thousands of natives here, and you called him pure? You don¡¯t want to harm that Demon Halfling but you assisted that sinner prince! Heck, you arrested me but you let those two devils loose! What are you, a demon worshiper? Your hypocrisy is not even lower than the angels in Heaven! Once you die, I¡¯m sure you will get along with them well! HAHAHA!" Liu Yangughed and mocked Zou Ci .

    Zou Ci, the native cultivator and the Great Sage of this world, did not bother bickering with the Goddess in human skin . He closed his eyes and ignored the insult from Liu Yang .

    ¡¯If it wasn¡¯t because of the world¡¯sw, I would have killed both Liu Ping and Wang Li myself . I helped Liu Ping because Wang Li was more dangerous than him . ¡¯

    ¡¯Wang Li will lead an army of the dead and kill everyone if she bes the Empress . The world will end once she rules over this country . ¡¯

    ¡¯But Liu Ping will soon be destroyed by his own karma . It¡¯s better to cripple Wang Li and let the karma judges Liu Ping . ¡¯

    ¡¯That Grand Demoness in the pce also has the same karmic aura as that young man . She also has the potential to be a saint . No need to interfere with what she¡¯s doing for now . ¡¯

    ¡¯The little girl at Tianshui is odd and weak . There is no reason to arrest her . She won¡¯t be able to do much in this world . ¡¯

    ¡¯I hope that the Grand Demoness won¡¯t help Wang Li... or the chaos will be worsened . ¡¯

    Zou Ci opened his eyes and gazed at Tong, who was running away from Lu Bu .

    ¡¯Zhang Tong ... Which path will you choose?¡¯

    ...

    ...

    8 . 55 AM .

    The sudden fall from the rooftop stunned Tong¡¯s vision . He did not feel any pain due to his physical attack immunity skill, but he was still vulnerable to the dizziness . However, Tong could tell that he fell through the roof, and he was lying face down inside the main hall .

    Before he could get up, Tong felt another impact on his skull . He could feel a cold de hitting on his face, his neck, and his left chest several times . Tong continued to endure until he could readjust his eyesight .

    When his vision was clear, Tong could see Lu Bu, who stood at his side . The God of War had a weird look on his face . It was abination of astonishment, shocked, amusement, and frustration .

    "Fengxian, I¡¯m not your punching bag . Can you stop that?"

    Tong attempted to negotiate in the hope that he could buy some time . He remembered that the effect shouldst about 40 minutes to an hour at thetest .

    Once the brainwashing effect was over, Lu Bu woulde back to his sense .

    "Sorry, Tong . I need to kill you for my master, though I like you . "

    "You sounded like a terrible kind of women in my hometown . We call someone like you a Yandere . "

    "Don¡¯t you call me a woman, you scum! Now die!"

    More barrages and shes from Lu Bu crescent halberd rained upon Tong¡¯s body . His clothes were shattered and tattered . The iron armor that Tong worn on the outside had already been crushed and torn into fragments .

    Tong attempted to stand up or rolled his body away, but Lu Bu stomped him onto the ground without letting him escape .

    Lu Bu¡¯s halberd speed was also inhuman . Although Lu Bu¡¯s speed was so fast that he left after images after each strike, Tong managed to count that he was hit 3 times per a second . Each hit was aimed at the vital spots, such as his eyes, his neck, his skull, his left chest, and even his balls . The force behind each strike was enough to break the solid marble floor .

    "You are being unreasonable, Fengxian! Don¡¯t me me for this!"

    Tong mustered all his strength, killing intent, and resolve .

    *CLANK*

    He caught the crescent halberd by the shaft with his right hand to stop the attack .

    Tong lifted his body up and strike Lu Bu with his left fist, aiming at Lu Bu¡¯s golden balls .

    *PEOK*

    The low-blow fist connected!

    Lu Bu¡¯s attack paused . He staggered backward with a distorted expression on his face, which reddened from the pain and anger .

    Although he was wearing a full set of iron armor, his lower part armor was made by leathers sewed with clothes . The leather pants were designed for horsemen like Lu Bu who spent most of his time on the horseback .

    As a result, he was vulnerable here .

    "BASTARD! THAT WAS CHEATING!!"

    "SCREW YOU! YOU¡¯VE BEEN HITTING MINE FOR OVER A HUNDRED TIMES! I ONLY HIT YOU BACK ONCE, BUT YOU CALL ME CHEATING!?"

    As both of them were bickering at each other, Tong pulled out another pistol from his inventory and aimed at Lu Bu¡¯s left leg .

    Lu Bu¡¯s instinct cried inside his mind . He jumped to the side with his halberd blocking the front

    *BANG*

    *TINK*

    The bullet missed the target and pierced through the ground .

    Lu Bu nced at the floor that was hit by the bullet . Then he turned to re at Tong who took five steps back to gain a distance .

    "Oi, Tong! Are you a sorcerer like Feihong and that scum!?"

    "So what? You forced my hands!"

    "Did you try to kill me just now!? I thought we were friends!"

    "FOOk you! You wanted to kill me first! What do you want me to do!? Roll over and let you chop me into pieces!?"

    "Exactly! I want you dead!"

    Lu Bu exploded out his killing intent, which enveloped the entire city . At the same time, a strange light ball flew into the building out of nowhere and entered Lu Bu¡¯s body .

    Traces of electricity spark circled around Lu Bu¡¯s body which intensified his aura . The ground trembled as if there was a magnitude 3 earthquake with his body as its center .

    ¡¯Holy Shit! Are you sure you¡¯re a human and not a freaking super sOOyan!?¡¯

    Tong was bbergasted by the sudden phenomenon . He thought that only reincarnators would have strange cheats or supernatural powers . However, Lu Bu just went sOOyan on Tong .

    None of them was aware that Lu Bu was strengthened by Liu Yang in secret .

 Chapter 115

    Chapter 115

    Chapter 115 ¨C Turning Point at Jinyang - Part 6

    Goosebumps appeared on Tong¡¯s skin . He gulped down his saliva in astonishment and fear . His sweat drops flow backward from his chin up to his temple . The pressure from Lu Bu was many times more terrifying than the first time that Tong crashed with him .

    Tong gritted his teeth and strengthened his legs to maintain his stance and his focus . An iron sword was pulled out by Tong¡¯s left hand while Tong¡¯s right hand still aimed his gun at Lu Bu .

    ¡¯Can I do the same as back then? How did I use that power?¡¯

    Tong attempted to bring out the power from the previous time when he dueled with Lu Bu . He remembered how it felt when he used it, but he could not remember how he cast it .

    No matter how hard Tong tried to replicate his aura or his mental strength, his [Demonic Curse] cannot be used .

    ¡¯Damn it! I can¡¯t use it! Screw this!¡¯

    Without a choice, Tong started shooting .

    *BANG*

    *TINK*

    *BANG*

    *TINK*

    *BANG*

    *TINK*

    With his inhuman speed, Lu Bu swung his 100kg halberd with one hand and parried all of Tong¡¯s bullets .

    Lu Bu¡¯s blood-shot eyes locked at Tong . He released his warcry .

    "DIE!!"

    He stomped the ground and disappeared from Tong¡¯s sight .

    With a sh, Lu Bu appeared at the right side of Tong with a finished motion . At the same time, another sh shed through Tong¡¯s pistol . It cleaved from the tips of the gun down to Tong¡¯s shoulder .

    The gun was cut as if it was tofu . The crack of the cut appeared on the right arm of Tong .

    Blood shed out from the disconnected parts . A long piece of flesh dropped down on the ground with the broken gun, leaving red flesh and bones that were still attached to the body visible .

    Tong¡¯s arm was severed in half!

    "Huh? I thought I should have cleaved you in half . That¡¯s odd . "

    Lu Bu muttered to himself as he was surprised by the change of his body .

    His natural body attributes increased and all of his attacks turned into magical attacks, which Lu Bu had not adapted to it yet .

    Meanwhile, the face of Tong whitened as a paper sheet . A worst-case scenario for himself had just happened . His physical attack immunity was still effective . However, Lu Bu¡¯s previous attack changed into a magic attack . As a result, the feeling of being under the absolute protection and the confidence he had was shattered .

    Tong ignored the pain and activated his regeneration skill . At the same time, he leaped back and tried his best to get away from this ce as soon as possible .

    ¡¯Fighting Lu Bu without my life-saving skill is a suicide . I have to run away!¡¯

    Unlike thest time when Tong fought Lu Bu, the terror of this current Lu Bu magnified by a hundredfold . He was already a monster when he sparred casually with Tong yesterday . Now, he seriously wanted to take Tong¡¯s life . Furthermore, his power had increased from that mysterious light ball!

    "Where are you going, Tong? I¡¯ve not done with you yet! I¡¯ll have you taste these hands!"

    "Fengxian, you¡¯re not BrOOn StrOOman! Stop using a wrestler¡¯s gimmick!"

    Lu Bu kicked the ground and dashed toward Tong who was running backward while his front still faced toward Lu Bu .

    Seeing that the monster among men rushed toward him, Tong threw the sword in his left hand at Lu Bu as he knew that it would be suicide to fight him in meleebat right now .

    Lu Bu swatted the sword away as if he swatted a fly . Although it did not hurt him the slightest, it dyed Lu Bu¡¯s momentum by half a second, which was enough for Tong to swap another weapon from his inventory .

    Tong pulled out another pistol from his inventory and another spare Glock magazine with fully loaded bullets .

    ¡¯[Firearm Creation]! Give me another Glock pistol!¡¯

    ...

    ********************************

    [Firearms Creation] LV . 1 EXP( 8,729/10,000 )

    - Create any firearm or bullet of your choice .

    - Handguns and handgun bullets can be created

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet

    - 50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice

    Skill Restriction: Can only create one gun a day or one bullet a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    ********************************

    ...

    The skill that had been with him for more than a year was used again in this critical situation .

    He loaded the newly created pistol with the prepared clip, unlocked the safety, and loaded the bullet into the chamber for both guns .

    Lu Bu was already about to catch him . There was only 5 meters distance between the two .

    Unexpected by the two, a shadow figure rushed toward the side of Lu Bu . He swung his poleaxe at Lu Bu with full force .

    As if the shadow¡¯s movement was read, Lu Bu swung his halberd to the side and shed it with the iing poleaxe .

    *CLANK*

    Zhang Liao, who jumped at Lu Bu, felt the overwhelming strength of his boss through the impact . His hands went numb, his arm shook as if there was electric current ran through his arms .

    "STAY OUT OF THIS, WENYUAN!! HE IS MY PREY!!"

    "Fengxian! Stop what you¡¯re doing! You¡¯re under being controlled by a wicked sorcery spell!"

    "SILENCE!!"

    Lu Bu switched target . While his halberd locked with Zhang Liao¡¯s axe, Lu Bu rotated his halberd with the blunt end without de circled its way up . Then, another edge with de pushed the poleaxe away .

    Lu Bu grabbed his halberd shaft with both hands and stabbed the blunt side at the upper abdomen where Zhang Liao¡¯s liver was at .

    *POEK*

    Despite wearing a full set of iron armor, which covered the entire body, Zhang Liao felt the impact ran through his innards . His inside shook as if his bones and his organs were moved by the sudden shockwave .

    Zhang Liao knelt down in pain with shocked expression while he puked out his saliva and his breakfast .

    Lu Bu did not show mercy . He kicked his subordinate with his iron boot andnded on the same spot that his pole blunt hadnded .

    *THUD*

    Zhang Liao flew away from the impact and mmed onto the nearby wall . His body dropped down on the ground and stopped moving . His breathing remained, but he lost his consciousness from the repeated assaults .

    Tong witnessed the entire fight from the beginning to the end . The exchangedst only three moves and less than 2 seconds . If someone whom Tong could not beat lose in 2 seconds, how long could Tongst against Lu Bu?

    The answer would be an instant!

    Tong dashed toward the exit of the main hall and shouted .

    "FEIHONG! WHEN WILL THE EFFECT WEAR OFF!!?"

    ...

    Inside the private world, Li Feihong, Ding Yuan, Zhang Liao¡¯s soldiers, and other officials were watching the monitors which were broadcasting the event inside the government building .

    The terrifying power and speed of Lu Bu gave them a fright . At the same time, Tong¡¯s endurance and body durability, which able to take multiple hits from Lu Bu, astonished them .

    Lei Feihong was sweating all over . His back was so wet that it could be mistaken as he just fell into a pond . His legs were shaking from fear, but he gritted his teeth to endure .

    Tong was in crisis . Li Feihong knew that he had to help Tong right now or he would be dead in a few seconds .

    He gazed at the system clock . It was 9 . 05 AM .

    If his memory served him right, Lu Bu was affected by the skill somewhere around 8 . 15 AM . The effect shouldst only one hour based on the testimony from Lu Bu yesterday .

    That meant, Tong had to oust Lu Bu¡¯s onught for another 10 minutes .

    Li Feihong was about to text Tong with the n chat box . However, his tears of anxiety and despair clouded his eyes . He wiped his tears with the back of his hands and nced at the monitor one more time .

    ¡¯Huh?¡¯

    His vision blurred . Tong, who was running away from Lu Bu in slow motion in the monitor, had a simr appearance to another "Tong" in his previous life . His face ovepped with each other, which made Li Feihong hallucinated that this Tong was actually his previous life¡¯s Tong .

    ¡¯Eh!?¡¯

    Li Feihong rubbed his eyes again . His vision recovered . The previous "Tong" in the monitor returned to the current "Tong" .

    ¡¯I¡¯m seeing things...¡¯

    ¡¯But...¡¯

    Despite knowing that this Tong might not be his previous life "Tong", Li Feihong felt a heartbroken pain in his chest . The panicked face of Tong in the monitor too resembled the anger Tong in that courtroom .

    He was nauseous to the point that he could faint at any moment .

    Li Feihong gritted his teeth and summoned all of his courage . He decided not to text the message to Tong but he opened the gate behind Lu Bu¡¯s back . He jumped out from the gate himself and hugged Lu Bu from the back .

    "Tong! Hang in there for another 10 minutes! 10 minutes more and this will be over!"

    With all air in his lung, Li Feihong shouted while he was trying his best to restrain Lu Bu, who raised his eyebrows in amusement after he noticed Feihong¡¯s action .

    "Oi, Feihong! This is not a ce for you to stick your nose into!"

    "My lord, you can¡¯t kill Zhang Tong! Pleasee back to your sense!"

    "Listen! The only reason I haven¡¯t killed you yet because I value your talent! Let go right now and I¡¯ll forget what has happened today!"

    "No! Please don¡¯t kill Zhang Tong!"

    At first, Lu Bu did not want to pay attention to this coward strategist . However, Li Feihong had gotten on his nerve .

    He stopped pursuing Tong and turned his body around . His free hand grasped the hugging man by his neck and raised him up like a small kitten .

    Unable to resist Lu Bu¡¯s grip power, Li Feihong was lifted up .

    One more time, Lu Bu red into the teary eyes of Li Feihong before he threw the shaking young man to the wall where Zhang Liao was unconscious .

    *THUD*

    Li Feihong¡¯s body mmed to the wall with his back . His right back rib cages cracked from the impact . The backbones of Li Feihong made a weird noise inside his body . His right lung was stabbed by a piece of his broken rib cages .

    The body of Feihong slid down from the wall while he coughed out the blood that got into his lung .

    Meanwhile, Tong had seen everything . His eyes glowed in a fiery red as he was frustrated for many reasons .

    ¡¯Feihong, you reckless idiot! You didn¡¯t have to go that far! Can¡¯t you just open the goddamn gate and let me inside!?¡¯

    ¡¯Lu Bu... I know it¡¯s not your fault, but your nature is fOOking unreasonable!¡¯

    ¡¯I didn¡¯t want to harm you at first . But...¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll freaking break you! Right now!¡¯

 Chapter 116

    Chapter 116

    Chapter 116 ¨C Turning Point at Jinyang - Part 7

    The aura that Tong had tried to rouse before seeped out from his body . It was not as strong as the first time he used it against Lu Bu the other day, but Tong could sense it .

    Tong pointed the muzzles of his guns toward Lu Bu and fired both of them without caring if Lu Bu would die from the bullets .

    *BANG* *BANG*

    *BANG* *BANG*

    Three bullets were ricocheted by Lu Bu¡¯s unique designed iron armor, but one bullet prated his left arm which was holding his halberd .

    The sudden pain made Lu Bu turned around and gazed at Tong, who was standing in front of the entrance door of the government hall building .

    The situation outside already subsided as all raiders were killed . However, the garrison troops dare not enter the hall because of the killing intent from Tong and Lu Bu .

    "That sorcery again... I hate that coward way of fighting . "

    "I also hate your fighting style . "

    *BANG* *BANG*

    *BANG* *BANG*

    Tong fired his pistols as he aimed at Lu Bu¡¯s vital spots .

    On the other side, Lu Bu swung his halberd with his uninjured right arm and deflected the majority of bullets that came for him .

    *WHOOSH*

    One of the bullets grazed his neck . It cut his minor blood vessels, which leaked out red liquid from his neck .

    "No more ying catch! Now die!"

    Lu Bu kicked the ground and disappeared from Tong¡¯s sight .

    Although Tong could not see Lu Bu¡¯s movements, he sensed a signature of a living beinging at him from his left side .

    Tong leaped toward his right and turned left with both his guns pointing forward . He fired again without confirming the target .

    *BANG* *BANG*

    *BANG* *BANG*

    The bullets pierced Lu Bu¡¯s chest armor and bit into his flesh . However, they were too shallow .

    The crescent halberd made a half-moon arc and shed passed Tong¡¯s both extended arms that were holding the dual guns . Two arms were lopped off!

    More after images shed Tong¡¯s legs and torso . Blood gushed out all over the ce .

    Tong did not panic this time . Instead, his killing intent continued to grow .

    Both of his lost arms regenerated . His injuries kept healing to counter the iing attacks non-stop . Tong pulled out his lucky charm from his inventory . It was the grenade that Tong kept it with himself for over a year .

    ¡¯Thank you for staying with me for all these times . Goodbye . ¡¯

    Tong pulled the pin and jumped at Lu Bu as if he was a suicide bomber .

    "If you die from this, you suck!"

    *BOOM*

    The grenade exploded at point nk . Fragments and shrapnel were pushed by the explosive forces and scattered in every direction .

    Lu Bu felt as if he was hit by a sledgehammer at his chest . Several pieces of shrapnel got through his iron armor and dug themselves into his flesh . His body was knocked back into the air .

    By instinct, Lu Bu regained his bnced in mid-air . His feet tapped on the ground lightly and staggered backward five steps . Then he came to a pause .

    His chest armor was charred ck and torn to shred . Blood dripped out from the numerous wound behind his wrecked armor . Both his arms were still intact, but small wounds could be seen everywhere . His tights and legs were in a better condition, but they were shaking as the force of the explosive shook his innards and nerve system .

    Meanwhile, the explosion sted away arge portion of Tong¡¯s bowel and tore his left arm . Tong did not wait . He regenerated his lost flesh in an instant .

    ¡¯I forgot . All suicidal actions can override my physical immune passive . ¡¯

    Tong was immune to all physical attacks, but he could still be harmed if he intentionally hurt himself, such as jumping off a tall building or cut himself . Throwing a grenade at himself also bypassed his immunity skill .

    Because of the explosion, Tong had sparked another idea forbatting Lu Bu and future war .

    ¡¯I should have done this earlier . I¡¯m so stupid . ¡¯

    Tong looked around the trace of the explosion . There were a small fire and smoke from the ground and the fragments of the grenade .

    His rifle was lost when he fell down into this building . One of his three pistols was broken . The other two were on the ground with Tong¡¯s severed arms .

    Tong pointed his palm at Lu Bu who was struggling and dizzy from the sudden explosive noise and forces .

    "[Create Food]! Give me some vegetable oil! Limit the amount to 1 liter!"

    Slippery substance liquid appeared above the head of Lu Bu and rained down upon him . He was now soaked with oil!

    "Fengxian! If you don¡¯t want to die, stop what you are doing! We can still be friends in the future . Don¡¯t make me do this!"

    Tong threatened to kill Lu Bu even though he felt pity for him . He meant it when he said he did not want to do this .

    Meanwhile, Lu Bu stopped all of his movement . He stared forward while he concentrated to regain his hearing and his sight from the dizziness . He stood still for 3 minutes before he could hear and see everything again .

    Noticing that he was soaked with oil, Lu Bu nced around himself . Small traces of fire and smoke, caused by the grenade, were in between Tong and himself as if they were the line that he could not cross .

    "Sorcery again one after another, huh? You know what, Tong? I take back my words . I hate you now . You¡¯re a coward like my master . "

    "If you hate your master that much, why are you following his order?"

    "I have to . But I don¡¯t know why . "

    Tong sighed . He nced at the system menu option . The clock on the screen showed 9 . 10 AM .

    ¡¯Five more minutes . ¡¯

    A sword was summoned from Tong¡¯s inventory . Tong red back at Lu Bu as if he got himself ready for another bout . Lu Bu also readied his stance and nned to make the next move .

    The crowd of garrison guards already entered the hall and surrounded the two . However, none of them dare to attack Lu Bu or Tong as their killing intent vortex was still present .

    Tong noticed this . He hesitated if he should use this chance to run away now or continue confronting with this God of War .

    ¡¯If I run, everyone here will be killed . Lu Bu is a freak right now . ¡¯

    Tong sighed . Trying to protect others was tiring and it limited his options . If he were to run away, he could easily buy over 5 minutes of time for Lu Bu to regain his sense at the cost of these people¡¯s lives .

    ¡¯I don¡¯t want these people dead . ¡¯

    ¡¯Welp! I¡¯ll just troll Lu Bu till he¡¯s sober . ¡¯

    ...

    Inside of Lu Bu¡¯s mind, his thought was in a mess .

    ¡¯He has good basic warfare tactics . I can¡¯t cross those small fire line or I¡¯m dead . ¡¯

    ¡¯But I can easily leap through those . He is still too na?ve . ¡¯

    ¡¯Sorry, Tong . You have to die . ¡¯

    ¡¯But why am I trying to kill him again?¡¯

    As someone with a strong temperament and absurd mentality, Lu Bu had already sobered up from the hypnotized skill . He was in confusion about the reason behind his actions .

    ¡¯This is stupid . There¡¯s no reason to kill him to begin with!¡¯

    ¡¯He¡¯s just pissing me off with those sorceries . You¡¯re a man then fight like a man, Tong!¡¯

    ¡¯Argh! It¡¯s that guy¡¯s fault! He did something to me again!¡¯

    ¡¯Where¡¯s that guy again? I have to kill him another thousand times!¡¯

    Lu Bu disregarded about Tong and turned around . He tried to walk toward the exit of the main government hall .

    However . . .

    "[Create Food]! Give me water!"

    Like a firefighter who was handling a firehose with insane water pressure, clear water gushed out from Tong¡¯s both palm and mmed into Lu Bu¡¯s chest . The water pressure power made Lu Bu staggered backward .

    "Shit! Tong, stop! I-oof!"

    Before Lu Bu could finish his sentences, the water line hit his face and got into his mouth . Lu Bu was stunned by the impact of the water pressure .

    Tong checked the surrounding . All the traces of fire and smoke were gone by the water . He began his next move .

    "Don¡¯t use the gen-Z words, Fengxian! Again, [Create Food]! Flood the floor with oil!"

    A wave of oil flooded the government hall . The floor suddenly became slippery, and the surrounding soldiers lost their bnce . They stumbled and copsed on the ground, which destroyed their formation like falling dominos .

    Lu Bu, who was stunned by the water jet, managed to regain his sight . However, he lost his footing because of the oil and slipped . He fell down on his knee .

    "Tong! Stop using those sorceries! I¡¯m-!"

    "Yeet, [Create Food]! Water!"

    Another water jet hit Lu Bu¡¯s face before he could talk again . He lost his bnce and fell onto his back .

    Lu Bu attempted to get up, but he found out that he could not get any traction from the ground . The floor was too slippery, and he could not even nt his foot on the ground .

    "Tong, Stop!"

    "[Create Food]! Water!"

    "Ugh! Sto-!"

    "[Create Food]! Oil and water!"

    "Idiot! I-"

    "[Create Food]! Water!"

    ...

    ...

    9 . 25 AM .

    Tong was into the spell casting that he forgot the time . He went over the estimated time for 10 minutes . He managed to control himself after he heard the galloping sounds of horses from the outside .

    Zhang Liao regained his consciousness 15 minutes ago when Tong flooded the main hall with water and oil . He rejoined the garrison force to organize the surrounding forces .

    Li Feihong had been carried away from the main hall 10 minutes ago . He was being treated by government physicians .

    Gao Shun and his small team of cavalries arrived at the main hall . He was shocked by the sight of the flooded building and the corpses in front of it .

    He rushed toward the main hall in a panic, then he found Zhang Liao .

    "Wenyuan, what has happened!?" Gao Shun asked .

    Zhang Liao gave Gao Shun a bitter smile and pointed at the carnage scenes in front of them .

    "The rumor about Zhang Tong being an immortal... was real . "

    "What!?"

    They had heard about the rumor of the Anping Battle before . They said that Tong could recover himself or was able to use sorceries and strange thunder magic .

    Tong demonstrated all of them to Zhang Liao unknowingly during the fight against Lu Bu before Zhang Liao decided to help him stop his boss .

    The aftermath of the battle between Tong and Lu Bu was the best proof for this .

    Gao Shun looked around . Lu Bu was still lying on the ground in exhaustion while Tong stood tall in a perfect condition . Gao Shun did not need someone to tell of the result of the fight .

    ¡¯I saw Zhang Tong left the city gate myself . How did hee here before me?¡¯

    Gao Shun was the only general in Ding Yuan army who did not know about Li Feihong¡¯s abilities . As a result, he was baffled by many things that happened today .

    ...

    ...

    Lu Bu groaned and sat up . Tong finally stopped attacking him, so he could get a room for breathing .

    The tattered God of War red at Tong with blood-shot eyes . Then he screamed .

    "TONG! YOU STUPID PIECE OF @#$%##@#$!!"

    His words could not beprehended by ordinary humans anymore .

 Chapter 117

    Chapter 117

    Chapter 117 ¨C Turning Point at Jinyang - Part 8

    Zou Ciughed after he witnessed the entire event unfolded . He liked what Tong had done .

    "Brilliant! You could have run away with all those people as your shields, you chose to stay . Instead of trying to unseal your demonic power, you used your wisdom . "

    Liu Yang clicked her tongue in annoyance .

    "What brilliant, he¡¯s just relying on the system . He¡¯s simply breathing by borrowing someone else¡¯s nose . He¡¯s yet to use anything that belongs to himself!"

    "Wisdom is part of his power, dear goddess . This is where you were wrong . " Zou Ci chuckled .

    ¡¯You have no idea, goddess . We were born mortals, but we pursue the immortality! The path of a cultivator like mine and that boy¡¯s path is totally different than the road you a silver spoon deity like yourself walked!¡¯

    He did not bother bickering with her anymore . He tapped her shoulder and faded into thin air together .

    Before Zou Cipletely teleported to his other destination, he looked back at Tong with a meaningful nce .

    ¡¯50 years, no, probably sooner that . Both of us will definitely surpass the system . I wonder who can break free from the shackles first . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    The ruckus at the government hall finally ended .

    Lu Bu threw a tantrum at first as he was mad from Tong¡¯s magic . Tong made up with him by allowing Lu Bu to beat him up till his heart content, which Tong got pummeled down to the ground .

    Since the buff effect duration had been expired, Lu Bu could not harm Tong . He gave up fighting Tong after he recalled that Li Feihong was severely injured because of him .

    As a result, Tong¡¯s face became a pig face for the entire day . Although he could activate his regenerate skill to heal his face, Tong did not do it, so Lu Bu could calm down .

    Xu Da¡¯s corpse was found at the front yard of the main hall building with his head missing a few flesh and a portion of his brain .

    All one hundred bait soldiers that stayed with Lu Bu died in the battle against the garrison guards or killed each other .

    Zhang Liao was slightly injured from the attacks of Lu Bu . He was durable as he was a veteran . He said that two days would be more than enough to heal these trivial wounds and internal injuries .

    Lu Bu got hundreds of small wounds all over his torso areas and his arms from Tong¡¯s grenade . Because he was frustrated by Tong¡¯s repeated skill abuse, he refused to be treated by local doctors . Lu Bu simply bathed himself with wine, and water to clean the wound . Then he took out the shrapnel and the bullet from his body and bandaged himself .

    Li Feihong suffered serious injuries from the broken ribs . Native physicians could not treat him, so Tong suggested everyone that he would take Feihong to Julu . At Julu City, Hua Shi could scan his condition and provide better treatment than the locals .

    Fortunately, he had enough strength to open his gate to let the refugee soldiers and the officials return . Ding Yuan also returned to settle down the situation .

    ...

    ...

    The spy from Zhang Ji convoy rushed back to report the situation to his boss . The messages were passed from one post to another . Secret signals were ryed to the camp, which located outside the southern city wall .

    Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji¡¯s nephew, read the report with a solemn expression . He looked at his uncle .

    "What¡¯s next? Our objective has failed . "

    Zhang Ji gazed at the wall of Jinyang City with a deep frown .

    "Escape from here as soon as possible . Go and tell everyone . We¡¯ll retreat back to Hongnong!"

    "We¡¯re not going to Julu?" Zhang Xiu was surprised .

    The uncle shook his head and sighed . The report they had read told them that the instigator¡¯s corpse, Xu Da, was found . All stories about the bribery attempt were revealed to everyone in Ding Yuan¡¯s ranks .

    Their next move was obvious . They wouldunch an attack on them as their n was busted .

    To make thing worse, Zhang Tong, who was their second objective, was there at the main government hall . He now discovered about their n which destroyed their reputation and their first impression .

    They were supposed to visit Tong to make friends with him, yet this incident turned him into an enemy instead . They could not go to Julu anymore .

    "We cannot . I believe Zhang Tong will note into terms with us anymore after this incident . It was our fault that we didn¡¯t notice him from the very beginning . "

    "I see . That can¡¯t be helped, then . "

    "Let¡¯s go . We have to hurry when they¡¯re still cleaning up the mess . "

    . . .

    The order for returning passed down to everyone inside the camp . It caused an uproar among the nonbatants behind the caravans at first, but they subsided within a few minutes . They did not have the authority to change the higher up decisions, so they gave up their lives to their fate .

    Zhang Ji¡¯s men packed up their belongings within an hour . The family members of the troops also packed up and entered their perspective wagons, carriages, and carts .

    However, a few persons were missing .

    ...

    Jia Xu snuck out of the caravan with the baby prince . He mixed in with the wandering peddlers which were entering the south gate with their caravans . He managed to get into the city without getting checked as he was seen as an elder and a baby grandson .

    He did not just sneak in, he asked around the locals to acquire the update events within the city .

    "I heard there was amotion at the government pce . "

    "I saw horsemen going to the center area . "

    "There¡¯s a loud thunder noise from the pce . "

    "I don¡¯t know what happened there . "

    "Just now, I saw soldiers carrying corpses outside of the pce!"

    After Jia Xu had asked around, he caught a glimpse of the overall situation .

    ¡¯Those Dong Zhuo¡¯s men should have done something with Ding Yuan and failed . Or else, he wouldn¡¯t give the retreat order so quickly . Ha! Serve them right! Go home, you biatch ass mofo! I¡¯m going to retire myself in peace!¡¯

    He did not idle around the local area, Jia Xu looked around for an inn to rest while he nned to hire a wet nurse for the baby .

    Jia Xu managed to reserve an empty room at an inn . He also entrusted the baby to his newly hired wet nurse . Then he went out to gather more information from the nearby tavern .

    "Wee, wee . Please take a seat . What would you like today?"

    A waiter weed Jia Xu despite his poor look .

    ¡¯Even I dressed up like this I¡¯m still treated so politely . It seems this city is poor . ¡¯

    "Give me your finest wine and your best food . I also want to know about the recent events in this city . "

    Jia Xu did not hold back . He tossed a gold nugget which worth 3 taels of gold to the waiter . He epted it with wide eyes and frantically rushed back to prepare what Jia Xu had ordered .

    Within 10 minutes, the food and the wine were ready .

    "Now, tell me . What¡¯s going on in this city?" Jia Xu questioned the waiter .

    The waiter did not hide anything . He told the disguised old man about everything he knew .

    ...

    Inside the city of Jinyang, a little girl was running away from a teenager girl .

    "Little Bai! Where are you going!?"

    "I¡¯m not going back to Hongnong! I¡¯m going to Julu!"

    "Wait! You can¡¯t! We got the order to leave right now, we have to leave!"

    "No! I¡¯m going to Julu!"

    The two girls, who were chasing each other, were Dong Bai and Zou Shi .

    Dong Bai escaped the camp the moment she had heard that they had to return to Dong Zhuo¡¯s territory . She could not afford to wait any longer as the summon effect on Tong¡¯s skill would activate soon .

    Meanwhile, Zou Shi chased after the little girl because of her goodwill . She did not want Dong Bai to wonder in a strange ce alone as she could be kidnapped or ravished by a wicked pervert . She had to go back to be protected under the surveince of the soldiers to be safe .

    The little legs of Dong Bai could not get very far, she was caught be Zou Shi after a few minutes of running .

    Zou Shi panted as she ran out of breath .

    "Little Bai... you¡¯re really a fast runner . "

    "Let me go! I have to go to Julu!"

    "Please stop struggling . We have to return!"

    Dong Bai tried to resist the hug of Zou Shi, but her body¡¯s strength was so low that she could not pry of Zou Shi¡¯s arms from her body .

    The little girl lost her patience . She decided to risk everything .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve no choice now . I¡¯ve to activate myst resort!¡¯

    ...

    ***************************

    **Status**

    Name: Dong Bai

    Age: 5

    Lifespan: 49 Years

    [True Self] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Temporary revert back to the previous demonic form .

    - Host regains all status attributes from the previous form .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan per one hour .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Only Dong Bai can use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    [Administrator Serial#5H450107053052]

    - The host can edit or delete a skill of a reincarnator in this world .

    Skill Cost: None

    Skill Restriction:

    - The skill power scale must follow thew of this dimension .

    - Only Dong Bai can use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    [Sealed]

    - The host cannot use any demonic power in this world .

    - The host cannot ept any mission from the system .

    - The host cannot edit her own skills .

    ***************************

    ...

    ¡¯Revert to my former self! [True Self]!¡¯

    Dong Bai resorted using her skill . Her tiny body reverted back to the demoness beauty from Hell . Because of the sudden transformation, her small clothes were torn into pieces . The naked body of a beauty who could fall a nation was revealed to Zou Shi .

    Zou Shi was pushed off by the transformation force . As she was native mortal without any martial art training, she fainted by the shockwave from the point-nk range .

    Dong Bai returned to Friday . She turned around and found out that she identally knocked out her respected elder sister . She cringed .

    ¡¯Aw, crap . I forgot about the shockwave . ¡¯

    ¡¯Crap, crap, crap . I can¡¯t leave her here . She¡¯ll be ravished by savages around this city . ¡¯

    ¡¯Haiz, fine! I¡¯ll take her with me!¡¯

    Friday looked around . It was fortunate that this area was deserted, and there was no one around them .

    ¡¯I only have one hour . I guess I¡¯ll have to run my way there . ¡¯

    ¡¯If I remember correctly, I should head east . I¡¯ll run along the road then . ¡¯

    Friday piggybacked the unconscious Zou Shi . Then she started running, rather, flying .

    The demonic body of Friday was far stronger than Lu Bu and Tong . She leaped over the 15 meters city wall as she saw it as a useless barricade, and proceed east . Within one minute, she ran ten kilometers .

    Along the way toward the east, she also leaped past a long line of soldiers who carried Zhang and Zhou gs . She did not pay attention to them and continued forward .

    She leaped past Shangai County and Shangshan County . Then she reached Julu City before the one hour effect was over . She leaped over the wall again and entered the city .

    The crowd in the city was shocked when she saw a naked beauty appeared out-of-nowhere . Then she carried the unconscious girl on her back somewhere at a high speed .

    Friday reached a quiet inn in the inner resident part of the city . She thought that this area should be for the wealthy families or the officials living area .

    Before she said anything, the effect of [True Self] was over . Friday was reverted back to Dong Bai . The stunning demoness turned back to the small little girl again .

    [Your skill [True Self] has been erased . ]

    Dong Bai sighed . She consoled herself .

    ¡¯It¡¯s alright . In the next 10 years or so, I¡¯ll be an adult again . I¡¯ll just have to be patient . ¡¯

    [Well, actually you can use that skill again . ]

    "What!?"

    Friday was shocked by the sudden system message .

    [Do you want to use it again?]

    She gritted her teeth . This system was nning something, but she hesitated if she should ept this or not .

 Chapter 118

    Chapter 118

    Chapter 118 ¨C Turning Point at Jinyang - Part 9

    Late Afternoon .

    Ding Yuan settled down the incident and all the officials returned home . Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Tong were present in the wrecked main government hall as Ding Yuan¡¯s assistants . They were also tired from the aftermath clean-up .

    During the cleanup, Tong had exined to Ding Yuan about Dong Zhuo¡¯s n to seduce Lu Bu into betraying him, so the image of Dong Zhuo, the hero of the west border, was crumbled in this incident .

    "Son, arrange the troops . I want you to capture all of Dong Zhuo¡¯s men . "

    Ding Yuan ordered Lu Bu . He had enough of their deceit and conspiracy .

    "What if they resist?"

    "Kill them all!"

    Lu Bu grinned . He gestured Zhang Liao and Gao Shun to follow him . He nned to eradicate everybody without capturing them as he was ordered .

    Tong observed Lu Bu¡¯s expression and sighed . He knew what Lu Bu was up to, but it was none of his business anymore . He needed to leave as he had finished his job, preventing the father-killing event and changed the history .

    ¡¯With this, Lu Bu can see salvation . Well, as long as his brute nature can be tamed in the future . ¡¯

    Tong bowed to Ding Yuan and excused himself . He turned toward the main hall and was about to leave, however...

    "Lord Immortal Zhang, please wait for a moment . "

    The corner of Tong¡¯s eyebrows twitched . Because of the ir, he showed in the fight against Lu Bu, Ding Yuan started calling him "Immortal Zhang" now .

    "Yes?"

    "I¡¯m sorry that I have a favor to ask you . Is it possible that we can invite your wife to this city? I¡¯ve heard that she was a deity of the medicines, so I would like to invite her to help our injured soldiers and sick officials . I also would like to have her check up on my health . "

    All Tong¡¯s motion came to a pause . For a split second, the eyes of Tong shed a hostile intent toward Ding Yuan . They returned to his casual eyes and Tong smiled back at the old governor .

    "I¡¯m very sorry . I¡¯m afraid that my wife is not in the condition to travel back and forth right now . You see, she¡¯s pregnant at the moment . "

    Tong lied through his teeth . He did not want to expose Hua Shi¡¯s pretty face to an outsider as she grew into a beautiful fairy which was too charming in Tong¡¯s eyes .

    ¡¯Her beauty can be a thorn . I don¡¯t want to expose her to the public too much . ¡¯

    The incident at the auction house where a random youngster ogled Hua Shi was still in his mind . He did not want someone to pursue her or admire her even if it was just a nce . This feeling got worse after his aura skills had changed into the [Demonic Curse] .

    "Oh? I didn¡¯t know about that . Please forgive me . And also congrattions!"

    "Thank you, senior . For the injured people, I have a better idea . Sir Li Feihong has the power to open gates to travel a distance quickly . Why don¡¯t we have Sir Li helping us in this matter? Actually, Sir Li is also injured from today¡¯s incident . I wish to have my wife examine his conditions as well . "

    "But isn¡¯t he seriously injured as well? Can he still use his power?"

    "It¡¯s fine . We could give him a few assistants for that . We also need a special stretcher for Sir Li in this matter..."

    Tong and Ding Yuan brainstormed about how they could travel to Julu with Li Feihong¡¯s private world skill . Tong drafted a hospital stretcher with wheels for Ding Yuan, so he could let his men craft this stretcher faster .

    Li Feihong was bedridden at the moment because his ribs were broken and his spine condition could not be examined by the local physicians . He had suffered a bit of internal bleeding, which was treated by the local physicians . He needed modern medical care for further treatment .

    Carpenters and craftsmen were summoned into the hall and were given the task toplete it within today .

    Two hourster, theypleted the prototype wheeled stretcher that Tong copied from the modern hospital stretchers . The chassis and the foundation were made from wood while the bed was made from sewed clothes, dried seeds, and cotton .

    The stretcher was taken to the infirmary tent that Li Feihong was resting in right away . Tong also went with the crowd to exin the situation to the injured Feihong .

    Ding Yuan gathered all the officials who had troubles with their health . They followed Tong to the infirmary tentter .

    Tong arrived at the infirmary tent . Li Feihong lied on the prepared bed with 5 white-hair physicians around him .

    The physicians were giving Li Feihong acupunctures to relieve his pain, which made Tong cringed .

    ¡¯They just simply douse the needles with anesthesia to numb the nerve . This helped nothing . ¡¯

    "Excuse me . Can I have a word with this man in private?" Tong dismissed the physicians .

    The physicians bowed and left . Saw that the five old useless men left, Tong approached Li Feihong .

    "Can you still use the gate, Feihong?"

    Li Feihong opened his eyes and gazed at Tong with his pitiful eyes .

    "You¡¯re a ve driver, Tong . I have only 12,000 lifespans left . "

    The previous operation and soldier allocation hurt Li Feihong¡¯s lifespans . He opened the gate to transfer most of Lu Bu¡¯s soldiers into the private world, then he had to take them out . These two processes took a long time toplete . As a result, his lifespans reduced by half .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Li Feihong

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 12,838 Years

    Shopping Pass: 4

    [Private Farm World] LV 3 (341,839/4,000,000)

    - Able to ess a private world in another dimension .

    - World Size 3,000 km .

    - Time Scale Current World - Private World: 1 day ¨C 1 month .

    - The host can grow crops in the private world .

    - The host can raise animals in the private world .

    - All objects in the private world can be taken out to this world .

    - The host can observe the outer world from the private world

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan per one-minute gate connection .

    - Upkeep: 1,000 lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only grow crops that exist in this world .

    - Can only raise animals that exist in this world .

    *******************************

    ...

    Tong felt pity for the man . He wanted to find a way for him to gain more lifespans . With such thought, he asked the system .

    "Is there a way to gain lifespans other than quests?"

    [No . ] The system gave a cruel heartless response .

    "Well, let me change my question . Other than the main mission quest that can¡¯t be taken at the moment, is there a quest that Li Feihong can take?"

    [Yes . He can take on the n Missions . ]

    "What!?"

    "Huh!?"

    Both Tong and Li Feihong were shocked by the sudden breaking news . They could ept n Mission?

    "Tell us the detail . Why didn¡¯t you tell us before?"

    [The conditions for the feature to unlock is not met . You need at least five n members to ept these quests . ]

    The face of the two paled . They only had two members at the moment . Where could they find more members?

    "D-Do we have to ept 3 more otherworlders into our n?"

    Li Feihong was terrified by the thought . Each reincarnator was dangerous . He did not have the confidence to recruit more people to help him .

    On the other hand, Tong fell into deep thought .

    ¡¯I can make Hua Shi be the third member . But how can I find another two members...¡¯

    "System, can I form a n Contract with the natives of this world?"

    Tong questioned the system without expecting a positive answer . He just asked without much thought .

    [Yes . ]

    "!!!"

    "!!!"

    The answer shocked both of them further . New hope was ignited .

    "Dammit, system! Why haven¡¯t you told us before!?"

    [Because you¡¯ve never asked . ]

    "..." Tong facepalmed .

    "Oof . " Li Feihong muttered .

    "Don¡¯t use gen-Z words . It¡¯s annoying . "

    [But there are a few conditions . ]

    "I figured as much . Tell us . "

    [One, the native members must swear allegiance with the n Leader . ]

    Li Feihong looked at Tong, who was appointed as the n Leader in the contract at the moment . This condition meant that all potential members had to be Tong¡¯s subordinates by default .

    His brain started processing . New ideas and ns were born within Li Feihong¡¯s mind .

    [Two, the native members must drink a drop of your blood, Tong . ]

    The expression on Tong¡¯s face turned ugly . Drinking someone else¡¯s blood was not a good hygienic action . He was not sure if his future members might get sick from it .

    [I know what you are thinking . Your blood is clean, so donate it away! Make everybody infec-Whoops! I meant, make everyone stronger!]

    "..."

    [Andstly, each reincarnator can invite one native into the n once a year!]

    This time, the face of Li Feihong paled . With only him and Tong, they could only invite two natives, which was not enough members to take the n quests .

    Li Feihong sighed and muttered .

    "I knew it . My luck was bad . I¡¯ll have to wait a year . "

    Tong chuckled after he had seen Li Feihong¡¯s reaction .

    "Feihong . Didn¡¯t you do the homework?"

    "Homework?"

    "Yeah . Do you think I¡¯m the only reincarnator in Julu?"

    "Eh? You¡¯re not ... AH!! There¡¯s another one!"

    "That¡¯s right!"

    They were talking about Hua Shi, whom Tong nned to make her into another member of this contract, so they couldmunicate with the others in case of emergency .

    "Well . For now, we know what we are going to do next . So, Feihong, I want to transport you to Julu with Ding Yuan and others . I¡¯ll have my wife check your conditions and form the n Contract with us . I¡¯m nning to use your gate to travel back to my city . Can you help?"

    "Hah... Sure..."

    Li Feihong sighed . In the end, he would have to waste more lifespans . Then he recalled something .

    "Tong, we have to buy that mind-control skill from the shop! The skill that guy used was too dangerous . We need to have it!"

    Tong opened the system shop in a hurry . He was disappointed when he looked at his status menu as he did not have any shopping pass remained .

    "I¡¯m out of shopping pass . I can¡¯t buy a skill . "

    Li Feihong gritted his teeth . Though he did not want to use his precious little lifespans, he had to get the skill no matter what . He opened the system menu and scrolled down the skill list for sale .

    He was frightened by what he saw .

    "TONG!! THE MIND-CONTROLLING SKILL WAS BOUGHT!!"

    "What!?"

    ...

    ...

    Outside of the Capital City of Luo Yang .

    Piles of rotten corpses were burning inside a pit . At the side of the hole, the demoness with the lower body of a giant snake stood and watched the me .

    The corpses were none other than the zombies and skeletons that Wang Li had secretly created . Medusa was ordered by the system to destroy all of them before they ran amok by themselves .

    [Well done, sneaky snake! I¡¯ve given your rewards . Check your status!]

    "Hmm . "

    ***************************

    **Status**

    Name: Diao Chan

    Age: 6

    Lifespan: 51,201 Years

    [Left Eye of Zeus] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Able to see hidden objects, spirits, souls, and immortals .

    - Able to see the status of every living being .

    [Right Eye of Medusa] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Petrify a mortal .

    Skill Cost: 10 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Only Diao Chan can use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    [True Self] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Transform into the demoness form for one hour .

    - The host regains all status attributes from the demoness form .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan per one hour .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Only Diao Chan can use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    [Administrator Serial#5H304426891009]

    - The host can edit or delete a skill of a reincarnator in this world .

    Skill Cost: None

    Skill Restriction:

    - The skill power scale must follow thew of this dimension .

    - Only Diao Chan can use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    [System Prisoner#2]

    - The host cannot use her demonic power or other abilities that are not listed in the system .

    - The host cannot kill the natives in this world .

    - The host must work for the system .

    - The host cannot refuse the orders from the system .

    - Vition means death to the soul .

    ***************************

    Medusa skimmed through her status . A few skills had been altered by the system . She could also repeatedly transform back to her demonic form now, instead of being able to use once .

    She opened the system shop to check the status of the remaining otherworlders . The number had changed from 19 to 18 .

    Without hesitation, Medusa scrolled down to look for the skills of the fallen otherworlder that had recently died, which she found that there were two skills in the list .

    ¡¯50,000 Lifespans for one skill . It¡¯s expensive . ¡¯

    ¡¯But this [Domination Eyes] cane in handy . I¡¯ll take it . ¡¯

 Chapter 119

    Chapter 119

    Chapter 119 ¨C Turning Point at Jinyang - Part 10

    Lu Bu, Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and their 20,000 heavy cavalries and 5,000 light cavalries rushed toward the south gate . Their destination was Zhang Ji¡¯s temporary camp .

    They made it there within half an hour after the sortie order had been given . However, Zhang Ji and his men had already left the camp after they arrived .

    Gao Shun¡¯s eyes glinted while he was surveying the remains of the camp and searching for the trace . The footprints of carriages and caravans were found .

    "They retreated south . I think they are returning home . " Gao Shun reported to Lu Bu and the others .

    "Give chase! We¡¯ll ughter every single of them!"

    As Tong had expected, Lu Bu did not n to leave any prisoner . He wanted to kill everyone to vent off his frustration and humiliation from today .

    "Fengxian, let me handle this . "

    Zhang Liao offered himself for this task . He understood his boss well as they were fighting alongside with each other for ages . If he did not volunteer, Lu Bu would personally kill everyone .

    "Fine! Wenyuan, you handle this!"

    Despite giving Zhang Liao the permission, Lu Bu harrumphed in dissatisfaction . For the sake of maintaining the harmony within the army, he could not do everything alone . Lu Bu had to entrust some tasks to Zhang Liao or Gao Shun from times to times .

    Zhang Liao nodded and took 5000 light cavalries with him . They did not wear any iron armor on the horses like the heavy cavalry units . These horsemen only wore leather armor and traveled light .

    Because of the lightweight and Zhang Liao¡¯s insight, it took him less than an hour to spot Zhang Ji¡¯s caravan .

    "Raise white gs . We¡¯re going to talk with them first! You two,e with me!"

    Zhang Liao took two horsemen with him and approached the caravan with a white g . It was a signal, saying that he was a messenger .

    The rear guards of Zhang Ji army weed them and escorted the three to theirmander .

    ...

    Zhang Ji had a pale face while he was leading the marching troops . The news about the disappearance of his fianc¨¦ and Dong Bai was reported to him after the troops had started retreating .

    He wanted to search for Zou Shi and Dong Bai, but the entire army would be put in danger if he valued his fianc¨¦ and the little girl over the big picture . Thus, he decided to abandon the two with heart-broken guilt .

    Zhang Xiu could tell what his uncle was thinking . However, he could not help him in this matter . He could only sigh in sympathy .

    Now, they had to find an excuse about the missing Dong Bai to Dong Zhuo, which could potentially end their careers as amander in the army .

    While both of them were depressed with the situation, a report from the scout came, saying that Lu Bu¡¯s men were approaching from the north .

    "What now, uncle?"

    Zhang Xiu looked at his uncle with his despair eyes . He had given up 90% of his life and future already .

    "We might as well surrender . If we go back to Hongnong like this, Dong Zhuo will kill us all . "

    "Yeah . We failed both missions and his granddaughter is missing . If I were that fatty, I would kill everybody here . "

    If they returned with Dong Bai with them, they would have resisted the chasing army . But the without her, their future was gloom .

    Ten minutester, Zhang Liao and his two followers arrived at the front of the caravan .

    ...

    The negotiation ended in 10 minutes . Zhang Ji and his troops were willing to surrender to Zhang Liao . They were escorted back to Lu Bu¡¯s main force .

    Lu Bu, however, was dissatisfied with the result . He wanted something to vent as he was still in a bad mood . The sense of being defeated was new to Lu Bu, so he could not calm himself in a short period of time .

    "Cowards . Cowards are everywhere! Tong is a coward . These people are cowards! I bet all of Dong Zhuo¡¯s men are cowards too!" Lu Bu ranted .

    "Fengxian, these people are horse archers . You should treat them with respect . You experienced it yourself, horse archery is not something that can be learned in a year or two . They are elites . "

    Zhang Liao attempted to appease his unreasonable boss .

    "Elite or not, I don¡¯t care! Take their warhorses, weapons, and armors! Since they wanted to go to Julu, send all of them to Zhang Tong! I don¡¯t want to waste my military provisions on these cowards!"

    Listened to Lu Bu, Zhang Liao sighed . If he could control his temper a bit, he would have been an ideal general .

    "Alright . We¡¯ll do that . "

    ...

    ...

    Lu Bu¡¯s 25,000 men and the prisoner caravans returned to Jinyang City before the sunset . The moment they arrived at the city gate, a messenger came to inform them .

    "Sir, Lord Ding Yuan departed to Julu with Lord Zhang Tong . They sent me to inform you that he has entrusted you with the deputy governor role until hees back . "

    "Huh?"

    Zhang Liao and Gao Shun were baffled by the sudden change of events . Why would Ding Yuan suddenly make a decision to visit Tong¡¯s city?

    "How long have they left?"

    "An hour ago, sir . "

    Lu Bu scratched his head with his both hands . He roared with a hoarse voice .

    "You both take the prisoners and follow them to Julu! I don¡¯t give a fOOk about this matter anymore . I¡¯m tired . I¡¯m going back!"

    Mentally exhausted from the bad mood, Lu Bu galloped his horse back to his residence .

    Left with the cleaning up tasks, Gao Shun and Zhang Liao sighed while shaking their head . Following an ill temper boss was tiring, but he was reliable inbat, so they did not have a choice .

    "Let¡¯s find a ce to rest these people first . We¡¯ll depart the day after . Tomorrow, we¡¯ll arrange the provisions for the long march . "

    "Yeah . I¡¯m worried about Feihong . I¡¯m going to pay him a visit . "

    "Me, too . "

    After both of them helped the troops settled down the camp in front of the south gate and all the prisoners were inside the camp, they went to see Li Feihong in the infirmary tent .

    "I¡¯m sorry . Sir Li Feihong went to Julu with Lord Ding Yuan . " The physicians in the tent told them .

    Both Gao Shun and Zhang Liao could only look at each other in surprise .

    "I guess we can only follow them there . "

    ...

    Next day .

    Jia Xu sat inside a tavern and drank alone . He gathered enough information yesterday . He could guess what happened in the previous incident .

    There were many testimonies about Zhang Ji¡¯s movements inside Jinyang City . Jia Xu guessed that one of Zhang Ji¡¯s men should have instigated thismotion .

    ¡¯They are going to Julu City, but they stirred chaos in here . ¡¯

    ¡¯Are they idiots? Or they have another goal during the trip?¡¯

    ¡¯They shouldn¡¯t be that stupid . It has to be a secret mission . ¡¯

    ¡¯Lu Bu led a squad and attacked the government hall, but he isn¡¯t even prosecuted or captured . That means the real mastermind is already dead or captured . ¡¯

    Jia Xu gazed toward the main road . Soldiers were busy transporting grains in carts toward the east gate . Long caravans of soldiers and peasants also headed in the same direction .

    ¡¯They are going to Julu now?¡¯

    He touched his chin and pictured the map of the country inside his head . Jinyang City was a strategic point for invading the northern region and a gateway toward Si Province, which could nk Shangdang City and open a path toward Luo Yang .

    In conclusion, this city would be one of the hotspots in the future for the power struggle war . It was not an ideal city for Jia Xu to settle his root .

    ¡¯This city is poor but well-fed . But I heard Julu is more prosperous . Still, Julu has too many enemies . War is about a matter of times . I don¡¯t want to live in there . ¡¯

    ¡¯Haiz . I have to pass that city anyway if I want to go to other cities . I¡¯ll tag along with them one more time . I hope my luck won¡¯t go to shit again . ¡¯

    After making the decision, Jia Xu exited the tavern to take the baby prince with him . He had grown a bit, but he could not walk properly yet .

    ¡¯Right, I forgot . At least I should write a letter to her real mother . If I didn¡¯t, then she will be manipted by those pricks . ¡¯

    Jia Xu picked up a nk scroll and a paper . He wrote random characters in the letter withmon ink . Then he took out a bottle, which contained the royalty¡¯s secret ink .

    He dipped the tips of his new brush inside the bottle and wrote on the random letter that he wrote . This time, he inscribed the real content of the letter . The content could not be seen with naked eyes, but Jia Xu wrote them with efficiency as if he used to write them many times in the past .

    After he finished, he tested the letter by putting it near amb . The characters that could not be read in the letter with naked eyes showed up by the heat of the fire .

    ¡¯It¡¯s done . Now, the question is ... who should I send to?¡¯

    ¡¯Bah, I¡¯ll send it directly to Empress He Xing! Only royalties knew about this ink anyway . ¡¯

    ¡¯If she doesn¡¯te to pick him up in a few years, I¡¯ll take him in as my son!¡¯

    Done with the letter, Jia Xu disguised himself and mixed in with the crowd with Liu Xie again .

 Chapter 120

    Chapter 120

    Chapter 120 ¨C Coming Home

    June 18th, 182 A . D .

    Zhang Jiao and the officials were busying themselves with the management and the documents in the government hall .

    Instead of standing in lines just like the usual morning assembly, they sat in rows . Each of the officials had a small wooden table in front of them and several rolls of document scrolls . All of them were either busy writing down their reports or carrying a bundle of papers and rushed toward the other buildings .

    The domestic management was a tedious and mundane task that they had to handle every day or the citizens might face some difficulties, such asnd allocation adjustment, housing construction, merchants opening stores, and other misceneous jobs .

    Normally, these jobs should have been delegated to minor officials to handle . Luo Yang City and other cities¡¯ officials always shoved away these tasks to their subordinates as they were unimportant in their point of views .

    However, Zhang Jiao wanted to be useful to the people . He volunteered to take responsibility in these trivial jobs as he did not want to drag Tong down . As a result, all high-rank officials had to follow Zhang Jiao¡¯s example, or they would have been insulted as selfish nobles .

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were there as well . They were summoned back by Zhang Jiao, so they could learn the rope about domestic affairs . Once they moved to other cities, they could be entrusted with the government tasks in the future .

    ...

    A blue gate opened in the middle of Julu government hall . Then, a young man walked out of it with a wheeled stretcher, which another young man was lying on top of it .

    Tong and Li Feihong arrived . Ding Yuan and other elders with health troubles follow suit .

    Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at them with wide eyes . Although many officials got used to Tong¡¯s miracle, they had never seen teleportation or anything simr yet .

    Tong looked around and found his father, but he could not find Hua Shi .

    "Father, where¡¯s Hua Shi?"

    "Aiya, instead of greeting your father when you arrive, you asked for your wife first?"

    All officialsughed from Zhang Jiao¡¯s remark . Sima Fang¡¯s face remained indifferent while Lu Zhi had a wry smile on his face .

    "He¡¯s young and energetic . What did you expect?"

    "Yup, you were like this 20 years ago, first brother . "

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang chimed in, which made the mood in the hall lighter .

    Looking around the hall, Tong noticed that their gaze toward him was warm, yet weird . He felt that something was not right .

    "Anyway, congrattions . Disciple . "

    Lu Zhi patted Tong on his shoulder .

    "Congrattions, young master Zhang!"

    "Good job!"

    "Congrattions!"

    "Well done!"

    The officials also stood up and bowed toward Tong . A few of them even raised their thumbs up, which made Tong¡¯s frown deepened .

    "What¡¯s going on?" Tong turned to look at Lu Zhi and his father, asking for an exnation .

    "Well, it¡¯s obvious that you didn¡¯t know . You left too early . "

    Zhang Jiao smiled and started exining the reason that Hua Shi was not here .

    ...

    Hua Shi was exempted from all duties and was released from her job . The reason was simple .

    She was three-month pregnant! Her pregnancy was found after Tong departed to Jinyang for 10 days .

    That day when they found out the matter, Zhang Jiao celebrated that he would have a grandchild soon, but hisplexion gloomedter after he recalled that Tong and Hua Shi had not wedded yet . They also had to invite Hua Tuo and his wife to give them an exnation .

    ...

    "WHAT!?"

    A lightning bolt struck Tong¡¯s mind . At the same time, all of his motion paused as if he turned into a statue . Thousands of shback about the night activities came back and clouded his thought . Tong temporarily lost an ability to think .

    "Welp! RIP Tong . Next time, wear a condom . " Li Feihongughed .

    Tong red at the injured man on the stretcher . The menacing air seeped out from his body and locked onto Li Feihong .

    <add menacing="" sfx="" here="">

    "Well, just in case you don¡¯t know . I usually take a role as an assistant surgeon when my wife has to cut up someone¡¯s belly . I¡¯ll be sure to apply enough anesthesia, so you won¡¯t feel any pain, alright? Oh, I almost forgot, for the sake of hygiene, I¡¯ll pour some alcohol into your testicles . So in the future when you want to have kids, you¡¯ll have healthy sperms . How is that sound?"

    "Umm . That was a joke . Please forget it . "

    ...

    While they were weing Tong and the visitors, a messenger rushed in and reported to Sima Fang .

    The messenger was one of Sima Fang¡¯s subordinate . He was in charge of rying a message to him if there was any criminal or a crime that they could not handle or make a decision .

    "There was a couple of unusual female criminals that we caught today . One of them referred herself as a daughter of Minister Zou from Luo Yang and the other one was a little child with surname Dong . We wish to request your assistant . "

    Sima Fang nodded and left the government hall with the messenger .

    Twenty minutester, they arrived at the Far East inner district of the City . This zone was given to Sima Fang to establish his headquarter and settle his subordinates here .

    Once they arrived, they saw two female prisoners in white clothes . One of them was a teenager with a bearing of a noble . The other one was a little girl . Both of them were cuffed by wooden boards which locked their head and both wrists together .

    Their eyes did not show sign of despair or guilt like the other prisoners, though there were traces of tears on the face of the older girl .

    "What was the charge?" Sima Fang asked the prosecutor who handled the case .

    "Smuggling and entering the city without passing through the checkpoint . They also don¡¯t have a name que or the citizen token . We caught them when they were trying to buy groceries in the supermarket . "

    "And the problem?"

    "Yes, she ims herself as Minister Zou¡¯s eldest daughter . The little girl also ims as a granddaughter of Tianshui Governor Dong Zhuo . Both of them said that they were kidnapped into the city and were abandoned here . We are not certain if they are imposters or not, so we have to request your help . "

    "Hmm, fair enough . "

    Sima Fang nodded and walked toward the two . He looked at the face of Zou Shi and frowned .

    "Little girls . Look at me . "

    Zou Shi looked up and met the eyes of Sima Fang . She recognized this man . He was a friend of her father who worked in the same department . Her father always gossiped about him that he was too serious and was hard to talk to, but Sima Fang was reliable at work . She also met him many times as she used to serve as her father¡¯s maid in the pce .

    "... Uncle Sima? Uncle Sima Fang! It¡¯s me, Zou Shi!"

    Sima Fang¡¯s frown deepened . If she was an imposter, she would not have recognized him right away . She also looked familiar to him .

    After he tried to recall his memories, he remembered that his superior, Minister Zou, always brought his daughter around with him . But she was sent away to marry amander in the west a few years ago . He did not expect to see her here .

    "Release the cuff! Both of them!" Ordered Sima Fang .

    "Yes, sir!"

    Guards at the side rushed in . Both Zou Shi and Dong Bai were released from the wooden board shackles . Zou Shi sighed in relief while Dong Bai remained indifferent from the start till the end .

    ¡¯She didn¡¯t flinch or show any emotion at all . Did Dong Zhuo teach her this or her upbringing was harsh?¡¯

    Dong Bai¡¯s reaction was noticed by Sima Fang . He was impressed by the mentality of this little girl .

    "So, how did you two get here? Wait! First, let¡¯s get you proper clothes and food . Have you two eaten well?"

    The stomach of Zou Shi growled after she heard that she would get food, which bowed her head down with a reddened face .

    "I see . For now, let¡¯s go to my residence . I¡¯ll have my maids prepare your new home, clothes, and your new servants . "

    Sima Fang invited the two to his Sima Manor . Dong Bai¡¯s eyes gleamed . She walked toward him and grabbed his robe .

    "Uncle, can I see Zhang Tong?"

    "Hmm? Do you know Zhang Tong?" Sima Fang was surprised .

    "Yes . Can I?"

    He pondered . Tong was busy inside the government hall at the moment . There was also a matter about Hua Shi being pregnant that Tong was not aware of yet . After a minute of reconsideration, he had to give Tong times to rest and adjust to the situation first . This little girl would have to wait .

    "I¡¯m sorry . Young master Zhang is busy at the moment . How about this? Today, you two rest in my manor, and tomorrow I¡¯ll take you two to him myself . "

    Dong Bai was delighted when she heard Tong was here, but she kept her poker face . She pretended innocence, tilted her head to the side, and asked .

    "Eh? He¡¯s busy? What¡¯s he doing?"

    "He has just returned from his trip, so he¡¯s busy weing new guests . "

    "Does he have a wife or a girlfriend with him?"

    Sima Fang was taken aback by the sudden random question .

    ¡¯This girl interested in Tong? No, she¡¯s too young for that . She probably admires him from the nonsense immortal rumors and stuff . ¡¯

    He sighed and answered without hiding anything . He was not aware that he just dropped an atomic bomb on Tong .

    "He has a wife, and she¡¯s pregnant at the moment . He doesn¡¯t know about this yet, so he¡¯ll need times for his family . "

    Listened to Sima Fang, the face of Dong Bai whitened . Her heart sunk into the bottom of her mind, and the sharp pain stung her chest .

    ¡¯Tong has a wife? She¡¯s pregnant?¡¯

    ¡¯But he said he will return to me . ¡¯

    She took a deep breath and calmed down . During her time in Hell, she had seen many sinners and their past . Dong Bai was also familiar with one of their sins, the sin of betrayal, which lovers betrayed each other for a new lover .

    Unexpectedly, she also experienced the same pain of being betrayed here, but she kept herposure .

    ¡¯Hmm . Regardless of the circumstances, he¡¯s still mine . His soul is going to Hell no matter what . The moment he mated with me that day, his future is sealed . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll punish him and that skankter . For now, I need a ce to settle in . ¡¯

    ¡¯For a second thought, a hundred years of repeating castration is probably not enough for Tong . Two hundred thousand years should be the right number . ¡¯

    ¡¯But I can¡¯t mate with him if that thing is cut off . How about this? I mate with him . Once I¡¯m done, I¡¯ll cut it off . Then regenerate it, mate him, and cut it again!¡¯

    ¡¯Yup, that¡¯s a good n . ¡¯

    Dong Bai did not realize . She had been leaking murderous intent, and the chilly air covered the entire eastern city areas .

    "Little Bai, you¡¯re scary..."</add>

 Chapter 121

    Chapter 121

    Chapter 121 ¨C Two Cats, One Courtyard - Part 1

    Dong Bai and Zou Shi were escorted to Sima Manor by Sima Fang¡¯s subordinates and were given a courtyard of their own .

    Guided to a new home, Dong Bai checked her status with sad eyes .

    ...

    ***************************

    **Status**

    Name: Dong Bai

    Age: 5

    Lifespan: 39 Years

    [Administrator Serial#5H450107053052]

    - The host can edit or delete a skill of a reincarnator in this world .

    Skill Cost: None

    Skill Restriction:

    - The skill power scale must follow thew of this dimension .

    - Only Dong Bai can use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    [Sealed]

    - The host cannot use any demonic power in this world .

    - The host cannot edit her own skills .

    ***************************

    ...

    When the system offered her that she could get the [True Self] skill back, Dong Bai declined it . She had a hunch that the system A . I . was scheming something that could harm her and Tong .

    Because of the refusal, the system did not give her back the skill, but she was kind enough to alter Dong Bai¡¯s [Sealed] skill and allow her to ept a mission from the system in the future . However, the rest of the restriction was still present .

    As she became powerless, both Dong Bai and Zou Shi struggled to mix into this city . They were arrestedter after one of the shops reported to the guards that they did not have an identification token .

    Zou Shi cried in the prison in desperation that they would get executed or ravished while they were in jail . Fortunately, the Department of Justice of Julu treated prisoners differently than other cities . They were guided to the judges and the prosecutors, which they met Sima Fang in the process . Afterward, it led to this situation .

    ¡¯I have no obligation to take a mission . But I need a system skill to survive in this world . I guess I have no choice . ¡¯

    Dong Bai pushed the generate mission button in her status menu screen . The system gave out a loud bell chime in her mind .

    [Hoho! Are you willing to be my ve now?]

    "ve your sister! Give me a mission! I need lifespans and a skill!"

    [Is that the right tone to speak with your master? Don¡¯t forget that I can kill you little imp at any time I want to!]

    "Then go ahead and kill me! My godfather will see everything . He wille back here and erase your dimension!"

    [... Now, little girl . You pissed me off . Fine, I¡¯ll give you YOUR MISSION!]

    [*Ding*]

    *********************************************

    **Supplementary Mission No . 1**

    Clear Condition: Lower the level of Zhang Tong¡¯s [Demonic Seal] skill .

    Failure Condition: Time Limit exceeded

    Clearing Reward: 10,000 Lifespans

    Mission Failure: All of your demonic power will be erased .

    Time Limit: Before January 1st, 183 A . D .

    *********************************************

    "[Demonic Seal]? Since when did he get this skill? But why?"

    [You don¡¯t need to know . Just do it as I tell you to . ]

    Dong Bai red at the monitor screen where it described the quest details . The system A . I . was definitely plotting something sinister .

    ¡¯She has the power to edit the skill herself, but why did she give this task to me? Is there something wrong with the skill? Or maybe ...¡¯

    The eyes of Dong Bai glinted . She had a theory .

    ¡¯Someone stronger than the system A . I . put this skill on Tong, so she couldn¡¯t delete it . ¡¯

    "I refuse this quest . I want another one!"

    [No can do . No refund! You take it, then youplete it or fail it!]

    Hearing that she could not cancel the mission, Dong Bai gave up trying to bargain with the system .

    ¡¯I have a bad feeling with the word [Seal] . I don¡¯t trust this system . I¡¯ll get my power back once I return to Hell anyway . I should fail this mission . ¡¯

    ¡¯Besides, I need to delete Tong¡¯s [Plot Armor] . I can¡¯t waste my admin¡¯s right on this dubious skill . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, Tong returned to his residence area . He had to consult with Hua Shi about Li Feihong¡¯s treatment and about her being pregnant . This was Tong¡¯s first time being a father, so he was nervous .

    "Oh, hey . You¡¯re back . "

    Hua Shi sat on the middle of the courtyard with 4 maids tending her needs . On the tea table in front of her, fruits, herbal medicines, and snacks were lined up .

    "It sucks when you can¡¯t have a condom in this world, huh?" Hua Shiughed as she continued eating apple pieces that the maid cut for her .

    "How many months?"

    "11 weeks . Crash course knowledge, we prefer counting pregnancy period as weeks, so we can get a more urate prediction about the delivery dates . "

    "Is it certain? I meant, is the local physician¡¯s result reliable?"

    "Meh, I double-scanned my stomach myself . It¡¯s a positive . I even have her age in my status menu . "

    "Her? It¡¯s a girl? Normally it takes longer to verify the baby¡¯s gender . "

    "Pfft! We have cheat skills . Throw away that logic already . "

    The maids looked at Hua Shi and Tong with weirdplexion . They did not understand what they were talking about .

    "You¡¯re going to turn into a pig at this rate . "

    "I have to eat a lot for another life, you know? Besides, fruits won¡¯t get me fat . "

    "Do you have experience in thisst life?"

    "Eh, nope! A scum shot me to death before I can even find a proper boyfriend . Heck, now that I think about it, all mytest pursuers turned into my food . It was one heck of a ck-hole in my previous life . "

    The moment the maids heard Hua Shi¡¯sst sentences, they cringed .

    Noticed the odd expression of the four maids, Tong excused them to leave .

    "Your first time as a father, Tong?"

    "Yeah, you can tell?"

    "I¡¯ve seen many fathers-to-be . I can tell . "

    "So, how about your advice what I should do? As a veteran nurse . "

    Hua Shi stopped eating the apple pieces in her hands and stared into Tong¡¯s eyes . She said with a bright smile .

    "Stop looking for your ex-girlfriend through my eyes and my body . Love me . "

    "..."

    "Spoil me . Cherish me . Care for me . "

    "..."

    "So that the baby can feel our connection . Give me your heart . "

    "... I¡¯ll try . "

    "And also, Icked nutritious for months . I need more of your sper-oof!"

    Tong hammered his fist on top of Hua Shi¡¯s head .

    ...

    That night, Hua Shi and Tong performed surgery on Li Feihong . Six of his rib cages were broken and were not in the right alignment, which surgery was required .

    His spine was fine . The back pain that Li Feihong had was a simple muscle bruise . However, he was not allowed to walk yet as he needed to practice a special breathing technique to avoid giving the pressure to the broken ribs .

    Li Feihong would require a few weeks to rest .

    ...

    The next day .

    Tong escorted Hua Shi to the government hall in the morning to give the visitors a medical checkup .

    The rest of the Jinyang elders and Ding Yuan was waiting for them there when Tong and Hua Shi arrived . They had their checkup as they asked for . Most of them hadmon elder diseases, such as back pains, hypertension, or migraine . They received their medication in a joyous mood .

    During the medical inspection, Tong left the hall and went to the barrack to dispatch a messenger to Zhou Cang, who had yet to return .

    Afternoon, Sima Fang brought Zou Shi and Dong Bai to Tong¡¯s courtyard to visit him . Dong Bai was excited to see Tong . However, they received bad news from Tong¡¯s servant .

    "I¡¯m sorry . Young master Zhang has gone to the government hall since this morning . He said that he will return in thete afternoon . "

    They were disappointed that they could not meet him at the moment, but Dong Bai did not give up .

    "Can we wait for him here?"

    "Umm . That¡¯s a bit..." The maid hesitated .

    "It¡¯s alright . I can vouch for these two . They were young Master Zhang¡¯s acquaintances . "

    Sima Fang assured their status . The maid bowed and allowed them toe inside . Both of thedies decided to wait in the courtyard while Sima Fang excused himself to go back to work .

    An hourter, Hua Shi returned to Tong¡¯s residence . She finished her job for today .

    "Mydy, twody guests havee to pay a visit to young master Zhang . They are waiting at the main courtyard at the moment . "

    "Eh? Did he pick up a couple girls after he knew I¡¯m pregnant? Where did these girlse from? Do you know about it?"

    "Umm . Lord Sima Fang escorted them here personally . This servant doesn¡¯t know their identities . "

    "Hmm . It¡¯s fine . You¡¯re dismissed . "

    "Thank you, mydy . "

    Hua Shi pondered . Did that old fox try to seduce Tong with his daughters or granddaughters?

    ¡¯I don¡¯t remember that Sima Fang has a daughter . I thought he has like 8 sons or something . Bah! I¡¯ll just meet them and interrogate them myself . Those minxes want my precious Tong¡¯s sperm? Dream on! It¡¯s mine alone!¡¯

    Hua Shi straddled toward the inner courtyard . Then she found ady with her simr age and a little girl who was having a mini tea party . They were also eating the cookies that Tong had stored for Hua Shi .

    ¡¯My cookies! Damn bitch! Not only you came here to seduce my man, but you also have the nerve to steal my snacks?¡¯

    ¡¯No, no . Be calm... I¡¯m pregnant . I have to be calm . ¡¯

    After settled down her emotion, Hua Shi adjusted her hair and clothes . Then she approached the two .

    The maids bowed their head to Hua Shi as she was their mistress . Zou Shi and Dong Bai noticed it and turned their gaze toward the approachingdy .

    "Hello, you two . I¡¯m Hua Shi, the MAIN WIFE of Lord Zhang Tong . Who might you bitches be?"

 Chapter 122

    Chapter 122

    Chapter 122 ¨C Two Cats, One Courtyard ¨C Part 2

    "Hello, you two . I¡¯m Hua Shi, the MAIN WIFE of Lord Zhang Tong . Who might you bitches be?"

    Like a deration of war, Hua Shi red at the two without restraining her hostile intent .

    Zou Shi was taken aback by Hua Shi¡¯s tone and her attitude . Then, she realized that Hua Shi might have misunderstood something .

    "P-Please . Please don¡¯t misunderstand . My name is Zou Shi . I already have a fianc¨¦ . I¡¯m escorting my little sister here to meet her hero . "

    Hearing Zou Shi¡¯s exnation, the eyes of Hua Shi became warmer . Zou Shi¡¯s name was familiar to Hua Shi but she could not remember where she had heard it from . Since she was not here to seduce Tong, then they could be friends .

    She opened her mouth and was about to apologize for the rude remarks .

    However .

    "I¡¯M TONG¡¯S FIRST WIFE, FRIDAY! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE CALLING YOURSELF ¡¯MAIN WIFE¡¯, BITCH!?"

    *BOOM*

    The shout of the little girl made all maids, Zou Shi, and Hua Shi stunned . They gazed toward Dong Bai¡¯s direction in astonishment .

    Dong Bai¡¯s killing intent exuded out of her body . Menacing cold air swept through the entire courtyard . Meanwhile, Hua Shi red back at the little girl as she noticed the bold provocation . Her sinister aura as a cannibalism psychopath seeped out of her back, which gave out an illusion of a man-eating-ogre while Dong Bai had an illusion of a devil fiend behind her .

    ¡¯Friday ... So this is Tong¡¯s previous life girlfriend? But if I remember correctly, Tong said she was a demoness . Why has she reincarnated into a little girl?

    ¡¯But it doesn¡¯t matter . She is not qualified to be his wife! His seeds are mine alone!¡¯

    Hua Shi smirked at Dong Bai and startedshing out her tongue .

    "For a little girl that has never bleed her lower mouth, you should mind your manner and your etiquette . Bragging that you have eaten a man before will soil your non-existence reputation . "

    Dong Bai¡¯s eyes turned red . She tried to recall this girl¡¯s profile which she had read it during her free times when she waited for the dimension link to be repaired . Then sheshed back .

    "A psychopath slut that can¡¯t stop eating men has no right to criticize my outward look . I would rmend that you should wash your mouth with formalin . It reeks of men sperm!"

    The corner of Hua Shi¡¯s eyebrows twitched .

    "Little whore, there is something wrong with your brain . I would also rmend that you open up your skull and wash your brain with chlorine, so your IQ will be a little bit higher than the current 10 . iming that you¡¯re my husband¡¯s first wife while your sagged puny pussy has yet to taste a man¡¯s cock is retarded in many ways . You should go back to Hell and open your legs to the savages, so they could admire your loose sandy hole!"

    "Oh, please . If I¡¯m loose, then your excavated ragged tunnel would have been thoroughly mined to the point that once a man entered, he will have to move to the wall himself to get a feeling . Heck, look at you . I bet you ate so much men¡¯s piss so much that your body smells like one . To be honest, I don¡¯t even want to continue talking to you . I feel like I¡¯m talking to a pile of loose shit . "

    The menacing air between the two intensified . Killing intents shed and caused a vortex with both girls as the eye of the typhoon .

    All maids dropped their jaws and their eyes were wide open . Zou Shi¡¯s face reddened as if she was a tomato . She learned so many new vocabries within a couple minutes, but the inexperienced Zou Shi could not bear the shame . She hid her face with her hands and squatted down on the ground in embarrassment .

    Hua Shi and Dong Bai red at each other as if they were ready to tear the other girl apart . They gritted their teeth and stepped forward . Their eyes aimed at the hair and the face of the opponent, ready to scratch each other¡¯s face and pull out the hair like pulling chicken features .

    The maids jumped in front of them in a hurry to stop the cat fight . If they fought here and Hua Shi was miscarried, their life would be in danger . They were afraid that Tong might punish them .

    Seeing that the maids blocked them with panicking expression, both Dong Bai and Hua Shi slowly got back to their senses .

    ¡¯If I weren¡¯t pregnant at the moment, I would have killed you a thousand times already . ¡¯

    ¡¯If I weren¡¯t a human child at the moment, your soul would have been torn to shred . ¡¯

    Both of them withdrew back their killing intents . The surrounding atmosphere reverted back to normal, which made every onlooker sighed in relief .

    "Maids, you can leave . " Hua Shi ordered .

    "Mistress?"

    "Leave us alone . I want to talk to them in private . "

    The maids bowed and left in a hurry . They did not want to stay here any longer as they instinctively knew that something bad would happen here .

    Hua Shi looked around and found the trembling Zou Shi who was still traumatized from the previous crash . She walked to her and gave her a hug .

    "It¡¯s ok now . We won¡¯t fight anymore . I promise . "

    Zou Shi peeked through the fingers of her hands that still covered her face with her teary eyes .

    "Really?"

    "Mmhm . "

    "You won¡¯t fight with little Bai anymore?"

    "Well, as long as she doesn¡¯t start it again . "

    Hua Shi leered at the Dong Bai who snorted as a response .

    "But it would be better if you return to Sima Manor for now . I have something to talk to this youngdy in private . "

    "Eh?" Zou Shi looked between the two in confusion . Dong Bai gestured with her hands that she would be alright, and Zou Shi should leave .

    "Please don¡¯t fight, okay little Bai?"

    Bidding farewell, Zou Shi left the courtyard, leaving the two cats alone .

    Without anyone in the area, Dong Bai spoke first .

    "You seem to know about my true identity . Has Tong told you about me?"

    "... You don¡¯t need to know . "

    "Hmm . "

    Hua Shi kept her mouth shut . She did not want to admit it .

    Every night that she dual-cultivated with Tong, she noticed it . Tong did not look at her, but he searched for Friday through her eyes and her body . Whenever he talked about Friday, his eyes sparkled as if he was a kid who talked about his favorite toys .

    She was jealous .

    There was no girl in the world that never wanted to be the number one person in the heart of her man . Hua Shi did her best to get Tong to look at her as herself, not a recement of his ex-girlfriend .

    Hua Shi admitted that her rtionship with Tong started because of her perversion . Then it evolved into a partner, then a sex-friend, then a husband-and-wife .

    In the beginning, she did not mind if Tong would return to his ex-girlfriend .

    But it was different now .

    She wanted him for herself .

    She wanted him for her child .

    The child needed a father .

    Her selfishness as a woman bloomed for the first time in her life . Hua Shi was not willing to give back Tong to Friday .

    Thus, she came up with an idea when she realized that Friday came for Tong . Hua Shi spoke .

    "I have a proposal... about Tong . "

    "... What proposal?"

    "I¡¯ll return him to you . "

    "Oh? That¡¯s surprising . "

    "But... I¡¯ll only return him to you in the next life!"

    "Huh!?"

    Hua Shi made a decision . She would not give up on him in this life no matter what . She was at a disadvantage in the overall situation . Once this trial was over, they would be sent back to the Netherworld, which she did not have to confidence that she could be with him again .

    But she could be with him in this world as long as they were alive . Secondly, they had unusual high lifespans which were her advantage . Hua Shi had to exploit it to dy the return .

    "I know that you¡¯re a devil . You¡¯re way more powerful than me, and I won¡¯t be able to fight you once we go back to Hell . But this is our trial! This is our world! You have no right to suddenly show up to take him away because of your rtionship in the previous life!"

    Dong Bai frowned . She came here to correct Tong¡¯s skill, so he would not forget her after he returned to hell . As times passed, things got moreplicated than she had imagined .

    ¡¯If I remember correctly, Medusa told me that the infection can spread to the other partners of the carrier . Tong is infected, but the mutation isn¡¯tpleted yet . I don¡¯t know if this girl is infected as well . But if she does, then the baby in her stomach is going to be one of us too . ¡¯

    Feelingplicated, Dong Bai scratched her head in frustration .

    Devils of Hell had an absolutew, they could not harm each other regardless of the situation . Thisw was made to restrain the unruly ones or every demons or demoness in Hell would cause a ruckus for their selfish desire .

    ¡¯Shit! If she¡¯s infected, she will join our ranks in the end! Then she can reunite with Tong and ims him if I refuse this stupid deal!¡¯

    Hua Shi did not realize, she had the upper hand of the bargain she had offered Dong Bai . Hua Shi was at risk of being infected with the soul mutation that Friday spread to Tong . If Hua Shi was infected with Tong¡¯s such disease, she would be forced to join Hell after she departed from this dimension .

    ¡¯System! Can you tell me if this girl is infected?¡¯

    Dong Bai asked the system to rify her doubt . She prayed that Hua Shi did not catch with the mutation disease .

    [*Ding* *Ding*]

    [Damn right! She¡¯ll be one of you for sure within twenty years!]

    [Oh, the baby is one of you, too! Hahahaha!]

    [Oh, oh! I almost forgot . She made a Soulmate Contract with Tong . ]

    [So, if she dies, Tong dies, too! You can¡¯t touch Hua Shi, darling!]

    Hearing the system obnoxiousughter and mocking messages, Dong Bai wanted to smash the message screen to pieces .

    She raised her head to re at Hua Shi who was looking at her with sad and jealous eyes .

    "I can¡¯t do that! You¡¯ll have to follow my order! First, I¡¯m his only main wife, and you¡¯re his concubine! This means you¡¯ll have to be my servant or I won¡¯t let you touch him ever again!"

    Hua Shi was surprised . The counteroffer was more generous than Hua Shi¡¯s initial bargain . If she epted this, then she could be with Tong in the next life . Losing the privilege of the main wife in this world was worth it, but her pride told her not to give in .

    "I refuse . I can be your servant or Tong¡¯s concubine in the next life, but in this life, I won¡¯t hand over the main wife position to you!"

    Dong Bai frowned . She was about to bargain, but she realized that she was still a child at the moment . iming that she was the main wife with her current age would ruin Tong¡¯s reputation in this world . For his sake and his future, she had to concede .

    "Deal . You¡¯ll be his main wife in this world . Once we return, the role will switch and I¡¯ll be the main wife . "

    "Alright . "

    Dong Bai and Hua Shi sighed, and their hostility died down . However, a small trace of jealousy was still in their eyes .

    Staring at Hua Shi¡¯s stomach, Dong Bai asked .

    "How many weeks?"

    "Eleven . "

    "I see . "

 Chapter 123

    Chapter 123

    Chapter 123 ¨C Two Cats, One Courtyard ¨C Part 3

    Both girls had a small talk after that . Hua Shi prepared a room for Dong Bai in Tong¡¯s residence and sent a messenger to Sima Manor that Dong Bai would stay in Tong¡¯s residence from now on .

    Tong came back home before the sunset .

    Then he met the little girl .

    "Wee home, darling . "

    Dong Bai greeted Tong with a bright smile, yet her killing intent locked onto him . She looked at him while she was hesitating if she should delete his [Plot Armor] skill or not .

    In the back of her mind, she nned to allow Tong to be summoned back . Once he got back, he would forget everything . Then, she could slowly feed him information . She could tell him that she was his only girlfriend so that he would be hers alone .

    But her conscience was battling with her desire . She also wanted him to remember her, and she was afraid that his personality might change because of the memory wipe .

    Tong tilted his head to the side in confusion and thought .

    ¡¯Who is this little girl?¡¯

    He nced at Hua Shi at the back who held her palms together in a prayer position to gesture an apology and praying for him .

    Tong knelt down on one knee to talk to Dong Bai in the same eye level .

    "Umm . Missy, who..."

    "I¡¯m your goddamn woman, you idiot piece of #$%%! I looked away from you for one and a half decade, you already put a baby in that girl¡¯s womb! If I wait for you for another 100 years, won¡¯t you impregnate every girl in the city?"

    "Eh? You are . . . who?"

    Veins popped up under Dong Bai¡¯s facial skins . She controlled her breathing and put her palm on Tong¡¯s forehead .

    "Administratormand, target [Plot Armor], delete it!"

    <ding>>

    <you have="" used="" [administrator="" serial#5h450107053052]="" skill="">>

    <this skill="" will="" be="" erased="">>

    [...]

    [Eh? What the hack?]

    [Why didn¡¯t you do what I told you to!?]

    [Fine, you have failed my mission . I¡¯ll erase all your demonic power in your soul!]

    [Oh, I have just noticed . You don¡¯t have anything left in you, so I¡¯ll erase your [Seal] too . ]

    [You are free now . Have fun, "little human" . ]

    <you have="" failed="" the="" supplementary="" mission="">>

    <your demonic="" power="" will="" be="" erased="">>

    <your [seal]="" has="" been="" erased="">>

    <you are="" now="" considered="" as="" a="" reincarnator="">>

    <the number="" of="" survivor="" are="" now="" (18)=""> (19)>>

    Dong Bai felt her mind lightened, but she also felt that she had just lost something precious to her . The sense of her loss overwhelmed Dong Bai . She cried .

    ¡¯Now I have nothing left . I¡¯m now a powerless human . ¡¯

    Meanwhile, Tong received odd notification messages .

    <someone has="" attempted="" to="" erase="" your="" skill="" [plot="" armor]="">>

    <your [gluttony],="" [greed],="" and="" [pride]="" have="" denied="" the="" effect="">>

    <your [gluttony]="" has="" forced="" your="" soul="" to="" devour="" your="" [plot="" armor]="" skill="">>

    <your [plot="" armor]="" has="" been="" devoured="" by="" your="" soul="">>

    <a new="" skill="" has="" been="" created="" to="" rece="" the="" former="" skill="">>

    ...

    ***********************

    [Fledging Demonic Body] Upgradable, Iplete Conditions

    - Immune to all disease and poisoning .

    - Reduce all damages to the host¡¯s body by 10% .

    - Increase all attribute of the host by 5 times .

    - Upkeep: 10,000 Lifespan .

    ***********************

    ...

    "What in the world!?"

    Tong shouted in a panic . His lifeline skill changed into a weaker skill without him knowing anything . Then he swept his nce toward the crying little girl .

    "Little miss, what did you do?"

    Dong Bai did not stop crying . She stepped forward and hugged Tong without saying anything, which made Tong baffled by her actions .

    Hua Shi, who had been observing them from the beginning, walked toward Tong to give him an exnation .

    "This is Dong Bai . She¡¯s the granddaughter of Dong Zhuo... and the reincarnation of your ex-girlfriend . "

    "What!?"

    "You didn¡¯t hear me wrong . She¡¯s Friday . "

    The grip of Dong Bai tightened . She buried her face into Tong¡¯s chest and wailed .

    She missed Tong .

    She lost her status as a demoness .

    She lost all her hard-earned power .

    She was now a powerless little girl in the ancient world .

    She hugged Tong while she was trembling in despair . She feared that if Tong was not here, she would have nothing to cling on, and her heart would have been destroyed .

    Tong could sense the sadness and the desperation of Dong Bai . He hugged her and pressed her body to him . Then he whispered .

    "I¡¯m here . "

    "It¡¯s ok now . "

    "Everything is going to be alright . "

    "We¡¯ll be together . "

    Dong Bai¡¯s body shook, yet her tears did not stop . She cried even harder than before, but it was not from sadness . She was so happy to hear his voice again .

    "Take her to your room . You guys probably have a lot to catch up on . "

    "Huh? Sunday, what about you? The sun has set . Where are you going to sleep?"

    "I¡¯ll sleep in my former room tonight . Go ahead and take her away . You¡¯ll attract more rumors if you let her cry here . "

    "OK . Sorry for today . "

    "Go, go . Shoo!"

    "Hahaha!"

    Tong princess-carried Dong Bai and took her to his room, so they could talk in private .

    Hua Shi looked at the back of Tong . A drop of tear rolled down from her eye . She bit her lips in bitterness and jealousy .

    "Please, don¡¯t forget me . "

    "And don¡¯t forget this child . "

    "We¡¯ll be here if you need us . "

    "So don¡¯t abandon us . "

    Both her hands covered her face, Hua Shi stood and wept alone .

    ...

    ...

    Next morning, Hua Shi woke up in her room with sullen eyes . She cried all night, even in her dreams .

    She did not take a bathst night and forgot to clean the cosmetic on her face, so she went out to take a hot bath .

    Then she met Dong Bai there .

    Dong Bai also had sullen eyes like hers . She seemed to have cried all night as well .

    Both of them paused to stare at each other for a few seconds . Then theyughed .

    "WTF is wrong with your face, brat? Have you decide to quit being a human and join the pandas?"

    "Hahaha! Bitch, you¡¯re the panda! Heck, you¡¯re a panda with the messed up mascara and your eyeliner . Did you buy a cheap one from the market?"

    Unlike yesterday, they jeered and mocked each other in a friendlier manner . The all-nighter weeping released all of their umting negative thoughts . They felt better now .

    They took a bath together while they gossiped and bragged about their bed experiences with Tong .

    "If you try the XXX position, he¡¯ll OOO in less than a minute!"

    "What? How? I did try the XXX and ZZZ, but his OOOOsted for half an hour . "

    "Did you allow him to squeeze your #### while he @@@? I¡¯m sure he loves XXXXX"

    "Hahaha! Oh yeah! He actually drooled when we OOO XXX in the ##### and ZZZZ . "

    They were so into the gossip to the point that they were in the bath for almost two hours . Both of them had to get out after they realized that their fingers and skins wrinkled .

    "Haiz, I can¡¯t mate with him with this body . "

    "Me too, I want his seeds but he didn¡¯t allow me to drink it . "

    They continued to chat even after the bath . The content of the conversation focused on the lewd parts which made the passing by maids bowed their head in embarrassment .

    Zou Shi came back to visit the two and to see if they continued fighting . However, after she heard their conversations, she fled back to Sima Manor with a red face .

    "Say, since we can¡¯t XXX with him, how about we punish him a bit . " Dong Bai brought up her desire .

    "Ah, I¡¯ve been thinking about it as well . Right, did you know that he can regenerate his lost body parts?"

    "Ho? He has that kind of skill?"

    "Yup, we can share our status menu, so I knew about it . "

    Dong Bai¡¯s eyes lit up . Hua Shi taught her about the Soulmate Contract and the Soulmate Missions which gave back Dong Bai¡¯s hope . Both of them conspired among themselves from morning till night .

    ...

    Last night, Tong embraced the crying girl until she fell asleep . He did not get a good sleep all night as he felt guilty for cheating on her . He wanted to apologize but no word hade out .

    There were many questions in his mind, including the sudden deletion of his [Plot Armor] skill and the birth of his [Fledging Demonic Body] skill .

    In the end, he left his room in the early morning to get some fresh air and exercises . Then he went to work with a tired expression .

    As nned, he coaxed his father, Zhang Jiao, to drink a tea mixed with his blood . Then Tong made him joined his n by the annual quota n Contract .

    The moment the n menu and a chat box appeared in front of Zhang Jiao, he smiled and sighed . After seeing so many miracles by Tong all these years, he was not surprised anymore .

    . . .

    ¡¯I need two more members . I wonder if Friday can be part of the n . ¡¯

    ¡¯There¡¯s also a matter about my skill . She hasn¡¯t told me why she deleted it . ¡¯

    ¡¯I wonder if she gets better yet . ¡¯

    ¡¯Aw crap, I forgot about Sunday . Is she still ok after Friday arrived?¡¯

    Tong took a deep breath . Being two-timer was a sin, and he was suffering the consequence .

    Tong returned to his residence area after the dinner, only to find Hua Shi and Dong Bai in his room .

    "What are you two doing here together? Are you alright now?"

    Bothdies smiled at Tong, but he detected a faint murderous aura from them . Something was amiss .

    "We¡¯re fine!"

    "We¡¯re ok! Actually, we consider each other as sisters now!"

    "Yup, yup!"

    Tong had an awkward smile on his face . A harem with more than two girls living together in harmony only existed in novels and fictions . Something was wrong with these two .

    "Umm, I know it¡¯ste . But I want to say, I¡¯m sorry to both of you..."

    Tong clumsily apologized to the two which did not seem to listen to his words .

    "It¡¯s alright, my dear . I forgive you . " Spoke Dong Bai .

    "Yes, we don¡¯t mind it . As a matter of facts, we havee to an agreement . "

    "BUT" Both girls spoke at the same time .

    Hua Shi took out a short sword while Dong Bai took out sharp scissors .

    Tong saw a bad premonitioning up . The memories about Friday and the sinners in Hell shbacked from the back of his head . He understood what they were trying to do .

    "For the sake of not adding another member, we should teach you a lesson why you shouldn¡¯t be kind to every woman . "

    "Yes, my dear husband . Please be obedient and take off your pants . We¡¯ll inspect your body, so you won¡¯t be contaminated by any unknown bitch in the future . "

    ...

    ...

    That night, there were mysterious cries from Tong¡¯s residential areas . It was said to be the sound of a man crying in agony over and over again all night .

    After that day, many people and the officials tried to investigate the origin of the voices, but none found a lead .

    A new gossip emerged that Tong residence areas were haunted by a mysterious male ghost which made many maids quit the jobter . </a></your></your></your></someone></the></you></your></your></you></this></you></ding>

 Chapter 124

    Chapter 124

    Chapter 124 ¨C Privileges of the n Members

    Sunlight shone through the room¡¯s window, a new a day arrived .

    Two girls, one little girl and a teenage girl, were sleeping on the soft bed while hugging each other . They were Dong Bai and Hua Shi .

    The room reeked of blood, but both of them did not mind it .

    On the floor, Tong curled into an egg as he was holding his precious little brother with his hands . His trembling body soaked with blood and his face was full of tears from the endless agony .

    Last night, Dong Bai and Hua Shi punished him for being a two-timer . Although Tong wanted to protest that Hua Shi seduced him or it was not his fault, he did not utter a word .

    Last night, Tong noticed Hua Shi¡¯s sad eyes . It seemed that she, too, was also in pain . Dong Bai¡¯s expression had a tinge of jealousy and pain as well . Both of them was hiding them and pretended that they were fine .

    For allowing them to vent their frustration and their sadness, he sacrificed his body to free them from the suffering .

    As a result, he was repeatedly castrated all night . He counted that "it" was cut off 131 times which his lifespans took a hit from it . Combined with the previous incident in Jinyang, Tong¡¯s lifespans were now less than 150,000 from the initial over 170,000 lifespans .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 146,723 Years

    *******************************

    ...

    Tong did not mind losing a bit of lifespan in exchange for the harmony of his family . It was better to have two happy rowdy dominating wives than having two sad oppressed wives . To love is to sacrifice, he could not treat them as objects . It did not matter if he was at fault or not, he would take responsibility for both of them regardless .

    Tong struggled to stand up . He collected all of his former manhood pieces into his inventory as he was afraid that Hua Shi¡¯s cannibalistic syndrome mighte back if she saw human¡¯s fresh organs . He would dump and burn these thingster once he had a chance .

    "Mm, it¡¯s morning already?" Dong Bai yawned as she opened her eyelids to peek the room .

    "... Such nostalgia smell . " Hua Shi also woke up from the voice of Dong Bai . She took a deep breath to inhale all the iron smell of Tong¡¯s blood .

    "Yup, it¡¯s a good smell . It makes me feel like home . " Dong Bai agreed .

    The corner of Tong¡¯s mouth twitched . These girls¡¯ nature was too wicked and sadistic . If it were a normal girl, she would have screamed in fright from the scene and the smell of blood .

    "Tong, I¡¯m hungry . Create something for me to eat . I want a medium-raw wagyu tenderloin steak, egg sd, fried shrimps, a ss of orange juice, and a ss of milk . " Hua Shi ordered a set of heavy breakfast without holding back .

    "Huh? There are a wagyu steak and a red wine at this age?"

    "He has a skill that can create food . Just order him and he will create it . "

    "Oh! That¡¯s neat! I want the same as hers but I want the Matsusaka steak and I want it raw . "

    Tong smiled at them . He sat on the side of the bed and hugged the two .

    "Friday, Sunday, I love you . "

    "You stink, get me my breakfast and go take a bath . " Hua Shiined, yet she kissed him on the cheek and hugged him back .

    "I¡¯ll only allow two of us . If I find a girl with the name "Saturday" or any other weekday names with you, I¡¯ll castrate you again . " Dong Bai buried her head on Tong¡¯s shoulder and nibbled his neck as if she wanted to leave an ownership-mark on him .

    Tong held them tight and kissed both of them on the cheek . He whispered .

    "I¡¯ll only have you two . I will not abandon you, ever . "

    ...

    ...

    Afternoon .

    Tong sat by the side of Li Feihong¡¯s infirmary bed while he looked at his n menu screen . Because of the reconciliation between Hua Shi, Dong Bai, and himself, Tong managed to persuade them into joining his n .

    He also asked Dong Bai about the sudden change of his skill which she told him about the change of the dimension link situation and the necessity to delete his [Plot Armor] skill .

    Dong Bai also wanted to form a Soulmate Contract with Tong . But after she realized that she had to participate in the Soulmate Quest and the potential wars in the future, she postponed it as she was powerless at the moment . Once she got older and had more system skill, she would add herself into Tong¡¯s Soulmate members .

    For now, Tong had to increase Dong Bai and Li Feihong¡¯s lifespan with the n Quests, which required at least five members as a condition to ept quests .

    ************************

    n Members

    1 . Zhang Tong ¨C n Leader

    2 . Li Feihong

    3 . Zhang Jiao

    4 . Hua Shi

    5 . Dong Bai

    ************************

    "It¡¯s ready . Do you want me to trigger the quest now, or do you want to heal up first?" Tong asked Li Feihong .

    "Just do it . I¡¯ll be fine . I can always escape to my private world . Besides, I have auto-revive now . "

    "Hah, lucky you . "

    ...

    ************************

    **Status**

    Name: Li Feihong

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 2,615 Years

    Shopping Pass: 3

    [Private Farm World] LV 3 (428,462/4,000,000)

    - Able to ess a private world in another dimension .

    - World Size 3,000 km .

    - Time Scale Current World - Private World: 1 day ¨C 1 month .

    - The host can grow crops in the private world .

    - The host can raise animals in the private world .

    - All objects in the private world can be taken out to this world .

    - The host can observe the outer world from the private world

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan per one-minute gate connection .

    - Upkeep: 1,000 lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only grow crops that exist in this world .

    - Can only raise animals that exist in this world .

    [Self-Resurrection] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Resurrect yourself upon death .

    Skill Cost: 2,500 lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Skill Cost doubles for each use .

    ************************

    ...

    Li Feihong bought the [Self-Resurrection] skill from the system shop at the price of 10,000 lifespans because the rest of the skills was sold out .

    This left him with less than 3,000 years lifespans . Without a way to increase his lifespan right now, he would die in three years as the yearly upkeep would kill him .

    But Li Feihong did not lose hope . He ced his bet on the n Quests which Tong was about to activate at this moment .

    Tong pressed the quest button which was unlocked after he registered the fifth member of the n .

    [Hohoho! Here we go again, Tong . I knew you are a hard worker! But I¡¯m sorry to disappoint you . The n quests are moreid back than the soulmate quests . So you won¡¯t get as much lifespans as you wanted . ]

    <ding>>

    <your quest="" has="" been="" generated="">>

    ************************

    <n quest="">>

    Quest Objective: upy at least one county-sized city .

    Reward:

    - 10,000 Lifespan Pool for each major city upied .

    - One Shopping Pass for each major city upied .

    - 1,000 Lifespan Pool for each county

    ************************

    Both of the men looked at the quest details with astonished expression .

    "Lifespan Pool? What¡¯s this, system?"

    [It¡¯s a lifespan pool that can be distributed to other members . Each year, you¡¯ll get these pools if youpleted the conditions . Then, you can give lifespans to your members as contribution rewards . ]

    [Or, if you are farsighted, you can use the pool lifespans to buy skills from the shop . Then you can give the skill to any member of the n . ]

    [Simple, right?]

    Li Feihong and Tong were shocked by the exnation . This meant they could allocate lifespans or skills to any member in the n, including the natives in this world!

    However, they had to be aggressive as they had to upy cities to get the best rewards .

    This system wanted to provoke a war between otherworlders and the natives!

    This system wanted nothing but chaos! It wanted war!

    Li Feihong was mentally shaken by the realization while Tong covered his mouth with his hand tried to think of a way to exploit this loophole .

    ¡¯I have Julu City and Anping County under my control . Should I send my troops to take the nearby small counties?¡¯

    ¡¯If I can recruit Ding Yuan into my n via Feihong, will the system count it as I upy Jinyang City and its surrounding counties?¡¯

    "System, if a governor joins my n, will the city of the governor be under my control?" Tong asked to affirm his theory .

    [Yes]

    Li Feihong¡¯s eyes widened . He turned around to gaze at Tong as he could predict what Tong was trying to achieve .

    "You want to recruit Ding Yuan, Tong?"

    "To be honest, yes . "

    "It¡¯s going to be hard . He¡¯s a loyalist, you know? He won¡¯t sway for you easily . "

    "That¡¯s true . But as someone gets older, what will be his ultimate goal?"

    "Huh? Retirement?"

    "Nope . We give him lifespans . "

    "Lifespan...? AH!! That¡¯s right!"

    Tong pointed at the new features which were shown in the n menu after they had five members . It was locked at the moment, but the panels could still be read .

    The panel read "Donation", "Distribution", and "Seize" .

    Li Feihong¡¯s brain processed at a high speed . He yed many mobile games before, so he was familiar with these simr options .

    "If I guess it right, we can donate our lifespans into the pool with the "Donation" option, and we can allocate the pool using "Distribution" option . Am I right, system?" Li Feihong asked the system .

    [Ding, Ding! Damn straight!]

    [Oh, a reward for guessing . I¡¯ll tell you another hint . ]

    [You can donate your skill into the pool . ]

    As if they were thunderstruck, both Tong and Li Feihong was stunned . If a skill could be donated, then they could transfer a skill to one another .

    Tong pondered . There was a loophole that he noticed .

    ¡¯If I can use both these options and yearly dual-cultivation to produce the same skill to other members! Or I can give my skills to my father and Friday!¡¯

    The system goddess read Tong¡¯s mind . She poured Tong the cold water .

    [But there will be a handling fee if you want to donate a skill into the pool . ]

    [The donor will have to pay 100,000 Lifespans as a fee . ]

    [Also the lifespan pool will increase by one for every 10 lifespans donated into the pool . ]

    Tong bit his lower lips . The system won¡¯t give them an easy time after all . </n></your></ding>

 Chapter 125

    Chapter 125

    Chapter 125 ¨C The Pretender

    June 19th, 182 A . D .

    Luo Yang City, Imperial Pce .

    "Zhang Rang, the leader of the eunuchs, conspired against the Imperial Court and was the mastermind behind the second prince assassination . A counterfeit royalmand of the first prince was found in his room . He has nned to kill He Jin and the Empress He with this falsemand! Punishment, death by ten thousand cuts!"

    "Zhao Zhong, embezzled royal pce treasures worth 200,000 taels of gold, forged a counterfeit royal decree of thete Emperor! Punishment, death by dismemberment and all properties seized!"

    "Xia Yun, pretended to be a eunuch to ravish the royal maids..."

    "Li Song, plotted and killed both second prince and the third prince . . . "

    Wang Yun was reading the list of crimes that the ten eunuch attendantsmitted during the years to the public . Thousands of officials were listening to the revtion in awe, anger, astonishment, and bewilderment .

    A few days ago, Liu Ping returned to Luo Yang with Dong Zhuo and all royal armies .

    Dong Zhuo did not attack and siege the Capital as everyone had predicted . Instead, he deployed his soldiers in the pce and arrested the ten eunuch attendants that used to ally with Liu Ping .

    Afterward, the officials, who were thought to be dead, made the appearances and dered that they pretended to die, so they could catch these eunuch crooks off-guard . They also presented the records about their crimes to other officials to witness .

    The caused an uproar among the government workers . Their opinion about Liu Ping changed while Yuan Shao and other overlords were baffled by the sudden turn of events .

    The ten eunuch attendants werepletely executed, yet Wang Yun picked another scroll and read it out loud .

    "In the past decades, the ten attendants had taken root in the royal pce for too long . Their power expanded and their hands even reached other outskirt provinces . "

    "While the previous Emperor ignored the plea of the people, the first prince Liu Ping devised a master n to catch all of them with solid pieces of evidence, so none of them could slip through thews and caused damages to the country and the people again . "

    "He sacrificed his reputation, his future, his pride, and his dignity . He yed the role as an ipetence prince to fool the eunuchs that he could be easily manipted . During the period of His Highness¡¯ disguise, he had to fake the execution of several loyal ministers and officials . "

    "However, they were not actually killed . The prince hid these assumed dead officials to bait the eunuchs into actions, which they took the bait . "

    "Your Highness, Prince Liu Ping gained the trust of the eunuchs and managed to acquire necessary proofs . And all of the evidences are now presented to everybody today!"

    The uproar got more intense . The murmur sounds got louder . Shouts and cheers voices were everywhere .

    More than half of the officials believed in the announcement while the rest could notprehend what had actually happened .

    Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao, who were ready to assault Liu Ping to im the throne, were taken aback . They realized that they were tricked, but some parts did not make sense .

    Wang Yun continued .

    "It is fortunate that we also have a wise patriot that can see through His Highness¡¯ ns . He rallied his force to cooperate with the prince and took down the subordinates of the eunuchs while he rushed back to the Capital . "

    The eyes of the crowd widened . They knew who Wang Yun was talking about . There was only one person that dispatched his force to the Capital, Dong Zhuo!

    "Not only taken down the evil minions, but Lord Dong Zhuo also risked his life to suppress the eunuch forces in the royal pce and put them to justice!"

    The crowd gazed at Dong Zhuo in admiration after they heard the exaggerated story that Wang Yun made up . On the other hand, Dong Zhuo, who was listening at the side, smirked and chuckled . He stood still with a proud expression as if the feat was nothing to him .

    In reality, Dong Zhuo did not risk his life in the assault, he simply sent a few thousand cannon fodders into the pce while he sat back and enjoyed the carnage .

    ¡¯Fufu, Wang Yun and that brat are good . I¡¯m lucky that I picked the right choice . ¡¯ Dong Zhuo thought .

    That day when they found out the baby prince was gone, they epted Liu Ping¡¯s offer right away . As for the prince and Jia Xu, they made up a story that both of them were already dead and there was no need to search for them again .

    ...

    Cao Cao watched themotion with a frown . He also did not like this development as his chance for killing the eunuchs to get the promotion was snatched away by Dong Zhuo . He closed his eyes to stabilize his mentality . As soon as he opened his eyes, he looked around, searching for his senior that rmended him into the pce .

    ¡¯I wonder where senior Sima Fang went . Has he left the Capital?¡¯

    Cao Cao sighed . He wanted to find someone trustworthy to consult with . He needed an advisor right now .

    ¡¯Benchu is too ambitious . I can¡¯t talk to him about this . ¡¯

    ¡¯Senior Lu Zhi is also away . ¡¯

    ¡¯I guess I have to rely on myself for now . ¡¯

    Cao Cao left the scene in disappointment . He nned to write a letter to his cousins at Chen Liuter as he had to prepare for a way out in the case if Luo Yang City was thrown into chaos because of the Liu Ping and Dong Zhuo .

    ...

    On the stage, Wang Yun continued his rumbling and exaggerated past glorious stories of Dong Zhuo and Liu Ping .

    After 30 minutes of the random storytelling, Liu Ping stepped up on the stage and gazed toward the crowd .

    Then he made an action that no one had ever expected .

    Liu Ping knelt down on both knees, put his hands on the ground, and dropped his forehead on the floor with a loud thud .

    He kowtowed to everyone .

    The crowd went silent the moment Liu Ping knelt . The image of the arrogant prince was shattered from their mind .

    "As the descendant of the great Han Dynasty, to the public servants of the country, to the citizens, I¡¯m sorry for my past actions!"

    His voice vibrated through the pce .

    No one dared to speak after seeing such apologetic action .

    Ten seconds after the awkward silence, Dong Zhuo made a move . He pped his hands slowly .

    The mass psychology took effect, one by one, the crowd also pped their hands .

    It started from a slow p . Five people pped . Ten people pped . Then hundreds of people pped together .

    The sounds of pped and cheered echoed the pce .

    Hiding from the sight of everybody, Liu Ping grinned . He bit the tip of his tongue to resume his serious expression and lift up his face while he was still in a kowtow position .

    "For the punishment of my past insolence, I¡¯ll cast away my title as the first prince and the right to the throne!"

    "WHAT!?"

    The cheering chants turned into shock . The sudden announcement stunned every listener .

    "NO, YOUR HIGHNESS! YOU DON¡¯T HAVE TO DO THIS!"

    "You did it for the people! You don¡¯t have to take the me!"

    "Your Highness, please reconsider!"

    Among the crowd, officials that Liu Ping had nted in advance shouted out as nned .

    The mass psychology took effect once again . The crowd also shouted to stop Ping .

    "Your Highness! Please don¡¯t!"

    "It was not your fault! Please don¡¯t!"

    "The throne is without a sessor! You can¡¯t!"

    Wang Yun also his close aides kowtowed to Liu Ping and begged him to withdraw his words .

    Seeing that his ns went well, Liu Ping slowly stood up and gazed at the panic crowd . His facialplexion was ugly as if he was dissatisfied with something . He shouted .

    "If I am still a prince, that means I will be the next Emperor . I¡¯ve soiled the prestige of the Han Dynasty . I¡¯ve ruined the reputation of the royal bloodline . Yet, are you all fine with that?"

    Dong Zhuo stepped forward . With his obese body, he knelt on one knee and cupped his fist .

    "I¡¯m Dong Zhuo Zhongying, Regent of the west border, I¡¯m willing to follow Your Majesty!"

    The eyes of everyone gleamed . There was a hint in Dong Zhuo¡¯s words . Instead of calling Liu Ping "Your Highness", he called him "Your Majesty" which was a word to call the emperor, not a prince .

    It signaled that Dong Zhuo supported Liu Ping as the next Emperor .

    "I¡¯m Wang Yun Zishi, Minister of Writing, I¡¯m willing to follow Your Majesty!"

    Wang Yun and other officials that Liu Ping tamed followed suit . As soon as the pledging started, everyone kowtowed to Liu Ping as they acknowledged him as the new Emperor .

    "I¡¯m willing to follow Your Majesty!"

    "Please be our new Emperor!"

    The pledging came one after another which made Liu Ping grinned . He waved his hand and shouted .

    "There is a few things all of you should know! I¡¯m a practical man, and I see tradition customs as useless fares . There will not be a coronation ceremony, so we can use the fund and the manpower for the people! There will be no celebration for my ascension to the throne, so we can allocate our budget to the poor! But, I¡¯ll hold an oath ceremony . I¡¯ll swear to the Heaven and the ancestors that I will be a righteous Emperor! I¡¯ll rule the people with just! I¡¯ll govern the country with cares, so theter generations can enjoy peace for another thousand years!"

    There was no cheer or a hand-p from the crowd . Instead, the mmed their foreheads to the ground . All of them kowtowed to Liu Ping as they were moved by the deration . They swore their loyalty in their heart .

    Dong Zhuo and Wang Yun smiled as they also bowed .

    Meanwhile, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu peered at Liu Ping with hatred and envy . They pretended to bow but they did not swear allegiance to Liu Ping .

    ¡¯How did ite to this!? Wasn¡¯t he ipetence good-for-nothing? Why!?¡¯

    ¡¯Damn it all! I wasted my times to support this brat!? Impossible!¡¯

    Yuan Shao cursed in his mind . He nced around to see if he could use something or gain any untold information from the bystander .

    ¡¯Wait, He Jin and the Empress He is not here!¡¯

    ¡¯There are still chances!¡¯

    ...

    ...

    Liu Ping returned to his private sound-proof room after the farce was done . After he sent everybody away, he burst intoughter . His cackles echoed in the enclosed soundproof room .

    "HIEHAHAHAHA!! OMFG! Those retards, HAHAHA!"

    He continuedughing for another 10 minutes, but he was interrupted by a sudden message from the system .

    <this is="" a="" global="" announcement="">>

    Liu Ping¡¯s eyes focus on the message . This was the first time that the system gave out something like a global announcement .

    <reincarnator zhang="" tong="" has="" found="" the="" first="" official="" n,="" xian="" huang="" jin="">>

    <reward for="" the="" first="" official="" n,="" one="" shopping="" pass="" to="" the="" n="" pool="">>

    <[n ranking]="" has="" been="" unlocked="" to="" all="" reincarnators="">></[n></reward></reincarnator></this>

 Chapter 126

    Chapter 126

    Chapter 126 ¨C Other Forces

    "A n?"

    ...

    "What is a n?"

    ...

    "Da heck is this!?"

    ...

    Fifteen bewildered reincarnators received the same announcement . Most of them did not have a clue about the existence of a n from the system, let alone the n Contract .

    <because of="" the="" founding="" of="" the="" first="" n,="" n="" contract="" and="" n="" feature="" details="" will="" be="" published="" to="" everyone="">>

    The system menu updated and more details appeared . n Contract and its details could be read from the menu now .

    "The system is hiding this from me!?"

    Liu Ping stomped his foot . He walked to his bed and sat down to focus on reading the details .

    ¡¯I can form a n contract with any reincarnator instantly, but one reincarnator can only recruit one native per year . I need five members to form an official n and get the n quests . n pool...¡¯

    ¡¯Shit! That Tong has gone further than me . ¡¯

    ¡¯No, it doesn¡¯t matter . Our status is a world apart . He won¡¯t be able to reach me that easily now . History has changed . There will be no alliance against Dong Zhuo! There will be no Emperor Xian!¡¯

    ¡¯For now, I have to take advantage of the n quest ASAP . ¡¯

    "System, can I recruit Wang Li into my n with her status?"

    [Haha! Nope! Members of the n Contract must be consent . But she has no soul, so nope!]

    His breath became short and quick from the irritation . Liu Ping clenched his fists as he tried to think .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t trust any reincarnator . I have to recruit a native here . ¡¯

    ¡¯But one person a year is too slow . ¡¯

    ¡¯FOOk! Fine! One person a year it is . I don¡¯t have a choice!¡¯

    "System, how can I recruit a native? What¡¯s the procedure?"

    [One, the potential native member must swear allegiance with the n Leader . ]

    [Two, the potential native member must drink a drop of your blood... Whoops, in your case you don¡¯t need to do this . So just make the person loyal to you and press the recruit button on the menu, then it¡¯s done . ]

    ...

    ...

    Xia Pi City, Xu Province, Zhongyuan Region .

    <this is="" a="" global="" announcement="">>

    <because of="" the="" founding="" of="" the="" first="" n,="" n="" contract="" and="" n="" feature="" details="" will="" be="" published="" to="" everyone="">>

    A young man and a youngdy sat side by side on a rock nearby a pond . At first nce, it looked like the two were flirting couples . But if they looked at them closely, their expression was solemn .

    "We¡¯ve made a mistake . We shouldn¡¯t form only the Soulmate Contract . We should have formed the n Contract instead . . "

    "No, we should form all contracts that the system has, so we won¡¯t miss anything . "

    "You¡¯re right . "

    "But from the looks of it, we can only have 4 members this year, including us . "

    "Hmm, this is painful . We don¡¯t know what the n quests are . "

    "Well, you shouldn¡¯t feel that way . If this is simr to mobile games, the system will make us do something like upying cities or counties for rewards . Or maybe worse . "

    "I hope you¡¯re right . "

    The young man gazed toward to horizon as he thought . He spoke what in his mind for thedy beside him .

    "We¡¯re at disadvantage . Zhang Tong changed the fate of the Yellow Turbans . Liu Ping will take the throne in a matter of time . But we can¡¯t break free from Tao Qian . If the Yellow Turban Uprising doesn¡¯t happen, my father will not get any promotion or get sent to be the governor of Changsha City . "

    The youngdy closed her eyes .

    Her slender fingers flickered the small zither she had on herps . As she yed the zither, she gave the man a bit of advice .

    "Relying on the Yellow Turban events or historical events won¡¯t help . There¡¯s more than one way to get your father promoted . "

    "Hmm?"

    "One, we hunt small fry pirates, thieves, and bandits . But it will take years to get noticed, which isn¡¯t efficient . Two, we march to Ganling City to subjugate Zhang Yan and his goons . "

    The man frowned . He did not want to attack Zhang Yan for many reasons . The city was too far away and they did not have enough intelligence inside the city .

    "Is there a third option?"

    "Yes, rebel against the Han Dynasty once the famine starts . If we use the same trick that Zhang Jiao used in history, we can gather the troubled peasants for our cause . "

    "That¡¯s impossible . My father and Huang Gai will kill me if they heard that . "

    "Fourth option, both of us surrenders to either Zhang Tong or Liu Ping . "

    "That¡¯s also a no . None of them can be trusted . "

    "Fifth option, we change the history . Instead of following the customs of this world, we¡¯ll boldly go to Jianye and take the entire southern provinces . Then you¡¯ll be known as the little conqueror in the ce of Sun Ce . "

    "That¡¯s too . . . bold . I don¡¯t want to expose our identities to the world yet . There are still many otherworlders lurking . There are, like, 16 of them?"

    "It¡¯s 17 now . "

    "Huh?"

    "I don¡¯t know why, but the number increases by one . Maybe someone has just been born into this world?"

    "Ugh, forget it then . "

    "We will choose the second option?"

    "We don¡¯t have a choice, huh?"

    "Indeed . But please be careful . I doubted that Liu Ping will promote your father¡¯s rank if he is aware of us, so we have to do this undetected . We will not use our skill in this operation . "

    "Fine . I¡¯ll go recruit my father into the n . Can you recruit Huang Gai or Cheng Pu?"

    "No, I¡¯ll recruit Aunty Wu . "

    "My mother? Why?"

    "Once we have both Sun Jian and Wu Guotai into our n, it will be easier to rope in Sun Ce since we are rtives . Once Sun Ce joins us, Zhou Yu will follow us automatically . Then other officers will not go anywhere but slowly joining us, one by one . "

    "Good . Let¡¯s get going then . I¡¯ll n a strategy for the assault . "

    "Please tell your father to gather more intelligence about personals in the northern ins, too . We might hit a jackpot and pick up someone famous . "

    "Someone famous?"

    "Historical figures . We are in the year 182 at the moment . Most of the famous figures are still young . It¡¯s a good time to scout talents . Who knows, maybe we can find someone like Zhao Yun or Guo Jia there . "

    ...

    ...

    Outskirt of Ganling City, Ji Province, Southeast of Julu City .

    Zhang Yan and his bandit subordinates roamed around the woods in search for someone in the forest . Most of the bandits had fresh wounds all over their bodies . Some of them were missing an arm or a leg .

    "Brat! Come out! You can run but you can¡¯t hide!" Zhang Yan shouted .

    There was no answer or a sound to respond to Zhang Yan¡¯s taunt . Every bandit felt goosebumps .

    Zhang Yan turned around and shouted to a young man who sat idly on a tree while he gazed into a distance .

    "Dammit! We lost him again!? Hey, boss! Please help us! Stop daydreaming already!"

    Irritated by the sudden call, the young man threw a branch nearby at Zhang Yan . The branch pierced the ground as if it was a knife .

    "Shut the fOOk up! I¡¯m trying to concentrate! Leave me alone!"

    The young man continued to read the details of the n Contract in front of him . He clicked his tongue after he read the requirements to establish an official n to receive the n quests .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t recruit these morons . They are too weak and too useless! I guess my ytime around here is over . Time to ditch this ce . ¡¯

    ¡¯Where should I go?¡¯

    ¡¯The Yellow Turban Rebellion hasn¡¯t happened yet . I think I should join Liu Bei and drag them into my n members . Maybe I can be their fourth brother . ¡¯

    The young man leaped from the branch and disappeared from the area, leaving Zhang Yan and his goons behind .

    As soon as Zhang Yan noticed that his boss suddenly abandoned them, he cursed .

    "FOOk you! You hypocrite! How dare you leaving us behind!? I was blind for believing in you!"

    His subordinates were panicked seeing that their boss left . They asked Zhang Yan in a trembling voice .

    "Boss Zhang, what¡¯s next?"

    "Retreat to Ganling! What else!?"

    Hundreds of injured bandits fled back to the city with reluctant . They already cornered the young man that they were pursuing . Because of their boss indecisiveness, they had to retreat .

    Within the forest, a young teenager in ragged clothes was panting while he was crouching behind a bush . He peeked around to ensure that there was no one else .

    Seeing that he was left alone, the teenager copsed on the ground .

    ¡¯That was too close . I was lucky . ¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know why that monster chose to leave, but I¡¯m thankful . ¡¯

    The teenager attempted to assassinate Zhang Yan many times after he took over Ganling City . However, the mysterious boss of theirs was too strong . The teenager had to run for his life many times in these short few months, but he managed to sabotage Zhang Yan Army many times as well .

    Today, he fumbled and almost got himself killed by the mysterious boss of Zhang Yan . He was d that he survived .

    ¡¯I have sent so many letters to every neighbor lords, but why didn¡¯t they reim the city?¡¯

    ¡¯Is it because of that person?¡¯

    The teenager was scared of their boss . He shed with the person head-on once, but he lost from his unique way of fighting .

    Gazing at a letter under his bosom, the teenager hesitated if he should send this letter .

    ¡¯I heard he was looking for me . But...¡¯

    ¡¯Can he be trustworthy?¡¯

    ¡¯They said he is an immortal . But no sane person should im that he is an immortal . ¡¯

    ¡¯But the battle at Anping was the best proof...¡¯

    ¡¯Dammit! Stay cool! Stay sharp! Stop your useless thinking!¡¯

    He got up and kicked the ground, running away from this forest .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll ce my bets on this then . ¡¯

    ¡¯If you are righteous as they said...¡¯

    ...

    ...

    Nanpi City, Official Residential Areas .

    Te Langpu nced at the system menu and chuckled .

    "Stupid baits . I won¡¯t fall for it . Go ahead and fight each other to your heart contents . "

    "I¡¯ll enjoy my life here . "</because></this></because>

 Chapter 127

    Chapter 127

    Chapter 127 ¨C Windfall Personal Expansion

    June 30th, 182 A . D .

    Zhou Cang and his men returned to Julu along with the caravans of ores .

    Tong went out to wee them himself which made the men shocked as they wondered how their lord hade back before them . Zhou Cang was immune to Tong¡¯s miracles already and he had been noticed beforehand, thus he was indifferent . The fight Tong had against Lu Bu which Zhou Cang witnessed was even more dazzling than this trivial feat .

    The ores were transported to the outskirt district outside of the city wall in preparation to build a steel factory .

    Because Tong was not well-versed at the manufacturing process, he summoned all 100 elite cksmiths in the city to the site to consult with them about the steel making .

    After six hours of the continuous brainstorming, Tong gave the cksmith a challenge . He drafted a blueprint of the medieval western knight armor set to each cksmith and said .

    "I want all of you to make me a full set of this new armor suit . I¡¯ll provide you the ores and the materials . But you¡¯ll have to make this by using the new steel that we talked about today! I will give you 3 months toplete the task . Any cksmith that creates the most practical and strongest armor out of this blueprint will be given 1,000 gold as a reward and a noble status! The person will also be promoted as the director of the steel newly constructed factory with 50 taels of gold as a monthly wage!"

    The cksmiths got fired up by the incitement . They rushed back to retrieve the coal and iron ores right away . The new element of steel already interested them enough, the new armor designs in the blueprint made their blood boiled .

    The words about thepetition spread as soon as the cksmiths got to their dwellings . More rookies and intermediate cksmiths were aroused by thepetition rewards, they gathered in front of the government hall and requested to participate in the challenge as well .

    However, Tong refused . If they wish to participate, they had to help the elite cksmiths that Tong and the officials recognized .

    This move was to prevent the leak of the information and the designs of the new armor . In addition, it improved the quality of thepetition as they had to be the subordinates of the elites, or else they would not be able to touch the new steel . If everyone could join thepetition, Tong would have wasted valuable resources on the 3rd-rate cksmiths who did not have enough experiences .

    More than half of the young cksmiths were dissatisfied by the biased verdict of Tong while the matured ones nodded in understanding .

    The mob dispersed as the understanding people left the ce to join with the elites . With a bit over 500 dissatisfied cksmiths remaining, they did not dare to cause a ruckus in front of the ruthless son of the governor . In the end, they also left .

    ...

    July 4th .

    Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and their escorted troops arrived at Julu . Ding Yuan and Tong went out to wee them .

    "We¡¯re sorry for thete arrival, Lord!"

    "It¡¯s fine . I learned a lot just by staying here for a few weeks . I don¡¯t mind . How¡¯s Fengxian?"

    "He¡¯s moody as usual, my Lord . "

    "Hmm . Leave him alone then . His wife has just given birth to his daughter . He is too sensitive at the moment . "

    As soon as they arrived, they reported that they escorted Zhang Ji and his men here which surprised Tong . He did not expect them toe together .

    The escorted prisoners were released and were guided to a military camp outside the walls . Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu were summoned inside the city as Tong had a lot of things to question them . Although Dong Bai had told him that Zhang Ji and his family were sent here as ambassadors, Tong still wanted to ask the person himself .

    "Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu, am I right?"

    "Yes, sir . Do you know who we are?"

    Tong nced at his radar map with a wry smile . It showed Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu¡¯s name on it .

    . . .

    In the historical record, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu were part of Dong Zhuo¡¯s subordinates . After Dong Zhuo died by the hands Lu Bu, Wang Yun wanted to execute all remnants of Dong Zhuo . Zhang Ji cooperated with Guo Si and Li Jue, they killed Wang Yun and retook Chang An . After that event, Zhang Ji was appointed to guard Hongnong District with his nephew, Zhang Xiu .

    In 196, Hongnong District ran low on supplies . Zhang Ji decided to attack Liu Biao at the northern zone of Jing Province in order to plunder some provision, but he was killed by a stray arrow in the midst of the battle .

    After Zhang Ji¡¯s death, Zhang Xiu made peace with Liu Biao and took over Wan District . He had a feud with Cao Cao in the following year in the battle at Wan Castle where he killed Cao Cao¡¯s son and his bodyguard, Dian Wei . Zhang Xiu surrendered to Cao Caoter in the year 200 .

    In their lifetime, they did not have many achievements, but they were known to be elite cavalrymanders .

    . . .

    "Somewhat . Your fianc¨¦ told me about you . "

    "What!? Zou Shi is here!?"

    "Yeah, she was abducted here with Dong Bai . We managed to rescue them . She¡¯s under my protection at the moment . "

    Dong Bai had told Tong about Zou Shi and introduced her to him . Currently, she moved from Sima Manor to the guest house within Zhang Manor .

    Zou Shi always hung out with Dong Bai and Hua Shi as they did not have many female friends to talk to . As the two perverted sadisticdies tended to make dirty conversations, Zou Shi always fainted in shame and embarrassment .

    Zhang Ji bowed to Tong in frantic . He was delighted that his fianc¨¦ was found and she was safe all along .

    "Thank you! Thank you very much!"

    "No need . It¡¯s my duty . Say, what is Dong Zhuo trying to do? What did he order you and what did you try to do in Jinyang?"

    Zhang Ji revealed everything to Tong about Li Ru¡¯s secret orders, the agenda about the redhare horses and Lu Bu, the secret agent that Li Ru entrusted with the task, and their purpose of moving here . He did not care about Dong Zhuo and his army anymore as his entire family was already here .

    "So Dong Zhuo wants to form a distance alliance with me . "

    "Yes, sir . I believe he is nning to revolt against the Han Court . But I only have outdated information . I don¡¯t know what happened after I left Hongnong City . "

    "It¡¯s fine . For now, let¡¯s get you a new ce to call home . We¡¯ll also have to clear a fewnds for your subordinates and their families too . "

    Hearing that Tong would wee them into the city, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu knelt down as they cupped their fists .

    "Thank you for taking us in! We swear that we¡¯ll serve you with our life!"

    As Tong was not used to getting bowed by older men, he scratched his head in awkwardness . In addition, he did not expect this sudden windfall . He tried so hard to get a good historical general, but he always either failed or the general was not ready to be used . Yet, these two showed up out of nowhere and swore allegiance to him .

    Tong allocated them a portion of the residential areas to be Zhang Ji¡¯s new home . He also dispatched a messenger to tell Zou Shi that her family had arrived .

    Twenty minutester, Zou Shi ran and embraced Zhang Ji in happiness . They finally reunited again after a few days of separation .

    ...

    The next day .

    In the morning assembly, Tong introduced Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu to everyone as the two would be new generals of the Julu Army . They were assigned to Bo Cai¡¯s unit along with the 5,000 Qiang horse archers (without warhorses) to train the new recruits and strengthen Julu Cavalry units .

    The matter about the alliance between Dong Zhuo and Julu City was also announced . Tong agreed to form an alliance with this tyrant in name, but he would not take any of Dong Zhuo¡¯s order .

    Then, Tong announced the third agenda which shocked everyone, including Sima Fang and Lu Zhi .

    "Ding Yuan of Jinyang City will be joining us officially as of today!"

    The announcement made Lu Zhi and Sima Fang stood up in disbelief . Ding Yuan was known to be a loyalist to the Han Court . Why would he join forces with the potential rebel?

    Zhang Liao and Gao Shun, who was invited to attend the meeting today, were also astonished . This meant that Tong would be their new boss by default . After a minute of thought processing, Gao Shun held back hisughter as he thought about the reaction of Lu Bu if he heard about these new changes .

    Ding Yuan observed the reaction faces of the officials and burst outughing .

    "Hahaha! Please take care of me . From now on, I¡¯ll be part of your ¡¯Rebellion¡¯ . "

    Ding Yuan stressed when he said the word "Rebellion" as Tong had confessed to him already .

    ...

    ************************

    n Members

    1 . Zhang Tong ¨C n Leader

    2 . Li Feihong

    3 . Zhang Jiao

    4 . Hua Shi

    5 . Dong Bai

    6 . Zhang Bao

    7 . Zhang Liang

    8 . Ding Yuan

    ************************

    After Tong and Li Feihong epted the n quest, Tong asked Hua Shi and Dong Bai to help him recruit his two uncles into the n . Meanwhile, Li Feihong went to see Ding Yuan to persuade him .

    At first, Ding Yuan dismissed the invitation in anger . But after Li Feihong made him recalled the feats at Jinyang government hall by Tong, Ding Yuan reluctantly agreed .

    In exchange for his loyalty, Ding Yuan demanded that he would get at least 100 years of lifespans, provision supplies from Julu, and he could retain the title of Jinyang Governor, which Tong agreed .

    With Ding Yuan joining, the n had acquired two district capital cities and three major counties .

    ...

    "I didn¡¯t expect you to join hands with Zhang Tong . What swayed you, Jianyang?"

    Lu Zhi and Ding Yuan were having a private talk after the meeting . As a fellow Han loyalist, Lu Zhi still could not believe in Ding Yuan¡¯s decision .

    "Well, your disciple is not half bad . I like him and his styles . That¡¯s all . "

    As Ding Yuan smiled, he sipped the whiskey in his cup and enjoyed the scenery, which caused Lu Zhi¡¯s frown to deepen .

    "You should also forget about the Han Dynasty . A new age is about to arrive . " Ding Yuan continued in an attempt to drag Lu Zhi into this wagon too .

    "Why do you think that way?"

    "You haven¡¯t experienced it, so you don¡¯t know . "

    Ding Yuan flickered his fingers and the n system menu screen showed up in front of him . In the screen, Zhang Jiao, Zhang Liang, and Zhang Bao were having a happy chat . However, Lu Zhi could not see the screen . He could only notice that Ding Yuan gazed into empty space like he was in a daze .

    "I wish you could see what I¡¯m seeing too . " Ding Yuan muttered .

 Chapter 128

    Chapter 128

    Chapter 128 ¨C The Golden Opportunity

    July 5th, 182 A . D .

    A strange letter arrived at the government hall in the middle of the morning assembly today . The writing in this letter was rough as if it was written without a proper ink and brush .

    "Ganling City is suffering from the bandit Zhang Yan and his mysterious boss . The previous governor and all his troops have been killed by Zhang Yan . The surrounding viges on the region outskirt were thoroughly plundered, and the city itself is about to be a ghost town . "

    "I¡¯m sending this letter to ask Lord Zhang Jiao to dispatch a troop to assist the remaining citizens of Ganling . I¡¯ve already sent several letters to the neighbor lords, but all of them ignores my plea . Please help us . "

    "Signed... Zhao Tian . "

    The official finished reading the letter and passed it toward Zhang Jiao .

    Hearing the name of Zhang Yan, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang gritted their teeth in resentment . Because of this man, thousands of good soldiers died or crippled in the battle of Anping .

    Tong shut his eyes tight to maintain his neutral emotion, but he failed to keep his killing intent from leaking out . He opened his eyes and looked at the messenger .

    "The sender of this letter, is he still here?" Tong asked the messenger .

    "Yes . He is resting at the guard infirmary depot . "

    "Huh? Why is he resting there? Aren¡¯t there messenger guest houses?"

    Tong nced at his radar map to see the location of the letter sender by instinct . As soon as he read the name of the person, Tong¡¯s sight locked onto the name with his eyes wide opened .

    "Reporting, the messenger¡¯s body is covered with fresh wounds . We afraid that he might die from blood loss, so we took them there for the emergency treatment . "

    "...Fair enough . Go tell the messenger that I will dispatch the troops to subjugate that bastard Zhang Yan . "

    "Yes, sir!" The messenger bowed and left .

    Zhang Jiao and Lu Zhi stared at Tong after he dered that he would dispatch troops . This was a big move which Tong had not yet consulted with everyone . It was an inappropriate and reckless action .

    "Son, we agreed that we have to talk to each other first before we act . Why?" Zhang Jiao reprimanded Tong .

    "I have my reasons for this . I¡¯m sorry, father . "

    "Then let¡¯s hear it . Let the others know it, too . You shouldn¡¯t keep it all to yourself all the time . "

    A wry smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face as he nced at his radar map . In the infirmary depot, the name of the messenger shocked Tong to the point that he lost his rationality .

    The name of the person was Zhao Yun!

    He would be one of Liu Bei¡¯s Five Tiger General in the future! This person had too many achievements in the history that could not be described in a few pages . He was also one of the few generals in the turbulence time that died from old age .

    ¡¯I¡¯d be a fool if I refuse the plea of Zhao Yun! To get him into my n, even if I have to dive into a fire sea, it is still worth it!¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know why he faked his name in the letter . Does he not trust me?¡¯

    ¡¯It doesn¡¯t matter . For now, what kind of excuse am I going to tell everyone?¡¯

    ¡¯Fudge!¡¯

    Tong sighed while his brain processed to make up a random story .

    "Now that we have Lord Ding Yuan as our ally, we don¡¯t have to worry about the neighbor warlords . It¡¯s time for us to establish our reputation as a glorious righteous army . The plea of Ganling citizens coincides with our goals and Zhang Yan is also our sworn enemy . We should take this chance as our causes to go to war . "

    Lu Zhi stepped up to stop Tong . "But we still don¡¯t have the intelligence of the mysterious helper of Zhang Yan . Isn¡¯t it too rash?"

    "That¡¯s true . It¡¯s rash . It¡¯s stupid for many reasons . But because it is stupid, no lord dares to make a move against Zhang Yan . And that¡¯s our golden opportunity to make a name for ourselves . In order to raise a new dynasty, we need enough prestige . We need the trust of the people . We want our reputation to rock sky high . That¡¯s why we have to risk it! If we don¡¯t risk it now and Zhang Yan is defeated by somebody else, this golden opportunity won¡¯t appear ever again . "

    The face of Lu Zhi twitched the moment Tong had said, "In order to raise a new dynasty" .

    "Have you made your mind, disciple? Are you going to rebel against the Han no matter what?"

    Theplexion of Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Zhang Ji, and Zhang Xiu paled . It was their first time to hear that Tong was nning to rebel against the Han Dynasty .

    Ding Yuan, however, remained indifferent toward the deration . He did not have faith in Liu Ping, so why he should bother serving him when he could gain semi-immortality by serving Tong instead .

    The "Illuminati" officials supported Zhang Jiao¡¯s Yellow Turban in secret while Sima Fang wanted Tong to be the leader of the new g . They did not care if Tong would bad-mouth the royalties or showed signs of rebellion against the Han Court .

    On the other hand, Zhang Jiao and his two brothers got excited . They were waiting for the right time to dere a rebellion .

    Lu Zhi squeezed his be as he was having a dilemma . He wanted the Han Dynasty to thrive, but Liu Ping was not a good candidate to be the next Emperor . But he did not want to rebel either .

    Seeing Lu Zhi¡¯s reaction, Tong gave him a bitter smile . He knew what his master was worrying about .

    "Master, please don¡¯t take it to heart . The name of the dynasty is just a legacy name of the ancestors . From the viewpoint of the local farmers, they don¡¯t care who their Emperor is . They only care about their future and their family¡¯s stomach . What we should be worrying about is the people of the country . Without themoners, there will be no noble . Without the citizens, there will be no king . In the end, whether we are nobles or the Emperor of a different dynasty, we are still public servants . We are here to serve the people in the end . "

    Lu Zhi opened his eyes and gave Tong an angry re . But he took a deep breath and averted his gaze toward the windows with a sad smile .

    "Please forgive us, master . "

    "Do what you want . But don¡¯t count me into it . "

    He knew and understood that the Han Dynasty was deteriorating and was copsing from the inside which was the reason why he did not bother protesting Tong anymore .

    Like a heart-broken elder, Lu Zhi slowly walked out of the assembly .

    He was a loyalist of the Han through and thorough . Lu Zhi was raised to worship the Han Empire and its predecessors . He was educated that he had to maintain the legacy of the ancestors . The attachment to the dynasty was so strong that he still could not get over the loss .

    Watching the back of his leaving mentor, Tong knelt down and kowtowed to Lu Zhi on the middle of the hall in silence while all officials were witnessing his actions .

    "I¡¯m so sorry, master . I¡¯m so sorry ancestors . In order to maintain our country, we have to change . The Han Dynasty is fated to die . We need a new proper organization and the system for the people . I¡¯m sorry . "

    The atmosphere in the hall was solemn . Everyone watched Tong as if they understood his intention .

    Tong did not kowtow to just apologize to his master, he kowtowed to all the predecessors that upheld the legacy of the Han Empire to beg for their forgiveness .

    The sky outside was covered by ck clouds as if heaven was listening to their conversation . A thunderboltnded on top of the government hall, causing the brick on the roof to char ck . The thunderous sound roared a second after the lightning bolt, which shocked the eardrums of everyone in the hall .

    Raindrops followed after the sound of thunder . It was not a light shower, but a heavy downpour .

    Lu Zhi, who almost stepped outside of the hall, gazed to the sky with a wry smile .

    ¡¯Is the heaven crying or is the heaven stopping me from leaving?¡¯

    ¡¯Haiz, I¡¯m getting superstitious . I don¡¯t care anymore . I want to go home and rest . ¡¯

    Lu Zhi was about to step outside and bore the rain, another lightning boltnded on the floor tile that Lu Zhi was about to step on . The thunder sound roared and echoed inside the hall again, which made everyone covered their ears in reflex .

    Getting stopped by the sudden lightning bolt and the point-nk thunderous sound, Lu Zhi stumbled two steps back and covered his eyes in dizziness .

    Tong rushed forward to help his master in a hurry . He was afraid that Lu Zhi might have been hit by the thunder .

    "Master! Are you ok?"

    Lu Zhi shook his head . "I¡¯m fine . Just a little dizzy . "

    "Master, you shouldn¡¯t swear or make any promise recklessly . Didn¡¯t you see that thest lightning strike was clearly aiming for you? You must have sworn something like you¡¯ll get a lightning strike if yo-*PEOK*-oof!"

    Lu Zhi gave Tong a hammer fist to the top of his head for the bad-mouthing which made everyoneughed .

    "I¡¯ve never sworn in my life, you stupid disciple! The only time I swear will be now that I swear that I¡¯ll beat the shit out of you!"

    Lu Zhi repeatedly hammered his fist on Tong in frustration . Despite the violence, everyone continued tough at Tong in a merry mood .

    ...

    After giving Tong a few hammer fists, Lu Zhi¡¯s mood got better . The same happened with the weather outside as the rain subsided .

    Lu Zhi peered at Tong with the corner of his eyes and sighed .

    ¡¯I guess the heaven wants me to support him . Well, fine then . Since my disciple dares to im himself as an immortal, I¡¯ll be superstitious for once . ¡¯

    "You¡¯d better be a righteous Emperor, Tong . Or else, I won¡¯t forgive you . " Lu Zhi muttered to himself before he walked out of the building to return home for the day .

 Chapter 129

    Chapter 129

    Chapter 129 ¨C Departure

    July 6th .

    As Tong sent the mobilize order yesterday, the wartime policy was issued to the citizens . The craftsmen got more busy forging weapons and armors while the housewives helped their husband making arrows .

    Themoners who recently migrated into the city were afraid of the sudden force conscription . They hid themselves and shut all doors and windows .

    On the other hand, the old tenants did not bother hiding themselves and continued their lives as if nothing had happened . The rude ones happily mocked the neers as cowards because they knew that the city possessed over 60,000 soldiers, without including Zhang Ji¡¯s cavalries and Ding Yuan¡¯s forces . Therefore, Julu City would not recruit new militias any time soon .

    Jia Xu, who hitched the ride and entered the city as one of the immigrants, had not gotten used to the newws and the environment of the city yet . He was preupying reading every notification on the public announcement boards .

    The more he read, the more his curiosity, Jia Xu approached one of the officials and asked .

    "Excuse me, sir . I¡¯m new to this city and I¡¯m interested in the newws of the Lord . Do you have a full details version besides the one on the public boards? It¡¯s difficult for an old man like me to walk around and read . "

    Still pretending to be an old man, Jia Xu moved at a slow pace with a wooden stick .

    The deceived official could not help but felt sympathy for this elder .

    "Please wait here for a moment . I¡¯ll get the handbook from the government for you . It has more details than the public announcements . "

    "Thank you very much, sir . I really appreciate it . "

    ...

    Jia Xu returned to the inn with the government handbook . It was not just an ordinary handbook that distributed to the citizens, it was a guidebook for the government staffs which contained the inside information about types of orders, emergency protocols, locations of major buildings, and etc .

    The old fox grinned from ear to ear after he skimmed through the book .

    ¡¯I still have it . No one can match my persuasive power!¡¯

    He left the baby prince to the hired wet nurse and spent the rest of the day reading through the book over and over again as his schr nature kicked in .

    The smiley face he had when he first acquired the book turned into a serious face . He noticed many unusual ws in the government system .

    ¡¯The heck is wrong with this city!? Where did they get all these food for themoners?¡¯

    ¡¯There isn¡¯t a single detail about the supplier of the provision at all . ¡¯

    ¡¯And why have all the nobles submitted to the tyrannyws!?¡¯

    ¡¯They can¡¯t have any privatend and soldier, yet why are they still working for Zhang Jiao!?¡¯

    ¡¯This doesn¡¯t make any sense!¡¯

    Jia Xu tossed the guidebook to the side and he shifted his gaze toward the window to change the scenery . The sun was about to set, yet everyone outside the inn was still working hard .

    Because of the incentive of the overtime was introduced for the government employees and other staffs, the workers were still working with enthusiasm as they would get additional overtime bonuses when their wages came out .

    Jia Xu shook his head at these people .

    ¡¯Brainwashed . They¡¯re all brainwashed . Even their grandmothers are brainwashed!¡¯

    ¡¯Only forgivable trait of Zhang Jiao is his hard working . The rest is just dumb . ¡¯

    ¡¯It¡¯s just only a matter of time, the government treasury will be emptied if they continue using these stupid policies . ¡¯

    ¡¯...Well, it doesn¡¯t matter . It¡¯s none of my business anyway . ¡¯

    ¡¯First things first, I should use this chance to get more gold . ¡¯

    The long trip from Luo Yang to Chang An, then Chang An to this city consumed 90% of his fund . Jia Xu only had 20 gold in his pocket bag which was not enough for his luxurious retirement life .

    ¡¯I think there¡¯s a job recruitment on the public board . If I remember correctly, it is a teacher of a schr school? An easy job for 2 gold a month . Or should I be ambitious and apply for the minor official position?¡¯

    ¡¯No! I can¡¯t! The pay is good but the future of this city is dubious! How the hell can they pay 30-50 gold a month for a minor official position! This is a phishing scam!¡¯

    While Jia Xu was randomly dissing Tong¡¯s government system, he caught a whiff of a fresh baked butter bread aroma . The innkeeper was cooking dinners for the guests at the tavern, which was on the first floor of the two-story inn .

    "For fOOk sake! Why does the food of this city smell so good, yet why is all of them so expensive! What kind of scam is this!?"

    Jia Xu stopped thinking and threw a fit like a real moody old man .

    *Growl*

    His stomach cried as he got hungry because of the smell .

    ¡¯If I want to eat those to the fullest every day, I¡¯ll have to spend at least 3 to 5 gold a month . . . ¡¯

    "..."

    "FOOk it! Minor official it is! But if something stupid happens, I¡¯ll quit it on the spot!"

    Despite the irritation, Jia Xu stomped out of his room to the tavern on the first floor to order some food .

    ...

    ...

    June 7th .

    Lu Zhi packed his necessary belonging, he nned to take a journey back to Luo Yang as his family was still in the Capital .

    He worried that once Tong and Zhang Jiao rebelled, his families would get implicated into this mess and would be executed for treason . Therefore, Lu Zhi had to go back home himself and migrate everyone back to Julu to be safe .

    Tong dispatched Zhou Cang and 3,000 elite soldiers as Lu Zhi personal guards because he did not have a private army . It would be unnatural for someone with high status as Lu Zhi to travel alone .

    "I¡¯ll gather the news in the Capital while I¡¯m there . For now, don¡¯t do anything that will get Liu Ping and the Han Court¡¯s attention . I don¡¯t want my family dead before I get home . "

    "I understand, master . Please take care . "

    ...

    ...

    July 14th .

    The deployment preparation waspleted . A total of 40,000 soldiers whichprised of 5,000 light cavalries, 5,000 Qiang horse archers from Zhang Ji, 10,000 heavy cavalries from Zhang Liao, and 20,000 heavy infantries .

    All of them was armed to the teeth . Each infantry equipped with a full iron armor suit, arge iron tower shield, a long pike, a sword, an all-purpose shovel, a repeating crossbow, and two hundred arrows . The horsemen even had extra spears and throwing javelins .

    The logistics supply army of 10,000 men also took extra spare weapons and armors with them . Hundred thousands of crossbow arrows and the 20,000 tons of provision were the main resources that the logistic troops had to put extra care on .

    Tong did not load everything into his inventory this time as he wanted everyone to experience a real war from the beginning to the end . The age of chaos wasing soon, he could not spoil his soldiers all the time or they would be too weak when Tong had to use them . In addition, once the territories expanded, Tong could not babysit everyone by tagging along in every campaign . The troops had to be ready for such scenarios .

    Even though Tong let the logistic troops handled the supplies, he did not fully entrust them with everything . He still had double the number of armory, weapons, and provisions in his inventory, just in case the enemy was strong enough to ruin his logistic troops .

    As usual, Tong would be the grandmander of this army and he would be in charge of the 20,000 foot-soldiers with Li Feihong, who recovered a bit, as his aide . However, he had to sit in a wheelchair at the moment as he had notpletely healed yet .

    Bo Cai was now a 5,000 menmander who was responsible for the light horsemen .

    Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu retained their former troops of 5,000 Qiang horse archers and were promoted as 5,000-manmanders . Although the horses Tong provided them were weaker than their former horses that Lu Bu confiscated, they were satisfied that they could be in charge of their subordinates .

    Gao Shun and Zhang Liao were dragged along with this army as well with their heavy cavalries . Each of them was in charge of a unit of 5,000 heavy horsemen . Since Ding Yuan joined hands with Tong, they had to follow Tong¡¯smand . The two of them already held the rank of a general, so Tong did not need to promote them again .

    Ding Yuan, Hua Shi, Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, and Zhang Jiao remained in Julu to protect their headquarter stronghold .

    "Men! Move out!"

    With a signal, the g bearers waved their color gs to ry orders to the troops . Tong and his leading troops started their march toward Ganling City .

    Before Tong and his men could march, a young teenager with bandages all over his body rushed to the side of Tong .

    "Sir! Let me go with you!"

    The teenager was none other than the young Zhao Yun who was disguising himself as "Zhao Tian" .

    "You¡¯re the messenger from Ganling, right? You¡¯ve done your job . The rest will be up to us . "

    Tong pretended to stop Zhao Yun from following them . This was an act to get this heroic figure to join his army in the future . Though he said that, Tong predicted that Zhao Yun would insist following them anyway .

    "Sir, Zhang Yan¡¯s boss is not ordinary . I¡¯ve fought with him many times before . I¡¯m afraid that he might still have more tricks in his sleeves . Let me go with you! I¡¯ll fight alongside you in this battle!"

    The elite soldiers behind Tong gazed at the young man in half-admiration and half-mocking . They looked down on Zhao Yun as he was still injured and he was too young for the battlefield . None of them believed that their young lord would let him tag along .

    Tong raised his eyebrows when he heard that Zhao Yun knew something about Zhang Yan¡¯s army . His curiosity was piqued .

    "Fine, youe with me then . Since you know about Zhang Yan¡¯s mysterious boss, I¡¯ll make you my personal guard for now . "

    "T-Thank you, sir! I¡¯ll do my best!"

    "Men, get him a horse! Oh, I forgot . You do know how to ride a horse, right?"

    "Err, I can try..."

    Tong shook his head in secret . It seemed like this young Zhao Yun was simr to Zhang He as he had not blossomed yet .

    In the historical timeline, Zhao Yun first debuted as a leader of a volunteer force when he joined Gongsun Zan in the year 189, which was seven years from now on .

    But the current Zhao Yun¡¯s condition was too weak in the eyes of Tong .

    ¡¯I guess he still has a long road ahead of him . But I don¡¯t mind that . If I can raise this young boy into a flying dragon like his style name, any kind of investment is worth it . ¡¯

 Chapter 130

    Chapter 130

    Chapter 130 ¨C The Mysterious Bandit Boss

    July 14th, 6 PM .

    After a day of marching, the soldiers set down a temporary camp on the in .

    Tong summoned Zhao Yun and other generals into themand tent . He had to inquire about the information about Ganling City, Zhang Yan, and the mysterious person behind the bandits .

    Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, Bo Cai, and Zhao Yun arrived at the tent within a few minutes . They were also interested in the reason behind the fall of the city .

    "Go ahead, Zhao Tian . Tell us what you know about the city . "

    "Err . Where do I start?" Zhao Yun was nervous by the stare of all veteran generals andmanders . It was his first time in the army .

    "How did the city fall under the control of Zhang Yan? Do you know anything about it?"

    Zhao Yun nodded .

    "I was there when he attacked the city . It happened in the middle of the night . There were millions of bandits all over the city and attacked the guards . "

    Li Feihong and Tong cringed .

    ¡¯Millions of bandits?¡¯

    ¡¯This is exaggerating . Is his brain alright?¡¯

    Zhao Yun continued . "Those bandits were mysterious . The soldiers attacked them but they could notnd a hit on their body . But the bandits could actually attack the guards . I also tried to fend them off, but all of my strikes went through their body as if cut through thin air . "

    "Hold it . You¡¯re telling me all your attacks went pass their body, right?"

    "Yes . "

    "But their weapons could hurt you?"

    "Yes . "

    Tong and Li Feihong nced at each other . They guessed that this should be an illusion spell or something simr .

    Li Feihong whispered to Tong . "Was it an illusion?"

    "I think so . We¡¯re probably up against another otherworlder again . "

    "Crap . Why can¡¯t they just live in peace? Why are they keep showing in front of us?"

    "The year 184 is getting close and the system is encouraging us to kill each other . I think every reincarnators should have started making a move now . We are going to see more of them in the future if we make a contact with famous warlords like Cao Cao or Sun Jian . Let¡¯s be careful about those guys . "

    "Aye, will do . "

    Zhao Yun continued to narrate the story . After the illusion army of bandit overwhelmed the garrison guards and took over the city, they disappeared into thin air, leaving only a thousand bandits behind . Zhang Yan and their mysterious boss were also with them .

    Without any protection, the bandits ransacked, ravished, and plundered all civilians inside the city .

    Zhao Yun and a few of his friends and volunteer townsmen attempted to fight back, but they were outnumbered . His volunteer group was routed in the end which he managed to scrap his life outside of the city in one piece .

    Zhao Yun changed his strategy . He tried to take revenge on Zhang Yan and his boss by assassinating them . He almost seeded as he managed to thrust his spear into the heart of Zhang Yan¡¯s boss .

    Yet a strange thing happened .

    The body of Zhang Yan¡¯s boss transformed into a log with clothes, and he reappeared again on a distance away from Zhao Yun . Because he failed tond the killing blow on the person, Zhao Yun was chased by the bandits .

    At this point, Tong and Li Feihong had a solemn expression on their face .

    "Transformed into a log... that¡¯s a ninja, right?" Tong whispered Li Feihong with a cringed smile .

    "Illusion power and that log transforming escape technique, that guy is 100% a ninja . "

    "Yeah, a ninja from the U**ha n to boot . "

    "Do you think he can use Susa*** too?"

    "He¡¯d better not . Or we¡¯re fOOked . "

    Zhang Liao raised his hand to stop Zhao Yun and asked him .

    "What about the neighbor lords? Have they tried to reim the city?"

    Zhao Yun nodded . "They did . But they suffered the same fate as the city guards . The thousand of bandits multiplied themselves into millions of bandits and overwhelmed all forces with their numbers . None of them can reach the wall of the city . "

    "But you can fight them, right? You¡¯ve survived for so long . "

    "... I can only assassinate them after the million men army dispersed . I tried my best to reduce their number or kill their boss, but I always failed . "

    "How strong is their leader? Compare it with your strength?" Asked Tong .

    Zhao Yun closed his eyes to recollect his memories . The images of the boss¡¯ movement appeared in his mind .

    "He¡¯s not strong . But his abnormal speed and his log transformation always saved his life in the crucial moment . I should have killed him 7 times already but he always escaped . "

    "Aside from the million bandits and his escape skill, is there anything else unusual about him?"

    Zhao Yun shook his head . "No . "

    Tong smiled and sighed in relief . If that person had more skills, Tong would have a headache trying to deal with this otherworlder . Since he only had this illusion skill and the escape skill, Tong and Li Feihong could use the tag-team gate-assassination tactic to deal with this guy . As for the rest of the bandits, his soldiers could handle them .

    ...

    ...

    August 1st .

    The signs of drought appeared on farnds around the northern territories . The farmers had a hard time trying to irrigate their responsible farms . More than half of the crops withered from theck of water .

    The rivers, their underground well, and their reserved water ponds dried to the bottom . Not only they did not have enough water for the farms, but they also did not have enough water for their daily consumption .

    The cmity was about to begin .

    Tong frowned at the sight of the drynd . Last month, it rained on Julu territories . After he asked around the local viges, he learned that other ces had not rained for almost half a year . It appeared that the deforestation and the farnd expansion around the northern in was the reason for this unusual weather .

    Tong¡¯s army of 40,000 soldiers and 10,000 logistic soldiers passed through many viges along the way . The vigers were in a bad shape as theycked water and proper food . For every 10 viges they passed by, at least three viges suffered from the food and water shortage .

    "Sir, please give us food . "

    "Please . Give this child food . "

    The picture Tong and his soldiers saw was nothing but a tragedy . A skinny old man groveled down to the ground to beg for food . A pale mother carrying a dead child sat in despair on the side of the road . And a young dirty girl in the age of 10 who wore only a thin rag stood at the side of the road, calling any soldier that passed by .

    "Please give me water or food . I¡¯ll do anything you want . "

    Li Feihong shut his eyes tight as he did not want to fall into the temptation . On the other hand, Tong observed the situation around the vige with a deep frown .

    "Men, as usual . Distribute our provision and water to the vigers . "

    "Understood, sir!"

    Each time Tong saw a dying vige, he would distribute food and water to the hungry vigers .

    He did not donate food because he wanted to help them or for humane reasons, Tong wanted them to spread words and rumors . In order to get the favor and support from the surrounding civilians on the northern area of China, a good reputation was required .

    Just like Liu Bei did in the historical timeline, Tong had to demonstrate that his force was righteous, kind, and friendly to themoners . Most importantly, Zhan Yun was watching him by his side, so Tong could not ignore the pleas of the vigers .

    "Will you have enough provision? This is the sixteenth vige that you have given away your food . " Zhao Yun voiced out his concern .

    Instead of agreeing with Zhao Yun¡¯sment, Li Feihongughed .

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about supplies . As long as this man is here, food and water are the least of our worries . "

    Li Feihongughed and coughed while he enjoyed the reaction of Zhao Yun . Even without Tong, he could also resupply the army with the food from his private world farms . If it was not that he was low on lifespans at the moment, he could simply house all troops and vigers into his world and abuse his gate to instantly teleport into Ganling City and raided the bandits from within .

    The marching troops stopped and made camp nearby the drought vige .

    At night, as usual, Tong snuck outside the camp alone and visited the dry wells, rivers, and all water reservoir of the vige .

    "[Create Food], give me water . Maximum output!" Water gushed out from Tong¡¯s both palms, pouring down on the ground .

    For each vige, Tong would spend 10 lifespans on the water creation to fill up their water reserve in secret .

    This action could be seen as a waste of lifespans and water as the ground absorbed all water, and the water wells and rivers were still dry . Yet, Tong was stubborn with his action . He knew it would be useless, but he had to try .

    Fortunately, the water reservoir was like an enclosed pool with solid mud as its wall and floor . The water did not leak into the ground like the underground wells or the rivers . As a result, the pool was filled to the brim .

    ¡¯This should buy a little more time for them . ¡¯

    ¡¯Next, their food supplies . ¡¯

    . . .

    Next morning, the army departed from the vige without bothering saying goodbye to the vigers .

    They were not arrogant . The reason they did not bother to do so because Tong told every soldier that they did not have to .

    Last night, he had already left behind a few gifts and a couple advertisement to the peasants . The rest would be up to the vigers if they wanted to spread good rumors about his army or not .

    The vigers woke up to the surprise cheers of their fellow neighbors . Their reservoirs were full of water and there were a variety of vegetables and grains in their deserted granary .

    Beside the water reserves and the granary, a few signboards were ced there with a message .

    "This water and food was our gift to you . If you still suffer any difficulty after we departed from the vige,e to Julu City . We will help you . "

    "Signed: Zhang Tong, deputy governor of Julu Commandery . "

 Chapter 131

    Chapter 131

    Chapter 131 ¨C The FBI Tactic

    The army entered Ganling District territory . The city wall of Ganling was in their sight, yet there was no sign of resistance from the defense force .

    Normally, the defending army should have sent scouts or an army to intercept them on their way, but Zhang Yan did not deploy his troops at all .

    Tong stared at his radar map in baffled . Within 10 kilometers, Zhang Yan and his army were not presented on the map . It was as if they disappeared or had already run away from the city .

    Inside Ganling City, Tong could still see white dots of the citizens in their houses and other buildings, but most of them did not gather together like a proper army or a group of soldiers, which puzzled Tong .

    "Feihong, what¡¯s your monitor range again?"

    "Monitor?"

    "Your private world monitor . "

    "Oh, if it¡¯s a casual wide range view, I can see everything within one km . But if you want to see further, my monitor vision will be smaller and narrower . The maximum range should be something around 4-5km . But if I were to do that, I can¡¯t share my monitor vision with other people in that world . "

    "That¡¯s a pity . Go back to your world and scout the city for me . I want to know if there is still any bandit inside the city or what has happened to the city . Take this pen and ink . Write down a map or something for me . "

    "Roger that . "

    Li Feihong snapped his fingers and a blue gate appeared in front of him . A bodyguard soldier helped Feihong rolled his wheelchair into the gate which they disappeared together into the gate .

    Zhao Yun stared dumbstruck at the disappearance of the two men . Then he turned to look at Tong as if he wanted an exnation .

    Tong smirked at Zhao Yun and shrugged .

    "Get used to it . You¡¯ll see more of these in the future . "

    . . .

    As soon as Li Feihong got into his private world, hundreds of monitors appeared around him .

    "Long-range mode!"

    <switching to="" long="" range="" spying="" camera="" mode="">>

    <you can="" now="" pilot="" the="" spy="" camera="">>

    All monitors were closed . Feihong¡¯s vision merged with the system eyes . As if he was piloting a drone with a camera on it, his vision zoomed to the city wall, flew past the city wall, flew over the town areas and got inside the city .

    Li Feihong rotated his vision around to observe the people and the surrounding of the city .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t see anyone here . What¡¯s wrong with this city? Is this a ghost town?¡¯

    There was no sign of people of life in the city . No matter where Li Feihong zoomed or peeped, he could not find a trace of people .

    "Toggle the infrared vision!"

    His vision darkened . All building and road turned into various blue objects . Li Feihong darted his eyes around again to see if there was a sign of life .

    ¡¯Found!¡¯

    He finally found the town people . All of them shut themselves in their houses as if they were afraid of something .

    The location of the town people was not enough for Li Feihong . He continued scanning for more people around to city and managed to locate several suspicious groups of people .

    Li Feihong did not wait around, he texted the messages into the n chat .

    "Suspicious people located in the city . I think they are trying to disguise themselves as local civilians to ambush us . "

    Tong immediately replied .

    "How do you know?"

    "They have spears or swords and they group up in a team of 10 to 20 . I believe they are nning to ambush us once we get inside the city . "

    "Understood . Continue looking for more info . I¡¯ll devise a tactic from here . Try to peek into the government building if there¡¯s anyone that behaves like a ringleader or their boss . "

    "Roger that . "

    ...

    An hourter, Li Feihong stopped using his long-range vision . He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples in exhaustion . Once he felt better, he started drawing a map on the scroll he received from Tong .

    Another hour passed, a detailed map waspleted . Li Feihong raised his head to look at his bodyguard .

    "We¡¯re done here . Let¡¯s go back . "

    A blue gate reopened again . Li Feihong and his bodyguard returned to Tong¡¯s side .

    Seeing that Li Feihong returned, all attention from the soldiers were on the man in the wheelchair .

    "How is it? Anything unusual?" Tong asked .

    "Well, the only thing that is unusual is ... I can¡¯t find their boss or someone that look like Zhang Yan . But I have the locations of the ambushers, here . "

    Li Feihong passed his map to Tong .

    "Well done . I¡¯ll take it from here . "

    Tong opened the map andpared it with his radar map . He highlighted every ambusher that matched with his map location . The suspicious people number was 816 people .

    However, Tong could not find Zhang Yan or someone who appeared to be the mysterious boss .

    ¡¯Did they flee from the city? Or they are hiding somewhere outside of the city?¡¯

    Tong rechecked his map again to look for any unusual band of people .

    Another 30 minutes passed, Tong could not find anyone suspicious .

    ¡¯Should I bet on it? Or should I be careful?¡¯

    ¡¯But the proofs show that they left the city...¡¯

    ¡¯It¡¯s risky . I feel like I¡¯m ying poker and my opponent is raising me . ¡¯

    ¡¯...¡¯

    ¡¯... I call it bluff! I¡¯m attacking the city!¡¯

    He stopped what he was doing and summoned all generals andmanders into his tent .

    "Get ready to siege the city . I need the city surrounded and all gates under our control . "

    Tong ced the map that Li Feihong drew on the strategic table . Then he put several stones on the locations of the potential ambushers .

    "Remember these locations . The bandits have nned to ambush us inside the city, so we will not rush into the city immediately in this siege . Instead, we will upy all exit points around the city and we¡¯ll smoke them out . "

    "Zhang Liao, take your troops and 5000 infantries . You¡¯re in charge to attack the east gate . "

    "Gao Shun, same order as Zhang Liao . You take the south gate . "

    "Zhang Ji, you two take 5000 infantries and your horse archers and take the north gate . "

    "I and Bo Cai will take the east gate . "

    "Feihong, you¡¯re the operator and coordinator in this siege . Keep your bird¡¯s eye view on us!"

    "Zhang Xiu, take your men and set up a refugee camp . We¡¯ll migrate all the poption into the camp temporarily until the bandit subjugation ispleted . "

    Series of orders were given to the generals . They cupped their fists and dispersed to their respective toons .

    ...

    Because the city did not have any garrison guard on duty, all walls and gates fell before the sunset .

    Instead of storming the city right away, the troops barricaded the gates and the stairs to the wall as they were locking down the perimeter .

    Fifty special task forces in groups of 100 elite foot soldiers were formed . These soldiers rushed inside the city to their assigned target buildings in order to wipe out the ambushers inside .

    One of the task force got in front of the suspected building . Half of the soldiers knock the doors of the suspected building¡¯s neighbors to evacuate all innocent civilians outside of the potentialbat zones .

    The moment that the scaring civilians saw the armors and the uniforms of the visitors, they cried in delight and dly followed the instructions .

    After they got the innocents out, the squadrons formed two lines of archers and aimed their arrows at the front door of the building . The lead soldier tossed a few torches into the wooden house which caught fire in a few seconds .

    "FBI, YOU ARE SURROUNDED! COME OUT AND SURRENDER!"

    The leader of the squadrons shouted the script that Tong had given them which he followed his instruction word-by-word, even though he had no idea what the word "FBI" was . For some reason, Tong affirmed them twice that they had to shout the word every time they were to perform this simr task or future tasks that might require them to apprehend criminals .

    Twenty bandits in the house were panicked and rushed out of the building to the front door, which they were greeted by repeating crossbow arrows . The front bandits turned into a porcupine in an instant .

    "Wait! I surrender-ARGH!"

    "Stop shooting-ARGH!"

    Despite the squad leader telling them to surrender, Tong had ordered everyone that they would not take prisoners . Everyone was skeptical about this because the script said that they wanted them to surrender, but if bandits wanted to surrender, they had to kill them all .

    Each soldier started to have a weird thought in their mind .

    ¡¯Do we have to throw in the torch before the warning?¡¯

    ¡¯Is this a scam?¡¯

    ¡¯This is a tactic, right?¡¯

    ¡¯Such script, so tactical, much wow . ¡¯

    ¡¯10/10 Stratagem . Will burn a house again . ¡¯

    The same event happened in other designated locations . Tong¡¯s soldiers could not help but question in their mind if Tong¡¯s brain was fine or this was an ingenious scam .

    Meanwhile, Zhang Liao stood by the side and watched the burning house that he was assigned to .

    "Good strategy . I¡¯ll use more of these in the future . "</you></switching>

 Chapter 132

    Chapter 132

    Chapter 132 ¨C Manipting Ganling Citizens

    8 PM .

    All bandits were terminated, and the fire was extinguished . It took a while to douse the fire as Tong had to personally use his [Create Food] to suppress the fire .

    As a consequence of hismand, the majority of the houses and buildings were burnt down, which was a reason why Tong ordered Zhang Xiu to build a refugee camp outside of the wall beforehand .

    Li Feihong could not help but scold Tong in the n chat . "You could have told the soldiers to douse the fire after the ughter . "

    However, Tong disagreed . "What if the ninja is still hiding in the town? I need to make sure that he¡¯s really not here or I won¡¯t get a good night sleep . "

    "But I can¡¯t see anyone else in the city . You also double checked the areas!"

    "We can¡¯t rely too much on our skills . Since our abilities can be considered cheating, his skills can be overpowered like us as well . That guy has ninja-based skills, so I can¡¯t help but assume that he should have a stealth skill or some sort that can hide his presence from our detection . "

    "So the reason that you burned half of the city . . . "

    "Yes, I want to fish out the ninja . I¡¯m sorry . "

    Li Feihong put a palm on his forehead . He muttered . "You¡¯d better be ready for the bacsh . "

    Tong had a bitter smile as he gazed at the refugees . "I know . "

    . . .

    The town civilians evacuated outside of the city and were given supplies which they cried the tears of joy . They had not eaten properly after the bandits took over the city as most of their food was robbed .

    They were skeptical at first when they saw the raging me inside the city and heard that the armymander intentionally burned the town to kill the hiding bandits . But after they heard that themander would give them one gold per person aspensation and would help them rebuild the cityter, their sour mood was appeased .

    A new refugee camp was built . After the rough counting, there were only 50,000 civilians remaining .

    The soldiers asked around for the information about the city before it was taken . This city used to have 120,000 in poption, but the bandits killed all the men, so they were the only remaining survivors as the bandits kept them forbors .

    All survivors were elders, children, and middle-aged or older women . All young girls were kidnapped during the takeover and their locations were unknown at the moment .

    Hearing that they were still missing citizens, Tong and Li Feihong were depressed . They did their best to look for a hint in their map but they could not find anything .

    ¡¯The number of all otherworlder hasn¡¯t reduced . So the ninja isn¡¯t in the city . From the looks of it, he shouldn¡¯t be in these areas . If he is, he should have used that illusion skill long ago . ¡¯

    ¡¯Since Zhang Yan isn¡¯t here, maybe they have escaped together?¡¯

    Tong, who stayed behind on the outside of the wall, looked at his radar skill description while he was gritting his teeth .

    ************************

    [Radar Map] Upgradable

    - Range 10 kilometers .

    ************************

    ************************

    Upgrade Price

    Range 100km ¨C 100,000 Lifespans

    Range 1,000km ¨C 1,000,000 Lifespans

    ************************

    He had a bit over 146,000 lifespans at the moment . If he were to upgrade his radar skill, he had confidence that he would be able to locate the hidden kidnapped victims . However, the cost of this upgrade was huge . A hundred thousand lifespans was not a little amount .

    Tong stood still . His breath became rough, quick, and short as he hesitated if this investment was worth it .

    ¡¯Idiot! What are you hesitating for!?¡¯

    No longer hesitated, Tong pressed the upgrade button in the system menu .

    <your hud="" map="" has="" been="" upgraded="">>

    <your map="" range="" is="" now="" 100km="">>

    The system robotic voice did not stop . It said something weird inside Tong¡¯s mind .

    <your [greed]="" was="" greatly="" weakened="" by="" your="" recent="" action="">>

    <your [corruption]="" was="" slightly="" weakened="" by="" your="" recent="" action="">>

    <if you="" go="" against="" your="" [greed]="" two="" more="" times,="" your="" [demonic="" seal]="" level="" will="" reduce="" by="" 1="">>

    Tong¡¯s vision blurred as more information rushed into his brain . He lost his body bnce and staggered for a few seconds before he came back to his sense .

    The HUD map on the system screen expanded . He could zoom out and view the map from above as if he was looking at Google Map from the satellite view . However, Tong had to zoom in if he wanted to locate the people in the map .

    ¡¯It¡¯s gettingplicated to use . But it¡¯s still useful nheless . ¡¯

    ¡¯And WTF with the [Greed] and [Corruption]?¡¯

    ¡¯Wait, if I go against [Greed], my seal level will drop?¡¯

    ¡¯Hah, so I have to behave and not divulge myself into the 7 sins?¡¯

    ¡¯No, it¡¯s not the time to think about this stupid skill . I have an urgent job to do . ¡¯

    Tong abandoned his thought about hisplicated [Demonic Curse] and [Demonic Seal] . Watching his huge map on the screen, Tong sat down on the ground and grabbed a nearby rock . He started drawing a map on the ground based on his system map .

    From a scribble shaped squares, it turned into a massive map of the surrounding areas . Allmanding officers gather around to watch what Tong was doing .

    "Bring me a local . No, bring me twenty of them . I want to ask them about the map . "

    Once the locals arrived, Tong questioned each of them about a few specific locations .

    "What¡¯s this ce on the map?"

    "I think that¡¯s Ah Xiao¡¯s lumber mill . "

    "Then what¡¯s this?"

    "Eh... That should be a farm warehouse . "

    "And this?"

    "That¡¯s an old vige . "

    "Are there still people residing in this vige?"

    "No, that vige was abandoned years ago . Why did you ask?"

    "Ho? That¡¯s interesting... Then what about..."

    Thirty minutes after the marathon questioning, Tong let the locals leave and allowed the soldier to rest . However, his job had not finished yet .

    In Tong¡¯s system map, the locations that Tong marked were densely popted which Tong suspected that they could be other potential bandits in hiding or they could be the kidnapped victims .

    Tongbined the testimonies of the locals and his map information . Several buildings, which should not have that many people residing inside, contained hundreds of people .

    The number in each location varied from fifty to two hundred .

    He drew a new map and put it on the strategic table . After that, Tong summoned Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Zhang Xiu, Bo Cai, and Zhang Ji to his tent .

    "Tomorrow at dawn . Zhang Liao, take all of your men and investigate this vige . You are authorized to act upon your judgment if something is amiss . Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu, you two take 10,000 infantries and your cavalries . Like what we did today, surround this vige and assist Zhang Liao!"

    Tong pointed at a vige in the new map . It was the vige that one of the town local told him that it should have been deserted . Yet in Tong¡¯s map, there were over two thousand people residing in it . In addition, in one of the buildings in this vige, Tong found Zhang Yan!

    "Young master? We are raiding a vige?" The generals were perplexed by Tong¡¯s order . First, Tong burned half of the city . Then he wanted to ransack a vige?

    "You¡¯re right . We¡¯re raiding this vige . But you don¡¯t have to take it too hard . I¡¯ve information that this vige should be the bandits¡¯ hideout . This vige is supposed to be an abandoned vige, but my intel said that there are over 2,000 people living in here . That¡¯s the reason behind this operation . "

    Everyone gazed at Tong in astonishment . Each of them had scout teams of their own, but none of them had this information . They did not know that Tong had this cheating map, so they thought that Tong¡¯s secret scouts were much more extraordinary than theirs .

    "Remember, lock down the vige before you start the raid . As for Gao Shun and Bo Cai, each of you takes your men and scout these marked targets . Report to me if you find out anything . "

    ...

    Next morning, all cavalries and half of the infantries were dispatched to the surrounding area around Ganling District . Tong, Li Feihong, and Zhao Yun were the onlymanding personals in the remaining army .

    Because of the food shortage issues among the citizens, Tong distributed more food and water to the townsfolks . He also did not forget to advertise his army .

    Tong visited the refugee camp outside of the wall . He stood on the high ground and spoke in a loud voice, so everyone could hear him .

    "I¡¯m Zhang Tong, son of the governor Zhang Jiao from Julu City . We came here to assist you after we heard that bandits had been upying this city . I hope that you¡¯ll forgive me for thete rescue . "

    "This morning, my spies have reported that they managed to locate the bandits¡¯ hideouts . We have sent our troops to deal with them at the moment . We hope that we can find the kidnapped people from this city in this operation as well . "

    "I¡¯ll give you more reports again in the evening! Remember, we are here to help!"

    "Also, I¡¯m sorry that we have to burn the city . We want to make sure that all bandits arepletely terminated for good . As I have told you before, I willpensate each of you one tael of gold and we will help you rebuild the city!"

    In the ancient era where there was nomunication device or social media, the government public announcement was the main source of themoners¡¯ information .

    In this difficult time, a simple encouragement by the government was enough to boost their morale . With thebination of the humane aid and the army, Ganling citizens were moved into tears .

    The crowd bowed down and groveled to the ground as they were grateful for the rescue .

    Tong whispered to Zhao Yun who was standing by Tong¡¯s side .

    "Tell the soldiers, if you see anyone that looks sad, give that person a hug . "

    "Sir?"

    "Just do what I told you . See that old man over there? That old man that keeps looking down and cries? Go and give him a hug . Don¡¯t forget to whisper him that ¡¯It¡¯s ok now . You¡¯re safe . We¡¯re here¡¯ . "

    "Is it the same with the FBI script?"

    "Yup! Go ahead and do it . "

    "Yes, sir!"

    Zhao Yun looked at the weeping elder in hesitation . His parents taught him to be respectful to the elders, but Tong ordered him to forget it and hug him . Hugging a senior without his permission was a disrespectful action no matter how he saw it .

    Zhao Yun gulped and walked toward the elder, and gave him a hug .

    "It¡¯s ok now . You¡¯re safe . We¡¯re here . "

    The elder was surprised, but he did not resist . The encouragement lifted his mood a little, but he was still crying .

    "My daughter . My daughter has been kidnapped by the thieves . Please help her . "

    Zhao Yun was shocked for a moment . He nced at Tong to look for a hint, which Tong just gave him a smile without saying anything .

    Realized that he was scammed by Tong, the face of Zhao Yun paled . Since he could not rely on his master, he improvised by repeating the script .

    "It¡¯s ok now . We¡¯re here . We¡¯ll help your daughter . "

    The elder stopped crying, but he still clung on the teenager¡¯s clothes .

    "Thank you! Thank you!"

    Noticed that the elder was grateful to the army and his mood improved, Zhao Yun nced back and forth between the elder and Tong . He was impressed that this disrespectful behavior could actually alleviate the sadness of someone .

    Seeing that he did what Tong had told him to, he gave Zhao Yun a thumb up .

    "Good job . Now tell every soldier to do what you did . But don¡¯t let the soldiers hug a widow or a grown woman . I don¡¯t want my army to be known as a pervert army . "

    The corner of Zhao Yun lips twitched . Though he had a good impression on Tong, Zhao Yun could not help but felt that he was tricked . Still, he followed Tong¡¯smand and passed on the "script" to other soldiers .

    Within thirty minutes, a new phenomenon happened in the refugee camp . The soldiers hugged the refugees to calm them down, which caused the sad citizens to release their pending emotions through tears .

    A few ugly women and unmarried senior women saw that the soldiers hugged the refugees to soothe the people . They pretended to cry to entice the soldiers into hugging them too .

    Fortunately, Tong had warned the soldiers beforehand, so they ignored the crying women . Or else, soldiers would have fallen for their tricks and would have been forced to marry them . </if></your></your></your></your>

 Chapter 133

    Chapter 133

    Chapter 133 ¨C Rescue Operation

    3 PM .

    The morale of the townsmen elevated and their attitude toward Tong Army got better .

    At this moment, Bo Cai and Gao Shun returned with a thousand young women behind them . As soon as the people in the refugee camp saw that the kidnapped people had returned, they burst into cheers .

    Because of the hugs that Tong made his soldier did to the people, the Ganling citizens hugged the soldiers back in delight . A dozen of husband-hunting women also took this chance to hug good looking young soldiers and touched their bodies all over .

    Zhao Yun ran away from the chasing widows and old women and hid behind Tong with a frightened expression as if he was the prey and he was being hunted . Fortunately, Tong¡¯s bodyguards stopped the old cougars before Zhao Yun was vited .

    A messenger from Zhang Liao also arrived .

    "Reporting, Lord Zhang Liao has surrounded the vige as instructed . Upon the initial observation, the bandits are staying in that vige with a few hundreds of kidnapped young women . Lord Zhang Liao sent me here to ask for your advice . Should we assault the vige right away or what should we do?"

    Hearing that there were still many hostages in the hands of the bandits, Zhao Yun frowned in anger . He turned around to look at Tong, who was rechecking his radar map once again .

    "My Lord?" The messenger was waiting for Tong¡¯s instruction .

    "How many bandits in the vige again?"

    "Umm . Roughly a thousand or two . "

    Tong nced at the messenger and smirked .

    "FBI tactic . You know the drill . "

    "Eh...? Ah! Understood, my lord!"

    Zhao Yun red at Tong . There were still kidnapped people inside the vige . If they used the tactic again, the hostages might die .

    Seeing the dissatisfaction face of Zhao Yun, Tongughed .

    "I think it¡¯s time to show you what we, the immortal, can do . Feihong, gate please . "

    Li Feihong, who was idle for all these times, tilted his head in puzzlement .

    "Where to?"

    "The vige that we¡¯re attacking . Let¡¯s try our practiced assassin-gate tactic . While we are at it, we will rescue the girls from the vige . And, let¡¯s take Zhao Tian with us, too . "

    "Huh? OK . "

    ...

    3 . 50 PM

    Tong, Li Feihong, and Zhao Yun were gazing at the monitors in the private world .

    Li Feihong managed to gate travel to the side of the vige without noticing Zhang Liao or alerting Zhang Yan . Tong ordered him to do so as he was cautious of the mysterious otherworlder .

    As long as they were inside this private world, they could see the situation outside and could determine where or how to act based on the changing events .

    Hundreds of the monitors were broadcasting the interiors of the buildings inside the target vige as if they were the record screens from CCTV cameras .

    With Li Feihong¡¯s sorting and monitor arrangement, they managed to locate the hostages inside a new wooden building .

    The young girl hostages were the best looking girls in the Ganling City . All of their clothes were stripped away, revealing their white skins . Traces of the sexual abuse could be seen which made Tong and Li Feihong felt nauseous .

    "Are wete?" Li Feihong asked Tong .

    "No . They are still alive . We¡¯re not toote yet . "

    "But... Their mind was pretty much broken . I doubt they can continue their normal life with this trauma . "

    "Let¡¯s worry about thister . We¡¯ll save them first . "

    "Right . "

    Tong turned around to look at Zhao Yun .

    At first, Zhao Yun was awestruck by the environment, unknown magic, monitors, and their identities as immortals . He came back to his sense after he saw the status of the vited townswomen inside the bandit vige . He forgot about his embarrassment and shame as his level of anger went through the roof .

    Tong tapped Zhao Yun¡¯s shoulder to calm him down .

    "The bandits will get what they deserve . For now, cool your head . I and Feihong will rescue them, so you can rx . "

    Zhao Yun looked back at Tong . He knelt down and cupped his fist .

    "Please allow me to fight alongside with you! I want to kill these scoundrels myself!"

    Tong shook his head . "No . You stay here . "

    "But sir! I can fight!"

    Tong still shook his head . "Yes, you can fight . To be honest, you¡¯re probably stronger than me . But I still can¡¯t let you join the battle . "

    "Then why?"

    Zhao Yun stared into the eyes of Tong in dissatisfaction . He wanted to protest . At the same time, he wanted to leave Tong¡¯s army to fight the bandits by himself .

    "Do you want my honest opinion or do you want my white lie?" Tong asked .

    "Honest opinion, please . "

    "You are not qualified to fight alongside with my soldiers in this battlefield . "

    "What!?"

    Zhao Yun stood up as he red up from Tong¡¯s provocation . On the other hand, Tong gazed at Zhao Yun in a pity .

    ¡¯He¡¯s still too young and too immature . There¡¯s a long road ahead of him before he can be the "Zhao Zilong" of the legend . The legendary Zhao Yun wouldn¡¯t get provoked from this slight criticism . ¡¯

    "Then return me back to my city . I can fight alone without your help!"

    Zhao Yun continued to re at Tong in anger .

    "It can¡¯t be helped, then . "

    Tong snapped his fingers at pointed at Zhao Yun¡¯s feet .

    "[Create Food], vegetable oil . "

    Then he repeated what he had done to Lu Bu at Jinyang City .

    "[Create Food], water!"

    A jet-line of water mmed the face of Zhao Yun . Thebination of the slippery oil and water threw Zhao Yun on the ground . He attempted to get up again, but he was hit by the water stream which made him lost bnce and got pinned down on the floor .

    "Feihong . Can you panned the camera on the brat?" Tong requested Li Feihong .

    "I can . You want me to do it now?"

    "Yes, please . "

    One of the monitors showed Zhao Yun and Tong in it .

    "Show it to Zhao Yun . "

    "OK... wait, did you just say Zhao Yun!? Isn¡¯t this dude Zhao Tian?"

    "Don¡¯t fret the small detail . Do it as I said . "

    "Sure, sure ... Zhao Yun, eh?"

    Despite the shock, Li Feihong did what Tong asked him to do . The monitor was ced on mid-air, right in front of the crawling Zhao Yun .

    "Do you know why I said you are not qualified, Zhao Zilong?"

    Zhao Yun jolted . He had never told anyone about his style name and his real name, yet Tong knew about it all . Then, the monitor caught his attention . It was showing his unsightly expression .

    "Do you think the person in the monitor is calm and collect?"

    "..." Zhao Yun did not answer .

    "Do you think the person in the monitor can make the right judgment in the midst of a battle?"

    "..."

    "Do you think that a person who is blinded by anger can save the towns-girls?"

    "..."

    "If you were amander of an army, let¡¯s say a volunteer force of a hundred men, will you entrust an important task to an angry man?"

    Zhao Yun¡¯s body trembled . He gazed at himself in the monitor and shook his head in shame .

    "You should have fought with someone with this kind of expression before . Do you think he can exert his full prowess with this mental state?"

    Zhao Yun shook his head again .

    "This is the reason why I said you are not qualified to participate in this battle . In my hometown, there was a saying . If you are frustrated, then you are stupid . If you are angry, then you are insane . And if you are mad, then you can¡¯t consider yourself a human, but a beast . "

    A chill ran down Zhao Yun¡¯s spine . Tong¡¯s philosophy stabbed his ck heart . If he fought with his previous mental condition, he would have gotten himself killed .

    He was insane and stupid as Tong had said .

    "Remember my words . If you want to be a good soldier or amander that everyone can look up to or rely on, you must never be swayed by your emotions . You must be calm . Your mind must be as serene as still water . Once you¡¯ve achieved that mentality, your insight will expand . Your vision will broaden . And no enemy¡¯s petty trick will be able to fool you!"

    Li Feihong had a wry smile on his face as he observed and listened to Tong who was preaching for Zhao Yun . That philosophy was one of the proverbs in the modern day . Using it to attract this future legend was cheating, but Li Feihong could notin because he had already boarded Tong¡¯s pirate ship . They had to sail on this Yellow Turbans ship together til the end .

    Meanwhile, Zhao Yun got goosebumps all over . He fell into a daze as his brain repeated Tong¡¯s teaching over and over again .

    Seeing that his brainwashing technique worked, Tong winked at Li Feihong .

    "Leave him alone for the moment . Let¡¯s save the girls first . Maybe I can scout a few wives for you . You haven¡¯t had a girlfriend in this life yet, right?"

    "Please stop bullying me, Tong . I don¡¯t want a wife yet . "

    . . .

    4 . 10 PM .

    A blue gate opened behind a dozing bandit inside the prison house where the kidnapped girls were locked up inside . Two hands came out of the gate with a dagger .

    The dagger sliced the neck of the sleeping guard while the other hand covered his mouth . The two hands dragged the dead guard into the gate, then it was closed .

    The gate reappeared again behind another dozing guard and repeated the same actions .

    Two lookout guards were down . No bandit was inside the building .

    Tong walked out of the blue gate . He gestured to every panicked girl to be quiet .

    "I¡¯m an immortal mystic . I¡¯ve heard of your prayers, so I¡¯vee to help you . Now, get into this light gate, it will take you to the mystic realm . We¡¯ll take you back to your family . "

    Hearing that he came to help, the eyes of the girls brightened .

    Tong cut off the ropes on them . The girls staggered into the gate one after another . After a few minutes, all prisoners were rescued . Tong also jumped back into the gate to escape .

    Another gate appeared in another building . Tong did the same with the guards and the hostages . It took him 30 minutes to rescue all of the kidnapped girls, but the mission was sessful .

    Zhao Yun gazed at Tong and Li Feihong in awe . From the start to finish, he witnessed everything both of them had done .

    ¡¯This is... the real immortal power?¡¯

    Behind Zhao Yun, hundreds of half-naked young girls and beautiful women huddled together in nervousness . However, the sight of greenery grasnds and farms in a distance soothed their heart . They managed to rx a little, but they were still embarrassed by theck of clothes .

    "All hostages have been rescued . What¡¯s next?" Li Feihong asked Tong .

    "We¡¯ll help Zhang Liao and his men . For now, let¡¯s inform Zhang Liao about the hostage situation first . "

 Chapter 134

    Chapter 134

    Chapter 134 ¨C Bandit Hunting

    5 PM .

    The messenger, who rushed back from Ganling city, galloped his horse back to Zhang Liao and proceeded to give Tong¡¯s order .

    "FBI tactic again? What about the hostages?"

    Zhang Liao was skeptical about this tactic in this situation . Should not he rescue the kidnapped people first to take away the bandit¡¯s bargain chips?

    While he was deep in thought, a blue gate appeared and Tong stepped out of the gate .

    Zhang Liao had experienced the gate before in Jinyang, he was not surprised anymore .

    "My Lord?"

    "Zhang Liao, all hostages have been rescued by me and Feihong . You¡¯re clear to attack the vige . "

    Zhang Liao raised his eyebrows in astonishment and a faint smile appeared on his face for a second . The efficiency of his new Lord impressed him .

    "Understood, my lord . "

    Tong stepped back and allowed his men to perform their roles while he monitored his radar map to scan for the hidden otherworlder .

    As for the leadership andmand ability of Zhang Liao, Tong did not worry the slightest .

    ...

    Unlike Zhang He, who was ate bloomer, Zhang Liao was talented atbat from the beginning . Ding Yuan scouted him personally and made him an assistant officer . Zhang Liao became acquainted with Lu Bu as he had to apany the son of his boss into the battles many times .

    In the history, after the assassination of Dong Zhuo, Zhang Liao followed Lu Bu to all over the central ins and northern ins . He and Gao Shun did their best to cover the ws of Lu Bu . Because Lu Bu was impulsive and had ill temperament from constraint backstabbing and politics, he did not utilize Zhang Liao to the fullest .

    Zhang Liao surrendered to Cao Cao after the battle at Xia Pi in the year 198 . Later in the year 202 to 207, he apanied Cao Cao in various campaigns against the sons of Yuan Shao .

    In 214, his true abilities shone in the battle at Hefei Castle where he drove back Sun Quan Army of 100,000 men with just 800 men .

    During the famous fight of the history, Zhang Liao force was surrounded by the Sun Quan troops, yet he fought valiantly and rescued his men back into the castle . He managed to oust the siege for several days before Sun Quan gave up trying to take Hefei Castle and signaled his troops to retreat .

    While Sun Quan was retreating, Zhang Liaounched a counter-attack ambush on the retreating force, which he almost got his hands on Sun Quan during the battle .

    Since that battle, he earned a new legend among the peasants . They said that a baby would stop crying if it heard the name of Zhang Liao .

    ...

    15,000 Cavalries and 10,000 infantries surrounded the vige . With a signal, all of them shouted .

    "FBI, YOU ARE SURROUNDED! COME OUT AND SURRENDER!"

    "FBI, YOU ARE SURROUNDED! COME OUT AND SURRENDER!"

    "FBI, YOU ARE SURROUNDED! COME OUT AND SURRENDER!"

    The soldiers repeated the script . At first, their voice did not synchronize . But after a few shouts, they were in sync as if they were part of the choirs in the modern church .

    Amused by the chorus of the soldiers, Li Feihong sang inside his private world . He forgot that Zhao Yun and the hostage girls were still there .

    "EEF-BEE ~ AND AIIIIIIIIIIEIIIIII~ ~ Will always surround you-huuu-ALWAYS surround YUHUUUU~ ~"

    The girls and Zhao Yun had to cover their ears as the song and the tunes were piercing their eardrums .

    ...

    The two hundred thousand voice echoed and disturbed the bandits in the vige . They gathered on the vige square to standby for the order of their boss .

    Meanwhile, Zhang Yan was anxious by the noise and the current situation .

    The moment he heard the scout report that an army had surrounded them, he nned to use the kidnapped girls as their bargain chips . He wanted to bribe the leadingmander of the army by giving those hostage girls to themander as the side perk of this operation so that Zhang Yan could coax themander into letting him go .

    From his knowledge and experiences with all government officials he came across, he believed that there would be no official that would refuse this offer as the girls in Zhang Yan¡¯s warehouses were the best-looking girls in Ganling City . Themanding officers would dly take them in as their concubines or their toys in secret for sure .

    But before he could make use of his n, the hostages disappeared from his warehouses . Even the assigned guards were also disappeared .

    Now, Zhang Yan had no idea how to break this situation without a bribe .

    ¡¯Damn it! If that bastard Jiang Man were here, we could have killed all of these imperial force already!¡¯

    The mysterious boss of his abandoned him and his bandit gang on the day that they were hunting down Zhao Yun . Zhang Yan had not been able to contact him ever since .

    ¡¯They were shouting for us to surrender . Maybe I still have a chance to survive . ¡¯

    Being optimistic, Zhang Yan walked out of his building toward the panicking bandits in the middle of the vige . He gave them an order to the bandits .

    "Lay down your weapons . They are warning us to surrender, so we will surrender to them . "

    "Boss Zhang Yan, what about boss Jiang?"

    "That bastard abandoned all of us a long time ago! Never mention him in front of me again!"

    "I-I¡¯m sorry, boss . "

    All bandits threw away their weapons . They scrapped white clothes to make a white g . The bandits slowly walked out of the vige while they were waving white gs .

    "WE SURRENDER! PLEASE DON¡¯T KILL US!"

    The slowly approached the formation line in front of the vige entrance where Zhang Liao was stationing .

    The frontline was a line of infantries . They nted their tower shield into the ground and knelt down on one knee while the second line soldiers pointed the repeating crossbows toward the bandits .

    "WE SURRENDER! PLEASE DON¡¯T KILL US!"

    The bandits repeated their words again as they were getting closer .

    Meanwhile, the surrounding troops did not stop shouting the script . They ignored the iing bandits and shouted .

    "FBI, YOU ARE SURROUNDED! COME OUT AND SURRENDER!"

    "FBI, YOU ARE SURROUNDED! COME OUT AND SURRENDER!"

    The bandits got intimidated by the continuous threat . They shouted back .

    "WE SURRENDER! PLEASE DON¡¯T KILL US!"

    The troops also shouted back .

    "FBI, YOU ARE SURROUNDED! COME OUT AND SURRENDER!"

    "WE SURRENDER! PLEASE DON¡¯T KILL US!"

    300 meters .

    "FBI, YOU ARE SURROUNDED! COME OUT AND SURRENDER!"

    "WE SURRENDER! PLEASE DON¡¯T KILL US!"

    250 meters .

    Zhang Liao darted his eyes around and clicked his tongue . The iing bandit number was almost two thousand men . Combining with the bandits inside the city, their number was almost 3,000 men .

    From the intel, there were roughly a thousand of them . However, they somehow gathered more members and increased theirrades close to 3,000 . If Tong had not ordered them toe here and eradicate all of them, Zhang Liao could not imagine how many of them would have been multiplied .

    200 meters .

    Zhang Liao raised his hand . The g bearers paid attention and switched the signal gs, ready to ry the order .

    150 meters .

    Zhang Liao swung his hand down and a volley of arrows covered the twilight sky . The bandits lost their abilities to think the moment they saw the iing rain of arrows .

    "RUN!"

    "NO!"

    "THEY ARE SHOOTING US!"

    "SOB! WE WERE TRICKED!"

    All of them turned around and kicked the ground . They ran back in a panic .

    It was toote for the bandits to run . The arrow rain pierced the bodies of the bandits who did not have a shield or a weapon to fight back .

    "FBI, YOU ARE SURROUNDED! COME OUT AND SURRENDER!"

    Despite the fact that Zhang Liao¡¯s men were shooting at the unarmed gangsters, they still shouted the script .

    "Fire another volley . " Zhang Liao ordered .

    "FBI, YOU ARE SURROUNDED! COME OUT AND SURRENDER!"

    Noticed the immoral tactic of Zhang Liao army, Zhang Yan ran back to the vige . On his way, he grabbed one of his subordinates and shoved the poor guy in front of him as a meat shield .

    "Boss! Why!?"

    "Die for me, punk! I have to live!"

    Zhang Yan did not just use one or two meat shield to get away from the rain of arrows, he used everyone that got into his way . After 5 volleys, he was finally hit by an arrow and fell onto the ground, rolling as he tumbled .

    By the instinct of an experienced bandit, he pretended to be dead . Zhang Yan lied face down while he snuck nces at the surroundings . Usually, when an imperial army or a garrison guard squad defeated a group of bandits, they simply looted their weapons and left the corpses to rot in the wilderness . Zhang Yan managed to get away a couple times by using this bold tactic .

    Once thest bandit copsed, Zhang Liao waved his hand to stop the archers . He gave out anothermand .

    "First and second squads, inspect the corpses! Make sure you cut off every head even if they are already dead!"

    As a veteran general who constantly crashed with Xiangnu tribes, Zhang Liao was cautious of the y-dead trick as it was amon surviving tactic in the aftermath of every battle . Once a battle was over, they had to make sure that all dead enemies had to be killed again, or an unnecessary casualty might ur .

    The soldiers strolled into the field of the dead bodies . They began hacking off the heads of the corpses one by one .

    "Don¡¯t! Please, I surrender! Ugh!"

    There were still living bandits as Zhang Liao suspected . Since Tong had ordered him to take no prisoner, Zhang Liao intended to be thorough with his duty .

    More sounds of the living bandits dying to the soldiers came out every second . Zhang Yan was panic by the iing troops and their actions . He bore the pain and dashed away into the vige .

    "There¡¯s a runner! Kill him!"

    "He¡¯s alive! Shoot him down!"

    "FBI, YOU ARE SURROUNDED! If you surrender, we¡¯ll kill you! If you don¡¯t surrender, we¡¯ll kill you!"

    A dozen arrows flew toward Zhang Yan, but all of them missed the target . He made a 90 degrees turn and jumped into an alley between two houses . He continued using the unorganized buildings of the vige to sneak away from the pursuers like a cockroach .

    Ten minutester, he lost the pursuers . Zhang Yan slowly breathed out and took out the embedded arrow in his calf . His eyes darted around to check the surroundings while he tended his wound .

    ¡¯Ha! I¡¯m the best . You can¡¯t catch me, you dumb pigs . ¡¯

    ¡¯Now, how can I get out of this encirclement?¡¯

    Zhang Yan was preupied nning how to sneak out of this vige in the middle of the night . He did not notice that there was a hand with a ck objecting out of a small blue gate .

    *BANG*

    He heard a thunderous sound behind his back and felt an impact on the back of his head . Something went through his skull, and his vision and consciousness were lost forever .

    ...

    Meanwhile, Li Feihong was still inside his private world, but one of his arms was inside a small blue hole . He watched the monitor which was showing his hand and Tong¡¯s gun .

    Li Feihong pulled his hand back from the blue hole . The gun that was on the screen was in his hand .

    "I see . So that¡¯s how it¡¯s done . I have never thought about this exploit before . " Li Feihong muttered .

    Tong, who returned into this private world again, tapped Li Feihong twice in approval .

    "That¡¯s the gist of it . If you have had mastered this in Jinyang, I wouldn¡¯t have had to fight Lu Bu, damn you!"

    "Ahaha!"

 Chapter 135

    Chapter 135

    Chapter 135 ¨C An Army Approaching

    7 PM

    Tong and Li Feihong came back to the Ganling City . A blue gate was opened again and the kidnapped girls walked out of the portal .

    A surprise shout was heard, then came the cheers of joy . Family members who recognized the returning girls rushed in to embrace their family members in delight .

    Since Li Feihong could only open one gate at a time, it took a while for the girls to leave the private world .

    Li Feihong watched the reunion of the families with a smile . Zhao Yun gazed at the monitor with a content smile but tinge of sadness was hidden in the depths of his eyes .

    Tong, on the other hand, had a solemn expression on his face .

    ¡¯In the end, that guy didn¡¯t show up . ¡¯

    ¡¯Has he really fled from the city for good?¡¯

    ¡¯...Damn it! I wish he was here! I don¡¯t like the unknown!¡¯

    Throughout the battle, the mysterious ninja otherworlder did not show up . It gave Tong a threatening feeling as he no longer had the absolute protection from the [Plot Armor], and the location of the otherworlder was unknown . This person mighte back and take revenge on Tong in the future .

    Tong took a deep breath to calm his anxiety . He turned his gaze toward the situation in the monitors .

    In the screens, those that managed to reunite with their loved ones were crying and hugging each other in happiness .

    But there were quite a few families that were disappointed as hundreds of unfortunate girls were killed by the bandits ormitted suicide before Tong could rescue them .

    There were also a few unlucky girls who came back only to find their rtives¡¯ lifeless bodies .

    Tragedies of the bandit assault angered Tong and all soldiers . He thought that Zhang Yan¡¯s easy death was not enough as he should have been tortured more .

    <your [wrath]="" was="" strengthened="" by="" your="" emotion="">>

    <chance for="" [wrath]="" to="" control="" your="" body="" has="" increased="" by="" 5%="">>

    <warning, you="" have="" 10%="" chance="" of="" being="" takeover="" [wrath]="">>

    <[wrath] has="" failed="" to="" infiltrate="" your="" soul="">>

    rmed by the messages from the system, Tong gulped down and reigned his temper .

    The content of the messages was terrifying on many levels . It hinted that Tong¡¯s [Demonic Curse] was either a double-edged sword skill or a sinister skill that should never be used .

    ¡¯Thest time I let go of my greed, my [Greed] is weakened . But if I go along with my emotions or the 7 sins, I will be controlled by the curse?¡¯

    ¡¯But if I remember correctly, my [Pride] helped me during my fight with Lu Bu . ¡¯

    ¡¯What kind of skill is this!? System, can you please exin?¡¯

    There was no answer from the system goddess . He was ignored .

    ...

    Twenty minutester after all girls left the private world, Zhao Yun also exited the gate . He had witnessed enough tragic scenes .

    "Damn bandits!" Zhao Yun was about to be infuriated again . But after he remembered what Tong had taught him about the anger proverb, he withheld his frustration .

    An elder and a young girl walked toward Zhao Yun . They bowed to him as if he was a deity .

    "Thank you for saving my daughter, young man . Thank you!"

    He was the elder that Zhao Yun had hugged . Because he did not contribute in this battle at all, Zhao Yun could only smile wryly at the elder .

    "If you want to thank someone, you should tell it to that person . He was the one who saved the kidnapped people . " Zhao Yun pointed at the frowning Tong who had just exited the gate with Li Feihong .

    Instead of going to Tong, the elder smiled at Zhao Yun .

    "No, I¡¯m bowing down to my benefactor . If you haven¡¯t hugged me and give me the encouragement, I would havemitted suicide or would have given up living already . But thanks to you, you gave me hope . Because of that hope, I cling on living and I can see my daughter again . So, thank you, hero!"

    "This..."

    Zhao Yun was astonished by the result of his action . Instead of disrespecting the elder, he ended up saving his life indirectly?

    He looked at Tong in astonishment . He thought ¡¯Did he n this from the start?¡¯ .

    Zhao Yun bowed to the elder as he epted the gratitude and continued chatting with the locals . The elder wanted to entrust his daughter to Zhao Yun as his wife, but he awkwardly declined .

    ...

    Next morning .

    Tong¡¯splexion distorted as he was watching his gigantic radar map on his status menu .

    At the southeast of the map, arge group of white dots was heading toward Ganling City . The distance was 90 kilometers away and their number was roughly over 30,000 .

    Tong zoomed in the map to get a good look at the names of the iing troops¡¯manders . He was shocked once again by the dots that were leading the army .

    ¡¯Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu! Fudge! They are the Sun n Army!¡¯

    ¡¯But they should be serving Tao Qian right now . What are they doing over here!?¡¯

    ¡¯With this distance, they can reach here in a day if they rush it, two or three days if they march normally . But they are the freaking Sun n Army . I doubt they will be hereter than two days!¡¯

    Tong simted his future ns in urgent . The Yellow Turban Rebellion n would be set in motion soon, and the war against the Capital Imperial Forces could not be avoided no matter what .

    The people in this world was real as they could not be respawned as in the simtion games . Once soldiers lost their life, Tong would not be able to rece the lost troops in a short period of time as the number of male poption was limited! Over-drafting the soldiers would also damage the economy and the poption rate in his cities .

    Therefore, he had to save up the strength of his army for the bigger picture . Tong could not afford to fight with the Sun n right now .

    His eyes darted around to find a nearby general .

    "Zhang Ji! Come here!"

    Startled by the sudden summon, Zhang Ji rushed to Tong .

    "Present, my lord!"

    "Arrange a few scouts and a white g . Tao Qian¡¯s subordinate 30,000-men army ising from the southeast . They are 90km away at the moment . Send my message to them that we are here to subjugate the bandits and wepleted our objective! We will retreat from the city shortly, so we do not want any trouble!"

    Zhang Ji and the nearby soldiers were shocked . This was urgent news . If they did not send a messenger to warn the other party about their mission, the two forces might sh as Sun Jian could mistake them as bandits even if they had the Zhang family and Julu gs .

    He rushed out with his men right away without writing a letter .

    Tong also jumped onto the stage and shouted out an announcement .

    "People! Listen up! I¡¯ve just been informed that there is an armying toward this city from the southeast! They are not bandits but they are also parts of the imperial forces . But because we don¡¯t have a close rtionship, we don¡¯t know if they havee in peace or they havee to seek troubles . "

    "I don¡¯t know if this Sun Jian is a righteous leader or not . But since he suddenly shows up here despite the fact that we have already subjugated the bandits, I doubt he hase here with good intention . "

    "Once the two forces meet up, conflicts can happen . And once it happens, the one that will suffer the difficulty won¡¯t be us, but you citizens . "

    The refugees were thrown into an uproar . Because they had just experienced the hardship life from the bandits, they became more sensitive toward the conflicts .

    They did not know that Tong discredited Sun Jian as part of his incitement . Sun Jian in the history was an honest Han Dynasty loyalist and a capable general, but Tong framed him as an infidel to get the favor of the crowd .

    Tong did not like it, but he had to do it . If his army were to retreat as it is, the people would curse him as a dishonest person who broke promises with the citizens . If Tong¡¯s army were to stay, he could not predict what kind of fate or the future would hold for him and his troops .

    Furthermore, Tong did not want to risk exposing himself to a potential otherworlder within Sun Jian¡¯s army . Once both sides shed, he would be a sitting duck, waiting to be assassinated by the opposite force¡¯s reincarnator .

    Thus, Tong decided to trick the people once again by using Liu Bei¡¯s ways to gain the people¡¯s sympathy first . Once hepleted his objective, Tong would retreat from this city and drag all the citizens with him to Julu, leaving the abandoned city to Sun Jian .

    Political fight was always dirty .

    "You should have experienced it before how it feels like when you are oppressed under a tyrant, bandits, or an ipetence governor . "

    The crowd gazed at Tong and nodded in secret . If the governor waspetence, the city would not have fallen to the bandits . They also suffered from the harsh taxesst year as well .

    "Previously, I promised all of you that I¡¯ll help you rebuild the city . But with the sudden emergence of the invading force, we¡¯ll have to garrison the city and fight the invaders!"

    "I¡¯m sorry that I have to break the promise I made earlier . But we promise you that we will protect all of you with our lives! No one can harm the citizens of Ganling ever again!"

    Tears dropped from the eyes of Ganling citizens . Stirred by emotions, some of them bowed to Tong in gratitude . Some of them got mad at Sun Jian . The retired elders clenched their fists and trembled as they wanted to join the army but they were too old and helpless .

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about us . We are elite soldiers, so we won¡¯t be defeated by their weakling forces easily . "

    "But we are worried about you . Once the fight breaks out, stray arrows or stones can harm you . "

    "So I have a proposition for everyone here . So that we can protect you from the hands of the crooked officials . "

    "That is, follow us back to Julu City!"</[wrath]></warning,></chance></your>

 Chapter 136

    Chapter 136

    Chapter 136 ¨C Peace?

    In the historical timeline, Sun Jian was the father of Sun Ce, the little conqueror, and Sun Quan, the future Emperor of Wu . He was the one who gathered strong generals and talented ministers for his sons, which became the foundation of the Wu Empire .

    When Sun Jian was young, he spotted pirates that were dividing their loots when he was traveling with his father . Sun Jian tricked the pirates and killed all of them, which his name spread throughout the local areas .

    Since he inherited the blood of Sun Tzu, the author of the Art of War, he climbed up in ranks quickly after the incident . He ended up serving Tao Qian as one of his generals before the Yellow Turban Uprising happened .

    In 184, the Yellow Turban bandits ransacked the central ins and the northern ins . Sun Jian joined forces with the imperial army and repelled the bandits .

    His contribution scored him a title of the governor of Changsha Commandery, which was the foundation of the Sun family before the Dong Zhuo coalition happened .

    Now, Sun Jian and his army were approaching Ganling, which they should not have appeared in this territory during this year . This butterfly effect made Tong and Li Feihong stood on their toes . An unnecessary feud could happen if they did not y their cards right .

    ...

    August 4th, 11 AM .

    Zhang Ji¡¯s scout team managed to get into contact with Sun Jian Army¡¯s scout team . They were escorted back to their main force .

    As soon as Sun Jian received the report he came to see the messengers immediately .

    "So, you¡¯re saying the bandits are already eradicated?" Sun Jian asked Zhang Ji¡¯s messenger .

    "Yes . We are currently helping the townsmen rebuilding the damaged city . We hope that both armies will not cross each other while we are in the same territory . "

    "A truce, I see . "

    Sun Jian closed his eyes to think . Behind him, a person, who should not have existed in the historical timeline, was observing the messenger .

    He was the adopted son of Sun Jian, Sun Fang .

    Initially, he had the name of Han Fang . He was a son of a local farmer in Xia Pi, however, he strived to win big in this life once he recognized the setting of this world . Thus, he spent all day and all night, grinding his created skill for a decade, hoping to rise up once the chaotic civil war started .

    After the system had forced him to kill an otherworlder, he identally caught the attention of Sun Jian, who was patrolling in the area . Impressed by Han Fang¡¯s supernatural skills, Sun Jian took him into his army as his adopted son . His ¡¯Han¡¯ surname changed into ¡¯Sun¡¯ ever since .

    Because Sun Jian mistook him as an immortal mystic, Sun Fang now served his foster father as the strategist of the army .

    "Hanfang, what do you think?" Sun Jian asked Sun Fang .

    "There is no point making enemies unnecessarily . We should agree . However . . . "

    "However?"

    Sun Fang turned his head and red at the messengers . "We wish to upy the city . Please inform your lord to withdraw your troops, or we willy siege on Ganling!"

    "This..." The messengers were shocked by the overbearing attitude of Sun Jian¡¯s adviser . The looked at each other in nervousness .

    Sun Jian narrowed his eyes and peered at Sun Fang . With such bold demand, he doubted that when Sun Fang warned him not to make unnecessary enemies, was Zhang n included in the list of ¡¯unnecessary enemies¡¯?

    "We understand . We shall go back to inform our lord immediately . " The messengers rushed back in a panic .

    After Zhang Ji¡¯s messengers left, Sun Jian questioned Sun Fang¡¯s decision .

    "Isn¡¯t it too overbearing? Asking for a city from the first time meeting? Then why did you say not to make unnecessary enemies when you¡¯re making an enemy right away?"

    Sun Fang sighed . His father did not know or could see his quest menu .

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Soulmate Mission No . 1**

    Liu Ping is aiming for the throne . Zhang Tong is preparing for the rebellion . The famous civil war is about to begin! As an adopted son of Sun Jian, you should not fall behind!

    Clear Condition: Dethrone Liu Ping or kill Zhang Jiao .

    Failure Condition: Time limit exceeded .

    Clearing Reward:

    - 10 Shopping Tickets forpleting the main objective .

    - 1,000,000 Lifespans for killing Zhang Tong, Hua Shi, Wang Li, or Liu Ping .

    - 100,000 Lifespans for killing Zhang Jiao .

    - 20,000 Lifespans for killing an enemy general .

    - 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier .

    Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Mission Failure: Soulmate Contract will be nullified and one of you will die .

    *********************************************

    ...

    ¡¯It was not that I want to make an enemy out of Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong . But my mission forces me to . I have to sabotage Zhang Tong¡¯s strength before the Yellow Turban Rebellion starts . Since his army is here, it¡¯s a good time for me to wither down his strength . ¡¯

    ¡¯And most importantly...¡¯

    ¡¯Our current troops are Tao Qian¡¯s men! We will not use our troops to attack him!¡¯

    A dangerous scheme was prepared inside of Sun Fang¡¯s mind . He answered to Sun Jian .

    "What if I tell you that Zhang Jiao is preparing to rebel . Will you believe me?"

    "What!?"

    Sun Jian and the overhearing soldiers were stunned . Huang Gai and Cheng Pu, who were Sun Jian¡¯s generals, stared at Sun Fang with their eyes wide open .

    "I¡¯ll repeat . Zhang Jiao will rebel soon . And the army that is upying the city belongs to Zhang Jiao . Before the rebel can damage our country, it is our job to weaken and eliminate the traitors . "

    "But how do you know that they will rebel?"

    "Have I ever been wrong, father?"

    "That reason is not enough . Give me a proper exnation . "

    "It¡¯s simple . His biological son, Zhang Tong, is an immortal sage like me and Li Jing . "

    Sun Jian and the others had a solemn expression of their faces . Sun Fang had already told everyone that he was an immortal sage, simr to Tong¡¯s deration . In addition, Sun Fang had invited Sun Jian and Wu Guotai into his n . Because of the mysterious n menu and n chat, Sun Jian had no choice but to believe in his adopted son .

    Sun Fang continued "Sooner orter, he will use his power to dominate the northern ins if we leave him alone . And, haven¡¯t you heard about the previous auction in Julu? The merchants and our spies all said in the same thing that Julu City amassed millions of gold in a day . What do you think they will spend their gold with if they didn¡¯t n to raise troops?"

    This matter was serious . While Huang Gai and Cheng Pu stared at Sun Fang in disbelief, Sun Jian¡¯s expression turned grave as he pondered about his family and the country¡¯s future .

    "Hanfang, you¡¯ve arranged our troops on this trip, right? How many of our private troops are in this army?" Sun Jian asked .

    "None! All of them are Tao Qian¡¯s men!"

    "Good . Do as you will . Report to me if you want my help . "

    "Thank you, father! Uncle Huang, uncle Cheng, let¡¯s prepare for the siege . "

    Huang Gai and Cheng Pu red at Sun Fang in distrust . From the standpoint of veteran generals, they had not had any intel about the opponent¡¯s army detail yet . Laying siege on the unknown city was a suicide no matter where they saw it .

    "Mind if you tell us your n? I doubt we are in the condition toy siege on a high-wall city . "

    Sun Fangughed . His killing intent aura exploded out, engulfing the radius of 100 meters around him .

    "To be honest, we probably don¡¯t need a siege weapon . I¡¯ll destroy the wall myself . "

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Sun Fang

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 22,030 Years

    Shopping Pass: 0

    *Skill List*

    [Cultivator] LV . 3 (3,200/4,000,000)

    - The host can absorb life essence from the atmosphere .

    - The host can absorb life essence from materials .

    - The host can absorb life essence from living beings .

    - All absorbed life essence will be converted into lifespans or EXP of this skill .

    - All attributes of the host are multiplied by 20 .

    - The active skill [Self-Heal] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    - The active skill [Flight] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    - The active skill [Qi st] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    Skill Cost: None

    Skill Upkeep: 5,000 Lifespans

    Skill Restriction:

    - The host has to sit cross-legs and meditate to cultivate .

    [Self-Heal] Cannot be leveled up .

    - The host can fully heal himself .

    Skill Cost: 100 Lifespans

    Skill Restriction:

    - Skill Cost doubles after each usage . The skill cost resets at midnight .

    - Need [Cultivator] at level 1 to activate .

    [Flight] Cannot be leveled up .

    - The host can fly .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan per one minute of flight .

    Skill Restriction: Need [Cultivator] at level 2 to activate .

    [Qi st] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Attack one or more opponent(s) with a ball of energy .

    - Each explosive energy ball power is 100kg of TNT .

    Skill Cost: 100 Lifespans

    Skill Restriction: Need [Cultivator] at level 3 to activate .

    [Dao of Alchemy] LV . 2 (100/20,000)

    - Concoct a pill from the system recipes .

    - Effect of the pill depends on the ingredients .

    - Current chance of sess is 55% .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Restriction: Host must prepare the ingredients himself .

    *******************************

    ...

    Sun Fang was about to fly to Ganling City to bombard the garrison troops to smithereens, a sound from the n chat menu stopped him on his track .

    In the chat box, a message criticized Sun Fang . It was sent by his soulmate partner who was also his wife, Li Jing .

    "I¡¯ve told you not to use your skill . Are you not afraid of attracting all otherworlders¡¯ attention?"

    Cringed by the message, Sun Fang texted back .

    "Are you reading my mind all these times?"

    "Yes, I¡¯m afraid that your muscle-brain nature will ruin our ns . I¡¯ll remind you again . Don¡¯t use your power!"

    "Sorry, wifey . The n has changed . We¡¯ve encountered Zhang Jiao Army . I¡¯m going to sabotage his troops while we can . "

    "Are you certain that Zhang Tong won¡¯t be there? If he¡¯s there, you¡¯ll be in trouble for sure . Don¡¯t forget that he has that unusual bounty on him! If he has those one million lifespans as a reward bounty, he won¡¯t be a simple opponent! So back off, don¡¯t provoke him now!"

    Sun Fang clicked his tongue .

    ¡¯Over-paranoid bitch! The chance is right here, but she¡¯s too oversensitive . This is the reason why women can never be a general!¡¯

    Before Sun Fang could text back, Li Jing sent him another message .

    "I heard your thought just now . I¡¯ll tell aunty Wu for calling me oversensitive and over-paranoid bitch!"

    Sun Fang groaned in annoyance, but he stopped his n as Li Jing had asked him .

    "Alright, I¡¯ll try to conceal myself . But if I can pinpoint Zhang Tong or any otherworlder in his army, I¡¯ll go all out . "

 Chapter 137

    Chapter 137: 137

    Chapter 137 ¨C Pretty Peace??

    After the persuasion and a bit of framing, more than 40,000 Ganling citizens agreed to follow Tong back to Julu City because Tong promised them a job, a resident, free food, and tax-free for a year .

    Ten thousand people insisted that they would remain in Ganling as it was their birthce . They wanted to stay and protect thend of their ancestors .

    Tong respected the decisions of thetter poption . Thus, he fulfilled his promise by having his soldiers rebuilding their lost houses . The idle infantries demolished the burned houses and started repairing the city .

    The ten thousand logistic troops were ordered to escort the citizens back . They left the city in a hurry after Tong had announced that Sun Jian Army was spotted in Ganling territories .

    The rest of the cavalries were on standby as they would be the rear guards once the city repairing was over . It would take two days to build shelters and houses for the ten thousand civilians of the city . Until then, Tong would garrison his force in this city for a while to monitor Sun Jian¡¯s activities .

    1 PM .

    The messenger team rushed back to the city . They reported out Sun Fang¡¯s demand which angered everyone .

    "Arrogant! Who the hell do they think they are!?" Zhang Xiu swore out in reflex .

    Gao Shun touched his chin and muttered . "They are picking a fight with us?"

    Bo Cai, Zhang Ji, and Li Feihong also red up . Only Tong, Zhang Liao, and Zhao Yun remained indifferent .

    Seeing that Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun kept themselves under control, Tong was satisfied .

    ¡¯As expected from Zhang Liao . He¡¯s a top general . Zhao Yun also improves a bit, but it still took him half a minute to control his breathing . He¡¯s not at Zhang Liao¡¯s level yet, but he¡¯s growing fast . ¡¯

    Tong raised his hand to silence everyone . He coughed and gave a new order to the messengers .

    "Go see Sun Jian again . Feihong, help me write a letter . This time, tell them that we agree to withdraw our troops from Ganling, but we¡¯ll retreat in a week . In turn, Sun Jian Army has to stay 50 kilometers away from the city walls during these 7 days, or we will consider it a war deration . "

    Everyone was shocked again that Tong was willing topromise . He was too easygoing!

    However, Zhang Liao had a faint smile on his face . He caught the hint of Tong¡¯s n when he noticed the contradiction about the days required for the handover .

    ¡¯It only takes 2 days at most toplete his promise to the civilians but he is asking Sun Jian for 7 days . He¡¯s using the gap of 5 days to ensure the troops¡¯ safety, and he can keep the distance from Sun Jian Army . ¡¯

    ¡¯Once Sun Jian takes the city, it will be just like he takes an empty city . He can¡¯t also invest into it since there is only 10,000 poption remaining . If he abandons the city, the people in the city will spread an ill rumor about Sun Jain that his troops chase away their true benefactors and leaves them to death . ¡¯

    ¡¯Then, Sun Jian Army will be known as greedy immoral troops that try to steal credits from others . ¡¯

    ¡¯A good n if it¡¯s seeded . But...¡¯

    ¡¯Will Sun Jian agree to this term?¡¯

    Zhang Liao pondered while he was looking at Tong . It was a different feeling from following Lu Bu around .

    When he was with Lu Bu, Zhang Liao had to take the role as the tactician and the strategist alongside with Li Feihong because Lu Bu always put himself on the frontline and only relied on his instinct when he was in charge of the troops .

    On the other hand, Tong was different . He was a versatilemander that could jump into the frontline or stay behind to adjust the strategic policies for the entire army, which lifted up Zhang Liao¡¯s burden by a lot . With Tong as the head of the army, Zhang Liao could concentrate on his micro-management of his troops and utilize his own tactics if he needed to .

    ¡¯It¡¯s quite rxing working under him . I wonder what Fengxian would think if he were here . Ha! He¡¯ll probably pick a fight with Tong for the right tomand the entire army for sure . ¡¯

    ...

    3 . 30 PM

    Tong¡¯s messengers revisited Sun Jian . They gave a letter to him instead of oral reporting .

    Sun Jian read the letter with a smile . As he was an understanding man, Sun Jian was about to agree to the terms, but Sun Fang stopped him .

    "May I see the letter first?"

    Though Sun Jian was dissatisfied with Sun Fang¡¯s attitude, he passed the letter to his son .

    Sun Fang read the letter with a frown . He had never expected that Zhang Jiao Army wouldpromise . He thought that with his provocation, Zhang Jiao Army should have gotten worked up to jump into the battle with Sun Jian .

    If the Zhang n Army sessfully withdrew, Sun Fang would miss this chance to sabotage the Yellow Turbans .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t let them go back in one piece, but I can¡¯t find a good cause for this battle . I¡¯ll have to mask my intention andply with their terms to buy me some time to think . ¡¯

    ¡¯But seven days were too long! Three days should have been enough to withdraw from the city...¡¯

    ¡¯Wait... three days to withdraw, but seven days in the letter?¡¯

    ¡¯Aha! They¡¯re buying times to retreat! This is a golden chance . ¡¯

    ¡¯I can just pretend to agree with their terms and backstab them!¡¯

    ¡¯It doesn¡¯t matter if the citizens will call us traitors . Once the Yellow Turban Rebellion happens, they will call us heroes instead! We¡¯ll tell everyone that we got the tip-off, so we try to stop them before they rebel . ¡¯

    Sun Fang hade up with a sinister n in his mind . He smiled at the messengers .

    "We¡¯ll ept your terms . Our troops will wait here for seven days . I hope that you can forgive us for our conduct earlier . "

    The messengers were delighted that theypleted their mission . They cupped their fists and bowed .

    "We do not mind! We¡¯re hoping to cooperate with you in the future . "

    "Say, I forgot to ask . Who is yourmander? I wish to know so I can address him correctlyter on . " Sun Fang probed . He pretended to give them a warm smile as if he was a harmless friend .

    "Oh, it¡¯s Lord Zhang Tong . Well, do you have any other message for our Lord?"

    The smiling face of Sun Fang disappeared . He gave the messengers an irritated re and chased them out .

    "No, you can go now . "

    ...

    With the messengers gone, Sun Fang and Sun Jian consulted with Li Jing in the n chat . Sun Fang told everything to Li Jing .

    She texted to the father-son duo . "It can¡¯t be helped . Husband, do not attack the city . Let them go . "

    Dissatisfied by the advice, Sun Fang asked for an exnation .

    "Why are you so afraid of this Zhang Tong? Why shouldn¡¯t we attack him while we can? He¡¯s right in front of us . All we need to do is just a little push!"

    "You¡¯ve lost your cool again, husband . Think about it carefully . Zhang Tong is the first reincarnator that dares to expose himself in the battle of Anping . Don¡¯t you think that he mighte across other reincarnators as well?"

    Sun Fang came to a pause . She was right . If Tong¡¯s location was exposed, he would definitely run into other otherworlders for certain . His location has been exposed for almost a year, yet he was still alive! Tong had to be skillful or his cheat skills should not have been weak . Or else, he would not be able to survive for this long .

    Li Jing continued . "Most importantly, he is the first one that established a n with at least five members! Do you know what that means? He should have at least one other reincarnator ally, assuming that he has formed a n contract with someonest year . If he has formed it this year, then he should have at least 2 otherworlder friends!"

    The face of Sun Fang lost color . He had run into reincarnators three times in this life . Each time was terrifying as he had to fight to the death . He managed to overpower the first two, but he almost got himself killed by Li Jing .

    Sun Fang knew how powerful a reincarnator is, but he was confident that hisbination of [Flight] and [Qi st] could steamroll any otherworlder . However, he did not feel so good about facing at least 2 otherworlders at the same time .

    "If you¡¯re afraid of Zhang Tong that much, why don¡¯t you two join hands and fight him together?" Sun Jian could not help but ask since both of them never traveled together if Sun Fang went out on a skirmish .

    "My abilities are best suited for fighting alone . Hanfang will drag me down if he¡¯s with me . "

    Li Jing¡¯s frankment pierced Sun Fang¡¯s ckheart because it was true . He might have a goodbination of unique skills, but he was helpless against Li Jing if she were to get serious .

    "Then can youe here and help us, just in case? Even if we don¡¯ty siege on Ganling, it¡¯s better to have you here since Zhang Tong is here too . "

    Within half a minute, a silhouette of a young woman rose up from Sun Fang¡¯s shadow . The ck shadow faded, revealing a fairy beauty that could fall a nation .

    She opened her eyes and smiled at Sun Jian and Sun Fang .

    "I will only help you if Zhang Tong really attacks our camp . My skill cooldown is long, so I won¡¯t use it unless it¡¯s necessary . Please make sure to keep your distance from me if a fight breaks out . "

    "Still, you haven¡¯t answered my question . Why are you dying our fight? We¡¯ll have to fight Zhang Tong eventually, but why won¡¯t we fight today?"

    Li Jing sighed . She gazed at her muscle-for-a-brain husband and answered him .

    "Once the Yellow Turban Rebellion begins, Liu Ping will not take this lying down . He will mobilize his army against Zhang Tong even without our interferance . If you¡¯ve watched the Godzi movie, you should have remembered the meme quote for our situation . "

    Sun Fang¡¯s eyes brightened . He muttered by reflex .

    "Let them fight . "

 Chapter 138

    Chapter 138

    Chapter 138 ¨C New Rules

    6 PM .

    The messengers returned to give Tong the answer of Sun Jian and Sun Fang .

    Tong narrowed his eyes and raised his eyebrows in suspicion once he heard that they epted the terms without any bargain or a haggle . Li Feihong was also puzzled by Sun Jian¡¯s motive .

    "Are they up to something, or they just don¡¯t care?" Li Feihong asked Tong .

    "Since they demanded the city, I think he just wants the credit for terminating bandits . If this is the case, then we¡¯ll give the city to them . "

    "Do you want me to assassinate Sun Jian? Since he¡¯s the father of Sun Ce and Sun Quan, how about we get rid of the future threat here?"

    Tong shook his head . "It¡¯s too risky to jump in at this moment . I suspect that an otherworlder is part of the Sun n, and the person should have enough influence to move Sun Jian and his entire army . Or else, Sun Jian shouldn¡¯t havee here . "

    In Tong¡¯s opinion, Sun Jian might be a good general ording to his previous world history, but he was not an opportunist like Cao Cao or Liu Bei . Instead, he was a passive yes-man who valued duty over personal gain .

    Sun Jian was Tao Qian¡¯s subordinate initially before the Yellow Turban began . After the Yellow Turban¡¯s main forces were destroyed, Sun Jian was assigned to be the governor of Changsha Commandery to subjugate the Yellow Turban remnants in southern Jing Province .

    In 189, Anti-Dong Zhuo coalition was formed . In order to join the coalition, Sun Jian relinquished his status as the governor of Changsha and marched north . He met Yuan Shu and joined his forces in the battles against Dong Zhuo . After the Anti-Dong Zhuo Alliance was dissolved, Sun Jian continued to serve Yuan Shu as he had no other ce to go .

    Later on, after Yuan Shu broke off his rtionship with Yuan Shao and turned against each other, Yuan Shao formed a distance alliance with Liu Biao to attack Yuan Shu, who retaliated by sending Sun Jian to attack the Jing Province of Liu Biao . Sun Jian died on the battlefield by either an ambush by Huang Zu, one of the subordinates of Liu Biao .

    Throughout his life, he never made a move which indicated that Sun Jian was an ambitious man other than when he protected the Imperial Seal from the hands of Yuan Shao .

    He also was known to be a gentleman and an understanding man . However, the current Sun Jian demanded a city from Tong, which his behavior was opposite from the historical records . There was no other exnation other than assuming that there was interference from the reincarnator .

    "Since they agree to our terms, then we will not attack or ambush them unless they start it . From now on, double the patrol guards . We¡¯ll rush the house-building as well . If there is a house or a noble resident that is unupied, give it to the peasants so we don¡¯t have to build a new home for them . "

    Li Feihong took Tong¡¯s order and stood up from his wheelchair .

    "Are you sure you can walk now?" Tong asked Li Feihong with a concern .

    "It¡¯s still a little pricky to the chest, but it¡¯s better now . At least, I should start walking now, or my legs will be permanently dead . "

    "OK . Take care of yourself . "

    "Will do . "

    ...

    August 5th . Morning .

    The rebuilding project was rushed . More idling soldiers were forced into helping the construction . Combined with the recycling noble houses, the promise would bepleted by the end of the day .

    Tong kept monitoring his radar . Sun Jian Army kept their words true as they were staying over 50km away from the city . Although a few teams of scouts were deployed by Sun Jian into the perimeters, they did note close to the city wall .

    Tong stood up on the top of the wall for the entire morning, staring at the horizon and his radar map . His instinct kept telling him to be alert at all time since yesterday afternoon . He felt a strong presence of someone in Sun Jian Army which was simr to Lu Bu, but it was more tranquil while Lu Bu¡¯s was violent .

    The cloth on Tong¡¯s back was wet by his sweat . The weather was not that hot, but Tong was shaken mentally by the mysterious presence .

    ¡¯That ninja is already driving me crazy . But this person is even scarier! We are all otherworlders but howe that existence is this strong!?¡¯

    While Tong was thinking in nervous, an obnoxiousugh resounded within Tong¡¯s mind .

    [Well, well, well . You¡¯ve made the right decision for not picking a fight with that girl . It was thrilling when I was watching both sides making the decision nning . It was like, one wrong move and you¡¯re fOOked . ]

    The familiar voice of the system came . It was different from the automatic voices when he used his system skills .

    "That girl? That monster that is on par with Lu Bu is a fudging girl!?"

    [Nope, she¡¯s waaaayyyy stronger than Lu Bu and all otherworlders . Heck, if she really attacks your city, it¡¯s a guaranteed a city-wiped and a GGEZ . ]

    "..."

    [And thates to my realization, you people have strong imaginations, too strong imagination to be honest . All of your created skills are too OP that defies all logic . No wonder why my father favors humans so much . ]

    [If these trends continue, it won¡¯t be a fair trial anymore . Everything will be a one-man-army-shit-show, which is uber-boring IMO . So the big nerf ising . ]

    [Consider yourself lucky, boy!]

    "Wait, I have a question . What are my skills with the name [Demonic]!?"

    [Ask the mother of your loli wife . She knows about it more than I do . Well, ciao!]

    "Ask the mother? Wait, I still-"

    Before Tong could finish his sentence, another voice roared inside his mind . It was different from the usual female voice that he always heard as it was a mixed voice of a male and a female .

    <attention please,="" all="" reincarnators="">>

    <it has=""e="" to="" my="" attention="" that="" there="" are="" many="" individuals="" with="" too="" strong="" created="" skills . ="" several="" of="" you="" already="" exploited="" the="" skills="" and="" ughtered="" the="" natives="" of="" this="" world,="" which="" is="" a="" troubling="" issue . ="" if="" you="" continue="" to="" act="" without="" restraint,="" the="" native="" poption="" here="" will="" be="" enved="" by="" you="" all="">>

    <so i="" have="" to="" give="" you="" a="" harsh="" fix="">>

    <from this="" day="" onward,="" all="" skills="" that="" have="" an="" upkeep="" of="" 1,999="" lifespans="" or="" less="" will="" get="" upkeep="" of="" 2,000="" lifespans="" per="" year="" to="" rece="" the="" old="" upkeeps . ="" in="" addition,="" all="" skills="" that="" have="" less="" than="" one-day="" cooldown="" will="" get="" additional="" one-day="" cooldown="">>

    <be warned="" that="" this="" fix="" will="" injure="" all="" reincarnators . ="" the="" injury="" level="" is="" depending="" on="" the="" number="" of="" skills="" in="" possession="">>

    Tong¡¯s body uncontrobly trembled as the system forced the change inside of his body . Iron-like taste and smell came from Tong¡¯s throat . He coughed out condensed ck blood out and spat it to the ground . Several blood vessels in his body ruptured, and his skin was bloody red .

    "Regen!"

    Tong healed himself in a hurry as the nerf gave him internal bleeding .

    <the second="" fix,="" the="" skill="" shop="" will="" be="" removed="" from="" the="" system="" shopping="" menu,="" effective="" immediately="">>

    <the third="" fix,="" all="" reincarnators="" can="" delete="" his/her="" own="" skills . ="" the="" delete="" button="" has="" been="" implemented="">>

    <the fourth="" fix="" and="" the=""ter="" fixes="" will="" be="" given="" after="" the=""st="" main="" mission="" was="" issued="">>

    "What!?"

    Blood was drained out of Tong¡¯s face . The first thing he thought about was Hua Shi after he heard that this fix would injure all reincarnators depending on the number of the skill they had .

    Tong had 10 skills on him and the fix almost killed him from the internal injuries . What would happen to Hua Shi who had 5 skills? What would happen to the baby!?

    [Zhang Tong, don¡¯t worry . I¡¯m not that heartless . I exempted her from the nerf until she gives birth to your daughter and recovers herself a bit . ]

    The system goddess read Tong¡¯s mind and sent him the message to console him . As a fellow woman, she would not harm a pregnant woman and an unborn innocent baby .

    Tong gulped down his remaining bloody saliva . He gazed at the screen message with teary eyes .

    "Thanks... Thank you . "

    [...You¡¯ve owed me a favor, well, a few favors already . Please keep that in mind . ]

    "... I will . Thanks again . "

    Tong opened the n chat and texted . "Anything unusual happens at home?"

    A few secondster, Zhang Jiao replied back .

    "Aside from theck of iron ores, nothing in particr . Why did you ask?"

    Hua Shi also texted back . "Nothing else happens but that annoying system announcement . But yeah, thanks to your wartime policy and your armors, the cksmiths that are making steel areining about theck of iron ores . "

    "I thought we have many tons from Jinyang? Where did it all go?" Tong asked .

    "You spent most of it outfitting your soldiers . Eighty percent of them was consumed during your preparation . You dimwit!"

    Tong gave himself a facepalm . He screwed himself up because he was thorough enough on the resource management .

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about it . Sir Ding Yuan has returned to his city to arrange more iron ores for us . The next batch of ores ising at the end of this month . " Zhang Jiao consoled his son . He had already covered Tong¡¯s mess during the time Tong was away .

    Reading the chat, Tong smiled . He closed the chat box and searched for Li Feihong . Since he had two skills, the injuries he would suffer should be minimal .

    A few minutester, Tong found Li Feihong . Fortunately, he only fainted from the dizziness without any other serious injuries . </the></the></the></be></from></so></it></attention>

 Chapter 139

    Chapter 139

    Chapter 139 ¨C Die For Me

    Meanwhile, at Luo Yang Royal Pce .

    After the global announcement ended, Wang Li vomited out a pile of ck blood . Wounds appeared all over her bodies and she was bleeding from her five orifices .

    Liu Ping, who was ying with her mindless naked body, also coughed out a handful of ck blood after the sudden nerf from the system . Then he noticed the serious condition of his soulmate partner .

    He did not have to calcte or fell into deep thought to realize this . Wang Li had over 20 skills, so she took serious damages from the system nerfs . From the looks of it, she would die soon .

    "System! Cancel my soulmate contract!"

    [Hai! Are you sure you want to annul your engagement? Have you talked to your partner carefully?]

    "Stop messing around! Hurry and get rid of the contract! I don¡¯t want to die with her!"

    [You are forcefully annulling the contract without the consent of your partner . Your lifespans will be half and one of your skills will be forcefully deleted as a penalty . Are you sure about it?]

    "I¡¯m sure! Do it! DO IT NOW!"

    [Okie-Dokey!]

    <your lifespan="" has="" been="" reduced="" from="" 776,040="" to="" 338,020="">>

    <the system="" shall="" delete="" one="" of="" your="" skills="" randomly="" as="" a="" penalty="">>

    Liu Ping gritted his teeth and prayed . He hoped that the system would random it to his [Nerfed Plot Armor], [Banned], or [Necromancy] but not his [Super Human] . The skill was too valuable for him because he could use it to dominate the soldiers and Dong Zhuo .

    Then...

    <your [necromancy]="" has="" been="" deleted="">>

    "Hahaha!!! Yes!!"

    As thedy luck was still on his side, the automatic system picked the copied skill of Wang Li .

    While he was screaming in happiness, Wang Li, who was on the verge of death, snapped out of the hypnotized skill of Zuo Ci . She looked at Liu Ping, then she noticed that their bodies were connected with their lower parts .

    A sinister smile appeared on her face .

    Wang Li nced at her status menu . Her pitiful lifespan was left with 10 years after Liu Ping had drained from her with the soulmate contract exchange .

    ¡¯I¡¯m going to die anyway . It¡¯s worth a try . ¡¯

    ¡¯FOOk you! Liu Ping!¡¯

    ¡¯[Die For Me]! Get me all his lifespans!¡¯

    Wang Li activated her signature skill .

    ********************************

    [Die For Me] LV . 10 MAX .

    - Apply aphrodisiac to the target .

    - Absorb lifespans of the opposite gender target .

    - The host can choose how many lifespans of the target that host absorbs .

    - The host can steal all experiences and memories of the target .

    - The host can steal all skills of the otherworlders .

    - Completely heal the host once the skill is used .

    Skill Cost: 5 Lifespans per one use .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only be activated when the host has intercourse with the opposite gender target .

    - Can only be used once a day . The skill cooldown resets at midnight .

    - The host can never get pregnant .

    - This skill can only be used by females .

    ********************************

    Liu Ping¡¯s body shook as he ejacted without his control or intention . His seeds continued to pour into Wang Li¡¯s womb as if he was being drained . Then he heard the system warning .

    <you¡¯ve lost="" 10,000="" years="" of="" lifespans . ="" you="" have="" 328,020="" lifespans="" remaining="">>

    <you¡¯ve lost="" 10,000="" years="" of="" lifespans . ="" you="" have="" 318,020="" lifespans="" remaining="">>

    <you¡¯ve lost...="">>

    The warning ticked each second as he uncontrobly continued to orgasm . Then he looked down on the former prostitute .

    Wang Li¡¯s body had been healed by her skill, yet she did not stop draining his lifespans . Her lower part locked Liu Ping¡¯s little guy tight as if it was gripping her prey, and it did not stop sucking everything that was shooting into her tunnel .

    "Slut! Let go of me!"

    Wang Li narrowed her eyes and activated her prepared anti-Liu Ping¡¯s skill .

    "[Negate], target [Super Human]!"

    ************************************

    [Negate] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Disable one magic, or one active skill, or a passive skill of a target .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan per one second .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 years .

    Skill Restriction:

    - The host must touch the target to activate .

    - Can be used once a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    ************************************

    It was a skill that she stole from the reincarnator that fell for the pamphlet scam . Although she managed to steal it, she almost died because of this skill as well .

    Fortunately for her, the reincarnator¡¯s four limbs were chopped off before she approached him or she might have been killed .

    Liu Ping threw a punch onto her stomach . Wang Li sat up in a hurry and parried his fist .

    Having his [Super Human] disabled, Liu Ping¡¯s strength was weaker than Wang Li who had over 20 skills with some of them giving her strength power multiplication .

    Wang Li gripped Liu Ping¡¯s right wrist and proceeded to push down Liu Ping on the ground . She sat on top of him while their lower parts still interlocked together .

    <you¡¯ve lost="" 10,000="" years="" of="" lifespans . ="" you="" have="" 198,020="" lifespans="" remaining="">>

    <you¡¯ve lost="" 10,000="" years="" of="" lifespans . ="" you="" have="" 188,020="" lifespans="" remaining="">>

    Liu Ping¡¯s lifespans continued to tick down 10,000 years per one second .

    "GUARDS!! HEL-OOF!!"

    Wang Li covered his mouth with her free hands . She bent forward and put her face close to Liu Ping as if she was kissing him .

    The guards rushed in as they heard the initial shout . But once they found out that the two were in the middle of having sex, they withdrew with a smile on their faces .

    "You think you¡¯re smart, huh? Little Prince?" Wang Li mocked Liu Ping . "Look at you now . You¡¯re just a pathetic pervert I can find anywhere in a slum . Be grateful that I will end your life here with your favorite hobby . I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯ll die with your permanent erection, so everyone in the world will know the cause of your death!"

    "EFF-UFFF"

    <you¡¯ve lost="" 10,000="" years="" of="" lifespans . ="" you="" have="" 58,020="" lifespans="" remaining="">>

    <you¡¯ve lost="" 10,000="" years="" of="" lifespans . ="" you="" have="" 48,020="" lifespans="" remaining="">>

    Liu Ping cried in despair . His lifespans were about to be empty . At this rate, he would die by having this subus sucked him dry .

    ¡¯System! Help me!¡¯

    ¡¯Mom! Help!¡¯

    Tears rolled down on Liu Ping cheek non-stop while his semen was being drained by the vacuum lower mouth of Wang Li . He prayed for the system to help him as it was hisst hope . He even called out for his mother in his mind .

    ¡¯I DON¡¯T WANT TO GO TO HELL AGAIN!!!¡¯

    <you¡¯ve lost="" 10,000="" years="" of="" lifespans . ="" you="" have="" 18,020="" lifespans="" remaining="">>

    ¡¯MOM! I¡¯M SORRY! I¡¯ll BE A GOOD CHILD FROM NOW ON! I¡¯M SORRY!!!¡¯

    <you¡¯ve lost="" 10,000="" years="" of="" lifespans . ="" you="" have="" 8,020="" lifespans="" remaining="">>

    ¡¯NO! NOOOOO!!!!¡¯

    <your [nerfed="" plot="" armor]="" has="" been="" activated="" by="" wang="" li¡¯s="" killing="" blow="">>

    *BOOM*

    A shockwave exploded out with Liu Ping¡¯s body as its center . The radius of the shockwave was small, but it packed enough power to repel all skills and attacks .

    Wang Li, who was closest to Liu Ping, was hit by the shockwave . The invisible wave vibrated and push her body away from Liu Ping . The shockwave power was too strong for her naked defense, her body was shattered into a thousand pieces by the explosive force, leaving her lower parts which connected with Liu Ping¡¯s little brother intact .

    <your [nerfed="" plot="" armor]="" has="" been="" deleted="">>

    Liu Ping looked at the lower part corpse of Wang Li with wide eyes in shock and disbelief . He was still alive!

    His heart was beating in the rate of 200 beats per a minute . His sweat, tears, and drools covered his distorted face .

    As soon as he recovered his wits, he yanked off the lower waist of Wang Li out of his body, causing her blood to ssh on all over Liu Ping¡¯s body in the process .

    The guards rushed in again because they heard the sound of the explosion . The moment they entered Liu Ping¡¯s chamber, they were shocked by the gore . Blood and human¡¯s innards scattered all over the room . The nauseous iron smell hit their nose, which made them vomited .

    Liu Ping used the chance when the guards were still in shock to wipe his snorty face . He cleared his throat and ordered the men .

    "Get someone to clean up this room before nightfall . I¡¯m going to take a bath . "

    After he was done talking, Liu Ping limped away to the bath hall with the blood-soaked naked body, which terrified the passing-by maids and soldiers . </your></your></you¡¯ve></you¡¯ve></you¡¯ve></you¡¯ve></you¡¯ve></you¡¯ve></you¡¯ve></you¡¯ve></you¡¯ve></your></the></your>

 Chapter 140

    Chapter 140

    Chapter 140 ¨C Casualties of the Nerf

    At the royal bath hall, Liu Ping stared at his status menu . He was depressed to the point that he wanted to scream but no voice came out of his mouth .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Liu Ping

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 8,020 Years

    Shopping Pass: 0

    [Super Human] Cannot be leveled up

    - Multiply the host physical strength, vitality, dexterity, agility and stamina by 100 times .

    - Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespan per year .

    [Banned]

    - You cannot personally kill any native in this world .

    - Vition means death .

    - Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    *******************************

    ...

    His skills took another big nerf yet again . Two skills were no longer with him . Only his lifeline [Super Human] skill remained . In addition, all skills had absurd upkeeps, including the useless [Banned] skill from the system .

    Liu Ping stared at his skill menu in a daze and noticed a new button beside the [Banned] skill . It was a delete button .

    He pressed it without thinking . As soon as his finger touched the button, a new system message popped up in front of him .

    <will you="" delete="" this="" [banned]="" skill?="">>

    <yes o="">>

    Liu Ping pressed "Yes" without a second thought .

    <your [banned]="" skill="" has="" been="" deleted="">>

    He narrowed his eyes and locked his sight on the message . His facial expression changed from a deep frown into a smile, then it changed back into an angry face again .

    ¡¯Two thousand years upkeep? Are you kidding me? At this rate, I¡¯ll die in 5 years!¡¯

    ¡¯Should I delete this skill, too? But if I do, then I¡¯ll be no different than ordinary human here . ¡¯

    ¡¯I still need this to put Dong Zhuo under my control . ¡¯

    Liu Ping raised his head and looked at the ceilings . He said to himself .

    "System, can I use the system shop now?"

    [Yes . You can!]

    Noticing that the system no longer held grudge or bias against him, Liu Ping was delighted . He opened the shop to check the contents for the first time in his life, only to be disappointed by the pricing and the restrictions of items .

    "This is a scam! Damn it all!"

    He tossed a handful of water to the menu screen in annoyance, which the water passed through the screen as if it was an illusion . Liu Ping changed the menu screen into his quest list .

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Soulmate Mission No . 2**

    Clear Condition: Kill Zhang Jiao or Sun Jian .

    Failure Condition: You are dethroned or time limit exceeded .

    Clearing Reward:

    - 10 Shopping Tickets forpleting the main objective .

    - 1,000,000 Lifespans for killing Zhang Tong, Hua Shi, Sun Fang or Li Jing .

    - 100,000 Lifespans for killing Zhang Jiao or Sun Jian .

    - 20,000 Lifespans for killing an enemy general .

    - 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier .

    Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Mission Failure: You will die .

    *********************************************

    ...

    Even after he had canceled the soulmate contract with Wang Li, the quest was still ongoing, but the mission failure punishment changed, which was harsher than the previous one .

    "I have to kill Zhang Jiao or Sun Jian to live now . Damn it all!"

    Liu Ping spent an entire two hours in the bath hall, thinking of a n to kill the two historical figures .

    He walked out of the bath hall and called the guards .

    "Go tell Wang Yun and Dong Zhuo . Tell them to prepare all information they have about Zhang Jiao and Sun Jian . I want their intel tomorrow morning!"

    Liu Ping gritted his teeth while he was thinking . It was the time to invite someone into his n .

    ¡¯Should I get Dong Zhuo or Wang Yun first?¡¯

    ¡¯Wang Yun is guaranteed, but . . . ¡¯

    ¡¯If I can get Dong Zhuo as mypdog, I canmand his subordinates as well . ¡¯

    ¡¯Who to pick . . . ¡¯

    . . .

    Nan Pi City .

    Jiang Man, the former bandit leader and the boss of Zhang Yan, copsed on the road in front of Nan Pi city gate . He had four skills with him at the moment, so the bacsh damages from the system nerf were neither serious nor light . But it was enough to cripple him for a few months .

    ¡¯2,000 years upkeep for each skill . Are you serious!?¡¯

    ¡¯The system is insane! It was already trolling me enough, now it wants to kill me!¡¯

    ¡¯8,000 lifespan upkeep a year? I have only 22,000 lifespans left . I¡¯ll die in 3 years!¡¯

    ¡¯Fudge! Do I really have to delete my skills?¡¯

    While Jiang Man was coughing blood and crawled on the ground, a burly man silhouette stood up in front of him .

    "Oi, brat! If you want to die, die somewhere else! Don¡¯t you just suddenly drop dead on the road! It¡¯s blocking my goddamn path!"

    Yan Liang grabbed the robe cor of Jiang Man and lifted him up like a kitten . Before Yan Liang could throw this reincarnator away, a voice of a haughty man came from behind .

    "Stay your hand and bring him to me . "

    Yan Liang came to a pause . With obedience, he turned around and dragged Jiang Man to the haughty man .

    Jiang Man managed to catch a glimpse of the person . He was riding the best warhorse among all soldiers behind his back . He wore a golden robe with golden armor on top of it as if he was the Emperor, yet he was not .

    The golden armor man looked at Jiang Man and asked .

    "What has happened to you? Why are you having those injuries?"

    Jiang Man looked around . It seemed that this person was their boss, which was the reason why all of them stopped moving and paid close attention to himself . This man should have been someone with a high official title or rank in the imperial court .

    This area was in Nan Pi territory which Yuan n dominated . Then, this person should be someone rted to the Yuan n . Jiang Man could ride the coattail of this n for his ambition or he could reside here to heal up his internal injuries first .

    A brilliant idea came to his mind .

    "I led a volunteer force and fought the bandits at Ganling City . My injuries came from the bandit boss, Zhang Yan . "

    The man in golden armor, Yuan Shao, gazed at Jiang Man in an admiration .

    After Liu Ping took over the power in the Imperial Court and was acknowledged as the new Emperor, Yuan Shao fled the Capital with his families and smuggled out the former Empress and He Jin out of the Imperial Pce .

    On the way of their march, they passed through the fork-road which could lead them to Ganling . His army also deployed the scouts and spies into the city, and the reports they received indicated that the city remained unchallenged by the neighbor lords or local oppositions .

    Instead, Yuan Shao¡¯s scouts detected Zhang Tong Army which was heading toward Ganling . Therefore, the only force that confronted the Ganling bandits was Zhang Tong Army .

    "What happened to Zhang Tong Army? Why have youe here alone?"

    Jiang Man was taken aback by the sudden question . He left the city long before Tong even marched out of his city, so Jiang Man had no idea what Yuan Shao was talking about .

    "I¡¯m sorry . I got separated from my men . I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about . "

    Yuan Shao narrowed his eyes and looked at Jiang Man in suspicion . If Jiang Man was part of the volunteer force, he should have joined with Zhang Tong Army . He seemed to be a deserter rather than a routed soldier .

    "Oh, that can¡¯t be helped then . You can go . Yan Liang, let him go . "

    "Yes, my lord . "

    Yan Liang tossed Jiang Man out of the way while Yuan Shao ignored this otherworlder as if he was a simple rock on the roadside . Deserters of an army were something that Yuan Shao despised, and Jiang Man¡¯s excuse was nothing but an excuse of a deserting loser .

    Being ignored and tossed away like a rag, Jiang Man was half-relief and half-angry . He swore that once he recovered, he would get back on these guys .

    ...

    Meanwhile, at Sun Jian¡¯s camp .

    Both Li Jing and Sun Fang coughed and spat out ck blood . Sun Fang staggered for a moment, then he gazed at Li Jing who was in worse shape than him .

    Li Jing bled from all of her face orifices, but she did not show sign of panicking or despair . She simply sat down and meditate to regte her breathing .

    "Damn it, system! Why is the nerf happening at this time!?"

    Sun Fang cursed the system out loud in frustration . They were so close at their target and was about to siege the city in secret in that midnight . Because of the sudden nerfs and the injuries they received, they had to postpone their ns .

    *Cough*

    Li Jing coughed out more ck blood . Her condition was getting worst each minute passed . Yet, she was as calm as tranquil water .

    "Hanfang, *Cough* your blood, please . "

    "Ugh, I hate this skill of yours . "

    Sun Fangined . He cut his wrist, and his blood gushed out from his wound . He extended his injured wrist to Li Jing, who slowly covered her mouth on his wound and started drinking his blood .

    <your skill="" [the="" feast]="" is="" activated="">>

    <recovering your="" vitality...="" 30% . . . 35% . . . 40% . . . ="">>

    Li Jing continued drinking his blood . As she was drinking, herplexion got better . The injuries within her body healed in a speed that could be seen with naked eyes .

    <recoveringpleted="">>

    Li Jing let go of Sun Fang¡¯s wrist . She opened her eyes to look at him again, only to see that he was as pale as a white sheet . It seemed that he was at his limit .

    "[Self-Heal]!"

    The moment she let go of his hand, Sun Fang immediately used his life-saving skill . All of his lost blood and his injuries healed in a few seconds .

    "Wifey! Please don¡¯t rely on that skill too often . I¡¯ll really die at this rate . It¡¯s also disgusting . "

    Li Jing frowned the moment Sun Fang said "disgusting" . It reminded her of someone in her previous life . Aplicated expression appeared on her face .

    She closed her eyes and reminisced of her close obnoxious friend . A yful perverted woman in a nurse uniform appeared in her mind . She was the embodiment of her love and her hatred .

    ¡¯I wonder if you¡¯re an angel now, or you¡¯re still in Hell . . . Sunday . ¡¯</recovering></recovering></your></your></yes></will>

 Chapter 141

    Chapter 141

    Chapter 141 ¨C No Road of Flowers

    The big nerf from the system did not just cripple all otherworlders . A few of them who were hoarding more than five skills but did not have a healing skill or a lifesaving skill died from the bacsh injury .

    Despite the fact that the system goddess made the interference, she did not remunerate or hold any responsibility for her action . She turned a blind eye to it and mocked the dying reincarnators .

    [This is what happens when you are greedy . If you satisfied with what you already had, you would have lived . ]

    The aftermath of the nerf reaped the lives of seven otherworlders . Only the strong ones with a lifesaving skill or the humble ones who had less than 5 skills survived the sudden ordeal, with the exclusion of Hua Shi whose nerf was dyed due to her pregnancy .

    Combined with Wang Li¡¯s death, eleven reincarnators remained .

    ...

    August 5th, Evening .

    Tong Army retreated from Ganling City in silence as they fulfilled their promise by reconstructed of the townspeople houses .

    He changed his initial n after the grand nerf happened . Because of the after-effect injury, Li Feihong was out of themission for the time being . In addition, he had to spend at least 2 to 3 days in preparation for the gate assassination as he could only open one gate a day now .

    Tong also got hit hard . His upkeeps were now expensive as he had many skills .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 44,674 Years

    Shopping Pass: 0

    [Time Stop] LV . 2 EXP( 168/200 )

    - Stop time and space flow in your current universe for 10 seconds .

    Skill Cost: 10 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Firearms Creation] LV . 1 EXP( 8,778/10,000 )

    - Create any firearm or bullet of your choice .

    - Handguns and handgun bullets can be created

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 year of the host lifespan per a handgun bullet

    - 50 years of the host lifespan per a new handgun of your choice

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction: Can only create one gun a day or one bullet a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Create Food] LV . 6 (2,718/320,000)

    - Create a food product or a raw food ingredient .

    - 100 tons of food can be created from one usage .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - The host cannot create food that host has never eaten before .

    - Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Demonic Curse] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host emits an aura that will give status effects or curses to the designated targets .

    - The skill can be turned on and off .

    - The host can apply [Lust] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Gluttony] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Greed] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Sloth] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Wraith] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Envy] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Pride] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Despair] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Corruption] to the targets .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan per one target . Duration depends on the will of the host .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Aura radius is one kilometer around the host .

    - Targets have to be locked on by the host .

    - Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Demonic Seal] LV . 10

    - A seal made by the great father . This skill slows down the soul mutation process .

    - Curses of the following cannot be used; [Lust], [Gluttony], [Greed], [Sloth], [Wraith], [Envy], [Pride], [Despair], [Corruption] .

    - The seal will be weakened if the host increases his mental fortitude .

    - Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    [Fledging Demonic Body] Upgradable, Iplete Conditions

    - Immune to all disease and poisoning .

    - Reduce all damages to the host¡¯s body by 10% .

    - Increase all attribute of the host by 5 times .

    - Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    [Radar Map] Upgradable

    - Range 10 kilometers .

    - Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    [Inventory] ¨C Cannot be leveled up .

    - The host can store items in a private space .

    - The host cannot store any living person or any creature .

    - Storage limit: 10 Slots . Each slot can only contain the same items . Stackable .

    - Unlimited Volume .

    - Time will be frozen in the inventory .

    - The host can adjust the temperature of the Inventory .

    - Upkeeps: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    [Immortal Yang Vein] ¨C Cannot be leveled up .

    - The host has infinite yang seeds .

    - The host can dual-cultivate with opposite gender partners to increase an active skill EXP .

    - The host¡¯s stamina multiplies by 20 .

    - The host can regenerate wounds and lost body parts instantly .

    - Regeneration costs lifespans depending on the degrees of the injury .

    Skill Restriction:

    - This skill can only be used by male otherworlders .

    - Upkeeps: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    - Regeneration can be used once a day . The skill resets at midnight .

    [Sword Mastery] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by 10 times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kills an enemy, increase the host lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy .

    - Upkeeps: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    *******************************

    With ten skills, Tong had to pay 20,000 lifespans as the upkeep each year . If Tong did not have any ie from the n quest or the soulmate quest, he would die in three years .

    It was an ugly nerf by the system, which guaranteed that all greedy otherworlders, who had been hoarding skills, would die in a few years . Tong did not know if the system had gone mad or it was the ingenious trap that had been nted from the very beginning .

    With this move, everyone should be hesitating if they should delete their skills to lower the upkeep right now . Even Tong thought about deleting his dangerous [Demonic Curse] skill and the seal skill .

    "Should I delete my skills?"

    Tong read the details of his skills five times, but he could not decide if he should delete anything . Furthermore, for some reason, all of his skill with "Demonic" prefix could not be deleted as there was not any delete button behind the name of the skill .

    "No good, huh?"

    <your [despair]="" has="" been="" strengthened="" by="" your="" emotion="">>

    <chance for="" [despair]="" to="" take="" over="" your="" body="" has="" increased="" by="" 1%="">>

    <warning, you="" have="" 1%="" chance="" of="" being="" controlled="" by="" [despair]="">>

    Tong swallowed his saliva in shocked . His [Demonic Curse] was definitely a time-bomb! He had to figure out how to deal with all these seven sins, [Despair], and [Corruption] as soon as possible .

    Trying to change his mood, he read the info in the menu randomly to stabilize his emotion .

    When he checked the number of the survivors, Tong was relieved and delighted . Only eleven people survived!

    Tong made a roll-call list in his mind . The reincarnators that Tong knew their location and affiliation right now were...

    Himself

    Hua Shi

    Li Feihong

    Dong Bai

    Te Langpu

    Liu Ping

    Out of the eleven, Tong knew six of them . The other five should have hidden themselves under a major character in this era, like Sun Jian, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, or the future volunteer force, Liu Bei .

    From now on, there were only two choices for everyone . First, they could be an ordinary citizen by deleting all skills in their possession . Or two, they had to either form or join a n and conquer the country to earn the lifespans to pay for the system skill upkeep .

    Because of this event, Tong reminded himself that the Immortal Trial was designed for killing all otherworlders and the system was untrustworthy .

    ...

    August 6th, 7 A . M .

    Tong and his troops marched all night to slip away from the city and Sun Jian¡¯s scouts unnoticed . They returned to thest vige which they had visited .

    Upon entering the vige, everyone rushed out to wee them .

    "Thank you, heroes!"

    "Thank you!"

    "Thank you for the food!"

    "Thank you for the water!"

    Tong smiled as he thought that everybody got the messages . He was about to start a conversation with a viger, but one of the vigers asked the soldiers .

    "Can I ask you a question?"

    "Yes?" The soldier blinked in wonder what the viger would ask him .

    "What is the wooden boards?"

    "Wooden boards?"

    "Yes, a few of them were nearby with granary and the water reservoir . "

    "What¡¯s wrong with them?"

    "We don¡¯t know how to read them . Can one of you teach us how to read?"

    Tong fumbled and almost fell from his horse . He spent most of his times in the city with many schrs and merchants, so he had totally forgotten that most natives here were illiterate .

    Li Feihong, who was riding a carriage from the back, saw the reaction of Tong and the vigers . A smug face appeared on his face as he managed to guess what kind of cheeky stunt that Tong left behind in this vige .

    "So much for the deception, so much for the trickery, yet he overlooked a couple simple facts . " Li Feihong muttered andughed .

    ...

    ...

    Luo Yang, Throne Room .

    Liu Ping sat on the throne, watching the gathering of all officials . He darted his eyes around to search for a few individuals .

    Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and He Jin were not here . Liu Ping figured that they should have left the Capital by now .

    ¡¯Those three are ambitious . It¡¯s a pity that I haven¡¯t killed them yet . ¡¯

    ¡¯But... it doesn¡¯t matter . Yuan Shao should have returned to Nanpi . He¡¯ll be a thorn to Tong in the future . ¡¯

    ¡¯Yuan Shu and He Jin... Those two are unimportant . No need to concern about them . ¡¯

    ¡¯Too bad that He Xing should have escaped with He Jin as well . ¡¯

    ¡¯I really want to taste her . She has a body worthy of an empress . ¡¯

    While lost in thought, Liu Ping nced around . Surprisingly, a new face was here, Lu Zhi . He returned to the Capital just in time that Liu Ping summoned all officials into the throne room .

    ¡¯So, that¡¯s the mentor of Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan . He¡¯s been away for all these times, huh . ¡¯

    With everyone presented, Wang Yun stepped forward to give Liu Ping the reports .

    "Reporting to Your Majesty, we have gathered all the information about Zhang Jiao and Sun Jian as you ordered . I shall read it for you . "

    Wang Yun started with the biography of Sun Jian first . He narrated Sun Jian¡¯s achievements when he was just a merchant¡¯s son where he demonstrated his valor and wisdom by eradicating the pirates . Then all of his deeds were reported .

    Tao Qian, who was his superior, puffed his chest with pride . He was ted by his subordinate even though he had not contributed to any of Sun Jian¡¯s deeds .

    "Thest report from our men, Sun Jian has organized 30,000 men and marched northwest . We assume that he is going to fight against the bandits in Ganling City . "

    All officials nodded in admiration as they recognized Sun Jian¡¯s bravery and his character . Even now, he was still working hard and contributed greatly to the Han Empire .

    While everyone was in a merry mood by listening to Sun Jian¡¯s heroic tales, Liu Ping¡¯s frown deepened . He was looking for a reason to dere that Sun Jian was a rebel, so he could give out an edict to exterminate the Sun n .

    ¡¯That man is wless . I can¡¯t frame him or do anything to him at the moment or I¡¯ll be viewed as a tyrant again . ¡¯

    ¡¯Forget it, I¡¯ll aim for the obvious target . Zhang Jiao will rebel soon enough, and Zhang Tong is there with the Yellow Turban as well . I should focus my attention on him . ¡¯

    Wang Yun bowed as he finished reporting Sun Jian¡¯s status and biography .

    "Next, give me the reports of Zhang Jiao!"</warning,></chance></your>

 Chapter 142

    Chapter 142

    Chapter 142 ¨C Consequences of the Turning Point

    "Report to Your Majesty" Dong Zhuo stepped forward this time .

    He started reading the biography of Zhang Jiao . In the report, Zhang Jiao¡¯s deeds as a local physician, his rtives, and all the rumors around him were recorded . Dong Zhuo listed his actions started from his Taoist Sect duties to the recent deeds as the governor of Julu Commandery .

    The battle of Anping, the ransom incident with the Yuan n, and the contribution to the Han Court were also listed in the reports, which caused the officials to listen to the stories with awe and admiration as if they were listening to a drama story in a y .

    Then, it came to the parts where everyone swallowed their saliva .

    Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong reformed newws and ughtered half of the nobles the first few days after they had been reinstated into the position . They killed the riot merchants the next days and removed all private troops from the local nobles and merchants .

    This move pped the traditional nobles on the face . Fifty officials of the thousand officials in the throne room had a sign of anger of their face, but they did not say anything to interrupt the report yet .

    The reports continued .

    There were news about the unusual employments, auctions, provision control policies . A few moves of Julu made the ministers of the internal affair blushed in shame as their ideas were superior to them .

    Because of Zhang Jiao¡¯s hardworking nature, the citizens of Julu praised him for being apetent governor, which made the fifty angry officials clicked their tongue in irritation .

    Liu Ping cringed as he listened to the story .

    ¡¯The leader of the Yellow Turban was this capable? Or is it because of Tong?¡¯

    ¡¯It¡¯s probably Tong¡¯s interference, or he wouldn¡¯t have be this smart . ¡¯

    Dong Zhuo continued .

    "This is the report of Zhang Jiao¡¯s military status . He made a unique army unit called ¡¯Police¡¯ in the city . Their number is 10,000 men which we believe that they are the new unit of the local garrison guards . "

    Liu Ping bit his lower lips as he could guess from all the reports now about what Tong was trying to do .

    ¡¯He was stabilizing his domestic affairs! While I was fighting for the throne, he had already solidified his foothold!¡¯

    Lu Zhi, who was listening to the side, closed his eyes and sighed . He had experienced all of these first handed . They were no need to listen to the details, but he had to as there might be a false report or an exaggeration in the reports .

    "Aside from the local garrison guards, aka "Police", we also found out that there are more than 50,000 soldiers which belong to the Zhang n garrisoning outside the city!"

    Lu Zhi squeezed his eyes tight . He prayed that this report would not get too much bacsh from the crowd as Tong had too many troops for a local governor lord .

    As Lu Zhi expected, half of the thousand officials opened their eyes wide in shock . An ordinary noble family usually had about 2,000 to 3,000 private troops . A few wealthy nobles might have up to 10,000 soldiers, while the deep-rooted aristocrat families, such as Yuan Shao or Liu n, or a viceroy of a province, such as Han Fu or Tao Qian, could have over 30,000 soldiers . The exception belonged to the nobles who was responsible for border cities, such as Ma Teng, Dong Zhou, Gongsun Zan, and Ding Yuan, who could have 50,000 to 100,000 soldiers as they were financial-supported by the Han Court .

    Possessing over 50,000 soldiers was abnormal no matter how they saw it .

    "Is Zhang Jiao stupid?"

    "Can his finance support it?"

    "But he held that auction . He has millions of gold!"

    "I think he¡¯s a fraud . "

    "He¡¯s just spending money to show off his wealth and power . "

    "Zhang Jiao doesn¡¯t know how to manage troops . "

    "Yes, he is stupid . "

    The officials on the back rows started gossiping and the murmur sounds could be heard . It was getting louder every second .

    Liu Ping pped, and the noise stopped .

    "Continue . " Liu Ping spoked .

    "Yes, Your Majesty . Aside from the domestic affair, there was an interesting incident in Jinyang a few months ago . "

    "Jinyang? Isn¡¯t that Ding Yuan¡¯s border city? What happened?"

    "Reporting to Your Majesty, in June, Zhang Tong visited Ding Yuan with his troops . But for some reason, I received a report that Ding Yuan¡¯s son, Lu Bu, had fought with Zhang Tong twice, and Zhang Tong retreated from Jin Yang on the same day he fought Lu Bu the second time . We don¡¯t have the exact intel as Jinyang City hasn¡¯t reported anything to use . "

    Dong Zhuo withheld the information about Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, and the hidden alliance proposal that he sent to Julu . The alliance confirmation notice by Tong was already in the hands of Dong Zhuo . Although he failed to recruit Lu Bu, having Zhang Tong as his distance ally in secret was worth the effort .

    Liu Ping¡¯s eyes lit up . He had found a cause for war!

    His eyes darted around again to check how many people who were dissatisfied with Tong and Zhang Jiao . It was not hard to notice, a few of them had a red face and bulged veins, but more than half of the officials still had indifferent expression .

    Liu Ping made his decision . He would risk it!

    "Isn¡¯t that obvious? Zhang Tong attempted to assassinate Ding Yuan, but Lu Bu fended him off . He was chased back to his own city because he failed . "

    The analysis of Liu Ping shocked everyone . If that was true, then Zhang Tong was trying to rebel against the Han Court as Ding Yuan was the grandmander of Jinyang frontline against Xiangnu tribes . Harming amander of the Han Empire was an act of treason!

    However, not everyone believed in Liu Ping¡¯s opinion . Lu Zhi knew about Tong¡¯s personality, he would not try to do something stupid like attacking the governor of a city without a good reason . Furthermore, he had learned the details about the incident from Tong and his men . It was not Tong that attempted to kill Ding Yuan, it was Dong Zhuo¡¯s men .

    The other person in this room who knew the truth was Dong Zhuo . All details of the operation and the result were handled by Li Ru¡¯s men . He even knew about the failure of the operation to recruit Lu Bu and about the disappearance of his granddaughter . But since he knew that his granddaughter ended up in Julu and the negotiation with Tong was sessful, he overlooked the incident .

    Dong Zhuo hid his smirk . A new inspiration appeared in his mind . Thus, he made his move .

    "Reporting to Your Majesty, the intel of my spies indeed said that Zhang Tong was in cahoots with the Xiangnu . He attempted to sabotage our defensive lines, so they could invade our country from Jinyang . "

    Liu Ping raised his eyebrows in surprise . He made a wide guess and created a totally nonsense story to frame Tong, so he could have a reason to issue an edict . Yet, he was right?

    ¡¯No, my guess should have been wrong . Dong Zhuo must have plotted something on my back, judging from his nature and the historical records from my world . But I need to kill Zhang Jiao or Sun Jian ASAP, so I¡¯ll y along with you for once . ¡¯ Liu Ping thought .

    "If you knew about it, why isn¡¯t this intel included on the reports?" Liu Ping asked to probe Dong Zhuo .

    "Reporting to Your Majesty, we do not have a solid proof to use Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong . All our information came from the dubious sources, so as your upright Prime Minister, I can¡¯t prosecute someone without good solid proof . "

    Liu Ping felt like vomiting when he heard Dong Zhuo called himself "Your upright Prime Minister" . Although he gave him that position, he did not remember Dong Zhuo doing anything righteous after he had taken the title .

    ¡¯Hypocrite! Howughable . ¡¯ Liu Ping mocked Dong Zhuo in his mind .

    ¡¯Oh well, since you¡¯re somewhat helping me, I¡¯ll let you go just this once . ¡¯

    "Then that¡¯s fine . Next time, include all the information in the reports, even if the source of the intel isn¡¯t reliable . There¡¯s a saying, if there¡¯s smoke, there¡¯s a fire . It wouldn¡¯t hurt to take notes of the groundless rumors as well . "

    "Your Majesty is wise . " Dong Zhuo bowed with a smile .

    Lu Zhi red at Dong Zhuo and Liu Ping with hatred and anger . Those two tyrants just framed his disciple who worked so hard for his people .

    Before Lu Zhi could open his mouth and protest, a hand was extended from behind and covered his mouth .

    "Please don¡¯t protest, or you might die . "

    A whisper came from behind . Lu Zhi recognized this voice, it was Cao Cao¡¯s .

    "Why are you stopping me, Mengde?" Lu Zhi whispered back .

    "Those two has already gone insane . They are not the type who will listen to the ministers . If you speak right now, they will kill you . "

    "Then what do you want me to do then?"

    "We don¡¯t have to serve them . Liu Ping is not the only sessor of the Han Dynasty . "

    "What!?"

    "Please follow me after this meeting . I¡¯ll tell you the details . "

    "...Fine . "

    While Cao Cao and Lu Zhi were whispering, Liu Ping decided to rush this meeting .

    "Very well, I¡¯ve heard enough for today . All of you, receive my edict!"

    All officials kowtowed .

    "Zhang Tong has suspiciously gatheredrge troops, and he is in cahoots with the Xiangnu! I can¡¯t see this as something else but he is definitely preparing for a rebellion! From this day onward, Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong are considered the enemy of our country! Capture them and execute their nine generations!"

    "Send my edict to all warlords in all provinces . Anyone who can kill Zhang Jiao or Zhang Tong shall be rewarded with 100,000 gold and two ranks promotion . "

    "Dong Zhuo, Wang Yun! Gather our troops!"

    "We shall march to Julu and kill the rebellions!"

 Chapter 143

    Chapter 143

    Chapter 143 ¨C Lu Zhi in Trouble ¨C Part 1

    The arrangement for the deployment waspleted by Dong Zhuo and Wang Yun .

    Zhu Jun, Huangfu Song, and Dong Zhuo would be themanders of their own private armies .

    Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song had 75,000 elites as their private force . They used to have only 50,000 men . However, He Jin and He Xing escaped from Luo Yang, leaving their 50,000 soldiers behind . Thus, the two generals took them in and turned them into their subordinates .

    Dong Zhuo had 250,000 mixed force of militias and elite soldiers with him, so he did not need to conscript more soldiers . But he was not an honest man either as he would take only 100,000 elites with him to cut the cost of his provision supplies while to rest of his militias would be transferred to Liu Ping, who insisted that he would apany the troops as well .

    As a result, 400,000 soldiers were preparing their crusade against Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong . Before the end of August, they would deploy and march to Julu!

    ...

    ...

    Later that day .

    Cao Cao and Lu Zhi met up at Cao Cao¡¯s private resident .

    When Lu Zhi stepped inside Cao Cao¡¯s Manor, he was surprised . All servants and subordinate of Cao Cao had been preparing to move out of the Capital . All he had to do was a signal or an order, then all servants and his private troops would begin sneaking out of the city .

    "I see that you¡¯re leaving . Where are you going if I may ask?"

    Questioned by Lu Zhi, Cao Cao shrugged and served his guest a simple tea .

    "I¡¯ve contacted my family in Chen Liu . I¡¯ll restart my new life there . "

    Lu Zhi grinned after he heard the word "Restart" .

    "It¡¯s not a restart, it¡¯s ¡¯Building a new army", isn¡¯t it?"

    Cao Cao paused and gave Lu Zhi a wry smile . "Please don¡¯t spread it . "

    "I know, Ha-ha! Well, let¡¯s get to the point . What do you want to do, Mengde?"

    The easygoing face of Cao Cao turned solemn . He gazed into the eyes of Lu Zhi .

    "We¡¯ve found the third prince Liu Xie . One of He Jin¡¯s agent is hiding the child somewhere in Julu City . "

    Lu Zhi mentally trembled the moment he heard the news about the third prince, and he was in the city of his disciple no less!

    "Yuan Shao has already taken Dowager He and He Jin to Nanpi City . I think he is nning to make Ji Province as his home base after he secures the prince . "

    "Then, what¡¯s that has to do with me?"

    "I¡¯ve heard that Zhang Tong is your disciple . So I have a favor to ask you . "

    This time, it was Lu Zhi¡¯s turn to get serious . He wasid back since he had arrived in Cao Cao¡¯s Manor . Once he realized that Cao Cao had something to do with Zhang Tong, his face changed .

    "Speak . "

    "Please tell your disciple, do not give the prince to Yuan Shao or kill the prince!"

    "..."

    Both of them stopped talking . Cao Cao knew that Lu Zhi was not a simple person . He would understand his intention with a few words .

    "What do you take me for? Do you think I will sell out my disciple for you?"

    Lu Zhi understood Cao Cao¡¯s intention . Cao Cao wanted to create a friction between Tong and Yuan Shao so that they could slow down their domestic development and would waste their times ring at each other¡¯s throat .

    This was a cunning move of Cao Cao . If both armies were at odd, Cao Cao could buy times to build his own army and catch up with them .

    "There is no free meal in this world . What will you exchange for this favor?" Lu Zhi asked .

    This middle-aged minister was sharp . He bargained the requested favor for Cao Cao¡¯s favor on the spot . If his prediction was right, it should be something about the new edict of Liu Ping or Cao Cao could give him a surprise .

    Nodded Cao Cao, he replied . "I¡¯ll help Zhang Tong for two favors . First, my newly established army will sabotage Liu Ping¡¯s supply bases during his crusade . Two, I will lobby all warlords in every province to form a coalition against Liu Ping!"

    Listening to Cao Cao¡¯s proposal, Lu Zhi narrowed his eyes and fell into deep thought . This cunning fox was worthy of Sima Fang¡¯s praise . Sima Fang was the one who rmended Cao Cao into the imperial court, so he should not be a simple person .

    ¡¯It seems that Cao Cao¡¯s two favors are his initial ns . But since I¡¯ve shown up here, he wants to reap more profits from the ns he has prepared . ¡¯

    ¡¯I can refuse it right away, but I don¡¯t know what kind of back up ns he has . ¡¯

    ¡¯He can easily side with Liu Ping if I were to refuse, then his new army will join forces with the Imperial Troops . ¡¯

    ¡¯Tong has 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers and Ding Yuan has roughly 50,000 men . Fighting against 400,000 will be difficult . But if Cao Cao force were to add into those 400,000, Tong wouldn¡¯t stand a chance . ¡¯

    ¡¯So this is that kind of proposal, huh? The proposal that you cannot refuse? Such a nasty tactic . ¡¯

    ¡¯I have no choice, I¡¯ll give you this one . ¡¯

    Lu Zhi opened his eyes and slightly nodded . "Deal . But you¡¯ll have to fulfill the first favor before I can fulfill mine . "

    Cao Cao was ted . All his initial ns were sessful . Now, he would move into the next phase of his n .

    ...

    Before the meeting up with Lu Zhi...

    Cao Cao had been evaluating Tong during the time he was in Luo Yang . He had been paying close attention to Julu¡¯s development long before Liu Ping took the throne . He predicted that if no one had interfered with Julu City development and Tong were to rebel, the northern in would fall into Tong¡¯s hands within 2 to 3 years at thetest .

    If Cao Cao wanted to vie for the supremacy or get more promotions, he had to weaken this force before they got too strong . Without a hindrance, Tong would rise in ranks in the imperial court and his influences would cover the entire northern ins, or he could take down the three Northern provinces, Ji, Qing, You, and dere a new country on top of the Han Empire .

    Tong¡¯s progress had to be slowed down no matter what!

    Therefore, Cao Cao had devised a n to give Tong more enemies to work with .

    It started when he got the tip-off from Dowager He that she found out about the location of her son, which happened to be in Julu City .

    Coincided with his goal, Cao Cao incited Yuan Shao to take away He Jin and Dowager He Xing to Nanpi along with his family, so that both Yuan Shao and Tong¡¯s border could get more activities . His friend, Yuan Shao, was an ambitious and unyielding man . He should be a good opponent to Tong for the time being .

    But Cao Caocked the motivation to start a war between the two forces, it was possible that Tong could simply hand over the prince to Yuan Shao and form an alliance instead of killing each other .

    So Cao Cao waited for an opportunity .

    Then Lu Zhi arrived . Cao Cao immediately put his n into motion by coaxing Lu Zhi into holding onto the prince within Julu .

    With Lu Zhi¡¯s help, the northern lords would be busy for sometimes .

    In addition, Liu Ping wanted to kill Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong, then Julu City would definitely rebel against the Han Dynasty . If Tong and his family were to survive this, it might take Tong 5 years to a decade in order to lick his wounds, which was enough if Cao Cao wanted to catch up with Tong¡¯s progress .

    However, Liu Ping had to be kept in check . Cao Cao also could not let him loose or the damage to the country would be extended to the other provinces . Thus, Cao Cao added another n on top of his initial n .

    Ha nned to form a coalition against Liu Ping, which could put a reign on this power-crazed Emperor . Cao Cao could also take advantage of the weakened Tong Army to wither down his force further . If possible, Cao Cao wanted Yuan Shao to defeat both Liu Ping and Zhang Tong in this uing wars as Cao Cao was more confident that Yuan Shao was an easier opponent than Zhang Tong or Liu Ping .

    ...

    "Thank you, minister Lu . By the way, are you nning to serve someone other than Liu Ping in the future? Once Liu Ping is dealt with, why don¡¯t youe with me?"

    Cao Cao tried to recruit Lu Zhi to be his follower .

    Lu Zhi shook his head . "I¡¯ll have to decline this offer . Sorry about this . "

    Sighed and nodded, Cao Cao gave up persuading Lu Zhi . He already had an intel that Lu Zhi was working under Zhang Tong in Julu for a period of time . He wanted to take away one of Tong¡¯s hand to slow down his progress, but he failed .

    ¡¯That Zhang Tong boy is scary . How did he make this stubborn man loyal to him? Was it his talent or was it something else?¡¯ Cao Cao thought .

    "That¡¯s unfortunate . Well, my offer stays in case you change your mind in the future . "

    Lu Zhi snorted, stood up, and cupped his fist . "If there isn¡¯t anything else, I¡¯ll excuse myself . I have things to take care of . "

    "Sure, thank you for stopping by . Next time, please visit me in Chen Liu . " Cao Cao said with a smile .

    ...

    ...

    Lu Zhi rushed back to his family manor . Liu Ping had just dered that his disciple¡¯s family were traitors as he feared . He had to take his family away from the Capital as soon as possible or troubles would seek them .

    But luck was not on his side, the moment he reached his family residential areas, imperial troops already surrounded the buildings .

    The face of Lu Zhi whitened as a sheet .

    ¡¯Am I toote!?¡¯

    Lu Zhi dove into the onlooker crowds and managed to get through the people to the front row . Then he had a clear look at the scene .

    The soldiers had not raided the residents yet, which relieved him .

    After a good observation, Lu Zhi spotted Liu Ping who also noticed him .

    "Teacher Lu, so there you are . " Liu Ping called out Lu Zhi with a bright smile .

    Lu Zhi knelt down and asked . "Your Majesty, what did I do to be graced with your visit?"

    "Oh, nothing much . You see, I¡¯m here to invite you to join me in this crusade against Zhang Jiao . But when I have arrived, I was informed that you weren¡¯t here, so I decided to wait for you outside of your manor . "

    The corner of Lu Zhi¡¯s eyebrows twitched . Liu Ping¡¯s words were just a ruse . With all the soldiers around the perimeters, I was not hard for Lu Zhi to understand the situation . The real meaning behind his words should have been "If you don¡¯t show up, I¡¯ll ughter your entire family" .

    Lu Zhi raised his head up and looked into the eyes of Liu Ping . His eyes were cold and he did not bother hiding his killing intent . It was clear that Liu Ping was here to exterminate his family, yet he was holding back his action . It seemed that he was up to something .

 Chapter 144

    Chapter 144

    Chapter 144 ¨C Lu Zhi in Trouble - Part 2

    "I¡¯m merely a clerk minister who has never touched a sword . I¡¯m afraid that I will be a disappointment if I apany Your Majesty to the battlefield . " Lu Zhi attempted to refuse .

    "Oh, you don¡¯t have to worry about that . I¡¯ve heard that you have quite a sizable private troops as well . Since you are capable tomand 10,000 people with ease, I don¡¯t see a problem with that . "

    Lu Zhi bit his lower lips . He was careless .

    His family also housed a private army which numbered 10,000 soldiers for the resident and their businesses protection . Lu Zhi did not know when or where Liu Ping got this information from, but it was a fact that he could not deny .

    "It was merely a random wagon of mercenaries . It cannot bepared with the imperial army . "

    "Please don¡¯t be humble . This is my edict, so you¡¯ll have toe with me . "

    Liu Ping snapped his fingers, and Wang Yun stepped forward with a scroll in his hand . He began reading .

    "Lu Zhi, Zigan! His Majesty the Emperor has acknowledged your skills and your leadership . With the long years of services to the Han Court, it is not suited for someone like you to remain as a simple minister without a glorious title . Therefore, from his day onward, you will be bestowed with the title of the Secretary of Defense and the highest tier of nobility . Now, ept your edict!"

    Lu Zhi opened his eyes in shock when he heard that Liu Ping was giving him the highest tier of nobility . This tier was the same as a Duke in the western culture . He would be second to the royalties and he would have the right tomand all ministers in the Han Court . Even Dong Zhuo, who was entitled as a prime minister, could notmand him as they were at the same tier of nobility .

    It was a huge promotion .

    However, Lu Zhi was not happy with this promotion . Liu Ping¡¯s sudden favor gave Lu Zhi a bad vibe .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t refuse it if it¡¯s his edict . What¡¯s he nning?¡¯

    ¡¯Does he really want me tomand his army in this campaign?¡¯

    ¡¯Right, he¡¯s using my family as hostages . At least he¡¯s capable with this much . ¡¯

    ¡¯But he overlooks a simple fact . I can disregard my family and ruin his army if I want to . ¡¯

    ¡¯You¡¯re looking down on my resolve, brat!¡¯

    Lu Zhi bowed and epted the edict . The onlookers pped and cheered for him as it was a grand promotion .

    Liu Ping smiled and nodded .

    "Well then, since you¡¯ve taken the position, don¡¯t you think you should apany me into the battle? Since it¡¯s your first-time duty, it¡¯s my job to apany you to evaluate your performance as well . Oh right, since this is a rare asion, we should also take all of your family members along with this campaign, too . So that they can witness your glory and your leadership when you kill Zhang Tong and his father . "

    Despite the swelling anger in his heart from listening to Liu Ping¡¯s bullcrap, Lu Zhi cupped his fist and replied with a calm voice .

    "Thank you, Your Majesty, for this opportunity . However, I have a special request for Your Majesty . "

    "Hmm? A request? Go ahead, ask me . "

    "I have 800 maidservants, 50,000 subordinates in various businesses, and 10,000 private soldiers . Once I have gone out for this campaign, it can take years before I can return home . I¡¯m afraid that during these times, my businesses will be ruined as there is nobody to look after them because Your Majesty takes all my family members with you on this campaign . "

    Liu Ping narrowed his eyes . With this temte of reasoning, Liu Ping thought that Lu Zhi would ask to leave some of his family members behind, which he had no problem with that . He just wanted a few hostages to keep Lu Zhi with the Imperial Force .

    Liu Ping was not ignorant about the history of the three kingdoms . He was well aware of the true abilities of Lu Zhi and his achievement in his life, which Lu Zhi repelled the Yellow Turban Rebellion with his imperial force during their first skirmish .

    Leaving him with Tong was not a good idea . He had to either kill him or keep him with the Imperial Force . Using assassins on him right now was also an option, but Liu Ping had a better n for Lu Zhi .

    Lu Zhi continued . "I wish to request Your Majesty to provide food and mary aid to my subordinates and private troops so that I can disband and close down all my businesses and concentrate my duty as the Secretary of Defense to the fullest . The amount I need won¡¯t be much, a year worth of food and 10 gold for one person each would do . "

    "You..."

    Everyone was shocked by the extortion of Lu Zhi . He dared to ask Liu Ping for money to fire his workers!

    Blood veins could be seen on Liu Ping¡¯s face . He was furious by the Lu Zhi¡¯s bold extortion . Even an alliteratedmoner could tell that 10 gold per a person required was exaggerated .

    "Isn¡¯t that amount exaggerated? How much sry do you usually pay them anyway? Don¡¯t tell me that you are paying them one gold per month?" Liu Ping retorted .

    "You¡¯re wrong, Your Majesty . I pay them only 50 coins for a month of service . "

    "Then why are you asking for 600,000 gold!?"

    "It is something called, ¡¯Employment Loss Payment¡¯, Your Majesty . It is something that my family has been using for decades . When I have toy-off a worker for whatever the reason, I will pay them at least two years worth of their monthly sry, so they and their families won¡¯t suffer any difficulty when they lost their jobs . "

    Lu Zhi made that up on the spot by mixing the terms "Employment Loss Payment" that he had learned from Tong and his new workerws in Julu City . Although Tong only stated that he would pay 3-month-worth of sry, Lu Zhi exaggerated further to two years .

    The crowd was shocked once again . They looked at Lu Zhi¡¯s family workers with fiery envious eyes as a kind family like this was rare . They wished that they could have worked for Lu Zhi, too .

    Meanwhile, Lu Zhi¡¯s subordinates gazed at Lu Zhi with nk faces . They had no idea what Lu Zhi was talking about because it was their first time hearing the terms "Employment Loss Payment" . In addition, there were only 20,000 workers in Lu Zhi¡¯s family businesses . Lu Zhi¡¯s number was not right .

    Liu Ping was not stupid, he knew about the term as it was something from his previous world . He figured that Lu Zhi must have made this up on the spot or had learned from Tong . If he were to pay for it, Liu Ping would be scammed . If Liu Ping would not pay, Lu Zhi would discredit him for being irresponsible and such . In the end, he would suffer losses either way .

    "I can¡¯t give them gold . I need them for my campaign against Zhang Jiao . " Liu Ping refused .

    "I don¡¯t mind if I don¡¯t have the gold . I request that you¡¯ll give them food . "

    "Fine . One year of food it is . How many tons do you need?"

    "The same for an army of 60,000 men, your majesty . Sixty tons for one day, so two years would be 44,000 tons . "

    "... Alright . I¡¯ll give them to your men . "

    Lu Zhiughed in his mind . Forty-four thousand tons of provision was not much, but Lu Zhi knew about the iing famine this year and next year . The food price would skyrocket and those 44,000 tons would save his subordinates¡¯ lives, assuming that those provisions were well-keep and would not go bad .

    Secondly, Lu Zhi had sabotaged Liu Ping¡¯s provision sessfully . It was not a significant amount at the moment, but in the long run, it would cut down Liu Ping Army¡¯s longevity . As long as Tong and his men turtled in his city long enough, Liu Ping would lose .

    "From this moment on, you will apany me at all time . Wang Yun, arrange a hundred guards for Lu Zhi . Also, arrange an additional thousand guard reserves for night shifts and other shifts . I want him ¡¯PROTECTED¡¯ 24/7!"

    Though Liu Ping said "Protected", Lu Zhi understood that it meant "Imprisonment" instead .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t escape now . I¡¯m sorry disciple...¡¯

    Lu Zhi gazed at everyone in his family who had been escorted to the military camp as hostages .

    ¡¯Everyone... I¡¯m sorry . ¡¯

    ¡¯Because of me, all of you are implicated into this . ¡¯

    ¡¯I swear by our surname, I¡¯ll destroy Liu Ping from within!¡¯

    ¡¯He will pay for this tyranny!¡¯

    ...

    At night

    Liu Ping returned to his chamber with a foul mood . He knew that Lu Zhi had conned him somehow, but he had to keep this old fox in check . He also wanted to kill him and his family on the spot, but if he were to do it, he would suffer bacshes from the officials and Lu Zhi¡¯s colleagues as he was well-known as the honest politician .

    Killing Lu Zhi in the open was impossible with his current status!

    "How annoying . This is why I hate politics . "

    "But it doesn¡¯t matter . I¡¯ll kill him eventually and I¡¯ll show his head to Tong . "

    "Tong, you will regret messing with me in Hell!"

    Liu Ping walked to the strategic map on the table . The map of the countryid on the table with sculptured dolls on it .

    One of the dolls stood on the northern part of the map, which is Julu City . Below the Yellow River, four triangle wooden blocks were there . They represented the Imperial Armies of Dong Zhuo, Zhu Jun, Huangfu Song, and the main army, his army .

    Like a tabletop game, Liu Ping gazed at the location of each city, mountain, and river .

    He extended his hand and ced his army on Jinyang City while the other three armies at the Yie City of Han Fu .

    "How about a pincer attack, how are you going to deal with this?"

    Then he put a few small wooden blocks on the northern city, Ji City of Liu Yan .

    "I can also have himunch an attack from the north . "

    Liu Ping paused when his eyes read the name of a city, Nan Pi .

    "He wouldn¡¯t dare to help Tong, right? But just in case, I¡¯ll put you as a possible reinforcement for Tong . "

    Liu Ping ced a wooden doll on Nan Pi city .

    "Now, how many lords will answer my edict, I wonder?"

 Chapter 145

    Chapter 145

    Chapter 145 ¨C Reflecting On Your Mistakes (?)

    August 10th, 182 A . D .

    Sun Jian Army moved into Ganling City ahead of the schedule . Because of the quietness and their scout reports, they found out that Zhang Tong and his army had withdrawn a few days ago .

    As soon as they entered the city, they were shocked by the remaining citizens as there were only less than 10,000 townspeople remaining . Furthermore, the majority of the city had been burnt to the ground, only the remaining people¡¯s houses were intact .

    The people also treated Sun n soldiers with a strange attitude . They avoided Sun Jian and his men as if they had done something bad to the people .

    Li Jing walked around the city and tried to interact with the people . Because of her look and her existence as a girl, a few elders talked to her and told her about what actually happened to the city before they came in .

    After the investigation, Li Jing returned to Sun Jian and Sun Fang to give them a report .

    "We¡¯ve been had . Zhang Tong has left a mess for us . "

    "How?" The two father and son was puzzled .

    "First, Zhang Tong spread bad rumors about us while he appeared to be a saint in their point of view . Since we suddenlye and chase them away, the people treat us as corrupted officials who bullies the honest hard working officials . "

    "What!? That¡¯s absurd! We haven¡¯t done anything yet!" Sun Fang was infuriated .

    Sun Jian shook his head and tapped Sun Fang¡¯s shoulder .

    "We¡¯ve made a big mistake on our part . From the very beginning, we shouldn¡¯t have demanded the city from Zhang Tong . If we negotiate and coexist normally in the city from the start, the people would have looked at us differently . "

    Li Jing shook her head .

    "Father-inw, though it was a mistake, it was a necessary mistake . If we had tried to coexist with them, our trip would have been wasteful . Then I, Hanfang, and you might have died already . "

    "Why would Zhang Tong want to kill us? We¡¯ve never had a feud with each other . " Sun Jian doubted .

    Sun Fang and Li Jing had a wry smile on their faces as they knew about Tong¡¯s motive and the reason to kill all of them . If they died, the Sun n would be finished as Sun Ce and Sun Quan would not be able to rise . Once that happened, the Kingdom of Wu would not exist . It was the best tactic to weed out a potential enemy before it grew stronger .

    "Because Zhang Tong knew that if he left us alone, we will be a threat to him in the future . "

    Li Jing decided to confess to Sun Jian about the true history of the three kingdoms and about the kingdom of Wu¡¯s fate .

    Sun Jian listened to the tales of his sons in astonishment . After he listened to the end of the story where the Wu Kingdom fell, he shed a tear . It was not a tear of sadness . It was a tear of happiness and pride . His descendants did their best and lived proudly .

    ¡¯So my efforts are not in vain!¡¯

    He smiled to Li Jing and Sun Fang, then he told them to stop .

    "I¡¯ve heard enough now . You can stop . "

    Li Jing nodded and continued . "The second reason is, they are wary of us and afraid that we will steal their food and water . It seems Zhang Tong has given them enough food supplies for them to live through this ordeal for 8 to 9 months . And also..."

    Sun Jian raised his hand . "I said, you can stop now . "

    Li Jing and Sun Fang were taken aback .

    "Father-inw?"

    "Father?"

    Sun Jian smiled at them again . However, this time, a dominant aura leaked out of him which made both otherworlders suffocated .

    "Hanfang, Jing¡¯er, both of you has done enough . I think I will take this from now on . "

    "Eh?"

    "Err... Father?"

    Laughed Sun Jian, "You two kids have tried hard, but sometimes you are overthinking . You see, I appreciate that you contributed to our family, but you¡¯ll have to believe in us, adults, too . Hanfang, I believe in your prowess and your mystic powers, but your power alone has a limit of what you can achieve . You only know how to fight and destroy, but you don¡¯t know about the management, domestic affair, and leadership abilities to win the heart of the people . Jing¡¯er, you too, although you are the brain of our family, relying on yourself for too long will narrow down your vision and your mind . "

    The two otherworlders were sullen as they were given a sermon .

    "It¡¯s true that this time it was a necessary mistake, but you also overlooked one fact . It was also possible that Zhang Tong could have been our friend if we could have forgotten our differences and have a good drink and chat for a day . Did you forget that Zhang Tong used to ransom Yuan Shao¡¯s followers to get his father back home? Someone who is filial is a person with a learned mind . He is not a reckless person who will kill someone in the first time meeting unless he shows up as an obvious enemy . To be honest, I don¡¯t think he will kill me or you two if we were to meet him and talked first . "

    Sun Fang and Li Jing¡¯s face gloomed further as they reflected of what they had done .

    Sun Fang thought that he was too overbearing as ofte, so it started to be his habits . Cultivating alone for a long time made him lost touch of his social skills and his attitude toward strangers .

    Li Jing also reviewed her past strategies . She found out that she always made an assumption of the other party¡¯s actions before she could get more concrete evidence or intel . As a result, she became an over-paranoiddy . If she was not so afraid of the power of other reincarnators, she would havee up with a different strategy .

    Seeing that the two children fell into deep thought, Sun Jian smiled in approval .

    "I¡¯ll say again . The army policies will be handled by me from now on . You two will have to step back and learn from the adults, and I forbid you from using your powers . Try to achieve something without your power for once, so you will understand the hardship of the soldiers and themoners . Once you understand, you¡¯ll be a better leader in the future . "

    Sun Jian returned to his men and also left them with a lesson . Both Sun Fang and Li Jing bowed to the back of Sun Jian in respect until he was out of their sight .

    They lifted their head up and looked at each other with a wry smile .

    "Sometimes I think I have chosen a wrong husband . I should have be Sun Jian¡¯s concubine instead . " Li Jing mocked Sun Fang .

    "What the hell!? I¡¯ve never asked you to marry me . You just showed up out of nowhere, beat me up, and force a marriage and a soulmate contract on me out of the blue!"

    "So, do you want to break up?" Li Jing asked with a sinister grin . Her killing intent locked on to Sun Fang which almost made him pissed his pants .

    "Err... I¡¯m sorry . Please forgive me..." Sun Fang kowtowed .

    Li Jing sighed and chanted .

    "[Shadow Teleport]"

    She sunk into her own shadow and disappeared from Ganling City . She returned to Xia Pi as she had no reason to bother with the military affair and Ganling city anymore .

    Once she returned, she pondered .

    ¡¯Sun Jian is too gentlemanly, honest, and steadfast . He will be used as a tool by Tao Qian and other old foxes and died in vain at this rate . ¡¯

    ¡¯He has to experience a setback or a betrayal from an ally to wake him up from his rainbow bubble . ¡¯

    She let her thought and her imagination ran wild for 30 minutes . Then she had an inspiration .

    ¡¯Liu Ping is still useful at this situation . I¡¯ll use him then . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll have to write a letter first . ¡¯

    ...

    Sun Fang, who was left behind, stood alone in silence .

    He contemted if his decision for joining this civil war was a good idea . After he experienced a setback for the first time in this life, he became aware of the necessity of the politic skill and the leadership .

    His skill temte was based on a character in an eastern fantasy novel which depicted his narrow mind and his self-important attitude . Even after he was born, he still put himself first before the others .

    Sun Fang finally realized, he was no different from a selfish brainless battle-maniac .

    ¡¯So, this is why wifey keeps calling me a muscle-brain . ¡¯

    ¡¯If I make my status into numbers, my INT status would have been something like less than 50 and she would have something like 80 to 90s in all status . ¡¯

    ¡¯But what¡¯s wrong with it? I can be another Lu Bu if I simply concentrate on improving my fighting skills . ¡¯

    ¡¯Instead of being a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none, I¡¯ll be the invincible fighter for my family!¡¯

    ¡¯Who cares about management? Who cares about tactics? Who cares about the strategy and politics?¡¯

    ¡¯As long as I have to absolute power, I can st through all of my opponents!¡¯

    ¡¯That¡¯s how a cultivator should be!¡¯

    ¡¯If I don¡¯t like someone, I kill!¡¯

    ¡¯If they dare to pick a fight with me, I kill!¡¯

    ¡¯If they dare to snatch my woman, I kill!¡¯

    ¡¯If anyone dares to step on my foot, I kill!¡¯

    ¡¯If anyone dares to call me a virgin, I kill!¡¯

    Instead of reflecting on what hecked, he decided to focus on improving his specialties, which was his fighting skills .

    He looked at his status menu to make his future ns .

    ¡¯13,000 Lifespan upkeep a year, that¡¯s rough . ¡¯

    ¡¯But it won¡¯t affect me! All I have to do is to sit and cultivate! One minute of meditation and increase my lifespan for one year . All I have to do is to sit still for 9 to 10 days, then I¡¯ll get back all of my upkeep lifespans!¡¯

    ¡¯Once my [Cultivator] reaches max level, I¡¯ll be invincible under the Heaven! I¡¯ll be the only immortal in this world!¡¯

    ...

    ...

    On a distance, Zuo Ci watched Sun Fang and shook his head .

    "What a simpleton . Cultivation is more than just sit still and cultivate . "

    Disappointed with Sun Fang, Zuo Ci left .

 Chapter 146

    Chapter 146

    Chapter 146 ¨C What Da Heck is He Doing Here!? - Part 1

    August 20th, 182 A . D .

    Tong and his troops retreated back to Julu City in one piece . In the end, Sun Jian did not pursue them or ambush them on the road .

    On the way of their journey home, they picked up starving vigers they came across . Tong ordered the troops to feed them and took them back to the city as well .

    These people cried in gratitude as they had already given up living before they met Tong¡¯s troops . They pledged their allegiance to Tong and followed him without aint .

    At first, the number of the peasants that Tong brought back from Ganling was 40,000 . Along the way, the number increased to 60,000 .

    Furthermore, the rumors about Tong giving food to the vigers for free spread throughout within Ji Province . As a result, more unemployed people and farmers who suffered from the drought began moving to Julu .

    This gave Tong a headache because the capacity of the city was limited . From the Julu city structure that Tong had observed, about 300,000 to 350,000 citizens could live in there . The current poption of Julu was 150,000 people . With 60,000 immigrants moving in, the city capacity would be almost full . Combined with the garrison soldiers, they did not have enough room for the future immigrants .

    Thus, Tong consulted everyone in the n chat, and Dong Bai gave her bold opinion .

    "Expansion! Tong, ignore those reputation and politic crap . Take down another Commandery City as your own . "

    Hua Shi also followed suit . "Shangchan County is without a governor . You can allocate your poption there . "

    "We have the control of Anping . How about we move some of them there and build a solid stone wall city there . We can use it as our border city . " Zhang Jiao chimed in .

    Ding Yuan also gave his thought . "Jinyang iscking poption . If you don¡¯t mind, you can move them to my city . Actually, my citycks female poption at the moment, more than half of my soldiers will probably die a virgin if we can¡¯t find women for them . Please send some of them here . "

    Tong could not help butugh at Ding Yuan¡¯sment .

    While Tong was chatting with his family, Zhao Yun came to see him .

    "Sir Zhang, I¡¯vee to say goodbye . "

    Tong raised his eyebrows in surprise . He thought that he had brainwashed Zhao Yun, but he suddenly wanted to leave .

    "Is there something wrong with my army or my city? Why are you suddenly leaving?"

    Zhao Yun shook his head . "You have done nothing wrong . In fact, you¡¯ve everything that I could have wished for . "

    "Then, why?"

    Zhao Yun gulped, then he confessed . "I don¡¯t deserve to be in your army . "

    Like being struck by a lightning bolt, Tong¡¯s heart sunk and all of his movement came to a pause .

    ¡¯Why Dafuq do I feel like I¡¯m being rejected by a woman and she¡¯s using themon excuse [You¡¯re too good for me]!¡¯

    Tong screamed in his mind while he put a palm on his forehead .

    Seeing the dejected Tong, Zhao Yun spoke in a hurry .

    "Please don¡¯t misunderstand! It¡¯s not like I¡¯m refusing to be part of your army . It¡¯s just that I want to travel around thend first to learn about the people and improve my martial arts . I¡¯m afraid that if I stay in one city for too long, I might develop a bad habit . "

    Tong¡¯s eyes brightened after he heard that Zhao Yun did not actually refuse, but dying his service .

    "Oh, it¡¯s like that . " Tong smiled . "Where are you nning to go?"

    "Err . I¡¯m nning to visit You Province . I¡¯ve heard that Gongsun Zan and his White Rider Army is having a hard time at the northern border . I want to see if I can help or I can use this opportunity to improve myself . "

    A smile turned into a frown .

    ¡¯He¡¯s going to Gongsun Zan temporarily in the end . It¡¯s probably his destiny . ¡¯

    Tong Thought and pulled out gold nuggets from his inventory .

    "Take these with you . It should help you on your training journey . "

    Tong gave Zhao Yun a thousand taels worth of gold .

    "This..."

    "Don¡¯t refuse . Traveling and meeting people is one thing . How do you think you can survive during your journey? Hunting wild animals? Picking forest vegetables? There will be a time when you need some money to exchange for weapons or maintenance yourself . Do you think it¡¯s a good idea to travel alone without a proper maintenance weapon? What about the horses? What will you do if your horse suddenly dies or is stolen? You¡¯ll need money to buy a new horse in a city . You can¡¯t simply stroll into a jungle and hope that you can tame a wild horse!"

    Zhao Yun blushed in embarrassment . He indeed did not think that far .

    As Zhao Yun was fidgeting in awkwardness, Tong shoved a bag of gold nuggets along with a sack of food and clean water to him .

    "It¡¯s better to be prepared regardless of the situation . Take them . "

    "S-Sir, but I..."

    "Take them . Or I¡¯ll change my mind . "

    Zhao Yun gulped . It would be a lie if he said that he was not interested in the gold and the food . He made a 90-degrees bow and shouted .

    "I, ZHAO ZILONG, WILL NEVER FORGET YOUR KINDNESS!!"

    Tong nodded and waved his hand, gesturing that he should leave . Zhao Yun bowed in frantic and left with teary eyes .

    Li Feihong, who had witnessed everything, grinned and teased Tong .

    "Are you sure that he wille back? You know, a thousand gold is more than enough for a luxurious retirement in this era . He¡¯s still young and na?ve too . I bet he¡¯ll use your money to buy women and won¡¯t participate in a battle anymore . "

    Tong rolled his eyes upon listening to Li Feihong .

    "He¡¯ll be back . He¡¯s just that kind of person . In our world, he didn¡¯t serve Liu Bei on their first meeting but he joined Liu Bei¡¯s force when they needed him the most . "

    "So, you¡¯re saying he¡¯lle back in a dramatic scene? Like the arrival of the main character in a clich¨¦ movie?"

    "...Probably . Maybe?"

    "Maybe?"

    Tong gave Li Feihong a wry smile . "To be honest, I don¡¯t know if he¡¯ll return..."

    ...

    August 21st .

    The matter about the famine was brought up in Julu morning assembly . Zhang Jiao requested Tong that he should remain in Julu until the end of the next spring season as he was afraid that the provision and the water supply in the city would run out during this time .

    Tong agreed to stay and delegated Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun to allocate excessed poption to Jinyang along with a convoy of supplies .

    Meanwhile, Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, and Bo Cai would take 10,000 men to Changshan County on the west of Julu to establish a base within the county .

    Shangchan County was without a Prefect, so Tong and Zhang Jiao concluded that they should take control of it . If they had more resources, they could build a stone wall around the county and turn it into another Commandery City like Julu .

    Sima Fang suggested that they should upy Zhongshan Commandery City, directly north of Julu, to expand Tong¡¯s influence . However, Tong and majority of the officials disagreed with this notion because theycked talented personals to be the governor of the Commandery City . Secondly, the famine would be more seriously next year, so they could not extend their hands on the city right now .

    In addition, Zhongshan Commandery City was under the protection of the Zhen Family . Although the family influential power was not a match for Tong, they did not want to create another enemy as they had too many already .

    ...

    On the back row of the gathering assembly, Jia Xu mixed in with other minor official colleagues and listened to the meeting while he was pondering about his future ns .

    He realized the position he was in the moment his colleagues invited him into the "Illuminati" club . Jia Xu wanted to curse out loud in the middle of the town square the moment he realized it that Zhang Jiao was plotting a rebellion . But for the sake of the delicious food and big bucks, he persisted to stay .

    The prince, Liu Xie, who was under Jia Xu¡¯s care, got more healthy each day . He also started talking in iprehensible words, but it showed that he was learning . Jia Xu believed that in a few months, he would speak his first word which he was excited that the prince might call him "father" .

    Despite the dream that he could adopt Liu Xie, a letter from He Xing, Liu Xie¡¯s real mother, arrived in his hands this morning .

    As expected from a mother, He Xing wanted her son back as soon as possible . In addition, He Xing and He Jin were now in Nanpi which was close to Julu .

    ¡¯Should I go to Nanpi, or should I stay a little longer?¡¯

    ¡¯But the wage is too godly . I doubt Yuan Shao can afford this kind of sry . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll just send a reply letter to make them send someone to pick him up . ¡¯

    ¡¯It¡¯s a pity . But it¡¯s also good riddance . ¡¯

    While Jia Xu was in a daze, Tong made an announcement which caught Jia Xu¡¯s attention .

    "Please warn your family and your subordinates about this, this year and the next year, the entire northern in and the central in will suffer from the famine . So make sure you stock up your food and water properly!"

    This was the third time that Tong warned everyone . However, Jia Xu missed the first two, so his ears perked up as it was the first time he heard about it .

    ¡¯Famine this year and next year? WTF!?¡¯

    ¡¯If that happens, then what about my daily bacon sandwiches and egg sd!?¡¯

    By reflex, he questioned Tong with a loud voice .

    "On what basis can you tell that there will be a famine next year?"

    The room became quiet the moment Jia Xu spoke out . All eyes locked on him in curiosity as if he was an alien or an animal in a zoo .

 Chapter 147

    Chapter 147

    Chapter 147 ¨C What Da Heck is He Doing Here!? - Part 2

    Tong tilted his head to the side in puzzlement as it was rare for a minor official to question his credibility in the public . He knew that most officials here were the members of Zhang Jiao¡¯s secret cult who believed in supernatural phenomena, so they should have gotten used to his power . Moreover, he had never seen this person before .

    Tong looked at Jia Xu¡¯s face and checked his name in his radar map to make sure that he was not a random spy of Yuan Shao or someone else .

    Then he read his name .

    ¡¯JIA MOTHERFUDGING XU!! WHAT THE HECK IS HE DOING HERE!?¡¯

    ¡¯Wait! He¡¯s my minor official!? Since when!?¡¯

    A shocked face of Tong turned into a smile . His luck was goodtely that he felt like he had cheated his LUC stats .

    "I haven¡¯t seen you before . Are you new?" Tong asked .

    "Yes, I am new . But please answer my question, how do you know? What¡¯s the sign of the drought? Why will it happen next year? What will you do for the city if it¡¯s true? How will you procure provisions for the citizens? Will theck of provision affect the city¡¯s tax ie?"

    Jia Xu fired consecutive questions as his curiosity was piqued . After he mentioned the tax ie, Jia Xu came back to his sense .

    ¡¯Holy shit damn! I forgot that I was supposed to hide myself!¡¯

    ¡¯Goddammit, brain! Shut your traps!¡¯

    It was toote to retract his words . Everybody had the attention on him now .

    Tong coughed and answered Jia Xu¡¯s questions, one by one .

    "For your first question, how did I know? I went to Ganling District and I found several issues on the northern ins . First, thend remation by the peasants and the nobles took down the majority of the rain forest . Because of the excess deforestation, it affects the moisture of the atmosphere and it ruins the nature . Without enough moisture, it won¡¯t rain in certain areas, so some parts of the ins do not get enough rainwater to sustain the groundwater level . Thend dries and the crops will wither because of theck of water . I simplified it a bit, I hope you can understand my point . "

    Jia Xu blinked in confusion . He had never learned about the science, thus, he had no idea what Tong was talking about .

    "Meh, forget it . Let¡¯s say, I scouted thendscape of the northern ins, and there isn¡¯t much water left . We can¡¯t expect that the harvest this year will go well . Once drought happens for a year, there is a high chance that it will happen again in the next year . Do you understand me if I exin it like this?"

    Jia Xu nodded, but he still doubted Tong . ¡¯Dafuq is all that logic?¡¯

    "For the second question, we have already exined it in the meeting, in the case you haven¡¯t listened . "

    Everyone in the hallughed at Jia Xu because Tong had exined it to them earlier already .

    "But I don¡¯t mind repeating it again . Currently, in our granaries and warehouses, we have stored over eight hundred thousand tons of provision, and we have extras in our secret warehouses . They are enough for the townspeople for 2-3 years, so the food problem is never our city¡¯s issue . "

    The crowdughed again . After the introduction of spice and the government shops, Julu had be known as "The City of Gourmet" because of the varieties of unique food, spice, and recipes . Food stalls and taverns in this city were numerous and prosperous from the benefits of the local products .

    "As for the sources of our food, I can¡¯t tell you that since it¡¯s our city¡¯s top secret and also our secret distributor is a very handsome shy young man who is afraid of getting prosecuted as a heretic if he reveals himself to the public or shows off his true talents . "

    Zhang Jiao chuckled and the crowd who knew about Tong¡¯s [Create Food] ability covered their mouth to hold back theirughter .

    "For yourst question, I don¡¯t have to answer that, to be honest . But ... how much gold upkeep do we have to pay each year, father?"

    Zhang Jiao touched his beard and calcted within his mind . "720,000 gold a year or 60,000 gold a month,bined with all the worker sries and military maintenance . "

    Jia Xu opened his eyes wide in shock . The expense of this city was too extravagant . Ordinary city annual taxes were roughly 20,000 gold to 30,000 gold . How could Julu afford to spend so much?

    "And what¡¯s our iest month?" Tong asked his father .

    "Without including taxes, our shop profits 125,000 gold from the food trade . But our average was 60,000 to 70,000 before the drought happens . We have an influx of provision merchantsing from other cities recently because of the drought . The merchant alliance that holds the current concession in our city also bought a lot of goods from us . "

    Jia Xu gulped down his saliva .

    ¡¯Such high ie! What kind of city is this? Is this the Capital City Luo Yang!?¡¯

    Suddenly, he recalled a fracture of his memories of this city . He remembered that everyone always went to work during the day and came home before dusk . He also remembered that the government hired many citizens and put them in various jobs . Even women and children could work for the government!

    ¡¯The government pays to employees, but the government has the absolute control of the food supplies...¡¯

    ¡¯Then those shops! It¡¯s the gold cirction in the city!¡¯

    ¡¯Nobles and peasants get the wage, but they have to pay it back to the city for food!¡¯

    Jia Xu caught up Tong¡¯s secret of his gold management of this city . He threw out high sries to his subordinates and his people, but he took control of the lifeline of every life, the food supplies .

    It was as if Tong was holding everyone in the city hostages . They had to work for him or they would starve . This was a nasty dictatorship system!

    But the problem with the food supplier could not be answered . Who and how could someone or an organization provide this city so much food to the point that Julu could turn it into a money-making-machine?

    Seeing the grinning face of Tong and the unusual depth within his eyes, Jia Xu had a bad feeling swelling in his heart .

    ¡¯This brat is also a fudging fox! I freaking knew it!¡¯

    ¡¯That¡¯s it! I¡¯m bailing out of this city! I don¡¯t want to be enved by this brat!¡¯

    Jia Xu stepped back and bowed to Tong .

    "Please forgive me for my impudence . I¡¯m new, so I¡¯m still inexperience about the way of this city . "

    "I don¡¯t mind . I can see that you are standing in the back, so you might not be able to hear what we¡¯re announcing . "

    "Ah, yes . That¡¯s right . I¡¯m getting older and my ears are getting worse . Please forgive me . "

    "It¡¯s fine . How about this, there is a position in the city that no one has taken it yet . If you take it, I¡¯ll let you stand on the front rows the next time you attend the assembly . We¡¯re actually looking for a military strategist or a city lord adviser . The monthly wage is 1,000 gold, an exclusive mansion in the official areas, and the noble status . Would you be interested?"

    Tong winked at Jia Xu who was staring at him in shock . There was never a government job that could earn 1,000 gold a month from his knowledge, records, or the past memories of Jia Xu .

    Zhang Jiao, Sima Fang, and all officials were shocked as well . Why would Tong suddenly promote a new minor official into the important position within the city?

    Sima Fang could not tolerate it . He stepped forward to object .

    "My lord, this minor official has just been instated for just a few months . He has not contributed or proven his abilities yet . I¡¯m afraid that this promotion is a bit too fast for him . "

    Everyone in the hall nodded and voiced out their objection . It was too impropriate for a newbie to suddenly leap from the lowest rank in the city to one of the top ranks .

    "Ah!?"

    A line of vein showed up under the skin of Jia Xu, he was indirectly insulted as an ipetence official . Jia Xu wanted to refute, yet he swallowed his pride and kept quiet .

    ¡¯Humph! Having someone helping me declining this position is good . I can have a reason to bail out of this city...¡¯

    ¡¯But a thousand gold a month and the luxurious life...¡¯

    ¡¯But I have to board this pirate rebel ship...¡¯

    ¡¯But I can have all the food for myself...¡¯

    ¡¯But this brat will enve me...¡¯

    ¡¯But this very will me a thousand gold a month...¡¯

    Jia Xu stared at empty air in a daze as he was contemting if he should ept this position or not .

    Seeing that Jia Xu could not decide while his own officials objected his idea, Tong gave them another proposal .

    "It¡¯s my bad for suddenly ask a new worker to take such an important position from the start . How about this? I will hold a try-out for anyone who is interested to take the position . Each of the participants will work in the military as a trainee strategist for three months . After the three months trial period ends, we will decide again if the persons are worthy of this position or not . Of course, everyone in this hall can join the trail run . "

    The entire hall was thrown into an uproar as all of them was interested in this trainee position . However, Tong pped to make them quiet .

    "I¡¯m not finished . There will be a prize as well as a punishment for the greedy ones . "

    The crowd gulped as they knew how vicious Tong was when he wanted to punish a noble or an official .

    "Those who are suited for the position will be promoted into the rank for real, and the 1,000 gold a month wage is your prize . "

    The crowd smiled and cheered .

    "BUT... There will be a standard which I will evaluate you myself . If anyone can¡¯t meet my standard, you will be penalized for being greedy without knowing your own limit! The penalty is a 2-rank demotion! All failed participants¡¯ rank will drop 2 ranks from the original position before they take the trainee test . If you happen to be at the bottom two ranks, then you¡¯re fired!"

    The crowd stopped cheering .

    Like being poured by cold water, their face lost color when they heard that Tong could fire them if they were to fail . Majority of the officials in the hall were public servants at the bottom two ranks .

    Also, the senior officials were not feeling confident after hearing that they could get the 2-ranks demotion . It took them decades to climb up from the bottom feeders to their current positions, so they did not want to risk it .

    If they failed, their career in this city would be over .

    On the other hand, Jia Xu tilted his head to the side and pondered .

    ¡¯I have nothing to lose, am I?¡¯

    ¡¯I want that 1,000 gold a month and my luxury life!¡¯

    ¡¯But if I fail, it¡¯s fine too . I can just excuse myself from this city . ¡¯

    With such thought, Jia Xu looked at Tong and smiled .

    "I wish to take part of that trainee thing you mentioned . "

 Chapter 148

    Chapter 148

    Chapter 148 ¨C The New Trainee Strategist

    From the historical timeline, Jia Xu, style name Wenhe, was the renowned vicious strategist who would not hesitate to use anything necessary to win a war during the Three Kingdoms period .

    He was a talent official even before the year 189 when Dong Zhuo moved into Luo Yang . After Dong Zhuo moved in, he was transferred to serve under Niu Fu and became one of Dong Zhuo¡¯s subordinate .

    After Dong Zhuo¡¯s death, it was because of him that helped Li Jue and Guo Si repelled Wang Yun and Lu Bu¡¯s rebellion, the Han Dynasty copsed instead of being restored . Historians pointed out that if Jia Xu did not interfere with Lu Bu¡¯s rebellion, the Han Dynasty would have had a chance to be restored and the civil war would not have happened .

    Jia Xu moved around and served many lords after the death of Dong Zhuo . He served Li Jue, Zhang Xiu, Cao Cao which he entered the prime of his life, and Cao Pi, Cao Cao¡¯s son . His flexibility and adaptability to survive was second to none in this era .

    Under Cao Cao, he quickly piled up his achievements and became known as one of the top strategists alongside with Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, Xun You, Xun Yu, and Sima Yi .

    . . .

    . . .

    In the end, only Jia Xu applied to take the strategist trainee trail . All old foxes decided to wait and see how the trial would turn out before they could apply for the job .

    Jia Xu was guided by Sima Fang to the military camp outside of the city . Before Jia Xu left, he asked Tong .

    "I have a grandson with me, but his mother will being to pick him up soon . Can you send someone to take care of him while I am away? From the looks of it, I will have to stay in the camp for 3 months, right?"

    Listened to Jia Xu requested, Tong had to stop to think .

    ¡¯Jia Xu has a grandson? Now?¡¯

    Tong narrowed his eyes as he did not believe Jia Xu¡¯s words .

    ¡¯I know he had 3 children in the history . But I don¡¯t think his sons should be at the age of having a child...¡¯

    In reality, Jia Xu¡¯s parents had already been killed by Liu Ping¡¯s assassins before he left Luo Yang . After he left the Capital with Liu Xie, he did not have a chance to get married or have a son, let alone looking for a wife .

    "OK, I¡¯ll arrange maids and a wet nurse for you . "

    "Thank you, my lord . "

    "By the way, what¡¯s your grandson¡¯s name?"

    Jia Xu paused to think . "It¡¯s Jia Xie, my lord . "

    Tong shrugged . Whatever his grandson¡¯s name was, it did not have anything to do with Tong . He was just curious about how Jia Xu got a grandchild .

    "Did you adopt him or something? Why wasn¡¯t his mother with him?"

    Mentally shaken by Tong¡¯s sudden interrogation, Jia Xu had a wry smile on his face .

    "We¡¯ve got separated during the time we departed from Luo Yang . Now, please excuse me . " He answered Tong and left in a hurry . If Jia Xu continued to chat, he could predict that his lie would be busted .

    Tong stared at the back of Jia Xu, confused by his suspicious actions .

    ¡¯Is there something wrong about asking for my subordinate¡¯s welfare and his family¡¯s status?¡¯

    ¡¯... Well, I don¡¯t remember his grandchildren¡¯s names anyway . ¡¯

    ¡¯The butterfly effect is in full swing . Who knows what kind of fate that I have changed . ¡¯

    ¡¯Meh, it doesn¡¯t matter . Time to brag . ¡¯

    Tong snickered in his heart . He texted everyone in the n chat .

    Zhang Tong: We have recruited Jia Xu .

    Within two seconds, the chatroom got noisy .

    Dong Bai: REEEEEEEEEEEEE

    Hua Shi: REEEEEEEEEEEEE

    Li Feihong: Dafuq? First is Zhao Yun then you seduced Jia Xu!?

    Hua Shi: @Li Feihong Wait, Zhao Yun!? Where is he? I want his signature!

    Zhang Tong: He left .

    Li Feihong: Tong went gay for Zilong, so he left ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)

    Dong Bai: WTF

    Hua Shi: REEEEEEEEEEEEE

    Zhang Tong: no, u gay

    Dong Bai: Tong, I¡¯m sorry I won¡¯t cut your pee-pee again .

    Dong Bai: Don¡¯t backdoor my Zilong, please .

    Hua Shi: I¡¯m sorry too .

    Hua Shi: You can use my mouth if you want to if you want to release

    Hua Shi: but don¡¯t swing that way, plz .

    Hua Shi: BTW I¡¯m thirsty . Please xxx me tonight .

    Dong Bai: u r still pregnant, slut!

    Dong Bai: use my mouth instead, tong .

    Dong Bai:e to think of it, we haven¡¯t tried it in my butt .

    Hua Shi: Hoe, you still have a child body!

    Hua Shi: Don¡¯t do her, Tong . I¡¯ll clean my butt for u instead .

    Li Feihong: My inws r too lewd .

    Li Feihong: Pls don¡¯t text shy-shy stuff in here .

    Li Feihong: We have many ppl in here, too .

    Zhang Tong: (=_=)

    Dong Bai: Feifei, r u a virgin?

    Li Feihong: Oh, please . I¡¯m a hunter in my previous life!

    Li Feihong: I took down a dozen cougars!

    Hua Shi: A level 99 hunter that protected his own virginity?

    Dong Bai: LMAO

    Li Feihong: TTwTT

    With a poker face, Tong turned off the chat and pretended he did not see anything . He regretted starting a conversation with these bored otherworlders .

    In this era, there was not much entertaining or a rxing activity for them to enjoy, so Tong¡¯s two wives, and sometimes Li Feihong as well, spammed the chat box all day to pass the time .

    Instead of using the n chat to pass long-range messages, it became their source of entertainment .

    Ding Yuan, Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang were not good at texting yet, but they could send messages . Because of the fast pace of the chatting and the unique vocabries, they were unable to participate in the chat .

    Tong imagined if everyone in the chat room understood what they were chatting, he did not know how to exin it to his father and uncles .

    ...

    ...

    Evening .

    Jia Xu rxed in his private strategist tent . Without having to take care of the prince, he wanted to sleep soundly for today .

    His eyelids closed for ten minutes, they opened again .

    ¡¯Dammit! My brain is getting too worked up! Stop thinking!¡¯

    The army training in Tong¡¯s camp piqued his interest . Before he knew it, he was running around asking every soldier about their training routines and schedules .

    Because of the collected information he had, Jia Xu could not stop his imagination and his thought processing . Many ideas came up within his head to the point that his heart was beating faster in every second .

    ¡¯Grr . I¡¯m sleepy, yet I want to write down something...¡¯

    "Guards! Fetch me a pen and papers! I need to write!"

    Jia Xu got more hyperactive, he paced around the tent as he mumbled random words . His eyes did not focus on anything, but he stared into a distance as if he was reading or imagine something .

    A guard arrived with a pen, ink, and a nk scroll as Jia Xu had asked . However, he was not satisfied .

    "Get me 10 more nk scrolls... no, get me 20! And I want another set of ink!"

    Done with his order without gazing at the soldier, Jia Xu began writing and jotting down his ideas .

    Within 10 minutes, all nk space within the scroll was dirtied by Jia Xu¡¯s handwriting . If any schr read the scroll, he would not be able toprehend anything as all characters in the scroll were Jia Xu¡¯s personal secret code . Only he could understand the content .

    Once done with the scroll, Jia Xu looked around and found that another 20 nk scrolls had been prepared for him . He grabbed a scroll in the pile and started writing again .

    From the second scroll onward, his pace slowed down, and the scroll could be read by any literate person . Jia Xu grabbed another scroll as soon as he finished the second one .

    He continued writing all 20 scrolls without stopping, eating, going to atrine . He even asked for another 20 scrolls for him to write .

    That night, Jia Xu wrote 50 scrolls before he got too tired to continue writing . He went to sleep at 7 AM in the morning with a satisfied smile .

    ...

    That morning, Jia Xu did not attend the daily regimen training . The guard on dutyst night reported Jia Xu¡¯s behaviorst night to Tong which caused him tough .

    Jia Xu woke up in thete afternoon . The first few orders he gave to the soldiers that day was .

    "Get me more scrolls, pen, and ink . "

    "And get me the map of the entire Northern Province . "

    "I forgot, have someone sculpt me a few wooden dolls . Wait, make it 100!"

    "And fetch me a craftsman or a carpenter . I have a job for him . "

    A craftsman arrived after Jia Xu¡¯s summon . Thirty minutes after he entered the tent, he rushed out with a few scrolls in his arms with aplicated expression .

    ...

    After that day, Jia Xu cooped up in his tent for an entire week without attending any meeting or training . There was even a rumor going around in the army that Jia Xu was azy person as he had not attended to morning drill training .

    The rumor also caught the ears of Sima Fang and Tong . However, Tong dismissed it as he knew about Jia Xu¡¯s true abilities .

    On the other hand, Sima Fang ordered an investigation of Jia Xu¡¯s antics as it was his job to monitor all officials .

    It was not hard for Sima Fang to obtain the information . Within a day, he had the rough idea why the rumor was going around .

    In a week, Jia Xu wrote over five hundred scrolls which contained many thorough tactics and ideas about the improvement of the current army . Three hundred of the scrolls were guidelines, rules, regtions, military organization structures, and procedures . They were the overhauled version of Tong¡¯s current army system .

    The said scrolls had been delivered to Tong yesterday morning, which Tong was also busy reviewing Jia Xu¡¯s ideas .

    The remaining 200ish scrolls of Jia Xu were still in his private tent because the author of the scrolls said a few words to everyone who came to inspect what he was doing .

    "I¡¯ll give it to you when it¡¯s done! Now, SCRAM!!"

    Knowing that Jia Xu was working hard which was the opposite of the rumor, Sima Fang decided to exin each of his actions in the morning assembly to dismiss the groundless rumor .

    But before Sima Fang had a chance to vouch for Jia Xu¡¯s credibility, a surprise arrived in front of the main government hall .

    A gigantic 20x20m strategic map was carried by 50 strong men . They were made by stone, mud, wood, and it was even colored on some parts .

    Because the map was toorge, Zhang Jiao ordered the men to ce it directly in front of the government hall . Thus, a new uniquendmark of Julu was born on this day .

    More other weird gadgets arrived after therge table was ced . Three wooden-siege-engine-like stairs were rolling to each side of the table, leaving the north area, which was the direction of the stairs to the entrance of the government hall, opened .

    They were the mobile spectator seats that Jia Xu had ordered the craftsman to build .

    Jia Xu himself also appeared after the seat arrangement had beenpleted . The government workers looked at him and the toys with curious eyes while the officials came out from the hall to see what had happened .

    Ignored the onlookers, Jia Xu approached the table, took out a long grabber stick and put several dolls on the map by shoving the dolls with the long stick .

    "Oh, don¡¯t mind me . I¡¯m just ying with my new toys . " Said Jia Xu .

 Chapter 149

    Chapter 149

    Chapter 149 ¨C Humble Jia Xu

    From the strategic table to the audience stair seats, Tong could see what Jia Xu was trying to do . The current assembly meeting was an inconvenience for every official in the back rows as they could hardly listen to the voice of the speaker in the middle of the hall .

    Secondly, the officials usually stood in straight lines, which the front rows blocked the view of the back row officials .

    If a strategic table was ced in the middle of the hall, not many people would be able to see the content of the table, and they would not be able to voice their opinions on the stratagems .

    Tong had this idea for a long time now, but he was too busy to the point that he forgot about it .

    It took another hour for the map to be set up . On the table, there were mountains, rivers, cities, checkpoints, and gates, made of mud and wood, which were ced ording to the real map .

    Tong and everyone recognized them from the first nce . They were the map of the entire northern ins .

    Ji Province, with all Commandery cities, consisted of Julu, Nanpi, Yie, Zhongshan, and Ganling .

    Bing Province which was on the west of Ji Province, Shangdang Commandery City, and Jinyang Commandery City .

    North of Ji Province, the You Province, All the Commandery cities were Beiping, Ji, and Xiangping .

    And the east of Ji Province, Pingyuan and Beihei were part of Qing Province .

    Jia Xu finished setting up all cities and left the site without saying anything . A few senior officials got angry from his manner, but Tong appeased them and vouched for Jia Xu that he was too busy at the moment . Sima Fang also used this chance to clear up the misunderstanding rumor about Jia Xu .

    Listened to the two bigwigs giving Jia Xu some credits, the crowd backed down . They turned their attention to the gigantic map and observed the details in admiration .

    Tong checked the surrounding details in his radar map and the strategic map on the table . He was also impressed by the uracy of Jia Xu, 70% of the table map was the same with his map in the radius of 100km .

    ¡¯Scary, too scary! How does he know everything? Even if he reads a lot of books and scrolls, he shouldn¡¯t have remembered every nook and cranny of the country, right?¡¯

    Goosebumps appeared on Tong¡¯s skins . He was d that Jia Xu was part of his force right now . If he were to join Cao Cao or Dong Zhuo like his previous world, he would have been a dangerous opponent .

    ...

    Jia Xu came back to his tent and continued his daily grumbling alone .

    ¡¯I doubt all of those locations are urate . ¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t have enough info to make a more detailed map . ¡¯

    ¡¯If it were those in the imperial capital, they should have made a better version of that map . ¡¯

    Tong was half right about his guess . Jia Xu did not know everything about the map, he only remembered the famous locations,ndmarks, cities, counties, mountains, and rivers . He stillcked details about viges, roads, forests, hidden mountain tracks, cliffs, and caves on the map .

    ¡¯Those small details can be filled up once I get the authority tomand scout and spy units . ¡¯

    ¡¯Right, there are a few spy organizations in this city . ¡¯

    ¡¯Sima family has one, Zhang Jiao has one, and Lu Zhi ...¡¯

    ¡¯Where the fudge Lu Zhi?¡¯

    ¡¯Doesn¡¯t matter, I¡¯ll ask Zhang Jiao for his spy info . ¡¯

    As usual, Jia Xu did not stop writing or jotting down what hecked or what he thought of . Behind his back, piles of scrolls, which Jia Xu hadpleted, were left there unsorted . They did not need sorting because Jia Xu intentionally put them there as he already remembered which scroll was for . Some of which was merely gibberish nonsense scrolls that he left it to fool a potential enemy spy .

    ¡¯While I¡¯m at it, I¡¯ll ask him for the advance sry . ¡¯

    ¡¯I saw a few good robes in the market . I need to rece the current one I¡¯m wearing . ¡¯

    ¡¯And I want to taste those chicken BBQ again . ¡¯

    ¡¯...¡¯

    ¡¯Fudge! Am I already integrated into the city!?¡¯

    ¡¯...¡¯

    ¡¯Screw it . I¡¯ll just rx and enjoy my job while itsts . ¡¯

    ¡¯Hopefully, I won¡¯t make it to his standard . ¡¯

    ¡¯Everyone in the Capital said I suck at this . So their standard and their abilities should be higher than me, right?¡¯

    ¡¯I suck, right?¡¯

    ¡¯...¡¯

    ¡¯Screw it . Fudge it . I don¡¯t care . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    While Jia Xu was having fun with his job, Tong had a fair bit of trouble .

    It was not troubling at work . It was a family-trouble at home .

    "Use my butt . "

    "Use my mouth . "

    At Tong¡¯s resident, the pregnant Hua Shi and the small little girl Dong Baipeted with each other to service Tong every night since he had returned from Ganling City .

    Although they castrated Tong that day, they also knew that Tong had regenerated "IT" back . Most importantly, Tong had been saving up for months because he tried to go against his [Demonic Curse]¡¯s [Lust] skill .

    "No . I won¡¯t sleep with any of you! Friday, you have to grow up first . Sunday, sex can harm the baby . So no matter how many times I say is still a ¡¯NO¡¯!"

    Tong refused to dual-cultivate with both of them as Hua Shi was still pregnant and Dong Bai was too young for it . Yet, they did not give up their lust .

    <your [lust]="" has="" been="" weakened="" by="" your="" recent="" action="">>

    <chance that="" your="" [lust]="" can="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="" has="" been="" reduced="">>

    <your [lust]="" has="" 0%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <if you="" go="" against="" your="" [lust]="" one="" more="" times,="" your="" [demonic="" seal]="" level="" will="" reduce="" by="" 1="">>

    ¡¯It¡¯s finally down to 0% . ¡¯ Tong sighed in relief .

    ¡¯I wonder what will happen if it gets lower . ¡¯

    While Tong was busy thinking about how to deal with his curse skills, the two perverted duos had not given up yet . Hua Shi stripped her upper body, revealing her white assets . Her chest got bigger again because of her pregnancy .

    "Here Tong, look! Aren¡¯t they your favorite size?"

    Unintentionally, his eyes nced at the round white mountains and his carnal instinct kicked in .

    <your [lust]="" has="" been="" strengthened="" by="" your="" recent="" emotion="">>

    <chance that="" your="" [lust]="" can="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="" has="" been="" increased="">>

    <your [lust]="" has="" 3%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    "DAMMIT!! Women, stop!!" Tong roared at Hua Shi and Dong Bai in anger . He had enough .

    Hua Shi and Dong Bai came to a pause . Because Tong was kind to them, they went overboard and did not think of his feeling most of the times . This time, Tong snapped .

    <your [lust]="" has="" been="" weakened="" by="" your="" recent="" action="">>

    <chance that="" your="" [lust]="" can="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="" has="" been="" reduced="">>

    <your [lust]="" has="" 1%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [wrath]="" has="" been="" strengthened="" by="" your="" recent="" emotion="">>

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 11%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    "Now listen! I¡¯m trying to weaken my curse skills so they can¡¯t take over my body! Stop trying to seduce me or I¡¯ll turn into a monster, ok!? Until I have a solution to my problem, NO SEX!!"

    <your [lust]="" has="" been="" weakened="" by="" your="" recent="" action="">>

    <chance that="" your="" [lust]="" can="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="" has="" been="" reduced="">>

    <your [lust]="" has="" 0%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    Seeing that his [Lust] percentage was back at 0% again . His mood got better .

    "I¡¯ll be sleeping in the guest house today . Don¡¯t disturb me . "

    Both girls sulked . They looked at Tong with their puppy eyes to ask for his forgiveness, but Tong did not fall for it . He opened the door and was about to leave .

    However, before his foot got across the doorway, a system message shocked him .

    <you have=""pletely="" reigned="" over="" your="" [lust]="">>

    <your [lust]="" has="" been="" devoured="" by="" your="" soul="">>

    <your [lust]="" has="" been="" deleted="" from="" your="" [demonic="" curse]="">>

    <your [demonic="" body]="" has="" been="" upgraded="">>

    <your [demonic="" seal]="" level="" has="" been="" reduced="" by="" 1="">>

    . . .

    ***********************************

    [Demonic Curse] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host emits an aura that will give status effects or curses to the designated targets .

    - The skill can be turned on and off .

    - The host can apply [Gluttony] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Greed] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Sloth] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Wrath] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Envy] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Pride] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Despair] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Corruption] to the targets .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan per one target . Duration depends on the will of the host .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Aura radius is one kilometer around the host .

    - Targets have to be locked on by the host .

    - Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Demonic Seal] LV . 9

    - A seal made by the great father . This skill slows down the soul mutation process .

    - Curses of the following cannot be used; [Gluttony], [Greed], [Sloth], [Wrath], [Envy], [Pride], [Despair], [Corruption] .

    - The seal will be weakened if the host increases his mental fortitude .

    - Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    [Lesser Demonic Body] Upgradable, Iplete Conditions

    - Immune to all disease, poisoning, and drugs .

    - Reduce all damages to the host¡¯s body by 20% .

    - Increase all attribute of the host by 10 times .

    - Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    ***********************************

    ...

    Tong checked his status in a hurry and found that his skills had been changed yet again .

    His [Lust] from [Demonic Curse] disappeared, and his [Demonic Seal] level reduced to 9 .

    On the other hand, his [Fledging Demonic Body] changed into [Lesser Demonic Body] and the passive skill got enhanced as his damage reduction percentage increased from 10% to 20% . His attribute buff also increased from 5 times to 10 times .

    Oveing his lust gave him a boon!

    "So that¡¯s the hint by ¡¯Increase my mental fortitude¡¯! All I have to do is to get over my 7 sins . "

    Tong muttered to himself andughed . He forgot that Hua Shi and Dong Bai were still there, looking at him from behind .

    "Has he gone bonkers?" Hua Shi was baffled .

    "He¡¯s ... not very sane since his time in hell . " Dong Bai replied .

    Tong heard the voices of his two girls . He turned around to look at them, and a silly thought appeared in his mind .

    ¡¯Since my [Lust] is gone . I can enjoy myself, right?¡¯</your></your></your></your></you></your></chance></your></your></your></your></chance></your></your></chance></your></if></your></chance></your>

 Chapter 150

    Chapter 150

    Chapter 150 ¨C Demon Soul

    <ding>>

    As Tong was having a dirty thought, a bell sound from the system made Tong¡¯s body and soul shook . It was the same feeling he had when he lost control of his thought and tried to kill a young noble in the auction .

    <your [soul="" of="" lust]="" has="" been="" born="">>

    After the sudden notification, Tong had a strange vision within his mind . He could look at himself from a third person¡¯s view! There was also a feeling of having two more arms and legs .

    While Tong was confused about what had happened to himself, Dong Bai stared at Tong in disbelief .

    "Tong . . . how did you awake your demon soul?"

    [[What!?]]

    Tong¡¯s man voice and a female voice ovepped each other and confused him further .

    "Try to turn around and look at your other self . Use your original body, not your spirit . "

    Still confused, Tong turned around with difficulty . He felt like he was ying a 2-yer-game with 2 joysticks by himself .

    As soon as he managed to turn his real body and looked at the being behind him, he was shocked . A female transparent silhouette was floating behind him . She was also looking at him .

    Her face and her appearance was a mixture between Friday¡¯s body in Hell and Hua Shi . Her slender S-shape body and her perking chest stood out from the rest . In addition, she was naked .

    What Tong found it strange the most was, Tong could see from her perspective! He could see himself from her eyes!

    "What in the boob world...?" Tong muttered .

    "Wow, Tong . You have a stand now?" Hua Shi was also surprised .

    "I see, so that¡¯s your current fetish..." Dong Bai observed the transparent silhouette and nodded .

    "Err... Friday, what?"

    "You have just awakened your demon soul . It rarely happens though . Everyone that is born in Hell can awake this kind of soul as soon as they ovee their inner sins . "

    The eyes of Tong brightened up as he understood the general idea .

    ¡¯So my [Demonic Curse] is the hint!¡¯

    Though he understood the general parts, he was still puzzled by the sudden emergence of this skill .

    "You said everyone born in Hell can have it, but I was just a sinner . How did I have it?"

    Friday tilted her head to the side to think . "Maybe because you mated with me that time?"

    Tong gulped . His brain was processing the information he had at a high speed . The memories of 7-day-7-night marathon sex came back .

    "It was that time?"

    "Maybe . I¡¯m not sure, but it should be . Mom said if I ever slept with you even once, you would be a demon forever . So I tried to sleep in the same bed with you from the first day you got onto my yacht . "

    A wry smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face . It seemed that he was roped into a demon family by Medusa because it was her n all along .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve been yed by a couple demonesses . ¡¯ Tong internally facepalmed .

    "Then what can I do with this soul?"

    Dong Bai pondered while she gazed at the projected demon soul . She gave Tong a yful grin after she thought up of an idea .

    "Normally, you can use the soul to tempt mortals into forming a pact with you . You can grant the mortals a wish or two in exchange for their lifespans . This use is banned in our dimension but I don¡¯t know if the system will allow you to form this kind of pact with anyone in this world . "

    "Oh! I¡¯ve seen movies and novels about it . So it¡¯s like that?" Hua Shi was surprised .

    "System, can you confirm that I can utilize my demon soul in this world?"

    For the sake of his safety and precaution, Tong decided to ask the system for the permission as the system had been getting more serious about weakening otherworlderstely .

    [It¡¯s your skill that is awakened in this dimension, so do whatever you want with it . But be warned that if you were to start a homicide, genocide, or mass murdering innocent people in this world using your skills, I¡¯ll erase all of your demonic power from your soul and kill you on the spot!]

    "Then, can I use it in the future wars or battles?"

    [Basically, do not use any system skill to massacre many natives in this world at once if you don¡¯t want another nerf . Your [Time Stop] assassin technique is fine . But your [Create Food] raining-oil-and-firebo that you¡¯re thinking of is forbidden . However, if it¡¯s something like a one-on-one duel, you¡¯re free to use whatever you want . ]

    Tong clicked his tongue when he heard the raining-oil move was forbidden . He had nned out this tactic in his mind when he was at Ganling . He thought that he could give Sun Jian Army a surprise by using [Create Food] to create oil and soak Sun Jian¡¯s soldiers, then he could use fire arrow volley to finish off the army .

    ¡¯To think that system can predict my move, it¡¯s getting harder to survive a war now . ¡¯ Tong thought .

    "What if I won¡¯t use it as a surprise attack, but I will use it on objects?"

    [...]

    The system was quiet for a minute before she gave her answer .

    [If you happen to use it on other object and cause indirect damages, then it¡¯s alright . But you can¡¯t use it in a surprise attack, for example, you can¡¯t cast it on the ground or the forest when there are already people in the vicinity . But you can cast it on the ground if there is nobody around for preparing your traps, ambush, or whatever it is . It will be their fault for getting careless and fall for your traps in this case . ]

    Tong was not happy about this restriction . Since he could not do anything to resist the system, he could only bow his head and ept his fate .

    "System, back to the original question . Can he form a demon pact with me? You¡¯ve erased all of my demonic power from my soul, so I¡¯m an ordinary human now, yes?" Dong Bai asked the system to confirm .

    [... Yes . ]

    With the system¡¯s simple confirmation answer, Dong Bai cheered up and jumped around . She hugged Tong and began begging him .

    "A pact! Form a pact with me, now! I demand a pact!"

    "Okay, okay . Calm down a bit . How do I do that?"

    "Move your stand, I meant your demon soul into my body . "

    "Okay... I¡¯ll try . Don¡¯t move around . It¡¯s hard to control two bodies at once . "

    While Tong was sweating all over his face, he managed to make his demon soul walk to Dong Bai . Once the soul touched her body, a thought appeared in his mind .

    "You¡¯ll feel my imagination in your head . I want you to try to imagine along with it . Think of it as if it¡¯s a lucid dream . " Dong Bai continued giving Tong instructions .

    Tong could see a dream-like scenery in his mind even though he was still awake . He saw Friday¡¯s true body floating in a white empty space . Her body was cloudy at the moment, but Tong had a feeling that he could adjust the body into whatever he wanted .

    "What you are seeing is my wish . I want to be able to transform into my previous body . You can adjust it to suit your fetish if you want to, but please allow me to wield a bit of power . You can adjust my power scale as well . My maximum physical strength can be anything between 1 to 100% of your true strength with all the buffs from the system . "

    Tong drooled and his brain started working . He adjusted Friday¡¯s curvy body with Medusa¡¯s lustrous body together, creating the ideal partner of his dream without holding back . Without much thought, he adjusted Friday¡¯s strength to 100% of his true power, so she could help him in the future .

    "Done, what¡¯s next?"

    "Set my lifespan as a payment . You can set it to any number you want, but please change it to one year because you¡¯ll be absorbing the exact amount of my lifespans each year . "

    Tong was amazed by the demon pact details .

    ¡¯So it¡¯s like that . Demons can grant a wish to mortals and receive lifespans as a payment . ¡¯

    "What will I lose once the setting is done?" Tong asked Dong Bai as another precaution .

    "Your demon soul will reside with my body until I die . I will be able to project this soul as my guardian spirit andmand it . But you can sense my status, my lifespans, and my well-doing from anywhere 24/7 . "

    Tong followed through with the setting until it waspleted . The lucid dream stat ended, and Tong could feel that he lost a part of the connection to his demon soul . Instead, he could feel the status of Dong Bai¡¯s body condition .

    Noticed that Tong hadpleted the pact adjustment, she gave Tong a cheerful smile .

    "Thank you, darling . Now, I¡¯ll show you the way to use this power . "

    Dong Bai began circting her blood and taking control of Tong¡¯s demon soul . The soul merged with her little girl body and slowly expanded . The five-year-old girl turned into the body that Tong had created in his lucid dream .

    Dong Bai¡¯s face turned into the face of Friday with the body curve simr to her mother, Medusa . Her original breasts were smaller than her current breasts by one size, and her skins were smoother, white, and wless .

    Hua Shi and Tong looked at a live transformation with awestruck .

    Seeing her ideal girl, Tong forgot to close his mouth . His drool continued leaking while his third leg raised its g as a signal that it was ready to participate in a battlefield .

    "Hahaha! Yes! It¡¯s a sess! I can have a permanent adult body!" Dong Baiughed in a high pitch voice which gave Hua Shi creeps .

    "I can¡¯t call you little hoe anymore . I¡¯ll call you a cow-tit monster instead . " Hua Shi mocked Dong Bai .

    "You have no idea, psycho slut . This is his ideal girl! Look at his face . "

    Being mocked, Tong came back to his sense . "So, this is your aim for forming the pact?"

    Dong Bai stillughed . "Yup, I can now transform into an adult anytime I want to without costing a single lifespan this way because it¡¯s your natural skill, not a skill from the system . "

    "What are you going to do with it?"

    Dong Bai coyly peered at Tong with a seductive pose . "What else? Give me your seeds! I won¡¯t let you sleep tonight!"

    ...

    That night, Friday finally achieved her long dream since she came into this world, getting connected with Tong all night again .

    Hua Shi also got a boon from this as she also managed to get her long-awaited dual-cultivation as well . Unfortunately for her, Tong was a no-sex-during-pregnancy-believer, so he did not satisfy her enough . Normally, they did it all night or at least 20 to 30 rounds a night, but Tong cut it down to 5 for the baby . </your></ding>

 Chapter 151

    Chapter 151

    Chapter 151 ¨C Brace Yourselves

    August 31st, 182 A . D .

    5 A . M .

    Little Dong Bai and Hua Shi opened the door and skipped to the bath in a fresh mood, leaving exhausted Tong sleeping on the bed .

    Since a few days ago that Dong Bai formed the pact with Tong, both perverted women drained his seeds like they were craving it for millennia . Furthermore, Dong Bai¡¯s transformed body was Tong¡¯s ideal type of woman, he could never resist her temptation and was sucked dry every time .

    He had to drag his shaking legs to the morning assembly in the morning and fell to sleep in the afternoon to regain his strength .

    ...

    Today as well, after he took the bath, Tong slowly walked with trembling legs like a 100-year-old man to the government hall .

    Before he could reach the government hall, Zhang Jiao sent a message to the n chat .

    "Tong, there¡¯s an emissary from the Emperor with soldiers in the main hall . They havee with the edict . "

    Surprised, Tong texted back . "Has he read the edict, yet?"

    Zhang Jiao replied . "No, but his attitude toward us is not very good . He came with 10 bodyguards and they refused to disarm themselves . They threatened to kill anyone that dares to stop them . Oh, he¡¯s also the same eunuch that used to visit us at our homest year . The guy that asked for our bribe . . . "

    Tong stopped ying an old man and used his regen skill to cure his muscle pain . He dashed toward the government hall while he checked his weapon condition in his inventory .

    "Two pistols, 236 bullets . I¡¯m ok . "

    Initially, he had more bullets . However, Tong gave a gun and a few clips to Li Feihong as his self-protection weapon just in case of emergency .

    He nced at another icon in his inventory with sad eyes . The broken rifle stayed in his inventory for months after the incident in Jinyang .

    During the incident, Lu Bu hammered him hard on his back and stomped on his rifle while he was lying prone on the rooftop of Jinyang government building . After the roof copsed, the rifle was buried under the wreckages . When it was recovered, several parts of the rifle was no longer in a working condition .

    ¡¯That brute . A single stomp can even bend the metal barrel . I wouldn¡¯t have cared if he were to break other parts . Why the barrel!?¡¯

    The M16 barrel was bent . In this era, there was neither technology nor technique that could repair or craft a new barrel with smoothbore and the urate size of the muzzle . Once it broke, it became a useless metal junk .

    ¡¯Whatever the case, the emissary of Liu Ping shouldn¡¯te here for a peace talk . ¡¯

    "Tong, don¡¯t rush in just yet . Wait for us . "

    "We¡¯re going too . "

    Dong Bai and Hua Shi also detected the abnormally . It was too weird for Liu Ping to send a diplomat to Julu .

    Despite being pregnant, Hua Shi took her signaturepound bow with her . Dong Bai also transformed into her adult form and equipped with leather armor and a spear . They were ready forbat .

    Tong wanted to stop Hua Shi froming along, but the vibeing from the emissary was bad as his eyebrows kept twitching non-stop .

    Dong Bai had already told everyone about Liu Ping being the "Ping" who was Tong¡¯s nemesis in his previous life . From the investigation of the Heaven, Ping knew about Tong¡¯s identity which posted a threat to his city and his family . With such information, Tong had no reason to maintain a fa?ade with Liu Ping¡¯s men .

    . . .

    Five minutester, Tong and his wives arrived at the main hall . More than half of the officials were already inside along with Zhang Jiao . Normally, they usually chatted or exchanged their pleasantries every time they met, yet their mood was different today .

    "Hurry and fetch me Zhang Tong and his family . We don¡¯t have all day . "

    On the contrary of Zhang Jiao and his subordinates, the eunuch emissary puffed his chest and raised his chin up high . His arrogant eyes looked down on everyone . He did not bow or show respect to the people inside the hall .

    "Don¡¯t you have good women here? I¡¯ve heard you¡¯ve rescued many fine women from Ganling . We want to see them . "

    "Bring us food, too . We¡¯vee a long way, so we¡¯re hungry . "

    "We¡¯re short on supplies . Give us gold, too . "

    His bodyguards were the same . They ordered the officials in the hall and shamelessly asked for bribes, food, women, and gold .

    Tong entered the hall with a stride . He did not bother showing respect to the eunuch and his guards either .

    As soon as he entered the hall, he red at the eunuch and spoke with a clear intimidating voice .

    "State your business, or leave . We¡¯re busy working here, so we don¡¯t have the times to entertain Liu Ping¡¯s dickless dogs . "

    The rare overbearing attitude from Tong shocked everyone, including Zhang Jiao . It was his first time seeing this cunning son showing a reckless behavior with the officials from the Capital .

    The government guards of Zhang Jiao drew their swords after they heard Tong¡¯s remark . Though it was unusual for Tong to pick a fight with someone, he was still their young master and their deputy governor .

    Meanwhile, the 10 bodyguards of the diplomat eunuch were furious by Tong¡¯s manner .

    "How dare you!"

    "Kneel!"

    "You do know who you¡¯re messing with!"

    "We¡¯re Emperor¡¯s direct subordinates! Kneel!"

    The eunuch¡¯s bodyguards roared back at Tong . Because of their status of the Emperor¡¯s messenger, they passed through all check-points with their weapons . They drew their swords and pointed at Tong to intimidate him .

    The eunuch also peered at Tong and snorted . He could tell from the reaction of the officials and Zhang Jiao, and this young man was Zhang Tong, the young master of Julu City .

    The edict in his hands was also the warrant for Zhang Jiao and Tong¡¯s arrest and their charges of treason, corruption, and illegally possessed private armies . Liu Ping also wrote that the eunuch would be instated as the new governor of the city instead of Zhang Jiao as well .

    As a result, the eunuch thought that he had to demonstrate his authority here and read the edict to everyone once they were all presented .

    "Are you Zhang Tong?" The eunuch asked .

    "Yeah, what of it, sissy?"

    "Bold! Men, kill that brat!"

    The angered eunuch was also infuriated by Tong¡¯s attitude . He thought that aside from the Emperor or the bigwigs in the Capital, he was the King if he were to stroll in all other cities .

    "Oh, hey . Those two girls on the back are fine!"

    "Kill the brat, and we¡¯ll share the girls . "

    The bodyguards smirked at Hua Shi and Dong Bai . They disregarded Tong and thought that he was nothing but a spoiled young master .

    Without waiting for the bodyguards to approach, Dong Bai rushed in first and her spear pierced a bodyguard¡¯s throat with the precise uracy . She pulled back her spear and stabbed another one .

    Hua Shi also fired her arrows . Five light arrows flew overhead of Tong and hit five bodyguards each, however, they had not died yet .

    "How dare you! Do you even know what you¡¯re doing!? We are carrying the edict of the Emperor! Harming the messenger of the Emperor is a crime!"

    Tong ignored the shouting visitors . He charged toward the eunuch and bypassed all the bodyguards with his footwork . With the increase of his speed by his [Lessor Demonic Body] buff, his movement became much faster than he wasst year .

    "You..."

    In a few seconds, Tong stopped in front of the eunuch and shed down his sword from the overhead . His sword cut through the eunuch¡¯s skull like butter and stopped at the chest as Tongcked the power to cut through him from the top of his head to the end of his lower torso .

    The eunuch¡¯s head splitted open and revealed his brains and the inner contents within his head .

    Tong kicked him away and pulled his sword back . He swung it sideway to get rid of the blood on his sword . He leaped back to kill off the other visitors .

    The bodyguards were shocked by the sudden development . Their movements stopped due to the shock and fear .

    Dong Bai and Tong did not let this chance slip by, both of them stabbed and shed at the guards, killing them one at a time with leisure . Hua Shi stopped firing her bow midway and stepped back behind the other officials as she needed to vomit . Her pregnancy got in the way of her fight .

    Zhang Jiao¡¯s government hall guards came to their senses . They rushed in to help Tong subdue the eunuch¡¯s followers . Before they could kill any of the bodyguards, Tong and Dong Bai already finished off all the visitors .

    Zhang Jiao and Sima Fang looked at the chaotic scene from the start to finish in solemn . They wanted Tong¡¯s exnation .

    As if Tong could read their mind, he picked up the golden scroll from the dead eunuch body and read it out loud .

    "An order from Emperor Ping, the governor of Julu Commandery, Zhang Jiao has been cooperating with the Xiangnu tribe barbarians of the north to harm the order of the Han Imperial Court . From our investigation, Julu City governor¡¯s son, Zhang Tong, has attempted to assassinate Ding Yuan, the governor of Jinyang Commandery . Such action and conspiracy cannot be forgiven . All stripes and ranks they are holding are revoked . All of their properties are to be confiscated . Both Zhang Jiao, Zhang Tong and their entire 9 generations must be arrested or executed immediately . "

    Done with the reading, Tong tossed the golden scroll to Zhang Jiao, who was astonished and shocked by the content of the edict .

    The other officials in the room were furious by the injustice edict as well . They knew well about the incident in Jinyang that it was Dong Zhuo¡¯s men who instigated the conflict and attempted to kill Ding Yuan . None of them could have foreseen that the Emperor decided to frame Zhang Jiao and his family this way .

    "This is tyranny!"

    "Absurd!"

    "How can the Imperial Court fall this low!?"

    Sima Fang was in a daze, bbergasted by the turn of events . He heaved out a sigh of relief that he made the right decision of not serving the new Emperor .

    "Young master Zhang, how did you know?" Sima Fang could not help but ask .

    Tong gave Sima Fang an awkward smile . "Liu Ping and I ... have a history together . "

 Chapter 152

    Chapter 152

    Chapter 152 ¨C The Yellow Turban Rebellion Begins

    "By the way, young master Tong, who is this girl? Is she your wife¡¯s bodyguard?"

    Sima Fang pointed at Dong Bai, who had transformed into her adult form .

    Everybody in the hall, including guards, gazed at Dong Bai¡¯s adult form in admiration . Some of them nned to ask her hand in marriage after this .

    Dong Bai smiled at Sima Fang and bowed .

    "My name is Xiao Wu . I¡¯m currently working asdy Hua¡¯s bodyguard, and I¡¯m also serving young master Zhang¡¯s as his chambermaid . Please forgive me for myte introduction . "

    Tong and Hua Shi looked at Dong Bai with a weirdplexion . They were puzzled of why she had to lie . Most importantly, why did she had to introduce herself as Tong¡¯s concubine?

    Dong Bai detected the stares around her, she texted in the n chat .

    "Father-inw, Qi Wu is me, Dong Bai . I don¡¯t want to attract unnecessary attention, so please vouch for my identity, please . "

    Zhang Jiao noticed the message from the n chat . He opened his eyes wide in disbelief .

    "What? How?"

    "I¡¯ll exinter . Please introduce me to everyone as Tong¡¯s concubine, please . "

    "Why Tong¡¯s concubine?"

    "If we don¡¯t do this, I¡¯ll get proposed by god knows how many starving men in here . "

    The corner of Tong¡¯s eyes twitched after he read thetest message of Dong Bai . He darted his eyes around the room and spotted my flushed face officials and soldiers in the hall .

    A threatening feeling dwelled in Tong¡¯s heart . He did not want anyone to have a weird idea on Friday .

    Tong coughed and spoke . "Father, sir Sima, I¡¯m sorry for thete introduction . This girl is Xiao Wu . She¡¯s my new chambermaid and my wife¡¯s bodyguard . Xiao Wu will be working for us from now on . "

    Zhang Jiaoughed and nodded . He also yed along .

    "Ah, I heard that you picked up a jewel from Ganling . So it is her, right?"

    Tong nodded . "Yes, father . "

    Meanwhile, many officials and soldiers sighed in disappointment . Such a valiant woman was rare . Her body and her breast size were unique as well . They felt pity that they could not find her before Tong did .

    Zhang Jiao pped to get everyone¡¯s attention . The matter about Dong Bai was put aside, it was time to think about their future .

    "To be honest, I have never thought that the Imperial Court can sink this low . Framing us for a conspiracy? Well, I have to admit that they are half-right . But all of a sudden, they want to kill me and my entire family? This is where they cross the line!"

    Zhang Jiao decided, he took a deep breath spoke out with determination .

    "We will be no longer keeping our masks on anymore . From this day one, we shall announce our existence of the Immortal Yellow Turban Society to thend . We shall put on yellow clothes and raise our banners . We shall shout our slogans and remind our people ... that the Han is dead!"

    "THE HAN IS DEAD!"

    "THE HAN IS DEAD!"

    The Illuminati members got riled up by Zhang Jiao . They shouted and cheered with excitement that the time had finally arrived . They would go out and spread words in the open that they were parts of the Yellow Turban Rebellion . With the rise of a new kingdom, new positions in the court would be avable . Achievements could be gained from this struggling for power against the Han . New heroes would rise from the battlefields .

    Countless opportunities awaited them in this chaos .

    Though small in numbers, a few new minor officials gazed at the crazy crowd with ambition . They wanted to rise to the top of the food chain too . Thus, they joined in the wagons of the rebels .

    ...

    At the side, Tong helped soldiers cleaning up the mess in the hall, ignoring the crazy bandwagons of lunatics . He shook his head and sighed .

    ¡¯The timeline is not urate to the true history . But it still happens nheless . ¡¯

    ¡¯All my life for 17 years, I¡¯ve been waiting for this moment . ¡¯

    ¡¯I can finally finish this goddamn long quest!¡¯

    ...

    *********************

    **Main Mission No . 1**

    Mission Clear Condition: Zhang Jiao sessfully raises troops and be Yellow Turbans Rebellion Overlord .

    Failure Condition: Zhang Jiao doesn¡¯t raise Yellow Turban Rebellion, or Zhang Jiao die .

    Clear Reward: 1,000 years of lifespan . Bonus experiences for all your active skills .

    Mission Failure: You will die .

    *********************

    ...

    It was the very first mission that he received from the system . It was with him since the first year of his birth .

    It was not long that the system sound rang in his head .

    <you have=""pleted="" your="" main="" mission="" no . 1="">>

    <you have="" gained="" 1,000="" lifespans="">>

    <all of="" your="" skill="" has="" gained="" a="" portion="" of="" exp="">>

    The reward meant nothing to Tong at his current status . However, clearing away all his the old quests was more important .

    Now, Tong had cleared 19 of 19 main quests . He should be able to ept thest main mission of this trial .

    ¡¯Finally, one more mission and there will be no more forced quest . ¡¯

    However, the main quest generation button was still unavable . Tong breathed out a heavy sigh in half-relief . It appeared that not everyone hadpleted all 19 main quests yet .

    While Tong was preupying himself with the missions and his future ns, Zhang Jiao made another announcement .

    "From this day on, I shall be known as [The General of Heaven] . My second brother, Zhang Bao, will be known as [The General of Land] . My third brother, Zhang Liang, will be known as [The General of People] . "

    "Glory to the General of Heaven!"

    "Glory to the General of Land!"

    "Glory to the General of People!"

    Tong nodded . It went ording to the history as they had the same title .

    "Andstly, my son, Zhang Tong, shall be known as [The Child of Heaven]!"

    Tong choked and coughed a mouthful of blood in shock . He had never expected Zhang Jiao to give him a title as well . Moreover, the name was as cringe as PewOOOpie¡¯ssagna rap song!

    "Glory to the Child of Heaven!"

    "Glory to the Child of Heaven!"

    "Glory to the Child of Heaven!"

    The cringe power was over 9,000 . Even Vegeta would have been annoyed to death from the cringiness .

    Tong snuck away from the government hall to escape this silly cheers . Hua Shi and Dong Bai followed him as well . They also cheered andughed at Tong in a merry mood as they had a new topic for the n chat .

    Hua Shi: Glory to the Child of Heaven!

    Dong Bai: Glory to the Child of Heaven!

    Hua Shi: Glory to the Child of Heaven!

    Dong Bai: Glory to the Child of Heaven!

    Li Feihong: Stop spamming > . >

    Li Feihong: What is this child of heaven thingy?

    Li Feihong: Is this today¡¯s trend in Julu?

    Ding Yuan: Odd name .

    Li Feihong: Yes, it¡¯s odd, silly, and chunnibyou AF

    Hua Shi: Do you wanna know?

    Dong Bai: Are you curious?

    Li Feihong: ???

    Li Feihong: Something happened in Julu?

    Hua Shi: Glory to the Child of Heaven!

    Dong Bai: Glory to the Child of Heaven!

    Li Feihong: @Zhang Tong what has happened in Julu?

    Tong did not pay attention to the n chat initially . After Li Feihong had @ed his name, the chat box shed in front of him and forced him to read the messages .

    "..."

    Tong nced at his two wives . They were still giggling and whispering among themselves .

    Tong rolled his eyes upward and texted Li Feihong back .

    Zhang Tong: @Li Feihong Yellow Turban Rebellion has started .

    Zhang Tong: Historical events happened here .

    Zhang Tong: Nothing to see here . Moving on .

    Li Feihong: O_O!!

    Li Feihong: Nothing to see, your sister! That¡¯s an important news!

    Li Feihong: I¡¯ll tell this to others .

    Hua Shi: Glory to the Child of Heaven!

    Dong Bai: Glory to the Child of Heaven!

    Li Feihong: ...

    Zhang Tong: ...

    He shut down the system menu and walked down the government building stairs . In front of the stairs, Jia Xu¡¯s gigantic map was still there . Tong stopped his gazed on Julu City in the map and lost in thought .

    ¡¯Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji, father, and I are the only capablemanders in the city . ¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know if I can count on Jia Xu at the moment . He¡¯s still new . ¡¯

    Tong picked up several unused dolls and ced on the map as he imagined if allmanders were to deploy .

    Four dolls, represented Tong, Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji, and his father, were ced at Julu .

    Three dolls, Zhang Liang, Zhang Bao, and Bo Cai, were at Changshan County .

    Five dolls, Ding Yuan, Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Li Feihong, were at Jinyang .

    Then he put square blocks on the table . Each block was like a chip in a casino . It represented the number of troops in the army .

    Sixrge squares were put on Julu, one square on Changshan Country, and five squares on Jinyang . Eachrge square equaled to 10,000 soldiers, so the total of 120,000 soldiers was ounted into the strategic map .

    Tong withdrew his long stick and stepped back from the giant map to see the overall picture .

    Dong Bai and Hua Shi already noticed that Tong was ying with the strategic map, they sat down on the spectator stand to see what he was doing .

    The two girls were not the only ones who were observing Tong .

    Jia Xu was sitting there, watching Tong from the very beginning . </all></you></you>

 Chapter 153

    Chapter 153

    Chapter 153 ¨C Fake Intel

    Jia Xu had been sitting alone on the spectator seats since he heard that an emissary from the Capital was here .

    At first, he wanted to attend the assembly and wanted to see what the eunuch was here for . However, the moment he noticed the attitude of the eunuch, he chose not to attend the meeting and had been waiting for the situation to resolve .

    Then, he saw Tong and his wives rushed into the hall, and heard the ruckus along with the battle sounds . He figured that the Capital emissary did note here for a talk . Thus, he continued to stay behind and watch .

    With the chaotic voice and sound inside the government hall, it was not hard for Jia Xu to guess that Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong would definitely rebel against Emperor Ping .

    Jia Xu massaged his temples and sighed . This rebel army was troublesome, but they had a good foundation . A little polish could make them shine, but it might take a lot of efforts .

    ¡¯My gold, my retirement fund ...¡¯

    ¡¯MAH HEAVENLY BREAKFAST!¡¯

    ¡¯MAH ENDLESS STEAK LUNCH!¡¯

    ¡¯MAH DREAM-LIKE DINNER!¡¯

    ¡¯Don¡¯t you shit around too much! I can¡¯t clean up your mess forever!¡¯

    He kept watching until Tong walked to his strategic map and started putting dolls and square chips on the board .

    The line-up of the dolls and the chips represented Tong¡¯smanding generals and his troops . Jia Xu focused all of his attention on the map and analyzed Julu¡¯s military power . Combined with his initial knowledge and the spy records from Sima Fang and Zhang Jiao, he understood the general status of the overall military prowess of Julu now .

    The next thing he wanted to know was the quality of the generals and the sergeants .

    ...

    The battle policies were usually decided by the grandmanders, strategists, or the bigwigs in the army . However, the true battle results were always decided by the decisions of the generals, sergeants, and the lessermanders as they had to improvise their own tactics during the flow of the battles .

    Even if the generals were the best tacticians in the world, they could not win a war without subordinates that could execute theirmands andplete their objectives .

    At the same time, best sergeants could not utilize their abilities to the fullest if themanders were inept .

    This rtionship had to go hand-in-hand in a war, or else, no matter how much the army had prepared their homework and nning, they would still fail 100% of the times .

    There was also the famous quote of Sun Tzu .

    "Know thy enemy and know thy self, find naught to fear in 100 battles . "

    "Know not thy enemy, but know thy self, win once, lose once . "

    "Know not thy enemy and not know thy self, find defeat in every battle . "

    Jia Xu also learned about this quote . However, he had another idea which was a derived version from Sun Tzu¡¯s teaching .

    "Know thy self, half thy victory secured . "

    "Not know thy self, defeat is guaranteed . "

    Without the self-evaluation and self-awareness, jumping into a battle with only the enemy¡¯s information was the same as a suicide .

    In a situation when someone goes into a battle with only the knowledge of the enemy¡¯s weak points, but he does not know his own capability if he could exploit it or not . Then he would be a pushover who challenges against a giant as he would be relying 100% on his luck that his enemy has to be either stupid or weak so he could achieve his victory .

    This motto was with Jia Xu since the day he passed the imperial examination and became an official . As long as he could understand his own limits and his abilities, he would have nothing to fear against all trickeries by his enemies as he would have already seized 50% chance of the victory . In the situation where he could predict that he would not have enough hidden trump cards to y against his foes, he would simply retreat from the conflicts .

    Having 50% chance of victory by having all controble factors in his hands was better than betting his luck purely on his enemies¡¯ unpredictable actions .

    Thus, he managed to survive against all odds until this day .

    Now, he had jumped on board of this rebel ship . He had to understand every bit of power that Tong and his men had .

    ...

    ¡¯4 ... 5 ... 6 ... So it¡¯s 60,000 soldiers in Julu . ¡¯

    ¡¯10,000 on Changshan and ... 50,000 in Jinyang!?¡¯

    ¡¯Since when has he taken over Jinyang!?¡¯

    ¡¯I see g marks in Anping and other two counties . So he owned those as well . ¡¯

    ¡¯4 ... . 5, five dolls at Jinyang . So he has many trustworthy subordinates there . ¡¯

    ¡¯I see several dolls in Julu and Changshan . But are they capable?¡¯

    ¡¯Is it a vain trust or are they capable enough to earn his trust?¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll need more intel about our generals . I¡¯ll ask that grumpy Sima again . ¡¯

    Jia Xu maintained his focus on the map to obtain more hidden information .

    Once Tong had done cing his ally armies, he picked three red color dolls and three 10,000-troops-chips on Ganling City . They were Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, and their 30,000 soldiers .

    Tong stopped after cing the dolls of Sun Jian Army . He left the strategic map and walked to Lu Zhi¡¯s former residential areas as he wanted to obtain more information from Lu Zhi¡¯s spy organization .

    Seeing that Tong had finished ying on the map, Hua Shi and Dong Bai also returned to Tong¡¯s courtyard to rest . They also send a messenger to Zou Shi to invite her for a hang out as well .

    With everyone had gone, Jia Xu was left alone again . Despite staying here alone for a long time, no one had noticed him .

    Jia Xu walked down the spectator stand and arrived on the side of the map . He recollected all intel he had obtained from both Sima Fang¡¯s spies and Zhang Jiao¡¯s spies .

    After he recalled all of the information he had, he reced all Tong Army yellow dolls in Jinyang with red color dolls . All gs around Jinyang were reced with different color gs as well .

    ¡¯That brat Zhang Tong is good on most of the fields, but he sucks at intelligence management . ¡¯

    ¡¯Putting the dolls here in the open is like telling the enemy spies that they have allies . ¡¯

    ¡¯But thanks to him, my initial ns will work wlessly . ¡¯

    Finished recing the dolls, Jia Xu called a servant to deliver Tong a message .

    "Please tell young master Zhang, do not tamper anything on the strategic map unless I¡¯m around . The map is notpleted yet . Secondly, if young master Zhang wants to mobilize an army or deploy troops, please consult me first . "

    Done with the message, Jia Xu left the table and walked to the direction of Sima Fang¡¯s Department of Justice building . He smiled while he peered at several groups of garrison soldiers who were looking at him in a distance .

    ¡¯One or more of them should be the Capital¡¯s spies . ¡¯

    ¡¯Now I¡¯ve leaked an intel for you . It¡¯s time for you to take the bait . ¡¯

    ¡¯Dance for me, bitches!¡¯

    ...

    An hourter, Tong received the message from Jia Xu .

    "He saw me using the map?"

    Tong was surprised . He was too single-minded at the time, and he did not pay attention to his surroundings .

    ¡¯Don¡¯t tamper with the map? Is he nning something?¡¯

    ¡¯Alright, I like what he is doing so far . Let¡¯s see what his master n is . ¡¯

    "Go and tell Jia Xu . Come see me tomorrow . I want to have a word with him . "

    ...

    ...

    11 PM . The same day .

    Ten soldiers in the pce guard uniform snuck to the strategic map . They jumped on therge map and huddled together, hiding the light of a small torch .

    At the center of their huddle, it was the location the cities where Tong put the dolls and square chips on .

    "One te is ten thousand troops . Sixty thousand in Julu and ten thousand in Changshan . "

    "Our guys in the army also confirms this information . "

    "Good . But what about the other dolls they put on Jinyang and Ganling?"

    The spies put their torches near the map of Jinyang and Ganling . Their sights focused on the gs and the color of the dolls .

    "They¡¯re in a different color . Julu Army is yellow . Ganling and Jinyang are red . "

    "Can we confirm that Jinyang and Ganling are their enemies?"

    "We don¡¯t need to . Our job is to collect the info . Those will be ourmander¡¯s jobs . "

    "Right . We learn what we need . Let¡¯s scram . "

    Done with their jobs, the spies put down their torches and used the night as cover to escape from the scene . All of them ran, kept their head down, and proceeded to the exit gate of the inner government building walls .

    Theyughed in their heart . This city¡¯s security was a joke to them . All they had to do was to create a fake identity and register their names to the city hall . Once it was done, vo, a token of the citizenship of Julu .

    "Let buy a few souvenirs before we return to the Capital . " One of the spiesughed .

    "Yeah, let¡¯s . "

    As they took a step crossing the gate, a terrifying scene revealed to them . Hundreds of garrison policemen had surrounded them . Their hundred torches illuminated the dark night into a day, and their crossbows also pointed at the ten spies .

    "FBI, You¡¯re surrounded! Surrender now!" The surrounding polices shouted .

 Chapter 154

    Chapter 154

    "FBI, You¡¯re surrounded! Surrender now!" The threatening sound of the hundred policemen shocked the spies .

    Behind the police, Sima Fang and Jia Xu were observing the situation from behind .

    "Please let one of them escape . Don¡¯t forget this . " Jia Xu whispered Sima Fang .

    "We¡¯re not killing all of them?"

    "No, I want to leak a false intel . Let one of them go . "

    "I see . "

    Sima Fang whispered to the one-hundred manmander of the unit .

    "Let one escape . "

    "Which one?"

    "The guy with good muscles . Make it believable . "

    "Yes, sir!"

    epted the order, themander passed Sima Fang¡¯s order in secret .

    Meanwhile, the spies were hesitating if they should surrender or not . The escape route on the front gate was blocked, but there were still more escape routes they could take .

    Before they could decide, a volley was fired .

    A hundred arrows flew for the spies¡¯ torsos, turning half of them into porcupines . The remaining half were shot by the legs . Two of them stumbled and fell on the ground .

    "RUN!"

    The three remaining spies started running . Each of them separated and ran back into the government inner area .

    "GIVE CHASE!" The policemander shouted . Fifty soldiers rushed after the fleeing spies while the remaining fifty stayed behind to deal with the injured prisoners .

    "Disarm them and treat their wounds . I want to interrogate themter . " Sima Fang ordered .

    Jia Xu peered at Sima Fang . "There¡¯s no need to . Just kill all of them . "

    "We can still squeeze some info from the survivors . Killing them all right now is too wasteful . "

    "No, you misunderstood me . There¡¯s a reason for the swift kill . I want to make the other hidden spies of other forces think that we¡¯re pissed because an important info has been leaked . "

    The eyes of Sima Fang glinted by the torchlight . He could understand a bit of Jia Xu¡¯s initial fake intel n, but he still could not understand the meaning of this move .

    "Exin in more details, please . "

    "Even if one of the spies survive, the other spies in his force or from other forces will think that this group of agents was ipetence and won¡¯tpletely believe in the survivor . But if we kill everybody here without bothering to interrogate the captured spies, they will think that our action is too unnatural and will lead their mind into thinking ¡¯The survivor has a good info¡¯ . Do you get the idea?"

    Sima Fang was astonished from Jia Xu process of thinking and nning .

    "You want the survivor to spread the information?"

    "Exactly! I want everyone to get a hand on this info . The more people knew the more credibility it is!"

    "But what¡¯s the point of this? The edict is already said enough that we were cooperating with the Xiangnu . That alone is enough proof that we are at odds with Ding Yuan in the eyes of others . "

    "But not to Liu Ping . "

    Like a thunderbolt struck on Sima Fang, he stood still motionless as he remembered that it was Liu Ping who issued the framing edict . He should have known the truth that the Tong and Xiangnu tribes were not in league with each other .

    If only one spy were to report that Ding Yuan and Tong were at odds with each other, Liu Ping would get suspicious!

    However, if there were other sources of information that had the same intel, what would Liu Ping think?

    "Will the fleeing spy spread the news?" Asked Sima Fang .

    "Normally, he won¡¯t . But once we show the heads of these guys in the public, they will make a move . If my guess is right, all our neighbor spies in Julu city will help this lucky guy out of the city in exchange for this information . "

    ...

    As nned, one of the spies managed to slip through the . Sima Fang ordered the police to chop off the heads of the spies and put in on poles .

    "Make an announcement to the public . These people are traitors that tried to infiltrate our government hall at night . " Sima Fang ordered .

    Jia Xu also made another public announcement notes for Sima Fang to use .

    "The new Emperor Liu Ping is jealous of our city¡¯s prosperity . Yesterday, he sent an edict that Zhang Jiao, Zhang Tong, and his entire family are in leagues with the barbarian tribes which is false!"

    "Not only the Emperor wants to kill our hardworking governor and his family, he demands that the citizens have to pay extra taxes because they supported the governor and harmed the Han Court indirectly . "

    "With such tyranny, I, Zhang Jiao, the Governor of Julu Commandery City, will no longer serve the tyrant Emperor . I and my family will fight against the corrupted officials, evil Han Court, and the iron-fisted Emperor for the sake of our people and our city . "

    "Please forgive me for implicating all of you citizens . "

    "Signed: Zhang Jiao . "

    Sima Fang read the draft with a deep frown as Jia Xu boldly forged Zhang Jiao¡¯s public statement without his permission .

    Dissatisfied with this method, he red at Jia Xu . "This is too much! I can¡¯t public this without our lord¡¯s consent . "

    "Oh, please . Politic is always dirty . War is even nastier . This is softcore . "

    "I knew that . But public this without his permission won¡¯t do!"

    Jia Xu stopped and nced back at Sima Fang to calcte his next move, then he was reminded of Tong¡¯s behavior on the day he called Jia Xu out .

    ¡¯That brat seems to be interested in me . I should use him as my backer . ¡¯

    "Go ask young master Zhang . He¡¯ll approve of this . "

    Sima Fang was taken aback when he heard Jia Xu mentioned about Tong .

    "... Haiz . " He sighed as he gave up . "Fine . I¡¯ll do it . But you¡¯ll take full responsibility for this if this goes wrong . "

    "I know . Haha!"

    ...

    ...

    September 1st, 182 A . D .

    Heads of the spies were pierced by poles and a new announcement was posted on the public announcement boards .

    The spy criminals shocked the townsmen, but the rebellion announcement threw the city into an uproar .

    War!

    A simple word that could intimidate any county or city that was about to experience it . The horror of being on the side of the invaded city, county, or a country could shake the moral of the citizens to the soul .

    Even if there was not any concrete proof or news about the Imperial Army approaching, the first thing the people thought about was their safety . As a result, the citizens were running around, telling their families about the news and started stocking their provisions .

    The panic spread like a wildfire . Fortunately, Sima Fang had prepared for this and already deployed all police forces at several important locations, such as government shops, government buildings, granaries, and water sources . As a result, no damage urred in the city as all potential rioters were arrested in time .

    This announcement also caught the eyes and ears of all spies in Julu City . Each organization was in chaos, trying to get every information and rumor they could get .

    And they caught a clue ofst night incident .

    Ten suspects infiltrated the government main hall and nine of them were killed .

    "Thest one was caught?"

    "No, didn¡¯t they say they killed everyone on the spot?"

    "I got an intel from the participated soldier . They were ordered to kill everyone . "

    "So one has escaped!"

    "Isn¡¯t it odd that they didn¡¯t bother to capture any prisoner?"

    "It is . "

    "Too weird . "

    "Something has made them hasty . "

    As Jia Xu had predicted . All spy organization made the conclusion that something was not right in the operationst night . They should have captured a few to extract some information first . However, the government intentionally made an illogical decision by killing them all .

    "Maybe those ten found something sensitive?"

    A question appeared in the mind of these lurkers . They mobilized their men to find a trace of this spy, so they could extract the information from him and reported it back to their lords .

    A few smarter agents nned to infiltrate the government buildings instead of looking for the escaped agent . But after seeing the increased in the security of the government houses, they changed their mind .

    "We can¡¯t get that info this way . We have to look for that man!"

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, the afternoon of the same day .

    In a closed room inside the government main building, Tong and Jia Xu were having a private conversation about the past preparation made by Jia Xu, the military overhaul, and about the fake info n .

    They had been in the room since morning as there were too many things that both Jia Xu and Tong had to ask each other and tune their brain waves .

    Tong revealed his abilities, [Inventory], [Create Food], and his radar map . He also told Jia Xu about the rtionship between his force and Ding Yuan¡¯s .

    Despite the shocking revtion, Jia Xu was happy that Tong was honest with him as he was also a fair person . If his lord was honest to him, he would do the same as well . Jia Xu told Tong the process of his thought in earnest and pointed out all ws in Julu City, including his economic system .

    "So, you¡¯ve made this stupidlyrge map to fool the neighbor spies?"

    "Correct, my lord . All our city ssified info has been leaked and still leaking to our neighbors for a long time already since your father has been instated as a governor . It¡¯s about time that we use our weaknesses to our advantages . "

    The current topic of their conversation focused on the counter-spy n that Jia Xu improvised .

    "With the stance of Liu Ping, I believe that he will dispatch his troops to this city soon . So the false info we have leaked will be the pivot of our entire movements . "

    Jia Xu opened another roll of paper . It was a small map of Ji Province that he drew . His finger pointed at Jinyang as he exined .

    "If he wants to eliminate us that badly, he will mobilize his troops from the capital and garrison at Jinyang while the other detach armies will head to Yie Commandery . "

 Chapter 155

    Chapter 155

    Chapter 155 ¨C Sudden Rush

    "Still, that is an optimistic estimation . I believe he will send more edicts to our neighbor lords to make them attack our city . "

    Jia Xu continued . "From our rtionship history with our neighbors, Liu Yan will definitelyply with the edict . But Han Fu and Yuan Shao forces will pretend to attack us in the surface while they were ring at each other¡¯s throat . "

    "Han Fu and Yuan Shao? Yuan Shao is back at Nanpi?"

    Jia Xu nodded . "Yes . " He had received the letter from He Xing which gave him the recent update of the changes in Nanpi .

    Both former Empress He and He Jin were now seeking asylum in Nanpi . In addition, Yuan Shao and his main family escaped from Luo Yang to this city .

    From the content of the letter, Yuan Shao was dissatisfied with Liu Ping, and he wanted to help He Xing regaining back her influence power within the court . So that he could eliminate the eyesore, Liu Ping . It was so obvious to Jia Xu, Yuan Shao wanted to make both He Jin and He Xing his puppets in the long run . With both of them under his control, he could go on a rampage as if he was the Emperor himself .

    Jia Xu had a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek . He was making a tough decision if he should reveal the identity of Liu Xie to Tong or not .

    "Han Fu should not be a problem . I have a mole inside his force, but I¡¯ve lost contact with him . Ourtest spy reports said that he¡¯s the grandmander in Han Fu Army, but I don¡¯t know if he can switch to our side at the most crucial moment . "

    Hearing another shocking intelligence, Jia Xu snapped back from his thought . Another idea was inspired after he realized the existence of the mole .

    "What¡¯s his name?" Asked Jia Xu .

    "Zhang He . "

    "Good . Then we shouldy siege on Ye City right away! Please give the order to the army now!"

    "Wait, now?" Tong was puzzled, baffled, and amazed by Jia Xu¡¯s decisiveness .

    "Yes . As soon as possible . And preferably we should rush there within a week at thetest!"

    "May I hear your reason?"

    "We¡¯ll talk as we proceed with the deployment . Please use your [Create Food] for the army provision and stock them in your space inventory for now . We¡¯ll rush the deployment . As the matter of fact, we will travel light with only weapons . The soldiers don¡¯t have to bring their armors on this trip . "

    Tong gulped . The request was absurd as they did not have enough information from Zhang He . If Tong were the local lords in this era, he would have denied this suggestion of Jia Xu .

    However, Tong knew exactly how sharp Jia Xu was .

    ...

    In the true history in 198, Jia Xu plotted against Cao Cao and drove him back at the battle of Wan Castle where Dian Wei and Cao Cao¡¯s eldest son was buried . Cao Cao wanted to continue sieging Wan Castle after his defeat, but the reports from the north terrified him .

    The report said Tian Feng had advised Yuan Shao to attack Xu Chang, Cao Cao¡¯s Capital City . Afraid that Yuan Shao wanted to make a move on himself, Cao Cao and his force decided to retreat from Wan .

    Zhang Xiu wanted tounch a counter-attack after he heard that Cao Cao began retreating, but Jia Xu advised against him not to pursue and predicted that Zhang Xiu would lose if he were to chase after Cao Cao . In the end, Zhang Xiu pursued Cao Cao¡¯s retreating force and was defeated, just like Jia Xu¡¯s prediction .

    Regretted by not listening to Jia Xu¡¯s advice, he came back and asked Jia Xu again and consulted him if he could defeat Cao Cao .

    This time, Jia Xu advised Zhang Xiu tounch a swift attack on Cao Cao¡¯s troops which contradicted to his earlier advice . Though doubted, Zhang Xiu heeded Jia Xu¡¯s words andunched a quick raid on Cao Cao¡¯ retreating troops .

    He won that battle!

    After Zhang Xiu returned, he questioned the reasons behind Jia Xu¡¯s suggestion, which he exined .

    "Changes can happen in warfare . He has retreated his troops in the battle haft-way, there is only one exnation . Something might have happened at his bases, or someone threatened to invade his cities . When he retreated, I knew he would be the rearguard for his troops . Even though both troops are equal in terms of strength, Cao Cao is still a much bettermander than you, general . Thus, you can¡¯t win . But after he defeated you, he would let down his guard and rush his troops into retreat and entrust his rearguard duty to someone else . Since his generals are no match for your leadership skills, thus you¡¯ve won . "

    In that battle, Jia Xu demonstrated his battle-flow reading skills as he could grasp the changes in the situation and make use of it, which was one of the reasons why Cao Cao valued Jia Xu¡¯s talents and forgave his sins for killing his son and his bodyguard general after Jia Xu and Zhang Xiu surrendered to him in the year 199 .

    ...

    "I trust you . " Tong passed Jia Xu hismand token . "I¡¯ll give you my authority . Get our troops ready . I¡¯ll be going with you, too . "

    Surprised by the quick "Yes", Jia Xu gulped . He stared into Tong¡¯s eyes and pondered .

    ¡¯Is he na?ve, or does he trust me that much? But ...¡¯

    Jia Xu could tell, Tong was sincere to him to the point that he had told him about his true abilities which could be seen by ordinary traditional schrs as fraudster¡¯s parlor tricks . But he did not afraid of Jia Xu seeing him as a trickster at all . That courageous confession could not happen if someone did not fully trust the other party .

    ¡¯Should I bet everything on him? Should I leave a way out?¡¯

    ¡¯But if I left with Liu Xie, this force will perish by the hands of Yuan Shao!¡¯

    ¡¯Can Yuan Shao be this easy to talk to?¡¯

    ¡¯Can Yuan Shao be this sincere?¡¯

    ¡¯Can he give me the same wage as Zhang Tong has given me?¡¯

    ¡¯...¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯m stupid . The answer is fudging NO!¡¯

    ¡¯That moron is an aristocrat! Since he wants to manipte even the former Empress, he won¡¯t treat me like what Zhang Tong did!¡¯

    The eyes of Jia Xu¡¯s red up . He had made the decision .

    "My, lord . There is another thing that you have to know . "

    "What is it?"

    "The third prince, Liu Xie, is under my custody!"

    Hearing Jia Xu¡¯s confession, Tong stopped speaking . He allowed Jia Xu to exin himself while he was trying to suppress his agitation .

    The existence of Liu Xie or the future Emperor Xian was crucial in the power struggling in the Three Kingdoms Period . Tong could dere Liu Ping¡¯s coronation as invalid and make Liu Xie into another Han Emperor if he wanted to, but he would need a few influential people who could warrant the bloodline of Liu Xie .

    Then, He Jin and He Xing came to his mind . They were with Yuan Shao!

    The general picture of the situation was broadened in Tong¡¯s mind . He understood Yuan Shao¡¯s true intention now .

    Jia Xu continued exining and bowed . "There will be agentsing from Nanpi . He Xing had demanded the prince from me before I met you . I¡¯m sorry that I kept this a secret . "

    Tong shook his head . "No, it¡¯s fine . This is sensitive information . Withholding this intel is a correct approach . If I were you, I wouldn¡¯t have told anyone too . "

    Listened to Tong, Jia Xu was relieved .

    "Then what are you going to do with him?" Tong asked .

    "For now, let¡¯s strike Ye City first . This matter is more urgent . For the rest of this matter, I¡¯ll exin to you as we rush to Ye . "

    ...

    In thete afternoon, all spies in the vicinity looked at the government in shock . An urgent dispatch order was issued from Tong .

    Thirty thousand soldiers had to march from Julu City before the nightfall . The destination of this deployment was unknown, but they were heading south .

    Because Bo Cai took all of his light cavalries with him to Changshan County and Zhang Liao troops took back their warhorses, Tong did not have cavalry in his army .

    Tong had tried to import horses from other cities and counties before, however, he could only get retired workhorses which was not suited for cavalry battles .

    Secondly, Li Feihong¡¯s promised first batch of warhorses would be delivered by the end of September as he had to let them grow up in his private world first . Ding Yuan¡¯s horses would also be delivered to Julu along with iron ores that Zhang Jiao had pre-ordered Ding Yuan to mine more ores .

    All resource industries took times before they could be handed over to Julu .

    Tong did not have a choice, he and Jia Xu rushed the troops to Ye City per Jia Xu¡¯s advice . Though he did not know why Jia Xu rushed him to do so, Tong still believed in his decision . Once he reached Ye City, everything should be revealed to him and the questions in his mind should also be answered .

 Chapter 156

    Chapter 156

    Chapter 156 ¨C Fa-Du-Gu

    September 1st, at dusk .

    A caravan of merchants entered Julu City . Among the merchants, a group of soldiers in disguised and a charming woman rested in a carriage .

    The woman was He Xing, the former Empress He that ran away from the Imperial Court . All soldiers inside her carriage were also women . They disguised themselves as a group of performers .

    Despite the fact that He Xing could have sent an envoy to retrieve her son, she still snuck out of Nanpi to see Liu Xie herself . She might be a former Empress, but she was still a mother . Her son was her everything .

    In addition, He Xing did not like Yuan Shao and his attitude during their escort . She saw her elder half-brother, He Jin, bowed down to Yuan Shao and followed him like a tamed dog while Yuan Shao acted as if he was the Emperor . She was not stupid enough not to know what Yuan Shao was thinking .

    Living in Nanpi with Yuan Shao was impossible for her . If she continued to stay in that city, one day, Yuan Shao would take her as his concubine and im the right to the throne . Afterward, she and her son would be enved by Yuan Shao forever .

    Disillusioned by the dark side of the political warfare, she decided, she would not be anyone¡¯s tool in this civil war . She would take back her son and live her entire life as amoner from now on .

    "I saw an army passing by . Go and ask around where they are going or doing . "

    "Yes, your majesty . "

    He Xing gave her servants a bitter smile and shook her head .

    "I¡¯m not the Empress anymore . Just call me by my name . "

    "... I¡¯m sorry, Your Majesty . To us, you¡¯re still our Empress . Please forgive us . "

    "Please forgive us, Your Majesty . "

    The bodyguard girls bowed to He Xing .

    "Haiz, go then . Ask the townsmen for me . I want to know what has happened in this city . "

    ...

    September 2nd . Morning .

    He Xing received the reports about the recent changes in Julu . Though shocked, she did not mind it as the thievery and crimes here were umon . The "Police" garrison soldiers always patrolled the city, and the police booths were everywhere . She admired how they cared for the citizens .

    The cost of living here was two times higher than the capital due to Tong¡¯s dictatorship and the intion of the gold value . He Xing used to be an Empress, so her financial power was not an issue .

    But the real problem was the recent announcement, Zhang Jiao dered rebellion and vowed to fight Liu Ping to the death .

    He Xing connected this information with the recent deployment of the troops, which she had seen yesterday . Julu Army should be marching southward to establish a base to prepare for the uing war .

    She also disliked Liu Ping . Even though he was her adopted son, who was the surviving son of the previous Empress Song, Liu Ping always lecherously looked at her as if he desired her body, which disgusted He Xing .

    She wished that Liu Ping would die a horrible death!

    Now, she had found a force that also hated Liu Ping . She had aplicated feeling toward Zhang Jiao and his army . She was d that someone also wanted to kill Liu Ping as well, but she was afraid that this city forces might not be a match for the Capital Army .

    "Should I ask Yuan Shao to help them?"

    He Xing shook her head again . Despite the fact that Yuan Shao also wanted Liu Ping dead, he was overbearing and arrogant to the bone . He would definitely imprison her if she were to return to ask him for the assistance .

    "What am I thinking? Aren¡¯t you going to quit the politic world? It¡¯s no longer my business now . "

    He Xing gave up the thought . She continued waiting for her subordinates¡¯ news about her agent that protected her son . She wanted to see Liu Xie as soon as possible .

    It did not take long for her subordinates to rush back to He Xing .

    "Your Majesty, we¡¯ve found His Highness Liu . He is currently residing in the official residential area . And ..." The reporting girl hesitated .

    "And?"

    "His guardian, Jia Xu, has entrusted His Highness with one of the officials here . His name is Sima Fang ... he was once a minister in Luo Yang ..."

    The eyes of He Xing brightened up because she knew this person . Sima Fang was well-known by all as he was a stern, earnest, and a loyal minister . However, due to the political infighting between her, Liu Ping, and the eunuch faction, Sima n left Luo Yang and disappeared from the scenes .

    She was d that this person was still alive and he was taking care of her son . It was the best scenario possible for her .

    "Let¡¯s pay him a visit . I want to talk to him . "

    "Yes, Your Majesty . "

    ...

    Sima Fang was at Tong¡¯s courtyard today . He came here with Zou Shi to deliver Liu Xie to Hua Shi as she should be in the middle of learning how to take care of a newborn baby . With Liu Xie under her care, it would be like killing two birds with one stone . In addition, have women taking care of the young prince was far better than having Sima Fang looking after him .

    Hua Shi, Zou Shi, and Dong Bai were ying with the young prince in a merry mood . Tong had informed Hua Shi and Dong Bai about the prince¡¯s identity through the n chat, so they knew what woulde once he grew up .

    Moreover, because of Hua Shi¡¯s irregr hormone and her perversion, her breasts asionally leaked out breast-milk and forced her to wear a chest pad . With Liu Xie around, she could practice feeding him too .

    However, Hua Shi cringed when she heard the idea . As a former nurse, she had enough experiences dealing with kids and babies . Moreover, there was no reason for her to breastfeed someone else¡¯s little brat as he already had a wet nurse .

    "For now, please bring in his wet nurse . There¡¯s no need for me to rece her just yet . Besides, he is probably over a year old now . He can eat soft vegetables or soft meat instead of breast milk for every meal . "

    In the end, Hua Shi refused to be the prince¡¯s new wet nurse, but she epted the task of being his nanny .

    "Walk slowly! Walk slowly!"

    Zou Shi and Dong Bai were having fun teasing the baby prince .

    "Da-ma-fa-fad . "

    "Oh? Is he trying to talk?"

    "Is he trying to call you mama?"

    "No, I think it should be [Papa] . He¡¯s been with Jia Xu all these times . Maybe he taught him a few words?"

    The girlsughed and tried to teach a couple words to Liu Xie .

    Before they could y with him for long, a guard rushed inside and knelt .

    "Reporting to Secretary Sima, a guess came to pay you a visit . She informed me that she went to your Manor but you were not there, so she came here instead . "

    Sima Fang, who was observing the girls from the distance, was surprised by the new guest . He did not remember reserving or making an appointment with a guest as he always declined all invitations and offerings from nobles and merchants .

    "Uncle Sima, you can invite your guest here . Feel free to use this courtyard to entertain your guest . "

    Hua Shi gave her permission to Sima Fang . Since she had nothing to do after she wasid off from her job, eavesdropping on other people¡¯s business was a good alternative hobby as well .

    The corner of Sima Fang¡¯s eyebrows twitched as he could read Hua Shi¡¯s mind . He sighed and bowed to Hua Shi .

    "Thank you,dy Hua . I¡¯ll invite her here then . "

    ...

    He Xing entered Tong¡¯s courtyard . The moment she entered the garden, Sima Fang had a dumbstruck expression on his face because he recognized her . He immediately kowtowed .

    "Your Majesty! You¡¯re alright!"

    His sudden shout shocked the girls in the courtyard . In a panic, all of them also knelt down even though they did not know who she was .

    Hua Shi and Dong Bai were the only ones that did not bow to He Xing because they thought that Tong¡¯s position was highest in this city . Unless the guest was Zhang Jiao, they would not bow down to anyone .

    "It¡¯s alright . I¡¯m no longer the Empress . I¡¯m just a runawaymoner now . Please stand up . "

    "Your Majesty..." Sima Fang stood up in reluctance . Everyone in the courtyard also stood up .

    "Fa-Fu-Fad"

    He Xing heard the sound of a young healthy baby . In delighted, she looked at the baby who was ying with several girls .

    "Is that my son, Liu Xie?"

    Sima Fang¡¯s body shook . Jia Xu and Tong had informed him about the prince¡¯s identity before they left for Yie City .

    "Yes, Your Majesty . "

    A teardrop rolled down from He Xing¡¯s eye . She was so happy that she could see her son again after all the tribtion in the Capital .

    She walked slowly toward her son and called him .

    "Xie,e here . It¡¯s me, your mother . "

    "Fa-fa-du . "

    The boy heard his mother¡¯s voice . By his instinct, he remembered her and tip-toed toward her .

    It was a tranquil scene . Everyone smiled as they were observing the mother and the son¡¯s interaction .

    He Xingughed and wrapped her arms around Liu Xie . She picked him up and hugged him .

    "Do you remember me?"

    "Fa-du?"

    "Oh? Are you trying to speak?"

    "Fa-du-gu!"

    "Haha! What are you saying? Are you calling me mama?"

    "Fa-fa!"

    "Try again . Mama . "

    "Fa-da!"

    "Mama"

    "Fa-du-gu"

    "Well, maybe it¡¯s too soon for you . Let¡¯s take our time, ok? We¡¯ll be together from now on . "

    At the side, Hua Shi, Zou Shi, and Dong Bai were looking at the mother and son with a smile . The scenery like this was good to the heart of the girls .

    Looking at the happy duo, Hua Shi had a strange thought .

    "Don¡¯t call me weird . I have a feeling that the boy isn¡¯t trying to pronounce [Papa] or [Mama] . "

    "What do you mean?" Dong Bai asked Hua Shi .

    "I have a strange thought . I think he was swearing . "

    "Swearing? . . . Ah!"

    Dong Bai also thought of the word . Suddenly, both girls grinned .

    "Do you think he¡¯s trying to say it?"

    "Definitely . "

    The innocent Zou Shi was curious . She asked the two . "What is it? What is he trying to say?"

    Both of them did not speak . However, they did their best to hold theirugh .

    Meanwhile, Liu Xie was still trying to speak .

    "Fa-dud"

    He Xingughed . "You have something to tell me?"

    "Fah"

    "Fah?"

    "Fudge!"

    "..."

    " . . . "

    " . . . "

    Time had stopped .

    After the sacred first word of the baby, everyone¡¯s eyes turned into a small dot . They stopped speaking and looked at Liu Xie with poker faces .

    "Fudge!"

    "..."

    He Xing trembled . His first word was supposed to be [Mama] . How did it turn into this word?

    "H-How long has the boy been here?" He Xing asked Sima Fang .

    "Just yesterday . Jia Xu has been keeping the boy¡¯s identity a secret . He suddenly told us everything about him and left him here yesterday . "

    With a pale face, Sima Fang told her everything .

    "B-But w-why? How did he learn this word?" He Xing was so shocked that she could not think of anything .

    "Maybe Jia Xu had it rough when he was escaping with the prince from Luo Yang? He probably learned it from the peasants nearby . He had to mix in with themoners all the time before he arrived here after all . "

    Hua Shi helped Sima Fang by giving her an exnation in his stead, while she held back herugh .

    On the other hand, Dong Bai was crawling on the ground, trembling and biting her clothes as she was holding herughter as well .

    As for the baby ...

    "Fudge!"

 Chapter 157

    Chapter 157

    Chapter 157 ¨C Forced March

    September 2nd .

    1 AM .

    Tong¡¯s 30,000 soldiers continued marching even though it was pass-midnight . Torches in the hands of soldiers made a long dragon line, and the road was illuminated by the torchlight .

    Tong and Jia Xu did not walk like the soldiers, they had their own private horses .

    As they were heading south, Jia Xu exined his thought .

    "This forced march has two goals and one backup n . "

    "First is the primary goal, we have to race against time! Liu Ping will also move his troops to this city as it¡¯s the best city to garrisonrge forces . The wall is also higher than the neighbor cities in this province, and he can also use this city as the center of his logistic supply chain . "

    "Since that eunuch came to our city a couple days ago, I estimated that he should have gotten the edict on early August, which means Liu Ping should have already prepared his troops and he should be ready by now . His first wave of troops should arrive at Ji within a month at thetest . So, we have to im the city and stabilize the order before his troops arrive . "

    "Second goal, because weck information from Zhang He, this rapid march will confirm Zhang He¡¯s stances and the capability of Han Fu . "

    "By now, Han Fu should have received the edict from Liu Ping to mobilize his army . Because of the drought, it will take him two months to gather enough provision for his army . "

    "He has a total of 40,000 elite infantries at the moment, but he can draft another 100,000 militias from the city poption if he really wants to . Judging from his personality, if he¡¯s inept as the report said, he won¡¯t conscript the militia because hecks food at the moment . "

    "As for his militarymanders, only a few individuals that can pose a threat on us, Xin Ping, Ju Shou, and Zhang He . "

    "From all reports, Zhang He is a talented young general . He will definitely notice our troops approaching Ye City in two to three days . "

    "If Zhang He wants to switch side to us, he will get in the way of the sortie or won¡¯t intercept our army midway . Even if there¡¯s an interception or a sortie unit, it will be from Xin Ping or Ju Shou Army, which we can handle them easily . Ju Shou and Xin Ping are civil officers, and all our intel said that only Zhang He possesses cavalries . Their troops will be as slow as us . "

    "However, in the worst case scenario where Zhang He decides to double-cross us, we will see him and his cavalries in the interception . In this case, we will use our backup n . "

    Jia Xu stopped speaking to catch his breath and drank water from his bamboo canteen .

    Tong asked . "What¡¯s the backup n?"

    Jia Xu smiled andughed . "We¡¯ll flee . What else do you think?"

    The corner of Tong¡¯s mouth twitched . It was that simple?

    "What if Zhang He decides to pursue us? What will be your next move?"

    "It¡¯s not my next move, it¡¯s YOUR next move . I will have you soak all viges, forests, farms, and trees with your magic oil . Then we¡¯ll burn everything as we retreat . "

    The face of Tong lost color as he realized, there was a reason why people nicknamed him the venomous strategist . He would not hesitate to utilize anything to achieve his goals .

    This forced march, as well, would cause some damage to the soldiers¡¯ morale . They would be so tired that they could get a stroke or a heart-attack midway . In addition, there was a high chance for desertion if they gave up on Tong and Jia Xu .

    The infamous vicious strategist gave Tong a sneak peek of his fangs .

    Tong calmed himself down .

    ¡¯If it¡¯s someone like Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, or Zhou Yu, those guys are hybrid minister-strategist-militarymander, they would connect this battle results with long term goals . But Jia Xu only cares about winning the war and leaving the rest of the aftermath cleaning up to me . ¡¯

    ¡¯It¡¯s alright . Jia Xu is a pure strategist who focuses on battle efficiency . ¡¯

    ¡¯Get Ye City first . I¡¯ll worry about the restter . ¡¯

    ...

    7 PM .

    The pace of the march got slower as the troops could not handle it anymore . They had not sleptst night and their feet and their legs hurt . Everyone was on the verge of copsing at any moment .

    Last night, they were simply walking, which they could handle . However, once the sun rose, Jia Xu ordered everyone to jog and quicken the pace . It was fortunate that all of them had been taught to run at least 2 hours every morning in the army camp, or else, they would have vomited or fainted already .

    Fortunately, all of them were traveling light as they were neither wearing armors nor carrying weapons . As a result, they managed to oust the forced march without sleeping for a night .

    "ALL TROOPS! STOP MARCHING! YOU CAN REST FOR TONIGHT!" Jia Xu shouted .

    Gazing at Jia Xu in disbelief, all soldiers cheered in copsed on the ground . The stronger one tried to cut woods to make camp .

    "Don¡¯t bother making camps! All of us will sleep on the ground for today . Tomorrow, we will resume marching all night again! Get a good sleep while you can!"

    Jia Xu¡¯s secondmand shocked Tong and the entire army . Marching non-stop for 24 hours was already difficult, going for another 36 hours marathon would definitely be hell .

    "I¡¯m so sorry, my lord . We are racing against time . If we don¡¯t do this, Sun Jian will notice us before we can get close to Ye . By now, I think they should have received Liu Ping¡¯s edict, too . It¡¯s better if we can avoid any unnecessary fight on our way . "

    A bitter smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face .

    "Alright, I¡¯ll do something to help the soldiers . "

    Tong thought of a herb that could relieve the muscle pain and boost a bit of their morale . He snapped his fingers .

    "[Create Food], peppermint leaves . "

    A gigantic pile of green mint leaves appeared on the empty ground . The thick soothing aroma of mint made the soldiers looked at Tong with great attention .

    "You there, take these leaves and distribute to everyone . For starter, crush a few of these leaves and rub it on your sore muscles or feet . If you have times, boil these leaves with water and fill your canteen with it . They can be used as a herbal tea! You can also rub your swollen feet with the leaves or the tea to ease the pain . "

    Soldiers, who could still walk, rushed in and took as many leaves they could with their clothes . Once they got back to their friends in the same toon, they crushed the leaves as instructed .

    Cooling aroma spread all over . The soldiers instinctively inhaled the smell as it soothed their spirit .

    Some managed to gather enough strength to gather woods and boil water . They threw the leaves into the boiling water, and more mint aroma intensified .

    Jia Xu also sobered from the intense mint smell . He also took two handfuls of leaves for himself to boil a tea .

    "Ah, it feels so good . "

    "Wow, it¡¯s cold . "

    The effect began to show . Soldiers lied down on the ground and were calmed by the smell . It did not take long for them to fall asleep .

    "We¡¯re not patrolling or guarding at all, huh?" Tong bemused .

    "You have the sight of the gods . You can take the role as a sentry if you want to . " Jia Xu muttered and returned to sleep .

    It would be a lie if Tong said he was not tired . He also lied down on his back and looked at his radar map .

    The 24 hours forced march showed a result as they had traveled 60km south in a day instead of the regr marching of 15 to 20km a day .

    In the regr marching, they wore armors and carried their own weapons . They had to construct a camp before the sunset, arrange sentries, and protect the provision logistic wagons along the way . Furthermore, the roads were scarce and they were not paved in cement . The army sometimes had to trek over obstacles, such as farnds and forests, which slowed down their paces .

    Without any of the task in this journey and the entire day of non-stop walking, they moved three times faster .

    In Tong¡¯s radar map, Ye City was only 80 kilometers away . A few more days of a regr marching would be more than enough .

    ¡¯So this is why Julius Caesar often forced marched his troops . This swift movement distanceparing with the time consumed is insane!¡¯

    ¡¯The quality of my soldiers aren¡¯t at that level yet . Julius Caesar did 140km a day without a system cheat while we can barely make 60km . ¡¯

    ¡¯Our movement speed is still too slowparing to those legends . ¡¯

    ¡¯We don¡¯t have roads like theirs . I¡¯ll pave roads and connect all of my cities in the future . ¡¯

    ...

    September 4th . 6 PM .

    Tong Army arrived at Ye Commandery territory . Jia Xu picked a spot 10km away from the city wall to settle the headquarters camp .

    "Make camp and rest here for tonight! Tomorrow, we¡¯ll enter Ye City . !"

    For the first time of the forced march, Jia Xu ordered the troops to make camp . The moment his order sounded, most soldiers copsed on the ground in exhaustion . A few top elites managed to stay awake and helped each other making a camp .

    At the third night of the mobilization, Jia Xu made the troops marched through the night and the next day without resting . All meals were created by Tong which he created small dumplings and passed them to his soldiers, so they could eat it as they were marching .

    Though the soldiers managed to get a good sleep on the second day, their leg muscle pain was unbearable to them . Even though the peppermint decreased their suffering, the pain from their blistered feet got more severe .

    Tong breathed a sigh of relief after he checked his map . Finished counting his troops, only 5,000 men fell behind because they were too weak and could not catch up with the rest .

    25,000 Men managed tost this far, which was more than Tong¡¯s initial expectation .

    Jia Xu was surprised as well . He thought that there should have been less than 20,000 after a forced march . Moreover, no one deserted even though he had given them a harsh treatment . The 5,000 men, which fell behind, still had not given up following the main troops . Though they were slow, they were only 10km away from the tail of the marching army .

    The disciplinary and the strength of these men were extraordinary!

    Then Jia Xu was reminded about the perks of being soldiers in Julu .

    ¡¯Good food, good wage, and a life insurance . ¡¯

    ¡¯What a nastybination of carrot and stick management . ¡¯

    The families of any soldier of Julu who fell in the battle would bepensated with the soldier¡¯s 2 years worth of sries . Even the lowest rank of footman reserve had a monthly wage of 100 coins or one-tenth of a tael of gold . Two years of sry would worth 2 gold and 400 coins, which would be more than enough for the family tost for another decade if they were to continue living in Julu .

    As such, no one dared to desert or leave behind such generous paychecks .

 Chapter 158

    Chapter 158

    Chapter 158 ¨C Ju Shou¡¯s Decision

    Instead ofunching a surprise attack on Ye City right away, Jia Xu told Tong to rest .

    His first phase of the ns had beenpleted . They arrived at the right location toy siege on the city, and they made themselves noticed by the scouts of Han Fu . By now, Zhang He should have noticed their arrival .

    The next phase was a gamble if Zhang He would defect or not . If he double-crossed Tong, then Jia Xu¡¯s ns would fail . But if the n seeded and Tong took Ye City from Han Fu, Jia Xu vouched that they could easily defeat Liu Ping¡¯s iing detached forces with ease .

    This move was against Jia Xu¡¯s personal philosophy as he gambled on his enemy¡¯s action, yet Jia Xu went through with it because it was worth the risk and the chance of sess in his calction was over 80% .

    The next two of his four phases of the ns required Ye City as the key . Without the city, the Yellow Turban would face an uphill battle against a pincer attack by all sides . However, with the city upied, Ye City would be a choke point which would obstruct the detached Imperial forces and their allies .

    Tong looked at Jia Xu with anticipation . He was looking forward to seeing this master n in action .

    ...

    7 PM .

    Jia Xu wrote several scrolls and passed them to Tong .

    "These are my ns for tomorrow . Please see that is done . "

    Tong nodded . "Thank you . You get some rest too . "

    Jia Xu looked at Tong and sighed . He was with him all the times, yet he did not show any sign of exhaustion . Tong¡¯s stamina and strength were too abnormal .

    Leaving Jia Xu alone, Tong took out scrolls from Jia Xu to read .

    Because of the long march and the weak body of an ordinary civil officer, Jia Xu did not have enough energy to exin all his ns to Tong . He could only jot down his idea and the branches of his ns if something were to happen .

    Tong read the scroll with a solemn expression on his face . The personalnguage of Jia Xu was simr to a programming flow chart draft .

    [If Zhang He appears -> Retreat]

    [If Ju Shou appears -> Kill him in half a day]

    [Fail to kill Ju Shou in half a day -> Retreat]

    [If Xin Ping appears -> Kill Xin Ping in a day]

    [Fail to kill Xin Ping in a day -> Pretend to retreat, ambush him, kill him, and siege the city again . ]

    [Seeded killing either Xin Ping or Ju Shou -> Make Zhang He open the gate or make him revolt]

    [If none of the three appears -> Contact both Ju Shou and Zhang He . It doesn¡¯t matter if the spies get caught or not, just contact them . ]

    [If other generals other than the three appears -> Destroy them . ]

    [Fail to destroy the enemy -> You suck, I¡¯ll quit my job]

    [If Zhang He refuses to cooperate -> You suck x2, retreat, I¡¯ll quit my job]

    [If Zhang He dies during the coup -> He sucks, retreat, I¡¯ll quit my job]

    [If Zhang He fails but the city is in chaos -> He still sucks, siege the city, raise my wage or I¡¯ll quit my job]

    Tong could not help but burst intoughter when he read to thetter part . Jia Xu had a vicious tongue, he even dared to diss his master .

    "So far, no army appears . I wonder what happens inside Ye City . "

    "Will Zhang He be alright?"

    <ding>>

    <your [sloth]="" has="" been="" weakened="" by="" your="" recent="" actions="">>

    >

    <your [sloth]="" has="" 0%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <if you="" go="" against="" your="" [sloth]="" two="" more="" times,="" your="" [demonic="" seal]="" level="" will="" reduce="" by="" 1="">>

    Tongughed after he noticed the sudden system messages . He was always a hard worker, so [Sloth] had no chance against him .

    "Easy upgrade . Way too easy . "

    <your [pride]="" has="" been="" strengthened="" by="" your="" recent="" emotion="">>

    >

    <your [pride]="" has="" 15%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    "FUDGE!"

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, Ye City .

    Scouts of Han Fu returned to Ye and reported the movements of Tong Army .

    "Are you certain about this? Are you sure they¡¯reing here?"

    Han Fu asked the spy in a trembling voice . His legs were already shaking from nervousness .

    "Yes, the rebel army is definitely targeting this city . However..."

    "However?"

    "They are traveling light! They didn¡¯t have any armor or weapon with them . We haven¡¯t seen their logistic troops either!"

    Han Fu¡¯s eyes open wide in surprise . He turned his head and asked Xin Ping, who was listening to the side .

    "What do you think?"

    Xin Ping scoffed . "Zhang Tong is an idiot! He doesn¡¯t even know how to deploy his troops properly! We don¡¯t even need to intercept them . Just let them head-butt our walls to death!"

    "Right! Right! His troops don¡¯t even have a weapon . They¡¯re just a bunch of mobs!" Han Fu nodded .

    "What do you think, Junyi?"

    Junyi, or Zhang He, stood at the front row of all military officers .

    After the Battle of Anping, he was promoted as the only general of Han Fu Army because there was not any notablemander in the city . Furthermore, Zhang He¡¯s subordinatemanders vouched for his abilities and his achievements had proven himself . Thus, he stood on top of Ye City Army .

    As Tong had ordered him, he abused his privilege of a high ranking noble to borrow strategy books and all annotation scrolls from Ye Government Library . In a year, he had learned many things from his study, but he never had a chance to test his new learned skills .

    At the same time, he expanded his influence to other toons . Though slow, he managed to gather 15,000 elite troops from the total of 40,000 to his political side . Still, the rest of the soldiers belong to Han Fu and Xin Ping¡¯s private army . Zhang He¡¯s hands could not reach that far .

    So far, he refused to send a letter or make any contact with Tong¡¯s spies as he was afraid that it would blow his cover . Xin Ping always menacingly red at him ever since his promotion . Zhang He had to be extra cautious about his activities .

    Now, Tong had made his move . It was about time for the promise, Zhang He promised he would open the gate for Tong once he arrived at Ye .

    The eyes of Zhang He lit up . It was the time .

    "My lord, I agree with Sir Xin Ping . We don¡¯t need to do anything . Zhang Tong is getting cocky from thest battle . He probably thinks that he can take this city with his useless crowd, but he fails to understand even a basicmon military tactic . You can rest assured . "

    Han Fu repeatedly nodded . "Right! Right! If you say so too, then I¡¯m relieved . "

    ...

    While Han Fu and Xin Ping were in glee, Ju Shou looked at them and grinned .

    ¡¯They¡¯re doomed . ¡¯

    Ju Shou already knew about Zhang He¡¯s true master as he thoroughly investigated the entire battle of Anping from the beginning to the end as soon as they returned to Ye .

    At first, Ju Shou nned to expose Zhang He¡¯s identity . However, Xin Ping got on his nerve after he had returned . As a human, he had his limit . By getting insulted by Xin Ping many times, Ju Shou also developed a grudge on this bootlicking officer . His faith toward Han Fu also decreased as he always favored Xin Ping .

    He kept his mouth shut as he observed Zhang He from a distance, nning to use him in order to get back on Xin Ping .

    As time passed, Zhang He visited Ju Shou in his Manor once in a while to befriend with him, which surprised Ju Shou . Curious by Zhang He¡¯s action, Ju Shou decided to be frank with him .

    "Are you Zhang Tong¡¯s spy?"

    It was the question that changed everything because Zhang He also boldly answered .

    "Yes, and my Lord wants you to serve him as well . "

    Ju Shou postponed the invitation without much thought as it went against his motto . Despite the fact that he wanted Xin Ping to pay for his insolence, he would not go as far as betraying Han Fu .

    However, thetest edict of Liu Ping shocked him . The Emperor wanted Zhang Tong and his father dead because they rebelled .

    In his investigation, Tong and his father were honest nobles and they did very well governing Julu City . Ju Shou actually admired many of Tong¡¯s management policies, which he spent days trying to figure out if Ye City could do the same too .

    It was impossible for them to cooperate with the barbarian tribes as they were doing so well . It did not make any sense for sessful nobles to suddenly take risks against the Han Court .

    Something was wrong with this Emperor .

    Although he swore that he would be loyal to his Lord regardless of his ipetence, he was not stupid enough to blindly follow an inept lord, who followed the corrupted Emperor .

    Ju Shou changed his mind and epted Zhang He¡¯s invitation!

    ¡¯I¡¯m tired of your ego and your ignorant, Xin Ping . ¡¯

    ¡¯You¡¯ll face your own karma soon . ¡¯

    ...

    September 5th .

    Han Fu observed Tong Army from the top of the wall . He closed all gates and stationed all of his soldiers facing the direction where Tong¡¯s camp located .

    Zhang He was put in charge of the only cavalry unit inside the city . A total of 5,000 heavy cavalries were under his control .

    Ju Shou took over 10,000 elites that agreed to defect and stationed them at both sides of the gate walls while the others stayed inside the city as reserves .

    Xin Ping, however, insisted that he wanted to redeem himself from the battle of Anping .

    "My lord, please let me taking care of the garrison army instead of Ju Shou . I¡¯ll redeem myself from thest battle and I want to get my revenge on Zhang Tong . "

    "Very good . I like you . You can take over the role from Ju Shou . "

    "Thank you, my lord!"

    Seeding his bootlick, Xin Ping sneered at Ju Shou .

    "Fetch me yourmander¡¯s token . It¡¯s mine now!"

    Ju Shou sneered back at Xin Ping . He tossed themand token over .

    "Sure, go ahead . Do your worse . But my lord, the reserve troops doesn¡¯t have amander . May I be theirmander?"

    "Such admirable dedication! Sure, you have the authority!" Han Fuughed and gave him themand token .

    Xin Ping still gave him a mocking smile . "Don¡¯t worry, Ju Shou . You won¡¯t get the chance to mobilize the reserves because I, alone, can defeat that army of peasants!"

    "Sure, sure . Please do!"

    Stillughing, Ju Shou left the wall . The soldiers on the wall had been informed about the ns . All Ju Shou needed to do was giving them a signal .

    ¡¯All ns were in motion . Once the Zhang Tong Army arrived, it would be their end . ¡¯

    As Ju Shou descended the stairs, a strange soldier approached him and passed him a letter .

    "It¡¯s from Lord Zhang Tong . Please read it and consider it . "

    Amused by the spy, Ju Shouughed again and returned the letter to him .

    "No need . I already knew what you guys are up to . Go tell the others that I¡¯ll be joining you shortly . "

    The spy gazed at Ju Shou in shocked . He bowed and left in a hurry . Ju Shou looked at the back of the leaving spy and chuckled to himself .

    "Well, aren¡¯t you well-informed, my future Lord?"</your></probability></your></if></your></probablity></your></ding>

 Chapter 159

    Chapter 159

    Chapter 159 ¨C What is This Show Called?

    10 AM .

    The scout rushed to the north wall . He knelt down and presented a report to Han Fu .

    "Reporting! The messenger from Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun Army has approached us! They are saying that they will arrive here in 40 days, but their cavalries will be here in 7 days!"

    Hearing that he also had a reinforcement, Han Fuughed .

    "HAHAHA! Those stupid rebels have no chance against us! Well, they won¡¯t get their turn anyway because we¡¯ll probably kill all of them before they even have arrived!"

    "You¡¯re corrected, my lord . They won¡¯t have a chance . " Xin Ping agreed .

    "Well, since the Imperial Force areing . How about we prepare a banquet to wee them . "

    "A brilliant idea, my lord!"

    "Hahaha!"

    Both of them had not realized this, the soldiers on the wall snuck nces at them with mocking eyes .

    ...

    Ju Shou also received the same news . Instead of worrying, he gazed toward the direction of Tong Army in astonishment .

    ¡¯What a timing . One of the generals should alsoe here with the Imperial cavalries . With an extra general and troops from the Capital City, Zhang He will not seed . ¡¯

    ¡¯If Zhang Tong¡¯s forces were slower than this for a few more days, we won¡¯t have a chance to rebel even if we want to . ¡¯

    ¡¯Well, I have to act too, or else, I¡¯ll be killed along with those morons . ¡¯

    Ju Shou walked toward the reserve soldiers . He called themanding officers for an important meeting .

    ¡¯Time for a little bribe and a little coaxing . ¡¯

    ...

    Zhang He stood on the wall, watching the dust from the distance . From the textbooks he studied, it was a sign of an army approaching .

    He walked toward Han Fu and Xin Ping . ncing around, he found out that all civil officers who supported Han Fu were there as well . It seemed they believed that Tong¡¯s defeat was certain .

    "Oh, Junyi! You¡¯re not with your troops?" Han Fu asked .

    "I probably won¡¯t need to . I¡¯ll be watching the show here with my lord . "

    "Hahaha! Good! Let¡¯s enjoy the show then . "

    "By the way, my lord, do you want to know what this show is called?"

    "Oh! Do you want to name this event? Hmm ... I think it should be called ¡¯Zhang Tong¡¯s Grave¡¯!" Xin Ping, who was listening to the side, chimed in .

    Han Fuughed . "I think it should be called ¡¯Han Fu¡¯s Brilliant Military Might¡¯!"

    Zhang He did not speak further . He smiled and pretended to watch the iing troops, but his attention was on the officers besides Han Fu .

    ¡¯That guy was on our side . That too . Well, 9 of 10 guards were with us . ¡¯

    ¡¯I have to wait for Ju Shou first . I hope he can finish his task over there quickly . ¡¯

    ¡¯Two or three hours should be enough to conquer the reserve troops . ¡¯

    ...

    1 PM

    Tong Army of 25,000 men formed up ranks, watching the gigantic grey stone walls and red gate in front of them from a distance . The "Han" surname gs of Han Fu fluttered by the wind, and his soldiers on the wall were staring at Tong¡¯s soldiers .

    "The soldiers are not in the condition to fight . Are we really doing this?"

    "Just do it . "

    "We haven¡¯t even crafteddders and catapults..."

    "Just do it . "

    "..."

    "Just freaking do it!"

    Jia Xu was bossing Tong as if he was his mother .

    Tong had unloaded armors and weapons for the soldiers this morning . They dressed up properly and formed a battle formation, ready to move to the city .

    However, they were not in the right shape . The marathon in the past few days took a toll on their mentality and their physical strength .

    Jia Xu did not care about the army condition . He wanted them to approach the wall without a siege weapon .

    Such action would be considered a suicide by all . They could not attack the garrisoning soldiers with only spears and swords, even repeating crossbows would still be disadvantageous against archers on the walls .

    Yet...

    "Fine . SOUND THE WAR DRUM!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Though exhausted, the soldiers took out their crossbows and move forward .

    ...

    On top of the wall .

    Hearing the war drums from Tong¡¯s troops, Zhang He turned his head and smiled at Han Fu and Xin Ping . The time had run out, he had to act before Tong¡¯s troops could reach the walls .

    "Remember myst question? My Lord, Sir Xin Ping?"

    "Yes?"

    "Hmm?"

    "About the name of the show . "

    "What¡¯s wrong with it? Isn¡¯t it obvious that Zhang Tong will die here? The name is irrelevant anyway . If there is one, it will be our lord¡¯s military might!" Xin Pingined in a sour mood .

    Zhang Heughed . His eyes turned cold, and his killing intent exploded out . He unsheathed his sword on his waist and stabbed it through the gab of Xin Ping¡¯s armor . The de pierced through his lung .

    "You¡¯re wrong . It is called [The Immortal King¡¯s Stepping Stones]!"

    "B-Bastard ... . "

    Zhang He twisted his sword, opening his wound and destroying his blood vessels and his lung further . The body of Xin Ping spasmed from the sudden pain . Blood seeped into his lung, after which he coughed out the blood . Zhang He pulled out his sword, allowing Xin Ping¡¯s body to drop on the floor .

    Copsed from the pain and flooded lung, Xin Ping stopped breathing while his eyes were wide open in shock .

    Not wasting time, Zhang He stabbed it through the chubby neck of Han Fu whose brain could not process the information fast enough to react .

    "... *COUGH* ... W-W-Why?" Han Fu uttered hisst word .

    "Simple, I was never your subordinate from the very beginning . "

    Instead of pulling back his sword, Zhang He exerted more force and pushed in sideway, half-severing the neck of Han Fu . The chubby lord¡¯s body dropped like a marite without a string .

    With the two main targets dead, Zhang He shouted .

    "Open the gate and raise the white gs! We¡¯re surrendering! Quickly, or they will start shooting arrows!"

    The garrison troops on the wall were waiting for this, they raised their pre-prepared white gs . A dozen soldiers behind the walls rushed to the gate and took away the gigantic iron bars, unlocking and opening the gate .

    Meanwhile, the onlooking officials were in panicked . The change of event was too sudden, they failed toprehend the entire situation .

    "Murder!"

    "I-It¡¯s a rebellion!"

    Zhang He sneered . He gave anothermand to the troops .

    "Kill these people! Take no prisoner!"

    ...

    On the other side, Ju Shou had also finished his preparation in time . Severalmanders who refused to cooperateid down in the pool of their own blood . The robe of Ju Shou was drenched with blood from the deadmanders .

    Ju Shou and rebelling soldiers had killed them all!

    "You are dead if Zhang Tong doesn¡¯t give us what you said . " One of the soldiers threatened Ju Shou .

    "My spy reports has never been wrong . The average soldier monthly sry in Julu is 10 gold for a 1000-manmander and 100 coins for an ordinary footman . You¡¯ll live a better life than when you¡¯re serving Han Fu . " Ju Shou chuckled .

    The average monthly wage of themander in this city was merely 500 coins and 50 coins for an ordinary soldier, which were lower than Julu¡¯s standard .

    Ju Shou spread this information to Han Fu¡¯s troops a few hours ago to entice them into joining Tong as well, with a condition that if Ju Shou was wrong, he would be killed .

    "For now, let¡¯s disarm ourselves and surrender . "

    The soldiers reluctantly tossed away their weapons and gs, waiting for Tong to arrive and decide their fates .

    ...

    Tong Army, which was approaching the walls, saw the white gs . They lowered their crossbows and cheered as they did not have to risk their lives fighting in a war .

    Tong also gazed at the soldiers on the wall in astonishment .

    ¡¯They surrender this easily? Maybe ... Zhang He did all the work?¡¯

    ¡¯But there are many officials andmanders under Han Fu . ¡¯

    ¡¯How in the blue world ... wait, what about Ju Shou!?¡¯

    ¡¯Zhang He seeded in convincing Ju Shou? Is that possible?¡¯

    The iron red doors slowly opened . The moment the doors fully opened, two men rode forward to meet Tong and his army .

    One of them dressed in a bloody civil officer robe . He had sharp eyes and a stern expression, simr to Sima Fang . Another one was donned in full armor which was painted with dripping blood . It was not hard to tell that they had been through a ughtering .

    Tong recognized one of the two right away . It was Zhang He .

    As for the other one, Tong had to check his radar map to get his name . As Tong had guessed, it was Ju Shou .

    Goosebumps appeared all over Tong¡¯s skin, Zhang He exceeded his expectation . Tong estimated a chaotic siegebat, but Zhang He managed to win the battle for him without a fight .

    Furthermore, he dragged Ju Shou along in this coup, making the stratagem more efficient .

    Zhang He and Ju Shou stopped and got down from their horses . Tong also rode up to them .

    Looking at Tong and reminiscing of that day, Zhang He knelt down and cupped his fist . Ju Shou followed suit as well .

    "My Lord, I¡¯vepleted your order . I, Zhang Junyi, wee you to Ye City!"

    Tears brimmed within Tong¡¯s eyes and the sour smell hit his nose . Tong recalled that day when he parted with Zhang He .

    [When the time is right, I¡¯ll pay you a visit myself at Ye . At that time, I want you to open the city gate and wee me yourself with your subordinates . ]

    He actuallypleted his assignments word by word, in a wless execution to boot .

    Tong got down from his horse, walked to Zhang He and hugged him .

    "Thank you!" Tong muttered . "You¡¯ve exceeded my expectation! Thank you!"

    Zhang He was surprised by the sudden hug, but he did not mind it . A humble lord who cares about his subordinates was better than a haughty lord . The hugged generalughed it off .

    The person that was observing them on the side, Ju Shou, had a new evaluation on Tong . Being with Xin Ping and Han Fu for a long time dulled his mind . Seeing a humble lord interacting with his subordinate cleansed his corroding spirit . A seed of a new hope grew in his heart .

    "My name is Ju Shou, a lowly minister of this city . We wish to surrender to you . I hope you can pardon the soldiers . "

    Snapped back to his sense, Tong stopped hugging Zhang He and helped Ju Shou up .

    "Of course . I promise I won¡¯t treat them badly . As the matter of fact, I¡¯ll wee them into my ranks and they will get the same treatment as my own soldiers . So rest assured . "

    "Thank you, my lord . By the way, we have a present for you . "

    Ju Shou returned to his horse and fetched two wooden boxes with him . He opened the boxes, revealing the head of Han Fu and Xin Ping inside .

    "These are the head of the previous governor and his secretary of this city . These are our gifts to prove our allegiance to you . "

    Tong gave Ju Shou a wry smile and waved his hand to dismiss it . "It¡¯s fine . I knew you are sincere . For now, please guide my men inside and let them rest . They had a rough time marching here . "

    While Tong and the two were chatting, Jia Xu rode his horse to them to remind Tong, Ju Shou, and Zhang He .

    "My lord, please do not rece the [Han] gs of Han Fu just yet . As for the death of Han Fu, please tell everyone to keep it a secret . "

    "Huh? Why?"

    Jia Xu gave Tong a cunning smile . "The third phase will involve a y . "

 Chapter 160

    Chapter 160

    Chapter 160 ¨C The Famous Ploy ¨C Part 1

    Jia Xu continued exining in a happy mood .

    "If my prediction is correct, they will send a fast unit to secure the city before the main army arrives . This is the reason why I rushed you to take the city as soon as possible, so your spies and moles can open the city gate for us before they¡¯re here . If they were here before us, the entire n would have failed and Julu would have faced a tough battle . "

    Ju Shou and Zhang He stared at Jia Xu in astonishment . The intel about the iing Imperial cavalries had just arrived this morning, but this person had predicted their arrival and rushed here .

    "For now, let¡¯s talk inside . It¡¯ll be easier for me to exin . We¡¯ll have to settle our soldiers and the townspeople as well . " Jia Xu stopped talking and returned to the troops to pass on new orders .

    "Ah, right . Let¡¯s get inside the city first . Junyi, can you help me settle in my soldiers? There are 25,000 men at the moment but there¡¯ll be another 5,000 more tomorrow . "

    "Understood, my lord . "

    ...

    7 PM . , Ye City .

    Tong¡¯s exhausted soldiers slept like a log with a wide smile on their faces after a proper dinner . Some of them did not bother sleeping inside a tent or under a roof . They lied down on the middle of the barrack open field and journeyed to their dream world .

    The garrison soldiers were amazed as they were watching them . Though they got used to sleeping without a bed, they had never slept this soundly and peacefully like Tong¡¯s soldiers .

    A Few garrison soldiers befriended with the soldiers who had not gone to sleep yet . They asked them about the pay and the benefits of serving Tong because they heard rumors that Tong treated them very well .

    Tong¡¯s soldiers confirmed the rumors which made the surrendered troops delighted . If they served Tong, there was a high chance that they would get the same treatment as theirs .

    As a result, the moral of the surrendered troops skyrocketed as they waited for the new military reformation with excitement .

    ...

    Meanwhile, Tong, Jia Xu, Zhang He, Ju Shou, and the officials in Ju Shou and Zhang He¡¯s faction gathered in the government main hall . The number of civil-workers dropped from over a thousand to less than 300 .

    Tong and Jia Xu did not mind it, instead, they were d that only 300 remained . The less surrendered officials they had, the more efficient the city integration would be .

    As soon as all personals were present and arge table was brought inside, Jia Xu started exining his next n .

    "As you know, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun will use Ye City as their gathering point before theyunch an attack on Julu City . From the reports of the Imperial Army, Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song¡¯s troops have 150,000 men . However, they will send the first batch of their troops here in a week . "

    "But I believe that this is also masked information they had sent! Both these generals are the top elites of the Imperial Forces . They have been through countless battles, so they won¡¯t be simple enough to send all intel to their allies with one message . "

    "If I were them, there will be more troopsing from behind both of their troops as their wild card . The number of troops and the generals in charge is unknown . But we will be preparing for them . "

    "First, we will target the first batch of troops that they are sending to secure this city! Here is what we¡¯re going to do ..."

    For two hours, Jia Xu tirelessly exined the details of his ns .

    While Tong was listening to the n, he opened the n chat and reported the situation in Ye City to everyone .

    "We have taken Ye City . "

    "Zhang He and Ju Shou have surrendered to us . We suffer no casualty . "

    "Liu Ping¡¯s generals with 150,000 are reallying to Ye City . "

    "Jia Xu predicted that there will be another hidden force following them as well . "

    A wry smiled appeared on Tong¡¯s face as he texted .

    "The battle of Wan Castle is going to happen here . "

    ...

    ...

    September 11th, 182 A . D .

    Bao Xin and his 10,000 light cavalries arrived in front of at Ye City walls . They managed to reach the city ahead of the schedule by one day as a precaution .

    This general served Huangfu Song and participated in many battles alongside his boss . He had a square face and t ears as if he was a professional boxer in the modern world .

    He also forced marched his troops, but Bao Xin was not as hardcore as Jia Xu . He only made his men galloped their horses one hour a day, then they resumed the normal pace of marching .

    From Huangfu Song¡¯s point of view as a veteran general, it was possible that Zhang Jiao could invade Ye City before they had arrived . He was worried that the edict that Liu Ping sent would alert Tong, rousing them into attacking Ye City which would backfire on them . Therefore, he sent Bao Xin and his men here to secure the city first .

    ¡¯That stupid brat! If he hadn¡¯t sent that edict, we could have surrounded Julu with ease . Now they knew that we wanted them dead, they will fight like cornered dogs!¡¯

    Bao Xin looked at the gs on top of the walls . The surname "Han" gs were still there . It meant that the city still belonged to Han Fu and his men .

    ¡¯Thanked god that Zhang Jiao is stupid . If they had taken over the city before we arrived, it would have been problematic . ¡¯

    Seeing that the city had not been attacked, Bao Xin breathed out a sigh of relief . He signaled his troops into marching forward and approached the south gate of the city .

    The city gate was still wide opened as if nothing had happened with this city . Merchants and peasants exited and entered through the gate, peddlers set stalls on the roadside, selling their wares . The peaceful tranquil scene indicated that the city was in order .

    Bao Xin smiled and joined the long lines of the inspection queue, waiting to be inspected by the guards .

    The garrison guard noticed their arrival a long time ago . They notified the peasants and merchants that they were the Imperial Force from the Capital, so everyone did not panic when Bao Xin Army was near .

    Two men in official robes rode forward to greet the general . They were Zhang He and Tong who disguised as Han Fu¡¯s government workers .

    "Greetings, Sir! We have been informed about your arrival . Please follow us inside the city with your troops . Our Lord will hold a banquet to celebrate your arrival . "

    Bao Xin shook his head . "No need for a banquet . We¡¯re soldiers . A good set of meat and wine for each of us is more than enough . "

    Hearing the invitation for a celebration, the soldiers behind Bao Xin nced at him, wanting to protest . They were soldiers, but they were also humans . Deep down inside, they wanted to attend a banquet or have a feast once in a while . However, as lowly subordinates of a high-rank general, they could not say anything .

    Tong sensed the difort of Bao Xin¡¯s soldiers . Though he pitied them, Tong had to go through with the n . He decided to give Bao Xin¡¯s subordinates hope .

    "My apologies, general . Our Lord was too enthusiastic about your arrival and had already prepared the banquet the day he received your message . I¡¯m afraid that the food will go bad if we leave them be . Giving them to our soldiers or peasants maybe a viable option, but I believe that your soldiers deserve them more . Your soldiers had been working hard, but ours did nothing but watching over the peaceful city . At the very least, please let us entertain you so we can show you our appreciation for your past deeds . "

    Tong bowed as he finished his words .

    The soldiers behind Bao Xin looked at Tong with gratitude . Some of them secretly gave Tong a thumb up . Their eyes brightened up and nced at their general with high hope .

    Bao Xin could also sense their wishes . He sighed and nodded .

    "Alright, please give my gratitude to Lord Han . "

    "It¡¯s us who have to give you our thanks . Thank you foring here . Pleasee inside, everyone . " Tong gestured his goodwill and ordered the guards to open a path for the troops .

    Zhang He also guided the men into the prepared military camps .

    Within the camp, tents were arranged in rows and columns . Inside the tents, necessary wares, such as beddings and jars of water, were neatly arranged . Even Bao Xin could not help but nodded in approval when he saw the thoroughness of the preparation .

    Another section in front of the camp was cleared out and reced with long tables, which arranged in a long line as if they were a straight road . The soldiers could guess that they were the banquet tables for all of them, which made them rejoice .

    Their horses were taken to the military stables elsewhere, however, the soldiers neither cared nor paid attention to it anymore as they were excited about the feast .

    "Everyone can rest in the tents for now . We¡¯ll bring in the food, wines, and beautiful dancers for you in the evening . General, please follow me inside the government hall . The banquet for you and your deputymanders is this way . " Tong invited Bao Xin over .

    "Very well, then . "

    Tong and Zhang He guided Bao Xin and five of his submanders to the government hall where the banquet would be held . The moment they arrived before the hall, Tong spoke .

    "I¡¯m sorry, sirs . We have forgotten one thing . The banquet is meant to be celebrated without bringing in working-rted things inside . Wearing armors in the banquet might be inappropriate on this asion . Do you mind if we ask you to change into casual wear instead?"

    Bao Xin nced at Tong with suspicion for a moment, but he dismissed the thought .

    "Well, you¡¯re right . I haven¡¯t seen any banquet with attendees wearing armors . Do you have clothes for us to change?"

    "Of course . Please wait for a moment . "

    ...

    Within 10 minutes, maids carrying six sets of clothes arrived and presented the visitors the clothes to attend the banquet . They took off their weapons and armor on the spot and changed into the robes they had prepared for them .

    Tong and Zhang He watched them as they checked if they had hidden weapons in their clothes or not . Once confirmed that they honestly took off every piece of weapons, the two guided the men inside the building .

    The government hall had already been decorated and turned into an entertainment hall . Tables were lined up in rows and columns, facing the center of the hall as they left it open as a ce for dancers and entertainers to perform . The main seat was still on the small stage for the governor, and the guests¡¯ seats were ced beside the main seat on the stage as well .

    Tong guided the six to the guests¡¯ seats while Zhang He gave the servants his permission to invite everyone¡¯s over .

    "Please bring in the food and wines . Also please inform our Lord that the guests have arrived . "

 Chapter 161

    Chapter 161

    Chapter 161 ¨C The Famous Ploy ¨C Part 2

    The servants bowed and hurried away .

    Bao Xin frowned as he darted his eyes around the hall . Han Fu was not here yet which was strange .

    "Excuse me . Where is the governor? We haven¡¯t seen him since we have arrived . I want to talk to him . "

    "We¡¯ve sent our men to invite him over at the moment . This morning, he didn¡¯t attend the morning meeting because of his sickness . We still don¡¯t know if he has recovered enough to attend everyone here . " Tong continued his fictional story .

    "Oh, that can¡¯t be helped . If he¡¯s not well, then it¡¯s fine . He can send his representatives here or we can postpone the banquet . "

    Before Tong could open his mouth to give another excuse, Ju Shou walked over and bowed to Bao Xin .

    "I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯mte . I¡¯m Ju Shou, the deputy governor of Ye City . Our Lord is currently ill, so he couldn¡¯t attend this banquet . I beg you for your forgiveness . "

    Bao Xin nodded . "It¡¯s alright . It¡¯s the thought that counts . Please tell Lord Han that we are grateful for this warm wee . "

    "My pleasure . "

    ...

    The banquet went on as nned . Ju Shou acted as the host of this event and kept Bao Xin and his menpany . The surrendered officials also attended the banquet and sat on their side seats .

    Entertainers with skimpy red clothes came and performed the city¡¯s traditional dance while a hundred of beautiful maids in pink dresses served the wine and food for the guests and the officials .

    The banquet on the outside also went well . The soldiers ate and drank while they made a ruckus in a joyous mood . Brawls and fights happened . Since they weremon things in the army, so nobody made a big deal of it .

    The party went ording to the n, but changes urred . The problem lied with the dancers and Bao Xin .

    Bao Xin and his men were eyeing at the dancers with lust . They drooled as they scanned the bodies of the dancers who wore nothing but bikinis and a few essories .

    The two-piece clothes of the six beautiful female dancers were only there to cover their private parts . To these men who had seen nothing but men for years, this stimtion woke up their primal instinct .

    "Sir Ju, do you mind if we request the dancers to entertain us on our bed?"

    The sudden vulgar request shocked Ju Shou . "Pardon?"

    "You heard me right, Sir Ju Shou . We wish to make them serve us tonight as well . We haven¡¯t taste women for ages . Since my boss isn¡¯t here and there¡¯s just us . Could you give us the girls and pretend nothing has happened? I promise you, I¡¯ll refer you to the Imperial Court and you¡¯ll be promoted into a higher tier noble rank . "

    Ju Shou stared at these men in disbelief and shocked .

    "Don¡¯t be so shock, sir Ju . Isn¡¯t it normal to offer a tribute or a gift to the higher rank nobles to advance in your career? We¡¯ve referred like twenty people to the court . Some of them are already ministers! Don¡¯t be shy, just give them to us . "

    Ju Shou frowned and thought . ¡¯T-They¡¯re bribing me!? So they can ravish these girls!?¡¯

    Gritting his teeth, he had to go through with the n . If he refused, the careful plot of Jia Xu would go wrong . Ju Shou called the girls over . The dancers stopped performing . They walked toward the six visitors and bowed .

    "The gentlemen here wants to take all of you as their concubines . Greet them . "

    The faces of the dancers paled . Four of them were maidens, but the other two were married . They did not want to serve the men this way as they were pursuing the path of entertainers in their careers .

    "M-My lord, but I¡¯m married . "

    "Me too . I also have a child . "

    Bao Xin and his menughed . "It¡¯s alright . You can call it a one night stand, perhaps it¡¯s a blessing . We¡¯ve been saving up for years, so our seeds are pretty thick! You¡¯re likely to get another child for your husband! Hahaha!"

    Ju Shou bit his lower lips until his teeth dug into his flesh . Blood seeped out from the wounds, but Ju Shou did not feel any pain as the pain in his heart was heavier . Anger could be seen in his eyes .

    "You will entertain them once the banquet is over . For now, serve them by their side . "

    Hearing Ju Shou¡¯s order, they lost all hope . They shed tears of despair and regret that they picked the wrong road, yet they bowed to Ju Shou and followed his order .

    Seeing the tears of the girls, the pain in his heart intensified . At first, he felt pity for Bao Xin and his men for being the preys of Jia Xu and Tong¡¯s plot . He thought that these soldiers were heroes of the Han Court as they sacrificed themselves for the people . Now, they revealed their true nature, he felt that their death would be justified .

    ¡¯It¡¯s alright, all of you . None of you shall be soiled tonight!¡¯ Ju Shou swore .

    . . .

    Within an hour after the banquet started, both soldiers outside and Bao Xin¡¯s men inside the hall had heavy eyelids . They got drowsy after drinking a couple jars of wine, which was unusual for them .

    In the banquet outside, a few soldiers dropped on the ground, falling asleep . Their friends startedughing at them thinking that they were dead drunk .

    "This wine is so strong . I think I¡¯m already drunk!"

    "Yea, it tastes like normal wine, but it¡¯s damn strong!"

    "HAHA! Weakling! You can¡¯t even handle 2 jars of wine!"

    "HAHAHA! I think that guy used to brag he drank 10 jars without breaking a sweat . Now look at him, he¡¯s done! HAHAHA!"

    The same event happened inside the government hall . Several city officials already fell asleep while Bao Xin and his men struggled to stay awake as they were looking forward to the night entertainment .

    "Sir Ju, your wine is very strong . My apologies, I think I¡¯ll have to stop toasting with you for now . "

    Ju Shou was also struggling to stay awake as well . His jar was not wine but water, but the drowsiness already overwhelmed him . However, because of his anger, he stayed awake to see the death of these men .

    "Please don¡¯t apologize, general . I¡¯m also at my limit, too . "

    As Ju Shou spoke, he gave Jia Xu, who disguised himself as one of the officials at the back, with an angry re . Despite the fact that they were allies, Jia Xu put his drugs in everyone¡¯s food without an exception .

    ¡¯Indeed, to fool the enemies, you have to fool your allies first . But at the very least, you should have warned me or have given me an antidote beforehand!¡¯

    ¡¯Damnit! It¡¯s fortunate that it was mild sleeping pills and I reced my wine with water! If it¡¯s wine, we all would¡¯ve died here before we kill these men!¡¯

    ...

    ...

    Tong, Jia Xu, and Zhang He sat on the back row of the banquet, observing the crowd and the effect of their drugs .

    In this scheme, Jia Xu pretended that Han Fu was alive to lure the enemies inside the city . The party was nothing but a rouse and an opportunity to poison these soldiers .

    Once they got inside, they drugged the soldiers with Jia Xu¡¯s personal drugs mixing with the food and drink in the banquet .

    At first, Jia Xu wanted to use his numb poison to paralyze them . However, Tong gave him an idea that thebination of sleeping pills or powder mixing with alcoholic wine could also kill . Furthermore, the execution would be cleaner this way . If they were to fall asleep when they were drinking, none of them would have suspected that they were poisoned .

    Jia Xu was inspired by the idea and agreed with Tong¡¯s suggestion, and put sleeping powders into all food instead of more noticeable numb poison .

    The n went well . The soldiers and Bao Xin had not suspected anything after they ate and drank a lot of food and wine .

    The more they ate and drank, the more severe the drug effect . It was possible for the drugged soldiers and officials to fall asleep and stop breathing, which would result in death .

    For the sake of the realistic scene, Jia Xu put the drugs into all food that had been served, but he reced the wine of the officials with tea, so they would not die from the side effect of the sleeping pills .

    The food in front of the three was also contaminated with Jia Xu¡¯s drugs, yet Tong ignored the fact and ate them with glee .

    Meanwhile, Jia Xu and Zhang He did not dare to touch to food . They only drank tea and watched everyone . As soon as they saw Tong¡¯s empty te, they nced at him to check his condition .

    Seeing the satisfied face of Tong, the two looked at him as if he was a monster .

    Although Tong¡¯s poison and drug immunity did not take effect as he voluntarily ate the drugged food, he still had his regen skill as a backup lifesaving skill . With this skill, Tong chowed down his food to the point that his stomach bloated .

    *Burp*

    <ding>>

    <your [gluttony]="" has="" been="" strengthened="" by="" your="" recent="" action="">>

    >

    <your [gluttony]="" has="" 5%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯Crap, I forgot about this . ¡¯

    "My lord, all food here is not safe . Are you alright after eating all that?" Zhang He was worried .

    "Meh, it¡¯s alright . It¡¯s just a little drowsiness . As long as I don¡¯t drink alcohol, I¡¯ll be fine . By the way, Wenhe, when will we start? I could have killed all of them when they first entered the hall actually . But since you insist with your n, I left them be . "

    Jia Xu raised his eyebrows and gave Tong a weird stare .

    "Please don¡¯t recklessly act outside of my ns . You could have killed all of them, yes . But doing so will anger the 10,000 soldiers . If we want to get rid of them, we¡¯ll have to do it thoroughly . I don¡¯t want to see any unnecessary casualty . "

    The corner of Tong¡¯s mouth twitched .

    ¡¯Don¡¯t want to see any unnecessary casualty your sister! If Zhang He had hadn¡¯t open the gate in time, all my soldiers would have turned into porcupines!¡¯ Tong retorted in his mind . </your></probability></your></ding>

 Chapter 162

    Chapter 162: 162

    Chapter 162 ¨C The Famous Ploy ¨C Part 3

    Thirty minutester .

    All officials and six visitors fell asleep as nned . The performers were delighted by the changes of events as they did not have to bed these men .

    "All of you can go now . They have slept, so the party is over . "

    The dancers bowed and left in a hurry with a bright smile while the maids rushed in to clean up the tables and the mess in the hall .

    "My lord, what should we do with the sleeping men?" One of the maids asked Tong .

    "Leave them be . You can take all the food and the tables away . I¡¯ll have the soldiers handle the menter . "

    With Tong¡¯s order, the maids cleaned the hall and took away tables, food, wine jars, and all mess that the banquet participants created .

    In ten minutes, the hall was left with sleeping men, Jia Xu, Tong, and Zhang He .

    "Junyi, go check how outside banquet is doing . If all of them are sleeping, you can start . "

    Zhang He bowed and was about to leave, but Jia Xu stopped him .

    "Don¡¯t kill them right away . Strip their clothes and armor first . I want to use their clothes and armors for my next move . "

    Tong and Zhang He paused to look at Jia Xu for a moment . It did not take long for them to understand Jia Xu¡¯s intention . They smiled and nodded .

    "So, we¡¯ll disguise as Imperial troops next? Can¡¯t we use the same ploy to kill Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun?"

    "That¡¯s impossible . Those two are elites of the elites . Once they notice that Han Fu and that man aren¡¯t with us, they will suspect us and the sess chance of this n will be too low . Don¡¯t forget that they have 140,000 men with them . We can¡¯t possibly feed them all with drugs or invite all of them into the city . The risk factors are too many, my lord . "

    Tong sighed . Though this ploy was efficient to the point that they did not suffer any casualty, it was a pity that this n could not be used again .

    "For now, please get rid of those six men . I¡¯m but a weak civil servant, I¡¯m not suitable for killing people directly . "

    "Okie dokie..."

    Tong walked to the sleepingmanders of Huangfu Song¡¯s force . Then, he noticed Ju Shou who was still awake . His face was so pale that it was as white as a paper sheet, yet his distorted red gave Tong a chill down his spine .

    "Please allow me to witness their death or I won¡¯t have a proper sleep tonight . "

    Tong gulped and nodded . This man was scary! His killing intent was on par with the soldiers in his army .

    He sat on top of one of them who was sleeping on his stomach . Tong touched his neck to feel his pulse, it was weak . He also had stopped breathing for some time now .

    ¡¯Rules of thumb . Kill a person twice to ensure a 100% kill . ¡¯

    Tong slipped his palm under the chin while his other hand grabbed the head of themander . He twisted the head with both hands .

    *CRACK*

    The neck rotated in an unnatural angle as his neck was broken .

    Jia Xu watched Tong¡¯s method of killing . He sighed andined .

    "Such a barbaric way of killing . Can¡¯t you be more civilized? You can just cut his throat and be done with it . "

    "And who will clean up this ce? We¡¯ll have to use this hall again . I don¡¯t want to sit on that throne while smelling the blood of these people tomorrow!"

    As Tong and Jia Xu were bickering at each other, Tong walked to Bao Xin and was about to break his neck .

    The eyes of Bao Xin snapped open . He pulled a small pin from his secret sleeve bag and attempted to stab Tong with it, aiming at his neck .

    Sensing a killing intent and a bad premonition, Tong leaped backward . Bao Xin¡¯s needle punch hit the air!

    A trail of blood dripped from the corner of Bao Xin¡¯s mouth . He bit his tongue to stay awake as he suspected that the alcohol was too strong and everyone fell asleep too fast .

    His suspicion was correct, he was plotted against by the locals .

    "WHO ARE YOU!?" Bao Xin shouted as he withheld the pain from his wounded tongue . The drug effect hit him hard to the point that he could hardly breathe anymore . Throwing a punch just now was all of his remaining strength .

    Tong did not answer . He only nced at Bao Xin, drew his sword, and disappeared from his sight .

    Bao Xin felt a cold sensation from his neck . His vision suddenly spun, and he lost the sense of his body along with the ability to breath . He did not realize that his head was severed before his vision turned ck forever .

    "I told you . Cutting their necks is more efficient . You can simply disable the surviving ones without having to dodge that counter-strike . "

    Jia Xu continued hisint . Tong, on the other hand, could only sigh in resignation .

    Aside from Bao Xin, all of his subordinates were not aware that they were drugged . Tong snapped their necks one by one till thest person .

    Ju Shou watched Tong killing these men to thest man . Satisfied by their death, he fell asleep .

    ...

    The outside situation was not as smooth as in the government hall, not all Bao Xin¡¯s soldiers attended the outside banquette .

    Three thousand of 10,000 men did not participate in the party . They immediately noticed the unusual cleaning up process and attempted to group up together to breakout from this city .

    The three thousand cavalries without horses rushed toward the south gate where they had entered .

    The garrison force of Zhang He was already there, barricading the gate and waiting on the walls .

    "Fire!" The guard captain shouted .

    Night arrows rained upon the approaching soldiers . Without a leader ormander to guide them, the three thousand escapees ran around in disorder and was shot by arrows .

    Zhang He also gathered a group of guards and chased behind the remnants of Bao Xin . He dove into the mob and swung his halberd, crashing onto their armors and sent them flying .

    Anywhere he charged, the onlookers could see flying soldiers or severed parts of human limbs .

    The chaossted for 3 hours . Tong had toe out and assist the garrison force chasing the escapees in the dark night as the remnants scattered everywhere around the southern area of the city .

    On the other hand, Jia Xu imed that he was tired and went to sleep alone in the midst of the chaos . He had no "F" to give to the ruckus outside as hepleted his job .

    The garrison soldiers slowly boxed in the remnants and forced them to the main street . By the time they realized that they were surrounded, only five hundred of them remained alive .

    "Drop all your weapons! You have nowhere to go!" Zhang He shouted .

    "We surrender! Please don¡¯t kill us!"

    A captain of Bao Xin¡¯s remaining force shouted while the others looked around in despair .

    Zhang He proceeded to guide the prisoners to the government jail for now . He had to clean up the corpses around the city . Otherwise, the citizens would not be at ease, seeing the dead bodies lying around .

    Tong also watched the entire event unfold . This result of Jia Xu¡¯s scheme today was much better than the result from the historical battle of Wan Castle .

    . . .

    In the Battle of Wan Castle, before the incident, Jia Xu really intended to surrender . However, Zhang Xiu changed his mind after realizing that Cao Cao wanted Zou Shi as his concubine and wanted to kill Cao Cao . Jia Xu had to improvise this n without proper preparation, which was the first downside .

    Secondly, he did not use sleeping powders or sleeping pills like they did today . Jia Xu used poison, which alerted Cao Cao¡¯s men when the drug-effect had taken effect .

    And finally, Cao Cao had many capablemanders with him at that time, so they managed to organize a unit and broke free from Wan City .

    On the contrary to the historical event, Bao Xin was the only capablemander in this unit, and he was killed before he could organize his men . In addition, thebination of sleeping pills and alcohol poisoning were more effective than the historical event .

    Jia Xu also had times to prepare everything, which the n was more thorough than the Wan Castle .

    ...

    Tong ounted for everything and smiled .

    ¡¯Free lifespans from these guys . I hope one or two of them are generals . ¡¯

    Tong hummed after he killed all of themanders and nced at his quest menu .

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Soulmate Mission No . 2**

    Clear Condition:

    - upied Ye City and Julu City . Other cities are optional .

    - Protect the cities from the invaders until the time limit runs out .

    - Make at least 50% of your citizens happy .

    - Zhang Tong and Hua Shi must participate in this mission together .

    Failure Condition:

    - One or more of the cities is not under your control when the time limit exceeded .

    - Zhang Tong or Hua Shi did not participate in this mission .

    Clearing Reward:

    - 100,000 Lifespans forpleting the main objective .

    - 20,000 Lifespans for killing an enemy general .

    - 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier .

    - 10,000 Lifespans for each city controlled . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket for each city controlled . The reward is given annually .

    - One Lifespan for each happy poption each year . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket if more than half of your poption is happy . The reward is given annually .

    Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Mission Failure: Soulmate Contract will be nullified and one of you will die .

    System Note: As usual, you have to kill the soldiers or the generals yourself to get the reward .

    *********************************************

    ...

    ¡¯At least I should get 20,000 Lifespans from one of the guys, right?¡¯

    As he reread the content of his quest, Tong realized something . The entire events, which revolved around him, connected with this mission!

    Liu Ping dered him and his family rebels, all Tong neighbors were his enemies . Everything coincided with the purpose of this quest .

    He had to protect all cities under his control and oust the onughts by Liu Ping and his neighbors!

    It was as if the system had predicted this or she had manipted every movement of the natives and otherworlders . After Tong contemted it a bit further, he believed that it was thetter .

    ¡¯Whatever that obnoxious system is nning, the first priority is ousting the 60 years of danger . I¡¯ll just kill every otherworlder I find until my n is the only one remaining . I¡¯ll either conquer China or settle down the foundation of a new country . ¡¯

    <ding>>

    <your [despair]="" has="" been="" weakened="" by="" your="" recent="" emotion="">>

    >

    <your [despair]="" has="" 0%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    Tong chuckled in his mind seeing the notification by the system .

    ¡¯Opposite of [Despair]... that should be [Hope], right?¡¯

    ¡¯Alright . [Sloth] and [Despair] isn¡¯t a problem anymore . Getting rid of them is only a matter of time . ¡¯

    <ding>>

    <your [pride]="" has="" been="" strengthened="" by="" your="" recent="" emotion="">>

    >

    <your [pride]="" has="" 20%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    "..."

    The expression of Tong¡¯s face turned ugly . This was the only sin that kept getting worse .

    ¡¯What do I have to do to get rid of this?¡¯</your></probability></your></ding></your></probability></your></ding>

 Chapter 163

    Chapter 163

    Chapter 163 ¨C [SLOTH] - Part 1

    September 12th, 182 A . D .

    The morning assembly meeting of Ye City was canceled today to allow the officials and workers to rest after the hectic night .

    Zhang He worked all night yesterday, so he excused himself to rest . On the other hand, Jia Xu and Ju Shou had a proper rest, the two strategists brainstormed in private to draft the Ye City integration n for the Yellow Turban and Tong Army .

    As for Tong, he also worked all night like Zhang He, but he could not sleep .

    His [Pride] curse was in the danger zone as it had a high probability to take control of his body and soul any moment . He had to find a way to keep this curse in check as soon as possible before Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun Army arrived .

    Tong texted into the n chat to ask Dong Bai, hoping to get an advice from the ex-demoness .

    During the time when Tong was in Julu, he consulted with Dong Bai about his demon soul and its use before . But he forgot to ask about the details of the awakening and the possible danger as they were too focus on the usage .

    Furthermore, Dong Bai and Hua Shi usually got sidetracked by their lewd talk and strayed from Tong¡¯s main topic, which always ended up with him being ravished by the two predators .

    Zhang Tong: What is the opposite of [Pride]?

    Hua Shi: Modesty?

    Li Feihong: Humbleness?

    Dong Bai: Are you trying to awake your soul again?

    Zhang Tong: It¡¯s rted to my [Demonic Curse] skill . The system warned me that it had high chances that it can take over my body .

    Dong Bai: Has it invaded your soul yet?

    Zhang Tong: No, but chances are 20% now .

    Zhang Tong: Is there a way to suppress it other than trying to act opposite of the sins?

    Zhang Tong: I don¡¯t want to be a bootlicker .

    Hua Shi: Is it rted to the demonic awakening that you did?

    Hua Shi: Thest time you awakened your stand .

    Dong Bai: @Zhang Tong Modesty works .

    Li Feihong: O_O

    Li Feihong: My bro has a stand!?

    Li Feihong: I want to see! >w< li="" feihong:="" what="" is="" it="" like?="" hua="" shi:="" it¡¯s="" a="" naked="" woman="" with="" big="" oo="" li="" feihong:="" oo?="" zhang="" tong:="" @dong="" bai="" i="" doubt="" i="" will="" have="" a="" chance="" to="" act="" modestly...="" zhang="" tong:="" any="" alternative="" way="" besides="" trying="" to="" be="" humble . ="" zhang="" tong:="" i="" don¡¯t="" have="" many="" chances="" for="" that . ="" hua="" shi:="" b00b!="" li="" feihong:="">_>

    Li Feihong: Now I want to see x100

    Hua Shi: He has given it to Baibai .

    Hua Shi: So you have to ask her to show you .

    Li Feihong: HE CAN GIVE STAND!?

    Li Feihong: REEEEEEEEE

    Li Feihong: @Zhang Tong GIVE ME ONEEEEEE

    Hua Shi: @Zhang Tong GIVE ME TWOOOOO

    Zhang Tong: NOISY! STOP SPAMMING!

    Zhang Tong: This is serious!

    Tong pressed his be to soothe his headache . He wanted to have a serious conversation with Dong Bai about this matter, but those bored reincarnators spammed with random chatting again .

    Dong Bai was silent in the chat room for over 10 minutes, but the chat room was shing the "Dong Bai is typing..." message under the message box . Tong patiently waited for her reply .

    Then, long messages from Dong Bai showed up .

    "The process of awakening normally takes years toplete one demon soul . For us, we don¡¯t have a system to give us the number of how many percentages or how close we are about to seed, so I don¡¯t know if our method will work out for you or not . "

    "In Hell, when demons like us were born, we will be trapped in a special prison for demons that lost control of themselves . We usually lost our control when we hit puberty, so normally, we lock ourselves in there for a few million years, and we will regain our sense naturally . By the time I regain my senses, I already have four wings on my back . But in your case, you¡¯ll have to awake them manually . "

    "So here¡¯s the deal . There¡¯s a trick that all demons are using . When we have extra souls that we aren¡¯t using, we will use that avable soul as a sacrificial seal . As long as we have one extra soul, we can disable all dangerous sins, with a cost that we won¡¯t be able to grow another wing again in our lifetime . "

    "I¡¯ll teach you the method once you get back . For now, concentrate on awakening the sins that you have confident on conquering . As for [Pride], try to act humble or be an ass-kisser for a while . "

    "Your issue now is about your personality and habit traits . Everybody has different traits andpatibility, so there will be a couple of sins that you can ovee quickly while the rest will be very difficult . For example, I managed to awake the [Despair], [Gluttony], [Envy], and [Wrath] . But I failed the rest, so my true form in the past only had 4 wings and 4 demon souls . The same goes for every devil in Hell . Average demons have two wings . Only captain ss and above has 4 wings or higher . I think my mom has seven or eight . Thest time I saw her wings was a millennia ago, so I think she has 8 right now?"

    "You will easily ovee at least two sins in the early years of your demonhood, but you will always have a few ipatible ones . It¡¯s the weakness that everybody has . I¡¯m assuming that [Pride] is your hidden personality, so that might be the reason it keeps increasing its strength . Your next awaken souls should be [Envy] or perhaps [Greed] judging from your habits . "

    "Concentrate on what you can conquer . Don¡¯t worry about [Pride] for now . "

    Tong carefully read the messages as if he was reading a textbook . Dong Bai blurted out a few information that he did not ask, such as the wings and the prison .

    He subconsciously touched his back to feel if he had wings . He had just ovee his [Lust] and awakened his first demon soul . Tong thought that he would grow a pair of wings if he had a demon soul as well .

    To his disappointment, his back was still as usual, a human back .

    "How do I not have wings? I have one demon soul, right?" Tong texted back .

    "You need at least 2 souls before your wings grew . For now, abandon all your thoughts and concentrate on getting your second and third soul . Like I said, awake them first, then I¡¯ll teach you how to use themter . If you worry too much, your [Despair] will probably get stronger again . " Dong Bai replied .

    ...

    Later that day, Tong rested in his new courtyard prepared by Ju Shou .

    It used to be Han Fu¡¯s private residence, but Ju Shou evicted all of Han Fu¡¯s remaining rtives and servants for Tong . New staffs were hired to rece the sacked servants .

    A few maids walked around in the courtyard, cleaning up the garden and moving their luggage .

    Tong remembered a few of them . Three of the servants were the dancers who were almost ravished by Bao Xin and his men . It seemed they quit their job as it was too risky to be abused and became maids instead .

    ¡¯Concentrate, concentrate . ¡¯

    Tong abandoned his useless thought and continued his push-up, even though he could hardly lift his body up . He was doing it for the sake of getting rid of his [Sloth] .

    ¡¯Will this work?¡¯

    ¡¯How long do I have to push myself further?¡¯

    ¡¯If I ck, it increases . But I¡¯m reaching my limit, yet the messages haven¡¯t appeared . ¡¯

    Tong pushed his body up once more before he copsed on the floor on his stomach . It was the 2,000th push-up marathon in one session . Even though he had many passive boosts, going gung-ho in one sitting was still hard for him .

    ¡¯Regen! Again!¡¯

    <ding>>

    <your [sloth]="" has="" been="" weakened="" by="" your="" recent="" action="">>

    >

    <your [sloth]="" has="" 0%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <if you="" go="" against="" your="" [sloth]="" one="" more="" time,="" your="" [demonic="" seal]="" level="" will="" reduce="" by="" 1="">>

    ¡¯Freaking finally! Alright, I wonder if I can weaken it one more time!¡¯</if></your></probability></your></ding>

 Chapter 164

    Chapter 164

    Chapter 164 ¨C [SLOTH] - Part 2

    For half a day, Tong did nothing but push-up . He also lost count of how many he did as he stopped counting since the 5th session .

    Tong already threw away his robes, leaving only his pants on . His smooth and toned upper body was drenched in sweat after the stressful work-out . Several young maids peeked at Tong from a distance as their face blushed, while the male servants looked at Tong in awe .

    Tong ignored the onlookers and was about to start a new session .

    *BADUMP*

    The heart of Tong shook . The familiar sensation came back again . It was the feeling of that day when he sessfully got rid of his [Lust] .

    The sensation of his body splitting into two came back . His vision also changed, he could see himself from a third person¡¯s viewpoint again .

    <you have=""pletely="" reigned="" over="" your="" [sloth]="">>

    <your [sloth]="" has="" been="" devoured="" by="" your="" soul="">>

    <your [sloth]="" has="" been="" deleted="" from="" your="" [demonic="" curse]="">>

    <your [demonic="" body]="" has="" been="" upgraded="">>

    <your [demonic="" seal]="" level="" has="" been="" reduced="" by="" 1="">>

    <your [soul="" of="" sloth]="" has="" been="" born="">>

    Learned from the previous experience, Tong managed to control his original body with a little effort . He turned around to look at his demonic soul [Sloth] .

    This soul was not the same as [Lust] . Instead of a naked woman, it was an old man in a brown police uniform . His appearance was an Asian man with a height of 185cm . His muscle was neither too thick nor floppy, it was the shape of someone who worked out daily but he was not at a level of a professional muscle builder . The wrinkles on his body told Tong his age, he should have been in his 70s or 80s by his appearance .

    Tong remembered his face very well . It was the face of his previous life when he was living in the modern world, but it was his older version . If he had not died young in his previous life, he would have looked like the demon soul in front of Tong when he got older .

    The police uniform was also the uniform that he usually wore at work . In addition, Tong could see the insignias on the soul¡¯s shoulder and several emblems on the chest . The insignia of Chief Inspector could be seen which it was his career goal when he was working as a police officer .

    Tong looked at his demon soul with a bitter smile . Nostalgic memories and forgotten memories flooded out from the depths of his mind .

    The time when he took the entrance examination .

    The time when he got into the boot camp the first day .

    The time when he got punched by a drill sergeant as part of the training .

    The time when he graduated from the police school as the top ace of the toon .

    The time when he saluted to the tearing drill sergeant who used to beat him with pride .

    The day when he apprehended a criminal for the first time .

    The memories of his police days came back . Tong could now recall the events of his police life from day one to the end of his journey when he was killed by Ping¡¯s bodyguards .

    "Looking back, I could have done it better..."

    "If I were a bit calmer, I could have put that matter to the international court . "

    "I could have sought asylum in other country and asked for help in the social world . "

    "..."

    "But at the very least, I was neverzy at all, right?"

    "I worked very hard for it, right?"

    The demon soul gave Tong a warm smile, even though it was himself who smiled at his original body . Tears rolled down from Tong¡¯s both eyes as his spirit was cleansed from the past regret .

    Tong had not noticed yet, two small ck tentacles at the size of a finger wrinkling behind his back . It was the same color and shape with what Morning Star had .

    ...

    Tong texted Dong Bai again . "I¡¯vepleted [Sloth] . What can I do with it?"

    As usual, Hua Shi and Li Feihong spammed the chat with their nonsense . However, Dong Bai was mature enough to answer him properly .

    "Move him into your body for now . Once it gets inside, the two bodies will move together so it will be easier for you to handle . If you have free times, you can practice moving two bodies at once . It¡¯s simr to ying piano or writing a circle and a star simultaneously with both hands . "

    "By the way, that was freaking too fast! Were your previous life a monk!? [Lust] and [Sloth] are one of the hardest sins to ovee! How the heck can you get them so fast!?"

    Reading Dong Bai¡¯s reply, Tong had an inspiration . He ignored Dong Bai¡¯s retort and asked her again .

    "Can my demon soul use my system skill?"

    It took a second for Li Feihong and Hua Shi to scream in the chat again . They want Tong to demonstrate the "ZA WARUDO" skill with his [Sloth] .

    "Shouldn¡¯t you ask the system? I don¡¯t know everything, you know?"

    Tong pped his forehead . "Oof"

    "System, you heard us . Can my soul use the system skill?"

    [... Yes, but the skill cost will be ten times the normal rate . ]

    "Da hack! Why is that!?"

    [It involves an exploit you can do with the souls . It won¡¯t be fair to others if I tell you everything . To be honest, I want to keep this a secret . But since you¡¯re working so hard, I can tell you . But with a condition . You will have toplete some extra missions from me . ]

    Tong shook his head without thinking . Why would he trust the system who was trying to kill all reincarnators in this world? Besides, a mission from the system could be something troublesome or risky . He could not afford to gamble with the sinister administrator .

    "I refuse . I won¡¯t take a mission from you . "

    [My dear, I haven¡¯t finished yet . In exchange for that, I¡¯ll teach you how to control your souls and better tips for reigning your rampaging sins . I have a much better way than sacrificing one of your soul to seal your future . ]

    "What do you mean?"

    [That demon girl, I meant the ex-demon, was only a four-winged . She can¡¯t possibly be more knowledgeable than a senior with more wings, right?]

    Hearing about wings, Tong came to a pause . Dong Bai mentioned it earlier today, but he did not ask her further about the details . Tong guessed that it should connect with the number of sins ones overcame .

    "What¡¯s the connection between wings and sins?"

    [You should have already guessed it . The number of wings the immortals have is the number of sins they cleansed . You have cleansed [Lust] and [Sloth], so you have now two wings! Congrats, little devil!]

    Hearing that he had two wings, Tong touched his back again . He could feel small branches of tentacle on his back . The moment his fingers squeezed them, a sharp pain ran through his back . It felt like he exploded a zit on his back by ident .

    "Shit! Ouch! What the hell!?"

    [I suggest you return your soul into your body for now . If you leave him outside, your wings won¡¯t go back into the body . Besides, you have been talking to me in front of the onlookers for a while now . They might think you¡¯ve gone crazy . ]

    Tong looked around by reflex . The servants and maids were indeed looking at him in shock and fear . They could see the old man in the police uniform, and they mistook the soul as a ghost . Furthermore, Tong had been talking alone for a while, so they thought he was conversing with the ghost .

    Realizing what happened around him, Tong ordered everybody out .

    "Everybody, leave me alone for now! And also don¡¯t tell anyone about this!"

    With the words, all onlookers dispersed in a hurry . Tong had to recheck with his radar map again to ensure nobody was still around .

    Fortunately, the servants were obedient as no one dared to sneak around to eavesdrop him .

    Tong controlled his demon soul to enter his body . It was still too hard for him to control both bodies at the same time . For such a simple task, it took him five minutes toplete .

    After his soul entered the body, his vision changed again . When he gazed to the distance, he could see everything clearer . Tong tested his sight on the tree leaves 50 meters away, and he could notice a line of ants on the tree .

    His hearing also got sharper . The sound of wind, bugs, birds, and the servants at the distance away could be heard .

    Tong concentrated more to feel everything around him . Suddenly, everything turned into slow motion . His brain processed the data from his five sense so fast that he thought he had activated his [Time Stop] skill .

    He observed everything in a daze for a minute before he could feel a sharp pain inside his brain . Blood slowly dripped down from Tong¡¯s nose as he overclocked his brain for too long .

    ¡¯Holy Hell, am I a spiderman now?¡¯

    Instead of getting shocked by the pain, Tong was excited by the new experiences . </your></your></your></your></your></you>

 Chapter 165

    Chapter 165: 165

    Chapter 165 ¨C Join Me! Join the Dark Side!

    ************************************************

    [Demonic Curse] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Host emits an aura that will give status effects or curses to the designated targets .

    - The skill can be turned on and off .

    - The host can apply [Gluttony] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Greed] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Wrath] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Envy] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Pride] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Despair] to the targets .

    - The host can apply [Corruption] to the targets .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan per one target . Duration depends on the will of the host .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Aura radius is one kilometer around the host .

    - Targets have to be locked on by the host .

    - Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Demonic Seal] LV . 8

    - A seal made by the great father . This skill slows down the soul mutation process .

    - Curses of the following cannot be used; [Gluttony], [Greed], [Wrath], [Envy], [Pride], [Despair], [Corruption] .

    - The seal will be weakened if the host increases his mental fortitude .

    - Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    [Subpar Demonic Body] Upgradable, Iplete Conditions

    - Immune to all disease, poisoning, and drugs .

    - Enhanced five senses .

    - Reduce all damages to the host¡¯s body by 25% .

    - Increase all attribute of the host by 15 times .

    - Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    ************************************************

    ...

    His status upgraded again after the awakening . Looking back on his efforts, they were worth it .

    [Wee to the immortalhood, little devil . Once you return to your dimension, you won¡¯t be treated as a sinner again . I¡¯m sure that brat Morning Star will be delighted to take you in under his wings . ]

    [But I have to remind you again . You¡¯ve only taken your first step inside the doorway to the immortal realm . You have yet to see what kind of hypocrisy realms they are . ]

    [Heaven is peaceful, but those corrupted gods are full of shit!]

    [Hell is kind to you, but it¡¯s still a gathering ce for sinners and monsters The environment is still shit!]

    [Since you are too new in this world, I can give you a pointer or show you the proper way to grow into a better demon, even stronger than those first generation archangels . But of course, I have a condition . ]

    [I¡¯ll rephrase what I have asked, work for me, and I¡¯ll exempt you from this shitty game! I can make you stronger than both Michael and Morning Starbined! Join me!]

    Tong stared at the series of messages in shock . The system gave out so many information about Heaven and Hell that Tong did not know . He did not know anything about this "Morning Star", "Michael", or first generation archangels, but he could guess that they should be the powerhouse in the Netherworld .

    Moreover, thest message tempted him . It would be a lie if Tong said he enjoyed doing quests from the system . He had always been looking for a way to stop doing random missions since he was born into this world .

    Now, the opportunity was presented to him on a silver tter . However ...

    "What about my wives, my family, and my friends?"

    [I have no use for those sinners and the powerless ex-demoness . They will have to go through this game until they die and they will have to return to their dimension . ]

    "Can¡¯t you make an exception? For like, family welfare for your employee?"

    [No, my resource is limited . I can¡¯t waste it on those useless bums . ]

    The system goddess needed a sessor who could inherit the system administrator position so she could reduce her imprisonment terms . Zuo Ci, Liu Yang, and Medusa were good candidates, but Tong had more potentials as she knew about the secret plot which Morning Star had nted on him .

    She also had the information about Tong¡¯s two unique sins that only a few individuals knew about, which were not shown in the system menu .

    She could not tell this to Tong . If she were to favor his entire faction in the open, her father would have shown up again and put more chains on her, which would extend her imprisonment period . She had to camouge her favor with system missions, forced restrainment, and threats of severe punishments, so nobody could notice her true intention .

    s, being in confinement for countless years without a friend to talk to weakened hermunication ability .

    [Aren¡¯t you disgusted living with that psychopath? She¡¯s been taking advantage of you since the first day you two met . ]

    [That ex-demoness too, she¡¯s been cruel to you, isn¡¯t she? She took your first soul without telling you anything . If she hadn¡¯t taken your soul, yourbat potential would have surpassed Lu Bu already!]

    [And that friend of yours, don¡¯t you realize that he is leeching off you? All your hard-earned n quest lifespans will be taken by him so he can stay alive . ]

    [Work with me for 100,000 years . No, in your case, 50,000 years are enough! After that period, you will be invincible in this multiverse! If you still worry about your friends and your family by that time, you can get them back from that dimension with ease!]

    [Abandon those useless people for now and join me!]

    Hearing thest few messages, it was not hard for Tong to decide . Even if the temptation was strong, he was not the type who abandon others to seek self-profit alone .

    Tong took a deep breath, bit his lower lips as he felt pity for the deal .

    "I¡¯m sorry . I¡¯ll decline this offer . "

    <ding>>

    <your [greed]="" has="" been="" weakened="" by="" your="" recent="" emotion="">>

    >

    <your [greed]="" has="" 0%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <if you="" go="" against="" your="" [greed]="" one="" more="" time,="" your="" [demonic="" seal]="" level="" will="" reduce="" by="" 1="">>

    A smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face . Although he might miss this golden opportunity, a new sin was about to be cleansed .

    [FOOL! Do you have any idea who you are talking to!?]

    [That girl only had 4 wings and her mother has 8 . Do you know how many wings I have?]

    [Sixteen!!]

    [Do you know how many wings the strongest immortals in that dimension have? 12!]

    [Common archangels and archdemons have 8 wings . Those hypocrite gods in your world only have 10 wings! Only the first-gen archangels and Hell King have 12!]

    [But I have 16! Do you know what that means!?]

    [Do you think those weakling devils can guide you better than I do!?]

    [I¡¯m the second strongest Immortal in both dimensions! I¡¯m only second to the creator!]

    [Do you know how many gods would kill just to beg me to be their mentor!?]

    Hearing about the numeralparison of the wings, the mind of the newbie demon wavered . However, Tong stood firm in his decision . He shook his head and refused the invitation again .

    "I¡¯m sorry . You can¡¯t even help my family members, how can I even trust you? You have all the power, but you don¡¯t even want to give me a basic family welfare . I can¡¯t work with the narrow-minded boss . "

    The system goddess stopped sending her messages . The awkward silence continued for another 5 minutes until new messages appeared again .

    [I gave you a chance, but you ruined it . Suit yourself, then . ]

    [By the way, if I were you, I wouldn¡¯t try to get my fourth wing ortter wings in this world . If you do and you use that power on my local ants, you will definitely be targeted by my delegated enforcers . ]

    [There¡¯s an angry 8-wing-goddess-wannabe and a rebelling cultivator with the strength of 10-wing god in this world . Though I put a leash on them, who knows if they will suddenly break my shackles and go after you . ]

    [Do your best not to irk them . I won¡¯t help you if they identally kill you . ]

    [One more thing, the strength gap for every two wings is like the top of Mount Everest and the deepest abyss in Mariana Trench . Just telling you so you can get a clear picture of your power and theirs . ]

    [Good luck, have fun]

    "Eh?"

    Tong¡¯s hands and feet went cold from hearing that there was another threat besides the quests and the natives . Knowing that there were two roaming immortals that could easily kill him gave him a fright .

    He had been with Friday and Medusa in Hell for years . Their general strength and magic were as if they emerged from fantasy movies . Just Friday alone, who had only 4 wings, was enough to destroy a country in this world by herself .

    <ding>>

    <your [despair]="" has="" been="" strengthened="" by="" your="" recent="" emotion="">>

    >

    <your [despair]="" has="" 10%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    "Dammit! That was definitely on purpose!"

    Tong clicked his tongue and regted his breathing to control his unsettling heart in a hurry . Fear, as well as anger, lingered in the depths of his heart .

    The system goddess seemed to hold a grudge for Tong as he refused her offer . She threatened him with the existence of her two subordinates, Liu Yang and Zuo Ci . From her action, she definitely took revenge on him .

    <ding>>

    <your [wrath]="" has="" been="" strengthened="" by="" your="" recent="" emotion="">>

    >

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 15%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    "This is insane! I only feel a bit of frustration and it increases a lot . "

    Tong sat down and crossed legs to meditate . With the wavering heart, he was at risk of getting taken over by his sins .

    ...

    ...

    September 13th, 5 AM .

    Tong opened his eyes from the all-night meditation . He identally fell asleep while he sat cross-legs as he was over-zealot in getting his sins weakened .

    The moment he adjusted his sight with his surrounding, he had a wry smile on his face . The message logs on the system menu showed unsatisfying messages .

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 14 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [pride]="" has="" 19 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [despair]="" has="" 9 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [envy]="" has="" 1 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [gluttony]="" has="" 4 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [corruption]="" has="" 0 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [greed]="" has="" 0%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    Despite his hard work of trying to calm his spirit for an entire night, all the sins, aside from [Greed], had only decreased by 0 . 01% chance . At this rate, he might have to meditate every night for years, which was impossible for him to do right now as he had urgent matters about the iing war .

    ¡¯A small wave in my heart can boost up the chances by a lot, but I have to work all night to get it reduces by a little . This will probably take forever . ¡¯

    ¡¯Do I have to shave my head bald and be a monk to get these cleansed!?¡¯

    ¡¯Come to think of it, the system said there is a cultivator . Did he cultivate to the point that he overcame all of these?¡¯

    Tong scratched his head . He recalled that he had forgotten something .

    ¡¯In the end, the system didn¡¯t tell me how I can use my skills with my demon soul . I guess I will have to test it myself in my free times . ¡¯

    Thinking this far, Tong stood up . His chuunibyou spirit was heightened as he summoned his soul outside of his body . He made a lean pose and pointed his finger toward the nothingness . He focused his conciousness onto his demon soul and muttered the magic word .

    "ZE WARUDO!!"</your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></probability></your></ding></your></probability></your></ding></if></your></probability></your></ding>

 Chapter 166

    Chapter 166: 166

    Chapter 166 ¨C Sortie n

    7 AM .

    Tong threw everything about the demonic stuff aside and went to the government hall to attend the morning meeting with a paled face . He regretted mimicking Dio .

    ¡¯It worked . But it wasn¡¯t worth it at all . ¡¯

    <your [pride]="" has="" 24 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [despair]="" has="" 10 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [envy]="" has="" 2 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [corruption]="" has="" 1 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    Just by activating his skill this way, his sins got stronger yet again .

    Meanwhile, Jia Xu, Zhang He, and Ju Shou were already there with all the officials . With Tong¡¯s arrival, Ju Shou began the assembly agendas . He put a region map on the strategic table on the middle of the hall and put miniature "Zhang" g on Ye Commandery zone .

    "My lord, we have interrogated the captured soldiers yesterday . We have learned about their invasion ns . "

    Ju Shou put mini "Liu", "Huangfu", "Zhu", and "Dong" gs on the south-west of Ye region . It was the territory of Henei Commandery .

    "From our investigation, Liu Ping ns to separate his force here in Henei . His main troops of 150,000 will move north to Shangdang Commandery next . One of the soldiers confessed that the governor of Henei Commandery, Wang Kuang, will also take all his men and apany Liu Ping, but he did not know the number of Wang Kuang¡¯s troops . Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, and Dong Zhuo Army will move alongside the Yellow River eastward to Liyang County and will head north toward our city . The numbers are roughly 240,000 men!"

    Tong subconsciously gulped . Liu Ping really meant business this time .

    Listening to Ju Shou, Tong noticed the new information .

    "Wait, did you say Dong Zhuo? He¡¯sing here, too?"

    "Correct, my lord . He is currently leading a 100,000-man army . "

    Learning that Dong Zhuo was here as well, Tong tapped the table and pondered . He had secretly formed an alliance with Dong Zhuo by epting a bribe, Dong Bai, as his concubine . But both of them had nevermunicated yet .

    Jia Xu read Tong¡¯s mind and stepped forward .

    "I have told Ju Shou and everyone about your secret alliance with Dong Zhuo . We have written a letter of cooperation to Dong Zhuo and dispatched our messenger yesterday . "

    "You did something without my permission again? What did you write to Dong Zhuo?"

    "It was a few simple questions to him . First, I¡¯ve asked if he wants Liu Ping to seed in this campaign or not . Second, I ask him what he wants in return for a favor if he were to help us in this battle . Andstly, I asked him if he values this alliance more or if he wants to continue ying as Liu Ping¡¯spdog . "

    Jia Xu¡¯s frankness gave Tong a headache . He massaged his temples and asked .

    "Are you trying to piss him off, or are you trying to negotiate?"

    "It¡¯s to confirm his stance, my lord . The human¡¯s mind cannot be predicted . He might have sent you his granddaughter as an alliance token, but he could as well trick you into trusting him . Then, he can ultimately betray you while you let your guard down . In this situation, there is no need for a fa?ade . We¡¯ll just be direct with our questions and our stances . If he¡¯s sincere, his reply letter will tell us . But if he doesn¡¯t, his letter¡¯s tone will tell us as well . There¡¯s no need to be concerned about our directness, my lord . "

    "And? What¡¯s your n?"

    Ju Shou exined . "We have concluded two policies from our initial discussion . But first, we would like to ask you a few rude questions . We have to apologize to you in advance . "

    "Ask away . What is it?"

    "Are you confident in your military prowess?"

    Tong tilted his head to the side in bemusement . What were they trying to aplish?

    "I can say I can survive any battle even if I have to fight a thousand men alone . "

    <ding>>

    <your [pride]="" has="" 24 . 98%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯Dafuq! I was being humble just now! Give me a break, it should have reduced more!¡¯

    The system message arrived as if it mocked Tong . He was trying to be modest, however, his tone was still somewhat egotistic .

    In reality, Tong was not afraid even if he had to challenge 10,000 soldiers alone . With his current passive buffs and other skills, he had thousands of ways to exploit a group of mobs .

    "That¡¯s reliable . Then our second question, can you relinquish your armymand right to us? Can you follow our instructions without fail? For example, if I ask you to lead ten thousand men to charge into a grand formation of 100,000 men, can you do it?"

    Tong red at Ju Shou and Jia Xu . These two foxes should have nned something, but they did not trust him . The question was an evaluation test for his character .

    "I can . But if that were to happen, both of you will be held ountable from it in the case the n fails . "

    "Of course, we understand that much . With your words, we can be relieved . "

    Ju Shou bowed . He meant exactly as he said he would be relieved because he had not known about Tong¡¯sbat skills and his leadership abilities yet . Ju Shou wanted to make sure that his advice would be epted by this new lord and not the same treatment as Han Fu or Xin Ping .

    "Any other question?" Tong asked .

    "No, that is more than enough . With this, we can choose our next action . " Jia Xu continued . "The first n, we were nning to defend the city . Since my lord is confident in his military prowess, I think this n is inefficient, so we can forget about it . "

    Jia Xu walked to the strategic map . He put a token, which represented Tong, at Liyang County . At the same time, he put Zhang He¡¯s token at Henei . Jia Xu also moved Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, and Dong Zhuo to Liyang County, signifying a battle at Liyang .

    "The second n, My lord, you will take 60,000 men and intercept Huangfu Song and the others at Liyang County . You will have to do whatever necessary to rout those 240,000 men, even if all of your soldiers have to perish in the battle!"

    Tong and Zhang He red at Jia Xu in anger . As military men, they valued theradeship and the lives of their soldiers more than anything else . Suddenly telling them to sacrifice their men to achieve their goal was the same as telling them to p their parents .

    Jia Xu could see their reaction, but he ignored it and continued .

    "While you are fighting at Liyang, Zhang He and Ju Shou will lead a disguised unit of 10,000 men to Henei Commandery to siege the city and cut off their main supply route . "

    "The true goal in this operation is to iste Liu Ping in the north . Since he will be moving to Shangdang and Jinyang next, Zhang He and Ju Shou will cut off the connection line between Luo Yang and Shangdang, making their supply line interrupted and they will be at risk of running out of food before they reach Jinyang or Julu . "

    "If we seed to this point, Liu Ping will have four choices remaining . One, he has to switch his destination to Ye City in order toy siege and steal our supplies . Two, he can request Ding Yuan for assistance and move his army to Jinyang . Or three, if he¡¯s smart, he can avoid the confrontation and retreat to the Capital . Or four, if he¡¯s that stupid, he will plunder the peasants along the way to reach either Ye or Julu City . "

    "I will prepare a n after we determine his choice . For now, please get yourself ready and prepare for the battle at Liyang . "

    "Also, please use your [Create Food] to stock the city provision supplies and clean water because I expect a prolonged campaign . Since you can only use it once a day, I will need you to stay behind in Ye for a few days . "

    Tong contemted Jia Xu¡¯s strategy with a deep frown . The soldier number odd was four to one, and Tong had to solo this operation without any assistance .

    ¡¯Wait, without assistance?¡¯ Tong realized something was amiss .

    "Wenhe, what about you? Are youing with me in this battle?" Tong asked to make sure if he had someone to consult during the uing sortie .

    "No, I have to remain here in this city to settle down the citizens . There¡¯s a lot of domestic integration we have to do within this city after the upation . There are many unemployed private soldiers of the dead nobles, so I have to tame those men before they revolt . "

    Jia Xu truly had his hands full coordinating with the locals . Juluws could not be applied here, so all nobles and merchants still possessed private mercenaries and troops in this city . If it was not for the uing battle, Jia Xu would have dragged Tong around the city to help him pacifying the local merchants and the families of the nobles .

    Although Tong had a suspicion, he gave his permission to act as he pleased since he had faith in Jia Xu¡¯s insight .

    "I¡¯ll send a message to my father to dispatch officials from Julu to this city . This should ease you up a bit . " Tong touched his n chat and was about to text to Zhang Jiao .

    "If it¡¯s that message, I¡¯ve already sent my men yesterday . You don¡¯t have to worry about it . "

    "Uh, no . I¡¯m not talking about sending a messenger with a fast horse . I canmunicate with my father in real time without sending a messenger . "

    Tong had forgotten to tell Jia Xu about the n chat, so he excused all the officials to leave, only Zhang He, Ju Shou, and Jia Xu were left in the room . Tong exined the details about themunication system, how it worked, the limitation, and the condition for usage .

    Ju Shou and Jia Xu¡¯s eyes lit up . They knew how important a long distancemunication was . If they could deliver important news in an instant, the trends of warfare and domestic management would change .

    Ju Shou had been coaxed by Zhang He for months, so he had to listen about his bragging about Tong being an Immortal King, magical abilities and such . After he surrendered, Tong¡¯s soldiers and Jia Xu confirmed the rumor, which forced Ju Shou to believe in Tong¡¯s superpower .

    Zhang He, on the other hand, felt that it was normal for an immortal to be able to do this much, so he was not surprised . He only thought that if he could use it as well, he could contact his scouts or his scouts could inform him about thetest news . With such a tactic, he would be able to react to the changes in the battlefields .

    "Invite me into the n . "

    "Please Invite me, too . "

    "My lord, me too . "

    The three did not hesitate and volunteered to be part of his n .

    However, Tong shook his head .

    "There¡¯s a limit how many people I can invite . So far, I can only bring in four people a year, and I¡¯ve already used up the quota for this year . You all have to wait for another few months . Moreover, I have to bring you to Julu to get this done . "

    Disappointed, the three gave up for now, yet their eyes were determined . Such a valuable ability could not be learned or trained . They had to obtain it via supernatural means, and the supernatural being was right in front of them . </your></ding></your></your></your></your>

 Chapter 167

    Chapter 167: 167

    Chapter 167 ¨C Dong Zhuo¡¯s Fantasy

    September 20th, 182 A . D .

    Henei outskirt, north of Yellow River .

    Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, and Dong Zhuo marched along the river toward Liyang County as it was the only path with a proper road . The pathway was unobstructed by any natural barrier, so the troops had it easy .

    As honest nobles, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun took turns to lead the march .

    On the contrary, Dong Zhuo volunteered to be the rearguard general as he did not want to bother sending scouts to the surrounding areas . Furthermore, a letter had arrived in his hands yesterday .

    Dong Zhuo had read the letter and burned it to destroy the evidence . Though he was frustrated by Jia Xu¡¯s tone, he took his times, thinking about what he should do to reap the most profits from this situation .

    He managed to extract the most important information from this letter . For some reason, Ye had probably fallen to the hands of Zhang Tong, which was the reason how the letter was sent to him before they even arrived at Ye .

    As a schemer, he did not tell this to anyone but Li Ru . He already told everything to his advisor . Hopefully, he would get a new inspiration or an ingenious stratagem to get the most out of this situation, yet, Li Ru told him .

    "This is a sensitive matter . I wish to take a few days to investigate both Liu Ping and Zhang Tong Army and their movements first . For now, please write a reply letter and tell them that you will not help Zhang Tong, but you will not help Liu Ping either . I believe we can extort arge number of tributes from Zhang Tong this way . "

    "Right now, you must not decide which side you will take . You have to wait and see theirpetence in the battle first . Once we have enough intel, we can decide if we want to cross Liu Ping right here, or we should continue ying along and kill Zhang Tong instead . "

    "If we pick Liu Ping¡¯s side, we can get rid of Zhang Tong and plunder his city . I¡¯ve heard he has quite a fortune from the soap trade and the food trade . We can also use his dead body as your achievement to gain reputation and respects from the courts, so we can use the officials in the courts for your causeter . "

    "But we can also stick to our n and backstab Liu Ping here if the Imperial armies are likely to fail this campaign . By getting rid of Liu Ping, the throne will be empty . By the time, the two Yuans will likely to dere themselves as Emperors and start fighting against each other . Then you can also take the throne as well . "

    The advice of Li Ru made Dong Zhuo hesitated if he should side with Liu Ping or Tong as both sides had pros and cons .

    ¡¯I still can¡¯t see how Zhang Tong can defeat Liu Ping . ¡¯

    ¡¯But I have a bad dreamst night ...¡¯

    ¡¯I dreamt that Liu Ping Army was defeated and he was burnt alive . ¡¯

    ¡¯I saw Zhang Tong killed both Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun . ¡¯

    ¡¯Then I saw him attacking me . ¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t like this at all . But my instinct tells me that I should side with Zhang Tong . ¡¯

    ¡¯But my logic tells me, I should kill him . ¡¯

    Dong Zhuo gritted his teeth as he tried to make a decision . While he was thinking, his mind got sidetracked, and his imagination took over his train of thought . For ten minutes, he fantasized about him being surrounded by pretty women .

    Then, he suddenly recalled a certain woman in the inner pce .

    It was a beautiful matured woman with purple hair and sharp eyes . She wore the uniform of a maid, but her look and her body was definitely top ss .

    His imagination wondered, he pictured Liu Ping being with the purple hair maid, which made his mood sour .

    ¡¯Dammit! He can enjoy those women but I can¡¯t! This is not fair!¡¯

    ¡¯That¡¯s it! Liu Ping has to die!¡¯

    ¡¯As long as he lives, I can¡¯t enjoy the women in the inner pce!¡¯

    His greed and lust overwhelmed his logic . He had made his decision before he got the approval from his advisor .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll rewrite the letter . I¡¯ll cooperate with my grandson-inw for now . I can have him owe me a favor, so I can make him fight Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu for me . ¡¯

    ...

    At night, Dong Zhuo sat down on a chair inside his tent, writing a reply letter to Jia Xu .

    While he was writing, Li Ru arrived . He had finished his investigation .

    "My lord, I¡¯ve gathered more information about Liu Ping¡¯s current movements . He managed to enlisted Wang Kuang and his 30,000 soldiers with him . Also, I found out that Lu Zhi, the minister of writing, was at Liu Ping¡¯s side . I think Zhang Tong wouldn¡¯t have a chance against those three if they lead the pincer attack from Jinyang . "

    From Li Ru¡¯s point of view, Tong would never have a chance against these overwhelming forces and many elite generals . In addition, Zhang Yang of Shangdang and Ding Yuan of Jinyang were likely to join this crusade to gain achievements as well . Li Ru could not see how Julu could survive from these massive forces .

    As he was reporting what he found, his eyes caught on the content of the letter that Dong Zhuo was writing . Li Ru stopped talking and read the letter .

    "M-My lord? You¡¯re allying with Zhang Tong!?"

    "What? You¡¯re against it?"

    "Of course! Zhang Tong has no future in this war! He will lose a hundred times out of a hundred! His army is weak . He doesn¡¯t have any experienced general . He was a country bumpkin from birth who happened to defeat an ipetent governor . No matter how I see it, he can¡¯t possibly ovee the Imperial Army! Even his father, Zhang Jiao is nothing but Zhang Tong¡¯s puppet . He is nothing but a lousy crazy priest . Those two doesn¡¯t have a chance!"

    Debunked by Li Ru, Dong Zhuo frowned and contemted his thought once more . It was indeed illogical to side with Tong right now . However, his desire was his priority . The beauties and riches came first, and everything else was side jobs!

    "No! I will side with my grandson-inw this time! We will help him destroy Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, then we will retreat to the capital to take over the Imperial Court while that insolence brat Liu Ping is still on the northern in!"

    Li Ru was taken aback by Dong Zhuo¡¯s ambition . Despite the fact that the decision of his boss was illogical, he immediately adapted to the changes and analyzed the army movement again .

    He closed his eyes and imagined a map in his mind . He assumed that Ye City had fallen, and if Tong was controlling it, what would he do . Li Ru connected Jia Xu¡¯s letter with his assumption, a new geographic map appeared in his mind .

    Li Ru opened his eyes again .

    "My Lord, please forgive me for a moment . I need to open a map on the table . "

    Dong Zhuo took away the letter and the ink set to make a space on the table . Li Ru proceeded to open strategic maps of Henei, Shangdang, Jinyang, and Ye City .

    After a few minutes of pondering, Li Ru got rid of Shangdang and Jinyang map . He connected the two remaining map together and started putting chess pieces on the map .

    "My Lord, to be honest, I doubt that Zhang Tong can defeat Liu Ping Army . But if my prediction is correct, he can defeat Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun with our help . "

    Li Ru pointed at Liyang County . He moved three red chess pieces there and a ck chess piece at Liyang location .

    "If I were Zhang Tong, I will make a stand over here . But this troop will be a decoy, the main army of Zhang Tong will definitely sneak around by either trekking through the mountains or sail on the Yellow River toward Henei City . If he takes it, Liu Ping supply line will be cut off, and he will be forced to take it back or retreat to the Capital . "

    Dong Zhuo gazed at the map with a confused look . He did not fully understand Li Ru¡¯s exnation, so he did not speak further .

    "We can y along with Zhang Tong . It doesn¡¯t matter if he can survive this war or not, we can take this chance to withdraw our troops back to the Capital and take over the power . "

    "If Liu Ping manages toe back alive, we¡¯ll kill him and take the throne . "

    "If Zhang Tong wins, we¡¯ll still take the throne . "

    "Either way, my Lord . You will be the next Emperor after this n seeded!"

    . . .

    . . .

    Meanwhile, Ye City .

    The famine hit Ye City this year . The harvest taxes dropped by 80% of the usual rate, and the city suffered from the deficit ie . Fortunately, Tong had supplied the city granaries with his [Create Food], so the citizens would not starve this year .

    Tong also tested using his [Create Food] skill with his demon soul, and he discovered the exploit that the system goddess mentioned .

    ...

    ********************

    [Create Food] LV . 6 (24,829/320,000)

    - Create a food product or a raw food ingredient .

    - 100 tons of food can be created from one usage .

    Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - The host cannot create food that the host has never eaten before .

    - Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    ********************

    ...

    In the skill description, Tong could only use the skill once a day after the big nerf . However, he could continue using the skill multiple times if he had the demon soul using it . Unfortunately, Tong¡¯s controlling skill was still bad as he only managed to activate the skill once every a few minutes .

    This was a loophole that the goddess was afraid of . She was not capable of "Fully" controlling or obstructing someone else¡¯s awakened [Souls of Sins] . At best, she could influence the growth rate of the unawakened [Sins], be it weaken them, or strengthen them . But she could not restrict the [Sins] which had already been awakened . The only one who could govern the servant souls of sins would be her father .

    This was the reason why she forced every immortal to reincarnate into mortals if ones wanted to y around in this dimension, so she did not have to worry about anyone abusing this "Bug" that she could not fix .

    The demon soul had the same ability as the true body, but they had to consume the true body¡¯s lifespans as a fuel . Thus, it took ten times the usual in exchange for the unrestricted use of the skills .

    Thanked to the exploitation, Tong filled the city granaries to the brim, which delighted the officials and the citizens .

    The taxes and the food problem in this city had been temporarily solved .

    Cleared from the provision issues, the army was ready .

 Chapter 168

    Chapter 168: 168

    Chapter 168 ¨C Liyang City

    September 21st, 182 A . D .

    Six thousand soldiers departed from Ye City along with 5,000 logistic reserved troops, drafted from the surrendered nobles¡¯ private troops . Among the 60,000 soldiers, five thousand of them was light cavalry, ten thousand heavy cavalries, and the rest were footmen .

    Fortunately, they had stolen the warhorses from Bao Xin, so they had to luxury of having more cavalry troops .

    Meanwhile, Ju Shou and Zhang He would depart a weekter as they had to sneak away from the territory undetected . They had to use Tong and his men as a decoy to divert Huangfu Song and the other¡¯s attention first before they could leave the city .

    The remaining nobles had 15,000 private troops in the Ye, which Jia Xu nned to use them as a garrison force to deter the merchants and opportunist individuals . He also nned to enlist the unemployed mercenaries from the dead nobles, which Tong had to fork out 300,000 gold from his inventory for the additional city budget .

    He still had 1,800,000 taels of gold in his pocket inventory . Julu also profited from the food trade every month, and Hua Shi still had 2,500,000 gold with her . Splurging a bit in Ye City to develop the domestic stability would not hurt .

    Tong, who was leading the troops, turned around and gazed at the city wall of Ye one more time .

    Jia Xu did not even bother sending them off . He was busy running the city in full steam .

    ¡¯Will it be 60,000 against 240,000? Or will it be 160,000 against 140,000?¡¯

    ¡¯Dong Zhuo, you¡¯d better be a backstabbing biatch or I¡¯ll kill you instead of Lu Bu!¡¯

    ¡¯Dammit! Who would have thought that I will have to rely on Dong Zhuo of all people!?¡¯

    Tong turned to look at the 60,000 marching men . It was his first-time solomanding this massive troops . Because of the abrupt departure from Julu, he did not take any other officers with him . Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji still stationed in Julu, acting as temporary guardians in the case Liu Yan, Yuan Shao, or Sun Jian were to make a move on his home turf .

    . . .

    . . .

    September 28th, 182 A . D .

    Tong and his troops arrived at Liyang County . With his recent experiences, a two-hour-forced-march order was issued to his army, making them rush one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon to hasten the march .

    As a result, they managed to move 20km a day, instead of 15 to 17, with all supply convoys tagging along, which covered the distanced of 140km on the seventh day of the march .

    They made it to Liyang three days ahead of the schedule!

    Tong was ted as he gazed upon the city wall of Liyang Region Capital City in front of him .

    ¡¯It¡¯s all mathematics and the well-nned schedules . ¡¯

    The smile on Tong¡¯s face did notst for long . He hesitated if he should siege on this small city, or should he negotiate with the Prefect of this city . By now, they should have noticed his arrival . The army gs inside the small city kept increasing the longer Tong looked at it .

    Tong approached the wall, carrying a white g and acted as a messenger .

    "I am Zhang Tong of Ye Army! Please open the gate and let us in! We havee in peace!"

    It did not take long to get his reply from the soldiers on the wall .

    "BULLSH*T! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A TRAITOR!"

    "COMING IN PEACE!? PTUT!"

    "SCRAM!"

    "GET LOST!"

    Several arrows flew and pieced the ground in front of Tong . These people made their stance, dering themselves as his enemies .

    "Wait! I meant no harm! We¡¯ve brought food for the citizens!"

    "WE DON¡¯T BELIEVE YOU!"

    "GO HOME!"

    "BE GONE!"

    Tong gulped as he tried to calm himself . Being chased away like a stray dog was not a pleasant feeling for anyone . Since the situation escted this far, Tong had no choice . He had to be aggressive and threatening now .

    "You have one day to surrender! After the sunset and the gate is still closed, we will siege the city!" Tong shouted .

    Instead of getting panic, the well-dressed Prefect of this city stepped forward and shouted back .

    "We shall fight to the death! We will not surrender to the rebels!"

    With the brave prefect¡¯s deration, his soldiers also roared .

    "That¡¯s right! We are fighting to the death!"

    "Get lost, traitors!"

    Seeing their reaction, Tong retreated . Sullen expression showed on his face as he galloped his horse back to his men .

    ¡¯Liu Ping¡¯s edict should have reached this city already . They¡¯re brainwashed!¡¯

    Persuading people in this era depended on the information manipting abilities and the credibilities of the maniptor . This time, Liu Ping was faster and more efficient .

    ¡¯Should I avoid the fight? But his city is the strategic point . ¡¯

    ¡¯If my soldiers can rest behind the tall wall, their morale will be high . ¡¯

    ¡¯What should I do?¡¯

    While Tong was pondering and looking back at the wall, his brain activated the overclock mode by ident, causing everything around him to be a slow-motion movie .

    He snapped back to his sense and canceled the spider-sense mode .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve forgotten again . I have a new toy, haven¡¯t I?¡¯

    ¡¯Let¡¯s test it tonight! My favorite way of doing things . ¡¯

    ¡¯Sometimes I wonder if I was a cop or I was an assassin in my previous life . ¡¯

    The eyes of Tong turned red again . It happened every time he leaked out his killing intent .

    ¡¯They will pay for their insolence . ¡¯

    <your [pride]="" has="" 25 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <danger! your="" [pride]="" has="" attempted="" to="" take="" over="" your="" body="">>

    Tong¡¯s heart shook as if he had a heart attack . His vision darkened for five seconds before he came back to his sense .

    In a panic, he touched all over his torso to see if he was still being in control of his body . Realizing that he could still freely move his body, Tong sighed in relief .

    ¡¯Good gracious . I¡¯m still the owner of my body . ¡¯

    ¡¯That was dangerous . I thought I was a goner . ¡¯

    ¡¯But damn! I have to do something with my [Pride]!¡¯

    During his five seconds of the ckout, messages had shown in front of him, but they were deleted by the system goddess . They were the logs of the battles between [Sloth] and [Pride] .

    <[pride] has="" sessfully="" infiltrated="" your="" body="">>

    <[pride] has="" attempted="" to="" devour="" your="" soul="">>

    <your [sloth="" soul]="" has="" protected="" your="" soul="">>

    <your [sloth="" soul]="" has="" fought="" the="" takeover="">>

    <[pride] has="" weakened="" your="" [sloth="" soul]="">>

    <you will="" not="" be="" able="" to="" summon="" your="" [sloth="" soul]="" for="" a="" month="">>

    <your [sloth="" soul]="" has="" weakened="" [pride]="">>

    <[pride] has="" 13%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [sloth="" soul]="" has="" sessfully="" chased="" out="" [pride]="" from="" your="" body="">>

    ...

    September 28th, 2 A . M .

    Sixty thousand men crept through the night . They stopped at 300m away from the wall while a task force of 100 men rushed under the wall .

    The force took a detour and picked the east wall where the guards were lightest as the attention of the city garrisons were on the north gate .

    The east gate was lightly guarded by ten men . On the other hand, two hundred men were stationed on the north gate . From the data on Tong¡¯s radar map, it was not hard for him to tell where he should strike .

    The stone wall surface was uneven and bumpy, which was a perfect footing for climbing . A hundred strongmen carried their swords on their back and climbed the wall .

    Within the hundred men, Tong was part of the group, leading the squad .

    As Tong and his men were climbing, they made light noises from the stones inside the wall . The sharp patrolling guard walked over with a torch to see what happened . He took a peek down below .

    *SOEK*

    A knife stabbed into his throat, cutting off his voice and ability to speak . He lost his leg strength in an instant as his nerves were severed .

    Tong grabbed the face of the patrolling guard and pulled him over, throwing him off the wall and making him flying toward the ground .

    With the noisy pest gone, Tong raised his head to peek .

    On his left, it was pitch ck . On his right, only a few torches were still on and the three guards on duty were sleeping on the pathway .

    Tong rechecked with his radar map again . The left wall did not have any guard and there were only the three soldiers to the right .

    The patrolling duty wasx in this city . It seemed they thought that Tong would siege the city tomorrow, so they only left a few patrolling guards while the rest of the soldiers rested .

    Tong climbed on top of the wall and signaled his men that the coast was clear . The rest of the hundred men slowly crept onto the top of the wall one by one .

    While the squad was securing the position, Tong approached the sleeping guards and sliced their neck, one after another . He did not forget to toss these dead bodies down the wall outside, so no other patrol could notice their traces .

    As soon as the one hundred men got on the wall, Tong waved his hand, gesturing them to follow him . His destination was the east gate where the rest of his army was waiting outside in secret .

    Under the shelter on top of the gate, four guards sat in a circle as they were drinking and eating on duty while the other two men were soundly asleep .

    Tong checked the distance between them and his squad .

    "Take everyone downstairs and unlock the gate . Ten of you, load your crossbows . We¡¯ll take care of these men . "

    Ny men crept down the stairs toward to lower ground . Tong and his ten men snuck in the shadow . The moment everyone got into the position, Tong waved his hand again .

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    Ten crossbow arrows pierced the four drinking men . As soon as the arrows touched the men, Tong activated his overclocked sense and rushed in . It was a good time to test it in the real battle .

    As his hyper sense was activated, it felt simr to his [Time Stop] skill, but everything was still moving in slow motion . In addition, he had more times to act than the skill .

    Within a span of 2 seconds, Tong reached the men and shed down his sword, aiming at their throat to silence them . It took Tong another two seconds to swing his sword four times to kill them all .

    He deactivated his bullet-time, breathing out his tension and stress . In his nose, a small blood vessel busted open and a trail of blood dripped down .

    Smelling the iron in his blood, Tong swiped his nose and pondered .

    ¡¯It doesn¡¯t consume my lifespan, but it hurts my brain . I shouldn¡¯t use it recklessly or I¡¯ll have to waste my daily regen skill before I get the real injury . ¡¯

    Tong made a mental note to himself and darted his eyes toward the sleeping men .

    Ten soldiers watched Tong in action with awe and astonishment . To Tong, the speed was ordinary, but to the normal people, Tong left an afterimage each time he moved or swung his sword . They had a new tale to tell their friends and their families now .

    Tong and the ten soldiers did not know, his true ability was halved because [Sloth] was weakened . If he was in aplete condition, his movement speed should have been double . </your></[pride]></your></you></[pride]></your></your></[pride]></[pride]></danger!></your>

 Chapter 169

    Chapter 169

    Chapter 169 ¨C Great Secret

    The other two sleeping guards did not notice a thing . They were still in their dream world .

    Tong walked to them with lighted footing . He ced his hand on the mouth of one of them and used the other hand with a dagger to dig it into this neck . Tong could feel the sensation of a dying man with the handle of his knife and the hand that was covering his mouth .

    The unlucky guard spasmed for 3 seconds before he stopped . Tong pulled the knife out and repeated the same process with the other one .

    Tong rechecked the radar map one more time . All hostile soldiers had been eliminated . The east gate was free for the taking .

    "Signal the soldiers outside . Let them move in . "

    The ten soldiers nodded . They each took a torch and moved to the top gate wall and began waving the torches . At the same time, the gate below started opening . The ny soldiers below had seeded .

    Each cavalry rushed into the city with a fire torch in his hand . The horsemen were ordered to charge into the city and burn the government buildings .

    The other footmen also rushed after the cavalries, charging and breaking into houses, searching for potential enemies .

    Tong had given them a green light . His order was simple .

    "Kill every soldier and those who fight back!"

    "Leave the elders, women, and children alone!"

    "Do not rob the people! Do not **** the women!"

    "Any vitor will be killed on the spot!"

    Tong sighed . Even with these orders, there would still be innocents who would be implicated into this battle .

    The soldiers rushed into the city like a wave of gue . Everywhere they went, houses were burnt, screams and battle sound followed after .

    Tong watched the massacre from the top of the gate wall with a heavy heart . It was cruel, but it had to be done in order to prepare for the battle with Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun .

    Since the edict from Liu Ping had arrived in this city before Tong came, so Liu Ping should have brainwashed these soldiers, saying that Tong was a rebel and a bad guy .

    Tong gave this city a chance yesterday by asking them to surrender, which they refused .

    If it were the normal time, Tong would take his times trying to convince the townsmen with his deeds and his action . He would do the same with the incident in Ganling City . However, this was an urgent time . This city had to be thoroughly controlled . He could not afford a mishap from the city people, be it merchants, nobles, farmers, spies, or soldiers .

    Thus, to prevent such a possible scenario, all soldiers in this city had to be purged!

    ...

    The sun rose, revealing the carnage in Liyang City .

    Seventy percent of the civilian houses were burnt . The government buildings were either burnt or destroyed . ck and white smoke rose up from the ground . The smell of burned wood, iron, ashes, and burned human flesh mixed in together, creating a nauseous rotten odor .

    The surviving civilians were herded to the barrack ground in the city . From the poption of 100,000 people, only 35,000 people survived the massacre . Within the deaths, there were many merchants, peasants, farmers, and nobles .

    Tong¡¯s subordinates finished their investigation after the cleanup . This city only had 5,000 soldiers as their garrison guards, yet their hearts were with the Imperial Court and the royalties . Even seeing the 60,000 soldiers approaching, they were brave enough to decline the surrendering chance when they were asked .

    The people in this city also had the same thought . They did not want to surrender to Tong .

    During the raid, none of the peasants shouted or begged to surrender . They picked a plow and fork to fight the soldiers to death .

    Even women and elders attempted to fight back as well, resulting in more death .

    Tong¡¯s men also suffered casualties from the chaos . Five thousand men fell in this raid from the ambushes of the civilians and the garrison soldiers .

    Listening to the reports by the lieutenants and captains, the guilt and pain in Tong¡¯s mind turned into hatred . The pupils in his eyes turned more bloody red, and shocking messages appeared .

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 15 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [???????]="" has="" 10%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [????????]="" has="" 5%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    Tong noticed the abnormally, but he was not in the mood to think . He was angered by the townspeople for not surrendering to him . He was angered by their stupidity and theirck of information . He was angered by their ignorance about the situation beyond their city .

    Andstly, he was angry at his ipetence-self for raiding this city half-heartedly . If he had steeled himself and ordered a total annihtion of this city like Cao Cao did to Pengcheng City in the history, the soldier casualties would have been less or down to nothing .

    Tong red at the surviving women, children, and elders . An unbelievable order came out of his mouth .

    "Kill them all . "

    ...

    ...

    Lilith, the system goddess, was observing the massacre in Liyang . She also nced at Tong¡¯s [Sins] status update .

    After his refusal, Lilith decided to give Tong a hint of his two hidden sins which could be the hidden danger . She censored the name, so Tong would be puzzled to the point that he would have to beg her for her help again .

    ¡¯[Cruelty] and [Insanity] ... What a bunch of troublesome traits you have, little brat . Having the average 7 sins isn¡¯t enough for you, so you have to collect more sins? Are you a Pok¨¦mon Master? Gotta sin ¡¯em all!?¡¯

    ¡¯That Morning Star must have imprisoned you in Hell for hundred thousand years for you to develop these two sins . Heck, probably all those four sins are his doing!¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯m surprised that Tong hasn¡¯t morphed into a monster yet . It must have been Morning Star¡¯s doing again . He should have tampered his soul somewhere or influenced something into him, or else he won¡¯t have this mental fortitude . ¡¯

    ¡¯Do you want to create another Demon King?¡¯

    ¡¯Or do you want another ck-winged archangel like yourself?¡¯

    It was a risky move by Lilith for revealing additional sins that a newborn devil could have . It involved exposing the great secret of awakening additional wings to the immortals .

    Exposing the number of sins he had in this broadcast would arouse suspicion from the opportunist gods . As the predecessor, she experienced it first-handed how hard and how long it took to get one curse as she had in billions of innocent mortals to get hers .

    From the day Tong refused her offer, she disconnected the broadcast of this dimension . But she knew, Morning Star and Michael had their own ways and abilities to reconnect this live streaming . Lilith only prayed that they could get a hint .

    ...

    The three realms had one thing inmon, the number of [Sin] each individual could have from birth . Ordinary mortals were born with seven sins from the start, but it will increase depending on how the mortals lived their lives . Once they died and received the immortal¡¯s baptism, they would receive the curses, giving the chances to grow wings .

    The same applied with both devils and angels who were born in the Netherworld . Contrary to the mortals, they did not have to get the baptism as they were born with the curses from the start .

    In the early days, no one knew how they were cursed with the [Sins] or how they were formed, only a few individuals who were created directly by the creator knew . They were called "The First Generation" .

    The creator cursed everybody with the [Sins], so they could be aware of their misconduct and correct themselves in the future . He rewarded the strength of wings to those who realized their sins and repented them . The strength proportion depended on the number of [Sins] each immortal could conquer . The more they repent, the stronger the immortals were .

    s, he made one mistake, he made his creations too smart .

    One of his creations noticed this exploit and abused it, making her original 12 wings into 16 wings . It was Lilith, the current system goddess, who was sealed in this dimension .

    Lilith was the first who found out about this exploitable [Bug] and caused various disasters onto severals . She killed and tortured countless of mortals and immortals alike, created a massive army of monsters, and exterminated countless mortal civilizations around the universe .

    The secret she found revolved around the exploit of the unique named [Sins] which could be gain bymitting the crimes and hideous acts repeatedly for years . After she obtained the new curses, she repented her sins bymitting the opposite deeds, weakened the curses to the point that it turned into new wings .

    The creator found out about thister, he sealed her in a fragmented dimension and told the other archangels who knew the secret to keep this information as the top ssified .

    He patched this wter by disabling the system notification and setting new rules . The abusing immortal would lose his sanity if he knew the secret and exploited it for his personal gain . As a consequence, all immortals who discovered this secret could not use this [Bug] the same way as Lilith did .

    Despite the fact that the creator fixed the loophole, the [Bug] was still there .

    If this information was exposed, the current gods would intentionallymit various kinds of sinful acts until he was cursed by that [Sin] . Then, they would do the opposite of the [Sin], conquering it to awaken a new wing, which they would get stronger .

    All opportunistic gods would lose their mind from the Heaven Tribtions, and the amalgamation of all the evils would gather in the Netherworlds . All abominations would break loose in Heaven, and Hell would be a new yground for the insane gods and immortals .

    This move by the creator forced Lilith and the first generation immortals to keep their mouth shut if they still wanted the Netherworld to continue to exist .

    But the rules of the creator was being challenged by Morning Star right now .

    ...

    Lilith was frustrated every time she saw the number of sins Tong had . She med everything on Morning Star as he was the culprit of everything .

    Ordinary former human should have only seven to nine sins as their lifespans were limited . Yet, at this moment, Tong possessed a total of 11 [Sins] which was too many for a mortal sinner to have .

    She figured that Morning Star might have forced Tong to do something repeatedly for years, so he could get these [Sins] .

    Furthermore, an ordinary sinner could not grow wings yet . They had to be baptism by the angels or devils first . Again, Morning Star was prepared . He allowed Friday to mate with Tong, making him a member of the demonic n, which would be eligible to obtain the curses and grew wings .

    Tong was an honest mortal . His positive karma and his upbringing had proven himself . He would be a good candidate for an archangel had he been transferred to Heaven . But since Tong was tamed by Friday and Medusa, he would choose to be an archdemon by his free will if he were to return, and nobody could say anything about it .

    Moreover, he did not know about this secret, so he would not get the bacsh of the Heaven Tribtion .

    Everything was too perfect!

    Lilith¡¯s anger shot up again from thinking about this . She was so mad that she wanted to foil Morning Star¡¯s n no matter what . As a result of her thinking, she tried to recruit Tong .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll ruin your n, Morning Star!¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll steal your hard work and make him mine!¡¯

    Lilith¡¯s childish attitude was at work again, with Tong as the victim of this grand scheme of the immortals . </your></your></your>

 Chapter 170

    Chapter 170: 170

    Chapter 170 ¨C Hypocrisy and Treachery

    Tong had ordered his men to behead every civilian . Once they hadpleted the execution, he ordered more tasks to the men .

    "Cut off the head of the dead bodies . I don¡¯t want to see any intact corpse of these people! When you¡¯re done, collect the heads on wagons and carts . I have the use for them . As for the dead bodies, throw them into a pit and burn it!"

    The captains and lieutenants epted Tong¡¯s order with goosebumps . His aura had changed after the night assault, from the soothing majestic aura into a bone-chilling menacing one . At the same time, his pupils were glowing red, resembling demonic beings .

    "Y-Yes, sir!"

    The subordinates scrammed away in fear .

    At first, the soldiers were angry with the people of Liyang because they resisted and killed theirrades . With Tong¡¯s order of annihtion, they had their revenge and vented their frustration . However, the temperament of Tong in the aftermath terrified them . They could tell that Tong was nning something sinister .

    With his men gone, Tong took a deep breath to calm his mind . He chanted his random mantra to enhance his concentration .

    ¡¯Anger is a sin . I am calm . ¡¯

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 16 . 10%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 16 . 25%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 16 . 38%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [????????]="" has="" 5 . 10%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯Grudge is a sin . I am calm . ¡¯

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 16 . 50%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 16 . 55%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 16 . 57%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [????????]="" has="" 5 . 19%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯Vanity is a sin . I am calm . ¡¯

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 16 . 58%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 16 . 57%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [????????]="" has="" 5 . 27%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    It took Tong ten full minutes to stop the growth of his [Wrath], yet his new mysterious [Sin] still shot up .

    Since he managed to reduce the [Wrath] by a bit, Tong decided to continue meditating . His initial works had been distributed to his subordinates, so he had enough free times for himself .

    ¡¯One more time, Anti-Vaxx is a sin . I am calm . ¡¯

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 16 . 56%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [????????]="" has="" 5 . 26%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯These messages are like my father¡¯s blood pressure in my previous life . I am calm . ¡¯

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 16 . 55%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [????????]="" has="" 5 . 25%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    ...

    ...

    Three hourster .

    Headless corpses were thrown into a deep pit outside Liyang city walls . As soon as the soldiers tossed thest dead body into the pit, they hurled a jar of oil and a torch into it, igniting the me . They did not need another jar of oil as the fat in the human bodies would do the rest of the work .

    As for the heads of the dead, the soldiers collected them on wagons per Tong¡¯s order . The soldiers¡¯ expression when they looked at the piles of heads was as if they saw a ghost . The mountains of heads with their eyes open gave them bad vibes .

    Aside from the soldiers who were busy dealing with the corpses, a thousand soldiers dissembled wooden houses for woods . They needed those logs and nks to craft several trebuchets, which was ordered by Tong . This artillery weapon was different from their knowledge as it was a counter-weight type, which could shoot a stone further than the ancient manned-type they were using . All of the catapults were constructed behind the walls around the city .

    Meanwhile, the rest of the soldiers wandered around the fields in front of the walls in groups . These military men were either busy cutting trees or making spiked barricades . Tong ordered them to be ced outside the walls to block the siege weapons or enemy cavalries . All useless junks and rotten woods inside the city were gathered in front of all gates as anotheryer of barricades, just in case, the enemy brought in a battering ram .

    As for the majority of the free soldiers, they sat inside the city . In their hands, each of them held a knife and a wooden shaft of an arrow . They were ordered to make extra crossbow arrows for the uing battles .

    On the other hand, several superior officers in the army searched through destroyed houses and granaries . They took all the food and everything valuable on their carts and gathered all of them at the center of the city, which used to be the government building area .

    Tong goofed around in that area as well . He stopped meditating and helped the soldiers sorting the treasures and food . He kept all the food inside his inventory, so it would not rot . But he left the treasures and jewelry around in several containers .

    After the officerspleted their job and the soldierspleted their tasks, the sun had already set .

    Tong gathered them inside the city for dinner and a speech . He tapped the mountain of treasures which attracted the attention of the soldiers .

    "What you can see here is the entire wealth of Liyang City . From my rough count, there are a total of 200,000 taels of gold, 10,000 tons of provision, jewelry and treasure worth over 500,000 gold!"

    Tong soldiers murmured as they gazed at the treasure mountain with greed . They were expecting a share of these loots .

    "We will add these provision to our supply, but we will not give the gold to you just yet . "

    The soldiers sighed in disappointment . Some of them gave Tong a dissatisfied look because they thought that Tong would keep them for himself .

    "All these coins, gold, and treasures will be distributed to the families of our dead soldiers!"

    "We have no use for any of them . But our wives, our children, or our parents will need these if you, the head of the family, leaves them to the next world . "

    The annoyed soldiers were taken aback . The stopped what they were thinking and listened to Tong with curiosity .

    "I can¡¯t guarantee your safety! I can¡¯t promise you that all of you will survive our next fight! Not everyone can survive in the next few months! We are here to fight a prolonged war!"

    The heart of the soldiers shook . In the military, it was well-known that one should not jinx, yet Tong had jinxed it that some of them would die . Their morale decreased in an instant, but their attention was still with Tong¡¯s words .

    "So these things will be for them, not for us! I want all of you to know this . As long as you are working for me, your family will never starve!"

    "And do you know what you are fighting for? Do you know why you are risking your life for? Isn¡¯t it for them, your family?"

    "I¡¯m not leading you men here to fight for my greed or ambition . I¡¯m here to help your families getting their ces to call home . I bring you here to fight for their peaceful haven, so they don¡¯t have to touch these ugly battles and bloodshed we are about to get into!"

    "You probably didn¡¯t know this because it is something that only government officials knew about . But I¡¯ll tell you so you will know what and why I am fighting against the Han Court!"

    "Liu Ping, or the current Emperor, has in his own younger brother and the previous Emperor for the throne . He framed me and my family for being rebels, even though we have tried our best to help the people . He did all these and invaded us because he desires my city¡¯s wealth!"

    Parts of the soldiers nodded . These groups of people had been with Tong or had witnessed how Tong helped the vigers during the journey to Ganling City . They knew how their lord worked so hard for the people .

    Still, Tong could not shake the image of Tong when he ordered the execution of the innocent women and children . It was different than what he did to the townsmen of Ganling City .

    "What we did to the people of this city is hideous and inhumane . It was my mistake and my ipetency that led you into this massacre . Even if I have to apologize to the dead and to you, soldiers, I will not be able to wash away the blood on my hands for this lifetime . "

    "But this is what they will do to our families if they can break through our defensive lines and get to our city! They want our wealth! They want our women! They want us dead!"

    "Our home will be burnt! Our wealth will be stolen! Our family will be either ravished or killed!"

    "This is what the current Han Emperor wants to do to us!"

    "Tell me, should we stay idly at home and let them kill us all?"

    The soldiers were lost by Tong¡¯s diversion persuasion . From their attention to finding fault at his words turned into the attention on the crisis of their families . They gritted their teeth and shifted their anger to Liu Ping .

    "NO!"

    "Screw their sister! No!"

    "WTF!? Hell no!"

    The soldiers roared . They got angry thinking along what Tong described to them . They were doing well and were happy with their lives, but Liu Ping wanted to ruin it .

    "And what do you think we should do since they areing for us?" Tong asked the soldiers, hoping that the momentum was right and they would y along .

    [We y dead?]

    ¡¯...¡¯

    The moment he slipped out the question, the system goddess sent her messages to his mind with her voice .

    [We put our wee-wee into their sisters¡¯ wuu-wuu?]

    ¡¯...¡¯

    [We suffocate their soldiers with our grandmothers¡¯ unwashed panties until they think it¡¯s aromatic?]

    ¡¯ . . . ¡¯

    [Work for me, BB! 1+1 = 2!]

    ¡¯... No, thanks . Don¡¯t ruin the momentum, please . ¡¯

    Thankfully, the people in this world was innocent and na?ve, they did not know the definition of "Trolling" like the system goddess .

    "Kill them!"

    "We fight!"

    "Kill!"

    Seeing that the soldiers yed along, Tong breathed out a relieved sigh .

    "That¡¯s right . For our families, we fight! For our children and our wives, we kill!" Tong shouted .

    "Kill!"

    "Kill!"

    ...

    ...

    Lilith, who was observing Tong from the beginning,ughed to herself .

    "What a hypocrite! You are even worse than Liu Bei in terms of hypocrisy! You¡¯ve just ughtered a hundred thousand of the innocents, yet you proimed that your action is just? Boy, you have a good imagination!"

    <beep>>

    The system shed . Lilith turned her attention toward the system warning, it was the birth of a new curse of [Sin] alert that she had set the system to warn her, in the case had someone gotten a hand on a new [Sin] .

    "Which one of you gets another sin?"

    She checked the logs and found the new sin, [Treachery] .

    "Aha! That¡¯s the highest crime of the ninth Hell! Who gets this?"

    She queried a search for the owner of the [Treachery] . When Lilith found the owner, she screamed .

    "WHAT DAFUQ!? HOW MANY SINS DO YOU HAVE TO COMMIT UNTIL YOU ARE SATISFIED!?"

    "ARE YOU SURE YOU HAD POSITIVE KARMA!? WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE A RUFFIAN!?"

    The owner of the sin had just given a hypocrisy speech just now .

    Zhang Tong .

    Despite her shock, she reread the logs of Tong¡¯s past actions to recheck how he acquired this sin .

    ¡¯He has never betrayed anyone . How did he get this?¡¯

    ¡¯Does killing the innocents count as a betrayal to the humanity?¡¯

    ¡¯That¡¯s not it! Something is wrong! He gets the new sin too fast!¡¯</beep></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your>

 Chapter 171

    Chapter 171: 171

    Chapter 171 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 1

    Tong could not sleep because the nightmare of the one hundred thousand ghosts kept haunting him in his dream . Although Tong steeled himself and ordered the entire city exterminated, the guilt was still inside his heart .

    He regretted his decision because of his uncontrolled anger . Yet, he consoled himself with various selfish reasons and excuses to make him feel better .

    Tong thought that he could have imprisoned the survivor, but it would have been more like a torturing to the people . He could have expelled them to other cities or provinces, but they would have been robbed, ravished, or killed as they were defenseless .

    Or the alternative ns, he could have allowed them to continue living in this city . However, had he let them be, they would have developed a grudge . Their descendants would inherit their parents and their guardians¡¯ stories with Tong as the ultimate viin . Then, in the next ten years, these descendants of the survivors would have reappeared to harm the country Tong was building .

    Secondly, he had to control the morale of his army . The soldiers were also human, they could think or sympathize with the peasants of this city . If the survivors were still alive, they coulde into contact with his soldiers and nted the seeds of doubt about Tong¡¯s leadership and moral as a human . If such scenarios happened, the soldiers would have had a high chance to desert or betray him in the future .

    And the most important issue, the winter wind was about to arrive . The wall of this city was a fortress against the freezing blizzard during the winter .

    The winter in ancient China was as cruel as the winter in the wilderness . Because there had not been any air conditioner technology in this era, people relied on bonfires and shelters to keep themselves warm . For the marching soldiers and garrisoning soldiers on the wall, it would be the freezing hell .

    Fortunately, they were a bit close to the central in . The regions in the northern ins, such as Liu Yan¡¯s Ji City or Gongsun Zan¡¯s territory, already snowed in the early October . The temperature would continue to decrease to at least minus 10 degrees Celsius or minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit . In the worse years, it could get as low as minus 20 Celsius on certain regions .

    Tong estimated that the cold would hit Liyang City before the end of this month . Once the winter struck down onto this county, the battle strategies had to change and Tong would have an advantage of being within the city walls . The wall would be an invaluable shield from the cold wind and the blizzard for the troops inside the city . On the other hand, the Imperial troops had to encamp in the open field, which would be attacked by the freezing windstorm during the winter months .

    In the minus degrees temperature, the soldiers¡¯ movement would be slower . Their frozen iron armors would torment them to death . Food and oil consumption would be doubled . It was the perfect season for the prolong-war strategy for an army with unlimited supplies of oil and food .

    He had to upy the city and stabilize it before the winter no matter what the cost if he wanted to defeat such arge army of the Imperial forces!

    "Mistakes had been made, let wrong be wrong . I¡¯ll make use of this mistake into an opportunity! I¡¯ll let the world know my cruel side! Anyone that refuses to submit to me has to die!"

    "Even if Zhao Yun won¡¯t join me because of this, it¡¯s fine! I don¡¯t need a naive youth that can be conned with a few words!"

    "Even if Sima family will betray me in the future, it¡¯s fine! I¡¯ll settle a new foundation for my new country, and it will be so firm to the point that the Jin Country will have to copy my way! The people of the future will benefit from my system!"

    "Even if the historians or the people will call me a [Traitor] or a [Viin], it¡¯s fine! As long as my family and my people can have their safe haven, I don¡¯t mind being the viin!"

    Tears rolled down from Tong¡¯s eyes . No matter how he deceived himself, he could not control his true conscience .

    "I¡¯m sorry . . . "

    <your [despair]="" has="" 15%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [corruption]="" has="" 15%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    . . .

    October 2nd, 182 A . D .

    Morning .

    Tong meditated instead of sleepingst night . He started to get a knack of not falling asleep while meditating now . It was tough at first . But once he used his regen before midnight, he managed to get through the night without falling asleep .

    It was still different than the cultivators in the fantasy novels did . His body still required sleeping even though he had stepped into the door of the demonhood .

    The progress of his sins was getting smoother, but he had more concerns to worry about .

    <your [greed]="" has="" 0%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [pride]="" has="" 12 . 92%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 15 . 33%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [gluttony]="" has="" 3 . 17%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [envy]="" has="" 1 . 64%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [despair]="" has="" 14 . 95%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [corruption]="" has="" 14 . 85%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [???????]="" has="" 9 . 60%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [????????]="" has="" 9 . 20%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [?????????]="" has="" 19 . 99%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    His [Pride] went down by half, which delighted Tong . Although he did not know how it had gone down, it was still good progress regardless .

    But his joyous mood did notst long, there were three mysterious sins showed up in his system log, and the percentage was on the high side .

    Furthermore, he could not summon his [Sloth Soul] out of his body . Every time he did, he would get a message .

    <your [sloth="" soul]="" is="" too="" weak!="" he="" cannot="" be="" summoned="">>

    It was a piece of troublesome news for him as he nned to mass produce his bullets . Tong did not make enough when he had experimented his demon soul in Ye City . He only made and stored only five hundred 9mm bullets in his inventory because the system charged him 10 lifespans for each use instead of the usual one lifespan .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 29,638 Years

    Shopping Pass: 0

    *******************************

    Food creation shaved over 10,000 of his lifespans, but the citizens couldst for another year in exchange for his sacrifice .

    His [Immortal Yang Vein]¡¯s regen ability also took a portion of his lifespans, but it was on the low side . Since he could only regen his health or his injury once a day, it did not consume much .

    At first, Tong nned to spend another 10,000 to 20,000 lifespans for the bullet creation, but he could notplete his n anymore as his demon soul had been weakened by something .

    "System, what happened to my demon soul?"

    [Swear allegiance to me, and I¡¯ll tell you everything . ]

    "..."

    [Don¡¯t you wanna know what those [???] skills are? Just swear that you¡¯ll work for me and I¡¯ll reveal them to you . Heck, I will even help you ovee all of your sins! Not a bad deal, right?]

    "What about my family?"

    [Nope! No can do . They are on their own! You have to choose if you want to reign supreme or you will be dragged down by them forever . ]

    [Being the absolute god means you have to leave your sentiment behind! Don¡¯t get stuck up on those mortals . Theye and go like a droplet of water in a river . Sooner orter, they will reach the end of their lives and have to reincarnate again . By that time, they won¡¯t even remember you! What¡¯s the point of wasting your time on them when you can join me and live forever for real!?]

    [Listen, I know it¡¯s harsh for you . But you have to trust me . I know it¡¯s vexing because you grew up in that kind of culture . It¡¯s understandable that you value your kins because it¡¯s the mortal¡¯s instinct . They have to protect each other to ensure their genes can be passed on to theter generations . ]

    [But we¡¯re now different . We¡¯re immortals! We¡¯re the apex and the top of the food chain! We don¡¯t need those sentimental feeling about passing on the genes . We only need to make sure we are strong enough to fend off all those power-hungry gods!]

    Tong sighed as he read all of the messages from Lilith . He could see that she was trying hard to get his favor . All of her words made sense . He was sure that if it were any other people, they would have epted it without hesitation .

    But to Tong, shecked something important .

    Credibility .

    From his direct experience with her, she had the mental age of a spoiled child without proper parenting . Everything she did depended on her mood .

    He had a feeling that he would be betrayed the moment he said "Yes" to her .

    [Just join me, okay? Heck! You know what? I give up . How about this? I can ensure all of your family and your frie-*ZAP*]

    The messages were cut off mid-way . Something might have happened on her end, or she messed up something .

    ¡¯Had she exempted Sunday, Friday, and Li Feihong from this game and guaranteed my family¡¯s safety, I would have epted that . ¡¯

    ¡¯But thest sentence seems to be the case . I wonder what has happened . ¡¯

    While Tong was confused by the abrupt disconnection, his eyes nced at his radar map by instinct and noticed an abnormality .

    A massive group of white dots appeared in the west of Liyang City . The distance was 50km away . Tong was into the meditation too much that he did not notice the arrival of the Imperial Army .

    ¡¯Dammit, me . I messed up!¡¯

    ¡¯How did I not notice this? They should have been in my radar 2 or 3 days ago!¡¯

    ¡¯Never mind that, time to intercept!¡¯

    ¡¯First, I¡¯ll take down the scouts!¡¯

    ...

    ...

    October 3rd, 5 PM .

    Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun Army reached Liyang County¡¯s territory . They settled their camp in the wilderness for now . Tomorrow, they nned to enter Liyang City to resupply and recruit more troops .

    They had sent their scouts to Liyang City yesterday to notify the Prefect of the city, hoping to get a warm wee from the local lord .

    The scouts galloped back to the camp with pale faces . A hundred men squad of scouts left yesterday, only ten returned alive .

    The ten injured men arrived at the camp . Three of the ten lost their strength and copsed, dying in relief . The back of the three revealed arrows which got stuck in their flesh .

    The seven survivors were treated in a hurry and the news got to the two generals . Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun rushed to the injured seven scouts to inquire about the situation .

    "M-My lord, bad news! The Zhang family took Liyang County!"

    "What!?"

    "How!?"

    The two generals were speechless . Thest intelligence they had about Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong was that they were still in Julu . Liyang County was over 300km away from Julu City, how could their army show up here?

    "T-There¡¯s more, my lord . "

    "Don¡¯t hurry! Take it easy and talk slowly . " Zhu Jun looked at the scouts with a concern . He thought that these men might have been through a tough fight with the Zhang n, judging from their panicked expression .

    "It¡¯s terrible . Their soldiers killed the townspeople and burnt them in a pit! We saw the remains of the burnt corpses . They were over ten thousands of people in there . "</your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your>

 Chapter 172

    Chapter 172: 172

    Chapter 172 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 2

    Both generals stared at the scouts without saying anything . Their expression was solemn . The actions of the rebels were severe than they had estimated .

    In the beginning, they were skeptical about this edict of Liu Ping . They thought that this upstart Emperor was abusing his authority . None of them have thought that the rebels were this cruel .

    "We got it . We will punish these rebels . We will give them justice!" Huangfu Song consoled the scout who smiled and passed out from the exhaustion .

    Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song looked at each other .

    "Change of ns, we¡¯ll get the soldiers ready for tomorrowbat . Let¡¯s have our soldiers gather woods and logs . We¡¯ll need them to construct our siege weapons . "

    "Let¡¯s get that fatty Dong Zhuo to the meeting, too . He¡¯s been cking as ofte . "

    The two exchanged opinions and got back to their men to get everyone ready for tomorrow .

    . . .

    5 . 30 PM .

    The update news from the scouts reached Dong Zhuo¡¯s camp . At the same time, a messenger from Huangfu Song arrived .

    "Lord Huangfu Song has invited you to join the strategic nning meeting at his camp . Please proceed to the camp before the sunset . "

    Dong Zhuo frowned at the messenger and chased him away .

    "I knew, I knew . I¡¯ll be there shortly . You can go . "

    After the messenger was sent away, Li Ru spoke . "As we have predicted, Zhang Tong took Liyang City . But I¡¯m surprised that he¡¯s quite ruthless for a youngster . "

    "Hah! He has to be able to do that much if he wants to join my family!" Dong Zhuoughed . "What do you think I should do next?"

    "In this meeting, Huangfu Song will arrange the armies for the siege of Liyang City . I want you to take part in this siege . They will order our troops to surround the castle . Once they give such an order to you, I want you to choose either being on the west gate or south gate . "

    "Oh? We won¡¯t burn their granary or attack those two idiots?"

    "No, I have a better alternative n for you, my lord . I¡¯m sure you will like it . "

    ...

    The meeting ended with harmony . Dong Zhuo was in charge of sieging the east and south gate because he had the most troops . Huangfu Song would attack the north while Zhu Jun would handle the east gate .

    With all gates covered, Zhang Tong would never be able to escape from Liyang City .

    Dong Zhuo walked out of the meeting tent with a bright smile . Li Ru still followed after him without saying anything . Both of them returned to their camp . But instead of returning to their tent, they called out the logistics manager to discuss their ns .

    "I want all of you to prepare boats . "

    The logistic officers looked at each other in a baffle . They were marching onnd . They did not understand why they should be preparing boats .

    "Do what I said! You hear!?"

    Dong Zhuo wanted these boats to secretly transport his troops and provision away during the siege of Liyang .

    Li Ru¡¯s n was more ingenious than Dong Zhuo had thought . He did not want Dong Zhuo to fight either Tong or Imperial Army . He wanted Dong Zhuo to simply retreat from the campaign back to Luo Yang while stealing all Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun¡¯s supplies! Both generals would be upied fighting Tong and his men while Dong Zhuo reaped all the profits!

    If he were to retreat with full healthy 100,000 troops to the Capital, he could overthrow Liu Ping regime with his force and iste all imperial troops froming back home!

    It would take weeks for the news of the fallen Capital to reach Liu Ping . By that time, Liu Ping would have no ce to call home .

    ...

    ...

    9 PM .

    Outside Huangfu Song¡¯s Camp .

    A thousand men in ck clothes lied in prone in a forest, nearby the imperial camps .

    A young man in a ck ninja clothing crawled behind a tree, watching the camp from a distance . His eyes focused around the camp, then he stopped at several watchtowers nearby the fences .

    ¡¯These guys are elites, alright . They were goddamn thorough with their camping setup . ¡¯

    A line of moat trench and doubleyers of spiked barricades surrounded the entire camp in front of Tong, who clicked his tongue in annoyance and impressed by their diligence .

    ¡¯To make these entire fortifications, it took over 4 to 5 hours toplete . They sacrificed their marching times to tighten the camp like this...¡¯

    There was a saying in the sports world, "Ones with good offense can win a match, but ones with good defense win a championship" .

    This fortification was the same with that motto . It was a fruit of Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun¡¯s decade of experience in the battlefields against Xiangnu barbarians . Every time they marched to an unknown territory, they took their time fortifying their camp early so they would not be raided or ambushed easily .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t sneak into the camp this way . Even if I start shooting these men, I will be able to kill a hundred of them at best before I will be chased down by a cavalry toon . ¡¯

    ¡¯Night raid is impossible, but harassment is still good . ¡¯

    He pulled a bundle of grasses and tossed it to the air as if he was a golfer who was checking the direction of the wind .

    ¡¯Southwest wind ... we have to move a bit north . ¡¯

    ¡¯Fortunately, I¡¯ve stocked up these things . I should pour these around the fences first . ¡¯

    Tong took out a hundred small barrels of used oil from his inventory . He gave the barrels to his men and told them .

    "Pour these on the fences and the barricades . Soak everything with this oil . "

    The men saluted and took a barrel each . All of them were ordinarymb oil which could catch fire easily . They did as Tong had ordered while they hid in the shadow . It took them ten minutes toplete their tasks and returned to the rendezvous location .

    "We¡¯re moving north . We¡¯ll pour these oil to the northeastern fences, too . "

    ...

    11 . 50 PM .

    The one thousand ninjas scattered the cooking grease onto all wooden fences and barricades . The soldiers tossed away the empty barrels into the moat and retreated back to the gathering point as ordered .

    Seeing that the initial preparation had beenpleted, Tong pointed his palm to the moat .

    The system goddess had warned Tong, he could not use hisbination of oil-rain and fire tactic directly on the natives in this world, but he could cast it on objects or use it as traps or weapons .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t cast it on the tents where they are resting, but I think I should be able to do this . ¡¯

    Tong unloaded more items from his inventory . They were the trebuchets that the soldiers made inside Liyang City . Tong ced ten trebuchets on the open fields and set their targets to the middle of the camp . Afterward, he took out more oil barrels to be used as trebuchet bullets .

    "Load these barrels on the pouch . "

    The smart soldiers caught on what Tong tried to achieve, they obediently put the barrels into the sling pouch .

    Seeing that his men finished his job, Tong proceeded to the next phase of his n . He looked at the clock in his system menu . It showed 11 . 55 PM .

    ¡¯Five minutes till a reset . I have to use today¡¯s quota first . ¡¯

    "[Create Food], cooking grease!"

    Tong poured the used cooking oil with bubbles of fat from his palm onto the moat, which started to fill up the dug trench . The 100,000 liters of heated used-oil soaked the ground, creating a stench and white smoke that Tong¡¯s soldiers had to cover their noses .

    "Fire the trebuchets!"

    ...

    By the time thest drop of the fat grease got into the moat, the Imperial soldiers already noticed the oily smell .

    "What the hell is that smell!?"

    "Something is wrong! Wake everyone up! Hurry!"

    "Get water! Hurry!"

    Commotion broke out inside the camp . Several sleeping men woke up from the nauseous smell . A dozen of experienced ones shouted to prepare water in advance as they believed that a night raid always followed with a fire attack .

    Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song also woke up from the hectic shouts . They geared up and rushed toward the chaotic scene to organize the men .

    "Reserve troops, get the water . Spears and shields, gather and form a porcupine formation!"

    "Fold and toss away the tents! Get more spaces to form up!"

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    "What?"

    The sound of flying objects caught the two generals¡¯ attention . They looked at the sky and saw shadows of round objects crashing onto the ground .

    The barrels broke and the ck oil sttered all over the ce .

    "Oil!? All units, retreat south! We¡¯re under attack!"

    ...

    Tong observed their reaction from his radar map . A chill ran down his spine as he witnessed the organized reaction speed of their army .

    ¡¯So this is what Zhang Jiao in the history had to deal with . What a troublesome army . ¡¯

    ¡¯Too bad you¡¯re up against me . It¡¯s toote for you to react . ¡¯

    ¡¯Taste the ss B Fire of the 21st century, mofo!

    Tong turned around to look at his one thousand ninjas .

    "Trebuchets! Fire one more volley! This time, put fuses in the kegs!"

    The barrels they prepared this time was not ordinary oil barrels like the previous volley . They were the cooking oil which had been pre-cooked . Tong had created these boiling fat oil and put all of them in one of his inventory slots . His inventory also preserved the almost oil-boiling-point temperature of this cooking grease, making it ready to use when Tong was ready .

    "Light the fuse and fire when you are ready! Once fired, retreat as far as possible!"

    "FIRE!"

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    The moment thest trebuchet fired its barrels, Tong activated his [Time Stop] skill and rushed toward the trebuchets . He stored all trebuchets back into the inventory and ran away from the scenes .

    When his [Time Stop] period was over, he shouted to the soldiers in a panic voice .

    "RUN! HURRY!"

    "GET ON YOUR HORSE AND GO IF YOU DON¡¯T WANT TO DIE!!"

    The distance from the pool of oil in the moat was 300 meters away from their location, which was too close . They need to evacuate from this ce as soon as possible .

    The soldiers did not know this, but they followed his order anyway .

    . . .

    Meanwhile, barrels attached with ming clothes flew into the camp again . This time, the barrels hit the ground and exploded in me .

    "AN ATTACK!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    As if the camp was carpet-bombed, an explosion urred on every ce the barrelsnded . Furthermore, the me spark spread andnded on the ground where the previous volley of oil barrelsnded . Hellfire was lit and continue spreading at an insane speed .

    The imperial soldiers were caught off guard . The unfortunate ones were engulfed by the fire .

    Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, who were observing the attack, did not panic . They organized their men to douse the me that caught the tents and inside structures .

    There were casualties, but it was light .

    "Extinguish the fire! The wind is carrying the fire this way!"

    "Cavalry, chase after the raiders!"

    Huangfu Song remained behind to oversee the camp while Zhu Jun rushed to the stable and organized the horsemen to chase after Tong and his men .

    The surviving soldiers in the camp carried buckets of water over . They poured onto the tents that caught fire . One of the soldiers rushed to the ming barrels with the oil still in it . He poured the water into the fire as well .

    However,

    *BOOM*

 Chapter 173

    Chapter 173: 173

    Chapter 173 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 3

    The water fed the intensity of the fire and the oil in the barrel exploded the hell me once more . The soldier was devoured by the explosion and died on the spot as the me got into his lung and burnt all of his oxygen .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    More explosions roared out and killed anyone who tried to douse the me on the pool of oil .

    "What are you doing!? Extinguish the fire, not feeding them!"

    One of the lieutenantsined and grabbed a bucket of water . He threw the water into the me where there was an explosion .

    *BOOM*

    He was also devoured by the undying hellfire .

    None of them knew about the concept of "Grease Fire" .

    The grease fire is a deadly fire that is categorized as the "ss F Fire" or "ss K Fire" in the modern world . The burning grease is hotter than 220 degrees Celsius or 450 degrees Fahrenheit, which is beyond the boiling point of water . Once someone pours water on it, the water will not douse the fire . It evaporates from the extreme heat, creates steam and expands the fire outward as if it explodes .

    The people of this era did not know about the chemical extinguishers or a proper way to douse this kind of fire!

    . . .

    Huangfu Song watched the situation from afar in shock . Some part of the fire had been under controlled, but the original parts where the oil barrelnded could not be extinguished .

    Soon, the temperature of the surrounding areas got higher . Sparkles of me flew andnded on other parts where Tong and his troops had doused it with oil .

    The fire expanded onto the outer fences in no time . The trail of fire managed to touch the pool of fat grease in the moat . It did not ignite the grease at first, but the grease temperature continued to rise from the surrounding me .

    Suddenly,

    *BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM*

    As if a napalm bomb had been dropped, the surrounding area in the radius of 300 meters around the moat had been engulfed in me . The wall of fire rose up over a hundred meters to the air . ck smoke extended from the tip of the bright me to the sky .

    ...

    Tong and his one thousand men stopped galloping their horses and looked back at the explosion . They managed to get away from the st radius with their horses . Their harassment tasks for today waspleted .

    Tong muttered to himself as he gazed at the firewall in admiration .

    "The great Megumin once said ..." Tong extended his hand toward the camp .

    "EXPLOSION!"

    *BOOM*

    Another explosive sound could be heard from the direction of the camp after Tong muttered the word . Tongughed hysterically in a high pitch voice as he satisfied his chuunibyou side .

    <your [????????]="" has="" 11%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    "Dammit!"

    . . .

    The grand explosion shockwave sted away all imperial soldiers inside the camp, including Huangfu Song, making them flying backward and crashing onto the ground . The unlucky soldiers, who were near the northern and the eastern fences, got caught in the me and died without knowing what had happened to them .

    The heat shockwave of the explosion blew a stormwind, which carried the grease fire from the barrels over to the inner parts of the camp, expanding the sea of hellfire and the overwhelming heat .

    The wind continued to blow southwest while the fire origin covered the entire northeastern zone of the camp . The hungry me crept over toward the inner camp without stopping . The more the soldiers tried to put down the fire in the moat with water, the more explosion and the expansion of the red zone .

    Huangfu Song was sweating profusely by the temperature . He made a difficult decision to save as many soldiers in his camp as possible .

    "IGNORE THE FIRE! DO NOT APPROACH IT!"

    "ALL UNITS, RETREAT WESTWARD!!"

    "TAKE WHATEVER YOU CAN AND RUN WEST!! HURRY!!"

    ck smoke, carried by the wind, enveloped the entire camp . Everyone began to cough and felt the burning in their eyes . One of the soldiers inhaled the ck smoke, he choked and coughed . Then, he spasmed and stopped moving, died from a sudden heart attack .

    The harm from the fire is not only from the me itself, but it is the smoke . The ck smoke contains small microscopic particles which could harm the lung of the person who has breathed in the smoke . Inhaling these particles could block the respiratory system of a human body, potentially could cause a cardiac arrest or a heart attack .

    In the modern world, it is advisable to cover one¡¯s nose and mouth with a wet cloth to prevent inhaling the ck smoke from the fire . However, these people of this era had not learned such practice .

    The soldiers ran and coughed in a panic . The weak ones got exhausted quickly from theck of oxygen, and they passed out one by one .

    Because of the chaos and the sudden retreat order, nobody spent a nce on the fallenrades . They scrammed away from the fire in a hurry as they wanted to live .

    ...

    0 . 30 AM .

    Zhu Jun and his 5,000 horsemen rode out of the camp from the south and headed eastward, searching for the raiders .

    From thest attack, they guessed that it should have been Tong and his men from the northeast . Therefore, they galloped north-eastward and hoped that they could find the trace of the rebels .

    It did not take long for them to find Tong because he and his one thousand soldiers had lined up in a formation 700 meters in front of them .

    ¡¯An ambush? No, they¡¯re simply challenging us!¡¯ Zhu Jun thought while he pointed his torch forward to see Tong¡¯s horsemen formation .

    "It took you a while to chase us here . For a minute, I thought you would have been a cautious type and chosen not to follow us here . " Taunted by Tong .

    Zhu Jun squinted his eyes as his suspicions rose . It was illogical for the night raiders to wait for them on the open field . From his experiences, this was a taunt temte before an ambush or a trap .

    In addition, he could sense unusual heat from the ground in front of him . It was indeed a trap!

    Zhu Jun smirked . "I have to admit . You¡¯re very good for a rebel . I am Zhu Jun, the Counsellor Remonstrant of the Imperial Han! Who am I fighting with? Tell me your name!"

    As a traditional warrior and a shrewd general, Zhu Jun attempted to trick Tong into giving his name, so he could get the intel who he was fighting with at the moment .

    Tong touched his chin and pondered a moment . A silly thought came to his mind .

    "I AM YOUR FATHER!!"

    The one thousand men behind Tongughed from his trolling . In contrast to Tong¡¯s men, Zhu Jun frowned while the five thousand horsemen behind him were angered .

    ¡¯Good mind game . It¡¯s obvious now that there¡¯s a trap ahead of us . The visibility in this dark night is perfect for an ambush or a trap . We can¡¯t pursue any further . ¡¯

    Zhu Jun sighed . He swallowed his pride and ordered his men .

    "Withdraw! We will not fight them here!"

    The subordinates of Zhu Jun were shocked . They red at Tong and his men in hostile as they were dissatisfied with the order . Yet, they did what Zhu Jun told them to .

    They turned around and galloped back to the camp . The few rearguards did not stop locking their eyes at Tong while their horses followed after theirrades .

    On the other side, Tong also frowned when he heard Zhu Jun dered a retreat . He gazed at the wet ground 500 meters away in front of him, where Zhu Jun and his men almost stepped on . On the ground, Tong soaked the muddy path with boiling cooking oil into a swamp . Had Zhu Jun and his men charged forward, they would be roasted alive .

    ¡¯Should I say, as expected from the elite generals? This is troublesome . They are on a different level than Pan Feng or Guo Dian . ¡¯

    ¡¯Zhu Jun has good insight and sharp observation . Huangfu Song shows that he can take pressures and good at leadership . ¡¯

    ¡¯Ordinary tactic won¡¯t work with them . I have to be more creative!¡¯

    ¡¯There are still a few tricks I have left inside the city . But first ...¡¯

    Tong tapped the shoulder of a horseman nearby . "Shoot a fire arrow onto the trap ground . "

    "Sir? But the enemies have left . "

    "Don¡¯t worry . Just do it . The fire will spread over to the forest and it will hinder their marching speed . "

    The soldier¡¯s eyes brightened up . He brought out his prepared fire arrow . It was an arrow with a small bundle of oil-soaking cloth wrapping on the tip . He nocked the arrow with his normal bow while his friend lit the tip of the arrow for him . The arrow was fired andnded on the oil swamp .

    *FWOOSH*

    The ground was lit up, but it did not explode like what Tong did at the camp .

    "Let¡¯s go . We should leave before it explodes . "

    Tong and his one thousand men retreated back to Liyang .

    Ten minutes after the fire had been lit, the me slowly spread to the side and began burning the nearby trees . One of the trees cracked and dropped its branch onto the swamp . The ripple of the oil caused the me to extend up to the air .

    *BOOM*

    ...

    ...

    7 AM .

    Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, and their soldiers, who managed to escape from their own camp, gathered at Dong Zhuo¡¯s camp instead .

    The power of the grease fire explosion from Tong wasparable to a forest fire . The entire camp of Huangfu Song was burnt to ashes . Iron armors and weapons, which were left behind, were melted by the extreme temperature .

    The fire did not subside even after hours of burning because there was still oil in the moat . Because of the inextinguishable hellfire, they could not proceed forward .

    Fortunately for them, their supplies did not catch fire from the raid since Huangfu Song put them elsewhere . For a decade, he had never ced his granary or supply base inside his camp because Huangfu Song had learned it the hard way from his battle experiences .

    Though their provision survived the cmity, his soldiers did not .

    He tallied his surviving men to reform toons and reorganize his army . Five thousand of his men were devoured by the me . Simr to him, Zhu Jun lost six thousand menst night .

    The only two reasons they lost their men because of the exploding me when they poured water onto the grease fire, and the dense ck smoke that enveloped the entire camp and killed the soldiers before they got away .

    "I believe we¡¯ve lost Ye City . If the rebels showed up here and took Liyang City, there is no other exnation . "

    "I concur . We¡¯re still lucky enough to find the rebel¡¯s location from the scouts . It would have been a disaster had we passed Liyang to Ye City and we were ambushed from behind . "

    "Bao Xin¡¯s unit should have been annihted already . Or else, we should have gotten his reports . "

    Zhu Jun, who had returned from the brief meeting with Tong, told Huangfu Song about his impression . Both of them exchanged their discussion in solemn as they had to reevaluate the whole situation again from the beginning .

    On the other hand, Dong Zhuo sat back and rxed as usual . Anything that happened to them was none of his business .

    ¡¯Kill! Keep fighting! Keep killing each other!¡¯

    ¡¯Hahaha! Keep dying, you idiots!¡¯

    Dong Zhuo mocked Tong and the two generals in his mind .

    ¡¯Continue killing each other, so you all can go to hell together!¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll be the only winner in the end! MUAHAHAHA!¡¯</your>

 Chapter 174

    Chapter 174

    Chapter 174 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 4

    Hua Xiong, the grandmander under Dong Zhuo, led his men to scout the Taihang Mountain, north of their current camp . He was ordered by Li Ru to monitor every pathway from Ye territory toward the west through this mountain range .

    Taihang Mountain Range located on the west of Julu, east of Jinyang, west of Ye City, northwest of Liyang City, and north of Henei City . This mountain separated the Ji Province and the Bing Province which extended over 400 kilometers from north to south . This mountain range was one of the strategic locations suitable for the defenders as one of the ancient checkpoint, "The Hu Gate", was built between the west of Ye City and east of Shangdang City of Zhang Yang, the city which Liu Ping Army was heading to at the moment .

    This was his fifth day of monitoring . He began questioning Li Ru if he was sane or why he had told himself to wait here .

    However, today, he was not disappointed . A group of cavalries passed through this valley as Li Ru had predicted . The g of the group was "Bao", and their uniforms were from the imperial troops .

    "Bao gs? Bao Xin?" Hua Xiong pondered .

    ¡¯Let¡¯s see here . 3 . . . 6 . . . 9... ten thousand men?¡¯

    ¡¯Whoops, the leading guy is not Bao Xin . I have to note that . ¡¯

    ¡¯Whatever, I¡¯vepleted my job . He told me to watch the valley, SO I WATCH!¡¯

    ¡¯He didn¡¯t tell me to ambush anyone . So no action . ¡¯

    Hua Xiong was a straight man . He took all orders from his superiors word by word . If he was not told to do something, he would not do it .

    His colleagues, Li Jue, Guo Si, and Niu Fu, thought Hua Xiong was na?ve and inept as he did not think for himself during anybat . But their thought was wrong, Hua Xiong was smarter than every single of them .

    He understood his superiors and his roles very well when the battle happened, and he only acted if he thoroughly understood Li Ru and Dong Zhuo¡¯s intention . Every time he acted without order, he would be more efficient and fiercer than all generals in Dong Zhuo Army .

    With such a basic insight and his wits, he managed to get Dong Zhuo¡¯s trust and became the grandmander of his army .

    In this case, he could not understand what Li Ru and Dong Zhuo were nning to do . Thus, he chose not to act .

    "Withdraw! Let¡¯s get back to the camp and inform our lord about this movement!"

    ...

    ...

    October 4th, 182 A . D .

    3 PM .

    Tong and his men returned to Liyang City . Everyone was exhausted from the long trip back and forth . The horses were also tired from the long distance journey . The moment they got to the stables, they drank water as if they had not seen it for years .

    Tong got on top of the west gate wall and sat down cross-legs to meditate instead of sleeping again .

    ¡¯Time is precious . Calm myself...¡¯

    After realizing that meditation could slowly decrease the takeover chance of his sins, he began acting like a cultivator in the fantasy novels . Every chance he had or if he had free times, he would sit down to cultivate instead of wandering around and waste times .

    10 Minutester .

    <your [despair]="" has="" 14 . 93%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 15 . 32%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    For every 10 minutes he meditated, at least one of his sins would magically reduce by 0 . 01 percent or more .

    Tong summed the total of the percentages he had . If one sin decreased by 0 . 01 percent per 10 minutes of cultivation, then he would need to cultivate for 102,050 minutes or roughly 71 days without resting to get all of his sins down to 0 percent .

    It sounded easy at first nce . However, these [Sins] could increase if he had negative emotions during the days as well . Each of his [Sins] never increased by 0 . 01 percent like when he cultivated . It always rose by one percent to 20 percent at once!

    His mental and his thought had to be as serene as tranquil water, or his [Sins] would rise instead of reducing .

    Furthermore, he could not awaken his [Soul of Sins] this way . His [Greed] stuck at the bottleneck of 0 percent for a while now, but he could not get his [Greed] to disappear from the system . Tong figured that he had tomit an opposite act of greed one more time . However, such action had to be significant enough to make him feel that he had to make a dilemma choice, just like the time he threw away 100,000 lifespans to upgrade his radar for the people .

    For now, Tong could not get his [Soul of Greed], so he could only reduce his other sins .

    <your [???????]="" has="" 10 . 40%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    "This one with seven question marks, it should have been 9 . 60 previously . It increased from the night raid?"

    Tong read this message with a frown . There were three [???] sins that he did not know, but the number of ??? on each sin was different . He guessed that it should have been censored by the system goddess or there was an error somewhere .

    Tong ignored these unknown factors and continued meditated like a monk . He cultivated for the rest of the day without bothering with his soldiers .

    His men began to notice about Tong¡¯s behavior and thought that he was meditating to n about the future strategies of war . Some thought that meditating could sharpen their mind . Another group thought that it helped their mentality . They ended up gazing at Tong with respect and admiration . Some of them mimicked the meditation posture and meditated on the wall as well .

    By the time before the dinner, the top of the wall was full of meditating soldiers . They sat in rows and columns as if they were in a formation . Tong opened his eyes and observed his men with cringe expression on his face .

    ¡¯I haven¡¯t started a sect, have I?¡¯

    ...

    After dinner, Tong checked his radar map again . Today, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun did not move further fromst night . ck smoke could still be seen from the distance away .

    Seeing that their advancement had been stopped, Tong breathed out a relieved sigh .

    ¡¯Stay there forever! Stay there until the winter arrives!¡¯

    ¡¯Once the winter arrives, I¡¯ll have more tricks to y with you!¡¯

    Had Tong failed to capture this city, they would have had to retreat back to Ye City and lost the strategic choke point . Jia Xu¡¯s n could also be ruined if they secured their foothold inside Liyang City before Tong as they could have imported food supplies from the south, across the Yellow River . Liyang Port was close by, so they could control the river passage for the logistic troops .

    But the worst-case scenario did not happen . Tong had full control of Liyang City, and he could raid the port at any moment . Even if Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun got their supplies through the port, they were vulnerable to Tong¡¯s surprise attacks . Tong doubted that those two generals would be stupid enough to choose the Yellow River as their logistic route at the moment .

    ...

    October 5th . 6 AM .

    Tong woke up from his meditation . He updated his sin status again .

    <your [pride]="" has="" 12 . 85%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [wrath]="" has="" 15 . 32%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [gluttony]="" has="" 2 . 98%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [greed]="" has="" 0%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [envy]="" has="" 1 . 44%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [corruption]="" has="" 14 . 78%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [despair]="" has="" 14 . 94%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [??????]="" has="" 9 . 89%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [????????]="" has="" 10 . 19%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    <your [?????????]="" has="" 19 . 64%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    All of his [Sins] dropped their percentage by a little, but it showed that the meditation worked . It might take times, but it was an alternative effective method to handle their growth . In addition, his mind was refreshed from the stabilization of his brain . His thinking was clearer and smoother than the earlier years when Tong had not practiced this kind of cultivation yet .

    Within the back of his brain, Tong had a silly idea that he was about to mutter "Can I consider myself a cultivator, now?", but he stopped his train of thought as he was afraid that one of the [Sins] would increase .

    "Chunnibyou is a sin, I am calm . "

    Tong exhaled slowly . Nothing happened, no message showed up as a consequence of his silly thought .

    ¡¯I have to be careful with my thought . ¡¯

    ¡¯For now, it¡¯s time to harass those guys some more...¡¯

    ...

    Meanwhile, at Dong Zhuo¡¯s camp .

    The grease firewall had not been extinguished yet . The temperature of the surrounding areas of the former Huangfu Song¡¯s camp was over 70 degrees Celsius, which was not a ce for any ordinary human to step inside .

    Furthermore, Tong set off the fire in a swamp trap when he retreated the other day, causing a forest fire! The wind also carried the fire southwest, which blocked the path of their progress .

    Dong Zhuo camp was a kilometer away from Huangfu Song¡¯s former camp and the great firewall from the grease fire and the forest fire . Despite the fact that the winter was getting close, the temperature in this camp was over 35 degrees Celsius . All soldiers here were sweating profusely from the heat . A few of them already had a heat stroke and had to retreat further back to the logistic camp .

    Zhu Jun, Huangfu Song, and Dong Zhuo sat around in a tent, having a serious discussion about how they could march forward .

    Dong Zhuo did not care about the progress of this campaign . He suggested without thinking too much into it .

    "How about we retreat back to the west for 10 li? The winter ising soon, so the fire will disappear by itself once the snow arrives . Normally, forest fire onlysts for 6 to 7 days in these areas . We all just have to wait and it will go down eventually . "

    Zhu Jun shook his head . "No, we have to take down Liyang City before the end of this month, or we will have to retreat back to Henei in November! We can¡¯t risk getting our men to freeze to death here . "

    Dong Zhuoughed in his mind .

    ¡¯And who asked you to deploy on September!? You should have waited until spring arrived first! Being on the frontlines for a decade ruins your puny monkey brain or something? HAHAHA!¡¯

    As Dong Zhuo was having fun mocking the two Imperial generals, Huangfu Song peered at him and asked .

    "Come to think of it, I heard that you have been preparing boats recently . Are you perhaps trying to desert us?"</your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your>

 Chapter 175

    Chapter 175: 175

    Chapter 175 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 5

    Dong Zhuo clicked his tongue . ¡¯This old fox was sharp . He already knew my ns already?¡¯

    Li Ru, who was observing the men by the side, stepped into the conversation .

    "We have been preparing an alternative way to transport our supplies . Since we have upied Liyang Port on our way here, we could use the Yellow River water channel for our logistic route . Ships travel faster than carriages, so it will be more efficient if we use the water route instead . "

    Huangfu Song nced at both of them in suspicion . He suspected that Dong Zhuo was plotting something sinister behind their back because he never consulted this n with them . Furthermore, he did not trust this ugly fat man as they had not settled the issues during Dong Zhuo¡¯s sudden invasion of the Capital just yet .

    "Since you have been preparing the ships, I have another idea . How about we use our Prime Minister¡¯s ships to transport our troops along the river, so we can bypass the forest fire?" Huangfu Song suggested .

    "Oh! That¡¯s right! Sir Prime Minister, can we borrow your boats? Since the forest is on fire, we can¡¯t procure woods at the moment . We will have to ask you for this favor!" Zhu Jun yed along . He also suspected that Dong Zhuo was up to something .

    "Of course, we will dly help you . " Li Ru bowed and spoke in the ce of Dong Zhuo . He winked to his boss, so this fat warlord could y along with him as well .

    Dong Zhuo caught the sign . Although he did not like it, he followed through with Li Ru¡¯s gesture .

    "Fine! Have it your way!"

    . . .

    After the meeting, Dong Zhuo left the tent with an ugly expression . It was not a pleasant feeling being extorted by the two generals . The moment he reached his private resting tent, he looked back at Li Ru, who was following after him, with a fierce re .

    "EXPLAIN!" Roared Dong Zhuo .

    "My lord, I haven¡¯t told you yet . Lord Hua Xiong has returned and informed me about the changes . He has found the main force . "

    Li Ru put a map on the table and pointed at the mountain, northwest of Liyang .

    "They are currently disguising themselves as Bao Xin¡¯s light cavalry unit, and they are heading toward Henei City as I have predicted . Their target is to iste both imperial troops of Liu Ping and our three armies . "

    Dong Zhuo did not speak and allowed Li Ru to continue exining .

    "Once Henei City falls, both Huangfu Song and his men will lose their logistic supply line . This is where we will work with Zhang Tong and his men . "

    "At first, I wanted us to withdraw by crossing the river through our boats . But since our n is exposed, we can use the n B . We will allow Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun to transport their men using our boats . However, we will not be going with them!"

    "Instead, we will reveal our intel about Zhang Tong¡¯s movement after the majority of their men have been transported to the other side . Then, we will use the intelligence to give us the excuse to retreat back to Henei!"

    The fat tyrant squinted his eyes and frowned . It sounded good, but one factor was not right .

    "We retreat to Henei . Then, won¡¯t we run into Zhang Tong¡¯s main force at Henei?"

    Li Ru nodded . "Yes, we will . My lord, you don¡¯t have to worry about this . We will not fight with Zhang Tong at Henei . As the matter of fact, they will be the one that avoids fighting with us! They will let us bypass the city territory in peace . "

    "How do you know?"

    "They only have 10,000 men, my lord . Will a sanemander pick a fight with an army of 100,000 men with 10,000 troops?"

    ...

    ...

    October 5th, 11 AM .

    The scout team of Liyang stopped their horses in front of the forest fire . They were two kilometers away from the great firewall, but the horses refused to proceed further .

    "It¡¯s alright . We¡¯re moving south toward the Yellow River . Move out!"

    Tong ordered the five thousand horsemen behind him . This time, Tong took all of his cavalries along since this was a daytime sortie .

    Two hourster, Tong and his men arrived at the river bank, southwestern of Liyang City . The iconic grand Yellow River was before Tong¡¯s eyes for the first time in his two lives .

    The size of this river was massive . Had it not for the drought and famine this year, the water level would have been higher and the width of the river nearby Liyang would have been over a kilometer!

    However, the current water level was low to the point that the width of the river was only 500 meters, but it was still a significant size .

    The soldiers looked at Tong and waited for his order . They were confused about what they were doing over here instead of scouting the enemies .

    Tong checked the wind and the current forest fire again . They were still heading southwest, which this ce was safe from the fire .

    "Start constructing ballistae and catapults here! I want them to aim at the river . "

    "Sir?" The soldiers still confused . Constructing anything on this in was like suicide to them as this zone had a high risk of sh flood .

    "The Imperial Army will be moving through here with their ships . We will ambush their troops here!"

    The soldiers looked at Tong in awe and doubt . Tong rarely deployed scout teams to gather information . They were wondering how he got this intelligence .

    Contrary to their suspicion, theyplied with the order and started cutting woods and gathering materials from nearby areas .

    Tong had this information from his radar map again . Inside his enemy camp, there was an activity at the south of the camp near the Yellow River . With the current forest fire obstructed their path toward Liyang City, they were likely to use the water path to avoid the firewall .

    Once he knew their next n, he made his move and led his fast unit to secure this location first .

    In addition to the order of making the weaponry, Tong sent a messenger back to Liyang City . He wanted all of his infantries to station in this area temporary as there would bebat once Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun .

    Not all these ballista arrows and catapult stones could sink all of their ships . There would be survivors from the barrages and managed tond .

    ¡¯Those weapons won¡¯t be enough . I need something else . ¡¯

    ¡¯What to use?¡¯

    While he was thinking, he gazed toward the river by instinct . Tong sat down by the river and touched the surface of the water . He frowned for a minute before he smirked .

    ¡¯This skill is too useful in warfare like this . I can even use it this way . I hope I won¡¯t get another nerf . ¡¯

    Tong was enlightened as he activated his skill, [Inventory] .

    "MEN! A CHANGE OF PLAN!"

    "WE WILL CONSTRUCT THE WEAPONS FURTHER BACK!"

    ...

    ...

    October 10th .

    9 AM .

    The preparation of the boats took longer than they had thought because of theck of resources . The winter was near, so all vigers refused to sell the army logs and woods as they needed it for their firewood .

    Secondly, the majority of the forest was on fire . None of the soldiers dared to approach the forest since the temperature was high and they were downwind . All workers were afraid of dying from breathing in the smokes or getting caught in the fire .

    Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun had no choice but to buy fishing boats from the locals at Liyang Port .

    After three days of hard work, they managed to secure five hundred small boats to transport their men . Each boat was as small as a civilian fishing boat . It could only carry 10 to 15 men at the maximum . Higher than that, the boat would sink from the overweight .

    Dong Zhuo¡¯s ships, which were seized by the two generals, hardly could be called a ship . They were simr to a giant raft as they were roughly built for the sake of transporting troops . Each raft could carry a hundred men, and there were only five rafts built . Shipbuilding took times after all .

    "This should be enough for our scouts . The forest fire should end within this week since most of the forest in his area are already gone . " Huangfu Song analyzed the geographic and their ns . "Send the first batch of men with the boats . Have them establish a camp on the other side of the forest!"

    "Shouldn¡¯t we send a few boats to scout the other side first?" Zhu Jun refrained Huangfu Song . He had met Tong and had seen his tactics before . Because of such ploys Tong used, Zhu Jun saw Tong as a capable general in his peers . He would not let down his guard against this youngster .

    "You¡¯re right . That was a bit rash . Men, ignore the previous order! Send five boats to the other side of the forest!"

    The lieutenants took the order and ryed it to their toons .

    Beside the river bank, while a squad was boarding the small ships, one of the soldiers noticed something .

    "Hey, don¡¯t you think the water level is lower than yesterday?"

    "Huh? Isn¡¯t it the same? Aren¡¯t you imagine it?"

    "No, I¡¯m serious . I have the impression that the water level is unusually low this year, so I kind of remember a fewndmark stones at the edge of the river . But today¡¯s water edge is getting further away from the stones I marked . I think it¡¯s 2 or 3 cuns (10 centimeters) further . "

    "You are probably overthinking . It¡¯s a natural urrence I say . Well, if it gets lower by that amount, a sh flood is imminent . But this is October! sh flood usually appears in other seasons but winter! You don¡¯t have to worry about it . "

    The worrying soldier shut his mouth, but he could not get rid of his bad premonition .

    ...

    2 PM .

    The scout boats sailed toward the east and bypassed the sea of fire . The soldiers on the ships stared at the forest fire with awe and fear .

    "Damn! The rebels are savage! They resorted burning the entire forest to hinder our march! I bet they are scared of us . "

    "Damn right, they should fear us! Those rebels are nothing but a mob of thieves anyway . "

    The previous paranoid soldier looked at the water current in fear . None of them realized it yet, the water current was getting faster as they sailed forward . The Yellow River tended to be slow and calm all year long . A rapid current was something unusual .

    "Guys, I think we should turn back and report this to our superior..."

    "STFU! You¡¯ve been talking nonsense since you¡¯re boarding the ship! If you are that scaredy-cat, jump into the river and swim back by yourself!"

    The guy shrank back in fear . He turned around and looked left and right, looking at the river bank on both sides . He gulped before he unequipped his armors and his clothes, leaving him naked .

    Then, he jumped into the river for real!

    "Hahaha! That guy really jumps into the river!"

    "Is he nuts!? Can he even swim?"

    "Who knows? But since he¡¯s deserting, shouldn¡¯t we kill him?"

    "Bah, leave him! He will die in this river anyway . Look at the current! With this water current, he won¡¯t make it to the shore!"

    After one of theughing soldiers mentioned the current, everyone started to notice the anomaly .

    "Wait, does this river this fast before?"

    "The fishermen from the port said it was still river?"

    It did not take long for them to notice another anomaly .

 Chapter 176

    Chapter 176

    Chapter 176 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 6

    After they passed the fire forest, they sighted the intersection of the river . One path led to the east as expected from the map . However, the other one led to the north .

    The northern branch of the grand Yellow River should not have existed here!

    Furthermore, the water current carried all of their boats toward the northern path, which was the wrong path .

    "Steer the ship!"

    "We can¡¯t! The water current is too strong!"

    They could not do anything against the sudden rapid current . All of their ships were dragged to the northern waterway .

    "Shit! What now?"

    "Don¡¯t panic! It doesn¡¯t matter! We will have tond on the west shore for now . "

    The soldiers tried to steer the ships to the shore, but they encountered yet another strange sight .

    A young man was sitting by the east shore at the opposite site where they were trying to go . He dipped both his hands into the river water . For some reason, the river seemed to be absorbed by the hands at a terrifying speed, as if they were a giant hole that devoured everything that came into contact with it, creating the rapid current they were facing .

    The river water was being drained by his hands!

    The water current was nothing but water going down the sewer holes!

    Before they snapped back from the strange sight, the sounds of flying objects came at them .

    *BOOM*

    Boulders, rocks, and sharp ballista arrows mmed on the surface of the water . One of the stones sunk a ship from the group of 5 scout boats .

    "We¡¯re under attack!"

    *BOOM*

    A second barrage with hundreds of head-size stones crashed onto the scout ships, cracking the woods which began leaking water .

    *BOOM*

    The third barrage sealed the fate of these boats . All of the scout soldiers had to abandon ships and jumped into the river to dodge the iing attacks .

    However, unlike the paranoid soldier who took off his armors and clothes before he jumped into the river, these men still wore heavy iron armor, iron boots, arm guards, and other clothes . The texture of their clothes absorbed water, making themselves heavier .

    With all those extra weights on themselves, the soldiers sunk to the bottom of the river without a chance to swim on top of the water .

    ...

    Tong swiped away the dark mud and various kinds of fishes which gathered onto his hands . The ck dusk, dirt, and gooey stuff were the condensed living microorganism which could not be stored into the inventory, such as nktons, germs, virus, and parasite eggs . They got stuck onto his skins because of the [Inventory]¡¯s suction force while he took in the Yellow River water into a slot of his inventory spaces .

    He watched the sinking ships with a frown . In his radar map, one of the white dots managed to reach the south side of the shorelines .

    ¡¯One has escaped . But that guy went to the other side of the river . ¡¯

    ¡¯Beyond that territory, it should be the old Puyang . ¡¯

    ¡¯It should take a while before Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun get the news . ¡¯

    Confirmed that only one of the scout soldiers survived, he signaled the troops to stop firing the trebuchets other siege weapons .

    . . .

    In the previous day, he had made a new discovery about this [Inventory] skill while he was touching the river water .

    He could store natural water in the river directly!

    Tong tested it with the earth soil instead of water that day . He managed to absorb a chunk of 1 cubic meter ofnd soil for each use .

    Since storing and taking out items from his inventory did not consume his lifespans, he started digging the ground, exploiting the feature of his [Inventory] skill .

    As Tong nned out this project, he decided not to connect the new channel with the river before it waspleted because it would hinder his digging job .

    Tong started out by digging down one meter in depth and a hundred meters in width . It began with the small depth at first, so Tong could draft theyout of his new river at will . He leisurely absorbed the cubic-block soil, stones, and mud into his inventory as if he was ying Minecraft .

    Many soldiers wanted to help, but Tong made them stood guard in case they were somehow hit by a surprise attack . Tong had seen Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun in action and he knew about their experience and their deeds in his timeline history . Letting down his guard against these two elite generals was not a good idea .

    After five days of ying real-life Minecraft in this world, a new branch of the river took shape . This water path carried the stream 10 kilometers to the north . This water channel ended at the edge of Taihang Mountain Range, which was the natural barricade that separated Ji Province and Bing Province in the northern regions .

    This new river branch would cut off the pathway from Henei City to Liyang City once it was finished . The only way to reach Liyang was to cross this new river, or they had to sail on the original Yellow River .

    The water depth was only three meters as Tong was toozy to dig another one meter of depthyer . This project could only bepleted by him alone, so he gave up digging it too deeply . He had to walk back and forth for ten kilometers for each one-meter width of this river . This ended up with Tong walking inside the dug hole and continue touching the wall nonstop .

    Tong counted the distance with his calction and found out that he walked back and forth for over 500 kilometers in the past 5 days, and his river was only half-finished! The current width of the river was only 50 meters, not 100!

    His legs trembled as he realized how hard it was to dig a 100-meter-wide river for 10 kilometers!

    s, his project came to a stop as Tong detected the iing ships in his radar map this morning . He decided to connect both rivers together to hasten his next project and got rid of these ships before they realized his real aim .

    Although the river expansion project was canceled midway, the next project was more important . Tong had to rush it before the Imperial Army started parading along the river .

    . . .

    "Well done . For now, tell everyone to gather over here . I have an urgent job for everybody to do . "

    Tong opened the local map to measure the distance of the Yellow River again . Calcted the depth of the water level at high season and the current riverbank, Tong stepped back onto the higher ground .

    ¡¯Rome isn¡¯t built in one day . But my barricade wall can be finished in a few days!¡¯

    ¡¯Just stay there for a little longer . Let me finish this first, so I can farm lifespans at my pace . ¡¯

    On the high natural field, Tong took out grey cubic-shape stones on the ground one by one . He lined them up together, slowly making a foundation of a wall . Tong set up the foundation for the wall to show the troops how this new barricade should be built . Then he took out all "blocks" in his inventory, so the soldiers could help him construct this new barricade .

    The construction progress was awkward at first because the cubic stone and mud soil was too heavy for a soldier to lift . Each of these blocks weighed at least a ton! Only Tong with the passive strength and demonic body buff could move it alone .

    Tong had to chop these blocks into smaller pieces for them to carry . In the end, he doubled his workloads as he had to cut these blocks into smaller pieces for his soldiers . At the same time, he had to absorb more soil and stones from other ces to make the wall materials .

    ¡¯Will it be faster if I minecrafted the wall alone?¡¯ Tong hesitated .

    He dismissed the thought . Tong wanted to take it easy after the marathon river digging from the past few days . Continue working like a spartan exhausted him mentally . Therefore, he decided to push some of his burden to his soldiers, so he could rest a bit .

    <beep>>

    While Tong was in the middle of the work, the system warning from the n chat beeped . Tong opened his n chat for the first time in this several days after he left Ye City .

    A troubling message came from Li Feihong .

    "Liu Ping¡¯s edict arrived at Jinyang today . They want us to join their campaign against you . What should we do?"

    Tong texted back and retold what Jia Xu had nned for them . The n was notplicated, but Li Feihong doubted his eyes as he read the texts .

    Li Feihong: "But, is it ok?"

    Zhang Tong: "Just keep Lu Bu in check .

    Zhang Tong: "Tell him that he will get the fight he desires to his heart content . "

    Zhang Tong: "Heck, he will have more than enough soldiers and generals to kill . "

    Li Feihong: "Err ... Alright then . But can Julu City hold?"

    Dong Bai: "I¡¯m here, so you don¡¯t have to worry . "

    Tong knitted his temples while he was reading the message from Dong Bai . Deep down inside, he was worried .

    "My Xiao Wu form is probably on par with Lu Bu since Tong already has two wings and our contract is 100% of his strength . If I summon Tong¡¯s [Lust Soul] to fight alongside me, no mortal in this world can match me even if that Liu Ping has 100X of his attributes! Just do your job over there!"

    "Wait, you can summon my demon soul?"

    "I can . I tell youter when youe back . It will take days to teach everything to you . "

    "Fine, I¡¯ll leave it to all of you . By the way, has anything happened with our neighbors? Has anyone made a move yet?"

    Tong asked back as he was concerned about Liu Ping¡¯s edicts . By now, Yuan Shao, Sun Jian, and Liu Yan should have received theirs . It was questionable if they would not try to take advantage of this situation . A good cause to dere war on neighbor cities was hard toe by . From Tong¡¯s impression of these three men, they would definitely attempt to take a bite on Julu City for its wealth .

    Zhang Jiao replied this time . "My spy reports said Liu Yan and Yuan Shao is preparing their armies . I think they will mobilize their men in spring . But I can¡¯t get any intel from Ganling City, so I don¡¯t know if Sun Jian wants a piece of us, too . "

    Thanked the uing winter months and thete reaction of Liu Ping, Liu Yan and Yuan Shao dyed their deployment to either January or February next year because the heavy snow in the northern region was too harsh for the troops to camp in the wilderness .

    ¡¯Sun Jian is probably the same . He also should not have enough supplies for this battle . I doubt he will try attacking Julu without any support from Tao Qian . ¡¯

    "Father, switch your spy targets to Tao Qian force Xiapi or Pengcheng City . If they send logistic caravans to Ganling, we can assume that Sun Jian will mobilize as well . "

    "I see . I¡¯ll do that . Don¡¯t die out there, son!"

    "Be well, Tong . You have toe back and see our baby . " Hua Shi encouraged Tong .

    The eyebrows of Tong shook as he detected certain lines from the chat .

    " . . . I don¡¯t know if you notice this . But don¡¯t put a death g on me, please . "</beep>

 Chapter 177

    Chapter 177

    Chapter 177 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 7

    The chat did not end with the death g .

    "You haven¡¯t impregnated me yet . Until you give me 200 babies and inseminate me a million times, you don¡¯t have the permission to die!"

    With the deration of Dong Bai, the chat was killed . Zhang Jiao and his two brothers could only reply with "..." as they misunderstood Tong .

    Dong Bai that they knew was a five-year-old girl . None of them knew that she was the sexy Friday or she could transform into Tong¡¯s ideal woman, Xiao Wu . However, with her speech, they thought that Tong and Dong Bai had gone all the way through already, which was sickening and immoral on many levels .

    Zhang Jiao: "Son, don¡¯t degenerate too much, okay?"

    Zhang Bao: "Nephew, doing it with a child is a bit ..."

    Zhang Liang: "I understand that you¡¯re in puberty, but there¡¯s a limit ..."

    Li Feihong: "Bro, you are so fierce ah . IIRC, she was just 5 this year?"

    Ding Yuan: "WHAT!? FIVE!?"

    Ding Yuan: "I only did a ten when I was at his age! Youngsters these days are so advanced!"

    Dong Bai: "..."

    Hua Shi: "..."

    Li Feihong: "Where can I call the police in this world?"

    Meanwhile, Tong facepalmed as he was also speechless by the thoughtlessment of Dong Bai .

    ¡¯Damn pervert woman! Think before you chat!¡¯

    ¡¯My father and my uncles are in the chat room! You sick fOOk!¡¯

    ¡¯And, WTF DING YUAN!? You did a ten what!?¡¯

    "Oh, by the way, Tong, there¡¯s important news you should know . " Dong Bai ignored the cringe atmosphere and continued chatting . "The former Empress, He Xing, and Lie Xie are living in your courtyard . That old coot Sima Fang announced to everyone without consulting us that she¡¯s your new wife and Liu Xie is your adopted child . "

    Tong coughed as he choked from swallowing his saliva .

    Zhang Tong: "DAFUQ did you all do!? Why is she my wife and Liu Xie my son!?"

    Dong Bai: "I¡¯ll exin to youter . It¡¯s a politic reason . "

    Dong Bai: "For now, win your fight ande home safely, darling . "

    Dong Bai: "Oh, one more thing . Don¡¯t FAP! Save up your seeds for me!"

    Zhang Tong: "SCRAM!"

    Hua Shi also spammed "LMAO" and a-hand-holding-a-banana-moving-up-and-down gif pictures in the chat, symbolizing a relieving action .

    Tong shut down the chat room without bothering with these people anymore . If he stayed with these guys any longer, he felt like his [Corruption] would reach 100% in no time .

    ...

    ...

    October 12th .

    The forest fire started dying down as most burnable materials had been consumed . The firewall from the moat was also self-extinguished from the cold weather .

    Inside the main tent, the atmosphere was tense .

    Instead of being joyous of this event, Zhu Jun had a gloomy expression on his face . The scouts he sent with the boats two days ago neither returned nor sent back their report . Huangfu Song looked at the water level outside with a frown . Contrary to the two generals, Dong Zhuo, as usual, had a rxed face .

    "The scouts haven¡¯te back . " Zhu Jun had lost his patience .

    "Those rebels must have gotten them . But it doesn¡¯t matter anymore . The forest fire is about to go down . We should get ready to resume our march right now . "

    Listened to Huangfu Song¡¯s suggestion, Zhu Jun nodded . They ignored Dong Zhuo and left the tent to prepare their men .

    The fat man, who was left behind, touched his chin and pondered out loud .

    "My grandson-inw is pretty good . To be honest, I start to feel pity for him . Can we rescue him with us, Wenyou?"

    Li Ru answered . "Impossible . He can either die or survive by himself . But he cannote with us as long as Liu Ping is still alive . "

    "Bah, shame . Anyway, when will we retreat? It¡¯s not the time yet?"

    "Not yet . At the very least, we should give Zhang Tong¡¯s main force a few weeks . The correct time to retreat is when we begin sieging Liyang City . For now, please be patience . "

    ...

    ...

    October 13th .

    The fire was no more as the winter wind reached this area . The unimaginable temperature inside the former Huangfu Song camp disappeared like a dream .

    "Finally! Men! We will resume our march! By the end of the day, I want to see Liyang City wall!" Huangfu Song roared .

    "OOOOOHHHHHH!" The soldiers also shouted and cheered . They had enough to waiting and doing nothing . They wanted to avenge for theirrades who died in the fire .

    "Yichen, what about the ships? Do we still need to use them?" Zhu Jun whispered to Huangfu Song . He was afraid that Dong Zhuo would use those boats to desert the army .

    "Simple, we¡¯ll take them with us as well . We can still use them to scout or transport our troops, no?"

    Zhu Jun smiled and breathed out a relieved sigh . With the boats in with them, Dong Zhuo could not easily desert before they reached Liyang City .

    "Well, we can also have Dong Zhuo lead the march . We¡¯ll be the rearguards this time . " Huangfu Song gave out an idea with a smile .

    "Nice idea, HAHAHA!"

    ...

    The order arrived at Dong Zhuo¡¯s hands . Despite his unwillingness, Li Ru advised him .

    "Let them have it . We shall lead the march . "

    "Will it be dangerous? I doubt Zhang Tong will spare us since we haven¡¯t sent the reply letter to them yet . "

    "I doubt he will prepare an ambush after the forest fire . If I were him, I would have set up barricades to dy our advancement instead of raiding us again . This is the only choice he can do if he wants to defeat our massive army . "

    "But what can he do to defeat us? Dy us until we are out of provision? Does he forget about our supply line ... Right, I forgot . "

    Dong Zhuo recalled the n . With the secret intelligence about Tong¡¯s other troops moving toward Henei using the secret passage, he connected this with Li Ru¡¯s advice .

    If Tong dyed their march again, all three armies would get stuck in the wilderness as the winter hit them . Their oil and food consumption would be double, and the supply line would be cut off from Henei . All of them would be stranded without other external help, and their supplies would run out before the spring arrived .

    Tong wanted to use the prolonged-war tactic on Huangfu Song and the rest of them .

    "Gah! This is sick! Won¡¯t we be in trouble if this continues?" Dong Zhuoined .

    "Don¡¯t worry, my lord . I have prepared everything since we got stuck here because of the fire . We have secured extra provisions from both of those two¡¯s granaries, and we give the impression that we cannot withdraw from the army . They are the one that will be in trouble . "

    ...

    In the end, Dong Zhuo yed along with the two generals by leading the march with his own men . His 100,000 healthy men took the lead while Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun¡¯s remaining troops acted as rearguards .

    3 PM .

    The march was smooth as Li Ru predicted . Tong did not ambush them along the way . But they encountered a surprise turn of events after they crossed the burnt forest .

    A 50-meter-width river blocked their path . Beyond the river, mud wall with a height of three meters trekked from the southern Yellow River toward the north . On top of the wall, gs of "Zhang" surname fluttered in the wind .

    "I don¡¯t remember that there¡¯s a gate or a checkpoint in this area before . " Dong Zhuo muttered in awe .

    "My lord, those should be Zhang Tong¡¯s men . As I thought, they have barricaded themselves . "

    "What¡¯s next then?"

    Li Ru looked at Dong Zhuo and smiled . "Normally, I will send scouts to survey the river to the north to check if we can take a detour . However, this time, we do nothing!"

    With Li Ru¡¯s suggestion, Dong Zhuo arranged his men to fortify a camp one kilometer away from the barricaded river . The rest of his troops caught up with the lead toons and ended up helping the rest of the soldiers making a new camp .

    Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun also caught up . At first, they thought that Dong Zhuo was ying tricks on them and tried to dy the march . However, the sight of the wall and the new river shocked them .

    "How in the Heaven!?"

    "Since when!?"

    They were bbergasted by the sudden appearance of the unknown . From their memories and their direct experiences, there was neither any river crossing here nor a high mud wall .

    If ones wanted to dig a river, it would have taken a thousandborers and months of hard work . The same applied to the wall as well, which was harder to gather the materials and the construction workers .

    Since the first scout group managed to reach Liyang City and obtained the information about the rebel¡¯s activities, the wall and the river should not have been here several days ago!

    With them being here, it meant that everything had been constructed recently and they were finished in a few days when they got stuck by the forest fire!

    "Inconceivable! Too despicable!" Zhu Jun could not exin this situation . He held his head with both hands in bafflement .

    Huangfu Song also gritted his teeth in frustration . He knew exactly if they got trapped here for another week, the freezing wind from the north would reach here and the winter would hit Liyang County at full steam .

    Once that happened, their food and oil supplies could face a crisis . Though they could get more if they sent messengers back to Henei to demand additional supply convoys, those were hisst resort .

    "Prepare to siege! We have to cross the river and the wall! As for the rest of the scouts, go and check to the north side . I want you to check how long this river is, and if there¡¯s a path toward the east!" Huangfu Song shouted .

    The scout teams nodded and rushed to their perspective units . But a few soldiers behind Huangfu Song looked at their boss with reluctant .

    "B-But sir, we have a problem..." His aide trembled as he spoke .

    "What problem?"

    "The forest was all burnt . We can¡¯t get more woods to construct siege weapons over here . "

    The old general gulped and looked at his surroundings . Indeed, the forest was burnt into charcoal . None of them was useable as siege weapon materials .

    "Sent messenger to our logistic troops on the back . Have them harvest any useable woods . Also, go and tell that useless fatty Dong Zhuo, tell him to use his men to dig up the soil in advance! I want all the stones and mud to bury the river and make a bridge!"

    "Y-Yes, my lord!"

    Meanwhile, Zhu Jun also did not stay idle for long . He also gave his subordinates orders .

    "Have our men board the ships and sail across the southern river to the other side! If we can¡¯t pass through here, we can march on the other side of the river!"

    Huangfu Song heard Zhu Jun¡¯s order . His eyes brightened up as he was enlightened .

    "As expected of you, brother Zhu . I haven¡¯t thought of that . "

    "Take it easy . Everything has a solution . " Zhu Junughed . He managed to keep his head cool and came up with this idea . "How about this, both of our men will cross the river to the south . We will march along the river to bypass this obstacle to the south of Liyang . Then we will pick anding point again once we are directly at the south of that city . "

    "Brilliant! But what about Dong Zhuo?"

    Zhu Jun smiled . "It obvious that he¡¯s useless in this battle . We¡¯ll leave them here to keep those rebel¡¯s attention, so they can spread themselves too thin . When we attack the city, they will have less number . "

    "Hahaha! Good! Very good! Let¡¯s proceed with haste!"

 Chapter 178

    Chapter 178

    Chapter 178 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 8

    October 13th .

    East of the "New River . "

    During the past three days, Tong and his entire army constructed this 10-kilometers-long wall using the Minecraft-soil-blocks to stack on each other in a bricked-wall formation . The wall was three meters in height and 4 meters thick . The top of the wall was wide enough to station the archers for the siege warfare .

    Unlike the unfinished river, the mud wall that Tong built covered from the southern original Yellow River to the edge of Taihang Mountain Range . It was simr to the Historical Gates and Passes that was created with bricks and stones, but with a weaker foundation of mud and soil .

    But this wall had a disadvantage, there was neither gate nor passage that could cross . It was made for the sole purpose of dying the Imperial Army movements .

    This afternoon, Tong detected the iing troops from the west . The leading army suddenly stopped moving and drew back to make camp, which went ording to Tong¡¯s initial n .

    ¡¯That¡¯s good, but it¡¯s odd . Are they bracing for the winter? Don¡¯t they want the city before the cold wind arrives?¡¯

    It did not take long for Tong to realize his shoring . In the night of the same day, the red dots in Tong¡¯s radar map, which indicated the Imperial soldiers highlighted, began crossing the Yellow River to the south .

    ¡¯They¡¯re moving south? Wait, aren¡¯t they trying to get to Liyang?¡¯

    ¡¯Wait, wait, wait! They can march along the river by the south bank!¡¯

    ¡¯Dammit! I haven¡¯t thought of this before!¡¯

    Tong smacked his forehead in frustration . The Imperial generals were not stupid enough to headbutt Tong¡¯s barricaded formation . These armies had chosen to take a detour to avoid fighting in a disadvantageous position .

    ¡¯I fOOked up again . But it¡¯s salvageable . ¡¯

    ¡¯The transportation is somewhat slow . Only a couple thousand men can cross the river at a time . ¡¯

    New ideas to sabotage the Imperial Army kepting inside Tong¡¯s mind as he had many weapons to deal with these crossing soldiers . He did not act right away because he was choosing which method would be the most efficient in this situation .

    After 30 minutes of deep consideration, Tong made his decision .

    ¡¯Water tactic and fire tactic is too wasteful of resources . The fire attackst time didn¡¯t give me lifespans for the kills . I have to farm a bit this time . ¡¯

    ¡¯... I can ambush this, but I have to move alone . I won¡¯t waste my soldiers here . ¡¯

    Tong dressed up in ck clothes again and packed several swords, arrows, spears, repeating crossbows, and a set of his iron armor into his inventory . In his [Inventory] slots, one of the slots carried Yellow River water . Another one had boiling cooking oil . And the other one had multiple cubic blocks of stones .

    With all preparation done, Tong left his camp and headed toward the southern river .

    ¡¯I wonder . How far can I jump with all of my passive buffs . ¡¯

    Tong stood two hundred meters away from the river bank, taking a deep breath . He equipped a sword from his inventory to get his [Sword Mastery]¡¯s 10x status boost . Stacking with his 15x [Demonic Body] passive buff, he thought that he should have 25x of his status attributes now .

    All of these attributes should allow him to jump across the 500-meter river . Even if he failed he shouldnd into the middle of the water, he thought .

    Tong gritted his teeth, held his breath for a second before he started dashing toward the river . His sprint speed burst went from zero to 100km/h in a second .

    ¡¯Crap! It¡¯s too fast! Bullet time!¡¯

    The speed of his full power running shocked Tong to the point that he had to overclock his brain to adjust the change . Because of the sudden burst of speed and the 10 G-Force, Tong could not breathe . His brain and his vision went nk for a second before he crashed directly into the river water .

    *SPLASH*

    The cold river of the Yellow River woke Tong up from his sudden loss of consciousness . He swam back to the shore and reflected from his failed attempt .

    ¡¯I remember that I handled my speed just fine when I was in a fight ...¡¯

    ¡¯Maybe I didn¡¯t use my full speed at that time?¡¯

    ¡¯I want to train some more . Haiz, so many things to do . So little time . ¡¯

    ¡¯If I use a bullet time before I run, can I ovee the G-Force?¡¯

    ¡¯Icked training . All I did was strength and stamina training . I¡¯ve never practiced running using my full strength . ¡¯

    Tong sighed . This mistake was another rare setback for him because he did not train enough . If his attributes were still on the level of ordinary human, he would have been in perfect condition . But since his attribute status kept getting boosted from the system skills, he had yet to master controlling them .

    Realized that he could not handle the sudden burst of speed yet, Tong changed his method .

    ¡¯Screw it, I¡¯ll just swim through the river normally . I don¡¯t want to risk jumping too high and get myself killed by the gravity!¡¯

    He walked straight to the river, returned the sword in his hand into his inventory, threw away his wet clothes, and started swimming .

    In a few minutes, he already reached across the river . Tong put on new dry clothes and armor set, getting ready for action .

    ...

    Huangfu Song and several of his elites boarded the ships and crossed the river . A total of three thousand mennded on the shore, while the boats returned to the other side to fetch another batch of soldiers .

    The scout that escaped the other day reunited with the group and told everything that happened that day to Huangfu Song . s, he did not witness how Tong created the rapid stream, so he missed the crucial information .

    The general looked at his surroundings with a bright smile . There were plenty of trees and resources he could take on this side of the river . He could use these woods to make more rafts or ships to transport their supplies or soldiers, or he could build siege weapons, such as battering rams or siege towers for the uing battle at Liyang City .

    Allnded soldiers did not idle around . They rushed over to secure a suitable ground to make another camp on this side . Some of them carried torches for their friends while the others without a light were busy cutting woods to clear out the spaces .

    A dozen other free men were hammering stakes into knots of several long ropes, which the other edges of the ropes connected with the other side of the river . They attempted to make multiple rope bridges so the rafts and boats could get to the other side faster .

    Because of the urgency of the iing winter, Huangfu Song rushed his troops to cross the river, and he wanted his entire 65,000 men to get on this side before the sunrise .

    He wanted to y a mind game with the rebel force . If his army showed up on this side tomorrow, the rebels would be in a panic and would think that the Imperial force had reinforcement from Puyang Commandery, which was the south of here . None of them would have believed that he crossed the river overnight .

    By harming their army¡¯s morale this way, Zhu Jun on the other side could find a chance to exploit it or siege the wall if needed be . As for Dong Zhuo, Huangfu Song saw him as an excess army that could be used as cannon fodders or a diversion to get the rebels¡¯ attention .

    "Three thousand men a trip ... This can take a while . "

    Watching the ships docking on the other side, Huangfu Song calcted the times he had to take to transport all of them .

    Suddenly,

    *SPLASH*

    The night in this world was usually silent unless ones were in the middle of a noisy camp . If there was something unusual or a sound, they could hear it from a distance away .

    ¡¯That¡¯s a big ssh . Someone jumped into the river?¡¯ Thought Huangfu Song .

    ¡¯The sound came from the other side to my right . Isn¡¯t that direction from the rebel¡¯s camp? Is someone jumping into the water to swim at this time?¡¯

    From his logic, fishermen would not loiter around these areas as the rebel force was here . The only exnation was they were trying to cross the river as well .

    ¡¯They probably noticed us from our torches, so they sent a careless scout across the river?¡¯

    ¡¯Ha! Fool! It doesn¡¯t matter if you know we¡¯re here or not . We¡¯ll kill all of you sooner orter!¡¯

    Huangfu Song shouted, "Men! Get ready forbat! I detected a group of spiesing from the rebel camp! They are trying to cross the river at the moment . Get ready!"

    The Imperial troops looked at his direction with burning eyes . They were looking forward to a fight for many days since they had been stranded by the forest fire .

    The lumberjack soldiers stopped what they were doing and took out their weapons . Everyone formed ranks without the direction from their general as they got used to fighting without a direct order . The torch holders took turns and threw their torches forward to the empty ground to get better visibility up front .

    "Over there! I saw a shadow!"

    One of the soldiers who had good eyesight spotted a silhouette of a man . That person had just gotten out of the water and was sorting his equipment .

    "Approach quietly and use night arrow! I don¡¯t want to burn the surrounding forest!" Commanded Huangfu Song . "Don¡¯t bother saving your arrows! You can fire at will!"

    The archers of Huangfu Song crept upon the shadow . Once they got into the range, they nocked their bows with their arrows and fired without waiting for another order .

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    The arrows flew passed the spot where the shadow had been located, but they got no reaction sound of a hit target or a man¡¯s cry .

    "Target missed! Raise the torches!" The archer captain shouted .

    Everyone with the torches raised them up high and pointed them forward . The ones without a bow lighted another torch and threw it forward .

    "Be careful not to hit the trees! We don¡¯t want another forest fire!" The captain turned around to reprimand the torch thrower .

    While he was looking away, the shadow jumped at the captain .

    *SHUA*

    A de shed through the captain¡¯s neck with great force, sending his head flying .

    The torch illuminated the figure of the shadow . The real shape of a young man in iron armor appeared .

    "To think that I can really role-y a Dynasty W*****r game in real life today . I¡¯m thrilled . "

    <your [????????]="" has="" 11 . 19%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    "And the price of forcing me to increase my [Sin] ... IS DEATH!"

    "GIVE ME YOUR REMAINING LIFESPAN!"

    Tong did not stop after killing the archer captain, he leaped to the nearby archer and shed horizontally without aiming .

    The de hit his body armor, yet the impact force and the speed ovee the durability of his body armor . The de cut through his armor and cut down into his abdomen . Tong¡¯s de got stuck after the de hit the other side of his armor .

    Tong let go of the de and took another sword from his inventory . He charged to another archer .

    ¡¯I¡¯m not strong enough to cut them through armors . Maybe I should try polearms next?¡¯

    He thought as he swept through the archers in the line formation down one after another . </your>

 Chapter 179

    Chapter 179: 179

    Chapter 179 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 9

    Although it took Tong one second to kill and leap to another target, Huangfu Song and his men managed to react after Tong killed the 10th archer .

    Soldiers with shields in front surrounded him to limit his movement . Spearmen on the second line held their Javelins and were ready to toss them to Tong .

    "Brat! Surrender! You¡¯re surrounded!"

    Tong looked around and noticed that he was surrounded so fast . Heughed .

    "Wow! I¡¯m impressed . You have amazing disciplined soldiers, and they even moved without order! Should I say, as expected from the elites of the elites?"

    "If you knew it, you can surrender! Unlike those scoundrel friends of yours, I promise I will give you another chance in life!"

    Tong nodded in admiration . This person¡¯s psychological persuasion was also good . He checked his system map to see who themander was . The name "Huangfu Song" appeared on the location of the speaker .

    ¡¯Jackpot!¡¯

    Tongughed out loud by reflex after realizing that one of the grandmanders of the three armies was here .

    "Has he gone insane?"

    "He¡¯s lost it . "

    "Well, that¡¯s obvious . Any cornered rat will show its true inner side . "

    The shield bearers gossiped after they saw Tong¡¯s reaction . On the other hand, Huangfu Song did not think that way .

    ¡¯His eyes and his expression aren¡¯t clouded with fear! That¡¯s not a despairedugh!¡¯

    Huangfu Song had a bad premonition . From his ability to read people, Tong did not reveal a hint of an insane person or a despaired prisoner .

    He trusted his instinct . This young man had to die right now .

    "Men! Kill him now!"

    "HAHAHA! It¡¯s toote! You can¡¯t escape! [Time Stop]!"

    Though Tong wanted to scream "ZA WARUDO" as the skill activation, he was afraid that one of the [???] sins would act up again . Every time he acted like a chunnibyou, this [Sin] always got stronger .

    <click>>

    <time stop="" activated . ="" you="" have="" 10="" seconds="" remaining="">>

    The world became colorless as everything in this dimension was paused .

    "I wish I have a road roller in my inventory ..."

    Tong leaped over the shield formation that surrounded him andnded in front of Huangfu Song .

    As usual, Tong took out a sharp de and sliced his neck in one sh .

    <you have="" 8="" seconds="" remaining="">>

    He gazed at the boiling grease in his inventory menu . He wanted to burn everybody here again as he did in the other day . However, he felt terrible for the people in Puyang Region since they had nothing to do with this battle .

    If Tong used the grease fire again, the innocents in this area would suffer as the wind still blowing southwest .

    "But I have other ways to kill all of you!"

    Instead of using grease fire, Tong ejected hundreds of cubic stones into mid-air from his inventory . These cubic stones moved by the discharged force and came to a stop . These over-a-ton stones hung over their heads, waiting for the time stop effect to run out .

    "I guess I should call it the mini-road-da-roller-da!"

    <you have="" 2="" seconds="" remaining="">>

    "Whoops! Time to bail . "

    Tong started running away from this location to hide in the shadow of the trees nearby . He had not nned to retreat to his camp until he farmed all lifespans from these men .

    <you have="" 1="" second="" remaining="">>

    Tong snapped his fingers . ¡¯Zero!¡¯

    <the flow="" of="" time="" shall="" resume="">>

    "Huh?"

    "What!?"

    "Where did he go?"

    Tong frowned from listening to the voice of the panic soldiers . A-hard-object-hit-the-meat sound, crushing impact sound, or bone cracking noise did note . Aside from the soldiers¡¯ voice, it was silence .

    ¡¯What happened!? I thought I used those boulders to crush them . Why!?¡¯

    "General!"

    "General is dead!"

    The soldiers already noticed that Huangfu Song¡¯s neck was sliced open . He already fell on the ground and stopped breathing .

    Even though Tong stocked another 20,000 lifespans for the final reward of his soulmate quest, he was not happy with this development . Something was wrong during thest few seconds when he escaped back into the woods to hide .

    ¡¯Dammit! If those stones killed the soldiers, my [Time Stop] skill would have been leveled up!¡¯

    ¡¯What exactly is going on?¡¯

    Tong took a peek to see the situation outside as his radar map was filled with red dots .

    What he saw astonished and shocked him . The cubic stones were floating upward instead of falling . In mid-air, a white-haired old man in a Daoist robe was standing on one of the cubed rocks .

    ¡¯Who!?¡¯

    Tong looked at his radar map by instinct, yet the system map did not show him on it .

    ¡¯How!?¡¯

    "You must be thinking [How is this possible], right?" A haughty female voice sounded behind Tong .

    Tong sensed terrifying killing intent aura from the voice behind him . He leaped to the side by reflex .

    "I¡¯ll repeat your words, little demon . It¡¯s toote . You can¡¯t escape!"

    A white hand pieced through his iron armor and dug into his chest, breaking his ribs . The hand grabbed tight onto his beating heart and squeezed it .

    Blood leaked out from Tong¡¯s five orifices as multiple of his blood vessels ruptured from the sudden burst of blood pressure .

    "You can die, wicked demon!"

    The owner of the voice, the women in angelic robe, pulled out Tong¡¯s heart from his body .

    Confused, shocked, panicked, Tong stared at the face of the woman . Behind her back, eight white tentacle wings danced in the air . Tong gathered thest bit of his will and strength to chant a word in his brain .

    ¡¯Regen!¡¯

    <you have="" consumed="" 5,000="" lifespans="">>

    There was no time to feel pity for the lost lifespans from this regeneration skill . Tong used this opportunity that the woman thought he was already died by her hand to kick the ground and dashed at full speed toward the east .

    He faced the 10 G-Force again because of the sudden burst of speed . However, this time, he did not ck out . His adrenaline ran into all of his blood vessels, and his brain overclocked in full power, making him be able to temporarily control every part of his body with a single thought .

    Within two seconds the angelic woman let her guard down, Tong dashed 300 meters away from her .

    "Huh? Is he still alive after all that? Oh, right . He has that [Yang Seed] skill . "

    This woman was none other than Liu Yang, the goddess-in-training and the sessor of Athena that infiltrated this dimension . At the same time, the old man who was in the air and was observing them was Zuo Ci .

    "Goddess, that¡¯s enough . I¡¯ve told you to give him a warning, not to kill him . "

    "Ha! He won¡¯t die from just that . If I don¡¯t kill him again, he won¡¯t remember!"

    Liu Yang chased after Tong without waiting for Zuo Ci¡¯s permission . She caught up with Tong within one breath . She reappeared by the right side of Tong as if she teleported .

    "As I said, you can¡¯t escape!"

    A flying kick wasing toward Tong¡¯s head .

    Thanked the overclock mode, he saw a kicking at him . Even with his heightened sense, Tong still felt that the kick was still too fast .

    Tong raised his right elbow and used his left arm as a support . At the same time, he pointed his index finger at the attacking woman .

    ¡¯Eject, boiling grease!¡¯

    All the hot oil from Tong¡¯s [Inventory] was ejected in the shape of jet liquid stream as if it was shot out from a firefighter¡¯s hose .

    Liu Yang¡¯s kicknded on Tong¡¯s arms, breaking them, sending impact to his head, and sent Tong flying into the river . At the same moment, the jet boiling oil mmed onto Liu Yang¡¯s entire body, creating white smoke and burnt her white skins and clothes .

    Liu Yang screamed in pain as her skin reddened from the burn . However, it was temporary as her burnt skins were healing to counter the spreading wounds .

    Although the hot oil could not kill her, burning wounds were still a painful experience for her nheless . She red at the direction where she sent Tong flying in resentment .

    "HOW DARE YOU! [Goddess of War], Weapon creation!"

    ****************************

    [Goddess of War] Cannot be leveled up .

    - The host can create all weapons, armors, orbat-rted crafts from the dark age to the 21st-century .

    Skill Cost: None

    Skill Restriction:

    - Liu Yang can only use this skill .

    - This skill cannot be transferred, copied, or stolen .

    - Mortals can not use all items created by this skill .

    - This skill will be erased after its usage .

    ****************************

    <your [goddess="" of="" war]="" has="" been="" deleted="">>

    What she created was an armed ICBM which was set to detonate in 3 seconds . She flew on top of the river where Tongnded and was about to toss the missile into the river .

    "GODDESS! STAY YOUR HAND!"

    Zuo Ci also spread his ten ck tentacle wings and exerted all of his power to stop the missile from falling into the river . It stopped in midair and shuttled upward to the sky faster than light speed .

    The missile wasunched into space within a second . It exploded in the void without creating a sound .

    Liu Yang looked back at Zuo Ci with a frustrated expression . She had just sacrificed her best skill to kill this heretic demon, but this geezer stopped her .

    "You¡¯ve wasted my skill! I demandpensation!"

    Zuo Ci squinted his eyes . This woman still did not know her ce . Besides, his status had tremendously changed into something else that she should not be able to bte him anymore .

    "Be quiet!"

    With a snap of fingers, a lightning cage trapped Liu Yang inside and the electric current zapped into her body .

    "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The high-pitched scream resounded the night, alerting both Tong¡¯s soldiers and Imperial soldiers .

    Zuo Ci snapped his fingers again . The cage and the goddess were teleported elsewhere, leaving Zuo Ci alone in mid-air .

    On the river, Tong was floating face-up . Blood was running out from his nose and ears . Thest kick of Liu Yang gave him a concussion . If Zuo Ci left him alone, he would cause permanent severe brain injuries .

    Tong also tried his best to stay awake despite his severe injuries . The clock in the system menu showed 11 . 35 PM . He had to wait for another 25 minutes before he could use his regeneration skill again .

    Zuo Ci dropped himself and stepped on the river . One of his tentacle wings touched Tong¡¯s forehead . He chanted .

    "[Soul of Charity], Heal!"

    The wing turned into a spirit of a young girl . She poured light into Tong¡¯s head, and all his injuries were healed in an instant .

    The spirit reverted into a tentacle wing and returned to the back of Zuo Ci again .

    Tong stared at Zuo Ci in astonishment . He had heard from the system goddess that he should be cautious about these beings .

    "Nice to meet you, young man . I¡¯m Zuo Ci, the administrator of this . "

    "You havemitted great sins that I have toe here personally to warn you!"</your></you></the></you></you></you></time></click>

 Chapter 180

    Chapter 180

    Chapter 180 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 10

    Tong realized Zuo Ci healed him after seeing his peaceful approach . His stress and tension disappeared, and he could breathe in the fresh air once more .

    "Administrator?" Asked Tong .

    "Correct . I¡¯m in charge of monitoring anomaly beings such as yours . "

    "Then, why did that girl attack me? Why did you interfere with my war?"

    The calm face of Zuo Ci turned into a hostile re and said .

    "You have killed too many innocents of this world, child . Though I understand that you have your reasons, killing the helpless innocents after they surrendered to you is too violent! Both of us are here to remind you for the first time and for thest time . It¡¯s fine if you are fighting in a war and the innocents get caught into it by ident . But genocide is forbidden! If we catch you killing unarmed peasants again, we will show you no mercy!"

    "Again, this is thest warning . Any incident simr to the ughtering at Liyang City will not be tolerated!"

    After finished with his warning, Zuo Ci¡¯s body faded into thin air and disappeared .

    Tong had a chill running down his spine . That was the first time that he fought a life-and-death battle against an 8-winged-immortal, and she could easily kill him in one move . Furthermore, it seemed she still went easy on him . The disparity between the current him and her was too vast!

    Now, there was this Zuo Ci with ten wings! How could he sleep after he realized that he could be killed by these two at any moment?

    ¡¯I feel like saying [Yes] to the system goddess now . ¡¯

    ¡¯I wonder what happened to her . She¡¯s been silent for a while . ¡¯

    Tong slowly swam back to his camp . He could not ambush or raid Huangfu Song¡¯s men anymore . More soldiers from the Imperial side were climbing ropes to cross the river . By the time that Tong stepped his foot on the shore, more than 10,000 Imperial soldiers had crossed the river .

    <your [despair]="" has="" 15 . 94%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯This is troublesome . ¡¯

    . . .

    Zuo Ci reappeared in the sky above Nanpi City . He had not finished his job yet as Tong was not the only sinister sinner who massacred innocents .

    One more sinner had to be taught a lesson .

    ¡¯What¡¯s his name again? Right, Jiang Man . The one with the illusion skill and so-called [Ninja] skills . ¡¯

    ¡¯Before the system goddess returns, I have to use this rare chance to discipline these otherworlders . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    October 14th, 6 AM .

    All former Huangfu Song¡¯s soldiers, Zhu Jun, and his men crossed the river safely .

    At first, Zhu Jun wanted to remain on the other side to coax Dong Zhuo into sieging the barricade wall . However, the news about Huangfu Song¡¯s death forced him to move to the other side to calm the remaining soldiers and integrate them into his army .

    The death of Huangfu Song was mysterious and creepyst night . The witnessed soldiers thought that a vengeful spirit killed him because he offended them by cutting the woods beside the river at night .

    They saw the killer disappeared from their tight enclosed formation with their own eyes . Besides, there was a mysterious, creepy scream from a woman in the darkness, which scared them enough to wet their pants . After the wail, cubic stones rained down from the sky and dropped onto the ground and the river . Each stone block had a smooth surface and sharp edge as if the master artisan made them .

    Zhu Jun also heard the cry of Liu Yang . Combining with all the pieces of evidence and eyewitnesses, he had to believe in such supernatural phenomena . None of them had even thought that Tong actually ambushed them .

    "This river is sacred . Do not offend the spirits!"

    Zhu Jun ordered his soldiers to gather incense sticks to hold a prayer ceremony . Afterward, they resumed their march along the river bank .

    ...

    Dong Zhuo and Li Ru watched the departing army of 129,000 men from the other side of the Yellow River .

    They also stayed up for the entire night after themotion broke out . Both of them even heard the cry of Liu Yang .

    "Wenyou, do you believe in spirit?" Asked Dong Zhuo .

    "Not a chance . That was just a cry of amoner woman somewhere . There is no such thing as spirit or god in this world . "

    "Hah! Me too! Look at those frantic soldiers . They wet their pants because of a woman scream during the night . If they bed a woman at night, won¡¯t they piss on their partner because of her scream? HAHAHA!"

    Li Ru ignored Dong Zhuo¡¯s dirty joke and stared at the wall from a distance away .

    "My lord, it¡¯s time we send our reply letter to Zhang Tong . We should prepare to leave this ce as well . "

    ...

    7 AM .

    Tong and his men packed up and were ready to leave . Since Zhu Jun and the rest of his army started moving, they had to return to Liyang City .

    They left the "Zhang" gs on the wall and ced scarecrows in soldier¡¯s armors as decoys, so they could dy Dong Zhuo a bit longer before he realized it .

    Before Tong could leave, a soldier rushed to him and gave him an arrow .

    "This is?"

    Tong examined the arrow . There was a letter tied on it .

    "This arrow was shot by the opposing army, sir! It seemed to be a message from them . "

    Tong nodded and read the letter .

    [Greetings, I am Li Ru, the advisor of lord Dong Zhuo, your ally .

    We received your letter many days ago, but we could not reply to you as we have circumstances .

    We¡¯ve agreed that we will help you in this fight by withdrawing our force from the battle and steal some of the Imperial army¡¯s supplies .

    However, we have a condition . We want Henei City that you are nning to upy .

    Although it sounds overbearing, we will give you another help . We shall dispatch an additional unit to help you upy Shangdang City .

    upying Henei City will put you in an awkward situation because the city will be isted from your bases as well . On the other hand, Shangdang connects directly to Ye City through the main merchant roads .

    Henei City is vital to our Lord while Shangdang is more beneficial for you in the long run . We want to initiate this trade as our condition for the cooperation .

    I¡¯m looking forward to your reply . ]

    Tong read the letter with a frown . He closed his eyes to picture the map of Shangdang and Henei regions .

    Henei City was indeed not an ideal city to upy at the moment as the distance between Ye City and Henei was too long . Henei City alsoher connected to Julu nor Jinyang . Comparing to Shangdang City, it was closer to Ye City, and the roads from Shangdang connected to Jinyang to the north, which made it a more desirable strategic city . Although the roads from Shangdang to Ye City was slightly bumpy and dangerous for arge army to pass through, the roads weremonly used by merchants and logistic caravans .

    Also, there was Hu Gate in between Ye City and Shangdang City . By taking Shangdang, they would save the resources for not having to siege this pass . Also, the soldiers on this check-point had to surrender to Tong once Shangdang City fell as no neighbor city would supply them food anymore .

    With Shangdang, Jinyang, Ye, and Julu, the four regions would form a square formation . With ally cities connected, there would be two ally regions that could send supports to each other .

    Tong snapped open his eyes and wrote two letters . One was the reply letter, and the other one was for Zhang He and Ju Shou .

    ...

    ...

    7 . 30 AM .

    The reply letter from Tong arrived in the hands of Dong Zhuo, who was mockinglyughing after he read the letter .

    "Damn brat! He wanted me to send 50,000 men to siege Shangdang for him? Who am I? His sugar daddy? In his dream!"

    Dong Zhuo passed the letter to Li Ru . After Li Ru read all of it, he burned the letter .

    "My lord, I think we should do as he asked . "

    "Huh? What!? Why do I have to waste my soldiers for him!? I said I would help, but I didn¡¯t specify how many soldiers I will send! As a matter of fact, I n to send ONE soldier to monitor the siege! BAHAHAHA!"

    Li Ru shook his head and bowed again . "Lord, I believe we will gain more profits from this siege rather than letting Zhang Tong taking all the treasures . "

    The ears of Dong Zhuo perked up when he heard the word, "Treasure . "

    "Exin!"

    "Yes, lord . You should aware that Liu Ping will be moving pass Shangdang, correct?"

    "Yes . So?"

    "It is likely that he will recruit Zhang Yang and all his men into this crusade as well . Rather, Zhang Yang and all of his subordinates will volunteer to join him . Those guys will bootlick the Emperor to get more achievements for their career! Once they moved out, the city will be lightly guarded . If Zhang Tong sieges the city, he can steal all the treasures inside the city!"

    "What!?"

    "That¡¯s why we should siege the city for them so that we can take some of these treasures back to our bases first . Then we let Zhang Tong take our leftover . "

    Dong Zhuo pped his knee and burst intoughter . "Dammit! I haven¡¯t thought that far! You¡¯ve enlightened me, Wenyou!"

    Li Ru just bowed and stopped speaking . He had advised Dong Zhuo with all the ideas he had . He did not have any other suggestion anymore because he was tired from theck of sleep .

    Dong Zhuo also did not bother speaking . He quietly walked toward the wall and gestured Hua Xiong, who was standing guard in front of the tent, to follow him .

    The two ignored every soldier and stopped at a distance away from the wall . Dong Zhuo looked at Hua Xiong and asked, "Do you have an arrow?"

    Hua Xiong took out an arrow from his quiver and gave it to the fat lord .

    Dong Zhuo took the arrow . He coughed to clear his throat for a while before he put the head of the arrow under his armpit with its tail feathers pointing at the wall . He closed his armpit and shouted .

    "OH NOEZ! I HAZ BEEN HIT BY AN ARROW! SAAAAVVVEEE MEEEE!"

    Hua Xiong stared at his boss in shock for a second before he realized what Dong Zhuo was trying to do . He also shouted .

    "OH NOEZ! OUR LORD HAZ BEEN HIT! TAKE OUR LORD BACK AND RETREAT!"

    For the sake of realism, Hua Xiong cut a wound on his arm and soaked Dong Zhuo with his blood .

    Dong Zhuo shouted again . "RETREAT! I NEED A DOCTOR IN HENEI!"

    The nearby soldiers did not everything from the beginning . They panicked and escorted Dong Zhuo and Hua Xiong over .

    Li Ru looked at the two and sighed . If they wanted to retreat, they could have said the word directly without this farce .

    "Signal all troops . We shall withdraw back to Henei!"

    Li Ru¡¯s aide looked at him in confusion . He asked, "Sir, what about Zhu Jun and our initial n?"

    "Forget it . We¡¯ve done everything we need . For the intel documents we have about Henei and the false Bao Xin unit, burn it . "</your>

 Chapter 181

    Chapter 181

    Chapter 181 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 11

    October 14th .

    9 AM .

    The news of Dong Zhuo¡¯s retreat reached the ears of Zhu Jun . He clicked his tongue as he expected this . Fortunately, he transported half of the army provision supplies to the other sidest night . Alternatively, else, Dong Zhuo would have run away with all the food .

    "Figured . We can¡¯t trust that traitor from the start!"

    Zhu Jun¡¯s eyes saddened as he thought about his friend who had just passed away .

    "Rest in peace, friend . I¡¯ll get rid of those rebels and kill Dong Zhuo in your ce! Your death will not be in vain!"

    Even though Zhu Jun spoke to himself, the lieutenants and captains heard every word . Their eyes moist as they respected this fallen general . He was an honest and loyalmander who had served this empire tirelessly for decades . He did not deserve to die from a vengeful ghost .

    "We shall fight in themander¡¯s ce!"

    "We shall fight in themander¡¯s ce!"

    All officers of Zhu Jun shouted in the same voice . Their desire to fight soared and their morale skyrocketed .

    "Move faster! Do you want those rebels¡¯ head for our general in Heaven!?"

    "OOOOOOOHHHHHH!!"

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, Tong and his men also retreated to Liyang City . He left a hundred men on the river wall as a team of scouts, just in case, someone would try to cross this path .

    Another confirmation letter from Dong Zhuo already reached Tong¡¯s hands, and Dong Zhuo Army began retreating as well . With his army pulling back from the battlefield, Tong had 100,000 fewer soldiers to take care off .

    Current forces on both sides were now 55,000 against 129,000 . Tong still had the disadvantage .

    Tong nced at the trail of dust on the opposite side of the Yellow River . Zhu Jun Army was forced marching .

    ¡¯Thest general should be Zhu Jun from the other night . ¡¯

    ¡¯But seriously, I¡¯m racing against times again . ¡¯

    Seeing that it was a race home, Tong shouted . "Rush home! They are forced marching! If we arrivedte, they will cross the river and siege the city before we get there!"

    ...

    Zhu Jun also red back from the other side of the river . The moment he saw the dust from the horses and foot soldiers, Zhu Jun smiled .

    "Na?ve brat! Men! Hear my order! toon 17 to 26 stay here and cross the river! The rest of you,e with me!"

    ...

    ...

    By 3 PM, both armies had reached their destination .

    Tong¡¯s 5,000 men stationed inside the city while Tong and the rest of his 50,000 men headed to the southern river bank of the Yellow River to wee Zhu Jun and his men .

    On the other hand, Zhu Jun detached 80,000 men and stationed at the opposite river bank, staring down at Tong¡¯s army . The other 49,000 men stopped marching mid-way and started using their boats to cross the river . Before Tong noticed this move by Zhu Jun, 20,000 soldiers of 49,000 had already got to the other side .

    Tong watched his radar map with a solemn expression, focusing on the distance of two kilometers away at the west of his army . At the location, Zhu Jun¡¯s 49,000 was busy crossing the river . It would take two more hours before all of them could get on this side .

    Contrary to the urgent situation, Tong did not panic . Instead, he was delighted that Zhu Jun made this move .

    ¡¯With all the boats and water transports over there, this army in front of me is just a bluff . ¡¯

    ¡¯The real attack wille from the west!¡¯

    Tong tapped the shoulder of a lieutenant who was beside him .

    "Organize all cavalry units to report to me . The rest of the footmen, fortify the river bank!"

    ...

    3 . 10 PM .

    Tong and his 5,000 cavalries galloped westward toward the river-crossing troops of Zhu Jun .

    As for the general Zhu Jun himself, he did not lose sight of the movement across the shoreline . The 80,000 men of his were not staying idle either, they cut the woods and made several logged rafts . The skilled craftsmen in the army were also hammering nks to make a dozen massive shields to attach with the barges .

    Zhu Jun did not bluff as Tong had thought . He was nning for a pincer attack from the west and the front .

    Secondly, he did not n to cross the river directly and sh with the garrison force head-on . The current shipbuilders behind him would transfer these rafts and boats elsewhere at night and sailed across the shore . They would be his ghost force, which couldunch a surprise attack behind the enemies¡¯ line .

    He had an ambitious goal, all of his men had to cross this river within two days!

    Themotion broke out on the opposite shore . Zhu Jun had to squint his eyes to see what they were doing . Two minutester, one of the scouts, who had climbed the trees to monitor the enemies, came down to report their discovery .

    "Report! The enemy took a cavalry unit to the west! The estimated number was at least 2,000 men!"

    "Good job! You can go . "

    Zhu Jun rubbed his chin and pondered . The detached force had 49,000 men . Dealing with only 2,000 riders or even 10,000 riders would be an easy task for them . Also, even if footmen had disadvantages against horse charges, these guys were seasoned soldiers . They could form ranks and improvise if need be .

    "Have I overestimated him?" Zhu Jun thought of the person he met during the fire attack night . "He is either overconfident, or he is na?ve . There¡¯s no way he can defeat my men with a lousy group of horsemen . "

    Zhu Jun ignored this move by Tong and focused on the troops on the opposite shore .

    ...

    3 . 15 PM .

    The 5,000 horsemen detected Zhu Jun¡¯s detached force almost a kilometer in front of them . Without waiting for the enemies to form ranks, Tong took out a spear and roared .

    "Crane formation! Charge!"

    The horsemen scattered into triple triangle lines (^) . The captains blew horns, and the rest of the horsemen got into the formation as they were galloping forward . They pointed their spears to the front, aiming at the front of the horse .

    The sound of horse hoofs and the shaking earth alerted the river-crossing soldiers in no time .

    "Enemy attack!" Shouted Zhu Jun¡¯s scout .

    The soldiers abandoned what they were doing and formed the anti-cavalry spear-wall formation . The shield bearers dug tower shields into the ground in a nt shaped . Spearmen form the second and the third line with their spears pointing at the iing cavalries .

    30% of Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers managed to form the formation in 10 seconds . The rest of the soldiers were too far away, so they took their weapons and formed the second and third line behind the first group .

    The reserved men, who did not form rank in time, formed the secondary ranks behind the first line . They were the same formation as the front, but they ced themselves three meters behind the first group .

    These reserved were the finishers of this formation . Had light cavalries charged into this tactic head-on, 70% of the horses would die by the first liners while the reserved troops would finish off the riders or the horses that got through the first line .

    Seeing that the army¡¯s reaction speed was too fast, the cavalry soldiers hesitated . They nced at Tong with paled faces if he would give them another order soon, or those spears would skewer them .

    The distance was now 500 meters away .

    Instead of panicking, a sadistic smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face .

    "All troops! To the right! Circle them and reform the formation again!"

    The horsemen sighed a relief and avoided running into the formation . They moved around the spear-wall and formed a line on the north of Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers .

    The river-crossing soldiers had also reformed their formation . They grouped up in ten men and form porcupine huddles . They circled themselves with shields and spears, like the back of porcupines . Even if Tong charged at them now, the one that died would be the horses and the riders .

    The archers also took out their bows and arrows . They formed lines behind the formation of the groups of porcupines . The distance between the cavalries and the archers were still 500 meters away . They were out of range, so they could not shoot yet .

    Tong gazed at the thousand groups of porcupines with a mocking gaze . Their defense was solid, but they failed to put pressure on the attackers . Without the counter-attackers, Tong could crush them at his leisure .

    ¡¯Well, they may be elites, but they didn¡¯t have a proper leader . ¡¯

    ¡¯Sorry, but this is war . No mercy!¡¯

    Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers did not realize, Tong purposely sandwiched them . His force was facing them from the north, and the back of Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers was the river . They had nowhere to escape .

    Tong pointed his finger forward . A 300-meter-long ck void gate appeared in front of Tong . From the gate, Tong discharged the river water he collected in the past few days to the front .

    "sh flood, biatch!"

    Tong ejected the Yellow River¡¯s water from his [Inventory] . A one-meter wave of water manifested out of nothingness and mmed it onto the defending soldiers . The force of the wave was enough to make the spearmen staggered backward .

    "Again!"

    Another wave crashed onto the 20,000 soldiers on the shore . This time, some of them staggered and was carried by the stream into the river .

    "Again!"

    "Again!"

    "Again!"

    Tong spammed a total of 10 waves as there were too many defending soldiers . Because the first two waves broke the shield wall and other formation, 50% of the soldiers were swallowed by the sh flood into the river as well . The archers on the back neither crouched nor dug their feet into the ground, the three waves of sh flood swallowed them into the river .

    The remaining men on the shore stumbled on the wet ground . The shoreline ground was nothing but soil and mud, so the soldiers had a hard time getting up .

    "Crossbow!" Shouted Tong .

    Five thousand horsemen switched their weapons to Julu¡¯s signature repeated crossbow . They loaded their clips and pointed forward without Tong telling them .

    "Move forward 100 steps!"

    The lined horses stepped closer to the ragged soldiers that could not reform their formation yet . The moment they saw the crossbows and the approaching horses . They knew what would happen if they got into their range .

    "Retreat!" One of the captains shouted .

    "Fire the first volley . "

    Five thousand arrows flew into the air, creating the dark shadow blocking the light of the sun . They rained down onto the surviving soldiers on the shore .

 Chapter 182

    Chapter 182

    Chapter 182 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 12

    The arrow rain pieced the soldiers who still stumbled in the mud, turning them into porcupines, like what they called their formation .

    Tong watched the scene and muttered by reflex, "How ironic . "

    The arrows did not kill everybody, some of Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers survived by using their shields to block the volley . These men still struggling and trying to fight back . They regrouped with the nearby survivors, so the ones with the shields could protect the archers who could shoot back .

    Seeing the determination of Zhu Jun¡¯s men, Tong sighed as he felt pity for these men . If the situation were different, Tong would have tried to recruit these veterans into his army .

    s, this was a battlefield, and they were the bane of Tong¡¯s father . Had he allowed Zhu Jun and his men to fight with Zhang Jiao, his father¡¯s army would have lost . Zhang Jiao would have died like what happened in his previous life¡¯s historical timeline .

    Tong gazed at the back of the enemy¡¯s line . Several soldiers cast away their armors and were swimming toward the boats and rafts nearby . The transport units took their boats out from the other side . They rushed in to rescue the drowning men and their friends . If Tong left them be, those over 10,000 men, whom Tong had flushed down the river, would escape back to the other side and voided his attack .

    After he rechecked his [Inventory], there were a few hundred liters of boiling grease left in one of the slots . Because he discharged most of them at Liu Yangst night, he did not have enough to kill all of these men .

    ¡¯I can still haven¡¯t used my [Create Food] . I can kill them with anotherbination . ¡¯

    Tong pointed his finger forward and released the boiling oil . The void gate opened and released a sh flood of hot liquid . They mmed into the soldiers, burning them alive .

    "AAAAHHHH!"

    "ARRRGGGGHH!"

    Unlike Liu Yang, who was an immortal with a natural power of regeneration and high vitality, these men were human with the ordinary constitution . They screamed in pain from the 200 degree Celsius oil as it instantly burnt their skins .

    "Every one of you, stay here and shoot down any moving imperial soldier! I have something to do . "

    The horsemenplied with the order immediately . They began firing the arrows using their judgment and improvised with therades nearby .

    After giving the order, Tong led the troops with torches, avoiding Zhu Jun¡¯s men and approaching the west shore .

    ¡¯Using boiling grease again won¡¯t be efficient . The water is cold . It won¡¯t ignite . ¡¯

    ¡¯I should use something else that can ignite easily . ¡¯

    ¡¯Alcohol products won¡¯t do . Boiling oil ... effective but not efficient . ¡¯

    ¡¯Petroleum? If I remember it correctly, petroleum artificial food dye was derived from the crude oil?¡¯

    ¡¯Should I reverse-engineer from the food dye to crude oil with my [Create Food]?¡¯

    ¡¯But if I do that, this river will be permanently destroyed by the crude oil . The citizens that still rely on this river will get caught in my war . ¡¯

    ¡¯That crude oil testing will be for the other time, that Zuo Ci already warned me . I don¡¯t want any more trouble . ¡¯

    Tong had nned to turn the Yellow River into the sea of fire . However, he was afraid of Zuo Ci and the eight-winged woman yesterday . Tong decided to be inefficient for now . Besides, he could not use his skill on the living soldiers directly . He had to be a bit more creative .

    "[Create Food], boiling grease!"

    Tong poured the hot oil into the river . White smoke fumed into the air as cold water mixed with the hot brown liquid . The 100,000 liters of 200 degrees Celsius oil boiled the river water in an instant . Moreover, the volume of the released oil was massive . It created another sh flood to the east shore .

    As the Yellow River current always flowed eastward toward the China Sea, the boiled water current reached the swimming soldiers in no time, cooking them alive .

    "The water! AAAAHHHHH!!"

    "GGAAAAHHHH!!"

    Like frogs in hot water, Zhu Jun¡¯s men tried to jump out of the water in frantic . The ones who still swam in the river got desperate . They pushed and shoved their friends down the river so they could escape from the river faster .

    The men on the boats and rafts were not doing so well either . They also felt that they were steam-cooked by the boiling river as the river temperature went over 100 degree Celsius . Bubbles on the surface of the river and hot fume were burning them . The rescuers stopped dipping or extending their hands toward their friends in the water and rowed their vessels back to the south shore .

    The death throes of the soldiers in and on the river were miserable . Even Tong, who caused the killing scene, got nauseous, thinking what would have happened to himself if he were in those soldiers¡¯ shoes .

    He identally nced at the surface of the river . Thousands of fishes were also implicated into this mess and were cooked by the boiling water .

    "Too bad we haven¡¯t prepared a for these fishes . " He muttered in a pity . "Don¡¯t be greedy . I can create seafood in the future . Leave these boiled fish to the nature . "

    Tong sighed and left the scene .

    <your [gluttony]="" has="" 1 . 98%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    He ignored the auto system message and reunited with his 5,000 horsemen who already emptied their arrow clips .

    The Imperial soldiers who were stranded on the north shore were either died by the arrows or were in a terrible condition . They were not in a stat to fight back .

    "Listen up, Imperial soldiers! If you still want to live, surrender! I will treat your wounds and keep you away from this battle! You have done enough . You don¡¯t have to fight anymore!" Tong attempted to end thisbat in a civilized manner .

    The 3,000 surviving battered and injured soldiers on the shore red at Tong in resentment, yet, they hesitated . As a human, it would be a lie if they said they were not afraid of death . They all wanted to live . Even the soldiers who drown their friends to push themselves ashore wished to live .

    "I surrender . " An injured soldier lost his patience and shouted .

    With only one shout, chain reaction followed suit .

    "I surrender . "

    "We surrender . "

    "Don¡¯t kill me . I surrender!"

    Three thousand injured men gave up fighting as they could not see the hope of winning . Saving their skins was the priority .

    Tong clenched his fist . After thwarting Zhu Jun¡¯s ploy, he gained the control of this battlefield . Zhu Jun and the rest of his men still got stuck on the other side of the river while the weather was getting colder each day .

    If he could hold the line until the end of the month, Zhu Jun would be in deep trouble .

    "Escort the prisoners back to the city!"

    The surrendered soldiers sighed in relief that at least they survived .

    ...

    ...

    Zhu Jun looked at the surface of the river with a horrified expression . The calm river sudden disyed a sign of sh flood along with various irregrity .

    The color of the river was a mixture of dark brown murky substances, red blood, and the light brown of muddy water . There was white smokeing out of the river, and the water temperature seemed to be at the boiling point .

    Furthermore, cooked white corpses of his men floated along with the river current! Their bodies bloated from the water intake and the boiled human fresh odor made half of the men on the shore threw up their lunch .

    Zhu Jun worriedly gazed toward the west . Something unexpected had happened with his detached force .

    "Don¡¯t tell me ... they failed!?"

    It did not take long for a messenger from the detached force to rush in and gave Zhu Jun the report .

    "Report! The rebel force used sorcery against us! All soldiers on the other side of the shore have been annihted!"

    The scout continued reporting the incident in details, the approaching horsemen, the sudden sh flood, the boiling oil, the arrow rain, and the other surge of boiling water .

    Zhu Jun¡¯s face lost its color . He was unable to think straight for a whole minute .

    "The assistantmander has ordered the survivors to regroup with the main army . We¡¯ve estimated that we¡¯ve lost over 15,000 men from this fight . We¡¯ve also concluded that the enemy¡¯s general can use sorcery!"

    Zhu Jun gulped before he asked, "How¡¯s our enemy? What¡¯re their casualties?"

    The scout trembled as he was afraid of the punishment . He mustered his courage and told Zhu Jun the truth .

    "None, my lord . "

    Zhu Jun inhaled a deep breath and slowly breathed out . Several disastrous news almost gave him a heart attack . His hands and fingers could not stop shaking from the nervousness and the heart-pain from the losses .

    "Go back and have them regroup with the main army . Treat the injured, and give me the number how many of us left . "

    The hoarse voice of Zhu Jun scared the scout . "Y-Yes, my lord!"

    The messenger scrammed away in a hurry as he was scared of the current general . Meanwhile, Zhu Jun watched the leaving frantic soldier with a heavy heart .

    After the scout left for a minute, Zhu Jun coughed and spat a mouthful of blood .

    Such a reaction was known as battlefield syndrome . When someone faced an unexpected disastrous situation, warlords tended to stress themselves which lowered their immunity system, causing hypertension, heart disease, or depression . Several warlords in many countries in history died because of such bacshes . And Zhu Jun had tasted it for the first time .

    "I ... will ... not ... fail ... here . "

    "Yizhen, please look after me . I willplete our duties!"

    "Han Dynasty will prevail!"

    "Even if Liu Ping is shit, we will not fail!"

    Zhu Jun¡¯s eyes were bloodshot . The pale face of his became red, then blue . He clenched his fists and staggered to his tent, nning to get some rest first . </your>

 Chapter 183

    Chapter 183

    Chapter 183 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 13

    October 14th . Evening .

    Casualty report had beenpleted . From the initial 49,000 men, 33,000 men returned . The majority of the death was caused by the boiling water in the river and the arrows from the rebel army . The 3,000 men who were stranded on the other side were considered as dead by theirrades .

    Five thousand men, who had crossed to the other side, managed to return to the south bank in one piece with some burnt skins . However, a thousand of them died from the shock of burning pain or organ failure on their way here .

    Combined with the main army, 113,000 soldiers could still fight .

    Although they had the numerical advantage in this battle, Zhu Jun did not feel well hearing the result . They came here with 150,000 men, yet one-fourth of their men and a grand general lost their lives before they could fight the enemies .

    This result was nothing more than a humiliation to Zhu Jun .

    Thest general left amand to the visiting messenger before he excused himself to rest, "Cancel the night river crossing n . Gather the boats back to the main army . "

    ...

    Meanwhile, at Liyang City .

    Tong also gave an order to the garrison force in the city .

    "Transport all siege weapons, the carts, and wagons to the riverside barricade . "

    The carts and wagons by Tong¡¯s order were the carriages of the dismembered heads of the civilians of Liyang City . This order gave Tong¡¯s messenger a chill running down his spine because he managed to guess what Tong was trying to do .

    The lord of his was more sinister and vile than they had thought him to be .

    ¡¯A sorcerer and a viin!¡¯ He thought . ¡¯Yet, he treasures his allies and subordinates . It¡¯s rare . ¡¯

    Before the messenger could leave and carry out his order, Tong stopped him .

    "Wait, soldier . What¡¯s your name?"

    The messenger was frozen in fear . He slowly turned around to answer, "X-X-Xu Huang, sir!"

    A bitter smile revealed on Tong¡¯s face . He had a habit of checking the name of the person he conversed with because he might catch an unblossomed talent who was working in his army .

    ...

    The person in front of him was Xu Huang, one of the five elite generals who served Cao Cao and his descendants alongside with Zhang He, Zhang Liao, Yu Jin, and Yue Jin in Tong¡¯s history timeline .

    Formerly, he served in his local Commandery as a minor official, but he joined Yang Feng to participate in the anti-Yellow Turban Rebellion army to gain achievements in the year 184 . He waster promoted as a Cavalry Commander as a reward for this deed .

    In 192, he and Yang Feng served under Li Jue and Guo Si, who controlled the figurehead, Emperor Xian . However, in 195, they defected the two corrupted warlords and escorted the Emperor east to Luo Yang . Xu Huang attempted to persuade Yang Feng to surrender to Cao Cao, but Yang Feng declined the idea .

    Xu Huang ultimately pledged allegiance to Cao Cao, who defeated Yang Feng in a battle in 196 . From that point on, he was a pir for Cao Family for three generations and left various deeds for theter generations to learn as an example .

    His most glorious fight was the battle of Fancheng, Xiangyang Commandery in 219, where his friend, Guan Yu besieged his allies . Cao Cao ordered Xu Huang to lead a force to relieve Cao Ren from Guan Yu¡¯s encirclement, which Cao Ren was besieged for months without support .

    During the confrontation, Xu Huang tricked Guan Yu by sending fake news that he would raid Guan Yu¡¯s main camp, making Guan Yu fortified his main camp instead of protecting his support bases . Xu Huang destroyed the support camps of Guan Yu afterward and drove away Liu Bei Army from the vicinity . During the crash with his friend, he even dered Guan Yu¡¯s bounty to his subordinates in front of Guan Yu himself . When Xu Huang was asked by Guan Yu why he did so, he answered, "This is an affair of the State!"

    Despite his early days when he followed Yang Ping around, Xu Huang grew up to be a chivalrous, dutiful general who valued duty over self-interest . He was well respected by Cao Pi and Cao Rui in his life .

    ...

    Such a famous general in his youth appeared in front of Tong once more . Tong could not help to praise his luck for this chance encounter .

    "If I remember correctly, isn¡¯t your hometown is Hedong County, north of Hongnong Commandery? Why are you a soldier in my army?"

    Xu Huang was surprised . He was indeed born in Hedong, the same hometown as Guan Yu .

    "My Lord knew my hometown?"

    Tong scratched his face in embarrassment . He blurted out something he should not have .

    "Well, I have general knowledge about my subordinates . Say, answer my question first . When have you be my soldier?"

    Xu Huang bowed and gave Tong a wry smile .

    "I was part of Dong Zhuo¡¯s conscripted soldiers, my lord . His troops passed by my county and I was dragged along . Then, I was ordered to escort Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu family members to Julu City . When I got to Julu City, I was transferred to an infantry unit . Also, there¡¯s suddenly a mobilize order many days ago, and I ended up marching along with the troops and got here, my lord . "

    This time, it was Tong who gave Xu Huang a wry smile . This encounter was indeed pure luck which happened at the right time and the right ce . Had Tong not checked this scout¡¯s name, this talent would have been buried forever .

    ¡¯Dammit, the butterfly-effect is so chaotic . I can¡¯t refer the future events with my history knowledge anymore . Good thing that I¡¯ve noticed this before it¡¯s toote . ¡¯

    ¡¯Wait a minute . Xu Huang is a friend of Guan Yu! Can he recruit Guan Yu here before Liu Bei meet him!?¡¯

    Tong coughed and asked, "Do you know a person by the name [Guan Yu]? The guy with a red face and long beard . "

    Xu Huang was surprised again . "Y-Yes, I know him . He¡¯s from my hometown! B-But he murdered an official and fled the town a long time ago . "

    A wry smile on Tong¡¯s face turned into a bitter smile . This legendary figure still moved ording to the historical timeline . Tong believed that he would eventually unite with Liu Bei and Zhang Fei as it was fated .

    "Forget it . Well, I have another order for you . Once you¡¯ve done carrying out my order, return to me . You¡¯ll be my aide from now on . Your stipend will be adjusted to a militarymander standard as a promotion . "

    Xu Huang gulped . It was a windfall for him . If Tong were to promote him to such a position, he would not have to risk his life on the frontline .

    Suddenly, he thought of something and shook his head . "I¡¯m sorry, my lord . I think I haven¡¯t done something to deserve that . A sudden favoritism promotion will cause disharmony in the army . I can¡¯t ept it . "

    The face of Tong gloomed hearing the rejection . Xu Huang was right . Tong was indeed too hasty on his part as he was too excited and forgot about the logic of the army or psychology . Moreover, Xu Huang¡¯s personality was as the historian said .

    However, Tong did not give up .

    "Well, just do your job ande back . I¡¯ll have another assignment for you . Oh, don¡¯t forget to tell the soldiers who are in charge of the corpses . Tell them to cover their nose and mouth with wet clothes and wash their entire body with hot water after they havepleted the tasks . "

    "Y-Yes, sir . "

    ...

    October 15th . 3 AM .

    All preparation he ordered Xu Huang had beenpleted and everyone rested per Tong¡¯s order .

    As for the young lord, he did not sleep again that night . His eyes focused on his radar map as he monitored Zhu Jun¡¯s every movement .

    Even after seeing that Zhu Jun camped on the other side without making any mobilization, Tong did not let his guard down for a second . A part of him thought that Zhu Jun gave up crossing the river tonight, yet, Tong preserved and kept watch .

    ...

    8 AM .

    Zhu Jun still did not make any movement other than ordering his men to gather more logs to make rafts .

    On the other hand, it was Tong who had a bad premonition . Zhu Jun was up to something he did not know . From the looks of it, Zhu Jun was in the middle of preparing a trump card, and it would be deadly .

    "No matter what you¡¯re nning . I can still ruin you!"

    "Push the trebuchets forward!"

    Tong gave his order, and the soldiers pushed the trebuchets and the carriers of severed heads to the frontline .

    "Test fire with your machine! Load 10 heads on the pouch . Fire at the direction across the river once you¡¯re ready . "

    The trebuchet squads had a chill running down their spine .

    ¡¯Our Lord wants to throw corpses at the enemies?¡¯

    This evil order scared the trebuchet crews . They steeled themselves and carried out the order as they had no choice .

    Three soldiers put the ten heads on the sling pouch while the rest of the crews adjusted the trebuchet and locked the lever, getting ready to fire .

    "Loading is clear!"

    "Lever is clear!"

    "Lock is clear!"

    Everything was ready .

    "Fire!"

    Strong crews pulled the rope, unlocking the long lever . The beams of the trebuchets rotated, and they swung the sling upward to the air,unching the contents on the pouch to the sky .

    Because the heads were much lighter than stones, they flew across the river andnded 600 meters away . None of the heads managed to hit or damage any Zhu Jun¡¯s men, but Tong¡¯s objective had been achieved .

    ¡¯It crossed, so it doesn¡¯t matter . ¡¯ Tong thought .

    "Reload and keep shooting! Ten heads for each set, shoot until you have nothing left to shoot!"

    ...

    ...

    1 PM .

    Zhu Jun managed to get off his bed as he had a severe headache from the stress . He had ordered the guards that nobody could visit him unless the enemiesunched an attack on the camp . Therefore, he had a quiet and peaceful sleep for a night and half a day .

    He took a deep breath to get some fresh air as he felt a bit better, and his mind was not as clouded as yesterday .

    s, his good mood did notst long . The moment he got out of his tent, several soldiers bowed and gave their reports .

    "My lord, the enemies areunching attacks from across the river . "

    Zhu Jun frowned as he had ordered his men that they should have woken him up if the enemies attacked the camp, yet these people did not wake him up .

    "Why didn¡¯t you wake me up? What¡¯s the situation?"

    "My lord, the attacks were just simple harassment . Nobody has been injured, or there has been any casualty . "

    "Then, what happened? If there¡¯s no casualty, why are you reporting me instead of handling it as you are trained?"

    The soldiers gulped before they continued their reports .

    "The rebels didn¡¯t fire a normal attack, my lord . They are shooting corpses to us . "

    "Corpse!?"

    "Yes, my lord . We believed ... that they are the heads of Liyang civilians . "

 Chapter 184

    Chapter 184

    Chapter 184 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 14

    The face of Zhu Jun turned red from anger . Desecrating the dead was a taboo that the native of this country despised . He coughed as he had a headache at the back of his head . He took a deep breath to calm down .

    "I¡¯ll go and see it myself . "

    "M-My Lord, you should not!" One of the lieutenants jumped in front of Zhu Jun to stop him .

    "Why are you stopping me?"

    "M-My Lord, the corpses ... are rotting . You will get sick again! Please remain here!"

    The heads that Tong had his men threw over already emitted a rotting smell . These heads had been left alone for many days outside of Liyang City after the soldiers gathered them onto wagons and carts . Maggots and flies swarmed them like they were the feast .

    Moreover, the southwest wind blew the odor of the decaying corpses toward Zhu Jun¡¯s men who stationed at further south, bringing germs and bacterias with by the air .

    Zhu Jun subordinates were worried about this matter as they had enough basic knowledge to realize that the rebels were using a worm tactic . They wanted the Imperial Army to get sick!

    Seeing the hysterical reaction of his men, Zhu Jun did not go against it .

    "I see what those rebels are trying to do . Gather and burn all the corpses . Make sure that we boil our water supplies before we distribute them to our men . "

    After Zhu Jun dered that he would not go to the frontline, his subordinates were relieved . They returned to their toons .

    Even though Zhu Jun promised that he would not exert himself, he did not stop thinking about how he could cross the river . He exhaled out cold air from his lung from the desperation .

    He saw the vapor of his breath . New inspiration struck him .

    ¡¯If I fight using my logic, I will probably fail again since the enemies did not use logic, but sorcery . ¡¯

    ¡¯Since it hase to this, we¡¯ll hit them with brute force! It¡¯s a dangerous gamble, but we have the number advantage . Let¡¯s see how you¡¯ll fare against my trained soldiers!¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll force you to camp out here with us! If we suffer from the winter, you will suffer, too!¡¯

    ...

    ...

    Tong watched the reaction of the other side with a deep frown . He used the immoral practice in this war, the bio-weapon of germs and dead bodies, to taunt Zhu Jun and make his men sick . He was expecting Zhu Jun to appear on the frontline again, so he could tempt Zhu Jun into making a rash move so that Tong could wither down the Imperial force more .

    However, Zhu Jun did not show up . His men collected the rotten heads and burnt them as if nothing had happened .

    ¡¯Is it bad timing? Is Zhu Jun always immune to taunts?¡¯

    He looked back at the trebuchets . Tong had ordered everyone to burn the pouches, wagons, and the carts that used in this operation as germs and bacteria gathered on these items .

    The soldiers also finished constructing spike barricades along the river . They set up catapults and ballistae behind the fences to shoot down any boat or raft that got into their range .

    Because of the massive scale of this battle, the defensive shoreline was over a kilometer long . All 50,000 soldiers stationed on the first frontline without exception .

    "Sir, they¡¯ve burned all the corpses . What should we do?"

    Xu Huang, who was transferred over as Tong¡¯s coordinate messenger, asked with worry . Aside from the prolonged war tactic, he did not understand what Tong tried to do .

    Tong gave him a bitter smile and answered, "We defense the shoreline . Nothing else . "

    In reality, Tong also did not know what he should do next as Zhu Jun did not make any move . That general only had his men gathered woods to build ships, rafts, and other wooden crafts .

    ¡¯Is he making a bridge or something? Why is he taking his time?¡¯

    ¡¯At this rate, he will suffer from the winter soon . ¡¯

    ¡¯Heck, we¡¯ll also suffer from it . We¡¯re still on the shoreline like Zhu Jun!¡¯

    ¡¯Are they aiming for this?¡¯

    ...

    ...

    October 16th . Noon .

    Zhu Jun did not make a move today as well . The Imperial army continued to craft more rafts and wooden shields .

    The temperature outside dropped down to 10 degrees Celsius . Within Liyang County, the average temperaturest month was 15 degrees to 20 degrees, which was warmer than the current weather condition .

    Tong was expecting the temperature to decrease further in November . It should reach somewhere between 0 to 5 degrees at this location as the global warming effect had never happened here in this world . It would get worse in December tote January, as thest year, Tong and Hua Shi measured that it was minus 10 degrees around Julu during the months .

    Tong spent today¡¯s quota of his [Create Food] to create more hot oils . However, he did not n to use it on Zhu Jun¡¯s men . He saved them for his men to keep themselves warm .

    He poured it onto several small stones and rocks around the camp to make them natural heaters for his men . Tong relieved the cold weather problems for his men for now as the "Cold War" between Zhu Jun and Tong continued .

    ...

    October 20th .

    The temperature got down by 2 degrees after the four days of the staring contest .

    Zhu Jun Army still did not make any other progress other than collecting logs and woods . However, the result of the corpse tactic the other day started to disy its result . The imperial soldiers, who touched the corpses, began coughing and sneezing . Over a thousand of them had a fever, but none of them rested as they thought that it was a simple cold because of the weather .

    The Imperial Army was not the only one who suffered from the bioweapon, Tong Army also took a blow from it as they also came into contact with the rotten corpses .

    Fortunately, he had sent messages to Hua Shi since the day he ordered the civilians executed . Because she had not been affected by the major nerf yet, she created over 100,000 anti-biotic tablets with her [Medical Gift] and sent them to Liyang City with the supply convoys .

    The convoys arrived yesterday, which was a life saver for Tong and his men . They might not bepletely cured of the infection yet, but they should fare better than Zhu Jun¡¯s men who took the blunt without a medicine .

    . . .

    Meanwhile, Tong got annoyed by Zhu Jun¡¯s idleness as he could have built another stone and mud wall if he had spent these four days minecrafting . Because of Tong¡¯s wariness of Zhu Jun, he monitored his radar map all day for the past few days without blinking his eyes .

    ¡¯He¡¯s collecting more woods again . What is he thinking?¡¯

    While Tong was confused by Zhu Jun¡¯s action, Xu Huang came in to report .

    "Sir, a messenger from Ye City hase to deliver you a letter . He said it was from Jia Xu . "

    Xu Huang passed Tong the letter . He read it right away .

    [This is Jia Xu . I¡¯ve learned about the results of your tactic and your current situation . I can only say, not too shabby for sir [Immortal] .

    Killing everyone in Liyang is good . It doesn¡¯t matter if your reputation (if you have any) gets worsened because of the ughtering . Securing a strategic location is more important .

    The retreat of Dong Zhuo is expected . About the deal you did with him, I¡¯ve already told Ju Shou what to do even before he left, so you don¡¯t have to worry about it .

    Unfortunately, I¡¯m not sending you this letter to kiss your butt . You¡¯ve made one mistake .

    You¡¯re not supposed to block Zhu Jun¡¯s advancement alongside the river . You must withdraw to Liyang City when you can right now! From the looks of it, Zhu Jun ns tounch an all-out assault on your troops the moment hepleted his bridges!

    Get your ass back into the city when you can, or the moment you read this letter!

    Remember, if you show up in Ye City again with your sorry ass and tell me you lost 55,000 men because you didn¡¯t listen to me, I¡¯ll quit my job!]

    A smiling face of Tong darkened, and ck lines appeared on his face . Jia Xu¡¯s tone was always insulting and crude . His savagery was also unnecessary on the part he mentioned about Tong¡¯s reputation .

    ¡¯I¡¯m wondering what will happen if he¡¯s my father . Will he scold me to death?¡¯

    ¡¯But why did he want me to retreat? We have the advantage position . ¡¯

    ¡¯The weather is getting colder each day . I can camp here and freeze the enemies to death . I won¡¯t even surprise if the river suddenly turns into ice . When it snows, I bet it should be Zhu Jun who will lose his patience ... wait . ¡¯

    ¡¯Ice river?¡¯

    ¡¯ . . . ¡¯

    ¡¯FUDGE!¡¯

    Tong connected Jia Xu¡¯s advice with Zhu Jun¡¯s recent actions . The pieces of puzzles were put together, and he gained enlightenment . Tong knew what Zhu Jun was aiming for now .

    He overlooked one fact about the temperature . It would not be surprising if the Yellow River were frozen in the winter . Zhu Jun was waiting for the river to freeze, so his men could use this chance to sneak onto the other side of the river from any location .

    Furthermore, the wooden nks, sleds, and rafts Zhu Jun¡¯s men had made would be bridges for his soldiers to cross the river .

    Zhu Jun made rafts and collected woods for a reason . Had the river frozen and Zhu Jun deployed the rafts and other wooden crafts to make bridges, Tong army would have been forced to fight an all-out war with Zhu Jun in an open field!

    Besides, with the entirerge scale of the battlefield, Tong could notmand all his toons as he did with his 5,000 cavalries . Many of Tong¡¯s men would have to improvise against these elites, which Tong¡¯s subordinates would lose .

    ¡¯Then what if I use the boiling oil when they cross the river?¡¯

    Tong facepalmed . The idea was bad .

    Tong might be able to kill some of Zhu Jun¡¯s troops with this method . s, he was the only one who could spray the oil from his inventory to the attacking soldiers . If he distributed the boiling oil to his soldiers, they could not ssh at the iing enemies as none of them could lift the heavy burning pots and ssh its content onto the Imperial soldiers . Thus, there would be parts of the battlefields which his power could not reach, and the soldiers had to rely on their skills .

    This n guaranteed heavy casualties on both sides . It was a gamble that Tong did not want to take .

    The fire arrows would not lit these woods easily as the weather was humid and cold . Had Tong dissolved the frozen river with his boiled oil, the river still would not have caught fire . The wooden rafts and bridges would have been soaked with hot water, yet they would not burn .

    ¡¯But what if I boil the river before they cross so that I can ignite the fire?¡¯

    Tong smacked his forehead again . It was still a bad idea . Since the wind still blew southwest, the hot vapor would benefit Zhu Jun¡¯s men instead . Even if the bridge n were to fail, they would not mind staying there until February . More warlords from other provinces would start deploying at this month and would attack Tong¡¯s cities while he was busy with Zhu Jun .

    It turned out that it was Tong who was running out of times .

    ¡¯I forgot another thing . Jia Xu said to annihte the Imperial force, not dragging this war . I¡¯ve misinterpreted it!¡¯

    ¡¯I have to finish this fight soon . ¡¯

 Chapter 185

    Chapter 185

    Chapter 185 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 15

    Tong snapped out of his thought and looked at Xu Huang .

    "Go and tell everyone . Prepare to retreat to Liyang City . They should begin retreating tonight . As for the weaponry, I¡¯ll transport them to the city myself . "

    Xu Huang looked at Tong in confusion . They had the advantage here, why would his lord order a retreat?

    "I know what you¡¯re thinking . Do what I said . "

    "Y-Yes, sir!"

    . . .

    That night, Tong¡¯s troops withdrew back to garrison inside Liyang City . Tong took the duty as the cleaner as he stored all weaponry into his [Inventory], such as catapults, ballistae, trebuchets, spike barricades, and ammunition .

    The retreat decision made the soldiers questioned Tong¡¯s judgment as they had the advantage on the battlefield, yet Tong went against it .

    "Is ourmander inept?"

    "We had the better ground, right?"

    Xu Huang kept his mouth shut . He did not gossip with his friends as the others did . However, because of his position as Tong¡¯s personal messenger, his friends bothered him a lot .

    "Do you know anything?"

    "You were with him all the time . Has he discovered something?"

    Xu Huang was helpless . After an hour of nonstop interrogating from his friends, he blurted out by ident .

    "There¡¯s a messenger from Ye City . The Lord read the letter and ordered the retreat after that . "

    The leaked intel spread throughout the footmen in an instant . More gossips and rumors also appeared .

    "Something happens in Ye City . The Lord might order a full retreat . "

    "Someone attacked Ye City, so the Lord ns a retreat . "

    Many false rumors also appeared, which caught the ears of Tong in the same night which he ordered the retreat . Tong shook his head as he was amazed by the imagination of his men .

    ¡¯Managing a real army is more difficult than I thought . Just one slip, the morale of my troops sinks to the ground again . ¡¯

    ¡¯But it¡¯s fine this way . Once all of them crossed the river, I can use that grease fire tactic without worries . ¡¯

    Tong did not dare to use the grease fire tactic he did with Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun camp during their first encounter . The me and the impact of grease fire might cause another forest fire and spread southward toward Puyang region . He did not want to implicate the ordinary citizens or peasants because of this battle again .

    However, if Zhu Jun moved his camp to the north bank, Tong could burn everything on the northern shore at his heart content as the me would not spread to the other side of the river .

    ...

    ...

    October 21st .

    Zhu Jun woke up with a burning fever . He had diarrhea a couple of days ago because his men identally reced his water jar with raw water from the river, and he began having a fever since then . His body was sluggish as he could not force himself to get up from his bed . Thus, he decided to rest .

    His peaceful rest did notst long . A messenger rushed into his tent to give Zhu Jun an urgent report .

    "Report! There¡¯s a movement on the opposite shore! The enemies have retreated!"

    "What!?"

    Zhu Jun sat up in disbelieved . The enemies had the advantage location . Why did they retreat?

    "Have they gone yet?" Asked Zhu Jun .

    "Yes, my lord . They seemed to have retreatedst night . "

    Zhu Jun rushed out of his tent to the frontline . He could not believe this news until he saw it with his own eyes .

    When he got to the riverside, he was stunned . All barricades, weaponry, gs, and all trace about the rebel army disappeared like a dream .

    Zhu Jun¡¯s heart was beating three times a second because of the excitement . The enemies had made a major mistake!

    Before Zhu Jun could open his mouth and gave his order to cross the river, he recalled the defeat he had the other day . His brain and his logic, which Zhu Jun gave up, came back . He suspected that this might also be a ploy of the rebels .

    "Send a thousand men *Cough* to the other side! Scout the areas and report back to me when it¡¯s done! *Cough*"

    ...

    Later that day .

    The one thousand scouts surveyed the areas and returned with the reports . The rebels indeed withdrew back to Liyang City .

    Zhu Jun was delighted, yet puzzled . He still could note up with a theory why his enemies returned to the city . Then he thought about Liu Ping Army .

    ¡¯Could it be that ... Liu Ping changed his destination from Julu to Ye City?¡¯

    ¡¯There¡¯s a road from Shangdang to Ye . It is possible! If Liu Ping shows up at the border of Ye City, it¡¯s obvious that this army has to return to defend the city!¡¯

    The general clenched his fists . The time for the revenge was nigh .

    "All troops! We cross the river today!"

    ...

    ...

    October 22nd . Liyang City .

    8 AM .

    Tong watched his radar map in a bitter mood . He did his best to guard the river for half a month, but he had to retreat because he did not want to gamble in an all-out fight with Zhu Jun . Furthermore, Zhu Jun¡¯s cautiousness gave Tong a headache .

    The reports from his scouts said it all . Zhu Jun had built several wide bridges, made of a thousand wooden rafts connected together .

    The bridges still connected both sides of the river as Zhu Jun did not move his camp onto the northern bank . The only thing he did on this side was a fortification of a dozen outposts . The majority of his men crossed the river, but they could retreat to the other side any time they wanted to .

    Zhu Jun learned his lesson . He did not want to be raided at night by a fire attack again . Therefore, he kept his camps at their original location . Set up several outposts on this shoreline as checkpoints to ward off skirmishers .

    ¡¯Smart . ¡¯ Tong praised Zhu Jun in his mind . ¡¯But you also gave me many days . I have more boiling oil to spray on all of you!¡¯

    Tong abused the system again .

    The system goddess said he could not cast [Create Food] as a weapon to kill the natives directly . However, she did not tell Tong that he could not kill the locals with his [Inventory] .

    Tong had also tested this loophole of Lilith¡¯s words with Zhu Jun¡¯s men on the day that Tong flushed the Imperial troops down the river . With this loophole, Tong decided to use [Create Food] to stock the boiling cooking grease in his [Inventory] for future use .

    Furthermore, the barricades around the outer wall were more condensed . The spike fences were transported to the outer wall and were ced around the city . The catapults and other weaponry had been installed on the top of the wall and behind the wall .

    In addition, Tong dug a line of a moat around the city using his Minecraft [Inventory] style . The stones and mud from the excavated soils were ced on top of the wall as extra boulders from his men to use .

    Lastly, Tong had another trump card he had never used, but it would be the most effective "Sorcery" that he could use to crush Zhu Jun in this siege battle .

    He averted his eyes from the radar map to amp in front of him .

    ¡¯It¡¯s getting colder every day, so I¡¯ll do you a favor . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll warm you to death!¡¯

    ...

    Meanwhile, Zhu Jun got several reports, said that his men got a high fever recently . Some of them had severe diarrhea and vomiting . A few of them had red dots under their skins .

    The general himself also had red dots "rash" all over his body . Because he did not feel any itch or pain from the rash, Zhu Jun ignored it . He only drank herbal tea and chew wild herbs to ease his fever .

    Because of the spreading sickness in the camp, the Imperial Army to take it easy and rested . They took another three days to craft more siege weapons, siege towers, and siegedders .

    . . .

    October 25th .

    The preparation was ready, and Zhu Jun¡¯s fever got better today . He ordered the troops toy siege on Liyang City today .

    Hundreds of siege towers and weaponry were pushed forward . The one hundred thousand men slowly surround the city from three directions, south, east, and west .

    They left the north gate alone as Zhu Jun did not mind if Tong were to flee the city to the north . As long as he pushed the rebel army back to Ye City, he couldplete his primary objective . However, if he could kill the rebel leader, it would be better .

    Moreover, Zhu Jun yed another mind game by using Sun Tzu¡¯s tactic . There was a saying in Sun Tzu¡¯s record text, "When you surround an army, leave an outlet free . Do not press a desperate foe too hard . "

    He was afraid that if he were to push to rebel army to a corner, they would fight against his army to the death and would cause more casualties . However, if he left an opening, it would feed the rebel soldiers a thought that they could leave this army or abandon their posts to save their skins .

    The Imperial first detached force of 35,000 men moved to the east, while the other 35,000 men moved to the west . Zhu Jun took charge sieging the south gate with the remaining 43,000 men .

    On top of the Liyang City walls, Tong and his 15,000 men stationed at the south gate . Xu Huang, who was forced into the assistantmander position, was in charge of the east gate with 20,000 men . As for the west, a no-name assistantmander took 20,000 men to protect the wall .

    The general gazed toward the gate and the barricades in solemn .

    There was obstruction everywhere . There was a line of the moat on the front of all barricade lines, which blocked the path of Zhu Jun¡¯s siegedders and siege towers .

    ¡¯It won¡¯t be easy . But it won¡¯t be too hard . I¡¯ve dealt with these types of barricades before, so nothing to worry about . ¡¯ Zhu Jun thought .

    ...

    Noon .

    The preparation on Zhu Jun¡¯s side waspleted . Siege towers and siegedders were in ce .

    The siegedders were a tower of protecteddders . The soldiers could climb thedder safely from the inside . The top of the siegedders was a mechanicrge wooden nk that couldtch onto the top of the wall to create a bridge for the soldiers inside the tower to go through .

    The siege towers worked differently . They were high towers for archer units so that they could shoot down the troops on top of the wall .

    Zhu Jun¡¯s knowledge and experience were much more superior to all generals that Tong had fought in the past .

    "Blow the horns . Signal the assault . "

    Zhu Jun did not bother sending a messenger, rally his troops, or trying to taunt the enemy¡¯s general . A rare chance to fight back had appeared, and he wanted to grasp it .

    First lines of five thousand shield bearers moved forward with their shields cover their front . Before the shieldsmen, several wagons with soils were pushed forward as they had to cover the trenches and the moat .

 Chapter 186

    Chapter 186

    Chapter 186 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 16

    Tong watched the iing troops from the top of the wall . The moment the attackers reached the line of 400 meters from the wall, Tong also gave his order .

    "Catapult and ballista units, fire at will!"

    All catapults and ballistae on the wallunched their stones, which scattered in mid-air and crashed onto the iing shield bearers on the frontline .

    The stones kill hundreds of shield soldiers in an instant as they crushed their skulls and other parts of their bodies . The hail of stones did not stop the soldiers from moving forward .

    They pushed the wagons of soil forward and reached the moat line . Without waiting for an order, they dump the soil into the moat to fill it up . A hundred wagons lined up and made a path for their siegedders and towers .

    Tong watched their actions and took notes of their way of fighting in siege warfare .

    ¡¯A shallow line of moat won¡¯t cut it . The trenches in Anping County were much better . ¡¯

    He allowed Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers to move forward although he could have flooded the boiling oil in the moat and ignite it again like he used to . Tong wanted to crush them here instead of buying times, so he required Zhu Jun forces to move forward into his range .

    With the moat partly covered enough for the siege towers and siegedders to pass through, Zhu Jun ordered the shieldsmen to move forward to get rid of the spike barricades .

    At this point, they were already 300 meters from the wall .

    "Switch the stones to oil barrels!" Tong ordered the catapult crews .

    Within a minute, the crews¡¯ strong men loaded a 50-liter-barrel onto each catapult spoon .

    "Fire at will . "

    Hundreds of barrels flew into the sky andnded on the ground, sttering the content inside the containers .

    Slimy and sticky ck liquid revealed itself in front of Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers .

    "Lamb oil!" One of the soldiers shouted .

    "Careful! Stay away from it!"

    The shieldsmen of Zhu Jun avoided these ck liquid like the gue as they knew what they were . In their knowledge, they weremb oil which wasmonly used in daily lives, and they knew that this oil could catch fire with a simple ignition or a spark .

    Thismb oil was a luxurious item that only nobles and militarymanders used because they were a raremodity . In this era, the Chineses had already found these ck oil from digging over 200 meters into the ground . Because they did not have the scientific knowledge, they could only use it asmp oil .

    However, in Tong¡¯s terms and his previous life knowledge, they were not justmb oil .

    They were the crude oil!

    Tong used his [Create Food] by thinking of a food ingredient which was made by using petroleum products . Instead of creating the artificial food dyes which synthesized from the petroleum products, Tong created its original source, the crude oil .

    The crude oil Tong threw at the Imperial soldiers contained many mixed substances, which was easily mmable .

    In the modern world, petroleum products, which derived from crude oil, were everywhere in the people¡¯s daily life . Aside from fuel, diesel, wax, and gas, there were products that could shock every citizen of the 21st century if they knew about it .

    stics, aspirin, vitamin capsules, lipsticks, artificial food color dyes, trash bags, paints, and over thousands of products were the byproducts of petroleum .

    Tong remembered that when he was a child, there was an uproar about the ban of several colors of artificial food dye as some of them could potentially cause cancer . The researchers revealed that these products were harmful to human bodies as they had substances from crude oil . He also remembered that he ate a few sugar snacks which were dyed with one of those petroleum byproducts .

    ¡¯At least, I didn¡¯t die from cancer . ¡¯ Tong thought .

    ...

    Zhu Jun observed Tong¡¯s tactic from the top of his watchtower . His facial expression turned ugly once he saw the crude oil .

    ¡¯Their general is ying with fire again! My siege weapons are vulnerable against these things . ¡¯

    ¡¯I heard he¡¯s a sorcerer . In the end, it¡¯s just a petty trick!¡¯

    "Cover the oil with the dirt and sand! Keep moving forward!"

    Zhu Jun roared to give morale to the frontline troops .

    Unfortunately, he coughed and staggered from the dizziness after the shout . His breathing was fast and rough as he could not get enough air to his lung . The fever did not go away . It returned to hamper his health, and it gave him a severe head pain . His felt everything was so cold that he was frozen despite having warm animal fur clothes wrapping around him . The stomach also twisted and turned as if he had a stomach ulcer . Zhu Jun felt like dying at any moment .

    "General!"

    The aides and the officers supported him in frantic . They thought that Zhu Jun was still sick .

    *Cough*

    Zhu Jun¡¯s condition worsened . His cough did not stop for a whole minute . When he stopped coughing, his face was already as paled as a white sheet, yet rashes of red dots still appeared on his face and skin .

    "General!"

    The old general sighed . Because the unknown sickness was tormenting him, he mustered his strength to his men another order .

    "Don¡¯t charge in recklessly . Slowly move in and clear the paths for the siege weapons . You don¡¯t have to clear all the barricades . Make a few paths for the siege engines so that we can get on top of the wall . "

    The soldiers were the verge of tears . They thought that this was Zhu Jun¡¯s final will .

    The reality was also as the lieutenants thought . Zhu Jun was suffering from sepsis, and his condition was critical .

    "We promise you, general! We will kill the rebels!"

    "We¡¯ll kill the rebels for you and Lord Huangfu Song!"

    Zhu Jun nodded and smiled . He was escorted back to the main camp on the other side of the river to get a good rest . He left themand tokens to his aides and lieutenants toplete his unfinished tasks .

    The main camp was thrown into an uproar the moment they realized the general was taken back to the camp . However, the officers aroused their men .

    "The general gave hisst will! Clear the paths for the siege weapons and kill the rebels!"

    The heart of Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers shook . Some panicked, some angered . They panicked because they lost both of their suprememanders . They angered as they respect the two generals like they were their fathers .

    The 43,000 main army troops shouted a warcry . The officers then decided to be aggressive .

    "Ignore themb oil! Push the siege weapons forward!"

    ...

    Tong watched the reaction of Zhu Jun¡¯s troops with a deep frown .

    There was amotion happening for ten minutes inside Zhu Jun¡¯s main camp . Tong could not see what had happened in there, but it looked very chaotic .

    ¡¯Something is not right . This tactic is not Zhu Jun¡¯s style . ¡¯

    He intentionally revealed his card to intimidate Zhu Jun and force him to approach the wall slowly . He thought that once Zhu Jun knew he had the crude oil, he would have avoided pushing the siege weapons into the catapult range in today¡¯s siege . Then, he would have sent cannon fodders to clear out the barricades first .

    If such a scenario happened, Tong could wither down the Imperial force¡¯s number by picking off the cannon fodders .

    However, the reality was cruel . The Imperial soldiers ignored Tong¡¯s warning and pushed the siege weapons forward .

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know if they are dumb, or they are impatience . ¡¯

    ¡¯It doesn¡¯t matter . They will die either way . ¡¯

    Tong turned to look at his officers beside him .

    "Aim the catapults and ballistae at those siegedders and archer towers . For the towers of archers, use the stones to break their foundation . Use the ck oil at the siegedders . Get a squad of archers to shoot fire arrows at the oiled location . Destroy all of them!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    The officers ryed Tong¡¯s orders with gs . In a minute, all catapults began shooting barrels of crude oil and stones at the iing siege towers and siegedders .

    On each archer tower, a hundred of Zhu Jun¡¯s archers stationed on top of it . All tower was 7 meters tall, which was higher than the Liyang City wall . They looked at the wall of Liyang in nervousness as they were afraid of the catapults and the stones .

    It did not take long for a barrage of stones to fly at one of them . The rocks did not hit the soldiers on top of the tower . They mmed into the wooden pirs and cracked the foundation . The tower copsed along with the archers on top of it, killing everyone with the gravity of earth .

    The siegedders did not fare so well either . The square walls that protected the soldiers inside were hit by barrels of crude oil, and several fire arrows hit the protective wallster . Thebination of crude oil and fire set the siegedder ame in a second, roasting the hundreds of soldiers inside thedder tforms .

    The shield bearers on the frontlines began to push harder . They used the corpses of their friends as shields to cover themselves . Once they got to the spike barricades, they destroyed them and made a path for the siege engines . The moment they let go of their hands off their shields and dealt with the obstacles, a dozen arrows from the wall flew pierced them as if they were waiting for the chance .

    Despite the attempt to rush to the wall and clear the path, more obstacles kept piling up for the Imperial soldiers as the corpses and the remains of the broken siege engines eventually got on the way .

    Everything was going to Tong¡¯s favor, which made Tong tiled his head in doubt .

    "Is it supposed to be this easy?"

    Thirty minutester, Tong¡¯s jinx became super effective . Ten of fifty archer towers got to their range . The archers on top of the towers started firing and Tong¡¯s men .

    "Catapults! Forget the siegedders and aim at those towers!" Tong shouted again .

    His order was a bitte . The Imperial soldiers managed to fire a volley at the soldiers on top of the wall, killing several hundreds of Tong¡¯s archers .

    Fortunately, there were only ten towers and one thousand enemy archers . Or else, Tong¡¯s 15,000 men would have been in trouble . It took two more sets of catapult barrages to destroy the towers .

    However, Tong still could not be at ease . Five of the one hundred siegedders managed to slip through the heavy barrages of fire arrows and crude oil attacks . They got into 50 meters range of the wall, and they were too close for the catapults to toss oil barrels at them .

    The archers attempted to light the siege engines with their fire arrows . They managed to make them catch fire, but the me was weak, and it did not stop their advancement .

    Tong turned to look at the approaching siegedders . Two of the siegedders was the far left and three were on the far right .

    "I¡¯ll help the right wall . Everyone else with free hands, defend the left!"

    As soon as Tong finished his words, he overclocked his brain and rushed toward the three iing towers . Tong jumped on top of one of the archers and started running by stepping on the helmets of his soldiers as the top of the wall was crowded with his men without a ce to run .

    By the time Tong reached the first iing siege engine¡¯s destination, all siegedders hadtched the wooden bridges on top of the wall .

    Imperial soldiers finally got their opportunity to strike back . A wave of dozens Zhu Jun¡¯s men leaped on the wall and killed the garrison soldiers .

 Chapter 187

    Chapter 187

    Chapter 187 ¨C Battle of Liyang - Part 17

    ¡¯I can¡¯t waste time with the sword fight . I have to be efficient . ¡¯

    Tong pulled out his pistol and pointed at the iing Imperial soldiers .

    *BANG* *BANG*

    Two chargers were shot and copsed, but the iing soldiers did not stop . There were thousands of soldiers lined up below the siegedders . As long as thedders connected to the top of the wall, Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers below could continue flooding the wall with numbers .

    His free left hand dipped into his [Inventory] and took out a wine jar . He threw the wine jar at the wooden tower in front of him .

    "Light the fire at the soaked location! Hurry!" Shouted by Tong .

    One of the archers reacted first and shot a fire arrow at the wet wood . The fire ignited and burnt the outer wall of thedder tower .

    Like ants running away from the broken ant nest, the soldiers inside the siegedder jumped off the tower to escape from the sudden fire .

    ¡¯One down, four remains . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯m too slow . I have to be faster!¡¯

    He observed the surrounding situation . Zhu Jun¡¯s force did not only rely on the siegedders, but they also brought ordinary bamboodders for this siege . Some of thetched the bamboodders on the wall and started climbing .

    The garrison soldiers on the wall also knew their duties . They poured hot oil and boulders onto the climbing imperial soldiers .

    Tong rushed to the other two siege towers . After a minute of the lighted-feet-dashing-on-top-of-his-men, Tong already reached the chaotic scene near the second tower .

    Five burly Imperial soldiers swung their maces, sending the garrison soldiers flying off the wall . These men were paving the ways for the invading troops .

    "I spot the general! He¡¯s over there!" One of the burly men shouted .

    *BANG*

    Tong did not bother being intimidated or wasting his times introducing himself . He put a bullet into the burly man¡¯s head without hesitation .

    *BANG* *BANG*

    *BANG* *BANG*

    Four more shots dropped the two-meter-tall men down .

    The imperial soldiers who followed behind these men looked at Tong in shock . Before they got back to his sense, Tong sttered liquid substance from his [Inventory] at them with his left hand .

    They were the boiling oil .

    "ARGH!"

    "AAHH!"

    The attackers lost their momentum with a single oil sshing . The defenders stabbed their spears, killing the Imperial men on the wall using this chance .

    Tong took a spared ive from his inventory with his left hand and swung it horizontally, sending more Imperial soldiers flying off the wall . The de part shed those who were unlucky, cutting them in half .

    One hand was shooting his pistol at a potential threat, while the other hand swept away the trashes . Tong took the role of a spearhead and led the garrison troops to gain ground .

    After a few sweeps, Tong cleared the attacking troops on this sector and reached the tower . He let go of his ive and opened his left palm at the soldiers who were still queued on the tower . Another boiling oil mmed at these men .

    "Throw the wine and a torch! Burn them!"

    Tong ordered and moved toward the other tower, leaving the clean up to his men as they had stolen back their momentum . In three seconds after Tong left them, the fire ignited and burnt the troops inside .

    ¡¯Three to go!¡¯

    Tong decided to not running on top of his men¡¯s helmets . He leaped onto the tooth battlements on the outer edge of the wall and started running .

    Because Tong stood out when the Imperial troops looked up from the lower ground, the archers below attempted to shoot Tong . Arrows flew at the locations he was previously . Two of them managed to touch his shoulder armor te and ricochet off to the other direction .

    In another minute, Tong reached another chaotic frontline on the wall . The Imperial troops had the upper hand and stabilizing a foothold for the following soldiers .

    One of Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers saw Tonging toward them on the battlements . He swung his spear to the side, nning to make Tong lose his bnce and fell off the wall .

    Tong¡¯s overclocked mode was still active . He kicked the edge of the wall and leaped forward . The spear strike hit the air .

    The soldier turned around to look at Tong if he fell down the wall . However, Tong did not fall . He leaped over to the air at the direction of the tower, but the angle was off to the outer side of the wall .

    From the imperial spearman perspective, the guy just now jumped to his death .

    However, from Tong¡¯s point of view, he managed to leap over the unnecessary obstacles . In a second, Tong¡¯s flying body reached the side of the siegedder, but his altitude was about to decrease . His leap power reached its ending momentum, and Tong was about to fall to earth from the physicws .

    ¡¯Eep, I fOOked up . ¡¯

    ¡¯Screw it . I can climb it back up . ¡¯

    Tong tossed his pistol back in his inventory and took out a knife from his waist . He stabbed it into the tower side wooden protection, which the knife embedded into the tower . Tong exerted his strength to clench onto the knife handle . He managed to stabilize himself by hanging onto the handle of the knife, and tried to lift his body and climbed the siege engine upward .

    "There¡¯s a guy on the side of the tower! Kill him!"

    The Imperial soldiers on the ground shouted as they spotted Tong . The soldiers inside the siegedder also heard the voice . They took a peek through the crack and saw a climbing man .

    "There¡¯s a rebel over here! Give me a spear!"

    Men in the siegedder thrust their spears at Tong¡¯s direction . The spears prated the protection nks to the outside .

    Tong sensed dangering at the direction of his belly . He used all his power with his hands and fingers to propel himself up in the air again .

    He seeded, and his entire body moved up a storey . The spears missed .

    By the sudden leap, Tong extended his hands and grabbed onto the ledge of the tower . As long as he managed to pull himself upward again, he would return to the top of the wall .

    ¡¯Ho Lee Shet Damn! I thought I¡¯d die for a second . ¡¯ Tong breathed a sigh of relief .

    *FOOM*

    Tong heard an explosion from the other side of the siegedder, and a smell of burning crude oil caught his nose .

    The soldiers on the wall managed to regain the wall spaces . A strong man in Tong¡¯s army tossed a jar of crude oil at the tower and followed up with a torch .

    The fire ignited on the other side and spread to the other parts quickly, yet the garrison soldiers did not stop throwing wine jars or boiling oil barrels at the tower .

    ¡¯Damn it! Choose the time to be efficient, my soldiers!¡¯

    Tong wanted to curse out loud, but no voice came out of his mouth . The fire spread to his location so fast that he did not have a chance toin .

    Not wanting to get himself cooked by the iing fire, Tong kicked the wall of the siegedder and leaped to the wall . He managed to grasp the edge of the city wall with his right hand, and the wooden siege engine was engulfed in me .

    ¡¯Please don¡¯t let me do a Hollywood stunt too often . I will have a heart attack . ¡¯

    Tong prayed in his mind while he was watching the copsing siegedder .

    ¡¯Two more, and the south side should be safe . ¡¯

    He lifted himself to get back on top of the wall . When he lifted his body, and his head got onto the top wall level, Tong saw a fight scene .

    His soldiers were fighting well . They killed Zhu Jun¡¯s men one after another, which delighted the hanging onlooker .

    As Tong was admiring the performance of his men, a burly soldier of Tong lifted an injured Imperial soldier and threw him down the wall .

    identally, he threw the soldier at the direction that Tong had just got himself up .

    Unprepared, the torso of the thrown soldier mmed onto Tong¡¯s face, making his hand slipped off the edge of the wall .

    ¡¯GODDAMMIT! I SHOULD HAVE LEFT THIS SIDE TO DEATH!¡¯ The frustration of Tong reached its peak .

    There was no medicine for regret . Tong fell with the thrown Imperial soldier .

    He had to do something before his body hit the ground, or he would die from the gravity impact .

    ¡¯Let me borrow your body a bit . ¡¯

    Tong grabbed a hold onto the imperial soldier in mid-air and put his body under him as a cushion .

    Next second, both of them crashed onto the ground . The soldier¡¯s spine and bones were crushed by the sandwich impact, while Tong dislocated his shoulder and cracked his cor bones as hended shoulder-first . The cushion Tong used still wore an iron armor after all .

    Tong did not have the time to celebrate his sessfulnding . He dropped down into the enemy¡¯s territory . Thousands of Imperial soldiers were everywhere around him .

    One of the Imperial soldiers rushed to the location of the fall as he was only a few meters away from the spot . Seeing that Tong was still alive, he thrust his spear forward .

    ¡¯FOOk you!¡¯

    Tong rolled to the side and cast "Regen" on himself, healing the broken bones . He took out his gun and fired .

    *BANG*

    The bullet went through the right eye socket of the attacking soldier, killing him in an instant .

    The sound of gunshot caught the attention of the surrounding soldiers . All eyes were on Tong . Soldiers who were queuing to climb bamboodders noticed Tong¡¯s uniform . It was an armor set of a general .

    "ENEMY GENERAL!" He shouted and pointed at Tong .

    ¡¯Crap! Screw it! FOOk it! NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!¡¯

    In a panic, Tong pointed his palm at the iing thousand men of Zhu Jun . He released the boiling oil from his palm hose .

    *ZAAA*

    "AARRRGGH!"

    The crowd was sshed with the boiling grease, deep-frying them alive .

    Tong had to move his palm around to adjust to the direction of the closest soldiers to ward them away . For five minutes, it became a deadlock as Tong could not move away from this location and the Imperial soldiers could not get close to Tong .

    The soldiers on the wall already noticed the odd situation . The archers shot down arrows from the wall to provide Tong supports . Some of them shouted to get a rope . Some of them tried to clear the soldiers on the bamboodders so that Tong could climb back up .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t escape like this . I have to cut a path . ¡¯

    Seeing the stalemate, Tong pointed his gun forward and started shooting at the direction nearby a bamboodder .

    After a few shots, Tong emptied his clip . He reloaded the clip and pointed his gun at the direction of his nearest bamboodder again . He also changed from pointing his left palm forward into pointing his left index finger .

    A long void gate appeared out of nowhere in the direction that Tong pointed at . More boiling oil came out from the gate . Another sh flood of hot grease engulfed the Imperial soldiers .

    Meanwhile, the Imperial soldiers who did not affect by the sh flood started throwing spears and shooting arrows at Tong .

    The overclock mode was still active, and Tong sensed the iing attacks from his back and his side . He sidestepped, backstepped, and danced through the iing projectiles while he kept shooting at thedder direction .

    "Annoying! Get lost!"

 Chapter 188

    Chapter 188

    Chapter 188 ¨C Liu Biao at the West Gate

    The left finger pointed at the archers and javelin throwers¡¯ location . Another hot oil sh flood struck the lines of soldiers .

    A soldier, who was thest person climbing Tong¡¯s target bamboodder, looked back to see what had happened behind him . Once he realized that an enemy general was stranded alone below the wall, he had an inspiration .

    Instead of continuing climbing, the Imperial soldier drew his sword from the back and shed at the bamboodder, cutting it in half . His friends who were on top of thedder also fell to death as a consequence of his action, yet the soldier thought it was worth it if he sacrificed his friends to cut off an escape route of the enemy general .

    With this, their death would not be in vain!

    Tong also saw the soldier¡¯s action . He put a bullet into his head to vent his anger .

    *BANG*

    "Son of a $%@&!"

    With the nearestdder broken, Tong had no ce to go as Zhu Jun¡¯s men surrounded him .

    He already used his regen skill, so every injury he sustained wouldst until the end of the day . It was possible that Tong might get killed today .

    He was angry, yet he was calm . On the contrary to the crisis, Tong¡¯s face was tranquil . The sight of the invading troops of Zhu Jun in front of Tong somehow soothed his mind .

    ¡¯I must be crazy . Why am I find it rxing from seeing so many enemies?¡¯

    <your [????????]="" has="" 10 . 19%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯Oh, you¡¯re the eight-question-mark . Wasn¡¯t you 11 . 19% before?¡¯

    ¡¯Maybe, because I admit I¡¯m insane? Are you perhaps my [Insanity]?¡¯

    Tongughed to himself . He thought he probably had gone crazy .

    ¡¯I¡¯m already fOOked anyway . What¡¯s the point of me for deceiving myself? I¡¯m a lunatic! I¡¯m a chunnibyou policeman! I¡¯m an idiot mofo crazy bastard that enjoys killing humans like Ping! I¡¯m a war junkie! I¡¯m an avenging-craving-psychopath who kills Ping for millions of times to kill my boredom! As a matter of fact, I enjoy killing these fools, too!¡¯

    <your [insanity]="" has="" 9 . 19%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯Are you serious?¡¯

    ¡¯Just because I admit it wholeheartedly, it has gone down!?¡¯

    Because Tong embraced his craziness, the [Sin] revealed itself to Tong without Lilith¡¯s interference . Besides, the percentage dropped in an instant .

    While Tong was baffled by the system messages, Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers attempted to charge at Tong again .

    Seeing the iing soldiers that ignored the hot swamp of oil on the ground, Tong cackled again .

    "Well, if you like it when I admit I¡¯m crazy, then let¡¯s go wild!"

    Instead of turning back to climb the wall or looking for a nearbydder, Tong took out another ive onto his left hand . His right hand which still held the pistol pointed toward the dense pack of the crowd .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Tong felt like he was shooting down charging zombies instead of humans . The reckless charging soldiers were shot down one by one, a bullet to the head for each soldier .

    At this moment, most of the ground in the radius of 500 meters around Tong turned into a hot pan surface . The ground temperature was over a hundred degrees Celsius by the consecutive hot oil flooding .

    The ground was still wet, and the soft soil turned into a swamp . Vapor and white smoke came out from the field, indicating that the muddy, murky ground could cook anyone who stepped on it .

    The charging soldiers were not aware of this fact . They stepped on the burning ground with their iron boots . The iron carried the temperature upward to the flesh of the soldiers¡¯ feet, and the fume of 100 degrees Celsius steamed them alive .

    The sudden burning pain from their feet made the charging soldiers shouted and screamed .

    "Wait! Go back!"

    "Don¡¯t push! Retreat!"

    "There¡¯s a trap on the ground!"

    "Stop!"

    The front soldiers who stepped onto the burning ground tried to tell theirrades on the back to withdraw, but the ignorant men from the back shoved and pushed the front soldiers forward . The front troops had two destinies, falling onto the ground by their friends, or getting shot by Tong¡¯s bullets .

    The chaotic charged turned into a chain reaction . The pushing soldiers were burnt by the hot steam and shouted the same words to the troops behind . The forces from the back also pushed the soldiers on the front forward, killing them indirectly .

    Tong did not pay attention to themotion . He was absentminded as he only paid attention to the closest iing soldiers .

    Several cooked or steamed soldiers ignored the burning pain and reached Tong . By the time they reached him, their bodies and their skins revealed either ck skins or red skins with blood vessels underneath the outer skins . They looked more like zombies than humans .

    ¡¯They are really zombies . ¡¯ Tong thought as he swung his ive and severe their torsos .

    It took Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers ten minutes to be aware of the hot swamp . By the time they realized it, over 2,000 men were killed by the hot steam or from Tong¡¯s hands .

    Tong also did not fare very well because he also felt the heat from the air and the environment . His skins had already reddened by the steam .

    "General! Take the rope!"

    The voice from his men on top of the wall snapped Tong from his trance . He looked back and saw a makeshift rope made of tied clothes .

    ¡¯They improvised well . ¡¯

    Tong grabbed the cloth-rope and climbed, leaving the vexing Zhu Jun¡¯s soldiers behind as none of them had stopped pursuing him .

    He managed to get up on top of the wall in peace this time . As soon as Tong crossed over the battlements, three messengers knelt .

    "Urgent report! The west wall has been breached! Lord Xu Huang with 5,000 men has already rushed over to the west wall to assist . "

    "Report! The east gate has repelled the invaders! Lord Xu Huang has sent 5,000 men to support the south gate!"

    "Report! Our south gate has destroyed all of their siege weapons!"

    The pressing news of the west wall shocked Tong . Just a few minutes when Tong was stranded below the wall, many things happened .

    "How bad is the west wall?" Tong asked .

    "We¡¯ve lost half of our troops from the siege . We¡¯ve noticed that themanders of the sieging force are currently on the frontline with his men . He shot down most of our thousand-manmanders with their arrows!"

    Tong took a deep breath to calm down and think . He was not the only one with a trump card . Zhu Jun appeared to hide talented personals in his force, and he revealed it in the critical moment .

    ¡¯Generals with good bow skills ... I have a bad feeling about this . ¡¯

    "Give me wet clothes . I¡¯ll head to the west wall!"

    ...

    ...

    West army of Zhu Jun .

    gs with the surname "Liu" fluttered in the wind . Twenty thousand men stood in a square formation at the backline of the sieging soldiers . They were the reserve force of the west army .

    Twenty of siegingdders hadtched onto the wall, and thirty of the arrow towers got to their position . In addition, two of the arrow towers carried their elite generals with the archers . They were in charge of overseeing the entire battle .

    Liu Biao, a noble of the Liu n, the Viceroy of Jing Province, and a rtive of the previous Emperor Ling, stood on the watchtower in his main battalion .

    Because of his bloodline and his surname, he was forced to join the political side with Liu Ping, the current Emperor . After Liu Ping issued the deployment edict, Liu Biao was chosen as a submander under Huangfu Song Army .

    Though unwilling, Liu Biao took part in this campaign since he did not have to bring his private troops along . He took two of his best officers under his influence along in this battle, hoping to score a free achievement for his future career .

    When Huangfu Song died, Liu Biao took over the role of the previous grandmander and followed Zhu Jun around . Unfortunately, Zhu Jun did not trust the Liu n . He did not assign Liu Biao with an important role up until now .

    After Zhu Jun was carried away because of his sickness, Liu Biao stole themanding role of the western army from Zhu Jun¡¯s men and sent the officers back to their main army instead .

    Also, Liu Biao had keen eyes about the sickness of the soldiers . He transferred all sick soldiers to be the first wave battalion while the healthy soldiers followed after them . As a result, the defenders wasted their arrows and energies on the dying men while the healthy men got onto the wallter to deal with the tired garrison soldiers .

    Liu Biao¡¯s generals also y a vital role in this battle . They sniped down Tong¡¯s officers and disrupted the chain ofmand, putting the garrison force in a chaotic state .

    Seeing the progress of the wall capturing, he nodded .

    "I¡¯ve made the right decision . It seems like we don¡¯t have to move after all . "

    Liu Biao muttered as he smiled toward one of the archer towers where his elite general was present .

    "That old man is still useful as always . "

    ...

    Half an hour after Tong returned to the top of the wall, he and 3,000 men arrived at the west wall to reinforce his men .

    The situation was not in Tong¡¯s favor . The enemies took over half of the wall . Their arrow towers parked 100 meters away from the wall and continued raining their arrows at his soldiers without stopping . At the same time, more of Imperial soldiers emerged from the siegedders .

    At this rate, the entire west wall would be overtaken, and the city would be breached .

    Tong looked around to see if any catapult was still in a usable condition . It did not take long for him to find one . However, all the crews seemed to have been shot down by the enemy¡¯s arrows, so it had stopped firing .

    "Have our men operate the catapult . Start shooting rocks at those archer towers! Hurry!" Ordered Tong . "The rest of you, charge with me! Get rid of these scums! Kill!"

    "SHAAAAA!!" The men behind Tong roared a warcry and rushed at the enemies on the wall .

    Because of the narrow wall and the density of his men and his enemies, Tong switched his weapon back to his gun .

    *BANG*

    The pistol in Tong¡¯s hand did not stop firing . He emptied his clips after clips to clear the wall as soon as possible .

    *WHOOSH*

    A catapult that Tong reimed operated once again . The crewsunched arge boulder at one of the arrow towers .

    *BOOM*

    An arrow tower copsed and killed all archers on top of it .

    ...

    "Hmm?"

    A middle-aged general on top of an archer tower noticed the change . He darted his eyes toward the wall where the catapult operated .

    This siege weapon crews were shot down by him . He remembered that it should have been taken over by his men, yet it shot at one of his towers again .

    "It doesn¡¯t matter how many crews you have . I¡¯ll kill all of you again!"

    The general nocked an arrow and pulled his longbow into a full moon shape . He was about to fire at one of the crews . Then he noticed another anomaly .

    He saw a young enemy general with an odd ck object on his hand . It was shooting something that killed the Imperial soldiers on the wall in rapid session .

    "That general is a threat! He dies first!"

    The archer general switched his target and aimed at the young general . </your></your>

 Chapter 189

    Chapter 189

    Chapter 189 ¨C Zhang Tong VS Huang Zhong

    He fired the arrow, which traveled in a speed of 350 km/h, aiming at the head of his enemy general .

    Tong, who was the target of the archer general, sensed the condensed killing intent locking onto him and a foreboding threat .

    "[Time Stop]!"

    Because Tong could not tell where the threat was from, he activated his [Time Stop] skill .

    The world turned colorless once more, and Tong looked around for an anomaly that threatened him . The moment he looked toward his left, he saw an arrow, which was paused in mid-air, pointing straight at the location where his temple was before he used the skill .

    "What!?"

    It was a close call and the right call for activating his skill . Had Tong activated it slower for a second, his brain would have been pierced by the arrow .

    Tong darted his eyes around at the source of the arrow, searching for the shooter .

    It took Tong half a second to see the owner of the arrow . It was an archer in a unique armor set, signifying that he was an important person in the army . He was standing with an arrow shooting pose on the top of an archer tower a hundred meters away .

    ¡¯A general? Amander?¡¯

    ¡¯It doesn¡¯t matter . Since you¡¯re aiming for my life, I¡¯ll take yours first!¡¯

    Tong aimed his gun at the archer general .

    *nk*

    The pistol ran out of ammo .

    ¡¯Bad luck . But I have plenty of time . ¡¯

    <you have="" 7="" seconds="" remaining="">>

    Tong reloaded his gun, loaded the chamber, and pointed at the shooter again .

    *ck*

    The gun did not fire a bullet . It gave out a weird sound, but Tong knew about this phenomenon well .

    ¡¯Gun jamming at this time!? Are you kidding me!?¡¯

    The bullet that Tong loaded stuck in the chamber . He took out the clip and held the gun slide with his left hand . Tong pped the handle hard to move the slide and get rid of the stuck bullet in the chamber .

    <you have="" 4="" seconds="" remaining="">>

    The bullet still stuck and the gun slide had not moved a bit .

    ¡¯Dammit! Move!¡¯

    Tong pped the gun again with all his strength . The gun was unjammed . However, Tong exerted too much force . The gun slide broke and pieces of gun parts scattered into the air .

    <you have="" 2="" seconds="" remaining="">>

    In anger, Tong threw the broken gun away and pulled a new gun from his inventory .

    <you have="" 1="" second="" remaining="">>

    He loaded a new clip into the gun and aimed at the archer general again .

    <the time="" will="" now="" resume="">>

    ...

    Huang Zhong, style name Hansheng, was serving as Liu Biao Army¡¯s grandmander . He excelled in melee duel, archery, range warfare, and other tactics .

    In the modern world historical records, Huang Zhong served Liu Biao from the very beginning of his career .

    After Sun Jian¡¯s death and the Jing Province was entirely under control of Liu Biao, he was assigned to be amander to protect Changsha Commandery with Liu Biao¡¯s nephew, Liu Pan from the remnants of the rebels . In 208, he was transferred from being amander to a major-general under the governor of Changsha who was also a subordinate of Liu Biao, Han Xuan .

    Huang Zhong surrendered to Liu Beiter on and became one of the five tiger generals under his new master . He had left a historical battle record as he defeated Cao Cao¡¯s forces at Mount Dingjun in Hanzhong District, which his army killed Xiahou Yuan in the battle .

    Unlike the usual windfall where Tong stole talents from the warlords left and right, this legendary general appeared here as Tong¡¯s enemy .

    ...

    After shooting his arrow, Huang Zhong saw something impossible .

    Tong, who should have been killed by the arrow, blinked! The arrow missed its target while Tong reappeared again in the nearby location with the muzzle of the gun pointing at Huang Zhong .

    The archer general sensed Tong¡¯s killing intent . Though he did not know what the thing in Tong¡¯s hand could do, he ducked, avoiding the muzzle trajectory .

    *BANG*

    The bullet had gone into the head of an archer behind Huang Zhong¡¯s back, ending his life on the spot .

    The general looked back and saw what happened to his soldier . He had a chill running down his spine .

    ¡¯That brat¡¯s reflex is on the elite general level! This is bad news!¡¯

    ¡¯The weapon in his hand is also scary! What the hell is that!?¡¯

    Huang Zhong swallowed his saliva, steeling and motivating himself into the battle . Even if he were scared of Tong, he would not give up with just simple intimidation .

    "BRING IT!"

    Huang Zhong roared . He took another arrow from his quiver andunched a super arrow . This arrow was still as fast as the previous arrow he shot at Tong at the speed of 350 km/h .

    Tong also overclocked his brain to the limit . He saw the trajectory of the iing arrow and forced his body to dodge .

    Tong shifted his head to the left, and the first arrow went past the spot where his forehead was . Tong countered it with a bullet .

    *BANG*

    Though Huang Zhong could not see the bullet itself, he could predict the trajectory of Tong¡¯s secret weapon . He also tilted his head to the side, avoiding the killing bullet . At the same time, he nocked his great bow with another arrow and countered with his shot .

    The simr thing happened again on the wall, Tong simply tiled his head to the side and shot back again .

    Huang Zhong also swayed his body to dodge the muzzle point and continued shooting his arrows .

    Each exchange from the two generals took only half a second . Both of them left after images as they dodged the projectiles .

    The stalemate did notst long . Tong ran out of ammo in his clip first, while Huang Zhong had plenty of arrows in his quivers .

    "I¡¯ve got you now, brat!"

    Seeing an opening, Huang Zhong nocked four arrows fired all of them at once . Three of them aimed at the locations which Tong used to move his body to while thest one targeted his vital spot .

    "Hmm!"

    Tong harrumphed as he did not see this as a threat . He bent crouched down and took cover behind the battlement in front of him while his hands were busy reloading his gun .

    The four arrows went overhead, missing their target .

    While both of them were busy dueling using their projectiles, an Imperial soldier rushed at Tong . The subordinate soldiers of Tong did not disappoint him, spears and arrows killed the iing soldier before he could reach their young general .

    They also noticed the difficult fight that Tong had, so the lieutenants took over Tong¡¯s role as a spearhead and charged at the nearby enemies, leaving Tong behind so that he could get rid of the enemy archer general .

    "[Create Weapon], Glock pistol!"

    Another gun appeared in Tong¡¯s hand . He loaded another clip into it . Tong exerted his sense beyond his limit . A drop of blood dripped down from his nose again . His body sprang upward to the standing position again with two guns pointing at Huang Zhong .

    The general saw another gun and panicked . Dodging one gun was already tricky enough, dealing with both of them at the same time was a suicide .

    This time, Huang Zhong crouched down to get a cover from the wooden tower battlements .

    *BANG* *BANG*

    *BANG* *BANG*

    Several bullets chased after Huang Zhong . Two of them prated to the wooden barrier and ricocheted his iron armor, but one of them left a trail of missing flesh from his elbow .

    The general still did not give up . He took several arrows from his quiver at once, nning to use multiple arrows and rapid fire at Tong .

    Before he could get up into shooting position, the corner of Huang Zhong noticed activity on the catapult that Tong secured . They were aiming at his archer tower .

    ¡¯It¡¯s been fun, brat . I¡¯ll fight you next time!¡¯

    "Everyone, abandon the tower!" Huang Zhong gave his order and leaped down thedders in a hurry .

    Three secondster, a boulder mmed onto the tower, crushing its foundation pirs and the top of the tower copsed, killing the remaining archers that did not jump down in time .

    Huang Zhong managed to leap down one story at a time . Hended on the ground in one piece .

    He looked back at the direction where Tong was . The young general had disappeared into the crowd of garrison soldiers .

    ¡¯This one is my defeat . Next time, I won¡¯t lose!¡¯ Thought Huang Zhong before he withdrew back to the main army .

    ...

    ...

    Tong looked at the destroyed tower with a depressed expression on his face . He overused his overclock mode, and he suffered bacshes from it . Blooding out from his nose, and a trail drop of blooding out of his right eye . The right eye was now dark red, and his pupil also glowed in blood color .

    A severe headache and dizziness made Tong staggered, yet he preserved and continued leading his men .

    "Don¡¯t worry about me! Take back the wall! Burn the siegedders!" Tong ordered while he pointed his guns to the front and fired .

    Because Tong was not in a condition to spearhead for his men, he stood behind on the inner wall battlement and provided covering fire for the garrison force .

    ...

    Anothermotion happened on the other side of the west wall .

    Xu Huang and his 5,000 men were clearing the path on the right wing, the opposite wing where Tong was . He waved his battle ax to the side, sweeping away all enemies .

    Everywhere he charged, dissected bodies of Imperial soldiers would fly into the air, and it would rain blood . Like a bulldozer, he led his fellow garrison force and did not stop sending Zhu Jun¡¯s men flying .

    The troops behind Xu Huang took the role of cleaners . They tossed crude oil jars and barrels at the siegedders and burnt it as they passed .

    They also secured all usable catapults and fired back at the archer towers, destroying them .

    Two hourster after Xu Huang reinforced the west wall, all siege weapons that Zhu Jun and Liu Biao sent at the west wall were destroyed . Xu Huang and his men ran into Tong and his troops while they were patrolling the wall .

    "My Lord?"

    Xu Huang was shocked . Tong¡¯s condition was critical . His skins were red as they were burnt by the hot fume, and his right eye and nose were dripping blood . Tong¡¯s breathing was also rough and fast, telling everyone that he was exhausted .

    "I¡¯m fine . It will heal in a night . You take care of the west wall . I¡¯ll return to the south wall . "

    "Y-Yes, sir!"

    Because Tong noticed that all siegedders had been taking care of, he returned to his station . The south wall had fewer men than all the walls after all .

    By the time Tong got to the south wall, Zhu Jun¡¯s men had blown a horn and waved their color gs, signaling a retreat .

    "All troops, withdraw!"

    With a single blow of the horn, all soldiers below the wall rushed back . The Imperial soldiers who were stranded on the wall were either killed or surrendered . The soldiers on the bamboodders jumped down and ran away from the wall, returning to their army .

    The garrison force cheered and shouted the warcry . They survived the onught . </the></you></you></you></you>

 Chapter 190

    Chapter 190

    Chapter 190 ¨C Challenge From Huang Zhong

    Tong sat on a chair under the shelter on top of the gate, watching the retreating Imperial army . He was not happy about this battle .

    ¡¯I was indecisive . I could have done it better . ¡¯

    This fight had pros and cons .

    Thanked to this fight, Tong had a reason to officially promote Xu Huang into a general of the army because he demonstrated his abilities to all soldiers .

    Xu Huang wanted to protest, but his friends andrades who fought alongside with him approved it . Thus, he epted this promotion . However, he nned to share his ie with his friends as he still thought that he did not deserve it .

    However, the cons were also nasty .

    Tong Army also suffered heavy casualties . Five thousand soldiers from the west gate died, 2,000 permanently crippled, and over 10,000 injured from Liu Biao¡¯s assault . Xu Huang¡¯s east gate had minimal damage, one thousand killed-in-action and 2,000 slightly injured . The south gate fared well as there was 2,000 death, and 3,000 soldiers were wounded as they faced the main force .

    Overall, 47,000 soldiers survived the fight . Forty-five thousands of them could continue to fight, but over 17,000 of them would take scares of war back home .

    Because he did not have a suitable assistance general in his army, Tong suffered a significant loss . Had he brought Zhang Xiu or Zhang Ji with him, the west gate would not have experienced so many casualties .

    Moreover, Tong also had regrets and hesitation .

    Tong could have spammed crude oil all over the ce and lit it up . However, he was afraid of the boil over of the crude oil, which was deadlier than Zhu Jun¡¯s army . The temperature from the crude oil could reach much higher than grease oil as they had mixed liquid, gas, and sensitive substances that could burn well in higher temperature . The would not be able to extinguish the fire once that were to happen .

    In the battle today, several siegedders were burnt by the crude oil, and the garrison soldiers could not extinguish the fire . The ck smoke clouded all walls, and his men were coughing and suffered from the burn . Fortunately, Tong had warned them, and all of them had wet clothes wrapped around their face . However, their eyes were still blood-shotted and sored as they felt the burn to their eyes .

    The south wall where Tong identally fell on the ground below was in a terrible condition . On the field, the small fire was everywhere as Tong sshed boiling oil here . The me continued to burn the boiling fat as they already reached the boiling point already .

    Thankfully, Tong also told his men not to throw water down the wall, or the fire would have gotten worse . Right now, the fire was burning away the oil slowly, but they would explode had Tong left them be .

    ¡¯I can summon nitrogen liquid with my [Create Food] to douse the fire right now . However, I think it will freeze my men to death instead of just extinguishing the fire . I¡¯ll leave them on for tonight . It will warm the city . ¡¯

    Despite the thought, Tong decided to douse the fire outside of the city wall with his nitrogen liquid as the boil over of the crude oil was getting out of hand . Furthermore, Tong could not stand the corpses burning smell outside the wall .

    "Tell all units, get down from the wall . All of you can rest tonight . I¡¯ll take care of the watch as the usual . "

    Tong ordered his men as he did not need to sleep . He nned to use his regen skill after midnight .

    ...

    7 PM . The same day .

    The Imperial troops returned to the camp on the other side of the river . They carried the crippled soldiers back to the supply camp on the back while the injured and the able men remained in the main camp .

    The atmosphere in the camp was gloomy and depressing . Everyone was exhausted from the battle, and their morale was low .

    Liu Biao and Huang Zhong also returned here with the other general, Huang Zu .

    All lieutenants counted the survivors in their perspective toons and reported it Zhu Jun, who lied down in his bed .

    "Report to the general! We have concluded the result of our first assault . " The lieutenant attempted to pass Zhu Jun a scroll .

    "I can¡¯t read it . You read it for me . " Zhu Jun spoke with weak and dried voice .

    "We¡¯ve lost all of our siegedders and almost all of our siege towers . Only five towers managed to return . The west troops came back with 27,000 men, the east came back with 23,000 men, and the south had 20,000 men remaining . "

    "What happened in the battle?" Zhu Jun asked .

    "The enemies at the east gate and the south gate were prepared, general . They destroyed all of our siegedders before we can get a foothold on the wall . General Liu Biao from the west managed to get the advantage of the first half of the battle, but the reinforcements from the other side reached the west gate . They reimed the advantage on thetter half of the day and destroyed the siegedders . "

    *Cough*

    Zhu Jun coughed as he tried to sit up . He did not like the report .

    He did not know that 20% of his men were ill . They went to the war with high fever and sluggish bodies . As a result, they were either killed into a melee fight on the wall or were shot by Tong¡¯s repeated crossbows .

    "What happened at the south gate? Why is our soldier casualty the highest there?"

    "Report to the general . There was an incident at the south gate ... The enemy general fell from the wall, and he cast fire magic on us . We estimated that more than three thousand men died from the enemy general . "

    The heart of Zhu Jun shook . His condition worsened again because of the bad news . He believed that if this sickness went on, he would die soon .

    "Get Liu Biao here ..."

    The lieutenant bowed and left . A few minutester, Liu Biao arrived .

    "I¡¯m Liu Biao, reporting to the general . " Liu Biao bowed .

    Zhu Jun gave Liu Biao a meaningful look . He decided . "To be honest ... I don¡¯t like all of you with the surname Liu *Cough*, but I will give you myst order . From today onward ... you will be the grandmander of this army . . . Make sure you take down *Cough* Liyang City in my stead *Cough*"

    With dried voice, Zhu Jun gave his order . After he was done, he lied down again to continue sleeping . Zhu Jun had a severe cold and could hardly breathe . Giving orders and sleeping was the best he could do .

    Without saying anything, Liu Biao bowed . He took the grandmander order token from the table inside the tent and went out .

    ¡¯That man is too sick . He will die soon . ¡¯ Liu Biao thought . He gazed at the direction of Liyang City where the white smoke was still rising in the air .

    ¡¯We can¡¯t use the night siege either . The obstacles and fire are everywhere . ¡¯

    Liu Biao sighed . The enemy was tricky and cunning . On the other hand, the Imperial force was too honest in this battle as they were too blunt in this siege, attacking the city withmon tactic of siegedders and siege towers .

    ¡¯If he had thought of the big picture, we could have just surrounded the city and preserved through the winter . Since there were over 50,000 soldiers inside the city, they should not have more than this in their bases . Julu and Ye City should only have fewer troops . ¡¯

    ¡¯Once spring arrives, we can just withdraw and waste this army¡¯s time . By this time, the other allies from Yuan Shao, Liu Yan, and Sun Jian could haveunched an assault on Julu and Ye . ¡¯

    ¡¯What a narrow-minded fool!¡¯

    Liu Biao looked back at Zhu Jun¡¯s tent and snorted . He returned to his camp to see his generals . There were many things he had to clean up after the previous battle .

    ¡¯We¡¯ve lost too many troops . We can¡¯t siege the city! There must be something that I can trick those rebels with ...¡¯

    ¡¯Aha! There¡¯s still that move! I hope my generals are valiant enough to take this task . ¡¯

    ...

    October 26th .

    10 AM .

    Tong watched his radar map . Somehow, Zhu Jun forces decided not to siege the city today as all of their troops did not move from the camp .

    Everyone inside the city breathed a sigh of relief after Tong announced that the Imperial army would not siege the city today .

    For the injured soldiers, this one day break was more valuable than gold .

    ¡¯They probably reconstruct their siege weapons again . ¡¯

    Tong analyzed that Zhu Jun had suffered a severe blow from the loss of almost all of his siegedders and towers . These toys took times to build, and the materials were also hard to find .

    2 PM .

    All calction and analysis from Tong were wrong . A messenger came from Zhu Jun camp . He fired an arrow with a letter on it into the city and left .

    The garrison soldiers secured the letter and passed it to Tong . The letter was not a message for negotiation because it was a challenge letter .

    [I am Huang Zhong of the Imperial Army . I¡¯m sending this letter to challenge you with the fate of our soldiers on the line!

    I challenge the strongest man in your army for a duel!

    We shall wager with our army . If I lose, all Imperial soldiers will withdraw back to Luo Yang . However, if I win, I want the rebel force to surrender!

    This is a gentleman¡¯s duel . I don¡¯t want to harm our soldiers and your soldiers . They have families and friends back home . I want them to live, and I don¡¯t want to drag this stupid war .

    Tomorrow, our force will siege your city again . If you ept my challenge, fight me in front of your men and our men!]

    Tong choke from his saliva when he read the name of the sender, "Huang Zhong" .

    He had a suspicion about the previous general that exchanged arrows and bullets with him at the west wall . Because of the chaotic fight, Tong forgot to check the name of the general he fought with .

    With this challenge letter, Tong connected the puzzle pieces and got his answer .

    The guy he fought with yesterday was probably Huang Zhong . Who else could have shot fast arrows with precision in rapid session as he dodged bullets?

    ¡¯Should I send Xu Huang? But ...¡¯

    Tong remembered the fictional event in the 14th-century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms where Guan Yu and Huang Zhong dueled when Liu Bei sieged Changsha City . Guan Yu impressed the old archer general, and Huang Zhong decided to surrender to Liu Bei because he measured the quality of the warlord with the subordinate¡¯s skills . If Liu Bei were a pushover, he would not have tamed this fierce general .

    ¡¯Is Xu Huang good at duel? I believe he is more like a leader type . ¡¯

    Tong pondered if he should ept this duel or not . If he agreed and won, he could avoid the fight and retreat to Ye City to prepare for the war next year .

    If he were to lose, he would lose everything .

    ¡¯I have the advantage . Why should I ept the duel? It¡¯s too fishy to begin with!¡¯

    ¡¯But ... If I can recruit Huang Zhong ...¡¯

 Chapter 191

    Chapter 191

    Chapter 191 ¨C Zhang Tong VS Huang Zhong - Second Bout

    After a hard consideration, Tong epted the duel . He would fight Huang Zhong himself instead of sending Xu Huang . Tong had many cheats, such as [Time Stop], overclock sense, regen, and demonic passive buffs, so he could survive the duel no matter what .

    It was stupid to ept the duel while they had theplete advantage of this siege battle . However, Tong wanted to gamble if he could scout this legendary general, Huang Zhong, to his side after the duel . He wanted to replicate if he could do what Guan Yu did at the Changsha City in the novel .

    He sent back his reply letter and added a few conditions .

    [First, both armies would have to stay at least 500 meters away from the duel location .

    Second, the result of the fight could be decided by giving up the fight, killing the opponent, or disable the opponent .

    Third, the duel would be held on October 30th .

    Andstly, the victor of the duel would decide the fate of the loser . ]

    The first condition was a safety measure against an underhand trick by Zhu Jun¡¯s force if they were to attempt to interfere with the duel .

    The second condition gave Tong a leeway to recruit Huang Zhong if he were to win . He did not want to decide this fight as a life-and-death match as he would waste this talent if Tong were to kill him .

    The third and fourth condition was a mind game . Tong wanted to annoy and intimidate Huang Zhong, making him nervous before the battle . If Tong set the date too early, this general would fight him in high morale . However, if Tong postponed it, the peak morale that Huang Zhong had would gradually decrease over time . By the time the appointed date, the excitement that Huang Zhong had would turn into doubts as he had too much time to think about this fight .

    "Hopefully, he¡¯s honest enough to ept my conditions . "

    ...

    Liu Biao received Tong¡¯s letter on the same day .

    Unlike what Tong had thought, it was Liu Biao who wrote the letter to Tong in Huang Zhong¡¯s stead . He only told his general that he had challenged the rebel leader into a duel, and Liu Biao wanted him to take the head of the rebel .

    Huang Zhong neitherin nor protest . He epted his role without a condition .

    However, Tong¡¯s counter-proposal made Liu Biao frowned .

    ¡¯He epted, but he postpones the duel date . What is he trying to do?¡¯

    ¡¯Whatever! This siege is impossible with the current troops and their health issues . That corpse tactic the other day is too effective . I can¡¯t blindly throw their lives away . I¡¯ll use this duel as an excuse to retreat . ¡¯

    ¡¯If my general wins, then the credit goes to me! If he loses, it¡¯s his fault!¡¯

    Liu Biao did not want to continue fighting anymore . He was a person who only picked a battlefield that he was confident he could win, but Liyang City was not one of them .

    "We¡¯ll ept their conditions . "

    ...

    ...

    October 30th .

    Many events happened today .

    First, Zhu Jun had passed away from a seizure and a cardiac arrest . He suffered sepsis for too many days without a proper cure . Liu Biao took over the position of the grandmander of the entire Imperial Army .

    Second, the duel between Tong and Huang Zhong would happen in front of the south gate of Liyang, 500 meters away from the wall and the Imperial Army .

    Third, Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, and Bo Cai led their men to siege Zhongshan Commandery City from the Zhen n, which they surrendered without a fight today . Because of the looming danger from Liu Yan and Yuan Shao, Zhang Jiao decided to order his brothers and his force to take the city to be the buffer to the northern You Province .

    Moreover, Li Feihong had messaged Tong this morning that the operation "Mountain Hammer" hadmenced . Another battle urred in the territory of Jinyang Commandery .

    Liu Ping Army shed with Julu Army led by Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, Xiao Wu (Dong Bai), and Hua Shi . Jinyang Army appeared from behind Liu Ping Army and collided with the Wang Kuang and Zhang Yang forces .

    The battle was still ongoing! Everyone was so busy that nobody had the free times to report the situation in the chat .

    ¡¯Wait for me . I¡¯ll return home soon . ¡¯ Tong thought .

    ...

    11 AM .

    Liu Biao and his Imperial troops lined up a kilometer away from Liyang Southern Gate . Huang Zhong, who was selected as the representative rode his horse forward with his colleague, Huang Zu .

    The new armor which covered every part of his body glittered under the sunlight . Huang Zhong was armed to the teeth . He took two halberds, one great bow, and five quivers of 20 arrows . His helmet had been repaired and modified . It was an open helmet that revealed the face of the general and covered the back of his head . It showed the expression and the scars of this seasoned warrior and his long ck beard . His horse was also the finest warhorse in the Imperial Army .

    He came here to win!

    Both of them arrived at the middle ground, waiting for the opponent .

    Xu Huang and Tong arrived a few minutester . They stop 20 meters away from the two Huang .

    Tong dragged Xu Huang with him, so he could be the witness and his bodyguard in the case the Imperial force were to y dirty .

    Simr to Huang Zhong, Tong took the best armor set and the best warhorse . Because of his deep concentration, Tong¡¯s pupils were already glowing in red .

    Huang Zhong and Tong recognized each other right away as both had left a deep impression on the opponent during the fight the other day .

    "It¡¯s you . " Huang Zhong muttered .

    Tong also checked his radar map to get the names from the two . Seeing the name "Huang Zhong" and "Huang Zu", a faint smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face .

    "Figure as much . It¡¯s really you . " Tong muttered .

    "Who will be your representative?" Huang Zu asked .

    "It will be me . He will be my witness of this fight . " Answered by Tong .

    Huang Zhongughed . "Hahaha! So I get to fight you again! Good . Very good! I¡¯m Huang Zhong of Nanyang . Tell me your name!"

    "Zhang Tong! Son of Zhang Jiao of Julu!"

    Both Huang Zu and Huang Zhong were shocked . The young master of rebel force was here instead of hiding in Julu . This was shocking news to them .

    Huang Zu gulped . He wanted to ride back to ry this information to Liu Biao right away, but he was the only witness of this battle . He could not leave .

    "Very well, both of you can begin when you¡¯re ready . " Xu Huang spoke, forcing the duel tomence .

    Huang Zu and Xu Huang rode away from both Tong and Huang Zhong, leaving them alone .

    Though Xu Huang wanted to take the duelist role himself, Tong insisted that he would fight . Feeling helpless, the new general could only pray for his Lord¡¯s victory .

    On the other hand, Huang Zu did not worry one bit . He had full confidence and trust on this colleague with the same surname .

    Tong and Huang Zhong red at each other as they were still sitting on their horses .

    Seeing the unwavering eyes of Huang Zhong, the corner of Tong¡¯s mouth twitched .

    ¡¯He is neither nervous nor afraid . His focus and mental strength are sharp . The mind game failed . ¡¯

    Huang Zhong also observed Tong from head to toes .

    ¡¯Red devil eyes . His expression and his eyes aren¡¯t corroded by greed or ego . It¡¯s a warrior type that had baptism through battlefields . But if he¡¯s the honest warrior kind, why did he kill the innocent townsmen of Liyang?¡¯

    "Can I ask you a question before we fight?" Huang Zhong asked .

    "What do you want to know?"

    "Why did you kill the people of Liyang?"

    Tong harrumphed . "I have made a mistake . "

    "What mistake?" Huang Zhong was puzzled .

    "I didn¡¯t ughter every single of them from the beginning, and I didn¡¯t have enough preparation for dealing with the brainwashed citizens . "

    "... Are you ming the citizens?"

    "I¡¯m not ming the citizens . I¡¯m ming Liu Ping for sending the unnecessary edicts to the random cities . We could have solved our conflict with only soldiers, but he dragged the citizens into it . Since Liu Ping had turned the townsmen of Liyang into militias and had them taken arms to fight my men, I had to kill them all to protect my men . Are you satisfied with my excuses?"

    "..."

    Huang Zhong stared into the eyes of Tong to check if he was lying . The red eyes of Tong were the same as usual, cruel, yet clear as transparent sses .

    ¡¯They had a tinge of seasoned warrior tone, but they were not the deceitful type . ¡¯

    He gave up speaking further . It did not matter anymore as both of them would have to fight a life-and-death battle here in a minute .

    "Do you want to go first?"

    "I¡¯m a junior . Senior first . "

    "Good . YAH!"

    Huang Zhong kicked the sides of the horse, galloping to Tong head-on . He drew out his halberd and made a motion to sh .

    "Humph!"

    Tong harrumphed and did the same as Huang Zhong . He galloped his horse forward with a ive in his hand, getting ready to sh with this legendary general head-on .

    Before the fight, both of them withheld their killing intent . However, just one second before they swung their weapons, their menacing aura exploded out along with their strike .

    *CLANK*

    The ive and the halberd¡¯s shaft hit each other as the two duelists aimed their polearm de at the other¡¯s vital part . The crashing sound was simr to the sound of car-crash .

    The impact made their hands numb . The iron metal slid against each other, causing sparks from the friction .

    Both their bodies were pushed backward by the collision impact, but they maintained their bnce on the horses . Tong and Huang Zhong guided the horse back at each other again .

    *CLANK*

    "GRR!"

    "MM!"

    They groaned as they felt another impact from the exchange . Their hands could feel the electric current running through their arms and their bones .

    "Not bad for a junior . But how long can youst!?"

    "I have a thousand times more years to live than yours!"

    *CLANK*

    They did not gallop their horse to get the momentum this time . As if they could read each other¡¯s mind, they stopped their horses closing at the other and started exchanging blows .

    Huang Zhong switched his stance and jabbed Tong with a halberd thrust . The tip of his halberd was simr to an ordinary spear as it had a small edge on top of it .

    Tong tiled his head to dodge the thrust that came for his face . At the same, he swung the ive, aiming at Huang Zhong¡¯s torso .

    Instead of dodging, Huang Zhong nced at the iing de at the tip of the ive and disyed the skills of the future legendary general .

    He forced his horse forward and moved closer to Tong .

    The ive swung to the side and hit the side ribcage of Huang Zhong, but the part of ive that made contact with his side rib was not the de . The shaft of the ive got him instead .

    "Nhh!"

    Huang Zhong gritted his teeth to endure the pain . He stared at Tong who ignored the missed-target halberd and spoke .

    "This is the end, brat . "

    The archer general rotated his grip on the halberd handle . The tip and the de of the polearm, which had been pointing upward, circled clockwise into the three o¡¯clock position . Then he pulled his halberd and let the shaft slid the side of Tong¡¯s neck .

 Chapter 192

    Chapter 192

    Chapter 192 ¨C Gun Slinger VS Legendary Archer

    There was a reason why the Chinese battle helmets in ancient era covered the back of the wearer¡¯s neck . In polearm martial arts, there was a technique called [Mowing Sickle] . It was a move that could be applied to halberds, bardiche, poleaxes, and pikes with a sharp de extended to the side .

    The martial artist could pretend to thrust the polearm at the opponent¡¯s face . If the opponent fell for it and dodged by tilting his head, then he could flip the de part to the back of the enemy¡¯s neck . From this position, the user could use the polearm as a scythe or a sickle to reap the head of his opponent as if he harvests a bundle of rice straws from the farm field by simply pulling back the weapon and letting the shaft sliding the opponent¡¯s neck .

    This move was often used in a duel on horseback, so the helmet was designed to counter this action . Huang Zhong was a martial artist who mastered this move, and he also wore this type of helmet to protect his neck .

    ...

    Sensing the martial art move, Tong bent his body forward, making his chest touched the neck of his horse .

    *WHOOSH*

    The scythe pull by Huang Zhong missed Tong¡¯s neck .

    The Mowing Sickle missed the target, and Huang Zhong lost his attacking momentum . Tong pulled his ive back, pointing the tips to the sky with a kendo overhead stance . He swung the weapon down, aiming to cleave Huang Zhong from the top of his head .

    Huang Zhong regained the momentum in time . He raised his halberd shaft to parry the iing ive de .

    *BANG*

    Because the impact was buffed by all passive skills, which contained 25 times of ordinary human¡¯s strength, Huang Zhong felt the pressure and the forceing from the impact . His halberd shaft bent from the extreme force . The horse under the general also felt it as its legs trembled from the sudden weight .

    The horse neighed and fumbled on the ground with Huang Zhong on top of it .

    Huang Zu, who was observing them from the side, was shocked . He wanted to rush in to help, but he saw a menacing re from Xu Huang . Thus, he swallowed his heart pain and continued watching .

    The archer general panicked as he fell from the horse which it fell on one of his legs . He took 10 seconds to drag his leg out of the fallen horse body . To his surprise, Tong did not pursue or attack him when he was down .

    Huang Zhong red at Tong while he was standing . He asked, "Why didn¡¯t you attack me? It was clearly a golden opportunity!"

    Tong, who still rode on a horse, looked at the general and snorted .

    "Normally, I would have killed you a hundred times over . However, this is a gentleman duel where we gamble the fate of both armies using our skills on the equal ground . I won¡¯t resort a dishonorable trick to disgrace this sacred duel!"

    Tong bit his tongue and spat out such cheesy lines while he felt guilty from his past experience . He managed to capture and kill Pan Feng because he interfered the duel between Zhou Cang and that general . Yet, at this moment, he spoke about the sacred duel etiquette .

    ¡¯Yup, I¡¯m a hypocrite . ¡¯ Tong thought .

    <your [pride]="" has="" 10 . 85%="" chance="" to="" take="" over="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯Oh, being stupidly chivalrous works? Neat!¡¯

    A new inspiration swelled up in Tong¡¯s heart .

    Although he could have defeated Huang Zhong with a simple activation of [Time Stop], he chose not to do so as he started to get addicted to the fair contest between martial arts . This feeling was with him since the day he visited Lu Bu¡¯s camp, but Tong did not realize it .

    If he were to follow the path of an honorable martial art, his troublesome [Pride] could be ovee as well .

    This was like killing two birds with one stone .

    On the contrary of Tong¡¯s thought, Huang Zhong was impressed by this young man¡¯s chivalry . Xu Huang and Huang Zu also looked at Tong in awe and respect .

    "Well said! Then, instead of fighting on horseback, I want to resume our fight from that day without any interference!"

    Huang Zhong wanted to fight like the other day that he and Tong exchanged their projectiles . Horseback fighting was not his main forte . His true skills lied in archery .

    Tong knew what this archer general wanted to do . He nodded and jumped down from his horse and walk away from Huang Zhong .

    Tong did not try to run away or leave the dueling ground . He wanted to fight Huang Zhong on the open space without horses or any cover . It would be a fair fight between a gunman and an archer on the open field .

    Huang Zhong also understood Tong¡¯s gesture . He took his great bow and all quivers with him and also walked back to keep a distance away from this young lord . The moment their distance between them was a hundred meters, Tong turned around to look at the other party .

    "Thest time, I shot at you first . This time, I¡¯ll give you the first move!" Huang Zhong shouted .

    "Very well . "

    Tong checked his remaining bullets in his inventory for thest time . He had three clips remaining . It looked plenty from the first nce, but Tong knew that the fight would be difficult and resource consuming . He had to be efficient with every shot .

    ¡¯Overclock mode!¡¯

    Tong steeled his heart and pointed both his gun at Huang Zhong .

    However ...

    *BANG*

    Tong only fired one pistol as the other one in his hand was a decoy .

    Instead of dodging, Huang Zhong stepped back his left foot . He faced Tong¡¯s iing bullet in a nt stance .

    *GONK*

    The bullet ricocheted with his iron armor!

    "I see . You fired something from those ck objects, but if that¡¯s all what you can do then you¡¯ve lost!"

    Huang Zhong pulled five arrows and nocked four of them onto his great bow at once .

    *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*

    Four arrows flew at Tong¡¯s both side, blocking his path to escape . Two arrows went to his sides, and the others went to the sides of his head, not allowing him to tilt his head to dodge another arrow .

    While Tong nced at the four missed arrows which were about to fly passing his sides, the fifth arrow came toward his face at the same 350 km/h speed with that day .

    "Humph!"

    *POEK*

    A fist with a gun handle hammered down onto the iing arrow to the side, changing its trajectory .

    "Don¡¯t be too hasty to judge . The dance is just starting . "

    Sessfully parrying the arrow, Tong aimed back with the other gun which was still pointing forward .

    ¡¯Full overclock!¡¯

    For one second, Tong went over his brain limit . Since Huang Zhong wanted to use his armor to deflect his bullets in this fight, he aimed at the weak parts and the joint of the iron armor ... with an extra trick .

    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

    Tong fired with the burst fire mode with the full limit overclock mode on, aiming the bullet at three different weak points in Huang Zhong¡¯s armor .

    *TINK* *TINK*

    Two sounds of deflected bullets could be heard, but one sound was missing . Thest bullet did not make an impact sound as it prated the ce where it was aimed .

    Huang Zhong managed to react and moved his body slightest bit, but he did not move his legs . As a result, the one bullet that was sent into the armor gap between the knee-joint hit the target .

    The archer general sensed that something bit into his knee flesh and hit his knee cap . It was not painful, but Huang Zhong could feel that his bnce and his knee strength was somewhat missing .

    ¡¯Scary weapons! But relying on those things have its limit!¡¯

    The hand of Huang Zhong grabbed five more arrows . This time, he did not bother using a trick shot . All five arrows were fired one after another in one breath .

    Left foot of Tong kicked the ground, making his body leaping to the side . Two arrows missed the target, and three wereing at Tong in the direction that Tong was jumping toward .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t dodge these . ¡¯

    Like Huang Zhong, Tong turned his body sideway into a nt stance with his left leg behind his right leg . The free right hand with the gun parried an arrow . One arrow scratched Tong¡¯s helmet and did not prate through the outeryer . Thest one went into Tong¡¯s left knee, which was the same spot that he had shot Huang Zhong with his bullet .

    ¡¯Is this karma!? I got an arrow in the knee again!?¡¯

    Instead of crying in pain, Tongughed as he felt a d¨¦j¨¤ vu .

    As he smiled, Tong overclocked the brain to the limit again . His thumbs flipped the two pistols¡¯ switches into burst fire mode .

    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

    Six bullets were fired, but all of them missed .

    Huang Zhong was prepared as he already leaped away from the muzzle points beforehand . He countered with more arrows .

    *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*

    During the burst fire of the two pistols, four more arrows came at Tong . From Tong¡¯s vision with overclocked sensitivity, he could not dodge these four arrows .

    ¡¯I won¡¯t use my [Time Stop]! I¡¯ll use my true ability without the system skills!¡¯

    <your [pride]="" has="" 7 . 50%="" chance="" to="" take="" over="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯Time AltOr! Double el!¡¯

    Tong¡¯s chunnibyou spirit resurfaced at a critical time . For a split of a second, blood vessels bulged under Tong¡¯s facial skins, and his face reddened . Tong¡¯s world turned into a colorful aurora world, but everything got slower than Tong¡¯s full overclocked sensitivity mode .

    Tong double-overclocked his brain!

    Within this short split of a second, Tong leaped further to the side, dodging all arrowsing at his vital spots . As soon as the effect was over, cold sensation came from the back of Tong¡¯s head . Several small blood vessels in Tong¡¯s brain had ruptured, and his nose started running blood again .

    Meanwhile, Huang Zhong was shocked by Tong¡¯s sudden afterimages and his burst of speed .

    *BANG*

    "Ugh!"

    In that split second when Huang Zhong stopped, a bullet went through his hand which held the bow .

    ¡¯Not good! At this rate, I¡¯ll lose!¡¯

    Huang Zhong sensed a crisis . He had to finish this fight as soon as possible . He decided to use his trump card .

    "ZHANG TONG! IF YOU CAN SURVIVE THIS, I¡¯LL ADMIT MY DEFEAT!" Shouted the archer general .

    Huang Zhong took out arge quiver which had 50 arrows in it . He took all of the arrows inside and fired all of them toward the sky without stopping .

    Despite the fact that Huang Zhong gave Tong an opening to shoot back during his rapid-fire to the sky, he could not shoot again . His vision was fuzzy and blurred as he overused his brain, so he could not even aim properly . Thest bullet was everything he had .

    Furthermore, he had internal bleeding in his brain!</your></your>

 Chapter 193

    Chapter 193

    Chapter 193 ¨C WRYYYYY

    ¡¯Seriously, a Musou attack at this time?¡¯ Tong cracked a joke in his mind .

    ¡¯Oh well, Regen ... No, I won¡¯t! I may be stupid, but I won¡¯t disgrace this fight with cheats!¡¯

    Tong stopped using regen at the critical moment because he desired an honest duel with this legendary general . He had cheated enough to the point that he was ashamed . Deep down inside his heart and his chunnibyou spirit, Tong wanted to win without relying on the system cheats . He wanted to use the power that he acquired by his own hands, not from the help of the system .

    <your [pride]="" has="" 5 . 50%="" chance="" to="" take="" over="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯I won¡¯t use my [Time Stop] . I won¡¯t use my regeneration!¡¯

    <your [pride]="" has="" 3%="" chance="" to="" take="" over="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯I won¡¯t even use my sword and rely on my [Sword Mastery]!¡¯

    <your [pride]="" has="" 1%="" chance="" to="" take="" over="" your="" body="">>

    ¡¯Those guns and bullets are also no good! They are my byproducts of my [Firearms Creation]!¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll only use my body, my brain, and my soul in this fight!¡¯

    <your [pride]="" has="" 0%="" chance="" to="" take="" over="" your="" body="">>

    <if you="" went="" against="" your="" [pride]="" two="" more="" times,="" your="" [pride]="" will="" be="" deleted="">>

    <your [soul="" of="" sloth]="" has="" recovered="">>

    With blurred vision, Tong he could not read the messages from the auto-message system . However, he could sense that a residual soul inside him could be summoned again .

    ¡¯I may be a hypocrite . I may be stupid . However, I¡¯ll rely on my soul . Come out [Sloth]!¡¯

    The soul in a brown police uniform appeared behind Tong¡¯s back . Its face was tranquil despite the urgent situation . The back of Tong revealed two ck tentacle wings, and they grew two inches longer than thest time .

    Fortunately, Huang Zhong could not see the wings on Tong¡¯s back, but he still witnessed the soul behind Tong .

    ¡¯Whether you have a guardian spirit or you have a helper, I will be the victor!¡¯

    Huang Zhong took another ten arrows from another quiver . He fired five of them at a time, two times in a row .

    By the time the archer general fired thest ten arrows, the first fifty arrows which he hadunched toward the sky had started to fall to earth . The location where they are falling was the spot where Tong was standing .

    Fifty arrows from above, and ten arrows from the front, this was Huang Zhongst card!

    Tong¡¯s true body could not move anymore, but his [Sloth] could still see and move around . Tong switched his body control to [Sloth], and he could sense his surroundings again .

    ¡¯Icked practice, but I should be able to do this . ¡¯

    The sensitivity and Tong¡¯s instinct from Sloth Soul was the same as Tong¡¯s overclock mode in full power, but the [Double el] that Tong had used still had better performance .

    The fifty arrows and the ten from the front came at the same time as if they were calcted .

    ¡¯I won¡¯t give up!¡¯

    "MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!"

    Tong shouted the iconic warcry while his [Sloth] threw punches at the iing arrows, leaving dozens of afterimages .

    One punch for one arrow .

    Five punches for five arrows .

    Ten arrows .

    Twenty arrows .

    *DONK*

    One of the twenty arrows fell and knocked off Tong¡¯s helmet .

    Thirty arrows .

    Forty arrows .

    *SOEK*

    *SOEK*

    Two of the arrows from the front pierced Tong center chest through the armor, digging into his flesh and stuck at his ribcage .

    Fifty arrows .

    *SOEK*

    *SOEK*

    One arrow from the abovended on Tong¡¯s right shoulder . The other cut the side of Tong¡¯s right forehead above his left eye . That arrow ricocheted with Tong¡¯s armor and fell on the ground .

    Sixty arrows .

    *SOEK*

    Thest arrow that slipped through the parrying of [Sloth] went through his left chest, piercing through his lung and missed the heart by a couple of centimeters .

    [Sloth] returned into Tong¡¯s body as he had not mastered controlling two bodies at the same time yet . Once the soul reentered the body, Tong¡¯s vision became clear again .

    He swallowed his pain and staggered toward Huang Zhong with five arrows embedded into his body .

    Meanwhile, Huang Zhong stared at Tong as if he saw a monster . The thing just now had parried most of his arrows . Had the guardian spirit not existed, his opponent would have already turned into a porcupine .

    Even though Tong walked toward Huang Zhong one step at a time without defending himself, the archer general did not follow up with another attack . He had already promised that if Tong survived his attacks, Huang Zhong would resign . He wanted to honor that oath .

    "Hansheng! What are you doing!? Kill him!" Huang Zu shouted . He did not understand what Huang Zhong was thinking .

    Xu Huang did not speak anything . He only kept his eyes on Huang Zu, getting ready to charge at this onlooker any time .

    Tong¡¯s slow walking took him to the front of Huang Zhong . His face was covered with blood from the cut on his forehead . Both his eyes were dark red, and his nose was dripping blood . Despite all that, Tong smiled at the general and slowly pointed his gun at Huang Zhong¡¯s face .

    "I survived . It¡¯s my win, right?"

    Huang Zhong chuckled at this young lord . "Indeed . This is my defeat . "

    Tong lowered his gun . "I hope you can fulfill our bet, general . "

    "Of course . " Answered Huang Zhong as he continued giving Tong a bitter smile . This archer general was satisfied, but he was worried about Tong¡¯s condition . From the looks of it, Tong would die soon .

    ¡¯Zhang Tong, son of Zhang Jiao . I¡¯ll remember your name . ¡¯

    Huang Zhong thought that Tong sacrificed his life to get the victory in this duel so that his men would not have to fight in this war . If this young lord could go this far for his soldiers, how could he be the cold-blooded rebel as the Emperor said in the edict? He felt guilty and ashamed for fighting for the corrupted Emperor and killed this chivalrous young lord .

    He felt pity for Tong¡¯s future .

    ¡¯A good person always dies young . ¡¯

    Huang Zhong bit his lower lips as he stared into the eyes of Tong . He wanted to engrave Tong¡¯s face into his memories as the face of a hero .

    "The victor can ask the loser anything . What do you want me to do?" Huang Zhong asked .

    "The victor is not decided yet! Hansheng, what are you doing!?" Huang Zu protested .

    "Noisy!"

    Huang Zhong shouted back and locked his killing intend on hisrade . The pressure of this archer general was on the same level as Lu Bu, which weaken Huang Zu¡¯s legs and made his horse neighed in a panic .

    The intimidation of Huang Zhong was effective . However, Huang Zu was stubborn . He drew his bow and fired at Tong before anyone could react .

    "You!" Huang Zhong wanted to block the arrow, but he was toote . The arrow passed him .

    ¡¯Regen! Time Stop!¡¯

    With two activations at the same time, Tong blinked and reappeared behind as he stood on the back of his horse, with a gun pointing on Huang Zu¡¯s head . All wound on his body and the arrows, which embedded onto his body, disappeared .

    "You know, if it weren¡¯t for him and the bet agreement, I would have killed you . "

    Huang Zhong, Xu Huang, and Huang Zu were shocked . This sorcery was too miraculous that their logic could notprehend it .

    (Author¡¯s note: too many Huang . I cringed . )

    Staring at Tong for a while, Huang Zhong realized something . The dying sign on Tong was no more . Also, he did not use those sorceries during the duel .

    "Zhang Tong, if you had used those sorceries on me from the beginning, you would have won easily . Why didn¡¯t you do it?" Huang Zhong asked .

    "This is a gentlemen¡¯s duel . Why should I use my power in a fight between mortals? Will you use a sharp-edged weapon when your opponent uses a wooden stick in apetition of skills?"

    Hearing Tong¡¯s answer, Huang Zhong burst intoughter while Xu Huang had a wry smile on his face while he thought, ¡¯You said you didn¡¯t use your power, but what in the heaven was that guardian spirit? You still cheated, my lord . ¡¯

    Huang Zhong swiped his tears from theugh .

    "Indeed . That was fun . Well, what do you want me to do? You won, I lost . I have to follow your order . "

    Tong pondered while he still stood on the horse behind Huang Zu .

    ¡¯Can I ask him to join me right away?¡¯

    ¡¯No, that won¡¯t work . Huang Zhong has a family back in Xiangyang . If he defects right now, his family members will be killed by Liu Biao . ¡¯

    ¡¯I have to dy the invitation for now . Recruiting legends are troublesome . Oh, wait! I can still use that trick . ¡¯

    An idea popped up inside Tong¡¯s brain . He smiled at Huang Zhong and said .

    "For now, please be my hostage until the Imperial troops withdraw from Liyang territory . "

    Huang Zhong shrugged as he did not mind it . "Alright, but get me a good physician to treat my wounds . I still want to have another rematch with you . "

    "Not a problem . I¡¯m also a physician apprentice . I can look at your wounds . "

    While the twoidback duelists chatted in a friendly manner, Xu Huang and Huang Zu observed them with an awkward smile .

    ¡¯They were killing each other a few minutes ago . How could they get along so fast!?¡¯

    ...

    ...

    Tong and Xu Huang guided Huang Zhong to Liyang City while Huang Zu returned to Liu Biao with bad news .

    When Liu Biao heard the news about Huang Zhong¡¯s defeat and that general became Tong¡¯s hostage, he shook his head .

    "A golden opportunity, yet a shocking discovery . I don¡¯t me him for losing to that sorcerer Zhang Tong . "

    Liu Biao did not get angry at Huang Zu or Huang Zhong . The opponent was too mysterious and powerful . Losing to him in a fair duel and this war was justified . Besides, Liu Biao was not a harsh warlord . He often forgave his subordinates for mistakes and blunders if the reason was eptable .

    As Liu Biao was about to open his mouth and order the army to retreat to Luo Yang, a messenger rushed in with an urgent report .

    "Report! Our granaries at the camp are on fire! An unknown army raid our camp while we¡¯re here!"

    The corner of Liu Biao¡¯s eyebrows twitched . That raid was unnecessary as he was nning to back away from this battlefield .

    "Haiz, I know . Give my order to everyone . We¡¯ll withdraw back to Luo Yang . "

    "Y-Yes, general!"</your></if></your></your></your></your>

 Chapter 194

    Chapter 194

    Chapter 194 ¨C Movements in the West

    South of the Imperial Army support camp, a thousand horsemen were gazing at the burning granaries . They did not carry any g to identify themselves as they came here in secret .

    This group of soldiers was to one that razed Liu Biao¡¯s granaries .

    The leader of these cavalries read the reports from his scouts with a frown . While he was contemting something, a horseman at his side with a well-equipped armor approached him .

    He had a sharp oval face and toned skins as he was a seasoned warrior . His trimmed ck beard and mustache made his expression fierce and mature, yet he still looked attractive to women .

    "Mengde, what does it say?" The horseman asked .

    Cao Cao, the leader of this group of cavalries, tossed the report he read at the horseman and said, "I¡¯ll summarize it in short . We underestimated Zhang Tong . All ns have to be reconsidered . "

    "Huh?"

    The horseman was Xiahou Dun, a cousin of Cao Cao and his trusted subordinate .

    Xiahou Dun grabbed the report and read it . He opened his eyes wide in astonishment and looked at Cao Cao .

    "This is a joke, right?"

    The reports were a summary of Tong¡¯s recent military activities, starting from the forced march to Ye City to thetest duel agreement . The details were also precise as the number of Tong¡¯s remaining active soldiers and the Imperial Army active soldiers were in there .

    Cao Cao attempted to simte a scenario if he were Tong in the same situation, he could note up with a n to get a better or the same result that Tong had achieved .

    An army of 60,000 men taking down a city and the coalition force of 250,000 men was impossible for him . Even worse, Tong lost only one-fifth of his men after the skirmishes while the Imperial Army suffered severe blows one after another .

    To Cao Cao, these brilliant moves by Tong from start to finish scared him .

    Furthermore, there was a secret report about the identities of otherworlders and their unique skills . Cao Cao immediately connected this intelligence with unusual individuals like Liu Ping and Zhang Tong . He also grasped the information of Sun Jian¡¯s adopted son, Sun Fang, and his wife, Li Jing .

    Fighting with the warlords would be difficult enough for him, but challenging immortals like Tong and the others was an impossible task that Cao Cao had no confidence that he could seed .

    "No, we¡¯repeting with more than one immortal, Yuanrang . "

    "Are you certain?"

    "No other exnation . I believe in the results I see . "

    "So, what will you do? Will you still fight them?"

    Cao Cao closed his eyes and pondered again . He answered as he still closed his eyes, "We¡¯ll make our decision based on the result of this war . If Liu Ping wins, we¡¯ll stick to the n . If Zhang Tong wins, we¡¯ll rework our n from the beginning . "

    Xiahou Dun stared at his cousin . He wanted to know why Cao Cao wished to raise a private army in this turbulent time .

    "What are you trying to achieve from this, Mengde?"

    Cao Cao opened his eyes . They were sad and depressed eyes which carried many otherplex emotions within .

    "I want to reform this country and restore peace for the people ..."

    ...

    ...

    Back in time, October 7th .

    Zhang He, Ju Shou, and their 10,000 men snuck to Henei City as nned . They rushed to the city gate while they waved their "Bao" surname gs .

    "That¡¯s our ally! Their uniform and their gs are from the Imperial Army . Open the gate!"

    As soon as the guards on the wall saw the gs, they opened the gate to receive them .

    Seeing the opened gate, Zhang He galloped to the front of the line and shouted the words that Jia Xu had him recite .

    "KILL! FOR LORD DONG ZHUO!"

    "SHAAAA!!"

    The ten thousand horsemen rushed into the city while the guards looked at them in confusion and panicked .

    "T-They¡¯re attacking!"

    "Close the gate!"

    "Damn it! Dong Zhuo betrayed us!!"

    It was toote for the garrison force to react . All Zhang He¡¯s men had entered the city and unleashed hell .

    Because Wang Kuang, the governor of Henei Commandery, left the city with all his generals, nobles, and private troops, there were only a thousand militias inside the city .

    The city fell under the leadership of Ju Shou and Zhang He in two hours, and the surviving militia guards surrendered with resentment eyes .

    Zhang He approached the surviving prisoners and said, "Be grateful to our Lord, Dong Zhuo! If it weren¡¯t for him, all of you would have been dead!"

    The militias spat as they heard such a hypocritical remark .

    "What grateful, you traitor!"

    "Damn you and screw that Dong Zhuo!"

    Zhang He snorted at the prisoners and ignored them . His job had beenpleted .

    Meanwhile, Ju Shou also led the men to ransack the city¡¯s treasuries .

    "Take all the gold and coins, leave the useless vases and the others!"

    "Take all the provisions! Sack the houses of nobles, but leave the peasants¡¯ houses alone!"

    The ten thousand men acted like bandits . They rushed into noble manors and plundered all of their gold and food . Strangely, they did not ravish, kill, or harm civilians .

    A portion of the men rushed into the city¡¯s barrack, stealing weapons and soldier uniforms .

    Before the sunset, these ruffians left the city, leaving the confusion and the mess behind .

    "Bastard!"

    "Curse your mother, Dong Zhuo!"

    The families of the nobles cursed after the leaving soldiers . They swore that they would never be on the same page as Dong Zhuo and his men ever again .

    Meanwhile, Zhang He and Ju Shou continued their operation .

    "What¡¯s the next move, Sir Ju Shou?"

    Although Jia Xu told Tong that they would upy Henei to cut off the Imperial armies supply lines, it was a false info that Jia Xu intentionally leaked to fool the potential ally, Dong Zhuo, and any spy that was still lurking inside Tong¡¯s troops .

    Jia Xu and Ju Shou had had a detailed discussion before their deployment . Only Ju Shou knew about Jia Xu¡¯s true aim . This venomous strategist only gave Ju Shou the general ns while Ju Shou had the authority to improvise .

    Both strategists did not want to im Henei from the very beginning . They wanted to use this city as a bargaining chip and sabotage Dong Zhuo¡¯s reputation in the long run . The city that they were eyeing on was Shangdang of Zhang Yang, which was a better strategic location to establish a foothold for the future expansion toward the south and the capital city .

    However, since they were at it, Ju Shou believed that it would not hurt to steal a bit of wealth from this city¡¯s nobles, treasuries, and granaries .

    "We take everything to Shangdang . First, let¡¯s change our uniform and the gs . Switch our gs to "Wang" and the uniform into Henei Force . "

    ...

    ...

    October 14th .

    Shangdang City . South of Jinyang and west of Ye City .

    Liu Ping sat on the main seat in the government hall, attending the military assembly .

    Last month, this young Emperor had sent an edict to the governor of Jinyang and ordered Ding Yuan to tribute his resources and soldiers to his crusade army . Now, he was listening to the reply letter of Ding Yuan, reading by an official of this city .

    [I, Ding Yuan, had served the Han Empire for all my life . This time, I shall do something that goes against my loyalty .

    I have to apologize to Your Majesty! I will not tribute my resources and my men into this fight!

    The famine this year hurts our economy and our food supply storage . I¡¯m afraid that I cannot help Your Majesty for your ambition as I have to ensure the livelihood of the peasants and the soldiers of my city!

    You may bypass my city to Julu if you wish, but my city gate will be closed! We have our hands full dealing with the border and the barbarian tribes . We shall not join you in this conflict!]

    The official read the letter with trembling voice . He did not dare to look upward to nce at the Emperor .

    *BANG*

    Liu Ping flipped the small table in front of him over out of anger . His superman strength sent the table flying to the ceiling, crashing it into small pieces .

    "That damn Ding Yuan . Is he rebelling!?" Liu Ping roared out . His voice echoed in the hall .

    "Please appease your anger, Your Majesty . Ding Yuan is known to be a loyal minister . He must have his reason to decline an Imperial Edict . " Wang Yun attempted to calm this youth .

    Every official nodded as they agreed to Wang Yun¡¯s words . They also knew about Ding Yuan¡¯s character .

    Liu Ping snorted and sat down . He was still frustrated by the rejection .

    "And what can we do to solve our food supply shortage!"

    The Emperor realized he had made a huge blunder in this campaign . He was too optimistic about this year harvest and did not calcte the provision consumption of his massive troops!

    Liu Ping stole Dong Zhuo¡¯s 150,000 conscripted militias with no military background . Wang Kuang took 50,000bined forces of garrison soldiers, private soldiers from nobles, and mercenaries along from Henei City .

    Shangdang Governor, Zhang Yang, and all his generals and nobles also wanted to tag along with Liu Ping in this crusade against Zhang Jiao of Julu . The eyes of these nobles were clouded with greed and ambition . They wished to take this chance to reap some benefits and achievements for their careers .

    As a result, they rallied 50,000bined armies of various organizations and joined Liu Ping¡¯s coalition as well .

    The total of 250,000 soldiers would be marching to Julu!

    The number was impressive . Unfortunately, because of the miscalction in the provision supply and the plummetted harvests, everyone would starve if Liu Ping and his entourage did not do something before the end of November .

    Therefore, Liu Ping came up with a n . He wanted to move to Jinyang first to ask for Ding Yuan¡¯s supplies as he heard that this city had stocked plenty of supplies for the frontline troops at the border .

    s, the reckless Emperor was disappointed again . Ding Yuan refused to tribute a few tons of grains, and he would not participate in this crusade as they had to defend the border .

    "Lu Zhi! Youe up with a n, or I¡¯ll kill everyone in your family!"

    Everybody in the hall looked at Lu Zhi with pity and sympathy . He was once a high-ranking official with prestige and honor . However, all of them knew that Lu Zhi had a close tie with Zhang Tong as they were mentor and disciple .

    Right now, he was a hostage and a death row prisoner who would be killed the moment they reached Julu . Moreover, his family members were also being held captive by Liu Ping . Lu Zhi was always forced to utilize his talent for the Emperor against his will . If he were to refuse, heads of his rtives would roll .

    Lu Zhi stared at Liu Ping in solemn . He did not reveal his anger or despair . On the contrary, his eyes were full of hope .

 Chapter 195

    Chapter 195

    Chapter 195 ¨C Lu Zhi¡¯s Hope

    Behind Lu Zhi¡¯s back, the guards, which was responsible for keeping watch on Lu Zhi, were Lu Zhi¡¯srade and Tong¡¯s subordinates . Zhou Cang and his men were there!

    Tong had sent Zhou Cang and a thousand elites as Lu Zhi¡¯s bodyguards when he parted Julu . However, Lu Zhi was arrested with his family members while Zhou Cang and the others were resting in their lodgings, so Liu Ping did not know about these people .

    Zhou Cang learned about Lu Zhi¡¯s arrestter . They used their skills as trained elites and infiltrated into Liu Ping¡¯s royal guard ranks . They easily passed through the Imperial drill tests and became a toon of Liu Ping¡¯s bodyguards with his one thousand men . At the moment, they were the very toon that took charge of watching over Lu Zhi and his family members .

    "Your Majesty . This problem is very simple . You just have to continue marching to Julu in winter . "

    Liu Ping red at Lu Zhi in distrust . "Do you think I¡¯m stupid!? Trekking through the mountains to Jinyang in winter is a suicide! Do you think I don¡¯t know what you scheme!?"

    Right now at Jinyang, it had started snowing, and the paths were filled with white snow . The march would be slower than the usual, and the food consumption would be double . The risk ofndslide or an avnche was there as well .

    "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood me . The food problem can be resolved by just continue marching . As we move, we will run into wild animals and forest food . In winter, I heard that bears are hibernating in caves around these mountains . We can hunt them while they are sleeping in the caves for our food . "

    The crowd murmured and nodded as they were impressed by the idea . Hunting had been their main activities since the warring state period . Even nobles went out in the wild to hunt deer or other animals for meat . Hunting for provisions was a logical solution .

    However, Liu Ping frowned . As a person from the 21st-century, such a primitive way to secure food for the army would not be efficient . They might get meats from wild animals, but how long they could maintain their food sources was the question . Besides, there were limited resources of meat, and they could not expect to feed 250,000 men with wild animals and the entire forests¡¯ vegetables and fruits .

    "Do you think hunting a few bears will be enough to supply ourrge army?" Liu Ping asked .

    "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood me again . We will not give food to ordinary soldiers, but we will give these valuable meats to those that deserve it . We shall employ a contribution system . Soldiers and militias in this trip have to contribute to the hunt and searching for food, or they will not get their provision! We won¡¯t be supplying thosezy bums that only knew how to sleep and eat in the barracks!"

    ps and cheers resounded in the government hall . Theziness of the soldiers, guards, and militias were a problem that could not be cured . There would always be groups of waste or ouws that leeched the provision of the military . With this system, those parasites had to work to earn their keeps .

    Liu Ping still did not like Lu Zhi¡¯s answer . He even wanted to refute, but no word came out of his mouth . Seeing the agreeing officials around him, he had to yield as there was no other alternative option .

    "You will be responsible for the contribution system you brought up! Remember, by chances that we don¡¯t have enough provision for our troops at the end of November . I will cook your family members and gave their meat to our men!"

    The officials stopped cheering and gulped . Their face paled as they thought about the scene where they had to eat fellow humans as food . All of them shook their head while they gazed at Lu Zhi, begging him not to ept this task .

    "I shall do my best, Your Majesty . " Lu Zhi answered with the usual poker-face .

    ...

    After the assembly, Lu Zhi was escorted by Zhou Cang and his men to the main military camp so that he could employ his contribution system .

    During the walk, Zhou Cang whispered to Lu Zhi, "Strategist Jia Xu sent us a detail of the operation [Mountain Hammer] . The letter is in your back pouch . "

    Lu Zhi nodded . "This Jia Xu is my disciple¡¯s new officer, huh?"

    "Probably, I also don¡¯t know about him until our spies contacted me . "

    Lu Zhi chuckled . "If he can reach us, then he won¡¯t be a simple man . "

    Deep down inside, Lu Zhi was proud of Tong .

    Being a Lord did not mean he had to quietly sit on the throne inside the city hall all-day doing mundane tasks for the rest of his life . He had to expand his influence and attract more talents to be his subordinates so that he could reach a new height .

    All legendary figures, such as Liu Bang or Xiang Yu, had godly talented officers behind them as they, too, had exceptional charisma as a feudal liege .

    Having such an exceptional talent like Jia Xu was a proof that Tong was about to walk the same path as those legends .

    ¡¯My eyes weren¡¯t wrong . Zhang Tong is doing well . ¡¯

    ¡¯I want to see him grow . I want to see how his path unfold!¡¯

    A desire had awakened in his heart . A new ambition that never existed in the depth of his mind was born and reced his loyalty to the Han Empire .

    ¡¯I want to see him sitting on the dragon throne!¡¯

    ¡¯I want to see the country he creates!¡¯

    ¡¯I want to see ... his future!¡¯

    Tears welled in Lu Zhi¡¯s eyes as he had aplicated emotion . He knew that his time was short because he was already in his 40s . He would not be able to live long enough to see the unification of the new country or how this civil war would end . Besides, he also worried about his family .

    Zhou Cang could tell what this minister was thinking . He tapped Lu Zhi¡¯s shoulder .

    "Don¡¯t worry, Sir Lu . We¡¯ll rescue your family! We¡¯ll break free from him when we have a chance!"

    Lu Zhi nodded as he wiped away the tears in his eyes .

    "Ah, please do . "

    Zhou Cang met the eyes of his subordinates and mustered his courage to ask . "By the way, sir . We have something we wanted to ask you for a long time . "

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "After this is over, can you teach us how to write? I meant it¡¯s embarrassing being nobles without knowing letters . "

    The subordinates of Zhou Cang withheld theirugh . Zhou Cang¡¯s illiterate was his weakness that they knew .

    Lu Zhi burst intoughter hearing it . "Sure, why not! Well, how about this . When we get back, I¡¯ll open a school in Julu, and you guys will be my first public students!"

    ...

    October 15th .

    Liu Ping and his entourages left this city today in a hurry .

    At first, everyone wanted to rest their troops in Shangdang until the winter passed, allowing the neighbor lords to tribute their grains to the army in Shangdang . However, Liu Ping nned to use the overwhelming military might to extort supplies from Ding Yuan once he and his followers reached there .

    Furthermore, he wanted toplete his soulmate quest as soon as possible as he did not have enough lifespans to sustain his longevity . He wanted to maintain his [Super Human] skill cheat . At the same time, he wanted to be an immortal in this world to enjoy the infinite privilege and pleasure of the Emperor .

    Lu Zhi and his family were also dragged along the march . All of them was locked inside a prison caravan which was used to cage animals and ves .

    As usual, Zhou Cang and his men escorted the caravan with great attention . They did not want any outsiders to touch these people .

    There were ruffians and rowdy soldiers that attempted to vite the women in Lu Zhi¡¯s household, but Zhou Cang and his men always were always there for them, protecting these innocents from the hands of crooked officials and soldiers .

    While the protection squad was walking beside the cage, they were being watched by Liu Ping¡¯s men as well . Zhou Cang and Lu Zhi could not talk in public, so they pretended to do their roles and kept their mouth shut .

    Suddenly

    "ACHOOOOHEWHEW!"

    A subordinate of Zhou Cang at the front of the cage caravan sneezed as if he shouted . The roaring sneeze got the attention of every onlooker .

    In that split second, Zhou Cang slipped in a small wooden fan into the cage while he was walking beside it . He pretended to scratch the back of his fist and patted his shoulder armor . It was a private gesturingmunication between Lu Zhi and Zhou Cang that they had prepared beforehand if they wanted to deliver messages .

    Lu Zhi took the fan into his sleeves and continued to pretend to look as if he was in despair .

    Inside the fan, there was a small roll of papyrus paper in it .

    [A task force from Jia Xu ising to Shangdang in 5 days . Zhang He wille for you . ]

    It was simple short messages, but it carried much weight .

 Chapter 196

    Chapter 196

    Chapter 196 ¨C Shangdang Taken

    October 19th .

    The march to Jinyang was slow and arduous . They had to trek through valleys, mountain paths, and forest on the mountains . Moreover, the weather was torturing the soldiers . The cold temperature of 0 degrees Celsius and the raining snow hampered the speed of the march .

    Contrary to the freezing weather, forest games that Lu Zhi had tricked Liu Ping could be found as they had proceeded further . Wild wolves and bears roamed around these mountains at this time, searching for preys . This month was like thest chance for these animals to stock up food before December when snowstorm or blizzard was frequent in these areas .

    To the wolves, arge army of Liu Ping did not intimidate them . Instead, they saw it as arge pack of preys that could be hunted as food . Severalrge groups of wolves stalked the trail of the troops, waiting for the stragglers to iste themselves .

    Meanwhile, the Imperial Army utilized Lu Zhi¡¯s contribution system . They searched and hunted these animals as their extra food as they marched into the wilderness .

    Because of the interest of the Imperial troops and the wild predators, they hunted each other . Small battles broke out everywhere as the soldiers proceed to the north .

    In the aftermath, Liu Ping Army prevailed in the fight of the fittest . The inexperienced soldiers had baptism from this fight and gained some insight from it, but a dozen reckless soldiers left their lives here forever as they became the food for the beasts .

    However, as Liu Ping had suspected, the natural resources were limited . After four days of marching and hunting, they could not find any wild animal .

    "That Lu Zhi really tricked me! I¡¯ll fOOking kill his entire family!"

    Liu Ping was furious once he heard that they could not find any animal in the surrounding areas . He ignored his bootlickers and galloped his horse back to the caravans where Lu Zhi¡¯s family members were imprisoned .

    Before he could reach the cages of the hostages, an urgent report came from a panic messenger .

    "URGENT REPORT! DONG ZHUO HAS BETRAYED US . HENEI CITY HAS FALLEN! THEY HAD TAKEN THE CITY!!"

    "WHAT!?"

    Liu Ping paused and red at the messenger . He jumped down from his horse and grabbed the forehead of the panicked messenger and gave a light squeeze .

    "Say that again! What has happened!?"

    "Y-Y-Your Majesty! Henei City has fallen! Dong Zhuo colluded with the rebels and attacked Henei City!"

    Hearing the sudden shocking news, the brain of the young Emperor stopped processing for a whole minute . He had never expected Dong Zhuo to be this gutsy by betraying him at the first opportunity he had .

    ¡¯What¡¯s the point of rebelling against me right now? His political influence is not even solid . By taking over the Capital, he will suffer bacshes from the people and the nobles ... Damn it! I forgot about his character!¡¯

    Liu Ping also learned about the historical events in the Three Kingdoms Period, and he was meticulous when he was using Dong Zhuo . He deliberately sent this fat tyrant with the two loyalists of the previous Emperor so that Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song could keep Dong Zhuo in check .

    Yet, Dong Zhuo still managed to return and bared fangs at Liu Ping .

    Liu Ping let go of the messenger, and ordered him, "Summon Wang Kuang and Zhang Yang . I have important tasks for them . "

    Half hourster after Liu Ping had summoned the men, the two governors showed up before Liu Ping .

    "Dong Zhuo has betrayed us and took over Henei City . I think he¡¯s trying to iste us from our supply line from the Capital . I want both of you to dispatch your men and reim the city as soon as possible . "

    The face of Wang Kuang paled as a white sheet . Henei City was under his jurisdiction . If the city fell into the enemy¡¯s hand, his position as the governor of Henei would mean nothing, and his noble status would be only in name .

    "I¡¯ll take all of my men and reim my city at once!" Wang Kuang shouted in a panic .

    "I¡¯ll also go!" Zhang Yang also followed suit .

    Both governors were about back to their army as they nned to take all their men to Henei City, However ...

    "Hold it!" Liu Ping stopped them .

    "Your Majesty?"

    "Each of you is only allowed to take a week of provisions from the main support unit! Leave the rest of the food with the main army!"

    "Your Majesty, but it takes half a month to go back to Henei ..." Wang Kuang protested .

    "There are still grains inside Shangdang City and the nearby viges! I don¡¯t care how you procure your resources . It¡¯s your business, not mine! The food in the main support unit is for the main army!"

    The two governors sucked in cold air as they regretted following this tyrant Emperor . Most of Liu Ping¡¯s current provision was from theirs, but this young dictator stole it and shamelessly imed it his own .

    Feeling helpless, they bowed down and epted their short-sighted and returned to their men with a sullen expression of their faces .

    Meanwhile, Liu Ping was so infuriated that he forgot about Lu Zhi¡¯s matter . He rode toward Wang Yun and ordered him .

    "You take a few trustworthy men and a battalion . Go back to Luo Yang and protect the Capital from Dong Zhuo!"

    Wang Yun gazed at the Emperor in confusion .

    "Dong Zhuo backstabbed us . He sieged Henei city and cut our supply line!" Liu Ping passed over the news .

    "Wha-!?"

    "You¡¯re the only one I can trust right now . I¡¯ve told those greedy governors to reim Henei with their army, but the Capital was still vulnerable to the uprising from the within . I want you to return there and take care of our logistic supply lines . "

    Liu Ping passed his Imperial Seal and the royalty¡¯s golden sword to Wang Yun .

    "From now on, you¡¯ll be my representative during the time I¡¯m away . Go and announce to the public that Diao Chan will be the next Empress once shees of age . "

    Hearing he would be the father-inw for the Emperor, Wang Yun was ted . He bowed and swore that he would meet Liu Ping expectation before he left .

    Wang Kuang and Zhang Yang took 100,000 men back, and Wang Yun took 20,000 to Luo Yang . Currently, Liu Ping had 130,000 soldiers with his main army .

    "Move out! We want to reach Jinyang in a week! If I find anyone cking, I¡¯ll execute that bastard¡¯s nine generations!"

    ...

    ...

    October 20th .

    Shangdang City .

    The massive army of Liu Ping left along with all soldiers from nobles and mercenaries, leaving only a thousand garrison militias behind . The city became quiet and tranquil after the army left as it was winter, and most farmers did not have a side-job . The unemployment issues weremon in this era .

    Unlike the usual military mobilization where Governors usually conscripted peasants to save budgets and military funds, all nobles and Zhang Yang took their private soldiers away with them .

    Because of Liu Ping and his crusade, these nobles seized this chance to contribute to the Han Court in this war to gain achievements and promotions . Therefore, they did not like the idea of having peasants in this royal armies, so they did not conscript the militias .

    As a result, unemployed farmers and peasants roamed the streets, begging for food . A few lucky peasants managed to store food for the winter . They shut themselves in their home, waiting for the winter to pass .

    Everything changed today .

    ...

    An army of ten thousand men with the gs of "Wang" approached the Shangdang from the south of the city . All thousand militias were panicked as they thought they were attacked, and most civil officials ran back to their residents, getting ready to evacuate from the city .

    A lone rider rushed from the army while he was waving his white gs .

    "Who goes there!? Identify yourself!" The guard captain on the wall shouted .

    "Zhang He of Henei! We¡¯re the logistic troops from Henei City . We¡¯re delivering our food to the Imperial Army on the frontline, but we wish to rest in this city before we continue our journey . Please let us enter!"

    "Why haven¡¯t I heard about this schedule? Let me see yourmand token!"

    "Is this the one?" Zhang He shed an engraved token which he stole from Henei government hall . He tossed it to the guard captain on top of the wall .

    The guard caught it and examined the token . A dozen brave officials were also there to see the situation and helped the guards checking the token authenticity .

    "Yeah, good work! Open the gate!" An official confirmed the token .

    The gate opened slowly, but the guards still wield their bows and arrows, getting ready to shoot if necessary .

    "Thank you, sir! We shall enter the city peacefully . Please don¡¯t shoot at us!" Zhang He shouted at them which made the militia guards taken aback .

    "They¡¯re probably legit . Look at his manner . " The guards gossiped while they were watching the iing army .

    Everything was good as they had expected . The ten thousand men did not show a sign of aggression as they marched into the city peacefully . In addition, they brought supplies, coins, and gold along with them .

    The guards on the wall let their guard down as they thought Zhang He and his men were the supply convoys which were parts of Wang Kuang¡¯s men .

    Zhang He and Ju Shou led this army into the inner city without anyone stopping them .

    While they were passing through the city, the soldiers of Zhang He gave food to the beggars and smiled at the citizens, giving them a good impression . The peasants who saw the military parade and their deeds praised them .

    The townspeople gazed at these soldiers in admiration . A few schrs and literate merchants looked at the gs of this army to see who the leader was .

    Instead of seeing "Wang" character on the gs, they saw the yellow gs of "Zhang" and "Ju . "

    The guard captains who protected the gate were confused . When they saw this army approaching, the gs were "Wang . " However, once they got inside, the gs changed to "Zhang" and "Ju . "

    Although it was unusual and they felt something was wrong, they did not stop or resist this army since they had not drawn their weapons or shown a sign of aggression . They were merely conscripted militias who epted this job to leech the government¡¯s sry, so they did not care about the politics or who would be their new lord .

    "The city is probably taken . But who cares, right?"

    "They didn¡¯t kill us . That¡¯s a good point . "

    "Yup, I don¡¯t think they are bad guys . Just leave this headache to the higher up . "

    "Yup, yup!"

    On the other hand, the officials on the wall sweat bullets as they realized that they had been tricked .

    "C-Can you fight them . " An official nervously asked the gate captain .

    "Nope . We have a thousand men while they have more . Do you think we¡¯re stupid? We won¡¯t suicide for you lots! Go deal with it yourself . "

    "B-Bastard! You¡¯re fired! All of you are fired! Guards arrest him! Wait, arrest yourselves, all of you!"

    The guards were stunned for a moment before they snickered .

    "What are youughing at!?"

    "We¡¯reughing at you . You¡¯re the one who¡¯s fired, idiot!"

    The guards proceeded to behead all officials on the wall and hid their corpses to conceal their crimes .

 Chapter 197

    Chapter 197

    Chapter 197 ¨C Operation Mountain Hammer

    As soon as Ju Shou arrived at the central government hall, he sat on the main government seat .

    "Summon all government workers and all remaining officials in this city . Should anyone resists, arrest them . "

    "Second order, change all gs of this city . We will use our yellow "Zhang" gs instead of the purple ones . All this city military attires will have to change into our designated uniforms . "

    ...

    It did not take long before all officials gathered . When they arrived at the central government building and saw the yellow gs with the word "Zhang," they were confused .

    "Isn¡¯t our lord¡¯s gs purple?"

    "Why are these yellow?"

    Their questions were answered the moment they saw Ju Shou, Zhang He, and hundreds of burly soldiers inside the hall . Looking at their different armor sets and their clothing, they knew that the city was secretly taken by this group of men .

    "I knew that you¡¯re confused, so I¡¯ll keep it short . This city has been taken by our Lord, Zhang Tong . I want all of you to choose if you want to surrender unconditionally, or you will be expelled with your families . "

    The officials gulped .

    Ju Shou affirmed again to quicken their decision, "I¡¯ll give you one incense stick time to decide . Anyone who wants to surrender, walk toward the guards on my left and report your name and your address . Our soldiers will inspect your residenceter, and we shall inform you what to do next . "

    "However, if you don¡¯t want to surrender to us, you can report yourselves to the officers on my right . We will have our men escort you and your family out of this city . We will not harm you unless you resist . "

    The officers and government workers panicked and murmured . Their eyes widened, and their faces paled . They were so shocked that they could not make a decision .

    "Screw you and your Lord!" An official protested, "Do you think we¡¯re herbivores!? We will not surre-*SOEK* . "

    However, before he could finish his sentences, a guard stabbed him with his spear through the official¡¯s back . The tips of the spear appeared from his chest along with his blood .

    The soldier pulled his spear back and returned to his previous position, ring at the remaining officials .

    "Please choose wisely . " The soldier said in a soft voice .

    The murmur stopped like magic . Every eye was on the corpse of the protested official and the soldiers around them . Seeing the blood pool below the body of the dead officials, every civil officer trembled .

    ...

    Within a day, Ju Shou consolidated Shangdang Commandery into Tong¡¯s system . All private forces of the nobles were transfer to the central military camp in peace while the stubborn nobles were chased outside of the wall and were left to their fates .

    By the end of the day, the original troops of 10,000 men increased to 15,000 men by absorbing the remaining noble private forces and the city garrison forces .

    Although Ju Shou stole the troops from the local nobles, he had not touched the merchants yet as the foundation of this city was not as stable as Julu . There was a lot of work to do in this city .

    ...

    October 23rd .

    A messenger showed up in front of the north gate of Shangdang City . He was wearing a uniform of Jinyang military soldier with grey clothes, and he carried the messages from Ding Yuan .

    The messenger passed the letter to Ju Shou .

    [I am Li Feihong, the military strategist of Jinyang Commandery Army . I¡¯m assuming that Sir Jia Xu had already told you about the "Operation Mountain Hammer" details so I will keep it short .

    Our task force is currently under the disguise of Xiangnu barbarians, and we are lurking around in your vicinity . Should your scouts detected us, please ignore our existence and pretend you see nothing .

    Secondly, I¡¯m sending this letter here to inform you that Liu Ping has sent a force of 120,000 men to reim Henei City, which they should show up in front of your city tomorrow . We want you to reveal your identities and fortify the city, so we can deal with these Liu Ping troops from the back to help you .

    By the way, if our general happens to show up in front of your gate and demands wines and food, I will have to apologize in advance . Please let him and his men inside andply with his demands before he gets angry, or he will create a mess again . ]

    Ju Shou read the letter and recollected his thought . He passed the note to Zhang He while he was thinking about what he should do next .

    ...

    The [Operation Mountain Hammer] involved Julu Army and Jinyang Army . In this operation, all troops in Julu would be transferred to Jinyang while Jinyang Army, leading by Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun, had to sneak behind Liu Ping¡¯s marching army while dressing as Xiangnu barbarians .

    If Liu Ping requested Ding Yuan¡¯s assistance by any form, Ding Yuan had to refuse it even if it was unreasonable or it was an edict from the Emperor himself . They had to provoke Liu Ping into marching toward Jinyang and leaving Shangdang City behind .

    Once Liu Ping moved toward Jinyang as nned, Lu Bu would have to strike down the rear troops of Liu Ping and destroy all of their supplies for good .

    Meanwhile, Julu forces would deal with Liu Ping¡¯s main force, and withstand the onught until the Imperial forces self-destruct from the weather and theck of supplies .

    However, these were the only beginning parts . There was the other hidden n that Jia Xu did not tell Tong or anyone in Jinyang as the crucial parts lied with Ju Shou and Zhang He .

    Jia Xu had given them a tough homework . First, they had to capture Shangdang City instead of Henei City . The Henei raiding n was a decoy to fool the strategists from the Imperial army if Zhang He and Ju Shou were detected when they trekked through the mountain ranges from Ye City .

    If by chance Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, or Dong Zhuo managed to react and fortify Henei on time, both of them and their 10,000 men would be safe from the detached Imperial forces and moved toward Shangdang as nned .

    Fortunately, such a scenario did not happen . Since the Imperial forces neglected Henei city defense, Ju Shou exploited it and ransacked the city for gold and provisions as he had to authority to improvise .

    Secondly, they had to increase their numbers from 10,000 to 50,000 soldiers at the minimum to block off Liu Ping¡¯s paths of escape .

    In a scenario, if Lu Bu were to fail, both Ju Shou and Zhang He had to rescue Jinyang Army and bring them back to Shangdang .

    This newly established Shangdang Army would be their backup army and a wild card that could hammer a nail to the coffin, which was the reason why this operation was named by [Mountain Hammer] .

    ...

    "General, please conscript more militias from this city . We need at least 50,000 men for the garrison force . "

    Zhang He peered at Ju Shou as the order was a bit excessive, "That¡¯s too sudden, Sir Ju Shou . The city only has a bit over 100,000 people in the poption . Drafting 30,000 more will hurt this city¡¯s economic and the poption growth . "

    Ju Shou sighed, "I don¡¯t want you to draft the militias from the civilians, but I want you to buy over the private troops from the merchants . We have enough gold and coins for it . You know what? Let¡¯s do it this way . Let¡¯s invite all merchants to the main government hall . I will draft a contract for them and deal with the negotiation while you deal with the soldiers . Fair enough?"

    Zhang He nodded . He returned the letter to Ju Shou after he finished reading it and left toplete his duty .

    ...

    Three hourster, merchants from all affiliation gathered at the government hall . Five hundred well-dressed men, which 450 of them were chubby from overeating, and a thousand men with ordinary clothes were presented .

    The fat men were self-proimed nobles who gained their status by their wealth . All of them dibbed their hands into ve trades and shady businesses . As a result, they amassed their wealth quickly and obtained many stores, as well as possessed private troops .

    Meanwhile, the ordinary clothes merchants were the residents of this city . Their wealth was either moderate or self-sufficient, and they only have a dozen or so private guards to protect their businesses . These men were honest businessmen who had never touched the dark side of the underground industries yet .

    Zhang He had told them that they would buy private troops and ves, so the chubby men thought of it as an ordinary ve trade deal by the crooked officials . Thus, they came here with high-expectation to gain good profits from the trade .

    On the other hand, the local merchants came here to observe the deal to learn from the seniors and expand their horizon . They also received Zhang He¡¯s invitation as they had private guards as well .

    "Is everyone here?" Ju Shou asked and passed a small note to Zhang He . It was an instruction of the next n .

    Zhang He looked around . He read the instruction and nodded, "That¡¯s about it . "

    "Good . " Ju Shou cleared his throat and spoke to the crowd, "Gentlemen, I¡¯m the new deputy governor of this city, Ju Shou . I have a few simple requests to ask for your cooperation . Please follow my instruction carefully, and you will reap more benefits from our affiliate cities than you can imagine . "

    Ju Shou paused to examine their facial expression . As Ju Shou had expected, the eyes and faces of the wealthy merchants revealed their greed without having to inspect thoroughly . Meanwhile, the local merchants watched Ju Shou in curiosity .

    Seeing the high-expectation expression of the crowd, Ju Shou continued, "Is there anybody who can make a deal with me regarding ve-trades, money loaning, or prostitution? Anyone who possesses businesses in these categories, please report the officers on my left side . I have a deal for you . "

    Listening to the instruction, 450 men of the 500 wealthy men straddled to the designated officers without hesitation . They got used to dealing with these kinds of businesses, and the officials were always their best customers . The fat merchants followed the instruction with a bright smile .

    "There is a nk scroll for each of you . Please write down your merchandise of the number of goods you will be able to trade with us, the prices of your products, and the address of yourpanies that we can contact you . Once you¡¯re done, you can follow us this way . "

    Zhang He guided all fat merchants away, leaving the remaining 50 merchants and local merchants behind .

    Ju Shou talked to them again, "Gentlemen, congrattions! You are the chosen ones that will work with us from now on . "

    "What do you mean?" A local merchant asked in confusion .

    Ju Shou gave them a cunning smile, "Their businesses will be transferred to you, but we will need you to form a contracted agreement with us first . "

 Chapter 198

    Chapter 198

    Chapter 198 ¨C Emergency Conscription

    Zhang He guided all of them to a private room that Ju Shou prepared for them . It was a closed room with one entrance and no window .

    "The air is quite stale . Are you sure you want to receive us here?" A fat merchant asked .

    "Please bear with it for a short while . Because our deal is somewhat immoral to the public, we can¡¯t let a voice out, or we can risk exposing ourselves to others . You know, we want it a secret . " Zhang He exined as he shut the gate .

    As soon as the door was shut, nobody can hear what happened inside the room .

    Ten minutester, Zhang He opened the door and stepped out of the room . His clothes covered in blood and the room reeked of iron . He closed the door behind him and said to the guards nearby .

    "Don¡¯t clean the room yet . Clean it at night and make sure nobody sees the bodies . "

    "Yes, sir!"

    ...

    Zhang He ordered the city sealed and took his men and visited the merchants¡¯paniester .

    The scene when Julu purged the crooked officials happened again in Shangdang . From 3 PM in the afternoon until the dawn of a new day, Zhang He and 5,000 men raided allpanies in the lists that the 450 merchants stated in the scrolls, confiscating properties and arresting over 10,000 subordinates of the merchants .

    Upon inspection of the warehouses and their goods, they seized 150,000 gold and 100,000 tons of provision . Ten thousand female ves were found in the brothels they owned . These groups of girls were either sold by their families or bought from bandits, who had kidnapped these girls from viges .

    In addition, Ju Shou and Zhang He also arrested mercenaries who worked for the 450 merchants . Each merchantmissioned at least a hundred men as private guards .

    Although Zhang He and his soldiers killed half of these bodyguards, they still gathered up 30,000 people from all surrendered mercenaries .

    The five thousand men of Zhang He were so tired that they copsed the moment the other 5,000 came to changed their shift in the next morning . Running around and raided 450 households in a night was tedious and tiring . Though they separated into small groups to raid differentpanies and households, each of them ended up dealing with more than 30 ces that night .

    Ju Shou gave Zhang He a pat on the back, "You did well . Go and rest . I¡¯ll take it from here . "

    "This tactic reminds me of Jia Xu . That guy didn¡¯t care about allies¡¯ well-being at all . Sir Ju Shou, you almost drove all of us to death . " Zhang He gave Ju Shou a bitter smile .

    "If I had known that Liu Ping would return so soon, I would have asked you to do this earlier at a slower pace . We had wasted three days stabilizing the domestic because of my decision, so I¡¯m sorry about that . But yeah, I don¡¯t like doing this either . It reminds me of that guy . To be honest, I admire his intelligence, but I hate his guts . " Sighed Ju Shou .

    "Ah, me too . "

    "By the way, you¡¯re wrong about one thing . This tactic was originally derived from what our Lord did in Julu . "

    Zhang He drylyughed . It seemed that their Lord and Jia Xu had a simr taste . They were efficient in their field-of-work, but they could be ruthless to allies or themselves at times . He thought of the day when Tong cut off his own arm to disguise as an escaping prisoner . Zhang He was still shocked by his Lord¡¯s resolve to this day .

    ...

    Ju Shou did not have times to rest . In fact, he did not sleepst night . He was busy getting in touch with all cksmiths and bowyers tomission weaponry .

    He transferred the 30,000 captured mercenaries to the city barrack and persuaded them .

    "If you don¡¯t want to be ves, work for this city as soldiers for a year . You will get your sry, stipend, and other rights depending on your position and rank in the army . Should you desert or try to escape, the punishment will be death . "

    During the Han period, there weremonws and a standard punishment for criminals . All male criminals, who were arrested by the government, would be converted into public ves for at least three years . They would be castrated and had properties seized by the government . Once ones became ves, they had to work as servants, cannon fodders in wars, or served asborers in a mine or a farm . Female ves also had it rough as they were often treated as sexual relievers or maids .

    In this era, very still existed, yet it was neither legal nor illegal . Each city government had its own standard andws, depending on the governor¡¯s personality . For a mining city like Jinyang or wealthy cities like Luo Yang, Chang An, or even Ye City, ves weremon . It was even legal to either own or trade private ves .

    Because of the exploitable rules of the government, some abusers and bandits kidnapped townspeople or beautiful young girls to sell them as ves . Many cities in the outskirt areas banned very as they were aware of these practices, but nobles and merchants still dipped their hands into these immoral businesses as private ves, especially young girls, were always in high demand .

    Hearing that they could get their freedom and would not end up as castrated ves, the mercenaries rejoiced . Though working as a soldier at this moment could be risky as there were movements from the Imperial forces, a one year risk period to exchange their forever freedom was worth the gamble .

    Ju Shou also was not a harsh civil officer . He gave these people more hope, "After a year of service, you can choose to retire or continue your services as a military soldier . For those who choose to remain in the army, you will be promoted by one stipend . By chance, if you are talented enough to climb up into a 1000-manmander or a higher status, you will get your noble status as a reward!"

    The captured mercenaries cheered . They were initially hoodlums and triad gangsters with no future . Some of them even failed the basic military tests and did not manage to get into the army . Seeing the bright road ahead of them, they also wished to convert to the right path .

    "I¡¯ll do it . "

    "I¡¯ll join the army!"

    "Don¡¯t castrate me! I¡¯ll join!"

    The coaxing went smoothly, but Ju Shou¡¯s face did not reveal a joyous smile . His gloomy face still intimidated the mercenaries and his bodyguards .

    This recruitment increased this city troop number from 15,000 to 45,000 . However, these 30,000 additional men were ordinary hoodlums without military experiences . It was questionable if they could withstand a siege battle for a day .

    ¡¯I¡¯m out of time . If the letter is right, those Liu Ping¡¯s men will be here today! I don¡¯t have times even to train these guys . I hope that Jinyang Army ispetent . ¡¯

    Ju Shou paused for a minute, then he pped his own face with a loud p, confusing the onlookers .

    ¡¯FOOLISH! I¡¯m a fool! The Lord took an army of 60,000 men alone to face with 250,000 elite troops! What face I have if I can¡¯t aplish this much . If I fail this, I don¡¯t deserve to call myself his loyal subject!¡¯

    Motivated, Ju Shou gazed at the newly recruited 30,000 men and shouted, "It is sudden, but this city will be invaded by the Imperial forces today! If you don¡¯t want to expose your crimes to those bastards, help us protect the city! Do you want to turn a new leaf!?"

    The crowd was shocked . They thought it was going to be an easy redemption program, yet it turned out that they were tricked .

    "Don¡¯t worry about it . For each Imperial soldier that you kill, I will give you one tael of gold! Do you think you can earn ten gold or a hundred in your life working for those greedy merchants? I¡¯ll tell you a secret . In our payroll standard, serving as a 100-manmander in our army, you will earn five taels of gold a month! A thousand-manmander guaranteed 50 gold a month! For a general? Hah, it¡¯s over a hundred gold a month!"

    The former mercenaries sucked in the cold breathe . They knew the value of gold too well . From their direct experiences, such a generous wage could not be found anywhere else . Most of them had an annual sry of one gold a year at the maximum, but working as a soldier for this city could potentially earn more . They did not need anyone to tell them which side was a better choice .

    With the temptation of rich wage and career path, the 30,000 prisoners were willing to be tricked . The military integration went well as these men cooperated with the staff members of the army .

    Ju Shou and the men got stuck at the barrack until noon . They had yet toplete their registration and their toon assignment, but a messenger rushed in to report Ju Shou urgent news .

    "Report! We¡¯ve spotted a massive armying from the north! Their gs are "Wang" and purple "Zhang"!"

    Ju Shou bit his lower lips . His time ran out, and he had to face his fate .

    "Have everyone follow me to the north wall . Don¡¯t bother with the uniform or armor . Just take bows, arrows, and a weapon of your choice . "

    "Umm, sir? I don¡¯t know how to shoot a bow . " A mercenary asked in a nervous tone .

    "You¡¯ll learn it on the job . Take them and go!"

    ...

    ...

    North wall of Shangdang .

    Zhang He was already here since the morning after he hadpleted the raids . He organized the troops to fortify the wall and took a short nap to rejuvenate himself . The moment he heard to scout report, he became wide awake again .

    The general looked at the cloud of white dust on the horizon with a concern .

    ¡¯I hope Ju Shou finished what he wants to do . Ten thousand horsemen can¡¯t possibly withstand an army of 120,000 men . ¡¯

    The fists of Zhang He clenched tight . He recalled the face of Tong and the achievements hepleted in the battle of Anping . The motto that Tong taught him appeared in his mind .

    [Don¡¯t recklessly toss away their lives even if their sacrifices can win you a battle . ]

    [A third-rate general can win a fight, but he will lose most of his men in return . ]

    [A first-rate general will win any battle with minimum loses . ]

    "Through battle, a man can be a hero . "

    "Through death, a hero bes a legend . "

    "My Lord doesn¡¯t want a dead hero . He wants a living legend!"

    "I will be that legend! I¡¯ll be the general worthy of the Immortal King!"

    Zhang He raised his morale . By motivating himself, his clouded mind became clear, and his concentration reached its peak .

    He closed his eyes to recall the geographic of the terrains around this city which he scouted during the past three days . The slopes of mountains, the ground condition, and the snowed farnds, everything he had seen around the city was picturized as maps .

    If Tong could read his mind at the moment, he would have screamed in shock . The pictures that Zhang He saw in his mind were all of his memories in the past .

    Zhang He was not aware of his own innate talent yet .

    He had a photographic memory .

    ...

    ...

    A tall muscr man on a red horse watched over Shangdang City from the mountain top over a kilometer away . His eyes glittered as he discovered something interesting . He smiled andughed .

    "What¡¯s wrong, Fengxian?" His subordinate on another red horse asked him .

    The manughed, "I sensed an awakening of a good warrior . "

 Chapter 199

    Chapter 199

    Chapter 199 ¨C The Impatience Zhang Yang

    October 24th . Noon .

    Wang Kuang and Zhang Yang managed to return to the territory of Shangdang City with their 100,000 men . At the back of the marching soldier lines, Wang Yun and his 20,000 followed after them as he also needed to head back to Luo Yang .

    When they saw the long wall of Shangdang City, the two governors were relieved .

    Wang Kuang muttered, "We¡¯re finally back . "

    "Yeah, we can restock our supplies from the merchants . We should rest a few days before we resume our march to Henei," Suggested Zhang Yang .

    While both of them were in a merry mood, a scout galloped his horse to them .

    "Report! There is something wrong with the Shangdang City! They put on yellow "Zhang" gs instead of purple ones . "

    Zhang Yang stared at the scout with wide eyes . His city gs had always been purple, and he had never used a yellow g . A bad feeling crept into his heart .

    "Have you asked them to open the gate for you or have you talked with the gate guards?"

    "N-No, my lord . They fired their arrows at me . I can¡¯t get close to the gate . "

    The face of Zhang Yang paled . Someone had stolen his city!

    The mind of Shangdang Governor was nk for a whole minute before his face reddened from anger . The pale white face turned red, then blue . Veins lines under his skin bulged so hard that anyone who looked at this face could notice the pulsing .

    Infuriated, Zhang Yang shouted, "Get our men to craftdders! We will siege the city before nightfall!"

    This city located in a basin surrounded by mountain ranges . The only way to travel to other cities was to journey through mountain roads, valleys, or canyons . The path that Liu Ping and all Imperial troops moved was also passed through such mountain gaps .

    "- before night fall-fall-fall!"

    Because of the geography of Shangdang City, the voice of Zhang Yang echoed through the valley . The troops behind them could also hear their governor¡¯s voice from far away, and they looked at the front of them in curiosity .

    ...

    2 PM .

    100,000 Soldiers lined up in a hundred square formations in front of Shangdang north gate . The twenty thousand men of Wang Yun did not participate in this siege as they took roles as reserves, which helped the army makingdders and a battering-ram .

    They did noty a siege yet because they could not . Ladders with the height of five or six meters took times and efforts to make . Furthermore, they had to make at least 200 of them for a regr siege .

    The intelligence about the defender numbers was in Zhang Yang¡¯s hands . From the rough count of the scouts, the enemy number on the wall was around 20,000 to 30,000 men .

    It was not a significant number . However, in this battle, they were a threat . Because the city wall of Shangdang was like a fortress inside a mountain, they could not use the massive troops to siege all gates at the same time as they could only ess the north wall . The mountain range was the city¡¯s natural barrier that blocked their path to the other gates . If Zhang Yang or Wang Kuang want to reach the other gates, they had to climb the mountains .

    As a result of this north gate geography, they had to get rid of these 30,000 garrison force on top of the north gate or break the gate to win .

    Zhang Yang looked at the gate with impatience while He could not keep his hands still as he scratched either his face or his arms all the time .

    "Has Wang Yun not finished yet?" Zhang Yang asked this aide .

    "N-No, my lord . He said it will take four or five hours to make at least 200 talldders . We can¡¯t find many tall bamboos in this area, so we have to makedders from nks instead . "

    nkdders wereplicated to make in this era as only carpenters with tools could make one . These soldiers were not professional carpenters, so they had to create make-shiftdders without prior experiences .

    Listening to his aide, Zhang Yang massaged his temple because of the headache .

    Wang Kuang consoled him, "Brother Zhang, we can make a camp outside of the city wall today . Let¡¯s take our time craftingdders and siege weapons . Waiting for the tools for one day wouldn¡¯t hurt . "

    "No, we have to take the city within today! We¡¯re running out of food in three days, remember?"

    Wang Kuang groaned as he was reminded of the provision shortage problem .

    Without a choice, both governors stayed and waited for Wang Yun¡¯s men to finish all thedders .

    ...

    2 . 30 PM

    Jinyang Army, with the number of 50,000 men, arrived on top of the valley . From there, they could see the troops inside the canyon, lining up in front of the north gate of Shangdang .

    Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Li Feihong were there as well . They were themanders of this army .

    Jia Xu and Ju Shou had given them a simple order, "Obliterate them . "

    During the times when Ju Shou was in Ye with Jia Xu, he advised Jia Xu to eliminate these nobles as a part of the n . In order to pacify the city after the war efficiently, Ju Shou saw these men as thorns . Because Wang Kuang and Zhang Yang¡¯s soldiers were part of Henei and Shangdang noble ns, they had deep roots within these cities . Letting them live would be like allowing tigers back to mountains, so Ju Shou wanted to weed out the future problems .

    Jia Xu did not care about the domestic affair but the result of the war, so he added this n into the operation . Then, he let Ju Shou handled the rest with the condition that if Ju Shou were to fail, he would be held responsible for this action .

    The 50,000 heavy cavalries donned in Xiangnu tribal clothes, lining up in rows and getting ready to charge down from the top of the cliff .

    Lu Bu raised his fist up to stop the men as he noticed something from the corner of his eyes .

    A lone horseman on the opposite side of the cliff, 500 meters away, was looking at them for a moment before he left . Lu Bu recognized the aura of the horseman . It was the aura that he sensed earlier .

    ¡¯That warrior is really here, and we seem to be on the same side . ¡¯

    ¡¯I can easily crush these insects any time I want to, but I would have destroyed his awakening process if I did that . ¡¯

    A cunning smile appeared on Lu Bu¡¯s face as he called Zhang Liao over .

    "Wenyuan, do not attack yet . Let¡¯s wait and see a bit longer . "

    Zhang Liao frowned . The chance to crush the enemies was here, but Lu Bu had chosen to dy it . He did not understand what his boss wanted .

    "There¡¯s a good fellow who¡¯s about to baptize in this battlefield . Let him y with these guys first . "

    Still frowned, Zhang Liao nodded and waved his hands, gesturing the troops to step back and hide .

    "Is it your instinct again, or is it out of a whim this time?"

    "Instinct, of course!"

    "I hope your instinct is right, Fengxian . "

    "Bah! My sense is always right! Have I ever lost in a battle because of my sense!?"

    Zhang Liao sighed as he did not want to believe it, but Lu Bu was right about one thing .

    Lu Fengxian had never lost in a war if he utilized his instinct . Although Zhang Liao had toplement Lu Bu¡¯s ns and clean up after his deeds, Lu Bu was still the key of all victories they had .

    ...

    3 PM .

    Wang Yun rode to the main army . His men finished making rough 100dders and a battling-ram . However, they were far from enough in this siege as the number ofdders were too few . He also wanted to talk to the two governors to ask for another day to make trebuchets or catapults for the battle .

    "No! We will siege the city today! We will not wait until we run out of food!"

    The reply from Zhang Yang shattered the hope of Wang Yun .

    "Rushing to siege like this is like throwing lives away . The enemies havee here prepared . At least, we should take back a step for one day . One day can make a lot of difference between rushing in with onlydders and fighting with proper siege weapons . "

    Wang Kuang also helped Wang Yun persuading Zhang Yang . He also wanted to take it slow as he was not confident fighting with numbers .

    "You have no idea at all, do you?" Zhang Yang spat . He had his reasons for rushing the assault .

    Inside the treasuries of his household, he stored over 50,000 gold and other valuable treasures worth of over 100,000 gold . In his Manor, a hundred of young female ves, which he secretly bought from the local fat merchants, were kept there as his trophies .

    This city was his paradise and his everything . Losing it for even one more day could spell a disaster as the wealth and the women he umted would have been stolen by the army inside the city .

    "You cowards and take it easy if you want! I will lead my men to take the city myself!"

    Zhang Yang broke away from the two men . He went to the reserve force to take all thedders so that he could transfer all of them to his troops .

    Before he couldplete what he wanted to do, a messenger rushed in to report important news to the threemanders .

    "Report! We¡¯re under attack from a group of cavalries! The reserve force has been hit!"

    Zhang Yang, Wang Kuang, and Wang Yun snapped back from the argument . Wang Yun rushed to his men without saying anything, leaving the two governors behind . The reserve force that the messenger mentioned was his troops that Liu Ping had entrusted him, so he returned to them in a panic .

    Wang Kuang also returned to his own troops as he wanted to stand by for a possible battle . On the other hand, Zhang Yang red at the messenger and questioned him .

    "Whose affiliate are those cavalries from?"

    "Reporting, they did not carry a g, but we noticed that they wore different uniforms from ours . "

    Zhang Yang spat again, "Useless idiot! It¡¯s obvious that they will wear different clothes! How many of them!?"

    "M-My Lord, we didn¡¯t know . They just attacked us and retreated before we could even rally our men . "

    The governor gnashed his teeth, frustrated from the ipetency of the messenger and the scouts . Zhang Yang opened his mouth and about to curse the messenger out loud to shame him .

    *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*

    Several sounds of flying objects could be heard from a distance away . Zhang Yang turned around to the source of the noise, and he saw a glimpse of an arrow volley from the top of the eastern cliff .

 Chapter 200

    Chapter 200

    Chapter 200 ¨C Baptism of Zhang He

    The northern mountain areas of Shangdang was full of tall hills, high cliffs, and steep mountain ranges . Shangdang City wall was built using the geography of nature as its advantages . The north wall edges embedded into the mountain cliffs as if it was part of the environment .

    The sloping cliffs on both sides of the valley were steep and taller than the wall . The rock within the cliff revealed the age of these mountain ranges as they were here for hundreds of thousands of years .

    The width of the valley was over 500 meters . This path led to the northern Nie Country, the only county between Jinyang and Shangdang City, and it was a hundred kilometers in length .

    If any onlooker visited this gate from the outside, they would think that this was a check-point within the valley road instead of a city wall .

    ...

    Before the Imperial Troops arrived and formed the formations, Zhang He guided his 10,000 light cavalries to the top of mountain cliff on the north-eastern side, the opposite cliff where Lu Bu and his men stationed .

    Zhang He remembered that along the road to Hu Gate, eastern side of Shangdang City, there was an ess path toward to the top of the hill which could lead to the northern cliff .

    Secondly, even though the height of the cliff was over ten meters, there was a slope that horses could rush down to the ground level, and this slope located a kilometer away from the north wall .

    Using his memories to the fullest, a secret path that Zhang He could use it to ambush the Imperial forces appeared in his mind . Without dyed, he entrusted the garrison and the defensive tasks to Ju Shou as he found an opportunity to strike at the enemy¡¯s vital spot .

    While he was leading his men toward the slope, he saw another army on top of the opposite cliff . Their number was massive which intimidated Zhang He . However, he remembered that there would be allies in the vicinity to help them . He thought that these men should be Jinyang Army in disguise .

    The pupils of Zhang He expanded . Like a shutter of a camera, he recorded the picture he saw into his brain before he left to join his men, who were still climbing the mountain from the eastern path .

    It took them twenty minutes to reach the northeastern cliff where Zhang Yang Army stationed .

    "Five 1,000-man toons, take out your crossbows and stand by . Once you see the signal, fire at will until you¡¯re out of arrows . The other five thousand, follow me! We¡¯ll attack their nk!"

    All horsemen carried Tong¡¯s signature repeating crossbows with them . Below the cliff where the horse archers stationed, two of Zhang Yang square formations was a hundred meters away from the mountain, and eachpany consisted of 5,000 men . Ten thousand men of the Imperial force were in their range, offering themselves as juicy targets for archers .

    Zhang He guided the remaining horsemen, rushing to the slope he had found . On his way, he did not look at his front, he gazed at the Imperial Army below the cliff, trying to record everything he saw into his brain .

    As soon as they reached the pathway down to the ground level, they discovered that the reserve forces were working in the area, cutting woods and craftingdders per Wang Yun¡¯s instructed .

    Seeing the golden opportunity, Zhang He unsheathed his sword and pointed to the sky, gesturing his troops to get ready to charge down the cliff .

    The soldiers looked at their general in nervousness . They had never had experiences with mountain warfare or had tried to ride a horse down from a steep slope .

    "Don¡¯t panic . Don¡¯t worry . Anyone that isn¡¯t confident in yourself, you can remain here . But know this, I¡¯ll be charging down with you all! I¡¯ll be the first who leap down from the cliff!"

    Zhang He consoled his men, and his eyes looked at the 5,000 men as if they were his children .

    "G-General . "

    Zhang He smiled brightly without speaking anything . From pointing his sword to the sky, he swung it down and pointed his sword forward .

    "With me!"

    Zhang He kicked the sides of his horse and galloped to the direction of the slope . Without hesitation, he directed his horse to rush down, galloping downward .

    Seeing their brave general leaping down the cliff, the soldiers followed after Zhang He by instinct and forgot the initial fear of height . Their mind went nk as the sensation of riding down the slope was simr to a ride in a roller-coaster . It pressured them at first, but it turned into pleasure in a few seconds . By the time they sobered from the new stimtion, their horses were already running on the ground below the cliff .

    "KILL!"

    The voice of Zhang He alerted them, made them realized that they were still on a battlefield .

    "KILL!"

    "KILL!"

    "SHAAAAA!!"

    The sobered soldiers raised their weapons and followed after their general . The troops formed a wedge formation as they charged, galloping toward the group of workers .

    "Eh?"

    "What!?"

    The Imperial reserves did not have the time to react . After they heard the warcry for a few seconds, the horsemen already reached them .

    *SEOK*

    *PAKK*

    *SWUA*

    The warhorses collided with the unprepared reserved soldiers while the cavalry spears pierced through the bodies of unlucky soldiers .

    The first wave of horsemen did not manage to kill everyone as some of the soldiers managed to duck or dodge the weapons and the horses .

    The second wave cavalries did not let these lucky soldiers escape . They thrust their spears toward the nearest survivors who slipped through the first line gaps .

    The wave line to thest wave sealed the fate of the smart enemies, who lied down in prone to dodge the spears . The heavy horses stomped on the bodies of the corpses and the survivors, crushing their bones .

    After they charged forward for 300 meters, the horse momentum began to die down .

    There were over 10,000 reserve troops scattering about in the vicinity, yet Zhang He could not kill all of them with a single charge even though they did not fight back .

    *BWOOOH*

    Zhang He blew a horn to get the attention of his troops . During the horse charges in the middle of a chaotic battlefield, it was easy to lose oneself in the killing and forget one¡¯s surroundings . Zhang He knew about this fact from a scroll he read in Ye City, so he had prepared a countermeasure for this asion .

    "Disengage! Pull back! Follow me!"

    The horsemen snapped back from their sense from the sound of the horn and listened to themand . They stopped charging and turned their horses around, running back and heading toward the direction that Zhang He was pointing .

    The reserved troops of Wang Yun, who survived the onught, looked at the leaving cavalries in fright and relieved . However, their nightmare was not over yet .

    From two hundred meters further away, Zhang He stopped and turned around . He shouted .

    "Reform the formation! Form four wedges and one square, one toon for one group!"

    Instead of using the previous formation, which they grouped together in bulk, Zhang He separated his troops into five toons . Each toon consisted of one thousand men, and the lieutenants took their men and formed rank, getting ready for another charge .

    ¡¯The bulk charge isn¡¯t efficient in an ambush . I¡¯m still inexperience!¡¯

    Zhang He was learning as he wasmanding his troops . All tactics and strategies he had learned from Ye City library were being revised in his brain . Combining with his photographic memories of the enemies¡¯ previous known location, Zhang He pictured a 3-D map within his mind .

    "The square formation, head north . There¡¯s another slope that horses can climb on your right side . You will notice it when you see it . Get on the cliff and regroup with the others . Tell them to start shooting until they run out of arrows!"

    "Four wedges, charge with me again!"

    Four thousand cavalries rushed toward the panicking troops again . The untrained soldiers did not know what to react in a situation like this . They ran away and screamed in chaos .

    The spears of the two thousand horsemen caught the running soldiers, skewered the Imperial soldiers without resistance .

    While the four toons of Zhang He chased after the fleeing soldiers, the lieutenants of Wang Yun Army came with a battalion of spearmen . Thebat infantries could be seen a hundred meters away from the charging troops .

    ¡¯This should be their rearguards spearmen I saw earlier . The number should be around one thousand . ¡¯

    Zhang He thought as he peered at the iing force with the corner of his eyes . ¡¯They don¡¯t have shields, so I can exploit this . ¡¯

    The general blew the horn again, "Pull back and regroup! Form line!"

    Zhang He galloped back another one hundred meters . He stopped his horse and turned around, which his men also used the general as theirndmark as the center of the formation . The four thousand men regroup as four straight lines formation .

    The spearmen saw that the horsemen stopped and reformed their ranks . They stopped chasing and set up a spear-wall formation facing Zhang He and his troops .

    "Call the reinforcement! Hurry!"

    "Spear wall! Get ready to defend!"

    The lieutenants of the spearmen shouted, which Zhang He and the horsemen also could hear it as the distance between them was 150 meters away .

    "Crossbow!" Zhang He shouted .

    The cavalries switched their weapons from spears to crossbows . They loaded the clips and aimed at the front without Zhang He¡¯s further instruction .

    "Fire!"

    Five thousand crossbows fired the first volley . The arrow wall was so dense that the Imperial spearmen looked at them with awe before the arrow rain pierced their bodies .

    With a single volley, the spearmen unit copsed and routed . Only a dozen lucky soldiers survived by using their friends as shields .

    "Withdraw! We¡¯re going back to the top of the cliff . Follow me!"

    On the way when he was scouting the Imperial Army, he saw several groups of heavy cavalries, donned in full bronze armors . Since Zhang He¡¯s unit was entirely light horsemen with light armor, they would not be a match in a melee fight with these groups . Therefore, Zhang He chose to y it safe by avoiding direct confrontation with the enemies .

    ¡¯Treat my soldiers as if they were my sons! I won¡¯t let a single of them die!¡¯

    ...

    Meanwhile, the other toon of Zhang He¡¯s men reached the troops on top of the cliff . They managed to pass the order . The one thousand horsemen, who leaped down the slope earlier, also joined ranks with the standing-by battalions .

    "Get ready!"

    "Aim!"

    "Fire at will!"

    The six thousand menunched several volleys at once upon Zhang Yang¡¯s men below the cliff . Because each repeating crossbow clip contained 10 arrows, 60,000 arrows poured down on the 10,000 unaware soldiers .

    The Imperial soldiers, who were targeted, screamed in fright . They tried to run away from the arrow rain, but there was no space that the arrows did not cover . Each soldier pushed and shoved the others to protect themselves in a panic, creating a chaotic scene .

    The first clips of ten arrows were emptied within half a minute . However, it was enough to cripple two toons of ten thousand men .

 Chapter 201

    Chapter 201

    Chapter 201 ¨C Cavalry Maneuvering

    Zhang Yang¡¯s face paled, seeing two of his battalions got ughtered by an ambush .

    "Ambush!"

    "The enemies are on the cliff!"

    The surviving soldiers scrammed away from the eastern cliff in a panic . Ny percent of the men in the ambushed toons were either crippled or dead by the continuous arrow rain .

    Zhang Yang screamed, "Get away from the cliff! Have the scouts look for a pathway to the top of the mountain! Heavy cavalries, head back to help the reserve troops!"

    Finished sending orders, Zhang Yang bit his thumb while he was sweating bullets despite the cold temperature . He regretted not noticing the strategic terrain around his own city .

    He was just appointed as the governor of Shangdang recently to help Ding Yuan suppress the Xiangnu tribes in Bing Province . Because Zhang Yang was too focus on collecting wealth, ves, and expanding his influence in this city to make it his permanent root, he did not pay attention to the surrounding geography around his territory .

    Zhang Yang always believed that there would not be any crazy bastard who would siege his city as it was closed to the Capital . The warlord would be branded as rebels if he dared to do so .

    s, his prediction was wrong . Jia Xu and Ju Shou were those crazy bastards toe up with this n .

    The arrow barrages did notst long . It stopped after half a minute, but the damages it caused was significant as it withered down Zhang Yang¡¯s personal force by almost 20% .

    Feeling impatient, Zhang Yang decided to head toward his heavy cavalry unit . He would join them in the hunt . Before he left, he called a messenger and told him .

    "Tell Wang Kuang, I¡¯ll give him my right tomand my army, but I want him to siege the city, NOW!"

    ...

    ...

    Lu Bu observed the entire event from start to finish . He shook his head as he disapproved Zhang He¡¯s style of fighting .

    "What a disappointment . He¡¯s just another coward . "

    Li Feihong rolled his eyes . Gao Shun let out a dryugh, and Zhang Liao put his palm on top of his forehand . They did not agree with Lu Bu as it was a logical choice to use a hit-and-run tactic against an overwhelming force .

    Yet, their boss was the abnormal one .

    ¡¯Who in the right mind would fight directly against a 100,000-man army with only a few thousand men?¡¯ Gao Shun retorted in his mind .

    ¡¯Not everybody has your brute strength, damn you,¡¯ Li Feihong thought .

    ¡¯He would have been on the legendary Xiang Yu¡¯s level if he was a bit more open-minded,¡¯ Sighed Zhang Liao .

    Fortunately, Lu Bu could not read a human¡¯s mind . If he could hear what his subordinates¡¯ thought, he would have beaten them ck and blue .

    "You are wrong, Fengxian . Look carefully, they are back, aren¡¯t they?"

    Zhang Liao pointed at the light horsemen that were rushing down from the same slope again .

    ...

    ...

    Mu Shun, themanding general of Zhang Yang, led the heavy cavalry unit to follow the trail of Zhang He and his men . By the order of Zhang Yang, Mu Shun took all 30,000 heavy cavalries from both Wang Kuang and Zhang Yang Army to chase after the raiders .

    Zhang Yang also tagged along with the troop, wanting to revenge for the losses of his men .

    Mu Shun had sent a scout team to follow the footprints beforehand, and they found out that Zhang He had fled north . It took them thirty minutes to locate a suspicious path . Among the eastern mountain range of the valley road, there was an area where bushes and sses did not grow, which was simr to a road in a forest .

    "General, look! They have passed through this passage here!" Mu Shun pointed at the ground . Several footprints of horses could be seen by naked eyes . "The path is wide, and the footprints are still fresh . They should have passed through here a moment ago!"

    Zhang Yang nodded, "We¡¯ll follow them!"

    ...

    Meanwhile, Zhang He gazed at the pursuers from the top of the cliff on a distance away . His pupils expanded as if they were the eyes of a cat when it¡¯s looking at a toy .

    ¡¯Catch me if you can!¡¯

    Zhang He decided to not fight with this group of heavy cavalries . Although he was running away from them, he had not finished what he hade here to do yet .

    The 10,000 light cavalries gathered at the slope where they charged down from the top of the cliff again . Zhang He returned to his men after brief scouting as he had thought of a new n .

    "Men, we¡¯ll rush down the mountain again!"

    The previous soldiers, who had followed Zhang He down the mountain, grinned as they enjoyed the sensation of galloping a horse downhill . However, the others looked at Zhang He with a wry smile .

    One of the experienced soldiers patted the shoulder of a horseman who had yet to try, "Don¡¯t worry . It¡¯s scary at first, but you¡¯ll like it once it passes . It¡¯s like giving your butthole to a man for the first time . "

    The others turned around and locked their eyes at the speaker in fright and shock .

    "It¡¯s like what!?"

    "You slept with a man!?"

    "Don¡¯t you dare to sleep in my tent!"

    "Don¡¯t worry, you can always sleep in my private tent . But we¡¯ll sleep naked, of course . "

    "Dafuq was wrong with you two!"

    "Go get a room, both of you . "

    The soldiers still messed around with theirrades . They did not have the tension of being on a battlefield .

    Zhang He grinned as he did not mind them . It was a good sign that they were not nervous anymore, and the morale was high .

    "Men, let¡¯s go! Charge with me again!"

    The ten thousand horsemen charged down the slope again . Because of the previous battle, there was nobody below the cliff, which gave Zhang He a golden opportunity to adjust the formation .

    Zhang He rearranged the battalions into ten groups, a thousand horsemen per one unit . Each unit had a call sign of [Ghost One] to [Ghost ten] in order .

    "We¡¯ll nk the enemies since the heavy cavalries are not there anymore . All units, follow me!"

    Ten units of light horsemen rushed south toward the Imperial Army in front of the gate . It took them only a couple minutes to see the dense crowd of soldiers, turning their back at them . Their attention was on the wall as both Imperial armies were attacking Shangdang north gate at the moment .

    "All units, form wedge formation . Five units, Ghost Six to Ghost Ten, stand by for order . Ghost One to Ghost Five, charge with me!"

    Five thousand men and five wedged shaped formation rushed at the defenseless Imperial soldiers who revealed their back at them . The galloping sound of horse hooves echoed in the valley .

    "What¡¯s that sound?"

    "Isn¡¯t that our cavalry?"

    The soldiers turned around to look back .

    "That¡¯s not our allies! ENEMY ATTACKS!"

    However, they were toote to react as Zhang He and his five thousand men were already 50 meters away .

    *BANG*

    *POEK*

    *SOEK*

    Each unit of 1,000-man dove into a square formation of 5,000 infantries . The five thousand men boldly collided with 25,000 footmen without fear .

    The horses crashed with the soldiers, running them over . The spears of the horsemen pierced the unprepared men through their armors . Unlike thest time where Zhang He managed to charge 300 meters before he lost the momentum, the cavalries only managed to rush 10 meters and break half of the formation because they were stopped by the dense crowd .

    *BWOOOH*

    Zhang He did not hesitate to blow the horn and order his men to retreat .

    "Withdraw! Scatter to the side and regroup at our previous position!"

    *BWOOOH*

    The horn was blown again .

    "GHOST SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN, CHARGE!!" Zhang He shouted with all the air in his lung while he galloped back with his men .

    The standby troops on the back rushed in as they were called . The five thousand horsemen followed what the previous chargers did, running into the wrecked enemy formations .

    This time, the formation copsed as the horsemen brokethrough their lines and columns .

    *BWOOOH*

    "GHOST SIX TO TEN, WITHDRAW BACK AND REGROUP! GHOST ONE TO FIVE, FORM WEDGE AND STRIKE ONE MORE TIME!" Shouted Zhang He again .

    ...

    ...

    Wang Kuang looked at the troops at the wall with worry . He hadunched the siege as Zhang Yang ordered him to .

    The siege was not going well as Wang Kuang had guessed as the number ofdders was too few . His soldiers could not secure a foothold on the wall at all . Thus, he resorted an attrition tactic by using the archers to shoot arrows to the top of the wall, hoping to decrease the number of the defenders .

    After Zhang Yang left, only twelve 5,000-man-battalions were remaining . Because of the sudden siege order, he had sent three of the twelve toons to the wall withdders and a battering-ram . They were exchanging arrows and climbing thedders now, and the number of his troops was decreasing quickly .

    ¡¯One-fifth of the men is probably gone, but the enemies should have suffered some damages too . ¡¯

    Wang Kuang looked at the battering-ram which had managed to station in front of the gate . It was a matter of time that the bronze gate would be pummeled and broken by the continuous wooden-log ramming .

    ¡¯The ram is in position . There is nothing the enemy can do now . ¡¯

    *BWOOOH*

    Wang Kuang heard the sound of a horn from behind . He looked back and saw the white dust made by the horses from a distance .

    "Damn it! What¡¯s that idiot is doing? Why are the enemies here!?"

    The Henei Governor could notprehend why the enemies could appear behind his army after Zhang Yang and his men had gone out to pursue them . He even took Wang Kuang¡¯s cavalry units and left him with only infantries .

    Wang Kuang could see themotion within the rear troops . The enemies had crashed with all five of his battalions .

    "Feng Yue! Take two battalions and assist the rear troops!"

    Feng Yue, a general of Wang Kuang Army, bowed and left with his lieutenants . Feng Yue managed to ride his horse toward a toon of formation before he felt an earthquake .

    From the top of the west cliff, a massive army of horsemen with odd outfits rushed down the mountain .

    "Another ambush! Get ready! Spear-*BANG*"

    A gunshot sound interrupted Feng Yue¡¯s words . The general¡¯s eyes turned nk and copsed from his horse, revealing a hand, which extended out from a small oval void, with a strange ck object with white smoke out of the muzzle . It had pointed behind Feng Yue¡¯s back of his head a moment ago .

    The hand retracted back into the ck space and disappeared into nothingness, stunning the onlookers to the point that they had forgotten about the rushing horsemen .

 Chapter 202

    Chapter 202

    Chapter 202 ¨C The Absolute Strength of Jinyang Army

    Lu Bu was watching Zhang He maneuvering his troops, rushing into the Imperial Army formations . He grinned and spoke to Gao Shun .

    "Isn¡¯t that your [Formation Crusher] maneuvering?"

    Lu Bu referred to the maneuver that Zhang He disyed . Horsemen¡¯s greatest weapon was speed and horse strength . By rushing into the enemy-packed formation consecutively and retreating with the right timing, all formations would copse into pieces if they had not prepared a proper defensive formation .

    Gao Shun nodded and criticized, "It¡¯s a weaker version of mine . His tactic won¡¯t work against a proper spear-wall, arrows, or a shielded porcupine formation . They¡¯re light cavalries with weak warhorses after all . Besides, there aren¡¯t many sergeants who can lead the charge properly . You can see that the front horse was interrupted and collided with enemy soldiers . Then, the entire formation was stopped before they can charge through the enemy lines . A good charger will never allow his horse¡¯s chest to collide with the living enemies . "

    "There are rooms to improve, but that general is doing well so far," Zhang Liao approved .

    Li Feihong did not join in thementary . He kept his mouth shut while he closed his eyes . He did not pay attention to the conversation as he was watching the battlefield using his special [Monitors] .

    ...

    ***************************

    [Private Farm World] LV 5 (7,034,419/16,000,000)

    - Able to ess a private world in another dimension .

    - World Size 5,000 km .

    - Time Scale Current World - Private World: 1 day ¨C 45 days .

    - The host can grow crops in the private world .

    - The host can raise animals in the private world .

    - All objects in the private world can be taken out to the real world .

    - The host can summon monitors in both worlds .

    - The host can open two gates at once .

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan per one-minute gate connection .

    - Upkeep: 2,000 lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only grow crops that exist in this world .

    - Can only raise animals that exist in this world .

    - Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    ***************************

    ...

    Li Feihong¡¯s skill continued to grow as he focused on raising crops and animals in his private world since he returned to Jinyang .

    Typically, raising and harvesting one nt or a stalk of rice him one EXP point . However, after they seized warhorses and the [Red Hare] horses from Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun took one Red Hare each and left other horses to Li Feihong . He took them into his private world to breed them . He discovered that for each Red Hare foal he got from the breeding, he got 10,000 EXP in return .

    As a result, his skill level increased by two from the continuous Red Hare breeding, and the functions of his private world improved . He was able to summon his monitors to the outside world, and he could open two gates at once .

    After Li Feihong realized that he was able to open the second gate, he had a new inspiration . It was a new tactic that he could apply in a battlefield, which he had nned to use it today .

    Because of the nerf, a new restriction barred Li Feihong from using the assassination gate technique . To use it, he had to rest in the private world for one day, allowing the system to reset the cooldown of the skill overnight . Then, Li Feihong could use open the gate again the next day to kill his target . It would require him another day to reopen the gate and return to the outside world .

    In conclusion, Li Feihong needed three days toplete his assassin job and return if he wanted to use it .

    However, with two gates, Li Feihong couldplete the entire process within a day!

    He could open one gate in front of him and the other gate nearby the target he wanted dead . The trick lied within the private world . Instead of connecting the private world and opening the portal in a different location, Li Feihong could attach two exit portals in the private world next to each other . Once the two portal holes connected, a new warp gate would be formed . Li Feihong did not have to move into his private world to perform his assassination technique anymore, and he would be able to teleport from one spot to another spot within a minute .

    At this moment, Li Feihong was holding on a pistol, which Tong had given him along with a couple of magazines of bullets . The weapon and the method were ready . All Li Feihong needed to do was to pick a target .

    . . .

    Seeing that Li Feihong did notment on the battle, Lu Bu smacked his back and snapped him out of his trance .

    "Pay attention, Feihong!"

    The bullied strategist looked at his boss with a wry smile . He was doing his job, and he DID pay full attention to the battlefield . He even located Wang Kuang, Zhang Yang, and many important officers within the Imperial Army . Li Feihong was in the middle of his decision about who he should kill .

    Lu Bu ignored the protesting smile of his subordinate and ordered everyone, "Anyway, I¡¯m tired of watching . Let¡¯s get our men ready . "

    The crescent halberd pointed toward the sky, and g bearers had their signal gs ready .

    "All units, trample these insects underfoot!" Commanded with his arrogant tone, Lu Bu and his Red Hare rushed down the slope without waiting for his soldiers .

    The 50,000 cavalries, with geared riders and horses, followed after their grandmander . The horse hooves resonated and created a rumbling sound of an earthquake . The ground shook by the massive weight of the riders and the horses, scaring birds and small creatures nearby .

    Lu Bu reached the nearest enemy battalion first . The crescent halberd swung down, severing five shocked Imperial soldiers in one swing . His personal polearm did not stop moving . Lu Bu and his crescent halberd became a meat grinder, mowing down the front and the sides of his horse, killing any unfortunate soldiers who stood in his way .

    The god of war darted his eyes around, looking for a worthy opponent to fight . Then, he spotted Feng Yue, the grandmander of Wang Kuang Army, who stood out from the rest .

    "Another ambush! Get ready! Spear-*BANG*"

    The general copsed before he finished his order because of the assassination technique of Li Feihong .

    Lu Bu also noticed the sorcery that his subordinate disyed . He shouted, "FEIHONG, YOU PRICK! DON¡¯T YOU DARE STEALING MY PREY AGAIN!! IF I SEE IT AGAIN, I¡¯LL MAKE YOU MY PERMANENT SPAR PARTNER UNTIL YOU ARE CRIPPLED!!"

    ...

    Li Feihong shuddered by Lu Bu¡¯s killing intent . His face revealed a bitter smile, and tear welled in his eyes .

    "But I did it for the troops . The enemy will be in a panic, and we¡¯ll have fewer casualties . "

    Zhang Liao patted Li Feihong¡¯s shoulder, "Don¡¯t mind it . He¡¯ll forget it after a few minutes . "

    Gao Shun and Zhang Liao separated to oversee the nks of their army, leaving the sobbing Li Feihong behind .

    As for the otherworlder strategist, he did not follow after the men . Li Feihong had a hundred guard to protect himself, and he could move around with them tagging along .

    The battlefield below the cliff was not a ce for him to mingle with, so he stayed behind to continue monitoring . As he moved his monitor cameras around, Li Feihong noticed something .

    "I spotted a group of deserters . All of you,e with me . "

    Li Feihong saw a suspicious group of soldiers escorting an elderly man on the north . They were hiking the mountain into the forest to slip away from the valley battlefield . Since their number was only a few hundred, Li Feihong led the one hundred men north toward the deserters .

    ...

    The Imperial troops attempted to form spear-walls to counter the cavalries . They reformed their ranks and turned toward the west . Archers took out their bows and arrows, getting ready to fire a supporting volley . Everything went well as they were trained to do, but all of a sudden, their legs and hands were petrified .

    The monstrous-sized Red Hare and the war god roamed the battlefield unhindered . Everywhere he passed through, militated bodies flew in the air, raining blood and human¡¯s innards .

    Lu Bu¡¯s body soaked with blood . He beheaded an unlucky officer that attempted to challenge him and stole his halberd . With the crescent halberd in his right hand and a stolen polearm in his left hand, Lu Bu cleaved through a path for the ally cavalries behind him .

    "Boring! Boring! Boring! Give me a decent opponent!" Roared Lu Bu .

    He did not realize it yet . Rather, he did not care . His overwhelming killing intent enveloped the entire battlefield, terrifying the Imperial soldiers to the point that they wet their pants before Lu Bu reached them .

    "Are you sure you¡¯re professional soldiers!? A brat I¡¯ve met even fought better than you lots!"

    *SWUA*

    A dozen severed bodies were sent flying .

    "You can¡¯t even raise a spear, and you call yourself a man!?"

    *SWUA*

    Another group flew to the air along with their innards .

    "None of you worth a dog shit! Go back and suck yo mama¡¯s tits!"

    *SWUA*

    Spearmen¡¯s heads and their broken weapons scattered in the air .

    "Why are scum like you wearing decorated armor!? Do you think you can show off in front of me!?"

    *SWUA*

    A well-dressed officer was cleaved in half from the top of his head .

    As he swept through the battlefield, Lu Bu continued swearing and taunting all soldiers, looking for a decent fighter .

    However, he was disappointed . He charged alone from the west cliff to the east cliff, which passed through six 5,000-man-battalions, he had yet to see anyone who couldst more than one of his strike .

    "This is as far as you can go!"

    An officer of the Imperial army appeared . He rode a warhorse and was charging at Lu Bu .

    The god of war smirked, but his face turned ugly as he read his opponent¡¯s skill level . The general was another trash in Lu Bu¡¯s eyes .

    "Well, at least you have some courage . Give me your name!"

    "I¡¯m Gao Ma of Henei, remember when you-*SWUA* . "

    The general could not finish his introduction as Lu Bu¡¯s halberd severed his head with one strike .

    "Gao Ma? More like CAO NI MA*! Your mother is a terrible woman naming you that!"

    Finished killing the officer, Lu Bu looked in front of him . He finally realized he reached the other side of the valley .

    "Dead end already?"

    He turned around and nned to charge into the enemy formation again . s, Lu Bu could not continue rampaging anymore .

    Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and their 50,000 heavy horsemen were dominating in the battlefield .

    Unlike what Zhang He did, these elite troopers did not allow their horses to ram into the enemy soldier as they utilized their weapons to cut a path for their partners .

    Because they treated their horses like they were their children, all of them knew that ramming the horses into the enemies could cause internal injuries to the horses in the long run . As a result, the discipline of avoiding horse ramming was ingrained into their instinct .

    Although there were collisions asionally by ident, the horsemen on the second line immediately reced the frontline chargers the moment they lost their momentum .

    As a consequence of avoiding direct collision of horse-ramming, their charging speed did not slow down .

    At first, the 50,000 horsemen charged directly with their gigantic square formation . Hundreds of wedged-shape slowly formed as the sergeants and the two generals began cleaving paths for their men . The charging wedge cut through the square-shaped infantry formations and turned them into unorganized mobs, waiting to be ughtered or captured .

    Gao Shun and Zhang Liao did not have to use their [Formation Crusher] tactic as this Imperial Army¡¯s morale and performance had already been weakened by Lu Bu¡¯s tyrannical killing intent .

    "What a durd . " Lu Buined after seeing his subordinates¡¯ efficiency .

    ¡¯Once this is over, I¡¯ll visit that coward brat Tong and beat the hell out of him! How dare he using me as he please! I¡¯m not even his subordinate . I¡¯m going to demand mypensation for my provision and for wasting my times! Damn him!¡¯

 Chapter 203

    Chapter 203

    Chapter 203 ¨C Battle of Shangdang ¨C Aftermath

    The Red Hare jogged back to the west cliff . Lu Bu had lost his motivation to continue fighting in this battle, so he left the cleaning up jobs to his subordinates again .

    He looked toward the battle at the wall . It seemed to be over already after the Imperial soldiers had noticed the arrival of another force . The soldiers on the wall gave up and surrendered while the troops below the wall also shouted and begged for their lives .

    Lu Bu shook his head . These men were pathetic to give them his attention .

    ¡¯Where is their leader on these insects?¡¯

    Lu Bu darted his eyes left and right, searching for someone who stood out from the rest . Seeing that everything around him was nothing but corpses, a deep frown appeared on his face .

    ¡¯Don¡¯t tell me, I¡¯ve killed that scum already?¡¯

    He had not realized it yet . The man with the decorated armor who Lu Bu cleaved into two earlier was Wang Kuang . The governor of Henei was in before anyone was aware of his identity .

    While Lu Bu looked around the corpses as he had nothing else to do, he sensed the familiar aura from the north . He turned his head toward the direction where Zhang He and his men stationed .

    ¡¯That aura again . The awakening process isn¡¯t over yet?¡¯

    ¡¯I see . He isn¡¯t awakening . He¡¯s simply growing from this battle . ¡¯

    ¡¯I have to spar with him after this . This battle is too boring . My hands are still itching for a proper fight . ¡¯

    . . .

    . . .

    From a distance away, Zhang He and his 10,000 men disengaged from thebat . They withdrew back from the battlefield the moment they had noticed the movement from the west cliff .

    He had to retreat and avoided Jinyang Army . Had they stayed, they might have been mistaken as Imperial soldiers and caused unnecessary friendlybat .

    After giving spaces to Lu Bu and the others, Zhang He ordered the perimeter sealed to cut off the Imperial soldiers¡¯ path to escape . During the process or organizing a new formation, he witnessed Jinyang Army strength in a war . He watched thebat scene in shock as their horsemen were stronger than he had imagined .

    At first, Zhang He thought they would be simr to the Imperial Heavy Cavalry unit that he had seen in the past . Contrary to his impression, they disyed overwhelming power, discipline, teamwork, and theirmanders¡¯ leadership .

    What terrified Zhang He the most was the existence of the lone horseman who had charged into the enemy formations alone . Because that person cleaved the square formations of several battalions in half, the armored cavalries had it easy turning the panicking Imperial soldiers into mincemeat .

    ¡¯They¡¯repletely different from us . Their horses were well equipped with armors . Their men even wore full-set of bronze mails under those Xiangnu clothes . ¡¯

    Zhang He also noticed the simrity and the difference between their horse charge and his army maneuvering . Jinyang Army did not utilize the horse charge tactic by ramming their horses first and killing the enemiester . They thrust and swung their polearms to protect the front of their horses, allowing their partners to continue running forward without stopping .

    The horses sometimes rammed into the standing dead bodies or injured soldiers from time to time, but they rarely collided with a living soldier .

    The eyes of Zhang He glittered as he gained enlightenment from seeing the action of the elites .

    ¡¯I¡¯m not at a level that I can call myself a first-rate general yet! I¡¯m nothing but a third rate wannabe!¡¯

    ¡¯I will never stop learning! I will never stop improving!¡¯

    ¡¯My army can do better! They have to be more discipline . Their equipment has to be forged! My sergeants are still inexperienced . My soldiers stillcked training . ¡¯

    ¡¯How can I call myself a legend if I can¡¯t turn my soldiers into legends!?¡¯

    A new fire had been kindled in Zhang He¡¯s heart .

    While his morale was increasing, the routed soldiers of the Imperial Army ran toward their direction .

    Because Zhang He and his men lined up in a straight formation, covering all exit from the valley, the fleeing men despaired after seeing such a scene .

    "We surrender! Please don¡¯t kill us!"

    "Please let us live! We won¡¯t fight anymore!"

    "Save us!"

    ...

    ...

    Zhang Yang managed to track Zhang He¡¯s troops to the slope where they rushed down the mountain . He nned to charge down to chase after Zhang He Army as well, but the earthquake and the appearance of another unknown army stopped them on their track .

    The governor forgot to order his men and observed the battle in shock . The army in Xiangnu clothes destroyed the Imperial Army like they were nothing . The infantries and arrows could not do anything to the horsemen¡¯s armor or the bronze armors of the horses . Like a wave, they simply charged and broke all formations, creating a chaotic scene .

    By the time the Xiangnu horsemen reached the east cliff, the Imperial Army had turned into scattered mobs, running around in a panic .

    The majority of the survivors attempted to run away toward the north, only to run into the ambushers earlier which formed a line formation in waiting .

    These routed soldiers threw away their weapons and kowtowed, asking to surrender without being asked . The lone red-horse rider¡¯s killing intent and his power showcase terrified them to the point that they did not want to fight anymore .

    "S-Sir?" Mu Shun called Zhang Yang, snapping him back from his trance, "What should we do now?"

    While his face was still white as a sheet, Zhang Yang answered by instinct, "We¡¯ll return the main army . Abandon those men and report everything to His Majesty as soon as possible!"

    Zhang Yang swallowed his pride and decided to abandon all of his properties as he could not see a way to win against these forces .

    "B-But, will we get punished?" Asked Mu Shun again .

    "I don¡¯t think so! These raiders are from Xiangnu tribes! It is obvious now that Zhang Jiao and Xiangnu tribes are in league together! They are the rebels that we have to eliminate before our country is destroyed!"

    Zhang Yang looked at Zhang He and his men with hatred . If it were not because of these ambushers, they would not be in disarray and would not have lost .

    ¡¯We¡¯ll regroup at Nie County . Then I can get my revenge after we have destroyed Julu and Zhang Jiao!¡¯

    The 30,000 heavy cavalries left the battlefield to the north without provision . They hoped that they could resupply at Nie County, which located further north of here . The main army of the Emperor should have arrived at the county already .

    ...

    ...

    Ju Shou stood on top of Shangdang northern city wall with a perplexed look . The siege just now was dangerous .

    When he led his conscripted troops to the northern gate, Zhang He told him that he would take all main forces to the east gate to ambush the enemies . He told Ju Shou that there was a path to the top of the east cliff which they could gain an advantage point to rain arrows or charge down the mountain .

    Ju Shou did not have this information beforehand, so he thought that Zhang He made an excuse to flee from the city . Although he doubted the young general, Ju Shou allowed him to go with the horsemen as he had learned from his scouts that the reinforcement was already here . The city would not have fallen even if he was short-handed .

    Who would have thought that Zhang He did not desert the army, but he contributed significantly in this battle? The horsemen rained arrows onto the unprepared troops and crippled the reserve forces of the Imperial Army, forcing them to siege without proper siege weapons .

    Relieved that Zhang He did not abandon him and his men, Ju Shou concentrated onmanding the newbies to fend off the enemies .

    Even though the Imperial troops were underprepared, they were still a threat to the rookie defenders . The conscripted soldiers never had military training, so they awkwardly fought with their enemies . Thirty percent of the defenders were either shot by the enemy arrows or killed by the climbing soldiers within two hours after thebat had started .

    At that point, Ju Shou was depressed that the soldiers on the wall would start deserting the army soon if nothing had changed .

    Fortunately, the gate managed to hold from the battering ram, and the wall withstood the oing soldiers by the time when the lurking reinforcement finally decided to jump into the fray .

    Jinyang Army was efficient with their work . In less than 30 minutes, they crushed all battalions of the Imperial Army and turned them into useless mobs .

    Zhang Yang and Wang Kuang¡¯s soldiers on the wall were also aware of the changes . They immediately surrendered as soon as they lost the hope to win this fight .

    "My lord, all enemies outside the wall has surrendered . We are awaiting your instruction . "

    A sergeant reported the current situation to Ju Shou with a smile .

    Ju Shou turned around to look at the sergeant . He had traces of fresh wounds and blood all over his body .

    ¡¯It must have been a hard fight . ¡¯ Ju Shou thought .

    "Stripe their armors, weapons, and clothes . Open the gate and guide them inside the city . Don¡¯t forget to invite our reinforcement to our wee banquette . "

    The eyes of this civil officer still locked on the lone rider on a red horse . He was staring at the northern area where Zhang He was at .

    ¡¯That should be the grandmander of Jinyang Army . He¡¯s simply a monster . ¡¯

    Lu Bu had left a terrifying impression on Ju Shou . The image of a single warrior destroying everything in his path was beyond hisprehension and logic . Furthermore, the menacing auraing from Lu Bu also frightened the garrison troops on the wall .

    ¡¯I hope we can be allies forever . I don¡¯t want to fight against someone like this!¡¯

    ...

    The cleaning process went on until the sunset, and the result of the battle arrived in Ju Shou¡¯s hands .

    The rookie garrison force suffered 40% damage from the brief few hours ofbat . Out of 30,000 mercenaries, only 18,000 of them survived in one piece . The rest either died or crippled for life .

    Zhang He¡¯s 10,000 light horsemen returned in full number, which shocked Ju Shou . They had suffered light injuries from stray arrows and spears, but after a few weeks of resting, they should be in aplete condition again .

    Simr to Zhang He unit, Jinyang Army did not have any casualty . Even if they had one, they would not report it to the higher up as the entire squad might be punished by Lu Bu for being weak .

    The total number of surrendered soldiers was 25,000 men . The initial number was over 50,000 men . However, half of them was either crippled from thebat or was a part of Shangdang noble nsmen, so Ju Shou put them out of misery .

    These remaining innocent prisoners would be converted into Shangdang defense forceter to replenish the dead garrison troops .

 Chapter 204

    Chapter 204

    Chapter 204 ¨C Chasing Wang Yun

    In his private room, Ju Shou put down his brush after he had finished writing down the event reports . He had to present them to Tongter after the war was over .

    ¡¯Next, I have to attend the banquette and establish a connection with Jinyangmanders . ¡¯

    Ju Shou got up from his seat . Before he could leave his room, a guard knocked on the door .

    "My lord, a general from Jinyang Army wants to see you . "

    Surprised by the sudden visit, Ju Shou spoke, "Let him in . "

    A man with a stern face, Gao Shun, stepped inside the room .

    "General?" Ju Shou was confused by his visit . He cupped his fist to Gao Shun .

    "Sir Ju Shou . I¡¯m here to ask for a favor," Gao Shun coughed in embarrassment, "One of ourmanders is missing . We need your help to look for him . "

    Baffled by the sudden request, Ju Shou asked, "What happened, general?"

    "It¡¯s the strategist of ours . He wasst seen at the western cliff with a hundred bodyguards before we charged from the mountain . When the battle is over, we can¡¯t find him or his bodyguards anywhere . We would like to request you to dispatch scouts to the surrounding perimeters . Since this is your territory, your scouts are more efficient than ours . "

    "Have you checked the dead bodies?"

    "Yes, he is not in there . All of his bodyguards also aren¡¯t in the dead list . "

    Ju Shou nodded in understanding . It wasmon that an officer or a small unit could mysteriously disappear . They could be killed, kidnapped, captured, or it was even possible that they abandoned their posts and deserted the army .

    "I understand . I¡¯ll help you . "

    ...

    At the banquette inside the central government hall, Lu Bu sat face to face with Zhang He . In front of them, jars of wine lined up in rows .

    "Can I decline this?" Comined Zhang He .

    "No, you lost the duel, so you¡¯ll have a drinking contest with me . If you lose again, you¡¯ll have to leave Tong and join Jinyang Army . "

    "I refuse . I won¡¯t either join you or have a drinking contest with you . "

    "Bah! Fine! You won¡¯t have to join my army . Let¡¯s have a drinking contest . "

    "That¡¯s still a NO . I only drink tea, general . "

    "Puzzy! Are you a man or not!?"

    "I¡¯m man enough to fight for my belief . Change those wine to tea, and I¡¯ll drink with you!"

    There was a tension between Zhang He and Lu Bu inside the banquette .

    Earlier after Zhang He returned to the city, Lu Bu stopped them and requested for a spar with this young general . The result of the duel was obvious, Zhang He lost within ten moves . Fortunately, Lu Bu held back and used the back of his crescent halberd, so Zhang He did not suffer any serious injury .

    After the fight, he was dragged by Lu Bu to the banquette so they could have a drinking contest .

    Zhang Liao watched over them with a wry smile . It seemed that Lu Bu attempted to poach this young general from Tong, but his method was too crude .

    ¡¯You can¡¯t befriend him after you forcefully had a duel with him . Not everyone is a maniac like you, Fengxian . ¡¯

    Sighed and shook his head, Zhang Liao then gazed at the sky outside the building .

    ¡¯Return alive, Feihong . Don¡¯t die . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    It was dusk . Sky had turned red in the horizon . The main battlefield had ended, but another battle took ce far away .

    On a mountain path, northwest of Shangdang City, the voice of a young man echoed through the mountain .

    "Charge!"

    Li Feihong ordered his one hundred bodyguards to rush at his enemies at his pointed direction . In front of the 100 riders, a senior minister and 500 soldiers looked at them in shock .

    The heavy cavalries did what they did best, destroying the crowded infantries . Half of the soldiers were in disarray while the others died from the charge .

    *BANG*

    A thunderous sound came from the direction of Li Feihong . He fired his gun to support his men . Although he did not need to, he still wanted to contribute to the fight .

    *BANG*

    Another gunshot echoed in the valley, and another soldier beside Wang Yun fell .

    "Give up and surrender! Or I¡¯ll shoot again!"

    Wang Yun looked around him in a panic and discovered a shocking sight . Within a minute, the 500 bodyguards he brought with him either died or ran away, abandoning their master .

    The old minister despaired . Wang Yun and his bodyguards manage to sneak away from the battlefield, but they were still pursued and met this group of ambushers .

    In his bosom, Wang Yun clutched tightly on the Emperor Seal and Emperor Sword .

    Despite being shocked by the sorcery that Li Feihong disyed, Wang Yun was determined . He did not want to give up even if he were to die!

    As a father, he wanted his daughter to rise up in position and be the Empress of this country .

    If he survived this, his daughter would live a happy life forever . However, if he failed, everything he had done would be for naught .

    Ignored the warning of Li Feihong, Wang Yun ran and followed the deserting men .

    *BANG*

    The bullet pierced his left calf . The sudden pain made Wang Yun shuddered and stumbled onto the ground .

    "Arrest him! He seems to be an important person . Take him back with us!" Order Li Feihong .

    Wang Yun cried in pain, and tears dripped from his eyes . The sense of despair overwhelmed him .

    "Chan¡¯er, I¡¯m sorry!"

    Li Feihong looked at Wang Yun with sympathy . He felt bad for this old man, but it had to be done as it was his job . With this minister secured, Li Feihong looked around .

    The one hundred bodyguards were efficient . They had already driven away all unnecessary soldiers and killed the stragglers .

    One of the guards, who had tied Wang Yun, walked to Li Feihong and gave his report, "Sir, we have found something that this man is hiding . "

    He presented the Emperor Seal and Emperor Sword .

    "This ..."

    Li Feihong looked at the two items in shock .

    "Hurry and put it away . Hide them in clothes and don¡¯t tell anyone!"

    In a panic, Li Feihong ordered his men in a hurry .

    There was a reason to keep it a secret . Li Feihong knew about the history of China, so he knew that these items could bring a cmity to everyone around him if the news spread .

    The Emperor Seal was a square jade with a carved dragon on top of it . Below the seal, there was the symbol stamp of the Han Dynasty . Every Han Emperor used this seal as their signatures when they gave out edicts .

    Anyone who possessed it equaled possessing the Emperor¡¯s Authority!

    Any warlord who acquired it could also dere himself as a new Emperor!

    This was the item that should be with the Emperor at all time regardless of circumstances, yet this old man had it .

    Li Feihong approached Wang Yun and asked him, "What¡¯s your name?"

    Still sobbing, the old minister whimpered, trying to save his life by answering honestly, "Wang Yun of Luo Yang . "

    "WHAT!?"

    Li Feihong was stunned as he knew about this figure . This was the person behind the downfall of Dong Zhuo in his previous world¡¯s history!

    There were two versions of Wang Yun¡¯s biography . The first one was based on the historical records which described him as a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty .

    In 192, he conspired with many other officials who dissatisfied with Dong Zhuo¡¯s cruel leadership . In the end, he managed to recruit Lu Bu into his cause and sessfully assassinated Dong Zhuo . After the deed, Wang Yun attempted to eliminate all remnants and subordinates of Dong Zhuo, but he was captured and killed along with his family by Li Jue and Guo Si .

    The other version was from the novel of the 14th-century where Wang Yun used his own daughter, Diao Chan, to seduce both Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu into fighting each other, which turned into a famous tale . In this version, Wang Yunmitted suicide as he forced Li Jue and Guo Si not to harm the young Emperor Xian .

    ¡¯Why is he following Liu Ping if he¡¯s an honest civil officer? Does he think Liu Ping is a good Emperor?¡¯

    Confused, Li Feihong continued his interrogation, "What¡¯s your rtionship with the current Emperor?"

    Wang Yun shuddered and nced at Li Feihong in fright . He was afraid that if his status as the father-inw of the Emperor exposed to the public before Diao Chan became the official Empress, everyone would criticize his ambitious scheme . His political influence and reputation would also decrease, and his colleagues would cut ties with him because of his shamelessness .

    Wang Yun bit his lower lips and came up with a lie, "I was forced to follow him . "

    Li Feihong squinted his eyes . He felt it contradicted to the actions of Liu Ping . If Wang Yun was forcefully dragged along with the army, why would he be entrusted with the Emperor Seal?

    "Then, why do you have this jade seal and this sword?"

    "I-I stole them from the main army . I found them in the luggage of the othermanders during the chaos, so I took them and fled the battle!"

    "Oh? If you are fleeing from the battle, why did those soldiers try to protect you as if you are someone important?"

    Li Feihong knew that this old man was lying as he monitored Wang Yun¡¯s action from the very beginning . Ever since Lu Bu charged down from the top of the west cliff, Li Feihong kept his close surveince on Wang Yun and his bodyguards .

    On the other hand, Wang Yun gulped . He realized that Li Feihong was suspicion of him .

    Wang Yun avoided Li Feihong¡¯s stare and looked at the ground, "I¡¯ll tell you the truth, but can you let me live?"

    Sighed, the young strategist nodded, "Fine . I¡¯ll protect you from the others, but you¡¯ll have to tell me everything, now!"

    The hope in Wang Yun heart grew bud . He finally saw a way out .

    Hesitated for a minute, Wang Yun raised his head to look at Li Feihong and was about to open his mouth to speak . He stopped .

    The old minister saw the shock look of Li Feihong and the heavy cavalries, and they seemed to fix their stare toward the direction behind his back . They did not look as confident as a few minutes ago . Everybody seemed to be afraid of something .

    "M-Monster?" A soldier eximed .

    Li Feihong gritted his teeth to calm his nerve . His gun pointed toward a being behind Wang Yun .

    "Stop where you are! I don¡¯t know what you monster is doing here, but this is human¡¯s business!"

    Since nobody was looking at Wang Yun, the old man turned his body around to look behind his back . Then, he saw a female monster .

    The upper part of the monster was that of a young woman, but the lower parts were the same as snakes . Moreover, it was a huge snake!

    The purple hair of the monster fluttered in the wind . She looked at everyone and asked them with her calm voice . At the same time, her pupils shed in red light .

    "Give that old man to me, and I won¡¯t hurt anyone . "

 Chapter 205

    Chapter 205

    Chapter 205 ¨C For Demons

    This morning, in Luo Yang inner pce, Medusa, in the little Diao Chan form, received a long message from the system goddess .

    [By now, you should have realized that I¡¯m not an A . I . but the goddess of this dimension . But I¡¯m not revealing myself to brag or anything of the sort this time . This is an emergency .

    Something is happening in the Netherworld . I¡¯m guessing that there¡¯s a war or some sort between Heaven and Hell again . The creator wants to summon me to the other side to get rid of those troublemakers, and he will temporarily cut the connection between all dimensions for a few thousand years . That means the souls of the remaining otherworlders will be trapped in here after death during this period .

    I have requested the creator to refuge my idiot daughter here in this dimension . She has 10 wings like Zuo Ci, so she can partly inherit my authority and reinforce the stability of this fractured universe . A new soul cirction system will be created by her so our current pieces of God¡¯s shit can turn into aplete realm . I expect her to be here before the New Year .

    Your new job is to form a new Hell Realm for your kins as soon as possible . I¡¯ve given a simr task to that attention-whore and Zuo Ci . Both of them will create a new realm of their own .

    Since you four can¡¯t create a new world with only eight or ten-winged power, I¡¯ll give you the authority to use thends in this world as your new home . You are free to expand your territory or turn a country into your new Hell, Heaven, or whatever you want to call it . You can also drain the people¡¯s lifespans as you see fit .

    All restrictions on you will be lifted, but I have to delete all of your system skills . It gives a burden to this dimension because they are something that defies this universe¡¯sws .

    Note that you should not kill all the remaining otherworlders in here . I need them to scatter their seeds and make babies in this world since they are the only ones with real souls . Only children who were conceived by these guys are born with souls .

    The rest of the locals are nothing but empty shells . If you want to turn the natives into your demonkind, you can donate a drop of your blood and demonize them . However, you are on your own if your fellow demons turn into monsters or the humans extinct from the .

    You can ignore my order if you want to, but I can¡¯t guarantee what will happen if one of the three of you found an Immortal Realm while the others did not . This is your future, not mine .

    Good luck, and have fun duking it out! I¡¯m outta here, bitches!]

    This was thest message she received from Lilith . It was sudden, but it gave her hope and a new inspiration .

    ...

    "Give that old man to me, and I won¡¯t hurt anyone," Demanded Medusa .

    Still intimidated, Li Feihong questioned while his legs were trembling, "What do you want him for? Food?"

    "I only need him toe with me alive . Besides, I don¡¯t eat junk food . "

    Wang Yun wanted to cry, but he had no tear . The monster just indirectly called him [Junk Food] .

    Li Feihong gritted his teeth as he was not willing to give up Wang Yun . This minister seemed to hold many secrets which this young strategist wanted to squeeze them out from the old manter .

    Killing intent emitted from Li Feihong subconsciously as he nned to kill this snake monster .

    Before Li Feihong could pull the trigger, a transparent baby ghost appeared behind his back .

    "[Sloth Soul], sleep curse!"

    The ghost embraced Li Feihong from behind, and the eyelids of this young otherworlder suddenly got heavier . Unable to resist the feeling of drowsiness, Li Feihong fell down from his horse, falling asleep .

    The effect did not restrict to Li Feihong alone . All one hundred bodyguards and Wang Yun also fell unconscious from the ghost¡¯s power .

    All humans and horses copsed on the ground . The monster, Medusa, nced at the sleeping crowd and sighed . She summoned back her [Soul of Sloth], which it reverted back to a ck tentacle and returned to her back .

    The eight ck tentacle wings of Medusa stretched and wriggling like worms as if they were alive .

    ¡¯It¡¯s a pity that all my system skills are gone, but I can use my demon wings again . ¡¯

    Medusa nced at her empty status menu . All her skills and her restriction no longer existed, leaving only her lifespan status .

    ********************

    **Status**

    Name: Diao Chan

    Age: 6

    Lifespan: 1,540,903 Years

    ********************

    ¡¯1 . 5 Million years, it¡¯s still far from enough . A world creation takes twenty to thirty times longer than that . I have to finish what I can do before the 20th mission . The new system goddess should show up by the end of the year . ¡¯

    ¡¯I also have to race against those two . If I¡¯m slow, they could have spread their angelic seeds to more locals . I can¡¯t afford to let them turn all humans here into angels or the demons will be suppressed in the future . ¡¯

    The snake queen cut her wrist with her fingernails, and her blood seeped out from her wound .

    Her blood floated and separated into a hundred drop of red liquid . They scattered and entered the mouths of all heavy cavalry soldiers .

    ¡¯Soul bestowalpleted . This young boy has already taken Tong¡¯s blood, so he doesn¡¯t need it . He¡¯ll get his wings naturally . ¡¯

    Medusa slithered her snake tail toward the dead bodies of Wang Yun¡¯s bodyguards . The tentacle wings extended and each of them entered different bodies . Upon prating the corpse with her wings, the bodies began to decay at a rapid speed which could be noticed with naked eyes . They dried, withered, and scattered into ashes within a few seconds .

    ... 1,541,347 ...

    The eight dead bodies increased Medusa¡¯s lifespans by a few hundred years . After the tentacles finished with the previous corpses, they entered other bodies on the ground, draining the remaining life essence from the dead bodies until there was no Imperial soldier left on the ground .

    Medusa could also drain lifespans from all the living beings . However, she only picked a few dying humans or wild animals instead of ughtering everything in her path . Zuo Ci, who disapproved of native killing, was watching her . Since he had more wings than her, Medusa chose to avoid a confrontation or conflict with this sage .

    ... 1,554,649 ...

    Over 200 men¡¯s bodies gave her over 10,000 lifespans, yet Medusa¡¯s face did not show any excitement or satisfaction . In fact, she felt that it was too little .

    ¡¯I should have stalked the battlefield and steal the corpses . ¡¯

    The red eyes glittered with greed and pity . By draining the life essence of 50,000 corpses, she could have acquired at least 2,000,000 years of lifespans .

    She swallowed her desire and approached Wang Yun, her foster father in this life .

    Medusa looked at the sleeping old man with a relief expression . She smiled and carried him with her tentacle wings .

    "Stupid father, I¡¯vee to pick you up . "

    One of her wings entered Wang Yun¡¯s calf where it was shot by Li Feihong¡¯s gun .

    ... 1,554,648 ...

    With one year of lifespan sacrificed, Wang Yun¡¯s injury was healed . Seeing the wound had disappeared, Medusa looked at the sky . The sun had set, and it was already dark . It was the best time for her to fly .

    ¡¯Oh right . I believe Wang Yun is carrying something valuable with him . I should get it back . ¡¯

    Medusa took back the Emperor Seal and the Emperor Sword from Li Feihong as she needed these items for her future ns .

    At first, she decided to pursue the Imperial Army to kill Liu Ping andplete her original purpose ofing into this world since there was not any restriction which barred her from killing an otherworlder anymore . While she was at it, she could take both these items and her foster father back to Luo Yang .

    However, she found Wang Yun before she reached Liu Ping Army, and he was in a predicament situation . If Wang Yun were to be captured by Tong¡¯s allies at this moment, her ns would have been ruined .

    Though she felt guilty for obstructing Tong, she had to do it for the bigger picture . The future of the demons was at stake .

    Medusa could have helped Tong and Friday by joining their force . However, directly joining them would not be efficient as Tong would probably shelter her and limit her roles .

    Another reason why Medusa chose not to join Tong at the moment because she could freely infect the locals . She could contaminate the water sources and crops with her blood .

    The incubation period of the demonic virus usuallysted 20 years or higher . Therefore, in the future of the next 20 years, several natives would transform into demons and reinforce the newly found Hell Realm, or the new country that Tong was establishing .

    Her realm creation duty was more important than Tong or Friday¡¯s safety right now . If she cked, Liu Yang and Zuo Ci could surpass her, and their realms would suppress their new Hell Realm in the future .

    Andstly, Medusa could exploit her current family status in an ingenious way that could catch all otherworlders and the native off-guard, including Zuo Ci and Liu Yang . It was the n that she required the Emperor Seal, the Emperor Sword, and her foster father to return to Luo Yang alive .

    She needed these to dere herself the new Empress and dethrone Liu Ping!

    With the status of the Empress of the country, her influence power could benefit Tong and Friday in the long run . She could also draw the attention of Liu Yang and Zuo Ci away from her daughter and her son-inw, making their future military campaigns easier .

    Medusa nced at the log message by the system goddess Lilith with a bitter smile . After rereading it, she closed her system menu and prepared to fly home .

    ¡¯This is for our new paradise . I¡¯m sorry, you two . Oh, I almost forgot . I have to kill that a-hole toplete everything . ¡¯

    "[Wrath Soul]"

    One of her ck wings turned into a spirit of Gorgon . Her human body and snake tail were simr to Medusa¡¯s current appearance . However, she had an ugly looking face with scale skins, fangs, and a wicked smile . Her hair was the ssic hair of living snakes which resembled the depicted pictures of Medusa in the legends .

    ¡¯Go and kill Liu Ping . He will die a dog¡¯s death with this!¡¯

    The soul flew northward toward where Liu Ping Army was . With one of her souls departed toplete her mission, she looked back at her father .

    "Let¡¯s go home . "

    While her wings were wrapping around the unconscious Wang Yun, the snake tail exerted the force and leaped into the air .

    Like an azure dragon, Medusa¡¯s long snake tail slithered through the sky . She passed Shangdang City to the south and reached Henei City within a few minutes .

 Chapter 206

    Chapter 206

    Chapter 206 ¨C Law of Karma

    By the time Medusa and the unconscious Wang Yun reached Henei¡¯s air space, an army with the ck gs "Dong" had already stationed inside the city .

    Medusa gazed at this army while she calcted a scheme in her mind .

    ¡¯Once Liu Ping is dead, Dong Zhuo will use this chance to take the throne . Then, his cruelty nature will surface, and it is likely that the Anti-Dong Zhuo war will happen like in the other world¡¯s history . ¡¯

    ¡¯But if I establish my authority in Luo Yang first, he will have to resort an aggressive action against me to steal the throne, or he can simply pretend to swear allegiance to me while he continues to abuse his authority as the prime minister . ¡¯

    ¡¯I can kill all of them right now, but I¡¯ll probably invite troubles if that Zuo Ci knows about it . I can¡¯t fight a 10-wing immortal yet . ¡¯

    ¡¯I have to wait until Tong grows more wings and surpass him . Godfather said he has the potential to possess more than 12 wings if he¡¯s nurtured properly . I wonder how long it takes for him to get that far . ¡¯

    ¡¯For now, I have to destroy Liu Ping¡¯s influence in the pce . One step at a time . ¡¯

    Medusa ignored Dong Zhuo¡¯s troops and continued flying toward Luo Yang . She reached the Capital City within five minutes andnded inside the inner pce without anyone spotting her .

    Her tentacle wings carried Wang Yun toward her room . At the front door of her private room, a squad of twenty guards lied down on the ground, sleeping . Before she pursued Liu Ping, she had put these people to sleep, the same what she did with Li Feihong and his men .

    Medusa put her foster father on her bed inside the room and closed the door behind her .

    ¡¯[Lust Soul], transformation!¡¯

    Hermia body glowed in bright light and shrunk into her 6-year-old humanoid form . Even though Lilith deleted all her skills, she could still use her own ability to transform her outer appearance .

    ¡¯Next, it¡¯s time to forge an edict . ¡¯

    She nced at the Emperor Seal in her hands with a wide grin . At the same time, another of her conscious, which was controlling her [Wrath Soul], sent back an rming warning .

    ...

    Medusa¡¯s [Wrath Soul] took ten minutes to reach Nie County . Liu Ping and his army had arrived there and were resting for the night .

    Wrath did not waste any time, it dove down from the sky into the government hall within the city wall to search for Liu Ping . Upon entering the main room, it did not find anyone . The hall was empty, and the torches on the pir had not been lightened .

    ¡¯Impossible, I sensed his presence inside this hall . How has it be empty!?¡¯

    Medusa expanded her sense around the hall, and she detected Liu Ping . He was sitting on the main seat in the hall in front of her . However, in her visual, the building was empty .

    ¡¯My sense isn¡¯t wrong . Something is blocking my vision . ¡¯

    "Haiz . "

    Suddenly, Wrath heard a sigh of an old man . It turned around to look at the source of the voice .

    Zuo Ci was standing behind her with his staff . He was frowning and giving the Wrath Soul a bitter smile .

    "Great Demoness . Can you not interfere with the mortal¡¯s business? We should let these people decide their fates with their own hands . Immortals like us should stay away from things like this already . "

    Wrath shook its head and replied to Zuo Ci via telepathy, "I¡¯m sorry, Great Sage . I only need to take one person¡¯s life, and I¡¯ll retreat from the struggling of the mortals . Can you have your permission on this?"

    "Does it have to do with the realm creation?"

    Wrath nodded which made Zuo Ci sighed again .

    "I¡¯ll still advise you not to do it . Karma is something you shouldn¡¯t touch . It will curse you for the rest of eternity, and you will never get your ninth or tenth wing . Let your child and that boy handle him . "

    Medusa was taken aback when Zuo Ci warned her about karma . Thisw of consequences was something that even the gods in Heaven avoided like the gue . It was a curse to all immortals as it forbade them from growing new wings . The karmic curse could also destroy their souls if ones decided to ignore it .

    This Karma Law was formed by the creator after Lilith¡¯s outbreak incidents . It gave power to the universe to punish the crooked immortals who gained benefits from bullying the weak .

    This tribtion happens when someone takes something from another person without a proper reason . Once karma has formed a link between two souls or more, it will tie them together for the rest of eternity until the debtor returns the karma deed . Each time they reincarnate, they will keep encountering each other until the debt is paid .

    In this case, had Medusa killed Liu Ping here, the karmaw would have tied her soul with Ping¡¯s soul . Until she repays him with something equal value to the worth of his current life, she would not be able to grow another wing, or her soul could even be destroyed if Liu Ping¡¯s soul ceased to exist .

    There was also an alternative way to solve the knots of Karma, by either having the debt owners forgiving the debtor or by having the debtor paying their dues in Hell . However, because the connection between dimensions was severed by the creator, Medusa could not clean her soul by doing her times in Hell .

    This was the reason the existence of Hell was urgently required for this dimension . It was a washing machine for both mortals and immortals who identally formed a karma to clean their crimes and their knot .

    "But Zhang Tong has killed many people in the past . Isn¡¯t he also bind by karma? He can still grow wings, am I right?" Medusa protested .

    "That boy hasn¡¯t formed a new karma with anyone in this world . Every being in here is nothing but empty shells without a soul . Killing innocents here will only increase his [Sin] or degrade a bit of his personality . Even if he kills an otherworlder with a soul, the one who will get the karma tribtion will be Lilith and the one who sent all otherworlders into this world . They are the one who forced his hands . "

    "But why do we get bound by Karma if we do the same?"

    "Because we¡¯re not forced to kill or they can kill us, Great Demoness . Liu Ping is neither a threat to you nor to your realm in the making . Besides, Liu Ping and Zhang Tong are bounded by Karma from their previous life . The Emperor will eventually get himself killed either by Zhang Tong or his subordinates if we leave them be . Your action here is unnecessary, so do not get in the way of their fate . Let them solve this themselves, and your boy can grow stronger after this . "

    Feeling helpless against the Karma Law and Zuo Ci, Wrath nodded in understanding and flew away, returning to the main body .

    ...

    Zuo Ci looked at the departing spirit with a relieved smile . This demoness was morefortable to negotiate than a certain edgy goddess . Although Lilith let them loose, Zuo Ci deemed that Liu Yang was a threat to humanity and the future of this world, so he continued to detain her in his lightning cage .

    ¡¯I also have probably formed a karma knot with Liu Yang, but it is worth it . She is not a suitable candidate to be the leader of the new Heaven with her personality . If she is let loose, this world is finished . ¡¯

    ¡¯In turn, these demons are troublemakers, but they have proper goals and gullible hearts . At least, they can be tamed and guided to the righteous path . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯d rather turn this world into Hell with tamable demons than having Heaven full of arrogant angels, but that will also break the bnce of the soul cirction system . I guess I have to contest with the Great Demoness myself instead of letting Liu Yang do it . ¡¯

    Zuo Ci left the hall and disabled his spell . The inside of the main government hall returned to normal, and time resumed . Just a moment ago, Zuo Ci paused the time inside the hall and hid everyone in his private space . Liu Ping and the others had no idea that they had escaped death by a hair breath .

    ...

    ...

    October 25th .

    5 . 30 AM .

    Li Feihong and his bodyguards woke up with a heavy head as if they were dead drunkst night . They opened their eyes and looked around in confusion .

    "Where¡¯s the monster!?" A soldier shouted which alerted everybody .

    All one hundred bodyguards drew their weapons and looked around in a panic . Li Feihong also recalled the existence of the monster and darted his eyes around in fright .

    Upon seeing the rising sun in the horizon, their mind calmed as the sunlight gave them a feeling of being secured from evil spirits .

    Li Feihong also managed to pull himself together . He checked his surroundings and realized the anomaly .

    "Where¡¯s the prisoner and the dead?"

    The soldiers also noticed the abnormality . They looked at the ground around them and broke a cold sweat . All the corpses had disappeared, and the prisoner was gone .

    "Was it the monster?"

    "The monster ate them?"

    "She definitely took them!"

    "She asked for the old man . She ate them!"

    Voice of spection and guesses echoed inside the mountain forest . Li Feihong gulped as he also thought the same with the soldiers . However, he reminded of Lu Bu and his angry face .

    ¡¯Can I report to Lu Bu that I captured Wang Yun, but a monster suddenly showed up and saved him?¡¯

    ¡¯Of course not! He will beat me to death if I do!¡¯

    Thinking this far, Li Feihong shouted, "Gather up! I have something to tell you all!"

    The soldiers heard the voice and gathered around Li Feihong in confusion . They thought he had the answer they were looking for .

    "First, what you saw is real . We¡¯ve just encountered a monster, and she took all of the corpses and our prisoner . HOWEVER," Li Feihong stressed, "We CANNOT report this to our superior as you know how Lu Bu will react! What do you think he will do if he heard [I¡¯m sorry, my lord . We¡¯ve captured someone suspicious, but he escaped because a monster saved him]? Obviously, it will be our death! So I want everyone to keep your mouth shut, and don¡¯t you utter a word aboutst night incident!"

    The soldiers repeatedly nodded as all of them knew about the temperament of their boss . They, too, used to be getting beaten by Lu Bu as a part of the baptism of this army . Only those who sparred with Lu Bu and survived could only be promoted into this army as a heavy cavalry soldier after all .

    Li Feihong sighed in relieved as his men were smart . At that moment, the memorable explosive killing intent was locking on the one hundred men and the otherworlder strategist .

    By instinct, they nced at the source of the killing intent in despair .

    Lu Bu had been sitting nearby for quite some time .

    The search party had located themst night, and Lu Bu came here to find them lying around without consciousness . Thus, he thought that they had fought with something formidable to the point that they were defeated .

    As a result, he remained here to guard these people from the wild animals for the entire night, and he heard everything from the very beginning .

    Lu Bu smiled at Li Feihong and the bodyguards, who fainted because they knew there were done for .

 Chapter 207

    Chapter 207

    Chapter 208 ¨C Let Me Try That

    The group returned to Shangdang City in peace . All of them were summoned to the government hall to report everything they experienced .

    Lu Bu¡¯s intimidation managed to squeeze the information from Li Feihong and his bodyguards . To their surprise, he did not mad about them losing to a monster . However, Lu Bu still beat them up until their faces turned into pig heads as they had attempted to conceal this information from him .

    His past experience with Tong taught Lu Bu that sorcery and superpower existed in this world . Thus, facing a monster and returned alive was a good achievement that was worth praising .

    Lu Bu also did not care about the Emperor Seal or the Emperor Sword . The lives of his men took priority .

    On the other hand, Ju Shou, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Zhang He had ugly faces when they heard that the monster took the Emperor Seal away .

    "Does the monster want to rule the country?"

    "Is she attracted to the jade?"

    Those were the questions they had in mind . s, nobody could answer their doubts .

    Lu Bu pped, "Anyway, we should not bother dwelling about that snake monster . Feihong also told us that she tried to talk to the group first, so I believe she hase in peace . Since she didn¡¯t kill us, that means she didn¡¯t want to be our enemy . We should be focusing on the war at hand . I¡¯m going to pursue Liu Ping Army . Governor Ju, help me prepare the provision and other supplies . "

    Lu Bu¡¯s rare wisdom pulled everyone¡¯s attention back from the monster, which made his subordinates looked at him in shock .

    ¡¯Does Fengxian have a monster fetish?¡¯ Zhang Liao thought .

    ¡¯Boss is smart?¡¯ Gao Shun puzzled .

    ¡¯He can think?¡¯ Li Feihong doubted .

    "What are you looking at? Go prepare my troops, you scums!" Lu Bu roared at his officers .

    ...

    October 26th .

    The preparation to mobilize waspleted . Li Feihong managed to squeeze the time to report a brief of events to the n chat .

    Li Feihong: Jinyang Army, Zhang He, and Ju Shou have repelled the Imperial Army .

    Li Feihong: Wang Kuang is dead . Jinyang Army is chasing after Zhang Yang .

    Li Feihong: Anything happens in the north?

    Li Feihong: Where is Julu Army right now?

    Dong Bai: We haven¡¯t fought with Liu Ping yet .

    Dong Bai: We¡¯re two days away from Nie County .

    Dong Bai: BTW, our scouts spotted Liu Ping and his men in the city .

    Dong Bai: We¡¯re digging traps andying an ambush in the perimeter ATM .

    Ding Yuan: The border is clear . Xiangnu didn¡¯t interfere with our fight .

    Ding Yuan: Jinyang is still peaceful .

    Zhang Bao: Yellow Turban Army is at Zhongshan right now .

    Zhang Bao: Liang is negotiating with the governor of the city .

    Zhang Bao: I think Zhen Yi will surrender .

    Zhang Jiao: Well done, Bao .

    Zhang Jiao: I¡¯m reporting too . Julu is still peaceful .

    Zhang Jiao: My spy reports said Yuan Shao and Liu Yan are gathering troops .

    Zhang Jiao: They probably n to mobilize in spring .

    Li Feihong: What about Tong?

    Zhang Tong: I¡¯m fine .

    Zhang Tong: Just survived the siege at Liyang yesterday .

    Zhang Tong: I secured Xu Huang . Another general getto!

    Li Feihong: HAXXXX

    Dong Bai: Reeeeeee

    Hua Shi: Poor Cao Mengde .

    Hua Shi: You have stolen three of his five elite generals .

    Hua Shi: How can he survive without them now?

    A smile appeared on Li Feihong¡¯s pig face which terrified his bodyguards . He was happy that everyone had a positive attitude even though the situation was stressful .

    The n chat was being used as it was supposed to be for the first time . Instead of spamming nonsense to kill time, everyone exchanged their intelligence and the movements in other locations .

    Li Feihong believed that once Tong recruited more members or dragged in Jia Xu and Ju Shou into the group, the chat would be livelier .

    From the info of Dong Bai in the n chat, Liu Ping and his men had reached Nie County which located between Jinyang and Shangdang City .

    ¡¯We¡¯re also busy . My scouts detected a trail of enemy cavalry units . They are heading north . ¡¯

    In his hands, the scouts from both Shangdang Army and Jinyang Army had given him reports as they spotted Zhang Yang¡¯s troops . They were moving to the north with their cavalry units .

    "Are you done, Feihong? We¡¯re moving . " Zhang Liao called him, pulling him back from his thought .

    Lu Bu did not waste any time . As soon as he had learned that the scouts found traces of the Imperial Army remnants, he ordered the chase with his entire 50,000 men . He nned to rush north to Nie County within two or three days .

    Zhang Liao and Li Feihong were in the middle of the mobilization . They had to leave Shangdang City now .

    "Sorry, sorry! I¡¯ming!"

    Zhang He and Ju Shou sent them off at the north gate . Shangdang Army did not move along with Jinyang force as they had to remain in Shangdang to appease the citizens and maintain the order in the city .

    Cleaning the aftermath of a battle was hard work .

    Still, both of them gazed at the departing army in solemn even though they did not like Lu Bu . As servants of the same lord, they prayed for Jinyang Army¡¯s victory .

    The struggle at Shangdang was over, but the battle of Jinyang was about to begin .

    ...

    South of Jinyang City, forty kilometers north of Nie County .

    Friday in Xiao Wu¡¯s outer appearance was digging trenches along with Julu soldiers, who could not stop sneaking nces at her . Although she wore customized iron armor for female, her busty body still attracted everyone¡¯s attention .

    Fortunately, all of them knew about her status as Tong¡¯s concubine, so no one was stupid enough toy a hand on her . Secondly and most importantly, they knew about one terrifying secret of Xiao Wu that stopped them from the silly thought .

    At the moment, Friday was lifting arge boulder at the size of a modern bike with her left hand . She did not hold it above her shoulder or carry it behind her back .

    She lifted it with her finger grip like a bowling ball .

    "Friday, I need a few more over here," Shouted Hua Shi who was arranging the rolling boulder traps .

    "OKAY, CATCH!"

    Friday hurled the stone toward Hua Shi¡¯s direction .

    *BOOM*

    Itnded precisely on the spot where Hua Shi wanted to ce the stone right in front of her .

    However ...

    "YOU STUPID BITCH! DON¡¯T YOU FOOKING TOSS THE STONE!!"

    "You¡¯re wee!"

    "I DID NOT THANK YOU!"

    "I meant, sorry . I missed!"

    "DAFUQ DO YOU MEAN YOU MISSED!? IT LANDED LIKE 2CM AWAY FROM MY BOOBS! I CAN EVEN FEEL THE WIND HITTING MY FACE!"

    "I was aiming at the spider on your chest!"

    Hua Shi looked down . There was indeed a baby forest spider on her cloth . Strangely, it seemed to tremble in fear .

    As usual, the two mental wives of Tong continued ying dangerous pranks on each other on a daily basis . Usually, it was Hua Shi who bullied Friday in the little Dong Bai body at home . However today, Friday had the upper hand as she was in her adult form, so she paid back her debt with interests .

    Although the pranks were always risky and deadly in ordinary people¡¯s eyes, to them who literally had been to Hell, a near-death experience was nothing but a fart with an extra golden nugget .

    The two psychopaths continued working "peacefully" as they were finding an opportunity to get back on the other .

    Meanwhile, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu kept their distance from the women as they contributed to the ambush preparation .

    "Do you think Zou Shi will turn into one of them?" Zhang Ji asked his nephew .

    Zhang Xiu shook his head, "Give up, uncle . She has a simr aura as theirs, and she hangs out with these girls . It¡¯s a matter of time when she will turn into one of them . "

    Tears welled in Zhang Ji¡¯s eyes as he gave up to his fate . He remembered how scary Zou Shi was when she was angry or when she demanded something from him .

    "I wish I¡¯m single for life . " Cried Zhang Ji .

    ...

    October 26th, 7 PM .

    In the restricted tent where Hua Shi and Friday rested together, Hua Shi sat cross legs and meditated as Friday instructed . Friday was teaching Hua Shi a method to gain demonic wings .

    Since Friday knew that Tong had infected Hua Shi with his semen and blood, she would likely to turn into a demon like Tong soon . In preparation for such event, Friday imparted her knowledge to Hua Shi to prevent her from losing control to her [Sins] . She had begun teaching Hua Shi after Tong left for Ye City as they had nothing to do at night .

    "You¡¯re sure I can grow wings? Why am I not feeling anything?" Asked Hua Shi .

    "It normally takes years to get the first pair . Besides, you¡¯ve only been infected for a year . It usually takes 20 years to get your first wing . " Friday gave her instruction while she was also meditating alongside with Hua Shi .

    "But didn¡¯t Tong get his wings this year? He is only 17 if I remember correctly . "

    "I¡¯m surprised, too . I think somebody or an otherworlder had stimted his [Sins] to the point that all of them awakened . It¡¯s fortunate that he didn¡¯t go berserk . "

    "Berserk?"

    "Our [Sins] are our heart devils . Everybody is born with at least seven or eight of them . Once our demon blood matured, they will appear and attempt to take control of our body and soul . When we lose control of our body, that¡¯s when we go berserk . Imagine a lunatic taking over your body and use it as he sees fit . "

    Hua Shi¡¯s body trembled as she was afraid of losing her body to an unknown being . As she simted the scenario where she lost control of her body, she recalled the event when Tong acted weird .

    "I think he went berserk . There was a day that he looked into my eyes and my consciousness blurred . By the times I woke up again, he has already inseminated me to the point that my stomach bloated . "

    Friday squinted her eyes . If it were the usual time, she might have thought that Hua Shi was bragging . However, the topic of the conversation was rted to Tong¡¯s wellbeing . She could not ignore it or treat it as a joke .

    "What happened to him that day?"

    Hua Shiughed, "He summoned me to his bedroom while he was sitting on the bed and looking at his crack . I thought he was addicted to sex, but he shed his red eyes at me and boom! My mind went nk . "

    Friday alsoughed, "Ah, that¡¯s probably [Lust] . You¡¯re lucky that it was his [Lust] and not [Wrath] or [Gluttony] . Or else, you would have been dead . "

    "But hasn¡¯t he awakened [Lust] first? I thought it was his strong trait . "

    "There¡¯s another trick I haven¡¯t told you yet . There¡¯s a shortcut to tame our [Sins], but we¡¯ll have to allow them to take over our body first . Once we regain our sense, the [Sins] that has attempted to take our body will be weakened to the point that it¡¯s so easy to tame . "

    "Hey! Why haven¡¯t you told me this before!? I would have used that method instead of sitting all day doing nothing . "

    "Listen, hoe! I literally turned into a monster during the berserk period! I even wasted over a million year to get my wings this way . "

    "But Tong regained his sense in a night . "

    "That¡¯s . . . odd . But hey, you and Tong are different . Do you really want to gamble?"

    Hua Shi smirked and looked at her stomach, "After this child grows up a bit, let me try that . "

 Chapter 208

    Chapter 208

    Chapter 209 ¨C One Thousand Deserters

    October 27th .

    7 AM .

    The Imperial Army left Nie County and continued their journey to Jinyang today . Liu Ping managed to extort tributes from the locals and the Prefect of the city . He also conscripted more troops for his crusade . From the 130,000 men, it increased by another 30,000 men from the nobles¡¯ private soldiers, townsmen, mercenaries, and ves .

    The provision life of Liu Ping Army increased by a month, which was more than enoughst until the end of December .

    From Liu Ping¡¯s point of view, he could extort more from Jinyang and any county along the way to Julu . Therefore, food was not his concern anymore .

    ¡¯Jinyang City has Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun . I want to recruit these guys to my side,¡¯ Liu Ping thought .

    ¡¯Lu Bu fought with Tong, but I don¡¯t know why . I have to investigate this when I get in Jinyang . If the cause of the fight is favorable, I can bribe Lu Bu to kill Ding Yuan and join me as Dong Zhuo did in history . Then, I¡¯ll let him kill Tong for me . ¡¯

    ¡¯I won¡¯t be stupid like Dong Zhuo . Once Lu Bupletes his job, I¡¯ll kill him . ¡¯

    ¡¯HAHAHAHA! I¡¯m a genius!¡¯

    ...

    October 28th . Noon .

    Zhang Yang and his 30,000 soldiers managed to reach Nie County, but they did not have all 30,000 horses like when they retreated from the battlefield .

    In the past couple of days, they did not have enough food . As a result, they had to kill three hundred of their warhorses each day as they were thest source of food this winter .

    Though they lost only six hundred warhorses, which was insignificantpared to the entire army of 30,000 men, it still hurt the soldiers¡¯ pride and their morale . The horses were like their children that had been with them since they entered the army . The two hundred soldiers who lost their warhorses even cried when they found out that their horses were chosen as food .

    Two hundred soldiers, who lost their horses, requested Zhang Yang that they wished to retire once they reached Nie County as they did not have the heart to continue being a soldier anymore .

    Zhang Yang despised these weak-willed soldiers, yet he had a soft heart when it came to treating his subordinates . He decided to reduce the size of his army to keep his provision afloat . Keeping discouraged soldiers in the army would only waste their supplies .

    "If there is anyone who doesn¡¯t want to fight anymore, you can leave . However, you can only leave this ce naked! Leave your armor, your weapons, your uniform, and your horses here . "

    Zhang Yang made a public deration, which shocked his soldiers .

    "M-My Lord, it is winter . Letting them leave naked is a bit ..." A thousand-manmander protested .

    "I¡¯m being lenient, soldier! If it were other generals, they would have executed all deserters and those crying babies a long time ago . "

    Zhang Yang continued organizing his men, "We¡¯ll continue eating our warhorses in the next few days until we reunite with the Emperor¡¯s Army . For now, rest our horses here . We will continue moving at noon!"

    "General, why don¡¯t we get the food from the local instead of killing our horses?"

    "And how do you think we can get our food, soldier?"

    "Trade it with our armors, weapons, or horses? Instead of killing horses for food, trading them will return us with more food . "

    "Fool! Give weapons and horses to the civilians? Are you out of your mind!? The enemy will definitely pursue us and get our weapons and horses that we leave behind! How could you have be amander with your brain!?"

    The thousand-manmander sighed . He noticed Zhang Yang ws in his leadership . A goodmander would have tried to solve the problem by trading with the locals for food, or he might even have surrendered to the enemy with the condition that they could continue living .

    If this continued, their food supply would run out eventually, and all their warhorses would end up in their stomach instead of using them in a battle .

    The oue of this war was obvious to the horsemen . They had lost their supply line from the Capital, and their retreating path was blockaded by Xiangnu Army and the rebel force . The only ce they could go was Jinyang .

    After the army reorganization at Jinyang, they had two choices, either by reiming Shangdang from the rebel or proceeding to Julu .

    Either way was a risky gamble! They did not know about the strength of their enemies at all!

    Zhang Yang overestimated himself and persisted in continuing fighting instead of trying to find an alternative way to survive . He also did not exin his reason or ns to his subordinates, which lowered the morale of the sergeants .

    The thousand-manmander bit his lower lips . He had enough .

    "Then, general . Since you¡¯ve called me unworthy of being amander, I will leave the army as well . I¡¯ll leave my clothes and weapons here . "

    Han Hao, the thousand-manmander who was still in his 20s, decided to abandon his position after judging that Zhang Yang had no future .

    On the other hand, Zhang Yang stared at Han Hao with mocking eyes, "I see . You¡¯re the same as them . I don¡¯t need a pussy as one of mymanders . You can leave!"

    Han Hao used to be Wang Kuang¡¯s subordinates . The only reason he was with Zhang Yang was that his unit was summoned along with other troops . He did not want to serve this homeless governor from the very beginning .

    The exmander walked out of the group toward the inner city with only his underwear . Seeing theirmander was leaving, the soldiers in Han Hao¡¯s unit also made their decision .

    "I¡¯m sorry, general . I won¡¯t continue . "

    "I¡¯ll leave too . "

    "I¡¯m following mymander . "

    "I may be a pussy to you, but I¡¯m man enough to decide for myself . "

    One thousand men, who were Han Hao¡¯s subordinates, left Zhang Yang without hesitation . This youngmander might not be a genius or an elite, but he had enough charisma and ability to make his men respect him wholeheartedly .

    Not only Han Hao¡¯s subordinates were quitting, but four thousands horsemen of Wang Kuang also left Zhang Yang Army . They did not follow after Han Hao though .

    Instead of getting angry, Zhang Yang rejoiced, seeing that so many people were quitting . He had extra warhorses to be used as food now .

    ¡¯Foolish soldiers! Thanks to your horses, my troops can survive! You can rot and die in this rural county while I and the others will get all the glory and wealth from plundering Julu . ¡¯

    ...

    Han Hao walked inside of Nie City with only his underwear while his thousand men continued to follow him . The townsmen who had been plundered by Liu Ping Army looked at them with sympathy . They thought that these naked men were prisoners who had just been released to die in this city .

    Once Han Hao reached a deserted area, he stopped and looked at his former subordinates .

    "You¡¯re still following me?" Asked Han Hao .

    "We can¡¯t follow that man, and we don¡¯t know where we should go next . "

    "I still want to follow you, sir!"

    "Take me with you, sir!"

    Han Hao sighed and grinned, "Okay, but all of you will have to listen to mymand like before . "

    The ex-soldiersughed . There was a mutual understanding between the men . Even if they lost their official status, this unit would still continue to operate like before .

    Disregarding his pride, he shoved his hand into his underwear and pulled out three gold bullions .

    "Although I¡¯m stupid for joining this pointless crusade, I¡¯m not stupid enough to quit with an empty hand . "

    The soldiers gazed at their boss in astonishment . A dozen of them alsoughed and did the same, pulling out items from their underwear, such as gold, coins, treasures, and even horse meats .

    "I¡¯m also not stupid, sir!"

    "Me too! I even have the horse meat!"

    "I hope you have washed your butt, bro . "

    "NOPE! I didn¡¯t hide it in the back, I hid it in the front!"

    "Eww, bro! Watdafuq!?"

    "Know this, I¡¯m a cultured man, so I don¡¯t bath! If you don¡¯t want to share it with me, I¡¯ll eat it alone!"

    "FOOK you, who will eat your meat!? I¡¯ll trade the locals for clothes and food!"

    The one thousand menughed and joked with the others in a merry mood . The sign of despair and dissatisfaction disappeared like it was a dream .

    ¡¯I have raised a bunch of crazy bastards,¡¯ Thought Han Hao .

    "Gather your belongings, boys . We will have to use it as our fund to get our clothes and our food unless you want to freeze to death in this weather . "

    "My horse meat too?" The no-bath soldier asked .

    "Screw you! You eat it alone!"

    The one menughed again .

    ...

    October 28th .

    3 PM .

    The heavy cavalry units of Lu Bu and his Jinyang Army reached Nie County . However, the army did not enter the city .

    Gao Shun had gone inside the city with a hundred scouts to gather the information . Everyone was expecting the results in a few minutes .

    On the other hand, Li Feihong closed his eyes and utilized his long-range monitor, searching for the trail of Zhang Yang Army .

    Twelve Kilometers away to the north, Li Feihong found them .

    "I¡¯ve found them . They are only one hour away to the northwest," Li Feihong reported what he found .

    "Good! Fengxian, Feihong, tell everyone that we¡¯ll rest here for the night," Zhang Liao suggested .

    Lu Bu frowned, "We¡¯re not chasing them?"

    "No . We¡¯ll upy this county and rece the Prefect first . These men are fleeing without food so they will consume their warhorses each day . Fengxian, You should know what will happen if someone suddenly tells you to kill your horse for food . "

    "Ha! I¡¯ll kill that bastard if he dares telling me to kill my horse!"

    "That¡¯s right . This is the thing that is happening in that army right now . From the words of the surrendered troops, those men are a mixed force of Zhang Yang and Wang Kuang . Since Wang Kuang is dead and Zhang Yang is leading them, sooner orter, Wang Kuang¡¯s men will want to leave the army . We should let these men destroying themselves . "

    Li Feihong pondered as he was confused by Zhang Liao¡¯s insight, "If I were their general, I would have traded my treasures or my weaponry with the locals for food . Are you sure that they will continue eating their horses?"

    Zhang Liao shook his head, "I don¡¯t . "

    "Eh?"

    A smile appeared on Zhang Liao¡¯s face, "But two to three days of horse eating is more than enough to ruin their morale . I¡¯m sure that a portion of their men should have already left the army . "

    While Zhang Liao was disying his wisdom, Gao Shun returned .

    "Zhang Yang Army had left the city an hour ago . We also found thousands of Zhang Yang¡¯s abandoned soldiers in the city, and they want to surrender to us . "

    Lu Bu and Li Feihong stared at Gao Shun with widen eyes . They then gazed at Zhang Liao in astonishment .

    "See?" Smiled Zhang Liao, "Let them ruin themselves for another day . We¡¯ll continue chasing after them tomorrow . "

 Chapter 209

    Chapter 209

    Chapter 209 ¨C Li Feihong, the Fire Starter

    Although Lu Bu and his men wore Xiangnu outfits, they took over the county without a resistance . Since all of their soldiers were drafted by Liu Ping, no one could stop their massive army .

    Unlike Tong or Ju Shou, Lu Bu did not chase away the family members of the local nobles, who joined Liu Ping in his crusade . He did not understand the logic behind the government reformation that Tong pursued, and Lu Bu did not like socializing with someone else¡¯s families . Zhang Liao and Gao Shun also did not fare well with the government management, so all of them left the domestic jobs to Li Feihong .

    After they entrusted the desk jobs to their advisor, the three generals left to check the deserters inside the city .

    As for the bullied strategist, he sat in the main seat in the government hall and epted his fate .

    "Those warmongers . . . Now I know why Tong was so excited when he recruited Jia Xu or Ju Shou . "

    He finally understood the shortage of government workers issue . Their n needed more talented civil officers who could help them in managing the cities .

    Li Feihong gazed at the trembling old civil officers in government hall, who were left behind . He smiled at them as he consoled them, "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re not really from Xiangnu . "

    Hearing that the invaders were not part of the barbarians, the officials rejoiced .

    "Excuse me if I ask . Which affiliate are you from?" An elderly officer asked their new boss .

    Li Feihong thought about it for a second before he grinned, "We¡¯re the Immortal Yellow Turbans, the subordinates of the Immortal King . "

    ...

    Four thousands of Wang Kuang men, who had parted way with Zhang Yang, gathered at the government barrack as Lu Bu had summoned them . Because they were jobless, starving, and freezing as they only had their underwear with them . They were willing to surrender and join Lu Bu Army as they had nothing to lose .

    Lu Bu, however, had an ugly expression as he looked at their sorry state .

    "Give them clothes and food first . Then, we can talk," Lu Bu chased them away . He did not want to see these unsightly soldiers even one more second .

    On the other hand, Han Hao and his one thousand men did not reply to Lu Bu¡¯s summon . They exchanged their gold and treasures for food and clothes as they n to leave Nie County tomorrow .

    Han Hao wanted to move south to Shangdang . They wanted to return to their birthce, Henei City .

    One hourter, the four thousand soldiers received their clothes and filled their stomach . Zhang Liao and Gao Shun managed to gather the information about Zhang Yang Army and their status .

    The two generals reported the result of the investigation to Lu Bu, who then told them heart-wrenching news .

    "I don¡¯t want you lots in my army! Go home!"

    Zhang Liao and Gao Shun frowned . An excellent opportunity to get free soldiers was hard toe by . Why would their boss decline it?

    "Because you lost a few horses, you cried and quit your job! I don¡¯t need sissies in my ranks! Get lost!"

    "Fengxian, they are still professional soldiers . You should not be harsh toward them," Comined Zhang Liao .

    "Boss, every cavalry treat their horses like their children . You can¡¯t treat them like this," Gao Shun also protested .

    Lu Bu groaned as he was taken aback by the reprimand of his subordinates .

    "Alright, you take care of them . But I don¡¯t want them in my army . That¡¯s the bottom line!"

    Both Zhang Liao and Gao Shun shook their head and sighed . Lu Bu¡¯s mood was unpredictable sometimes . Had they not picked up by this temperament god of war since they were still rookies, they would have forsaken him ages ago .

    ¡¯He¡¯s going to get stabbed in the back one day if he keeps this up . ¡¯ Zhang Liao thought .

    Meanwhile, Gao Shun gave the four thousand jobless men a bitter smile .

    "You¡¯ve heard it . Unfortunately, we cannot take you in as our soldiers . But don¡¯t lose hope! South of here where you¡¯vee from, our guys in Shangdang will be more than happy to wee you . I know the governor and the grand general of the new Shangdang Army . I¡¯ll write a rmendation letter to the guys so you can return to your family . "

    Hearing that they still had a chance to go home, the four thousand men were delighted . They bowed to Gao Shun in frantic as they thought that he was their benefactor .

    Zhang Liao elbowed Gao Shun and whispered to his ear, "Hey, since when that you can write?"

    Gao Shun gestured his colleague with his eyes and whispered back, "I can¡¯t . I was going to ask you or Feihong to help me . "

    Zhang Liao facepalmed, ¡¯For some reason, the boss and his subordinate have something inmon,¡¯

    ...

    October 29th .

    6 AM .

    In the end, all five thousand ex-soldiers of Wang Kuang departed from Nie County toward Shangdang, including Han Hao .

    The former thousand-manmander was surprised when he heard that Lu Bu refused to take in the men, so he asked around .

    "Ah, he said we were weak or something and chased us away . " One of the four thousand men answered .

    "He¡¯s the same as Zhang Yang?" Han Hao questioned again .

    "No, they¡¯re not! Look at my robe! You see this?"

    He fetched a leather bag and opened it to show the content inside . The bag was full of rice!

    "They also gave us food and a rmendation letter . They allowed us to pass Shangdang and return home!"

    "Are you serious? Why should Xiangnu help us? It doesn¡¯t make any sense!"

    "We were fooled,mander . Those men were not Xiangnu, but Jinyang Army! One of us recognized their grandmander Lu Bu of Jinyang . The rest of their soldiers are also the famous heavy cavalries at the border . The Imperial Army had been tricked . "

    Han Hao¡¯s eyes widened in shock .

    Julu and Jinyang had formed a secret alliance and targeted the Emperor in this war! With Jinyang Army at the back of the main force, then the Emperor would face Julu at Jinyang City .

    Emperor Ping had been surrounded without a path to escape!

    Han Hao¡¯s body could not stop shaking . He was not trembling because of the weather, it was fear . If this was true, then they had escaped death without realizing it .

    ¡¯We¡¯ve probably cheated death . ¡¯

    He was ted that he picked the right choice for not following Zhang Yang . Han Hao was also enlightened about the truth of this war after he understood the whole picture .

    ¡¯The edict was aplete bullcrap . Jinyang and Julu are friends . Zhang Tong probably went to Jinyang and had a friendly spar with Lu Bu, but the Emperor exaggerated the spar into a war between cities!¡¯

    ¡¯Damnit! The Emperor is insane! He¡¯s a tyrant!¡¯

    ¡¯But, wow . The stratagem of these forces is totally sick . Since their force took Shangdang, then the other detached armies have been probably defeated already . Julu and Jinyang Army are pretty good . ¡¯

    Han Hao respected the well-crafted strategy and the strategists who came up with this n .

    ¡¯If I want to work for someone, I want my superiors to be at least thispetent . I don¡¯t want to fight for someone like Zhang Yang again . ¡¯

    ¡¯I wonder if Shangdang City epts ex-soldiers like me ...¡¯

    ...

    9 AM .

    Lu Bu and his men also left the city . Li Feihong tagged along like usual with dark circles around his eyes . He did not sleepst night as he had to solve the domestic issues for the locals before their departure .

    Several white hair officials stood on top of the wall to send off Li Feihong . They were gratified for his help and sincerity . A dozen of them even promised to give their granddaughters to Li Feihong as his concubines to repay for his kindness .

    Gao Shun and Zhang Liao looked at Li Feihong, baffled at the official crowd . They did not wave at Lu Bu or them, but Li Feihong alone .

    Lu Bu, on the other hand, did not notice this as he was leading the march .

    "What did you do to them, Feihong?" Asked Zhang Liao .

    Li Feihong answered while he was dozing on the back of his horse, "I gave them a bit of food, cows, and rice seeds . I also wrote a couple of textbooks for them . "

    "Textbooks?"

    "Mathematics, ounting, financing, and a few products they can make with their local specialties . "

    Both Gao Shun and Zhang Liao still puzzled by Li Feihong¡¯s sleep talking . They were going to continue questioning him, but they stopped after they saw a hickey and red marks on his neck and his face .

    Before Li Feihong could regroup with the army, a few granddaughters of the officials came to see their potential prospect . They fell in love with this young strategist at first sight as he was also a handsome young schr . A bold teenage girl managed to get close and stole several kisses on him, leaving a few bite marks on rouge lips on his face .

    Li Feihong declined their approach and the officials¡¯ offering, but he gentlemanly patted their head and promised them that he would visit them in the future . He was not aware that he had nted several gs on these innocent maidens .

    After this day, he had be the number one prospect in Nie County that all young girls wanted to get as their husband .

    "Our Feihong is now an adult . " Zhang Liaoughed .

    "Damn! I thought you were working hard . You went for the hoes before the bros?" Mocked Gao Shun .

    "He DID work hard . I bet his girl is satisfied . Look at his face . I¡¯m sure he didn¡¯t sleepst night . "

    "Well, damn! I¡¯ve neversted the entire night . Respect Feihong . Truly respect!"

    The two generals misunderstood Li Feihong, and a new rumor was born after this day in Jinyang Army .

    ...

    ...

    Thirty kilometers north of Nie County, the Imperial troops were marching while they were enduring the zero degrees temperature . The weather was dry and cold, hampering their march speed .

    The soldiers still managed to randomly find forest and mountain food in the wilderness as they marched . Although they could not find a wild animal anymore, they still had plenty of food in stock .

    At the back of the marching army, Zhou Cang and his horse trotted beside the cage where Lu Zhi was inside . With a flick of fingers, a bundle of papyrus paper flew and hit Lu Zhi hand .

    The imprisoned veteran schr hid the paper and read it in secret .

    [Ambush party is in front . Escape when it starts . ]

    Lu Zhi¡¯s eyes brightened . He nced at Zhou Cang who was still riding near the cage .

    "I¡¯ve managed to buy a few units to our cause . We¡¯ve also secured a unit of a thousand horsemen with us, but they are quite expensive . We¡¯re pretty much broke when we return home . "

    Lu Zhi chuckled at Zhou Cang¡¯sin, "I have a bit of saving in Julu . I¡¯ll pay you back with interest . "

    "Haha, that¡¯s not necessary . Just teach us how to write and read . "

    "Hahaha! Of course . "

 Chapter 210

    Chapter 210

    Chapter 210 ¨C Friday & Hua Shi VS Liu Ping

    October 30th .

    8 AM .

    Forty kilometers north of Nie County, Liu Ping and his army persisted on marching to Jinyang . The long marching through the mountains, valleys, and cold weather exhausted them . The path was no longer a stone road or a mountain one, but hills and forests .

    The current road was not a t road in between valleys or a canyon anymore . Everything elevated, and the ground was uneven . All soldiers were now hiking hills and bumpy trails .

    Today, most of the soldiers stopped trying to search for food as their feet either got frostbite or blistered from the long walking . Their knees also gave up on them as they kept climbing and descending for days . The horses also moved slower than usual as the animals were not ustomed to the snow and mountain geography .

    Liu Ping¡¯s face was distorted as he realized his blunder .

    ¡¯I shouldn¡¯t have dispatched my troops in winter . I¡¯ve totally overlooked this!¡¯

    ¡¯Or maybe I have chosen the wrong cement . My troops should have been the ones that have gone to Ye City while Huangfu Song and the others were supposed to be here instead of me . ¡¯

    ¡¯Damnit! Wang Yun is not a good strategist, and nobody dares to suggest anything to me! Everything is a mess!¡¯

    In his previous life, he was a pampered heir who was raised in a Southern Asia Country, so he was not aware of the climate of the northern part of China . In addition, he did not graduate from a college properly as all of his bachelor, master, and even his Ph . D . diplomas were bought by his father .

    "How long until we reach Jinyang?" Liu Ping asked his followers .

    "About two to three days at this pace, Your Majesty . "

    Liu Ping sighed a relief . Traveling a long distance in this ancient era was troublesome . If he were in the 21st-century, it would have only taken him a couple of hours in his private helicopter to make a trip of this few hundred kilometers .

    ¡¯I guess I have to stay in Jinyang until the winter is over . I also have to contact my detached troops in Ye for the next joint attack . ¡¯

    The Emperor gave up continuing his journey to Julu for now . As Liu Ping had experienced setbacks after setbacks, he learned a thing or two from his mistakes .

    Liu Ping sighed and looked upward to the sky without a cloud, contemting his future ns .

    The corner of his eyes detected movements from the top of the hill to the east . Liu Ping stopped his horse to concentrate his vision on the suspicious location . s, he could not find anything .

    "Your Majesty?" A retainer was worried .

    "I think I saw movements of an animal . Send someone to hunt it . I want to eat meat today . "

    "Y-Yes, Your Majesty!" The retainer dashed away in a hurry .

    Liu Ping closed his eyes and took another deep breath . As he was enjoying the serenity of temporary darkness and cold wind, he heard a whistling noise of an arrow .

    *PA*

    The right hand of Liu Ping caught the arrow by reflex, and he felt the sensation that he had not felt in this life .

    Pain .

    The tip of the arrow had cut his hand when he caught it .

    The eyes of Liu Ping snapped open in shock . He darted his eyes around, searching for the ambusher . Liu Ping kept searching while he was preparing to leap from the horse and charge at the assant . However, he could not find anybody .

    The ambusher did not follow up with another attack .

    A deep frown appeared on Liu Ping¡¯s face . From his previous life experience of countless assassination attempts by Ping¡¯s victims, all amateur ambushers or assassins always followed up with more attacks immediately if the first attack failed .

    In this case, the person did not make a rookie mistake . The ambusher had aborted the assassination attempt and concealed his presence .

    ¡¯An elite archer, a professional assassin, or an otherworlder?¡¯ Thought Liu Ping, ¡¯The natives can never hurt me . This arrow should have been fired by an otherworlder or a monstrous existence like Lu Bu or Huang Zhong . ¡¯

    ¡¯Huang Zhong belongs to Liu Biao Army, so the only ones who can threaten me is Lu Bu and otherworlders . ¡¯

    ¡¯Was it you, Tong!?¡¯

    Killing intent exploded out as Liu Ping recalled the taboo name .

    Liu Ping shouted, "ALL FORCES! STAY ALERT! THERE¡¯S AN AMBUS-*BOOM*"

    *RUMBLE*

    He had yet to finish his words, rumble sound could be heard from the back of the marching troops . Liu Ping could feel the ground trembling as if there was an earthquake .

    *BOOM*

    "Ambush!"

    "Boulders!"

    Rocks, stones, and boulders in various size rolled down from the east hill, causing a chaotic scene behind the marching troops .

    Liu Ping was over 500 meters away beyond the ambush location . If he wanted to gallop his horse back to help his men, it would take him half a minute to reach them .

    As he was about to rush back, ten light arrows flew through the sky, passing by Liu Ping and his men . Suddenly, they defied all physics, the tips of the arrows made a U-turn and pointed at Liu Ping before they elerated toward him .

    ¡¯Magic arrows!¡¯

    Hua Shi¡¯s ten magic arrows chased after the Emperor with a speed of 200km/hour . As the homing arrows rushed after Liu Ping, another light arrow pierced his horse¡¯s brain, killing it instantly .

    The dead horse lost its strength . It copsed on the ground with Liu Ping on top of it .

    The Emperor did not react in time . He also lost bnce and his momentum as he was about to parry the oing arrows . As the consequences, ten arrows made their ways into Liu Ping¡¯s body .

    *SOEK* *SOEK*

    *SOEK* *SOEK*

    Magic arrows ignored Liu Ping¡¯s physical toughness and dug itself into his fresh like tofu . Four of the arrows pierced his arms, two for each . The other six embedded themselves as they went through his ribcage . One of it went into his lung, and one into his stomach .

    The nauseous and shocking pain numbed Liu Ping¡¯s brain and his five senses . The d¨¦j¨¤ vu experience he had in Hell came back to him .

    Liu Ping kicked the dead warhorse away from him . While he was still crawling on the ground, trying to get himself up, a shadowy figure of a woman slipped through his bodyguards and appeared in front of him .

    A tip of a spear chased after him, aiming at Liu Ping forehead!

    *nk*

    The left hand of Liu Ping managed to back-hand away the iing spear, changing its trajectory . It stabbed into the snowy ground .

    The impact of the brief contact numbed his hand which shocked the Emperor .

    ¡¯I have a hundred times endurance and strength! Why am I feeling the pain!? Is it another magic attack!?¡¯

    He did not realize one fact . He might have the passive physical buff from the system, but he had never utilized it to the fullest . In other words, his body control foundation was weak .

    Confused, Liu Ping kicked the ground and turned around, trying to run away to get a better footing before he could counter-attack .

    "You can¡¯t escape, Ping!"

    Friday in Xiao Yu form shed her red eyes . She pulled back her spear and ran after him .

    "Protect the Emperor!"

    The surrounding bodyguards finally realized what had happened . All twenty of them drew their weapons and lunged at Friday .

    *PHOOF* *PHOOF*

    *PHOOF* *PHOOF*

    Friday disyed her body strength control by stabbing at twenty bodyguards within one breath, leaving twenty of her afterimages . All her thrust prated the foreheads of the bodyguards .

    The current Friday¡¯s strength equaled the physical strength of Tong with all his passive buff and his two-wing power . As a former four-winged devil, she could exhibit the full potential of a two-wing demon as she had experienced in utilizing its power for countless years .

    Tong could only utilize less than 50% of his true potential in battles as he had never trained under the instruction of a senior demon . Meanwhile, Friday grew up under the wings of Medusa . She had overwhelming experiences when it came to fighting .

    Moreover, her casualbat strength was Tong¡¯s full overclocking mode . The spearmanship she used just now was Tong¡¯s [Double el] . Friday¡¯s perception and foundation were totally different than her husband .

    The Imperial soldiers stared at the assant with widened eyes in shock .

    Friday ignored the stunned soldiers . She stepped on the ground with her toes, lightly chasing after Liu Ping as she slipped through the crowd like a snake moving through a series of tree branches .

    Medusa¡¯s footwork, Lamia Step!

    Liu Ping used his explosive force and managed to gain fifty meters distance from Friday . However, he sensed that she had shortened the distance . Liu Ping turned around and drew his sword, nning to retaliate .

    Upon looking back, he saw a stunning beauty chasing after him with a spear .

    Had it been other circumstances, Liu Ping would have abused his power to bed this woman . Unfortunately, he could not do so at this moment .

    The power that she disyed earlier told Liu Ping that she was a threat to his life . His body toughness would not be able to withstand her strikes .

    Adrenaline rushed into Liu Ping¡¯s brain and his muscle . He forgot his pain, and he felt that the world turned into slow motion .

    He subconsciously overclocked his brain!

    For one second, he could see the spearing toward his forehead again .

    He tilted his head to the side while the sword in his right hand made an arc, countering Friday¡¯s with a slice motion toward her torso .

    Sensed the bad omen, Friday¡¯s left foot stomped onto the ground and kicked her body to the side . Her body escaped the horizontal swing of Liu Ping, yet the de sliced through her body armor .

    Before a piece of her armor dropped on the ground, half a second after the sword finished its motion, the right heel of Friday hit the ground andunched her body at Ping again . Her eyes locked onto Liu Ping¡¯s eyes, not letting him escape from her sight even a tenth of a second .

    The tip of the spear rushed at him again!

    "Nnhgg!"

    Liu Ping groaned as he desperately swung his sword to the side to parry Friday¡¯s attack .

    *CLANK*

    He managed to change the spear¡¯s trajectory just in time, but the spear de cut the side of his temple, leaving a 2cm cut wound above his left eyebrow .

    For a second, any onlooker could see his white skull and his inner flesh before blood started pouring out of his wound .

    "Die!"

    The deflected spear rotated as Friday spun her body and spear, using the force of Liu Ping to generate momentum . The shaft of the spear found its way toward Liu Ping¡¯s torso, destroying his golden te armor and breaking more of his bones .

    The body of Liu Ping wasunched into mid-air toward the ruckus where the ambush site was . If this were a baseball match, Friday would have scored a home run .

    "Damnit! I messed up!" Friday cursed herself for using the blunt shaft of the spear to hit Liu Ping . She relied too much on her muscle memory and her instinct in the fight to the point that she had forgotten about her objective, "I¡¯m supposed to kill that bastard ASAP! FOOk me!"

    "With pleasure . " A stupid soldier, who misunderstood Friday, jumped at her before his body riddled with holes from her spear .

    As she prepared to go after Liu Ping, five more light arrows chased the body of Ping with a speed of 250km/hour .

    *SOEK* *SOEK* *SOEK*

    All arrowheads entered Liu Ping¡¯s torso with half of its shaft before Liu Ping¡¯s bodynded into the crowd and disappeared from Friday¡¯s sight .

    Two boulders at the size of a 10-wheeled truck rolled over the direction where Liu Pingnded, crushing the unlucky soldiers in their path .

    *BOOM*

    One of the two boulders mmed onto the lying Liu Ping, rolled over him, and continued its way toward the other soldiers .

    Liu Ping, however, still did not give up his fate . Like a cockroach, he lied on the sunken ground and watched his wound on his body .

    Surprisingly, the wound on his hand which caught the first arrow had healed . The endurance passive buff helped Liu Ping regenerated his injuries .

    "Bitch! I¡¯ll make you my ything like Wang Li!" Muttered Liu Ping as he slowly took out arrows from his arms and body and watched the wound regenerated .

 Chapter 211

    Chapter 211

    Chapter 211 ¨C Operation Mountain Hammer - The Ambush

    The operation "Mountain Hammer" did not end with just Lu Bu force and the battle at Shangdang . The n also involved the Julu Army in Jinyang¡¯s territory .

    Jia Xu wanted an army with at least 50,000 men to set an ambush in this designated location . Jia Xu specified that they had to use the rolling-boulder tactic when Liu Ping and his first couple battalions passed their ambush site .

    The stones and rolling rocks had to stack and disconnect the Imperial Army in half, which Liu Ping would be isted in the frontline . The troops in the back would not be able to assist Liu Ping, who led the march on the front .

    From that point, his neck would be on the chopping board . Zhang Xiu and his troops had to take over the role as the finisher to kill Liu Ping and end this war once and for all .

    In the case that Liu Ping did not lead the troops on the front, Jia Xu also affirmed that they could also continue their n, but they had to retreat after the frontal Imperial forces were wiped out .

    Fortunately, Liu Ping¡¯s action was favorable to the ambush n . He led the troops in the very front and was an easy target to the hiding Julu Army .

    Before Liu Ping arrived, Hua Shi, who had been appointed as the grandmander of this army, had taken 30,000 men to the designated location .

    Unfortunately, Julu could not recruit or prepare the 50,000 men that Jia Xu had required on time, so they had toplete the job with only 30,000 men .

    Hua Shi divided the troops into three parties . The first group was the ambush party, which consisted of 5,000 men and Zhang Ji . They had to hide on top of the east hill, which was only a hundred meters away from the road . Should they spot Liu Ping, they would have to roll all the prepared boulders to severe the front battalions and the back .

    The second unit with 20,000 infantries, led by Zhang Xiu, had to hide in the trenches and wait for the iing Imperial Army five hundred meters away north of the boulder ambush point . They were in charge of clearing the front battalions .

    And thest unit, the back-up unit which Hua Shi was the leader, she and 5,000 men would provide artillery and arrow support to the other groups if they required .

    Xiao Wu, AKA Friday, however, was the wild card who could only square with Liu Ping in directbat . Thus, she was appointed as the assassin in this operation .

    s, Friday failed to confirm her kill and sent Liu Ping into the bouldernding areas . She clicked her tongue in frustration since she knew that the cockroach Liu Ping would not die from those injuries Hua Shi inflicted .

    ...

    Zhang Ji, themander of the Boulder unit, looked at Liu Ping Army from the top of the hill .

    As an abandonedmander of Dong Zhuo, he was more than happy that he could continue working as a thousand-manmander again .

    His promotion came a few months after Tong integrated him into his army . Zhang Ji¡¯s position title changed into a colonel, and he couldmand over 10,000 men . His nephew was also the same, he was also appointed as a colonel .

    To Zhang Ji, this position was no different than the standard general in the military . It was a huge promotion!

    He was d that his family was forsaken and sent to Julu . The pay was good . The food was delicious, and his fianc¨¦ had more friends .

    Julu was his family¡¯s paradise!

    Yet, he did not understand a few strange things in Julu City as a part of it shrouded in mystery .

    First, the government somehow magically procuredrge stocks and a variety of unique food out of nowhere . He had never seen a caravan of these stocks or transportation that took care of these products anywhere .

    Secondly, Dong Bai seemed to disappear and reappear randomly within Tong¡¯s Manor . He heard that Dong Bai had be a permanent resident in his young lord¡¯s house and disturbingly became one of his concubines .

    Zhang Ji cringed every time he thought about this rtionship between his young lord and this little girl . She was only 5 years old, which was not old enough for this yet . s, it was his lord¡¯s business that he could not interfere .

    Third, thedy, Hua Shi, seemed to be famous in the city . All men fantasized her in their dreams as if she was a goddess of purity . In contrast to the local men, the veteran who survived the battle of Anping said Hua Shi was the "Goddess of Death" as her arrows never missed . At the same time, the maids who worked in the government houses imed that Hua Shi was the "Goddess of Lust" because the maid heard the sounds of Hua Shi servicing Tong every night when he was at home .

    This young lord¡¯s mistress had so many nicknames that confused Zhang Ji . He did not know why an ordinary noble¡¯s wife could get so famous .

    And thest mysterious was the existence of Xiao Wu, who appeared out of nowhere . She imed herself as one of Tong¡¯s concubines and also had a close rtionship with thedy Hua . From the rumor, Xiao Wu was abat maid who was also Hua Shi¡¯s personal bodyguard .

    However, Zou Shi usuallyined to Zhang Ji at home that every time she appeared, Dong Bai always disappeared . Furthermore, both Dong Bai and Xiao Wu seemed to talk in the same tone and style . Zou Shi even suspected that Xiao Wu was the one who taught Dong Bai vocabries .

    Then, his career led him to this ce, the battlefield .

    Before he came here, he was skeptical about having a pregnant young mistress being the grandmander of the army . To his surprise, several of Julu soldiers did not bother with it . In fact, many sergeants who had survived the Battle of Anping spoke highly of her .

    Although he doubted her ability, he could not protest the order from the higher up as Hua Shi was Tong¡¯s wife . Defying the young lord would spell a disaster for him and Zou Shi, so he kept his mouth shut .

    All doubts that he had proved him wrong when the Xiao Wu and Hua Shi started preparing the ambush .

    Xiao Wu¡¯s supernatural strength terrified all soldiers as she could lift a massive boulder with her finger grips . She often threw the stones around and got scolded by the mistress .

    Hua Shi also did not seem to be weaker than burly men in the army as she could easily push or pull heavy rocks, which required ten men to move, by herself .

    Today, Zhang Ji¡¯s mind went nk the moment Hua Shi took out herposite bow and started shooting .

    Magic arrows went straight to Liu Ping, who was over 200 meters away in the distance!

    Though she failed to kill Liu Ping in one arrow, she did not fluster or panic . Hua Shi signaled Zhang Ji tomence the operation .

    "Start rolling the stones . Use the smaller ones first . "

    "Y-Yes, mydy! At once!"

    In a frantic, Zhang Ji and his men began pushing down the prepared boulders . The stones naturally rolled down from the top of the hill by the gravity . Although the hill was not a smooth slope, it nted down enough to make the boulder continue moving downhill .

    Hua Shi and Xiao Wu had many people cut down the trees and clear the path for the stones in advance so the boulders would not stop in mid-way .

    The smallest stone was at least the size of one cubic meter, and the biggest ones were the size of a truck . All of them stacked on top of each other as Hua Shi arranged all of it . To get these boulders rolling down, the soldier had to cut the ropes that tied the logs around the stones, which stopped them from moving downward .

    Zhang Ji and his men cut ten packages of wrapped boulders at once, sending them tumbling down the hill .

    The sound of many massive rocks rolling on the uneven slope was as if the mountain was copsing . The ground also shook to the point that the soldiers on the hill could feel it through their feet .

    During his job, Zhang Ji managed to catch a glimpse of the battle below . Hua Shi had already fired more arrows, which went over the head of the golden-armored Emperor .

    He was shocked once again when the light arrows suddenly moved by themselves as if they had eyes . They turned around and prated into the target¡¯s body .

    Zhang Ji also spotted Xiao Wu, who had rushed at Liu Ping and exchanged two or three moves within one second . Her speed was so fast that he was not confident that he could spar with her more than one move .

    "They are really immortals . This is an immortal family," Zhang Ji muttered .

    The fight was over in five seconds after Xiao Wu killed the bodyguards and sent the Emperor flying toward the boulders¡¯ path . Then, he was squashed by one of his biggest rocks .

    "It should be over, right?"

    Zhang Ji thought that this fight should have been over once the Emperor died under their trap .

    His eyes focused on the location where Liu Pingnded . He wanted to confirm the dead body of the Emperor .

    His expectation was destroyed the moment he saw the eyes of Liu Ping which were ring at his location . He was still alive!

    "That cockroach!" Hua Shi screamed, "FRIDAY, THAT ASSHOLE HASN¡¯T DIED YET! GET RID OF HIM, NOW!"

    At this time, g bearers weaved their signal gs, telling Zhang Xiu and his men to start attacking the isted soldiers .

    Julu infantries raised their iconic repeating crossbows and fired at the confused enemies . The same tactic, which was used at the battle of Anping, reappeared again . This time, there were 20,000 crossbows instead of a few thousands, and the number of arrows was iparable to the previous battle .

    The front battalions of Liu Ping were ughtered without a chance to fight back . However, Zhang Ji did not look well .

    For a second, his eyes met with Liu Ping, who had taken off all embedded arrows from his body . The killing intent of the former mafia boss and ex-prisoner of Hell sent a chill down Zhang Ji¡¯s spine .

    "Send more boulders!"

    In a panic, Zhang Ji ordered his men, and ten more packages were released down the hill .

    Liu Ping sat up and red at Zhang Ji¡¯s direction for a moment before he averted his eyes to the direction where Friday was .

    The Emperor managed to stand and began running to the back of his troops, ignoring the ambush parties .

    "DAMN IT, FRIDAY YOU IDIOT! DON¡¯T LET HIM GET AWAY!" Hua Shi shouted again .

    Xiao Wu managed to pass through the chaotic crowd and reached the bouldernding spots . She leaped over the rolling rocks and chased after the Emperor .

    As she kept leaping over the rocks, Liu Ping did not lose sight of the pursuer . He did not re at her because of his lust anymore, but his eyes locked onto her as a predator .

    Xiao Wu saw an opportunity, she jumped on a rolling rock and leaped at Ping .

    "Big mistake, bitch!"

 Chapter 212

    Chapter 212

    Chapter 212 ¨C Liu Ping¡¯s Agony

    In Liu Ping¡¯s hand, arrows which had entered his body was there . His eyes locked with Friday as he threw the arrows, aiming at her face .

    As Friday was in mid-air, she could not dodge the arrow, but she had more than one way to parry it .

    Her red eyes shed again as she elerated her perception sense . Tong¡¯s [Double el] mode activated .

    In mid-air, she extended her left hand while her right hand was still holding onto her spear . Her left index and middle finger flickered the slow-motion arrows away . With all threats gone, Friday locked her eyes on her target .

    ¡¯I won¡¯t screw up this time!¡¯

    All Friday¡¯s attention located on the beating heart of Liu Ping . No matter how he would parry or dodge, all of her strikes would focus on that part .

    "Fatality time! Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, select, start!"

    Friday imagined herself as a Mortal Kombat character who was about the finish the opponent, though she confused it with another certain game .

    In that split second, Liu Ping¡¯s life shed in front of his eyes . A d¨¦j¨¤ vu sensation when he was killed by Tong in his previous life came back to him again .

    His body reacted by instinct . He rotated his shoulder and countered her spear with a sword swing .

    *SOEK*

    The spear did not miss . It went into Liu Ping¡¯s heart!

    At the same time, his strike sliced another part of Friday¡¯s chest armor area, cutting her armor and her inner clothes from her upper chest part . She managed to react in time and back-stepped to dodge the iing attack by a hair¡¯s breadth . However, she had to let go of her spear .

    Because of the two consecutive cut, her armor was torn into pieces and was dangling, getting in the way of her movement .

    Friday got annoyed by her torn clothes . She took off her armor, stripping all of her torso pieces, revealing her skins and her bountiful assets .

    Liu Ping, however, was not in the mood to appreciate women¡¯s breasts at the moment . He could feel the cold iron in his heart, and his body lost its strength . His blood cirction rate decreased at a rapid pace .

    The Emperor staggered backward and copsed on his back with his eyes widened .

    "Protect the Emperor!"

    Thousands of Imperial troops attempted to rescue Liu Ping by rushing at Friday .

    The girl smirked at the oing soldiers . Friday disyed her footwork again to the side of the first soldier who charged at her . She grabbed the wrist of the unlucky guy, breaking his wrist bone, and stole his spear . She rewarded himter with a spear thrust into his forehead .

    ¡¯Our goal is pretty much over at this point . Time to farm some lifespans,¡¯ Thought Friday .

    With casual, she continued thrusting her spear at the foreheads of all soldiersing at her . Behind Friday, a transparent short ck tentacle extended out from her back . She attempted to use her borrowed tentacle wing to insert into the dead bodies of the soldiers .

    Her face distorted again the moment she noticed the length of the tentacle .

    "Damnit, Tong! You need an ergement! It¡¯s too short!"

    If Tong had heard Friday¡¯sint, he would have sulked for months as it was an insult to his manhood and his pride .

    Friday¡¯s tentacle wing was borrowed from Tong¡¯s [Lust Soul] inside her body . Since Tong and Friday formed a devil contract, she could borrow his power and his wing to drain lifespans from freshly dead bodies or living beings .

    Unfortunately, Tong had not matured as a demonic being yet . His wings were still short and small like the finger of a child .

    "Oh well, I guess I have to be creative . "

    Her tentacle wing returned into her body while Friday was busy stabbing people¡¯s foreheads . As soon as the wing got inside her body again, she stomped on the nearest copses .

    Instead of growing out of Friday¡¯s back, the spiritual tentacle extended from her sole which stepped on the dead body . It stabbed into the fresh and began draining the remaining life essence .

    The suction rate was nowherepared to Medusa . Her foot nted onto the corpse for five whole minutes to turn the dead body into ashes . By the time Friday finished the one corpse, she had already in five hundred soldiers .

    <ding>>

    Friday nced at her status menu . Her lifespans increased from a few decades to 79 years from eating one person¡¯s worth of life essence .

    ¡¯This shouldst me a while . But damn, the absorption rate is too slow . I guess I¡¯ll have to steal their life essence after the battle is over . ¡¯

    For five to six minutes that Friday idly stood still and killed the ordinary soldiers, several thousands of Imperial soldiers had already surrounded her .

    Friday finally realized that she chased Liu Ping to the battalions in the back . All troops around here had not been touched by the ambushing soldiers .

    "Well, this is troublesome," Comined Friday as she nced around to find the dead body of Liu Ping .

    It did not take long to locate Liu Ping again . To her surprise, he was still alive after the strike into his heart .

    "FOOking cockroach!" Friday roared and shed her red eyes again . This time, she was serious .

    Liu Ping had already taken off Friday¡¯s spear from his chest, and the wound in his heart was almost healed . However, he lost too much blood that he felt dizzy . A soldier had to carry him by the shoulder so Liu Ping could stand again .

    s, before Liu Ping could sneak away from the battle, Friday used her Lamia Step and chased after him again .

    "You¡¯re not going anywhere . "

    *SWUA*

    Friday swung her spear in a crescent motion . The de of the spear sliced the legs of Liu Ping, severing both of them . She proceeded further by stabbing the foreheads of the surrounding bodyguards to create a space around her .

    The Imperial soldiers stared at the half-naked woman in helplessness . Everyone who had stepped into her range died without being able to retaliate .

    Liu Ping¡¯s body lied on the ground again . He could not get up this time as both his legs were gone .

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    Friday took her time and severed both his arms, leaving only his limbless torso and his head intact .

    Although Liu Ping body was regenerating to fight back his injuries, he fainted from the loss of blood and the pain from the severed limbs .

    "Hey, hey! You can¡¯t die like this . It¡¯s too easy for you!"

    Friday stabbed her spear into Liu Ping¡¯s crotch . s, he was already unconscious so she could not see his reaction .

    Clicking her tongue, she grabbed Liu Ping by his temple with her tight grip . She runched another series of spear thrust to clear a path .

    "SCRAM!"

    With the limbless body of Liu Ping in toll, Friday used her footwork to slither away from the Imperial troops .

    It took her two minutes to reach the top of the hill where Hua Shi and Zhang Ji stationed .

    The men were surprised by the sudden emergence of Friday . In the next second, all eyes glued at her white assets, and none of them noticed the limbless prisoner .

    "Well, shit . You slut . I remember you dove into the battlefield with clothes . How did you return half-naked?" Hua Shi questioned her with a grin .

    Friday smirked, "You¡¯ll end up worse than me if you did the same . Here, I¡¯ve brought back a trophy for our husband . "

    Friday released the unconscious Liu Ping from her grip . Ironically, when he was in Hell, his four limbs were also severed by Friday . Even after he reincarnated, Friday still came back to dismember his arms and legs once more .

    "Is this the Emperor? Wow, he looks like shit!" Mocked Hua Shi, "What are we going to do next? Kill him or wait for Tong to finish him?"

    "Didn¡¯t you have that soulmate quest? Will itplete if we kill him?"

    Hua Shi shook her head .

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Soulmate Mission No . 2**

    *Clear Condition*

    - upied Ye City and Julu City . Other cities are optional .

    - Protect the cities from the invaders until the time limit runs out .

    - Make at least 50% of your citizens happy .

    - Both Zhang Tong and Hua Shi must participate in this mission .

    *Failure Condition*

    - One or more of the cities was not under your control when the time limit exceeded .

    - Zhang Tong or Hua Shi did not participate in this mission .

    *Clearing Reward*

    - 100,000 Lifespans forpleting the primary objective .

    - 20,000 Lifespans for killing an enemy general .

    - 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier .

    - 10,000 Lifespans for each city controlled . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket for each city controlled . The prize is given annually .

    - One Lifespan for each happy poption each year . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket if more than half of your poption is happy . The prize is given annually .

    Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Mission Failure: Soulmate Contract will be nullified, and one of you will die .

    System Note: As usual, you have to kill the soldiers or the generals yourself to get the reward .

    *********************************************

    ...

    Hua Shi exined the condition to Friday . Even if they were to kill Liu Ping, the quest would not end .

    "For now, let¡¯s talk about thister . Our goal ispleted . Let¡¯s finish this battle and go home . My baby keeps kicking my tummy each time I fired an arrow . It¡¯s getting annoying now . "

    Fridayughed as she took a cape from the nearby soldier to cover herself .

    "Then, do you mind if I torture this idiot?"

    "Suit yourself . "

    Friday grinned . She walked toward Liu Ping and proceeded to strip him naked .

    "Give me a spear . "

    She took a spear from the soldier and kicked Liu Ping by his side . His body flipped over and revealed his naked butt .

    An inspiration popped in her mind . She nted the spear in 90 degrees with its tip pointing toward the sky . She kept pushing down the spear shaft into the ground until it sank by half a pole .

    "Now, you have to wake up . "

    Friday sshed water onto sleeping Liu Ping with a bamboo canteen .

    As Liu Ping¡¯s body continued to regenerate, his blood was also being recreated as well . He managed to regain his consciousness by the sense of wetness and cold .

    "What?"

    His eyes snapped open in confusion . He could sense the pain from his four limbs, which were no longer with him .

    "NO! MY LEGS! MY ARMS!"

    "You don¡¯t have the time to panic, brat . "

    Before Liu Ping realized what had happened to him or his surrounding, he felt the firm two hands, gripping on his lower waist .

    "Say, Your Majesty . Have you ever experienced butt sex?" Jested Friday .

    "Wha-AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!"

    Friday grabbed Liu Ping¡¯s torso and pushed it on top of the nted spear¡¯s tip . The spear prated his hole, entering his body . The spear tip slowly went through his innards as Liu Ping body uncontrobly spasmed in shock and pain .

    "Raise your chin up a bit, Your Majesty . I don¡¯t want you to die easily . "

    Grabbed by her hands, Liu Ping face was turned upward toward the sky . Friday exerted more force and shoved his limbless torso down, making the spear digging deeper .

    *SOEK*

    The spear exited Liu Ping¡¯s body from his mouth!

    "Now, that¡¯s FATALITY! Anyone hasmb oil?"

    Friday had not finished yet . She nned to burn Liu Ping as he was prated by the spear .

    BBQ death with an anal pration should suffice for a sinner of Liu Ping¡¯s caliber .

    "Eww, that¡¯s quite gruesome . " Hua Shiined again, "Think of a heart of a delicate mother . I don¡¯t want my child to witness this . "

    "Delicate mother your sister! What kind of delicate mother are you who smiles when you kill those soldiers?"

    Friday bickered as they sshed crude oil onto the shaking Liu Ping . He was still alive after all that .

    A nearby soldier knew that job . He lighted a torch and gave it to Friday .

    "Burn and go back to Hell, Ping . "

    The agonizing Liu Ping was set on fire .

    No voice came out of his mouth as his throat and his vocal cord was ruined by the spear . He struggled to heal himself against the damage from the fire .

    Wounded pain .

    Burning pain .

    Helplessness .

    Despair .

    For an entire hour, he kept shaking his body to free himself and fire . Everyone was amazed by this Emperor¡¯s vitality .

    In the end, the fire burned his face and his head . It cooked his brain which made it stopped working .

    The cockroach Emperor had been burnt to death on the stake . </ding>

 Chapter 213

    Chapter 213

    Chapter 213 ¨C Rescuing Lu Zhi

    One kilometer south of the ambush areas .

    Zhou Cang was on full alert today since the spies had warned him about the ambush operation . Lu Zhi and his family were also ready as the cages were unlocked . With a light push, they could open the cage and flee from the caravans .

    All troops surrounding the caravans were all Zhou Cang¡¯s men and the bribed men . Everything was set .

    The breath of Zhou Cang was short and quick as he was nervous . Even if they managed to break away from the marching troops, they still had to fend for themselves until they could reach either Nie County or Shangdang .

    He was praying that Jinyang Army could catch up soon .

    Today, Liu Ping did note to harass or threaten to execute the prisoners, which relieved their stress . Although they had not eaten proper food for months after their imprisonment, their eyes brightened as they were waiting for today .

    *BOOM*

    *RUMBLE*

    A loudmotion broke out a kilometer in front of them . Because the marching troops were crowded, nobody could see what had happened at the front .

    The sound pulled Zhou Cang back from his thought . The ambush had begun .

    "NOW!"

    *CLANK*

    All prisoners, Lu Zhi¡¯s family members, and household servants broke out from their wheeled cages . At the same moment, the hired soldiers drew their weapons and began their ughtering .

    "What are yo-ARRRH!"

    "Traitors!"

    The bribed soldiers were conscripted soldiers that Dong Zhuo had drafted . They had no loyalty toward the Imperial Army or the court from the very start . With a promise of gold and status in Julu, they were willing to take risks .

    "KILL!"

    A mix battalion of five thousand men and one thousand cavalries turned around and attacked the reserve troops behind them .

    As everyone broke out of their cells, Lu Zhi guided hisrades to follow after the uprising troops .

    "Follow closely! We¡¯ll steal their supply wagons!"

    A dozen of Lu Zhi¡¯s rtives and a hundred servants had been dying for this chance to break out . None of them defied Lu Zhi¡¯s order .

    The reserve troops at the back of the marching lines had not yet taken out their weapons . Zhou Cang rushed at them and swung his halberd, killing five of them in one swing .

    Like a spearhead, his horse charged into the dense crowd while the horsemen charged after him without a prior discussed n or consultation . Everyone understood their roles without saying a word .

    While one thousand horsemen were diving into the backlines, the one thousand elites of Julu led the four thousand bribed soldiers to charge at the leftover soldiers that survived the horse onught .

    The chargested for five minutes before the troops on the front realized what had happened at the back .

    "They are breaking away!"

    "Deserters!"

    "Kill the traitors!"

    A thousand Imperial soldiers turned around to chase after Zhou Cang and the rest . However, the other troops did not bothering after them .

    "Soldiers! Help us kill the traitors!"

    Reluctant appeared in the ordinary soldiers¡¯ eyes . Dong Zhuo had forcefully conscripted these soldiers from western provinces, which had nothing to do with this political war . They were not willing to follow the orders of the nobles or the professional troops .

    "PROTECT THE EMPEROR!!"

    Another voice came from the front, which seemed to be a ryed message . Something had happened to the Emperor near the ambushed areas .

    "Ignore the deserters, help the Emperor!"

    "To the front! Hurry!"

    All of the attention was on the ambush site further ahead . Battalionmanders immediately issued an order to rush forward .

    In the end, only a thousand soldiers of the noble houses chased after Zhou Cang as themotion at the ambush site diverted the majority of the soldiers¡¯ attention .

    Within a minute, noblemen¡¯s private troops caught up with Lu Zhi and Zhou Cang¡¯s men . The distance was only a hundred meters away .

    Lu Zhi looked back as he heard the noise of the pursuing infantries . Seeing the rushing Imperial soldiers, Lu Zhi shouted .

    "I need a thousand men with me . Give me a sword!"

    Although Lu Zhi was a schr in his 40s, he had basic training in martial arts since he was born in a noble family . In terms of fighting, he had never lost against amon soldier .

    Because Zhou Cang was busy paving the ways for the infantries on the frontline, he did not notice the pincer attack from the back . Thus, Lu Zhi had to take over the armymand .

    A toon of a thousand men answered the call of Lu Zhi as they also noticed the pursuers . A rearguard unit was formed as they improvised .

    The mixed force of a thousand men collided with the oing troops, generating the sounds of the metallic crashes and death throes . Lu Zhi was also part of the one thousand rearguards . He mixed in with the army and attacked the nearest enemy .

    *SWUA*

    One soldier dropped dead by the hands of the schr . Lu Zhi stepped back and darted his eyes around to check his surroundings, looking for another enemy to kill while checking the status of the battlefield . As he realized that he was in the middle of the ally¡¯s pack of formation, Lu Zhi used this opportunity to observe the situation of the battle .

    It was one thousand versus one thousand men, with soldiers on both sides having simr skills .

    Lu Zhi was part of the group¡¯s left nk, and the his soldiers were pushing into the Imperial soldier square formation . On the other hand, the middle group of Lu Zhi¡¯s team was falling apart by the charge while the right wing was in a stalemate with the enemies .

    If this continued, the rearguard formation would be broken into two!

    ¡¯There should be a lieutenant leading the charge in the middle . Then I can do this . ¡¯

    In terms of knowledge, wisdom, and stratagems, Lu Zhi was confident that he could apply them into a real battle situation . He was not afraid of any basic battle tactic such as charging through the middle .

    "MIDDLE TROOPS, DISENGAGE AND MOVE TO ASSIST THE RIGHT WING! LEFT WING, BREAKTHROUGH THE ENEMY LINE AND CIRCLE AROUND THEIR BACKLINE!"

    "ZHOU CANG! I NEED 500 MEN TO REINFORCE THE REAR!!"

    Before the formation copsed, Lu Zhi sent a maneuveringmand .

    As the center troops heard the shout, they regrouped with the right wing which strengthened its fighting force . The situation of the right side changed as the soldiers managed to break the stalemate, killing more enemies than they lost their soldiers .

    By sacrificing the center formation, the two wings destroyed the nks of the iing troops .

    Meanwhile, the center of the pursuing force was shocked that the rearguards allowed them to pass .

    "Ha! They¡¯re stupid! Troops, charge with me! We¡¯ll ignore these bunches and go after the deserters!" The leading nobleughed .

    After a brief fight, both sides lost a simr number of men . Seven hundreds of the pursuers disregarded the 800 rearguards and continued moving toward the family members of Lu Zhi .

    "BOX IN! LEFT WING, RIGHT WING, CHASE AFTER THEM!" Lu Zhi shouted again .

    "HAHAHA! What an idiot! It¡¯s toote to help them now!"

    The noble still had not stoppedughing as he led the charge further . Before they could start ughtering the peasants and the innocents, another group of 400 soldiers blocked their path .

    "Ptut! Kill these fools! Get rid of them!"

    The noble saw that their number was lower than his army, so he believed that it should be an easy fight .

    *CLANK*

    *SHAAAA*

    The two toons collided . As the noble had thought, they had the advantage in number . The Imperial men pushed hard on the rearguards that they were killing faster than the rearguards were killing their men .

    However, he forgot about the army which was chasing after them from behind .

    "SHAAAA!!"

    Eight hundred men of Lu Zhi regrouped behind the noble¡¯s army and attacked their soldiers from the back .

    "ARGH!"

    "They caught up!"

    "WHAT!?" The noble was shocked by the sudden development .

    "Spread out! Surround them!"

    Behind the pincer rearguards, Lu Zhi waved his arm,manding the cement of the unit . The eight hundred men spread into thin files and began picking on the stragglers behind the noble army .

    Meanwhile, the surviving reinforcement of rearguards managed to regain their ground from the distraction . They regained their momentum and killed more enemies than they lost .

    Onepany on the front and the other one on the back, twopanies had nked the pursuers . The two troops chewed the surrounded army of noble in an instant .

    "Impossible! This is impossible!!"

    *SOEK*

    An ordinary soldier killed the noble with his spear, ending the fight of the rearguards .

    "YAAHH!"

    "WE WON!"

    The surviving soldiers roared a warcry . Some of the first-timers had been baptized from the short battle and increased their confidence .

    "Good job . Let¡¯s go help the frontline . " Lu Zhi praised the surviving soldiers . Then, he gazed at themotion over a kilometer away .

    ¡¯Good job to you too, Tong . We¡¯ll see each other again soon . ¡¯

    ¡¯This time, I won¡¯t be there as your mentor, but your loyal subordinate!¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll make you my ideal Emperor!¡¯

    ...

    Without pursuers, Zhou Cang, Lu Zhi, the family members, and the surviving 3,000 soldiers managed to steal supply wagons from the reserve troops .

    The non-fighting personals got on the empty carriages and wagons . The rest of the crew acted as rearguards while Zhou Cang and his elite troops guided them on the front .

    "Those guys are deserting . Why don¡¯t you stop them?"

    "Why should I? They¡¯re noting after us, then why should I provoke them? Are you going to stop them?"

    "Err ... no . "

    Although it was apparent to the reserve troops, who were guarding the supplies, that this battalion was deserting the army, none of them tried to block their path .

    On the contrary, they also had a simr idea . Thousands of reserve troops also stole provision wagons and begged Zhou Cang¡¯s soldiers that they wished to tag along as well .

    From the battered 3,000 men, their number increased to 6,000 men because the opportunistic soldiers decided to desert the army and follow them .

    Zhou Cang and Lu Zhi were happy to wee them because the more troops they could get at the moment, the better .

    They knew that this prison break n was not over yet .

    From the spy reports, there was another armying in their way, the Zhang Yang Army . These ex-Shangdang horsemen were rushing here to rejoin with the Emperor .

    If Zhou Cang and Lu Zhi continued moving in thisrge group, they would eventually encounter them in the middle of the road .

    "Everyone, I need to reform ranks and duties . Anyone who can shoot a bow, follow this schr gentlemen . The others, report to me!"

    Zhou Cang disyed his experiences which he had learned in Julu . He began organizing the men to prepare for the possible battle with the group of cavalries .

    Thirty minutester, the battalion was reorganized into a proper army . However, Zhou Cang was still worried .

    "Senior Lu, do you think we can defeat Zhang Yang Army with these men?"

    Lu Zhi shook his head, "Impossible . Zhang Yang and his men are trained troops . Although they¡¯re not elite, they are still formidable enemies . We¡¯re also outnumbered . Instead of thinking how to win, we should first think how we can survive . "

    "Then ..."

    The expression of Zhou Cang grimed . His face lost color as he lost his morale after hearing that it was impossible to win .

    "Don¡¯t lose hope just yet . " Lu Zhi patted Zhou Cang¡¯s shoulder, "We still have a way out . "

 Chapter 214

    Chapter 214

    Chapter 214 ¨C Battle at Bottleneck Valley

    Ten kilometers south of Liu Ping¡¯s reserved battalions .

    *RUMBLE*

    A hundred thousand horse hooves kicked the ground as 20,000 horses were rushing .

    Zhang Yang and his cavalries were galloping toward the north in dismay . One hour ago, their scouts had spotted Xiongnu Cavalries one kilometer south of them, and their number was exaggerating 50,000 men!

    The odd was against them which Zhang Yang had no confidence that he could win!

    Zhang Yang¡¯s current troops were only 25,000 horsemen after Han Hao and the others had left them in Nie County . The other 5,000 remnants of Wang Kuang¡¯s men also decide to leave them the next day . Furthermore, they stole their spare horses while they were deserting, which left them with only 20,000 men without an additional horse .

    Zhang Yang had ordered everyone to rush toward the main Imperial Army, hoping to get a toon of reinforcement while they were escaping from the Xiongnu .

    "The trace is getting clearer, my lord! We should see the scouts or the lines of their marching troops soon!" Mu Shun, amander of Zhang Yang, consoled his boss .

    "I really hope so!"

    ...

    *RUMBLE*

    Earthquake and rumble sound erupted from the valley road to Jinyang City .

    Lu Bu and his men were also chasing with full speed . If a helicopter were to fly over this hilly road, the passengers would have been able to witness a massive army of horsemen chasing after another army of cavalries .

    As Jinyang Army was supported by Li Feihong farm-world skill, all of them was sporting Xiongnu warhorses, which were better than the ordinary central in warhorses . They were faster and sturdier than Zhang Yang¡¯s .

    As a result, the army of Lu Bu shortened the distance little by little for each minute passed .

    Li Feihong, who was riding a red hare warhorse, stared at the floating monitor in front of him as he was galloping his horse .

    "Five li (mile) in front!" Li Feihong shouted .

    Lu Bu peered at Li Feihong with the corner of his eyes and smiled as he enjoyed the assistance of supernatural power .

    Two minutester .

    "Four li remaining!" Shouted Li Feihong again .

    Lu Bu squinted his eyes and clenched his crescent halberd . He could work out to his heart content again soon .

    ...

    "They¡¯re here! Act natural!" Lu Zhi shouted as he spotted the dust from the horizon and the trembling earth . The sounds of horses galloping at full speed wereing from the distance .

    Zhou Cang and the men raised the gs with the characters "LIU" to identify themselves as a reserve battalion .

    All provision wagons and carriages lined in an order as if they were still marching north . All soldiers formed a dragon tail formation, which wasmonly used in mobilizing . Only two thousand spearmen formed a rearguard formation to look as if they were on alert of the oing horsemen .

    Everyone stood firm, waiting for them to arrive .

    Five minutester, purple "Zhang" gs could be seen in the distance . Zhang Yang and his men arrived, and they wereing in full speed .

    Lu Zhi was aware that even if they had formed a spear-wall formation, they would not be able to withstand a heavy cavalry charge as the spears could not prate their armored horses . Therefore, he signaled Zhou Cang, so he could shout and recited the prepared phrases .

    "HALT! THIS IS THE IMPERIAL ARMY OF THE EMPEROR! STOP!!" Zhou Cang screamed with all air in his lung, hoping to fool the troops .

    Zhou Cang¡¯s voice echoed for a few seconds before one of Zhang Yang¡¯s men shouted back while they were still rushing toward them .

    "XIONGNU ARE CHASING US! SEND REINFORCEMENT!!"

    Zhou Cang and Lu Zhi¡¯s eyes brightened . Their help was closer than they had thought .

    The baldmander looked at Lu Zhi as he wanted to confirm if they still had to proceed as the original n .

    "Change of ns . First, wave the signal gs and make them stop marching . " Lu Zhi affirmed .

    Zhuo Cang nodded, "Battle formation! Form ranks and prepares to battle!"

    Lu Zhi¡¯s men wave color gs to ry the orders . Although most of the militias had never trained in the military, they were smart enough to catch a clue from their colleagues and formed ranks .

    ...

    Zhang Yang looked at the battalion in front in delighted . It seemed they had heard their warning about Xiongnu and formed ranks .

    "Slow down! We¡¯ll form ranks beside the main army!" Shouted Zhang Yang .

    Listening to his order, the 20,000 horsemen reined their horses . The loud galloping noise decreased the sound volume a level, and their rushing speed returned to the trotting speed to adjust the formation . Everyone pulled their reins and tried to form lines and ranks .

    The running away army stopped fifty meters away from the spearmen formation .

    The smile on Zhang Yang¡¯s face widened as he saw spearmen and archers in an orderly formation .

    ¡¯This is how the elites should act! Unlike those fools, they were too weak . ¡¯ Zhang Yang med his defeat to the soldiers as he thought that his troops were undisciplined .

    ¡¯This battalion should hold the Xiongnu for a few minutes . I have to move my men behind their back and get the Imperial troops to ...¡¯

    "FIRE!"

    A voice of the middle-aged man interrupted Zhang Yang¡¯s thought . Upon looking at the source of the sound, Zhang Yang saw the shadow of a thousand arrows in the sky .

    ¡¯Huh?¡¯

    *SOEK* *SOEK*

    "ARRGHH"

    "WHAT!?"

    "UGH!"

    The horsemen cried out in pain as arrows pierced their backs . Even though they were wearing bronze-leather armors, arrows were still deadly to them if they were caught off guard .

    "AGAIN! FIRE ANOTHER VOLLEY!" Another shout was heard .

    Zhang Yang looked at the reserve troops in a panic and cried, "STOP SHOOTING! WE¡¯RE ALLIES!"

    s, his plea was toote and useless for a reason . One thousand more arrows were released into the sky and poured onto Zhang Yang¡¯s men .

    "STOP SHOOTING!" Zhang Yang still shouted in confusion .

    "DAMN IT! FRIENDLY FIRE!" Mu Shun, a general of Zhang Yang also shouted . He kicked his horse to turn around, making his way to themander of the reserve army . He was nning to give themander a beating after this .

    Mu Shun parried the arrows with his shield and managed to reach a bald man, who looked like theirmander .

    "You moron! We¡¯re friendlies . Tell your men to stop..."

    *SWUA*

    A halberd severed Mu Shun¡¯s head from his neck before he could finish his sentence .

    . . .

    Instead of letting Zhang Yang passing through their lines, Lu Zhi decided to pick a fight with these men . There were reasons behind his bold decision .

    At first, Lu Zhi nned to pretend to be a group of stagglers . Seeing the panic looking faces of the iing soldiers and their shouts, Lu Zhi changed his mind .

    If Lu Bu and hispany was this close, then he had to join this battle as their hands were forced . Had Zhou Cang and Lu Zhi let these men passed, Lu Bu might have mistaken them as enemies and could have caused friendly killing .

    To avoid that scenario, Lu Zhi had to dere themselves as their enemies and block their path, so Lu Bu and the others could notice their presence .

    . . .

    Zhou Cang beheaded the confused Mu Shun as he was in the way .

    "Spearmen, charge!"

    Four thousand spear soldiers rushed at the panicking heavy cavalries in front of them . Undaunted by the overwhelming number, they stabbed their spears at the injured and the confused horsemen .

    A thousand archers reloaded their bows and fired their third volley . Because the frontline was in chaos and their allies were also mixed into the enemy¡¯s ranks, they targeted the backlines of the horsemen and fired .

    The arrows went overhead of the spearmen andnded into the crowd on the back, killing and injuring the pack of soldiers .

    "DAMN IT! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" Zhang Yang roared, "ALL UNITS, TURNABOUT! WE WILL CRUSH THIS STUPID BATTALION AND REPORT THIS TO HIS MAJESTY!!"

    The soldiers turned around as ordered . The backlines of the heavy cavalries took out their polearms and began their counter-attack .

    The path they were on was barely five hundred meters wide as the sides were mountains and tall cliffs . As a result, only about a thousand men or six to seven hundred horsemen could fight at a time while the rest had to wait or support their friends from the back .

    Spearmen of Zhou Cang formed four lines of a spear-wall formation . The first line bore the brunt of the attacking horsemen with their shields and counter-attack them with spears . The second and third line used their long-range spears to support and harass the enemy soldiers, and thest line was the rescuers who would drag any injuredrades out of the fight . They would also rece the lost troops if soldiers in front of them were killed .

    With the narrow passage in this valley path, they limited the number that the horsemen could fight against them while at least 3,000 of them could fight at the same time .

    On the other hand, Zhang Yang heavy cavalries could not use their horse charge as they had stopped their rush earlier . The size of the horses and their armors were alsorge so they could not squeeze too many soldiers into the narrow passage .

    Despite the fact that they outnumbered the infantries, they could not utilize the number to the fullest!

    And more importantly ...

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    Another one thousand arrows flew through the air, and the arrow rain dropped down on the dense crowd of horsemen .

    Half of the arrows did not harm or kill the soldiers, but they had a psychologic effect on the battlefield .

    Nobody wanted to be the targets of these arrows .

    "Move!"

    "Shit! We¡¯re sitting ducks!"

    "Do something and get rid of those archers!"

    As they got stuck in the middle of the pack with their horses, nobody could move . Their morale plummeted, and doubts were born in their mind .

    Zhang Yang thought that they would have defeated these traitors in a couple of minutes, but the reality betrayed him . Two minutester into the fight, his men still could not move forward .

    *RUMBLE*

    "No..."

    The earthquake rumble sounds from the south alerted Zhang Yang . The Xiongnu Army, AKA Jinyang Force, was near .

    "Form a rearguard! Hurry, they¡¯re here!"

    The men, who had nothing to do in the backline, turned around again . Over 10,000 cavalries decided to shift their attention to the south where Lu Bu and his men wereing from .

    Unfortunately for them, Lu Bu troops had shortened the distance to 500 meters by the time they began reorganizing the army . They did not have enough times to counter-charge, let alone forming a formation .

    Then, a giant red horse leaped over their heads .

 Chapter 215

    Chapter 215

    Chapter 215 ¨C *Insert Lu Bu Theme Here*

    One kilometer south of the battle .

    Li Feihong shouted to Lu Bu as he noticed a situation up front .

    "Fengxian! There¡¯s a battalion of our ally up front . They are hindering Zhang Yang Army . Do not kill everyone on your sight!"

    Lu Bu chuckled, "I know what I¡¯m doing . You drop back . The others will take it from here . "

    Li Feihong nodded and pulled his reins, slowing down his horse . The other soldiers reced his position as soon as the strategist allowing them to pass him . He withdrew out of the charging pack, trotting his horse and waiting for Zhang Liao and the others to catch up .

    Because of the narrow road, Zhang Liao and Gao Shun did not charge along with Lu Bu . They took the majority of the horsemen and let Lu Bu handled only 2,000 soldiers . The rest of the 48,000 cavalries followed after their boss at a casual speed to save the horses¡¯ strength .

    In half a minute, Lu Bu saw the crowded pack of unorganized heavy cavalries .

    "HA! Foolish scums! Men, wedge formation!"

    The two thousand Xiongnu Cavalries shrank their columns from 500 horsemen column into three hundred while the rest followed behind their leadingrades . A long trail of a stake with triangle arrowhead was formed as they continued rushing .

    The formation adjustmentpleted in half a minute and the enemies were two hundred meters away .

    Lu Bu¡¯s Red-Hare leaped onto the sky as hemanded it, and it flew over several front rows of the defending soldiers . The seven inches hooves stomped on two unlucky soldiers .

    *BOOM*

    Like a monster, the impact made by the 2 tons weight of Red Hare King and its armor crushed the bones of the horses along with the two soldiers .

    *BANG*

    The crescent halberd was swung in a half-moon motion, and all soldiers beside the crushed horsemen had their bodies sent flying .

    The impact was as if there was an explosion!

    Lu Bu ignored the raining blood and innards of the ughtered soldiers and horses . He kicked the sides of his Red Hare, signaling it the charge into thepacted crowd .

    The Red Hare King neighed in response . Its eyes glowed as it understood the master¡¯s killing intent as it also looked at other horses with despise . It wanted the spaces for itself to run alone, not blocked by the other weakling animals .

    With its armor and its killing intent, the Red Hare King kicked the ground and rushed forward .

    Lu Bu grinned as he liked his horse more and more . It seemed that the horse and Lu Bu had a simr personality .

    "Scum! Get out of my way!" Roared Lu Bu .

    *BANG*

    Another loud explosive sound of the metallic crash was heard, and another pack of men was sent flying by the crescent halberd .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    For each second, three sets of loud bang echoed through the valley as Lu Bu¡¯s monstrous speed and power overwhelmed the defending horsemen .

    "He¡¯s only one man! Rush him!"

    *BANG*

    The rallying soldier was sent flying .

    "Surround him! He¡¯s isted!"

    *BANG*

    All surrounding soldiers and their horses were either rammed by Red Hare King or cleaved into two .

    "It should be their general! Kill him and we-"

    *BANG*

    Another speaking soldier¡¯s horse was shot up to the sky with its master .

    "Together, kill ..."

    *BANG*

    "We-"

    *BANG*

    "..."

    *BANG*

    Just like when Lu Bu rushed into the armies of Wang Kuang at Shangdang, he cut a path for himself and his army behind him, literally singlehandedly .

    Contrary to the previous fight, Lu Bu did not exert his killing aura as there was an allied army stopping Zhang Yang soldiers for them . Even if Lu Bu was not very bright, he still valued brave warriors . From his eyes, Lu Zhi and Zhou Cang, who he had learned from the spies and Li Feihong, were brave men that were worthy of getting his respect .

    Lu Bu also wanted to save these people, so he avoided causing any trouble to them .

    The 2,000 Xiongnu caught up with their boss, and the wedge formation started crushing the defenders .

    The chaotic stationary horsemen formation was no match for the heavy cavalry charge . Although Lu Bu¡¯s men had to allow collisions of their horses, they destroyed the first to thirdyers of Zhang Yang¡¯s cavalry files .

    Before Jinyang troops lost the charging momentum, Lu Bu pushed forward .

    "S-Somebody, stop him!"

    "STOP SCREAMING AND DIE, SCUM!!" Lu Bu roared again .

    *BANG*

    Fear budded in the mind of the defending horsemen as Lu Bu¡¯s crescent halberd sent men and horses flying, sshing innards and blood all over the ce as he continued charging into the enemy formation .

    Seeing the boss paving their path for them, the 2,000 men followed behind Lu Bu .

    The charging speed reduced from the galloping speed to trotting speed, yet Lu Bu¡¯s cavalries did not stop moving forward . Their horses stomped on the dead bodies of horses and soldiers alike while they dug into the formation of their enemies .

    If someone were to watch the battle from above the sky, they would have been able to see a triangle wedge digging into a tall rectangr formation in the valley .

    On the contrary to Lu Bu Army, Zhang Yang horsemen could not move or utilize their mobility at all as they got stuck from the attack from the pincer attack . At the front, Zhuo Cang and Lu Zhi¡¯s infantries were blocking their path . Behind their back, Lu Bu¡¯s Xiongnu horsemen were ughtering them .

    Zhang Yang rearguards attempted to fight back . However, they discovered that their horse size was different, and their soldier skills were at a higher level .

    One soldier of Lu Bu force could kill at least five men before he was injured by a counter attack . Moreover, these men kept moving forward in a wedge formation . Once they were injured, the wounded men would withdraw back into the inner part of the formation and allowed their friends to rece their position, which significantly reduced the casualty rate in thebat of attrition .

    As a result, for each fifty to a hundred men sacrificed, Zhang Yang force would score a lucky hit for killing one or two of Lu Bu¡¯s soldiers .

    "Move!"

    One of Zhang Yang generals rushed over to confront Lu Bu .

    "I, Sui Gu, will im the head of the enemy¡¯s general!"

    Sui Gu managed to get through the crowded horse formation and reach Lu Bu as he shouted . He wanted to gain some fame once he killed the general of his enemies .

    In this era, shouting one¡¯s name before the fight was etiquette and also a good scheme to obtain recognition or fame .

    It was a correct action if he had dered his name when he was about to fight someone else .

    "NOISY SCUM!"

    *BANG*

    The halberd of Lu Bu sent Sui Gu flying as if Lu Bu hit a golf ball, even though he managed to parry the strike . His body made an arc in mid-air and disappeared into the crowd .

    If Li Feihong or Tong were here, they would have painted the background with a "NICE SHOT" message while they dressed like caddies or golfers .

    As Lu Bu continued digging inside Zhang Yang¡¯s formation, he noticed arrows rain whichnded a hundred meters in front of him .

    The god of war clicked his tongue . His fun ride was over . Had he continue moving forward, the allied force who were stopping Zhang Yang Army would fire arrows at his troops, which was a friendly killing .

    "Turnabout! Prepare to rush back!" Roared Lu Bu .

    Instead of withdrawing to where he came from, Lu Bu changed his horse direction and moved to his right .

    The leading soldiers behind Lu Bu¡¯s back also did a simr thing . However, they did not move to the direction right away . The charging Jinyang soldiers dug in anotheryer of Zhang Yang army file before they made a U-Turn to follow after their boss . This move was to give a space for the following horsemen to move around .

    Ten minutester, Lu Bu brokethrough the lousy horsemen formation again and returned to where he started . His men also got out of the destroyed formation with blood-soaked armors .

    Two thousand Xiongnu heavy cavalries dove in, but 1,900 men returned alive while the rest were riddled with injuries .

    The lost looked significant from the first nce . However,paring to Zhang Yang¡¯s losses, a hundred death was a joke .

    Less than 30 minutes from shing with Lu Bu, over 5,000 soldiers died by the onught! In addition, his rectangr formation in the valley was in a mess, and one of Zhang Yang¡¯s generals was killed by Lu Bu .

    Zhang Yang gritted his teeth as he watched Lu Bu retreating . He turned his attention to Zhou Cang¡¯s troops in front of him and red at them with hatred .

    ¡¯If these morons didn¡¯t stop me, I wouldn¡¯t have lost so much!¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re with them or not, but since you¡¯re blocking my path, I¡¯ll kill you all!¡¯

    Zhang Yang raised his spear and pointed at Zhou Cang Army .

    "Get rid of these men! Keep pushing!"

    Incited by the urge, the horsemen on the frontline tried harder .

    ...

    Meanwhile, Zhou Cang¡¯s soldiers were in a tight spot . Thirty minutes had passed since they started fighting and the number of his soldiers were already half . Only elite soldiers, archers, and the backup horsemen were still alive .

    Lu Zhi was part of the cavalry unit at this moment as he was the VIP of this battle . Secondly, Zhou Cang had given them an order . If they were routed, the horsemen had to escort Lu Zhi out of this ce no matter what the costs, including abandoning Lu Zhi¡¯s family members .

    Zhou Cang, on the other hand, had joined forces with the frontline infantries to relieve his men from the danger .

    Lu Zhi gazed at the frontline situation with a grim look . Lu Bu forces had attacked the rear of this army, but the geography of this valley worked against both sides as none of them could utilize their numbers .

    "Sir! We¡¯re out of arrows!"

    Another bad news arrived . Lu Zhi gazed at the archers at the back . They were panting as continuously shooting arrows was also as tiring as fighting on the frontline .

    "HAAAA!!" Zhou Cang, who was at the frontline released his warcry and killed three soldiers with one halberd swing .

    The arms of this bald man went numb a few minutes ago . His shoulders and his hands were shaking from the exhaustion from the repeated swings of polearms .

    ¡¯Their general?¡¯

    In the middle of the fight, he spotted Zhang Yang .

    ¡¯If I kill this guy, will the troops surrender?¡¯

    ¡¯It¡¯s risky . But I have to do my best! For my future!¡¯

    Zhou Cang broke away from the defending formation and cleaved a path to get close to Zhang Yang .

    *BANG*

    It was not the sound of Lu Buunching people to the moon, but the sound of a gunshot . The bullet went through Zhang Yang¡¯s head and killed him before Zhou Cang could reach him .

    Behind Zhou Cang and his defensive formation, a three meters oval portal opened, and a young schr with a red horse appeared behind them .

    Zhou Cang recognized the weapon in the schr¡¯s hand . It was a gun that his young lord used!

    Li Feihong opened a warp portal behind the line .

    "Gentlemen . Please get retreat inside this portal . My name is Li Feihong of Jinyang Army . I¡¯m here to rescue all of you . "

 Chapter 216

    Chapter 216

    Chapter 216 ¨C Is It Over?

    At the battlefield of Jinyang territory, Lu Zhi, his family, Zhou Cang, and the rest of the team exited the portal made by Li Feihong . All of them appeared behind therge troops of heavy cavalries .

    "This . . . "

    Zhou Cang and Lu Zhi were astonished .

    "Long story short, I¡¯m also a sorcerer like Tong . Well, you can also say I¡¯m also an immortal like he has proimed himself," Li Feihong tried to exin his ability .

    "Ah, I see," Lu Zhi¡¯s eyes gleamed while Zhou Cang slowly nodded . Everything made sense if both of them were immoral colleagues .

    Li Feihong closed the portal as everyone was rescued . He gazed at his monitors to check to others .

    Gao Shun had already taken over the leading role from Lu Bu, and he was in the middle of the battle with the remnants of Zhang Yang¡¯s soldiers . Meanwhile, Zhang Liao took a battalion to the top of the hills to nk this leaderless army, trying to get them to surrender .

    Lu Bu, on the other hand, climbed the mountain to check the geography . He gazed at the northern areas where there were dust andmotion .

    "I sensed a stronger warrior over there," Muttered Lu Bu before he licked his lips .

    "A worthy opponent . I hope he is not our ally this time . "

    "But I still need to teach Tong a lesson for ordering me around! I¡¯m not his subordinate!"

    . . .

    Friday was tidying the battlefield by absorbing the corpses by her borrowed wing . The battle of this section was over .

    With the supporting arrows from Hua Shi and Friday¡¯s absurd speed, they annihted the isted Imperial troops with ease .

    Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji did not jump into the fray as the archers and repeating crossbows were more than enough to kill the majority of the trapped troops .

    Out of the 50,000 soldiers who were isted, only 10,000 survived and surrendered . The rest were turned into porcupines and eaten by Friday¡¯s tentacle .

    Friday and Hua Shi looked at their status with a bright smile . It was a bumper harvest for them .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Hua Shi

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 126,935 Years

    *******************************

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Dong Bai

    Age: 5

    Lifespan: 291,819 Years

    *******************************

    Hua Shi gained lifespans with her [Sword Mastery] lifespan draining after a kill, while Friday absorbed the life essence from the corpses . Friday¡¯s current lifespan had not stopped increasing as she only finished 8,000 bodies out of all 40,000, which made Hua Shi stared at her in envy .

    Hua Shi suggested, "Donate some of yours into the n . We can give those lifespans to our n members like Feihong or Tong¡¯s father . Come to think of it, Feihong doesn¡¯t have enough lifespans for this year upkeep . We should give him at least 4,000 years or so . "

    "Aye aye, let me finish all of these juicy bodies first . " Friday sang a corpse under her left foot turned into dust .

    The eyebrows of Hua Shi twitched .

    ¡¯I think I understand how the others looked at me when I was a cannibal now . ¡¯

    While the two girls were happily clearing the dead bodies, the soldiers of Julu looked at them in fear as they kept their distance from the two housewives .

    "T-T-The body has just turned into ashes?"

    "Was it sorcery?"

    "It¡¯s a hex!"

    "Didn¡¯t you see how they fight? They¡¯re grim reapers!"

    The soldiers began specting and whispering . A new rumor about the Friday was born .

    "The mistress is [Goddess of Death], and her bodyguard is [Death Apostle]!"

    . . .

    . . .

    *Beep*

    An alert sound came from the system menu while Tong was settling a temporary tent for Huang Zhong to stay .

    He gazed at the clock . It was already 3 PM . By now, the battle on the other side should have been concluded .

    Dong Bai: Liu Ping is dead .

    Hua Shi: RIP by butt-sex and BBQ .

    Tong clenched his fists as that troublemaker had finally died for good . At the same time, he had a chill running down his spine as he noticed thement of Sunday .

    "What do you mean butt-sex? I can guess that BBQ means they have burnt him, but butt-sex?" Tong was baffled .

    Zhang Tong: Great job!

    Zhang Tong: BTW, I¡¯ve captured Huang Zhong .

    Zhang Tong: But I have to release him back in a few days . I can¡¯t recruit him yet .

    Hua Shi: My scouter said your luck is over 9000+

    Hua Shi: How the heck did you capture him!?

    Hua Shi: Isn¡¯t Huang Zhong¡¯s skill almost the same as Lu Bu in archery?

    Dong Bai: Obviously, he cheated .

    Dong Bai: And plot armor .

    Dong Bai: Lame luck .

    Hua Shi: Right .

    Hua Shi: LAAAAME .

    Tears dripped from Tong¡¯s eyes . Did it hurt to give him a bit of credit? These girls were bullies . As he was discouraged, his pole raised its g and pointed at his face .

    If Tong¡¯s little brother could speak, it would have said something like, "Let¡¯s break those two once we get home! We shall get our revenge!"

    Tong nodded, "That¡¯s right! Let give him a mind-break tag! Since my [Sloth] hase back, we shall trample them on our bed with my unlimited regen!"

    The long pole in his pants waved its shaft, "Don¡¯t forget . We can also add a time-stop tag! We should increase this skill level and give them an experience of a surprise time-stop dual-cultivation .

    "Nice idea! It¡¯s a good n!"

    "Right? I¡¯m a genius at this after all!"

    "HAHAHAHA!"

    "WKWKWKWK!"

    <your [insanity]="" has="" 12 . 19="" percent="" ...="">>

    In the tent, Tong wasughing and talking to himself . The squad of ten guards broke a sweat as they heard everything that their young lord had said .

    "Is he alright?"

    "He¡¯ll be fine . He¡¯s done that a lot . "

    "You knew?"

    "It¡¯s a habit of a talentedmander . Our lord¡¯s personality is a little bit weird . Get used to it . "

    "That¡¯s not a little bit . He¡¯s bonkers . "

    ...

    An hourter, Li Feihong also sent an updated news .

    Li Feihong: Reporting from Jinyang, I¡¯ve rescued Zhou Cang and his party .

    Li Feihong: Lu Zhi and his family are safe!

    Li Feihong: I¡¯ve transferred them with Zhang Liao and co ATM .

    Li Feihong: Lu Bu and Gao Shun are clearing the Imperial force now .

    Li Feihong: Everything should be over by the evening .

    Tong¡¯s mood got better after he saw Li Feihong¡¯s report . Everyone made it, and all ns seeded .

    Li Feihong: BTW, Lu Bu said he wants to duel with you again after this war .

    Li Feihong: He said unless he beats you to a pulp, he can¡¯t sleep soundly .

    Tong copsed onto the ground in an Orz position as he cried a river .

    Normally, warlords should have been rejoiced and celebrated after they had achieved a hard victory from a series of difficult battles, yet Tong continued to sulk till night .

    "Why everybody wants to bully me *sob* . "

    . . .

    . . .

    At the altitude of 2,000 feet above the ground, Zuo Ci was observing the battle below while he stood still in the air as if there were a floor under his feet .

    In front of him, a small transparent ball floated and moved around in confusion .

    Zuo Ci extended his ten wings which they reached and wrapped around a small transparent ball . This ball could not be seen with naked eyes, but to him, it was as noticeable as a lighted torch in the darkness .

    The ball was the soul of Liu Ping, who could not return to his realm after death .

    Zuo Ci stared at Liu Ping¡¯s soul with a frown . They soul cirction system in this dimension had not even constructed yet, but this soul required a ce to settle .

    Normally, he could have sent this soul into a body of an empty shell embryo right away to reincarnate it, or he could give the soul his blood to turn it into an angel in the next 20 years . However, Liu Ping¡¯s soul was an exception .

    Zuo Ci had read Liu Ping¡¯s past and learned about his feuds with Tong long ago .

    When the two reincarnated into this world, a massive thread of karma appeared and bound the two together, which alerted Zuo Ci and Lilith .

    There were other karma threads among the others as well, but they were thin . Those thin lines were neglectable as it could be severed with a few good deeds as a redemption .

    Unfortunately, both Lilith and Zuo Ci could not ignore Tong and Ping¡¯s fate as the two could influence many natives in this world .

    They came to a conclusion after a discussion . One of the two had to die by the other¡¯s hand! Had they let them be, the two could have created battles and wars on arger scale .

    Thus, Lilith deliberately created a scenario where both Liu Ping and Tong had to fight each other early on so one of the souls would be sent back to the original dimension . Once one of them gone, the karma thread should disappear as well, and the stability of this fragment dimension could enjoy more of its tranquil .

    s, the creator suddenly took Lilith away and severed the connection of both dimensions, causing Liu Ping soul to get stuck in this world .

    This posed a serious problem to Zuo Ci . He was not powerful enough to create a realm for the souls!

    After Liu Ping died, Zuo Ci immediately came to this ce .

    As the sage of this world, he should be neutral toward the affairs of the world . However, in the depth of his heart, he wanted to destroy this sinner spirit . It was a soul that did not deserve to enter the circle of reincarnation .

    "Since one of you is unnecessary in this world, I should destroy you!"

    Zuo Ci exerted a bit of his wings¡¯ strength, nning to crush this soul into pieces . Contrary to his inner thought, his wings did not harm Liu Ping .

    Biting his lower lips, he clenched his fists and attempted to destroy Liu Ping¡¯s soul again, yet the wings did not do anything to it . Rather, Zuo Ci had not exerted any power into his wings at all .

    "I can¡¯t!"

    Zuo Ci was afraid of the karma bacsh . Despite the fact that he was one of the tops of the food chain in this dimension, he still wanted to obtain another pair of wings .

    He wanted to possess twelve wings like the first generation archangels or Morning Star .

    Zuo Ci was aware . If he saved this dimension and the natives by destroying this soul, he would have been stuck at 10 wings bottleneck for the rest of eternity because of the karma interference .

    The ambition of getting twelve wings was the only thing that gave Zuo Ci the drive and the motivation to continue his duty in this forsaken realm . Else, Zuo Ci would have gone insane by the boredom and the solitary life .

    ¡¯Damn it all! I can¡¯t!¡¯ Zuo Ci screamed in his mind .

    ¡¯I want to kill this piece of garbage so bad, but I don¡¯t want to sacrifice my future!¡¯

    ¡¯WHY DO I HAVE TO THROW AWAY MY FUTURE FOR THIS EMPTY WORLD!?¡¯

    In the end, Zuo Ci¡¯s greed prevailed over his justice .

    He gazed at the soul again, and the humongous thread of karma could be seen by Zuo Ci¡¯s eyes . It extended toward Li Feihong, Tong, Hua Shi, and Friday .

    Earlier when Zuo Ci gave Medusa a sermon, he miscalcted . He thought that the karma thread size would decrease its volume if Tong¡¯s subordinates were to kill Liu Ping . But in reality, it increased instead . Furthermore, it even bound Hua Shi and Friday, who were responsible for killing him .

    "Do I really have to let these two fighting each other?" Zuo Ci muttered and sighed .

    The wings of Zuo Ci released the soul of Liu Ping, which floated around aimlessly as it had lost its conscience and will .

    Liu Ping at this stage was like an infant without his previous memory . As his soul had not perfectly synchronized with his body, the ejected soul came out from the dead body without a memory . However, it still contained his instinct and his trait inside .

    "I hope that you can redeem yourself, Ping . I¡¯ll let you go on your own . "

    The soul continued to float toward the northeast as if there was a ma that drew his soul toward the direction . Zuo Ci also noticed this, but he allowed it to go as he thought that it was the work of his fate and karma . </your>

 Chapter 217

    Chapter 217: 217

    November 5th .

    Huang Zhong got better after Tong gave him the necessary treatment . Today, he packed his belongings, getting ready to leave this city .

    Liu Biao had kept his promise . All remaining Imperial soldiers retreated to the south via Pu Yang instead of going back to Henei . It seemed Liu Biao wanted to return to his Commandery instead of returning to the Capital .

    As part of the hostage promise, Tong should release him once he confirmed that Liu Biao had withdrawn .

    .

    During a few days as a hostage, Tong allowed Huang Zhong to roam free in his camp, which surprised him .

    As a senior general in Liu Biao¡¯s personal army, he used this rare chance to scout Tong Army to learn how this army defeated the overwhelming forces of Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun with fewer troops .

    The discovery astonished him .

    The stocks of crude oil, provisions, and weaponry . Everything was prepared and kept inside the walls .

    Crude oil barrels and granaries should not be kept together as spies or random civilians could plot against the garrison army . Had someone ignite the ck oil, Tong¡¯s provision, and supplies would be burnt to oblivion .

    Secondly, this oil was a dangerous substance as it could burn for a very long time and it was difficult to extinguish . Once it caught fire, it guaranteed a massive fire outbreak . If the Imperial Army used a fire attack, Tong Army would have been finished .

    ¡¯There are many weak points for keeping these many things together . No wonder Zhang Tong decided to kill all civilians to keep his troops safe from the unknown factors . It¡¯s too risky . ¡¯

    Huang Zhong sighed . No matter who were to win in the end, it would always be the innocent civilians who would suffer from the war .

    .

    The archer general returned to the camp to visit Tong one more time . He wanted to say goodbye and ask him a few more questions .

    "My troops have withdrawn . Can I go now?"

    Tong¡¯s face revealed a bitter smile as he predicted that Huang Zhong would not join his faction at this moment . His lord was still alive and kicking, and Huang Zhong family was still in Xiangyang after all .

    "Sure . I¡¯ll have my men fetch you a horse and supplies for a month . "

    "Thank you . Let¡¯s spar again in the future," Huang Zhong bowed with respect . Though he refused Tong invitation to join his force, he was still impressed by Tong¡¯s strength and leadership in the army .

    "Rather, let¡¯s not be enemies next time," Tong jested .

    Huang Zhong probed Tong, "Lord Zhang, if you were in a simr situation like this war in the future, will you kill the civilians again?"

    Tong raised his eyebrows and stared at the archer general as he realized that he was tested .

    "No," Tong answered without a hesitation which puzzled Huang Zhong .

    ¡¯Is this young man a hypocrite or does he regret his action?¡¯ Huang Zhong thought .

    Tong continued, "By that time I experience this scenario again, I¡¯ll probably be stronger than this, and I¡¯ll definitely go after themanders or the lords before the war even starts . You don¡¯t have to worry about it . "

    Huang Zhong blinked for a few seconds before heughed, "Come to think of it, there was a weird night in our camp . There was a rumor about a ghost that killed one of ourmanders, but I think it was the work of a man . Was it you?"

    Tong shrugged, "Maybe?"

    Huang Zhongughed again . He liked what Tong nned to do in the future and his fighting style as he also had a simr belief . Instead of using his soldiers to decide the battle, he would rather kill themanders to end the conflicts as soon as possible to save the lives of his men and his enemies .

    The general massaged his sides as theugh hurt it, "Well, I hope I don¡¯t have to fight you again . I don¡¯t want to die in my sleep . "

    "When that timees, you¡¯d better join me . It would save me a lot of troubles . "

    "Hahaha! I¡¯ll keep that in mind . But if you want me to serve you that much, by that time, you¡¯d better be a righteous ruler . "

    "I¡¯ll try . "

    With a smile, Tong and Huang Zhong cupped their fist and bid farewell .

    They understood it by their heart . Both Tong and Huang Zhong might part ways today, but in the future, they would cross paths again .

    As Huang Zhong was leaving, Tong also released all of his prisoners to go along with the archer general . Having many people to spread rumors and news about this battle was a better choice than increasing his army by a few thousand with unloyal soldiers .

    ...

    ...

    Tong and his surviving men marched back to Ye City and proceeding to Julu City in peace as it was already winter . Snow began covering the entire northern regions, and all warlords hibernated in their cities . No one with the right mind wanted to dispatch an army in this weather .

    Out of the active 45,000 soldiers, twenty-five thousand of them stationed in Ye while the rest moved to Julu along with crippled soldiers .

    Julu City was a perfect ce for retirement as it was the most flourish city among Tong¡¯s affiliate cities . Therefore, the retired soldiers could enjoy their pensions and live peacefully with their families .

    .

    Jia Xu tagged along with the young lord after Tong had returned to Ye City with the veterans . He did not want to get stuck in the city forever without his usual meals . He did not join Tong to enjoy the ie, but for the daily mouth-watering food .

    .

    Ju Shou and Zhang He were more diligence as they voluntarily stayed at Shangdang to maintain the order and stabilize the city .

    .

    Julu Army, led by the housewives, Zhang Ji, and Zhang Xiu, returned to Julu earlier than Tong . They did not stop mid-way at Jinyang because Friday said that she detected Lu Bu¡¯s hostility and his re toward her from a distance . Had she stayed in Jinyang for a few more days, she would have been forced to duel with Lu Bu .

    Their 10,000 prisoners integrated into the city¡¯s army as usual .

    The harvest that the two girls obtained was enough to make Li Feihong and Tong envious . Friday had over 1,500,000 lifespans from her life essence draining while Hua Shi had a bit over 120,000 .

    Friday donated a million of her lifespans into the pool and demanded Tong topensate her at home until the New Year .

    .

    At Jinyang City, it was more eventful .

    From the previous battle with the Imperial Army, after they rescued Zhou Cang and Lu Zhi, the entire Jinyang horsemen rampaged through the ranks of confused Imperial soldiers .

    Two hours after the chaotic fight, all surviving Imperial soldiers surrendered to Lu Bu as the leading nobles all died by Lu Bu¡¯s hands, increasing his reputation .

    10,000 Soldiers were captured and turned into the prisoners-of-war . Zhang Liao advised Lu Bu to integrate them into Jinyang City as Ding Yuan would not have enough troops to defend the border if they were to leave Jinyang again .

    Lu Bu Army returned to Jinyang with 10,000 prisoners from the previous battle .

    However, heter prepared to march with all his subordinates and resupplied 50,000 Xiongnu Cavalries to Julu as he wanted to beat Tong . Fortunately, Lu Bu¡¯s wife,dy Yan, wanted her daughter to be with her father once in a while, so Lu Bu canceled the schedule and decided to stay home until spring .

    On the other hand, Lu Zhi, his family, and Zhou Cang departed from Jinyang to Julu as nned with Gao Shun and his 10,000 Xiongnu Cavalries as their escorts .

    ...

    ...

    November 30th, 182 A . D .

    Tong, Xu Huang, and Jia Xu reached Julu . Jia Xu groaned, yet a smile appeared on his face .

    "Finally, I can rest!"

    Tong nodded, "Yeah, me too . "

    Everyone was exhausted from the tough fight and a long journey through the winter weather . Seeing the nostalgia city wall rejuvenated their spirits .

    Zhang Jiao, Sima Fang, and the others stood in front of the south gate to wee their heroes . The Julu civilians also came to see the returning troops on top of the wall . Family members of soldiers also waited for their husband or father to return home .

    Tong looked at the civilians on the wall with a bitter smile . Some of them might be disappointed today as not all of them had returned alive, and there were also crippled soldiers returning as well .

    The families of these fallen heroes had to bepensated .

    It reminded Tong that war was always cruel to the peasants . He had to end this civil war as soon as possible in this world .

    Sima Fang bowed, "Wee home, young master Zhang . "

    "Wee home, son," Smiled Zhang Jiao .

    Tong stepped down from his horse . He walked toward his father and shamelessly hugged him .

    "I¡¯m home, dad . "

    "If you keep doing this, your master will scold you again," Zhang Jiao reprimanded .

    "I don¡¯t care anymore . I¡¯ll make the hugging a new custom in my cities . "

    Zhang Jiaoughed and patted his son¡¯s back, "If you say so . "

    The soldiers and the officials gazed at the reunion of the father and son duo with a warm smile . The image of a loving family soothed the heart of everyone .

    "I¡¯ll hug my parents when I get home," A soldier muttered .

    "I¡¯ll hug my wife . "

    "I¡¯ll hug your wife, too . "

    "Then, I¡¯ll hug your sister . "

    "Meh, I prefer older women . I¡¯ll hug his mother . "

    "None of you are cultured! I¡¯ll hug his daughter!"

    "Hold it, you lots!"

    The soldiersughed and messed with their friends like brothers . As they went through thick and thin together in a battlefield, a sense of brotherhood formed in their heart . Everybody marched into the city withughter and smiles .

    Unlike in movies, the soldiers did not enter the city to get their parade wee from the civilians, but they moved to their designated camps outside the walls . However, an order came from the government that all of them could get inside the city once they left the weapons and armors inside their camps first .

    Zhang Jiao did not want everyone to report themselves at the government hall right away . He decided to postpone the meeting for a day to let the returnees rest .

    Tong used this chance to return home after the long months of working on the field . Upon entering his courtyard, Hua Shi and Friday, who was still in Xiao Wu form, was already there . There was also a new guest, or he could say [A new member] .

    He Xing was resting there with her child .

    "I¡¯m going to need an exnation now . Can anyone start?" Tong asked his family .

    ...

    ...

    On the top of Mount Kunlun, a woman, who looked as if she was in her 20s with curly blond hair, was sitting on a rock as she read the logs from the system menu . Her ten ck tentacle wings fluttered in the air . Each of the tentacles was longer than the wings of Medusa .

    She was the new owner of this realm, the daughter of Lilith, Lilim .

    Unlike her mother, she did notmit any heinous crime that she had to be sanctioned into a fragmented world . However, she was transferred here as a condition for Lilith¡¯s cooperation with the matter in the Netherworld .

    Until the Netherworld regained its peace, Lilith¡¯s daughter had the right to seek asylum here while she took over Lilith¡¯s role as the system goddess .

    "What are all these [Skills]!?"

    Lilim was baffled by the skills of the otherworlders . They were too bizarre .

    She continued reading all log files until she read thements of her mother .

    [Zhang Tong and Liu Ping¡¯s souls were bound by a huge karma thread . Do not get in involved in their feuds . ]

 Chapter 218

    Chapter 218: 218

    Chapter 218 ¨C Volume 3 Prologue ¨C I Don¡¯t Like Him

    "Don¡¯t get involved?" Lilim was puzzled by the message of her mother .

    Unlike Zuo Ci, she did not care about the karma tribtion or any kind of bacshes . She was already satisfied with her ten wings and her status and a being at the same peers as gods .

    "Mother, you are too overprotective of your daughter . I don¡¯t care about those things anymore," Comined Lilim, like an Asian childining about their parents¡¯ strict house regtion behind their back .

    Lilim expanded her sense to check the world for the first time . It was not hard to see theplex thread of karma that Zuo Ci was afraid to touch .

    "That thing ... is kinda huge . "

    Awed and shocked, Lilim rushed to see the problematic knots . In a few seconds, she reached the sky above Julu City .

    The thread of karma bound several people in this city . Tong, Hua Shi, and Friday were tied together . The knots which tied Tong was in a rainbow color . It shone with bright light, yet a cloud of tainted lightning circled around it as if it wanted to mix into the thread .

    The bright light signified that he was the owner of the karma thread, and his knot was already loose . As long as he were to pardon the other or the vice versa, this thread would have disappeared .

    The ck cloud of lightning was the hatred of the one who held the other end of the karma knot . It stopped Tong¡¯s knot from being untied so the thread could go on for the rest of eternity .

    There was a ck cloud on the others as well, but the majority of the cloud was concentrated on Tong .

    "That young man should not be the one at fault . I¡¯ll see the other end . "

    Lilim left Tong and his family alone and followed the thread to the other end . It did not take long for her to reach the other side . Above the sky of Ji Commandery, Lilim found a wandering soul of an otherworlder .

    Unlike what she found on Tong¡¯s knot, the thread around Liu Ping¡¯s soul was dark and sinister . It wrapped around his soul to the point that Lilim felt like the knots could never be released . There was no other color on the thread but ck .

    "Wow, jeez . I thought only idiots in wuxia novels have this kind of karma . There is actually one over here . "

    Lilim was astonished by Liu Ping¡¯s grudge . It was so deep that even after his memories wiped, the hatred ingrained into his soul .

    "The other administrator in here ... Zuo Ci, right? Damn, he¡¯s an irresponsible coward! If he wants another set of wings, he could have steeled himself and faced the karma tribtion like a man! What kind of cultivator is he getting chickened over a simple tribtion?"

    As she wasining, her ck wings grabbed onto Liu Ping¡¯s soul and crushed it without hesitation .

    *PUFF*

    It gave out a muffled sound of an explosion as it shattered into sparkling light . The scattered light flew by the wind like ashes, disappearing into the world .

    Lilim saw arge fragment of the soul dropping into the city, yet she ignored it . She believed that she had destroyed its conscience . Thus, the shattered soul could not regain its memory or influence any mortal here anymore .

    *RUMBLE*

    The karma thread trembled as if it was angered . At the same time, the wiggling ck knots, which could not find the soul of Liu Ping anymore, merged themselves into a ck ball .

    The surface of the ball splitted like an eyelid, and a ck eye red at Lilim . The thread turned into a ck chain with the head of a snake with one eye .

    The eye transformed into a mouth, which opened wide . It chased Lilim, wanting to swallow her whole .

    Lilim snorted, "This is not the first time I¡¯ve severed a karma thread this size . Don¡¯t make meugh, little punk!"

    The ten-winged devil waved her both hands and her ten [Souls of Sins] manifested from her wings . Ten female spirits appeared and surrounded the karma snake . They separated andunched barrages of beam attacks from their palms .

    The karma snake screamed as it swung its ck chains at the ten souls .

    Seeing that their attacks were not effective against the snake, all of them transformed into ten mobile suits, which fired cannons and spirit sters at the chain snake .

    The embodiment of the sinister karma thread was shattered and disintegrated by the relentless barrages .

    Lilim had a smug smile on her face as she predicted this, "Told you, don¡¯t make meugh . "

    *RUMBLE*

    "Aw, crap . The dimension ..."

    s, she forgot one fact about this world . It was still inside a fragment dimension, which was not a stable realm to sustain a battle of the immortals or any kind of tribtion .

    "EEP! EEP! EEP! I FOOk up!"

    *RUMBLE*

    The blue sky revealed a crack as the dimension was on the verge of crumble . Lilim sweated bullets as she elerated her brain to read a billion pages of the administration manual .

    The crack continued to expand at a visible speed . Everything would shatter into nothingness in one minute .

    "EEP! EEP! EEP! FOUND!"

    Lilim finally found a solution to stop the breaking of the dimension . To her surprise, it was the cheat skills of all otherworlders which weakened this realm .

    "Dammit, mother and all those sickening gods! You all are the cause of this instability!"

    She sent her conscience into the system and began altering the universe .

    >

    <converting unused=""s="" into="" lifespans="">>

    <a total="" of="" 108,122,371,819,837="" lifespans="" from="" [central="" pool]="" has="" been="" consumed="">>

    <universal system="" skill,="" [safe="" mode],="" has="" been="" activated="">>

    <dimension repairing="" in="" progress="">>

    The crack stopped expanding, and the rumble sounds also disappeared . The crisis was averted without anyone on earth noticing it .

    Lilim wiped away her sweat with the back of her hand, and she resumed her smug V smile .

    "This is how you save the universe! Will I get my 12th wing now? No? Eep, shame!"

    "But, seriously, those [Law Creation] skills on those guys are the main problem . I should kill all those with the skills and get rid of the source of troubles . "

    "But I can¡¯t kill them directly, or the creator will imprison me like my mother ..."

    "DAAAHHH! What a pain!" Lilim scratch her head with both hands in frustration, which messed her hair .

    The [Law Creation] was the origin of all otherworlder¡¯s created skills . It was a function that Lilith had created to relieve her boredom in this dimension to twist thews of the realm, which allowed the authorized persons to possess the power of their imagined [Skill] .

    Unfortunately, it was used by the gods and other immortals for their entertainment in the Netherworld .

    Lilim left Ji Commandery to Mount Kunlun again as she liked the weather on the top of the mountain best . She also nned to settle a temporary office to manage this dimension on the there .

    ...

    Zuo Ci had witnessed the brief copsing dimension and the fight between the karmic tribtion snake and the new goddess of the realm . He gritted his teeth in bitterness as hecked the resolve and the skills to face the tribtion .

    ¡¯Will I have that mindset in the future?¡¯

    ¡¯Will I ever get more wings?¡¯

    A heart devil budded in his mind as his ambition still remained unextinguished .

    Shaking his head to forget about his goal, Zuo Ci descended into Ji Commandery City and stopped at one of the city well . He poured a cup of his blood into the well as he continued doing his job, giving immortality and souls to the empty shell natives .

    ¡¯This city is done . Next ...¡¯

    The sage also left the city to spread the seeds of souls to the locals . Once he finished this job, he would consult with Lilim about soul managementter .

    ...

    Both Lilim and Zuo Ci did not pay attention to a fragment of Liu Ping¡¯s soul . As a tiny piece of it would not affect any mortal in this world, they saw it as useless ashes that could be disregarded .

    On the side of Ji city road, a young man withrge ears in a ragged grey robe picked up a shining fragment of stone .

    "What¡¯s this? A jewel?"

    The man¡¯s eyes brightened as he thought that he could sell this to get a few golds for his mother .

    s, the stone shined for a moment before it dimmed, reverting itself into an ordinary rock . The man did not notice that the light had entered his body before it dimmed .

    The young man stared at the rock with a baffled look before he threw it away .

    "Bah! I was hallucinating . I must be hungry . "

    Therge-ear man returned to a shack, which was his home .

    "I¡¯m home, mom . I¡¯ve brought some food . " The man took out three dumplings from the inside of his ragged clothes .

    The mother, who was in his 50s, smiled at him . She was sitting and sewing straw sandals in the shack . She had white hair and had a simr robe like her son, a patched robe .

    "You eat first . I¡¯ll finish these shoes, then I¡¯ll eat . "

    "Nah, you first . I¡¯ll take the finished sandals to sell now . "

    The man took 5 pairs of straw shoes with him and left the house . The shoes that his mother made was popr in this neighborhood as they were sturdier than ordinary hand-made shoes .

    As soon as he carried the shoes outside his home, a neighbor noticed him right away .

    "Xuande! Are those a new batch?"

    "Yes . You want a pair?"

    "Give me two pairs! Thest set wore outst week . I need another pair for my wife too . "

    "Sure, sure . Same price!"

    "Xuande! I want a pair, too!" Another neighbor also wanted to buy it .

    Within five minutes, all his shoes were sold out . The man with the nickname "Xuande" smiled in happiness as he returned to his house .

    "Mom! They¡¯re all sold!"

    "Well done, Xuande . "

    "Mom, you haven¡¯t eaten your food yet? Please eat . It¡¯s getting cold . You know, it¡¯s winter now . You should take care of your health . "

    "Bah! I¡¯ll take care of my health . The only reason I¡¯m still here because you refused your mentor¡¯s invitation! If you had epted, I wouldn¡¯t have been here sewing shoes right now!"

    Xuande smiled bitterly, "Mom, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to, but I can¡¯t! The Lord that my mentor wanted to rmend to is actually a rebel . You see, there¡¯s an edict of the Emperor and an announcement in the city . Had we joined them, we would have been in trouble!"

    The mother sighed, "Xuande, rebel or not, it doesn¡¯t matter . I knew what you¡¯re thinking so listen to me . Sometimes it¡¯s better to bow your head and be a subordinate of a lord than being a lord yourself . I know that you want to be a governor too . Am I right?"

    Xuande bit his lower lips . He was found out .

    The only reason he refused his mentor¡¯s invitation was that he did not want to be someone¡¯s subordinate to be pointed or ordered around . He wanted to live free without anyone ordering him .

    "Your dream is impossible . Stop deluding into your fantasy and reply to your master¡¯s letter . Those rebels and edict are all nothing but a ruse! They are political warfare! Warlords and governors are always picking a fight with each other to expand their power and wealth! If you want to be a governor, you will eventually fight with them . So if you want to be someone big, take a gamble and join a lord!"

    "But mom, people will continue to suffer . If I¡¯m not someone in charge, how can we save them?"

    The mother smiled, "Xuande, blindly following your ideal will bring more harm to the people . If you care for the people, it¡¯s better to pick the righteous lord and serve him instead of trying to fight on your own . You¡¯re not the only one with that dream . There will be the others who had dreamt the same dream as yours as well . If you can somehow be a warlord in the future, you will end up fighting those righteous rulers! It will be people like us who suffer from the war . So, Xuande, don¡¯t be ambitious . "

    Xuande, AKA Liu Bei, lowered his head as he listened to his mother¡¯s sermon . However, in the depth of his heart, he still disagreed .

    ¡¯To be honest, I wanted to join the Zhang family too . But I don¡¯t want to serve someone younger than me . Heck! He¡¯s even my junior of the same mentor! He just got lucky that he was born into a noble family . That¡¯s all!¡¯

    ¡¯Err, wait . They weren¡¯t originally a noble family . That Zhang Tong climbed up with his skill . . . Hmm?¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know why . For some reason, I¡¯m getting annoyed thinking about this person . ¡¯

    ¡¯EHHH! No matter what, I can¡¯t be a part of Zhang Tong¡¯s men . That¡¯s for certain!¡¯</dimension></universal></a></converting></pausing>

 Chapter 219

    Chapter 219: 219

    Chapter 219 ¨C He Xing, The New Concubine?

    Tong, Friday, Hua Shi, He Xing, and Sima Fang gathered in Tong¡¯s courtyard . Everyone was summoned here to rify the unusual situation when the master of the house was away .

    The trouble was the existence of He Xing and her son, Liu Xie, the future Emperor Xian of Han . He Xing still possessed the title as the Dowager, and Liu Xie still had the right to the throne .

    Had these two joined other lords, Tong did not have to guess, that lucky warlord would have used her and her son as a tool to gain a political status and influence in the Han Court .

    However, having both of them residing in Julu would also bring a lot of problems . If the news about their location were revealed, all neighbor lords would be ganging on the Yellow Turbans even without an edict .

    Now, Sima Fang had done it! He revealed to the public that He Xing was Tong¡¯s concubine while he was away during the war .

    Tong expected that one spring arrives, all hell would break loose as everyone would misunderstand him as an opportunist warlord who abused the Dowager and her son to get ahead .

    The people and schrs around the country would forever recognize Tong as a scheming tyrant or a wicked warlord .

    ...

    Sima Fang kowtowed to Tong as he apologized, "Please forgive me, young master . To ensure their safety and to protect Your Majesty He, I had to lie about their status . "

    Tong was sitting on a chair at the garden while Hua Shi and Friday were standing behind his back . They looked at Sima Fang in dissatisfaction . Tong did not like Sima Fang¡¯s move because of the political problems . The two housewives did not like He Xing as they thought that she wanted to seduce their husband .

    "Couldn¡¯t you have hidden her status while you disguise her as amoner or a maid? Why concubine? My wives talked to her, and it seemed she wanted to retire from the political world . Why have you dragged her into this again?"

    A driedugh came from Sima Fang¡¯s mouth . As a royalist, he did not want his former Empress to experience hardship or the harsh life of amoner . He wanted her to live in a better ce and had servants to take care of her and her son .

    Hundreds of reasons were in Sima Fang¡¯s mind, but he could not utter a word to exin his doing to his young lord .

    Despite the troubling heart, this officer¡¯s face did not change the slightest . His serious and intimidating expression was unchanged after the barrage of questioning from Tong .

    Seeing that Sima Fang did not answer his interrogation, Tong repeated his question again .

    "Why is she my concubine? You could¡¯ve told everyone that she¡¯s a maid or one of your wives . "

    Sima Fang shook his head, "I would not dare to pretend to be her husband . Young master, what do you think if your subordinate suddenly has a higher status than you? Won¡¯t the others find it awkward if I were to be a prince consort of the Han Dynasty while you are still a young master of a rebel force?"

    Tong pondered . It would have caused friction in his ranks if such a scenario had really happened . Political factions would be formed by the officials who backed the Han Dynasty and the officials who supported the Yellow Turbans .

    At the side, He Xing was standing behind Sima Fang with her child in her arms . She tried to help her loyal retainer .

    "Young lord Zhang, please don¡¯t me this matter on him . It¡¯s me who is being selfish that took advantage of you . If you don¡¯t want me here, I can leave this city with my son . "

    Tong¡¯s face turned ugly as he was not the type who enjoyed tormenting a mother and a son . Seeing the worried look on He Xing¡¯s face and Liu Xie¡¯s innocent smile, Tong was reminded of the faces of his victims at Liyang City .

    Guilt .

    Regret .

    Heart pain .

    The heart of Sima Fang skipped a beat . As he saw the young lord¡¯s unsightly expression, Sima Fang thought that Tong despised the royal family .

    "It¡¯s not your fault . You can stay in this city as long as you want to . "

    Betraying Sima Fang¡¯s thought, Tongpromised .

    Everyone in other cities should have known about her location . Should she wonder outside of the town, all wolves and foxes would prey on her and turn her into a political ve .

    Tong could not afford to let those ambitious lords take advantage of this woman .

    "Don¡¯t get me wrong . I don¡¯t want your status or want to turn your son into a puppet, and I don¡¯t want those bastards like Yuan Shao or Liu Yan getting their hands on you . So I¡¯ll let you use my name to protect your family . "

    Sima Fang kowtowed again, and his forehead hit the floor .

    "Thank you, young master!"

    He Xing also bowed her head .

    "Thank you, Lord Zhang . "

    Although she was ashamed that she had caused troubles to this young man, He Xing did not want to abandon her privilege as a royalty . Having many servants and bodyguards around her was better than being a single-mommoner in the street .

    ¡¯He doesn¡¯t look like those old foxes in the pce . Those men will definitely use me,¡¯ She evaluated Tong in her mind .

    ¡¯He doesn¡¯t have that lustful look like Yuan Shao or Liu Ping . Am I not attractive enough?¡¯

    s, the former Empress had high self-esteem as a firstdy and the most beautiful woman in this country . Seeing Tong ignoring her charm damaged her pride .

    The young lord in front of her was not a eunuch or gay either as he had a wife and a busty concubine, who were standing behind Tong .

    Hua Shi and Friday red at He Xing without hiding their killing intents . Both of them viewed He Xing as a gold digging woman who wanted totch onto Tong, and they did not want her here .

    As a woman, He Xing also noticed the two¡¯s hostility . She smiled wryly at the girls and made a mental note, ¡¯I must not seduce this young lord, or I¡¯ll be killed by these two . ¡¯

    The matter of He Xing and her son was temporary on hold, and Tong ended up allowing them to continue living in his manor . However, Hua Shi and Friday secretly bullied He Xing and barred her from visiting Tong at night as it was their precious time .

    He Xing acknowledged her status and kept her distance from the trio . With her experience as a former Imperial concubine and the Empress, this veteran women understood which line that she could not cross .

    ...

    Tong sighed after He Xing returned to her room and Sima Fang excused himself . It was fortunate that thedy behaved herself, which was totally opposite of Hua Shi when he first met her .

    ¡¯I don¡¯t want a third mental wife . Having two is more than enough . ¡¯

    He turned to look at the two girls behind his back, "You didn¡¯t bully her when I was away, right?"

    "Nope . "

    "Not at all . "

    Both girls shook their head and looked at Tong with their puppy eyes .

    Tong slightly shook his head as he knew that they lied .

    *RUMBLE*

    *CRACK*

    The sound of an earthquake and the shattering ss sounds alerted the trio . Tong and his wives looked at the sky by instinct and saw the cracking sky .

    The shocking sight made them lost their words as they could notprehend the situation .

    The servants, the maids, and the guards in the courtyard also saw the apocalyptic phenomenon . They screamed in ran around in a panic .

    As the rumble sounds continued, a strange sensation hit them . The ground also shook as if there was a magnitude-6-earthquake . The three lost their bnce and copsed on the ground .

    "Sunday!" Tong shouted in a panic . He thought that there was another nerf which could harm all otherworlders again, and it could potentially harm the baby .

    "I¡¯m fine! I just feel like I can¡¯t get my bnce . "

    "It feels like the gravity center of the world is in chaos . Just grab on a tree or a building," Friday also panicked .

    The rumblested for only less than a minute before the cracks disappeared . The three husband and wives regained their center of bnce again .

    They stood up and watched each other in confusion .

    "Check your skills," Friday suggested .

    Hua Shi and Tong opened their status menu . As their eyes moved to the skill section, they cried in shock .

    "They¡¯re gone!"

    "It¡¯s empty!"

    Both Hua Shi and Tong¡¯s skills had disappeared from the system menu . Tong still had a couple of skills rted to his demonic power .

    Tong gritted his teeth and shouted, "[Time Stop]!"

    The skill did not activate .

    Friday frowned . Although she did not have a system skill, she could guess about what had happened to them . She also tested her ability as a devil-contractor .

    "[Lust]!"

    Friday summoned her borrowed spirit and Tong¡¯s [Lust] appeared .

    "Our demonic skill are still working . Tong, try using yours . "

    Tong nodded, "[Sloth]!"

    The spirit of the elderly man in a police uniform appeared . Tong could still activate his demon ability .

    Meanwhile, Hua Shi looked at both of them with teary eyes .

    "System! What happened to us!" Hua Shi called the system goddess as she wanted her exnation .

    s, Lilith did not answer their call . She was not in this dimension anymore .

    They waited for a few minutes for the system announcement, but nothing happened .

    Hua Shi cried, "I¡¯m the only one without a skill . Tong, make that devil contract with me too . Give me that spirit! I¡¯m nothing but a powerless delicate adorable pretty girl now . Give me something to protect myself!"

    "Those [Delicate Adorable Pretty] prefixes are irrelevant . The proper words should be [Shameless Slutty Tarnished]" Retorted Friday .

    Tong also had a headache by his wife¡¯s demand, "Then, what will I use when I out on the battlefield?"

    Friday chuckled, "Simple, awake a new [Sin] and get a new one . You should give it to her for now for her self-protection . She will return your soul in the next 18 or 19 years once she bes a demon like us . "

    "You sound like it¡¯s easy! Don¡¯t you know how hard it is to get another one?"

    .

    The three continued to bicker as they tried to adapt to the changes . They attempted to call for the system goddess for the exnation or an update announcement . To their dismay, Lilith did not answer their call .

    In the end, Tong decided to form another devil contract with Hua Shi with a simr condition like Friday . For the sake of her safety, Tong had to sacrifice his [Stando Powah] dream .

    However, there was a difference in her wish .

    "I can make one wish?" Hua Shi asked .

    "Yes, but make sure it¡¯s a realistic one and not something absurd . Unrealistic wishes will give Tong a lot of burdens," Exined Friday .

    "What will happen to the baby once the contract was formed?"

    "Depends on your wish . If you do something stupid like you want a body of a superwoman, the baby will definitely die from the changes . "

    Hearing Friday¡¯s exnation, Tong frowned, "Maybe we should form this contract after you give birth to her first? Don¡¯t be too hasty, okay?"

    Hua Shi smiled, "Don¡¯t worry . I have a wish that won¡¯t harm the baby . Instead, it will help her . "

    Hesitated, Tong bit his lower lips and sent his [Sloth] to Hua Shi . The old police spirit floated forward and entered her body .

    As soon as the soul into her body, and she imagined her wish .

 Chapter 220

    Chapter 220

    Chapter 220 ¨C Lilim¡¯s Announcement

    Tong closed his eyes, and a lucid dream appeared in front of him . He could see the peaceful environment and the wish of Hua Shi .

    It was a picture of a mother and her daughter,ughing and dancing together in a flower garden .

    "Sunday, you ..." A bitter smile appeared on Tong face as he realized what she wished for . He was speechless and moved by her motherly love .

    "You didn¡¯t want my power for yourself, but you want it for our child . You are ... really . "

    Tong concentrated and adjusted the lifespanpensation and the power-scale . Just like what he made with Friday, Tong set the lifespan upkeep to the lowest, one lifespan per year, and the given power to 100 percent .

    The devil contract had been finalized, and [Sloth] merged with Hua Shi¡¯s body . Her skin glowed as if it was covered by a ck light .

    A barrier appeared around Hua Shi .

    Friday looked at the barrier in curiosity, "What did you wish?"

    "Hehe! Domain, expand!"

    Hua Shi tried to use her power for the first time, and the ck light barrier enveloped everyone in Tong¡¯s courtyard .

    The servants and bodyguards were panics as they did not know what the glowing dome was, but Tong and Hua Shi watched it with a smile .

    "This is your [Domain], huh?" Tong muttered .

    Friday snapped her fingers as she figured what Hua Shi had wished, "An absolute domain for you and your child! Am I correct?"

    Hua Shi nodded, "Yup! As long as I¡¯m alive, I can create a domain that can protect my family and allies . Also, I can eject or bar all hostiles with the barrier!"

    "Smart, but I think it gives Tong a lot of burdens if you continue using it for a long time . "

    The face of Tong twitched as he felt something was draining his power . He opened his menu to recheck his status .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 216,120 Years

    *******************************

    ...

    The previous battles gave him plenty of lifespans from his [Sword Mastery] . Tong even had lost count of the soldiers he had ughtered in the Battle of Liyang .

    For each kill by throwing the hot oil from his inventory or the direct killing using his melee weapons, the skill stole lifespans from the ughtered targets .

    Thus, he regained a sizable amount of lifespans back . Besides, the reward from his soulmate quest had not finalized yet, so Tong expected that he should get more .

    *BEEP*

    ... 216,119 ...

    *BEEP*

    ... 216,118 ...

    His lifespan ticked down each minute that the domain deployed .

    "Sunday, disable it for now . I¡¯m losing lifespans," Spoke Tong, who was sweating as he feared that Hua Shi might abuse it and ruin him in the future .

    Hua Shi disabled it and looked at the two with a proud smile, "See? I¡¯m now useful, right?"

    Friday smacked the back of Hua Shi¡¯s head, "Useful your sister! Don¡¯t use it recklessly . It¡¯s taking a toll on the master of the soul . Only use it in the emergency or Tong will die from the lifespan shortage!"

    Tong sighed . Seeing his happy wives, he was satisfied even though every skill of his was mysteriously wiped .

    "System, any updating announcement?" Tong tried to talk to the system goddess again .

    Like the previous attempts, no one answered his call .

    Not .

    ...

    *DING*

    [Attention please, attention please!]

    [This is your new system administrator . My name is Lilim . I¡¯m taking over the universe system as of today . ]

    [All of you should notice the sudden earthquake and the sky shattering . There is nothing to worry about . I¡¯ve taken everything under my control . ]

    [However, there is a pressing issue at hand that involves all sinners in this world, which resulted in your skill disappearing . The powers that you, one hundred sinners have created, have caused the instability of this dimension . Those skills of yours give this dimension too many burdens that it is on the verge of copsing, FYI! As long as the skills exist, the crack and the earthquake will happen again in the future . ]

    [I¡¯ve managed to suppress it for now . But I¡¯m afraid that in the next ten to twenty years, it will happen again . To prevent this incident, I have to be cruel to you . ]

    [First, all of your skills will be disabled as of today! When I said "Disable", it meant "Disable", not deleted! However, I¡¯ll allow you to salvage back a couple of your skills in exchange for your hard work . ]

    [To get your skill back, you will have to donate 100,000 of your lifespans to the [Central Pool], and I will return one of your skills . You should be able to see the [Donate] tab in the system menu now . You can ess it from there . ]

    [I did not want to sabotage your lifestyle or anything, but I need those lifespans for maintaining this universe . Even a year of lifespan matters! I can easily kill all of you anytime to take your lifespans back, but as a neutral admin, I won¡¯t do it . You should be grateful!]

    [The skill that I will give you back will not be a system skill anymore, but a permanent skill that embedded into your soul . So once you reincarnate into a new life, that skill will go with you . Then, I won¡¯t be able to interfere or meddle with your ability ever again! However, it will be your soul that will bear the burdens of the skills . You soul might shatter if you possess too many skills, so don¡¯t be greedy!]

    [It¡¯s a bargain trade that I can give it to you for a limited time in this life of yours, just saying . ]

    [Even if you don¡¯t have enough lifespans, you can gather some by forming or joining a n to get the annual rewards . You can also drain life essence from the nature if you happen to awaken your wings . ]

    [Second change, I will randomly give you a mission if by chance you got your one or more of your skills back . However, I will not provide any quest or a task to anyone who doesn¡¯t have a system skill so he or she could live in this world in peace . ]

    [This will be your choice . You can choose to abandon all of your previous skills and live like ordinary natives in this world with your increased lifespans, or you can still get your cheats back . If you choose thetter, there will be a bit of risk because I will continuously give you tasks to perform . ]

    [The third change will happen in the next ten to twenty years . It¡¯s regarding the wings I mentioned earlier, but I¡¯ll tell you if you survive until then . ]

    [Thest one, I¡¯ve adjusted a bit of your n donation taxes . I think the rate of "Ten years donation to get one year in the allocation pool" is a bit unfair and nobody has used it so far . I¡¯ve reduced it from 10-1 to two to one . For every two lifespans you donate, you get one lifespan in the n pool . Well, I need those lifespan taxes to reinforce this dimension, so you¡¯d better notin . ]

    [That¡¯s all the announcement for now . GLHF!]

    ...

    Friday, Hua Shi, and Tong read the announcement messages with an astonished look on their faces . The change in the system also changed the rules and their lifestyle .

    "System! This is bullshit! This is a ransom! Give us back our skills!" Hua Shi protested .

    [To begin with, the skills aren¡¯t even yours . You have no right toin . ]

    The reply from Lilim hit them at the sore spot . They were all system¡¯s skills which were bestowed on them when they reincarnated here . It had been so long to the point that they took it for granted that the skills were parts of their properties .

    Tong looked at the system menu while he was gritting his teeth . These system administrators kept changing their rules every year as they nerfed or buffed without caring about their opinion .

    Losing all his skills was a serious issue to Tong since he still relied on his [Create Food] to maintain Julu¡¯s economy . He had to regain it back .

    Without hesitation, Tong pushed the donate button in his menu and added 100,000 lifespans into the [Central Pool] .

    <ding>>

    <you have="" obtained="" [time="" stop]="" lv . 2="">>

    "I can¡¯t choose my skill?" Tong was shocked .

    "What? Did you just try to get your skill back?" Hua Shi asked .

    "Yes . But it seems the system will give us back our skill randomly . I wanted my [Create Food] back, but I just get [Time Stop] instead . "

    "You have another try . You can try it again . "

    "Yeah . "

    Tong tried to insert another 100,000 lifespans into the [Donate] menu .

    <ding>>

    <you have="" obtained="" [firearm="" creation]="" lv . 1="">>

    Tong scratched his head . A wry smile appeared on his face as he reported his gain .

    "It¡¯s not [Create Food] again . It¡¯s my [Firearm Creation] . "

    Friday rubbed her chin . He opened her n menu and donated 200,000 of her lifespans into the pool, and the n lifespan asset increased by 100,000 .

    "Allocate the n lifespan to yourself and try again . I still have another 1,300,000 lifespans unused, so you should random it until you get it back . " Friday spoke .

    "Oh, you should get that [Immortal Yang Vein] skill back, too! We need to duel-cultivate again!" Hua Shi supported .

    A smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face as he appreciated what the girls did for him . He allocated his lifespans from the n pool to himself and donated them to the system again .

    <bzz>>

    <we¡¯re sorry . ="" you="" can="" only="" regain="" two="" skills="" a="" year="">>

    Tong almost shouted in frustration . He groaned as his face reddened from anger .

    It took Tong another minute to settle his emotion, taking deep breaths .

    The five skills that Tong had yet to obtain back were [Create Food], [Radar Map], [Inventory], [Immortal Yang Vein], and [Sword Mastery] .

    His [Demonic Curse], [Demonic Seal], and [Weak Demonic Body] were not deleted by Lilim as they were skills which merged with Tong¡¯s soul .

    In the worst case scenario, if Tong were unlucky, he could be able to obtain his [Create Food] back within three years as Tong only had five system skills to get back .

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "We can only get back two skills a year, I can¡¯t get another skill," Tong paused, "It seems we might have to rely on Feihong¡¯s farm if I don¡¯t get my [Create Food] next year . "

    The face of everyone grimed . Without the [Create Food], they would also lose their favorite meals that Tong used to create for them .

    The city food and spice supplies also relied heavily on Tong¡¯s skill . If Tong could not get [Create Food] back, the economic power of Julu would face a crisis .

    "Sunday, try to get your [Inventory] back . "

    Hearing Tong¡¯s suggestion, Hua Shi¡¯s face turned pale . She had stored 2 . 5 million gold and back up supplies in her [Inventory], and she was not confident that everything would remain in there even if she could get the skill back .

    . . .

    At the end of the day, Hua Shi got lucky and got her [Inventory] back with one try . To their delight, all gold and other supplies, such as back up food and spice, were still there .

    In her storage, they still had enough food and gold for a year and a half, which should be enough .

    Hua Shi also borrowed Friday¡¯s lifespans and regained her [Homing Arrow] back .

    The three contacted Li Feihong about the issue, but they worried about him for nothing .

    Li Feihong only had two skills, so Friday spent another 400,000 years to get his [Private Farm World] and [Self-Resurrection] back .

    Friday also gifted Feihong 100,000 lifespans to extend his life and for the payment of his service . Ding Yuan, Zhang Jiao, and his two brothers also got 1,000 years each so they could stay around for a few centuries .

    With all of the allocation, Friday alone spent 900,000 lifespans either by giving it to the n asset or herrades . There was still 42,000 lifespans in the n bank to spare .

    "Friday, you don¡¯t feel pity for your lifespans at all?" Hua Shi asked . She knew that Friday spent half of her lifespans for the n, but the girl herself did not show any sign of worry at all .

    "Why? I can get them back any time I want to . I¡¯m sure Liu Yan and Yuan Shao will try to invade us in spring next year . I can drain their men¡¯s life essence, and I¡¯ll be above a million again . Also, it¡¯s about time I teach all of you about devils and our wing power . "</we¡¯re></bzz></you></ding></you></ding>

 Chapter 221

    Chapter 221: 221

    Chapter 221 ¨C A Cultivator¡¯s Dream

    November 30th .

    At the city of Ganling, Sun Jian had sent his decree that they would dispatch their troops and attack Julu in spring . Even though they heard about the Imperial Army¡¯s defeat at Liyang City, Sun Jian still insisted that they had to help the Emperor in this crusade .

    As the army was in the preparation phrase, Sun Fang and Li Jing were sitting face to face in their courtyard . Their faces were as pale as a white sheet .

    Li Jing returned to Ganling as Sun Fang had summoned her . They had many pressing matters which required her wisdom .

    In these past months, Julu Army and Tong had caught them off guard by force marching and upying Ye City under their noses . Furthermore, Tong even captured Liyang City and repelled back the Imperial troops before they could even react .

    Their intelligence agents also sent back a piece of rough news about the movements in Shangdang and Jinyang . It appeared that there was another battle in the areas, but their eyes and ears could not reach that far as it was beyond their influence .

    Then,st month, they managed to grasp the result of the war as they received a notification from the system .

    Their soulmate quest had beenpleted!

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Soulmate Mission**

    Clear Condition: Dethrone Liu Ping or kill Zhang Jiao .

    Failure Condition: Time limit exceeded .

    Clearing Reward:

    - 10 Shopping Tickets forpleting the primary objective .

    - 1,000,000 Lifespans for killing Zhang Tong, Hua Shi, Wang Li, or Liu Ping .

    - 100,000 Lifespans for killing Zhang Jiao .

    - 20,000 Lifespans for killing an enemy general .

    - 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier .

    Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Mission Failure: Soulmate Contract will be nullified and one of you will die .

    *********************************************

    ...

    It meant two possibilities from thepletion of the quest . Either Liu Ping or Zhang Jiao had died from the battle .

    Li Jing had confirmed the news with Sun Jian¡¯s spies . It was not hard to figure that Liu Ping had died as Zhang Jiao was still alive in Julu .

    Instead of being happy about thepleted mission, they were angered by it as they could only get the useless shopping tickets as their rewards . Because they had not killed a single soldier after the quest had started, so there was no lifespan reward for both of them .

    Today, another disaster struck them as the system suddenly wiped their skills .

    The announcement from the system also followed after that, which was the reason for Li Jing¡¯s pale faces .

    She did not have enough lifespans to buy back her skills!

    In addition, she had too many skills before the wipe . The feeling of her losses destroyed Li Jing¡¯s morale and psych to the point that she could not regain their senses for hours .

    "I should have known ... I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! DAMN IT, SYSTEM!!" Screamed Sun Fang .

    Li Jing, on the other hand, was holding her head as if she had a headache . She had precisely a dozen skills in her arsenal, which was enough to destroy an army of a thousand men by herself even after the major nerf . Li Jing felt like she had lost everything .

    She stared at the number of survivors . The number in the system menu, which used to be [10] after Liu Ping¡¯s death, was now [3:7] . It was changed to [0:10] after the announcement, but the number flipped after a few minutes .

    Li Jing did not like what she saw as she thought that it had a hidden meaning behind the number .

    It did not take long that the number changed again . It was now [5:5] .

    She lost her patience and questioned the system, "What is the number in the remaining survivor box? Why is it disying like this?"

    [It indicated the number of sinners with one or more skills and the sinners without a cheat skill . ]

    Li Jing clenched her fists . She understood now that she and Sun Fang had fallen behind the other reincarnators . In terms of faction, they lost to Tong and his Yellow Turban . In terms of personalbat prowess and lifespans, she was not the top of the food chain .

    The sense of crisis loomed over her, yet Li Jing did not give up .

    "What can I do to increase my lifespans? Can I ept a mission or a soulmate mission without a skill?"

    [No . ]

    A simple answer from Lilim shattered Li Jing¡¯s hope .

    [But I see that you are desperate . I can give you a mission if you want to . In exchange, I will cancel your soulmate contract permanently, and you won¡¯t be able to reform it . Will you ept it?]

    "I ept!" Unhesitating girl as she was, Li Jing answered without waiting for Sun Fang¡¯s approval .

    Meanwhile, the other party watched his wife reneged their contract with a shocked expression .

    "Wifey?"

    He was busy checking his status when Li Jing decided to cancel their soulmate contract .

    "Sorry, Fang . It¡¯s for our future . "

    <ding>>

    <your soulmate="" contract="" has="" been="" annulled="">>

    <because it="" was="" annulled="" by="" the="" administrator,="" you="" won¡¯t="" receive="" a="" punishment="">>

    [Here is your mission . Thread carefully from now on . ]

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Main Mission No . 20**

    Clear Condition: Kill one otherworlder .

    Failure Condition: Time Limit exceeded .

    Clearing Reward: Regain one of your lost skills randomly .

    Mission Failure: You will die .

    Time Limit: End of December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Tips: You can either use assassins or subordinates to kill an otherworlder for you .

    *********************************************

    ...

    Li Jing received her mission with a grim look . She did not have any skill, but she had to kill an otherworlder which was impossible for her .

    "Wifey? What did you do?"

    After hearing her husband¡¯s voice, a temptation stimted her decision . An inspiration appeared in her mind as she nced at her husband-in-name .

    "Fang, do you have enough lifespans to buy back a skill?"

    "Err, no? Why do you ask?"

    "Nothing . Just asking . Say, can I sleep together with you tonight? I feel bad for marrying you, and we haven¡¯t done anything yet . "

    "... Okay?"

    Receiving Sun Fang¡¯s doubtful confirmation, Li Jing left him alone in the courtyard as she went to prepare herself .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Sun Fang, however, did not look joyous or happy on this asion . On the contrary, he frowned as he watched the leaving woman .

    In the system menu, he had bought back his skill .

    ...

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Sun Fang

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 1,337,213 Years

    Shopping Pass: 10

    *Skill List*

    [Cultivator] LV . 5 (2,103,191/16,000,000)

    - The host can absorb life essence from environments and the surroundings .

    - The host can absorb life essence from materials .

    - The host can absorb life essence from living beings .

    - All absorbed life essence will be converted into lifespans or EXP of this skill .

    - All attributes of the host are multiplied by 30 .

    - The active skill [Self-Heal], [Qi st], [Flight], [Clone], [Qi Shield] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    Skill Cost: None

    Skill Upkeep: 5,000 Lifespans

    Skill Restriction:

    - The host has to sit cross-legs and meditate to cultivate .

    *******************************

    ...

    Sun Fang had more than enough lifespans to share with Li Jing . Although he shouted in frustration, he epted his fate and bought back his primary skill, which contained other attached skills he needed .

    This [Cultivator] skill was his lifeline . It could absorb the life essence of nature to increase either his lifespans or his skill EXP, which he diligently cultivated it in his free times .

    A pity that before he could utter a word, Li Jing decided everything by herself without consulting him .

    He wanted to protest and reform the soulmate contract with her again, yet he decided not to as he detected something from her .

    A killing intent!

    For some reason, Li Jing locked her killing intent on him .

    In a reflex, when she asked him if he had gotten a skill back, he replied her with a "No . "

    Sun Fang had probed her as he did not trust her at this moment .

    Then she suddenly said she wanted to bed with him despite the fact that she had never slept with him even once in the past year .

    Even a school grader could tell that something smelled fishy! It was so apparent that she nned to betray him at night!

    Sun Fang shook his head in disappointment .

    "Females are men¡¯s downfall . From today¡¯s onward, I shall concentrate on the cultivation and forget about my worldly desire . I shall pursue the immortality and ignore all worldly matters . This conflict and civil war don¡¯t matter to me anymore . "

    <ding>>

    <you have="" been="" assigned="" a="" mission="" as="" you="" possessed="" a="" skill="">>

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Main Mission No . 20**

    Since you have a skill, living free is no longer an option for you . You will work for me as long as you are using the skills .

    Clear Condition: Join Sun Jian in his campaign against the Yellow Turban .

    Failure Condition: You did not participate in this campaign .

    Clearing Reward: 10,000 years of lifespans .

    Mission Failure: You will die .

    *********************************************

    ...

    A bitter smile appeared on Sun Fang¡¯s face . Had he chosen not to buy back his skill, Li Jing probably would have killed him tonight . Since he had decided to regain his essential ability, he became a ve to the system .

    No matter what choice he picked, the immortality goal with his [Cultivator] skill in this life was impossible .

    Sun Fang closed his eyes and muttered, "Should I justmit suicide right now? Everything is as hopeless as it is . My wife somehow wanted to kill me, and the system also wanted to enve me . What¡¯s the point of living when I knew I¡¯m going back to Hell after I died?"

    "You are be hasty, youngster . "

    A voice stopped Sun Fang thought .

    Sun Fang stopped his thought and looked at the source of the voice . An old man in a Daoist robe was behind him .

    Zuo Ci was doing his job, spreading his blood to the local cities in the northern regions . He identally heard Sun Fang¡¯sined and decided to encourage this young man .

    "Who?"

    "As your senior cultivator, I suggest you not giving up on yourself and your goal . True that you will be ordered around by the system for a while, but I guarantee you this . In the next 20 years, there will be a massive change in this world again . That time will be your chance to break free from the system . Do not give up until then!"

    Done with his advice, Zuo Ci flew away to another town, leaving the confused Sun Fang behind .

    When Sun Fang came back to his sense, his gloomy thought had dissolved from his mind .

    "There¡¯s really a cultivator in this world ..."

    A new hope grew in his heart . Sun Fang clenched his fists . His dream was still possible as a cultivator existed . If that old man could speak in such a tone, then there might be a way for him to live free in the future .

    Sun Fang took a deep breath to focus his mind .

    "First, I have to solve a problem one at a time . Wifey, please don¡¯t disappoint me . "</you></ding></because></your></ding>

 Chapter 222

    Chapter 222: 222

    That night .

    "Fang, I¡¯m here . "

    Li Jing visited Sun Fang¡¯s room in the middle of the night . She wore a thin nightgown as if she wanted to make herself prettiest today .

    Unfortunately, she was not here to seduce her husband into the night activity . She wanted to kill him to get her skill back .

    In her cloth behind her back, she hid a knife there, preparing to use it on Sun Fang .

    For the sake of her absolute power and a dominant role in an army, she required the system skills .

    "Come in . "

    Sun Fang watched her with sympathy as he knew full well that she was not here for sex . Contrary to her previous insight and intelligence, she broke down after a setback .

    "Listen, wifey . You don¡¯t have to force yourself . You can go back for today, and I¡¯ll pretend that you were never here tonight, okay?"

    He attempted to give Li Jing a chance to redeem herself without exposing her real goal . Though their rtionship was forced, he still loved her and wanted to be husband-and-wife for real .

    Li Jing shook her head . Her facial expression was serious, yet her eyes were already dimmed as she abandoned everything for this task . She slowly stripped her upper clothes, revealing her bosoms and her smooth skins .

    Unlike his rowdy nature and his somewhat dumb demeanor, Sun Fang did not get turn on by Li Jing¡¯s strip tease . Instead, he felt a sharp pain in his heart .

    Everyone would have felt it if a man¡¯s secret-crush wanted to betray him .

    Sun Fang did not give up . He gave yet another chance to Li Jing, "Wifey . If there¡¯s a problem, we can talk it out . "

    Li Jing paused, and her eyes flickered for a second . She bit her lower lips and stared at Sun Fang with a frown .

    "Will you give me your lifespans if I tell you?" She asked in a sarcastic tone .

    "I will . Only if you drop your knife and forget about your entire n . "

    A wry smile appeared on Sun Fang¡¯s face as he decided to be frank with her after the failed attempts . This was herst chance . If Li Jing insisted on killing him, he would have to take a drastic measure against her .

    Li Jing was taken aback . Her dimmed eyes regain the light, and her brain restored its function . The dumbfounded girl stood in confusion for five minutes before she groaned .

    "DAHHHHH! What a blunder!" She screamed while she held her forehead with both hands .

    "Have you regained your sense?"

    "Yeah, somewhat . "

    Li Jing drew her hidden knife from her waist and threw it away, abandoning all her sinister ns . She sat on the bed by the side of Sun Fang without bothering hiding her bare chests .

    "I was narrow-minded," She confessed, "I even forgot that you can get lifespans from cultivation . "

    "Yup, wifey . You need to pay more attention to others . If you keep thinking about yourself first, this is what happened to you . "

    While consoling his wife, Sun Fang breathed a sigh of relief as he did not have to kill his love . It would have been a disaster had she lost her reasons earlier .

    "The system said the n tax reduces from 10:1 into 2:1 . I¡¯ll transfer my lifespans to you so you can get your skill back . "

    "I had 12 skills back then after the nerf . I want all of them back . "

    "Don¡¯t be greedy, wifey . Reread the log message from the system . It clearly said that your soul will bear some burdens if you have too many skills . Say, why did you want to kill me?"

    Li Jing gave her husband a bitter smile, "It was a mission from the system . It wants me to kill one otherworlder . "

    The wife-in-name exined the content of her mission to Sun Fang, who grinned at her .

    "You can¡¯t call me a muscle brain anymore, wifey . Check the deadline! It¡¯s freaking years away! We can search for an otherworlder easily with my father¡¯s spies, you know?"

    "Yeah, that¡¯s why I cried that it was my blunder . "

    "So, can you cancel it?"

    Li Jing shook her head, "No . It stays until it¡¯spleted or failed . "

    "Shame . Well, I¡¯ve put my lifespans in the n pool . Let¡¯s get some of your skills back . "

    ...

    Li Jing ended up taking 300,000 lifespans from the pool while Sun Fang donated 600,000 years . Just like what happened to Tong and the others, Li Jing could only get two skills back .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Li Jing

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 123,442 Years

    Shopping Pass: 10

    *Skill List*

    [Time and Space Law] LV . 2

    - The host can slow down or elerate the time flows .

    Skill Cost: 100 Lifespan per one second . Maximum of 100 seconds .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - The current range is 150 meters radius .

    - Can be used once a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Shadow Teleportation] LV . 3

    - The host can teleport 20 people of your choice or 20 tons of material objects .

    Skill Cost: 100 Lifespans peruse .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - The host can only teleport to a ce where there is an ally .

    - Can be used once a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    *******************************

    She wanted her life-saving skill [Vampirism] back, but she still satisfied with her two skills .

    "I¡¯ll return you lifespans backter," Muttered the ashamed girl .

    "Actually, you can repay me back taking my virginity . I was a virgin in my previous life, so let me get rid of my v-card ... please? My virgin yang energy is overflowing, so you might breakthrough your bottleneck?"

    Li Jing cringed and peered at her pervert-husband-in-name with the corner of her eyes . Then, sheughed after she remembered that she was not omnipotent like the past anymore . She was more like a gold digger to him now .

    Furthermore, he forgave all of her mistakes and helped her getting her precious skills back . In her eyes, he was cuter than thest year .

    "Okay, but be warned though . I¡¯ve never had sex with a man in my previous life . I was into women . "

    ...

    ...

    Two hourster, both husband and wife lied naked on the bed, panting after the intense activity . As their first time, they were clumsy, but they got better in the second hour .

    Sun Fang was smiling from ear to ear as his long dream had been realized . The flustered facial expression could be seen on Li Jing¡¯s face as she tasted a man for the first time in two lives . Her face was as reddened as a tomato .

    She was conquered .

    Li Jing thought of her experience in her previous life and her former lover, a one-sided love .

    ¡¯Screw you, Sunday . Screw you for rejecting me! A hundred curses to you for killing me! I have my man now . I hope you rot alone in Hell alone forever!¡¯ Li Jing thought .

    "Say wifey, can you tell me about your previous life? You said you interested in women, but how did you end up in Hell before you came here?"

    Li Jing flipped her body and snuggled on his chest, "Will you hate me if I said I was a cannibal?"

    Sun Fang was taken aback, but he shook his head .

    "Nope! I¡¯m officially your husband now, so why should I hate you?"

    She smiled and began narrating her past .

    ...

    ...

    Her previous life was a bit unique . She grew up alone without a parent in a slum in a third world country . Because of theck of food, she ate anything that she could find on the street, including rats and rotten leftover food .

    A charity organization took her in and transferred to an orphanage . There, she was raised like an average child like the others .

    However, she could not get rid of the behavior of her glutton . As the poverty life experienced had taught her, she ate everything she could, including leftover in garbage bins .

    One day, when she was in her teens, a fellow orphan turned rogue and murdered his friend . He chopped the body and hid pieces of the corpse in a dumpster to hide his crime .

    s, Li Jing found the dead body but mistook it as a chunk of raw meat . She ate a part of it before she recognized that it was human¡¯s fresh . Instead of screaming in a panic, she continued eating it as if she had a luxurious feast .

    The murderer boy was arrestedter, but Li Jing was left untouched by the police . She continued pursuing her education as she had nned and pretended that the man-eating incident had never happened .

    Twenty yearster, she seeded in getting her license and the degree as a surgeon in a private hospital . At that ce, she met her first love, a nurse .

    Her name was Sunday .

    Sunday was the prettiest girl in the nurse division, who always smiled andughed like a cheerful innocent teenage girl within the stressful hospital .

    Li Jing fell in love with Sunday, and she attempted to pursue her .

    But .

    "I¡¯m sorry . I¡¯m not interested in women . I¡¯m fine with us being friends, but that kind of rtionship is a bit ..."

    Sunday rejected Li Jing .

    Li Jing understood it, but she did not abandon her feeling toward the nurse .

    A few weeks after the confession, an earthquake destroyed the hospital where both girls were working inside . The building copsed on the residual workers and patients, killing over hundreds of people . Both Li Jing, Sunday, and the other hospital workers were lucky and unlucky . They survived but were trapped under the copsed building .

    They could not get out of the ce as the building crumbled over them .

    At first, they thought that the rescuers woulde soon, so they waited in patience .

    Two days passed, nobody hade to rescue them . The food and water they secured had run out . Everyone also feared that the oxygen in the space would run out as well .

    While the survivors despaired, Li Jing resorted an unthinkable way to survive .

    She started killing the nearby survivors and ate it like a zombie!

    Everyone looked at her as if they saw a monster, after which they tried to stop her . As a former scavenger in a slum, Li Jing had a fundamental skill of survival and brawl experiences . She ughtered all trapped workers inside in the copsed space but left one person alive, Sunday .

    The surviving nurse, however, gazed at her ex-pursuer in fright . She trembled in a corner when the ughtering happened .

    Li Jing handed over a slice of cut meat to Sunday, hoping to extend her limited life in this trapped space .

    Sunday refused and ignored all help from Li Jing for a week . During the week, Sunday only drank dripping water from the ceiling to maintain her life, but she got weaker each day as she had not eaten anything for a week .

    Li Jing¡¯s condition also got worse as time passed . She had a sign of infection from eating raw human flesh, but she was a bit healthier than Sunday .

    At the fifteenth-day, Li Jing forcefully fed Sunday a piece of human¡¯s meat to save her life .

    Without an ability to resist, Sunday reluctantly ate it .

    From that day on, things changed . Sunday did not resist and epted the preserved human¡¯s meat from Li Jing . Their rtionship got better than before .

    It was the 20th day that the two girls finally heard a sound from above . The rescuers had arrived!

    In joy, Sunday shouted, hoping to get noticed by the rescuers . She hoped to get herself out of this hell hole .

    At thest moment, before the rescuers had found them, Li Jing took a piece of ss and attacked Sunday . She thought that Sunday would leave her again after they had been rescued .

    However, she failed as Sunday also stabbed her with a knife of her own .

    Before Li Jing¡¯s world turned into darkness for the first time, she heard Sunday¡¯s parting voice .

    "A psychopath murderer like you doesn¡¯t deserve freedom!"

    After her death, her soul was transferred to Hell without an investigation as the angel in charge deemed that killing humans for food is a sin .

    In Hell, there was not a day that Li Jing cursed Sunday for her betrayal . She also prayed that Sunday would also suffer a simr fate as hers .

    Yearster, she found herself here in this world, having a second chance .

    ...

    "Do you like it?" Li Jing teased her husband .

    "You are in the wrong, but I still love you," Spoke Sun Fang as he kissed her forehead, "Don¡¯t eat humans in this life though . I don¡¯t want my girl to turn into a zombie . "

    "I¡¯ve told you past . Now it¡¯s your turn . "

    "Well, nothing to brag about because I died early . I worked for a mafia boss as a bodyguard . It¡¯s a short career, but it¡¯s memorable though . You see, my godfather¡¯s name is simr to our target Emperor . "

    Sun Fang paused .

    "His name was Ping, I believed . And during my days in my job protecting the guy, I¡¯ve killed an idiot cop in a gunfight . "

 Chapter 223

    Chapter 223

    Chapter 223 ¨C Infighting

    Back in time .

    October 29th .

    Henei Commandery City .

    Dong Zhuo Army returned to Henei City with his 100,000 troops . They were expecting a warm wee from the citizens and the officials as they were part of the Imperial Army .

    However .

    "Begone, traitors!"

    "Thieves!"

    "Assholes!"

    As they entered the city and marching along the main road, the townspeople cursed at Dong Zhuo and his soldiers, which angered them .

    "What the fOOk! I¡¯m fighting for you lots, and you dare to curse me!?" Screamed Dong Zhuo .

    Li Ru also frowned . He had received his scout reports that there was a squad pretending to be one of their soldiers ransacking the nobles and the government treasuries .

    This group of imposters left the city after a day, which never reappeared again .

    "My lord, I¡¯m afraid that we have been scammed," Li Ru reported to Dong Zhuo .

    "What!? Who dares scamming me!?"

    "I believe it was Zhang Tong¡¯s disguised unit that slipped through the mountain valley a weeks ago . ording to our investigation, they visited this city before they left for Shangdang . "

    Hearing that he had been yed, the face of Dong Zhuo reddened, and his breath became rough . He drew his sword and threw it into the protesting crowd, killing an innocent onlooker .

    The peasants, who had been busy spitting and cursing at Dong Zhuo, were shocked by the sudden action of this Prime Minister . They screamed and dispersed in a chaotic manner, thinking that the soldiers would kill them .

    "sphemy! This is the unfilial act! Li Ru, do not send reinforcement to Shangdang! From this point on, Zhang Tong and I are through! We are not father and son-inw!"

    Dong Zhuo knew that the disguised force was from Tong Army . As a result of his thinking, he believed that Tong had plotted against him .

    Li Ru bowed, "Understood . I shall ry your decree to the others . But, my lord, we still have to appease the city before we move to Luo Yang . I need your permission to take over the domestic affair of this city . "

    "No need! We will not waste our precious time with these peasants! Soldiers, arrest all fools that disgraced us! You have the permission to kill and loot! If you find any beautiful girl, tribute them all to me, and I¡¯ll reward you!"

    Like a devil incarnated, Dong Zhuo disregarded the domestic stability of Henei City and gave a pige order .

    Instead of disapproving their Lord¡¯s decree, the soldiers smiled in glee . They rushed toward the town buildings, kicking open doors and started piging like bandits .

    The one hundred thousand soldiers were like an army of gue, killing, raping, and stealing everything they deemed worthy . Within an hour, the City of Henei turned into a city of Hell . ck smoke from the fire rose from buildings and screams could be heard everywhere .

    Numb by the actions of his lord, Li Ru stared at the carnage scene with an indifferent expression on his face .

    Furthermore,

    "Gather your loots to the treasuries! For those who contribute the most will be given a noble status and ves!"

    Without batting an eye, he also ordered a simr task, arousing his subordinates into more plundering .

    Li Ru watched the city while he was thinking, ¡¯Since we only need this city as a fortress to defend the north, civilians are unnecessary . We can turn all of them into ves and sell them at the western border for profits . ¡¯

    ¡¯Liu Ping is likely to die in the war . I should prepare the men to start building siege weapons in advance . ¡¯

    ¡¯Once we reach Luo Yang, we will take over the city and the Imperial Court by force!¡¯

    ...

    ...

    November 2nd, 182 A . D .

    The Capital City, Luo Yang .

    Wang Yun was standing in the throne room with his daughter, Diao Chan . In his hands was a golden scroll, which indicated that it was the edict of the Emperor .

    Wang Yun was reading the decree out loud to inform all ministers in the throne room .

    ...

    [I, Liu Ping, have considered the future of our dynasty . While I am trying to suppress the rebels and the Xiongnu, I overlooked an urgent matter of our country .

    My father has posted a high taxes on the merchants, nobles, and the peasants, which we have forgotten to adjust the new tax rate to suit our current economic power .

    This year, we were narrow-minded and too focused on the Xiongnu invasion, and we did not pay attention to theck of harvest before we even dispatched our troops .

    These two reasons are enough to shame me to death . It made me realized I am not apetence Emperor worthy to seed The Great Han Wudi .

    With me as the only sessor to the throne, I felt suffocated, and I have prayed to Heaven to give me an option to salvage our mistakes .

    Then, I saw a sign . During our travel to Jinyang, we saw an azure dragon on the night sky, watching us from above . It appeared before me and gave me a prophecy, saying that I am but a stepping stone for the new righteous Empress of our country .

    I was confused at first, but it came to me that there was a particr individual who showed exceptional talents at a young age . She is the adopted daughter of Wang Yun, called Diao Chan . The girl has been getting famous these days as her intelligence is not that something of a 6-year-old can possess .

    If she is this smart at this age, I believe she will be an extraordinary figure like the previous great Emperors . So I asked the dragon about her if my thought is correct, and it nodded in acknowledgment .

    The dragon also warned me with another prophecy . It was shocking and frustrating to the point that even my hands are shaking as I am writing this edict .

    It is likely that I will die in this war!

    To prepare for such a scenario if the prophecyes true, I am giving a decree in advance . If I were to die in this war, Diao Chan must seed the throne without fail! Even if I return, Diao Chan will still be the next Empress!

    Do not let other Liu n members take the throne or the country will be in chaos for another one hundred years!

    This is my will! I will leave everything to Wang Yun and Diao Chan from now on . Everybody must attend to them as you have listened to me .

    Signed ¨C Liu Ping]

    ...

    Everyone stared at Wang Yun in shock and disbelief . This decree was fishy in many ways .

    "ept the mandate of the Emperor!" Shouted Wang Yun .

    "Wait! I want to confirm the authenticity of the edict!" Liu Yu, the Minister of the Imperial Liu n, protested .

    This minister was also the true governor of Ganling Commandery City, southeast of Julu . He held two positions in the government at the same time .

    Because of his dual positions, he entrusted his governing duties to his subordinates and stationed himself in Luo Yang . Unfortunately, his city was raided and taken over by Zhang Yan and a mysterious sorcerer, and ultimately fell under the control of Sun Jian .

    Initially, he was a good and honest governor who cared about his city and his citizens . He had worked hard under Emperor Ling for years and never missed the annual tributes .

    Emperor Ling noticed his loyalty and his deeds . Thus, Liu Yu was rewarded with the position of the Minister of the Imperial Liu n .

    This position had a significant underlying as an unofficial candidate to the throne! Had the royal family lost all of their sessors, Liu Yu would have the right to im it as the head of the Liu n!

    He had already lost his influenced city, and he was about to lose the title as the Imperial n head . The throne was rightfully his if Liu Ping died so giving the throne to an outsider was uneptable to Liu Yu .

    Wang Yun peered at Liu Yu and snorted . The old fox revealed the content of the scroll to the public, showing the red stamp of the Imperial Seal .

    The seal was unique ancient characters which had a meaning; "ept the Mandate of the Heaven, May the Emperor Live a Prosperous and a Long Life . " These letters were carved into the jade seal which had been passed down since the foundation of the Qin Dynasty .

    These red characters could not be forged in this era as the only ones who knew about this ancient writing were the Emperors . Nomoner or nobles were allowed to practice writing these series of characters, or their entire family could be executed formitting treasons .

    "Do you question the authenticity of this seal!?" Roared Wang Yun .

    Liu Yu stared at the seal in shock . He had seen the seal many times before when he was serving the previous Emperor . He could not deny the red characters in the stamp .

    Gritting his teeth, Liu Yu stepped down and knelt, "May the Emperor live a long and prosperous life . "

    Wang Yun was ted . He darted his eyes around in the throne room to see if there was any other official who objected this decree . Everybody in the room had already knelt and epted the edict, but dissatisfaction still showed on their expression .

    "By order of the Emperor, Diao Chan will be crown as the Empress of Han! However, because we are at war with the Xiongnu, we shall postpone the coronation ceremony and all other rituals until we confirm the result of the war!"

    All officials bowed in acknowledgment, yet they nced around to check the others reaction . Some of them gritted their teeth, and some of them cursed Wang Yun in silent . Everybody did not like this kind of development as they thought that Wang Yun attempted to steal the throne .

    ...

    Later that day, Wang Yun returned with Diao Chan to her inner pce . His back soaked with sweat as it was nerve-wracking trying to suppress the nobles in the throne room .

    "You are doing great, father . " Medusa in Diao Chan¡¯s form calmed her foster father .

    "This will bring us a lot of troubles! Little girl, are you sure this is the decree of His Majesty?"

    "Yes . Do you think I¡¯m capable of writing such aplicate edict you read? Don¡¯t overestimate your daughter, father . "

    Wang Yun scratched his head in helplessness . He also did know anything about the dragon in the edict or how he returned to Luo Yang . For some reason, he miraculously arrived in Diao Chan¡¯s inner pce after meeting the monster in the forest .

    Though he was d that he was not captured by the Xiongnu, he still could not get rid of his fear toward the mysterious snake monster .

    "For now, let¡¯s wait for the news about the Emperor and sabotage the strength of Liu n . You should get close to their n supporters and make them turn against each other . That way, you can secure your political power . "

    Wang Yun gave Diao Chan a wry smile . He had been a loyal minister under Liu n for decades . Now, he had to fight against them in a political struggle as the supporter of the new Empress .

    "Little girl, what about Dong Zhuo? You said that his army is in Henei at the moment . I think he will return to Luo Yang soon . Do you have a n for them?"

    The infighting between ministers and Liu Yu had begun, but Wang Yun had not forgotten about the cruel Prime Minister, Dong Zhuo . He had heard about Dong Zhuo¡¯s retreat and his location from both his subordinates and Diao Chan . The returning of Dong Zhuo would cause manyplications in the Court again .

    Diao Chan nodded, "Yes . I¡¯ve made a pact with the monster that rescued you . She will help us fending off Dong Zhuo . Father doesn¡¯t have to worry about it . "

    "She rescued me?"

    "Yes . She¡¯s a servant of the dragon in the edict . Everything is real . "

    Wang Yun gulped . Even though he had been getting a bad vibe from this little girl, he could note up with another exnation of the recent events around him .

    Giving up thinking, Wang Yun patted his daughter¡¯s head .

    "I¡¯ll arrange more guards around you . I don¡¯t think that Liu Yu will give up because of an edict . He will send scouts and spies to confirm the status of His Majesty Ping, then he wille back to bite us soon . You should be careful . "

    "I know . He won¡¯t be able to do anything . "

    Diao Chan gave her father a bright smile . No matter what Dong Zhuo had prepared for them, she could destroy his army with a single snap of her fingers .

 Chapter 224

    Chapter 224

    Chapter 224 ¨C Liu Yu

    November 15th .

    Henei City, Government Assembly Hall .

    Dong Zhuo and Li Ru had a deep frown on their faces . The news about the Imperial Army defeat at Liyang City reached Dong Zhuo¡¯s ears . At the same time, spies in Shangdang City had sent them a piece of news .

    "Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun have died in the siege at Liyang! Liu Biao took over themand and retreated to Puyang region! The detached troops have been defeated!"

    "Shangdang has been taken control by Julu forces!"

    "The Imperial Army has been defeated! Jinyang joined force with Zhang Jiao and destroyed Zhang Yang and Wang Kuang in Shangdang siege battle!"

    The intelligence was the result of the battle at Shangdang Northern Gate . They could not only grasp the information about the oue of the fight, but the spies had seen Lu Bu and his subordinates in the city as well .

    As a result, they found out that the Xiongnu Army was actually Jinyang Army of Ding Yuan .

    Dong Zhuo and Li Ru listened to the scout reports, astonished and shocked .

    Zhang Jiao and Ding Yuan had yed them, including the Imperial Court . They were nothing but a small chick waiting in a cell at a ughterhouse . There was no doubt that Liu Ping might not make it through this campaign as Shangdang had been upied, and Jinyang was Liu Ping¡¯s enemy .

    "My Lord, I think we should return to Luo Yang and control the Court before it¡¯s toote," Suggested Li Ru .

    "I¡¯m also thinking the same . Hah! That snorty brat will kick the bucket soon enough . I can finally get that throne!"

    "Before you im the throne, you should get rid of the Liu n first . I believe Liu Biao is retreating back to Xiangyang, and Liu Yu is still lurking in the Capital . Once Liu Yu is dead, nobody will be able to get in your way anymore . "

    "Good! Tell everyone, we¡¯re heading back to Luo Yang! Don¡¯t forget to drag all our new ves with us . We¡¯re going to sell them to the western barbarians!"

    "Yes, my lord!"

    ...

    ...

    November 20th .

    Luo Yang City, Throne Room .

    The recent activities in Henei had been reported to all the ministers in the Hall . Wang Yun, sitting on the secondary seat beside the throne, stared at the messenger with a deep frown .

    "That Dong Zhuo has confirmed himself as a traitor . Killing and piging Imperial cities is a great crime! Everyone, send out my order . Gather the avable troops and get ourselves ready . It is possible that Dong Zhuo will return to Luo Yang to take over this city next!"

    Wang Yun gave a series ofmand to all officials as he had the highest rank in the Court . He had to disy his leadership and self-confidence to all old foxes here that he was in charge now .

    Thirty percent of the officials were Wang Yun¡¯s colleagues during the feint-death incidents . They bowed and epted the order .

    On the other hand, twenty percent of the personnel in the Hall, Liu Yu and his supporters red at Wang Yun with a displeased look .

    As for the other half, they nced back and forth between Liu Yu¡¯s group and Wang Yun¡¯s supporters as they were measuring whose side they should be supporting . These men were the neutral party who supported Liu Ping, but they did not want to change side yet .

    Liu Yu noticed the stance and managed to grasp the situation . Seeing that both he and the old man were in a stalemate, he decided to probe Wang Yun by obstructing his order .

    "Lord Wang, I¡¯m afraid we cannot mobilize troops at the moment . We have just dispatched Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song Legions, so we don¡¯t have any force left to protect the city . If we rally our troops now, I¡¯m afraid we will have to conscript soldiers from the citizens, which we arecking the fund to do that . "

    Wang Yun squinted his eyes and gazed at Liu Yu .

    "Do you mind reporting me the current fund in the treasuries?"

    "We have 10,000 golds in the royal treasuries, 10,000 tons of provisions, and 5,000 Imperial soldiers . We don¡¯t have enough budget for another war . "

    "So, are you saying we should stay idly in Luo Yang and let Dong Zhuo invade the Capital in a month?"

    "Wrong . Instead of fighting Dong Zhuo, we should negotiate with him and ask him what he wants . "

    "Are you saying we should surrender to that traitor!? Do you even know what he did to the citizens of Henei!?"

    "Of course, I know that full well . Don¡¯t you know that I once dealt with the minor tribes on the Northern Province? They have a simr trait to Dong Zhuo, barbaric, greedy, and selfish! I used the peaceful approach and gained their trust to the point that they did not invade You Province anymore . If we can peacefully deal with Dong Zhuo, I¡¯m sure that we can tame in like those tribesmen . "

    Wang Yun chuckled and snorted, "You are short-sighted, n Head Liu . He is a warlord, educated, and cultured, which is obvious that Dong Zhuo is different than those illiterate tribesmen! He is nothing but an intelligent official who abused his power to gain what he desires! Let me ask you this, what do you think he wants the most at the moment?"

    Without hesitation, Liu Yu answered, "Women, wealth, and fame!"

    Wang Yun roared, "WRONG!! He doesn¡¯t care for any of that . The only thing he wants in this city is the throne! The Dynasty itself!"

    The officials in the hall murmured as they also concurred with Wang Yun . Thinking back when Dong Zhuo marched his force from the west to the Capital, his goal was evident to everybody .

    Unperturbed, Liu Yu closed his eyes and nodded . Unlike a stubborn or a crooked official, Liu Yu was more of a reasonable minister .

    ...

    In modern history, Liu Yu was known to be incorrupt and benevolence to his subordinates . Aside from entitled as the governor of Ganling Commandery and the Minister of the Imperial n, he was also ranked as the Inspector of You Province and the Grand Commandant of the Imperial Army in the year 190 .

    In every region he governed, nobody dared to cause troubles as he was apetent minister who solved every problem peacefully . As a result, he had earned respect from his enemies and allies alike . His charisma and his multiple titles scared away all bandits and corrupted officials .

    He waster appointed to appease the Wuhuan Minor Tribes in the northern region and reced Liu Yan at Ji County, who returned to Cheng Du to govern the Yi Province .

    At Ji County, he attempted to tame Wuhuan tribes using a peaceful approach . However, Gongsun Zan, another Grand Commandant who protected the north, wanted to mobilize their forces to eliminate all the threat instead .

    This conflict of opinion became a spark to the infighting and rivalry between the two grand generals .

    In 193, Liu Yu gathered 100,000 soldiers and nned to eliminate Gongsun Zan, betraying him while they were supposed to protect the northern borders .

    Unfortunately, a subordinate with the same surname as Gongsun Zan betrayed Liu Yu and informed his n mates, which Gongsun Zan replied this betrayal byunching a counter-attack . In the end, he captured Liu Yu after the series of battles .

    Liu Yu¡¯s career came to an end . Because Gongsun Zan framed him that Liu Yumitted treason with Yuan Shao, Liu Yu was executed by the officials .

    Although he died because of the internal conflict, many of his subordinates mourned for him as he was a charismatic leader, and Liu Yu was also famous in the You Province .

    ...

    "I understand . If Dong Zhuo wants the throne, then I shall assist you by contributing all of my personal wealth and troops for the Han Dynasty," Spoke Liu Yu, who cupped his fist at Wang Yun without showing a sign of aggression .

    Liu Yu¡¯s demeanor and his sacrificed earned respect from all officials in the Throne Hall . Even the neutral ministers, who observed the show from the side, also approved of Liu Yu¡¯s actions .

    The tip of the scale shifted to Liu Yu¡¯s side in an instant as he disyed the eloquent and charisma of a proper leader .

    The crowd peered at Wang Yun, wanting to see how this greedy old fox would react .

    The person himself, Wang Yun, was taken aback by thepromised opinion of Liu Yu . It took him a few seconds to realize that this Liu n Head fought him back with his benevolence and charisma . At this rate, all officials here would favor the Liu n .

    A drop of sweat rolled down on Wang Yun¡¯s face as he also returned his bow to Liu Yu .

    "Thank you for your sacrifice and your understanding, n Head Liu . Since you¡¯re donating your wealth to the greater good, I shall do the same . I have saved 20,000 gold for my retirement fund and 5,000 private troops, but I shall transfer them to the Imperial Court so we can prevent that tyrant from upying this city!"

    Hearing that Wang Yun was donating his retirement saving, a few old officials were moved to tears as they understood how important the saving was . The others also nodded in approval as they nced back at Liu Yu to see how he would do next .

    If there were popcorns in this era, they would have sat back and enjoyed the show in glee .

    Seeing the reaction of Wang Yun and the crowd, the eyebrows of Liu Yu twitched .

    ¡¯Assholes! You should be donating your funds as well instead of watching us destroying ourselves for the sake of the Han Dynasty¡¯s safety!¡¯

    Liu Yu did not like how these rotten old officials were holding back their movements instead of working together to drive back the traitor Dong Zhuo . At this rate, both Wang Yun and Liu Yu would be bankrupt from the war while these onlookers saved their wealth and soldiers from the conflict, waiting to bootlick the winner of the war .

    ¡¯This infighting should not happen at the moment . I have to let go of my ego before everything copse!¡¯

    Liu Yu took a deep breath as he decided to concede this useless political fight .

    "Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have as much as Lord Wang . I have only 5,000 gold in my saving, 2,000 tons of provision, and 4,000 private troops . This is all I can give . "

    Wang Yunughed as he felt superior to Liu Yu . Although he lost most of his wealth, the political influence he could get in return would worth it .

    The crowd also looked at Liu Yu in disappointment . They had thought that the Imperial n Head should have more wealth than this .

    Seeing the mocking gaze of everyone, Liu Yu continue speaking .

    "Although both of us contribute our wealth and our troops to defend the city, I¡¯m afraid that this amount would not be enough to withstand Dong Zhuo¡¯s 100,000 elites! I hope that everyone here could contribute to the army so the Han Dynasty canst for another 1,000 years . "

    Liu Yu ignored the political infighting and chose to offend all nobles . As he weighed the value of the throne and the Dynasty itself, he decided to give up the throne so the insane tyrant could not ruin the 400 years of the Han Empire Legacy .

 Chapter 225

    Chapter 225

    Chapter 225 ¨C Cancers

    Wang Yun was shocked by the sudden change of Liu Yu¡¯s stance . Suddenly asking for a contribution from the others was like a political suicide as nobody wanted to part from their wealth .

    On the other hand, Liu Yu had steeled himself from the bacsh . To protect the Capital, he had to abandon his right to the throne and his future political influence .

    Only the follower of Liu Yu understood about his selfless sacrifice . They gazed at this minister in deep respect as they also shouted .

    "I have 2,000 gold and 3,000 troops . I¡¯ll contribute all of it . "

    "My family stored 5,000 stones of provisions and 1,000 soldiers . "

    "I have 500 mercenaries and 8,000 gold!"

    Each of them pitched in their assets into the cause, which astonished the officials who had yet to decide their stance .

    Wang Yun¡¯s supporters also looked at these people with eyes widened, dumbfounded by the sacrifice and selflessness of these incorrupt-minded ministers .

    After a rough calction, the Capital City would have 200,000 gold, 50,000 tons of provisions, and 35,000 soldiers bybining all noble forces that donated their assets .

    However, Liu Yu and the donators did not look satisfied with these figures . They knew that the rest of the nobles in the hall, who had not contributed, had more wealth and private soldiers than them, yet they did not utter a word to help .

    ¡¯Selfish bastards! The crisis is at hand, and they are still worrying about their self-interest?¡¯ Liu Yu cursed these ministers in his mind . With the current troops, they would not stand a chance against 100,000 elites of the west borders .

    "Is there anyone else who wishes to contribute?" Liu Yu asked, after which he darted his eyes around the room .

    "I have dispatched all of my troops to the north . I don¡¯t have anything to contribute . "

    "I¡¯ve spent all of my gold for His Majesty . I don¡¯t have any left . "

    "I¡¯ve invested all my gold into potteries . I can¡¯t contribute . "

    Excuses came from the mouth of neutral officers and a part of Wang Yun¡¯s followers in the hall, which angered both Wang Yun and Liu Yu .

    ¡¯Dispatched your troops!? If I remember correctly, His Majesty took conscripted troops from Dong Zhuo, but he did not take any troops from the Capital nobles!¡¯ Wang Yun thought as he red at the lying nobles .

    Liu Yu also had a simr thought . As he could not tolerate cowards and selfish crooks, he shouted .

    "Gentlemen, you have already listened to the report about how Dong Zhuo treated the people in his cities and his civilians . Once he gets his hands on Luo Yang, he will not leave you alone as you still possess wealth and soldiers . If you do not contribute in this fight and we lose, you cannot me us for being ipetence as you are the selfish shameless unintellectual nobles who wither away in the time of crisis!"

    The remarks did not help Liu Yu but angered everybody in the hall instead . The nobles who had not contributed started protesting .

    "When we say we have no troops, we meant as we said!"

    "Shameless? No, you are shameless! We don¡¯t have anything to spare, why do you force us to donate our assets while we can¡¯t!"

    "Right, this is robbery!"

    The hall was thrown into an uproar as the dissatisfied nobles refused to donate their wealth to fight for the Capital .

    Wang Yun also shook his head as he realized that Liu Yu had justmitted political suicide by that remarks . As a governor, Liu Yu was exceptionally talented at it . But in terms of political skills and fa?ade, hecked basic psychological knowledge .

    The old fox also knew about priorities . He decided to back Liu Yu by abusing his authority as a Chancellor .

    "Hear my order! All of you must contribute all of your private troops and half of your provision and gold to the army! We are facing a crisis . Nobody has the right to be exempted from this! Since your wages came from people¡¯s taxes, it is your duty to protect the civilians¡¯ well-being with your troops!"

    Sounds of mockery and shoutedshed at Wang Yun .

    "Who are you to order us!?"

    "Bootlicker! I won¡¯t give you shit! What are you going to do about it?"

    "Chancellor, you have no right to order us what to do . I do what I want!"

    Hearing the defying protests, Liu Yu and Wang Yun red at them with hatred . Wang Yun held the highest position in the Court, yet they refused toply with his order . If the Emperor were here, they would have been charged as treason and had their entire family executed .

    "Do you realize that you aremitting treason!? I have the authority to order you! Will you give us your troops or not!?" Roared Wang Yun .

    The crowd was panicked, but an elder schr stepped forward and mocked Wang Yun .

    "Wemitted treason . Then, what are you going to do about it? Arrest us? Sure, go ahead . Arrest me right now, but I promise you this . The moment one of us is arrested, we will use everything we have to kill you and your stupid daughter! Do you think you are the Emperor who can order us around? Ptut!"

    "What!? This is sphemy! You are threatening the authority here!" Wang Yun was shocked .

    "HAHAHA! Sure, we are threatening you . I¡¯ll repeat it again . We won¡¯t give you shit! If you arrest or kill one of us, we will use our soldiers to kill every single of you!"

    The face of Liu Yu, Wang Yun, and their supporters reddened in anger . They had just given an excuse that they did not have a soldier to support the defense . Only now, they threatened to use their soldiers to kill the authorities if they arrested them because they refused to follow the order .

    Such hypocrisy was beyond shameless!

    The schrughed as he left the assembly hall . That person was a minister of Justice of the Capital, yet he acted like a hoodlum, resisting the authority instead of enforcing it .

    The other officials smiled in glee . They followed after the minister and left the building, ignoring the danger of Dong Zhuo .

    Wang Yun noticed the leaving nobles . Out of anger, a new inspiration appeared in his mind .

    "Since all of you want it this way . Fine! The assembly is dismissed! All of you can go . "

    Liu Yu and the donors were surprised by the sudden cancetion of the assembly . They gathered in front of Wang Yun to stop him .

    "Chancellor Wang, don¡¯t dismiss the meeting yet . We haven¡¯t solved the crisis at hand, and we don¡¯t have enough troops to defend the city . We have to make the others contribute their private soldiers to the city defense, or we will not survive . "

    The corner of Wang Yun mouth revealed a faint smile, "Worry not! I have a better way to solve our soldier shortage . "

    The old fox nced at the leaving crowd . Seeing that they left, Wang Yun whispered to Liu Yu and the remaining ministers .

    "I see that you are willing to sacrifice everything for the Han . I will tell you my n . "

    "Your n?"

    "Yes . Have you heard about how Zhang Tong dealt with the nobles?"

    "Zhang Tong? The rebel¡¯s son? Didn¡¯t he ughter all resisting nobles and abolish all rights to possess mercenaries and ves? Wait a minute, you!!"

    Liu Yu stared at Wang Yun in fright as he managed to guess his n .

    Wang Yun grinned, "I was like you when we heard about the news . I thought that Zhang Tong was so stupid to the point that he destroyed the foundation of his political power . But today, it proves that we were wrong . The rights to possess private troops are the threat of this country! Did you see how those liars reacted when we asked for their soldiers? Those ministers and officers will be likely to take their wealth and escape from the Capital before Dong Zhuo arrives . And once the situation calms again, those shameless bastards will return to bootlick whoever the winner of this fight! Why are we keeping these fools around to eat the citizen¡¯s taxes? These people are the gue that devours the Empire from the inside! As fellow loyal subjects of the Han Dynasty, we have to purge them for good before they multiplied!"

    The face of the listeners paled . They did not know if they picked the correct choice to fight the evil Dong Zhuo, or they were unlucky for following this ruthless old fox .

    "Gentlemen, let¡¯s get our troops ready . Emperor Wudi had once attempted to abolish private armies and very . However, he failed to make his nse true . We will inherit his will, and we shall purge those diseases that gued our country for centuries! We will kill those selfish cowards and gather our fund for the city defense!"

    ...

    ...

    November 15th marked as the day of the major event by the historian in this world .

    All gates of the Capital closed per Wang Yun¡¯s order . As a chancellor of the country, he had enough power tomand all armies if the Emperor was away .

    This morning, the ministers in the throne room refused to follow his order as all of them had private troops to protect them from the authority . Thus, Wang Yun could not arrest one of them, or they would riot .

    This bluff worked well so far for the ministers up till now, but they overlooked one thing .

    Their mercenaries had not gathered or formed any proper army system . All of them spread throughout the noble manors and camps, which none of them had more than 500 soldiers in one ce .

    Moreover, they gathered their belongings in their family manor to evacuate from Luo Yang in a hurry . None of them had the time to inform the others if Wang Yun wanted to arrest them for insubordination .

    Each manor located a distance away from the other as they requiredrge spaces for their courtyard to disy their wealth and housed troops . As a result, their limited number of soldiers scattered around in the official residential areas .

    Ignoring their previous bluff, the Imperial garrison soldiers and the private soldiers of Liu Yu faction stormed the noble manors without bothering showing warrants or a negotiation . Per Wang Yun¡¯s order, they ughtered their way to kill the head of each family before they surrounded all private soldiers to force them to surrender .

    The previous Minister of Justice, who threatened Wang Yun and Liu Yu, was killed first along with his entire families . As he was the ringleader of the resistance, Liu Yu killed the minister¡¯s whole family in front of him before sending him along to Hell .

    After they finished, the garrison troops confiscated all of his properties, and the wealth shocked them .

    That person alone had 100,000 gold, 5,000 tons of provision in hiding!

    The surrendered private army numbered 6,000!

    Yet, he said during the earlier meeting that he had nothing to contribute!

    Liu Yu and Wang Yun looked at each other in understanding . The previous political conflict between them was now water under the bridge . They formed an alliance with one goal .

    Eradicating these cancers . This type of nobles was unneeded in the Han Dynasty!

 Chapter 226

    Chapter 226

    Chapter 226 ¨C This Ain¡¯t Part of the n

    Like a stray sheep in a pack of wolves, the nobles and their families were captured and ughtered, one family at a time .

    However, many noble families managed to slip through the barricaded city by bribing the gatekeepers and the guards . Kong Zhou, Zhang Miao, and hundreds of nobles broke away from the Capital City before Liu Yu and Wang Yun reached them .

    Liu Yu was vexed by the escapees, but his mood became better as he received the reports of the confiscated wealth, provisions, and the arrested mercenaries .

    Wang Yun, on the other hand, did not feel so well . The private soldiers of the noble gathered their forces and fought back against the authority, resulting in casualties on both sides .

    They managed to win and drove the crooked nobles away, but the arrested troops would only rece the lost soldiers .

    ...

    ...

    November 17th .

    Two days after the non-stop ughtering and arresting, Wang Yun and Liu Yu Alliance finished cleaning the shameless nobles . From the initial number of 35,000 soldiers, only 25,000 survived after a series of battles .

    In exchange for such sacrificed, they captured 25,000 mercenaries from the nobles . These men would be deployed as garrison forces once Dong Zhuo arrived .

    Although they managed to secure more soldiers, stress and anger still showed on Wang Yun and Liu Yu¡¯s faces as they imagined a different scenario .

    Had all the officials contributed their soldiers from the start, they would have had at least 70,000 to 80,000 men to fight Dong Zhuo, which would be enough to defend the city against 100,000 elites . Furthermore, they could have had enough fund to draft militias or hire cksmiths to craft more weapons for the army . The excess gold could have been used to buy provisions from wandering merchants . Everything would have been better had they forgotten the differences and worked together as one .

    "These fools . Just why?" Liu Yu muttered alone as the pain in his heart worsened .

    Meanwhile, Wang Yun also looked at the corpses of his colleagues with sad eyes . Some of them were parts of the feint-death group which supported Liu Ping to the throne . A few of them were his friends who took the Imperial Examination together .

    "In the end, it¡¯s about personal¡¯s interest . "

    Wang Yun gained enlightenment from this purge . His vision and believes about the Han Dynasty slowly tilted as his worldview widened .

    ¡¯Every city is filled with these crooks . I have to get rid of them for the country and its people! I don¡¯t care what Diao Chan or Heaven is plotting, but I want these people dead!¡¯

    "Dong Zhuo ... you and your goons as well . "

    Wang Yun¡¯s eyes red with killing intents . He was ready for the life-and-death battle against Dong Zhuo Army .

    ...

    Inner Pce, Diao Chan¡¯s courtyard .

    Wang Yun returned to Diao Chan and reported everything to her, hoping to ask his daughter to contact the snake monster .

    "So that¡¯s the ruckus was all about? I was thinking that someone tried to riot after you dered me the candidate for the next Empress . "

    "If it wasn¡¯t for Dong Zhuo, I think they would have rioted already . Thankfully, that fatty decided to invade Luo Yang, and those cowards tugged their tails and ran away . "

    "Have you burned or buried the dead bodies?"

    "The soldiers are clearing them at the moment . Why do you care about the dead? Does it bother you?"

    "Nothing . Just curious..."

    "Anyway, can you contact the monster for me? I want to consult her about the iing battle . I want to have her fight Dong Zhuo with us . You can ask her if she wants anything in return so we can tempt her to work for us permanently . "

    Diao Chan raised her eyebrows and shrugged, "Alright . I¡¯ll tell her . But father, I will have to change our ns since you and Liu Yu are allied now . "

    "Change of ns? How? We are doing very well right now . We have 50,000 soldiers, and we can get more militias if we spend our gold supplies . Everything is perfectly fine!"

    "No, father . You said that several nobles escaped the purge, correct? They will return to their hometown and gather armies to fight for the throne . Dong Zhuo will not be the only one we have to worry about anymore!"

    Wang Yun gulped, "N-No, they won¡¯t dare . I think those cowards won¡¯t dare to harm us . We have the authority!"

    "A temporary authority! In the end, what matters the most is our fists, the army . This is the mistake you and Liu Yu had made in the assembly for asking them to hand over their soldiers . You¡¯ve made them run before I destroy all of them in the fight with Dong Zhuo!"

    "Huh? Wait, you what?"

    "No, never mind . We¡¯re going the change our ns . Father, once Dong Zhuo reached the Capital, do not fight him . "

    "WHAT!?"

    "You heard me right . DO NOT FIGHT DONG ZHUO! Surrender the Capital to him along with Liu Yu!"

    "NO! WHY DO WE HAVE TO SURRENDER THE CITY TO THAT BASTARD!?" Wang Yun¡¯s noise was getting louder as he was mad by Diao Chan¡¯s advice .

    As the noise might attract unnecessary attention from spies, the little girl summoned her [Wrath Soul] and made it appeared before Wang Yun .

    The heinous looking gorgon stared at Wang Yun, who looked back at the monster spirit in terror .

    "M-M-MONSTER!!"

    "Silence!" Diao Chan used her telepathy to shout into Wang Yun¡¯s mind .

    The old man was stunned by the sudden mentalmunication . His ck eyes rolled upward as he fainted from the shock . The body of Wang Yun copsed on the floor .

    Diao Chan stared at her foster father . Her eyes and her mind did not reveal the love of this man .

    ¡¯Useless empty shell . I thought he would be smarter and calmer than this . I guess I have to do this myself . ¡¯

    Wrath flew forward and entered Wang Yun¡¯s body . A reverse devil contract had been formed!

    This contract was the opposite of what Tong and Friday had formed . Instead of granting the wish of a mortal with the devil¡¯s wing power, Medusa demanded the absolute submission from Wang Yun .

    Once the contract ispleted, Wang Yun would lose control of his body, his speech, his thought, and his everything to Medusa . In exchange for the loss of body control, Wang Yun would bepensated by getting extra lifespans from Medusa .

    Because Wang Yun cked out by fear, Medusa was free to set herpensation rate to one lifespan a year by default instead of allowing Wang Yun to adjust it himself .

    It was a forceful contract which was illegal in the Netherworld and all other dimensions . Had Medusa done this in Hell or other ces, the archangels and gods would havee to arrest her .

    ¡¯I should have done this earlier . Entrusting him an important task is a mistake . ¡¯

    Diao Chan stopped meddling with the unconscious body of her foster father and concentrated on reading his memories .

    Ten minutester, Diao Chan and Wang Yun opened their eyes . With her alternate conscience, she controlled Wang Yun¡¯s body back to his room .

    As for herself, she left her room and headed toward the gathering ground where dead bodies were piled together . For her, throwing away life essence like this was a waste .

    ...

    November 30th .

    Dong Zhuo Army reached the gate of the Capital City along with siege engines and prepared troops . They came with all preparation for war with the Imperial ns inside the walls .

    The 100,000 elite soldiers with the ck "Dong" gs formed a hundred of square formations, getting ready to siege the wall . A hundred of trebuchets and fifty siegedders were put in front of the formations, and archer towers were being pushed forward to line with the other siege weapons .

    They did not bother hiding their hostile intention or their political stance about at all .

    Liu Yu and 10,000 garrison troops gathered on the wall while the other 40,000 men formed simr square formations in front of the north gate, facing Dong Zhuo Army .

    Though outnumbered, Liu Yu was confident that he could win . Behind the walls, Wang Yun and 20,000 newly recruited militias stationed as their reserved troops, so they would not mind a prolonged siege battle .

    As both sides got ready to engage in a battle, Diao Chan had snuck out of her pce and watched the stand-off from the sky . As she stood at the altitude of 1,000 feet above the ground, and she had not transformed back to her original body, no one below had noticed her .

    Diao Chan was using her alternate conscience to control Wang Yun to the gate, nning to order the gatekeeper to open the gate to negotiate with Dong Zhuo Army .

    *RUMBLE*

    *CRACK*

    The sudden earthquake and the shattered sky caught the attention of all soldiers and Diao Chan, who also stared at the cracking sky in shock . She gazed toward the north as she sensed a trace of a grand battle between immortals where Lilim and the karma snake had crashed .

    ¡¯Was that the new goddess of this dimension? What was the thing she fought?¡¯

    While Diao Chan¡¯s attention was on the irregrity, the mortals below were shocked by the phenomenon .

    "This is ominous signs!" Liu Yu shouted as he looked at the cracked sky while he sat on the floor because of the earthquake .

    Dong Zhuo and Li Ru also fell from their horses and panicked .

    "Li Ru, do something!"

    "M-My Lord, I can¡¯t . This is something beyond my power!"

    The burly soldiers on both sides screamed and cried in chaos for a whole minute until everything returned to normal .

    As they came back to their senses, the formations on Liu Yu and Dong Zhuo¡¯s were in a mess, but nobody could grasp this opportunity to exploit it . They were too shocked by the apocalypse event .

    "Form ranks again! Hurry!" Liu Yu shouted .

    "Get back in line, ves!" Roared Dong Zhuo .

    The two armies regrouped while they continued to sneak a nce at the sky to see if there would be more catastrophes or any sign from Heaven . As they kept looking at the sky, a dozen soldiers spotted Diao Chan, who was floating above them .

    "What is that?"

    "There¡¯s a shadow in the sky?"

    "Is that a bird?"

    "Is that a kite?"

    (Author: No, it¡¯s a freaking loli, standing in the sky!)

    Liu Yu also noticed Diao Chan and recognized her identity . He had seen this little girl many times with Wang Yun in the past and knew about her current status . A drop of sweat rolled down from his face to his chin as he recalled the content of the recent Emperor¡¯s decree .

    "The chosen Empress... The child of Heaven!" Liu Yu shouted and kowtowed as his forehead mmed on the floor, "I, Liu Bo¡¯an, greet Her Majesty!"

    The sudden greeting shouted alerted all soldiers on both sides . Liu Yu¡¯s soldiers did not hesitate to kneel as they realized that Diao Chan was their Empress .

    "Long Live Her Majesty!"

    "Long Live Her Majesty!"

    Superstitious as they were, everyone chanted and kowtowed because they mistook her as an immortal, chosen to be their Empress by the heaven .

    Meanwhile, Dong Zhuo and Li Ru red at Diao Chan with hatred and astonishment . They had never feared fellow humans, conspiracies, or armies . However, the supernatural beings were unknown to them . Thus, they could not help but be on guard against this little girl .

    Diao Chan, on the other hand, had an ugly expression as she did not expect them to notice her or worship her at this moment .

    "This is not part of the n . "

 Chapter 227

    Chapter 227: 227

    Chapter 227 ¨C Dictator Lilim

    Since she was discovered, Diao Chan descended to the top of the wall and walked to Liu Yu .

    Medusa, or Diao Chan, could have massacred everyone any time she wanted to . However, the existence of the cultivator Zuo Ci hindered her actions . She knew that once she offended this being, she might implicate Tong and Friday, and Zuo Ci would likely to end their lives as she killed too many natives in this world .

    With this kind of restriction, Diao Chan had nned to allow Dong Zhuo to win the siege so she could borrow his hands to kill all officials in this city, sabotaging the foundation of the Han Dynasty . Then, she could have controlled Dong Zhuo, like she had controlled Wang Yun, to make his force fight against Tong¡¯s enemies so all forces would have been weakened .

    If such a scenario were to happen, she would not receive the me for Dong Zhuo¡¯s tyranny as she would have be a puppet in everyone¡¯s eyes at that point . At the same time, Tong could have used this opportunity to rest and develop his forces to finish off every warlord in the country .

    Unfortunately, Wang Yun and Liu Yu forced the officials to escape from the city, letting a few nobles slipping away from Diao Chan¡¯s grasp .

    From this point, she decided to control Wang Yun herself and forcefully surrender the Capital to Dong Zhuo, allowing the tyrant and Liu Yu to crash in the Court while saving the lives of their soldiers for Diao Chan¡¯s future use .

    However, her n went south again as her presence was discovered . The people in the Capital would likely to worship her as the divine Empress now, and her n to make Dong Zhuo a scapegoat of the fallen of the Han Dynasty failed before her first phase of the scheme had even started .

    ¡¯If I rule these people in the open, Zuo Ci will definitelye for me again . That geezer is strict about being "Neutral" in the world of mortal, but he secretly interfered with several otherworlders already . What should I do to get him off me?¡¯

    The worrying thought of Diao Chan turned into a deep frown on her face . As the garrison soldiers detected her grave expression, they thought that they had angered the immortal child . All of them mmed their foreheads on the ground to apologize .

    "We¡¯re sorry to disappoint you, Your Majesty!"

    "Please forgive us!"

    "Don¡¯t kill us!"

    The frown turned into a cringe . Diao Chan had not done anything or said anything, yet these people already begged for her forgiveness . The people¡¯s fear of the unknown in this era was too strong .

    Diao Chan watched these trembling soldiers and sighed . All her ns had been ruined one after another, and she could not think of anything to salvage this situation .

    ¡¯Forget it . I¡¯ll just control Dong Zhuo and Liu Yu . Then, I¡¯ll manage everything myself . ¡¯

    As she was about to transform her wings into souls again, the entire colorful scenery turned into a ck-and-white world, and everyone stopped moving . The rumbling sound and the murmur disappeared .

    The little girl realized this phenomenon well as this was Tong¡¯s [Time Stop] skill . However, she did not remember having this skill or activating it . Though she was aware that the time had stopped flowing as it should have, Diao Chan could not move her body, only her eyes and her conscience were functioning .

    [Ahem! This is your new goddess of this dimension, Lilim . I¡¯m stopping time to talk to all of you with eight and ten wings . ]

    The voice of Lilim entered Diao Chan¡¯s mind directly through telepathy . Because the sound did not leave a hint of the source or the direction of the speaker, Diao Chan could only stare nkly in front of her .

    [As you all should have received the messages from my mother, I¡¯ll be taking care of you from now on . Since I¡¯m new here, and I¡¯m not like my mother, there will be changes to suit my style of management . ]

    [I¡¯ve read the records about what you are doing these few months, and I have to say ... I¡¯m not impressed . Everything you are doing will lead to the destruction of this dimension . Why on earth do you want to spread your demonic and angelic viruses here? Creating souls?]

    [None of you knew about the process of the creation of the dimension and how it works! Before you start putting souls into empty shells, you supposed to create a resting ce for wandering souls first!]

    [I¡¯m going to summon all of you to Mount Kunlun with me, so you¡¯ll be helping me creating the soul warehouse and the first level of both Heaven and Hell . ]

    Diao Chan could feel that a force that was dragging her upward to the sky . She attempted to resist and sent the mental message back to Lilim .

    "Please wait! Can I join youter? I have unfinished work to be done in the mortal world!"

    The force that was pulling her paused, and she received a replying voice .

    [What are you doing? ying mortal?]

    Diao Chan could not answer the question . She was indeed interfering with mortal affairs so she could not confess what she was doing . Had she said it, she could have invited more troubles to herself .

    [You are ... Medusa . Right, you are in a unique body of Diao Chan! I see that you are doing something fishy over there at the Capital, but your ytime is over! You areing with me to work for this dimension, or I¡¯ll use my authority to turn you into a mortal if you continue to resist!]

    Her face paled as she hypothetically thought how she would have lived without her eight wings . She had spent over several million years to get this far . Throwing them all away for the sake of her son-inw and her adopted daughter was still hard for her .

    ¡¯I should work with thisdy first, then I¡¯ll try to find a way to help themter . ¡¯

    As she gave up resisting and epting her fate, Lilim sent yet another mentalmunication voice .

    [You know what? I think it¡¯s better to limit the number of administrators so none of you can ruin this . I¡¯ll only need that geezer Zuo Ci to work with me . As for you and the other eight-wing goddess, I turn you both into mortals!]

    Before Diao Chan could have begged Lilim to reconsider, the ruthless daughter of Cmity Goddess had erased all demonic power and Medusa¡¯s wings .

    "NOOOOO!!"

    Diao Chan screamed a soundless voice as she could not exert her vocal chord¡¯s strength . The losses of the million years of hard work shattered her heart as she could feel that her power was taken away .

    "WHY!?" Diao Chan cried .

    [Who asked you to jump into this dimension along with your daughter? It¡¯s your fault in the first ce for caring too much about that infected soul . I don¡¯t know what game you are ying, but this is my yard now, my world! I am thew here, and you will obey my rules . If you want to me someone, me it on your master who instigated the recent war in Heaven!]

    Without bothering exining anything else, Lilim deactivated the time stop .

    Diao Chan flopped down on her knees, tearing as she could not handle the feeling of her loss . At the same time, she gritted her teeth in anger .

    She had tried to help her family earlier, Zuo Ci stopped her . She tried to help her family again, Lilim stripped her power .

    The feeling of being unreasonably oppressed by the stronger transformed into a grudge and resentment . Diao Chan vowed that one day once she could regain her power, the two ten-winged immortals had to pay for this humiliation .

    ¡¯Ten million years, a hundred million years, a hundred thousand million years, I won¡¯t forget this!¡¯ She screamed in her mind and exploded out her killing intent .

    Because the time had begun flowing normally, the killing intent enveloped all garrison soldiers and Dong Zhuo¡¯s men, terrifying all of them . Everyone panicked as the menacing air suffocated them to the point that half of the manly soldiers wet their pants .

    As an ex-elite demoness, her natural killing intent far surpassed Lu Bu in many levels . Even without a demonic power, her killing intent was still her best deadly weapon against all foes .

    "Invite Dong Zhuo inside the pce, but he has to leave his soldiers outside!" Diao Chanmanded Liu Yu .

    Still being terrified by the little girl¡¯s presence, Liu Yu sent his order to his subordinates and gatekeepers, having them open the gate .

    The gigantic bronze doors, the northern gate of the Capital, gave a loud creak as it was being pushed by twenty strong men . A messenger galloped toward Dong Zhuo and ryed a message .

    "THE EMPRESS HAS SUMMONED DONG ZHUO INTO THE PALACE . ONLY DONG ZHUO CAN ENTER . THE REST OF THE SOLDIERS STAY OUTSIDE!" Shouted the horseman messenger .

    Li Ru and Dong Zhuo nced at each other, baffled by the series of developments .

    They came here with the intention to fight, but they faced the sudden earthquake and a sign of a cmity . Then, they saw a flying little girl, who descended on top of the wall, after which, they sent a messenger to invite Dong Zhuo inside the pce by the Empress who they had no idea about .

    "What is all this? Li Ru?"

    "I don¡¯t know either, my Lord . "

    Dong Zhuo frowned for a moment, "An Empress? Now?"

    The fat warlord gazed at the top of the wall . He could feel the killing intenting from one of the people on top of it . As a veteran general who guarded the west border for years, Dong Zhuo only felt the intimidating aura, but it did not scare him enough to lose his calm . He still got a chill running down his spine and goosebumps though .

    His brain worked as if he was a strategist on a battlefield . Several simted scenarios appeared in his mind as Dong Zhuo was deducing about this "Empress" existence .

    An enlightenment and an inspiration came to his mind as he recalled that Liu Ping should have been dead by this time .

    "Wenyou, anytest news about that Emperor brat and the results of the northern war?"

    "There¡¯s only a rumor without a piece of concrete evidence . Spies from Shangdang said that the garrison soldiers gossiped about the death of Liu Ping, but nobody has seen his corpse or the announcement from their superior . "

    "That¡¯s good enough . I have an idea . HAHAHAHA!"

    Dong Zhuo kicked his horse forward andmanded Li Ru, "Stationed our troops outside! I¡¯m going to see this [Empress] for a bit . Hua Xiong! Come with me!"

    The muscr general galloped his horse and followed Dong Zhuo, acting as his bodyguard .

    As for Dong Zhuo, he did not enter the gate like the messenger or how Diao Chan had summoned him . Instead, he shouted, "I WANT TO TALK TO THE EMPRESS! SUMMON HER HERE THIS INSTANT OR WE SHALL STRIKE!"

    Hearing the bold deration, the soldiers on the wall and the front armies shouted back in anger .

    "How dare you!?"

    "You dare to summon Her Majesty!?"

    "Who the hell do you think you are!?"

    Dong Zhuoughed and ignored the retorts of the soldiers . He gazed on top of the wall with a provoking expression .

    "I don¡¯t have all days! Soldiers, get ready," Dong Zhuo waved his hands .

    Meanwhile, Diao Chan looked at the situation below with a grim look . Had she not lost all of her power, this fat bug could have been squashed to death easily by her .

    Though she was frustrated and angered by Lilim, she swallowed her pride and shouted, "I shall go down to talk to him . Arrange bodyguards for me!"

 Chapter 228

    Chapter 228

    Chapter 228 ¨C Fighting Dong Zhuo

    Meanwhile, Pengcheng County, southwest of Xiapi Commandery City .

    A young girl with loose robe was abandoned in this town in the middle of a slum area . She had long ck hair and ck eyes like the natives, but her unique Japanese-style oval face made her different than everybody else in this era .

    This girl was Liu Yang, the eight-wing goddess who followed after Medusa into this dimension . As she was caught by Zuo Ci, she spent her days mostly in his lightning cage, getting tortured endlessly by the unreasonable old man .

    Her abysmal luck rpsed again as Lilim stripped her angelic power without hearing about her reason for being here . Zuo Ci was also worse, he dumped her in the middle of nowhere and flew away without telling her anything .

    In her eyes, Zuo Ci was a hypocritical bullying cultivator who enjoyed torturing weaker immortals . Lilim was also a power-crazed dictating bitch that was lucky to be borne by the first generation parent .

    "Damn them! Damn them all!"

    Liu Yang cried alone in a slum, attracting the eyes of several beggars and hoodlums .

    "Hey, is that girl kinda look ugly?"

    "Yes, she¡¯s ugly, but her skin is nice . She can still be sold . "

    "Yeah, she should fetch a good price if we sell her to the lords . "

    "Right, let¡¯s take her!"

    The crying of the little Liu Yang attracted the thugs in the slum . Seeing that her skins and her appearance were unique, they wanted to kidnap and sell her as a ve to the nobles .

    They jumped at her, using a rice sack to cover her from the top down . With the girl in the sack, they carried her back to the local ck market .

    Liu Yang attempted to resist, but she could not do anything as her celestial power had been erased by the system . She could only cry a muffled voice inside the sack to struggle and annoy the kidnappers .

    It did not take long for the thugs to reach a shady building inside the slum . They took off the sack and threw her inside a cell .

    "How much do we get?"

    "She¡¯s ugly! 100 Coins, no bargain!"

    "200! She¡¯s clean and untouched!"

    "I said, no bargain! One hundred, take it or leave it!"

    "Tsk!"

    The thugs took the coins and left, leaving Liu Yang and the ve merchant behind .

    In the building, there was only the merchant and several rectangr cells with many children and women inside . The cage, which Liu Yang was in, was a one-cubic-meter animal cage .

    Liu Yang looked around in a panic as she found out that she was in an underground ve house .

    "You¡¯re lucky, ugly one . Someone has pre-ordered 20 little girls, and you¡¯re going along with the caravan," The merchant mocked her and kicked her cell, "Don¡¯t scream, don¡¯t cry, and don¡¯t piss or shit until I tell you to!"

    ...

    ...

    Luo Yang Northern Gate, neutral ground between two forces .

    Dong Zhuo sat on his horse, with Hua Xiong riding beside him . All weapons had been temporarily put away for safety .

    Diao Chan, Liu Yu, the confused Wang Yun, and a dozen bodyguards arrived after the other party .

    Wang Yun had regained his sense as the devil contract was voided by the loss of demonic power . Even though he was lighted-head as if he woke up after the heavy drinking, he was flexible enough to catch the clues about the recent events and followed through with the trends .

    Diao Chan sat on the wagon throne while Wang Yun and Liu Yu stood by her sides . The guards with weapons in hands also stared at Dong Zhuo and Hua Xiong without blinking .

    With five people presented beside the guards, they began their agenda and their negotiation .

    Diao Chan started, "Lord Dong Zhuo, I¡¯ll be frank . Emperor Ping is likely to die in the war . He has already sent the decree that I¡¯ll be the next Empress so it cannot be changed . But I can still return your position as the Prime Minister and pardon all of your previous crimes . Will you be my subject?"

    Dong Zhuo and the others were astonished by the bold proposal by the little girl . Had they not seen her standing in mid-air before, they would have dismissed her words as a child¡¯s nonsense .

    Seeing is believing, they could not ignore the words of the proved Child of Heaven .

    ¡¯I should have taken Li Ru with me . Well, whatever . Bargaining with a little snort is easier than dealing with these two fools . ¡¯

    Dong Zhuo coughed, "My apology, Your Majesty, if I call you right . Your offering is a bit unfair to me . You see, I¡¯ve gone to war and came back battered, yet the citizens of Henei suddenly revolted . I have to deal with them using my force, or they will look down on the Imperial Army . I have done nothing wrong to be pardoned . "

    "I¡¯m not using you . Lord Dong Zhuo, I¡¯m making my proposal to reinstate you into the position and clean your records as long as you will serve me . I will only take a [Yes] or [No] as an answer . What do you say?"

    Dong Zhuo frowned . The girl had a politician¡¯s sense that he could not trick her .

    "Then, I¡¯ll also be frank with you, Your Majesty . I don¡¯t know how you can sit on the throne without an official coronation ceremony . I don¡¯t see the reason that you should be the Empress of our country at all . You are too young for this, so leave it to the adult and go y with your friends . I can treat you like a royalty if you surrender that throne to me . How about it?"

    Liu Yu and Wang Yun¡¯s face reddened as the veins under their facial skin pulsed rapidly . They gritted their teeth and wanted to curse this ambitious fatty out loud, but they held back their words as they knew that it could affect the negotiation .

    Diao Chan stared at Dong Zhuo in silent, thinking of how she should do in this situation . This fat man would not back down until he became the emperor of a new dynasty .

    A sadistic grin appeared at the corner of Diao Chan face .

    ¡¯I may be powerless, but I can still use my mental attack . ¡¯

    "Let¡¯s return, father, Sir Liu . The negotiation has failed . "

    Dong Zhuo also heard Diao Chan¡¯s remark . Heughed as if he mocked her .

    "Oh? Do you want to fight? Sure! Let¡¯s fight it out . It¡¯s simple this way . "

    Diao Chan turned back and red at the fat dictator . Her full-power killing intent locked on him, and the aura of an ex-eight-wing devil pressed on Hua Xiong and Dong Zhuo .

    The two victims of the oppressing killing intent began sweating profusely even though it was already winter . Dong Zhuo felt suffocate as he could not control his chest and lung to breath .

    The horse of the two neighed as they were panicked, kicking and wailing . Without the ability to control their horses, Dong Zhuo and Hua Xiong panicked as well . The two horses without the control of the masters ran back to the army behind them as they were scared by the killing intent .

    Hua Xiong stared at Diao Chan in astonishment .

    ¡¯That was an elite warrior¡¯s killing intent! But she is only a snorty wench? Is this a joke?¡¯

    Meanwhile, Dong Zhuo¡¯s condition was not as good as Hua Xiong . His right fist kept smashing on his chest as he could not breathe . As he choked, Dong Zhuo¡¯splexion paled while his snort and drool dripped from his mouth .

    ¡¯Not good! She wants to kill the lord using her aura alone!¡¯

    Hua Xiong attempted to pull the reign and make his horse rush to Diao Chan and the others, but his horse did not follow after hismand . Feeling helpless, he leaped off his horse and dashed toward Diao Chan with his halberd .

    Liu Yu, Wang Yun, and Diao Chan¡¯s bodyguards noticed the iing general . They shouted, "Protect Her Majesty!"

    Diao Chan also clicked her tongue . She switched her aura target to Hua Xiong .

    Anxiety and fear overwhelmed the charging general, yet he did not stop rushing forward .

    "Petty trick!" He shouted as he swung his polearm, killing the soldiers who rushed to help the group .

    Hua Xiong roared as he dove into the oing bodyguards, "ALL UNITS, ATTACK!"

    Dong Zhuo¡¯s elite soldiers heard themand of their general . They ryed the order to everybody in the back, and the trebuchets began hurling stones .

    The siege began!

    Diao Chan did not stop oppressing Hua Xiong with her mental attack, which made his body sluggish by the fear he was experiencing . The bodyguards used this chance to thrust their spears at the isted general .

    "Humph!"

    With one halberd swing, Hua Xiong deflected all iing spears . He took five steps back to create a distance while he did not lose sight of Diao Chan .

    "Die, witch!"

    Like an Olympic athlete, Hua Xiong threw his halberd like a javelin, aiming at the little girl .

    *POEK*

    The halberd missed its target and killed a bodyguard in front of her instead . Because of the weight of the halberd and the different bnce between the shaft and the de tip, it could not be thrown like a straight javelin .

    Seeing that he missed, Hua Xiong retreated back to his lord, hoping that Dong Zhuo had not died from the mental attack yet .

    Liu Yu and Wang Yun sighed a relief after the threat had passed . They checked their little empress if she was fine .

    They became panic again .

    Diao Chan was bleeding from her eyes and nose as she had over-exerted her mental power with her human body . She copsed and fell unconscious after Hua Xiong decided to leave .

    "YOUR MAJESTY!"

    "DIAO CHAN!"

    The two ignored the battle and retreated back to the city, carrying the fainted girl to the pce .

    At the other side, Dong Zhuo managed to regain his breathe after Diao Chan shifted her attention to Hua Xiong . His pale sweaty face was unsightly as he went through the torture of suffocation .

    "That little wench is not normal! Get rid of her! Attack the city and kill everyone!" Dong Zhuo ordered with a hoarse voice .

    ...

    The siege battle continued without the supervision of Diao Chan and Wang Yun .

    Liu Yu took charge as the grandmander of the battle . As the battle took ce on arge scale, both side could not get the upper hand on the other .

    Dong Zhuo Army could not breakthrough the legion formations in front of the wall, so all siege towers anddders could not reach the wall . His infantries and cavalries suffered serious damages from 10,000 archers on the wall as 20,000 of them lost their lives, but they did not die in vain .

    Liu Yu¡¯s front 40,000 soldiers also suffered heavy casualties as they were attacked by Hua Xiong cavalries and bombardment from the trebuchets . Half of them died from todaybat, but they managed to block the path from all siegedders and towers .

    At night, the royal pce .

    The old man stayed back in the pce to be by Diao Chan¡¯s side . The physicians in the royal pce did their best to tend the little girl¡¯s condition .

    Every physician was baffled by Diao Chan¡¯s sickness . It was not a sickness that a child could get as it was something that was caused by being mentally stressed to the limit .

    It was a sickness of an overworked warlord!

    An hour after the physicians nursed Diao Chan, she opened her eyes again .

    "Diao Chan!" Wang Yun cried .

    "Oh? I¡¯m still alive?"

    "Yes, you are . You idiot! What happened to you? Why did you suddenly copse like that?"

    "The war?"

    "Liu Yu ismanding the troops at the moment . We¡¯re still doing well . "

 Chapter 229

    Chapter 229

    Chapter 229 ¨C Demoralizing Tactic

    Dong Zhuo Camp, north of Luo Yang .

    It was already 7 PM, and both sides withdrew their troops .

    Dong Zhuo had set up a camp three kilometers north of Luo Yang and close to the Yellow River .

    In Dong Zhuo¡¯s private tent, the fat tyrant lied on his bed with a paleplexion . Though he survived Diao Chan¡¯s mental attack, he had yet to recover from the fright and the torture .

    Hua Xiong stood beside the bed, guarding his boss . Unlike rusty Dong Zhuo, Hua Xiong¡¯s body was in shape, so he had already recovered from the previous battle .

    Li Ru, however, stared at the two with a frown . He had helped tomand the troops during the siege, but he did not expect a difficult fight . Furthermore, he was not satisfied by the sudden order of Dong Zhuo and Hua Xiong for signaling the attack without consulting him .

    The loss of 20,000 soldiers of 100,000 in the siege was uneptable to Li Ru .

    "I¡¯m going to contact the others in Hongnong . I¡¯ll have them send us some reinforcement and pincer Luo Yang¡¯s west gate . Hua Xiong, prepare 10,000 troops and have the others rest for the night . "

    ...

    10 PM .

    North wall of Luo Yang .

    A hundred garrison soldiers stood, guarding the wall, which illuminated by thousands of torches . They watched into the darkness in nervousness as they had experienced the siege battle for the first time .

    Because of the anxiety, they did their best to stay awake to keep watch . Not a single firefly could escape the garrison soldiers¡¯ eyes .

    Their fear became a reality as a hundred thousand torches could be seen from the horizon .

    *BOOM*

    *GONG*

    *BOOM*

    The sounds of war drums and war gongs alerted everybody in the city . The garrison soldiers who had a hard time trying to sleep widened their eyes as the sounds awoke them . They rushed on top of the gate to prepare to defend .

    "WAAAH!"

    "SHAAAA!"

    The scream and shout came from the other side, which further put the troops on their toes .

    Liu Yu also rushed to the top of the gate, resuming hismand .

    "Prepare fire arrows!"

    *GONG*

    *GONG*

    The garrison forces readied their bows and arrows, aiming forward . Strangely, Dong Zhuo¡¯s troops stopped out of the arrow-range, but they still shouted and hit their war drums .

    "Fire!"

    Liu Yu ordered a fire-volley . Though they might not hit the enemies, he wanted to get a good visual on their troops .

    A hundred thousand fire arrows flew through the sky and dropped on the ground, illuminating the battlefield .

    Liu Yu managed to catch a glimpse of Dong Zhuo¡¯s troops . They formed a shield formation and hid behind their barricaded shields .

    ¡¯Odd,¡¯ Liu Yu thought, ¡¯Is this a fake night attack?¡¯

    *WHOOSH*

    *BOOM*

    A sound of trebuchetunching stones alerted Liu Yu . Because these sounds were memorable, all soldiers shrunk their heads down by instinct as they thought the stones might hit them .

    Fortunately, all the stones came up short andnded in front of the wall .

    "Stay alert! Keep watching the lines . Ready your bows, shoot on my signal!"

    ...

    On the other side, Li Ru watched the siege with an indifferent expression .

    "Fire another barrage," Li Ru ordered .

    Ten trebuchets blindly hurled stones at the wall hitting nothing but the ground .

    "Shout and sound the gong . "

    "WAAAHHH!"

    *GONG*

    *GONG*

    Ignoring the chaotic noise, Li Ru yawned as hezily gazed at the top of the wall .

    ¡¯The n seeded . ¡¯

    He turned to look at Hua Xiong, who was sleeping amid the noisy battlefield . Li Ru chuckled as he was amazed by the adaptability of this general .

    "Good gracious . I wish I can sleep anywhere like you . "

    Beforeing here, Li Ru did not want to siege the city at night, but he faked the siege and yed a mind game with the defenders .

    Since they had to siege the Capital, it would be unwise for him to divide his troops and attack all walls . Sieging all walls and gates consumed more resources than hitting one wall with everything they had as they had to create extra siege weapons and waste more woods .

    Secondly, Li Ru wanted to create a false image that he did not have enough personals to attack other gates . In reality, he had already sent a fast horse to Hongnong, asking his men to dispatch an addition army to Luo Yang .

    ¡¯There¡¯s still an issue with that little girl¡¯s identity . She¡¯s Wang Yun¡¯s adopted daughter in the report, but her emergence as an immortal is unheard of . Is she the same with Zhang Tong?¡¯

    An uneasy feeling crept through Li Ru¡¯s mind . There were so many reports about the supernatural phenomenon and the rumors about identities of several immortals in various forces . The event this morning was also real as he directly experienced it .

    ¡¯That earthquake and shattering sky are ominous signs . Something is very wrong with this country, or could it be that the girl will bring the cmity to us all . ¡¯

    ¡¯No matter what she is . We¡¯ll capture her and kill her! Everything will be solved once she¡¯s dead!¡¯

    ...

    ...

    December 1st, 182 A . D .

    6 AM .

    Liu Yu and his men stared at sunrise with blood-shot eyes . They had not slept all night as Li Ru¡¯s 10,000 soldiers kept shouting and drumming non-stop . Moreover, the trebuchet barrages kept them on their toes as sometimes the trebuchet stonesnded on top of the wall, killing or injuring the garrison soldiers .

    However, in the end, Li Ru did not siege the wall during the night .

    The 10,000 troops, who had stayed and shoutedst night, withdrew . As heaven had bullied them, the other 70,000 soldiers of Dong Zhuo reced the former army .

    It was then that Liu Yu realized that he had been duped .

    "This is a ploy! They¡¯re tiring us out!"

    Siege towers,dders, and more trebuchets were being pushed forward . As Liu Yu army had not dispatched the troops to defend the front of the wall, these siege weapons had no obstacle to block their path .

    "Curse you, Dong Zhuo!"

    *GONG*

    *GONG*

    *BOOM*

    The obnoxious war drums and war gongs from Dong Zhuo¡¯s side resounded again . Hua Xiong, who had a good night sleep, woke up and led his men forward .

    The siege battle continued .

    Ten siegedders and towers were being pushed forward, escorted by shieldsmen and other infantries .

    Liu Yu did not have catapults, ballistae, or repeating crossbows as Tong had . His troops used fire-arrows against the iing siege weapons to destroy the iing towers . They managed to burn two of the siegedders down, but the other eight reached the wall and became the foothold for Dong Zhuo¡¯s men .

    Ten siege towers also got into the position . Archers on the towers began shooting arrows at the defenders on the wall .

    Seeing that the siege went well, Hua Xiong turned to Li Ru to ask for his opinion .

    "Do you want to finish it today?"

    Li Ru shook his head, "No . I want to demoralize their men . I want the empress to surrender, so we can reduce our casualties . We¡¯ll still have to deal with other lords after we upy Luo Yang . "

    "Hmm, sounds difficult . "

    "It is difficult . We¡¯re going to need all soldiers from the west to gather in the Capital after this . "

    Li Ru looked back at the stationary siege weapons that they had yet to push to the frontline . Forty siege towers and siegedders were still there as well as several trebuchets . He fell into deep thought as he simted battle scenarios .

    Hua Xiong, on the other hand, began stretching as if he was warming up before an exercise .

    "Since you want to save soldiers, I¡¯m going to exercise for a bit . I¡¯ll be back in a minute . "

    Li Ru rolled his eyes, "Suit yourself . "

    ...

    Liu Yu Army was in a tough spot situation . The enemies kept pouring from the siegedders while the archers from the siege towers kept maiming his archers on top of the wall .

    "C-C-n head! This is not good . We¡¯ll be overrun at this rate . We have to destroy the towers!"

    Liu Yu¡¯s subordinates were in a panic . As civil officers who had never experienced a massive scale war, they could not handle the pressure .

    As for the n head himself, hisplexion was pale, and sweat could be seen everywhere on his skin . He was nervous to the point that he wanted to scream .

    "Open the gate and send the troops out! Destroy those towers!"

    "Y-Y-Yes, sir! Good idea, sir!"

    The gate slowly opened, and a battalion of 5,000 troops rushed out . They immediately destroyed the soldiers in front of them, which cleared a path for the following men .

    As the nearby attacking soldiers concentrated on the top of the wall, they were caught off guard and killed before they could react . The counter-troops managed to destroy one siegedder within a few minutes .

    "I-It¡¯s working! It¡¯s working!"

    Liu Yu¡¯s subordinates were ted . However, Liu Yu was still nervous .

    ¡¯There is still that cavalry unit ...¡¯

    Just as Liu Yu was afraid about the particr cavalry unit, which decimated most of his troops yesterday, Hua Xiong led his 5,000 heavy cavalries and charged at the sortieing soldiers .

    "Archers! Aim at the horsemen!"

    As he feared, Hua Xiong appeared again . The remaining archers on top of the wall heeded hismand and fired their arrows at the oing horsemen . They managed tond a few hundred arrows on the armored soldiers, but they could not stop their charge .

    *BANG*

    The charge connected and both battalions crashed upon each other . Though the number was almost the same, the quality of soldiers and their roles were totally unmatched .

    The heavy cavalry unit of Hua Xiong massacred Liu Yu¡¯s sortie troops within five minutes, leaving no one alive . To make the garrison soldiers more vexing, Hua Xiong nced at the garrison soldiers on the wall and made a cut-throat gesture with his thumb .

    Hua Xiong ignored the still-wide-open gate and retreated back to the main army . He knew that charging into the city right now was a bad move as there could be ambushes inside the city .

    Liu Yu and the other officers could only watch them leaving as they were powerless against these cavalries . Feeling helpless, Liu Yu ordered .

    "Close the gate . Concentrate on the defense . "

    "Y-Yes, sir!"

    ...

    6 PM .

    *GONG*

    Dong Zhuo Army hit the war gong with a signal to retreat, and all remaining siege towers anddders were pulled back from the wall . The invading soldiers, who were still on top of the wall, rushed back to thedders, withdrawing from the fight .

    Liu Yu shouted and ordered the pursuit to eliminate all retreating troops on the wall . However, the soldiers had not sleptst night, and they had been fighting for the entire day . Some of them had not eaten anything since the morning . They did not have any strength left even to run .

    The battered soldiers copsed and lied on top of the wall, ignoring the dead bodies beside them .

    Liu Yu also exhausted from watching over the battlefield and constant issuing orders . He whispered the lieutenants to fetch food for the garrison soldiers .

    One hourter, the garrison soldiers managed to catch their breath and had a meal after the long day . After they finished eating, they copsed on the ground and fell asleep on the open field .

    Liu Yu watched them with a bitter smile . He got up from his seat on top of the wall and nned to visit Wang Yun and Diao Chan to check their condition .

    *BOOM*

    *GONG*

    The war drums and war gongs from Dong Zhuo¡¯s side resounded again . The 10,000 soldiers fromst night reappeared along with siege weapons .

    Liu Yu re at this troops with hatred . Thinking about what had happenedst night, Liu Yu groaned .

    "The same tactic won¡¯t work twice! You think I¡¯ll fell for it again?"

    Liu Yu ignored the troops in front of him and left the seat, heading back to rest .

    However,

    *RUMBLE*

    The 10,000 soldiers pushed their siegedders and siege towers forward . Trebuchets also began firing stones to the top of the wall .

    They were not feinting an attack this time .

    "SHAAA!"

    "KILLLL!"

    Unhindered by the defending troops, the siegedders and towers reached their position in no time .

    Liu Yu finally realized that he had been duped by Li Ru¡¯s stratagem .

    In despair, he shouted, "DAMNIT! TO ARMS! WE¡¯RE UNDER ATTACK AGAIN!!"

 Chapter 230

    Chapter 230

    Chapter 230 ¨C The Fall of Luo Yang

    December 2nd

    5 AM .

    The night attack ended as Dong Zhuo¡¯s men withdrew from the battle before the sunrise . From the initial number of 10,000 soldiers, they returned with 6,000 men, which was on a high ratio as they went against the defenders with more troops .

    On the other hand, Liu Yu and his army suffered a disastrous blow in the night siege . His soldiers had been fighting for two nights without sleeping, so their physical and mental strength was at the lowest . Their morale was at the abyss while the attackers were elites and fresh .

    Even a rookie in a battle could tell the oue .

    *BOOM*

    *GONG*

    The war drums resounded again as the main army of Dong Zhuo returned after a good night rest .

    Liu Yu, who had ck bags under his eyes, watched the iing troops in despair . He had believed that with a simr number of soldiers, he could have won the defensive battle with ease . He had not thought that there was this kind of tactic, not allowing them to rest for a night .

    "C-n head . Let¡¯s surrender . We can¡¯t fight like this . "

    Listening to his lieutenants, Liu Yu turned to check his subordinates . Sure enough, his men¡¯s could barely stand at this point . If they insisted on fighting for another day, they would have been wiped out .

    "Raise the white gs and open the gate . Also sent someone to inform Wang Yun and his daughter . Tell them to get out of the pce as quickly as possible . Have them exit the east gate, so they can escape from Dong Zhuo . "

    Liu Yu¡¯s lieutenants breathed out a sigh of relief as they did not have to fight this hopeless battle anymore . Only less than 20,000 soldiers were remaining in the city, including militia reserves . On the other hand, Dong Zhuo Army had lost less than 40,000 soldiers since the first day of the battle .

    The massive casualty in these two days battle was heartbreaking .

    "What about you, sir?"

    "We¡¯ll head out to surrender," Liu Yu sighed, "We shall face our fate as losers . "

    ...

    Wang Yun was watching the battle from afar . It was not hard for him to see the soldiers on the wall waving white gs .

    "Two days . We can only hold for two days . "

    Wang Yun was not angry at Liu Yu for surrendering as he had received the reports about the night assault and the fake assault from his men . It was understandable for Liu Yu to lose this fight since his troops had not slept for two days straight .

    "Go and begin packing food and water . Leave unnecessary things behind . We¡¯ll escape from the city as soon as possible," Spoke Wang Yun .

    He rushed back to the inner pce and carried the unconscious Diao Chan with him . Because he did not know about the Imperial Seal and Emperor Sword, Wang Yun left the pce with only a few bodyguards and food supplies, leaving treasures inside the Capital .

    Wang Yun had not realized this yet . One of his subordinates packed the edict, which Diao Chan had forged about herself being the sessor of the throne, along with the food supplies .

    This person was a spy of the Xun family of Xuchang . He was nning to bring this family to his lord¡¯s territory .

    ...

    Hua Xiong and Li Ru led their soldiers forward to meet with the representative of the defenders . As they had expected, Liu Yu showed up along with his subordinate officials .

    The face of Liu Yu revealed his weakened condition . Meanwhile, Hua Xiong and Li Ru looked as healthy as ever .

    "You looked terrible . Have you slept wellst night?" Li Ru sarcastically asked Liu Yu .

    The questioned loser did not answer the winner . Liu Yu knelt and cupped his fist .

    "We wish to surrender to Lord Dong Zhuo . I hope you can spare my men . "

    Li Ru nodded, "Good decision . Disarm your troops and guide them in front of the gate . If I see any soldier in the city, I¡¯ll treat it as you¡¯ve fooled me and I¡¯ll burn the city down!"

    Liu Yu bowed . He slowly turned to his subordinate to ry the order .

    One hourter .

    All surviving garrison soldiers took off their weapons and armors . They obediently formed a square formation in front of the wall .

    Meanwhile, Dong Zhuo also arrived at the front of the gate .

    After he had suffered the mental attack by Diao Chan, he had been bed-reddened up till now . Hearing the news that Liu Yu had surrendered, he rushed here hoping to punish the little girl that scared him .

    "Where¡¯s Wang Yun and that little wench!?" Dong Zhuo roared at Liu Yu, who was tied and knelt on the cold ground .

    Liu Yu shook his head, "She has been unconscious since the day we started fighting . Wang Yun went back with her, and I haven¡¯t heard about them since . "

    "Where is she carried to?"

    "The inner pce . Her room is there . "

    Dong Zhuo snorted, "Hua Xiong! Take your men and storm the pce! Kill everybody in there beside women!"

    Hua Xiong cupped his fist and left with his troops, leaving Li Ru, Dong Zhuo, and the prisoners .

    "And these fools!" Dong Zhuo red at Liu Yu and the surviving soldiers, "Kill them all!"

    Li Ru frowned as he disagreed with this action .

    "My lord, Liu Yu is the n head of the Imperial family . Killing him is like dering a rebellion against the Han Court . All loyalists will resent you for this . "

    Dong Zhuo peered at Li Ru for a minute, "We have already crossed the line . No need for fa?ade anymore . Kill everyone!"

    Li Ru slowly exhaled as this was not what he had in mind . If they took action asmanded by Dong Zhuo, the repercussion by the other lords would be severe . All governors in this country would band together to get rid of Dong Zhuo .

    Despite his disagreement, Li Ru bowed and confirmed the order to his soldiers . He returned to Liu Yu¡¯s side and whispered to him .

    "I¡¯m sorry . I¡¯ve tried to save you . "

    A bitter smile appeared on Liu Yu¡¯s face . He nodded, "I understand . Please finish it in one blow . "

    The prisoners of war were carried away one by one . Soldiers with sharp de arranged them in rows as they began beheading the surrendered soldiers .

    Liu Yu¡¯s subordinates and soldiers cried and begged to spare their lives, yet the executioners ignored their pleas andpleted their jobs . They also wanted to save these poor people, but they could not as Dong Zhuo was ring at them . Disobeying his order would spell death to them as well .

    The fat lord watched the execution in glee . Several female ves that Dong Zhuo brought with him brought wine and fruits to serve their master .

    Dong Zhuo was sitting on the prepared seat as he enjoyed watching the cry of the prisoners .

    "This is boring . Wenyou, stop!"

    "My lord?"

    "Don¡¯t behead them! Instead, I want you to gorge their innards and hang their head with their own intestines on the wall!"

    The ves and Li Ru sucked in cold breath as themand was too gruesome .

    "My lord, it takes manpower and ..."

    "DO AS I SAID!"

    Li Ru gulped and bowed . He returned to the side of Liu Yu and drew his sword . He hoped that at least he would secretly kill Liu Yu and free this n head from Dong Zhuo¡¯s sadistic torture .

    "Hey, Wenyou! Leave that guy for thest! I¡¯ll use another way to kill him!"

    Li Ru bit his lower lips and gazed at Liu Yu to gesture his apology .

    Liu Yu noticed it and nodded . He red at Dong Zhuo before he shouted .

    "Traitor Dong! You may have stolen the Han Dynasty, but you will never im my life!"

    Liu Yu proceeded to bit his tongue with his front teeth . The sharp sensation of pain rushed down his nerve to his brain, and the excruciating pain shocked his body, which made it spasmed .

    Liu Yu fell unconscious . The shock did not stop at making his brain shutting down . His blood cirction system also suffered from the nerve-shock, and the heart stopped beating .

    Li Ru had expected this, so he touched Liu Yu¡¯s neck to feel his pulse . No pulse could be felt on this body anymore .

    "My lord, Liu Yu hasmitted suicide . He¡¯s dead . "

    "Of course, I can see that! FOOking coward . Get rid of his body!"

    ...

    Dong Zhuo and his men entered the city in the afternoon, three hours after they had finished dealing with the surrendered soldiers .

    The fat tyrant did not care about the dead soldiers on both sides . On the contrary, he was d that annoying people were gone, and he could move his base into this city .

    "Good riddance! We can finally get a proper base for my paradise!"

    Dong Zhuo fantasized of having a country full of beautiful girls for himself . He gazed into a distance while he was drooling andughing .

    Meanwhile, Li Ru peered at the east gate with a frown . It had been a long time since Hua Xiong entered the pce, yet he had not returned with the news about Diao Chan and Wang Yun .

    Li Ru was thinking if Wang Yun and Diao Chan were to escape from the city when Liu Yu was surrendering, they should have left via the east gate .

    "My lord, we should dispatch our troops to secure Ho Pass . Since we have taken the city, we should secure the garrison troops at the pass and replenish our elite legions . "

    "Huh? Why not conscripting soldiers from the civilians? Is there something important over there? I thought it was just an ancient gate?"

    "It¡¯s a strategic location to defend Luo Yang from invaders, my lord . Also, we should gather our reserve troops from the west in Hongnong, so we can have an exit n if Yuan Shu of Wan were to try anything funny down south . "

    "Why should they do that? Once I¡¯m the Emperor! They are the one that has to bow to me, or their nine generations will be traitors . "

    Li Ru¡¯s corner of his mouth twitched, "My lord, being prepared won¡¯t hurt us . It might be annoying to you, but for your subordinates, it¡¯s a necessary procedure . "

    Li Ru gave up trying to exin his reasons to Dong Zhuo . His lord¡¯s temperament was as terrible as a teenager in puberty . His skills and leadership might be useful when he was at the border as he was a cunning general, but his ability to foresee the future was limited .

    Exining to this narrow-minded fatso would be a waste of time .

    Dong Zhuo¡¯s reputation was terrible to begin with after the deeds in Henei . From today onward, everyone would deem Dong Zhuo as a traitor or a rebel, which had to be eradicated .

    Dong Zhuo¡¯s status was now simr to Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong, and they were at risk of being preyed by the neighbor lords!

    ¡¯I should have chosen to serve a different lord . This idiot fatty is too lusty to the point that he doesn¡¯t care about the future . If it weren¡¯t because of his generous wage, I would have quit a long time ago . ¡¯

    "My lord, can you give me yourmand tokens? There are too many things that I have to do in our new city . It will waste your precious time if I keep bothering you every time if I need to do something . "

    Dong Zhuo nodded, "Right, I¡¯ll get annoyed if that happens . Here, take all the tokens and do what you want . Make sure you take the female ves from our home here . I¡¯ll go scout for a good maid in the pce to bed me tonight!"

    Speechless, Li Ru took allmand tokens and left .

 Chapter 231

    Chapter 231

    Chapter 231 ¨C Diao Chan and Cao Cao

    Wang Yun and his bodyguards had left Luo Yang three hours ago . They parted from the east gate, heading toward the direction of Ho Gate .

    Wang Yun nced at his adopted daughter with a deep frown . She was still sleeping peacefully .

    "We¡¯re out of the Capital . You can stop pretending sleeping now . "

    Hearing the words of Wang Yun, Diao Chan¡¯s eyes snapped open . She sat up as if she had never been sick .

    "Situation?"

    Wang Yun shook his head, "As you have predicted, Liu Yu lost . Still, they managed to wither down Dong Zhuo Army somewhat . "

    "That¡¯s good enough . One of the three Liu is finished, and they have served their purpose . "

    ...

    The day after Diao Chan had gained her consciousness, she advised Wang Yun and forced him to follow her n .

    The n was immoral and sinister . She wanted to betray Liu Yu and make both Dong Zhuo and Liu Yu killing each other while they escape from the capital city .

    Diao Chan had held Wang Yun by her side, not allowing him to assist Liu Yu in the battle . In addition, she faked illness that she had not regained her conscience after the day she had copsed to give Wang Yun an excuse to stay behind . As they stayed behind, they could to flee from the Capital when the time was right .

    Wang Yun was not satisfied by her goal, so he bickered with her for a while .

    "What are you going to do with other governors and lords after the war? Do you have to confidence that you can control them after you experienced what those officials did with their private soldiers?"

    Wang Yun swallowed his words . Had they won the battle, their military power would have been crippled, and they would also have had to deal with the remnants of Dong Zhuo Army at Hongnong, Tianshui, and other cities in the west .

    He and Liu Yu would have faced a dead-end as they would have been surrounded by enemies by all sides . Yuan Shu of Wan was ambitious . Dong Zhuo¡¯s remnants controlled the west . The north had the rebel army . Dangerous warlords were everywhere!

    Realizing what awaited them if they were to win, Wang Yun followed Diao Chan¡¯s suggestion, betraying the Han Dynasty and Liu Yu to make Dong Zhuo win .

    ...

    "What¡¯s next, little girl?" Wang Yun asked .

    "Now that Dong Zhuo took over Luo Yang, he will find the Imperial Seal and Emperor Sword I have left behind and abused them . Once the words get out, all lords will naturally desire them and wage war on Dong Zhuo . We will simply spread the words to other officials in all cities in the central in . Then, we watch the chaos, and let those greedy politicians kill each other to thest man . "

    Wang Yun widened his eyes when he heard that the Imperial Seal was still in the Capital .

    "You ..."

    "It¡¯s nothing but an object that arouses greed and desire . Keeping it with us on this trip will bring us death . Leave them behind, and Dong Zhuo¡¯s eyes will be elsewhere . "

    Thinking about the future n that Diao Chan exined to him, Wang Yun sighed .

    "So, we¡¯re heading to Xuchang?"

    "Yes, we will resupply at Xuchang, but we¡¯ll have to keep moving east to avoid the conflicts for now . "

    ...

    ...

    A dayter .

    Just as Diao Chan had predicted, Dong Zhuo¡¯s men found the Imperial Seal and delivered it to their lord .

    Receiving the dragon jade seal and the Emperor Sword, Dong Zhuoughed .

    "Wenyou! Draft me an edict! Make it so that I will be the next Emperor!"

    Li Ru was shocked by the order and the Imperial Seal . At first, he was reluctant to allow Dong Zhuo to im the throne without proofs of the seal and the abdication edict from the previous emperor . However, with the seal, they could forge the documents and make them more believable .

    The two became engrossed to the preparation and disregarded the escaping Diao Chan and Wang Yun .

    "We¡¯re not looking for them anymore?" Hua Xiong asked Li Ru .

    "Just go with your men and take Ho Gate . If you find them, then it¡¯s all good . If you can¡¯t, just leave them be and protect the gate . They don¡¯t have the Imperial Seal or any proof of their identity . Those two can¡¯t do anything to us now . "

    Hua Xiong shrugged, "Alright, at my casual pace it is . "

    ...

    ...

    December 14th .

    The small caravan of Wang Yun and Diao Chan went through Ho Gate and headed southeast . They reached Xu Chang City without a pursuit from Dong Zhuo¡¯s forces .

    Xu Chang Commandery was a city with poption and city size rivaling the capital city, Luo Yang . This was also the future capital city of Wei during the Three Kingdoms Era as it had the most developed domestic and infrastructures during the time .

    Simr to Luo Yang, the wall of Xu Chang was over ten meters in height . The massive span of the wall intimidated all bandits around the areas as it hinted everybody that "I¡¯m a tough nut to crack . Try me if you dare!"

    As the caravan was approaching the gate to the check-point, Wang Yun was surprised when they reached Xu Chang City gate . There was a group of noble schrs waiting for them .

    "These people are?" Wang Yun was baffled by the reception .

    A handsome schr stepped forward and bowed politely to greet them .

    "Wee to Xuchang, Chancellor Wang . My name is Xun You from the Xun family . We¡¯re here to escort you and Her Majesty . "

    "The Xun family?"

    Wang Yun had heard about this family . It was a prominent family with many talented schrs, which several of members in this family held various posts around the country for ages .

    Oddly enough, the Xun Manor of the main branch located in Xuchang, but they refused to govern this gigantic city . All of them either served other lords or became prefects of small counties instead .

    "Wait, you knew about our status?"

    Xun You nodded as he whispered, "It¡¯s inconvenient to speak here . Please follow us to our manor first . We¡¯ll talk in private . "

    The group entered the city and proceeded to the high-ss resident area . It did not take long for them to enter the biggest manor in this wealthy zone .

    Wang Yun nced around and bit his lower lips .

    ¡¯As expected of a talented family . They should havepletely controlled this city already . What is their purpose?¡¯

    Wang Yun and Diao Chan left the caravan and were escorted into the main building . In there, several men stood in lines as if they had an assembly in the government hall .

    The two were guided to the main seat of the hall instead of sitting on the guest chairs . Xun You allowed Diao Chan to sit on the center seat and gave Wang Yun a seat beside her .

    As both of them seated, Xun You bowed at the two .

    "My apologies for escorting both of you here . This city has many noble families, so sensitive news cannot be discussed outside . "

    "It¡¯s understandable . But, how did you know?"

    Xun You smiled and shook his head, "It is not my family or me that knew about you . It is the gentleman over here . "

    Xun You stepped back, allowing the other man in a blue schr robe to stand in the middle of the hall .

    He was a man with sharp eyes and a serious expression . Wang Yun also recognized him as well .

    "Mengde!"

    Cao Cao, or Cao Mengde, was standing before them .

    "Long time no see, senior Wang . I hope you don¡¯t mind that I¡¯ve dragged you here . And also, it¡¯s good to see that you¡¯ve recovered, Your Majesty . "

    Diao Chan, who had been silent for all these times, red at Cao Cao .

    "I don¡¯t like being in a roundabout . What are all of you nning?"

    Cao Cao had a faint smile on his face, "Simr to Your Majesty . At least, I¡¯m trying to end the chaos, but it seems that you want all warlords to fight each other to the death . You even backstabbed Liu Yu and left him to death . Isn¡¯t it improper for the empress of the country?"

    Wang Yun and Diao Chan were bbergasted . The n about having all warlords fighting each other was never discussed or revealed to anyone . How did this person know?

    "If you¡¯re thinking how I learned about it, the answer is your escort bodyguards . My intelligence agents have been monitoring the Capital for several years . Even your forged edict is in my hand . "

    Cao Cao opened his palm in gesture, and one of Wang Yun bodyguard passed Cao Cao the edict scroll that Diao Chan had forged .

    "I have to admit that it¡¯s an ingenious n to steal the throne from that ipetence Liu Ping . Unfortunately, had you taken it for the ethical reasons, I would have mobilized my army to assist you in the previous fight with Dong Zhuo . Really unfortunate ..." Cao Cao spoke as he read the scroll .

    Diao Chan took a deep breath, "Since you knew everything and guided us here, what do you want?"

    Still reading the scroll, Cao Cao answered, "A cooperation proposal . Well, simr to what you proposed to Dong Zhuo . I¡¯ll allow you to be the empress, but I want the Prime Minister position in the Court . Of course, I¡¯ll control everything, military, and domestic affair . "

    "You want to use me as a puppet?"

    "Not exactly . I need a cause to unify the country again, so you¡¯ll be an idol for the country while I do all the work . What will you do? Assist me, or help me?"

    Diao Chan deepened her re, locking her killing intent on Cao Cao .

    "You don¡¯t afraid that I will betray you as I did to Liu Yu?"

    Cao Cao shrugged andughed as if the killing intent did not affect him, "A true man beds all married women . The true man among true men won¡¯t be afraid of a nibble of a little girl!"

    Staring at Cao Cao for a while, Diao Chan collected her thought .

    ¡¯He¡¯s different from the otherworld¡¯s history . At this time, he should have either been in the Capital with He Jin or joined with Zhang Miao in Chenliu . But he changed his ns and moved to Xuchang and recruited the Xun family before he did in the other world . ¡¯

    ¡¯He¡¯s aiming for something else other than the unification!¡¯

    Finished gathering her thought, Diao Chan probed Cao Cao .

    "Do you know about the identities of otherworlder?"

    "Ah, I do . You are one of them as well, no?"

    "Yes . How much do you know about them?"

    Cao Cao squinted his eyes . He stopped smiling and asked back, "Tell me what you know first, and I¡¯ll tell you what I know . Extorting information from me is impossible .

    Diao Chan harrumphed . She thought about it for another minute and revealed all identities about the surviving otherworlders to Cao Cao, except Tong, Friday, Hua Shi, and Li Feihong .

    She also sneaked a nce at her status menu .

    The number of survivors was now [6:6] from [6:4] as Liu Yang and Diao Chan had been added to the list .

    ...

    ***************************

    **Status**

    Name: Diao Chan

    Age: 6

    Lifespan: 7,171,030 Years

    ***************************

    ...

    Her lifespans had not been erased or reset from Lilim¡¯s nerf . It was fortunate for her that she had drained life essence from more dead bodies before all wings and her power were erased .

    Meanwhile, Cao Cao wasparing Diao Chan¡¯s information with his intelligence reports .

    ¡¯Her intel has more info than what I have, but she doesn¡¯t know about Zhang Tong and his followers . She didn¡¯t pay attention to the rebels?¡¯

    Cao Cao resumed his faint smile and told Diao Chan about his knowledge about otherworlders . He included the names of Tong¡¯s allies in it to probe Diao Chan .

    ...

    While both Cao Cao and Diao Chan were exchanging information, a pair of eyes were watching them without blinking .

    Xun You, the schr that escorted Wang Yun and Diao Chan here, was recording all information in his brain .

 Chapter 232

    Chapter 232

    Chapter 232 ¨C Lamia Step

    December 15th, 182 A . D .

    Julu City became lively today as a new public school was built .

    Lu Zhi, who came back from the tough journey along with his family and Zhou Cang, returned to Julust month . Upon returning, he visited Zhang Jiao and requested a permission to open a public school inside the city .

    Zhang Jiao and Tong agreed . Thus, a new construction project, which had begunst month, finished today .

    Lu Zhi had used his connection with Sima Fang and other schrs in this city to recruit workers in this school . He aimed to teach Tong¡¯s soldiers first, so at least they could read and write reports without relying on others .

    Zhou Cang ended up being epted by Lu Zhi the first student of this new school, which he bragged about it for days with his colleagues . As a result, more soldiers sent petitions to join this newly found academy as well .

    "Baldy! Look at what you have done! I haven¡¯t announced the opening date yet, why are you recruiting so many students and made them waiting in front of the gate!?"

    "Uncle Lu! I didn¡¯t recruit them! I¡¯m just guiding them her to admire the new building!"

    "Admire? Then, why are they carrying brushes and ink stones!?"

    Lu Zhi was scolding Zhou Cang while the otherughed as if he was a naughty child .

    Tong was surprised by the closeness between Zhou Cang and Lu Zhi . It was as if they were brothers or friends for years . After a rough investigation, Tong understood what had happened to them .

    "They went through a life-and-death battle together, huh . "

    The bonds ofrades, who survived a tough battle together, was as strong as brothers with the same mother . It seemed that Tong did not have to worry about these two .

    Seeing the chaotic scene between his mentor and the new students, Tong left them alone as he had another task to inspect .

    The steelmaking project!

    Because of the recent war, the steel manufacturingpetition was dyed . In addition, the city had run out of iron and coal as they temporarily lost the supply from Jinyang during the war .

    Although theycked the resources, one cksmith shop managed to produce steel ingots from the limited iron and coal .

    Tong was in front of the cksmith shop to bestow the rewards to the makers of these metals .

    The cksmith rushed out to wee the young master of the city with his family in a frantic .

    "Great Immortal! Thank you foring!"

    Tong¡¯s face twitched, hearing the name .

    ¡¯I thought everybody stopped calling me that . It seems the soldiers in my army spread the rumor again . ¡¯

    Tong gave up trying to suppress the rumor that he started during his immature days . He continued his inspection job .

    "As promised, I¡¯ll bestow you gold and a noble status as your reward for the achievement . "

    Tong gestured his soldiers, who carried boxes of gold nuggets to the cksmith .

    "B-But we¡¯ve only made these [Steel] ingots . We haven¡¯tpleted a single armor yet!" The honest cksmith protested .

    Tongughed, "It doesn¡¯t matter . You¡¯vepleted it first, so it¡¯s yours . If you want to repay me for this, share your knowledge about the steel to the other cksmiths and make me armors . The government will buy your wares . "

    "Thank you, great immortal!"

    ...

    Tong spent three hours discussing the steel property, armor design, and weapon order . He wanted a new personal weapon that could be used in the next battle .

    In the end, Tong ced an order for a de as it consumed less steel than other types of weapons . Besides, the cksmiths had no experience dealing with steel, so it would take them some times before they could work with them efficiently .

    "Alright, let¡¯s return . All of you head back first . I¡¯ll go to the training field . "

    Tong excused his bodyguards and began warming up his feet . He took off his boots and wiggled his feet fingers . The underfoot of Tong had many cut scars and blistered, yet Tong moved around as if he did not feel the pain . Within the hardened sole skins, traces of soft green scales hid from the sight of other people, only Tong and his wives knew about it .

    ¡¯Lamia Step, casual pace . ¡¯

    The sole under Tong¡¯s feet hardened and excreted murky substances, making his feet slippery . The two legs and knees moved as if he was ice-skating on the stone road . With one step, Tong managed to travel two and a half step .

    This was the result of the training with Friday for two weeks . He managed to learn the footwork technique that could be used in the crowded area, which would be useful in battlefields .

    However, in the term of mastery, he was considered a newbie as he could use one kind of all movements .

    ¡¯Slither forward and slide ... eh? Brake! Brake! Brake!¡¯

    A minute after the casual skating, he ran to the wall .

    ¡¯Aw, dammit . How did she do it again? Use the fingers to brake and the heel to steer?¡¯

    Ten minutes after bare-feet-skating and hitting the wall, he returned to the training ground where Friday and Hua Shi were sitting and talking at the side . The two bare-under-feet leaked bloody trail as they were cut by sharp rocks and other sharp objects .

    Despite the leaking blood, Tong still did not show a sign of being in pain .

    Friday turned around as she noticed Tong¡¯s arrival . She gestured Tong to walk toward her .

    "Sit on the chair and show me your feet . "

    Hua Shi stood up and gave Tong her chair, which Tong sat down and showed his wives the wounds .

    Hua Shi licked her lips as she smelled the iron of the blood . She reeled in her desire as she recalled that she was supposed to quit this habit .

    Friday, on the other hand, squeezed the feet to open the wound .

    "Concentrate on organizing your blood flow . Condense the blood and regenerate your lost fresh with the scales . "

    Tong nodded and closed his eyes, trying to send his conscience into the white blood cell, modifying his DNA .

    ...

    Friday gave Tong and Hua Shi a different training course to learn to manipte their demonic power and their wings .

    She taught Hua Shi the technique to summon the contracted soul of Tong inside her body and turned it into a tentacle wing . Once she mastered the technique, lifespans would not be a problem for her in the future as she could drain the life essence from any living being, dead bodies, animals, or even trees .

    As for Tong, Friday taught him her footwork [Lamia Step] .

    Tong had to learn how to manipte his blood cells, his fresh tissues, alter his DNA, and control the inner parts of his body . Since he had a bit of experience of separating his conscience into his demon souls, Tong learned the basic of it in three days .

    The next part of the training course was a torture . Tong had to cut his soles and constantly regenerate back his fresh tissues, blood, and blood vessels manually without relying on the system skills .

    The purpose of the cut and regenerate was to mutate the DNA in the human body, so Tong could perform a skill that onlymias could do .

    ...

    One hourter .

    Tong sat still with his eyes closed, and his cloth was soaked with his sweat . Manual controlling millions of the blood cells was a tedious task . However, the reward from the hard work was tremendous .

    Friday sat in silence, observing the feet of Tong .

    At the morning of Today, she remembered that there were five or six blisters that resembled snake scales . Now, the blisters increased, and there were more scales within the inner tissues of the soles .

    "Okay, stop . That¡¯s enough for today . "

    Hearing the instruction of his wife, Tong exhaled and leaned his back on the chair . The wounds on his feet were now closed, but the fresh under his feet was not something of a human body anymore . Everything was covered with blisters and scales .

    "The DNA structure is a bit off . Your homework today is to inspect my blood cells again . "

    Friday concentrated her conscience into the tip of her finger . She pricked the tip of her finger with a knife and dropped her blood into a cup . It was for Tong as he required it to mimic the DNA .

    Friday did not stop there . She demonstrated the transformation of her legs, which turned the outer skins into snake scales . The surface was smooth, yet they were as slippery as oil .

    "Remember the form . Theplete form of [Lamia Step] requires this transformation . Once you have mastered it, nobody will be able to catch you in the crowded area . "

    Tong nced at the legs, then it turned into a stare . He extended his hands and touched them, feeling the skins and examining the structure of DNA with his sense .

    "The form is way tooplex, Friday . It will take decades for me to turn my legs into these . "

    Friday jolted she felt the hands of Tong moved up and down on her tights, which aroused her . She bit her lower lips, so she would not identally moan in pleasure .

    "Y-You will *ha* master t-this *gulp* in a year . *ha* . "

    Meanwhile, Hua Shi snickered as she noticed Friday¡¯s arousal stats .

    "Hey, cow-tit . Don¡¯t moan, okay? We¡¯re outdoor, and many people are watching . "

    Friday red at Hua Shi in embarrassment . Then, she gripped Tong¡¯s cor .

    "To the room, now!"

    "Umm, I don¡¯t have the [Yang Vein] skill, and we already did it for hours in the morning . I can¡¯t do it anymore today?"

    "Drink more water and squeeze it! You have learned the manual control, so control your balls and squeeze it! You can¡¯t rest until I¡¯m satisfied!"

    "W-Wait! Sunday, HEEEEELLLLPPPP!"

    Hua Shi shook her head and moved her fingers into a different direction, gesturing a Christian praying .

    "RIP"

    ...

    The scream of Tong could be heard in the central government hall, where Jia Xu, Sima Fang, Zhang Jiao, and hundreds of officials were working inside .

    Usually, they would have worried or alerted by Tong¡¯s voice . However, it became a natural urrence in the city after Tong had returned .

    Jia Xu nced at the direction of the sound and shook his head .

    "A dignified immortal on bloody battlefields, a chicken on the bed battleground . "

    Zhang Jiao chuckled by Jia Xu¡¯s remarks .

    "More wives, more children . More Tong bullying, more pregnant concubines . "

    Everyone in the hallughed while Sima Fang¡¯s face paled . He thought, ¡¯Tong haven¡¯t tough Her Majesty, right?¡¯

    As if Jia Xu could read this minister¡¯s mind, he patted the back of Sima Fang and grinned .

    "Well, don¡¯t worry . He¡¯s not the type who interests in an herbivore . Our young master has a predator¡¯s fetish . "

    "Right, sir Sima don¡¯t have to worry about Her Majesty . As long as she doesn¡¯t approach our young master, he won¡¯t touch her . "

    "Correct . There are those two tigresses in his courtyard . I doubt she can get through their defenses . "

    All officials chatted and gossiped about Tong¡¯s live in a merry mood in front of Zhang Jiao, who did not mind it .

    "Come to think of it . We haven¡¯t received a reply from sir Hua Tuo?"

    Hearing the question of the lord, they nced around and shook their head .

    "He¡¯sst seen in Xiapi like three months ago . I think he should have received our invitation, but he chose to ignore it," Sima Fang reported .

 Chapter 233

    Chapter 233

    Chapter 233 ¨C Eyeing Neighbors

    December 20th .

    Ji Commandery City .

    Liu Yan and Zou Jing listened to their scout reports from the surviving spies in Julu . The situation in Julu was not very favorable to them .

    After Jia Xu returned to the city, he began cracking down the suspicious individuals in the town, eliminating spies from various factions . All domestic management and all departments had been overhauled, and Sima Fang had been very active, arresting criminals and spies alike .

    The leak of information in Julu was being patched, and the internal system had been repaired .

    Their military development was also troublesome as they had been informed about the dealing between Jinyang and Julu about warhorses .

    And the most worrying part was the result of the recent war in Jinyang territory . The result of the battle was in their hands .

    "Is it confirm?" Liu Yan asked .

    The spy shook his head, "No, my lord . None of us can confirm about the emperor¡¯s death . Everything we knew was from the gossip of their soldiers . "

    "The status of their army? How is their current strength after the war?"

    "Rough estimation, Jinyang has 10,000 garrison soldiers, 10,000 prisoners, 50,000 cavalries under the monster Lu Bu . The total soldiers in Jinyang numbered 70,000 . Julu has 60,000bined forces of infantries and cavalries . There are more in Ye, Shangdang, and theirtest upied city Zhongshan . "

    Zou Jing and Liu Yan paled listening to the military status report . They only had 50,000 elites housing in their city . Going up against a powerhouse rebel was impossible for them now .

    "Lord, are we still going to attack the rebels?" Zou Jing asked as he could not keep his legs still . They were shaking in nervousness .

    "Any spy report from Zhongshan? How did they take the city?"

    "The Zhen family surrendered to Zhang Bao, my lord . "

    Liu Yan smashed the wooden table in front of him, "FOOking coward! They are the servants of the Han . How the hell can they surrender!?"

    "It¡¯s not that they didn¡¯t want to fight, my lord . They settled the result of the battle with a duel and gambled their fate with their representative warrior . The Zhen family sent their best mercenary into the duel, but he was killed by the rebel¡¯s representative . "

    "What¡¯s the name of the warrior from the rebel?"

    "Bo Cai, my lord . "

    Zou Jing squinted his eyes and clenched his fists . His legs had stopped shaking listening to the name of this person .

    After the Battle of Anping, Zou Jing had investigated and reevaluated of his performance and Tong¡¯s ability in the battle . The name "Bo Cai" appeared in the list of Tong¡¯s lieutenants, and he was in charge of the small cavalry unit that destroyed his trebuchet crews .

    At first, he thought that this person was just a nobody who seized the opportunity by chance . Hearing this name again, aroused his interest .

    "How was the duel? Do you have a detail?" Zou Jing asked .

    "He ... He killed the opponent in ten moves, sir . "

    Liu Yan sucked in cold breath while Zou Jing was pondering .

    ¡¯If I remember correctly, he was not a goodmander . He charged right into my spear wall formation in thest battle . Even if his martial art is good, he isn¡¯t my match in terms of armymanding . ¡¯

    Zuo Jing smiled and spoke, "My lord, this Bo Cai is not a good general, and Zhang Bao is just a peasant who happens to be there tomand troops . I believe we can exploit the rebel¡¯s weakness . "

    Liu Yan was delighted, "How?"

    "Although the rebel army has many troops in various cities, they won¡¯t be able to reinforce each other once we begin assaulting a city . Since Zhongshan is closest to us, we can seize it from the rebel and snatch it from the Zhen family . "

    Liu Yan frowned, "Won¡¯t Julu send reinforcement?"

    "Julu won¡¯t be able to support Zhongshan, my lord . I¡¯m sure that the emperor¡¯s edict and the news about the emperor¡¯s death should have reached their ears already . They will likely attack Julu to im a credit . Since Yuan Shao is known for his ambition and greed, he will want to acquire as many achievements possible in this conflict to get more promotion from the Court . Once the war with the rebel is over, they will want to expand their territory to other cities before the new emperor ascends the throne . "

    Liu Yan nodded, "Indeed, if Julu is attacked by Yuan Shao, he won¡¯t be able to send reinforcement . But that doesn¡¯t solve everything . Do you think we can defeat this Zhang Bao and Bo Cai?"

    "My lord do not need to worry . With theirmoner background, they won¡¯t have enough knowledge or skills to match us on a proper battlefield . "

    Liu Yan paused to think . After a while, he ordered, "Send our fast horse to Yuan Shao . Write a letter to propose a joint attack and have him attack Julu . We shall attack Zhongshan at spring!"

    ...

    ...

    Nanpi City, Yuan Shao¡¯s territory .

    Simr to Liu Yan, Yuan Shao intelligence agency suffered from the counter-intelligence of Jia Xu and Sima Fang . However, they also secured the vital info about Liu Ping¡¯s death and the result of the battle in Jinyang territory .

    Yuan Shao had a meeting with all of his advisors and generals . Tian Feng, Feng Ji, Te Langpu, Wen Chou, Yan Liang, Gao Lan, He Jin, and other officers were there .

    Within Yuan Shao¡¯s ranks, all officers were talented geniuses of various fields . All of them lined up in rows separately . The generals were on the left side of the hall while the civil officers and advisers were on the right .

    "Lu Bu eh? Is it possible to recruit this general? Why is this fierce general serving Zhang Jiao?"

    Yuan Shao had a hobby . He enjoyed collecting talented officers!

    Every time he heard about a young genius or a fierce warrior on a battlefield, he would not hesitate to spend arge amount of gold to take him under his wings .

    Te Langpu was part of Yuan Shao¡¯s collection as he was brought by Tian Feng .

    Hearing about Lu Bu, Te Langpu immediately stepped forward .

    "My lord, Lu Bu is not a good servant you should recruit into the army . "

    Yuan Shao and all officers stared at this neer .

    "Why?"

    "Lu Bu, Fengxian, this man is a veteran general of Jinyang . However, he is known to be temperament and won¡¯t hesitate to solve everything with brute force . I¡¯m afraid that if he were to be a part of our army, our military order might decline . "

    Listening to Te Langpu, several officers nced at Yan Liang and held theirugh .

    Among the generals of Yuan Shao, Yan Liang also had a simr trait as Lu Bu, and it was well-known in the army . Fortunately, he was a close friend with Wen Chou, who put a rein on Yan Liang every time he caused troubles in the military .

    "What are you looking at!?" Roared Yan Liang as he did not understand the hint .

    Tian Feng also nced at Yan Liang and Te Langpu . Pondering for a while, he also stepped forward .

    "I also agree with Sir Te Langpu . Taming a wild horse is like ying with a double edge sword . It can be a good weapon that can kill enemies, but it can also hurt the wielder . Right now, the Han Court has lost two emperors in a short time, so thend is in anarchy at the moment . We should not recruit an unknown outsider until the situation has calmed . "

    Every civil officer nodded in approval .

    "Shame . Then, what should we do in this situation? Does attacking Julu still have merit?"

    Te Langpu had already stepped back as he did not want to get involved in this power struggle . On the other hand, Tian Feng stayed at the center of the hall .

    "We will attack Julu City as nned . " Tian Feng suggested .

    "What about Ye City? It¡¯s a bigger imperial city . "

    "iming it will be easy, but Sun Jian has been eyeing that city after the edict of the deceased emperor . Since Ye City is unstable and requires a lot of investment and time to appease the citizens, we should leave the troublesome job to the Sun Family and focus on our speed of expansion . Julu is richer in resources, so it is more profitable in the long run to secure it before we expand to the north . "

    Yuan Shao nodded, "Policy-wise, it¡¯s understandable . Possibility wise, can we take the city?"

    "From our recent reports, Julu Army consists mainly on infantries and small units of light cavalries . The total number is roughly over 70,000 elites . If they are serious, the number should increase to 100,000 by forcefully conscripting the militias . "

    All advisors and Yuan Shao¡¯s face turned solemn . Attacking this city for resources will be difficult .

    Tian Feng had not finished yet, "Their military strategies center around their repeating crossbows, ambushes, siege weaponry, and assassination . All major battles relied heavily on Zhang Tong as he has no talented officer or a well-known strategist . From Zhang Tong¡¯s records since the Battle of Anping, Battle of Liyang, and the Ye City take-over, that youngster never participates in a direct confrontation . Every time he has no other card to y, he will employ the defensive siege tactic for the decisive battles . "

    "In another word, he is weak in the direct fight?"

    "It is likely, but I can¡¯t guarantee it . "

    "Hmm?"

    "In both battles he participated, we have the reports about him using supernatural skills, such as undying body, and conjuring items from nothingness . He also used a sorcery weapon that can spit fire and kill soldiers at a distance away . His swordsmanship should have been on Sir Wen Chou or Sir Yan Liang right now if we use the info about his improvement fromst year . "

    Wen Chou inserted, "In other words, he is not weak in a direct confrontation at all!"

    Tian Feng nodded, "In theory, Zhang Tong¡¯s best talent is the direct confrontation!"

    Everyone in the hall paused to think along with Tian Feng¡¯s logic . For someone who excelled in directbat to use ambushes and long-range weapons instead of relying on his skills, it was indeed illogical .

    "So, he is a cunning fox . "

    "Using tactics to hide his true weapon? Indeed, he¡¯s a dangerous guy . "

    "Employing the weakest strength to fool the stronger foes . A good tactic indeed . "

    All advisors thought further ahead and believed that Tong intentionally held back his true skills to fool other forces . Then, he would use his real strength on a battle where the opponent let their guard down .

    Wen Chou also frowned after listening to Tian Feng and the other officers¡¯ analytic of Tong . As a person who was acquainted with Tong, he also knew that Tong was not a weakling when it came to a direct fight .

    ¡¯I should have kidnapped him and forced him to work for usst year . ¡¯ Wen Chou regretted .

 Chapter 234 - Tian Fengs Policy

    <h4>Chapter 234 - Tian Feng''s Policy</h4>

    Chapter 234 ¨C Tian Feng¡¯s Policy

    As everybody was pondering about Tong¡¯s character and his abilities, Te Langpu secretly revealed a faint smile before he controlled his facial expression.

    ¡¯He¡¯s a fox? He¡¯s skilled in the directbat? No, he has cheats! None of you knows about the superpower of the system skills!¡¯

    Te Langpuughed in his mind.

    ¡¯Well, it doesn¡¯t have anything to do with me anymore.¡¯

    Ever since Lilith¡¯s first nerf when she limited the usage and added the expensive upkeep, Te Langpu did not hesitate to delete all of his skills. As a former president of a prominent country and an expert investor in his previous life, dealing with a setback or making a cut-loss was natural to him.

    He was satisfied with his current boon in this life.

    ...

    *******************************

    Te Langpu

    Age: 17

    Lifespan: 10,750 Years

    Shopping Pass: 0

    *******************************

    ...

    Ten thousand years to live freely in this ancient world was more than enough to make this chubby man happy.

    It did not matter to him about who would win this civil war in the end. He wanted to live afortable life as a merchant or a servant of a government to build his wealth.

    ¡¯Even if I¡¯m not a noble, I have more than enough gold to live for 10,000 years!¡¯

    In his warehouses at home, Te Langpu collected over 200,000 gold from his business and his deleted skill. An early retirement was possible for him.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll just y along with this monkey show and keep surrendering to the winner if I need to. I won¡¯t join any major sh, so I won¡¯t be noticed by the other reincarnators.¡¯

    Laughing by himself, Te Langpu continued listening to the show.

    ...

    As everybody was discussing about Tong, Yuan Shao stopped them.

    "Let¡¯s stop thinking about this youngster for now. I want to hear about the subordinates of Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong. Any intel?"

    Tian Feng recollected his thought as he always sorted his words before he spoke. Feng Ji, who had the data, quickly stepped forward to im the credit.

    "My lord, I have the information."

    Tian Feng frowned as it was not Feng Ji¡¯s duty in the intelligence field. However, he stepped down and allowed this bootlicking officer to speak. Tian Feng nned to correct the informationter after Feng Ji finished talking.

    "Speak, give me the report."

    Yuan Shao also knew about the rivalry between Tian Feng and Feng Ji. Seeing that Tian Feng stepped down, Yuan Shao secretly nodded in approval.

    They had an enemy to fight. This was not the time to quarrel with each other.

    "From MY spies, Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong call themselves [Immortal Yellow Turban]. These people wear yellow scarves and clothes as their uniform. They also use imperial armor that we traded them and also made simr armors from their cksmiths. They ..."

    Yuan Shao interrupted, "I knew all of those. I asked for their noteworthy subordinate intel. Do you have it?"

    Feng Ji repeatedly nodded, "Yes! Yes, I have. Civil officer-wise, they have employed Lu Zhi, the Minister of Writing from Luo Yang, Sima Fang, another senior officer from Luo Yang, Jia Xu, a minor officer from Luo Yang."

    "Wait, everyone is from the Capital?"

    "Yes, my lord. I¡¯m also surprised."

    "Continue!"

    "Yes, yes. There is also Ju Shou of Ye Commandery. He betrayed Han Fu and joined Zhang Jiao, but he disappeared along with the other general if our info isn¡¯t wrong. In terms of civil workers, Lu Zhi is the only threat in Julu since he is excelled at strategists and tactics. I think he was behind the stratagems behind the war with the Imperial armies."

    The eyebrows of Tian Feng twitched. The info was incorrect.

    By the intelligence his men had gathered, the chief strategist of the war was Jia Xu, the former minor official. During the few months, Lu Zhi went back to Luo Yang, but he returned to Julu after the war with his family members. It was impossible for Lu Zhi to be the leading strategist in the previous battle!

    Tian Feng withheld his words, allowing Feng Ji to continue to the end.

    "As for the military officers, there are brothers of Zhang Jiao, Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao. They went to Zhongshan with Bo Cai, another cavalry general. Aside from Zhang Tong, his wife was also listed as a general in the army."

    "What!? His wife!?"

    "Y-Yes, my lord. His wife is Hua Shi, the Goddess of Death in the Battle of Anping."

    "Ah, I remember. She¡¯s the mystic archer, right?"

    "Yes, lord. But she¡¯s already pregnant. I don¡¯t think she will be active next year."

    "Ha! This is why you never employ a female general! Continue!"

    ...

    Te Langpu cringed as he listened to Feng Ji.

    ¡¯Goddess of Death? What kind of title is that? She¡¯s just a reincarnator with cheat skills!¡¯

    ¡¯Bah, none of my business. At least I know the other identity and the location of a dangerous one.¡¯

    Te Langpu peered at his status menu at the side. The number [6:6] was there, indicating that there were eleven other reincarnators beside him.

    ¡¯Six skill users and six retirees. It was [6:4] before. Has someone just born?¡¯

    Taking a deep breath, Te Langpu controlled his temper and emotion.

    ¡¯Only six people that can threaten me. Zhang Tong and this Hua Shi should be part of those six.¡¯

    ...

    Feng Ji gulped and continued reporting, "Zhang Jiao doesn¡¯t have other general, but Zhang Tong somehow had many high-rank subordinates. He employed Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, and Zhou Cang as his subordinatemanders. Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu were once an ordinary 1,000-manmander from Dong Zhuo Army, but Tong promoted them after they moved to Julu. Zhou Cang¡¯s background was amoner with no military background. He doesn¡¯t have any other noteworthy general, my lord. That¡¯s all they have."

    Yuan Shao stared at the nervous Feng Ji in silence. Meanwhile, other officers began gossiping.

    "Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong aremoners after all. They have no talent in personnel selection."

    "That is obvious! They ughtered nobles and merchants the first day they entered the city. No good schrs or noble will serve them!"

    "They had impressive troops and records. In the end, they only relied on Zhang Tong and Hua Shi. No one else is worthy!"

    Everyone thought almost the same that all victories the Yellow Turban had up until now was credited by Tong and Hua Shi. However, Tian Feng did not think that way.

    ¡¯Lu Zhi is well-versed on both military and domestic affair. Sima Fang is a civil officer that excels at judging people. Jia Xu is a talented strategist that has already proved himself in the war. Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu are veteran soldiers from the west border. Zhou Cang and Bo Cai also baptized from the Battle of Anping!¡¯

    ¡¯What are they all thinking!? Ipetence? No talent? All of those are wrong! The Yellow Turban is a dangerous force that we can¡¯t handle alone! Why did this idiot lead them to think this way?¡¯

    Tian Feng sighed and shook his head. He nced at his lord who happened to meet his eyes.

    Yuan Shao gestured Tian Feng with his silentnguage.

    [Meet me after meeting.]

    Tian Feng was surprised, but he nodded.

    ...

    ...

    Yuan Shao postponed his decision about his stance and the military movement in spring. He returned to his room.

    As his lord had ordered, Tian Feng followed after Yuan Shao and entered his room.

    Yuan Shao turned around and sat on his chair.

    "What¡¯s your opinion?"

    Tian Feng shook his head and exined what he had thought and the other intelligence that Feng Ji missed in the reports.

    Yuan Shao listened as he massaged his temples.

    "In conclusion, we cannot fight this Julu army head-on!" Tian Feng finished his reports.

    "Are we trying to trick him into an ambush? Or should weunch a surprise attack and force him in the siege warfare?" Yuan Shao questioned.

    "That¡¯s impossible. They have two strategists, Lu Zhi and Jia Xu. We won¡¯t be able to fool or trick them into making a major mistake. Zhang Tong also likes using his repeating crossbows in ambushes, so we can¡¯t use the hit-and-run tactic either."

    "Then, what will you do if you were me?"

    Tian Feng touched his chin, "First, we will steal their technology, those repeating crossbows! As long as we have the same weapons, they won¡¯t have the range advantage. Second, we will use our neighbors to our advantage. We will send messengers to Liu Yan, Sun Jian, and Gongsun Zan to make them attack the Yellow Turban! Third, we will engage the direct battle with the units that Zhang Tong doesn¡¯t have, the heavy cavalries!"

    "First and third is doable. But manipting those three will be difficult. They should have realized that Liu Ping is already dead, and they can ignore the edict."

    Tian Feng smiled, "My lord, we have a wild card in our army. Do you forget He Jin?"

    "That useless fatso? What can we do with him?"

    "He can still be useful as a guarantor for the lost prince and his mother."

    Yuan Shao¡¯s eyes brightened as his intelligence was not much below his advisors. He muttered, "Make someone pose as Liu Xie and He Xing. We are the army that protects the true sessor of the throne!"

    Tian Feng cupped his fist and bowed with a smile, "Lord is wise!"

    ...

    ...

    Nanpi City, guest room.

    He Jin sat in his room alone lifelessly. He took a wine jar and drank it as if he was drinking water.

    Ever since He Xing slipped away from Nanpi, he was treated as a useless officer in Yuan Shao Army. The fall from the grand height of the Grand General of the Court to the ordinary errand boy of a noble family was unreal to him, so he drank away to soothe himself.

    While he was drinking, he kept cursing his sister for disobeying his orders.

    ¡¯S.l.u.t! I¡¯ve bribed all of my gold so that you became a royal concubine! It was me that helped you that you became the empress of the Han, yet you betrayed me!¡¯

    ¡¯Damnation to you and your son! Tarnation to your bloodline! You will never be able to live in peace!¡¯

    While He Jin was drunk to the point that he almost fainted, a guard knocked on his door.

    "Sir He Jin, the Lord has summoned you."

    "WHAT!?"

    In a panic, He Jin struggled to walk forward. Because of the alcohol in his cirction system, He Jin could not walk straight. He staggered to the sides and hit every furniture that was on his way to the door.

    "Tell the Lord, I¡¯ll be right there!"

    He Jin stumbled on the doorstep and fell face first on the floor.

    Beyond the door, outside of He Jin¡¯s room, Yuan Shao and Tian Feng were already there. They had a deep frown on their face the moment they caught a whiff of the alcoholic smell.

    "Make it tomorrow afternoon. Let him rest."

 Chapter 235

    Chapter 235

    Chapter 235 ¨C Annual Quest Rewards

    December 31st, 182 A . D .

    11 . 59 PM .

    Tong, Hua Shi, and Friday sat in a circle within Tong¡¯s room, waiting for the annual update from the system and rewards from the quests .

    Friday nced at the other two in envy as she wanted to form the soulmate pact with Tong too . However, Lilim ignored their request and questions, shunning them as if they never existed .

    ¡¯She¡¯s an ass,¡¯ Friday thought, ¡¯Well, I hope she continues giving us the rewards, so we can improve our faction next year . ¡¯

    Then, the clock ticked . A new day arrived .

    <ding>>

    <collecting the="" upkeeps="">>

    "..."

    Hua Shi and Tong had a ck face . Instead of rewarding them first, the automatic system took their lifespans instead . Had they been reckless and left with insufficient lifespans, they would have died right then .

    Since both Tong and Hua Shi and massive lifespan pools, they were not affected much by a few thousand years deduction .

    <evaluating your="" n="" performance="">>

    <evaluationpleted . ="" here="" is="" your="" result="">>

    <you have="" upied="" julu,="" ye,="" zhongshan,="" jinyang,="" and="" shangdang="">>

    <a total="" of="" five=""mandery="" cities="" and="" three="" other="" county="" towns="">>

    <a total="" of="" 53,000="" lifespans="" have="" been="" added="" to="" the="" n="" asset="">>

    <five shopping="" tickets="" have="" been="" added="" to="" the="" n="" asset="">>

    <continue to="" work="" hard="" next="" year="">>

    The three checked their n lifespan pool, 95,000 years of lifespans were there . There were more than enough to supply all future subordinates of the n and Li Feihong for a long time .

    ...

    ************************

    <n quest="">>

    Quest Objective: upy at least one county or a city .

    Reward:

    - 10,000 Lifespan Pool for each city upied .

    - One Shopping Pass for each city upied .

    - 1,000 Lifespan Pool for each county upied .

    - Rewards are given at the end of each year .

    ************************

    ...

    The rewards of the n quest were given annually . As long as the Yellow Turban and Tong¡¯s allies kept expanding or protecting their territories, their members would never die from theck of lifespans .

    Unless Lilim messed with them again ...

    <ding>>

    <evaluating you="" soulmate="" quest="" performance="">>

    "Here it is," Hua Shi was excited . She was expecting a massive reward as they had upied many cities than they had nned in the beginning .

    Tong was also looking forward to it . He predicted that both he and Hua Shi would receive at least 500,000 lifespans from the happy poption .

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Soulmate Mission No . 2**

    Clear Condition:

    - upied Ye City and Julu City . Other cities are optional .

    - Protect the cities from the invaders until the time limit runs out .

    - Make at least 50% of your citizens happy .

    - Zhang Tong and Hua Shi must participate in this mission together .

    Failure Condition:

    - One or more of the cities is not under your control when the time limit exceeded .

    - Zhang Tong or Hua Shi did not participate in this mission .

    Clearing Reward:

    - 100,000 Lifespans forpleting the primary objective .

    - 20,000 Lifespans for killing an enemy general .

    - 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier .

    - 10,000 Lifespans for each city controlled . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket for each city controlled . The reward is given annually .

    - One Lifespan for each happy poption each year . The reward is given annually .

    - One shopping ticket if more than half of your poption is happy . The reward is given annually .

    Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Mission Failure: Soulmate Contract will be nullified, and one of you will die .

    System Note: As usual, you have to kill the soldiers or the generals yourself to get the reward .

    *********************************************

    ...

    This quest took years toplete as they had to continue protecting the cities for another eight years, but the rewards were generous .

    Simr to the n quest, they had to protect the two key cities, Julu and Ye, so they couldplete the mission .

    <both yers="" have="" fulfilled="" all="" conditions="">>

    <a total="" of="" five="" major="" cities="" under="" the="" yers¡¯="" control="">>

    <a total="" of="" 701,600="" of="" 1,264,104="" poption="" are="" happy="" under="" your="" rule="">>

    <rewarding 751,600="" lifespans="" and="" six="" shopping="" pass="" to="" each="" yer="">>

    Hua Shi let out a muffled scream in her throat while Tong clenched his fists . They seeded .

    The rewards were worth the troubles they had gone through for the entire year .

    *******************************

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Lifespan: 859,580 Years

    Shopping Pass: 6

    *******************************

    Name: Hua Shi

    Lifespan: 824,535 Years

    Shopping Pass: 6

    *******************************

    Name: Dong Bai

    Lifespan: 768,762 Years

    Shopping Pass: 0

    *******************************

    Tong and Hua Shi¡¯s lifespans were boosted to the point that every otherworlder would be envious . Dong Bai, aka Friday, did not receive the rewards from the quest, but she could absorb life essence by borrowing Tong¡¯s tentacle wing, so she did not care much about the number .

    <the reward="" distribution="" has="" been="" finished="">>

    "Alright!"

    "WOOO!!"

    Tong and Hua Shi hi-fived together as they got the boon of this soulmate quest .

    "Before you celebrate, you should get your [Create Food] back . The donation cooldown should reset by now, right?" Friday reminded the two as she was jealous .

    Tong nced at the donation button in the menu . It was like Friday had said, the button was shing rainbow light as if it wanted Tong to donate his lifespans to the system .

    "Two chance, five skills . Wish me luck!"

    Tong rubbed his hands as he prayed . [Immortal Yang Vein] and [Create Food] were what he needed the most at the moment . As long as he regained the two skills back, the war in this year would be a-walk-in-the-park for the Yellow Turban .

    ¡¯The moment of truth . ¡¯

    Tong inserted 100,000 lifespans into the system central pool and pushed the donate button .

    <ding>>

    <you have="" obtained="" [create="" food]="" lv . 6="">>

    "FOOK YEEEEAAAAHHH!!"

    Tong screamed and ran around the room like a ser yer who had just scored a goal .

    Friday chuckled, while Hua Shi nodded .

    "We don¡¯t have to guess . He has it back . "

    "Indeed . I thought his luck was bad, but I was wrong . "

    Five minutes after the celebrationp, Tong lied down on the floor andughed, "Plot armor for the win!"

    "If you had a plot armor, Lilim wouldn¡¯t have erased your skills," Mocked Friday .

    "Hahaha! It doesn¡¯t matter! Our cities are safe . Now Tong, get back your dual-cultivation skill! Your wives want it back . "

    Tong¡¯s face darkened as he remembered that these two predators had insane stamina at night . Without the unlimited yang seeds, Tong could not oust them on the bed .

    ¡¯Dammit! Why have I trained these two to be this strong? I can¡¯t sleep soundly for a single night . ¡¯

    Despite theint, Tong also wanted the skill as he could use its regeneration ability and stamina passive buff . The dual-cultivation was also beneficial to him as he could increase skill levels of other skills .

    ¡¯Give me back my dual-cultivating power, please?¡¯

    Tong prayed as he pushed the button .

    <ding>>

    <you have="" obtained="" [sword="" mastery]="">>

    Tong sulked in the corner of the room . The goddess of luck did not favor him this time .

    "What do you get?" The girls asked him .

    "[Sword Mastery] . Sorry, no dual-cultivate for another year . "

    Hua Shi shrugged, "Too bad . But it doesn¡¯t matter, right? You can manually regenerate your seeds now . "

    "Please, Sunday . It¡¯s different from the skill . Manual-regen tires me mentally . "

    "It¡¯s part of your practice . Now that we get the skills out of the way, it¡¯s time to milk!"

    Friday nodded and began stripping Tong and tying him onto the bed . The nightlife of this mental demon family continued .

    Further details will be omitted .

    ...

    ...

    January 1st, 183 A . D .

    This year marked the year of the country-wide famine . Every city would suffer the shortage of food in this harvest season in September .

    To Tong and his affiliate cities, this problem had been solved beforehand as Tong regained his [Create Food] and his granaries had already been filled to the brim sincest year .

    The morning assembly at Julu, Jia Xu was reporting the movements of the neighbor lords .

    "Liu Yan has assembled 50,000 professional soldiers and currently recruiting volunteers . He is framing us as bandit rebels to get the people¡¯s support, so we can expect that several groups of militias will reinforce their main army once they dispatch the troops . The deployment deadline of Ji City is by the end of January, and they n to march toward Zhongshan first . "

    "Sun Jian has been requesting for supports from his lord, Tao Qian, and the neighbor lords, so reinforcements and volunteer forces from various cities are gathering inside Ganling . Thetest news from December indicated that they have 40,000 soldiers and is still increasing . From their stance, they are targeting Ye City . The dispatch date is still undecided . "

    "Yuan Shao has been sending diplomats to several lords, which the content of the negotiation is to form a coalition against us . They also n to invade Julu, and their dispatching date is set in early February . Their force number is 150,000 elites without including the drafted militias or volunteers!"

    Listening to the briefing, everybody had a solemn expression as the next war would involve three of their affiliate cities . Julu, Ye, and Zhongshan, which had to face different enemies at once .

    Zhongshan had Zhang Liang, Zhang Bao, Bo Cai, and 10,000 Yellow Turban soldiers . With the newly recruit militias and professional from the surrendered Zhen family, their number was less than 20,000 .

    Ye City was without an official governor or a trusted personal by Tong . There were 35,000 garrison soldiers housing in the city .

    Julu was Tong and the Yellow Turban¡¯s headquarter . They had 60,000 dispatchable elites and 10,000 police officers .

    ¡¯More uphill battles . These will be harder than all battles I have been through . ¡¯ Tong thought .

    As he had expanded his territories, more responsibility and troubles awaited Tong and his family members . They had yet to stabilize all cities, yet they had to repel the invaders again .

    Jia Xu continued his reports, "Another thing that we should pay attention . All three forces have already noticed Liu Ping¡¯s death, yet they still want to invade our cities . These mobilizations have nothing to do with Liu Ping¡¯s framing anymore . "

    Jia Xu paused and look at everyone inside the building .

    "This war is about n profits and fa?ade . The Han Dynasty is confirmed dead . "

    Sima Fang and Lu Zhi, who was listening to the report in the government hall, deeply exhaled as they had given up trying to protect the 400-year-old dynasty .

    Everything from this point on was about their survival in the anarchy! To survive the power struggle between all lords in this country, they had to either unify the country or solidify the foundation of their affiliate cities .

    The battle royale for the supremacy had officially begun . </you></ding></you></ding></the></rewarding></a></a></both></evaluating></ding></n></continue></five></a></a></you></evaluation></evaluating></collecting></ding>

 Chapter 236

    Chapter 236

    Chapter 236 ¨C Army cement

    Several reports about each force¡¯s power and officers piled up on the side of the government hall, turning them into a mountain of scrolls .

    Jia Xu finished his reports after a full two hours briefing .

    "That is thest report . Next, I wish to confirm the power of our force and the policies that we shall deal with these intruders . Young master Zhang, please . "

    All eyes were on Tong as they believed that Tong was the MVP of the previous war against the Imperial Army .

    In reality, Jia Xu was the biggest contributor in the previous war, yet he gave all credits to Tong and pretended that all stratagem came from the young lord instead of himself . For the sake of his career and his safety, he abandoned all fame and ambition so he could avoid all infighting between colleague workers like he did in the Capital .

    ncing at the old fox, Tong smiled wryly as he cursed Jia Xu in his mind .

    ¡¯Cunning fox! You don¡¯t want to take the spotlight, so you dump all mess on me?¡¯

    Tong sighed, ¡¯Oh well, you can clean up my mistakes after I suggest a n . ¡¯

    As Tong was about to open his mouth, the system sound rang in his ears, and the obnoxious voice ruined Tong¡¯s mood .

    [Hey, idiot demon . It¡¯s time for you to do your job . ]

    <you have="" received="" a="" mission="" as="" you="" possess="" more="" than="" one="" skill="">>

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Main Mission No . 20**

    Clear Condition: Kill Zou Jing .

    Failure Condition: You die, Zou Jing escape, or time limit exceeded .

    Clearing Reward: 10,000 years of lifespan . Bonus experiences for your active skills .

    Mission Failure: Your location will be shown on the system map to other yers for 1 year .

    Time Limit: 3 Months

    *********************************************

    ...

    Tong almost copsed on the ground as soon as he finished reading the content of the quest .

    ¡¯Zou Jing of Liu Yan? Three freaking months!? Are you kidding me?¡¯

    [If you don¡¯t want to receive more quest, make sure you delete all your skills or kill yourself . Then you won¡¯t receive anything from me again . BYE!]

    Tong gritted his teeth as his face reddened from the frustration . He was nning to lead an army to confront Yuan Shao while he let the others deal with Liu Yan and Sun Jian .

    The entire n had to be revised!

    Tong coughed and revealed the status of the armies .

    ...

    Everybody was now in front of the building and sat on thedder stand, watching the gigantic strategic map that Tong had ced several units on the board .

    With tokens and chips which represented the number of soldiers, they got a clearer picture of the situation .

    "As we can see, if the three lords decide to attack us at the same time, we won¡¯t be able to send reinforcement to other cities . However," Tong pointed at Jinyang, "Jinyang city has 70,000 soldiers, which 50,000 of them is deployable . We¡¯ll request Lu Bu and hisrades to station at Julu, so they will face Yuan Shao with us . "

    Tong ced a unit of 50,000 heavy cavalries on Jinyang . As Tong was adding the chips, the officials murmured in excitement and relief that they had backers .

    Lu Zhi and Sima Fang nodded as they were expecting no less from Tong . Jia Xu, on the other hand, raised his eyebrows and yed with his beard as if he was thinking about something else .

    "Now, about our army cement in the next battle ..."

    <ding>>

    ¡¯Huh?¡¯

    While Tong was busy exining what he was nning to do with the army, Hua Shi sent a n message .

    Hua Shi: The system gave me a forced-quest .

    Hua Shi: It wants me to kill an otherworlder!

    Hua Shi: Deadline is December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Tong gulped as Lilim messed with their lives just like when Lilith gave the first battle royale quest .

    Zhang Tong: I¡¯m meeting with everyone ATM .

    Zhang Tong: I¡¯ll do something about it .

    Dong Bai: You have 8 years .

    Dong Bai: That¡¯s plenty of times .

    Li Feihong: I also got mine .

    Li Feihong: It wants me to kill a general in Yuan Shao force .

    Zhang Tong: Does it specify who you have to kill?

    Li Feihong: Yes, Gao Lan .

    Zhang Tong: Got it . You tell Lu Bu to send reinforcement to Julu ASAP .

    Zhang Tong: If he doesn¡¯t want toe, bribe him with gold . I¡¯ll pay him after this .

    Li Feihong: Roger!

    Zhang Tong: Sir Ding Yuan, are you here?

    Ding Yuan: I heard you .

    Ding Yuan: I¡¯m busy right now . We¡¯ll take about thister today .

    Zhang Tong: Thank you .

    Li Feihong: BTW, who should I recruit into our n this year?

    Dong Bai: Get Zhang Liao .

    Hua Shi: Yeah, Zhang Liao .

    Li Feihong: Not Lu Bu?

    Dong Bai: That brute will throw a fit in this chat .

    Dong Bai: I don¡¯t want to see a troll here .

    Li Feihong: Roger!

    Tong closed the chat menu and resumed exining his ns . He began cing officer tokens on the board .

    Zhongshan City ¨C Zhang Liang, Zhang Bao, Bo Cai, Zhang Tong .

    Jia Xu squinted his eyes as he disagreed with this city cement . If it were him, he would put Tong on Julu as the Yuan Army was too formidable that required Tong¡¯s superpower to handle them .

    Julu City ¨C Lu Zhi, Zhou Cang, Xu Huang, Jia Xu, Jinyang Army .

    Murmured came from all spectator stands as they were surprised by the allocation . Aside from Zhou Cang, Xu Huang, and the reinforcement from Jinyang, there was no other marshal or a general in it .

    Sima Fang stood up to voice disagreement, "My lord, I don¡¯t think this cement is proper . Fighting against the aristocrat Yuan will require your power . Please reconsider your cement!"

    Everybody, including Jia Xu, agreed with this .

    Tong shook his head, "No need for me to handle to Yuan personally . There is one thing that all of you should know about . Within the Jinyang Army, there is another immortal that can handle this . Besides, there is that monster Lu Bu as their grandmander, so none of you should be concerned about the ability of the generals . Also, I¡¯m sure that my mentor and our strategist can oversee the army policies just fine . Can I entrust you two on this?"

    Lu Zhi touched his chin and nodded . He might look like a civil officer at a nce, but he was also well-versed in the military . Commanding an army was not a problem .

    As for Jia Xu, he snorted and showed an indifferent expression . If he wanted tomand an army, he could do it with ease . Because of hisziness, he had been avoiding these tasks for years . Moreover, he enjoyed keeping his low-profile, so he could avoid all infighting among his colleagues .

    iming too many credits and achievements could attract envy and jealousy from other co-workers .

    Sima Fang nodded and sat down . Seeing no more objection, Tong continued cing officers on the board .

    Ye City ¨C Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji, Xiao Wu .

    The crowd was astonished again . Xiao Wu, or Friday, had made a name for herself in the previous ambush against the Imperial force at Jinyang . All ambushing soldiers had witnessed her in action, which she decimated the emperor bodyguards and ultimately in Liu Ping .

    To the city workers and the military men, they saw Friday as the strongest warrior of their force .

    ...

    ¡¯Sun Jian is a well-rounded general . Using the strongest warrior against a tactical general is bad,¡¯ Jia Xu analyzed the cement in his mind .

    ¡¯But I have scouted a promising schr and put him there as temporary the deputy governor . He should be able to cover the three¡¯s weaknesses . ¡¯

    Before Jia Xu returned to Julu, he had developed a groundwork for the locals and the remaining officials in Ye City . During his stay, he noticed a talented young schr within the assistant worker department . He promoted him into a deputy governor without hesitation as he was more promising than all the bootlicking officials .

    The schr was famous in Tong¡¯s timeline as he was part of Cao Cao¡¯s advisors and was from the dominant family .

    Xun Yu!

    He was a member of the Xun House in Xuchang, which was the same family as his cousin, Xun You .

    ¡¯But that brat is a spy from the Xun House of Xuchang . I hope he won¡¯t do anything stupid for now . ¡¯

    Despite entrusting the vital job to Xun Yu, Jia Xu had not fully trusted this 20-year-old strategist yet because he knew about this family custom .

    This Xun family had a tradition of sending their members to various cities to expand their family influence as nobles . However, they forbad themselves from taking arms or establishing their army as they deemed that creating another force would disrupt the peace of the people . Instead, they tried to manipte all forces from the inside .

    As such, Xun Yu had no problem joining the Yellow Turban while he knew that his cousin joined the volunteer force of Cao Cao .

    Both of them had hidden agendas, entrusted by their family head . They were to judge the lords of each force, which they had to report the result back every month . Should any of them reveal a sign of corruption, they had to defect from the force and return to the family .

    Jia Xu knew about this fact as he dug into Xun Yu¡¯s background when he recruited this schr into the army .

    ¡¯So far, none of the key personals have embezzled the government funds or taxes yet . That Xun brat should stick with our army for a while . I hope I can drag the whole Xun family into this force to relieve me, so I can have times toze around again . ¡¯

    Thiszy old fox had simple ambitions, [Drag more talented people here, so I can bezy!] .

    ...

    "Since Hua Shi is pregnant, she won¡¯t participate in the battle . Father and Sima Fang will stay behind in Julu to maintain order . As for the troop allocation and mobilization, I¡¯ll have a meeting with the involved personals directly . "

    As Tong finished issuing the war policy, Jia Xu patted his robe and gestured Tong that he wanted to meet himter .

    Noticing the gesture, Tong tilted his head in puzzled, ¡¯He can object or advise me just now, but he chose to advise me in private? Does he want to conceal the vital information from spies?¡¯

    Tong¡¯s thought was correct . Jia Xu did not like revealing all ns to the public as every official could be a spy from another force .

    Later that day, Jia Xu visited Tong in his courtyard .

    "My lord, the general allocation is wed . I wish to suggest a few corrections . "

    Jia Xu did not waste any time as he advised Tong about the troop cement .

    Tong looked at the dolls on the strategic map with a wry smile . Jia Xu switched Tong with Lu Zhi and Zhuo Cang¡¯s position as expected .

    "To be honest, I also n to station in Julu to face Yuan Shao, but there is a circumstance that I have to fight Liu Yan personally ..."

    Tong exined about the system quest and the punishment if he were to fail the mission .

    "There is this the mandate from Heaven!?"

    "Yeah, I can¡¯t help it . "

    Jia Xu shook his head, "What a whimsical mandate . It¡¯s like they want to torture you . "</ding></you>

 Chapter 237

    Chapter 237

    Chapter 237 ¨C New n Members

    The two finished consulting . Before Jia Xu left, Tong invited him into the n as the cooldown had been reset .

    Jia Xu was amazed when the system menu appeared in front of him . As a smart man, he figured out about all functions in a few minutes .

    "I see . This is what you told me the other day in Ye . "

    "What do you think?"

    "n chat is handy! This can make a difference in battles and management! We can ry information between cities in a day instead of waiting for months! My lord, I suggest you add two people in here when you have a chance . "

    "Who do you want to invite here?"

    "Ju Shou, he¡¯s in Shangdang so he canmunicate or report the intel from Luo Yang and other cities nearby . And there¡¯s a guy I haven¡¯t introduce my lord yet . His name is Xun Yu from the Xun family . I¡¯ve put him as a deputy governor in Ye . I¡¯m sure that we can drag his entire family to serve us if he knew about the n and its function . "

    Now, it was Tong¡¯s turn to be surprised . As soon as Tong heard the name [Xun Yu], he was bbergasted .

    "You recruited Xun Yu in Ye?"

    "Do you know him, my lord?"

    "A-Ah, somewhat . He¡¯s a talented schr, isn¡¯t he?"

    "Indeed, he is thoughtful and eloquent . He¡¯s a good seed for a minister . Besides, all schr with the Xun surname is always good at domestic management and stratagems . As long as my lord can tame this family, you won¡¯t have to worry about city management ever again!"

    A wry smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face as he could not regain hisposure yet . He was ted by Jia Xu¡¯s achievement .

    ¡¯This is why Cao Cao loves talented people . They refer to each other . Now, if I can steal Cheng Yu, Xun You, and Guo Jia, Cao Cao will be powerless in the future, and I won¡¯t have to be afraid of Xiahou and Cao family!¡¯

    "My lord, can you increase my lifespans?"

    Tong snapped back from his fantasy and smiled at the old fox .

    Every mortal had a simr idea . The moment they realized that they could extend their lifespans, they would not hesitate to do it .

    "Sure . I¡¯ll give you a thousand years . Will that be enough?"

    Jia Xuughed and bowed in delight, "Of course! Will I look youthful when I receive the lifespans?"

    "I¡¯m afraid not . My father still looks the same after I gave him lifespans . "

    "Ah, a pity . Well, a beggar can¡¯t choose . A thousand year is a really long time . Hahaha!"

    ...

    Jia Xu continued asking Tong about the n quest, n chat, and about skills . In the n assets, he noticed that there were shopping tickets that Tong had not used yet .

    "What are these for?"

    Reminded by Jia Xu, Tong also checked the items . The tickets were simr to what he had, which could be used to buy items from the system shop, but the color was different . Tong¡¯s shopping ticket was white, but the n tickets were ck .

    ¡¯n shop?¡¯

    Tong checked the n menu . The icon of the n shop was still locked .

    The moment Tong tried to press the shop, the automatic system gave Tong a warning .

    <required n="" level="" 2="" to="" unlock="" the="" shop="">>

    ¡¯n Level?¡¯

    The icon in the n menu showed that the current n was level 1 .

    ¡¯What can I do to raise my n level?¡¯

    There was an [Upgrade] option in the menu, but it also had a requirement .

    <required 20="" n="" members="" and="" ten="" million="" lifespans="" for="" the="" expansion="">>

    Tong almost choked blood when he heard the system message .

    ¡¯Ten fOOking million? Seriously!? Screw it, I won¡¯t upgrade it . What¡¯s the point of upgrading the n anyway?¡¯

    "My lord?"

    Jia Xu was reading Tong¡¯s expression . Because his face changed color a few times in a short period, Jia Xu thought that Tong was experiencing something unpleasant .

    "Nothing . It¡¯s just that a function in the n will be impossible for us . "

    <ding>>

    <zhang liao="" has="" joined="" the="" n="">>

    As Jia Xu and Tong was chatting, Li Feihong seeded in getting Zhang Liao into the n .

    Li Feihong: Peace!

    Dong Bai: Great job!

    Hua Shi: Atta boy!

    "Hmm? Zhang Liao?" Jia Xu was confused by the message in his ears . It was his first time receiving a sudden announcement .

    "A new member of the n, just like you . He¡¯s a subordinate of Lu Bu, a cavalry general . "

    "Why not recruiting Lu Bu? Why a subordinate?"

    "Actually, Zhang Liao is the brain behind the Ding Yuan¡¯s Force . Lu Bu is just a brute, and his temper is a bit ... meh . Since he¡¯s best at fighting and nobody can match his strength, he gets the title of the grand general . "

    "I get the picture . A brute with no brain?"

    "Something like that . "

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, at Jinyang .

    Li Feihong was lobbying Zhang Liao and teaching him about the n menu .

    <ding>>

    <zhang tong="" has="" assigned="" 1,000="" lifespans="" to="" you="" as="" a="" gift="">>

    Hearing the system message for the first time, Zhang Liao was stunned . The system panel in front of him also revealed that he had over a thousand years to live .

    "Wow . Feihong, this secret colleague of yours is really generous," Muttered Zhang Liao, "But why me and not Fengxian? He should have the priority, right?"

    Li Feihong shook his head, "Please don¡¯t let him know about this function and the benefits yet . Our foundation has not yet solidified in the northern region, so I¡¯m afraid that Fengxian will fight with Tong for the right be the n leader if he joins us now . "

    Zhang Liao sighed, "Ah, right . He¡¯s that kind of person . But what¡¯s the point of telling him now orter? Will it be different?"

    "It will . Once Tong has firm control over the northern ins, Fengxian won¡¯t have the courage to stand on the same level as Tong because he doesn¡¯t have the same foundation and influences . For now, give Tong sometimes, so he can expand his force . We¡¯ll keep this a secret . "

    "Alright . Next year is Gao Shun, right?"

    "Yes . We¡¯ll get Lu Bu in after Gao Shun . "

    <ding>>

    Ding Yuan: Oh hey, Wenyuan .

    Ding Yuan: You¡¯re in here first, but not Fengxian?

    Ding Yuan had received the notification about Zhang Liao, so he sent n messages to ask them .

    Li Feihong: My lord, please keep this a secret from Fengxian .

    Li Feihong: Or he¡¯ll throw a fit!

    Ding Yuan: Ah, sure .

    Ding Yuan: You two,e meet meter .

    Ding Yuan: It¡¯s hard to chat like this .

    Li Feihong: Yes, my lord .

    Zhang Liao and Li Feihong nced at each other . It seemed they had a lot of exnation to do .

    As they were about to leave and visit their lord, Tong sent messages .

    Zhang Tong: Feihong, Wenyuan, senior Ding Yuan, good timing .

    Zhang Tong: Yuan Shao will invade Julu in spring, I need reinforcement from Jinyang .

    Zhang Tong: And I also need to import your warhorses, coal, and iron ores .

    Zhang Tong: My City ran out of resources, can you help me?

    Zhang Tong: You can bring back spices, salt, and other food in return .

    Zhang Tong: I got my create-food skill back .

    Ding Yuan: I have no problem with the ores .

    Ding Yuan: I¡¯ll have Feihong handle it .

    Zhang Tong: Thank you XD

    Zhang Tong: BTW, steel ingot research has been seeded .

    Zhang Tong: I¡¯ll need more ores to factorize steel weapons and armors .

    Ding Yuan: What¡¯s steel?

    Zhang Tong: A metal that is stronger and lighter than iron .

    The chat continued as Tong and Ding Yuan was exchanging information and setting up a trading routine between the two cities .

    Zhang Liao was amazed by the chat, "Feihong, have you alwaysmunicated like thisst year?"

    Li Feihong nodded, "Yes, convenient, right?"

    "Indeed . Now I know why you¡¯ve picked me first . Fengxian will never understand the value of this . "

    ...

    ...

    The sun had set .

    Tong closed the chat menu and deeply exhaled . It was tiring to organize people and arrange a trade deal with partners .

    Ding Yuan had been cooperating in a friendly manner . As he had received his 1,000 years of lifespans, the old governor of Jinyang was very happy to assist Tong in many ways .

    With this, the reinforcement from Jinyang was guaranteed . Lu Bu would not be able to object this deployment as it was the direct order of Ding Yuan . Besides, Li Feihong and Zhang Liao had joined Tong¡¯s side, so refusing the order was not an option .

    "Lu Bu will throw a fit again . I hope I don¡¯t have to duel with that brute another time . "

    "Are you done, Tong?"

    While Tong was working, his two wives were practicing using their tentacle nearby .

    Hua Shi could already summon Tong¡¯s tentacle from her back . Although the wiggling worm was still small, she could make it move around and absorb life essence now .

    "Yeah, it¡¯s done . "

    Friday waved her hands, gesturing Tong to walk to her .

    "Come here . Let me recheck your mutation . "

    Tong took off his shoes and showed them his feet . At this moment, his feet had green snake scales, which reced his outer human skins .

    Friday poked the snake scales with her fingers, and the skins sunk in as she pushed .

    "It¡¯s still too soft . The scaleyout is average, but the durability is still subpar . I¡¯m going to need you to reinforce it again . "

    "Eh? I thought it was passable," Tong scratched his head .

    "Considering this is your first couple months of training, it¡¯s passable . But if you want to use it on a battlefield, it¡¯s not ready yet . In the next fight, try not to use the Lamia Step unless you are running away from the battle . "

    "But I can run around in a crowded area now . "

    "That¡¯s still too early . Until your scales are hard enough to withstand sharp edge weapons, don¡¯t use it, or you will be too conscious of your feet and mess up something during thebat especially when you¡¯re up against elite historical figures like Guan Yu . "

    The Lamia Step that they were practicing had three stages of preparation before Tong could start learning its true form, conversion, transformation, and metamorphosis, which Tong was at the second level of the conversion stage .

    On the first level, Tong required a demonic awakening, AKA awaken the [Soul of Sins], which he already awakened two souls . With this, he was qualified to practice the next level .

    Friday was an exception to this rule . Since she was once a four-winged demoness and she had the devil-pact, she could use it again .

    The next step was to convert his blood, DNA, skin tissues, muscles, bones, liver, and all parts of the body, so they would bepatible with the sudden transformation of the next stage . In this process, Tong had to turn his entire body skins intomia snakeskins, which could release toxic and murky fluid from the scales .

    The third level of the conversion stage was to master maneuvering the blood cells within the body to the point that it was a natural process of daily life, such as breathing or walking, which Tong had not reached this level yet .

    Lastly, to breakthrough to the transformation stage, Tong had to awaken two more [Sins] to get the qualification of the transformation first stage, which would take a long time toplete .

    Friday tapped Tong¡¯s soft snake skins, "Don¡¯t rush . This process of learning naturally takes years toplete . Turning your feet into these within a month is already good progress . It took me ten years to get breakthrough the conversion stage into the transformation stage, so you should take it easy . "

    "What stage are you now, Friday?"

    "Transformation stage second level . "

    "Huh? Not metamorphosis? I thought you have mastered this already . "

    Friday smiled wryly at Tong, "To get to the metamorphosis stage, four wings aren¡¯t enough to break through . My mom said I needed six wings or higher to get there . Heck, I can¡¯t even transform my legs into a snake tail yet!"</ding></zhang></ding></zhang></ding></required></required>

 Chapter 238

    Chapter 238: 238

    Chapter 238 ¨C Peach Brothers

    January 4th, 183 A . D .

    Ji Commandery City .

    On the announcement board in the middle of the city, Liu Yan had posted a recruitment notice there .

    [Currently, there is a bandit group terrorizing the territories in Ji Provinces . They are calling themselves Yellow Turban, which was led by Zhang Jiao and his family . They always wear yellow clothes, yellow scarves, or a yellow bandana on their head . If you notice a group of people wearing these clothes, notify the guards immediately .

    At this moment, they have captured Julu, Zhongshan, Ye, Shangdang, and Jinyang . They have been plundering and ransacking innocent people from various viges to obtain wealth . These evil bandits have to be stopped before more people be their victims .

    The Emperor has already sent his decree that these group of people is the rebel force, yet all lords have been ignoring these bandits . Fortunately, our Lord has a noble mind, Lord Liu Yan is mobilizing his army, and he is recruiting new blood to the military .

    If you want to help us eradicating these rebels and protecting our people from these bandits, contact a nearby guard, and he will lead you to us .

    We believe that soon, they will invade our city as we are closed to Zhongshan, their newest territory . We shall do our best to protect our good citizens!

    Signed: Zou Jing]

    In front of the announcement board, several schrs and merchants were reading the post .

    Liu Bei was in the crowd as well .

    "Hah," Liu Bei sighed as he knew partly about the news about the Yellow Turban .

    Lu Zhi had been sending letters to him, persuading him to abandon his pride and join Tong and his army . He also told Liu Bei about thetest news of Liu Ping¡¯s death and the possible chaotic time in the country .

    Liu Bei sighed again as he was pondering about the announcement .

    ¡¯The announcement is a half-lie . From what master has told me, Zhang Jiao is also an ordinary physician and the other brother of his are Taoist priests . Zhang Tong even uses his power to create food for the people, but Liu Yan is shamelessly framing him . ¡¯

    "Haiz . "

    ¡¯But Zhang Tong is not clean either . He massacred everyone in Liyang and many noble ns in his affiliate cities . How can he be a righteous ruler? He¡¯s just a spoiled young master!¡¯

    "Ai . "

    ¡¯Both of them are filthy! Liu Yan and Zhang Tong are hypocrites! They are just lying politicians that prey on people! Why should I serve the likes of them!? If I want to take up arms for the people, I should be the one leading the citizens, not them!¡¯

    "Haiz . "

    "VOOOOIIIIII!!"

    Liu Bei jolted as the haughty roar of a man behind him terrified his wits .

    "BRAT! WHAT THE FOOK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? WHY ARE KEEPING SIGHING!? HAVE YOU GONE SENILE!?"

    The loud voice of the man made the crowd dispersed . However, Liu Bei stood still as his legs were petrified by the fear . He turned around to look at the loud man .

    The guy behind him was muscr . He had a messy beard and tattered clothes . Scars covered his chest and his arms, showing that he was experienced inbat .

    Liu Bei had to raise his chin to look at this man¡¯s eyes . The guy was half a head taller than him!

    The bearded man grabbed the cor of Liu Bei and continued yelling at his long ears .

    "VOOOIIIII! ARE YOU LISTENING!? I¡¯M ASKING YOU WHY THE FOOK ARE YOU SIGHING!? DO YOU SPEAK CHINESE!? DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND A HUMAN LANGUAGE!?"

    "P-P-Please calm down and lower your voice . You are disturbing the others . "

    The bearded man continued to re at Liu Bei . Before he roared again, a rough hand grabbed on the beard man¡¯s wrist .

    A young schr stepped in and stopped the bearded man from beating Liu Bei .

    "I also suggest you be a bit more civilized . This gentleman sighed because he has a lot in his mind . Isn¡¯t that right, sir?"

    "Y-Yes . I was thinking of something and subconsciously sighed . I¡¯m sorry if I disturb you . "

    The bearded man red at the two before he released Liu Bei, "Ha! I¡¯m tired of watching you sighed repeatedly! Pathetic!"

    "My apologies, I¡¯m just depressed that I don¡¯t have the power or gold to take arms and save this country . "

    "Oh, that¡¯s understandable . Sorry for my rash action . "

    "Haha! I don¡¯t mind . I¡¯m Liu Bei, a merchant living in this city . And this gentleman here is?"

    "I¡¯m Zhang Fei, a wanderer! I see that you have a lot in your mind . Let¡¯s get a drink so you can tell me your story . You, too, schr boy! You sure have good strength despite being a schr . Come with us . "

    Zhang Fei dragged Liu Bei and the schr, who had stopped Zhang Fei earlier .

    The schr followed after the two with a smile . He thought, ¡¯It happens one year earlier than the historical event, but I¡¯ve made it . ¡¯

    The schr was not a native of this world . If Zhang Yan were here, he would have recognized this youth .

    He was Jiang Man, the ninja who terrorized Ganling City .

    ¡¯Now, I¡¯ll be the fourth peach brothers, and I will get my revenge on Yuan Shao!¡¯

    ¡¯But damn! I can¡¯t recklessly kill the innocents in this world . That Zuo Ci is too scary!¡¯

    Tong was not the only one who had been warned by Zuo Ci, Jiang Man also had his lessons by the hands of the old cultivator . However, Zuo Ci was kind enough to heal the old injuries of Jiang Man, which caused by the system nerf bacsh .

    Furthermore, the recent skill wipe forced his hands that he had to make a deal with Lilim .

    ...

    *********************************************

    **Main Mission No . 20**

    Clear Condition: Kill one otherworlder .

    Failure Condition: Time Limit exceeded .

    Clearing Reward: Regain one of your lost skills randomly .

    Mission Failure: You will die .

    Time Limit: End of December 31st, 190 A . D .

    Tips: You can either use assassins or subordinates to kill an otherworlder for you .

    *********************************************

    ...

    It was the same quest that Li Jing of Sun Jian Army had, which Lilim would restore one of the skills to Jiang Man if he killed one reincarnator .

    Unfortunately, Jiang Man did not have a kind partner like Sun Fang . He had toplete this mission alone .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll use Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to kill that Zhang Tong . Then, I can get my skills back . ¡¯

    ...

    Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Jiang Man entered a tavern and ordered several bowls of wine . Liu Bei began narrating his thought about the situation as he kept the truth about Tong and Liu Yan a secret .

    A few minutester, Liu Bei finished his story .

    "That¡¯s my thought on this . I¡¯m merely a poor merchant without gold and strength . I¡¯m just feeling powerless when we hear about the corruption and the bandit news . "

    As Liu Bei finished talking, a tall man with a red face and a long beard turned to them .

    "Mind if I join your table?"

    Jiang Man looked at the red face man . He did not have to ask for this person¡¯s name because he could easily guess it .

    ¡¯Guan Yu!¡¯

    The fateful meeting of the peach brothers which should have happened next year happened today . Jiang Man was ted as he was about to take part in it .

    "My name is Guan Yu . I¡¯m impressed with your interesting viewpoint of the country . I couldn¡¯t help myself but want to join your conversation . "

    Zhang Feiughed, "Of course,e sit! Let¡¯s order more wine so we can continue chatting . Say, Liu Bei, what are you nning to do after this? Will you join Liu Yan Army?"

    Liu Bei shook his head, "I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t . Liu Yan wants to use the conscripted soldiers as pawns so we can¡¯t allow ourselves to be manipted by him . I want to raise a volunteer force, but I don¡¯t have enough gold to do so . "

    Guan Yu nodded, "I agree with this . Officials are known to be corrupted . The moment crisis is at hand, instead of mobilizing the nobles and professional soldiers, they recruit civilians and take advantage of us . We should not join the army, but we should raise a volunteer force . "

    Zhang Fei alsomented, "Right, those no good bastards are only good at extorting taxes from the civilians . As soon as I have arrived at this city gate, a noble actually demanded a city entry tax from me! I¡¯ve been through many cities in thisnd, but I¡¯ve never seen a city that demands an entry tax! What a joke!"

    The three hit it off and chatted for an hour, leaving Jiang Man out of the loop .

    The otherworlder, however, did not look troubled as he had expected this circumstance .

    As the conversation heated up by the emotions and momentum, Liu Bei dered, "That¡¯s it! I¡¯m going to raise a volunteer force to fight the rebels and correct thend! I want to stop them from harassing the innocent people . "

    "Good! I¡¯ll join you as well . "

    "Me, too . "

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei decided to join Liu Bei¡¯s volunteer force . However, the three stillcked gold, supplies, and troops .

    Because this event happened one year earlier than the actual historical event, several merchants and cksmiths who supported Liu Bei in history were not here!

    However

    "I¡¯ll be joining you three as well . I have 1,000 gold as my saving, I¡¯ll donate all of it to you for our cause . "

    "Sir Jiang, you ..."

    "Hahaha! You¡¯re rich! I like you!"

    "Such determination, I admire your sacrifice . "

    The three was astonished by Jiang Man deration . They smiled andughed as they thought that he was part of the gang, even though he hardly talked during the conversation .

    "How about this? Since we¡¯re about to embark on our great journey, let¡¯s swear an oath to join hands and work together from now on!"

    Hearing Zhang Fei¡¯s proposal, everybodyughed .

    "An oath of a brotherhood? Sounds good, let¡¯s do that . "

    "I know a good peach garden that is suitable to our ceremony . Let¡¯s do it there . "

    "I¡¯ll prepare food and wine then . "

    ...

    The four gathered at the peach garden within Ji City . They ced food and wine on the ceremony table and bowed to the sky .

    "We were born from different mothers, we may have different surnames, but today, we havee together as brothers! From now onward, we shall fight side-by-side for the people and save them from the crooked bandits and officials who threatened the innocents!"

    "We may have been born from a different date, month, or year, but we hope that we can live and die together as one! May the gods and Heaven be a witness of our vow . Should one of us betray another, may the heaven and the people punish the traitor!"

    Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Jiang Man bowed to the sky with their wine cup raised high above their head .

    From this day one, the peach brothers had begun taking the first step into this troubled world .

 Chapter 239 - Where Have I Heard About This Surname?

    <h4>Chapter 239 - Where Have I Heard About This Surname?</h4>

    Chapter 239 ¨C Where Have I Heard About This Surname?

    The four peach brothers bowed at each other. Since they were brothers-in-arms now, Liu Bei began setting up the hierarchy.

    Because Liu Bei was 22 this year, which he was the oldest among them all, he became their elder brother. As in history, Guan Yu was the second brother, followed by Zhang Fei.

    Although Jiang Man had the same age as Zhang Fei, he chose to be their fourth brother so he would not provoke an ire from the others.

    "What should we do next?" Liu Bei asked all of his new brothers since he was inexperienced.

    "First, we have to use our gold to forge weapons and armor. Then, we will save some to buy provisions and hire mercenaries. We can also recruit volunteers, but we will have to pay them, or none of them will be willing to serve us."

    As a reincarnator from the modern world, Jiang Man acted like their strategist before Liu Bei had assigned him the role. It was necessary for him to establish his influence in this group, or he would be useless in the future.

    "That¡¯s right. Without gold, no one will follow us."

    "Let¡¯s do that."

    ...

    The sun had set.

    In the end, Jiang Man had to do everything himself as Zhang Fei and Guan Yu were still new at handling domestic affairs. Liu Bei had been taught by Lu Zhi so he knew hot to organize people. He assigned cksmiths to make weapons first.

    Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, and Liu Bei were busy all day, designing their personal weapon instead of helping Jiang Man recruiting troops.

    ¡¯A bunch of simpletons,¡¯ Jiang Man thought while he nced at the happy trio in disdain.

    ¡¯It¡¯s better this way. The more stupid you are, the easier my job will be.¡¯

    While the three were touring the cksmith shops around the city, Jiang Man had finished hiring militias with his gold. With these people, they had 1,000 volunteer troops of their own.

    The problem was the provision. Because of the bad harvestst year, the food price was expensive. One ton of food was selling at five to six golds.

    ¡¯With my gold, I can only support them for a month. I¡¯ll need to borrow or have Liu Bei beg for food and supplies from the local.¡¯

    ¡¯Damn it, I wish I had continued hanging with that idiot Zhang Yan and live a life of bandits. Being a bandit is easier than babysitting these fools.¡¯

    ...

    ...

    January 20th, 183 A.D.

    Tong and 5,000 heavy infantries had arrived at Zhongshan Commandery City, which located north of Julu, and south of the Ji city. They brought along food supplies and weaponry to prepare for the battle against Zou Jing of Liu Yan.

    In front of the gate, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were there to wee their nephew.

    "Long time no see, Tong. You sure are famous now!" Zhang Baoughed and patted Tong¡¯s back.

    Zhang Liang was as usual. He still had a solemn expression and nodded at Tong.

    Besides the two brothers of Zhang Jiao, the former governor of this city who had surrendered to Zhang Bao, Zhen Yi, was also there.

    "Wee, young master Zhang. I¡¯m Zhen Yi, the current governor assistant. Wee to Zhongshan!"

    Tong tilted his head as he had heard about this name before, but he forgot where he had heard it. It was not the name of a famous historical figure, but somehow he felt like he was someone important in this era.

    ¡¯Zhen n is not a dominant family in this age. I wonder why I have an urge to google his name.¡¯

    Unfortunately, Tong could not use the inte or a smartphone to search for this person¡¯s name. Thus, he entered the city with a confused expression and a wry smile.

    Upon entering the inner area, Tong refused Zhen Yi¡¯s wee banquet invitation. He began organizing troops and provision supplies in this city.

    The discovery of this city¡¯s situation depressed Tong.

    People of this city had already suffered from the faminest year. Thirty percent of the poption became starving beggars who had no job to feed their family.

    "We have an influx or migrating people from abandoned viges and small counties. It seems that bandit gangs are pretending to be a part of our force. They are wearing yellow scarves and shouting our slogans," Zhang Liang exined.

    "Won¡¯t they hate us? We¡¯re also wearing yellow clothes."

    Zhang Liang shook his head, "We¡¯ve exined everything to the migrated people and gave them food. Most of them understand our circ.u.mstances, but there are a few who believed that we have set this up to gather them into this city."

    This was the headache that the Yellow Turban in history and this world had faced, the imposters. The purpose of the Yellow Turban founding was to relieve the people from hunger and give them human-aid.

    However, the bandits exploited Zhang Jiao¡¯s honest thought and ruined his reputation. The Yellow Turban would soon be a symbol of rebelling bandits which would spread across the country for another half a decade.

    ¡¯Dealing with all the imposters will be impossible. But differentiate between our army and bandits is easy.¡¯

    ...

    There was a fairy tale in Tong¡¯s previous world, which was a story of a writer and a giarism copycat.

    The writer created a magnificent work which every reader loved it. However, another imposter copied his story imed that he wrote it. The copycat then framed the real author that he giarized copycat¡¯s story instead, which made everybody angry.

    Despite being cursed at by the misunderstood readers, the real author did not panic. He merely said, "I can continue the story while the imposter can¡¯t!"

    The author continued writing the story and published it, proving himself that he was the authentic one while the copycat waster prosecuted by the readers as he could not maintain the story as the real writer did.

    ...

    "Third uncle, we have to change our dress code," Tong suggested his two uncles.

    "Change it? But, what about the other cities? Will they be confused by the sudden change?"

    "Right, Tong. Suddenly changing the uniform will waste our budgets. What¡¯s the point of that?"

    "There is a purpose of this second uncle, third uncle. Currently, the bandits are using our yellow uniforms to plunder viges. If we¡¯re still using the same uniform as them, we¡¯ll be prosecuted by the people forever. However, if we make uniforms of another color, those bandits won¡¯t be able to mimic us."

    "Huh?"

    The two uncles still could not understand what Tong was trying to do. They looked at each other in confusion.

    "If we change the cloth color, can we still call ourselves [Yellow] Turban?"

    Tong rolled his eyes, "What should we name ourselves with a color?"

    "Because it¡¯s easy to differentiate when we¡¯re fighting enemies."

    Hearing the answer of his uncle, Tong facepalmed, "Listen, we can always change it back to yellow. But for now, I want all soldier clothes blue. We¡¯ll overhaul the uniform codes and make other color uniforms as well. We won¡¯t only use a fixed color in the future, but we¡¯ll use all color!"

    Zhang Bao almost stumbled and sat on the ground.

    "We¡¯re soldiers, not those p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.es in the red-light district. Why are we dressing in too many colors!?"

    "Just do it, or you¡¯ll want our descendants to read the historical records that everybody here is bandit leaders?"

    "..."

    In the end, both Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao conceded and invested in tailor shops to get new clothes for their men. Tong also messaged the others in the n chat to correct their uniform color.

    Later, Tong went to Bo Cai and taught him about scouts and message rying. Because his radar map was disabled by Lilim, he had to rely on the old way of gathering intelligence.

    However, he was terrible atmanding cavalry units. As Tong had led an army of hors.e.m.e.n and fought against them before, he knew how bad Bo Cai¡¯s skill and intelligence was.

    Tong simted the situation and asked Ba Cai, "You have 1,000 light cavalry unit, and the enemy have 500 elite spearmen in a porcupine formation. What will you do in this situation?"

    "Cavalry charge!"

    "The battlefield is muddy because of the rain, and it¡¯s hard to use a rush tactic. The enemies are 5,000 archers, but you have 1,000 hors.e.m.e.n. What will you do?"

    "Cavalry charge!"

    "The enemy is inside the castle. You have ..."

    "Cavalry charge!"

    "You are traveling in a forest ..."

    "Cavalry charge!"

    "..."

    Tong massaged his temples as he had a headache.

    ¡¯How Dafuq did he defeated Huangfu Song in my timeline!? Is it because he was too much of a simpleton that he caught the Imperial Army off-guard?¡¯

    Tong changed the questions, "Instead of hors.e.m.e.n, you are leading 5,000 infantry soldiers. The enemy has 10,000 elites, and they areing for you ..."

    "I¡¯ll dig traps and use the ambush tactics. On their way to our base, I¡¯ll arrange my troops into five shifts and harass them all day and all night to the point that they won¡¯t have the times to sleep or eat. Then, I¡¯ll set up pitfall traps on the road ..."

    "..."

    An awkward smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face.

    ¡¯Dafuq is wrong with you. Why are you so fluent when you¡¯re simting infantry tactics!? Why da hack do you only use cavalry charge when you¡¯re leading hors.e.m.e.n!?¡¯

    Tong covered his face with his palm and waved the other hand to stop Bo Cai from continue talking.

    "That¡¯s enough. From now on, you¡¯re in charge of Zhongshan infantry units. I¡¯ll give the cavalry roles to someone else."

    "Yes, sir! Good choice, sir!"

    "Did you do it on purpose?"

    "No, sir!"

    ...

    ...

    Tong went to his prepared room to rest.

    Zhen Yi and his family had prepared a room for him so Tong could not turn down the offer as he had no other ce to rest.

    ¡¯It¡¯s good that I realize this now. If I make this guy leading a heavy cavalry team, it would have been a disaster.¡¯

    Tong felt like he had stopped a timed-bomb before it exploded. Bo Cai was terrible at cavalry, but he was good at infantry. However, they had been using Bo Cai as a cavalry general for so long.

    Tong hands pushed the wooden doors opened, and he stepped into his new room. The room had already been decorated, and thembs had already been lit.

    Two charming girls who looked like in theirte teen in a dancer clothing were standing beside the bed, waiting for Tong.

    "Wee, young master Zhang," The two girls bowed.

    Seeing the two girls, Tong frowned. He did not ask for a chambermaid as he never needed a woman to relieve his stress in a time of war.

    The girls noticed Tong¡¯s facial expression, so they introduced themselves.

    "My name is Zhen Jiang. I¡¯m the eldest daughter of the assistant governor Zhen Yi."

    "This concubine is Zhen Tuo. I¡¯m the second daughter of Lord Zhen Yi. We¡¯re here to serve you, young master Zhang."

    The frown of Tong¡¯s face deepened as he understood what the former governor of this city tried to do.

    ¡¯Another old fox! If I were an innocent young man, I would have fallen for their charm and would have taken them in as my concubines. Then, Zhen Yi¡¯s status will rise because of this connection!¡¯

    Because of the suspicious, Tong had to chase them away first, or the two possessive tigresses at home would castrate him again if they learned about it.

    "I¡¯m thankful for Lord Zhen¡¯s generosity, but I¡¯m too tired for today. I wish to sleep alone."

    The two girls looked disappointed, yet relieved. They bowed and excused themselves without protesting Tong.

    After they had left, Tong pondered.

    ¡¯Their names sound familiar. I don¡¯t remember where I heard this.¡¯

    ¡¯Which famous figure in the three kingdoms period has the surname of Zhen?¡¯

 Chapter 240

    Chapter 240

    Chapter 240 ¨C I¡¯m Interested in Children

    January 21st, 183 A . D .

    Tong opened his eyes after meditating all night, trying to pacify his [Sins] . He had to do this every chance he had, or these numbers would not reduce easily .

    "Report my [Sin] status," Tong ordered the automatic system .

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    <??????? =="" 9 . 62%=""?>>

    >

    <????????? =="" 18 . 02%=""?>>

    >

    >

    Tong breathed out a sigh of relief . After he had returned to Julu, his wives did not let him meditate at night at all as they wanted Tong¡¯s attention, which put him in a tough spot as he tried to cultivate his mind .

    As soon as he broke free from the two wives, Tong happily meditated at night in peace . Thus, his sins slightly reduced as a consequence .

    However, Tong still had a troubled look on his face .

    ¡¯There are too many things that I have to grind . My system skills have to be leveled up . Mymia step transformation has to be cultivated, and my sins have to be controlled . Heck, this is only my private skill management . I haven¡¯t included my weapon training and muscle exercises!¡¯

    Being a lord and a martial artist at the same time was difficult . Tong was troubled that he did not have enough time for himselftely .

    ¡¯I wish I have a farm skill like Feihong so I can use the time difference in the farm to train . ¡¯

    ¡¯I can¡¯t possibly ask him to donate his skill into the n either . ¡¯

    ¡¯Can I borrow his skill using the n donation, soulmate-dual-cultivate with Sunday, then transfer his skill back?¡¯

    ¡¯Will that bitch Lilim allow this?¡¯

    As if Lilim was listening to his thought, she answered .

    [You can, but the tax will be ten times the usual if you transfer the same skill back to the previous owner . ]

    Tong gulped . Donating a skill into the n asset required 100,000 lifespans as the system tax . Ten times of the one hundred thousand meant Tong would need 1,100,000 lifespans toplete his n .

    "Why do you want so much taxes? Can¡¯t you reduce it?"

    [I have the universe to manage and two other realms to create, so every lifespan energy is precious . You should be grateful that I¡¯m still giving you a lot of lifespans from the soulmate quest . ]

    [To be honest, I want to cancel that quest and the soulmate system, but my mother messed up the system so bad that I can¡¯t fix anything . ]

    [Be thankful to my mother!]

    ¡¯In other words, you want to mess up my life, but you can¡¯t do it because you don¡¯t know how! What a bitch!¡¯

    Tong cursed Lilim in his mind even though he knew that she would hear it .

    [...]

    [I don¡¯t need your praise anyway . Goodbye . ]

    Lilim cut off themunication, leaving the frustrated Tong alone .

    >

    >

    "..."

    Tong did not know if the automatic system and his sin was influenced by Lilim or not, but he did get angry by herments .

    ¡¯Forget it . I¡¯ll get my [Homing Arrow] to max level first, then I¡¯ll concentrate on awakening my [Pride] and [Greed] next . ¡¯

    ...

    *******************************

    [Homing Arrow] LV . 1 (0/100)

    - Fire a magic homing arrow at a locked target .

    - Convert an ordinary arrow into a magic homing arrow .

    - Passive skill [Bow Mastery] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan for firing a homing magic arrow with an ordinary arrow .

    - 10 Lifespan for firing a homing magic arrow without an arrow .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Homing effects only apply to a locked target in the range of 100 meters or lower .

    - Range restriction depends on the level of the skill

    [Bow Mastery] ¨C Bound to [Homing Arrow] Skill . Cannot be leveled up .

    - Master any kind of bows .

    - The host¡¯s dexterity multiplied by 10 .

    - Upkeep: 3 Lifespan per year .

    *******************************

    ...

    Before Tong departed from Julu to Zhongshan, he dual-cultivated with Hua Shi and used this year¡¯s soulmate quota to copy her skill, [Homing Arrow] .

    This skill came with the additional [Bow Mastery] skill as well, so it was a 1+1 promotion for Tong .

    Moreover, Hua Shi¡¯s skill had not been nerfed by Lilith, and Lilim did not follow through with her mother¡¯s work . As a result, this skill was not limited by one-use-a-day and the 2,000 lifespans upkeep a year .

    ¡¯I need to use this skill 102,400 times to max its level . That¡¯s 102,400 arrows and 102,400 lifespans . Or I can be extravagant and spend a million lifespan, so I don¡¯t have to bother using an arrow . ¡¯

    ¡¯No, I don¡¯t need to max its level for it to be useful . Level 6 or 7 should be more than enough . I think the range at level six is about 350 meters? There is also multi-shot that Sunday used . ¡¯

    ¡¯Well, enough thinking . Time to train! Come on, real life grinding!¡¯

    Tong exited his room and went to train with the army .

    ...

    That day, everybody in the army witnessed Tong randomly shooting light arrows . Several veteran soldiers also recognized the signature Goddess of Death .

    "Our young master is using his wife¡¯s arrows?"

    "They¡¯re family . Why can¡¯t they use the other¡¯s ability?"

    "Now, we have the God of Death instead of the Goddess . "

    "Hahaha! That¡¯s a nice one!"

    The Yellow Turban soldiers cheered andughed as their worries about the next war were gone . They felt reassuring to have Tong with them in the army .

    On the contrary, Zhang Baoterined to Tong about him spending all the prepared arrows in the camp as he spent two thousand arrows practicing today .

    "Brat, I know that you¡¯re working hard, but spending thousands of arrows alone is a bit selfish . Leave some for the army, will you?"

    Zhang Bao was still traumatized by the previous Battle of Anping where they ran out of arrows in the middle of the fight, which led to heavy casualties on their side . Because of such thought, he valued the stocks of the arrows more than gold .

    "But, don¡¯t we have a million of arrows in stock? Why can¡¯t I spend a bit? Besides, most of the arrows are recyble . At best, I might ruin only a few hundred arrow shafts . "

    Zhang Bao shook his head in stubbornness, "Your training won¡¯t end with just one day . I know that with your personality, you¡¯ll spend weeks shooting arrows over and over again . Those thousands of arrows will add up, and you¡¯ll spend too many of them before the war!"

    Tong sighed . In the end, he had to train on the job as he was not allowed to practice shooting as long as the traumatized uncle was still around .

    ¡¯Fine! If I can¡¯t grind my skill EXP, I¡¯ll practice mymia steps instead!¡¯

    Tong went back to his courtyard . He took off his shoes and was about to start converting his blood cells .

    "Young master, do you have a minute?"

    Turning around to see who was calling him, Zhen Yi was there .

    "Young master, do you have problems with my daughters?"

    "Your daughters? Ah, was itst night?"

    "Yes, I told them to serve you . Had they done anything that displeased you?"

    "No . I just wanted to take a good restst night . Besides, it was too sudden, and I was not in the mood . "

    "I see! I see! Well, how about I make them revisit you tonight . I¡¯ll have them prepare food and wine to serve you as well . I heard that you¡¯re ate-night worker so you might be hungry at night . You see, my eldest daughter Zhen Jiang is ..."

    Zhen Yi continued babbling and exaggerating his daughters¡¯ skills . It was as if he was a businessman that was selling his daughters .

    Because of the unstable domestic in Zhongshan city after the takeover, Tong had to rely on the old influential Zhen family . He had to give this old fox some face, or he might have to deal with the internal strife while he expanded his territories .

    "I think my uncles are without a wife right now ..." Tong hinted Zhen Yi .

    "Oh, I already introduced them several girls already . They are very active at night since they have arrived . "

    Tong¡¯s face twitched . He excused himself to go to a restroom and opened the n chat .

    Zhang Tong: Second uncle, third uncle, Zhen Yi said he introduced girls to you?

    Zhang Bao: Yeah .

    Zhang Liang: He did .

    Zhang Tong: Has he tried to give his daughters to you?

    Zhang Bao: No?

    Zhang Liang: No, they are dancers and maids .

    Zhang Tong: Can you help me warding him off?

    Zhang Tong: He¡¯s pestering me trying to give me his daughters .

    Hua Shi: Oho! That¡¯s interesting .

    Hua Shi: Who¡¯s giving my husband his daughters?

    Dong Bai: ...

    Dong Bai: If you sleep with them...

    Dong Bai: Castration .

    The face of Tong turned into a poker face with two ck dots as eyes . He gently closed the n chat and covered both his face with his hands .

    ¡¯How dafuq can MCs in harem stories control their wives?¡¯

    With a ck face, Tong returned to Zhen Yi, who was delighted to see him again .

    Before Zhen Yi could speak anything, Tong raised his hand to stop the old fox . He decided to ruin his reputation to protect the poor little guy inside his pants from the mental wives .

    "Sir Zhen Yi, I¡¯m sorry to disappoint you, but," Tong paused as he had to resolve himself .

    "I¡¯m interested in children . "

    "Eh?"

    "Actually, I also have a specific age that I¡¯m into . "

    "..."

    "I already have a 6-year-old wife at home . Her name is Dong Bai in the case you want to know . She is still about as tall as my waist, and she¡¯s very cute . "

    "..."

    Though Tong¡¯s face revealed a bright smile, he was in tears internally .

    >

    >

    Zhen Yi¡¯s mouth had an O shape as he listened to Tong¡¯s excuse . Even though he could somehow guess that Tong was trying to refuse his daughters, he had to retreat as this young lord was more thick-skin than he had thought .

    "T-Then, I¡¯ll tell those two not to visit you again . "

    "Please do . Thank you . "

    That day, a rumor circted in Zhongshan city that Tong was into little girls .

    ...

    Next morning, Tong woke up and was about to train hismia transformation, a group of visitors was waiting for him outside .

    A servant came and reported him .

    "Young master Zhang, several nobles havee to pay you a visit . "

    Tong frowned, "What are they here for? Do you know of their purposes?"

    "I-I don¡¯t know, my lord . They havee with several little girls . "

    "..."

    Tong nced at the crowd outside of his courtyard . Outside of his yard, there were several middle-aged men with cheerful girls in the age range of six to ten as if they were parents who were sending their children to school .

    Thinking for a while, Tong facepalmed again after he realized why they were here .

    "I messed up . "

 Chapter 241

    Chapter 241

    Chapter 241 ¨C Encounter in a Forest

    February 1st, 183 A . D .

    Zhongshan City .

    A total of 20,000 Yellow Turban men gathered in front of the north wall, getting ready to sortie . Half of them wore blue clothes while the rest still had yellow clothes on . Tong, who also had yellow clothes, was part of the group, which he was organizing the logistic troops that would handle their supplies .

    On top of the wall, 5,000 local garrison troops of Zhen Yi stood on top of the wall to send them off .

    ¡¯In the end, Zhang Tong didn¡¯t take any daughter of the nobles . ¡¯

    Zhen Yi stood there and pondered how he could bind this young lord with his family . He attempted to seduce Tong with his first and second daughter, but they failed .

    A messenger rushed to Zhen Yi and knelt, "My lord, we¡¯ve finished gathering information about young master Zhang Tong . "

    Zhen Yi turned to the spy . He had ordered his men to gather the records about Tong after the day he had declined his daughters .

    The old fox took the scroll and read . Within the report, there were details about Tong¡¯s wife and concubines . It had the details about Hua Shi, Dong Bai, Xiao Wu, and He Xing .

    As Zhen Yi continued reading, he was astonished by the details . Dong Bai¡¯s age was the same as Tong had told him, a six-year-old little girl . However, Tong also had a wife and two other concubines, which one of the concubines was actually the former Empress!

    ¡¯Dong Bai was the granddaughter of Dong Zhuo . This little girl should have been given to Zhang Tong as a political marriage . Hua Shi should be his first wife, and Xiao Wu is Hua Shi¡¯s disguised bodyguard . But how has Her Majesty entered his family!? Did Zhang Tong force her?¡¯

    Zhen Yi read the report thrice . Still confused, he turned and asked the spy, "Do you know how He Xing bes Zhang Tong¡¯s concubine?"

    "Reporting, it seems a minister in Zhang Jiao¡¯s ranks wanted to refuge Her Majesty from the political strife, so he put her under Zhang Tong¡¯s wings . "

    "How is their nightlife? Has he done anything to her?"

    "This ... we don¡¯t know . Please forgive me . "

    "Never mind . You can go . "

    "Yes, my lord . "

    After the spy left, Zhen Yi sighed .

    ¡¯My judgment wasn¡¯t wrong to join this force . The real ruler of this Yellow Turban is Zhang Tong, and he¡¯s a clever young fox at that . He¡¯s good in all fields, and he¡¯s matured enough not to fall for the simple seduction or a political trap . ¡¯

    ¡¯He has a peculiar taste, or should I say, standard . Hua Shi and Xiao Wu are talented in battles, while Dong Bai and Her Majesty are aristocrats . All of his women are either talented or have a high social status . Does that mean my status is not worthy enough to get his attention?¡¯

    ¡¯Then, I¡¯ll have to make my daughters talented in different fields . ¡¯

    The eyes of Zhen Yi glinted with ambition . To raise his family status in Tong¡¯s force, he would do anything .

    ¡¯No, that won¡¯t work . Trying to get all grown daughters to learn something will be hard . I¡¯ll bet everything on Zhen Fu instead . ¡¯

    Last month, his wife gave birth to a girl . Strangely, on the day that she was born, there was a falling star . His wife also had a dream that a dragon blessed her and her daughter with fortune and intelligence, which she was so happy that she told each of her neighbors about it .

    With this promising omen, Zhen Yi had high hope on this girl .

    ...

    If Tong heard about his youngest daughter¡¯s name, he might have realized why he was familiar with the Zhen surnames because this girl had a great future ahead of her .

    In 196, at the age of 13, Zhen Fu was married to Yuan Xi, the second son of Yuan Shao . As Yuan Shao was a dominant figure during the time, Zhen Yi had no problem giving his under-aged daughter to a son of the ruler .

    Later in the year 204, Cao Cao Army had upied Ye City, which led by Cao Pi . He met Zhen Fu by chance and was impressed by her humbleness and her beauty . Thus, Cao Pi took her in as his wife .

    After Cao Pi took over the throne and established the Kingdom of Wei, Zhen Fu became the Empress of Wei, after which she was called by the other name .

    This youngest daughter of Zhen Yi, Zhen Fu, had another name in the historical records in Tong¡¯s world .

    Zhen Shi .

    ...

    ...

    Zhang Bao, Bo Cai, Tong, and their 20,000 elites departed from Zhongshan and headed north, moving toward the Ji City of Liu Yan .

    Zhang Liang and 5,000 garrison force stayed behind to monitor Zhen Yi and his n as Tong had not 100% trusted this old fox yet .

    Zhang Bao and Bo Cai troops consisted of 5,000 men each, and they wore blue uniforms that Tong told them . On the other hand, the 10,000 soldiers under Tong were still wearing the old yellow uniform . In addition, only Tong¡¯s legion had a cavalry unit as he was not confident in Zhang Bao and Bo Cai¡¯s ability to lead horsemen .

    One thousand light horsemen separated into one hundred groups as they were used as scouts . A team of ten men would travel ahead of the main army and report back what they could discover .

    Between Ji City and Zhongshan City, a dense forest blocked their path, but there was a forest road that connected both cities . Though not many people used this road anymore, Tong decided to use this as a short-cut while they gathered woods for resources .

    Using many too many horsemen in a scout team would not be efficient in this situation . As the forest was filled with bushes, obstacles, and bumpy tree roots, having a thousand horsemen galloping in this forest would do harm more than good .

    Thus, a team of ten horsemen was sent to secure the road while the other teams slowly cleared the path on the side road, making rooms for the infantries .

    The path toward the north was still partly covered in snow as it was in the season change period . The warm weather of spring had notpletely arrived yet . The melted snow turned the soil into muddy swamps which made this journey harder than the usual .

    Unlike the time when Tong forced-march to Ye, Tong Army took their time, slowly moving toward north while they were clearing the pathway .

    Marching into the dense forest had a high risk of contracting unknown diseases, but Tong was undaunted . Water and food supplies were not their issues, and each soldier also carried anti-biotic medicines from Hua Shi with them, so they had necessary protection .

    ¡¯Living without the system HUD map is inconvenient, but I have to ovee this . Bear with it for one more year, and I¡¯ll get them all back in a year or two . ¡¯

    ...

    February 17th, 183 A . D .

    The slow journey continued .

    Despite the fact that the distance between cities were 150 to 160 kilometers, which could have taken them two days to travel on a clear road, Tong Army traveled only four to five kilometer a day as his men built several camps along the way, creating many check-points .

    Today, the scouts finally detected Liu Yan Army .

    "Report! We found Liu Yan camps 6 li north of here . They are cutting the forest to make a path toward us . Their number is roughly 20,000 men!"

    Tong chuckled when he heard the report .

    "Thank you . You can leave . "

    "Yes, sir!"

    Tong had always faced overwhelming numbered enemies, but this time, they were fighting a force with the roughly same number . In addition, Liu Yan had no other promising general except Zou Jing, so the next fight would be a lot easier than the past .

    Laughing in his heart for a minute, Tong reeled in his excitement as he remembered a troubling thing he might encounter in this force .

    Liu Bei

    Zhang Fei

    Guan Yu

    The three sworn brothers!

    ¡¯I shouldn¡¯t look down on Liu Yan . The three troublemakers probably appear here earlier than the recorded history, so I have to prepare to face these three in the next battles . ¡¯

    ¡¯There¡¯s also the missing number of Liu Yan troops . The previous Jia Xu¡¯s reports said that they have at least 50,000 men, but only 20,000 shows up here . An ambush or a trap is also possible . ¡¯

    ¡¯Well, I won¡¯t underestimate them . I¡¯ll be careful . ¡¯

    Tong turned to the boxes behind his back . Inside, handgun bullets were stored there . After the battle at Liyang and the umted bullets Tong had created each day, 150 bullets remained . The other 300 rounds had been stored in his [Inventory], but because Lilim disabled the skill, he could not use them .

    ¡¯Ten magazines, that¡¯s not enough for sure . But I have [Homing Arrow], so I can do the hit-and-run by myself . ¡¯

    ¡¯Welp! Assassin mode, here I go again . ¡¯

    ...

    Nightfall .

    Tong dressed in a ck cloth and left the camp by himself . He carried a standard bow, quivers of arrows, his handgun, and a steel de, but he only wore leather armor as he wanted mobility over the protection .

    It was half-moon and cloudless sky that night, which the moonlight was enough for Tong to travel in this dark forest .

    Moreover, Tong¡¯s demonic instinct heightened at night . He could faintly feel the surrounding while he was running northward . His red eyes glowed, and his vision had a tinge of green color which he could see clearer in the dark .

    One hourter, Tong reached Liu Yan army campsite . As soon as he had reached the camp, he had to crouch down and hid behind a bush to observe the fortified camp .

    As Tong had expected, the fortification of this camp was thorough . Three long lines of trenches had been dug, and a double-line of wooden fences covered the entire camps . Watchtowers had been built close to each other that there was a tower every ten meters .

    Patrolling sentries were also plenty . A team of ten men with torches walked around the edge of the camp, and their eyes kept ncing at the darkness of the forest .

    Tong peeked inside the trenches . Sure enough, there were several groups of soldiers sitting inside them .

    ¡¯Are they copying my trench tactic from Anping?¡¯

    Tong pondered . It appeared that Liu Yan Army also used a simr strategy as Tong by digging through the forest while fortifying their camps . Furthermore, they should have detected Tong Army from the south as well . Had not they discovered Tong, they would not have been on a full-alert like this .

    ¡¯This is Zou Jing¡¯s works . He is wary of me . ¡¯

    ¡¯Ha! But if that¡¯s all he can do, then he¡¯ll fail miserably!¡¯

    Tong crawled back and kept the distance from the camp . He took the bow from his back and nocked an arrow, aiming at a guard on a watchtower .

    *WOOSH*

    *POEK*

    An arrow prated the guard¡¯s forehead, and he copsed without making a sound .

    Tong did not use the magic arrow as the light arrow was too shy . With his [Bow Mastery] and his hellish training experience with Medusa, he had no problem sniping someone with a normal bow .

 Chapter 242

    Chapter 242

    Chapter 242 ¨C The Empty Camp Trap

    ¡¯17 ... 18 ... 19 ...¡¯

    Tong counted as he continued to snipe the guards on watchtowers .

    *POEK*

    The 20th arrow found its target and pierced the victim¡¯s skull . The arrowhead dug into his brain, killing him instantly .

    ¡¯20! That should be thest guy in this perimeter . ¡¯

    Tong darted his eyes around the camp, searching for anyone who might have been overlooked .

    Seeing that no one else remained inside the watchtowers nearby, Tong snuck into the outer trench . Unlike inside the camp, the soldiers did not carry a torch inside the trench . With his ck cloth, Tong blended into the darkness and crawled inside the moat line .

    Moving forward for a few seconds, Tong ran into the stationing soldiers inside the trenches who were gazing at the dark forest .

    The squad captain had noticed Tong, but he mistook him as arade from another squad . He reprimanded Tong and ignored him .

    "Hey, don¡¯t move around . Stay in your position, didn¡¯t you hear the general¡¯s order?"

    Tong smiled and said, "I need to poop . Where should I dump it? Inside the moat?"

    The entire squad turned to Tong and looked at him with disgust, "Get your ass inside that forest or I¡¯ll stter your shit on your face!"

    "The forest is too dark . I¡¯m afraid of ghost . Can someonee with me?"

    "..."

    While Tong was messing around with the garrison squad, he counted the members in this group . Only five people were in his line of sight .

    "Fine, you and you, go with this shit-break . "

    Tong smiled again while his right hand drew the de from his back, "Thank you . "

    ¡¯Overclock mode!¡¯

    Without letting anyone utter a word, Tong rushed in and sliced the necks of the five men within two seconds .

    After the men copsed into the moat, Tong stripped the uniform of the soldier captain and disguised himself with the soldier¡¯s clothes .

    ¡¯How nostalgia . I did this when I raided Guo Dian¡¯s camp, but I don¡¯t have a system map with me this time . ¡¯

    Finished dressing, Tong leaped over the trench and entered the next line of the moat . Upon entering the trench line, he saw another group of soldiers .

    ¡¯This can be tedious . ¡¯ Tongined in his heart .

    "Hey, which squad are you from? What are you doing over here?" The captain of the squad asked Tong .

    "The Avenger . "

    "Ar-Wen-What?"

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    Another five-man squad was cut down .

    Tong leaped over the moat and in another squad of patrolling guards . He did not kill them because he felt like it, he was securing an escape route .

    With thest line of defense squadron down, Tong left the moat and jumped across the spike barricades and the fences . He proceeded to the watchtower and climbed thedder to the top of the building .

    Upon entering the watchtower tform, a corpse with an arrow on the forehead was there .

    ¡¯A bunch of noobs . If it were me, I would have stationed at least two guards on one watchtower,¡¯ Tong mocked Zou Jing in his mind while he looked back to scout the camps from the tower .

    The tents in this camp were packed close to each other, leaving only enough no space to walk at the side of the tents .

    In an ordinary set up of the army tents, they had to leave enough spaces on the side so soldiers could use the gap to run when there was an emergency . However, Zou Jing¡¯s camp setting was weird .

    All tents did not have a light of amp . Only torches on the walkways illuminated the light inside the camp .

    ¡¯Huh? This is odd . ¡¯

    Tong felt that something was not right about this camp, so he concentrated his feeling, trying to sense a living being using his demonic instinct .

    Friday had not taught him about the instinct or the sixth sense yet, but Tong had this tingling unexinable feeling ever since he had fought with Lu Bu in Jinyang .

    He could sense a lifeform signature nearby .

    As Tong slowly scanned around the camp, he could feel that there were soldiers inside the trenches, but there was no one in the tents .

    ¡¯Haiz, now I wish I have the map . My life would have been a lot easier . ¡¯

    ¡¯An empty camp tactic . This is a bait to lure my troops here or me . ¡¯

    Tong¡¯s face darkened as he simted a scenario where Zou Jing and his men gathered outside of the camp, surrounding it and waiting for Tong to enter . He would have been trapped in here if he was discovered .

    ¡¯Too risky . I have to leave the camp and scout the surrounding some more . ¡¯

    Tong climbed down thedder and returned to the trenches where he first entered . After he reached the first line of the ditch where he stripped the captain¡¯s clothes, a horn sound roared from within the camp .

    "ARCHERS, FIRE!"

    Thousands of fireballs appeared within the dense forest . The moved up and down before all of them wereunched into mid-air andnded inside the camp .

    The tents caught fires, which spread throughout the entire areas in an instant .

    "TRENCH TROOPS, SURROUND THE CAMP! DO NOT LET ANYONE GET OUT!"

    While Tong was changing his cloth back to his ck uniform, all soldiers inside the trenches stood up and pointed their spears toward the camp as if they were waiting for an enemy inside .

    The fire in the camp got stronger each second passed . Tong peeked from the edge of the trench to see the situation outside in shock .

    ¡¯It is a trap! Were they waiting for me? But how did they know?¡¯

    ¡¯The tents catch fire too fast . Did they put mmable things in there?¡¯

    ¡¯Hahaha! Wow, I¡¯m speechless . You are good, Zou Jing . To be honest, I wanted to recruit you . Too bad that I have to kill you because of the goddamn system . ¡¯

    Tong stopped thinking and leaped from the trench, running toward the dark forest . Unfortunately, the areas were too bright because of the burning camp, Tong¡¯s figure was seen by many nearby soldiers .

    "There¡¯s a runner! Over there!"

    "Give chase!"

    "That should be Zhang Tong! After him!"

    Hearing themands of the soldier captains, Tong was astonished once again .

    ¡¯Holy-shit-damn! They even knew that I¡¯ll be here!¡¯

    The adrenaline within Tong¡¯s body rushed into his blood vessels . His overclock mode activated once more, and his legs exerted power while he moved over the natural obstacles as if he was a parkour master .

    "HAHAHA, he¡¯s running toward the! Form lines and block his escape route!" The soldier captain issued another order, which alerted Tong .

    ¡¯A!? There¡¯s another ambush party ahead? But I don¡¯t see a lighted torch . Wait, they want to catch me off-guard?¡¯

    Tong narrowed his eyes and expanded his sense to the limit . Just like the enemy captain had said, there were thousands of life signature a hundred meter ahead of him . The troops had positioned in a half circle formation, surrounding Tong .

    A few seconds after Tong had sensed the ambushing force, the ambushing army lighted their torches, revealing themselves to Tong . Every direction around Tong had torchlight .

    ¡¯It¡¯s really a . I¡¯m surrounded . ¡¯

    The legs stopped moving as Tong knew that the pursuing parties had stopped chasing but circling around him from the back . He took out his bow again and aimed toward the front .

    ¡¯I wonder how the lock-on works . ¡¯

    ...

    *******************************

    [Homing Arrow] LV . 5 (337/1,600)

    - Fire a magic homing arrow at a locked target .

    - Convert an ordinary arrow into a magic homing arrow .

    - Passive skill [Bow Mastery] will be applied to the host once the skill is equipped .

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan for firing a homing magic arrow with an ordinary arrow .

    - 10 Lifespan for firing a homing magic arrow without an arrow .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Homing effects only applies to a locked target in the range of 300 meters or lower .

    - Range restriction depends on the level of the skill

    *******************************

    . . .

    Tong stared into the distance where he sensed the ambush soldiers . It took him a second of waiting, and a red crosshair appeared in his vision .

    ¡¯Is this the lock on?¡¯

    Tong activated the homing arrow skill in his mind and fired a shot . The arrow glowed in white light . It flew high into the sky and chased after the target by itself .

    It did not take long for Tong to hear a scream from the soldier .

    ¡¯This is convenient . Much better than snipping with a rifle . ¡¯

    Tong remembered that Hua Shi used to fire several homing arrows at once . He picked four arrows from the quiver and nocked them onto his bow .

    As Tong was aiming forward, four red cross-hair appeared .

    ¡¯The number of lock-on targets depend on the total arrow I¡¯m using?¡¯

    Tong fired the arrows, but he pulled the string again without using a real arrow this time .

    ¡¯What will happen if I fire 10 arrows without a live arrow?¡¯

    By thinking that he wanted to shoot ten arrows, ten cross-hair shed again .

    ¡¯How about 20?¡¯

    More targets appeared in his vision .

    Tong released the string, and twenty light arrows manifested out of thin air, flying toward the targets .

    ¡¯Sweat, how about a hundred?¡¯

    >

    Tong raised his eyebrows in disappointment . He pulled his string again and continued his one-man-arrow-rain .

    As Tong continued firing, themotion in front was getting louder . He ignored the shout and themand from the enemies and repeated his action as if he was grinding in an MMORPG game .

    >

    <+25 lifespans="">>

    <+41 lifespans="">>

    <+24 lifespans="">>

    For every kill, Tong got lifespans in return as the passive skill of [Sword Mastery] was at work . Meanwhile, his [Homing Arrow] EXP skyrocketed in a short time .

    ¡¯Now, I know why her skill level increases so fast . Damn, she¡¯s OP . ¡¯

    Two minutes after the unstoppable barrage of arrows, the ambushing troops decided to charge toward Tong¡¯s direction .

    Tong narrowed his eyes as he realized that arrow barrages took a few seconds to lock-on and shoot, so he switched his weapon . He hung hisposite bow behind his back and drew his gun .

    ¡¯Time to bail . ¡¯

    Tong scanned the area and looked for the gap in their encirclement . The south and east side was packed with thousands of Liu Yan¡¯s men . There were the trench troops from the west, but the north was thin in number .

    At first nce, the north should be the target to break the encirclement .

    ¡¯They intentionally left a gap toward the north, but that should lead to a more ambush site . ¡¯

    Tong recalled the Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14th-century novel where Cao Cao broke through the series of ambushes of Liu Bei force one after another after he had lost the Battle at Chibi . It was a stratagem of Zhuge Liang which he forced Cao Cao to move to the direction that he had ced the ambush forces . In the end, Guan Yu managed to capture Cao Cao, but Guan Yu let him go .

    He had a feeling that he would be Cao Cao in this scenario if he were to break through to the north .

    ¡¯I¡¯m forcing my way through the south!¡¯

    Undaunted by the thousands of soldiers, Tong ran toward the south with a handgun in his left hand and his de in his right . </+24></+41></+25>

 Chapter 243

    Chapter 243

    Chapter 243 ¨C Arrow Spamming

    *SWUA*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    Gunshots and metallic crashing sound echoed through the night as Tong mowed down the closest soldiers with his de while his left index finger pulled the triggered as he aimed at anyone who appeared to be their captains .

    Tong activated his full-overclock mode and swung his de while the surrounding was in a slow-motion pace . It tired his psyche, but it was the right time to use it .

    For each second, two or three soldiers would die by either Tong¡¯s de or his gun .

    "Fwoo . "

    Tong slowly exhaled as he regted his breathing . The fight had started for only a minute, but he already in over a hundred soldiers . The repeated sword swing continued to drain his stamina . Though he was not tired yet, Tong¡¯s right arm had shown a hint of a sluggish movement .

    ¡¯Not having that 20x stamina buff really hurts!¡¯

    Stepping on a corpse of a dead soldier, Tong pressed forward, ignoring the spear-wall, shield-wall, or asionally tackles by random soldiers .

    The shield and spear formation was in front of Tong .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    The bullets prated the soldiers behind the packed wall of iron shields, and the formation crumbled . Tong dove into the crack in the formation, shing his de, killing three soldiers in a second .

    A five-man squad of spearmen rushed behind Tong, thrusting their spears forward, aiming at his back .

    Sensing the ill omen, Tong shouted .

    "ZA WARUDO!"

    [Time Stop] activated .

    >

    ¡¯Here we go again . I forgot about this . ¡¯

    Every time Tong used a system skill with an anime-keyword, his [Pride] acted up . However, he also noticed a strange asion .

    He remembered that when he did not use a system skill and uttered a simr skill-name from an anime from his previous world, his [Pride] did not increase .

    But this was not the time to reminisce about the past, Tong did not waste his time thinking about how his [Sin] increased or decreased . He jumped and stepped onto the head of the soldier in front of him .

    Leaping from a head of a soldier to one another, Tong passed the five-lined formation troops and broke through the encirclement .

    After getting through the, Tong continued dashing toward the south, gaining the distance from Liu Yan Army .

    >

    Hearing the notification from the auto-sound, Tong turned around and hid behind a tree .

    "He disappears!"

    "What the!?"

    "Impossible!"

    Sure enough, the soldiers panicked . Their face lost color as if they saw a ghost .

    Tong peeked at the soldiers from the shade and switched his weapon again . He put his gun and de away and took out his bow from the back .

    Before he could lock-on the pursuing troops, Tong heard a voice from a distance within the dark forest .

    "That was just his skill . He can only use it once a day! All troops, search the southern areas . He should not have gone too far!"

    Tong was shocked when he heard themand . It was as if this person knew everything about him .

    ¡¯Holy shit damn! Are you Zhuge Liang or what!?¡¯

    Gritting his teeth, Tong aimed his bow at the direction of the sound and activated his lock-on .

    >

    ¡¯Tsk!¡¯

    Tong nced at his [Homing Arrow] skill . It was now level six with a range of 350 meters .

    ¡¯Over 350 meters? But, I thought he was so close?¡¯

    The voice of themander was loud and clear despite the long distance . It was not that themander shouted a loud voice, it was Tong¡¯s hearing sense which was enhanced by his demonic blood and his two-winged status .

    ¡¯Fine . I can¡¯t kill you now, but I¡¯ll kill every single soldier you have! I¡¯ll grind my arrow EXP and steal your lifespans!¡¯

    25 Targets were locked on, and Tong released the bowstring, firing another barrage at toward the dense crowd .

    "More arrows!"

    "Iing!"

    "The south! He¡¯s over there!"

    Because the magic arrows were too bright, they revealed Tong¡¯s current location to the pursuing soldiers . However, Tong did not mind exposing his position .

    Tong did not stop pulling and releasing his bowstring as his eyes darted around the areas, locking-on every living being he could sense .

    Each second, 25 magic arrows chased after the targets as if they had eyes . Before the batch of the first 25 arrows hit the soldiers, 25 more arrows flew in the sky from Tong¡¯s bow .

    The sequence continued for another ten seconds, and nobody managed to get closer to Tong .

    "T-That¡¯s not Zhang Tong! That¡¯s Hua Shi!"

    "Damn it! That¡¯s the Goddess of Death!"

    "Run!"

    The charging soldiers began to hesitate . Half of them was terrified by the signature arrows of Hua Shi and ran away .

    ¡¯Dafuq? They¡¯re scared of Sunday, but they don¡¯t afraid of me!? This is an insult!¡¯

    Annoyed by the remarks and theparison from the soldiers, his barrage firing rate increased, which frightened the soldiers .

    "ALL UNITS, RETREAT!"

    The sound of themander could be heard again . Several torches had been lighted, and Tong could see the fireballs and bright areas far away .

    ¡¯I don¡¯t think you can retreat faster than I run!¡¯

    Tong got out of his cover and chased after the fleeing troops while continued shooting his magic arrows .

    Screams and death throes intensified and echoed in the forest .

    ...

    Thirty minutester .

    Tong pulled his bowstring and felt something wrong with his finger .

    The bowstring broke, snapping in half . The cord durability had reached its end because of the intense usage .

    Looking at the snapped bowstring, Tong had a cringed smile on his face .

    ¡¯Right, I have 6 shopping tickets . I should buy a durable bow and continue fighting . ¡¯

    Tong opened the menu to look at the system shop .

    >

    " . . . Are you serious?"

    Tong sighed as he took a mental note, "Never rely 100% on the system . "

    ¡¯Next time, I¡¯ll carry a spare . ¡¯

    Tong gazed toward the north where the retreating soldiers gathered . At a nce, their number should be around 10,000, which was impossible for Tong to kill them all by himself at his current power without the stamina buff and the regen from [Immoral Yang Vein] skill .

    "Lucky you . I¡¯ll be back (speaks in Arnold¡¯s voice)"

    Tong turned around and headed back south, running back to his camp .

    ...

    ...

    Zou Jing had a pale and distorted face after he ensured that Tong did not follow after them anymore .

    The origin of this n was not from Liu Yan Army, but Tian Feng of Yuan Shao .

    Yuan Shao, Liu Yan, and Sun Jian had formed a coalition against the Yellow Turban in secret while they were preparing their forces in winter .

    For this coalition to work, Tian Feng sent his nning suggestion messages to all lords . He inputted his insight and intelligence about Tong in the reports .

    In Tian Feng¡¯s analysis, Tong had a habit of attacking his enemies at night, which sometimes he moved alone . This was Tong¡¯s major weakness that their forces could exploit .

    In addition, Tian Feng also listed the discovered skills of Tong which he had used in the past . This information wasposed by Te Langpu and Tian Feng together by deducing the records from all battles Tong participated and in the peaceful times .

    Liu Yan received the message from Tian Feng and agreed to utilize this suggested n to capture or kill Tong in this counter-ambush .

    Because of the danger that Tong could conjure hot oil out of thin air, they decided to avoid fighting with Tong head-on, but they nned to catch him off-guard .

    This n began when Zou Jing and his force detected Tong Army in the south . In response, they fortified their camp as if they wanted to protect them at all costs . However, Zou Jing put mmable hays and dried woods inside the tents instead of letting his soldiers rest in it .

    He stationed his troops at the east and west of the camp while he left some cannon fodders inside the trenches, in the camp, and watchtowers to bait Tong .

    The troops that had stationed outside monitored the movement inside the camp . The purpose of the monitoring was to detect if Tong took the bait or not .

    As they had predicted, Tong snipped the watchtower guards and slowly slipped into the trench . By the time Tong entered the first line of the three lines of trenches, the scouts had ryed the message to Zou Jing that the fish had appeared .

    Both troops on the west and east moved in, encircling Tong from behind . As soon as the army position waspleted, they blew the horns and signaled the entrapment n .

    Unfortunately, Tong did not enter into the camp, but he returned to the first line of the trenches, which he ultimately slipped away from the fire trap .

    The back-up n was in motion as the troops blocked Tong¡¯s escape routes, leaving the north direction open so Tong could have moved as they directed him .

    Again, Tong did not move as they had predicted . He charged south and broke through the fortified southern troopers . Moreover, he turned back and used his wife¡¯s light arrows to decimate his elite soldiers .

    Zou Jing looked at his tattered soldiers with trembling clenched fists . He was angered by the magic arrows that Tong had disyed, which destroyed his ambush n .

    ¡¯Why is Heaven so bias!? Why can he use sorceries!? What did we do wrong!? Why does he even exist in ournd?¡¯

    Frustration, anger, and despair overwhelmed Zou Jing as he reevaluated his ambush ns . Everything had been perfect, yet Tong brute-forced his way out .

    "Sir, how are we going to win against that monster?"

    A lieutenant of Zou Jing began calling Tong a monster after the short fight . The moment he uttered the word, several soldiers picked up the vocabry and used it to gossip .

    "Zhang Tong is a monster . We can¡¯t even catch him after all these . "

    "Where is the spearhead units? Has that monster killed them all?"

    "How many of us died because of that monster?"

    Their morale lowered every time they talked about Tong . This frustrated Zou Jing more .

    "Sir?"

    All lieutenants of Zou Jing were sweating bullets from the desperation and insecurity feeling in their heart .

    Zou Jing gritted his teeth, "Withdraw from the forest road . Lord Yan Yan is leading the pincer troops, and he¡¯s detouring the forest . We¡¯ll draw Zhang Tong to our turf . "

    "Sir, are you sure that it was Zhang Tong? But those arrows are the Goddess of Death¡¯s ..."

    "That¡¯s definitely Zhang Tong! Hua Shi never moves alone like this . I don¡¯t know how he can use those deadly arrows, but I¡¯m sure that it¡¯s that monster!"

    Even Zou Jing slipped the word [Monster] by ident, which shaken the hearts of the lieutenants .

    "It¡¯s fine . I also have heard that a volunteer army has been formed, and they will help us . For now, we will draw them to fight in the open field . By the time they are outside of the forest, Lord Yan Yan should have captured Zhongshan and cut their supplies . Then, no matter how strong he is, he will die without food and water!"

    All lieutenants thought they had seen the light in the darkness . Their morale increased as they saw hope once more .

    Smiled appeared on their face while they were busy praising Zou Jing for his intelligence .

    None of them knew that Zou Jing did not want to be there, fighting Tong anymore .

    ¡¯I¡¯m not going to fight him . I¡¯ll keep running away and have that guy win the war for me! Yep, I¡¯m not fighting with Zhang Tong again . ¡¯

 Chapter 244

    Chapter 244

    Chapter 244 ¨C Chasing Zou Jing

    Tong returned to his camp withplicated emotion . He was not satisfied with the result of the fight as his bow was broken . He tried to scour for a bow from the dead bodies, but he could not find a recement . All the dead soldiers were spearmen and shield bearers, which did not carry what Tong needed .

    However, killing thousands of enemies leveled up his homing arrow skill, and he reaped several hundred thousand years of lifespans .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 18

    Lifespan 929,767 Years

    *******************************

    Tong had lost count of how many soldiers he had killed . They were too many as he spammed 25 arrows for every two seconds for over half an hour . One arrow might not kill an enemy right away, but it usually took two or three arrows to finish a soldier as Tong did not have a good visual on the targets . Thus, the lock-on was ced on random parts of their bodies instead of the vital spots .

    He had spent 200,000 years to get two of his skill back, yet he still profited from killing Liu Yan¡¯s soldiers . The number of years gave Tong a butterfly feeling in his chest as he imagined that he could live for so long .

    Calmed his emotion after a few minutes of excitement, Tong sighed .

    ¡¯The dream of immortality ... It would have been nice had the system not existed . ¡¯

    To Tong, the number in the system menu was just an illusion as the system would oppress him in the future to extort his lifespans and return it to the system pool .

    ncing at the skill status, [Homing Arrow] had reached max level, which increased the range to 600 meters .

    ¡¯I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll need all the troops . I can solo Liu Yan Army as long as I have a workable bow . ¡¯

    ...

    Next morning, Tong secured two wooden bows from the supply convoy in his army . However, they were not up to Tong¡¯s quality standard .

    The rest of his army projectile weapons were repeating crossbows, which Tong had tried to use his homing arrow skill with it, however ...

    >

    The repeating crossbows they were using were not standard crossbows with only a string and a lock, but they were like wooden mechanical tools which each of it had a lever and a handle, which the system did not treat it as a bow or a crossbow .

    As his force had changed their range weaponry technology to repeating crossbows as their army standard, they had stopped manufacturing traditional bows . All former bows had been sold to the merchants, while the substandard bows were kept to be used as firewood as they were unseble .

    In addition, Zhen Yi troops also used ancient crossbows, which was notpatible with Tong¡¯s homing arrow skill .

    He could fire homing arrows with normal crossbows, but it always took him several minutes to draw the bowstring back to its ready position, which was inefficient in a solobat .

    Tong grumbled after he left the supply camp . The bows on his back were defective bows which were destined to be scrapped .

    ¡¯These bows won¡¯tst ten minutes . The bowstrings are too fragile!¡¯

    Feeling helpless, Tong had to stop going after Liu Yan or Zou Jing alone at night .

    20,000 Yellow Turban troops continued cutting the woods, paving a road toward Ji City in leisure .

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, Zou Jing retreated five kilometers from the previous trap-camp location .

    At this ce, another camp had been built beforehand two days ago . The retreating troops gathered inside the camp to regroup and reform their toons .

    The number of survivors and the stats of troops depressed every soldier and Zou Jing . Less than 10,000 men from the initial 20,000 soldiers survived fromst night .

    Zou Jing bit his thumb fingernail . His pale face distorted while sweat drops were rolling down his cheeks .

    In his mind, it was impossible for one man to kill over 10,000 soldiers in a night, yet the reality disagreed with him . The nightmare of Tong¡¯s existence haunted Zou Jing the second time .

    "Put scarecrows around the camp and disguise them as guards! We¡¯ll continue to retreat!" Zou Jing ordered .

    "Sir? But the strategy was to buy times and lure them to our territory ..."

    "Nonsense! I say we¡¯re going to retreat, then we¡¯ll retreat! Do you not understand the humannguage?"

    The lieutenants paled as they also recalled that their loss was massive . Their current troops would not be able to handle Tong¡¯s illogical magic and his 20,000 elites .

    Atte noon, Zou Jing Army departed from the pre-made camp, withdrawing north to another pre-constructed camp 10 kilometers away .

    ...

    At night, the Yellow Turban moved their camp five kilometers further north, securing the areas with cautious . They were five kilometers away from the trap-site where Tong had raided yesterday .

    Horsemen scouts ryed their discovery back to Tong . They found three camps further away beyond the forest . One was the burnt camp, the second camp was abandoned, and thest camp was 15 kilometers away to the north .

    All signs indicated that Zou Jing was running away from them .

    Sweat drops appear on Tong¡¯s face as he had his worries . The forced mission by Lilim had a short time limit as he had less than 40 days to kill Zou Jing .

    Furthermore, a part of Liu Yan troops was missing . There were only 20,000 soldiersst night while the spies from Jia Xu said Liu Yan had more troops than that .

    There should be another army or a detached force somewhere!

    "Second uncle, I want you to take all blue troops back to Zhongshan . "

    "What? Are we not sieging Ji City? Why are we retreating?"

    Tong shook his head, "You misunderstood me . I have a feeling that they are baiting us . I want both of you to go back and fortify Zhongshan . I¡¯ll take 5,000 men and chase after Zou Jing . Bo Cai and 5,000 men will continue cutting the path to making a road as nned . "

    Though Zhang Bao was confused, he epted Tong¡¯s suggestion and arranged his men to return .

    ...

    February 19th .

    Zhang Bao withdrew with 10,000 soldiers while Bo Cai and his 5,000 soldiers were clearing the forest . Both of them did not know why Tong wanted to pave a road to Ji City in this time of war, but they did it anyway .

    This road project was Tong¡¯s idea as he had studied about merchant trade routes and main roads between cities .

    Currently, no road connected between Ji and Zhongshan . To travel from Zhongshan to Ji or the other way around, they had to pass Nanpi City, which was controlled by Yuan Shao .

    Since Yuan Shao was a strong foe that Tong had no confidence that he could capture his headquarter city in a year or two, he decided to capture Ji City first before he could target the Yuan n .

    Once he controlled Ji, he could amass his troops from this border city and pincer Nanpi with armies from four cities, Ji, Julu, Zhongshan, and Ye . No matter how talented Yuan Shao¡¯s generals, otherworlders, or strategists were, they would not have enough personals to handle four major armies .

    "Serving Karma, one asshole at a time . "

    It was the phrase that Tong told Jia Xu about his future n, which was approved .

    Tong and his men force-marched through the forest to catch Zou Jing . They formed two columns instead of the usual ten columns during the march as Tong was wary of small traps, such as bear-traps, tree-traps, or a pitfall .

    The path was rough and bumpy as obstacles, such as bushes, swamps, mud, and tree roots were blocking their way . However, the rough passagested only five kilometers .

    As soon as they got through the unclear forest, they reached the burnt camp .

    "Ignore the camp! Keep moving forward . The scouts already checked this area, there¡¯s nothing to see here! Bo Cai unit wille to clean this ceter . "

    After this camp, the road was easier to get through as Zou Jing had cleared the forest when he had gotten here as well . It seemed he also wanted a path between Ji and Zhongshan .

    Because of the cleared road, the marching pace quickened as they began jogging instead of walking . An hourter, their front troopers could see another camp ahead of them .

    Tong¡¯s scouts had already explored the areas . Zou Jing had left several scarecrows, dressed as soldiers, inside the camp .

    ¡¯Did he want to scare my scouts and me?¡¯ Tong was baffled by Zou Jing¡¯s logic .

    ¡¯It might have worked if I¡¯m paranoid enough . ¡¯

    Tong ignored this camp and pointed his finger toward the north .

    "We continue! But we¡¯ll slow the pace . Save your strength and keep your eyes open!"

    Four hourster, they traveled another ten kilometers and saw another camp . This time, living soldiers were garrisoning the interior of the camp .

    "Form ranks! Wait for the logistic troops . I¡¯ll handle this myself . "

    Not bothering using his soldiers to attack, Tong took out his broken bow and tried to lock on the soldiers inside the camp .

    >

    Listening to the system warning, Tong frowned . The other night, he had used his sense to feel the surrounding and acquired the targets, but he had yet to expand his sense today . In addition, Liu Yan soldiers were too far away that Tong could only see small dots from a distance .

    ¡¯Right, I forgot . Sunday has that [Hawk Eyes], so her vision is better than mine . ¡¯

    Tong exerted more mental strength and spread his sense . Spiritual vision about the surrounding appeared within his mind .

    He opened his eyes to lock on the targets . However, he could see that the red cross-hairs were moving around the bodies of the targets .

    ¡¯Huh? I can pinpoint the lock on location?¡¯

    Tong smacked his forehead as he forgot that he had a n chat system . He texted Hua Shi to ask her about the skill .

    "You have to see the targets first to lock on . Then, you can specify the body part that you want the arrow to hit . If you lock on the target roughly, the cross-hair will randomly pick a body part for you . Try to manual control it if you can . "

    Thement of his wife made Tong facepalmed again .

    ¡¯I wasted too many shots the other night! I should have aimed for the head like the Great Thanos said!¡¯

    Enlightened by Hua Shi, Tong moved closer to the camp to get a good visual on the soldiers inside .

    [Homing Arrow] activated .

    After Tong maxed his skill, he could lock-on 40 targets at once . Ten sets of 40 light arrows chased after the head of garrison troops without mercy .

    However

    ¡¯It¡¯s too quiet . I fired probing shots, but they did not sound an rm or mobilize their army . ¡¯

    The camp was still quiet after 400 light arrows killed the targets .

    "Get me a hundred men . Go search the camp! Scout teams, I want you to double check the surrounding areas . Report to me if you see anything in the range of 5 li . "

    A hundred men rushed into the camp, and the scouts galloped away . Tong did not stay idle, he used his sense to search for a living being signature in the woods or inside the camp .

    At dusk, Tong got his reports which answered his suspicion .

 Chapter 245

    Chapter 245

    Chapter 245 ¨C Coward Zou Jing

    Zou Jing and his surviving men were 10 kilometers north of the previous camp where Tong had upied .

    A total of 8,000 men were constructing traps, digging pitfalls, and gathering dry woods . Although it was already dusk, Zou Jing disallowed the men to rest .

    His eyes nced around while he kept pacing back and forth . His hands could not find the right ce to stay as he scratched and touched his elbows all the time .

    "Sir, the scouts have returned!" A soldier shouted .

    Zou Jing¡¯s eyes brightened, "Come quickly! Where are they now!?"

    The scouts knelt and cupped their fists, "My Lord, they have reached our abandoned camp and in all of the cripples . T-They will reach this ce tomorrow morning!"

    Zou Jing teeth were ttering when he heard the report .

    "G-Gather the men and hurry . We have to finish all traps before morning!"

    "Yes, my lord!"

    ...

    Tong watched his men piling the naked corpses of the crippled soldiers . These men that Tong killed were the soldiers that Zou Jing left behind as cannon fodders to buy times for their escape .

    A few hundreds of men were captured . They, too, were the soldiers that Tong attacked with his homing arrows the first night .

    From the interrogation, they confessed about their lord¡¯s n and their view on Tong¡¯s troops .

    "He told us that the Yellow Turban will kill all of our citizens . "

    "He wanted us to burn the camp when you charge the camp, but the Goddess of Death killed most of us before we could set the fire . "

    "Zou Jing said that you robbed the peasants! We¡¯re fighting to the death!"

    A bitter feeling crept in Tong¡¯s mind as he did not want to harm these brainwashed soldiers . All he wanted was Zou Jing¡¯s head . The result of the information war and his bad reputation had shown its consequence . This was why politicians in this era acted like hypocrites so they would not face a bacsh like this .

    ¡¯Who is right, who is wrong ... who can answer this?¡¯

    Wars took ce because of the leaders, but followers were the ones who suffered . Information manipting, misunderstanding, and selfishness of warlords were the cause of these tragedies .

    ¡¯I¡¯m also to be med . I killed the people of Liyang, and they are using this as their reasons to start a war with me . ¡¯

    >

    Tong mockinglyughed at the auto-system message .

    ¡¯That¡¯s new . Well, I see . Ignorant is also a sin . Waging war recklessly without learning the truth is a sinful act, huh?¡¯

    The sarcastic smile on Tong¡¯s face turned cold . His eyes emitted the light of cruelty as he red toward the north .

    ¡¯I won¡¯t me you, Zou Jing . But for the sake of less bloodshed and my family, I¡¯ll hunt you down ASAP!¡¯

    Tong turned to his men and ordered, "Have everybody rest for tonight! I¡¯ll guard the camp myself, all of you go to sleep . We¡¯ll forced-march again tomorrow . "

    Then, he looked at the prisoners, "Transport them to Zhongshan . Treat them as our disabled veterans and give them a pension of a captain tier . "

    The prisoners watched Tong in astonishment and disbelief .

    "Won¡¯t you kill us?"

    "Why won¡¯t you kill us?

    "No way! Bandits have to kill all prisoners . Why are you letting us go?"

    Sweat rolled down Tong¡¯s cheek as he was amazed by their reaction .

    "You thought I¡¯m a bandit, so you¡¯re here to fight me . Now, you want me to kill you because I let you live? Are you even listening to yourself? I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m stupid or you¡¯re a bunch of morons . Do you really want me to kill you? Really?"

    "..."

    "Forget it . Talking to you fools degrades my IQ . Men, get them out of my sight . Let them see how we govern our people . "

    All Yellow Turban looked at the prisoners with an amused expression .

    ...

    February 20th .

    The chase continued .

    Tong did not sleepst night as he guarded the camp for his men . Though he was tired, the forced-march resumed .

    The number of troops reduced to 4,000 as Tong sent 1,000 men back as the escort troops of the prisoners . As their troop size lowered, the marching pace was faster .

    Two hourster, they traveled 10 kilometers and reached the next campsite that Zou Jing had built . Unlike the previously abandoned camps, this camp was fortified by thousands of men .

    Zou Jing Army had constructed palisade walls, moat, horse traps, and spike barricades, which blocked the path toward the north as if they were the check-point . At the sides in the dense forest, they packed dried hays and carts around, indicating that they had ced several traps inside the forest .

    Several dubious circr discolored brown soil could also be seen on the ground in front of the wall . Even a rookie soldier could tell that these were pitfall traps .

    ¡¯They made this with haste . I¡¯m sure they¡¯re buying times, but what can he do with it?¡¯

    Tong recalled the tactic when Jia Xu dispatched Zhang He to Henei City when Tong had to get Huangfu Song Army¡¯s attention .

    ¡¯Are they doing the same?¡¯

    Because of doubt, Tong texted in the n chat .

    "Second uncle, I want you to rush home ASAP! I think there¡¯s a detached force moving toward Zhongshan while I¡¯m here . "

    "Third uncle, deploy scouts to the northern areas outside of the forest . "

    "Jia Xu, any intel from Liu Yan¡¯s mobilizing n?"

    The chat quieted for several minutes before Jia Xu texted back .

    "You guessed correctly . There¡¯s an intel fromst month that Liu Yan¡¯s subordinate from Chengdu was summoned to Ji . He¡¯s leading another army toward Zhongshan, but we don¡¯t have the information about his troop number and his location . I¡¯m sorry for thete discovery . "

    A bad feeling crept in Tong¡¯s mind when he heard [Subordinate from Chengdu was summoned] .

    "Who is this person? Do you know the name?"

    Jia Xu answered, "Yan Yan . Aside from his origin, we don¡¯t have any other info . "

    Blood was drained from Tong¡¯s face . He had a feeling that Yan Yan was a more formidable foe than Zou Jing a hundred times over .

    Yan Yan was originally an old subordinate who served under Liu Yan¡¯s family .

    In 212, Liu Bei betrayed Liu Zhang and attempted to seize Yi Province and sent Zhang Fei to capture Jiangzhou, a major county east of Chengdu . Yan Yan defended the district against Zhang Fei, but he was defeated .

    Zhang Fei wanted to execute this old man, but he was impressed by Yan Yan¡¯s loyalty toward Liu Zhang . Thus, his life was spared .

    In the historical records, Yan Yan did not have any other achievement after he joined Liu Bei, but the 14th-century novel said that he apanied Huang Zhong in various campaigns . His true ability was unknown .

    The unknown factor intimidated Tong . Even if Yan Yan had a simr leading ability as Zou Jing, he was still a veteran general in Liu Yan¡¯s ranks .

    "I¡¯m attacking Zou Jing¡¯s camp ATM . Second uncle, return ASAP, please!"

    Tong shut down the system menu after sending thest message . He took out his bow and fired homing arrows .

    As a barrage of arrows rained upon the defending soldiers, Tongmanded his army .

    "There are traps everywhere so keep your eyes on the ground! I¡¯m clearing the defenders . All of you, ready your crossbows!"

    "Kill!"

    Volleys of normal arrows and light arrows rained upon the defending troops .

    Within the camp, all soldiers raised their tower shields on top of their head, protecting themselves from the arrows . They huddled together in fish-scale formation as they slowly stepped backward .

    "Withdraw! Light the torch and start burning!"

    Two thousand men inside the camp escorted their torch holders as they walked back using small steps . The torchbearers lighted their prepared firewood, haystacks, and logs . White and ck smoke began rising from the camp .

    Homing arrows pieced several wooden shields but failed to kill a garrison soldier . However, they scared the defending troops enough to weaken their legs .

    On the other hand, Tong nced at his system menu with an annoyed expression . His lifespans continued to decrease as he fired several volleys of homing arrows, but he had not regained lifespans back from the kill .

    Seeing the ck smoke from within the camp, Tong stopped shooting .

    ¡¯Sixth sense and homing arrows aren¡¯t efficient . Arrows can fail if they¡¯re parried or blocked . ¡¯

    ¡¯They¡¯re blocking my arrows from behind the wall . The smoke is rising because they are burning the camp to stop me ...¡¯

    ¡¯This won¡¯t do . I don¡¯t want a prolonged war . ¡¯

    Tong rushed toward the palisade barricade . He exerted his strength into his legs and jumped over the three-meter wall .

    The Yellow Turban soldiers watched their young master flew in the sky in awe .

    "He can fly!"

    "Awesome!"

    "That¡¯s our Child of Heaven!"

    "Hahaha! That¡¯s right!"

    "Let¡¯s sing again!"

    "THE HAN IS DEAD!"

    "PRAISE THE CHILD OF HEAVEN!"

    "What are you fools singing for!? Our Lord has entered the camp . Follow him and protect him!"

    "Oh shit! Everyone, charge!"

    "KILLLLLL"

    ...

    Zou Jing looked at the smoke from a distance . He and his 6,000 men were five kilometers away from the burning camp .

    His teeth still bit his fingernail, which had be green and blue from the constant chewing, tearing, and his saliva .

    ¡¯Can we stop them? Can we dy them? Can we win?¡¯

    ¡¯Come on, Zhang Tong . Die already!¡¯

    Zou Jing prayed with all his might, hoping that they could kill Tong with his fire trap . Although he could see that his scheme was at work, he could not calm his heart .

    "All units, we will retreat again!"

    The soldiers looked at Zou Jing in horror .

    "My lord, what about the troops in the camp?"

    "Leave them!"

    The bellow of Zou Jing and hismand shocked the troops .

    "If you don¡¯t want to get killed by Zhang Tong and his wife, follow my order! We¡¯re running back to Ji at full-speed . Anyone that cannot keep up will be abandoned!"

    Everyone sucked in cold breathe while they nced back at the direction where Tong and his army was . Imagining the rain of light arrows, the terror made several of them wet their pants .

    Because of fear, they stopped retreating in an organized manner . A dozen squads of five men conspired and nned to desert while the honest ones simply packed their belongings and ran without bothering looking back .

    Fortunately for Zou Jing, the forest had only one road that they had made, which led to Ji City . As a result, all deserters coincidentally ran in the same direction as the main army and ended up rejoining the troops again .

    ...

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Tong switched his weapon to gun-and-de style instead . He rushed toward the retreating soldiers, killing everyone he found and searching for Zou Jing .

    As he looked around, the fire was getting stronger .

    Tong hold his de with his teeth and pointed his right palm toward the sky .

    "[Create Food], clean water!"

    A spray of water gushed out from his palm, jetting toward the sky like an exploding natural fountain . Water droplets were pulled by the gravity and rained down upon the camp, extinguishing the me .

    "H-He can even summon rain!?"

    *BANG*

    Not even waiting for Zou Jing¡¯s soldiers to run or surrender, Tong continued his massacre .

    "ZOU JING!!" Tong roared .

    "YOU COWARD! COME AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN!"

 Chapter 246

    Chapter 246

    Chapter 246 ¨C Cornering Zou Jing

    At noon, Tong secured the camp, and the garrison troops had surrendered . Because of fear, they confessed about Zou Jing¡¯s scheme and his whereabouts .

    ¡¯He¡¯s determined, but he¡¯s going to keep running at this rate . We¡¯ve already secured the majority of their logistic convoys so they should run out of food soon . ¡¯

    Tong looked back at his troops . They did not have a casualty as the enemies were too panic to harm them . All 4,000 soldiers were safe and sound .

    "Get ready to move . Zou Jing¡¯s men should not be too far, we¡¯ll forced-march again . "

    "My lord, what about the prisoners?"

    Tong nced at the 500 surrendered soldiers, "Send a messenger to Bo Cai . Have him escort these men back . I want him to retreat back to Zhongshan after this . "

    ...

    ...

    March 1st, 183 A . D .

    A game of cat and mouse went on for over a week . Zou Jing had escaped outside of the forest with his remaining men .

    Looking back at his troops, only four thousand remained . The rest of them either deserted or captured by Tong Army, which was chasing them at a distance of five kilometers away .

    Zou Jing did not try to fight Tong again after the burning camp tactic had failed thrice . Moreover, most of his suppliesgged behind and were captured by the chasing troops .

    ¡¯I¡¯m two days away from the city . I¡¯ll return to Ji and gather more troops . I¡¯ll also send a message to the volunteer forces to help me! When I have more soldiers, these mongrels won¡¯t have a chance . ¡¯

    ...

    Meanwhile, Tong and his 4,000 men continued their journey at a fixed pace . Though the quest time limit was short, Tong did not rush his troops to catch Zou Jing or pressured this coward general at night . Since he could not confirm the location of Yan Yan and Liu Yan¡¯s missing soldiers, he did not let his guard down as his infantry soldiers were vulnerable to ambushes .

    ¡¯We¡¯re a couple days away from Ji City . If Zou Jing returns to the city, everything will be a lot easier . But if he chooses to run another way, it will be a headache . ¡¯

    >

    A n message notification sound rang .

    ¡¯It¡¯s been a while . I wonder how¡¯s everybody is doing . ¡¯

    Tong opened the n chat after weeks of a chasing game with Zou Jing .

    A development urred at Zhongshan as Zhang Liang sent a n message .

    "Tong, Liu Yan¡¯s 30,000-men army 20 kilometers northeast from Zhongshan city! We need reinforcement!"

    Tong clicked his tongue as he finally understood what Liu Yan was doing . His army was lured out of the city by the bait, Zou Jing .

    Jia Xu: Our hands are full . We won¡¯t send reinforcement from Julu .

    Jia Xu: Fight to the death if you have to .

    Jia Xu: If you can¡¯t, just withdraw the troops back and abandon the Zhen n .

    Jia Xu: Young master Tong will be fine on his own even if he¡¯s isted .

    Jia Xu: You can leave him behind . He¡¯ll find his way home like a trained dog .

    Jia Xu: I meant an alpha wolf .

    Everyone: ...

    As always, Jia Xu had high expectation of all generals in this force . His strategies were cruel to the allies, especially Tong, but all tactics and cements were efficient .

    Tong: Has second uncle returned?

    Zhang Bao: I¡¯m in the city .

    Zhang Bao: Bo Cai and his gangs are a couple days away from here .

    Tong: How many soldiers are in the city?

    Zhang Liang: 15,000 . I¡¯m telling Zhen Yi to hire some militias .

    Tong: Use the woods we gathered to construct trebuchets and ballistae .

    Tong: ce them on top of the wall .

    Tong: Do you still have the blueprints I gave you?

    Zhang Liang: I have . We¡¯ll do it .

    Zhang Liang: What about you?

    Tong: I¡¯m chasing Zou Jing . While I¡¯m at it, I¡¯m sieging Ji .

    Tong: You three will have to defend the city on your own .

    Zhang Bao: Wait, you are sieging Ji with 4,000 men?

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang wanted Tong to retreat back to Zhongshan, but Tong refused . Both of them pestered Tong to the point that he got annoyed . Tong disabled the notification and closed the system menu .

    There were backlogs of the conversation between the others and the situation in the other cities . However, Tong did not want to interfere or be worried about something that he could not help, so he decided not to touch them until his fight was over .

    As long as nothing required his attention, Tong trusted that they would be fine on their own .

    ¡¯No time to worry about others . I only have less than a month to kill Zou Jing . If I can¡¯t kill him in time, I¡¯m screwed . ¡¯

    Tong red toward the direction of the exit of the forest . Since he had confirmed the location of the missing soldiers, he did not have to worry about a hidden ambush force of Liu Yan .

    ¡¯The only worry I have left is Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei . They should gather in Ji next year as in history . I hope that they won¡¯t show up this year . ¡¯

    Though he knew that Liu Bei and his sworn brothers pledged their brotherhood in the year 184, he was not confident that they would do so in this world as in the historical records .

    ...

    Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Jiang Man had gather 1,000 militias, and they had their personal weapons .

    Everyone had the same weapon as in the description in the historical record . Jiang Man had a Japanese katana as his weapon since he did not like the usual Chinese double-edge swords .

    Liu Bei was ted as he gazed at his men, "Let¡¯s follow the main army . We¡¯ll help them eradicating the Yellow Turbans!"

    "Do you know where they have headed, Xuande?" Asked Jiang Man .

    Liu Bei was stunned for a moment before he rubbed his hands, "I ... don¡¯t know . "

    Jiang Man and Guan Yu sighed .

    "Let¡¯s report force to the authority . Maybe they know where they went . "

    "I agree with little Jiang . Let¡¯s ask the officials first . They might support us with supplies if they see our readiness . "

    Though they werete because of theck of weaponry and supplies, Liu Bei force was now ready to make a name for themselves .

    ...

    ...

    March 3rd, 183 A . D .

    Zou Jing returned to Ji with bad news . Only 4,000 men from 20,000 initial troops came back while the rest were either died or captured .

    The pale face general with blue fingernails straddled towards the government hall . He bellowed at the officials, "Send out an emergency order . Gather all able men and fortify the city! The Yellow Turbans areing tomorrow!"

    Hearing that they would be attacked by the rebels, all workers were panicked . With the attitude of the paranoid Zou Jing, themotion became worse .

    Themand reached Liu Bei and his men . They gathered at the central military field to report for duty .

    Liu Bei was not the only force in this gathering . All nobles, merchant, private troops in fancy clothing, and brave vagrants also came . The number of soldiers in Ji City reached 25,000 in a day .

    Seeing the gather of many soldiers, Zou Jing felt relieved . His clenched his tattered fists .

    ¡¯Zhang Tong, you can¡¯t beat me again! This time, I¡¯ll finish you for good!¡¯

    ...

    The next day morning .

    Tong¡¯s 4,000 men reached Ji Commandery City . He stared at the high brick wall which thousands of soldiers were garrisoning on top of it .

    ¡¯If I can steal a few bows from their troops, I can spam homing arrows to my heart content . ¡¯

    ¡¯But first, I have to find Zou Jing . ¡¯

    Tong guided his men to station in front of the south gate to lure Zou Jing and allmanders to appear .

    As soon as Tong Army formed ranks at 500 meters away from the south gate, the soldiers on the wall began their movements . Commotions and shouting could be heard from Tong¡¯s position .

    ¡¯I can lock-on from here, but I don¡¯t want to spook Zou Jing . ¡¯

    Tong signaled his soldiers to maintain position . After which, he rode his horse closer to the gate . When Tong got close to the wall, he shouted, "ZOU JING! COME OUT AND SURRENDER! I PROMISE THAT WE ARE SOLDIERS OF THE PEOPLE . WE DON¡¯T KILL CITIZENS!"

    It did not take long as shouts and curses came from the soldiers on top of the wall . Tong ignored the foulnguages of the locals, but his eyes darted around to see anyone who stood out from the rest .

    While Tong was searching for Zou Jing, an impatient noble drew his bow and fired at Tong .

    "DIE, BANDIT!"

    *WHOOSH*

    The arrow missed its target . Itnded 10 meters in front of Tong¡¯s location .

    Though it did not hit Tong, the arrow was the trigger that aroused the others into taking action . More arrows flew toward Tong as if they organized a volley .

    Tong sighed and pulled the reign, making his horse retreat back a hundred meters . All arrows that came after him fell short as Tong had now located 300 meters away from the wall .

    ¡¯No shield, no general, no sortie troops . Should I start farming?¡¯

    Tong withheld his desire and withdrew back to his men .

    "Form three teams of one hundred men each . I want the teams to watch the other gates of this city . If you see someone important rush out, report it to me immediately . "

    "Yes, sir!"

    Tong turned to look at the top of the wall, ¡¯No rush . I¡¯ll pretend that I¡¯m not here within this army . ¡¯

    "Soldier, fetch me a bandana . "

    A soldier took a clean yellow bandana to Tong, which he reced his war helmet with the head cloth . He also switched out his iron armor with leather armor so he could look like an ordinary soldier .

    The Yellow Turban men were puzzled by his action . A grand general dressing like a foot soldier was weird to them .

    Tong smiled at them, "Don¡¯t worry about it . I¡¯m just disguising myself as an ordinary soldier . I¡¯m fishing out a pushover fool outside of the city . "

    ...

    Zou Jing did not show up on top of the wall as he holed himself inside of the government building with hundreds of his guards .

    Liu Bei and his brothers could not station on top of the wall as all nobles kicked him and his men away . They did not have a status in the city, so every other force looked down on them .

    They heard about the swearing and themotion from the top of the wall, but they were helpless in this situation .

    "I wonder what happens outside," Liu Bei groaned .

    "Those buffoons! Big brother, send me outside of the city! I want to kill some thieves!"

    "Yide, don¡¯t create trouble . Military requires disciplinary and order . Rushing in by yourself will get you and your allies killed . "

    The three brothers chatted among themselves while Jiang Man pondered about Zou Jing¡¯s defeat .

    ¡¯20,000 had gone out, 4,000 came back, and no intel about the current enemy troops? This is a failure army . ¡¯

    Jiang Man doubted if it was a correct decision to join Liu Bei at this moment .

    Pondering for a moment, Jiang Man decided to make a big move .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll go see Zou Jing myself . How about I offer myself as his strategist?¡¯

 Chapter 247

    Chapter 247

    Chapter 247 ¨C The Wall is on Fire

    Jiang Man went to the city hall alone, but he was stopped by the guards .

    "Please tell Lord Zou Jing that I¡¯m a schr from Ganling . I wish to give my opinion about this battle with the Yellow Turbans!" Shouted Jiang Man .

    The guards still blocked his path .

    "The general said he would not see anyone under any circumstance! Leave!"

    Stunned by the rejection, Jiang Man red at the guards, "If you don¡¯t want the Yellow Turban to raid the city, go tell the general, now!"

    One of the guards walked in front of Jiang Man and pped him .

    *PA*

    The sound was loud and clear .

    "Get lost, or I¡¯ll arrest you!"

    "You ..." Jiang Man gritted his teeth . Had his skills not disabled, he would have killed these guards and Zou Jing already .

    Swallowing his pride, Jiang Man returned to Liu Bei .

    "Where have you been?" Liu Bei asked .

    "I tried to visit the general, but the guards didn¡¯t allow me . "

    Liu Bei sighed . He thought that their status was too low as they had no achievement or an official title .

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, little Jiang . We¡¯ll raise our status soon enough . "

    ...

    At the end of the day, Tong did not siege the city, and Zou Jing did not show up at on top of the wall .

    Tong ordered his men to make a camp to rest, but he ensured that his men arranged several shifts at night to monitor all gates around the city .

    Meanwhile, themander of noble¡¯s armies gathered for a meeting .

    "Where is the general?"

    "What happened to him?"

    The questions that none of them could find an answer unless Zou Jing exined it, which he was never there .

    "We should get out of the city and attack their force . "

    "Right, we have the advantage number . "

    "No, we can¡¯t move without permission from the general . "

    "Agreed . Without authority, moving on our own is risky . If we fail, we¡¯ll be prosecuted for treason . "

    "Damn it . "

    The nobles were sullen and depressed by the absence of themander . They had no choice but to wait for Zou Jing tomorrow .

    ...

    March 2nd .

    Tong did not bother forming ranks to stare the men on the wall . He organized his men to craft trebuchets and other siege weapons in peace .

    Tong could use his homing arrows to wither the number of the garrison force, but he wanted to keep this as his hidden card for thest moment . Since Zou Jing hid for an entire day inside the city, disying the skill would have scared him too much that he might sneak away from the city, which Tong would have a hard time locating Zou Jing in this case .

    "Patience is a virtue ..." Tong sighed .

    ...

    March 3rd .

    Zou Jing still hid inside his city hall with his guards .

    Meanwhile, the Yellow Turban finished crafting 30 counter-weight trebuchets and empty barrels .

    As usual, Tong filled the barrels with crude oil, covered the lit, and put in pieces of dry clothes as fuses .

    "Young master, will it be alright? Will the townsmen be alright with this?"

    The soldiers worried about the citizens of Ji as they knew what they could do with the crude oil barrel and trebuchetbination .

    "Aim at the middle section of the wall . Don¡¯t aim at the top where their soldiers were at, or some of our barrels will fly into the city . "

    The Yellow Turban men sighed a relief, "Yes, sir!"

    All trebuchets and 3,700 men moved forward in a siege formation, which alerted the defenders .

    "They¡¯re going to attack!"

    "Do we have trebuchets? Are we going to stay here like this?"

    "Where is the general!?"

    *WHOOSH*

    *BOOM*

    Thirty trebuchetsunched their ming barrels at the wall, which none of themnded beyond the battlements .

    Seeing that the Yellow Turbans missed the targets, the nobles mocked Tong and his men .

    "Hahaha! Did they waste their preciousmp oil for this? What a bunch of barbarian bandits . "

    "Ha! Bandits are always bandits . They are stupid . "

    The second barrage arrived . Again, all of the barrelsnded below the wall . After the second barrage, Tong ordered all trebuchets crews to withdraw . All sieging units stepped back to their initial 500-meter distance .

    The nobles and the garrison forceughed and jeered at the attacking force for a few minutes before they realized what Tong had aimed .

    The ck smoke rose from the burning oil and the temperature on the south wall was rising . The fume from the ck smoke burnt their nostrils, which thousands of the defending troops began to tear and cough .

    "The smoke! Someone, get us some water!"

    "Hurry, douse the fire!"

    Themotion and the chaotic attempts to extinguish to firested for the entire day . There were ces where the water could not extinguish the fire, but it caused an explosion instead . The heat and the smoke tortured the men on top of the wall while Tong stood back and watched the carnage .

    As soon as the dusk arrived, Tong withdrew his force back to his camp .

    Unlike the organized men of the Yellow Turbans, the garrison force was in a messy stat as they choke from the smell and the particles of the ck smoke . They managed to extinguish the fire with difficulty, but their overall health took a hit from the harassment tactic .

    Fortunately for them, the wind was blowing west while the fire attack hit the south wall, so there was no damage to the citizens inside the city .

    Liu Bei and his men took the roles of water-boys . They brought water buckets from the city wells and passed them to the soldiers on the wall . However, none of them had touched the stone floor of the wall in this battle yet .

    Jiang Man had an unsightly expression on his face in this entire day .

    ¡¯We¡¯ll lose if this keeps up!¡¯

    Thinking about the future, Jiang Man asked Liu Bei, "Xuande bro, why don¡¯t we exit the city from another gate so we can ambush the Yellow Turbans while they are sieging the city tomorrow?"

    Unfortunately, Liu Bei shook his head .

    "We¡¯ll wait for the general to give us an order . Acting on our own will be our downfall . "

    "Correct . The nobles are crooked people . They will me their losses to us if we move," Guan Yu agreed with Liu Bei .

    Feeling helpless, Jiang Man prayed that Zou Jing coulde to his sense soon .

    ...

    March 5th .

    Tong returned with trebuchets and burning barrels again for the third day . Like the other two days, the trebuchets onlyunched two barrages and retreated in an orderly fashion while the defenders were busy dousing the fire .

    Today, the garrison forces had to face a crisis . They ran out of the water!

    "This well is dry already!"

    "This one, too!"

    "There should be several rivers outside the city! Open the gate and get the water!"

    The garrison force opened the north, the west, and the east gate to scour for water for the civilians and for themselves . All their movements had been seen by Tong¡¯s scouts .

    The ryed reports reached Tong¡¯s ears half a dayter .

    "How is the water in the river? Are they plenty?" Tong asked the scouts .

    "No, sir . They¡¯re almost dried . The drought fromst year probably reaches here . "

    Tong nodded, "Ignore the water scavengers . There might be civilians in it so we won¡¯t harm them . "

    "Yes, sir . "

    Tong turned toward his subordinates, "We¡¯ll increase our attack intensity . Tell the others to build more trebuchets . "

    ...

    March 6th .

    The garrison force faced a nightmare of endless fire today .

    On the attacking side, Tong sent ten volleys of ming oil barrels at the wall, which the fire intensity could not be extinguished with water anymore .

    The top of the wall became a frying pan as the temperature below the wall went over 300 degrees Celsius . All water which was poured onto the fire created explosion instead of extinguishing it .

    After sending enough burning barrels, Tong sent his order, "Let¡¯s move . We¡¯ll abandon the south gate . We¡¯re attacking their west gate next . "

    Listening to Tong¡¯smand, the Yellow Turban was panicked . The wind was blowing from the east to west . They would face the downwind if they siege the west gate, and they would not be able to use the fire tactic .

    "I know what you are thinking, and I know what we¡¯re about to go through . Do as I said, and you won¡¯t be harmed by the smoke and the fire . "

    .

    Late afternoon that day .

    Liu Bei and his volunteer force exited the city from the east gate and stationed at the nearest eastern river .

    Facing the endless fire attack from the Yellow Turban, Liu Bei decided to use the excuse of being an errand army to evacuate from Ji City . Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Jiang Man agreed with this move as they could not do anything to help the others .

    "Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange?" Guan Yu wondered .

    "Strange?"

    "Yes, the rebel force can fire those burning barrels at a great distance, yet none of them hit the inner city or cross over the wall . "

    Everyone widened their eyes as they realized the abnormality .

    "Are they avoiding harming the citizens?" Jiang Man was surprised .

    Liu Bei, on the other hand, had a bitter smile on his face .

    ¡¯I knew he cares for the people . Master already told me so . But I can¡¯t trust a guy who massacred the entire city! I won¡¯t work with him, ever! He and I cannot live in the same world!¡¯

    Without realizing himself, envy blinded Liu Bei¡¯s judgment .

    "It¡¯s just the crash of interest . They probably want to clean their names so they can tame the civilians in the city . It¡¯s themon ploy that all nobles use in wars," Liu Bei exined .

    Guan Yu gazed at Liu Bei with a frown, but he nodded .

    "You¡¯re right . I forgot about the fa?ade of these crooks . "

    Jiang Man shook his head as he knew about the ambition of Liu Bei, yet he kept his mouth shut . As long as Liu Bei and Tong could not be on the same page, it would be beneficial to him as he could manipte his [Sworn Brothers] into killing Tong .

    ...

    March 7th .

    Casualties of the repeated fire attacks were noticed by the noble forces . A thousand of their men died by a cardiac arrest or a heart attack because they breathed in the ck smoke for too long . Even though they kept their distance and hardly came into contact with the fire, the umtion of the dust particles were enough to damage their lungs and circtory system .

    The fire at the south gate continued to burn and increased the surrounding temperature . The wall on this side was a no-man zone, which could not be fortified or taken by Tong .

    As if the Yellow Turban knew about it, they formed ranks at their west gate, which astonished the defenders .

    "Are they stupid? They are downwind . "

    "It¡¯s good for us . They probably won¡¯t use the fire attack anymore . "

    *WHOOSH*

    *BOOM*

    Betraying their expectation, the Yellow Turbans hurled the burning barrels at the west gate . This time, they did not aim at the middle section of the wall, they aimed directly at the bronze gate .

    The intense fire blocked the gate, which made the soldiers behind the gate retreated as they could not stand the heat .

    "They¡¯re aiming at one spot . That¡¯s easy for us . Men, throw water at the gate!"

    The soldiers shook their head, "Sir, the gate caves in under the wall, we can¡¯t reach the burning parts from the top!"

    "What!?"

    Several barrels of oil stacked on top of each other inside the caved wall, which the gate was ced inside, blocking the path .

    While the garrison forces were in a panic, Tong and his men pulled the trebuchets away after they had finished delivering five sets of barrels .

    "To the north gate . Let¡¯s move before the wind carry the smoke over . "

 Chapter 248

    Chapter 248

    Chapter 248 ¨C Coming Out?

    March 8th .

    The south and the west gate could not be opened as the fire had yet to be extinguished . ck smoke rose from the direction of the two walls, which frightened the people inside the city .

    Several nobles tried to visit Zou Jing in the government hall, but all of them was chased away by the guards .

    After being harassed for half a week, they wanted to sortie and counter-attack the rebels, yet they could not because they did not have the authority to mobilize . The only one who couldmand the entire noble forces was Zou Jing .

    "General, pleasemand your troops!"

    "We need you to kill the Yellow Turban!"

    "Pleasee out!"

    All of them was desperate . The nobles shouted with bellowed with every strength they had .

    s, Zou Jing continued to ignore them, pretending that he did not hear their voice . He was sitting on the main seat of the governor and bit his fingernail again, which several of his fingers bled and rotted from the untreated infection .

    "Sir, they need amander right now . Please at least give amand token to them, or we will lose the city because of your inaction . "

    Hearing the critic of his subordinate, Zou Jing red at the speaking official . He wanted to kill this person, but the word "We will lose the city" pulled him back to his sense .

    ¡¯One more time ... I¡¯ll try to face Zhang Tong again one more time . ¡¯

    Zou Jing mustered his courage and walked out of the city hall . Seeing that their general finally decided to fight, every noble and official was delighted .

    "Sir general! Please allow us to mobilize . We want to fight!"

    "Please, sir!"

    The pleas of the nobles resounded in front of the government district gate . It was not because of the guards, everyone would have surrounded Zou Jing or would have strangled him to death .

    "You won¡¯t go out to fight alone . I¡¯ll go with all of you!" Zou Jing bellowed .

    The morale of the volunteer forces skyrocketed as they got the permission . They dispersed and returned to their armies to deliver the news .

    In contrast to the noblemen¡¯s cheerful mood, Zou Jing¡¯s face was still pale . His teeth ttered again when he thought about Tong and his light arrows .

    ¡¯They will be the baits . Yes, they will be the baits! I¡¯ll use them as a shield while I¡¯ll strike Zhang Tong from behind . ¡¯

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The loud explosion woke Zou Jing from his fantasy . He looked at the direction of the sound, and ck smoke could be seen from the north wall .

    "They are setting the north wall on fire this time!"

    "Damn it! We have to sortie . If we leave them be for another day, they will burn the east gate . "

    A chill ran down Zou Jing¡¯s spine as he imagined how it would feel like to be trapped inside the city while all gate had to be closed forever . They would be starved to death by the bandits outside .

    "Go! Mobilize the men . I want everyone outside of the city and crush the rebels!"

    .

    Meanwhile, Tong and his army withdrew from the north side of Ji City and marched toward the east . Unlike the other walls that they had attacked, they had onlyunched four sets of the attack at the middle section of the wall before they moved away .

    The reason for the haste was the concerning news from the east gate .

    There were several groups of volunteer forces, deserters, and civilians, leaving the city from that gate yesterday!

    Tong was afraid that Zou Jing might be within the groups, so he wanted to get rid of the isted volunteer forces first .

    The Yellow Turban force on the north gate had regrouped with the scout parties, which their number returned to 3,900 men . Only the scout team at the east gate was still in hiding, watching the situation around the east gate with patience .

    Two hourster as they were detouring and pushing the trebuchets toward the east, one of the scout horsemen galloped to them with a pale face .

    "Report! We¡¯ve spotted the garrison force marching out of the city! Their general appeared within the leading units!"

    "Is he Zou Jing?"

    Joy could be seen on Tong¡¯s face as he grinned from ear to ear .

    "Where are they now?"

    "They are forming ranks at the eastern wall . From the preparation they are making, we think that they will head to this side soon . "

    "Good! All units, move out!"

    .

    Liu Bei andpany regrouped with the dispatching forces of Zou Jing and the volunteers . Because of the chaotic scenes and unorganized mobs of various troops, none of them noticed that Liu Bei had deserted the city before .

    All 20,000 able men managed to form formations of a thousand man for each unit . They raised the gs of their surnames or ns to make themselves noticeable .

    The cavalry units, which consisted of 5,000 men, detoured the wall and rushed toward the north gate with haste, leaving the other 15,000 men behind . They wanted to kill all the bandits before everyone else could get the achievement .

    Zhang Fei and Guan Yu watched the departing horsemen with envy . Their eyes did not hide the yearning and the ambition, hoping that one day they could lead a group of elite horsemen as well .

    Jiang Man could read their thought, so he told them, "For now, let¡¯s borrow a few horses from the main army . I think it¡¯s the right time to extort some supplies and horses from the general . "

    Liu Bei¡¯s eyes brightened and nodded, "Little Jiang is right! Let¡¯s go asking for horses so we can look like proper leaders of our army . "

    The four men visited the main army and asked for a few horses as nned . Surprisingly, the captain who was in charge of the army supplies gave them four horses, which was enough for them .

    They returned to their men in glee as they looked more respectable with horses and their banner now .

    "What¡¯s next? Little Jiang . "

    Liu Bei asked Jiang Man for his advice .

    "We¡¯ll follow Zou Jing from behind . This bandit group cannot be underestimated since they defeated Zou Jing¡¯s 20,000 men and appeared here with only 4,000 men . Something is going on without our knowledge . "

    Liu Bei gulped and nodded . The insight of the war was something that the three sworn brothers werecking . As a result, they had to rely on the words of their youngest brother .

    .

    2 . 30 PM .

    The 5,000 horsemen detected Tong¡¯s team on the horizon . Themanders and the nobles in the army cheered as they thought they could finally get their revenge .

    "Charge!"

    The inexperienced noblemen disregarded all intel and warning from the soldiers of Zou Jing about Tong¡¯s power . As they wanted to gain achievements and rewards from killing Tong, the mobs of 5,000 riders galloped toward the army in front of them without waiting to regroup or reform their ranks,

    When they got closer, they could see that there were only an army of 3,000ish footmen and a few hundreds of cavalries .

    Amander of the charging horsemenughed, "Come, men! Horsemen have the advantage over the infantries . Let¡¯s kill these bandits and leave the scraps for the other families!"

    "Kill them all!"

    "Hahaha! Kill!"

    On the other side of the army, Tong watched the oing troops with a smirk .

    "A bunch of noobs . First unit and second unit, form a 2-line spear-wall formation . The rest of you, ready your crossbows . Fire at my signal . "

    His left index finger pointed toward the sky .

    "[Create Food], burning oil!"

    Boiling oil flooded the ground in front of the Yellow Turban, blocking the path of the cavalries .

    The inexperiencedmander and his men ignored the sudden sh flood of the cooking oil . The feet of all horses were burnt by the extreme temperature of the liquid and neighed in pain . More than half of the riders were thrown off the horseback as the horses either copsed or rebelled against the riders .

    The charge was stopped mid-way .

    "What happened!?"

    "Dammit! Stupid horse, go forward!"

    "Stop struggling!"

    All riders could not control their horses . More and more horses shook their masters off their back . Some copsed on the ground as they could not handle the burning pain .

    "The ground ... is too hot!"

    "There¡¯s a burning swamp over here!?"

    The riders, who were thrown off their horses, alsonded into the burning oil swamp and was cooked alive . They screamed and ran around in a panic .

    At this moment, Tong waved his hand .

    "Archers, fire one clip . "

    Two thousand repeating crossbowsunched their first volley . The crippled horseman unit, which was struggling on an arid field, were showered by the arrows .

    The arrows did not stop raining upon them . Each repeating crossbow had a clip of 26 arrows . Thus, two thousand archers fired over 50,000 arrows onto the struggling horsemen .

    As soon as Tong¡¯s archers emptied their clip, they reloaded their ammo and readied for a new order .

    "We¡¯ll clean up this ce after we have killed Zou Jing . Let¡¯s move . "

    ...

    4 PM .

    The cloud gathered in the sky as the constant smoke from the crude oil fire gathered into a towering cumulonimbus ck cloud . Traces of thunder slowly formed inside the dark cloud as well as the other rain cloud .

    Because of the usage of water and white fume from the attempt to douse the fire, white smoke, which carrying moisture into the air, condensed into a rain cloud, and merged into the thunderous ck cloud .

    Though this year was destined to be dry, the thunderous rain cloud was condensing, waiting to shower the first rain of the year onto Ji City .

    The sky dimmed as the massive fluffy ck cloud blocked the sun . The environment looked as if it was dusk .

    "Wow, this could be bad," Tongined as the rain, and the thunder might hinder their mobility .

    ¡¯Snipe him or save my soldiers ... what to do . ¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t need to be hasty . Saving my men is more important . ¡¯

    Tong looked toward the east . Dust and traces of arge army approaching could be seen at the horizon .

    Hesitated for a moment, Tong took his broken bow from his back and expanded his sense, waiting for the oing forces .

    "Form ranks . Get me a horse . "

    .

    Zou Jing and 15,000 soldiers detected a group of soldiers on the horizon .

    "Are they finished?"

    "Have the cavalry units decimated them?"

    Everyone thought that the troops in front of them were the 5,000 cavalries that went ahead of them .

    However, when they got closer, they discovered the harsh truth .

    The army in front of them was not their allies, but they were the Yellow Turbans .

    "Impossible!"

    "How are they here?"

    "Where are the earlier troops?"

    Zou Jing watched the formation of the Yellow Turban with hatred and fear . He pulled his horse reign and signaled his bodyguards to remain behind the volunteer forces .

    As Zou Jing watched the enemy¡¯s formation, a lone horseman galloped toward them . The rider had pulled his bow and aimed at them .

 Chapter 249

    Chapter 249: 249

    Chapter 249 ¨C Jiang Man, The Rat

    Zou Jing¡¯s instinct shouted that he had to run as his trauma rpsed . Zou Jing jumped off his horse and hid behind his bodyguards, who were looking at their boss in confusion .

    A secondter, light arrows flew at the soldiers on the frontline . All arrows curved and flew against the physicsws, piecing the heads of the men .

    "Kill that man!"

    "It¡¯s a lone archer! Kill him!"

    Though the noble armies charged and rushed at the lone rider, more arrows stopped them on their tracks .

    All fast runners who managed to get closer to the rider were shot down .

    Furthermore, the horse archer kicked the side of his horse and turned it around, escaping from the charging footmen . After getting a good distance, he turned around and fired more light arrows .

    Several hundreds of light arrows withered down their armies, which made the noblemen realized who they were up against .

    Desperate cries and death throes shocked the onlookers .

    "Is that the Goddess of Death?"

    "But that¡¯s a man! It¡¯s Zhang Tong!"

    "Zhang Tong is here!"

    Some nobles panicked, but severalmanders were excited . Allmander with fighting experience galloped their horses to chase Tong .

    *SNAP*

    After firing several hundred arrows, the bowstring snapped . Tong tossed the bow away and was about to take his spared bow, but he stopped .

    The oing chasers came with horses . Tong did not have enough time to lock-on or shoot an arrow .

    Tong exhaled and took out his gun, which had been stored inside the weaponry package on horseback . He regted his breath and fire, one shot at a time .

    *BANG*

    A bullet prated the skull of a charging horseman . Ten others were stilling after Tong .

    *BANG* *BANG*

    *BANG* *BANG*

    All horsemen were shot down from their horses, shocking the volunteer forces and Zou Jing . Liu Bei and his brothers stared at the gun in shock as well .

    With all the chasers gone, Tong put away his gun, switching his weapon to a bow again . He continued firing homing arrows at any locked target without bothering trying to search for Zou Jing .

    The anxious volunteer forces still rushed at Tong because of themand of their bosses . They wanted to run away, but they were afraid of the repercussion from the noble ns, so they had no choice but to charge .

    Tong picked off the enemy footmen with leisure, slowly withdrawing while shooting at the pursuers .

    Five minutester, the bow was broken as the bowstring snapped yet again .

    ¡¯No more homing arrow . How many bullets I have left again?¡¯

    Tong retreated back to his army while he was counting the 9mm bullets he had . He almost emptied a clip just now, but he still had four full magazines left, which had a total of 60 bullets .

    He reloaded the clip and stored the remaining magazines in his cloth, preparing for the long battle .

    .

    Meanwhile, the chasing army was still relentless . Despite that they lost several thousand men from the light arrows, they again came after Tong .

    "We still have the superior number . After them!"

    "Kill . Kill . Kill!"

    The nobles gave themands, forcing every force to go after Tong .

    Because the footmen and the horsemen were a mixed force which did not belong to everyone¡¯s association, all officials and nobles did not care about their lives . As long as Tong and his Yellow Turban force were eliminated regardless of casualties, every surviving noble could im the credit .

    None of them had a sense ofrade among the troops, only the political interest .

    Liu Bei and his men did not chase after Tong . Instead, they follow behind Zou Jing¡¯s groups . They were boycotted by the nobles as they were afraid that this no-name army would steal their achievements .

    "What¡¯s with those light arrows?" Liu Bei was astonished .

    "Is that sorcery?" Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were shocked, too .

    Jiang Man watched the battle in solemn . He knew that it was a skill that Tong disyed .

    ¡¯He has a gun, but the bullets should be limited . As long as he wastes all of that with the soldiers, we¡¯ll still be fine . But . . . It¡¯s odd . All skills should have been nerfed to oblivion . Zhang Tong should have been able to use that skill once a day . ¡¯

    ¡¯Lilim, do you hear me? I want to know if it¡¯s legit or not to be able to use a skill multiple times a day!¡¯

    Jiang Man tried to report the [Bug] to Lilim .

    And he received a reply!

    [Indeed . All skills should have been limited to once a day and have an upkeep over 2,000 lifespans a year . Let me investigate this . ]

    [...]

    [You¡¯re right . Zhang Tong has used a loophole to cheat the system . I¡¯ll do something about him . ]

    ¡¯Hey, I reported a bug . Can I get a reward?¡¯

    [Okay . What do you want?]

    ¡¯Return my skills, of course! Can you cancel my quest and give me a skill?¡¯

    [No . I won¡¯t give you a skill unless youplete your mission . But, I can do this instead . ]

    >

    >

    ¡¯Virtue?¡¯

    [You can think of it as an evolutionary process . You have been infected by an angel¡¯s blood so you can evolve into an immortal . I¡¯ll elerate the angel blood growth in your cirction system, then you won¡¯t have to wait 20 years for it to awaken . I¡¯ll leave a note in your status menu about all the details . It¡¯s up to you if you can cultivate it . ]

    [This is the only reward I can give you . ]

    Jiang Man sniggered in his mind as he enjoyed being a rat for the system .

    .

    >

    Tong sudden felt a sick headache, which he almost fell down from his horse .

    >

    The message was the answer to why he suddenly had this sickness despite that he had illness immunity passive .

    "Lilim!" Tong groaned while he was gritting his teeth .

    [I¡¯m only fixing the imbnce skills that you have . ]

    [Go ahead and cry like you used to . You can¡¯t me me for doing my job . ]

    [Ciao! HAHAHAHA!]

    "THAT BITCH!" Tong bellowed . As he screamed, his face reddened, and his eyes were bloodshot . His hatred toward this administrator had reached a new height .

    >

    "Ugh!"

    Misfortune struck Tong one after another . He had to calm his emotion even though he had yet to vent his anger .

    ¡¯I swear, Lilim . One day ... I swear ...¡¯

    The facial expression and his unintentional leaking killing intent terrified Tong¡¯s subordinates .

    "Young master ..."

    "My lord ..."

    The red pupils, which appeared frequently, glowed again . Tong red at the rushing soldiers that had not given up chasing after him .

    Tong had not lost his sanity because of his anger . He merely wanted to vent his frustration .

    "A ive ... give me one," Tong extended his right hand without looking at the soldiers .

    "H-Here, sir . "

    Terrified by Tong, a soldier passed his ive to his lord, who grabbed it and galloped his horse forward .

    "Eh?"

    The Yellow Turban soldiers were panicked as Tong rushed at the enemies without giving his order .

    "What do we do?"

    "Uh?"

    "Captain?"

    "I don¡¯t know . Screw it, follow the lord! Charge!"

    .

    The ambitious mixed force of five thousand men still ran after Tong . The moment they saw that Tong was rushing at them alone, theyughed as if they were on drugs .

    "HA HA! Zhang Tong is an idiot!"

    "The bandit leader is a fool . Kill!"

    "His head is mine!"

    Because of their greed and desire for rewards, they did not work together or form a spear wall formation to counter Tong¡¯s solo charge .

    Before Tong reached them, he aimed his pistol forward, using his left hand .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    The front soldiers, who were aiming their spear at Tong¡¯s horse, received a bullet into their head, one each .

    The threat to the charging horse copsed on to the ground, Tong¡¯s ive swung down at the nearest soldiers .

    As Tong was using one hand to control his polearm, he could only swing it once every second . Although it was slow in Tong¡¯s point of view, his swing contained the strength of a 2-winged demon . All soldiers were sent flying even if they were hit by the shaft .

    Seeing that one gun and one ive was not efficient, Tong put his gun away and held the ive with two hands . At this time, his horse rammed into a soldier, which slowed its charging momentum .

    "Humph!"

    The speed of his polearm swing doubled, and all soldiers, who were in Tong¡¯s reach, were cut into pieces .

    "He¡¯s slowed, get him!"

    Since Tong dove right into the unorganized mobs, he wedged into the center of the five thousand men and was surrounded in a few seconds .

    Yet .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    If Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, or Li Feihong were here, they would have thought that Lu Bu was ying in the enemy¡¯s formation . The image of Tong wreaking havoc alone in the enemy¡¯s line resembled Lu Bu at the Battle of Jinyang .

    Butpared to the monster among men, Tong had not reached that mastery yet .

    Each swing sent one or two bodies into the air . Blood rain showered everyone in the range of 5 meters,paring to Lu Bu¡¯s five men a swing .

    As he fought, he was also learning . The movement of his ive had less useless moves as he continued killing . He stopped relying on the horse ramming and used his ive to cut a path for his horse so it would not get stuck in the formation .

    Tong¡¯s polearm movement slowly refined . From the random swing turned into a swing with meaning and purposes . The arc of the ive did not curve widely, but it became sharp and urate . Sometimes, Tong grabbed the edge of the ive bottom tip and waved it around himself, repelling the sneaking soldiers who tried to attack him from behind .

    The training with Medusa in Hell only imnted the basic movements into his instinct, but fighting life-and-death battles with the real enemies squeezed out Tong¡¯s true potential . Tong¡¯s perception and reaction speed had reached 80% of his full overclock mode even though he had yet to exert his brain power yet .

    Two minutes passed, soaking in the enemies¡¯ blood, Tong broke through the pack of five thousand men mob . He could see the main army, which had a higher number than this group of mix force .

    Tong pulled the horse reign and turned around, diving back into the formation of soldiers once more .

    At this moment, the almost 4,000 Yellow Turbans had made contact with the mobs, they charged right into the unorganized files of formation, which pushed back the noble force .

    The yellow cloth troopers did not fight blindly either . The front soldiers mmed their shields at the front enemies and held formation . The second line of spearmen supported the shield bearers, while the rest of the backlines took out their crossbows and fired supporting barrages . The few hundred horsemen detached themselves from the main group to the side . They circled to the left of the mob and charged right into the packed formation .

    As Tong dove back into the enemy lines, he could notice his men¡¯s performance a hundred meters away .

    ¡¯I forgot to give them amand . Is there anyone ordering them to use this tactic?¡¯

    Tong finally realized what he had forgotten since his anger blinded his reason a few minutes ago .

    A loud shout and amotion broke out at the left nk of noble force, so Tong nced at the direction . He saw his horse unit charging into the enemy¡¯s lines as well .

    Tong changed the direction of his horse, killing all soldiers in his path . In a minute, he regrouped with the horseman unit .

    "Young master!"

    "My lord!"

    The Yellow Turban were delighted to see their lord safe .

    "I didn¡¯t order you to move . Why are all of youing after me?"

    "Err ..."

    The soldiers were embarrassed and flustered . They did not know either .

    "Oh well, let¡¯s breakout and regroup . We¡¯re retreating for now . "

 Chapter 250 - Jiang Manâ€™s Counter Attack

    <h4>Chapter 250 - Jiang Man¡¯s Counter Attack</h4>

    Chapter 250 ¨C Jiang Man¡¯s Counter Attack

    After Tong regrouped with his hors.e.m.e.n, the unorganized mob of 5,000 men was destroyed in 10 minutes as Tong led the charge, which simr to what Lu Bu did at Jinyang.

    Tong Army suffered minimal casualties as two hundreds of them were killed in action. Most of them were the shield bearers who sacrificed themselves, protecting therades behind them during the direct confrontation.

    The surviving 3,700 men of Yellow Turban withdrew back before they were surrounded by Zou Jing main force and the other volunteer armies. The other one hundred scouts were still in hiding around the eastern area outside of Ji City.

    Tong wanted to push further and kill Zou Jing, but he had to be mindful about his men¡¯s stamina. They did not have a cheat or had awakened a demonic bloodline as he did.

    In addition, his homing arrow skill was nerfed by Lilim that he could only use it once a day. Most of Tong¡¯s trump card skill was on cooldown, only [Time Stop] could be used. However, Tong deemed that it was too risky to continue fighting without all of his active skills readied.

    Knowing when to give up was a good discipline for amander.

    .

    Zou Jing did not order the chase. Instead, he also ordered a retreat.

    "We¡¯ll abandon Ji City and seek help from Gongsun Zan!"

    "General, but what about the people!?"

    "Leave them! As long as our force is not destroyed, we can reim it back."

    "But, what can we report to Lord Liu ..."

    "He won¡¯t mind it. His family root is in Chengdu. This ce is just a barrennd to him."

    Zou Jing¡¯s eyes still revealed the fright that he had when he gazed at Tong¡¯s leaving army. Upon checking at the routed mob of noble private forces, a thousand of 5,000 managed to return alive.

    The main army consisted of Zou Jing¡¯s initial 4,000 men, Liu Bei¡¯s 1,000 men, and other volunteer forces without status. With the surviving men, they had a bit over 10,000 men remaining from 25,000 before Tong attacked the city.

    He was reminded of the textbooks he read in the past. He looked down upon a quote, saying that "In war, a numeric value alone cannot decide the oue."

    This quote came to haunt him after he failed to destroy Tong¡¯s small army.

    "We¡¯ll take the supplies from Ji City first. Contact the logistic troops. Have them transport everything east!"

    ...

    At night.

    Tong and his men settled a camp 5 kilometers north of Ji City. Because thest battle revealed the strength of the volunteer and noble armies, Tong evaluated that Zou Jing had run out of his trump cards.

    Freed from his .u.mted stress, Tong checked the n chat logs.

    Hua Shi had given birth to a baby girl.

    The skill nerf also arrived as expected. It was fortunate that Lilim also held back her tyrannical dictatorship as she was afraid of harming the innocent baby.

    Before she gave birth, Hua Shi deleted most of her skills in advanced, leaving her with [Homing Arrow], [Bow Mastery], [Inventory] and [Medical Gift]. Thus, she did not suffer a fatal injury, only temporary exhaustion and sickness.

    Both mother and daughter were fine at the moment as Zhang Jiao and all physicians were taking care of them. Moreover, Hua Shi had a domain ability that she got from his demonic soul. She would be safe from all external influences even if Julu were to fall.

    As for the battles in other cities ...

    "Tough battles, I see."

    Friday, Xun Yu, Zhang Xiu, and Zhang Ji shed with Sun Jian Army and two otherworlders.

    Reinforcement from Jinyang arrived at Julu with Xiongnu warhorses. Lu Zhi, Jia Xu, and Lu Bu team had tactical skirmishes against Yuan Shao, Gao Lan, Wen Chou, Yan Liang, and Tian Feng.

    Zhang Bao and others were defending the siege. Thanked the siege weapons on the wall and their repeating crossbows, Yan Yan and Liu Yan could not proceed further.

    In this situation, there was a risk that one of them could fall to the coalition forces, especially the siege at Zhongshan and Ye City. Zhongshan was Tong¡¯s weakest city, and Sun Jian had two variables which were two otherworlders.

    He had to finish the "Zou Jing Hunt" as soon as possible. As for taking control of Ji City, he had to abandon this objective since he had no trustworthy subordinate to be the protector of these areas. Furthermore, he could not defend the city with only a few thousand men.

    Before Tong began his night meditation, a scout from the east gate returned with an urgent report.

    "Young master! Zou Jing is abandoning Ji City. They are heading to Beiping City of Gongsun Zan!"

    Tong¡¯s heart sank. If Zou Jing entered Beiping, he might fail this quest as this warlord might shield him. Trying to kill Zou Jing while he was under Gongsun Zan¡¯s wings might provoke a sleeping dragon as this warlord was still a dominant figure in the Northern provinces.

    ...

    In history, Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao stood as equal during the current year of 183. He Jin had deployed Gongsun Zan at You Province to stabilize the areas and protect the borders from Xiongnu tribes. Gongsun Family also had several hundred thousands of soldiers in the You Province before Yuan Shao took over Ji Province from Han Fu.

    Unfortunately, Gongsun Zan was never promoted as an official governor of You Province. He had to work together with Liu Yu, who was assigned as the governor of You Province. Later, Gongsun Zan broke off his co-worker rtionship with Liu n head because Liu Yu attacked him first. He ultimately framed Liu Yu into execution and gained his official title.

    After stealing the title of the governor of the province, Gongsun Zan formed an alliance with Yuan Shu, who vied for supremacy against his rtive, Yuan Shao.

    Gongsun Zan sent Gongsun Yue with a task force to help Yuan Shu, but he was killed in a battle. Using this pretext, Gongsun Zan mobilized his force south, aiming to attack Yuan Shao. However, Yuan Shao saw through his ploy and intercepted Gongsun Zan Army.

    Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan in the battle, which thettermitted suicide with his family members.

    Though a few other details had never recorded in the history texts, the novel version described that Gongsun Zan possessed the elite "White Riders" cavalry unit which was symbolized as the protectors of the north in thiste Han period.

    ...

    "Have they gone far yet?"

    "No, sir. They have only organized the logistic troops, but the main army is still loitering inside the city."

    "Good, return to your post. Report to me again when you see their movement."

    "Yes, sir!"

    After the scout left, Tong massaged his temples. He could not take it easy anymore.

    ...

    March 9th.

    Tong abandoned the siege weapons and ordered the total mobilization. All scouts were summoned back, and they rushed toward the east, chasing Zou Jing with full speed.

    Tong and eight hundred hors.e.m.e.n carried eight hundred footmen with them. They moved ahead first while the rest of the infantries served as logistic units to bring provision supplies after them.

    1,600 Men were chasing after the running-away 10,000 soldiers.

    This phenomenon was a disgrace to Zou Jing, but he did not have a choice. The quality of his soldier had been proven that they were inferior to the Yellow Turbans. He could use the volunteer forces as his cannon fodders, but they would have died in vain.

    The only hope he had was Gongsun Zan¡¯s [White Riders].

    Three hours after Tong departed, he caught up with Zou Jing¡¯s rearguards and the logistic troops.

    "The enemies!" Eximed Zou Jing¡¯s reserve troops.

    800 Foot soldiers got down from the horses and got into a battle formation. Without waiting for Tong¡¯s order, they took out their shields, spears, and crossbows, which they stood in three lines.

    The remaining 800 hors.e.m.e.n saw Tong¡¯s hand gesture. They formed a wedge formation and followed after their leader.

    Just like before, Tong led the charge, clearing a path for his men. At the same time, his infantries marched in three lines toward the rearguards. The crossbowmen followed after them and fired their crossbows at the stragglers at the same time.

    The rearguards and the reserve troops of Zou Jing consisted of 3,000 men who were led by the surviving nobles. However, one person happened to be in the logistic caravan by an ident.

    Jiang Man was resting in the convoy, practicing the cultivation method that Lilim had given him.

    "Rotten luck!" Muttered Jiang Man as he gazed at the chaotic battle behind the convoy.

    He jumped on top of the convoy to get a better view on the battlefield. There, he saw Tong and his cavalries, crushing the untrained rearguards with ease.

    "Kill the horse! Throw your spears at the horses!" Jiang Man shouted, which caught the attention of the panicking soldiers.

    In reflex, soldiers followed through Jiang Man¡¯s instruction. They ignored the riders and threw their weapons at the horses.

    Tong¡¯s light cavalriescked horse armor parts. As a spear was thrown, his horse was hit.

    A loud horse neigh shocked Tong, and he was thrown off his horse.

    He was not the only one who fell down, more of his soldiers also slipped from their horses as they were killed by the rearguards.

    "Damn it!"

    Tong got up in a hurry, but several Zou Jing¡¯s rearguards got close to him before he was prepared.

    "That¡¯s the enemy¡¯s general. Kill him!"

    "Die!"

    Tong dodged the spear thrust by the oing spearmen. He pulled his pistol and pointed at the front soldiers.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    During the gunshot, Tong tried to use his ive, but its de tip came off the shaft because of the sudden fall and it had been over-used yesterday.

    Feeling helpless, Tong threw the ive away. He managed to find his de handle on his back and pulled it from its sheath. He dashed back to rescue his stumbling hors.e.m.e.n with haste.

    At this moment, Jiang Man already got down from the top of a carriage.

    "MotherfOOker! That asshole still has bullets! Any archer? Shoot at those hors.e.m.e.n before their troops rescue them!"

    The rearguards, which was on the verge of copse, used the chance to regroup.

    Two hundreds of them carried standard crossbows with them. They raised their weapons and fired a volley.

    Tong, who was fending the spearmen, noticed the iing two hundred arrows.

    "Shit!"

    The horror of a wall of arrows could terrify everyone, including Tong. He activated his overclock mode and parried the arrow rain.

    "Ugh!"

    "Argh!"

    The arrows did not hit Tong, but he could not protect his men with his de alone. Several of the hors.e.m.e.n were killed by the arrows, including rearguard spearmen who were killed by the friendly fire.

    "They lost the momentum. Rush them!" Jiang Man ordered again.

    Tong had noticed that the enemies suddenly became organized after the spear throws. He scanned the battlefield with his sense in the direction of the sound and found Jiang Man.

    ¡¯Amander over there? A talent one at that.¡¯

    ¡¯That¡¯s enough for you. You¡¯re dead!¡¯

 Chapter 251

    Chapter 251

    Chapter 251 ¨C Running Into the Sworn Brothers

    Tong killed the nearest spearman and stole the iron spear, after which he made a half-moon sweep, sending iing soldiers flying .

    "Men, break out from this and regroup with our infantries!"

    All surviving horsemen turned around and cut a path for their escape while Tong protected their rear .

    Jiang Man¡¯s archers gathered with the previous group . The number increased to 500, which they finished reloading their crossbows .

    "Fire another volley!"

    Jiang Man disregarded the allied soldiers and ordered another barrage . Meanwhile, several soldiers blew horns and rang warning bells to warn the troops from the front and call for the reinforcement .

    500 Arrows flew to the sky .

    Seeing that the arrows came at him again, Tong made a risky decision .

    "[Create Food], burning oil!"

    Instead of pointing his palm or finger at the ground soldiers, Tong pointed his finger at the arrow rain .

    sh flood of boiling oil gushed out from the void, bing a water current . The fountain of oil hit the arrows, blocking their momentum and flushed them away . The liquid fell down on earthter as the gravity pulled them down, raining upon Jiang Man¡¯s soldiers .

    "WAAH!"

    "AAAAHH!"

    The hot oil burnt the men alive, which freed Tong from the pursuing troops .

    Lilith had banned Tong from using this skill directly at living beings, but Tong decided to use it in this situation . He prayed that Lilim did not know about this .

    Two secondster ... ten secondster .

    Lilim did not send a warning message, which relieved Tong .

    He turned around . The horsemen managed to break through the surrounding enemies, but they were waiting for Tong .

    Instead of escaping with his horsemen, Tong bellowed .

    "Regroup with the others and slowly press forward with three-line formation! Do not chase after me!"

    Finished giving the instruction, Tong leaped over the burning ground using the corpses and the struggling soldiers as the footing . He rushed at the group of archers with crossbows .

    Seeing the lone rushing soldier, archers with a loaded arrow aimed at Tong .

    *BANG* *BANG*

    *BANG* *BANG*

    Tong countered them with the gun before they could shoot, which killed fifteen soldiers as Tong emptied his clip . Using the chance that the archers were shocked by the gun, he dove into the formation of archers .

    The steel de in his hand sliced the necks of the surrounding men . Though Tong did not use themia step, he slipped through the packed formation .

    In his left hand, which had put away his gun in his cloth, grabbed a crossbow from a dead soldier . His eyes locked at the location where Jiang Man was while the crossbow pointed at the same direction .

    Forty lock-on crosshairs targeted all parts of Jiang Man¡¯s body .

    *WHOOSH* *WHOOSH*

    Light arrows trekked through the sky, making an arc and chasing after Jiang Man, who was hiding behind a carriage .

    Seeing the magic arrowsing after himself, Jiang Man grabbed two nearest soldiers and used them as his shield while he leaned his back against the carriage .

    *SEUK*

    Thirty-five arrows pierced the meat shields, three hit the carriage behind Jiang Man¡¯s back, and two got his shoulder and his right eye .

    It was fortunate that the arrow flew down from the high angle, so it did not prate into Jiang Man¡¯s brain beyond his eye socket .

    However, the pain was still there .

    "FOOOOOOOK!!"

    Jiang Man screamed as he pulled out the arrow from his right eye . Clear liquid dripped down from the eye socket, and red blood followed .

    Though angered, Jiang Man pushed the two meat shield corpses away and dashed toward the nearest horse, which was used to drag the carriage behind him .

    His sword cut the ropes which bound the horses . He jumped on one of the horses and galloped away without hesitation .

    *RUMBLE*

    At this moment, the ck cloud in the sky had reached its limit . Raindrop poured down onto thend as the cloud could not contain the humidity anymore .

    It began with several droplets of water at first, but a downpour followed after a few seconds .

    Tong, who had reloaded his gun and was about to chase after Jiang Man, was surprised by the sudden rain . Rainwater got into his eyes, which broke his focus on the battlefield .

    ¡¯Rain or not, you¡¯re a threat!¡¯

    Tong exerted his leg strength and his overclocked brain to the fullest . He kicked the ground, ignoring the nearby soldiers and chasing after Jiang Man .

    The burst of 2-winged demon¡¯s speed was faster than a workhorse . Tong got into the range of 50 meters behind Jiang Man in ten seconds .

    However, at 100 meters in front of Tong and Jiang Man, more than five thousand soldiers of Zou Jing main army were running toward them,ing to help the rearguards .

    The Glock pistol pointed at Jiang Man¡¯s back .

    Jiang Man also sensed the terrible killing intent from behind . He tilted his body to the side by instinct .

    *BANG*

    The bullet missed!

    90 Meters until Jiang Man could escape!

    Tong changed the target . He aimed his gun at the horse instead .

    "Karma, bitch!"

    *BANG*

    The horse neighed in pain and stumbled down on the ground, rolling and throwing Jiang Man off its back .

    Jiang Man, who was sent flying by the horse, mmed on the wet ground and tumbled for a few flips before he could stop rolling .

    The reinforcement was 50 meters away .

    Tong nced at the oing thousands of soldiers and pointed the muzzle at Jiang Man¡¯s head .

    *CLICK*

    He ran out of ammo!

    Tong frowned as he remembered that he had just reloaded his gun and fired two shots . There should have been several bullets left in the magazine .

    He ejected the clip to look at it . Indeed, there was no bullet .

    Tong recalled that he almost spent all bullets in one of the clips, but he kept it in his cloth . He must have reloaded the old clip into the gun instead of using a prepared one .

    The hands of Tong touched his cloth to get a new clip, which he found nothing . All the prepared clips were inside his luggage on the horseback, which he had left behind when the horse fell .

    "Goddammit!"

    Tong drew his de from his back and ran at Jiang Man, hoping to finish this person .

    "Die!"

    *CLANK*

    One of Zou Jing¡¯s horsemen reached Tong first . He shed his halberd at Tong, which was parried by Tong¡¯s de .

    Using this chance, Jiang Man crawled away .

    The reinforcement had reached them!

    The infantries helped Jiang Man and escorted him away as he looked important from the outsider¡¯s point of view .

    Tong red at Jiang Man with hatred . He could have used [Time Stop] and kill this person, but he decided to save it as a lifesaving skill in the emergency . He also wanted to pursue, but a dozen horsemen were about to rush him .

    Clicking his tongue, Tong vented his anger on the soldiers around him . His de cut through horses and human alike, killing everything in its path .

    As soon as he killed all riders, the corner of his eyes caught sight of someone he was looking for .

    Zou Jing!

    Behind Tong, his troops got annihted the rearguards saw their lord in the middle of the enemy reinforcement legion .

    "Follow the child of heaven!"

    "Follow the young master!"

    The slogan "The Han is dead" resounded in the middle of the rainstorm . At the same time, Zou Jing¡¯s troops also realized Tong¡¯s identity .

    "Zhang Tong is isted . Surround him!"

    "Stop the Yellow Turbans!"

    "That monster Zhang Tong is in front . Kill him!"

    Tong ignored everything and disyed his footwork . He danced into the oing pack of soldiers as he sliced all living beings in his path .

    Zou Jing noticed the identity of the lone Yellow Turban . His face paled as he hid behind his bodyguards by instinct .

    "Zou Jing, you coward . How long are you going to keep hiding!?"

    Hearing Tong¡¯s voice and his threatening stance, Zou Jing also cried .

    "Retreat! Sound the retreat!"

    Tong got used to the way that he could slip through the crowd of soldiers . He got into the range of 100 meters in front of Zou Jing, leaving a trail of cut corpses behind .

    "[Firearm Creation], give me a bullet!"

    A handgun bullet appeared in Tong¡¯s hand . Using his left hand, he loaded the shell into a magazine while his right hand still swung his de or parried from the iing attacks .

    Then, he loaded the magazine with only one bullet into his pistol .

    By the time he finished loading, a long-beard tall man in green cloth had rushed at Tong with his horse .

    "Brat, you go no further!"

    Tong nced at the rider by reflex . The image of the horseman astonished Tong as he could recognize this person right away .

    ¡¯Guan Yu! Why is he here!?¡¯

    As the overclock mode was still active, he could also see a scruffy wild man and a long-ear man chasing after Guan Yu from behind .

    ¡¯The three hypocrites! They really appear here this year, and they¡¯re together in the same toon as Zou Jing? The novel version said they should have appeared next year in a different legion . ¡¯

    Tong gritted his teeth as reality was usually different than his expectation .

    ¡¯One bullet . Should I use this on one of the three or should I save this for Zou Jing? There¡¯s also that annoying strategist in Zou Jing Army . ¡¯

    Tong regretted the earlier action that he had wasted so many bullets on ordinary soldiers . He could have killed them with his de, yet he wasted them to save times .

    He nced at the system menu and his quest details . He had many days toplete, but Tong did not want to take the risk of failing his quest .

    The punishment for failing the quest was his location exposure, which equaled to a death-sentence had his location was revealed in a system map .

    ¡¯I want to kill all of you, but Zou Jing is my target!¡¯

    Tong dashed further to shorten the distance as he shouted, "[Time Stop]!"

    As soon as Tong shouted, Guan Yu saw the isted Yellow Turban soldier blinked and reappeared further away behind Zou Jing .

    But it did not shock him more than what happened afterward as Zou Jing¡¯s head was flying in mid-air . The general was killed right under his nose!

    "How the hell!?"

    "It¡¯s that magic again!"

    "General!"

    "Lord Zou Jing!"

    Guan Yu stopped his horse and gazed at Tong in shock . Liu Bei and Zhang Fei were surprised as well .

    "This is the rumor sorcery?" Liu Bei muttered as he recalled Lu Zhi¡¯s letter contents . Lu Zhi had warned Liu Bei not to be Tong¡¯s enemy, but the ambitious disciple did not heed his master¡¯s words .

    "Yunchang, Yide, don¡¯t pursue! Come back!" Shouted Liu Bei .

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei turned to Liu Bei and nodded in understanding . The opponent was a dangerous sorcerer so they should not fight him without preparation .

    "Where is little Jiang? Hasn¡¯t he said that he wanted to get something from the logistic troops? The rearguards and the logistic troops are defeated . I hope he ..." Guan Yu was worried about Jiang Man .

    "He¡¯ll be fine . For now, we should ..."

    Before Liu Bei could finish his sentence, Tong bellowed .

    "Didn¡¯t you lots want a piece of me? Where is your bravery now? Oh right, there was an old saying that only a brave man can be a soldier, but I¡¯m seeing no soldier . Hell, I doubt there were even men in front of me . "

 Chapter 252

    Chapter 252

    Chapter 252 ¨C Zhang Tong VS Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Liu Bei

    Zhang Fei was provoked . He began bickering with Tong while Liu Bei nced back and forth between his brother, Tong, and the pursuing Yellow Turban troops from a distance .

    This group of Yellow Turban came to rescue Tong from the istion even though Tong had told them not to follow after him .

    As Liu Bei listened to the quarrel, he got annoyed when Tong bellowed,

    "Your parents must be proud of you as well . They raised you so well that one of you became a bandit . Another one of you was a psychopath murderer, and the biggest one of you became so delusional to the point that you thought of yourself as the old emperor¡¯s descendant even though you were just a straw-shoe selling peasant!"

    ¡¯What do you know when my mother and I are struggling to make ends meet while you are leading an army and enjoy multiple wives!?¡¯ Liu Bei retorted in his mind .

    ¡¯Who cares if you are right? In the end, you are just a coldblooded murderer . You are the same as all officials and the crooked Emperors! It was because of you that many of the soldiers were killed! It was because of you that so many bandits are wearing your yellow clothes!¡¯

    Liu Bei still had a bias thought toward Tong . Though he appeared to be taken aback from the outside, his inner thought was dead-set of being hostile against Yellow Turbans .

    "I want your life!"

    Zhang Fei charged at Tong as he could not stand Tong¡¯s provocation anymore .

    "Yide, No!"

    A sinister grin appeared on Tong¡¯s mouth corner as he aimed his gun forward .

    Zhang Fei was an experienced fighter . He noticed the abnormality of the weapon in Tong¡¯s hand . Thus, Zhang Fei tilted his body and avoided the gun muzzle, but Tong changed his aim before he pulled the trigger .

    *BANG*

    Thest bullet was fired, but Tong did not aim at Zhang Fei .

    The small piece of metal pierced the skull of Zhang Fei¡¯s horse, killing it on the spot . As a consequence, Zhang Fei was thrown off his horse, tumbling down from the gravity of earth .

    Tong dashed toward Zhang Fei and swung his de downward . This was the golden opportunity to kill one of the three sworn brothers .

    *CLANK*

    Using his bracers as a shield, Zhang Fei blocked the steel sword with his arms .

    The iron bracer on Zhang Fei¡¯s left arm cracked, and the de went through his fresh . The steel de was stopped by Zhang Fei¡¯s thick bones .

    "GRRR!!"

    "NNHH!!"

    The pain of having an arm being sliced made Zhang Fei¡¯s left arm numbed . On the other hand, Tong was shocked by the durability of Zhang Fei¡¯s body .

    ¡¯I used my full strength, but I can¡¯t cut through his arm!?¡¯

    Tong felt the danger premonition from his side and heard the sounds of a galloping horse . He pulled his de from Zhang Fei¡¯s arm and parried in the direction of the imminent threat .

    *WHOOSH*

    *CLANK*

    The green dragon crescent ive of Guan Yu shed with Tong¡¯s steel de . The impact was enough to numb Guan Yu and Tong¡¯s hands .

    Before Guan Yu¡¯s horse went past Tong, he ran backward and shed at the horse¡¯s hind legs .

    The horse felt the sharp pain on its legs, and it copsed on the ground along with the rider .

    Tong¡¯s brain processed in a microsecond speed, deciding who he should kill first, Guan Yu or Zhang Fei .

    Zhang Fei was already injured, but he should have regained his stance by the time Tong attacked the horse¡¯s hind legs .

    Guan Yu lost his momentum and was vulnerable at the moment, presenting the perfect chance for the follow-up attacks .

    ¡¯If Guan Yu dies, the sworn brothers will crumble! Liu Bei won¡¯t have enough chips for his future . ¡¯

    Tong kicked the ground and rushed at the panicked Guan Yu, hacking down with his de .

    Guan Yu was much smarter than Zhang Fei . He predicted the de trajectory and pulled his iron ive shaft to block the de .

    *CLANK*

    After the impact, Guan Yu used both hands to grab Tong¡¯s de without caring if it would cut his hands, which stopped him from pulling it back or sh at Guan Yu again .

    "Tsk!"

    The left hand of Tong let go of his de and clenched into a fist . At the same time, his left knee mmed down on Guan Yu¡¯s belly and pinned him on the ground .

    With the de in Tong¡¯s right hand pressing on Guan Yu and his knee pressing on Guan Yu¡¯s torso, the left fist was free .

    The left fist hammered down on the defenseless Guan Yu .

    Tong did not hit him just once, but three fists per one second .

    "MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA!!"

    Using the force and the speed of a two-winged demon, Tong pummeled onto the head of the red-faced man, hoping to crack his skull and killing him in the fist fight .

    Guan Yu took the blows while his eyes red into Tong¡¯s eyes . He kept moving his head to avoid the hit to the vital parts . Though blood and cut appeared on his face, his eyes did not show a sign of despair .

    "VOOOIIII!!"

    *WHOOSH*

    The serpent spear was thrust at Tong¡¯s side . But thanked the voice of Zhang Fei, it alerted Tong which gave him enough room to dodge .

    In exchange for the escape, Tong had to abandon his steel de, which was still grabbed by Guan Yu .

    Tongnded on the ground and rolled away to correct his stance .

    At this time, Guan Yu slipped away from the copsed horse, and Zhang Fei was charging at Tong .

    *WHOOSH*

    A spear thrust went for Tong¡¯s head, but he tilted it to the side . Zhang Fei thrust his spear a hundred times in a row in the span of 30 seconds, but Tong sidestepped and dodged all of them while he was staring into Zhang Fei¡¯s eyes .

    The movement of Zhang Fei and Tong were so fast that left after images which astonished the onlooking soldiers of Zou Jing Army .

    *WHOOSH*

    Reaping scythe move followed, which Tong bent his body forward to dodge to swing .

    Tong kicked the ground, closing in the distance between him and Zhang Fei .

    An overhead green dragon ive swung down, aiming to cleave Tong in two .

    *WHOOSH*

    Tong stepped back, escaping from the ambush from Guan Yu .

    As Tong was back stepping, Zou Jing¡¯s infantries came to their sense . They also charged at him .

    Instead of panicking, Tong revealed a happy smile .

    "I was thinking how I can get my weapon back . I¡¯ll take yours, thank you!"

    Several spears came at Tong . Theter jumped, and the spears missed the target .

    Tongnded a superman punch on the face of a spearman and snatched his weapon . After which, he made a 360 degrees swing, sending everyone around him flying .

    Unfortunately, the spear shaft broke as it was made from bamboo .

    "Tsk! Use a better weapon, damn you!"

    Tong dashed toward the dead bodies to get a new weapon, but Guan Yu and Zhang Fei chased after him from behind .

    Seeing a random iron sword on the ground, Tong picked it up and pointed at the two men behind his back, getting into his fighting stance .

    "Time Alter . . . " Tong muttered .

    The cooperation stab and swing of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei came . The speed of the weapons was on par with Lu Bu .

    "Double el!"

    Double brain¡¯s perception speed mode activated . The feeling of blood pressure on his brain came back, but the blood vessels did not rupture this time .

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    Tong deflected the serpent spear and blue dragon ive away . Then, he counter-attacked with a strike toward Zhang Fei¡¯s abdomen .

    *CLANK*

    Zhang Fei also parried Tong¡¯s sword with the iron shaft . The fragile iron sword shattered to pieces upon the contact .

    The parry of Zhang Fei forced Tong an opening . Guan Yu¡¯s ive swing came at Tong again .

    *WHOOSH*

    Tong had to leap backward to dodge the strike even though all the movements he did just now were in "Double el" mode . The reflex and the reaction speed of these two brothers exceeded Tong¡¯s ability .

    ¡¯I can only match one of them . Fighting two of them like this is suicide!¡¯

    Clicking his tongue again, Tong ran away from Guan Yu and Zhang Fei toward the direction of the army of Yellow Turban .

    But a galloping horse sound rmed Tong .

    Liu Bei was charging at Tong as he saw that this Yellow Turban bandit was unarmed . Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were also pursuing Tong as well .

    ¡¯I might break my fist, but I won¡¯t let you hypocrites going home unscratched!¡¯

    Tong clenched his fist and punched at the chest of the charging horse with full-force .

    *BOOM*

    *CRACK*

    The sound of the shattering bone could be heard, but the horse neighed and raised its front hooves in pain before it copsed, throwing Liu Bei off his horse as well .

    Tong endured the pain on his right fist and dashed back, ignoring the soldiers and the three sworn brothers .

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei stopped chasing after Tong . They rushed to Liu Bei to rescue their brother first .

    However, Zou Jing¡¯s remnant chased after Tong to avenge for their former lord .

    Unfortunately . . .

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    Thousands of arrows flew in the air . The wall of death showered onto the pursuing force . Furthermore, the arrows in the rain were heavier than arrows in the clear sky as they contain raindrops with them . They might have less distance, but they were deadlier than normal arrows as they carried more force .

    "ARGH!!"

    "WAAAH!"

    Zou Jing¡¯s remnants cried as they were stopped by a single barrage . The lucky ones who were following them stopped their feet and ran away in a panic .

    Tong dodged and parried a few arrows which slipped into his direction . He managed to return to his men .

    "Young master!"

    "My lord, are you safe?"

    "Bless the child of heaven!"

    Tong grinned and snickered as his men disobeyed hismand and followed after him in the end, which ultimately saved his life .

    A lightning strike hit a tree, which was 200 meters away from the troops . The deafening sound of thunder shocked the soldiers on the battlefield .

    "Let¡¯s get out of here before we get hit by the lightning . Tell everyone, we¡¯ll regroup with the others and we¡¯ll return to Zhongshan as soon as possible . "

    "We¡¯re not taking Ji City?" A soldier asked .

    "No . Although we can take it, we won¡¯t be able to defend it if someone were to attack Ji City at this moment . Also, I¡¯m afraid that Gongsun Zan won¡¯t leave Ji City alone after Liu Yan suffered a defeat here . We have to go . "

    The Yellow Turban troopers nodded in bitterness . They carved a path from Zhongshan City to Ji for nothing, and they even lost theirrades in this war .

    Tong noticed their expression . He consoled them, "We haven¡¯te here in vain . We managed to get rid of the threat to our cities and our families . Liu Yan had gathered troops and supplies here, but we managed to cripple it . He won¡¯t be able to do anything to us for a decade because of this fight . You¡¯ve done well . "

    "I¡¯ll give everybody here a few barrels of beer and whiskey when we return . Thanks, boys . "

    The Yellow Turban cheered, but their voice was muffled by the rain and thunder .

    ...

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei managed to rescue their elder brother and dragged him out of the arrow range on time . They did not forget to look for Tong¡¯s current location .

    Seeing that Tong had regrouped with his subordinates, Liu Bei spoke before the others could voice their opinion .

    "We¡¯ll retreat . Yuncheng, Yide, we¡¯ll move east and seek help from Gongsun Zan . "

    Zhang Fei held his left arm and stared at Tong Army with bloodshot eyes . Guan Yu swiped the trail of dripping blood on his face and nodded in agreement .

    "What about little Jiang?" Asked Guan Yu .

    Liu Bei frowned . He and his two brothers were not actually closed with their fourth brother as Jiang Man always acted on his own without telling them . Their rtionship was not that great .

    Before Liu Bei could speak that they would abandon Jiang Man, a sergeant of his volunteer force ran to them and knelt .

    "Report! Sir Jiang Man has been injured in the battle . He¡¯s being treated by our men!"

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei revealed a smile of delight .

    "He¡¯s fine! HAHAHA! Let¡¯s go Yuncheng, Xuande . We¡¯ll go and get ourselves treated too . My arm hurts . "

    Guan Yu chuckled as he scratched the skin near a cut on his face .

    Liu Bei, however, did not smile . He pondered for a moment and asked the sergeant .

    "Do you know what he was doing in the reserve convoys?"

    "Sir Jiang Man said he was requesting additional supplies for our army . "

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei nodded in approval, but Liu Bei still frowned .

    The sergeant read Liu Bei¡¯s mood, so he reported an additional piece of news .

    "When the rearguards fought with the Yellow Turbans, Sir Jiang Man had helped them fending off Zhang Tong¡¯s cavalries and knocking him off his horse . Zhang Tong had been isted since then . "

    The admiration toward Jiang Man in Guan Yu and Zhang Fei¡¯s eyes deepened . Liu Bei finally revealed a faint smile and nodded .

    "He¡¯s a talented man indeed . Let¡¯s go see our little Jiang . Oh, by the way, what¡¯s your name?"

    "It¡¯s Jian Yong, sir!"

    "Good,e with us . "

 Chapter 253

    Chapter 253

    Chapter 253 ¨C Not Over Yet

    Next morning .

    Liu Bei and his brothers had been treated by their army physiciansst night . Everybody rested in their tent .

    Guan Yu sat alone in his tent, staring at the steel de that was stolen from Tong and contemting the battle yesterday . He noticed that Tong did not use his blinking magic again after he had disyed it . The same applied to the ck weapon he used to kill Zhang Fei¡¯s horse .

    ¡¯There¡¯s a limit in his magic . He¡¯s not that omnipotent as the rumor said . But his martial art and speed are better than mine . If it weren¡¯t because of Yide, I would have been punched to death!¡¯

    ¡¯And there¡¯s also the things he said when he provoked Yide ...¡¯

    Guan Yu did not 100% believe in everything Tong said yesterday, but a part of it made sense .

    People suffered from harsh taxes before Liu Ping took the throne . The bad harvestst year also devastated the peasants, which made them more miserable than the usual . It was natural for them to flock with a lord who was willing to help them .

    Zhang Jiao might be one of the kind lords who extended his hands toward these poor civilians, but Liu Ping branded him as a traitor instead .

    Conflicted feeling swelled in Guan Yu¡¯s heart as he could not find an answer he was looking for by himself .

    ¡¯Is taking up arms with Xuande the right answer?¡¯

    ¡¯No, I¡¯ve sworn that I¡¯ll get through this with my brothers! I won¡¯t change my mind!¡¯

    Guan Yu closed his eyes and reviewed his fight, trying to improve his martial arts .

    .

    Jiang Man, who managed to scrape for his life, also sat in cross legs inside his tent, cultivating his mind .

    There were bandages that covered his left face as his left eye was damaged . Though the empty left eye socket hurt, his mind was calm .

    >

    >

    <[chastity] 2 . 35%="">>

    <[diligence] 17 . 42%="">>

    <[humility] ...="">>

    The angelic power that Jiang Man was cultivating was different than what Tong had gone through . As the opposite of the [Sins], angels had to umte good deeds and righteous mind to increase the chance to awaken their wings .

    It looked easier than getting the demonic cultivation method, but it had a significant drawback .

    An angel could try to awaken each [Virtue] only once in a lifetime, which the same rules applied to Jiang Man . Should he fail, he would not be able to obtain a wing from the [Virtue] that he tried to awaken .

    For example, had he tried to awaken his [Diligence] and failed, the [Diligence] would have been deleted from his soul, and he could not reattempt to awaken [Diligence] again forever .

    Therefore, instead of getting rid of the [Sins] by reducing the chance to take over the host¡¯s body, Jiang Man had to increase all his [Virtue] to 100% before he could attempt to make a breakthrough .

    In the system menu, Jiang Man had 7 virtues, which was the opposite of the 7 sins . As he sat and meditated, his [Diligence] percentage increased every minute passed .

    7 A . M .

    Liu Bei visited Jiang Man¡¯s tent to deliver him breakfast . Seeing that Jiang Man was sitting cross-legs, Liu Bei smiled .

    "Little Jiang, have you gotten better?"

    Jiang Man opened his eyes and nced at this status menu .

    <[diligence] 17 . 65%="">>

    "I¡¯m alright . It¡¯s just a couple of arrow wounds . No big deal . "

    "Good . I¡¯ve brought you breakfast . You should eat first . We¡¯ll continue marching in an hour . "

    "What about Zhang Tong and the Yellow Turban? Do you have the scout report?"

    Liu Bei narrowed his eyes for a moment, but he returned to his smiling face, "They¡¯re gone . Yesterday, they regrouped with their men at the north of Ji City and withdrew south . I think they¡¯re returning to Zhongshan . "

    Jiang Man sighed, pitying that Tong had retreated . Without Tong, Jiang Man had to find another otherworlder to kill or attempt to get rid of Tong again in the future .

    ¡¯Or, I can awaken my first 2 wings . Then, I can absorb life essence from the surrounding and pay the fine to cancel my quest . ¡¯

    Lilim had given him another bonus . Jiang Man could cancel her mission with a condition . Jiang Man had to pay one million lifespans to the system as a fine for terminating the quest .

    It sounded absurd and expensive at a nce, but Jiang Man knew that it was not that unreasonable .

    In the note that Lilim had given him, there were details about how he could utilize his angelic wings to acquire lifespans and examples of things and lifespans they had .

    A 100-year-old grown tree could generate over a thousand years of lifespans if Jiang Man could absorb it, which there were plenty of such trees in this era in this country . Absorbing the life essence from a living 20-year-old adult could also give Jiang Man 30 to 70 years, depending on the health and the upbringing of the victim .

    "That¡¯s good . We have to gather more men before we can fight that monster," Suggested Jiang Man, "But what about Zou Jing¡¯s remaining army? I heard Zou Jing is already dead . "

    Liu Bei smiled, "I¡¯ve be their temporarymander, so we have the control of the entire army . "

    "What? How? I thought there were many nobles in the army?"

    "Hahaha! They¡¯ve fled the moment Zou Jing was killed . I¡¯m the only volunteermander remaining . Besides, Yide and Yunchang did well in thest battle . They drove that monster Zhang Tong away with their prowess! You, too . Everyone is talking that you¡¯ve used your stratagem to trap Zhang Tong, and all soldiers respect us!"

    Jiang Man scratched his head, "I did nothing actually . I only suggested a tactic to stop Zhang Tong¡¯s cavalry charge . "

    "Yes, that¡¯s the good stratagem you did! Thanks to you, we all have survived! Thank you . "

    Liu Bei smiled as he held Jiang Man¡¯s hands . His face and his words sounded sincere, but Jiang Man felt that Liu Bei was acting .

    ¡¯As expected from the famous [Pretender], he¡¯s good at acting . If I were a native, I would have thought that Liu Bei was being na?ve or sincere!¡¯

    ¡¯But, doesn¡¯t he know that he¡¯s acting kind of gay!?¡¯

    ...

    ...

    March 13th .

    Zhongshan City, 500 meters in front of Zhongshan eastern wall .

    Liu Yan Army, which was led by Yan Yan, stationed in twenty 1000-men square formations . Five hundred trebuchets and spike barricades were arranged in front of their formation . Twenty thousand men of their soldiers remained from the initial 30,000 after a month of the prolonged siege attempt .

    Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, Bo Cai, and Zhen Yi did their best to protect the city . As the Zhang brothers had baptized in the battle at Anping with Guo Dian force, they utilized the trebuchets and their repeating crossbows well .

    With the newly recruited militias from the city and Zhen Yi¡¯s private army support, they did not worry about their number of archers .

    As a result, Yan Yan and Liu Yan were intimidated by the solid defensive wall and archers . They decided to trade trebuchet projectiles instead of sieging directly to avoid the deadly repeating crossbow arrows .

    The stalematested until today as a piece of news changed everything .

    "Zou Jing is dead?"

    The scout of Yuan Shao reported their intelligence in ce of Liu Yan¡¯s scouts as they were faster . However, that was not important . The critical news that shocked Liu Yan was the defeat of Zou Jing .

    "How is Ji City?"

    "Reporting, Zhang Tong didn¡¯t take the city . His army is withdrawing back to Zhongshan at the moment . We are expecting him to arrive here in a day or two . "

    Liu Yan¡¯s face paled . Sweat droplets could be seen on his face as he got nervous after losing his close aide .

    Yan Yan gazed at the wall of Zhongshan city and shook his head .

    "Let¡¯s retreat, my lord . If Zou Jing can¡¯t handle Zhang Tong and a few thousand men, I doubt we can take the city with Zhang Tong defending it . "

    "Retreat to Ji? Will it be safe? Now that Zou Jing is dead, I think most of my elites would have been dead . Our military power is crippled!"

    "No, my lord . We will not go back to Ji . We should head back to our homnd and solidify our power while we hide from all conflicts . "

    Liu Yan widened his eyes as he was enlightened, but he frowned in a few seconds after .

    "Then, who will take care of Ji City? I don¡¯t have anyone I can entrust the governor role . "

    "We don¡¯t have to . I think Gongsun Zan will move into the city sooner orter . Even if we send a letter to Liu Yu in the Capital to give this city to him, he will eventually fight with Gongsun Zan and lose the city regardless . "

    "I see," Liu Yan paused, "Send my order . We¡¯re going to move to Chengdu! It¡¯s going to be a long journey so those who don¡¯t want toe with us, they can join forces with Yuan Shao . Messenger, I hope that Lord Yuan Shao can provide us some supplies in exchange for the service from some of our soldiers . Please deliver my message . "

    The scout bowed and left .

    Liu Yan gazed at Zhongshan City withplicated eyes .

    He muttered, "A pity . I¡¯ve heard Zhen Yi¡¯s daughters are beautiful . I failed to make them my concubines . "

    Yan Yan heard it, but he pretended not to hear it . He followed after his master and organized his men to leave the territory .

    ...

    ...

    March 14th .

    Tong returned to the city with a paled face . Although Zhang Bao reported that Liu Yan canceled the siege in the n chat, Tong still rushed back as soon as possible .

    3,000 Men survived from the fight with Zou Jing and Liu Bei¡¯s brothers . Only a bit over a thousand men died in the battle .

    As for the rest of the men, they had retreated back to Zhongshan long ago .

    "Wee back, young master Zhang . "

    The bootlicker, Zhen Yi, stood in front of the north gate to wee Tong .

    "Thank you, Sir Zhen . Please provide my men with a ce to rest and get me a fresh horse . I¡¯ll continue my journey to Julu . "

    "Won¡¯t you rest in the city?" Zhen Yi was puzzled .

    Tong had a wry smile on his face, "No, I have to head back to Julu and help the others . I don¡¯t have time to rest . "

    "Eh?"

    The baffled Zhen Yi had a frown on his face as he did not understand why Tong was in a hurry .

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, who came out to receive Tong as well, nodded as they understood the reason .

    In the n chat, the situation in Julu was not optimistic . Despite having Lu Bu, Jia Xu, Zhang Liao, and Li Feihong together, they were facing tough foes like Wen Chou, Yan Liang, and Tian Feng .

    Lu Bu¡¯s monstrous strength was countered by the duo, Wen Chou and Yan Liang .

    The Gao family, Feng Ji, and an unknown strategist under Yuan Shao were keeping Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun at bay .

    Lu Zhi, Zhou Cang, Xu Huang, and Jia Xu were also in a stalemate with Yuan Shao¡¯s main army and Tian Feng .

    In the detail reports in the n chat, they had the disadvantage in both number and weaponry .

    The reason for their inability to defeat Yuan Shao despite the quality of Tong¡¯s generals were Yuan Shao¡¯s new weapons .

    Tian Feng¡¯s had copied Tong¡¯s repeating crossbows, which all of Yuan Shao troops were sporting these crossbows as well .

    Moreover, they had something that Tong had nned to research, but he did not have enough time or manpower to do it .

    They had gunpowders!</[diligence]></[humility]></[diligence]></[chastity]>

 Chapter 254

    Chapter 254

    Chapter 254 ¨C entric Strategists

    February 15th, 183 A . D .

    Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Sun Fang, Li Jing, and 60,000 soldiers gathered at Guanzong County, west of Ganling Commandery . They stopped here to enlist more volunteer forces and resupply the troops .

    30,000 Elites belonged to Sun Jian¡¯s men, but the others came from various noble families and their private troops . These people tagged along to scrap some contribution and achievement from the battle so they could get promoted to a higher tier noble as well .

    Contrary to Sun Jian, he did not want to participate in this war because of the coalition or for the promotion, he came here to put a stop to the bandits that imed to be Yellow Turbans .

    Unlike the others, Sun Jian saw through the bandit situation as a whole . He knew that the real Yellow Turbans under Zhang Jiao were righteous as they proved their actions in Ganling . However, the imposters were cancers that needed to be eliminated .

    To destroy all imposters, the real Yellow Turbans had to be disbanded or destroyed so the imposters could not rely on the dominant name of Zhang Jiao, Zhang Tong, or the name of Yellow Turbans .

    Thus, he joined the coalition and led his troops here, aiming to upy Ye City .

    In the main tent, Sun Jian and all officers sat in a circle . In the middle of the tent, a round table and a strategic mapid there . Dolls and tokens were ced there as symbols and the current location of various legions .

    In the map, southwest of Guanzong County, Zhao County was sandwiched in between Ye City and Guanzong County . On top of Zhao County, tokens of Yellow Turban troops were there .

    Huang Gai entered the tent . He reported his finding, "Reporting ourtest intelligence, we have confirmed the number of our enemy soldiers and their generals! The leading figure is Xiao Wu, the ghost bodyguard of Zhang Tong¡¯s wife . The strategist is Xun Yu of Xuchang Xun Family! The total troops are 40,000 men!"

    The officers in the tent were surprised when they heard the name of Xiao Wu . The fame of Xiao Wu, AKA Friday, spread through Ganling and other cities since January as the rumor about Liu Ping¡¯s death was caused by this woman . In addition, a female figure leading an army was new to these natives as it was rare for a woman to be sessful in the military field .

    Because of her fame, everyone in the tent disregarded Xun Yu, who should have been the center of attention from this intelligence .

    Sun Fang and Li Jing nced at each other . They confirmed without a doubt that this Xiao Wu might be an otherworlder as no female figure rose up in ranks during this period in history .

    "It¡¯s not only two but three! Three of the reincarnators joined forces!" Li Jing whispered to Sun Fang .

    "Hua Shi, Zhang Tong, and Xiao Wu . That¡¯s troublesome . "

    Sun Jian noticed the whispering between the two . He turned to them and asked, "Is there something that we should know about this Xiao Wu?"

    All eyes were on the two husband-and-wife . Li Jing coughed and spoke her thought .

    "This Xiao Wu is an immortal like us . "

    Everyone widened their eyes in shock . Sun Jian asked them again .

    "How do you know?"

    "All of you should know that it¡¯s illogical to have a woman as a grandmander of a 40,000-man army . Am I right?"

    Every officer nodded . Li Jing continued, "No one in the right mind will give a weak woman the title of the grandmander an army . But, do you think that Zhang Tong who can repel the Imperial Army twice with fewer troops than the opponents can be stupid?"

    All officers did not make a noise as they frowned . They knew that Tong was never an ipetent young master of a noble family . Instead, he was a dangerous young fox in the eyes of every officer here, including Sun Jian, Cheng Pu, and Huang Gai .

    "Indeed, Zhang Tong can¡¯t be that stupid . But what does it have to do with Xiao Wu being an immortal?" Asked Sun Jian .

    "It starts with thete Emperor, Liu Ping," Li Jing exined, "All of you should realize by now that thete Emperor is also an immortal like Sun Fang and me as he proved himself during the Song Family execution many years ago . His body is immune to all attacks by the executioners and all elite soldiers in the Imperial Pce!"

    Song Family execution event took ce many years ago . It was the time that Empress Song, the mother of Liu Ping, was framed for witchcraft by the eunuch faction . As a result, all Song n was sentenced for treason, and all of them had to be executed, including servants, children, and elders . Liu Ping was also part of the victims who was sentenced to death, but he demonstrated his superpower and regained his status as the crown prince of Han .

    After the event, everyone in the country knew that Liu Ping was abnormal . Some said that he was the true son of Heaven . Some said that he was a sorcerer . However, Sun Jian and the others saw Liu Ping as one of the roaming 100 immortals .

    Sun Jian¡¯s eyes lit up and interjected, "Liu Ping is known to be an immortal, yet there¡¯s a rumor that His Majesty was killed by Xiao Wu!"

    Everyone¡¯s mouth turned into an "o" as they recalled the baseless rumor about Liu Ping¡¯s death . None of them could even confirm the source of this rumor, yet the name of "Xiao Wu" showed up as the killer of thiste Emperor .

    Once theybined this rumor and her identity as the grandmander of Ye Army . The puzzle piece that they could not find clicked into the grand picture .

    "His Majesty can¡¯t be killed with ordinary weapons!"

    "If the rumor were true, then ..."

    "Only immortals can kill an immortal . "

    "This ... Xiao Wu is stronger than Liu Ping?"

    The officers murmured and discussed their theories and hypothesis about Xiao Wu as they understood what Li Jing tried to convince them .

    Li Jing continued, "Yes, Xiao Wu¡¯s name appears in the rumor as the general who had in the Emperor in the middle of his several thousand bodyguards . If it was only a rumor, why would she appear again as themander of an important city such as Ye?"

    The face of all officers was solemn . Everything made sense if the rumor was true .

    "If that¡¯s the case, this battle will be difficult . " Lamented Sun Jian .

    "No, it won¡¯t," Smiled Li Jing .

    "How?"

    "All immortals have been cursed by the gods . We can¡¯t use the same magic multiple times in a day . Besides, some of the immortals are powerless at the moment . But, you have forgotten . You also have us," Li Jing spoke as she nced at the menu .

    The number of otherworlders increased, but they were listed as the powerless side .

    [7:5]

    Seven people possessed system skills while the other five did not so there was a slim chance that Xiao Wu could be one of the five . Furthermore, Sun Fang and Li Jing were against only one otherworlder . They had the number advantage .

    "Right, I forgot about you two . I¡¯ll leave that Xiao Wu to you two then . Do you have a n in the next battle?" Sun Jian turned to Sun Fang, his adopted son .

    "We can fly and bombard her to test her skills and strength . If it works, then all is well . If it doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯ll retreat to n our next move," Answered Sun Fang .

    Several officers in the tent did not know what Li Jing and Sun Fang were talking about regarding the immortals and power . They looked at each other in confusion . However, Huang Gai and Cheng Pu had already learned about the two¡¯s abilities, so they did not voice anything to protest .

    "Good . I¡¯ll tell you our n to attack Zhao County . Everybody, listen carefully!"

    ...

    ...

    Zhao County, northeast of Ye City .

    40,000 Soldiers from Ye City stationed here to repel Sun Jian force . They managed to recruit a few thousands of reserve militias as their logistic guards and provision guards in this county .

    Xiao Wu, Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, and Xun Yu gathered in the main tent .

    The temporary governor, Xun Yu, gazed at Xiao Wu with a doubtful expression . It was a first time for him that he had to assist a female general, who was the grandmander of this army at that .

    Xun Yu nced at Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu, who he heard that they were the aides of Xiao Wu . He knew that these two were former subordinates of Dong Zhuo, but they were sent here to serve Tong along with the tribute, Dong Bai .

    Xun Yu was disgusted by the fact that Tong actually epted Dong Bai as his concubine . But since it was a political marriage, he turned a blind eye on it . Still, Xun Yu did not have a good impression on Tong and the Yellow Turban force .

    When he heard that Tong killed everyone in Liyang, he had sent a letter to Xuchang, hoping to withdraw from this force . However, his father declined his proposal and insisted that Xun Yu had to remain in Ye for the time being as the situation in the country was in a critical state .

    A hero might rise from a pile of trash, or a viin could emerge from the crowd of righteous monks . Nothing was certain!

    Thus, Xun Yu epted the task withplicated emotion . He nned to remain in this force for the time being . Should Ye City fall, he would abandon his post and return to Xuchang without hesitation .

    "Xun Yu, are you listening?" Xiao Wu, or Friday, reprimanded this strategist as his mind seemed to be in Lland during the military briefing .

    "Eh? Oh, yes, ma¡¯am!"

    Friday raised one of her eyebrows in doubt . This strategist had yet to contribute to their strategic nning ever since she had arrived in Ye . She was wondering if this was the real Xun Yu .

    ¡¯I was supposed to recruit this guy into our n, but is he even the real Xun Yu? He didn¡¯t even contribute shit in the army!¡¯

    Friday and her subordinates also had a bad impression on Xun Yu . He appeared to be azy bum that always day-dreamed during work . Had she not confirmed Xun Yu¡¯s identity with Jia Xu, or had she not learned about the people in the Three Kingdoms period, she would have sacked this man out of her army long ago .

    "What¡¯s thetest intel about Sun Jian Army at Guanzong? Did you pay attention to the scout reports?"

    "It¡¯s 60,000 men or something?" Xun Yu answered half-heartedly .

    "What did I exin just now about what we were about to do?"

    "Was it about the stupid part where you want to jump into the middle of their troops and assassinate Sun Jian?"

    Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu red at Xun Yu with bloodshot eyes as this strategist got on their nerves .

    On the contrary, Friday withheld her inner emotion and questioned Xun Yu, "Tell me why you think it¡¯s stupid . "

    "You¡¯re the only immortal in our army, but you want to jump into the army with at least two immortals . That¡¯s suicide in my point of view . Secondly, aside from you, we don¡¯t have apetent general in our army, but Sun Jian has several capable men . If you leave everything to these two apes, we¡¯ll lose this battle in two days!"

    Xun Yu and Friday knew about Sun Fang and Li Jing¡¯s identity so they were on guard against this husband-and-wife . However, Xun Yu¡¯s reckless words got on everybody¡¯s nerve every time .

    "What did you say!?"

    "What did you call me!?"

    Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji could not hold it anymore . They stood up from their seat and was about to beat this fragile young man into a pulp . However, Friday raised her hand to stop them .

    Friday red Xun Yu into his eyes, "Do you have a better idea other than criticizing us?"

    Xun Yu shrugged, "No . I haven¡¯t thought of it yet . Give me two weeks, and maybe I can think of something . "

    The face of Friday twitched .

    ¡¯Are all capable strategists in this era obnoxious? Jia Xu is understandable because he went through a lot in his life, but this asshole is still in his 20s . Why the hell does he have this kind of attitude?¡¯

 Chapter 255

    Chapter 255

    Chapter 255 ¨C Qi st and Qi Shield

    If a look could kill, Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji would have killed Xun Yu several times over . Friday was also not happy with Xun Yu¡¯s attitude . Thus, she stood up .

    "The meeting is adjourned for today . We will not mobilize until our strategiste up with a proper stratagem . However ..."

    Friday red at Xun Yu without hiding her killing intent .

    "If this person deserts our army before he thinks of a good strategy, don¡¯t hesitate to kill him . Also, we don¡¯t weezy people in our ranks . Please keep that in mind . "

    Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu bowed and nced at Xun Yu with a grin .

    Unperturbed, Xun Yu snorted and left the tent, returning to his designated camp .

    While Xun Yu was returning, he did not day-dream like earlier . His expression was sharp as he was seriously thinking about the correct approach to defeat Sun Jian .

    ¡¯We can¡¯t be the aggressor, but we have to be passive . We are short on numbers and the quality of the generals so taking the initiative is a bad move . ¡¯

    ¡¯Sun Jian has Huang Gai and Cheng Pu . Those three are enough to decimate our army to shred, and there¡¯s Sun Fang and Li Jing . Those immortals can destroy an army of 10,000 men by themselves . ¡¯

    ¡¯The intel from Xuchang doesn¡¯t cover Xiao Wu¡¯s true abilities . I don¡¯t know what kind of magic power she possesses . ¡¯

    ¡¯I want to ask her, but she might lie to me . That Jia Xu has already ratted me that I¡¯m here as a spy for my family . ¡¯

    ¡¯No, I don¡¯t have times to worry about their thoughts on me . I need to stop them from mobilizing but defending this county . ¡¯

    Xun Yu¡¯s thought was in a mess, but he organized them in his own ways . As he was absentminded, his feet already brought him back to his tent .

    Inside, another strategic table was in the middle of the tent . The simr tokens and dolls were ced on the same spots as in the central tent .

    However, there was a difference .

    Xun Yu did not put Xiao Wu with any toon of soldiers . He ced her individually instead of having her leading a battalion .

    ¡¯From the eyewitnesses, Sun Fang can fly and use an explosive magic . Li Jing can suddenly appear in a shadow of anyone and assassinate the person . Thisbination works against us no matter where I see it . ¡¯

    Xun Yu massaged his temples . He sat on a chair beside the strategic table to rest and think .

    For the entire day, Xun Yu did nothing but trying to find a solution to the problems without relying on anyone else .

    He did not know that behind him, a transparent female ghost was watching him . It left him alone after observing Xun Yu for a few hours .

    ...

    The ghost being was [Lust Soul] which Friday had borrowed from Tong . It returned to her body without anyone noticing its existence .

    Friday, who was resting in her tent, sighed a relief as she understood a bit of Xun Yu¡¯s personality .

    ¡¯A prideful strategist ...¡¯

    In Friday¡¯s point of view, Xun Yu might appear untrustworthy andzy at a nce, but he was a hard worker behind their back . It was as if he did not want to be noticed by the enemy spies, or he did not like being in a spotlight .

    Friday groaned as she did not like a dishonest person . Yet, she wrote a letter and gave it to a messenger, telling them to send it to Xun Yu .

    Inside the letter, it contained her list of abilities, such as speed, power, and her [Lamia Step] cultivation . She also added that if Xun Yu were to join Tong¡¯s immortal n, he would get lifespans and other benefits that no mortal warlord could give him .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll trust you, but you have to trust us, Xun Yu . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    February 20th, 183 A . D .

    Sun Fang flew through the sky alone, making a beeline toward Zhao County .

    His objective, which was entrusted by Sun Jian, was to sabotage Xiao Wu Army by dropping a bomb using his skill . As someone who could fly, Li Jing suggested that Sun Fang should employ aerial warfare into this battle .

    ¡¯Carpet bomb, iing! HAHAHAHA!¡¯

    Feeling good by himself, Sun Fang hummed in his mind . Nothing felt better than having the upper hand or insurance in an important battle . As long as he was in the air, no one could touch him .

    It took Sun Fang ten minutes to reach Zhao County airspace . He flew down, lowering the altitude so he could get a better view of the troops below .

    Sure enough, military camps of Ye Army was there .

    ¡¯I can only drop it once a day . Which ce should I aim? Eeny Meeny Miney Mo, My ex-wife is a goddamn ho!¡¯

    Sun Fang picked the central granary as the target and pointed his palm at the target .

    ¡¯[Qi st]!¡¯

    **************************

    [Qi st] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Attack one or more opponent(s) with a ball of energy .

    - Each explosive energy ball power is 100kg of TNT .

    Skill Cost: 100 Lifespans

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans

    Skill Restriction: Can be used once a day . Skill resets at mid-night .

    **************************

    A fireball wasunched from Sun Fang¡¯s palm, heading toward the granary .

    *BOOM*

    A wide radius explosive noise could be heard as a bubble of me engulfed wooden buildings around the center of the explosion .

    ¡¯Mission aplished . Tomorrow, I¡¯ll blow some soldiers . ¡¯

    Sun Fang smiled and turned around, nning to head back to base . As he was about to change to the velocity of his flight, the corner of his eyes caught sight of a pretty girl with noticeable assets, running toward his direction .

    The girl made a posture as if she was about to throw something at him, which made Sun Fangughed .

    ¡¯Silly girl . You can¡¯t do shit! I¡¯m over a thousand feet above the ground . What are you going to do, throwing a spear at me? Pfft! Only reincarnators can harm me ...? Wait a minute, a reincarnator?¡¯

    A spear tip already appeared in front of Sun Fang¡¯s face .

    ¡¯Shield!¡¯

    *DONK*

    Sun Fang heard the sound of a bell as the spear was stopped by the transparent dome which surrounded his body .

    ***********************************

    [Qi Shield] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Create a protective energy shield surrounding the host .

    - As long as the host has lifespans, the shield will not be broken .

    Skill Cost:

    - 100 Lifespans for an activation . Skillsts until deactivation .

    - 1 Lifespan per one second as a maintenance cost .

    - Consume extra lifespans if the barrier is attacked .

    - The amount of lifespans consumed depends on the power of the attacking force .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year

    Skill Restriction: Can be used once a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    ***********************************

    >

    Sun Fang¡¯s heart sunk as the number of lifespans he had to supply the shield just now was dangerous .

    ¡¯What kind of power is this? Is this a skill? Yes, it should be a skill! No human can throw such a powerful spear with great force like this!¡¯

    Sun Fang had tested this skill with Li Jing and Sun Jian before . A casual punch of someone in Sun Jian¡¯s caliber consumed 500 to 1,000 lifespans per hit . A serious weapon strike from elite generals like Cheng Pu or Huang Gai cost Sun Fang 4,000 to 5,000 years a hit .

    However, the spear throw just now shaved over 16,000 years of his life force .

    In his point of view, the girl just now should have been an otherworlder, and she should have used her skill . Or else, she would not be able to exert such a force .

    *DONG*

    A screech of tearing wind and a bell sound shocked Sun Fang again . Another spear hit his shield, and a system message followed .

    >

    "WHAT!?"

    A sharp whistling noise came again .

    *DONG*

    *DONG*

    *DONG*

    Like a child ying with a giant bell, Friday did not stop throwing spears at Sun Fang . At her sides, soldiers carried many spears rushed over and passed her ten spears at a time when she opened her palms .

    >

    >

    >

    The number increased as the force behind the spears got stronger for each throw . These numbers were not a stacked number, but they were the damage that showed Sun Fang for each hit .

    ¡¯Not good . I¡¯ll run out of lifespans if this keeps up!¡¯

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Sun Fang

    Age: 18

    Lifespan: 1,413,694 Years

    *******************************

    Despite having overwhelming lifespans, the damages he took caused Sun Fang to panic . He ignored Friday and flew away with his max speed .

    As he escaped from the Zhao County airspace, the spear throwing stopped . However, Sun Fang had not deactivated his [Qi Shield] yet as he was still in shock .

    Sun Fang felt like he was ying an MMORPG game in the modern world, but he suddenly ran into the world boss by himself . The damage he had received gave him a fright .

    "WATDAFUQIZDATJUSTNOW!"

    Still in shock, he screamed out of frustration . Sun Fang stared at the direction of Zhao County as he was scared that the girl might have followed after him .

    After looking around for a while, Sun Fang did not find a trace of that girl again . He deeply exhaled, feeling relieved that the nightmare had ended .

    He did not notice that, below him, a transparent naked female ghost was trailing after him . In her hands, she held a spear and aimed at Sun Fang¡¯s crotch .

    *DONG* *DONG*

    *DONG* *DONG*

    As if Sun Fang was hearing someone spamming a doorbell, the repeating sounds of his shield rmed him, which the came from below .

    As Sun Fang looked down, a naked female ghost had been repeatedly stabbed her spear, aiming at his little brother .

    >

    >

    >

    Each time the [Lust Soul] thrust her spear, Sun Fang would lose over 66,000 lifespans . The face of the soul did not show a hint of hostility . Instead, it revealed a sadistic grin as if it was enjoying this .

    "What is this!?"

    Sun Fang was astonished by the ghost . Seeing that the ghost was hostile to him, Sun Fang drew his sword and struck at the transparent female ghost .

    The sword passed her as if it cut nothing but air . The Lust Soul grinned and continued stabbing at Sun Fang¡¯s shield, reducing his lifespans .

    "Dammit! [Clone]!"

    Sun Fang¡¯s body splitted into two, and both of them flew in a different direction, trying to confuse the Lust Soul .

    While Sun Fang was flying in his max speed, he sent a text message into his n chat in horror .

    "HELP! I¡¯m being attacked by a ghost! I can¡¯t kill it!"

    Within a few seconds, a hand appeared inside Sun Fang¡¯s clothes . It grabbed Sun Fang¡¯s neck and dragged his entire body into the void under his clothes, leaving the clothes and his weapons behind .

    Sun Fang was pulled by Li Jing¡¯s [Shadow Teleportation] skill back to their base . However, Sun Fang returned naked .

    Although it was embarrassing to him and others, Sun Fang did not mind it as he had just escaped death .

    "Fang, what happened?" Asked Sun Jian and Li Jing .

    Still in a paled face, Sun Fang opened his mouth to report his finding .

 Chapter 256

    Chapter 256

    Chapter 256 ¨C Might of Friday

    "A troublesome shield . But how long can you maintain that without lifespans I wonder?"

    Friday muttered as she summoned the [Lust Soul] to return .

    Lust Soul did not chase after Sun Fang and his clone, she returned to Friday and merged back into her body .

    Friday nced at the white smoke at the burnt granary direction . Xun Yu, who was standing beside her, groaned as he stared into the same direction .

    "That¡¯s a lot of provision damage . We won¡¯tst two months with our current supplies," Xun Yu turned to Friday and asked, "How will you counter that immortal? We¡¯re at a disadvantage if he controls the sky . "

    Friday smiled, "He won¡¯t dare reappear in front of me again . He now knows that can¡¯t harm me, but I can harm him . That¡¯s the message I have sent him for today . "

    Xun Yu tilted his head in confusion, but he caught on in ten seconds .

    "Are you saying, they are weaker than you?"

    "[Weaker] is an incorrect term . I¡¯ll say they are not in my league . Besides, they have a lot of limitation because they rely too much on the [Skills] . "

    Friday did not keep a secret with Xun Yu as she understood this strategist personality . She exined the limitation of system skills, lifespans, and the administrator Lilim .

    Xun Yu¡¯s face was solemn as this information was too new to him . As he listened on, he was enlightened as he could find answers about many events in the past .

    ¡¯So that¡¯s the anomaly in the recent years! Liu Ping¡¯s ability is exined . Zhang Tong¡¯s power is exined . The Goddess of Death rumor is exined . Even the rumor about this girl is exined!¡¯

    ¡¯The Goddess of Heaven manipted all immortal to kill each other . She wants to eliminate all immortals in the lower realm until thest faction remains!¡¯

    ¡¯Zhang Tong has formed the biggest faction with four immortals of the remaining 12 . Sun Jian has two, but he can¡¯t even dere independent from Tao Qian!¡¯

    All pieces of puzzled were put together as a picture, which broadened Xun Yu¡¯s vision . His initial ns had been scrapped from his mind as new inspirations reced the outdated information .

    Xun Yu knelt down and bowed to Friday .

    "I wish to apologize for my past na?ve actions . Please forgive my crude manners from before!"

    Friday grinned, "I don¡¯t mind . Are you willing to join my n now?"

    Xun Yu gulped . He could not decide it by himself as his position and cement were all decided by his n head in Xuchang . Furthermore, there was another candidate that the Xun family wanted to test the water, Cao Cao .

    "Go ahead and send the reports back to your n in Xuchang . I¡¯ll tell the counter-intelligence guys to allow your messengers to pass . As for your answer, I can wait . "

    "Are you sure about this? Aren¡¯t you afraid that I¡¯ll use this intelligence against you?"

    Fridayughed, "Fool! When you are ready to fight us, we would have already gotten stronger to the point that this info has already outdated! Against absolute power, what¡¯s there to fear?"

    Xun Yu chuckled, "Right . By the time Cao Cao is ready, you would have conquered the northern in and would have solidified your power . He doesn¡¯t even have support from an immortal . He can¡¯t be your match . "

    Xun Yu bowed again, "I¡¯m willing to join your n!"

    ...

    >

    >

    Jia Xu: Wee, Xun brat!

    Jia Xu: About time, eh?

    Li Feihong: Wee!

    Ding Yuan: The famous Xun Family? What a surprise .

    Xun Yu stared at the system menu and the n chat, baffled by the new technology and the people¡¯s name in the n .

    Xun Yu had learned about Ding Yuan¡¯s stance in the previous war between Tong and Liu Ping, so he was not surprised . But seeing all of them exchanging information from different cities shocked him nheless .

    This was a breakthrough in themunication between n members . With this, they could ry the information faster than sending a fast horse, which took several days to reach the other cities .

    "How do I answer this?" Xun Yu asked Friday .

    "There¡¯s a keyboard on the screen . Tap it to arrange your words and press send . "

    "Oh? That simple?"

    Xun Yu: Hello .

    Jia Xu: You learn fast . Have you gotten the approval from your n head yet?

    Xun Yu: No .

    Xun Yu: How do you know about my n?

    Jia Xu: Sixth sense!

    Jia Xu: Well, ourdy sure is good at persuading people .

    Jia Xu: Unlike a certain brat who seduced me with food and gold .

    Jia Xu: And now, he¡¯s working me like a ve .

    Jia Xu: He¡¯s a demon, literally, I tell you .

    Tong: ...

    Tong: Want a pay cut, Wenhe?

    Jia Xu: Please forgive me .

    The chat atmosphere was friendly and close as if they were friends instead of the rtionship between the boss and the employees .

    As Xun Yu read the chat logs, he noticed something odd . He looked up the names of the n members, but he could not find Xiao Wu¡¯s name .

    "Mydy, please forgive me if I ask this . "

    "Yeah?"

    "Is [Xiao Wu] your real name?"

    "Oh? Nope! That¡¯s something my husband named me . I don¡¯t have a name actually . " Friday grinned . She did not tell him that she was Dong Bai as she kept this a family secret .

    Friday and Tong did not want anyone to know about the transformation secret or the demonic contract that Friday had . If the news leaked, other otherworlders might use this against them in the future .

    Xun Yu frowned as he was still curious . Because Friday knew about the system menu and the n chat, Xun Yu assumed that she was part of the nsmen . However, he could not find her name on this list, which was unusual .

    Xun Yu scanned the list of the n members and stopped at the name of Dong Bai . From the process of elimination, he knew everyone in the member list as he had learned about the personals in Tong¡¯s force . But, the existence of Dong Bai in the n chat was suspicious .

    ¡¯Dong Bai was about 6-year-old this year from the reports ... Xiao Wu couldn¡¯t be Dong Bai, right? Nah, that¡¯s impossible . Dong Bai could be the ghost member, and Hua Shi could have taught Xiao Wu about the n chat to teach me . ¡¯

    Xun Yu disregarded his suspicion and followed Friday around like a proper strategist . They still had works to do after their provision was burnt .

    ...

    ...

    February 21st .

    Sun Jian and all his officers were still nning how they should attack Zhao County . Because they had received the new intelligence about Xiao Wu¡¯s skills, they were cautious with their ns .

    Sun Jian briefed the situation, "Yesterday, Fang has gone out and burnt the enemy granaries . Also, he has confirmed the abilities of the immortal in their army . "

    Sun Jian wrote a few words on a scroll and hung them on a board behind him . It was written "Ghost" and "Strength" as they had taken notes of Xiao Wu¡¯s performance yesterday .

    "Xiao Wu has abilities to summon a female ghost warrior, which is immune to all attacks but she can kill us . Another ability is her absurd strength . Fang believes that she is even stronger than all of us even if we havebined our forces . "

    No word of ridicule or disagreement appeared in the tent as all officers listened to Sun Jian in solemn . As Sun Fang and Li Jing¡¯s skills and their immortal stories had been proven, all of them believed in the info .

    "It confirms that Xiao Wu is definitely the one behind the Emperor¡¯s death as the rumor since she has this strength and that ghost soldier . With this intel, I don¡¯t think we can defeat Ye Army with a direct confrontation . However, it doesn¡¯t mean that we don¡¯t have a chance at all . "

    Sun Jian continued, "After their granaries were burnt, I believe that their provision supplies won¡¯t be enough for the prolonged warfare . My guess is, they should have about three to four months left before they have to retreat back to Ye City . But, we will not go with my assumption . We will wait for our spies to get the correct info about their supply situation before we can act . "

    Sun Fang and Li Jing nodded in agreement, but Huang Gai and Cheng Pu did not like it . There were still Yellow Turban imposters on the loose . If they stayed idle, the bandits would continue to cause damages to viges and weak counties .

    "Sir, what about the opportunist bandits?" Asked Huang Gai .

    Sun Jian read their thought and nodded, "We will not stay idle either . While the main army is still stationing in Guanzong, you and Cheng Pu will be deployed to eradicate the bandits in this vicinity! Each of you will take 5,000 men and move ording to my instructionter . I will give you the details in person . "

    "Understood, sir!"

    Sun Jian turned to Sun Fang, "Fang, how is your status?"

    Sun Fang checked his status and revealed a bitter smile . Because of the yesterday fight, he had 756,123 lifespans remaining . At best, he could withstand ten of Friday¡¯s strikes before he ran out of life force .

    "I can withstand her attacks about 10 or 12 more times . After that, I¡¯m dead . "

    Sun Jian listened with a grim expression . He nodded, "I want you to take flight and harass Zhao County . You don¡¯t have to drop your Qi st on an important building or military camps . I want you to throw it randomly at anywhere in the county and retreat immediately . Li Jing can also assist you like she did yesterday . Can both of you do that?"

    "No problem," Li Jing bowed .

    "It¡¯s risky, but I can do it . "

    ...

    ...

    That night, Sun Fang flew through the night sky, heading toward Zhao County again . However, this time, Li Jing stood behind in Sun Jain camp, standing by to pull Sun Fang back to the camp with her [Shadow Teleportation] .

    ****************************

    [Shadow Teleportation] LV . 3

    - The host can teleport 20 people of your choice or 20 tons of material objects .

    Skill Cost: 10 Lifespans peruse .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can be used once a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    - Can only be used on allies . All hostile targets are invalid .

    ****************************

    The moment Sun Fang reached Zhao County airspace, he fired his [Qi st] randomly inside the city wall, hoping to damage or kill several people .

    As soon as the [Qi st] was released from his palm, he pressed the "Send" button in the n chat menu, which he had prepared the words "Send me back" beforehand .

    Like yesterday, Li Jing immediately dragged naked Sun Fang back via her Shadow Teleportation .

    As they confirmed that Sun Fang hadpleted his mission, everyone nodded in approval .

    "Well done, Fang . Get some clothes and get some rest . "

    Sun Fangughed, feeling good about thepleted mission, "We¡¯re going to run out of clean clothes at this rate . Next time, I¡¯ll only wear a loincloth . "

    Li Jing retorted, "If that happens when I use my teleportation, I¡¯ll be grabbing your junk and yank it with all my strength . "

    "No, please! I still don¡¯t have a sessor!"

    ...

    Meanwhile, outside of Zhao County wall .

    40,000 Soldiers of Friday, over 100,000 civilians, and all officers looked at the fire inside the county . The peasants cried when they saw the ck smoke inside the wall as they were afraid that the fire would burn their houses .

    Friday nced at the direction of Guanzong County in anger .

    "If that¡¯s how you¡¯re going to y, then I¡¯ll y along!"

 Chapter 257

    Chapter 257

    Chapter 257 ¨C Friday¡¯s Weaknesses?

    February 22nd .

    Li Jing was looking at her skill status as she was thinking if she should join the frontline with Sun Fang or not .

    This year, she had already borrowed Sun Fang¡¯s lifespans to rebuy two more skills, but there were still eight more skills that she had to get back .

    *******************

    [True Strike] LV . 5

    - Your next attack ignore 50% of defensive abilities and armors .

    Skill Cost: 100 Lifespans .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Weakness Detection] LV . MAX

    - Detect the ws or weaknesses of a target .

    - Chance of sess 100% .

    Skill Cost: 100 Lifespans per target .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    - The target must be in the host¡¯s line of sight .

    *******************

    Although the skills were powerful, Li Jing was not confident that her skills would be useful against the ghost soldier that Sun Fang had encountered .

    Li Jing nned to disguise herself as a scout and mix in with Sun Jian¡¯s men to the frontline . If she could catch a sight of Xiao Wu, Li Jing could use the [Weakness Detection] on her so she could know a bit more about this otherworlder enemy .

    However, the n was too risky as this Xiao Wu had a dangerous skill that they could not find a way to counter it, the ghost soldier .

    ¡¯This is soplicated . If it¡¯s just us against the ordinary people, we could have won easily . Now, it¡¯s about which reincarnator faction that can dominate the country first . But, it¡¯s also my chance . If I can kill her, I canplete my system quest and get another skill back . ¡¯

    >

    A n message alert woke Li Jing from her trance .

    Cheng Pu: We¡¯re heading out today .

    Cheng Pu: There¡¯s an intel about a bandit group in the east .

    Cheng Pu: I¡¯m going after them .

    Huang Gai: Good luck .

    Huang Gai: I¡¯m staying in Guanzong for now .

    Huang Gai: No intel from my men yet .

    Huang Gai and Cheng Pu had joined Sun Fang and Li Jing¡¯s n this year, which made their n an official n level one, which was eligible to obtain the n quest .

    ************************

    >

    Quest Objective: upy at least one county or a Commandery city .

    Reward:

    - 10,000 Lifespan Pool for each Commandery upied .

    - One Shopping Pass for each Commandery upied .

    - 1,000 Lifespan Pool for each county upied .

    - Rewards are given at the end of each year .

    ************************

    The rewards were attractive, but they had to go through a lot of troubles as Sun Jian and Li Jing¡¯s family had not obtained a headquarter city that could be their home ground yet .

    Sun Jian was still a servant of Tao Qian this year . He was not even a governor of a small county!

    Li Jing read the chat messages and sighed .

    ¡¯This war can be an opportunity for Sun Jian to reap some recognition and rewards, but the opponent is different than in history . They are not illiterate bandits, but veteran soldiers with proper leaders! The risk is too high!¡¯

    >

    Another message came from Sun Jian .

    "Our scout detected a 1,000-man unit of light cavalries west of Guanzong . Xiao Wu is leading the troops herself!"

    The message gave Li Jing a bit of hope . This was a good chance that she could scout Xiao Wu¡¯s weaknesses .

    ...

    ...

    The Lust Soul of Friday had a limited range of operation as the soul did not belong to her . Thus, she could only deploy the soul in a radius of 10 kilometers . If the soul had gone outside of her range, Friday would have a rough time trying to control the soul .

    It was frustrating for her . Had it been her [Soul of Sins] which she had awakened them herself, she could have sent it 1,000 kilometers away without a problem .

    The limitation of 10 kilometers forced her to move closer to Guanzong as she had nned to deploy the soul to attack Sun Jian Army .

    As Friday and 1,000 bodyguards got closer to Guanzong, her eyes caught a suspicious ck dot, which was flying in the sky .

    Sun Fang was there!

    ¡¯That guy is here . I can¡¯t let my men get closer!¡¯

    "Men, loose formation! Keep your eyes in the sky . There will be a magic attacking from above . Get ready to dodge the explosive magic!"

    Friday took a spear from a spear package on horseback behind her . Because of the lesson on the other day, Friday took extra spears with her so she could throw it at Sun Fang if he were to show up again .

    The bundle of spears contained 20 spears . In addition, the bodyguards were also carrying the same spear package with them as spares for Friday .

    It did not take long that a ball of [Qi st] was flying toward Friday and her subordinates .

    As the energy ball wasing down, a spear was thrown and made contact with it in mid-air .

    *BOOM*

    The [Qi st] exploded the moment it contacted with Friday¡¯s spear, saving the lives of her bodyguards .

    "My turn, boy!"

    Friday threw another spear at Sun Fang, who was still floating in the air . At the same time, the transparent spirit of Lust Soul exited Friday¡¯s body and chased after Sun Fang .

    *DONG*

    The spear hit Sun Fang¡¯s shield . The young man who received the attack watched the following ghost soldier in horror .

    "I knew it! That ghost is her skill! It¡¯s like some kind of JoJo¡¯s stand!"

    Sun Fang had not flown away even though the naked ghost wasing at him . The reason he had to stay and "tank" the damages because there was a hidden group of horsemen who were sneaking closer to Friday .

    As nned, Li Jing was sneaking with her troops to use her [Weakness Detection] on Friday .

    *DONG*

    *DONG*

    Flying spears came one after another . Sun Fang tried to fly around to dodge all of it, yet he failed as the ghost soldier blocked his escape path .

    Sun Fang kept his distance from Lust Soul as her spear could cause more damage to his lifespans than the throwing spears . As he continued to escape from the soul, the flight patterns of both Sun Fang and Lust Soul became visible to all people on the ground .

    It became a dogfight in the sky .

    The attention of Friday and her bodyguards were on the sky, which they failed to notice the oing troops .

    *RUMBLE*

    A group of 5,000 light cavalries managed to get into the range of one kilometer without being detected by Friday and her scouts . Li Jing galloped her horse on the front, leading her soldiers .

    By the time that the bodyguards noticed their troops, they were already 500 meters in front of them .

    Li Jing¡¯s eyes stared straight at Friday, who still had her attention on Sun Fang .

    ¡¯[Weakness Detection]!¡¯ Li Jing activated her skill and series of information appeared .

    **************************

    Name: Dong Bai

    Negative Trait: Sadistic, Possessive, Nymphomaniac

    Negative Hobby: Castration, Torture, Bullying

    Secrets:

    - A former demoness of Hell, the adopted daughter of Medusa, known as Friday .

    - Currently disguised as Xiao Wu .

    - Relying on Zhang Tong¡¯s demonic contract and his Lust Soul .

    - Capable of transforming into either an adult or a child .

    - She doesn¡¯t have a system skill .

    - nning to **** Zhang Tong for at least 2 days straight once they reunite .

    Weaknesses:

    - Her strength, speed, and reflex are the same as Zhang Tong .

    - If Zhang Tong dies, she dies .

    - Possessed iplete martial arts in all fields except spearmanship .

    - Destroying her Lust Soul will cripple her battle prowess .

    - Lust Soul operation range is 10 kilometers from the host .

    - The contracted, Lust Soul, can only be destroyed by a simr soul .

    - ...

    **************************

    Long details about Friday appeared in her system log messages, which astonished Li Jing . She skipped a few irrelevant information, such as her immoral lifestyles and her sex life, and focused on Friday¡¯s secret and herbat weaknesses .

    To Li Jing¡¯s disappointment, Friday did not have a weakness that both Li Jing and Sun Fang could exploit in the current battlefield .

    ¡¯There are many hints, but we won¡¯t survive if we fight her head-on! We don¡¯t even know how to destroy her [Lust Soul]! And what is this soul thing!? The secret said she doesn¡¯t have a skill, but why can she using it? I don¡¯t understand!¡¯

    As Li Jing was confused, her men already misunderstood her order and formed a wedge formation to charge to Friday and her horsemen .

    At this moment, Friday already noticed themotion .

    "Nice try, but you picked the wrong opponent . "

    Friday summoned her soul back and switched her target from Sun Fang to the charging cavalries . Unlike how she threw her spears at Sun Fang, Friday used less force to increase her speed . As a result, she threw all weapons behind her back in five seconds .

    Ten spears pierced through ten riders, who were charging at Friday¡¯s squad . The horsemen fell down, leaving the galloping horses without riders .

    "Men, turnabout and take out your crossbows! Run away from them and shoot back!" Friday gave hermand .

    The light cavalries pulled their horses around and began running away from the charging Li Jing¡¯s soldiers . Friday also followed after them and took a spear package from a nearby subordinate, but she hung back as their rearguard .

    As soon as the running away soldiers managed to adjust their horses, they turned around and aimed their repeating crossbows at the pursuing riders .

    Arrow rain arrived at the pursuing horsemen, piercing their bodies and their horses . Several riders copsed onto the ground with their horses as loud death throes and horse neigh noises covered the battlefield .

    The panicked Li Jing leaped off her horse the moment she saw the dense wall of arrows flying in the sky . She ced her hand on to the ground where her shadow was and activated her skill . After which, her body sank into her own shadow and disappeared from the battlefield .

    Sun Fang also took this chance to fly away from the battle, leaving the 5,000 horsemen behind .

    For less than 5 minutes, the repeating crossbows continued firing until all of them emptied their clips . When Friday¡¯s unit observed the battlefield again, the pursuing horsemen were either dead or had escaped .

    Friday raised her fist, signaling her soldiers to reform their ranks .

    "We¡¯re not done over here yet! Follow me!"

    The one thousand riders continued marching to Guanzong County, ignoring the injured and crippled enemy soldiers who were shot by their arrows .

    Sun Jian¡¯s soldiers watched them leave withplicated emotion . They were relieved that they could scrape away with their lives, but the terror of the rumored repeating arrows frightened them .

    A thousand soldiers were capable of sending arrow volleys as if there were ten thousands of archers . They had never witnessed anything like this .

    "What¡¯s next, captain?"

    A surviving soldier asked their injured captain, who had broken his legs and had an arrow in his right shoulder . Several hundreds of soldiers were still alive .

    "We¡¯ll report this to our Lord! We can¡¯t fight them head-on!"

 Chapter 258

    Chapter 258

    Chapter 258 ¨C Absolute Force

    The night before, Friday took all of their soldiers and civilians in Zhao County outside of the city wall . She predicted that the flying immortal might revisit them again to drop the explosive magic .

    As Friday had predicted, Sun Fang showed up and dropped his skill . The explosion destroyed several hundreds of civilian houses, causing damages to the innocent people .

    Xun Yu flew into rages as he was against harming the innocents in wars . However, Sun Fang¡¯s action had provoked Xun Yu and the civilians of Zhao County .

    That night, Friday told Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu to escort the people to Ye Commandery City so they could integrate into their affiliate and had a ce to call home . Zhao County had suffered serious damages and had be a warzone, which was not suitable for civilians to live in .

    Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji, 10,000 soldiers, and the caravan of 50,000 civilians left Zhao County this morning, but the other half decided to stay behind as this county was their birthce . They wanted to stay and protect their home from Sun Jian Army .

    29,000 Soldiers and 10,000 reserved militias remained in the county to protect their affiliate border, while 1,000 soldiers and Friday departed and headed for Guanzong County .

    ...

    Xun Yu was pacing back and forth within Zhao County wall, thinking if his action was too rash or correct .

    He had already dispatched a messenger back to Xuchang yesterday . It would take the letter a few days to reach the n head of Xun family .

    As for Friday, she had told him about the n today .

    Her n was simple . She would go to Guanzong County and cripple their army, just like what the flying immortal did to their army .

    Xun Yu disagreed with this n, but Friday insisted on going nheless and left him with a quote before she took off with her 1,000 horsemen .

    "Against the absolute force, strategies and tactics mean nothing . "

    Xun Yu was chanting Friday¡¯s quote that she had told him . As a schr who had been taught to master strategies over brute force, this quote was a taboo to his school of thought . However, the reality was different than theories, so he had to ept it .

    As Xun Yu could not figure it out his doubts, he questioned it in the n chat .

    Xun Yu: Is it true that against the absolute forces, strategies and tactics are meaningless?

    Zhang Liao: True .

    Li Feihong: True .

    Hua Shi: True .

    Jia Xu: True, and proven .

    Xun Yu: Proven?

    Zhang Liao: Fengxian has proved it .

    Hua Shi: Xiao Wu has proved it .

    Jia Xu: Our young lord has proved it .

    Li Feihong: Finish your fight in Ye ande help us in Julu . You¡¯ll know it .

    Xun Yu: What!?

    Zhang Liao and Li Feihong narrated stories about Lu Bu¡¯s past battles while Jia Xu enjoyed bad-mouthing about Tong¡¯s unrefined battle tactics, which Tong ended up brute-forcing his way to victory several times .

    Xun Yu continued to read the tales of Lu Bu, Tong, and Xiao Wu in astonishment . However, he did not just read the messages and believed in everything . Xun Yu analyzed their stories word by word and made the judgment himself .

    As if Jia Xu could read Xun Yu¡¯s mind, he sent a long message which enlightened Xun Yu .

    "Brute force is also a tactic . It¡¯s about managing your personal assets to the right job, at the right time, and at the right ce . Think of it as specialists that can solve several issues in the most simplistic ways . But I have to warn you and everyone here . Relying on brute-force too often will get us in trouble soon since our enemies are not stupid . They will learn, and they will adapt to our strategies!"

    Xun Yu¡¯s eyes brightened . He started to enjoy having this quality chat with a fellow genius strategist like Jia Xu . He nned to visit Julu after the war was over so he could have a civilized debate about battle tactics and schr knowledge with Jia Xu some more .

    Xun Yu: So, will Xiao Wu be alright?

    Jia Xu: She¡¯s stronger than Tong . She¡¯ll be fine .

    Hua Shi: I¡¯ll cap it . SHE¡¯S MANLIER THAN TONG . SHE¡¯LL BE FINE >:D

    Dong Bai: ...

    Hua Shi: LOL

    Xun Yu still did not know about the fact that Dong Bai was Xiao Wu, so he did not understand thest part of the conversation .

    Dong Bai: How about I¡¯ll sit at home, and you¡¯ll solo the next war .

    Hua Shi: Nope! I¡¯m a mother now >:D

    Dong Bai: Not for long if you lose it and eat your baby for snacks .

    Hua Shi: Hey! I quit that!

    Friday and Hua Shi took over the chat as usual . Xun Yu sighed and closed the system menu in a pity . He wished that they could be able to create a private room for themselves .

    ...

    ...

    February 23rd .

    Friday and 1,000 riders continued to ride toward Guanzong County at a casual pace . As her hands were free, Friday took it easy as she was chatting with Hua Shi in the n chat .

    It took them two days to reach the wall of Guanzong County .

    As soon as they were 500 meters in front of the western gate of the county, the gate opened, and a few men rode out of the gate, approaching them .

    Sun Jian, Sun Fang, and Li Jing came out with ten bodyguards . They held white gs as they wanted to negotiate with Friday .

    Li Jing was still donned in a standard armor, disguising herself as one of the bodyguards, so her identity would not be noticed by Friday .

    Friday smirked as she recognized the face of Sun Fang . However, she did not notice Li Jing .

    ¡¯Are they surrendering?¡¯

    Friday doubted that it would be that easy . Since this otherworlder reappeared in front of her, they might have nned about something with their lord .

    "I am Sun Jian, themander of this army . I wish to negotiate with themander of Ye Army . "

    Friday replied, "I¡¯m themander, Xiao Wu . What do you want to offer?"

    Sun Jian scanned Friday from head to toes . If he had not experienced or witnessed Sun Fang or Li Jing¡¯s superpower, he would have thought that this young woman was a normal, powerless girl .

    ¡¯Looks can be deceiving as Sun Tzu said,¡¯ Sun Jian thought .

    "We wish to retreat from Guanzong and withdraw our men from Ganling City back to Xiapi . We¡¯ll also withdraw from this conflict, and we promise that we¡¯ll not try to pick a fight with you again . We hope that you can let us go . "

    Sun Jian knew that they were no match for Friday . Because he did not want his men to die in vain, Sun Jian swallowed his pride and took a step back, hoping to save his subordinates .

    "What can I get in return?"

    Sun Jian had a bitter smile on his face, "We will eradicate the imposters for you in this vicinity, and we will leave half of our supplies here topensate your losses . "

    Friday shook her head, "Not enough! We can¡¯t guarantee that it¡¯s one of your ploys . You will remain with us as a prisoner until you fulfill your promise! And ..."

    Friday copied what Tong did with Liu Biao and Huang Zhong . By temporary holding Sun Jian as a hostage, Sun Jian¡¯s subordinates would not dare to backstab them .

    However, it was still not enough .

    Her finger pointed at Sun Fang, "Delete all of your skills . Since you resorted an immoral tactic by harming the innocent civilians, you will have to pay the price . "

    Sun Fang and Li Jing¡¯s faces changed .

    "There is this [7:5] indication in my system menu, so you can¡¯t fool me . I¡¯ll give you a minute to do it yourself . If the indicator is not [6:6] within a minute, I¡¯ll kill everybody here!"

    The overbearing tone of Friday angered Sun Fang and Li Jing . They wanted to retort and resist, but they did not have a way to defeat Friday¡¯s female ghost .

    Moreover, because of brief fights with Friday, Sun Fang¡¯s lifespan was downed to less than 200,000 years . If they continued to resist, both of them would have been killed without a way to fight back .

    "I¡¯ll delete it . "

    Sun Fang lowered his head and opened his system menu .

    >

    Li Jing: Don¡¯t delete your skills .

    Li Jing: I¡¯ll delete mine . Save your skills .

    Li Jing: We need them to harvest more lifespans .

    Li Jing: Your skills are more important than mine!

    The n messages stopped Sun Fang¡¯s finger before it hit the delete button .

    >

    Li Jing: Pretend that you have just deleted all of your skills .

    Li Jing: Keep looking at that girl . Don¡¯t look at me .

    Sun Fang eye¡¯s move up and met with Friday¡¯s eyes . His fingers tapped on other buttons, pretending to delete his own skills in the system .

    Soon, the survivor indicator changed to [6:6], but Sun Fang had yet to delete his skills . As soon as the number changed, Sun Fang red at Friday with bloodshot eyes, which were on the verge of crying .

    "Is this enough?" Asked Sun Fang .

    Friday nced at the system menu . Seeing that the number changed from [7:5] to [6:6], she nodded .

    "Fair enough . Now then, Sir Sun Jian . Give your orders to the men, once you finished you can meet me here . All of us will be waiting here until the sunset . If we don¡¯t see youing out, then you should know what will happen . "

    ...

    The same day, Sun Jian came out of Guanzong County alone after he hadpleted giving orders to his men .

    Huang Gai objected with the sudden retreat order . However, after listening to the reports about the battle between Li Jing¡¯s cavalries and Friday¡¯s unit, he conceded .

    The ghost soldier skill of Xiao Wu alone was enough to kill allmanders in Sun Jian force . The existence of repeating crossbows was another nightmare that they could not challenge .

    When Sun Jian surrendered, Friday did notin nor mock him . She had her subordinates escorted him without bother tying him with a rope as she could kill this native any time she wanted .

    As the matter settled, she nned to report it to the n chat . However, she stopped as she recalled that she was supposed to keep her identity a secret .

    "Meh, that¡¯s troublesome . I wish I can change my name in the system . "

    ...

    At Guanzong, Huang Gai, Li Jing, and Sun Fang sat in the main tent . All of them had a ck face .

    "What¡¯s next, young lord?" Asked Huang Gai .

    "We¡¯ll retreat back to Xiapi after sir Cheng has returned . "

    "Ah ..."

    Everybody sat still without speaking . No one had the mood to start a conversation .

    But a messenger rushed in to break the silence .

    "Report! Someone hase here iming that he carries a decree of the new Empress . "

    Everyone frowned after hearing the sudden emergence of a new empress and an edict . What kind of troubles that the higher-ups had made that required their assistance again?

    "Let him in . I want to see what¡¯s this so-called [Empress] wants us to do . "

 Chapter 259

    Chapter 259

    Chapter 259 ¨C Sudden Promotion of Sun Jian

    A messenger walked into the military camp of Sun Jian in the county . He dressed in an official green robe, but he was treated as if he was a royal eunuch .

    "Sun Jian of Xiapi, ept the royal mandate of Heaven!"

    Without confirming the identity of Sun Jian, the green robe messenger bellowed .

    Sun Fang, Li Jing, and Huang Gai frowned upon seeing the man, wondering what this new empress was nning for them .

    Huang Gai pretended to be Sun Jian . He knelt down and cupped his fist, "I¡¯m Sun Jian of Xiapi! May the Empress live a long and prosper life!"

    The messenger nodded, "Good! Sun Jian of Xiapi, you¡¯ve contributed greatly for eliminating the bandit lord Zhang Yan . We have heard about your bravery and your leadership, and we judged that you are wasting your talent as amander under a noble family!"

    "Right now, several bandits imed to be a part of the Yellow Turbans, which they appeared everywhere in our country . Currently, the Jing Provincecks a talented man to lead the troops against the rebelling bandits . You will be assigned as the Governor of Changsha in Jing Province . We want you to lead them and get rid of all the threats in the southern regions!"

    "As apensation, your family status will be raised as an official aristocrat family . Your surname [Sun] will be listed in our Imperial ranks!"

    "ept your edict!"

    The green robe man passed the edict scroll and a seal to Huang Gai, who received them with cringed expression .

    ...

    The messenger left without staying over for a night . It was as if he was running away from them or was rushed because of something .

    Meanwhile, Huang Gai, Li Jing, and Sun Fang reread the scroll in disbelieved .

    Huang Gaiughed as he thought that all the past works had borne fruits . On the contrary, Li Jing and Sun Fang narrowed their eyes and looked at each other .

    "Someone is trying to interfere with our fight?" Li Jing muttered .

    "It¡¯s more like the Empress is trying to correct the historical events and send my father south as in history," Whispered Sun Fang .

    Huang Gai heard the mumbling voice from the two, "What are you two whispering about?"

    Sun Fang panicked, but Li Jing answered it in his stead, "We think this empress is kind of fishy . It¡¯s as if she didn¡¯t want us to fight the Yellow Turban main forces . "

    "Our spies from the west said Dong Zhuo has already taken over Luo Yang . I think this is a fake edict," Sun Fang supported .

    Huang Gai scratched his head, "Leave the politic matters to the adults . I¡¯ll tell everything to our Lord with the chat . "

    Huang Gai input everything that happened to Cheng Pu and Sun Jian in the chat . He received a reply from his lord in a few seconds .

    Sun Jian: Go back to Ganling first . We don¡¯t need to fight them for now .

    Wu Guotai: Are you alright, dear?

    Sun Jian: I¡¯m fine . They¡¯re treating me well .

    Sun Jian: None of you should be worrying about me .

    Cheng Pu: I¡¯ll return in a few days . Please take care, my lord .

    At this moment, Li Jing, who had been absentminded, recalled something important . She rechecked her system logs as she wanted to confirm the information that she had remembered .

    "Everyone, there¡¯s something important . I¡¯ll input everything in the n chat," Spoke Li Jing .

    Afterward, she typed everything in the system logs into the chat . They were the details about Xiao Wu¡¯s weaknesses that she had detected by using her deleted skill [Weakness Detection] .

    All details about Friday¡¯s secret were listed and shocked everyone in the n chat .

    "She¡¯s Dong Bai!? How? I thought she was only a little girl!" Baffled Huang Gai .

    Sun Fang, on the other hand, had a pale face when he found out that Friday was an ex-demoness from Hell .

    "She¡¯s ... not just a reincarnator? She was a demon?"

    "Fang, I want you to focus on theter part . It¡¯s about the demonic contract and the Lust Soul . "

    "This ... I don¡¯t understand at all . "

    Nobody could understand the demonic contract or the Lust Soul parts in the details .

    ¡¯System, or Lilim if you are free, can you exin or tell us about this?¡¯ Li Jing asked Lilim in her mind, hoping to get an answer from the goddess herself .

    [For this sensitive information, I want 1,000,000 Lifespans donation to the central pool . ]

    [Nothing is free from me, Hahahaha!]

    "..."

    Li Jing¡¯s face was ck as she nced at Sun Fang . It seemed that they still had a long way before they could match with the Yellow Turban forces .

    ...

    March 1st .

    Cheng Pu returned to Guanzong after he demolished five bandit gangs of 1,000 men each in the area . He red at Sun Fang and Li Jing in anger as he was still unsatisfied with the result of the battle against Xiao Wu .

    Cheng Pu calmed down a minuteter as he knew that it was not their fault .

    "What do you think about the empress decree?" Huang Gai asked Cheng Pu .

    "I don¡¯t even know that there¡¯s a sessor of the throne . But since she is willing to give a title for our Lord, why should we refuse it?"

    "Hahaha! Indeed . A title is better than an empty ideal . It¡¯s a pity that we can¡¯t win against the real Yellow Turban forces . We will take it on the imposters after we move there . "

    "Did we lose that bad? I thought they were outnumbered and only had two reliable officers in their army . "

    Huang Gai bit his lower lips, "Yellow Turbans and their immortals are not simple . "

    Huang Gai told Cheng Pu about Xiao Wu¡¯s power, the female ghost, and the repeating crossbows that destroyed their 5,000-men task force .

    "They had a breakthrough in the arts of war, by what you meant . "

    "Yes . Their war-tools are better than ours . "

    A lot of homework was waiting for them as they needed to understand the technology of the new repeating crossbow model if they wanted to wage war with the Yellow Turban Army again .

    "For now, let¡¯s retreat to Ganling and get our lord back first . "

    Cheng Pu opened the system menu and typed to the n chat to ask for Sun Jian¡¯s status .

    Later that day, the retreat order was announced to the army which upset the nobles who mobilized soldiers to help them . They protested to threaten them that they would revolt .

    Upon knowing that the new Empress had dered Sun Jian as Changsha Governor, they changed their stance and tried to get on Huang Gai and Cheng Pu¡¯s good side instead .

    Both generals were annoyed by their hypocrisy . Thus, they chased the noble forces away, leaving them with soldiers from their Sun family .

    Meanwhile, Sun Fang was sitting cross-legs in his tent, cultivating to obtain as many lifespans as possible .

    Sweat drops, green blood vessels, and sagged eyes could be seen on his face as he was exhausted from the non-stop cultivating session . He had been sitting still for two days without sleep or food .

    "Fang, you should rest for today . It¡¯s enough for now," Li Jing hugged Sun Fang from behind, soothing Sun Fang¡¯s mood .

    Sun Fang opened his eyes and leaned on his wife . He exhaled, breathing out his stress .

    "I can only get 10,000 lifespans a day if I cultivate for an entire day . Getting a million is going to take long . "

    Li Jing kissed the cheek of Sun Fang, "It¡¯s a good gain . It means that you can casually get 5,000 lifespans a day if you cultivate it for 12 hours . We should take it easy this year . "

    "But I¡¯m worried about your quest . "

    Li Jingughed, "As I said, we¡¯re ok . We have many years toplete this quest . Besides, I have asked Lilim, and she said I have to pay her a million lifespan to cancel it . So we have a lot of leeway on this . "

    "We¡¯re weaker than them, and we¡¯re out-teched . I think we¡¯ll have to focus on our war technologies . "

    "Of course . Well, since the empress is doing us a favor by giving us a city and times . We should start thinking about developing our bases and give science to the natives . "

    "How about gunsmithing?"

    "We can do that . But since we are going along with the trend of historical events, I think we should start drafting warship blueprints . The Sun family is destined to conquer the southeast of China, so we should start aiming for seafaring . "

    ...

    ...

    March 14th .

    Scout teams, which was dispatched to watch Guanzong, returned and reported to Friday .

    "Report! Sun Jian Army has withdrawn from Guanzong . They are moving toward Ganling!"

    Xun Yu listened to the report and nced at Friday, who was leaning on a chair and cing her feet on the strategic table . Her expression was calm and rxed as if she knew that it would happen .

    Xun Yu was shocked when Friday returned with the hostage, Sun Jian . He had no choice but believe in the absurd phrase "Facing the absolute strength, strategies and tactics are meaningless . "

    "Mydy, I¡¯ll report this in the n chat," Spoke Xun Yu .

    "Ah, please do . "

    "Will you release Sun Jian right away?"

    "No, I¡¯ll keep him until they leave Ganling . They¡¯re the descendants of Sun Tzu . We can¡¯t trust them . "

    The scout messenger nced at the two, thinking if he should continue his reports .

    Noticing the fidgeting messenger, Xun Yu asked, "What¡¯s wrong? Is there more report?"

    "Yes, sir! It¡¯s a rumor within Sun Jian Army . Many soldiers were gossiping that Sun Jian has received an edict from the new Empress . He is promoted as the new Governor of Changsha . "

    Friday stood up and stared at the messenger with widened eyes .

    "Changsha? Changsha Commandery in Jing Province?"

    "Y-Yes, mydy!"

    Murderous intent exploded out from Friday, and the menacing air enveloped the entire tent .

    Friday predicted that if Sun Jian were to go to Changsha as in the other world¡¯s historical event, the Sun Family would rise to power . Then, Sun Ce and Sun Quan would also expand their forces with the help of capable officers from the south, such as Zhou Yu, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, Gan Ning, or many others .

    Sun Jian should not rise to power, or Tong would have troubles in the future .

    "Xun Yu, take several strong men to Sun Jian and kill him . "

    "I¡¯m sorry, mydy . We cannot!"

    Despite the shock of the sudden order, Xun Yu refused her without hesitation .

    "Kill him, or I¡¯ll kill you . "

    "That¡¯s impossible, mydy . Killing him will give us a bad reputation . You¡¯ve promised them that you will let him go once they retreat from Guanzong and Ganling . If you kill him now, Lord Zhang Jiao and your husband will be marked as untrustworthy traitors . You will soil their hard-earned reputation! People will shun them . All our neighbors will use Sun Jian¡¯s death as a pretext to mobilize more troops to attack us again! This time, it will be us against everyone in the country!"

    Friday red into the eyes of Xun Yu, who stared back despite the intimidation of the former 4-winged demoness .

    Seeing the unyielding attitude of Xun Yu, Friday withdrew her killing intent .

    "Report this to the n chat . I want everybody else to know what happens on our battlefront . "

    Xun Yu sighed a relief, "Yes, mydy . "

    >

    Before Xun Yu or Friday could send a message to the n chat, a message came from Jia Xu .

    "Are the battles in Ye or Zhongshan done? Can I have some reinforcement?"

 Chapter 260

    Chapter 260

    Chapter 260 ¨C Lilim¡¯s Compensation

    February 10th, 183 A . D .

    Julu City, Tong¡¯s resident areas .

    Hua Shi was carried to her room, and all female physicians were summoned today .

    There was a reason for the emergency care .

    Hua Shi¡¯s water broke . It was a sign ofbor .

    All men were driven out of the areas, leaving only maids and physicians .

    Zhang Jiao was pacing around the front of the room, praying for his daughter-inw .

    Sima Fang and Lu Zhi were there as well . They could not smile or be happy on this asion because the father was not present in the most crucial time .

    Tong was supposed to be around to take care of his wife, but he went to Zhongshan to protect the city from Liu Yan .

    Everyone could not help but be frustrated by the invading neighbors . Because of them, they ruined this family¡¯s most critical moment .

    To them, Hua Shi required mental supports, and the best support came from her husband .

    Unfortunately, they did not know that Hua Shi was stronger than the ordinary native girls in this world . She understood the importance of Tong¡¯s quest and Zhongshan City .

    Hua Shi did not mind for not having Tong around at this time as he coulde back and see his childter on .

    All Hua Shi had to do was to give it her best to deliver a healthy baby and survive .

    Sweat was raining on her face, and her eyes were brimming in tears .

    >

    Tong: Sunday, I¡¯m here with you .

    Tong: No matter what, no matter where we are .

    Tong: I¡¯m here with you .

    Tears rolled down from Hua Shi¡¯s eyes the moment she saw the n messages from Tong . It was enough for her .

    No words came from Hua Shi mouth during the painful hours ofboring . She gritted her teeth and gave it her best .

    ...

    Half a dayter .

    "WAAAAAAA"

    The crying voice of a baby rmed everyone who was praying for Hua Shi outside . Zhang Jiao cheered andughed for a minute before his face grimed .

    The child safety was confirmed by the cry, but the safety of the mother had not been guaranteed .

    The death rate of the mother during the childbirth in this era was high as the medicinal technology, and scientific treatment was next to nothing . As there was no proper treatment of high blood pressure, infection, severe bleeding, or otherplication from the delivery, the mortality rate of the mother was one of the ten, which tranted to 10% death rate .

    Zhang Jiao¡¯s wife died after she gave birth to Tong . This was the most painful memory that he carried with him all this time .

    Zhang Jiao prayed for his daughter-inw, ¡¯Please be safe . ¡¯

    At the same time, he could not help but curse at Hua Tuo and his wife for not visiting them even once for years .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve sent hundreds of letters! Where the Hell is all of you!?¡¯

    Ten minutester .

    Maids and physicians came out of the room, smiling .

    "Everyone, the mother and the child are healthy . Both are safe!"

    Loud cheers and other noises came from the servants and Tong¡¯s subordinates . Zhang Jiao did not cheer with them this time . He only nodded in approval and clenched his fists .

    The next thing he wanted to know was, was it a grandson or a granddaughter?

    "It¡¯s a healthy baby girl . Congrattions, my Lord . You have a granddaughter!"

    "Good ... Great! Come on, all of you! We¡¯ll have a banquet tonight!"

    ...

    ...

    Hua Shi lied on the bed with the clean white sheet . Next to her, a newborn baby was wrapped around in clean clothes . She kept staring at the baby in a trance .

    Thousands of worries were in her mind at the moment .

    Hua Shi had heard about theplication of a demon race . A demon in puberty would awaken their wings by getting themselves possessed by their [Sins] . After several hundred thousand years of pacifying their inner sins, they would revert back to their original form with all their awakened wings .

    Because Hua Shi and Tong were infected with demonic blood, she was worried that this child might get possessed in the future .

    Cheers andughter from the outside could be heard, yet it was as if the time had stopped inside the room .

    The tranquil time between the new mother and her first baby did notst long . A void gate opened, and a grown blond demoness with ten ck tentacle wings appeared from the void .

    Lilim paid Hua Shi a visit!

    "Hi, I¡¯m here toplete the task my mother had asked me . "

    Hua Shi came back to her sense, "Hah? Who are you?"

    "Lilim, nice to meet you . "

    Hua Shi scanned her from head to toes . When she noticed the ten ck wings behind Lilim¡¯s back, Hua Shi shuddered in fear as she knew about the strength of this demoness .

    As a former sinner in Hell, it was natural for her to recognize a race that used to torture her .

    In a shaking voice, Hua Shi asked, "What task?"

    "Don¡¯t y stupid, you asked my mother to dy the skill adjustment because you were pregnant . Now that you¡¯re safe, I¡¯m here to readjust your skills . "

    "Oh, that? Can I delete some of my skills first? But wait ... I¡¯ve bought back my skills after you disabled all of them . You said that you¡¯ll embed it to my soul and you won¡¯t be able to change or tamper them again! Did you lie?"

    A wry smile appeared on Lilim¡¯s face .

    "I¡¯ll be honest with you . I half-lied about the part that I can¡¯t tamper your soul again . I can¡¯t remotely change it, but I can adjust it if I touch you directly . That¡¯s why I have to be here . "

    Hua Shi still gazed at her, half-afraid and half-frustrated .

    "At least, you should have told me before when you announced that! If it¡¯s like this, I want my lifespans back! I only rebought the skills because I thought they wouldn¡¯t be adjusted again . "

    An annoyed expression appeared on Lilim¡¯s face . Her deep frown hinted Hua Shi that she should not push this person anymore or she and her baby would be dead .

    "How about this? Give me a littlepensation instead of returning my lifespans . I knew that you need those lifespans, but giving a bit of perk to someone wouldn¡¯t hurt you that much, right?"

    Lilim¡¯s eyes lit up, "Right, I can do that for you . Indeed, it was my mistake for not warning you . Very well, what do you want for thepensation? I have to warn you that you cannot ask for something too absurd . "

    "Simple, can you stop this child from getting possess by his [Sins] when she reaches puberty?"

    Lilim nced back and forth between Hua Shi and her baby . Then, she smiled, "No need for that . I was programming an additional system that can stop all berserking demons when a sin possesses them . This system will be implemented before your daughteres of age . You don¡¯t have to worry about this . "

    As if a mountain was lifted from Hua Shi¡¯s chest, her eyes regained light .

    "Then, can you elerate my demonic blood? I wish to be able to grow wings like my husband, Tong . "

    Lilim¡¯s smile disappeared, "You don¡¯t have the creator¡¯s [Seals] like him, and I can¡¯t create those . You will go berserk if your [Sins] overwhelms you, you know? Zhang Tong might have given you an illusion that a mutated demon can grow strong like a real demon, but the reality is different . All mutated demons are prone to go berserk . "

    Hua Shi looked down, disappointed by the discouragement from Lilim .

    Seeing the saddened Hua Shi and her daughter, Lilim felt guilty . Thus, she came with another idea .

    "How about this? The demonic mutation is too risky for you so I¡¯ll give you the safer angelic path . I can get rid of your demonic infection and awaken you as an angel right away . Or another choice, I can cancel your quest for free . Which one do you like?"

    Hua Shi looked up and stared into Lilim¡¯s eyes again .

    "Angel path, and I want a guide about angel powers . "

    ...

    ...

    Lilim had gone, leaving Hua Shi and her baby alone .

    The skill adjustment had beenpleted . For the sake of Hua Shi¡¯s safety, she asked Lilim to delete her unnecessary skills which were still disabled, leaving only her [Medical Gift], [Inventory], [Homing Arrow], and [Bow Mastery] .

    After Lilim nerfed Hua Shi skills, she also healed Hua Shi as a bonus, so she did not suffer a severe injury . However, her system quest that she had to kill one otherworlder was skill active .

    Hua Shi did not mind it . Currently, she was reading the guideline and tips that Lilim left for her . This information alone was enough topensate for her loss .

    The details were the same as what all angels in Heaven knew . Although it did not give her an advantage over other angels, it gave her a proper guideline about what she could do with the power, which was more thorough than listening to Friday¡¯s iplete knowledge .

    The power tier was simr to the demonic wing level . Two-wing angel had a simr power with a two-wing demon, and so on .

    However, the way they cultivated their power was different . Demons had to redeem themselves from their [Sins] whereas angels had to strengthen their [Virtues] that was within their soul to acquire power, which was the reason why angels picked only honorable human souls to be angel candidates .

    Life essence gathering ability was also different . Demons could take the life force of living humans, corpses, or animals without a bacsh .

    On the contrary, angels would suffer a deficit on their [Virtues] percentage had they done the same . The only way for angels to cultivate lifespans without a setback was to obtain it from nature, such as trees, spirits, or life essence in the air .

    "System, check my [Virtue] . "

    >

    >

    <[diligence] 55 . 35%="">>

    <[chastity] 2%="">>

    <[humility] 13 . 09%="">>

    <[patience] 16 . 33%="">>

    <[abstinence] 17 . 12%="">>

    <[charity] 14 . 23%="">>

    <[love] 88 . 65%="">>

    <[honesty] 28 . 65%="">>

    Instead of having [Sins] which could take control of her body, she had eight [Virtues] that did not have a risk of getting berserk .

    However, she had only one attempt to turn each of her [Virtues] into a wing . If she were to fail, the [Virtue] would be gone forever . Furthermore, she could not degenerate from her guideline, or the degraded [Virtue] would disappear as well .

    In this situation, if she continued to ignore her [Chastity] and act lustful with Tong, the virtue would be at risk of being deleted .

    Seeing the percentage, Hua Shiughed at herself as it told her about her behavior .

    "Ahaha, I can¡¯t let Friday see my virtues, or she¡¯ll call me a slut . "

    Hua Shi¡¯s [Chastity] was at the lowest, which indicated many things . However, her [Love] and [Diligence] made up for her weakness .

    "I¡¯ll get my [Love] to 100% first, then I can get a stand of my own . "

    Meanwhile, Tong¡¯s [Sloth Soul] had been ejected from her body as she was cultivating the angelic path now . Although it could not enter her body again, she could still use it as a ghost bodyguard for now .

    There was another downside of having awakened the angelic bloodline . The demon contract that Hua Shi had formed with Tong would be annulled once she couldplete her first [Virtue] . The [Sloth Soul] would be returned to Tong afterward, and she would lose the domain power .

    Hua Shi gazed at the elder policeman spirit with a sigh .

    "Give me times, Tong . I¡¯ll return him to you soon . Please stay with me and protect our child for the time being . "</[honesty]></[love]></[charity]></[abstinence]></[patience]></[humility]></[chastity]></[diligence]>

 Chapter 261

    Chapter 261

    Chapter 261 ¨C Lu Bu in Julu

    February 15th, 183 A . D .

    Jia Xu, Lu Zhi, Xu Huang, Zhou Cang, and all soldiers in Julu had reached Anping County today .

    The old wooden fortress was still around, but Jia Xu decided to expand it in this battle as the battle scale was different . The small fort could not house all 60,000 elites of Julu, and all of this fort¡¯s weaknesses had been analyzed by every schr already .

    "We¡¯ll expand the fort into three separate fortresses, but we will separately construct barricades and trenches for our camp . "

    Jia Xu picked two ces as their camp location . Each camp was on the fort north and south wing .

    .

    February 17th .

    In two days, both camps formed wooden fences, spike barricades, and three-meter deep moats .

    All soldiers contributed into digging the deep moat, which was 20 kilometers in length and 10 meters in width, creating a defensive line which could not be crossed .

    The gigantic long moat was not a simple hole without a path . Jia Xu decided to have the soldiers make a dozen small passages, which led to the entrance of both camps . However, the passages were so small that only one person could enter at a time, preventing the flood of soldiers in the case of invasion .

    In addition, at the exit of the small passages, check-point pill-boxes, watchtowers, and spike traps were waiting for anyone who could cross them .

    The construction project of Jia Xu had not finished yet . He gazed at the picture in the scroll, which was drafted by Tong .

    "Cross-fire, Japanese Castle Trap Moat, Ind Fortress, Maze Castle ..."

    Jia Xu recited each picture as he was choosing whichyout was the best for their future battle .

    "That damn brat is too creative at defensive tactics . Time sure has changed . "

    The conclusion report from Nanpi spies had reached Jia Xu¡¯s hands . Yuan Shao gathered 200,000 soldiers from all noble forces and his Yuan family forces, which they were gathering in Guangchuan County, east of Anping and southwest of Nanpi .

    It was impossible for Jia Xu and the others to intercept such a massive army with fewer troops . They had to wait for the reinforcement from Jinyang, and they had to create a favorable battleground for themselves .

    By having the advantageous battleground and a proper fortification, they should be able to oust the Yuan forces until Xiao Wu or Tong finished their battles and return to help them .

    ...

    ...

    At the same day, Jinyang Army, led by Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Li Feihong had arrived at Julu .

    Zhang Jiao and Sima Fang went out to receive them . Although they should be in a higher position, they still bowed their head to Lu Bu as the situation required his aid .

    Lu Bu was still as aloof as ever . He ignored the polite greetings from Zhang Jiao and others and left everything to Zhang Liao and co .

    "I¡¯m sorry . Lu Bu is always like that," Li Feihong apologized to Zhang Jiao .

    "Ha-ha, I¡¯ve expected that . It¡¯s alright . Come, let¡¯s enter the city and rest first . "

    All of them exchanged pleasantries and entered the city . Since Zhang Liao and Li Feihong knew about the news of Hua Shi¡¯s baby, they did not want to spoil Zhang Jiao¡¯s mood .

    "By the way, I¡¯ll send you the congrattory giftter when Lu Bu isn¡¯t looking," Li Feihong whispered to Zhang Jiao .

    Li Feihong had secretly bred several Red Hare horses, dairy cows, bulls, and freshwater fishes in his private world . He nned to deliver all of these to Julu to pay Tong as a price of his lifespans .

    "Well, we are carrying another batch of iron ores with us, too . It will arrive a few dayster though . "

    Zhang Jiaoughed, "Don¡¯t worry, don¡¯t worry . Having all of you here is already reassuring . "

    While Li Feihong and Zhang Jiao chatted, Sima Fang nced at the two in wonder .

    ¡¯Since when has Lord Zhang gotten so close to this young man? Should I check his background?¡¯

    .

    While Zhang Jiao and Li Feihong were taking care of the Jinyang soldiers and a ce to settle their camp, Lu Bu had already entered the city with his giant Red Hare horse, strolling on the main street .

    Lu Bu had heard about the development of Julu City from his wife, and she alwaysined that she wanted to visit the city for sightseeing, which also made Lu Bu curious .

    As Lu Bu looked around, buildings of shops, stalls, taverns, and inns were all over the ce on the main street . Many merchant caravans stopped at restaurants and inns to rest . Local people were walking around the shops with their families, smiling andughing .

    The cheering mood of the civilians baffled Lu Bu . In his point of view, these people should have been in a panic because their city was about to be attacked by a massive army . Yet, they acted as if nothing had happened .

    Also, the mixed aroma of various kinds of food piqued Lu Bu¡¯s nose . His stomach growled, and his saliva flooded his mouth .

    "The city of food ..."

    Lu Bu muttered the nickname of Julu City that all merchants and schrs entitled it .

    He parked the Red Hare King at one of the restaurants stable and walked inside .

    .

    Two hourster, Lu Bu walked out with a bloated stomach . He enjoyed the food of this city too much that he forgot that he was full . The price of the food was on the high side, but the quality made up for it . Thus, Lu Bu did not mind .

    ¡¯That brat developed this city to this extent . I¡¯ve underestimated him! But I have to admit, this is a good city to live in . I should bring Lingqi and Yan¡¯er to live here once the war is over . ¡¯

    Though Lu Bu was still conflicted if he had to work under Tong or not, he enjoyed the food and wanted his wife and daughter to be in a luxurious environment such as this city .

    As his stomach was full, no food aroma could make him hungry anymore . Lu Bu continued to tour the city at a leisure pace .

    An hour passed, Lu Bu¡¯s eyes stopped at the announcement boards in the city square . On dozens of wooden boards, various news and announcement from the government were ced there .

    Curious, Lu Bu rode over to read the nearest board .

    [Latest news, Lady Hua Shi has given birth to a healthy daughter . Our hardworking governor finally has a granddaughter!]

    "Ha! This is interesting!" Lu Buughed as the announcement got his interest . He continued to read .

    Although Lu Bu¡¯s subordinates thought that he was somewhat of a muscle brain, he was a smart man in reality . Not only was he literate, but Lu Bu had also learned about the Art of Wars, Analects, and other famous records . However, he did not know how to apply this knowledge in a real situation most of the times .

    In the eyes of everyone, Lu Bu was often misunderstood as a reckless brute . Little did they know that Lu Bu had solved most of the problems in the simplest way as he could use this tactic best, his martial arts .

    As long as he stood strong and undefeated on the frontline, all subordinates behind him would be safe . This was the doctrine that made Lu Bu sessful in his career .

    s, constant battles and killing degraded his temper control, which turned him into a person who got angered easily sometimes .

    [Warning, food price in other cities soars as drought hit all neighbor districts . Be careful about merchant scams . Don¡¯t worry about our city pricing, it¡¯s still the same! YAY!]

    [Hiring military cksmiths, please contact the city hall . Wage depends on cksmith mastery . Minimum sry ¨C one tael of gold a month . ]

    [Be careful of Yellow Turban imposters outside of the city! Several thieves and bandits are wearing yellow clothes and pretending to be a part of our city soldiers . Our soldier uniform is now blue, not yellow!]

    [Merchant Network News: City Hall is buying coals, iron ores, and woods without limit . All merchant groups are in a frantic!]

    [Julu Merchant Alliance won another year of spice trading concession bidding at the whopping price of 500,000 gold! They are getting richer again!]

    [Note to all noble families with beautiful daughters . Our young master, Zhang Tong, do not ept any concubine . Please do not bring your daughters to the city hall or to the governor . We won¡¯t take them as a tribute either!]

    [Bounty: Te Langpu . Dead or Alive . Reward: 1,000 Taels of gold . Last known location: Nanpi]

    [Warning, very is illegal in this city . If you find a ve trader, contact the city hall immediately . We will also give every informer 10 gold if we catch the ve trader . Don¡¯t worry, we keep your identity anonymous . ]

    The more Lu Bu read, the more intrigued he had in this city . Most of the domestic development events in Julu could be learned here by reading the news and announcement .

    But Lu Bu had noticed one thing that was missing in the announcement . There was no news about the current battle or war with Yuan Shao or any other warlords .

    "There is no news about the war?" Lu Bu muttered about what in his mind .

    Coincidentally, the remark was heard by a merchant nearby .

    "Sir brave warrior, are you new in this city?"

    "Hah? Ah, yes . "

    "Then you probably don¡¯t know about this . All military activities in Julu are ssified . They will only announce it when the war is over, just like when they finished repelling the Imperial armies in Liyang or Jinyang . "

    "I don¡¯t see anything about those . Have the government removed the announcement?"

    "I think so . It¡¯s old news . Most announcements herest for only a week before it is taken off, so all news here is fresh!"

    Lu Bu nodded and pondered, thinking if he should really work for Tong .

    As he was thinking, his eyes caught the recruitment notice on one of the boards .

    [Hiring government workers, 150 positions . Qualification ¨C You can write and you read this shit . Also, you must have two arms and two legs . Minimum wage, 1 Tael of Gold a month . ]

    Lu Bu cringed, but he noticed the anomaly . The wage was too high for a minor official position .

    He turned to the merchant and asked, "Why the wage of the workers here is are so high?"

    "I know right? Well, you¡¯ll be shocked if you know what the wage of the higher-ups is . I heard that a 1000-manmander makes 50 gold a month, and the minster like Sima Fang makes 2,000 gold a month! Sir Warrior, are you interest in joining the army?"

    Lu Bu¡¯s eyes widened in shock . He knew that Tong was rich, but he did not expect Tong to be rich to the extent that he could squander his gold for his subordinates .

    ¡¯Wait, did Tong extort taxes from the people for his men?¡¯

    "The people are not suffering from high taxes, right?" Lu Bu asked .

    "Hahaha! If they are suffering from taxes here, no one in our country can live a happy life! Heck, this city is a paradise for peasants like us! The tax is so low that I sometimes think that we don¡¯t have to pay taxes at all!"

    Lu Bu touched his chin, thinking .

    ¡¯I should extort that brat into giving me a high wage for my service! I say 10,000 gold a month for my service as the grand marshal should be enough . Hahaha! That¡¯s it! I¡¯ll take my wife and my daughter to live here, and leech on that brat¡¯s gold! I¡¯m a genius! HAHAHAHA!¡¯

 Chapter 262

    Chapter 262

    Chapter 262 ¨C Anping Once More

    On the days in Julu, Jinyang forces resupplied their food and received additional payment for their help, food supplies, weapons, and pocket money .

    All soldiers were grinning from ear to ear, feeling good that they were friends with Julu forces . Besides, the food that they got from Julu was delicious as salt, sugar, and spice was rich in stock .

    Li Feihong dropped off thousands of dairy cows, bulls, chickens, and living freshwater fishes so Julu City could continue to breed them as their another source of meat . He did not forget to give Zhang Jiao a hundred of newly bred Red Hare horses .

    At the same time, he bought Julu¡¯s specialties, such as beer, whiskey, crude oil, and prototype steel weapons that the cksmiths stocked for Tong .

    Although Li Feihong had that BDO Cooking Utensil that could cook beer, wine, and other food, he could not rely on it as it consumed a lot of materials . It also took times and required a worker to continue making it non-stop to be useful . In the end, he only kept it as a tool in his private world to cook his own food in the emergency or if he felt like it . To him, it was more convenient for him just to buy finished food or products from Julu directly .

    As for Zhang Jiao, he epted all the animals from Li Feihong in without hesitation . Instead of breeding them, he had another idea .

    Zhang Jiao decided to visit Hua Shi and asked her . Upon arriving at Tong¡¯s room, he saw He Xing, Zou Shi, and Hua Shi together . It seemed that the housewives were having a meeting .

    .

    Liu Xie had already learned how to walk . He stood and stared at the newly born daughter of Hua Shi .

    "Liu Xie, this is your new sister Zhang Min . Say hello to her . "

    "Fudge Min?"

    "Stop swearing . Say hello . "

    "Fudging hello?"

    "..."

    He Xing was on the verge of tears . Hua Shi, who was sitting next to her, patted her back .

    "It will pass . Xie will learn proper speech . By the way, I¡¯ll tell Tong to punish that asshole Jiater . "

    "Mm, sorry . "

    Hua Shi¡¯s attitude toward He Xing got better after Zhang Min, Hua Shi and Tong¡¯s child, was born . As a mother, her responsibility increased, which forced her to throw away her immature sides .

    For someone who experienced the second life, Hua Shi¡¯s adaptive abilities were high, so she did not have a problem about changing her attitude toward He Xing .

    At first, He Xing was also surprised that Hua Shi suddenly got friendly with her . But having a friend is better than having an enemy . As a veteran Imperial concubine and ex-empress, she also had no problem with adjusting to the environment as well .

    Besides, Hua Shi was Tong¡¯s official wife . Therefore, being in the same faction as the main wife could ensure her well-being within Tong¡¯s domain .

    "Have you fed her?" Asked He Xing .

    "Already fed to the point that her stomach turns into a ball . Look at her balloon belly! It is about to burst . She almost sucked me dried today . Look at my chest, one of them is smaller than the other one . I¡¯m worried that she will die because of overeating!"

    He Xing snickered and thought, ¡¯It¡¯s your karma . You always sucked your husband dried every night . ¡¯

    Zou Shi nced at the two and looked at Liu Xie and Zhang Min in envy .

    "I want a baby too ..."

    "Just ask your husband . I¡¯m sure he¡¯ll be delighted," Suggested Hua Shi .

    "He¡¯s ... kinda useless at night . "

    "What happened? Tell us, maybe we can help . "

    "He¡¯s impotent . "

    "... My condolence," He Xing consoled Zou Shi .

    On the other hand, Hua Shi grinned, "I have a cure . I can create a blue pill that can restore his vitality, but it has a side effect . "

    "What side effect?"

    "He¡¯ll probably be erected all night, and there¡¯s a risk of him getting a heart attack if his health is bad . In exchange, he can give you a baby . "

    "Err ... it¡¯s too risky . Maybe we should not ..."

    .

    Seeing that the three housewives were having a tea party and the conversation was impropriating to have a man around, Zhang Jiao stopped his feet .

    Then, he smacked his forehead as he recalled that he had the n chat . He returned to work and typed in the n chat instead of asking Hua Shi directly .

    >

    Zhang Jiao: Shi¡¯er, do you know if Tong can produce raw meat?

    Hua Shi blinked as she was staring at her father-inw¡¯s n message, not knowing what he was nning to do .

    Hua Shi: If he had eaten them, he can .

    Hua Shi: Actually, I¡¯m thinking about copying his [Create Food] skill next year . Why do you ask?"

    Zhang Jiao: I¡¯ve got my hands on several animals .

    Zhang Jiao: I was thinking if it was possible for Tong to multiply them more efficiently .

    Hua Shi: You know, father . I think I have a good idea .

    Hua Shi: It will take a while before you n toe to fruition, but it will be worth it . For now, please one of those animals to our cook and let him cook for us . We, mothers, arecking nutrition . We wish to eat some meat today . "

    Li Feihong, who was at Anping, noticed the chat . He chimed in .

    Li Feihong: I¡¯m so envious >_>

    Li Feihong: I wish I have that [Create Food] too!

    Hua Shi: Wanna trade?

    Li Feihong: Trade? But I¡¯m cool with my skills .

    Hua Shi: You won¡¯t lose anything .

    Hua Shi: Actually, you will gain [Create Food], and your skill will remain .

    Hua Shi: Once Tong and I gather about 2M to 4M+ lifespans, how about we trade our skills?

    Li Feihong: How?

    Hua Shi: n donation and transfer .

    Li Feihong: AH!

    The two continued to exchange their skill details . Hua Shi also told everyone about soulmate contract, which could be used for a husband-and-wife to copy their partner¡¯s skills .

    ...

    ...

    February 22nd .

    Lu Bu and his army of 60,000 heavy cavalries had arrived at Anping County where three fortresses situated there .

    Two of the three forts were built on the north and the south of the old fortress that Tong used in the battle two years ago . Each of the forts did not connect to each other, which left 500-meter spaces between them .

    Although they left a space open, deep moat protected the sides of the structures as if they expected the enemies to get through these passages . No road, gate, or bridge appeared on the side of each fort as the only entrance on each fort located in the west, which was the opposite direction of the frontline .

    Jia Xu and Julu forces had constructed a mixture of stone walls and palisade wall, turning it into a new wallyout for the county .

    There was not only one deep long moat in front of the three forts, but there were a dozenyers . Behind the first line of wall and the battlements, mazes of trenches and traps wereid, which served as the next line of defense .

    Another formation of the wooden battlement wall stood 200 meters away from the first wall, which was even taller than the previous one . The odd thing was, the inner fort wall nted outward . The edge of the wall was raised outward, but the inner edge caved into the inner fortress . If there were a satellite photo of these fortresses, they would see a triangle within the forts, and the three fortresses created a [W] formation .

    Lu Bu frowned as he inspected theyout of the defensive lines . He did not like being holed up in a fortress as he was not proficient at defense . To Lu Bu, it was more efficient for him to just charge into the enemy-packed formations .

    Xu Huang, the newest general of Tong Army, rode toward Lu Bu . He bowed, "Lord Lu Bu, our strategist invites you to the main tent . He wants to discuss the troop cement and our cooperation . "

    Lu Bu nodded but his eyes glued at Xu Huang as if he had seen a beautifuldy .

    "You¡¯re a good fighter . You¡¯re Zhang Tong¡¯s general, right? Want a spar with me?"

    Xu Huang was taken aback, "I¡¯m sorry . We¡¯re quite busy at the moment . For the practice session, let¡¯s talk about itter when we¡¯re free . "

    Lu Bu clicked his tongue, "You are all boring . Has Tong taught you this way!? Why doesn¡¯t everyone know how important it is to practice when they have a chance?"

    Gao Shun, who was tagging along with Lu Bu, gave Xu Huang an apological smile . In his mind, he retorted his boss, ¡¯Everybody is very normal, boss . It¡¯s only you that has an issue . ¡¯

    .

    By the end of the day, Jia Xu integrated both Jinyang and Julu Army together . He assigned officers into each designated fortress, judging from the skills and abilities of the generals from Tong¡¯s words .

    Lu Zhi, Zhou Cang, and Xu Huang were assigned 5,000 soldiers each . The three was assigned to guard the southern fortress with their infantries .

    Li Feihong, Gao Shun, and Zhang Liao were sent to the northern fortress . Instead of leading their 60,000 cavalries, Jia Xu gave them 15,000 Julu soldiers of Julu to help them .

    As all of 60,000 heavy cavalries of Jinyang, Jia Xu stationed them behind the fortress and ordered them to stand by for future orders .

    At the same time, the 10,000 infantries were ordered to protect the central fort while the rest of 20,000 men stood behind with the cavalries as reserve forces .

    Lu Bu was the only one without an army to lead, but he could move anywhere he wanted . This cement satisfied Lu Bu as well . He praised Jia Xu for being an understandable strategist in the meeting in the middle of dead-fish stares from his subordinates .

    As for the old fox himself, he stationed in the central fort so he could see the situation from all fort .

    As the cementpleted, Li Feihong stared at the strategic board in doubt .

    Thetest news revealed that Yuan Shao had 200,000 soldiers, but Jia Xu only put 40,000 soldiers at work . The other 80,000 men were put behind them as a reserve force instead .

    "Lord Jia Xu . I think our cement is inefficient . We can¡¯t use our number properly this way . "

    Jia Xu snorted, "So do they! Do you think that in the real battle they can send out all 200,000 soldiers to battle at once?"

    Lu Zhi darted his eyes around the strategic board and nodded as he understood the reason behind the cement .

    "It¡¯s the defensive shifts," Lu Zhi inserted .

    "Correct . We¡¯re expecting a prolonged warfare . There can be night attacks, fake night attacks, harassment tactics, and the likes . Everything is possible on a battlefield so I won¡¯t put all my chess pieces on the board at once . I¡¯ll leave some of them as our backup, and the horsemen can be our wild cards in this battle if they let their guards down . "

    Zhang Liao tapped a horsemen army token, "What about the cavalry cement? Why are you cing them on the back instead of putting them on the sides? The ideal horse units should be on the sides so we can use our mobility . "

    Jia Xu shook his head, "We don¡¯t want to fight in a battle of attrition from the beginning . Putting horse units on the sides is a deration that we want to duke it out with their horse units too . Though all of you have experienced facing Xiongnu elites, our opponent this time is smarter and stronger than the Xiongnu tribes . "

    Jia Xu paused and looked at every general in the main tent .

    "My spies have just given me two bad newsst week . One, they havepleted copying our repeating crossbows . All infantries in their units are using the same crossbows as us! We can¡¯t afford a risky tactic . And two, Yuan Shao force has invented a new weapon . "

    Jia Xu grabbed a small bag from the edge of the tent and ced it on the table . Inside the leather bag, the ck powders could be seen .

    Jia Xu picked a pinch of the powders and threw it at the nearestmp stall .

    *FWOOSH*

    The ck powders shed and turned into white smoke .

    Li Feihong widened his eyes as he recognized this ck powders .

    "Gunpowder!"

 Chapter 263

    Chapter 263

    Chapter 263 ¨C Te Langpu, the Lazy Strategist?

    "What can this thing do?"

    All generals but Li Feihong did not know what the potential of these deadly ck dust .

    Jia Xu noticed Li Feihong¡¯s reaction . He nodded at this young strategist .

    "Explosive powder . These little dust can cause fire explosion if it¡¯s gathered in arge amount," Jia Xu exined, "My spies had told me . A young merchant has been experimenting with this powder for a year . I think master Lu Zhi should know about this man since our young lord posted a warrant for this person . "

    "Te Langpu," Li Feihong and Lu Zhi muttered .

    Lu Zhi knew him as a threat to his disciple, but Li Feihong saw Te Langpu as another otherworlder .

    This former-president of a country was a threat to Tong and his force as he joined Yuan Shao after the first auction event . Tong put a bounty on Te Langpu, hoping to get rid of him . However, they still failed to kill Te Langpu until today .

    "All of you should have learned about our young lord¡¯s favorite tactic, the trebuchet bombs . That¡¯s something that we¡¯ll face in this fight . Instead of usingmb oil or burning oil, they will be using these explosive powders in a barrel . Once it explodes, the damage burst will be greater than our lord¡¯s inextinguishable me . "

    All generals sucked in cold breathe, while Lu Bu snorted as he saw it as an underhanded cowardice tactic . However, the attitude of Lu Bu changed in an instant as he recalled that Tong used to throw an exploded thing at him before, and it stunned him for several minutes .

    ¡¯Come to think of it . That thing was in a hand-size . What will happen if they throw a barrel size?¡¯

    A chill ran down Lu Bu¡¯s spine as he finally realized the threat of the new weapon .

    "But this thing is a double-edged sword," Li Feihong interjected, "As long as we can determine the location of their powder storage, we can destroy this with a single spark of fire . Secondly, I doubt that Yuan Shao and Te Langpu can amass these powders in such a short amount of time . From what I have learned, these powders took time to create since they have to mix several substances together . "

    "Oh? You knew about this?" Jia Xu was surprised .

    "Yes, this powder is the foundation of Tong¡¯s handgun and bullets . I¡¯m also using his gun and bullets at the moment . "

    Li Feihong ordered his subordinates to bring him two pliers to disassemble a bullet in his hand . Upon taking off the bullet header from the casing with the pliers, simr ck powder dropped from the shell .

    Jia Xu, Lu Zhi, and Zhang Liao stared at the bullet and gunpowder with interest .

    "This thing can¡¯t just cause an explosion . It can propel a piece of iron as an arrowhead if we have the right tool, such as this gun . " Li Feihong exined .

    "Can it be mass-produced?" Asked Zhang Liao .

    "If you knew about this, why didn¡¯t you share with us?" Lu Bu also questioned .

    "Right now, only Tong can create bullets and this gun with his magic . Also, he can only create one bullet a day . He told me that we have to find the right form for the gunpowder before we can start creating cannons or . . . "

    Li Feihong took an hour, exining and answering the barrages of questions from Jia Xu, Lu Zhi, and the others . They sidetracked from the battle n, but Jia Xu managed to pull them back to the briefing .

    "Enough questions about gun and bullet technology for now . We¡¯ll focus on reinforcing the walls and forts with more trebuchets and ballistae . Sir Li, I¡¯ll need your help for monitoring the perimeter as well . "

    ...

    ...

    March 1st, 183 A . D .

    Yuan Shao and his men took his time and finally arrived at Anping County . All 200,000 soldiers form arrays and battle formation as they approached the fortresses in front of them .

    Wen Chou and Yan Liang rode by the sides of Yuan Shao¡¯s grand carriage .

    The grand carriage was a single chair on a gigantic wheeled cart, decorated with tiger skin mat, cotton, and gold, which was carried by ten horses and six wheels . It was something that did not belong on the battlefield .

    Yuan Shao sat on the carriage chair with two beautiful women, feeding him wine and fruits . He dressed in a yellow dragon silk rope and a golden cor as if he were the real Emperor .

    Trailing behind Yuan Shao carriage, He Jin rode his horse behind the caravan . Instead of being timid like before, He raised his chin high and proud .

    Several officers followed behind He Jin . Feng Ji, Tian Feng, Te Langpu, Guo Tu, Shen Pei, and other advisors came here to contribute to the army .

    Other generals, such as Gao Lan, Qu Yi, and dozens of talented generals were with their subordinates in their toon .

    All of them gazed toward the fortress in solemn . They knew that the opponent was Tong¡¯s strongest forces, and they were expecting a difficult battle .

    Although Yuan Shaomitted blunders in history when he fought against Cao Cao, this world Yuan Shao had not been distracted by his family and the infighting between his officers yet . As a result, his army was still in its prime, which could intimidate all forces including Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo .

    It was fortunate for Tong that he had poached Zhang He and Ju Shou beforehand . Or else, he would have had a headache trying to deal with Yuan Shao at his strongest .

    "Tian Feng, Te Langpu," Yuan Shao called his two advisors .

    "Present!"

    "Yes, Lord?"

    "Ourst intel said they had only one old fortress . Why are there three and there¡¯s a lot of improvement in the area?"

    Tian Feng gazed at the fortresses and the defensive moats, "It must have been Jia Xu who¡¯s behind this since he is the current head strategist in the Yellow Turban force . "

    Te Langpu tilted his head, but he did not say anything . He was not an expert in the military so he refrained himself from giving uselessments .

    "Have we sent an invitation to this Jia Xu? Why is he still fighting for those bandit gangs?"

    "We did, but I heard he burned our letter right in front of the massagers . "

    "Ha! Foolish guy . He doesn¡¯t know what is good for him . Now, draft me a strategy to take down those bandits . "

    "Yes, Lord! We shall go back and prepare at once . "

    Tian Feng and Te Langpu bowed and returned to their strategist group .

    On the way, Tian Feng nced at Te Langpu in doubt . He knew that this chubby man was talented, but he enjoyed keeping his low profile . Fortunately, Tian Feng¡¯s spies learned about Te Langpu¡¯s experiment and reported to him, so Yuan Shao got their hands on Te Langpu¡¯s iplete gunpowder form .

    Because of the discovery, Te Langpu got promoted to the status of Tian Feng¡¯s equal . After that day, both of them always got summoned when Yuan Shao requested a piece of advice .

    "Lord Te, I have a n that I want to suggest, but I¡¯ll ask for your opinion first . What would you do if you were themander of this army? How do you think we can win?"

    Te Langpu answered in a reflex, "Spread the freedom and nuke them back to stone-age!"

    "Freedom? Nuke?"

    "I meant, we throw our bombs at them, of course . Artillery bombard first to soften their defense, then let the ground forces do their jobs . "

    "Of course . I also nned a simr strategy . What do you think about fire attack?"

    "Did you check the wind direction?"

    "It always blows east to west onnd . It sometimeses from the north to south in spring though . "

    "Then, go with the wind . There are three castles to attack, right? We¡¯ll concentrate on the northern castle and let the fire and smoke kill the soldiers inside . Build the trebuchets that I designed and throw in those bombs . Don¡¯t forget to mix in some crude oil as well . "

    "..."

    Tian Feng nodded in approval . Te Langpu¡¯s tactic and insight were beneficial to Yuan Shao, so he did not mind about this chubby man¡¯s crude manner .

    ...

    All strategists gathered around a make-shift strategic-map table . Though they had not received an updated scout report yet, the strategists decided to hold a meeting to discuss their ns first .

    Feng Ji was hungry for the achievement . He took the lead, "This fortress weakness had already been scouted by Sir Wen Chou two years ago . I say we should focus on the range attack and barrage them with trebuchets and archers . "

    Guo Tu, an officer who had escaped from Ye City along with Shen Pei during the betrayal of Ju Shou and Zhang He, had also contributed his thought, "Since we have stolen their crossbows, we can craft siege towers and use them against the defenders!"

    Shen Pei, a friend of Guo Tu, also chimed in, "We can use Xiongnu horse archer tactic . Let our horsemen fire the repeating crossbows at their soldiers outside the forts . If they pursue our horse archers, we use the hit-and-run tactic . "

    There were 20 strategists in the group, which all of them exchanged their thought without refrain, except for Te Langpu and Tian Feng who was still keeping quiet .

    Thirty minutester, Feng Ji noticed that his target of hatred and envy, Tian Feng, and the new guy Te Langpu were still keeping their mouth shut . He decided to probe the two quiet men .

    "What are our [Leading Strategists] currently thinking? Would you mind sharing with us?"

    Tian Feng still did not open his mouth as most of the eyes were on Te Langpu . Because he was a hot-shot who had just been promoted a few months ago, everyone paid attention to this ex-president .

    Te Langpu clicked his tongue in annoyance . He spoke with his obnoxious facial expression .

    "Burn them, bomb them, and use the wind . "

    Te Langpu held his arms and snorted as a gesture that he was done suggesting .

    Instead of getting frustrated by his shortment, all strategists gazed at Te Langpu in awe and respect .

    "Such a profound insight!"

    "Good wisdom!"

    "That¡¯s how he earned his title, much respect!"

    Te Langpu had a wry smile on his face, ¡¯What¡¯s wrong with these people? I just copied this Tian Feng¡¯s ns and spoke in a short term . Yet, these yellow monkeys jumped around thinking I¡¯m a genius?¡¯

    Te Langpu did not know that these natives loved poems and short sentences as they enjoyed digging the meaning behind the author¡¯s words . They mistook that Te Langpu¡¯s words had other underlying meaning that could beprehended in many ways .

    Tian Feng, on the other hand, chuckled as he understood Te Langpu¡¯s point of view and the crowd reactions .

    ¡¯Ah, those guys ... Sir Te is just beingzy . Sometimes, you guys think too deeply . ¡¯

 Chapter 264

    Chapter 264

    Chapter 264 ¨C Weaponry Competition

    "We¡¯ll construct siege weapons while we wait for the scout report . We need to confirm their army cement and their number before we decide our policy . "

    Tian Feng concluded the meeting and returned to Yuan Shao alone . Meanwhile, other advisors did not like Tian Feng¡¯s attitude since it looked like he decided everything and took all the credits alone .

    Seeing that Tian Feng had left, Feng Ji, Guo Tu, and Shen Pei surrounded Te Langpu and asked him, "Sir Te Langpu, what do you think of Tian Feng?"

    "Tian Feng? He¡¯s a busy body, right? I¡¯m minding my own business, but he kept dragging me around for some reason . "

    Te Langpu knew about the rivalry between Tian Feng and other strategists . As a former elite businessman, a fa?ade or a politic stance was his nature . Dealing with these people was like having breakfast for Te Langpu .

    "Is that right? We didn¡¯t know about this . By the way, the [Gunpowder] that you invented is awesome! Can you tell us the details about how it can be used?"

    Bootlickers swarmed Te Langpu as if he was a pile of dung and they were hungry flies . The chubby man¡¯s face twitched, getting annoyed by these politicians . Yet, it still felt good to be the center of attention .

    Te Langpu puffed his chest, "Of course! Listen well because I¡¯ll tell you this only once since there can be spies lurking around ..."

    .

    .

    "So, what¡¯s the n?" Yuan Shao asked Tian Feng .

    "We shall build trebuchets and siege towers first . The towers will have to be higher than the walls of Jia Xu¡¯s forts . I also n to build a tower that can carry a trebuchet on top so we can have the advantage of range . "

    "Good! Here is my army token! Use my army as you wish!"

    "Yes, Lord . "

    ...

    ...

    March 2nd .

    A scout team of three men, who were in tattered and covered in wounds, rushed back to Yuan Shao camp with their reports .

    "Report! We have confirmed their army number and their location!"

    Wen Chou and Yan Liang passed on the reports to Tian Feng as he was the decision maker of the entire army .

    In the report, their scout team of 200 men discovered several camps and bases behind the fortresses . On their way to return, they encountered a scout team of 100 men from the northern stronghold, and they ended up having a small battle .

    However, most of them were killed, but they could not even harm those scout team members . Most importantly, their scouts used hand crossbows, which was different than their previous repeating crossbows .

    "Hand crossbow?" Wen Chou was astonished .

    "Yes, sir! They have those little crossbows that can fire small bolts . Most of us died because they shot our horses with these weapons . "

    The scout drew a picture of a small handgun crossbow using the sand and dirt for everyone in the room .

    "Ah, it seems that they also have a new weapon as well," Tian Feng¡¯s face was solemn, "What about their status?"

    "Yes, sir! We detected at least 5,000 men stationing inside the north fort and a camp that is a size of 10,000 men behind it . The gs inside the camp were [Zhang], [Gao], and [Li] . "

    Wen Chou touched his chin, "In other words, the north fort has about 10,000 to 15,000 men . But, does Zhang Tong hasmanders with surname Gao and Li?"

    "They are not Zhang Tong¡¯s men . Those guys are Jinyang Army men . "

    "What!?"

    The words of Tian Feng shocked Wen Chou and Yan Liang . They did not expect the Jinyang Army here .

    "That Zhang is not Zhang Tong or Zhang Jiao, but Zhang Liao . Gao stands for Gao Shun, and Li is their strategist, Li Feihong . Those three men are Lu Bu¡¯s subordinates . "

    "Lu Bu ..."

    Wen Chou and Yan Liang had heard of this man . He was famous on the border as there was a rumor that he annihted Xiongnu 10,000-man army by himself .

    "So, does that mean Lu Bu should be here as well?"

    "Likely so . Be prepared, you two . If possible, avoid all direct confrontation . We¡¯ll keep our distance with their army . "

    Tian Feng walked to the strategic table and began cing their army tokens .

    Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Gao Lan, Feng Ji, and Te Langpu were ced on the north, leading an army of 100,000 men, which consisted of half of the entire forces .

    Yan Liang and Wen Chou were surprised again . This was a deration that their main attack would focus on the northern fort, where Jinyang Army located .

    "You want us to fight Lu Bu?"

    "We don¡¯t have a choice . We have to set the north fort on fire so they can¡¯t use these barricades to obstruct our march to Julu . "

    "Why fire?"

    "The fire will be carried by the wind, and it will swallow all of the forts . "

    While Tian Feng was answering Wen Chou¡¯s doubts, he arranged more tokens on the map .

    Tokens of Qu Yi, Sui Yuanjin, Chenyu Qiong, Guo Tu, Shen Pei, and ten other generals were gathered in the south with 80,000 soldiers .

    Only Yuan Shao and Tian Feng remained in the center army with 20,000 soldiers .

    "We¡¯ll concentrate on the wings . Use prong attacks, and put them into chaos," Tian Feng concluded the cement .

    "We¡¯re not waiting for more intel? We still don¡¯t know the other troops they have . "

    "No need . If Jinyang force is here, they should have abined force of 100,000 to 150,000 men . Since Jia Xu is hiding his men behind the fortresses, we won¡¯t be able to know their exact numbers . We don¡¯t need to waste our scouts to get the additional info . We¡¯ll assume that all 50,000 to 60,000 heavy cavalry units of Jinyang are stationing on the back while Julu army stationed equally on each fort . "

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, inside Anping North Fort .

    Details of the small battle between Jinyang scout team and Yuan Shao¡¯s scouts were being reported to Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Li Feihong . All 100 scout members came back in full number while the enemy scouts were routed .

    "Your weapons worked well, Feihong," Praised Zhang Liao .

    Before Li Feihong and others marched to Julu, Li Feihong developed a new weapon for Lu Bu¡¯s heavy cavalries and Jinyang garrisons, the one-handed crossbow .

    It was abination between a handgun and a crossbow, which had a wooden handgun grip, a trigger, and a palm-sized crossbow .

    This one-handed wooden crossbow was widely used in western countries in the medieval period . The fire-power might becking, and it had a short range . However, it was easy to carry and use in a closebat situation .

    With wood logs and other resources in Jinyang, Li Feihongpleted the mass-product model of their own crossbows, which was morepatible with their heavy cavalries than the repeating crossbows .

    Repeating crossbows required two hands to handle, one to hold the weapon, and the other one to reload . As riders had to keep their bnce on the galloping horse, they could not utilize the repeating crossbow¡¯s potential to the fullest .

    However, one-handed crossbows worked well with them . As a nature of their jobs, they often came to a brawl with enemies in close range . Having an easy-to-use one-handed weapon that could cover their close-mid range distance allowed them to maneuver their horses and shoot with ease .

    All 60,000 horsemen were using this as their secondary weapon, and it was used in the realbat for the first time with Yuan Shao¡¯s scouts .

    "It¡¯s a pity that these things have limited firepower . Or else, it would have been perfect . "

    Zhang Liao saddened that the crossbow bolts could not prate the standard iron armor of the enemies .

    "We have to develop Tong¡¯s guns if we want that kind of firepower . "

    "Hmm . It will take years before we can mass-produce that . First, we have to get this gunpowder form . Without it, guns and cannons are impossible," Li Feihong stressed and stood up, "I think Tian Feng should know about us now . I¡¯ll return to rest and monitor Yuan Shao¡¯s movements . Please take care of the rest . "

    "Ah, will do . Anything happens, shout in the n chat, yeah?"

    ...

    ...

    March 3rd .

    Two days after the preparation, Yuan Shao Army had constructed two hundred siege towers, which were 10 meters tall . The height of the archer towers exceeded the defensive battlement walls of the fortress .

    Tian Feng climbed one of the towers to observe the fortress from afar . As soon as he could see the wall of each fort, Tian Feng¡¯s face turned grim .

    Jia Xu had added shielded rooftops that could protect the defenders from archers . Inside the forts, simr archer towers were ced inside . Instead of having archers on top, trebuchets situated there instead .

    Each fortress hid over 200 of such trebuchet towers, which overwhelmed Tian Feng¡¯s siege towers¡¯ firepower .

    ¡¯They¡¯re well protected . We will be in disadvantageous if we exchange projectiles right now . But ...¡¯

    Tian Feng climbed down from the tower and returned to the main army tent .

    Yuan Shao was not present in the military camp as he was rxing in his private tent with his concubines . Tian Feng had the authority to mobilize the force as he wished .

    When he reached the tent, he walked to the strategic map and moved Gao Lan and 5,000 men toward the northeast of the north fort .

    "Gao Lan, take 5,000 men, 50 new trebuchets, and 100 siege towers to this location . I want you to push into their enemy line . Yan Liang, Wen Chou, both of you prepares 3,000 heavy cavalries and get ready to move at any time in the case Lu Bu shows up . "

    ...

    In the n chat, Li Feihong and Jia Xu were exchanging reports and orders .

    "Movement report! An army of 5,000 men and hundreds of siege weapons are circling our fort . They are moving to our northeast . "

    "Are they in our range?"

    "No . They are keeping a distance . "

    "What are their siege weapons?"

    "Towers and trebuchets . Their towers are higher than our wall . "

    "Deploy Gao Shun and Lu Bu . Lu Bu can take 5,000 heavy cavalries and 5,000 infantries to stare down at them from a distance . Make sure he takes a few ballistae and trebuchets with them . But don¡¯t let him attack . You can go with him so he won¡¯t act beyond our ns . Let Gao Shun take 3,000 heavy cavalries and ambush this Yuan Shao unit from their northern nk . "

    ...

    Noon .

    Gao Lan and his 5,000 infantries were moving to their designated position with their siege weapons . The distance between them and the moat, which surrounded the fortress, was 700 meters away .

    However, they came across a problem . The moat did not just surround the forts, it extended northward beyond the fortress line .

    "I see why he wants us to move there . There is this long ditch that blocks our path . Once we can secure that position, we can cross this line without worrying about ambushes . "

    Gao Lan turned to his subordinates, "Men, we¡¯ll create a bridge for our towers and trebuchets . Go cut the woods to make a path!"

 Chapter 265

    Chapter 265

    Chapter 265 ¨C Li Feihong¡¯s Target

    1 PM .

    A make-shift bridge waspleted, but it was enough for the soldiers to cross . The rest of the siege weapons could not be moved to the other side of the trench as the bridge was still too weak and narrow .

    "Troops, move in and secure the inner areas! Send words to our main army . Have them send extra workers over here so the towers can cross . "

    Gao Lan was busy pointing fingers and assigning tasks to his subordinates . Meanwhile, Yan Liang and Wen Chou were following after Gao Lan¡¯s battalion from behind as their support .

    The 5,000 soldiers formed two lines and crossed the bridge in order . As the bridge looked fragile, the men were careful with their feet . Their steps became slow as they walked . But once they got off the long logs, they quickened their legs .

    Before all of them could cross the bridge, arge army appeared on the horizon . They caught sight of the ck gs of [Lu] and [Li], which stood out as they were everywhere .

    "Lu Bu!?"

    "Li Feihong!?"

    Subordinates of Gao Lan recognized the names of the enemy generals . They bellowed and shouted to warn the others .

    Gao Lan¡¯s face paled when he heard Lu Bu¡¯s name from his men .

    "Do not retreat! Keep moving forward and form ranks on the other side!"

    Instead of retreating because of his nervousness, Gao Lan held his ground and ordered the men to form a defense line .

    Yan Liang and Wen Chou also galloped forward to where Gao Lan was standing .

    "I heard you¡¯ve spotted Lu Bu?" Asked Wen Chou .

    "Yes . They areing toward us from the front . "

    "Number?"

    "No idea . But from the size of the dust, it should be around 5,000 or more . "

    "Good . Have your men open a path for us . Let our horsemen cross the bridge first . We¡¯ll deal with that so-called [Monster] . "

    The heavy cavalries got into the line as they slowly crossed the bridge one by one .

    The workers behind the moat line managed to get a long rope from the main army . They had one of the horsemen carried it to the other side, which the men began to work on another bridge .

    3 PM .

    All soldiers managed to cross the deep moat . However, the siege towers and trebuchets were still lining behind the line as they could not cross it .

    Yan Liang stood at the front of 5,000 Infantries and 3,000 heavy cavalries . All of them had repeating crossbows on their hands, getting ready to aim and fire at his order .

    However, Lu Bu force stood still and maintained a distance of 500 meters, not getting into the range of the projectiles .

    Yan Liang and Wen Chou smiled as they had enough time for the workers behind them to finish reinforcing the bridge with dirt and mud, so they could cover a part of the moat and move the siege weapons to the other side .

    "Are they stupid or are they inept? Why didn¡¯t they attack us when we were not ready?" Wen Chou half-mocked, half-doubted .

    "Well, there was a saying that he¡¯s a muscle brain . It appears to be correct! BWAHAHAHA!" Laughed Yan Liang .

    Gao Lan did notment . He had been having goosebumps since they crossed the moat . It felt like he was being watched by something and the killing intent was on him from the start .

    Gao Lan could not handle the pressure anymore, he turned to Wen Chou .

    "Sir, I¡¯ll go supervise the workers behind us . Can I leave the army to you?"

    Yan Liang snorted, "Go if you want . Hurry and finish the crossing already! We don¡¯t have all day!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    Without hesitation, Gao Lan ran back and crossed the bridge . He stumbled on a rock as he was running in a panic . His instinct was crying that he had to run or he would die for some reasons .

    ...

    ...

    Three hours ago .

    Lu Bu and Li Feihong were leading their 10,000 men forward . With Li Feihong¡¯s guidance and his monitoring, they could tell that an army was trying to cross the moat at the corner of the north fort .

    "I¡¯ll circle around them . Take care, guys . "

    Gao Shun detached from them and disappeared from the sight of their army .

    "Alright, boss . As I told you before, you can¡¯t charge until I give you the signal, ok?"

    Lu Bu snorted . He did not like fighting with aplex strategy, yet he followed Li Feihong¡¯s suggestion . After they had been together for years, he had faith in Li Feihong¡¯s decisions regardless of how troublesome it was .

    "Ah, do as you wish . But I¡¯ll give you a condition . If you spot an important general of their army, don¡¯t kill him with your gun yet . Let me y with them first . "

    "Err boss, that¡¯s unreasonable . We have to win this efficiently so I¡¯ll have to finish their leader ..."

    The killing intent of Lu Bu locked down on Li Feihong .

    "OKAY! OKAY! I won¡¯t use it, I swear!"

    Lu Bu smiled, "That¡¯s more like it . If you want someone dead, you just tell me, and I¡¯ll kill him for you . "

    Lu Bu did not tell Li Feihong . Among the enemies far away, Lu Bu could sense three formidable warriors . From his experience, he could tell that Li Feihong¡¯s sneak attack by using the gate might fail as these people had sharp instinct . Had Li Feihong used the gate skill to poke his hand at the target, the hand might have been chopped off before Li Feihong could shoot the gun .

    ¡¯I¡¯m not refraining you because I want to y around . You will be injured if you pick the wrong target . ¡¯

    .

    1 PM .

    Lu Bu and Li Feihong could see Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers on the horizon . There seemed to be amotion within their ranks as Li Feihong could hear their shouting from his monitors .

    "What are they doing?" Asked Lu Bu .

    "Forming arrays . It seems that their siege towers and trebuchets are stuck on the other side . They can¡¯t move them across our moat . "

    "I¡¯ll be honest with you . This is actually a perfect chance to strike with our cavalries . Why did Jia Xu tell us not to attack?"

    "Yuan Shao¡¯s men will be using bombs at us . Our horses are vulnerable to explosive, even our Red Hares can¡¯t do anything about it . If they throw those bombs in the middle of our charge, all of the horsemen will be thrown off their horses, and that will be their doom . "

    "Hmm . Cowardly tactic . "

    Lu Bu groaned and patted the neck of his horse, the Red Hare King . To Lu Bu, losing this stud would be like losing a wife . Besides, he had experienced it firsthand in the life-and-death duel with Tong and knew about how deadly an explosion could be .

    "But will Gao Shun be fine? He¡¯ll dive into those guys head-on . "

    "Jia Xu and I told him to ambush the troops and workers on the other side and take down their bridges before we had dispatched our forces . He knows what to do . "

    Li Feihong turned around and raised his fist, "Soldiers, bring the ballistae and trebuchets forward . Aim at the general direction of the enemies and stand by for order! Infantries, march along with the weapons, but don¡¯t get too close to them!"

    While Li Feihong gave his orders, his eyes locked on one of the floating monitors that only he could see . In the monitor, one person stood out within the panicking troops .

    ¡¯A general . He seems important . ¡¯

    Unbeknownst to himself, Li Feihong leaked his killing intent on the person as he was fantasizing how he could kill him with his gate-assassination technique .

    Lu Bu noticed the killing intent . Instead of reprimanding Li Feihong, heughed, "That¡¯s cute, Feihong . If you want someone dead, don¡¯t fantasize about how you will kill him . n in your head about how you can torture him while he is still alive . Merge the image of several dying people along with it to increase the power . It will be better if you remember the terrified look of your previous victims and merge his face into your memory . "

    Li Feihong cringed, ¡¯I¡¯m not a psychopath like you!¡¯

    Even though Li Feihong retorted in his mind, his action proved otherwise . He put the face of Ping in his previous life and merged it with the general in the monitor, creating an image that this was his nemesis that deserved to die .

    In addition, he added the tormented experiences that he had suffered in Hell with it, turning it to a torture session in his mind .

    Chilling air exuded out of Li Feihong¡¯s body and his pupils emitted a tinge of red color, the same pupils that Tong used to havest year before he awakened his wings .

    Lu Bu¡¯sugh got louder as he liked what he saw . On the other hand, the infantry soldiers of Julu and the cavalries from Jinyang shuddered as they nced at these two in fear .

    "I pray for whoever their target is," Muttered a random soldier .

    .

    2 PM .

    Lu Bu force stopped 500 meters away from Yuan Shao Army . Like Jia Xu had ordered, they stood there, staring down at the nervous groups of soldiers .

    Li Feihong was absentminded as he locked his sight on the general he saw in the monitor without withdrawing back his killing intent .

    Lu Bu did not mind it . It was good practice for his subordinate, so he could get used to the bloodshed on the frontline . The stronger the mentality, the better strategist he would be in the future .

    While they were standing still, Lu Bu had their ballistae crews practiced shooting and gauging the range . The trebuchet range was 400 meters while the ballistae were 200 to 300 meters .

    The practice intimidated Yuan Shao Army further . From Lu Bu¡¯s corner of his eyes, some of them pissed their pants already .

    .

    3 PM .

    Li Feihong noticed that the general he wanted to kill escaped from the frontline with shaking legs . He did not know that the person was Gao Lan, his quest target .

    ************************************

    **Main Mission No . 20**

    Clear Condition: Kill Gao Lan .

    Failure Condition: Time limit exceeded .

    Clearing Reward: 10,000 years of lifespan . Bonus experiences for your existing skills .

    Mission Failure: Your location will be shown on the system map to other yers for 1 year .

    Time Limit Remaining: 27 Days 8 Hour 59 Minutes .

    ************************************

    Li Feihong withdrew his killing intent, feeling pity that the guy went away . However, he noticed two other generals who were gazing toward his direction .

    The two generals stood out from the rest of themanders as well . They both were burly and wore unique armor sets, which decorated in gold and jewelry .

    "Those two guys are mine, Feihong . Don¡¯t bother sending your killing intent at them . They are not like the other guy you targeted . I think they can counter your mental attack with their experiences . I¡¯ve been locking my intent toward them, but they didn¡¯t flinch a slightest . "

    Hearing the warning of Lu Bu, Li Feihong shuddered .

    ¡¯Those people can withstand Fengxian¡¯s killing intent? Wait, Tong can do it, too . Are they famous officers of Yuan Shao?¡¯

 Chapter 266

    Chapter 266

    Chapter 266 ¨C Mental Attacks of Elite Generals

    Idly riding a horse or standing still was still a tiring job . All soldiers on both sides sweat under the spring sunlight . The weather was perfect for an outing, but it was a torture to all men on the battlefield .

    The wait and the suspense of their situation exhausted their mind . Even though all soldiers had not contributed anything to the killing yet, the battle had already started without their realization .

    Lu Bu used his mental strength and his killing intent to pressure Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers .

    Yan Liang and Wen Chou also did the same as they were also targeting Lu Bu¡¯s soldiers .

    Li Feihong, however, got used to Lu Bu¡¯s domineering mental attack . He did not feel anything from Yan Liang and Wen Chou .

    As he did not have to send out his mental attack, nor did he know how to use it, Li Feihong continued to observe all monitors in front of him as if he was watching a show on TV .

    ¡¯I wish I have a smoke . I would have been nice to have something in my mouth . ¡¯

    Li Feihong missed his cigarettes in the previous world . He tried to explore the system shop for augh, but the system denied his ess, iming the dimension was unstable again .

    ¡¯Once this war is over, I¡¯ll research about tobo and weeds . Maybe I¡¯ll nt some in my farm world ... Dammit, my thought turns into a junkie¡¯s . ¡¯

    If a soldier from Lu Bu army knew about what Li Feihong was thinking about, they would have retorted "We¡¯re dying from the killing intent pressure, but you¡¯re chilling thinking of a smoke?"

    It did not take long for the stalemate to shift as Li Feihong noticed a new army approaching from the north . Gao Shun and his 3,000 armored horsemen had crossed the moat, and they were free to attack the workers and the reserve troops of Yan Liang and co . ¡¯s forces from behind .

    "They¡¯re here . Boss, let¡¯s give them a push to distract the main army . "

    ...

    ...

    Yan Liang¡¯s face change . He turned toward the north as he felt something was amiss even though nobody had informed him about any change .

    "What¡¯s wrong, Liang?" Asked Wen Chou .

    "Omen . Bad luck ising from the north . I¡¯m taking a few troops back to the other side . "

    Had it been other generals, they would have thought that Yan Liang was pulling their legs .

    However, Wen Chou understood Yan Liang as if they were brothers with the same mother . He knew why Yan Liang acted that way .

    "If you say so, I¡¯ll trust your guts . "

    Wen Chou was a general who relied on his logic and stratagems . On the contrary, Yan Liang seeded in his career as a general because he relied on his instinct . He could often sense an omen that they could have suffered a significant loss .

    As long as he was responsible with a battalion with over 5,000 men, he could get this sixth-sense feeling .

    There were times that his sense did not work, for example, when he and Wen Chou were tricked and captured by Tong after the battle of Anping was over . Yan Liang also suffered defeat many times in his career, but those were the times when he led small task forces .

    In other words, Yan Liang¡¯s sixth sense only worked on arge scale battlefield . If hemanded small troops, he would not sense anything .

    All heavy cavalries on Wen Chou¡¯s side rushed back to the workers¡¯ side and formed an array toward the north .

    Yan Liang rode to the front and bellowed, "Set up the towers behind our back . Get archers on the towers, we¡¯ll be under attack in a few minutes! Also, call Gao Lan! Get that chicken over here!"

    . . .

    Lu Bu frowned . At the same time, Li Feihong¡¯s face paled .

    "Boss!"

    "I know . I can sense the enemies movements . One of those scums is the same type as mine . He knew about Gao Shun! Feihong, give me your tactic . "

    "Okay! All their horsemen were rushing back, leaving only infantries with repeating crossbows and explosive bombs . We¡¯ll push our infantries and our range weaponry forward until they get into the range!"

    "Good! Footmen, trebuchets units, ballistae units, forward!"

    *RUMBLE*

    Hundreds of siege weapons were being pushed forward as Julu infantries stomped their feet as they marched .

    Li Feihong immediately reported the situation to Jia Xu in the n chat .

    "Report! The ambush n has been discovered . Yuan Shao Army is moving to intercept Gao Shun!"

    Jia Xu replied, "Move Lu Bu forward but use the range attack on their remaining troops . Don¡¯t charge into their formation yet . Also, I want you to assassinate one of their generals . It doesn¡¯t have to be the leading general, a 1000-manmander is fine . "

    "Roger!"

    "Can I deploy my troops to help them?" Asked Zhang Liao .

    "No, you will station inside the fort for the time being . If you move, the entire Yuan Shao 200,000 men will move . That Tian Feng will never let go of this chance when you are out of the fortress . "

    "I see . I¡¯ll stay here then . "

    ...

    Jia Xu had moved tomand the army in the south fortress .

    The northern fort was not the only ce that Tian Feng had moved his pieces . Currently, 20,000 men of Yuan Shao gathered in front of the fort with siege weapons . They were preparing to siege the fort directly to probe its strength .

    Lu Zhi, Zhou Cang, and Xu Huang were present in this garrison, assisting Jia Xu organizing the men .

    None of the soldiers in the fort was panic . Everyone was ready and knew that they had the full advantage over the invaders if they were sieged on the front .

    Jia Xu muttered to Lu Zhi, "A prong attack . Distract the north while probing south . If we show a single weakness, they will know it instantly . "

    "Want me to do something particrly?" Asked Lu Zhi .

    "Head to the north fort with 5,000 horsemen . Instead of using your gs, take Zhang Liao¡¯s gs with you . Make them think that Zhang Liao has exited the north fort . "

    "I see . I¡¯ll go!"

    "Zhou Cang, Xu Huang, I need you two to stay with me in the south fort . This ce will get hit the hardest . Your strength will be more useful here . "

    ...

    Gao Shun and his 3,000 armored horsemen detoured the moat line and arrived at the north of Gao Lan and his reserve army .

    As nned, they had to catch this reserve force off guard and crippled their siege weapons . Looking at the situation in front of Gao Shun Army, he could not follow through with their n .

    Yan Liang, Gao Lan, and their 3,000 heavy cavalries also formed a defensive line with 100 archer towers and 50 trebuchets behind them .

    With that kind of defense, Gao Shun decided that he could not proceed further . He had toe up with a new n on the spot or retreat . If he were to stay idly on this position, the main force of Yuan Shao could sneak at their east nk, which could surround their troops .

    "All units, hold! Do not pursue the enemies, move back and regroup!"

    The 3,000 armored horses changed the direction from the south toward the east then north, making a U-Turn back as they could not stop the galloping horses in the middle of their rush .

    .

    Gao Lan, who had been hiding behind the line, could see the opponent¡¯s g . The leader of the ambushing party also had the same surname as him .

    ¡¯Gao? Which branch family is he from? Ah, right . That is Gao Shun of Jinyang, the master of that [Formation Crushing] stratagem . ¡¯

    The Gao Family in this period was not as prosperous as the Gao Family in the future Dynasties . They were still climbing their ranks as followers of noble ns or subordinates of warlords . Both Gao Shun and Gao Lan shared the same surname, but they did not have a family-rtionship tie like a proper aristocrat family .

    Seeing that Gao Shun was retreating, Gao Lan took it for granted that Gao Shun was afraid of them . He turned to Yan Liang .

    "Sir Yan, let¡¯s pursue and chase after them! We have equipped our men with repeating crossbows and gunpowder bombs, so let¡¯s get rid of them when we can . "

    Yan Liang nced at Gao Lan, "We won¡¯t . We have the direct order from Tian Feng that we can¡¯t move beyond the orders . He told us to secure the perimeters on the north of their fort, and we shall follow through with it . "

    Gao Lan sighed in a disappointment .

    Yan Liang mocked him, "You¡¯re lucky that Chou and I are here . Had youe here alone, you would have been dead two hours ago . "

    "What?"

    "Be careful, there¡¯s another guy in Lu Bu Army that has been wanting you dead . I can feel his killing intent and his mental strength . It¡¯s on the same level as Chou and me . We can¡¯t even make him flinch even though we¡¯ve been targeting him for hours . "

    Killing intent, the supernatural phenomenon that all elite generals in this world were using it as their alternative weapon as a mental attack . Only those who had bathed in the blood of his enemies for years could exhibit this power . Huang Zhong, Lu Bu, Yan Liang, and Wen Chou were parts of those people who had mastered it .

    The victims of this mental attack, who were the targets of their killing intents, would suffer from a panic attack from their own instinct . Their inner sense would cry in fear, telling the master of the body that they had to escape as the image of death was forcefully injected into their brain wave .

    Any weak-willed person would urinate their pants on the spot . However, all elites, who had been through a simr bloodbath, would have an immunity to the sudden hostile aura . Their psyche got used to the image of massacres as they had been through the real life-and-death situations so they would not be scared by the false image of death .

    Listening to the warning of Yan Liang, Gao Lan was shocked . He knew well that Wen Chou and Yan Liang were the elites of the elites, which they could turn their killing intent into a mental attack .

    Usually, both of them never disyed this ability in a spar or training . However, in real battles, they would not hold back their sharp killing intent, which could terrify all soldiers in their sight . Even Gao Lan could notst 30 minutes if he were to be their target of the mental attack .

    Yet, Yan Liang just said there was another monster that could withstand their attack for hours .

    A chill ran down Gao Lan¡¯s spine as he stared at the direction of Lu Bu Army in fear .

    Yan Liang patted Gao Lan¡¯s back, "Don¡¯t worry about it . This thing is just a child y that we use to probe the opponent generals . Now, we know that other than Lu Bu, there is another threat in their army so we can be careful . "

    Gao Lan nodded . This battle would not be a simple fight between strategists or tactics they used .

    The quality of the generals was another factor that could decide the oue of this war!

    ...

    Li Feihong sneezed twice in a row .

    ¡¯Who the fOOk cussed this father!? Oh wait, I¡¯m popr in many counties . It should have been those girls again ...¡¯

 Chapter 267

    Chapter 267

    Chapter 267 ¨C The Skirmish at Northern Anping

    Lu Bu Army was pushing forward, threatening to get into the range of the trebuchets .

    Wen Chou¡¯s face fell as he knew that his men were outnumbered and they had disadvantageous range . He could not retreat either or Lu Bu¡¯s 5,000 horsemen would pursue them if they were to turn their back on them .

    Exhaled out all air in his lung, Wen Chou steeled himself .

    "Men! Loose formation and ready your shields! We¡¯ll move into the range of our crossbows! March forward 100 steps!"

    The soldiers panicked, yet they followed Wen Chou¡¯smand . Each of the 5,000 footmen was carrying their shield on their back . They put the wooden tower shields the cover their front and scattered in a loose array .

    Instead of marching in with soldiers walking side-by-side, they kept a meter distance between each other as a countermeasure against boulders, trebuchet attacks, arrow rains, or any AOE attack that could harm everyone inrge areas .

    However, the loose formation was weak in meleebat . It was a risky tactic to use when Wen Chou only had one battalion tomand .

    On the other hand, Lu Bu and Li Feihong came with two battalions, 5,000 footmen and 5,000 armored horsemen . In this home game, they had both number advantage and location advantage .

    Wen Chou knew about this, he bellowed, "YAN LIANG! GAO LAN! I NEED SUPPORT!"

    In two seconds, he heard a response, "HOLD THE LINE! REINFORCEMENT FROM THE MAIN CAMP IS COMING!"

    Both of them were half a kilometer apart, but they could yell loud enough tomunicate .

    .

    Meanwhile, Lu Bu and Li Feihong could also hear their yelling voices .

    "Feihong?" Asked Lu Bu .

    "I¡¯m looking . Gao Shun has withdrawn to regroup . A massive army about 2 or 30,000 men are moving toward the front of our fortress while 10,000 more men areing toward Gao Shun . "

    "Anything from Jia Xu or others?"

    "Lu Zhi is moving to help us with 5,000 cavalries . Zhang Liao is ordered to maintain his position in the fort . Jia Xu also wanted me to kill at least one of themanders . "

    Lu Bu¡¯s mouth curled upside-down into a [^] and frowned, "Do not aim for their army generals . You can kill any of their submanders, but don¡¯t try to get their main leaders . You¡¯ll die if you do . "

    Li Feihong raised one of his eyebrows, thinking that Lu Bu threatened him again .

    "Okay, boss . I¡¯ll leave their leaders for you . "

    As they conversed, the trebuchets got into their firing range . Without the need of Li Feihong or Lu Bu¡¯s order, the sergeants of each squad stopped moving forward and set up their trebuchet to get ready to fire .

    All crude oil barrels and boulders were brought to the siege weapons . The trebuchet crews loaded all their wares onto the pouches .

    Lu Bu shouted to hasten their work, "Trebuchets, fire at will!"

    Noises ofrge objects flying through the air resonated as the trebuchet slings hurled burning barrels and rocks at Yuan Shao¡¯s 5,000 men .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Burning barrelsnded on top of a few unfortunate soldiers and caused me explosions . A hundred crude oil barrels ignited a sea of fire which hampered Wen Chou¡¯s n .

    *BOOM*

    Several gunpowder bags and woven bags exploded as it caught fire, causing chain reactions . The bags did not just contain only gunpowder, scrape irons pieces, and sharp bronze pieces had been mixed inside as well . Each explosion caused the shrapnel to scatter, harming the nearby friendly soldiers .

    Small rocks and a couplerge boulders mmed onto the crowd of soldiers afterward . Shields of the soldiers managed to block the small stones, but a boulder squashed the unlucky men on its path .

    Wen Chou gritted his teeth and endured the iing barrages of trebuchet attacks . Though the fire attack was intense as me and smoke covered the battlefield, he and the surviving soldiers continued to run forward, carrying their gunpowder bags, crossbows, and shields .

    As they ran, they got through theyer of smoke and got into the range of their crossbows .

    Before his men could aim their bows, sharp whistling noises came from the front . Ballistae from Lu Bu¡¯s side had begun firing, and Julu Infantries poured their arrows from their repeating crossbows .

    Wen Chou¡¯s men raised their shield in a nt 45 degrees, blocking the arrow rain from the front .

    *BOOM*

    Logs and spears which were shot from ballistae pierced several men as if they were sausages prepared for a BBQ .

    Even though they did not have the initiative of the first attack, 3,000 of 5,000 made it through the onught . As soon as Wen Chou Armypleted setting up their shields in a fish scale formation, Wen Chou¡¯s archers fired back at Lu Bu¡¯s infantries .

    *RUMBLE*

    Before the arrow volley of Wen Chou archers reached Julu soldiers, Lu Bu and his 5,000 armored cavalries moved .

    Lu Bu ced his horsemen on the nks of Julu Infantries, which each side consisted of 2,500 men .

    The two nks of two 2,500 horsemen units rushed at the archers . They were not charging at the enemies in a squire or a wedge formation, the two groups formed a shape of two fangs which looked like they were about to chew Wen Chou Army .

    Among one of the two units, Lu Bu was leading the charge .

    *SOEK* *CLANK* *CLANK*

    The arrows from Wen Chou Army pierced Julu men while the majority of arrows were blocked by the iron tower shields . Unfortunately, five hundreds of the soldiers were still killed without realizing what hit them while a thousand were caught at the non-vital parts and survived .

    The barrages of Wen Chou force just now were made of over 10,000 arrows from their repeating crossbows . It was Julu Army¡¯s first time to taste its own medicines .

    "Step back 50 steps and keep the shields above your head! Form fish scale formation of 50 men and move with your squad!" Bellowed Li Feihong as his eyes still locked onto a floating monitor .

    Li Feihong found a target to kill, but he decided to wait for a better chance .

    *BOOM*

    Lu Bu and his men collided with the archers of Wen Chou Army .

    The archers were preupied firing their arrows and forgot to defend themselves . ives, halberds, spears, and other polearms made their way towards their bodies, mincing them apart .

    The two fangs arrays of Lu Bu gnawed the nks of Wen Chou¡¯s loose formation .

    In the middle of the fight, Lu Bu sensed an omen, just like when Yan Liang sensed Gao Shun .

    Lu Bu gestured with his hands, which his subordinates understood it .

    *WHOOSH*

    g bearers of Lu Bu force waved their signal gs . Both fangs that were charging into Wen Chou archers did not bite, but they went straight toward the east, ignoring the existence of the archers .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Archers of Wen Chou ignited their bomb bags, which were ced in the corner of their formation .

    "Tsk!"

    Lu Bu clicked his tongue as he watched his men at his rearguards got caught on the explosions . Had Lu Bu did not move away from the Wen Chou archers, the entire army of 5,000 heavy cavalries would have been crippled by the explosive bomb trap .

    ¡¯Foolish scums! I sensed that you¡¯re using a coward tactic . You can¡¯t catch me with that!¡¯

    Lu Bu regrouped his men and turned his back toward the field which was barraged by the fire attacks .

    Wen Chou also clicked his tongue . He had nned to bait Lu Bu using his men, which he believed that the reckless monster among men should have fallen for this delicious defenseless archers .

    ¡¯I see, you¡¯re the same type as Yan Liang!¡¯

    As a tactician general and the secondary brain of Yuan Shao Army, he analyzed that Lu Bu had relied on his instinct to detect the omen and escaped from the trap by a hair breathe .

    The ignited trap managed to take down a few hundred horses along with their riders, but the threat of the joint attack of Lu Bu and Li Feihong had not ended .

    *BANG* *BANG*

    The thunderous bang sounds of gunshot alerted Wen Chou as he recognized this weapon .

    ¡¯Thunder magic! Is Zhang Tong here?¡¯

    The horror of Tong¡¯s magic still haunted Wen Chou since the day Tong shot his feet and captured both Yan Liang and him as hostages .

    "General! Both our 2000-manmanders have been killed!"

    Wen Chou did not look at his messenger, but he red at the direction of Li Feihong, who had pulled his right hand and his gun back from a portal .

    The killing intent of Wen Chou locked on Li Feihong at full force, yet Li Feihong ignored it and turned to his men to maneuver his troops .

    ¡¯That¡¯s not Zhang Tong, but he¡¯s experienced! From Tian Feng¡¯s intel and that Li gs, that should be Li Feihong . To think that a young strategist has this mentality . ¡¯

    ¡¯Zhang Liao should still be inside the fort . If this guyes out, we will have a chance to strike down the north fort!¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯ll bait this young strategist . If he¡¯s still a greenhorn, he will fall for this . ¡¯

    Wen Chou looked back toward the bridge . Lu Bu had regrouped and formed two-row formation, getting ready for a sweeping charge . 400 Meters behind Lu Bu, Yan Liang¡¯s armored cavalries were crossing the reinforced bridges, creating arrays and getting prepared to pincer Lu Bu from behind .

    On the other side of the moat, a reinforcement of 20,000 soldiers rushed at their location while another 40,000 men form ranks in front of the north fort, getting ready to attack it .

    "All archers, turn around and aim at the horsemen behind our back! Get ready to defend against their charge! Anyone with a spear, group with others that have shields . Form a 10-man porcupine and endure their onught!"

    Wen Chou bellowed . He rode back to stood behind his men, facing Lu Bu and his armored cavalries and showing his back to Li Feihong .

    All soldiers under Wen Chou were elites . Theypleted their roles and arrays in 10 seconds, and they were ready to send their arrow barrage at Lu Bu Cavalry units .

    Seeing the back of Wen Chou force, Li Feihong did not want to let this chance slip away, "Archers, dash forward 50 steps and fire at will! Now!"

    Wen Chou smirked and shouted, "Archers, turn around and fire immediately! Empty your clip! Porcupine squads, stay in your formation!"

    Wen Chou¡¯s elites made a 180 degrees turn andunched their barrages without looking at the enemies .

    The running archers of Li Feihong did not expect a sudden arrow rain as they were out of their range a moment ago, they ran into the range of the fired arrows .

    ¡¯I was tricked!¡¯ Li Feihong wanted to shout to stop all of them, but he was toote .

    "Shields up! Shields up!" Shouted Li Feihong, but a thousand of his men had already fallen by Wen Chou¡¯s archers .

    "Protect your friends and shoot back! Lu Bu will pincer them from behind! Keep them upied!"

    Surviving Julu archers return-fired, which also caused damages back to Wen Chou¡¯s archers .

    *BWOO*

    Lu Bu blew his horn, signaling his troops to charge at Wen Chou .

    *BWOO*

    Yan Liang, who was getting ready, also blew his horn, signaling all of his horsemen to pursue Lu Bu from behind .

    *BWOO*

    A third horn sounded from the north, which surprised Wen Chou and Yan Liang .

    *RUMBLE*

    The sounds of galloping horses came from the northern direction, and the [Gao] gs could be seen in among the troops .

    Gao Shun crossed back the moat to assist Lu Bu!

 Chapter 268

    Chapter 268

    Chapter 268 ¨C Result of the Skirmish, Beginning of the Siege

    Before Gao Shun crossed to the other side, they had created a bridge with mud and soil instead of using logs and nks . It took them an entire hour to fill a portion of the moat to make a passage, but it was worth their times as it was sturdy enough for his army to rush across it .

    Thanked to their hard work, Gao Shun quickened their return and caught Yan Liang and Wen Chou by surprise .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve got them!¡¯

    Yan Liang had begun charging toward Lu Bu, but they did not form any defensive array against Gao Shun .

    Yan Liang had a tunnel vision when he ordered his cavalries to cross the bridge again after Gao Shun had retreated . He stared at Lu Bu Army as he was waiting for the right time to strike, but he forgot that Gao Shun was still around .

    Even if they could turn their horses around to intercept Gao Shun Army, theycked preparation, and their men had limited number of tactic choices . At best, they could switch from their long [I-Line] array into a weak wedge formation or a one-fang formation .

    On the other hand, Guo Shun rushed in with the flexible crane wings formation, which could turn into a different array or they could detach their wings at any moment .

    Yan Liang¡¯s face fell . He waved his right hand and pointed to Guo Shun, signaling to troops to change direction and rush at the ambushing cavalries .

    "Turn right to wedge! Prate their formation and breakthrough!" Shouted Yan Liang .

    At the same time, Guo Shun gave hismand, "Take out your hand crossbows! Detach to two wings and avoid the contact! Fire your crossbows at their horses once they rush pass us!"

    The two cavalries rushed at each other, but Guo Shun¡¯s crane wings troops separated their formation into two, running away from Yan Liang¡¯s charge .

    Guo Shun riders on each wing aimed their hand crossbows at the horses of Yan Liang¡¯s soldiers and pulled the trigger, following with muffled whistling sounds .

    Although many arrows wereing at Yan Liang Army, most of them were deflected by the armors of the horses .

    3,000 Small bolts managed to hit one-fifth of Yan Liang¡¯s men, which 500 of them copsed on the ground with their riders while the rest galloped along with the pack, carrying their injuries from the arrows .

    As they passed each other, Yan Liang¡¯s eyes scanned through the passing horsemen of Guo Shun, searching for the general of this army . It did not take long for him to find Guo Shun, who was in the middle of the crowd .

    The bloodshot eyes of Yan Liang imprinted Guo Shun¡¯s image into his brain as he swore that he would get back on this person .

    "Head west! Go and rescue Wen Chou!"

    At the same time, Guo Shun also roared, "Head West! Don¡¯t let them get away!"

    .

    Beyond the tattered battleground where fires and broken oil barrels scattered around, Lu Bu Cavalry rushed at Wen Chou¡¯s troops, which were in porcupine formations .

    "Give me spears!"

    As Red Hare King was galloping toward the groups of shields and spears, Lu Bu took several spears from his subordinates . Just like what Friday did to Sun Fang, Lu Bu threw the spears at the groups .

    The spear velocity and speed created a whistling sound and followed by a loud boom .

    Lu Bu spear prated the shield and killed a soldier in the formation .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Five more spears broke through five shields and destroyed the formation of the groups, creating an opening .

    "Men, after me! Form wedge!"

    *BOOM*

    Lu Bu swung his halberd and sent a disarrayed group of porcupine flying . Ten burly spearheads who followed after Lu Bu did the same with the other porcupine groups, which cut a path for the weaker horsemen .

    Theyer of porcupine spearmen was brokethrough, and Lu Bu reached the field of archers, who were firing their crossbows at Li Feihong Army .

    The arrows from Li Feihong Army had stopped the moment Lu Bu Cavalry collided with the porcupineyer of defense .

    "You will not pass!"

    Wen Chou bellowed as he galloped his horse forward, charging at Lu Bu .

    ¡¯Idiot!¡¯ Li Feihongughed as he predicted what would happen to Wen Chou .

    *BOOM*

    A simple swing of Lu Bu¡¯s crescent halberd sent Wen Chou and his horse flying backward even though Wen Chou blocked it .

    The warhorse of Wen Chou staggered but regained its bnce in a second . Wen Chou¡¯s hands were shaking from the numbness, and his elbows felt the tingling electricity .

    "Such power!" (Author: Kono Powa!)

    As if a grim reaper had descended, Lu Bu and his Red Hare chased after the stunned Wen Chou . Meanwhile, Lu Bu Cavalry did not follow after him as they went into the pack of archers, killing everybody in their sight .

    "Don¡¯t you underestimate me!"

    Wen Chou bellowed and retaliated, waving his halberd at the oing Red Hare¡¯s face to cripple the horse .

    *CLANK*

    The halberd was deflected by the crescent halberd .

    "Didn¡¯t your mother teach you not to harm innocent animals!?" Bellowed back by Lu Bu before he repeated his swing .

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    Wen Chou could not strike back as Lu Bu pushed the pressure on Wen Chou with his power . Each sh of their halberd caused sparks to fly, and Wen Chou could feel that his hands and arms were losing strength as it continued .

    After 10 parries, Wen Chou kicked his horse to change its direction .

    ¡¯I have to run! This is a real monster!¡¯

    The smiling face of Lu Bu distorted when he detected Wen Chou¡¯s eyes .

    "Ha! This is all you¡¯ve got? A general position doesn¡¯t suit you, you might as well change your career and work as a chambermaid for your lord!"

    Lu Bu was tired of Wen Chou¡¯s cowardice and his mediocre horseback fighting skills . He tightened his grip on his halberd, gathering more strength to finish Wen Chou .

    *BOOM*

    The explosive sound caused Lu Bu to stop on his track . Someone had thrown a bomb bag at his direction, but he missed the target . The sh of gunpowder blinded Lu Bu¡¯s sight for a second, and he could feel several small pieces of objects hitting his armor .

    The bomb was from the surviving soldiers of the porcupine formation groups who had decided to rush back to save their generals .

    Wen Chou took this chance and rode back toward his spearmen . As he checked the status of his other men on the battlefield, most of his archers had been ughtered by Lu Bu¡¯s cavalries and Li Feihong¡¯s archers .

    "Retreat east! We¡¯re outnumbered!"

    Red Hare King was still stunned from the explosive power . It shook its head and snorted as if it was trying to regain its sight and recover from the dizziness .

    Lu Bu recovered faster than his horse . Since the horse could not move, he red at Wen Chou, who was retreating with his few surviving spearmen .

    Out of frustration, Lu Bu roared, "Archers, take them down!"

    Li Feihong¡¯s archers and Lu Bu¡¯s cavalries pointed their crossbows at Wen Chou and his men, sending all ammunition . All arrows and short arrows made their ways and took out hundreds of the spearmen .

    Wen Chou¡¯s face was ck . He came here with 5,000 men, but there were about 20 to 30 men around him left .

    This battle was a failure . Jinyang Army did not take the bait as Zhang Liao was still in the fortress .

    *RUMBLE*

    "Chou!"

    Yan Liang shouted as he and his horsemen arrived at the area where Wen Chou and his men were .

    "We have failed! Lu Bu didn¡¯t take the bait, and Zhang Liao is still in the fort . We have to retreat!"

    Yan Liang assigned horses for the surviving spearmen as they turned around to head toward the east .

    *BWOO*

    A horn sound came from the further away from the west . An army with Zhang gs appeared on the horizon .

    "Zhang? Is that Zhang Liao?"

    "Is Zhang Liao out of the fort?"

    Wen Chou and Yan Liang nced at each other .

    "Let¡¯s hurry back . Let¡¯s try to lure Lu Bu with our remaining men," Suggested Wen Chou .

    ...

    Guo Shun regrouped with Lu Bu and Li Feihong along with his men .

    Upon seeing the facial expression on the face of Lu Bu, Guo Shun did not dare to speak . Traces of blue veins and distorted wrinkles on his skin could be seen .

    "I . "

    "Hate . "

    "Gunpowder . "

    Lu Bu only muttered three words, but it was more than enough for Li Feihong and Guo Shun to understand his mood .

    Red Hare King regained its strength . It neighed and shook its head in frustration . Its eyes also red at the retreating army of Yan Liang as if it was an angry lion .

    Lu Bu patted its head and questioned, "How are our men?"

    "Terrible, we¡¯ve lost one-third of our infantries . About 500 of our cavalries also died because of their bombs," Li Feihong answered while he clenched his fists . The majority of the infantry casualties came from his mistake when he fell for Wen Chou¡¯s trick .

    "And, who¡¯sing behind our back? Zhang Liao?"

    "No, that¡¯s Lu Zhi in a disguise of Zhang Liao . Jia Xu has sent him here . "

    "What is he nning?"

    Li Feihong looked at the east where dust was getting thicker . It was a sign that arge army was mobilizing .

    "Pretending that nobody is defending the fort . He wants the enemy to attack our base . "

    A few minutester, Lu Zhi and 5,000 armored cavalries joined them .

    "Sir Lu, Sir Li, Sir Guo . I¡¯ve brought a new order from Sir Jia . "

    ...

    ...

    Wen Chou and Yan Liang had sent a messenger to tell Tian Feng about their founding .

    They had spotted Zhang Liao Army .

    "Are you sure this is correct?" Asked Tian Feng .

    "Yes, sir! Lord Wen wrote this himself!"

    Tian Feng hesitated . He thought, ¡¯It¡¯s a bit too easy . But a sessful bait is still a sess nheless . ¡¯

    Tian Feng wrote several orders and passed it to the messenger .

    ...

    ...

    After Lu Zhi had arrived, the situation above the north fort entered a stalemate .

    Julu and Jinyangbined force of 15,800 soldiers, which got through the previous fight, stationed behind the moat and formed a defensive array .

    Wen Chou, Yan Liang, and their 2,500 remaining heavy cavalries returned to the other side of the moat and regrouped with their 20,000 men of reinforcement, led by Gao Lan who had escaped from the battle earlier .

    As their archer towers and trebuchets were still on the other side, Lu Bu and Lu Zhi could not pursue as they were vulnerable to their archers and their towers .

    The same applied to Wen Chou, Yan Liang, and Gao Lan . Lu Bu still had his trebuchets and ballistae stationing within the army, which intimidated Yuan Shao forces .

    Though the battlefront above the north fort entered a stalemate, Feng Ji and Te Langpu led several battalions, consisted of 40,000 men, to the front of the north fort with their siege weapons .

    At first, they stood still to intimidate the defenders . However, a new order from Tian Feng arrived .

    Feng Ji read the order andughed .

    "He wants us to attack the fort right now . What do you think, sir Te?"

    "Attacking now orter is the same . Let¡¯s get this over with . "

 Chapter 269

    Chapter 269

    Chapter 269 ¨C Battle of Trebuchets

    Yuan Shao Army hit their war drums, and 20,000 men marched forward, pushing trebuchets and 10-meter-tall siege towers into the range . In addition, shield bearers were driving several wagons carrying dirt and sand with haste .

    Zhang Liao waved his hands, and 200 trebuchets on the fort towersunched their burning barrels . While he was at it, Zhang Liao ordered, "Everyone but trebuchet crews, retreat to the inner wall . "

    The first barrage of burning crude oil created a firewall that barred Te Langpu and Feng Ji¡¯s troops . A few barrels managed to hit the trebuchets of Yuan Shao Army, destroying them .

    Instead of panicking, hundreds of siege weapons continued to move forward as they had not reached their ideal range to fire yet .

    This gave the trebuchet crews in the fort to fire the second volley . As Zhang Liao¡¯s soldiers had measured the range and the direction from the first barrage, the second barrels were more urate . A hundred of Yuan Shao¡¯s siege weapons were destroyed, while the missed barrels exploded and caused more fire .

    "We¡¯re in range . Return fire! Load the bags!"

    Trebuchet crews of Yuan Shao also began operating their weaponry, firing boulders toward the wall .

    The 90% of the boulders hit the wall and dropped on the ground, rolling down the moat . Several of them went over the wall and hit trebuchet towers inside the fort .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Large boulders cracked the wooden walls, which tore several tied logs . However, the entire wall section did not copse as there were mud and stone that reinforced it .

    Feng Ji bellowed, "Use the gunpowder! Switch to gunpowder andunch them inside the wall!"

    gbearers of Feng Ji Army waved their signal gs, and hundreds of horsemen, who were carrying gunpowder sacks rushed toward the surviving trebuchets .

    The third barrage from the fort arrived . This time, more than half of Yuan Shao¡¯s trebuchets were destroyed, and some of the gunpowder carriers got caught in the fire, exploding the bomb sacks they were carrying .

    Feng Ji gritted his teeth . Had the gunpowder been high in quantity, each of the trebuchet crews would have brought several sacks with them . Since their ammunition was limited, they had to bring them to the surviving trebuchet crewster so they would not be wasted .

    The remaining trebuchet crews got their hands on the gunpowder sacks . They loaded them on the pouches and set the fuses .

    Afterward, the siege weaponsunched their ammo inside the fort .

    Zhang Liao had predicted this . He bellowed and got behind the battlement, covering himself from the explosion .

    "TAKE COVER!"

    20 of 50 sacksnded inside the fort while the rest hit the wall and rolled into the moat .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The thunderous loud boom shocked both attackers and defenders . The explosion caused dirt, dust, shrapnel, and destroyed objects to fly . The explosive sound deafened everyone in the area and made them dizzy .

    Since Feng Ji was far away from the site, he was not affected by the shockwave and the noise . Heughed and ordered the signalers, "Again! Bomb them again!"

    Te Langpu grabbed Feng Ji¡¯s shoulder and shook his head, "We have limited ammo . Use it sparingly!"

    "No! We have to ensure their annihtion and save the lives of our soldiers! I want to use all of the gunpowder today!"

    Te Langpu shrugged, "Fine . I¡¯ll leave everything to you . I¡¯m going to return to the main camp . "

    "Of course . If we win today, it will be because of my ingenious insight! Please remember that!"

    "Sure, sure . I¡¯ll give the victory credit to you . "

    The gbearers sent another order signal, and more horsemen rushed to the battlefield with the rest of gunpowder sacks of their army .

    By the time that the horsemen reached the functioning trebuchets, the fourth barrage from the fort came . However, the number of burning barrels were less than the previous volleys as the explosion destroyed several of the infrastructures and trebuchet towers within the fort .

    40 Of 70 remaining trebuchets were destroyed along with gunpowder sacks, but thest 30 trebuchets managed to counter-fire . All of them were hurled over the wall into the fort once more .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Zhang Liao had already evacuated from the front wall into the inneryer wall . However, some of the trebuchet crews werete to retreat, they got caught in the explosion of Feng Ji¡¯s second bombardment .

    ck smoke and traces of fire inside the fort could be seen from the outside, which delighted Yuan Shao Army soldiers .

    After thest explosion, the counter-fire from the fortress trebuchets stopped . Yuan Shao¡¯s crews outside managed to fire another shot inside the fort without a resistance .

    Feng Ji jumped and yelled, "They have been crippled! Siege towers, onward! All troops, attack!"

    Carts and wagons that were carrying dirt and sand rushed in and filled the moat with it . Siege towers with 2,000 archers approach the wall, and a 5,000-man battalion attempted to cross the moat .

    They got close to the wall without any attack from the archers inside . Delighted by the idleness of the defenders, the footmen tore down a section of a wall and climbed inside .

    As they got on top of the wall, they could see the wreckages of the buildings, corpses, copsed towers, and destroyed trebuchets . They cheered as if they had just won the war .

    The footmen on the ground rushed inside, hoping to loot some treasures or supplies for themselves . As they got deeper inside through the smoke, their eyes widened .

    Anotheryer of mud wall awaited them with thousands of archers on top . Furthermore, the height of the wall was as tall as their unique siege towers .

    Rain of arrows covered the sky, whichnded on the invaders who came for treasures .

    The death throes of the early birds rmed the troops who were still outside the wall .

    The result of a siege battle usually does not end after the wall has been breached . As long as the defenders still have traps and garrison forces inside, a battle always continues until the defender surrenders or the attacker retreats .

    The same applied to the situation in the north fort . Though Yuan Shao Army managed to get into the fort, they were far from iming the victory .

    On top of the inner wall, Zhang Liao and 9,500 garrison soldiers stood tall . They lost a few hundred men from the explosion, but the majority of them had already evacuated before the bombardment arrived .

    The nted shape of the inner wall confused Yuan Shao footmen . They did not know if they should attack the wall in front of them or proceed further inside the fort along with the shape of the wall .

    The attackers stopped moving in after they crossed the outeryer wall as they were afraid of getting shot by the arrows of the garrison army .

    Feng Ji noticed the anomaly . He climbed the siege tower on the frontline to see what happened inside the fort .

    Because of the ck smoke, he could not see further inside . However, themotion inside the fort made him nervous .

    "Hold the line and upy the outer wall! Have someone call Gao Lan or Yan Liang here! I need them to spearhead for the men inside!"

    An hourter, the same messenger returned with a pale face .

    "Sir, they refused toply with the order . They said Lord Tian Feng had ordered them to lure Jinyang Army outside . They cannot move to attack the inside or Lu Bu and his men will return to the fort and assist them . "

    "What!?"

    Feng Ji scratched his head as he paced back and forth . Then, he turned to the direction of the central army where Yuan Shao and Tian Feng were .

    ¡¯That bastard! Does he know anything about stratagem? Why do you use your important chess pieces like this? You have to distribute them evenly, or one of the fronts will copse!¡¯

    "Send a message to Tian Feng . I want you to ask that bastard to send abatantmander over . We arecking a spearhead!"

    "Y-Yes, sir!"

    ...

    ...

    South Fort, where Jia Xu, Xu Huang, and Zhou Cang were defending . The simr situation urred in this fort as well .

    Qu Yi, the grandmander of Yuan Shao South Legion, got stuck after he bombarded the south wall with their gunpowder bomb . He and several generals managed to breach the wall, but they could not proceed further as the inner wall was a threat to their men .

    "I want trebuchets and siege towers inside the fort! Move them inside!" Yelled Qu Yi .

    "Sir, the moat and the wall wreckage are in the way . We can¡¯t move them in right now . "

    "Clear the path then! Get the archers on the outer wall . All free hands, help the siege crews clearing the way!"

    Both fronts decided to stop attacking to disassemble the outeryer wall and fill the moat for their siege weapons . As they were busy with their jobs, the sun had set .

    Yuan Shao¡¯s legions, which were responsible for the attacking, could not retreat . They camped in front of the fort and used the outeryer wall as their fences . Half of the men rested, while the others stayed awake as guards of the night .

    Tian Feng visited the southern front to check the situation . Upon seeing theplexyout of the wall and the mess inside the fort, he frowned .

    "How many sacks of gunpowder do we have left?"

    Qu Yi counted his fingers, "About 50 to 60 sacks, do you need them?"

    "No, keep it for the next siege battle . You can fake attack tonight and siege the wall tomorrow morning with the bombs . "

    "Understood!"

    Leaving the assignments, Tian Feng rushed back and headed north . He wanted to see how Feng Ji was doing .

    During the day, he saw Te Langpu inside the central camp . Upon questioning him, Te Langpu said that Feng Ji chased him away, saying he wanted tomand the army alone .

    ¡¯This person is a headache! He is talented, but why is he picking unnecessary infighting?¡¯

    Tian Feng had enough about Feng Ji . After this battle, he nned to demote Feng Ji and remove him from the strategist position . Little did he know that Te Langpu also framed Feng Ji out of spite .

    When Tian Feng reached the northern fort, he was shocked by the result of the battle .

    The good news was, Feng Ji¡¯s soldiers did not suffer as many casualties as Qu Yi¡¯s men . However, Feng Ji exhausted all of the gunpowder!

    "Idiot! What have you done!? Do you know how much gold we have to invest in each sack of the powder!?"

    Tian Feng yelled at Feng Ji in the middle of the northern camp . Themotion got the attention of all soldiers nearby .

    Feng Ji did not like being yelled at his face so he bellowed back, "I did what I can to save our men¡¯s live! All expendable assets are there to achieve the victory, and I¡¯ve used to get this wall . What¡¯s wrong with it!?"

    "What¡¯s wrong with it!? We don¡¯t have enough firepower to attack their inner walls! They have those crude oil bomb, but we only have gunpowder bomb! You¡¯re out of ammo, but I¡¯m sure they still have plenty of those ck oil! What are you going to do about the siege tomorrow? Archer towers? Trebuchets?"

    "Of course! What else can you do?"

    "Are you nuts!? You have said that you wanted to save our men, but you will go for the battle of attrition tomorrow!?"

    "What? I didn¡¯t say I will trade our men¡¯s lives . "

    "You did! Without the gunpowder, and you want to use archer towers, you will run into their trebuchet towers and their archers! Our archers have the same range and weapons, then what do think will happen if you exchange arrows with theirs? It will be a massacre!"

 Chapter 270

    Chapter 270: 270

    Chapter 270 ¨C Trap Fortress

    Feng Ji finally realized his ws . His face sunk as he could not retort Tian Feng¡¯s words .

    Tian Feng asked him again, "Now, how are you going to save your men¡¯s lives without gunpowder? Since you went against my order, I need to hear about your ingenious stratagem that you¡¯vee up . "

    "Err, this ..."

    Seeing the stuttering Feng Ji, Tian Feng snorted and walked away . He did not want to waste his time with this ipetence strategist anymore .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve misjudged him! He¡¯s not talented, but he¡¯s useless!¡¯

    Feng Ji watched the leaving Tian Feng in awkward . Then, the awkwardness turned into hatred as his stubbornness could not ept that everything was his fault .

    "Screw you, Tian Feng! One day, I¡¯ll kill you!" Muttered Feng Ji .

    He did not realize that several soldiers heard his remarks . They hurried back to their friends to spread what they had heard .

    ...

    Tian Feng sent a messenger to Qu Yi, asking him to give some of his gunpowder to the northern army . He nned to seek an audience with Yuan Shao to rece Feng Ji with Te Langpu the next day so Feng Ji could not ruin the battle n again .

    Finished with the inspection on the northern camp, he also visited Wen Chou Camp to check their status .

    Wen Chou had bandages covering his hands, arms, and shoulders as the battle against Lu Bu injured his arms .

    "Was it that difficult?" Asked Tian Feng .

    "He¡¯s a monster, alright . I can¡¯t face him by myself . "

    "What if you two attack him together?" Tian Feng looked at Yan Liang, who was by the side of his friend .

    "That might be impossible . All Jinyang generals are across the moat . We can¡¯t get that opportunity again," Wen Chou sighed .

    Yan Liang chimed in, "Yeah . If we want to take down Lu Bu, we will have to go through Gao Shun and Zhang Liao . And I have to update your intel, Li Feihong is also a dangerous fellow . That guy has the same mentality as us, and we suspect that he can also use Zhang Tong¡¯s thunder magic . All Chou¡¯s aides are dead in thest battle because of that thunder magic!"

    Tian Feng nodded, "I understand . I¡¯ll reevaluate our n . For now, keep Jinyang generals in check . I¡¯ll leave Gao Lan here to support you two . "

    "Aye . So ... what do we do?"

    "Keep trying to cross the moat . Fill it while you¡¯re at it . We¡¯ll take down the forts in a few days!"

    "Will do!"

    ...

    ...

    March 4th .

    A day passed without anyone trying to move on the other, which surprised Tian Feng . He had thought that Jia Xu might try to sortie and harass their army, but Jia Xu did not even bother sending out any man .

    Within Yuan Shao¡¯s main camp, a change urred .

    Feng Ji¡¯s remark that soldiers had been gossiping yesterday reached Yuan Shao¡¯s ears . With the support of Tian Feng, Feng Ji was discharged from his post and was reced with Te Langpu .

    The sacked strategist was terrified by the direct order of his lord, and he pleaded to Yuan Shao to change his mind . However, his sentence got worse .

    "This is the second time that you disobeyed my order! Guards, arrest this fool and send him back to Nanpi! Once we get back, I¡¯ll decide what I¡¯ll do with him . For now, he¡¯s demoted to amon ve!"

    Feng Ji fainted because of the shock while the guards dragged him away from the camp .

    Te Langpu did not like taking the responsibility of an army as he thought it was too troublesome . Still, he had to follow the natives as he was powerless .

    "Is there something wrong, sir Te?" Yuan Shao noticed the dissatisfaction on Te Langpu¡¯s face .

    "I¡¯m feeling unworthy of the current position . My forte is businesses and financial management . I don¡¯t think I can meet your expectation on a battlefield . "

    "Hahaha! I see . I might actually be using the wrong person for the wrong job . But for now, can you temporary hold the post? I don¡¯t have any other trustworthy man that can calmly oversee ten thousand men at the moment . The others are busy on the other fronts, you see?"

    Te Langpu clicked his tongue in secret, yet he bowed and epted his post .

    .

    March 5th .

    Jia Xu still had not moved . All Julu and Jinyang Army stood firm like mountains .

    Tian Feng was depressed as he could not read Jia Xu¡¯s mind . However, he did not care if the old fox never moved as he had another agenda .

    The paths for siege weapons had been paved with soil and mud . They could be transferred beyond the moat today!

    As they maintained their position, the troops at Yuan Shao Camp had constructed more siege towers and trebuchets . Each battlefront was sporting 300 trebuchets, 100 siegedders, and 300 siege towers .

    By the time that they brought all the siege weapons across the moat, it was already 3 PM .

    Te Langpu nced at Tian Feng, who came here to assist him at the northern fort .

    "Should I attack today? We don¡¯t have enough bomb sacks . "

    "Yes, please . We¡¯ve been dyed for too long . Let¡¯s get this over with . "

    "Ah ..."

    Te Langpu gestured his aide, and the booming sound of war drums alerted all Yuan Shao forces . All soldiers pushed all siege weapons to the inner wall .

    Because they did not have enough gunpowder, Tian Feng decided that they would try to attack the wall in an orthodox way .

    As they moved in, the nted [V] wall made Tian Feng frowned .

    ¡¯That formation ... it¡¯s Zhang Tong¡¯s trap walls!¡¯

    Tian Feng had learned about Tong¡¯s tactic in the Battle of Anping two years ago . The crossfire and the unusual setup of the wall was Tong¡¯s signature that every schr in the Northern Provinces knew about .

    This wall reeked of Tong¡¯s ploy .

    "Do now move into the center between the walls! Aim at the corner!"

    Te Langpu also noticed about this, too . He pointed the edge of the wall and ordered, "Target that corner side of the wall . Do not move in too deep!"

    Trebuchet crews moved in their siege weapons, aiming at the corner of the wall . A battalion of 5,000 men pushed siegedders forward .

    *CRACK*

    *CRACK*

    The strange sound of irons came from behind the wall . Dust flew up, and soldiers on the wall were busy cutting something .

    *BOOM*

    10 Secondster, Te Langpu and Tian Feng widened their eyes in shock . The garrison soldiers cut the ropes that connected the inner wall with the outer palisade walls on the side, which the side walls copsed outward .

    All walls fell down on top of the moat, bing a bridge for any soldier to cross!

    *CLANK*

    *BOOM*

    Simr boom noise came from the central fortress walls, which Yuan Shao archers on the siegedders could see the change .

    "The central fort isying bridges!"

    "They¡¯reying bridges! Several bridges!"

    *BWOO*

    *RUMBLE*

    A horn sounded, and the ground shook as horsemen exited the fortress . They were rushing out using the pathway between the center fort and the north fortress .

    In less of a minute, they reached the sidewall, which had copsed on top of the moat . The cavalries crossed the deep ditches with the wooden wall bridges, charging at the unprepared trebuchet crews .

    Tian Feng and Te Langpu were shocked by the sudden change .

    "The entire fortress is a trap! All forces, retreat!" Shouted Tian Feng

    "No shit, Sherlock!"

    The abrupt change of events put Tian Feng and Te Langpu¡¯s men in chaos . Horsemen slew all trebuchet crews as they passed, and they continued charging toward the other soldiers who were running away .

    Archers on the towers tried to provide the covering fire for theirrades .

    *Tink*

    *nk*

    The arrows from the tall towers either missed or ricocheted by the thick armors of the horsemen . It was then that they realized that they were up against a group of heavy cavalries .

    Te Langpumanded his men while he mixed in with the crowd on one of the archer towers, "Throw the bombs at them or shoot down the horses!"

    Tian Feng, who was by Te Langpu¡¯s side, did not bothermanding the panicking men . He searched through the enemies as if he wanted to check something .

    In an instant, he found what he was looking for, the gs of theirmander . It was a [Zhang] g .

    ¡¯Zhang? Wait, is there another Zhang beside Zhang Liao, Zhang Tong, and his family? Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu have gone to Ye . There shouldn¡¯t be any more this Zhangmander in the fort right now . ¡¯

    Tian Feng¡¯s doubts were answered the moment the heavy cavalry unitmander bellowed after he sent ten the reserve spearmen of Tian Feng Army flying with his halberd .

    "I AM ZHANG LIAO, ZHANG WENYUAN!!"

    The power of this general was a bit lower than Lu Bu, but his psychologic warfare was better than his boss . He always shouted his name when he dove into the enemy formations to make himself stand out and draw out enemy generals . His shouts also intimidated his opponents and distracted them at the same time .

    *BOOM*

    Another group of five men was severed in half .

    "I AM ZHANG WENYUAN!!"

    *BOOM*

    Five armored spearmen were sent flying .

    "I AM ZHANG LIAO!!"

    Zhang Liao crushed all soldiers in his path without fearing the bombs that Yuan Shao Army was hiding . In addition, 10,000 armored cavalries made quick work on the siege crews and began destroying the siege towers where archers were on top of them .

    *BOOM*

    A tower was hacked down by the horsemen¡¯s axes . It copsed with several hundreds of archers on it .

    Te Langpu saw the copse of the first tower . He ran back to the towerdder and climbed down . On the other hand, Tian Feng was busy sending signals to the gbearers, so they could ry his messages to the other troops below .

    Fortunately, the tower Tian Feng and Te Langpu were using hid deep within the formation of a battalion of 5,000 soldiers .

    Thousands of archers rained their arrows on the armored horsemen of Zhang Liao, but only a few hundreds of arrows managed to find their ways in the fresh of the riders or the horses .

    Spearmen managed to form a line that could limit Zhang Liao¡¯s movement, which slowed their charge speed and momentum .

    Tian Feng wiped his sweat and sighed a relief . There were 20,000 soldiers in his army when the 10,000 Zhang Liao¡¯s battalion charged in . His men were in disarray at first, but all men recovered their sense after a few minutes of battle .

    Zhang Liao¡¯s charge was slowing down, and the archers regained their calm . It was a matter of time that they could wipe out this group of horsemen .

    *BWOO*

    A horn sound came from the north of Tian Feng¡¯s location . Everyone turned to the north by reflex, and they noticed an omen .

    The sidewall on the northern section also fell down on top of the side moat, making a path for any soldier to cross .

    On the horizon, another army appeared . They were carrying the gs of [Li], [Zhang], and [Lu] .

    Lu Bu, Lu Zhi, Li Feihong, and their soldiers rushed at Tian Feng Army .

 Chapter 271

    Chapter 271

    Chapter 271 ¨C End of Second Round, Third Round Begins!

    8 PM .

    The battle inside both north and south fort had ended . Both Yuan Shao armies withdrew from the fort, which they regrouped with the main camp .

    Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and all generals were summoned back as well .

    20,000 soldiers were sent into the north fort while the other 20,000 went to the south . However, only 10,000 came back from both fronts .

    During the day, Lu Bu, Li Feihong, and Lu Zhi jointed their attack with Zhang Liao, which crippled the troops inside the fort . Because of the chaos and the dense crowd of soldiers, Tian Feng did not use his remaining bombs and took all of them back with his surviving men when they escaped .

    Simr events happened in the south fort as Xu Huang led 10,000 armored cavalries, charging at Qu Yi¡¯s battalions from the northern passage of the south fortress . Zhou Cang also guided another group of 5,000 infantries and pincered Qu Yi Army from the south side beyond the moat . As a result, the southern expedition force suffered severe damages and was forced to retreat .

    Counting the number of their survivors, they had already lost 40,000 soldiers from these few days of battles, which was one-fifth of their entire army . Also, they still could not pass these fortresses that stopped their advance .

    Yuan Shao sat on the main seat inside the decorated main tent, looking at his officers with a ck face . In his hands, battle reports of both forts were written in the scroll .

    Yuan Shao uttered in a low voice, "The fortresses are Jia Xu¡¯s traps, yet we fell for it . "

    Tian Feng gulped . Te Langpu looked away, and all other strategists looked down .

    Yuan Shao nced around, but he did not show his anger . He walked toward the strategic map table and began arranging the tokens himself .

    Instead of pointing their direction at Anping Fortresses, he ced several troops elsewhere .

    As he saw the location of the new deployment, Tian Feng¡¯s eyes widened as he had an enlightenment, "We don¡¯t have fight our way through here!"

    Yuan Shao snorted, "Exactly! Why are we bothering with these obstacles anyway? Why don¡¯t we just detour a bit?"

    Te Langpu frowned and raised his hand, "Won¡¯t we get isted and surrounded by all enemies? We are going deep in their territories without crippling their men . They will definitely surround us and cut our path of return . "

    Yuan Shaoughed, "That¡¯s what we want . If they want to surround us, we will strike down their weakest cities and counties . I will force them to fight in the open so we can use our numeral advantage! If we continue to fight on their prepared battleground, we¡¯ll continue to lose . Tian Feng, you remember this as well . Don¡¯t make another simr mistake again!"

    "My Lord is wise . Indeed, it was my carelessness . I¡¯ll take responsibility for these damages when we get back . "

    "It¡¯s good that you realize it . Now, go and prepare! Complete what I have guided all of you!"

    ...

    ...

    Jia Xu and all officers gathered in the central fort to confirm their status after their ns seeded .

    Though they managed to drive away all soldiers inside the outeryer, they lost a total of 5,000 heavy cavalries, which frustrated Lu Bu .

    On the bright side, they destroyed at least 20,000 elites of Yuan Shao Army, which was a profitable exchange of casualties . Secondly, it confirmed Yuan Shao¡¯s personal assets and their capabilities as a whole .

    In the gathering building, Jia Xu reorganized all tokens, which he removed all the dolls and chips from the board .

    Li Feihong tilted his head, "Why are you removing all of them?"

    "Be prepared guys . We¡¯llunch a counter-attack tomorrow . We¡¯ll face them on the field . "

    "But, aren¡¯t we having a better ground if we defend the bases?"

    Jia Xu collected the map on the table and reced it with a new one, which he had finished drawing a few days ago . He reorganized the tokens as he answered Li Feihong¡¯s doubts .

    "They won¡¯t attack us anymore, but they will detour Anping and go elsewhere before they charge at Julu for the decisive battle . "

    Lu Zhi, Zhang Liao, and Li Feihong widened their eyes . It did not make any sense for them to dive into their territories as they could cut off their supply routes, which could starve them to death .

    But they got their answers once Jia Xu ced Yuan Shao¡¯s tokens on the board .

    On the map, Yuan Shao¡¯s tokens pointed toward the direction of Zhongshan City and Ji City!

    "Thankfully, Tian Feng and Yuan Shao are not stupid, so we can narrow their future decisions by a lot . Considered that they have formed a coalition with Liu Yan, a joint attack on Zhongshan is possible . "

    "That¡¯s ... our weakest city," Muttered Lu Zhi .

    "Not only the weakest, but it¡¯s also a strategic location to siege if Yuan Shao wants Julu . I¡¯m sure Yuan Shao is using Liu Yan to cripple our army in Zhongshan while he sabotages Liu Yan Army in Ji . By now, our young master is sieging Ji City while Liu Yan¡¯s main force is attacking Zhongshan . If Yuan Shao appears to help Liu Yan at this moment, Zhongshan will fall, and our Lord will be isted instead . "

    Jia Xu met his eyes with Lu Bu¡¯s as he advised, "Sir Lu Bu, you will get your chance to rampage as you wish tomorrow . Be warned that you will have to fight Yan Liang and Wen Chou again . "

    "That¡¯s what I want!" Smiled Lu Bu .

    "Therefore, you cannot lead a battalion tomorrow, but you can move freely on the battlefield . "

    "Fine with me . "

    Jia Xu rearranged ally tokens and began briefing about tomorrow ns . As Jia Xu¡¯s mouth continued to exin the logic behind the movements, he thought to himself .

    ¡¯Tong brat, your Heavenly mission ruins too much of our ns, and I don¡¯t think I can wipe your ass forever . You¡¯d better finish your battle soon . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    March 6th .

    A scout of Yuan Shao Army who had been sent to monitor the battles at Ji returned with a ryed message . Zou Jing was defeated and holed inside the city while Tong bombarded him with fire barrels .

    Tian Feng smiled, "My Lord, it is as you have predicted . Zhang Tong Army got stuck at Ji while Liu Yan was busy attacking Zhongshan . Once we reinforce Liu Yan, we can snatch Zhongshan from the Liu n and use it as a chokepoint to attack Julu . "

    Yuan Shaoughed, "Of course! I¡¯ve studied a lot in the Capital . While we are at it, we will take Ji City from Liu Yan as well . They should be crippled after facing that monster Zhang Tong . "

    Although the struggle at Anping was not part of Yuan Shao¡¯s n, he had manipted Sun Jian and Liu Yan into fighting with the Yellow Turban, so they could kill each other and weaken their armies .

    At first, Yuan Shao wanted to grab Julu, then he could backstab Liu Yan and take the Ji City of the Liu n . However, the fortresses gave his army a lot of troubles . They had to avoid it and hasten their initial ns .

    The mobilizing order had been dered, which all soldiers were busying disassembled their tents and camps for the entire morning .

    Another scout rushed in with a paled face . He stumbled and knelt on the ground, bowing his head to Yuan Shao and his officers .

    "Report! The Yellow Turban has deployed their forces! They havee out of the fortresses!"

    Yuan Shao and Tian Feng raised their eyebrows . They did not bother speaking but rushing toward the watchtower .

    As they got up on top of a watchtower, they could see the dust of a massive army .

    Tian Feng voiced his estimation, "That¡¯s not dust from an army of 10,000 men . I think they deployed all of their troops . "

    "Ah, you go and get our men ready . Since they want to contest us in an open field, we will satisfy them! HAHAHA!"

    ...

    100,000 Combined force of Julu and Jinyang soldiers gathered in front of their fortresses, forming lines and arrays . Each side of the formations, 20,000 heavy cavalries covered their nks .

    Lu Bu marched along with the men as he rode at the center in front of all formations .

    Xu Huang led the right nk 20,000 cavalries, while Gao Shun led the left heavy cavalries .

    Lu Zhi and Zhou Cang guided the 50,000 infantries, which carried repeating crossbows, shields, and spears . All of the footmen could perform any role they were given .

    500 Trebuchets and ballistae were being pushed forward by 5,000 crew members to support the front troopers as well .

    Jia Xu, who was the grandmander and the leading strategist of this battle, stood on top of the watchtower to monitor the changes .

    However, two officers and 13,000 soldiers did not present on this battlefield . Li Feihong and Zhang Liao were not here . Yet, Jia Xu told the soldiers of the center formation to carry [Li] and [Zhang] gs with them .

    With a serious face, Jia Xu watched Yuan Shao Army which was marching toward them on the horizon .

    ¡¯Li Feihong, you¡¯d betterplete your task, or we¡¯re doomed!¡¯

    Noon .

    Yuan Shao¡¯s 160,000 soldiers stood in rectangr formations . Each consisted of 1,000 men, lining in rows and columns .

    The crowd of soldiers covered the entire field, which could intimidate all defenders and warlords of any city .

    Like Jia Xu had prepared, they also brought their archer towers and trebuchets, trying topete in their weaponry with Jia Xu Army .

    Yan Liang and Wen Chou rode in front of their center formations, ring at Lu Bu . They were assigned by Tian Feng to keep Lu Bu in check .

    Gao Lan led their right-wing cavalries while Qu Yi led the left troops . Meanwhile, Te Langpu, He Jin, and other strategists got stuck with the main force as they were nonbatants .

    Yuan Shao and Tian Feng stood together on their watchtower as they would lead their main force together .

    Seeing the weapons and the number of their opposite force, Yuan Shao grinned .

    "This Jia Xu is a moron . Instead of hiding in those forts, he chose toe out," Mocked Yuan Shao .

    On the other hand, Tian Feng darted his eyes around to check the Yellow Turban Army¡¯s cement . Counting and ounting all the gs, Tian Feng sighed .

    ¡¯It must have been my imagination . For a second there, I thought some of Jia Xu soldiers are missing . Well, since all of their officers are here, they shouldn¡¯t be any detached force around our back . ¡¯

    Tian Feng turned to his aide and gave out his order .

    "Have the wings probe their strengths . Cavalries, move out!"

    Jia Xu on the other side noticed the movements on the wings, he also sent his order .

    "Intercept them with our horse units! Move our infantries to both sides to cover the nks! Lu Bu, go and provoke the enemies!"

 Chapter 272

    Chapter 272

    Chapter 272 ¨C Checkmate, MotherfOOker!

    While Jia Xu and Tian Feng were duking it out, Li Feihong rode alone, rushing toward the east .

    As Li Feihong was galloping his horse, monitors floated around himself .

    Among his monitors, one of them showed an image of granaries and provision, which revealed the destination that he was aiming .

    >

    Zhang Liao: There¡¯s a patrol group ahead . Turn left and hide!

    The n chat message popped in front of Li Feihong, which he pulled the horse reign and turned left per the instruction .

    Five minutester .

    >

    Zhang Liao: They are gone . You are clear .

    Zhang Liao: Continue southeast .

    Zhang Liao and 10,000 Heavy cavalries were inside Li Feihong¡¯s [Private World] at the moment .

    Last night, Li Feihong suggested that they should target Yuan Shao¡¯s food supplies to cripple their ability to sustain Yuan Shao¡¯s over 100,000-man army .

    Jia Xu had devised a scheme . He and the rest of the army would act as a bait to draw Yuan Shao¡¯s eyes and his army while Li Feihong had to use his monitor abilities to sneak to Yuan Shao supply depots behind their main camp .

    To reach their unnoticed, Li Feihong opened the gate to his private world, which Zhang Liao and 10,000 elite horsemen went inside .

    Today, the skill cooldown had been reset, and Li Feihong could open his gates again . He rushed toward Yuan Shao¡¯s supply camp by himself so that he could summon the gates and allow Zhang Liao and his men to raid the camp without being noticed .

    While Zhang Liao and his troops were inside, they did not stay there without help . They could see hundreds of monitors, which were broadcasting what was happening in the outside world . Zhang Liao and his men watched the monitors, helping Li Feihong navigating through the field of Yuan Shao¡¯s patrolling scouts .

    2 . 30 PM .

    >

    Zhang Liao: You¡¯re close! It¡¯s a bit further south!"

    Zhang Liao: No guard in the area . You can get closer .

    Li Feihong looked up . He could see that there was a line of fence further south, 700 to 800 meters away from him . He guided his horse and galloped toward the camp while he texted back .

    Li Feihong: Tell me when you want toe out .

    Zhang Liao: Not yet . Get closer!

    Li Feihong got closer as he was asked .

    500 Meters .

    200 Meters .

    "Who goes there!?"

    A guard on a watchtower noticed Li Feihong . He shouted and aimed his crossbow at the unidentified visitor .

    Zhang Liao: Don¡¯t panic . Tell him that you¡¯re Yuan Shao¡¯s messenger .

    "I¡¯m Lord Yuan Shao¡¯s messenger . I¡¯vee to ry his order!"

    The guard red at him in suspicion . More guards also noticed themotion and gathered around . Their weapons still aimed at Li Feihong .

    "Show us your token!"

    Zhang Liao: Good work . Their eyes are on you .

    Zhang Liao: Open the gate behind them . We¡¯ll take it from here .

    Li Feihong read the messages and smiled . He raised both of his hands to the air while he manipted the void gate to open inside the supply camp .

    "Don¡¯t shoot! I¡¯ll find it . It¡¯s in my horseback!"

    Several guards kept staring at Li Feihong, which they failed to realize that several horsemen appeared behind them .

    *SUEK*

    *SWUA*

    A dozen guards fell as Zhang Liao and his men got out of the private world .

    Li Feihong sighed a relief . However, he did not let his guard down as he continued to maintain his gate until thest soldier coulde out .

    As Li Feihong was busying stabilizing the gate, Zhang Liao and the men who got out began their works, throwing crude oil jars and torches at buildings . Those who had free hands rushed inside the camp and ughtered everyone they found .

    The fire spread within the camp as Zhang Liao¡¯s armored cavalries passed .

    Five minutester, amander within Yuan Shao supply camp finally arrived to drive back the invaders .

    "I¡¯m Chunyu Qiang! Who dares to face me?"

    A taunt of amander drew Zhang Liao¡¯s attention . He charged at the officer and bellowed, "I AM ZHANG LIAO!"

    *CLANK*

    *SWUA*

    In two moves, Zhang Liao beheaded Chunyu Qiang, one of Yuan Shao¡¯s generals .

    After the head of the enemy general rolled on the ground, Zhang Liao had a new inspiration .

    "Men! Every time you killed an enemy, shout my name! Repeat after me, I AM ZHANG LIAO!"

    "I AM ZHANG LIAO!!"

    "I AM ZHANG LIAO!!"

    Li Feihong¡¯s expression turned into a meme poker face upon hearing themotion and Zhang Liao¡¯s deration .

    ¡¯Is that how he became famous in ancient China?¡¯

    ...

    3 PM .

    The supply depot was burnt to the ground .

    Zhang Liao and his men regrouped with Li Feihong with smiles . Li Feihong nodded at them and texted to Jia Xu .

    Li Feihong: Mission Aplished!

    Li Feihong: Zhang Liao killed a general named Chunyu Qiang .

    Li Feihong: No casualty .

    Jia Xu did not reply, but Li Feihong and Zhang Liao did not mind it . They thought that the battlefront over there might have been difficult, so Jia Xu did not have times to reply .

    "Let¡¯s go back . Maybe we can ambush Yuan Shao if we¡¯re lucky," Zhang Liao suggested .

    "We won¡¯t rely on luck . Actually, I¡¯ll scout with my monitors as usual . I¡¯ll tell you where we can strike . "

    Because Li Feihong used his skill and already closed his gate, he could not reopen the portal to his private world anymore today . He and hisrades had to travel back on horses instead of warping via the void gates .

    ...

    ...

    5 PM .

    A paled face messenger rushed into Yuan Shao¡¯s battalion where the main force located .

    "Report! Our supply camp has been attacked! All of our food has been burnt!"

    Yuan Shao choked upon hearing the news of the attack while Tian Feng¡¯s eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets .

    "Call back all units! Full retreat!"

    Yuan Shao roared and jumped off carriage . He got on his horse and galloped away with his bodyguards, leaving all forces behind .

    Had it were others, they would have thought that Yuan Shao had forsaken his men . Tian Feng knew about his lord¡¯s behavior, so he figured that he rushed back to the supply depot himself to check the damage .

    Tian Feng clenched his fists as he red toward the direction of Jia Xu .

    ¡¯I should have trusted my guts! There was definitely missing troops, and they sent a detached force to attack our supply base . Damn it!¡¯

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The booming sound of war drums shocked all Yuan Shao units which had been fighting . It was a signal sound that they weremanded to retreat .

    "Why!? Just a little more and We can kill Lu Bu!" Yan Liang bellowed while his eyes locked with Lu Bu¡¯s re .

    Yan Liang¡¯s body covered in wounds and bruises . His armor was torn, and his helmet was gone .

    At the side of Yan Liang, tattered Wen Chou was stabilizing himself on his horse . His hands were shaking, and his rough breathe quickened . The bleeding Wen Chou had was worse than Yan Liang¡¯s wounds .

    Blood was all over Wen Chou¡¯s face and torso . It was not the blood of his enemies, but his own blood .

    In front of Yan Liang and Wen Chou, Lu Bu and his Red Hare stared down at the two generals . His armor had traces of ck gunpowder, and his chest riddled with shrapnel . Blood dripped from the small wounds on his arms and body .

    Red Hare King¡¯s legs were also shaking . Its armor cracked, and long wounds could be seen on its hind legs . However, its eyes showed resentment as it red at Wen Chou and Yan Liang¡¯s horses .

    Lu Bu¡¯s eyes shed as he noticed an opening . He leaped off his horse and shed the crescent halberd at Yan Liang while he was in mid-air .

    "ORA!"

    *CLANK*

    "FOOK YOU, LU BU!!"

    The strike made Yan Liang¡¯s halberd shaft bent . Wen Chou used this chance to throw another bomb bag at Lu Bu .

    Lu Bu used his free hand to draw his sword from his waist, cutting the bag in half before it exploded .

    *BOOM*

    The ignited fuse still got to the powder, causing a light explosion .

    The sh of the small explosion blinded Lu Bu sight, yet he utilized his instinct and sense to locate Yan Liang and Wen Chou .

    Lu Bunded on the ground and waved his halberd at Yan Liang again .

    *BOOM*

    Yan Liang was sent flying from the impact while his horse had foams on its mouth . It copsed and died from the exhaustion . Meanwhile, Wen Chou pulled his injured horse and rushed to his friend, throwing him on his horseback and galloped away .

    The duel between Lu Bu against Yan Liang and Wen Chou ended after they had been entangled for hours .

    "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

    Lu Bu roared in frustration . Had it not because of the gunpowder bombs, he could have killed the two a hundred times over .

    On other battlefronts, all battalions of Yuan Shao withdrew as well . However, Yuan Shao¡¯s generals and soldiers were not as lucky as the duo .

    Xu Huang managed to capture Qu Yi during the middle of the fight . His battlefront was the cleanest among other ces as Qu Yi¡¯s subordinates retreated after Qu Yi had been captured . The right wing under Xu Huang pressed on and managed to draw Tian Feng¡¯s attention for the entire battle . After Tian Fengmanded Yuan Shao Army¡¯s left side battalions against Xu Huang¡¯s forces, He could not proceed further .

    Zhou Cang beheaded Sui Yuanjin, a general under Yuan Shao, and destroyed two 1,000-man battalions by himself . He staggered back to regroup with his men as he was soaked in red along with his followers .

    Gao Shun¡¯s cavalries destroyed Gao Lan¡¯s 5,000-man toon, but the general slipped away . Gao Shun attempted to press to the nk of Yuan Shao main force but was stopped by the archer towers and Gao Lan¡¯s remaining troops .

    Lu Zhi organized abination of trebuchets and archers to assist all other fronts, which his responsible toons did not suffer a casualty .

    Jia Xu, who was still standing on top of the watchtower had sweat all over his body . His drenched armor and cloth looked as if he had fallen into a river a few minutes ago . Jia Xu wiped bloody droplet from his nose as he finally exhaled .

    "I want a pay raise ... This is tiring as FOOk!"

    Though all officers did well in the battle, they still had many casualties from Yuan Shao¡¯s archer towers, trebuchets, and their repeating crossbows .

    Jia Xu was not optimistic in this battle of attrition . As long as more than half of 100,000 soldiers survived, he would call it a sessful campaign .

    As Jia Xu was freed from the battlemand, he rechecked the n chat as he recalled that Li Feihong messaged him .

    Upon reading the news of Li Feihong and Zhang Liao¡¯s sess, heughed .

    "Checkmate, motherfOOkers! Tian Feng, you fOOk up! BWAHAHAHAH!!"

 Chapter 273

    Chapter 273: 273

    Chapter 273 ¨C Quality of Officers

    At the burnt supply depot, Yuan Shao inspected the ce with trembling legs .

    He remembered that they had stored 30,000 tons of provision here, which could support his army for at least half a year .

    Also, the food price skyrocketed in the past few months as the drought became apparent to the locals . If Yuan Shao wanted to buy food from the local merchants, he would have to fork arge amount of gold for it .

    It was impossible for them to regain back the provision unless they plunder the merchants and the civilians, which was not a wise decision for Yuan Shao who aimed to ascend the throne .

    Tian Feng and others caught with their lord an hourter . Despite the losses, Tian Feng did not appear nervous .

    "My Lord, this loss is nothing . We¡¯ve only lost a tiny bit of our food storage, but our main supply base is still intact . "

    Tian Feng was speaking about their main provision base, which located in Guangchuan County, east of Anping County . At Guangchuan, Tian Feng had backed up with 200,000 tons of provision, just in case they had to attack other cities other than Julu .

    Yuan Shao¡¯s face regained the color of blood .

    "Right! I forgot! We prepared our spare foods . Losing this small base doesn¡¯t hurt us at all . HAHAHAHA!"

    ...

    March 7th .

    Because of the inconvenience and army morale issues, Yuan Shao ordered all troops to withdraw back to Guangchuan County to recuperate .

    Tian Feng reorganized the army and read all the battle reports from yesterday, which he learned about the terror of the Yellow Turban Army .

    Although the battlested only five hours, the casualties they suffered gave Tian Feng a chill running down his spine .

    The fight took away 45,000 of their elites, leaving their army with 115,000 soldiers remaining .

    Wen Chou and Yan Liang imed that they could almost kill Lu Bu, but their injuries proved otherwise .

    Qu Yi was captured . Chunyu Qiong and Sui Yuanjin were killed . Seven of their twelve elite 5000-manmanders were killed as well .

    Yet, they failed to kill even one general of the Yellow Turban . There were reports that they had in a few 1,000-manmanders, but those were insignificantpared to the discovery of Tong¡¯s talented generals in action .

    Zhou Cang was a fierce fighter that took down two battalions by himself . He was like a mini-Lu Bu that dove into Tian Feng Army to mess with his rhythms .

    Xu Huang was another dark-horse under Tong that gave Tian Feng a lot of troubles . Hisbat abilities alone took out six 5,000-manmanders, and Xu Huang couldmand both cavalries and infantries with proficient without the assistance of others . It was also him that knocked Qu Yi off his horse and captured him .

    Lu Zhi was like an unmovable mountain that did not waver under pressure . All of his battalions countered all moves that Tian Feng sent to destroy Zhou Cang and Gao Shun . Thebination of Jia Xu¡¯smand and Lu Zhi¡¯s execution caused Shen Pei and Guo Tu, who weremanding the assisting toons, to vomit blood from anger .

    Gao Shun also disyed how he was entitled with the nickname [Formation Crusher] as he destroyed all defensive formations of Gao Lan . Had it not because of their stolen repeating crossbows, Gao Shun would have destroyed their nk army .

    Tian Feng bit his lower lips as he thought back of the events two years ago . If Feng Ji had not provoked Tong and his father, they would have been a powerful ally that could support the Yuan Family to the throne .

    ¡¯I wonder if we can repair our rtionship after this battle . Instead of making an enemy out of them, can we turn them into our ally? Since we haven¡¯t caused any major damage to Zhang Tong and his subordinates, I should prepare an exit n to gain their favor . ¡¯

    ...

    Meanwhile, Jia Xu also got his casualty reports . To his surprise, their loss was lower than his expectation .

    10,000 Infantries and 5,000 heavy cavalries left their lives in the battle,pared to Jia Xu¡¯s estimation of 50,000 loss . However, over 30,000 soldiers were injured and required treatments .

    After a thorough investigation, Jia Xu discovered the cause of their high survival rate . Among Jinyang horsemen, some of them wore chainmail under their thick armor . Though not all of them had this luxurious kind of armor, more than half of Jinyang units had it .

    It was Li Feihong who invented the chainmail and implemented into their system . However, because of the limited number of cksmiths and tinkerers, they could not forge enough armors for everybody in the army .

    "You are a man of surprises, sir Li," Praised Jia Xu . This battle result was majorly contributed by Li Feihong¡¯s skills .

    "It¡¯s nothingpared to Tong¡¯s absurd [Create Food] . I envy him sometimes," Laughed Li Feihong .

    "True . As long as someone controls the food supply, that brat is pretty much holding all lives in his hands . Say, can you integrate those armor system with Julu? We need those armors, too . "

    "The problem is our iron ore supplies . Our ore mines can¡¯t produce enough ores to satisfy the demand . "

    "Can¡¯t we smelt the old unused iron instead?"

    "We can, but it will take times . Let¡¯s go into the details after the war . "

    "Sure . "

    .

    As Jia Xu and Li Feihong were chatting in their main tent, Lu Bu was being treated by physicians in the infirmary tent .

    Lu Bu was sitting cross-legs without wearing any upper garment .

    The wounds on Lu Bu¡¯s body piled up on top of his old scars . Combined with the shrapnel scars when Lu Bu fought with Tong, the marks on his torso did not leave any ce with good skin .

    Two army physicians pulled out thest piece of iron fragment out of Lu Bu¡¯s fresh before they sew the wounds with their needles .

    Zhang Liao entered the infirmary tent,ing to update thetest movements the armies on both sides .

    Sensing Zhang Liao¡¯s aura signature, Lu Bu, who had been sitting straight and cross-legs, opened his eyes .

    "What is Yuan Shao¡¯s movement?"

    "Thest intel from this morning, they are moving east . I think they are retreating back to Guangchuan County . "

    "Are they still have more supplies there?"

    "Positive . The depot that I burned should have about 20,000 to 30,000 stones of food . I don¡¯t think it¡¯s everything they have . "

    Lu Bu clicked his tongue, having a foul mood as he wanted revenge on Yuan Shao and his generals .

    Yesterday, he was stopped by Wen Chou and Yan Liang, who ganged on him in the duel . Thanked the duo, he could not kill a single soldier in the previous battle . In addition, he suffered several injuries because of their bomb bags .

    Zhang Liao continued his reports, "The captured prisoners have been transferred to Julu for Zhang Tong to decide their fate . As for our losses, we lost 5,000 of our men while Julu lost 10,000 . The rest are injured . "

    Lu Bu exhaled, feeling relieved that most of Jinyang¡¯s elites were still alive . They were like his children that he personally raised . Losing so many of them still pained Lu Bu in the inside, but he never revealed it on his face .

    "What about Yuan Shao¡¯s dead soldiers? How many have we killed?"

    "Estimated from the corpses that we gathered, about 40,000 at least . "

    A faint smile appeared at the corner of Lu Bu¡¯s mouth for a second before his smile returned into his usual grumpy expression .

    .

    Xu Huang, the hand-picked general that Tong promoted in the Battle of Liyang, also meditated inside his private tent .

    In his mind, he was reviewing the past battles he had . The experiences of leading ten thousands of soldiers boosted his confidence, but it was nerve-wracking at the same time .

    However, he had his personal trick that could keep him motivated and clear his random thought in the difficult battle .

    As Xu Huang closed his eyes, the picture of Tong oveing all odds with everything he had was still imprinted in his mind . He had this image stuck on him ever since Tong dueled against Huang Zhong at Liyang, which made Xu Huang felt as if he witnessed a hero in a fairy tale fighting against his enemies .

    In the battle yesterday, Tian Feng put Xu Huang in a tough spot a couple of times that he panicked . But after he thought of how Tong overcame all obstacles, his mind became clear, and he could see how he could exploit Tian Feng and Qu Yi¡¯s weaknesses .

    As a result, he captured Qu Yi, killed six of theirmanders, and routed their nk armies . By the time that Tian Feng retreated, Xu Huang finally realized that his toons pressed into Yuan Shao¡¯s formation so deep that they almost reached the position of Yuan Shao main toons .

    After he returned to base, Jia Xu and others praised him for his deeds, but Xu Huang still doubted that he deserved it .

    ¡¯I¡¯m nothingpared to young master Zhang! I can see a total of 26 missed opportunities! If it were him, he could have done it better than me . He would have killed Yuan Shao before they retreated!¡¯

    ¡¯For the sake of saving more people, I must improve!¡¯

    Xu Huang got up from his bed and walked to the empty tea table . He ced several stones on it, thinking that they were Yuan Shao¡¯s battalions of soldiers . Xu Huang continued reviewing the battle until dusk .

    .

    While other generals had their own issues, Lu Zhi strolled in army camps, visiting injured soldiers .

    He did not say much to the weakened men . He simply cupped his fist at them and said, "Thank you for protecting our citizens . "

    Several soldiers broke into tears hearing the words, which caused chain reaction between the soldiers as they felt like their injuries and the death of theirrades was not in vain .

    While Lu Zhi was at it, he reaffirmed Tong¡¯s current policies of military personal welfare .

    "All participants in this battle will receive a year worth of sry . All crippled will be paid 10 years of wages, and the families of the dead will bepensated by the government . "

    This boosted the morale of all soldiers despite the gloom atmosphere after the battle yesterday .

    Any camp that Lu Zhi passed, liveliness returned to the men as cheers andughter could be heard .

    Jia Xu also took notice of this and nodded in approval .

    ¡¯As expected of that brat¡¯s mentor . He¡¯s through with his management and psychologies . Heck, all soldiers will praise that brat even though he isn¡¯t even here! What a politician ...¡¯

    ¡¯All of Tong¡¯s subordinates are exceptional, I see . Well, that¡¯s better than having to work with a bunch of buffoons like Dong Zhuo or He Jin . Come to think of it, how is the battle at Ye, Zhongshan, or Ji?¡¯

 Chapter 274

    Chapter 274

    Chapter 274 ¨C Two Throne Sessors?

    March 13th, 183 A . D .

    Yuan Shao and his forces were garrisoning in Guangchuan County to recuperate and resupply .

    A week of rest boosted the morale of Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers as they could get proper food and wine that they had always wanted .

    While the men were cheering and celebrating as if it was their holidays, Yuan Shao and Tian Feng never smiled .

    In the government hall inside Guangchuan County, Yuan Shao reced the prefect of this city with himself and sat on the throne . Tian Feng and all other officers gathered in the room as well .

    Today, a messenger from the north brought them with a piece of shocking news . Tong had killed Zou Jing and routed Ji City Army . Instead of upying Ji, Tong returned to Zhongshan to reinforce his uncles .

    They had expected the result, but the details of the battle astonished them .

    Tong defeated several ten thousand men with 4,000 soldiers! The battles did not happen once but twice! Furthermore, Tong returned with 3,000 men, which the casualty rate was too abnormal!

    The result of the battle at Ye also arrived, which made everybody¡¯s mouth turned into an [O] .

    Sun Jian surrendered to Xiao Wu after a briefbat, which Sun Jian offered himself as a hostage to ensure the safety of their troops .

    The details of the battle were even more terrifying than what Tong did because Xiao Wu destroyed Sun Jian forces with only a thousand men . Her army did not suffer a single casualty!

    Both fronts had been torn apart by this duo husband-and-wife, which was a humiliation to the coalition armies .

    Tian Feng was the first person who regained his sense . He stepped forward and awakened everybody in the hall with his words .

    "My Lord, I don¡¯t think we can defeat Zhang Tong and the Yellow Turban with our forces alone . I have a suggestion to make . "

    Yuan Shao snapped back to his sense, "What is it?"

    "It will sound disrespectful, but please forgive me . First, I would like to readjust our policies against the Yellow Turbans and Zhang Tong . I wish to stop the current war and have a truce with them . "

    Everyone in the room frowned and murmured, but no one retorted or objected Tian Feng¡¯s suggestion .

    "Secondly, I would like to use our new chess piece to make the country moves . Please make the deration of the survival of the Son of Heaven!"

    The crowd murmured as they did not understand what Tian Feng was talking about . However, Yuan Shao and He Jin grinned as they had discussed this a while back .

    "I see . I will do so . But first, what about our campaign against the Yellow Turban?" Asked Yuan Shao .

    "We can¡¯t attack their main forces with our army alone so we should concentrate on eliminating the imposter bandits that ims to be Yellow Turbans . Then, we shall spread the rumor that we have defeated several armies of Yellow Turbans and we are recruiting volunteers in the name of the Son of Heaven! Afterward, we shall secretly reform an alliance with Zhang Tong while we manipte all forces to fight each other . When the dust settles, we will unify the country to establish our dominance!"

    Yuan Shaoughed and nodded, "Do as you please! But make sure it¡¯s believable . "

    "Understood, my lord . "

    The movement and the assembly in Guangchuan did not escape Jia Xu¡¯s spies . They ryed the messages, and the info about their ns reached Jia Xu¡¯s hands the next day .

    ...

    March 14th .

    Jia Xu read the spy reports while he paced around the camp . All officers in Anping watched him, curious about what made Jia Xu think that hard .

    It took Jia Xu half an hour before he stopped thinking . He raised his head to look at everybody .

    "Guys, we have to call Xiao Wu and our young master here . "

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "He Jin is going to dere that one of Yuan Shao¡¯s sons is Liu Xie, and he will use his name to gather more allies . "

    "Huh?" Lu Zhi stood up in shock, "Why would he do that? Liu Xie and He Xing are with us . Doesn¡¯t he afraid the false promation and repercussion?"

    Li Feihong was also confused, "What¡¯s that has to do with Xiao Wu and Tong?"

    Jia Xu sighed, "It¡¯s not that of an emergency, but we need those two to slow down Yuan Shao¡¯s activities . Also, I have an interesting intelligence from Ye City . "

    Zhang Liao and Li Feihong stared at Jia Xu as they already knew what he was about to tell everyone . They had read the n chat messages from Xun Yu .

    "Xun Yu¡¯s spies send us news about the changes in Sun Jian forces . There was a decree from the new Empress in Xuchang . She wants to promote Sun Jian into the Governor of Changsha in Jing Province . "

    "A new Empress!?"

    Lu Bu, Gao Shun, Xu Huang, and Lu Zhi were baffled by the new emerging powerhouse, which appeared out of nowhere .

    "You heard me right . There was something fishy going on in the Capital while we were fighting Yuan Shao and his gangs . Even though we killed Liu Ping, there is a throne session conspiracy behind our backs . Therefore, I want our young master and our best fighter to be here before something goes down . It¡¯s a preparation against possible chaos . "

    Lu Bu¡¯s ears piqued when he heard the words [Our best fighter] . From the conversation, it seemed that this Xiao Wu was their strongestmander .

    ¡¯Sweet! I need to spar with this Xiao Wu! It¡¯s a shame that most of the strong guys here are too cowardice . Oh wait, I need to beat up that brat Tong when he returns too! He¡¯s been using me, and my men died because of this war! Dammit!¡¯

    Lu Bu¡¯s mind wandered off into Lland .

    Meanwhile, the meeting continued as Jia Xu spoke his thought .

    "Now that Yuan Shao is trying to fake a sessor to the throne . His interest will eventually collide with this new Empress, and it will work on our favor . This is our chance to rest and develop our armies and domestic finances . "

    "From our intel, Tian Feng wants to reform an alliance with us to rest while they burn the country to ashes . We will y along with them since it benefits our people . "

    "We will maintain our army here until Yuan Shao retreat from Guangchuan, but we will relocate our officers to our developing cities . "

    "For the defense of Anping, we can leave it to Xiao Wu or our young master since they are a bunch of freaks ... I meant they excel in the military!"

    "Me, Sir Li Feihong, and all Jinyang gentlemen will move to Ye City to solidify our control and the security over there . Xun Yu will also help us integrate the city and follow after Julu¡¯s development . "

    At this point, Lu Bu came back to his sense .

    "Hey, who said that I will move along with your order!?"

    Jia Xu kept his poker face, "Sir Lu Bu can stay in Julu or Anping if he wants to . As for thepensation, all soldiers, generals, andmanders will bepensated with a year worth of Julu¡¯s standard sry . All dead soldiers will also bepensated, but the payment will be given to their families . "

    Lu Bu raised his eyebrows, "How much is my sry?"

    "You are the grandmander of a legion . The pay is 5,000 taels of gold a month . Therefore, yourpensation for this war is 60,000 gold . "

    Hearing that he would get 60,000 gold, Lu Bu¡¯s nostrils red while he grinned from ear to ear . He had been working under Ding Yuan for years, but he could only amass 100 gold up till now . Getting paid 600 times of his saving was a boon for him .

    "Hahaha! Sure, I¡¯ll stay in Julu, and I¡¯ll protect the city for you lots . "

    ¡¯And I¡¯ll move my family in Julu as well,¡¯ Lu Bu thought .

    Everyone rolled their eyes as they could read through Lu Bu like a book .

    ...

    ...

    The meeting was over, and the assignment had beenpleted .

    Lu Zhi, Zhou Cang, and Xu Huang would move to Zhongshan to increase the city defense and help the Zhang brothers managing the city .

    Jia Xu, Li Feihong, Gao Shun, and Zhang Liao would move to Ye so they could implement Julu System into the city next .

    Lu Bu could go wherever he wanted . However, Jia Xu gave him a condition that he had to be present whenever he was summoned .

    Tong and Xiao Wu would rece allmanders here in Anping once they arrive .

    As for the soldiers, they would remain here to put pressure on Yuan Shao forces .

    .

    After the meeting, Li Feihong returned to his tent, sitting alone and enjoyed Tong¡¯s whiskey . He also gazed at his quest status .

    ************************************

    **Main Mission No . 20**

    Clear Condition: Kill Gao Lan .

    Failure Condition: Time limit exceeded .

    Clearing Reward: 10,000 years of lifespan . Bonus experiences for your existing skills .

    Mission Failure: Your location will be shown on the system map to other yers for 1 year .

    Time Limit Remaining: 15 Days 11 Hour 5 Minutes .

    ************************************

    A bitter smile appeared on Li Feihong¡¯s face . It seemed that he might fail it .

    As he was in doubt, he tried to consult with Lilim .

    ¡¯Lilim, if someone else kills my target, what will happen to my mission?¡¯

    >

    [Ah? Oh! As long as the target is killed, you willplete the mission, and you will get the rewards . I don¡¯t care how you do it, I want the result . ]

    [You can also pay one million lifespans as a fine to cancel the mission . ]

    Li Feihong snickered . It felt funny to him that Lilim sounded like a cruel boss in his previous life .

    ¡¯Ah, that¡¯s a relief . Thanks, Lilim . Do you know? You are cute sometimes . ¡¯

    [... You¡¯re wee . ]

    Got his answer, Li Feihong opened the n chat to ask Tong a favor .

    In the chat, Jia Xu pretended that the situation in Anping was terrible, and they required reinforcement . However, he wanted both Tong and Xiao Wu to reach here first . As for the soldiers, they had to leave it there .

    The face of Li Feihong twitched . It was too fishy no matter where he saw it .

    ¡¯I doubt Tong will believe that ...¡¯

    >

    Tong: Okay . I¡¯ll rush there in a few days . Hang in there .

    "..."

    No word could describe Li Feihong¡¯s thought at the moment .

    Xun Yu: Xiao Wu is rushing there . She said she will get there before the end of the day .

    Xun Yu: By the way, that was a stupid excuse no matter how I see it .

    Xun Yu: If you want Xiao Wu there alone, just say it straight!

    "..."

    Li Feihong sighed . Sometimes, Tong and his family could be simpletons .

    ¡¯Is it a characteristic of someone with great power? Or is it that when you rely on your strength for a certain amount of times, you be stupid? Screw it . I¡¯ll just ask them outright . ¡¯

    Li Feihong: I have a problem with my mission ...

    He exined his mission with all the details, hoping that Tong would help him .

    Tong: Is Te Langpu in Yuan Shao Army?

    Li Feihong: I think so?

    Jia Xu: He¡¯s there .

    Tong: Roger that, I¡¯ll have Xiao Wu handle this .

    ...

    Hua Shi and Zhang Jiao, who was waiting for them in Julu, read the chat logs with attention .

    "It seems like we won," Smiled Zhang Jiao .

    "Indeed . Still, that Jia Xu barred Tong froming home . "

    "It¡¯s alright . Tong will return . After all, he¡¯s alive and kicking . "

    In ancient time, a woman was powerless in all fields . Hua Shi had no choice but staying home and raised her child .

    Normally, she would have been enraged because she wanted Tong¡¯s attention as well . However, she could to cultivate her [Chastity] and [Abstinence] by not having sex with Tong .

    >

    >

    <[chastity] 3 . 01%="">>

    <[abstinence] 18 . 87%="">>

    <[love] 94 . 67%="">>

    <...>>

    The progress was slow, but it was a steady increase in all [Virtues] .

    ¡¯This will take a while . But soon, I¡¯ll be joining you guys on the frontline as well!¡¯

    ¡¯Oh wait, fOOk! Zhang Min has to grow up a bit first . ¡¯

    ¡¯Haiz, being a virtuous mother is hard . I miss Tong¡¯s seeds ...¡¯</...></[love]></[abstinence]></[chastity]>

 Chapter 275

    Chapter 275

    Chapter 275 ¨C Friday VS Lu Bu, the Friendly Duel?

    7 PM, March 14th .

    Friday reached Anping as she was panting . She had been using Lamia Steps to hasten her journey . Her face drenched in sweat, and her clothes were soaked .

    Upon arriving, she could see the tattered fortresses and traces of battles .

    ¡¯Wow, it must have been difficult,¡¯ Friday thought .

    Friday showed her token to the inspecting scouts, who led her inside the camp .

    Jia Xu came out to see her, but he walked away after seeing her condition .

    "Go change your clothes and take a bath . I don¡¯t want to get myself killed by that brat!"

    Friday tilted her head in confusion . As soon as she saw her wet clothes, which revealed her skins and undergarments, sheughed .

    ¡¯The ancient people are so honest! Hahaha!¡¯

    An hourter, Friday got her new robe and cleaned her body . She revisited Jia Xu to ask about their conditions .

    When she learned that she had to guard Anping with Tong, instead of getting angry, she smirked .

    "With pleasure! I¡¯ll protect Anping . You guys can have fun with your domestic affairs! Ehehe!"

    Jia Xu¡¯s face twitched, "Well, while you are at it, please help Sir Li Feihongplete his Heavenly Mission . He has to kill Gao Lan in 15 days . "

    "Ah, no problem . Where is this Gao Lan now, by the way?"

    "Guangchuan County . If you want to raid it, please wait for Tong and go together . Wen Chou and Yan Liang are dangerous fellows . Besides, another immortal, Te Langpu is there . "

    "Oho? Te Langpu? Okay, I¡¯ll take both of them down together!"

    Jia Xu shook his head as he gave up trying to have a decent conversation with her . With her childish attitude and her yful tone, he doubted that he could have a civil discussion with thedy .

    ...

    March 15th .

    The news about Xiao Wu¡¯s arrival reached Lu Bu¡¯s ears . He straddled straight to her tent but was stopped by panicking bodyguards .

    "Sir Lu Bu, this is young master Zhang¡¯s concubine¡¯s tent . You can¡¯t enter!"

    Lu Bu frowned . It was indeed his fault, and it was inappropriate for a man to invade ady¡¯s private tent . However, this was an army camp . Men and women were equal here .

    "Send her my words . I want to spar with the so-called strongest fighter among Zhang Tong¡¯s subordinates . I want topare notes!"

    The bodyguards wanted to retort . What kind of a man challenged a woman into a duel? How manly were you?

    s, they could not speak their thought, or they would be sent to the underworld .

    Fortunately, Lu Bu¡¯s haughty voice was loud enough that Friday could hear it, which woke her from her nap .

    "SHADAFAQUP!! Who da fOOk disturb my beauty sleep!?"

    Friday yelled from inside the tent . She opened the cloth-door to see who was making a ruckus outside .

    Upon seeing a tall, burly man who was stopped by the guards, Friday narrowed her eyes .

    "What do you want?"

    Lu Bu scanned Friday from head to toes, astonished by Friday¡¯s pretty face and her assets even though she was still wearing pink silk pajamas at the moment .

    "I wish to request a spar with you . "

    Standing before a beauty, Lu Bu subconsciously spoke in a more polite tone .

    "Who are you?"

    "Lu Bu, Lu Fengxian . "

    "Ah, that muscle brain . When do you want to get your ass beaten?"

    The face of Lu Bu twitched while the guards scrammed away in fear . They thought that someone would die in the next few minutes if they continued to stay .

    "Anytime that you are ready!" Lu Bu became frank .

    "Okay, okay . Jeez ..."

    Friday scratched her head and yawned . She picked up a wooden pole and walked to an open field in her pajamas .

    "Over here is fine?"

    Lu Bu frowned, "Are you going to fight in those clothes?"

    "Pfft! Even if you are Lu Bu, you can¡¯t even touch me if I go all out . Come on, I¡¯m ready!"

    Blue veins appeared on Lu Bu¡¯s face . He took a wooden pole and entered the field .

    At this moment, several people had noticed the ruckus . They gathered around to see what had taken ce .

    Upon seeing Friday in her pajamas and Lu Bu, amotion broke out among Julu men .

    "Why the heck does he picked a fight with thedy!?"

    "Is he nuts!? He will die!"

    Meanwhile, Jinyang soldiers had another point of view .

    "This is bad! Call Lord Zhang Liao and Lord Li Feihong!"

    "The girl is done for . She has provoked Lu Bu!"

    After a while, the soldiers realized their different views on the matter .

    "You think our Lord will lose!?"

    "Huh? It¡¯s so obvious that he¡¯ll lose! He¡¯s up against that Xiao Wu, you know?"

    "Who is this Xiao Wu? She¡¯s just a harlot! She will be killed in one move!"

    "Pfft! You haven¡¯t learned a thing . Didn¡¯t you participate in the ambush at Jinyang?"

    Themotion got more intense as the soldiers began gossiping andparing who would win the spar . The ruckus got worse the moment a smart guy opened a betting table .

    "10 Gold on Lu Bu!"

    "5 Gold on Xiao Wu!"

    Zhang Liao, Li Feihong, Gao Shun, and Xu Huang also came to see themotion . At first, they wanted to stop Lu Bu . But when they saw who Lu Bu had picked a fight, Li Feihong dragged everyone away .

    "What¡¯s wrong, Feihong?"

    "Why did you stop us?"

    "That¡¯s a grown man bullying a woman . We have to stop them . "

    Li Feihong shook his head, "We don¡¯t need to do anything . Actually, Fengxian will taste a clean defeat today . "

    "What!?"

    ...

    On the field, Lu Bu waved his pole around as he had warmed up .

    "I¡¯m a challenger! You attack first!"

    Friday made a duck face . She yed her wooden pole with her fingers for a second before she disappeared from the eyes of the onlooker .

    "What!?"

    *BANG*

    Friday reappeared in front of Lu Bu with a thrust pose . Meanwhile, Lu Bu already found himself flying in mid-air .

    *THUD*

    Lu Bu fell on the ground on his back, lying and facing the sky .

    All Jinyang soldiers had the "O" mouth as they were speechless, including Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, and Xu Huang .

    Li Feihong gazed at the scene with a wry smile, "See? I told you . "

    Friday exhaled out all air in her lung . What she disyed just now was equal to Tong¡¯s [Time Alter: Triple el] . However, Tong could not even master his [Double el] yet as his body foundation and his cells maniption was still weaker than Friday by miles .

    Friday could feel the pumping blood in her veins . She took a few seconds to stabilize her inner organs so she would not suffer bacsh damage to her body .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t fully use the speed of 3-winged with Tong¡¯s 2-winged strength . I¡¯ll have to help him awaken another wing as soon as possible . ¡¯

    She had tested her true potential with the current body foundation . Unfortunately, Tong¡¯s true potential was still weak in her eyes . Friday could not disy even the strength of a 3-winged immortal .

    On the other side, Lu Bu finally realized that he was defeated in one hit . He sat up and stared at Friday in disbelieved .

    "AGAIN! FIGHT ME AGAIN!"

    Lu Bu did not shamelessly im that the previous one did not count like a sore loser . Instead, he wanted another match in earnest . The eyes of Lu Bu glittered like a child who had found a new favorite toy .

    A moment ago, Lu Bu could see how Friday thrust her pole at his chest in a split of a second, but his body failed to react in time .

    Unlike when he fought Tong with his gun, he deemed that Friday did not use a cowardly trick to beat him . Thus, he respected Friday as a master warrior .

    Friday, on the other hand, had an ugly expression .

    "One more bout, and I¡¯ll head back . No matter what happens, you can¡¯tin!"

    Lu Bu nodded . He gulped and concentrated all muscles . His killing intent and all auras exploded outward and locked on to Friday . He would use everything against this girl .

    Instead of waiting for her attack, Lu Bu stroke first .

    Friday frowned and activated Tong¡¯s [Double el], which she could continue using it without worrying about bacshes .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Both Lu Bu and Friday turned into illusions as they exchanged blows . Aside from Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, and Gao Shun, no one managed to tell how this was a fight between humans .

    Two minutes after the consecutive exchanges, Friday managed to regenerate her damaged veins in her brain .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve yed enough . Time to end this . ¡¯

    [Time Alter: Triple el]

    *BANG*

    The tip of Friday¡¯s pole hit Lu Bu¡¯s forehead, which knocked him unconscious .

    Like before, Friday kept her posture as she slowly exhaled .

    "That¡¯s enough . Drag him away! I¡¯m going to take a morning bath . "

    ...

    ...

    The news about Lu Bu¡¯s defeat spread throughout the camp like wildfire . The lucky spectators who managed to catch a glimpse of the inhuman speed retold their stories with excitement .

    The strange thing was, no one thought that the defeat was humiliating for Lu Bu . Instead, they saw it as an act of courage of an ordinary human who was brave enough to challenge an immortal and lost .

    In addition, Tong¡¯s reputation soared as all soldiers thought of him and his wives as a family of immortals .

    Tong had dered himself as an immortal two years ago, and he was the pir of the Yellow Turbans .

    Hua Shi was known as the Goddess of Death because of her miraculous archery .

    Then, Xiao Wu emerged from the ambush at Jinyang, and she repelled Sun Jian 60,000 soldiers with 1,000 men!

    What kind of family was this? This was the question that gave the impression that Tong¡¯s family was not an ordinary one .

 Chapter 276

    Chapter 276

    Chapter 276 ¨C Can I Ask For a Direction?

    March 15th .

    Noon .

    Friday and Li Feihong went to the gathered pile of corpses that the army nned to burn and bury for her free lifespans .

    "I have stopped them from burning the corpses . What are you going to do with it?" Asked Li Feihong .

    After the duel with Lu Bu, Friday asked Li Feihong for a favor in exchange for her helping hands toplete Li Feihong¡¯s quest .

    The request was simple . Li Feihong had to guide Friday to the site where they gathered the dead bodies .

    "You should also watch and learn . In 18 or 19 years, you¡¯ll be doing the same as I¡¯m about to do," Spoke Friday as she extended her ck tentacle into one of the corpses .

    The dead body disintegrated like Thanos flicking his fingers .

    "This is called [Lifespans Absorption] . Once you¡¯ve grown two wings, you¡¯ll be able to obtain lifespans from living beings, dead bodies, trees, or ..."

    Friday lectured Li Feihong since had drunk Tong¡¯s blood when he entered the n . Thus, he was one of the demon candidate, which could be useful to her and Tong in the future .

    ...

    2 PM .

    Lu Bu regained his conscious after being KOed by Friday . Instead of getting angry, he grinned .

    ¡¯A good woman!¡¯

    Gao Shun and Zhang Liao, who stood by Lu Bu¡¯s bed, noticed the smiling face . They had goosebumps, trying to predict what their boss would try to do in the future .

    "He won¡¯t provoke Tong, right?" Whispered Gao Shun .

    "I hope so . Or else, this can be problematic . I don¡¯t want to wage another war with Tong because our boss wants his woman . "

    Lu Bu¡¯s sharp ears heard the whispers of his subordinates . He was taken aback as he stared at the two .

    "Who said that I want Xiao Wu!? I only respect her as a fellow warrior!"

    Zhang Liao¡¯s face cramped, "Fengxian, your expression proved otherwise . "

    "I was being happy . What¡¯s wrong with it!?"

    "You made that face when you met Lady Yan the first time . "

    "..."

    "I have to warn you . Not as your subordinate, but a friend . Do . Not . Steal . Tong¡¯s . Woman!"

    Gao Shun also stared at Lu Bu, "That¡¯s right, boss . I don¡¯t want to be Tong¡¯s enemy . His strategist and officers are scary!"

    "..."

    Lu Bu groaned while he ced a palm on his face, "Who the hell do you think I am? Am I that stupid?"

    "Yes, you are . "

    As soon as Zhang Liao slipped the words, Gao Shun ran away from the infirmary .

    "Wenyuan ..."

    "What?"

    "You will spar with me with live weapons every day until you depart to Ye ..."

    Sweatdrops rolled down on Zhang Liao¡¯s face . It was the moment he knew, he had done goof .

    ...

    March 16th .

    Guangchuan County .

    Yuan Shao and Tian Feng had finalized their ns, but they could notplete it as a report of the scout rmed them .

    Liu Yan, Yan Yan, and their army appeared in Nanpi territories . They were heading straight toward the city!

    From the brief exchange of information between the scouts of both armies, Liu Yan wanted to sell his soldiers for food supplies so that they could travel across the country to Chengdu .

    However, Yuan Shao did not trust Liu Yan as there might be a ploy to fool them . Nanpi was vulnerable at the moment, and Liu Yan could siege it while the Yuan n Army was in Guangchuan .

    "We haven¡¯t even begun our ns yet, but that Liu bastard is at our border . What to do?" Yuan Shao gritted his teeth .

    Tian Feng voiced his thought, "It¡¯s understandable if we put ourselves in Liu Yan¡¯s shoes . He has lost Ji City to Tong, and he failed to siege Zhongshan . Even if Zhang Tong abandons Ji, Liu Yan still can¡¯t reim it since Gongsun Zan is eyeing those areas for years . He has to abandon Ji City since there are too many warlords contesting for it . Then, the only option he has is to flee . I don¡¯t think he means harm . "

    "So, are we letting them moving to Nanpi?"

    "No, we will be sending a negotiator to bargain . As a matter of fact, we will invite them here since our main supply base is in this county . "

    "I see . Then, who will we send?"

    Tian Feng smiled and turned to Te Langpu, "Mind if I trouble you again, Sir Te?"

    Te Langpu rolled his eyes in secret, yet he bowed, "May I ask if you have an estimated price in mind?"

    "Estimated price?" Asked Yuan Shao .

    "Yes, before I head there to bargain, I would like to ask if you have a price that you are expecting that you should get in return . For example, how many foods we can give Liu Yan for 10,000 soldiers . "

    Yuan Shao and Tian Feng nodded, "One hundred grown male ve is sold about one tael of gold in Nanpi . Elite soldiers should be ten times the price . "

    "Understood . I¡¯ll get a good price for you . "

    ...

    Te Langpu organized a group of bodyguards from the soldiers, arranging for the departure to Nanpi . As he was preparing, Wen Chou approached him .

    "Sir Te Langpu, can I ask you for a favor?"

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "We were supposed to escort the prisoner Feng Ji to Nanpi, but most of our men are either busy scouting around Guangchuan or injured . Can I leave Feng Ji to you? All you have to do is sending him to Yuan House in Nanpi with our letter, then they will handle the rest . "

    Te Langpu widened his eyes as he thought that this Feng Ji had been sent home already .

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about Feng Ji acting up . I¡¯ll send Gao Lan along with you . Since Liu Yan is moving toward Nanpi, our Lord wants someone to protect the city as well . He will go back with you in the same caravan together . "

    "That would be nice . Thank you!"

    .

    At noon, Gao Lan, Te Langpu, and 100 bodyguards left for Nanpi . Among the caravans, Feng Ji, who was chained, had been locked in a cell . His eyes filled with despair .

    The moment he reached Nanpi, he would be treated as a ve instead of a noble . It was uneptable for him after all the works and achievements he had piled up for years .

    Feng Ji kept ming Tian Feng and Te Langpu for this predicament . He kept cursing them, mumbling to himself .

    The caravan traveled without a hitch . As long as the journey was smooth, they would reach Nanpi in three or four days .

    That night, Feng Ji had a dream . It was a dream when he was in power .

    In the dream, a spy gave him a report about Julu¡¯s movement . In the report, it said that there was a bounty for Te Langpu, and the issuer was the Julu Government .

    Feng Ji¡¯s eyes snapped open, waking himself from the dream . He sat up and peaked through his cells . Wagons of Te Langpu and Gao Lan were in his sight .

    ¡¯There is still hope!¡¯ Feng Ji thought .

    .

    Next morning, the caravan resumed its journey .

    Feng Ji leaned on the cell and mumbled to himself, leaking information on purpose .

    "What¡¯s so good about Te Langpu? He¡¯s a criminal in Julu! Even Julu Government ces a bounty on his head! Dammit, I wish I captured this asshole and hand him over to the Yellow Turban . Then, I can get a thousand gold and a noble status from them!"

    Bodyguards around Feng Ji¡¯s cell frowned . It was their first time hearing about Te Langpu¡¯s bounty .

    Yuan Shao and other high ranking officers knew about this bounty, but they kept their mouth shut as it could disturb the order . Besides, they could make more than 1,000 gold by serving Yuan Shao .

    However, to the foot soldiers who barely made one gold a year in the military, a thousand gold bounty could change their lives .

    Five of ten soldiers nced at Feng Ji, showing interest .

    "Hey, can you tell me about the bounty?"

    One of the soldiers whispered, which caused a chain reaction from the interested bodyguards .

    "What can we get if we turn Te Langpu to Julu?"

    Feng Ji smirked, "A thousand gold and Julu citizenship . What? Do you want to hand him over?"

    "Please, we are not stupid! Who would have believed in the words of a ve?"

    Despite the mocking words, the soldier who said it to Feng Ji revealed the greed in his eyes . It was not hard for Feng Ji to read this man¡¯s thought .

    "Suit yourself! You don¡¯t believe it, but you can¡¯t force others not to believe it . HAHAHA!"

    The seeds had been nted . The rest was up to the greedy soldiers .

    Reluctant appeared on their face as their eyes kept ncing at Te Langpu¡¯s caravan direction .

    Feng Ji decided to give them hope, "If you act alone, you will fail . How about this? Since only we knew about it, I can help all of you . Of course, I don¡¯t want to reward bounty, I want my freedom in return . You all can share the 1,000 gold when we get to Julu . "

    .

    March 18th .

    Because of the seeds that Feng Ji nted yesterday, more soldiers learned about Te Langpu¡¯s bounty .

    The guards began to act weird under Gao Lan¡¯s eyes . Sometimes, they gathered in groups and whispered among themselves . There were times when two or three soldiers dragged their friends toward the sideways and gossiped something .

    Gao Lan felt a bad, so he hastened the journey .

    "We will forced-march today! I want to reach Nanpi before dusk! Also, I heard a lot of gossips these days . If I find anyone whispering, I¡¯ll castrate you myself! You are soldiers, not some harlots in a brothel . Behave yourselves!"

    A few soldiers nodded while the majority of them pretended to bow . Gao Lan did not notice that they were leaking their killing intent from their eyes .

    At Noon .

    The caravan stopped for lunch and rest . Te Langpu and Gao Lan sat down on the roadside, eating their prepared rice balls and jerkies .

    80 Of 100 men had been prepared . One of them snuck to Feng Ji¡¯s cell and released him . The others grabbed their weapons and charged at Gao Lan with a signal .

    "KILL!"

    "KILL!"

    Gao Lan and Te Langpu were shocked . They drew their swords to defend themselves along with the loyal bodyguards .

    "Traitors!" Bellowed Gao Lan as he killed the betraying soldiers .

    As they were outnumbered, Gao Lan¡¯s guards fell one after another .

    Te Langpu hid behind Gao Lan . His face was as white as a sheet .

    ¡¯Shit! I shouldn¡¯t have erased all of my skills!¡¯ Te Langpu med his stupidity as he looked around for a chance to escape .

    "Surround them and use your crossbows!"

    A shout could be heard, which rmed Gao Lan . When he looked toward the origin of the voice, he recognized the ringleader of the traitors .

    "FENG JI!"

    "Too bad, Lord Gao Lan . I have to protect my life . Men, turn these idiots to porcup ... *BANG* . "

    Feng Ji felt like there was a cold piece of iron pieced through his skull before his world darkened forever .

    Behind Feng Ji, a young horseman was there with a ck object in his hand . The smoke came out of the small hole of the ck object .

    The young man gazed at the astonished crowd and tilted his head .

    "Err ... I¡¯m lost . If you don¡¯t mind, can you tell me which way leads to Anping or Julu?"

 Chapter 277

    Chapter 277

    Chapter 277 ¨C Kill or Not

    When Tong departed from Zhongshan, he did not travel back using the previous Julu and Zhongshan road . Instead, Tong thought that he could arrive at Anping faster if he took a shortcut by moving southeast directly instead of taking a detour road to Julu .

    Unfortunately, without a GPS or a system map, Tong was clueless when it came to traveling alone in the ancient world .

    He could not pinpoint the right direction of Anping, so he kept heading southwest, using the direction of the stars and the sun . Unknowingly, he was moving east instead of southeast .

    Tong wanted to ask a direction in the n chat, but he was afraid that Jia Xu and his wives would have made fun of him . Therefore, he tried to find a local to ask for a direction .

    A few days passed after his departure, he finally saw a caravan . However, as Tong approached them, he saw a familiar face .

    A familiar looking schr was being rescued by a group of soldiers .

    Even if Tong was drunk, he could still recognize this person as it was the guy who trapped his father in Nanpi two years ago .

    "Feng Ji!"

    Tong nced left and right, scanning through the caravan . He thought that it was odd for Feng Ji to be captured or locked inside a cage .

    Then, he found another familiar face .

    "I must have been blessed with plot armor! Hell, why are Te Langpu and Feng Ji doing here together?"

    Tong hid and observed the group for a while . It did not take long for the change to develop .

    Feng Ji led the men to kill Te Langpu!

    Tong held back hisughter as he was enjoying the show .

    ¡¯Oh wow! Come on, kill faster!¡¯

    He cheered for Feng Ji to kill everyone faster . When Feng Ji got Te Langpu and his bodyguards surrounded, Tong recalled about the things Hua Shi had asked him .

    Hua Shi had to kill one otherworlder before the end of the year 190 .

    ¡¯Does she have to kill the person herself or I can kill it for her? Well, this won¡¯t do! I need that Te Langpu with me alive! Sorry, Feng Ji . I actually rooted for you, but I need that fatso with me . ¡¯

    Tong jumped off the bush he was hiding, pointing his gun at the back of Feng Ji .

    BANG .

    The gun fired a bullet while Feng Ji was mumbling about something, but Tong did not care .

    "Err ... I¡¯m lost . If you don¡¯t mind, can you tell me which way leads to Anping or Julu?"

    Tong smiled at Te Langpu and his bodyguards .

    Silence .

    None of Feng Ji¡¯s followers or Gao Lan¡¯s subordinates could think straight as they knew about this person¡¯s identity .

    There was only one man in this world that wielded a ck boomstick, Zhang Tong .

    Gao Lan hesitated if he should ask Tong for help . Before Tong appeared, he could break through the encirclement and escorted Te Langpu to Nanpi by himself . However, encountering Tongplicated everything .

    Te Langpu gulped as he fixated his eyes at Tong¡¯s gun, calcting how he could get out of this situation .

    Tong squinted his eyes . A wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth .

    "Oh well . Everybody is mute . This is not good at all . I only wanted a direction . "

    Tong lowered his gun, but his other hand drew a sword from the sheath behind his back .

    [Time Alter: Double el]

    Tong disappeared from where he stood . The next second, he reappeared within the den of archers with traces of shes, and five archers copsed on the ground .

    The sudden rush of blood pumping in his vein was under Tong¡¯s control . After the fight with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Tong had been practicing using it . He could use it for a minute before he had to rest .

    "K-Kill him!"

    A cry of a soldier snapped all men from the trance . Feng Ji¡¯s remnants pointed their crossbows at Tong while Gao Lan¡¯s bodyguards rushed at the archers, killing their way out .

    Darting his eyes around and counting the troops, Tong was thinking if he should grind his [Time Stop] skill using these men as EXP or he should save it for the emergency .

    ¡¯I haven¡¯t grinded this skill for a long time . I¡¯m also stupid for not using it each day before midnight . Eh, 10 EXP per kill and 1 EXP peruse ... I¡¯ll be reckless for once . ¡¯

    "[Time Stop]"

    .

    *******************************

    [Time Stop] LV . 3 EXP ( 10/400 )

    - Stop time and space in your current universe for 15 seconds .

    Skill Cost: 15 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    *******************************

    .

    The skill level increased to three after all these years . Tong still felt stupid for not grinding it when he had abundant of lifespans .

    As [Time Stop] activated, Tong continued his killing while he maintained his boosted perception .

    Fifteen secondster, the time resumed . Fifty of eighty soldiers found themselves unable to move and fell on the ground, dead .

    Gao Lan and Te Langpu did not know if they should feel relieved or panic from Tong¡¯s help . On the contrary, Feng Ji¡¯s remnants screamed in fright .

    Gao Lan gritted his teeth and whispered Te Langpu .

    "Run away when you can . I¡¯ll stop him here . "

    Gao Lan believed that they had fallen into Tong¡¯s ambush and there would be more troopsing for them . For the sake of their safety and to deliver this news to his Lord, Gao Lan nned to sacrifice himself so that Te Langpu could live .

    Meanwhile,

    >

    >

    .

    *******************************

    [Time Stop] LV . 4 EXP ( 111/800 )

    - Stop time and space in your current universe for 20 seconds .

    Skill Cost: 20 years of the host lifespan .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction: Can only be used once per day . Skill resets at midnight .

    *******************************

    .

    Tong frowned upon seeing the change of his skill . It did not improve as he had designed when he created it .

    When he designed this skill at the Netherworld, the amount of time he could stop should increase by double for each level up . However, it increased by five seconds in reality .

    ¡¯Why is my skill not the same as when I designed it?¡¯

    Tong wanted to stop and question Lilim about it, but he had not finished with the crowd of Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers yet .

    He regted his breath and stopped moving to regenerate his damaged blood vessels in his brain manually . Tong sheathed his sword and switched his weapon to an ordinary bow .

    As Tong was taking his times, Gao Lan and Te Langpu made quick work on the rebelling soldiers and ran away . Gao Lan kept looking back in fear .

    ¡¯He¡¯s not chasing?¡¯

    Gao Lan saw Tong drawing his bow at his direction, but the bow did not have an arrow . His eyes met with Tong¡¯s stare which sent a chill down his spine . For a second, Gao Lan could feel Tong¡¯s piercing killing intent which was stronger than Li Feihong¡¯s untamed aura .

    A sharp whistling noise followed as light arrows emerged from nothingness . They chased after the surviving soldiers, including Gao Lan and Te Langpu .

    Ding

    Gao Lan parried three light arrows which came for his head and torso, but Te Langpu¡¯s right calf was pinned by an arrow . As for the rest of the soldiers, glowing arrows either dug into their brain or throat . None of them stood on the ground .

    Tong took small steps toward Gao Lan and Te Langpu as he drew his sword again . His flushed face recovered to natural color at a visible rate, and his breathing had calmed .

    Gao Lan gulped . Sweat covered his face while his legs were shaking from the pressure of Tong¡¯s killing intent .

    Unable to withstand it anymore, Gao Lan knelt on both knees .

    "Please don¡¯t kill us! We surrender!"

    Te Langpu, who was rolling on the ground because of the pain, also cried, "I surrender, too! Don¡¯t kill us!"

    Tong stopped his feet, "Ordinary people can¡¯t parry my arrows . What¡¯s your name?"

    "G-Gao Lan, sir!"

    Tong tilted his head as he was familiar with this name .

    In history, Gao Lan was a colleague of Zhang He . They served Yuan Shao and worked together when Yuan Shao rose to power after the coalition against Dong Zhuo failed .

    Gao Lan disyed his talent when he led Yuan Shao forces against Gongsun Zan Army . He participated in many battles and ultimately gained merits after Yuan Shao eradicated Gongsun Faction .

    At the Battle of Guandu, when Yuan Shao was at war with Cao Cao, Zhang He and Gao Lan defected to Cao Cao together as they could not stand Yuan Shao¡¯s unreasonable dictatorship and the infighting between Yuan Shao¡¯s strategists .

    There was no record of how he fared under Cao Cao Army . However, in the novel version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he battled against Liu Bei forces in the year 201, when Liu Bei attacked Cao Cao at Xuchang while Cao Cao was dealing with Yuan Shao . Gao Lan killed Liu Pi, a general under Liu Bei, before he pursued Liu Bei main forces . But Zhao Yun appeared and attacked his rearguards, which Zhao Yun ultimately killed Gao Lan in the battle .

    Gao Lan appeared to be one of the talented generals in this era, but because of theck of achievements, he seemed mediocre when he waspared with others such as Wen Chou, Zhao Yun, or other famous generals under Cao Cao .

    Tong rubbed his chin, thinking, ¡¯It shouldn¡¯t hurt taking him in . At least, he¡¯s a capable officer . I could let him assist Zhang He or Xu Huang since he¡¯s also a cavalry general . But ...¡¯

    Tong sighed . He remembered about Li Feihong¡¯s quest that he had to kill Gao Lan in a few days .

    ¡¯Paying 2 million lifespans to get this general or kill him . What to do?¡¯

    Seeing the struggle of Te Langpu, Tong pped his forehead as he recalled that he was lost .

    "Okay, I ept both of your submission, but you have to tell me what Yuan Shao is doing . "

    Gao Lan took a deep breath and narrated about Yuan Shao¡¯s n, their movements, Liu Yan¡¯s offer, and their provision status . He ratted everything he knew, hoping that he could survive .

    Seeing the shaking and the desperation of Gao Lan, Tong sheathed his sword and withdrew his killing intent, relieving the pressure on Te Langpu and Gao Lan .

    "Both of you wille with me to Anping . "

    "Err, what about my family?" Asked Gao Lan .

    "For now, I want Yuan Shao to think that both of you are already dead . Once we get to my camp, I¡¯ll send a secret letter to your family and invite them to Julu . Is that alright with you?"

    "Y-Yes! Thank you!!"

    Tong shifted his gaze to Te Langpu .

    "You too, Mr . President . Do you have a family at Nanpi?"

    A wry smile appeared on Te Langpu¡¯s sweating face, "It¡¯s been a while that I heard that nickname . I don¡¯t have a family there . But first, can you treat my wound?"

 Chapter 278

    Chapter 278

    Chapter 278 ¨C Buying Life

    March 18th .

    Night time .

    Te Langpu had been bandaged while Gao Lan¡¯s weapons were confiscated by Tong . The two were sleeping, exhausted from today¡¯s events .

    Tong, on the other hand, was busy texting to the n chat .

    "That¡¯s my report . "

    Tong had reported his deeds about the capture of Gao Lan and Te Langpu along with Gao Lan¡¯s confession .

    Jia Xu texted back, "Nice work . Heck, that¡¯s beyond my expectation . Please return to Anping for now . We¡¯ve got a rare chance to rest . "

    "We can make Liu Yan and Yuan Shao fight each other . Why won¡¯t we misinform them and make Liu Yan upy Nanpi?"

    "It¡¯s a good idea in theory, but our domestic foundation can¡¯t handle another long-term war . Our forces have been through many wars and expansion recently, so we have to rest and develop our cities . If we continue fighting nonstop, Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao will destroy us in two to three years by simply taking down one of our city at a time to wear down our soldiers . In the end, all of our armies will be crippled from long battles of attrition . "

    Jia Xu continued exining in chat . Many of Tong¡¯s counties and cities had yet to integrate into his policy system . Aside from Julu, nobles and merchants were still roaming in the cities with their private forces, refusing to disband their men or submit to Tong¡¯s non-private-army policy . As a result, they still had the potential to stage a revolt or take over their cities .

    Furthermore, Tong¡¯s current domestic foundation was weak as it was over-reliant on his [Create Food] . Before they expand further, all cities were required to reinforce their agriculture domain and ensure that every city could be self-sufficient, or Tong¡¯s reserve granaries would be emptied in a few years .

    Andstly, the drought was in full swing this year . Every city and countycked water and food, which they still imported grain from Julu to support their civilians . Until their farms recovered, Tong and Jia Xu could not support any more troops .

    "So, we have topromise with Yuan Shao and y in his game?"

    "Yes . Please be patient . More chances wille eventually . "

    Tong turned to Te Langpu and Gao Lan, frowning .

    "Fine . Let¡¯s improve our finance, agriculture, and our order . How long are we going to hibernate?"

    "Three years at the minimum . Agriculture takes at least two years to show its result since we have to recover from the drought . Finance takes a year to stabilize, but establishing our main non-private-troop policy will beplicated . We don¡¯t have the absolute power and people¡¯s trust like in Shangdang and Zhongshan, and we have to keep some of the nobles alive . If we keep purging the rebelling nobles, you can expect the citizens of other cities to turn into the same as Liyang . So, please give me three years to reform the system . "

    Tong¡¯s face sunk as he was reminded of Liyang incident . The resistance of ordinary peasants had be a trauma that Tong was wary .

    Although Tong and Jia Xu could simply ughter all those who would refuse toply with the reformation, they would suffer bacshes from the constant killing as every noble in the country would be hostile toward them, and all peasants would see them as warmongering butchers .

    Killing all the nobles was the simplest solution, but it would not always work every time .

    Thus, Jia Xu nned to take time and convert the resisting nobles, hoping topromise with them first . Instead of killing and wasting human resources, Jia Xu wanted to absorb all private troops of noble forces into the central army . Since this method took times, Jia Xu requested three years period of reformation .

    "Alright . Do whatever you can in these three years . As for the army, I¡¯ll hold the fort in Anping . "

    ...

    ...

    March 20th .

    Guangchuan County .

    A messenger returned to Yuan Shao, giving him a piece of bad news .

    "Gao Lan and Te Langpu are missing? Feng Ji is dead?" Yuan Shao¡¯s face darkened .

    "Y-Yes, my lord . "

    "Do you know who ambushed them?"

    "N-No . There isn¡¯t any trace of the ambush party . "

    Tian Feng, who was listening at the side, questioned the scout, "Did you check our men¡¯s bodies? How did they die?"

    "All of them was either killed by swords or arrows . "

    "Have you tried pulling arrows out of their bodies?"

    "Err ... yes . We cleaned their corpses and buried them there ..."

    "Then, did arrows disappear when you pulled out the arrows?"

    "Eh? Err ... yes . Come to think of it, they did . "

    Tian Feng sighed and turned to Yuan Shao, "We have to retreat to Nanpi as soon as possible . "

    Yuan Shao raised his eyebrows, "Why?"

    "The ambush party should be Zhang Tong and his men . The characteristic of Hua Shi and Zhang Tong¡¯s arrows are magical . Both of them can create arrows from nothingness and shoot at anyone without missing a target . Also, the arrows usually disappear when they are pulled out of the victim bodies . "

    Tian Feng had researched through Tong and his family¡¯s background, including all skills they had disyed in the past before this battle . Every small detail had been drilled inside Tian Feng¡¯s brain .

    Combined with Tong¡¯sst known location and this incident, it was not hard for Tian Feng toe up with this deduction .

    "Are you sure it¡¯s him?"

    "It¡¯s certain . Zhang Tong is probably chasing after Liu Yan Army, but he met our transfer unit by chance . I think he has already captured Gao Lan and Te Langpu since we didn¡¯t find their dead bodies or receive a report from them . "

    Yuan Shao held his head as he had a severe headache . He also tried to predict the future if they were to continue stationing their forces in Guangchuan .

    "Without a negotiator, Liu Yan can easily take Nanpi . Then, we will be trapped in this county with our front facing Zhang Tong and our back facing Liu Yan?"

    "You are correct, my lord . I know it¡¯s depressing, but please withdraw our forces back home . "

    Though both Liu Yan and Yuan Shao formed a coalition, Tian Feng and Yuan Shao knew well that, in this political world, everybody could renege all promises any time and any moment . Only na?ve politicians believed in the nonexistence [Forever Allies] or [Eternal Enemies] .

    "Send a messenger to Anping and ask for a truce . As for our main force, we will abandon Guangchuan and head back to Nanpi in full-speed!"

    ...

    Meanwhile, Liu Yan Army had camped inside Nanpi territory for two days . For courtesy, they did not move from their location to prevent a misunderstanding from Yuan Shao¡¯s side .

    However, Liu Yan started to get impatient from theck ofmunication from Yuan Shao . He sent many messengers to Nanpi, but he had not yet received any reply from the city .

    Yan Yan, who acted as Liu Yan¡¯s grand general and advisor, appeased his boss .

    "My Lord, Yuan Shao must have been busy trying to deal with the Yellow Turban at Anping . Maybe, should we march our force there instead?"

    Liu Yan shook his head while his eyes fixated at Nanpi City location, "No . I¡¯ll wait for another week . If Yuan Shao doesn¡¯t return by then, I¡¯ll take over Nanpi . "

    "That would renege the alliance agreement . Are you sure?"

    "It is an alliance base on interest . We will simply march into the city and im that we will protect it instead of Yuan Shao since he is neglecting his duty as the governor . People will understand my point!"

    Yan Yan frowned . He understood that politic world and the struggle for power between warlords were frequent, but his lord was about to betray someone unjustly .

    ¡¯Are all politicians this immoral?¡¯ Thought Yan Yan .

    "What about our relocation? Won¡¯t we move back to Chengdu?"

    "We¡¯ll leave it as an alternative option . If Yuan Shao returns, we will move back as nned . "

    ...

    ...

    March 21st .

    Tong, Gao Lan, and Te Langpu reached Anping . Surprisingly, Gao Lan and Te Langpu were cooperative in this journey .

    Gao Lan was not stupid . He knew which side was more promising and more dominant, so he did not have a problem switching side to get Tong¡¯s favor .

    Te Langpu was simr to Gao Lan . As a powerless otherworlder, his life was in Tong¡¯s hands . Thus, it was illogical if he resisted at this point .

    As soon as Tong returned to Anping, Jia Xu and Friday stood in front of the fort to wee him .

    "It took you a while . I thought you had gotten lost, but the overachiever you ambushed Yuan Shao¡¯s convoy without telling us . Please tell me what you had nned next time . "

    Listening to Jia Xu¡¯sment, Tong¡¯s face twitched .

    Friday pointed at the prisoners, "So, are you going to kill them toplete those two¡¯s mission?"

    Tong shook his head, "I think I¡¯ll buy their life . Say, how many lifespans do you have? Icked a million to transfer to Feihong . "

    "Buying Gao Lan¡¯s life? Is he worth it?"

    Hearing the weird discussion about the value of his life, the face of Gao Lan lost color .

    Gao Lan prayed in his mind, ¡¯Please, don¡¯t kill me!¡¯

    "If we keep hoarding lifespans, Lilim will try to steal it with another quest or another random nerf . I think it¡¯s better to spend it to make her happy for now . Besides, weck capable generals who can assist Zhang He and Ju Shou in Shangdang . I¡¯m nning to send him there to support those two . "

    As Tong spoke, he nced at his remaining lifespans . He had a whopping 1,088,704 years, collecting from killing Zou Jing¡¯s soldiers at Ji Citybining with his old stockpile . By donating a million of his lifespans to the n, they would get 500,000 lifespans in the n asset, which still was not enough to cancel Li Feihong¡¯s quest .

    Friday narrowed her eyes as she red at Gao Lan .

    "You¡¯re lucky . Do your best to serve Tong, or else!" Friday snorted and opened her system menu .

    At first, she had less than a million lifespans . Thanked the corpses of Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers, she drained the life essence and got back to over a million again . However, she had to part with her collection because of this lousy general that Tong picked up .

    Both of them transferred the lifespans to the n asset and then gave a million years to Li Feihong .

    Three secondster, the chat menu alerted .

    >

    Li Feihong: "What¡¯s this?"

    Tong: "Cancel your quest . I¡¯ve recruited Gao Lan into our army . "

    Li Feihong: "WTF!?"

    Li Feihong: "Are you sure? It¡¯s a freaking million . "

    Tong: "I already transferred it to you, so don¡¯tin and cancel it . "

    Friday nced at Te Langpu while Tong was busy exining everything to Li Feihong in chat .

    "What about the fatty? Isn¡¯t that Te Langpu?"

    Te Langpu flinched . This time, it was his turn to pray for his survival .

    "Ah, I¡¯m thinking of recruiting him into the n . I need his financial insight and his gunpowder form . Are you willing to cooperate with us, Mr . President?"

    A wry smile appeared on Te Langpu¡¯s face, "If you don¡¯t mind what I did, sure! Heck, I¡¯ll make your Julu great again!"

    Tong and Friday chuckled by Te Langpu¡¯s catchphrase .

    BADUMP

    Tong¡¯s heart suddenly shook while the warning message from the automatic system followed .

    >

    >

 Chapter 279

    Chapter 279

    Chapter 279 ¨C Two Tigers, One Mountain

    A spirit of a young man emerged from Tong¡¯s back . The soul had a simr face with Tong¡¯s Sloth, but he appeared in his 20s . It wore sunsses, gold rings, ck pants, leather shoes, and an expensive glossy suit .

    Friday whistled by reflex, impressed by the outward look of Tong¡¯s [Greed] .

    Jia Xu widened his eyes for a moment before he sighed and nodded .

    "As long as this spirit isn¡¯t harmful to our Lord and his allies, then all is well . "

    Tong was confused by the sudden change . His vision blurred, and he staggered back and forth .

    It took Tong another minute to readjust his sight and his five sense before he realized what happened to himself .

    "I awaken a soul again . "

    "Yup, you monster . That¡¯s a new record for getting the third soul in less than a hundred years," Friday smiled, but her eyes revealed a tinge of envy . It took her hundred thousands of years before she could obtain her four wings, but Tong gained three in a few years . Friday could not help but want to regain her wings as well .

    Friday scanned the soul from head to toes, "But I have to admit . He looks impressive with good clothing . Is he your previous life form?"

    "Previous life?" Jia Xu heard the keyword and was intrigued . He kept his mouth shut to listen to their conversation .

    Tong turned around to see his third soul . Upon seeing the smug look of Greed, Tongughed .

    "Yeah, that swag look is definitely me in my dream thest life . That is the custom tactical suit from John Wick movie I always wanted to have . "

    "You have a strange taste of luxurious . "

    "It was the dream of poor detectives or field cops in my time . We want to look good while we were doing our job too . "

    "Is that your Pride or your Greed?"

    "Greed . "

    The more Jia Xu listened, the more confused he became .

    "Excuse me, young master . Can you tell me what has happened?"

    Friday narrowed her eyes as she dissatisfied of the busy body . However, Tong tapped her head .

    "It¡¯s fine . Exin to him . "

    "Right . He¡¯ll mutate into one of us soon enough . Also, it¡¯s about time I teach you about the curses of each sin that you can use . "

    ...

    Lu Bu heard that Tong had returned . He rushed out of his tent to confront Tong so he could disy his strength and suppress Tong by force . If he could beat Tong in front of his men, everybody and Julu soldiers would respect him more .

    The goal of Lu Bu was to steal Julu¡¯s authority .

    ¡¯This time, I¡¯ll beat you ck and blue, and I¡¯ll make Xiao Wu mine! Ha! I¡¯ll make you give her to me willingly!¡¯

    Lu Bu straddled to where Tong, Friday, and Jia Xu were . Upon seeing Tong, Lu Bu bellowed .

    "BRAT! I CAN FINALLY SEE YOU!"

    The right punch of Lu Bu came at Tong¡¯s face, but Lu Bu¡¯s right wrist was caught by Friday¡¯s hand .

    "Haven¡¯t you learned your lesson?"

    Friday tightened her grip . Lu Bu felt as if his wrist bone would shatter if he allowed her to continue, so he pulled back his hand .

    Jia Xu, who was listening to Friday¡¯s lecture, frowned in an annoyance because of Lu Bu¡¯s interruption .

    "Sir Lu Bu, if you don¡¯t behave in front of the young Lord, we will have to cut your sry as a punishment . "

    Tong nced at Lu Bu and asked Jia Xu, "Are we paying for his service?"

    "Yes . We are using the rate of a grandmander of a legion . "

    Tong walked to Lu Bu to confront him .

    "What¡¯s your problem this time, Fengxian? We¡¯re giving you the highest rate of our standard wage, but you seem pissed . Tell me honestly, I¡¯m listening . "

    "My soldiers died because of your war! That¡¯s why!"

    "How many men?"

    "Over 10,000!"

    Jia Xu inserted, "A total of 12,000 soldiers . "

    Tong sighed, "And what is the casualty of Julu men?"

    Jia Xu answered, "22,000 men, my Lord . "

    Tong red at Lu Bu, "Is that what you¡¯re angry about? We both lost our men, but you¡¯re pissed because I used your soldiers?"

    "You¡¯ve been manipting my father and my army for a long time now . It was fine when you fought Liu Ping, but this time, you used us as your pawns . How can I tell their families that I brought them to their death!?"

    "I¡¯mpensating their families . Their families won¡¯t ever have any more trouble with their food or money again!"

    "Yourpensation won¡¯t bring their lives back!"

    "But if we didn¡¯t make a stand, Yuan Shao will do worse to Jinyang and them! Do you even know what¡¯s inside Nanpi? I saw ves! Yuan Shao encourages ve-trade, Fengxian! Do you want ve merchants to roam around to border, capturing vigers and sell them as ves?"

    "That¡¯s for our future to decide . We are not your subordinates!"

    "You¡¯re not my subordinate, but you¡¯re epting the wages from us? Doesn¡¯t that make you our hired mercenaries?"

    "I never said that I¡¯ll work for you . I only came here because my father told me to . The payment we received from you is what we deserve to get from our past works . It is your job to tribute Jinyang soldiers with your gold for our protection, but you can¡¯tmand us!"

    "You¡¯re not making any sense . Do you realize that your words sound like a third-rate thug in a slum? And, what the fOOk do you mean [Gold for Protection] or [Tribute]!? Both Jinyang and Julu are allies, not a vessel of another city . "

    "Your words contradict yourself . We¡¯re not Julu¡¯spdogs! We¡¯re not your vessel, but why are youmanding my army?"

    The atmosphere grew awkward .

    Lu Bu and Tong red at each other without holding back their killing intent .

    Friday readjusted her breathing as she was getting used to the demonic power that Tong had . She was ready to kill Lu Bu at any time if a fight were to break out .

    Jia Xu, Gao Lan, and Te Langpu sweated bullets as they were in the middle of a cyclone of collided murderous auras .

    The red eyes of Tong were glowing, "Back to the original question, what¡¯s the point of beating me?"

    "Someone needs a beating to understand his ce . "

    "After beating me up, what¡¯s your n? Going home and pretend that nothing has happened?"

    "I¡¯m taking my men back home . Afterward, you will tribute me with 100,000 gold a month as a service fee for using my men in the past . "

    "Going home? After sowing discord among us and ask for a tribute!? Do you even have an exit n after this? Our alliance will break off if that happens . All my subordinates will hunt you down, and war will break out between my Yellow Turban and Jinyang Army . More death to your soldiers is ensured . "

    "Foolish scum . If you die here by my hands, I¡¯ll be the suprememander of both Yellow Tuban and Jinyang Army . "

    "Kill me? Of course, kill me to take over my forces . You never nned anything good . You¡¯ve never thought of the big picture, and you have never been grateful for what I¡¯ve done for you since the day we met!" Tong turned to Jia Xu, "Can you get us weapons? Unless we beat the hell out of the other, this matter won¡¯t end . "

    Jia Xu hesitated . From the conversation, it was as if Tong wanted to kill Lu Bu as well .

    Friday leaned and whispered to Jia Xu, "Go get it . I¡¯m here as well, so Lu Bu can¡¯t kill Tong . "

    "... Understood . "

    At this moment, Zhang Liao, Li Feihong, Xu Huang, and others noticed the vortex of killing intent . They rushed to the site and found Tong and Lu Bu . It was not difficult for them to figure out what had happened .

    Zhang Liao stood in front of Lu Bu, whose eyes were already red from anger .

    "Fengxian, stop . "

    Gao Shun also walked to the front of his boss .

    "Boss, please stop . "

    Li Feihong gulped as he could not stand in front of Lu Bu as Zhang Liao and Gao Shun . The killing intent from Lu Bu was the same when he fought Wen Chou and Yan Liang . He wanted blood .

    "You three ..." Lu Bu muttered, "Fetch me my weapon . "

    "You!" Zhang Liao wanted to punch Lu Bu in the face to wake him from this insanity .

    "Go get it, Wenyuan . Unless we duke it out, this won¡¯t end with just a simple quarrel . We might have to break off the alliance between Ding Yuan and us . "

    Hearing Tong¡¯s words, Zhang Liao¡¯s heart sunk . The alliance between Jinyang and Julu benefitted both cities as they supported each other in both military and domestic . Losing Julu¡¯s support would harm Jinyang¡¯s economy as well .

    Gao Shun gritted his teeth and nodded . He gestured the onlooking soldiers, which one of them ran to Gao Shun with Lu Bu¡¯s crescent halberd .

    Jia Xu sent a soldier with an iron halberd to Tong as well, but he did not dare to return to Tong¡¯s side as the killing intent was bad to Jia Xu¡¯s heart .

    ...

    One hourter .

    Bloody wounds covered Tong¡¯s body, but he still clung on his halberd with the right hand, standing with trembling legs . His dislocated left arm was dangling by his side .

    Lu Bu, however, knelt on one knee . His chest revealed a deep cut from his left shoulder to his right waist . His broken armor pieces scattered on the ground .

    Both men were panting as if they had been running a marathon race for an entire day .

    "Are you guys done?" Asked Friday, who did not seem to panic despite the injuries both men had . Instead, she smiled as she knew that Tong had not even used his [Time Stop] or [Create Food] in this fight .

    Tong matched Lu Bu¡¯s strength with his pure abilities without relying on active system skills for the first time .

    The onlookers were restless, shocked, and astonished, fearing that the friendly rtionship between Jinyang and Julu might be over as of today . Zhang Liao and Gao Shun wanted to rush in and stop the fight, but Friday stopped them from interfering .

    No word came out of Tong or Lu Bu¡¯s mouth . They were exhausted to the point that standing still had be difficult .

    "Let¡¯s end this with a draw . None of you can move anymore . "

    The suggestion of Friday finally got Tong and Lu Bu¡¯s attention . Tong nodded and dragged his feet away from Lu Bu, while thetter wanted to pursue, but he did not have enough strength .

    ¡¯Since when has Tong gotten this strong!? Why did his speed simr to that girl!?¡¯

    During the fight, Lu Bu almost killed Tong several times . However, when he heard Tong roared [Time Alter: Triple el], he was shed a dozen times with the speed that Friday had disyed on the other day .

    After the [Triple el], Lu Bu could not keep up with the speed and was unable to continue fighting .

    Lu Bu muttered with a dried voice, "Fine . I¡¯ll be sure to kill you next time, Tong!"

    Tong turned around and gave Lu Bu a middle finger .

    The sweating Jia Xu turned to Friday again, "Will this be alright?"

    Friday shrugged, "It¡¯s just two kids fighting over a toy . Actually, it¡¯s better this way . We can finally put Lu Bu in his ce and teach him that he¡¯s not the king of this world . "

    "Well, I agree on that . I¡¯ll rob his men in my way, then . "

    "Please do . If possible, iste Lu Bu to the point that he has no authority over Jinyang men . A stupid brute without an army is just a simpleton . "

 Chapter 280

    Chapter 280

    Chapter 280 ¨C The Secret of [Pride]

    April 1st, 183 A . D .

    Many days passed since Tong had returned to Anping .

    Jia Xu and other officers, except Tong, Friday, and Lu Bu, moved to their designated city to reinforce the unstable economy .

    Li Feihong had canceled his quest, which saved the life of Gao Lan . As for the general, he was assigned to assist Zhang He in Shangdang Commandery .

    Qu Yi, who was captured by Xu Huang, also surrendered and agreed to serve Tong as soon as he heard that Gao Lan switched side . He was also assigned to Shangdang .

    Te Langpu was dragged to Julu so Hua Shi could put him into Tong¡¯s n . He was transferred to work under Zhang Jiao as a finance officer .

    As for the remaining people at Anping ...

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    Two men, who were wielding iron halberds, were trying to kill each other in front of the fortress while soldiers were cheering for them . At the side, Friday sat on top of a 3-meter-tall watchtower to spectate the duel .

    In the middle of the field, Lu Bu and Tong exchanged their 150th blow .

    *CLANK*

    "[Time Alter: Triple el]!"

    "ORAAA!!"

    *BOOM*

    Tong¡¯s halberd shaft and Lu Bu¡¯s polearm shaft collided and broke into pieces . As the fractured weapons dropped onto the ground, Lu Bu staggered backward while Tong knelt on the floor, exhausted .

    Tong wiped a trail of blood from a cut on his face, which the wound slowly healed at a visible pace .

    >

    >

    ¡¯Well, it worked . Fighting for my life without using a system skill really reduces my sin . But it doesn¡¯t increase even though I slipped a few anime lines?¡¯

    On the other side, Lu Bu gaggled and spat a mouthful of blood which clogged in his throat . The bandages, which wrapped around his chest, had a tinge of red liquid expanding . His old injuries had been reopened because of the fight .

    "That¡¯s it for today . It¡¯s a draw again," Announced Friday .

    "Oi! I¡¯m still standing, but Tong has knelt! I¡¯m the winner here!" Lu Bu protested .

    "Your weapon broke at the same time, and that¡¯s the end of the fight . "

    "But I¡¯m standing!"

    "The fight ends when any weapon is broken, and my verdict is final . If you have a problem, I¡¯ll be your opponent next!"

    "Grr . "

    The face of Lu Bu twitched . He harrumphed and sat cross-leg on the spot to catch his breath .

    Lu Bu knew that he was no match for Xiao Wu, so he avoided picking a fight with her and humiliate himself again . At first, he wanted to pursue her to make Xiao Wu his concubine, but Tong¡¯s sudden increase in martial art prowess rmed Lu Bu .

    The more Lu Bu fought Tong, the more frustrated he became . Every time Tong shouted [Triple el], his reflex could not keep up with Tong¡¯s attacks in the next few seconds .

    Lu Bu managed to parry some of them, but they always broke each other weapon and ended the fight in with a draw .

    This depressed Lu Bu . He could take it if the opponent was stronger than him from the very beginning, such as Xiao Wu . However, he was frustrated with the fact that Tong, whom Lu Bu had seen as a bug, had suddenly be as strong as himself .

    Lu Bu lost the sense of superiority and felt that the one-trick-pony that he had relied on to be sessful in the military was being destroyed by Tong .

    "Why does it feel like all of you are cheating!?" Lu Bu bellowed out of anger .

    Tong had a wry smile on his face as he rebuked Lu Bu in his mind .

    ¡¯Yeah, we¡¯re probably cheating . Hell, you are probably the cheater here! I have to awaken 3 wings to match with your strength and speed, but you haven¡¯t awakened any wing . What kind of monster will you be if you have my power!?¡¯

    . . .

    . . .

    Since that day when Lu Bu and Tong tried to kill each other in the duel, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, and Li Feihong lobbied all soldiers to merge their forces into Julu system, telling everyone that Ding Yuan had joined forces with the Yellow Turban permanently .

    It was the move that stripped all power that Lu Bu had, preventing him from causing an uprising within Tong¡¯s forces .

    While Lu Bu was recuperating from his wounds, Jia Xu moved all Jinyang officers away to cut off Lu Bu¡¯s arms and legs . Without a trusted subordinate, this crazy general would not be able to mobilize a single soldier .

    This morning, Lu Bu realized what Jia Xu and Tong had schemed, so he challenged Tong into another fight, hoping to defeat Tong and regain his authority in the army . However, it ended with another draw .

    Moreover, Xiao Wu was watching Lu Bu¡¯s every move, which pressured him .

    Lu Bu lied inside the infirmary tent while a physician tended his reopened cut on his chest .

    ¡¯Why did it turn into this?¡¯

    Lu Bu was confused . That day, he only wanted to give Tong a good punch and establish his authority . He also nned to vent his past frustration and the pending anger from thest few months . Unfortunately, the situation escted and caused a misunderstanding, which resulted in the sour rtionship between him and Tong .

    Lu Bu did not like Tong¡¯s tone that day . As a person who had never experienced being under someone else¡¯s authority, Lu Bu failed to appreciate the Yellow Turban¡¯s goodwill, benefits, and sry that had been bestowed upon him .

    He felt insecure for working under a stronger existence . Lu Bu did not have any other good point that could surpass Tong other than hisbat skills, but Tong was about to surpass him .

    ¡¯I don¡¯t want to work for him anymore . ¡¯

    Lu Bu sighed .

    ¡¯But if I don¡¯t work for him, how can I support my wife and daughter? They will be exiled or killed the moment I betray Tong . This is not a good choice at all . ¡¯

    Because of Tong¡¯s warning before the fight, Lu Bu contemted his past decisions . From his finding, he, indeed, was rash and thoughtless .

    Lu Bu sighed again .

    ¡¯Why did I have to do all of that!? Can¡¯t I just bow my head to that brat and enjoy the rich sry? Why am I so stupid!?¡¯

    His eyes gazed at the empty roof of the tent, thinking about his mistakes .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t think straight . Maybe once I¡¯m healed, I¡¯ll go home . ¡¯

    Lu Bu did not notice . Several stalks of his hair had turned white from his deep thought .

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, Tong was in better condition .

    Tong sat cross-legs in his tent while Friday was waving a feather fan at him by his side .

    On Tong¡¯s naked upper body, his bruises and cuts were healing at a slow pace . A 3-centimeter deep wound was mending at a rate of a millimeter per every five seconds .

    "Don¡¯t be greedy, heal each location at a time or the rate will be slow," Advised Friday .

    Tong took a deep breath and concentrated again . The deep wound heal rate got faster as the cut attached itself and disappeared in less than a minute .

    What Tong did was an internal cell maniption that Friday taught . By controlling the cells manually with his separated consciousness, the speed of his recovery became faster than letting the body worked by itself . It was a fundamental skill that Tong had to master before continue training the Lamia Step .

    In an hour, all injuries were gone as if they never happened .

    Friday smiled and wiped Tong¡¯s sweat with a towel while she used this chance to touch his body .

    "Your hands are lewd, Friday . "

    "They missed their husband . "

    "We¡¯re inside a military camp . "

    "The men will understand . Besides, they will be happy if we are happy . Oh, it¡¯s time to teach you about the curses that you can use ..."

    Friday summoned Lust Soul and made it pointed its finger at Tong .

    [Lust Curse]

    Tong felt a heat rushing inside his body, which gathered in his crotch .

    "What?"

    "This is called [Lust Curse] that all Lust Soul can use . All sins contain a curse that can influence a mortal¡¯s mind, but it can be used on any weak immortal as well . As for the practice, I¡¯ll show you ..."

    Friday shut the cloth door of the tent and enjoyed her time with Tong . The sultry sound leaked out from the tent, which made all nearby guarding soldiers gulped and blushed as it stimted them .

    ...

    April 2nd .

    5 AM .

    Friday had her fill, and she continued sleeping inside Tong¡¯s tent .

    Tong, however, exited the tent for a morning bath and training . He stood still and elerated his brain power .

    As Tong was training, he was contemting the scale of his power .

    [Overclock]

    The perception sense sharpened and Tong could feel all movements of every object around him .

    ¡¯[Overclock] is using 80% of my brain power into perception and reaction speed . ¡¯

    [Full Overclock]

    Tong sensed expanded, and he could see all living beings around him in the range of 200 meters, including ants, insects, and bugs .

    ¡¯[Full Overclock] is exerting all my brain power at 110% efficiency . But ...¡¯

    [Time Alter: Double el]

    The name of this skill came from an anime series, which the protagonist could elerate his movement speed and his perception in this mode . Tong used this knowledge as a base and developed it into his handcraft ability of his own .

    A simr phenomenon when Tong used his [Time Stop] urred . However, instead of being inside a ck-and-white world, everything filled with rainbow and aurora rays . Although the world seemed slower, it did not stop entirely like what [Time Stop] skill .

    ¡¯This is 200% . I can use this for 10 minutes without a bacsh . And ...¡¯

    [Time Alter: Triple el]

    The color of the world faded, which dimmed the colorful world . This time, Tong could feel the urge of stopping using this mode as his brain was about to burst .

    ¡¯300% ... Using this once or twice a day is the limit . ¡¯

    Tong canceled his perception boost and repaired his blood vessels with his manual cell controlling .

    In the previous day when Tong and Lu Bu settled their score, he used [Triple el] on Lu Bu out of desperation and managed to stun him .

    Ever since then, Tong had been practicing . Friday also encouraged him to reinforce his ability to manipte his blood cells and inner organs before the awakening of his 4th wing .

    There were so many things he had to master . The three years resting period was Tong¡¯s golden opportunity to train .

    ¡¯Come to think of it, my [Pride] doesn¡¯t act up when I used [Double el] or [Triple el]?¡¯

    Tong checked his [Pride] status .

    >

    >

    ¡¯It¡¯s not too bad . I¡¯ll test something . ¡¯

    "Za Warudo!"

    <[time stop]="" lv . ="" 4="" activated="">>

    >

    "Hmm?"

    By acting like a chuunibyou, his sin increased . But it did not change when he activated the [Time Alter] .

    "They should have increased when I used those deluded keywords . However about this ... Time Alter, Double el!"

    Nothing happened even though Tong manually activated his ability after his chant .

    "I didn¡¯t use a system skill, so it doesn¡¯t increase? Then, I¡¯ll test with this ..."

    Tong covered his hand on his face while expanded his fingers so he could see through the finger gap .

    "Unlimited Bullet Work!"

    <[firearm creation]="" lv . ="" 2="" activated="">>

    >

    >

    "I see . "

    Though it was embarrassing, Tong learned another thing about his sins and its characteristic .

    "So if I use an odd keyword to activate my system skills, my pride increases . But if I don¡¯t use the system skill, it doesn¡¯t increase . "

    Tong pretended to act like a character in a movie or an anime while he activated his perception abilities, but his [Pride] did not increase .

    At this moment, Friday woke up from the ruckus that Tong was making and walked out of the tent to see what Tong was doing .

    "What are you doing?"

    Tong turned to Friday and gained inspiration from her drowsy look . He hugged her and chanted a few words in his mind .

    ¡¯Friday is my daughter . ¡¯

    >

    >

    A smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face .

    ¡¯I get it now . It¡¯s not 100% about the system skills . The Pride rted to a self-delusion . If I lie to myself, Imit a sin . But if I earn something through my hard work, my Pride won¡¯t increase no matter how crazy I am doing with what I have earned . Instead, it will reduce if I use it at the right situation . ¡¯

    Tong asked Friday to confirm his theory, "Do you know how I can awaken my [Pride]?"

    "Simple, stay away from your vain pride, self-importance, and never im something that doesn¡¯t belong to yourself . "

    "So my system skills are not something that belongs to me, but my perception boost ability came from my hard work . Since I earn it, I can y around with it as crazy as I like ... I understand it finally . "

    "What are you talking about?"

    "Thanks, Friday! I figure out something . I think I¡¯ll get my 4th wing in no time . "

    Tongughed and princess-carried Friday back to his tent . This time, he was the aggressor . </[firearm></[time>

 Chapter 281

    Chapter 281

    Chapter 281 ¨C Two Emperors, One Empress, One Rebellion

    At noon .

    A messenger from Yuan Shao forces arrived at Anping and requested an audience with Tong .

    Though Tong was still exhausted from the morning activities with Friday, he attended the meeting .

    The messenger this time was Shen Pei, one of Yuan Shao¡¯s strategists .

    "Young master Zhang, we wish to apologize for the misunderstanding and the recent incidents . I¡¯ve brought a tribute with me . I hope that you can forget our past and be good friends . "

    Shen Pei did note here with empty hands . He brought several boxes of gold nuggets, colorful silk clothes, and a hundred of young female ves .

    Tong flinched by the sight of the crowd of ves . Had Tong not entangled with Hua Shi and Friday beforehand, he would have been swayed by the harem of the girls .

    "Please give Lord Yuan Shao my thank . I also hope for the restoration of our friendship as well . "

    As Jia Xu had advised, Tong agreed to form a truce and restore their trade routes between their cities . While Tong and Shen Pei drafted treaties and contracts, the soldiers in Anping already heard the news and cheered .

    They did not have to fight anymore .

    Lu Bu also heard the news .

    "Tsk!"

    Unlike Tong, Lu Bu¡¯s mentality was not mature enough to understand theplicated world of politics . He could notpromise with Yuan Shao who killed many of his soldiers .

    Unfortunately, all of his hand-raised soldiers were stolen by Tong . It was as if his children were calling someone else as their father .

    "It¡¯s getting harder to work under that brat . I¡¯m going home . "

    Lu Bu packed his belongings and left Anping County alone . His eyes gazed into a distance in loneliness .

    . . .

    April 4th .

    Shen Pei departed from Anping with a smile . With the sessful negotiation and the contract treaties, he would obtain a reward from Yuan Shao .

    Tong sent him off with his politic smile . As soon as he turned around, his smiling face disappeared .

    Friday, who was beside Tong, smirked as she knew what Tong was feeling .

    "Lu Bu left this camp without our permission two days ago . Do you want me to kill him?"

    Tong shook his head, "No . Killing him now will piss off Zhang Liao and the others . It¡¯s best to leave him alone for the time being . "

    "If he were to rebel?"

    "Obviously, we¡¯ll kill him," Tong answered with a deep frown .

    . . .

    . . .

    April 11th, 183 A . D .

    Nanpi City .

    Shen Pei returned and informed Yuan Shao with the good news .

    Inside the government hall, Yuan Shao, Tian Feng, Liu Yan, and Yan Yan were there .

    Yuan Shao Army managed to return to Nanpi before Liu Yan decided to betray them . Thus, they wore their fa?ade and pretended to be on a friendly term as usual .

    The negotiation and the agreement between Liu Yan and Yuan Shao had ended . They were waiting for the diplomat result from Anping .

    Shen Pei passed the signed treaties to his Lord, which Yuan Shao read it without missing a word .

    "Good work, Shen Pei! I¡¯ll reward you a thousand gold forpleting this job . "

    "Thank you very much, my Lord . "

    Yuan Shao turned to Liu Yan, "Lord Liu, now that we obtain peace . We can fulfill our agreement . "

    Liu Yan smiled, "Of course . All my soldiers will be transferred to you . I hope we can get the supply I have requested . "

    "That won¡¯t be a problem . I¡¯ll add 10,000 gold topensate for the troubles . "

    ...

    Liu Yan and Yan Yan left the same day with 1,000 elite bodyguards and wagons of supplies and gold . Yuan Shao and Tian Feng sent them off at the gate .

    After the caravan disappeared into the horizon, Yuan Shao turned to Tian Feng .

    "Have you confirmed the status of Qu Yi, Gao Lan, and Te Langpu?"

    "Yes, Lord . The three of them indeed are still alive . However, they have surrendered to Zhang Tong, and they are working for him now . From mytest intel, Te Langpu has moved to Julu while Gao Lan and Qu Yi are transferred to Shangdang . "

    "Too bad . We can¡¯t use Gao Lan and Qu Yi as a double agent . Can we still use Te Langpu?"

    "He doesn¡¯t have a family in Nanpi like Gao Lan . We can¡¯t control him . "

    "Well, fine . Execute all Qu Yi and Gao Lan¡¯s families . Leave none alive . "

    Tian Feng had a bitter smile on his face, "That¡¯s something I can¡¯t do . "

    "What? Are you disobeying my order?"

    "You misunderstood, my Lord . Their families left the city ten days ago . That¡¯s why I told you that I can¡¯tplete this task . "

    Yuan Shao snorted . His eyes gazed at the direction of Anping County .

    "Was it Jia Xu¡¯s work?"

    "I believe so . "

    "Hmm . Forget it . Let¡¯s move on with our previous n . Go and make the announcement!"

    "Understood . "

    ...

    April 12th, 183 A . D .

    It was a day that shocked the entire citizens of Nanpi . Yuan Shao announced that his third son, Yuan Shang, was actually Liu Xie in disguise while the dead Liu Xie was a double-body .

    He Jin, the former Chancellor of Han, testified and guaranteed for Yuan Shang¡¯s identity, after which he dered that Yuan Shang was the true sessor of the throne .

    Therefore, they would hold a coronation ceremony in a few days and changed the Capital City from Luo Yang to Nanpi instead .

    The schrs in the city noticed the oddness of this news . Yuan Shang was 6 this year, but Liu Xie was supposed to be only 2 years old .

    The controversy aroused the suspicion among the city merchants and the wandering schrs . However, all nobles kept their mouth shut and refused toment on this topic .

    Many outspoken figures approached the city hall and protested, but they were arrested and were given a death sentence on the same day .

    "This is tyranny! These guys are traitors of the Han!"

    "Shh! Do you want to get yourself killed? Shut it!"

    People gazed at the officials, nervous by the overall situation in their city .

    ...

    ...

    April 18th . 183 A . D .

    The news about the coronation of another Liu Xie reached Anping, Julu, and Ye City .

    He Xing, who resided in Julu with the real Liu Xie, could not help but sigh .

    "Brother, what have you done?"

    Her half-brother, He Jin, was too ambitious . At first, he wanted her to marry Yuan Shao so the person could be the next Emperor . Because of her arrival here, He Jin changed his nned to crown Yuan Shao¡¯s son as the next Emperor to get ahead in his career .

    Hua Shi consoled He Xing, cing her hand on her shoulder .

    "It¡¯s alright . We won¡¯t use you and the boy . We¡¯ll take care of He Jin in your stead . "

    He Xing bitterly smiled, "Thank you . Please tell your husband, he doesn¡¯t have to hold back for me . It¡¯s fine if he wants to kill He Jin . "

    "Oh? Isn¡¯t him your brother?"

    "A brother that tried to sell my son and me to someone else? I don¡¯t have a brother like that . "

    He Xing¡¯s eyes revealed her killing intent . Her firm resolute will impressed Hua Shi .

    ¡¯As expected of a former Empress . She can kill her rtive without batting an eye . ¡¯

    Hua Shiughed, "Well, don¡¯t worry . He¡¯ll get what he deserves . By the way, have you seendy Zou?"

    "Zou Shi? Her husband and her cousin returned from Ye . I think she¡¯s with them . "

    "Oh, right . I forgot . I hope Shi can get her long-awaited baby and join our club . "

    "C-Club?"

    "Yup! A mama club!"

    Hua Shi nced at the crowd of servants which were the hundred female ves that Yuan Shao gave Tong . Because they did not have a ce to go after they were transferred to Julu, Hua Shi took them in as her private maids .

    "We¡¯ll form a society that only young mothers like us can join . "

    ...

    Meanwhile, Jia Xu and Tong were conversing in the n chat . The news that Jia Xu was reporting shook Tong¡¯s heart .

    "Last month when we were busy fighting that cocky Yuan, Dong Zhuo found the Imperial Seal and Emperor Sword . With those, he dered himself as the new Emperor of Guige Dynasty to rece the Han Dynasty . "

    "Yuan Shao probably knew about the incident in the Capital . He put his third son on the throne and imed that Yuan Shang is Liu Xie . He Jin is also supporting this idea . I think Yuan Shao must have bribed this idiot . The coronation date has been set on next week . "

    "Xuchang is also in chaos . There were fellows called Wang Yun and Cao Cao over there, and they had a bogus decree, saying that Liu Ping left a will that they had to pass the throne to a little girl called Diao Chan to be the next Empress of Han Dynasty . The coronation has already finished long before Dong Zhuo . I believe it¡¯s either Wang Yun or Cao Cao that sent an edict to Sun Jian to make him Changsha Governor . "

    Tong covered his face with his hands, leaning back on a chair .

    "This is a headache . All of a sudden, we have three factions trying to proim themselves as royalties? Our internal management hasn¡¯t settled, and Lu Bu is potentially rebelling . Yet, I¡¯ll have to prepare for these uprising factions on top of those?"

    The stress from all pressing issues dizzied Tong . He understood now why Cao Cao in history died from headache .

    Tong took a deep breath and continued reading Jia Xu¡¯s report in the chat . To his surprise, Xun Yu also gave his report .

    "While you were busy, we received two Imperial decrees from two factions . "

    "The first decree came from Dong Zhuo . He demanded us to surrender our territories, gold, young women, soldiers, and ves to him unconditionally or he will brand us as ingrate traitors . From our investigation, he sent several simr decrees like this to all nobles . However, because young master Zhang has taken in Dong Bai, he thought of you as his son-inw and told every warlord about your rtionship with his granddaughter . "

    "The second one from Xuchang arrived this month . The Empress Diao Chan offered an alliance with us and wanted us to integrate into their dynasty . In other words, she wants us to surrender the Yellow Turban under her rules . "

    "Funny matter is, there is a short letter that the messenger wanted to send to young master Zhang . It is written in a code that nobody managed to decipher it but Sir Li Feihong . He read it and said we have to give this to you directly . He refuses to tell us what is written in there though . The letter should arrive in your hands within today . "

    Tong replied into the chat .

    Tong: Why did you keep it a secret, Feihong?

    Li Feihong: It rtes to your personal life . I¡¯m sure you and Xiao Wu will understand once you read it .

    Jia Xu: Does it hurt for sharing it with us?

    Li Feihong: It contains a secret of us, immortals .

    Li Feihong: What I can say is, Diao Chan is also an immortal .

    All members in the n chat sucked in cold breath as the discovery of another otherworlder and her position shocked them .

    Friday rushed to Tong¡¯s side after she read the messages . She chased all the guards away .

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    Friday stared into Tong¡¯s eyes, "I have a shitty news and a bad news . Which one do you want to hear?"

    "Dafuq? It¡¯s the same! Tell me what happened . "

    "First, my mom is also in this world . "

    "That part I know . You told me before that you came here to delete my [Plot Armor] skill while Medusa came here to kill Liu Ping . "

    "Yes . Thates to another bad news . Meddy came here as Diao Chan . "

    Tong choked as he could not keep up with the sudden shock . He coughed and wheezed as if there was something in his lung .

    "She WHAT!?"

    "Medusa is Diao Chan . "

 Chapter 282

    Chapter 282

    Chapter 282 ¨C Domestic and Research n

    Tong took a whole minute to stare idly into a distance . His brain and mind became nk as he did not know what to think or do next .

    "Why the heck did you two take the body of historical figures anyway? Does it because it is convenient?"

    "We can¡¯t reincarnate as a male, and females in this world have it hard . We can¡¯t risk ourselves getting sold as a sex ve . "

    Tong and Friday stopped talking as they did not know what they should do in this situation, confused by Medusa¡¯s action .

    For an hour, they discussed the matter if they should join forces with Medusa in private .

    However, a ry messenger brought them with the mysterious letter that Xun Yu mentioned in the chat .

    Both Tong and Friday took the letter and read it with anticipation .

    As Li Feihong had hinted, it rted to them . The letter was written in modern English instead of ancient Chinese, so the natives could not understand or decipher them .

    [Tong, this is Medusa . I took over Diao Chan¡¯s body in this world, and I¡¯m currently working with Cao Cao .

    He ns to unify the central in and wage war against Dong Zhuo at the moment . Pretend to be my loyal subject and form an alliance with us for now so you can buy some time to expand your territories to the north .

    Once you take over the northern in, I¡¯ll make Cao Cao join forces with you . He is a goodd, but his way of getting things done is questionable sometimes . I hope to make him submit to you in the future, but you¡¯ll have to prove your worth and be stronger than his forces .

    I also attached a note with the decree that my messenger sent to you . It¡¯s high-level demonic curses and magic that the Soul of Sins can use . Friday can use it too if she regains her demon souls .

    I heard about what you two were doing so keep at it .

    Let¡¯s meet again in the next few years . Keep cleansing your sins . ]

    . . .

    . . .

    Julu City .

    It had been many days since Te Langpu was transferred and assigned as the finance minister of the Yellow Turban .

    Hua Shi used this year quota, adding Te Langpu into the n instead of killing him toplete her quest . For the sake of the new world and their future, Hua Shi was patient and careful with her decision . There were still times before the deadline of her mission, and she could cancel it by paying a million lifespans as a fine .

    Thus, she had many options to get around with her system mission .

    Te Langpu was happy about it after he found out that there were many otherworlders in this force, which ensured his safety and future more than working alone . Furthermore, Tong gave him a thousand years of lifespans as a wee gift .

    However, Tong also gave Te Langpu a few assignments . He wanted Te Langpu¡¯s gunpowder recipe, and this ex-president had to develop Julu economy by using his experiences .

    ...

    Te Langpu was presenting Zhang Jiao and Sima Fang a new n to improve the financial situation in the city .

    In front of Zhang Jiao and Sima Fang, Te Langpu drew a new structure of a modernpany system and military system, including tax management,pany registration, and structures of organizations .

    Te Langpu could see that Tong tried to copy the modern system and applied to the city, but many parts were stillcking even though Jia Xu improved it .

    "If you see the flow chart here, this is the structure of our management system while the right is the one I proposed . As you can see the old chart on the left side, too many people hold the authority in the military which orders from the higher-up can conflict with each other . For example, if Jia Xu orders mobilization and moves all soldiers but Zhang Tong says they must not move, confusion can happen since their positions are their authority level is ambiguous . On the right side, you can see that the level of authority is clearer . At this chart, Zhang Tong is higher than Jia Xu, so if we use the previous example, Zhang Tong¡¯s words would be final, and the confusion of orders would not happen . And ..."

    Two hourster .

    "This is the idea of rewards and punishment system . Right now, we are holding all properties under the central government control, which is good if you consider the corruption of the nobles and their behavior of over-taxing the people in their territory . But, we should not keep everything under the central management for too long . Human seeks improvement and progression in life so they will be looking for a better ce to live after they obtain our sry money . If we leave them be, our trained and talented officers will be poached by other warlords with either bribery or promises of a better status or power . We can eliminate this by selling back ournds to those who have proven themselves with their achievements . It¡¯s simr to Zhang Tong¡¯s concession that you have been selling via auction ..."

    Another two hours passed .

    "The merchant organizations are still rough and unmanaged . These guyse and go, settling down wherever they want to, which isn¡¯t organized at all . Although we are benefitting from the export of our goods, we will be in the red after we expand to their marketed territories . You see, once we take over their marketed cities, we will find that the economy of those cities won¡¯t be at our standard because all of their financial power has already been stolen by Julu, and we will have to waste a long time trying to improve those cities . Instead, we should feed them and develop our enemy cities as well, so once we obtain the power over those cities, we can develop faster and more efficient, which we canunch surprise attacks on neighbor cities and catch our enemies off guard . To do this, we will force them to register their business with our government and bait them with a right to ownnd and properties in our affiliate cities . Of course, we won¡¯t allow them to possess private troops, but we will offer our police officers as their mercenaries for hire, which will be our additional ie ..."

    Another two hours had gone by .

    Te Langpu gulped down water from the nearby jar and looked at Zhang Jiao and Sima Fang .

    Zhang Jiao was sweating while he was busy jotting down the lecture . Meanwhile, Sima Fang stopped noting down the lesson and was scratching his chin, contemting and digesting the new knowledge .

    It was weird for them to have someone young enough to be their son to teach them about domestic affairs . Surprisingly, they did not show any arrogance, but they were willing to study and did not mind the age gap . Their EQ and the open-mindedness of the two even impressed the grumpy Te Langpu .

    Te Langpu sighed, "I think I won¡¯t be able to cram everything to you in a day . I¡¯ll repeat my presentation again when we are free from our duties . Next time, I¡¯ll go slow and focus on one matter at a time . "

    He was depressed that these ancient people¡¯s brains were not as developed as modern students . If they were employees in his formerpany, they would have been fired the moment that he had toe and give them a lecture . It was not his job to teach them, but they were supposed to master everything before working .

    ¡¯At least both of them are elite schrs . Their adaptivity is fast . ¡¯

    Te Langpu nced around the room, waiting to answer their questions once they digested the knowledge . His eyes stopped at a boy behind Sima Fang .

    Sima Fang also noticed Te Langpu¡¯s eyes, "My apologies . This meeting should have been only for senior Zhang and me, but I took liberty taking my eldest son with me as my servant . "

    The boy bowed to Te Langpu, "My name is Sima Lang . I¡¯m sorry to intrude your meeting . "

    "Oh, I don¡¯t mind it . Actually, you¡¯re an honorable boy . All boys at his age usually go around the neighbors and chase after girls . Coming here to assist your parents and study is admirable . Is he attending a school, senior Sima?"

    The boy answered in his father stead, "My only mentor is my father, sir . "

    "You have a good father . Actually, I have an idea . How about youe here with your father next time? Take a brush and scrolls with you so you can study together . "

    Sima Fang turned to his father, who nodded .

    "Thank you, sir!"

    Te Langpu smiled, "Lord Governor, do you think I can open a betting house that you promised?"

    Zhang Jiao¡¯s face twitched . Before Te Langpu agreed to teach them about the improved economy system, Zhang Jiao promised that if Te Langpu were worthy, he would be able to obtain a privatend to build his shop or his casino .

    Zhang Jiao decided to ask Tong in the n chat, which Tong answered .

    Tong: Let him have it .

    Tong: Actually, Mr . President . I want you to build your entertainment facility in Julu .

    Tong: But I¡¯ll limit yournd to half an acre .

    Te Langpu: That¡¯s more than enough .

    Te Langpu: Thanks! I¡¯ll make Julu great again!

    Tong: Stop that catchphrase, please . . .

    Zhang Jiao: Err, what¡¯s an acre?

    ...

    ...

    Ye City .

    Xun Yu, Jia Xu, and Li Feihong watched their subordinates mixing charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur together, using the distribution ratio that Te Langpu used .

    "Charcoal is easy to find . But this saltpeter and sulfur have to be specially mined . We won¡¯t be able to mass-produce many of them . "

    "Sulfur can be found on volcanic mountains . But I don¡¯t know about saltpeter . "

    "Te Langpu said there is a mine around Nanpi that gave him saltpeter . We should have our workers scout around mountain cliffs and caves . There¡¯s also a report saying that a few Taoist priests gather this saltpeter as a part of their secret elixir . We should start looking for them . "

    The three discussed the mass-production on this gunpowder as it would boost their military power in the next war . Since three factions suddenly proimed themselves as royalties, they were bound to fight each other in the future, and the Yellow Turban might be dragged into the conflict .

    "It¡¯s done . Please check it . "

    The workers passed a small bag of ck gunpowder at the three . Li Feihong took a pinch of it and put it on a wooden table beside them . He then lighted a piece of paper on fire and ced the fire on the powder .

    *FWOOSH*

    The burnt powder shed a white light, blinded everyone in the room for a few seconds .

    After regaining their sight, Xun Yu checked the burnt powder, "Is it a sess?"

    Li Feihong shook his head, "I think we might have failed . They are somehow simr to sh powder, not gunpowder . "

    "sh powder? But it shows a simr effect to bullet gunpowder . "

    Li Feihong shook his head again, "The real gunpowder will burn, but these powder shes when contacted with fire . They have different characteristics . "

    "Didn¡¯t these cause explosion?"

    "It does, but the efficiency of these powders are low . I don¡¯t think we should mass-produce this to create Yuan Shao¡¯s bombs . Instead of focusing on making these, we should begin researching about iron barrels . "

    "Barrels? I¡¯m sure you¡¯re not thinking of those container barrels . Sir Li Feihong, what do you have in mind?"

    Li Feihong drew a picture, using a brush and a nk scroll . In a few minutes, something simr to Tong¡¯s gun barrel was drawn in the paper .

    "The process of making this object will be taxing and required a lot of manpower and investment . We will have to train specialist aside from cksmiths, and we will have to consult with Tong and Te Langpu for the tools and process since they have more knowledge on this part than I do . "

    Li Feihong paused and tapped the picture twice .

    "This is a new siege weapon that will make most of Sun Tzu¡¯s tactics obsolete . Back at thend of immortals, we call this a cannon . "

 Chapter 283

    Chapter 283

    Chapter 283 ¨C Homing

    A long line of caravans departed from Julu, heading west . They were a mixed group of merchants, bodyguards, and relocating peasants from Julu City . Their destination was Jinyang .

    Among the crowd, one man stood out from the rest because of his gigantic red warhorse .

    Lu Bu rode alone while his hired workers drove his wagons from behind . Within the wagons, they carried Lu Bu¡¯s boxes of gold, silk, and treasures that he bought from Julu . He nned to give them to his wife and daughter at Jinyang .

    ¡¯With these gold, I¡¯ll retire from this crap . I¡¯m done . ¡¯

    Lu Bu was discouraged by the recent conflict with Tong . He lost all motivation since he had realized that Tong had stolen all of his soldiers and subordinates .

    Fortunately, Julu still paid Lu Bu for his troubles, which eased his stress . Or else, he would have rebelled and killed Zhang Jiao a long time ago .

    While Lu Bu was riding, no one dared to approach him . Everyone kept their distance from this god of war .

    Several days passed since their departure, Lu Bu grew bored by the idleness . Out of habit, he looked around, searching for something to kill times .

    After scanning through the crowd of strangers for several minutes, his eyes stopped at two familiar individuals .

    ¡¯Aren¡¯t those guys Yuan Shao¡¯s men?¡¯

    The two men were Qu Yi and Gao Lan, the former generals under Yuan Shao .

    The two generals submitted to Tong and Zhang Jiao . They agreed to switch side and moved to Shangdang along with their families, who had escaped from Nanpi before Tian Feng could kill them .

    Qu Yi and Gao Lan¡¯s expression did not belong to the losers of the war . Instead, they were smiling and chatting among themselves .

    Zhang Jiao and Sima Fang gave them 3-months worth of sry as a wee gift for joining them, which delighted the generals . Although they had to move away from the prosperous city of Julu to the border city, they did not mind it since their families were safe and the future of Tong¡¯s faction was promising .

    They could see that this army was stronger than Yuan Shao by miles .

    "Oi, you two!"

    Hearing the haughty voice, Qu Yi and Gao Lan stopped talking and looked into the direction of the oing person .

    Upon seeing Lu Bu, they flinched .

    Qu Yi stuttered, "L-L-Lu Bu? Sir, I meant, Lord Lu Bu . What are you doing here in this caravan?"

    "That¡¯s my question! What are you two doing here? Aren¡¯t you from Yuan Shao Army?"

    Gao Lan and Qu Yi looked at each other and chuckled before they covered their mouth .

    "W-We¡¯re sorry, sir! W-We have surrendered to young master Zhang, and we have been assigned to Shangdang City, sir!"

    Lu Bu frowned upon hearing Tong¡¯s name .

    ¡¯It¡¯s that brat again! What¡¯s so good about him!? Why is everyone joining him? Why are theyughing? I did my best for my men for years, but I¡¯ve never seen them smiled orughed like that . Why!?¡¯

    The face of Lu Bu distorted . He ced his right hand on his trembling left arm before he left .

    Though his face reddened from anger, his eyes saddened . They were the eyes of someone who was on the verge of crying . The upper teeth of Lu Bu chomped down on his lower lips, digging into the flesh .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t kill Zhang Tong with my strength . I can¡¯t match him with my intelligence . My charisma is even inferior to him . FOOk! He even has immortal power and an ideal wife, while I have ... only Yan¡¯er and Lingqi . ¡¯

    The face of a gentle wife and a cute little baby appeared in Lu Bu¡¯s mind, which softened his expression .

    ¡¯I¡¯m tired of fighting . I¡¯ll live with my family ...¡¯

    Lu Bu had not noticed yet that he had several white hairs despite his age .

    ...

    ...

    May 4th .

    Lu Bu returned to Jinyang with his luggage and wagons . He went straight to his home without greeting his foster father, Ding Yuan, first .

    When Lu Bu found his wife, he had a rare smile on his face .

    "I¡¯m home . "

    Lu Bu¡¯s wife turned around and smiled back, "Wee home, dear . Wow, you seem older by several years . What happened?"

    "Someone betrayed me . But that¡¯s not important . Look what I¡¯ve brought back for you and Lingqi!"

    ...

    Ding Yuan sat inside the government hall, gazing at the messenger who had just given him a piece of news .

    "Fengxian has returned ..."

    Ding Yuan did not seem happy . On the contrary, his grumpy face revealed that he did not like his son as it was before . Because of the influence of the n chat, Ding Yuan believed that Lu Bu caused a scene and was chased back home as a punishment .

    "Did he do anything after he left Julu?"

    "No, sir . We saw him chatted with the surrendered generals of Yuan Shao, but he didn¡¯t do anything particrly . "

    "Well, that¡¯s good . You can leave . "

    Ding Yuan leaned back, thinking about his adopted son¡¯s actions .

    ¡¯This is pathetic, Fengxian . You have been the top of the food chain for all your life . But the moment you suffered a few setbacks, you fell apart like a loser . How can I entrust you with this governor position if you can¡¯t even get back up from a simple failure . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, Tong, Friday, and all soldiers returned to Julu as there was no point stationing on Anping anymore . Thus, he withdrew all his troops to rest in the city to boost their morale .

    Besides, these soldiers obtained wealth from the monthly wages . He had to give them some time to spend their wealth in the city to circte the money around .

    Upon entering the city, Hua Shi and others came to wee them back home .

    Hua Shi and He Xing stood side by side with their child in their arms . They seemed to get along better when Tong was away .

    Liu Xie pointed his little finger at Tong, "Fudge Lord!"

    The crowdughed by the signature random words from Liu Xie . He Xing¡¯s face reddened from the embarrassment, but no one minded it .

    Hua Shi took her time, showing her baby to Tong . Everybody watched them with a warm gaze as the picture of a pair of young parents were carrying and talking with their daughter .

    Half an hourter, Tong returned Zhang Min to Hua Shi, so he could work .

    Knowing that the ytime was over, Hua Shi stepped back and stood by the side of He Xing .

    Sima Fang bowed to Tong and informed his important business first, "Young master, our granaries are running low on supplies . We need your help as soon as possible . "

    "I know . I¡¯ll be right there . "

    "Tong, what are we going to do with the two edicts from Dong Zhuo and Diao Chan?"

    With Sima Fang¡¯s lead, Zhang Jiao also changed his mood from a doting father into a workaholic .

    "Prepare 100,000 stones of dry food and send them to Xuchang . Write to them that this is our tribute to the new Empress and apologize for the troubles that we have caused . Also, tell them that the Yellow Turban will be disbanded . However, we need to maintain our authority in our cities in exchange for the submission and they could notmand us to do their bidding or imposing a figurehead upon our cities . "

    "Wait, disband the Yellow Turban?" Zhang Jiao widened his eyes in disbelief .

    "Yes . You heard me right . We will pretend to swear allegiance to the new Empress since we can¡¯t suddenly announce that we want to establish another country on top of the previous Han Dynasty . If we do that, we¡¯ll be the 4th force and everyone will see us as rebels like Dong Zhuo . "

    Zhang Jiao nodded, "Right, Jia Xu said we have to rest to stabilize our domestic . We can¡¯t afford another war . "

    Sima Fang¡¯s eyes lit up as he was delighted by the n of father and son . He coughed, "So, will we take a resting period to recuperate from the previous wars?"

    Tong gestured everyone to quicken to pace and enter the inner city area . He did not want to talk out loud in the open .

    When Tong and everyone got inside the private area where only officials resided, he continued .

    "Jia Xu has merged Jinyang and Julu armies as one . It will take some time until the reformation ispleted . Te Langpu should have told you about the reformation, right? Work with him and develop our cities . Jia Xu and I set the deadline for the development to three years, so use these three years to reinforce everything that needs to be done! After the three years, we¡¯ll probably be dragged into a war of the three monarchies . By that time, we have to be ready for another rapid expansion since we¡¯ll probably dere independent from the Empress . "

    Sima Fang and Zhang Jiao got motivated . They began discussing the future n of Julu City and other affiliate cities, debating what policy they could enhance .

    Meanwhile, He Xing stared at Tong in a daze .

    When He Xing reached puberty, she was sent to the royal harem as one of the Emperor¡¯s concubines . For a decade, she could not see any man, but the ugly Emperor and old eunuchs . Only the times when she became the Empress, she could attend meetings with ministers and nobles . However, they were old men as well .

    After she ran away from Luo Yang and traveled with Yuan Shao forces, she could finally see young men . But because of her status and as a mother, she abandoned her emotion and interest in the opposite sex, knowing that she would eventually be used by Yuan Shao .

    Now, He Xing witnessed Tong at work, which the serious face of an 18-year-old teenager with smooth skin and toned body attracted her .

    The charm of a young alpha male aroused her instinct which made her mouth dried .

    He Xing could not keep her eyes away from Tong . Her mouth failed to close, and her face got redder than the usual .

    The stare of He Xing did not escape the eyes of Hua Shi .

    Hua Shi¡¯s face twitched as she detected the emerging threat of her love life . A wave of swelling anger budded in her heart, and the auto-system warning rmed her at the same time .

    >

    >

    >

    ¡¯What!?¡¯

    Hua Shi gulped and stopped what she was thinking .

    ¡¯Oh my god! I got jealous for a moment, and they are weakened? To awaken a wing, do I have to live my life like a saint!?¡¯

    She wanted to scream . Thinking back when Lilim offered her the angelic path, Hua Shi felt like she was conned .

    ¡¯SHIIIIIIIEEEETTTT!!! I shouldn¡¯t have chosen this path!¡¯

    There was a reason why angels picked only good souls with positive karma to heaven . Their nature and their personality would not get in the way of their wing-awakening, so they could obtain wings and acquire power without much guidance . However, those who were corrupted would find it difficult to walk along the angelic path .

    Hua Shi was suffering the consequence of walking the righteous path with a corrupted mind .

 Chapter 284

    Chapter 284

    Chapter 284 ¨C Cao Cao¡¯s Briefing

    Hua Shi took a deep breath, calming her emotion . As a person who walked the path of a saint, she had to be patient .

    The matter about jealousy, envy, or selfish thought had to be cleansed from her mind .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll have to talk with Friday and Tong after this . ¡¯

    ...

    8 PM .

    Tong copsed on the bed in his room, lying exhausted, while Friday and Hua Shi were sitting on the side of the bed and were massaging his body .

    Friday was humming while her hands were slowly stripping Tong¡¯s clothes as usual . On the other side, Hua Shi stopped massaging Tong¡¯s shoulders and beganbing Tong¡¯s hair .

    As for the baby, she was sleeping on the baby bed, smiling .

    Hua Shi looked at Tong and Friday . She opened her mouth and wanted to speak something, but she bit her lower lips and stopped trying to speak .

    Noticed the hesitation and the suspicious action of Hua Shi, Friday nced at the girl .

    "Is it about He Xing?"

    "Eh?"

    "I saw her dazing at Tong today . You probably noticed it too, right?"

    "Uh, yeah . "

    "Then, is it about her? Do you want me to kill her and hide her dead body?"

    Tong snapped open his eyes in shock . Friday was leading the conversation to hell .

    "Stop, stop, STOP!! What the hell, Friday!? Why do you want to kill someone because she is staring at me?"

    Friday shrugged, "She fancies you . That¡¯s enough reason for a wife to kill a bug that wants to pester her beloved husband . "

    "That¡¯s totally wrong! You can¡¯t just kill her because she looked at me! Think about it . If there is a man you know gazed at you and I want to kill him because of it, how will you feel?"

    "Delightful, of course!"

    Tong scratched his head with both hands to the point that he messed his hair, "No! Urggg ... Dammit, Friday . You need help ..."

    Because of the bickering, Zhang Min, who had been sleeping soundly, cried from fright . Hua Shi rushed to the baby while she red at the two .

    "AH! SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU! Minmin, mama is here . It¡¯s okay . "

    "..."

    .

    It took Hua Shi and hour to put her baby back to sleep again . She gestured Friday and Tong to follow her to the other room .

    Once the three left the sleeping baby in the room, Hua Shi began exining her troubles about the angelic power and its characteristic in a hushed voice .

    Tong nodded and embraced Hua Shi to console her, "It¡¯s alright . You can do it . We might not be able to enjoy our night . But once you awaken the few troublesome virtues, we can do whatever we want again . "

    Tong kissed Hua Shi¡¯s forehead, which made her smile .

    On the other hand, Friday giggled, "You just got conned, zombie mama . The angelic path doesn¡¯t have a bacsh, but once your virtue drops down to zero, that virtue is gone for good . A mental cannibal like you can¡¯t cultivate it . "

    Hua Shi red at Friday, "Slut! Once I get my wings, I¡¯ll beat the fOOk outta you!"

    "Bitch please, you need at least 4 wings to beat me . Heck, I doubt you can even get two wings with your immoral hobbies . There¡¯s that [Chastity], you know? You have to abstain from sex and desire for years toplete it! Can you do it?"

    Hua Shi was on the verge of tears, but Tong patted her forehead and tightened his embrace .

    "Don¡¯t listen to that . I know you can do it . "

    Hua Shi nodded and snuggled her head on Tong¡¯s chest .

    Friday rolled her eyes in an annoyance, "Whatever . Tong, since you can¡¯t make another baby with Sunday anytime soon . Give me a baby!"

    Tong rolled his eyes this time, "Friday, you will also have to learn how to control your lust . Eventually, you will have to reawaken your [Sins] as well . So, if you practice now, you will cleanse it faster . "

    "I already knew self-control!"

    "No, you¡¯re not . Actually, I have a lot of work to do tomorrow, and I also need to save my stamina to practice controlling my power . So ... no sex . "

    "NUUU!! What about my baby? I want a baby, too . "

    Hua Shiughed at Friday, "Karma, bitch!"

    "You!"

    ...

    The bickering of the three could be heard inside He Xing¡¯s room . Although she could not understand what they were talking about because the voices were muffled, she was jealous of their rtionship .

    He Xing looked at Liu Xie, who was sleeping while sucking his thumb like a little monkey .

    "I wish you have a warm father like young master Zhang, too . "

    Her heart beat faster when she recalled the face of Tong . He Xing shook her head to get rid of the image in a panic .

    ¡¯No, I can¡¯t get my hope up . If I were to get close to him, those two girls would kill me ...¡¯

    .

    .

    Because of the ruckus that day, He Xing kept her distance from Tong, which saddened her and made Tong felt terrible .

    Thinking about theplication that He Xing and Liu Xie had, Tong also wanted to treasure them since they were under his wings .

    However, Tong did not want Liu Xie to grow up with a bad habit and a misunderstanding about him, who was considered as Liu Xie¡¯s foster father . Sometimes, he secretly visited He Xing to y with Liu Xie without the knowledge of his two wives .

    One day, Tong was teaching Liu Xie about his speech, which he suddenly called him, "Papa!"

    Tong sweated while He Xing panicked . They were afraid that cmity might befall them if Liu Xie spoke the word in front of Hua Shi or Friday .

    "Little Xie, when we¡¯re outside, call me d¨¤g¨¥ (elder-brother) instead . Okay?"

    Out of desperation, Tong tried to convince the little guy .

    "Fudge-Da-Ge!"

    He Xing and Tong smiled while they wiped away their sweat . It was fortunate that he was smart, but they still feel restless .

    "Young master Zhang, please avoid visiting us in secret for a while . It¡¯s dangerous for us, too . "

    "I know . I¡¯m sorry . "

    Friday and Hua Shi never knew about these secret visits incident .

    Unfortunately for Tong and He Xing, Liu Xie called Tong "Papa" the day after in front of Friday and Hua Shi .

    ...

    ...

    June 15th .

    Xuchang .

    Cao Cao, Wang Yun, twenty noble representatives, and ten officers were sitting around a round table, looking at the map on the table .

    Xun You took the role of the strategist . He took a brush and painted the map with different colors . He highlighted their territories in blue, while the other forces were painted with red, green, yellow, grey, and other colors .

    Once Xun You was done, he hung the map on the wall, and thendscape of the dozens of military forces revealed to everybody in the meeting .

    "So many forces . "

    "I¡¯ve never expected that our country has this many ns . "

    "T-The Yellow Turbans have so many counties! The entire Bing Province is theirs!?"

    "Half of the Ji Province too . "

    "No, you should pay attention to Dong Zhuo in the west!"

    "Right! Dong Zhuo has ... 3 ... 4 ... Dammit, his territory isrger than the Yellow Turban!"

    All officers under Cao Cao eximed and murmured upon seeing the whole picture of the country .

    Cao Cao coughed to get everyone¡¯s attention, "As all of you can see, our country¡¯s noble system breeds this many forces, but we actually aren¡¯t unite as one . Each of the forces governs different county, city, or even a whole province . However, none of them can see the real problem at hand . "

    Cao Cao picked a blush and circled three locations with ck paint . Three circles covered Luo Yang, Nanpi, and Julu .

    "Three major forces are causing chaos and killing among the people! Dong Zhuo¡¯s tyranny should be known to all of you since most of you have fled from the Capital . As for Yuan Shao, the recent news about his coronation should speak for itself . This disgrace of all aristocrats wants to make his son Emperor! As for the Yellow Turban ..."

    Cao Cao paused . Hesitation revealed in his eyes as he did not want to fight against this force . He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he continued .

    "The Yellow Turban consisted of a group of righteous people that fought against the tyranny of the previous Emperor, Liu Ping . They eradicated all corrupted nobles and officials that tarnished our reputation and reced the noble system with the knowledge of many immortals . You can say that this is a force created by immortals!"

    All officers in the room stopped talking and gazed at Cao Cao in solemn . They had been briefed about the immortal beings around thend, and they knew about Tong, Hua Shi, Xiao Wu, Li Feihong, Sun Fang, and Li Jing¡¯s identity .

    These teenagers were the threat that they had to face .

    Cao Cao continued, "However, because of theck ofmunication, several opportunists pretended to be a part of the Yellow Turban Army and used its name for plundering or recruiting followers . From ourtest intel, the real Yellow Turban actually changed their uniform to blue, and they quit wearing a yellow bandana or other yellow clothing . On the other hand, the imposters are still wearing bandanas and yellow clothes . "

    "The problem about this force is not the real Yellow Turban Army but the bandits that have imed to be them! These bandits are like a gue . Out of all provinces, only Liang Province of Ma n was untouched because they didn¡¯t know about the Yellow Turban . As for the rest of the country, peasants that have been suffered from the drought are taking up arms and follow the trends of the bandits!"

    "Another factor that contributes to this abnormal decision of the peasants is Dong Zhuo¡¯s false decrees . He demands heavy taxes from all counties and threatens to kill every civilian if they didn¡¯t pay him tributes or taxes . The weak prefects of many counties have already abandoned their posts, but some of them actually followed Dong Zhuo¡¯s order . They levied from their people and caused the peasants to rebel!"

    "All officials are vile in the eyes of ordinary people! We have to correct them by destroying the sources of corruption first while we suppress all the bandits around thend . This meeting is held to recruit all of you, good nobles that have escaped from Dong Zhuo¡¯s clutch . I want to borrow all of your soldiers, a part of your supplies, and gold so that I can raise more troops to eradicate the traitor Dong Zhuo and the bandits!"

    One of the noble representatives stood up, "I understand your purpose from gathering us, but why are you targeting the bandits and Dong Zhuo? We can see that many evil forces try to steal our beloved country like Yuan Shao! Why are we fighting small time bandits and the strongest force of Dong Zhuo at the same time? If we want to finish off the bandits, why aren¡¯t we going after the Yellow Turban? As long as the main forces exist, the imposters will continue to expand . But if the main force is gone, no one will want to follow after the destroyed army anymore . "

    Many nobles nodded upon hearing the suggestion . Even Cao Cao¡¯s officers also agreed .

    "For that, I have my reasons . First, as I said before, the Yellow Turban is a righteous force under the direct control of the immortals . From my investigation, they are trying to help the people, but the people itself misunderstood their intention . And secondly ..."

    Cao Cao took out a scroll from his cloth, "In this scroll, it contains a proposal that Zhang Jiao sent us . Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong sent a tribute of 100,000 stones of food to Xuchang a few days ago . In this treaty, they want the official titles of Governor for the following cities ... Julu, Ye, Zhongshan, Jinyang, and Shangdang . "

    "In exchange, they will form an alliance with us, and they will disband the name of Yellow Turban to help us stopping the civilians from joining the bandits . "

 Chapter 285

    Chapter 285

    Chapter 285 ¨C Cao Cao¡¯s Plot

    After the meeting had ended and everybody left, Cao Cao¡¯s serious expression turned into a wicked smile .

    All nobles agreed to transfer all of their private troops and some supplies to Cao Cao .

    He did not use Diao Chan¡¯s edict or Wang Yun¡¯s influence to convince these people as it might damage his reputation . Cao Cao wanted to appear like an honest patriot that tried to solve everything with a peaceful method .

    Cao Cao yed as a hero in the chaos .

    That night, Xun You and Wang Yun visited Cao Cao¡¯s courtyard to report about thepletion of their tasks .

    Wang Yun swallowed his pride and bowed, "We gain another 30,000 soldiers, 20,000bor ves, 350,000 gold, and 500,000 stones of food . "

    Xun You did not speak . He passed the contracts that all nobles had signed to Cao Cao .

    "Very well . Next task, I want the little girl to issue another edict for me . "

    Wang Yun¡¯s eyebrows twitched, yet he nodded, "What do you want to do next?"

    "First, instead give the titles that Zhang Tong demanded, I want to make Zhang Jiao the Regent of the North and Zhang Tong as the Viceroy of Ji and Bing Province . "

    Wang Yun frowned as he did not understand the meaning behind to titles .

    However, Xun You smirked andmented, "This is a vicious scheme . Zhang Tong will be furious once he receives the title . "

    The title of the Viceroy of a Ji Province contained a trap that could damage Tong¡¯s reputation and the rtionship between Yuan Shao and the Yellow Turban .

    Cao Cao sniggered, "Secondly, leak an intel to Dong Zhuo . Tell them that Lu Bu is at odd with the Yellow Turban because he tried to take over the army authority from Zhang Tong . While you¡¯re at it, send that 100,000 stones provision that Zhang Tong gave us to Dong Zhuo instead . Tell him that it¡¯s a tribute from his grandson-inw wanting to restore the rtionship between them . "

    Wang Yun¡¯s face pale . If the tribute convoy reached Dong Zhuo, all warlords would believe that Tong really pledged allegiance to Dong Zhuo instead of Diao Chan .

    Cao Cao had not finished yet, "Also another task . Dispatch an envoy to Yuan Shao to negotiate for an alliance treaty . Tell them that we want to eliminate Dong Zhuo and the bandits, and I meant [Bandits] . "

    Xun Youughed, "A wordy? Well, I think I¡¯ll have to take the task myself . I don¡¯t think I can entrust anyone else with this job . "

    "Suit yourself . Hahaha!"

    Wang Yun¡¯s face was already red from anger . He red at Cao Cao, "You said you did everything for the sake of peace . Why are you causing harm to Zhang Tong? You said it yourself in the meeting that the Yellow Turban is a righteous force! They already showed the sincerity with the tribute and they wanted to disband their forces!"

    "Ah, that . You have to be stupid enough to believe in Zhang Tong¡¯s surrender promise . What kind of a surrendered person demanding several titles for his subordinates and asking to maintain their territory authority? He¡¯s just pretending and spreading the news that he¡¯s a part of us so that he can ditch the imposters and deny all responsibility that the bandits caused . Also, I have to leave some room so I can recruit the Yellow Turban remnants into my army . Their officers, generals, and strategists are all talented, you see?"

    Cao Cao showed three fingers, "Three possible scenarios . First, there is a likely chance that Zhang Tong will be destroyed by Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan . If this happens, I can poach all Zhang Tong¡¯s officers, iming that I understand their situation and troubles and I¡¯m willing to continue their legacy . Then, I¡¯ll absorb the Yellow Turban into my force . "

    "The second scenario, if the Yellow Turban and Yuan Shao won¡¯t fight each other or they unify the north, the Yellow Turban will be looking at Luo Yang next . By making Dong Zhuo having a good impression on Zhang Tong, Dong Zhuo will let his guard down and thought that the Yellow Turban armies are his underlings . This will create an opening within their ranks, and Zhang Tong¡¯s strategists will not miss that opportunity . We can have Zhang Tong and Dong Zhuo fighting each other while we are busy unifying the central in . "

    "Third scenario, Zhang Tong and Jia Xu are smart enough to not wage another war with any force for a few years . This is the most troublesome situation since they will be stronger the next time they show up on a battlefield . However, we can sow discord between the Yellow Turban and other forces by having them think that they are hypocriteckeys of Dong Zhuo . When that timees, I will form a coalition with all lords in ournd to fight against Dong Zhuo and Zhang Tong . "

    Xun You shook his head, "I can think of the fourth scenario . Zhang Tong won¡¯t wage war for three to four years, but he will defeat Yuan Shao and absorb Gongsun Zan forces in the next two years after hees out from his hibernation . Then, he will go into another hibernation for another three to five years again to digest all the new territories he acquires . Afterward, he wille for us and demand us to surrender with the strength that none of us can resist him . "

    Cao Cao¡¯s smile disappeared, "That won¡¯t happen . I won¡¯t allow him . "

    "You will be the viin if you continue to stop them . Since you are trying to make them look like a righteous force, you can¡¯t betray them in the open . All lords are not stupid . They will detect your schemes and frame you in return . "

    "I don¡¯t mind being a viin ... as long as this country can be united as one under my rule, that is . "

    "I hope you won¡¯t be the next Yuan Shao or Dong Zhuo . "

    "I¡¯ll never sit on the throne, Gongda . You and your Xun n can rest assured . "

    Wang Yun listened to the two with a heavy heart . He thought of Diao Chan, who was under house-arrest by Cao Cao as a hostage .

    ¡¯To think that there will be a day that I have to pray for the rebel army . Zhang Tong, if you are really like what my daughter described, please don¡¯t die . ¡¯

    ...

    June 17th .

    Three more decrees from Diao Chan were issued .

    One of the edicts dered that Cao Cao would rece Xuchang Governor as he was promoted to a regent of the new Capital .

    The next decree was the recruitment that shocked the locals . Hundreds of minor officials were busy distributing announcement flyers to merchants, schrs, and nobles .

    [If you have talents, I have the use for you . We are epting exceptional people to help us eradicating rebels, bandits, and false emperors! It doesn¡¯t matter if you aremoners, ves, merchants, or fugitives from other cities . ]

    [If you have talents, I have the use for you . We are looking for talented officials . If you think you are good at farming, finance, or you have the confidence as a fighter, we have a job for you!]

    [If you have talents, I have the use for you . We want you in the military! All schrs and stratagem masters are wee . You will be handsomely paid if you join us now . ]

    The flyers were the advertisement for the avable jobs as officials . From the first nce, it seemed Diao Chan did not care about the family background of her potential employees, which impressed all Xuchang locals . Thus, it boosted her reputation as the new Empress of the country .

    Many schrs and greedy merchants rushed to Xuchang City Center to apply for a job, which more than half of the job-seekers were employed in a day .

    However, thest decree shocked the nobles who donated their private soldiers to Cao Cao .

    Diao Chan demanded that all private soldiers under Cao Cao had to be transferred to serve her as royal guards, which was a massive promotion for the ordinary soldiers .

    This also stripped the nobles of their authority over the soldiers as none of them had the right tomand the troops again .

    The nobles wanted to protest, but they could not as it was the direct decree of the Empress . If they were to resist, they and their entire family would be executed .

    In conclusion, Cao Cao and Diao Chan simply stole their soldiers and forced them to agree to it without them realizing it .

    .

    On top of the city wall, Cao Cao stood tall, watching themotion within the city .

    Behind Cao Cao, a young teenager sat on the battlement, patting a white pr bear and a brown grizzly bear beside him which were sleeping . He had a soldier cut hairstyle and the face of a westerner . His skin was palerpared to Cao Cao and the natives in this country . However, the depth of his eyes was pitch ck as if it was an endless abyss . Even Cao Cao avoided making eye contact with this young man .

    "Now that Gongda is away . Do you have to confident that you can rece him in his duty in the meantime?"

    Listening to the question of Cao Cao, the young man nced at him, "It isn¡¯t about my confident right now . It¡¯s about the status of the city treasury . With all your projects, you will run out of gold soon . You can¡¯t simply hope that you can get the help of an immortal and you¡¯ll make it through the crisis . You are expanding too fast . Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s too hasty to rush all of these projects?"

    "We don¡¯t have much time . Zhang Tong is trying to buy a few years to recover from thest war while we can¡¯t even pacify a city . Unless I rush it, we won¡¯t catch up with their development . "

    The young man shook his head, "You can¡¯t hope to match their development . From thest intel, Te Langpu has betrayed Yuan Shao and joined Zhang Tong . The new weapon that Te Langpu invented is under their hands . You can expect more unthinkable weapons in their next war . This doesn¡¯t include their economic development since Te Langpu is also a finance expert . "

    "I still have you . With your brain and power, can¡¯t we catch up to Zhang Tong? You said you have better knowledge and worldly experiences than Te Langpu and Zhang Tong, right?"

    Shook his head again, "My power has limited use . If it¡¯s only one small city, I can make it as flourish as Julu . But by that time, all of Zhang Tong¡¯s domestic would have been strengthened further . We arecking both in talented officers and immortals . "

    "If we can solve the gold issue, can you make it?"

    "I need 1,000,000 gold and half a year to make this city surpass the current Julu . I¡¯ll also need a thousand of minor officials, and I want to write thews of our new country . "

    "We have less than 600,000 gold at the moment . Will it do for the next 3 months? I¡¯ll get more within 3 to 4 months . "

    "The project will be a bit slower, but I can manage," The young man passed a scroll to Cao Cao, "In this scroll, there is a detail about talented individuals on the central in . Send someone to recruit them into your force before Zhang Tong do . Also, there is the gunpowder form that Te Langpu used, but I improved it . Have your men search for the required materials and stockpile them . We¡¯ll also develop cannons and guns . "

    Cao Caoughed, "See? I knew you can do it . By the way, your name is too hard to pronounce . Can you repeat your surname again? Va-de-meh what?"

    The young man sighed, "Just call me Pu Jing . This is what Chinese called me in the past . "

 Chapter 286

    Chapter 286

    Chapter 286 ¨C Mind Game

    Cao Cao was not the only one that nned to absorb the Yellow Turban into their forces . Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao also made their moves .

    ...

    Ji City .

    The city which was attacked by Tong¡¯s me tactic had restored its peace . On top of the wall, gs of Gongsun n and the [Liu] gs fluttered by the wind .

    Inside the government hall, Gongsun Zan sat on the main seat . Below him, his n members stood still and watched the visitor in the middle of the hall .

    Gongsun Zan now had controlled the entire You Province, which consisted of Ji, Beiping, and Xiangping Commandery . His eyes were looking at the Ji Province where Tong and Yuan Shao pretended to form a truce .

    However, the visitor made him reconsidered his ns .

    "I have brought a gift from Lord Yuan Shao to show you our goodwill . We hope that you can swear allegiance to the right Han Dynasty sessor and not fall for the tricks of the rebel Dong Zhuo and the false Empress . In exchange for your allegiance, we shall bestow you the title of the Grand General of White Horse, and you will have the right to manage the entire You Province with our authority . "

    Gongsun Zan smirked, "Isn¡¯t that the same as surrendering my army to you? Aside from that useless title, I don¡¯t see the benefit of joining forces with Yuan Shao . "

    "You misunderstand me . We only want you to ce our [Yuan] gs on top of your wall, and we won¡¯t interfere with what you¡¯re doing with your cities . We hope to form a friendly rtionship with you without oppressing each other . After, we both serve the Han . You are the protector of the northern border . Without you, there is no Han Dynasty . How could we try to control you and your forces?"

    Tian Feng smiled, but his eyes said otherwise . Had elite politicians gazed into Tian Feng¡¯s eyes, they would have thought that he was mocking andughing at Gongsun Zan .

    Gongsun Zan¡¯s eyes did not notice this as his eyes locked on the tribute boxes . In the boxes, gold nuggets, treasures, and expensive jewels mixed into the same boxes, which made it looked attractive to those who had never seen this many jewels .

    "What do you get from me by having the Yuan n gs on top of my walls? Bragging right?"

    "We are hoping to restore the order of thisnd . You see, bandits are everywhere, and I¡¯m sure that a bunch of peasants is now enjoying pretending that they are Yellow Turban . "

    Gongsun Zan¡¯s face twitched . He knew that the mastermind behind the Yellow Turban¡¯s movement was Tong, his junior disciple of Lu Zhi . As a fellow disciple of the same mentor, he wanted to have a good rtionship with the Yellow Turban main forces so they could protect this country from the Xiongnu together .

    However, Gongsun Zan also heard that the rtionship between Tong and Yuan Shao was not very good at this moment as they fought several times in the past . By allying with Yuan Shao, they would have to fight Tong Army, which was not a part of his goal .

    The re of Gongsun Zan hardened, "What does the Yellow Turban have to do with it? Bandits are bandits, Yellow Turban is created to resist the previous Emperor Liu Ping . Now that Liu Ping is dead, I also heard that the Yellow Turban is going to be disbanded . I have no intention to get involved in their affair but getting rid of the bandits . "

    "We understand that, and we promise that we won¡¯t meddle in any of your affairs . Besides, we have already formed an alliance with the Yellow Turban forces, and we have reopened our trade routes again . You see, we sincerely hope for peace and order . We want to unite everyone and stop the useless fighting . "

    Gongsun Zanughed in his mind and thought .

    ¡¯Hypocrites! You formed a coalition against Zhang Tong, but you failed . Now you turn tail and run away like a dog! Peace? Pfft, you just want to recover from your damaged supplies in thest battle . Don¡¯t you think that I didn¡¯t know about the details of the battle? Na?ve fools!¡¯

    Gongsun Zan continued to pretend to ponder before nodded, "Fine, I don¡¯t see the harm if you go that far . Draft me the contract treaties so I can see the details . "

    "A wise decision, Lord Gongsun . I shall go back and finalize our alliance treaties at once . "

    ...

    Within the crowd, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Jian Yong, and Jiang Man were there .

    After the battle against Tong, they withdrew and surrendered themselves to Gongsun Zan, who ordered an immediate dispatch of his force to take over Ji Commandery .

    As the leaders of volunteer forces, they were promoted as Gongsun Zan¡¯s officials . For Liu Bei who was Gongsun Zan¡¯s junior, he received the rank of a battalion general while the rest of Liu Bei¡¯s followers became his lieutenants .

    Liu Bei licked his lips, "This is good . Now that Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao are allied, Zhang Tong can¡¯t defeat these two . He will fail sooner orter . "

    Guan Yu sighed and shook his head, "Do not hold a grudge against them, Xuande . Wares and goes . People also adapt to the changes . Look at those men and listen to their conversation . You can see that they want to kill each other, yet they swallowed their pride and agree to form an alliance because of their co-interest . If we want to be sessful in thisnd, we have to learn to control our impulse . Yide, are you listening?"

    Zhang Fei closed his eyes and nodded . He did not nod because he understood, but he nodded because he was sleeping while standing .

    Jiang Man and Jian Yong were sweating, looking at these brothers .

    ¡¯They are hopeless,¡¯ Thought Jiang Man, ¡¯I knew that they are the underdogs, but I didn¡¯t expect that they are this pathetic . Zhang Fei is just in stupid . Guan Yu is fine, but Liu Bei is stubborn and grudgeful . He will eventually follow after his emotion to his death like in history at this rate . ¡¯

    Jiang Man stared at Tian Feng with reddened eyes . He also had not forgotten about the disgrace and the humiliation he received in front of Nanpi City that day .

    ¡¯Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan fought each other after the Anti-Dong Zhuo Alliance fell apart in history . Dong Zhuo in this world has already taken the throne, but Yuan Shao and a new Empress suddenly emerged as new powerhouses . I doubt the Anti-Dong Zhuo Alliance can happen, but ...¡¯

    Jiang Man touched his blinded left eye and grinned .

    ¡¯Since Zhang Tong took Dong Bai as his concubine, Dong Zhuo will demand Zhang Tong to surrender the Yellow Turban to himself as they are rtives . Zhang Tong will eventually resist, and war will break out between them . If that happens, Yuan Shao and that Empress won¡¯t let this chance slip away . They will either attack Dong Zhuo in the guise of a coalition force or backstab Zhang Tong to destroy this threat of Immortal forces for good . ¡¯

    Jiang Man snickered and whispered to Liu Bei, "First brother, you will get your chance to rise up soon . For now, please be patient and work with your senior disciple . More war will happen soon, and you will have a chance to reap some benefits . "

    Liu Bei widened his eyes while Guan Yu raised his eyebrows .

    "How did you know?"

    "Let¡¯s talk about this in private . "

    ...

    Later that day at their private resident, Jiang Man told everyone about his spection about the overall situation of Dong Zhuo, the Empress, Zhang Tong, and Yuan Shao . The three major factions would struggle to obtain supporters while the Yellow Turban would be dragged to the conflicts as they were the most influential force in this country .

    Because the Yellow Turban did not dere independence or raise their own Emperor, they would be misunderstood as a force that could be absorbed into a monarch faction .

    Guan Yu and Jian Yong caught up with the situation in no time, while Liu Bei and Zhang Fei had to ask for further exnation for another hour before they could understand everything .

    "So Zhang Tong and Yuan Shao will eventually fight each other? Are you sure about that?"

    Jiang Man chuckled as he ced four stones on top of the country map . They represented each major force .

    "I heard Zhang Tong sent a tribute to Xuchang . With this move, Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo think that Zhang Tong is their enemy, and they want to destroy his force as soon as possible . The negotiation of the alliance today is the proof of that . "

    Liu Bei¡¯s mouth was agape, "Yuan Shao is afraid that Gongsun Zan will help his junior disciple, so he sent Tian Feng here to avoid the scenario?"

    "That¡¯s half-correct . Yuan Shao is spreading his influences to the other governors with this move . Once Gongsun Zan put the Yuan n gs on top of the wall, they will think that Gongsun Zan served the Yuan n . This will intimidate all minor lords into surrendering their counties to Yuan Shao in the future . "

    Guan Yu frowned as he could not understand a few details behind Tong¡¯s move, "Why didn¡¯t the Yellow Turban dere independence from all forces? Why are they disbanding their hard-earned influence?"

    "The situation is not simple like that . Zhang Tong clearly wants to buy time so his forces can recuperate from the previous series of battles . If he were to make his father another Emperor, the reputation of his force would have been reduced to the same level as Dong Zhuo . Many people would have misunderstood him that he supported the outbreaking bandits . "

    Jiang Man grinned, "Remember what Zhang Tong did in Liyang? I¡¯m sure he¡¯s traumatized by his previous decision and want to avoid repeating that incident again, which lead to this decision for not dering independence right away . Instead of separating themselves from the current power struggle, he attached his force with the Empress to divert Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao¡¯s attention to Xuchang because the Empress Faction is now the strongest faction with Zhang Tong¡¯s support . Xuchang also can¡¯t refuse their surrender offer since they can reap many benefits with the Yellow Turban economic power and military forces so the Empress will ept their conditions . When the time is right, I believe Zhang Tong will betray the Empress . "

    The mind game between the four powerhouses had begun before they realized it . They were fighting over the supremacy for the influence while destroying the reputation of their rivals at the same time .

    Liu Bei and Guan Yu had a chill running down their spine as they thought about the scales of this chess board where Tong, Yuan Shao, the Empress, and Dong Zhuo were ying .

    "We will also make use of Yuan Shao!" Jiang Man pointed at the east coast, south of You Province and east of Ji Province, "Yuan Shao will expand his forces eastward to prepare for the next fight against Zhang Tong . Qing Province is the potential target that we can exploit . I have a few ns I want you to do, brother Xuande . "

 Chapter 287

    Chapter 287

    Chapter 287 ¨C Complication of the Former Empress

    November 13th, 183 A . D .

    Luo Yang .

    Li Ru had a deep frown on his face as hepiled all reports about the movements of all warlords .

    The tribute convoy of provision, which Cao Cao forwarded it to Luo Yang had reached here months ago . However, Li Ru was confused as he did not understand why Tong used the Xuchang route . This matter had been in his mind for months .

    Li Ru found out about the truthter . His spies discovered that the convoy bodyguards did not return to Julu, but they went to Xuchang instead .

    ¡¯Wang Yun and that little girl weren¡¯t behind this . This is definitely Cao Cao¡¯s move . Our intel said Zhang Tong joined forces with that little girl by sending the convoy to Xuchang, but Cao Cao misled us by forwarding this tribute caravan . But for what ... I see, that¡¯s a good n to sabotage Zhang Tong . ¡¯

    The deep frown on his face disappeared as he was enlightened .

    ¡¯This move is interesting . I¡¯ll y along with you, Cao Cao . ¡¯

    Li Ru exited his resident and sought an audience with Dong Zhuo .

    When he arrived at the pce, he covered his nose by instinct . The smell of sexual fluid and sweat gave a nauseous feeling that Li Ru almost vomited .

    With his sleeve cloth covering his nose as a filter, Li Ru entered the throne room without being stopped by a guard . Upon entering the room, a dozen naked women lied around the hall, exhausted .

    Dong Zhuo, however, was energetic as ever . Dong Zhuo¡¯s fat and rough ck skins exposed as he did not wear a cloth . On hisp, a mature woman was riding on top of him, panting .

    As Li Ru nced around, he could not find a single assistant, eunuch, or a guard . Dong Zhuo might have dismissed all of them, Li Ru thought .

    "Your Majesty, I request a moment of your attention . *Cough* . "

    Li Ru coughed and choked by the smell as he tried to breathe .

    "Ah? Oh, Wenyou . If you want me to issue an edict, just take the seal and write it yourself . I¡¯m busy impregnating all these sows . "

    Li Ru did not speak . He walked toward the side table, taking the seal and several golden scrolls before leaving .

    After getting out of the pce, Li Ru took a deep breath to clean the dirty air in his lung .

    "Disgusting bastard!"

    Li Ru spat as he returned to his resident . Looking at the Imperial Seal, Li Ru smiled .

    "Foolish Dong Zhuo, I¡¯ll use this to my liking . You can¡¯tin since you just gave it to me . "

    ...

    ...

    January 1st, 184 A . D .

    A minute passed after the clock ticked midnight .

    .

    .

 Chapter 288

    Chapter 288

    Chapter 288 ¨C Game of Politics

    Late afternoon .

    Zhang Jiao and Sima Fang were having a private conversation after work . They were still in the government hall, but all the workers had left .

    "From the n chat log, young master¡¯s rtionship with Her Majesty is getting better, but it doesn¡¯t appear that he hasid a hand on her yet . "

    "We can¡¯t help it . We have learned from the past incident that Dong Bai is actually Xiao Wu, and she¡¯s very possessive of her husband . "

    The "Incident" Zhang Jiao referred was Friday¡¯s murder attempt . Only a handful of people knew about the event, such as Sima Fang, Zhang Jiao, Lu Zhi, and other high ranking officers .

    "Can we coax Lady Hua so our young master can impregnate her majesty?"

    "She used to be as possessive as Xiao Wu, but I think she¡¯s be dociletely . Let¡¯s try to talk to her about this . "

    "If we try to exin our n to Xiao Wu, will she understand us?"

    Zhang Jiao shook his head, "Impossible . She¡¯s the type that relies on her strength to solve problems . She won¡¯t be able to understand our motive . "

    Sima Fang paused . He recalled about all the edicts from three factions that had been sent to Julust year and pondered .

    .

    Without a proper cause and a good reason to exin to citizens, continue resisting the Han Court after the death of Liu Ping was a bad move .

    During their previous uprising of Zhang Jiao¡¯s Yellow Turban, they had a good cause to back up with their mobilization, and they could get the support of allmoners and merchants . Because of Liu Ping¡¯s infamous tyranny and his ill personality, everyone believed that Liu Ping abused his power and wanted Julu¡¯s wealth for himself .

    Now, Liu Ping had been confirmed dead for a year and his subordinates had been repelled, they had no reason to take arms . Instead, they had to put down their weapons and pretended to swear allegiance to one of the powerhouses . To prove themselves that they were not supporting thieves and bandits, Tong forced everyone to wear blue clothes and announced that they were part of the Empress supporters .

    Had they resumed the Yellow Turban¡¯s activities and refused to bow to anyone like they did in past years, more people would have believed that the bandit imposters and the real Yellow Turban were in league together, which would hinder Tong and Jia Xu¡¯s expansion ns .

    Moreover, incidents in Liyang might happen again as civilians would resist the Yellow Turban forces to death .

    Before they could establish a new country on top of the Han Dynasty, they had to restore their reputation and prestige of Tong and his forces .

    To solve this problem, both Zhang Jiao and Sima Fang plotted to pair Tong with He Xing . If He Xing were to get pregnant with Tong¡¯s child, they could im a legit reason to dere independence from all the three royalty factions .

    As the legit Empress of the Han Dynasty, recing the dead Emperor with a chosen consort of the Empress was a viable choice .

    So far, He Xing managed to get closer to Tong as Sima Fang had nned . However, Xiao Wu was in the way .

    .

    .

    .

    While Tong was busy mass producing supplies using [Creat Food] with his [Pride] and [Sloth], which had returned after Hua Shi got her first wing, Sima Fang sought Hua Shi for consulting .

    "I didn¡¯t expect you to involve me in your affair," Hua Shi muttered after she heard everything that Sima Fang exined .

    "We wish to prepare for the next two years after the hibernation that our young master scheduled . We hope that you can help us in this . "

    "To be honest, I don¡¯t like how you use your Empress as a chess piece . She even trusted you . "

    "It¡¯s unfortunate, mydy . I know that I can¡¯t apologize enough, but this is for young master Zhang . We need him to marry Her Majesty to be the fourth Monarch . We will have to contest with three other forces soon so we will need a justified cause to take actions . "

    "Can¡¯t we just crown him directly?"

    "Liyang incidents will happen again if we ignore our reputation . Many bandits are still using our name to gather allies and plundering viges in other regions . Unless we want to implicate ourselves with the bandits, we can¡¯t mobilize using our former name . "

    "Hmm . Reputation this, reputation that . That¡¯s troublesome . "

    "Indeed . But we can¡¯t do anything about it . That¡¯s what the politicians use to attack their rivals . "

    Hua Shi was different from Friday in terms of woman¡¯s instinct and desire . Her mentality and etiquette grew more reserved and refined during the past year as the angel-wing cultivation forced her to change her attitude toward life .

    She understood that political marriage was amon tradition . Also, a man could have many wives at once in this era .

    "I will try to convince her . If we give a condition like having He Xing surrendering all her future night schedules to Xiao Wu, maybe she might ept . "

    ...

    ...

    ...

    "I refuse!" Friday bellowed .

    Hua Shi attempted to convince Friday about the necessity to ascend the throne and the consequences for not having one . However, she did not agree with it .

    "This is for Tong¡¯s sake and the future of our forces in the next two years . Can¡¯t you amend a bit? Let ?her have a one-night-stand, then we can have her giving up all her right to possess Tong to you . "

    "That¡¯s not the point . Don¡¯t you understand my circumstances?"

    Friday in Xiao Wu form revealed a bitter smile .

    She also wanted to have a child . Although she tried very hard whenever Tong was with her, they still failed .

    "Why don¡¯t you try bribing Lilim with lifespans?"

    The angry eyes of Friday softened as she was reminded of a shortcut .

    "Right . Lilim, did you hear us?"

    [I hear you . ]

    "Can you help me?"

    [That¡¯s impossible for you . ]

    "What!? Why?"

    [Well, you may have an adult form because of the devil contract . But you forgot that your original mortal body is that of a child . Do you think a 7-year-old girl can get pregnant?]

    Friday¡¯s face fell . Her eyes were moist as if she was on the verge of crying .

    [Ordinary girls can reproduce at the age of 12 . Wait five more years, and you should be able to do it . Heck, why are you even bother about this nonsense!? If you really want a child that bad, adopt someone on the street!]

    Lilim cut off the connection, leaving the crying Friday alone .

    Hua Shi hugged Friday, yet she still messed with her, "Hey, look at it on the bright side . You don¡¯t need a contraceptive at night . "

    "Screw off!"

    Hua Shi reminded of something from Lilim¡¯s words, "Wait, does that mean Tong has been fOOking a child all this time?"

    " . . . "

    ...

    ...

    ...

    While everyone tried to shove He Xing on Tong¡¯s bed, the person himself was oblivious to the undercurrent .

    Tong was not in the mood for romance and sex as the mind game between the three factionsst year implicated his forces .

    In his room, Tong ced six Imperial edict scrolls in the trash bin after he read through them the 20th time .

    Before him on the table, Tong drew three circles and wrote details into each circle . They were the symbol of each force, and the details Tong was writing were themand of each monarch .

    Yuan Shao sent two edicts to Tongst year .

    One was an offering of a title in Yuan Shao Court and the right to maintain order in Tong¡¯s affiliate cities, but it came with the condition that Tong had to open his borders and allow Yuan Shao troops to pass or stay . Secondly, Tong had to provide Yuan Shao an annual tribute of 1,000,000 ton of food supplies .

    The second edict came after Tong postponed his decision for three months . Instead of threatening him, Yuan Shao offered an alliance treaty . Yuan Shao forces wanted to attack Xuchang, but he asked Tong to ignore their military activities and allow his armies to pass through his territory . In exchange, Yuan Shao sent Tong a gift of 500,000 gold for the trouble, and they promised to send another million after the operation .

    Dong Zhuo also sent three decrees .

    First, he demanded Tong to surrender everything, including Hua Shi and Xiao Wu . As soon as the messenger finished reading the edict, Tong killed the messenger and sent his head back to Luo Yang .

    The second one, which came in December, gave Tong the title [Crown Prince of Bing], which was the highest title ones can have as a rtive of the Emperor . Instead of demanding anything, they sent a tribute of a million gold to Julu, which astonished everybody .

    The third decree arrived this morning during the assembly . Dong Zhuo invited Tong and Dong Bai to Luo Yang to hold a marriage ceremony there . Aside from the invitation, they sent another tribute to Tong, which consisted of 50,000 male ves and 10,000 female children ves . They also noted that all little girls were virgins, which implied many things that made Tong looked bad .

    Cao Cao, however, sent amand order with Diao Chan¡¯s handwriting, which arrived at Tong¡¯s hands a few days ago . They wanted Tong to shut the borders and emunicate with Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao .

    The chaotic decrees from all three monarchs put Tong on his toes . He knew that it was a game that all powerhouses yed to prey on each other, but it kept provoking him into making a military movement, which Tong and Jia Xu did not want to .

    Yuan Shao obviously tried to sow discord between the former Yellow Turban forces and Xuchang forces . Tong guessed that it was Tian Feng¡¯s move as he could refer to the gift of 500,000 gold as Yuan Shao would never part with such wealth .

    On the other hand, the first edict of Dong Zhuo was tyranny and erratic . But, the second and third changed Tong¡¯s stance from hostile to cautious . From further investigation, Dong Zhuo did not issue the second and third edict, but Li Ru did .

    Bothmand orders of Li Ru were honey traps that could corrupt any na?ve politician . He could turn a loyalist into a greedy corrupted politician by provoking their deep desire .

    Meanwhile, Cao Cao made sharpest moves among them all as he isted Tong from all factions with a few tricks .

    In the beginning, Cao Cao forwarded Tong¡¯s tribute to Luo Yang instead and framed Tong that he had surrendered to Dong Zhuo .

    Tong attempted to correct their stances to prove to the citizens that they did not join the tyrant . However, Cao Cao forced Tong¡¯s decision with another edict of closing the borders . If Tong were to disregard the order, Cao Cao would have proved to other warlords that Tong sided with Dong Zhuo, which would ruin his reputation .

    Tong reread the logs of the n chat . He searched through the spy reports that Xun Yu and Jia Xu collected so far .

    "Cao Cao formed an alliance with Yuan Shao while he stole all private troops from the local nobles . But Yuan Shao expanded his territory north and formed another pack with Gongsun Zan . Tao Qian ... got a trade-pack with Cao Cao? Liu Biao and Yuan Shu forces eradicated all bandits in Jing Province and Wan Commandery, but Dong Zhuo tried to invade them?"

    "Yuan Shao wants to maintain a friendly rtionship with all lords while he¡¯s trying to absorb Gongsun Zan¡¯s territory . Medusa ns to help me, but Cao Cao wants to destroy our army . Dong Zhuo ... is Dong Zhuo . "

    Tong painted a map in his mind and simted all movements of other forces, trying to put the puzzle pieces together .

    "I wish I have another brain . "

    >

    >

    "Good timing!"

 Chapter 289

    Chapter 289

    Chapter 289 ¨C 184 A . D . , The Dogs-Eat-Dogs Year

    **Warning, this chapter will show you how chaotic the entire country has be . Prepare your Aspirin or Paracetamol!**

    **************************************************************************

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯ve recruited Ju Shou . We can ry messages to Shangdang now . "

    Tong: "Are you in Shangdang?"

    Li Feihong: "Yeah, I¡¯ve been here since December . "

    Tong was impressed by Li Feihong¡¯s efficiency . Last year, this seemingly coward strategist was the most active among all strategists in his forces .

    Ju Shou: "Ah, excuse me . It¡¯s quite difficult to type . "

    Ju Shou: "My typing is slow . Forgive me . "

    Tong: "Take your time . Anyway, is there anything unusual, or do you have a report from Shangdang?"

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯ll report instead . That bastard Dong Zhuo tried to bribe Zhang He and me . I don¡¯t know how many people he had tried to poach, but all of our elites are still staying . "

    Ding Yuan: "I also have a report . Yesterday, I caught a spy from Dong Zhuo . He¡¯s trying to recruit Lu Bu again . "

    Tong: "Again!?"

    Ding Yuan: "Someone tipped him off about your fightst year . The spy confessed that he knew Lu Bu is at odd with you . "

    Another headache .

    Dealing with the mind game was difficult enough, Dong Zhuo gave him another trouble to work with . Now, Tong had to deal with the insubordination and the talent poaching .

    ¡¯This shouldn¡¯t be Dong Zhuo¡¯s move . It should be the work of Li Ru . Haiz, fighting with two elite strategists and that Cao Cao at the same time is troublesome . ¡¯

    Tong: "Should we retaliate?"

    Jia Xu: "Young master Zhang . No matter the intimidation, stay firm!"

    Xun Yu: "The time isn¡¯t right, my lord . Don¡¯t make any move and let them show us their hidden cards . Besides, the longer we keep quiet, the more restless they be . "

    Jia Xu: "That¡¯s right . Regardless of what all three monkey ns are doing, let¡¯s keep developing our economy and our military projects . Please stay positive . "

    Jia Xu: "BTW, Thanks to Sir Li and Sir Te¡¯s knowledge, the bore drill project ispleted, and we might be able to construct our first cannon this year . "

    Last year, Tong, Li Feihong, and Te Langpu had brainstormed, trying to import their little knowledge in gunsmithing to this world . It took them three months to finalize their blueprint, construction n, project timeline, and the resources . Then, it took Li Feihong a few months to impart his knowledge to the local cksmiths andborers .

    As a result of their hard work, a glimpse of the hot weapon era could be seen .

    Reading the encouragement of his officers, Tong reevaluated his forces .

    "Fine, two more years of passive y . Our force will remain as firm as a mountain! We will not move!"

    .

    As Tong decided to ignore the demands and the politic games of the other forces, many warlords were also busy dealing with their internal affairs and external issues . None of them was free enough to bare fangs at Tong and men, only a test of water .

    Meanwhile, the peasants noticed the anomaly on their farms in January . Experienced farmers predicted that the drought will be worst than thest year, and they would not have anything to eat in the uing Spring .

    Because of such a natural disaster, a new game changer came and threw off Cao Cao, Li Ru, and Tian Feng from their prepared strategies against Tong .

    . . .

    . . .

    February, 184 A . D .

    As people had nothing to eat, a bandit leader, Guan Hai, rose to power and proimed himself as the legit sessor of the Yellow Turban . He gathered 20,000 jobless peasants and attacked Pingyuan County, a small city under the protection of Yuan Shao which lied south of Nanpi .

    Pingyuan fell to the Guan Hai¡¯s Yellow Turban within the same month . All nobles in the city were killed and plundered while young women were taken as ves .

    Pingyuan turned into Hell, which shocked all neighbor lords and Yuan Shao .

    .

    Meanwhile, at the Capital City .

    Peasants in Luo Yang and Hongnong attempted to rebel against Dong Zhuo because of his harsh taxes .

    Niu Fu, who was guarding Hongnong, led his garrison forces and ughtered 10,000 rebellions in the city .

    At Luo Yang, Hua Xiong and Li Ru made quick work on the uprising peasants . The situation escted as innocent bystanders got caught into the fight, and they had no other choice but to join the rebellion .

    In the aftermath, no able men remained in the Capital, only young women, ves, and Dong Zhuo¡¯s subordinate remained .

    .

    Tong saw the signs . He made an outrageous decision by blockading the borders from all forces . People could still get into his territory, but none of them could go out .

    Jia Xu, Xun Yu, and Ju Shou were put to work, spreading the news that they were providing food and water to anyone who was willing to serve Tong .

    . . .

    . . .

    . . .

    March, 184 A . D .

    Yuan Shao rallied his forces to retaliate against the major bandit forces . Wen Chou, Tian Feng, and 50,000 elites were sent to suppress the rebels .

    Meanwhile, bandit remnants around thend had heard about Guan Hai¡¯s exploit . They began traveling to Pingyuan .

    .

    You Province of Gongsun Zan also suffered from the uprising of another bandit force . Zhang Kai, who was inspired by Guan Hai, led 10,000 self-proimed Yellow Turban bandits to attack Beiping City, which was the Capital of Gongsun Zan¡¯s forces .

    As elites, Gongsun Zan dispatched multiple sortie legions, consisted of 40,000 soldiers . Liu Bei was also mobilized along with his subordinates .

    During the battle, Liu Bei met Zhao Yun, who was serving as Gongsun Zan¡¯s 1,000-man white-ridermander . Jiang Man attempted to recruit him to Liu Bei¡¯s side, but Zhao Yun postponed his decision, saying that he was in the middle of gathering experiences, and he would not change side anytime soon .

    . . .

    . . .

    . . .

    April, 184 A . D .

    At Pingyuan, Wen Chou killed Guan Hai and chased the bandits out of Pingyuan County . The rest of the captured bandits were executed .

    Gongsun Zan also destroyed Zhang Kai forces at Beiping . However, the bandit leader fled south toward Kong Rong¡¯s territory, Beihai Commandery, while the routed bandits fled north toward Xiongnu territories .

    .

    Meanwhile, at Runan Commandery, south of Xuchang, Gong Du and Liu Pi gathered all wandering bandits into the city and raised other forces of Yellow Turban .

    Because of the uprising news in Pingyuan, many bandits gathered here, banding together and waiting to join Guan Hai . Unfortunately, Guan Hai was defeated before they could join them so they joined Gong Du and Liu Pi instead .

    The number of the bandits reached 100,000, which rmed Cao Cao in Xuchang, and other lords .

    . . .

    . . .

    . . .

    May, 184 A . D .

    Yuan Shao requested help from Gongsun Zan, iming that they want to help the people in Pingyuan and provide humanitarian aid . However, theycked resources and manpower .

    In reality, Yuan Shaocked supplies to support the peasants as Tong suddenly shut the borders during their war with bandits . Yuan Shao could not buy the provision from Julu .

    Jiang Man utilized his prepared scheme . He suggested Gongsun Zan to use Liu Bei to steal Yuan Shao¡¯s Pingyuan, which Gongsun Zan agreed .

    Replying to Yuan Shao¡¯s request, Gongsun Zan offered to transfer Liu Bei, 10,000 soldiers, and 50,000 tons of provision to assist Pingyuan City . However, Gongsun Zan demanded a condition that his junior disciple would be the governor of the city .

    Yuan Shao did not like it as he could see that Gongsun Zan was stealing his city by using his subordinate, but Tian Feng advised him to ept .

    Thus, they came to an agreement .

    .

    At Runan Commandery, the city turned into another Hell as the bandit forces ransacked their territories for wealth and women .

    Kong Zhou, the Governor of Qiao Commandery, which located northeast of Runan and east of Xuchang, rallied 30,000 soldiers from his nobles to attack the bandits .

    . . .

    . . .

    . . .

    June, 184 A . D .

    Unlike Gongsun Zan or Yuan Shao who excelled at military tactics, the mercenaries forces under Kong Zhou were undisciplined and outnumbered . Kong Zhou suffered a defeat by the hands of Liu Pi and Gong Du .

    Kong Zhou fled back to Qiao, while 10,000 remaining mercenaries of noble ns surrendered to the bandits and switched side, reinforcing the Gong Du Army further .

    .

    At the south of Luo Yang, Yuan Shu of Wan Commandery and Liu Biao of Jing Province had enough of Dong Zhuo¡¯s unreasonable demand of heavy taxes in exchange for his protection .

    Yuan Shu and Liu Biao formed an alliance and mobilized an army to attack Wu Pass, aiming to take Hongnong from Dong Zhuo and iste him from his supply bases in Tianshui and Chang¡¯An .

    . . .

    . . .

    . . .

    July, 184 A . D .

    Liu Bei and his brothers arrived at Pingyuan . He finally obtained what he always wanted, power and authority!

    Liu Bei began what he did best, gaining people¡¯s sympathy . He began distributing supplies to the civilians himself, relieving them from the starvation .

    .

    Meanwhile, Cao Cao finished gathering more allies in the central in . Zhang Miao of Chen Liu, Qiao Mao of Puyang, and Kong Zhou of Qiao Commandery formed a coalition against the guing bandits in Runan .

    The total forces of this alliance surpassed 200,000 soldiers in number .

    Cao Cao was afraid that Tong might seize this chance to attack Xuchang while they went out to Runan, but Cheng Yu, the newest strategist that Pu Jing had rmended to Cao Cao, advised him to ignore Tong .

    Heeded the advisor, Cao Cao moved to Runan with everything and left Xuchang without a garrison troop .

    The news reached Ye City where Tong had moved into . He wanted to siege this chance to eliminate Cao Cao from the picture and rescue Medusa, but Jia Xu, Xun Yu, and Ju Shou advised against it . Should they mobilize, Yuan Shao, Dong Zhuo, and all other lords would band together to attack their unprepared cities . Furthermore, they would not be able to defend Xuchang after upying it, and they would provoke many enemies at once, which was a bad idea .

    Following the advice of his strategists, Tong did not move, which was under Cheng Yu¡¯s prediction .

    .

    At Wu Pass where Yuan Shu and Liu Biao were attacking, Hua Xiong appeared with his troops and routed Yuan Shu main force .

    Huang Zu and Huang Zhong united and joint-attacked against Hua Xiong, which turned the situation to be a stalemate .

    Yuan Shu requested Sun Jian¡¯s assistance as they could not push forward . Sun Jian, who was still in Jing Province agreed .

    . . .

    . . .

    August, 184 A . D .

    Cao Cao and his coalition force marched south to suppress Gong Du and Liu Pi¡¯s army of 150,000 bandits, which had been increasing in the past months .

    Within the same month, Cao Cao Army, led by Xiahou brothers and Cao family, swiftly killed both of bandit leaders and captured 50,000 self-proimed Yellow Turbans . They were absorbed to Xuchang forces afterward .

    Pretending to work as the prime minister of Empress Diao Chan, Cao Cao used his position to upy Runan, expanding his influence . Unfortunately for him, Runan was ruined by the bandits . Times andbors were required to restore the city to its former glory .

    The n to force Tong into a corner had to be put on hold .

    .

    Meanwhile, at Wu Pass . The stalemate continued while both sides suffered from the limited provision because of the drought .

    Sun Jian, who were nning to march north to help Liu Biao and Yuan Shu, changed his mind mid-way .

    At the south of Changsha, Shanyue Tribe, which was the tribes located within Vietnam and Southern China, cooperated with the local bandits and attacked Lingling County and Guiyang County .

    Had these counties fell, Shanyue Tribe would be a threat to Sun Jian¡¯s home ground . Thus, he ignored the pleas of Liu Biao and Yuan Shu to repel the new invaders .

    . . .

    . . .

    . . .

    September, 184 A . D .

    Before Sun Jian, Sun Fang, or Li Jing even arrived at Lingling or Guiling County, Shanyue soldiers withdrew from the territory after they had finished plundering the civilians and nobles, leaving the devastatednd behind .

    Sun Jian could only find ransacked counties and viges . The Yellow Turban bandits, however, came to Sun Jian and surrendered to him without a fight . After the thorough investigation, Shanyue Tribes utilized the internal conflicts within the country to manipte the bandits . Afterward, they robbed the people and withdrew before they got hurt .

    Hearing the details, Sun Jian swore that he would get rid of Shanyue for good . However, he forgot about another important matter .

    .

    At Wu Pass, Huang Zhong and Huang Zu Army ran out of supplies while Yuan Shu refused to share his provisions with Liu Biao¡¯s men .

    The coalition force disbanded after that as they withdrew their forces back to their city . Because of the internal conflict, Yuan Shu and Liu Biao red at each other¡¯s throat, ming the other for the failure of the campaign .

    Sun Jian, who did not participate in the fight, was also med for not showing up on time . His rtionship with the two other forces worsened without him realizing it .

    . . .

    . . .

    . . .

    October, 184 A . D .

    200,000 Immigrants around the country traveled to Ye City and Julu City, hoping to find their paradise as the drought and recent civil wars devastated thend .

    All warlords were at a loss as they could not stop the waves of civilians . Most of these people were elders, women, and children which they did not want to touch them .

    Cao Cao managed to entice 50,000 of the immigrants to Xuchang before they crossed Xuchang border to Tong¡¯s territory . In his vision, he needed these people to develop his country, especially children who would be the country¡¯s future .

    Dong Zhou and Yuan Shao, however, saw these people as burdens . They allowed them to migrate through their borders willingly .

    .

    Meanwhile, at Liang Province, the northwestern region of Han China .

    An army of 50,000 Xiongnu soldiers was spotted, and they had crossed the Great Wall .

    Ma Teng and Han Sui, the two great generals of the western borders, led a force of 70,000 soldiers to meet them on the in . However, they were trapped and tied in a prolonged war against these nomad forces .

    . . .

    . . .

    . . .

    November, 184 A . D .

    Another Xiongnu Army appeared in Tianshui, Dong Zhuo¡¯s previous home .

    Because of the absence of Dong Zhuo¡¯s main army and Hua Xiong, the overwhelming forces of 100,000 Xiongnu took down Tianshui and upy it as their new territory .

    Dong Zhuo and Li Ru learned about it within the same month . To take back their city, They sent a dispatch order to Li Jue and Guo Si, who were guarding Anding City, northeast to Tianshui . At the same time, they sent Hua Xiong back to Chang¡¯An to conscript the troops from the local and prepare for another war .

    Li Ru also dispatched his messenger to Liu Yan, who had returned to Chengdu, to request for reinforcement against the foreigners . The messenger went out and chose the road to Hanzhong, which led to Zitong and Chengdu perspectively .

    .

    Ma Teng and Han Sui also learned about the diversion n of the Xiongnu . They attempted to retreat to assist Tianshui people, but they were stopped by Shanyu, AKA the King of Xiongnu, who came here personally .

    Both Ma Teng and Han Sui were injured from the battle and they were forced to withdraw back to Wuwei County, the border city of Liang Province .

    . . .

    . . .

    . . .

    December, 184 A . D .

    The order reached the hands of Li Jue and Guo Si . They immediately rallied their force to retake their Tianshui .

    Before they could march outside of the city, a new army of Xiongnu appeared in their territory, which forced them to change their attention to the new threat .

    The n to retake Tianshui was canceled!

    .

    Meanwhile, the fast horse messenger of Dong Zhuo reached Hanzhong, the territory of a new rebellion army called "Five Peck of Rice", which led by Zhang Lu .

    Before the messenger managed to pass the border, Zhang Lu¡¯s men captured him and got the info about the invasion of the westerners .

    Instead of helping Dong Zhuo, Zhang Lu executed the messenger and ignore the plight of the country as he was not a part of the Han Dynasty anymore .

 Chapter 290

    Chapter 290

    Chapter 290 ¨C Surprise Attacks from Xiongnu

    October 13th, 184 A . D .

    Ye City .

    10,000 Ye Garrison Unit "Police" in blue uniform stood on top of the walls around the city . Even though it was a rare time of peace, they were taught not to let down their guard even one second .

    Their eyes observed all movements of people outside the city wall, searching for anything suspicious . It was tiring to them, but the rewards for catching spies or thieves were worthwhile .

    Southeast outside the city, soldiers in shining steel armors established a camp and trained their new soldiers in earnest . 20,000 Newly recruited soldiers were being taught about g signals and army arrays .

    The white steel te armor from the 15th century had been mass produced in Jinyang and Julu, and they transferred it to the developing Ye City .

    The knight armor covered from the head to toes, yet the entire set weighed only 25 kilograms (55 lbs . ) which was half of the old Imperial heavy armor suit, which only covered vital parts of the body .

    Unfortunately, not every soldier could wear it . Only 100-manmanders or higher rank officers could use them as the supply was limited .

    The recruits eyed the knight suit with anticipation and desire . This battle armor looked way cooler than the ancient Imperial armor sets .

    "If you want this armor, work harder! Remember, we only give this sets of knight battle suit to the elites so prove yourself that you are one of them!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    ...

    In the main government building, they were having a meeting . The agenda was about the recent migration of peasants who ran away from the bandits and the war .

    Tong sat on the main seat as he took over the government role from Xun Yu .

    He Xing sat by Tong¡¯s left side with Liu Xie in the middle between them . Because of Sima Fang¡¯s coaxing, she resigned herself to be used as a political tool . In exchange for that, Liu Xie could call Tong "Father" or "Papa" in the open .

    Indifferent Hua Shi and the grumpy Friday in Xiao Wu form seated by the sides of the throne, signifying the second inmand of all officers .

    Xun Yu, Jia Xu, Ju Shou, and Li Feihong were in the hall as well . With all military strategists presented, the guards and other minor officers sweat bullets as they could not stop their sense of nervousness .

    On the middle of the hall, Jia Xu¡¯s signature strategic map was ced there with dolls and tokens all over the ces . Because of the chaotic wars on the north and central in, everyone was on alert .

    Jia Xu used a long stick to point at Xuchang in the map .

    "Our development and the good rumors we spread bore fruits . However, Cao Cao is stealing some of our potential civilians . Although we lost about one-fourth of the refugees, we can still expect more people from Luo Yang, Wan, and even other provinces by December . "

    Tong nced at the map and Jia Xu, "Can you estimate the number of refugees?"

    "The war scale is not on the same level as Pingyuan and Runan, but I believe there will be at least another 100,000 . "

    Tong looked at Ju Shou this time, "Can Shangdang support more civilians?"

    Ju Shou nodded without hesitation, "We have enough supplies while we are short onbors . Even 200,000 more move in, we can still manage with ease . "

    "Try to attract the refugees to Shangdang . Spread the news that it is also developed like Ye and Julu . Also, spread more rumor that I abolish ve trading and very . No ve exists in my cities!"

    "Affirmative!"

    "As for those thate to Ye and Julu, wee them and don¡¯t forget to make them register their identity . Don¡¯t let another spy slip into our cities . Jia Xu, continue . "

    "Yes, my lord! Well, all fake Yellow Turbans did the job for us . Although Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo are too busy dealing with rebels, bandits, and random invasion, Yuan Shao is recovering fast after he bribed us to reopen the borders . However, he and Gongsun Zan are ring at each other from the reports of our spies . We won¡¯t have to worry about them for another year until they finish fighting each other . "

    Jia Xu tapped Xuchang on the map again, "Cao Cao also won¡¯t bother doing anything to us since they have to digest Runan and organize the people that they poached from us . But ..."

    Tong understood the hint . Everyone stared at Luo Yang on the map .

    "Dong Zhuo is waging wars left and right . The mad man doesn¡¯t even care for the domestic affair, which is unpredictable . Fortunately, Li Ru seems to control almost everything so we can guess their movements to some extent . Also, Ding Yuan has reported that Xiongnu King sent an envoy to him and demanded him to surrender his city, or he will attack . "

    "Did we detect any movement on our northern border?"

    "Yes, about this morning after Ding Yuan met their messenger . Xiongnu hid 100,000 soldiers north of Jinyang . They stop moving toward the city, though . "

    Xun Yu and others clicked their tongue . It was obvious that Xiongnu wanted to attack the Han when the country was at its weakest . Fortunately, Ding Yuan¡¯s vision was sharp and manage to stall the invasion temporary .

    "We¡¯ll switch our current agenda from the movements of the three monarchs to Xiongnu¡¯s actions . Aside from the north of Jinyang, do we have other intel about the different locations that they might show up?"

    The four strategists frowned and did not speak . They did not have the scout or spy report from the borders aside from their territory of Jinyang . It showed that even they neglected the military activities of the outsiders .

    Li Feihong mumbled and expressed his conjecture, "Xiongnu is crafty and good at war . I think they will attack every border to attract everyone¡¯s attention while they strike the weakest city . I believe the 100,000 men at Jinyang is a diversion . "

    "Sound in the east to attack the west stratagem!?"

    Jia Xu, Xun Yu, and Ju Shou got the hint . They understood the scenario that Li Feihong was thinking and simted the possible strategies that Xiongnu could use .

    Xun Yu and Ju Shou walked to the strategic map and ced the tokens around the map . Jia Xu also rearranged the soldiers of Tong¡¯s forces and grouped several dolls together .

    Currently, Zhongshan was protected by a newly established [Silver Axe Legion], which Xu Huang took the role as its grandmander . Bo Cai, Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, and Zhou Cang became Xu Huang¡¯s assistants while the veteran, Gao Shun, acted as the Legion¡¯s vicemander . Andstly, the Legion¡¯s strategist was Lu Zhi .

    They were the team of 40,000 soldiers that was responsible for protecting the northern regions, which was enough to repel Gongsun Zan or Yuan Shao if a war were to break out .

    On the strategic map, the Axe Legion of Xu Huang was not the only one with massive troops . At Jinyang, the tokens of Zhang Liao, Ding Yuan, and Lu Bu were there with 40,000 men, forming the [Mountaineer Legion] . This Legion¡¯s strategist was Li Feihong, but he was attending the meeting here .

    At Shangdang, [Ghost Legion] had been formed this year with Zhang He as its grandmander . Qu Yi, Gao Lan, and Han Hao, who had defected from the Imperial Army, were Zhang He¡¯s assisting generals . Ju Shou took both roles of Shangdang Governor and the Ghost Legion¡¯s strategist . At this moment, only 30,000 soldiers stationed there, but they kept recruiting and training more soldiers quietly .

    And the main force, [Immortal Legion], was led by Tong remained in Ye as Julu had transformed into a merchant-hub city, which was not suitable to have military camps around . A total of 50,000 soldiers, excluding the recent 20,000 newly recruits, maintained the order in the surrounding territories .

    Xiao Wu was the vicemander . Both Jia Xu and Xun Yu were also the strategists of this Legion .

    Hua Shi, Zhang Jiao, and Sima Fang did not belong to any legion . They stayed behind as reserves .

    Their empire did not have to worry about any invasion from the three monarchs, yet they still could not mobilize any legion . Even though they saw many opportunities to strike down Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, they withheld their decision for the bigger picture .

    Xun Yu groaned and stepped forward, "My lord, you should dispatch the Silver Axe Legion to You Province if the Xiongnu attacks Gongsun Zan . We can¡¯t afford to let them be destroyed, or the entire country will perish . "

    Tong raised his eyebrows, "We don¡¯t even have any information about their movements . Are you sure that they will strike You Province?"

    Ju Shou nodded, "Gongsun Zan is the current strongest border defenders because of his White Rider Legion . I believe that Xiongnu is seeing them as a threat so they will n to sabotage the You Province first . Since the entire country has been suffering by the drought, they shouldn¡¯t miss this opportunity to provoke a fight with Gongsun Zan while his provision supply is at the lowest . "

    "That is illogical in my point of view," Xun Yu shook his head and pointed at Liang Province of Ma n, "The better targets should be Wuwei County of Ma Teng or Jincheng of Han Sui . As long as these counties fall into Xiongnu¡¯s hands, the western trade route would be blockaded, and they will steal all the resources from the Silk Road!"

    Liang Province, the far northwestern region of the current East-Han Dynasty, was the most critical border that watched over the Silk Road, which led to the western countries . This region was rich in resources, such as spice, food, ores, and other luxurious wares as they got the ie from the border taxes .

    And most importantly, their main businesses were animal husbandry, horse ranches, and sheep farms .

    By upying the Liang Province, they could get the benefits of the precious resources, taxes, and warhorses, which was a sweet target for the Xiongnu .

    Jia Xu shook his head in disagreement, "That¡¯s too predictable! Both Liang and You Province are well protected . If they want to exploit our country¡¯s weaknesses from the infighting, they will strike Anding County or Tianshui County of Dong Zhuo since they are rich in resources and has the weakness defense among all border regions . "

    At this moment, Li Feihong also stepped forward and pointed at Jinyang, "This can also be a multiyer stratagem . They can also strike every county that we are discussing while they look for an opportunity . All the armies that we think it¡¯s a diversion can transform into the main force at any time they need to . So, Jinyang is not in the safe . We will still have to reinforce it . "

    Jia Xu frowned, "Stratagem wise, it¡¯s doable if they have massive troops . They will need over 500,000 soldiers and many supplies for that . "

    Tong, who was listening to all theories from his strategists, pped his hands to stop them .

    "Okay . I get what you are worrying, but let¡¯s not jump into conclusion how Xiongnu will act . First, we can¡¯t assist or help anyone even if we predict it correctly . For now, Ju Shou, you and the [Ghost Legion] will reinforce Jinyang . Feihong, head back to Jinyang and keep Lu Bu in check . I don¡¯t want him to switch side to Xiongnu at the critical moment suddenly . I¡¯ll send the n message to Xu Huang and my master . They will move to Ji City and assist Gongsun Zan!"

    Li Feihong squinted his eyes, "What if Lu Bu wants to join Xiongnu?"

    "Let him . I want to see him try . "

 Chapter 291

    Chapter 291

    Chapter 291 ¨C Surprise Attacks from Xiongnu, The Growth of Lu Bu .

    October 20th, 184 A . D .

    Jinyang City .

    As Li Feihong predicted, 100,000 Xiongnu mobilized closer to Jinyang City . They came here with no good intention .

    The Mountaineer Legion, led by Ding Yuan and Zhang Liao, took 40,000 heavy cavalries to meet them on the battlefield .

    Lu Bu, who had been staying home all these months, got out of his house with a new steel crescent halberd . He tagged along with the army to protect his home as well .

    The look of Lu Bu changed as half of his hair had turned grey and white . His smirk and arrogance expression could not be seen on his face anymore as it became serene and tranquil . He tied his long hair into a topknot and abandoned all decoration for the flexibility, which highlighted his white hair further .

    He was not with his pet, the Red Hare King . Instead, he rode a standard warhorse and wore a simr armor to the other soldiers . If he wore a helmet, nobody would have recognized him .

    Lu Bu did not ask Ding Yuan or Zhang Liao to be amander of an army . Instead, he wanted them to treat him as an ordinary horseman .

    "Fengxian, are you sure?"

    Zhang Liao and Ding Yuan could not believe their ears .

    "Please . "

    A rare word came out of Lu Bu¡¯s mouth .

    ¡¯Is this THAT monster!?¡¯ Ding Yuan was astonished .

    ¡¯He can be polite!?¡¯ Zhang Liao was shocked, too .

    "I¡¯ve been thinking, maybe I was immature back then . That¡¯s maybe the reason why I lost everything to Tong and Xiao Wu . I want to try to be myself when I first joined the military from scratch again . I want to review what I amcking and what Tong has that I didn¡¯t have . "

    Ding Yuan was amazed for a few seconds before heughed .

    "Good, Fengxian . VERY GOOD! FENGXIAN! That¡¯s what I¡¯ve been waiting for, the self-reflection! As long as you notice your past mistakes, you will grow stronger! Come! Let us head to the battlefield like a father and son once more!"

    Seeing how happy Ding Yuan was, Zhang Liao also chuckled in a good mood .

    ...

    Twenty kilometers, northwest of Jinyang .

    The massive army of 40,000 Xiongnu heavy horsemen and 60,000 light horsemen formed arrays, facing the smaller troops of 40,000 heavy cavalries of Jinyang .

    The two forces had notunched an assault . The Mountaineer Legion¡¯s strategist, Li Feihong, went to Ye and had yet to return . As the reserve strategist, Zhang Liao wanted to y it safe .

    Xiongnu¡¯s signature strategies were the hit-and-run horse archers . Their light cavalries carried short bows and hundreds of bolts, which they usually ran around the battlefield in a circle to disrupt the enemies with their arrows .

    Their heavy cavalries were also Ding Yuan¡¯s headache in the past . All of them equipped withnces, scimitars, and halberd, which they could use in any closebat situation .

    However, things changed . With the recent new weapons and armors, Ding Yuan was more confident that the 100,000 soldiers of Xiongnu were no match for his 40,000 elites with new tools .

    Unlike the scarcely resources that Ye City had, Jinyang had abundant of iron ores and coals, which they mass-produced many sets of the new steel armors for their men . Everybody with the rank of 10-manmander or higher wore the shiny knight te mail while the subordinates wore the outdated Li Feihong¡¯s chainmail and hard leather armor sets .

    All Mountaineer Legion squads possessed both repeating crossbows and handgun crossbows to use in a different situation . Each of them still wielded an ironnce and an iron sword, since they could not supply all soldiers with steel weaponry yet .

    For the protection, everyone also hung a wooden shield behind their back . They could use it to defend themselves from arrows or from a strike at their rear .

    *BWOO*

    Xiongnu light cavalries began moving . Two toons of 5,000 men rushed toward the nks of Ding Yuan Army, the usual tactic that they used against Ding Yuan in the past .

    Ding Yuan smirked .

    "Have the nk ready their crossbows! Return fire if they get into our range!"

    Lieutenants of Ding Yuan ryed the order, and the nks of Mountaineer Legion transformed to a loose square, which was a formation for trading arrows .

    Before the Xiongnu got into their bow range, the repeating crossbows fired first, and the barrages were continuous .

    The Xiongnu men were caught off guard . Their horses were pinned down by the arrows a tenth of the probing battalions were killed on the spot as they were pierced by the head or the face .

    However, these nomads were masters at hit-and-run tactics . Their clothes were multiyer silks, which was resilient to projectile arrows . Under their silk clothes, hard leather armor was inside, making it anotheryer of defense to the riders .

    The slippery and hard-to-pierce nature of silk diverted the direction of arrowheads, causing arrows to lose their carrying momentum to harm the body . Even if arrows were to prate into the silk clothes, hard leather armor was there to absorb the impact forces, which usually prevent the instant-kill .

    As a result, nine out of ten Xiongnu who lost their horses ran back to their army unharmed .

    Ding Yuan had a wry smile on his face as he was expecting it . Killing a few of them with arrows was already a miracle to him .

    Zhang Liao clicked his tongue . He fought with Yuan Shao¡¯s men and Imperial Army, and all of them usually fell with their repeated fire . Seeing the nomads unharmed by their weapons caused Zhang Liao to get annoyed .

    Lu Bu, on the other hand, was surprisingly calm . He did not mock anyone orment on the performance of the ally soldiers as he usually did in the past . His gaze and the expression on his face was calm and peaceful .

    *BWOO*

    Xiongnu grandmander sent another signal and all their heavy cavalries throating forward, getting ready to gallop and charge directly at the Mountaineer Legion .

    "They probed us but failed . Now they want to test our melee fighters . "

    Ding Yuan and Zhang Liao sneered .

    "Wenyuan, you go . Take Fengxian with you . "

    "Understood . Private Fengxian, let¡¯s go . "

    "Hmm . "

    The 30,000 heavy cavalries rushed against the oing Xiongnu 40,000 heavy cavalries while Ding Yuan maneuvered the remaining 10,000 as their support .

    Zhang Liao led the charge on the front, and Lu Bu in the ordinary soldier disguise followed after his friend .

    The all-out charge between two forces collided .

    *BWOO*

    Xiongnu light cavalries circled around the Mountaineer Legion, using their superior numbers . They got into the range and used the short bows to shoot arrows at the back of Zhang Liao¡¯s soldiers .

    Despite the threat of arrows, Zhang Liao¡¯s soldiers disregarded them since the nomads attacked their back . The wooden shield, which they did not bother to use acted as their life-saving tools .

    Arrows got stuck on the back shields of Zhang Liao¡¯s men, who focused on fighting the heavy cavalries at their front .

    Ding Yuan provided support . His men counterattack with the repeating crossbows, crippling all horsemen that tried to get closer or nk Zhang Liao¡¯s battalions .

    After 10 minutes of the chaotic collision, a change urred .

    Lu Bu, in disguise, swept all soldiers that came for him . He did not shily weave his crescent halberd around or relying on the brute force and speed to decimate everything in his path . Instead, he concentrated on the efficiency of each kill as he saved his strength for the prolonged battle .

    In the past, one swing of his halberd could eliminate five to ten soldiers at once . Now, he took down one soldier with one strike as he focused all of his sense around him in a small area .

    The kill count of Lu Bu was slower than his usual past, but he gained something in return for his action .

    His six-sense did not spread too wide, but it surrounded a small area of 100-meter radius around him . Instead of sensing the hazy presence in general directions, Lu Bu could see everything as if he had eyes behind his back .

    The breathing of each soldier .

    The sweat and wounds on each man .

    Every small detail in the radius of 100 meters was so clear!

    As Lu Bu was refining his sense, his weapon skill got sharper as he got used to the fighting style . All attacks came from his halberd was short, fluid, and smooth .

    As a consequence, Lu Bu¡¯s killing speed got faster .

    His weapon strike got quicker .

    Thirty minutes into the fight, Lu Bu¡¯s killing speed matched with former self . Compared to his previous mindless attack style, this quick strike style did not consume as much stamina .

    As Lu Bu was experimenting with hisbat style, his action stood out from the rest of the battlefield . All Xiongnu soldiers dropped from their horses one after another while Lu Bu subconsciously broke into the middle of Xiongnu formation .

    Behind Lu Bu, the Mountaineer Legion soldiers switched into a wedge formation and followed after the trail of corpses, assisting Lu Bu from behind .

    If someone could see the battlefield from the birds-eye-view, they would see two blue triangles wedging into the brown troops .

    One of the triangles was Zhang Liao, who led his subordinates in a wedge formation . The other wedge was Lu Bu, who did notmand anyone into doing anything, yet the soldiers acted along with his actions .

    Zhang Liao used his broad area sense to detect the general location of his allies . Noticing that Lu Bu¡¯s natural charisma and his skills were improving, he chuckled .

    "Correct answer, Fengxian . If you fall, don¡¯t be afraid to go back where you start, and you will get stronger . "

    ...

    At the nk of Mountaineer Legion, the Xiongnu light cavalries, which were shooting arrows at their enemies, ran out of arrows . In addition, over 20,000 light cavalries lost their horses to Ding Yuan¡¯s repeating crossbows .

    The grandmander of Xiongnu red at the unaffected heavy cavalries in front of them, who ignored their existence and focused on fighting their heavy cavalries .

    It was a humiliation to Xiangnu .

    "Our troops are useless here . Signal a retreat!"

    *BWOOOOO*

    ...

    The aftermath of the brief skirmish .

    Lu Bu, whose armor soaked in blood, was weed by the soldiers .

    "Well done, mate! I don¡¯t know how, but you are awesome!"

    "Which squad are you from? Why haven¡¯t you gotten promoted with your skills?"

    "That¡¯s right . With your skills, you can make it big here . "

    The steel knight helmet covered Lu Bu¡¯s face . None of them could even guess who it was under the mask .

    Despite being showered by praises of his soldiers, Lu Bu did not feel anything . Had it been his former self, he would have been ted and savagely bullied his soldiers .

    Lu Bu turned around to gaze at the remaining of the battlefield, "What¡¯s our casualty?"

    "Almost non-existence!"

    A soldier knocked his armor, "Our new armor is just that awesome . I thought there were many gaps between our arm and leg parts, but all the vital points are fully covered! Most of us shoulde out of this alive . "

    Within the knight helmet, Lu Bu hid his bitter smile .

    ¡¯I would never be able toe up with this armor and the new metal if I were their lord . If it were me before, at least half of them would have been dead by those arrows . ¡¯

    ¡¯It¡¯s true that I won¡¯t be able to match you with my intelligence, but ...¡¯

    Lu Bu looked back toward the east in the direction of Julu City . At the same time, he thought about a sage who visited him and his family a few months ago . The sage, Zuo Ci, left him with teaching .

    Lu Bu recited the teaching in his mind .

    "Modesty . Diligence . Humility . Charity . Love . Chastity . Patience . Honesty . Master all of these, and I will reach the same level as Tong . "

    The eyes of Lu Bu glittered with hope .

    "Next time, I won¡¯t lose!"

 Chapter 292

    Chapter 292

    Chapter 292 ¨C Wuwan Tribe VS White Robe Commander

    October 21st, 184 A . D .

    Another army of 10,000 foreign cavalries appeared north of Xiangping, east of Beiping . They also crossed the Great Wall and reached their border city .

    "Mobilize all armies from our province . Get every able man and drag all mercenaries from the nobles . If there is any selfish bastard, charge them with treason and ughter their entire families!"

    Gongsun Zan did not hesitate to give a death sentence to anyone who defied his order .

    Guan Jing, the strategist of Gongsun Zan, stepped forward to object the order .

    "Lord, the enemies only take 10,000 men to attack us . We can leave it to the newly promoted 5,000-manmander to take care of this . With your n¡¯s assistance, they should have no problem handling a small army . "

    "No . When a lion wants to catch its prey, it goes all out! We will not hold back even if our enemies are only 10,000 men in number . We will mobilize everything to trample them! These nomads are a threat to our Kingdoms for generations . We have to kill every single of them before they multiplied!"

    "Lord, there are injured soldiers from thest battle against Zhang Kai . Do we take them with us as well?"

    "Hmm, no! Take only able men, not the injured . Treat them as a reserve if we are that short on hands . "

    "Understood, lord . "

    ...

    Qiuliju, the current King of Wuwan Tribe, led the troops toward Xiangping .

    He did not want to invade Xiangping right now . However, the King of Xiongnu threatened that he would attack Wuwan Tribe if they did not participate in this grand battle .

    From the instruction of the Xiongnu King, Qiuliju had to pretend to attack Xiangping and draw their attention .

    Tadun, Qiuliju¡¯s cousin and the current vicemander of the army, did not agree with this mobilization .

    "We should have killed those bastards! Who the hell did they think they were, immortal? Pfft, immortals only exist in the fairy tales!"

    Tadun spat as he dissed Xiongnu King .

    "Don¡¯t underestimate that brat . He united all scattering tribes and killed all self-proimed Chanyu at the age of 15! If he can achieve this far at this age, it won¡¯t hurt serving under him . "

    Qiuliju nned to leech the current Xiongnu King¡¯s glory and fortune . Although he was humiliated for bowing to other King while he was a King himself, it might be worth it to invest in the young King in his point of view .

    As they marched toward Xiangping County, the two debated if it was a good idea to be a vessel to someone else .

    However, the discussion came to a halt as a team of scouts returned with a pale face .

    "Report! Seven of our scout teams have been destroyed! The enemies are aiming at our dispatched scouts!"

    Qiuliju¡¯s face ckened while Tadun spat again, "Any info on our enemy?"

    "Aside from their white horses, we have no clue . "

    "White horses? Meh, they are those fanatic Gongsun n . Aside from Gongsun Zan, none of them is worthy of paying any attention . You lots, call back all of our scouts! We will reorganize the patrol teams!"

    "Ha!"

    ...

    The patrol forces of Qiuliju and Tadun had been strengthened by adding more men into the squads . Each patrol squad now consisted of 500 men instead of the usual 100 men, which could be seen as detach troops that could ransack a vige easily .

    Four teams of patrol units went out to secure the route toward Xiangping County .

    Yet ...

    "Report! One of the patrol team has been wiped out!"

    "WHAT!?"

    Tadun stomped his feet and grabbed the cor of the messenger, "How did they lose!?"

    "I-It was the white riders! They used the same tactic as the Xiongnu!"

    "The horse archers?"

    "Y-Yes! They used both horses and arrows!"

    Qiuliju nced at Tadun, "Cousin, you take half of our army and proceed ahead . Take all of our bows and arrows . We¡¯ll retaliate with the simr tactic . "

    "I know! Our horse archers are elites . We won¡¯t lose to the knock-off fanatics of Gongsun!"

    Tadun took 4,000 horsemen with him, nning to eradicate whoever that ambushed his men .

    Upon moving three kilometers further, they could see the wall Xiangping County from the horizon .

    "Coward! Ha, because I¡¯vee here myself, they chickened out!"

    Tadun spat again .

    "Do not separate from the group! Keep looking around you and report whatever you find! Even if it¡¯s a flying bird, report it!"

    "Lord, sir!"

    "What!?"

    "An army is approaching from the direction of the city . "

    "Hmm?"

    Tadun looked up and saw a battalion of White Riders . Leading the force, a handsome young man in white cloth and a white cloak was shouting something that Tadun could not hear .

    "Form ranks! Get our bows and arrows ready! I want to see how they copied the horse archer stratagem of our tribes!"

    Tadun turned to the white army with a sneer, "They are already wearing mourning clothes for themselves! Don¡¯t be afraid of those silver-pants young masters or whatever they call . Once we start fighting, they will run like a bunch of ants fleeing from their copsed nest!"

    4,000 Horse archers readied their short bows . Unlike the orthodox soldiers in China, they formed ranks by galloping their horses forward to maintain their mobility .

    In a minute, the horse archers moved around like a snake slithering toward their preys .

    The white cloth general of the White Riders raised his hand and swung it down . Thousands of arrows flew and covered the sky as the ck wall of arrows made their ways toward Tadun and his men .

    The arrow rain got to Tadun Army before they could shoot their short bow .

    Tadun raised his wooden shield to cover his head and his horse . He red at his enemy and spat again .

    "Foolish! We¡¯re wearing silks and leather armor inside . Those arrows won¡¯t hurt us . Men, fire back!"

    Tadun turned back tomand his men . As he had expected, not many horsemen were shot down .

    Unlike the Xiongnu in Jinyang, Qiuliju was more generous toward his men and his horses . All of the horses wore custom leather armor and silk cover as well . As a result, only a few hundred unlucky men were hit at the unprotected area and fell off their horses .

    Tadun drew his short bow as his horse carried him into the range .

    However, the white robe general whistled and led his troops back, retreating .

    "Coward! Come back here!"

    Tadun also sent a signal to give chase . At the same time, he managed to catch a glimpse of the army that he was battling .

    They had roughly 5,000 men!

    ¡¯Wait a minute . We have a simr troop count, but why is he retreating? Shit! A TRAP!?¡¯

    Tadun pulled his reign and turned around, wanting to order everyone to stop chasing .

    *RUMBLE*

    The rumbling noise of galloping horses rmed the Wuwan Tribe horsemen .

    "PULL BACK! PULL BACK!"

    All Wuwan horsemen pulled their horses and turned around .

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    Arrow barrages rained upon the Tadun¡¯s men . The White Rider from before also turned around and fired another volley of arrows at them .

    "DAMN IT!"

    Tadun was on the verge of going crazy . His army had a shorter range than the opponent¡¯s arrow range . Furthermore, he had been tricked and was about to get an ambush from the sudden oing troops .

    Tadun red at the white robe general and bellowed, "I AM TADUN OF WUWAN TRIBE! I CHALLENGE THE STRONGEST FIGHTER OF YOUR CLANSMEN! DO YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO FACE ME ONE-ON-ONE!?"

    The white-robe general paused . His action revealed hesitation to Tadun, who sneered at the general .

    ¡¯Fool! Hesitation and cowardice will bring down your army¡¯s morale! Now is the chance to retreat!¡¯

    Just as Tadun was signaling his men to withdraw from this disadvantageous battle, the white general shouted, "I ACCEPT! FACE ME!"

    Tadunughed, ¡¯Idiot! A young brat can¡¯t possibly master all technique on horseback . I¡¯ll show you how veteran fight in a duel!¡¯

    At this moment, an army appeared from a hill, west of their direction . Because of blindside which Tadun and the scouts failed to notice, they did not detect this army when they arrived here .

    The ambushing army did not attack Tadun¡¯s men, but they surrounded them from behind and pointed their crossbows .

    Tadun gritted his teeth . He tried to think of a way to get out of this predicament .

    ¡¯Maybe I can negotiate for my men . He¡¯s still young, so he should be easily fooled . ¡¯

    Tadun made his proposal, "Before we duel, I want to make a deal!"

    The white general rode forward, confronting Tadun, "What deal?"

    "If I defeat you, I want all of you to let us go . I promise that I¡¯ll tell my King to withdraw his troops from your territory as well . A good deal, no?"

    The white general raised his eyebrows in doubt, "How can I trust you with your words alone?"

    "Oh? That¡¯s simple . I¡¯ll leave a few of my injured men here as hostages . If I were to break my promises, kill them as you wish . "

    Tadunughed in his mind, ¡¯They are useless to us anyway . Giving them to you won¡¯t hurt since you¡¯ll be feeding them with your supplies . ¡¯

    "Well, the deal is a bit odd, don¡¯t you think?"

    "How odd?"

    "You haven¡¯t told me what you will do if you lose . "

    Tadun sneered, ¡¯Hahaha! Defeat me? In your dream!¡¯

    "Well, I haven¡¯t thought about it . How about you name the condition?"

    "Ha? You ... Haiz, I¡¯m being silly for trying to deal with you . I still have a lot to learn . "

    "What are you mumbling about? You can name your condition it, go ahead . Losers have to follow the instruction of the winners anyway . "

    "Okay, if you want it this way . I want all of you to surrender if I win . Fair enough?"

    The men behind Tadun¡¯s murmured as they thought that the condition was ridiculous . However, they could not protest as their life was in Gongsun Army¡¯s hands .

    Still sneering, Tadun nodded, "Sure, draw your weapon!"

    Tadun took out hisnce while the white general took out an iron spear .

    "Before we fight, I want to hear your name . If by chance that I kill you, I can engrave a tomb for you!"

    "Actually, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s necessary . But ... Oh well . "

    The generalmanded his horse to keep a bit of distance, getting ready to charge .

    "I am Zhao Yun . "

    ...

    ...

    That was the name that Tadun had heard before he was knocked out of his horse in one strike .

    All surviving soldiers of Tadun Army were arrested as prisoners as promised . Tadun also regained his consciousnesster in prison .

    He did not dare to spit or look down on the young white robe general again .

 Chapter 293

    Chapter 293: 293

    Chapter 293 ¨C Decision of Zhao Yun

    October 30th, 184 A . D .

    Gongsun Zan Army arrived at Xiangping and found out that he worried for nothing .

    Gongsun Du, the governor who was also a member of Gongsun n, had defeated all Wuwan Army . The newly promoted 5,000-manmander Zhao Yun captured one of theirmanders and forced the Wuwan Army into retreat .

    In Xiangping government hall, Gongsun Zan summoned Zhao Yun .

    The white robe general walked into the hall . Because of his youth and his good looking, the vibrant of his cloth and the valiant manner impressed all officers of Gongsun Zan .

    "I want to promote you to the grandmander of Xiangping Legion . What do you say?"

    Gongsun Du¡¯s face twitched . If the young man in front of him raised his status, he would have the same power as him, the governor .

    Feeling the looming threat of losing his influence, Gongsun Du protested, "n Head, please wait a minute . He has just been promoted this year . Promoting him again will get us a bad reputation . Some of the veteran soldiers in our army will think that we y favoritism for one of our servants, and it will create disharmony between us . Please reconsider!"

    Gongsun Zan frowned . He would be stupid for not realizing Gongsun Du¡¯s scheme, but this governor had a point .

    Zhao Yan nced at Gongsun Du as he had a bad impression on this governor .

    During the previous battle, Gongsun Du¡¯s ambush was not a part of his n . His initial n was to wither down Wuwan scout teams and Wuwan number little by little . However, Gongsun Du refused the idea and wanted to confront the enemy directly .

    The debate broke out and they splitted their manpower in half .

    Zhao Yun proceeded with his ns while Gongsun Du hid his men . Yet, when Zhao Yun was about to win, Gongsun Du Army appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the Tadun Army, iming the credit that they made the Wuwan surrendered .

    "Seeing with your own eyes . Listening with your own ears . Judge the situation without a bias thought . Then, your perception of the world will broaden!"

    The teaching of Tong resounded in Zhao Yun¡¯s mind, and his anger subsided .

    Zhao Yun cupped his fist and knelt, "I¡¯m afraid that this promotion is improper like Lord Governor has said . I¡¯m also too young to take the role of the city¡¯s grand general . Please reconsider . "

    Hearing that Zhao Yun agreed with himself, Gongsun Du was surprised .

    ¡¯This brat has a good sense of politic . Is this brat trying to get on my good side? Very well, I like you! I¡¯ll make you my aide and my bodyguard!¡¯

    Gongsun Du¡¯s ill intent toward Zhao Yun disappeared . On the other hand, Gongsun Zan did not understand the objection of the promotion .

    Gongsun Zan stared at the governor and Zhao Yun, ¡¯A power struggle within my nsmen . This is troublesome! The boy is either modest, or he is under the threat of this guy¡¯s politic . I have to change my way of approaching things . ¡¯

    A new idea came to Gongsun Zan¡¯s mind, "Well, how about this? Right now, Ji City iscking the right protector . I can make you guard Ji City in my stead . You will be the governor of that city and protect it for me . Will you ept this new task?"

    Gongsun Zan avoided using the word [Promotion], but he emphasized the transfer of his duty instead .

    Gongsun Du was relief that his control over Xiangping still remained in his grasp . Transferring the hotshot Zhao Yun away was a good thing to him .

    "Yes, Zilong . You are more suitable to be the protector of Ji City . We already have many experience officers here, so you don¡¯t have to worry about this front . "

    Zhao Yun sighed as he understood these two men¡¯s motives .

    "Then, I shall do my best to guard Ji City from all invaders!"

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Later that day, Zhao Yun pondered if the training under the Gongsun n was a good idea .

    The power struggle did not happen just between warlords, the minor officials and subordinates of warlords also fought against their rival in secret to advance in their career and position . The political movements of Gongsun Du proved that this force also suffered from the same disease .

    His thought wondered . Two faces appeared in his mind .

    The first one was Liu Bei . He was kind toward his men, and all of his subordinates worked together in harmony, which was Zhao Yun workce ideal . Moreover, Liu Bei seemed to be a righteous person from the way he acted or talked when they met .

    The second face was his idol who taught him to cultivate his mind, Zhang Tong .

    This person was unpredictable to Zhao Yun . His vision was so vast that Zhao Yun could not understand, but he could read thought Liu Bei without much of a trouble .

    Furthermore, Zhao Yun did not know if Tong was the right person or not . He ughtered innocent people in Liyang, yet he showed mercy toward his enemies sometimes, such as Qu Yi, Gao Lan, Te Langpu, and many soldiers who used to oppose Tong . These people switched side to work under him willingly, which confused Zhao Yun¡¯s logic .

    Zhao Yun sometimes thought that Tong was a sinister lord who did not hesitate to kill or bribe officers to get his job done . Unfortunately, Tong¡¯s actions often contradicted with Zhao Yun¡¯s theories as he kept donating his food toward the refugees from around the country and took them in without exception .

    "If I work for one of you, what kind of future will you prepare for me?"

    ...

    November 1st, 184 A . D .

    Zhao Yun arrived at Ji, but he could not get inside the city .

    The City had fallen under the hands of Xiongnu!

    "How!?"

    In disbelieved, Zhao Yun stared at the gs on top of the wall and read the character on it over and over again .

    They were not the [Gongsun] .

    "Could it be ... sound in the east and attack the west!? They baited at Xiangping, and the real attack was Ji!?"

    Zhao Yun ordered his bodyguards and caravans to withdraw back to Beiping . In the meantime, they also searched for the survivors to ask for the news of the city .

    *BOOM*

    Zhao Yun heard a loud metallic sound of iron mming onto another metal .

    The sound came from the city . One of the city gates was opened, and soldiers of Xiongnu marched out with haste .

    Zhao Yun panicked as he thought that they were sending out troops to get rid of him and his men .

    Betraying his expectation, Xiongnu soldiers ignored their existence and rushed north in a hurry, leaving the agape Zhao Yun and his men alone .

    "Are they retreating? Wait, did they rob the people enough then they are withdrawing back to their territory?"

    Zhao Yun¡¯s guess became a reality when Xiongnu forced people out of the city . They were to civilians of Ji!

    All civilians were tied in a train of ropes . Had one person tried to escape, all prisoners would be in the way as the ropes tied all prisoners in a long continuous line .

    Hatred brewed in Zhao Yun¡¯s heart, but he calmed his anger in a minute .

    Zhao Yun wanted to get rid of these invaders and rescue the people, but at the moment, he was powerless as he did not have enough troops to do so .

    *RUMBLE*

    Another rumble sound came from the south of Ji City . Birds in the forest panicked and flew from their nests, revealing that there was an army moving here .

    "An army from the south!? Maybe ..."

    Hope .

    Zhao Yun regained his hope .

    "South of Ji lies Zhongshan, if the army came from Zhongshan, then it¡¯s Zhang Tong¡¯s forces!"

    Zhao Yun clenched his fists .

    "Sir?" A follower of Zhao Yun asked .

    "What?"

    "Are we going back to Beiping?"

    Zhao Yun hesitated . He was still amander under Gongsun Zan . Because of that, he could not move around or influence other forces without permission .

    But he wanted to join the fight .

    [Do not sway by your emotions . ]

    Tong¡¯s teaching resounded in his heart again at the critical moment of decision .

    Zhao Yun took a deep breath and turned around, "All nonebatant personal will head back to Beiping and inform our lord!"

    "What about you, sir?"

    "Men, hear me! At first, we have to move to Ji and protect the city from the possible invading Xiongnu . But now, the city has already been taken, and they are in the middle of enving our people and taking them away! If we don¡¯t help them, they will suffer an endless hell of ve lives! I¡¯m going to assist Zhang Tong¡¯s forces and rescue the civilians . If you don¡¯t want to fight, feel free to go back . If you believe in my decision,e with me!"

    All bodyguard soldiers were shocked . From first nce, the army of Xiongnu was no less than 20,000 men . It was impossible for them to attack the invaders directly .

    "Sir, I¡¯m going back to Beiping . "

    "Sir, me too . "

    "I have a family in Beiping, sir . Please forgive me . "

    None of the soldiers had to same thought as Zhao Yun . They did not have the same intelligence, and they could not figure out that another army was approaching Ji City from the south .

    Most importantly, they did not believe in the young governor who had yet to prove himself .

    Zhao Yun had a bitter smile on his face .

    ¡¯I¡¯m a failure at persuasion . As amander, I can¡¯t even convince them . ¡¯

    Zhao Yun turned around and left, thinking that nobody would follow him at this rate .

    Yet, the childish voice of a boy called him .

    "Sir, I¡¯ll go with you!"

    Zhao Yun turned around . A 12-year-old boy in a tattered cloth ran after Zhao Yun .

    "You ...,"

    "I¡¯m going with you! I want to help the Ji people!"

    Zhao Yun frowned, "Do you have a weapon?"

    The boy looked around andughed, "Ahaha, no . "

    "Have you ever use a sword or a spear?"

    "Err, no . "

    Zhao Yun¡¯s face turned ugly, "You might die before you can even kill an enemy . "

    "I¡¯m prepared!"

    "This is not a yground for children at your age! This is WAR, THE REAL WAR!"

    "But sir, you¡¯re only a few years older than me . If you can do it, I can do it, too!"

    Zhao Yun was taken aback . Indeed, his age was not that far apart from the boy .

    Zhao Yun was only 16 this year .

    He stared into the eyes of the boy . For a moment, Zhao Yun saw himself within the boy .

    When Zhao Yun begged Tong, wanting to tag along with his army when they marched to Ganling, his appearance and his emotion was simr to him .

    ¡¯I was impulsive back then . Well, I am still impulsive . ¡¯

    Zhao Yun¡¯s eyes became gentler, "Boy, what¡¯s your name?"

    "Tian Yu, sir!"

    "Tian family? Aren¡¯t Tian Kai a general under our lord? Aren¡¯t you a rtive to him?"

    "Sir, not everybody with the same surname is rtive . I have nothing to do with him!"

    "Right, Tian Feng was also a "Tian" as well . Come, get on my horse, I¡¯ll take you with me . "

    "Thank you, sir!"

 Chapter 294

    Chapter 294

    Chapter 294 ¨C Young Geniuses Met

    [Silver Axe Legion]

    The gs of [Xu] and [Silver Axe] fluttered as the troops of 40,000 marched on the new road from Zhongshan to Ji City .

    All officers in charge, Xu Huang, Gao Shun, Lu Zhi, Zhou Cang, Bo Cai, Zhang Liang, and Zhang Bao were here . They did not bother leaving someone to guard the city as subordinates of Lu Zhi were watching over it .

    Zhen Yi had also been quiet inside the city after he was demoted from the governor position . Nobody knew what he was doing .

    .

    It did not take long for a scout team toe back .

    "Report! Ji City has already fallen to Xiongnu . Our spies managed to get out of the city and meet us along the way . They said Xiongnu were looting Ji City¡¯s treasury, provision, and enving the people inside!"

    Everybody nced at Lu Zhi, waiting for his thought .

    Instead of thinking of a strategy, Lu Zhi educated the officers about Xiongnu .

    "The nature of these nomads is carefree and rootless . They never settle down in one ce, but they always travel through grasnds, ins, forests, or whateveres their way . They don¡¯t care about managingrge cities . They don¡¯t bother fiddling with brushes and scrolls as much as we do . However, they excel in horse riding, archery, and open-field military tactics . "

    "Normally, they won¡¯t seek trouble with the Han ever since Li Guang, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing¡¯s had driven their forces all the way back to Lake Baikal* hundreds of years ago, they should have been crippled to the point that they can¡¯t seek trouble with the Han again . However, their arrival is an omen that something has changed within their ranks . "

    (*Author Note: Lake Baikal is a part of present-day Russia . )

    All officers did not understand Lu Zhi . Xu Huang had to take the initiative to interrupt, "Senior Lu, what does the history of Xiongnu has to do with our current situation?"

    "This situation is too unusual, little Xu . Even I can¡¯t grasp the logic and their motive for stealing our supplies, wealth, and our people . It should not be because of the drought since the nomads rarely cultivatends, but they prioritized on animal husbandry . They should notck food to the point that they have to raid our country . Thates to my wild guess . "

    Lu Zhi paused . His solemn expression and the depth of his eyes scared all elites to the point that they stopped breathing for a few seconds .

    "I¡¯m trying to say, be wary of them . Think of their army as if our young master and his wives were leading them! If theye here for the sake of looting and stealing, everything will be fine . Otherwise, be prepared for the war of annihtion!"

    ...

    . . .

    . . .

    Lu Zhi reported everything to Tong in the n chat .

    Tong: "We have to prepare for the immortal within Xiongnu?"

    Lu Zhi: "There¡¯s no other exnation . Their action is against their true nature . Someone is manipting them . "

    This year, five more people had joined the n chat .

    Sima Fang

    He Xing

    Ju Shou

    Lu Zhi

    Xu Huang

    Lu Zhi and Xu Huang were added to the groupter after the hectic early year .

    Lu Zhi: "Also, their number is too many! The battles they had with Emperor Wu was only around 100,000, but they suddenlye at the border with the greater number within a few hundred years . That¡¯s illogical!"

    Ding Yuan: "I agree with this . They shouldn¡¯t have this many warhorses and supplies for this many troops, but they did show up in my border . "

    Tong: "Senior Ding, have they attacked you again?"

    Ding Yuan: "No, but they are provoking us into small skirmishes . We are holding the line just fine . Lu Bu is getting better by the way . You don¡¯t have to worry about him betraying you for the meantime . "

    Tong: "Good to hear . "

    Tong: "Back to the Xiongnu topic, how dangerous is the Xiongnu in your point of view, senior Ding, Wenyuan . I need your honest opinion . "

    Zhang Liao: "Annoying . That¡¯s my answer . "

    Ding Yuan: "Same . But seriously, if our men didn¡¯t wear the knight armors, we would have been in troubles . "

    Tong: "Details, please . "

    ...

    ...

    . . .

    Xu Huang continued to read the n chat as he refrained himself from speaking or inputting hisment . Because he judged that he was still young and inexperienced, it would be better to have elites discussing the matter without his interference .

    While Xu Huang was reading, a guard rushed at his side .

    "Commander, sir . Two young men areing to see you . They said they were from Beiping and they want to help us eliminate the Xiongnu in the city .

    The guard let the two came in . They were a 16-year-old teenager in a whitemander cloth armor and a tattered cloth 12-year-old boy .

    Zhao Yun and Tian Yu met Xu Huang .

    Zhao Yun knelt and bow to Xu Huang . He did not mind about his current position or hold any pride in his rank as the governor .

    "Sir, I¡¯m Zhao Yun . The new protector of Ji City . Unfortunately, before I can begin my first day of work, the Xiongnu already took the city . I hope that I can join you if you n to take the city or to fight the Xiongnu . "

    Tian Yu looked back and forth in awkwardness . In the end, he also knelt and mimicked Zhao Yun¡¯s action .

    Xu Huang had aplicated feeling seeing the young governor . He, too, was only 19 this year, but he was already leading a 40,000-man-legion .

    Two young geniuses could sense strangepatibility at first nce .

    ¡¯He doesn¡¯t look like a son of a noble . He must have climb his way to the top with his skills,¡¯ Thought Xu Huang .

    ¡¯Unbelievable! He seems a bit older than me, but Zhang Tong puts him as the grandmander of this huge army!?¡¯ Zhao Yun was astonished .

    Xu Huang coughed, "You can stand, young governor . We¡¯re here to help Lord Gongsun repelling the invaders in the first ce . There is no reason for refusing your cooperation . "

    Zhao Yun stood up, "Thank you, sir! By the way, I don¡¯t mind if you assign me to the frontline . I¡¯m confident with my fighting skills . "

    "Sure . "

    ...

    ...

    Xu Huang guided Zhao Yun to the officers so he could introduce this young man to them and exin about his trouble .

    Upon seeing Zhao Yun, Gao Shunughed, "Zhao Zilong? It¡¯s you! HAHAHA!"

    Everyone was surprised, "Do you know him?"

    Gao Shun nodded, "Yes . He joined us when we went out to subjugate bandits in Ganling . He¡¯s with us at that time . "

    Xu Huang raised his hands to stop them from getting sidetrack, "Senior, guys, I have to tell you about his circumstances . "

    Xu Huang retold what Zhao Yun reported him .

    "A protector? Wait, a governor? At his age without a family rtionship?"

    Everyone was astonished again .

    Meanwhile, Lu Zhi eyes glittered . They transformed into the endless abyss in a second as he drafted a scheme in his mind .

    "We¡¯re going to rescue the citizens of Ji City . Senior Lu, your opinion on this, please . "

    "We¡¯ll probe their strength with our old crossbows first . Let¡¯s send in the heavy knights to chase their caravans . As for the light cavalries, keep the distance and use our range advantage . "

    "Should we use our explosives?"

    "Only use it when it¡¯s necessary . "

    "Alright, I¡¯ll lead the light cavalries . Senior Gao, guide our heavy knights, please . "

    Gao Shun rubbed his hands in anticipation, "No problem . "

    Xu Huang looked at the rest of the officers, "Everyone else, stay with your toon and wait for themand of Senior Lu . Brother Zhao, youe with me . "

    ...

    One thousand heavy cavalries, The Heavy Knights, followed after Gao Shun to chase after the Xiongnu . As the name implied, the knights were the soldiers who wore steel te armor set .

    From the detailed report of Zhang Liao and Ding Yuan in the n chat, Xiongnu¡¯s short bows were ineffective against their te armors and steel armors for the horses .

    Using this as a general direction about the rough strength of Xiongnu, Lu Zhi was more confident with the men . The only worry he had was their unknown King ormander, who might be an immortal like Tong .

    Meanwhile, Xu Huang, Zhao Yun, and 10,000 light cavalries detoured the city .

    ...

    It took Gao Shun an hour to reach the north gate of Ji . When he arrived at his destination, the civilians were still being forced to walk out of the city .

    A team of Xiangnu scouts already spotted Gao Shun and Xu Huang . They sent a messenger to the main army while the rest of them drew their short bows, getting ready to fight with the oing army .

    Before got into their range, Gao Shun and his 1,000 men alreadyunched a volley of their crossbows .

    Thanked to the report of Ding Yuan, The Silver Axe Legion came here prepared . All crossbows had been modified to counter the silk clothes of the Xiongnu .

    Instead of using the repeating crossbows, they picked the standard crossbows with more firepower . Though it took times to reload, it could pierce the custom made silk-leather armor of the ancient Mongols .

    As they had expected, half of the arrows managed to lodge into the body of Xiongnu soldiers . Two hundred riders out of 500 fell from the horse and died, but the rest pulled the arrowhead out of their wound with ease and resumed their duty .

    "Ugh, this can be annoying . No, it IS annoying!"

    Gao Shunined while he was busy trying to reload his crossbow . He and his men ignored the counter-attack arrows of the Xiongnu and continued fiddling with their hard-to-use weapons .

    *DONG*

    *TINK*

    Arrows heads ricocheted their steel armor .

    The Xiongnu scouts of 2,000 men did not notice the armor yet . They fired another volley .

    *DONG*

    *TINK*

    After the second volley, they finally noticed that something was wrong .

    Gao Shun finished the reloading after bracing two volleys of arrows, so did his men .

    "Get into a line formation . Take aim carefully this time . Either aim for the horse or the head . You can fire whenever you¡¯re ready!"

    Unlike the Xiongnu, the horse archery of Gao Shun Army was no different from the standing still archers who fired arrows while staying in the same ce . On the other hand, the horses of Xiongnu archers did not stop moving . They rode as they released their bowstring at the same time .

    Had it been a normal circumstance, Gao Shun Army would have been routed long ago .

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    Patiently aiming and firing, Xiongnu horsemen dropped on the ground one by one while the steel knights braced the third and fourth arrow rain .

    As all 1,000 heavy knights had fired their round, the scouts were routed . The survivors fled the battlefield, leaving the injured behind .

    "Let¡¯s move! We¡¯ll leave the rescuing task to the infantries . We¡¯ll find their main army . "

    ...

    Meanwhile, Xu Huang and his 10,000 light cavalries also met Xiangnu main army of 30,000 light horsemen .

    Instead of staying still and trading arrows, Xu Huang maneuvered his men to withdraw and use their repeating crossbows to retaliate .

    "Forget about the riders . Focus on the horses!"

    Using the advantage of the superior range, Xu Huang utilized the hit-and-run tactic against them . They ended up in a cavalry dog fight for hours before Gao Shun showed up to tank the arrows of the nomads .

    Furthermore, they had new toys .

    Xu Huang¡¯s g bearers did not wield any weapon . Instead, they equipped a g pole behind their back while their free hand held a lighted torch .

    It was weird to Xiongnu men who were chasing after Xu Huang Army . However, they realized the horror of these people soon .

    The g bearers pulled out a bundle of finger-size wrapped papers within their cloth . They ignited the papers with a torch and tossed them on the ground behind their back .

    "What are they throwing? Traps?"

    "A failed fire tactic . They won¡¯t hurt us! Keep chasing!"

    *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

    The ignited paper exploded and created a loud noise, which scared the pursuing horses . The near horses raised their front hooves in a panic and throw the chasing formation of Xiongnu in chaos .

    Xu Huang looked back and smiled, "The firecracker works! Now, gain some distance and reload your crossbows!"

 Chapter 295

    Chapter 295

    Chapter 296 ¨C Lu Zhi¡¯s New Disciples

    The brief contact between Silver Axe Legion horsemen and Xiongnu ended within a day as Batu, the Xiongnu grandmander, decided to retreat and abandon the ves .

    Lu Zhi and the infantries entered Ji Cityter and began rescuing the captured civilians .

    Xu Huang chased after Xiongnu main forces . However, their warhorses were faster than Xu Huang Army¡¯s warhorses . They could not keep up and lost track of the Xiongnu after the sunset .

    Dejected, Xu Huang apologized to everyone in the n chat .

    Xu Huang: "I¡¯m sorry . We lost them . "

    Lu Zhi: "No harm . Juste back first . "

    ...

    11 PM .

    Xu Huang, Zhao Yun, and Tian Yu arrived at Ji City, exhausted .

    Zhao Yun and Tian Yu did not help much in thest fight as they could only fire a few crossbow bolts at the Xiongnu from the backline .

    Zhao Yun did not mind it as he understood that it was near impossible to fight against Xiongnu in a melee confrontation . They were using short bows and projectiles as their primary weapons, after all .

    Tian Yu, on the other hand, did not like it . He thought that he would get into a direct fight, so he was disappointed .

    By the time they entered the city, Lu Zhi and the other infantries already provided first-aid and distributed food to the rescued locals . With the army and the strong looking soldiers, the rescued civilians were relieved and grateful for the help .

    The corner of Zhao Yun¡¯s mouth revealed a smile, but his light frown showed hisplicated feeling . He was supposed to be Ji City Governor, but he had to yield the city to Tong¡¯s subordinates now .

    .

    Next morning .

    Xu Huang and his men resumed the scouting and tracing the current whereabouts of the Xiongnu .

    Lu Zhi summoned Zhao Yun and Tian Yu, wanting to exin about the authority stuff .

    The dejected Zhao Yun entered the city hall, expecting to hear that he had to surrender the city to Tong .

    "Sir Zhao Yun, under the current circumstance, we will temporarily protect the city until Lord Gongsun Zan sends an army to protect the civilians . "

    Zhao Yun was taken aback by the promise . It was unusual for the warlord to give up a city easily .

    "Are you returning the city to Lord Gongsun when their army arrives?"

    "Yes . Our young master has ordered us to repel the foreign invaders as it is his duty to protect the country . Do you think we should be fighting each other for the power struggling reason and ignore the threat of Xiongnu?"

    "N-No . "

    "Besides, he and Lord Gongsun both were once my apprentices . They have no reason to fight each other . "

    Lu Zhi grinned while Zhao Yun stared at Lu Zhi in disbelieved .

    "T-They trained under y-you?"

    "Yes . I¡¯m very proud of them . That¡¯s why I¡¯m working for one of my apprentices . "

    Tian Yu, who was tagging along with Zhao Yun, stared at the schr in admiration . To train two warlords who held a great influence on thisnd was significant .

    Shamelessly, Tian Yu muttered, "C-Can I be your apprentice, too?"

    "Oh? What¡¯s your name?"

    "Tian Yu, sir . "

    .

    In history, Tian Yu was also an influential figure during the Three Kingdoms Period .

    In his young age, he was under the care of Liu Bei . However, he returned to his hometown to care for his aging mother and served Gongsun Zan . Liu Bei, who noticed Tian Yu¡¯s hidden talent,mented sadness when he parted .

    As Tian Yu advanced within Gongsun Zan¡¯s ranks, Wang Men betrayed Gongsun Zan and invaded the county that Tian Yu was protecting . Tian Yu proved his talent by confronting Wang Men and shaming him into retreat .

    Unfortunately, Gongsun Zan failed to notice his talent, so he did not appoint or promote him to a more important position .

    After Gongsun Zanmitted suicide because he lost to Yuan Shao . Tian Yu was persuaded by his friend to join Cao Cao, which he agreed .

    During the period of his career under the Cao Family, he showed his talent in many battles, but he was outshined by Cao Cao¡¯s top talented personnel .

    Tian Yu gained a few significant achievementster in theter days of his life . He defended and defeated Gu Jin, the Wuwan King who invaded the northern territories . He also participated in the defense of Xiangyang during Zhuge Liang¡¯s 5th Northern Campaign .

    Because many famous generals achieved many deeds and left behind legendary tales, Tian Yu did not get much of a spotlight from the historians despite that he was also a general who excelled at defensive tactics .

    .

    Lu Zhi nced back and forth between Zhao Yun and Tian Yu . These two were also hidden gems in this era of chaos, just like Tong .

    ¡¯Ah, I want another apprentice again . Teaching that brat Zhou Cang was frustrating . Teaching a good seedling might improve my mood . ¡¯

    Lu Zhi grinned, "Well, since we have to protect the city while we are waiting for the rightful force, I can teach both of you a few tricks to govern the city . How about it, are you willing to learn from me?"

    Tian Yu knelt without a hesitation, "I am willing!"

    Zhao Yun had a wry smile on his face . Pondering a bit, he also knelt, "I am willing! Zhao Yun greets master Lu!"

    "Tian Yu greets master Lu!"

    Lu Zhiughed and took them along as he worked in the city hall . He spent the rest of the day teaching the two youngsters, who had no idea that Lu Zhi slowly brainwashed them .

    ¡¯I get to foster two more geniuses and scores two talented officers for Tong . I hit two birds in one stone once again, HAHAHA!¡¯

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Xu Huang came back with an empty hand . The Xiongnu full-retreated and exited the border areas as they crossed the Great Wall and entered their territories .

    Lu Zhi and the others also finished checking the damages in the city . As he worked, he also taught Zhao Yun and Tian Yu about city administration and the basics of managing arge scale organization .

    Curious, Zhao Yun asked his new mentor, "What have we lost to the nomads, master?"

    "All of Ji¡¯s provisions, golds, clothes, and medicines . They didn¡¯t take any superficial treasure though . "

    "Are they just simply robbing us?"

    "A simple robbery won¡¯t expand across the country like this . You might not know this, these men also attacked Jinyang and attempted to siege the city . "

    Lu Zhi did not hold back about the inside information . He told Zhao Yun and Tian Yu everything that he learned in the n chat and the recent movements of Xiongnu Army . Since he had nned to rope in the two geniuses, it would not hurt to leak a couple secrets .

    "Is this a wild scale invasion? They must be serious for taking over the Han . "

    Lu Zhi sighed, "They are stealing our resources while they are increasing theirs . Also, they attacked us when we are upied with the power struggling and infighting . If I were Xiongnu, I would have made this move, too . "

    "Is it possible to warn all lords to stop fighting?"

    "Not until their territories are invaded . This is their nature . "

    "The country is in peril, but they won¡¯t they help? Aren¡¯t they imed that they are the sessors of the Han Dynasty?"

    "Again, Zilong . This is the nature of humanity . Warlords usually fight for their interest . "

    "..."

    "Well, at least our young master understands about the priority . Just saying . "

    Zhao Yun frowned in disbelieved . He still did not think that Tong was such a person .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    The news about the loss of Ji City and the assistance of the Silver Axe Legion got to Gongsun Zan . He mobilized his army back from Xiangping and headed to Ji in a hurry .

    December 10th, 184 A . D .

    Gongsun Zan and his army reached Ji City, which Lu Zhi came out of the city to wee them . Behind his back, Tian Yu and Zhao Yun followed after him as well .

    "Master?"

    Gongsun Zan was surprised to see his mentor weing himself personally .

    "It¡¯s been a while, Bogui . "

    "Indeed . But, are you really working for Zhang Tong?"

    "Yes . He is a goodd with extraordinary insight . You should form an alliance with him as soon as possible since we are under the threat of Xiongnu invasion . "

    "I wish to talk about that as well . But master, this city should be my territory . Can you tell Zhang Tong to withdraw his troops from the city?"

    Lu Zhiughed, "Oh, Bogui . Your worry is unnecessary . Actually, we have nned to withdraw our legion the moment you arrive . "

    Lu Zhi pointed at the south city gate direction . Xu Huang had already mobilized his troops outside of the city, heading toward the road to Zhongshan .

    "See? We¡¯re giving your city back . We only came here to fend off the Xiongnu for you . "

    Zhao Yun and Tian Yu were astonished as they did not believe about the Silver Axe Legion¡¯s n . But now, everything proved that Lu Zhi was right .

    The eyes of Zhao Yun widened as he gazed back and forth between Lu Zhi and the Silver Axe Army .

    "Master, is it real?"

    "Foolish disciple! Have I ever lied?"

    "But I thought Zhang Tong wanted Ji City, so he took this chance to upy it . "

    A fistnded on the top of Zhao Yun¡¯s head . Lu Zhi gave him a hammer fist to punish his immaturement .

    "Don¡¯t be biased against your senior disciple . When I said he sincerely wants to assist his fellow countrymen, he DOES!"

    Listening to Lu Zhi, Tong¡¯s words resounded Zhao Yun¡¯s mind again .

    [Do not sway by your emotion . ]

    Zhao Yun held his little bump on the top of his head, ¡¯I guess I still have a lot to learn . ¡¯

    Meanwhile, Gongsun Zan was surprised by the exchange of Lu Zhi and Zhao Yun .

    "Master?"

    Lu Zhiughed, "Oh, I forgot to tell you . He¡¯s maybe your subordinate, but he¡¯s also your junior now . I took both of them as my disciples . "

    Gongsun Zan had a wry smile on his face . The rtionship between them might be awkward in the future .

    Lu Zhi had not finished, "Also, I was told by Zhang Tong to help you develop Ji . I hope you don¡¯t mind if I work here with you . "

    "Of course, of course! You are always weed here, master!"

 Chapter 296

    Chapter 296

    Chapter 297 ¨C Pressure From Xiongnu

    In the n chat, Lu Zhi reported, "Gongsun Zan epted me as his helper . I¡¯m in their ranks . "

    Tong: "Thank you, master . "

    Tong nted Lu Zhi as an agent inside of Gongsun Zan¡¯s ranks, so he could recruit promising officers and even coax Gongsun Zan to join him in the future .

    With Lu Zhi in Gongsun Zan¡¯s forces, the tension between the border of Zhongshan and Ji would decrease a bit .

    .

    At the same month of December, the Ghost Legion of Zhang He reached Jinyang along with Ju Shou and Li Feihong . They joined forces with the Mountaineer Legion of Zhang Liao and Ding Yuan .

    Thebined forces of 70,000 could finally threaten the Xiongnu Army .

    Li Feihong and Ju Shou devised several schemes on top of other stratagems to exterminate these nomads .

    Li Feihong deployed the same gate tactic again with Zhang Liao, who burnt the granaries of these nomads, cutting off all of their supplies .

    Ju Shou employed traps and pitfalls, which caught and killed thousands of Xiongnu warhorses and riders .

    Zhang He and his subordinates did not have a chance to join the fight . It was not because they were ipetence orzy, but the Xiongnu kept running away from his legion .

    Ding Yuan and Lu Bu also could not get into the direct confrontation as before as the Xiongnu avoided to fight, yet they did not retreat from the border, which frustrated everybody .

    For the entire month, both legions did not get a chance to get into a melee fight at all .

    .

    .

    January 10th, 185 A . D .

    Xiongnu Army in Jinyang withdrew from the area as theypleted their objectives . They had distracted both Jinyang forces and the Ghost Legion of Zhang He, which they failed to notice or assist Dong Zhuo and Ma Teng .

    Ding Yuan, Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Ju Shou, and Lu Bu watched the retreating Xiongnu in solemn . Both legions failed to eliminate these horse archers even though they had superior gears and weapons .

    "Sir Li, what do you think we¡¯recking . "

    The frowning Ju Shou contemted what they were their weaknesses that the Xiongnu exploited .

    "It¡¯s not us . They are the abnormal ones . We burnt their granaries . We ughtered all of their horses . But how did they persist without the supplies? How did theye back with more warhorses?"

    For two months, they lost count how many supply camps they burnt and the warhorses they killed, yet the Xiongnu cavalries did not seem to be damaged at all .

    "Is this the work of an immortal like you, sir Li?"

    "Definitely . How can ordinary nomads procure so many warhorses and food for us to burn while they have the luxury to attack Anding, Tianshui, and Wuwei? My guess is on a simr ability that our young master has . The immortal on the Xiongnu side should be able to create warhorses and food for these guys somehow . Or else, they won¡¯t be able to use this kind of tactic . "

    Zhang He, who had been listening to the conversation, recalled his photographic memories . He closed his eyes .

    The vivid images of warhorses appeared in his mind . He checked the characteristic of each horse and found the irregrity in an instant .

    The majority of warhorses looked the same!

    Half of the Xiongnu soldiers had the same faces as well!

    "The warhorses looked the same . Some of the soldiers also had a simr face . I thought they were twins, or they were a part of the same family, but it¡¯s odd . "

    Li Feihong widened his eyes as he had a theory about this otherworlder¡¯s skill, "A cloning ability?"

    "Cloning?"

    "It should be an ability to copy living beings! Think about this hypothetically as an example . An immortal that can copy your existence and give birth to another Ju Shou or Lu Bu!"

    "WHAT!?"

    The eyes of all officers who heard it almost popped out of its socket . Even Lu Bu stared at Li Feihong in disbelieved .

    "It¡¯s just a theory . For now, let¡¯s report our battle result to Tong and other strategists . "

    .

    Li Feihong, Ju Shou, and Zhang Liao reported everything to the n chat .

    Jia Xu: "That actually made sense . If they can copy everything in the world, copying elite soldiers and sending them all to invade us would be easy . "

    Tong: "But that will be costly . All immortal spells and abilities have a strict condition of usage . We have to pay with our lifespans for each use, and we can¡¯t use it repeatedly . "

    Dong Bai: "What if he has awakened a wing?"

    Jia Xu: "Wing? Miss Xiao Wu, can you borate?"

    Dong Bai: "Wait, how did you know I¡¯m Xiao Wu?"

    Tong: "It¡¯s obvious to everyone else here . You¡¯re the only one who thinks that none of them knew . "

    Dong Bai: "..."

    Jia Xu: "Back to the topic, please tell us about the wing . "

    Tong: "I¡¯ll exin . Any immortal with a wing can summon a guardian spirit . With a guardian spirit, we can use our skills multiple times a day, but it also consumes 10 times the normal lifespans we usually spend for each use of a spell . For example, currently, I can create 10,000 tons of food each day by paying one year of my lifespans . But I can create as many foods as I like with my guardian spirit while I have to pay 10 years lifespan instead of one for each use . "

    Tong proceeded to exin about the wings of immortals and the difference between angelic wings and devil wings in detail . Since they would also experience the awakening of wings in less than twenty years, they should be prepared .

    Everyone was awestruck by another secret of immortals . But when they heard that they would get those wings as well, the chat was in chaos .

    Tong had to spend a week, answering barrages of questions from Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Ju Shou, and even his father, Zhang Jiao .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile

    Chang¡¯An City, southeast of Anding and east of Hongnong .

    Dong Zhuo and his 200,000 soldiers gathered here in preparation for retaking Anding and Tianshui as both cities were upied by the Xiongnu .

    The fat tyrant was infuriated that all of his saving and treasures in those cities were robbed by the nomads . He mobilized all of his armies and personals, nning to settle the score .

    No soldier was left behind in Henei, Luo Yang, Hongnong, or other checkpoints such as Ho Gate or the Wu Pass, which Huo Xiong used to fend off the alliance of Yuan Shu and Liu Biao .

    Li Ru was helpless at this . He was afraid that the other forces might use this chance to upy Hongnong and Luo Yang if the news were to leak .

    Dong Zhuo could also guess what Li Ru was thinking, "Ignore those cities . We have sucked them dried, so leave those to the hyenas!"

    "Very well . Your Majesty, we should request help from your grandson-inw . Since this is a threat of Xiongnu, we can give them some bribes and titles so they can borrow us their troops . "

    "FOOk, no! All the treasures and women are mine! I won¡¯t give them shit!"

    Li Ru sighed and shook his head . He gave up trying to give a piece of advice to this stubborn ck pig .

    ¡¯Well, I still have the Imperial Seal in my hands . Maybe it¡¯s time to bail . First, I need to gather allies . ¡¯

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Wuwei County, Liang Province .

    Ma Teng was still isted in Liang Province . At the border, the King of Xiongnu and his main forces kept them upied while the other troops in Tian Shui nned to strike Ma Teng at Wuwei County .

    Both Han Sui and Ma Teng were helpless . With hesitation, they sent SOS request to Dong Zhuo, Liu Yan, Cao Cao, and Tong, asking for reinforcements . As long as their families could be saved from this crisis, they were willing to pledge allegiance to anyone .

    In the city hall, the atmosphere gloomed as no one had a way to break out from this invasion of Xiongnu .

    The silencested for hours, but it was broken by a certain boy .

    "Dad! Let¡¯s head out and get rid of those fools! I¡¯ll go with you . "

    The bratty voice of an 8-year-old boy made the officers in the city hall cringed .

    "Mengqi! War is not something that can be won by strength alone . Go back and learn from your uncle!"

    The eldest son of Ma Teng, Ma Chao, wanted to go to war . Despite being only 8-year-old, he was a head taller than his peers . His courageous and boldness also surpassed elite soldiers within Ma Teng¡¯s ranks .

    "But if we stay here, our food supplies will run out in a few months! Did you see their surrounding armies? They are waiting for us to run out of food!"

    At this moment, the Wuwei County was surrounded by the main army of Xiongnu King . The initial army of 100,000 Xiongnu suddenly increased to 200,000, which overwhelmed Ma Teng¡¯s puny forces .

    "Get out of the city to get ughtered? Mengqi, do you know what they use to kill us? Archers and arrows! We can¡¯t just simply charge at them and expect them to meet us with their charge! They had always used their horse archers to decimate us!"

    Han Sui stopped his sworn brother and appeased Ma Chao, "Mengqi, there¡¯s more to see than meet the eyes . Xiongnu is probably not the only one out there . We believe that the Qiang Tribes from the west joined forces with them, and that makes the situationplicated . We have to wait for the reinforcement . "

    All officers looked at Ma Chao withplicated emotion . They pitied him for being born in the border county, and he was not old enough to take arms to battle . At the same time, they were also annoyed to be ordered by a little brat . Had it not because of Ma Teng, Ma Chao would have been kicked out already .

    In the end, Ma Chao stomped away in anger . He still did not understand the concept of real warfare .

    "I¡¯ll get a proper mentor for him after we get through this . People, please forgive my son . "

    "No harm, Protector Ma!"

    "That¡¯s right . He¡¯s only a child . "

    Ma Teng had a wry smile on his face . There was not a single second that he did not pray for Ma Chao¡¯s future .

    ¡¯Please . Anything . At least let that child get through this . ¡¯

    Ma Teng hid his teary eyes as he dismissed the gathering . He wanted them to be with their families, just in case, it might be theirst chance .

 Chapter 297

    Chapter 297

    Chapter 298 ¨C Unlucky Liu Bei

    February 20th, 185 A . D .

    A month of Ji City restoration waspleted with the help of Lu Zhi and Tong¡¯s donated supplies . In return for this debt, Gongsun Zan and Tong formed an alliance and opened their trade routes .

    Gongsun Zan exported workhorses, warhorses, iron ores, and coal, even including the mysterious saltpeter and sulfur that Lu Zhi requested to Zhongshan while Zhongshan traded them with the rare spice, food, and the repeating crossbows, which signified the trust on the other side .

    Gongsun Zan and his subordinates were astonished for this generosity and Tong¡¯s faith for sharing their technologies .

    "Lord, I don¡¯t know if this brat is spoiled, stupid, or he is sincere . "

    Guan Jing, the strategist of Gongsun Zan, still doubted Tong¡¯s motive .

    On the other hand, Gongsun Zanughed, "You overthink! What¡¯s wrong with helping each other in the time of crisis! Heck, he¡¯s even my junior of the same master . "

    "Lord, we don¡¯t know what they can do with all the ores and the things your master demanded . I think we should investigate this . "

    "No need . I heard that several Taoist priests use these strange powders in their elixirs . Well, Zhang Tong¡¯s father is also a Taoist priest so he might want to brew something simr to that . "

    Guan Jing wanted to protest . But thinking back, he recalled that Julu was also prosperous in the medical field with Hua Shi as the leader of all physicians and doctors there . Thus, he swallowed his words .

    "If we ally with Zhang Tong, we will be Yuan Shao¡¯s enemy . "

    "There¡¯re already seeing us as their enemies when we sent Liu Bei to Pingyuan . I¡¯m sure Yuan Shao and Tian Feng want to kill me to steal our cities . That¡¯s why I agree to send Liu Bei there as our scapegoats . If they want to fight us, first, they will have to deal with Liu Bei and his brothers and ruin their reputation in the process . Without the people¡¯s support, they can¡¯t draft more militias or volunteers!"

    "I see . I didn¡¯t understand your intention previously . Please forgive me . "

    "Hmm . It seems that politics aren¡¯t your forte, Guan Jing . "

    "I can¡¯t match your stratagems, lord . "

    Gongsun Zan smiled, feeling proud of his scheme .

    "With this, our borders are secured for now . Once Yuan Shao is done with that greedy Liu Bei, we¡¯ll attack Nanpi and uproot the Yuan n . "

    "He is your junior though ..."

    "His status and Zhang Tong¡¯s status is different! I heard that idiot Liu Bei refused my master¡¯s invitation to join Zhang Tong or me . Remember how he reacted when I assigned him to Pingyuan? That giddy look and those greedy eyes can never fool me! He¡¯s a disgrace to my master . He has to pay!"

    Gongsun Zan¡¯s mood became foul as he recalled the face of Liu Bei .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile,

    Pingyuan City, Qing Province .

    Jiang Man was grinning from ear to ear, looking at his sole white tentacle wing . It transformed into a spirit of a gentle-looking young girl . She was his first love in his previous life when he was a child .

    [Soul of Kindness]

    He seeded awakening his virtuous soulst month, and he discovered something from the note that Lilim gave him .

    Now, he had eight unawakened virtues and one wing . It was possible for him to get nine wings!

    "I found a secret! Hahahaha!"

    During his cultivation, he assisted Liu Bei in sorting and distributing supplies to the hungry civilians of Pingyuan . After a few months of daily mundane works, a new virtue appeared and added to the original seven virtues that he was cultivating .

    Jiang Man¡¯s brain was not a bad one . He connected the appearance of this new [Virtue] to the deeds that he had recently been doing repeatedly .

    The act of giving food to the people in need gave birth to this [Virtue], and its chance of awakening percentage kept increasing at a rapid rate . It took Jiang Man a total of half a year toplete the 100% chance and got this immortal wing he desired .

    "Doing good deeds will increase my chance of getting wings . Well, pretending to be a good guy works . "

    On the other side, Liu Bei was also doing well within the city . With Jiang Man and Jian Yong¡¯s assistance, he understood the basic job and tasks of a governor .

    Liu Bei¡¯s outer appearance and elegance gave the impression of a kind man . Thus, many civilians grew attached to this new governor and praised him for his past deeds .

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were also in the middle of learning tomand troops efficiently . They still struggled to remember signals and other basicmands as they were still too new to handle a massive army of 10,000 soldiers or above .

    Unlike Tong¡¯s officers who had the help of elites like Jia Xu or Lu Zhi, they fumbled their ways and learned everything on the job .

    .

    February 22nd, 185 A . D .

    Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Jian Yong, and Jiang Man gathered in the city hall . There was a visitor .

    Tian Feng stood in the middle of the city hall with boxes of gifts, boxes of gold, silk clothes, and pottery treasures .

    "I¡¯vee to reinforce our friendly rtionship between neighbors . Lord Liu Bei, I hope you can ept these . "

    Liu Bei smiled andughed . He got out of his governor seat and walked to Tian Feng, grabbing his hands and thanked him .

    "No ceremony, no ceremony . We¡¯re already friends since the day we¡¯re fighting against the rebels . Come! Sit here and talk instead . "

    Liu Bei did not have any experience dealing with multi-cities politic or etiquette, which made the traditional schr like Tian Feng cringed .

    ¡¯How was this idiot chosen to be a governor!? Why am I feeling like I¡¯m dealing with a drunkardmoner . ¡¯

    Tian Feng did not like Liu Bei, but he had a task toplete .

    "Lord Liu Bei, actually I also have a favor to ask you . "

    "What¡¯s wrong? We¡¯re good neighbors, so we¡¯ll be d to help out . Tell me, I¡¯ll help if I can . "

    "The current Emperor, His Majesty Liu Xie, hasmanded my lord to investigate the Beihei City of Kong Rong . You see, the previous uprising of the Yellow Turban, one of theirmanders fled south into Kong Rong¡¯s territory, but the governor Kong Rong refused to cooperate with us . We suspect that he¡¯s in league with the rebels, but we have no proof . "

    Liu Bei¡¯s eyes sharpened when he heard about Yellow Turbans . He still thought that the Yellow Turban had something to do with Tong .

    "And what can I do to help you?"

    Tian Feng grinned, "Of course . Since you are good withmoners and your fame is well-known within Beihei areas, we wish to request you to visit Beihei to investigate about the Yellow Turban while you pretend that you are visiting Kong Rong for a friendly visit between friends . My master Yuan Shao will give you 100,000 gold, provisions, and additional 20,000 soldiers for your trouble . Can you help us?"

    Guan Yu and Jiang Man frowned . They stepped to Liu Bei¡¯s side to stop him, but they were toote .

    "That¡¯s natural! For the sake of getting rid of the Yellow Turban, we will help you!"

    Jiang Man face-palmed, while Guan Yu sighed as he gave up . They knew that Liu Bei was tricked .

    Tian Feng nced at Guan Yu and Jiang Man for a second, ¡¯Your Lord is ipetent, so do all of you . A good subordinate has to be bold and outspoken! None of you are qualified to stand against me!¡¯

    ...

    Beihei City, Qing Province Capital .

    In this city, another aristocrat family hid here, the Kong n, led by Kong Rong .

    Kong Rong was the twentieth generation descendant of the famous Kong Zi, the founder of the Confucius Religion which dominated ancient China .

    This governor also had a deep root in the Han Court as a family of ancient aristocrats . He was also the current n head of the Kong n .

    In the previous years, he resided in Luo Yang to serve Emperor Ling like the other warlords . However, because of the chaotic power struggling between Liu Ping, Dong Zhuo, and others, he fled Luo Yang to his hometown and established his force here in Beihei .

    Currently, Kong Rong sat on the throne in the government building, staring at his guest .

    Guo Tu, one of the strategists under Yuan Shao, bowed at Kong Rong .

    "I¡¯m sorry for the sudden visit without a gift, but this is very important . "

    Kong Rong red at Guo Tu with suspicion, "Speak . "

    "My scouts have detected two armies of Yellow Turban rebels entering your territory, so I¡¯m here to warn you to be careful about the possible uprising . "

    "Hah? Are you kidding me? If it¡¯s that Zhang Kai, I¡¯ve chased that bastard further south the moment he got into mynd . "

    "It¡¯s not only Zhang Kai, sir . There¡¯s one more that you have to be careful . "

    "Which army is it?"

    "Our spies told us that Liu Bei is in cahoots with the rebels . He will being here and disguising as a friendly visit . In reality, he is nning to assist Zhang Kai to take over Beihei from the inside . "

    "Preposterous! Liu Bei is known to be a virtuous governor! I even confirmed this info with my men ages ago . Guards, drag this fool out of my sight!"

    Guo Tu did not panic . He grinned, "Do you know why I have the guts to say that? Do you even know about the existence of immortals?"

    Hearing about immortals, Kong Rong squinted his eyes with a frown, "What about them?"

    Kong Rong would be a fool if he did not know about the superpower of Tong and his subordinates by now . As the n Head, the news about the immortals, including Sun Fang, Li Jing, had reached his ears .

    Guo Tu bowed again, "The immortals created the Yellow Turban to sow chaos in thisnd . You should be well aware of this information, am I correct?"

    "And?"

    "One of Liu Bei¡¯s sworn brother is also an immortal . "

    Kong Rong¡¯s re sharpened, "Which one is it?"

    "It¡¯s their fourth brother, Jiang Man . I believe Zhang Tong sent Jiang Man to infiltrate Liu Bei¡¯s ranks in secret . We have confirmed that his power rted to maniption of spirits . "

    "..."

    Kong Rong waved his hand, gesturing for a consult with his advisor . Wang Xiu, Kong Rong¡¯s secretary, whispered to him .

    "The news is not confirmed . Moreover, I think Yuan Shao wants to borrow our knife to kill Liu Bei so he can rightfully take over his city . From our previous record of these guys, Gongsun Zan used Liu Bei as a proxy to steal Yuan Shao¡¯s city . They are not in good terms . "

    Kong Rong nodded .

    ¡¯Bastards of the Yuan! Do you want me to soil my hands and kill a saint? You know what? I¡¯ll return the favor and damage your non-existence reputation!¡¯

    Despite his thought, Kong Rong smiled, "Please tell Lord Yuan Shao that I appreciate his tips . I¡¯ll do my best to repel the rebels . "

    Guo Tu bowed again, "You¡¯re wee, Lord Kong . Then, I shall take my leave . "

    Guo Tu left the building . He rushed back and exited the city without staying for the night .

    Kong Rong and Wang Xiu still remained in the hall, nning a double scheme .

    "We¡¯ll intentionally leak a rumor within our city that Yuan Shao is jealous of Liu Bei¡¯s reputation and wants to kill him . Let the rumor spread to the south, and let that old fox Tao Qian hear it . Exaggerate the rumor a bit . Make it look like that Liu Bei is a saint while Yuan Shao is a cheating viin . Use the controversy subject when Yuan Shao enthroned his son as the Emperor . "

    "That would be very easy, my lord . But what is the purpose of this move?"

    "We¡¯ll make Yuan Shao the public¡¯s enemy . Once his reputation falls to some extent, I¡¯ll rally a coalition against him . I¡¯m sure Zhang Jiao and Zhang Tong won¡¯t miss this chance to get rid of Yuan Shao . "

 Chapter 298

    Chapter 298: 298

    Chapter 299 ¨C ckmail

    February 21st, 185 A . D .

    Shangdang City .

    Last month, the [Ghost Legion] had moved back to Shangdang to watch over the south and the western front, and they were preparing for the possible war with Xiongnu .

    However, they did not have the leisure as spies from Henei sent an urgent report to Ju Shou .

    Dong Zhuo withdrew his forces from Henei, Luo Yang, and Hongnong .

    It was a golden opportunity to set a foot onto several strategic cities at once!

    Ju Shou did not hesitate . He messaged into the n chat .

    Ju Shou: "Dong Zhuo forces left Henei, Luo Yang, and Hongnong! They moved to Chang¡¯An to battle with the Xiongnu!"

    Ju Shou: "Requesting the permission to upy the three cities!"

    The geography and the location of the three cities were the key points of Tong¡¯s future military expansion . Each of the cities connected with the roads to the central in, the south, and the west .

    Roads from Henei connected to Liyang Port, which led to Puyang City, Chenliu City, and Xuchang of Cao Cao .

    Luo Yang located on the opposite side of the Yellow River, and the famous pass, the Ho Gate, blocked to the path between Luo Yang and Xuchang . It was the most important strategic point if Tong wanted to seize the central in .

    Hongnong opened to the path to the west and the south, which was also a choke point to defend Luo Yang from Chang¡¯An from the west and Wan City from the south .

    However, taking all three cities could also be a problem .

    Xun Yu: "No . Take Henei and Luo Yang . Leave Hongnong as a buffer . We can¡¯t protect three cities at once . "

    Jia Xu: "No! Take Henei, but don¡¯t take Luo Yang and Hongnong . Let Cao Cao take Luo Yang and Hongnong so he can waste his resources and time!"

    Xun Yu: "If we take Luo Yang, we¡¯ll get Ho Gate as a plus! Our path to Xuchang will be cleared, and Cao Cao won¡¯t be able to sleep for a night!"

    Jia Xu: "We are not ready for the rapid expansion! We are short on manpower, and we don¡¯t have to luxurious to expand the military yet . "

    Ju Shou: "Manpower and military can be acquired once our young master gets his hands on these territories! Chances like this aren¡¯t something that happens all the time! We have to take all three!"

    Xun Yu: "That¡¯s true, but we¡¯re not ready to open another frontline in Hongnong . If we take it, Dong Zhuo will re at us . Yuan Shu and Liu Biao from the south will also eye at us . We can¡¯t make more enemies with our current military power!"

    Jia Xu: "Your words contradicted with your suggestion . We only have the Ghost Legion on that area so we can only handle one front! Henei is a choke point that connects Luo Yang and Liyang Port . If we take Luo Yang as well, we need at least two legions to protect both Henei and Ho Gate!"

    Xun Yu: "Protecting Henei with a legion is unnecessary . We can leave it to the Justice Department to transfer police officers to the city as garrisons instead . A massive troop at Ho will put Cao Cao on his toes, and he won¡¯t be able to make a move at Henei . "

    Jia Xu: "You underestimate Cao Cao and his strategists! One of your cousins is still under him, and I heard he hired several talented guys from all over the central in . The Battle at Runan was the work of those guys! If I were Cao Cao, I¡¯d maim Henei if Tong upies both Henei and Luo Yang at the moment . If that happens, Luo Yang will be isted!"

    Ju Shou: "The matter about possible warfare can be handled in the future . You¡¯re arguing about the distant future but you skipped the crucial process! Instead of looking too far ahead, please pay attention to the immediate opportunity! We can take three cities without losing a single soldier, and we can use diplomacy to establish peace treaties with our neighborster!"

    The debate between the three strategists in the n chat continued .

    ...

    Tong read the opinion of his strategists as he massaged his temples . All three of them had a different suggestion, yet sounded, which gave Tong a headache .

    Taking Henei was a given since it could fortify the southern front and open the path to the central in, such as Luo Yang, Xuchang, or Hongnong .

    However, taking an additional city posed a high risk as the foundation of his kingdom was still in the infancy period .

    The right economic system had not been implemented as Tong still used his bogus state corporation system, which was inefficient in the long run . Te Langpu had his hands full trying to teach his finance officers and ountants . Thus, he could not spare his times to correct the micro-economy system .

    The agriculture development was half done . But all of his cities were still relying on Tong¡¯s [Create Food] . It would take another year before the city farms could produce food to self-sustain .

    Legions stillcked elite soldiers . The training processing took times, and not many civilians wanted to join the military with the current inted money and gold in their hands .

    Cannon research was almost done, but they still require to increase its efficiency and uracy of the cannons .

    Steel weapons and armors were stillcking . Not every soldier could wear it .

    A few subordinates, such as Sima Fang and Zhen Yi, were plotting something behind his back .

    Back home, Friday still sent murderous intent toward He Xing and Liu Xie .

    "Argh! Shit! Why did I sign up for this!?"

    Tong sighed and gazed at the map in his room . Dolls of his generals and officers were there, grouping together into a legion .

    "If it weren¡¯t because of the Xiongnu, I would have sent the Mountaineer Legion to the south . "

    Feeling helpless and unable to find an answer he was looking for, Tong replied to the n chat .

    Tong: "Sent the Ghost Legion to Henei and reinforce it first . Father, senior Ding, I need 5,000 police officers from each of your city . Transfer them to Henei, please . "

    Tong: "As for the supplies and weapons, take everything from Shangdang to Henei . We¡¯ll replenish our armory in Shangdangter . As for the new governor of Shangdang ..."

    He paused .

    Tong pped his forehead .

    He did not have a trustworthy officer who could run a city alone .

    For 10 minutes, Tong did not continue his message even though everyone waited for his order in patience .

    Friday, who was beside Tong, stared at his pale sweating face . She sat on hisp and hugged him .

    "I¡¯ll go . I¡¯ll take care of Shangdang . "

    "You?"

    "Yeah, I¡¯ve been useless to youtely . All I did so far was creating more troubles . "

    "Besides, I can establish another legion . Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu are still free in Julu, remember? I think I¡¯ll take those two and move their family to Shangdang with me . Zou Shi and her son will be there to help me, so we will be fine . "

    "This is not like you . Why are you suddenly being proactive?"

    "Can¡¯t a lovable wife want to help her husband?"

    "You don¡¯t want to keep mypany at night anymore?"

    "I can¡¯t get pregnant . What¡¯s the point anyway? Besides, you have already regained your endless sperm skill . It¡¯s tiring to sleep with you at night . "

    "That¡¯s... very odd of you . I thought you always want to keep me for yourself . "

    "I can get bored with you sometimes . Besides, your technique sucks . "

    "Ahaha . "

    The two got quiet as they were staring each other in the eyes .

    Five minutester, Friday smiled and kissed him, "Answer the n chat and appoint me . They are waiting . "

    "I¡¯ll ask you one more time . Are you sure?"

    "I¡¯ll be fine . "

    "... Okay . "

    ...

    Tong: "Sorry for the dy . "

    Tong: "We¡¯re going to form a new legion to protect Shangdang and stand by for future order . The grandmander will be Xiao Wu . Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji will be her adjutants . As for the troops, we will allocate from the other legions . "

    Tong: "As for the governor position, Xiao Wu will take on that role . Is there any objection?"

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Friday departed from Ye the next day .

    Tong stood in front of the gate to send her off . Even though he knew that Friday was a strong girl, he felt that something was wrong with hertely .

    Surprisingly, He Xing came to send her off as well, which created a more awkward atmosphere .

    Friday, however, did not show her hostile intent toward He Xing as usual . Instead, she smiled at her .

    "It¡¯s not like I¡¯m giving up on my husband . Remember that I¡¯m always number one between the three . "

    The face of He Xing twitched, yet she bowed, "May you have a safe journey . As for Lord Zhang Tong, I have never dreamt about taking him from you . "

    "Don¡¯t make a fool out of yourself . As a woman, I can see it through your eyes . "

    "Please don¡¯t jest . Getting assaulted by you once is enough . I don¡¯t want to risk my life again . "

    "I don¡¯t believe you . "

    "I¡¯m but an honest single mother . "

    "Hmm . "

    Friday turned around and walked to Hua Shi, who was carrying her two-year-old daughter .

    "Slut zombie, take care of Tong for me . "

    "Don¡¯t raise a stupid death g . It¡¯s not like you¡¯re going forever . Besides, who are you calling a slut, you whore!"

    "Swear at me in front of your girl?"

    "She has to learn about the bad side of society ASAP . I¡¯m teaching her politics before someone tries to pull a political marriage trick on her . Those geezers in our city hall will definitely introduce us to their sons or grandsons in the future to pair with my daughter . I¡¯ll give her the immunity . "

    "That¡¯s not how you teach your daughter, you idiot . "

    "My daughter, not yours . "

    Friday sighed . For some reasons, she did not feel any anger or frustration from bickering with Hua Shi or He Xing anymore .

    Hua Shi noticed Friday¡¯s oddness . She frowned and scanned Friday form the head to toes .

    "You look kinda pale . Are you sure you are okay?"

    "I¡¯m... fine . "

    "Nope, you¡¯re not . "

    "I said, I¡¯m fine . "

    "Alright, alright . Suit yourself . "

    Friday smiled . Her smile seemed to be brighter than her past smile when she was with Tong .

    "A death g . This is a fOOking death g . "

    "Don¡¯t jinx, slut!"

    Friday left them . She turned to Tong and winked, "Next time, Tong . "

    ...

    ...

    ...

    During Friday¡¯s journey, her smile never appeared again . Instead, her face revealed blood veins under her skins .

    In her hands, a scroll of letter was addressed to Xiao Wu . The content was as followed;

    [Miss Dong Bai, this is not a request but an order . Betray Zhang Tong ande to Tianshui alone . If you don¡¯t arrive here within the end of this year, Diao Chan might face an unfortunate ident . My men have infiltrated Xuchang Imperial Court, and I can kill her any time I want to . If you don¡¯t want her to return to hell as an idiot,e here alone .

    Signed: Liu Yang, your favorite Goddess . ]

    "MotherfOOking cock sucking whore! You are seeking death!"

    Friday bit her lower lips, and her teeth dug into the flesh . Blood seeped out from her wounds, yet she did not care about the pain .

    She wanted to ask Tong for help, but she remembered that he had enough problems on his hands . Therefore, she decided to solve this by herself .

    "Following her order is stupid . I¡¯ll just save Meddy and get her out of Xuchang!"

 Chapter 299

    Chapter 299

    Chapter 299 ¨C Ma Teng and Ma Chao

    February 28th, 185 A . D .

    A rare messenger, who came from the far west, arrived at Julu City .

    The messenger¡¯s body was wounded by five arrows, which he could hardly breathe when he met Tong . The horse also died when it stopped its feet .

    "Please ... save our ... lord . "

    The messenger stopped breathing when he managed to ry a critical message from Ma Teng, which astonished all officers and Tong .

    "Search his body! Is there a letter?"

    The nearest guards scoured the body of the messenger, and they found a scroll .

    Tong took the scroll from the guard¡¯s hand and read it out loud for everyone .

    [I¡¯m Ma Teng of Wuwei . I¡¯m writing to you to ask for a favor .

    The Xiongnu Army has surrounded us and cut our path to escape . Please send a reinforcement . I don¡¯t care what kind of payment I have to pay you in the future . Please save us!

    Signed: Ma Teng . ]

    Everybody frowned and shook their head . It was a request from an unknown man at the border city .

    However, Tong and Hua Shi knew who this person was .

    .

    Ma Teng, the father of Shu Tiger General, Ma Chao .

    In history, he was initially a person of Qiang Tribe . He became minor official from Tianshui, but he caused a scene and was fired from his post . Thus, he joined forces with Han Sui to start over .

    Thanked the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184, Ma Teng obtained recognition from his martial skills and rose in ranks .

    After the grandmander of the Imperial Army, Huangfu Song, eliminated all the rebels in Liang Province, Ma Teng was mistakenly seen as one of the insurgents as he withdrew from the battle when Huangfu Song Army arrived .

    Emperor Ling wanted to appease the rebels, so he bestowed military titles to the former rebel leaders, which Ma Teng was also promoted as he was misunderstood .

    Benefitted from the title, Ma Teng and Han Sui joined hands and established a military force in Liang Province and expanded their dominance there .

    The friendship between Ma Teng and Han Sui did notst long as both of them fell out on each other, killing the other¡¯s family members and utilized sinister plots to get rid of the rival, so one of them would be the sole owner of Liang Province .

    During that time of the chaos, Cao Cao had defeated Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu . He became a mediator for both Ma Teng and Han Sui to obtain the peace for the Liang Province .

    In order to stop the infighting and settle the country, Cao Cao invited Ma Teng and his family members to live in Ye City to avoid conflicts . To satisfy Ma Teng, Cao Cao promoted him into the Minister of the Guards .

    Unfortunately, the unruly Ma Chao was left in Liang Province as he had to be in charge of protecting the borders from Qiang and Xiongnu . s, Ma Chao and Han Sui formed a secret rebellion organization and resisted against Cao Cao¡¯s government, threatening to destroy Cao Cao¡¯s peace restoration n .

    Cao Cao defeated both of themter at the Battle of Tong Pass in 211 . Ma Teng and his families, who lived peacefully in Ye City and didn¡¯t know about this rebellion n, were executed by order of the Emperor Xian as they were the family members of traitors .

    Ma Teng¡¯s life ended tragically because of his son¡¯s action .

    However, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14th-century novel version, Ma Teng was portrayed as a Han loyalist . He plotted with Liu Bei to assassinate Cao Cao, who had been manipting Emperor Xian when Liu Bei became the Viceroy of Xu Province after he defeated Lu Bu .

    The first assassination plot failed . The scheme was discovered, and Liu Bei was chased out of Xu Province by Cao Cao Army .

    Ma Teng reattempted to kill Cao Cao again when he was summoned to Xuchang in theter year . The plot still failed, and Ma Teng was murdered along with many of his sons .

    .

    Tong did not know if this Ma Teng was the tragic one in history or he was the grudgeful loyalist who did not hesitate to use bold moves .

    By Tong¡¯s side, Jia Xu was rereading the letter . He grinned and turned to Tong .

    "My Lord, please mobilize Mountaineer Legion and Silver Axe Legion into Xiongnu¡¯s territory . We¡¯ll expand ournd outside of the Great Wall . "

    "What!?"

    "You heard me right . Send the troops outside the Great Wall . "

    "We can¡¯t even rout them in our turf . How can we defeat them on the grasnd in their territory!?"

    "We won¡¯t be the only one that will be sending the troops to the north . Let Gongsun Zan take part of it too . "

    Listening to Jia Xu¡¯s crazy suggestion, all officers and soldiers stared at Jia Xu with widen eyes .

    Xun Yu, who was at the site as well, raised his hand in protest, "You are the one who rmended us to not mobilize at all cost . Why are you jumping into a war now?"

    "Did I say I want our men to fight in a battle? I said I want them into their territory, not to fight a war . "

    The face of Tong twitched . He and Xun Yu red at Jia Xu, "Exin properly . No word game!"

    "Xiongnu revealed their weaknesses during our previous fights . First, they can¡¯t find a way to deal with our heavy knights . Second, aside from their policy strategist, theyck propermanders and battle strategists like us . If there were any in our previous battles, we would have been stuck in a prolonged war, and we would have had the chance to sit around in Ye . "

    Jia Xu drew a map of the northern areas, beyond the Great Wall, future Inner Mongolia .

    "Because they cannot make a proper judgment on the spot, we can exploit it . If we send both of our legions across the Great Wall Mountain Range and travel west . This will create confusion from within the Xiongnu intelligence and agents, and they will withdraw back a portion of their frontline troops to protect their homnd . "

    Xun Yu nodded, "They¡¯re a bait to draw out the troops from Ma Teng¡¯s Liang Province?"

    Jia Xu announced it with a loud voice and a grin .

    "Eh, not really . Ma Teng is the one being a bait . We¡¯ll annihte Xiongnu from thend permanently . Let¡¯s talk in details in a quiet ce . There¡¯re too many ears here . "

    Jia Xu gestured every high ranking personnel to the private room behind the government hall . While he was at it, he typed his real intention into the n chat .

    ...

    "You hear that?"

    "Yup, clearly . They¡¯re invading Xiongnu . "

    "Let¡¯s report this to our Lord . "

    Several spies from all organization moved as they caught the news .

    ...

    Meanwhile, at Wuwei County .

    Ma Teng and Han Sui stood in front of their city, raising white gs .

    The front gate of the city opened wide with no soldier resisting the invaders . They had surrendered .

    Xiongnu King, Khan Chanyu rode a giant red warhorse to the front of Ma Teng with his bodyguards .

    Had Lu Bu been here, he would recognize this red warhorse . It was the Red Hare King .

    Lu Bu¡¯s Red Hare King was still at Jinyang, but this horse belonged to Khan Chanyu .

    Khan stared at Ma Teng, who humbly bowed to the victor .

    "You were once a part of Qiang Tribe, so you should have no problem following my lead . Are you willing to serve me till death?"

    Ma Teng sighed, "As long as you allow my family and my men to live, I¡¯m willing to serve you . "

    Khan nodded . His fingers fiddled with the empty air in front of him before a transparent screen appeared in front of Ma Teng .

    >

    >

    >

    "This?"

    "This is my n¡¯s invitation . ept it, and I¡¯ll bestow you immortality . Your family members that swear the allegiance to me will get it if I deem them worthy . "

    "Immortality? So you are one of the immortals? Just like Zhang Tong?"

    Khan snorted, "Don¡¯tpare me to that son of the rebel . I¡¯m a self-made man . I don¡¯t need my father¡¯s help to dominate all tribes . Besides, I¡¯m stronger than him by miles . "

    Listening to Khan¡¯s arrogance tone, Ma Teng revealed a bitter smile, "Please forgive my rudeness . I¡¯ll serve you until death . "

    Ma Teng pressed [Yes], and a new menu appeared . It was the n chat menu .

    The names of the members were few, but Ma Teng a couple of them .

    Liu Yang

    Guo Si

    Li Jue

    Pang De

    And, Han Sui, his sworn brother!

    Ma Teng turned around to look at his own brother in arms .

    Han Sui grinned at him and patted his back .

    "Don¡¯t sweat the small stuff . Now that we¡¯re in the same force, we can work together again . "

    "You ... you were working for them all along!?"

    "Wrong . I joined them a bit earlier than you . That¡¯s all . "

    Ma Teng pointed his trembling index finger at the face of Han Sui, wanting to tear him apart . He swallowed his anger and snorted .

    Khan pped his hands, "That¡¯s enough drama . Guide me into the city so I can solve your food shortage problems . All of you are now my subjects, so get along already . "

    "Y-Yes, Your Majesty . "

    "Ah, don¡¯t use the royal words with me . Use themonnguage . "

    "Yes, my lord . "

    Ma Teng guided Khan and his men into the city . As they were about to reach the city hall and the official resident area, a young boy dashed forward .

    Ma Chao swung his halberd at Khan .

    *Dong*

    A transparent shield blocked the weapon, causing a vibrating sound of a bell .

    [Qi Shield]

    Khan looked at his status menu before him, "A bit over 300 lifespan damage from a child . That¡¯s impressive . "

    "What the?"

    Ma Chao repeatedly stabbed the shields three more times, yet he could not break it .

    Four bodyguards of Khan surrounded Ma Chao and aimed the tips of their spear on Ma Chao¡¯s neck .

    Ma Teng cried in a panic, "No! Please don¡¯t kill him . He¡¯s just a na?ve boy!"

    Khan nced at Ma Teng, "Is he your child?"

    "Yes, my Lord . Please spare him . "

    "That depends . Well, what¡¯s his name?"

    "M-Ma Chao, Ma Mengqi, my lord . "

    "Oho? So he¡¯s the one . Very well, child . If you swear allegiance to me like your father, I¡¯ll let you live . What do you say?"

    Ma Chao red at Khan, who looked like he was not even in his 20s yet . He spat at him, "Go to Hell!"

    The spit was stopped by the transparent shield .

    "A pity . Ma Teng, your son is quite reckless and thoughtless like the rumor said . "

    "PLEASE DON¡¯T KILL HIM! I BEG YOU!"

    "I can let him live, but he will have to be re-educated . Is that alright with you?"

    Re-educate could have many meanings, such as torturing, punishing, or Ma Chao could be crippled .

    Ma Teng shed tears of a father and kowtowed on the ground, "As long as he lives, I¡¯m fine with anything . "

    Khan sighed . He did not feel very well for bullying the weak .

    His eyes locked at Ma Chao, who was throwing a resentment red at Khan .

    "What should I do with you, I wonder?"

 Chapter 300

    Chapter 300

    Chapter 300 ¨C Fleeing Pingyuan, Yuan Shao¡¯s Betrayal

    March 20th, 185 A . D .

    Spies from Ye reported back their discovery to Yuan Shao in Nanpi .

    "They have nned to attack the Xiongnu?"

    Tian Feng could not believe his ears . It was too odd .

    "Yes, my lord . We heard that they will mobilize two of their legions . We don¡¯t know about the details, though . "

    "No . That¡¯s enough . Good work . "

    Still frowning, Tian Feng turned to his master, "Your Excellency, I don¡¯t think we should put our faith to this piece of news . "

    Yuan Shao snorted, "It doesn¡¯t matter . It¡¯s not like they will have to guts to invade us anyway . "

    "It does, Your Excellency . If we can confirm that this info is real, we can ignore their borders and proceed with our southern expansion n . However, if this is fault, we will have to reinforce our borders against Zhang Tong again . "

    "Simple, we¡¯ll take the info as a real piece of news . Ignore Zhang Tong¡¯s military activities for now and concentrate on the south!"

    "We should not let our guard down . Zhang Tong¡¯s strategists are dangerous . We don¡¯t know if this is a ploy to fool us . "

    "If we don¡¯t expand south, it will be the end for us! Gongsun Zan has already taken Ji, and Zhang Tong is reinforcing his domestic and researching new weapons . If we stay still, we will die!"

    "..."

    Tian Feng could not retort . Yuan Shao forces were surrounded by too many enemies .

    They attempted to make peace with Gongsun Zan, but the old fox of the North exploited the mistakes Yuan Shao made during the Yellow Turban Uprisingst year and stole their Pingyuan City .

    "How is our progress on Pingyuan?"

    "We have allocated the promised troops into the city . All that is left is to wait for Liu Bei to move ording to our n . Once Liu Bei and his brothers leave for Beihei, the troops will stage a coup and control the city from the inside . "

    "What about the citizens?"

    "It doesn¡¯t look very well . Liu Bei gains fame because of his entric manner and his kind nature . Everybody in the city loves him . "

    "Even though we told them that Liu Bei is in cahoots with the Yellow Turbans?"

    "It¡¯s not enough . We need to take a drastic measure to ruin his reputation . "

    "Well, that¡¯s a simple job then . Have Yan Liang disguise as Guan Yu and go piging . Use Liu Bei¡¯s banners and Yellow Turban¡¯s banners . "

    Tian Feng¡¯s frown deepened, "Your Excellency, the people have suffered enough . Do not harm innocent civilians . "

    "And do you have a better n?"

    Tian Feng was silent for a minute . He opened his mouth with a slight hesitation, "Fake his mother¡¯s letter . Tell Liu Bei that his mother is dying, and she wants him home . He¡¯ll head back to Ji City, and he will be trapped in there after we take Pingyuan . Although we can¡¯t discredit his reputation, we can slowly convert and regain our people¡¯s trust as time passes . "

    "Won¡¯t Gongsun Zan recover this man? Liu Bei is his junior of the same mentor, right?"

    "Actually, Gongsun Zan doesn¡¯t like Liu Bei . Sending Liu Bei back will p Gongsun Zan in the face that his entrusted subordinate is ipetence . Once Liu Bei returns, they will begin plotting against each other because of this small feud, and this will give us some more time to strengthen our forces . We will also need some time to expand southward to Ganling, Jibei, and Beihei before we can settle our score with either Zhang Tong or Gongsun Zan . "

    "Swallowing small forces to prepare for the big fight, right? Go ahead . Do what you want . "

    "Understood, Your Excellency . "

    ...

    March 30th, 185 A . D .

    The preparation in Pingyuan had beenpleted . Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei would visit Beihei to investigate about the fugitive Yellow Turbans .

    Jiang Man and Jian Yong stayed behind to look after the city with their soldiers and Yuan Shao¡¯s transferred troops .

    Jiang Man squinted his eyes and nced at Yuan Shao¡¯s men . He did not trust these people .

    Jian Yong, who had not noticed anything, encouraged Jiang Man with a bright smile .

    "Let¡¯s work hard today again, Sir Jiang . We¡¯ll reim more farnds by the end of the day if all soldiers help us . "

    "Of course . Under my brother¡¯s rule, no one should be suffering from starvation . "

    However, Jiang Man had another thought, ¡¯This is not good at all . Most of our soldiers are from Gongsun Zan, and the new soldiers are from Yuan Shao . We don¡¯t have a private force we can trust! Sooner orter, they will create chaos and take over our city under our nose . ¡¯

    Later that day, Jiang Man deployed his soul of virtue to spy barracks of Yuan Shao¡¯s men .

    Unfortunately, it was toote .

    "SHAAAA!"

    "KILL!!"

    Soldiers of Yuan Shao already made their moves . They ughtered the garrison guards, who came from Gongsun Zan forces .

    The inner city was thrown into chaos as garrisoning soldiers did not know who to fight or who to protect . Their number reduced as the swarm of Yuan Shao men rushed toward the city hall where Jian Yong and Jiang Man were .

    The face of Jian Yong soaked with sweat . His trembling legs could not gather strength to stand still as he tumbled and sat on his butt .

    Jiang Man¡¯s face was unsightly . He red at Yuan Shao forces in anger .

    "We¡¯ve been had again! Dammit, Yuan Shao! I knew I couldn¡¯t trust you . I should have killed you when I had a chance!"

    Jiang Man picked Jian Yong and piggy-bagged him out of the city hall, fleeing from the army of the rebelling force .

    Running with extra luggage was tiring, but Jiang Man had to escort this person with him . He was still useful to Liu Bei as his stupid brother was inept in domestic management .

    Before he could get out of the inner city area, they were spotted by Yuan Shao¡¯s men .

    "That¡¯s Jiang Man and Jian Yong! Chase them!"

    "They have a bounty! Kill!"

    Their aimed their repeating crossbows at Jiang Man and Jian Yong .

    "Shit!"

    Hundreds of arrows covered the sky and swooped down onto Jiang Man and Jing Yong .

    "NOOOO!!"

    Jian Yong screamed in horror, but Jiang Man used the body of Jian Yong as a shield .

    *PEOK* *PEOK* *PEOK*

    Rained down by the arrows, Jian Yong¡¯s back covered with wooden bolts as if he was a porcupine . However, Jiang Man was unharmed .

    "At least you are useful to me for once . "

    Without someone pulling weight on his back, Jiang Man dashed through theplex of alleys, shaking off the pursuers .

    Yuan Shao soldiers tracked and chased after him, but they lost him after three hours of hunting .

    ...

    Jiang Man managed to get out of the city in one piece, but everybody else died .

    "Back to square one again . Ugh ..."

    Dejected and discouraged, Jiang Man gazed at the fallen city before he traveled southeast, nning to find Liu Bei and report this incident .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    April 7th, 185 A . D .

    Liu Bei and his brothers stopped traveling to Beihei as the news about the fallen of Pingyuan reached them .

    Jiang Man, who was supposed to protect the city, failed his assignment and returned to his brother .

    "I¡¯m sorry . We¡¯ve been had by Yuan Shao . "

    Zhang Fei fumed into a rage . He grabbed his spear and was about to hack Jiang Man to pieces, but Guan Yu stopped him .

    "Let me go! I¡¯ll fOOking murder this stupid idiot!"

    "We all have been fooled by Tian Feng and Yuan Shao . It¡¯s not his fault . If you were there as well, you would also be crying here instead of him . "

    While Guan Yu held off Zhang Fei, Liu Bei looked around, "Where¡¯s Jian Yong?"

    Jiang Man shook his head, "He didn¡¯t make it . Yuan Shao¡¯s men killed him . "

    Tears dropped from Liu Bei¡¯s eyes . He wept for his first minister who was willing to serve him .

    "Ah, Xianhe! I¡¯ll kill Yuan Shao for you! I swear it!"

    ...

    After everyone got back to their sense, they gathered around to n about their future .

    "Let¡¯s return to seek help from Gongsun Zan . We can¡¯t survive on our own here . When I escape, I heard that Yuan Shao put a bounty on our head . "

    Zhang Fei bellowed in anger again, "VOOOEEEEE!! I¡¯ll freaking kill Yuan Shao the next time I meet him!"

    Liu Bei was still sulking . Thus, he did notment on this .

    However, Guan Yu had been pondering before Jiang Man gave his suggestion . He had another idea .

    "Kong Rong is also an aristocrat family . He¡¯s a descendant of the Confucius . Should we seek shelter under him?"

    Jiang Man did not want to join a random no-name lord in history, so he was about to object . However, he remembered that Taishi Ci, the future great general of Sun Ce and Sun Quan, was born in Beihei . Furthermore, during this time in history, he should still be working under Kong Rong .

    A new n dawned on Jiang Man, "Let¡¯s follow second brother¡¯s advice and join Kong Rong . Since he¡¯s the direct descendant of Kong Zi, he should practice the teaching of Confucius as well . He shouldn¡¯t be a bad person, right?"

    Guan Yu nodded, "Yes . Confucius teaches people to be disciplined and honorable . He shouldn¡¯t be the same with that vile power drunkard Yuan . "

    Liu Bei did not say anything . He just nodded .

    Zhang Fei snorted, but he did notment on anything .

    "Let¡¯s head to Beihei then . "

    ...

    The next day, a messenger in the dress-code of Gongsun Zan found Liu Bei and his brothers . They rushed to him and delivered a letter .

    "A letter from my mother?"

    Liu Bei was astonished . His mother was still in Ji City, but he forgot to send letters to her all these years .

    "Yes . She asked us to send this to you before she copsed in front of the city hall . So, I rush to Pingyuan to find you as fast as I could, but the city ..."

    "I understand . I shall return to Ji at once! I¡¯m sorry, brothers . I wish to return home to see my mother . "

    Zhang Fei and Guan Yu did not mind it, but Jiang Man frowned .

    ¡¯Was there something like this urring in history?¡¯

    Jiang Man did not believe the messenger, but he could not retort or object Liu Bei¡¯s decision . If he had opposed, Jiang Man would have fallen out with the brothers, which was not a good idea .

    ¡¯Fine . I knew that joining Liu Bei will be troublesome . But it¡¯s for my future . ¡¯

    Thus, Liu Bei and his brother canceled the n to go to Beihei and return to Ji City, where Liu Bei¡¯s hometown was .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Beihei City .

    Kong Rong received the news about the uprising in Pingyuan and Yuan Shao¡¯s movement .

    "Begin our ns . Send an envoy to Tao Qian, Gongsun Zan, and Zhang Tong . Let¡¯s form a coalition against Yuan Shao, and discredit Yuan Shao¡¯s action! Make him the traitor of thend!"

 Chapter 301

    Chapter 301

    Chapter 301 ¨C End of Dong Zhuo

    March 10th, 185 A . D .

    The Ghost Legion of Zhang He and Ju Shou entered Henei City without resistance .

    Instead of meeting with resisting civilians or soldiers, they threw flower petals in celebration to wee them .

    "THANK YOU!"

    "BLESS LORD ZHANG JIAO!"

    "THANK YOU, HEROES!"

    Zhang He and Ju Shou were bbergasted . They sent several men to inquire about the information about the city right away .

    ...

    The investigation had beenpleted . The result was in .

    It turned out that Dong Zhuo kidnapped all young girls and shipped them to Luo Yang to be his concubines . They even took housewives without caring if they had babies or children to raise .

    Men who resisted against Dong Zhuo were killed . All young boys were sold as ves while seniors were forced to work until they died from exhaustion . Any able men were forced to join the militias and transferred to either Luo Yang or Chang¡¯An .

    All surviving civilians inside the city were neers and refugees from other towns . They had been hiding from Dong Zhuo¡¯s men for a long time before the army departed from the city in a hurry .

    "In other words, the former residents in Henei are either taken away or killed . "

    The face of Ju Shou and Zhang He turned ugly . Because they did something to Henei¡¯s poption before they took Shangdang, they felt guilty about the fate of these people .

    Han Hao, a former subordinate of Imperial Forces who had joined Shangdang forces, had a family in Henei . He searched around his former resident to find if there was any survivor .

    "AAAAAAHHHHHH!!"

    He found them, but they were dead bodies .

    Tears covered Han Hao¡¯s face as he hugged the body of his dead mother .

    "DONG ZHUO!!"

    "DAMN YOU, TRAITOR!!"

    More screams could be heard from the city as soldiers with rtives in Henei found the remaining of their families . Even the men who came from elsewhere was enraged by the tragic scenes .

    Ju Shou stared at the ruined city and advised Zhang He, "We¡¯ll leave a few troops here to help the locals . I want you to head to Luo Yang and secure it with 5,000 men . I¡¯ll allocate Qu Yi and Gao Lan to Hongnong . "

    "Wait . Didn¡¯t we get the order to take only Henei?"

    "We did . "

    "Sir Ju, you¡¯re viting our young master¡¯s order . "

    "The situation changes . If Henei suffers like this, Luo Yang and Hongnong might be in a simr state . We have to rescue the civilians before anyone elsees and abuse them!"

    "..."

    Zhang He could not object Ju Shou as he, too, did not want to see a simr scene in Henei again .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    March 25th .

    Zhang He and his 5,000 light cavalries rushed to Luo Yang . Upon reaching the city wall, he and his troops had to stop .

    There were gs from a faction that shocked them .

    The banners of Cao .

    Cao Cao forces had upied Luo Yang before they could!

    ...

    This year, Tong added five more members into the n chat .

    Zhang He

    Gao Shun

    Zhou Cang

    Qu Yi

    Gao Lan

    Only a few individuals, such as Lu Bu, Zhen Yi, Bo Cai, Han Hao, and Zou Shi¡¯s family had not joined the n yet .

    Thanked themunication system, Zhang He sent his discovery to everyone .

    Zhang He: "Cao Cao has upied Luo Yang! We arrived here toote . "

    Unfortunately, he was not the only one with bad news .

    Qu Yi: "Report from Hongnong . Yuan Shu has taken over Hongnong City, and they sent troops to chase us . We are running away from them at the moment . "

    Tong: "I didn¡¯t remember giving you permission to mobilize to those cities . Exin . "

    Ju Shou: "I ordered them, please forgive me . "

    Tong: "Reason for the move?"

    Ju Shou: "Dong Zhuo¡¯s has kidnapped all able men, children, and young women to his city . The rest is dead . I¡¯m afraid the same will happen in Luo Yang and Hongnong, so I ordered them there . Again, please forgive my rashness . "

    Tong: "It¡¯s fine . Report to me first before you make a decision next time . "

    Ju Shou: "Thank you, My Lord . "

    Tong: "For now, send reinforcement to Hongnong and get Qu Yi and his squads out of there . As for Zhang He, get back to Shangdang . Don¡¯t provoke Cao Cao for the time being . "

    Zhang He: "Understood . "

    Qu Yi: "Thank you, young master!"

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Chang¡¯An City

    Changes urred here as well .

    A total of 300,000 militias, made of ves and conscripted militias from the ruined three cities, joined with 200,000 elites and marched toward Anding .

    Dong Zhuo left with the troops as well, leaving Niu Fu, Li Jue, and Guo Si behind .

    After Dong Zhuo left, Li Jue and Guo Si met with a group of Xiongnu spies .

    "It¡¯s time . Gather everyone tonight . We¡¯ll kill Dong Zhuo¡¯s son-inw and give this city to our Lord . "

    "Understood, sir!"

    .

    At night, a thousand of Xiongnu, who disguised as civilians, took arms and raided Niu Fu¡¯s courtyard .

    "What are you!?"

    It was toote for Niu Fu to realize what had happened . He was killed by the raiders in his bedroom .

    The one thousand Xiongnu changed their clothes into Li Jue and Guo Si¡¯s private troop uniforms . They merged into their forces without being noticed .

    In the morning, both generals dered to the public .

    "Dong Zhuo isn¡¯t worthy of being called Emperor! We, the soldiers of the people, vowed to rescue the civilians from this chaos! The Xiongnu has offered us that they will rescue everyone and govern us with just . Abandon those "Dong" banners and join us, and we will restore thisnd from the chaos!"

    The garrison soldiers cheered . They, too, had enough of Dong Zhuo¡¯s tyranny and harsh taxes .

    The civilians in Chang¡¯An also celebrated and spread good words for the Xiongnu, even though they were the foreigners .

    People in this era did not mind who would be their governor or Emperor . As long as they saw hope or a better lifestyle, they always jumped toward the new attraction as they had nothing to lose .

    Seeing the positive reaction, Guo Si and Li Jue grinned .

    The promise and the words they said just now was totally bullcrap . They did not think Xiongnu would spare them as they had experienced fighting with them before .

    Xiongnu people in their eyes was no different than Dong Zhuo . They enved their enemies and plundered riches from other forces . Fortunately, they were not as lustful as the fat ck tyrant .

    Li Jue: "Our job isplete, my lord . "

    Guo Si: "Chang¡¯An is yours, my lord . They are willing to serve you . "

    Khan: "Very well . I¡¯ll reward both of you when I finish with Ma Teng and Dong Zhuo . "

    Liu Yang: "Keep your eyes on the east . Be careful of that Zhang Tong . "

    Liu Yang: "I can sense that he has three wings, and his power is more solidified now . Although he has one fewer wing than our King, do not let your guard down . "

    Li Jue & Guo Si: "Yes, princess!"

    ...

    ...

    ...

    March 31st .

    It did not take long before Li Ru noticed the ominous signs as Chang¡¯An stopped transporting supply convoys to the frontline armies .

    He deployed a messenger back to Chang¡¯An, hoping that his guess could be wrong .

    ...

    April 15th .

    Xiongnu garrison forces in Anding separated into two . They retreated to Wuwei and Tianshui without bothering fighting with the massive troops of Dong Zhuo .

    They did not need to!

    Dong Zhuo upied Anding back without bloodshed, but he discovered a grim situation .

    Xiongnu stole all civilians and provisions from Anding . It was an empty city!

    Dong Zhuo flew into a rage while Li Ru¡¯s face paled from the revtion . He understood why Chang¡¯An¡¯s supplies were sote, and his messenger never returned .

    ¡¯We¡¯ve been had! Chang¡¯An must have fallen when we left the city . That means there are insiders or betrayers within our ranks!¡¯

    Li Ru¡¯s brain processed in his fastest speed, surpassing when he was in his prime in youth . He ignored Dong Zhuo and met with Hua Xiong in private .

    "Sir, Hua . I have something urgent to request your aid . "

    Hua Xiong was also not stupid . He noticed the abnormally of the provision supply line at the same time that Li Ru began suspecting it .

    Huo Xiong decided to be frank, "Have we lost?"

    "Oh, you knew? Yes, big time . "

    "What do you need me for then? Kill Dong Zhuo and surrender to the Xiongnu?"

    "Ha! You should have told me that you¡¯re this smart . Yes, you¡¯re half-right . But, you don¡¯t need to dirty your hands . I want you to manage your troops and convince them to surrender as well . It will be better if we do it when we have enough forces to fight, so we can have bargain chips to ask for an important position in exchange for our surrendering . "

    "You¡¯ll kill Dong Zhuo yourself, then?"

    "Well, yes . Leave that fatass to me . Please handle the men and the militia . I need you to convince them that Xiongnu has a better future for them, okay?"

    "Aye, whatever . Serving Xiongnu is better than dying for that pig . "

    "Thank you for your understanding!"

    ...

    At night of the same day,

    The frustrated Dong Zhuo rested in his room with his female ves . He had done his deeds and killed everyone afterward, venting her anger on the innocent girls .

    He woke upte at night as he could not sleep . His mind was filled with hatred and anger because of the Xiongnu who took his cities and treasures from him .

    "Guards! Clean my room and tell that goddamn Li Ru toe here!"

    It did not take long for the guards to clean the corpses, blood, and reced everything in the room with new wares . Li Ru also arrived along with new maidservants and tes of food .

    "Your Majesty . This lowly servant has arrived . "

    "Took you quite a while! I want to hear about the progress of our war with Xiongnu!"

    "Your Majesty . I can see that you¡¯re upset . First, please enjoy this food while I¡¯m preparing to exin everything . I have to arrange a strategic map for you, so it might take a while . "

    "Hmm! You¡¯d better be fast! Well, I¡¯m quite hungry at night, anyway . "

    Dong Zhuo did not refuse the midnight meal . He grabbed a boiled chicken leg and began eating it along with duck soup and beef .

    Li Ru sighed and put several pieces of tokens on top of his prepared map table, pretending not to see or pay attention to Dong Zhuo while he was working .

    Within fifteen minutes, Dong Zhuo finished his food . All tes were left with bones and waste that he spat out . He chugged a jar of wine that the maids brought him before he mmed it on the table .

    "LI RU!! TOO SLOW!!"

    "Yes, yes . I¡¯m almost done . Please be patient, you idiot of a pig . "

    "What was that!?"

    Dong Zhuo stood up in anger . Before he could draw his sword and hack Li Ru to pieces, he could feel the rising heat in his throat and stomach .

    His vision blurred . At the same time, Dong Zhuo thought that a hundred needles had pierced his heart because the pain from the heart attack was unbearable .

    "... You ... Poison!"

    "Correct answer . Guards, cut off his head, and we won¡¯t have to starve for this useless fatass . "

    "Li ... Ah . "

    *SWUA*

    The guard hacked Dong Zhuo¡¯s neck with hisrge saber, cutting it in one strike .

    Li Ru gazed at the head of the ugly fat face of Dong Zhuo . He snickered, "Well, thank you for marrying your daughter to me, father-inw . You have been helpful . Kukuku . "

 Chapter 302

    Chapter 302

    Chapter 302 ¨C Khan¡¯s Previous Life

    April 20th, 185 A . D .

    Xiongnu Army continued to expand into Han¡¯s territory . They captured the former city of Han Sui, Jincheng, and Wudou County, the city south of Tianshui .

    Also, Li Ru and Hua Xiong brought the head of Dong Zhuo to pledge allegiance to Khan . They met him at the west of Anding County while Khan and his men were marching east, aiming to conquer the rest of western China .

    Li Ru and Hua Xiong were shocked when they found out that Khan was as young as Tong . Furthermore, he was also an immortal .

    Unfortunately, they passed the point of no return . They had killed their lord, and everyone wanted to join the Xiongnu . Thus, Li Ru and Hua Xiong went through with the n even though they hesitated .

    When Khan found Dong Zhuo¡¯s head, heughed like a maniac for a whole 10 minutes .

    "Ah, this is so rewardinging back here again . I¡¯ve never dreamt that it will be you two that kill him . Well, I wee you to my league . For your reward, you shall retain your military position, and you can govern your legion as you were . "

    Hearing the kind words of Khan, Li Ru and Hua Xiong bowed, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

    "However, yourws and your domestic culture don¡¯t work very well with us . I¡¯m abolishing noble systems and your right to possessnds and people until I give you permission! As for your militias and your ves, I¡¯ll transfer them to my territory so they will learn our way before I send them back home again!"

    Li Ru and Hua Xiong¡¯s face changed . Although they expected some alteration in the government culture, they did not expect a drastic change .

    The right to possessnds and wealth was their motivation in life . Without it, they did not know what reason they should work hard for their lord .

    ¡¯He¡¯s the same as Zhang Tong, a na?ve dictator! Centralize your force and properties, then you will soon destroy your foundation . You can obtain territories, but you can¡¯t manage it! Oh well, that¡¯s not something I can say it to this young King . Dong Zhuo was worse than this . ¡¯

    nning to reap as many profits before Khan¡¯s kingdom crumbling down, Li Ru pretended to be a loyalist .

    "As you wish, Your Majesty . "

    Hua Xiong nced back and forth between Khan and Li Ru . He read Li Ru¡¯s motive and followed suit .

    "We understand, Your Majesty . "

    ...

    May 30th .

    Khan and his Xiongnu soldiers reached Chang¡¯An . He gazed at the city wall and clicked his tongue, feeling nostalgia .

    "In my previous life, I tried so hard to upy this city for myself, yet I failed . Now, I¡¯ve upied it as a Xiongnu when my other me is still a na?ve fool in this world . How ironic . "

    Khan closed his eyes, trying to recall the old memories .

    Unlike the other reincarnators, he was not a person from the 21st-century . Instead, he was a person who had been born in this Late Han Dynasty .

    The other him, who was a native, was also living here in this country as well . Unfortunately, Khan had not met this old him yet .

    He was looking forward to crushing his past self .

    To Khan, this was not a game, but a time traveling to his past .

    "What¡¯s wrong, Your Majesty?"

    Turning to Li Ru, Khan grinned, "Nothing . For now, help me sort the people in Chang¡¯An . I want to get rid of all Dong Zhuo¡¯s royalists . "

    After arranging all of his subordinated, Khan stared into a distance .

    ¡¯Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, all of you backstabbing scums will pay for what you did to me! Well, Zhang Tong . I know you aren¡¯t part of this world, but I¡¯ll still kill you to end this stupid game!¡¯

    Khan¡¯s eyes glittered as he calcted how he should do things from now on .

    .

    Liu Yang, the former eight-wing goddess, stared at the back of Khan with a bright smile . Although she had lost all of her power and her adult form, Liu Yang secured a path to survive in this world .

    In Xiapi, a group of ve traders captured her and sold her to the Xiongnu spies . They transported her all the way north to Mongol, so they could tribute her to their tribal leaders to get achievements and promotions .

    When she reached Xiongnu¡¯s territory, a young man had already united all tribes under his rules . Surprisingly, he was also a reincarnator .

    Using her identity as the former goddess and her knowledge, she received Khan¡¯s favor and was promoted into the [Princess] of the tribe .

    She had taught him about the divine power and the way to awaken wings, which Khan proceeded to bribe Lilim enough for her to activate the bloodline .

    At this moment, Khan possessed four angelic wings!

    Unlike Hua Shi or Jiang Man who patiently cultivated their virtue to 100% to ensure the guaranteed awakening, Khan was a gambler . He took his chances when each of his virtue reached higher than 50% .

    From eight initial virtues that he had, he seeded four . However, he permanently lost the other four virtues and would never get more wings in the future .

    But that did not make Khan dejected .

    With Khan¡¯s previous life experiences and his former identity, he was confident that no one could match him in a 1-on-1 duel .

    ...

    July 20th, 185 A . D .

    Khan disregarded the domestic stability in his empire and continued expanding east . The mobilization order was issued, which caused Li Ru to sweat as it was too hasty .

    "Your Majesty, it¡¯s too early to expand east! We heard that every warlord is fighting each other to obtainnd . We should let them fight to the death, and we should head to Yi Province instead . If we conquer Yi, we¡¯ll obtain the natural defense from the mountains . We¡¯ll also get into contact with our allies, Nanman Tribes, and Shanyue Tribes . "

    Khan grinned, "Sooner orter, it¡¯s the same . If we lose our soldiers, I can replenish them in a few months . Besides, we will never short on supplies . Why should you be worrying?"

    The Xiongnu subordinates of Khanughed . These people knew about Khan¡¯s supernatural power .

    "Your Majesty . Unfortunately, I¡¯m still new, and I don¡¯t know the inside information about your power . At least, could you please reveal it to us, so a humble schr like me can put it in our strategies?"

    Khan harrumph and peered at this old fox . Heughed in his mind and turned to Liu Yang, who was by his side .

    "Goddess . Exin to him . I¡¯m busy taking my men to Hongnong . I want both Hongnong and Luo Yang before the end of September!"

    "Kuku, sure . Go do your things, Mr . God of War . "

    Li Ru frowned at Khan¡¯s overconfident attitude . It was different from the first impression when Dong Zhuo Army fought them as he thought that Khan was a military genius .

    Liu Yang chuckled, "Don¡¯t overthink, Mr . Poisoner . Our King is actually morepetence than you actually thought . He¡¯s been in this era once already . "

    ...

    Just like what Khan had nned, his army routed Yuan Shu in Hongnong in August, which forced this Yuan Shao¡¯s young brother back toward Wan Commandery . They proceeded eastward and drove Cao Cao forces out of Luo Yang in the next month with their overwhelming forces .

    August 26th, 185 A . D .

    Khan stood on the top of Ho Gate after his army chased away all Cao Cao¡¯s men in his new territory .

    His forces suffered severe damages from Cao Cao¡¯s new weapons, but Khan did not flinch . He traded his men without caring about the casualties, which forced Cao Cao into retreat .

    In Khan¡¯s head, he nned to continue marching out of Ho Gate and pursue Cao Cao to Xuchang .

    However, he had to rest until next year . Khan had to stop and cultivate more lifespans to continue using his power to multiplying his soldiers and his provisions .

    From his calction, he could rapidly expand again after two or three years of lifespan cultivation .

    His eyes flickered and wavered, thinking about his past life .

    His army retreated from this gate during the year 190 as his army lost to Sun Jian from the coalition army . He and Hua Xiong fought side by side, yet Sun Jian outsmarted them in the troops maneuvering, and they lost their camps .

    However, they had brought enough times for Dong Zhuo to raze Luo Yang and retreated to Chang¡¯An .

    Khan looked back toward the direction of Luo Yang, where he made the gravest mistake in his previous life .

    "I shouldn¡¯t have killed you, father . I was a fool . "

    He reminisced the old days .

    In his previous life, he was born in this Late Han Era . He became Ding Yuan¡¯s foster son and fought against Xiongnu tirelessly at the borders before hemitted the mistakes .

    He was invited to Luo Yang along with Ding Yuan . Then, he was enticed by Dong Zhuo into killing his foster father, the greatest mistake he had done .

    From that point of no return, his life continued to sink into the abyss .

    He ran from Chang¡¯An after he failed to suppress Dong Zhuo¡¯s remnants .

    He sought help from Yuan Shu, but he left him to Zhang Yang .

    He betrayed Zhang Yang and joined Yuan Shao .

    Yuan Shao wanted to kill him, so he ran back to join Zhang Yang again .

    Then he backstabbed Zhang Yang one more time and joined forces with Chen Gong, who used him as a weapon .

    He stole Pu Yang from Cao Cao but lost them back afterward .

    He sought help from Liu Bei, but he stole Xiapi when he had a chance .

    He wanted to surrender to Cao Cao, but Chen Gong manipted him into fighting instead .

    Then he lost to Cao Cao . On the verge of bing Cao Cao¡¯s subordinate, Liu Bei influenced Cao Cao to kill him instead .

    His life journey ended there .

    Through countless years of suffering in Hell, Khan regretted what he had done in that life .

    Standing alone of the top of Ho Gate, Khan shed tears .

    "Father, will you forgive me if I were to see you again? Will I be able to call you "Father" again?"

    Khan¡¯s previous life name was ...

    Lu Bu .

 Chapter 303

    Chapter 303

    Chapter 303 ¨C Lu Zhi¡¯s Scolding

    May 17th, 185 A . D .

    Liu Bei and his brother returned to Ji City, only to find a surprise change .

    The city had been rejuvenated, and the soldiers had been re-outfitted . They armed with Tong¡¯s repeating crossbows and equipped with Julu¡¯s second handed iron armors .

    From the first nce, they thought that this city had fallen to Tong, but the banners of Gongsun were still on top of the walls .

    "What happened after we left the city!?"

    Liu Bei was astonished by the change . This city used to be on the poverty side as merchants avoided this city and picked Nanpi as their primary trade hub .

    At present, many merchant caravans came and went . Stalls and new shops opened around the main streets .

    Everything in the city buzzed, and people were walking around, shopping or working .

    While Liu Bei¡¯s mouth was agape, Guan Yu reminded him, "Xuande, your mother¡¯s condition?"

    Liu Bei snapped back to his sense, "Right! I forgot!"

    Liu Bei and everyone rushed to old Liu Bei¡¯s home .

    .

    On the location of Liu Bei¡¯s home, there was nothing but emptynd . The shack where his mother and Liu Bei lived in was nowhere to be seen .

    Liu Bei stood there, silence .

    Jiang Man, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei stood behind their elder brother in solemn, waiting for Liu Bei to regain his calm .

    They stood there for an entire hour, yet no one paid attention to them or came to talk to them . The people treated them as strangers .

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei began to frown . They looked around, trying to find their acquaintances in this city . Unfortunately, even another hour passed, they found no one .

    "It is as if all civilians in this town have moved away . "

    Liu Bei heard Guan Yu¡¯s remark . He looked around as well .

    As a former local resident of this city, Liu Bei was confident that he could find one or two of his friends .

    Betraying his expectation, Liu Bei could not find anyone .

    "It is confirmed . All my acquaintances aren¡¯t here anymore . Excuse me, mister . Can you tell me what has happened here in recent years?"

    Liu Bei waved his hands and asked around .

    "You didn¡¯t know? This city had been raided by the Xiongnu many months ago! Most of the poption was either killed or moved away . "

    The other merchants inserted into the conversation, "That¡¯s not entirely correct . The Xiongnu killed elders tried to enve all of the poption here . Fortunately, Lord Zhang Jiao sent reinforcements and drove the Xiongnu away, but most of the rescued people moved south to other cities since they don¡¯t want to get dragged into a war . Well, damaged houses are still around though ¡¯cause the owners of those houses must have died during the incident . "

    Liu Bei¡¯s face paled, "Do you know what has happened to the olddy of that house?"

    The merchants shook their head, "No, sorry youngd . If that person is still alive, the guards here should have rebuilt the house . "

    "Hey, dude . If you want to check if your friends or your rtives are still alive or not, go check with the city hall . They have recorded every name of the townspeople there, including the dead . "

    Liu Bei widened his eyes and bowed . He left the merchants and rushed to the city hall, following by his entourage .

    Upon reaching the city hall, Liu Bei requested to check his mother¡¯s name right away .

    Three hourster, the workers found the name of Liu Bei¡¯s mother . She had passed away during the incident of the Xiongnu raid .

    Liu Bei knelt and wailed in front of many people as he hugged the wooden token of his mother .

    "I¡¯M SORRY! I¡¯M SORRY! I¡¯M SO SORRY MOTHER!! I SHOULD NOT HAVE LEFT YOU!"

    Every onlooker gazed at Liu Bei with sympathy . There were many rtives of the deathing here to find the bad news and copse like him .

    This kind ofmotion wasmon during the early days when they were trying to restore the order . Seeing it again also pained their heart .

    It took Liu Bei 30 minutes to stop crying . Guan Yu dragged the sorry state of his brother out of the way and took him to the nearest tavern .

    Along the way, a group of guards approached them, "Sir, are you perhaps Sir Liu Bei?"

    Jiang Man stepped forward to deal with this for Liu Bei, "Is there something wrong?"

    "You have done nothing wrong, sir . Our governor has invited you to his courtyard . He asked me to tell you that he is your mentor, and he wants to see you once you return home . "

    Liu Bei looked up, "Mentor? Master Lu Zhi!?"

    He wiped the traces of tears with his sleeves and patted the dirt on his knee, "Let¡¯s go! Let¡¯s go!"

    Everyone looked at Liu Bei as if they were seeing a freak . How could he change his mood so sudden?

    ...

    Upon reaching the courtyard of Liu Bei¡¯s master, Lu Zhi was already waiting for them there, sitting and teaching his two disciples, Zhao Yun and Tian Yu .

    Liu Bei did not hesitate . He kowtowed and mmed his forehead on the dirt ground .

    "Liu Bei greets master Lu!"

    Guan Yu, Jiang Man, and Zhang Fei bowed normally . They could not copy Liu Bei¡¯s action as they still had shame and conscience .

    "It¡¯s been a while, you stupid disciple! You¡¯ve neglected all of my letters . Look at you, getting fooled by Yuan Shao, losing your own city to your stupidity, anding back home to find your dead mother . If it weren¡¯t for me and Tong¡¯s troops, this city would have been a ghost town!"

    Hearing the name of Tong, Liu Bei¡¯s face twitched .

    "But master, I don¡¯t think serving Zhang Tong will do help this disciple . I-I never want to work for a rebel!"

    Lu Zhi tossed a bamboo scroll at Liu Bei¡¯s face, "Then, I¡¯m a rebel, too . Is that what you are saying!? Didn¡¯t you know that I¡¯m also working for Tong!?"

    Liu Bei¡¯s face paled . He mmed his head on the ground again, "This disciple is stupid! I¡¯m sorry . I didn¡¯t mean to shame Master!"

    "Shame? Do you think I¡¯m ashamed of working for my own disciple!? Raise your head up and look at the people in this city! This town turns into a merchant hub not because of me, but your junior disciple and his subordinates thates up with this management system! There is also a new philosophy that Tong came up and had been taught to all minor officials!"

    Lu Zhi pointed at the bamboo scroll that he tossed at Liu Bei .

    "Read that and exin to me what you understand . "

    Liu Bei bit his lower lips . He did not want to hear a word about Tong again, but he could not defy his master, who was like a father to him .

    Liu Bei picked up the scroll to read . It was about the pyramid of human¡¯s need .

    The lowest part, the foundation, were food, water, clothing, medicines, and shelter, which everymoner in this era required to live . It was the most basic that Liu Bei knew, but he never arranged them into words .

    The second level of human¡¯s need was security, the psychological need of safety, which indicated that they required a peaceful ce or a safe ce to live in .

    Liu Bei frowned for a second, but he widened his eyes after that . The security in the text could mean the city patrol guards, order of the city, and troops that protected the city from all invaders . With all of thesebined, humans would be satisfied with this need .

    There were also higher levels,

    Friendship, Rtionship, Family .

    Acknowledgment, Aplishment .

    Dream Fulfillment .

    These were the things that Liu Bei did not understand .

    Lu Zhi smirked at Liu Bei, "Do you understand anything?"

    "Master, this ... this disciple is stupid . I don¡¯t understand the higher level parts . "

    "Of course, you are stupid! Without the understanding of the basic needs of your people, how can you take the role of a governor, let alone squaring with those aristocrats and power-hungry bastards!?"

    Liu Bei shrank again .

    Lu Zhi gazed at Liu Bei¡¯s followers . His grim face turned into a smile .

    "Please forgive my crude actions . I¡¯m Lu Zhi, this stupid brat¡¯s mentor and the governor of this city . "

    Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Jiang Man cupped fists and bowed back . They could not offend this figure .

    Jiang Man was also disturbed the most during the exchange between Liu Bei and Lu Zhi . He learned about Lu Zhi¡¯s deeds from history books, and he thought that Lu Zhi was just an ordinary schr . However, his evaluation of Lu Zhi was wrong .

    On the other hand, Liu Bei jumped up again as he was reminded of something .

    "Master! You said you are the governor, right? The banners of this city are still the Gongsun gs . Does that mean you are serving Gongsun Zan now?"

    "Humph! That¡¯s obvious . I¡¯m helping the people . Does it matter who I serve? My question right back at you, why do you want to be a governor so badly? Saving the people?"

    Liu Bei swallowed his saliva as he could not retort . If he said yes, Lu Zhi would have asked again [What¡¯s the point of raising your own banner when you can save people by serving any lord?] .

    "For now, I want you and your followers to join your junior disciples when I teach them . I¡¯ll be re-educating you over and over again until you get at least one word from that scroll into your head!"

    At this moment, Liu Bei finally gazed at his junior disciples .

    Zhao Yun smiled wryly at Liu Bei while Tian Yu snickered as he found the scolding hrious .

    "Zhao Zilong?"

    "Nice to meet you again, senior brother Liu . "

 Chapter 304

    Chapter 304

    Chapter 304 ¨C Stealing Nanpi

    May 18th, 185 AD .

    A messenger from Kong Rong arrived in Ye . It was Wang Xiu, the strategist of Kong Rong himself .

    "The traitor Yuan Shao enthroned his son as the Emperor and abused his power as he sees fit, which is uneptable to us, the Han loyalists . I will be frank . We hope to establish a coalition against the rampaging Yuan Shao, and we want you to be our leader of this coalition . "

    Tong, as usual, sat on the throne within the main government hall . Jia Xu and Xun Yu stood bellowed him by his sides while the rest of the officers stood in rows, facing the center walkway where Wang Xiu stood .

    It was as if this was a throne room of a royalty .

    Wang Xiu was nervous from the stare of all officers and Tong . He thought that he was seeking an audience with the Emperor .

    Tong stared down at Wang Xiu, but the corner of his eyes nced at his n chat . Jia Xu and Xun Yu were updating the current movements of all neighbors .

    .

    Currently, Yuan Shao Army had expanded to the abandoned city of Ganling, and soon they will strike Jibei and Henei .

    The spies from Xuchang also told them that Cao Cao was busy preparing to defend against Xiongnu at Luo Yang as they transported all military personal westward .

    Gongsun Zan was friendly toward Tong¡¯s affiliate cities as they opened borders and established the free-trade agreement . It was the work of Lu Zhi, whom Tong had nted inside Ji City .

    .

    Tong grinned . He typed in the n chat .

    Tong: "Lady He, can I borrow your presence in the government hall for a minute?"

    He Xing: "I¡¯m resting in the guest house beside the hall . I¡¯ll be there soon . "

    Tong pretended to pause and ponder . In reality, he and his strategists already had a n to deal with Yuan Shao, but they were waiting for Yuan Shao to take the bait .

    Jia Xu: "Yuan Shao ignored our legions . Just as nned, it¡¯s time to move . "

    Xun Yu: "It¡¯s earlier than we had visualized . Lord, please give us permission . "

    Tong gave a meaningful nce at Jia Xu and Xun Yu . After which, he nodded to Wang Xiu .

    "We understand the urgency of getting rid of Yuan Shao . Tell your lord, we shall mobilize our forces to Nanpi at once! You should go back and prepare your forces as well . "

    Wang Xiu was ted . He thought that he had convinced Tong with his skill .

    "Thank you for your understanding, great sir! You are truly the Han loyalist!"

    At this moment, He Xing walked into the hall, and all officials knelt down and kowtowed .

    Wang Xiu noticed the sudden change . He turned around to see what caused them to kneel, only to be shocked .

    "Y-Y-Your Majesty He!?"

    He Xing smiled at Wang Xiu, "Greetings, Sir Wang . It has been a while . "

    Wang Xiu mmed his forehead on the ground in kowtow, "I didn¡¯t know that you reside here . Please forgive me that we¡¯ve nevere to visit!"

    "It¡¯s alright . It was my intention to go into seclusion . Besides, my prince consort lives here . "

    "P-Prince consort!?"

    He Xing smiled . She walked to Tong¡¯s side and sat next to him .

    "Let me introduce you, Sir Wang . This is Zhang Tong, my prince consort . He¡¯s also the REAL foster father of Liu Xie, my son . "

    As if the lightning struck down on Wang Xiu, his body trembled, and his face sweated bullets . It was not hard for him to realize what had happened to Tong¡¯s forces .

    Looking at the eyes of all officials here, they red at Wang Xiu as if they were the true royalists of Han Dynasty while he and Kong Rong were a part of opportunist rebels .

    "T-Then, Yuan Shao¡¯s Liu Xie ..."

    "Well, you said it yourself that the current Emperor is Yuan Shao¡¯s son, right? My real son is still in this city . "

    The smile of He Xing contained her killing intent, which was enough for Wang Xiu to realize the truth .

    "I shall return and inform my lord at once!"

    "Make sure to inform Sir Kong to cooperate with my consort¡¯s expansion n when you return to your city . "

    "Y-Yes, Your Majesty!!"

    Wang Xiu scrambled away in a hurry . He stumbled and fell from thedders in front of the government hall, but he ignored the pain and rushed home .

    In the government hall, Tong slightly bowed to He Xing .

    "My deepest apologies, Lady He . I¡¯ve used you again . "

    Instead of getting angry, He Xing smiled back .

    "It¡¯s nothing, young master Zhang . If you want to repay this favor, visit Xie¡¯er and me sometimes . "

    Tong did not reply . He simply nodded .

    His nod did not escape the eyes of all officers in the room . They warmly smiled at them until He Xing left .

    Finished with her assistance, He Xing left the government hall to her resident .

    After the former Empress left, Jia Xu and Xun Yu walked next to Tong and whispered, "Should it be the time for you to take the throne?"

    Tong shook his head, "Not yet . We have to get our hands on Yuan Shao¡¯s family first . Go and proceed as nned . "

    "Understood, Your Majesty . "

    Tong red at Jia Xu and Xun Yu . The address of his title just now was not something they should say it loudly, or they might cause a misunderstanding .

    "We¡¯re just teasing you, young master Zhang . Let¡¯s say we¡¯re practicing . "

    Seeing the grin of Xun Yu and Jia Xu¡¯s face . Tong sighed .

    ...

    Previously, Jia Xu leaked the false rumor about their mobilization, telling everyone that they nned to move the Mountaineer Legion and White Axe Legion into Xiongnu¡¯s territory . Both legion leaders also told their men about the preparation and their goal that they nned to head for Xiongnu regions as well, causing all spies to believe in the leaked info .

    However, only the higher-up knew what their actual goal as they onlymunicated using the n chat .

    The purpose of this fault news was to divert Yuan Shao¡¯s attention from them and baited them into invading their neighbors .

    Because Yuan Shao¡¯s affiliate cities were few and his foundation was being threatened by Gongsun Zan and Tong forces, they had to expand to obtain more resources and manpower from the other cities . To survive this struggle, Yuan Shao wanted to draft more soldiers to prepare for the possible showdown between Tong and their forces .

    Everything went as Jia Xu foresighted . Tian Feng and Yuan Shao took Pingyuan in a sh and moved south .

    Now, the defense of Nanpi was at its weakest . It was the chance to takeout Yuan Shao¡¯s home ground and annihte his foundation .

    They might not be able to get rid of Yuan Shao yet, but it was enough for now .

    Slow and steady was Tong¡¯s style .

    .

    May 25th, 185 AD .

    The operation [Baited] began, and also the hidden forces within Tong¡¯s ranks .

    Form Ye City, Immortal Legion of Tong and his 60,000 men marched to Ganling . Their job was to keep the main legion of Yuan Shao at bay in that deserted town and wither their supplies .

    Jia Xu remained in Ye as the deputy governor for the meantime . He would be reced once Te Langpu hadpleted the Julu finance overhaul project and transfer to Ye as the new governor .

    Silver Axe Legion¡¯s 40,000 soldiers departed from Zhongshan and headed for Nanpi . This was their real main forces, which they had to upy Nanpi at all costs .

    Zhen Yi was reinstated as the governor of Zhongshan as all personnel from this city left to Nanpi .

    Lu Zhi in Ji City also received the order from the n chat . He mobilized Gongsun Zan Army of 20,000 cavalries and headed to join forces with the Silver Axe Legion . Among his troops, Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, Liu Bei, and all his Liu Bei¡¯s brothers were forced to go along with the army as well .

    .

    June 30th, 185 AD .

    The lightning assault from both Ji and Zhongshan City caught the garrisons of Nanpi off guard . All officials of Yuan Shao fled the city to Pingyuan while the innocent militias opened the gate for the invaders, surrendered to Lu Zhi and Xu Huang .

    Lu Zhi coordinated with the troops and sorted the prisoners without causing difficulties to the locals .

    Xu Huang immediately rushed into Yuan n residential areas to secure their primary objective, the Yuan Family, and they seeded .

    They have captured Yuan Shao¡¯s entire family, and Yuan Shang, the fake Emperor!

    Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Jiang Man were astonished by the coordination between Lu Zhi Army and Xu Huang as they did not bother sending messengers tomunicate, yet they moved as if they knew what the others nned to do .

    Liu Bei, however, did not pay attention to the details of the siege battle . Instead, he enjoyed getting his sweet revenge .

    "That¡¯s what you get for tricking me, Yuan Shao! Serve you right . HAHAHAHA!"

    Seeing the obnoxious behavior of his disciple, Lu Zhi shook his head in resignation .

    ¡¯This fool has a long way to go . I have to teach him about Julu¡¯s new philosophy again . What was it called? Emotional quotient? EQ?¡¯

    .

    Meanwhile, Guanzong County, east of Ganling .

    Tong¡¯s 60,000-men army stood before Yuan Shao¡¯s 100,000 soldiers .

    Yan Liang and Wen Chou were there, escorting Yuan Shao and Tian Feng as they moved as one legion .

    On the other side, Tong rode a red horse, one of the Red Hare that Li Feihong bred, and stood tall in front of his army .

    Hua Shi stood on top of an archer tower among 100 towers, spreading across the formations in between toons of soldiers .

    Xun Yu stood behind Hua Shi, acting as a coordinator in this battle .

    Tong did not bring any other officers with him, which was reckless in Jia Xu¡¯s point of view . However, Tong, Hua Shi, or Friday would think that it was unnecessary .

    Two white tentacles fluttered behind Hua Shi¡¯a back . Each of them transformed into a spirit and wielded aposite bow that Hua Shi prepared for them .

    Tong also summoned his Sloth and Greed . Both of them held a gun in their hands while a strap of bullet magazines hung on their shoulder .

    Tian Feng stared at Tong¡¯s souls with an ugly expression .

    "sphemy! This is cheating! Heaven is cheating us, men!"

    Blood dripped down from Tian Feng¡¯s noses as he tried his best toe up with a strategy . However, he could not see a chance to defeat Tong and his spirits .

    They did not have a way to counter them!

    The battle details between Friday and Sun Jian forces were in their hands ages back . They, too, would be powerless if they were to fight Friday in that condition .

    Now, they faced Tong who had a simr power .

    "Retreat . "

    Yuan Shao, Yan Liang, and Wen Chou turned to Tian Feng, the man with a pale face .

    "We have no chance at all?"

    "None . "

    "You¡¯re right! This is cheating!"

    Yuan Shao grudgingly red at Tong and Hua Shi . He bellowed, "If it isn¡¯t because of your power, you won¡¯t even have a chance to fight me!"

    Hearing the desperate cry of Yuan Shao, Tong snorted and thought .

    ¡¯True . I would have been nothing but an insect had I never had any power . To be honest, I want to eliminate all of you right out of the picture right now, but I¡¯ll need your forces and your brain in the future battles . ¡¯

    Tong gazed at the log of the n chat . A new report came from Ju Shou and Zhang He in Henei .

    "Dong Zhuo is dead . Li Ru surrendered to the Xiongnu . "

    "Cao Cao is likely to lose Luo Yang . We¡¯ll be their next target . "

 Chapter 305

    Chapter 305

    Chapter 305 ¨C Securing Bargain Chips

    Yuan Shao had confidence that he and his army had no problem routing the army of 60,000 soldiers . However, they could not guarantee their safety as Tong and Hua Shi could send the spirits to kill all generals and himself during the battle .

    To save his skins, Yuan Shao and his army retreated . They also withdrew from Ganling City as the deserted town was not worth defending .

    Tong¡¯s troops managed to upy Ganling again in July . This time, he did not fall back, but Tong ordered his men to restore the town to its former glory .

    As Tong was busy dealing with the town restoration, more reports from Henei kepting .

    Ju Shou: "Cao Cao lost Luo Yang . They are falling back to Ho Gate . "

    Ju Shou: "We¡¯ve confirmed that the King of Xiongnu is also an immortal . His power is duplication of objects and living beings . He can pretty much create a copy of anything out of nothingness . "

    Ju Shou: "Second concern about this immortal is that he possesses four white wings . Young master Zhang, this man can be trouble . "

    Tong: "Figured as much . That¡¯s why we didn¡¯t thoroughly destroy Yuan Shao . "

    Ju Shou: "Cao Cao also has simr weapons as us . They are using range weapons as their primary weapon now . Our spies also notice that they attempted to build iron barrels on top of the wall of Luo Yang, but they didn¡¯t finish the project in time before they lost the city . "

    Tong, Li Feihong, Hua Shi, and Te Langpu paid attention to this . Building an iron barrel on top of the wall hinted that Cao Cao might be researching about firearms as well . On top of that, their progress seemed faster than theirs .

    Li Feihong: "That¡¯s not a cannon, right?"

    Te Langpu: "Eh, that¡¯s a cannon . Are they collecting saltpeter and sulfur?"

    Ju Shou: "They do . "

    Te Langpu: "There you have it,dies and gentlemen . Your Cao Cao has a reincarnator, and those motherfOOker has cannons!"

    .

    This piece of news revealed and confirmed the location of the final otherworlder they were searching . This concluded the existence of the surviving 12 reincarnators in this world .

    Zhang Tong

    Hua Shi

    Li Feihong

    Dong Bai / Friday

    Diao Chan / Medusa

    Te Langpu

    Sun Fang

    Li Jing

    Jiang Man

    Liu Yang / Goddess

    Xiongnu King

    Cao Cao¡¯s subordinate

    These were the names of all reincarnators that all intelligence agencies discovered using the reports of all battles and Friday¡¯s testimony .

    Half of the otherworlders were within Tong¡¯s forces while the others scattered in the country . Until one force remained, they had to get rid of thesepetitors to end this game of immortals .

    For now, Tong wanted to eliminate Xiongnu forces and Xiongnu King first as they posted the most dangerous threat to the country and his forces . As for the weak Jiang Man and Liu Bei, Tong could kill them after he used them as cannon fodders in his n .

    .

    Tong: "Feihong, Mr . President, how¡¯s our research?"

    Li Feihong: "Building 13th-century cannons is not a problem . But that¡¯s costly and inefficient since we can¡¯t aim with those models . We¡¯re trying to forge a steam engine first, so we can build machines with smooth and urate bores . "

    Tong: "Can¡¯t we use the windmills?"

    Li Feihong: "Not enough power . We can use it to build a rough 13th-century model, but it still took days to build one . "

    Tong: "Then, can we make muskets at our current power?"

    Te Langpu: "Nope! It will explode in your face with the unreliable skills of our cksmiths . Use them to forge the knight armors is the correct choice . "

    Te Langpu: "As for the technologies, we¡¯ll go step by step . Besides, you don¡¯t have to worry about Cao Cao dishing out cannons . They¡¯re going to be one of those big-ass-good-for-nothing stationary cannons that can¡¯t aim . They¡¯re just decorations . "

    .

    In the past years, everyone attempted to forge their first cannon so they could end this civil war earlier .

    However, they failed when they made a bronze wheeled cannon of the 16th-century . Local cksmiths could not make the chamber of the barrel smooth and straight enough to shoot urately . Secondly, the durability of the cannon was questionable as it cracked from two firing tests .

    They found outter that the reinforcing rings were not sturdy enough and the bore was uneven, which cause damages from within the cannon muzzle when a shot was fired .

    To ovee this technological barrier, they had to look back what they had skipped .

    Te Langpu and Li Feihong came to the conclusion that a steam engine was necessary for this project . Thus, they put the cannon on hold and focused on the engines instead .

    With their brains, they did not have a problem digging out their previous life¡¯s science knowledge . But making it into reality took efforts, times, manpower, and money .

    .

    Tong: "We won¡¯t worry about the cannons for now . Old Jia, how¡¯s your homework?"

    Jia Xu: "My messengers should have reached everybody by now . As for Yuan Shao, I rmend using that hiding immortal Jiang Man as the negotiator in the case Yuan Shao wants to kill our messenger to vent the anger . By the way, should we kill Liu Bei and all his brothers now?"

    Lu Zhi: "Give them some times . I¡¯ll try to convert them first . If Liu Bei still wants to raise his banner after our n seeded, I¡¯ll cripple him myself . "

    Tong: "I¡¯m sorry for this, master . "

    Lu Zhi: "No harm . He¡¯s an idiot and a crazy man . If he gets big, trouble awaits us . "

    Tong: "About the coalition, any ETA on about their confirmation?"

    Jia Xu: "Hard to say . My guess is next year at the earliest . Those fools haven¡¯t realized what they are up against yet . "

    Tong: "That also gives us some times to prepare . Senior Ding, please ship knight armors to Henei and Ganling . We¡¯ll probably use two legions in the next fight against that Xiongnu . "

    Ding Yuan: "Do you want the Mountaineer south?"

    Tong: "No, stay there and watch the borders . We don¡¯t know if they will strike us again . The previous raid attempt was no joke . "

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, in Nanpi City .

    Lu Zhi was sorting the prisoners as Xu Huang organized the troops to restore the order within the city .

    The operation [Baited] contained a second phase of the process, which was [Anti-Xiongnu Coalition] n .

    The recent activities of Xiongnu were still Tong¡¯s primary attention as their expansion pace was too rapid . It destroyed the bnce of the country and posted a threat to his long-term goal kingdom development ns .

    The legions of Tong could not handle these massive armies of elite Xiongnu alone . He had to drag everyone into this mess with the excuse that neighbor country was invading them as the Han Dynasty was in peril .

    Tong plotted to copy the incident of [Anti-Dong Zhuo Alliance] in history and use the troops of all lords to push back the Xiongnu Invasion!

    But to get all lords toply, it was a different story . All lords were known to be selfish and ignorant to the threat of the ancient Mongol archers . Tong had to prepare bargain chips to either bribe or force all warlords into actions .

    Gongsun Zan, Sun Jian, Liu Biao, Liu Yan, and Cao Cao were nationalists, so they should have no problem convincing them .

    However, Yuan Shao was different .

    To force Yuan Shao into a temporary ally, Tong, Jia Xu, and Xun Yu formed a strategy . They plotted to create a chance to capture Nanpi in a sudden strike and capture all of Yuan Shao¡¯s family members as hostages without damaging Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers .

    Jia Xu began his moves by leaking false news and baited Yuan Shao¡¯s main troops away from Nanpi so they could upy it behind their back, which was the [Baited] operation .

    And the operation was sessful .

    They had achieved their goals, cornering Yuan Shao in Pingyuan and obtained a bargaining chip to use Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers in the future war against Xiongnu, Yuan Shang, the fake Emperor!

    The dominant figure in history had been turned into a cornered rat!

    Not only Yuan Shang and other sons of Yuan Shao were captured, but Lu Zhi also met an acquaintance within the captives .

    He was as fat as Dong Zhuo and had a broad face .

    He Jin .

    Standing before the tied He Jin, Lu Zhi grinned, "It¡¯s been a while, Chancellor He . "

    "You ... Minister Lu!? You are working with the rebels!?"

    "No, no . In my point of view, you are the rebel . "

    "BLASPHEMY! I AM THE BROTHER OF THE EMPRESS! I AM A ROYALTY!"

    "What kind of brother selling his sister to an outsider, I wonder?"

    "I¡¯ve never sold my sister! I did it for the sake of her future! I must find her the right groom so she can live a happy life!"

    "Then, why did she flee to Julu in the first ce? You should know . "

    "Because she¡¯s an ingrate whore! She doesn¡¯t even know what¡¯s right and what¡¯s wrong for her! I did everything I could to make her a royal concubine and got her the title of the Empress! Look at what she did to me . Do you think that sow has a value without me!?"

    Lu Zhi¡¯s eyes turned bloodshot . He pped He Jin with the back of his hands .

    The strike of a schr might be weak, but it shamed He Jin .

    "The throne is not someone¡¯s toy . It¡¯s a responsibility! How could you give it to Yuan Shao, you hypocrite!"

    *PA*

    Another pnded on He Jin¡¯s face .

    The chubby He Jin copsed on the ground . The guards nearby also pointed their spear on He Jin¡¯s neck to prevent retaliation .

    The actions of Lu Zhi did not escape the eyes of all his disciples, including Liu Bei, who was astounded by the other side of his mentor .

    "M-Master . That¡¯s enough . He¡¯s a royalty¡¯s kin, you know?"

    "Xuande . You have to be able to differentiate between a respectable man and a beast! This piece of rotten pig doesn¡¯t deserve a title from our country! Did you know, Xuande? He sold his sister, the Empress He, to Yuan Shao so he can marry her and be the next Emperor after Liu Ping!"

    "W-What!?"

    "You¡¯re still na?ve, my disciple . The political world is wicked and a sinister world . To be honest, someone with your personality doesn¡¯t belong here . You should return to Ji and live your life peacefully . "

    "..."

    Lu Zhi ignored Liu Bei andmunicated with He Xing with the n chat .

    Lu Zhi: "Your Majesty, I¡¯ve captured your brother . What would you like to do with him?"

    He Xing: "Kill him . "

    Lu Zhi: "He is still your brother . Are you sure?"

    He Xing: "A brother that sold his sister to a lustful beast . Kill him!"

    Lu Zhi: "Understood . Tong, what¡¯s your call?"

    Tong: "As Lady He has said . Get rid of that fool . "

    Lu Zhi: "As you wish . "

    Closing the chat, Lu Zhi red at He Jin, "Our young master has given the order, kill the traitor that made Yuan Shang the fake Emperor! He Jin of Luo Yang, you havemitted treason against Her Majesty . Your punishment is death by dismemberment!"

    "YOU! YOU BASTARD LU ZHI!! I WILL HAUNT YOU IN HELL, I SWEAR!!"

    The guards dragged He Jin away as everyone gazed at Lu Zhi with goosebumps . They had no idea that the mentor of theirs could be so ruthless .

    "Take notes of today¡¯s events . If you wish to join our world of political struggle, be prepared to kill your friends and your former colleagues . Once you stand at the opposite side of your friends, your past friendship means nothing . Well, it¡¯s just an example and a warning, though . I doubt that one or two of you will actually fight each other in the future, right?"

    Lu Zhi smiled at them . However, Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, Liu Bei, and all his brothers felt that it had a hidden meaning behind the warning .

    Guan Yu was deeply shaken by such cruel actions and the resolution of Lu Zhi .

    ¡¯I won¡¯t fight my brothers, ever!¡¯

    Jiang Man had another idea .

    ¡¯That is certain . Who cares about friendship when everybody is using everyone else for their self-interest . As long as the interest aligns, enemies can be friends and friends can be enemies . ¡¯

    Zhao Yun and Tian Yu did not disagree with Lu Zhi¡¯s teaching . They seriously took note and steeled their heart .

    ¡¯For the sake of my belief, I will prepare my heart . I might fight Zhang Tong or Liu Bei in the unknown future, but I will not hesitate . ¡¯

    Zhang Fei, however, did not pay attention at all . He was dozing as he stood .

    "My dumplings ... *nom nom*"

 Chapter 306

    Chapter 306

    Chapter 306 ¨C Setbacks of Cao Cao

    While Tong and his men were eying on Xiongnu¡¯s movements, Cao Cao was in a bad mood .

    Cao Cao, Cheng Yu, and Pu Jing utilized modern warfare tactics, deploying explosive bombardment, ambushes, gueri warfare, and ranged infantries . Unfortunately, they could not keep up with Khan¡¯s massive army .

    For every five men that they killed, one of Cao Cao¡¯s soldiers fell . This trendsted for a month before the fall of Luo Yang .

    Cheng Yu stared at the direction of Luo Yang while he stood on the Ho Gate . Hemented, "We have been cheated by Heaven! Those endless troopers are not fair at all!"

    Standing by Cheng Yu¡¯s side, Pu Jing shook his head, "All is fair in wars . Only this time, they possess a better skill and have the number advantage . If we look at the performance of our soldiers and our officers, we have the advantage in the prolonged war . "

    "How so? If they have infinite troops, how can we have the advantage?"

    "Nothing in this world is free . For using such skill, the user will have to pay many lifespans in exchange for power . Recently, the goddess of this world forced a great restriction on us, immortals . It forces us to limit our skill to once a day, and the upkeeps of maintaining our power are getting more burdensome . I¡¯m sure that Xiongnu King is also suffering many setbacks, and he has to take a period of resting to replenish his lifespans . "

    "The lifespans ... seriously, I would have been satisfied with 100 years of extra lifespans, but you all are using them like water . But still, we don¡¯t have that luxurious time . They will reach Xuchang before we can extend the war . "

    "We can force them to rest for 6-months if we manage to sabotage Khan¡¯s men one more time . "

    Cao Cao, who was pacing back and forth, interjected, "If we can prolong the war, do you think we can get rid of Xiongnu?"

    Cheng Yu mockingly chuckled, "Impossible . "

    Pu Jing snorted, "Zero percent chance for victory . Well, if we fight them alone, that is . "

    Cao Cao frowned . He pulled up a letter that he received from Tong .

    "I¡¯ve received an invitation to a meeting to discuss about forming a coalition against the Xiongnu . Zhang Tong says in the letter that he has sent other simr letters to pretty much every governor and nobles in our country . What do you think about this?"

    Pu Jing grinned, "Of course, we¡¯ll ept it . "

    Cheng Yu alsoughed, "Why hesitate? Just ept it!"

    "You two ... you didn¡¯t even think!"

    Cheng Yuughed, "My foolish lord, do you have a better idea? Do you think you can manipte other forces to square against them with us at our current condition? There¡¯s a lot of differences between being flexible and being stiff because of your restriction . You have been getting toofortable leading everyone so far, it won¡¯t hurt if you y as a follower sometimes . "

    "Agreed . Let¡¯s say we manage to convince either Liu Biao or Yuan Shao to help us, those foxes will demand payment and remuneration for their troubles . Now that Zhang Tong is taking the lead . Let¡¯s follow him for once, and let him take the brunt for us . I¡¯ve been cultivating angelic power, and I¡¯ve discovered that being shameless is also a virtue! Don¡¯t hesitate to take opportunities, my stupid lord . "

    Hearing his two wicked advisors, Cao Cao massaged his temples .

    "I wish you two can be less frank like Xun You . "

    "Being frank means we¡¯re being honest . Holding back is a sign of being unfaithful!"

    "But you both are calling me foolish and stupid . "

    "It¡¯s a fact!"

    "We are paid to speak about facts . "

    The face of Cao Cao darkened . Talking to these men giving him more white hairs .

    "Fine . We¡¯ll not waste our resources and continue fighting . We¡¯ll swiftly retreat from Ho Gate to Xuchang and recuperate . If the Xiongnu persists on attacking us, we¡¯ll drag Zhang Tong into our fight . "

    "Of course . "

    Cao Cao raised his hand as he had more ideas, "Before I forget . Draft me a reply letter and extort them some supplies . Make them vomit out their sulfur, coal, saltpeter, and steel as a payment to join the coalition . "

    Cheng Yuughed again, "That¡¯s a given . "

    ...

    August 10th, 185 A . D .

    Cao Cao withdrew all his forces from Ho Gate back to Xuchang to save his troops from the unwinnable war .

    Though it was vexing for Cao Cao, he still had hope as his weapons and technologies far surpassed Khan Army . As long as they could mass-produce Pu Jing¡¯s 13th-century cannons, they would not fear anyone .

    .

    August 30th .

    Cao Cao returned to Xuchang, but he was weed by Xun You, who stared at Cao Cao with a grave expression .

    "What happened, Gongda?"

    Staring at the face of Cao Cao, Xun You had a conflicted feeling . He had exchanged letters with Xun Yu and learned many things about Tong¡¯s forces and his domestic policy development . It was confirmed that Tong was a talented lord worthy of respect .

    However, Cao Cao had disyed many underhanded tricks, such as manipting Diaochan as a puppet, promoting himself into the Chancellor of the Han, and issuing fake edicts .

    Yet, his domestic development has improved very little .

    The people were still suffering from the after effect of the droughtst year . The constant wars and conflicts between lords and rebels had not been cooled down, but Cao Cao insisted on expanding to Luo Yang without listening to his advice .

    Theparison between Cao Cao and Tong was tormenting Xun You .

    He envied his cousin . He wanted to have apetent lord like Tong .

    Because of that, he intentionally made a blunder a few months ago, and he came to apologize Cao Cao .

    "My Lord, I have a piece of bad news for you . It¡¯s bad enough that you will kill me after you hear it . Do you want to hear it now?"

    Cao Cao paused, observing Xun You . He had known this schr for a long time and knew about the tradition of the Xun n, so Cao Cao did not worry about Xun You betraying him .

    But this time, Xun You indeed looked suspicious .

    "I¡¯ll decide that once I heard the news . Tell me frankly . "

    "Very well," Xun You took a deep breathe, "Xiao Wu raided our city, burned our granaries, killed one of our generals, and took Diaochan and Wang Yun with her . During the chaos, we¡¯ve captured a group of royal guards that were fleeing from the scenes . From the investigation and interrogation, they were spies from the Xiongnu that were sent to kill Diaochan . "

    Cao Cao was petrified .

    Diaochan was the political tool that he could use to order neighbor lords around . Losing her meant that he lost the majority of his political influence, and the only way to get it back was to conquer the neighbors by force, which Cao Cao had avoided using this method .

    With a broken voice, Cao Cao muttered, "Who died?"

    "Ren Jun, my lord . He¡¯s the general of our logistic troops . He died fighting Xiao Wu when she attacked our granaries . "

    Ren Jun was one of the talented generals that served Cao Cao in his early years when he raised his banners . He did not aplish many tasks, but Cao Cao could still remember his face .

    "Give him a proper funeral . Pu Jing, you handle to negotiation with Zhang Tong and his coalition offer . I need some times to think . "

    .

    .

    .

    A few months ago, Friday, Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, and Zou Shi reached Shangdang City as a new team to govern thismandery .

    However, Friday entrusted the city to Zhang Ji and told everyone not to report anything to the n chat . She left the city afterward and headed to Xuchang to rescue her mother .

    Friday got to Xuchang in July . Out of anger and hatred, she burned Cao Cao¡¯s granaries and killed several soldiers of Cao Cao . With her power and her borrowed spirit of Tong, she decimated all opponents that came her way .

    Using the chaotic scenes as a distraction, Friday slipped into the inner city and secured her powerless mother and Wang Yun without difficulty . They sneaked out of the town afterward .

    Now, on the Yellow River, a boat was carrying a woman, a young girl, and an elder . They were Friday, Diaochan, and Wang Yun .

    The atmosphere was awkward as the rescued Diaochan was standing, scolding Friday who was kneeling on both knees .

    "There is a limit on how short-sighted and ignorant you can be . Do you even know why I¡¯m allowing myself to be used by Cao Cao? I¡¯ve nned to recruit him into Tong¡¯s n after I make him realize that he¡¯s not Tong¡¯s opponent! His officers are elites as well . I want to influence them into betraying Cao Cao and join Tong when Cao Cao¡¯s attention is on somewhere else . Now, look at what you¡¯ve done . You¡¯ve ruined my ns and my hard work, forcing me out here to Tong¡¯s territory . Do you know what the people and the soldiers would think about your stupid operation? They will think that Tong is a power-hungry man that kidnapped old Empress and the new Empress so he can centralize his political influence! He will be the viin in people¡¯s eyes, and it will be recorded in history books! You ..."

    The sermon went on for hours as Diaochan never stop talking for a minute . Even after she had spoken a certain topic already, she re-mentioned about it again for the second time, the third time, and so on . When she no longer had anything else to scold Friday, Diaochan restarted her points all over again from the very beginning, which even made the onlooker, Wang Yun, cringed .

    Wang Yun had learned about the immortals, Hell, Heaven, and their purpose of being here from Diaochan during their times under Cao Cao¡¯s surveince, so he was not surprised about them anymore .

    As Wang Yun got tired of listening to Diaochan¡¯s nagging, he stopped rowing the boat .

    "There¡¯s no point talking about the past anymore . Let¡¯s talk about our future, shall we? Where are we heading next? We have reached the north shore . "

    Realizing that her mother¡¯s nagging had ended, Friday¡¯s eyes lit up .

    "We¡¯re using to the road to Henei, and then we¡¯re moving north to Shangdang . Tong made me the governor there . We can hide there for the time being!"

    Diaochan frowned . She was going to object the idea, but she remembered that her status was unique .

    Had she moved to Ye and joined Tong, all lords and peasants would have thought that Tong sent Friday to kidnap Cao Cao¡¯s Empress, and it would have ruined Tong¡¯s hard-earned reputation . They would believe that Tong had many other ulterior motives aside from the political purposes as Tong was rumored to be a pedophile .

    Going missing and hiding with Friday was a better choice . At least, Diaochan could protect Tong¡¯s certain reputation .

    As for the incident in Xuchang, it woulde to light eventually, so she could not change or interfere with anything .

    "Fine . I¡¯ll go with you . But Friday, that Khan is about to unify the west . What¡¯s Tong n to do next?"

    Friday smiled, "We¡¯ll mimic the Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition Event . "

 Chapter 307

    Chapter 307

    Chapter 307 ¨C Using the Fate of Sun Jian

    Changsha City, Sun Jian¡¯s territory .

    A messenger from Tong delivered the letter, inviting him to join the coalition against the Xiongnu .

    The content of the letter was written by Xun Yu . He included the intelligence about Xiongnu King¡¯s power and the possibility that the Xiongnu had been in contact with all tribes around China in secret during the invasion, judging from the sudden emergence of many tribes at the border during the chaotic Yellow Turban Uprising .

    Sitting on the main seat, Sun Jian turned to his subordinates after reading the letter out loud .

    Within the hall, all officers of the Sun Family all presented .

    Cheng Pu, the Iron Serpent .

    Huang Gai, the Indomitable .

    Sun Fang, the Immortal Cultivator .

    Li Jing, the Fairy Strategist .

    Han Dang, the Pir of the Sun n .

    Sun Jing, younger brother of Sun Jian .

    Wu Jing, the younger brother of Sun Jian¡¯s wife .

    And the 11-year-old Sun Ce!

    Sun Jian consulted with everyone without caring about his images in front of Tong¡¯s messenger .

    "Tell me what all of you think honestly . Start with Cheng Demou!"

    Cheng Pu stepped forward, "The action of Shanyue Tribes from the south is suspicious indeed . They knew about our movements, and they withdrew their force on time . This doesn¡¯t suit their culture! I think Xiongnu might be behind this since their King is an immortal . I agree with the coalition . "

    Huang Gai also voiced out, "I disagree with the coalition! We have our hand full watching over the south and the Shanyue . We don¡¯t have times and enough soldiers to join another war!"

    Han Dang spoke calmly, "Currently, we are busy dealing with the southern tribes . At a nce, we should not move anywhere . But if we look at the big picture, we will notice that Zhang Tong and Zhang Jiao have been fighting to protect the northern borders, just like how we are protecting the southern borders . Since they are fighting to protect our country, and they are at the point that they have to request our help, we should agree . "

    Sun Jing shook his head, "Please don¡¯t forget that they started the Yellow Turban Uprising trends and caused so many bandits to copy them . I don¡¯t like supporting the rebels, so I¡¯ll disagree . "

    Wu Jing sighed, "We don¡¯t have enough information to make the conclusion that Xiongnu and Shanyue are in this together . Well, I¡¯ll abstain myment .

    Sun Fang harrumphed, "Zhang Tong is obviously wanting to use us as cannon fodders in his war! We should not stick our nose into the fight between immortals . I disagree!"

    Li Jing frowned at Sun Fang . She walked to him and kicked his butt, "Opportunitiese and go like the wind . They are asking for our help, so we should agree for now . We can also demandpensation and the remuneration for our troubleter . I wish us to join the coalition . "

    Everyone had said what in their mind, but the overall decision was not unanimous .

    Sun Jian also could not decide . By his reflex, he nced at his real eldest son, Sun Ce .

    Sun Ce smiled at his father and spoke in a clear voice that every officer in the hall could hear it .

    "Father, let¡¯s go and fight the Xiongnu! We¡¯re the Han loyalist . The Yellow Turban founders even took the helm and head-butting the Xiongnu . If we don¡¯t fight the invaders when the country is calling for it, what should we call ourselves?"

    Hearing his son¡¯sment, Sun Jianughed .

    "You¡¯re right, Bofu! We¡¯re going to shame our ancestors if we allow the Xiongnu to take our country!"

    Sun Jian red at Tong¡¯s messenger, "Tell your lord, we¡¯ll march north and assist him in this fight . Tell him to provide us provisions, weaponry, supplies, and gold for the remuneration!"

    The messenger was taken aback . He bowed and left in a hurry .

    Sun Fang turned to Sun Jian and protested, "Father, from what we heard, Xiongnu King is a dangerous opponent . Why don¡¯t we pretend to join the coalition and not fight the ... *OUCH* . "

    Li Jing kicked Sun Fang again . This time, her tiptoe got into his butthole for a second .

    Sun Fang copsed on the floor, holding his butt in pain .

    "Please forgive this foolish husband of mine . Fang, get your ass home . You¡¯re too stupid to attend an important meeting!"

    Everyoneughed at the couple as it was the usual urrence that Sun Fang always disyed something weird, and Li Jing would beat him up .

    Sun Ce, however, gazed at Sun Fang in envy .

    ¡¯I want a wife too . ¡¯

    ...

    Sun Fang returned home with Li Jing . There, Sun Fang stopped ying the fool and asked his wife with a serious face .

    "Why do you want Sun Jian there? Don¡¯t you know that this coalition is simr to the Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition in history? If Sun Jian happens to find the Imperial Seal, Liu Biao and Yuan Shao will kill him!"

    Li Jing chuckled, "History has changed . From what I know, Yuan Shao¡¯s influence has been destroyed by Zhang Tong since he upied Ye City instead of the Yuan as in history . Without the Capital of Ji Province, Yuan Shao cannotfortably expand his forces unless Zhang Tong dies . So I think Yuan Shao won¡¯t form an alliance with Liu Biao to attack Sun Jian as in history . "

    Sun Fang pped his hands, "Right! I forgot about that . "

    "There¡¯s more . When we join the coalition, it won¡¯t happen like in the novel version where we would get stuck on the Ho Gate with Lu Bu . Realistically, we will eventually join forces with Liu Biao and Yuan Shu in Wan City to attack the Wu Gate, so the southern forces can capture Hongnong while the other forces would be busy attacking Luo Yang and Ho Gate . "

    "But, what if Yuan Shu betrays us and stops sending us supplies like in history . "

    "That¡¯s why I demand remuneration in the meeting . Zhang Tong is good at managing food, so we will extort the supplies from his army first . Without the food, we will make an excuse that we are out of provision and won¡¯t move . This will force Zhang Tong to send us supplies instead of Yuan Shu . "

    .

    In history, year 190, Sun Jian abandoned his Changcha Governor position and joined the Anti Dong Zhuo Coalition, bing Yuan Shu¡¯s subordinate .

    In 191, Sun Jian led his forces north toward Luo Yang City, but he was outnumbered and routed by Xu Rong¡¯s troops . As Sun Jian¡¯s soldiers were scattered by the assault, Lu Bu, Hua Xiong, and Hu Zhen led their forces to pursue Sun Jian .

    Unfortunately, Lu Bu and Hu Zhen were not in a good term . Sun Jian exploited the weak coordination between Dong Zhuo¡¯s men and routed the pursuing army . In this battle, Sun Jian captured Hua Xiong and executed him .

    With this deed, Sun Jian gained fame, and the piece of news reached Yuan Shu . Unfortunately, many envied of his glory and spread bad rumors around .

    The rumor reached Yuan Shu¡¯s ears eventually . Because of Yuan Shu¡¯s envy and his paranoid nature, he suspected that if Sun Jian took Luo Yang, he would be able to control the Sun n anymore .

    As a result of Yuan Shu¡¯s over-paranoid, he stopped sending supplies to Sun Jian¡¯s camp . Later, Sun Jian returned to Yuan Shu and scolded his lord for being shortsighted and foolish in front of his subordinates .

    In shame, Yuan Shu resumed sending supplies to Sun Jian .

    With enough supplies, Sun Jian continued his campaign north to Luo Yang .

    Dong Zhuo attempted to bribe Sun Jian into a truce, but Sun Jian refused and continued chasing after Dong Zhuo Army .

    By then, Dong Zhuo already bought enough times to loot everything in the Capital . He employed the Scorched Earth tactic by burning Luo Yang, so the ally forces could not gain anything from capturing the Capital City .

    Upon getting inside Luo Yang, they encountered Lu Bu Army and routed them . Dong Zhuo also attempted to fight back against Sun Jian, but he was defeated and fled toward the west to Chang¡¯An .

    Upon surveying the damages in Luo Yang, Sun Jian discovered that tombs of previous emperors were robbed by Dong Zhuo . He ordered his men to reseal the tombs and restore the order of the city . During the process, they found the Imperial Seal inside a well in the south of the city .

    Despite his sess in the coalition, the ally forces no longer had any intention of continuing the war as they schemed to expand their territories .

    Internal conflicted happened .

    Turning his attention to his territories, Yuan Shao plotted with Gongsun Zan . They attacked Han Fu and forced him to surrender, taking Ji Province as his own .

    At that moment, everyone retreated to their own territories to protect their home base from the greedy neighbors .

    Yuan Shao did not stop expanding . He nned to destroy his own kin, Yuan Shu, so he allied with Liu Biao and sent troops to attack Yuan Shu .

    Yuan Shu heard about the news . He allied with Gongsun Zan and attacked Liu Biao while Gongsun Zan attacked Yuan Shao . Sun Jian, who was Yuan Shu¡¯s subordinate at that time, was sent to attack Liu Biao .

    Sun Jian managed to rout Huang Zu Army of Liu Biao forces . However, he was ambushed and killed when Sun Jian was alone .

    Because of his death, Sun Ce, the eldest son of Sun Jian, had no choice but to continue serving Yuan Shu .

    In the novel version, Sun Jian did not kill Hua Xiong, but Guan Yu did in a duel in front of Ho Gate .

    Sun Jian also did not rout Dong Zhuo Army to the point that Dong Zhuo fled west . Instead, Dong Zhuo fled Luo Yang first before Sun Jian Army arrived .

    After Sun Jian found the Imperial Seal, this news leaked to Yuan Shao, which he demanded the seal from Sun Jian .

    Hearing the unreasonable demand, Sun Jian refused and withdrew his troops back to Changsha .

    In furious, Yuan Shao allied with Liu Biao and plotted against Sun Jian . They set up an ambush in Jing Province in Liu Biao¡¯s territory .

    While Sun Jian was returned to Changsha, passing through the Jing Province of Liu Biao, Huang Zu ambushed his forces and killed him in the battle .

    Sun Ce was still young and had no ce to return to, he decided to join forces with Yuan Shu after that .

    .

    The history of the power struggle between lords was an important reference to the overall situation in the current timeline .

    Li Jing could sense that Tong wanted to make the coalition battle happen again in this world, but he changed the actors from Dong Zhuo to Xiongnu King, and the leader of the coalition from Yuan Shao to himself .

    With this understanding, Li Jing plotted to make use of this event to gain profits .

    Instead of serving Yuan Shu, she wanted the Sun n to take the leading role and steal Luo Yang!

    Since Dong Zhuo had been killed and the city had not been razed, it was possible for Sun Jian to restore it after he upied it .

    "Fang, what will happen if we help Sun Ce capturing Jianye and the entire Yang Province while Sun Jian happened to be a dominant figure in Luo Yang?"

    "Won¡¯t Zhang Tong attack us? His borders will connect with ours, and his attention might shift to us . "

    "Well, that can happen if his army is in perfect condition . Say, how about we join the fight, but we sabotage Zhang Tong forces while we¡¯re at it?"

 Chapter 308

    Chapter 308

    Chapter 308 ¨C Invitation to All Lords

    As Sun Jian received the invitation, other forces also got theirs .

    Chengdu Commandery, Yi Province, south of Liang Province of Xiongnu .

    This was the mountain areas that Liu Bei upied and established his Kingdom of Shu in history . Right at the moment, however, this ce was under the protection of Liu Yan .

    Liu Yan stared at the letter content as he pondered in silence . He did not read the letter out loud like Sun Jian or allow his subordinates to make a suggestion .

    He was the type who relied on his brain instead of consulting with a strategist or an advisor .

    "Tell Zhang Tong, we refuse . "

    The messenger¡¯s face paled as he realized that he failed his task .

    "W-Won¡¯t you reconsider? Once Xiongnu moves south, it will be your territories . "

    "That¡¯s none of your business . We¡¯ll handle the borders ourselves . "

    "T-Then, excuse me . I¡¯ll return to report this to my lord . "

    ...

    ...

    Hanzhong County, Northeastern part of Yi Province, south of Chang¡¯An .

    Zhang Lu¡¯s territory, the country of Five Peck of Rice Sect .

    As he did to Dong Zhuo¡¯s messenger . Zhang Lu killed Tong¡¯s messenger without giving his answer .

    "Foolish Zhang Tong . You can¡¯t manipte me into your war . Fight him yourself!"

    ...

    Wan County, south of Luo Yang and Hongnong .

    Yuan Shu¡¯s City .

    "We¡¯ll join the coalition! I have to get my Hongnong and Luo Yang back from those mongrels!"

    ...

    Xiangyang County, the Capital City of Jing Province where Shu Kingdom of Liu Bei and Sun Quan of Wu fought to gain control in history .

    Liu Biao clicked his tongue and answered without consulting his men .

    "We¡¯ll join the war . Huang Zu, Huang Zhong, prepare our troops . "

    Kuai Liang, the right-hand man of Liu Biao and his advisor, stepped forward to stop him .

    (Author Note: This is not Subzero from Mortal Kombat Series . They have the same name . )

    "Lord Liu, please reconsider a bit . May I speak a few words?"

    Kuai Liang was a brilliance strategist who saved Liu Biao from Sun Jian in the historical timeline . He was partly responsible for the ambush of Sun Jian as he and Lu Gong came up with the ambush strategy for Huang Zu .

    "Zirou? Speak!"

    "Please don¡¯t join this coalition . Decline the invitation for now, and I¡¯ll tell you the reasonter . "

    Kuai Liang gave Liu Biao a meaningful nce between Liu Biao and the messenger .

    Liu Biao shook his head, "Regardless of what conspiracy or strategies you have in mind, I can¡¯t afford to not show up in this coalition . It affects my reputation as one of thest two [Liu] n member . How can I exin to my people if Zhang Tong fails and Xiongnu gets to Jing Province?"

    "Understood . Then, I shall not trouble you . "

    Kuai Liang epted Liu Biao¡¯s refusal and stepped backward, pretending that nothing had happened .

    ...

    Beihei City, southeast of Pingyuan .

    Wang Xiu returned to report everything about Tong¡¯s forces, his coalition invitation, and He Xing .

    Kong Rong ced his elbow on the armrest as he held his head in resignation .

    "We can¡¯t afford to allow Xiongnu to harm Her Majesty . We¡¯re going to work with Zhang Tong . "

    "What about our stance and the coalition against Yuan Shao, sir?"

    "Keep it quiet for now . We¡¯ll resume our n once Xiongnu is out of the way . Moreover, we should get on Zhang Tong¡¯s good side right now, so we can negotiate a surrender term with him to keep our territory and our positions when the northernnd is unified . "

    "A brilliant decision, my lord . "

    ...

    Xiapi County, Xu Province of Tao Qian .

    The old veteran gazed at an elder physician, who had a wry smile on his face .

    "Sir Hua Tuo, your son-inw sent me an invitation to war, what should I reply?"

    Hua Tuo nced at the messenger and sighed, "I¡¯m a humble physician . My job is to treat your health and the citizens that are suffering from the aftermath of the drought . I have noment on politics . "

    "But, isn¡¯t your daughter with him? Why don¡¯t you return to see them? They are your family . "

    Hua Tuo sighed again .

    "There are thousands of reasons I can think of to postpone my return . "

    "Name one . "

    "I don¡¯t want to see a beast that ughtered the people of Liyang!"

    "Well, that makes sense . But from what I know, the people there are also at fault for resisting Zhang Tong and killed so many of his soldiers . If normal civilians take arms to fight soldiers, I, too, won¡¯t consider them innocent bystanders . "

    "War only brings more death . I won¡¯t return even if I have to cut ties with my daughter!"

    "That¡¯s too extreme, isn¡¯t it? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not your real reason for not returning . "

    "..."

    "I¡¯ve been an official for decades, and I¡¯ve seen so many kinds of people . I know that you¡¯re lying, sir Hua . "

    Hua Tuo sighed and slightly nodded, "I ... can¡¯t show my face to Shi¡¯er . How can I exin to her that her mother dies because I failed to treat her disease?"

    "Lifees and goes . There is no shame for trying to save someone¡¯s life but failed . The only shame you can have is a scenario where you can save a person, but you chose not to save him . "

    "..."

    "Well, for now, you can stay with me as long as you want . But first, mister messenger, please tell Zhang Tong that I ept his invitation . "

    Tao Qian¡¯s gentle smile brightened the mood of everyone in the government hall as this person had been long seen as a kind and honest old politician worthy of the title of Protector of Xu Province .

    ...

    Beiping City, You Province of Gongsun Zan .

    Unlike the invitation to other lords which Tong used ordinary soldiers as messengers, Lu Zhi volunteered to take this role himself to persuade his disciple .

    Gongsun Zan, however, had a wry smile on his face .

    "This is not fair, master . If I refuse you, I¡¯ll be known as an unfilial lord . "

    "All is fair in war and politics, my disciple . Well, I¡¯ll confess something that you should have been guessing for a long time already . I¡¯ve nned to merge your forces with Zhang Tong in the future . Since the country is in peril, I have to make a move prematurely . "

    "I figured that when you offered your service to me . It was too weird that Zhang Tong suddenly gave us many benefits . Please ask him for a condition that I get to keep You Province if he wants my service that badly . If I don¡¯t get it, I¡¯ll fight him to the death!"

    "Bogui, Empress He Xing is taking Zhang Tong as her prince consort . "

    Gongsun Zan mmed his face on his work table before him .

    "Please forgive me if I curse out loud, master . "

    "Go ahead . I don¡¯t mind . "

    "FOOOOOOK!! YOU ARE BEING OPPRESSIVE, MASTER!! YOU DID NOT GIVE ME A CHANCE AT ALL!! HOW CAN I FIGHT ZHANG TONG IF HE¡¯S THE PRINCE CONSORT!!?"

    "Well, if you don¡¯t mind being called a rebel, you can, actually . "

    Gongsun Zan raised both his hands above his head while his face still stered on the table, "Okay! Fine! I give up! Please tell my junior that he must give me the title of the Viceroy of You Province or else! Also, I want his support on the economic, weaponry, and other supplies that we need to fight against the northern Xiongnu!"

    "A wise decision, disciple . HAHAHA!"

    All officers were shocked by the conversation between their lord and this Lu Zhi . More than half of the officers were delighted by this decision of Gongsun Zan as they knew that Tong¡¯s subordinates had a high sry and other incentives .

    On the other hand, Gongsun Du and other Gongsun nsmen were dissatisfied with the abrupt change . If they were to join Tong, they would lose their private soldiers, territories, and farnd that they owned . Because Tong¡¯s government system was still a centralized government and had not yet allowed the people to possessnds, they saw Tong as a power-hungry brat .

    ¡¯Are you serious, Bogui!?¡¯

    ¡¯n Head, why!?¡¯

    ¡¯No, we shouldn¡¯t surrender to Zhang Tong!¡¯

    Both Lu Zhi and Gongsun Zan did not realize that they created a new underground force within their territory .

    ...

    Pingyuan City, south of Nanpi .

    Yuan Shao and all officers were having a meeting in the city hall, but they were interrupted by a visitor .

    "A messenger from Zhang Tong!? That bastard dares to send a messenger!? Guards! Kill that messenger and send him his head!"

    In furious, Yuan Shao bellowed as he straddled out of the hall to see the face of the soon-to-be-dead messenger .

    Upon seeing the messenger¡¯s face, Yuan Shao paused . He had seen this person somewhere before, but he could not remember .

    Four guards rushed at the messenger, who gazed at them with a bright smile .

    "Amaterasu!"

    *BOOM*

    The four guards were engulfed in a ck me . They screamed and wailed before they turned into ashes .

    "Remember me, Yuan Shao?"

    Still looking at Yuan Shao with his fearless smile, Jiang Man stood firm with his hands crossing behind his back .

    "Who are you!?"

    "You don¡¯t remember me at all? Seriously?"

    "I said, WHO . ARE . YOU . "

    Jiang Man sighed in a disappointment, but he was still in a good mood .

    "An immortal you discarded, fool!"

    "WHAT!?"

    "I was injured back then, and I was crawling in front of Nanpi, remember? Had you rescued me and blessed me with your gold, food, and a ce to call home, I would have joined you to fight against Zhang Tong . But no! You tossed me aside like a rag and left me to death!"

    As if a lightning bolt struck on Yuan Shao . He remembered .

    "I-It¡¯s you from back then!?"

    "That¡¯s right, fool! Now that you¡¯ve remembered me, do you have anyst word?"

    In the past years, Jiang Man managed to awaken one wing and use it to obtain enough lifespans to buy back one of his skills .

    However, Jiang Man had yet to obtain enough lifespans to buy the other skills or free himself from a forceful quest of Lilim . He required more times to get more wings and lifespans, so he chose to keep his low profile under Tong for now .

    But his chance to get his sweet revenge came earlier than Jiang Man had expected as Lu Zhi ordered Jiang Man to persuade Yuan Shao for the alliance against Xiongnu .

    Although Jiang Man could summon his spirit and kill Yuan Shao and all his subordinates right here, he had another n in mind .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll bluff Yuan Shao into submission . Then, I¡¯ll manipte him behind the scenes using the bargain chips that Tong acquired for me!¡¯

    At this moment, Yuan Shao was too panicked to think while the other guards stepped backward in fear .

    Wen Chou and Yan Liang stood in front of Yuan Shao, but their legs were shaking .

    Tian Feng observed the situation as he gritted his teeth . He walked toward Jiang Man and knelt .

    "Please allow us to live, sir immortal . We have lost to youpletely!"

    Jiang Man grinned, "That¡¯s right . You¡¯ve lost to me, not Zhang Tong . "

    "Hmm?"

    A few words of hints sparked a light of hope in Tian Feng¡¯s mind .

    "What do you have in mind, sir immortal? We¡¯re listening . "

    "Well, I¡¯m supposed to persuade all of you to join the coalition against Xiongnu . But I have another proposal on top of the coalition . Are you interested? I¡¯ll help you free Yuan Shao¡¯s family in Nanpi as a bonus . "

    Wen Chou and Yan Liang lowered their guards while Yuan Shao regained hope . He walked to Jiang Man and knelt as well .

    "Please guide us, lord immortal! What can we do to defeat Zhang Tong? And also, how can we help you?"

    "Simple . "

    A system menu appeared before Yuan Shao .

    [Will you join Jiang Man¡¯s n?]

    "From now on, be my servants!"

 Chapter 309

    Chapter 309

    Chapter 309 ¨C Altering Fate of Yuan Shao

    Yuan Shao pressed [Yes] with a trembling hand, unable to believe what in front of him was .

    The menu of the n revealed to Yuan Shao . On the window, there was only the n chat menu since Jiang Man had only established a solo n .

    Only Jiang Man and Yuan Shao were the members at the moment .

    Jiang Man typed in the n chat, "I¡¯llmunicate with you like this in the future . Once I gather at least five members, including us, I can bestow you some lifespans . You can say that I can make you an immortal . "

    Reading the n message and realizing that the immortality could be bestowed, Yuan Shao threw away his dignity and mmed his forehead on the ground in kowtow .

    "I swear loyalty to sir immortal! I shall prove that I¡¯m worthy of your trust!"

    The sudden change of Yuan Shao¡¯s attitude baffled Tian Feng and shocked Yan Liang and Wen Chou . All officials had an agape mouth as they could not believe what they were seeing .

    "Unfortunately, I can only recruit one person a year . I¡¯ll be staying in this city until the new year, so I can revisit you to get your subordinates into my n . For now, I¡¯ll do whatever I can to get your family and your city back from Zhang Tong and Gongsun Zan . "

    Yuan Shao continued to bow in glee . Meanwhile, Tian Feng¡¯s eyes gleamed when he caught the hint that Jiang Man and Zhang Tong were likely not on the same side .

    To confirm his theory, Tian Feng knelt and asked, "Sir Immortal, are you working for Zhang Tong, or do you have other purposes for serving him?"

    Jiang Man snorted, "I don¡¯t work for that asshole! The only reason I¡¯m here because my n was interrupted by you lots! Had it not you backstabbed Liu Bei and upied Pingyuan, I would haveid low and relocate myself in a few years . "

    "Then, what is your n? Maybe we can help each other . "

    Tian Feng grinned as he finally grasped on the infighting and rivalry between immortals within Tong¡¯s ranks . If Jiang Man was not in a good term with Tong, then an enemy of his enemy was his potential ally .

    ¡¯If I can get this arrogant immortal on my lord¡¯s side, we can weaken Zhang Tong!¡¯

    Jiang Man also paid attention to the frank attitude of Tian Feng . Pondering and staring at the face of Tian Feng for a while, Jiang Man gave him a hint .

    "In Heaven, Liu Bei is destined to be one of the great Kings in a few decades . My job is to help him reign as the true sessor of the Han Dynasty . Unfortunately, other immortals changed the fates of the people as they see fit, and it resulted in our current situation! You are not supposed to possess the authority or enthrone your son into an Emperor, but you did . Zhang Jiao was supposed to diest year, but Zhang Tong altered fate and saved his life . Dong Zhuo supposed to upy Luo Yang four years from now and die in three years after that, but he captured the city and died this year . Everything was ruined because of Zhang Tong, and it¡¯s my job to correct it!"

    Tian Feng and Wen Chou¡¯s ears perked up when he heard the details . Their curiosity increased .

    "Can we listen to the details of our fate? Is it the future that we should have?"

    Jiang Man grinned, "Of course . I¡¯ll tell you about the future and the real fate that all of you should have . "

    ...

    Yuan Shao¡¯s future in the historical timeline was not a pleasant one .

    In 189, he and He Jin plotted an assassination of the ten eunuchs, but the n was leaked and He Jin was killed . Yuan Shao let his forces and exterminated all eunuchs in the court for revenge, yet he failed to establish his political dominance because of one man .

    Dong Zhuo .

    The forces of Dong Zhuo moved into the pce . Along the way, he captured the two sessors of Emperor Ling, the two princes . He killed the elder brother, Liu Shao, and ced Liu Xie as the next Emperor, so he could instate himself as the Chancellor and control all Han Court .

    Because Yuan Shao¡¯s private army could not fight against the army of Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao escaped from Luo Yang . He rallied all warlords to fight against Dong Zhuo, which the coalition against Dong Zhuo was formed .

    In 190 to 191, the battle against Dong Zhuo ended in failure as Dong Zhuo retreated to Chang¡¯An . Before they left, Dong Zhuo deployed the Scorch Earth Tactic by razing Luo Yang to the ground .

    With nothing to replenish their forces or the profit that they could gain from the Capital, many warlords showed signs of quitting .

    Yuan Shao and Han Fu attempted to use Liu Yu by making him the next Emperor, so they could have a legitimate reason tomand all selfish warlords . Unfortunately, the n was rejected by Liu Yu himself .

    The alliance broken off after the Han loyalists and the major contributors of the war, Cao Cao and Sun Jian, quitted the coalition .

    In 191, after returned to his city, Yuan Shao, who had gained a bit of fame from the coalition, made the first move . He formed a secret alliance with Gongsun Zan and attacked Han Fu¡¯s Ye City .

    In terrified, Han Fu surrendered to Yuan Shao after he was lobbied by his subordinates .

    Yuan Shao gained the Ji Province Governor title from Han Fu in the process and established the powerhouse forces in the north .

    Yuan Shao¡¯s little brother, Yuan Shu, was envious of Yuan Shao¡¯s sess . He formed a secret alliance with Gongsun Zan and Tao Qian, hoping to destroy Yuan Shao using the other forces .

    Yuan Shao did a simr thing to Yuan Shu when he found out the news of this coalition . He allied with Liu Biao and Cao Cao while he moved his forces north, conquering more territories and destroying Yuan Shu¡¯s allies .

    In 199, Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan in the Battle of Yiling, which he finally ruled over all territories above the Yellow River to the north . His eyes moved to the south where Cao Cao had been capturing all cities on the central in .

    The Battle of Guandu, which Cao Cao and Yuan Shao decided the decisive battle, concluded in the year 200 with Yuan Shao¡¯s defeat .

    Yan Liang and Wen Chou were killed in the battle, while Tian Feng died because Feng Ji falsely used him in front of Yuan Shao that he was in league with enemies, which resulted in their losses . Though Tian Feng protested, Yuan Shao believed in Feng Ji and executed the innocent Tian Feng .

    In 201, without good generals and advisors, Yuan Shao lost to Cao Cao again in the Battle of Cangting, Shangdang territory .

    In regret, Yuan Shao died from the stress and mental illness in the year 202 .

    ...

    For half a day, Jiang Man told everyone about the other timeline¡¯s historical event of thete Han Dynasty to the Era of Three Kingdoms .

    When Yuan Shao heard that he lost to Cao Cao in the Battle of Guan Du, he gritted his teeth in frustration . The same applied for Tian Feng when he heard that he was killed because Feng Ji backstabbed him .

    Wen Chou and Yan Liang also did not have a good mood . Listening to the tale that Guan Yu killed them in the future battle, they frowned in irritation as they were unable to believe that they lost .

    "W-We lost? We¡¯re fated to lose?"

    Jiang Manughed, "Immortal like myself can alter your destiny! Work for Liu Bei and me, then I¡¯ll cut a path for your future! You should know that Liu Bei is fated to be one of the three emperors of the new era . Getting on his good side now will save you a lot of troubles in the future . Besides, do you want to lose to your best friend, Cao Cao?"

    Yuan Shao stood up and screamed, "NO!"

    "Then work for me . You, too, Tian Feng, work for me . I¡¯ll be back next year to get you into my n . "

    Tian Feng bowed, "I¡¯ll be waiting, sir immortal . But first, I have a suggestion for our future movement . About the coalition against Xiongnu, I have an idea ..."

    ...

    Sending Jiang Man back, Yuan Shao, Tian Feng, Wen Chou, and Yan Liang remained inside the government hall .

    Tian Feng turned to Yuan Shao, "My lord, please follow through with my n . We¡¯ll use that brat to our advantage . "

    Yuan Shao nodded in embarrassment as he showed an unsightly behavior in front of them earlier .

    Tian Feng continued, "If that brat¡¯s story is true, we¡¯ll ride along with this Liu Bei until he gets his hands on the Yi Province . After that, we¡¯ll kill that brat and steal everything from Liu Beiter . "

    "Of course, that¡¯s what I have nned . "

    Wen Chou also wanted toment, "My lord, about our fate ..."

    "Oh, about that Guan Yu?"

    "Yes . "

    "If we side with Liu Bei, Guan Yu won¡¯t be your enemies, so you don¡¯t have to worry about your death . "

    "T-Thank you, lord!"

    "By the way, did you remember about the part where Sun Jian found the Imperial Seal?"

    "Yes . He said Sun Jian will find it inside a well in Luo Yang . "

    "We¡¯ll get that before Sun Jian does . "

    ...

    January 1st, 186 A . D .

    Jiang Man had not left Pingyuan yet . He stayed behind inside the city and waited for the New Year toe .

    Today, he summoned Tian Feng and invited him into the n as promised .

    With Yuan Shao and Tian Feng as his n members, Jiang Man was more optimistic with his n .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    January 20th, 186 A . D .

    Jiang Man returned to Nanpi and reported his task to Lu Zhi .

    "Yuan Shao wants to bargain for our hostages . He demanded that we have to return his family to him first, then we will also have to return Nanpi to him after the coalition is over . I can¡¯t make the decision on the spot without consulting you, so I postponed my answer . "

    "Oh, that isn¡¯t a problem . I¡¯ll send someone else to confirm the negotiationter . For now, I want you and your brothers to take the militias and the volunteers to Xuchang . I¡¯ve arranged the necessary supplies for your troops and already briefed the tasks to Liu Bei, so you can ask about everything from him . "

    Jiang Man was taken aback by the sudden mobilization order . He thought the dispatch order would haveeter next year or theter years since Tong¡¯s forces had been quieted recently .

    "Is it too fast? I haven¡¯t told Yuan Shao about the gathering date of the coalition! You¡¯ve only asked me to form an agreement with them, but you¡¯ve never told me this!"

    "What are you agitating for? I said I¡¯ll dispatch another messenger to Yuan Shao, and he¡¯ll inform them about that . Besides, why do you look so troubled?"

    Seeing the squinted eyes of Lu Zhi, Jiang Man stepped backward, "N-Nothing, sir! I¡¯m troubled at all!"

    Jiang Man could have killed Lu Zhi to sabotage Tong, but he could not do it now . Had he done so, Liu Bei might see him as his enemy since Lu Zhi was his mentor . To use the fate and luck of Liu Bei and his brothers, Jiang Man remained patient and waited for the right opportunity .

    ¡¯Zhang Tong is mimicking the Anti-Dong Zhuo Alliance event . I¡¯ll participate in this and gather more n members . Too bad I can only recruit one man a year . ¡¯

    After Lu Zhi dismissed Jiang Man, he joined with his brothers, who were partying with their newly formed toon .

    "Look, little Jiang . We have our private force again! My master said we will dispatch our men to Xuchang to fight against the Xiongnu with other forces . Are you excited? We¡¯re going to get our chance for the real achievement this time!"

    Jiang Man shook his head, "No, Xuande . Do you know that we¡¯re being used? Zhang Tong is using Lu Zhi as a proxy to manipte us into fighting the Xiongnu . "

    Liu Bei snorted, "Manipte us? He¡¯s an idiot then for allowing us to get a chance to demonstrate our might to the world! I¡¯ll show them how our forces triumph over the barbarian tribes!"

 Chapter 310

    Chapter 310: 310

    Chapter 310 ¨C Evolved Lu Bu

    January 1st, 186 A . D .

    Ganling City .

    After midnight .

    Tong sat cross legs in his room, cultivating and meditating . The automatic system had finished giving out the rewards for defending Yi City and Julu City for another year, but Tong did not pay attention .

    The reason for that was because he was contemting how to get across the bottom neck .

    Tong opened his eyes and breathed out cold air of winter .

    "System, report my [Sin] status . "

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    For almost three years, Tong spent every night sitting and cultivating his mind to lower all sins as much as possible .

    As he continued performing duties as the lord of many affiliate cities, his sins slowly reduced to the bottom . However, he could not awaken any wing since all of his mundane actions were not significant enough to be considered a redemption .

    Thanked to his hard work, all sins revealed itself once it reached 0%, which gave Tong a whole picture of what he had sinned in the past .

    Unfortunately, Tong had gotten stuck with three wings for years, and he grew impatience each day, fearing that one day the locals would start getting the angelic or demonic powers like him .

    The deadline of the mobilization was approaching as Jia Xu and Xun Yu had arranged the n for the coalition forces to strike back against Xiongnu . Tong would not have more times to cultivate like this anymore, starting from tomorrow onward .

    ¡¯Sparring without using skills with my generals doesn¡¯t work . Abstaining from luxurious food also didn¡¯t work . What else should I do to create a situation for the awakening?¡¯

    Unable to think of anything, Tong nce at his wife, who was also sitting cross legs and cultivating .

    Hua Shi had two white tentacle wings fluttered behind her back, signifying that she had conquered two virtues, [Love] and [Diligence] . Soon, she would obtain her third wing as most of her virtues were already higher than 50% .

    Their daughter, Zhang Min, was sleeping peacefully on the bed, not knowing what their parents were up to .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll have to lead the coalition this year . At least, I should have four wings to ensure everyone¡¯s safety . But how can I awaken them?¡¯

    Tong nced at his status window .

    .

    *******************************

    **Status**

    Name: Zhang Tong

    Age: 21

    Lifespan 2,819,746 Years

    Shopping Tickets: 24

    [Homing Arrow] LV . 10 MAX

    [Time Stop] LV . 10 MAX

    [Create Food] LV . 10 MAX

    [Firearms Creation] LV . 4 EXP( 615,866/10,000,000 )

    [Radar Map]

    [Inventory]

    [Immortal Yang Vein]

    [Sword Mastery]

    [A Bit Weak Demonic Body]

    [Demonic Curse] - Unusable

    [Demonic Seal] LV . 7

    *******************************

    .

    The skills were unchanged, only the levels of some skills had increased through the dual-cultivation with Friday .

    [Create Food] at max level could give Tong enough food for the millions of civilians for a year, which was the core skill for his empire¡¯s economy .

    [Time Stop] gave Tong 50 additional seconds to act when he faced a dangerous opponent .

    [Firearms Creation] could be used to create handgun bullets, handguns, shotgun bullets, and shotguns . Unfortunately, Tong could not max this skill since the EXP requirement was absurdly high, which the dual-cultivation was not enough to max this skill .

    [Demonic Curse] was unusable as usual, and the [Demonic Seal] was there to keep his sanity in check .

    The rest of the skills were the same .

    ¡¯Should I get rid of my skills to bet on it?¡¯

    It was a bad idea . Tong shook his head and abandoned the thought .

    ¡¯For now, it should be enough to decimate a force of mortals . I still have other trump cards . ¡¯

    Tong clenched his right fist, and the skin of his hand transformed into green luster scales .

    It was the upgraded version of Lamia Step, the Scale Transformation, which was the core technique of Friday that he had mastered during these past years .

    ¡¯I won¡¯t lose to anyone, even Lu Bu with wings!¡¯

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Jinyang County .

    Ding Yuan, Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, and Lu Bu gathered in Ding Yuan¡¯s private courtyard . They had a matter to discuss with Lu Bu .

    Ding Yuan and Li Feihong exined about the n chat feature and the benefits of being in the same n as Tong . However, they were trying to persuade Lu Bu into joining the n .

    "So, you¡¯re saying all of you have joined this immortal n for years ..."

    Ding Yuan and Li Feihong were sweating bullets, fearing that Lu Bu might get mad again . Zhang Liao, on the other hand, still had an indifferent expression .

    "Fengxian, I know that you¡¯re not in good terms with Tong, but you should think of the bigger picture . For years, our county has be more flourish than the times before we serve him . Have you ever seen so many merchantse and go in our city? Do you remember that we can hardly entice any damn merchant toe? We had to bribe several nobles to give a good word for us, so a couple of rich guys came to buy our minerals and coals . "

    Li Feihong nodded, "Yes . Fengxian, our poption back then was only about 50,000 people in our county . But look at the buildings and shops! We have over 200,000 civilians in this god-forsaken ce because Tong¡¯s influence covered here . We can recruit more soldiers . We can have better weaponry . Heck, we¡¯re about toplete the development of a new cannon that can pulverize everyone! Please join us!"

    Ding Yuan could not say anything to convince his adopted son . He only watched the poker-face Lu Bu, staring at each of them .

    The eyes of Lu Bu nced at all of them without showing any sign of emotion . After everyone had finished speaking, Lu Bu slowly opened his mouth .

    "Then, do you know what Tong is nning to do next? I heard he is forming a coalition against the Xiongnu . "

    Li Feihong nodded, "That¡¯s right . Tong invited all governors from all provinces to join the fight . Tong is in Ganling right now, and he will mobilize to Xuchang with other forces this year . Jia Xu and Xun Yu are also nning for another full-scale expansion after we finish with the Xiongnu, so our legion will also be dispatched soon . "

    Lu Bu fell into silence . He closed his eyes and crossed his arms, thinking .

    The awkward atmospherested for another five minutes .

    "I have a few conditions for joining his n . "

    Ding Yuan, Li Feihong, and Zhang Liao were delighted as there was still a chance for Lu Bu and Tong to reconcile .

    Lu Bu continued, "First, he must arrange a resident for my wife in the inner area of Ye City or Julu City . Second, he must arrange a mentor for my daughter . And third, I want the cultivation method for growing angel wings . "

    "What!?"

    Li Feihong and everyone were shocked . Aside from them who were in the n chat, Lu Bu should not have known about this immortal information .

    Zhang Liao frowned, "Where did you learn about this, Fengxian?"

    "A sage called Zuo Ci visited my family and me . He taught me a few things before he left . "

    "..."

    No one here knew about the existence of Zuo Ci . Although Li Feihong knew about the tales of this mystic, it was only a fairy tale derived from a historical record .

    "Tell Tong, give me the cultivation technique, and I¡¯ll serve him . "

    . . .

    >

    >

    It was a message that astonished all n members as they knew that Lu Bu and Tong were not in a good term, yet Lu Bu still joined the n .

    No one dared toment in the n chat, including Hua Shi, Friday, or Li Feihong .

    Except for one lunatic,

    Tong: "Do you realize that once you have joined, you can¡¯t quit?"

    Lu Bu: "As long as you can grant me what I asked for, I don¡¯t care . "

    Tong: "Do you not want to rule over everyone anymore?"

    Lu Bu: "As I said, I don¡¯t care . "

    Tong: "Alright . I¡¯ll grant you what you¡¯ve asked . But can I assign you a task right away?"

    Lu Bu: "Once I have everything, I don¡¯t mind . "

    Tong: "Thanks, I need the Mountaineer Legion south . Go and help the Ghost Legion in Henei . Li Feihong has the supply and weaponry for the task . "

    Lu Bu: "Fine . "

    ...

    ...

    At the night of the same day, Lu Bu heard the obnoxious voice of Lilim for the first time .

    [Hello, God of War biatch! I¡¯m your favorite Goddess of this world . Nice to meet you!]

    "..."

    [Tong has paid me 100,000 years of lifespans as a tuition fee to activate your wings . Be grateful to that brat, alright?]

    "..."

    Lu Bu did not know if he should answer the voice in his head . However, he stared at his status window in a daze . In there, his name and his remaining lifespans were revealed .

    ¡¯Since when did I have a thousand years of lifespans?¡¯

    He had not realized that Tong gave him extra lifespans from the n pool as a bonus . Since he was too preupied with his military duty, he never checked the system log or even knew how he could check it .

    [A silence type? Well, it doesn¡¯t matter . I¡¯ll elerate your growth, and thatpletes the deal . Ciao!]

    >

    >

    Lu Bu sat alone in his room for an entire night, reading through everything that the system had to offer . His reading speed was slow, yet he read through everything twice in patience .

    The sun rose, but Lu Bu had not moved away from his previous location as he was concentrating on the most crucial part of his newly immortal power .

    >

    <[diligence] ¨C="" 47 . 28%="">>

    <[loyalty] ¨C="" 30 . 88%="">>

    <[patience] ¨C="" 93 . 28%="">>

    <[humility] ¨C="" 56 . 34%="">>

    <[abstinence] ¨C="" 97 . 37%="">>

    <[charity] ¨C="" 6 . 13%="">>

    <[honesty] ¨C="" 51 . 66%="">>

    <[kindness] ¨C="" 60 . 99="">>

    ¡¯Zuo Ci taught me to use these as a guidance in life . So this is what he was aiming for . ¡¯

    For years, Lu Bu had been reigning his ill attitude and bad habits to start over . He had never thought that his hard work would be rewarded in this form .

    ¡¯The chances here are the sess rate of awakening wings, and wings are the secret behind Tong and Xiao Wu¡¯s power . ¡¯

    Lu Bu did not wait for his [Patience] and [Abstinence] to reach 100% . He closed his eyes and attempted to breakthrough right away with these two high percentage virtues .

    His heart shook as he felt his soul emerged within his body . Two transparent ghost-like spirits stood behind Lu Bu¡¯s back, watching over him .

    Lu Bu experienced what Tong first had done in the past, the vision of many points of views . It gave him a headache at first, but after an hour of trying to control them, Lu Bu got the hang of it .

    By using the guidance in the note messages that Lilim left behind for him, Lu Bu managed to control the spirits back to his body .

    Two white tentacle wings fluttered behind his back, as well as the surge of power inside his mind and body .

    The eyes of Lu Bu snapped open, staring into a distance into a daze .

    He did notugh or became arrogance upon acquiring new power . Instead, a tear dropped from his eye . All of his hair turned white from the shock .

    For an instant, he had an unpleasant dream that continued to traumatize him on his wake .

    He dreamt that he killed Ding Yuan and bowed his head to Dong Zhuo . </[kindness]></[honesty]></[charity]></[abstinence]></[humility]></[patience]></[loyalty]></[diligence]>

 Chapter 311

    Chapter 311

    Chapter 311 ¨C The Gathering of Ten Warlords ¨C Part One

    Although Tong did not set an exact date for the gathering of the coalition, his mobilization was enough to make all warlords and governors sweat .

    February 15th, 186 A . D .

    It was a few days after the Chinese New Year celebration . However, all citizens in China stopped celebrating and paid more attention to the new grand battle .

    The Immortal Legion of 60,000 soldiers, which had been training in Ganling, headed south toward Xuchang .

    The 40,000 riders of Mountaineer Legion, led by Ding Yuan, marched from Jinyang to Henei .

    The Ghost Legion in Henei had also increased its size . The entire legion now consisted of 60,000 soldiers as Ju Shou and Zhang He had been training to prepare for the next war . They gathered and made camp on the opposite shore of Luo Yang, north of the Yellow River .

    The newly found legion of Friday, the Demon Legion, did not move . They stayed behind on the backline to protect Tong¡¯s affiliate cities from any surprise attack from a possible backstabbing ally .

    The same applied to the Silver Axe Legion in Nanpi . Xu Huang would not join the coalition as they ced themselves as the northern guard, watching the movement of Yuan Shao¡¯s massive army and any possible attack from Xiongnu from the northern borders .

    The news of Tong¡¯s military movement was the trigger of the mobilization of other lords .

    Gongsun Zan took 30,000 soldiers and militias from all of his affiliate cities with him . Lu Zhi, Zhao Yun, and Tian Yu also tagged along with this army as they were currently serving under the banner of the Gongsun n .

    Kong Rong led his army of 15,000 soldiers from Beihei to Xuchang . Within his army, Wang Xiu assisted his lord as an aide . However, none of them realize that one of the great generals in history was with them, working as a one-thousand-manmander, Taishi Ci .

    Liu Bei and his brothers took the 5,000-man troops of militia and volunteers to join the gathering . Jiang Man went along with them, so none of his stupid brothers could do something out of the line .

    Furthermore, Jiang Man took Yuan Shao¡¯s family members with Liu Bei¡¯s troops as a part of the agreement with Yuan Shao that they would return his family in exchange for helping in this coalition .

    Yuan Shao took all 100,000 soldiers with them along with his best generals and strategists, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Tian Feng, Shen Pei, and Guo Tu . Though he did not want to leave Pingyuan City empty without protection, Jiang Man sent his order via the n chat that he had another n for them .

    Other minor governors and warlords, such Zhang Miao, Kong Zhou, and Qiao Mao, each took an army of 10,000 of mixed militias, private troops of noble ns, and professional soldiers with them . As their army was damaged from the previous fight with the uprising bandits, they refused to send more soldiers .

    Tao Qian, however, sent 30,000 men to Xuchang like Gongsun Zan . As a Viceroy of a province, he could not send lower than this even though he did not have any capable general in his army .

    Oddly enough, Zhang Kai, the former bandit leader of the false Yellow Turban, was a part of Tao Qian Army as a thousand-manmander . He and many former bandits had disguised themselves and pretended to be one of Tao Qian¡¯s men .

    Cao Cao¡¯s crippled army had only 20,000 soldiers who could fight . Despite the humiliation, his army prepared several encampments around his territories for the guests that would being this year .

    Sun Jian, Yuan Shu, and Liu Biao did not move to Xuchang as everybody else . They gathered at Wan City as they could attack Xiongnu from the south .

    Sun Jian¡¯s original army of 30,000 troopers had increased to 50,000 as the surrendered bandits join their army .

    Yuan Shu¡¯s men, who had survived from the previous battles with Xiongnu and Dong Zhuo, were left with only 10,000 .

    On the other hand, Liu Biao went all out . He took private soldiers of subordinate nobles in Jing Province with him as a grand army of 50,000 mixed troops marched to Wan together .

    .

    .

    .

    May 17th, 186 A . D .

    All allies gathered at their perspective locations .

    The southern allies of Yuan Shu, Liu Biao, and Sun Jian rallied in Li County, west of Wan City and east of Wu Pass, which blockade the passage to Hongnong City . They were nning to retake Hongnong from Xiongnu, so Luo Yang would be isted .

    110,000 Men were ready!

    Two legions of Tong consisted of 100,000 men, stationed at the north bank of the Yellow River, the opposite side of Luo Yang City . Their job was to attempt crossing the Yellow River and distract the troops of Luo Yang, while the other forces attacked the Xiongnu elsewhere .

    These two legions brought new toys with them, which Li Feihong was proud of . Although he could not build many of these toys, he could not wait to see the shock face of his enemies .

    At Mi County, directly east of Ho Gate, the massive mixed armies of 260,000 soldiers gathered as ten warlords united to fight the Xiongnu . This was their main forces .

    ...

    Mi County, the main tent of ally forces,

    The huge tent of 3-meter-tall and 100 square meters erected inside the center of the encampment . Within there, nine seats were prepared for the participating lords .

    As the owner of the territory, Cao Cao had prepared everything to host all lords . Although he was the host, he sat on the sideline as he did not enjoy taking the limelight in this grand-scale battle .

    Because of his preference, Cao Cao forbade the guards from introducing anyone that entered the tent since he wanted a quick and efficient meeting with Tong . Moreover, he decided to prank all lords a little to evaluate their wits andpetence .

    Cheng Yu and Pu Jing stood behind Cao Cao as their bodyguards . In this gathering, all lords were permitted to allow two armed bodyguards inside, so Cao Cao took Cheng Yu with him as an advisor while Pu Jing could take up roles as a strategist and a bodyguard at the same time .

    Minor lords began entering the tent with their two followers .

    Kong Rong, Kong Zhou, Qiao Mao, Zhang Miao picked their seats which located far away from the main seat at the end of the center carpet .

    Yuan Shao, who had the biggest army, shamelessly sat on the center seat, which was the main seat prepared for Tong . Following after Yuan Shao, Tian Feng and Wen Chou stood behind him .

    Tao Qian and Gongsun Zan sat at their perspective ce, which located next to the main seat . As the only two Viceroys in this gathering, they had the honor of being next to the main guest .

    Lu Zhi and Yan Gang, who was Gongsun Zan¡¯s best general, stood behind their lord as well .

    Behind Tao Qian, Cao Bao and Ze Rong, the best generals of Tao Qian Army, attended the meeting like the others .

    However, as soon as they saw that Yuan Shao stole Tong¡¯s main seat . They frowned .

    Gongsun Zan wanted to protect his junior¡¯s honor and face, he coughed and politely reprimanded Yuan Shao right away .

    "Lord Yuan . That seat has been prepared for Zhang Tong . I think you have made a mistake . "

    Yuan Shao chuckled, "No, Lord Gongsun . I think I¡¯m sitting on the right seat . This seat has been prepared for the leader of this coalition, no?"

    "Yes . But the leader of this coalition is Zhang Tong . "

    "Since when has Zhang Tong be the leader of this coalition?"

    Tao Qian coughed, "Lord Zhang has sent this gathering invitations and has renumerated us with the food supplies . Isn¡¯t he the leader of the coalition by default?"

    Yuan Shao was stillughing, "No, no . You are the one misunderstood something, senior Tao . The one that is responsible for running and donating supplies isn¡¯t our leader but an errand boy . "

    On Gongsun Zan¡¯s face, traces of blood veins bulged as his anger soared . To Gongsun Zan, looking down on his family, friends, and juniors was equally looking down on himself .

    "Don¡¯t you dare to call my junior an errand boy, you loser! Don¡¯t you think we didn¡¯t know about your past grudge against him? How many times had you tried to attack Zhang Tong but you were chased back with your tail tugging between your legs!?"

    This time, Yuan Shao was infuriated . However, he did not reveal in on his face as he had prepared his mental psyche for the political fa?ade .

    "This doesn¡¯t change the fact that he has to tribute us his supplies for us toe here . It shows that who is superior and who¡¯s not! Besides, I¡¯ve contributed the most by bringing 100,000 men here . How many has Tong brought? Only a meager of 60,000 weak militias in weird clothes! Do you think someone who begged for us to help him fighting a barbarian tribe deserve to be our leader? Heck, I don¡¯t think he has grown a hair yet . HAHAHAHA!"

    Wen Chou sniggered, and Tian Feng smirked . While they were listening to the pointless quarrel, Tian Feng reported the incident to Jiang Man via n chat .

    Tian Feng: "My lord has stolen the main seat as you have ordered . It¡¯s your turn . "

    Jiang Man: "We¡¯ll be right there . Tell the guards to let us inside . "

    Tian Feng: "On it . "

    Tian Feng walked to the sentry guards in front of the tent and whispered to the ear, giving the permission to allow a team of four men to enter the tent using the name of Yuan Shao .

    Meanwhile, Lu Zhi peered at Yuan Shao with the corner of his eyes . Even though he and Yuan Shao were colleagues in the past, there was a limit on how someone could insult his proud disciple .

    Gongsun Zan¡¯s face also reddened while Tao Qian gave up bickering and sighed in resignation .

    As Gongsun Zan was about to give Yuan Shao a good scolding, a group of four men barged inside the tent .

    It was Liu Bei and his brothers .

    The crowd got inside while everyone¡¯s attention was on the quarrel between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao . Aside from Tian Feng and Wen Chou, no one noticed their arrival .

    "Oh, look! Xuande, there¡¯s an avable seat . We can sit there!"

    Zhang Fei pointed at the empty seat, which was designated for Yuan Shao .

    "Alright . Let¡¯s sit there and join the meeting . "

    With a smile, Liu Bei strode to the table and sat on the prepared seat .

    At this time, all lords realized the neer, but most of them had never met Zhang Tong face to face, so they thought Liu Bei was Zhang Tong .

    ¡¯Did Zhang Tong yield the seat?¡¯

    ¡¯Is he Zhang Tong?¡¯

    ¡¯Is he a coward? Doesn¡¯t he want to fight back for the seat of themander?¡¯

    ¡¯Wait, he¡¯s brought in three retainers? Hasn¡¯t anyone inform him that he can only bring two!?¡¯

    All minor lords had a bad first-impression on Liu Bei, who they mistook as Tong, right away .

 Chapter 312

    Chapter 312

    Chapter 312 ¨C The Gathering of Ten Warlords ¨C Part Two

    Fortunately for Tong, not all lords and retainers were blind .

    Pu Jing whispered to Cao Cao¡¯s ear, "That¡¯s not Zhang Tong . The guy with long ears is Liu Bei that I told you about . "

    Cao Cao slightly nodded, "Ah, that¡¯s the future headache you have told me about . I knew it¡¯s him from first nce . Then, the guy with a long beard is the future God of War after Lu Bu?"

    "Indeed . He¡¯s Guan Yu, soon to be the Loyal and Righteous God of War . "

    "So, do you think we can tame that Guan Yu? From your story, he deserted my force the moment he heard Liu Bei joined Yuan Shao, right?"

    "I don¡¯t think his loyalty toward Liu Bei is that deep since they had just been brothers for a few years . Let¡¯s try to kill Liu Bei in this war first, then we¡¯ll try to poach Guan Yu . But my lord, be careful of Jiang Man . I believe he¡¯s also an immortal like me . "

    "Ah, I already knew about it actually . I¡¯ll tell youter what my spies had told me after this meeting . It¡¯s a very interesting development . "

    Pu Jing raised his eyebrows for a moment, but he grinned in understanding and stepped back . Good leaders should have their own intelligence agency aside from using the agents of his subordinates . Cao Cao¡¯s action was simr to what Pu Jing did in his previous life .

    Seeing everybody taking their seat, Yuan Shao pped his hands and changed the subject, pretending ignorant .

    "Now that everybody is here . Let¡¯s start our meeting . For someone that might not have known me, I am Yuan Shao . I shall be the leader of this coalition against Xiongnu . "

    As soon as Yuan Shao finished his speech, amotion broke out in front of the tent .

    The guards stopped someone from entering the tent, and the retainers of the leading person were offended for it .

    "Are you blind!? This gentleman here is Zhang Tong, and we¡¯re his followers! Why are you stopping us from entering the ally tent after we have invited all the lords here!?"

    Tong, Xun Yu, and Jia Xu red at the guards as if they wanted to murder someone . They went through so many troubles to get this alliance together, so they could get them to fight the Xiongnu . Why did the sentry guards stop them from entering?

    Tong, who had arrived hereter because he was too busypensating ally forces with his provision, arrived at the gatheringte . He had also sent Hua Shi to Wan City to deal with the provision supply and otherpensation to the allies on the different battlefront, so he was short on hands .

    As for Zhang Min, Tong and Hua Shi did not bring her here . They had entrusted the little girl to Zhang Jiao in Julu .

    "Sir, Lord Zhang Tong has already entered the tent . I need your identification token . "

    "Huh!?"

    Jia Xu and Xun Yu got infuriated to the point that they wanted to pull out their personal pistol and shoot the guard on the spot . Fortunately, Tong raised his hand to stop them .

    "Are you saying that an imposter is impersonating me inside that tent?"

    Tong locked his killing intent on the guards . His current mental strength and cultivation foundation right now had developed during the peaceful years, and it rivaled that of Lu Bu in his early years .

    As he put the pressure on the men, he revealed the jade token, which represented the Zhang family symbol .

    "Is that enough?"

    Tong doubled the killing intent to punish the men . The pressure shuddered the guards, who were sweating profusely from the realization of their mistakes .

    One of the guards had foams on his mouth before he passed out . The two others wet their pants while thest one could hardly stand on his trembling legs from fear .

    "A-Are you really Lord Zhang Tong? T-Then the group of people earlier ..."

    "A group earlier? I see . "

    Their voices and the entire conversation could be heard from inside the tent .

    None of them was stupid . All minor lords turned their attention toward Liu Bei, who brought in three retainers instead of two .

    "So, he¡¯s an imposter?"

    "Wait, then who the hell is this guy?"

    "Someone wants to shame Zhang Tong?"

    Guan Yu noticed the re and felt that something was wrong . He leaned down and whispered to Liu Bei .

    "Xuande, I think this seat is prepared for Zhang Tong . You¡¯re sitting on his ce . "

    "Huh? I¡¯m sitting on that moron¡¯s seat!?"

    The "moron" remarks did not escape the ears of all lords .

    Lu Zhi and Gongsun Zan red at Liu Bei in anger . Calling their fellow junior disciple a moron was not the right thing to do, consider that they were under the same mentor .

    Cao Cao, Cheng Yu, and Pu Jing looked at the development with interest as they wanted to see how Liu Bei would get into trouble or how Tong would react to this fledgling King-to-be in the future .

    Yuan Shao, Tian Feng, and Jiang Man grinned . Getting Tong to fall out with Liu Bei was a part of their ns .

    Because Lu Zhi was still alive in this world, chances that Liu Bei would be forced to join Tong by Lu Zhi still existed . To get Liu Bei out of Tong¡¯s influence, they had to make Liu Bei hate Tong more .

    Causing misunderstanding and Shaming both of them at the same time was the trick!

    Tong disregarded the guards and strode into the tent .

    As soon as he entered the tent, he noticed the weird stares from all lords right away . Looking around a bit more, Tong understood the problem .

    Tong recognized the red face man with a long beard, the long ear man whose arms were absurdly long, and a burly man with a messy beard . They were the three legendary brothers .

    ¡¯So the other one is Jiang Man . Another threat ... Wait a minute . I remember this guy! That son of a bitch almost killed me in the Battle of Ji!¡¯

    A sinister smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face for a split second before it disappeared .

    ¡¯Good . Now that you¡¯re presenting your heads altogether . I can easily kill all of you . Still, using 50 seconds [Time Stop] to kill every lord here can be counterproductive . How am I going to exin to their subordinates that they¡¯re all dead and all of them have to listen to mymand? No, no . That¡¯s a bad idea . I don¡¯t want any no-name local to show up and ruin the historical flow that I set up for them . Having strong but predictable opponents that can develop their cities is better than having unpredictable suicidal idiots that do nothing to help the people . I still have a country to run after the unification!¡¯

    Tong swallowed his temptation of killing all rivals right now for his long term goal . He wore his fa?ade mask and cupped his fist toward Liu Bei, who insisted on sitting .

    "We can finally meet face to face, senior brother Liu . "

    Liu Bei flinched . However, upon seeing the chance for the recovery, Liu Bei stood and returned the greeting, "Well met, junior brother . Ha-ha, I¡¯m sorry that I mistakenly took your seat . Here you can have it back, we¡¯ll be standing behind you . "

    Jiang Man, Yuan Shao, and Tian Feng frowned as they thought, ¡¯They are not fighting?¡¯

    Tongughed and waved his hands, "No, you can take the seat . Actually, it¡¯s not your fault for sitting on any seat . Looking at the prepared reception, we can all see that we¡¯re short by one table . I¡¯ll just start the meeting as I¡¯m standing . It¡¯s better this way since I¡¯ll be the one speaking the most . Well, it¡¯s better than stealing a ce to sit from someone else to satisfy my ego . I¡¯m not low enough to pick a fight with sore losers or retard dogs . When a stupid dog take a piss at a tree to mark their territories, as a human, will you pee on the same tree to show it who the boss is, senior brother Liu?"

    Yuan Shao and Tian Feng red at Tong in anger .

    Gongsun Zan, Lu Zhi, Cao Cao, and Cheng Yu withheld theirughter .

    Tao Qian shook his head as sighed while he muttered to himself, "Karma exists . "

    Kong Rong and all minor lords nced back and forth between Yuan Shao and Tong in nervousness .

    Liu Bei, who was gullible and ignorant in politics and sarcasticments, did not understand the hidden meaning .

    "Of course not . I¡¯d rather beat the dog or chase it away . Why should I piss at a tree?"

    Jiang Man¡¯s face twitched . Tong had indirectly called Liu Bei a stray dog as well, yet his idiot sworn brother did not even realize it .

    Jia Xu and Xun Yu nced at Liu Bei, pitied him .

    ¡¯Foolish trash . ¡¯

    ¡¯Is he really senior Lu¡¯s disciple? How can he be this stupid?¡¯

    Yuan Shao mmed his fist on the table before him, "Lord Zhang Tong, this still doesn¡¯t change the fact that you aren¡¯t the boss of everybody here . If you consider the noble tier, you are at the lowest among us . I¡¯ll lead the coalition and fight back the Xiongnu . You can go back to the supply base and give us the food like your mother belongs, in the kitchen!"

    Tong raised his eyebrows in surprise, wondering what this egotistic noble was nning .

    "Do you want to be the leader of the coalition, Lord Yuan?"

    "I AM their leader! I¡¯m the sessor of an aristocrat family, and the Emperor bestowed me the title of the Grand Chancellor . I have the highest tier of all nobles here!"

    Tong shrugged, "A title from your son . Does that count as a legal title?"

    Several lords sweated as they sensed the smoke of the internal fighting before the war . All of them knew about how Yuan Shao enthroned his son as the new Emperor using He Jin as a sole supporter, plus nobody wanted to follow this bogus family .

    Tong ignored Yuan Shao¡¯s reaction and nced at Cao Cao, whom Tong also recognized through the facial expression and manner .

    "So he said, Lord Cao Cao? Didn¡¯t your empress give you a simr promotion, too?"

    The face of Cao Cao twitched this time . He also forced the false empress, Diaochan, to give him the Prime Minister title, which equaled to the Grand Chancellor title of Yuan Shao .

    This meant the noble tier of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were the same . As a result, Yuan Shao¡¯s im was invalid since Cao Cao was also a candidate for the leader of the coalition .

    Furthermore, it revealed the dark sides of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao¡¯s political moves, discrediting both lords at the same time .

    At air in the tent grew more menacing as Tong provoked the powerhouse left and right .

    These three people were considered the dominant forces of the country at the moment . Yet, instead of uniting their forces and fight the Xiongnu together, Tong was doing the opposite .

    Tong¡¯s supporters, Gongsun Zan and Kong Rong, were looking at this young immortal with concerns .

    ¡¯What are you doing, Zhang Tong?¡¯

 Chapter 313

    Chapter 313

    Chapter 313 ¨C The Gathering of Ten Warlords ¨C Part Three

    Though Cao Cao did not like it when Tong reminded everybody about his hical politic moves, he swallowed his pride and smiled back .

    "Our pasts may have caused us a couple of misunderstanding . We¡¯re here to repel the Xiongnu barbarian tribes . Let¡¯s focus on the crisis at hand and unite as one . "

    All minor lords admired how mature Cao Cao was . They nodded and spoke in approval to change the subject .

    "Lord Zhang, let¡¯s forget about our pasts and focus on the Xiongnu . Didn¡¯t you invite us here to fight them together?"

    "Yes . Let¡¯s bygone be bygone . All of us here dipped our hands in the dirty water here and there, including you . Let¡¯s not throw dirty water at each other and cooperate . "

    "Indeed . Lord Zhang, Lord Yuan, let¡¯s not fight each other here and look at the big picture . If we don¡¯t drive the Xiongnu away from ournd now, our 400 years dynasty will end in our generation . "

    Kong Zhou, Qiao Mao, and Zhang Miao wanted them to stop fighting temporarily . Gongsun Zan and Kong Rong frowned as they concerned about Tong¡¯s move .

    However, Lu Zhi, Xun Yu, and Jia Xu did notment as they knew why Tong poked the ho nests .

    Tong raised his hand up to gesture that he had something to speak . All lords quieted down to listen .

    "You have misunderstood me . I¡¯m not pointing out the current noble status to provoke anyone . Instead, I¡¯m trying to exin why I have the full right to be the grandmander of this coalition . Within a few minutes, another guest will arrive here to exin to you why . I hope that you can wait a bit . "

    While smiling, Tong typed into the n chat .

    Tong: "Lady He, please . "

    A minute after the deration and the message, ten female servants escort a red decorated carriage, carried by eight strong men, arrived at the front of the tent .

    A female escort presented a token to the trembling guards, which terrified them further . He screamed and announced their entrance in a panic .

    "H-H-Her Majesty Empress He and His Highness Prince Liu have arrived!"

    Everybody in the tent was petrified . Aside from Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Gongsun Zan, and Kong Rong, most of them did not know that they were still alive .

    Liu Bei also opened his eyes wide, jumping in exhrating that the Han Dynasty royalties were still alive . As long as he could prove that he carried the bloodline of Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, he could raise his noble rank and obtain high status .

    Kong Rong expected this to happen when Wang Xiu reported to him that He Xing picked Tong as her prince consort . He bitterly smiled and sighed a relief as the Han Dynasty would not die in his generation .

    ¡¯Allying with Zhang Tong is the right choice . With Zhang Tong and He Xingbination, this chaos will end soon . ¡¯

    Cao Cao gulped down and closed his eyes in preparation . He did not expect Tong to drag the former empress into this alliance meeting, but he understood now why Tong brought up their past evil deeds .

    ¡¯A blunder for me, but it¡¯s better for the country . With He Xing here, no one will dare to defy her authority, and we¡¯ll be able to fight as one . I can see several moves that she can use in the aftermath using Zhang Tong as her proxy . Well, I fail to unite thend as one, but having her manipting Zhang Tong or the other way around is better than my long-term unification n . With her here, there is still a chance for the Han Dynasty!¡¯

    Cao Cao reopened his eyes, and his face regained its color . In his mind, he changed his goals and policies from the total unification under his rule into the pacification of allnd . As long as people could enjoy peace, he did not mind being a loser .

    ¡¯There is still hope . I don¡¯t need to take the helm . ¡¯

    As if he had moved a mountain out of his chest, Cao Caoughed and smiled .

    On the other hand, Yuan Shao¡¯s face paled as he was afraid that she might retaliate against him because of his past action .

    Pu Jing nced at the direction of the oing empress . His face was still indifferent as ever .

    ¡¯A brilliant move . Killing several birds in one stone . Now, anyone who defies Zhang Tong will be marked as rebels . This unification n of Cao Cao is over . ¡¯

    Behind Liu Bei, Jiang Man bit his fingernail .

    ¡¯Liu Bei is going to join Zhang Tong at this rate! Should I activate my skill and kill them here? No, I have to destroy that Xiongnu Army first . Once everyone gets to Luo Yang, they will begin fighting each other like in historical events . There is still hope . ¡¯

    He Xing in a decorated white dress held the right hand of Liu Xie, who was five-year-old this year . They ambled inside the tent together while everyone else kowtowed and ced their forehead on the ground .

    "Long Live Her Majesty . May you be blessed and live a long and prosperous life for a thousand year!"

    A corner of He Xing¡¯s mouth curved upward as she found the nostalgia greeting funny . After joining Tong¡¯s n, she obtained extra lifespans, which she could literally live that long . Furthermore, her aging stopped when she joined the n, and she could maintain her youth forever .

    ¡¯Come to think of it . All emperors sought eternal youth and immortality . Yet, I¡¯ve obtained it instead of them in the middle of my life crisis . Like Tong has said, life is a tragedy to those who feel, and aedy to those who think . ¡¯

    In a good mood, she walked next to Tong, who was the only one standing .

    "It¡¯s nice to see all of our retainers gathering to fight the foreign invaders . Although there were many unfortunate conflicts and misunderstanding in the past, we hope that you can temporarily forget our differences and work together . "

    Listening to the empress, everybody sighed in relief . With her current attitude, no one would dare to cause a scene .

    "We understand, your majesty!"

    Meanwhile, Liu Xie throttled inside the tent . He looked around with his innocent eyes .

    Seeing that nothing was interesting, he turned around to his mother . When Liu Xie saw the face of Tong, who was looking back at him with a smile, Liu Xie cried out in joy .

    "Papa!"

    Everybody in the tent flinched . The officials were not stupid enough to catch what their rtionship was .

    ¡¯Yup, it¡¯s a check-mate,¡¯ Cao Cao snickered in his mind .

    ¡¯Well yed, Zhang Tong . In this world, it¡¯s your win,¡¯ Pu Jing also ran out of ideas to make Cao Cao an emperor . It was impossible for them now with Tong¡¯s rtionship with the royalties .

    Cheng Yu did not speak or think . He simply smiled and bowed his head as if nothing had happened .

    Liu Bei, however, had menacing eyes, ring at Liu Xie and Tong .

    ¡¯How dare you! You opportunist bastard! How dare you seduce her majesty! You are just a silver pant son of a rebel . How dare you take her majesty!?¡¯

    His hatred intensified as Liu Bei thought that Tong had already consummated with He Xing .

    Unbeknownst to the motive of all retainers, He Xing grinned . However, her eyes fixated at the seat where Yuan Shao was sitting .

    "Long traveling is tiring for my son . May we have a seat, Yuan Benchu?"

    Yuan Shao jolted in fear . He crept back and withdrew from his seat since he had no choice . Tian Feng and Wen Chou also retreated back to the side of the tent, allowing their lord to escape from the predicament .

    Yuan Shao gritted his teeth in anger, "The seat is yours, your majesty . "

    At first, Yuan Shao wanted to shame Tong in front of everyone to pay back and satisfy his ego . Yet, in the end, he had to attend the meeting without a proper seat .

    Though soldiers from the outside brought him another set of short table, carpet, and a cushion, he was frustrated that he lost his position of the leading coalition because of the girl he had nned to enve .

    "Very well . Tong, my dear . Come sit with me . "

    The word "My dear" from He Xing had many meanings to all lords . It concluded that who had the highest status among them all .

    Also, it solidified Tong¡¯s stance in the Han Court . No one could deny hismand now .

    Meanwhile, Tong nodded and held his hand with Liu Xie . They walked together like a family and sat on the main seat in the middle end of the tent .

    Xun Yu and Jia Xu stood behind Tong without uttering a word . It was unnecessary for them to talk now anyway since they hadpleted their n .

    Tong was now the suprememander of the alliance by default . Should anyone defy his order, they would be equally challenging the empress herself and be gged as rebels of the Han Dynasty . Then, all their nine generations would be executed by the officials .

    Upon sitting, He Xing dered, "First, I need all of you to know that Zhang Tong is my current prince consort . He will take charge of the Han Court while Liu Xie has not matured enough to seed the throne . Do you best to support him!"

    "We understand, your majesty!"

    No one dared to object He Xing¡¯s deration .

    "I¡¯ll leave themand of the armies to you, my dear . "

    Tong nodded while he was holding Liu Xie on hisps, hugging him . Meanwhile, Liu Xieughed and yed with themand seal on the table without caring about the eyes of others .

    Ignoring his fatherly image, Tong cleared his throat .

    "All lords are now presented . I¡¯ll begin the briefing . We¡¯ll start with the distribution of the troops and cement of our ally armies . "

    ...

    Tong did not hide anything about his legions cement . He revealed that another 100,000 soldiers were standing by on the northern shore of the Yellow River, getting ready to pincer attack Luo Yang City at any moment .

    The mixed southern armies of Sun Jian, Liu Biao, and Yuan Shu, who did not participate in this meeting, also gathered 110,000 men . They would attack the southern pass of Hongnong to nk the Xiongnu Army .

    As for the main assault troops, it would be them . The total of 260,000 mixed forces was in charge of crossing Ho Gate and confronting the main army of Xiongnu .

    ...

    The cement and the scale of this battle gave the minor lords a cold sweat .

    Cao Cao, Gongsun Zan, and Yuan Shao had a deep frown on their face . They had concerns .

    Tian Feng stepped forward first toment on this arrangement .

    "I disagree with this policy and your entire n . It¡¯s clear that your main forces located on the north bank of the Yellow River while the armies here will draw the attention from the Xiongnu . When the fight breaks out, the coalition armies at our location will suffer the most casualty . But in the meantime, your troops will only face a small detached force of Xiongnu, and you will reap the rewards from plundering their cities before we can even cross the Ho Gate . I don¡¯t know what the others think, but to me, you¡¯re using us as baits . "

    Tian Feng attempted to pry open a crack of this coalition right away .

 Chapter 314

    Chapter 314

    Chapter 314 ¨C Cao Cao¡¯s Flexibility

    The words of Tian Feng aroused suspicion from other lords as well . However, they nced at He Xing in fear and withheld their opinion .

    Jiang Man saw this as a chance, he followed up with his thought .

    "I also disagree with this cement . We can easily tell from the nce that your army distribution is unequal right away . You¡¯ve brought only 60,000 soldiers here while the other ce houses 100,000 men . You are paying more attention to the northern shore front since it is your main army! Are you using us as your cannon fodders?"

    Cao Cao, Cheng Yu, and Pu Jing nced back and forth between Yuan Shao and Jiang Man .

    Pu Jing whispered to Cao Cao, "Are these two factions the interesting thing you said earlier?"

    Cao Cao chuckled, "You¡¯re sharp as always . Yes, Jiang Man is an immortal, and he has a secret rtionship with Yuan Shao . My spies found that they formed a deal behind the back of Zhang Tong . "

    Pu Jing sighed and shook his head in disappointment .

    ¡¯In any age, people like this exist . Instead of focusing their priority on urgent tasks as one, they fight like hungry dogs . ¡¯

    Cheng Yu muttered to himself from the sight, "Foolish politicians . What¡¯s the point of getting in the way of the war now? They only reveal their hostility to motivate Zhang Tong into using them as pawns . "

    While the lords murmured and gossiped with their retainers, Tong blinked thrice and raised his eyebrows in bemusement .

    "Have I said which army I will put on the frontline? I haven¡¯t said anything about the details of our front yet, no?"

    Tian Feng and Jiang Man frowned . At that moment, Yuan Shaoughed .

    "Then, why don¡¯t you put your own army on the front while all of us will follow you once you charge into the enemy lines? Would this erase the doubts?"

    Tong shrugged as if he did not care, "Sure, why not?"

    Tian Feng, Yuan Shao, and Jiang Man grinned . They believed that Tong was a na?ve fool by epting their proposal .

    However, Tong added, "Before I go into the army allocation and cement . I want to encourage everyone, so you will fight Xiongnu efficiently . First, I¡¯ll put a bounty on Xiongnu soldiers . For each soldier that your men kill, I¡¯ll reward you one gold each . "

    The face of all lords twitched . Although their ie was not much, they were not poor enough to be tempted by a standard reward that theymonly used with their subordinates .

    "Secondly, I will give 200,000 gold and a year of provision to any lord that first crosses Ho Gate . "

    Zhang Miao, Qiao Mao, Kong Zhou, and Kong Rong gulped . They were minor lords whose city did not generate much ie taxes, so 200,000 gold was tempting .

    Meanwhile, Tao Qian and Gongsun Zan wiped their sweat . Though they could earn 100,000 to 200,000 gold each year from the taxes of their province, having an extra 200,000 was also good . Even Cao Cao had to lower his eyes to calm his emotion since he needed resources to develop Xuchang and Runan .

    On the other hand, Yuan Shao snorted . He owned several businesses in Nanpi, so he had seen an ount with seven digits of gold . This little amount did not interest him .

    As for Liu Bei, his mood swung from anger, exhrating, excitement, and then frustrated as if he had a bi-pr syndrome . Nobody knew what he was thinking .

    "And third, all lords who havee here to contribute to the cause will be promoted in noble tier once we repel the Xiongnu away from ournds . As for which position will be granted, I can¡¯t say . Her Majesty will decide on this . "

    He Xing also followed through with the persuasion, "We shall judge yourpetence in this battle . You can hide on the backline if you want to, but those that sacrifice themselves will not return home unrewarded . As a matter of fact, we¡¯re looking for the right person to run Luo Yang, Hongnong, Chang¡¯An, and other cities that we will retake from the Xiongnu . We can make him a viceroy of a province to govern all these cities together, or we can make him a governor of our province capital Ye City or our affiliate cities . It depends on the result and your skills . Also, I¡¯m willing to reconcile with those that erected false Empress or Emperor in the past as long as they show good results in this war . "

    Cao Cao turned to He Xing in disbelief . He looked back to Cheng Yu and Pu Jing without minding his manner, gesturing that he wanted their opinion .

    Both Cao Cao¡¯s retainers nodded in approval . This was an opportunity for them to regain their status and salvage from their blunder with Diaochan .

    Staring at the two bad-mouth strategists, Cao Cao calcted if the merit of getting on good terms with He Xing and Tong worth sacrificing his ambition . Then, he smacked his forehead .

    ¡¯What¡¯s there to hesitate!? I¡¯ve lost the initiative of the unification . At worst, I¡¯ll simply work under him and climb my ranks like I used to . Ending the chaos takes priority!¡¯

    Cao Cao stood up and bowed, "Lord Zhang Tong, I wish to deploy my men on the frontline . I hope you can count it on us . "

    The sudden volunteer of Cao Cao surprised Yuan Shao and Jiang Man . They thought that Cao Cao would be hostile toward Tong for sure, yet He Xing¡¯s words flipped the attitude of Cao Cao 180 degrees .

    Once a dominant force like Cao Cao took the lead, other factions followed suit . Gongsun Zan also stood up .

    "My White Rider Legion never lost against the Xiongnu! Let the elites take the frontline!"

    Tao Qian coughed and also bowed to He Xing, "Our troops may becking, but we¡¯re willing to join you on your great cause . "

    All minor lords stood and pledged along with the other major forces, which baffled Tian Feng and Yuan Shao .

    Liu Bei, however, did not speak or stood up to show off his loyalty toward the Empress . Instead, he squinted his eyes as he watched all bootlickers and opportunists dancing in the palm of He Xing and Tong .

    He might not be too bright in many certain aspects, but he understood Tong¡¯s motive . Had Liu Bei not had bias thought against Tong, he would have joined the bandwagon .

    ¡¯Pawns . Sacrificial pawns are everywhere . Only Yuan Shao is sober from the temptation . Very well, all of you can go and die in the battlefield . Once you¡¯re weakened enough, I¡¯ll let my brothers disy their prowess and take all the credits!¡¯

    While everybody was shouting, trying to get the attention of He Xing, Jiang Man stepped back as he resigned from his attempt to step on Tong¡¯s feet .

    His eyes nced on his status menu . He managed to collect over 90,000 lifespans from the angelic wing cultivation and the gathering of natural life forces . It would take a bit of time to rebuy his skill from Lilim .

    ¡¯So far, Zhang Tong gains the total control over the coalition . I¡¯ll let him do whatever he wants for now . Once I have enough lifespans, I¡¯ll bet on the skill I can get back . If I can get my [Ninjutsu], I can destroy Zhang Tong¡¯s soldiers from within . ¡¯

    ...

    Half a dayter, Tong finalized the deployment order and the allocation of the next battle .

    Cao Cao, Gongsun Zan, Liu Bei, and Tong¡¯s Immortal Legion would take the lead in this assault . The 115,000 soldiers of these four armies would be the first wave, while Yuan Shao¡¯s 100,000 soldiers would follow as the second wave . The rest of the lords were assigned as reserves for the prolonged war .

    Liu Bei was shocked when he heard that Tong put him and his troops on the frontline instead of using the volunteered lords . However, He Xing was there in the meeting the entire time, so Liu Bei could not protest . He bowed his head and acknowledged his duties .

    All of the lords left the tent to their camp, going back to rest . He Xing and her son also left to call it a day as well .

    However, two factions decided to remain in the meeting tent .

    Tong, Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Cao Cao, Cheng Yu, and Pu Jing stayed behind . The six men sat around a new table, which the guards brought in wines and food for the men .

    Tong nced back and forth between Cao Cao and Pu Jing before he raised his wine cup .

    "For the cooperation . "

    Cao Cao toasted, "For the people and our country . "

    Both of them gulped down the wine . Afterward, they stared at each other to the eyes .

    Cao Cao lost his patient and spoke first, "I¡¯ve lost . You stole my Empress, and the righteous cause is on your side . I can¡¯t fight you anymore . "

    "I stole your Empress?"

    "What? Didn¡¯t you order your wife to infiltrate my city, razed my granaries, and killed my general?"

    "Hold it! I¡¯ve yet to make a move on you! Who raided your city?"

    "It¡¯s your goddamn Xiao Wu! Stop putting on fa?ade already . I don¡¯t want to recall our past . I¡¯m here because I want to reconcile . Can we have a peace talk? I don¡¯t like wasting times . "

    The new info about his wife shocked Tong . He took a deep breath and changed the subject . As for this issue, he would deal with itter on .

    "Cao Cao, will you join me after we finish with the Xiongnu?"

    Cao Cao chuckled, "Do I have a choice? If I don¡¯t, my Cao family will be executed because of me . "

    Tong¡¯s eyes turned to Pu Jing, "And you?"

    Pu Jing shrugged, "I have no options . You have the royalty¡¯s backing while we¡¯ve lost ours . Just put me in your n and get over with it . "

    Tong smiled wryly at Pu Jing, "I¡¯ve used up my quota this year . I¡¯ll get you in my nter . "

    This year, Tong put the eldest son of Sima Fang, Sima Lang, into his n to ensure their loyalty . If he wanted to recruit Cao Cao or Pu Jing into his n now, he had to bring either Friday or Te Langpu here . Tong also could not use Hua Shi as he had sent her to Wan City .

    The face of Cao Cao changed, "I have a condition for my surrender though, will youply?"

    "I¡¯m not heartless . If it¡¯s something I can do, I¡¯ll grant it . "

    Cao Caoughed, "Okay! You¡¯ve promised . Now, listen to my condition . "

    "Okay ..."

    "Let me sleep with your wives . "

    "FOOK YOU!"

    "BWAHAHAHA!!"

    ...

    Until midnight, Cao Cao and Tong tuned their thought and had a heart-to-heart talk about the worldly affair and their vision .

    Cao Cao gave the real condition to Tong . As long as Tong would not take the throne and relinquish his right to Liu Xie, Cao Cao was willing to work in the same faction, and he would bring in the Xiahou n to help Tong as well .

    It was a difficult condition to him since all his subordinates had been gearing to ascent Tong to the throne . Jia Xu and Xun Yu did not hesitate to decline it since they did not need to satisfy Cao Cao¡¯s condition, which made the talk awkward .

    In the end, Tong postponed his decision, but he did not refuse the condition that Cao Cao gave him .

 Chapter 315

    Chapter 315

    Chapter 315 ¨C Khan¡¯s Confidence

    Tong, Jia Xu, and Xun Yu returned to their camp . The two strategists did not speak much in the meeting as they only observed the participating warlords and analyzed their capability through their actions .

    They came to a conclusion . Aside from the opportunist Cao Cao, the young fox Jiang Man, and the untrustworthy Yuan Shao, the rest of the lords would soon be food for Tong in the future . As long as Tong destroy these three forces, the unification of the country was a guarantee .

    Putting Liu Bei and his brothers on the frontline was Jia Xu¡¯s idea . As for the other troop cement, Xun Yu had pre-nned before the meeting .

    Regardless had they volunteered or not, Tong would have done the same .

    However, they still disagreed that Tong wanted to follow Cao Cao¡¯s condition to get Cao n, Xiahou n, and all Cao Cao¡¯s subordinates to Tong¡¯s side .

    They wanted Tong to be their Emperor, not the inexperienced Liu Xie .

    Jia Xu and Xun Yu nked Tong¡¯s sides and kept persuading their lord to change his mind .

    "We¡¯ve already released our propaganda about your coronation . Changing it now will damage our credibility as a ruler! Your officials will also be dissatisfied with yourck of ambition . Remember that Zhang He? Didn¡¯t he see you as his Immortal King? If you bow your head to your foster son, how can you call yourself the Immortal King?"

    "Lord, if we give favorable treatment to a couple of minor ns for their submission, the other lords will demand more conditions for their surrender . You must not grant Cao Cao anything!"

    "That¡¯s right! My lord, we will enthrone you first . Then, you can dominate Cao Cao by force if you have to . You have the guardian spirits as your trump cards, but Cao Cao did not have any . Even if that Pu Jing grows wings, he will be outgunned because we have more immortal members than theirs . See? We have absolute power . No matter how trickery they are, sheer power will put them into his ce . "

    "Indeed . Lord, my cousin Xun You sent me a letter if he can switch to our side . Do you know what it means? It reveals a sign that there should be more of Cao Cao¡¯s subordinates who want to join you, but they can¡¯t . Once you¡¯ve gone through the coronation, you will gain the righteous cause to unify thend . No one can stop or dissuade you from mobilizing armies or recruit anyone anymore . "

    Listening to his advisors, Tong had a headache .

    They had a point, but Tong was cautious of Cao Cao¡¯s luck and his real skills as a liege . If Tong can avoid the confrontation with Cao Cao, he would do it . Unfortunately, the cost of that was too great to disregard .

    "I¡¯ll think about it . For now, I¡¯m tired . "

    Jia Xu and Xun Yu paused as they observed Tong¡¯s facial expression . Seeing the eyes of their lord gazing into the distance in a daze, they shut their mouth .

    Both of them bowed and called it a day, allowing Tong to rest .

    ...

    In his private tent, Tong began interrogating Friday, spamming the chat log .

    Tong: "Friday, what did you do in Xuchang?"

    Tong: "Answer me . I knew you¡¯re reading this . "

    Tong: "Cao Cao told me that you raided his city and killed his general . Do you know that I¡¯m trying to recruit him into my n, so we can avoid the unnecessary bloodshed?"

    Tong: "Now that you¡¯ve caused some damages . His stance is friendly, but I can tell that he¡¯s holding a grudge . He demanded me to abandon the throne to give it to Liu Xie, or he won¡¯t join us . "

    Tong: "Answer me, Friday! Why did you disobey my order?"

    In Shangdang City, Friday read at the n chat while she was sweating . She did not know what to reply .

    Diaochan sat beside her, watching her wry smile and sweating face .

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "Tong called me out in the n chat . He found out ..."

    "Did he meet Cao Cao in the gathering?"

    "Yeah, he said that Cao Cao told him about my visit . "

    "What did he say in there?"

    "He¡¯s pissed . He said he tried to recruit Cao Cao, but he was probably rejected . "

    "Put me in the n chat . Let me handle it . "

    "Okay . "

    >

    >

    Li Feihong, Hua Shi, and Te Langpu almost choked blood when they read the notification . No idiot would not know this legendary woman¡¯s name .

    But Tong knew who she really was .

    Diaochan: "This is Medusa . Tong, I¡¯m with Friday . "

    Diaochan read the backlog of the conversation while she appeased Tong¡¯s anger in the chat . Though Friday went against Tong¡¯s order, she had her reasons .

    Diaochan: "I¡¯ve heard from Friday that Liu Yang ckmailed her into joining the Xiongnu, or she will kill me . She went to Xuchang to rescue me because of that . "

    Diaochan: "Also, assassins from Xiongnu are disguising as my bodyguards . I was that close from being killed . Don¡¯t me her, Tong . "

    Dong Bai: "I¡¯m sorry, Tong . This is my mother . Her lifees first . "

    Tong, Friday, and Diaochan did not sleep that night as they had a lot of things to talk about . Sometimes, job and family affair did not get along .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Luo Yang City .

    Khan was aware of the gathering of the coalition . Instead of being panic, heughed as he thought that it was to be expected .

    "You bunch of insects gathered against Dong Zhuo and me in my previous life . Yet here, your mob teamed up against me again . Do you think I¡¯m the na?ve fool like back then!?"

    Li Ru, Huo Xiong, Li Jue, Guo Si, Ma Teng, Han Sui, and a hundred of minor officers stood in the throne room, watching Khan who was sitting on the throne and Liu Yang who sat behind him .

    They did not know what Khan was babbling about, but they were smart enough to catch a few keywords .

    ¡¯Previous life?¡¯

    ¡¯Gather against Dong Zhuo and him?¡¯

    ¡¯Team up against him again?¡¯

    Li Ru ignored the trivial matters . He stepped forward as he was concern about the coalition .

    "My lord, 100,000 soldiers are stationing north of the Yellow River . The other 100,000 are attacking Wu Pass, and the main force of 200,000 men willy siege on Ho Gate soon . We hope you can share your wisdom and your n in this battle . "

    Instead of giving advice, Li Ru asked for a strategy for the next battle . As a new officer in a new force, Li Ru did not dare to reveal hispetence .

    Khan snorted, "Liu Yang, take 200,000 clone army to Wu Pass with Li Ru, Pang De, and Ma Teng . Do not confront Sun Jian and his army head-on . Try to burn their supply or buy times for our main army to retreat . "

    Upon hearing the word "Retreat," Li Ru was shocked .

    "My lord, retreat? Don¡¯t we have a superior number?"

    Khan rolled his eyes, "Look at the entire map, fool . We¡¯re being attacked by three sides, and the real attack wille from the northern bank of the Yellow River . The rest of the troops are nothing but baits . If we try to defend them all, we will fall into the enemy¡¯s trap . "

    This reborn Lu Bu was not na?ve enough to fight directly against Sun Jian Army again to lose another battle . He knew that in terms of troops maneuvering, he was not as good as Sun Jian . Furthermore, he received the intel from his spies that Sun Jian Army housed two reincarnators .

    Khan would not take a gamble in a battle that he had high chances to lose . Moreover, he knew that one of the reincarnators was the original owner of his copied skill, [Cultivator] .

    Khan also had a skill, which was the foundation of his strength .

    [Copy]

    It was the skill that Khan created when he returned to this world .

    When he was thrown into the empty space, he remembered his bitter past, which he was envious of all lords who had more experiences and skills than himself . Thus, he wanted to learn them all and turn them into his powers, so he could change his life .

    Thus, the skill, [Copy], was created .

    The result was unimaginable . Khan could copy objects, provision, living beings, and even skills of otherworlders . Whenever he used it, he could choose any power from the list without having to see the owner of the skills .

    It was like an encyclopedia of all skills that existed in this world .

    Moreover, when he used it to copy human beings, he could adjust the memory of the person he would create . He could create a brainwashed army as long as he had enough lifespans!

    Though he had a rough start because of the upkeep of this skill, it bore fruits once he copied Tong¡¯s [Sword Mastery] and began harvesting lifespans by killing people in wars with his rival tribes .

    Unfortunately, he could not copy many skills after Lilith put a restriction on all otherworlders . He suffered bacshes of having too many skills and had to delete some to save his life . Later on, Lilim came and wiped his powers again .

    But thedy luck was still on his side . One of the ve traders sold him a young girl, which happened to be the goddess whose power was stripped by Lilim, Liu Yang .

    Liu Yang told him everything about the abnormally of this world and the existence of all otherworlders . In exchange for her guidance and the secret of the angelic wing cultivation, he had to destroy the Han Dynasty, Zhang Tong, and his family!

    Khan epted the task in glee . He acquired four wings and regained his skillster on . In the end, he invaded China with his Xiongnu Army and his clone troopers .

    Now, he nned to do his best not to repeat the same blunder .

    "Huo Xiong, Han Sui, Li Jue, Guo Si, you four take 200,000 men . Go and block the invasion from the northern bank . No matter what happens, do not let them cross the river . If you see Lu Bu or Ding Yuan in those armies, notify me in the n chat . "

    Khan turned his gaze at the rest of the officers, "The rest of you, fall back to Chang¡¯An . I will take my special force to greet them at Ho Gate! I want to see if these so-called [Immortals] are worthy to be my opponent!"

    ...

    May 20th, 186 A . D .

    Khan and his 100,000 special force troopers stationed on the long wall, blocking the passage through the mountain and the northern Yellow River .

    It was the famous Ho Gate .

    East of the legendary gate, soldiers of the coalition forces formed arrays .

    500 Siege towers, 500 siegedders, and 500 trebuchets were distributed to the frontline armies . Furthermore, Pu Jing and Cao Cao brought their toys with them, which revealed to the alliance warlords for the first time .

    Five 14th-century cannons!

    They were not wheeled-cannons, but stationary cannons that relied on manpower to move and aim .

    The cannons baffled the alliance, but it gave Tong a sense of crisis .

    "This is why I don¡¯t want to fight him . He catches up with our technologies too fast . "

 Chapter 316

    Chapter 316

    Chapter 316 ¨C The Ten Clones of Lu Bu

    The first wave of the coalition consisted of range infantries .

    Because of Pu Jing¡¯s influence, Cao Cao paid more attention to archers and artilleries .

    Gongsun Zan Army had long adapted to Xiongnu cavalry archers, so their troops were all range cavalries to counter the Xiongnu warhorses .

    As for Tong¡¯s Immortal Legion, he did not need to worry . More than half of his soldiers were wearing steel te mail set, which their shining armors reflected the sunlight . With 30,000 tanking knights and backline archers, a chaotic siege battle did not scare Tong .

    Moreover, all of his thousand-manmanders had toys that Tong distributed to all of them, Benelli M4 Tactical shotguns . Each personal carried 20 rounds of buckshot shells as Tong did not want everyone to overly rely on it . They were only for the protection against a surprise charge from the Xiongnu .

    All shotguns were created by using Tong¡¯s [Firearm Creation] skill, which he leveled up to the point that he could create shotguns and shotgun shells now .

    Unlike the other forces, Liu Bei and his men were a bunch of militias and volunteer troops of ordinary peasants . Because they did not have archers, they would stand in the front to charge at the wall along with all siege weapons .

    Tong looked at the sweating Liu Bei and his brothers with a grin .

    ¡¯Show me your skills, Jiang Man . What cheats do you have?¡¯

    It was a n to force Jiang Man to reveal his trump cards, so Tong coulde up with a n to counter his skills in the future .

    If all of them were to die in this battle, it would have been fine either way .

    Meanwhile, Jiang Man had noticed the "Knights" and the modern shotguns in the hands of Tong¡¯s officers . He bit his lower lips in anxiousness .

    ¡¯Damn it! I should have gone for Cao Cao instead of Liu Bei!¡¯

    Looking at Cao Cao¡¯s legion and seeing the heavy bronze cannons being carried by Cao Cao¡¯s soldiers, Jiang Man sweated bullets .

    ¡¯Even Cao Cao already researched firearms! I underestimated them all . If that Sun familyes up with something like the Dutch Men-of-War warships with cannons, Liu Bei won¡¯t have a chance . ¡¯

    Jiang Man¡¯s breathing became rough as his anxiety intensified . However, Guan Yu patted his back .

    "Don¡¯t get nervous, little Jiang . I don¡¯t think Zhang Tong willunch the assault directly from the start . "

    "Huh? Why?"

    Guan Yu pointed at the movement on top of the Ho Gate far away . Cloud of dust was being kicked into the air, and the sound ofmotion from behind the gate was getting louder .

    "Someone ising out of the gate . I think we will warm up with a few duels between generals before we send in the troops . They are nning to boost their morale by killing a few generals of our alliance first . "

    Jiang Man widened his eyes and stared at themotion . His grumpy expression turned into a smile .

    ¡¯This event is heading toward the novel version of the coalition battle! This can be a good chance to escape from this predicament!¡¯

    .

    In the 14th-century novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, neen warlords formed a coalition and assaulted Ho Gate together .

    Before the fight, Dong Zhuo deployed Hua Xiong, followed by Lu Bu, to challenge a duel with all representative generals of the coalition army .

    Minor warlords sent their elite and veteran generals to fight . However, Hua Xiong killed them all before Guan Yu put a stop on the streak .

    Lu Bu came outter to regain morale, and he managed to secure a couple of victories . Yet again, the three brothers cheated the duel and ganged on Lu Bu, which forced him to retreat back behind Ho Gate . Then the siege battle followed .

    .

    Behind Ho Gate, Khan rode his Red Hare King toward the gate and ordered it opened .

    Khan was aware of the fictional story about his previous life as Liu Yang exined everything to him . Therefore, he avoided the death of Hua Xiong by sending him to fight Tong¡¯s troops at the river bank instead .

    As for himself, he did not believe that the three brothers who had backstabbed him in his previous life could be his opponent at his present condition .

    With four wings and cheat skills, Khan expected that he could kill the three of them in one or two moves .

    The only worry he had was all otherworlders, such as Tong, Jiang Man, and Pu Jing . Since Liu Yang could sense angel and demon powers, she could tell how many wings each of them had .

    Tong had three wings . Jiang Man had one, and Pu Jing had two .

    As a result of his thinking, Khan wanted to kill Tong first to get rid of the most dangerous threat . Once Tong dies, the alliance would crumble like the past, and Khan Army would steamroll the country as nobody could be his match anymore .

    The gate sent out a creaking sound, opening slowly . Khan and ten of his retainers, who were riding on a simr Red Hare as warhorses and wielding crescent halberds, rode out of the gate and approached the alliance armies without fear .

    Upon reaching a good clear in between both sides, Khan bellowed .

    "I am Khan, the King of Xiongnu . I challenge the lords of the Han in a fair duel! If you¡¯re not a sissy coward,e out and fight me!"

    His voice was clear enough for the alliance soldiers to hear .

    Realizing that the King of Xiongnu came out himself, several generals of the lords were eager toe out to acquire some achievements .

    "Let me go, my lord . I¡¯ll bring his head for you!"

    "I¡¯ll go! This overestimating brat will pay for his insolence!"

    "I volunteer! I¡¯ve fought through many battles with the rebels and killed several generals of their armies . I have experience!"

    More warriors shouted and made noises to get the attention of their lords and the coalition leader, Tong .

    Instead of paying attention to the dying-wish-generals, Tong stared at the ten retainers of Khan in shock .

    They had the same gears, same warhorses, and the same face ... with Lu Bu!

    "What kind of sorcery is this!?"

    Tong was astonished, shocked, and baffled by the phenomenon .

    "Are they clones!? Is Khan¡¯s skill rted to cloning?"

    .

    Meanwhile, Khan was observing themotion with a grin .

    These ten retainers behind him were like Tong¡¯s spection, the clones of Lu Bu . However, they were not the Lu Bu of this world, but they were his former self in his previous life .

    Each of these clones had the same capability and skills when he was in his prime thest life . Khan nned to use them to fight small fries and counter the gangbang cheaters Liu Bei and his brothers .

    As long as Tong or other reincarnators refused toe out, Khan would save his strength for the more significant battle .

    Soon, a daredevil came out .

    "I AM WU ANGUO! FACE ME!!"

    Wu Anguo was Kong Rong¡¯s subordinate . Although Tong tried to stop him, he insisted on going before everyone else .

    Khan grinned . He waved his hand, "Number Ten, go and y with him . "

    His expressionless clone nodded and rode forward .

    "I don¡¯t fight with a nameless soldier! Bring me your King!"

    Listening to Wu Anguo, Number Ten snorted, "If you can¡¯t defeat me, you are no match for my King . "

    "Insolence! Die!"

    Wu Anguo¡¯s weapon was an iron mace . He swung the ck round ball at the face of the clone .

    *CLANK*

    Number Ten swatted it away and countered .

    *SWUA*

    The dominant arm of Wu Anguo fell to the ground while the owner shrieked in pain . He abandoned his mace and rode back toward the base to save his life .

    "Hmm . Weakling . "

    Number Ten snorted and moved back to Khan¡¯s side .

    .

    The first loss of Wu Anguo was humiliating to the coalition army . Upon returning to the camp, Wu Anguomitted suicide out of shame .

    More people shouted and volunteered to fight . However, Tong raised his hands to stop them .

    "None of you should go out and fight . "

    This caused an uproar and dissatisfaction from the generals of the other lords .

    "What do you mean we shouldn¡¯t fight?"

    "Right! This is a disgrace of the Han Dynasty! We have to show them our courage and skills!"

    "This is a fight for honor! Are you saying that we don¡¯t deserve to fight?"

    Tong sighed andmented to himself before he allowed them to go . He did not want these no-name generals to jump in there and to get themselves killed . It would have lowered the morale of the coalition further to rock bottom if these went on .

    Tong could remember several of famous generals who had challenged Lu Bu at the Battle of Ho Gate in the novel . Pan Feng of Han Fu, Feng Yue of Wang Kuang, Mu Shun of Shang Yang, these people died by Tong¡¯s subordinates .

    Those no-name generals could not stand up to the dead elites . How could they be a match to Lu Bu¡¯s clones?

    As Tong had expected, those hotshot generals fell one-by-one . It continued to the point that nobody dared to speak up or volunteer anymore .

    After killing 6 generals of the coalition, Khanughed .

    "Come out, Zhang Tong! I¡¯ll fight you myself this time! Don¡¯t bother sending weaklings . Did you see, they can¡¯t even kill one of my retainers . How could they be a match for me? Now, Zhang Tong . Don¡¯t be a coward like Cao Cao or Yuan Shao . I know you are a warrior type, not a lord! Come out here and settle this like a King-Versus-King duel!"

    The challenge from Khan made Tong¡¯s face grimaced . All eyes of the coalition soldiers were on him now .

    Before Tong could open his mouth and ept the duel, someone bellowed .

    "I want to try . Please allow me to go!"

    Tong looked at the direction of the voice, thinking about what kind of foolhardy personing out this time .

    To his surprise, it was Guan Yu who came out despite Jiang Man¡¯s disagreement . Behind Guan Yu, Jiang Man did not stop trying to persuade his second brother to stand down .

    "Stop it, Yunchang . Let the leader of the coalition fight their King . This is not our fight!"

    Zhang Fei grabbed Jiang Man¡¯s cor and pulled him back .

    "Stop being a nuisance . Let our brother fight! This is our time to shine, remember?"

    Jiang Man could not retort . Helplessly, he nodded and allowed his brothers to act . Despite that, his mind did not stop working .

    ¡¯There are ten of those suspicious clones . They likely represented a figure like Lu Bu or simr judging from the warhorses and the weaponry . If Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Liu Bei jumped in there like in the novel, I¡¯d have to go in there to save their sorry asses . Should I save them, or should I let them die? No, I can¡¯t let them die . I need Liu Bei to recruit Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, and many other talented generals for my cause! I can¡¯t let them die here . ¡¯

    The eyes of Jiang Man ignited in me as he psyched himself up .

    ¡¯I have no choice . I¡¯ll probably have to use my skill and my wing power today . ¡¯

 Chapter 317

    Chapter 317

    Chapter 317 ¨C Group Fight at Ho Gate

    Tong allowed Guan Yu to head out . He smiled and gave a toast to this future God of Loyalty .

    "I pray for your victory . "

    Guan Yu also raised his wine cup, "I shalle back before this wine turns cold . "

    Tong chuckled . He nodded and sent Guan Yu on his way, knowing that this would be different from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story .

    ¡¯Khan has 10 Lu Bus . The same trick won¡¯t happen . Jiang Man will be forced to reveal his hands . ¡¯

    He sat back and rxed as he was looking forward to seeing the show .

    ...

    Guan Yu rode forward . He and his signature weapon, the Green Dragon Crescent de, caught the eyes of Khan in an instant .

    Khan would never forget this man . He was the brother of the fox who coaxed Cao Cao into killing him in his previous life .

    "Ah, Guan Yu . I never fought you in my previous life, yet our descendants made a novel about our bout . Let¡¯s see how you fare in reality . Number 10, go out again!"

    Lu Bu¡¯s clone number 10 rode out to fight Guan Yu . As they rode toward each other, they did not bother introducing themselves .

    The eye contact and the bodynguage gave it away . They wanted a good fight .

    "Hah!"

    "Ora!"

    *CLANK*

    As two riders crossed each other, their weapons collided .

    "Humph!"

    "Again!"

    *CLANK*

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    10 Blows, 20 blows, 50 blows, after all the exchanges, they could not take the other down . However, Guan Yu could sense that he was not the clone¡¯s match .

    After the 80th blow, Guan Yu revealed a sign of fatigue as he faltered backward, leaning back on his horse after a sh of weapon .

    "Yuncheng! Damn it! I¡¯m going to help!"

    As in the novel, Zhang Fei rode out to help Guan Yu .

    Seeing his third brother heading out, Liu Bei also followed after Zhang Fei, so did Jiang Man .

    Unfortunately, Khan had prepared against this scenario .

    "There they are . Number Nine, Number Eight, Number Seven, go and intercept those fools . "

    Three more clones rushed to the battlefield, beelining toward the oing brothers of Guan Yu .

    In the novel, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Liu Bei fended off Lu Bu, which forced him to retreat back to Ho Gate .

    But the same trick could not be used here!

    Meanwhile, Zhang Fei managed to rescue his older brother, but he saw three ridersing toward them .

    Zhang Fei had to defend himself against the new participants .

    "A group fight? Bring it, barbarians!"

    Jiang Man, who chased after Zhang Fei, also had apany .

    *CLANK*

    Jiang Man raised his halberd and managed to block the strike of Number Seven clone in time . Although his hands and arms got numb from one blow, he could still survive on his own .

    Zhang Fei and Jiang Man had no problem receiving the first strike of the men . Unfortunately, Liu Bei was not a good fighter .

    *BANG*

    Liu Bei was sent flying off his horse . Number Nine clone did not have a problem about single out the weakest link .

    "Xuande!"

    "First brother!"

    "Shit!"

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei could not get back in time . At this rate, Number Nine would skewer Liu Bei and ended the legend of Shu Kingdom .

    "Not on my watch! [K], go!"

    [Kindness] Soul of Jiang Man came forth and chased after Number Nine .

    The clone sensed the transparent spirit . He turned around with a sweep strike motion, aiming to cut Jiang Man¡¯s soul in half .

    The crescent halberd went through the soul but did not cause any damage . Instead, Number Nine lost the initiative because of the big move .

    As a soul, [Kindness] could not be harmed with physical attacks by any conventional weaponry . On the other hand, it could kill a mortal as long as it could reach the body of the victim .

    The hand of [Kindness] went through the chest of Number Nine, which it got a hold of his heart . Without hesitation, the soul temporarily manifested the hand to the physical realm and clenched it .

    Number Nine¡¯s body shook while it stared into the empty eyes of the ghost in shock . He lost all of his strength, falling down from his horse .

    One Lu Bu had been killed!

    Khan had seen everything from the start to the end . He smirked as he summoned all of his souls as well .

    "Otherworlders can only be killed by another otherworlder . I don¡¯t know who you are, but you¡¯re my prey!"

    Khan gestured to all of his clones . He also waved his hands to send all his souls toward the battlefield .

    All clones rushed at the three brothers while the four spirits headed toward Jiang Man .

    ...

    Tong could not stop smiling from the sight of the struggle as he was hoping that Jiang Man could get himself killed today .

    ¡¯Well, it¡¯s a matter of times that everyone and their grandmothers will get angelic wings or demon wings . Having one or two right now doesn¡¯t really matter . Now, what are you waiting for, Khan? Kill him for me! Heck, kill Liu Bei and his goons now, so I won¡¯t have to dirty my hands on this false saint!¡¯

    While Tong was cheering for the clones, Pu Jing had another thought .

    ¡¯If Cao Cao and I join forces with Zhang Tong, both Liu Bei and Jiang Man can be a nuisance . But if I want to get back to power, I need Zhang Tong to die . Well, it¡¯s unlikely that Zhang Tong will give up the throne for Cao Cao since he can easily defeat anyone by force . I should at least try to ally with those ipetence idiots and sabotage Zhang Tong¡¯s growth . ¡¯

    Thinking this far, Pu Jing turned to Cao Cao and whispered to him .

    "Let¡¯s save those men . We can ally with them to stop Zhang Tong¡¯s growth . "

    Cao Cao frowned, "What are you thinking? Their side has the Empress and her son . If we fight him, we¡¯ll be rebels . "

    "Lord, at the end of the day, Zhang Tong won¡¯t give up the throne . He will eventually marry the Empress and im himself the new Emperor of a new dynasty . The Era of the Han ended a long time ago . "

    "So, you haven¡¯t given up fighting?"

    "I did, but Liu Bei and his brothers proved themselves worthy . We can still bring down Zhang Tong with their help . "

    Cao Cao sighed . He gave up fighting Tong when he had realized that the Empress was still alive . But all of a sudden, his otherworlder strategist encouraged him not to give up yet .

    "Fine . But if my cousins or my n member dies from the sh with Zhang Tong, you¡¯ll take responsibility with your life!"

    "I know . "

    Cao Cao turned around to see his cousins and n members, who stood behind his back .

    Xiahou Dun

    Xiahou Yuan

    Cao Hong

    Cao Ren

    Yue Jin

    Yu Jin

    Dian Wei

    Xu Zhu

    They were the elites of his n, which all of them were famous through the other timeline history .

    Yu Jin, Yue Jin, Dian Wei, and Xu Chu had been recruited by Pu Jing before the other timeline as he was afraid that they could have been poached by Tong . Now, they were a part of the main forces of Cao Cao .

    Others did not participate on this battlefield as they were too young, such as Li Dian, Cao Xiu, Cao Chun, and many others .

    Including Guo Jia!

    "All of you go and rescue those four idiots . I want them back alive!"

    Xiahou Dun clicked his tongue, "Are you sure? I thought they were our future enemies . "

    "Sure, they will eventually be our enemies . But for now, I need them to hinder Zhang Tong . We can¡¯t let this upstart son of a freak take the throne, or our country will be destroyed by his hands . "

    Xiahou Dun still did not like it . Yet, he followed the order of his cousin anyway .

    "Alright, Mengde . We¡¯ll be heading out! Putin, youe too . We need your immortal power as our back up!"

    Pu Jing harrumphed as he expected this, "I know . "

    Two angelic wings manifested behind Pu Jing¡¯s back . At the same time, he galloped his horse to follow after Xiahou Dun .

    Nine top generals of Cao Cao jumped into the battle against Lu Bu¡¯s clones .

    ...

    Meanwhile, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei were struggling for their life . All the clones teamed up and attacked Guan Yu and Zhang Fei together .

    Jiang Man detached from the battle as he drew the four spirits away from his brothers . Knowing that ordinary local fighters would not be a match for these spirits, he decided to take them down by himself .

    As they resisted the clones, wounds, cuts, and bruises on their body increased each second . Both brothers could not hold on any longer .

    Liu Bei had fled from the battlefield when he managed to get on his feet . Unfortunately, the three others could not retreat like their elder brother .

    While Liu Bei was running back to the coalition army, another young man galloped toward the battle .

    It was Taishi Ci, who tagged along with Kong Rong Army .

    "You ..."

    "I¡¯ll save them! Go back and rest!"

    Following after Taishi Ci, a rider on a white horse also came out . It was Zhao Yun .

    "I¡¯ll save your brothers . Do not worry!"

    Liu Bei looked at the two youngsters in astonishment as he muttered to himself, "One day, I¡¯ll have all of you as my subordinates . Then, I can dominate thend!"

    ...

    Taishi Ci and Zhao Yun reached the battlefront and picked one clone each as the opponent .

    At the other side, nine elites of Cao Cao reached the battlefield and separated six of nine clones from the pack .

    Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Xu Chu, Dian Wei, and Cao Ren took one clone each as their opponent . The weaker generals, Yu Jin, Yue Jin, and Cao Hong fought together with thest clone .

    As for Pu Jing, he chased after Jiang Man and the spirits to ease the other side .

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei finally got room to breathe as they only have to deal with only one Lu Bu .

    Zhang Fei bellowed, "VOOEEEE!!¡¯ It¡¯s payback time!"

    *BOOM*

    The clone before him faltered back his full power strike . Guan Yu did not let this chance slip as he followed up with a horizontal sh .

    *BANG*

    The crescent halberd of the clone bent from the parrying .

    Because of the unfavorable situation, the clone looked around, nning on asking for support from the fellow clones .

    Unfortunately, they were too busy dealing with their new opponents .

    "Idiot! What are you looking at!"

    Zhang Fei thrust his serpent spear into the neck of the clone .

    *SUEK*

    Guan Yu swung his de halberd again .

    *SWUA*

    The head of that clone flew through the air, separated from the neck .

 Chapter 318

    Chapter 318

    Chapter 318 ¨C Coalition Elites VS Eight Cloned Lu Bu

    After killing the clone, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu rode forward to assist Zhao Yun in his fight .

    *BOOM*

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    Cao Cao¡¯s generals did not fare very well against the clones . After exchanging 50 blows, Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren had a hard time trying to stay alive in the closebat .

    On the other hand, Xu Zhu, Dian Wei, and Xiahou Dun were in a stalemate against their opponent . But deep down in their heart, they knew that it was a matter of time that their stamina would run out before the clones .

    Only one Lu Bu, who was being ganged by Yu Jin, Yue Jin, and Cao Hong, was being pushed back .

    "VOIYA!"

    Xiahou Dun attempted to finish the fight by attacking the horse instead of the rider .

    "Humph!"

    *CLANK*

    *SUEK*

    Number Three parried the strike and countered with a thrust, killing Xiahou Dun¡¯s warhorse instead .

    The horse copsed with the rider, dragging Xiahou Dun on the ground .

    "Oh shit ..."

    The clone rushed at Xiahou Dun, nning to behead him while he was down .

    *ROAR*

    A giant 3-meter-tall white pr bear manifested from thin air in front of Number Three . It weaved the w at the rider .

    "What the!?"

    *SWUA*

    The ws shed through the iron armor like butter, which cut through the flesh of Number Three . Guts, ribcage bones, and his innards fell out from the deep wound as he fell from his horse, losing his strength and dying .

    Xiahou Dunughed . He knew that it was Pu Jing¡¯s skill .

    "Thanks, Putin . Wait, where is he?"

    He could only see the bear, but Xiahou Dun could not find Pu Jing anywhere .

    The pr bear rushed to the others to ease the tension . However, the clones were not vegetables for Cao Cao¡¯s generals to harvest . Number One and Number Two broke away from the fight with Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren and teamed up against the monstrous bear .

    "You dare to show your back in front of me!?"

    Xiahou Yuan switched his weapon from a halberd to a longbow . His drew an arc and fired an arrow at the back of the leaving clone .

    *PU*

    Number One was hit at the back of his neck as he was caught off guard, falling to the ground .

    *ROAR*

    Pu Jing¡¯s bear cleaved Number Two as he did to the other .

    Three clones had been killed in session, which turned the tide of the entire group battle .

    That was what Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, and Cao Ren thought .

    *PU*

    An arrow made its way and pierced through the forehead of the pr bear . The sudden arrow was so strong to the point that half of the shaft dug into the skull .

    The bear disintegrated into dust, which rmed the men . Looking at the source of the arrow, it was Khan .

    With a grin on his face, Khan took three more arrows from the quiver behind his back . Then, he aimed at the three .

    "I remember . You¡¯re that general of Cao Cao¡¯s archer battalion . Well, you¡¯re not the only one that is good with bows . "

    In Khan¡¯s previous life, he was not only good at duel and horsebackbat as he was also a grandmaster at archery .

    During the time when Liu Bei and Yuan Shu were at odds against each other, Lu Bu pacified them by a bet of his archery skill, which he seeded hitting a polearm de with his arrow in one try, forcing both forces into a truce .

    Now, Khan was warming up and trying to clean the rusty parts of his old skills .

    *SWOOSH*

    Three arrows came after the men .

    "Nnh!"

    "Shit!"

    "Bastard!"

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    *SUEK*

    Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren managed to deflect the arrow with their weapon . However, Xiahou Yuan failed to dodge and got hit by his shoulder . Because of the impact, he fell off his horse .

    Xiahou Dun got in front of his brother to protect him from any further sniping attempt from Khan .

    "Coward! Come and fight here like a man!"

    "AHAHAHAHA! Well, you¡¯re the one to talk . I thought we have a one-on-one fair duel . Why did you send so many fighters onto the battle? Now, look at the mess . I don¡¯t know who is who anymore . "

    ...

    "Ugh! You weakling cowards!"

    One of the clones cursed at his three opponents who had attacked him from all sides before he died from the critical wounds .

    Cao Hong, Yu Jin, and Yue Jin managed to subdue one of the clones with difficulty . Their proud armors were no more as they were cut and shed by the clone to the point that it turned into broken pieces of rags .

    Wounds and blood covered the three¡¯s body, and their breathing was fast and rough . Had they not worked together, all of them would have been dead instead .

    "What a monster . "

    "Fwoo, let¡¯s go save the others . "

    "Can you still fight in that state?"

    "To be honest, I can¡¯t . But our brothers will die if we don¡¯t help them!"

    "Right . Let¡¯s go!"

    Although their arms and legs trembled to the point that they had no confidence of fighting another bout, they still rushed toward Xu Zhu and Dian Wei who had yet to finish their duel .

    ...

    Xu Zhu and Dian Wei could not overpower their opponents even though they were proud of their strength . Instead of oppressing the two Lu Bus, they were getting tired from the heavy exchanges .

    Two clones and both Cao Cao¡¯s bodyguards stood on the ground as they had killed the warhorses of the opponents in this short fight .

    Xu Zhu held his iron mace while Dian Wei wielded dual-axe . The torsos of the men were like the others, tattered with cuts and wounds . Dian Wei¡¯s face had a sh cut across his face while the chubby Xu Zhu was sweating bullets .

    The two clones, however, were still looking fresh as if they had finished warming up .

    "Monsters . "

    "T-They¡¯re stronger on foot . "

    As theyined, the two clones disappeared and reappeared before them within a second .

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    They parried the surprise rush of the clones, but they lost the initiative . The two Lu Buunched their barrage of endless strikes at each of them, trying to wither down their stamina .

    It was the same endless polearm strikes skill of Lu Bu that Tong had faced when he dueled the God of War for real inside Jinyang government hall .

    "Damn it!"

    "I-I can¡¯t hold on!"

    Dian Wei and Xu Zhu were panicked as they could not keep up with the increase of speed .

    *ROAR*

    A brown grizzly bear manifested behind the two Lu Bus, just like the pr bear .

    As they sensed the danger, two clones turned around to attack the bear, swinging their halberd at the bear¡¯s chest .

    *SOEK*

    The strikes connected, but both halberds got stuck into the bear¡¯s flesh .

    *ROAR*

    The bear opened its mouth and bit one of the clone¡¯s neck . It lifted his body into the air and flung around like a ragged doll .

    The other clone tried to pull his weapon out of the bear¡¯s body to save his colleague, but he could not pull the halberd off .

    *WHOOSH*

    *SWUA*

    As the clone¡¯s attention was on the bear, Dian Wei crept behind his back and swung his axe at the back of the neck of Lu Bu¡¯s copy, beheading him in one strike .

    On the bear¡¯s side, the clone in its mouth stopped moving as the bear¡¯s jaw destroyed the neck and the spines of the victim .

    With their death, two copied of Lu Bu remained .

    At this moment, the tattered trio who had defeated a clone got to Dian Wei¡¯s side .

    "It seems our help is unnecessary . Haiz . "

    They exhaled as if they had lost all of their strength . Unfortunately, their celebration came early .

    "ALL OF YOU! WATCH OUT!!"

    The shout of Xiahou Dun rmed them . When they realized what was wrong, each of them had an arrow inside their body .

    The grizzly bear disintegrated into dust like the pr bear as an arrow found its way into the skull . On the other hand, the generals were shot on the chest where their armor was destroyed .

    Cao Hong, Yu Jin, Yue Jin, and Dian Wei staggered backward from the arrow force and copsed on the ground . Xu Zhu was more fortunate as his fat as extra muscles on his chest defended against the arrow toward his lung and his heart . He could still stand .

    ...

    Simr to the others, Taishi Ci, Zhao Yun, and Zhang Fei were not in good shape . They had made the same mistake as Xu Zhu and Dian Wei .

    They killed the warhorses and forced them to fight on foot . The speed and power of two Lu Bu¡¯s copies were even stronger than what they had experienced on horseback .

    "What kind of monsters are those men!?"

    The young Taishi Ci¡¯s legs had already turned into jelly . He knelt down on one knee because of the exhaustion .

    The immature Zhao Yun was also the same . He came here to rescue his acquaintance, Liu Bei and his brothers . Yet at this moment, he was rescued by the injured Zhang Fei and Guan Yu .

    In front of them, Guan Yu nced back and reminded the two youth .

    "All of you, retreat! We¡¯re not their match . Save yourself and live to fight another day!"

    Themand of the calm Guan Yu got them back to their sense . They mustered theirst bit of strength to stand and ran back to the army where everyone was watching .

    The two clones did not chase . Instead, one of them put away their halberd and took out a longbow, which had been hanging behind his back .

    He fired an arrow at Guan Yu, the rearguard of the group .

    *CLANK*

    Guan Yu parried it with the ive de .

    The other clone also took out a longbow and fired at Guan Yu as well . Two of them were shooting at the same time .

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    As if they were torturing Guan Yu, they did not stop shooting, but they focused the target to him alone .

    Calm like still water, Guan Yu slowly walked backward while parrying all iing arrows without panicking . His eyes red toward the hands of the two clones in a trance as he predicted the trajectory of all arrows .

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci, and Zhang Fei got out of the battle, and Guan Yu ousted the endless barrages by stepping outside of their arrow range .

    The four sighed a relief . They made it back in one piece .

    From the onlooker side, Liu Bei rushed toward them with his guards to bring them to the infirmary . He looked around in nervousness .

    "Where is little Jiang!?"

    "What? He¡¯s not with you!?"

    "No! I¡¯m the only one who came back!"

    All of them looked back at the battlefield, but they could not find Jiang Man anywhere .

    "Over there?"

    Upon carefully searching, they found a lone horseman riding away from four transparent specters . It was Jiang Man who was fleeing from the souls of Khan .

    Chasing after Jiang Man and the four souls, another rider galloped his horse to their direction with two fluttering light wings behind his back .

 Chapter 319

    Chapter 319

    Chapter 319 ¨C Zhang Tong VS Khan ¨C Part One

    On the other side, Jiang Man and his soul were fending off against four spirits of Khan .

    It was like a fight of multiple stands in an anime, which the ethereal beings shed against the others in mid-air . Shockwaves from the collision of fists and kicks caused the air to tremble .

    Jiang Man also got injured from each impact that Khan¡¯s souls caused to his soul . Every punchnded on his [Kindness], the same bruises and wound appeared on his body .

    The death of the soul could trante to the death of the physical flesh!

    "I didn¡¯t want to use this . You leave me no choice! [Amaterasu]!"

    A skill that one of the otherworlders created using a character from an anime as his inspiration . It was a ck me that could not be extinguished with normal means unless the skill user turned it off .

    The ethereal me from hellnded on two of Khan¡¯s souls, which caused them to cry in pain .

    "Ha! Take that!"

    Jiang Man believed that it would be the end of Khan if one of the soul burnt to ashes .

    Unfortunately, his joyous mood ended in a few seconds after the ck fire was lit . The ck fire disappeared!

    Khanughed, "Fool! Fake hellfire from system skills isn¡¯t effective against real souls . Now die!"

    Four souls punched onto [Kindness], which sent the soul flying back into Jiang Man¡¯s body .

    Jiang Man vomited blood because his soul was forcefully unsummoned . He also fell off his horse as he could no longer control his body .

    "N-No!"

    In despair, Jiang Man nced at his angelic cultivation progress . Only his [Charity] was over 50% at the moment while the rest of his virtues were lower than 30% .

    "I have to bet on it . Come out, [Charity]!"

    Jiang Man attempted to awaken his charity soul on the spot as he knew that this virtue had healing power . As long as he could heal himself, he could survive from this battle .

    >

    >

    "NOOO!!"

    Out of desperation in the blink of death, Jiang Man tried to awaken all virtues he had despite the low percentage .

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    It was like a suicidal gambler who bet everything to get his lost money back . Out of his 6 remaining virtues, five of them failed and were erased from his soul forever .

    *BADUMP*

    As if fate did not abandon him, hisst virtue, his [Loyalty], which had only 5% sess chance because he got it recently this year, awakened .

    The appearance of the soul was himself in his previous life, cosying as a character from aputer game . Ironically, he was cosying as Guan Yu .

    Jiang Man had no time to think, he deployed his "Guan Yu" to fight back four ghosts who had the appearance of Lu Bu . The fake Guan Yu charged at the four souls to buy more times for the real body to recover .

    "No matter how many souls you can get, you aren¡¯t my match! [Qi st]!"

    One of Khan¡¯s spirits pointed his index finger at Jiang Man and fired one of Sun Fang¡¯s skill . A fireball condensed from the top of the soul¡¯s finger andunched forward .

    *BOOM*

    Fake Guan Yu moved in front of Jiang Man and took the brunt of the skill, which the explosion inflicted a burning pain to both of them . However, as Khan had said, system skills were not that effective against souls as the deadly detonation of fireball should have killed both of them, yet they were still fine .

    "Smart . But how long can you withstand in that condition? All souls, fire [Qi st]!"

    As the restriction of one-use-per-day did not apply to the virtue souls, they could spam the skills as many times they wanted with the cost of ten-fold lifespans .

    The four spirits surrounded the struggling Jiang Man and aimed their index fingers .

    "[Frozen Kingdom]!"

    A shout from an intruder interrupted the four spirits, and a barrier of ice walls erected around Jiang Man and his soul while the ground was frozen . It was Pu Jing¡¯s skill .

    Khan was aware of Pu Jing, but he nned to kill the weakest Jiang Man first before he could deal with another otherworlder . Unfortunately, he failed .

    "Oh well, that weakling is dead meat . I¡¯ll take you down first!"

    Khan¡¯s four spirits turned their attention toward Pu Jing who had summoned his two spirits as well to prepare for the sh of stands .

    As they were about to rush at each other, a figure from the coalition army turned into afterimages, rushing at Khan in an inhuman speed .

    *BANG*

    The person swung his ive at Khan, but it was blocked by the [Qi Shield] .

    Khan¡¯s face grimace as the system notified him that he had just lost over 50,000 lifespans in one hit . He had a bit over 200,000 lifespans when he first arrived, now there were less than 150,000 because of the assant .

    Upon looking at the face of the ambusher, the grim expression on Khan¡¯s face turned into a smile .

    "You finally show up, Zhang Tong!"

    It was Tong who attacked Khan when his attention was on the others .

    Everything was a part of Tong¡¯s n as he, Jia Xu, and Xun Yu predicted this scenario and improvised with the changes .

    He allowed Guan Yu and his gang to fight the clones, so Jiang Man had to go out to save his brothers .

    With Jiang Man on the battlefield, Khan was forced to deploy his souls to counter the four brothers . Although Tong did not expect that both of them had awakened their wings to that extent, it gave Tong and his army enough information for the next n .

    Then, Cao Cao and Pu Jing made a move, which confirmed Cao Cao¡¯s stance about the negotiation to surrender . It revealed that Cao Cao had not given up fighting against Tong just yet . Thus, Tong watched them getting crippled by the clones . Though they did not die from the fight, the injuries Cao Cao¡¯s generals received were enough to put them inactive for another year .

    After Jiang Man and Pu Jing drew the four souls away enough distance from Khan, Tong was more confident that he could ambush and kill the Xiongnu King, who did not have the boosted power of his angelic souls . Thus, he charged at Khan with his new footwork, the Lamia Steps .

    "Thanks for crippling them for me . Now, die! [Time Stop]!"

    The world turned into greyscale the moment [Time Stop] were uttered . Tong had 50 seconds to kill Khan during this time .

    He pulled his ive backward and shed at Khan¡¯s neck .

    *DONG*

    The Qi Shield of Khan was still active even the time had been stopped, but Tong did not mind it . He readied his stance and was about to sh at Khan again .

    "No matter how strong your skills are, you can¡¯t fight me in this world!"

    As soon as Tong finished his words, Khan¡¯s eyeballs moved and red at Tong .

    "Nani!?"

    "[Time Stop]!"

    Khan activated his mimic skill, which he copied from Tong . He leaped off his horse and swung his crescent halberd to counter-attack .

    Tong¡¯s ive and Khan¡¯s halberd shed, which sent Tong staggered backward ten steps . The power difference between a four-winged angel and three-wing demon was too vast .

    "I knew you¡¯ll use this silly trick, Zhang Tong . Your 50 seconds trick won¡¯t work against me! I, too, can stop times for 50 seconds!"

    "You ..."

    Tong had never expected that Khan could even copy skills from otherworlders, which was even more ridiculous than his skill sets .

    Because of the stopping time, Khan had enough time to pull back his four souls to his side . It only took him two seconds for the soul to be unsummoned and resummoned again .

    Tong¡¯s n backfired . Instead of assassinating Khan, he was trapped in a one-on-one duel with this monster within the time stopping world without any help .

    45 Seconds left before the skills expired .

    Khan and his four spirits charged at Tong, which surpassed the speed of Lu Bu when Tongst fought him in Anping .

    Two souls of Tong were also summoned to repel the four souls while Tong locked eyes with Khan and attacked him again .

    ¡¯Full overclock! Time Alter: Double el!¡¯

    Tong increased his speed even in this stale world, which he matched Khan¡¯s current speed . They crossed 10 blows in session within two seconds, yet Khan¡¯s face was still rxed as if he had not given his all yet .

    "Nice try, brat . Too bad, you¡¯re fighting against the great me . [Qi Pinnacle: Time and Space Law]!"

    If Sun Fang cultivated his skill to the max level, he would get this additional skill . It was a skill simr to Tong¡¯s derived [Time Alter], which could elerate his perception of time flow within the space .

    Khan could sense that everything around him became slower while he could maintain his current speed . As a result, he finally found an opening .

    The crescent halberd shed from Tong¡¯s right upper shoulder to his left waist, almost cutting him in half despite him wearing the steel armor .

    Khanughed, "It¡¯s over!"

    "Regen! Time Alter: Triple el!"

    The deadly wound disappeared in an instant while Tong¡¯s speed increased again . This time, Tong broke through Khan¡¯s defense and shed him on his right torso .

    *DONG*

    [Qi Shield] activated for the third time . Khan was left with lower than 40,000 lifespans now .

    Khan clicked his tongue as he deactivated his Qi Shield . Had Tongnded an attack on him again, he would have run out of lifespans and died .

    "Now you¡¯ve pissed me off!"

    He went all out against Tong, which he disyed another nightmarish skill of a former nemesis of Tong, Liu Ping¡¯s [Superhuman] .

    With the addition of the former Lu Bu¡¯s experiences and his current physics, his prowess surpassed Liu Ping by miles .

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    *SWUA*

    Tong could not keep up with Khan¡¯s speed even though he was using the Triple el . For every three exchange, Khan wouldnd one or two blows on him, just like when he had friendly spars with Lu Bu in Jinyang .

    30 Seconds remaining,

    In less than 20 seconds after the fight, Tong¡¯s steel armor was torn to shred while his body was covered in wounds .

    Tong took a deep breath and activated another of his trump card, Transformation .

    His skins turned into snake scales, which became anotheryer of defense . Tong¡¯s demonic red eyes brightened like a fireball as he elerated his blood cirction and mustered all power he had left in his body .

    *CLANK*

    Khannded another blow on Tong¡¯s torso, but he could not cut through his skins .

    Sensing the ominous signsing from Tong, Khan unsummoned his souls to increase his battle power . The soul jumped back into Khan¡¯s body, and four white tentacle wings fluttered behind his back .

    "I should have done this instead from the very beginning . Now die, scum!"

 Chapter 320

    Chapter 320

    Chapter 320 ¨C Zhang Tong VS Khan ¨C Part Two

    Tong also unsummoned his spirits, which two ck tentacle wings made an appearance behind his back as well . Unfortunately, until he got the fourth wing, the third wing would note out .

    Once the souls entered Tong¡¯s body, he could feel that his strength increased .

    But so did Khan .

    Because of such a disadvantage in the strength gap, Tong used one more technique that he had not yet mastered .

    "Time Alter: Square el!"

    Tong could feel that a few of his veins burst from the activation, but his perception got faster by a notch . He used the increase of his speed to dash backward, getting away from Khan¡¯s range of attack .

    Khan¡¯s monstrous halberd strike missed the target as Tong leaped back .

    ¡¯[Inventory]!¡¯

    Tong pulled new weapons from his inventory as he would not be Khan¡¯s match if he were to against him in the closebat .

    They were Te Langpu¡¯s new frag grenades .

    Though Tong doubted it would work while the flow of time stopped, he had to try .

    Throwing three grenades at Khan, Tong continued running backward .

    "Stop running like a coward! Fight me like a man, scum!"

    Khan was offended when Tong tossed three round toys at his face . They did not explode as Tong had expected .

    ¡¯Figured . How about guns?¡¯

    Tong pulled out two pistols to both hands and pulled the triggers .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    It worked this time . The bullets hit the forehead of Khan who did not know about the firearms .

    Khan staggered backward and stopped charging, leaning his head back because of the impact .

    "Scum! Using a hidden weapon in a duel? Despicable!"

    Tong was surprised by Khan¡¯s resiliency . Handgun bullets could not even prate through his skins even though it was a direct hit .

    ¡¯If handguns didn¡¯t have enough firepower, then how about this?¡¯

    Tong put the pistols back into the inventory and pull out the pre-loaded Benelli M4 shotgun . Without hesitation, he pulled the triggered again .

    *BANG*

    The shotgun shell firepower was different than a small lead of handgun bullet . As it was shot out of the muzzle, it deployed metallic round buckshots inside the shell forward which caused spread damage to the target .

    The small shell hit Khan again which stopped him on his feet . Still, they only caused minor wounds on his body and temporarily stopped his movement .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Six more shots rammed on Khan¡¯s torso and face as Tong spammed the trigger . Without reloading, he changed his out-of-bullet shotgun with a new pre-loaded one .

    "I don¡¯t believe you can oust this!"

    Unlike the previous shotgun which was loaded with buckshot shells, Tong picked a shotgun loaded with slug shells . These shells had more pration power than the widespread buckshot balls .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Tong seven shells in session . This time, Khan flew backward andnded on the ground, not moving .

    Without waiting for Khan to get back up, Tong reloaded with slug shells as he got into the aiming stance .

    Khan did not get back up even after the [Time Stop] effect was over .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The frag grenade that Tong threw earlier just exploded, but they did not cause any harm to anyone .

    ¡¯System menu . ¡¯

    From Tong¡¯s experience, he did not believe that a 4-wing-angel could be killed with ordinary shotguns of mortals . Unless he could confirm it from the system that he was genuinely dead, Tong would not let his guard down even a second .

    He nced at the number of survivors . It was [8:4], Eight otherworlders with skills and four without skills . The number of skill possessors had increased, but that was not the main point of interest for Tong .

    As long as the total sum of all otherworlders was 12, Khan had not died yet .

    "Seriously, you scum are despicable . "

    Khan sat up and smiled at Tong . All bruises and wounds on his body disappeared as well . He also had Tong¡¯s [Immortal Yang Vein] and his regeneration skill .

    Tong clicked his tongue in annoyance . What would he have to do to kill this monster?

    Khan muttered, "I like your skills . Therefore ..."

    The eyes of Khan became weird, and Tong¡¯s instinct told him that he had to flee right now . Tong shut his eyes by instinct and ran backward again .

    "Be my ve!"

    [Eyes of Domination], the skill of Xu Da who used it on Lu Bu to force him to kill Tong and Ding Yuan . It reappeared here to haunt Tong .

    Tong could feel that there was a current of strange force going through his body, but he was not affected .

    Khan frowned from the frustration as Tong closed his eyes in time before he could activate his trump card .

    "If that doesn¡¯t work, then die!"

    Khan disappeared from where he was sitting and reappeared behind Tong in an instant .

    "[Negate Defense]!"

    He activated another skill, which he copied from Li Jing . The next strike from him would not be blocked or defended by any system skill .

    "Shit!"

    The crescent halberd cleaved Tong from his left shoulder to his right waist . This time, he was cut in half!

    Khan extended his hand and grabbed on to Tong¡¯s neck before he fell onto the ground . The severed lower torso copsed, revealing Tong¡¯s innards and spine .

    "It¡¯s over, Zhang Tong . ept your death! HAHAHA!"

    With thest bit of strength, Tong summoned his soul, so he could activate his skill one more time . His [Sloth] got out of his body and chanted, "Regen!"

    Tong¡¯s severed body recovered in a sh . At the same time, Tong unloaded his inventory, and twenty grenades with activated fuses dropped on the ground next to Khan .

    "You should have gone for the head . "

    Tong converted his skins into snake scales again as he braced the suicide bombs explosion .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Gunpowder explosive and shrapnel flew all over the ce as Tong and Khan took the brunt of the impact . Because of the shocking force, Khan¡¯s hand grip was loose for a second .

    Tong summoned another shotgun from his inventory and shoved the muzzle at Khan¡¯s left eye .

    *BANG*

    The buckshot shell exploded into his eye, shattering his inner brain!

    The monster finally copsed on the ground while Tongy down from the exhaustion .

    It was the longest minute of his life .

    Thankfully, Khan had not mastered the usage of his 4-wing power . Had he excelled it like Friday or other angels in the Netherworld, Tong would have had no chance of winning .

    Secondly, Khan relied too much on his skills without using the advantage of his speed and power of the immortal . As a result, Tong found a gap and exploited it .

    ...

    Although Tong and Khan had a long one-minute battle, to the onlookers, itsted only a few seconds .

    Tong suddenly rushed at Khan in speed beyond their understanding . Then, several explosion noises followed . After the dust settled, Khan held the dismembered Tong in his hand . Yet, Tong regrew his body and limbs, and both of them exploded again .

    Nobody could tell what had happened during their fight as they could only see multiple explosions and hear loud noises .

    Xiahou Dun and his colleagues stared at the lying bodies of the two, dumbfounded .

    "What on earth?"

    Pu Jing and Jiang Man, who recovered from the shock, also observed the battle from afar .

    "What kind of skills they have? Is that grenade explosion?"

    Cao Cao also locked his sight at Tong and Khan . His fists and legs were trembling as he did not like the overwhelming immortal superpowers .

    "Heaven is unfair! This conflict should have been decided by mortals . Why do you have to interfere!?"

    Liu Bei did not exim or say anything . He only nced back and forth between Jiang Man and Tong from a distance . No one knew what he was thinking .

    Meanwhile, Jia Xu and Xun Yu could not sit still . They texted to the n chat to request assistance from the other side .

    Jia Xu: "Tong was in a critical condition . Send help!"

    Xun Yu: "Tong fought with the Xiongnu King . They both have copsed from mutual destruction . We need help!"

    Kong Rong and the other minor lords were astounded as their mouth turned into O .

    "Are they even humans?"

    ...

    On the other side, two clones who were still alive rushed back to help their lord . They ran to Tong with the intent to kill this upstart coalition leader .

    Sensing the iing enemies, Tong crawled back on his feet with his shotgun . He simply aimed at their head and pulled the trigger .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Two clones, whom the coalition generals had a difficulty fighting, fell on the ground with their head busted open .

    Just like that, all clones were killed .

    Unfinished with his business, Tong turned around and walked the should-be-dead body of Khan . He shoved his shotgun into the open wound and fired again .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    The eyes of Tong nced at the number of survivors . No matter how many times Tong sted the brain of Khan, the number was still [8:4] .

    "What¡¯s going on!?"

    After a minute of repeatedly shooting the supposed to be a corpse, the body of Khan turned into dust . Yet, the number was still [8:4] .

    "Having fun, Zhang Tong?"

    The voice of Khan from behind rmed Tong . He turned around and aimed his shotgun at the head of the person behind him .

    Then, Tong was shocked . To his horror, this Khan in front of him still wore clean armor and clothing as if he had not fought in the battle against him at all . The four light wings were still behind his back, proving that he was real .

    "Let¡¯s consider it a draw . It was fun even though you cheated . Well, cheating is also a skill . I don¡¯t really mind it actually . Let¡¯s collect more lifespans and duke it out again . "

    Khan walked back to Ho Gate and disregarded Tong and all themotion in the coalition army .

    No one but Khan knew that he used two more skills to break away from Tong repeated gunshots .

    Xu Da and Li Feihong¡¯s [Self-Resurrection],

    Jiang Man¡¯s [Ninjutsu],

    These were Khan¡¯s lifesaving skills in the case of an emergency .

    Khan nced at his remaining lifespans with a grumpy mouth . He had 14,000 lifespans left, which was not even enough to pay for the upkeep of his skills by the end of the years .

    ¡¯War is about wasting resources . I should have waited until I have over a million to start another war . Well, I¡¯ve learned something about Zhang Tong and two other otherworlders . I made a mistake using the Qi Shield early on instead of saving it to surprise the enemies . I still have a room for improvement . ¡¯

    As Khan entered the gate, his calm demeanor, which he had shown it to Tong and his allies, disappeared . He staggered back with wobbling legs and whispered hismand to the men .

    "If they assault the gate, hold them for the day . At night, we¡¯ll retreat from Ho Gate . "

 Chapter 321

    Chapter 321

    Chapter 321 ¨C Sloth Curse and Greed Curse

    Meanwhile, Xiahou Dunmanded his soldiers to help his colleagues . Although Tong managed to defeat Khan, the threat of the supernatural powers still lingered in his heart .

    ¡¯How am I going to fight him? How can I win!? How can we kill him?¡¯

    Xiahou Dun had prayed that both Khan and Tong would have died from mutual destruction . Now, the worst case scenario happened before him as Tong emerged as the victor, yet Khan was still alive .

    The goal of Cao Cao¡¯s total domination got further from their grasp as they discovered more secrets about Tong .

    Jiang Man and Pu Jing¡¯s mind were simr to Xiahou Dun . The prowess of Tong and the resurrection of Khan was not a part of their ns .

    They nced at the other¡¯s eyes as they could understand the other¡¯s thought . Pu Jing carried Jiang Man¡¯s shoulder to help him up while he whispered, "Let¡¯s work together . We can¡¯t survive if Zhang Tong continues to grow . "

    Jiang Man nodded as he red at Tong, who staggered back to his subordinates .

    "We can¡¯t allow this campaign to seed . The coalition has to be disbanded when we reach Luo Yang . The Xiongnu has to survive, so Zhang Tong and Khan can be busy killing each other . "

    "Right . "

    ...

    Tong staggered back to his army . On the way, the abandoned Red Hare King was turning left and right, looking for its master .

    "Boy, you¡¯reing with me . Your master has abandoned you . "

    The horse neighed a sad cry as if it understood Tong¡¯s words . It trotted to his side and followed Tong .

    When he returned to Xun Yu and Jia Xu, they were on the verge of crying .

    "Please don¡¯t participate in a battle again!"

    "Yes, please let the soldiers handle the tasks! It¡¯s bad for our heart!"

    The corner of Tong¡¯s mouth twitched, "Then, I¡¯m sure both of you will get a heart attack when we reach Luo Yang . Go back and order Yuan Shao to siege the gate . "

    "Huh? We¡¯re the first wave, but we¡¯re letting the second wave go first?"

    "All generals from the first wave are injured from the battle just now . Use this context and force Yuan Shao to move . He hasn¡¯t sent his generals into the fight yet!"

    Jia Xu pped his hands andughed, "I get it! I¡¯m on it!"

    "Xun Yu, coordinate with the Ghost and Mountaineer Legion . Tell Li Feihong, I want him on the other side of the river before nightfall . "

    "Yes, lord!"

    ...

    Ten minutes after the fight ended, Yuan Shao received themand from Jia Xu, which infuriated all generals under the Yuan n .

    "Absurd! We¡¯re the second wave . Why are we going first!?"

    Jia Xu sneered, "You didn¡¯t contribute when the Xiongnu King challenged us . Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Gongsun Zan sent their generals . Even my master jumped into the battle himself . Now, all of the generals are injured, and we¡¯re not in the right condition to lead troops . Nevertheless, you didn¡¯t send anyone after all that ruckus, and your troops and generals are still in good shape . It¡¯s logical that the best troops should im the honor of taking the first enemy¡¯s head, no?"

    "But those were duels of the generals! Your soldiers haven¡¯t even moved yet!"

    "Without generals in good condition, the subordinates won¡¯t move . Have you ever tried tomand an army when you¡¯re in bad health?"

    "It doesn¡¯t matter! Upon our agreement, we are the second wave . We won¡¯t move until the first wave siege the gate first!"

    Witnessing the stubbornness of Yuan Shao¡¯s generals, Jia Xu turned to Yuan Shao .

    "Will youply with our order, Lord Yuan?"

    Yuan Shao snorted, "My generals have made the point . We will not mobilize since we are the second wave . Howe the second wave should assault the gate before the first wave? If we do that, the order of the military will crumble . The procedure must be strictly followed, ormon soldiers will gossip that we are undisciplined . "

    Jia Xu raised his eyebrows . He could continue persuading these men, but he had an inspiration from their actions . If he pretended that the negotiation ended in failure, he could plot an interesting scheme behind Tong and Yuan Shao¡¯s back . "

    With a smile, Jia Xu bowed politely, "Alright . I shall go back and tell my lord . "

    "Well, Go!"

    ...

    Shortly after, Jia Xu returned to report his failure, but he did not exin what he had in mind just yet . The time was not right for his scheme to be put in action .

    "I¡¯m sorry . Yuan Shao won¡¯t move his troops no matter what . "

    "Figured as much . "

    Tong opened his n chat and gave his order to the Silver Axe Legion, which still stationed at Nanpi .

    Tong: "Xu Huang, take the Silver Axe Legion and upy Pingyuan . If you capture any of Yuan Shao¡¯s subordinates and the family of the nobles, arrest all of them . "

    Xu Huang: "Yes, my lord!"

    Tong turned to Jia Xu, "Send words to Cao Cao, Gongsun Zan, and Liu Bei . We¡¯re going to siege the gate . If they refuse, bribe them with food . "

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Two hourster =

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    War drum sounds echoed throughout the battlefield as Tong¡¯s 10,000 knights pushed the siege weapons forward . Catapults and trebuchetsunched ming oil barrels at Ho Gate while the archer towers were pushed to the position to snipe the archers on the wall .

    Cao Cao¡¯s forces also brought their cannons to test in the real battle . As soon as they got into the firing range, Pu Jing gave his signal to fire all cannons .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Round iron balls were shot out of the bronze cannons, which hit the side of the stone wall . The impact made a portion of the thick wall crumbled, and the garrison soldiers on top fell down from the top of the wall .

    "Be careful! Try not to hit our allies on the front! We don¡¯t want to offend our allies and create another enemy!"

    Cao Cao sweated as he was afraid that their cannonballs might hit Tong¡¯s soldiers . Fortunately, the first round of fire urred when all ally soldiers had not climbed the wall yet .

    Pu Jing calmed the men, "Stop firing when the ally soldiers get close to the wall . For now, provide them the cover fire!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Another round of cannons roared as more iron balls rammed onto the wall .

    Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan, who had never experienced firearms, gazed at the cannons in horror .

    "What kind of magic is that!?"

    The cannons also intimidated Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan¡¯s soldiers . Because they were in charge of climbing the wall, every man was afraid of getting killed by the friendly fire .

    "Are they going to hit us!?"

    "They are not going to explode on us, right?"

    While they were shaking in fear, Tong sent his two spirits to join the frontline and relieve the tension . As his [Sloth] and [Greed] were immune to all physical attacks, Tong sent them in to farm some lifespans .

    Moreover, he wanted to test the curse that he forgot to use it on Khan .

    Tong closed his eyes and concentrated on the vision of each soul . From the eyesight of Sloth, Tong activated the curse in a fight for the first time .

    "Sloth Curse!"

    ...

    Wings of angels and demons had another unique ability . Each of the sins or virtues possessed a unique trait .

    Virtue souls can use special abilities to support the owner of the souls, such as healing, physical enhancement, purifying, and more .

    Zou Ci once used his [Charity]¡¯s unique ability to heal Tong when Liu Yang crippled him before, and Jiang Man was aware of this trait of this virtue . However, he failed to obtain the [Charity] .

    On the other hand, all souls of sin could curse mortals with their characteristic . When Tong¡¯s sin of lust went out of control and possessed Tong¡¯s body for the first time, he subconsciously cast the lust curse on Hua Shi, which caused her to go into heat . Fortunately, Lilith and the creator put the [Seal] on him and snapped him back to his sanity .

    The Seal disabled him from using the curses for years . Now, his foundation and his mental strength became stronger from Friday¡¯s tutoring, and he was more confident of controlling the curses now .

    ...

    Purple me emitted from the hands of Sloth and spread across the soldiers on the top of the wall .

    The garrison soldiers cried in despair once the purple me wall swallowed them . The screamssted for a few seconds before they realized that they were not burnt by the fire .

    "Huh?"

    "What was that?"

    Then, the curse took effect .

    *Yawn*

    "Why am I suddenly feeling tired!?"

    "I want to go home . "

    The morale and the energies within the garrison soldiers depleted in an instant . The curse influenced them to bezy and exhausted mentally .

    The sudden change was fatal for them as the siegedders reached the wall . Liu Bei¡¯s 5,000 men and Gongsun Zan¡¯s 5,000 soldiers rushed at the garrison soldiers, killing the weakened men like chickens .

    Tong¡¯s soul of greed also rushed behind to gate, cursing at the reserve forces .

    Greed Curse!

    Simr purple ethereal me engulfed 10,000 reserve soldiers behind the gate . After a few seconds, the eyes of the reserve soldiers became bloodshot .

    One of the soldiers stabbed the back of his colleague .

    "You!!"

    "I¡¯ll take your money and your jewel de . Thanks!"

    The other soldiers deserted the reserve forces and ran back to the granary .

    "Why are you running back? Argh!!"

    The deserted soldiers began killing their teammates and looting the supplies .

    "We have deserters! Send help!"

    Chaos ensured behind the line, which no one knew why their friends suddenly acted this way .

    Khan had not gone far when the ruckus from the deserters happened . He looked around the chaotic scene in shock .

    "They¡¯re my clone soldiers, and I¡¯ve brainwashed all of them . Why are they acting like this!?"

    Looking around the battlefield from behind the wall for a while, he finally noticed Tong¡¯s two spirits, which were diving into the crowd and killing his people .

    "Is there a skill that I didn¡¯t know? [Copy]!"

    >

    >

    "What!?"

    Khan opened his n chat to ask Liu Yang right away .

    Khan: "What is a demon¡¯s soul? What is a demonic curse?"

    Khan: "Zhang Tong is using it now, and I can¡¯t copy his skill . What happened?"

    Liu Yang: "That¡¯s the demonic wing unique abilities . You won¡¯t be able to copy them with the system skill . "

    Liu Yang: "What¡¯s the situation of the battle over there, by the way?"

    Khan: "Bad . He¡¯s raiding Ho Gate with his souls now . "

    Liu Yang: "Have you fought Zhang Tong yet?"

    Khan: "Yes, and I lost . He cheated me with his sorcery weapons . I¡¯m left with about 30,000 lifespans now . "

    Liu Yang: "That¡¯s probably his cheating guns from a system skill . Well, you haven¡¯t mastered any angel abilities yet, so I suggest you to avoid fighting Zhang Tong for now . Retreat back to Chang¡¯An and I¡¯ll teach you about angel powers . Also, demonic curses can be used once a month . He has spent his trump cards, and he won¡¯t be able to threaten your army for a while . Sacrifice those pawns ande back . Don¡¯t risk it . "

    Khan: "Fine . "

    Unlike his usual arrogance tone, Khan listened to Liu Yang¡¯s advice and abandoned his men . He took a new horse with a hundred trusted men with him back to Luo Yang .

 Chapter 322

    Chapter 322: 322

    Chapter 322 ¨C Hua Xiong on the Run

    = North Shore of the Yellow River =

    While Tong was battling at Ho Gate, Li Feihong and the others were still camping on the opposite side of Yellow River .

    Li Feihong looked at the status within his private world as he examined the features of his power .

    .

    [Private Farm World] LV 7 .

    - Able to ess a private world in another dimension .

    - World Size 7,000 km .

    - The time scale of the real world: Private World: 1 day ¨C 1 month .

    - The host can grow crops in the private world .

    - The host can raise animals in the private world .

    - All objects in the private world can be taken out to the real world .

    - The host can utilize monitors in both worlds .

    - The host can open a gate four times a day .

    Skill Cost:

    - 1 Lifespan per one-minute gate connection .

    - Upkeep: 2,000 lifespans per year .

    Skill Restriction:

    - Can only grow crops that exist in this world .

    - Can only raise animals that exist in this world .

    .

    Not many things changed after three years of hard working, and his resources within this world increased .

    >

    >

    >

    >

    A message from the separated system of his [Private Farm World] rang inside his head, which Li Feihong got used to it .

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    Messages kepting every second, which could drive any mortal insane within a day . However, Li Feihong got used to it as he lived with these sounds for 20 years .

    To him, these sounds were like music, and it was proof that he was still alive . Furthermore, his mental fortitude was now stronger than everyone within the Mountaineer Legion, including Lu Bu .

    As Li Feihong was concentrating on his private world¡¯s management, Zhang Liao visited him .

    "Feihong, all troops are ready . Tong sent words that we have to cross the river by nightfall . "

    Li Feihong closed his system menu and looked back, "Get everyone in my world . We¡¯ll open one gate behind the enemy¡¯s line and another gate behind the walls of Luo Yang . "

    "What about thebat policy? Have you talked with Ju Shou?"

    "Yes . Ju Shou will remain on the north shore with 10,000 men and be our decoy . Zhang He will take care of the city raiding while our legion will clean the soldiers on the south shore . "

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Three dayster =

    Hua Xiong watched the shoreline without blinking . From Khan¡¯s order, he had to stop Tong¡¯s 100,000 soldiers from crossing the river .

    However, both legions on the opposite side of the river had not constructed a boat or showed a sign of preparation to cross to this side .

    "Odd . "

    Hua Xiong¡¯s instinct told him that he fell into the enemy¡¯s trap even though they had yet to fight .

    "Very odd . "

    Hua Xiong clicked his tongue and rode back to his tent . He texted Khan in the n chat .

    Hua Xiong: "Zhang Tong¡¯s armies haven¡¯t moved, but I think we¡¯re going to suffer a major loss . "

    Hua Xiong: "I need help . "

    Khan: "Why do you think you¡¯ll lose?"

    Hua Xiong: "Instinct . I can just tell . "

    Khan: "I¡¯m retreating back to Luo Yang . When I reach there, we¡¯ll pull back to Hongnong . "

    Khan: "I should reach Luo Yang before the sunset . Before I arrive, avoid fighting with their soldiers head-on . Once we get back to Chang¡¯An, this coalition will fall apart . "

    Hua Xiong: "Alright . "

    ...

    10 Minutester after the Hua Xiong reorganized the four battalions of Han Sui, Li Jue, Guo Si, and his troops, Hua Xiong and all soldiers saw ck smokesing from Luo Yang City¡¯s direction .

    The location between the south shore and Luo Yang was 40 kilometers away, which tranted to one day distance of forced marching or two to four days of regr marching on foot .

    As cavalry units of Xiongnu, they could reach the city in a couple of hours .

    "What happens in the city?"

    Soldiers gossiped and guessed about the ck smoke, which was expanding . For every second, the ck cloud got more intense as more sources of the smoke increased .

    Hua Xiong clicked his tongue . His skins had been itching for the past 10 minutes that he could not suppress his inner voice anymore .

    It had been yelling in his mind that he had to retreat now!

    "ALL UNITS, RUSH TO HONGNONG, NOW! ABANDON ANY UNNECESSARY BAGGAGE AND MOVE!"

    Hearing the yell of Hua Xiong, all soldiers and the three generals were shocked .

    Han Sui walked to Hua Xiong as he was confused by the sudden order .

    "Why do we have to retreat? Our order is to hold this position . "

    "If we don¡¯t retreat now, we¡¯re all going to die! The enemies had already crossed the river!"

    "WHAT!?"

    "The troop on the opposite shore is a decoy! They must have crossed from the other location and struck Luo Yang City behind our back . Tell the men to get out of here before the sunset, or we¡¯ll be surrounded!"

    Though they were shocked, the three generalsplied with Hua Xiong¡¯s order .

    As veterans, Han Sui, Li Jue, and Guo Si reorganized their toons and withdrew from the shore within one hour . They burnt a portion of their supplies that they could not bring with them and left the camp without bothering packing their tents .

    ...

    After Hua Xiong¡¯s had retreated for two hours, a cavalry unit of 10,000 soldiers reached the previous location of Hua Xiong and the others . Banners of "Ding" fluttered in the wind .

    Ding Yuan led the 10,000 heavy knights of Mountaineer Legion here to harass the 200,000 soldiers of Xiongnu, but they withdrew before he could cross sword with them .

    "Good foresight . Too bad, the Xiongnu is a bitte . "

    Ding Yuan hummed as he opened his n chat .

    Ding Yuan: "They have retreated from the camp . It seems they left in a hurry . All tents and several belongings are left behind . "

    Li Feihong: "Roger that . "

    Li Feihong: "I have them on my monitors . They are moving southwest toward Hongnong . Wenyuan, Fengxian, I¡¯ll leave them to both of you . "

    Zhang Liao: "On it . "

    Lu Bu: "Fine . "

    ...

    It was at 6 PM . The sun had half-sunk into the horizon, and the sky turned orange .

    Hua Xiong and his cavalry unit of 50,000 soldiers led the vanguard and pushed westward . After galloping for hours, they were in front of Henan County, which located between Luo Yang City and Hangu Gate .

    Upon seeing the wall surrounding the county, Hua Xiong raised his fist to stop his toon .

    On the top of Henan County wall, banners of "Li" had reced the picture banners of Xiongnu tribes .

    ¡¯Li n? Is that one of the immortals, Li Feihong in the rumor?¡¯

    Hua Xiong frowned and clicked his tongue . They indeed fell into a trap as he had predicted .

    ¡¯They took Henan County . Then has Hangu Gate lost?¡¯

    If Hangu Gate, which located further west of Henan County, were taken by Tong¡¯s subordinates, they would be isted from the rest of Xiongnu . Khan and his legion would have been trapped under Tong¡¯s encirclement between Tong¡¯s two armies and the coalition forces .

    While Hua Xiong was in deep thought, his three assisting generals arrived .

    Han Sui gazed at the top of the wall in shock, "Have they taken Henan!?"

    Hua Xiong turned to Han Sui, "Where are the rest of the men? Have they arrived here yet?"

    "They will be here in two hours . I made them rest for dinner ..."

    "TELL THEM TO STOP EATING AND CONTINUE MARCHING! IF THEY CAMP OUTSIDE, THEY WILL BE KILLED BEFORE THE SUNRISE!"

    Han Sui¡¯s mouth turned into an "O" as he did not understand Hua Xiong¡¯s worries .

    "Why?"

    "If I were the enemies, I would have prepared a night assault while 200,000 soldiers are trapped over here . We have to either cross Hangu Gate or retake Henan within today!"

    "B-But, the King hasn¡¯t regrouped with us yet ..."

    "Forget that brat and survive first! If we can¡¯t cross Hangu Gate before the sunrise, all of us will either be captured or killed!"

    "We have a superior number . Why are you so scared?"

    Hua Xiong grabbed the cor of Han Sui and dragged him to his face, staring into Han Sui¡¯s eyes .

    "You may be a general from the west border, but you have no clue that number is not everything! Even if these soldiers are not fear of death, a good trap and encirclement can kill them all! Ourst intel said that the army from the opposite side of the river is about 100,000 . Then, we are facing the enemies half of our number!"

    Throwing Han Sui on the ground, Hua Xiong bellowed, "Get your 50,000 soldiers to siege Henan County . I¡¯ll take my cavalry to Hangu Gate . As for the rest of 100,000 soldiers, support Han Sui . "

    50,000 heavy cavalry of Hua Xiong rushed west and detoured Henan County, leaving the 150,000 soldiers, Han Sui, Li Jue, and Guo Si behind .

    The three generals looked at each other in confusion .

    "What¡¯s next?"

    Li Jue mumbled, "Let¡¯s ask our boss in the chat . "

    "Yeah, let¡¯s do that . "

    Li Jue told everything in the n chat and informed Khan about Hua Xiong¡¯s decision . However, Khan did not reply . "

    "The boss didn¡¯t reply . What to do?"

    "For now, we have to siege the county . "

    ...

    9 PM .

    The sky had long darkened as it had been hours into the night time .

    50,000 Horsemen of Hua Xiong, who each carried a torch, galloped through the darkness . While they focused on the front, they heard a sound .

    *BWOOO*

    It was a familiar horn sound whichmonly used as a signal .

    "An enemy attack! Draw your weapons and get ready!"

    The sound of metallic clinking and swordsing out of the sheath resounded in the night along with the galloping noises of the horse hooves .

    Yet, they saw no one .

    "Keep going!"

    Hearing the voice of Hua Xiong, they pped the butt of their horses to increase the pace .

    Soon, they saw the Hangu Pass, which did not have a banner or garrison troops on the top of the wall . The gate was also wide-open .

    "Enter the gate! Get to the other side first and worry about the ambushter!"

    All horsemen lined into three columns and moved through the gate . Hua Xiong remained behind as a rearguard and looked around him .

    "Odd . Is this a trick?"

    Hua Xiong did not hear the sound of fighting from behind the gate, so he thought that they crossed the gate safely .

    He turned around and entered the gate as well .

    Because of the panic and the chaos, all 50,000 soldiers did not notice that there was a giant portal within the gate, and they all entered it .

    As soon as Hua Xiong crossed the portal, the sky became bright .

    "Huh?"

    All soldiers also looked lost . They scanned their surrounding in a panic .

    They found themselves on grasnd on daytime, but they remembered that it should have been the night time .

    The portal closed after Hua Xiong, and his horse had entered .

    Then, they heard another familiar noise .

    *BWOOO*

 Chapter 323

    Chapter 323

    Chapter 323 ¨C Trapping Hua Xiong

    "Where is this ce!?"

    Hua Xiong forgot to pay attention to the horn signal as he was too shocked by the sudden change of the night and day .

    In disarray, the 50,000 heavy horsemen failed to react when 20,000 knights in shiny armors appeared before them .

    ...

    Li Feihong hadid a trap to separate Xiongnu soldiers .

    Two days ago, Li Feihong transferred all of his troops into his private dimension and crossed the river by exiting another portal, which opened on the opposite side of the river .

    Lu Bu exited the gate and marched west toward Henan County .

    Because of Lu Bu had experiences dealing with the Xiongnu, he disguised 5,000 horsemen with Xiongnu¡¯s native silk clothes and entered Henan County without being suspected .

    Inside the Henan County, Lu Bu wreaked havoc and upied the county within the day .

    After Henan County had been taken down, Li Feihong opened another portal behind Hangu Pass, and Zhang Liao leaped out of the portal .

    As a veteran raider, Zhang Liao had no problem killing the unprepared soldiers behind the Hangu Pass and took the checkpoint .

    The stage was prepared, and it was the time to lure in the actors .

    The next day, Li Feihong took his time to get closer to Luo Yang . Upon arriving there, he opened a portal inside Luo Yang City, releasing the Ghost Legion inside .

    Then today, Li Feihong moved east . He deployed Ding Yuan and his horsemen 10 kilometers east of Hua Xiong¡¯s main camp . In his n, Ding Yuan had to harass Hua Xiong¡¯s 200,000 soldiers from the east and retreat back into the gate to confuse the enemies .

    He raced back to Hangu Gate alone, which he also blew the signal horn to confuse Hua Xiong .

    When Hua Xiong reached the Hangu Pass, Li Feihong intentionally opened a portal under the checkpoint, so all soldiers of Xiongnu would enter his dimension world .

    Then, he rushed back to Henan to support Lu Bu .

    Every led to the presence .

    ...

    Zhang Liao and his 10,000 heavy knights, who had reentered the portal yesterday, charged at Hua Xiong Army .

    The lighter but more durable steel shed with Xiongnu¡¯s iron spears . Warhorses with steel armors rammed with Xiongnu¡¯s warhorses, which only wore silk armor .

    The first minute of battle belonged to Zhang Liao and his men because the Xiongnu could not keep up with the sudden ambush charge .

    Hua Xiong recovered from the shock . He shoved his men aside to get to the frontline .

    As soon as Hua Xiong saw the enemies, he roared, "Insolence!"

    *BOOM*

    The heavy knight with the steel armor was sent flying by Hua Xiong¡¯s halberd . The chest armor dented from the impact, and the rider fell on the ground .

    More knights with spears, halberds, andnce charged at Hua Xiong .

    "Humph!"

    Hua Xiong held his breath and attacked the oing enemies with a horizontal swing, which his weapon shed with theirs, creating nking noise .

    Yet, it was not enough to kill them .

    As Hua Xiong realized that he could not find a gap in the knight armors to inflict direct injuries to the soldiers, he changed his approach .

    The general exerted his mental strength and expanded his killing intent . The oppressing air engulfed the soldiers, which caused their movement to stagger .

    Seeing that the soldiers paused, Hua Xiong exhaled a sigh of relief .

    ¡¯In the end, they¡¯re just soldiers with good equipment . ¡¯

    Before Hua Xiong could kill a single knight, they moved and continued attacking .

    "What!?"

    He eximed in shock . Hua Xiong was confident that his killing intent aura just now should have scared all the soldiers to the point that their legs turned into jellies .

    Unfortunately, Hua Xiong did not know that Lu Bu and Li Feihong¡¯s killing intent was stronger than his .

    At this moment, Zhang Liao found Hua Xiong .

    "I AM ZHANG LIAO!"

    With a bellow and the signature introduction, Zhang Liao charged at Hua Xiong . However, he did not use his usual halberd to attack the enemy general .

    A Benelli shotgun was in his hands .

    *BANG*

    It was a point-nk shotgun st which the buckshot sprayed into Hua Xiong¡¯s face . The little iron ball from the shotgun shell entered his skull, cracking the bone and crushing his brain .

    With one shot, the cautious general, who should have been killed by either Sun Jian or Guan Yu, died by Tong¡¯s creation .

    "Man, I love this thing . Kakakaka! Too bad I don¡¯t have many bullets . "

    Zhang Liaoughed as he fell in love with firearms .

    Even after Hua Xiong¡¯s death, Xiongnu remaining soldiers did not give up fighting . They insisted on fighting Zhang Liao¡¯s tanking knights to thest breath without utter a word of surrendering .

    It put Zhang Liao and his 10,000 soldiers in a tight spot as they were outnumbered .

    In the first few minutes, Zhang Liao and his men killed 10,000 Xiongnu in an instant . They rushed into Xiongnu disarrayed formation to finish off these barbarians, but changes urred after minutes into the fight .

    Xiongnu reorganized without Hua Xiong¡¯smand or his existence . The formation, which had been broken into several groups, reformed into small battalions and surrounded Zhang Liao¡¯s men instead . They pulled out their short bows and rain of arrows arrived at the packed formation of the knights .

    With the absolute defense of steel te armor set, Zhang Liao used the durability of his armor to withstand the arrows and spears of Xiongnu cavalries . He aimed his shotgun and fired at all potential leaders he found .

    Ten 1,000-manmanders under Zhang Liao also took out their shotgun to return-fire, which injured and killed leaders of small groups .

    The Mountaineer 10,000 soldiers repelled the sudden counter-attacks of scattered groups of cavalries and butchered more Xiongnu men .

    After fighting for an hour, Zhang Liao¡¯s soldiers began to suffer casualties as they were tired . They managed to kill another 20,000 Xiongnu cavalries with difficulty, but the Xiongnu got used to their speed and reacted without a leader .

    20,000 remaining Xiongnu used their trademark short bows to cripple the horses of Zhang Liao¡¯s men and kept the distance away from the heavy knights . 1,000 of 10,000 Zhang Liao¡¯s men had fallen as they failed to react in time .

    "Retreat, Wenyuan . "

    Hearing the voice of Li Feihong, Zhang Liao clicked his tongue .

    "Oh well . Fighting Xiongnu is different from fighting militias . I should have mentally prepared for this . Prepare to retreat!"

    Trading 1,000 soldiers for Xiongnu 30,000 horsemen was profitable, but Zhang Liao was not that satisfied . He red at the barbarians with a fire of grudge in his eyes .

    The 20,000 fearless cloned barbarians chased after Zhang Liao, but they were stopped by a mysterious portal which opened in front of them .

    A giant red warhorse and a lone knight in steel armor, which was painted in red, exited the magic gate . His glowing eyes red at them, emitting sharp killing intent . The aura of the red knight oppressed the Xiongnu as the sinister cold air made their heart skipped a beat .

    Lu Bu had entered the battlefield .

    Zhang Liao exited the portal by using the same gate that Lu Bu came from, exchanging their duties . Because Lu Bu was assigned to guard Henan County, Zhang Liao had to rece Lu Bu if he entered the gate to clean up the Xiongnu soldiers inside .

    The voice of Li Feihong did not stop, "Do you think you can handle everything on your own for another one or two hours?"

    "... Maybe . "

    "It doesn¡¯t sound very confident, Fengxian . "

    "... Maybe . "

    "Well, don¡¯t die, okay?"

    "... Maybe?"

    "..."

    Lu Bu stopped messing with Li Feihong . He stood on the back of his horse instead of riding it and stared down at the hesitating Xiongnu soldiers .

    Each hand of Lu Bu was holding a crescent halberd, a dual-wielding style . With a light step on the red hare, he leaped toward the pack of Xiongnu cavalries while two white wings on his back spread to the side .

    Both hands and Lu Bu¡¯s halberds disappeared from the vision of Xiongnu soldiers, and whistling noise of halberd swings followed .

    Heads flew into the air as Lu Bu leaped from one horseman to another . The red knight¡¯s weapon speed surpassed the abilities of these soldiers as they could not even see the after images of Lu Bu¡¯s arms .

    Each strike from Lu Bu reaped one life, but each of his halberds found seven heads within one second .

    Fourteen riders were killed each second!

    As Lu Bu was harvesting the lives of these clone troopers, his mind wasprehending a Dao .

    ¡¯Human brains operate faster than our imagination . By closing my eyes for one second, I can experience an hour of dreams . ¡¯

    ¡¯Time Alter that Tong and Xiao Wu used was based on this naturalw . By elerating the processing power within my brain, my perception improves . The entire world will go slower while I can still move at the same speed . ¡¯

    ¡¯Overclocking the brain . That is Tong¡¯s first step . ¡¯

    ¡¯The next step is going beyond the limit of human¡¯s potential . Tong used to fight to the limit that he often got a nosebleed, and that was how he kept improving . ¡¯

    ¡¯Then, the secret of the Time Alter is ... the further level of the processing eleration . ¡¯

    Lu Bu muttered as he mimicked what Tong used against him .

    "... Double el . "

    A surge of blood pressure rushed into Lu Bu¡¯s brain, increasing the brain processing speed to the limit . Several minor blood vessels ruptured, which Lu Bu could feel the chilling cold inside his head . A drop of blood dripped from his nose, and his both eyes became bloodshot .

    In exchange for such damages, Lu Bu sensed that the world around him almost came to a stop, yet he could freely move in this distorted world .

    Itsted for only a second, but it was enough to make Lu Bu smile .

    ¡¯I have caught your tail, Tong! I¡¯ll reach your level soon!¡¯

    Lu Buughed for the first time after years of self-reflection . His anxieties and his worries disappeared as they were reced with joy .

    As he let out hisughter, a streak of red afterimages roamed the battlefield, painting Li Feihong¡¯s world with the blood of Xiongnu soldiers .

    "AHAHAHAHAHA!!"

    ...

    Lu Bu spent two hours to ughter all remaining Hua Xiong¡¯s subordinates . After butchered thest rider, he took off the red knight helmet to get fresh air .

    The long white hair of Lu Bu fluttered in the wind while his matured looking face revealed a blissful smile .

    "When was thest time that I felt this good after a battle?"

    While Lu Bu was in a good mood, Li Feihong¡¯s voice interrupted him .

    "Sorry to interrupt you, Fengxian . I need you back at Henan County, or everyone over there will be ughtered at this rate . "

    "What is it now?"

    "Xiongnu King shows up, and he is helping the others attacking the county . He¡¯s using the spirits to attack our soldiers, and I can¡¯t stop him . "

    "Open the gate let me go out there . As for the defenders, withdraw back into this dimension . "

    A portal opened before Lu Bu, which he leaped into the gate without hesitation . As soon as he got outside, he found himself inside Henan County, which was being overrun by Xiongnu Army .

 Chapter 324

    Chapter 324

    Chapter 324 ¨C The Iplete 12 Pounder Cannons

    = Six hours earlier =

    Zhang He and his subordinates exited Luo Yang from the north gate . They regrouped with Ding Yuan, who had remained in the former camp of Hua Xiong . All Ghost Legion soldiers were covered in the blood of their enemies from the intensebat .

    Li Feihong had opened a portal into Luo Yang City yesterday, which 50,000 soldiers Zhang He and his assisting generals flooded the city from the inside, killing the garrison soldiers to thest man before leaving the city .

    They hadpleted their objective for raiding Luo Yang .

    In Zhang He¡¯s hands, one of the Han Dynasty precious object was there, the Emperor Jade Sword .

    This sword itself could not be used in a real fight . Instead, it represented the direct Han Emperor¡¯s order, which equaled to the Imperial Edicts . However, the owner of this sword could use the authority freely without being restricted by the written words in edicts, and the weight of his words would be the words of the Emperor himself .

    Had this sword fallen to wrong hands, chaos could have ensued .

    Zhang He passed the sword to Ding Yuan, "We found the Emperor Jade Sword, but we can¡¯t find the Imperial Seal . "

    Ding Yuan shrugged, "That should be in Dong Zhuo¡¯s hands, or it is under the Xiongnu King¡¯s possession . Well, Dong Zhuo is probably dead by now, and the seal is lost . "

    "Should I go back and search further?"

    Ding Yuan shook his head, "Let the others do the job . For now, we¡¯ll move to Henan just in case Li Feihong wants our support . The entire 200,000 soldiers are going there, so anything can happen . "

    "Right . Let¡¯s go . "

    . . .

    Meanwhile, Khan and his 100 bodyguards escaped from Ho Gate and arrived at the east wall of Luo Yang before the sunset as promised . He let off a sign of relief that Tong did not chase after him .

    "That was close . If Zhang Tong chases after me, I might really be killed . "

    Khan chuckled as he jested . He did not mean it when he said "I might really be killed . "

    In a good mood, he hummed and gazed on top of the wall of Luo Yang .

    "Zhang Tong is still a na?ve brat . If I were him, I would have crossed the river and captured this city when the Xiongnu troops appeared at Ho Gate . Since the banners are still one of ours, their pincer tactic is a failure . "

    The banners and gs on the top of Luo Yang City¡¯s walls were still the symbols of Xiongnu tribes, the horse and bow drawing .

    Khan gestured his bodyguards to enter the city while his eyes nced at the system menu . He pressed the n icon, so he could read the chat log of this afternoon to see if there was any change .

    To his surprise, Hua Xiong left a message .

    [I¡¯m retreating from the riverbank position ahead of schedule . We will secure Henan County and Hangu Gate first . ]

    Another message came a few hourster .

    [There is an ambush as I fear . Zhang Tong¡¯s men have long crossed the river, and they are nning to nk us from behind . Your Majesty should abandon Luo Yang and rush to Hangu Gate right away, or you will be surrounded by all sides . ]

    Khan paused . He grabbed one of his bodyguards by the cor and shouted, "Stop! We¡¯ll not enter Luo Yang!"

    The bodyguards turned around in confusion . Although they did not understand Khan, they followed his order anyway . The one hundred riders detoured Luo Yang and galloped west to Henan County, rushing through the night .

    As Khan and the men avoided entering Luo Yang, he sent one of his spirit inside the city to take a peek about the situation behind the walls . Upon getting behind the wall, Khan clicked his tongue .

    All of his garrison soldiers had been killed, and the enemies had withdrawn from the city . All traces led to the north gate, which Khan did not want to waste his times tracking after them .

    ¡¯No trace of any siege battle from outside the wall, yet all garrison soldiers inside are all dead . Footprints and traces of battles inside the city are still there, but the raiders got away . ¡¯

    Khan¡¯s spirit returned to his body . He nced at the city one more time as he recalled the intel about Tong¡¯s armies .

    ¡¯Zhang Tong separates his armies into legions and delegates them to the grandmander of each army . If I remember correctly, he deploys two legions on the northern bank . One of them is the legion that my old self is in it, and the other one is Ghost Legion . ¡¯

    The train of thought stopped when Khan recited the word "Ghost" in his mind .

    ¡¯That¡¯s silly . Do they really think they¡¯re ghosts!? That¡¯s a fairy tale to scare a child . ¡¯

    Ghosts did not scare Khan as he owned real ghosts .

    ...

    9 . 30 PM .

    Khan and his men reached Henan County, and they were greeted by Li Jue, Guo Si, and Han Sui .

    The 150,000 cloned troops of Hua Xiong¡¯s legion were sieging the county in all direction, but they could not defeat the garrison soldiers even though they had fewer troops because all of them were using strange weapons .

    Their morale was at the lowest, which the vanguard cloned soldiers even hesitated of climbingdders to fight the defenders .

    "What is happening here?"

    The three generals trembled as they could not find the right words for their excuses . Han Sui mustered his courage and answered Khan, "They are using sorcery, your majesty . "

    "What sorcery?"

    "A thunder sorcery, your majesty . "

    "Exin!"

    "On top of the walls, they have ced those mysterious lumps of bronze behind the battlements . All of them had a round mouth that they breathed fire and roared like a thunder sound, your majesty . Every time they roared, our troops will suffer casualties because of the mysterious explosion sorcery . "

    Khan frowned . As a reincarnator from the second century, he had no experiences with firearms, so he did not know about the weapons that the garrison force was using .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    As they were speaking, garrison soldiers tossed several bags with ignited fuses on them . As soon as they touch the ground and the lighted fuses entered the bags, they exploded and killed surrounding men who stood beside the bomb bags .

    *BOOM*

    One of the ck metal mouths spat smoke and a loud boom . In the next second, a group of Khan¡¯s reserve troops on the backline, which stood in a square formation, flew to the air along with a loud explosion .

    On the top of the wall in Khan¡¯s line of sight, 5,000 soldiers defended the east wall of Henan County .

    They were the Mountaineer Legion soldiers . These men had detached from other units and were defending Henan County while the otherspleted their roles .

    Khan squinted his eyes . Because of the dark night, he could not see the banners of these soldiers, but he could guess that these men should be Tong¡¯s subordinates that had crossed the river .

    "Where is Hua Xiong?"

    "H-He went ahead to secure Hangu Gate for our escape route, your majesty!"

    >

    >

    "..."

    Khan and the three generals were speechless by the sudden system notification . They opened the system menu to check the list of their n members, and Hua Xiong¡¯s name had been crossed with a red line .

    ¡¯Wenyuan . Are you fighting for them?¡¯

    Khan feltplicated that he had to fight his former brother-in-arms . Zhang Liao was his best friend and his right-hand-man, so Khan hesitated if he should kill Zhang Liao or recruit him into his army once more .

    ring at the top of Henan County wall, Khan gritted his teeth, "Did Hua Xiong say he was going to Hangu Gate?"

    "Y-Yes, your majesty . "

    "We¡¯ll kill everyone in Henan first, then we¡¯ll avenge for Hua Xiong . Tell the men to storm the wall! I want this county before the daybreak!"

    . . .

    Li Feihong opened his eyes and sighed because of the exhaustion . Riding a horse around all day and expanding his vision across over 100km range was tiring .

    He massaged his temples while he gazed in front of him .

    Currently, Li Feihong was sitting on the top of the wall of Henan County . Above him, live broadcasting inside of his private world was showing Zhang Liao¡¯s soldiers and Xiongnu soldiers fighting each other .

    *BOOM*

    The cannon sounds woke Li Feihong up from his slumber . He stood up and walked to the side of a red knight, who was administering the cannon squads .

    These cannons were Li Feihong¡¯s pride as he and Te Langpupleted it with difficulty . They were bronze cannons with smooth bores, which was the most crucial part in firearms development in the future .

    They could notplete the steam engine technology in times, so they followed Tong¡¯s advice and drilled a smooth bore by using a windmill-powered drill .

    The windmill factory was initially used to mill the rice in the western countries, but they constructed it here to develop the 12-pounder Napoleon cannons with a simple trunnion . Bronze protrusions from the side of the barrels were pre-casted, which became one with the cannon itself, so the cannon crews could rest the cannons with a supporting carriage .

    Unfortunately, they failed to develop the reinforce rings, the chamber within the bore, and other parts in times .

    Each of the cannons took many days to dig the bore into the casted bronze, and the best cksmith had to create a small vent hole at the rear end of the cannon to insert the quickmatch, which they ruined many finished products because of their inexperienced hands .

    In the end, they managed to construct 20 of these iplete cannons before they brought them here to use it in realbat .

    One of the crews shoved in a long stick with a corkscrew on top, the worm, into the bore . They twisted the stick and pulled it out, getting rid of all the leftover projectile parts inside the bore .

    After he pulled the corkscrew out, he shoved a sponge rammer stick, which had been soaked with water, into the bore, cleaning the remaining gunpowder inside the barrel .

    When the rammer guy pulled out the sponge stick, the other assistant put in a bag of gunpowder and a cannonball into the cannon muzzle . The rammer soldier pushed the cannonball to the end before he took the rammer-stick out again .

    Themander of the cannon stabbed the bag of the gunpowder with a prepared thin stick to the pre-made vent hole at the rear end of the barrel . He thrust a pre-made fuse into the hole afterward and ignited it .

    *BOOM*

    The cannon fired a round cannonball, whichnded at the back of the sieging army .

    This was the part that was iplete as theycked the tools and technologies to create a friction device . To shoot the cannons by pulling the friction device instead of using the quickmatch, Tong and Li Feihong required the steam engines and precise metallic cutting technologies to develop the inner parts of the cannons, which they did not have it now .

    "Feihong, your toys take too much time to reload . One shot of cannon can kill only three to ten men . But the time it takes to reload, all the crews can use repeating crossbows to kill a hundred men . "

    Listening to Lu Bu, Li Feihong wryly smile, "The cannons are iplete . The better version will be deadlier than this . We have yet to develop exploding shells . "

 Chapter 325

    Chapter 325: 325

    Chapter 325 ¨C Well Met, My Past

    Ten thousand knights of Mountaineer Legion did not have a problem receiving all arrows from the Xiongnu soldiers . They stood firm on all four walls and repelled the men who were climbingdders with ease .

    Lu Bu rode his horse toward a section which was attacked by a siegedder . He cleaved the enemy vanguards and pushed back all Xiongnu men off the wall one by one . As soon as he reached the siege tower, he destroyed the wooden bridge, whichtched on top of the wall .

    A siegedder was disconnected .

    *BOOM*

    A bomb bag exploded at the side of the siegedder, and the entire structure of the wheeleddder crumbled to the ground along with a dozen soldiers on the top of it .

    *BANG*

    Sometimes, gunshot sound came from a thousand-manmander as they fired their shotgun at the enemies in close range .

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    Mountaineer Legion had not forgotten the repeating crossbows . Out of 5,000 soldiers on each wall, three thousand of them fired their crossbows at Xiongnu men below the wall .

    For one hour, they ousted the endless enemies in the middle of the night .

    But the event inside Li Feihong¡¯s private world changed the flow of the battle in Henan . Zhang Liao¡¯s soldiers suffered casualties from overwhelming enemies .

    "Retreat, Wenyuan . "

    Li Feihong muttered to himself, but Zhang Liao and the others inside his world could hear it .

    Lu Bu also heard his strategist¡¯s voice . He turned around as he worried about Zhang Liao, "Something wrong?"

    "Yeah . Wenyuan is struggling . Fighting 50,000 Xiongnu in the open field is still too much for him . "

    "Send me inside . I¡¯ll get them out . "

    "I only have one gate left today . If I use it, I will be able to open it again in the next two hours . Are you sure?"

    "Send me in there . "

    "Okay, boss . "

    Li Feihong opened a portal to his private world, which Lu Bu and his horse entered .

    Zhang Liao and his 9,000 knights exited the portal . Their breathing was rough and quick as they were exhausted from the fight with Hua Xiong¡¯s toons on the open field .

    "Well, that was close . "

    Zhang Liaoughed while he looked around . Seeing that Henan was under siege, his reliefughter turned into a sarcasticughing .

    "Oh, great . Another battlefront . "

    "Can¡¯t help it . They reacted before we can even box them in Luo Yang . These guys are too smart for barbarians . "

    Zhang Liao and his soldiers got down from their horses and joined the others on the top of the wall . With the addition of 9,000 reinforcement, the situation on the wall was under their control .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    As waves of Xiongnu clones climbed thedders, another hour passed .

    It was 11 . 30 PM .

    Khan was getting impatient as times went on, but they did not see the progress on the top of the wall . None of the clones could even get a solid foothold or a space to break through the garrisoned defenders .

    "I have to do everything myself every time, Ain¡¯t I?"

    Four spirits of Khan got out of his body and rushed toward the top of the wall . The glowing white ghosts flew to the defenders in an instant and caused amotion .

    "G-Ghosts!"

    "Evil spirits!"

    The Mountaineer soldiers panicked as the ghosts were eye-catching as they glowed in the dark night . Furthermore, the night time gave them a sense of insecurity, and their logic did not work straight at the moment .

    By floating in the air alone, the garrison soldiers were distracted enough to lose focus on the battle in front of them . Khan¡¯s spirit joined the battle on each wall, putting the pressure on the defending soldiers .

    They entered random bodies of the knights, which they exploded from the inside from the ethereal forces of the angelic spirits .

    Li Feihong and Zhang Liao also witnessed how these ghosts killed their men .

    ¡¯Is that ... Fengxian!?¡¯

    ¡¯Fengxian¡¯s spirits!?¡¯

    They recognized the appearance of four spirits right away .

    Zhang Liao immediately texted into the n chat .

    Zhang Liao: "Fengxian, are you there!?"

    Lu Bu: "Busy . Talkter . "

    Zhang Liao: "You¡¯re still alive? Then what are these ghosts?"

    Li Feihong: "There are several ghosts looking like you . I thought you were dead . "

    Lu Bu: " . . . "

    Lu Bu ignored the chat as he was busy killing Xiongnu within Li Feihong¡¯s dimension at this moment .

    Soon, Tong saw the messages and joined the conversation .

    Tong: "Be careful . Those ghosts are Xiongnu King¡¯s spirits . "

    Tong: "Aside from anyone with wings, no one can harm those spirits . "

    Tong: "Feihong, have you awakened your wings yet?"

    Li Feihong: "What wing?"

    Li Feihong: "Ah, I forgot . No . "

    Tong: "Get the hell out of there . Abandon Henan or retreat back into your dimension . "

    Li Feihong: "Can¡¯t do . I used up my quotas today . "

    Tong: "Then, buy yourself some times . Do you think you canst 30 minutes over there without getting yourself killed?"

    Zhang Liao: "If we don¡¯t stand out, maybe ..."

    Li Feihong: "We¡¯ll try . "

    Zhang Liao and Li Feihong closed their system menu . Without further ado, they bellowed at the same time .

    "All troops, gather at the city center . Avoid fighting with the ghosts!"

    All surviving knights on the wall were shocked . They slowly stepped backward as they withdrew in an orderly fashion . All of them walked down the stone stairs and got on their horses, galloping toward the city center .

    The four ghosts kept killing the knights as they were withdrawing from the wall . At the same time, Xiongnu soldiers got their foothold on the walls and pursued the retreating soldiers .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Li Feihong¡¯s shotgun sted several pursuers and sessfully intimidated the attackers . However, his action caught the eyes of Khan .

    ¡¯A general or a strategist?¡¯

    Khan grinned andmanded all spirits to charge at Li Feihong .

    "Well, shit . "

    Subconsciously, Li Feihong disyed his killing intent, which locked on the four ghosts . His hands did not stop either as they pulled the trigger and fire more shotgun shells at the spirits out of desperation .

    The bullets did not harm the four glowing ghosts with Lu Bu¡¯s appearance, but the killing intent aura of Li Feihong impressed Khan .

    ¡¯Oh, ho! Who is this? Why does he have this kind of aura? Is he an elite that I overlooked in my previous life?¡¯

    Khan changed his mind . At first, he nned to kill this schrly looking man, but he wanted Li Feihong as his subordinate now .

    Using the mouth of his spirit, Khan persuaded Li Feihong while he activated one of his skill .

    [Eyes of Domination]

    "Join me!"

    Li Feihong could feel that something was invading his brain and was altering his memories . Fearing that he might be controlled by a mysterious force, he grinned and pointed the shotgun into his mouth . He aimed the shotgun upward to his brain and pulled the trigger .

    *BANG*

    Hemitted suicide!

    "WHAT!?"

    Khan could not believe his eyes that this young man chose to die without hesitation .

    "What a waste . He¡¯s a good soldier . If he were with me, he would have grown into a great general . "

    Khan disregarded Li Feihong¡¯s messy corpse and continued chasing after the retreating soldiers .

    A minuteter, the messed head of Li Feihong self-regenerated as his [Self-Resurrection] activated upon death . All of his blood and pieces of his brain gathered and reverted back to himself a minute before hemitted suicide .

    "Ow, it¡¯s been a while, but it¡¯s cold as usual . "

    As a former sinner in hell, dying was a daily urrence to him . However, tasting it again in this life gave him a disturbing nostalgic feeling .

    To get out of the brainwashing skill, Li Feihong suicided without hesitation . Paying 2,500 lifespans to get away from the surprise very was worth it .

    ...

    [Self-Resurrection] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Resurrect yourself upon death .

    Skill Cost: 5,000 lifespan

    Skill Restriction:

    - Skill Cost doubles for each use .

    ... .

    The skill cost for the activation was 2,500 before, but it increased to 5,000 now . Li Feihong had to be careful not to run out of lifespans during the times of emergency like this .

    ¡¯I have a bit over 50,000 years . I should be fine for now, but I have to ask Tong to allocate them to me more . ¡¯

    Thus, Li Feihong sneaked into the shadow and rejoined the retreating troops in the chaos .

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Midnight

    5,000 Soldiers of each wall and the 9,000-man reinforcement of Zhang Liao united at the city center, getting ready to escape from of the city using Li Feihong¡¯s portal . During the 30 minutesmotion of the ghost attack, 4,000 soldiers fell from either the ghosts or the Xiongnu soldiers which left them with 25,000 able men .

    As Li Feihong looked at the time, the system clock on his menu showed that his skills had been reset .

    He immediately sent his voice to Lu Bu inside his dimension .

    "Sorry to interrupt you, Fengxian . I need you back at Henan County, or everyone over there will be ughtered at this rate . "

    Lu Bu frowned and answered, "What is it now?"

    Li Feihong was afraid that Lu Bu had not read the chat log yet, so he reminded his boss, "Xiongnu King shows up, and he is helping the others attacking the county . ¡¯He¡¯s using the spirits to attack our soldiers, and I ¡¯can¡¯t stop him . "

    "Open the gate let me go out there . As for the defenders, withdraw back into this dimension . "

    Li Feihong opened the portal and guided everyone inside to escape . Meanwhile, Lu Bu, with his red horse, got out of the gate to protect them .

    The sudden appearance of the mystic portal and the red knight got Khan¡¯s attention .

    "What is that? A reinforcementing out of that thing?"

    Khan sensed a familiar auraing out of the red knight on the red horse . Curious, he sent all of his spirits to attack Lu Bu .

    Lu Bu looked up and saw four ghosts in his appearance . He raised his eyebrows in bemusement .

    Two spirits of Lu Bu got out of his body . They took Lu Bu¡¯s crescent halberds and attacked the oing ghosts .

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    The swings of halberds missed!

    Khan pulled back his spirits in-time when he saw the two souls in front of Lu Bu .

    They had the same appearance as his spirits!

    Khan burst intoughter . His hands sweated, and his pupils expanded . Khan¡¯s adrenaline pumped to his brain, and he could not control his excitement anymore .

    "AHAHAHAHAHA!! You finally appear!"

    Lu Bu could sense that the owner of these ghosts was looking down on him . As he had turned a page of his life, Lu Bu remained indifferent from the mocking of his enemy . As long as hisrades could get out of this mess, his mission would be sessful .

    The absence of Lu Bu¡¯s reaction irked Khan . Although Lu Bu was wearing a red knight helmet, Khan suddenly had the urge to punch his face to teach him a lesson .

    "Your attitude annoys me, my past . Let see how you fare in this world!"

    Lu Bu harrumphed and calmly controlled his spirits to exchange blows with four ghosts of Khan .

    Two of Khan¡¯s souls stole a weapon from the corpses nearby and rushed at Lu Bu while the other two kept Lu Bu¡¯s spirits upied .

    "Your tactic reminds me of how much of a cheating bastard Tong was . Well, cheating is a skill, so that must be your skills . "

    Lu Bu took a deep breath . As he exhaled, he muttered .

    "Time Alter: Double el!"

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    Two spirits of Lu Bu swung their halberds during the sudden speed boost .

    The weapons glowed in white light and cut a piece of flesh of the two spirits .

    Two wounds appeared on Khan¡¯s real body!

 Chapter 326

    Chapter 326

    Chapter 326 ¨C System Skill Limitation

    Lu Bu could use the Double el for only a second as he had not mastered this ability yet . Although the time maniption ended in an instant, he managed to drive back two souls of Khan .

    The other two souls went after Lu Bu¡¯s real body . They threw a punch at his face and his chest, nning to kill him in one hit .

    "Hmm . "

    Lu Bu sidestepped and dodged the attacks from the souls . He threw a punch to counter the souls with his fists, but it went through their bodies without harming them .

    Khan¡¯s two souls turned around and were about to continue attacking . Lu Bu leaped backward one step, temporarily keeping the distance from the two ghosts .

    Lu Bu summoned his spirits back into his body . Concentrating his angelic aura into his fists, he countered the souls with his punch again .

    *POEK*

    The punch connected right to the face of a spirit .

    Khan immediately unsummoned his ghosts as the punch broke his jaw . He resummoned one of his virtue soul to activate his skill .

    ¡¯Regen . ¡¯

    His wounds and the broken jaw were healed .

    "Not bad . Not bad at all . AHAHAHAHAHA"

    Though Khan was surprised that this world¡¯s Lu Bu was stronger than his previous self, his hystericalughter continued to echo in the dark night .

    It was as if Khan was happy to see his son had achieved beyond his expectation .

    He sent one of his virtue soul to confront Lu Bu again . However, he did not attack him .

    Khan transferred his word using the spirit .

    "Well done, Lu Bu . Unfortunately, you are working for the wrong lord . You shouldn¡¯t be working for Zhang Tong . Come to me, and I shall teach you about the real warrior¡¯s path . I can tell you what is going to happen to this country in the future . I can make you the King that you always want to be!"

    Seeing that Khan stopped attacking, Lu Bu spat out a mouthful of blood that clogged in his throat when he activated the [Double el] .

    ncing behind him, all surviving troops still had not evacuated from the county into Li Feihong¡¯s world yet . They were still entering, but it would take a few minutes before all of them could leave .

    ¡¯I have to buy times for them . ¡¯

    Lu Bu turned around and started acting, "What are you? What do you know about me? How can I be King?"

    This was Lu Bu¡¯s bait to initiate long conversation . By throwing questions at Khan, he could buy times for his men .

    In Khan¡¯s point of view, he thought that Lu Bu was showing interest by asking, "How can I be King?"

    "It¡¯s simple . Be my disciple and join my army along with your father . I¡¯m already the King of Xiongnu, so I don¡¯t need to bother fighting anyone else for the throne, but I need a King to run this country . Join me, and you¡¯ll be that King!"

    Lu Bu paused, counting in his mind from one to twenty while his eyes rolled around, pretending to think .

    Twenty seconds passed, Lu Bu answered, "I don¡¯t trust you . What are you? Who really are you? How do I know that you won¡¯t fool me as Zhang Tong did!?"

    Simple bait questions came out of Lu Bu¡¯s mouth again . It was the same trick question .

    "I am an immortal like Zhang Tong . Well, I¡¯m not like him for one fact because I know you more than he does . I know that you want the best for your wife and your daughter . I know that you spent these years looking for a worthy opponent . I know that Zhang Liao and Gao Shun have been cleaning the mess that you made in your early years . "

    Lu Bu paused again . He stopped and counted to twenty before he opened his mouth to retort .

    "You are talking nonsense . Anyone can send spies to obtain that information! You can¡¯t even answer my question directly, then how can I trust you!?"

    Khan was bemused . This world¡¯s Lu Bu was cautious, which was totally different from his imagination .

    ¡¯Come to think of it . I jumped ship right away when Dong Zhuo offered me an official title in the court and gold . This guy isn¡¯t an idiot like my past self . Very good . Excellent!¡¯

    Khan was proud of this alternate self . He wanted to have this Lu Bu as his subordinate at all costs, so he decided to be frank .

    "Listen, Lu Fengxian . In my previous life, I was you! My true name is Lu Bu, Lu Fengxian! I am from the future! I know about what will happen in this country!"

    Lu Bu smirked . He had heard many stories from Li Feihong to the point that his ears numbed every time he heard about the story about his future .

    Moreover, he started having bad dreams at night . He experienced what the other Lu Bu in the different world had been through, the father killing and his desperate journey, serving different lords and getting killed by Cao Cao and Liu Bei .

    Lu Bu did not need anyone to tell him what to do . He decided to pave a path of his own .

    Thus, Lu Bu raised his fist and his middle finger at Khan¡¯s spirit .

    "Bullshit . You wannabe . You shoulde up with a better excuse if you want me to join you . Maybe you should offer me a million gold or something to make it worth my time . Do you have it? The million gold?"

    Khan was taken aback by Lu Bu¡¯s extortion . He frowned and rolled his eyes to the sides, baffled of why this alternate past of himself seemed more cunning and more intelligence than his previous self .

    As the thought of Khan went haywire, he lost his patience .

    "Oh well, I should have done this earlier . [Eyes of Domination], Join me!"

    "Hmm?"

    A d¨¦j¨¤ vu feeling came to Lu Bu as the skill that Xu Da had used on him were being used on him again .

    However, there was a limit to all system skills .

    >

    >

    >

    >

    "What!?"

    Khan stared at the floating system messages in shock .

    Meanwhile, Lu Bu took a deep breath . The feeling of having something invading his brain disappeared, but he was annoyed that this cheating otherworlder attempted to use the same old underhanded trick on him again .

    "Oi, you . At least Tong was honest enough to confront me head-on without using this stupid trick to make me join him . But you, you imed that you were me, but you used the trick that I hate the most . I¡¯m disappointed, wannabe . "

    ncing behind his back, Lu Bu could see that more than half of his soldiers got inside the portal . He needed a few more minutes to all of them away from this hell-hole .

    Lu Bu raised his fist and pointed his middle finger upward, wiggling it and taunting Khan, "Come on, wannabe . Don¡¯t tell me that the future me forgets about his origins and is relying on tricks instead of our proud martial arts? Come, fight me with your real body!"

    Khan took a deep breath and exhaled all air in his lung . It would be a lie to say that he was not mad .

    He was pissed!

    "I want the best for you, but you refuse my goodwill . Fine! I don¡¯t need you in this world! You and I are just strangers with simr experiences and past!"

    The negotiating spirit charged at Lu Bu .

    "[Negate Defense]!"

    The soul struck Lu Bu with its halberd .

    Lu Bu summoned his soul and passed over his halberd .

    *CLANK*

    Khan¡¯s halberd cut through Lu Bu¡¯s halberd like butter . However, despite using his skill, Lu Bu managed to parry it by using the weapon in his soul¡¯s hands to receive the strike .

    >

    >

    "FOOK!"

    Khan lost his temper . He could use it against the real body of Tong, but he failed when he attacked the virtue soul of Lu Bu .

    "Dumbass . "

    Lu Bu unsummoned his soul back to his body . The two wings behind his back expanded once more as he gathered his aura into his halberd .

    He swung it against the soul .

    *SWUA*

    The strike cut a wound on Khan¡¯s soul and caused the same injury on his body .

    "Ghh! Damn it! How!?"

    "A wannabe is always a wannabe . Die!"

    As Lu Bu was about to strike the soul again, Khan summoned his soul back to his body, retreated from the battle .

    Lu Bu snorted, "Weakling!"

    He turned around to his men who were entering the portal . He joined the queue at the backline and waited for his turn in patience .

    ...

    ...

    Khan stared at his injuries in frustration . He had thought that he was invincible with so many powers, yet he was defeated back to back by this world¡¯s Lu Bu and another otherworlder with fewer skills .

    "Something is amiss! Why can¡¯t I kill them all!?"

    Khan red at his status and his skills . As he kept reading, his anger swelled within his heart .

    Without a solution, he typed into the n chat to get an answer from Liu Yang .

    Khan: "My skills aren¡¯t effective against Lu Bu and his spirits . Why is this happening!?"

    Khan: "I lost against my former self! My soul can¡¯t evennd a hit on him!"

    Liu Yang: "..."

    Liu Yang: "I see that you met your alternate self, but that Lu Bu is not you . Remember that this is an alternate world, and you aren¡¯t traveling into the past . "

    Liu Yang: "Khan . You might have relied too much on the system skills . The immortals created this to give a bit of power to the mortals, so they can struggle to entertain them . Do you think they will hand over a mighty and invincible power to a mortal without a precaution?"

    Liu Yang told Khan about the limitation of the system skills and reminded him that this world was a farce .

    All skills that could harm mortals would render ineffective against awakened souls, angels, or demons . As sinners in hell were untrustworthy and carried graves sins, it would be illogical if the gods gave a power that could threaten the existence of heaven and hell to these wicked souls .

    Any administrator that held the key of this universe¡¯sw could terminate all system skills of the mortals instantly, including the power of fellow immortals . Even if Lilim embedded the skills into the souls of the remaining otherworlders, they still held the ability to do so .

    Moreover, the limitation of the skills would not change after the skills became one with the soul of any otherworlder .

    This was a trick to make all sinners think that they were the gods of this new world . All participants of this show would eventually reveal their real desire to the public, and the immortals in heaven would enjoy the hypocrisy of the sinners .

    This was a wicked reality show!

    Khan: "So I have no chance from the beginning!?"

    Liu Yang: "Actually, you have . Juste back in one piece, and I¡¯ll teach you . "

    Khan: "..."

    Liu Yang: "ept my guidance, brat . "

    Khan was about to type that he epted . Suddenly, painful feeling from his jaw and the previous cuts on his chest reappeared . Upon touching them, Khan found that his injuries remained even after he used the instant regenerative skill from [Immortal Yang Vein] .

    He summoned his souls to examine the previous wounds . As he had suspected, the souls who received the cut and the strikes retained the previous injuries .

    "I see . I can¡¯t even heal my souls with my regen ability . Is this the soul injuries I need to be careful about?"

    Khan asked Liu Yang again, and he got his answer .

    Soul injuries could not be healed by ordinary means or system skills . He had to stop using skills and his souls for a few years to recuperate, or he might die from chronic injuries .

 Chapter 327

    Chapter 327

    Chapter 327 ¨C Xun Yu¡¯s Ideal Emperor

    Lu Bu escaped into Li Feihong¡¯s dimension . On the other side, Khan stopped chasing after Lu Bu .

    The battle of Henan came to a conclusion as Khan regained the county from Tong¡¯s troops . Still, he had to abandon it since they had to flee back to Chang¡¯An .

    ¡¯Hu, now I know why Dong Zhuo razed the Luo Yang to the ground that day . ¡¯

    Khan recalled his past life memories . His cringe smile and his frown were bitter, yet he felt better .

    ...

    Meanwhile, the red knight Lu Bu entered Li Feihong¡¯s dimension as thest man . Blood spurted from his mouth as he was at his limit .

    The Double el had many side-effects as it damaged his internal organs and his body cirction system to the point that it could cripple him for life .

    Practicing this skill without life-saving skills or a physician nearby was fatal . By using this space-and-timew twice, Lu Bu had a dyed injury within his heart and blood vessels .

    ¡¯Tong ... Did you go through all of these when you fought me?¡¯

    Lu Bu copsed, causing all soldiers to panic . Li Feihong and Zhang Liao came to bring him to this world¡¯s infirmary afterward, which this god of war would be treated there for some time .

    ...

    Zhang He¡¯s Ghost Legion¡¯s 50,000 men and Ding Yuan¡¯s 10,000 cavalries arrived at Henan two hours after the siege at Henan had ended .

    Unfortunately, Khan swiftly retreated from the county and marched through Hangu Pass already, leaving nothing for Zhang He and the others to find .

    "A pity . We are toote . "

    "Well, Feihong said they are alright, so we¡¯re still in good shape . "

    Zhang He gazed toward Hangu Pass at the horizon, analyzing all reports they received from the n chat . He wanted to consult Ju Shou, but the strategist was on the other side of the river at the moment .

    The general took off his knight steel helmet, revealing his face . Zhang He was wearing a ninja robe and mask beneath his armor as he had prepared for any battle in the middle of the night .

    He took off the mask, breathing in clean air .

    "Let¡¯s guard Henan County and wait for our Lord . "

    Ding Yuan nodded, "Agreed . Well, my son is injured, and I don¡¯t think I have the right mentality to continue fighting . "

    "You have a good son, Lord Ding . "

    "Hahaha . Well, he¡¯s good as long as he doesn¡¯t have that temper . "

    ...

    ...

    ...

    The alliance army upied Ho Gate within two days . Because these clone troopers of Khan did not fear death, the siege was more difficult than everyone had predicted .

    The shameless Yuan Shao imed the credit of being the first to breach the gate when all forces from the first wave were exhausted from the battle .

    "Put our banners on top of the wall! The Yuan Family is the victor! We are the one that upies Ho Gate!"

    Yan Liang bellowed with a smile . It was Tian Feng¡¯s n to boost the credibility of the Yuan Family .

    Cao Cao and Tong shook their head . They had more important tasks to do rather than fighting for the credit, so they left Yuan Shao alone .

    On the other hand, Kong Rong did not like what Yuan Shao was doing . While Tong and his troops were marching through the gate, Kong Rong went to Tong¡¯s side and gave his opinion .

    "Grand Commander Zhang, we should correct Yuan Shao¡¯s attitude before it¡¯s toote . If he kept boasting like this, themoners would believe in his words, and it would look bad for you . "

    Tong turned around and whispered to Kong Rong, "Leave him be . The cockier he bes, the more pain he will suffer once he falls . Instead of worrying about me, I want you to take your troops and return to Beihei . Go home and protect your city from the future possible struggle against Yuan Shao, Liu Bei, or Tao Qian . "

    "W-What do you mean?"

    "Yuan Shao and I will solve this enmity soon, and your territory might get caught in it during the process . For now, go home and protect your n and your city . I see that you¡¯re loyal to her Majesty, so I¡¯m willing to help you in her ce . Will you trust me?"

    "O-Of course, Grand Commander! I will inform my men at once!"

    Kong Rong ran back to his men .

    A few minutester, Gongsun Zan did the same with Kong Rong bying to give Tong a piece of advice .

    "Little Zhang, about Yuan Shao, shouldn¡¯t you correct him? He¡¯s taking your credit even though he barely did anything . "

    Tong sighed and said the same thing to his senior brother . As a result, Gongsun Zan also prepared to withdraw from this coalition .

    "By the way, senior brother . I wish to ask you for a favor . "

    "Oh? What¡¯s wrong?"

    "About her majesty the Empress, can you escort her along the way to Ye City when your troops return to the north?"

    "No problem! It will be my honor protecting your wife, your majesty! Hahaha!"

    The corner of Tong¡¯s mouth twitched as he was not familiar with Gongsun Zan¡¯sid-back personality . On the other hand, Gongsun Zanughed as he went back to his troops .

    After dealing with two ally lords, it was Xun Yu¡¯s turns toe .

    Different from the other two, Xun Yu¡¯s did not care about Yuan Shao¡¯s shamelessness . Instead, he loved what he saw .

    "My lord, I have a humble thought that I need your approval . "

    "What is it?"

    "I hope that you can give Yuan Shao the control of Luo Yang . "

    "Huh!?"

    "I would like you to bribe him 100,000 tons of provision and 100,000 gold to develop the capital city and reconcile with them . I hope you can reform the alliance between you and Yuan Shao again . "

    "Won¡¯t my reputation sink to the mud with your move? Heck, I¡¯ve already ordered the Silver Axe to attack Pingyuan . He will know that I backstabbed him!"

    "No, no . It¡¯s necessary for you to be shameless this time . Let me exin . First, Zhang He and Li Feihong reported in the n chat that Khan and his men got away from our, so our ns have failed . "

    Xun Yu continued to exin what he had in mind .

    Initially, they had nned to corner Khan in Luo Yang by Li Feihong¡¯s favorite sneak attack tactic . Unfortunately, Khan and Hua Xiong were smart enough to flee from Luo Yang¡¯s territory within three days .

    It foiled Tong¡¯s n, which he had aimed to end the life of this Xiongnu King in one attempt .

    Since everything was simr to how Dong Zhuo fled to Chang¡¯An in the other world¡¯s history, Tong and Jia Xu came to a conclusionst night that this coalition had served its purpose and had be a burden . Aside from Gongsun Zan and Kong Rong, everyone else could be considered as Tong¡¯s future enemies .

    It was the right time to turn around and get rid of the potential rival lords here .

    Different from Tong and Jia Xu, Xun Yu had worries .

    Tong could have used his spirits to decimate all armies here, but it would leave a nasty reputation . The surviving soldiers could have recognized Tong as a demon or an evil shaman, and they could spread rumors to discredit Tong .

    From the point of view of the gulliblemoners, they could see Tong as a king of monsters!

    As a result, the foundation of his future country would be fragile, and any ambitious noble could im this reason to recruit soldiers, governors, and other ambitious lords to form a rebellion army against him .

    Xun Yu knew that Tong did not want that . Thus, he told Tong about his alternate n .

    He wanted Tong to pretend to bootlick Yuan Shao and use his forces as a buffer at the central in .

    By giving Yuan Shao the control over Luo Yang and feeding them food and gold, they would start looking at their neighbors for an expansion .

    From Xun Yu¡¯s perspective, he predicted that they would avoid confronting with Tong¡¯s forces since it was the sources of their tributes . Instead, Yuan Shao would aim at Cao Cao¡¯s Xuchang or his own brother¡¯s territory, Wan Commandery .

    Cao Cao¡¯s stance was also ambiguous, and Xun Yu was not confident that they would surrender to Tong in the future . Therefore, letting Yuan Shao and Cao Cao duking it out was a better choice than killing the lords and fight with their angered subordinatester .

    Tong¡¯s deep frown almost became permanent from listening to this absurd suggestion .

    Xun Yu could read Tong thought . He cupped his fist and bowed, "After this battle, I evaluate that we are not ready for another rapid expansion . Please be patient and let your sworn enemies loose this time . "

    Tong groaned in his throat, "Do you realize that we won¡¯t get a good change to assassinate all lords like this gathering? We have already shown them our hands, and they will be prepared the next time we confront them on a battlefield . "

    "I¡¯m aware . But I¡¯d rather waste the lives of our soldiers than allowing you to sabotage your kingdom¡¯s foundation . For the sake of a prosperous dynasty tost a thousand years, your reputation must be impable!"

    "I¡¯ve already soiled my hands with the people of Liyang . Am I still impable in your eyes?"

    "Winners write history . That event will be nothing but a story of your greatness once you unify our country!"

    "You contradicted yourself . Since winners write history, won¡¯t I be a winner if I kill everybody here and eliminate all the future threats?"

    "It¡¯s different . Let me give you an example . The first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, unified our country and formed the Qin Dynasty in the past . I ask you this, he was the winner of the unification war, but why people are still calling him a cruel emperor?"

    (Qin Shi Huang was the first Emperor of China of the Qin Dynasty in the year 221 BC . )

    "That¡¯s because he¡¯s not thest winner . Xiang Yu took his throne, and Liu Bang snatched that from Xiang Yu . In the end, Liu Bang was thest winner, and he established the current Han Dynasty . "

    "That¡¯s half-correct, but you overlooked one fact, my lord . If Qin Shi Huang was the winner of the unification war, why do you think his dynasty was so short-lived?"

    "He¡¯s ... not benevolence enough . "

    "Correct! Qin Shi Huang used every mean necessary to eliminate all threats of his kingdom . He kills all schrs who criticized him, he burnt all books that discredited his rules, he forced many people to die for his ideal . As a result,moners saw him as a tyrant emperor even though he unified the country . You cannot follow his footsteps, my lord! One mistake at Liyang is enough . You must not resort any further cruel method to get things done . This is the time that your patience must be as firm as a mountain!"

    "..."

    "Your first step of being an emperor is not the unification of thend but the unification of the people¡¯s heart . Peasants and nobles must love you from the bottom of their heart . You must ensure them that you¡¯re not a warmonger or a ruthless young master that unt your power as you see fit . You have to ensure that your kingdom is more advanced and more prosperous than the other dynasties . This is how you can ensure that your legacy willst a thousand years!"

    Xun Yu attempted to steer Tong from the path of a ruthless emperor . Although he loyal to Tong, he did not want him to walk the road against the ideal of the Xun n .

    As a minister who worked for the people, he did everything he could to tame this future young emperor .

 Chapter 328

    Chapter 328

    Chapter 328 ¨C Jiang Man¡¯s Soul Detonation

    Tong did not like Xun Yu¡¯s n, so he postponed his decision and dismissed Xun Yu .

    After Xun Yu left, Jia Xu came .

    Opposite from Xun Yu, Jia Xu proposed that all of the lords should be dead .

    "Let¡¯s get rid of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao . Since Cao Cao¡¯s action during the battle is the evidence that he hasn¡¯t given up fighting, so you should assassinate them as soon as possible . "

    Tong nodded, "That¡¯s what I have in mind . But, Wenhe . Do you know what Wenruo proposed to me?"

    "Hmm?"

    "He wants me to give Luo Yang to Yuan Shao and manipte him into fighting Cao Cao . "

    "Oh? That¡¯s doable . It¡¯s a long run tactic to preserve your reputation . But if we talk about efficiency, it¡¯sme . "

    "If you want to preserve my reputation as Xun Yu did, what will you do?"

    "Assassinate Yuan Shao, don¡¯t get caught, and me everything to Liu Bei . "

    "Will that even possible? Liu Bei is known to be a useless bum . Can other lords believe this?"

    "We don¡¯t need them to believe . We only need to throw a bait and watch all the fishes fight for it . "

    "Tell me the details . "

    ...

    ...

    ...

    A dayter, the coalition army entered Luo Yang City .

    The city had be a ghost town as Khan and Dong Zhuo took all citizens of this city to Chang¡¯An long ago . There was no merit of upying this city unless anyone wanted to use it as a fortress for their troops .

    Jiang Man and Pu Jing sent men to search every water well inside the city, hoping to find the Imperial Seal as in their historical records .

    Betraying their expectation, none of them could find it as it was in Khan¡¯s hands .

    Since they could not find it, both of them withdrew their men and resumed their duties .

    At night, most of the coalition lords celebrated for taking the empty capital city back . Yuan Shao, Zhang Miao, Kong Zhou, Tao Qian, Liu Bei, and Qiao Mao joined this banquet .

    Cao Cao and Tong refused to participate in it as they did not like crowded ces . Gongsun Zan and Kong Rong withdrew from the coalition and left yesterday .

    That night, Tong decided to employ Jia Xu¡¯s n .

    As the warlords were celebrating and drinking in the party, Tong sent one of his souls and hid it inside the ceiling . He observed the crowd below .

    All generals and Jiang Man was there, which could be troublesome if they could sense Tong¡¯s presence .

    ¡¯50 Seconds . A simple trick . [Time Stop] . ¡¯

    Tong activated the time stopping skill .

    Once the world came to a stop, Tong¡¯s soul of Greed got down from the ceiling .

    Now, this was the tricky part . From Jia Xu¡¯s n, Tong had to arrange the scene to make it appeared that Jiang Man assassinated Yuan Shao .

    To set this up, Tong had to shove a bag of poison in Jiang Man¡¯s drink clothes and puts the same poison in Yuan Shao¡¯s drink and clothes as well . Once the poison took the effect, both of them would die, and they would be the prime suspect for the assassination .

    Yuan Shao¡¯s subordinates and Liu Bei forces would start fighting each other, sowing discord among Tong¡¯s rivals .

    An easy and a simple trick!

    ¡¯First, I¡¯ll poison Jiang Man . . . ¡¯

    While Tong was fumbling with the poison bags, he sensed that something moved within his [Time Stop] world .

    "What?"

    Tong did not have enough time to surprise . The soul of Kindness and the soul of Loyalty exited Jiang Man¡¯s real body and rushed at Tong¡¯s soul .

    "You! How can you move!?"

    Jiang Man¡¯s souls did not answer . It did not attack Tong nor showing a sign of hostility . Instead, it simply paused in front of Greed and stared into the soul¡¯s eyes with hatred .

    Upon closer inspection, Tong found that Jiang Man¡¯s soul was trembling as if it wanted to move, but it could not . Jiang Man¡¯s real body also had a simr reaction as well as if they could see everything during the time stop period, but they could not move .

    This was not the first time that Jiang Man experienced this sensation . He felt it the first time when Tong used it against Khan . Unbeknownst to Tong or Khan, both Jiang Man and Pu Jing could sense the stagnate of the time when the [Time Stop] was in effect .

    Tong did not know this . All system skills were ineffective against awakened immortals with wings . Therefore, his [Time Stop] could be sensed by anyone with wings like Jiang Man or Pu Jing!

    Fortunately, both of them had not touched the concept of time-and-spacew and mastered the angelic cultivation technique . Because of that, they could not fully counter this ability .

    "I see . So I¡¯m Dio Brando, and you¡¯re Kujo Jotaro . Is that right?"

    Tongughed as he found the situation ironic . It was simr to the confrontation between the main characters from Jojo .

    "Too bad, I¡¯m a bit stronger than Dio . Your skill is promising, Jiang Man . me your bad luck for facing me before you have matured . Well, I¡¯m sounding like a viin these days . Now die!"

    Greed was about to rush at Jiang Man¡¯s main body and kill him on the spot, but the trembling mouth of Jiang Man uttered a couple of words .

    "Soul Detonation!"

    Jiang Man was aware of this [Time Stop] ¡¯s effect and knew that he had no chance against Tong . Therefore, he nned to destroy Tong¡¯s soul with his suicide-bomb .

    The soul maniption of the suicide bomb was more straightforward than using unique virtue support or curses of sins . By umting his lifespans into the souls, it could cause the detonation of the soul .

    ¡¯I have no chance against you, but I can take you to hell with me! Die, Zhang Tong!¡¯

    Jiang Man¡¯s souls detonated, causing the purple me to rush at Greed .

    Greed received the impact from the point-nk shockwave . Tong unsummoned Greed right after the me had caught it to avoid the injuries .

    .

    = Tong¡¯s Resting Tent =

    Tong puked a liter of blood and copsed on the ground . The damages from the soul explosion were no joke!

    "Damn it! Regen!"

    Tong closed his eyes and activated his regenerate skill . It healed most of the parts, but he could feel that something could not be recovered .

    ¡¯Odd . Something is wrong . I just used my regen, but my injuries are still remaining!?¡¯

    Tong circted his sense within his physical body . After sitting cross-leg and meditating, he could not find anything . But deep down inside his mind, he could still feel the injury .

    Because of his suspicion, Tong summoned his Greed once again . As soon as Greed got out of his body, he was shocked .

    The soul of Greed had cracked lines on its body! All the injuries from the soul-detonation remained the same!

    In a panic, Tong also summoned his Sloth . As same as Greed, Sloth also had the same injuries!

    That suicide-bomb just now caused damages to all of his souls!

    "Damn it! Lilim, I need an exnation! Is this a soul injury?"

    No word came from Lilim or the system messages . She ignored him .

    Without a choice, Tong asked Friday and Medusa in the n chat .

    Tong: "I suffered an injury, and my souls have cracks on it . How can I heal this?"

    Diaochan: "That¡¯s soul injuries . "

    Dong Bai: "How did you get those!? Was it the Xiongnu?"

    Tong: "No, I tried to assassinate all warlords, but Jiang Man exploded his souls at me . "

    Diaochan: "Soul Detonation . That¡¯s a suicide move, and you¡¯re in big trouble . "

    Tong: "How big . "

    Diaochan: "If you use your curses again, you might die . "

    Tong sucked in a cold breath . That was severe trouble as she said .

    Tong: "How can I heal this?"

    Diaochan: "It¡¯s easy to heal if you can control yourself . Stay away from troubles and don¡¯t use any curses or skills that have been attached to your souls, the injuries will heal naturally . "

    Hearing a solution from an elite demoness, Tong sighed a relief . Still, not being able to use any skill could be annoying since he still partly relied on his [Create Food] to run the economy of his government . Without Tong¡¯s [Create Food], he could always use Li Feihong¡¯s secret food stockpiles as an emergency reserve, but Li Feihong would not be able to help the Mountaineer Legion anymore .

    Tong: "Will it take long for the injuries to heal?"

    Diaochan: "A year at the earliest . It depends on the level of your injuries . I have to see it with my own eyes to judge . "

    A year was a short time for Tong, but if he had to live without using his souls, he would be vulnerable to Pu Jing or Khan¡¯s soul attacks .

    ¡¯I guess I have to continueying low for another year . Well, we have to absorb Gongsun Zan and Kong Rong¡¯s territory anyway . Resting a bit wouldn¡¯t hurt . ¡¯

    Tong: "Alright . I¡¯lly low for a while . Is there anything I should know about this soul injuries?"

    Medusa: "Be careful . Don¡¯t summon your souls again and avoid physical injuries . You¡¯re vulnerable right now . Also, be prepared for the frequent rpse of the injuries . You¡¯ll have to use your own blood cirction cultivation to heal yourself next time . "

    ...

    Meanwhile, Tong¡¯s time stop skill had expired, and everyone inside the hall returned to normal .

    The soul detonation was an ethereal attack, which caused no damages to physical beings . However, Jiang Man copsed on his food table and puked a river of blood .

    Red liquid leaked from his orifices and his blood vessels burst . He was in aatose .

    At Jiang Man¡¯s side, Liu Bei noticed how injured Jiang Man was .

    "LITTLE JIANG!? WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU!?"

    The scream of Liu Bei woke the other lords and officers inside the banquet hall . When they saw the bloody Jiang Man, they were shocked .

    "H-He¡¯s poisoned!?"

    "Someone has poisoned Lord Liu¡¯s brother!?"

    "Audacious! Get the cook and the servants! Arrest them all and interrogate them!"

    Everyone mistook the soul injuries as a poison since no one had seen what really had happened during the effect of time stop .

    Soon, they found Tong¡¯s bags of poison near Jiang Man¡¯s table . Everyone assumed that they belonged to the culprit .

    Jiang Man struggled to speak, but he could not . He wanted to warn Liu Bei about Tong, but no word came out of his mouth .

    Meanwhile, Yuan Shao also rushed by Jiang Man¡¯s side . He knelt down and examined this reincarnator .

    "This is a vicious poison! I promise you, Lord Liu . I shall find the culprit behind this!"

    Liu Bei was in tears as he feared that Jiang Man might not make it .

    "Is there any antidote!? Does anyone have an antidote? Please!"

    As Liu Bei looked around, all participants of this banquet gazed at him with sympathy, yet no one volunteered to help since they did not carry any antidote or medicine with them .

    Even if they knew about the source of poison, they could not help . Moreover, none of them wanted to take part in this conspiracy . These people¡¯s lives were none of their business .

    Liu Bei could notice their hidden emotion and the thought in their eyes . The anger had kept in his heart swelled, yet his crying face remained the same .

    He turned around and avoided the eyes of these lords,ing back to his fourth brother .

    Liu Bei held Jiang Man in his arms, "Summon a physician . I need help!"

    Jiang Man¡¯s trembling right eye, which was his only remaining eye, looked into the eyes of Liu Bei and Yuan Shao .

    For some reason, their face looked sad, but their eyes were smiling .

    Even Liu Bei¡¯s eyes were somehow smiling!

    This was thest faces he could see before he cked out, ending the journey of his life forever .

 Chapter 329

    Chapter 329

    Chapter 329 ¨C Suspicion of Immortal Rivalry

    Upon death, Jiang Man¡¯s two damaged souls were released from his dead body . As if it held a deep grudge, the cracked ball of Jiang Man¡¯s soul lingered around Liu Bei and Yuan Shao for a while .

    While it circled around the two, Jiang Man¡¯s ball of soul continued to fade .

    As it noticed the crisis that its existence was in danger, the soul parted from Liu Bei and Yuan Shao . It went to the direction that it felt the mostfortable and safe .

    One of them went into the body of Guan Yu!

    The other one went into the body of Zhang Fei!

    Guan Yu, who did not notice the soul, was still staring at his lost fourth brother in sadness . He neither cried normented, but Guan Yu continued to look at Jiang Man¡¯s unsettled expression in a daze .

    The memories about him and Jiang Man appeared in Guan Yu¡¯s mind as he tried his best to remember this sworn brother of his .

    Guan Yu swore that he would not forget this man!

    Zhang Fei almost went berserk after he realized that Jiang Man had died . He took his serpent spear and threatened to kill all servants and the cooks that poisoned Jiang Man .

    Guan Yu managed to stop his third brother before he caused more scenes .

    Meanwhile, Liu Bei continued pretending to cry, receiving all sympathy from all lords . On the contrary to his outward expression, his thought was on something else .

    ¡¯Hahaha! He¡¯s dead! This fake sucker is finally dead! One of those motherfOOking immortals is dead! Why are you calling yourself an immortal when you can die like a dog! Well, I¡¯m thankful for whoever poisoned this bastard . If you can do me a favor and poison all immortals in thisnd, I¡¯ll be grateful!¡¯

    Surprisingly, Liu Bei had always wanted his fourth brother, Jiang Man, to die a dog¡¯s death . He never valued Jiang Man¡¯s talent . Instead, Liu Bei was afraid that Jiang Man would use his status as an immortal to grow bigger than himself .

    It was Liu Bei¡¯s jealousy that made him hate his own sworn brother . He always gazed at Tong in envy as he also wanted one of that superpower they had .

    .

    >

    >

    >

    Yuan Shao and Tian Feng saw a couple of messages in the system window in front of them . They almost burst inughter as they were freed from this otherworlder¡¯s sorcery .

    ¡¯Finally, another one of them has gone to hell!¡¯

    ¡¯The heaven is still on our side . Those immortals are not so immortal at all!¡¯

    Yuan Shao and Tian Feng exchanged nces . They confirmed that even an immortal could still be killed .

    Tian Feng took the chance while all eyes were on Liu Bei and the dead body of Jiang Man . He whispered to his Lord .

    "My Lord, let¡¯s frame Zhang Tong with this incident . Since both of them are immortals, and everyone here knew about the rivalry between them . Let¡¯s cause a scene that Zhang Tong assassinated Jiang Man . "

    Yuan Shao grinned, "Of course . Even if you haven¡¯t told me that, I will still throw dirt on him . "

    Standing up, Yuan Shao bowed to everyone inside the hall .

    "Gentlemen, Lord Liu Bei, I think I have a prime suspect for this incident . "

    Liu Bei¡¯s eyes gleamed and stared at Yuan Shao in suspicion . Pretending to be angered, he also stood up .

    "Who is it!? Who killed my brother!?"

    Yuan Shao turned to everybody in the hall one more time before he spoke in a loud voice .

    "Zhang Tong!"

    The crowd stared at Yuan Shao in disbelief . Tong was their grandmander, and they were doing well in this expedition . Why would he kill his ally?

    Tao Qian stood up, "From what evidence or basis that you think Zhang Tong did it?"

    "Immortal rivalry, has any of you heard of it?"

    All minor lords and Tao Qian had investigated into the immortality, immortals, and their powers . They also heard about rumors that these immortals killed each other for a mysterious reason .

    At this moment, Liu Bei was also interested in the subject, "What is this immortal rivalry? Can you rify it for us, Lord Yuan?"

    "All of you should know that my Yuan n and Zhang Tong¡¯s forces are not in an excellent term . "

    Everyone nodded .

    Yuan Shao continued, "When my forces and Zhang Tong bared fangs at each other, I investigated about his power and his pasts, and I found many things interesting . Surrounding Zhang Tong, many weird events and supernatural incidents happened one after another . Everything connected to Zhang Tong and his superpower, of course . Those incidents told me one thing . "

    He paused to pique the interest and create dramatic storytelling, "Among all incidents, it involved other immortals like Zhang Tong . For example, many years ago, we found that there were six unique young people with great abilities traveled to Julu, but they were killed in the middle of the night in a gruesome manner . Two people were seen getting away from the crime scenes that same night . Do you know who they were?"

    Yuan Shao smiled, "One of them was Zhang Tong . The other was Hua Shi, Zhang Tong¡¯s first wife!"

    The crowd sucked in cold breath . Hua Shi was known as the Goddess of Death because of her deadly archery and her light arrows . Her existence as an immortal was well-known .

    "When I investigated the dead youths, I found that they were immortals like Zhang Tong and Hua Shi as well! None of them should have a grudge or an enmity with the others since they were so young back then, yet they ughtered the others in cold blood . "

    Tao Qian protested, "That incident alone should not be the evidence of this poisoning, right?"

    "Lord Tao, you have grown senile . Have you forgotten that the previous emperor, Liu Ping, was also an immortal!?"

    "T-This!?"

    "Everyone, please continue listening to me . Emperor Liu Ping has never known Zhang Jiao or Zhang Tong since he had been raised within the Capital City . Yet, why was he so adamant on killing Zhang Tong years ago? Do you remember that day when he ordered the mobilization of the imperial forces?"

    The crowd murmured . All warlords could notice the big picture and Yuan Shao¡¯s point now .

    "Liu Ping was an immortal, and he wanted Zhang Tong dead because they were both immortals!"

    Tao Qian stuttered, "B-But, Hua Shi and Zhang Tong were both immortals . Why haven¡¯t they killed the other?"

    "Liu Ping also had an immortal consort named Wang Li! He also killed her in his bedroom and med her because of her sorcery! Among the dungeon of the imperial n, Liu Ping lured many immortals with his mysterious writing flyers and killed them all in the dungeon! During the battle at Jinyang, there are rumors that Liu Ping was killed by a mysterious immortal! Don¡¯t you see it? Every immortal are aiming to kill each other!"

    All the deeds that both Liu Ping and Tong did came to light . Liu Bei, who was still wet with tears, stared at Yuan Shao in astonishment .

    He could partly understand the big picture now! Jiang Man was using him as a tool to kill Tong!

    Liu Bei understood why Jiang Man acted like he did not like Tong . He also remembered that Jiang Man wanted him to pretend to be Tong¡¯s ally, so they could backstab him when Tong did not expect it .

    Furthermore, Jiang Man acted very suspiciously when he visited Yuan Shao . Thinking back, both Yuan Shao and Jiang Man seemed to have a weird rtionship between a master and a servant .

    ¡¯Bastard! Yuan Shao knew something, and Jiang Man must have told them! They conspired behind my back!¡¯

    All warlords in the banquet hall were also not stupid . They also connected the dots and their personal¡¯s intelligence from their men .

    They also knew about Pu Jing, Sun Fang, Li Jing, Li Feihong, and Te Langpu . These people were the confirmed immortal entities within China .

    Because they knew about Te Langpu and Li Feihong, something still did not make sense . If they were that hostile against each other, why Tong had gathered so many immortals to work with him .

    Tao Qian was about to ask, but Tian Feng interrupted them as he had predicted their questions .

    "Our forces used to employ Te Langpu, one of the immortals . After we crashed with Zhang Tong at Anping, Te Langpu encountered with Zhang Tong and surrendered to him . As for Li Feihong, I think he tried to fight with Zhang Tong long ago . I¡¯m sure you remember about the incidents in Jinyang where Lu Bu and Zhang Tong fought . They ended up reconciled and worked in the same forceter on, which I think they came to a truce . If you have noticed, Li Feihong and Zhang Tong never stayed inside the same city!"

    Yuan Shao inserted, "Both Li Feihong and Zhang Tong formed an alliance to kill other immortals . It was a rtionship that all of you politicians can understand . "

    Everyone here had conspired against their friends or their colleagues more than once . Thus, they believed that if they could form an alliance to kill the others, then all immortals could do the same .

    Sun Fang and Li Jing also fell into this criteria . Both of them might have joined forces when they realized that they could not kill Zhang Tong on their own .

    Hua Shi and Tong also might have formed an alliance early on and disguised their rtionship as a husband and wife . However, some of the lords believed that they married for real .

    Then, their attention came to Pu Jing, who was serving under Cao Cao .

    If the theory about the rivalry between immortals were true, every incident behind the fight between Tong and other immortals could be easily exined . The motive behind the service of Pu Jing could also be seen as an attempt to manipte Cao Cao into fighting Tong .

    Xiongnu King was also an immortal . With this theory, it exined why Tong gathered everyone here . Everybody here was used as pawns, so Tong could kill the Xiongnu King!

    Now that the Xiongnu King escaped, it was not hard for them to put themselves in Tong¡¯s shoes . If they were Tong, what would be his next move if he wanted the another immortal dead?

    "Then, the first suspect of this poisoning ..."

    "Of course! The first person who would want Jiang Man dead is no other than Zhang Tong!"

    Liu Bei¡¯s eyes beamed as he found a reason to gather everyone to kill his target of envy, Tong . He stood up and took the lead, "Everyone! I need justice for my fourth brother! Zhang Tong plotted to use our forces to kill the Xiongnu King, then he nned to discard us . I hope to borrow all of your forces to kill this tyrant!"

    Tao Qian stared at Liu Bei in hesitation .

    "What about her majesty!? Do you forget that he¡¯s the prince consort!?"

    Yuan Shao retorted, "I don¡¯t think she¡¯s the real empress! It should be one of Tong¡¯s superpower trick to disguise someone as the empress! Do you think someone with her caliber will lower herself to favor a son of rebel!? Impossible! That empress is an imposter!"

    Liu Bei agreed, "That¡¯s right! That¡¯s an imposter!"

    Zhang Miao stood up as he also followed suit, "I don¡¯t believe she can be this low . That¡¯s an imposter!"

    "Imposter!"

    "That¡¯s Zhang Tong¡¯s trick!"

    "We¡¯re not fools . That is not the empress!"

    The crowd in the banquet erupted as they believed in Yuan Shao and Liu Bei .

    Yuan Shao grinned at Liu Bei while Liu Bei red at the Yuan Shao in an annoyance . With their experiences in the politician world, they understood their underlying fa?ade as they knew what the other¡¯s goal was .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll use you, Yuan Shao!¡¯

    ¡¯A nasty actor, I like a lowlife like you!¡¯

 Chapter 330

    Chapter 330

    Chapter 330 ¨C The Copse of the Coalition

    The banquet got noisier when they began voicing their inner thoughts . Most of the warlords were under the pressure of Tong¡¯s military might, so they took this chance to expose everything that they could find fault about Tong .

    Even the people that did not participate in this banquet were brought out to the discussion .

    "Have you notice? Gongsun Zan and Kong Rong withdrew their men since yesterday . "

    "Is this connect to Zhang Tong?"

    "Gongsun Zan and Zhang Tong are disciples under the same master! They are conspiring together, or else why did Gongsun Zan retreated!?"

    "Lord Liu, you are also under Lord Lu Zhi¡¯s guidance . Do you know any of this?"

    Liu Bei grinned . It was his time to manipte these clueless minor lords .

    "From what I know, both of them are close . Zhang Tong always sent weaponry and supplies to Gongsun Zan while Gongsun Zan sent back their warhorses to Julu . You can tell that if their rtionship isn¡¯t that good, they won¡¯t trade their weapons or strategic resources like this!"

    "What about Kong Rong?"

    Kong Zhou grimaced . As someone with the same surname, he did not like this minor warlord who directly seeded the bloodline of Kong Zi, the Confucian .

    With a bias opinion, Kong Zhoushed out, "That bastard Kong Rong has sent someone to contact Zhang Tong long ago! I believe Zhang Tong has already bought him to his side since his territory locates on the Northern Province . His Beihei City is a strategic foothold to gather troops before they can travel southward toward the Xu Province of Lord Tao Qian . It¡¯s obvious that Zhang Tong ns to strike Lord Tao Qian¡¯s territory next once he unified the north!"

    Hearing that his territory might be Tong¡¯s target, Tao Qian¡¯s face paled . However, as an elite politician, he knew that everyone was led astray from their logical thinking .

    In Tao Qian¡¯s point of view, Tong was not a warmongering person that waged war left and right without reason . His political scheme on the day of their first gathering, the day that Tong revealed the existence of the Empress and Liu Xie, was the evidence that Tong wanted to unify this country with a peaceful method .

    Thus, Tao Qian shook his head, "I¡¯m fine even if Zhang Tong wants to march into my territory . I¡¯m more worried about the Sun n and the Cao n . Both of them also possesses one or more immortals, right? They also didn¡¯t participate in our gathering . Don¡¯t you think that they can also be the culprit?"

    Tao Qian diverted the topic to dy the unnecessary conflict between Tong and everyone here . Once the banquet ended, he nned to withdraw his troops back to his territories as well .

    Yuan Shao noticed how Tao Qian wanted to change the subject . He leaned back and whispered to Tian Feng .

    "Send someone to kill Tao Qian and me it on Zhang Tong . "

    "Are you sure? They are our ally right now . "

    "We need a territory to reestablish our home base . If Zhang Tong were really the culprit, he would have ordered his troops to upy Pingyuan by now . I think we¡¯re without a ce to call home after this coalition ended . "

    "I see . I¡¯ll let Wen Chou taking care of this . "

    ...

    The banquet ended when the sun rose .

    All minor lords like Kong Zhou, Zhang Miao, and Qiao Mao had a suspicion on Cao Cao¡¯s Pu Jing and Sun Jian¡¯s forces . However, they did not stop doubting Zhang Tong .

    Meanwhile, Liu Bei was sure that Tong was the one who killed Jiang Man . He did not really hate Tong for it . Instead, he was grateful .

    But the happiest man in this banquet was Yuan Shao . Thanked to themotion, he could break away from this coalition . Moreover, he found a good reason to kill He Xing, Liu Xie, Tao Qian, Kong Rong, and Tong .

    After this banquet, a new coalition had been formed . It was the Anti-Zhang Tong Alliance with Yuan Shao as the ring leader .

    Although everyone was confident about their n and their preparation to ambush Tong Army, their movement did not escape the eyes of Cao Cao .

    Spies of Cao Cao rushed to their camp and reported their finding .

    Cao Cao listened to the report with interest while Pu Jing had a deep frown on his face .

    Pu Jing had a cringed expression, "This doesn¡¯t make sense . If Zhang Tong was really the culprit of Jiang Man¡¯s death, he could have done it in secret . "

    Cao Cao chuckled, "I thought so as well . I think Zhang Tong is their scapegoat this time . The real poisoner mastermind can even be Yuan Shao himself . He¡¯s the one that can reap the most profit in this chaos, right?"

    "I still don¡¯t see how Yuan Shao can benefit from framing Zhang Tong . "

    "He does . Well, if I were Yuan Shao, I¡¯ll frame Tao Qian, Gongsun Zan, Kong Rong, and even myself, so the Yuan forces can steal the central in from all lords here . Once he gets everything, he can either form an alliance with Xiongnu to attack Zhang Tong together as the next part of the n . "

    "I can understand about framing Gongsun Zan and Kong Rong . But why Tao Qian? Is he their ally?"

    "Tao Qian is an old fox . He will definitely see through those uncanny nders, and Yuan Shao will sense that he¡¯s a threat and want him dead . Well, Tao Qian was a ruler without an heir, so Yuan Shao can also see this old coot¡¯s territory as a slice of juicy meat . "

    Pu Jing was amazed by how Cao Cao came up with such a deduction . Although he did not know what really happened inside the banquet, his instinct told him that Cao Cao might be very urate .

    "So, what¡¯s next Mengde? If it¡¯s as you said, do you have a n?"

    "Isn¡¯t this your job!? Damn it, Putin . You¡¯ve made me revealing my thought for a while . It¡¯s time for you to use your brain for a change!"

    Pu Jing clicked his tongue and snapped his fingers in an acknowledgment that he was busted .

    "Oh well, let¡¯s go back to Xuchang and prepare ourselves for easy expansion . "

    "Hmm? Exin!"

    Pu Jing nced at Cheng Yu, who kept his mouth shut from the beginning .

    For the courtesy and manner to the seniors, Pu Jing gestured Cheng Yu to go first . Thus, Cheng Yu stepped forward .

    "I have the same idea as Lord Pu Jing . This coalition against Xiongnu will copse soon, and Yuan Shao¡¯s new alliance will move against Zhang Tong . We should get out of the way and use our precious times to prepare for our expansion . "

    Pu Jing added, "When their fight is over, I think all minor lords and Tao Qian¡¯s forces will be so weak that our forces and move into their cities with ease . We can also steal their empty cities right now, but they might break off Yuan Shao¡¯s alliance ande back to bite us in the back . Your choice, Mengde . "

    "That¡¯s it?"

    "Yup, that¡¯s it . "

    "I thought your idea will be brilliantly ingenious . In the end, it¡¯s just waiting to prey on the weak . "

    "Do you prefer to fight strong armies instead? Let¡¯s attack Puyang, Chenliu, Qiao, and Shouchun, then? We can control both Yan and Yu Province before the end of the year easily, but we¡¯ll fight strong enemies that you like . "

    "FOOk you . I¡¯m not that stupid!"

    "HAHAHA!"

    Thus, Cao Cao forces decided to withdraw from this coalition quietly, but their eyes were observing this conflict from afar .

    ...

    The report of this newly formed coalition also got to Tong on the same day .

    Without further ado, Tong contacted Zhang He and Li Feihong through n chat .

    Tong: "Withdraw back to Henei . Feihong, take them across the river back to the north . We¡¯ll abandon Luo Yang and Henan . "

    Li Feihong: "What happened?"

    Tong: "I fOOked up . Yuan Shao and Liu Bei want me dead now . "

    Li Feihong: "Okay . BTW, Lu Bu is also in aatose . Mountaineer is left with me, senior Ding, and Zhang Liao . We can¡¯t fight with our full force ATM . "

    Zhang He: "Let me be the rearguard, my lord!"

    Tong: "Sorry about this . Junyi, you¡¯ll be the rearguard as you asked . "

    Zhang He: "Thank you, my lord! I¡¯ll handle all pursuers!"

    Tong did not trust that Jia Xu or Xun Yu could handle his Immortal Legion alone since they did not have any assisting general in their army . Bringing back Zhang He and his subordinates was more reassuring in this situation .

    Then, Tong recalled that Hua Shi went to Wan City to handle the provision tribute to the other frontline . He wondered how she was doing .

    Tong: "Sunday, where are you now? Abandon your mission and retreat ASAP!"

    Hua Shi: "I¡¯m still at Wan . I¡¯ll leave this ce shortly . "

    Tong: "Make it quick . All central lords will be chasing us down soon . "

    Hua Shi: "Can¡¯t you kill them all? You¡¯re OP AF . You should be able to deal with them alone, right?"

    Tong: "Jiang Man suicide-bombed me . My souls are injured, and I can¡¯t use skills . "

    Hua Shi: "Well, shit . I¡¯ll BRB ASAP . "

    Seeing that she was still as cheerful as before, Tong let out a sigh of relief .

    Done with the emergency dispatching order, Tong looked up to see the grimaced Jia Xu and the frowning Xun Yu .

    "I¡¯ve failed both of you . Wenhe, I¡¯ve failed your n . Wenruo, I¡¯ve failed for not listening to your advice . I¡¯m sorry . "

    Xun Yu had a bitter smile on his face . Though he was disappointed that Tong ignored his suggestion, he was happy that Tong acknowledged his mistakes .

    On the other hand, Jia Xu was frustrated that Jiang Man had that soul detonation move . If he had known, he would not have suggested the assassinate n to Tong . He did not me Tong for the failure as everyone could experience failure .

    Jia Xu bowed first, "I¡¯ll arrange our men to get out of here right away . "

    Xun Yu also excused himself, "I¡¯ll handle the weaponry and the arrangement of our rearguards . I¡¯ll leave themand of our rearguards to the Ghost Legion when they arrive . "

    Tong nodded, "Please do . "

    As Tong was trying to stand up and leave Luo Yang City with his army, he felt the burning sensation within his chest .

    *Pfft*

    Tong choked and spat a mouthful of blood .

    "My Lord!?"

    Tong raised his hands while he controlled his blood manually, regenerating his damaged organs . He could not risk himself by activating the [Immortal Yang Vein] ¡¯s regeneration ability . Or else, he might die from soul injuries .

    "Don¡¯t tell this to anyone outside of the n chat . I¡¯m suffering from injuries to the soul . I can¡¯t fight in a battle for a while . "

    Xun Yu and Jia Xu¡¯s face paled . They did not call for help and did not help Tong up . Aspetent subordinates who kept the secrets of their boss, they pretended that they saw nothing wrong and exited Tong¡¯s tent in peace .

    Seeing both of them left and no one else remained in his tent, Tong groaned in pain .

    "This can be bad . "

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Meanwhile, Guan Yu was resting in his tent after taking care of Jiang Man¡¯s dead body . They had held a quiet cremation funeral among themselves while Liu Bei was busy framing Tong .

    Among everyone in the banquet, only he and Zhang Fei cared for Jiang Man .

    As Guan Yu was sleeping, he had dreams . He dreamt about living three lives .

    The first one was a fragment of memories of a mysteriousnd called 21st-century . There were many things that he did not know, but the person who represented himself in his dream seemed to use every magical stuff in daily life .

    The second dream was a dream of this chaotic era during thete Han Period . In this dream, no immortal existed . Guan Yu could see himself, Zhang Fei, and Liu Bei was bowing toward heaven, vowing for their brotherhood in the peach garden . Strangely, he could not find Jiang Man anywhere .

    The third dream was a dream about Guan Yu living the life of Jiang Man . He was a powerful immortal that could create shadows of himself or create an illusion to fool enemies .

    The dreams were in fragments, and Guan Yu could not understand where they started or how they ended . Everything was not in order, and all memories jumbled together in chaos .

    Drenched in sweat, Guan Yu woke up from his dream . When he opened his eyes again, he could see a spirit who looked like himself, floating below the ceiling and looking back at him .

    By instinct, Guan Yu somehow could vaguely tell that he was called [Loyalty] .

    But Guan Yu did not know that the soul of virtue had the same name to what Jiang Man used to have .

 Chapter 331

    Chapter 331

    Chapter 331 ¨C Xun Yu¡¯s Fangs

    Xun Yu, Jia Xu, Tong, and all 60,000 troops of the Immortal Legion exited Luo Yang before 9 AM . As Tong could not use his inventory, they decided to abandon all unnecessary weapons, food, and other supplies .

    Upon leaving the city, Jia Xu ordered the forced-march right away, rushing to the north toward the yellow river . Meanwhile, he ordered the soldiers reserves to hire the local people .

    These local civilians would ride their carts and wagons filled with real food supplies and stones toward Ho Gate, and they would head to Ye City to the north . In other words, they would be their dummy troops .

    Moreover, Tong, Jia Xu, and Xun Yu did not allow any soldier to travel on foot . Instead, each horse they had carried two soldiers, galloping through the farm and mad as fast as they could .

    Wagons and carts with supplies and reserve soldiers were following behind the trail in snail speed, but they were there for a reason .

    Each of them had prepared a fast horse for their escape in advance .

    Within the haystacks on the wagons and carts, they hid all of their explosive gunpowder and Tong¡¯s leftover crude oil barrels in there . Once they lighted the fire on the haystacks, chaos would be ensured .

    .

    Although Tong¡¯s movements were swift, they could not escape the eyes of Yuan Shao . Because of therge army, even amon soldier in the coalition army knew that they had mobilized .

    Tao Qian moved first since he had sent his men to prepare for his withdrawal from the coalition sincest night . Unlike Tong, Tao Qian¡¯s 30,000 soldiers left Luo Yang using the east gate, heading toward Ho Gate directly .

    As a veteran old fox, Tao Qian said to Yuan Shao before his departure, "I shall head out first to chase after Zhang Tong . "

    The minor lords admired how prepared Tao Qian was, so none of them expected that Tao Qian would retreat instead of chasing after Tong .

    However, Yuan Shao and Tian Feng did not believe Tao Qian . Moreover, they nned to kill him first!

    A fast horse messenger was sent to Ho Gate, where Yan Liang and 50,000 soldiers of Yuan Shao were fortifying . The content of the message was straightforward, "Tao Qian is a traitor . Kill him on sight!"

    While they were at it, Yuan Shao, Tian Feng, and Wen Chou took the remaining 50,000 soldiers to chase after Tong at the north gate . The time of their departure was 10 AM .

    As for the rest of the minor lords, they followed after Tao Qian to reinforce Ho Gate, thinking that Tong might choose to use this road to return to his territory .

    The chase had begun!

    .

    10 AM .

    Yuan Shao sent Wen Chou ahead with 30,000 heavy cavalries, hoping to catch the straggler from Tong¡¯s retreating soldiers . On the other hand, he and his 20,000 infantries would follow the trail from behind .

    Even though Tong had departed the city more than one hour ahead of them, the foot soldiers always traveled slower than the horsemen . Wen Chou and Yuan Shao thought that Tong could not go very far with those infantries .

    .

    10 . 10 AM .

    The fast-horse scouts of Wen Chou detected the haystack wagons moving north in a snail speed . They went closer to inquire about Tong¡¯s army, but they met with something unexpected .

    *BANG*

    One of the soldiers shot them in the head with Tong¡¯s handgun, which Tong had entrusted his spare guns and bullets to the soldiers .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    More bullets flew at the scouts, which killed seven out of ten riders instantly . The remaining three rushed back to the main cavalry unit in a panic .

    .

    10 . 15 AM .

    The three survivors reported their finding and the incidents to theirmander right away .

    "That¡¯s Zhang Tong¡¯s favorite sorcery! Has he even taught his men!?"

    Wen Chou had goosebumps since he was shot once before .

    Undaunted, Wen Chou bellowed, "Give chase! Kill all those stragglers!"

    "SHAAAA!!" (Kill!)

    The massive army of horsemen elerated their pace!

    .

    10 . 25 AM .

    The 30,000 riders reached the haystack wagon caravan . Upon seeing the haystacks, Wen Chou immediately called for stopping the troops .

    As an elite general, he would be a fool if he did not recognize how Tong could use those wagons .

    "Do not attack! Those wagons aremonly used for fire tactic . They will burn those wagons to stop us!"

    The riders pulled the reigns as soon as they saw themand gs . The entire legion stopped further away from the haystacks .

    Wen Chou looked at the banners and gs of his army, checking the wind direction .

    The wind blew from the east to west, which they were not precisely under the downwind .

    "We¡¯ll detour around those guys! Circle around them toward the east and shoot fire arrows at those haystacks!"

    Wen Chou voice was loud enough for Tong¡¯s soldiers around the wagon to hear .

    Realizing that their n had been exposed, all soldiers of the haystack wagons got on their horses and fled from the location, leaving the traps behind .

    A minuteter, Wen Chou¡¯s men sent fire arrows at the wagons, igniting the fire .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The wagons exploded because of the crude oil and the gunpowder!

    Looking at the destroyed traps, Wen Chou snorted, "Zhang Tong is getting desperate! Hurry and give chase . We¡¯re following those fleeing men!"

    .

    11 AM .

    Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and their 3,000 remaining soldiers from the previous fight followed after Yuan Shao, exiting the north gate .

    Because Liu Bei overslept and Guan Yu had difficulty controlling their new spirit who had the same appearance with himself, they finished the preparationte .

    Zhang Fei also awakened an angelic soul because of Jiang Man¡¯s [Kindness] . He woke up from the long, unpleasant dream, wanting to vent his frustration .

    Liu Bei had not discovered the newly acquired power of his brothers yet . Meanwhile, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei did not have anyone to guide them about their soul of virtue, so they kept their mouth shut .

    .

    Noon

    Wen Chou finally caught up with the retreating Immortal Legion as they could see the trail of dusk from the horizon .

    They were only one kilometer apart!

    The leadingmander of the legion, Tong, nced at his radar map .

    They were 15 kilometers away from the Yellow River where Tong and Li Feihong designated as the rendezvous point .

    Tong turned around to look at his men . Because each warhorse carried two or three soldiers, including their armors and supplies, they could not outrun even the cavalries that traveled light .

    The average galloping speed of Tong Army¡¯s warhorses was 25 to 30kph while Wen Chou¡¯s horsemen rushed at them with over 40kph in speed .

    At this rate, Wen Chou Army would reach the tail of Tong Army within a few minutes before Tong could even reach the rendezvous point!

    Without a choice, Tong nced at Xun Yu, who also had the same idea as Tong .

    Xun Yu immediately sent his SOS to the n chat .

    Xun Yu: "Sir Li, change of n . "

    Xun Yu: "Yuan Shao moves faster than we thought, we need to stand and fight . "

    Tong: "We¡¯re 15km south of the rendezvous point . "

    Tong: "Send the reinforcement south . We¡¯ll buy times and wait for you . "

    Li Feihong: "Roger that!"

    Zhang He: "Understood!"

    Zhang Liao: "I¡¯m on it!"

    Because Tong was feeling groggy after the sudden rpse of soul injuries, Xun Yu took over the control of his army .

    "Set up the array! Get into formation! We¡¯ll stand and fight over here!"

    Infantries got off the horses . They carried their spears, shields, and repeating crossbows to form ranks, facing south .

    All horsemen formed their formation at the nks of the foot soldiers, getting ready to charge at the oing enemies .

    Within three minutes, more than half of the soldiers got into formation .

    The 30,000 soldiers separated into six toons and stood in groups while the other 30,000 unorganized soldiers were forming ranks behind thepleted formations .

    During these three minutes, Wen Chou Army had stopped chasing and arranged their formation as well . Instead of making square formations of many toons, Wen Chou united all units and formed three horizontal rows of horsemen .

    He nned to charge directly at Tong¡¯s unprepared soldiers .

    .

    12 . 05 Noon

    Wen Chou finished the preparation first .

    *BWOOO*

    He blew the signal horn, ordering the charge!

    "SHAAA!" (Kill!)

    All heavy cavalries roared as they charged . The three long lines moved in like a wave to the stacked formations of spearmen and knights .

    Xun Yu, who was taking charge, did not panic . Instead, heughed as if he rejoiced to see Wen Chou charging at them like this .

    "I¡¯ve trained and fed these soldiers for years, so I can use them in one battle! Don¡¯t ever think that you can rush us . Spearmen, Typhoon Maze Formation! Archers, fire at will!"

    Rain of arrows covered the sky in the next few seconds after Xun Yu¡¯smand . The first barrage pinned down several unprepared horsemen of Wen Chou, but they could not stop his charge .

    Xun Yu cried again, "All cavalry units, destroy their nks!"

    Signal gs waved, and the horsemen detached from the nks, rushing at Wen Chou Army¡¯s t wings .

    Meanwhile, all toons opened a gap at the center of their square formation and raised their shields and spears upward, making a leaking spear wall formation .

    Wen Chou saw the shifting in their spearwall and wanted to stop the charge . However, they were already at the 20-meter range, which was toote for another maneuvering .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Gunshot sounds came from all 1,000-manmanders in the spearwall formation, and more cavalries were thrown off their horses .

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    *BOOM*

    The heavy cavalries collided with the spearwall, and the chaos started . Both sides began killing and struggling in a melee fight .

    However, because of the leak in the spearwall formation, several thousand horsemen disregarded the frontal collision and tried to break the arrays of the enemy¡¯s toons .

    Upon entering the leaking areas, another nted line of phnx formation awaited for the stray cavalries . Inside the square toon, a clear path led to the inner space of their array .

    "Shit! Breakthrough their array! Ignore the shieldsmen and aim for the others!"

    The thousand-manmanders of Wen Chou tried to avoid the inner shield and spearwall . As soon as they turned around, the path that they had entered was blocked by their own soldiers as more of their allies thought that they had broken through the enemy¡¯s formation .

    They had no choice but to proceed forward!

    The horsemen rushed into the trap formation, trying to find another opening to breakthrough .

    Their objective instantly changed from crushing the enemies to surviving!

    Had anyone looked at the scenes from above, they would be able to see that the horsemen were running within the circr maze made by the infantry toons!

    Four units of 5,000 spearmen each transformed into four grand mazes which trapped Wen Chou¡¯s horsemen inside!

    As Wen Chou¡¯s soldiers proceeded forward, spearmen inside the gap threw spears and shot arrows at them in a close range, killing the passing riders one by one .

    Soon, they galloped through the maze inside the pre-made gaps and made it through to the rear .

    Without realizing it, a toon of 5,000 heavy cavalries that rushed into the leaked path was left with 2,000 soldiers from the short few minutes of thebat .

    Yet, these surviving 2,000 riders could only kill a handful of the spearmen!

    This incident did not happen to only one cavalry unit of Wen Chou . Three other groups also suffered the same fate because of these mazes .

    Furthermore, more toons of reserve troops shifted their formation and were surrounding them as they managed to get out .

    Wen Chou was also trapped like the others . He gazed forward after he had managed to scrap himself from one of the mazes .

    "T-This stratagem!?"

 Chapter 332

    Chapter 332: 332

    Chapter 332 ¨C Fall of Wen Chou

    Although this maze formation could devour Wen Chou¡¯s 30,000 horsemen into a trap of encirclement, they paid the price toplete this stratagem .

    Facing the direct charge of the heavy cavalries, even knights in steel te armor suffered injuries from the horse-charge . Furthermore, these warhorses wore bronze armor, which made the impact heavier than the usual .

    As a result, several frontline knights felt as if they were hit by a truck, and they suffered internal injuries . The unlucky ones lost their footing and got repeatedly stomped by warhorses to death .

    Still, these pay-to-win armors saved the life of the soldiers as no sharp halberd and spear could get through their thick steel tes .

    In a few minutes of crashing, a thousand knights died from the charge impact, and over five thousand of them suffered injuries, such as broken bones or internal bleeding .

    In exchange for that, all Wen Chou¡¯s 10,000 surviving troops were trapped in the middle of their army . The rest had either devoured by the maze or was still being stuck outside of the array .

    "Damn you, Zhang Tong! Come and face me like a man!"

    In desperation, Wen Chou challenged Tong into a duel .

    Tong watched the battle from the most rear of the formation . He ignored the challenge, but he sent messages to his men .

    "Don¡¯t bother capturing the general . Kill!"

    Crossbow toons on the back switched their weapons to javelins . Like the Roman soldiers, they raised their shield to blockade the horsemen while they threw the spears their enemies .

    Most of the javelins could not prate into the double armoryers of these heavy cavalries . As armored riders in this era wore hard leather armor with sewed bronze armor, most of them did not suffer any injuries from arrows or projectiles .

    However, these armors only protected the vital areas of their body .

    Many javelins could still find the gaps between armors and pieced into the bodies of the horsemen, including the warhorses . By the first volley of javelins, another thousand horsemen fell .

    "RRRAAAAHHH!!"

    Wen Chou bellowed in anger . His horse charged at the nearest soldier while his halberd sent two knights flying . The direction he was heading was the location where Tong was .

    "ZHANG TONG!! I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU THAT DAY!!"

    Wen Chou kept sending all knights around him flying . As he was the onlypetent fighter, knights with spears and shields surrounded him in a few minutes, isting him from the rest of his troops .

    Though surrounded, Wen Chou still put up a fight like a cornered dog .

    Tong rode out to see this old acquaintance . Between them, several hundreds of knights gathered in a pack, blocking Wen Chou¡¯s path .

    Gazing at the desperate Wen Chou, Tong also felt mncholic .

    Wen Chou was the one who taught Tong about military tactics in his early days when he fought against Han Fu . Although Feng Ji plotted against him at the end of that battle, Wen Chou was the only one who thought of Tong as a potential ally .

    "You should have joined me when I asked you and Yan Liang that day . You can still do so today . Surrender, Wen Chou . We can still work together . Yuan Shao is not the end of the world or thest lord you can serve . "

    "I DON¡¯T WORK FOR THE IMMORTALS!! THIS WORLD BELONG TO MAN!! THIS COUNTRY IS NOT THE BATTLEGROUND FOR IMMORTAL TRASHES LIKE YOU!!"

    Tong bit his lower lips .

    Wen Chou was right . He and the other reincarnators should not have been sent here to interfere with their fates . As all otherworlders had changed the historical timelines and events, all residents here suffered difficulty .

    Though Wen Chou and Yuan Shao were fated to lose and die in this civil war, they should have been living afortable life in the Northern provinces this year .

    It was Tong¡¯s fault for ruining Yuan Shao and Wen Chou¡¯s life .

    "I¡¯m sorry . "

    Tong pulled out his pistol and aimed at the struggling Wen Chou .

    *BANG*

    The 9mm bullet went through the skull of Wen Chou, ending this great general life .

    "I¡¯ll bear this sin with me till the end of my soul . I¡¯ll carry your grudge, and I¡¯ll take them to the assholes behind this reincarnation . "

    >

    >

    >

    Tong ignored the notification . He turned to Jia Xu and Xun Yu, gesturing them to finish this battle .

    Xun Yu nodded in understanding . He bellowed, "Soldiers of Wen Chou! Yourmander is dead, and you¡¯re surrounded . Surrender now, or you¡¯ll face the same fate as yourmander!"

    Typically, these soldiers should have cowered in fear when they lost theirmanding general . However, this did not happen with Wen Chou¡¯s army .

    "NEVER!"

    "WE¡¯LL DIE WITH OUR GENERAL!"

    "REVENGE!"

    These elite troopers of Wen Chou were loyal to their general, and they refused to surrender in the face of death . All surviving riders charged toward to Tong¡¯s location, nning to kill Tong and revenge for their master .

    Xun Yu and Jia Xu stared at these warriors in astonishment and pity .

    "What a waste of resources," Jia Xumented .

    Xun Yu shook his head, "Foolish bravery . "

    Tong did not say anything . He simply stared at the dying soldiers, getting killed by the knights one after another .

    Because of their struggle, the battle, which should have ended in a few minutes,sted two hours .

    It was already 2 PM when they killed thest Wen Chou¡¯s soldier .

    Before Tong and all his knights could clear the battlefield and retreat, Yuan Shao¡¯s main force arrived . Also, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei caught up with them as well .

    The tiring knights would have to face more battalions of new enemies!

    Xun Yu grimaced . He shouted, "All reserve battalions, shift to the front! All front battalions, rotate your duties and move behind! Form array, hurry!"

    .

    Yuan Shao, Tian Feng, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei stared at the aftermath of the battle with widen eyes .

    The elite heavy cavalries of Wen Chou were no more, leaving behind with only corpses of the riders and horses .

    Observing the dead bodies, not many odd-looking knightsy on the ground . Comparing the number of dead bodies, they could roughly count that there were only a few thousand knights dead .

    On the other hand, Wen Chou¡¯s 30,000 men had been wiped out .

    Yuan Shao could not believe what he saw, "This is impossible!"

    Tian Feng clicked his tongue, "It can happen . Each battle can end within a few hours, and the result varies . Wen Chou must have fallen into the enemy¡¯s maneuvering trick or a trap . "

    "Then, what now!? Look at their numbers! There are at least 40,000 or so over there but we only have 20,000 footmen! If we include Liu Bei¡¯s militias, we have 23,000 soldiers!"

    "We¡¯re not necessary at disadvantageous . If we can prolong this battle and drag Zhang Tong here for half a day, Yan Liang and his 50,000 men shoulde here and reinforce us . "

    "Didn¡¯t we ordered him to attack Tao Qian? Will they have enough strength for another battle!?"

    Tian Feng harrumphed, "I¡¯ll send a fast horse to our ally forces . We¡¯llmand them to rush here within today! For now, let¡¯s send Liu Bei and the others to harass Zhang Tong . "

    "Can they do it? They¡¯re only a few troops . "

    "Their generals seempetent . Let them taunt Zhang Tong into a duel . "

    Tian Feng sent two fast horses toward the east . One was sent to inform Yan Liang to assist them ASAP while the other rushed to the minor lords, telling them toe here instead .

    Yuan Shao rode toward Liu Bei and his brothers personally . Upon seeing Liu Bei again, he cupped his fist and bowed, "Lord Liu Bei, we¡¯ve managed to trap Zhang Tong¡¯s forces here . Now, we¡¯ll need your assistance . "

    Liu Bei looked at Yuan Shao with curiosity . He wondered what this aristocrat schemed this time .

    "What can I do for you?"

    "We have sent our general to fight Zhang Tong, but it seems he has lost . We would like to borrow your valiant generals and ask you to challenge Zhang Tong to a duel in the open . "

    Liu Bei frowned, "My brothers are injured from the battle of Ho Gate! Their wounds have not even healed yet, and you want them to join another battle!?"

    "My strategist has formed a new n . We n to draw Zhang Tong into the open and kill him in the guise of a one-on-one duel . I¡¯m sorry that I have to request you this, but we don¡¯t have anyone stronger than your generals . Please help us, Lord Liu Bei . "

    Hearing that his sworn brothers were better than Yuan Shao¡¯s generals, Liu Bei was ted . He nodded, "I¡¯ll ask Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to deal with Zhang Tong immediately . I think they can handle it!"

    "Thank you! We¡¯re counting on you!"

    Completed his scheme, Yuan Shao withdrew to his army .

    Meanwhile, Liu Bei turned to Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, "You heard it . Do you think you can fight Zhang Tong? If you can¡¯t, we¡¯ll withdraw from this alliance and let Yuan Shao deal with Zhang Tong himself . "

    Guan Yu closed his eyes and evaluate the pros and cons if he should participate in this battle . However, Zhang Feiughed and epted the task right away .

    "I¡¯ll deal with that son of a whore! An immortal? Pfft, he¡¯s nothing without that sorcery . I¡¯ll get my revenge for that day!"

    Guan Yu rode in front of Zhang Fei, "Don¡¯t be reckless, Yide . We couldn¡¯t even kill him that day when we fought him together . You won¡¯t be his match in a one-on-one fight . "

    "Hahaha! That was a few years back! I have a feeling that I can kill him today!"

    Zhang Fei was confident . As he inherited Jiang Man¡¯s [Kindness] and awakened his virtue soul by an ident, Zhang Fei¡¯s injuries had already healed, and he felt stronger than before .

    It was the effect of a one-wing immortal . Once Zhang Fei got another wing, his current strength would be double!

    Guan Yu groaned, "I won¡¯t stop you then . I¡¯ll jump in there if you are at a disadvantage . "

    "I know!"

    Zhang Fei rode to the front of Yuan Shao battalions and faced the preparing troops of knights . The shiny steel tes irritated Zhang Fei as he thought that Tong¡¯s soldiers were all cowards for wearing thick armors .

    "WOI, ZHANG TONG! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND FIGHT ME!"

    The bellow of Zhang Fei shocked the knights . His voice alone was so loud that their eardrums hurt .

    "YO SISSY CAN¡¯T FIGHT LIKE A MAN, SO YOU ARE WEARING EXTRA ARMOR? WHY DON¡¯T YOU ALL WEAR DRESSES, SO YOUR MAMAS CAN BE PROUD OF THEIR DAUGHTERS!?"

    Zhang Fei continued to taunt, calling Tong¡¯s soldiers pussies .

 Chapter 333

    Chapter 333

    Chapter 333 ¨C Zhang Fei and Guan Yu¡¯s New Power

    "LOOK HERE! THIS ASSHOLE¡¯S FACE LOOKS LIKE A POINTY DOG HEAD! ARE YOU TRYING TO BE A DOG!? YOU WANT TO BE A DOG SO MUCH THAT YOU MIMICK THEM!? HILARIOUS!"

    As Tong did not respond to Zhang Fei¡¯s taunt, the loud third brother of Liu Bei continued to berate the knights who wore pointy helmets .

    These medieval knight helmets were optimized for the defense as they could redirect the attacks to the side, protecting the wearers from shing or thrusting attacks .

    The knights of Tong also knew about how these helmets worked . However, Zhang Fei just called them that they mimicked a dog¡¯s face, which angered them .

    They wanted to charge at Zhang Fei and kill him right away, but Xun Yu sent a signal, telling them to stand firm .

    "THE UNDERLINGS WANT TO BE AN ARMY OF DOGS WHILE THE LEADER IS PRETENDING TO BE AN IMMORTAL! WHAT A SUITABLE MASTER AND SERVANT RELATIONSHIP!"

    "WHAT IS HE WAITING FOR!? AN ORDINARY MAN IS CHALLENGING THE MIGHTY IMMORTAL INTO A DUEL, BUT HE IS COWERING BEHIND YOUR BACK! IS HE REALLY AN IMMORTAL OR A WANNABE!?"

    "COME AND SMITE ME, GREAT IMMORTAL! OH, YOU CAN¡¯T! I REMEMBER THAT I SMITE YOUR MOTHER SO HARD THAT I DON¡¯T KNOW IF I¡¯M YOUR FATHER, OR YOU¡¯RE JUST A SON OF ANOTHER PASSER-BY WHO BOUGHT YOUR MOTHER! I DON¡¯T REMEMBER THAT AN IMMORTAL COULD BE BORN FROM A WHORE!"

    Xun Yu and Jia Xu nced at Tong in worries . If they were the target of these insults, Xun Yu and Jia Xu would have ordered someone to kill Zhang Fei already .

    As firm as a mountain, Tong stared at Zhang Fei with an indifferent expression .

    Although insulting his mother irked Tong, he simply closed his eyes and sighed, ignoring the noisy fly .

    >

    >

    ¡¯Another one . Thanks for the boost, Zhang Yide . ¡¯

    Opening his eyes, Tong smiled at Zhang Fei .

    As he smiled, Tong nced at the n chat log, waiting for Li Feihong and the rest .

    Tong: "Where are you now?"

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯ve opened a portal 5km south of your location . We¡¯ll nk Yuan Shao from behind . "

    Zhang Liao: "My men is getting out of the portal . We¡¯ll be there in a few minutes . "

    Tong closed his eyes to simte the cements of Yuan Shao forces, his legions, and the coalition members . From the information of his radar map, only Liu Bei and Yuan Shao were there at the moment .

    No one else stayed within the radius of 10 kilometers!

    "Wenruo, Wenhe, do you think we can kill Yuan Shao today?"

    Hearing the unreasonable request of Tong, Jia Xu and Xun Yu also simted hundreds of scenarios in their mind .

    Jia Xu came up with a conclusion first, "We can, but you might die . I¡¯ll need you to fight both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei . Or the second choice, we can sacrifice Zhang He and Zhang Liao to kill Yuan Shao and Liu Bei . "

    Tong shook his head as he did not like to chess-piece-trading tactic of Jia Xu . It could win the battle, but it crippled Tong¡¯s long term n .

    Xun Yu did not answer as he took his time to think . The depth of his thought was disying through his facial expression and the dripping blood from his nostrils .

    Tong did not rush this strategist as he knew that Xun Yu was doing his best .

    Jia Xu also bit his lower mouth in shame . He took a deep breath and redraw the battle scenarios again in his mind, trying to find a better solution .

    Another two minutes passed, Xun Yu finally opened his eyes amidst of Zhang Fei¡¯s noisy taunts .

    "It¡¯s underhanded . I¡¯ll also have to use you, my lord . "

    "Tell me about your n . "

    "We¡¯ll transfer all remaining shotgun shells to you and two of our thousand-manmanders . We¡¯ll send you to duel Zhang Fei, and we¡¯ll assassinate him with the extra firepower . "

    "In another word, we cheat the duel . "

    "Yes . You will be likely to face both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei at the same time . Are you sure that your injuries won¡¯t rpse again, my lord?"

    "No . I think it will be back at a crucial time . My luck is not that good . "

    "Then, we shouldn¡¯t go with my n . To optimize the survivability of our soldiers, we shouldn¡¯t fight a decisive battle without a preparation like this . "

    "Even if we can use Li Feihong¡¯s assassin gate technique?"

    "Sir Li can only use gates three times a day . He has already used it twice . The first gate is for taking all soldiers into his world upon hearing the retreating order . The second time, he used it to release Zhang Liao¡¯s legion from his dimension . Thus, he can only use it one more time, which we can only kill either Guan Yu or Zhang Fei with this move . "

    At this moment, Jia Xu also stopped calcting, "I agree with Wenruo . Don¡¯t forget that Yuan Shao¡¯s troops are only half of his entire army . That Yan Liang is still around with 50,000 soldiers at Ho Gate, and we might have to fight other minor lords, including Cao Cao . We are underprepared, my lord . "

    "So, we can¡¯t fight a decisive battle . "

    "We can, but our military will be crippled for many years . "

    Tong groaned . He wanted to finish off Liu Bei and Yuan Shao here, but he would not be greedy like the other day again .

    ¡¯At first nce, I can crush them all at once . In reality, I¡¯ll have to pay a high price for that . I even forgot that Cao Cao is still around with Pu Jing . If theye after me, I¡¯m screwed . ¡¯

    Meanwhile, Zhang Fei was surprised that Tong could maintain hisposure despite the insults . Instead of taunting the others, he got angered by the unmoving Tong .

    "YOU DARE IGNORING ME!? NOW DIE!!"

    Zhang Fei galloped his horse and charged at the prepared formation of spearmen alone!

    "Idiot! Yide,e back!"

    Guan Yu chased after his third brother, following Zhang Fei to the spearwall formation as well .

    At this moment, Tian Feng¡¯s eyes gleamed . His pupils expanded as if he interested in this battle .

    "My lord, if Zhang Tong doesn¡¯t have a reinforcementing at our nks, we can kill him . "

    Yuan Shao was surprised, "What do you mean?"

    "I think Zhang Tong is nning a surprise attack at our nks . If not, he wouldn¡¯t have waited for so long and not shown any sign of retreating . It¡¯s obvious that he¡¯s waiting for reinforcement from his other legions . "

    Yuan Shao turned to look behind his army in reflex, "So Zhang Tong¡¯s two legions had already crossed the river, and they willing behind us?"

    "Most likely . Zhang Tong¡¯s nning to kill us all in one battle . "

    "Then, shouldn¡¯t we retreat?"

    "Indeed, but I want to reap some profits from this fight . I want to kill Liu Bei first . "

    "Are you nuts!? Why do you want him dead now?"

    "We have lost Wen Chou, and weck talented generals . Guan Yu and Zhang Fei can rece him, but Liu Bei is in the way . Let me send this greedy bastard to his death, so we can recruit his two brothers . "

    Yuan Shao grinned, "Do as you wish . You have my authority . "

    "Thank you, my lord . "

    .

    Meanwhile, Zhang Fei¡¯s horse collided with the wall of shields while his serpent spear cut through the knight armors like butter .

    Tong stared at the phenomenon in disbelief as thew of physics could not exin how Zhang Fei¡¯s iron spear could be stronger than steel armors .

    "Impossible!"

    "How in the hell!?"

    Xun Yu and Jia Xu were also baffled by the sight of their men getting killed left and right .

    As Tong observed the fight with a deep frown, it took him another minute until he found the reason .

    Covering Zhang Fei¡¯s serpent spear, white angelic aura glowed in a pale light .

    Guan Yu also jumped into the fray as he paved a way to reach his brother, killing anyone who got on his way . His green dragon ive also glowed in the same pale light .

    ¡¯Since when have those two awakened their wing power!? This awakening should arrive in the next decade! How did they get those powers!?¡¯

    A nightmare appeared before Tong . If Guan Yu and Zhang Fei began to grow more wings while Tong could not use his power, Liu Bei would rise to power before Tong could unify the Northern Provinces of China .

    Seeing that his men would be wiped out at this rate, Tong pulled out his gun and aimed at Zhang Fei .

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    His bullet was deflected!

    "Ha! I knew of your trick! You can¡¯t kill me with that toy!"

    Zhang Fei did not deflect the pistol bullet by chance . He could see the trajectory of the oing shell!

    ted and excited, Zhang Fei cleaved a path through the wall of knights, rushing at Tong .

    "Hmm . "

    *BANG*

    *Hieeeee*

    Tong did not panic . He repeated his action when he fought Zhang Fei for the first time at Ji City by shooting at Zhang Fei¡¯s horse .

    History repeated as Zhang Fei experienced a d¨¦j¨¤ vu . His horse died, and he fell off the saddle .

    Fortunately, Tong did not follow up or try to kill him like thest time .

    *BANG*

    *Hieeeee*

    Guan Yu¡¯s horse also fell down .

    "Kill!"

    "SHAAA!!"

    The knights rushed in with their spears, thrusting at Guan Yu and Zhang Fei .

    "WOOOOOIIIIIII!!"

    *BOOM*

    Zhang Fei let out an outburst and a 360 spinning swing, cutting through the stomach of the knights . As serpent spear¡¯s length was longer than the standard spears in Tong Army, Zhang Fei¡¯s reach was farther than Tong¡¯s spearmen!

    "HAAAH!!"

    *BOOM*

    Guan Yu also unleashed his power as he dashed forward and cleaved the closest knights in half .

    "YIDE, RETREAT!!"

    "I KNOW!"

    Those two brothers were sane enough to know when to retreat as they could not continue rampaging within Tong¡¯s knight formation forever . They were also afraid of another thing .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Tong spammed his trigger while aiming at the back of Zhang Fei . He did not believe that Zhang Fei could parry them forever .

    *PU*

    "FUDGE!!"

    As Tong had predicted, Zhang Fei made a mistake and got a bullet in his right thigh .

    *BWOOO*

    "SHAAA!!"

    Before the knights and Tong could finish Zhang Fei, all soldiers of Yuan Shao and Liu Bei parted into two legions .

    10,000 men, led by Liu Bei, was charging directly at the knight¡¯s disarrayed formation . Meanwhile, Yuan Shao and Tian Feng guided the rest of 10,000 footmen toward the east, moving toward Tong¡¯s left nk .

    Xun Yu bellowed, "Damn it! Get into the defense array! All cavalries, cover our left nk!"

    Because of the abrupt change from Liu Bei and Yuan Shao coalition, Xun Yu forced the men to stop hunting for Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, correcting their formation and getting ready for another battle .

    Using this chance, Guan Yu got to Zhang Fei¡¯s side and dragged him away from the scene .

    As these two brothers fled from the knights, they could see Liu Bei on a horse and running footmen heading toward their direction .

    Liu Bei bellowed, "CHARGE! GET ME THE HEAD OF ZHANG TONG!"

 Chapter 334

    Chapter 334

    Chapter 334 ¨C Your Brothers Grew Wings, So My Men

    = Earlier when Zhang Fei was taunting Tong =

    Tian Feng rode toward Liu Bei .

    "Lord Liu, Lord Yuan Shao wishes to entrust 10,000 soldiers to you . He would like to borrow your leadership and your charisma tomand this army to attack Zhang Tong at the front . "

    "At the front!? My brother hasn¡¯t evene back and you¡¯re asking me tomit suicide?"

    "No, Lord Liu Bei . My Lord willmand the other half of his army to attack the nk of Zhang Tong Army . We will be moving toward the east side first, and we would like you to wait for our signal . Once your brothers create the right situation, we will attack together . "

    "Hah! That still doesn¡¯t change the fact that he wants to use me as bait!"

    "After this battle, we also would like to talk about our reconciliation and our misunderstanding in the past . Lord Yuan is willing to give you one of his affiliate cities and appoint you as a governor . "

    "Please, Lord Tian . I¡¯m not that stupid . You plotted against me and stole my Pingyuan, then you want me to follow your suicide attack n? Who do you take me for!?"

    "I¡¯ll be honest, Lord Liu . Are you stupid enough to fight both my Lord and Zhang Tong at the same time?"

    "What did you just call me!?"

    "I called you a stupid Lord, Liu Bei . "

    "You!"

    "You are Lord Lu Zhi¡¯s disciple, so you should have at least learned how we politicians work, right? Will you be so obstinate to the past grudge and refuse to adapt to the changes? We are willing to offer our apologies for the sake of our long-term n, yet you still hold that little incident inside your heart?"

    "..."

    "We are taking over the central in . Are you willing to work with us, or will you want to be surrounded by Zhang Tong, the Xiongnu, and our forces without an ally? Pick one . "

    "..."

    "You don¡¯t need to answer . We have already allocated the troops to you . Lead them to attack Zhang Tong at the front . If you survive this, we¡¯ll give you a city and other boons as our apologies . "

    "..."

    "From the beginning, you don¡¯t have a choice, Liu Bei . "

    Finished belittling Liu Bei, Tian Feng rode away as he tossed his armymand token to the ground, below Liu Bei¡¯s horse .

    Liu Bei gritted his teeth in anger . He wanted to retort at Tian Feng, but he did not have anything toe back .

    His army was weak .

    His generals were all his sworn brothers .

    He had too many enemies .

    Yet, he had no ally . Even his mentor was serving under his enemy!

    "Damn you all!"

    Liu Bei swallowed his pride and got down from his horse, picking Yuan Shao¡¯s woodenmand token . As long as Liu Bei had this token, he couldmand 10,000 soldiers of Yuan Shao .

    "Fine . I¡¯ll send them to their death for you . "

    ...

    ...

    ...

    "CHARGE!"

    Yuan Shao¡¯s 10,000 soldiers were dashing at full speed, rushing at Tong¡¯s disarrayed knights . However, Liu Bei did not send his own militias .

    Seeing that Liu Bei Army was getting closer, Tong shouted, "ALL COMMANDERS, TAKE OUT YOUR GUNS AND AIMED AT THEIR GENERAL! ALL ARCHERS, FIRE EVERYTHING!"

    Xun Yu also followed up, "IGNORE THOSE TWO WARRIORS JUST NOW! AIM EVERYTHING AT THEIR GENERAL!"

    Words from Xun Yu and Tong brought back the sense of the soldiers . All officers pulled out their shotguns and pistols to aim at Liu Bei¡¯s direction .

    Hearing themanding orders from Tong and Xun Yu, Guan Yu¡¯s face paled as he knew the horror of those weapons .

    Tong had been shooting at them with it a few seconds ago . Now, more people were about to use it against Liu Bei .

    "XUANDE! DON¡¯T GET CLOSER!"

    Guan Yu roared with everything he had, fearing for Liu Bei¡¯s safety . As Tong and allmanding officers in his army wielded pistols and shotguns, Liu Bei was vulnerable to their sniping .

    During the previous sh, both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei used the surprise element to catch the soldiers off guard . However, these knights had regained their logical sense and moral, which Liu Bei¡¯s life would be in peril if they battled .

    "IDIOT XUANDE! GO BACK!"

    *BANG* *BANG*

    *BANG* *BANG*

    *BANG* *BANG*

    Ten shotguns and twenty handguns unleashed their wrath, sending bullets at the charging army of Liu Bei . Behind those gunmen, Tong¡¯s archers also released their remaining arrows, flying at the footmen .

    The arrow-rain and hail of bulletbination took down thousands of Liu Bei¡¯s soldiers in one volley .

    *PU*

    One of shotgun fragmented shell bit a piece of Liu Bei¡¯s proud ear, cutting his left long earlobe .

    Liu Bei screamed in pain and fell off his horse . As the luck protected him, footmen soldiers charged without caring about Liu Bei¡¯s well-being, covering the line of bullets and other projectiles .

    "XUANDE!!"

    The second volley of arrows arrived at Liu Bei¡¯s forces, taking down another one thousand soldiers .

    Liu Bei gritted his teeth and crawled away from the battlefield, dodging all the projectiles .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll survive this! This is not the end!¡¯

    Because of many corpses of the fallen soldiers, Liu Bei¡¯s body blended with Yuan Shao¡¯s dead men . He continued moving back while the rest of the footmen fought with Tong¡¯s knights .

    All projectiles could not stop all footmen . In a few seconds, they collided with the shield wall formation of the knights head-on .

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    Metallic crashing sounds of swords, spears, and shields echoed through the battlefield . Though the supposed to be their generals fell from his horse, none of them paid attention to it as their life was on the line .

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei got to Liu Bei¡¯s side . They dragged the mud-soaked Liu Bei out of this battlefield as they retreated back to their militias .

    Meanwhile, the cavalries that were sent to intercept Yuan Shao¡¯s main troops found a surprise .

    Yuan Shao Army was not attacking them . Instead, they were fleeing!

    Jia Xu and Xun Yu were baffled by this maneuver of Yuan Shao .

    "What the hell?"

    "What are they doing? Sending their men to their death, but they don¡¯t follow up?"

    Jia Xu nced back and forth between Yuan Shao¡¯s main force and Liu Bei¡¯s forces . It was not hard for Jia Xu to find the answer .

    "That asshole Yuan Shao wants to kill Liu Bei . He borrows our knife . "

    Xun Yu nced around, trying to find Liu Bei and his brothers .

    "Where are those assholes now?"

    Tong sighed as he watched his radar map . The marking of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei were shing and moving away from their location .

    "They ran away . "

    "Should we chase? Our cavalries can still chase after them . "

    Tong had a dilemma .

    As Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had awakened the power of wings, Tong did not want to sacrifice thousands of soldiers to kill all of them at once . There was also the risk that one or two of his generals might die from the direct confrontation with these three brothers, so Tong did not want to push it .

    On the other hand, if Guan Yu and Zhang Fei grew stronger, they might kill more than just a few thousands of Tong¡¯s soldiers . The casualties could possibly reach over ten thousand or more!

    With a bitter expression, Tong sounded his order through his teeth .

    "Send the Zhang He and Zhang Liao after Yuan Shao . Ignore Liu Bei!"

    "Are you sure?"

    "To be honest, I¡¯m not sure . Still, I have an idea . We won¡¯t fight those three brothers for now, but I¡¯ll make our generals immortals! All of our officers should at least grow wings!"

    Xun Yu and Jia Xu stared at Tong in confusion, "Wings?"

    "The secret of our immortality . I¡¯m going to sacrifice my lifespans to get you all awakened!"

    ...

    ...

    Ten minutester, Zhang Liao and his horsemen arrived at the battlefield . Unfortunately, the battle had already finished as Tong¡¯s knights chewed the footmen of Yuan Shao with ease .

    On the way ofing here, Zhang Liao spotted Liu Bei and his brothers . As Tong had ordered them through the n chat, they avoided contacting with those three since they knew that they were not Guan Yu and Zhang Fei¡¯s match in the melee fight .

    Even if they had guns and bullets, Tong still ordered them not to push their luck .

    Zhang Liao sighed in regret . Had Lu Bu been healthy and active, he would have no problem crashing with those three sworn brothers .

    "A pity . "

    Zhang Liao observed the aftermath of the battle . Upon seeing many dead knights, he was astonished .

    "This ... How!?"

    As someone who possessed a set of knight steel te mail, Zhang Liao knew how sturdy this new metal was . Yet, these soldiers¡¯ bodies had been cut by something so sharp that their cleaved armors did not have a dent .

    Tong rode forward to greet Zhang Liao and his riders . Seeing the shock expression on Zhang Liao¡¯s face, Tong gave him the answer .

    "Those were the work of Zhang Fei and Guan Yu . "

    Hearing Tong¡¯s words, Zhang Liao turned to look at his boss .

    "Tong, are they a monster? Even I can¡¯t cut through one of these armors!"

    "It¡¯s the power of wings . Say, Wenyuan . Can I experiment something on you?"

    "What are you nning to do with me?"

    Zhang Liao had a wry smile on his face, thinking that Tong might do something weird to him .

    Betraying his expectation, he heard a system voice in his mind .

    >

    "What?"

    While Zhang Liao was in shock, Tong muttered something to himself . Soon, Zhang Liao could hear a female voice ringing inside his head .

    [Hi, hi! This is the goddess of this world, Lilim! I¡¯ll be taking your 100,000 lifespans . But in exchange for that, I¡¯ll leave an angelic cultivation manual in your system, and I¡¯ll activate the angel power within your soul, okay? Thanks for doing business! GLHF!]

    The heart of Zhang Liao shook from the sudden change within his body . Afterward, he could see a screen in front of him . They were the numbers of percentage and his virtues .

    "Tong, what is this?"

    "Read the cultivation manual . I gave one to Fengxian, and he became stronger, right? Now, it¡¯s your turn . "

    ...

    Meanwhile, Zhang He and his 20,000 horsemen galloped toward the east, moving toward Ho Gate .

    While he was paying attention to the surroundings and the trail of Yuan Shao¡¯s fleeing footmen, a simr situation urred .

    >

    "Huh?"

    >

    [Hi, hi! This is the goddess of this world, Lilim! Your boss chose not to wait for your natural awakening and paid 100,000 lifespans to get the angelic wings for his men . Oh wait, it¡¯s not his lifespans, but your newly acquired lifespans . I¡¯ll take those 100,000 lifespans off you, but I¡¯ll leave the angelic cultivation manual here . I¡¯ve also activated your angel power! Bye!]

    "What?"

    >

    Tong: "Don¡¯t be surprised, Junyi . "

    Tong: "From now on, you¡¯ll also be an immortal . "

    Tong: "Demonic cultivation takes times and effort, so I paid some lifespans to give you that power instead . Don¡¯t bother with it for now and concentrate on ambushing Yuan Shao . "

    Tong: "Also, all legion leaders will also get this power . Please wait for your turn patiently . "

 Chapter 335

    Chapter 335

    Chapter 335 ¨C Death of Tao Qian

    = West of Ho Gate =

    Tao Qian and his 30,000 escort soldiers encountered with Yan Liang¡¯s 50,000 men . Instead of letting Tao Qian¡¯s men pass, Yan Liangunched an attack .

    "KILL! GET ME TAO QIAN¡¯S HEAD!"

    The prepared formations of Yan Liang sent three battalions of 15,000 soldiers to attack Tao Qian unprepared soldiers . As they were not in a battle formation, the long marching lines of Tao Qian¡¯s soldiers were devoured by the direct charge .

    Soon, Tao Qian was captured along with his retainers . They were brought to Yan Liang .

    Zhang Kai, the former Yellow Turban bandit imposter, was one of these captives as well . He screamed in desperation, "I surrender! Please don¡¯t kill me! I¡¯ll do anything!"

    Yan Liangughed as he liked this situation .

    "Really? If I tell you that you will have to kill your former lord so that you can live, can you do it?"

    "I WILL! I WILL!"

    Tao Qian and his retainers red at Zhang Kai with hatred, "You ingrate!"

    Yan Liang gestured, and a soldier released Zhang Kai .

    "Give him a sword . I want him to kill Tao Qian and his colleagues . "

    Zhang Kai epted a sword from a nearby soldier . Without hesitation, he killed Tao Qian and all of his subordinates without blinking .

    Seeing the cruelty of this former bandit, Yan Liang pped, "Very good! I like it . You can live and serve me!"

    "T-THANK YOU, SIR!!"

    After Tao Qian died, 10,000 surviving soldiers of this lord also surrendered to Yan Liang .

    With this, the Xu Province in the eastern area of China would be without a lord, and many cities were free for the taking .

    However, this was not the time to rush to Xu Province, yet as Yuan Shao was still in danger . A messenger had told him that Yuan Shao requested his aid ASAP .

    "Take all new prisoners to Ho Gate . As for the cavalries, we¡¯ll head west! Go!"

    ...

    An hourter, all minor warlords arrived at the battle site . Seeing the trail of dead bodies and the aftermath of a battle, they sighed a relief that they did not have to fight .

    They had received Yuan Shao¡¯s emergency summons, but they chose to ignore it . Though they were small-timers, they were not stupid enough to risk their lives for the sake of others .

    Still, their outward actions could be hypocrisy .

    "Lord Yuan Shao is talented! He killed many of Zhang Tong¡¯s retreating soldiers!"

    "No, I think Zhang Tong is an idiot! He overestimated himself, and this is the result . "

    "Hahaha! Serve him right! Who needs an immortal to rule our country when we can rule it ourselves?"

    Zhang Miao, Qiao Mao, and Kong Zhuo were delighted by the result of this battle . None of them even noticed that the dead bodies were Tao Qian¡¯s men .

    "Oh well, since Lord Yuan is generous enough to leave these dead bodies intact, are we going to share the profits?"

    Zhang Miao proposed that they should share the loots . Since all three of them were minor governors with limited influence, looting corpses of soldiers could profit them a bit of supply .

    "Let¡¯s do that . We¡¯ll have our soldiers taking care of these armors and weaponry . "

    ...

    3 PM .

    Yan Liang finally regrouped with Yuan Shao .

    Seeing the exhausted soldiers and Tian Feng¡¯s pale face, Yan Liang noticed that something was not right .

    "What happened, My Lord?"

    "Wen Chou is probably dead, and we¡¯re being harassed by Tong¡¯s cavalries . We have to leave this ce now!"

    Hearing that his best friend was dead, Yan Liang¡¯s eyes became bloodshot .

    Looking at the western horizon, where Tong¡¯s troops were following them, Yan Liang had the urge tomand all of his men to charge at them .

    Fortunately, Tian Feng stopped Yan Liang on time .

    "Don¡¯t bother trying to get your revenge . Zhang Tong should have sent another army chasing us from somewhere else . We haven¡¯t detected them yet, but we know that they are there . "

    Although Yan Liang was unwilling toply with the order, he swallowed his anger and followed Tian Feng¡¯s instruction .

    As they marched toward the east, they ran into the armies of three minor lords . They were picking the loots from the corpses .

    Yuan Shao peered at these poverty warlords with disgust, "Leave them . We¡¯re heading toward Xu Province as soon as possible! We¡¯re going to im Tao Qian¡¯s territory before Zhang Tong or Cao Cao notice his death!"

    As usual, the threezy governors threw ttery at Yuan Shao for his achievement .

    "A magnificent job getting rid of Zhang Tong¡¯s soldiers . I¡¯m amazed by your lightning speed army maneuvering . "

    "You have a very talented general, Lord Yuan . I wish my generals could have half of his skills . "

    "It was a clean job, Lord Yuan . Zhang Tong¡¯s soldiers didn¡¯t have a chance . "

    Yuan Shao¡¯s frown deepened as his disgust toward these useless warlords grew stronger . They did notply with his summon when he was in a perilous situation, yet they showed up when the fight was over .

    In frustration, Yuan Shao whispered to Tian Feng, "We should have killed all of these bastards . "

    Tian Feng shook his head, "We can¡¯t . We need them as a buffer against Cao Cao and Zhang Tong . Once we take Xu Province, our territories will connect to theirs, and we can save our resources by having them fight Zhang Tong or Cao Cao in our stead . "

    "They will lose for sure . "

    "Yes . But they will buy us some times, so we can pacify our cities and train more soldiers . "

    Yuan Shao groaned . The more he fought against Tong, the more potential enemies appeared .

    Not only he had to be wary of Tong, but Cao Cao was also untrustworthy .

    "Annoying . "

    "I¡¯m sorry, my lord . For the sake of hegemony, no one is our true ally . They are all our rivals . "

    "Indeed . Very annoying . "

    ...

    3 . 10 PM .

    Zhang He and his 20,000 light horsemen arrived at Ho Gate .

    Zhang He had another goal foring here . Under the instruction of Ju Shou, they used their fastest units to harass Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers at Ho Gate . As a result, they arrived here to set an ambush .

    Although he had 30,000 more soldiers, Zhang He entrusted all of them to Qu Yi, Han Hao, and Gao Lan, so they could be the backup force within Li Feihong¡¯s dimension .

    Along the way, Zhang He detected both Yuan Shao¡¯s fleeing troops and Yan Liang¡¯s 30,000 heavy cavalries, but he chose not to engage in a battle .

    Upon arrival, footmen of Yan Liang, who were escorting Tao Qian¡¯s former soldiers, were about to reach the gate .

    Zhang He put his ninja mask on, "Men, we¡¯ll get rid of these soldiers, and we¡¯ll retreat . Get into raid formation . "

    "RAID FORMATION! KILL!"

    *BWOOOO*

    "SHAA!"

    All riders got into formation in a sh and charged at the marching soldiers .

    Seeing the oing ambushing enemies, all footmen were in a panic .

    Zhang Kai stole a horse and galloped eastward right away, abandoning all of his new friends and colleagues .

    Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers grabbed spears and weapons, trying to form a phnx formation to resist the sudden cavalry charge . However, they were toote .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Horses ran over the unprepared soldiers, and the following warhorses stomped on the fallen soldiers, killing them without dirtying the hands of riders .

    Zhang He was different than the rest of his troops as he wielded dual ives, cutting everything in his path .

    The image of Lu Bu¡¯s charge imnted within Zhang He¡¯s mind while he was mimicking this God of War¡¯s signature rampaging charge . Because Zhang He was still young and his speed could not match with Lu Bu¡¯s inhuman agility, he used dual-weapon instead of using one halberd to make up for the speed .

    This knock-off version of Lu Bu¡¯s charge worked for Zhang He . No footmen could even touch his warhorse as he led the chargers .

    Zhang He was also quick with his decision . Upon seeing the preparing formation at the rear end of Yuan Shao¡¯s troops, he sent his retreating signal .

    "Withdraw! Do not push it!"

    The cavalry chargested for only three minutes, yet they ughtered 10,000 soldiers in a sh .

    The remaining 20,000 footmen of Yuan Shao, including the newly recruited men from Tao Qian Army, stared at the fleeing Zhang He Army in a daze .

    When they were unprepared, they were killed like animals . But when they were ready, the enemies retreated .

    It was a vexing situation!

    "Damn it! Come back and fight like a man!"

    "Get back here!"

    The troops bellowed in anger .

    Zhang He and his men did not go far . As if they were testing Yuan Shao Army¡¯s patient, they stood 500 meters away from the prepared formation of spearmen .

    This angered the footmen more than the earlier disgrace .

    "Let¡¯s charge at them! They¡¯re taunting us!"

    "Don¡¯t! This is a trap . We can¡¯t outrun horses!"

    The spearmen could not move, so they could only stare at Zhang He Army and prepare for any assault at any moment .

    While they were at it, Zhang He watched these footmen in silence as he typed in the n chat .

    Zhang He: "Sir Li, Do you see any bow or crossbow in their army?"

    Li Feihong: "Yes . Don¡¯t approach! They are ready for your charge . "

    Zhang He scratched his nose in embarrassment before he sent hismand to his men .

    "That¡¯s enough . We¡¯ll withdraw from the battlefield . "

    "Huh? We only fought for a few minutes, sir . "

    "Just retreat . Our lord said he wants us to practice in the realbat once in a while, but he didn¡¯t say we have to wipe out our enemies . "

    "Eh? This is just a drill? But those are real enemies . "

    "This is nothing but a drill . We¡¯ve trained enough, we have a story to tell our friends and family . Let¡¯s go home . "

    "Yes, sir . "

    In an anti-climactic fashion, Zhang He and his men turned around and rode away in peace, ignoring the frustrated footmen .

    "SON OF A #@!$!!"

    "COME BACK HERE!!"

    Zhang He did not retreat toward the west where Tong and the others were . Instead, they headed east, going to Ho Gate .

    As Yan Liang left only a portion of his troops here, Zhang He Army killed all of them and moved on, exiting Ho Gate and traveled North, finding another location to ambush Yuan Shao .

    While Zhang He was setting his men for an ambush, he had a hard time to decide which method he could use to troll Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers .

    .

    Meanwhile, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei managed to scrap away with their life along with their 3,000 militias .

    As they did not have a ce to go, they wondered where they could reside .

    Zhang Fei staggered with his injured leg, "Where to, Xuande?"

    "I don¡¯t know . Maybe west?"

    "Going toward the Xiongnu!? Are we going to fight them or what?"

    Guan Yu stroked his beard as he had an absurd idea, "How about we join forces with the Xiongnu? They are the only one that can fight Zhang Tong on equal ground . Actually, I think they might be even stronger than Zhang Tong . "

 Chapter 336

    Chapter 336

    Chapter 336 ¨C Changes at Southern Front

    While Tong, Khan, Yuan Shao, and others fought in Luo Yang¡¯s territory, another battlefront was still ongoing .

    Sun Jian Army, Liu Biao Army, and Yuan Shu Army got stuck at Wu Gate .

    This Wu Gate located at the southwest of Luo Yang . It blockaded the main road from Wan City to Hongnong City, and it was also a strategic chokepoint for Hongnong defenders .

    The Xiongnu army, led by Pang De, Ma Teng, Li Ru, and Liu Yang, garrisoned at Wu Gate . The number of their soldiers were 200,000 men!

    This number alone almost made the coalition forces choked blood as they only had 110,000 soldiers .

    The coalition forces upied Li County, which situated west of Wan City and east of Wu Gate . They could not form an assault n yet as they were waiting for provision and weaponry supplies from the coalition founder, Tong .

    The waiting came to an end when Hua Shi, who disguised as a eunuch, visited the coalition camp to deliver the supplies .

    .

    = Li County, Coalition Main Tent =

    A girly looking eunuch bowed to Yuan Shu, "I havee here to fulfill the promise of our lord . We¡¯ve brought provision and weaponry from the north here to support you . "

    Yuan Shu nodded, "Excellent! Tell your lord that we will also fulfill our promise! Those Xiongnu mongrels will pay the price for invading our country!"

    "Then, I shall withdraw myself . I pray for your glorious victory . "

    "Of course! We shall trample them under our feet!"

    Hua Shi exited the tent without hesitation . As she had read the n chat and aware of the general situation, she had to leave here as soon as possible . She did not even bother ncing at the participants of the meeting here .

    On the other hand, Sun Jian, Sun Fang, Li Jing, Liu Biao, Huang Zu, and Huang Zhong inspected this girly eunuch from head to toes .

    Liu Biao did not detect anything wronging from this eunuch, but Huang Zu, Huang Zhong, and Sun Jian could sense the smell of blood and a trace ofbat aura from this disguised person .

    Huang Zu nodded, ¡¯Not bad . This eunuch can actually kill . ¡¯

    Sun Jian frowned, ¡¯Using an assassin as a messenger, how bold . ¡¯

    Huang Zhong grinned, ¡¯An archer eunuch? That¡¯s a good taste!¡¯

    While the elites were admiring Hua Shi, Li Jing whispered to Sun Fang, "Fang, I can sense the angelic power from that eunuch . "

    The frowning Sun Fang nodded, "Me, too . "

    Khan, Tong, Pu Jing, and Hua Shi were not the only otherworlders with wing power . After a period of recuperation and a break from warfare, Sun Fang cultivated enough lifespans and freed Li Jing from the reincarnator killing quest .

    By freeing Li Jing from the shackle, Lilim also told them about the wing powers and extorted bribery from them . Like others, Sun Fang spent 300,000 lifespans on buying the angel cultivation technique and details from Lilim for himself and Li Jing .

    Now, each of them had one virtue awakened, and they could vaguely sense another power holder .

    Sun Fang gazed at the number of otherworlders, it had changed .

    From 12 survivors, it reduced to eleven!

    "Something must have happened on the other frontline . One of the reincarnators died . "

    Li Jing¡¯s eyes gleamed with blight light . As someone else did the work for them, she could not be any happier .

    "I hope Zhang Tong dies, but that might be a silly dream . Had he died, that eunuch just now wouldn¡¯t have had been here . "

    "Do you think he¡¯s one of Zhang Tong¡¯s ally otherworlders?"

    "We have the names of most otherworlders . Zhang Tong¡¯s allies are Li Feihong, Te Langpu, Xiao Wu, and Hua Shi . Since that eunuch looks somewhat girlish, the only one that can disguise as that eunuch must be a girl, so that person is either Xiao Wu or Hua Shi . "

    Sun Fang nodded . He immediately typed into the n chat to inform his father and everyone else .

    Sun Fang: "One of Zhang Tong is disguising as that eunuch just now . Please arrange someone to kill her . "

    Sun Jian: "No, we shall not betray Zhang Tong . "

    Sun Fang: "Father, he will be our enemies!"

    Sun Jian: "My order is final . As I said before, leave our policies to me . Don¡¯t meddle with the adult¡¯s affair! Besides, Zhang Tong is fighting for the sake of our country while you are plotting to backstab ourpatriots! Are you even ashamed of yourself!?"

    Sun Fang bit his lower lips . Sun Jian was upright and righteous as he was described in the historical texts . Because Sun Jian valued duties and the Han Dynasty more than anything else, he did not care about the hegemony or how he could be a king of a country .

    Li Jing sighed . In her mind, she started to regret choosing the Sun n as their main forces to fight the others .

    Without a choice, Li Jing whispered to Sun Fang, "We might have to let your father die . "

    "What!? But he¡¯s my father!"

    "As long as he lives, the Sun n will be someone else¡¯s subordinates . Sun Ce and Sun Quan will never rise, and the Wu Dynasty will not exist!"

    "Ugh . "

    Sun Fang did not like this . Although he was never shy away frommitting a crime, he was not so low to the point that he could murder his foster father .

    "I¡¯m not Lu Bu, Jing¡¯er . I can¡¯t kill my father . "

    "I¡¯m not telling you to kill him . I said we should let him die naturally by Huang Zu and Liu Biao . "

    "Still, it¡¯s the same . "

    "It¡¯s not . We¡¯re following the trend of the historical timeline . We won¡¯t interfere with it . "

    "..."

    While both of them conversed in secret, Yuan Shu invited in more dancers and entertainers, converting the war-meeting into a banquet .

    Huang Zhong, Sun Jian, Liu Biao, and non-Yuan Shu¡¯s subordinates disgusted Yuan Shu¡¯s behavior . They excused themselves from the party and returned to their camps .

    Sun Fang and Li Jing also left with the rest .

    .

    = Three Hours Later =

    While Yuan Shu was enjoying food, wine, and women in the banquet, an emissary party from Xiongnu Army arrived, asking to meet the leader of this coalition force .

    This messenger group consisted of only three people, two bodyguards, and a little girl . They were Lu Bu¡¯s clones and Liu Yang .

    "We¡¯re messengers from the Great Khan and Xiongnu Tribes . Please let us meet with your leader! We¡¯vee in peace!"

    Because Sun Jian and Liu Biao left the main camp of Yuan Shu, they were not aware of this messenger group .

    Yuan Shu invited them into his personal banquet and entertained them . Although he noticed that the other party was a little girl and two bodyguards, Yuan Shu did not look down on Liu Yang .

    As a veteran politician of the Yuan n, his diplomatic skills were not even lower than Yuan Shao .

    "Wee . What can I do for the youngdy and these two brave soldiers?"

    Looking around and finding no one else other than Yuan Shu, Liu Yang smiled in delight . Without the strong-willed Sun Jian and the sessor of Liu n, her task would be a lot easier .

    "We wish to form a truce with Lord Yuan Shu . This war between us is a misunderstanding . Our goal is not about conquering this country, but we¡¯re trying to eliminate our nemesis, Zhang Tong and his n . As we fought with Zhang Tong, many people had been dragged into our war, so we¡¯vee here to apologize and reestablish our friendly rtionship . "

    "Oh?"

    This was not a favorable deal for Yuan Shu .

    Although his territories had nothing to do with Tong, he always treated Tong as a potential ally, a hirable knife .

    As Yuan Shu did not like how his elder brother, Yuan Shao, inherited the main branch of the Yuan n, there was not a day that this warlord did not n to kill his brother .

    Like the old saying, "The enemy of my enemy is my ally," Yuan Shu nned to befriend Tong, so he could use Tong to eliminate Yuan Shao out of the picture .

    Now, someone came here, coaxing him into ruining his master n . Yuan Shu did not like it, and his thought appeared on his face .

    The deep frown and grumping mouth confessed Yuan Shu¡¯s answer . Although Liu Yang noticed that, her smiling face did not change .

    Liu Yang sneered, "I see that you¡¯re unwilling to betray your friend . Fear not, Lord Yuan Shu, we¡¯vee with a bargain, and it well worth your time . "

    Liu Yang gestured, and her bodyguard brought out a cloth bundle forward . Liu Yang took it and untied the cloth, revealing what inside was .

    It was the Imperial Seal!

    "This is the Imperial Seal of your country . We picked it up when after we killed the tyrant Dong Zhuo for you . Like a good neighbor, we wish to return this ... Seal of the Emperors . . . to the rightful sessor . "

    The words of Liu Yang contained many hints, and Yuan Shu understood it .

    The eyes of Yuan Shu red with greed and desire . When he realized that it was the real seal of the emperors, he could not get his eyes off it .

    "I see . I see! I SEE! Well done, our good neighbor! I understand your intentionpletely! Well, this is very nice of you for returning this to this humble sessor of the seal . I shall see the restoration of our cooperation and the new era of peace . "

    "Thank you for your understanding, Lord Yuan . Unfortunately, we also need your help . "

    "What is it? If it¡¯s something I can do, we¡¯ll be d to help!"

    Liu Yang smirked as everything went ording to her ns, "Have you ever heard about [Evil Immortals]?"

    The smile of Yuan Shu froze . At this moment, any warlord would be considered a fool had they not learned about the existence of the absurd beings, the immortals .

    Zhang Tong¡¯s rapid growing and his battle prowess had been the talk of the town in many counties in the central in . All merchants praised Tong¡¯s cities as gold mines for resources while many schrs kepting back to migrate their families into Tong¡¯s territory .

    Sun Fang¡¯s ability to fly and Li Jing¡¯s wisdom was also a part of the rumors . There were still gossips about the Goddess of Death from ages back and how Liu Ping died by Xiao Wu¡¯s unrivaled spearmanship .

    Most of the rumors centered within Tong¡¯s forces, which threatened all hegemony pursuers .

    "I heard of them . Is this about Zhang Tong again?"

    "No, it¡¯s not just Zhang Tong that we want dead . Two individuals within Sun Jian Army threatens our peace talk . "

    "Cut the fa?ade and get straight to the point! Who do you want dead?"

    "Sun Fang and Li Jing . Sun Fang is Sun Jian¡¯s adopted son, and Li Jing is Sun Fang¡¯s wife . We want these two dead . "

    "They are immortals . Just the Imperial Seal won¡¯t be enough topensate for our loss . "

    "Oh, you don¡¯t have to worry about that . "

    Liu Yang took out a scroll and gave it to Yuan Shu . It was a map around Wu Gate¡¯s territory, but there was a mark on it .

    "Send Sun Jian forces to that location, we¡¯ll help you . "

    A smile finally appeared on Yuan Shu¡¯s face, "Now, we¡¯re talking . Well, since ites to this, how about we talk about our cooperation for the future . "

    "Come to think of it, you don¡¯t seem surprised that a diplomat from Xiongnu is a little girl like me?"

    "Humph! I¡¯m not a fool . You smell like an immortal like Zhang Tong . If a normal girl talks to me like this, I would have turned her into my chambermaid!"

    "Hahaha! True . Well, a toast to our future, Your Majesty!"

    "HAHAHA! That sounds very nice . I like it . "

    The two continued their cooperation talk all night with all the guards and Yuan Shu¡¯s subordinates around .

    All of them stared at Liu Yang and Yuan Shu, speechless .

 Chapter 337

    Chapter 337

    Chapter 337 ¨C Hua Shi¡¯s Crisis

    While Yuan Shu and Liu Yang were partying inside the main camp, Hua Shi and her 200 escorts rushed out of the county, escaping from the conflict and the two otherworlders .

    As Hua Shi was an angel with two wings, she detected a simr auraing from Sun Fang and Li Jing . Though her power was superior to theirs, she could not do anything in this situation . As many eyes and dangerous generals were nearby, she could not risk herself by trying to kill anyone in there .

    Furthermore, it was a situation where she had to deal with two otherworlders at the same time . She had no confidence that she coulde out unscratched .

    Completing the job and keeping her life took priority!

    ¡¯That was close . From their looks, they should have also detected my power . Friday said they were Sun Fang and Li Jing, and their main cheats are cultivation and shadow teleportation . I can¡¯t fight them with my archery alone . ¡¯

    Two dayster, after Hua Shi left Li County, he reached Wan City . Without stopping to resupply, she and her escorts galloped through the territory, heading northeast toward Xuchang .

    Once Hua Shi could get to Xuchang, proceeding toward Ye City would be morefortable .

    Unfortunately, she could not go far as an army without a banner was blocking her path .

    Hua Shi nced at her skill list and activated one of the skills that she obtained from Tong by dual-cultivation, the radar map .

    The map showed hidden troops of 5,000 soldiers in this vicinity . Also, the leadingmander of this army possessed a strong aura of one wing immortal .

    The name of this person put Hua Shi on her toes .

    Pang De

    .

    In the other world¡¯s historical timeline, Pang De served Ma Teng and Ma Chao . His first major sessful campaign was in the year 202 when Cao Cao and Ma Teng were still in the same alliance .

    During this year, Cao Cao was cleaning the northern provinces by waging war against Yuan Shao¡¯s sons, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang .

    Yuan Tan ordered his men to attack Hedong County, which located north of Hongnong City, the opposite side of the Yellow River .

    In response, Cao Cao sent Zhong Yao to conscript soldiers from Ma Teng¡¯s Liang Province, so they could repel this sudden invasion toward the central in and Hongnong City .

    Ma Teng received the SOS request from his ally and sent Ma Chao and Pang De to the battle .

    Amid thebat, Pang De slew Guo Yuan, a general under Yuan Tan and Zhong Yao¡¯s nephew . He took Guo Yuan¡¯s head without realizing about the rtionship between them and gave it to Zhong Yaoter .

    Upon realizing their rtionship, Pang De immediately apologized to Zhong Yao, but thetter did not mind it . He said, "Even though Guo Yuan was my nephew, he was an enemy of the state . Why do you apologize?"

    Ma Teng appointed Pang De into General of Householdter for his contribution, and the military road of Pang De began from there .

    In 211, Pang De and Ma Chao were defeated by Cao Cao Army . Both of them sought refuge under Zhang Lu in Hanzhong and became Zhang Lu¡¯s subordinate in exchange for their safety .

    In 215, Ma Chao betrayed Zhang Lu and joined forces with Liu Bei, who seized control of Yi Province from Liu Zhang . Pang De remained with Zhang Lu, but they surrendered to Cao Cao in the same year when Cao Cao¡¯s forces reached Hanzhong .

    Around 219, a rebellion broke out in Wan City . Cao Cao sent Cao Ren and Pang De to quell the uprising, and they had to defend the areas from the possible southern army, led by Guan Yu .

    After Pang De finished off the rebels, they garrisoned in Fancheng (Fan Castle) .

    Because Pang De was a former subordinate of Ma Chao, soldiers suspected in Pang De that he might rebel and join Liu Bei like his old master .

    Pang De was angry by the insult . He promised his men that he would bring Guan Yu¡¯s head to prove his loyalty to Cao Cao .

    In one of the battles, Pang De fired an arrow and sessfully hit Guan Yu¡¯s helmet . However, in the novel version, Pang De hit Guan Yu¡¯s arm .

    Guan Yu became wary of Pang De ever since . He remembered this person as the White Horse General as Pang De often rode on a white horse to battle, just like Gongsun Zan .

    Later that year, heavy rain turned the terrains in Jing Province into swamps and mudnd and flooded Fan Castle . Pang De gathered his men to the top of a dam, retreating from the battle . However, Guan Yu raided them with his warships and managed to capture Pang De after half a day of intense fighting .

    Guan Yu persuaded Pang De to join Liu Bei like Ma Chao, but Pang De refused . Having no choice, Guan Yu executed Pang De at Fan Castle .

    Throughout Pang De¡¯s life, he did not obtain many victories like other famous generals like Zhang Liao or Zhang He . However, he was one of Cao Cao¡¯s generals who could terrify Guan Yu in a duel and closebat . Though hismand ability was not on par with other elites, no one could look down on his prowess in battle .

    Extra noteworthy, Pang De¡¯s son, Pang Hui, managed to avenge for his father in theter years of the Three Kingdoms Period . In 263 AD, Pang Hui participated conquest of Shu Han . He ughtered all family members of Guan Yu and his descendants, ending Guan Yu¡¯s bloodline .

    .

    Now, Hua Shi was facing a sudden ambush by thisbat specialist with angel power . She hesitated if she wanted to fight him now, or should she pretend to surrender .

    ¡¯How did he get that power!? It was supposed to be the privilege of all otherworlders!¡¯

    Hua Shi could not believe her eyes and her sense . The angelic powering from Pang De was real, but the logic behind it was baffling .

    ¡¯Did Xiongnu King bribe Lilim? Shit, Tong just did something to the lifespans in the n pool . Is it possible to bribe Lilim into awakening local people here as well?¡¯

    Being helpless, Hua Shi typed into the n chat .

    Hua Shi: "I¡¯m being ambushed in Wan . Pang De is attacking me . "

    Hua Shi: "He has a wing! How the fudge did he get it!?"

    Tong: "Khan probably did the same with what I just did . "

    Tong: "I just bribed Lilim to give Zhang He and Zhang Liao a chance to awaken their wings . "

    Tong: "I think Khan can do the same . "

    Tong: "BTW, do you think you can win or escape?"

    Hua Shi: "Not possible . I have 200 men with me, but Pang De has 5,000 . "

    Li Feihong: "It will take me a day to teleport there and another day to get you out of that ce . "

    Li Feihong: "Sister-inw, can you pretend to surrender to buy times? Try to avoid the disadvantageous fight . "

    Tong: "I agree . Pretend to surrender . As long as you are alive, we will know what Khan and his Xiongnu are doing . "

    Hua Shi: "Great, my life is in peril, and you all want me to be your spy?"

    Tong: "No, I just want to ensure your safety . "

    Li Feihong: "We will rescue you in two days . Please be patient . "

    Hua Shi¡¯s despair turned into anger as she did not like how calm Tong and Li Feihong were . Her life was in jeopardy, but they did not feel the urgency of the situation .

    In reality, Tong and Li Feihong worried about Hua Shi . As they had been through thick and thin from wars and conflicts, Tong and Li Feihong¡¯s mental strength was stronger than her, and they could stay calm regardless of pressure .

    Hua Shi did not participate in many battles, so shecked experiences in handling the pressure . As a result, she lost her cool, and her face flushed in frustration .

    Meanwhile, Pang De ignored about Hua Shi¡¯s existence or her escorts . He bellowed, "Zhang Tong¡¯s dogs, drop your weapons and surrender!"

    "Grr . "

    Being called a dog was unpleasant to the escort soldiers . As a result, none of them cared if they had to die today .

    Moreover, these 200 soldiers knew that they were protecting the first wife of their young master, so surrendering could spell a fate more horrifying than death to Hua Shi .

    Hua Shi bellowed, "Screw you all! Kill!"

    With bloodshot eyes, they pulled out their pistols and aimed at the nearest soldiers .

    "To the death!"

    "We are servants of immortals! We won¡¯t surrender!"

    "For the immortals!"

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Two hundred guns unleashed their power, firing at any ambushing soldiers they could find .

    The Xiongnu soldiers of Pang De were hit by bullets and were shocked . As none of them had experienced about firearms, they thought that all escorts used sorceries on them .

    Hua Shi also took out her bows and summoned her two virtue souls . Each of them wielded a bow and activated her iconic skill, Homing Arrows .

    With a stroke of bowstrings, hundreds of magic arrows headed toward Pang De alone!

    The targeted man remained indifferent .

    "Hah!"

    With a roar, Pang De gathered his virtuous aura within his body and his axes . He did not parry them or try to stop the arrows . Instead, he stood still and watched all light arrows befall on him .

    *PU*

    *PU*

    *PU*

    *PU*

    All arrows did not prate his skins . Betraying Hua Shi¡¯s expectation, all bolts only caused superficial wounds, but they could not get through his muscles .

    At this moment, Hua Shi remembered a part of Friday¡¯s teaching .

    [All skills in this world have a limitation . When you¡¯re up against a real demon or angel, you won¡¯t be able to use these skills to fight them . If they don¡¯t summon their souls out of their body, but they gather their aura instead, no system cheats in this world can harm them . ]

    Hua Shi clicked her tongue in resentment . She med herself for being reckless and foolish for letting an outburst like that . Now, their chance of survival was getting lower each second .

    ¡¯To kill an angel or a demon, one must use their own strength . ¡¯

    Hua Shi recited Friday¡¯s teaching in her mind as she summoned all her souls back . Once they entered her body, two white tentacle wings spread from her back .

    The sight of celestial wings astonished the Xiongnu . Now, they finally realized that they were fighting against a real immortal .

    Yet, Pang De smiled .

    ¡¯It¡¯s as the princess said . We found one of the immortals . ¡¯

    Pang De reported his finding to his n chat right away .

    Pang De: "I found an otherworlder . It¡¯s one of Zhang Tong¡¯s dogs . "

    Pang De: "He¡¯s a eunuch, though . "

    Liu Yang: "That might be either Hua Shi or Xiao Wu . Be cautious, either of them is stronger than you . "

    Pang De gazed at the sweating Hua Shi . He smirked as he did not believe in Liu Yang .

    ¡¯That eunuch is a rookie . I can kill her at any time . ¡¯

 Chapter 338

    Chapter 338

    Chapter 338 ¨C Hua Shi VS Pang De

    *CRANK*

    *CRANK*

    *CRANK*

    Although the escort soldiers managed to freeze Pang De¡¯s troops, their bullets were not infinite . After a few seconds, they ran out of ammo .

    Because these soldiers only trained about shooting and reloading to save bullet cost, theycked realbat experiences in a gunfight and a real battle . As a result, they panicked and forgot to reload their ammunition .

    Five hundreds of Pang De fell from the sudden gunfire, and five hundred men were critically injured . However, the other four thousand were still unharmed!

    Four thousand men charged at the panicking escorts, nning to end their lives and capture Hua Shi .

    "Reload your guns and get a hold of yourself!"

    Hua Shi bellowed and resummoned her spirits, using them to barrage magic arrows at the oing soldiers .

    Rain of light arrows dropped on the charging men, but they were not destructive enough to stop the wave of humans . After bracing three hundred bolts, the surviving soldiers reached Hua Shi and her escorts .

    "Tsk!"

    Hua Shi pulled out her pistol and fired at the nearest soldiers while her two souls drew their swords and protected Hua Shi¡¯s real body .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    The remaining escort soldiers managed to reload their guns and continued firing, but Pang De and ambushing soldiers had already reached them .

    *SWUA*

    Screams from Hua Shi¡¯s escort troops mixed in with the contact sounds of iron .

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    *BANG*

    Now, for every one bullet fired, two escorts were killed . The favor of the battle shifted toward Pang De¡¯s side in an instant .

    "Don¡¯t ever think that I can¡¯t fight!"

    Hua Shi roared and her spirits became more violent . They stopped protecting her real body and charged at the enemies, trying to save as many escort soldiers as possible .

    Unfortunately, her attempt was fruitless . The battlested for less than ten minutes, and Hua Shi was surrounded by a thousand soldiers .

    Around her, corpses of Pang De¡¯s menid around as Hua Shi stood firm by herself . As for the rest of her escort soldiers, they did not make it .

    On the other hand, Pang De lost 2,000 soldiers while another 1,500 men were injured from the short fight .

    In Pang De¡¯s mind, this was his significant loss, but he aplished his task nheless .

    "Surrender, you are the only one left . "

    Hua Shi red at Pang De with hatred . Because of her anger, her memory about Tong and Li Feihong¡¯s words in the n chat foiled her mood further .

    When someone had a negative thought, that person began to doubt everybody else . Hua Shi also suffered the same syndrome of self-hatred and blind anger .

    As she was about to bellow [Never], her steel ring on her left ring finger reflected the sunlight to her eyes .

    It was the engagement ring that Tong and the local cksmith forged it for her during their free times . She remembered that Tong went to several cksmiths to learn about tinkering and steel forgery himself . It took him two months to craft two rings for Friday and Hua Shi each .

    "Tong ... Min¡¯er . "

    As Hua Shi thought of her daughter and her husband, she regained her conscience, logical thinking, and her sanity .

    Looking around, it appeared that her fate had already been sealed . Had Hua Shi fought with Pang De, she would note out unharmed as she was not a melee-battle oriented reincarnator .

    Hua Shi was still a nurse with a bit of power to protect herself!

    "I¡¯ll surrender, but none of you have the right toy a hand on me . "

    Pang De snorted, "A woman has no right to deny men¡¯s orders . Not only you will be our captive, but you will also pay for our dead soldiers with your body!"

    The face of Hua Shi twitched . It seemed that if she surrendered, she would be ravished by thousand of soldiers . As a result, Hua Shi changed her mind!

    "If you go too far, you¡¯ll die . You¡¯re just a rookie with a bit of power . You aren¡¯t my match if we fight . "

    "Try it . I want to see how I die . "

    Hua Shi snickered . She may not excel in meleebat, but she had many trump cards, just like Tong .

    "I¡¯ve warned you, but you didn¡¯t listen . I tried to surrender, but you didn¡¯t ept it . me yourself for overestimating your abilities . "

    Hua Shi activated her inventory, dropping barrels of crude oil . The two spirits rushed in and destroyed the barrel, flooding the ck oil around herself .

    Because of the sudden move, Pang De and all soldiers could not withdraw on time . Their feet stood on the flooded ground of ck liquid .

    Pang De knew about the property of thismp oil . He stared at Hua Shi in shock .

    "You¡¯re crazy! You¡¯ll die, too!"

    "No, I¡¯ll live, but you all will die! Now, I¡¯ll ask you this . Will you surrender to me, or all of you will be burned to death . "

    "You wrench!"

    In desperation, Pang De attempted to rush Hua Shi, but he slipped and fell on the swamp of crude oil, face first .

    Hua Shi took off her oil-soaked sandals while her two spirits carried her up to the sky .

    The crowd of soldiers stared at Hua Shi in disbelief . As none of them had seen anyone flying, seeing Hua Shi and her spirits standing in mid-air shocked them .

    "A-A-A goddess!?"

    "T-That¡¯s a real immortal!?"

    "That guy is flying!"

    None of them paid attention to the crude oil anymore .

    While she was at it, she scanned through her inventory to find something to ignite a fire . Unfortunately, she only had spare bullets and pistols from Tong .

    "Oh well . I doubt I can ignite a fire with this . "

    Hua Shi looked down and aimed her gun at an iron armor of a dead soldier .

    "Bye-Bye! Morons . "

    *BANG*

    The bullet hit the iron te, creating sparks of me . As the small particles of firended on the crude oil, a chain reaction urred .

    *BOOM*

    The sea of fire exploded, cooking everyone below alive .

    Sounds of screams and burning flesh resonated throughout the field . On the other hand, Hua Shi¡¯s souls carried Hua Shi¡¯s body away from the fire in a hurry as her clothes also caught fire .

    Although Hua Shi also suffered burning injuries from the sudden me explosion, she simply stripped off her burning clothes andmanded her spirits to take her away from this battlefield .

    As flew for only 20 meters, a fire arrow came from within the sea of me .

    The arrow carried the aura force of a one-wing angel . It prated the undefended Hua Shi¡¯s neck!

    *PU*

    Pang De, who was getting cooked alive, had fired hisst arrow at Hua Shi .

    Seeing that his arrow hit the target, Pang De grinned .

    "I¡¯ll see you in Hell, wrench!"

    That was thest word of this famous general who had squired against Guan Yu in history . He copsed into the sea of me as his body turned into a dark charcoaled body .

    Hua Shi¡¯s body also lost strength as the arrow cut her spinal cord in her neck . Fortunately, her spirits carried her further away from the fire sea and ced her down on the clean grass area .

    Blood seeped out from the wound even though Hua Shi had not taken out the arrow . Hua Shi could not talk or move now, but her brain was still functioning .

    ¡¯I¡¯m d I came here prepared . Thanks for thinking of me, Tong . Regen!¡¯

    Her neck flowed in white light, and the arrow ejected from her neck . The wound closed as all of her burning injuries healed .

    This was Hua Shi¡¯s preparation before the journey!

    During these peaceful years, Tong forced Hua Shi to copy his skills by using dual-cultivation . Since most of Tong system cheats were supporting type skills, Hua Shi did not miss copying the precious [Immortal Yang Vein] .

    Although she did not need those infinite yang seeds, having an instant self-healing ability was ensuring .

    As Hua Shi was exhausted from the battle, she lied on the grasnd while she reported her battle result in the n chat .

    Hua Shi: "I almost die, but I killed Pang De . "

    Hua Shi: "I¡¯m tired, though . (T_T)"

    There werements and praises from Tong and Li Feihong, but Hua Shi did not care at this point . She was d that she survived a cmity by herself for once . It was an exhrating and thrilling, just like how she survived a copsed building and killed a psychopath in her previous life .

    When Hua Shi gathered a bit of her strength, she changed her clothes and returned to Wan City . As she was alone at the moment, it would be eye-catching if a young woman like her traveled to the north without guards or escorts .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll hire a thousand mercenaries this time . Wait, I have to adjust my look into a eunuch or a man . A lone girl in a party of wild mercenaries is like offering myself to be raped . ¡¯

    Hua Shi mumbled as she med Tong for sending her here on an errand .

    .

    Before Hua Shi and Pang De battled inside Wan¡¯s territory, Sun Jian¡¯s spies had detected the movement of Xiongnu in Wan .

    Huang Gai, who had been tasked to monitored Wan City, sent his spy report in the n chat .

    Huang Gai: "Xiongnu is crossing the mountain and bypassing Li County . The number is around 5,000 men . "

    Sun Jian: "I¡¯ll send Fang over there . Keep protecting our nks . "

    Huang Gai: "Understood! None of them will pass through here!"

    .

    Sun Fang, who also read the n chat, sighed in boredom and regret . From the looks of it, he had to fly back to Wan and dropped a carpet bomb to help General Huang Gai .

    Sun Fang: "Father, I¡¯ll be going . I¡¯ll take Li Jing with me . "

    Sun Jian: "Good luck . When you¡¯re done, stay with your uncle . "

    Sun Fang: "Okay . "

    Sun Fang gazed at Li Jing beside him .

    "Let¡¯s go, wifey . "

    "Yeah, I want to chase that otherworlder too . "

    "I doubt we¡¯ll run into her . "

    "Well, maybe we won¡¯t . But at least, we can hope . "

 Chapter 339

    Chapter 339

    Chapter 339 ¨C Flee

    Soon, Sun Fang flew to Wan City along with Li Jing, who pickybagged on her husband¡¯s back as if she rode a horse .

    While they were flying, they could see ck smoke and a forest fire from a distance away .

    "Wifey, should we investigate that first?"

    "No, we¡¯ll meet with our uncle first . He might know something about the fire since he¡¯s protecting Wan . "

    Thus, they proceeded to Wan City . They flew down to meet with Huang Gai in the city hall .

    As soon as they met this elite general, they received a piece of updated news .

    "You all havee a bit toote . My scouts found the corpses of these Xiongnu ambushers . "

    "Oh? Did you kill them all?"

    "No, it wasn¡¯t me . Someone else had done them in before my men got there . Did you see the forest fire on your way here? They cooked those Xiongnu over there . "

    "What!?

    "We suspect that Zhang Tong¡¯s supply convoy did it . Among the corpses we found, those provision escorts were also among the dead bodies . I think they ran into Xiongnu¡¯s hiding battalion by chance or they were ambushed on the way home . "

    Sun Fang and Li Jing looked at each other, and a smile appeared on their face .

    ¡¯Chances!¡¯

    "Uncle Huang, we will fly there and scout the perimeter . Can we go?"

    "Sure . Do me a favor . Go and set a fire barrier for us, so the fire won¡¯t spread to the city . While you¡¯re at it, scout the mountain for me, too . I don¡¯t want to see another Xiongnu battalion behind our main army . "

    "Yes, sir! Wifey, let¡¯s go!"

    Both of them excused themselves and flew out to the sea of fire, searching for clues about Hua Shi and the supply convoy .

    Huang Gai shook his head and sighed, "Hmm, reckless youths . Now, I¡¯m worried about Bofu¡¯s future . "

    .

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, Hua Shi had already returned to Wan City and booked an inn to rest .

    While she was resting, she detected two presences of immortals in the city hall . As she nced at her radar map and the name indicator, it was so easy for Hua Shi to find out .

    ¡¯Li Jing and Sun Fang . Damn it all . Are they after me!?¡¯

    Hua Shi only rested for less than an hour after she had arrived in the city . Now, she had to book it and leave ASAP .

    ¡¯Please don¡¯t detect me! Please don¡¯t see me!¡¯

    Hua Shi packed her clothes and changed her disguise into a male beggar . As she was about to rush out of the city, Li Jing and Sun Fang flew away toward the forest fire direction .

    ¡¯Oh? They didn¡¯t see me . Sweet!¡¯

    She returned to her inn and opened her n chat .

    Hua Shi: "How long will Feihonge to pick me up?"

    Hua Shi: "I¡¯m being chased by Sun Fang and Li Jing . It seems they want me dead . "

    Li Feihong: "A day after tomorrow, sister . "

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯ve run out of gate usage . I can¡¯t travel further!"

    Hua Shi: "Tong, can you bribe Lilim to get Feihong a wing? This is urgent!"

    Tong: "I did, and he has that cultivation method . "

    Li Feihong: "I can¡¯t awaken them now, sister . My best bet is only 30% . "

    Hua Shi: "You sick bastard! What did you do in yourst life that your virtues are so fucking low!?"

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯m so sorry (T_T)"

    Hua Shi: "Friday, can youe? I need help!"

    Dong Bai: "I¡¯m sorry . Tong is suffering from soul injuries, and my contracted Lust is also affected . I can¡¯t use my power until Tong recovered . Do you know that my body reverts back to a little girl again?"

    Diaochan: "I¡¯m not contracted with any demon, and my power has been stripped . I¡¯m sorry, I also can¡¯t help you at the moment . "

    Tong: "Be patient, Sunday . I¡¯ll make it up to you when you get back . "

    Tong: "We all have our difficulties . Everyone is working hard to protect our home and our family . Please be patient . "

    Hua Shi scratched her head with both hands in frustration, thinking that they were all useless in this critical time .

    ¡¯I knew it . Coming out alone was a mistake . Once I get back to Ye or Julu, I¡¯ll simply be a shut-in and do nothing about this war . ¡¯

    After giving birth to Zhang Min, Hua Shi began to dislike wars and battlefields as she enjoyed being a mother more . As a result, her mood worsened during the time she was stranded here .

    ¡¯That¡¯s it . I won¡¯t join any battlefield after this! I want to live the life of an ordinary housewife!¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    At night, Sun Fang and Li Jing returned as they could not find the trace of Hua Shi in the sea of fire .

    They flew back andnded inside the city .

    Sun Fang immediately walked to Huang Gai in the city hall, "Uncle, we¡¯re back . "

    "Did you find anything new?"

    "Aside from the dead bodies, nothing new . We¡¯vepleted a firebreak though . "

    The firebreak was a gap, a road, or a plowed zone between the burnable areas in forests . These prepared gaps be the barrier that could stop the fire from spreading further . Sometimes, the locals burned a long line of nts, creating a burned border between forests or gardens to stop the fire .

    Sun Fang had created a long circr trench around the forest fire, so they would not spread toward their city .

    "Well done . You can use my guesthouse to rest . It¡¯s in the official residential area . I¡¯ll send someone to guide you there . "

    "Thank you, uncle . "

    .

    Sun Fang and Li Jing strolled toward their new room . While Huang Gai¡¯s servant was leading them there, Li Jing stopped her feet and stared into the direction of the outer city area .

    "What¡¯s wrong, wifey?"

    Li Jing frowned, "She¡¯s in this city . "

    "She?"

    "The otherworlder! I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s Hua Shi or Xiao Wu, but one of them has to be in this city!"

    "Are you certain!?"

    "I¡¯m not, but I have this tingling feeling screaming inside me . "

    At this moment, Sun Fang also stared into the same direction and focused his sense . Soon, he also detected a dreadful presence .

    "I think you¡¯re right . "

    Both of them stared at each other as they had the same thought .

    The chance for killing one of Tong¡¯s otherworlders arrived!

    "Err, my lord, mydy?"

    The servant trembled as he was afraid that he did something wrong . He was just guiding them usually, but both his superiors suddenly got irritated .

    Li Jing smiled at the servant, "Oh, it¡¯s not your fault . Bring us to the guesthouse . "

    "Y-Yes, mydy!"

    She whispered to Sun Fang, "We¡¯ll head out before midnight . We¡¯ll make use of the reset time, so we can use our skills twice . "

    "Aye . When it¡¯s 11 . 30, we¡¯ll ambush her . "

    .

    Hua Shi did not sleep that night . Instead, she could not sleep! As two immortals returned into the city, Hua Shi could sense them from a mile away .

    ¡¯Those two are back! I guess I have to leave here right now!¡¯

    She packed all her belongings into her inventory and rushed out of the city with her new horse . Looking at the time, it was 9 PM .

    ¡¯Come on, faster!¡¯

    .

    11 . 30 PM .

    As promised, Sun Fang and Li Jing flew to the direction of the inn . Upon arrival, they could no longer sense the presence of Hua Shi .

    "Is she gone?"

    "Let¡¯s ask around . "

    Li Jing mmed the door with her fist, calling the owner out .

    "This is an emergency inspection unit! We suspect that a criminal is resting in your tavern! Open the door!"

    All rooms in the inn lighted their candles andmps . All customers opened their windows to see what was happening outside .

    As soon as they saw only a young man and a young woman, all customers thought that they were just crazy people .

    "SHUT UP! WE¡¯RE TRYING TO SLEEP!"

    "GO PLAY SOMEWHERE ELSE!"

    "SCREW YOUR MOTHER AND GO HOME!"

    Li Jing clicked her tongue . She summoned her soul and ordered it to get inside the building .

    Because of the soul¡¯s ghostly appearance, all residents inside the inn were scared and shocked . The owner of the inn was also petrified by the sight of this existence .

    "Answer my question . Has there any lone traveling woman rested here?"

    "Y-Y-Yes! There was one!"

    "Where is she!?"

    "S-S-She has already left! She checked out several hours ago!"

    Li Jing summoned her soul back and turned to Sun Fang, "She has detected us and escaped . We should chase after her . "

    "Then where are we looking? Did the owner say anything?"

    "That girl left a few hours ago, but I have the general idea where she can go . If she¡¯s retreating back to her territory, she will head north toward Xuchang . We¡¯ll fly along the main road and scan through the area with our sense . "

    "Let¡¯s hurry then . This is our golden chance . "

    As usual, Sun Fang summoned his soul and activated his flying skill . He carried Li Jing on his back and flew northeast, heading toward the direction of the Xuchang City of Cao Cao .

    .

    3 AM .

    Hua Shi reached Bowang County, one of the nearest counties northeast of Wan City . As Hua Shi did not detect anyoneing after her, she sighed a relief .

    ¡¯That was close! I¡¯d rather not fighting those guys two-on-one!¡¯

    Unfortunately, she was stopped by the county guard when she approached the county gate .

    "Halt! What are you doing there in the middle of the night!?"

    "Ah, this can be annoying . "

    Hua Shi fished out several nuggets from her inventory . They were the deposited gold that Hua Shi kept as the emergency stash for Tong¡¯s forces .

    20 Nuggets of gold were in her hands .

    "Can you let me inside with this? Actually, a group of criminals is chasing after me . Can you protect me?"

    The garrison nced at the gold and grinned . The captain of the guards shouted, "We saw nothing here!"

    Hua Shiughed and shoved the gold nuggets to the arms of the captain, "Thank you for your understanding . Here are your rewards . "

    "Of course . Again, we saw no one . "

    .

    3 . 15 AM .

    Sun Fang and Li Jing arrived at Bowang County . They flew down and approached the gate to inquire about Hua Shi¡¯s information .

    "Halt! Who goes there!? What are you doing here in the middle of the night!?"

    Just like when they met Hua Shi, the guard captain stopped Sun Fang and Li Jing .

    Li Jing stepped forward, "We¡¯re officials from Wan City . A criminal escaped from our prisoner convoy and fled in this direction . Have you seen a suspicious womaning here?"

    The guard snorted, "We saw nothing! Whatever you did, it¡¯s none of our business! Heck, I don¡¯t even know if what you said is true or not . What kind of prisoner convoy even hires a woman as a guard? Has anyone heard of this?"

    The patrolling guard shook their head . As they received the shared bribe from Hua Shi, all of them cooperated with the captain .

    These garrison guards were smart crooks . They knew that if this was real, these two youngsters had to fork more gold to bribe them into talking .

    As they had predicted, Li Jing took out a bag of gold . There was 50 gold in it .

    "Tell me honestly, and you get this . "

    The captainughed, "Of course . A weird lone girl just entered my county, indeed . "

    Li Jing and Sun Fang smirked . She tossed the bag of gold at the guard captain while they dashed into the county .

 Chapter 340

    Chapter 340

    Chapter 340 ¨C Hua Shi VS Sun Fang & Li Jing

    Sun Fang nced at his remaining lifespans in his system menu . Less than 60,000 years were remaining .

    He hesitated if he should activate his Qi Shield, so he would be invulnerable to ambushes .

    "If I were her, I would have ambushed us here . "

    Sun Fang looked around the shacks and the houses of the civilians in the county . As all peasants were asleep, only he and Li Jing ran around in the middle of the town .

    Although it was pitch ck at night, they could still sense their surroundings . Furthermore, they could also catch a glimpse of Hua Shi¡¯s presence further away inside the city .

    Li Jing¡¯s eyes sharpened, "She¡¯s here! Get ready!"

    Sun Fang took a deep breath and summoned his soul, [Patience] . His soul had the same appearance as his previous life, the bodyguard of Ping¡¯s family .

    Patience flew forward toward the direction of Hua Shi¡¯s presence to probe her .

    And Hua Shi took the bait .

    [Diligence] and [Love] from Hua Shi flew at Sun Fang¡¯s soul with their glowing short sword . Both of them shed at [Patience] .

    Surprised, Sun Fang pulled his soul backward . However, [Love] managed to connect the sh with [Patience]¡¯s face, cutting from the forehead across his face toward his cheek on the other side .

    A nt wound appeared on Sun Fang¡¯s real face as the cut injured his soul .

    "Damn it! Qi st!"

    An energy ball manifested before Sun Fang¡¯s soul and shot at [Love] .

    The soul with the appearance of a young nurse grinned . She braced the impact without defending herself .

    *BOOM*

    The energy ball exploded, but [Love] was unharmed!

    *PU*

    [Love]¡¯s glowing knife stabbed into [Patience]¡¯s chest!

    Within Sun Fang¡¯s body, the same stab wound appeared as his soul received another injury . Blood from his veins flooded into the damaged lung, and the red liquid was pumped out of his respiratory system .

    Sun Fang choked and spat a mouthful of blood . He screamed, "Jing¡¯er, help!"

    Li Jing stared at the souls of Hua Shi as if she saw ghosts . She recognized the appearances of these nurses .

    It was her crush in her previous life, Sunday .

    When Li Jing heard the scream of Sun Fang, she came back to her sense . Upon seeing the distressed look and the injuries, Li Jing¡¯s anger shot through the roof .

    In Li Jing¡¯sst life, she did everything she could to save Hua Shi, but she was betrayed . Now, Hua Shi was about to kill her husband .

    "SUNDAY!!"

    Li Jing shouted as she summoned her virtuous soul, [Love] . It snatched Li Jing¡¯s sword from her belt and flew toward Sun Fang and Hua Shi¡¯s soul .

    Ironically, the girls possessed the same virtue, yet their karma bound them together as enemies .

    Al though Li Jing¡¯s [Love] tried to attack at Hua Shi¡¯s soul, she was stopped by Hua Shi¡¯s [Diligence] .

    "AHHHH!!"

    Li Jing continued screaming as if she had gone mad . [Love] swung the sword without form, but it contained the aura of an immortal .

    [Diligence] parried the sword with her short sword . Because her knife range was shorter, Hua Shi¡¯s soul could not find a chance to counter-attack .

    On the other side, Sun Fang retreated as his injuries worsened for every second pass . He attempted to use his healing skill, but the wounds on his soul remained .

    "Argh!"

    Desperate, Sun Fang took out a medicine pill he concocted with his [Dao of Alchemy] skill . It was a pill listed in the system as a wind pill .

    The detail stated that this pill could increase the speed of the consumer by 50% upon consumption, but his speed would be penalized by 50% when the effect of his medicine was over .

    Sun Fang did not know how long this pill couldst, but he threw it in his mouth anyway .

    Once the pill was swallowed, it melted into his stomach, and Sun Fang could sense the change . This pill had a simr effect as Tong¡¯s overclock mode as it elerated his perception . Everything became a slow-motion while Sun Fang could maintain his average speed .

    A bullet-time activated!

    Sun Fang¡¯s [Patience] managed to catch his breath and dodged another strike from [Love]¡¯s knife . He countered her with his strongest punch to her guts .

    *POEK*

    [Love]¡¯s body bent forward as she could feel the pain, which it stunned her .

    .

    Meanwhile, the master of these two souls, Hua Shi, had been hiding behind a shack .

    The moment Sun Fang punched her, she was stunned and could not control her bowel .

    *PLUEK*

    Hua Shi vomited herst meal, and her concentration shook for a split second .

    *SWUA*

    [Diligence] got stabbed into her stomach by Li Jing¡¯s [Love] . The soul red at Hua Shi¡¯s soul in resentment as she bellowed .

    "SUNDAY! YOU WILL PAY!!"

    In a panic and pain, Hua Shi unsummoned all of her souls . She activated her regeneration skill to heal her physical wounds, but she could not heal her soul .

    Now, both Hua Shi and Sun Fang had soul injuries .

    "YOU CAN¡¯T HIDE!!"

    Li Jing went into a frenzy as she traced Hua Shi¡¯s presence and ran to her hidden spot .

    Seeing the pursuer, Hua Shi gritted her teeth . Although she could not remember who this person was, Hua Shi had a vague d¨¦j¨¤ vu feelinging from this woman .

    Using her brain, Hua Shi ran toward the open area in the town center . On this location, many night patrol guards gathered and drank in peace .

    Hua Shi screamed, "Help!! Murderers!"

    The guards turned to Hua Shi¡¯s direction in reflex . They grabbed their weapons and ran toward her .

    Hua Shi abandoned her disguise and hid her weapons in her inventory . She ran to the guards like a helpless housewife .

    Following behind Hua Shi, Li Jing and her soul screamed and kicked the ground, leaping at their target in full speed .

    "A witch!"

    "What!? A ghost!?"

    The guards panicked, but they raised their spears to attack Li Jing .

    "SCRAM"

    Li Jing¡¯s soul ignored the attacks . She shed the guards¡¯ neck as she flew after Hua Shi .

    While Li Jing switched her focus to the guards, Hua Shi summoned a crude oil barrel and hurled it at Li Jing¡¯s main body .

    *BANG*

    The barrel hit Li Jing, but it did not break .

    Li Jing shoved the barrel away . When she regained her sight on Hua Shi, she was drawing a bow in a full moon arc, aiming at Li Jing¡¯s main body .

    40 Light arrows flew from Hua Shi¡¯s bow, locking on Li Jing¡¯s torso .

    *PUEK*

    *PUEK*

    *PUEK*

    *PUEK*

    As Li Jing did not unsummon her soul and use her aura, her real body was still vulnerable to all system skills . All arrows struck into Li Jing¡¯s body, turning her frontal body into a reverse porcupine .

    "Ah ..."

    Li Jing came back to her sense after she felt several cold arrowheads lodging into her chest and stomach . She fell on her back afterward .

    "JING¡¯ER!!"

    Sun Fang screamed, fearing for the fate of his wife . Before he could get closer, Hua Shi already pointed her short sword on Li Jing¡¯s neck .

    Looking at her from 50 meters away, Sun Fang noticed that Li Jing was still breathing .

    Sun Fang red at Hua Shi with hatred, "Let her go!"

    Hua Shi spat the remaining digestive fluid inside her mouth . She sneered at Sun Fang, "I came here in peace, but you two wanted me dead . This is what you get!"

    "We won¡¯t go after you anymore . Please, let her go . "

    Sun Fang was desperate . As a former virgin with no experience in rtionship, Li Jing was his first wife and first love in two lives . As such, his mentality and thought centered on Li Jing¡¯s existence .

    He could not afford to lose her here .

    On the other hand, Hua Shi clenched her stomach . The physical wound had been healed, but the lingering pain was still there . She could sense that both her souls also retained the stabbed wound, and it did not show any sign of recovery any time soon .

    With such injury, Hua Shi did not want to continue fighting or having any hostile otherworldering after her .

    Killing Li Jing here would be ideal, but she would have to fight with Sun Fang next .

    ¡¯Should I take both of them out, or should I take this girl as a hostage and kill herter?¡¯

    Hua Shi looked at the half-dead Li Jing on the ground . She was looking at Hua Shi in the eyes as she muttered, "Sunday ..."

    The owner of the name frowned . Upon closer inspection and recollection about Li Jing¡¯s soul and her appearance, Hua Shi recalled a bad memory in her previous life .

    There was a sick female doctor that asked her out, but Hua Shi turned her down .

    After that copsed-hospital incident, she fed her human¡¯s flesh and blood instead of regr food and water .

    Moreover, she killed a doctor, who was Hua Shi¡¯s crush and forced-feed his flesh to her .

    When the rescue team found them, this mental girl was talking to herself, nning to kill Hua Shi andmit suicide .

    "Ah, you¡¯re that psycho bitch . "

    The eyes of Li Jing shook . She raised her arm, trying to touch Hua Shi¡¯s face .

    "I ... still ... love you . "

    "Sorry, I already have a husband and a child . If you reincarnate into a hot stud next life, maybe I¡¯ll give you a chance . "

    "Sunday ..."

    Realizing the identity of this half-dead woman, Hua Shi made a decision . It might be risky, but she had confidence that she could pull it off .

 Chapter 341

    Chapter 341

    Chapter 341 ¨C Overdue Karma Tribtion

    Hua Shi bellowed, "Back off, or I¡¯ll kill this bitch!"

    On the other side, Sun Fang dropped his weapon and raised both his hands, "Don¡¯t! We won¡¯t fight you anymore!"

    "BACK OFF!"

    "Okay, okay! I¡¯m backing off . "

    Sun Fang stepped backward in a panic . However, his heart screamed that he had to save Li Jing right now, or she would die soon .

    Many arrows had pierced into Li Jing¡¯s body, and she was in a critical condition .

    She required a treatment, now!

    Sun Fang¡¯s breathing became rough and short . Although he was walking backward, he did not give up on Li Jing .

    ¡¯I¡¯m going to save you, wifey . Please hang on . ¡¯

    Sun Fang nced at his skill list, trying toe up with a way to rescue his wife .

    .

    *******************************

    >

    Name: Sun Fang

    Age: 21

    Lifespan: 51,402 Years

    >

    [Cultivator] LV . 6

    - [Self-Heal]

    - [Flight]

    - [Qi st]

    - [Clone]

    - [Qi Shield]

    - [Sword Controlling Technique]

    [Dao of Alchemy] LV . 5

    *******************************

    .

    As Sun Fang¡¯s one of two attack skills, [Qi st], was ineffective against Hua Shi, he nced at two of his attached skills, [Clone] and [Sword Controlling Technique] .

    .

    *******************************

    [Clone] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Create a copy of the host .

    - Strength of the clone is 50% of the true strength of the host

    Skill Cost: 1,000 Lifespans

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans

    Skill Restriction: Can be used once a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    [Sword Controlling Technique] Cannot be leveled up .

    - Control any sword at the will of the host .

    Skill Cost:

    - 100 Lifespans for activation per each sword controlled . Skillsts until deactivation .

    - 1 Lifespan per second per each sword controlled as a maintenance cost .

    Skill Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans

    Skill Restriction: Can be used once a day . Skill resets at midnight .

    *******************************

    .

    Sun Fang intentionally walked back to the side of a building . Once he reached a blind spot where Hua Shi could not see his sides, he activated his [Clone] .

    A new body with 50% strength of Sun Fang appeared at his side . It copied his appearance and his current equipment .

    The clone drew his secondary knife and sneaked around the building, trying to nk Hua Shi .

    While the clone was at it, Sun Fang¡¯s eyes red . He activated his [Sword Controlling Technique] to manipte his discarded sword on the ground . The sword moved and flew at Hua Shi .

    As Hua Shi¡¯s souls were still inside her body, her angelic aura covered her body and blocked the flying sword .

    The clone got behind Hua Shi and rushed her, swinging its sword and aiming at her back . The sword connected, but his strike was blocked by the aura as well .

    Seeing that Sun Fang tricked her, Hua Shi¡¯s eyes became bloodshot .

    "YOU ASK FOR IT!"

    Hua Shi gathered her aura into her knife and pressed it on Li Jing¡¯s neck, trying to severe her head in one chop .

    Before the knife cut into Li Jing¡¯s neck, Li Jing¡¯s soul was unsummoned into her body . She pulled one of the arrows and punctured it though Hua Shi¡¯s neck .

    *PU*

    *SWUA*

    Both womennded their blow at the same time .

    Hua Shi cut through Li Jing¡¯s neck arteries and spinal cord, separating her head from her shoulder .

    Li Jing¡¯s arrow thrust pierced through Hua Shi¡¯s vocal cord and blockaded her respiratory system from getting the oxygen .

    Before Li Jing¡¯s world fell into eternal darkness, she smiled at Hua Shi .

    ¡¯I love you, Sunday . Let¡¯s die together . ¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯m sorry, Fang . I love her more than you, after all . ¡¯

    Li Jing stared into Hua Shi¡¯s eyes as her brain shut down .

    As soon as Li Jing stopped moving, one system appeared before Sun Fang .

    >

    "AAAAAAHHHHH!!"

    Sun Fang screamed as tears dropped from his eyes . Ignoring all threats from Hua Shi, he charged at her with his secondary knife .

    Because his soul was in his body, his attacks contained the immortal aura .

    "Ugh!"

    Meanwhile, Hua Shi could not breathe . She summoned her soul out of her body and activated her regeneration skill, recovering from the injury .

    Hua Shi could hear the scream from Sun Fang, and she backpedaled away from the battle, trying to retreat .

    Unfortunately, the wind pill that Sun Fang ate was still in effect . He reached her within a few seconds .

    "Damn it!"

    Hua Shi took out an oil barrel from her inventory to block Sun Fang¡¯s strike .

    *BOOM*

    Sun Fang¡¯s short sword cut the oil barrel in half . At the same time, the clone of Sun Fang attacked her again, using his master¡¯s system skill .

    "Qi st!"

    "Shit!"

    *BOOM*

    The st ignited the crude oil from the barrel, and the me engulfed both Sun Fang and Hua Shi!

    The me got through their lung and burned all oxygen within their body while it produced poisonous particles into their circtory system .

    If they did not have any life-saving skill, they would either die from the toxic in their system or the burn from fire .

    ¡¯He¡¯s mad!¡¯

    Hua Shi used her soul to activate the regen skill one more time and continued running, getting away from the sea of me .

    Sun Fang also recovered a bit of his sanity and activated his self-heal skill . However, he did not care if he would die today .

    He wanted revenge!

    "YOU WILL PAY!!"

    Sun Fang resummoned his soul, which it chased after Hua Shi along with the clone and his real body .

    The three Sun Fangs reached Hua Shi in the next second .

    In a panic, Hua Shi tossed another trump card in her inventory at Sun Fang, Te Langpu¡¯s bomb bags .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The clone suffered a direct hit and shattered into fragments, and Sun Fang¡¯s legs were severed from the scattering shrapnel .

    However, his [Patience] soul was immune to none-aura physical attacks . It reached Hua Shi and swung his sword .

    *SWUA*

    Hua Shi¡¯s legs were also severed!

    She summoned her two souls right away, trying to heal herself and getting back on his feet . Hua Shi¡¯s [Diligence] also flew at Sun Fang¡¯s soul as she nned to finish him in the next strike .

    Sun Fang¡¯s [Patience] disregarded his safety and defense . He gathered all of his strength and shed at [Diligence]¡¯s torso .

    Hua Shi [Diligence]¡¯s hands pierced through [Patience]¡¯s chest, destroying his lung, heart, and spinal cord .

    On the other hand, [Patience] cut [Diligence] in half, separating her upper body and lower body!

    Hua Shi¡¯s real body suddenly splitted like her soul . Her [Love] also suffered from the same damage, and her body was severed into two as well .

    Sun Fang¡¯s real body also had a hole in his left chest, and his heart was missing .

    Both otherworlders gritted their teeth, not giving up their life .

    "Regen!"

    "Self-Heal!"

    Their real body healed again, but the damages to their soul remained .

    Sun Fang and Hua Shi got on their feet again, but none of them could move . Because of their soul injuries, they could barely maintain their conscience and consciousness .

    Sun Fang¡¯s soul had cracked lines, spreading from the hole that Hua Shi made . The injuries extended from the one hole to all parts in his body, but the damaged stopped when Sun Fang unsummoned his soul .

    He sat down cross-leg, cultivating and gathering life essence from the surroundings, trying to heal his soul .

    On the contrary, Hua Shi was in a terrible condition . She could feel that her soul was about to disintegrate into nothingness soon as the damages were beyond repair .

    At this rate, she would die in a minute!

    "No ..."

    At this moment, she regretted not following Tong¡¯s suggestion .

    She regretted taking too much time in Wan .

    She regretted not entrusting this task to other subordinates .

    And most of all, she regretted that she would not be able to see Tong and her daughter again .

    Tears dropped from her eyes as she stared at her murderer .

    "I just want to live in peace ... why?"

    Sun Fang red back at Hua Shi, "You killed my wife!"

    "I¡¯ve never wanted to fight with all of you! Your wife wanted me dead!"

    "YOU KILLED MY WIFE!"

    "YOU ARE THE ONE THAT FORCED ME TO KILL YOUR WIFE!"

    "YOU KILLED MY WIFE!!"

    While one grieved because of her looming death, the other lost their sanity because of his vengeance desire .

    Realizing that bickering with Sun Fang was a waste of her precious time, she stopped talking to him .

    Thinking about Tong and her daughter, Hua Shi realized that she forgot one crucial thing .

    She had formed a soulmate contract with Tong . If she died, Tong would die as well!

    ¡¯Tong, Min¡¯er, I love you . ¡¯

    Tears kept falling from her eyes as she recalled their precious times together .

    ¡¯Lilim, annul my soulmate contract!¡¯

    >

    [Are you sure? Your soulmate quest will be passed down on you alone . ]

    Hua Shi snickered . She was about to die, and Lilim was still clueless .

    ¡¯Do it, please . ¡¯

    [Oh, okay . Wait, you¡¯re dying . ]

    ¡¯Yes . Cancel it, please . ¡¯

    [...]

    >

    >

    Seeing the system message, Hua Shi had a sad smile on her face .

    Within a couple of seconds, Tong texted into the n chat .

    Tong: "Sunday! What happened!?"

    Tong: "Why did you cancel our contract!?"

    Hua Shi touched the floating system menu, feeling the screen on the area with Tong¡¯s name . She slowly typed into the n chat with her trembling hands .

    At this moment, her souls were disintegrating and left with only upper shoulders and the head .

    Hua Shi: "Take care of our daughter, Tong . "

    Hua Shi: "I¡¯m sorry . I¡¯ve failed us both . "

    Tong: "What¡¯s wrong? Li Feihong will be there soon!"

    Hua Shi: "Friday, take care of Tong for me . "

    Dong Bai: "WTF!? What happened!?"

    Hua Shi¡¯s consciousness was about to fade, yet she mustered herst bit of strength to type .

    Hua Shi: "I love you, Tong . "

    Finished sending herst words, her body copsed on the ground . The disintegration reached the face of her souls, and her real body could not move anymore .

    In Hua Shi¡¯s mind, she kept recalling her memories with Tong, Zhang Min, and Friday . The bright light and the sparkling memories slowly faded into darkness as a nightmare crept upon her .

    Several faces of the victims that Hua Shi had killed in her previous human¡¯s life appeared . They stared at Hua Shi with contempt as they muttered .

    "How does it feel to be separated from your family?"

    "You don¡¯t deserve a good life . "

    "Even Hell is too good for you!"

    Looking at these faces, Hua Shi realized that she took them away from their families, which was the same that Sun Fang and Li Jing did to her .

    This entire event was her karma tribtion, and her death in this life was her true punishment for past evil deeds .

    Thest teardrop of Hua Shi rolled on her face .

    ¡¯I¡¯m sorry . ¡¯

    ¡¯Tong, I¡¯m sorry . ¡¯

    Thest bit of Hua Shi¡¯s consciousness faded into nothingness .

 Chapter 342

    Chapter 342

    Chapter 342 ¨C Tragic

    Lilim observed the death of two reincarnators in solemn above Bowang County . From the very beginning, she stood there in mid-air, watching Hua Shi and Li Jing died .

    Two round spiritual balls floated in the air and got to her hands, one light ball, and one grey ball .

    The light ball had many cracks on it as they were Hua Shi¡¯s soul . Using the dimensionalw and her right as an administrator, Lilim gathered all disintegrated pieces and reconstructed them into a soul ball again .

    Hua Shi¡¯s soul was now cleansed without a tainted color of sin . In this life, she found Tong and attempted to correct her life . She had given birth, she had saved lives, she had repented of her previous crimes, and she regretted about her past deeds .

    Moreover, the previous grudge holders that lingered with the chain of karma satisfied from their vengeance . By taking Hua Shi¡¯s life when she had someone she cared for waiting at home, they seeded punishing Hua Shi and made her repented for her crimes .

    All karma knots had released her from its absolute binding .

    With this, Hua Shi deserved another chance of reincarnation, but her soul needed recovery .

    Lilim kept Hua Shi¡¯s soul with herself, nning to heal her and reincarnate her back to this world .

    "Well done, little girl . The next time you open your eyes again, you will have a better life . "

    The white soul lingered around, not willing to rest or stay still . This soul¡¯s instinct was telling Lilim that she did not want to part from this world .

    Lilim sighed and consoled Hua Shi, "Do you remember when I said that your system skills would go with you in the next reincarnation? I did not lie . The next time you are reborn, those skills will go along with you as a natural power and a blessing . You will probably not remember anything in the next life, but your embedded power will be effective against immortals ... even me . Don¡¯t lose heart, my dear . You will be reunited with Tong and your daughter again for sure . For now, rest . "

    The light soul blinked and dimmed, resting itself on Lilim¡¯s right palm .

    On Lilim¡¯s left hand, Li Jing¡¯s soul was in grey color, and dark chains of karma bound her soul tight . Li Jing might have found a proper love and a path of redemption, but she refused to let go of her past grudge . Thus, she was not ready to be freed from this karma chain .

    "You¡¯re not recyble . Reincarnating you will be a pain, and I don¡¯t want any bastard to absorb your soul . Wait until I finish creating a new Hell, and you¡¯ll be its first customer . "

    Li Jing¡¯s soul trembled as if it understood Lilim . It tried to resist, but the chain of karma tightened, forcing it to remain still .

    .

    .

    >

    Tong stared at the system message in disbelief . When he reread the chat log messages, he was devastated .

    Hua Shi: "I love you, Tong . "

    Simple words that Tong heard every day created a hollow feeling within his heart .

    "NOOOOO!!!"

    The sadness and frustration wereparable to when he lost both of his parents to Ping .

    Tong wailed, ming himself for sending Hua Shi to Wan instead of sending others .

    "I¡¯m an idiot! Why did I send her there!? What was I thinking!? AHHHHHH!!!"

    As Tong was crying, Xun Yu and Jia Xu also stared at the n notification in shock .

    Hua Shi was known as their Goddess of Death . How could she be killed?

    Xun Yu muttered, "Sun Fang, isn¡¯t that another immortal from the Sun n?"

    Jia Xu massaged his be . He had a headache, "Yeah, I think they have Sun Fang and Li Jing . Did the mistress run into those two?"

    "Possibly . But they sure got guts backstabbing us at the right moment . "

    Xun Yu and Jia Xu watched their weeping lord who had already lost control of himself . They did not show any sad expression . Instead, they worried about his future .

    ¡¯Please don¡¯t lose yourself, my lord . ¡¯

    ¡¯Don¡¯t go berserk on us now, brat . We need a sane emperor, not a vengeful mad man . ¡¯

    .

    .

    >

    Friday stared at the message in shock . Hua Shi might be her love rival, but she was also her best friend in this world .

    They fought and bickered, but they were always together when they were free from their duties .

    Just like that, Friday lost her best friend .

    "Sunday ..."

    As Tong¡¯s soul was in a critical condition, Friday¡¯s body reverted to her original Dong Bai¡¯s body, an 11-year-old girl as she did not want to put a burden on Tong¡¯s [Lust] .

    Friday shed tears for someone other than Tong for the first time in her life .

    "Her soul ... Meddy, her soul ..."

    Friday looked at her mother, Medusa, who was in the appearance of Diaochan .

    "Mom, Sunday¡¯s memory is ..."

    Medusa shook her head, "Her soul may be around, but I can¡¯t say anything about her memories . "

    "Can we secure her soul? Can we reincarnate Sunday?"

    "That¡¯s beyond our power now, Friday . We aren¡¯t immortals anymore . "

    "Ugh . Waaaa!!"

    Friday let out a wail as she hugged her mother, crying to her chest .

    Medusa gazed at the system message with a sigh . As she studied all sinners¡¯ past, she guessed that Hua Shi¡¯s previous life karma might have something to do with her death .

    From her experiences, whenever two people with a karmic grudge connection in their previous life met, nothing good could happen .

    ¡¯I hope your soul is now cleansed of all karma, Hua Shi . We¡¯ll wait for you here until your next reincarnation . ¡¯

    Medusa gazed at her crying daughter and her n menu with a bitter smile .

    ¡¯But first, we will build an empire on top of this mortal world . We willplete your unfinished goal and achieve what you¡¯ve dreamed of . ¡¯

    ¡¯Rest well, and we shall meet again . ¡¯

    .

    .

    Tong¡¯s faction was not the only one who lost a key person .

    At Bowang County, Sun Fang staggered to the corpse of his wife, Li Jing .

    Sun Fang¡¯s face was full of tears and mucus . He knelt on both knees and hugged Li Jing¡¯s severed head .

    "Wifey, I¡¯ve avenged you . Did you see it?"

    As he wept, the soul injuries rpsed and created the same wounds in his physical body . Sun Fang spat blood while he lost his strength .

    Thest bit of Sun Fang¡¯s power summoned his soul and activated his life-saving skill one more time .

    ¡¯Self-Heal . ¡¯

    All physical wounds on Sun Fang body were healed, but the cracks on the surface of his soul worsened .

    More lines appeared on his body now .

    Instead of realizing the threatening situation of his soul and his life, Sun Fang continued to weep and hug Li Jing¡¯s head .

    "Wifey, let¡¯s go home . We¡¯ll go fishing together again like we used to, okay? We can go back home and y chess . Though I have never beaten you even once, I¡¯m getting better at strategies . See? I trapped that girl and killed her in one stroke . I think my brain is getting better after this fight . Let¡¯s go back, and I¡¯ll prove it to you . "

    Sun Fang stood up as he carried Li Jing¡¯s head with him . His eyes dulled and dimmed without a reflection .

    Several n chat messages from Sun Jian, Wu Guotai, and others flooded the screen, asking about Li Jing¡¯s death . However, Sun Fang ignored them all .

    Many civilians woke up because of the explosion and the spreading fire . They got out of their house to help everyone extinguishing the me .

    Upon getting close to the battle site, they found corpses of the patrol guards, a headless dead body, and a corpse of a young woman . All women screamed in shock while the men were panic .

    Some of them saw Sun Fang carrying a female head . They also cried in fear, thinking that Sun Fang was a ghost .

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, Liu Yang watched the survivor number on her menu screen in glee . It decreased from eleven to nine within a night .

    "HAHAHA! Stupid monkeys! Don¡¯t stop there, kill more! Fight among yourself some more!"

    As she was overjoyed by the development, she texted to Khan in the n chat .

    Liu Yang: "See the survivor number? What did I tell you? Leave them alone, and they will kill each other to thest man! We don¡¯t even need to bothering here at all!"

    Khan did not reply, which disappointed Liu Yang .

    "Party pooper . What a boring man . "

    Liu Yang reread the number . The indicator [6:3] was so pleasant to Liu Yang¡¯s eyes that she could not stop smiling .

    She might have lost Pang De to Hua Shi, and it frustrated her .

    At first, she nned to send Pang De to assassinate either Sun Fang or Li Jing . Unfortunately, he ran into Hua Shi and got himself killed instead .

    However, the decrease in the total surviving reincarnators lightened her mood .

    "I wonder who died . Please let it be Medusa, Friday, or Zhang Tong . Eh, Zhang Tong is impossible . That asshole is a cockroach . Maybe it was his allies? Hey, Lilim, can you give me a hint?"

    >

    [Go screw yourself . ]

    "Ah!? What did you say, bitch!?"

    [Don¡¯t make me repeat my words . G-F-Y! Give me a million lifespans, and I¡¯ll reveal the list . ]

    Liu Yang¡¯s face twitched in anger . She wanted to beat this admin to the pulp, but she was powerless at the moment .

    ¡¯Don¡¯t let me get my power back, bitch! You¡¯ll pay for stripping my wings . ¡¯

 Chapter 343

    Chapter 343

    Chapter 343 ¨C Gongsun Du¡¯s Betrayal

    = Seven days after the death of Hua Shi =

    Liyang County

    This county left a dark spot in Tong¡¯s heart as he massacred all poption here a few years ago . Now, many people migrated into the county as it was a part of Ye Commandery governance .

    Towns and buildings had been rebuilt, and merchants restored the county¡¯s economy .

    Life came back to Liyang County again .

    Gongsun Zan, Lu Zhi, Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, and their army finally reached here after a long journey .

    Lu Zhi¡¯s face grimaced as he worried about his favorite disciple .

    ¡¯Tong has been quiet since then . Will he be alright?¡¯

    The most worry Lu Zhi had was Tong¡¯s retaliation against the Sun n . If Tong lost his rationality, he might order his armies to wage war to the south .

    Once it happened, it would spell cmity to his future country . Many warlords would not miss this chance to counter-attack against Tong and steal his territories in one swoop . .

    No matter how talented his subordinates were, they would not be able to disy their 100% potential if the king possessed ill judgment .

    ¡¯I should wait for him in Ye . I¡¯ll be by his side until he recovers . ¡¯

    Lu Zhi sighed again .

    Gongsun Zan had noticed Lu Zhi¡¯s odd behavior a long time ago . He turned to his mentor .

    "What¡¯s wrong, master? You look kinda sad . "

    "Ai, I¡¯m sad . I¡¯ll tell you a secret . You junior disciple¡¯s wife has passed away . "

    "Huh?"

    Gongsun Zan was not ignorant . He knew about Tong¡¯s two wives .

    Hua Shi, the Goddess of Death

    Xiao Wu, the Spear Goddess

    Both immortals had spread their names, valor, and beauty . At the Northern Provinces, no men never heard about those two ideal women . They were the object of men¡¯s desire .

    ¡¯One of them died!? But they are immortals! Just how ... Wait, how does he know about this!?¡¯

    Gongsun Zan stared at his mentor, "How did you know about this? We both use the same messengers and intelligence agents . Howe I didn¡¯t know about this news?"

    "Wemunicate through a n chat . "

    "n ... chat?"

    "A sorcery device that unites us as one organization . I¡¯ll ask Tong to invite you into our n the next year . "

    "Err, okay . "

    .

    Meanwhile, Zhao Yun and Tian Yu served as bodyguards of Empress He and Liu Xie . Both of them rode alongside the royal caravan as they teased Liu Xie, who waved at them .

    "He¡¯s learning fast, isn¡¯t he?"

    "Ah, he¡¯s a son of heaven for a reason . "

    Tian Yu and Zhao Yunughed and yed with Liu Xie .

    While Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, and Liu Xie were ying on horseback, a messenger from Gongsun Zan and Lu Zhi arrived .

    He knelt down in front of He Xing¡¯s pnquin wheeled carriage .

    "Your majesty, lord Gongsun said that we will rest in this county for a day, and we shall continue our journey to Ye City . "

    He Xing opened her pnquin curtain to see the messenger, "Tell them I understand . We¡¯ll do as they asked . "

    "Thank you, your majesty . "

    The messenger left, and they continued heading to Liyang .

    When they reached Liyang County, Zhao Yun stared at the town with aplicated expression .

    This ce was a deciding factor if he should serve Tong . The ughtering of Liyang¡¯s poption was still in Zhao Yan¡¯s mind, and he believed that it was a wrong decision .

    However, the restoration of the town astonished Zhao Yun . The former dested city had been rebuilt, and people migrated into the county .

    Merchants came and went .

    Schrs inspected the county andmented on their thoughts .

    Peasants wandered around the town, working .

    Farmers went out of the city, tending their borrowed farms .

    Militia guards stood on the wall .

    Zhao Yun could not believe his eyes . Typically, it would take ages before a deserted town coulde back to life . Yet, it took Ye Commandery a few years to restore this county back to its former glory .

    Everything that happened in Liyang was the work of Xun Yu . As one of the most talented advisors and officers, hebined his experiences and Te Langpu¡¯s economic system into the surrounding regions, giving the riches to the people .

    However, Zhao Yun mistook it as Tong¡¯s ability since this county was owned by Tong¡¯s forces .

    Zhao Yun bit his lower lips .

    ¡¯Eradicate the resistance, then rebuild . On the top of graveyards, new forests bloomed . ¡¯

    Those were the conclusion that Zhao Yun evaluated Tong¡¯s past actions toward Liyang County .

    Zhao Yun nodded as he decided . Tong was the right lord for him .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll work for you, lord Zhang Tong . ¡¯

    .

    The next day, Gongsun Zan Army departed from Liyang County . They expected to reach Ye City within a week .

    As they traveled forth, they encountered another troop with the banner of Gongsun . In front of the 5,000 man group, someone whom Gongsun Zan knew rode toward the caravan with a white g .

    Gongsun Zan rode forward to greet this battalion¡¯s leader .

    "Shengji, what are you doing here?"

    Shengji or Gongsun Du, a n member under Gongsun Zan, came to greet his n leader .

    .

    In history, Gongsun Du did not participate in the anti-Dong Zhuo alliance .

    However, during the time when Dong Zhuo reigned in power, Dong Zhuomanded Gongsun Du to expand their territories, which Gongsun Du took the helm this expedition army .

    He was a talented warlord at that time as he sessfully took control of the present-day Daifang and Lng district .

    Gongsun Du also sent his n members and his rtives to attack Korea by the sea while he personally seized Xiangping as his headquarter for his n, establishing the foundation for the Gongsun n in the next generations .

    During the conflict between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao, Gongsun Du stayed out of the battle and imed that he took no part in the Gongsun n¡¯s movement .

    After Yuan Shao was victorious, Yuan Shao did not care for the far north and overseands . Meanwhile, Gongsun Du focused on conquering Korea .

    As a result, Gongsun Du and Yuan Shao did not fight against each other as they had no interest in the other¡¯s territory .

    Gongsun Du died in the year 204 from a natural cause, and his son, Gongsun Kang, seeded his legacy .

    Gongsun Kang surrendered his father¡¯s territories to the Wei Kingdom and also passed on his legacy to his son, Gongsun Yuan .

    Following years, Sima Yi led his forces to eradicate Gongsun n when they staged a rebellion against the Wei Empire, ending the powerhouse of the north .

    Schrsmented on Gongsun Du¡¯s decision for not participate in the civil war struggle . Because of his choice, the Gongsun n remained independence throughout of the pre-Three Kingdoms Period .

    Unfortunately, this world¡¯s Gongsun Du was not sent to Korea . He remained behind to fight in this grand civil war .

    .

    "We¡¯ve heard about her majesty, so we¡¯vee to help you escorting her . "

    "Ah, I¡¯m already here . That isn¡¯t really necessary . "

    "It is . How could you not allowing us to seek an audience with her majesty? Please let us see her, too . "

    "Hey, you sounded impudence just now . Her majesty is not someone you can meet any time you want . "

    Gongsun Du stopped talking . He simply smiled at his n lord .

    "I¡¯ve discovered a secret of the Xiongnu . Unfortunately, I can¡¯t reveal this in public . Can you lean over? I¡¯ll tell you this personally, so no spy can hear us . "

    Gongsun Zan frowned and puzzled by his subordinate¡¯s action, but he followed this person¡¯s instruction anyway .

    Gongsun Zan rode a bit further . Both men¡¯s head almost touched the other¡¯s ear .

    "Now, tell me . "

    "Yes, lord . Actually, we allied with the Xiongnu, and our n decided to disown you . "

    "YOU!!"

    *SOEK*

    A knife pierced Gongsun Zan¡¯s neck . On the knife handle, Gongsun Du clenched it with all his strength .

    "I also heard that the empress is still alive . Don¡¯t worry, my lord . I¡¯ll make her surrender Zhang Tong¡¯s territories to our n . Then, our Gongsun n will rule the north!"

    Gongsun Du twisted his de, sealing the fate of Gongsun Zan .

    "AGH"

    "Also, I¡¯m the new n head . Treat me with a bit of respect in Hell, my lord . "

    Gongsun Zan could not speak . He red at the betrayer with resentment before his consciousness faded .

    Slowly copsing on the ground, Gongsun Zan body fell from the horse .

    Without hesitation, Gongsun Du bellowed, "SOUND THE HORN!"

    *BWOO*

    Instead of having only 5,000 soldiers, another 10,000 horsemen appeared from the east and west, charging at the marching army of Gongsun Zan .

    The main force of Gongsun Zan consisted of 30,000 cavalries with Tong¡¯s previous iron equipment . They looked around in a panic when an ambush appeared .

    Lu Zhi, who was marching in the middle of the troops, heard the chaotic sounds from the front . It was not hard to tell that they were under attack .

    "Sounds the rm! Gather everyone into arrays! Get ready for defensive battle formation!"

    *GONG*

    *GONG*

    War gongs and war-drums echoed through the open field . All Gongsun Zan¡¯s soldiers from the back heard it and rushed to the front, forming toons of formations as they were trained .

    Zhao Yun and Tian Yu hurried to the side of He Xing and Liu Xie, fearing for their safety .

    Within less than a minute, the front marching troops were ughtered before they could defend themselves .

    5,000 of 30,000 men fell instantly from the ambushing cavalry charge .

    However, Lu Zhi was not someone who can be easily beaten in terms of troopsmanding . Within that same minute, two battalions formed a phnx formation, creating arge square with shields and spears as walls .

    12,000 spearmen were ready for the horse charge .

    Also, Lu Zhi opened a box behind his horseback . A shotgun that Tong gave everyone was in there .

    Lu Zhi loaded the shotgun .

    *CLICK*

    "Bring it . "

 Chapter 344

    Chapter 344

    Chapter 344 ¨C Zhao Zilong, MotherfOOker!

    A familiar general led a battalion of 5,000 horsemen to the rear of the marching Gongsun Zan Army .

    He was Tadun, the Wuwan general who dueled against Zhao Yun and lost .

    Tadun had surrendered to Gongsun Du along with his master, Qiuliju . Both of them now served the Gongsun n .

    At this moment, Tadun could see the grand pnquin of Empress He Xing . He licked his lips, thinking that he could taste the beautiful empress .

    "Charge! Anyone who can get me the empress, I¡¯ll reward you a hundred gold! All of her maids are yours to keep!"

    "REEEEE!"

    "WOOOO!"

    Like barbarians, these horsemen galloped to the shocking footmen and collided them with their horses .

    *POEK*

    *CLANK*

    *SWUA*.

    Five thousand riders managed to dent the defensive formation, but they could not break through it . As light cavalries that focused on mobility, they were not efficient in a direct charge like heavy cavalries .

    "Hammer tactic! Pull back, we¡¯ll charge at them again!" Bellowed Tadun .

    "AHAHAHA!"

    "WOOO!"

    The riders cheered andughed as they enjoyed being advantageous in this battle . They retreated from the disarrayed formation of spearmen and reformed a wedge line in the next five minutes .

    While the horsemen were preparing for the next charge, two youths, each on a white horse, rode to the battle . They stood in front of their spearmen as if they were generals of this army .

    "Guorang, go back and protect her majesty . "

    "Uh-ah . We¡¯re in this together, Zilong . Aren¡¯t we brothers?"

    "Ai, who is going tomand the men if we both are fighting?"

    "Let Guan Jing handle it . Isn¡¯t he Gongsun Zan¡¯s strategist? He should be able tomand troops in the emergency, right?"

    "Know your priority, Guorang . We can¡¯t just assume that the others willplete certain tasks for us forever . What if Guan Jing suddenly surrenders or backstab us?"

    "Hmm? Oh, I haven¡¯t thought about that . "

    Zhao Yun had to take off his helmet to scratch his head in annoyance . He stared at Tian Yu and reprimanded him with this re .

    "Go back, please . "

    Tian Yu shrugged, "Alright . I¡¯llmand, and you fight . Next time, we switch . "

    Zhao Yun grinned, "It¡¯s better to not fight like this the next time . "

    "Meh, oh well . I¡¯ll be going . They¡¯reing, brother . "

    Tian Yu rode back and began organizing the panicking spearmen . On the other hand, Zhao Yun turned back toward his old enemy .

    Tadun hadpleted his formation and stared at Zhao Yun .

    Recognizing the face of this youth on a white horse, Tadun widened his eyes in surprise .

    ¡¯Didn¡¯t I lose to this asshole?¡¯

    The barbarian general smirked . The time for his rematch arrived sooner than he had guessed .

    "ZHAO ZILONG! THIS TIME, I¡¯LL KILL YOU FOR SURE!"

    Zhao Yun was about to wear his helmet, but he had to pull it off, so he could scratch his right ear with his pinky finger .

    "Noisy . "

    Hearing Zhao Yun¡¯s remark, Tadun was infuriated .

    "CHARGE! KILL THEM ALL!"

    "SHAAA!"

    "REEEEE!"

    "WOOO!"

    The light cavalries rushed forward .

    "Spearwall array! Raise your shield and spear up! Grit your teeth and get ready for impact!"

    Tian Yu, who had retreated back behind the spearwall line, disyed his calm and his leadership .

    Zhao Yun, like a heroic figure, rotated his spear as he warmed up his fingers, right arm, and his right wrist . He gently kicked the sides of his horse, gesturing it the dash forward as well .

    In Tadun¡¯s mind, Zhao Yun wasmitting suicide .

    ¡¯Fool! This is not a duel . You can¡¯t win against many soldiers alone!¡¯

    Laughing and sneering, Tadun slowed his horse to the back of his formation, allowing his soldiers to engage against Zhao Yun first .

    ¡¯Die, brat!¡¯

    Zhao Yun and Tadun¡¯s horsemen got closer . All spectating spearmen gulped while Tadun¡¯s horsemen believed that this suicidal maniac would be skewered by multiple riders for sure .

    Sharp whistling noises came from Zhao Yun¡¯s spear, and five after images followed .

    Five horsemen, whom everyone believed that they could kill Zhao Yun with ease, had a hole in their forehead . They fell from their horse as they retained their smirking faces .

    *Whoosh*

    *Whoosh*

    *Whoosh*

    Each second, three to five after images appeared, and the same number of light cavalries fell .

    Zhao Yun managed his breathing tempo . Because of the experience from dueling Khan¡¯s clone soldier, he had gained enlightenment for his spearmanship .

    As a result, hisbat prowess improved faster than the other him in real history .

    Tadun stared at Zhao Yun in shock .

    At this moment, Zhao Yun broke through the charging horsemen¡¯s line and reached Tadun .

    "That was a fluke! You can¡¯t defeat me!"

    Tadun roared as he raised his halberd upward, nning to sh down and cut Zhao Yun in half .

    "Na?ve . "

    Zhao Yun muttered as he thrust his spear tip into the neck of Tadun .

    Raising the halberd upward left his lower body an opening . Zhao Yun would not miss this opportunity .

    *PU*

    The spear tip cut Tadun¡¯s spinal cord and severed his arteries .

    Zhao Yun pulled his spear out of Tadun¡¯s neck . The kic force behind pulling spear dragged him down from the horse along with his shocked expression .

    Tadun could not believe that he could have lost in one strike again .

    That was his thought before his death .

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    While Zhao Yun was fighting Tadun, all charging horsemen reached the formation of spearmen that Tian Yumanded .

    Without the leader, this battalion of horsemen would be wiped out in a matter of minutes .

    Zhao Yun sighed . This battle should be over soon .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    A change urred on the opposite side of their location . Gongsun Du¡¯s ambushing forces had broken through another front .

    While Tadun organized a battalion to attack the back of marching troops, Qiuliju also led another force of 5,000 men to lurk within the west of Liyang .

    As Tadun attacked from the east of Gongsun Zan¡¯s forces, Qiuliju assaulted from the west in silence .

    Their timing was impable . At this rate, Qiuliju would reach the empress!

    Tian Yu and Zhao Yun looked the copsed front in shock .

    "Not good! We gathered most of our elites here!"

    Tian Yu wanted to rush to the other side and protect the Empress carriage, but he could not . Tadun¡¯s remaining forces were pressing on them .

    "ZILONG! GO HELP THEM!"

    "I KNOW!"

    The horse of Zhao Yun galloped toward the pack of the chaotic battlefield while his spear swept the hostile forces, clearing the path for his rush .

    On his way, Zhao Yun reached Tian Yu¡¯s side, who were engaging in a battle with five riders .

    Five spear thrusts got rid of the soldiers around Tian Yu in an instant .

    "Come with me!"

    "Who¡¯s going tomand them, then?"

    It was ironic . Just a moment ago, both of them did not want tomand the troops . Now, Tian Yu wished to stay behind and oversee them .

    "Alright . Stay safe, brother . "

    "Aight . You too, Zilong . "

    With haste, Zhao Yun departed .

    .

    At the middle section of the battlefield, Lu Zhi¡¯s phnx formation and Gongsun Du¡¯s horse archers were at a stalemate .

    The long marching lines of Gongsun Zan was initially separated into three sections, the northern front, the middle, and the southern rear .

    Gongsun Zan controlled the northern front, but all front battalions had been annihted .

    Lu Zhi managed to organize the middle section and formed a 12,000-men phnx array .

    For the rear, the empress caravan was there along with Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, and Gongsun Zan¡¯s strategist, Guan Jing .

    The longer the fight continued, the more worries Lu Zhi had . As Gongsun Du avoided fighting with Lu Zhi head-on while Lu Zhi focused on his defense, it was clear as days that Gongsun Du was a decoy .

    ¡¯Bastard . This ambush was nned! They wanted the empress!¡¯

    Lu Zhi opened his n chat and was about to warn Zhao Yun and Tian Yu . Then, he remembered that both of them had not joined Tong¡¯s n yet .

    "Messenger!" Lu Zhi bellowed .

    "Sir?"

    "Send words to Zhao Yun and Tian Yu! Beware of a surprise attack and protect the empress!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    The messenger departed from the formation, galloping toward the southern units .

    Gongsun Du noticed the movement . He grinned, "So weak, Zhang Tong¡¯s dogs . What¡¯s immortal? They are just a farce and a fairy tale . Did you see, my soldiers? No one in this world is mighty and invincible . All forces will crumble once we hit their weak point . "

    The horse archers of Gongsun Du sneered andughed at Lu Zhi¡¯s battalion while they kept shooting arrows at from a distance .

    Lu Zhi could not chase after them, and his archers ran out of arrows .

    There was nothing he could do at the moment .

    ¡¯Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, please!¡¯

    Hisst hope was ced on the hands of two youths .

    .

    When Zhao Yun got back to the pnquin of the empress, he cursed himself for being an irresponsible bodyguard .

    As a bodyguard, he should have been by He Xing¡¯s side at all time . Yet, for the sake of thrilling, he jumped into a battlefield and discarded his duty .

    The pnquin was broken and riddled with arrows . He Xing and Liu Xie also were not there!

    Everything was in chaos . Gongsun Zan¡¯s soldiers fought in a disarrayed formation while the horsemen of Qiuliju decimated everything in their path .

    As soon as Zhao Yun observed the enemy¡¯s formation, he noticed a group of horsemen who were carrying a woman and a child .

    "YOUR MAJESTY! YOUR HIGHNESS!"

    Zhao Yun screamed in a panic . He galloped forward and charged into the formation of horsemen .

    "GET OUT OF THE WAY!!"

    Like before, his spear cleared away all opposition . As his adrenaline injected into his brain, his attacking speed increased from three to five strikes a second to five to seven attacks a second .

    Moreover, he subconsciously elerated his brain process and perception, activating Tong¡¯s personal skill, the overclock .

    Zhao Yun used a bullet-time, and his speed increased by another gear .

    Within five seconds, he mowed down forty soldiers!

    The phenomenon rmed Qiuliju and his soldiers .

    "Get rid of that rider! Archers, get him!"

    Light cavalries transformed into horse archers . A hundred riders took out their bows and arrows, aiming at Zhao Yun .

    "HAH!!"

    The spear tip of Zhao Yun entered the stomach of a Qiuliju¡¯s soldier . Zhao Yun exerted his force and carried him up with the spear .

    Then he shed down, throwing the soldier at a pack of archers .

    "What!?"

    Although Zhao Yun disrupted a few archers, he could not stop all one hundred soldiers . Almost a hundred arrows flew into the air, targeting Zhao Yun .

    Zhao Zilong peered at the oing arrows . He shifted his spear handling to the center and spun it as fast as he could .

    A rotating spear became a shield of Zhao Yun, which it deflected the arrows from himself and his horse . After the arrow rain finished, Zhao Yun came out unharmed .

    Qiuliju looked at the scene as if they saw a ghost .

    "What ... is he!?"

    Fortunately, Qiuliju wasmanding his troops at the center of his formation . Meanwhile, his subordinates were handling He Xing and Liu Xie .

    Zhao Yun chased after the empress instead of going after the general .

    He roared, "LET HER GO, OR I¡¯LL KILL EVERY SINGLE OF YOU!!"

    The subordinate general, who was carrying He Xing, turned around and sneered .

    "What are you going to do here alone? Kill us all?"

    He ced the kidnapped empress to his colleague and rode back,ing to confront Zhao Yun .

    "I¡¯m Liu Yi of the Gongsun n! Who do you think you are!?" Shouted Liu Yi as he charged at Zhao Yun on his horse .

    *PU*

    Like what had happened to Tadun, a spear tip found its way inside Liu Yi¡¯s neck .

    "Zhao Zilong, motherfOOker!"

 Chapter 345

    Chapter 345: 345

    Chapter 345 ¨C Surrounded Zhao Yun

    *SWUA*

    Zhao Yun swiftly secured He Xing and the unconscious Liu Xie . However, he was still in the middle of Qiuliju¡¯s encirclement .

    Qiuliju gestured, and his subordinates waved the signal gs .

    Upon seeing the gs, their soldiers stepped backward and kept the distance from Zhao Yun, He Xing, and Liu Xie . However, they took out their bows and aimed their arrows at them .

    Qiuliju sneered, "Congrattions, young warrior . You¡¯re indeed formidable . s, you¡¯re still too young and too reckless . Didn¡¯t you know that it¡¯s a taboo for fighting alone in the middle of a battlefield?"

    Zhao Yun nced around . The situation was terrible for him .

    As Qiuliju had said, it was a reckless charge, but it was necessary to protect the empress from potential harm .

    "I¡¯m a bodyguard, and I¡¯ll die as a bodyguard! Reckless or not, that¡¯s none of my business . "

    Qiulijuughed, "Good! Very Good! Alright, I have a proposition for you . Why don¡¯t you serve me? You see, I¡¯m not actually Gongsun Du¡¯s subordinate, but I¡¯m a Wuwan Tribe leader . Why are you bother serving a lord whose country is about to doom by the hands of Xiongnu? Join me . I promise that I¡¯ll protect both of them like my wife and my children . "

    Zhao Yun clicked his tongue in disgust as he turned to He Xing . She was watching them with a pale face as she feared that Zhao Yun might agree .

    "I¡¯ve made my decision . "

    All soldiers smiled, thinking that this valiant warrior would join them .

    "Good! For now, hand over the empress to us, and I¡¯ll reward youter . "

    Zhao Yun sneered as he winked at He Xing . He whispered to her ear, "There are allies on the other side of the pnquin . I¡¯ll get you out of here . "

    He Xing stared at Zhao Yun with widened eyes . She bit her lower lips and nodded . Following after Zhao Yun¡¯s instruction, she carried the sleeping Liu Xie and stood behind him .

    Zilong took a deep breath as he mentally prepared himself as this might be hisst battle .

    ¡¯For the future of the people, Zhang Tong has to unify the country! Their existences are Zhang Tong¡¯s future!¡¯

    His eyes gleamed, and his thought was revealed by his expression, which Qiuliju noticed that .

    Annoyed by Zhao Yun¡¯s attitude, Qiuliju clicked his tongue .

    "Archers! Ki-!"

    *WHOOSH*

    An arrow prated Qiuliju¡¯s mouth, which it went through his right cheek to the left . It stopped him from finishing his sentences .

    The source of the arrow was from Tian Yu, who wasmanding a hundred soldier to assist Zhao Yun from afar . They were reorganizing soldiers to counter-attack against Qiuliju¡¯s troops .

    ¡¯Chance!¡¯

    The split second that all soldiers got the attention on their injuredmander, Zhao Yun dashed toward the direction of the pnquin where Tian Yu¡¯s forces wereing to rescue them .

    The archers turned around as they sensed the movement, but they were toote .

    *PU*

    *PU*

    *PU*

    Zhao Yun¡¯s spearmanship left a hole on each neck of archers .

    "RRRAAAHH!!"

    *BOOM*

    With a 210 degrees horizontal spear swing, Zhao Yun sent a dozen soldiers flying, creating a path to escape .

    He Xing ran with Liu Xie in her arms, following after Zhao Yun¡¯s lead . She might be a few steps slower than Zhao Yun, but she had been preparing for a breakout after Zhao Yun¡¯s whisper .

    "They¡¯re trying to escape!"

    "After them!"

    Qiuliju grudgingly pulled out the arrow from his mouth . The arrowhead left a hole on each cheek, which cold air got into his mouth .

    Qiuliju bellowed, but his voice sounded odd . "Kill ¡¯em all!"

    Archers released their bowstrings and let loose their arrows . Their target was He Xing!

    Sensing danger, Zhao Yun freed himself from the soldiers and got behind He Xing . He kicked two corpses of archers and use them as shields for the empress .

    Arrows lodged into the dead bodies, but two of them scratched Zhao Yun¡¯s skins . Over 20 of them killed their allies instead of harming the three runners .

    Worried about He Xing, Zhao Yun turned around to check her condition . Fortunately, she was unharmed, but the arrow rain terrified her .

    "I¡¯ll protect you, your majesty . You¡¯ll be alright soon . "

    "U-Um . "

    Truth to be told, Zhao Yun had a scare . He was afraid that one of the arrows might slip through his defense and got her . Seeing that she and Liu Xie were fine, he continued to lead them further .

    Qiuliju¡¯s archers loaded more arrows and aimed at Zhao Yun again, but they were afraid of hitting their allies .

    Qiuliju bellowed, "Keep shooting! All infantries, block their path! You must capture or kill the empress at all costs!"

    Qiuliju¡¯s footmen did not want to die, and they did not feel loyal to him enough to volunteer as a sacrifice . Thus, they shrunk back in fear and hesitation .

    The archers also did not want to kill their friends andrades, so they did not release their bowstrings . Only a handful of selfish soldiers fired their arrows .

    Another arrow rain came at Zhao Yun, but they were less than the previous volley .

    Like before, Zhao Yun raised two corpses and shielded He Xing .

    *PU* *PU*

    *PU* *PU*

    No arrow got through the human shield . They survived another volley, but the encirclement array resumed its formation, trapping Zhao Yun and He Xing again .

    Zhao Yun turned around to check the previous escape route . Unfortunately, it was covered by Qiuliju¡¯s men .

    "No matter how many you are, I won¡¯t fail!"

    *BOOM*

    Another ten men were swept away by Zhao Yun¡¯s spear swing, and blood rain poured down .

    Qiuliju¡¯s men were terrified by Zhao Yun¡¯s outburst . They kept falling back as they avoided fighting with him head-on . Yet, a few courageous soldiers charged at Zhao Yun and He Xing, nning to kill both of them .

    "IN YOUR DREAM!"

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    Zhao Yun danced backward as if he had an eye behind his back . His after-images of spear thrust and his power-swing cleaned the field again .

    Witnessing the unrivaled spearmanship, the legs of the surrounding soldiers turned into jellies .

    Because of fear, no more soldiers attempted to charge at Zhao Yun and He Xing, but they still kept their encirclement formation .

    Zhao Yun stared at these soldiers with a frown . This stalemate was favorable to him, but it harmed them in the long run . Once they regained their morale, Zhao Yun was not that confident that He Xing could get through this unharmed .

    Meanwhile, Qiuliju had enough of his men¡¯s ipetence . Frustrated, Qiuliju kicked the sides of his horse, trying to lead the charge himself .

    Suddenly,

    "ATTACK!!"

    "KILL!"

    "SHAAAA!!"

    Warcry echoed through the battlefield, but they were not from Qiuliju¡¯s side .

    It was from Tian Yu¡¯s men!

    Tian Yu and the few hundred surviving soldiers had gathered stray troops and formed a thousand-man battalion . They created a footman wedge array and ran at the encirclement around Zhao Yun .

    Qiuliju also had to shift his attention to Tian Yu . He led a detached toon of a thousand soldiers to engage the oing charge .

    A thousand infantries of Tian Yu and Qiuliju¡¯s Wuwan soldiers collided!

    As Tian Yu fought against Qiuliju¡¯s soldiers, he shouted, "ZILONG, HANG IN THERE! WE¡¯RE COMING!!"

    Hearing the voice of Tian Yu, Zhao Yun swallowed his tears of joy and motivated himself .

    ¡¯This is not over yet! I¡¯m not alone!¡¯

    "AAAARRRRRHHHH!!!".

    As a response to Tian Yu, Zhao Zilong released his warcry as he charged at the wall of soldiers on more time .

    "Hiiikk!"

    "He¡¯sing again!"

    "STEP BACK! STEP BACK!!"

    In desperation, many soldiers decided to throw their weapons at Zhao Yun instead of fighting him in meleebat . As a result, spears were thrown at him as if they were javelins .

    ¡¯SHIT!¡¯

    This was the worst-case scenario that Zhao Yun never wanted to experience . Once these soldiers started throwing spears, all infantries would transform into ranged-soldiers, which could threaten He Xing¡¯s safety .

    Moreover, Zhao Yun could not parry throwing spears as he did with arrows!

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    He managed to divert two spears from himself . However, three more spears came toward He Xing .

    The empress ducked as she pressed Liu Xie under her body .

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    The spears missed! Had the empress did not dodge them, she would have died .

    Zhao Yun¡¯s heart was on his throat . That was too close!

    When Zhao Yun sighed a relief that both He Xing and Liu Xie were alright, Qiuliju detached from thebat against Tian Yu and galloped to this direction .

    "SHA!!"

    Inspired by his panicking soldiers, Qiuliju threw his spear at He Xing!

    In desperation, Zhao Yun got in front of He Xing as he parried the oing spear .

    *CLANK*

    The spear was diverted from the mother and son, but Zhao Yun lost his momentum .

    Qiuliju charged at them as he pulled out his secondary weapon, a long sword .

    "DIE!!"

    Zhao Yun pulled He Xing and Liu Xie out of the charging horse¡¯s path and braced the impact .

    Qiuliju¡¯s sword missed all of them, but his horse rammed against Zhao Yun¡¯s chest .

    The valiant youth spat a mouthful of blood, but he managed to catch the horse rein . By the momentum of the horse charge and the horse rein, Zhao Yun swung his entire body onto the back of Qiuliju¡¯s horse while the owner was dumbfounded by the maneuvering .

    Qiuliju tried to stab Zhao Yun, but he could not as his lower body was facing the opposite direction where Zhao Yun was standing .

    "RAH!!"

    Zhao Yun pulled Qiuliju from the horseback as both of them fell on the ground . He caught Qiuliju¡¯s wrist and disarmed the long sword .

    "YOU!"

    An elbow mmed onto Qiuliju¡¯s face . With the momentary chance, Zhao Yun snatched the long sword and thrust downward at Qiuliju¡¯s face .

    *SOEK*

    The sword dug into Qiuliju¡¯s forehead, which it prated through his skull .

    The Wuwan tribe leader fell!

 Chapter 346

    Chapter 346

    Chapter 346 ¨C Separated

    Once Qiuliju died before all of his subordinates, their morale crumbled . A portion of Qiuliju¡¯s men ran away from the battle while the ignorant ones were still fighting against Tian Yu¡¯s battalion .

    "Don¡¯t run! As long as we kill that guy and get those woman, we¡¯ll win!"

    A voice came from behind the battle lines . It was from a subordinate general under Qiuliju .

    Because of the suddenmand, the encircling soldiers regained their sense . No one deserted from the army anymore .

    Wang Men, an officer under Gongsun Zan, had conspired with Gongsun Du to rebel against his lord . He was also an agent who had been exchanging information with Cheng Yu, the senior advisor of Cao Cao, which he learned about theing of the empress .

    At first, Gongsun Du, Wang Men, and Qiuliju wanted to kill Gongsun Zan and took over his forces and territories . Things changed when they learned about the empress convoy .

    Gongsun Du did not want the empress because of lust . He tried to sow seeds of chaos within the country, so everybody could be busy fighting each other . Then, he would slowly expand toward the south as he could consolidate his new kingdom¡¯s foundation .

    As long as the empress and Liu Xie were dead or missing, all warlords would go crazy over who would be the next in line for the throne, and many of them would eventually crown themselves like how Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao did .

    Now, Wang Men gazed at the exhausted Zhao Yun and the terrified He Xing . If he could capture or kill the empress, his promotion would be guaranteed .

    "Archers, shoot at them! Target your aim at that woman!"

    Although Wang Men and the archers coordinated well, their preparation time allowed Zhao Yun to get up on his feet .

    After Zhao Yun killed Qiuliju, he managed to steal his horse . He leaped and sat on the horseback and rode it to the empress . .

    "Your Majesty, please get on the horse . "

    Zhao Yun extended his hand, and He Xing grabbed it, getting on the horse with her son . She sat in front of Zhao Yun with Liu Xie in her arms .

    Liu Xie regained his consciousness at this moment . He looked around in confusion .

    "What happened here?"

    "We are under attack, but we will flee from here soon . "

    "O-Okay!"

    After they got on his horse, Wang Men hastened his order .

    "Fire! Fire now!"

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    A volley of arrows covered the sky once more .

    "Hmm!"

    Zhao Yun kicked the sides of his horse, rushing it forward . It charged at the soldiers before them in reflex .

    With a horse, Zhao Yun got away from the hail of arrows .

    *POEK*

    *POEK*

    *POEK*

    The horse also ran over several archers, opening the path again .

    Finally, Zhao Yun and others broke through the encirclement .

    "We got out! Just a little more, your majesty!"

    "U-Um . "

    As they broke out to the north, they had to journey southeast if they wanted to regroup with Tian Yu and others .

    However, Wang Men and others were still eyeing on the empress . They had to get away from here first .

    "ZILONG, TAKE THE EMPRESS AND GET OUT OF HERE!"

    Tian Yu bellowed again . Though his battlefront situation was not favorable, he was more worried about Zhao Yun and He Xing .

    Zhao Yun bit his lower lips as he galloped toward the north, heading toward Lu Zhi¡¯s location .

    .

    Wang Men red at the fleeing Zhao Yun with hatred . Had Liu Yi not lusted for He Xing¡¯s body, they could have killed both Liu Xie and He Xing right there, and they would havepleted their mission .

    He turned toward Tian Yu, who seemed to be Zhao Yun¡¯s acquaintance .

    Tian Yu and his force were left with less than 700 soldiers after the short fight, and he should have more men on the east side, who were fighting with Tadun¡¯s remaining soldiers .

    Wang Men examined his remaining troops . There were still over 3,000 remaining .

    Judging the pros and cons if he continued fighting, Wang Men did not think that trading more men against these Gongsun Zan¡¯s remnants was worth it .

    "All units, retreat! We are going northward, and we¡¯ll rejoin with the main army!"

    .

    = Lu Zhi and Gongsun Du¡¯s battlefield =

    Gongsun Du was using a hit-and-run tactic with his horse archers while Lu Zhi formed a fish-scale phnx formation to protect his men from arrows .

    Gongsun Du¡¯s horsemen panted, and their arms trembled as they were exhausted from the repeated shooting .

    Meanwhile, Lu Zhi¡¯s men were still fresh as they had done nothing but defending . His soldiers might have run out of arrows to retaliate, but Gongsun Du¡¯s men were donating theirs to Lu Zhi¡¯s side .

    *PONK*

    *PONK*

    *TINK*

    Sounds of iron arrowhead hit with iron shields continued as if someone was ying a musical instrument .

    "Hu . "

    The soldiers under the shields inhaled and exhaled in a rhythm . After defending for a while, they could predict Gongsun Du¡¯s volley timing .

    The calm Lu Zhi, who stood behind the shield wall, observed the general situation . Since he could not fight against horse archers, he ordered his men to stand guard, waiting for an opportunity or Gongsun Du¡¯s mistake .

    As the stalemate continued, a fleeing horseman with a woman and a child approached them from the south .

    Since Lu Zhi could not see the face of the horseman, he thought they were a civilian family who had run away from the south battle .

    "Ignore the horseman! Focus on your defense! All free hands pick up the arrows while you can . If there is anyone who tries to pretend to be a messenger, double-check his tokens!"

    .

    Zhao Yun got away from the southern battle and reached the central march convoy where Lu Zhi was . He stopped his horse to inspect the battle between Lu Zhi and Gongsun Du .

    Lu Zhi was doing well as 12,000 soldiers formed a maze made of several squads of shield bearers . However, he could not attack Gongsun Du this way .

    ¡¯Should I ask for their help? Will they attack me if I approach them like this?¡¯

    Currently, Zhao Yun did not carry a banner, which was necessary for the chaotic battlefields . The gs and names of their generals indicated which force they belonged to, and they could use them to identify if the other units from a distance was a friend or a foe .

    Messengers also carried affiliate banners, white gs, and tokens of their affiliation . Once they got close to an army, they always showed their tokens and revealed their purposes of visiting .

    Meanwhile, Zhao Yun had none of those .

    ¡¯Will they believe me if I say that I¡¯m carrying the empress and her son? Eh, they¡¯re on edge right now . They will kill me on the spot if I jump in there directly without a white g . ¡¯

    Zhao Yun looked at his cloth . Unfortunately, he was soaked with the enemy¡¯s blood .

    He was not shameless enough to ask He Xing to strip her cloth either, and Liu Xie¡¯s fabric was all yellow as he was the crown prince .

    ¡¯I can¡¯t enter the battle, and I can¡¯t rejoin with master Lu . I have to stay away from the battle until the situation is clear . ¡¯

    As Zhao Yun was afraid of the friendly fire, he chose not to regroup with Lu Zhi yet . Instead, he redirected his horse toward a forest at the side .

    "Sir Zhao?"

    The empress did not understand Zhao Yun¡¯s motive .

    "We can¡¯t head there, your majesty . They¡¯re in the middle of a battle . We don¡¯t have a white g or a banner, so they will kill us if we get too close . "

    He Xing frowned .

    Zhao Yun evaluated the situation, "Since we can¡¯t regroup with master Lu right now, we can still head north toward Ye City . If we travel at full speed until the next morning, I think we should reach there, and both of you will be safe . "

    "Can you wait for a moment?"

    He Xing opened her n chat and began typing .

    .

    He Xing: "Sir Lu, Zhao Yun and I are south of you . Can your soldiers open a path for us?"

    Lu Zhi: "Is the lone horse you, your majesty!?"

    He Xing: "Have you found us? We wish to seek refuge under your protection . Our convoy has been attacked, and only us three have fled here . "

    The moment He Xing mentioned that they were attacked, Jia Xu and others flooded the chat .

    Jia Xu: "What happened over there!?"

    Xun Yu: "Who¡¯s attacking you!?"

    Jia Xu: "Sir Lu, what¡¯s going on? Who are you fighting?"

    Ju Shou: "Where are you right now . My men have withdrawn to Henei, but we¡¯re ready for another deployment!"

    Zhang He: "I¡¯m at Kaifeng . Should I rush north instead of ambushing Yuan Shao?"

    Ju Shou: "Yes, please . Abort the n and help the empress first!"

    Zhang He: "Understood, I¡¯ll forced-march to Ye ASAP!"

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯ll transport the Mountaineer and the Immortal home in a few days . "

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t be there on time again . I¡¯ve just recovered Hua Shi¡¯s body . "

    Lu Zhi paused for a moment before he replied .

    Lu Zhi: "Your majesty, do not regroup with me . Head north toward Ye like that and disguise as peasants . Being with our men is too risky . "

    Lu Zhi: "They¡¯vee here prepared, so I¡¯m expecting another ambush or another raid . "

    Lu Zhi: "Escape with Zhao Yun while you can . We¡¯ll be the bait, and I¡¯ll pretend that you are with me . "

    He Xing: "Alright . "

    Sima Fang: "Where are you now?"

    Lu Zhi: "We¡¯re south of Ye City . Can you deploy troops from Ye?"

    Sima Fang: "That¡¯s what I¡¯m about to do . I¡¯ll send the reserves and the police to receive you . "

    He Xing: "Thank you, everyone . "

    Lu Zhi: "@Everyone, Gongsun Du has betrayed us . He had probably killed Gongsun Zan during the ambush, and I¡¯m squaring against his force ATM . "

    Jia Xu: "OMG, Gongsun Du, you son of a $#@!%"

    The chat did not end there as all strategists were busy discussing the conspiracy behind this attack . Noticeably, Tong, Friday, and Medusa did not participate in the chat .

    .

    He Xing closed the n chat and turned to Zhao Yun .

    "A-Alright . Let¡¯s get away from here and go to Ye City . "

    "Understood, your majesty . "

    Zhao Yun looked back toward Tian Yu¡¯s direction . He prayed that he would be safe, and they could meet again .

    .

    *BWOOO*

    Wang Men sounded the retreat, and all Gongsun Du¡¯s affiliate soldiers disengaged from the battle .

    From the initial 10,000 ambushing men, 4,000 survived .

    Tian Yu¡¯s subordinates did not perform well either as only 3,000 soldiers made it through . They suffered many casualties from Qiuliju¡¯s battalion as Guan Jing failed to defend against them . This strategist of Gongsun Zan was also killed in the battle .

    Tian Yu survived with wounds all over his body . Because he was still young and inexperienced, he could not battle many enemies at once like Zhao Yun, who had dueled a Lu Bu¡¯s clone and made it back alive .

    "That was too damn close! I almost die . What are those guys anyway!?"

    All his soldiers were so tired that their trembling legs could lose their strength at any moment . Still, they stood and faced the direction of the retreating army in preparation for a change of tactic .

    Tian Yu staggered to the front of his soldiers .

    "Don¡¯t die, Zilong!"

 Chapter 347

    Chapter 347

    Chapter 347 ¨C Hidden Ambush Party

    Gongsun Du observed Lu Zhi¡¯s unmoving troops with a frustrated expression . His men ran out of arrows, and they could not charge into Lu Zhi¡¯s maze array .

    Looking around, Gongsun Du could see that his soldiers were already tired from the repeated shooting .

    "Ugh, that old fox . No matter how hard you wait for reinforcement, they won¡¯t arrive!"

    Gongsun Du sent a signal . He gathered all of his horse archers into a triple-line formation, feinting a charge . His real purpose was not a cavalry charge, but he wanted to let his men recover from the fatigue . By feinting a cavalry charge, Lu Zhi¡¯s men would be put in a psychological pressure, and they had to maintain a phnx formation against a horse charge .

    Once they recovered, Gongsun Du nned to contact Qiuliju and nned his next move .

    Betraying Gongsun Du¡¯s expectation, Lu Zhi¡¯s soldiers transited into a spear wall array . Furthermore, several daredevil men broke out of their formation to collect arrows on the ground .

    From Gongsun Du¡¯s observation, none of the arrow collectors paid attention to them as if the horse formation meant nothing to them .

    Gongsun Du was so mad that he almost ordered a direct charge . However, he attempted to taunt Lu Zhi, so he could make a mistake .

    "Lu Zhi, you coward! Come here and fight like a man! Oh right, you¡¯re no longer a man . I doubt that your cod can even get up anymore!"

    Listening to the taunt, Lu Zhi harrumphed and shouted back, "Barking dogs usually don¡¯t bite . But in your case, I think you don¡¯t even have fangs to bite . Heck, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re at the age of reproduction since your mouth stinks of your mother¡¯s milk . Go back and learn how to suck your mama¡¯s tits properly before you talk to me about dicks! Oh wait, I doubt you can suck your mama¡¯s tits anymore since she might be too busy giving a suckle to a random man on the street for a few coins!"

    Gongsun Du¡¯s anger went through the roof . Calling his mother a prostitute was not something he could tolerate .

    "That¡¯s it! All units, charge! Get me that geezer¡¯s head!"

    Gongsun Du¡¯s aide cried in rm, "M-My lord, but that¡¯s a spear wall formation ..."

    "I don¡¯t give a FOOk! Get me his head!"

    "Y-Yes, my lord!"

    *BWOOOO*

    A charge signal echoed through the battlefield, and all horsemen switched their weapon to spears .

    Lu Zhi smirked and waved his hand, gesturing his archers and javelin throwers .

    All archers had collected enough ammo for their repeating crossbows, and the spearmen had saved their javelins for this moment .

    Now that Gongsun Du finally made a mistake . It was time for punishment .

    "Idiots . You¡¯re ten years too early to face me head-on! Archers! Javelins! Get ready!"

    .

    He Xing was in deep thought while Zhao Yun galloped his horse at full speed . They had taken a detour from the battlefield and escaped north .

    On the way, they encountered Gongsun Du¡¯s stray troopers and deserters, but they posed no threat to Zhao Yun .

    7 PM .

    The sky darkened . Zhao Yun stopped his horse near a shallow river, so the horse can take a short rest while he harvested a wild hunt for the empress and the prince .

    "Your majesty, please wait here . I¡¯ll procure our dinner . "

    "I¡¯m fine . As long as Xie¡¯er gets some food, I¡¯ll be alright . "

    Zhao Yun dashed into the darkness with his spear .

    As He Xing was waiting and calming her son, she pondered about the current situation . As a former educated concubine, her thought was different than women in this era .

    She was not the type who would follow men¡¯s lead all the time unless she was under a life-threatening situation, such as Friday¡¯s death threat of her jealousy . He Xing was the type who would not give up her life until she reached a dead-end .

    At the moment, He Xing was hopeful, but she was not optimistic about this traveling .

    Looking at her white cloth withces, she frowned .

    ¡¯This is not amoner¡¯s cloth . If we encounter a disciplined army, they will immediately find out about my status . ¡¯

    Without hesitation, she took off her white outer garment and untied her hair . Because of that, her naked smooth shoulders revealed to the public .

    This year, He Xing was in her 30s, but her outward look was still in her early 20s . Because of the lifespans and the irregr system of this world, she stopped aging, and her appearance slowly reverted back to her prime .

    As a result, her stunning beauty could be a demerit in this situation as it might also attract random bandits .

    With such thought, He Xing smeared her face, her hair, and her stripped outer garment with mud .

    Liu Xie stared at his mother in doubt . He walked to her and mimicked her action as he thought that his mom was ying .

    He Xing sniggered .

    "Take off your clothes and dipped them in the mud . Once it dries, put them back on . "

    "Won¡¯t it be too dirty?"

    "Yes, it is . But we will disguise ourselves as amoner family, so you have to look dirty and poor . "

    "What are you ying, mom? Are we ying peasants?"

    "Yes, we are . Haha . "

    "Okay!"

    Twenty minutester, Zhao Yun came back with two wild rabbits . When he lit a bonfire to cook his games, he was shocked .

    The face of He Xing and Liu Xie covered in mud and dirt while their hair looked messy because of dirty water .

    "Y-Your majesty?"

    "Don¡¯t mind our looks . We have to disguise ourselves asmoners, right? We shouldn¡¯t look too clean, or it will be too easy to recognize . Besides, I think there will be more ambushing parties further ahead, so we shouldn¡¯t attract attention . "

    "R-Right . "

    He Xing¡¯s words were from the n chat between the strategists . Lu Zhi and Jia Xu gave their advice to He Xing about their escape, and Sima Fang had already nned their escape route .

    Moreover, Sima Fang¡¯s scouting teams reported that Gongsun Du traveled through their territories with 30,000 soldiers, but Lu Zhi informed that they were ambushed with 15,000 men .

    15,000 Men were still missing! It was as clear as days that they hid their forces somewhere around here between Ye and Liyang .

    "You should also take off your armor and change your cloth . You look more like a deserted soldier rather than my husband in disguise . "

    He Xing grinned as she teased Zhao Yun .

    On the other hand, Zhao Yun blushed in embarrassment when He Xing mentioned "Husband . " As a virgin young man, he was vulnerable to a female¡¯s seduction .

    Fortunately, Zhao Yun reminded himself that He Xing was Tong¡¯s third wife, so he did not have any funny idea about her .

    Still, Zhao Yun followed after He Xing¡¯s advice and discarded his armor . His outer clothing also covered in blood, so he walked to the river to wash it .

    10 PM .

    A group of ten visitors came because of their bonfire .

    The visitors were no one else but a scout team from Gongsun Du¡¯s Army!

    "Yo, you over there! What are you doing here in the middle of the forest?"

    Zhao Yun, who was currently wearing dirty dried ragged clothes, red at these men, but he withheld his killing intent .

    "We¡¯re running away from a war, my lord . "

    The scouts looked at each other and turned to Zhao Yun in suspicion .

    "What war?"

    "The war at Luoyang, my lord . There were too many wars, and it ruins our farms, so we decided to travel north since we heard about its prosperity . "

    "Oh, okay . "

    The scouts knew about what had happened in Luoyang recently, so they thought that Zhao Yun¡¯s words made sense .

    "Are you here with your family?"

    One of the guards nced at the sleeping Liu Xie and He Xing . The light from the bonfire revealed their dirty hair, face, and clothes, which covered in dried dirt .

    "Y-Yes, my lord . I¡¯m here with my wife and my son . "

    At this moment, three guards paused .

    "How old are you?"

    "Err ..."

    Zhao Yun realized his mistake . Liu Xie was six this year, and Zhao Yun was only 19 . Also, He Xing looked like she was in her 20s, so the age difference was odd .

    "25, my lord . "

    "Really? You look kinda younger than that . "

    "Ahaha . Thank you for yourpliment, my lord . "

    "What about your wife?"

    "She¡¯s ... 27, my lord . "

    "Huh? Is it?"

    All scouts nced back and forth between Zhao Yun and the sleeping He Xing . They had a cringed expression on their faces as they did not 100% believe in Zhao Yun .

    Soon, another scout with good eyes found something reflected by the bonfire light . He walked toward the direction to inspect it .

    And he found Zhao Yun¡¯s hidden armor!

    That scout turned around and questioned, "Why do you have an imperial armor over here?"

    All the soldiers were not stupid . They concluded in their mind that Zhao Yun might be an enemy¡¯s deserter, so they pointed their weapon at Zhao Yun .

    Unperturbed, Zhao Yun raised his hands to the air, "My lord, those are something that I took from a dead body, and I have nned to sell it at a city . If I don¡¯t do this, I won¡¯t have enough coins to buy food for my wife and my child . Please spare me . "

    The good eye soldier sneered as he pointed at a sleeping horse, "And a warhorse?"

    Zhao Yun smiled back, "That is my best harvest . If you like it, I can give it to you . "

    Having a warhorse was convenient in a journey, but they brought too much attention upon himself . Zhao Yun had nned to trade this with a regr workhorse, so he did not mind bribing these men .

    An awkward silence continued for a minute before the scout captain stopped them .

    "We¡¯ll take your armor and the warhorse . Take this . "

    He tossed a handful of coins on the ground . They were themoner¡¯s currency in this country, which had less value than a gold nugget .

    Zhao Yun pretended to scour for the coins without shame, which caused the soldiers tough .

    "Let¡¯s go . Leave the peasants alone!"

    "Yes, sir!"

    The team stole Zhao Yun¡¯s warhorse and his armor before they left . Fortunately, Zhao Yun hid his long spear and his sword under the ground below his feet .

    None of them noticed that Zhao Yun¡¯s left foot sunk into the ground, which he was ready to kick his spear into the air and unleash his spearmanship .

    After the soldiers had left, He Xing opened her eyes and looked at the soldiers .

    "Is it alright, sir Zhao?"

    Zhao Yun nodded, "It¡¯s better this way . If they are loitering around here, their main force should also be somewhere in this vicinity . Killing them here will attract their attention . ".

    As He Xing listened to Zhao Yun¡¯s analysis, her fingers typed on the invisible keyboard .

    He Xing: "We found a scout team from Gongsun Du Army . "

    He Xing: "They stole Zhao Yun¡¯s armor and warhorse . We¡¯ll have to travel on foot from now on . "

    Xun Yu: "That confirms our theory . There¡¯s another ambushing party . "

    Sima Fang: "I¡¯ll track them ASAP!"

    Sima Fang: "I¡¯ve deployed 10,000 police and 10,000 reserves . They are scouting the areas ATM . "

    Xun Yu: "Lord Sima, don¡¯t engage in a direct fight . Trap them there and wait for the legions . "

    Sima Fang: "I don¡¯t like this strategy, but fine . "

    Ju Shou: "Your majesty, did they harm you?"

    He Xing: "No . I followed your advice, and they thought we aremoners . "

    Ju Shou: "Good . Please proceed north like that . "

    He Xing: "Alright . "

    He Xing: "How is sir Lu?"

    Lu Zhi: "We¡¯re alright, your majesty . "

    Lu Zhi: "I¡¯ve crippled Gongsun Du Army, and he fled north with his other battalion . Please be careful . "

    He Xing: "I will . "

 Chapter 348

    Chapter 348

    Chapter 348 ¨C Hunting for He Xing

    Budugen, the current young leader of Xianbei Tribe, was overseeing 15,000 men of Gongsun Du Army .

    The Xianbei Tribe was one of many tribes among the northernnds beyond the Great Wall of China . Unlike the aggressive Xiongnu Tribe, Xianbei under Budugen was less aggressive .

    In history, after Cao Cao defeated the Wuhuan Tribe along with Yuan Shao¡¯s sons in the year 207, Budugen sent tributes and formed a peace treaty with the future Wei Empire . As a result, his Xianbei Tribe maintained a peaceful rtionship with the northern warlord .

    Unfortunately, the rtionship between the northern tribes was simr to the rtionship between the warlords of China . Tribal chieftains also struggled for the supremacy over the other tribes for resources .

    In 224, Budugen formed an alliance with Cao Pi to eliminate his rival, Kebineng .

    But a politician¡¯s mind could not be predicted as Budugen formed an alliance with Kebineng to attack the Wei Country together in the year 233 .

    In the end, Kebineng betrayed Budugen and killed himter .

    The Budugen in this world had not suffered a significant defeat yet, so he was confident that his tribesmen could reap profits from this alliance with Gongsun Du .

    11 PM .

    Several scouts returned with reports .

    "I¡¯ve received a report from Gongsun Du that the empress has escaped, and she¡¯s running away into our . Yet, none of you found her!?"

    All of the scout teams found nothing but deserters and peasants, which nothing proved worthy of Budugen¡¯s attention .

    "Is there any report about a sighting of a noblewoman?"

    "N-No, my lord!"

    "Bunch of idiots!"

    Budugen tossed a bamboo scroll at the scout captain .

    "If you find any stray with women, capture all of them! One of them might disguise as a peasant! Remember, she has a son, so she will appear along with her disguised family!"

    "Y-Yes, sir!"

    All scouts left Budugen¡¯smanding tent, leaving him and his guest alone .

    Budugen turned to his guest, who was a middle-aged man in his 40s .

    He was Cheng Yu, one of Cao Cao¡¯s best advisor!

    "She¡¯d better be here as you predicted, old man . "

    Cheng Yu sighed, "It was not even a prediction . It¡¯s a fact . "

    "If none of them can find He Xing, I¡¯ll be iming your life . "

    "Haiz, so young, so impatient . Very well, so be it . But for now, I¡¯ll take my rest . "

    Cheng Yu bowed and retreated to his tent . Once he arrived, he found Xiahou Dun in there .

    Xiahou Dun opened his eyes, waking up from his nap, "How¡¯s the search?"

    "Messy and terrible . You can¡¯t count on these barbarians after all . "

    .

    Before both of them arrived here, Cao Cao and Pu Jing made many moves behind the scenes .

    First, Pu Jing knew about the discontentment among the Gongsun n to Gongsun Zan, so he sent a diplomat to negotiate Gongsun Du for an alliance . He offered assistance for his rebellion against his n master .

    Gongsun Du epted the offer without hesitation . He marched his troops south in disguise as Gongsun Zan¡¯s reserve troops after Gongsun Zan had deployed his men to Luoyang .

    Because of the coalition, Xu Huang¡¯s Silver Axe did not stop them from entering their territories!

    Instead of moving to the gathering location and assault Ho Gate together with other ally forces, Gongsun Du camped south of Ye City, iming that he wished to restock supplies before he continued marching .

    Sima Fang, who acted as a temporary governor, believed in Gongsun Du¡¯s words . He allowed the convoys of Gongsun Du toe and go between Ye City and his camps .

    After Cao Cao¡¯s forces retreated from the chaotic coalition, Cao Cao sent Cheng Yu and Xiahou Dun north to meet with Gongsun Du, whom Pu Jing had been secretly contacted before the gathering .

    Cheng Yu spread words to Gongsun Du that the empress was traveling along with Gongsun Zan¡¯s forces, and they requested his aid for capturing the empress and her son .

    They imed that the empress had been suppressed by Tong¡¯s forces, and Cao Cao wished to rescue the empress for the Han Dynasty .

    Obviously, Gongsun Du did not care about the Han Dynasty . As long as Gongsun Zan was dead, he did not care who would be the overlord of the new country since he nned to devour everyone elseter .

    However, the threat of Tong¡¯s forces was too significant to overlook . After absorbing Gongsun Zan¡¯s territories, their borders would connect with Tong¡¯s .

    To weaken Tong¡¯s armies, Gongsun Du epted Cao Cao¡¯s terms, and another alliance against Zhang Tong between Cao Cao and Gongsun Du was formed .

    .

    Although Cheng Yu did not know how Gongsun Du collected many tribe leaders into his forces, he did not put any importance to them .

    "We should get ready to leave soon . "

    Xiahou Dun frowned, "Are we not going to wait for the empress?"

    "Our objective has beenpleted . We¡¯ve sowed discord between Gongsun n and Zhang Tong, and they¡¯ll be busy fighting each other for years . Our lord will have more times to expand and consolidate the central in . "

    .

    6 AM, a new day .

    Zhao Yun and He Xing continued traveling on foot, except Liu Xie who rode on Zhao Yun¡¯s neck .

    The journey was slow as they trekked through the forest, and they were walking along the shallow river they found .

    At first, Zhao Yun nned to head north, but he changed his mind when He Xing confessed about the n chat .

    Zhao Yun was amazed by the details of the chat, which He Xing recited it to him from the part which all strategists brainstormed for a counter n against Gongsun Du .

    Furthermore, Zhao Yun could use He Xing as a medium to contact Lu Zhi and others .

    "Can you ask lord Lu Zhi about Tian Yu? How is he at the moment?"

    "Okay . "

    He Xing: "Zhao Yun asked about Tian Yu¡¯s condition . Is he fine?"

    Lu Zhi: "Ah, that boy is doing alright, minus the part where he messed up his bodyguard duty, though . "

    Lu Zhi: "I¡¯m lecturing him as we¡¯re marching . We n to follow your trail from behind, so you can backtrack if you encounter the enemies . "

    Lu Zhi: "Also, our camp was raidedst night, but it was a probing attack from horse archers . "

    Lu Zhi: "It was the right decision not to regroup with us, your majesty . "

    Lu Zhi: "Had you been with us, you might have suffered an injury . Those guys intentionally aimed at your tent . "

    He Xing: "I see that you¡¯re having difficulty . "

    ...

    He Xing read the chat logs as they traveled since they had nothing to talk about . It gave Zhao Yun a broader vision about the current movements about the ambush and troops .

    "Where is Sima Fang¡¯s army, your majesty?"

    "He wants us to detour east first and head north . We have to avoid Ye City since they are nning to trap Gongsun Du here . "

    "What about our destination?".

    "Probably Zhao County or Ganling Commandery . The Silver Axe Legion is moving to Ganling, and Sima Fang¡¯s reserves are blockading east of Ye City . Sir Li Feihong said we can also stay in the wilderness until hees to pick us up in three days . "

    "So many options!"

    "Yes, everyone is working hard to help us . "

    Once again, Zhao Yun was impressed by the teamwork and the brains behind Tong¡¯s forces . No matter how many mistakes they made, someone would appear to cover for their weaknesses .

    Zhao Yun could choose if he could backtrack south to Lu Zhi, travel northeast to Ganling, or they could even bezy and not moving, so Li Feihong woulde to rescue them .

    Working with these talented people gave Zhao Yun a new experience .

    ¡¯But I can¡¯t be a burden! I can¡¯t drag them down!¡¯

    Zhao Yun motivated himself . He swore that one day, he would be someone who could be relied on like these talented officers .

    .

    7 AM .

    Gongsun Du returned to his main camp with all his surviving soldiers .

    He was in a bad mood . Yesterday, his forces charged into Lu Zhi¡¯s spear wall formation and suffered heavy casualties . In the end, only 500 men made it back .

    Wang Men and his men also returned after they attempted to raid Lu Zhi¡¯s camp . During the raid, they confirmed that He Xing was inside the camp . As many guards and servants presented around her tent, and her shadow could be seen from the outside, Wang Men concluded that the empress had regrouped with Lu Zhi .

    In the grandmander¡¯s tent, Gongsun Du sat on the main seat . Budugen and Wang Men stood by his sides while the other squadmanders lined in rows and columns .

    Gongsun Du stared at his men . He rolled his eyes around in deep thought before he spoke to everyone, "It¡¯s confirmed that He Xing is with Lu Zhi, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth it to fight them anymore . "

    Budugen raised his eyebrows, "What about the promise with Cao Cao?"

    "I don¡¯t give a fOOk! He didn¡¯t do crap shit for our cause . His diplomat and bodyguards also left our campst night . It¡¯s obvious that they are using us . Why should we work and waste our resources for them? If they want to secure the empress, let theme and get her themselves!"

    "So, are we retreating then?"

    "That¡¯s obvious! Don¡¯t forget that this Xu Huang is creeping behind our back, and there are troops in Ye City . We¡¯re in the enemy¡¯s territory, and we poked a ho¡¯s nest, so they wille for us soon . We will take the initiative and retreat as quickly as possible before they assemble an army to retaliate! Send my order, pack up, and full retreat!"

    Budugen frowned as he disliked how indecisive Gongsun Du was .

    As he was disappointed in this Han warlord, he thought of many reports he gotst night .

    Many of them were reports about the spotting of running-away peasants .

    Thinking at this point, Budugen stepped forward, "Lord Gongsun, please listen to my idea first . "

    "What? Make it quick . "

    "I think the empress in Lu Zhi¡¯s camp is a bait . "

    "Hah?"

    Wang Men red at Budugen . Calling it a bait equaled telling him that his info was false, and it was a p to his face .

    In anger, Wang Men yelled, "On what basis do you think my intel is fake? I saw them with my own eyes!"

    Budugen retorted, "And did you see the empress in person?"

    "I saw her shadow!"

    "Shadow? Really?" Budugenughed, "I think we fell for Lu Zhi¡¯s trick here . Do you think that an old fox like him is na?ve enough to decorate a tent keep the empress entertain for an entire night?"

    "What do you mean?"

    "If I were Lu Zhi, I would have hidden the empress within an unnoticeable tent of amon soldier without erecting a royal tent at all! This move will give us a vibe that they do not have the empress, and it will make us scramble around searching for the non-existence runaway empress, no?"

    Everyone stared at Budugen with widened eyes .

    "You mean ..."

    Budugen bellowed, "The empress isn¡¯t with Lu Zhi! She¡¯s running away somewhere, and Lu Zhi is acting as a bait! The real empress should have disguised herself as amoner and are wandering somewhere in the wild right now!"

    Gongsun Du stood up in shock . Hemented Budugen with his eyes as he gave a new order .

    "Cancel the retreat! Form teams and start searching! Once we have the empress, Zhang Tong can¡¯t retaliate against us! Do whatever it takes to capture her alive!"

 Chapter 349

    Chapter 349

    Chapter 349 ¨C Tian the Troll Yu

    8 AM .

    Zhao Yun and He Xing continued traveling northeast toward Ganling City . Along the way, they encountered runaway peasants who fled from wars, and they tagged along with Zhao Yun for the sake of their safety .

    As Zhao Yun was still wielding a spear, they thought that he was more reliable than traveling alone .

    He Xing and Zhao Yun could not refuse them, so they brought them along their journey .

    11 AM .

    Because of their previous actions, they became an eye-catching group of war refugees . More peasants flocked to them and wanted to follow them to Ganling City as well .

    "Your majesty, this ..." Zhao Yun concerned about their well-being .

    "Take them along . They¡¯re our people, so we shouldn¡¯t abandon them . "

    "Alright, but I won¡¯t be able to protect them all . "

    "... I know . "

    .

    Soon, a scout team from Gongsun Du noticed their caravans . A group of 20 riders galloped toward them and yelled, "All of you, surrender immediately! Come with us if you don¡¯t want to die!"

    The peasants panicked, "S-Sir, what did we do?"

    "We suspect that one of you might be the runaway criminal that we¡¯re looking for . If you¡¯re not a criminal, you don¡¯t have to be afraid since we will give you food and let you goter!"

    The crowd sighed a relief since they were honest citizens . However, Zhao Yun stared at these soldiers with a frown .

    All eyes of the riders were inspecting female refugees as if they were searching for someone .

    ¡¯This is not the way they search for a criminal . They¡¯re looking for us!¡¯

    He Xing also had the same thought . She turned to Zhao Yun to see if he had a solution .

    Seeing Zhao Yun¡¯s troubling face, He Xing asked the chat .

    He Xing: "Gongsun Du is searching for us . "

    He Xing: "One of his scouts are iming civilians that they are looking for a criminal, but they are definitely looking for me . "

    Lu Zhi: "I think my n is busted . Your majesty, do not follow them . "

    Lu Zhi: "Tell Zhao Yun, it¡¯s time to break away from there!"

    He Xing: "Then, where should we go?"

    Xun Yu: "Head south, your majesty . Regroup with lord Lu since he¡¯s the closest troops . "

    Xun Yu: "Gongsun Du wants you as a hostage to escape our, so don¡¯t get captured . "

    He Xing: "There are civilians with us . What are we going to do about them?"

    Jia Xu: "As hard as it may be, I need you to leave them behind, your majesty . "

    Jia Xu: "Your safety takes priority! Our lord hasn¡¯t recovered yet . If something happens to you, I¡¯m afraid that our lord won¡¯t be able to handle it . "

    Lu Zhi: "I¡¯m sending my fastest units and Tian Yu ahead . As long as you keep fleeing south, you¡¯ll meet them . "

    He Xing took a deep breath and told Zhao Yun about their conversation .

    Zhao Yun gulped as he steeled his heart . Once the fight started, everything would be in chaos . Liu Xie and He Xing¡¯s life would also be at risk, and their fate fell into his hands .

    This was a heavy responsibility!

    "I¡¯ll bring you out, your majesty!"

    While they were whispering, a rider approached them .

    "Hey, you! All women have to go with the other group . All men have to follow ourmander!"

    At this moment, the soldier finally caught a glimpse of Zhao Yun¡¯s spear .

    "Wait a minute, why are you carrying a ..."

    *PU*

    The spear tip entered his neck, cutting his sentence .

    Zhao Yun pulled the soldier down from his horse and jumped on the horseback . He pulled the rein and charged at the nearest riders .

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    Unprepared, five more soldiers were cut down .

    The remaining soldiers detected the odd sounds of iron cutting flesh . They turned around and saw their friends being killed by Zhao Yun .

    "Why, you!?"

    Zhao Yun ignored the chaotic cries of the peasants and Gongsun Du¡¯s scouts . He charged at them without blinking .

    The scout captain shouted, "Go tell our lord, we found the suspect! Hurry!"

    One of the riders fled the scene, and Zhao Yun could not interfere it . Still, these few soldiers were not his match .

    Two minutester, all riders became lifeless corpses .

    Zhao Yun nced at the direction of the former fleeing rider with grimaced expression .

    ¡¯More pursuers wille . We have to hurry!¡¯

    He rode toward He Xing . As usual, he pulled her and Liu Xie on the horseback before he galloped south, heading back to Lu Zhi .

    Noon

    The scout reached Gongsun Du Camp with his discovery .

    Budugen was surprised that they found the empress this quick, "Are you sure that he¡¯s with the empress?"

    "Yes, my lord . He was with a woman and a child . We tried to separate them, but he immediately resisted . "

    Wang Men revealed interest, "Did the man use a spear?"

    "Yes, my lord . "

    "How about his age . Is he about in the early 20s or less?"

    "Err, yes . I think he¡¯s quite young . "

    Wang Man turned to Gongsun Du, "There was a rider that rescued the empress . He¡¯s a spear master, and he¡¯s in his teen . I think he¡¯s our guy . "

    Upon hearing the report, Gongsun Du could not sit still .

    "We found them! All forces, chase after that man . Wherever he is, the empress might be with him!"

    With Gongsun Du¡¯s order, 21,500 soldiers mobilized south, ignoring the approaching threat from the north .

    Wang Men took his 6,000 the remaining horse archers and headed out first . As a light cavalry unit, he had confidence that he could catch Zhao Yun before the others .

    Budugen separated his 5,000 Xianbei warriors from Gongsun Du¡¯s main army . He volunteered to guard the supplies and the reserve troops, which he would also act as their rearguard .

    Gongsun Du allowed it without realizing Budugen¡¯s real intention .

    Looking at the trusting Gongsun Du, Budugen sneered, ¡¯Idiots . ¡¯

    .

    Cheng Yu, Xiahou Dun, and their escorts traveled south, returning to Xuchang . As they were Cao Cao¡¯s men, all scouts from Gongsun Du left them alone .

    As they were traveling, they saw a panicking group of civilians at the roadside . Curious, Cheng Yu sent his men to inquire about their situation .

    The result surprised them as they were the peasants that followed after Zhao Yun and He Xing . However, Zhao Yun resisted against Gongsun Du¡¯s soldiers and killed them all . Afterward, they left them there .

    Cheng Yu mumbled to himself before he peered at Xiahou Dun .

    "How about it? Want to snatch the empress?"

    "What¡¯s the catch?"

    "If we have her, Mengde remains as a righteous prime minister . If we don¡¯t have her, Mengde will be a viin in the eyes of people . "

    "Is there a demerit to this if we take the empress?"

    "Zhang Tong will find out about our scheme if we pursue . If we don¡¯t, he won¡¯t find out . "

    Xiahou Dun shrugged, "Too troublesome then . Leave them alone . "

    "Are you sure? His current position is quite awkward, you know? He got this position from a false empress . "

    "That¡¯s none of my business . I have one job, and that is protecting you . Anything else is irrelevant to me . "

    Cheng Yu chuckled, "Got it . "

    The two disregarded the events and the people as they continued marching south .

    .

    4 PM .

    After hours of galloping outside of the forest, Zhao Yun could see a group of horsemen before him .

    Upon seeing their banners, Zhao Yun could finally smile .

    It was the gs with the letter "Tian . " This unit belonged to Tian Yu!

    The leader of the riders also recognized Zhao Yun from afar . As Tian Yu knew about Zhao Yun¡¯s behavior and riding style, it was not hard for him to differentiate Zhao Zilong form the rest of regr riders .

    "Zilong!"

    "Guorang!"

    "AHAHAHA! You undying bastard! You made it!"

    "Same goes to you, silly fool!"

    Zhao Yun had the urge to leap from his horse to hug his friend . Unfortunately, Tian Yu¡¯s subordinates, He Xing, and Liu Xie were watching . He had to control his manner .

    "Ahem, how did you rush here?"

    "Haha! You¡¯d better ask her majesty about this . Master Lu said that she sent this ... err, n message to him? And he knew that all of you will being south, so we¡¯re here to pick you up . "

    As they chatted, a soldier got down from his horse and offered the horse to He Xing .

    "Your majesty, please . "

    He Xing nodded and got on the other horse with her son . As a woman with high status, riding with a man who was not her husband in public was against her moral .

    Tian Yu nodded in approval, "Alright, let¡¯s regroup with master Lu . I don¡¯t want to listen to his lecture again . ".

    "AHAHAHA! Sucks to be you . "

    "Oh, you don¡¯t have to worry, Zilong . Master Lu said you fOOked up the bodyguard duty, and he has reserved his private tutor course for you as well . "

    "Err, crap . "

    Zhao Yun sulked while Tian Yu¡¯s subordinates snickered by their boss¡¯ misfortune .

    Unfortunately, their little happy reunion had to be put on hold as the ground trembled . It was a sign that an army of horsemen wasing in their direction .

    "Enemies!"

    "Get into an array!"

    Tian Yu turned to Zhao Yun, "Don¡¯t screw up your bodyguard job this time . Stay behind us . "

    Zilongplied with the suggestion . One mistake was enough, and Zhao Yun swore that he would not make the same mistake again .

    Soon, an army with the banners, [Wang], came to their sight . It was Wang Men¡¯s troop of 6,000 riders .

    Wang Men raised his fist and ordered his troops to stop . Upon seeing the [Tian] banners and the dirty Zhao Yun behind their formation, he understood what had happened here .

    ¡¯They reunited, but that doesn¡¯t matter as long as I defeat these men . ¡¯

    Wang Men whispered to his aide, "Form wedge . We¡¯ll charge at them . "

    Meanwhile, Tian Yu read Wang Men¡¯s mouth as he licked his lips .

    "Wedge, is it? Okie, dokie!"

    Tian Yu bellowed with everything he had as if he wanted Wang Men to hear his words .

    "MEN!"

    Tian Yu¡¯s soldiers tensed, getting ready to form any formation hemanded .

    "TURN AROUND!"

    Everybody turned their horse around in confusion . Everyone was thinking why Tian Yu wanted to show their backs at the enemies .

    "RETREAT!! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!"

    Zhao Yun, He Xing, and all 5,000 light cavalries almost spat blood .

    "Dafuq, Guorang!?"

    "Eh, shut it and follow mymand, Zilong . I REPEAT AGAIN! RETREAT!!"

    All the soldiers looked at each other and shrugged . They turned their horse around and galloped away, showing their back to Wang Men . Zhao Yun and He Xing also rode with them .

    Wang Men stared at them with wide eyes . No word could describe his feeling at the moment .

    When he came to his sense, Tian Yu and others had already fled a hundred meters .

    Infuriated, Wang Men shouted, "CHASE! AFTER THEM!!"

    All 6,000 soldiers with a wry smile galloped after the fleeing troops . They took out their bows and arrows, getting ready for a horse archer tactic .

    Unfortunately, before they could shoot an arrow, they saw a straight line of running horsemen with Tong¡¯s repeating crossbows .

    "Eh?"

    Behind the running riders, Tian Yu had a mocking grin on his face .

    "ARROWS, RELEASE!!"

 Chapter 350

    Chapter 350: 350

    Chapter 350 ¨C A Failure Campaign

    Tian Yu did not order his men to withdraw from the battle . Instead, he deployed a hit-and-run horse archer tactic against Wang Men¡¯s horse archers .

    The crossbow arrows arrived at Wang Men¡¯s troops first, killing several hundreds of riders and a thousand horses in one volley .

    Wang Men bellowed in anger, "Shoot back! Chase and shoot!"

    Tian Yu also shouted, "Turn back and run! Retreat again!"

    The surviving 4,500 horse archers released their arrows . The volley flew to the sky as they had predicted, but the result betrayed their expectation .

    When shooting against a running away opponent, good archers usually predicted the target¡¯s movement and aimed ahead .

    However, shooting on horseback was a difficult task even for elite soldiers . This skill required years of rigorous training and costs, so not every archer in Wang Men¡¯s troops were master bowmen .

    As a result, most of them did not aim ahead . Ny percent of arrowsnded behind Tian Yu¡¯s riders while the rest managed to hit the targets .

    Two hundred horses copsed with the soldiers, while a hundred men had an arrow lodging in their body . Ten of which fell from the horseback and did not make it with their colleagues .

    Tian Yu waved his arm to the side, "Turn right! Turn right!"

    Zhao Yun and othersmanded their horses, turning 90 degrees toward the direction Tian Yu was pointing .

    ¡¯I see! Fighting against horse archers with horse archers, the chasers can be countered like this!¡¯

    Zhao Yun gained enlightenment from his friend¡¯s action .

    While Tian Yu¡¯s troops were running away, Wang Men raised his fist, ordering his troops to stop the pursue .

    "Don¡¯t follow them!"

    Wang Men red at the retreating riders in frustration . Although he wanted to kill every single of them, he was not stupid or reckless enough to fight a losing battle .

    "Withdraw! We¡¯ll report this to our lord . The empress has escaped!"

    .

    Ten minutes after Wang Men withdrew, Tian Yu looked back with a frown .

    "Bummer . I thought that idiot would have been pissed and kept chasing after us . "

    Looking back, there was nothing but farms and uncultivated ins . They could see a trail of dust from a distance, but they were noting for them .

    Everybody sighed in relief that they did not have to fight to the death again today .

    Only

    "HELP! THE EMPRESS WAS SHOT!!"

    .

    Zhao Yun and Tian Yu were shocked . They leaped from their horses and rushed to the group who guarded He Xing and Liu Xie .

    Upon arriving, both could see her condition .

    An arrow pierced her back, and He Xing was coughing blood . The arrowhead was inside her lung!

    Zhao Yun¡¯s face lost all color while Tian Yu¡¯s heart skipped a beat . This was not supposed to happen .

    Zhao Yun wanted to punch himself for entrusting He Xing to the other bodyguards . Tian Yu also med himself for engaging in a tactic that put her life at risk .

    Now, He Xing had a life-threatening injury!

    "Don¡¯t pull the arrow out! We¡¯ll transport her back and have our field physicians take care of her!"

    Zhao Yun wanted to help her and tend her wound, but he did not have the right first-aid knowledge . All soldiers also did not dare to touch their young master¡¯s woman as they were afraid of the misunderstanding .

    In the end, Tian Yu stripped He Xing and used clean clothes, which were torn from his spare banners . The condition of the texture was not something that should be used on a fresh wound, but Tian Yu had no other option .

    Flustered and panicked, all soldiers built a wagon for the injured empress and carried them back to their main forces . Along the way, Liu Xie sat beside his mother, crying .

    It took them another hour to transport her to Lu Zhi¡¯s toon .

    As if Lu Zhi knew about He Xing¡¯s condition, a team of physicians had been waiting for He Xing¡¯s arrival . They transferred her to their infirmary tent right away .

    Nobody but the physicians were allowed to enter the infirmary, including Lu Zhi, Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, and even Liu Xie .

    "Mama ..."

    Liu Xie was still crying as he was carried by Zhao Yun .

    "She will be fine! Her majesty is a strong woman . She will be fine!"

    Tian Yu was also by their side, "One arrow won¡¯t kill her, your highness . She wille out and talk to you again . "

    While both of them consoled the prince, Lu Zhi¡¯s face grimaced . He kept staring at the chat log, praying that a particr message would not appear .

    Lu Zhi also did not dare to continue reading the chat log . After He Xing had sent a simple message, "I¡¯m injured . Need help," everyone in the chat was in a frenzy .

    If that simr message when Hua Shi was killed appeared, Lu Zhi did not know what he could exin to his disciple .

    And everybody¡¯s nightmare became a reality .

    >

    The message confirmed that He Xing did not make it through the operation .

    The n chat exploded . Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Sima Fang, and Ju Shou were out for blood . However, everyone stopped when Tong finally gave hismand .

    Tong: "Withdraw everyone back to our territory . "

    The message stopped for a few minutes . Everyone wanted to ask about Tong¡¯s health and his condition, but no one dared to utter a word .

    Jia Xu, Xun Yu, and Ju Shou had the urge toment on this campaign, but they could not voice out their thoughts .

    Losing Hua Shi was cruel enough . Now, Tong had lost another wife, who was also the empress of the Han Dynasty .

    This campaign against Xiongnu ended in a disaster . They failed to take Khan¡¯s head, but they lost two prominent figures . None of them could find the right words to console Tong anymore .

    Yet, Tong continued sending messages .

    Tong: "Aside from Zhang He¡¯s Ghost Legion, Xu Huang¡¯s Silver Axe Legion, and Sima Fang¡¯s reserve forces, I want to see everyone in Ye . Gather there before the end of the year . I have an important matter to discuss with all n members . "

    Tong: "We shall hold her majesty¡¯s funeral along with Hua Shi once when we return . "

    Finally, Jia Xu mustered his courage and asked .

    Jia Xu: "Are we letting Gongsun Du go?"

    Tong: "No . We are going to trap his forces here while we invade his territories . "

    Tong: "Senior Sima, surround them and wither their numbers . You don¡¯t have to press for the kill, but I want you to waste Gongsun Du¡¯s time in our territory . "

    Tong: "Feihong, Zhang He, move to Liyang and blockade the south . Don¡¯t let this bastard escape to Cao Cao¡¯s territory . "

    Tong: "Xu Huang, I want you in Nanpi . Prepare your legion for the northern campaign! Your goal is to capture all of Gongsun nsmen . I want Gongsun Du¡¯s family alive, especially his sons!"

    Jia Xu: "What are you nning? Are you trying to torture Gongsun Du for your revenge?"

    Tong: "Yes, I want revenge, but killing him now is too easy .

    Tong: "Once I have all of them, and we capture that backstabbing bastard, we¡¯ll torture and kill everyone in front of Gongsun Du!"

    Lu Zhi read all the chat with his heart stuck in his throat . He felt guilty that he could not protect the empress and led the situation to the present .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve failed you, disciple . I¡¯ve also failed you, your majesty . ¡¯

    Before this had happened, Lu Zhi¡¯s hair was a mixture of ck hairs and grey hairs . Now, 90% of his hair turned grey as if he had be ten years older . His eyes also reddened as if he was on the verge of tears .

    A minuteter, the group of sullen physicians exited the infirmary tent with a piece of bad news .

    "We¡¯re sorry . "

    They informed Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, and Lu Zhi about their failure . Liu Xie also heard the news, which he wailed .

    Zhao Yun¡¯s body trembling as he knelt, gazing into the tent in disbelief, "I¡¯ve failed my duty ... again . "

    Tian Yu held his head as he bit his lower lips, "NO! I-I have done my best! But why!?"

    .

    The news spread within Lu Zhi¡¯s men, and they stopped marching for the rest of the day .

    Many were shocked, sad, and angered . These soldiers believed that they were fighting for the Han Dynasty and the royal bloodline, yet they failed their duties because of Gongsun Du¡¯s betrayal .

    All of them were once the soldiers of Gongsun Zan, who was also a royalist . Thus, Gongsun Zan had influenced their thoughts .

    The remaining soldiers shed tears of anger and hatred, wanting to shred Gongsun Du to pieces . All Gongsun Zan¡¯s sergeants and officers visited Lu Zhi at his tent, kneeling and kowtowing to him .

    "Lord Lu Zhi, please allow us to serve Master Zhang Tong!"

    "We want revenge! Please let us serve Lord Zhang Tong . "

    "We know that you¡¯re still working for him! Please let us join you!"

    "As long as Master Zhang Tong can kill Gongsun Du, we shall give you our lives!"

    As Lu Zhi could not reject these men, he extended his hands to raise them .

    "I know . I always loyal to her majesty, and Gongsun Zan was one of my proud disciples . We shall get our revenge!"

    The men¡¯s cried as they mmed their forehead on the ground .

    With this, another 10,000 white riders of Gongsun Zan joined forces with Tong and Lu Zhi .

    .

    Gongsun Du learned about the escape from Wang Menter that day . However, they did not know about her death .

    The new n lord had a headache . At this rate, the empress would have dered them as traitors, and they would be ganged by all warlords in this country .

    Gongsun Du looked around, nning to ask Budugen for advice . Unfortunately, Budugen was not present .

    Without anyone to rely upon, Gongsun Du made a decision .

    "We¡¯re going to im one of the counties around here to resupply . Then, we¡¯ll draft more soldiers and return to our territory!"

    Meanwhile, Budugen had also sneaked to the west, escaping from the battlefield and Tong¡¯s territory through the western mountain range .

    As Sima Fang established the blockade at the eastern region of Ye City, Budugen and his 5,000 men slipped through the unhindered .

    He looked back at the northern in with a smirk .

    ¡¯All of you dirty Hans can fight each other to the death . I¡¯ll rally my tribesmen, and I¡¯ll be back!¡¯

 Chapter 351

    Chapter 351

    Chapter 351 ¨C Troubled Sun Jian

    While Tong and everyone were busy with Gongsun Du¡¯s sudden betrayal, movements at Wu Pass Battlefront got more active .

    As Sun Fang¡¯s mentality was unstable, Sun Jian ordered Huang Gai to watch over him at Wan City .

    An order came from Yuan Shu the same day that Gongsun Du killed Gongsun Zan . He wanted Sun Jian and Liu Biao Army to upy the Wu Pass .

    Both warlords barged into Yuan Shu¡¯smand tentter to question his n .

    Yuan Shu sat on his seat, rxed andid back .

    "Oh, my . Both of you are looking perturbed . Sit and rx, and I¡¯ll let my maids serve you . "

    Liu Biao grimaced, "There is no need . I¡¯m here for a quick question . Why aren¡¯t your toon in the deployment list? I see that only sir Sun and I are dispatching, but you are staying in the backline . Are you taking advantage of our troops?"

    Sun Jian red at the thin warlord Yuan Shu, who sat on the throne, "Mobilization is an important matter . You should have consulted us before any deployment . Besides, we don¡¯t know about our battle policy . Are we going to take the pass? Are we trying to wither their number, or are we going all-in? We don¡¯t know anything about this at all!"

    Liu Biao nodded, "That¡¯s correct . In a grand mobilization like this, we need a clear policy and a clear objective . We¡¯ve gathered here for months, yet you kept saying you didn¡¯t have enough provisions or you were waiting for Zhang Tong¡¯s supplies . Sincest week, we have enough supplies, yet you avoided all of our war nning meetings . Now, you want to send us to battle without telling us anything? How are we going to work with you with your attitude like this!?"

    Listening to these warlords, Yuan Shu chuckled .

    "Oh, dear . All of you misunderstood me . You see, I¡¯ve sent a diplomat to negotiate with the Xiongnu, and they agreed to return Hongnong and Wu Pass to us . We¡¯re going to march in there, reim the Wu Pass, and we¡¯ll repair whatever they had ruined . "

    Liu Biao¡¯s frown deepened .

    ¡¯This stinky rat is scheming something again . I can¡¯t trust him on this . ¡¯

    As Liu Biao had once disputed with Yuan Shu regarding supplies and military campaign against Dong Zhuo, he did not trust this petty warlord .

    Liu Biao shook his head, "Since you¡¯ve sessfully negotiated with the Xiongnu, I¡¯ll withdraw my troops to Jing Province . My duty ends here . "

    Sun Jian turned to Liu Biao in shock, "Wait, sir Liu! We haven¡¯t driven these barbarians out of our country yet! Our Liang Province is still under the Xiongnu¡¯s control!"

    "You and sir Yuan can continue fighting if you want to . You see, I have an entire province to manage, and I¡¯m wasting my times here enough already . Besides, sir Sun, you¡¯ve abandoned your Changsha post, and you didn¡¯t leave anyone to protect themandery . I had to assign a new governor there, and I need to go back to inspect how the new governors are doing in the southern areas . You know that Xiongnu is not the only threatening barbarians to our country, right? You faced the Shanyue yourself . "

    Sun Jian was taken aback . He did precisely, as Liu Biao said, abandoning his post . He was supposed toe here with a portion of his forces while his main army should have stayed in Changsha . Instead, he mobilized everyone, including his family, to Wan Commandery .

    Now, everybody could say that Sun Jian was relying on Yuan Shu .

    Liu Biao did not waste his times as he said . He stormed out of the tent, going back to his camp .

    Sun Jian swallowed his words . He had many things to exin Liu Biao, but he could not utter a word of excuse .

    Currently, Sun Jian¡¯s mind was not himself . His adopted son had be mentally ill, and he lost his daughter-inw . It disrupted his thought processing and his ability to think straight .

    Yuan Shu pped his hands, "Well then, Sir Sun Jian . Since it¡¯s just us, could you lead your men to upy the Wu Pass? Once we reestablish and repair the check-point, we¡¯ll move on to Hongnongter . "

    Sun Jian gazed at Yuan Shu with aplicated thought . It was good that they did not have to fight, but they still had to reim Liang Province from the Xiongnu in the end .

    Chang¡¯An, Anding, Tianshui, Jincheng, and Wuwei were still under the control of Xiongnu . These five significantmanderies were important cities for their country¡¯s western trade route, which spices and warhorses were the specialties of this business .

    Though Sun Jian still doubted Yuan Shu, he epted the task anyway .

    "Alright . I¡¯ll prepare my men . "

    "Very good! Oh hey, since you¡¯ve abandoned your post, why don¡¯t you work for me? If you¡¯re my official subordinates, I can protect your family and your men in the open . Right now, our positions are kind of awkward, you see?"

    Sun Jian¡¯s face contorted, yet he cupped his fist and bowed, "Please take care of my men and me . "

    "Hahahaha! Good, good! Take this token with you . From now on, you¡¯re working for me . "

    .

    Ten minutes after Sun Jian left Yuan Shu¡¯s camp, Liu Yang revisited this thin lord .

    Yuan Shu looked at this little otherworlder with a wry smile .

    "My apologies, dear guest . We are going to change our agreement . "

    Liu Yang sneered, "Ah, I saw the movements in Liu Biao¡¯s camp . I already figured that he wouldn¡¯t have taken the bait . "

    "Indeed . Also, can you spare Sun Jian? He has just sworn allegiance to me, and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s necessary to kill him anymore . "

    "Oh, is that so? Unfortunately, I still want to kill all of his sons though, especially Sun Ce and Sun Quan . "

    "I¡¯m afraid Sun Jian won¡¯t send those two to a battlefield . They are still underage, no?"

    "What about Sun Fang? Do you think you can make him lead a battalion?"

    "That¡¯s also impossible . My spies reported that Sun Fang has be insane . His wife was also killed by Hua Shi if my info wasn¡¯t wrong . "

    Liu Yang¡¯s eyes gleamed as she was pleased with the development .

    ¡¯So the previous two deaths were Li Jing and Hua Shi! Ahahaha, this is good . For days, I thought they were Te Langpu or Li Feihong . ¡¯

    As Liu Yang¡¯s mood brightened, she did not mind the policy changes .

    "Ah, forget it then . We¡¯ll give Hongnong to you as promised . However, I hope that we can maintain our alliance for another ten years . "

    Yuan Shu¡¯s smile faded for a second before he resumed his grinning fa?ade .

    "May I ask for a trade route treaties? You see, our countrycks spices and warhorses . Since you¡¯ve taken Liang Province, our trading route to the west is blockaded . If we wish for long-term cooperation, please show me more sincerity and open the Silk Road for us . "

    Liu Yang scoffed, "I¡¯ll ask my king about this . I don¡¯t have enough authority to make the decision . "

    "Please do . After all, I¡¯m acting as your buffer zone here . I¡¯m sure that your Yi Province campaign will go well if I protect you from Zhang Tong . "

    Hearing the odd assumption from Yuan Shu, Liu Yang winced .

    ¡¯How the hell did he know about my motive!?¡¯

    Liu Yang had orchestrated this alliance, so Khan could rest and recuperate from his soul injuries . Furthermore, she nned to alter the history trend by conquering Yi Province before Liu Bei could steal it from Liu Yan and Liu Zhang . Had she seeded, Liu Bei would not have any ce to run or establish his Shu Kingdom as in the historical records, and one major force would be naturally eliminated from the picture .

    She squinted her eyes, calming her conflicted emotion .

    ¡¯I must not underestimate the historical figures in this world . They¡¯re all cunning snakes, and their intelligence agency is more capable than I thought . ¡¯

    Liu Yang feinted coughing .

    "We have not nned to make a move on anyone . Please rest assure . "

    Yuan Shu chuckled, "Sure . "

    .

    Meanwhile, Sun Jian returned to his camp .

    His face paled . Also, he could not focus on his job as he worried about Sun Fang .

    As he was sitting inside hismand tent, Sun Ce visited him .

    "Dad, I want to join the next battle . "

    Sun Jian sighed, "There won¡¯t be a battle, Bofu . Yuan Shu and Xiongnu have formed cease-fire treaties behind our back, and Xiongnu has withdrawn from the Wu Pass . We¡¯ll simply march there and upy it . "

    "The heck!? Did they talk with the barbarians!? Are they nuts? They stole ournds, yet he has submitted to them?"

    "They probably came to a term or some under-the-table deal . "

    "Argh! Can¡¯t we just fight the Xiongnu with just our forces?"

    "That¡¯s not going to happen . War isn¡¯t a game, Bofu . People die, and it hurts us in the long run . "

    "But if we don¡¯t take a stand, those Xiongnu will steal everything from us! Leave this stupid Yuan Shu and fight them together with Zhang Tong . "

    Listening to this point, Sun Jian sighed, "We can¡¯t ally with Zhang Tong anymore, Bofu . "

    "Why? Didn¡¯t he gather all warlords to fight the barbarians? At least he is loyal to the country . "

    "Not anymore . A week ago ... your older brother killed Zhang Tong¡¯s wife . "

    "Huh!?"

    "Remember the eunuch that visited us? That was Hua Shi in disguised . Both Fang and Jing disobeyed my order and pursued her . Then, Hua Shi killed Li Jing, and Fang killed Hua Shi in revenge . We¡¯re officially Zhang Tong¡¯s enemies now . "

    "WHAT!? WHY DID HE HAVE TO KILL HER!? SHE¡¯S HERE TO SUPPORT US!"

    "Indeed . I also want an answer from Fang, but he has gone insane . "

    "..."

    "In the future, this incident will be Zhang Tong¡¯s excuses if he wants to find troubles against us . Bofu, the north is not a ce we can be anymore . "

    "... Then, what can our family do?"

    Sun Jian bit his lower lips . Hesitated, he persuaded Sun Ce, "We¡¯re serving under Yuan Shu . He will protect us from Zhang Tong and the Xiongnu . "

    Sun Ce¡¯s jaw dropped, shocked and astonished . As much as he wanted to protest, he wished for the best of his nsmen and his father¡¯s subordinates .

    Noticed his son¡¯s disappointment, Sun Jian patted Sun Ce¡¯s head .

    "Remember, Bofu . Even if pushes to shove, we have other connections . I know a couple of schrs in Lujiang, and your friend is studying under a mentor . If something happens to Fang or me, head to Lujiang and ask for a schr named Zhang Hong or Zhang Zhao . They will help you . "

    "... Okay, dad . "

    .

    Wan City

    Sun Fang rested in his guestroom, arranged by Huang Gai .

    Li Jing¡¯s head had been confiscated, and Huang Gai had buried her, giving her a peaceful rest .

    Still, Sun Fang could not recover from his loss . He kept crying as he recalled their memories .

    The more he cried, the more cracks appeared on his soul .

 Chapter 352

    Chapter 352

    Chapter 352 ¨C Peaceful Julu?

    = Julu City =

    Zhang Jiao watched over the military academy that Sima Fang and Te Langpu established, training a new batch of 10,000 policemen .

    For years, Zhang Jiao did not make any movement or get involved in Tong¡¯s military expansion . As two tigers could not stand on the same summit, he could not stand out, or Tong¡¯s authority would be diminished .

    Though heid low in Julu as this city¡¯s governor, he exchanged words with his two brothers, who held their posts as officers under Xu Huang .

    Everyone learned a lot after years of struggle and changes . Zhang Bao became skilled in footmenmanding, while Zhang Liang switched his career from a militarymander to a strategist, assisting Zhang Bao and his battalion .

    The three Yellow Turban founders abandoned their ideal kingdom and worked under Tong in peace .

    Still, many former yellow turbans and the [Illuminati] organization that Zhang Jiao founded were nning to revive their banners .

    Today as well, a group of ten people visited Zhang Jiao while he was patrolling Julu Military Academy .

    "Teacher Zhang, we have troops and supplies . Won¡¯t you reestablish our army once more?"

    "Yes, teacher Zhang . Getting stuck here for too long doesn¡¯t suit you . You deserve more than just a governor . "

    "Master Zhang, you¡¯re Lord Zhang Tong¡¯s father . You can easily demand a better position and prestige from him . He¡¯s now the prince consort of the empress, so you should have a better noble tier . "

    These bootlickers had a point . As Tong¡¯s political influences grew, he could have shared some benefits with his family members . However, Zhang Jiao refused that notion .

    "When I found the Yellow Turbans, the country people are suffering from the Court¡¯s corruption . Now that my son is controlling the Court and people are happy under him, why should I create another rebel army?"

    The group was taken aback by the rejection . Still, they did not give up .

    "You misunderstood us, Great Teacher! We didn¡¯t hope for you to rebel . We only wish for your well-being!"

    "That¡¯s correct! We hope that you can achieve what you deserve!"

    Zhang Jiao shook his head .

    "Julu is next to my hometown, and I¡¯ve be this city¡¯s governor by my free will . This is my paradise, everyone . "

    "Great Teacher ... you still deserve better . "

    Though Zhang Jiao wanted to curse them out loud, he turned to them and smiled .

    Zhang Jiao pulled a bamboo scroll that he wrote during his free times . He gave it to these people .

    "Read this and think about what you¡¯ve asked me again . "

    They looked at the book in puzzled . Why did this old man give it to them?

    All of them did not notice . The corner of that scroll was a hand-written, "Way of Peace . "

    "That is my thought and my interpretation of our current age and the people¡¯s troubles . If you can spread that knowledge to more people, I¡¯m sure that your help will be more longsting than me getting a higher noble tier . "

    In that scroll, Zhang Jiao described the modern knowledge he had learned from Tong, Te Langpu, Sima Fang, and what he had experience in this lifetime . He summarized his new ideas about how court officials should behave, and what kind of ethics and moral integrity they should have .

    It was simr to Kong Ze¡¯s Confucian codex, but the Way of Peace emphasized more about the government systems and practical usage . However, the most noticeable part of this text was the new ideas, which these people would find out soon .

    "G-Great Teacher, this is not what we meant . "

    Zhang Jiao could read through these people like a book . They wanted promotions, but their method was wrong . Instead of working hard and proving it with their achievements, they sought a shortcut through him .

    The old father shook his head in disappointment .

    "I¡¯ll talk to Tong about it when he returns to Julu . All of you should leave . "

    "Y-Yes, great teacher! Thank you for your time!"

    Reluctantly, they left in disappointment .

    As they were returning, one of them skimmed through Zhang Jiao¡¯s Way of Peace .

    His feet stopped as he focused on the texts . Because of his precipitate action, his friends turned around to look at him .

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    The one with the Way of Peace turned to his friends, "Read this . "

    "Huh?"

    They received the scroll and read it as well .

    For ten minutes, they nced at each other, baffled by the contents .

    "What¡¯s constitutionws?"

    "Choosing a leader by an election? What kind of government crap is this?"

    "Corporation businesses? Granting people¡¯s right to protest or criticize the government?"

    "Constitutional Monarchy System? Republic and Democracy?"

    Everyone looked in the eyes of others . These ideas in the scrolls were too absurd to them since they grew up in an absolute monarchy culture .

    "You keep this . I don¡¯t want it . "

    "This is a joke . "

    "Hey, maybe the teacher is getting senile?"

    "Probably . He¡¯s been in stagnant for years . I think he gives up the political world . "

    "Then, how are we going to get the promotion?"

    "Should we ask Te Langpu? The Financial Minister that started sellingnds to nobles and farmers despite our lord trying to take them back?"

    "Uh, you¡¯re wrong on that part . That Te Langpu is renting thends, not selling . "

    "No, he¡¯s selling . I think he is giving harsh conditions for the buyers, and they can only transfer thend to their direct descendant, siblings, or parents . If they have no other rtive, they can only resell thends to the government?"

    "..."

    "Bah, let¡¯s ask him anyway . All fat people are greedy . He should be easier to bribe our way to the top . "

    .

    Te Langpu got chubbier than before . His round face glittered under the sunlight while his fat belly jiggled as he walked .

    Beside Te Langpu, Sima Lang followed him, working as this former president¡¯s secretary .

    This fat man aplished many feats after he had joined forces with Tong . He renovated the financialws, government¡¯s firms, agricultural economics, and other sectors . Te Langpu also took over Julu¡¯s Justice Department from Sima Fang, who had transferred his post to Ye City .

    Under Te Langpu¡¯s control, he made the government firms monopolize strategic resources, such as iron ores, coals, timbers, rice, and crude oil . In turn, he allowed free markets for other goods, but he imposed tariffs on specific imported products, such as clothes, linen, silks, arts, and potteries .

    Still, various education products were tax-free, such as papyrus papers, scrolls, books, and other Julu¡¯s monopolized resources that merchants came here to sell to the government .

    Julu¡¯s economic development had already reached the limit, so Te Langpu was observing the town, thinking of another way to improve the city .

    "I¡¯m thinking of converting a few farnds into a textile factory, but our country¡¯s food production is still subpar . What do you think I can change to expand our economy, Boda?"

    The 16-year-old Sima Lang shook his head, "Julu is an agriculture city . Making it a business hub is a mistake from the start . But since Lord Zhang Tong established his force here in his early days, he didn¡¯t have a choice but to make this city his economic Capital . If Master Te wishes to expand the economy for Lord Zhang Tong¡¯s forces, we¡¯ll have to transfer our business Capital to Ye instead . "

    Te Langpu nodded, "Good analysis . Julu is too small to be a business center . I¡¯m thinking of following your father and brothers to Ye City, and we¡¯ll slowly transform Julu into a secondary hub instead . As for the farnds and the food shortage, what do you think?"

    "Ganling and Pingyuan are still under development, but their location is close to the Yellow River . Our next agriculture cities should be thosemanderies . If I were you, I would inform Lord Zhang Tong to fund them and increase agriculture development in those areas . "

    "Are you sure? Ganling and Pingyuan are also in the strategic military zone . Once we unified the north, all soldiers wille to those cities and fortify there . "

    "That¡¯s exactly why we should hurry and focus our development on those cities . By the time Lord Zhang Tong conquered the north, the central in should only have one ruler remaining, and that warlord will be eyeing our territories as his next target . We need those two cities to stockpile foods for the next long campaign against our next rival . "

    Te Langpu was impressed by Sima Lang¡¯s intelligence . He did not expect that this tall older brother of Sima Yi would be this capable since a young age .

    Sima Lang¡¯s thought was correct . Ganling and Pingyuan were new territories that Tong acquired from Yuan Shao and Sun Jian, but they had not funded their development yet . As theycked personals and they were busy with the war at Luoyang, no one paid attention to these cities .

    At the moment, Tong upied many important cities; Ye, Julu, Jinyang, Henei, Shangdang, Nanpi, Pingyuan, Zhongshan, and Ganling . Once they could take Ji, Beiping, and Xiangping, Tong would have unified the north .

    ¡¯Should I say, I expected this much? Heck, Zhang Tong is rearing too many monsters in his forces . Too bad that he hasn¡¯t taken Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang, or Zhou Yu here, or else, this civil war would have been a GGEZ already . ¡¯

    As Te Langpu was training Sima Lang on the job, the group of ten men, who had visited Zhang Jiao, came to ask Te Langpu for help .

    "S-Sir Te . Please to meet you, we¡¯re former XYT agents, and we wish to reestablish our forces again . I hope that you could ..."

    "The former Xian Yellow Turbans? Didn¡¯t our master tell you to disband them? If you create a legion with [Yellow Turbans] as its name, more thieves will impersonate you again . Haven¡¯t you learned from the mistakes?"

    "B-But our Yellow Turbans are soldiers of the people! We will fight to protect our cities and peasants . "

    "Our policemen and other legions are doing that just fine . A new legion or a battalion is unnecessary . "

    The faces of these men lost color . Just a few words, they realized that their dream reformation would not be recognized no matter what .

    Sullen and disappointed, they bid farewell and left Te Langpu and Sima Lang .

    While they were leaving, Te Langpu peered at them and narrowed his eyes . He gestured his bodyguards, calling them over .

    When they got closer, Te Langpu leaned forward and whispered, "If they leave the city, I want them dead . "

    The guards nced at Te Langpu and nodded . One of them left to inform the others while the rest of the bodyguard squad remained by the fat man¡¯s side .

    Curious, Sima Lang looked at the group of men and his mentor, "Why do you want them dead? Aren¡¯t they are our officers?"

    Te Langpu sighed, "Sometimes, politics can getplicated . We have to weed out those pesky grasses, so our crops can grow . Well, they are the weeds . "

    "Still, they had never harmed us . Aren¡¯t they Lord Zhang Jiao¡¯s subordinates? These people are known to be loyal to him . Killing them is a bit ..."

    "You¡¯re still na?ve, Boda . Those guys want to revive the Yellow Turbans . What do you think will happen if they seeded?"

    Sima Lang stopped to think . Judging from the previous incidents, he grimaced .

    "Bandits and thieves will flock to them . "

    "Exactly . If they want to form a new battalion with a different name, I will even support them for their bravery . But since they want the old name, then something is terribly wrong . I can¡¯t help but suspect that they connect to some gangster bandits or is a part of our enemy¡¯s spy organization . "

    "..."

    "A new lesson for you, Boda . Show no mercy when you deal with evildoers no matter what past they had . "

 Chapter 353

    Chapter 353

    Chapter 353 ¨C Sima Yi¡¯s Potential

    "Report, we found Gongsun Du¡¯s army . He is heading east toward Ganling City!"

    Sima Fang and the 8-year-old Sima Yi were overseeing the reserve forces of 10,000 trainees and 10,000 anti-riot policemen .

    These policemen had been trained in Julu, which Sima Fang transferred them to Ye City along with him . Now, he could use these policemen to administer the officials and maintain order in Ye City .

    As for Julu, Zhang Jiao took over his position as the Minister of Justice . Sima Fang trusted this former Yellow Turban founder since he always rejected all proposition about the Yellow Turban revival .

    "Do not engage in a fight . Pressure Gongsun Du to the east . Drive them to Fagan County!"

    Fagan County located south of Ganling City . As Tong had not integrated all territories in Ganling Commandery into a part of his kingdom, Fagan County was still not under his rule .

    Sima Fang wanted to use Gongsun Du as a tool to wither all resistance within Fagan County . Since there might be a greedy mayor or a short-sighted governor, Gongsun Du could fight them in their stead . Then, Tong and others could upy those territoriester .

    Meanwhile, Sima Yi observed his father and the soldiers . He kept ncing back and forth between the empty strategic map and his father¡¯s face .

    Noticed his son¡¯s reluctant, Sima Fang looked at Sima Yi .

    "If you have something to say, say it out loud, Zhongda . "

    Sima Yi flinched . He was scared of his father as Sima Fang was strict with his teachings and Sima Yi¡¯s upbringings .

    "I-I-I think it¡¯s a bad idea, father . Err, if we let them loose, they will recruit more soldiers in Fagan and use them against us . "

    "They don¡¯t have enough supplies and gold . How can they conscript soldiers? If they do, they will bemitting political suicide . "

    "Political suicide or not, they will forcefully conscript peasants and enve the local people . Father, you must not allow them to upy any county or a city . We should force them south beyond the Yellow River and let them pester Cao Cao and Zhang Miao instead . "

    Sima Fang narrowed his eyes . Although he did not know what Te Langpu had taught him when they were in Julu, this child revealed his potential as a promising schrtely .

    Sima Yi always came up with new ideas when Sima Fang encountered a problem . The father had consulted with his son many times, which he realized that Te Langpu influenced his son¡¯s way of thinking .

    One of Sima Yi¡¯s weird motto was "Think outside the box," which was unusual for a schr like Sima Fang .

    "Let¡¯s send 10,000 policemen to upy Fagan before Gongsun Du, father . We don¡¯t have to govern the city . We can just bribe the mayor or the governor there with our excess food, so we can ce our banners there for a few months . "

    "Zhongda, that won¡¯t be enough to force them down south . Their home base located in Beiping and Xiangping, so they will have to find their way north eventually . "

    "Exactly . Because their goal is north, they will head south . "

    "Huh? You don¡¯t make any sense here, Zhongda . "

    "Warlords aren¡¯t stupid or na?ve, father . Gongsun Du has limited supplies and soldiers while he wandered in their enemy¡¯s territories . They won¡¯t want to fight us or plow through our lines of defenses . If they do, our Silver Axe Legion is waiting for him, and he will be trapped again . Instead of breaking through our lines, they will look at the Yellow River as their haven since they can fish for food . While they are at it, they will attempt to sail toward the eastern sea, so they can sneak along the coastline to Xiangping . On their journey, they will eventually cross with Cao Cao and Zhang Miao, which will give Gongsun Du another headache . "

    Sima Fang frowned as he looked at the sparkling eyes of his son . He seemed to be enjoying this .

    He wanted to believe in his son, but this idea still came from a child . Furthermore, this matter involved many people, so Sima Fang could not use his judgment alone .

    Without a solution, Sima Fang consulted it with the real experts .

    A minuteter, Sima Fang told everything his son said to the n chat .

    Xun Yu: "That¡¯s an interesting proposal . "

    Jia Xu: "Your son is smart . "

    Ju Shou: "I can¡¯t find a better move than this . Please arrange your troops ording to your son, sir Sima . "

    Sima Fang was speechless by their quick reaction and answers .

    Sima Fang: "Are you sure? He¡¯s only eight this year, and he has never led a troop . "

    Li Feihong: "I think you should follow your son¡¯s suggestion . He¡¯s right in a sense . We don¡¯t want him to forcefully conscript soldiers from Fagan County or nearby counties even if they will weaken their remaining resistance forces . "

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯ve picked up and carrying Mountaineer, Ghost, and the Immortal Legion with me . I¡¯m at Liyang ATM . Do you want me to deploy any force in any location?"

    Ju Shou: "Deploy our Ghost at Liyang, please . Have Zhang He follow Gongsun Du from behind . Also, please move ahead to Fagan County and ce the Mountaineer there . Send Zhang Liao to take over Fagan County before Gongsun Du¡¯s forces arrive . As for senior Sima, you don¡¯t have to move east . Please continue barricading the northern lines . "

    Li Feihong: "Will do . "

    Again, Sima Fang was astonished by their quick response and efficiency, especially Li Feihong¡¯s ability to transfer troops with his teleportation skills .

    ¡¯Military wise, their foundation is solid, but their domestic improvement and human assets can¡¯t keep up with the expansion . We need more talented officers to govern these cities and counties . ¡¯

    ¡¯Once Zhang Tong returns, I will ask him to transfer Lu Zhi and Ju Shou to the domestic division . We have more than enough talented strategists . ¡¯

    Sima Fang turned to his son, "We¡¯ll follow what you suggested . If this campaign seeds, I¡¯ll give this credit to you . "

    The child shook his head, "No need! I enjoy working behind the scenes . I don¡¯t want a promotion or a position in the court . "

    Sima Fang¡¯s frown deepened as he stared into the eyes of Sima Yi .

    "Why?"

    "Getting recognition is fine, but getting too much attention to oneself is bad . It attracts jealousy, envy, and troubles!"

    Listening to his son¡¯s weird vision, Sima Fang mouth curled in a faint smile .

    "You sounded like you were an elite politician . Where did you learn that?"

    "Err, I observed everyone in the court and came up with this myself . I¡¯ve seen too many infighting among the officerstely, and the source of the conflicts are mostly petty reasons . "

    "..."

    Sima Fang wanted toment andpliment his son, but he chose not to . Since Sima Yi had an interesting mindset for a politician, the old father would not spoil it or let Sima Yi get on his high horse .

    Then, Sima Fang recalled that he had just reported that this idea came from his son . He smacked his forehead in regret .

    ¡¯I¡¯m stupid . I shouldn¡¯t have bragged it to the others . ¡¯

    Even if Sima Fang was always serious and stern, the pride of having a good son got the better of him, and his tongue slipped .

    ¡¯I need to control myself more . ¡¯

    Little did he know, Tong, Friday, Li Feihong, and Te Langpu had been keeping tabs on his family . Everything they did was under their surveince .

    .

    All their conversation in the n chat did not escape Tong¡¯s eyes .

    He had recovered from his grieve over Hua Shi and He Xing¡¯s death, and he was recollecting his future ns . Then, Sima Yi was mentioned during this chaotic period .

    ¡¯I wonder if he¡¯s usable now . Should I use him before hees of age?¡¯

 Chapter 354

    Chapter 354

    Chapter 354 ¨C Abandoning System Skills

    Inside Li Feihong¡¯s private dimension, three legions of soldiers, a total of over 120,000 men were resting there . With the lumber and food resources in this world, these men constructed a temporary city in this world .

    Li Feihong worked hard after the death of Hua Shi . He transported all legions, supplies, and officers from Luoyang battle into his world .

    Currently, most elite officers were here .

    The Mountaineer Legion

    - Ding Yuan, Zhang Liao, Li Feihong, and the injured Lu Bu .

    The Ghost Legion

    - Zhang He, Qu Yi, Gao Lan, Han Hao .

    The Immortal Legion

    - Tong, Jia Xu, and Xun Yu .

    Within thergest wooden building, Tong gathered all officer into a meeting . The agendas of this meeting were Tong and Lu Bu¡¯s injuries, the throne ascension, the funeral of the empress and Hua Shi, and Gongsun Du¡¯s betrayal .

    Although Tong was still feeling clunky, he proceeded with the meeting .

    "Our first agenda, as you can see, is rted to my soul injuries and our food crisis . "

    Tong summoned his damaged souls to show it before everybody . His soul had many lines on his body as if they were breaking apart from the cracking . It looked as fragile as a crumbling soil which could easily be destroyed with a touch .

    "With my current injuries, I won¡¯t be able to use all my power, including [Create Food], [Regeneration], and many others . Thises to my attention that our current economy is still heavily relying on my [Create Food], and we will suffer a deficit if we switch our food production to the local right now . "

    Xun Yu and Jia Xu looked at Tong in solemn . This was Tong¡¯s major weakness in his economy .

    Once the system skill was disabled, everything Tong had done would be for naught if he could not make his cities self-sufficient .

    "Last year, Bing Province produced 20,000 tons of rice, and our entire Ji Province made 70,000 tons . However, our average consumption for the military alone is 80,000 tons a year . That doesn¡¯t include the food that our citizens used, which I believe the number should be around a million tons a year . "

    "As you should know, our poption has increased because of the refugees . We expect that by the next year, our food consumption rate will increase by another 30% to 40% . In our backup granaries, we¡¯ve only stored three millions of various food and spice, which will not be enough to support our people in the long run . "

    "Within two to three years, it will be impossible to increase our production to match our poption¡¯s demand . Thus, I will have to use this [Create Food] to support our men . "

    "Still, I am not in the condition to use this skill at all, and I don¡¯t know if I will recover from the soul injuries . Therefore, I will transfer this skill to someone else!"

    Tong nced at Li Feihong, who looked back at Tong with a pale face .

    "Feihong, can you inherit this responsibility?"

    Li Feihong leaned back on his chair to think . As the strategist of the Mountaineer Legion and his responsibility as the military¡¯s logistic, he did not want to shoulder more tasks .

    He shook his head, "I¡¯m really sorry, Tong . I have my hands full with my current world¡¯s production and my logistic duties . Also, I disagree with you on one regard . Your [Create Food] is not the only way to solve the production issue . Don¡¯t forget that I still have this world as a backup . Currently, my production rate is 100,000 tons a day . I repeat, A DAY! Instead of giving me that [Create Food], I think your [Inventory] will be more helpful for my transportation and other deliveries . "

    Looking at this former timid man in shock, Tong chuckled, "Well, now that you mentioned it . You are more suitable to handle the [Inventory] more than anyone . "

    Tong turned to his followers in the room, "Is there anyone who wishes to inherit my [Inventory]?"

    All generals and strategists gulped . It would be a lie if any of them said they did not want this system skill . Still, none of their faces was thick enough to steal this skill from Li Feihong, who was their key yer in all fields .

    Then, Jia Xu raised his hand, "I¡¯m not asking for your skill, but I have a question . "

    "Ask away . "

    "From your tone, are you trying to distribute all your skills to us, my lord?"

    Tong grinned, "Exactly! What¡¯s the use of possessing all these skills when I can¡¯t even use it?"

    "What about your authority as an immortal? If you don¡¯t have a skill, will it affect you in any way?"

    "Yes, it will be very inconvenient to me, but it will be more useful to the people in the future . "

    Jia Xu sighed as he lowered his hand . It was good to have a steadfast person as their lord, but he worried about Tong as a person .

    Tong had just been through a harsh loss . Both his wives died in this campaign, and he came back as a crippled . As someone who had been by Tong¡¯s side for years, Jia Xu hoped that he would not push himself too hard .

    Xun Yu also gazed at Tong while he bit his lower lips . The bitterness and helplessness feeling haunted Xun Yu when he detected sadness within Tong¡¯s voice .

    Because Xun Yu excelled in evaluating people, he could tell that Tong did not want to part with his skills, but he had to distribute them to his subordinates . Or else, his empire might crumble as their foundation was too weak .

    ¡¯Our country foundation ... I will focus on them! I¡¯ll strengthen them to the point that our new dynasty canst a thousand years!¡¯

    Tong concluded his first skill distribution, "Since no one objects, my [Inventory] will go to Li Feihong . I¡¯ve loaded out all gold and other things inside your warehouse so that the skill wille empty . Feihong, transfer my gold to Ye¡¯s treasuryter, okay?"

    While Tong was talking, he transferred his [Inventory] to his n warehouse . Then, he paid the 100,000 lifespan fee and allocated the skill to Li Feihong .

    Tong could feel that his soul became lighter, and a portion of the cracked injuries mended together .

    His soul was healing!

    ¡¯Giving away my skills benefits my soul . Since it embedded in my soul, it might be a burden that increased my injuries . ¡¯

    Tong gained enlightenment . Now, he did not regret parting with his old skills .

    Li Feihong bowed his head to Tong, epting his goodwill and vision .

    "I¡¯ll take care of the food problem from now on . "

    "Thanks, Feihong . "

    Tong nced at his skill list . There were still many skills that he wanted to give his men .

    [Homing Arrow] + [Bow Master] package,

    [Time Stop},

    [Firearm Creation],

    [Radar Map],

    [Immortal Yang Vein],

    And [Sword Mastery] .

    Unfortunately, all demonic rted skills could not be transferred, so he had to keep them with himself . Once his injuries healed and his power grew, he would find a way to get rid of these useless demonic skills in the future .

    Tong nced at Zhang He, "Junyi, yourmanding style and your tactics are heavily biased against directbat . Your past fights tell us that you favored ambushes and mind games more . "

    Zhang He was taken aback by the sudden critics from his lord . His previous actions were like what Tong had said .

    Because Zhang He had good memories and he took notes in geography, this general always exhibited his specialties by ambushing and exploiting his enemy¡¯s weaknesses while he kept his casualty minimum .

    From Tong¡¯s point of view, Zhang He suited with guerri warfare rather than traditional warfare . Thus, he adjusted his skill and put his [Radar Map] into the n asset .

    "Because you always looked for ambushes, you didn¡¯t contribute much in our battles . Still, I appreciate how you treasured your men . For your contribution, I¡¯ll give you a skill that can give you an extra eye, [Radar Map] . "

    A status menu appeared before Zhang He, and the HUD map with the range of 10 kilometers dazzled him .

    As someone who was not familiar with this system map culture, it would take Zhang He a while before he could master the use of this map .

    "T-Thank you, my lord! I-I don¡¯t deserve this!"

    "Just take it as a reprimand of yourck of achievements then . Next time, be more efficient . "

    "Y-Yes, my lord!"

    Teasing this legend in his youth, Tong snickered .

    "Next, Fengxian!"

    Everybody jolted as turned to Lu Bu, who was in a simr condition as Tong .

    Lu Bu had suffered internal injuries as he forcefully activated Tong¡¯s [Double el] without a healing skill .

    Time Alter: Double el was a skill that enabled users to move faster and increased the user¡¯s perception abilities, allowing him to see everything in a slow-motion . The circtory system and muscr system increased their efficiency, increasing the skill user¡¯s capabilities beyond the limit of humans .

    Triggering this skill ced a burden onto the user¡¯s body . Tong relied on his regeneration skill to make up for the sacrifice he had to pay for the activation .

    As someone who had not trained in sub-consciousness management and the control of blood cells, using the Double el harmed Lu Bu¡¯s physical constitution .

    Lu Bu looked at Tong while he controlled his breathing to ease his pained muscles, "What do you want?"

    Tong gave Lu Bu a faint smile, "I¡¯m giving you one of my best trump cards, [Immortal Yang Vein] .

    "What kind of stupid crap is that?"

    "It¡¯s a skill that instantly heals your physical body once a day . It also boosts your prowess on the bed . Do you want it or not?"

    Had it been the old Lu Bu, he would have taken it without much thought . Now, he had been through difficulties and many failures in his life . Lu Bu became more cautious and calcting .

    "What¡¯s the catch? It won¡¯t be free, I assume . "

    "You¡¯re overthinking . This is your reward for all your hard works . Can¡¯t you appreciate it a little? This is ... was my favorite skill, you know?"

    "You sounded like you don¡¯t want to give me this skill . "

    "To be honest, I don¡¯t want to give this to anyone . "

    "Then, why me?"

    "You need it more than I do . "

    "Don¡¯t you afraid that once I¡¯ve recovered, I won¡¯t kill you?"

    "Good luck fighting Khan and the rest of my subordinates by yourself, then?"

    Lu Bu sighed in his throat . He slowly leaned back to his chair, "Do whatever you want . "

    "Thank you . Please use your Mountaineer Legion to guard Bing Province as before . I¡¯m sure that Khan will attack that province again since it shares borders with the Xiongnu¡¯s home ground . "

    "Figured . Hmm . "

    Tong nced at his remaining skills, and he looked at Zhang Liao .

    ¡¯What should I give him, I wonder? [Time Stop]?¡¯

 Chapter 355

    Chapter 355

    Chapter 355 ¨C Zhang Liao¡¯s New Skill

    Gongsun Du and his remaining soldiers were in distress as they avoided allbat, marching to the east and heading toward Fagan County .

    The journey was arduous as they marched across farnds, forests, and rocky areas . The weather was also getting colder each day as winter was approaching .

    They had attempted to march north . However, once they spotted Sima Fang¡¯s barricaded lines, Gongsun Du ordered his men to run away .

    They could have broken through those defensive lines with ease, but Gongsun Du had worries .

    Before they entered Ye territory, they had encountered the Silver Axe Legion of Xu Huang . With the threat of 40,000 elites beyond Sima Fang¡¯s defensive lines, Gongsun Du did not want his men to be sandwiched between Sima Fang Army and Xu Huang Army .

    Getting back to his territory would be easier if he could reach the eastern coast or the Yellow River . Gongsun Du nned to resupply in Fagan County first, which they could also conscript more soldiers or extort provisions from the locals . Then, he would head south toward the Puyang City of Qiao Mao . If Gongsun Du was lucky, he could borrow more supplies from this minor lord and travel east via the water route .

    Days passed .

    As Sima Fang cut off their supply routes from the north, Gongsun Du ran out of provision . His soldiers began deserting in batches every night .

    They resorted an immoral practice by robbing nearby small peasant viges, but their food was still not enough for his men .

    When they finally reached the Fagan County wall, only 5,000 men remained in his battalion .

    Starved and exhausted, they almost copsed when they saw the county wall .

    Wang Men consoled his n lord, "Rejoice, my lord . Fagan County is before us! From what I know, this minor county only has like 1,000 garrison militias as guards after the long famine . We should have no problem taking over the county and resupply!"

    Gongsun Du nodded, "I think so as well! Once we have enough food, we¡¯ll draft some meat shields and workers back with us . If everything goes as nned, we should be able to return to Xiangping before the next spring . "

    "Haha, my lord . You¡¯re pessimistic . I think we¡¯ll be at home before the winter!"

    The two of themughed and chatted in a merry as they proceeded closer to the county wall . Soon, they could finally see the governor¡¯s banners and gs .

    There were three types of banners among all gs, Zhang, Ding, and Lu .

    Gongsun Du pulled his horse reign, gazing at the banners in doubt .

    "Zhang, Ding, and Lu? Who are they? What¡¯s this mayor¡¯s name again?"

    "I-I don¡¯t know as well . Let¡¯s send our scouts to investigate . "

    Before they could even send their messenger, they heard loud noises from behind the wall .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    They were the sounds of war drums!

    "S-Send someone to appease them! We¡¯re not here to invade them!"

    Thousands of soldiers formed ranks on top of the wall, and they were armed with crossbows . Without waiting for Gongsun Du¡¯s messengers, they aimed and fired one arrow .

    The message arrownded before Gongsun Du, and a loud voice man shouted from the top of the wall .

    "SLAVES OF GONGSUN FAMILY, SCRAM!!"

    Gongsun Du gazed at them in shock .

    "What!? Why!? I haven¡¯t done anything . "

    Wang Men squinted his eyes, trying to observe the people on the wall .

    The garrison soldiers did not disappoint Wang Men . They raised two more banners at the sides of the county gate shelter .

    Mountaineer Legion

    Wang Men¡¯s jaw dropped as he could not believe his eyes .

    "HOW THE HELL ARE THEY HERE!? I THOUGHT THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN LUOYANG!"

    Gongsun Du turned to his subordinate, "What¡¯s wrong? Who are they?"

    "They¡¯re Zhang Tong¡¯s elites, my lord! Those guys are the Mountaineer Legion . Their leaders are Ding Yuan, Zhang Liao, and Lu Bu!"

    "WHAT!?"

    The front county gate slowly opened, and a 5,000-man heavy cavalry battalion exited the city, forming ranks before the wall .

    Zhang Liao led his men and rode forward, standing at the forefront of his men .

    "COWARD OF THE GONGSUN, COME AND FIGHT ME!"

    Gongsun Du, however, held his head as he could not understand the reality .

    He heard that the Mountaineer Legion went to Luo Yang, which should have taken a month or two if they marched here . Betraying his expectation, the entire groups were there .

    Wang Men snapped out of his confusion . He yelled, "My lord, don¡¯t get fooled by them! This must be imposters!"

    "Imposters?" Gongsun Du¡¯s jaw dropped, "Really?"

    "Yes! The guy in front should have been nameless idiots that are taking the roles as their soldiers . "

    "How did youe up with that!? What if they were real?"

    "Impossible, my lord . Our spies informed us that the Mountaineer Legion had traveled to Henei to join the coalition . From that city, it should have taken them at least a month or two before they can reach this county!"

    "What!? Does that mean ..."

    "They are imposters! It¡¯s a ploy of Zhang Tong or this city mayor to trick us into retreat!"

    "B-But that general looks strong . "

    "I¡¯ll prove it to you, my lord! I shall duel with him and get his head for you . Once he¡¯s dead, I¡¯ll expose their stupid tactic and punish these mongrels!"

    "O-Oh! Okay, go then . Bring me victory!"

    "Of course, my lord . Please wait and witness my triumph return . "

    Though Wang Men was nervous, he rode forward alone, challenging Zhang Liao into a duel .

    "I, WANG MEN OF GONGSUN DU, CHALLENGE YOUR STRONGEST WARRIOR!"

    Zhang Liao flinched when he heard the name . As he was a member of Tong¡¯s n chat, he marked the name, Wang Men, as a wanted man since he killed He Xing .

    With bloodshot eyes, Zhang Liao muttered, informing his subordinates .

    "None of you interfere . I need this bastard alive for our lord!"

    The killing intent aura from Zhang Liao intensified . Compared to Lu Bu, his aura was not up to the god of war¡¯s level, but Zhang Liao still had enough intimidating presence to make a strong man wet himself .

    Zhang Liao¡¯s murderous re locked on to Wang Men, who froze from the pressure on the spot .

    ¡¯W-W-What is this aura!?¡¯

    As someone who had never fought against true elites, Wang Men¡¯s mind was in disarray .

    Zhang Liao rode forward with his halberd . His redhare jogged in in leisure as if it was out for a stroll .

    "Are you Wang Men?"

    Flustered and intimidated, Wang Men¡¯s voice cracked, "W-Who goes there!?"

    "Zhang Liao, Zhang Wenyuan!"

    Zhang Liao¡¯s redhare dashed forward . In two breath, Zhang Liao reached Wang Man, and his halberd shed downward .

    Wang Men¡¯s mind was still empty because of the oppressing aura, but his muscle memory kicked in . He raised his spear shaft to block it .

    *SWUA*

    The halberd cut through Wang Men¡¯s iron spear shaft like butter . As Wang Men could not block it, the halberd continued down, cutting his right arm in the process .

    Wang Men lost his bnce on horseback, and he fell off, rolling down on the ground . His eyes were still staring straight, unable toprehend the entire event .

    He turned to his right shoulder as he did not feel anything beyond his right arm .

    Seeing the missing arm, Wang Men screamed, crying in a panic . Soon, the heart-wrenching pain struck him, and his voice got louder .

    Zhang Liao pulled back his rein, disregarding Gongsun Du and his remaining troops . He jumped off his horse and strode toward Wang Man .

    He rotated his halberd and mmed the halberd¡¯s blunt edge onto Wang Men¡¯s spine .

    *CRACK*

    Wang Men lost his consciousness as he felt intoatose .

    Zhang Liao turned around, ring at the remaining soldiers .

    "Who¡¯s next?"

    Gongsun Du shrunk back in a panic . Since he heard Zhang Liao¡¯s name and Wang Men fell, this new n lord did not have enough courage to fight back .

    "R-RETREAT!! FULL RETREAT!!"

    Without bothering waiting for his men, Gongsun Du pulled his horse around and galloped away .

    The rest of his men came to their senseter . They galloped after their lord despite their exhaustion .

    A few hundreds of Gongsun Du¡¯s horses could not run anymore . They knelt and threw off their riders while their mouth foamed .

    Zhang Liao did not pursue . He turned around and carried Wang Men by his cor, dragging his body back to the county .

    Upon entering the gate, Lu Bu gazed at Zhang Liao and nodded .

    "You¡¯ve gotten stronger . "

    Zhang Liao shook his head, "It was Tong¡¯s skill . "

    "Still, you¡¯re now stronger . If I had never awakened immortal power, you would have surpassed me . "

    "Eh, if you say so . "

    Zhang Liao shrugged it off as he was not proud of his feat one bit . ncing at his status menu, he had aplicated thought about his new system skill .

    .

    [Sword Mastery] Cannot be leveled up

    - Master all kinds of swords . Increase all attributes by ten times if the host is using a sword .

    - If the host kills an enemy, increase the host¡¯s lifespan by the remaining lifespan of the dead enemy .

    - Upkeeps: 2,000 Lifespans per year .

    .

    Zhang Liao was carrying a sword in a sheath behind his back . As long as he had it, his physical strength would increase, which Zhang Liao could feel the surge of power in his body .

    He could see the remaining lifespans he had . Since Tong blessed all generals with over 10,000 lifespans, Zhang Liao did not have to worry about the annual upkeep .

    Furthermore, Zhang Liao could absorb other¡¯s lifespans if he ran short of it .

    Also, he obtained this angelic cultivation manual from Tong, which made his growth potential higher . Once Zhang Liao could obtain wings, his natural strength would multiply further .

    ¡¯It feels so unreal . ¡¯

    Zhang Liao nced at his boss, Lu Bu, thinking about the other skill that this god of war received from Tong .

    ¡¯Tong said that he didn¡¯t want to part with that skill . I wonder what the skill effect is . ¡¯

 Chapter 356

    Chapter 356

    Chapter 356 ¨C Liu Bei in Hongnong

    The retreat order and reorganization were in a chaotic at first, but all Tong¡¯s subordinates handled the pressure well .

    After Tong assigned his skills to Zhang He, Zhang Liao, Li Feihong, and Lu Bu, Tong sent the Mountaineer to Fagan County .

    As usual Li Feihong traveled on the fastest horse along with Zhang He, whom Tong also ordered to go along with Li Feihong to practice reading the HUD map .

    Both Zhang He and Li Feihong had reached Fagan County before Gongsun Du forces arrived . Again, Li Feihong opened his teleportation portal, which linked to his private dimension, and all Mountaineer Legion siege the county from the inside .

    The county fell without much of a resistance .

    After dropping off Zhang Liao, Lu Bu, Ding Yuan, and their soldiers here, Li Feihong rested in the county, waiting for the next mobilization .

    Gongsun Du¡¯s remaining forces came as they had predicted, which Zhang Liao captured Wang Men and chased away Gongsun Du to the south .

    Zhang Liao carried the near-death Wang Men to Tong, who was meditating in Fagan city hall .

    "Tong, I¡¯ve brought the killer . "

    Tong did not even bother opening his eyes . He waved his hands to chase them away .

    "Threat his wounds and throw him in a dungeon . We¡¯ll decide his fate when we return to Ye . "

    "..."

    Zhang Liao cupped his fist and left along with the crippled man, who stared at Tong in shock .

    Behind Tong¡¯s back, two spirits with scar-like injuries on their body floated in the air . The broken parts mended by 1/100 a millimeter per minute, which was healing Tong¡¯s souls in a snail speed .

    Still, Tong did not care about it right now . At the moment, he was about to break through his bottleneck .

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    After years of training, Tong crossed the threshold of a four-winged demon as his fourth soul had awakened .

    When Hua Shi died, Tong did his best to withhold his desire for revenge against Sun Fang and the Sun Household . In the end, he did not order his men to hunt for the Sun Family, and the system rewarded him by weakening his sin of Wrath for the second time .

    And now, He Xing¡¯s killer, Wang Man, appeared in front of Tong . This time, he reined his temper again, which achieved the third amendment of this sin .

    Thus, [Wrath] awakened!

    The newly awakened soul of Wrath also born with the same injuries that the others had .

    Wrath¡¯s appearance was the same as Tong¡¯s current look in this world . Instead of having an angry look like its name, Wrath wore a modern ck suit and a tie, a funeral uniform . The expression on the soul¡¯s face was as if he had been crying for days .

    Tong gazed at the sad soul, who had swollen eyes and traces of tears on his face . Looking at Wrath, Tong had the urge to cry as well .

    "They will pay for their crimes . For now,e to me and rest . "

    All souls returned to Tong¡¯s body, and he could feel the increase in his strength .

    ¡¯Khan has four wings . Now, I¡¯ve caught up with him! Next time I see him, I won¡¯t let him run away again!¡¯

    .

    September 187, A . D .

    A few months after the war at Luoyang¡¯s region passed . Many forces scattered to different cities and provinces .

    Gongsun Du fled to Puyang which he refuged under this city¡¯s minor lord for the time being .

    Cao Cao returned to Xuchang and did not make any military movement . Instead, he developed Xuchang and Runan¡¯s domestic, stabilizing the order and economic power . Unlike Tong¡¯s affiliate cities, the harvest and ie taxes in his territories had surpluses, which Cao Cao could use these to improve his military in the future .

    Yuan Shao marched through the central in and reached Xiapi in peace . Upon entering Tao Qian¡¯s affiliate capital, Yuan Shao took over the control of Xu Province, pacifying manymanderies at once .

    Xiaopei Commandery, Xiapi Commandery, Langye Commandery, Pengcheng County, and nine other counties fell into the hands of the Yuan n . Former subordinates of Tao Qian, such as Mi Zhu, Chen Deng, and others also joined Yuan Shao¡¯s forces as they wanted to keep their posts .

    At the west, many changes urred as well .

    Liu Yang, Ma Teng, and others retreated all troops from Hongnong to Chang¡¯An . All of Khan¡¯s forces returned to Liang Province, licking their wounds and preparing for a campaign against Liu Yan at Yi Province .

    Yuan Shu seized this opportunity to upy the strategic cities of Hongnong and Luoyang . With three majormanderies under his control, Yuan Shu could not stop dreaming and ncing at his Imperial Seal .

    Sun Jian, Sun Ce, Sun Fang, and all their subordinates followed after Yuan Shu and maintain their post at Luoyang .

    Liu Biao, Huang Zhong, and Huang Zu returned to Xiangyang, preparing to mobilize their army south to pacify Changsha, Guiling, Wuling, and Guiyang Commandery, which were under the threat of Shanyue Tribes . During this period, Liu Biao was busy enlisting many schrs and talented generals to his side, reinforcing his Jing Province .

    Budugen and his troops retreated to Ji Commandery, which he rebelled against the Gongsun n and imed it as his own .

    The Silver Axe Legion also march to Beiping Commandery, which was once Gongsun Zan¡¯s Capital City . Xu Huang, Gao Shun, Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, and others took over the control from the Gongsun n, making this city one of Tong¡¯s affiliate cities .

    All Gongsun Du¡¯s subordinates, who knew about the rebellion, fled to Xiangping, joining forces with Gongsun Kang, who was Gongsun Du¡¯s son .

    Kong Rong of Beihai kept his promises . Once he returned to his territory, he sent messengers to Ye City with a letter of submission . Beihai agreed to join Tong¡¯s forces without a fight as they wanted to side with the empress .

    Unfortunately, they did not know about He Xing¡¯s death yet .

    As for the minor lords, they withdrew to their home cities in peace .

    Zhang Miao went back to Chenliu .

    Kong Zhuo returned to Qiao .

    However, an incident urred among Qiao Mao¡¯s ranks . Liu Dai, a subordinate under Qiao Mao, killed his lord and took over the city as the new governor .

    Xun You, Xun Yu¡¯s cousin, and all Xun n members had relocated to Ye City as they followed the footsteps of Xun Yu¡¯s sess . The Xun n officially dere their stance that they would support Tong instead of Cao Cao .

    In the end, nothing was defined in this chaotic world . As long as political power and greed involved, anything could happen .

    .

    Meanwhile, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, who had been traveling westward, reached Hongnong City .

    Instead of encountering the Xiongnu Army, they found Yuan Shu¡¯s forces entering the city . The three brothers had to inquire the info from the surviving locals .

    "It¡¯s Lord Yuan Shu! Lord Yuan Shu scared the Xiongnu away!"

    "I heard Lord Yuan Shu routed Xiongnu Army at Wu Gate, and they turned tail and ran away!"

    "No, no . I heard Yuan Shu¡¯s generals are all valiant . Each of them ughtered like 1,000 men with one hand!"

    The three brothers frowned as they looked at each other in disbelief . They booked a room inside an inn, consulting about the events .

    Liu Bei mumbled as he was still in deep thought, "It¡¯s too weird . Xiongnu soldiers are strong, and that Khan is many times stronger . Why did they retreat from Hongnong?"

    Zhang Fei grabbed a wine jar and chugged it as usual, "Maybe we¡¯ve already killed all of their strongest men? They didn¡¯t even defend Luoyang or the Hangu Pass .

    "No, that shouldn¡¯t be it . Xiongnu had the advantage, yet they retreated . That Khan also forsook his men at Ho Gate when they could have resisted the alliance forces . "

    Guan Yu drew a map of Luoyang, Hongnong, and the Yellow River . He stared at it with widened eyes as if he received enlightenment .

    "They fled because they were afraid of Zhang Tong and Yuan Shu¡¯s coalition?"

    Hearing Guan Yu¡¯sment, Liu Bei turned to his second brother, "Coalition? I thought all alliance with Zhang Tong ended the moment everyone left him . "

    "Yuan Shu did not participate in our meeting . He might have another idea . "

    Guan Yu drew another map with small stones and rocks on a tea table, simting Wan, Hongnong, Luoyang, Bing Province, and Xuchang .

    "Look here, Xuande . Yuan Shu owns Wan Commandery, and he has just taken Hongnong . Then, Luoyang is unupied, so he will eventually take it as well . "

    "And?"

    "Yuan Shu¡¯s territory is now connecting to Zhang Tong, Xiongnu, and Cao Cao . As a matter of fact, he¡¯s in the middle of all territories . "

    Liu Bei stared at the pseudo map as he imagined the geography of four warlords¡¯ territories .

    Khan upied Liang Province and Chang¡¯An .

    Zhang Tong had Bing Province and Ji Province, controlling the northern in .

    Cao Cao lurked in the central in, governing Xuchang and Runan .

    Then, Yuan Shu with three cities in the middle .

    "Yuan Shu has be a buffer between Xiongnu and others!"

    "Exactly . This is probably Xiongnu¡¯s n . I think they knew that Yuan Shu isn¡¯t their opponent, so they pretend to withdraw back to Chang¡¯An . "

    "That still doesn¡¯t make sense, though . If Xiongnu wanted to bait Yuan Shu into Hongnong, why did they move to Luoyang to lose their soldiers?"

    "I have no idea . Khan¡¯s action also doesn¡¯t make sense to me . "

    Silence enveloped the room as Guan Yu and Liu Beicked the analysis ability to decipher the entire situation .

    Zhang Fei, who did not care about the current situation, looked outside the window, "What should we do next? Should we disband our forces?"

    Liu Bei¡¯s eyes gleamed, thinking about how Tong dominated the Northern in . His jealousy and anger swelled in his heart .

    "Let¡¯s visit Yuan Shu . Since we have an army, we should obtain some prestige and a noble title . Since he¡¯s going to get Luoyang soon, he should be recruiting schrs and generals . "

    Guan Yu nodded in approval, "Indeed . We should also establish our connection with the officers, so we can bring them to our side . We need more officers and strategists for our toons . "

    Since the three brothers were rootless, they marched to Hongnong City Hall, seeking an audience with Yuan Shu .

    Unfortunately, Yuan Shu had already left Hongnong to Luoyang with the Sun n forces . Currently, only Yuan Shu¡¯s nephew, Yuan Yin, and a few civil officers stayed behind to maintain the city order .

    Without a choice, Liu Bei visited Yuan Yin, paying respect to this newly instated governor .

    When they got inside the city hall, they found a thin short man sitting on the governor seat, working on several scrolls on his desk .

    Yuan Yin had sunken cheeks and messy hairstyle, yet his face did not look intimidating or scary to others . Instead, his eyes and expression were warm, which gave an image of a gentle officer .

    Liu Bei relieved that they found a gentle and hardworking man instead of an egotistic overlord . He cupped his fist and bowed to Yuan Yin .

    "I¡¯m Liu Bei of Ji, and these two are my sworn brothers . We¡¯re here to seek employment from Lord Yuan Shu . "

    Yuan Yin smiled and nodded, "Do you have a band or an army with you?"

    "Yes . We have a toon of 5,000 militias with us . Actually, we had participated in the coalition against the Xiongnu, but Yuan Shao and Zhang Tong disbanded the coalition, so we have no ce to go . "

    "Very well . You can join our army . Since you already have 5,000 troops, I¡¯ll make you our 5,000-manmander . How is that sound to you?"

    Inwardly, Liu Bei clicked his tongue since he had expected more . He bowed to Yuan Yin and epted the title anyway, "Thank you for your trust . I won¡¯t let you down . "

    With this, Liu Bei and his two sworn brothers became a part of Yuan Shu Army .

 Chapter 357

    Chapter 357

    Chapter 357 ¨C Book 3 Epilogue

    December, 187 A . D .

    Tong, Li Feihong, and other officers returned to Ye City to attend Hua Shi and He Xing funeral .

    Kong Rong and his subordinates also visited Ye City to attend this funeral as well . They were shocked and disbelieved at first, but they still came here, ensuring their stance as Tong¡¯s new subordinates .

    Lu Zhi, Zhao Yun, Tian Yu, and all former Gongsun Zan¡¯s soldiers also attended the funeral .

    While Tong was sitting alone, watching the cold dead bodies of his wives before the cremation ceremony, Zhao Yun and Tian Yu knelt down before Tong .

    Zhao Yun spoke first, "I¡¯ve failed my duty . I¡¯m here for my punishment . "

    Tian Yu also knelt and mmed his head on the floor, "I¡¯ve failed to protect her majesty . I¡¯m here to receive my death!"

    Tong did not speak to both of them . He simply stared down at these two future legends with a sad look .

    While they were in silence, waiting for Tong to speak, Liu Xie ran to Tong, crying and hugging him .

    "Papa, mama is dead! Mama is dead!"

    Zhang Min, Hua Shi¡¯s daughter, also ran to Tong . Both of them wailed, which their crying voice silent all funeral attendees . All of them watched Tong with sympathy and pity as this was the hardest time for Tong¡¯s family .

    Tong hugged his adopted son and his daughter tight, "They are resting in Heaven, Bohe, Min¡¯er . They will be angels, and they will watch over us from above . "

    The crying did not stop . Instead, it worsened as the children were too young to control their emotion .

    As his children did not stop crying, tears flowed from Tong¡¯s eyes as he also cried along with them .

    An hourter, they exhausted themselves and fell asleep . Tong passed both his children to caretakers and turned to the two men, who were still kowtowing on the ground .

    Every onlooker was expecting a harsh scold from Tong . Even Jia Xu believed that Tong might kill them out of anger .

    With traces of tears on his face, Tong also knelt and kowtowed to Zhao Yun and Tian Yu .

    "Thank you for saving my son . "

    The onlooking crowd was shocked . Since Tong was a respected figure which should be equal to their emperor, he should not bow or kneel to anyone .

    Jia Xu and Xun Yu rushed to Tong¡¯s sides, trying to get him up .

    "What are you doing, my lord!? You will sooner orter be an emperor . You can¡¯t bow your head to anyone!"

    "You¡¯re her majesty¡¯s prince consort! You can¡¯t bow to ordinary soldiers!"

    Zhao Yun and Tian Yu also gazed at Tong in disbelief . They knew about Tong¡¯s status, which they had prepared for capital punishment, yet Tong thanked them?

    "No, I did what I thought it has to be done . "

    Tong shook off Jia Xu and Xun Yu¡¯s hands and knelt before Zhao Yuan and Tian Yu again .

    "Thank you for saving my son . "

    Still shocked, Zhao Yun¡¯s voice cracked, "B-But we failed our duties . Her Majesty was ..."

    Tong raised his head up, looking at them with a smile . However, his teary eyes revealed his thought .

    "Had both of you not been there, Liu Xie would have died along with his mother . "

    "But her ..."

    "You didn¡¯t fail your duties . Both my wife and my Liu Xie were their targets, and you protected him . Thank you for saving my son . "

    Tong kowtowed again . Although Tong had stopped crying, all onlookers thought that he was crying while he was bowing his head .

    Zhao Yun also had the same thought . Because of guilt and various emotions, Zhao Yun¡¯s eyes became moist .

    Tian Yu was more open than Zhao Yun . He wept as he mmed his forehead on the ground again, "I¡¯m sorry! I should have been more careful! I¡¯m so sorry!"

    It had be a weird situation where three young men were kowtowing at the others .

    Tong raised his head to look at Zhao Yun and Tian Yu with a bitter smile . He raised them up and hugged them .

    "Thank you foring back alive . "

    Zhao Yun could no longer hold his tears . He sobbed and cried as he leaned on Tong¡¯s shoulder . Tian Yu was the same, wailing without shame .

    From this day, Zhao Yun and Tian Yu vowed in their heart that they would not repeat the same mistake again .

    Zhao Yun engraved an oath within his mind, ¡¯Till death, I¡¯ll use this life for him! I¡¯ll be stronger, and I¡¯ll be his strongest shield! No one else under my care will die as long as I live!¡¯

    Tian Yu also established his career goal, ¡¯I¡¯ll redeem myself . I¡¯ll learn more about tactics and strategies, so no one can ambush my troops and me again! I¡¯ll be a guardian general that stands firm in all kinds of adversaries!¡¯

    Tong, Tian Yu, and Zhao Yun had not realized this yet . All schrs who witnessed their actions took notes at these events, and they nned to write it in their records .

    Some of them thought that Tong was a pretender, faking crying to win the hearts of the talented youths .

    Some believed that Tong was a kind-hearted man who forgave Zhao Yun and Tian Yu¡¯s crimes for neglecting duties .

    The rest interpreted it as Tong showed mercy on his junior disciples as all of them studied under Lu Zhi .

    Among the crowd, only Li Feihong and Te Langpu looked at them withplicated emotion . Tong had stolen the role of Liu Bei and tamed Zhao Yun in a simr manner, which was aplete coincident .

    Dong Bai, Wang Yun, and Diaochan attended the funeralter, but they did not approach Tong . As their status couldplicate this entire scene, they withdrew back to Friday¡¯s resident, waiting for the right opportunity to speak with Tong again .

    .

    After the event, Wang Men was executed in public .

    Jia Xu took this chance to propaganda the death of He Xing and Hua Shi, turning it into a grand conspiracy of the Sun n and Gongsun n .

    Because of Jia Xu¡¯s vicious tongue, the civilians were in an uproar, cursing and swearing at Sun Fang and Gongsun Du . As a byproduct of such move, more strong men joined the military with their free-will, vowing to avenge for the empress and Tong¡¯s wife .

    The emotion spread from the inner city to outer city areas . Then, they reached other towns through the words of mouths, gossips, and spies, escting the sadness to anger, and from anger to hatred .

    By the end of December, Han-royalist officers in Julu, Ye, Zhongshan, Jinyang, and even Beihei of Kong Rong were in an uproar, requesting their governors to dispatch troops, so they could participate in a campaign and revenge for the empress .

    Because of the news, Cao Cao and other warlords became aware of the He Xing¡¯s death, which changed their perspective about this country¡¯s power struggle .

    All eyes were on Tong once again as they waited for Tong¡¯s decision .

    To all warlords, Liu Xie was the only one who could seed the throne . If Tong took the throne, they would frame him as a tyrant traitor of Han, and all lords would have the legitimate reason to form a nation-wide coalition against Tong . Afterward, the throne would be avable for grasp, which would be their opportunity .

    On the other hand, if Tong allowed Liu Xie to take the throne, they could still reap benefits from the young emperor . By bribing or showing Liu Xie with women and gold, they could sway this child and manipte him into issuing imperial decrees, which would favor their status .

    The threat of Xiongnu had not been solved, yet everyone was looking for an opportunity to seize power .

    This was a period of chaos .

 Chapter 358

    Chapter 358: 358

    Chapter 358 ¨C Book 4 Prologue - Part 1

    Friday, who was in Dong Bai form, returned to Ye City along with Diaochan and Wang Yun .

    They managed to attend Hua Shi and He Xing¡¯s funeral on time before the cremation ceremony . However, they had not talked to Tong yet .

    Friday and Medusa had no problem with waiting, but Wang Yun, who was a stranger to Tong, could not sit still . He was nervous about who would be the next in line for the throne after He Xing .

    To Wang Yun, the false emperor Yuan Shang and his daughter¡¯s pseudo empress status were notparable to the legitimate royal blood of Liu Xie . As such, Wang Yun contemted if he should offer Diaochan as Liu Xie¡¯s prospect .

    If Liu Xie could take the throne and wed Diaochan, it would be a win-win for him . However, it would spell a different scenario if Tong became the next emperor .

    Wang Yun knew about the rtionship between Tong and Friday, and he was also aware of their identities beyond the surface .

    All three of them were a demon family from Hell!

    Wedding Diaochan to Tong was impossible as she was his mother-inw in the otherworld, so he could not obtain status through this rtionship .

    Still, there was hope . As long as Diaochan could be a bridge for Wang Yun and Tong, he should at least gain some benefits if he could work for him .

    .

    March 15th, 188 A . D .

    Months had passed since the funeral, which it was now spring .

    The mourning period was still in effect, but all frantic civil officers were preparing for a battlefield . It was not a battlefield for soldiers but a war-zone between politicians and civil officers .

    In Ye City, Tong had dyed his annual meeting with all officers because of the mourning period . However, he called for an all-city assembly today .

    The topic was about the coronation of a new emperor .

    Opportunities for promotions awaited for all officers and generals if they yed their cards right . Today, the mind game of politicians would not end until Tong finished assigning roles to his servants .

    Zhang Jiao, Zhen Yi, Te Langpu, Ju Shou, Li Feihong, Xun Yu, Jia Xu, Sima Fang, Sima Lang, Lu Zhi, Kong Rong, Wang Yun, and the neer, Xun You, stood in line before the central carpet at the city hall left side . All of them were civil officers and strategists .

    Behind the back rows, Sima Yi sneaked into the meeting, observing the meeting in glee .

    On the right side, all the generals were present . Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Ding Yuan grouped together as they were from the same legion . Lu Bu¡¯s armor stood out from the rest as he wore his favorite red steel te armor set .

    Xu Huang led another group of Silver Axe Legion generals . Behind him, Zhou Cang, Bo Cai, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang followed after their grandmander . Unlike the shy Lu Bu, he covered his steel te armor with a long white cloak .

    Zhang He stood calm in front of his men . He also brought all of his subordinate generals, Han Hao, Qu Yi, and Gao Lan . Different from the white-cloak Xu Huang and the red knight Lu Bu, Zhang He wore ck outer garments on top of his steel armor . He also had a piece of ck cloth covering his mouth and nose . Had he wore a battle helmet, he would look like a ninja in a battle suit instead of a general .

    The oddest general of them all was the young girl in a green dress who stood in the front row, Dong Bai . At this point, everybody had already discovered that Dong Bai was actually Xiao Wu, and nobody dared to mock this little girl .

    Behind her, Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji, and Diaochan apanied Friday into the meeting as they were the members of the unofficial Demon Legion, which had not demonstrated their potential yet .

    At the sides of the governor seat, Zhao Yun and Tian Yu stood at the sides, acting as Tong¡¯s bodyguards .

    All teams and all officers came here for one reason, witnessing Tong¡¯s decision about the throne .

    Many other officers attended this meeting as well, including famous officers in history who were hiding among Tong¡¯s ranks, such as Liu Ye, who interested in Tong¡¯s cannon development, and Taishi Ci, who was a thousand manmander in Kong Rong¡¯s ranks . Unfortunately, they kept their low profile, not wanting to take a spotlight yet .

    Tong and Liu Xie attended this meeting together . They sat side by side on the main seat, watching all officers with a dignified look .

    Liu Xie nced around in nervousness, and his hands moved around, touching his knee and the desk before them as if he did not know where to ce his hands .

    Seeing his adopted son¡¯s condition, Tong held his hand .

    "Take a deep breath and look into their eyes . This will be good training for you since you will have tomand them in the future . "

    Though Tong¡¯s voice was soft, all officers in the room could hear it .

    All civil officers had bloodshot eyes as they interpreted Tong¡¯s word as a hint that Liu Xie would take the throne . Some clenched their fists in delight that Tong would step down and allow the legitimate child of He Xing to wield the crown . Some sighed in a disappointment because of Tong¡¯s cowardice .

    Still, most of them did not take it to heart as Tong had not announced his decision yet . As long as it was not official, everything could change .

    This was their battlefield!

    As everyone prepared what they wanted to speak in this meeting, Tong pped his hands .

    "I¡¯ve promised you my decision about the throne, and I¡¯ve decided . "

    Over a thousand meeting attendees gulped . The roomed became so quiet that they could hear an ant crawl .

    Tong waved a bamboo scroll in front of him, "Has everybody read this?"

    The scroll in Tong¡¯s hands was Te Langpu and Zhang Jiao¡¯s rewritten work, the Way of Peace .

    Jia Xu and Xun Yu frowned as they did not like the democracy system . From their perspective, a random politician could bribe or cheat their ways to the top by using this government type . They could also exploit many loopholes in the election, such as faking identities, manipting votes, and lobbying senates into selecting them into a prime minister .

    Many officers here also saw this system as an iplete government system . Their mouth curled downward in disapproval .

    "I¡¯m not telling everyone that I¡¯ll use this system . However, all of you should start reading this ande up with ways to improve it . This will be your homework, which I¡¯ll be collecting your thought once we unify the northern in . "

    Jia Xu could not hold it anymore . He stepped forward, "My lord, I don¡¯t agree with this election system . I don¡¯t think you should select an officer solely on the popr vote since peasants and civilians are not educated . They will be easily manipted by any merchant or greedy noble!"

    Tong shook his head, "I¡¯ve not finished yet . Stand down, Jia Xu . "

    Tong did not call Jia Xu by his style name . Instead, he called Jia Xu by his official name this time .

    Jia Xu could tell that Tong¡¯s tone changed . Once a lord called his subordinate by his full name, it signified his seriousness in the matter .

    Jia Xu stepped back as he was asked . Tong continued, "I¡¯ll test this system in a vige-level first . We¡¯ll educate people about the importance of representatives . My goal is to establish a representative system for the lowest levelmunity, so they can learn to work with the government . "

    "Oh!"

    Everybody sighed in relief . For a moment, all officers thought that Tong would select an emperor by an election .

    Tong chuckled as he trolled his subordinates enough, "I know what you all are thinking . You are waiting for my confirmation about the throne sessor . Am I right?"

    The room got quiet again .

    "I will not make this decision . He will . "

    Tong smiled and looked at Liu Xie, "Bohe, if you wish to seed your mother, you can be the next emperor . However, if you are not confident, you can abdicate the throne . "

    Liu Xie gulped . This was a heavy burden for a seven-year-old boy who had just lost his mother .

    As a child, he wanted to be with someone at his age, ying and enjoying his childhood . Unfortunately, he was born in a royal family, which a burden befell on him .

    Liu Xie¡¯s hands trembled as he stared into the eyes of all politicians and generals .

    At the sides, all Han loyalists frowned, thinking that Tong used a dirty trick or manipted Liu Xie into making a decision .

    Sima Fang stepped forward first . At this moment, he was neutral in this sessor aspect, but he also believed that Tong was not fair .

    "My lord, I don¡¯t think young master Liu Xie can make the right decision . Making a child decide for his fates is not a prudent move, even if it¡¯s you . "

    The corner of Tong¡¯s mouth curled upward, "You think so? What do you think, Bohe? Do you want to be an adult now, or do you want to live as a child?"

    Hearing the provocation, Liu Xie¡¯s nervousness stopped . His trembling disappeared and reced with a confident re .

    Thinking back during the helpless time when he and He Xing had to rely on Zhao Yun to escape, he med himself for being useless in that battle .

    "I want to be an adult!"

    "Then, as an adult, what will be your decision? Are you ready to take the throne as it is?"

    As soon as Tong said that, all loyalists and Tong¡¯s supporters protested, "Lord Zhang! Please don¡¯t force your words into a child¡¯s mouth!"

    "This is hical, lord Zhang Tong! If you wish to take the throne, take it with pride!"

    Buzzes and noises echoed in the government hall . In an annoyance, Tong pulled out his pistol and fired it at the ceiling .

    *BANG*

    Everybody quieted, gazing at Tong with fright .

    "Be quiet while I teach my son about responsibility!"

    "Eh?"

    "Huh?"

    "Teaching?"

    All civil officers puzzled by Tong¡¯s purpose . They nced back and forth between Tong and Liu Xie in confusion .

    Ju Shou picked up the hint first . He burst intoughter before he held his mouth, hiding hisugh because everybody was staring at him .

    Xun Yu detected the underlying motive a bit slower . He smirked and hid his hands inside his sleeves, pretending to be calm .

    Jia Xu pped his forehead and red at Tong, wanting to cuss at him in public, but he withheld his action .

    Liu Xie took his time to think while he observed the reaction of all officers . His facial expression changed from uncertainty to anger, from an angry look to a sneer, then it reverted to an indifferent look .

    "I cannot take the throne . "

 Chapter 359

    Chapter 359

    Chapter 359 ¨C Book 4 Prologue - Part 2

    "Tell everybody why before they make another ruckus again . "

    Liu Xie nodded . He looked at everyone in the meeting as he dered, "If I be an emperor now, our dynasty will copse into pieces in a few years . Everyone will try to get to my good sides to manipte me or n to use me to issue imperial decrees . Other greedy governors from other cities will flock to me and try to kill father in secret . "

    "Why do you think that?"

    "Because I¡¯m still a child . "

    "But didn¡¯t you want to be an adult?"

    "I do, but not this way," Liu Xie red at all officers with a dignified look, "I have not done anything worthy to be called an emperor, but you have been fighting so hard to gather them under one banner . If I be an emperor, our subordinates will separate into two political sides, my father¡¯s side and my side . This is not the responsibility I wish to take . "

    Liu Xie turned to Tong, "Until I be an adult with my body and my mind, I wish to learn it from you, father! Please let me learn how you obtained all the supports from our people! So when the timees when I have to make this choice again, I¡¯ll be ready! I¡¯ll gain my men¡¯s supports with my hard work and my achievements . I¡¯ll gather my allies with my abilities and not relying on you! Only when I can unite everyone under myself, I can sit on the throne!"

    Tongughed while all officers in the hall stared at Liu Xie in awe and respect . Still, his tone was inappropriate since they were father and son . It sounded like Liu Xie was plotting a rebellion against Tong .

    Jia Xu clicked his tongue and muttered to himself, "Nasty brat . He has just dered a rebellion . "

    Murmurs and buzzing noises enveloped the hall . Tong had to p his hands again to shut their mouths .

    "Does anyone object to my son¡¯s decision?"

    Sima Lang, Sima Fang¡¯s eldest son, who was 17 this year, did not hesitate to step forward . Despite his age, he was almost 190 centimeters tall, which made him taller than most of the civil officers in the room .

    "Your highness, Prince Liu Xie . You are the only one who carries the bloodline of the previous emperor . It¡¯s your job to seed the throne even if you wish for it or not . I object your idea for throwing away your right for the throne . "

    Many officers nodded . Since free speech and human¡¯s rights were not widely epted among the ancient people, they believed in traditions and customs . Everybody thought that they were born with a role prepared for them, and they had to perform their duties for their lifetime .

    Liu Xie, who had learned the modern lifestyle and mindset from Tong, disagreed with Sima Lang¡¯s thought .

    "I¡¯m not throwing away my right . I merely postpone it . "

    "Postpone?"

    "Exactly! I said I wanted to learn my father¡¯s way of governing his people, and I meant it word by word . I wish for my father to be a temporary emperor until I feel I¡¯m ready!"

    Listening to this point, all loyalists had sparkling eyes . Even if Tong took the throne, Liu Xie would still be legitimate to im it at any time he wanted to . Then, Tong would be nothing but a [Deputy Emperor], working for temporary .

    Sima Lang was also satisfied with the answer . He stepped back to his position, waiting for another discussion .

    Jia Xu was on the verge of pulling his hair as he did not like this Liu Xie at all .

    "Stinking brat! Fortunately, I didn¡¯t adopt you back then! If you were my adopted son, I would have drowned you in a river! You &@%@^#$%!"

    Xun Yu and Ju Shou did not say anything . They observed Tong¡¯s reaction to seeing what Tong would do after Liu Xie had dered his stance .

    Tong coughed as he ced his hand on top of Liu Xie¡¯s head, scratching it and messing his hairdo .

    "You still have a lot to learn, starting from your speech and your true purpose . You said you didn¡¯t want to divide my subordinates, but you just did . Heck, you just dere that you¡¯ll snatch my throne in the future and made things moreplicated . Have you realized this?"

    Liu Xie turned around with widened eyes, "Err, whoops . "

    Tong turned to Lu Zhi, "Master Lu, can I entrust you with one more student?"

    Lu Zhi shrugged, "One or two more, it doesn¡¯t make a difference . But are you sure? I won¡¯t be lenient, you know?"

    "Treat him as if you treated me years back . Give him a Spartan course . Shape him into a proper man!"

    "As you wish, Hahahaha!"

    Zhao Yun and Tian Yu had a shiver running down their spines when they heard Lu Zhi¡¯s sinisterughter . Although they had been with Lu Zhi for a few months, they tasted how brutal Lu Zhi¡¯s teaching was .

    In modern days, ordinary high-school students spent averagely eight hours studying each day . However, Lu Zhi¡¯s tutorage took 14 hours daily, which had no holiday or break day included . It was stressful to the point that their mentality was on the verge of copsing .

    Tong coughed again and got to the main point, "Since we have decided that Liu Xie will temporarily step down from the throne . I will upy the seat in the meantime, so we can work with a proper government system . As for Liu Xie¡¯s status, he will be instated as the crown prince, and he will inherit the throne after me! Is there another objection?"

    Sima Lang raised his hand again, "How long will you be an emperor, my lord?"

    Tong grinned, "Until Liu Xie turns 20! After that, we will employ that election system!"

    "WHAT!?"

    The crowd went ballistic when they heard about the election . Tong had to raise his hands to stop the protests and loud noises .

    "It will be an election between only Liu Xie and me . All voters will be the selected 500 senates with the rank of governor, general, grandmander, or anything higher than a minister! Both of us will prove our worth to you, so you will judge us if you want me to retain the seat, or you wish to try your luck with Liu Xie! Each election termsts four years . That means we will select a new emperor every four years!"

    Te Langpu squeezed through the crowd and stepped onto the center carpet . He, too, wanted to protest .

    "The constitutionws are still too new in this world! You¡¯re not ready for an election! Heck, normally, we choose a prime minister, not the fking king!"

    Tong stared at the former president, "Liu Xie is 8 this year, so you have 12 more years to prepare . Do you think you don¡¯t have enough time, Mr . President?"

    "All officers here will divide into two factions! You¡¯re splitting them! Don¡¯t you afraid of internal disputes?"

    "With two factions, hidden crooks from both sides won¡¯t be able to use shady means to aplish their goals, and it will reduce the possibility of embezzlement and corruptions . Since each faction will find fault in the other, it will keep the crooks in check . "

    "You¡¯re still too na?ve, Tong! Elite corrupted politicians will always find the loophole in the system . Your democracy is too green!"

    Tong grinned from ear to ear, "Patch them for me, Mr . President . As you said, I¡¯m a noob at this . That¡¯s why I need your veteran¡¯s experiences . "

    Te Langpu groaned in frustration . Out of spite, he demanded, "I want a raise! You¡¯ve overworked me!"

    "5,000 gold a month, but you will be instated as the Prime Minister . "

    "Tsk, deal!" Since he could not defy Tong¡¯s order in public, he receded .

    The exchanges between Te Langpu and Tong caused another uproar . Just like that, Te Langpu was promised with the Prime Minister position before Tong could officially be their emperor .

    Tong turned to his officers, "All of you will bepeting against each other to achieve the best for our country . I want both Han loyalists and my supporters to fight fair and squire . Also, I want you to think of our country¡¯s interest before your personal gain! Remember, both Liu Xie and I are from the same family, so are you all!"

    Everybody bowed in confusion . There were many things that they did not understand, but they had to acknowledge Tong¡¯s new idea . It would take these officers a few years before they couldprehend the constitution and democratic systems .

    However, Tong did not stop there . He turned to Sima Fang .

    "Senior Sima Fang, remember when we talked the first time?"

    Remained indifferent, Sima Fang walked to the center carpet and bowed, "I remembered . What do you wish for my service, your majesty?"

    "Because of my new election system, our court will eventually split into two factions . I want you to remain neutral in all this!"

    "Oh? Then, what about my opinion?"

    "Your duty is not to give opinions . You have one job, weed out anyone that use underhanded means to eliminate their opponents! There will eventually be nasty bastards that will employ assassins or thugs to cripple the other side . I¡¯ve entrusted you with the policemen and the department of justice in Julu, so you should have experience in dealing with criminals . Establish more policemen in all cities, and keep these annoying politicians in our room in check!"

    Tong took out Emperor Sword, which he retrieved it from Ding Yuan and Zhang He .

    "This will be yours from now on . You will be my eyes and my sword . Get rid of any corrupted bastard in here that dares to fight dirty . There is only one punishment, three-generation execution!"

    Everyone had a chill running down their spine . Three-generation execution was a severe punishment .

    Sima Fang recalled the memories when they first met . A faint smile appeared on his face before it receded .

    ¡¯A neutral faction, is it?¡¯

    "I understand, your majesty . "

    .

    Sima Yi, who hid behind all civil officers, sneered at Liu Xie in secret, "Na?ve! A parent¡¯s asset is your asset . Not relying on it is a waste of resources!"

    *Dong*

    A hammer fistnded on top of Sima Yi¡¯s head . It was from one of his mentors, Te Langpu, who slipped to the back in a bad mood, nning to skip the meeting .

    "Relying too much on your parents will spoil you in the long run . You should strive to be a self-made man, not a papa¡¯s son, you dumb little prick!"

    "I didn¡¯t say that I will 100% hiding behind my father¡¯s shadow! What I meant are the resources! The gold, the assets, the authority, he said he wanted to gain everything from the ground up which I disagree!"

    "If you haven¡¯t learned the value of assets, how can you manage it in a macro-scale, I wonder?"

    "That¡¯s simple! You look at the big picture andpare the value with something simr . Then, you can judge the importance this way, right?"

    Another hammer fistnded on top of the 9-year-old Sima Yi¡¯s head .

    "Brat, you haven¡¯t learned the value ofbors, workers, and employee psychologies . You can¡¯t be a good strategist this way . I think you¡¯ll have to attend my ss the hard way from now on . I¡¯ll talk to your father after this . "

    "N-No! Please, sir Te! Anyone but my father!"

    .

    The meeting continued for an entire day, which many new roles were given to all officers .

    It was the day that settled confirmed Tong¡¯s stance, which sent the frantic Cao Cao¡¯s spies into actions .

    March 22nd, 188 A . D .

    In a sh, everybody spread words .

    It was the day that everyone became aware of Tong¡¯s name, including ves and rural peasants .

    The coronation ceremony took ce in Ye, which Tong was now officially a new emperor .

 Chapter 360

    Chapter 360

    Chapter 360 ¨C Reorganization

    Many new emperors of a new dynasty named their empire after their tribes, such as Xia, Shang, and Zhou . Some used their previous title and noble rank as their dynasty name .

    Cao Cao was entitled as a Duke of Wei when Liu Xie, aka Liu Xian, was still the emperor of Han . When Cao Pi took the throne, he named his kingdom after his father¡¯s title, Wei .

    Sun Quan had been bestowed with a title of Duke of Wu before he raised his the Wu Kingdom .

    Even the Han Dynasty, which Liu Bang found, had its name from Liu Bang¡¯s birthce, Hanzhong . Furthermore, Liu Bang received a simr title like the others, the Duke of Han .

    After Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and unified the country, the name of the Han Dynasty was a given .

    Unfortunately, such a case did not apply to Tong . He never received any official title from an emperor, and only his father had a measly title of Julu Governor .

    The Prince Consort title he had was a hoax, which he conned He Xing into naming him . Moreover, it would be inappropriate to change its dynasty name as its sessor, Liu Xie, was still present .

    To avoid chaos and resentment from his officers, Tong retained the dynasty name of Han, which satisfied all Han loyalists and Tong¡¯s supporters .

    .

    Two days after the coronation, Tong, Te Langpu, and Sima Fang established a new organization, the FBI, aka the Federal Bureau of Investigation .

    It was under the jurisdiction of the department of justice that Sima Fang was overseeing . The purpose of this FBI was to crack down any immoral or illegal activity within the official court . For example, if someone attempted to assassinate the opposition faction, the FBI will get rid of that person, colluded officials, and their entire family without exception .

    This organization would be the third faction which would remain neutral and keep the bnce between two factions in check as they maintain the order .

    As for the FBI director seat, Tong transferred Lu Zhi from the Silver Axe Legion into this position . Since Lu Zhi was a hybrid-Han loyalist and Tong¡¯s supporter, he could keep his neutral stance without a problem .

    Sima Fang also ced his eldest son, Sima Lang, as an intelligence supervisor to learn the rope .

    Because the department of justicecked a leading figure, Tong also transferred Tian Yu to be the police superintendent . He would be in charge of governing all policemen and police organizations in all affiliate cities .

    In history, Tian Yu joined forces with Cao Cao in thete 200s . He achieved meritorious deeds by repelling northern border tribes in his early years and helped Cao Ren repelling rebels in 210s .

    During the reign of Cao Rui, Tian Yu was sent to guard the northern borders again . However, he traveled south to assist the battle at Hefei in 234, which he sessfully defended Hefei from Wu invasion . He waster appointed as the protector of Wuhuan and returned to his post in the north . Tian Yu was one of the few famous generals who died a natural death .

    Since Tian Yu was good in defensive warfare, Tong was confident in Tian Yu¡¯s potential to grow as a general of all garrison forces .

    Although it was a biased move since Tian Yu was on Tong¡¯s supporter side, it showed that Tong was still in power since he had influences in the third faction .

    Because Tian Yu upied the superintendent position, Sima Fang could be officially entitled as the Minister of Justice . With this title, Sima Fang would be the boss of Lu Zhi, Tian Yu, and Sima Lang .

    .

    After settling the judges of this infighting environment, Tong reorganized all military legions to support their country¡¯s stability and watch the borders .

    Tong separated Zhang Liao and Li Feihong from the Mountaineer Legion . In turn, he transferred Gao Shun, who had initially been Lu Bu¡¯s subordinate, back to this force along with Ju Shou, who was from the Ghost Legion .

    Tong renamed the Mountaineer into the Redhare Legion since all of them were now sporting redhare as their standard warhorses . Also, because of Li Feihong constant breeding of redhare breeds, they had enough red horses to supply other units as well .

    Lu Bu resumed the role as their legion grandmander, and they were sent back to Bing Province . In the future, they could act as a spearhead to dive into the northern borders .

    The Redhare Legion was left with 25,000 mixed cavalry unit, and they had to increase it back to 40,000 elites by the end of this year, which would be their homework .

    The Silver Axe Legion had to return to Beiping Commandery, keeping Xiangping and Ji forces in check .

    Xu Huang, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang retained their posts . Since this unitcked a strategist, Tong sent Jia Xu to assist them . However, he transferred Bo Cai and Zhou Cang away .

    The Silver Axe did not suffer any damage from the battles in the Luoyang region, so their 40,000 soldiers remained the same . However, Tong gave simr homework to Xu Huang that he had to increase its size to 50,000 by the end of the year .

    The Ghost Legion of Zhang He returned to Henei as ordered . Qu Yi, Han Hao, and Gao Lan retained their posts in this legion, but Tong added the new face into the mix . Xun You, the cousin of Xun Yu, was transferred into this legion as their new strategist in ce of Ju Shou .

    This unit did not need to increase its size as their number of 60,000 soldiers was the highest among all legions . However, their efficiency and their training level were lower than the Redhare and Silver Axe . Therefore, Tong gave Zhang He and Xun You homework to train them into elites .

    The transferred personals, Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, Zhou Cang, and Bo Cai formed a new legion, the Monster Legion .

    Zhang Liao became their grandmander while Li Feihong assisted him as his strategist . 20,000 soldiers from the Immortal Legion also integrated into their group, so they could be deployed right away .

    All of them deployed and left for Ganling city to reinforce the order and stability near the Yellow River . Their homework was not increasing troops or training them like the others . Instead, they had to be the local¡¯s military farmers, which they would assist the peasants to cultivate thends .

    Tong also announce another official legion in public, the Demon Legion . Dong Bai(Friday) would be their grandmander, and the strategist would be Diaochan . Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji would also be their assistant generals since they were close to Dong Bai .

    Although Friday could not use her Xiao Wu form and engage inbat, Tong transferred his skills to her and Diaochan just in case . He gave Diaochan [Create Food] and [Firearm Creation] while Hua Shi¡¯s trademark [Bow Mastery] and [Homing Arrows] fell to Friday¡¯s hands .

    All remaining 30,000 soldiers from the Immortal Legion also moved to Demon Legion, which they would travel to the Pingyuan City to defend the southern borders .

    Their homework development was simr to the Monster Legion, cultivating thends while they were on duties .

    As for the legion under Tong¡¯smand, the Immortal Legion, Tong appointed Xun Yu as the legion strategist, and he transferred two men into the group . One was Zhao Yun, who did not have a post . As for the other, he picked a dark horse who was hiding within Kong Rong¡¯s ranks, Taishi Ci .

    The young thousand manmander was astonished when he was promoted . Even Kong Rong was surprised that Tong picked a soldier from his ranks into his personal troops .

    Because this legion transferred all soldiers to other battalions, they moved all 10,000 reserve troops and new recruits from all cities into the unit, which their goal is to expand the size to 30,000 men before December .

    Other former governors, such as Zhang Jiao, Zhen Yi, and Kong Rong, got their raises and entitled as a marquis of their territory . However, they did not have the right tomand any legion in their cities .

    A neer, Wang Yun, also got the boon of these changes . He received a title as the governor of Nanpi, which he could take control of Yuan Shao¡¯s former home city . He was tasked to coordinate with the department of justice to expand the garrison policemen there .

    Unfortunately, Tong did not have enough hands to protect Kong Rong¡¯s Beihai City . Therefore, he transferred the 10,000 reserve policemen from Julu to Beihai, helping him garrisoning the city from a possible invading from the south .

    With all these movements, Tong finished the policy for this year . For the sake of his country foundation, they would develop their domestic power further . Once they did not have to rely on Li Feihong¡¯s food and [Create Food] ability, Tong would expand his kingdom again .

    .

    May, 188 A . D .

    Cao Cao obtained all spy reports in details, which included the future n for emperor election in the next 12 years .

    Cheng Yu and Cao Cao had to read the reports three times as this move was too absurd .

    Even someone like Pu Jing had to scratch his head in baffled, "Is Zhang Tong nuts!?"

    Cheng Yu groaned, "He¡¯s mad . His court will split into two, and they will destroy themselves from the inside . I don¡¯t see the point why he creates a chaotic environment for his subordinates . "

    Pu Jing sneered, "If it¡¯s a something republic monarchy, I can rte . But choosing an emperor by an election? Talk about creativity, it¡¯s so creative that it¡¯s stupid . "

    Cao Cao, on the other hand, had notmented or criticized Tong yet . He picked a different report and skimmed through it the fifth time .

    Ten minutes after the frantic search, Cao Cao held his mouth .

    "Putin, do you know anything about Tong¡¯s organization called Police Department and a newly created FBI?"

    Hearing the keyword, Pu Jing frowned, "FBI? Federal Bureau of Investigation? Are they trying to use that system here? Mengde, can I see the report?"

    Cao Cao passed five scrolls to Pu Jing, which he sat and read it with widened eyes .

    While Pu Jing was reading them, Cao Cao began his analysis, "Zhang Tong splitted his subordinates into two factions . Then, he created a new organization with someone from Sima n as the head . From our past investigation, didn¡¯t Zhang Tong kill Sima Xin? Why is this Sima Fang still serving him knowing that Zhang Tong killed his son!?"

    Cheng Yu shook his head, "They¡¯re insane . I don¡¯t see the merit in this . Let¡¯s leave them alone, Mengde . Since they aremitting political suicide, let¡¯s ignore Zhang Tong and focus on our expansion . We need to be ready for Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao¡¯s movements . "

    Cao Cao nodded, but he paused to wait for Pu Jing .

    Another ten minutes passed, Pu Jing raised his head to look at the two .

    "Zhang Tong took a gamble . "

    "What gamble?"

    "A long term one . Zhang Tong hasn¡¯t splitted his subordinates into two factions but three! One under himself, one under Liu Xie, and one under the Sima n!"

    "Huh? What¡¯s the point of that? I still don¡¯t understand . "

    "The newly founded FBI is an organization that investigates into the officials¡¯ deeds . They are an intelligence agency that looks into the corruption issues, which will keep the internal fighting in check . However, because of the rivalry between factions in the future, all sides will try to outwit the others . They will strengthen their forces while they discover their opponent¡¯s weaknesses . As a byproduct of that, his kingdom¡¯s strength will enter a rapid growth period at the cost of Zhang Tong¡¯s absolute control . "

    "Sounds ... good in the paper, but it will be impossible on the practical level . In reality, they will focus more on destroying others rather than the development . "

    "Indeed . Humans are smart creatures . They will exploit that system from the inside for the sake of their interests . That¡¯s why I said it¡¯s a gamble . "

    Cao Cao caught up with the idea . He stared into the eyes of Pu Jing, "If it¡¯s a gamble, then Zhang Tong has a chance to seed . "

    Pu Jing nodded, "Yes . But it won¡¯t be Zhang Tong who will turn this n into reality . "

    In Pu Jing¡¯s mind, an image of an obnoxious president of a country shed back . He clicked his tongue in an annoyance whenever this chubby face man showed up in his thought .

    ¡¯Te Langpu . ¡¯

 Chapter 361

    Chapter 361

    Chapter 361 ¨C An Emperor¡¯s Duty

    In Ye City, the previous government meeting hall had transformed into a throne room and a pce .

    In front of the throne room, a star altar with a bronze 3-meter cauldron, filled with riches and incense sticks, each with the size of a man¡¯s arm .

    Pig heads, roasted ducks, boiled chickens, fruits, wines, fishes, dumplings, rice cakes, noodles, and many other delicacies lined on the altar .

    Tong, donned in golden dragon clothing, bowed to heaven with incense sticks in his hands .

    Xun Yu did his stuff, reciting words in the scroll in his hands, worshiping the heaven and earth .

    Tong got stuck in the ceremony, bowing to gates which the locals believed they were gates of Heavenly Peace and Meridian for half a day .

    In thete afternoon, all traditional heaven worshiping ended, and Tong could sit after a long while . He leaned on the throne, which was made out of pure jade and jewels .

    As there was not enough cushion, Tong groaned from the hardness of the seat .

    ¡¯I¡¯m going to get hemorrhoid at this rate . Oh, wait, my demonic body skill is still on me . I can¡¯t get sick . ¡¯

    With worn-out legs and mental exhaustion, Tong did not pay attention to anyone in the throne room, letting Xun Yu doing all the works .

    Currently, a banquet celebration was still ongoing within the throne room . Twenty dancers with skimpy red clothes waved their hands around, moving in synchronization . High ranking officials only presented in the hall, watching the dancers as they enjoyed wine and food on their private table .

    The dancing session ended, and new performers entered . They were another group of dancing girls . Meanwhile, the previous dancers changed their roles, transiting into maids . Each of lecherous old men invited one of the dancers to their side, bing their private maid . Soon, these dancers might end up bing their new concubines .

    Xun Yu also invited the leading dancer to Tong¡¯s side, hoping to make her Tong¡¯s concubine as well .

    The girl was the most beautiful among the tropes, which made many old officials drool just by looking at her smooth skins and a perfect S body shape .

    "Your majesty, having only one prince is bad for the dynasty . You will need to produce more prince and princesses to stabilize the kingdom . I hope that you won¡¯t reject this . "

    Tong looked around to observe the people¡¯s reaction . Fortunately, Friday and Medusa left with their army and did not attend the coronation ceremony today . Or else, there might be a bloodbath .

    All attendants around Tong gazed at him with expectation . At the moment, Dong Bai had not entitled as Tong¡¯s empress yet as she was too young, so they were hoping that Tong would choose a new empress soon .

    With a bitter smile, Tong invited the young dancer to his side .

    Without a conversation lead, Tong turned to her, "What¡¯s your name?"

    "My lowly self is surnamed Du . Your majesty can name me to your liking . "

    "Huh? Du surname?"

    "Is there something wrong with my surname, your majesty?"

    Tong¡¯s smile cramped . He inspected the face of this Du girl . Upon the closer look, her beauty was no less than Hua Shi or Xiao Wu . Also, her clean smooth body, her manner, and her body movement management revealed that she was from a noble family .

    ¡¯I have heard of this surname before . Where had I heard it?¡¯

    As Tong could not recall an influential person in this era with the surname [Du], Tong nned to dig into her background .

    "Where are you from,dy Du?"

    "My lowly self is from Bing Province, your majesty . "

    "I¡¯m sorry that my next question might be rude . Did your father try to give you to another man recently?"

    The dancer took her time to think, which she nodded .

    "There was someone who asked me for marriage . But because of the invasion from the previous emperor Liu Ping, my wedding was canceled, and my fianc¨¦ returned into Xiongnu¡¯s territory . "

    Tong squinted his eyes when she mentioned "Xiongnu . "

    ¡¯Bing Province, Xiongnu . Is there a historical figure that I forgot in that territory?¡¯

    Tong sighed and continued his questioning without thinking .

    "What was your fianc¨¦ name, if I may ask?"

    "Qin Yilu, your majesty . "

    ¡¯Qin Yilu ... Qin Yilu!? Lady Du!? Du Shi!?¡¯

    Tong remembered this girl now . Historically, she was a wife of Qin Yilu .

    .

    Du Shi was known for her beauty, and she was the mother of Qin Lang, a future general under the Wei Kingdom .

    Qin Yilu, Du Shi¡¯s husband, served under Lu Bu after he had joined forces with Dong Zhuo . In 192, he disguised as Dong Zhuo¡¯s guard, which he participated in the Dong Zhou¡¯s assassination . He and Du Shi followed after Lu Bu, and they ended up in Xiapi .

    When Xiapi fell to Cao Cao in 198, Qin Yilu was not with his wife as he rushed to Yuan Shu in Shouchun to request for the reinforcement .

    Guan Yu, who joined Cao Cao along with Liu Bei at that time, begged Cao Cao to give Du Shi to him . Curious why this stern general wanted this woman so badly, Cao Cao visited Du Shi himself . Upon seeing her beauty, Cao Cao took her in as his concubine and refused to give her to Guan Yu .

    Qin Lang, Du Shi¡¯s son, became Cao Cao adopted son after the event . Because of her beauty, Du Shi gave birth to two Cao Cao¡¯s sons and a daughter .

    As for Du Shi¡¯s husband, he was killed by Zhang Fei during the time Liu Bei rebelled against Cao Cao and stole the Xu Province .

    .

    Tong had to wipe the sweat on his face as fate pranked him too often .

    ¡¯The mourning period for Hua Shi and He Xing hasn¡¯t ended, and a pretty girl that smitten Guan Yu is presenting herself to me on a silver te!? What absurd luck . ¡¯

    Lady Du, who was observing Tong from the side, took out her handkerchief and wiped Tong sweat .

    "Is the weather too warm for you, your majesty? Should I ask the maid for cold towels?"

    With a stiff smile, Tong nodded . Du Shi stood and left, calling the servants to get cold towels for Tong .

    While she was at it, Tong used this chance to text Friday . As he did not want to get castrated by her again, he requested for Friday¡¯s permission .

    Tong: "Friday, I need your permission . "

    Dong Bai: "For what? Is there something happening?"

    Tong: "Yes . My subordinates have requested me to take in concubines . That¡¯s why I need to tell this to you first . "

    Dong Bai: "..."

    Friday did not answer or text back to Tong for several minutes .

    Du Shi came back with a bucket of cold water and cold towels . She became wiping Tong¡¯s face and cleaned his sweating arms .

    All officials watched Tong and Du Shi with a wide grin . Once Tong started taking in the first concubine, they would have a chance to offer their daughters, granddaughters, or their beautiful rtives to Tong in the future . If they were lucky, one of their rtives might ascend to the throne as the next empress, and their status would rise as a result .

    Only a few officers did not dare to make such a move . They were the people who had been enlisted into the n chat .

    Xun Yu read the n chat with sweat on his face . He understood about the positions of Dong Bai and Diaochan . On the surface, Tong was their King . In reality, Dong Bai and Diaochan¡¯s standing was higher than Tong .

    If they did not give Tong the permission, the future of the Han Dynasty might be bleak .

    >

    With a sound of n message alert, Xun Yu gulped as he prayed that they would allow Tong to have concubines .

    Dong Bai: "I have to be the empress . The rest of the girls can do whatever they want, but they can¡¯t take this position . "

    Tong was surprised by Friday¡¯s change of heart . Had it been before, she would have cursed and killed him on the spot .

    Diaochan: "Friday can¡¯t marry you yet because of her age . Once she¡¯s 16 or 18, make sure toe and take her back with you . She doesn¡¯t suit to be a grandmander of an army for a long time . "

    Tong: "I know . Friday, I¡¯m really sorry . "

    Dong Bai: "It¡¯s fine . You¡¯ll be with me forever after this life is over, so I don¡¯t mind . "

    Dong Bai: "But I have a condition . "

    Tong: "What is it?"

    Dong Bai: "You have to take my mother in as your concubine as well . "

    Tong also spat blood when he saw the messages .

    ¡¯What had she eaten!? Why did she offering her mother to me!?¡¯

    Tong: "Friday, WTF!?"

    Dong Bai: "My mom is using Diaochan¡¯s body . If you don¡¯t take her in, she will end up bing someone¡¯s wife because of that greedy Wang Yun!"

    Tong: "What about her opinion!?"

    Diaochan: "I don¡¯t mind . It¡¯s just a rtionship in-name . "

    Tong: "Will you be in danger if you¡¯re single?"

    Diaochan: "Obviously . Wang Yun is nning to give me to Liu Xie . Do you want your mother-inw to marry your adopted son?"

    Tong: "WTF!? That will be too awkward!"

    Diaochan: "Then, let me hide in your inner pce . I¡¯ll be the head concubine in your harem, and I¡¯ll help you manage the girls for you . This will unload a burden on your shoulders . "

    Tong: "..."

    Diaochan: "Do you mind having me in your harem?"

    Tong: "... No . "

    Friday: "Good . It¡¯s settled . I¡¯ll be your empress while my mother will manage your concubines and your future harem!"

    Tong¡¯s sweat intensified . Although the situation favored him at first nce, he had a bad omen . Having a mother-inw living together with his concubines might give Tong pressure .

    The mother and daughter might control his bed activities in the future . Also, all girls in the harem would be Diaochan¡¯s subordinates by default .

    ¡¯Ugh . I have a headache . It¡¯s good that I throw away the unlimited yang seed skill away, or I might not be getting any sleep when Friday returns . ¡¯

    By instinct, Tong nced at Du Shi in the skimpy red cloth . As a man, it would be a lie that he did not have a hidden desire .

    ¡¯It had been a while . Please forgive me, Hua Shi, He Xing, Friday . ¡¯

    .

    After the banquet, Tong invited Du Shi into his chamber .

    Although Tong did not have the infinite yang seed skill anymore, his natural stamina was higher than ordinary humans by miles . As a result, Du Shi only managed to fall asleep when Tong ran out of his stamina at 3 AM .

    She smiled in her sleep cuddling with Tong till the morning . She felt more secure about her future as she found a reliable husband today .

    Du Shi officially became Tong¡¯s chambermaid since that day, which she was known as Tong¡¯s first royal concubine .

    .

    In the morning, Lilim sent him a piece of good news . She had opened a new service for otherworlders .

    [Hihi! Heya Tong . Did you have funst night?]

    "Lilim? What do you want from me this time?"

    [No . I didn¡¯t want anything from you but your lifespans . Actually, I¡¯m here to tell you about my future service . ]

    "What service?"

    [Contraceptive service and an emergency viagra service . ]

    "..."

    [You can pay 100 lifespans for a save night, so any girl you mated will not get pregnant . As for the viagra service, it¡¯s as its name . You pay 100 lifespans to me, and I¡¯ll bless you with infinite yang seed for a night . ]

    "..."

    [Also, I feel bad for the girls in the future . There is also another service, infinite yin energies for girls! Your bed partner will have unlimited stamina for a night for only 100 lifespans!]

    "..."

    [Do you like it?]

    Tong turned left and right, checking his surroundings . Seeing that there was no one else around him, he gave Lilim a thumbs up .

    "Make a shortcut in my system menu . I¡¯ll be your customer . "

    [Hahaha! Sure!]

    No one else but Tong knew about this conversation and secrets .

 Chapter 362

    Chapter 362: 362

    Chapter 362 ¨C Liu Ye

    Within a few months after the coronation ceremony, several nobles disyed their dark side .

    One of Tong¡¯s faction, a former Yellow Turban subordinate of Zhang Jiao, hired a group of assassins to kill Liu Xie¡¯s supporters . The group of rogues assaulted the official¡¯s residents at night .

    Fortunately, Lu Zhi¡¯s systematic police forces were patrolling all official residential areas . They caught all assassins and saved the officer .

    The mastermind was dragged out, and all culprits were executed in public along with their families .

    A few days after the public execution, the police caught a group of thugs in Ye City . A son of a Liu Xie¡¯s supporter noble led a group of hoodlums to assault a daughter of an official, who was in Tong¡¯s faction .

    The father of the offending young master was sacked from his post . The hoodlums were sentenced to work ten years in a Jinyang coal mine, while the young master was castrated and imprisoned for 20 years .

    The police also caught a group of minor officials in a tavern, fighting in a brawl . The offenders had a debate about the political issues as they were on a different faction . In the end, it escted into a physical fight .

    All officials were released from their positions on the day they were arrested . They were banned from participating in any schr activities for one year . However, they could rejoin the noble ranks again by working their way up from a worker ss .

    The police department was also not an exception to these outbreak crimes . FBI agents from Lu Zhi broke into a resident of a police supervisor, rescuing several young girls from his resident . Upon investigation and intelligence report from Sima Lang¡¯s men, this officer took bribes from Xiongnu ve merchants .

    The arrested police officer was stripped of his title, noble tiers, and rank . Lu Zhi sentenced him 20 years of public service by working in Jinyang coal mines .

    The Department of Justice¡¯s strictness towards the official increased with their number of newly graduated policemen from Julu . Furthermore, Te Langpu released a massive campaign and propaganda about police family welfare to recruit more police officers .

    In July, 188 A . D . , Ye City housed 20,000 garrisoning police officers and a thousand FBI agents . Julu became a capital city of the police academy as another batch of 20,000 policemen were being trained . All top students from the police sses were promoted into FBI trainees, which had a higher sry and noble tier .

    This put the heated-infighting between the two factions to a hold . As thews became more sacred, they were afraid of the consequences of their nned dirty deeds .

    As such, over 90% crooked nobles aborted their secret ns . The rest of daredevils went through with it, but they met received their bad-endings as a result .

    Then, a change urred again within Liu Xie¡¯s faction .

    Liu Ye, a 12-year-old schr who aspired in machinery and war tools, managed to achieve a notable deed first .

    Inspired by the prototype cannons, hebined the gunpowder technologies and used arrows instead of cannonballs as ammunition . Instead of using bronze as a primary resource to build a cannon, Liu Ye degraded it into something more procurable and morefortable to make .

    Liu Ye created a wooden tform arrow shooter, which couldunch 200 arrows at once by igniting the fused gunpowder behind the arrows tform .

    The wooden tform weapon was a wheeled cart with 200 tubes . It was 150cm tall and over three meters in length . The width was over a meter, and the tform dimension was 50cm x 80cm .

    .

    Liu Ye brought his new invention and presented it to Tong and Liu Xie in Ye City¡¯s throne room . Although he kowtowed to both of them, his eyes were gleaming with pride and joy .

    "Your majesty, your highness, I wish to present this new invention for you . "

    Liu Xie¡¯s eyes brighten in excitement, misunderstanding that this was a big toy .

    "What¡¯s this called?"

    "This is my prototype arrow cannon, your highness . This thing can shoot a hundred arrows at once with only a few crew members . The distance is also longer than the standard repeating crossbows!"

    "Eh? A tool of war, huh?"

    Liu Xie was disappointed . He thought that it would have been something that he could y, but it was just another weaponry .

    The young boy was not fond of war and conflicts . As his mother died because of it, it left a scar in his mind . As a result, he hated wars .

    Seeing the reaction of the prince, Liu Ye was disappointed . Then, he realized that Liu Xie was not matured enough to handle military warfare and official meetings .

    Subconsciously, Liu Ye nced at the new emperor in the golden robe, Tong .

    Opposite from Liu Xie, Tong stared at the tool with widened eyes, impressed by the machine .

    Tong recognized the machine structure . It was simr to Korea¡¯s invention, the hwacha .

    A hwacha was a gunpowder-fused arrowuncher, used by Koreans in the 15th-century . During the period, Koreans utilized this with their fortification to repel the Japanese invaders and pirates .

    Hwacha machines demonstrated their power in the 16th-century as 3,000 Korea soldiers and 40 hwachas managed to repel the invader army of 30,000 Japanese samurais in the Battle of Haengju .

    For a non-cannon weapon, this hwacha worked best in ancient warfare where soldiers grouped together in arge army .

    "What¡¯s your name, schr?"

    "M-My humble self is Liu Ye, Liu Ziyang, your majesty!"

    "Oho! That exins a lot . "

    .

    Historically, Liu Ye was from Huainan, near Shouchun Commandery, south of Xiapi and Qiao, and east of Runan .

    In 199, Zheng Bao, a bandit leader, attempted to migrate people from Jiujiang County south, crossing the Yangtze River . He tried to recruit Liu Ye, who had be famous in this region, but Liu Ye killed Zheng Bao instead .

    Then, Liu Ye joined forces with Liu Xun in Lujiang, who was once Yuan Shu¡¯s subordinate and became his strategist .

    In the same year, Sun Ce, who had conquered Jiangdong region after leaving Yuan Shu, asked Liu Xun for help . He wanted Liu Xun to attack Shangliao so that they could steal this county¡¯s supplies .

    Liu Ye saw through Sun Ce¡¯s ploy, and he advised Liu Xun against it . Unfortunately, Liu Xun did not listen to Liu Ye . He epted the bribes of Sun Ce and attacked Shangliao as he had been asked, which Sun Ce backstabbed him by attacking Liu Xun¡¯s Lujiang .

    After losing Lujiang, Liu Ye abandoned Liu Xun and fled to the north, which he joined forces with Cao Cao and became one of his advisors .

    Liu Ye participated in the campaign of Hanzhong in theter years . After Zhang Lu¡¯s had surrendered to Cao Cao, Liu Ye and Sima Yi urged Cao Cao to attack Yi Province of Liu Zhang . As they predicted that Liu Bei might im this province in the future, he wanted Cao Cao to upy it before Liu Bei could steal it .

    Unfortunately, Cao Cao declined the suggestions, which Liu Bei took over the Yi Province as Liu Ye and Sima Yi had foreseen .

    Liu Ye gave many critical advises to Cao Pi and Cao Rui, who seeded in the legacy of Cao Cao . As luck was against this strategists, none of the emperors understood Liu Ye¡¯s value and mistreated him .

    .

    Understanding Liu Ye¡¯s background in history, Tong did not want to repeat Cao Pi and Cao Rui¡¯s mistakes for misusing this strategist . Although Liu Ye was overshadowed by the genius Sima Yi, he was still a talented advisor in this era .

    "How old are you this year?"

    "T-Twelve, your majesty!"

    "Since when have you moved into this city?"

    "Err, aboutst year, your majesty . I migrated here with my parents . "

    "Is your father one of my official?"

    "Y-Yes, your majesty . We are descendants of the Emperor Guangwu, so we¡¯re a noble family . "

    Emperor Guangwu was the founder of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which he reimed the throne from Emperor Wang Mang, who had usurped the throne and ended the Western Han Era .

    "So, you also have the royalty bloodline, right?"

    "I-I won¡¯t dare! We¡¯re just distance descendants from a concubine . We wouldn¡¯t dare to im the bloodline!"

    Tong nced at Liu Xie, who was younger than Liu Ye . A new idea came to his mind .

    "You see, Liu Ye, I like your invention, and I think that it will benefit our dynasty in the future . Unfortunately, I can¡¯t promote you into a domestic officer or give you a position at your age, or other seniors will bully you and destroy your future . But, I can give you something that can protect yourself from all harms . "

    Tong patted Liu Xie¡¯s shoulder, "My son doesn¡¯t have many friends, and he stillcks worldly experience . How about it, Liu Ye? Will you ept the position of my son¡¯s private tutor and be his friend?"

    All schrs and officials were in an uproar . They raised their hands to protest without caring if Liu Ye was one of their faction or not . All of them shouted, offering themselves as Liu Xie¡¯s tutor instead .

    Tong rolled his eyes as he was tired of these greedy officials . He fired a bullet at the ceiling, leaving another mark next to the old bullet hole .

    "STFU, all of you! You haven¡¯t done shit, and you want to steal a child¡¯s promotion? Shame on you!"

    All officials receded and bowed in shame . Their faces blushed when they recalled that Liu Ye was still only 12 .

    "Listen up . Liu Ye¡¯s creation can improve our military prowess by another step! None of you might be able to see what it can do, but I can tell that this will benefit us in the long term! Because of this, I deem Liu Ye¡¯s achievement that it¡¯s on par with Te Langpu and Li Feihong¡¯s cannons . I¡¯m going to give him the crown prince¡¯s royal tutor as a reward as a prime example of his merit . If there is anyone who wants a promotion in my court, you¡¯ll have to earn it like him! Do you understand me!?"

    All 1,000 officials in the throne room knelt and bowed, "We understand, your majesty!"

    "Xun Yu, help Liu Ye migrate into our military system and train him as a strategist when he¡¯s free from his tutor job . As for this invention, I want both of you to draft a blueprint so that we can develop them . I want to build 500 of these for each of our city and county!"

    Xun Yu walked forward from the side . He bowed without saying a word . However, he nced at Liu Ye with curiosity .

    ¡¯cing Liu Ye with Liu Xie will turn him into the royalist faction by default . Does his majesty want to bnce the power scale between factions?¡¯

    Currently, Tong¡¯s supporter faction overwhelmed the loyalist faction as Tong controlled both his subordinates and the police . Adding a genius child into Liu Xie¡¯s side would naturally boost this faction¡¯s strength in the future .

    ¡¯Well, it¡¯s another weird move from his majesty . Let¡¯s see what he¡¯s nning . ¡¯

    As such, Tong obtained another talented officer into his ranks .

    .

    The news about a 12-year-old child promoted into the crown prince¡¯s tutor spread . Because of the achievement of Liu Ye, more schrs had hopes that if a child could obtain rewards by hard work, so could they!

    After that month, schrs, researchers, cksmiths, carpenters, and nobles were in frantic, trying to create something new and beneficial for the army .

    The officials in Tong and Liu Xie¡¯s faction also did not sit still . They scrambled to find talented people to join their side, hoping to find diamonds in the rough . Both sides alsopeted to gain a better achievement than the others without bothering hindering their growth .

    The productivity boost from the political rivalry system began taking effects .

 Chapter 363

    Chapter 363

    Chapter 363 ¨C Guo Jia¡¯s First Move - Part 1

    August, 188 A . D .

    Changes urred on the central in . Cao Caounched a lightning attack Chenliu, Puyang, and Qiao, which all governors surrendered their territories without a fight .

    Chen Gong, who was an old acquaintance, joined forces with Cao Cao along with his friends afterward .

    This person was also a talented historical figure . In history, he joined the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition in the year 190, which he served Cao Cao Army .

    However, when Cao Caounched a campaign against Tao Qian in 194, Chen Gong colluded with Zhang Miao and Lu Bu, which they stole Puyang and Chenliu from the hands of Cao Cao .

    Cao Cao reimed his territoriester, which he drove Lu Bu and Chen Gong to Xu Province . At the time, Liu Bei inherited Tao Qian¡¯s legacy and became a new governor of the province . Liu Bei then sheltered Lu Bu Army in Xiaopei as a buffer against Cao Cao .

    In 198, Cao Cao nted spies into Lu Bu¡¯s ranks, sowing discord between Lu Bu, Chen Gong, and Liu Bei, which they advised Lu Bu to take action against Xiapi .

    Chen Gong was against the move, but Lu Bu did not listen to him, which led to the historical betrayal as a result .

    Later on, Cao Cao mobilized to Pengcheng County, getting ready to siege Xiapi . Chen Gong advised Lu Bu to take the initiative to strike Cao Cao¡¯s forces as an offense was better than being on the defensive . Unfortunately, Lu Bu listened to the pleas of his wives, telling him not to act . Again, Lu Bu ignored Chen Gong¡¯s critical suggestion .

    After Cao Cao began sieging the city and Lu Bu¡¯s n to break the siege failed, Lu Bu intended to surrender to Cao Cao . Unfortunately, Chen Gong and others, who betrayed Cao Cao in the previous incidents, were afraid of Cao Cao¡¯s retaliation against traitors . They dissuaded Lu Bu and forced him to fight .

    After two months of intense siege by Cao Cao, Lu Bu¡¯s subordinates captured Chen Gong and led their troops to attack Lu Bu from the inside, which ended their journey in this chaotic civil war .

    Both Lu Bu and Chen Gong were executed in the aftermath .

    In the 14th-century novel, Chen Gong was portrayed as a righteous magistrate . He met with Cao Cao when thetter escaped from the failed assassination attempt in Luoyang .

    Chen Gong was impressed by Cao Cao¡¯s loyalty and sacrifice . He quit his job to follow Cao Cao to rescue the emperor from Dong Zhuo . Along with way, they rested in a resident of an acquaintance .

    By mistake, they misunderstood the hosting family that they tried to kill them, which Cao Cao and Chen Gong murdered the entire family . Afterward, they realized that they were nning to kill an animal for their wee feast, which ashamed them . Both left the house in a hurry .

    When another family member of the ughtered residents returned, Cao Cao murdered the person, iming that it was better than letting him see their dead family .

    Chen Gong was disgusted by the murder . He parted way with Cao Cao and joined Lu Bu inter years .

    In this world, everything changed because of all otherworlders .

    Chen Gong did not meet Lu Bu, and the family ughtering incident did not happen . As such, Chen Gong joined forces with Cao Cao as a royal retainer .

    With the addition of Chen Gong¡¯s brain, the expansion in the central in was quick and efficient . Not only they took all territories from minor lords, but they also marched to Jibei, a county south of Pingyuan, and imed it as their border city .

    Cao Family and Xiahou Family spread their wings, bing governors of the territories by self-proiming . All Cao and Xiahou became dominant families within months, and other members of the family reached out to Cao Cao, pledging him that they wanted a piece of cake as well .

    With Pu Jing, Cheng Yu, Chen Gong, and Cao Cao¡¯s propaganda in the territories, more talented officers flocked to them . Many officers, who disliked Tong¡¯s strict government system, also joined Cao Cao¡¯s forces and spread their insider knowledge to the others .

    By increasing from twomanderies to seven and the expansion of civil officers, Cao Cao became another powerhouse, weaker to only Tong and Khan .

    Now, Cao Cao set his sight in the east, where Yuan Shao had stolen from Tao Qian .

    .

    Qiao Commandery, the former city of Kong Zhou

    Cao Cao, Pu Jing, Chen Gong, and all strategists gathered in the main hall, discussing their next moves .

    A giant strategic mapid on the 3x5 meter table . All army tokens had been ced on all territories, including the northern in where Tong¡¯snds located .

    All details were on the map .

    Cao Ren, Yue Jin, and Zhu Ling, with 20,000-man-army, were protecting Jibei from Tong¡¯s 30,000 soldiers of Dong Bai¡¯s Demon Legion in Pingyuan and Kong Rong¡¯s 20,000 men from Beihai .

    Gongsun Du, who had once resided in Puyang, was also in Jibei at the moment, conscripting peasants into his army . He slowly resupplied his provision and soldiers as they journeyed east toward the eastern coast . Their number increased back to 5,000 .

    Cao Hong, Li Dian, and Yu Jin with 15,000-man-army watched the border between Puyang and Ganling . Zhang Liao¡¯s Monster Legion located on the opposite side of the Yellow River, housing 30,000 soldiers .

    Army from Chenliu, led by Xiahou Dun, Cao Xiu, and Cao Chun, garrisoned 20,000 soldiers in themandery . They were guarding the borders and Port Baima from Zhang He¡¯s overwhelming 60,000 men in Henei and Tong¡¯s capital city of Ye with unknown troops .

    In their capital city of Xuchang, Cheng Yu, Dian Wei, and Cao Ang stayed behind . At the west, Sun Jian Army of 50,000 soldiers guarded Ho Gate and Luoyang .

    And Qiao City, where Cao Cao resided, housed 30,000 soldiers . Here, he did not have many leading generals . Xiahou Yuan and Xu Chu were the onlymanders, but Cao Cao did not mind it .

    On the east, Yuan Shao¡¯s forces of 50,000 soldiers fortified in Xiaopei . Another backup army of 20,000 soldiers hid in Pengcheng, Xiapi, and Langye, ready to support Xiaopei at any time .

    No matter how the officers analyzed the map, Cao Cao¡¯s forces were outnumbered . Yet, their expression was dignified as if they were not intimidated by the challenge .

    Chen Gong arranged the tokens and began criticizing the arrangement .

    "Zhang Tong¡¯s movement is ording to our prediction . His territories are in chaos, and they are in the middle of infighting . We can ignore their military movement for now since they won¡¯t attack us any time soon . "

    Chen Gong pointed at Xiaopei, "This city should be our next target of expansion because of the chock points and our scattered borders . Unfortunately, attacking thismandery head-on is also not advisable . Yan Liang is known to be a fierce warrior, and his 50,000 soldiers are not to be underestimated . "

    Afterward, he pointed at Shouchun, located south of Xiaopei, "These territories are under minor governors, and we can conscript them into our forces . I believe we should continue devouring the little fishes as we stabilize our domestic power . "

    Cao Cao leaned forward, interested in the suggested policy, "Are you saying that we should absorb all small territories before we can deal with Yuan Shao?"

    "Yes, that¡¯s my thought . "

    Cao Cao nced at the others, "A bit shallow . We don¡¯t have enough resources to invest, and we don¡¯t have enough soldiers to garrison all of these cities . I¡¯ll keep that n for now . Does anyone else want toment about a better move? Putin, are you up for it?"

    Pu Jing shook his head, "We don¡¯t even need to attack any city . Instead, nting spies and sowing discord among former subordinates of Tao Qian and Yuan Shao¡¯s men is more worthwhile . We can let Yuan Shao developing those cities for us while we¡¯re concentrating on developing ours . Once our spies raised hell within their ranks, we can make some of them switch sides and surrender their cities to us . "

    Chen Gong stared at Pu Jing with widened eyes in astonishment . He lowered his head and pondered, simting scenarios along with Pu Jing¡¯s n . In a few seconds, he sighed in resignation as this Pu Jing had a better insight than himself .

    ¡¯Winning a war without bloodshed . I¡¯m not at that threshold yet . ¡¯

    Cao Cao nodded at Pu Jing as he satisfied with the suggestion . Still, he had not had enough of brainstorming .

    "Anyone else wants to show off your skills? This is your golden chance for a promotion and recognition!"

    Many officers hesitated as they had the same thought as Chen Gong . In their point of view, there was no other move aside from absorbing weaker forces before they could square against giants .

    For half an hour, many chance seekers tried their luck bymenting on their ns . However, Cao Cao and Pu Jing always came up with the worst-case scenario that could happen along the way, which rejected all of their ideas .

    Cao Cao leaned back on his chair, giving up on these people .

    "I¡¯ll give all of you another chance . If you can¡¯te up with a better n than Putin, I¡¯ll follow his n and the credits will be given to him . "

    Everyone sulked in silence, thinking that they were no match against this immortal strategist beside Cao Cao .

    Then, a young man stepped forward .

    "May I try?"

    Pu Jing raised his eyebrows and nodded at this young man . He would be a fool if he did not allow this person to disy his skill .

    The young man was none other than Guo Jia, who Pu Jing had barred this legendary strategist back in Xuchang from migrating to the north . In the end, Pu Jing had to bribe Guo Jia with wines, wages, and other perks, so this genius could favor Cao Cao over Tong .

    Cao Cao also heard about Guo Jia¡¯s potential from Pu Jing . He leaned forward again and gestured .

    "Go on . "

    Guo Jia smiled . He walked toward the strategic map and moved Cao Ren¡¯s piece toward the north,nding on Pingyuan . Meanwhile, he ced each token on the middle of Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao¡¯s territory .

    "Huh? What¡¯s this?"

    Guo Jiaughed, "We don¡¯t attack Yuan Shao or Yuan Shu . We ally with them and attack Zhang Tong . "

    "Huh!?"

    Cao Cao stood up, "Are you stupid!? Zhang Tong is having troubles from the infighting, and their forces will eventually split to pieces . Why should we help Zhang Tong unifying his men by giving them an enemy!?"

    Pu Jing also frowned . He was 70% with Cao Cao, while his 30% agreed with Guo Jia . Although Tong might self-destruct from his government system, waiting for Tong to die was not the only option to conquer the north .

    "Because their self-destruction is guaranteed, we have to split the cake as soon as possible . Once their officers get used to the new system, they will start expanding their territories again . This time, Zhang Tong will target us . "

    "..."

    Guo Jia pointed at Luoyang, "From our report, Sun Jian¡¯s son killed Zhang Tong¡¯s wife, Hua Shi . Right now, Sun Jian has be Yuan Shu¡¯s general, so both sides will not join hands as long as Sun Jian¡¯s family are still working for Yuan Shu . We can use this fact to force an alliance . "

    Cao Cao and Pu Jing liked what they heard, but there were problems .

    Pu Jing pointed at Luoyang, "From what I heard, Yuan Shu is not good with his internal management . What benefit do you have from this alliance?"

    "Oh that, we want Yuan Shu to waste his gold and soldiers . We¡¯re going to manipte them into attacking Henei while we move our forces from Chenliu and Puyang to strike Ye Commandery . "

    "What about Yuan Shao?"

    "Once he realizes that we are attacking Pingyuan, he will move naturally . He probably won¡¯t join our raid, but he will attack Beihai of Kong Rong instead . "

    Guo Jiaughed as he continued, "Once Ye City falls, Zhang Tong will truly self-destruct . Oh, and also, we can start preparing our forces in Xuchang, so we can attack Luoyang at any opportunity . "

    Pu Jing frowned . He was somewhat disappointed with Guo Jia .

    ¡¯This n is shallow andcks depths . Is this really the legendary Guo Jia?¡¯

 Chapter 364

    Chapter 364

    Chapter 364 ¨C Guo Jia¡¯s First Move - Part 2

    September, 188 A . D .

    Chen Gong, taking the role as an envoy, visited Luoyang of Yuan Shu .

    Upon getting into the pce, he was shocked by the reception and the extravagance of this ce . All pirs were decorated with gold and jewelry, while colorful paintings hung on the wall as the wallpapers .

    Maidservants, dressed as if they were prostitutes, carried jade trays with wine jars . They were serving the officers who were working on the documents on their private tables .

    The environment was as if they had a never-ending banquet . All officers worked as they enjoyed their party!

    Chen Gong¡¯s eyes turned red in jealousy of these lucky officials . Still, he reined his inner desire and proceeded with his job . He walked forward to Yuan Shu at the innermost throne .

    "Please to meet you, Lord Yuan Shu . I¡¯m an envoy from Lord Cao Cao . I¡¯m here with a proposal . "

    Currently, Yuan Shu dressed in a golden dragon robe, which looked like he were an emperor . By his sides, two consorts were massaging his legs and Yuan Shu¡¯s private part .

    Chen Gong felt nauseous by the scene .

    ¡¯How can a liege act like this!? Aren¡¯t they disgust by this vulgar manner!?¡¯

    Looking behind him to inspect Yuan Shu¡¯s subordinates, Chen Gong was shocked again .

    Many maids were doing the same with Yuan Shu¡¯s consorts, massaging their little brothers as they were working!

    ¡¯Good heaven! This is sphemy! Do you have any shame!?¡¯

    Chen Gong almost could not control his frustration, but he proceeded with the negotiation anyway .

    "Because of the long wars between warlords, peasants have suffered enough . Lord Cao Cao sees that the causes of the suffering alsoes from the distrust and the tension within the border cities . Lord Cao Cao wishes that we can establish our friendly rtionship and lower our border tension, so I¡¯m here, hoping to form an alliance with your kingdom and wee the age of peace for our people . Can you cooperate with us, Lord Yuan Shu?"

    Chen Gong nced at Yuan Shu while he lowered his head to bow . To his astonishment, Yuan Shu did not even listen to him . Instead, he was moaning in pleasure as the two consorts were servicing him .

    Soon, mysterious white liquid flew andnded before Chen Gong, five centimeters away from his feet .

    Yuan Shu¡¯s body trembled from the exhrating sensation . He pulled his pants back on and coughed .

    "My apologies . I was absentminded . Where was I?"

    Chen Gong was speechless . He refocused his mind and opened his mouth, about to repeat what he said . Unfortunately, Yuan Shuughed out loud before the strategist could even utter a word .

    "Wow! I have a new record! Do you see that puddle over that guy¡¯s feet? It went further than yesterday!"

    Chen Gong stepped backward in reflex .

    "Lord Yuan Shu, I-I ..."

    "I know . An alliance between Cao Cao and me, right?"

    "Y-Yes, I also ..."

    "Cut the formality . I know why Mengde wants the alliance . Does he want me to attack Zhang Tong or something?"

    "Uh, not exactly . We only want to ..."

    "Alright, alright . I know . Write down your proposal if you haven¡¯t had it with you . Once you¡¯re done, give it to me, so I¡¯ll stamp it to give you my approval . Also, if you want a piece of these booties, don¡¯t be reserved . Pick a pair and help yourself . Look at my men, they are enjoying it to the fullest . Right, men?"

    The officers cheered andughed like hoodlums . A few of them on the back did not even wear a cloth!

    "Ladies, bring me my after-lunch snacks . I need to replenish my strength before I can go another round . "

    The public orgy continued, leaving the bbergasted Chen Gong in the middle of the hall .

    .

    Chen Gong cursed as he left the pce . He finished his job and Yuan Shu just half-heartedly approved of their alliance without asking anything in return . However, he could not ask Yuan Shu into mobilizing the soldiers .

    Along the way, a group of armored soldiers and schrs ran to Chen Gong .

    "Sir, please wait!"

    Chen Gong turned around to see the chaser . He waited for the men to arrive .

    The schr panted when they reached Chen Gong . He raised his head and cupped his fist, "My deepest apologies for the manner of our lord . My name is Yang Hong . I¡¯m Lord Yuan Shu¡¯s aide . "

    "Ah, it must have been tough on you . "

    "Uh, yes . As you have seen inside . Everything is in a mess . Well, I heard about your task here . May I hear about your proposal again?"

    Although Chen Gong was annoyed and dissatisfied with Yuan Shu¡¯s attitude, he retold his objective to Yang Hong anyway . Since he was Yuan Shu¡¯s aide, he should be the person who ran this force .

    "I see . Well, I¡¯ll handle the coordination . I¡¯ll tell our grand generals about it and follow through with your task . Still ..."

    Yang Hong red at Chen Gong, "You haven¡¯t brought any tribute or gift to us . We can¡¯t cooperate with you in the mobilization . I have to decline the joint attack proposal . "

    "Can¡¯t you reconsider? I¡¯ll ask my lord to give you some boons after you attack Henei ..."

    "I¡¯m sorry . I¡¯ll be frank . We¡¯re not stupid enough to waste our forces against our neighbor . Obviously, you want to manipte us into withering down Zhang Tong¡¯s forces while weakening ours . Without properpensation and sincerity, I won¡¯t pass it . "

    Chen Gong paused . This schr was not what it looked like in the surface .

    ¡¯This man is also an elite . He won¡¯t fall for a simple trick easily . ¡¯

    Adjusted his mindset, Chen Gong entered his serious debate mode .

    "Aren¡¯t you worried that Zhang Tong might attack you?"

    "Why should he do that? We never quarrel or fight . Heck, we¡¯re the only ones among anti-Xiongnu coalition that had stayed with Zhang Tong till the end . You¡¯re just making that up, didn¡¯t you?"

    "No . I¡¯ll change the question . Have you heard about Sun Jian¡¯s son incident?"

    "The matter about his retard son? We all heard about it . Why?"

    "The one about Sun Fang killing Hua Shi, have you heard of that?"

    "Huh? Can that retard Sun Fang kill anyone? He¡¯s just a useless idiot . I¡¯m leaving here . You¡¯re making up a random story . "

    "Listen to me till the end . What if I tell you that Sun Fang had killed Zhang Tong¡¯s wife!?"

    "Impossible . I¡¯m outta here . "

    "You¡¯d better listen! Zhang Tong had never failed when he sought vengeance! In the past, Feng Ji kidnapped Zhang Tong¡¯s father, and he died by Zhang Tong¡¯s ambush . We also heard that Wang Men of Gongsun Du killed the empress . Not long after the confirmed news, Wang Men was caught and had his body dismembered! Sun Jian¡¯s son killed Hua Shi, and Zhang Tong will definitely be looking for an opportunity to attack you to get his hands on the Sun n . Listen to me, hey!"

    Yang Hong walked away from Chen Gong . However, he did not ignore the logics behind Chen Gong¡¯s words .

    This Yuan Shu¡¯s aide lied to Chen Gong . He knew about Sun Fang¡¯s incident and his deeds, but he did not want to reveal their insider¡¯s news and secret .

    Currently, Yang Hong had been cleaning after Yuan Shu¡¯s mess and his extravagance lifestyle . He restored the city, economy, and farms in the region while the other generals took care of their men . Only a few minor greedy officers joined the orgy bandwagons inside the pce .

    As such, he kept his guard against Chen Gong . With his mindset, he questioned Chen Gong¡¯s ulterior motive in his mind and did not trust him .

    ¡¯What he said was true, but working with Cao Cao is too risky . We can¡¯t afford to move from this point since we¡¯re not in the safe yet . Xiongnu is eyeing Yi Province while Cao Cao is trying to probe the north . Our force has to remain as calm as a mountain, or else, we will perish here!¡¯

    .

    October, 188 A . D .

    Chen Gong returned to Qiao City, reporting his negotiation result to Cao Cao .

    Hearing all details, Cao Cao sighed in a disappointment, "They won¡¯t help us? Are you sure?"

    "Yes, I deepest apologies . I¡¯ve failed you . "

    "Then, Guo Jia¡¯s n will put on hold . We¡¯ll concentrate on increasing our force to match Yuan Shao . "

    Guo Jia stepped forward and stopped Cao Cao from concluding his policy .

    "My Lord, senior Chen Gong haspleted all the objectives that we had sent him . You should not make such a decision yet . "

    Cao Cao and all officers paused, watching Guo Jia with a confused expression . Chen Gong failed to persuade Yuan Shu into attacking Henei, yet why Guo Jia deemed it as a sess?

    "From senior Chen¡¯s words, Yuan Shu half-heartedly agreed to form an alliance, but he refused to mobilize . His aide also rejected your offer, am I right?"

    Chen Gong nodded, "Yes . That¡¯s correct . "

    "Then, my first scheme has been a sess . We have given Yuan Shu an image that we¡¯re probing the north and trying to attack Zhang Tong . "

    Cao Cao leaned forward, interested in Guo Jia¡¯s ploys, "You have plotted something behind my back? Tell me, what is your true goal?"

    "Before I exin, can you excuse us?"

    Guo Jia gestured Cao Cao and all elites in the room with his eyes . Cao Cao nodded and waved his hand .

    "Aside from Chen Gong, Guo Jia, and Pu Jing, the rest of you, leave us alone . "

    Everyone had a wry smile, dejected from not being included in the list of insiders . However, they were motivated that they still had a chance . Since new guys like Chen Gong could be a part of the special people, they, too, should be able to reach the same height .

    After everyone left them alone, Guo Jia continued .

    "To fool an enemy, you have to fool your allies first . Heck, why should I tell our enemy¡¯s spies what our real motive is? I¡¯d rather give them false intelligence and let them run back and forth . "

    "... True . "

    "My previous move contained many hidden objectives and alternate ns, depending on the results . Well, had Yuan Shu really agreed to our proposal, I would have gone along with the flow and attacked Zhang Tong . "

    "Then, your real goal is not Zhang Tong?"

    "Of course not! If we fight him now without any assistance from other forces, we all will be dead in a year . Do you notice that I intentionally targeted Pingyuan where that immortal Xiao Wu is guarding? It was so obvious that it will be a suicide attack since she will easily crush us with our current number and strength . "

    "..."

    "First, I leaked info that we¡¯re so stupid that we¡¯ll charge head-first to death, so Yuan Shao will withhold his soldiers at home, waiting for us to move . We¡¯ll profit from this since we¡¯ll have more times to stabilize our territories . "

    Cao Cao, Pu Jing, and Chen Gong were astonished . They had not expected a bluff from this fake movement .

    "Second, we can confirm ourtest intel that I¡¯m interested in, which Sir Chen has affirmed it to us . Right now, Yuan Shu is living an extravagance life while his adjutants are cleaning from his mess . If webine this info with our spy reports, we can see a bigger picture and their economic power . "

    "Does that have anything to do with our policy?"

    "Yes . I predict that Yuan Shu will face an economic crisis, and he will suffer a bacsh from theck of taxes and food supplies . He won¡¯t have enough gold to pay his subordinates and soldiers in three years . Also ..."

    Guo Jia nced at Pu Jing, "I heard from Sir Pu Jing¡¯s intelligence agency that Yuan Shu has possessed a certain item . "

    .

    For hours, Guo Jia exined his next moves to everyone .

    The legendary strategist had entered the stage .

 Chapter 365

    Chapter 365

    Chapter 365 ¨C Guo Jia¡¯s First Move - Part 3

    December, 188 A . D .

    Cold winter hit China, and all military activities stopped during this winter period .

    Yuan Shao rxed in his city hall in Xiapi, enjoying the privilege of a liege . Unlike Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao had a proper manner and moral ethics . He did not have an orgy party like his brother but a civilized banquet of civil servants .

    The party was a conservative one . Two beautifuldies were plucking their zither while all participants enjoyed their food and wine on their table . No vulgar activity urred here under Yuan Shao¡¯s watch .

    Today, an envoy from Cao Cao visited them in the middle of a banquet inside the government hall . The visitor was none other than Chen Gong .

    "My apologies for the unexpected visit, Lord Yuan . I¡¯m Chen Gong, a humble servant of Cao Cao . I¡¯m here as an envoy from my liege . "

    Yuan Shao squinted his eyes in suspicion .

    ¡¯Isn¡¯t he the one that visited my idiot brother? Is he trying to ask me to attack Zhang Tong, too?¡¯

    Yuan Shao¡¯s intelligence agency was on par with Cao Cao . He had already learned about Cao Cao¡¯s meeting a few months ago and the negotiation in Luoyang .

    In his mind, Yuan Shao concluded that Cao Cao was nning to pick a fight with Tong, so he did not mobilize his troops this year . He was waiting for Cao Cao tomit suicide by attacking Xiao Wu, then he would dispatch his men to im Cao Cao¡¯s territoriester .

    "What can I do for you then, Sir Chen?"

    "I¡¯m here for a peace talk . Since you¡¯re busy here, I¡¯ll get to the point . We¡¯re hoping to form an alliance with you . "

    The music stopped, and all the participants stared at Chen Gong .

    Tian Fengughed and walked to Yuan Shao¡¯s side, whispering to him .

    "Lord, this is as I had predicted . Cao Cao is about to kill himself because they underestimate Xiao Wu Army . We can simply save our men by watching two giants fighting each other to death, then we¡¯ll im their territoriester . "

    Yuan Shao nodded, "That¡¯s what I have in mind . "

    "Chen Gong will likely to ask us to join their attack, but I have another idea . Can you let me handle this?"

    "Go ahead . You have my permission . "

    Tian Feng stepped away from Yuan Shao and walked to the front before Yuan Shao table, acting as his representative .

    "Sir Chen, we have the same idea . We¡¯ll be happy to be your ally . "

    Chen Gong bowed in glee, "Thank you for your understanding! However, I¡¯ve been entrusted with another task . May I ask for a favor from Lord Yuan?"

    "Sure, ask away . "

    "Currently, Zhang Tong has dered himself as an emperor . He dethroned our empress Diaochan and emperor Liu that you supported . He is nothing but a tyrant that stole the throne from the righteous royalties, and he is expanding his force at a rapid rate . Since we have the same enemy, I wish to ask Lord Yuan a favor . Can you dispatch your men to attack Pingyuan with us? We will pay youpensation for your troubles . "

    Chen Gong brought up the hoax incidents when Cao Cao used Diaochan as a false empress while Yuan Shao erected one of his sons as an emperor . Although both sides knew that it was a fa?ade, no one dared to point out the hidden truth .

    Yuan Shao had a mocking smirk on his face as he found this ironic . Both Cao Cao and Yuan Shao tried topete for the dominancy and the initiative for the court power, but Tong shot both of them down with the real surviving empress He and her son .

    Now, Tong was on the righteous side while they were the rebels, yet Chen Gong stated that Tong was a tyrant .

    "Ah, I can never get bored of this," Yuan Shaoughed out loud, "Tian Feng, what do you think?"

    Tian Feng turned around and cupped his fist, "It is indeed as Sir Chen has said . We are the righteous ones while Zhang Tong¡¯s ascension to the throne is an act of rebellion . We should work together and get rid of this person as soon as possible before more innocents suffer from the prolonged war . "

    Tian Feng faced Chen Gong again, "However, attacking Pingyuan will benefit us nothing . Instead, we will offer our assistance by attacking Beihai, north of Langya . Will this do, Sir Chen?"

    Yuan Shao imagined the country map within his mind . Beihai was under Kong Rong¡¯s control, and he had joined forces with Tong . Furthermore, it did not have any legion protecting themandery, so it was a better choice for their expansion .

    Shouchun, Guangling, and Lujiang located south of Xiaopei and Xiapi . They were also Yuan Shao¡¯s targets . Since these regions were under the protection of weak lords, Yuan Shao saw these areas as dead meat that could be imed at any time .

    For now, weakening Tong and stealing his rich cities took priority .

    Chen Gong narrowed his eyes . He lowered his head and hid his mocking grin behind his sleeves . Under the cover, Chen Gong thanked them .

    "Thank you for your cooperation . I haven¡¯t told you yet . I¡¯ve brought gifts, food supplies, and hired mercenaries to you as an advancedpensation . I hope you will like it . "

    Yuan Shao nodded, "Tell Mengde, I give my thanks . "

    .

    After Chen Gong had stayed for the banquet as an etiquette, Chen Gong left the meeting . As soon as he returned to his residence, he found Xiahou Yuan, Xu Chu, and Guo Jia inside, waiting for him .

    Guo Jia, who had orchestrated this n, looked like a child, sitting next to the two monsters . His 18-year-old face, 170cm tall, and a blue schr robe were the perfect disguise as no one would have suspected that he was a strategist of an insane n .

    Xiahou Yuan was tall and muscr as if he was a professional wrestler in the modern-day . He had a full beard, and his hair was tied into a topknot . Both hands of Xiahou Yuan were full of blisters and hardened skins, which exposed the traces of his hard work .

    Xu Chu was also a beefy man with a youthful face . However, his developed muscles hid under the fat of his body, making him look like a giant with a babyface . Should anyone mock him because of his fat or face, they would be in for some pain .

    Both Xiahou Yuan and Xu Chu were famous generals under Cao Cao in history . Now, they were with Chen Gong for a mission .

    Chen Gong nodded at the two giants, "My task isplete . I¡¯ll be returning to Qiao . "

    "Will you be alright on your way back on your own?" Xiahou Yuan looked at Chen Gong with a concern .

    "I¡¯m fine . You take care of the mercenaries and wait for the signal . "

    "Aye . Tell Mengde to leave it to us . "

    Chen met his eyes with Guo Jia¡¯s, "It¡¯s your turn . "

    Guo Jia grinned, "Rx . I know what I¡¯m doing . "

    "... I hope so . "

    Chen Gong packed his belongings and left the city . As for the trio, they gathered Cao Cao¡¯s 5,000 elites, who wore disguised leather armors and worn-out spears, into the militarypound with Chen Gong¡¯s tokens .

    Xiahou Yuan rubbed mud and dirt all over his body to make himself look like a thug . Furthermore, he had not taken a bath for weeks on purpose . His bodily smell was so strong that Guo Jia and Xu Chu had to pinch their nose when they were close to him .

    Upon arrival at Yuan Shao¡¯s military camp, the guards inspected them .

    "Who are you?"

    "We¡¯re mercenaries from Cao Cao . Our lord told us that we have to work under Yuan Shao from now on . "

    The guards turned to their friends in confusion as they had not heard about this transfer . Before they could confirm it with their superiors, a person arrived to vouch for the disguised mercenaries .

    Yan Liang, the only remaining great general under Yuan Shao, came here to check the new faces .

    "Let them in . These people are Cao Cao¡¯s tributes . "

    "Tributes?" Yan Liang¡¯s subordinates were even more confused .

    "Yes, a tribute . Cao Cao sold these ves to our lord for an alliance . We¡¯re friends of Cao Cao now . "

    "OH!"

    Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers cheered andughed while the disguised 5,000 men gritted their teeth in anger . Xu Chu was also on the verge of snapping, but Xiahou Yuan raised his hands, stopping them from ruining their mastern .

    Yan Liang also noticed Xiahou Yuan¡¯s action . He praised the mercenary leader in his mind as he approached Xiahou Yuan .

    "Are you their leader? What¡¯s your name?"

    "I¡¯m Miao Cai . Who am I talking to?"

    Miaocai was Xiahou Yuan¡¯s style name . However, he was using it as his fake real name .

    "Who am I? I¡¯m your boss, you stinking buffoon! Go and take a bath before I dump you in thetrine . And for the rest of you,e with me . I¡¯ll take you to your camp!"

    Yan Liang kicked Xiahou Yuan¡¯s buttock with his full strength, sending him tumbling forward .

    Noticing that Xiahou Yuan did not cry or copse from his kick, Yan Liang liked this mercenary leader more .

    ¡¯Come to think of it, I¡¯ve seen this man before . Where have I seen it?¡¯

    Looking at the face of Xiahou Yuan and Xu Chu, who stood out from the rest, Yan Liang had a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu .

    In reality, Yan Liang had seen them in action in the battle in front of Ho Gate . Xiahou Yuan and Xu Chu had once dueled with Khan¡¯s clone soldiers .

    ¡¯Bah, forget it . I got a good toon in my army for free . What¡¯s there to think about?¡¯

    Yan Liang disregard the familiarity of their faces and continued guiding Xu Chu and the others into the camp .

    Guo Jia, who followed along with them as the group¡¯s strategist, hummed and rxed as if this undercover task was a walk in a park .

    ¡¯Now then, where is Tao Qian¡¯s former subordinates I can exploit?¡¯

    .

    Meanwhile, a group of envoy arrived in Ye City .

    In Ye Pce, Tong sat on his throne with Liu Xie at his side as usual . They watched the visitor with a cautious re .

    Tong recognized this person and warned Liu Xie about it .

    Standing at the side, Xun Yu frowned as he questioned the envoy¡¯s motive .

    The envoy refused to kneel, but he bowed nheless, "Greetings, your majesty . I didn¡¯t attend your wives¡¯ funeral and the coronation ceremony . I hope you won¡¯t take this as an offense . "

    "Cao Mengde, stop the formality and get to the point . What are you doing here?"

    Guarding next to the throne, Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci ced their hands on their sword sheath, getting ready to attack Cao Cao at any moment .

    Everybody knew that Cao Cao was a powerhouse warlord and Tong¡¯s rival . They might not have quarreled with the other, but their borders connected . Sooner orter, they could be enemies .

    Cao Caoughed, "Can¡¯t Ie to visit you? We¡¯re neighbors, so can¡¯t Ie by to say hello?"

    Tong red at Cao Cao and nced at the person behind his back .

    "I would have weed you if youe here without an immortal tailing behind you . "

    Pu Jing, who came with Cao Cao as his bodyguard, smiled as he nced around the throne room .

    "Why are you so nervous? We¡¯re just here for a peace talk . "

    A sweatdrop dripped from Tong¡¯s face . His soul injuries had notpletely healed yet, but an otherworlder with angelic wings appeared before him .

    Li Feihong and others with wing powers were not present . Friday and Medusa were at Pingyuan .

    Tong could not count on Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci right now as they had not matured enough to fight Pu Jing without wings .

    Moreover, Tong could not use 100% of his strength at the moment . If they fought, he was not confident that he could protect his confidants in this room .

    ¡¯This can get ugly . ¡¯

    Mustering his courage, Tong touched a hidden shotgun behind his seat, "Tell me what your proposal is . "

    Cao Cao and Pu Jing grinned, "We want to form an alliance with you . "

 Chapter 366

    Chapter 366

    Chapter 366 ¨C Pu Jing Buying Times

    "Alliance? Huh, do you understand your position right now? I¡¯m now an emperor while you are still a subject of the Han Dynasty . You can¡¯t tell me that I can¡¯t mobilize my men to enter your region since the entire country belongs to me . "

    Tong took an aggressive stance against Cao Cao and Pu Jing . If pushes came to shove, he would fight to the death .

    ¡¯I¡¯m not afraid of your bluff . You¡¯re the one that should bow to me, pushovers!¡¯

    The emperor¡¯s killing intent engulfed the throne room . An oppressing aura of an elite general petrified Cao Cao and Pu Jing¡¯s legs . As for Tong¡¯s subjects, their mind was affected by the stray bullets even though they were not Tong¡¯s targets .

    All officers kowtowed and trembled in fear . Aside from Xun Yu, Zhao Yun, and Taishi Ci, no one dared to look at Tong¡¯s face .

    Cao Cao stared at Tong in awe and astonishment . In his mind, he reevaluated Tong from a capable general to a dominating champion like Lu Bu .

    However, Pu Jing snapped out of his trance first . As a former KGB elite agent, a little pressure like this was a joke .

    Pu Jing walked in front of Cao Cao, protecting him from the direct mental attack . He raised both hands above his head, gesturing that he came in peace .

    "My apologies for theck of exnation . My boss picked the wrong words . Also, please do not use that shotgun behind you . As you can see, I¡¯m unarmed . "

    "..."

    Tong was surprised that Pu Jing had noticed his hidden shotgun from afar even though he only touched it . His frown deepened as he focused his killing intent on Pu Jing .

    Instead of getting intimidated, Pu Jing raised his eyebrows and sighed .

    "Stop that . All hostile intent is bad for negotiation, especially when you¡¯re dealing with an elite politician . They won¡¯t flinch because of something like this . "

    Seeing the indifferent Pu Jing, Tong dispersed his aura .

    "State your business,rade premier . "

    "Hmm . I see that you¡¯re still green in the politician world . First lesson for a newbie, be civil even if you¡¯re standing before your nemesis . I lost count how many times I had the urge to punch Clinton, Trump, or Obama in the face when I met them, but I always held back . "

    "..."

    "Second lesson, you should not unt your authority . I know why you did that, and I admit that it¡¯s Mengde¡¯s fault . Still, you shouldn¡¯t dere your hostility in the open . If you want someone dead, do it behind their back and don¡¯t get caught . Don¡¯t assassinate Mengde and me though . As I said before, we¡¯vee in peace . "

    "..."

    Tong¡¯s face twitched as he could not read Pu Jing . This former premier was too rxed!

    "And thest lesson for today, your security and your intelligence agency still have a lot of rooms for improvement . Not detecting me until we have strolled into the pce is bad . "

    Pu Jing pulled out a scroll and passed it to Xun Yu . It was a detail about their proposal .

    "My point is, we¡¯re here to request your protection at the cost of our territories and our services . "

    Xun Yu¡¯s eyes brightened . From Pu Jing¡¯s brief words, it sounded like they were surrendering to Tong .

    Cao Cao¡¯s eyes fluctuated when Pu Jing finished his words . Although he did not like it, he managed to hide his dissatisfaction .

    Tong doubted if he was not dreaming . It was too easy for Cao Cao and Pu Jing to surrender when they were expanding their influence in frantic this year .

    Tong probed, "What will I get, and what do you want in return?"

    "We will tribute you taxes, harvests, and workers . However, we hope that you can issue a royal decree for us . The details are in the scroll I have given to your retainer . "

    Xun Yu passed the scroll to Tong .

    In the scroll, Cao Cao demanded an official title as a Marquis of Wei . In exchange, all of their territories would pay taxes and submit their authorities to Tong . All of their borders would open to his forces, and Cao Cao¡¯s subordinates would follow Tong¡¯smand without a condition .

    However, Cao Cao did not state the ratio about his tribute, tax shares, or a delivery schedule .

    Tong gazed at Pu Jing while the scroll was still in his hands, "The offer is vague . I can¡¯t find a clear tax rate, delivery dates, military details, or even any detail about your territories . Are you sure this is how you deal with other countries,rade premier?"

    "I¡¯ll be frank . We are in the middle of stabilizing our region . We do not have the right estimation for the ie taxes or the likes until the central in is under our control . However, I can guarantee 1,000,000 tons of provision and 50,000 gold as a minimum annual tribute from our sevenmanderies . "

    "Aren¡¯t that too few? Don¡¯t you know that my Julu alone can produce fifteen times the amount of that in a year?"

    "I¡¯m sorry . My previous offer is 20% of our total ie . We need to rest for our expenses and maintenance . "

    Tong leaned back to his chair, pondering if this was a good deal .

    Bestowing Cao Cao with a marquis title equaled giving a ferocious tiger a pair of wings . Cao Cao would use this authority to recruit soldiers, reinforcing his economy, and gathering talented officers .

    However, if Tong looked at this deal from a different point of view, he lost nothing . Giving a title to other warlords would ease the tension between their borders . Trade routes would open, and their cities would get the boon from the peaceful policy . Moreover, Tong would get taxes from Cao Cao every year without having to spend a dime or manpower .

    Still, Cao Cao and Pu Jing could break free from Tong¡¯s control at any time once they grew strong enough .

    As Tong was in deep thought, Pu Jing read Tong¡¯s facial expression and could guess what Tong was thinking . He coughed, "Your majesty, you should read a bit further into that scroll . We hid a ssified intel in there . That¡¯s the proof of our sincerity . "

    Tong stared into Pu Jing¡¯s eyes and paused for a minute . He nced around the room, looking for any potential spies who might be listening to their conversation .

    Then, he rolled the scroll in his hands to the end .

    At the end of the scroll, small letters were there as Pu Jing had said .

    [Yuan Shu has the Imperial Seal . ]

    [Cao Cao¡¯s next target is Yuan Shao . ]

    Tong had to nce at Pu Jing again to confirm what he read .

    "Bad move, Premier . After you achieved your goal, your next target is obviously me . You are buying times from me, so you can strengthen yourselves . "

    "Don¡¯t be pessimistic and base everything on your assumption, your majesty . Why do we have to risk our lives here if we truly want to be your enemy in the future? I¡¯ll repeat it, we¡¯re sincere, and we want peace . "

    Tong groaned . He guessed that Pu Jing and Cao Cao would eventually betray him once Cao Cao obtained Xu Province from Yuan Shao . He wanted to kill Cao Cao and Pu Jing right here and now, but Tong might die if Pu Jing used a soul explosion, just like Jiang Man .

    As Tong learned from past mistakes, he decided to be more patient .

    "Fine . Cao Mengde, Putin, kneel and receive my mandate!"

    Everyone in the hall knelt . Cao Cao and Pu Jing were also on their knees, receiving Tong¡¯smand ceremony .

    "I¡¯ll give you twomands . One, Cao Cao will be the Marquis of Wei, and he will be in charge of Yan, Yu, and Xu Province . Xuchang, Runan, Chenliu, Puyang, Qiao, Jibei, Xiapi, Xiaopei, Pengcheng, and Langya will be under your responsibility . If any incident urs within these territories, Cao Cao and Pu Jing will be held responsible for the matter . "

    Cao Cao bowed . However, he frowned and clicked his tongue .

    He only demanded the title, but he did not imagine that Tong would have specified his territories . By entrusting Xu Province to Cao Cao, Tong dered that Cao Cao was the owner of Yuan Shao¡¯snd in the open .

    Though it gave Cao Cao a righteous reason to invade Xiapi and other cities, this emperor¡¯s mandate would irk Yuan Shao, and he would be wary of Cao Cao in the future .

    In other words, this discord tactic forced Cao Cao to be at odd with Yuan Shao . Also, it would interfere with Guo Jia¡¯s swift overtaking n .

    Tong continued . He had a faint smile on his face, "Cao Cao, I heard that you have talented sons, right?"

    Cao Cao had a chill running down his spine, "Y-Yes . "

    "I heard about your eldest son, Cao Ang . It¡¯s a waste to let him grow up in a battlefield, and he deserves a proper education . While you are pacifying the territories, Cao Ang is going to live in Ye City and learn the way of my rules . That¡¯s my second mandate!"

    Cao Cao was on the verge of screaming at Tong . This edict dictated that Cao Ang would be a hostage . Should Cao Cao betray Tong in the future, he had to give up his eldest son¡¯s life .

    Cao Mengde nced at Pu Jing as he dissatisfied with this negotiation .

    "I¡¯m sorry, my lord . We¡¯re not in the position to deny an emperor¡¯s edict . "

    "I¡¯ll remember this, Putin . If Tong kills my son, I¡¯ll kill you . "

    "I know . "

    .

    The meeting and negotiation ended without bloodshed .

    Cao Cao gained his authority as he had hoped, but he would lose a portion of his tax ie . Also, Cao Ang had to be transferred to Ye City and lived his life as a hostage .

    On the other hand, Tong did not lose much in this deal . He might lose a reason to attack Cao Cao as he had just bestowed him the title and higher noble status, but Tong obtained times to improve his territories .

    As for Cao Ang, Tong saw it as a potential double agent . With a bit of Lu Zhi¡¯s education and brainwashing, the teenage Cao Ang could be a thorn to Cao Cao in the future .

    After the meeting, Xun Yu, Jia Xu, and Friday reprimanded Tong in the n chat for being lenient and reckless . However, Xun You, Ju Shou, and Liu Ye approved of this move .

    .

    January, 189 A . D .

    Cao Cao and Pu Jing returned to their home with a piece of good news and bad news .

    The transfer order reached Xuchang within the same month . The 15-year-old Cao Ang left the city to Ye with dejected expression, knowing that his fate was sealed .

    Cheng Yu and other officers could onlyfort them with kind words before he departed .

    In Qiao City, Cao Cao sent a letter to his friend, plotting his own move to get back on Tong .

    Cao Cao¡¯s eyes did not hide his grudge and his anger when he watched the departing messenger .

    "Since you interest in my family, I¡¯ll give you another gift . I¡¯ll make you regret messing with my family!"

 Chapter 367

    Chapter 367

    Chapter 367 ¨C Guo Jia¡¯s Evaluation and Comparison

    February, 189 A . D .

    The moon shone in the dark night . Guo Jia sat in his private tent, reading a message, sent by Cao Cao .

    It told Guo Jia about Cao Cao¡¯s promotion as the Marquis of Wei and the hostage Cao Ang . The message scroll also included the details about Tong¡¯s first edict, which forced Cao Cao to be at odd with Yuan Shao .

    Guo Jia clicked his tongue and burned the message scroll .

    ¡¯Without a sacrifice, chess pieces won¡¯t advance forward . Cao Ang might die in the future, but that¡¯s a necessary move . ¡¯

    Guo Jia closed his eyes, recalling all details he had researched about Tong and all otherworlders . He beganparing Cao Cao and Tong .

    ¡¯Zhang Tong and Cao Cao don¡¯t like a formality . They are a bunch of rowdy immature lords, so nobody wins in principle . ¡¯

    ¡¯Zhang Tong has the Han Empire¡¯s authority and respect while Cao Cao used underhanded tricks to gain supremacy in the past, Zhang Tong wins Cao Cao in righteousness . ¡¯

    ¡¯Because of theck ofw enforcement, the Han Dynasty declined . Zhang Tong reinforces hisws and order even though he promotes internal conflicts . His administrative abilities are dubious, yet his cities stabilize . Cao Cao has stern disciplinary with his followers, and his cities improved step-by-step . I have to give it another tie in management . ¡¯

    ¡¯Zhang Tong appoints people base on abilities and specialties . He even forgives that undisciplined Lu Bu and reinstated him into a grandmander again . Still, his action in Liyang and the duel at Ho Gate shows that hecked patience . Meanwhile, Cao Cao has faith with his men . He has discerning eyes when ites to talented people, and he promotes a meritocracy system . Simr to Zhang Tong, Cao Cao did not care about the past of his officers . His policy and development used a slow and steady approach, but Zhang Tong always expanded rapidly and stopped to stabilize . In term of tolerance, Cao Cao is a bit higher, so Cao Cao wins . ¡¯

    ¡¯Zhang Tong rarely listened to his advisors, and his strategic and policy decision always came from himself . He had many strategists, but he sent them away to support others instead of utilizing them . Cao Cao always brainstormed before he made any significant move . He weed all critics from his strategists, and he was decisive when it was necessary . It¡¯s questionable and illogical how Zhang Tong has be so sessful with this mindset . Maybe it¡¯s a fluke and his immortal power advantage? I¡¯ll give Cao Cao a win in strategies . ¡¯

    ¡¯Zhang Tong has a peasant origin, and his past shows that he did not care about his face value or reputation . He cried and bowed to his soldiers in his wives¡¯ funeral . That¡¯s a good example of a pretender right there . He is not very sincere with his subordinates if he used this kind of approach to seduce followers . Cao Cao is more honest when he recruited me . Although he bribed me, I have to give him credit since I¡¯m a mere schr . In terms of virtue and honesty, I¡¯ll give Cao Cao another win . ¡¯

    ¡¯In benevolence ... It¡¯s a tie, hands down . Zhang Tong never abandoned hungry civilians and refugees, but so did Cao Cao . No winner here . ¡¯

    ¡¯Zhang Tong is strict when ites to corruption and embezzlement . All officers with tainted hands are weeded out, and all his men are honest workers . Cao Cao is simr when ites to how he dealt with crooked officers . A tie for them in wisdom . ¡¯

    ¡¯Zhang Tong was sometimes evil but sometimes benevolence . He might punish crooks, but he can be a hypocrite sometimes . His bipr attitude is unpredictable, and his governance is full of controversy . Meanwhile, Cao Cao dipped his hands in the empress conning . Now that the false empress is with Zhang Tong, Cao Cao cannot use the dirty trick . Although he can discern right and wrong, the past incident left him a bad mark . Both are tied in culture . ¡¯

    ¡¯In terms of war exploit, Zhang Tong is clearly more superior . Cao Cao may be talented and he had ovee many small battles, but he has no experience inmanding argescale battle . Zhang Tong wins in military might . ¡¯

    Guo Jia tried topare both powerhouses to find Tong and Cao Cao¡¯s weaknesses and advantageous . Upon getting a closer look, Guo Jia had to reevaluate them many times .

    In the end, he scored both lords by specialties .

    .

    >

    - Military Might

    - Righteousness

    >

    - Tolerance

    - Strategy

    - Virtue

    .

    Looking at their advantages, Guo Jia had a clear idea of how he could defeat Tong with Cao Cao .

    ¡¯We can¡¯t fight Zhang Tong in directbat or dere war against him! However, he¡¯s weak in politics and long-term strategies . Now that Zhang Tong bestowed Cao Cao a title and epted the deal, he can¡¯t invade us for a while . If he does, he will lose his righteousness and benevolence image he has been building . Then, we can start poaching his trusted generals to our side . ¡¯

    Pondering for a while, Guo Jia shook away his thought .

    ¡¯No need to concern about Zhang Tong for now . I¡¯ll devour Yuan Shao from the inside!¡¯

    ...

    It was almost a year since thest battle at Luoyang . All forces were busy licking their wounds, recovering from their losses .

    Civilians benefitted from this calm period the most since they could restore their farms and their businesses .

    In Ye City, every corner of the street was buzzing as ever . As Tong resided in Ye Pce, all locals believed that this was their new capital city . Merchants, schrs, and migrating civilians flocked to Ye from all over the country, boosting the poption and economy .

    As the poption grew, the order andws became an issue . Sima Fang had to transfer the graduated policemen from Julu to Ye again, reinforcing the total police officers to 30,000 men .

    .

    May 5th, 189 A . D .

    The first tribute ambassador from Cao Cao arrived . They kept their promises, 50,000 gold nuggets, and a million tons of provision filled the pce treasury .

    The leader of this tribute group was an elder schr and an expert in guqin, a traditional zither with seven strings .

    After the ambassador confirmed that he hadpleted his job, he sought an audience with Tong .

    In the throne room, Tong allowed the convoy leader and his entourage to see him .

    The ambassador and his followers kowtowed to Tong, "Your majesty, I have finished my job, so I¡¯vee here to report you . "

    Tong nodded, "Good work . Tell Cao Mengde that I appreciate his gifts . I hope that he can maintain the order in the central in . "

    The elder bowed again, "I will tell him that . But first, I wish to give you another gift . This is not from lord Cao Cao, but it is from me . "

    Tong raised his eyebrows . The corner of his mouth curved downward as he did not have a good impression of this elder anymore .

    After the coronation ceremony, many officials, schrs, merchants, and evenmoners wished to see him . They offered many gifts, aka bribery, to Tong, hoping that they could obtain a noble title or an official rank in return .

    Tong refused their tributes and turned down many offers so far . He only epted gifts from merchants, who came here to ask for Tong¡¯s permission to open a shop here .

    Now, the elder seemed to be one of the opportunists . As Tong did not know what the gifts were, he began inspecting the ambassador¡¯s followers to discern his purpose .

    The followers were a group of female performers, mostly zither artists . As Tong inspected further, he found that they did not bring anyborer here .

    From Tong¡¯s experience, he guessed that the ambassador would offer his daughter or a girl to be his concubine in exchange for an official post .

    ¡¯Another pimp ... I should chase him out after hearing him . ¡¯

    The elder gestured his followers, and they prepared their zithers . Betraying Tong¡¯s expectation, the girls performed a song instead of showing their beauty .

    The officers in the throne room rxed, listening to the guqin performers . The string music soothed their heart, and the mood in the room became pleasant .

    The song ended after 10 minutes of group performance, which Tong pped by instinct .

    Xun Yu, who was monitoring the visitor by Tong¡¯s side, was surprised by Tong¡¯s reaction . He thought that Tong liked the performers .

    ¡¯Someone actually moved his majesty¡¯s heart? This is rare . ¡¯

    All officials in the room followed suit, pping for the zither band .

    As the girls had not expected apuse or an ovation, they blushed and flustered in embarrassment .

    The ambassador was surprised as well . He directed his proud smile at one of the girls, "Well performed, Wenji . "

    "Thank you, father . "

    The father turned to Tong, who had just realized that he gestured something impropriate and might lead to a misunderstanding . He should have only nodded in acknowledgment and chased them away, not pping .

    Tong coughed, "It was a good song . "

    "Thank you, your majesty . This is my gift to you . "

    "You¡¯re not going to give me one of those girls, right?"

    "Haha! You jest, your majesty . I only wanted them to show their skills to you . I¡¯m not one of those crooked fathers who sell their daughters!"

    "Oh?"

    Tong was surprised once again, "You¡¯re not offering me one of them? Ah, excuse me . Your type is rare these days . Everybody is busy trying to force concubines on me against my will . "

    "Haha! I understand that very well . I served emperor Ling for years, and I¡¯ve seen many greedy officials trying to sell their daughters . Well, that¡¯s another story if you desire them, though . "

    Tong patted his forehead, "Spare me . One concubine is enough for now . Now, you should be honest and tell me what you want in exchange for that song . No more fa?ade this time . "

    "Then, I¡¯ll be direct, your majesty . We wish to open an art school that teaches calligraphy, zithers, poetry, and other arts . The central in has been in chaos recently, and we hope that you can allow us to settle here . "

    "Oh, that¡¯s simple . You should have told me this earlier . Wenruo, coordinate with the cab officers and the city nners . Find an avablend within the inner city to build an art school and rent it to this person . Oh, wait, I haven¡¯t asked your name . "

    "Ah, my deepest apologies, your majesty . I¡¯ve grown old that I forgot my manner . My name is Cai Yong . You can call me by my style name, Bojie . "

    Tong¡¯s smiling face froze . He ran into another historical figure again .

    As Tong knew about Cai Yong¡¯s name, he was also aware of his famous daughter¡¯s name, Cai Yan or Cai Wenji . Because of the sudden awareness, Tong¡¯s eyes glued at the center of the band, where Cai Wenji was .

 Chapter 368

    Chapter 368

    Chapter 368 ¨C Cai Wenji

    In history, Cai Yong started his career as a clerk under an official . As he was talented in mathematics, calligraphy, music, and astronomy, Cai Yong waster promoted to work in Luoyang library .

    In 175, Cai Yong and many schrs engraved the Five ssics in stone, which became Xiping Stone ssics, and it became a role model for theter generation schrs .

    As a royalist, Cai Yong was a part of an anti-eunuch faction . He works conflicted with eunuch n in the pce, but his political attack was not sessful .

    In 177 and 178, Cai Yong was exiled to the frontier as he and his uncle were framed by the eunuch faction with a crime he did notmit . He tried to return to the capitalter to protect his works, but Cai Yong had to evict himself from the capital city because of the political infighting .

    In 189, Dong Zhuo upied the capital and forced Cai Yong back to Luoyang . Dong Zhuo threatened Cai Yong with the death of his family . Thus, unwillingly, Cai Yong returned .

    Later in 192, Wang Yun imprisoned Cai Yong because he was found allegedly grieved for the tyrant¡¯s death . Cai Yong died in prison without being able to finish his works .

    Throughout his life, Cai Yong faced many unfortunate injustices . However, he left behind many treasure works, including the Book of the Later Han, which survived until the modern days .

    Cai Yong might be bad in politics, but his culture, arts, and his hard-working nature were in the top tier . He was a valuable asset to boost the kingdom¡¯s culture, arts, and knowledge for theter generations .

    As for Cai Wenji, Cao Cao protected her after Cai Yong¡¯s death, so she could continue her father¡¯s legacy . She was considered one of Cao Cao¡¯s friend that he treasured, even though she was not his wife or a concubine .

    ...

    In this world, the eunuch did not have enough times to pick a fight with Cai Yong as they were busy with Liu Ping . As a result, Cai Yong managed to refuge in Chenliu until Cao Cao stole it from Zhang Miao .

    Because of Cai Yong¡¯s cultural knowledge and his arts, Cao Cao visited him many times, and they became friends .

    Then, a couple of months ago, Cao Cao sent him a letter, asking him for a favor .

    Cao Cao wanted Cai Yong to live in Ye City as his deep mole, so he could influence Tong¡¯s political movement in the court .

    However, no one expected the rumored lolicon like Tong to be interested in a reserved woman .

    ...

    Tong gazed at Cai Wenji in a trance, recalling the background of Cai Yong and this young woman .

    The works of Cai Yong could benefit the country in the long run, which Tong had the urge to change this man¡¯s fate by sheltering him under his wings .

    But his subconscious interest toward a famous poet Cai Wenji was higher at the moment .

    Cai Wenji was a well-dressed musician . Unlike other performers, she did not reveal her skin . Her blue robe has long sleeves, yet they did not interfere with her performance earlier .

    Her manner, etiquette, subtle expression, and her natural beauty attracted Tong¡¯s eyes that he forgot about his current position again .

    Although Tong had Du Shi as his concubine, she was different than this reserved and cultured girl . Cai Wenji¡¯s high-ss traditional beauty charm stunned Tong for a long time .

    Xun Yu and Cai Yan noticed Tong¡¯s awestruck expression, which they misunderstood him .

    Cai Yong was shocked at first that this young emperor interested in his daughter, but he was relieved that Tong was not as lustful as emperor Ling . If it were him, he would not mind giving his daughter to Tong .

    Still, not everything went ording to the n of his friend .

    ¡¯I was expecting to be a spy for Cao Cao . To think that I can be Zhang Tong¡¯s father-inw ...¡¯

    Cai Yong coughed and snapped Tong from his trance .

    "Thank you for your kindness, your majesty . Oh, by the way, my daughter is the leading performer in this trope, and she had juste of agest year . I see that you like her performance . Would you like her to be your personal musician?"

    Tong red at Cai Yong, "You said you won¡¯t sell your daughter, but you are selling your daughter now?"

    "You misunderstood me, your majesty . I¡¯m not selling my daughter . I¡¯m only asking if you have an avable job in the pce for a musician . "

    "That¡¯s the same, isn¡¯t it?"

    "Haha, of course not . "

    While the fa?ade continued, Cai Wenji nced at Tong, observing this young emperor¡¯s face for the first time . As a public performer, she came across many men who desired her body . Therefore, she could tell if Tong was a beast or a gentleman .

    Within Tong¡¯s eyes, there was no trace of lust or desire, only curiosity and concern .

    Cai Wenji sighed in relief, believing that Tong was not a bad man . She mustered her courage and interjected, "Your majesty, if you would like, I can be by your side and use my art for you . "

    Sensing the escting misunderstanding, Tong stuttered, "I-It¡¯s alright . Y-You don¡¯t have to force yourself . I¡¯ll chastise your fatherter for his inconsideration, alright?"

    Cai Wenji kowtowed, "Please don¡¯t chastise my father . This is my will . "

    Tong smacked his forehead again . He leaned back to his throne, unable to think of an excuse to chase this father and daughter away .

    ¡¯I want to protect Cai Yong for his future works, but I don¡¯t want to be at odds with him . Do I really have to ept his offer?¡¯

    Xun Yu grinned . He walked to Tong¡¯s side and whispered, "You should take her in, your majesty . This will eliminate all bad rumors about you . "

    "I have bad rumors? What is this about? Why was I not aware of this?"

    "It might sound impolite, butmoners said you were smitten by Lady Du . "

    "I¡¯m smitten!?"

    "Yes . I think servants in the pce spread this . Since you only gave your affection to Lady Du and refused all other potential concubines, everyone believes in it . "

    "..."

    "I know it might be bad for thedy, please ept this girl . You always called fordy Du every night, right? I don¡¯t me you that you failed to impregnate her, but at least you should give her a break . "

    "..."

    This was the third time that Tong facepalmed himself .

    .

    In the end, Tong epted Cai Wenji into his pce . All Tong¡¯s supporters celebrated as they introduced themselves to Cai Yong with enthusiasm, nning to drag this elder to their side .

    Cai Yong was over the moon, happy that his daughter was hand-picked by the hard-to-get emperor . Even though Tong refused to bless him with a position in the court, he did not mind it since he got a connection with Tong now .

    Meanwhile, Tong introduced Cai Wenji to Du Shi .

    The two girls formed a click in an instant when they began talking about culture and arts . For hours, they left Tong out of the loop that Tong had to excuse himself from the awkwardness .

    Fortunately, Cai Wenji was a reserved girl . She did not enter his chamber at night like Du Shi, who tirelessly attended Tong every night even though he never asked for it .

    Looking at the hard-working Du Shi, Tong felt a bit guilty .

    ¡¯I should stop using the contraceptive system on her . Someone might think that I¡¯m infertile if she¡¯s here every night, but she never gets pregnant . ¡¯

    For three months, Du Shi refused to share Tong with Cai Wenji, though they were on friendly terms on the surface . She changed her mindter once the pce physicians found that Du Shi got pregnant .

    Cai Wenji finally mustered her courage and visited Tong after Du Shi stopped attending him at night .

    Just like Du Shi, Cai Wenji was found pregnantter in December .

    Cai Yong¡¯s status was strengthened as Tong had to assign him with the position of Minister of Writing . He would lead a department, which was in charge of producing and inheriting learning materials for the next generations, such as annals, historical records, and ssics .

    As it was Cai Yong¡¯s favorite career, he epted it without a condition .

    .

    December, 189 A . D .

    A letter arrived at Cao Cao in Qiao City . It was from Cai Yong .

    Reading the letter, Cao Cao burst intoughter .

    "Hahaha! Zhang Tong, you lusty brat! You finally impregnated Cai Yong¡¯s daughter! You sure have good eyes . "

    Cao Cao was ted . With a spy like Cai Yong, he could sabotage Tong¡¯s political power from the inside . Still, the development exceeded his expectation .

    "What do you think, Putin?"

    "A bit unexpected . Unfortunately, your n has just failed, Mengde . "

    "How does it fail? Cai Yong is their Minister of Writing now . He has also tied his bond with Zhang Tong . "

    "He has be Zhang Tong¡¯s rtive . Do you think he will betray his daughter and his potential grandchild?"

    "But he¡¯s my friend! His daughter is his property, he will-"

    Cao Cao froze for a whole minute before he started sweating, "Fuck, I messed up! Cai Yong can act as a double agent with this kind of rtionship . Did he report our deal to Zhang Tong?"

    "Yeah, you messed up big time . Rtionship during an espionage mission is a taboo . Cai Yong can¡¯t be used as a mole anymore . "

    "Did we just give Tong a talented officer?"

    "Not us, you did . "

    "..."

    Cao Cao picked a wine jar and smashed it on a distant wall, venting his anger .

    It was rare to see Cao Cao¡¯s frustration . Pu Jing stood still, observing his lord dealing with his setback .

    Cao Cao took two minutes to manage his temper . He stared at Pu Jing with an exhausted expression, "What can I do to take that monster down? I¡¯m out of ideas . "

    Pu Jing smirked, "Can you destroy a country for your ambition?"

    Cao Cao bit his lower lips and shook his head, "I¡¯m not that stupid . If you want me to ally with the Xiongnu, I won¡¯t do it, ever!"

    "Then, don¡¯t fight him . Both of you are protecting the country . What¡¯s the point of fighting him anyway?"

    Cao Cao grabbed Pu Jing¡¯s cor, "It was you who wanted me to fight! I had always wanted to unite my forces with him, but you ruined my chances!"

    Staring into Cao Cao¡¯s bloodshot eyes, Pu Jing snorted, "Then, don¡¯t fight . Raise him instead . "

    Cao Cao clenched his fist and choked Pu Jing, "This will be thest time I¡¯m hearing sick advice from you . If it doesn¡¯t work this time, your head will be used as my wine bowl!"

    Pu Jing remained indifferent, "Take it easy, Mengde . You know that I¡¯m the only one who can fight Zhang Tong, right?"

    "... Tell me about the n . "

    Cao Cao released his grips, and Pu Jing staggered backward a step . The former premier adjusted his voice as he exined, "We¡¯ll serve him as we spoil him . We¡¯ll live under his banners as Liu Xie¡¯s supporter . "

    Cao Cao frowned, "Liu Xie? The crown prince?"

    "Yes . That prince that you had nned to exalted him, but Zhang Tong stole it . "

    "What¡¯s the point of joining the weaker side-... Never mind, I get it . "

    Cao Cao sighed as he gazed at a system menu, his n chat . He checked the list of his n members .

    Pu Jing

    Cao Cao

    Xiahou Dun

    Xiahou Yuan

    Cao Ren

    Cao Hong

    There were many other officers that Cao Cao wanted to add into the n chat, but Pu Jing could only add one person a year .

    Pu Jing also regretted using this featureter than the others . As he was the only reincarnator, his faction grew the slowest among all ns .

    "Putin, this new year, I want Cheng Yu in the chat . Go to Xuchang and put him in . "

 Chapter 369

    Chapter 369

    Chapter 369 ¨C A Cruel Father

    Liu Xie¡¯s faction within Tong¡¯s forces got weaker each day . With the news about Du Shi and Cai Wenji¡¯s pregnancy, Liu Xie¡¯s status as a crown prince was not that sacred anymore .

    Han loyalist supporters switched sides to Tong¡¯s side, abandoning the sinking ship without hesitation . Only a few elders who loyal to Emperor Ling remained as Liu Xie¡¯s backers .

    Although Liu Xie realized his shoring, he did not mind it because he was too young to care about politics . Also, Liu Ye and Zhang Min were beside him all the time, so he was never bored .

    With Liu Ye¡¯s coaching, Liu Xie and Zhang Min understood a bit of the general trends about the country .

    .

    January, 190 A . D .

    Changes urred . A messenger from Cao Cao snuck into Ye City and passed a secret letter to Liu Xie .

    The content was too confusing to the child . Cao Cao simply informed him about the other provinces and the difficulty that peasants were facing . He pledged Liu Xie to help these people from the hands of the crooked politicians in the southernnds .

    The innocent 9-year-old could not understand politic . Liu Xie ran to Tong with the letter and showed it to him .

    Tong read the letter with a frown . Cao Cao tried to use a low blow .

    ¡¯It¡¯s a shallow move for someone like Cao Cao . What is he doing, a distraction ploy? Liu Xie maniption? Trying to move Liu Xie south? Bah, what is this nonsense?¡¯

    Even Tong could not understand the meaning behind this letter, so he returned it to Liu Xie . Tong wanted to burn it, but it might hurt his son¡¯s heart as it was his first letter he received .

    "What is this about, dad?"

    "It¡¯s nothing . Cao Cao is now working for me, so he is probably seeking an insider¡¯s aid for his military campaign . "

    Liu Xie was taken aback, "He is nning for another war?"

    "He is going to fight against Yuan Shao soon . "

    "Then, he is a bad buy?"

    "I can¡¯t say he¡¯s a bad guy . He¡¯s doing this to protect the peasants and civilians . "

    "By waging war?"

    "Domination war . It unites the governance as one since all nobles refused to submit under others . "

    "Can¡¯t we issue edicts and stop the war?"

    "We can, but we will only dy the inevitable . Warlords will pretend to follow our order for a decade or so, but they will reveal their true color once they obtain enough power . It¡¯s easier to fight enemies in warfare than fighting invisible enemies in political infighting . "

    Liu Xie got more confused . However, Xun Yu and Liu Ye, who was escorting them, had a stiff smile as they detected hypocrisies in Tong¡¯s words .

    In reality, Tong promoted political infighting than direct warfare, but he was teaching his son to wage wars rather than a peaceful approach .

    None of the advisors understood what Tong was doing .

    "I see . So you are trying to weaken all hostile nobles in the wars?"

    "Yup, that¡¯s about it . Those who submit to us will prosper, but those that resist will face doom . "

    "What about the peasants and civilians?"

    "Aren¡¯t they migrating to our territories?"

    "Right! They can simply move to us by themselves, right?"

    "Yup . "

    "Thanks, dad!"

    "Haha, sure . "

    Liu Xie ran back to his courtyard, so he could y with Zhang Min .

    On the other hand, Liu Ye and Xun Yu red at Tong, "You¡¯re being evil just now, your majesty . "

    "He¡¯s not ready to handle the country if hees to me every time he has a problem . "

    "But why using this method, your majesty?"

    "It was a trail for his future . "

    "A trial?"

    "If he¡¯s capable and smart, he will understand that I was a hypocrite, and he will confront me about it in the future . If he¡¯s too honest, he will hate me and think of me as an evil emperor, which I will celebrate if this happens . If he¡¯s inept, our status quo will remain as it is, and he will lose in the next election in 11 years . "

    "What¡¯s the point of this trail, your majesty? Didn¡¯t you want him to grow as a good sessor? Why didn¡¯t you teach him the righteous path?"

    "Righteous path? No emperor or king is righteous . We all soaked our hands with blood . It¡¯s a matter of times when Liu Xie will get his first baptism . Until his world vision turns grey, I¡¯m not going to teach him the right path . As long as he still sees this world as a colorful ce, he can¡¯t be an emperor!"

    Tong patted Liu Ye¡¯s trembling shoulders . It seemed he was scared of Tong .

    "If he wants to be an emperor, he must earn his qualification . If he can¡¯t even bare fangs against an obvious evil rtive, he is disqualified . How can I entrust my throne to him if he can¡¯t discern right and wrong? At least, he should have the ability to judge people¡¯s characters and question everyone¡¯s hidden motives . What will happen if a random eunuch nt a false believe into him as I did just now? What will happen to our civilians if this scenario bes a reality? Well, for now, he fails . "

    Tong gave Liu Ye an apological smile, "Please guide my child, Ziyang . Don¡¯t be afraid to teach him the hard way . Let him face with difficulties and obstacles, or he won¡¯t grow . "

    Liu Ye bowed and left in a panic . In his mind, he was astonished of how harsh Tong treated his son .

    From Tong¡¯s words just now, he hinted that Liu Xie might not be the only sessor to the throne anymore . Adding the recent news about the concubines¡¯ pregnancy, Liu Ye confirmed the reason why many officials left their faction .

    ¡¯A strong leader must possess a natural charisma, and that charisma has to be earned, not inherit!¡¯

    Liu Ye also learned something from Tong . He rushed toward Liu Xie, nning to exin everything to him .

    Xun Yu, however, agreed with Tong¡¯s words . As someone who was raised to evaluate warlords and governors, he understood how important the discerning skill was . Without it, he could have been fooled by any random passerby .

    Still, Cao Cao¡¯s letter was an issue .

    "Your majesty, about Cao Cao¡¯s letter . I think it¡¯s a mind game . He probably wants to sow discord between you and Liu Xie . "

    "A discord? That letter?"

    "Yes . Since your expansion goal is Ji and Xiangping Commanderies, you will mobilize north . However, Cao Cao wants Liu Xie to head south, so it will conflict with your interest . "

    "Ah, I get it . "

    Tong closed his eyes as he simted scenarios if he and Liu Xie were at odd against each other . Once it happened, Cao Cao would have room to infiltrate into Liu Xie¡¯s supporter faction, which he might be able to rein the group under his hands . When the npleted, Cao Cao would be able to influence his officers from the inside, and the political infighting would be more intense than thest year .

    "He really wants to weaken me, doesn¡¯t he?"

    "I believe so as well, your majesty . Also, Cai Yong reported that he hasn¡¯t received Cao Cao¡¯s order sincest month . He wishes to know if we should feed Cao Cao more intel . "

    When Cai Wenji became Tong¡¯s consort, Cai Yong and she ratted out Cao Cao, who nted them here as deep moles . As they became Tong¡¯s rtive, they did not want to sell out their family .

    Tong was shocked by the revtion . He was also relieved that he was lucky to take in this Cai family under his wings . Had he not taken Cai Wenji as his wife, Cai Yong might have caused some damages to his foundation .

    As Cao Cao and Pu Jing had suspected, Tong countered Cao Mengde by making Cai Yong his double agent, feeding Cao Cao with mixed true and false info .

    Unfortunately, the n showed a bad omen . If Cao Cao stopped sending exchange letters, something might have gone wrong along the line .

    Continue thinking for a while, Tong revealed a cold smile .

    "Do we still have any official that is on a good term with Yuan Shao?"

    Xun Yu¡¯s eyes sparkled, "We do! I get it . We ally with Yuan Shao, right?"

    "Indeed . Let¡¯s make things a bit more difficult for them . Also, we should tell the Silver Axe to attack Xiangping this year . "

    "Of course, your majesty . I¡¯ll handle these at once!"

    ...

    February, 190 A . D .

    Three letters arrived at Qiao City . One from Guo Jia, one from Cai Yong, and one from Liu Xie .

    Cao Cao read all message scrolls in glee, feeling excited about the news .

    Guo Jia¡¯s messages were as usual . He had recruited Mi Zhu and other former officers under Tao Qian, and they agreed to join Cao Cao once he attacked Xu Province . All enlisted men had private troops inside all major cities, which they promised to open the doors for him .

    Cai Yong¡¯s letter informed Cao Cao about Tong¡¯s n to mobilize north this year . The Silver Axe would march from Beiping to Xiangping, while Sima Fang¡¯s police forces from Zhongshan will probe the Ji City of Budugen . Also, the Red Hare Legion of Lu Bu wouldunch a full-scale attack into Xiongnu¡¯s territories .

    As for Liu Xie¡¯s letter, he thanked Cao Cao for informing him about the people¡¯s crisis . Unfortunately, he did not have enough power in the court, so he could not do much to help . Liu Xie also asked what he should do to help Cao Cao in the future .

    Finished reading all reports, Cao Caoughed as he smacked his knees .

    "Liu Xie, you innocent fool . "

    Cao Cao typed into the n chat, informing all contents of the letters to his rtives and Cheng Yu .

    Cao Cao: "What do you think?"

    Cheng Yu: "Cai Yong¡¯s info might be true this time . Since it involves a grand scale mobilization, he won¡¯t be able to lie about this . "

    Cao Cao: "I meant, what do you think of Liu Xie?"

    Xiahou Dun: "A foolish prince . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "He¡¯s just 9! What do you expect?"

    Cheng Yu: "Liu Xie can be used . Please get on his good side and support his faction . He will help us in the future . "

    Cao Cao continued grinning, but Pu Jing foiled his mood again .

    Pu Jing: "It¡¯s too early to conclude Liu Xie¡¯s cooperation . Unless we can talk to him face-to-face, this info is useless . He just thanked us as a courtesy, and there¡¯s nothing else to interpret in this letter . "

    Cao Cao rolled his eyes and shut the n chat window . He did not like this former premier anymore .

    Pu Jing¡¯s ns hampered his growth, and they had failed many times . Also, his status as an immortal was a threat to his absolute rules .

    ¡¯I wish I have a simr power to him . If we can obtain lifespans and guardian spirits as he does, I won¡¯t have to be afraid of him . ¡¯

    As Cao Cao was fantasizing how he had superpowers, he heard an archaic voice from behind him .

    "Do you want power?"

    Cao Cao turned around in a hurry . Upon seeing an old man with a white robe, he drew a sword from his belt .

    "Who are you? How did you get here?"

    "My name is Zou Ci . I¡¯m in charge of managing this world . Say, child . Did you say you want an immortal power?"

 Chapter 370

    Chapter 370: 370

    Chapter 370 ¨C Prelude of Another Long Chaos

    Usually, Cao Cao would have killed this person on the spot . However, when it came to immortal¡¯s power, he had a second thought .

    "I do . "

    "Then, will you use this power for the people?"

    "Obviously, I¡¯ll help them . "

    "Will you use this power for your ambition or your future career?"

    "What ... of course not . "

    "You lied twice . If your words were true, you would have just surrendered everything to Zhang Tong without a condition . "

    As Cao Cao was already in a bad mood, he pointed the sword edge on Zou Ci¡¯s neck .

    "What do you want? Are you here to give me power or make me angry?"

    Zou Ci signed . He brought out a jade wine cup, which contained red wine in it .

    "Drink this, and you will obtain a simr power . However, you will undergo another test of immortals . If you¡¯re evil, you will not thrive . "

    Cao Cao frowned . He gazed at the wine cup, thinking that this was poison .

    "Don¡¯t be absurd . I¡¯m not going to drink the poison . "

    Zou Ci sighed once more . He drank the content of the cup, leaving it in half . However, the other half was defying the physicsws as the wine was splitted like a cake . The water content inside the cup was uneven, which one side was empty, but the other portion was still the same .

    Cao Cao stared at this weird phenomenon with widened eyes .

    "I¡¯ve drunk half of it, so the effect will be halved . Will you drink the rest?"

    Still angered, Cao Cao exerted more strength into his sword grip, nning to kill Zou Ci . However, he paused as Tong¡¯s face appeared in his mind .

    Without an immortal power, he would be no match to Tong . Thus, Cao Cao took a gamble . He picked the wine cup and swallowed all remaining content .

    The red wine touched his tongue, which gave the taste of fruits like regr wine . The burning sensation hit his stomach, which Cao Cao¡¯s nervous system tranted them to pain .

    The warlord got down to his knee as he held his stomach, "I knew it! It¡¯s poison . "

    Zou Ci signed the third time, "Wrong . This will benefit you in the long run . What you are experiencing is the same as Zhang Tong had been through all these years . If you can¡¯t survive this, you won¡¯t be his match . "

    Zou Ci¡¯s body faded, but he left a warning message, "Remember, use your power for the greater good . Once I found that you¡¯re abusing it for your personal¡¯s gain, that power will destroy you . I¡¯ll only give you the necessary memories for now since you refused to ept my goodwill . As for the immortal power, you¡¯ll have to wait for another 10 years to get it . "

    That was thest time Cao Cao heard Zou Ci¡¯s words before his consciousness faded .

    He fell into a long dream .

    He dreamt about an alternate universe where immortals did not exist .

    In the dream, he was a sessful warlord .

    He fought against Dong Zhuo¡¯s tyranny . He unified the northern ins and the central in .

    Cao Cao faced many adversaries, such as Lu Bu, Yuan Shao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan . He experienced many failures in his life, facing Jia Xu¡¯s scheme and Zhou Yu¡¯s navy .

    In the end, he died with his goal unfulfilled .

    Cao Cao woke up again on a bed with Pu Jing by his side . He gazed at Cao Mende with concerns .

    "You¡¯re up finally . Did you have heatstroke or something? Your bodyguards found you sleeping on the ground . "

    "Huh? Pu Jing? You¡¯re back from Xuchang?"

    "Obviously, I¡¯m back . What day do you think it is?"

    "Isn¡¯t this February? We still have a lot to prepare . "

    "Idiot . This is already March! You have been sleeping for a fucking month! Everyone is in panic, and we thought you have kicked the bucket! Fortunately, Cheng Yu is managing the men just fine, or else, your kingdom would have been ruined!"

    Cao Cao jumped off the bed in shock, but he copsed on the ground . His legs did not have enough strength to walk after a long month of sleeping .

    Pu Jing smacked his face as he understood what had happened .

    "Oh, boy . This is going to be tough . "

    ...

    After the hectic day, Cao Cao became a calm and silent person, opposite from his past naughty attitude . His eyes were deep as if he had been through long years of tribtions .

    He went through rehab as he ordered a recollection of the past intelligence reports .

    At the end of March, Cao Cao dered, "Gather all forces . We¡¯llunch our campaign against Yuan Shao as soon as possible! Putin, gather the cannons, we¡¯ll use them in this campaign!"

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, at Xiapi City wall .

    *BOOM*

    A loud boom noise stunned all garrisoning soldiers and Yuan Shao, who was observing the demonstration in shock .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Two more noises came from nearby as two bronze cannons fired a ck cannonball . The shell destroyed a tower on the opposite side of the wall, which Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers had created as their shooting target .

    Xun Yu turned around and bowed to Yuan Shao, "How are they, lord Yuan? Isn¡¯t this worth your money?"

    Yuan Shao stood and shouted, "Buy! I¡¯ll buy all of your cannons!"

    "We¡¯ve only brought ten cannons on this trip, so it will be a million gold ..."

    "I¡¯ll pay you three million! Bring me another ten of these as soon as possible! I also want a cksmith team that can forge the shells!"

    "Unfortunately, we cannot supply you with manpower, but I will be back with another ten cannons in June . I won¡¯t collect more gold than the promised price, so it will be another million gold for the next trip . "

    "Bah, you¡¯re petty . Fine, make sure to deliver them here next time . "

    "Of course, lord Yuan . Also, about our alliance agreement-"

    "Tell Zhang Tong, I agree . As long as he helps me get rid of Cao Cao, I¡¯ll dly serve him as the Marquis of Xu!"

    "Then, I¡¯ll return to inform my lord about this good news . Thank you for your cooperation . "

    .

    Cao Cao was not the only one interfering with the other¡¯s conflicts . Tong jammed into the central in¡¯s business by sending an alliance proposal to Yuan Shao yet again .

    This time, he included a trading agreement to bait Yuan Shao¡¯s interest . By demonstrating Te Langpu¡¯s cannon power and promising Xu forces that he would sell ten of these per trip, Yuan Shao readily agreed to trade and ally with Tong .

    On top of it, Tong overcharged the price of a cannon . A finished ancient 14th-century stationary bronze cannon had a production cost of 5,000 gold, but Tong sold Yuan Shao for 100,000 gold for each .

    Per trip, Tong would drain a million gold from Yuan Shao¡¯s treasury, weakening his economic power . At the same time, Yuan Shao would use these new weapons to fight against Cao Cao in the future, which would obstruct their nned campaign .

    Xun Yu, who was in charge of this negotiation, strolled in Xiapi town in a good mood . He nned to buy a few souvenirs and local silk for his family at home .

    Zhao Yun was also by Xun Yu¡¯s side, acting as a bodyguard .

    On the way, they crossed with Guo Jia, who disguised as one of the soldiers of Yuan Shao . He nced at Xun Yu and Zhao Yun with mocking eyes .

    ¡¯Nice move, Zhang Tong . Feed your enemy a weapon, so they can fight us . Unfortunately, you¡¯ve made a grave mistake . Those weapons will be ours . ¡¯

    Guo Jia whispered to Xiahou Yuan, who was beside him, "Send our men into those cannon battalions . Do whatever it takes to gain control of those cannon squads, or Cao Cao will face an uphill battle . "

    Xiahou Yuan nodded . He also turned around to look at Xun Yu behind them .

    Coincidentally, he met eyes with Zhou Yun, who detected their hostile intent .

    Xiahou Yuan grinned and averted the gaze, avoiding the trouble .

    ¡¯Nice instinct . This is getting fun . I¡¯ll fight you in the future, brat!¡¯

    On the other hand, Zhao Yun did not retract his re . He also memorized Xiahou Yuan¡¯s face .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve seen through your kind . You¡¯d better walk away, brute!¡¯

    .

    April 190 A . D .

    Gongsun Du stood on the wall of Xiangping . He had returned to his city since the end ofst year .

    Last month, a group of merchants reported them with a piece of disturbing news . Xu Huang, the grandmander of the Silver Axe Legion, was preparing to mobilize his troops to Xiangping!

    This put the entire city into unrest, and civilians migrated from his town to Beiping, which was Tong¡¯s city . Everybody believed that Gongsun Du would not have a chance against Xu Huang .

    Today, Gongsun Du was waiting for someone .

    Soon a thousand horsemen arrived, wearing wool clothes and thick silk . They were from Xianbei Tribes, which was the same tribe as Budugen .

    The leader of this group was Kebineng, a rival of Budugen whopeted with him for the chieftain position .

    In this world, he received amission from Gongsun Du .

    Themission request was simple, protecting the city from the Silver Axe Legion .

    Gongsun Du frowned as he was disappointed by the numbers of his mercenaries . He had expected over 10 thousands of helpers, but there was only a thousand .

    As soon as both of them met, Gongsun Du chastised Kebineng, "I thought the agreement was clear . I paid you a lot of gold for over 20,000 soldiers . Why are you only sending us a thousand!?"

    Kebineng snorted, "We are riders . We don¡¯t fight inside a city wall! Don¡¯t worry about our troops, I have 20,000 soldiers hiding on the mountain . You¡¯d better worry about your men . "

    Gongsun Du finally smiled . He cupped his fist and changed his attitude, "Then, forgive me for my rudeness . Wee to my city . "

    .

    Meanwhile, Xu Huang and 60,000 soldiers marched from Beiping to Xiangping . As Beiping and Xiangping were a distance away, it would take them at least a month to reach there .

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang followed after Xu Huang as his assistant generals . Jia Xu was also there, acting as this legion¡¯s strategist .

    The troopsprised of 35,000 armored infantries, 5,000 light cavalries, 10,000 heavy cavalries, and 10,000 logistic soldiers, a standard setup for versatility .

    Among the logistic wagons, they carried new weapons for this fight . Ten wheeled cannons were being dragged by horses along with 100 carts of hwachas .

    All infantries were armed with the standard repeating crossbows, knight te armors, and steel weaponry . All horsemen possessed one-handed crossbows, repeating crossbows, and simr steel weapons .

    As for small firearms, only Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, Xu Huang, and Jia Xu had them . As Medusa could not produce many handguns, shotguns, or shells because of her limited lifespans, the modern firearms were still restricted resources .

    This mobilization was a trigger of another chaos in the country . As all forces had enough rest, blood would pour onto thend once more .

 Chapter 371

    Chapter 371

    Chapter 371 ¨C Xu Huang¡¯s Patience

    Linyu County, a northern county between Beiping and Xiangping Commandery became a strategic point as Xu Huang and his 60,000 soldiers upied it as their supply base .

    From this point, they required another 25 days to reach Gongsun Du¡¯s headquarter to the east .

    However, Xu Huang was a cautious general . He decided to dispatch Zhang Bao and 5,000 light cavalries to scout the surroundings for one day before the entire army would continue marching .

    His action dyed their traveling schedule . From the initial n of 25 days, Jia Xu estimated that they might reach Xiangping in 40 days instead .

    Still, none of the troops worried about the dyed schedule . As long as they could return home alive, they did not mind the overtime job .

    May 1st, 190 A . D .

    This marked the 30th day after their journey . They were 20 days away from Xiangping City .

    Also, this was the day that the light cavalry battalion found an ambush party hiding within the Dahei Mountain, 200km west of Xiangping .

    The 5,000 light horsemen engaged against the mysterious battalion right away . The enemy was also a battalion of light cavalry, but they had the superior number of over 10,000 soldiers .

    Zhang Bao had been training and studying for decades, so he was not a military ignorant . He used the standard horse archer tactic against the ambushing troops .

    Coincidentally, the unknown enemies also utilized a horse archer tactic .

    Both sides exchanged projectiles as they ran around in a circle . Zhang Bao Army managed to release more arrows than the other hand, but the result betrayed their expectation .

    Zhang Bao Army suffered a thousand of casualties from the fight, while he could only kill less than a thousand enemy soldiers .

    During the engagement, Zhang Bao finally caught a glimpse of the enemy¡¯s uniforms from a distance . They did not wear a standard Imperial armor or any sewedmer armor . Instead, they were wearing hard leather armor with silk clothing .

    These people were not from the Han Dynasty . They were the barbarians from the north!

    Without hesitation, Zhang Bao ordered a full-retreat and sent a messenger team back to the main army, informing them about their discovery .

    The piece of news got to Jia Xu and Xu Huang the next day .

    Without waiting for Jia Xu¡¯s analysis, Xu Huang gave his order, "Tell Zhang Bao to return . "

    Looking Xu Huang¡¯s decisiveness and quick reaction, Jia Xu kept quiet . Despite his rxed look, Jia Xu¡¯s brain did not stop simting and calcting multiple stratagems for this army .

    .

    May 3rd .

    Zhang Bao and 4,000 survivors of the battle reunited with the main army . He returned with a further report .

    Inside the temporarymanding tent, Zhang Bao described what he found .

    "The enemies are either the Xiongnu or Xianbei judging from their uniforms . The number was about 8,000 to 10,000 soldiers when we fought, but I think there should be more hiding somewhere . "

    Jia Xu ced the Liaodong region map on a table and pointed at a location, "Did you find them around here?"

    Looking at Jia Xu¡¯s finger¡¯s target, Zhang Bao nodded, "Yes . They¡¯re hiding in that mountain . "

    "Ah, general Xu . I have an idea what the enemies are trying to do . "

    Xu Huang cupped his fist and bowed to Jia Xu . As he was young enough to be Jia Xu¡¯s son and he was a humble person, he did not dare to disrespect this senior .

    "Please rify us, senior Jia . "

    Jia Xu nodded in approval . He liked Xu Huang more now .

    At first, he thought that Xu Huang was an egotistic brat who did not care about other¡¯s opinion . It seemed that he misunderstood this young general .

    Judging from Xu Huang¡¯s past behavior, reaction, and his attitude toward others, Jia Xu concluded that Xu Huang minded his manner, but he was independent and decisive enough when it was necessary .

    This was a respectable trait of a great general .

    ¡¯This brat has potential . His cautiousness is simr to Zhang Tong, but his decisiveness is on a higher level . Also, he¡¯s not as lusty as Tong . ¡¯

    Jia Xu picked a handful of tokens and ced them onto the map . He put an ally token on their current position and one on Linyu County .

    He also arranged an enemy token at Mount Dahei, which Zhang Bao had encountered the barbarians . Thest piece of the symbols was on Xiangping, which represented Gongsun Du .

    Finished with the arrangement, Jia Xu exined his insight .

    "Since we have encountered a barbarian faction here, I believe Xiangping might have fallen to the Xiongnu or Xianbei, or they might ally themselves with these people . We might as well assume that we are fighting the Xiongnu instead of Gongsun Du . "

    Jia Xu turned his attention to Linyu County, "If we look at their troop cement, their true goal should be the supply depot that we have constructed in Linyu County . If I were the enemy, I would have allowed the massive army to pass through this location to Xiangping . Then I would attack Linyu County, which was the pivot point of our supply base . With our supplies cut off, we will be isted within the enemy¡¯s territory with the enemies on the front and the back . "

    To make his point clear, he moved the barbarian token on Dahei Mountain to Linyu County and flickered the supply depot token away . Then, he shifted the position of their army to Xiangping .

    With the demonstration of the tokens, Xu Huang, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang understood what kind of ploys they were facing .

    Jia Xu probed Xu Huang¡¯s intelligence, "What will be your move, general?"

    Xu Huang watched the map in a daze for a few minutes, pondering and calcting his moves . Afterward, he looked at everyone .

    "We¡¯ll march back for ten days, and we¡¯ll fortify our encampment . "

    Everyone, including Jia Xu, was surprised .

    "Are we retreating?"

    "Do not misunderstand me . We¡¯re not retreating . We are moving back to fortify a new outpost, and we¡¯ll report this to our lord in the n chat . "

    Xu Huang¡¯s army policy was different from Jia Xu had predicted . At first, he thought that this general would have ordered them to chase the hiding forces to get rid of the threat, which would not be effective against these barbarians .

    Betraying his expectation, Xu Huang chose to step back and picked the steady approach .

    Jia Xu grinned as he liked this general .

    ¡¯Not bad . I was nning to tell them to force-march and capture Xiangping before they can take Linyu County . Eh, this works too . ¡¯

    Jia Xu looked at the map and calcted the distance . If they backtracked for ten days, they would be ten days away from Linyu County . Once their soldiers fortified that location, the threat of getting the supply base cut off would not be significant anymore .

    If the Xianbei followed through with their n, Xu Huang would return the favor by trapping the barbarian¡¯s strike force within their territory . Beiping garrison forces could also surround these raiders while Xu Huang spread the to catch them .

    Xu Huang countered the barbarian¡¯s n with just one move!

    ¡¯Still, we won¡¯t be able to attack Xiangping this way . ¡¯

    Though the threat was gone, they were still far from the objective .

    Before Jia Xu could voice his questions, Zhang Liang asked Xu Huang first .

    "General, if we fall back to fortify, how will we attack Xiangping?"

    Xu Huang still gazed at the map, but his expression remained indifferent .

    "We don¡¯t need to attack it now . "

    "What!?"

    "War is not always a game of speed, but it¡¯s a game of efficiency and execution process . We may advance slowly, but when it is the time for us to strike, we will be swift and efficient . In this battle we will be facing, it will be a mind game of patience . The only who lose the patience first will be the loser . "

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang frowned as they could not understand this general¡¯s meaning . However, Jia Xu grinned .

    ¡¯I take mypliment back . You¡¯re a nasty bastard, Xu Huang . I like it though . ¡¯

    .

    May 11th, 190 .

    Xu Huang did as he said, retreating for ten days . His army fortified their encampment, digging trenches and constructing barricades and walls .

    Kebineng stalked Xu Huang Army from afar with his 20,000 riders . However, he did not dare to attack an army of 59,000 soldiers head-on .

    He frowned as everything did not go along with his initial n . Kebineng schemed to cut Xu Huang¡¯s supply line by ambushing the logistic troops or attacking Linyu County . Unfortunately, he did not have a chance to do so .

    Kebineng could still bypass this fortification to attack Linyu County, but they might be nked if they could not capture the county fast enough .

    This became a dilemma that Kebineng was facing . He could not decide if he should cancel his n or go through with it .

    Thinking for a while, Kebineng ordered his men to withdraw .

    "We¡¯ll go back to Xiangping . Our n failed . "

    .

    The report about Xu Huang¡¯s decision was reported to Tong via the n chat .

    Tong: "How long do you think you can take Xiangping?"

    Xu Huang: "Your majesty, I can¡¯t say . This will be a prolonged-war since Xianbei or Xiongnu has gotten involved . "

    Tong: "Good . I won¡¯t pressure you . Take as long as you need to aplish your goal . "

    Xu Huang: "Thank you, your majesty . "

    Xun Yu was by Tong¡¯s side when he gave the approval of Xu Huang¡¯s campaign policy . Curious, he asked Tong for a rification .

    "Will that be alright, your majesty? Aren¡¯t you in a hurry of pacifying the north?"

    Tong nodded, "Yes, I want to unite the north ASAP . "

    "Then, why did you give him permission for a long campaign for just onemandery?"

    A wry smile appeared on Tong¡¯s face, "Have you read about the history of the Zhou Dynasty and Li Mu?"

    "Li Mu, the great general of Zhou? Of course, I knew about this history . This great general had many noteworthy achievements!"

    "But Li Mu was destroyed by his own emperor . "

    " . . . Yes . "

    "Great generals can only shine when they can work without the oppression and restrain from the back-end politicians or their liege . I can only put my faith in Xu Huang in this case . "

    Xun Yu¡¯s eyes gleamed from hearing Tong¡¯s words . He hinted that Xu Huang was one of the great generals in Tong¡¯s point of view, and this emperor had faith in this person .

    This disyed Tong¡¯s quality of an ideal emperor . He had patience, he had faith in his subordinates!

    Xun Yu bowed, "I was shortsighted . My wisdom is iparable to your majesty . I¡¯m ashamed . "

    Tongughed, "If you¡¯re ashamed, arrange an army of reserve troops to Beiping and Linyu County . Send Tian Yu there with his private guards and have him defend Linyu County . Also ..."

    Tong turned to his bodyguard, Zhao Yun .

    "Zilong, you go to Beiping . I don¡¯t need protection now, but the people at the north are being threatened by the barbarians . Show them what you can do and redeem your past mistakes!"

    Zhao Yun widened his eyes before he knelt to Tong .

    "I¡¯ll use my life for Beiping people!"

    "Just remember that passion . Save the people ande back alive . That¡¯s an order . "

 Chapter 372

    Chapter 372

    Chapter 372 ¨C Zhao Yun VS Budugen - Part 1

    May 1st, 190 A . D .

    Ji Commandery

    Budugen received the report that Xu Huang had moved from Beiping to Xiangping . As Ji County located west of Beiping, this was their golden chance to attack Tong¡¯s cities!

    Budugen had two targets .

    One was Zhongshan, which was the territory of Zhen Yi . The other one was Beiping, which Xu Huang had just left .

    At first, he wanted to seize Zhongshan as it was protected by only 10,000 garrisoned police officers . However, he was afraid of Julu, where Tong¡¯s father was residing . As Julu was Tong¡¯s secondary capital city, Budugen estimated that Tong might have hidden more forces there .

    Budugen¡¯s deduction was urate . Zhang Jiao, Sima Fang, and Te Langpu established a military academy there . Therefore, Julu was their military center which continued training soldiers and police officers for years .

    Each year, at least 10,000 soldiers and policemen graduated from the school, and they would be transferred to Tong¡¯s affiliated cities . Elite students with good moral character were also enlisted into an advanced military academy in Ye Capital, which they would soon join the FBI agency .

    Furthermore, Julu was also a headquarter of Tong¡¯s cannon factories . Each month, a bronze wheeled cannon was produced there .

    In other words, had Budugen picked Zhongshan as his target, he would have faced a reinforcement of students from this academy and Zhang Jiao¡¯s followers, including their cannon battalion .

    Now, Budugen aimed to take Beiping . Once themandery was upied, Xu Huang would be isted within Gongsun Du¡¯s territory . Then, their massive army would destroy itself from theck of supplies .

    .

    May 10th .

    Budugen mobilized his 20,000 men-army to Beiping . His force consisted of only Xian Bei horse archers .

    Budugen refused to conscript forces from the local . Instead, he called his tribesmen and his supporters from his homnd here, so he could share his wealth with them .

    Furthermore, all able men in Ji Commandery had already migrated to Zhongshan, Nanpi, or Julu since they heard about Gongsun Zan¡¯s death . Only elders remained in this region . Thus, Budugen could not draft the local people .

    This left Ji County unprotected . Budugen had to gamble, or he would not be able to defeat the strongest powerhouse like Tong .

    .

    May 17th .

    Budugen¡¯s deployment news reached Zhongshan . Zhen Yi, the governor of Zhongshan, was rmed .

    Zhen Yi had attempted to seduce Tong with his daughters a few years ago . Currently, most of his daughters had already married, leaving only his youngest daughter, Zhen Fu (Zhenji) .

    Zhen Yi finally joined Tong¡¯s n chat this year, and he could make use of it at this moment .

    The news ryed to Tong and everybody right away .

    Zhao Yun: "I¡¯m already at Beiping . I¡¯ll take care of this . "

    Tong: "Zhen Yi, mobilize your soldiers and take over Ji County right now!"

    Zhen Yi: "It shall be done, your majesty!"

    Tong: "Wang Yun, deploy troops from Nanpi to support Beiping . "

    Wang Yun: "Understood, my lord . "

    Tong: "Zhao Yun, you¡¯re themander of the defensive forces . "

    Zhao Yun: "I won¡¯t let you down!"

    A new temporary force was formed to protect Beiping .

    Meanwhile, Tian Yu brought 10,000 police officers to Linyu County . Although they were not trained for war, they had experienced with defensive tactics, such as riot management and city battles . Thus, they entered the county and maintained the order of the local civilians .

    The rest of Xu Huang¡¯s reserve troops in Linyu also helped . They had already fortified the county and got ready for any surprise attack from the barbarians .

    Still, none of them detected an ambush party after Xu Huang had fortified a camp on the East Linyu .

    The game of patience had begun since the beginning of the month, yet nobody was aware of this but Xu Huang and other high ranking officers in the main army .

    .

    May 20th .

    Kebineng returned to Xiangping to report their battle result to Gongsun Du .

    Upon hearing that Xu Huang retreated, Gongsun Du celebrated .

    "Haha! Good job, brother Kebineng! You¡¯ve proved your worth!"

    "It¡¯s too early to celebrate . We haven¡¯t really defeated that Silver Axe Legion yet . "

    "But a win is still a win . You forced them into a retreat, so that¡¯s an achievement . Come, toast with us! Cheers!"

    "..."

    Kebineng had a bad feeling about Xu Huang¡¯s action . He believed that the fortification was the start of something irreversible .

    .

    May 23rd .

    Budugen reached Beiping City without an interception from Tong¡¯s forces . He began constructing siegedders, hoping to attack the city the next day .

    To intimidate the city defenders, he also set up his camp 500 meters away from the city wall!

    Zhao Yun observed the barbarian soldiers from the top of the wall with his subordinates . All followers cursed at these invaders in anger as their action was a direct p to their face .

    However, Zhao Yun was unperturbed . As he faced many battles and experienced many failures, he learned from his mistakes .

    His mind was as calm as still water . He gazed into the direction of his enemy camp as he formed a scheme to counter the barbarian¡¯s n .

    "How many of you can ride a horse?"

    A sudden question of Zhao Yun shut his subordinates¡¯ mouth . They turned to their leader as they counted their men .

    Several of these soldiers were the former soldiers of Gongsun Zan . After they integrated themselves into Tong¡¯s system, many of them joined Zhao Yun bodyguard battalion .

    Currently, Zhao Yun was one of the exceptional people who had the right to own private troops . He had 3,000 soldiers under hismand .

    "More than half of us were from White Rider, so it¡¯s about two thousand, perhaps . "

    "That¡¯s good enough . Tell those thousand men to rest . We¡¯ll raid them at night!"

    "S-Sir, but they have over 10,000 soldiers!"

    "Night raid doesn¡¯t require troop¡¯s number but swiftness . Go gather the troops and oil supply . "

    "Y-Yes, sir!"

    At night,

    Zhao Yun led two thousand riders to the camp of Budugen, but he did not attack right away . He told the soldiers to search for the stables of these men first .

    It took them an hour to locate a few of them, and they also found the constructed siegedders .

    Without further ado, Zhao Yunmanded them to start tossing oil jars at any random watch towers, tents, wall, or any barricade that they could . Afterward, all of themunched fire arrows into the camp .

    The soldiers did not understand why Zhao Yun decided to provoke them after they scouted for the vital facilities, but they followed through hismand anyway .

    A thousand riders caused chaos as they ignited a fire at the outer area of the camp . This caused panic as all 20,000 soldiers woke up at night to help, extinguishing the fire .

    Themotion also alerted Budugen .

    Budugen roared, "Find the raiders and kill them! Don¡¯t let them get away!"

    Zhao Yunmanded his thousand men to continue shooting fire arrows into the base as they retreated back into the city with their horses .

    Budugen¡¯s cavalries werete . Those soldiers had to run to their stable, picked a horse, formed a battalion, and then charged at Zhao Yun . By the time they were ready to fight, Zhao Yun and his men already ran back to their city .

    They could not pursue either as the guards on the wall shot arrows at the chasers .

    The entire fightsted for less than 30 minutes . 20 Minutes were spent preparing, and the other ten minutes were used to chase the night raiders .

    The damages were neglectable as only a few watchtowers and 300 soldiers killed in the raid .

    Although frustrated, Budugen told his men to douse the fire and reinforce their defenses . None of them had a proper sleep as they had to prepare for another possible night attack .

    However, the night attack did note again . Budugen and others woke up all night for nothing .

    .

    May 24th .

    Budugen brought the siege towers forward along with the 19,700 soldiers, nning to attack the city today .

    His soldierscked sleepst night . They blinked and shook their head to stay active, or else they would have dozed off .

    Budugen noticed this after he had ordered a deployment . Although he felt bad for the men and it was against his strategy logics, he chose to pressure the city by using a feint attack .

    "One battalion, push the siegedders forward!"

    A battalion of one thousand men gathered behind their five siegedders . They pushed to wheeleddders forward to the wall .

    As the siegedders moved closer to the wall, the garrison troops lighted their arrows on fire . Soon, a volley of fire arrows rained onto the five siege engines .

    The fire caught the wooden siegedders, but the attackers came prepared . They sshed their prepared water buckets onto the wooden wall of their siegedder structure, extinguishing the fire .

    No fire arrows managed to destroy the siege engines .

    Soon, all fivedders got to the range of 50 meters from the wall .

    Zhao Yun, who was on top of the wall, bellowed, "Toss the oil!"

    Two jars ofmp oil shed onto the surface of each siegedders .

    "Fire the arrows at those spots!"

    Archers aimed at the doused target and released their bowstrings . As soon as the fire arrows hit the soaked wood, it was set ame!

    All five siegedders turned into a giant bonfire with several humans inside .

    Budugen¡¯s soldiers attempted to extinguish the fire . Unfortunately, the water caused the me to expand and cause the fire to spread further .

    Before all siege tower could reach the wall, all soldiers already abandoned the weaponry .

    All garrison soldiers cheered as they watched the retreating invaders .

    Budugen stared at his defeated battalion with a grimaced face . He turned around and ordered his subordinates .

    "Detach five battalions and have them construct more siegedders . Also, make me ballistae! I want those archers dead!"

    He was about to withdraw and let these soldiers standing for the entire day to pressure the defenders . Then, he thought of something .

    "Get ten battalions to withdraw from this battle . Allow them to rest to the end of the day . At night, we¡¯ll use them in a night assault!"

    Meanwhile, Zhao Yun also had a simr idea .

    "How many soldiers do we have in the city?"

    "About 12,000 soldiers, including us, sir . "

    "Separate 5,000 of them . Tell them to rest for today . We¡¯ll arrange a shifting rotation duty, so everybody can have a proper rest before their shift . "

    The staring contest continued until the sunset .

    Budugen had already left the troops to rest since noon . Since he did not get a night of proper sleepst night, he went back to get some rest along with his men .

    His remaining troops were 5,000 soldiers, the five battalions of a thousand man each .

    Everyone believed that they did not have to fight, and it would be their turn to rest soon . Therefore, everyone¡¯s tension was at the lowest .

    When the retreating signal sounded from their signal drummers, they cheered and turned around, waiting for theirmanders to issue an order .

    At that moment,

    *CREAK*

    The city wall opened, revealing a group of horsemen .

    Someone bellowed, "CHARGE!"

    Two thousand horsemen charged out from the city . Their leader was a knight in a white surcoat, Zhao Yun!

 Chapter 373

    Chapter 373

    Chapter 373 ¨C Zhao Yun VS Budugen - Part 2

    Gongsun Zan¡¯s two thousand white riders followed Zhao Yun outside of the city, chasing the unprepared Budugen¡¯s soldiers .

    The retreating soldiers turned around and tried to form an array to counter the horse charge, but they could not react in time . Zhao Yun spearheaded and broke the iplete formation within a few thrusts of his spear .

    As Budugen¡¯s soldiers had geared for the siege, they did not bring their horses . As such, the 5,000 soldiers were crushed and routed within one charge!

    Although they could not kill every single of Budugen¡¯s remaining 5,000 men, the damages were significant enough for Budugen to call for a full retreat .

    .

    The news about the sudden defeat reached Budugen at hismand tent .

    "What did you just say!?"

    "Sir, the enemies came out of the city and defeated the remaining soldiers . We lost most of them . "

    Out of 5,000 men, only 500 survived to tell a tale . As for the rest, they either died in the battle or deserted the army .

    "Who is their general? Any spy or scout get his name?"

    "It¡¯s Zhao Yun, sir . "

    "Zhao Yun, Zhao Zilong? The one that used to be with Gongsun Zan?"

    "Yes, sir!"

    "Don¡¯t lie, you dumb fuck! How can an ipetent idiot be their general!?"

    To Budugen, Zhao Yun was a low-rank officer who did not deserve to be promoted . He had learned about Zhao Yun¡¯s failure as a royal bodyguard, and Budugen believed that Zhao Yun was inept .

    "B-But it¡¯s the truth, sir!"

    "... Fine . It¡¯s my fault for not checking the enemy¡¯s banners beforehand . Tell everyone that we¡¯ll go through with the night assault n . Cancel the ballistae construction order and tell workers to get a good rest . If we can¡¯t take Beiping by the sunrise, we¡¯ll leave this ce . "

    15,200 Soldiers were not a match for 12,000 garrison forces behind the walls . Budugen was not foolish enough to keep fighting in a direct siege in day-time .

    He decided to test his luck for onest time with this night raid!

    .

    Nightfall, 11 PM .

    Budugen and all of his soldiers had crafted woodendders to climb the wall, and they marched toward the city without lighting a torch .

    The darkness became their cover as they managed to reach the bottom of Beiping City wall undetected . Soldiers began climbing thedders to the top of the wall in glee .

    However, the night raid was not perfect . Soon, the garrison guards found theirdders and Budugen¡¯s soldiers .

    "WE¡¯RE UNDER ATTACK!"

    As Zhao Yun had prepared a unit of night shift guards to patrol the walls, five thousand soldiers formed ranks and charged at the invaders right away .

    The other 5,000 also woke up from themotion . They climbed the wall to join the fight as well .

    However, Zhao Yun and his 2,000 white riders were not here!

    The night raid turned into meleebats on the top of the wall, but several garrison soldiers on the back used their repeating crossbows to fire randomly at the soldiers on the ground .

    The battle of attrition continued for only five minutes before another incident urred .

    Five hundred meters away, Budugen¡¯s camp was in me!

    Zhao Yun and his 2,000 white riders raided the camp again . Because of theck of defense, the white horsemen burnt everything to ashes, including horse stables, granaries, and all tents .

    Zhao Yun was ruthless enough . He spared nothing for Budugen to take home even if he could retreat . As they had scouted the areas yesterday, Zhao Yun went for thorough destruction .

    After the white rider unit had finished with their tasks, they headed back to the city, where the fight was still ongoing .

    20 Minutes passed since Budugen and the garrison forces were in a melee fight .

    Budugen turned around to look at his burning camp in shock . He had nned to go all-out in this battle, so he did not leave behind any troop to guard the camp .

    This was his mistake!

    "Fuck! Hurry and capture the wall! We¡¯ll fight to the death!"

    Budugen spread his troops to other walls to speed up his siege . However, they did not have enough woodendders for every battalion, so the attack was slow .

    The melee battle on the top of the walls was in chaos . As Budugen had not climbed the wall yet and he was at the bottom of it, he had no idea how the fight was going .

    In reality, the garrison forces had the advantage because of their pieces of equipment and their repeating crossbows . In the beginning, they faltered to the sudden emergence of enemy troops, but they recovered their wall spaces and pushed back 70% of the invading soldiers .

    Budugen¡¯s men wore leather armor, while Beiping police forces had the standard Imperial armor set,mer suits, as their lowest ss armor type . Some of the soldiers with rich background bought steel te armor from the ck market As a result, the Xianbei¡¯s dead bodies piled on the wall more than the garrison soldiers .

    9,000 remaining police officers were still fighting on top of the walls, while Budugen was left with 7,500 soldiers without realizing it . Furthermore, Budugen¡¯s soldiers continued to fall from the repeating crossbow arrows .

    Night arrows were deadly against strategists andmanders in a battle as they camouged the number of their casualties .

    Half an hour after Zhao Yun had ignited the fire at Budugen¡¯s camp, he returned to nk the barbarian soldiers .

    As Zhao Yun Army carried torches, Budugen could see the oing horsemen .

    The Xianbei general kicked his horse and returned to the nk, nning to counter-attack . He led his remaining bodyguards, which were the only cavalries that Budugen brought, with him .

    Soon, 2,000 white riders shed with Budugen¡¯s 2,000 light cavalries .

    Zhao Yun¡¯s white riders consisted of semi-heavy knights . As Zhao Yun favored efficiency over safety and the full set of knight armors took times to wear, Zhao Yun abandonedplicated parts, such as arm parts or leg parts to save time for their deployment .

    Still, their vital spots were covered, and these armors were better than the Xianbei¡¯s leather type .

    Thepetition of equipment concluded within the first five minutes as Budugen¡¯s soldiers fell from their horse on after another . Meanwhile, one of Zhao Yun¡¯s men only fell from their horse for every 10 soldiers killed .

    During the sh, Budugen also ran into Zhao Yun .

    Seeing the enemy general, Budugen rejoiced, "Brat, you¡¯ll be honored to get killed by the great me!"

    Zhao Yun snorted, "Noisy . "

    Budugen¡¯s spear and Zhao Yun¡¯s spear crossed .

    Zhao Yun was hit at the chest, but Budugen¡¯s spear grazed his te armor .

    On the other hand, Zhao Yun¡¯s spear pierced through the barbarian general¡¯s heart, ending the jousting contest in one blow!

    Although Zhao Yun killed the enemy general, he was not even aware of it . As his focus was on the overall situation, he continued killing all enemies he found .

    .

    May 25th .

    The sun rose, revealing the carnage ofst night battle .

    Wang Yun and his 10,000 police officers arrived today to reinforce the city . However, his presence was no longer necessary .

    Still, his forces came in handy as Beiping could use someborers .

    The battle concluded with Zhao Yun¡¯s victory by andslide . He lost 2,500 soldiers in the siege battle, but he vanquished 18,000 soldiers and captured 2,000 prisoners .

    These prisoners would be transferred to Julu¡¯s department of justice, so they could determine their fate .

    "Thank you for your hard work, general . "

    Wang Yun praised this young general, but Zhao Yun just nodded and thanked the old officer .

    Wang Yun had grown numb of Tong¡¯s elite generals . Many of them were so young that could be his grandson, yet they thrived and proved themselves in many battles already .

    He was amazed by their talents and Tong¡¯s discern abilities . Wang Yun was d that he had a connection with Tong via Diaochan .

    Also, he had reread the chat logs between Tong, Dong Bai, and Diaochan . As there was no direct message feature in the chat, everything that Tong and his demon family chatted was recorded there in public .

    Wang Yun was excited that Diaochan would soon be Tong¡¯s prime consort in a few years . This would raise his status by many tiers .

    ¡¯I¡¯m so lucky . Well, I hope that Zhang Tong can maintain the Han Dynasty¡¯s legacy, though . It would be better if Diaochan can give birth to his sons . Eh, that might be impossible . ¡¯

    Zhao Yun gazed at the pile of corpses and nced at the north . His mind wondered if there would be a day that he could venture into Xiongnu¡¯s territory and achieved heroic deeds like Huo Qubing, a great general of the West Han Dynasty .

    ¡¯Lu Bu and his men will soon deploy to counter-attack against the Xiongnu . Too bad, I¡¯m still too early to call myself a great general like him . ¡¯

    As Zhao Yun always looked at other legionmanders with envy, he tried his best to prove himself that he could be like them .

    One day, he hoped that he could be a great general as well .

    .

    Wang Yun reported the Battle of Beiping¡¯s result to Tong . As if Tong had predicted this, he was not surprised .

    Tong: "Well done, Zilong . Take your riders to Linyu County and assist Xu Huang and Tian Yu . As for the policemen, leave them to Wang Yun . "

    Zhao Yun: "Understood, your majesty . "

    .

    May 27th .

    Zhen Yi Army reached Ji Commandery and upied it without resistance . Instead, the town people opened the gates and weed them with open arms .

    Some of the elders shed a tear of joy as they kowtowed to the soldiers .

    For the first time, Zhen Yi got to enjoy the privilege of serving Tong .

    Still, he thought of his 7-year-old daughter, Zhen Fu .

    ¡¯I should send her to Ye Pce soon . Zhang Tong has already taken in two consorts, and he already impregnated both of them . No, I should train her a bit more, so she won¡¯t lose to that Cai Yan . From the rumors, his majesty loves high-ss women . I should train the girl to be like that . ¡¯

    While Zhen Yi continued managing Ji people, he did not stop plotting as he still wanted Tong as his son-inw . He betted everything on his youngest daughter .

    .

    July 1st .

    Xu Huang finished reinforcing his fortification . As Gongsun Du and Kebineng did not attack them and Xu Huang heard that they were still in Xiangping, he decided to mobilize east .

    At the same time, the news about Budugen¡¯s death reached Kebineng . As Budugen¡¯s rival, Kebineng rejoiced . He could not wait to go back to his territory to im the chieftain position from everyone .

    He nced at Gongsun Du, who was living without the care about the threat of Xu Huang .

    ¡¯Should I discard this idiot and head home? Nah, I should earn some gold and food for my future army . ¡¯

    nning to embezzle Gongsun Du¡¯s resources, Kebineng came up with a n .

    "My lord, I have a n to propose . "

    "What is it?"

    "Right now, Xu Huang has been staying still for too long . I want to head out and probe them . Please grant me provision and supplies to mobilize my troops . "

    "How long are you nning to go this time?"

    "We¡¯re fighting in a prolonged war, so I estimate five to six months . "

    "Good, I¡¯ll construct a granary base for you . I can¡¯t give you that many foods, but I can at least give you enough tost for three months at least . As for more, we have to wait for the harvest this year . "

    "Oh, thank you very much!"

    With Gongsun Du¡¯s promise, Kebineng smirked .

    ¡¯Once I got all the supplies, I¡¯ll return home and leave them to rot . Hahaha!¡¯

 Chapter 374

    Chapter 374

    Chapter 374 ¨C Kebineng¡¯s Mistake

    July 10th .

    Xu Huang altered his n as he received more reinforcements from Zhao Yun and Tian Yu .

    Tian Yu moved half of the granaries to East Linyu camp that Xu Huang had constructed while Zhao Yun secured Linyu in Tian Yu¡¯s ce .

    Xu Huang and his 59,000 soldiers marched west for another ten days, and he did the same with the former fortress . He built another camp, but he did not move forward .

    As the threat of Kebineng was still present, Xu Huang did not rush in . He kept his defense tight and stable, but he pressured Xiangping City with their shortened distance .

    Now, the distance from the current Xu Huang¡¯s position to Xiangping was less than ten days of marching .

    Meanwhile, Kebineng camped one kilometer away from Xu Huang¡¯s new fort . All supplies from Gongsun Du gathered here for Kebineng¡¯s 20,000 soldiers .

    The new Xianbei¡¯s chieftain grinned after Gongsun Du¡¯s messengers and helpers left . He looked at the bundles of rice and dried food in the granaries in glee .

    "Shift these foods to the north . I want everything out of here as soon as possible . "

    Kebineng predicted that Gongsun Du would lose this battle soon . As he did not want to risk his life for the losing side, he nned to bail from Han¡¯s territories and return to his homnd .

    Letting these Han soldiers fight each other to the death was a better idea . Once they exhausted their resources and manpower, he woulde back to im thesends .

    "Sir, we haven¡¯t nned where we will take these foods . Please designate the gathering ce . "

    Kebineng snorted, "I knew that . Take a battalion ande with me . Let¡¯s secure the perimeters first . "

    One thousand men left the camp with Kebineng, leaving 19,000 horse archers to fortify the base .

    One hour after their departure, Xu Huang¡¯s scout team returned to their fort, reporting their finding to their grandmander .

    "A barbarian camp nearby and a scout team to the north? That¡¯s interesting . "

    Xu Huang turned to Jia Xu, "I¡¯m nning to ignore the scout team . What do you think, senior Jia?"

    "I¡¯m against taking no action this time, general . I think they have withdrawn all of their ambush parties and gathered in Xiangping . What we¡¯re seeing here should be their interception force, and they are securing the perimeters to search for an advantage foothold . Also ..."

    Jia Xu looked at the scout leader, "What¡¯s their troop number again?"

    "Roughly 20,000, sir . "

    "Good . Then, I was right . Nothing to worry about . "

    Xu Huang frowned, "borate, please . "

    "Yes . Aside from these 20,000 soldiers, the rest of Gongsun Du or the barbarian forces should be in Xiangping . Because of your tactic, they should have thought that you were a coward, and they ignored your presence . Only after we have moved closer to Xiangping, theye out to intercept us . It¡¯s just a direct battle on the field with no ploy, so there is nothing to worry about . "

    Xu Huang grinned, "In other words, they are looking down on me?"

    "Indeed . "

    Xu Huang¡¯s smile widened . Instead of getting angered by the news, he liked it .

    "Let¡¯s provoke them into a fight then . Get all cavalries prepared . We¡¯ll probe their strength . Also, contact Tian Yu and Zhao Yun . Move their forces and all of their supplies to our current base . Tell them to prepare for a fight as well . "

    "Understood . "

    Late afternoon, 10,000 heavy knights and 4,000 light cavalries stationed in front of Kebineng¡¯s camp .

    Kebineng¡¯s camp was made with haste . Only spike barricades and short fences presented as their lines of defense . As for their watchtowers, there were only three facing Xu Huang¡¯s direction .

    Xu Huang grew more confident as he inspected the defense of this base . They looked down on him as Jia Xu had thought .

    The Xianbei had already noticed Xu Huang¡¯s horsemen . They assembled and formed arrays behind the barricades while more than half of the soldiers rushed back to mount their horse .

    Xu Huang would not wait for them to be 100% readied . He sent his order, "Knights, take out your crossbows, get into range and fire into the camp!"

    With repeating crossbows in their hands, they galloped to their firing range andunched an endless volley beyond their fences .

    The defense force also released their arrows, trading projectiles .

    Arrow rain from Xu Huang reached the defenders first . Cries and death throes from the camp echoed throughout the battlefield .

    Xu Huang¡¯s heavy knight also received the impact from the opponent¡¯s arrows . nking sound of metallic objects hitting each other resonated as the iron arrowheads hit the steel te armors of the knights and their horses .

    While the Xianbei used their silk and leather armors to deflect arrow¡¯s trajectory, the knights weed them with their impregnatable defense .

    Tong used to call these knight armors as pay-to-win armors, which was not farfetched .

    In Medieval time, not many western knights could afford to wear a full te mail armor set . As it took times to wear and it costed money, only nobles could afford to go out to wars with these armors .

    Pages and squares also had knight armors, but they only covered for their vital spots, such as the chest, head, and a portion of arms and shins .

    The full ted knights were difficult to kill with shing or thrusting weaponry, such as swords, arrows, spears, andnce . There was a record that a well-armored knight could take on a hundred light-armored soldiers if the men had only shing and thrusting weapons .

    Thus, many western soldiers wielded hammers, maces, and blunt weapons to counter these knights . The only way to kill these tanks were to smash them to internal bleeding or crippling them to submission .

    Xu Huang¡¯s 10,000 heavy cavalries were sporting the expensive full te mails . As a result, these arrows were a joke to the soldiers .

    They stood still with their horses, tanking all the oing arrows as they fired theirs .

    Ten minutes after the exchange, the defending archers were routed . All of them fled back into their camp to their horses .

    Xu Huang did not follow up with the attack . Instead, he rearranged their horse formation .

    All light cavalries covered his nks while the heavy armored ones form a triple-line formation, getting ready to charge at the enemies .

    Soon, 15,000 surviving riders got out of the camp with their horses . The Xianbei attempted to use their hit-and-run tactic with their horse archers as they ran around Xu Huang¡¯s formation in a circle .

    "Whoops, this is troublesome . All light cavalries, charge into the camp and burn it down! As for knights, gather in a square formation and don¡¯t move . Reload your crossbows and keep firing at the enemies!"

    Against moving targets, Xu Huang chose not to follow after their rhythms . Instead, he defined his paces and avoided unnecessary casualties .

    By sending all light cavalries into the camp, it would pressure the Xianbei that they could not ignore their defense forces . Had they ignored it, their granaries, tents, and all supplies would be burnt to ashes .

    Xu Huang used a mind game against the barbarians . He wanted to pressure them into returning to the camp, so they would be put in a defensive position . With this move, the pace of this fight would fall into his hands .

    As if Xu Huang was ying chess, he predicted five scenarios that could happen after this move .

    One, all enemies could return into the camp and focus on defending . In this scenario, Xu Huang could take his time to wither the enemy numbers before dusk .

    Two, the enemies splitted into two groups . One would focus on defending while the other one would continue using the horse archer tactic on his heavy knights . Xu Huang believed that this scenario was likely to happen as it should be a standard protocol for the defenders .

    Still, once they splitted themselves too thin, he would withdraw the light horsemen and concentrate on weeding out the troops on the outside .

    Third, the enemies could charge at the heavy horsemen . This would be a check-mate had the Xianbei rushed at Xu Huang as the knights had advantages in meleebats .

    Fourth, the enemies would retreat with organized troops . They would reenter the camp to control the fire and chase the light unit out . Then, they would secure the granaries, supplies, and slowly withdraw back from this location .

    And thest scenario, the Xianbei would chase the light cavalry unit inside the camp and seek to eliminate them . This could also benefit Xu Huang as he could use the light horsemen as baits . Then, branches of strategies would follow after this .

    Still, it seemed he overestimated them . He did not know that Kebineng, the only talented general in this army, had gone out with the scout team .

    The Xianbei horsemen ignored the camp and concentrated on fighting Xu Huang in the open, which was a tactical mistake . Without protection on the primary supply depots, they were asking Xu Huang indirectly as "Please burn my granaries . "

    Both sides continued to trade arrows for 30 minutes, which Xu Huang weed it with a sadistic smile .

    The light horsemen did their job, burning down the entire camp and fled back to Xu Huang¡¯s position .

    As for the useless Xianbei horse archers, they fled north after the me devoured their entire encampment .

    Looking at the retreating soldiers, Xu Huang had aplicated emotion . He was disappointed that the enemies were too weak, yet he was d that he won .

    "How durd . Well, let¡¯s return . "

    Xu Huang did not pursue . He led his men back to the camp .

    .

    At Dusk, all Kebineng soldiers gathered at Mount Dahei, the ce that they used to hide and ambushed Zhang Bao .

    From the initial 20,000 men, only 12,000 survived from the fight against Xu Huang .

    The death of Xianbei¡¯s soldiers was nothing to Kebineng, but the loss of his assets, the granaries, and all weaponry pained him . Kebineng could feel his heart ached when he thought about the provision that he had lost .

    "YOU MORONS! WHY DIDN¡¯T YOU PROTECT THE BASE!?"

    "T-The enemies are too tough! They were immobile, so we thought we could have killed them easily . But our arrows can¡¯t kill a single of them!"

    "THAT IS NOT AN EXCUSE! WHY DIDN¡¯T YOU DEFEND THE BASE!?"

    A fistnded on themander¡¯s face . Kebineng had lost it .

    His rough breathing scared all of his followers . Fortunately, Kebineng was sane enough not to kill all of them .

    "A loss is a loss . Since Xu Huang has journeyed this far, their rear should be weak . We¡¯ll detour and follow through with our old n . "

    His followers regained hope as they recalled their former n that they had discarded . In this n, they would seize Linyu County and steal their supplies . Then, they would nk Xu Huang from behind and take their weaponry .

    "We¡¯ll adjust our schedules . Instead of nking the Silver Axe, we¡¯ll take everything and return to our territories . We don¡¯t need to linger in Han¡¯snd anymore . "

 Chapter 375

    Chapter 375

    Chapter 375 ¨C Power of Cannons

    Zhao Yun and Tian Yu received the order from Xu Huang to move forward to his former camp . However, both of them hesitated about this movement .

    In the end, they turned to the n chat to voice their opinion .

    Currently, the members of the n were as the followings;

    Tong¡¯s Yellow Turban families - Zhang Tong, Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang .

    Demon families - Diaochan (Medusa), Dong Bai (Friday), and Wang Yun .

    Great Generals ¨C Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Xu Huang, and Lu Bu .

    Soon to be great generals ¨C Taishi Ci and Zhao Yun .

    Secondary generals - Bo Cai, Gao Lan, Qu Yi, Zhou Cang, Tian Yu, and Gao Shun .

    Governors and civil officers - Ding Yuan, Kong Rong, Sima Fang, Sima Lang, Lu Zhi, Cai Yong, Zhen Yi, and Te Langpu

    Strategists - Jia Xu, Ju Shou, Li Feihong, Xun You, and Xun Yu .

    A total of 32 people were in the n chat this year!

    With the wide ranges of people, both Zhao Yun and Tian Yu consulted about this in public .

    Zhao Yun: "General Xu, I¡¯m against this move . Can we talk it out?"

    Tian Yu: "Are we in the clear yet? I have a feeling that my location is not very safe . "

    At first, Xu Huang and Jia Xu insisted that they should move to thepleted Xu Huang fortress . However, changes happened at night on July 10th .

    Jia Xu: "Where are Zhao Yun and Tian Yu at the moment?"

    Zhao Yun: "I¡¯m at Linyu . "

    Tian Yu: "I¡¯m at the East Linyu fort . Most of our food is here . "

    Jia Xu: "Good . Increase the security and be prepared for any surprise attack . "

    Zhao Yun and Tian Yu did not understand it .

    Zhao Yun: "What has happened over there?"

    Jia Xu: "The barbarians ran away to the north . We¡¯re thinking that they mighte back and bite you for supplies . "

    Xu Huang: "My apologies to all of you . I made a mistake and let those men go when I could have finished them off . I¡¯ll be relying on the support from you . Also, I¡¯m sending Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang back with 4,000 light cavalries to help you . "

    While they were consulting, Tong noticed the conversation and wanted to know about their progress .

    Zhang Tong: "Report the situation!"

    Jia Xu: "Yes, your majesty . We are about five to ten days away from Xiangping, and we raided a barbarian¡¯s camp . We found that they might be the one that ambushed Sir Zhang Bao a few months ago, and they have left to the north . From the looks of it, they have the potential to head west and attack our rear at Linyu County or East Linyu Fort . "

    Zhang Tong: "Your evaluation, Gongming?"

    Xu Huang: "I think the same, your majesty . We are nning to go all-out against Xiangping, and we estimate that we can take it down before the end of this month . "

    Zhang Tong: "I see . Well then, father . Please prepare food and supplies to Jinyang . It¡¯s about time that we deploy Lu Bu and his legion into Xiongnu¡¯s territories . Let¡¯s invade Mongol!"

    .

    .

    .

    The chat concluded that Tian Yu would guard the East Linyu Fort while Zhao Yun would guard Linyu County .

    As for Xu Huang, he had already mobilized and abandoned his current position . He would siege Xiangping as soon as possible to end the conflict in the north, so Tong and others could concentrate on eliminating Xiongnu and barbarians for good .

    .

    July 16th .

    Xu Huang force-marched to the wall of Xiangping, which terrified Gongsun Du .

    At this day, Gongsun Du was left with 10,000 garrisoning soldiers while Xu Huang brought 35,000 infantries to this battle . As for 10,000 heavy knights and the reserve troops, Jia Xumanded them to stay behind and make camps .

    Xu Huang did not bother surrounding the city . Instead, he gathered everyone at the north gate .

    Also, he revealed his toys to the public for the first time . He did not have a chance to use it against the horse archers as they were too agile, and these weapons were sitting ducks to these units . However, against immobile sentries, Xu Huang was itching to test them .

    Ten wheeled cannons stopped 500 meters away from the north gate . Workhorses that dragged these two-ton metals sighed a relief that they could finally get some rest .

    All cannon crews began doing their job, loading a cannonball into the cannon chamber .

    As it was their first time inbat, their hands trembled in nervousness, and they took extra times to load the shells . After a couple of minutes, they were ready .

    Xu Huang, Jia Xu, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang rode behind the cannon crews the witness how these toys worked .

    The cannon crews aimed the bronze cannons and lighted the fuses .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Loud booms terrified friends and foes alike, but the surprise had not ended there .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The shells mmed onto the bottom of the wall and the ground . The aim was too short .

    "Adjust the aim! Move the cannons closer paces!"

    Hearing themand from Xu Huang, all crews mustered their strength and pushed these heavy monsters forward .

    Gongsun Du stared at Xu Huang¡¯s cannons in shock .

    He had not recovered from the news of Kebineng¡¯s defeat, but he had to face this new weaponry . Gongsun Du pulled his hair as he was desperate for a way to fight against this massive army with a better weapon .

    As for his subordinates, most of them were in an uproar and panic . Gongsun Du could even hear that they were nning to escape from the city to the south .

    "Stop panicking and help me fight! Do you want glory and wealth or not!?"

    His subordinates hesitated . Gongsun Kang, the young son of Gongsun Du, even flinched by his father¡¯s yell . He did not think that this was a proper way to control his men, but he also could not find a better way to counter Xu Huang¡¯s forces .

    "F-Father . Can we surrender? It¡¯s still not toote, isn¡¯t it?"

    Gongsun Du paused . It would be a lie if he did not think about surrendering .

    Unfortunately, he heard about what Wang Men had done and He Xing¡¯s death . The rumors said that Tong¡¯s men were here for Gongsun¡¯s family as they orchestrated the assassination of the empress .

    Gongsun Du did not want to take risks, but fighting was not an option either!

    "ARGH! We¡¯ll fight to the death! Bring me my horse, we¡¯ll charge out and meet them on the field!"

    "F-Father! That¡¯s suicide!"

    "Suicide!? No, being here and doing nothing is a suicide! They came here to kill everyone in our family, so we can¡¯t surrender! Look at them . They only have footmen . Did they leave their horsemen at home or something? I don¡¯t know what he is thinking, but it is our chance to strike!"

    Gongsun Du and Gongsun Kang got down from the wall to fetch their horses .

    At this moment

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The second volley of ten cannons hit the wall . A portion of the ten-meter height wall copsed along with a dozen defenders on top of it .

    Screams of panicking soldiers could be heard from below . The morale of the troops sunk to the bottom .

    Gongsun Du bellowed, "Hear me, soldiers! Abandon the walls and follow me! We will charge at the enemies together!"

    As if it triggered something, all soldiers rushed down the wall, pushing and shoving each other aside so they could escape from there faster . As a result, a hundred people fell from the top of the wall and stairs, falling down to their death . The other unlucky soldiers stumbled and fell on the ground, which they got stomped by his colleagues and died from the internal injuries .

    No order remained in his city as everyone thought of themselves .

    Gongsun Du was oblivious to the chaos . He thought that his rally was effective . Thus, he rejoiced .

    "See? Just one word and they¡¯re eager to fight! We still have a chance!"

    Gongsun Du and Gongsun Kang got on their horses and moved to the gate, getting ready to charge out .

    Behind the gate, it was an empty square for soldiers to gather . A thousand soldiers had already prepared their gears and were on stand-by .

    Seeing the readiness of his men, Gongsun Duughed . He moved through the crowd and got to the center of the square so that everyone could hear his speech before everyone could charge out .

    Soon, another loud sound of cannon volley came, and the ground trembled again . This time, one of the cannonball went over the wall andnded into the city .

    The cannonballnded on the dead center of the square where Gongsun Du was .

    *BOOM*

    *SPLAT*

    Without realizing what hit him, Gongsun Du was squashed by the iron cannon shell, terrified the onlookers .

    Gongsun Kang witnessed his father¡¯s death right in front of his eyes . He screamed, "Throw white gs! We¡¯re surrendering! Do not charge out! I repeat, do not charge out! Raise white gs!"

    .

    Meanwhile, Xu Huang, Jia Xu, and allmanders stood still, astounded by the cannon power .

    The mighty tall wall, which they had always been intimidated, had been reduced to piles of rubbles . The orderly lined wall turned into a remaining of an ancient city . Walls had be disconnected, and many parts had copsed onto the ground .

    Jia Xu groaned, "This shit doesn¡¯t require strategies! With a precise aim, all armies and tactics are useless!"

    Xu Huang nodded, "I agree . Still, the cannon shells are only effective against structures . It takes times to reload, and the precision is questionable, so we can¡¯t use this against live targets . "

    "True . But I heard from Te Langpu that there is another type of shells he is researching . He said that it will explode upon contact . "

    "Ah, the explosive shells, right?"

    "Yes, yes . That¡¯s the one!"

    "Probably soon, perhaps . I hope we can use it in the field someday . There are also slug shells in the work that are simr to his majesty¡¯s shotgun shells . "

    "I hope that we won¡¯t be jobless once those toys are finished . "

    "Right . HAHAHAHA!"

    As they chatted, the gate opened . Gongsun Kang rode out and waved a white g as a deration of surrender .

    "I guess they are too effective . They are surrendering . "

    "That¡¯s good . I want to sleep under a roof for once . I¡¯m tired of camping outside in the cold . Hey, general Xu . I just recall that we¡¯re bringing the hwachas, right? I haven¡¯t seen them since we had moved to a new base . "

    Xu Huang paused to think, "I used them to fortify East Linyu Fort . "

    Jia Xuughed, "Oh well, forget it . Let¡¯s tell Tong that they were forgotten in the base then . "

    "I¡¯ll tell Tian Yu to bring them back once the fight is over . "

    "Meh, it¡¯s already over at this point . "

    .

    The handling of the prisoners went well . As Gongsun Kang cooperated with Xu Huang and Jia Xu, all officers and Gongsun n did not resist .

    They found Gongsun Du¡¯s corpseter, which disappointed Tong and his followers in the n chat .

    Tong had nned to torture him, but he did not even have a chance to seek revenge . He sighed amented to his fate .

    His feud with Liu Ping was redeemed by Hua Shi and Friday .

    His anger toward Wang Men was quenched by Zhang Liao .

    His grudge with Gongsun Du had been solved by a cannonball .

    Not once in this life that he could exact revenge with his own hands .

    Still, Tong ordered in the n chat that all Gongsun n members had to be executed without exception . As family members of a traitor who had plotted the assassination of He Xing, none could be spared!

 Chapter 376

    Chapter 376

    Chapter 376 ¨C Kebineng VS Tian Yu

    July 17th .

    Kebineng and his 12,000 riders reached East Linyu Fort . They stopped to check the fortification that Xu Huang had built for Tian Yu .

    Horse traps, spike walls, trenches, and two-meter tall walls stopped Kebineng from having a silly idea . These setups aimed to disable any cavalry attack and force all invaders to use infantries .

    Kebineng learned from his past mistakes . He did not want to siege a city by dismounting their best weaponry, the horses .

    ¡¯Should I go for Linyu County?¡¯

    Kebineng hesitated . He wanted to go for the county, but they would be up against 10-meter-tall mud walls instead of 2-meter-wooden walls .

    The answer was clear . Kebineng had to deal with this fort to steal supplies, or else, they would not have enough food to return home .

    Kebineng made his mind .

    "Fire attack . Get torches and any mmable material . We¡¯ll burn this fortress, so we can draw the garrison soldiers outside . We¡¯ll fight them in the open . "

    His aide disagreed, "Shouldn¡¯t we attack Linyu County? At least, we can rob Han¡¯s people and plunder from the town folks . "

    "I agree with you, but we don¡¯t have a choice . Our force is only good on open field battles, but we won¡¯t have a chance against the Hans if we fight in siege warfare . These cunning people always cower behind the wall . "

    "Then, I shall ry the order . "

    The riders returned to rest and gathered materials from a nearest hill and forest .

    .

    July 18th .

    Kebineng¡¯s 12,000 soldiers each had a torch in their hand . All riders charged at the nearest wooden structure, traps, and barricades to burn them .

    The me ignited, and all spike traps, horse traps, and small fences were burnt . A few riders attempted to throw their torch at the wooden wall, but they fell short .

    All of them rallied back and watched the traps on fire .

    Half a dayter, the defenders did not move out from their fortification . However, Kebineng could see their movements on top of the wall .

    Several soldiers were arranging weird carts and lined them toward their horsemen . At a nce, it looked like ballistae, but theycked bowstrings .

    4 PM .

    The me died down, and all traps were clear from Kebineng¡¯s path .

    A battalion of a thousand soldiers brought nks to cover trenches while another force pushed a battering ram forward .

    The battering ram was a decoy to get the defender force¡¯s attention . His real attack was still a fire attack .

    Once the preparation waspleted . Two sacrificial battalions rushed forward with their nks and battering ram . As Kebineng expected, the garrison archers unleashed their arrows at them .

    "Charge! Throw the torches at the wall! Burn it down!"

    The remaining 10,000 riders rushed forward with another wave of the torch run .

    Once they got to the range of 300 meters before the wall, strange sounds and white smoke came out from the top of the wall .

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    Long arrows came out from the weird carts in session . Within five seconds, one of them fired over a hundred arrows at the horsemen .

    On top of the walls, there were over 30 carts, which rained over a thousand arrows in an instant . Combined with the defender archers, which numbered about 5,000 on the wall, the arrow wall terrified Kebineng and the Xianbei light cavalries .

    Ten thousand arrows rained onto the horsemen . Even though they had anti-arrow leather armor and silk cover, they could not escape this many arrows at once .

    Before they could reach a hundred meters in front of the wall, 3,000 chargers fell down in one volley!

    "KEEP CHARGING AND THROW YOUR TORCHES!"

    7,000 Riders threw their torches at the wall and retreated from the wall . During their withdraw process, the archers on the wall did not stop shooting at them . As a result, another five hundred riders fell .

    The battering ram reached the gate, and the survivors of the battalion began hitting the wooden gate with it .

    *CLANK*

    A jar ofmp oil hit the wooden log . Afterward, a defender returned the favor by throwing a torch of their own .

    The battering ram caught fire, and the 500 survivors of the battalion retreated along with the riders . As for the nk squads, they hadpleted their jobs and fell back to regroup with Kebineng .

    8,000 Soldiers remained after the attempt to take down the wall, which they had half-seeded . me spread on the short walls, and the defenders were busy trying to extinguish the fire .

    Kebineng squinted his eyes to observe the garrison forces¡¯ reaction . The weird carts had been carried down away, and all soldiers seemed to have abandoned the wall .

    Realizing that the enemy had abandoned their defensive walls, Kebineng had a high hope in this raid .

    5 PM .

    The sun almost set, but Kebineng had not finished yet . He was waiting for the wall to copse .

    "All units, get on your horse and get ready . We¡¯ll charge into the fort once their wall is no more!"

    As Kebineng had predicted, the two-meter-wall copsed in the next five minutes .

    "CHARGE!! THE WALL IS DOWN!! BREACH IT!!"

    All 8,000 soldiers rushed into the fort, hoping to fight the defenders on the ground, which they had the advantage . All of them brought out their spears, de, and their heirloom to this battle .

    Half a minuteter, the first battalion breached through the copsed wall section and got inside the fort . As soon as the troops entered, the thousand-manmander of the force shouted in panic .

    "RETREAT!! THIS IS A TRAP!!"

    Inside the fort, there was anotheryer of fences, trenches, and horse traps . Behind the defensive structures, watchtowers, siege towers, and over 5,000 archers stood ready .

    Rain of arrows showered on them in an instant, which wiped out the spearhead team .

    The second battalion could not stop the charge on-time . Another group of horsemen entered the fort and got ughtered as well .

    The third and theter battalions managed to stop after they heard the loudmotion and the anomaly . Kebineng ordered a full-retreat this time .

    "This won¡¯t do! Come back! Regroup and fall back, now!"

    .

    .

    .

    Tian Yu watched the invaders retreat with a sigh . He did not like his performance today .

    He used the hwachas veryte because he did not understand their usage . By the time he could use it, the enemies already burned all of the outer barricades .

    Tian Yu also could not bring all hwachas to use on-time . He only used 30 of them instead of all 50, which he was disappointed .

    Then, he nned to trap Kebineng Army in his fort maze and wipe them out so that the threat would be eliminated for good .

    Unfortunately, the execution was too hasty . Tian Yu could have drawn more troops inside the secondyer block before he signaled the arrow shower . Also, their reaction was fast enough to avoid the maze inside .

    Within the East Linyu Fort that Xu Huang had constructed, there were fiveyers of the wall . Eachyer served as a decoy and a disguise for anotheryer inside .

    On the firstyer, it was arranged as a standard trap field to defend against a raid from horsemen . Since they were up against barbarians, which excelled in horsemanship, they would be a food had they not prepared to fight against cavalries .

    The secondyer was a wither-maze . Another line of palisades hid the thirdyer, but arrow towers behind the walls were the secondyer¡¯s weapons . Archers boarded the towers, and they withered down the invaders .

    Between the first and the second line of walls, they limited a pathway into blocks and sections . Each area was a 100x100 meter block area, which surrounded by both walls and horse traps . There were small paths for garrison soldiers, but they could be covered with a little adjustment with the barricade spikes .

    The third trap was the killer, but Tian Yu could not use it today .

    "I didn¡¯t think that they would give up just like that . "

    In Tian Yu¡¯s evaluation, had Kebineng continued using the fire tactic to burn them or used fire arrows, he would have had a headache .

    Tian Yu did not know that Kebinengcked supplies because of Xu Huang . The Xianbei did not have enough arrows to use inbat anymore .

    "Men, repair the walls, and rece the traps! Tell half of our men to rest now . Have the rested guy change shift when it¡¯s midnight . Keep watch and prepare for a possible night raid!"

    .

    Kebineng was in a bad mood .

    12,000 Men were with him this morning, but 5,000 came back alive .

    Secondly, had he had more arrows than the current stock, he would have used fire arrows instead of torch throwing . With theck of supplies, it hurt him in this battle .

    Kebineng was angry, but he was sane enough to know when to quit .

    "Tell everyone, we¡¯ll head home . "

    "We¡¯re not raiding them again, my liege?"

    "No need . We lost enough men while we haven¡¯t been able to kill theirs . The result is obvious now . "

    "... Yes, my liege . "

    .

    July 20th .

    With Kebineng¡¯s absence of activities, Tian Yu and Zhao Yun began searching for this Xianbei¡¯s traces .

    They found their trace, which a group of 3,000 to 5,000 horsemen had already moved toward the north a few days ago .

    After both of them reported this matter to Tong in the n chat, a new order came .

    Tong: "Xu Huang¡¯s Silver Axe will remain in Xiangping for now . You will keep watch on Xianbei tribes to the north . Do not invade the east or the north on your own . I don¡¯t want to cause a war with the Koreans . "

    Tong: "Zhao Yun, you will form a new legion in Beiping! Gather all former white riders of Gongsun Zan under your wings and stand by for orders . Until you managed to get 10,000 men from former Gongsun Zan¡¯s men, I won¡¯t allow you to be a legionmander yet . "

    Tong: "Tian Yu, you will station in Ji City as the garrisonmander . You will protect Ji City for now . "

    Tong: "Zhen Yi will return to Zhongshan, and Wang Yun will go back to Nanpi . As for governor of Ji Beiping, and Xiangping, I¡¯ll arrange personals to handle itter! For now, the threemanders will handle the task as a deputy governor until further notice . "

    .

    .

    .

    The matter about Gongsun Du and the northern tribesmen had been solved . However, the issues about Xiongnu was still present .

    At the end of July, Tong mobilized his forces again . This time, Lu Bu led 50,000 men into the western territories, crossing mountains into Xiongnu¡¯snds .

    Ding Yuan remained in Jinyang to guard the headquarter of their legion . Ju Shou and Gao Shun followed after Lu Bu to finish this enmity .

    It was a counter-attack for the Han Dynasty against the Xiongnu Empire!

    Tong gave Lu Bu another order . Until the Xiongnu Empire copsed, he could not return to the Han Dynasty . All tribes under Khan¡¯s rule had to either perish or surrender to them .

 Chapter 377

    Chapter 377

    Chapter 377 ¨C Chen Qun, the Mole

    May 5th, 190 A . D .

    Qiao County .

    Cao Cao received the news about Tong¡¯s northern campaign . He turned to Pu Jing .

    "Can we attack Yuan Shao now? Zhang Tong isn¡¯t a person who will wage wars on two fronts, right?"

    Pu Jing nodded, "Indeed . Zhang Tong is a cautious person, so he won¡¯t attack us . It¡¯s time for us to rush east and end Yuan Shao . "

    Cao Caoughed, "Good . Let¡¯s tell Xiahou Yuan to be prepared . We¡¯ll take Xiaopei first! Should I mobilize other units in Jibei and Chenliu?"

    "Jibei can attack Langye, but Chenliu has to remain there . We need those troops to intimidate Xiao Wu and Zhang Liao that we are defending the border cities even though we are allies . It will stop Zhang Tong¡¯s subordinate from moving on their own . "

    "Wait, Zhang Tong doesn¡¯t hold absolute control over them?"

    "I suspect not . Zhang Tong has given back authorities to his men . I think it was because of Te Langpu¡¯s system . "

    Cao Cao nudged his temples as he had a headache about Tong¡¯s talented officers . Tong had too many good people that could pose a threat to Cao Cao without him doing anything .

    Not a day that Cao Cao was not envied of Tong¡¯s human assets . He tried his best to gather more exceptional men to his side, but the progress was slow .

    Still, Cao Cao stayed positive as he had another back-up n, which he was waiting for the result .

    ¡¯I wonder when Yuan Shu will send me Sun Jian Army . ¡¯

    .

    Xiapi City, inside Xiahou Yuan¡¯s private tent .

    Xiahou Yuan got the n message the same day . He ryed his info to Guo Jia .

    "What do you think?"

    Guo Jia revealed a faint smile, "Well, it¡¯s the order . What can I do?"

    "You don¡¯t have an opinion about this move? It seems too early to me . "

    "Nah, it doesn¡¯t matter if we should strike now orter . Zhang Tong won¡¯t attack us until the Xiongnu issues are solved . "

    "What do you mean?"

    "Khan and Zhang Tong are otherworlders, and both want the other dead . He won¡¯t be able to sleep soundly if the north and the west of his territories connect with the Xiongnu¡¯s borders . Knowing his personality, he will mobilize a couple of legions to attack Xiongnu¡¯s hometown to put pressure on Khan in Liang Province . "

    As Guo Jia exined, he ced a map on a table . Then, he pointed at the north of Xiangping, Beiping, and Ji .

    "These Wuhuan and Xianbei tribes are still here, so they will continue to invade Zhang Tong¡¯s cities . He has to get rid of these tribes or make them submit, which will take a few years to get everything under his control . Also ..."

    Gou Jia pointed at the Liang Province of Khan .

    "Even though Jinyang, Zhongshan, and the entire Bing Province are protected by the natural mountain ranges, they are not safe from the Xiongnu . Zhang Tong will need to dispatch Jinyang¡¯s legion to the northwest and stab the Liang Province from behind . It won¡¯t be an easy task since the north of Jinyang is a wide range of desert and the west are all mountains and hills, so I expect about five to ten years-long campaign . In conclusion, Zhang Tong requires about a decade to stabilize his northern fronts before he can turn to us . "

    "We have so much time! Shouldn¡¯t take it easy? Isn¡¯t our lord too rush?"

    "Nah, our lord is right about this . The faster we conquered Xu Province, the more times we have to unify the south and the central in . By the time Zhang Tong eliminated Khan, we would have gathered enough forces and cannons to fight against his massive armies . "

    Xiahou Yuan¡¯s face grimaced when he thought of the disadvantages in their troop¡¯s number . Tong¡¯s cities flourished, and more people joined forces with him . Although the majority of Tong¡¯s men were policemen of the garrison forces, they were still a threat to Cao Cao .

    From their spy reports, each county housed at least 10,000 police officers to maintain order . Some major cities like Julu and Ye hosted over 20,000 to 30,000 men!

    Using mathematics, Tong controlled 11 majormanderies and over 20 affiliated minor counties . The number of policemen would be beyond 150,000!

    This did not include the legions controlled by Tong¡¯s great generals . Just Zhang He and Xu Huang¡¯s soldiers alone, they could march to the central in, and Cao Cao would have a hard time dealing with them . With the addition of Zhang Liao and Xiao Wu¡¯s legions, Cao Cao would not have a chance .

    Wiping his sweat, Xiahou Yuan nodded, "Aye, let¡¯s hurry then . We really have no time at all . "

    "Haha! Yeah, we have a tight schedule . Let¡¯s contact Mi Zhu and Chen Family . "

    "What about Yan Liang? He¡¯s a good general . "

    "I don¡¯t like him as an ally . He smells and acts like your brother, but he did not have his discipline . Don¡¯t include him in this n . "

    "Hahaha! Alright . "

    .

    May 10th, 190 A . D .

    Yuan Shu kept hearing about spy reports from Ye City . Whenever he heard about how Tong scored great beauties like Lady Du and Cai Wenji, he got jealous .

    As Yuan Shu had never met with Tong¡¯s consorts or had seen an urate portrait of the two, his imagination ran wild . He believed that the twodies were goddess-like beauties since everyone said they were .

    It enraged him more when he found out that Tong impregnated them .

    "Can¡¯t I have one of those goddess beauties like that bastard has!?"

    An officer with schr robe walked to Yuan Shu¡¯s side and whispered him, "My lord, you have the Imperial Seal, while Zhang Tong doesn¡¯t have one . Righteousness is with you . "

    Yuan Shu¡¯s eyes gleamed . He wanted to dere himself an emperor by using the Imperial Seal as a reason, but he did not dare . Several of Yuan Shu¡¯s officers admonished him about his ns, such as Yang Hong and Yan Xiang .

    However, he wanted to go through with it . He already imed the capital city of Luoyang and a fewmanderies . He also had Sun Jian¡¯s forces under his control, so he did not fear anything .

    Also, Khan and Liu Yang had been sending them tributes and opened their borders for merchants . The west of his kingdom was secured .

    "You¡¯re right! I¡¯m legitimate to ascend to the throne, but I can¡¯t simply proim myself an emperor without supporters from others!"

    Yuan Shu was smart . He had been dying his decision so far because of this reason .

    His affiliate cities were weak in both economy and military . Yuan Shu¡¯s forces were no match to either Tong or Cao Cao, and his average tax ie could upkeep the officers¡¯ sry and military budgets .

    Yuan Shu had to acquire more resources one way or another before he could im the throne . Or else, his empire would crumble before Yuan Shu could force other warlords to submit under him .

    The young officer gazed at Yuan Shu with a cold smile . He continued whispering, "My lord, currently, Sun Jian¡¯s forces had many soldiers and officers . Their sry and army upkeep are draining our treasury . "

    Yuan Shu red at his officer, "His army is a must! Do you think it¡¯s easy to acquire a legion that can stop Zhang Tong¡¯s army? What do you n to do, weaken my forces?"

    "No, no! Lord Yuan Shu, you misunderstood me . Let me exin . We don¡¯t need to disband Sun Jian¡¯s army . Instead, why don¡¯t we lease his troops to Cao Cao?"

    "WHAT!?"

    "You heard me right, my lord . We should lease Sun Jian and his men to Cao Cao, so we can save our upkeep gold while we obtain gold from Cao Cao . Isn¡¯t this move like hitting two birds with one stone?"

    Lending soldiers or leased army was something that had never urred in this era .

    Yuan Shu understood the terms of mercenaries, but he never heard about a lord lending his men to other forces before .

    "borate!"

    "Yes, my lord . Leasing is like loaning . We let other warlords borrowing our troops for a price, just like how they hire mercenaries and private forces of military nsmen . It¡¯s the same, but we are the supplier, and Cao Cao is our customer . "

    Yuan Shu had to pause and think for a minute before he could understand the logic behind this young man¡¯s advice .

    "I get it! We be a mercenary organization, and we receive gold from Cao Cao, who will be our customer, right!?"

    "... Yes . You can say it that way . "

    "What about provision for Sun Jian Army?"

    "If we lend them to Cao Cao, obviously, Cao Cao will have to provide them with supplies . "

    "What about their pay?"

    "We can have Cao Cao pay the wages for these men, but we have to negotiate with Cao Cao for the terms . "

    "Very good! Well, eh, what¡¯s your name? I¡¯m not very good at remembering my subordinate¡¯s nametely . Many new guyse and go, and I lost tracks of who is who . "

    The schr smiled, "I¡¯m Chen Qun, Chen Changwen, my lord . Sir Yang Hong promoted me here to help you . "

    "Good! Chen Qun, I¡¯ll promote you as my advisor from now on! I¡¯ll pay you a thousand gold a month for your service!"

    Chen Qun bowed while he hid his mocking grin, "Thank you, my lord . "

    "You¡¯ll also be in charge of this project! Here is my token . You can tell Sun Jian about this n! Make it quick, though, because we don¡¯t have enough gold to pay them if we wait for too long!"

    .

    At night, Chen Qun dispatched his men from Luoyang to Xuchang .

    In reality, Chen Qun was Cheng Yu¡¯s subordinate . The schr was sent here as a mole to sabotage Yuan Shu¡¯s forces . Also, the idea of leasing came from Pu Jing .

    Cheng Yu and Pu Jing did not forget to involve Yuan Shu in their n to attack Yuan Shao . As Sun Jian Army was strong enough to contend with one of Tong¡¯s legions, Cao Cao and others had nned to draw them to their side .

    Pu Jing had already told Cao Cao about Sun Jian¡¯s fate and the future of the Wu Kingdom, which Cao Cao was fascinated by the potentials of the Sun n .

    Cao Cao came with a n . Instead of allowing Sun Ce to unify Jiangdong, he would rather recruit this young tiger into his force before he grew wings .

    As long as Sun Jian was alive, Sun Ce would not rise to the top!

    Also, Sun Fang had been known as an idiot after an incident . From Pu Jing and Cao Cao¡¯s point of view, they could have sent assassins to kill this otherworlder at any time .

    They could even frame Tong if the assassins were caught .

    With the borate ns, Cheng Yu sent his junior schr in Xuchang, Chen Qun, to Luoyang so that he could infiltrate Yuan Shu¡¯s ranks .

    The task was a sess, and Chen Qunpleted his duty . Furthermore, he became a deep mole for Cao Cao in the future .

    Chen Qun got back to his new resident in the inner district of Luoyang . He chuckled as he admired the decoration of the courtyard .

    ¡¯That was too easy . Now, I¡¯ll wait here and let those guys do all the work . ¡¯

 Chapter 378

    Chapter 378: 378

    Chapter 378 ¨C Trading Sun Jian Army for Gold

    May 15th, 190 A . D .

    Chen Qun worked fast . His dispatched envoy reached Xuchang and visited Cheng Yu .

    The envoy did not know about Chen Qun¡¯s real status, so he went through the formality . He also offered the negotiation about Sun Jian Army¡¯s service .

    Cheng Yu did not mind it as he knew about the ploy . However, he wanted to extort this innocent envoy a bit .

    "How much for the buy-out?"

    Yuan Shu¡¯s officer was astonished, "B-Buy out?"

    "Yes . How much will I have to pay if I want to hire all of them permanently?"

    "S-Sir, you must have jested . We can only offer a temporary service . This matter is something I cannot decide . "

    "Is 200,000 gold do?"

    "Eh?"

    "How about 300,000?"

    "N-No, I meant-"

    "500,000 . I won¡¯t give more than this . "

    The officer gulped . He began calcting in his mind .

    Sun Jian¡¯s troops consisted of 50,000 elites with fully equipped armors and weapons .

    In the past, it took less than a 1,000 gold to hire 10,000 militias without a weapon, armor, or training . Combined with the equipment costs, a lord had to waste two to three gold nuggets to equip a soldier with an Imperial armor set, and a well-crafted weapon .

    Inmon practice, all militia had to prepare their own weapons and armors as they had to take care of their life . Most warlords refused to support their equipment and weaponry to save their budget .

    In summary, he required roughly 5,000 gold to hire a recement of 50,000 militias and 150,000 gold if Yuan Shu wanted to gear them .

    They could make 345,000 gold of profit!

    The officer wiped his sweat, yet his face revealed a bright smile .

    ¡¯What a lucrative business! Why haven¡¯t I thought of this!?¡¯

    Greed clouded the officer¡¯s mind . He could tell Chen Qun that he seeded in renting Sun Jian for 200,000 gold while he kept 300,000 gold for himself . Once Sun Jian switched sides, he could say to Yuan Shu that Sun Jian betrayed them .

    The embezzlement n waspleted!

    Laughing, the officers nodded five times in a row . He could not wait to get his hands on those gold nuggets .

    "Of course . We can make some changes!"

    "Good . I¡¯ll give you 50,000 gold first as a promised money . Once Sun Jian and his armye to swear allegiance to us, I¡¯ll give you the rest . "

    "Yes, yes! That will do!"

    Both of them drafted an agreement paper on the spot . The negotiation about Sun Jian¡¯s permanent transfer was done without the need of Cao Cao¡¯s presence .

    .

    May 20th .

    The officer brought back the negotiation result to Yuan Shu . He also gave the down payment of 50,000 gold to him as well .

    Yuan Shuughed and praised the negotiator, "WELL DONE! Now, our problems with fund shortage are solved! What¡¯s your name?"

    "Han Yin, my lord!"

    "Good! You¡¯ll serve as my secretary of foreign affair!"

    "Thank you, my lord!!"

    Han Yin turned to Chen Qun and sneered at him . Instead of being grateful toward his boss, he revealed a hint of pride .

    ¡¯Now, you can¡¯t order me around, brat!¡¯

    Han Yin had never had faith in his former boss as Chen Qun was younger than him . He always dreamt that he could prove his worth and put Chen Qun in his ce .

    Now, his first goal waspleted . With the additional 300,000 embezzled gold in the future, he could build a prominent private army and be a powerhouse in Yuan Shu¡¯s forces .

    Chen Qun could read through Han Yin¡¯s expression . Instead of getting angry by the sneer, his eyes curved up, mocking Han Yin .

    ¡¯You can y around as long as you want, senior Han . The one who has thestugh wins . ¡¯

    .

    May 22nd .

    A messenger arrived at Ho Gate and informed Sun Jian about his relocation and his new assignment .

    At the camp behind the gate, Sun Jian read through the instruction in his tent .

    Learning that he had to serve Cao Cao, Sun Jian questioned Yuan Shu¡¯s motive .

    "What the hell are they doing!? Am I their property now?"

    Cheng Puughed, "Yeah, we are . Do you know how many golds they got?"

    "How many?"

    "50,000 . "

    "..."

    Sun Jian was on the verge of anger . He was frustrated about how Yuan Shu treated him as livestock and merchandise .

    He served Yuan Shu because he had no ce to go, not because of loyalty .

    Fortunately, Yuan Shu sent him to garrison Ho Gate, and their entire family was here .

    "I think Cao Cao will send more gold to Yuan Shu after we have gone to Xuchang . The deal should be around 200,000 gold to 300,000 for our entire army . "

    "This is insane . "

    "Yup, that¡¯s politic for you . Something that you hate . "

    Sun Jian did not know what he should do . He wanted to use his strength for the Han Dynasty, but the politicians were ying with them .

    He did not want this!

    Sun Jian sighed while he gazed at the country map . His eyes kept ncing at the north .

    Huang Gai, who was with Cheng Pu, could read his lord¡¯s thought .

    "Do you want to serve Zhang Tong instead?"

    Sun Jian had a wry smile, "To be honest, yes . "

    "Even after your son killed his wife?"

    "... Yes . "

    Sun Jian leaned his head forward, sulking . He wanted to reconcile with Tong, but he did not know how he could achieve it .

    Sacrificing Sun Fang was not an option . He had already recovered from the depression since the beginning of the year, and his health slowly improved .

    A long time had passed since the incident . Although Sun Fang came back to his sense, he insisted that he wanted to keep circting the news that he was a fool for the time being .

    Sun Jian and others did not know why Sun Fang insisted of faking being sick, but they followed through with it . Only Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Sun Jian, Sun Ce, and all Sun Fang¡¯s n members knew about it .

    While Sun Jian and everyone was silent, Huang Gai thought of something and blurted out without thinking, "If you have a daughter, everything will be better . "

    Sun Jian and Cheng Pu stared at Huang Gai with widened eyes . Then, they looked at each other .

    "Should I adopt a girl and send her to Zhang Tong to apologize?"

    "It¡¯s immoral in many ways ..."

    "Do we even have a choice? I don¡¯t want to fight the emperor . I merely want to serve the people . "

    "..."

    The three agreed that they would find a promising young maiden, so Sun Jian could adopt her . Then, they would send her as an apology tribute to reconcile with Tong .

    Once Sun Jian could appease Tong¡¯s anger, they would think about their futureter .

    The Sun n¡¯s prioritized on their survival in this chaos period as their goal .

    .

    June 1st .

    Sun Jian, his army, his subordinates, and all of their family members relocated to Xuchang . Upon arrival, Cheng Yu and Dian Wei stood before the gate to wee them .

    Cheng Yu cupped his fist and bowed, "Wee to Xuchang, Sir Sun Jian . "

    Sun Jian bowed back, "Thank you . Please take good care of us . "

    "Of course . Please get inside . We¡¯ll handle about formalityter . "

    Everymander entered the gate while the rest of the soldiers camped outside of the city . As for the family members, they erected their camps nearby .

    Wu Guotai and Sun Fang also camped outside the city .

    At night, many spies from Cheng Yu scouted Sun Fang¡¯s camp and tried to probe if he was sick .

    Sun Fangy still on his bed, not moving even after a spy infiltrated his resting tent .

    The ck cloth spy searched through his tent and found several bowls of medicines . He found nothing else but herbs, medicinal tea, and other raw materials for drugs .

    Confirmed that Sun Fang was sick, the spy escaped from his tent without harming him .

    After the ck cloth person left, Sun Fang opened his eyes . He nced at the direction that the spy had gone while his right hand put away a hidden dagger under his pillow .

    A frown appeared on Sun Fang¡¯s face, ¡¯I wasted too much time sulking . Jing¡¯er would haveughed at me in heaven by now . ¡¯

    Sun Fang sat up and circted his inner qi inside the abdomen to heal his soul injuries .

    At this moment, his injuries had stabilized, but it still annoyed him since they randomly caused physical wounds .

    Sun Fang was determined . Once he got better, he would return to the war scene . For now, he would go with the flow andy low .

    .

    In the same day, Cheng Yu¡¯s spy returned to report his finding .

    Reading through the report, Cheng Yu nodded, "Sun Fang is still crippled . He is not a threat to our lord . "

    Dian Wei was interested in the matter, "Should we kill him?"

    Cheng Yu shook his head, "Not now . We don¡¯t want to stir a mutiny from Sun Jian . Killing his son will enrage him . "

    "So, what are we going to do with them?"

    "Haha! We¡¯ll hold their family here, and we¡¯ll the army to Xu Province . We need more troops there, no?"

    "Right! Hahaha!"

    .

    June 10th .

    After resting for a few days, a new order came for Sun Jian . Cheng Yu wanted them to support Cao Cao at Xiaopei, which they had nned toy siege there .

    Sun Jian, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and others marched with their 50,000 soldiers to Xiaopei as Cao Cao¡¯s reinforcement .

    Meanwhile, Sun Ce, Sun Fang, Wu Guotai, and other minor officers stayed behind to guard the families of the soldiers . All children and women were aware that they were the hostages . Had Sun Jian rebelled against Cao Cao, everybody here would be killed .

    Sun Ce red at the garrison guards . He vowed in his heart, ¡¯One day, I¡¯ll break free from here with my family . I¡¯ll find Gongjin, and we¡¯ll find newnd for our family!¡¯

 Chapter 379

    Chapter 379

    Chapter 379 ¨C Cracks Among Yuan Shao¡¯s Sons

    June 1st, 190 A . D .

    Qiao Army of Cao Cao attacked Xiaopei County, which was defended by Zang Ba and Cao Bao of Yuan Shao .

    Zang Ba and Cao Bao were once a subordinate of Tao Qian, and they were a part of Mi Zhu¡¯s faction . As they had been coaxed by Guo Jia beforehand, both of them opened the city gates and surrendered to Cao Cao .

    Cao Cao¡¯s initial 30,000 soldiers increased to 45,000, but he was not satisfied .

    Inside Xiaopei government hall, Cao Cao met with all former subordinates of Tao Qian .

    Zang Ba and Cao Bao were the only generals in this city . Eachmanded an army of 7,500 men, which had been transferred to Cao Cao¡¯s main force .

    Wang Lang, a minor official, also served here .

    In history, Wang Lang advised Tao Qian to form an alliance with Dong Zhuo after the anti-Dong Zhuo campaign, which both forcester reconciled with each other . Because of this action, the Han Court under Dong Zhou rewarded and entitled Wang Lang as the governor of Kuiji Commandery .

    However, he lost his territories to Sun Ce afterward . Kong Rong, an old friend, sent a letter to invite him to Xuchang and served Cao Cao, and Wang Lang epted . Under the Cao¡¯s banners, Wang Lang became one of the elite ministers that Cao Pi and Cao Rui respected .

    Wang Lang held a role as Minister of Public Works under Cao Pi and was in charge of developing the country¡¯s domestic . After Cao Rui took over, Wang Lang¡¯s position shifted to Minister of the Masses, which was one of the three dominant titles along with Minister of Public Works and Minister of War .

    As the butterfly effect had taken a full-swing, Wang Lang did not get his promotion . He still worked in Xiaopei as a minor official .

    Pu Jing ounted for all names of the officials and generals that had surrendered . Once he noticed Wang Lang¡¯s name, he whispered to Cao Cao, "Please make sure to keep Wang Lang in check . He¡¯s a friend of Kong Rong, so he can be used to draw Kong Rong over . "

    Cao Cao clicked his tongue, "Vice versa, Kong Rong can also pull Wang Lang over, right? Can we just get rid of him before he bes a spy for Zhang Tong?"

    "You shouldn¡¯t . Wang Lang is a talented individual . He seems useless to you right now, but he will shine when he is older . "

    "Tell me about his achievements in your world . "

    For a minute, Pu Jing narrated the up-and-down life of Wang Lang .

    Listening to the tales of how Wang Lang became an important figure for his children, Cao Cao satisfied .

    "Make sure he doesn¡¯t contact with Kong Rong . "

    "Understood, my lord . "

    .

    The sudden attack at Xiaopei was not the end .

    Cao Cao¡¯s forces from Jibei, led by Cao Ren, detoured around Mount Taishan and sieged Langye County by surprise .

    A simr incident urred . Chen Gui and Chen Deng, who was Langye County¡¯s protectors, surrendered to Cao Ren without a fight .

    As if Cao Cao had scheduled the attack, Xiaopei and Langye fell on the same day!

    Seven dayster, the news about the fallen cities reached Yuan Shao in Xiapi .

    Instead of getting panicked, Yuan Shao was calm .

    Inside Xiapi¡¯s main government building, Yuan Shao sat on the throne . Yan Liang and Tian Feng were by his sides while remaining 200 minor officials gathered in the room to discuss the invasion .

    All Yuan Shao¡¯s subordinates and his sons argued how they should fight back against Cao Cao . All of them wanted to volunteer to be amander in this campaign against Cao Cao .

    The noise buzzed, yet Yuan Shao kept his silence .

    Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang, and Yuan Xi kept making noises .

    "Father, give me the cannon crews and 30,000 soldiers! I can squash those traitors like bugs!"

    "Father, I only need 10,000 men and the cannons . Allow me to prove my worth to you!"

    "Father, allow me to prove myself that I¡¯m still your emperor son! I can kill Cao Cao with only cannon crews!"

    Yuan Shao gazed at his sons and sighed . Although Tong was merciful enough to release all of his family members after all the feuds they had, Yuan Shao regretted that he did not have enough times to educate his sons .

    Everyone was impudent and greedy . At this rate, the next generation of the Yuan n might be doom .

    Tian Feng read through his lord¡¯s facial expression . He coughed .

    "All cannon crews and cannons are for the defense of Xiapi . None of you can use it other than our lord . "

    Yuan Tan bellowed, "Silence, bootlicker! Had it not because of my father, you wouldn¡¯t have stood here today . Know your ce! This is a family¡¯s business!"

    Tian Feng¡¯s eyebrows twitched in anger, but he kept his cool .

    "I merely followed the instruction and rid his words . Simply put, my instruction just now was his words . "

    At this moment, Yuan Shao rolled his eyes, "We will not move from Xiapi . We¡¯ll fight them in a siege battle . "

    Everyone stopped talking and looked at their lord . They bowed and acknowledged his decision .

    However, all of Yuan¡¯s sons were not happy with this order . As they were still young and inexperienced in warfare, they thought that they would be invincible as long as they had cannons .

    .

    After the meeting, Yuan Tan slipped out of the inner city to the military camp . His goal was the mercenary toon under Miao Cai, aka Xiahou Yuan .

    He met with Xiahou Yuan, Guo Jia, and Xu Chu in theirmand tent .

    Without any introduction, Yuan Tan questioned them, "How much does it cost to hire all of you?"

    Xiahou Yuan raised his eyebrows, confused .

    "And, who might you be?"

    "Just answer my question . I have the money!"

    Xiahou Yuan did not like Yuan Tan¡¯s attitude . He was about to chase the arrogant young man out, but Guo Jia stopped him .

    Guo Jia cupped his fist and bowed to Yuan Tan, "We¡¯re currently working under master Yuan Shao . Unless we have enough gold to pay for the termination of our contract, we can¡¯t serve anyone else . "

    Yuan Tan did not give up, "How much, then?"

    "Our forces have increased to 10,000 men, so the termination cost is 10,000 gold, and we have to return 5,000 gold to master Yuan . "

    "That¡¯s cheap . I¡¯ll pay for it!"

    "Also, our monthly pay is 1,000 gold during peacetime . In wartime, it bes 10,000 gold a month . "

    "That¡¯s also cheap! I¡¯ll pay for it!"

    "Very well, then . Please pay us the contract termination cost and one-year worth of our sry . Then, we shall work for you . "

    Yuan Tan jumped with joy . With this, he would have a private army of 10,000 men .

    As long as he had an army, his influence in the court should contain more weight .

    "Just wait here! I¡¯ll bring my money for you!"

    Yuan Tan dashed away from their tent .

    Guo Jia snickered as he shook his head, "We just score bonuses for our men . "

    Xiahou Yuan scoffed, "I don¡¯t like that fool . "

    "He¡¯s Yuan Tan, the eldest son of Yuan Shao . "

    "You knew?"

    "Yeah, I did my homework . I didn¡¯t expect that Yuan Tan would havee here, though . "

    "Won¡¯t this affect our general n?"

    "Nah, it¡¯s better to have him around . At least, we have an alternate n if Mi Zhu refuses to open the gate . By the way, how are other fronts?"

    "Langye and Xiaopei is under our lord¡¯s hands . Everybody surrendered to him as nned . "

    "Tell our lord to siege Pengcheng . Then, he has to stop and wait for the reinforcement from Sun Jian . "

    Xiahou Yuan wanted to ask why they have to stop, but he followed through with this strategist¡¯s instruction anyway . Since Guo Jia had paved his ways for them with his stratagems, Xiahou Yuan had faith in this youth .

    .

    June 9th .

    Yuan Tan and Yan Liang met each other in the military camp . Both of them handled the transfer of the mercenary troops .

    In the afternoon, Yuan Tan met with Xiahou Yuan again, "I¡¯ve brought my gold, and I handled the formality stuff . You work for me now . "

    Xiahou Yuan and the others bowed, "We greet young master Yuan Tan . "

    "HAHAHA! You are all educated . I like it . Come, you generals will move into my courtyard . You will be my household members from now on . "

    "... Thank you, young master . "

    All 10,000 nted soldiers moved to Yuan Tan¡¯s designated territories outside of Xiapi County wall . Meanwhile, allmanders, Xu Chu, Guo Jia, and Xiahou Yuan lived inside the inner city within Yuan Tan¡¯s private manor . They joined Yuan Tan¡¯s faction now .

    The transferring mercenary news did not escape from Tian Feng¡¯s ears . He reported this movement to his lord .

    "My lord, I think the first young master is plotting something behind your back . Can you arrange men to watch over their movement?"

    Yuan Shao waved his hand, "Ignore it . It¡¯s just a childish boasting . It¡¯s good to have him learning about military and leadership the hard way . It¡¯s a lesson for his future . "

    "Lord, we are fighting Cao Cao right now . It¡¯s not a time to educate your sons with an unorthodox way . You should restrict every movement in your cities, so we can restrict any spying activity . "

    "And what can they do? At best, they will just be snooping around and report to their lords sooner orter . They are like cockroaches, Yuanhao . We find one, but nine others escape . It¡¯s an endless circle! Let¡¯s not wasting our time hunting for the endless spies, shall we?"

    "Lord, I still-"

    "Stop there, Yuanhao . I have enough headache for the day . I want to rest . "

    "..."

    In the end, Yuan Shao refused to follow Tian Feng¡¯s advice . Without someone to rely on, Tian Feng turned to Yuan Shang, who was once the false emperor .

    Although Yuan Shang was young, Tian Feng was confident that this teenage should be more intelligent than the other Yuans .

    As soon as Tian Feng told Yuan Shang about his thought, Yuan Shang repeatedly nodded .

    "I thought so as well! Our intelligence control should be a priority during the wartime . I¡¯ll assign my men to watch my older brother¡¯s men!"

    Tian Feng was ted . He bowed to Yuan Shang and used this third son¡¯s token to arrange a counter-spy team to monitor Yuan Tan and Xiahou Yuan .

    However, this move caused a misunderstanding among Yuan Shao¡¯s followers that Tian Feng had joined Yuan Shang¡¯s faction .

    .

    June 10th .

    Yuan Xi, who heard the news about all aplishment of his brothers, was fumed with jealousy . He also wanted to poach his father¡¯s men into his faction, so he would gain a footing in the court .

    Since Yuan Shang got Tian Feng and Yuan Tan got the mercenaries, Yuan Xi turned to Yan Liang and other officers .

    Unfortunately, Yan Liang refused to meet with Yuan Xi as he was too busy dealing with the uing war against Cao Cao .

    The other officers also refused to join Yuan Xi¡¯s faction since he did not have his father¡¯s charisma or noteworthy achievement for their respect .

    Without anyone to rely upon, Yuan Xi met with his father .

    Yuan Shao listened to Yuan Xi¡¯s story with a wide smile . He patted Yuan Xi¡¯s shoulder, "You can work under me . Sometimes, you don¡¯t need topete with others, but you can support others to survive . "

    "B-But, I want to be a n lord, too . "

    "You don¡¯t have supporters at the moment . I think you should earn some reputation by aplishing a deed or learn from your others . Before I can be a n lord, I have to earn my right . Have I told you that Ipeted with my younger brother for this position?"

 Chapter 380

    Chapter 380

    Chapter 380 ¨C Final Preparation, Cao VS Yuan

    Pengcheng County, west of Xiapi .

    This was one of Xu Province¡¯s most prosperous cities, which was also thergest city in this region .

    In historical records, this city was burnt down, and all civilians were ughtered by Cao Cao .

    It began in 193 when Cao Song, Cao Cao¡¯s father, wanted to retire from his job and live to his son . At that time, Cao Cao established a firm base on the central in, so Cao Song wished to reunite with his sessful son .

    Unfortunately, one of his escorts which was sent by Tao Qian, Zhang Kai, was a former Yellow Turban bandit . He desired Cao Song¡¯s wealth, so he murdered Cao Song and everyone else .

    The death of Cao Song enraged Cao Cao . He invaded Xu Province, seeking vengeance . During the campaign, his force ughtered over 100,000 civilians and 10,000 garrison soldiers for the sake of replenishing his army¡¯s rations .

    Pengcheng was one of the victim city that Cao Cao burnt .

    However, in this world, Cao Song had already been secured by Pu Jing¡¯s men ever since he had begun serving Cao Cao . Cao Song was now livingfortably in Xuchang, enjoying his retirement with his riches from his past career as a Grand Commandant .

    The murder of Cao Song did not happen!

    Still, Pengcheng was a territory of Yuan Shao, which Mi Zhu and Zhang Kai were protecting .

    .

    June 15th .

    Cao Cao¡¯s 45,000 soldiers from Xiaopei reached Pengcheng City .

    As they had nned with Guo Jia, Mi Zhu opened the gates and surrendered . Zhang Kai did not know anything about this arrangement, so he stood in shock and baffled . Still, he followed through with Mi Zhu¡¯s lead to survive .

    Five thousand garrisons joined Cao Cao, which increased his troops to 50,000!

    After the authority handover had beenpleted, Cao Cao called Mi Zhu and Zhang Kai to meet them .

    In Pengcheng government hall, Cao Cao sat on the main seat, looking at the two surrendered officers .

    "Mi Zhu, Mi Zizhong, greets Marquis of Wei . "

    "Zhang Kai greets Marquis of Wei . "

    Cao Cao nodded at Mi Zhu with a smile, but he red at Zhang Kai with hatred . He had learned about the alternate history timeline from Pu Jing about how Zhang Kai started a war between him and Tao Qian .

    Cao Cao wanted to kill this former bandit right away, but it would have caused resentment among the surrendered minor officials and soldiers .

    Although he could not kill Zhang Kai, Cao Cao had a thousand ways to kill amander of five thousand-man-army .

    "Wee . I hope that you can work your utmost best for the people . You have chosen the right side . "

    Mi Zhu nodded and bowed, "Thank you, Marquis! My strong suit is finance . If you leave the financial task to me, I promise you that your territories will prosper!"

    "HAHAHA! Don¡¯t worry, Mi Zizhong . I¡¯ll give you plenty of works . For now, how about the title of secretary of finance sounds?"

    Mi Zhu was astonished . He just bootlicked Cao Cao out of courtesy and presented him with what he excelled . No one would have expected a sudden promotion of out the blue .

    "T-Thank you, Marquis . I¡¯ll do my best!"

    Cao Cao nodded .

    Meanwhile, Zhang Kai revealed a bashful expression, thinking that he would get a promotion as well .

    Cao Cao turned to Zhang Kai with a cold smile .

    "Zhang Kai . I¡¯ll send you back to Yuan Shao as a spy! I want you to release a piece of fake news that I¡¯ll mobilize to attack Xiapi within the end of the month!"

    "S-Sir?"

    "Didn¡¯t you hear me? Do I need to exin your tasks?"

    "I-I don¡¯t understand, my lord . I¡¯ve never been a spy-"

    Pu Jing coughed and patted his shoulder, "I¡¯ll exin everything . Follow me . "

    Zhang Kai looked around in confusion . He followed after Pu Jing, dejected .

    Afterward, Pu Jing gave him a scroll, which had details about how Zhang Kai should act within Yuan Shao¡¯s ranks . He also exined how he should report to Yuan Shao when he returned .

    Pu Jing shoved a leather bag with 30 gold nuggets in it to Zhang Kai .

    "Serve our lord well, and you¡¯ll get more gold . "

    Looking at the gold, Zhang Kaiughed, "Of course, I understand everything now . You can count on me!"

    .

    June 20th .

    Zhang Kai returned to Xiapi and reported the loss of Pengcheng .

    Everyone was panic because Xiapi would be surrounded from all sides, and they were the next target that Cao Cao would attack .

    Despite the noisy and the restless of everybody, Yuan Shao remained indifferent .

    "Don¡¯t be a fool . Losing a few battles is nothing . What matters is that who will win the war, not small insignificant battles . "

    Hearing their lord¡¯s encouragement, all officers regained their sense .

    "Right! My lord is right!"

    "That¡¯s correct . It¡¯s not over yet!"

    "As long as we can kill Cao Cao, we can take all the cities back . "

    The buzzing noise died down . Yuan Shao turned to Tian Feng, "How many cannons we have?"

    "Fifty, my lord . "

    "Ammunition?"

    "Two thousand!"

    Yuan Shao smiled, "Repeating crossbows?"

    "100,000!"

    "Arrows?"

    "Over ten million!"

    Yuan Shao turned to his officers, "We have 70,000 soldiers in this county, and we have rooms to draft militias to help us defend the walls . Yan Liang, conscript 30,000 civilians and train them to use our repeating crossbows!"

    Yuan Shao threw amand token stick to Yan Liang .

    Yan Liang stepped forward and bowed before he took themand token from Yuan Shao .

    "Zhang Kai!"

    Zhang Kai stumbled when Yuan Shao shouted his name, "Y-Yes, lord?"

    "You willmand those 30,000 militias . Their lives are in your hands!"

    Hesitated, Zhang Kai bowed and took themand token .

    "Now, I want everybody to tell me how many private troops you have . "

    All officers began shouting, trying to outdo the others to gain an achievement .

    "I, Gou Tu, have 2,500 men!"

    "Shen Pei contributes 3,000 men!"

    "I have 1,500 men!"

    "I contribute 1,000!"

    Voices kepting from the nobles and wealthy officers . As for minor officials, they only had a dozen men as their bodyguards . None of them tried to show their meager personal assets .

    In the end, Yuan Shao obtained 25,000 soldiers from the nobles . Combined with the yet to recruit 30,000 militias and 70,000 professional soldiers, they had 125,000 soldiers waiting for Cao Cao .

    With a massive force that could intimidate Tong, Yuan Shao was not afraid .

    ¡¯Come, Mengde! Let¡¯s see how you will cry after you lose to me!¡¯

    .

    Cao Cao¡¯s movements stopped after he had taken Pengcheng . The attack at the end of the month did note as Zhang Kai had reported, which discredited his influence .

    July 10th .

    At Pengcheng County, Sun Jian¡¯s legion of 50,000 soldiers arrived . Cao Cao stood before the gate to wee this Han loyalist .

    "Wee, Tiger of Jiangdong . "

    "I don¡¯t deserve that silly nickname . "

    "You eliminated pirates for Jiangdong people . The title is the honor and the representation of people¡¯s respect . "

    "... Eh, whatever . Now that I¡¯m here . What should I do next?"

    "Get your men rested . We¡¯ll march to Xiapi in ten days . "

    Cao Cao had 50,000 soldiers waiting in Pengcheng . Combined with Sun Jian, they would have 100,000 men to attack Xiapi .

    Cao Cao and Pu Jing also brought their cannons over . They were looking forward to testing their power against Yuan Shao¡¯s city walls .

    .

    .

    .

    In Ye City, Tong received the reports about Sun Jian¡¯s changing sides, Cao Cao¡¯s mobilization, and the fall of many cities .

    Tong held a conference in his n chat as the usual .

    Tong: "Does anyone has further information about Sun Jian¡¯s family?"

    Li Feihong: "I have . What are you looking for?"

    Tong: "Is Sun Ce and Sun Fang with Sun Jian?"

    Li Feihong: "No . All of the Sun n¡¯s families are in Xuchang . "

    Tong paused to think andughed .

    Te Langpu: "If I were you, I would have bribed Sun Ce and make him rebel against Cao Cao . "

    Dong Bai: "Same . Sun Ce is an ambitious warlord like Lu Bu . Give him troops, and he will cause a scene . "

    Diaochan: "I suggest we give him enough gold to hire private troops . Then, we can watch the chaos . "

    Li Feihong: "I say, let me teleport there and kill Sun Fang for you . He¡¯s still weak ATM, and there aren¡¯t many guards in Xuchang . "

    All otherworlders gave their opinions this time . As Sun Ce was a famous warlord, everybody learned about him to the point that they could create a biography of Sun Ce .

    Sun Ce had the title "Little Conqueror" in history . Before he reached 20, he betrayed Yuan Shu and conquered Jiangdong, setting a foundation for the Wu Kingdom .

    Unfortunately, Sun Ce died at the age of 25 . The cause of death was still disputed if he died because of Huang Zu or a Taoist priest, Yu Ji .

    Still, Sun Ce¡¯s potential could not be denied . People sometimespared him with Xiang Yu or Lu Bu as he was talented in battlefields .

    Everyone wanted Sun Ce to join Tong, but there was a problem .

    Sun Fang

    This A-hole killed Hua Shi, and he still lived under the care of the Sun n .

    However, Tong had long attained peace and got over her death . Although it pained him whenever the topic came up, he was not that depressed anymore .

    Tong read through the n chat and replied .

    Tong: "I have a better idea . Let me abuse my emperor¡¯s mandate . "

    That day, Tong wrote an edict .

    [ording to the achievements from the previous Anti-Xiongnu Alliance, Sun Jian has disyed his abilities worthy of being praised . Thanked his prowess in battles, the Han Dynasty regains Hongnong and Luoyang from the Xiongnu .

    Leaving such a talented general unrewarded is terrible to Han¡¯s reputation . Therefore, we shall bestow Sun Jian with the title, Marquis of Xu . Sun Jian shall have the authority to oversee the entire Xu Province from now on .

    Because of this promation, Marquis of Xu and Marquis of Wei¡¯s territory will conflict against each other . To avoid such a problem, Marquis of Wei has to concede the Xu Province to Marquis of Xu .

    Thirdly, a family of a Marquis should notck education . Sun Jian shall send his sons, Sun Ce and Sun Fang, to Ye City Academy, so we can train them to be proper sessors of such great Marquis . ]

    It was another demand to take in hostages .

    After Tong had taken in Cao Ang as a hostage, Cao Cao had not moved against him . Thus, Tong wanted to try it with Sun Jian .

    He also wanted Sun Jian to settle in Xu, so he could weaken Cao Cao¡¯s forces in the central in . With two enved warlords at the south, Tong would not have to worry about his southern fronts for a while .

    This was the perks of being an emperor . Tong could order all warlords as he wanted .

    "With this, I¡¯ll have both Cao Ang and Sun Ce in my prison . While I¡¯m at it, we¡¯ll kill Sun Fang . "

    After finishing the first one, Tong revealed its content to others in the n chat .

    Tong: "What do you think?"

    Li Feihong: "Terrible . You¡¯re a tyrant . "

    Dong Bai: "Trashy emperor . Our ideas are better . "

    Te Langpu: "Evilly savage . I like it . "

    Diaochan: "Don¡¯t act like a viin, Tong . "

    Jia Xu: "I wonder if you¡¯re any better than Dong Zhuo now . "

    Xun Yu: "Don¡¯t overdo it, please . It¡¯s immoral . "

    Ju Shou: "Hostage is bad, your majesty . "

    Tong: "..."

 Chapter 381

    Chapter 381

    Chapter 381 ¨C Battle of Xiapi ¨C Part 1

    August 1st, 190 A . D .

    It was still summer in Xiapi . Rainfall was frequent during this period, and river tides were higher than the usual .

    Yuan Shao and Tian Feng prepared everything to wee Cao Cao¡¯s massive army .

    Yuan Shao¡¯s 100,000 soldiers did not station only on the wall top or behind the city, but they also stationed their elite cavalries and infantries in front of the gate .

    On each wall, Yuan Shao ced ten cannons on top, while the rest of the cannons were hidden with Tian Feng ambush force .

    As for the other ten, Tian Feng took them to protect a dam, north of Xiapi .

    Tian Feng hid his 25,000 infantries in a forest to the north, directing water from Yi River and building a dam . He had created a flood trap, which could be used against Cao Cao Army .

    Xiahou Yuan was with the garrison forces outside of the city, protecting the east wall . As they were mercenaries, Yuan Shao wanted them outside to be their meat shields .

    Yuan Tan was infuriated with this setup, but he had to ept it since it was his father¡¯s order .

    .

    Cao Cao Army and Sun Jian Army arrived at Xiapi County . They stared at the defensive wall and barricades, which Yuan Shao and Tian Feng had prepared to wee them .

    They splitted their troops into four armies . Each was responsible for sieging each wall .

    Sun Jian and Cheng Pu took 25,000 men and Cao Cao¡¯s ten wheeled cannons with them to attack the west wall . Huang Gai and Han Dangmanded the same number of troops, but they were in charge of the south gate .

    Cao Cao stationed his men at the east wall, while Pu Jing would take care of the north . All 100,000 soldiers and 40 cannons were ready .

    Pu Jing used his souls as scouts, checking the defensive formation . Soon, he found Yuan Shao¡¯s cannon crews .

    Pu Jing: "Mengde, they have cannons . Don¡¯t move in the siege weapons . "

    Cao Cao: "Ho? Do they have the same weapons? Did they build it? I thought it is one of your world¡¯s creation . "

    Pu Jing: "One of our intels said that Yuan Shao traded something with Zhang Tong . I think this is the thing they traded . "

    Cao Cao: "Ah, Zhang Tong again . Forget it . Miaocai, how is the preparation over there?"

    Xiahou Yuan: "All cannon crews have been bribed . Too bad I can¡¯t contact the other crews outside the city, but all cannons here have been disabled . "

    Cao Cao: "See? Nothing to worry about . Say, what are they doing outside the city again?"

    Xiahou Yuan: "Tian Feng took men to the northern river . Guo Jia said that they are using a floodgate tactic, so the north troops will face some troubles . "

    Cao Cao: "You hear that, Putin?"

    Pu Jing: "Aye . I¡¯ll keep my heads up . "

    .

    At the first day of the siege, Cao Cao had his men constructing trebuchets and ballistae . He did not reveal his cannons for now as they were vulnerable to the soldiers before the wall .

    Had they charged at the cannon crews, all cannons would be destroyed .

    Sun Jian and Huang Gai followed Cao Cao¡¯s order and set up the same gears for the battle . All four front approached the garrisoning troops with their weaponry .

    .

    East Gate

    Xiahou Yuanmanded all 10,000 soldiers below the wall to not fire any arrow or move to retaliate against Cao Cao . As they were his troops, none of them bothered questioning their superior¡¯s decision .

    On top of the wall, Yuan Shao men bellowed, "Use the cannons! Fire at the enemy¡¯s siege weapons!"

    The cannon crews nodded and loaded the weapon . However, Xiahou Yuan had already bribed these people, and they had already switched out all gunpowder and reced with random ashes .

    Because of that, none of the cannons fired a single round . Each of them released an odd smell of ashes .

    "What happened!?"

    The crews still pretended that they did not know anything .

    "Something is wrong with our cannons, my lord . It won¡¯t shoot!"

    "What!?"

    Allmanders rushed to the cannons and tried to fire a volley . However, none of them realized that the gunpowder was not here .

    "We¡¯ve been conned by Zhang Tong!!"

    This was what Guo Jia had nned . It served as back-up stratagem just in case their campaign failed .

    Had they failed to take down Yuan Shao, they would provoke a misunderstanding between two forces, ruining their alliance . Thus, it would give Tong an enemy while Cao Cao could recuperate from his losses .

    Still, Guo Jia did not want Cao Cao to fail .

    The next n was in motion . Cao Cao brought his ballistae and trebuchets closer to the wall . Without the interference of the defenders, they got into an ideal firing range .

    All of the siege weapons aimed at the top of the wall, ignoring the soldiers below the wall .

    "Fire!"

    20 Trebuchets and ten ballistae released their arrows and stones .

    Xiahou Yuan bellowed, "Raise your shields and move forward 30 paces!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    As Xiahou Yuan¡¯s soldiers marched forward while they covered their head, stones and logs mmed into the wall . Some of the rocks hit the garrison soldiers on the battlement, killing them from the impact .

    Still, a few stray rocks also hit Xiahou Yuan Army . They could feel the impact through their iron shields, and the nking noise of metal shing resonated throughout the battlefield .

    Xiahou Yuanined to Cao Cao in the n chat .

    Xiahou Yuan: "Mengde! Take it easy, will ya!?"

    Cao Cao: "I¡¯ve already held back . Did you see that I haven¡¯t brought out our cannons?"

    Xiahou Yuan: "Screw you! Just let us switch sides right now and use your cannons, dammit!"

    Cao Cao: "Not yet, Miaocai . Pretend to fight for a couple days . Using cannons here will ruin the city and the precious cannons on the wall . I need the county walls and all tools they bought from Zhang Tong . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "You¡¯re too greedy!"

    Cao Cao: "Hahahaha!"

    For three hours, Cao Cao kept using his range advantage to wither down the number of defending soldiers . Meanwhile, Xiahou Yuan did not move further . He kept staring and defending against stray bullets from the trebuchets .

    On the wall top, Yuan Shao¡¯s men braced the bombardment . Several soldiers inside the city brought woods and logs to the battlements, building their catapults to counter Cao Cao .

    Late afternoon, East Wall managed to build five catapults, and they were ready to be used against Cao Cao¡¯s siege weapons . However, Cao Cao withdrew his troops to establish a camp, which frustrated the defenders .

    Xiahou Yuan was summoned back into the city along with all of his men at dusk . As Yuan Shao wanted his men to rest, he ordered Xiahou Yuan to protect the east wall tonight .

    .

    At the west gate, Sun Jian did not have the same luxury as Cao Cao . The defender ground forcesunched a counter-attack against Sun Jian Army, which turned into a battle between 10,000 defenders against Sun Jian¡¯s 25,000 men .

    In the first hour, the 10,000 soldiers zoned the wall area, guarding the perimeter of 200 meters before the gate .

    Sun Jian¡¯s soldiers did not take out their cannons or used the trebuchets . He probed them with his archers, testing their patience .

    His n worked . After a hail of arrows, half of the ground force charged at the archers .

    Sun Jian did not approach the wall like Cao Cao . Instead, he ordered his men to keep retreating backward, drawing the enemies away from the wall .

    As a result, 5,000 charging infantries isted themselves from the other battalions .

    Cheng Pu and Sun Jian pincered the stray troopers with their light cavalries, routing them with ease .

    Sun Jian¡¯s troops suffered casualties of 1,000 men from the pincer attack, but the garrison lost the 5,000 soldiers .

    As elites, Sun Jian did not try to pursue or attack the wall again . He reorganized his force and made camps, recuperating his men¡¯s stamina and health .

    .

    The south gate was the most eventful one for the first day ofbat .

    At the beginning of a siege battle, Yan Liang rode outside and challenged a general from the sieging army .

    Huang Gai epted the challenge, and they fought on horseback .

    Both elite generals exchanged 70 blows in the duel, and they called it a draw as they were too tired to continue .

    Before Huang Gai could leave, Yan Liang turned around and threw a knife at the opponent . The sharp throwing knife got his back!

    Fortunately, Huang Gai¡¯s imperial armor was dense enough, and the weapon did not harm any critical organ .

    Huang Gai turned around and retaliated by throwing his secondary spear at Yan Liang, but it killed his opponent¡¯s horse instead .

    In a panic, Yan Liang shouted, asking for help from his men . Ten thousand footmen rushed at Huang Gai and his troops right away .

    Han Dang led his troops forward after Yan Liang had cheated the duel . Ten thousand armored infantries rushed at the oing defenders, which both sides shed .

    Amid the chaos, Yan Liang and Huang Gai managed to return to their men alive, but both were infuriated by the opponent .

    Huang Gai vited Cao Cao¡¯s order andmanded his men to bring out the cannons .

    On the other hand, Yan Liang got to the top of the wall to check his cannons . He found out right away that the crews did not use the right gunpowder .

    All crews on the south wall were arrested and reced with his men . They managed to secure real gunpowder and repair the cannons on the wall .

    Within an hour, Yan Liang¡¯s men interrogated the cannon crews and found out about the bribery and a possible sabotage scheme of Guo Jia . Then, Yan Liang sent this discovery report to Yuan Shao in the city, while he manned a cannon to fight against Huang Gai Army .

    Huang Gai Army brought their ten cannons forward, and both sides started firing their first rounds of bombardment at the same time .

    Huang Gai¡¯s cannons aimed at the wall, while Yan Liang¡¯s weapons targeted the crowd of soldiers .

    The thunderous boom of hot weapons deafened everyone at the south of Xiapi . County wall was mmed by cannonballs, while the soldiers on the field were squashed by mysterious ck balls as well .

    The battle of south Xiapisted till dusk . Both sides lost 10,000 men in a day, but Xiapi southern wall was no longer considered a proper defensive wall anymore .

    A few sections of the wall crumbled to the ground . As if someone took a few bites out of the wall, several half-circles were left behind from the cannon shots . The weak parts copsed, leaving a half-breached hole behind .

    Huang Gai and Han Dang were also not in good shape . As their soldiers were shot by many cannon shells, their morale was low, and the generals did not think they could fight with their full potential in this battle anymore .

    As such, Huang Gai sent his apologies to Sun Jian in the n chat and informed him about his failure .

 Chapter 382

    Chapter 382

    Chapter 382 ¨C Battle of Xiapi ¨C Part 2

    The southern wall was full of activities, but the northern front of Pu Jing was also eventful .

    Upon settling his troops to siege to the city, Pu Jing detached a 1,000-man light cavalry unit to the north .

    By history in 198, Cao Cao and Lu Bu fought here at Xiapi . After the long battle, Cao Cao Army was exhausted and had low morale . On the verge of defeat and retreat, Xun You and Guo Jia suggested that Cao Cao should not give up and press on since Lu Bu¡¯s men were tired as well . Encouraged by his advisors, Cao Cao sent his men to direct water from Si and Yi River, which flooded Xiapi afterward . The flood tactic caused Lu Bu to surrender and ended this god of war¡¯s struggle .

    nning to use a simr tactic from the start, Pu Jing ordered his men to find the river . Using his souls, both of his angelic spirits traveled along with the scout team .

    Pu Jing did not worry about this battle at all . As he could use his spirit to kill all natives with ease, his victory was guaranteed .

    Soon, Pu Jing and his scouts reached Si River . However, they also encountered Tian Feng¡¯s men .

    Tian Feng¡¯s soldiers detected the 1,000 horsemen . They shouted and warned theirrade, "ENEMY! THERE ARE ENEMIES!!"

    Two souls of Pu Jing grinned . They rushed toward Tian Feng troops without fear since none of them could harm their ethereal body .

    Just like how Tong and Khan massacred all opposition soldiers, the two ghosts ughtered anyone that got in their way . They also summoned pets to fight against the soldiers .

    Each ghost summoned two bears, which was the limit of Pu Jing¡¯s skills .

    Because he made the skill cheap, many limitations were ced in his ability . As Pu Jing could only maintain two bears at the maximum, the two spirits could also keep four bears at best .

    Tian Feng¡¯s men adapted to the battlefield . When they realized that they could not harm the two spirits, they changed their targets to the bears .

    Unlike the two ghosts, Pu Jing¡¯s bears had flesh and blood, so they were still vulnerable to arrows and spears . With the coordination of captains and elites, Pu Jing¡¯s summoned bears were killed in a minute .

    The two souls resummoned the bears again, but the animals died in the next minute .

    Seeing that using the bears would be a waste of time, Pu Jingmanded his souls to attack directly .

    The one thousand scouts did not join the battle . They kept their distance from the army near the river and observed Tian Feng Army, ounting their number and their cement .

    One hourter, Pu Jing¡¯s souls managed to kill a thousand of Tian Feng¡¯s men . He could have used his otherbat skills with his souls, but he chose not to use them . Since Lilim charged extra the amount of lifespans for each usage and Pu Jing was too busy to cultivate life essence, he became frugal with his remaining years .

    Unless it were necessary or life-threatening, Pu Jing would not use a skill .

    Meanwhile, his scouts had alreadypleted mapping Tian Feng Army and returned to their main forces . They found out that Tian Feng was constructing a dam to collect the rainwater . Since this month was in a period of high tide and it often rained, river water filled the dam to the brim .

    This discovery rmed the scouts . They rushed back to Pu Jing¡¯s real body to report everything they found .

    Soon, the one thousand soldiers and Pu Jing¡¯s souls returned to the main army . After getting the scout reports, the ex-premier reported the situation to Cao Cao in the n chat right away .

    Pu Jing: "I found a hidden force at the north . They are gathering near Si River . "

    Cao Cao: "Are they trying to create a dam or digging a river? Did you find any construction?"

    Pu Jing: "That¡¯s correct . Do you know about this?"

    Cao Cao: "Just a guess . I¡¯m also nning to use flood tactic if I feel that I can¡¯t win against Yuan Shao, but it seems that they have the same idea . "

    Pu Jing: "I¡¯ll disengage from the siege and move north, then . "

    Cao Cao: "No, stay where you are . "

    Pu Jing: "What!? Do you want me to get nked from behind? They¡¯re behind me!"

    Cao Cao: "Nah, they won¡¯t . Building a dam takes manpower and afford . Building one is easy, but making it applicable to military strategy is another story . Did you find a water path leading your troops or the city?"

    Pu Jing: "No . "

    Cao Cao: "Then, the dam hasn¡¯t beenpleted yet . It will take a while before they can use a flooding tactic on your men . Since they aren¡¯t finished with what they¡¯re doing, they won¡¯t attack you . "

    Pu Jing: "..."

    Pu Jing was surprised by Cao Cao¡¯s calmness and his insight . For some reason, he felt a threatening auraing from Cao Cao even though they were far apart . This warlord did not have wing power as Pu Jing had, but Cao Cao seemed smarter and bolder than the past .

    ¡¯Did something happen to him? Odd . ¡¯

    .

    In the end, Pu Jing ignored Tian Feng Army behind him and continued the siege . He followed Cao Cao¡¯s initial instruction and bombarded the garrison forces with ballistae and trebuchet¡¯s boulders .

    The defending forces of 10,000 men in front of the wall charged forward, beelining toward Pu Jing¡¯s siege weapon crews .

    Among Pu Jing¡¯s battalions, 15,000 archers readied their repeating crossbows and rained their arrows at the charging men .

    Years ago, Cao Cao had stolen a blueprint of these crossbows from Julu . Later on, these repeating crossbows were crafted in Xuchang, and they became Cao Cao¡¯s standard weapons .

    Upon facing the endless arrows from Pu Jing¡¯s forces, the ground force was in a panic . One-third of the charging men fell from the first volley .

    Still, the remaining men got through the hail of arrows and faced with Pu Jing¡¯s frontline battalions, consisted of 8,000 armored spearmen .

    Two forces collided against the other . shing sounds of metallic weapons and death throe resonated throughout the battlefield .

    Two thousand light cavalries of Pu Jing spread to both wings and pincered the remaining defending ground forces . By using teamwork, Yuan Shao¡¯s men were routed after two hours of fighting .

    Pu Jing Army survived with 3,500 spearmen, 1,500 horsemen, and 15,000 archers . He had 20,000 soldiers remaining to fight against Yuan Shao¡¯s 15,000 archers on the wall and 24,000 Tian Feng¡¯s ambush soldiers .

    A heavy responsibility fell upon Pu Jing . Tomorrow, he might have to fight 39,000 soldiers with only 20,000 men .

    ¡¯Damn it, Mengde!¡¯

    .

    At night, Yuan Shao obtained the result of the first-day siege battle . When he heard about thebat at the south gate where Yan Liang protected, he was at a loss of words .

    The south wall was in ruin, and it would not be suitable to defend .

    Yuan Shao called over the secondary strategists for their opinion, Guo Tu and Shen Pei .

    "What do you think of today¡¯s battle?"

    Shen Pei stepped forward, "My lord, it¡¯s obvious that all of our cannon crews were spies of Cao Cao! We should kill all of them and rece with new crew members!"

    Guo Tu also agreed, "Indeed! I found out during the fight that they didn¡¯t use the correct gunpowder to shoot any cannon . Sir Yan Liang managed to counter-attack after he had reced the entire crews . I think we have to get rid of all threats within our ranks first!"

    Listened to his advisors, Yuan Shao made up his mind, "Hear my order! I want all cannon battalion soldiers dead! Tell themanders that they are Cao Cao¡¯s spies, and I want to see their heads on sunrise tomorrow!"

    .

    5 AM, the next morning, one thousand heads were piled before each gate . They were the dead cannon crews that Xiahou Yuan had bribed .

    Because of such action, all garrisoning troops lost 4,000 soldiers from the execution .

    Xiahou Yuan broke a cold sweat when he heard the news . As he was afraid that Yuan Shao and the others might find out about their status, he messaged Cao Cao in the n chat .

    Xiahou Yuan: "Mengde! They have started killing our men this morning!"

    Cao Cao: "I know . I can see the heads . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "Isn¡¯t it the time for me to break out!? We need to get out of here before someone rats us!"

    Cao Cao: "I know . I¡¯m sure one of them will . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "Then, help me get us out of here!"

    Cao Cao: "Nah . Be patient and stay there . If you¡¯re captured or theye for you, do not resist and keep refusing their usation . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "WHAT!?"

    Cao Cao: "Tell Xu Chu and Guo Jia about this too . Do what I said . Don¡¯t question me . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "..."

    The archer general was helpless . Since Cao Cao wanted him to remain inside Xiapi, he turned to Guo Jia, hoping for his opinion .

    "Oh, did our lord tell us to wait inside the city?"

    "Yes . What do you think?"

    "No problem! Actually, I have the same idea . "

    "What!?"

    "They¡¯re going toe and arrest all of us soon, so we should tell our men not to resist . Also, whatever they ask you, do not confess that we¡¯re Cao Cao¡¯s men . "

    "Are you nuts!? We¡¯re going to get executed! Let¡¯s break out of here!"

    "That would make things harder for everyone . I¡¯m sorry, Sir Xiahou . For the sake of outsmarting Tian Feng, Yuan Shao, and Zhang Tong, our future ploy is going to be very risky and unpredictable from now on . "

    "We can just st them with our cannons! What¡¯s the point of thisplicated stratagem!?"

    Guo Jia sighed, "Destroying walls will damage this city¡¯s economic power and people¡¯s trust after we took it . People treat county walls as a symbol of security and prosperity . High wall counties usually had more merchants visiting than the smaller size ones . "

    When Guo Jia reminded him about the rtivity of wall height and city economy, Xiahou Yuan recalled that Xuchang also had higher walls than other Cao Cao¡¯s affiliate cities . Also, Xuchang was more prosper than the other cities with smaller walls .

    "I-It rtes?"

    "Yes . It has been like this since the age of the Warring States . We have to do this because we¡¯re falling behind Zhang Tong¡¯s forces by arge margin . To catch up with Zhang Tong¡¯s military power, we have to expand fast and efficient . We can¡¯t keep stopping our unification campaign to develop our damaged cities all the times . Before Zhang Tong can solve the barbarian invasion issues, we have to grow stronger as fast as possible . We need more soldiers and resources, Sir Xiahou . "

    "..."

    "Well, for now, leave the long-term ns to our lord and me . Let¡¯s get ready to surrender . "

    .

    One hourter, Xiahou Yuan¡¯s bad dream came true as Yuan Shao¡¯s 10,000 men surrounded his camp . They found out about their rtionship with the cannon crews .

    "Miao Cai! I know that you¡¯re in there! Surrender now, or we¡¯ll kill all of you!"

    Guo Jia shrugged, "Let¡¯s go . Just keep refusing their im, and let me do the rest . "

    Xiahou Yuan was still nervous . His hands and legs could not stop shaking, "Fine . "

 Chapter 383

    Chapter 383

    Chapter 383 ¨C Battle of Xiapi - Part 3

    Xiahou Yuan, Guo Jia, Xu Chu, and 10,000 soldiers under theirmand surrendered to Yuan Shao . The threemanders were taken to Yuan Shao, so everyone could interrogate them together .

    The captives were tied with wooden restraint nks, the cangues . They were two nk pieces, which locked their head and their wrists .

    Xiahou Yuan, Guo Jia, and Xu Chu knelt before Yuan Shao .

    Yuan Shao began his questioning, "Are you Cao Cao¡¯s spy?"

    Xiahou Yuan scoffed, "Is this how you deal with your subordinates? We¡¯re under a heavy siege, but you¡¯re trying to kill your own men!?"

    "One of the cannon crews said you promised them gold coins and other benefits if they did not shoot the cannons . They also referred to you . "

    "Bullshit! We¡¯re mercenaries! We¡¯re working for gold! Why would we give them our hard-earned gold for something we don¡¯t even understand!?"

    Guo Jia coughed, "Miao Cai, let me speak . "

    Yuan Shao red at Guo Jia, "Who are you? Are you also working for Cao Cao?"

    "I am Feng Xiao . My surname is Feng, and my name is Xiao . I¡¯m Sir Miao¡¯s strategist . "

    (Author note: Fengxiao is actually Guo Jia¡¯s style name . )

    "So? Are you going to tell me the truth? The first one who can tell me what Cao Cao is nning, I¡¯ll let that person live . For the slowpokes, they will join the other corpses in front of the gates . "

    Guo Jia coughed again, "My lord . This is a misunderstanding . You are falling into Cao Cao¡¯s scheme . "

    "I¡¯m falling into his scheme? Hardly . It¡¯s me that found his schemes . You¡¯re a bunch of spies, and you¡¯re working for Cao Cao . End of story . I¡¯m actually giving you a chance to confess, so I can keep one of you alive . I also want to hire you and want to inquire about what Cao Cao is trying to do . How about it? Will all of you tell me what Cao Cao is nning?"

    Guo Jiaughed, "My lord . As I said, you misunderstood us . Do you really think we¡¯re really spies? If we¡¯re Cao Cao¡¯s men, we would have joined them during yesterday battle . "

    "Don¡¯t try to change the subject . Those cannon crews told us that you¡¯re one of them!"

    "That¡¯s why I said you¡¯re falling into Cao Cao¡¯s trap! Think about it, my lord! Do you think a sane spy will sit around after the attack began? No! They would have immediately escaped from the city to avoid theplication!"

    "But the soldiers told us it¡¯s you! Fuck, you¡¯re wasting my times . Guards! Take them away and kill them all!"

    "MY LORD! IF YOU KILL US, YOUR EAST GATE WILL LACK DEFENDING SOLDIERS! THIS IS WHAT CAO CAO HAS BEEN PLANNING . THEY WANT TO KILL YOUR LOYAL SUBORDINATES BY FRAMING US!"

    Ten soldiers walked to Guo Jia, Xiahou Yuan, and Xu Chu with drawn des . They were ready to chop their head off .

    However, Yuan Shao frowned and raised his hand, "Stop!"

    The ten soldiers paused their de .

    "Continue, Feng Xiao!"

    "Yes, my lord . I believe that the cannon crews are the sacrificial pawns that Cao Cao had sent . If I were him, I would have told all spies that if they¡¯re caught, they should frame someone within your ranks thatmand an army . Then, themanders of that army can be killed by you, my lord . Afterward, the morale of all troops will crumble because you keep killing your allies!"

    "..."

    "Please think about it, my lord . We fought with Cao Cao yesterday on the frontline, and we had stopped him from climbing the east wall! Obviously, we¡¯ve ruined their assault n, so they will try to get rid of us!"

    "..."

    "If we were really Cao Cao¡¯s men, we would have forsaken you on the field battle . Remember? We are fighting in front of the east gate . We could have run away at any moment at that time . Do you why we¡¯re still here?"

    "Why?"

    "Because we¡¯re your subordinates! We¡¯re working for you! We¡¯re loyal to you!"

    Yuan Shao gulped . He widened his eyes, staring at Xiahou Yuan and Guo Jia in shock .

    "B-But you were once Cao Cao¡¯s men-"

    "We¡¯re mercenaries! They hired us and threw us away! You saved all of us and gave us a ce to live! Why should we betray you!?"

    "..."

    Yuan Shao could not retort . He nced at the three, hesitated if he should kill them or not .

    Guo Tu and Shen Pei stepped forward . They red at Guo Jia and the rest and reported to Yuan Shao .

    "My lord, you must not believe in this sphemy! Those men clearly said that they are the mastermind . You can¡¯t be fooled by these silly excuse!"

    Xiahou Yuan bellowed, "Silence, you wastrels! What have you done in yesterday¡¯s battle!? Nothing! We stopped Cao Cao¡¯s main forces from getting to the wall with our sweat and blood! Lord Yuan, do you rather believe in those bootlickers, or will you believe in military men like us!? Do you want to kill your valiant soldiers when our battle with Cao Cao has not yet resolved!?"

    Guo Tu and Shen Pei were infuriated by Xiahou Yuan¡¯s remarks . They pointed their finger at Xiahou Yuan and was about to curse at them . However, Yuan Shao¡¯s eldest son, Yuan Tan, joined themotion as well .

    Yuan Tan walked to the front of Xiahou Yuan and faced his father .

    "Father, I think Sir Miao and Sir Feng is right . If they were spies, they would have resisted against our arrest . They have 10,000 soldiers that could have potentially overtake this city from the inside, but they didn¡¯t do it . Father, please cancel your execution order . They are clearly framed . "

    Guo Tu and Shen Pei turned to Yuan Shao, "My lord, do not let them live! You must kill them now, or they will spread chaos among our men!"

    Yuan Shao held his face with both palms . He could not decide if he should trust Xiahou Yuan and Guo Jia .

    Both of them were right . Had Yuan Shao were in their shoes, he would have run back to the other side the first chance he had gotten . Yet, these generals stayed behind and defended the wall for him .

    Unable to make his decision, Yuan Shao waved his hand .

    "Let them go . "

    Guo Tu and Shen Pei could not believe their ears, "WHAT!?"

    "Let those men go . Have them resume their posts . We have to defend the city again today . "

    "MY LORD, THEY ARE SPIES!"

    Yuan Shao yelled at his strategists, "SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!!"

    Everyone was silent, looking at their lord . The soldiers behind Xiahou Yuan release the three from the shackles .

    Guo Jia, Xu Chu, and Xiahou Yuan stood up and bowed to Yuan Shao .

    "Thank you for believing in us . We shall repay this kindness with our battle result . "

    Yuan Shao waved his hand, "I know . Go, get me Cao Cao¡¯s head . "

    "Understood, my lord . "

    All Cao Cao¡¯s moles left the building, leaving the baffled Guo Tu and Shen Pei . Meanwhile, Yuan Shao had a severe headache that he could not think straight .

    Still, he left Yuan Tan and others with an order .

    "Keep an eye on those men . If they make contact with any suspicious person, kill them all . Use Miao Cai¡¯s army as meat shields . Even if they¡¯re not spies, let them die fighting outside the wall . If they¡¯re acting like one, kill them . If they won the battle ande back with lesser casualties than the others, kill them . Only let them reenter our city again if their number is halved or lesser . "

    Yuan Tan was shocked .

    "F-Father, those are my men-"

    "I don¡¯t care if they¡¯re working for you or me . Just kill them if they act like a spy . "

    "Y-Yes, my lord!"

    .

    Meanwhile, Xiahou Yuan reported everything to Cao Cao .

    Xiahou Yuan: "We were arrested and released just now . What¡¯s next?"

    Cao Cao: "That was fast . Well, get your army armed as soon as possible . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "Then?"

    Cao Cao: "What was your initial troops when you had first arrived there again? 5,000?"

    Xiahou Yuan: "Yeah, 5,000 . They transferred another 5,000 into my army, though . "

    Cao Cao: "Good . Today, you¡¯lle out to fight me like yesterday . However, I¡¯ll ughter half of your army . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "WTF!? Are you nuts, Mengde!? They¡¯re our men!"

    Cao Cao: "Half of them are Yuan Shao¡¯s men . I need to make it believable, Miaocai . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "You¡¯re insane! What are you trying to do!? Letting me being a mole longer? Mengde, we¡¯ve been staying here long enough . Can I just storm the castle and kill Yuan Shao? It will be quicker if you want to kill Yuan Shao, right?"

    Cao Cao: "True, but you¡¯ll die . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "You¡¯re underestimating me . Do you think I¡¯ll die?"

    Cao Cao: "If Yuan Shao doesn¡¯t know about gunpowder and cannons, I would have ordered you to finish the battle right away . Unfortunately, suicide-bomb threats are present in this battle . They can easily kill you, Miaocai . I don¡¯t want that . Therefore, be patient . We¡¯ll kill our allies for the n to work . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "What is your n, anyway? Why is it soplicated?"

    Cao Cao: "Just stay alive . You¡¯ll know in a few days . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "Fine . "

    .

    After the chat, Xiahou Yuan turned to Guo Jia and recounted the conversation to him .

    "What¡¯s our lord¡¯s n? Do you know anything?"

    Guo Jiaughed, "Ah, you don¡¯t have to worry about it . Let¡¯s survive the friendly killing tomorrow . Just don¡¯t kill too many of our lord¡¯s troops . "

    "Then? What¡¯s next?"

    "Get a good achievement and wait for the other Yuan Shao¡¯s generals to die . "

    "Huh?"

    "Keep scoring merits, Sir Xiahou . Make yourself look like a loyalist of Yuan Shao . Once he trusts you, this battle will be over . "

    "Isn¡¯t it easier to just kill Yuan Shao and force the others to surrender? We can do that right now . "

    "Then, his sons, all survivors, and Yuan Shao ex-subordinates will migrate to Zhang Tong and join his side . It will strengthen them, and we¡¯ll be in deep shit . "

    "Then, we kill everyone!"

    "Impossible . Tian Feng is outside of the city, and Sun Jian¡¯s forces are not that trustworthy . We can¡¯t count on them when Yuan Shao¡¯s remnants gather at one direction to breakthrough . Don¡¯t forget that Yan Liang is still alive . "

    "What about Zhang Kai? Didn¡¯t our lord send him here as a double-agent?"

    "That one is unusable . He is there for the sake of being a scapegoat for our fight . "

    "... I don¡¯t understand . "

    "You¡¯ll understand everything soon . For now, we¡¯ll have to do our best to survive . "

    .

    8 AM .

    Xiahou Yuan¡¯s 10,000 men gathered before the east gate, facing Cao Cao Army .

    Cao Cao still did not bring out his cannons . Instead, he geared for the fieldbat . Ten 1,000-man battalions marched forward while the other ten 1,000-man archer battalions followed after them . Meanwhile, 5,000 horsemen of Cao Cao protected their nks and escorted them .

    No siege weapon was in Xiahou Yuan¡¯s sight this time .

    Xiahou Yuan followed after Guo Jia¡¯s suggestion . He shouted andmanded his men, "Archers, get your crossbows ready! Aim forward and get ready to fire!"

    Cao Cao also shouted, "Shield bearers, brace yourself! Archers, aim at the ground troops! Kill them all!"

 Chapter 384

    Chapter 384

    Chapter 384 ¨C Battle of Xiapi - Part 4

    Thebat between Xiahou Yuan Army and Cao Cao Army were bloody . Within an hour, half of Xiahou Yuan was in while Cao Cao¡¯s loss was minimal .

    Guo Tu and Shen Pei could not find a chance to order his men to shoot a single arrow . As Xiahou Yuan marched out to fight Cao Cao on the open field, they were out of their archers¡¯ range .

    After Xiahou Yuan lost half of his soldiers as they had nned, he ordered his men to withdraw to the city . Cao Cao also called his men to stop fighting and fall back, reorganizing his men .

    Xu Chu retreated to the gate first with his bodyguards . He shouted to the gatekeepers, "Let us in! We¡¯re not in the condition to fight!"

    Shen Pei yelled back, "Gate will not be opened! Stay in line and defend the wall!"

    "BASTARD!!"

    "This is our lord¡¯s direct order! We will not open the gate until the battle is over!"

    "SON OF A BITCH!!"

    Xu Chu was infuriated . He lifted his mace and mmed onto the bronze gate, which caused a dent into it .

    The dent on the wall caused a tremor and a loud boom . Hearing the gong and sensing the small shockwave, all Yuan Shao¡¯s soldiers on the wall were astonished .

    "W-We have someone this powerful!?"

    "The mercenary is too strong!!"

    "Amazing!!"

    Everyone praised Xu Chu¡¯s strength, including themanders . However, Shen Pei and Guo Tu had a pale face as they were afraid of Xu Chu¡¯s retaliation .

    "T-They¡¯re spies, right? Sir Guo?"

    "I-I think so! All cannon crews said they were spies!"

    "By the way, do spies usually go so far to the point that they kill their allies to prove their innocence?"

    "... I don¡¯t think an elite spy can afford that unless he wants to get himself killed by their lord . "

    "Then, those men ..."

    "Let¡¯s hope that they¡¯re really spies . If they¡¯re really innocent, we¡¯re doomed . "

    "..."

    As Cao Cao stopped attacking for the rest of the day, Yuan Shao ordered the men to open the gate . Xu Chu, Xiahou Yuan, Guo Jia, and all 5,000 survivors entered the city to rest and catch their breath again .

    .

    West Gate

    Today, Zhang Kai was assigned here as the suprememander of the west wall to recover from yesterday¡¯s losses . His 19,000 men garrisoned on the top of the wall .

    Meanwhile, Sun Jian and his 24,000 men did noty siege . Instead, he stood still and had a staring contest with the defenders .

    Cao Cao did not send him any further order, so Sun Jian acted by basing on his judgment .

    Sun Jian understood the fundamental behind Cao Cao¡¯s troop cement strategy well . As they stationed on the west, which led to Cao Cao¡¯s territories, their roles were not attackers .

    In a situation which Cao Cao had to retreat, everybody had to move west, and they would pass Sun Jian¡¯s current location . Although Cao Cao had not pointed out about their duties and jobs yet, Sun Jian knew that his army had already been assigned as a rearguard by default .

    Thus, he prioritized his role as a rearguard and conserved their strength .

    .

    South Gate

    The south front was still noisy as yesterday .

    Today, Cao Cao did notment on Huang Gai¡¯s losses or actions . Instead, he allowed them to act as they pleased .

    Without a guideline, Huang Gai requested a piece of advice from his lord, Sun Jian .

    Sun Jian ordered Huang Gai to stay put and do not do anything . They only need to surround the city and let the others finish the job . Since Huang Gai had lost too many troops already, it would be pointless to sacrifice everything for the sake of a city of someone else .

    Thus, they built fences and barricades to hole themselves in a make-shift fortress before the city .

    After seeing that Huang Gai built a fortification in front of them, Yan Liang lost his patience and came out alone .

    "HUANG GAI! COME OUT AND FIGHT ME!!"

    Yan Liang challenged Huang Gai into a duel again . His wounds had not yet healed, but he was already energetic after a day of rest .

    Instead ofing out for another duel, Huang Gai turned to his soldiers .

    "If there is anyone who can kill that asshole, I¡¯ll give you 1,000 gold . "

    Hearing the bounty, all archers took their crossbows and aimed at Yan Liang .

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    A rain of 1,000 arrows covered the sky,ing down for Yan Liang and his horse .

    "FUCK!!"

    Yan Liang galloped away in a hurry . As hisdy luck was on his side, he escaped from the arrow range on time .

    "FUCKING COWARD!! COME OUT AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!!"

    Huang Gai yelled back, "THAT¡¯S RICH COMING FROM A PUSSY WHO USED A HIDDEN WEAPON!!"

    Yan Liang¡¯s anger shot through the roof because of the humiliation and shame . He turned around and gathered his men behind the breached wall .

    "Gather all cannons and men . We¡¯ll fight them on the open field!"

    All adjutants under Yan Liang were in an uproar .

    "Sir, we cannot!"

    "We were ordered to fight behind the wall!"

    "Yes! We have to defend the city and repair the wall! We can¡¯t go out right now, or we¡¯ll be ambushed!"

    Yan Liang had enough, "Silence! Get everyone readied before noon, or I¡¯ll kill everyone like I killed all those cannon crews!"

    At noon, 14,000 men gather before the south wall along with their cannons, nning to break the siege .

    Meanwhile, Huang Gai¡¯s men had already built barricades and nk shields, fortifying their surroundings for the defensive warfare .

    Their roles switched . Yan Liang became an aggressor while Huang Gai shifted to a passive stance .

    However, Huang Gai and Han Dang had more experienced than Yan Liang since they had fought many pirates together . Also, they were more creative and cool-headed .

    During yesterday¡¯s fight, Han Dang had an inspiration from the cannons . Instead of using cannonballs, which limited their lethality to structures, Han Dang nned to rece the iron ball with smaller size objects, so they could damage more soldiers .

    Last night, Han Dang gathered soldiers with cksmithing backgrounds to melt cannonballs into smaller balls . However, theycked a forge and a furnace toplete the process .

    Without a choice, Han Dang used scrapped irons, bronze, and broken pieces of hard objects as a recement and tested them .

    The result was surprising . All shrapnel scattered and had the potentials to harm more soldiers than a single iron ball . Still, they damaged their cannon chamber after each shot .

    Since these cannons were not theirs, Han Dang did not mind destroying them or mistreating his weaponry .

    All ten cannons of Huang Gai loaded with scrapped irons, metals, and sharp objects . They had enough to fire one round at the attackers at the range between 100-200 meters .

    All 15,000 Huang Gai¡¯s men spread out in a loose formation, so they would not be harmed by a cannonball from Yan Liang . Each soldier held a repeating crossbow and a thousand arrows, waiting to fire at Yuan Shao¡¯s forces .

    Yan Liang gazed at Huang Gai¡¯s defensive formation with a grin .

    "Fool! The loose formation is weak against closebat and cavalry units . You¡¯re asking me to charge at you head-on?"

    He waved his hand and brought out all 5,000 heavy cavalries . This battalion was hisst elites .

    Yan Liang shouted, "All infantries, don¡¯t bother using your crossbows! The enemy wants to fight a ranged battle, but we¡¯ll strike them down . Shieldsmen, get to the front! All cavalries, gather at the right nk . You¡¯ll charge with me!"

    9,000 Footmen of Yan Liang changed their formation . 3,000 Shield bearers stood on the front while the other 6,000 shieldless infantries formed ranks behind them . As for the rest of 5,000 horsemen, they gathered behind Yan Liang .

    The general pointed his sword forward, "CHARGE!!"

    Shield bearers marched forward, pace by pace . Meanwhile, Yan Liang and 5,000 riders galloped ahead, aiming to pincer Huang Gai and Han Dang Army from the side .

    Seeing the oing troops, Huang Gai bellowed, "LEFT FLANK, FORM SPEARWALLS!! ARROWS! FIRE AT WILL!!"

    Huang Gai rushed to the left nk of their army to mark Yan Liang while Han Dang remained behind tomand the infantries against the enemy footmen .

    Out of 15,000 soldiers, three battalions, each with 1,000 men, managed to form spearwall formation to counter Yan Liang¡¯s charge .

    The 5,000 heavy cavalries ran over the first spearwall battalion without fear . Their supplement scale armor andmer leather armor protected their body, so most spears could not harm the riders .

    The first battalion of 1,000 men copsed within a minute . All soldiers did not make it through the charge .

    The second battalion managed to take down a few horses, but they copsed as well . This time, a hundred of the second group survived .

    Thest 1,000 spearmen managed to stop the charge at the cost of 700 soldiers . Unfortunately, Yan Liang was smart enough to pull back before their horses lost all of their momentum and speed .

    Still, 1,000 horses fell as they were not fully equipped with armor like the riders .

    Half of the fallen horsemen were left behind by the other riders, which were killed by the surviving spearmen . As for the remaining 500 horseless soldiers, they regrouped as a make-shift battalion and retaliated against the surviving spear users .

    The stragglers were on the verge of victory, but someone appeared with more reinforcement .

    Huang Gai galloped forward with 1,000 light horsemen . With a swing of his halberd, five soldiers were cleaved in half, scattering their blood and innards over his body .

    "YAN LIANG!!"

    3,000 Arrows from archers rained onto the fleeing cavalries of Yan Liang . Most arrows did not harm the armored riders, but they still maimed a few soldiers and horses .

    300 Rider went down, leaving Yan Liang with 3700 heavy cavalries remaining . As for the surviving stragglers, Huang Gai and his light horsemen made quick work out of them, revenging for their colleagues .

    The trade was a disaster for Huang Gai as he lost almost 3,000 men in an instant, while he only took 1,300 riders down .

    Although it was a loss, Huang Gai grinned .

    "Losing a few battles is nothing . As long as we can win the war, all sacrifices are worth it!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    On the other nk, Yan Liang¡¯s cannons began firing at Han Dang¡¯s defensive formation and structures . nk walls and several barricades were destroyed with a round of fire . Two of the cannon balls killed five of his soldiers, which was minimal damage .

    Still, Han Dang did not take this lying down .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Ten cannons fired back at the attacking 9,000 footmen . The make-shift slug shells scattered and rained onto the shield bearers and soldiers behind them .

    "AHHHH!!"

    The result was a phenomenon . Since Yan Liang¡¯s assault units packed in a dense formation to shield against arrows, all scraps found their targets .

    One round of volley killed 100 soldiers and injured over 500 men instantly, which caused more harm than ten iron cannonballs .

    The majority of casualties came from the soldiers behind the shield bearers . However, thetter was not so lucky either as their nk shields could not defend against cannon projectiles .

    The shield wall formation was half-copsed from the first volley, which gave an opening to archers .

    5,000 Arrows covered the sky once more as Han Dang ordered his men to fire all arrows at the footmen .

 Chapter 385

    Chapter 385

    Chapter 385 ¨C Battle of Xiapi ¨C Part 5

    The rain of arrows crippled Yan Liang¡¯s footmen . Two thousand men behind the shield bearers were killed by the volley while 300 shieldsmen sumbed to the raining projectiles .

    Han Dang gathered two battalions to form a 2,000-man infantry army . They took out swords and shields, getting ready for meleebat .

    Yan Liang¡¯s remaining 6,600 men, injured or well-conditioned, rushed at the defensive array of 2,000 Han Dang¡¯s swordsmen .

    *BOOM*

    Han Dang¡¯s swordsmen shed at against 2,500 shield-bearers on the front . They used their shields to bash against nk shields, pushing back the front soldiers .

    Yan Liang¡¯s soldiers nted on the ground to stop Han Dang Army¡¯s advance . Afterward, they took out their short swords to fend off the attackers .

    At the back lines of Han Dang¡¯s side, the remaining 8,000 soldiers separated into four groups, 2,000 each . Two of the newly formed battalions rushed to the nks of Han Dang Army, which they ran into the remaining two forces of Yan Liang¡¯s footmen .

    The 4,100 footmen who survived the arrow rain also divided into two armies . Each covered the nks of the shield bearers .

    Again, Yan Liang¡¯s nking armies collided into Han Dang¡¯s wing troops .

    The number of the fighting personals were simr, but Han Dang had the advantage since he had 4,000 more men acting as archers .

    The archermanders pinpointed at the backlines of melee enemies, and the remaining 4,000 men pointed their crossbows at the enemies .

    The second volley flew to the air and rained at the center shield bearers, killing another half of their army . However, the arrows also killed friendly soldiers in the process as the forces were still entangled against each other .

    Han Dang screamed, "Stop shooting! You¡¯re killing your allies!"

    The archers stopped firing and pulled out their spears, getting ready to reinforce the frontline instead of using their crossbows .

    However, Yan Liang moved from their left nk and appeared behind hisbating soldiers at the center, behind the shield bearers .

    3,700 Heavy cavalries formed a wedge formation behind Yan Liang .

    "Breakthrough the center! Crush them!"

    The charge from Yan Liang caught Han Dang off-guard .

    "Reserve troops! Form spear walls and support the center!"

    Themand camete . Armored riders had already charged forward, which ran over their ally shieldsmen from the back and crushed the shield and sword fighters at the center .

    Han Dang wasmanding his soldiers on a horse . He pulled back to his left nk, getting away from the ughter .

    3,500 Riders brokethrough the chaos at the center and reached the 4,000 reserved troops .

    Before they could reach the unprepared spearmen, Huang Gai led his 1,000 light riders to Yan Liang¡¯s right nk .

    As if he was a linebacker who had marked the opposing running back in a football game, Huang Gai had been maneuvering his horsemen, following after Yan Liang¡¯s movement behind their frontline .

    Now, it was his time to ambush Yan Liang .

    "GOTCHA, YOU LITTLE BITCH!!"

    Huang Gai roared as he interrupted Yan Liang¡¯s charge .

    The collision between horses sent 500 riders from both sides flying .

    Also, Huang Gai found Yan Liang, who had turned around to protect his men .

    *BOOM*

    A halberd from Yan Lang and a halberd from Huang Gai shed once more . The second duel between these two giants sent shockwaves and caused loud noise throughout the battlefield .

    Thanked the sudden interruption, the 4,000 spearmen managed toplete their array before the remaining armored horsemen could reach them .

    Spearwalls worked against the chargers this time as the riders failed to break their formation . All horses fell to the spears and threw off their passengers .

    Another one thousands of spearmen paid the price with their lives to stop the charge, but Yan Liang¡¯s private soldiers were obliterated in ten minutes afterward .

    Yan Liang and Huang Gai were still entangling in their duel when the cavalry battle concluded .

    Seeing that he had lost, Yan Liang attempted to retreat .

    "HAHAHA! YOU¡¯RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE, BITCH!!"

    Huang Gaiughed and chased after Yan Liang . Meanwhile, Han Dang also blocked Yan Liang¡¯s escape path .

    Noticing the obstacle, Yan Liang yelled at Han Dang, "GET LOST!"

    *CLANG*

    Han Dang blocked Yan Liang¡¯s strike and dyed his horse . His objective had been sessful .

    Looking behind Yan Liang and seeing the chasing Huang Gai, Han Dang sneered .

    "It¡¯s over, moron . You¡¯re dead . "

    "YOU¡¯RE THE DEAD ONE!! DIE!!"

    Yan Liang shed at Han Dang five times in session within two seconds, which Han Dang blocked them all with difficulty .

    Then

    *SWUA*

    Huang Gai caught up with Yan Liang and shed his back, severing his body in half and ending the life of this great general .

    "I told you . You¡¯re not going anywhere . "

    Han Dang stabbed Yan Liang¡¯s fallen body with his halberd . Upon confirming that the general was dead, he shouted .

    "GENERAL HUANG GAI HAS SLAIN THE ENEMY GENERAL!!"

    The nearest soldiers from Han Dang and Huang Gai toons also celebrated .

    "GENERAL HUANG GAI HAS SLAIN THE ENEMY GENERAL!!"

    "GENERAL HUANG GAI HAS SLAIN THE ENEMY GENERAL!!"

    This piece of news spread across the southern front in a minute . Yan Liang¡¯s soldiers who were still fighting looked at themotion in shock and despair, while the quick thinkers ran away toward the city, retreating and trying to regroup with their allies .

    On the other hand, exhausted ones could not run anymore . They pleaded their enemies, "Don¡¯t kill us! We surrender!!"

    .

    The battle at the south wall resolved with Huang Gai and Han Dang destroyed Yan Liang¡¯s forces . Most of Xiapi southern garrison forces were eliminated, but Huang Gai¡¯s side also suffered a heavy casualty .

    From 15,000 men at the start of the day, 6,500 men survived thebat . Also, 5,000 of the men were injured .

    Han Dang wanted to order his men to storm the city right away . Unfortunately, Yuan Shao had borrowed 10,000 soldiers from the other walls to protect the southern wall, and they had alreadypleted their defense formation inside the city .

    They lost their chance to breach the city today .

    Huang Gai patted Han Dang¡¯s shoulder .

    "It¡¯s alright . We did well today . "

    "Ah . "

    "A pity, though . I wish we have more ammo for the scatter shots . "

    Huang Gai mentioned about the cannons, which could have potentially killed more soldiers than just a few hundred men today . Had they possessed more shells than the current DIY ones, the battle result today would have been different .

    "Say, can we steal one of these so our men can research on it?"

    Han Dang looked at Xiapi city wall, "Yuan Shao had several cannons on the wall . I think it¡¯s better to steal those . Cao Cao¡¯s men should have recorded these toys, so we probably can¡¯t just move it to our private army . "

    "Right . Let¡¯s steal Yuan Shao¡¯s cannons after this . "

    .

    .

    .

    At the north wall, Pu Jing took it easy by only using his souls to kill the defenders . Although it was exhausting him mentally, he could save his men¡¯s lives .

    For an entire day, the two souls ughtered 10,000 soldiers on the top of the wall, sinking their morale to the bottom .

    However, the moment he killed the 10,000th soldier, Lilim sent a few messages warned him .

    for visiting .

    "And also heard that you have a powerful subordinate that can put a dent on the giant east gates?"

    "Yes . He is my bodyguard, my lord . "

    "Good . Miao Cai, from now on, you¡¯ll be the grandmander of my army . "

    Xiahou Yuan widened his eyes in shock . He nced at Guo Jia next to him and found that the strategist was grinning at him .

    Guo Jia whispered to the surprised general, "Everything has gone ording to our n, Sir Xiahou . "

 Chapter 386

    Chapter 386: 386

    Chapter 386 ¨C Battle of Xiapi ¨C Part 6

    After promotion, Xiahou Yuan obtained all the authorities to maneuver all troops at his disposal . Nobody couldmand him other than Yuan Shao .

    As such, Xiahou Yuan appointed Xu Chu as his vicemander and Guo Jia as the strategist of the entire army .

    As soon as Guo Jia had themand token from Xiahou Yuan, he reorganized Yuan Shao¡¯s battalions . Instead of trying to break out of the city, Guo Jia suggested a n that they stay in the city, so they could send their spies to burn or smuggle out Yuan Shao¡¯s supplies slowly .

    Guo Jia¡¯s goal was to distract the soldiers in the city not to move out, so Cao Cao could begin his n, ambushing and destroying Tian Feng Army in the north . Once that time arrived, Xiahou Yuan would get an easier time to kill Yuan Shao and everybody in his n .

    Afterward, Cao Cao could enter the city and distribute their resources to the locals, the townsmen would worship Cao Cao as their hero, boosting his reputation as a righteous lord . Then, their lord would have no problem dealing with the insurgents, rebels, Yuan Shao¡¯s remnants, and potential Tong¡¯s allies .

    .

    The next day morning, Xiahou Yuan took the n and reported to Yuan Shao, requesting his authorization for the adjustment .

    "Denied . "

    Yuan Shao tted out, rejecting Xiahou Yuan¡¯s proposal .

    "My lord, we¡¯re not going to defend the city? How about we regroup with Sir Tian Feng and reorganize . "

    Yuan Shao sneered at Xiahou Yuan, "It¡¯s my fault that I haven¡¯t shared my secret n with you yet . In my n, I want to pretend that we lose this battle . Then, we will draw Cao Cao into the city, and Tian Feng will flood everyone at the end of this month . By that time, winter will be around the corner, and Cao Cao¡¯s soldiers will die from the cold and diseases . "

    Xiahou Yuan¡¯s eyes sharpened when he heard that Yuan Shao revealed his secret .

    "Alright . We will defend the city as it is . When will we break out, my lord?"

    "Tomorrow at thetest . "

    Yuan Shao rearranged all troops, sending 10,000 men to defend each wall . As for the leftover, they remained inside the city as a reserve force .

    .

    As usual, Xiahou Yuan reported all movements to Cao Cao .

    Xiahou Yuan: "What do you think?"

    Cao Cao: "Putin, how is Tian Feng Army?"

    Pu Jing: "Still quiet . They are still not moving from the river . "

    Cao Cao: "Okay . That¡¯s an interesting scheme . Benchu actually dares to kill his civilians for the sake of trapping me in the city . This version is not bad at all . At least his decision here is better than at the Guandu . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "What¡¯s wrong with Guandu, Mengde?"

    Cao Cao: "Never mind that . Miaocai, disobey Yuan Shao¡¯smand and attack Pu Jing to the north . Pu Jing, pretend to lose and withdraw to the west . Regroup with Sun Jian . "

    Pu Jing acknowledged themand . However, he kept staring at the sentence, "At least his decision here is better than at the Guandu" with a frown .

    Cao Cao had already heard about the Battle of Guandu¡¯s result and briefed details from Pu Jing . However, he sounded like he knew every aspect of that historic battle . Furthermore, Cao Cao seemed confident with his ploys and Guo Jia .

    ¡¯Something¡¯s wrong with him . ¡¯

    .

    Today, Pu Jing had already moved his cannons and siege weaponry away from the battlefield ahead of time since Xiahou Yuan would being out to fight him .

    As ordered, he withdrew most of his supplies, reserve troops, and all belongings to the west, heading to Sun Jian Army .

    5,000 Footmen remained on the north as rearguards .

    9 AM .

    Xiahou Yuan vited Yuan Shao¡¯s order as expected . The north gate opened, and his troops rushed out to fight against Pu Jing¡¯s rearguards . Since Xiahou Yuan did not want to harm Pu Jing¡¯s men, he did not use archers and cavalries to chase them .

    Meanwhile, Pu Jing had his men fought against the oing troops for a few minutes . Once both sides began dying, the former premier sent his signals .

    "Withdraw! Full retreat!"

    Everyone retreated in order .

    Xiahou Yuan also shouted, "Withdraw, do not pursue, or you¡¯ll be trapped by the enemies!"

    His force reentered the city while the remaining garrison soldiers cheered, believing that this general led them to victory .

    Meanwhile, Huang Gai and Cao Cao lifted the siege and marched to the west wall, gathering with Sun Jian .

    On the other hand, Sun Jian did not attack the city . His army kept staring at the soldiers on the wall, intimidating them with their re .

    Yuan Shao also noticed the oddness of today¡¯s battle . He left the pce and came to the west wall to observe the situation .

    Confused and baffled by Cao Cao¡¯s maneuvering, he turned to Shen Pei and Guo Tu, "What are they doing? Why didn¡¯t they attack?"

    "M-My lord . Sir Miao Cai sortied and repelled the enemies in the north . Afterward, all Cao Cao¡¯s troops gathered here instead of surrounding us . "

    "What? He won?"

    "Y-Yes, my lord . "

    "Drag Miao Cai here . I want to know why he disobeyed my order!"

    An hourter, Xiahou Yuan arrived .

    "Why did you sortie? I told you to defend the city . "

    "My lord, I noticed that the enemies were retreating, so I attacked them, hoping to obtain their supplies and inflicted damages to their soldiers . "

    "Did you get anything?"

    "I killed a thousand soldiers or so . Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t leave behind supply . "

    "..."

    Yuan Shao was in a bad mood .

    In his n, Yuan Shao expected to wither Cao Cao¡¯s men with his cannons and defensive forces . However, Cao Cao also brought in cannons of his own, which ruined the first phase of Yuan Shao¡¯s strategy .

    Next, the battle on the first day was a disaster to the defenders . Fortunately, Tian Feng had prepared an exit n for them in advance . In case they would lose this battle, they could pretend to lose and escape from the city with all of their soldiers . Then, Tian Feng would destroy the dam that they built, and the water would flood the town with the directed pathways that they had dug beforehand .

    Had the city been flooded, defending forces would have a hard time coping with the cold weather and the mud river . Local civilians would start dying and begging for food from the city lord . Afterward, the city would be thrown into chaos, which would ruin the morale of the Cao Cao forces .

    Still, the scheme was about to be thwarted by a simple retreat order of Cao Cao .

    Yuan Shao returned to a square one again . He had about 60,000 soldiers,bined with Tian Feng Army . Meanwhile, Cao Cao had 70,000 to 80,000 men remaining on the battlefield .

    ¡¯Should I continue with the flood n, or should I continue defending the city? What to do?¡¯

    Yuan Shao turned to Shen Pei and Guo Tu, but he stopped . These two strategists were not on par with Tian Feng, so Yuan Shao did not trust them .

    "Miao Cai, if you¡¯re fighting all Cao Cao¡¯s soldiers with my entire army, what will you do?"

    Xiahou Yuan stared into Yuan Shao¡¯s eyes, "I would recall Sir Tian Feng into the city . Then, we will repair the south wall and continue fighting in a prolonged war . We have enough supplies tost for another year . I doubt Cao Cao canst the winter . "

    "..."

    Yuan Shao did not like the advice . He still wanted to go through with Tian Feng¡¯s n .

    "Maintain order within the city as it is . We¡¯ll wait and see how Cao Cao acts . "

    .

    Again, Xiahou Yuan consulted with Cao Cao .

    Cao Cao: "Where are they keeping their supplies?"

    Xiahou Yuan: "Most of them are with Tian Feng . Yuan Shao ns to abandon the city from the very beginning, so he did not want to leave any food inside . "

    Cao Cao: "Okay . Tian Feng, it is . How¡¯s Guo Jia doing?"

    Xiahou Yuan: "Coaxing people at the moment . He did notment on how we are proceeding with our ns, though . "

    Cao Cao: "I know what he¡¯s trying to do . Tell your men to start smuggling the supplies in secret, but don¡¯t burn the granaries in the city . I¡¯ll tell you when you can switch sides . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "Okay . "

    .

    Confirmed that Yuan Shao would go through with Tian Feng¡¯s deception no matter what, Cao Cao made his move .

    Before Cao Cao, Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, and Pu Jing gathered .

    "We¡¯re going to attack Tian Feng Army outside of the city tonight . "

    Sun Jian and others did not say anything . Instead, they were relieved that Cao Cao finally made a logical choice .

    Cao Cao found it amusing that Pu Jing and Sun Jian¡¯s subordinates did not question his tactic .

    "Nobody is going to ask why I¡¯m dying the attack n?"

    Pu Jing rolled his eyes, "We¡¯re not genius, Mengde . Tell us if you want to flex . "

    "Hahaha! To be honest, I haven¡¯t nned shit! I just want to mess with Yuan Shao and see how he reacts in a different battlefield . "

    "What!? Then, why are you sending Xiahou Yuan and others inside Xiapi?"

    "I just wanted to test how spies can use our n chat as amunication tool . It works well . "

    "Then, what about the casualties!? What about the fight you rigged for Xiahou Yuan!?"

    "Ah, I thought I had to give Miaocai a reason not to get himself executed by Yuan Shao . It worked, right?"

    "What about our cannons!? Why are you taking them here if you¡¯re not nning to use it!?"

    "That¡¯s a drill for the logistic troops . They need to carry those cannons around in the future, so they should learn it by doing it . "

    "... And your reason for not killing Yuan Shao when you have the chance?"

    "I want to poach Tian Feng to my side . If I kill him right away, he will flee to Zhang Tong . I don¡¯t want that . "

    "..."

    Pu Jing did not believe in Cao Cao one bit . As a former KGB agent, he detected Cao Cao¡¯s subtle gesture, indicated that he lied .

    In the end, everyone led a force of 12,000 men to raid Tian Feng¡¯s camp, north of Xiapi City .

    .

    The night was quiet, and all soldiers traveled light, not wearing any armor .

    2 AM, all 72,000 soldiers surrounded Tian Feng¡¯s fort, which was built next to their constructed dam .

    Everyone could hear the sound of a flowing river . The water droplets leaking from the barricaded wooden logs and reinforced structures created a symphony of nature music, which soothed everyone that could hear them .

    Because of such continuous noise, the massive army crept in the night and reached the camp undetected . Although they ran into patrol guards once in a while, the night arrows silenced them before they could have asked for help .

 Chapter 387

    Chapter 387

    Chapter 387 ¨C Battle of Xiapi - Conclusion

    All troops rushed into the camp like a tidal wave, engulfing the patrolling soldiers as they passed .

    Soon, Tian Feng¡¯s men detected the chaos and the invaders .

    "WE¡¯RE UNDER ATTACK!!"

    Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pumanded 12,000 soldiers each . They attacked the camp from all directions, killing as many men they could find .

    Meanwhile, Pu Jing located their reserved granaries, which hidden north of Tian Feng¡¯s camp . Both Cao Cao and Pu Jing Army burnt down their supplies and withdrew to surround Tian Feng¡¯s main camp, assisting Sun Jian and his men .

    .

    Tian Feng did not prepare for a battle today as he heard from the scouts that Cao Cao was retreating . He even thought that Cao Cao wanted to withdraw all armies to avoid the uing winter .

    By the time Tian Feng realized that his army was surrounded, half of his soldiers had already died inside their tents . Moreover, he could see the trail of smoke and fire in the direction of his hidden reserved granaries .

    The entire 24,000 soldiers were outnumbered and were defeated before the daybreak . Sun Jian and Cheng Pu managed to capture Tian Feng in hismand tent .

    On the morning of the next day, Sun Jian escorted Tian Feng to Cao Cao .

    The warlord smiled at the strategist, "Nice to meet you, Tian Feng . "

    "... Well met, Marquis of Wei . Having fun mocking the loser?"

    "No . I want to meet the strategist behind this water dam scheme . It was a good strategy, I say . Had I been in my early days, I would have jumped into the city, and you would have trapped me in Xiapi like an animal in a cage . You also have a good grasp of timing and the weather . Combining the rainy season and the future winter together into a stratagem like this is no easy feat . "

    "A failed scheme is worthless . Please stop talking nonsense . Kill me and get this over with . "

    "Don¡¯t me yourself . I actually cheated, so you should consider yourself the real winner of this war . Still, serving Yuan Shao like this is a waste of your talent . How about it, won¡¯t you work for me?"

    Tian Feng scoffed, "I have only one master . Kill me!"

    "He doesn¡¯t even deserve to be called your master, though . Isn¡¯t he just an employer?"

    "He took me from Luoyang when I¡¯m still a worthless official . You didn¡¯t . "

    "True . But I have an otherworlder as my subordinate . Yuan Shao didn¡¯t have one . "

    "..."

    "Last chance, strategist . Join me or die here . "

    "Kill me . "

    Cao Cao sighed, "Without a hesitation, eh?"

    "What¡¯s there to think? Kill me . "

    "Don¡¯t you want to get back on Zhang Tong?"

    Tian Feng gritted his teeth . When he began his career under Yuan Shao, his first nemesis was Tong . At first, he thought that Tong was just an upstart son of a cultist or a lowly noble .

    Looking back, Tian Feng had many chances to kill Tong and his family . Unfortunately, he paid too much attention to Yuan Shao¡¯s reputation and repercussion of his actions to the point that he let Tong slipped away several times .

    Now, Tong had be an emperor while Yuan Shao stayed as a fraud warlord, who had tried to enthrone his youngest son .

    There was not a day that he regretted choosing Yuan Shao as his master . He wanted a more capable lord and more talented generals as his arsenal .

    Tian Feng red at Cao Cao, "Will you fight against Zhang Tong? I heard you swore allegiance to him to get the Marquis title . "

    "The title is just a decoration and a stepping stone to the greater height . I will have to fight him eventually since I don¡¯t agree with his government system . I don¡¯t n to fight him in the open, though . "

    "What about your son? Isn¡¯t he in Ye as a hostage?"

    "... If I fucked up and he died . He will understand my purpose in the afterlife . I¡¯ll honor him as the god-emperor of Wei Dynasty once I unified thend . "

    Tian Feng closed his eyes and sighed . This was a different trait between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao .

    Cao Cao was willing to kill his son to achieve his goal, but Yuan Shao valued reputation too much that it influenced all his subordinates, blinding them from the most straightforward solutions to many problems .

    Tian Feng knelt, "I, Tian Feng, Tian Yuanhao, sees the lord . "

    Tian Feng made his decision . He joined forces with Cao Cao!

    .

    .

    Morning of the next day .

    Cao Cao: "Miaocai, don¡¯t move or allow Yuan Shao to retreat . Wait in there until my force surround the city, okay?"

    Xiahou Yuan: "I saw the fire in the north . Was it you?"

    Cao Cao: "Yeah, Tian Feng surrendered, and all granaries have been burnt . The flood tactic won¡¯t happen this time . I don¡¯t want to restore the city from the flood . It¡¯s annoying . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "Will do . "

    After confirming Cao Cao¡¯s order from the chat, he turned to Guo Jia and passed on the messages . He told the strategist about the recent event .

    As Guo Jia listened to Xiahou Yuan, he revealed a wry smile .

    "He really wants to kill Yuan Shao and all of his family, isn¡¯t he?"

    "Can you tell?"

    "Yeah, he is meticulous with his moves as if he knew that Yuan Shao¡¯s sons would be troublesome . "

    "Will they?"

    "I doubt it . If they had many territories like Zhang Tong, it will be a pain . But since he has only one city left, our lord is a bit over-paranoid . "

    "So, what¡¯s next?"

    "Let¡¯s get ready to kill all the Yuan n members . I¡¯m tired of this farce . "

    .

    Yuan Shao was in despair when he saw the fire from afar . He shouted at his strategists, Guo Tu and Shen Pei, "What happened to Tian Feng!? Why is it burning over there!?"

    "T-That¡¯s impossible! They are so close to the river . How can their camps burn!?"

    "W-We don¡¯t know, my lord! We lost ourmunication with Sir Tian Feng ever since the beginning of the siege!"

    Yuan Shao¡¯s face lost all color . All ns that he and Tian Feng had prepared were in ruin .

    They supposed to weaken Cao Cao¡¯s forces and break out of the city . Not only they could not handle their armies, but Tian Feng also could not escape from Cao Cao¡¯s night raid .

    "It¡¯s over . "

    Yuan Shao fainted while half of his hair became white .

    "M-My lord!"

    "Call the physicians!"

    The moment Yuan Shao copsed from the shock, the onlooking soldiers spread the news . Like wildfire, everyone learned about the burning granaries to the north and Yuan Shao¡¯s health . The army morale sunk to the abyss once more .

    Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi, and Yuan Shang gathered all officials and Xiahou Yuan, trying to rally their soldiers . Everyone gazed at Xiahou Yuan as he was theirst hope .

    "General, do you think we can win?"

    Xiahou Yuan nced at Guo Jia, who stepped forward, "Allow me to answer that question . "

    "And you are?"

    "I am Feng Xiao . I¡¯m the strategist of Sir Miao Cai Army, just in case you¡¯ve forgotten . "

    Yuan Tan remembered the schr, "Oh, right! My apologies . Do you have an exit n in this situation?"

    "It depends on whether my lord is willing to ce yourself in troubles, or you will give up fighting for the hegemony . "

    "What do you mean?"

    "First, you can get an easy way out by surrender to Cao Cao . As a courtesy, Cao Cao will bestow you a title or a position for your cooperation . "

    Yuan Tan frowned . He did not like serving Cao Cao .

    "I¡¯m against surrendering . Do you have another way?"

    "The second choice, which is thest option, we¡¯ll fight them to the death . "

    "..."

    Yuan Tan and others stared at Guo Jia .

    "Are you serious? There is no other n?"

    "No . However, we can assign all of our strongest bodyguards to protect everybody here, if you would like our army to provide you our best men . We¡¯ll also send our strongest warrior to Lord Yuan¡¯s side . "

    Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi, and Yuan Shang stared at Guo Jia, suspicous of this strategist . They turned around and huddled together, whispering .

    "How about we let them fight to the death . When shit happens, we surrender?"

    "Great idea! How about we kill someone and pretend that it is a general¡¯s head?"

    "That good, too . Well, I think Cao Cao knew our father, so we can¡¯t fake his corpse . "

    "I heard Cao Cao is workaholic . Usually, workaholics seek women more than ordinary men . How about we offer him a few good looking girls and pretend that they are wives of some big-shots?"

    "Genius! Let¡¯s do that!"

    The three Yuans turned around and agreed with Guo Jia . "

    "O-Of course . Please give us your best soldiers . We¡¯ll pray for your victory from here . "

    Guo Jia smiled and bowed, "We will give you our best . "

    With all the formality, Guo Jia and Xiahou Yuan assigned a thousand men to guard all officers inside the inner city . Meanwhile, Xu Chu went to Yuan Shao¡¯s side, acting as his new bodyguard . However, they reassigned all private troops of the nobles to the frontline .

    Half a dayter, Cao Cao, Pu Jing, Sun Jian, and all generals surrounded the city once again .

    When the preparation was ready, Cao Cao gave Xiahou Yuan a signal by telling him in the n chat .

    "Open the gates for us . It¡¯s time . "

    Xiahou Yuan was protecting the west gate today . He sent a messenger to Xu Chu and the thousand soldiers inside the city .

    His message was simple, [KILL] .

    As soon as Xu Chu obtained the order, he killed all bodyguards who were protecting Yuan Shao and rushed into his room .

    Guo Tu and Shen Pei were still there at Yuan Shao¡¯s side, looking at Xu Chu in shock .

    "You ... what are you doing!?"

    "..."

    Xu Chu did not reply to the men . He swung his de and beheaded the two .

    The super bodyguard walked to Yuan Shao, who was sleeping on his bed .

    *SEOK*

    The de prated into Yuan Shao¡¯s heart . The warlord woke up in shock and stared into the eyes of the killer .

    As Yuan Shao lost his heart and all blood pressure, his strength escaped him . He died with his eyes open as he watched Xu Chu leaving the room .

    Meanwhile, the one thousand soldiers also took out their weapons and murdered every officer that they were protecting, including Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang, and Yuan Xi .

    In one move, all officers under Yuan Shao were ughtered .

    The one thousand soldiers rushed to Yuan Shao¡¯s manner afterward and began killing all females, elders, children, servants, and everyone who had ties with the Yuan n .

    Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, and Yuan Tan did not survive the ughtering .

    An hourter, Xu Chu and all soldiers visited Xiahou Yuan at the west wall . Their bodies covered in blood and sweat, which attracted the attention of the garrison soldiers .

    "It¡¯s done," Xu Chu confirmed his kill to Guo Jia and Xiahou Yuan .

    "Alright," Xiahou Yuan turned to Yuan Shao¡¯s infantries on the wall, "Open the gate! We¡¯re surrendering to Cao Cao!"

    The garrison soldiers widen their eyes in disbelief .

    "S-Sir, Lord Yuan said we have to protect the city ..."

    Xiahou Yuan smirked, "I¡¯ve received a new order from Lord Yuan . We¡¯re surrendering! Anyone that resists will be killed!"

    Hearing that it was an order from the lord himself, no one dared to make a fuss .

    Xiahou Yuan, Guo Jia, and Xu Chu rode out of the west gate to meet the invaders while garrison soldiers on the wall raised white gs .

    Cao Cao, who stationed at the west, also rode forward to meet with his trusted generals and strategist . Also, Tian Feng was next to Cao Cao when they reunited .

    Just like when Zhang He killed Han Fu and surrendered Ye City to Tong, Xiahou Yuan destroyed Yuan Shao¡¯s forces and gave Xiapi to Cao Cao .

    "Mission aplished . Took you a while, Mengde . "

    "I messed around for too long . Sorry about the stupid fight the other day . "

    "Meh, it¡¯s fine . How did you know that Yuan Shao would try to kill me?"

    "A hunch . Fortunately, this strategist at my side isn¡¯t in the city . Or else, you three would have been dead . "

    Xiahou Yuan turned to Tian Feng, who had a wry smile on his face . Judging from Cao Cao¡¯s words and Tian Feng¡¯s expression, it was not hard to tell that Cao Cao spoke the truth .

    "It¡¯s my mistake to lead a force outside the city . I should have let Yan Liang handle it, but I didn¡¯t trust that birdbrain general," Tian Feng sighed in regret . He could have done better .

 Chapter 388

    Chapter 388: 388

    Chapter 388 ¨C Cao Cao¡¯s Ambition

    October 10th, 190 A . D .

    All territories within Xu Province surrendered to Cao Cao since nobody could resist him anymore .

    At Xiapi, Cao Cao sat on his throne, breathing in the cold wind of pre-winter air .

    "Fortunately, I didn¡¯t go through with the flood tactic this time . That time that I fought Lu Bu here, the restoration was hell . "

    Pu Jing red at Cao Cao with a frown, "You sounded like you experienced the battles in my timeline . "

    "Ah, don¡¯t mind it, Putin . I¡¯m just talking to myself . Man, I¡¯m tired . "

    Cao Cao massaged his forehead as if he had a headache .

    "... I¡¯ll call the local physician then . "

    "Yeah, please do . "

    An hourter, an elderly physician visited Cao Cao .

    He was Hua Shi¡¯s father, Hua Tuo .

    Hua Tuo inspected Cao Cao¡¯s facial expression, blood pulse, and his breathing tempo .

    "There is no fever or a sign of illness . Just mental exhaustion . A night of good sleep will cure this naturally . You should skip the alcohol and avoid overworking for a week, and your condition will get better . "

    Cao Cao revealed a sarcastic grin, "You don¡¯t need to crack my head open?"

    "You are still young . You don¡¯t have a sign of a brain tumor or even a fever . There is no point in opening your head to examine anything . "

    "I thought you only treat righteous people . Am I righteous to you?"

    Hua Tuo turned to Cao Cao, wondered what this Marquis of Wei was thinking .

    "You haven¡¯t ughtered innocent civilians left and right like Zhang Tong . I have noint . "

    "Is that why you haven¡¯t returned to your son-inw, physician Hua Tuo?"

    The legendary doctor paused in surprise . He did not expect that Cao Cao would have known his name .

    Hua Tuo maintained his manner, cupped his fist, and bowed to Cao Cao .

    "As a physician, patients take priority . Family matter can be settledter . "

    "Even though your daughter has been killed by my new subordinates?"

    Hua Tuo flinched . No father could maintain an indifferent expression if his daughter¡¯s murderers were close-by . He red at Cao Cao in silence before he replied with a cracked voice .

    "My na?ve daughter had chosen to join the battlefield and the fight for hegemony . Casualties and idents are something that no man can predict . "

    "Is that why you refused to join Zhang Tong?"

    Hua Tuo red at Cao Cao . Veins of anger could be seen on his face .

    "Does Marquis of Wei want to pry on this lowly physician¡¯s family business?"

    "Normally, I won¡¯t even care . But you are rted to Zhang Tong, which is why I asked . "

    Hua Tuo did not say anything . He stared into Cao Cao¡¯s eyes with doubt and suspicion .

    Cao Cao detected that he had stepped on and mine . Thus, he chose not to push the matter . He waved his hand, "Forget it . You can leave . "

    "Hmm . "

    Hua Tuo bowed and left the government parliament building . On his way, he encountered Sun Jian, the father of his daughter¡¯s murderer, who was returning to report his patrol .

    Sun Jian flinched and stepped backward, giving his way to the physician .

    Ever since Sun Jian had returned, he established an intelligence agency inside the city, which he found out about Hua Tuo¡¯s background by ident .

    Feeling guilty for what his son had done, Sun Jian cupped his fist and bowed to Hua Tuo with respect . He wanted to apologize to the doctor, but his pride did not allow his knees to bend .

    Hua Tuo gritted his teeth and walked away, not saying anything to Sun Jian .

    Sun Jian gazed at the physician¡¯s back and muttered in a quiet voice, "I¡¯m sorry . "

    .

    The domestic affair of Xiapi went smooth after the acquisition . As Cao Cao and Guo Jia had nned, the civilians were happy with Cao Cao¡¯s peaceful policy and his generosity . Although the south wall had to be reworked, the damage was in an eptable range .

    But their happiness did notst long . A eunuch from Ye City arrived at Xiapi,ing to visit them .

    Both Cao Cao and Sun Jian had been working inside the government building when the eunuch arrived .

    "Zhang Tong¡¯s servant? What is he doing here?"

    Cao Cao stood and bowed to the official envoy with respect, "Lao Gonggong, what can I do for you?"

    "I¡¯m here as an envoy of his majesty, the emperor . I¡¯vee with an imperial decree addressed to Sun Jian!"

    Cao Cao had a bad feeling about this . He had forgotten that an emperor¡¯s mandate was impossible to refuse, which was Cao Cao¡¯s current weakness .

    "Sun Jian, step forward, and ept the heaven mandate!"

    Sun Jian walked out and knelt to the eunuch .

    "Sun Jian greets his majesty, may you live a prosperous life for ten thousand years . "

    The warlord did not kneel to the eunuch but the edict, which represented Tong¡¯s presence .

    "ording to the achievements from the previous Anti-Xiongnu Alliance, Sun Jian has disyed his abilities worthy of being praised . Thanked his prowess in battles, the Han Dynasty regains Hongnong and Luoyang from the Xiongnu . Leaving such a talented general unrewarded is terrible to Han¡¯s reputation . Therefore, we shall bestow Sun Jian with the title, Marquis of Xu . Sun Jian shall have the authority to oversee the entire Xu Province from now on . Because of this promation, Marquis of Xu and Marquis of Wei¡¯s territory will conflict against each other . To avoid such a problem, Marquis of Wei has to concede the Xu Province to Marquis of Xu . "

    It was the imperial decree that Tong had drafted long ago . Unfortunately, many of his advisors were against Tong¡¯s idea of demanding Sun Ce or Sun Fang as a hostage, so Tong nixed thetter part .

    The eunuch passed the scroll to Sun Jian, who received it with trembling hands, astonished . He was grateful to Tong and affirmed that he was a strong emperor that the Han Dynasty needed .

    "Sun Jian vowed to his majesty! I shall do my utmost best to meet your expectations!"

    The old eunuch smiled and cupped his fist to Sun Jian, "I shall pass on your oath to his majesty himself . My work here is done . "

    The eunuch left without asking for a bribe like the eunuchs under emperor Ling, which impressed Sun Jian further .

    His eyes brimmed with tears, believing that Tong had forgiven Sun Fang with this decree .

    Meanwhile, Cao Cao red at the eunuch and Sun Jian . Different from the tunnel vision Sun n¡¯s head, Cao Cao understood the hidden knife under the decree .

    This decree voided Cao Cao¡¯s ownership of Xu Province, where he sacrificed his men to obtain it .

    Secondly, Sun Jian now had the same rank as Cao Cao, which meant he could not control Sun Jian anymore .

    Andstly, which was an explosive move that even made Guo Jia by Cao Cao¡¯s side grimaced, it became possible that Sun Jian and his n would join Tong in the future, judging from the current Sun Jian¡¯s reaction .

    ¡¯Thieving bastard!¡¯

    Cao Cao could not hide his anger . His face reddened, and his veins pulsed, fuming with rage .

    As Guo Jia saw that his lord was about tosh out at Sun Jian, he blocked Cao Cao¡¯s path whispered to him .

    "My lord, you must not dismiss Sun Jian right now . "

    Cao Cao gritted his teeth, "Zhang Tong is poaching the Sun n! He¡¯s about to destroy the future Wu Dynasty, Fengxiao! What do you want me to do? Watching Zhang Tong getting stronger?"

    "Wrong . Please listen to me . "

    "... What¡¯s your ingenious n, then?"

    "My lord, Sun Jian may be loyal to Zhang Tong . Even children can see it if they see Sun Jian . However, we can¡¯t say the same with his sons . "

    Cao Cao¡¯s eyes sharpened . He nced at Sun Jian, who was busy rereading the imperial decree over and over again in delight .

    "We kill Sun Jian?" Cao Cao whispered .

    "Indeed, we¡¯ll destroy the edict and kill the eunuch as well . This mandate didn¡¯t happen . "

    "If this is found out, Zhang Tong will have a reason to brand us as rebels . "

    "We have enough territories to form a new country . All we need is another emperor . "

    Cao Cao gulped . Deep down inside, he wanted to unite the country for the sake of innocent peasants and for the greater good . As for his conflict with Tong, Cao Cao had nned to devour Tong¡¯s country from the inside .

    Along the way, he schemed and dibbed his hands into the dark side of politics, killing and backstabbing his friends, Yuan Shao .

    Cao Cao did not regret killing his friends to achieve his goal, but he was about to stray from his path . Had he ascended to the throne and found a new dynasty on top of the reviving Han Dynasty, he would encourage a grand war between Tong and himself, which was against his real aim .

    He wanted a peaceful method to unify this country for the people, not to create a conflict to advance in his career .

    Cao Cao nced at Pu Jing, who ruined his initial n of surrendering everything to Tong .

    ¡¯People or my self-interest?¡¯

    Cao Cao bit his lower lips and waved his hand .

    "I need to reconsider this matter . Leave me alone for now . "

    "... My lord, we have to act now, or the eunuch will go back to spread words . It¡¯s now or never . "

    Cao Cao red at Guo Jia, "Are you serving me to promote war, or are you serving me to promote peace?"

    "I¡¯m doing whatever necessary to bring the best to our forces, my lord . "

    "My eldest son will die because of you . Will you take responsibility for that?"

    Cao Cao mentioned about Cao Ang, whom Tong forcefully took him to Ye City as a hostage . He was concerned about his son since Guo Jia¡¯s n would force Tong to kill Cao Ang for sure .

    "He won¡¯t die, my lord . "

    "Hah? Are you that confident?"

    "Believe me, I won¡¯t let Zhang Tong kill your son . "

    "..."

    Cao Cao gazed at Guo Jia, feeling nostalgic . In the dream memory of his other life, Cao Cao regretted losing Guo Jia . Now, he reunited with his precious strategist, but Cao Cao found himself in a dilemma .

    He wanted to trust Guo Jia, but it was against his irond policy .

    Fight for the people?

    Fight for himself, his subordinates, and his n?

    Which one should he be fighting for?

    ¡¯I lost Cao Ang in myst life because of my lust . Do I have to lose him again in this life?¡¯

    As he was pondering, he recalled the dream memory about him being the Duke of Wei and the story of Cao Pi, his son, who would be the first Wei Emperor .

    The entire body of Cao Cao trembled . Tears rolled down from both eyes as he red at Guo Jia .

    ¡¯I¡¯m not supposed to fight for the people . I have to pave the way for my children! Sima n has already joined Zhang Tong, so they can¡¯t usurp our dynasty like the other timeline!¡¯

    Cao Cao¡¯s new ambition ignited . His goal had changed .

    "Kill Sun Jian, kill the eunuch, and save my son . That¡¯s the orders . "

    "... Understood . "

 Chapter 389

    Chapter 389

    Chapter 389 ¨C Ambush

    While Sun Jian was working inside the government building, he texted everyone with the n chat, copying every word and every sentence from the edict to show everybody .

    Sun Jian: "Zhang Tong has forgiven our crime . It¡¯s a piece of good news!"

    Wu Guotai: "Congrattions, husband!"

    Huang Gai: "Awesome! This Zhang Tong is a good emperor . I like him!"

    Cheng Pu: "Congrattions, my lord . "

    Han Dang: "Congrattions!"

    Sun Ce: "Wow! I misunderstood the emperor . His tolerance is something else . I respect him now . "

    .

    In Xuchang City, inside Sun Fang¡¯s resident, the otherworlder sat cross-legs, meditating to heal his soul injuries .

    Sun Fang noticed all themotion in the n chat, yet did notment anything . Instead, he had a bad omen about his father¡¯s promotion .

    "Somebody,e and help me something . "

    Sun Fang¡¯s guard rushed into his room, thinking that Sun Fang¡¯s illness acted up again .

    "Sir! Is there something wrong!?"

    "Go fetch me a scroll and ink . I need to write a letter . "

    "Yes, sir!"

    The servant rushed out with haste .

    Meanwhile, Sun Fang¡¯s eyes gleamed .

    ¡¯This is Zhang Tong¡¯s ploy . He wants to sow discord between our n and Cao Cao . ¡¯

    Sun Fang sighed in regret as he watched the name of his father .

    ¡¯Soon, Cao Cao will probably kill you, father . But I¡¯m sorry . For the sake of my survival, I can¡¯t let you join Zhang Tong . You have to die . ¡¯

    .

    The eunuch and his bodyguards remained in Xiapi for a day before they departed .

    Sun Jian and his officers went out to send them off with gratitude .

    "Thank you for your trouble, Lao Gonggong . "

    "Don¡¯t be . I¡¯m just doing my job . "

    "Please take care of yourself," Sun Jian and others cupped their fist and bowed .

    The eunuch revealed a bright smile . He walked closer to Sun Jian and whispered, "His majesty told me to pass this to you in secret . "

    A folded piece of cloth was shoved into Sun Jian¡¯s robe .

    Sun Jian¡¯s face changed . He finally realized that this visit was fishy since Tong sent him a secret message .

    The eunuch and his caravan left Xiapi and headed north, heading toward Langye . Once they reached there, they would head to Beihei of Kong Rong next .

    While everyone was looking at the departing group, Sun Jian took out the eunuch¡¯s handkerchief .

    On the piece of cloth, there were written characters .

    [Cao Cao will kill you soon . Take all your men and escape, now!]

    Sun Jian¡¯s face paled . He turned to the eunuch, who had already left . Wanting to confirm this message, Sun Jian turned to Huang Gai, "Get me a horse, quick!"

    Despite being shocked and confused by their lord¡¯s action, the three generals rushed to the city stable and brought horses with them . Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu rode and chased after the eunuch together .

    Unfortunately, by the time that they got the horses, it had been already thirty minutes after the eunuch departed .

    Following the traces of wagons and horse tracks, the four galloped at full speed . While they were at it, Sun Jian bellowed, telling the content of the handkerchief to his subordinates .

    "THE EUNUCH TOLD ME THAT CAO CAO WILL KILL ME!"

    "WHAT!?"

    Huang Gai and others could not believe their ears . Since none of them were stupid, they connected the imperial decree and the hidden message from the eunuch .

    Cheng Pu shouted, "HAS ZHANG TONG SET US UP!?"

    "NO! IF HE WANTS US DEAD, HE WOULDN¡¯T HAVE DELIVERED THIS MESSAGE!"

    "THEN, WHY!?"

    "ZHANG TONG AND CAO CAO ARE PROBABLY NOT ALLIES! BOTH OF THEM ARE PLAYING A GAME, AND WE ARE THEIR CHESS PIECES!"

    "IMPOSSIBLE!"

    "YES, IT IS POSSIBLE! THE GAME IS ONGOING NOW, AND OUR LIFE IS AT RISK!"

    As their horses were galloping toward the north, Sun Jian recalled the imperial decree . His brain also functioned, analyzing all past events at full speed .

    From the decree, Tong wanted Cao Cao to concede Xiapi, Xiaopei, Langye, and Pengcheng to Sun Jian . Cao Cao would also have no right to interfere with this region¡¯s affair .

    Secondly, the promotion order that made him the Marquis of Xu automatically dismissed Sun Jian from Cao Cao¡¯s ranks, which also disallowed him to serve Cao Cao again . As someone on the same rank, Sun Jian could not bow to Cao Cao anymore .

    From the two orders, Sun Jian had to separate from Cao Cao and im Xu Province as his own .

    The Marquis of Wei had sacrificed his men, assets, and supplies to obtain the entire Xu Province, yet he had to give it away to Sun Jian, who was just a lowly general, because of a single imperial decree .

    It was like a p to Cao Cao¡¯s face .

    Had the hidden message handkerchief not appeared, Sun Jian would have still been clueless about their status quo, thinking that both Cao Cao and he were serving the same emperor as loyal vessels .

    However, the eunuch¡¯s hint changed everything .

    .

    A few kilometers north of Xiapi, Cao Cao¡¯s 500 elites and Zhang Kai hid in a forest on a side road . All of them wore old yellow turban uniforms, pretending to be the remnants of yellow turban imposters .

    Yesterday, Cao Cao dispatched this unit to hide on the roadside, waiting to ambush the eunuch and faking it as a random bandit assault .

    As Zhang Kai surrendered together with the soldiers and Xiahou Yuan, he was reassigned to do mundane tasks . This ambush job, too, was something that Cao Cao rigged for Zhang Kai .

    If he failed, Cao Cao did not mind if the former bandit died . After all, he had already informed Cao Ren with the n chat . Had the caravan made it to Langye, Cao Ren would deal with them .

    Zhang Kai, however, was oblivious to Cao Cao¡¯s scheme . He thought that he got the job that suited him best, a bandit . He nned to desert Cao Cao¡¯s forces if he scored sizable treasures and wealth from the eunuch group .

    Soon, the eunuch escort troops arrived .

    Within the caravan, the imperial eunuch was resting in his carriage . Meanwhile, a tall youth rode beside him .

    He was Taishi Ci, Tong¡¯s bodyguard that was sent to counter Cao Cao¡¯s possible ambushes . Furthermore, the 100 men equipped with M2 shotguns and 9mm pistols, created by Diaochan .

    These 100 bodyguards were a part of Tong¡¯s 5,000 royal guards, who were the only battalion authorized to use firearms as their primary weapons .

    Taishi Ci guided the royal guards, crossing the ambush site .

    Zhang Kai waved his hand, and all 500 ambushers aimed their crossbows at the troops .

    At the same moment, Sun Jian and his generals caught up with them, "STOP! PLEASE WAIT!"

    All royal guards turned around . Upon looking back, one of the soldiers noticed a hiding bandit .

    "AMBUSH!! PROTECT THE ROYAL ENVOY!"

    Taishi Ci pulled out his pistol and fired at the direction of detected bandits .

    Not only Taishi Ci used his pistol, but the royal guards also used their shotguns to attack the bandits in the bushes .

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Zhang Kai, who was hiding at the forefront, was shot in his chest .

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    The bandits also counter-attacked with their repeating crossbows .

    Slug shells and bullets maimed one hundred ambushers in the forest, while hundreds of arrows also killed a few guards .

    The exchangested less than 10 seconds as the royal guards ran out of bullets . Instead of reloading, they switched to melee weapons . Each of them pulled out their best cold weaponry, swords, spears, halberds, axes, and even maces .

    The royal guards had a unique rule . Everybody could use any secondary weapon of their choice so that they could disy their full potential in a free fight .

    "KILL!"

    "SHAAA!!"

    Taishi Ci and half of the surviving soldiers rushed into the forest .

    Meanwhile, Zhang Kai was crawling on the ground after he had been shot . He coughed blood as the shell went through his lung .

    Taishi Ci reached him in a sh .

    *SWUA*

    Without being about to fend off for himself, Zhang Kai was killed by Taishi Ci, who did not realize that he killed an enemy general .

    Out of 500 Cao Cao¡¯s men, only less than half survived from the gunshots . A hundred of the survivors ran away the moment they realized they were up against Tong¡¯s firearms .

    As for the rest, they stood their ground and attacked the royal guards .

    Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu jumped into the fray, helping the eunuch escorts .

    Everybody scattered into the forest and attacked anyone with clothing that was not the same as theirs .

    .

    .

    Each Sun n generals slew ten men, while Sun Jian killed 20 . Meanwhile, Taishi Ci managed to im 12 lives, and his men finished the rest .

    When everyone returned to the eunuch carriage, they found that only half of the royal guards survived .

    Taishi Ci grimaced, ming himself for not detecting the bandits earlier .

    Although his thought was in disarray, he did not forget to express his gratitude to Sun Jian and his generals .

    "Thank you for your assistance, sir . Had it not because of you, more of my men would have died . "

    Sun Jian waved his hand, "Don¡¯t thank me . Thank his majesty for warning me about this peril . "

    "Oh, did his majesty tell you about this ambush?"

    "No," Sun Jian looked at the eunuch carriage, "But he should be able to tell us what had happened and why this happened . "

    Taishi Ci followed Sun Jian¡¯s eyes and turned to the eunuch .

    The middle-aged eunuch stepped down from his carriage and bowed to everybody in humble .

    "Thank you, everyone, for your sacrifice and your protection . I assume that Sir Sun Jian wishes to inquire about the handkerchief?"

    Sun Jian nodded, "Yes . Can you tell us about it?"

    "I can tell you, but your soldiers in Xiapi might have faced troubles by now . Do you have the time to listen to my story?"

    "..."

    Sun Jian¡¯s face lost color when he was reminded that over 25,000 men of their forces were still resting in Xiapi . He was about to pull his horse to return, but Huang Gai stopped Sun Jian .

    "My lord, it¡¯s toote now . If Cao Cao sent these men to kill the envoy, he should have prepared other ambushers to kill us too . "

    "What about my men? Are you telling me to abandon them!?"

    "Cao Cao won¡¯t kill everybody for the sake of killing you! He will probably create a piece of false news about your death, so he can absorb everyone into his ranks . If you and the envoy die, Cao Cao could pretend that the imperial decree didn¡¯t happen!"

    "!!!"

    Sun Jian¡¯s eyes brimmed with tears of regret . He regretted working for Cao Cao now .

    "Why is he fighting against his majesty!? Hasn¡¯t he been fighting for the people!? Just why!?"

    The envoy shook his head, "It¡¯s politic and greed, Sir Sun Jian . We¡¯re deeply sorry for involving you in our affair . We need to confirm Cao Cao¡¯s stance, or our Han Dynasty will face another crisis because of Cao Cao . "

 Chapter 390

    Chapter 390

    Chapter 390 ¨C Sun Jian¡¯s Choice

    Han Dang, Cheng Pu, and Huang Gai red at the eunuch in anger . Because of this imperial edict, Cao Cao backstabbed Sun Jian .

    Still, the words of official made sense . If Cao Cao owned Xu Province and other regions, he might grow too powerful, and he could rebel against the Han in the future .

    Forcing Cao Cao to rebel when he was weak would be a better choice since Tong could rally other warlords to fight the former¡¯s army . If Tong did not use this underhanded tactic, Cao Cao could have infiltrated Tong¡¯s ranks and damaged the Han Dynasty¡¯s foundation .

    Sun Jianmented to his fate . Several stalks of his hair whitened as he was disappointed in the politic world .

    Taishi Ci observed Sun Jian and others . He had been thinking, ¡¯Can we shelter these loyal officials? They are the victims of his majesty¡¯s n, right? Can they join us?¡¯

    With such thought, Taishi Ci walked to the group, "Senior, if you don¡¯t have a ce to go, how about you join us? We will head back to Ye City . Senior Sun and your subordinates coulde along .

    Sun Jian and his men hated theplexity of the politic . Yet, they had to allow themselves to be swept by the flow since they had nowhere else to go .

    After all, returning equaled death .

    "We¡¯ll be in your care," Sun Jian bowed to the eunuch .

    .

    After they agreed to join them on their way to Beihai, Sun Jian warned his family through the n chat .

    Sun Jian: "Situation changed . Cao Cao wants us dead! Bofu, gather your belonging and get your mother out of Xuchang, now!"

    Sun Ce: "WHAT!? WHY DOES HE WANT YOU DEAD!? YOU ARE THEIR LOYAL VESSEL!?

    Sun Jian: "The imperial decree is a poison! Zhang Tong wants us to fight against Cao Cao, but Cao Cao made a move on us first!"

    Wu Guotai: "Then, where should we go?"

    Sun Jian: "Can you head north to Ye City?"

    Sun Ce: "Are we still joining Zhang Tong despite all this!?"

    Sun Jian: "Me, Gongfu, Yigong, and Demou are heading to Beihai . We¡¯ll be joining with Kong Rong for now, and we¡¯ll head to Yeter . Can you head there, so we can get away from this war?"

    Sun Fang, who had been quiet, finally joined the fray .

    Sun Fang: "No . That will be too obvious, father . Cao Cao has an otherworlder subordinate, so he could have used this n chat to inform his men around the borders . If we head north, we all will die . "

    Sun Jian: "Are you sure, Fang¡¯er? Is your health, alright?"

    Sun Fang: "I¡¯m fine . Father, I had sent a fast horse to Lujiang yesterday . I¡¯ve asked senior Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao to gather forces as our back-up n . I think Bofu, mother, and I will sneak to the south and hide in Lujiang . We should be safer with senior Zhang¡¯s n . "

    Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong were elite schrs in Lujiang, known as the "two Zhangs . " These men were Sun Jian¡¯s friends who also served Sun Jian as his advisors, but they remained in Lujiang along with Sun Ce¡¯s best friend, Zhou Yu, to establish their home base there .

    Should anything had happened to Sun Jian during the Yellow Turban days or the Xiongnu Invasion, these men would have rallied their forces to help Sun Ce and Sun Fang right away .

    And now, Sun Ce, Wu Guotai, and Sun Fang required their aid .

    Sun Jian: "I trust you . We¡¯ll join Zhang Tong for now, but you and Bofu should alsoy low . Until the conflict between Cao Cao and Zhang Tong is over, don¡¯te out or attract any attention . "

    Sun Fang: "Yes . We¡¯ll be careful . Senior Huang, please take care of my father . "

    Huang Gai: "Not a fly can touch him, young master Fang!"

    October 11th, 190 A . D .

    The Sun n separated on this day . However, it was a turning point for a significant change .

    .

    Langye City, Cao Ren received Cao Cao¡¯s order through the n chat .

    The order was simple . He had to kill Tong¡¯s envoy and Sun Jian .

    "What the heck is Cao Cao doing over there? Hasn¡¯t Sun Jian joined us?"

    Cao Ren inquired about the reason behind this, but Cao Cao replied .

    "Thing has changed . Zhang Tong ordered us to hand over the entire Xu Province to Sun Jian, and that fool wants to join Zhang Tong . They have to die, or we¡¯ll be boxed by their allies . "

    Cao Ren was also a literate person . Upon learning Cao Cao¡¯s Intel, he redrew the map of their country .

    Tong had everything north of the Yellow River, while Cao Cao controlled a portion of the central in .

    Sun Jian stole Xu Province because of the imperial decree, so he would control the east coast .

    Liu Biao was still governing Jing Province while Yuan Shu owned Luoyang, Hongnong, and Wan Commandery .

    With this mapping, Cao Cao¡¯s territories got stuck in the middle between these warlords . If this continued, either Tong or Yuan Shu might start moving toward them to consume everything .

    Moreover, Tong had his authority as the emperor . He could suddenly announce that Cao Cao was a traitorous rebel, and all warlords would prey on them at any time .

    "Got it . Sun Jian and the eunuch, no problem . "

    With the direct order from Cao Cao, Cao Ren gathered all of his officers and mobilized his army . 10,000 scouts left Langye, searching everywhere south and looking for the envoy caravan .

    .

    .

    Taishi Ci: "Eh, hello?"

    Taishi Ci: "Is this how to use the text?"

    Tong never sent someone without a n chat on a mission . He had learned to expand his intelligence agents and workers to various regions .

    Taishi Ci was one of them . Tong had ced him in his n chat for the sake of this mission .

    Tong: "Report, Ziyi . What has happened?"

    Taishi Ci: "Your majesty, Cao Cao sent troops to kill Sun Jian and us . Sun Jian and his men are tagging along with us . "

    Xun Yu: "As nned, eh?"

    Jia Xu: "Yup . Hook, line, and sinker . "

    Tong: "Where are you now, Ziyi?"

    Taishi Ci: "We¡¯re north of Xiapi, about 2 days away to Zeng County . "

    Tong: "Tell my head eunuch to buy something in Zeng and disguise yourself as merchants . Don¡¯t stay in Zeng for too long . "

    Taishi Ci: "Yes, your majesty . "

    Tong: "Kong Rong, report . "

    Kong Rong: "This lowly servant reports to his majesty . "

    Tong: "Gather all your men and mobilize south . South of your county, Gaomi County is there . Fortify your troops there and forcefully draw Cao Ren from Langye to you . "

    Kong Rong: "Are we waging war against Cao Cao, your majesty?"

    Tong: "No . Just draw them to the field . Do not engage with them . "

    Kong Rong: "Wouldn¡¯t they attack me?"

    Tong: "Don¡¯t worry . They won¡¯t be able to afford that . Don¡¯t forget your cannons when you fortify Gaomi County . "

    Kong Rong: "This servant understood . I shall prepare the troops at once . "

    .

    .

    October 13th, 190 A . D .

    Taishi Ci, Sun Jian, and others reached Zeng County .

    Zeng County located between Langye and Xiapi, which served as a check-point for the traveling merchants in the areas . Everybody had to journey through here if they traveled between these two cities .

    As instructed, Taishi Ci passed on Tong¡¯smand and disguised the entire crews as merchants . The eunuch sacrificed his essories and his royal carriage to fund their group, so they could buy merchant carts, pottery, and other wares, making their disguise believable .

    .

    October 14th, 190 A . D .

    The group exited the city with haste . While they were leaving the town, a group of 100 horsemen arrived at the county .

    These men red at the group of moving caravan .

    "Halt!"

    Taishi Ci and Sun Jian paused and turned to the soldiers .

    At the moment, they wore civilian clothes . All of their bodyguards also hid their weapons on their wagons, disguising them as their wares . However, each still hid their shotgun and a pistol beneath their robe .

    "By order of the Marquis of Wei, every caravan has to be searched!"

    Taishi Ci, pretending to be their bodyguard leader, bowed to the soldiers .

    "What are you looking for, sir?"

    "We¡¯re looking for a group of criminals! One is a eunuch, and the other is called Sun Jian . Have you heard of them?"

    "Never heard of them . "

    "Anyway, we¡¯ll search your carts and wagons!"

    The soldiers proceeded ahead and scrambled through their wares without their consent . Still, they could only find pottery, food supplies, and weaponry for sale .

    "It¡¯s just a merchant caravan, sir," A searching soldier reported to their captain .

    "Eh, what a waste of time . Let¡¯s go! Search the others and shut the gates . Don¡¯t let anyone leave Zeng County!"

    "What about these men, sir?"

    "Leave them be . They¡¯re not the fugitives anyway . All eunuchs are known to be prideful and arrogant pricks . I don¡¯t think he is among those poor-looking bastards . Let¡¯s go!"

    "..."

    All scouts entered the city .

    Meanwhile, Sun Jian turned to the eunuch, who had disguised as an old woman .

    This person had a feminine voice because of his abnormal hormone . With a female robe and make-up, everybody would mistake him for an ugly woman .

    Still, the eunuch did not look perturbed by the scout¡¯s remark .

    "My apologies, Lao Gonggong," Sun Jian bowed to him .

    "No harm . Well, you should call me by my alias, or we will get suspicious . "

    "Lao Gonggong, we don¡¯t dare to call you that . Isn¡¯t that your real name?"

    "Who cares! Just use my real name . "

    "Understood, Sir Wei You . "

    Wei You was a former subordinate of Liu Yu and served as his advisor . When Liu Yu went to Luoyang and got himself killed by Dong Zhuo, Wei You maintained his position as Ji¡¯s deputy governor before the barbarian tribes overtook his county .

    Afterward, Wei You joined Tong¡¯s ranks . Unfortunately, he was not used to Tong¡¯s system, so he did not manage to disy his talents .

    When Tong ascended the throne, Wei You tried again by cutting his manhood and joined the pce as a eunuch . Using his experience in the internal affair, he finally earned Tong¡¯s trust and was sent to this mission .

    In reality, Tong learned about his nameter after Wei You had joined the pce as a servant eunuch . When Tong discovered Wei You¡¯s past, he promoted the man into a head eunuch, hoping to use him as a domestic assistant or a secretary .

    "Let¡¯s move out . "

    Wei You, Sun Jian, Taishi Ci, and others continued their journey toward Langye County .

    .

    .

    October 30th, 190 A . D .

    Winter was around the corner, but a piece of bad news arrived at Cao Ren¡¯s ears in Langye .

    A force of 30,000 soldiers approached the border, north of his county . The leader of this army was Kong Rong, Tong¡¯s subordinate!

    Not many warlords were willing to dispatch their armies in winter as the soldiers would consume more resources, firewood and food .

    "Are they insane!? Attacking us in the winter!?"

 Chapter 391

    Chapter 391

    Chapter 391 ¨C Cao Ren¡¯s Miscalction

    Cao Ren hesitated if he should march out to meet Kong Rong on an open field .

    If they stayed in-door and waited for their arrival, Cao Ren could save his men¡¯s strength . The resource consumption would also be lower than marching out . However, they would be at a disadvantage had Kong Rong brought cannons with him .

    Currently, all Cao Cao¡¯s officers knew about the potential of this siege weapon as cannons were most destructive if they were used against buildings, city walls, orrge weaponry, such as siege towers, watchtowers, or trebuchets .

    The only way to counter cannons were directbat .

    The number of Tong¡¯s cannons was still limited, ording to Cao Cao¡¯s intelligence agencies . Furthermore, cannonballs could only kill a few dozen men per shot . Compared to repeating crossbows, this type of cannons was weaker when they were fighting against an army on a field battle . A loose formation could counter a round of cannon barrage with ease!

    Judging the pros and cons, Cao Ren made up his mind .

    "Gather our men! We¡¯ll meet them on the battlefield!"

    Yue Jin, Cao Ren¡¯s aide, was dumbfounded by the illogical deployment order .

    "Boss, it will be winter soon! We can wait for them inside the city and wait for them to freeze to death outside!"

    "That¡¯s not going to happen! All of Zhang Tong¡¯s men are elites and experienced in warfare . If they¡¯reing here, then there is a purpose! They aren¡¯ting here tomit suicide for sure!"

    "Come here with a purpose?"

    Yue Jin stopped to think .

    In reality, Cao Ren got tunnel vision, believing that Tong wanted to upy Langye or destroy Cao Cao¡¯s forces . He hinted at his aide that Tong might have plotted a move that could catch Cao Ren off-guard and destroy his army with his cannons .

    However, Yue Jin misunderstood Cao Ren¡¯s intention, thinking that Cao Ren wanted him to look at the big picture .

    Pondering for a while, Yue Jin thought of the ambush ordered by their lord .

    "Is this connected to the ambush n? The one that we¡¯re supposed to kill Sun Jian and Tong¡¯s envoy?"

    Cao Ren widened his eyes, "What are you talking about?"

    "You¡¯re not talking about the recent order?"

    "I¡¯m talking about the invasion!"

    "What about the order? Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s connected?"

    "What does this have to do with Sun Jian and the eunuch?"

    "Well, are they trying to rescue these people?"

    Cao Ren¡¯s jaw dropped, "Is it?"

    "I think Kong Rong¡¯s mobilization is a bait to draw us out of our territory so that Sun Jian and the envoy can slip through our . Since they areing toward Langye, their next destination will be Kong Rong¡¯s city . "

    "I see! So Kong Rong is trying to help them!"

    Cao Ren got goosebumps . Had Yue Jin had not warned him about Sun Jian, he would have neglected the ambush order .

    "Which one should we prioritize, boss?"

    Cao Ren groaned . Pondering for another minute, he made his decision .

    "The city¡¯s safetyes first! We¡¯ll concentrate on the invaders!"

    "Shouldn¡¯t we split our force and use a few thousand men to ambush Sun Jian?"

    Cao Ren scratched his head, "I¡¯m not a strategist! How should I know!?"

    Without a choice, Cao Ren asked for Cao Cao and others in the n chat . Opposite of Cao Ren¡¯s initial opinion, Cheng Yu, Pu Jing, and Cao Cao had the same thought .

    Cao Cao: "Ignore the invaders . Use all your troops to kill Sun Jian . "

    Cheng Yu: "Sun Jian and the envoy¡¯s bodyguards killed Zhang Kai and his team . Using this as a measure of their skills, I don¡¯t think a few thousand men can kill everyone . "

    Pu Jing: "When a lion hunts a hare, he goes all out . Sun Jian and his men are no hare, so you¡¯d better not looking down on them . Use everything you have to kill them even if you have to sacrifice Langye Commandery!"

    Cao Ren received his order . He passed it to Yue Jin .

    "Our lord and our strategists told us to ignore the invaders . We¡¯ll go after Sun Jian . "

    .

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, Sun Jian, Wei You, Taishi Ci, and others arrived at the border of Langye . Because of several check-points and inspections by Cao Ren¡¯s men, their journey was dyed by many days .

    Fortunately, Sun Jian and his subordinates were cool-headed enough to maintain theirposure under pressure . Nobody suspected that they were the fugitives .

    Still, everybody was on edge as it was apparent that Cao Ren knew about their arrival .

    Taishi Ci reported their location to Tong in the n chat .

    Taishi Ci: "We¡¯re at Langye border, half a day away from the city . "

    Kong Rong: "Our troops are at Gaomi County . Should we move further south? We haven¡¯t detected Cao Ren¡¯s movement . "

    Tong: "Kong Rong, move south to Dongwu County . If Cao Ren still refuses to move, mobilize to Langye and demand to enter the city . "

    Kong Rong: "I thought we won¡¯t really attack them . Are we attacking Xu Province?"

    Tong: "Not really . Do not forget that we still have that agreement with Cao Cao . We have full authority to enter their territory since we have a master-servant rtionship . In the papers, Cao Cao is my underling, so he has to open his gates to wee us!"

    Kong Rong: "OH! I get it!"

    Tong: "Taishi Ci, keep pretending to be merchants and enter the city using the main road . Don¡¯t try to sneak around, or everyone will get caught . "

    Taishi Ci: "Yes, my lord!"

    With Tong¡¯s confirmation, everyone proceeded to Langye, bracing the dangers .

    .

    Taishi Ci and others arrived at the south gate of Langye City . As they had expected, Cao Ren set up another check-point .

    As soon as they arrived, they found themselves at the back of a long line of merchant wagons and caravans . Taishi Ci and hispany were not the only ones who had nned to enter the city .

    "How long are they going to take!? It¡¯s been days!"

    "Can somebody tell the soldiers to hurry up? We¡¯ll get caught by the winter at this rate!"

    Hearing theints of the merchants, Wei You pretended to act as an errand maid . He approached a nearby merchant and asked, "What happens to the front? Why are we getting stuck here?"

    The merchant grumbled, "The city protector ordered the gatekeepers not to allow anyone inside . This is stupid, you know? I¡¯ve been here in the long line for three days now, and nobody can get inside! They¡¯re trying to freeze us to death this winter!"

    "Then, why don¡¯t you go back to your previous city or county? It takes only a few weeks . "

    "Do you see several guards around here?"

    The merchants pointed at patrol guards in the area, who was ring at them .

    "These men told us that we can¡¯t travel anywhere, or they will kill every single of us! Can you believe it?"

    "Why are they doing that? Won¡¯t they hurt their city and its people?"

    "They¡¯re looking for a group of fugitives . Unless they caught them, they wouldn¡¯t allow anyone inside the city . "

    "..."

    Wei You returned with the piece of bad news . Sun Jian, Taishi Ci, and everybody listened to him in solemn .

    Huang Gai and Cheng Pu grumbled, "What¡¯s next? Are we waiting here as well? Our ration is almost out . "

    Taishi Ci appeased them, "We have to wait . Let¡¯s wait until our reinforcement arrives . They should be here in a week or so . "

    Sun Jian was surprised, "I didn¡¯t see you sending any messenger . How did you know that there will be a reinforcement?"

    "n chat . Eh, I think you might not know this since you haven¡¯t been invited to a n . We¡¯ll tell you once we arrived at Ye City . "

    "..."

    Sun Jian was astonished . Taishi Ci was still young, but Tong had bestowed him the n chat ability, which was the same as Sun Fang¡¯s .

    A weird thought came to Sun Jian¡¯s mind, ¡¯Can we join more than one n at the same time?¡¯

    Sun Jian also asked Sun Fang in the n chat .

    Sun Jian: "Is it possible to join two immortal ns? I¡¯m afraid that his majesty might invite us into his n . "

    Sun Fang: "I doubt it . The system said that we can only join one . "

    Sun Jian had worries . This might spark a misunderstanding between Tong and himself since he did not want to rebel against the Han Dynasty .

    Sun Jian: "Can you dissolve our n, so we can join his majesty?"

    Sun Fang: "The only way that I can disband this n is my death . "

    This confirmation hammered the final nail in the coffin . Between Sun Jian¡¯s family and his ideal, he weighed the former more than thetter .

    Sun Jian: "Gongfu, Demou, Yigong, we willy low and try not to get involved in Zhang Tong¡¯s affair . "

    Seeing the n message, Huang Gai and the others frowned . They nced at their liege without rming Wei You and Taishi Ci .

    Huang Gai: "We¡¯re not joining Zhang Tong, now?"

    Cheng Pu: "So, we areying low while we¡¯re avoiding getting recruited into another n?"

    Han Dang: "Is it possible to mediate this issue?"

    Sun Jian: "I don¡¯t know . I¡¯ll be trying to solve the feud between Fang¡¯er and Zhang Tong . If he insists on killing Fang¡¯er, then we¡¯ll retire from his ranks . "

    Cheng Pu: "Won¡¯t he try to kill us like Cao Cao?"

    Sun Jian: "I have no idea . Since he¡¯s doing his best to get us out of here, let¡¯s be on friendly terms with Zhang Tong for now . Once we can escape from Ye and regroup with Bofu and Fang¡¯er, we will do so . "

    A back-up n had emerged during the escape . If Tong insisted on killing Sun Fang or harm the Sun n, Sun Jian schemed that they would desert from Tong¡¯s ranks and flee to Lujiang, regrouping with Sun Ce and Sun Fang .

    For now, Sun Jian wished to negotiate with Tong first .

    .

    Later that day, Cao Ren deployed all of his troops to search for Sun Jian . Because of Cao Ren and Yue Jin¡¯s cautious, all scout teams consisted of 2,000 soldiers .

    As a consequence of suchrge armies, their mobilization terrified the local poption .

    As Cao Ren and Yue Jin left the city, their subordinates who had surrendered to Cao Ren, Chen Gui, became the new prefect of this Langye .

    He and his n member, Chen Deng, continued Cao Ren¡¯s policies, barricading all merchants and travelers from entering or leaving the city .

    However, Cao Ren took away most of their local troops and their private soldiers . Only less than 2,000 garrison soldiers maintained the order here . With fewer troops, guards who oversaw the people outside the gates had a hard time suppressing the merchants .

    The merchants outside the wall kept demanding and shouting at the guards . They gathered their private troops, bodyguards, and mercenaries to form an army, threatening to siege the city had Chen Gui not opened the gates .

    In the end, Chen Gui and Chen Deng agreed to their terms and opened the gates, allowing them toe inside .

    Sun Jian, Taishi Ci, and others received the boons from the uproar . All fugitives entered the city without a strict inspection .

 Chapter 392

    Chapter 392

    Chapter 392 ¨C Sneak Away

    November 10th .

    The weather got colder each day as the cold wind from the north reached the center of China .

    Cao Ren and Yue Jin traveled along with their men, searching for a trail of Sun Jian and his crews . After ten days of tracking, they became depressed and frustrated .

    Although they could not find any trace on the outskirt, they found the eunuch¡¯s carriage, which was sold to a local noble in Zeng County . Upon questioning, they discovered that the eunuch and Sun Jian disguised as merchants and traveled to Langye many days ago .

    Both generals rushed back with their men, returning to Langye at full speed . On the way home, he made a cruel order .

    "KILL EVERY MERCHANT YOU FIND ON THE ROAD, NO EXCEPTION!"

    All 20,000 soldiers rushed back to Langye using all roads, killing every civilian they found .

    .

    Meanwhile, Sun Jian, Wei You, Taishi Ci, and others hid inside Langye County . As the local official forbade anyone from leaving, they had to rest in a local inn, waiting for their reinforcement to arrive .

    November 15th .

    Kong Rong arrived at Langye as promised .

    When Chen Gui and Chen Deng saw an army approaching, they were in a panic that they almost wet their pants . All of their garrison soldiers also trembled in fright .

    "We¡¯re doomed! That Cao Ren probably knew about this . Is this why they left our county in a hurry!?"

    Chen Gui sighed, "Let¡¯s surrender . We can¡¯t fight that army . "

    "We don¡¯t even know what we did wrong . Why is his majesty invading us? Isn¡¯t Cao Cao his majesty¡¯s subordinate?"

    "I don¡¯t know . For now, let¡¯s get down and wee them . We don¡¯t want them to siege the city . "

    People¡¯s loyalty toward their lord was always dubious . They might swear allegiance to one liege, but they could also serve another warlord if the situation demanded it .

    The Chen Family was the same . Ever since their former lord, Tao Qian, had passed away without a sessor, they had to serve Yuan Shao, who came out of nowhere to take their cities .

    Then, Cao Cao appeared . Because they thought that Yuan Shao was an opportunist lord that stole Tao Qian¡¯s territory, every former Tao Qian¡¯s official agreed to switch sides .

    And now, Tong¡¯s subordinates appeared before them, and they did not even hesitate to betray Cao Cao to save their hides .

    Kong Rong was also surprised that the Chen Family opened the gates to receive him . He had thought that he had to scam his way into the city . Fortunately, these prefects were too cowardice to stand their ground .

    "Wee to Langye! We¡¯ll cooperate with you and his majesty . "

    Although Kong Rong ridiculed these men, he wore his fa?ade mask and greeted Chen Gui .

    "Thank you . You don¡¯t have to be modest . We¡¯vee here to inspect the city since Sir Cao Cao haspleted his acquisition from that traitor Yuan Shao . "

    "Yes, yes . Pleasee inside . We¡¯ll hold a banquette to wee you . "

    .

    Kong Rong: "Sir Taishi Ci, we¡¯ve arrived in the city . "

    Taishi Ci: "I saw your army . I can see themotion from here . "

    Kong Rong: "We¡¯ll enter the inner city for a banquette . Please guide everybody to our army camp and show them Sir Wei You¡¯s token . I¡¯ve informed my men about your circumstances . They will shelter all of you . "

    Taishi Ci: "Thank you . "

    Kong Rong: "It¡¯s my job . "

    .

    Taishi Ci ryed the good news to Sun Jian and Wei You .

    "Our reinforcement has arrived . The prefect has surrendered the city, so we can head home now . "

    Wei You revealed a bright smile, "Bless his majesty! May he live a thousand years!"

    Taishi Ci shook his head, giving up exining to this fanatic that it was actually Kong Rong that helped them .

    Meanwhile, Sun Jian was astonished by the efficiency of Tong¡¯s subordinates . Seeing how they coordinated with the others, Sun Jian¡¯s awareness of the n chat usage rose .

    ¡¯Will we be able to utilize this n chat to this level?¡¯

    Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu also had the same thought . With instant long-rangemunication, their military tactics and schemes would increase their efficiency by many folds . As veteran generals, they knew how vital information rying was .

    ¡¯We need more people in our n!¡¯

    They gritted their teeth in frustration . The limit of n recruitment was one person a year, and all members could not quit until their n leader died .

    Also, if their n leader died, their n would be disbanded, and this feature would disappear like smoke .

    Everyone sighed in resignation . None of them wanted to kill Sun Fang, so they had to do their best for their n to thrive .

    Later that day, Taishi Ci and everyone regrouped with Kong Rong inside thetter¡¯s military camp .

    Kong Rong weed everyone in his main tent .

    "Lao Gonggong, we¡¯ve troubled you . "

    Wei Youughed, "It was nothing . Completing a difficult task like this is rewarding . I got my brag right to mess with my colleagues back home . "

    "Hahaha . Of course . I¡¯m sure his majesty will reward you well . "

    "Serving him by his side is already rewarding enough . I don¡¯t need anything more . "

    Kong Rong and Wei You were in a friendly term .

    Then, Kong Rong turned to Sun Jian and his subordinates .

    "We¡¯re sorry to involve you in our struggles . I promise you that his majesty willpensate you and your family for your troubles . "

    Sun Jian wore his fa?ade, "Don¡¯t be . We¡¯re all servants of the Han Dynasty . Following his majesty¡¯s order is mandatory . "

    "That¡¯s true . Well, I¡¯ve received his majesty¡¯s words that once we regain the control of Xu Province, we¡¯ll return them for you . "

    "Thank you!"

    Kong Rong gave Sun Jian, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, and Huang Gai his army uniforms so that they could disguise themselves as one of Kong Rong¡¯s men .

    As for Taishi Ci, he rejoined his former lord as the grandmander of 30,000 soldiers .

    .

    .

    .

    November 20th .

    Cao Ren and his 20,000 soldiers returned to Langye City . However, they could not enter .

    As for a reason, it was because of the banners on the top of the walls .

    Kong!

    They were Kong Rong¡¯s gs, which indicated that Langye had fallen to Tong¡¯s men .

    Cao Ren and Yue Jin¡¯s face paled . Not only they failed to locate Sun Jian and others, but they also lost the city .

    "S-Should I report this matter to our lord?" Asked Cao Ren .

    Yue Jin shook his head, "Not yet! We haven¡¯t lost the city yet!"

    "Are you blind!? We haven¡¯t lost the city, my foot! Kong Rong has already taken the city . "

    "Zhang Tong and we have formed an alliance pack, and our lord is officially the emperor¡¯s subordinate . We don¡¯t have a reason to attack each other, so maybe we can ask them to get inside the city first . We should talk things out with them, and maybe we can get our city back . "

    Cao Ren¡¯s face twitched, "What about Sun Jian?"

    "We¡¯ll think about itter . Let¡¯s try to salvage our failures first!"

    "So, we¡¯re going to hide this from our lord?"

    "Yes! Until we can¡¯t do anything anymore, we¡¯ll continue to do our best!"

    "... Okay . "

    Cao Ren and his force marched toward the city without forming a battle formation, gesturing goodwill .

    An arrow flew and pierced the ground in front of Cao Ren . It was a warning shot .

    "DON¡¯T SHOOT! WE WISH TO TALK TO THE CURRENT GOVERNOR OF LANGYE!"

    As Cao Ren shouted, he inspected his surroundings .

    There was no trace of fighting orbat, which revealed that Chen Gui and Chen Deng had surrendered the city to Kong Rong .

    ¡¯Traitor bastards . I¡¯ll have to kill those geezers, or I won¡¯t be able to sleep!¡¯

    Standing and ring at the people on the wall for a while, Cao Ren heard a reply a few minutester .

    "Show us your tokens! Who are you!?"

    Cao Ren yelled back, "I am Cao Cao¡¯s subordinate, Cao Ren! I¡¯m the governor of this city!"

    Although he said that, he was expecting an answer [Bullshit, our governor is Sir Kong Rong] or some sort . As he was preparing for another argument, the gate opened .

    "Huh? Did it work? Zhang Tong doesn¡¯t want to fight us?"

    Cao Ren turned to Yue Jin in astonishment and gave him a thumbs up .

    Yue Jin revealed a wry smile, "I told you so . "

    "You¡¯re good, Wenqian . "

 Chapter 393

    Chapter 393: 393

    Chapter 393 ¨C Smooth Escape

    Kong Rong watched them from the top of the wall while he requested advice from Tong¡¯s strategists .

    Kong Rong: "Cao Ren has arrived . He doesn¡¯t form a battle formation . "

    Jia Xu: "n A . We allow them to reenter the city . "

    Kong Rong: "We¡¯re not fighting them? Not the n B?"

    Jia Xu: "Wrong . We can derive our next moves depending on their response . n A-1, we¡¯ll retreat everyone to Beihai with Sun Jian if Cao Ren doesn¡¯t cause a scene . n A-2, we¡¯ll assassinate Cao Ren and his aides if he shows a sign of resistance or retaliation . n A-3, wage war with them inside the city if they managed to kill Wei You and Sun Jian . "

    Jia Xu and other strategists had concluded their ploys to deal with Cao Ren¡¯s return . As Tong and other civil officers still required more time to improve their economic stability, all advisors agreed that they would continue putting on a politic mask and be friendly with Cao Cao .

    Kong Rong: "What about the Chen Family? They seem useful in domestic affairs . "

    During these days, Kong Rong had monitored the works of Chen Gui and Chen Deng . Both of them were elites in domestic affairs . They had already developed Langye to a peak level, which could self-sustain in both taxes and harvest while supplying an army of 20,000 men . The order of this city was also high even though the management teams changed sides frequently .

    Jia Xu: "Is that your evaluation?"

    Kong Rong: "Yes . Their methods of handling civil management are efficient . They don¡¯t embezzle, and they are cultured . I think this family has a good upbringing . "

    Tong: "Bring them to Beihai with us . Force their family to move to any of our cities . You could promise them that I¡¯ll appoint them a governor position and give them another city if they agreed to join us . "

    Jia Xu: "Are you sure? They surrendered their city without much thought . Are they trustworthy?"

    Tong: "Just don¡¯t let them govern a city that connects with our enemy¡¯s border . We can give them the developed Nanpi and move all Nanpi¡¯s elites to the border cities . "

    Xun You: "Your majesty, I¡¯m against this move . Those men are looking forward to their promotion and career advancement . The elites will misunderstand that they are demoted instead of getting a promotion . "

    Xun You was a cousin of Xun Yu . At the moment, he was instated as the head strategist of Zhang He¡¯s Ghost Legion . As a new strategist in Tong¡¯s ranks, he did not have many chances to disy his abilities among other veterans like Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Ju Shou, or Li Feihong .

    Tong: "This is where I¡¯m different from other warlords, Xun You . Talented people deserve more chances to disy their abilities in rural counties instead of getting stuck inside a developed city without anything to do . Although their position and noble tier don¡¯t increase, I can always increase their wages . "

    Xun You: "I still disagree with this . They might suffer psychological damage from parting with their hard work . Your majesty, please imagine that you have built a castle with your own hands, but then someone appears and ims it as his own . What will you think of this person? Your action isparable to an achievement thief right now . Please reconsider this n . "

    Tong: "Indeed, you have a point . How about this, we will ask craftsmen to sculpture all civil officers that helped to develop Nanpi . We¡¯ll ce these statues along with their achievements and their name on the government hall¡¯s courtyard . Alltter generation officers will have to worship their predecessors that it was because of them that they get to enjoy that peaceful city . "

    Xun You and other members in the n chat were in awe .

    Ju Shou: "Great idea!"

    Li Feihong: "Noice . "

    Tong: "Any objection, Xun You?"

    Xun You: "... No objection, your majesty . Please forgive me for my ignorant . "

    Tong: "Alright . Then, this matter passed . By the way, Mr . President . How is our finance doing?"

    Te Langpu: "What do you want to know? Overall performance, results, or our problems?"

    Tong: "Give me the overall results . "

    Te Langpu: "I¡¯ll make it short for newbies . Gold ie, plus 50,000 a month average . Provision, minus 40,000 tons a month . "

    Tong: "Our food is not in the surplus yet? Are we still relying on Feihong and Diaochan¡¯s magic?"

    Te Langpu: "Yes . We need more time to develop farnds and impart agriculture knowledge to the local people . It takes years to develop . Pingyuan, Ganling, Ji, and Xiangping are still relying on the capital¡¯s supplies . Also, our military expansion to Xiongnu¡¯s territories increases our consumption rates . I suggest that we should slow down the conscription quotas for a few months to cut the cost . "

    Tong: "Can we increase our workers¡¯ wage then?"

    Te Langpu: "Yes, but our tax ie will get cut down by half if you¡¯re talking about increasing the wage of Nanpi elite officers . "

    Tong: "Just do it . Prepare for our worker allocation again, please . "

    Te Langpu: "Will do . "

    Tong: "There you have it, Xun You, Kong Rong . Get Chen Family here and promise him a position of Nanpi Governor . "

    Kong Rong: "Understood, your majesty . "

    Xun You: "I understand, your majesty . "

    Kong Rong closed the n chat . Although Tong and others had not finished talking about their allocation n, it did not involve Kong Rong and his matter anymore .

    Kong Rong turned to Taishi Ci, "Open the gate and allow them to enter . Do not fight them . "

    .

    Cao Ren met with Kong Rong for the first time in front of the gate . Although he wanted to kill Tong¡¯s officers right away, he swallowed his anger and pretended to be friendly .

    "Thank you for allowing us to get back in . We promise to cooperate with your business here . By the way, you didn¡¯t inform us why you visit our city . "

    Kong Rong grinned, "We¡¯re merely here to inspect the Xu Province . Since Sir Cao Cao has just defeated the traitor Yuan Shao, we wish to help the local people . Please don¡¯t mind us during our stay . "

    Cao Ren retorted in his mind, ¡¯Inspection my foot! Had we retreated in panic, you would have imed the city as your own!¡¯

    Yue Jin noticed how frustrated Cao Ren was . He inserted, "Thank you for your hard work . Do you mind if we return to our post?"

    Yue Jin hinted if they could get their position back and regain the city control .

    Kong Rong raised his eyebrows, amused .

    "Yes, of course . However, we have to escort a few officers and their families back to our territories . I hope you don¡¯t mind . "

    Cao Ren¡¯s face twitched, "Who are you bringing back?"

    "The Chen Family and their servants . "

    Yue Jin and Cao Ren scoffed . They did not like this betrayer family .

    "You can have them . They are useless here anyway . "

    "Thank you for your understanding . Pleasee inside . We¡¯ll transfer back the authority of this city to you, and we¡¯ll proceed back to our territoryter . "

    Yue Jin raised his hand, "Please wait . Our lord is currently looking for a group of fugitives . We hope that you can also cooperate with us in this searching . "

    Kong Rong sneered, "Oh? Who are you looking for?"

    "..."

    Both Cao Ren and Yue Jin could not answer . They could not tell Kong Rong that they were searching for the eunuch Wei You, and Sun Jian . Had they confessed, a war might break out right here .

    Still, Cao Ren had his wits .

    "There is a con artist merchant that pretended to be one of the royal eunuchs from Ye and their bandit bodyguards . Unfortunately, we believe that they might have been wandering around in this territory . "

    "Ah, that must have been bad for the locals . Have you caught them yet?"

    "... No . "

    "I see . Well, good luck . "

    "..."

    Kong Rong cut the conversation and guided them into the city . All his soldiers and knights took the [Kong] banners down and returned to their camps, getting ready to leave the town per Taishi Ci¡¯s order .

    .

    .

    December 1st, 190 A . D .

    Winter had hit Langye in full swing . Snow covered all roads and forests, which seemed impossible for anyone to travel .

    This was a season that all warlords refrained themselves from mobilizing an army . Yet, Kong Rong ordered his soldiers to leave Langye for Beihai .

    Sun Jian and his men blended in Kong Rong¡¯s soldiers, leaving the city along with the marching troops .

    Wei You also joined with Taishi Ci, disguising as his strategist . As for thetter, he wore a full te mail, the standard knight uniform that covered his face .

    The cold winter tortured all soldiers in the imperial armor . As a result, they wore extra clothes and cloaks to cover their bodies .

    The Chen Family had it easy . They traveled along with the logistic forces, so they could use their carriages and wagons to hide from the cold .

    From the onlooker¡¯s perspective on top of the wall, the marching army looked like arge group of poor refugees from a random city .

    Cao Ren and Yue Jin stood in front of the north gate to send them off .

    Kong Rong bowed at them, "Thank you for your hospitality . We¡¯ll return to Beihai from here . "

    Both generals bowed, "Take care of yourself . The weather is harsh this season . "

    "I know . Goodbye . "

    Cao Ren watched Kong Rong and his men leave with a long sigh .

    In the end, both Cao Ren and Yue Jin did not dare to assassinate Kong Rong and others since it would trigger a full-scale war between Tong and Cao Cao . They also did not have the courage to report their failure of their assignment, hunting Sun Jian and Wei You .

    Cao Ren gritted his teeth, "We¡¯re fucked . "

    Yue Jin bit his lower lips, "At least, we didn¡¯t lose Langye . Had we not talked our way inside, our lord would have killed us . "

    Cao Ren had goosebumps when he imagined a scenario where both of them lost the city and failed the task . This failure would have been a disaster to Cao Cao¡¯s forces .

    In the end, Cao Ren mustered his courage and reported everything to Cao Cao via the n chat .

    .

    Cao Ren: "I¡¯m very sorry . "

    Cao Cao: "Don¡¯t worry about it . Good job for taking Langye back without harming anyone . "

    Cao Ren: "You¡¯re not mad, Mengde?"

    Cao Cao: "I¡¯m fucking pissed, you idiot! Had you lost Langye, I would have killed you on the spot!"

    Cao Ren: "Sorry ..."

    Cao Cao: "Anyway, Kong Rong has probably secured Sun Jian and the eunuch with his army . We can¡¯t attack him either since we¡¯ll be branded a rebel to the public . For now, we¡¯ll prepare for the politic games that Zhang Tong will press on us because of Sun Jian . "

    Cheng Yu: "I also have something to report, my lord?"

    Cao Cao: "It is about Sun Jian¡¯s family, I assume . "

    Cheng Yu: "Yes . "

    Cao Cao: "Have they escaped?"

    Cheng Yu: "Yes . However, we found that they fled south to Wan City of Yuan Shu instead of heading north to Ye . "

    Cao Cao: "Predictable . Their destination is Lujiang, if Putin¡¯s story is correct . Their back-up army is hiding in there . Miaocai, take 20,000 soldiers and capture Shouchun and Lujiang ASAP . Find the [Two Zhangs] and Zhou Yu . Don¡¯t let Sun Ce and Sun Fang unite with them . "

    Xiahou Yuan: "Aye . Can I take Guo Jia with me?"

    Cao Cao: "No, I need him here for other tasks . Go alone . Once spring arrives, march south immediately!"

    Xiahou Yuan: "Okay!"

 Chapter 394 - Khans Weakness

    <h4>Chapter 394 - Khan''s Weakness</h4>

    Chapter 394 ¨C Khan¡¯s Weakness

    Silk Road, the famous trade route that connected China with the western empires, such as Persia and Greeks, since the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty (207 BCE).

    Around 130 BCE, the West Hans expanded their trade routes toward the western countries as well as their military conquest into Xiongnu¡¯s territory.

    Emperor Wu, the most sessful emperor among the West Han emperors, wished to establish a trading rtionship with the sophisticated civilizations of Bactria, Ferghana, and the Parthian Empire. As the emperor did not interest in waging wars against these unknown countries, he formed a friendly rtionship with these western people while he concentrated battling the Xiongnu.

    The trade route brought precious resources to China, such as sses, silks, and spice, which brought prosperity to the country.

    However, in this timeline, Khan not only took control of such a trade route, but he also imported mercenaries from the west to reinforce his armies, which was the main reason how he unified all Xiongnu tribes as one.

    Parthian Empire¡¯s mercenaries were 5,000 Cataphracts. These men also prioritized on horses and archer tactics, which all horses and riders wore scaled armor. Their main weaponry was long spears, javelins, and short bows.

    3,000 Hoplites also came from the Bactria Kingdom, working as Khan¡¯s mercenaries. All of them were spearmen who carriedrge round shields with them. They had hard leather armors while their general had an iron te suit covering their torso. They also wore a round helmet, which only protected their head but not their neck.

    These men enjoyed their lifestyle in Liang Province after Ma Teng had surrendered this territory to Khan. Their job was simple, being Khan¡¯s model for his copy skill.

    Today as well, Khan summoned all soldiers to form ranks. He stood before all 8,000 men and cast his skill.

    White light appeared behind Khan and 8,000 men, who looked like the original, manifested from the light.

    Had anyone seen this phenomenon, they would have been shocked speechless. However, these 8,000 mercenaries got used to it now.

    Four more groups of soldiers appeared, making it a total of 40,000 soldiers copied.

    These new soldiers stared nkly at Khan, waiting for an order. None of them had a sign of life or individual thought.

    Khan exhaled and rxed, but his jaw suddenly dislocated on its own.

    <i> ¡¯Soul injuries. What a pain.¡¯ </i>

    Khan¡¯s soul still had a dislocated jaw from the fight with Lu Bu. As for other injuries, Khan had healed them a few months ago with the help of Liu Yang.

    As Khan turned around and organized the newly recruited elites, the Parthian mercenary leader approached him.

    Vida, a descendant of Persian,ughed at Khan.

    "I never get bored looking at your skill, my lord."

    "..."

    Khan nced at Vida in wary. This general was the only one among all mercenaries that he could not copy.

    At the moment, China was not the only country with immortals. Several countries around the world had learned of these new mysterious forces, and they were developing their warriors.

    Vida, too, had wings, devil wings.

    Vida had obtained the boon from Lilim¡¯s immortality project as he hadpleted a quest for her, by killing power abusers who misused their immortal powers.

    He was also smarter than Tong regarding the awakening process. By showering Lilim with millions of lifespan years, Vida gained tips and tricks from the 10-winged devil.

    Behind his back, Vida had four ck wings, the same amount of wings that Tong and Khan had. Furthermore, he had four more uncleansed sins toplete.

    Khan snorted and walked away.

    "Protect Wuwei County and the silk road. I¡¯ll be heading for Hanzhong."

    "Going already? Why not rest a bit. I heard you¡¯ve been injured, so you should rest more, my lord."

    "I don¡¯t have times for that. Zhang Tong and Cao Cao are expanding their territories. I need to expand mine before they overwhelm us in number."

    "You have those cheat skills. Why do you have to worry?"

    "..."

    Khan did not answer. He got on his horse and left without saying another word. As for the 40,000 newly created men, they turned toward Khan and marched along in order.

    Vida looked at the parting Khan with a smirk.

    "What a sore loser," He turned to other men in the formation, "Dismiss! Let¡¯s go back and drink!"

    .

    Khan was in a bad mood not because of Vida but hisck of lifespans. He had copied too many skills from all otherworlders that he suffered from the yearly upkeep.

    Each year, he had to procure 200,000 lifespans for Lilim, or he would die!

    Although he could easily obtain lifespans from absorbing life essence in the air, Khan tried his best to avoid cultivating all times.

    He did not have enough time to cultivate. The more he cultivated, the more people would use the gap of his absence to rebel against him.

    Khan had brainwashed most of his officers, including Ma Teng, Ma Chao, and many others. However, he did not have enough lifespans to brainwash his citizens because of his lifespan shortage.

    As a result, many hidden schrs and ex-soldiers from Ma Teng and the locals would always try to riot, causing the order of his kingdom to fall like how Dong Zhuo had done.

    Had Khan left everything to his men, those braindead officers would have started killing civilians, which was not Khan¡¯s goal.

    <i> ¡¯Annoying. So annoying! I should have known about this, but peasants are f.u.c.k.i.n.g selfish!¡¯ </i>

    Fortunately, Liu Yang solved most of the uprising issues and reinforced the city order. She even advised him to leave everything to her and continue to cultivate, so Khan could brainwash all of his citizens, city-by-city.

    Still, Khan refused to follow her suggestion. As he felt threatened by Tong¡¯s rapid expansion and Cao Cao¡¯s conquest, Khan wanted to dominate more regions so that his military power would be on par with them.

    .

    Gan Zhou County, west of Wuwei.

    This county did not have a city wall like the others in China maind. Instead, most poptions resided in caves or y houses as this regionndscapes consist of a desert, steep colorful mountains, sandstones, oases, and wends.

    This county was a part of Silk Road, which located west of Wuwei County of Vida.

    A supply convoy from the west arrived at the mountain county, but they were stopped by the local guard that blockaded the valley passage to the east.

    The caravan leader was a Xiongnumander, a subordinate of Khan. He roared in frustration that they should have passed through here without getting an inspection.

    "Scram! I¡¯m the 5,000-manmander of Khan¡¯s provision department. Don¡¯t waste my time!"

    The supply caravan consisted of wagons of dried food, spice, and cargo from the west that they could trade with the local Han citizens. Since they were within Xiongnu¡¯s territory, only five thousand soldiers escorted this group.

    However, 20,000 riders surrounded them on the valley hills. The leader of the check-point was a tall man in red steel te armor and a red muscr warhorse.

    Lu Bu red at the Xiongnumander with a sneer behind his knight helmet. He waved his hand and gave his signal.

    All heavy knights with red hares galloped down slopes, rushing at the Xiongnu.

    The Xiongnumander bellowed in anger, "sphemy! You petty thieves dare to rob the great me!?"

    Lu Bu mumbled as he also rushed at the Xiongnumander, "Meh, another pushover."

    Steel crescent halberd cut the head of themander in one swing.

    .

    While Khan was busy in Liang Province, Lu Bu and his Red Hare Legion traveled deep west, detoured around Wuwei to Gan Zhou, presently known as Zhangye in modern days.

    All 50,000 soldiers rested in Gan Zhou, fortifying their new constructed check-point.

    Ju Shou and Gao Shun were also assisting Lu Bu in this task.

    Gao Shun acted as Lu Bu¡¯s right-hand man since he had been working with Lu Bu for decades.

    Meanwhile, Tong assigned Ju Shou here to keep Lu Bu from making a rash decision. As Ju Shou¡¯s personality was conservation and reserved, he always advised Lu Bu about the matters that this god of war overlooked.

    Thebination worked well since Lu Bu listened to his subordinates. With his strength and Ju Shou¡¯s brain, no local forces could stop this legion.

    Gao Shun and Ju Shou regrouped with Lu Bu after they had sorted their loots.

    Ju Shou reported, "We got 1,000 wagons of food, 100 wagons of spice, and 500 of silk. No gold found."

    Each food wagon carried 500kg of goods, so Lu Bu stole 500,000 tons of provision from this job.

    Gao Shunughed, "Our food issue is solved now. Even if his majesty doesn¡¯t send us food, we can still manage on our own."

    Ju Shou nodded, "Correct. This also confirmed his majesty¡¯s theory about Khan¡¯s abilities and the Xiongnu¡¯s limit."

    Before Tong sent Lu Bu here, Tong had obtained the Intel from Diaochan that Khan possessed a mimic ability that could copy all skills from all otherworlders. However, it had many bacshes.

    First, Khan had to pay for all the expensive upkeeps each year. It became more expensive after Lilim raised the limitation of all cheat skills.

    Secondly, all copied skills consumed ten times of lifespans that the original skill user had. For example, Tong¡¯s [Create food] cost one year per usage, but Khan had to pay ten years for the same skill and effect. It also multiplied to 100 years when Khan bypassed the once-per-day limit by using his soul to cast the ability.

    And third, Khan was the only wing powers in his force, which limited his lifespan acquisition. As it took time to gather lifespans from the surrounding essence as an angel, Khan lost the majority of his time with his daily cultivation.

    These three limits were the advantages that Tong had over Khan, and Tong wanted to sabotage thetter¡¯s armies further by withering Khan¡¯s food supplies.

    Their legion¡¯s goal was to cut the supply line that connected the Xiongnu Capital to Liang Province. Once they regained the Silk Road and Wuwei County, these barbarians would be weakened because they would not be able to self-sustain inside Han¡¯s territories.

    After that, Khan and his men would face a deficit in food harvest like Tong had been experiencing.

    Lu Bu opened his face mask and turned to Ju Shou.

    "What¡¯s the next move, strategist?"

    "We hold our fort here and continue to expand our army size. Our goal is 100,000 manpower."

    "We don¡¯t have enough gold, and this county doesn¡¯t provide taxes or food, can we make it?"

    "No problem. Actually, I¡¯m afraid of the opposite. We¡¯ll gather enough men in no time."

    Gao Shun and Lu Bu were confused, "How?"

    Ju Shou smiled, "Khan ignores his internal affair in his home country for years. Sooner orter, there will be ambitious young chieftains that want Khan¡¯s position during his absence. We¡¯ll find these people while we protect this check-point. Once we found them, we¡¯ll get that manpower."

 Chapter 395 - Sun Ce and Zhou Yu in Lujiang

    <h4>Chapter 395 - Sun Ce and Zhou Yu in Lujiang</h4>

    Chapter 395 ¨C Sun Ce and Zhou Yu in Lujiang

    <strong> December 15th, 190 AD. </strong>

    As conflict at Xiapi and Langye temporarily settled, a new storm was brewing at the west.

    Vida watched the west border on the top of the Wuwei County wall.

    Thest quarter provision supply from their home country was duest month, but no one appeared to deliver the goods. Without food and products to trade, the civil officers kept bugging him that the city suffered a deficit, and they did not have enough gold or food to pay their employees or officers.

    Vida, too, would not get paid!

    <i> ¡¯Did something happen back home?¡¯ </i>

    He was afraid of a coup d¡¯etat among the Xiongnu Tribes under Khan. Had someone overthrown Khan¡¯s regime in their maind, they could have also stopped sending supplies here, leaving Khan and his army to die by the Hans.

    As Vida¡¯s worries grew, he assembled his army and all mercenaries.

    In December, the weather was harsh in this region. As an aridnd with mostly desert and sand, the winter and the snow hindered all travelers.

    The average temperature of this region was minus 10 degrees Celsius or 14 degrees Fahrenheit. The lowest could even drop to minus 20 Celsius.

    As such, mobilizing any army this month would be foolish. However, Vida had no choice. Had they not moved, they would die starving!

    When all Vida¡¯s cataphracts and hoplites heard the bad news, they panicked.

    "Should we desert here and go home?"

    "What about our pay!? We haven¡¯t gotten this month¡¯s pay yet."

    "Don¡¯t bother about the wage. We¡¯ll die if we stay."

    "Can¡¯t we plunder the locals and wait for the spring? We can¡¯t move in winter!"

    "We can, but it will be tough."

    All opinions were varied. However, most of them were against retreating or deserting this winter.

    Vida made his decision, "Let¡¯s start robbing the local people. Kill all elders and children. Sell the women and enve the men for manpower. We¡¯ll prepare to go home."

    "What about Khan? Won¡¯t he return to retaliate?"

    Vida grinned, "He¡¯ll be busy fighting with the Hans. He can¡¯t do everything by himself."

    .

    This winter was a nightmare to the Wuwei poption as the garrison soldiers turned rogue on them. All soldiers with odd faces ughtered peasants, adducted women, and enved helpless farmers.

    <strong> March 10th, 191 AD. </strong>

    Spring arrived.

    The mercenaries survived despite theck of food supplies. As they had stolen everything from the locals, they were happy with the loots, wealth, women, and additional provision.

    Vida gathered his cataphracts, hoplites, and the new recruits out of the city. Today, they scheduled a departure trip back to the west, hoping to return to their kingdom.

    With the recruits from the local militias, desired to abandon their farmer life for the sake of wealth and freedom, Vida gained more soldiers.

    8,000 Mercenaries and 20,000 militias marched west along with 50,000 ves, men, and women. Their first destination was Gan Zhou.

    .

    Han Sui and Ma Chao were stationing in Jincheng, a county south of Wuwei and west of Tianshui. Both of them had been enved by Khan¡¯s brainwashing skill, and they were protecting themandery in their lord¡¯s stead.

    Early this year, they had heard about theck of suppliesmotion from the refugees and reported this matter to Liu Yang and Khan in their n chat.

    Khan also gave them an order.

    "Ignore Wuwei and gather at Tianshui. All forces will mobilize to Yi Province of Liu Yan."

    This was a move that Liu Yang and Khan had envisioned ages back, but they did not have enough resources for arge scale expansion.

    Like Tong had suspected, Khan did noty a good foundation on his kingdom¡¯s economy. He overly relied on system skills that it hindered his training, growth, cultivation, and reputation as a lord.

    But now, Khan had collected enough lifespans to produce all resources required for another expansion.

    Unbeknownst to everyone, Lu Bu was lurking behind their territories, watching the preys left its nest.

    .

    Sun Ce, Sun Fang, and all family members of the Sun n reached Lujiang without being stopped by the local lords. Wan of Yuan Shu was in chaos, and the order wasx, so they crossed the territory with ease.

    Liu Biao was also too busy dealing with the southern tribes below Jing Province. He also did not pay attention to Sun Fang and Sun Ce¡¯s movements.

    <strong> March 25th, 191 AD. </strong>

    Before Lujiang County, 20,000 soldiers gathered in an array along with their luggage.

    The historical reunion between Sun Ce and Sun Jian¡¯s left behind subordinates should have urred in the year 195 here, the city of Lujiang. Although many otherworlders interfered with the historical timelines, it still happened.

    Zhou Yu, the legendary figure, was currently a handsome teenage in his 17th. He was born the same year as Sun Ce, his sworn brother.

    His long ck hair and beautiful face captivated Sun Ce and Sun Fang¡¯s followers.

    Sun Ce and Zhou Yu sped hands, smiling in happiness upon seeing their brother again.

    Both Zhang Hong and Zhang Shao also came out to wee their young masters. The two Zhangs bowed to Sun Fang and Sun Ce.

    "First young master, second young master, wee to our humble territory. We¡¯ve prepared everything for you."

    Sun Fang, acted as their temporary n lord, epted the greetings by cupping his fist.

    "Thank you foring to receive us. Still, you don¡¯t need to mobilize an army like this. This is a bit overkill."

    Sun Ce also noticed the army behind them too. It was weird for them to dispatch an army to protect him and his family.

    "Gongjin, what¡¯s wrong with them?"

    Zhou Yu noticed their gaze and exined, "Change of ns, Bofu. We¡¯ll march out."

    Sun Ce frowned at his sworn brother, "What happened? Why are you amassing forces? I thought we willy low in the city."

    Zhou Yu shook his head, "My intel agents reported that Cao Cao has been preparing to take this city since winter, and they have spread words that we¡¯re fugitives. By now, they should have reached Shouchun, and they should be on their way here in a few days."

    "What!?"

    Everybody could hear Zhou Yu¡¯s words. Even Sun Fang was shocked because he never expected that Cao Cao would take the initiative to hunt them.

    Zhou Yu continued, "We¡¯re going to flee to Yang Province. We¡¯ll cross the Yangtze River, so Cao Cao won¡¯t be able to follow us there."

    Sun Fang found it hard to believe. He did not think that Cao Cao would stop because of a river.

    "On what basis do you think that Cao Cao will stop at Lujiang?"

    Zhou Yu turned to Sun Fang, "Senior brother, Cao Cao is underprepared at the moment. He has just snatched Xu Province from your father, and your father is still alive under the emperor¡¯s protection. Therefore, he can¡¯t afford to wage another war until he ensures the emperor¡¯s stance toward them. Because of that, Cao Cao won¡¯t have enough resources to expand too far from the northern fronts. The Yangtze River is also a natural defense and a good border between the Yang Province and the north. He will have to rely on the river to protect Lujiang from other minor lords or Liu Biao while he fights against the emperor."

    Zhang Shao inserted, "We can exin our reasonster. Please follow us to our carriages, so we can leave this city as soon as possible."

    Everybody nodded and followed the elder schr to their new vehicle.

    Sun Fang, Sun Ce, and Zhou Yu got on the same carriage.

    Zhou Yu continued what he left off, "Right now, Yang Province is upied by timid lords. With our current forces, we can take it and establish a new home for our n."

    Sun Ce¡¯s voice cracked, "W-We¡¯re going to attack the whole region!?"

    "Yes. I¡¯ll need you and senior brother Fang for this. That¡¯s why we¡¯re waiting for both of you. Can you help us? We don¡¯t have many generals that can lead troops."

    Sun Fang pondered, recalling his memory of the other history.

    The governor of Jianye should have been Liu Yao, who fled from the chaos because of Yuan Shu in the year 194. However, Yuan Shu had yet to dere himself an emperor, so Liu Yao had not moved to Jianye yet. He wondered who would be the lord of this city.

    Sun Fang nodded, "No problem."

    "Are your injuries healed? I heard you are crippled."

    "That¡¯s fake news I released to keep myself alive. Zhang Tong and all otherworlders want me dead."

    "Ah, good move, senior brother."

    Meanwhile, Sun Ce got nervous when he heard that they had to attack a stranger¡¯s city to steal it. When he imagined that he had to lead this massive force without the help of other senior officers, such as Cheng Pu, Han Dang, or Huang Gai, he could not keep himself calm.

    Sun Fang noticed Sun Ce¡¯s panic, he patted his younger brother and soothed him.

    "I¡¯m here with you. Don¡¯t be afraid."

    Sun Ce nodded, "Y-Yeah. I was just nervous that I have to lead troops without other uncles."

    Sun Fang chuckled, "Fool! Uncle Zhu Zhi, Sun Jing, Wu Jing, and I are by your side. What¡¯s there to be afraid?"

    Zhou Yu alsoughed, "It¡¯s not like you, Bofu. You had always jumped in head-first when it came to a brawl. After you grew up a bit, you got scared?"

    "Hah? I scare of no one, even Cao Cao or Zhang Tong! I¡¯ll show you how I lead these troops and conquer the entire Yang Province!"

    Sun Fang¡¯s face twitched as he turned to Zhou Yu, "Do you think only 20,000 men will work? We are short on men and generals. If it¡¯s only one or two cities, then I can understand. But I don¡¯t think that we can win the entire province with only 20,000 soldiers."

    The young strategist revealed a faint smile, "Both of you will find it that this conquest is actually easier than you could have thought."

 Chapter 396 - Crouching Young Tigers and Tigress

    <h4>Chapter 396 - Crouching Young Tigers and Tigress</h4>

    Chapter 396 ¨C Crouching Young Tigers and Tigress

    Cao Ang, Cao Cao¡¯s first son and Tong¡¯s hostage, was currently training in the Ye Military Academy, which had been constructedst year when Cao Cao was busy trying to obtain Xu Province.

    He was also aware of his status as a hostage. To survive, Cao Ang could not allegedly hint that he nned to resist against Tong. As a result, he swallowed his pride and followed all instructions that all Tong¡¯s subordinates gave him.

    Despite the politic suppression and the surveinces, Cao Ang showed a promising talent in the military, which got the praise from Lu Zhi. However,pared to other legendary figures in the same generation, such as Zhao Yun, Xu Huang, or Taishi Ci, Cao Ang was far behind.

    March 30th, 191 AD.

    Today, as well, the 16-year-old Cao Ang did his best on his field training. His horseback spearmanship got better to the point that he could defeat 99% of the trainees in the military camp and more than half of the a.d.u.l.ts in the garrison forces.

    Still, the rest of the few 1% in the academy was a bunch of monsters.

    *PUEK*

    A little 9-year-old girlughed as she smacked Cao Ang off his horse with her pole stick.

    Once again, Cao Ang lost to this young monster.

    She was Hua Shi and Tong¡¯s only daughter, Zhang Min. As if she seeded her mother, she obtained Hua Shi¡¯s face and her valiant manner. However, she inherited Tong¡¯s athletic genes and decisiveness.

    The little girl did not sit on her horse. Instead, she sat cross-legs on it in a rxed manner.

    "One hit K.O. again. Zixiu, you need to work on your reaction. You¡¯re too slow!"

    Cao Ang grumbled as he patted the dirt off his soft leather armor before he got back on his feet.

    "Overclocking your brain at your age is bad for your growth, your highness."

    "Then, why didn¡¯t you use it?"

    "I want to, but I can¡¯t! I can¡¯t still understand the inner force maniption!"

    Two riders came to the two, along with several field physicians to check Cao Ang.

    One of the hors.e.m.e.n was the 10-year-old adopted son of Tong, Liu Xie. As for the other, it was a follower that Liu Xie recruited, which was also the strongest student in this academy, who was the same age as Cao Ang.

    The top student got down from his horse and examined Cao Ang¡¯s health.

    Seeing that Cao Ang was unharmed, he sighed in relief and turned to Zhang Min.

    "Princess, please don¡¯t use your immortal power in a fight against mortals. It¡¯s unfair."

    Zhang Min snorted, "All is fair in wars! Zhongda always said that in ss, and my father agrees with it, too!"

    Liu Xie shook his head, "But this is a drill. What if you identally kill him? Please don¡¯t forget that his father is the Marquis of Wei. If something happens to him, your father will be mad."

    Zhang Min pouted, "Humph! I was not the one who initiated this sparring match. He asked for it!"

    Cao Ang bowed to Liu Xie and his bodyguard, "The princess is right. Your highness, it was my fault that I got knocked off the horse. This is a part of our training, so I¡¯m prepared to hit a few times."

    Liu Xie and his follower nodded at Cao Ang in admiration.

    "Very well, brother Zixiu. How about this? Next time, spar with me instead. We have a simr level of skills, so we should learn with each other. As for the princess, she should spar with Wenchang instead."

    Zhang Min raised her both arms toin, "BOO! Wenchang always refuses to use his overclock mode! Fighting him at slow speed is no fun!"

    Wenchang, the strongest student, had a wry smile on his face.

    "My apologies, your highness princess. I get nosebleed every time I use that. His majesty also told me that I shouldn¡¯t overuse this skill unless I¡¯m in a life-and-death situation."

    "Bullshit! If you don¡¯t keep practicing, how will you get used to the bacshes!?"

    The teenage sighed, "I haven¡¯t mastered the art of self-regeneration yet, your highness. I¡¯m sorry that my talent doesn¡¯t match with you."

    "Eh, forget it. I¡¯m going home to y with Zhongda and Ziyang!"

    Zhang Min galloped away to return the horse to the instructors. Meanwhile, the three men shook their heads in resignation. This princess was too strong for them to handle.

    Liu Xie muttered, "I pity anyone that fancies her for a bride."

    Cao Ang nodded, "Agreed."

    However, Wenchang¡¯s corner of his mouth twitched.

    "Let¡¯s get Zixiu patched up. We have to join thepetition in the next two days."

    All three men had a nervous expression. Wenchang turned to Liu Xie, "I hope your father won¡¯t be cruel this year, your highness."

    "I¡¯m sorry. From my experience, he is a devil incarnate."

    Cao Angmented, "I hope we won¡¯t embarrass ourselves this year."

    .

    .

    April 1st, 191 AD.

    All top students from the military academy, public schools, and the literature school of Cai Yong gathered before the royal pce to join the annualpetition between young students.

    This festival was first heldst year to disy all the capabilities of all students under the age of 20. The mastermind of this project was Te Langpu again.

    The purpose of this gathering was to weed out the low-quality schools that took advantage of the local people. At the same time, he promotedpetitions, as well as encouraging all students that they had a goal in life.

    All authorized schools and academies in Ye were allowed to send their best students to participate. However, students or instructors who disgraced their school would get their license revoked.

    At first, thepetition revealed a sign of failure, as many local schools failed Tong and Te Langpu¡¯s harsh tests. Thankfully, Cai Yong¡¯s Literature and Art School produced many talented maidens while the military academy had scouted a couple of gifted children. These young students became the stars ofst year¡¯spetitions.

    All champions received gold coins and a noble title from Tong directly, while all responsible instructors of these children would also be rewarded. These prices awoke the desire of many instructors and ambitious young students.

    As such, once a year, grandpetitions would be held in the pce for all representative talented children and instructors to fight for fame, prestige, glory, and wealth.

    In the morning, Lu Zhi held an examination of art and cultural students. Zither students from Cai Yong¡¯s school held their public concert to disy their skills.

    As the champion band of the Art and Literature section fromst year, no one could argue their performance.

    Inside the throne room, many calligraphists exhibited their thought and insight through their writing and calligraphies. Each student wrote a quote or a word as they exined its hidden meaning.

    Many public school representatives joined thispetition. Among the students, Liu Ye, the champion ofst year, participated in the game to defend his title as well. Sima Lang also joined as the representative of the royal academy under Lu Zhi.

    In the end, Liu Ye won the 1st prize again with a quote, "A.d.u.l.ts are Overgrown Children."

    In the afternoon, it was a debatepetition between children who aspired to be strategists.

    Sima Yi was the champion ofst year¡¯s contest, even though he was forced topete by Sima Fang. This year, he was also forced to defend his title and the prestige of Sima n.

    Tong used a fictional scenario, which represented the Battle of Guandu in his other timeline to be the question of this debate. However, he changed the names of all historical characters, so none of the students could connect this battle to their timeline.

    All students had to cooperate as one. In this test, they had toe up with the right strategies to defeat Yuan Shao as Cao Cao.

    Tongid out the whole map along with all details about granaries, military camps, soldiers, generals, and weaponry.

    Te Langpu and Tong were the judges of this debate. Since they knew the results of this battle in the other timeline, they understood which strategy would work and which would not.

    For thispetition, Liu Ye and Liu Xie also participated in the debate, challenging Sima Yi¡¯s title.

    Liu Ye and Liu Xie came up with a strategy that they would use the firepower of repeating crossbows to mow down all Yuan Shao¡¯s forces in directbat. Most of the otherpetitors emphasized on ambushing tactics or hit-and-run tactics. On the contrary, Sima Yi had another idea.

    As if he was Guo Jia in the other timeline, he pinpointed Yuan Shao¡¯s weaknesses, the granaries and food supply of the million-man army. He avoided all directbat against Yuan Shao while he sabotaged Yuan Shao¡¯s personal assets, such as sending fake news, conning Yuan Shao¡¯s officers, and seducing Zhang He and Gao Lan into rebelling against their lord.

    As Tong had expected, Sima Yi¡¯s performance outshone all young strategists. Many observers in this debate were astonished by his talent, and his fame spread among the lower employees¡¯ circles. Although the teenage did note here with his freewill, Tong was impressed nheless.

    Sima Yi¡¯s ideas even brought attention to all Tong¡¯s strategists in the n chat when Xun Yu ryed the details. Even Ju Shou, Xun You, and Jia Xu found it challenging in this fiction scenario.

    Sima Fang also observed this debate on the sideline. As the sponsor who forcefully sent Sima Yi into thepetition, he would not miss the show.

    Still, Sima Fang noticed the simrity between the debate subject and borders between Tong¡¯s country and Cao Cao.

    ¡¯Is his majesty trying to wage war with Cao Cao? This fiction scenario¡¯s territories look so much like ours and Cao Cao¡¯s forces.¡¯

    The strategypetition took longer than the schedule since everyone interested in Sima Yi¡¯s strategies. Even a.d.u.l.ts formed groups and studied the tactics among themselves. Several schrs also sweated, feeling jealous of the children that they had this chance, wanting to participate in the debate, too.

    After careful consideration, Tong announced Sima Yi as the winner of the strategist contest.

    Instead of being happy, Sima Yi grumbled and secretly cursed at Tong. However, when Zhang Min came to celebrate with him, his facial expression changed into a lovestruck-teenage. The two went out shopping together using Sima Yi¡¯s hard-earned prizes.

    .

    Late afternoon came the main event, the martial artpetition.

    Last year, Zhang Min was the champion of this tournament. She won not because of her status as the eldest princess, but she had mastered one of Tong¡¯s skills, overclock mode, since she was seven.

    With her extra speed and reaction, not many a.d.u.l.ts could square with her longer than 20 moves. All the children were no match for her.

    This year, Liu Xie, Cao Ang, and Liu Xie¡¯s sole follower participated in thispetition. Several martial art schools also sent their best students here, hoping to score a title and spread their fame.

    Zhang Min came back from a date with Sima Yi just to defend her title. Thetter followed after the little girl around as if he was her puppy, which made Sima Fang grimaced.

    After two hours of the preliminary matches and tournament matches, two finalists were decided.

    The first one was the previous champion, the princess Zhang Min.

    And the other one was called by his nicknamed, "Wenchang."

    Zhang Min took her long pole stick and pointed at Wenchang with a grin.

    "I won¡¯t hold back! Make sure you use my father¡¯s overclock this time."

    Wenchang sighed. He might have received some guidance from Tong when he first entered the academy, but he really had not mastered the ability yet.

    He nced at the emperor in reluctant.

    Tong noticed this teenager¡¯s nervousness. He nodded at Wenchang.

    "Do your best, Wenchang! If you hold back because she¡¯s my daughter, you¡¯ll be in the world of pain!"

    Wenchang revealed a wry smile on his face.

    "What a cruel emperor. I might be crippled after this."

    The referee gave his signal.

    "FIGHT!"

    The little girl, Zhang Min, disappeared from where she had stood. She reappeared before Wenchang as she thrust her weapon.

    *WHOOSH*

    The pole stick missed! Wenchang left an afterimage as he side-stepped.

    "Forgive me, princess."

    "Eh!?"

    Wenchang activated his overclock mode, and everything became a slow-motion to him.

    *POEK*

    Wenchang¡¯s wooden sword mmed onto Zhang Min¡¯s waist, which forced her to tumble from pain.

    Tong sighed and shook his head as he had predicted it. His daughter would not be able to handle this future historical figure with his legacy skills.

    The reason that Tong taught Wenchang was not because he was the best student in the academy. He knew about this teenager¡¯s potential.

    The referees jumped onto the tournament stage and stopped the match. The victor and the new champion had been decided.

    "WINNER, WEI YAN, WEI WENCHANG!"

    Wenchang was the style name of a great general of Shu Kingdom in the other timeline, Wei Yan.

 Chapter 397

    Chapter 397

    Chapter 397 ¨C Negotiation with Sun Jian

    Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Hand Dang, and Cheng Pu managed to get to Ye City before the annualpetition of various academies . Everyone was astonished by the feats of the children, especially Sima Yi and Wei Yan .

    The second son of Sima Fang was as everybody had expected . All schrs and civil officers praised this child as the most promising new generation that could potentially join Tong as one of his strategists in the future .

    As for the dark horse Wei Yan, many people had suspicion and thought that he was Tong¡¯s secret disciple or a potential groom of the princess Zhang Min . Because ordinary humans without martial art background could not keep up with Wei Yan¡¯s speed, they thought that Zhang Min got defeated on purpose .

    However, veterans like Sun Jian and his men could follow through Wei Yan and Zhang Min¡¯s brief exchanges .

    "What do you think?" Sun Jian turned to Huang Gai, who most the strongest among them .

    "Both of their speed is on par with elite generals . If they have our stamina and the brain of that Sima Yi, they can roam any battlefield . "

    Han Dang inserted, "Zhang Tong is wise to promote the next generation like this . All old coots in the court andzy generals will feel threatened if they ck since these youngsters can rece them in the future . It forces all current personal to work harder as well . "

    Sun Jian sighed in regret . He wished that Sun Ce could have participated in thispetition, too . As for Sun Fang, Sun Jian did not know what to do with him to make his son reconcile with Tong .

    .

    Later that day, Sima Yi got lectured by his father as usual . He was scolded for taking the princess on a date in public, which could cause some misunderstanding and damaging Zhang Min¡¯s reputation .

    Tong also punished Zhang Min . She was house-arrested as a punishment for running amok . Until she could recover from her bruises during thepetition with Wei Yan, she could not leave the inner pce .

    As for Wei Yan, the new star, he was scouted by various ambitious nobles who sought to recruit this young man into their private forces . Many offered their daughters and sisters to seduce this future great general, but Wei Yan turned all of them down .

    Thanked Zhang Min¡¯s charm and her cheerful nature, Wei Yan had no one else in his heart other than this little princess . He usually got into an argument with Sima Yi regarding Zhang Min, but none of them dare to express their feeling toward her .

    Both lovestruck youths were still afraid of the emperor¡¯s wrath . Had this matter revealed to the public, their heads would roll .

    On the other hand, Cao Ang and Liu Xie had more freedom to do anything they wanted inside the city . Both of them patrolled the town along with the local policemen, which was their daily routine .

    At the moment, Liu Xie¡¯s reputation as the next emperor candidate plummeted among the civil officers . However, his standing with the peasants soared . Unlike Tong, who was busy in the pce all-day all-night, Liu Xie was closer to the local citizens and local garrison guards .

    This was his way of gaining the trust of everyone . Liu Xie aimed to establish his foundation and attract followers with his own hard work .

    Cao Ang, Wei Yan, Zhang Min, Liu Ye, and Sima Yi were a part of Liu Xie¡¯s gang . All the peasants called them "the Little Entourage" as they were all talented and had the emperor¡¯s backing .

    Everybody was hopeful, and Ye City was as peaceful as ever .

    .

    The next day, Sun Jian and his men were finally summoned to the throne room . The four kowtowed on the red carpet and reported themselves to the emperor .

    As usual, Tong and Xun Yu remained in the pce to wee these generals . Taishi Ci had already returned to Tong¡¯s side, and the eunuch Wei You stood behind Tong, waiting for any instruction .

    "I¡¯m sorry for the dy, Sir Sun Jian . I had nned to wee you, but the annual festival made me busy . "

    "Your majesty has been busy . This servant wouldn¡¯t dare to impose . "

    Sun Jian kept his manner . Huang Gai and others also reserved their expression and thought as they knelt .

    "Anyway . I¡¯m sorry for involving you in my politic struggle against Cao Cao . I¡¯ve prepared apensation for everyone, but ..."

    Tong attempted to recruit Sun Jian into his n .

    >

    >

    >

    Tong revealed a wry smile as he thought, ¡¯Figured as much . ¡¯

    Sun Jian also received the system notification .

    >

    >

    Sun Jian bit his lower lips . The battle between otherworlders was still far from over, which Sun Jian and his entire n would be dragged into this mess again .

    "A pity," Tong muttered, "Had you not been in league with Sun Fang, I would have given you the Beiping, Ji, and Xiangping as apensation . "

    Sun Jian sighed, "If you wish to punish my eldest son for his crime, please let it falls on me . I¡¯ll take every punishment in his stead . "

    Huang Gai and others panicked, "My lord!"

    "This is my decision, men . Let me take my son¡¯s sins . "

    Tong rolled his eyes and waved his hand, "I haven¡¯t said anything about punishing you . Where is thising from?"

    "... You¡¯re not going to punish us?"

    "What happened to my wife was unfortunate . Secondly, all of you are not at fault . Andstly, I¡¯ve already forgiven your idiot son . As long as he is willing to disband his n and join me, I¡¯m willing to overlook the past grudge we have had . "

    "R-Really?" Sun Jian could not believe his ears .

    "Yes . Look at my Prime Minister . He served Yuan Shao before, but he¡¯s working me with now, isn¡¯t he? Li Feihong also worked under Lu Bu before . But now, he¡¯s my trusted strategist . Many immortals are working with me for a reason, you know? We¡¯re trying our best to end this immortal game and pacify the country as soon as possible . Many mortals have suffered because of our infighting for too long already . "

    "..."

    Sun Jian slowly nodded, "I-Is that so?"

    "Ah . Can you ry my message to Sun Fang with your n chat? If he is willing to join me, we can end this pointless rivalry . "

    "O-Of course . I¡¯ll tell my son right away!"

    .

    Jianye City .

    Sun Ce and Sun Fang had already seized thismandery since thest winter .

    In the pce, Zhou Yu and the two brothers were reading the reports from Sun Jian¡¯s subordinates with a dark face .

    Sun Jian ryed Tong¡¯s words to the n while Huang Gai and others supplemented them . The four were excited that they would not have to fight against Tong anymore .

    Sun Jian: "How is it, Fang¡¯er? Will you reconcile with the emperor?"

    Sun Fang: "As much as I¡¯d love to, but you¡¯ve been conned, father . "

    Sun Jian: "I¡¯ve been conned? How!?"

    Sun Fang: "The only way to disband our n system is my death . Either Tong or I have to die to end this immortal game . "

    This was Sun Jian¡¯s dilemma . He could not kill his son for the sake of joining Tong, but he had no desire to rebel against the Han Court .

    As everyone was in despair, a new name shed . This year, Sun Fang had recruited a new member into the n, Zhou Yu .

    Zhou Yu: "Senior Fang, can you transfer the n leader status then?"

    Sun Fang fiddled with the n menu . He found the transfer button, but it disyed that they required 1,000,000 lifespans as a fee .

    Sun Fang: "I can, but I need some time to gather lifespans for the transfer . "

    Zhou Yu: "How long do you need? How many lifespans do you require?"

    Sun Fang: "A million . At best, I can earn about 400,000 years of lifespan if I do nothing but cultivating . This will take two and a half years toplete . "

    Zhou Yu: "Very well . Tell the emperor that we require ten years for the n disbandment . "

    Sun Jian: "But Fang¡¯er only needs three years? But how are we going to disband our n? We have to kill the n leader?"

    Zhou Yu: "We can put a random thief as our n lord and have our subordinate kill him . Then, we can reestablish a new n again any time, right?"

    Sun Jian: "Can we do it this way?"

    Zhou Yu: "Yes . First, we¡¯ll buy time with the promise that all of us will join him . We will also try to draw Zhang Tong¡¯s resources to our n to establish our new home base . "

    Sun Jian: "Wait, why are we building a new home base when we¡¯re joining the emperor?"

    Zhou Yu: "An exit n, my lord . If Zhang Tong is tricking you, we can have a force ready to retaliate . "

    Sun Jian and other senior generals did not like Zhou Yu¡¯s suggestion, but they could not trust Tong either . In the end, Sun Jian reported to Tong .

    "Your majesty, I¡¯ve consulted with my son . He agrees to disband his guild . "

    Tong sneered, "Does he have enough lifespans to transfer the n head title?"

    "???"

    "I know that we can¡¯t disband our n normally . The n leader has to die, or nobody can leave the n . n members can¡¯t also harm the n leader either . It¡¯s a fucked-up system by the gods . "

    "Y-You knew? Your majesty?"

    "Obviously . I¡¯m a n leader myself . Why wouldn¡¯t I know? It takes a whopping million lifespans to change a n leader . "

    Sun Jian had a scare . He was tested by Tong .

    Had he lied or attempted to trick Tong, their head might roll .

    "How long does Sun Fang need to collect the lifespan?"

    "T-Ten years, your majesty . "

    "That¡¯s bullshit . One-wing angel can cultivate 100,000 to 200,000 lifespans a year . Sun Fang has cultivation skills to boost his lifespans, so he should be able to rake 300,000 to 400,000 a year . A million lifespan takes only three years at best . I¡¯ll give him three years to resolve this and join my n . If he resists, I¡¯ll mark your entire family as traitors!"

    While Sun Jian was shocked by Tong¡¯s deduction, Cheng Pu and Han Dang reported an emergency to Zhou Yu and Sun Fang .

    Han Dang: "Zhang Tong knows! He demands us to disband in three years!"

    Zhou Yu: "It seems that Ick a lot of information regarding the immortal powers and lifespans . Senior brother, I¡¯ll consult this with youter . "

    Zhou Yu: "For now, agree with Zhang Tong that we¡¯ll deal with the n matter in 3 years . "

    Sun Fang: "Are you sure? We won¡¯t have enough time to get everything prepared . "

    Zhou Yu: "Senior Han Dang, please ask Zhang Tong how many people he can recruit into his n a year . I know that one immortal can recruit one person a year . I need to know the number of his allies . "

    Cheng Pu finished reading the instruction . He took the risk .

    "Your majesty . We know that one immortal can recruit one person into a n . We have four people right here, so it might take some time to recruit all of us . I think this matter might take a bit longer . "

    Tongughed, "How many immortals do you think I have?"

    "This lowly servant is stupid . Please teach us . "

    "Five . "

    "So, five people a year . That means it will take more than one year to bring everybody in-"

    At this moment, Sun Jian, Huang Gai, and Han Dang turned to Cheng Pu, gesturing him to shut up .

    "Demou!"

    "... I¡¯m very sorry . "

    Tong snorted, "I haven¡¯t finished yet . Do you know how many immortals remains in thisnd?"

    "Your majesty?"

    "Nine . "

    Sun Jian and the other three got the hidden message . Out of nine immortals, more than half sided with Tong .

    Tong continued, "That¡¯s not all . There were one hundred of us, but we are thest nine . I think you should understand what I¡¯m implying . Stop resisting and surrender . If you wish for a territory for your n, I can give that to you . Do not n to raise a new dynasty topete with me . The ending won¡¯t be pleasant . "

    "..."

    While Tong threatened Sun Jian, Han Dang and the others kept rying Tong¡¯s every word to their n chat .

 Chapter 398

    Chapter 398

    Chapter 398 ¨C Pacifism

    Zhou Yu: "ept the deal . "

    Huang Gai: "Are you sure?"

    Zhou Yu: "Never underestimate an emperor even if he is inept . He can ruin all of you at any time . Tell Zhang Tong that all four of you will join them the year that we disband our n . As for us, we will follow you into the nter . "

    Huang Gai: "Alright . We¡¯ll surrender to Zhang Tong . "

    Zhou Yu: "Of course . "

    Zhou Yu closed the n chat and gazed at Sun Ce and Sun Fang .

    The two Suns looked back at their strategist, "Are we really surrendering?"

    Zhou Yu smiled, "Not really . "

    "What?"

    Zhou Yuughed and exined his scheme .

    Tong might have oppressed them into surrendering by forcing Sun Jian into a disadvantageous position . However, Zhou Yu had also seized options for the Sun n by epting to resign in three years .

    First, had Tong been honest and kept his words that he would amend Sun Fang, then it would be a win-win deal . All n members could survive this turbulent time by sheltering under Tong¡¯s wings .

    However, in the case that Tong was a liar, Zhou Yu had an exit n for the n members . Although Sun Jian and the others might have to join Tong¡¯s n, they could also act as spies inside Tong¡¯s ranks .

    In this scenario, Zhou Yu analyzed that Tong would want Sun Fang dead, so he had to draw Sun Fang and others to Ye or one of his cities . For that purpose, he would not be able to harm any of the Sun n¡¯s members until he could kill the Sun n¡¯s immortal .

    As for thest possible future, the worst-case-scenario, Tong could have executed Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu to weaken the Sun n before they got the times to prepare . This future would leave them no hope, which they might have to reconsider surrendering to Cao Cao or Liu Biao . And then, they would fight Zhang Tong to death .

    Zhou Yu had prepared the schemes for the future in the second scenario . From his viewpoint, Tong had enough immortal subordinates, which Sun Fang and others were nothing but a nuisance . It was unlikely that Tong would allow Sun Fang to live .

    In this n, Sun Ce, Sun Fang, and Zhou Yu had three years to strengthen their forces to the point that they could rival either Cao Cao or Tong . Within a limited time, they had to unify the entire Jiangdong and Wu, as well as stabilizing their finance and military power .

    Once the fourth year arrived, they would act ording to the trends and the movements of Cao Cao, Liu Biao, Yuan Shu, and the Xiongnu .

    There were more sub-branches of the primary n, but Zhou Yu kept it to himself for now . He wanted everyone to focus on their first priority .

    Now, the problem, theycked personal assets . From Sun Fang¡¯s testimony, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, in the other timeline, spent five years to conquer Jiangdong . However, they had only three years . Moreover, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu would not be there to help them, so their situation was worse than the original Sun Ce .

    Zhou Yu pointed out their weaknesses, "We don¡¯t have enough talented officers to help us, so this expansion will be tough . Senior brother Fang, we¡¯ll need your power for our campaign, but you can leave the headhunting job to our two seniors and me . "

    Zhang Hong and Zhang Shaoughed, "I know a few good men in the region . We¡¯ll handle this . "

    Meanwhile, other officers in the meeting also presented themselves .

    Zhu Zhi, a senior officer under Sun Jian, was still there .

    Sun Jing, their uncle who was Sun Jian¡¯s younger brother, was with them .

    Sun Ben, Sun Jian¡¯s nephew, had just reached 19-year-old and he was a part of themanders .

    Wu Jing, the younger brother of Sun Jian¡¯s wife, was still protecting their family .

    Despite the hectic escape from Xuchang, everyone never abandoned the Sun n .

    Seeing everybody¡¯s enthusiasm, Sun Fang decided, "Alright . We won¡¯t give up fighting until thest drop of my life . Prepare the army and give me 10,000 men . I¡¯ll head east for all cities around Wu and Huiji Commandery . Bofu and others should concentrate on Yuzhang and Chaisang Regions . "

    Wu and Huiji Commandery located on the south of Yangtze River, east of Mount Huangshan . They were the areas connected to the East China Sea . Notably, Shanghai in the present-day located a bit east of Wu .

    Yuzhang was the present-day Nanchang City, located south of Poyang Lake . As for Chaisang, this county located in the northwest of Yuzhang, known in the present day as Jiujiang County .

    These ces were the strategic regions of Jiangdong or the Yang Province .

    Zhou Yu agreed with this move, "I¡¯ll give you two-third of our provisions and weaponry . Please finish your campaign before the spring of next year and head north toward the Yangtze River and take Guangling Commandery as our foothold toward the north . Afterward, stay there and protect yourself from Cao Cao . Do whatever necessary to take the territories even if you have to force march in winter . "

    "What about you and Bofu? Will the remaining provisions enough?"

    Zhou Yu chuckled, "We¡¯ll move out when we have enough men and food from this year¡¯s harvest . For this first year, other officers and I will clean up after your campaign . Bofu will only move next year onward . "

    The n was crazy for an ordinary warlord as nobody would have believed that they could conquer thesemanderies with only 10,000 men . Since Sun Fang had many system skills, Zhou Yu trusted that he couldplete the task without a problem .

    .

    At Ye City, Sun Jian epted the terms that the Sun n had to disband the system n in three years . If they failed to join Tong¡¯s n when the year ended, all Sun n would be branded as traitors .

    It was an oppressive move from Tong, which frustrated all Sun Jian¡¯s subordinates .

    The audience with Tong ended, and the four left the pce . Since Tong did not appoint them into any position in the court, they were free to roam the city . However, Tong barred them from leaving Ye for the sake of their safety .

    Tong and Xun Yu remained in the throne room for a private talk .

    "Will you kill them, your majesty?"

    "Depends . We¡¯ll see in three years . "

    "I noticed that they were using n chat to consult with someone . I don¡¯t think we can trust them yet . "

    "I¡¯m also aware . Since they suddenly requested ten years, they must have a good strategist helping them by Sun Fang¡¯s side . I¡¯m suspecting that Zhou Yu . "

    "Zhou Yu? Sun Ce¡¯s sworn brother that you¡¯ve told me?"

    "Yes . He¡¯s a dangerous one . "

    Zhou Yu was one of the legendary strategists that Tong did not want to have as an opponent . As his abilities and his insight were rumored to be on par with Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, he could not let his guard down against this genius .

    As long as Sun Fang, Sun Ce, Sun Jian, and Zhou Yu were not hostile against him, Tong was willing to make amends to Sun Fang .

    For now, he could only pray that they would not betray his faith .

    Tong sighed, "Since I don¡¯t want Zhou Yu as my nemesis, can we still use what we had nned?"

    Tong referred to the promation that he made Sun Jian the Marquis of Xu . By his right and pieces of evidence, he had everything necessary to frame Cao Cao and confiscate his titles .

    Xun Yu shook his head, "No . Actually, we should pretend to ignore this matter entirely . "

    "What!? Why?"

    Xun Yu rubbed his chin, "Have you heard of a phrase [Befriend a distant state, but attack a neighbor]?"

    It was one of the famous quotes from the 36 proverbs, aka the 36 Stratagems, which was passed on from generation to generation . Some stratagems referred to historical events during the Spring and Autumn Period, Three Kingdoms Period, or the time when Sun Bin was still a dominant figure . However, each strategist had his own variation and understanding .

    Xun Yu also had memorized these proverbs since he was young . He mastered these proverbs to the point that he could recite it in his sleep .

    As for Tong, he had not researched the proverbs as much as Xun Yu, but he could recall a few phrases and stratagems .

    "I know a bit about it . Does that have anything to do with our situation?"

    "Yes . I think we should allow Cao Cao to run amok for the time being . "

    "Why?"

    "Since Sun Fang and Zhou Yu have nned to buy some times, they will surely try to unify Jiangdong as you¡¯ve told me in your story . And, this will definitely trigger Cao Cao for sure . "

    Xun Yu borated on his insight .

    Once Sun Ce, Sun Fang, and Zhou Yu controlled Yang Province, they would be another powerhouse that could threaten Cao Cao¡¯s southern borders . With Tong¡¯s forces ring at from the north of the Yellow River and Sun Fang¡¯s presence from the south of Yangtze River, Cao Cao would be pressed by both fronts .

    Then, the distant state alliance wille into y . Tong and Sun Fang should be allies, so they could attack Cao Cao together .

    Nevertheless, Xun Yu believed it would have been foolish to fight Cao Cao now and weaken both sides before Sun Fang emerged . They should remain patient and strengthen their foundation .

    Tong was confused, "We¡¯re giving up this opportunity, though . "

    "Brand Cao Cao a traitor now, and all lords will brand you as a tyrant emperor . There are chances that Liu Biao and Liu Yan could have proimed themselves as a true sessor of our dynasty as well . I also heard that Yuan Shu is still holding the Imperial Seal . He could use it against you if you act too rashly . "

    "Haiz . More fa?ade and politics, huh?"

    "I know it¡¯s annoying . You¡¯re an emperor now, not a governor of a county . Until Yuan Shu lost his patience and proimed himself an emperor, do not fight with Cao Cao . "

    Xun Yu had another move that would benefit Tong more than just destroying Cao Cao at the moment .

    His goal was Yuan Shu, Liu Biao, and Liu Yan .

    By the middle of this spring, Xun Yu¡¯s pacifism stratagem would bear fruits .

 Chapter 399

    Chapter 399

    Chapter 399 ¨C Zhong Dynasty Rumble

    Three of Tong¡¯s legions were ready to strike the central in at any time, but Xun Yu hoped that Tong could wait a little longer .

    The longer they postpone the major war between two powerhouses, the more peasants migrating to their territories . As the richest and the righteous faction of the court, this fame alone could attract merchants and nobles from around the country .

    Wei Yan was one of the migrated people because of word of mouth . He came here along with other peasants because he heard that Tong had many academies in Ye .

    In addition, Cao Cao had just invaded Xu Province, so civilians in his territories feared that they might get dragged into a war . As a consequence, many civilians moved north, seeking shelter under Tong¡¯s faction .

    It was the best time to steal manpower resources from the central in while Cao Cao¡¯s cities were underdeveloped .

    Tong rolled his eyes after he had listened to Xun Yu¡¯s thought .

    "How long until Yuan Shu act up? What¡¯s ourtest spy report?"

    "He will move this year . We have fed him enough, so they will definitely give Cao Cao another headache . "

    .

    .

    .

    April 18th, 191 AD .

    Luoyang City .

    Yuan Shu had been enjoying his position in the ex-capital city for years, but he started to get bored .

    All the women he had were the same . All wines became tasteless, and all treasures were nothing but garbage to him .

    Now that Yuan Shao had been killed by Cao Cao . He had be the new head of the prestigious Yuan n as he had always dreamed .

    However, his heart was empty .

    Every day, he kept gazing at his Imperial Seal, admiring the jade stone .

    "I have everything I have ever dreamt of . I have the n head title . I have power and territories . I have all the food and loyal subordinates . What else that I haven¡¯t had?"

    He stared at the seal and his pseudo emperor crown . Then, he gazed toward the north .

    "Should I be an emperor? Be one like Zhang Tong?"

    Yan Xiang and Yang Hong grimaced when they overheard Yuan Shu¡¯sment .

    "My lord, you must not!"

    "What are you thinking!? Don¡¯t try to pursue the throne, my lord!"

    All Han loyalists screamed in a panic . As their heart was with the dynasty, no one wanted an outsider emperor .

    Despite the pleas of his loyal retainers, Yuan Shu raised the seal overhead and smiled, "With this seal, I shall be the new emperor of thisnd! Prepare a coronation ceremony! I shall be the emperor of my glorious dynasty!"

    As Xun Yu had been waiting, Yuan Shu lost his patience and dered himself emperor of a new dynasty, Zhong .

    Chen Qun ran away from Luoyang the day he heard that Yuan Shu became emperor by using his Imperial Seal . He rushed to Xuchang, nning to inform everything to Cao Cao .

    .

    Two weekster, Liu Bei and his brothers, who were serving Yuan Yin in Hongnong, heard the news from traveling merchants .

    Tong stealing the throne from Liu Xie was frustrating enough, Yuan Shu¡¯s boldness enraged Liu Bei further .

    "Is our dynasty a joke!? Why is everyone trying to be an emperor!?"

    Liu Bei screamed as he drank in his courtyard . Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were also by his elder brother¡¯s side .

    Guan Yumented, "It¡¯s a turbulent time . Everyone is abusing their power for their self-interest . "

    "What about the people!? Don¡¯t they care about the innocent civilians!?"

    "They do . Well, some of them . Haven¡¯t you heard all the praise from the merchants? They liked how Cao Cao and Zhang Tong are doing . "

    "..."

    Liu Bei swallowed his words . He bit his lower lips and sulked .

    "What do I need to do to get to Zhang Tong¡¯s level?"

    Guan Yu shook his head, "Impossible . He is an immortal while we are merely men . Why are youpeting with him, anyway? Are you jealous of his power?"

    "Err, no . I didn¡¯t mean it that way . "

    "To be honest, I think of Zhang Tong as a good emperor . I heard he abused his edicts to tame Cao Cao, and both of them be allies . This is a move that benefits the people . Don¡¯t you think so?"

    "..."

    While Liu Bei was sulking, Zhang Fei flexed his wing power .

    "It¡¯s not exactly impossible, first brother! Look at my back . "

    Two white tentacle wings fluttered behind Zhang Fei¡¯s back .

    Liu Bei stared at Zhang Fei with widened eyes, "Third brother, you ... HOW DID YOU GET THAT!?"

    Zhang Fei shrugged, "It just came to me . Second brother has them, too . I can even feel your aura from here, right?"

    Guan Yu sighed . He was being considerate of Liu Bei that he kept it a secret . Now that Zhang Fei ratted him out, he had to confess .

    Four white tentacle wings shed behind Guan Yu!

    Seeing the four wings, Zhang Feiughed, "Damn! I thought it was three . You got four now!?"

    "By being virtuous, you¡¯ll get these wings naturally . Just avoid drinking, womanizing, and keep yourself disciplined, you¡¯ll catch up with me in no time . "

    Zhang Fei paused and stared at his wine jar . He pouted, "Bah! I just can¡¯t! I¡¯m not a monk, second brother!"

    Liu Bei¡¯s body trembled in excitement . He reached out to the wings, trying to touch them . However, his hands grabbed nothing but air .

    "Wow ..."

    Guan Yu was smart enough to read his brother¡¯s mind, "I had a talk with a goddess . She said that once we tribute her 100,000 years of lifespan, she will teach us the trick to get stronger . I paid for it when she revisited me to tell me that I had enough . I¡¯ll try to ask her if you can get these as well . "

    "YES, PLEASE! TELL THE GODDESS, I DO ANYTHING TO GET THESE WINGS!!"

    Guan Yu revealed a wry smile on his face, "I¡¯ll try . For now, let¡¯s think about how we can survive this ordeal . Are we going to continue serving Yuan Shu?"

    "Definitely no! We¡¯ll leave him ASAP!"

    "Then, where should we go next?"

    Liu Bei gulped as he could not decide where he should go .

    Going north to shelter under Tong was not an option . Going west would betray the Han Dynasty as they might have to serve the Xiongnu .

    "Heading south or east?" Zhang Fei pondered .

    Guan Yu had an idea, "How about we continue pretending to serve Yuan Shu, but we¡¯ll send messengers to Liu Biao and Cao Cao that we¡¯ll work with them . Anyone that helps us, we¡¯ll assist them in taking out Yuan Shu¡¯s forces from this city . We¡¯ll be able to contribute to the people this way?"

    Liu Beiughed, "Genius! You¡¯re a genius, second brother! Let¡¯s do that!"

    As such, Liu Bei and his brothers continued staying in Hongnong .

    .

    The emergence of Yuan Shu¡¯s Zhong Dynasty enraged Liu Biao as Guan Yu had thought . The warlord recalled his men from the south to Xiangyang right away, nning for a campaign against this Han traitor .

    In May, Liu Bei¡¯s messengers also arrived at Xiangyang, the capital city of Jing Province, which was the home base of Liu Biao .

    "Liu Bei? Who is this?" Liu Biao had forgotten the name of this [Liu] .

    Kuai Liang, Liu Biao¡¯s advisor, whispered to his lord, "It¡¯s thepdog of Yuan Shao in thest coalition against Xiongnu, my lord . He¡¯s the one with long ears and long arms . "

    "Ah? The moneyman in the rumor? What does he want?"

    "The message said that he is currently residing in Hongnong, and he is willing to cooperate with us if weunch a campaign against Yuan Shu . He also requests that he gets to keep Hongnong once we vanquished Yuan Shu . "

    Liu Biao sneered, "Haiz, a greedy bastard . Still, we¡¯re going to take on that traitor anyway . Can we request reinforcement from our emperor?"

    "I¡¯ve already dispatched our messengers to Ye . I think his majesty won¡¯t allow Yuan Shu to live . They will help us . "

    Although Liu Biao did not approve of how Tong seduced He Xing and used her as a stepping stone to the throne, he still liked Tong since he retained the name of the Han Dynasty and kept Liu Xie as the crown prince .

    The past events also proved that Tong only waged war against Xiongnu and other traitors, which were also another factor that Liu Biao favored this emperor¡¯s war policies . The Jing Province¡¯s administrator leaned a bit on Tong¡¯s side .

    This was what Xun Yu had aimed, the righteous image of a just emperor . Tong would be able to gather all Han loyalists under his banners in the future without shedding a drop of blood . Once both Liu Yan and Liu Biao could ept Tong¡¯s governance, they would automatically submit to Tong when their borders connected, just like Kong Rong .

    "What about Cao Cao? Is he still his majesty¡¯s subordinate?"

    From an outsider¡¯s point of view, Cao Cao had already surrendered to Tong, so they thought Cao Cao was a part of the emperor¡¯s faction .

    The advisorughed, "Cao Cao is busy expanding his forces south toward Shouchun and Lujiang . He will have to move his main forces from the central in if his majesty sends his decree, though . It depends on his majesty¡¯s action, but I think Cao Cao will help us, too . "

    "Good . Then, let¡¯s prepare our forces . We¡¯ll take Wan County first, then we will head to Hongnong of this Liu Beiter . As for Luoyang, we¡¯ll leave it to Cao Cao and his majesty . "

    As such, the quiet Liu Biao mobilized his forces .

    .

    Yi Province

    Liu Yan also heard the news, but his hands were tied .

    Khan, Liu Yang, Ma Teng, Ma Chao, and all of their subordinates invaded their territories .

    They managed to use the natural defense of this region, but they could not handle Khan¡¯s endless army . They had ughtered 150,000 soldiers of Khan, including former subordinates of Dong Zhuo, such as Li Jue and Guo Si, but they could not handle Ma Chao¡¯s elites, the Xiliang Cavalry .

    Yan Yan, the grandmander under Liu Yan, managed to stop the Xiongnu invasion at Jiameng Pass, southwest of Hanzhong .

    However, his 50,000-man army was exhausted by the prolonged war . Even after they had killed so many soldiers, Khan¡¯s cataphracts and Ma Chao¡¯s Xiliang cavalry managed to breach the defensive lines and reached Zitong County behind them .

    June 12th, 191 A . D .

    A messenger came to Yan Yan, telling him that Zitong County had fallen to Khan and Ma Chao .

    "Sir, we¡¯ll be isted if we keep on defending this pass . We have to retreat!"

    Yan Yan was frustrated . He did everything he could, but he had failed .

    Still, Yan Yan was a veteran general . He examined his region map and pointed at Mianzhu Gate, which was thest line of defense between Zitong and the capital city of Yi Province, Chengdu .

    "We¡¯ll detour Zitong and regroup with the others at Mianzhu Gate! We¡¯ll travel light and use every secret passage as we head there . Tell the troop, do not use the main road since Xiliang soldiers are deadly in horseback!"

    "Y-Yes, sir!"

 Chapter 400

    Chapter 400

    Chapter 400 ¨C Battle of Luoyang, Revisited ¨C Part 1

    June, 191 AD .

    Cao Cao received a decree from Tong, which rted to the emergence of Yuan Shu¡¯s Zhong Dynasty .

    The order was simple . They had to cooperate with Liu Biao to defeat the traitors .

    Received the imperial decree, Cao Cao, Guo Jia, and Xu Chu moved to Xuchang with half of their army, leaving Xiahou Yuan to oversee the southern campaign .

    .

    July, 191 AD .

    Cao Cao organized 40,000 soldiers and made their way to Ho Gate . He took manymanders and strategists with the army, such as Cheng Yu, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, Li Dian, Cao Xiu, and Guo Jia .

    Liu Biao Army, led by Huang Zu and Huang Zhong, besieged the Wan City of Yuan Shu . Liu Pan, a nephew of Liu Biao, also joined them .

    Also, the Ghost Legion, led by Zhang He, would participate in this joint campaign . Zhang He¡¯s assisting generals, Han Hao, Qu Yi, and Gao Lan, also came with them .

    The strategist of Zhang He was Xun You of the Xun n, the cousin of Tong¡¯s personal advisor, Xun Yu .

    Like how they battled the Xiongnu, 60,000 men from Henei gathered at Port Wen, getting ready to cross the Yellow River to siege Luoyang directly .

    Meanwhile, Yuan Shu was not that stupid to self-proim himself an emperor unprepared . He requested support from his ally, the Xiongnu, by giving them tributes .

    Li Ru, the former strategist of Dong Zhuo, led a force of 30,000 copies of Xiliang Cavalry and 20,000 cataphracts to Luoyang . On their way, they forced Yuan Yin, the honest governor of Hongnong, to conscript their troops to help them in this defense .

    Yuan Yin turned to Liu Bei and his brothers, ordering him to join this battle with Hongnong conscripted soldiers .

    At first, Liu Bei had nned to rebel against this person, but he received a secret proposal from Li Ru¡¯s messenger .

    Li Ru was aware of Liu Bei¡¯s position in this city, and he decided to tempt him .

    .

    [Lord Liu Bei,

    Our princess has noticed that your brothers had awakened to immortal power, but they do not have a mentor to guide them . Without a mentor, they would not be able to use their power efficiently like our lord .

    We are also aware of your difficulties during the turbulent time, and we are willing to give you a hand .

    Moreover, we are willing to support you if you wish to obtain a province to be your home base in the future .

    There is only one condition . Work with us and fight against Zhang Tong, the tyrant emperor that you despises . Then, we will give you our lord¡¯s secret cultivation technique that will help you and your brothers enhancing your power .

    Sincerely,

    Li Ru, the Administrator of Chang¡¯An . ]

    .

    Liu Bei turned this letter to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to consult with them . Both of his brothers agreed that they should use whatever necessary to break free from this predicament and this war . Also, sabotaging Tong¡¯s armies and allies was a good idea since they were aiming to restore the Han Dynasty from the outsiders . Having a [Zhang] as the Han emperor was uneptable to these brothers .

    As such, Guan Yu led a force of 30,000 men to Luoyang, nning to fight against Tong¡¯s Ghost Legion . As for Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, they stayed behind in Hongnong, just in case they required to betray Yuan Yin and open the gates for Liu Biao¡¯s forces .

    .

    Wen Port, southwest of Henei

    Banners, [Ghost], fluttered in the wind inside the camp north of Yellow River . Also, many gs of generals presented as well .

    However, a new banner caught the eyes of all soldiers .

    [Liu]

    Liu Xie, by Tong¡¯s order, had to join this battle as a reserve forcemander to gain realbat experience . His followers, Wei Yan, Liu Ye, and Sima Yi, also joined him in this deployment .

    Unfortunately, Cao Ang and Zhang Min were barred from participating since their status was different . Cao Ang was still serving as a hostage while Zhang Min was a princess . Sending both of them to the battlefield would make the battle moreplicated than necessary .

    The 10-year-old child, Liu Xie, attended the strategic meeting with sweat all over his face . Even a child could tell that he was nervous . Fortunately, Sima Yi and others stood behind him, giving him courage .

    Zhang He gazed at these youngsters with a wry smile . He recalled the old memory when he first met Tong .

    At that time, he was as young as Sima Yi and Wei Yan . He also never dreamt that he would be a general with 60,000 men serving under him .

    Now, looking back, he felt it was funny to see promising youths following his footsteps . Zhang He believed that, soon, these people would be another pir for Tong¡¯s country .

    "Rx, we won¡¯t bite you," Zhang He jested .

    "O-Okay, sir . "

    "Don¡¯t call me, sir . You¡¯re the crown prince, so you should have a bit of dignity . "

    "R-Right . "

    "Anyway . Let¡¯s begin the briefing . Strategist Xun, please . "

    Xun You smiled at Zhang He and the youths in the main tent . All other generals also smiled at them, thinking that they were cute .

    "Alright . Please look at the strategic map on the center table . I¡¯ve already arranged everything beforehand . "

    Liu Xie, Liu Ye, Sima Yi, and Wei Yan gazed at the tokens and the model map on the table . Wei Yan and Sima Yi¡¯s eyes sparkled as they savored the taste of pressure in the real war meeting .

    Xun You continued, "Our battle this time is simr to the battle with Xiongnu many years ago . We have learned from our mistakes, and we havee prepared this time . "

    He exined that they had built many fortress ships, square ships that could carry many soldiers, floating fortresses that could defend against regr sail ships . The others were transport ships which require manpower to row .

    Unfortunately, Tong, Te Langpu, or Li Feihong did not design this ship . It was from Xun You¡¯s idea .

    The otherworlder¡¯s ships had not been researched yet since Tong and all otherworlders had their hands full, developing cities .

    Sima Yi and Liu Ye frowned when they heard that Zhang He and Xun You nned to cross the river with these ships . The river was not that wide that required them to use warships, or should they prepare for a naval battle .

    Their real goal was crossing the river to get a foothold on the other side, not pursuing naval warfare .

    "Isn¡¯t this overkill? We can just cross the river with small boats right now and build a stronghold to the other side while the others continue to move across the river . "

    Hearing Sima Yi¡¯sment, Xun You nodded .

    "At first, I thought so as well . However, our spies reported that Yuan Shu sent messengers to the Xiongnu to request for help . For the sake of our safety, we will draw them to fight in a naval battle instead of heading straight to the enemy territory . "

    Liu Ye did not understand, "Why is that?"

    "We¡¯ve been gathering information about Khan¡¯s troop, strength, and weaknesses for years, and our afford bore fruits . Our agents found that their specialist is cavalry, like our heavy cavalry . However, they are from Liang Province . "

    Zhang He inserted, "Xiliang Cav, the Qiang Cav, and the westerners . "

    The westerners that Zhang He mentioned was the cataphracts, which was deadly in a melee fight . Their scale armors were as strong as their te armor, which they found it difficult to crack their defense .

    Xun You continued, "I¡¯m afraid that once we settle our camp on the opposite shore, we¡¯ll be vulnerable to Yuan Shu¡¯s reinforcement from Hongnong . "

    Sima Yi got the whole picture, "So, you want to draw horsemen to fight us in a naval battle . Then, they can¡¯t use their horse advantage . "

    "Correct! Also, we do not need to spearhead since Cao Cao¡¯s forces will help us from the east . They can take the brunt of those Xiliang soldiers . "

    "Are you sure that Cao Cao will help us? We¡¯re not exactly on good terms with them . "

    Xun You still smiled, "If that¡¯s the case, there will be more reasons for his majesty to mark Cao Cao as a rebel . I think he must have been dying to get a good cause to wage war with Cao Cao . "

    Liu Xie¡¯s face twitched, "Can¡¯t he just frame Cao Cao and get it over with? He¡¯s been dragging this matter for years . Cao Cao is getting stronger each day as well . "

    Zhang He and all adultsughed, "It is not that easy, your highness . Reputation, image, prestige, fame, and charisma are something that we have to tread carefully . Senseless wars and killing will only bring harm to the foundation of a country . Unless we have a solid reason that peasants and schrs can believe in us, we can¡¯t do anything . Do you remember how his majesty ughtered people in Liyang? Do you remember all the reports and rumor about him during the time? It was a miracle that his majesty survived after that event . If he does it again, all of his subordinates will definitely rebel . After all, human hearts are something that we cannot predict . "

    Sima Yi and Wei Yan nodded as he understood this matter thoroughly . They had been close to the princess, so he heard many things that ordinary nobles could not hear .

    Liu Xie bit his lower lips as he did not like how pretentious the political world was . He wanted to be an honest emperor of the people that would never lie to anyone .

    The reality hurt him .

    Xun You got everyone to the point, "For now, we¡¯ll send our baiting ships to the southern port . We¡¯ll trick them that we want that port as our next target . "

    .

    Xun You¡¯s prediction exactly was as Li Ru had nned . He intentionally dyed his arrival to draw Zhang He and his troops to the other side of the river, so his Xiliang cavalry could ughter these men like fishes .

    When they arrived at Luoyang and found that Zhang He had not crossed the river yet, Li Ru was baffled .

    "Is Zhang He inept? Why hasn¡¯t he crossed the river when he has a chance?"

    At Li Ru¡¯s side, Guan Yu apanied this strategist .

    "Aren¡¯t they trying to cross the river with all troops at once?"

    "That is foolish and inefficient . Oh well, the reality sometimes differs from our envisioned scenarios . Let¡¯s go see your emperor and regroup with their forces .

 Chapter 401

    Chapter 401

    Chapter 401 ¨C Battle of Luoyang, Revisited ¨C Part 2

    Yuan Shu, in his golden emperor robe, sat on his throne, looking smug .

    On the table in front of him, a scroll was being written by Yuan Shu .

    It was his first imperial edict .

    In the decree, Yuan Shumanded Liu Biao, Liu Yan, and Cao Cao to side with him, or they would be traitors of his Zhong Dynasty . Had any good advisor stood on his side, he would have reprimanded Yuan Shu for his useless idea .

    At the moment, Liu Biao, Cao Cao, and Zhang He¡¯s Ghost Legion had already closed in on their borders, and their intention was apparent .

    They wanted to demolish Yuan Shu¡¯s new kingdom!

    All officers, who had protested him, had been expelled from his ranks, leaving only his supporters and his generals .

    His grand general, Ji Ling, had no experience in politics, so he could not offer a better solution than Yuan Shu¡¯s decree .

    Yuan Shu¡¯s current strategist, Han Yin, was a bootlicker who never envisioned the big picture of the country . As such, he only praised Yuan Shu for his ideas .

    There were seven other generals beside Ji Ling, but they were also useless at this moment .

    In the end, Yuan Shu finished his decree .

    "Pass this to Liu Biao, Cao Cao, and Liu Yan! I want them on my side, so I can triumph over Zhang Tong!"

    "Yes, your majesty . However, you need to write two more scrolls of the same content . We¡¯ll take this one to Cao Cao first . "

    "Eh, what a pain . Okay, you go and give this to Cao Cao! Make him submit to me!"

    "Of course . "

    Han Yin took the imperial edict and passed it to his subordinates . They would be the ones delivering the decree since he was too busy kissing Yuan Shu¡¯s boots .

    After the subordinate had left, a guard came in with a piece of news .

    "Our ally forces has brought his army to assist us . They are waiting outside of the city right now . "

    Yuan Shuughed, "Good! Let¡¯s meet them!"

    .

    Yuan Shu met with Li Ru Army and Guan Yu Army in front of their city .

    "Wee to my empire! Thank you for joining us! As for Hongnong reinforcement, you¡¯vee at good timing . "

    Guan Yu cupped his fist and bowed, "It is my duty . "

    Li Ru snorted, "We¡¯re friends . Of course, we will send help!"

    "Come,e! Let¡¯s enter the city, so we can discuss our future ns . We can have a party while we¡¯re at it!"

    .

    .

    .

    August, 191 AD .

    Without a proper defensive organization and troop, Cao Cao took down Ho Gate without much trouble, using cannons . They bombarded the famous gate to the point that it became a ruined site . All garrison soldiers, which numbered 15,000 men, surrendered to Cao Cao Army .

    The initial 40,000 increased to 55,000 men!

    Without waiting for the reinforcement from Zhang He, Cao Cao marched forth, heading to Luoyang next .

    Along the way, they encountered a eunuch messenger from Yuan Shu . He came with Yuan Shu¡¯s first decree .

    Cao Cao refused to kneel before the edict scroll as he did not serve the Zhong Dynasty .

    "What kind of sphemy is this?"

    The eunuch pointed his finger at Cao Cao and everyone¡¯s face, "All of you are the sphemers! Kneel before the presence of the emperor, or you shall be branded as rebels forever! The punishment for all rebels is 9-generation execution!"

    Cao Cao rolled his eyes and waved his hand, "Get this idiot out of my sight . "

    Xu Chu and Dian Wei dragged the eunuch way . Yuan Shu¡¯s men tried to resist, but both Cao Cao¡¯s bodyguards killed all of them with ease .

    Cao Cao picked the edict to inspect . As he read it, heughed .

    "What an idiot . He never changes no matter wherever he is in . "

    He threw the edict scroll away, "Don¡¯t wait for Zhang Tong¡¯s reinforcement . We¡¯ll bombard the wall of Luoyang and seize the city before Zhang Tong¡¯s forces arrive . We¡¯ll snatch Luoyang under his nose!"

    Cheng Yu, who was standing behind Cao Cao, sighed, "He can always order us to give him the city, though . "

    "Then, his ranks will be flooded with our spies . We¡¯ll nt more spies into his minor official since his counter-intelligence agents are weeding out our agents . Our roots are getting weak inside . "

    "... Of course . We have that move . "

    Cao Cao¡¯s forces continued approaching Luoyang .

    .

    Days after Cao Cao had crossed the gate, Zhang He still had not crossed the river despite theck of defense at the opposite side of the river . Instead, tower ships, square ships, and small ships gathered on the northern shore .

    Yuan Shu and Li Ru were baffled by Zhang He¡¯s action . As they had lost their patience, Yuan Shu ordered Ji Ling and the other seven generals to probe this army with 20,000 men .

    Since Zhang He had not crossed the river, his army was not a threat to Luoyang, so Yuan Shu and Li Ru ignored them .

    Li Ru took his army, 30,000 Xiliang cavalry and 20,000 cataphracts to intercept Cao Cao Army in the east . Guan Yu and his 30,000 men also followed after Li Ru eastward, nning to fight Cao Cao together .

    .

    At the south shore of Yellow River, north of Luoyang,

    Ji Ling observed the fortress ships in the river . He grimaced .

    "One of those ships alone can easily cross the river . What are they waiting for?"

    His strategistughed, "I heard this young general doesn¡¯t get many achievements in his career . He must have bribed Zhang Tong to get his position, sir . "

    "I thought so too . They have many chances to get to the other side, but they chose to sit and wait on the opposite shore . Very well, we shall sink and burn all of their ships . Preparemp oil, lumbers, and shipbuilders . We will face them in the water . "

    "Should we build big ships like them, or should we focus on small ships?"

    "We go with small ones, so we can use them to ram those giant fortresses with our burning ships!"

    "General is wise!"

    .

    On the other side of the river, Zhang He watched a floating transparent interface screen with a smile .

    It was the HUD map skill that Tong had given Zhang He along with angel wing cultivation manual, and cell maniption technique .

    Zhang He¡¯s alter persona, aka his virtuous soul, was floating behind him, watching the radar map as well .

    "About time . "

    .

    At night

    Ji Ling confiscated fishing boats from the local vige . His men also built several rafts to carry his fire attack n .

    Since this was a guerri tactic, Ji Ling brought only five hundred men with him, boarding boats, which loaded withmp oil and dried haystacks .

    A hundred boats slowly sailed toward the north . None of them lit a torch or use any light as they were sneaking toward the big ships .

    Before the fortress ships, several small warships stationed still as they had dropped their anchors . All of them had torches, which illuminated the surroundings in the dark night .

    Still, the night was quiet and eerie . Only the flow of the river could be heard .

    The section of the Yellow River that Xun You had chosen to park their warships were over one kilometer in width . As a result, many fortress warships with the size of 100x100 meters could fit the ce along with other smaller vessels .

    The t bottom warships were slow vessels, which required a hundred manpower to row the ships .

    To Ji Ling, they were easy targets . He looked at the warships with a smile .

    ¡¯Easy . ¡¯

    As Ji Ling¡¯s men got closer, they could see Zhang He¡¯s soldiers standing in lines, watching in their direction .

    Their distance was 500 meters away, which they should not be able to see his ships in the dark .

    ¡¯Odd . Can they see us? I think there is no moonlight tonight . ¡¯

    Ji Ling tried to search for the moon, but he could not find it . Today was the dark moon day, which was the darkest night of the month .

    ¡¯There¡¯s no way that they can see us . Those are some disciplined soldiers . ¡¯

    Ji Ling thought that Zhang He¡¯s soldiers were so disciplined that they kept their guards up 24/7 . Since they were looking at their direction, Ji Ling decided to take a detour around the group .

    *BOOM*

    *SWOOSH*

    A war drum was hit, and signal gs fluttered . Captains of every squad turned to the signal gs and whispered hismand to his men .

    All soldiers suddenly loaded their bows with fire arrows, aiming at Ji Ling¡¯s direction .

    ¡¯What?¡¯

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Thunderous noise came from the fortress warships, and whistling sounds of several flying heavy objects traveled to the direction of Ji Ling¡¯s hidden fleet .

    *SPLATTER*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Two of Ji Ling¡¯s small vessels were sunk!

    ¡¯Did they see us!? How did they know!?¡¯

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    More mysterious sounds of loud booms echoed in the night once more . This time, the volley of ck balls missed all targets, which sttered the water, turning each missing shot into a water fountain .

    River water rained onto the men of Ji Ling, which began to panic .

    Small warships the guarded the fortress vessels moved forward toward them .

    "FUCK! RETREAT! THEY KNEW WE¡¯RE HERE!"

    Ji Ling abandoned his n to burn Zhang He¡¯s fleet . His men rowed the ships, turning 180 degrees to get away from the chasing fleet .

    Zhang He¡¯s men on the small ships released their fire arrows into their direction, which gave them a faint view of the intruders .

    "They¡¯re really there!"

    "Switch to repeating crossbows!"

    "Our ship will use fire arrows . Keep shooting into the dark, so the other ships can see!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The cannons on the fortress shipsunched their third volley, which sunk five more ships from Ji Ling¡¯s side .

    The chaossted only an hour since Ji Ling brought only a few men to test the water . Many soldiers who lost their vessels drowned in the river while the good swimmers were caught by Zhang He¡¯s men .

    Zhang He, themander of this small fight, stood on one of the fortress warships . His eyes did not move away from his HUD map .

    ¡¯This is quite convenient . I can¡¯t see them in the night, but I can see everyone here . ¡¯

    The radar map gave Zhang He all information about Ji Ling¡¯s movements and positions, which became easier for the former to pinpoint their cannon aim .

    After Zhang He had confirmed that all enemies had retreated, he turned around .

    "Tell our men to withdraw and rest . I don¡¯t think they wille again tonight . "

    .

    Ji Ling returned to the shore with a cold sweat . He thought that his night raid was perfect, but the cannon bombardment scared them .

    Moreover, it seemed that Zhang He Army could see through the dark!

    "What is this army!? How did they know!?"

 Chapter 402

    Chapter 402

    Chapter 402 ¨C Cao Cao VS Xiliang Cavalry

    Meanwhile, Xun You was observing the battle by Zhang He¡¯s side . As he could not see Zhang He¡¯s radar map or understand his secrets, the strategist was impressed by this general¡¯s battlefield reading abilities .

    Wei Yan, Liu Xie, and Sima Yi were also there to experience a night battle . As newbies, they were confused and astonished that Zhang He could guess the night attack and urately fired at the enemy¡¯s position .

    Wei Yan was motivated, "So, this is a great general¡¯s ability! Combat prowess alone isn¡¯t everything . I still have a lot to learn!"

    Sima Yi also watched the cannon crews and colorful signal gs with interest . He did not say anything, but he managed to memorize a few ryed orders and learn the army coordination .

    Liu Xie, however, as the youngest boy in the group, he was too sleepy and could hardly understand anything .

    .

    After the failed night raid, Ji Ling and his army fortified the south shore . However, he ordered his men not to build warships to fight Zhang He in navalbat since they were underprepared .

    Both sides continued their staring contest .

    Zhang He, Xun You, and his subordinates did not mind a prolonged war since they had nned to weaken Cao Cao Army in this coalition against Yuan Shu anyway .

    As for Liu Xie and others, they stayed with Zhang He and othermanders, taking lectures from them directly . When he heard about the hidden motive behind this war, he could not hide his astonishment .

    Xun You taught them, "We know that Yuan Shu and Xiongnu have formed an alliance, and they will bring their forces from the west here . This is one of the reasons that we avoid a direct confrontation with their army, but we can let Cao Cao take the brunt and test the water for us . "

    Because all intelligence agencies could not obtain information from Khan¡¯s territories, they did not know how cataphracts or Xiliang cavalry¡¯s strength . Although Tong warned them that they were strong, but not the strongest, Xun You and Zhang He did not let their guard down .

    The move here would sabotage Cao Cao¡¯s force by using Yuan Shu Army and Xiongnu Army while they were doing nothing but watching the battle from the sideline .

    Sima Yi snickered, "So, his majesty used a coward¡¯s tactic by turning Cao Cao into a scapegoat while he reaps the profitter?"

    Wei Yan smacked Sima Yi¡¯s back of the head, "Don¡¯t bad-mouth his majesty! This is not Ye, you moron . "

    Sima Yi looked at his friend, wanting to retort . However, he also noticed that many generals here red at himself, which did not bond well .

    "I¡¯m sorry . I was being immature . "

    Everyone nodded and ignored Sima Yi¡¯s remarks and continued teaching Wei Yan and Liu Xie .

    Because of the reaction from everyone, Sima Yi learned a lesson from his mistake .

    ¡¯Zhang Tong is a tough nut to crack . His prowess in battle is unquestionable . His politic game is solid since he has brainwashed all of his subordinates and pretended to be a just emperor . Bohe won¡¯t have a chance against his father in the next election . ¡¯

    He nced at his prince, pitied him .

    ¡¯You¡¯re fighting the impossible, Bohe . Once Zhang Tong¡¯s consorts give birth to a son, your standing as a prince will be destroyed by their mothers . ¡¯

    Currently, Du Shi and Cai Wenji each had a daughter, the second princess and the third princess .

    As Tong had ordered both mothers to recuperate from their health and spend time with the daughters, none of the concubines had obtained their second child yet .

    However, Sima Yi knew that it was a matter of time that Tong would give them a son .

    Once Tong had a real son, Liu Xie¡¯s status as his adopted son would be on the way of his bloodline sessor . Then, the concubines and their supporters would begin to suppressing this prince, whose force was still too weak in the court . Afterward, Liu Xie would be at risk of being assassinated by his foster mothers .

    He clenched his fist as he nced at all generals in the meeting tent .

    ¡¯I have to boost Bohe¡¯s standing within the court as soon as possible! I have to score him a noteworthy achievement that can shock thend!¡¯

    Sima Yi turned to Wei Yan, who met eyes with him . Both of them had a simr idea .

    .

    While Zhang He forced the battle at the Yellow River into a stalemate, Cao Cao¡¯s 55,000 soldiers faced the allied forces of 80,000 men from Guan Yu and Li Ru on the field .

    Both sides did notunch an all-out strike .

    Cao Cao ced horse barricades around his troops as he had expected a resistance force from Yuan Shu . However, he thought that he would have encountered only Yuan Shu Army, but he ran into Li Ru¡¯s horsemen .

    As cautious as he was, Cao Cao stopped his advance and concentrated on his defense . He arranged all cannons to the front as their field artillery weapons and used their newly developed "grapeshot" as their ammunition .

    The grapeshot was a bundle of small leads and iron balls, which packed into one bag . Once firing, the rounds inside the bag would spread, like how shotgun buckshot shells worked .

    The new ammo was designed and developed by Pu Jing¡¯s men . After they had collected the details from Sun Jian¡¯s deserted men, they learned about the usefulness of cannons . epted that Pu Jing¡¯s weaponry was useful, Cao Cao funded more gold into his untrustworthy subordinate¡¯s project .

    Now, they could test these prototype grapeshots against real foes . Fifty wheeled cannons and their crews were looking forward to using these today .

    As for Li Ru and Guan Yu¡¯s forces, they arranged 30,000 infantry of Hongnong in the middle while the rest of 50,000 cavalries spread to the sides, getting ready to use their mobility to pincer Cao Cao Army .

    Cataphracts¡¯ unique armors and horse armors attracted Cao Cao¡¯s attention . He watched the formation of his enemy on a watchtower with interest .

    "That¡¯s a good armor design . I need one of those to stand against Zhang Tong¡¯s knight armors . "

    Cheng Yu revealed a wry smile, "We¡¯ll need a lot of resources for that . Iron and bronze ores are limited . "

    "Most of those ore mines are close to mountains . We¡¯ll get more if we can take Luoyang . "

    .

    *BWOO*

    A signal horn could be heard from the right nk of Li Ru Army . A Xiliang cavalry toon, which numbered 5,000 men, rushed forward .

    *BWOOO*

    Another sound came from the left as 5,000 cataphracts made their move .

    Both unique heavy horsemen armies tried to test Cao Cao¡¯s array of fifty cannons and spike barricades .

    Although Cao Cao had 50 field cannons, they concentrated on the center front, which limited their maneuverability and targeting . As such, cannon crews could not shoot .

    Cao Xiu and Li Dian went to the nks . Cao Xiu led his 5,000 light horsemen against the Xiliang riders while Li Dian¡¯s 5,000-rider toon faced the cataphracts .

    The cataphracts charged at Li Dian¡¯s unit head-on . The front 2,000 men lined their long spears, getting ready to impale their enemies . As for the other 3,000, which were on the back, they took out their bows and aimed forward .

    Meanwhile, Li Dian¡¯s unit turned 90 degrees and avoided crashing with the heavy riders . Using their speed and lightweight, they baited the 5,000 heavy horsemen and avoided the cataphracts unit¡¯s arrow rain .

    After they dodged the arrows, Li Dian and his men took out their repeating crossbows and counter-attacked .

    Endless arrow volleys rained upon the cataphracts .

    However, none of them were harmed!

    Simr to knight armors, this unit¡¯s armors for riders and horses were designed to protect against light projectiles .

    Li Dian¡¯s face paled as he did not know what he could do to take down these tankers .

    Cao Xiu was not as lucky as Li Dian . As Xiliang cavalry was a disguise heavy armor unit in the form of light cavalry, their charge attack was fast and fierce, which they out-maneuvered Cao Xiu¡¯s light cavalry unit .

    Both 5,000 Xiliang and Cao Xiu¡¯s 5,000 collided before this young general could ry his order or pilot the troops . Once both forces passed each other, the first round ofbat revealed their strength .

    Cao Xiu lost half of his horsemen with a single charge from the Xiliang raiders . Some of the men were knocked off their horses, while the others died on their horseback .

    However, none of the Xiliang riders fell from their horses . All of their dead riders stuck glue to their partner, dying as they were still riding . Therades of their fallen friends also controlled the living horses with them, so they could use as spare horses .

    As such, Cao Xiu could not see the corpses of the Xiliang and could not tell how many they had killed . The soldiers were also frightened and thought that they had not killed a single enemy with that charge .

    "What the hell!?"

    *BWOOO*

    The nightmare continued as Li Ruunched the second wave . Two units of 5,000 horsemen charged forward .

    The first Xiliang unit, which had 3,500 riders and over 4,500 horses, turned around, trying to nk Cao Xiu from behind .

    "Damn you!"

    With fewer troops, Cao Xiu¡¯s unit was easier to maneuver . He avoided the chasing group from the front and the pincer troop from behind as Cao Xiu¡¯s 2,500 turned 90 degrees and fled to the sides .

    .

    Cao Cao raised his eyebrows as the enemies were more formidable than he had expected .

    "One is a fierce charger, while the other is simr to Zhang Tong¡¯s knights . "

    Cao Cao grinned, "I want them . "

    Cheng Yu shook his head, "This might be hard . Xiliang soldiers are from Liang Province, and those heavy riders are foreigners . "

    "Can we bribe them? Fake Zhang Tong¡¯s edict if you have to . I need them as my soldiers . "

    "I¡¯ll try . But for now, we have to survive this battle . "

    "That¡¯s simple . Tell the cannon units to load long-range cannonballs . Shoot them at the center army!"

 Chapter 403

    Chapter 403

    Chapter 403 ¨C Guan Yu¡¯s Nostalgia

    At the center of Yuan Shu Army, Guan Yu observed the battle in solemn .

    "Send two more units . Attack the center!"

    As Li Ru used the superior quality of Xiliang units and cataphracts units to pressure Cao Cao¡¯s nk battalions, Guan Yu added more fuel to the me by sending more units to the center .

    Two battalions of 5,000 men, a total of 10,000 soldiers, marched forward . These men carried swords and shields, which were the standard weaponry of Yuan Shu¡¯s infantry .

    Moreover, Guan Yu was a brave general who always fought alongside his men . He went together with the 10,000 men .

    Extended from his back were 4 white wings, giving the infantry morale that they were following a deity to war .

    Guan Yu¡¯s men did not rush . They paced was firm and steady as if they had been trained for years . In reality, they had only received a brief training for a few months after they were conscripted .

    Still, these men were confident because of theirmander .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    A loud noise came from the other side, sending fright to the men .

    Guan Yu¡¯s eyes sharpened as he could see small projectiles, small round ck balls,ing at them at high speed .

    "SHIELDS UP!"

    Despite Guan Yu¡¯s attempt tomand his men to protect themselves, the undertrained troops failed to react to the cannon¡¯s grapeshots . Hundreds of round ball punctured into the skulls, chests, arms, and legs of over 300 men .

    Rain of arrows followed after the cannon shells . Shadow of several thousand bolts covered the sky .

    By instinct, Guan Yu released a warcry .

    "RRRRAAAAAHHHHH!!"

    His voice created a vibrating shockwave to the sky . The wave of Guan Yu¡¯s voice became an invisible barrier, which protected him and all troops in the range of 100 meters around himself . Unfortunately, his unrefined skill could not protect everyone .

    Many arrows found its target and caused a heavy casualty onto Guan Yu¡¯s men . Combined with the first volley of cannons, 3,000 men fell before they could reach their enemies .

    "CHARGE!!"

    Undaunted by the projectiles, Guan Yu led the charge . All survivors bellowed "SHA" as they ran, cing their shields before them and raising their swords overhead .

    .

    Cao Cao frowned as he witnessed Guan Yu¡¯s superpower, which was simr to the abilities of otherworlders .

    "It seems I made a mistake of not believing in that daoist . "

    Cao Cao regretted not taking the full cup of Zou Ci¡¯s elixir . Had he drunk the other half content of the container, he might have gotten a simr ability like Guan Yu .

    ¡¯Since Guan Yu is here, that means the other two are somewhere in this vicinity . Has Liu Bei joined Yuan Shu in this timeline?¡¯

    As Cao Cao observed the battle between his center units and Guan Yu¡¯s units, he smiled, feeling the nostalgia of seeing Guan Yu again . They had a love-and-hate rtionship in the other timeline, but Cao Cao still respected this god of virtue .

    "Send Dian Wei and Xu Chu to intercept Guan Yu . Tell them not to push for the kill . upy him and buy times for our troops . "

    .

    Before Guan Yu, no Cao Cao¡¯s soldiers could stop his rampage . Simr to Lu Bu, anyone who stood in front of him was cleaved in half .

    Each time Guan Yu¡¯s ive was swung, five to seven people were cut down, sending their severed torsos or limbs into the sky . As he bathed in blood rain, Guan Yu paved the way for his subordinates .

    Soon, two tough men charged at Guan Yu .

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    He managed to parry two giant hammers that came for his head . Guan Yu took two steps backward to look at his opponents .

    Dian Wei and Xu Chu

    Memories came back to Guan Yu as he recalled his frequent dreams . It was a world in a different timeline that otherworlders did not exist .

    There was a time when he had surrendered to Cao Cao . During that period, he came to contact with many Cao Cao¡¯s officers . Xu Chu was one of them . He was known to be the sessor of Dian Wei, who was honored as Cao Cao¡¯s best bodyguard .

    As fate had pranked on them, both bodyguards were working together as one, fighting against him .

    ¡¯I remember you, Xu Chu . You always talked about your senior and cried like a baby . ¡¯

    In his dream, Xu Chu wept a lot when he mentioned the deceased Dian Wei . All his subordinates and his colleague had to cheer him or distract him from the topic to calm him . Even Cao Cao found it annoying to please this bodyguard .

    It was a nostalgic feeling . Guan Yu¡¯s killing intent dispersed as he looked at his formerrade with a warm smile .

    ¡¯It must have been nice to be able to work with your respected senior again, right?¡¯

    Two hammers arrived at Guan Yu again .

    The god of war focused his sense into his ive . With one swing, two heavy hammers were swatted away like insignificant flies .

    The feedback force threw Xu Chu and Dian Wei off their stance . They jumped backward in a panic .

    "Go home, Xu Chu, Dian Wei . I¡¯m not your enemy . "

    Xu Chu and Dian Wei frowned as they were confused . Still, they recalled the order of their lord that they were supposed to buy times .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Cannons from Cao Cao¡¯s side continued to shoot . As Guan Yu got stuck with Xu Chu and Dian Wei, Guo Jia and Cheng Yu assisted Cao Cao in organizing their units, counter-attacking against Li Ru and other horsemen .

    As the deafening sound of death throe and metallic nking noise was ongoing, Guan Yu, Xu Chu, and Dian Wei had a staring contest .

    In Dian Wei¡¯s mind, he paid no attention to Guan Yu¡¯s out of ce words .

    Xu Chu was different . He tilted his head to the side and innocently asked his opponent, "What do you mean by we¡¯re not your enemy?"

    "ZHONGKANG!! PAY ATTENTION!!" Dian Wei yelled at his junior .

    "I-I¡¯m sorry!"

    Guan Yu snickered, "I meant what I said, Xu Chu . My enemy is Zhang Tong, not you or Cao Cao . "

    "Then, why are you fighting us?"

    "ZHONGKANG!!" Dian Wei bellowed again .

    Guan Yu sighed, "Leave it at that, Dian Wei . You¡¯d better tell your lord to retreat . All of you might have been tricked by Zhang Tong . "

    Dian Wei snorted, "What do you know . You¡¯re working for a traitorous self-proimed emperor! I don¡¯t want to hear that from you . "

    "Then, do you know that Zhang Tong¡¯s men haven¡¯t crossed the river yet, right?"

    "That¡¯s none of our business . "

    Guan Yu took out a scroll, which he had written in advance . He threw it to Xu Chu, "Give this to Cao Cao . Tell him that I have a proposition for him . "

    Xu Chu caught it and nodded, "Sure!"

    Dian Wei¡¯s face twitched . He red at Guan Yu in suspicion . Since this enemy was making their job easier to aplish, Dian Wei did not mind ying along .

    .

    While Guan Yu, Xu Chu, and Dian Wei got stuck in the center of the battlefield, Cao Xiu and Li Dian had troubles trying to keep up with the heavy cavalry cataphracts and the fierce charger Xiliang troops .

    Li Dian was forced into a melee fight with the armored riders as they threatened to nk the center battalions . As light cavalry was no match against the armored ones, his forces were killed one after another .

    Cao Xiu did better in thetter half of thebat . As Xiliang cavalry units had lighter armors than the cataphracts, his men managed to cause damages to the chargers .

    Still, both generals failed to suppress the nk attackers and were forced to retreat .

    Yet, Cao Cao, Guo Jia, and Cheng Yu did not reveal a sign of anxiety . They smiled as if everything was going ording to their ns .

    Guo Jia monitored the nk that Li Dian had fought . He sent a signal, and his men ignited arrowheads of their ballista bolts in me .

    All archers at the nk aimed at the direction of fleeing cavalries .

    On the field where the fleeing ally units were retreating, Cao Cao¡¯s men had ced several ck sacks there .

    They were Pu Jing¡¯s developed gunpowder!

    Li Dian baited the cataphracts into the prepared traps .

    The hidden ballistae fired their burning arrows, and the arrowheads found one of the gunpowder sacks .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The ground erupted while the unsuspected cataphracts were caught in the explosion .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    A simr incident happened on the other side . Cao Xiu drew the Xiliang chargers to the prepared trap and caused an explosion .

    .

    The gunpowder explosion rmed Guan Yu, who had never experienced the devastation of hot weaponry .

    At this moment, Dian Wei believed that Cao Cao had the upper hand . Heughed, "Surrender, red face! You are no match for my lord!"

    Guan Yu returned the mockery with a grin, "I can¡¯t serve him, not now anyway . Well, Xu Chu . Don¡¯t forget to give that to your lord . "

    Without waiting for the reply, Guan Yu turned around and shouted, "Retreat! The enemy is using sorcery!"

    .

    Li Ru watched his men getting ughtered one after another with an indifferent expression . As he knew that these Xiliang cavalries and cataphracts were copied beings without life and soul, he did not mind losing them to wither down Cao Cao¡¯s forces .

    Still, watching the new weaponry of Cao Cao at work was a unique experience for the strategist .

    ¡¯Even Cao Cao is using sorcery like Zhang Tong or Khan . They really influenced future warfare . ¡¯

    While Li Ru was mumbling to himself, he did not forget to gesture, telling his aide to follow up instead of retreating .

    Unlike the soft-hearted generals who cared for their soldiers or the long-term management, Li Ru ced all his chips into one gambling .

    ¡¯Win big or go home . That¡¯s that . ¡¯

    During the first hour of the fight, Li Ru had sent in three waves of cavalry while Guan Yu had taken 10,000 to engage against the center army of Cao Cao .

    He still had 15,000 Xiliang cavalries, 5,000 cataphracts, and 20,000 infantry . They were more than enough to pressure Cao Cao with another big wave .

    *BWOOO*

    Four units, which numbered 20,000 horsemen, galloped forward, charging toward the nks of Cao Cao Army . They ignored the tattered Cao Xiu¡¯s units and Li Dian¡¯s units, which shocked Cao Cao¡¯s forces .

    20,000 footmen, which separated into four battalions, also rushed toward the center . They ignored the retreating group and Guan Yu and charged at the enemy .

    Although Guan Yu was reluctant to continue fighting, he rejoined the battle as he wanted to save his men¡¯s lives .

    Even Cao Cao raised his eyebrows in surprise . He had thought that the enemies would have retreated after the disy of explosive weaponry .

    He was impressed, "That¡¯s quite a strong mind their general has . Who is it that is leading Yuan Shu Army?"

    At this moment, Xu Chu passed the note that Guan Yu had given him to Cao Cao . Dian Wei also informed his lord about theirmanders .

    "We only saw two banners . They were [Guan] and [Li], my lord . "

    Cheng Yu confirmed the report, "I think he¡¯s Li Ru . He¡¯s a former strategist under Dong Zhuo, but he joins the Xiongnu during their invasion along with Ma n . "

 Chapter 404

    Chapter 404

    Chapter 404 ¨C Guan Yu¡¯s Karma

    Cao Cao read Guan Yu¡¯s message scroll, which informed him about Liu Bei¡¯s stance in Hongnong .

    Simr to Liu Bei¡¯s promise to Liu Biao, he attempted to surrender to Cao Cao with the condition that he got to retain his position as Hongnong¡¯s governor .

    He burst intoughter, "Oh, Liu Bei . You¡¯ve never changed, no matter which world it is . Whoever your lord was, you always betrayed them for your personal gain . Now, are you nning to use me again?"

    Cao Cao looked at thebat between infantry at the center . Guan Yu had long retreated from the frontline and regrouped with the charging 20,000 footmen . The infantry wave was so massive that all of Cao Cao¡¯smanders were panicking .

    Cheng Yu received the scroll and read it . He frowned, "Isn¡¯t this man Yuan Shao¡¯s underling? What is he doing here?"

    "He¡¯s a leech . Without his sworn brothers, he¡¯s nothing special . For now, let¡¯s survive Li Ru¡¯s onught . That man is going all-out . "

    .

    20,000 Footmen crashed against Cao Cao¡¯s remaining troops . This time, Li Ru¡¯s soldiers also had archers, who fired their arrows into Cao Cao¡¯s ranks .

    Cao Cao¡¯s men retaliated with their grapeshots and repeating crossbows while the frontline held their advance .

    Unfortunately, Cao Cao¡¯s forces were at a disadvantage in numbers and cavalry¡¯s strength .

    5,000 Cataphracts routed Li Dian¡¯s horsemen and destroyed Cao Cao¡¯s nk defenders . They proceeded to Cao Cao¡¯s main battalion, which consisted of cannon crews and spearmen .

    However, Cao Cao was ready .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Grapeshots from cannons and spearwall formation managed to stop their charge .

    Three hours into the fight, 15,000 Remaining Xiliang soldiers brokethrough Cao Xiu¡¯s rank and captured the general .

    Upon the defeat of Cao Cao¡¯s rtive, the warlord decided to retreat .

    His 55,000 soldiers reduced to 25,000 in a day, which disheartened everyone but Cao Cao .

    On the other hand, the victor suffered more casualties .

    15,000 Xiliang cavalry, 5,000 cataphracts, and 10,000 footmen remained after Cao Cao had fallen back to Ho Gate . From 70,000 to 30,000, the loss was significant .

    Still, Guan Yu¡¯s footmen secured something that Cao Cao¡¯s men left behind, a wheeled cannon .

    Taking advantage of the victor¡¯s side, Li Ru had his men looted all corpses . He also took all dead warhorses, converting their meat into provision for his men .

    In the temporary camp of Li Ru, the prisoner Cao Xiu was taken to the strategist . Guan Yu, the assistingmander, was at his side, looking at the prisoner in a pity .

    He believed that Li Ru would not let this Cao Cao¡¯s cousin live .

    Li Ru looked at Cao Xiu in solemn, "What¡¯s your name, general?"

    "... Cao Xiu . "

    "You look young . How old are you?"

    "... 18 maybe?"

    Guan Yu revealed a bitter smile . The first time he killed somebody was when he was in his 20s, but thisd wasmanding an army in his teen .

    ¡¯Come to think of it, Zhang Tong also has many young generals . Thisnd is so rotten that so many people have to take up arms in their youth . ¡¯

    Guan Yu¡¯s memories from the other timeline resurfaced . Comparing this life with this strange memory from a different world, he did not like the current development .

    At this rate, Liu Bei would follow the trend of history, bing the first emperor of the Shu Han Dynasty once he had obtained a territory of his own .

    The purpose of their fighting was for the people, not personal gain!

    ¡¯Can I stop his ambition? What should I do to stop Xuande from continue fighting?¡¯

    While Guan Yu was in deep thought, Li Ru was interrogating Cao Xiu .

    "What¡¯s the total number of your troops?"

    Cao Xiu almost swore and cursed at Li Ru . But once he recalled the death of his men, he found it insignificant to reveal the outdated information .

    "80,000"

    Cao Xiu exaggerated .

    "That¡¯s odd . I thought he had only 50,000 to 60,000 men . Are you hiding your troops elsewhere?"

    "We didn¡¯t mobilize all our troops . The rest are protecting Ho Gate . "

    Li Ru frowned, "Oh?"

    He fell into silence, staring at the teenage general .

    "Take this liar away and kill him . We don¡¯t need him anymore . "

    Cao Xiu¡¯s face paled . He gritted his teeth as he stared into Li Ru¡¯s eyes .

    Before Li Ru¡¯s men could drag Cao Xiu to the execution ground, Guan Yu blocked the men and appealed to the strategist .

    "Sir Li Ru, can you reconsider? I believe this youth is Cao Cao¡¯s cousin . He¡¯s more valuable if we keep him alive . "

    Li Ru shook his head, "That¡¯s more the reason that I want him dead . Cao Cao and his ally ns are a thorn to our lord and his majesty Yuan . "

    "I¡¯m sorry . As his majesty¡¯s subject, I have the authority to decide all prisoner¡¯s fate . Please don¡¯t forget that you¡¯re within our territory . "

    Li Ru red at Guan Yu, "Don¡¯t step over the line, general . I may look weak, but I¡¯m the grandmander of this army . You may be a general of Yuan Shu, but under the chain ofmand, you work for me . "

    Guan Yu chuckled in sarcasm, "Not anymore . We¡¯re not serving the Xiongnu . "

    Guan Yu drew a sword from a sheath on his waist . He cut Li Ru¡¯s neck in one swing .

    Li Ru¡¯s subordinates were shocked . They also took out their weapons and screamed, "Traitor!"

    Guan Yu snorted . He disappeared from where he was standing .

    In the next second, afterimages shed, and all officers in Li Ru¡¯s tent fell .

    The red face general turned to Cao Xiu, who was shaking in fear, "I won¡¯t kill you, child . I only want peace . "

    In wary and confusion, Cao Xiu muttered in a cracked voice, "... Are you a friend or foe?"

    "Honestly speaking, both . "

    "Fair enough . What are you going to do next?"

    "Be my messenger, and I¡¯ll let you live . How¡¯s that?"

    Cao Xiu did not care what Guan Yu was doing or what his motive was . Since this was a second chance in life, he would not refuse this deal .

    "Deal!"

    "Good . Wait here for a while . I¡¯ll finish everything shortly . "

    Guan Yu walked out of the tent to meet othermanders of his army and Li Ru¡¯s subordinates .

    Five hourster, Guan Yu returned with his men, who was bath in blood . He cut Cao Xiu loose and gave him a scroll, containing his message to Cao Cao .

    "Tell your foster father that I want peace . I hope he can wee my brothers and me . "

    Cao Xiu had a scare when Guan Yu mentioned about his foster father . Aside from himself and Cao n members, nobody should have known about his rtionship with Cao Cao .

    This young general was a distant rtive of Cao Cao . Originally, Cao Xiu and his family settled down south of Yangtze River, Wu Commandery .

    Upon hearing that Cao Cao was raising a force, he traveled from the southern province to Xuchang, joining with the Cao banners .

    Cao Cao treated him as if he was his son . Cao Xiu even lived in the same residence as Cao Ang and Cao Pi .

    Like Cao Ang, Cao Xiu was talented in martial arts . He also had the charisma of amander .

    Cao Cao wanted to train this foster son figure into a goodmander, so he led this teenagermanding a few of his battalions .

    This was a secret rtionship between Cao Cao and Cao Xiu that only insiders knew, yet Guan Yu was aware of it .

    Cao Xiu looked at Guan Yu in wary, "I will . I hope you won¡¯t trick me . "

    "I¡¯m not into killing a defenseless child . Take my token and scroll, then leave . "

    Cao Xiu took everything from Guan Yu . Before he left with a horse, he bowed to this red face general .

    "I owe you one . "

    Guan Yu smiled, "No, we¡¯re even . I owed Cao Cao a favor . "

    "Huh?"

    Cao Xiu did not understand that Guan Yu mentioned about the time when he served Cao Cao in the other timeline .

    .

    In 200 AD, Liu Bei and Cao Cao fought against each other in Xu Province after they had killed Lu Bu .

    Liu Bei Army was overwhelmed and routed by Cao Cao, and Guan Yu was captured in the process .

    Cao Cao had admired Guan Yu¡¯s character, so he recruited this general into his army . Unfortunately, Guan Yu¡¯s loyalty was with Liu Bei, so he refused .

    Still, Zhang Liao, as an old friend of Guan Yu, managed to persuade this god of war to temporary join Cao Cao¡¯s forces .

    Cao Cao was so happy that Guan Yu joined his side . As a reward, he gave Lu Bu¡¯s red hare to Guan Yu to win his favor .

    Later in the same year, Guan Yu repaid this kindness by ying Yan Liang in the Battle of Boma during the war between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao . Because of this action, Yuan Shao almost executed Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, who had sought refuge under his banners .

    Fortunately, Liu Bei and Yuan Shao had secret deals, which they instigated former Yellow Turban officers, Liu Pi and Gong Du, into raising their army in Runan and attacked Xuchang . Had they not had the deal, both brothers would have died by Yuan Shao¡¯s hands .

    Still, Cao Ren defeated Liu Pi, Gong Du, and Liu Bei¡¯s rebel army, forcing Liu Bei into fleeing to Jing Province, refuging under Liu Biao .

    Afterward, Guan Yu left Cao Cao¡¯s ranks when he heard about Liu Bei¡¯s whereabouts, which saddened Cao Cao . As an act of friendship, Cao Cao allowed Guan Yu to leave without hindering him .

    .

    In the 14th-century novel, Guan Yu managed to repay this debt by sparing Cao Cao after he captured the warlord in the Battle of Chibi .

    However, history records never had this detail . Cao Cao was never captured by Guan Yu after the former was defeated in Chibi .

    In this world, Guan Yu had not repaid for Cao Cao¡¯s favor yet, which gued his mind after he got the otherworld¡¯s memory . This was a good chance to settle this karma .

    Guan Yuughed, "Don¡¯t worry about it . Just go . "

    Cao Xiu bowed, "Thank you, general!"

    After Cao Xiu left, Guan Yu felt a change in his body .

    Upon checking his virtue status, he found that one of his four unawakened virtues were at 100% . Without hesitation, Guan Yu activated his awakening .

    After a slight spasm, a fifth virtue soul appeared behind Guan Yu . It was [Honesty] .

    Now, Guan Yu had [Diligence], [Kindness], [Loyalty], [Patience], and [Honesty] .

    He turned around to see his fifth spirit of virtue .

    ¡¯I wonder how many spirits Zhang Tong has? Is he still stronger than me?¡¯

 Chapter 405

    Chapter 405

    Chapter 405 ¨C Guan Yu¡¯s Potential Threat

    Guan Yu took over 5,000 cataphracts and 15,000 Xiliang riders from Li Ru, merging with his 10,000 infantries . He returned to Luoyang, reporting their victory to Yuan Shu .

    When Yuan Shu heard that Cao Cao retreated, he bestowed Guan Yu with a title, Great General of Hongnong, and gave him 5,000 gold nuggets as a reward .

    Still, the threat of the coalition had not been cleared yet . Liu Biao was attacking Wan Commandery while Zhang He was ring at them from the north .

    Yuan Shu gave Guan Yu an imperial decree, "Great general, you will take all of your men to support Ji Ling to the north . I want Zhang He¡¯s head!"

    Guan Yu nced around, checking all officers in the throne room . Upon seeing no military officer in here, he came up with a scheme .

    "Your majesty, my men are injured and exhausted from the recent battle . I hope you can allow us to rest for a few days and allow me to conscript more troops from the garrison forces . Since Cao Cao won¡¯t attack us any time soon, it was unnecessary to keep many garrison soldiers in the city . Let me take them to battle, so they can contribute something to you . "

    Yuan Shuughed, "Good idea! Take those useless men to the frontline . They have been eating my gold and my food for nothing . Let¡¯s get them to work!"

    "Thank you, your majesty!"

    Han Yin, who was currently Yuan Shu¡¯s advisor, stepped forward to stop his lord .

    "Your majesty, we need those soldiers to protect us! We may have repelled Cao Cao, but it might be a temporary retreat . We need a force to protect the capital!"

    Yuan Shu waved his hands, "Don¡¯t bother . I don¡¯t think they will have the guts toe here again . Didn¡¯t you hear the report? Cao Cao Army has been crippled after this fight . "

    "True . "

    Han Yin was still hesitant . Sending garrison soldiers away would make Luoyang vulnerable to any raider, which was a reckless move .

    He red at Guan Yu in frustration .

    "General, you¡¯d better be sure that no one can attack Luoyang while we are undefended . If anything happens here, you will be held responsible for this action . "

    Guan Yu bowed while he hid his faint smile, "Of course . "

    .

    A week after the battle, Guan Yu departed from Luoyang . He took 10,000 militias from the city, leaving the city defense empty .

    However, he did not regroup with Ji Ling . Guan Yu took everyone and headed west, returning to Hongnong to regroup with Liu Bei and Zhang Fei .

    Manymanders tried to resist against Guan Yu¡¯s order, but they were all killed . Moreover, all copied cataphracts and Xiliang warriors did not have their own thought, so they did not make a fuss .

    In the end, only Liu Bei¡¯s loyalists maintained the positions ofmanders . All Yuan Shu¡¯s men were eliminated from Guan Yu¡¯s ranks .

    Two dayster, the news of Guan Yu¡¯s betrayal reached Yuan Shu¡¯s ears . Every Zhong Dynasty¡¯s retainer was fumed into a rage .

    "BLASPHEMY! HOW DARE HE BETRAY US!?"

    Yuan Shu¡¯s face reddened in anger . He pointed at Han Yin¡¯s face and scolded him, "Why didn¡¯t you tell me that he is untrustworthy!? Who allowed him to join my army!?"

    Han Yin was horrified, "Your majesty! Please calm your anger . This servant didn¡¯t know ..."

    "TELL JI LING TO STOP GUARDING THE SOUTHERN RIVER BANKS! HAVE HIM CHASE AFTER THAT BASTARD GUAN!"

    "Y-Yes, your majesty . "

    .

    Two dayster, Ji Ling got the message from Yuan Shu, which made him frown .

    He looked at Zhang He¡¯s navy forces, which still remained silent across the river .

    "Tsk! Retreat . "

    Ji Ling gathered his men and returned to Luoyang, nning to resupply before chasing after Guan Yu .

    Yuan Shu and Ji Ling were not the only ones who heard this development . Cao Cao also got his spy¡¯s reports . Moreover, Cao Xiu had returned to his side and confirmed that Guan Yu was not their enemy .

    Cao Cao mulled over it with interest, "He said that he owed me something, so he released you to return my favor?"

    Cao Xiu nodded, "Yes, uncle . Did you, by chance, save his life or some sort in the past?"

    The warlordughed, "Well, in a way, I helped him for a favor in the past . To think that he has that memory, too . That¡¯s interesting . "

    "Memory?" Cao Xiu and others were confused .

    "Never mind that . Also, you said that he has that four white wings?"

    "Yes . I can confirm this since I met him personally . "

    "That¡¯s even better! I think Guan Yu is one of the immortals now, and it proves many things . "

    Cao Cao had always questioned if he or his subordinates could acquire a simr power as Tong . Now that Guan Yu had demonstrated that the dream was not impossible . Cao Cao revised his next move .

    "We¡¯ll be working with Liu Bei and Guan Yu! All units, we¡¯ll rush to Luoyang ASAP!"

    With that order, all Cao Cao¡¯s remaining 25,000 men rushed to Luoyang .

    .

    Zhang He had been observing the situation for many days . When he received Liu Bei¡¯s secret message that they wanted to cooperate, Zhang He ryed the matter to Tong via n chat .

    Unfortunately, Tong sent an iron fist order, "Kill Liu Bei and his sworn brothers whenever you have the chance . Ignore all fa?ade, politic, or formality . "

    It shocked everyone that Tong had a secret grudge against Liu Bei even though they hardly met or quarreled against the others .

    Through the peaceful years, Liu Bei¡¯s name had spread in Hongnong because of his character . As a kind and virtuous character, he won the heart of Hongnong¡¯s peasants, minor officers, and even the governor Yuan Yin .

    Obviously, Xun You, Xun Yu, Ju Shou, and many officers disagreed with Tong¡¯s order since Liu Bei¡¯s influence had brainwashed Hongnong Commandery¡¯s civilians recently . They might suffer a bacsh from the townsmen had they offended Liu Bei without a good reason .

    However, the next intelligence report changed their mind .

    Guan Yu had four angel wings!

    Zhang He sweated when he heard that a potential enemy had grown so many wings in a short period . Even Medusa and Friday were shocked .

    Tong: "Oh, boy . Do I have to go there myself and fight him myself?"

    Li Feihong: "How many wings do you have, Tong?"

    Tong: "Four, almost five . I need a bit of push to get there . "

    Li Feihong: "I have 3 souls now . Should I teleport to Ye and pick you up?"

    Tong: "I have another idea . How many lifespans do you have?"

    Li Feihong: "Almost 12mil . Why? Need some for your skills?"

    Tong and all otherworlders had not received a quest from Lilim anymore . As a consequence, they had to acquire their upkeep lifespans by harvesting lifespans with their power . Currently, only Li Feihong, Lu Bu, Zhang He, Xu Huang, and Zhang Liao could gather life forces and contribute to the n asset . As for Tong, Dong Bai, and Diaochan, they had to obtain lifespans through draining dead bodies .

    Tong: "Put 10 into the n . "

    Li Feihong: "We¡¯ll lose five million as Lilim¡¯s tax, you know . "

    Tong: "It doesn¡¯t matter . Five million is enough to get 50 of our officers a right to grow wings . We can¡¯t wait anymore . I¡¯m going to upgrade all of our generals into either angels or demons . "

    Li Feihong was decisive . He transferred his hard-earned lifespans to the n without batting an eye . Ten million lifespans were reduced to five million in the n asset .

    Tong bought cultivation manuals for all of his great generals right away .

    Also

    Tong: "Friday, Medusa, how many wings do you guys have now?"

    Dong Bai and Diaochan had bought their demonic cultivation manual and the right to cultivate from Lilim long ago . It cost them a million to get their power back, and they had to rebuild their strength from scratch .

    However, as demonesses who had once obtained four wings and eight wings, recultivating Soul of Sins was easy for them .

    Dong Bai: "Only 2 wings, boohoo!"

    Diaochan: "Four . "

    Dong Bai: "Meddy is unfair! How did you grow wings so fast!?"

    Diaochan: "I once had eight wings, so it was a simple task for me . Just concentrate on the trait that you are good at, and you¡¯ll get it back in no time . I¡¯m close to getting the fifth and the sixth soon . "

    Dong Bai: "Waaaa! Not fair!"

    Tong: "Well, good . For now, I¡¯ll make an announcement to all of our officers . We¡¯ll select their cultivation choice by their personality and their achievements . "

    As Guan Yu¡¯s growing in power threat was looming in the corner, Tong sacrificed Li Feihong¡¯s back-up lifespans to elerate their general¡¯s growth .

    Now, Tong wanted everyone to be immortals .

    .

    Because of Guan Yu¡¯s threat, Zhang He and Ghost Legion were recalled to Henei, so he and his subordinates could take their time to cultivate their new power .

    Zhang He already had three virtuous souls, which he had started cultivating since the day Tong had distributed his skills to his subordinates . Unfortunately, the gap between the four-winged angel and three-winged was too vast, so Tong did not want to take risks sending Zhang He to face Guan Yu .

    The Ghost Legion¡¯s great general was vexed as well . He med himself for now meeting Tong¡¯s standard, which resulted in his retreat .

    ¡¯I¡¯m not strong enough . I need to get stronger!¡¯

    All Zhang He¡¯s subordinates were the same when they received the blessing from Lilim . When they heard that Tong and Li Feihong sacrificed their assets to bestow them the cultivation manual, their motivation grew, as well as their faith toward Tong¡¯s Han Dynasty .

    Han Hao, Gao Lan, and Qu Yi chose the difficult path of demonic cultivation as they wished to be like Tong one day .

    Generals under the Demonic Legion, Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji, also chose the demonic path since they had tutors with many ck wings .

    As for the rest, everyone chose the angel path since it was easier to cultivate .

    As for those with exceptional talents, such as Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci, they got two angel wings right away on the first day he got the manual .

    Unfortunately, the next generation had not received their cultivation manual yet, as Tong found it that they had not proven themselves .

    Sima Yi, Wei Yan, and Liu Xie retreated along with Zhang He in frustration . They thought that their chance hade, but Tong ruined it because of his cowardice .

    None of them was aware of the immortal power behind the scene .

 Chapter 406

    Chapter 406: 406

    Chapter 406 ¨C Reaction to Old Memories

    "Why are they retreating!? They have the upper hands, right? Ji Ling fell back, and Guan Yu betrayed Yuan Shu . We could have capitalized this situation!"

    Sima Yi did not understand the logic behind Zhang He¡¯s retreat order .

    Soon, Zhang He¡¯s subordinates told the trainee group about Tong¡¯s decision .

    "It was his majesty¡¯s direct decree to our grandmander . We can¡¯t vite hismand . "

    Sima Yi wanted to yell [Bullshit], but he refrained himself . Liu Xie and Wei Yan had the same thought .

    As Zhang He noticed their discontent with Tong¡¯s order, he gathered the three at night and exined about the n chat .

    "You¡¯ll get invited to the n soon . I think he¡¯ll take all of you next year, so you can learn many things from your seniors . You¡¯ll also be able to use the n chat as we do . "

    "What¡¯s this klon chak?"

    Wei Yan smacked Sima Yi¡¯s head, "It¡¯s called, cleaned shit . "

    Liu Xie sighed, "Guys, it¡¯s n chat . "

    " . . . "

    Zhang He facepalmed, "n chat . Anyway, once all of you are invited, your world understanding will definitely change . Also ..."

    Zhang He gazed into a distant at the direction of Xuchang in nostalgia, then he turned to Sima Yi with a bitter smile, thinking about the other timeline where Zhang He and Sima Yi worked together to suppress Zhuge Liang .

    "You¡¯ll recall a bit of your mysterious memory, Zhongda . "

    "..."

    .

    .

    The wing power bestowal was a double-edged sword . Once someone had awakened to the cultivation method, whether it was angelic or the demonic one, they would obtain a soul and a fragment of their alternate timeline memories .

    Tong had heard about the aftereffect when he gave Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, and Zhang He a cultivation method . The three of them reported that they had strange dreams, which was a memory of their other life as Cao Cao¡¯s subordinate .

    This side effect of a cultivation bestowal was something that even Diaochan and Dong Bai did not know . It appeared to be one of Lilim¡¯s secret, which she had excused that it was forpleting this dimension .

    It was a risky move since all generals under himself would recall their past life memory . Still, Tong was confident that the n chat and his influence in this world should be able to override their loyalty toward their former lords .

    At You Province, Zhao Yun received the side-effect in full swing .

    After Zhao Yun obtained two wings, he was so d that he forgot to rest . When he fell asleepter, Zhao Yun¡¯s memories from the other timeline flooded his dream .

    The early career with Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan,

    The Battle at Changban where he rescued Liu Bei¡¯s son,

    The vow that he gave to Liu Bei,

    The life that he dedicated to Liu Bei,

    The death of Liu Bei,

    And the end of his life,

    Everything came back to him .

    Zhao Yun was in tears when he woke up . He sat still in his bed for hours, confused about what had happened .

    Both memories of his current life and the other timeline conflicted, confusing Zhao Yun . He could not separate what reality was .

    However, when he met the people of You Province and saw their smiling faces, he cried again .

    He remembered why he served Liu Bei .

    He also remembered why he was serving Tong .

    He even recalled why he started fighting .

    Everything was so simple that Zhao Yun of both worlds forgot what his goal was after he picked his lord .

    "I start fighting ... for the people!"

    He decided that he would not switch side to Liu Bei, who kept running without contributing to the people in this world .

    Zhao Yun was not the only one with a conflicted thought . All generals, such as Gao Lan, Zhou Cang, Taishi Ci, and many others, had recovered the other timeline¡¯s experience .

    Everyone had a different reaction .

    Zhou Cang touched his bald head and screamed at first . Then, he recalled that he was stronger than thest life, so he did not mind the change . Still, he missed Guan Yu and hoped that his former boss could join Tong, too .

    Taishi Ci missed Sun Ce and their fateful duel in the Battle at Jiangdong . He regretted that he failed to live to see Sun Ce¡¯s younger brother thrived as the Wu Emperor . However, he favored this timeline as peace might be restored to thend sooner than the other world . Also, Tong tried to recruit the Sun n peacefully . Thus, he remained as Tong¡¯s subordinate, waiting for the day that Sun Ce and himself could reunite .

    Tian Yu did not care whether he worked for Cao Cao or Tong . As long as he could keep the northern borders safe from Xianbei and Xiongnu, he was a happy man . As a result, his stance was unchanged .

    Gao Lan and Han Hao were Cao Cao¡¯s former subordinates . Fortunately, they still worked with their former colleague, Zhang He, so they did not mind continuing fighting under Tong¡¯s banners .

    Qu Yi was former Yuan Shao¡¯s subordinate . As he was killed by Yuan Shao in his previous life, he was d that he picked Tong¡¯s side .

    Xu Huang and Zhang Liao got their awakened souls long before the others . The old memory shocked them at first, but they were elites who could adapt to anything . Since Tong and Cao Cao were not sworn enemies, they continued serving Tong like the other generals . However, they would be neutral if Tong and Cao Cao had to fight in the future .

    As for all strategists and civil officers, they had different reactions .

    Ding Yuan was a happy man when he got his old memories . The Han Dynasty did not fall under Dong Zhuo¡¯s regime in this timeline, and Lu Bu did not kill him . Therefore, the veteran protector of Bing was delighted with this newfound experience, nning tobine his prior knowledge with the new ones to benefit the people .

    Lu Zhi recalled that he was supposed to be a servant of the Han Dynasty, but he failed to subdue Dong Zhuo . He also remembered that he fought against Zhang Jiao, who was Tong¡¯s father, as if he was his nemesis .

    Zhang Jiao also remembered that he died in the other timeline in a miserable death because his attack on Han¡¯s Capital City failed . Heughed and celebrated that his life in this world got better, and his son was now an emperor . He regretted nothing .

    When Zhang Jiao and Lu Zhi met each other in Julu, both of themughed and discussed their alternate timeline, retelling their tales and turning the stories into a joke . Both former nemeses had a lot of fun .

    Former Yellow Turban members, Bo Cai, Zhang Liang, and Zhang Bao, were d that they disbanded their rebellion banners before it was toote . Since their lord¡¯s son was the emperor, they did not care if they had to work for Tong or his father . Everyone resumed their work as if the dream was just a nightmare .

    Jia Xu went ballistic when he got his memories back . He yelled at Tong in the n chat for deceiving him for years . After he recalled that his pay was better than when he served Cao Cao, Jia Xu retracted his words, pretended that he did not say anything, being shameless as usual .

    Xun Yu and Xun You found this past life¡¯s recollection as a nonsensical story since they were men of logic . Although their expertise improved because of their additional experience, they denied the tales of the otherworld, calling it a silly dream .

    As for Ju Shou, heined to Zhang He and Gao Lan, who betrayed Yuan Shao in the other timeline, ming them for his death in that world, almost instigating a feud . Fortunately, Zhang He and Gao Lan apologized to Ju Shou, which satisfied thetter and quit the matter .

    Simr to how Zhang He and Gao Lan apologized to Ju Shou, Wang Yun also visited Cai Yong in Ye to beg thetter for his forgiveness, redeeming his mistake in the other timeline . In that world, Wang Yun was the one that imprisoned Cai Yong and tortured him to his death, which the former found it regretful and needed to be corrected . Cai Yong forgave the old minister, and they became friends in this world .

    In the other timeline, Kong Rong was killed by Cao Cao in the year 208 because of his braggart, so he was d that he did not join Cao Cao again in this world . Still, he learned a bit from his mistakes in hisst life . Kong Rong would try not to bad-mouth his superiors or try to show-off again like the other world . He continued serving Tong as Beihai¡¯s governor while he tried his best to stay low-profile .

    As for Sima Fang, he enjoyed the experience to the fullest . Using his experience from the dream, he nned to train his sons, especially Sima Yi, using his new teaching methods . Simr to the two Xuns, he thought that it was just an ordinary dream .

    Zhen Yi recovered his experience as governor of Zhongshan . He also recalled that he had wedded Zhen Ji with Yuan Shao¡¯s son, Yuan Xi, in the other timeline before Cao Pi snatched his daughter to be his empress . Zhen Yi got fired up after he had realized that Zhen Ji would grow up as a talented woman, nning to raise her education level and sending his youngest daughter to Tong¡¯s harem . In this timeline, he did not care if Cao Pi or Tong would be his son-inw . As long as one of them was the victor, he would benefit from the matching nheless .

    As for thest group, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu celebrated when they reunited again after their long dream . Since Zhang Ji did not die in this world, they were more than happy to treasure their second chance . Furthermore, Zuo Shi had babies with Zhang Ji, so they regretted nothing .

    .

    n Chat

    Tong: "Aside from that shameless old coot, anyone wants toin about your dream or your otherworld¡¯s memory?"

    All local officers did notment .

    Tong: "Let me change the question, does anyone want to return to your former lord?"

    Zhang Liao: "As long as you don¡¯t send me to attack Cao Cao, I won¡¯t switch side . "

    Xu Huang: "Same . "

    Zhang He: "Me, too . "

    Zhao Yun: "No, your majesty . "

    Taishi Ci: "Not me . "

    Xun Yu: "That dream is stupid . Please don¡¯t sow discord between us, your majesty . "

    Lu Zhi: "Disciple, a good emperor doesn¡¯t need to ask his subordinates for their loyalty . He smashes them with his hard work and glorious achievements . Show them that you are better than those lords . "

    Te Langpu: "Agreed . A good leader doesn¡¯t need to care whatever your employees feel about you . Your word is absolute, and anyone that defies you should be fired, like how I fired over a hundred of my workers because they pissed me off!"

    All otherworlders: "..."

    Tong: "Then, I hope that all of you can resume your work as you have done up till now . If there¡¯s anything you need, ask our prime minister . He¡¯s getting fatter because he doesn¡¯t have anything to work ontely, so let¡¯s work him up a bit to reduce his weight . "

    Everyone: "..."

    .

    Ye City

    Tong sighed, exhausted after he had dealt with the aftereffect chaos . He looked at Xun Yu at his side with grateful eyes .

    "Without your help, things might have gotten out of hand . "

    Xun Yuughed, "Only superstitious fools believe in dreams . It¡¯s just a thing that happens in our head . "

    "Do you not believe in it at all?"

    "No . Well, I have to admit that I can learn a thing or two from the dream, but that¡¯s that . Reality is more important . "

    "... True . "

    .

    .

    .

    While Tong was relieved that no one had nned to rebel or turn against him yet, things changed in the southern region .

    Zhou Yu overworked Sun Fang as if he were the former¡¯s ve . When Zhou Yu learned that cultivation technique could be acquired by paying enough lifespans and they could also help Sun Fang gathering lifespans, he forced Sun Fang to buy them for Sun Ce and himself . Zhou Yu also excused that they could boost their lifespan gathering rate with their help .

    Helpless and believing in the historical strategist, Sun Fang paid 200,000 lifespans to buy it for Zhou Yu, which almost emptied his collected pool in one go .

    After Zhou Yu had experienced life in the other timeline from his dream, his view toward Sun Fang became different .

    As Sun Fang was away, attacking eastern Jiangdong, Zhou Yu turned to his sworn brother, Sun Ce, crafting a new scheme behind this otherworlder¡¯s back .

 Chapter 407

    Chapter 407

    Chapter 407 ¨C Smashing Luoyang

    While Zhang He and his men were pulling back from the battlefield, Ji Ling and his 19,500 men returned to Luoyang .

    Before they could resupply and chase after Guan Yu Army, an urgent report came from Yuan Shu¡¯s scouts, who were monitoring Ho Gate¡¯s movement .

    The reports came to Yuan Shu and Ji Ling that Cao Cao¡¯s forces rushed at Luoyang again with their 25,000 soldiers . Also, a unit of 2,000 light horsemen had already shown up on the horizon, capturing all farmers and civilians beyond the city wall .

    Yuan Shu changed his mind . As he did not want Luoyang to fall, he ordered Ji Ling to defend the city instead of pursuing Guan Yu .

    As such, Ji Ling¡¯s 19,500 men had to face the elite army of Cao Cao .

    Ji Ling did not mind it . Since it was amon sense in this era that an attacker force¡¯s number had to be five times bigger than the defender, Ji Ling did not think that Cao Cao could defeat him with only 25,000 men .

    The next day after they heard the news, Cao Cao did not surround the city like the usual standard siege warfare . He also did not bring any siege tower or siegedder .

    However, Cao Cao decided to put his new toys into work .

    40 Wheeled cannons were pushed before Cao Cao¡¯s arrays of troops, and they were loaded with regr cannonballs, which used for destroying structures .

    Cao Cao wanted to use more, but the other nine of the cannons were damaged by Guan Yu and Li Ru¡¯s forces many days ago . Moreover, one of the cannons was in Guan Yu¡¯s hands .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    40 Guns sent 40 heavy iron balls flying and smashed onto the wall . The dense mud-and-brick wall of Luoyang resisted against the attack, but the army¡¯s morale took a hit .

    The power of these cannonballs was enough to destroy several sections of the wall, copsing a couple passageways and battlements .

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The second round arrived . This time, Cao Cao¡¯s cannon crews had adjusted their aim, targeting the defenders on top of the wall and the packed crowd of archers .

    Each cannon managed to kill ten to twenty soldiers on the wall, carrying their corpses and crashing onto buildings in the city .

    The casualty was insignificant since each barrage could only kill a few hundred soldiers . However, these hot weapons terrified the local people, who had no knowledge about guns .

    They thought that Cao Cao¡¯s forces used sorcery!

    Ji Ling even cursed out loud, "Damn you, Cao Cao! Have you sold your soul to Zhang Tong!? Are you Zhang Tong¡¯s dog!?"

    His voice was loud enough that Cao Cao, who stood in the opposite direction of the battlefield, could hear it . Thetter frowned as he did not like this nickname .

    ¡¯Zhang Tong¡¯s dog? Well, that¡¯s new . Too bad, I have no intention of being someone¡¯spdog . ¡¯

    The cannon barrages continued for half a day .

    After the 50th round of shooting, the cannons ran out of ammo . However, Cao Cao Army managed to destroy Luoyang¡¯s eastern wall and breached several holes .

    With the numbers and breached wall sections, Cao Cao could force the defenders into a ground fight . Still, Guo Jia and Cheng Yu stopped Cao Cao from sending his troops inside the city at the moment .

    Guo Jia had an idea, "My lord, let¡¯s allow them to run . "

    Cheng Yu agreed, "There is no need to defeat Yuan Shu and his army right now . Let him run, so we can upy the city without losing more of our troops . "

    Cao Cao grinned, "Isn¡¯t this one of Sun Tzu¡¯s basic tactics?"

    Guo Jia nodded, "Yes . A cornered rat will fight like a tiger had we oppressed them to desperation . We must not force an enemy into a desperate fight . Right now, we have scared them with our toys, so they won¡¯t have the will to fight anymore . Let¡¯s leave an escape path for them, so they can¡¯t be desperate . "

    "Good . I thought so as well . Let¡¯s camp here for today, and we¡¯ll allow a night for Yuan Shu to run . If he¡¯s not running, we¡¯ll resume our attack!"

    .

    Within the city wall, surviving soldiers were terrified of the new weapons, as Cao Cao and his advisors had predicted . Less than half of the soldiers had enough courage to stand on the top of the wall .

    As they had seen how gruesome the cannons killed their friends, none of them wanted to stand and be a living target for these flying ck balls .

    Moreover, the majority of casualties were not from the cannonballs, but the copsed battlements . Because several shells smashed and breached the wall, the garrison soldiers on the battlements slipped down from the 20-meter high battlements and fell to their death .

    From 19,500 men, 15,000 survived in one piece .

    Ji Ling and all his assisting generals tried to rally their morale, but the ruins of their defensive wall reminded all soldiers about their disadvantage .

    At night, Yuan Shu and Han Yin led their private troops and fled from Luoyang in secret, leaving Ji Ling and the others behind . The two took their treasures, gold, and provision for their soldiers, escaping to the south .

    In the morning, Ji Ling found outter that Yuan Shu abandoned his army . He screamed in frustration .

    "DAMN COWARD!"

    Ji Ling despaired, realizing that he served the wrong lord . He should not have be too greedy with Yuan Shu¡¯s pay and blindly followed after this faulty emperor .

    "I should have known! Men, raise the white g! We can¡¯t fight Cao Cao in this condition!"

    .

    Cao Cao observed Luoyang City on his watchtower . Upon seeing the garrison force raising white gs, he snickered .

    "Yuan Shu must have run away . Tell the men to ept their surrender . Remind our men, if I find anyone plundering the townspeople, I¡¯ll execute him and his nine generations!"

    Cao Cao¡¯s men increased from 25,000 to 40,000 with Ji Ling¡¯s surrender . Through ups and downs, it made Cao Caoughed in sarcasm and joked with his advisors that when he had first mobilized his force to Ho Gate, he had 40,000 men . After he had taken Luoyang, the number of his troops was the same .

    The Marquis of Wei had not finished his job with just taking Luoyang . He sent an envoy to Hongnong, so he could trick Liu Bei into surrender to his army as well .

    Although Cao Cao knew full well that Liu Bei would eventually betray him whenever he had a chance to spread his wings, the Marquis had another n to counter Liu Bei¡¯s betrayal .

    The Marquis summoned Guo Jia and Cheng Yu to his private tent during his free time .

    "Both of you, do you know a person named Zhuge Liang?"

    "Zhuge, who?"

    "Zhuge Liang . He should still be a child right now . Can you tell all of your intel agents to find this person?"

    "We can, but why? Is he someone important?"

    "Very important . "

    "What do you want to do with him, my lord?"

    "Recruit him if you can . If he refuses, kill him . "

    "... Didn¡¯t you say he¡¯s still a child?"

    "Yes . "

    "But, you¡¯re killing a child?"

    "Well, it¡¯splicated . Zhuge Liang is a dangerous foe if he reunites with Liu Bei or joins forces with anyone but me . Zhuge Liang is also a talented schr that can rival both of you . "

    Cheng Yu and Guo Jia¡¯s face changed when Cao Cao spoke highly of this person .

    ¡¯Zhuge Liang, is it?¡¯ Guo Jia took a mental note .

    Cheng Yu pondered, being wary of Zhuge Liang, ¡¯This man is so talented that even Mengde fears him? That¡¯s unusual . ¡¯

    "Is there anything else that we should know about this Zhuge Liang?"

    Cao Caoughed . His eyes revealed his yful thought yet sinister .

    "He should also have schr friends . If I remember correctly, they should be Xu Shu and Pang Tong . Make sure to find them as well . "

    "Where have you heard about these individuals anyway, my lord?"

    Cao Cao took a country map and pointed at Xiangyang, the capital city of Jing Province, where Liu Biao resided .

    "I don¡¯t know where their hometown is, but we should start from here!"

    .

    .

    .

    Wan City, south of Luoyang City

    This city was Yuan Shu¡¯s home ground, where he raised his own forces and became independent from the Han Court . This city was more advanced in terms of the military than Luoyang, where Yuan Shu salvaged from the Xiongnu .

    This city was also devoured by the chaos as Liu Biao, Huang Zu, Huang Zhong, and Liu Pan invaded them with 50,000 soldiers .

    This city was defended by Yuan Yao, who led 20,000 men to protect the walls .

    However, Huang Zhong was still in good shape . He sniped all leading officers one after another with his arrows, using the same tactic when he fought against Tong¡¯s garrison forces at Liyang . By standing on a top of an arrow tower, he could pin down garrison soldiers with ease .

    This time, he killed Yuan Yao and all defending generals without trouble .

    After ten days of nonstop sieging, Liu Pan¡¯s forces overwhelmed the wall and captured the city . Still, they sacrificed 10,000 men in the siege battle .

    The defenders were left with only 2,000 men when the smoke died down, and they agreed to surrender to Liu Biao Army .

    As Liu Biao Army was cleaning the aftermath, their scouts returned from their mission .

    These were the scouts that Liu Biao sent to gather information from Luoyang and Hongnong .

    "Report! Guan Yu has betrayed Yuan Shu and captured Hongnong City . Cao Cao had already taken Luoyang when we arrived at the city!"

    Liu Biao nodded, "Any info about Yuan Shu? Is he dead?"

    "No, my lord . From our Intel, Ji Ling surrendered to Cao Cao after Yuan Shu had fled the city . His current whereabouts are unknown . "

    "Ah, coward bastard . Then, does Cao Cao have the Imperial Seal?"

    "No, my lord . Yuan Shu took it with him . "

    "Good . Then, let¡¯s search the perimeter . Find Yuan Shu and that Imperial Seal ASAP!"

    Liu Biao spread words and ced a bounty on Yuan Shu¡¯s head, which attracted all locals, hoodlums, mercenaries, and merchants . Word of mouth got to the neighbor cities as merchants, schrs, and peasants traveled to the surrounding counties .

    .

    Xiangyang Commandery

    At a rural mountain outside Xiangyang City, a courtyard filled with young schrs were listening to their seniors, teaching them about his worldly knowledge and the current trend of thend .

    The speaker was called Sima Hui, a famous schr in Jing Province .

    Among the children who were listening to this senior, many of them were also known as talented individuals .

    Had Tong been here, he would have ordered his men to recruit all of these men or kill them all like Cao Cao had told his strategists .

    10-year-old Zhuge Liang,

    12-year-old Xu Shu,

    13-year-old Pang Tong,

    And many talented schrs gathered in this courtyard, debating about the movements of Tong, Cao Cao, Yuan Shu, the Xiongnu, and Sun Fang .

    The new generation strategists were watching their movements with interest .

 Chapter 408

    Chapter 408

    Chapter 408 ¨C Unworthy Opponent

    Back in time, April, 191 AD .

    Gan Zhou County

    Vida had mobilized 8,000 elites, 20,000 militias, and 50,000 ves here, nning to march west, returning to their hometown, Legio County .

    However, they encountered a mysterious army of 50,000 elites, blockading this county . All of them were riding on red warhorses, which were bigger than their warhorses by half a size . Combined with their odd-shaped armors, Vida did not dare to attack this army without a proper tactic .

    Still, he had cultivated four demonic wings, and he was confident that his curses and his boosted power could overwhelm these mortals by himself .

    ¡¯I want these men . Maybe if I kill their generals, they will surrender . ¡¯

    Vida licked his lips . He rode forward and yelled .

    "I¡¯m Vida of Legio, I challenge your strongest warrior in a fair duel!"

    A red knight with the tallest horse rode forward . He did not say anything, but Vida could see four white wings behind his back .

    ¡¯Oh, shit . He also has wings?¡¯

    Vida hesitated . He did not like the fact that this army¡¯s warrior also had a simr power as his .

    "I don¡¯t know who you are and why you are blocking our path . State yourself!"

    Lu Bu, in the red knight armor, red at Vida . He snorted, "Lu Bu of Bing Province!"

    Vida tilted his head to the side, frowned as he had not heard this name before . However, the name of Bing Province indicated that they were from Tong¡¯s forces, which was terrible news to Vida . As shrew as he was, Vida came up with an excuse, trying to be friendly with this warrior .

    "It seems there is some kind of misunderstanding going on here . We would like to pass this territory to return home . Can you let us pass?"

    Lu Bu grumbled, "You challenged me for a duel . But when Ie out, you want to run?"

    Vida¡¯s face twitched, "As I said, it was a misunderstanding . Since you and I are good warriors, let¡¯s not wasting our life on this pointless duel, yes?"

    "Oh? Then, if I don¡¯t have these wings, you will fight me? Is this how you describe your "misunderstanding"? I see it as a bully . "

    Vida frowned, "I¡¯m being sincere, asshole . Do you think that white wings are stronger than ck wings? I¡¯ve killed several angels before, and I don¡¯t mind killing another one!"

    "Pointless bluff . I had fought someone with wings before I even had one! Do you think you¡¯re good because you have the same wings as he had!?"

    Vida clicked his tongue, "Okay, you brute . Don¡¯t me me if I go all out!"

    The western warrior did not summon his souls like Khan and other immortal fought . Instead, he empowered his real body, enhancing his muscles and nerves, increasing his power, reflex, and speed .

    Seeing how Vida utilized his wings, Lu Bu raised his eyebrows . Although his facial expression was hidden under his knight helmet, Gao Shun and all subordinates behind Lu Bu could tell that their lord was amused .

    "A worthy opponent, I see . "

    Lu Bu also burst his power, doing the same thing with Vida .

    Redhare King of Lu Bu and Vida¡¯s warhorse red into the other¡¯s eyes as if they were predators . They charged at their opponent, aiming to crush their head against the enemy .

    Lu Bu raised his steel crescent halberd while Vida slowly locked hisnce under his armpit .

    Vida chose to joust against Lu Bu¡¯s steel armor .

    The power of the 4-winged demon enveloped Vida¡¯s ironnce, amplifying and reinforcing its strength and durability . Had it pierced regr steel, they could prate through a thick metal te as if they were tofu .

    Lu Bu¡¯s face was solemn when thence touched his knight te armor¡¯s left chest .

    *DING*

    Vida¡¯snce was deflected by Lu Bu¡¯s reinforced armor, which thetter had also increased its durability by enveloping his wing power, concentrating on the connected spot .

    The jousting stance of Vida was off because of the impact .

    At this moment, Lu Bu calmly swung down his halberd, aiming to slice Vida in half .

    Vida raised his free hand to punch against the oing halberd de .

    *CLANK*

    The fist of Vida and Lu Bu¡¯s halberd connected, creating a nking sound as if two heavy metal hammer hit against each other .

    However, the impact went through Vida¡¯s left fist, sending an electric shock through his bone and exited his elbow .

    Below his elbow, his skin exploded, creating a round burnt skin .

    In the sacrifice of his left fist, Lu Bu¡¯s crescent halberd was deflected, and Lu Bu¡¯s stance was pushed backward .

    Both duelists rode past their opponent after they lightly exchanged one blow .

    After a contact, both sides managed to gauge their advantages and weaknesses .

    Lu Bu¡¯s reach was shorter than Vida, but his power was superior .

    As for their speed, they were simr .

    Lu Bu pulled his horse, turning around .

    Vida did the same with a smile, "Interesting . "

    He massaged the fist that punched Lu Bu¡¯s weapon . As for his elbow¡¯s burnt skin, they already healed .

    Lu Bu took a deep breath . He kicked his horse again .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve done warming up . Time to get serious . ¡¯

    Both riders charged at each other again for the second blow .

    Before Vida¡¯snce connected with Lu Bu¡¯s chest again, thetter¡¯s brain cells worked at a rapid speed as he activated the skill that he copied from Tong .

    [Time Alter: Double el]

    Time almost came to a stop . Lu Bu swatted the thrustingnce away with the back of his hand while he used the other one with his halberd to sh at Vida¡¯s neck .

    The slow-motion movement was smooth, and Vida¡¯s eyes did not react to Lu Bu¡¯s sudden burst of speed . In Lu Bu¡¯s mind, his opponent should be dead with this strike .

    As soon as the halberd came to the point where it touched Vida¡¯s neck, the four-winged demon¡¯s eyes shifted as he red at Lu Bu .

    *DING*

    The feedback force was sent back to Lu Bu¡¯s arms . It was not a feeling of his weapon cutting through his enemy¡¯s flesh .

    Simr to what Lu Bu had used before, Vida also concentrated all of his force around his neck, making it more resilient to Lu Bu¡¯s reinforced physical attack .

    Vida opened his mouth while Lu Bu was in the middle of his Double-el mode .

    ¡¯Wrath Curse . ¡¯

    A sinister air enveloped Lu Bu, yet he smiled .

    ¡¯Idiot . Immortal skills won¡¯t work against me!¡¯

    As Lu Bu had fought with Khan and Tong¡¯s share of experience, the god of war understood the limits of immortal¡¯s skills .

    >

    >

    Still, the curse hindered his movement for a split second .

    As for Vida, he also received a system warning .

    >

    >

    Vida snorted as he was aware of this fact . However, his aim had been aplished with this skill as he managed to escape from Lu Bu¡¯s ambush .

    Both riders passed each other again . The second blow was still a draw .

    Lu Bu did not pull his horse to turn around . This time, he leaped backward from his horse, rotating his body in mid-air .

    He jumped from Redhare King to attack Vida from behind .

    Vida sensed Lu Bu¡¯s killing intent . He jumped off his horse, escaping to the side .

    *BOOM*

    Lu Bu cleaved Vida¡¯s horse in half!

    ¡¯Again, Double-el!¡¯

    Lu Bu could feel his blood pressure pulsed heavier than the previous skill usage . His body told Lu Bu that he would reach his limit if he used this skill in a session . However, if he dyed the usage a bit, he could keep using it indefinitely .

    ¡¯I¡¯ll regen after I used the [Triple-el] . For now, I have to bear with it!¡¯

    Without waiting for Vida to regain his stance, Lu Bu rushed before his enemy .

    The crescent halberd shed sideway .

    *DONG*

    An odd sound resonated the air . Lu Bu felt like someone had rung a giant bell .

    Also, Lu Bu did not feel feedback from his third strike . Instead, he sensed that something had pulled his weapon, stopping it from cutting Vida in half .

    As Lu Bu focused his sense, he found that Vida stared at his crescent halberd with his bloodshot eyes .

    Below Vida¡¯s nostrils, blood dripped as if someone had not turned off a faucet properly .

    He managed to stop Lu Bu¡¯s strike again, using his invented skill [Soundwave of Defense] . It nullified the strength behind all physical attacks, which forced Lu Bu¡¯s crescent halberd to stop mid-swing .

    However, he had to pay the price simr to what Lu Bu had experienced .

    Still, Lu Bu had battled Tong years ago, and he understood what he had to sacrifice for the supernatural power . As a result, he had trained to the point that his body could handle [Double el] as his second nature .

    This was the difference between Vida and Lu Bu . Vida kept this as his trump card while this was Lu Bu¡¯s typical moves .

    Lu Bu pulled back his halberd, and he tried again .

    Fourth strike!

    *DONG*

    Fifth strike!

    *DONG*

    Six

    *DONG*

    ...

    Tenth Strike!

    *DONG*

    Vida was on his knees as he had done nothing but parrying Lu Bu¡¯s reinforced blows . Blood flowed out of his facial orifices as he had gone beyond his body limit could handle .

    Before Lu Bu hit him the eleventh time, Vida copsed on the ground .

    "I ... give ... up . "

    Vida fainted .

    Lu Bu looked at the demon and snorted in disappointment . This person did not understand the basic concept of superpower and could not utilize them like Tong or himself .

    There were more than just relying on the power of wings . Their bodies had to be trained to withstand the bacsh of the special ability, or else, this happened .

    Vida¡¯s followers were speechless . From a mortal¡¯s point of view, these two exchanged their blows at lightning speed . Although their eyes could follow their horses, they could not see Lu Bu or Vida¡¯s movements . After Vida and Lu Bu got off their horses, the god of war struck the former ten times within less than one seconds, sending odd sounds of a ringing bell .

    Now, their strongest warrior was out ofmission . None of them had the confidence to fight this four-winged angel .

    "What should we do? Retreat?"

    "R-R-Right . Let¡¯s go back to Wuwei . "

    "But we don¡¯t have enough provision . "

    "We can plunder the locals!"

    Lu Bu had a deep frown when he overheard the conversation . After he had looked at the militias and the army of captured ves, his anger went through the roof .

    With a soft voice, Lu Bu uttered, "Kill them all . Save the ves . "

    Gao Shun got the order .

    *BWOOOO*

    50,000 Redhare knights raised their weapons as they charged at the mercenary army .

    .

    .

    .

    Without a leader or a general, Vida Army fell apart even though they had heavy armors and good weaponry .

    Lu Bu Army rescued all 50,000 ves, but he did not spare the militias who were driven by greed . As for the cataphracts and hoplites, these unorganized men were ughtered by Gao Shun .

    As for Vida, he was captured and interrogated by Lu Bu .

    In an isted cave, Lu Bu sshed a bucket of water at the chained Vida .

    The prisoner woke up with crushing pain all over his body . He felt nauseous that he could pass out again at any moment .

    "I¡¯ll let you rest if you answer all of my questions . "

    "..."

    "First, where are you from?"

 Chapter 409

    Chapter 409

    Chapter 409 ¨C Parthian? Is It Eatable?

    "The Parthian Empire ..."

    A name of a powerhouse civilization that prevented all Chinese from contacting the Roman Empire .

    Ever since Wudi Emperor had established the Silk Road, the Han Chinese attempted to extend their trade route to the famous Roman Empire .

    However, the Parthian Empire did not want the prosperous country to trade with their rivals, so they stopped all trade routes, telling the merchants that there was nothing to see beyond their empire .

    The blockade not only stopped Han¡¯s merchants from trading with Parthian¡¯s nemesis, but they also capitalized the Silk Road trading as the middle-man, reaping the most profits from the trade .

    Still, merchants were an upation that required wits and intellect . None of them was stupid enough to believe in the words of the locals who hated their rival country . Moreover, they had proof that the Roman Empire existed as they had obtained their currency coins and other goods, such as ssware, knowledge, and cotton products .

    They wanted to go further and seek more opportunities . Unfortunately, it took months to reach the other side of the world .

    Though it was tempting to reach the other side of the world, merchants prioritized their trade efficiency and profits . Since they could make more trips by stopping their trade route at the Parthian Empire, all merchants avoided the unknown and focused on making money .

    As for their military rtionship, the Han and the Parthians were neutral . Emperor Wudi¡¯s arch enemy was the Xiongnu and Xianbei, which was enough for the Han Dynasty to handle . From the former emperor¡¯s point of view, making another powerhouse an enemy when he had yet to defeat their fierce foes was a silly move . As such, there was no reason to offend this empire .

    Meanwhile, the Parthians had their hands full with the threatening Roman Empire . Since they managed to establish a good rtionship with the east and they profited from the Silk Road, they did not need to create another battlefront to damage their economy .

    For their best interest, both sides maintained their status quo for over 200 years .

    But now, these Parthian men interfered with the Han Dynasty¡¯s civil war, which vited their peace treaties .

    "Do you know something about these people, Ju Shou?"

    The strategist shook his head, "My expertise is stratagem and domestic development . I¡¯m not good at diplomacy field, general . For this matter, we need to consult with others . "

    Lu Bu sighed . If it was possible, he wanted to avoid using the n chat since he did not like the other strategists and Tong¡¯s fanboys .

    .

    Tong: "Ah, Parthians . They finally appear . "

    Jia Xu: "I know a bit of these people . Most Parthians in our country are merchants . I saw a few mercenary bands in Liang Province, but that was long ago . "

    Xun Yu: "I learned a bit from my n¡¯s records . They said that these guys are simr to the Xiongnu, but they had a sophisticate army system, better than the simpleton Xiongnu . "

    Ju Shou: "Xiongnu may be simpletons, but they are experts on their field . "

    Jia Xu: "True . Their horse archers are deadly . Well, if they don¡¯t face our knight units . "

    Tong: "Back to the point . So, what¡¯s the situation?"

    Ju Shou: "We¡¯ve captured their general . He also has ck wings like you, your majesty . "

    Tong: "... How many wings?"

    Ju Shou: "Four . "

    All generals who had wings were shocked . They knew how difficult it was to obtain a wing, let alone four .

    Tong was speechless as well . It took him years to get four wings, but someone caught up with his progress .

    Diaochan: "Kill him before he grows more wing, Ju Shou!"

    Ju Shou: "Uh?"

    Ju Shou had never taken orders from Medusa, so he was reluctant .

    Tong: "He¡¯s a threat, Ju Shou . It took me years to get four ck wings . "

    Ju Shou: "He¡¯s a talent general, though? From our interrogation, he wants to join us, too . "

    Tong: "We¡¯re dealing with the unknown . Don¡¯t leave a tale to tell, so we won¡¯t have trouble with the Parthians . "

    Xun Yu: "I disagree . Killing this general might ire the westerners . We should release him, so he can spread good words . "

    Tong: "Your tactic may work on our countrymen, but I don¡¯t think it will work against outsiders this time, Xun Yu . "

    Jia Xu: "I agree with his majesty . He¡¯s siding with the Xiongnu, so there is no excuse . Kill him and get rid of this unknown threat . "

    Li Feihong, Te Langpu, Sima Fang, Lu Zhi, and Xun You also voiced their thought . All of them was not fond of having a foreigner messing with them while they were dealing with their internal affair .

    In the end, only the pacifist Xun Yu was against the execution of Vida .

    Lu Bu: "I¡¯ll kill him, then . "

    Tong: "Please do . "

    .

    Pingyuan Commandery, Government House

    Diaochan turned off her system interface . Behind her refined figure, four ck tentacle wings wiggled as they were alive .

    Right now, Diaochan¡¯s body reached 15 years of age . To the locals, she was considered an adult .

    As the description of the legends and the 14th-century novel, Diaochan was a rare beauty who could easily destroy a nation with just her pretty face alone . Combined with Medusa¡¯s care of her body, Diaochan¡¯s appearance, constitution, bust size, skin, and face had be a living art, enchanted every man who had seen her face .

    Thus, Diaochan always hid her face under a dark veil and covered her head with a ck hijab . Even her dress was a ck custom-made long sleeve dress . At the moment, she looked as if she was a Muslim woman .

    She did this not only to protect her purity, but she also prevented all potential harm to her city because of her beauty .

    In front of Diaochan, a 14-year-old valiant young girl sat beside her . She was shorter than Diaochan, who was 165cm in height .

    The 150cm tall Dong Bai was still reading the n chat, tilting her head to the side . Compared to her mother, she was not a smart girl, who had yet to understand the threat of the Parthian Empire .

    Behind her back, two ck wings were there . Like Diaochan, she, too, was in the middle of recultivating their immortal power .

    On the contrary of Diaochan, Dong Bai did not bother hiding her pretty face . Without relying on her Xiao Wu¡¯s form, she was a natural cute loli, who awoke every man¡¯s urge to protect her .

    Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, and Zou Shi were also at the government house, standing by for orders .

    Zhang Ji was serving as the garrisonmander while Zhang Xiu followed Dong Bai as her aide . As for Zou Shi, she was the head maid, who oversaw the servants of this government hall .

    Currently, Diaochan was the governor of Pingyuan, while Dong Bai was the grandmander of the Demon Legion . Though, the role could switch if it was necessary .

    A hundred minor officers were also there, writing and passing their documents to their subordinates .

    The restoration of Pingyuan and thend remation was underway to expand farnds, creating jobs for civilians .

    "Meddy, why is everyone scared of Parthian?"

    "They aren¡¯t afraid . They¡¯re just too busy to deal with another enemy . "

    "I don¡¯t understand . "

    "Well, let¡¯s put it this way . Imagine that the Parthian Country is a stranger girl, who doesn¡¯t know Tong . Meanwhile, Tong was still dating you . Should he introduce himself to a stranger girl when he is dating with you?"

    "Ef, no!"

    "Well, that¡¯s a metaphor . Do you understand the logic behind it now?"

    "I get it now! Thanks, Meddy!"

    "Ufufu, you¡¯re wee . "

    Listening to these reincarnated demonesses, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu had a dark face, sweating .

    Something was terribly wrong with these two!

    "By the way, Meddy . When will Tong call us to the pce? We¡¯vee of age now, right?"

    "He¡¯s a busy emperor, Friday . Besides, he probably still has that 21st-century¡¯smon sense . He won¡¯t summon us before we reach 18 . "

    "That¡¯s too long! By now, those two consorts would haveid a hundred eggs already! I should be the one who gives Tong the most eggs!"

    Everyone: "..."

    Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji¡¯s sweat intensified . Zou Shi had a pokerface .

    Even Diaochan had to facepalm, "Human doesn¡¯ty eggs, my daughter . "

    "Eh? Don¡¯t they have wings? Birds and chickensy eggs? All winged creatures should be able toy eggs!"

    Diaochan flinched . By her daughter¡¯s logic, they couldy eggs as well . For the sake of stopping this embarrassment, she changed the subject, "Cai Wenji and Du Shi aren¡¯t even a member of our n chat . They haven¡¯t been bestowed with a cultivation technique . You don¡¯t have to worry about Tong getting snatched by those girls . "

    "Oh! That¡¯s good! None of them should get one!"

    "We¡¯ll have to give them one eventually . "

    "WHAT!? No! We shouldn¡¯t give them anything!"

    "Don¡¯t be selfish . They are our servants, so at least they should be worthy of being called our maids . "

    "Ohhhh! That¡¯s right . Meddy, you¡¯re genius!"

    "..."

    Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji were drenched in sweat, talking to each other via eye gesture .

    ¡¯Something wrong with their brain?¡¯

    ¡¯They¡¯re not humans in the first ce . Ignore it . ¡¯

    ¡¯...¡¯

    At this moment, Zou Shi raised her hand, "Excuse me, will I stay young forever if I cultivate your wing power, too?"

    Diaochan nodded, "Of course . As long as you have more than 1,000 lifespans remaining, you will stay young forever . "

    "Can I get that cultivation manual, too?"

    Diaochan nodded again, "Sure . Once a new year arrives, I¡¯ll get you into our n and buy you a cultivation technique . "

    "Thank you! Say, about these lifespans, how many lifespans do you need to buy the cultivation manual? It seems that you can trade lifespans, so I¡¯ll pay you back when I¡¯m strong enough . "

    "200,000 years for one human . "

    "..."

    "Don¡¯t worry . If there¡¯s a war and I can kill at least 10,000 men, I can get that amount in no time . I can get those from dead bodies . If we have to, we can kill a few thugs to farm our lifespans . Once you¡¯ve killed and drained one human, you¡¯ll get addicted to this . "

    "..."

    All officials who overheard their conversation had a simr dark face like Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji . Although Dong Bai and Diaochan¡¯s beauty was legendary tier, none of them dared to pursue them .

    No one wanted to die!

    Dong Bai was Xiao Wu . That was a piece ofmon knowledge among Tong¡¯s ranks .

    However, Pingyuan natives called this beautiful governor as [The Grim Reaper] or [The Grave Keeper] for a reason . Usually, Diaochan always visited morgues, cemeteries, or a site with dead bodies whenever she heard about a newly dead civilian .

    She would drain their corpses dry, using her ck wings .

    All the townspeople were afraid of her . Only a brain-damaged-horny-teen would have tried to court this woman .

    Zhang Ji nced at his wife in fright .

    ¡¯Please don¡¯t be influenced by them, my wife . You¡¯re scary enough at home . ¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    The next day, Vida was executed by Lu Bu . Although Vida pledged Lu Bu that he would serve them, thetter still killed this mercenary without mercy .

    Afterward, Lu Bu decided to withdraw his army from this position to Wuwei, so they could upy a proper city, getting a shelter for his men .

    All rescued ves rejoiced . Since Wuwei County was their hometown, they were more than happy to support Lu Bu to im this county .

    May 20th, 191 AD .

    50,000 Elites of Redhare Legion and 50,000 rescued civilians marched into Wuwei City wall without a resistance . When the local guards saw the returning civilians, they surrendered to Lu Bu Army and weed them .

    Ju Shou reported their achievement to the n chat again .

    The next order from Tong, Lu Bu had to cultivate and fortify Wuwei County . As for their food supply, Tong would send supporting units to transport them provision and weaponry .

    He also gave Ju Shou and Lu Bu another task .

    "Once you have stabilized Wuwei, capture the Liang Province . I¡¯ll send my idle legions there to support you . "

 Chapter 410

    Chapter 410

    Chapter 410 ¨C I Was Tricked!

    November 2nd, 191 AD .

    Chengdu City

    On the walls, purple banners with the character "Liu" was reced with "Khan" as the Xiongnu had upied the city . Not only Chengdu had fallen, but the entire Yi Province had also been swept by Khan¡¯s clone army .

    Ma Teng, Han Sui, Ma Chao, and other Ma n members contributed to the battles against Liu Yan Army . With the former goddess Liu Yang and Khan¡¯s supports, they destroyed the local defenders with their system skills and intelligence .

    The Xiongnu force managed to capture and kill the entire Liu Yan¡¯s family . However, the majority of his generals, such as Yan Yan and Zhang Ren, had escaped from their grasp .

    Khan reevaluated their campaign against the Han Empire . Now, he had upied Liang and Yi Province, which could match against Tong¡¯s territory .

    However, his empire¡¯s economic strength was questionable . Since Khan relied on his brainwashing skill, [Eye of Domination], he could not bestow them an immortal cultivation manual because it would have canceled his brainwashing skill .

    Khan could give Pang De the cultivation technique because he recruited this general without the skill, but he could not do the same to Ma Chao and their n members .

    In addition, his officerscked domestic management skills . Most generals under Khan had muscle brains, and they were inexperienced in the internal affair .

    As such, Liu Yang had her hands full, cleaning the mess that this reincarnated Lu Bu had made .

    The former goddess sighed, "We have to stop expanding our territory for now . We¡¯ll concentrate on our economic power, agriculture, and order of the cities . If we don¡¯t pay attention to the people, we won¡¯t have enough provision for another campaign . "

    Khan snorted, "I have [Create Food] . We can just create everything out of nothingness!"

    "Fool! We have expanded our territory, and we can¡¯t keep creating food for the people forever . How many lifespans do you think you need to create a year worth of food for over 10 million in poption!?"

    "..."

    "If it¡¯s just a million people, you can just waste your lifespans to your heart content . But now, you are the only one who can summon elite soldiers . Calcte a bit, a four-winged angel can cultivate 500,000 to 800,000 years of lifespans a year . It takes 100,000 lifespans to copy 10,000 fodders . How many soldiers can we produce a year? 50,000 to 80,000! But if we concentrate on creating soldiers, we won¡¯t have enough lifespans to create food and sustained the poption . "

    "..."

    "Also, food can rot! You can create a million tons of food at once, but you can¡¯t store them forever! We have to improve our farnd to make the locals self-sustainable if we want to rule over them in the long run . "

    "That¡¯s troublesome . "

    "And who asked you to raise your banner!? Since you want power, you have to take responsibility!"

    "..."

    Khan rolled his eyes and ignored Liu Yang . He walked out of the government hall, returning to his courtyard to rest as usual .

    Liu Yang was on the verge of raging . She regretted joining Khan¡¯s n .

    ¡¯I thought this new Lu Bu can get a brain after his death . He doesn¡¯t change at all! I don¡¯t think his empire canst!¡¯

    Currently, only members of Khan¡¯s n were Liu Yang, Han Sui, Ma Teng, and his nsmen . Many officers, such as Li Ru, Li Jue, Pang De, and Guo Si, had been killed in battles one after another, which was a bad sign .

    Furthermore, she heard about Redhare Legion that had blockaded their supply route from the Silk Road, which sabotaged their tax ie and provision flow .

    At this rate, the Xiongnu Army¡¯s fragile foundation would copse soon!

    ¡¯What should I do to get myself out of this mess?¡¯

    As Liu Yang pondered, she recalled her Intel report from the east of Chang¡¯An that Guan Yu had four angel wings . Her face grimaced as her heart filled with rage .

    ¡¯Fuck you, Lilith . Fuck you, too, Lilim! I want my power back!¡¯

    While the former goddess cursed at the mother-and-daughter, Lilim mocked her using the system interface .

    >

    "Screw you! I won¡¯t give you shit! Give me back my power!"

    >

    "!!!"

    Liu Yang¡¯s face paled when she heard that Medusa already regained four wings . At this rate, she might be killed by this demoness as soon as thetter regained all eight wings .

    "I can¡¯t pay a million lifespan . Give me a quest or something . I¡¯ll work for you one more time!"

    >

    >

    >

    >

    >

    Liu Yang screamed, "How the fuck can I kill any otherworlder!? I don¡¯t have a skill or my former strength . Are you out of your mind!?"

    The list continued .

    >

    Liu Yang was taken aback when she saw the fourth choice . Lilim had simply asked Liu Yang to kill Khan .

    "That won¡¯t do! An ordinary human can¡¯t kill a four-winged angel!"

    >

    "... You¡¯re evil, Lilim!"

    >

    "I can¡¯t do any of them! Don¡¯t be overbearing!"

    >

    >

    "!!!"

    Liu Yang almost vomited blood when she read the content of the sixth choice .

    In Heaven, it was a known taboo that angel and demon should not conceive a child together . A child that was given birth by both immortals would have an abnormal constitution that they could cultivate both angelic wings and demonic wings .

    With both cultivation techniques, the new being could potentially threaten the peace and order of theherworld as the weakest halfling could cultivate at least 16 wings at the minimum! Had the child been a talented one, they could expect someone stronger than Lilith!

    Yet, Lilim wanted to break the taboo!

    ¡¯Something is not right! Why is she asking for this? Isn¡¯t she afraid of the creator¡¯s retaliation? What about the audience in Heaven? Won¡¯t they report this matter to the gods!?¡¯

    Liu Yang was drenched in sweat, reconsidering the entire situation and this rebirth game .

    >

    "Give me some time to think, dammit!"

    >

    "..."

    Killing otherworlders was out of the question, so Liu Yang could not pick the choice number one and two . She did not have enough lifespans, nor could she ask Khan to donate two million years into the n pool for her . Therefore, the third choice was eliminated .

    Disbanding a n required to kill the n leader . Since no one could kill Khan, she could not pick this quest .

    The only remaining choices were killing ten million innocents or breaking the taboo .

    ¡¯I¡¯m a proud goddess sessor . I can¡¯t dirty my hands! Killing ten civilians will sully my reputation and damage my karma in the long run!¡¯

    Liu Yang red at thest choice, taking several rough breaths .

    "You really want me to fall, Lilim?"

    >

    "WHAT!?"

    >

    "..."

    .

    .

    .

    ************************************

    Quest Objective:

    1 . Get pregnant by a demon with four wings or higher .

    2 . During Pregnancy, obtain at least four wings .

    3 . Give birth to the Halfling child .

    4 . Protect the child until he/shees of age .

    Time Limit: Two Years for the first objective, 30 years for the rest .

    Reward: A right to cultivate angelic power

    Failure Penalty: Death

    Note: Once the first objective ispleted, you will temporarily get the cultivation manual . However, if you failed the other objectives, all of your power will be erased .

    ************************************

    Liu Yang stared at her quest interface in a daze . She pped her face many times to punish her abrupt decision, forced by Lilim .

    It was apparent that this was Lilim¡¯s trap or some conspiracy by someone else . Although she was behind Ping¡¯s mother for tampering this reincarnation event, Liu Yang suspected that someone else might have learned about it and made use of this opportunity .

    ¡¯The creator suddenly summoned Lilith back to theherworld, then Lilim showed up and messed up everything . If I remember correctly, Lilim blurted out something about Morning Star that he attacked the Heaven . Is there something going on over there that we don¡¯t know?¡¯

    Her suspicion grew when she focused on the first objective . It was somewhat specific .

    ¡¯Four-winged demon . Getting four wings for angels is already difficult . Getting four demon wings is much harder . That sinner must have the heart of a saint or truly repents for his crimes to get that far . Only fallen angels be high-rank demons these days . But that¡¯s not the point . Where can I find a four-winged demon in this ... Oh shit! Lilim, you bitch!¡¯

    Liu Yang knew that Vida had four wings, but the previous report said Lu Bu had already killed this mercenary . Aside from foreigners outside of China, the only four-winged demon in this country was Tong .

    ¡¯I¡¯ve been had! I was tricked!!¡¯

    .

    November 20th, 191 AD .

    Even though Liu Yang knew she was tricked, she left Chengdu, making her ways to Ye City to present herself as Tong¡¯s concubine candidate, trying toplete the quest . By tricking Khan that they had to form a truce with Tong to solve the situation in Liang Province, Khan allowed her to visit Ye City .

    This Xiongnu King did not care about Liu Yang or his subordinates . He only wanted to crush all Han Dynasty¡¯s loyalists to a pulp, so he could get back on Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and everyone else who was working for the Han Dynasty in the previous life .

    Khan wanted to ruin everything!

    Liu Yang could still use this mad man to kill Tong and Medusa, but she had to contribute to her vengeance .

    ¡¯In the end, I have to sacrifice my purity, isn¡¯t it?¡¯

    She did not like it, and she did not want to do it . Unfortunately, she messed up, and she had to pay the price of her foolishness .

    ¡¯It¡¯s fine . I can salvage the situation . I can simply just take his seeds and escape from his pce before he realized who I am . ¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, Tong sent messages to his demon wife and his mother-inw .

    Currently, his concubines were getting aggressive, trying to get another child . Both of them had just given birth to his fourth and fifth princess, but they still want topete for the first son .

    A soap opera drama between Cai Wenji¡¯s servants and Du Shi¡¯s servants happened every day, which was not pleasant in real life . The scale of their battles slowly escted as they began amassing their private troops behind Tong¡¯s back .

    Although Tong forbade all nobles from having a private force, Tong, Zhang Jiao, and his rtives were the exception because they were royalties .

    As such, Cai Wenji¡¯s bodyguards and Du Shi¡¯s private force were on the verge of killing each other each day .

    This was their war behind the court, which Tong never wanted to take part in it . He needed help .

    Diaochan: "From your words, Du Shi and Cai Wenji arepeting to get the first son, so they will have a chance to be your empress . So, if you want to stop the war in your harem, you have to give someone a son . However, the loser will likely to be suppressed by the victor, and their life will be more miserable than death . This is why they are going all-out . "

    Tong: "Can you help?"

    Diaochan: "I can, but I¡¯ll warn you again . I¡¯ll have to abandon my post and officially be your concubine . Are you fine with having your mother-inw as a wife?"

    Tong: "As long as we keep our rtionship professional, it should be fine, right?"

    Diaochan: "Unfortunately, no . In this era, the empress must be able to give birth to a son for the emperor . Therefore, you have to summon Friday back to the court and give her a son . As for me, I have to bear your second son, so I can be appointed as your prime consort to control your harem . "

    Tong: "Wait, what!?"

    Diaochan: "That¡¯s why I¡¯ve been asking you if you are okay with me being your wife?"

    Tong: "Ugh ... what about Friday?"

    Dong Bai: "I don¡¯t mind 3Ping with my mother . "

    Tong: "..."

    Diaochan: "You can leave us here to protect Pingyuan and let both girls killing each other behind your back . Or, you can summon us to be your 3rd and 4th concubine to deal with Du Shi and Cai Wenji . What say you?"

    Dong Bai: "I¡¯ve already sent your soul back to you when I got my wings . I can always transform into Xiao Wu if you don¡¯t like my loli body . "

    Tong: "... Can I only take back Friday to deal with the others?"

    Dong Bai: "Nope . We¡¯re a package . "

    Tong: "But she¡¯s your mother!"

    Dong Bai: "Because she¡¯s my mother . I don¡¯t mind . "

    Tong: "..."

    .

    Without a choice, Tong summoned Diaochan and Dong Bai back to Ye and officially named them as his 3rd and 4th concubine .

    As for the Demonic Legion, Tong appointed Taishi Ci, who was acting as Tong¡¯s bodyguard, to be the new grandmander . He also sent the interns, Sima Yi, Wei Yan, Liu Ye, and Liu Xie to Pingyuan, learning the ropes from the veterans, Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji .

 Chapter 411

    Chapter 411

    Chapter 411 - 192 AD Arrangement .

    March 1st, 192 AD .

    Winter had passed, and the civil war activities resumed .

    Tong rearranged his Legions, sending Zhang He from Henei to support Lu Bu in Wuwei . He shifted the Monster Legion, led by Zhang Liao and Li Feihong, to protect Henei from Guan Yu and Cao Cao .

    Zhao Yun¡¯s new legion hadpleted their training this year . Since Zhao Yun respected Gongsun Zan, he named his soldiers, the White Horse Legion . The general and his 10,000 white riders were summoned from the north to rece Zhang Liao¡¯s team .

    To support the new legion, Tong transferred 10,000 elite policemen, 10,000 newly graduated militias from Julu, and 20,000 veterans from Ye .

    Unfortunately, Zhao Yun only had enough warhorses for 10,000 of his elites . The task of breeding more warhorses fell to Li Feihong, who was the major contributor to all livestock, such as cows, pigs, fishes, and horses .

    Li Feihong promised Zhao Yun and Tong that he would deliver 50,000 warhorses to them by the end of this year . For now, they were not in the condition to fight, but they can train the 40,000 newbies .

    As such, Zhao Yun would be busy this year, training his men in Ganling .

    Using this opportunity, Tong transferred Sima Yi and Wei Yan to support Zhao Yun as his supporting general and strategist, while Liu Xie and Liu Ye remained in Pingyuan .

    Liu Ye had to serve Taishi Ci as his strategist of the Demon Legion . As for Liu Xie, he would learn his jobs from all generals and civil officers .

    The Demon Legion did not move from Pingyuan even though Dong Bai and Diaochan had resigned from their posts and officially joined Tong¡¯s harem . Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji stayed behind to protect thismandery and teach Liu Xie about their system .

    Sima Lang had graduated from Ye Academy, and Sima Fang agreed to allow his eldest son to serve as Tong¡¯s civil officer . As such, Tong sent the young Sima to Ji Commandery to govern the territory, which was empty for years .

    After finishing the relocation, the army arrangement table was as the followings;

    .

    *********************************************

    Immortal Legion

    Troops ¨C 100,000

    Location - Ye

    Commander - Tong

    Vice Commanders - Dong Bai, Diaochan

    Strategist - Xun Yu

    .

    Silver Axe Legion

    Troops ¨C 60,000

    Location - Beiping

    Commander - Xu Huang

    Vice Commanders - Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang

    Strategist - Jia Xu

    .

    Ghost Legion

    Troops ¨C 60,000

    Location ¨C Moving to Liang Province

    Commander - Zhang He

    Vice Commanders - Han Hao, Qu Yi, Gao Lan

    Strategist - Xun You

    .

    Monster Legion

    Troops - 40,000

    Location ¨C Moving to Henei

    Commander - Zhang Liao

    Vice Commanders - Zhou Cang, Bo Cai

    Strategist - Li Feihong

    .

    Redhare Legion

    Troops - 50,000 (All Redhare Cavalry)

    Location - Wuwei

    Commander - Lu Bu

    Vice Commander - Gao Shun

    Strategist - Ju Shou

    .

    Demon Legion

    Troops - 40,000

    Location - Pingyuan

    Commander - Taishi Ci

    Vice Commanders - Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji

    Strategist - Liu Ye, Liu Xie

    .

    Whitehorse Legion

    Troops - 50,000

    Location - Ganling

    Commander - Zhao Yun

    Vice Commanders ¨C Wei Yan

    Strategist ¨C Sima Yi

    .

    *********************************************

    .

    >

    Troops - 30,000

    Location - Xiangping

    Governor - Tian Yu

    .

    Troops - 30,000

    Location - Julu

    Governor ¨C Zhang Jiao

    .

    Troops - 30,000

    Location - Beihai

    Governor - Kong Rong

    Deputy Governor - Wang Xiu

    .

    Troops - 30,000

    Location - Jinyang

    Governor - Ding Yuan

    .

    Troops ¨C 20,000

    Location - Zhongshan

    Governor - Zhen Yi

    .

    Troops - 20,000

    Location - Nanpi

    Governor - Wang Yun

    .

    Troops ¨C 10,000

    Location - Ji

    Governor - Sima Lang

    .

    Troops ¨C 10,000

    Location - Shangdang

    Governor - None

    *********************************************

    Each majormandery consisted of at least a million civilians and over ten thousand households, which required many police officers to maintain the public order .

    Combined with this information and allmandery¡¯s tax reports, Tong could tell that Shangdang and Ji required development . However, the other regions, aside from Julu, Nanpi, Ye, and Jinyang, could barely meet their standard .

    Ideally, every city should be able to self-sustain and generate tax harvest ie or produce anything with equal value, such as Jinyang, where iron ores and coals were mined there . Still, only Julu, Ye, Nanpi, Beihai, Beiping, and Jinyang managed to achieve the goal . As for the rest, it would take another year to test their development result .

    Although the domestic affair required attention, Tong¡¯s military power was the best among the country¡¯s warlords .

    He amassed over 500,000 soldiers strong after he had unified the north, which threatened every warlord in thisnd . Had Tong mobilized all of them, he could have flipped China upside down .

    Yet, Tong could not send everyone to attack Cao Cao and Khan to finish this civil war . With over 20 million in poption across his territories, Tong could not afford to move his soldiers recklessly, or remnants of Yellow Turban imposters would take this chance to rob the innocent civilians outside the city walls .

    It was vexing, torturing, tedious, and time-consuming . This was the lifestyle of the people in the ancient era, wheremunication devices and order was next to non-existence .

    The only rewards Tong got from this task were his nightlife and his absolute authority . Still, these prizes of his hard work were troublesome at times .

    .

    At the royal pce, Tong, Cai Wenji, Du Shi, Dong Bai, and Diaochan gathered in private, discussing the internal conflicts within the harem .

    "I heard ten of consort Cai¡¯s bodyguards died yesterday . "

    Tong nced at Du Shi, who remained expressionless, "Do you have anything to say about this?"

    Du Shi closed her mouth with her long sleeve, "This concubine never ventured outside of the pce . This concubine has learned about this the first time, your majesty . "

    "Then, have you noticed or heard about anything odd from your servant?"

    "No, your majesty . "

    "I see," Tong sighed and turned to Cai Wenji, "I also heard that a food taster of consort Du died from poisoning . Do you know anything about this?"

    Cai Wenji blinked and looked back at Tong with her innocent eyes, "This concubine tried to investigate about it, too . However, the captured poisonermitted suicide in prison . We could not find the mastermind . "

    Tong sneaked nced at Du Shi, who secretly red at Cai Wenji . He also detected a sinister faint smile from Cai Wenji¡¯s mouth .

    The emperor sighed andined to Friday and Medusa in the n chat .

    Tong: "They want the other dead, didn¡¯t they?"

    Dong Bai: "Yup . They¡¯re more savage than Hua Shi or me by miles . "

    Diaochan: "This is how concubines in all royal harem fight to survive, Tong . The winner takes all, but the loser dies a dog death . "

    Tong: "Can you help? I already instate you as my official consorts . "

    Diaochan: "We are newbies here, and we are powerless at the moment . Unless you want us to demonstrate our demon power and put these two on a depression train, I don¡¯t mind breaking their mind . "

    Tong: "That¡¯s a no . If possible, pacifist way, please . "

    Dong Bai: "I have a suggestion!"

    Tong: "Tell me, then . "

    Dong Bai: "But I can¡¯t say it here . Too many listeners!"

    Tong had a pokerface when he recalled that all his n members could read their chat logs . Moreover, these guys were so considerate that they stopped using the chat whenever Friday or Medusa started using it . These officers always pretended that nothing had happened when Tong met all of his officers in real life afterward, causing awkwardness at times .

    Tong: "Just say it . I can¡¯t let you speak in front of these deadlydies . Or else, they will try to kill you with their servants, but you will instantly kill them the next day for sure . I have to protect them this time . "

    Dong Bai: "Okay . It¡¯s simple, actually . You can just fuck them senseless every night, one hole at a time . Do it so that they can¡¯t stand for days! As long as they¡¯re tired, none of them can make any move on the others! Trust me, we did this before when Hua Shi was still around, right?"

    Diaochan facepalmed while Tong cried internally .

    Diaochan: "Forget it . Let¡¯s put them into our n chat, so they can¡¯t kill each other . "

    Tong: "Sorry, I¡¯m nning to put Sima Yi, Liu Xie, Wei Yan, and Liu Ye here . We don¡¯t have enough quota this year . "

    Diaochan: "Well, do it your way then . Use your authority to separate them for now . But don¡¯t forget to summon both of them at night, so they won¡¯t get bullied by other servants that you abandon them . Women are wicked when they¡¯re jealous . "

    Tong: "I¡¯ll keep that in mind . "

    .

    Tong rearranged Cai Wenji and Du Shi¡¯s courtyard away from each other . He also barred their servants from entering the other¡¯s territory for the time being .

    He also introduced Diaochan and Dong Bai to the two, and they would share the night activity schedule from now on . As a punishment for all the ruckus, Tong reduced their night visit to one day a week, while Diaochan and Dong Bai got two each .

    The new arrangement favored the newbies more, which stopped Cai Wenji and Du Shi¡¯s internal warfare . They now paid more attention to the new girls .

    With this, Tong forced Cai Wenji and Du Shi into a temporary truce as he addedmon enemies for them . As the demonesses were immune to their petty tricks and assassination techniques, he only worried that Diaochan or Dong Bai might kill them instead .

    Now that the jealous wives had been leashed by the new consorts, Tong reaped a bit of profit, carnal profits .

    The night with Friday in her loli form was as expected, a wild all-night one . Since she could transform to Xiao Wu, it was a 2-in-1 deal for Tong . However, the activities extended till morning because of their inhumane stamina and Tong¡¯s addiction to Friday¡¯s bodies, which disrupted his working schedules .

    When it came to Diaochan¡¯s turn, Tong was reluctant . But when Diaochan revealed her appearance to Tong, all embarrassment, shame, and logic flew out of the window .

    Simr to Friday, Diaochan could use her wing power to transform into hermia appearance . Using her seductive bodies of Diaochan and Medusa, she consecutively milked Tong until he copsed at 9AM in the morning, which was deadlier than Friday .

    On the third day, Tong arranged his vacation the next day in advance, which puzzled all his minor workers who did not know about court life . However, Xun Yu, Sima Fang, Lu Zhi, and other elites in the pce shook their heads as they knew what Tong was up to .

    The third night arrived . The two mother-and-daughter visited Tong together, enjoying their promised 3P actions .

    Their sessionsst 36 hours, which covered the day that Tong had asked for a day-off from work . When Tong reappeared at work again, he was a walking dried mummy, which frightened his subordinates .

    Because of the two new concubines and their wild nights, everyone affirmed the rumor about Tong .

    "The emperor likes young maiden . "

    "He¡¯s a pedophile?"

    "The rumors aren¡¯t wrong . He¡¯s a lolicon . "

    Cai Wenji and Du Shi also heard about it . They secretly met each other and formed an alliance, as Tong had predicted . From now on, all their underhand tricks would focus on Diaochan and Dong Bai .

    However, they canceled their n in the next two days .

    Tong summon one of them at a time as usual . However, he was not gentle like always . Following Diaochan and Dong Bai¡¯s suggestions, Tong used his overwhelming stamina to flood Cai Wenji and Du Shi¡¯s stomach with his seeds .

    He was also a cautious emperor . With his microcells-maniption skills, Tong eliminated male sperms from his seeds, so none of the two could bear a son, limiting their status to concubines .

    In the end, both 2-faced concubines were so tired that they did not have enough strength to scheme a wicked n .

    Peace returned to the inner pce again ... along with endless sultry nights .

    Also, Tong had to sleep in the day-time whenever he had a chance since he could never sleep at night anymore .

    .

    .

    .

    Lujiang Commandery

    An old schr packed his luggage and got on his horse-carriage . He turned around to look at his two daughters, who were hiding their faces under thick veils .

    "This is yourst chance to drop off . Are you sure you want to do this?"

    The eldest daughter looked at her father, "Comparing Zhang Tong, Sun Fang, and Cao Cao, the emperor Zhang Tong is always the best option . Besides, I heard he favors young girls of our age . "

    "Those are just rumors! Say, why won¡¯t we go to Sun Fang or Sun Ce? They¡¯re promising youths, and you¡¯ll be their main wife instantly . Your status will improve for sure . "

    "Too risky, father . Sun Fang and Sun Ce are waging war left and right, but the emperor only fights against rebels and the Xiongnu . It¡¯s obvious that which one is a man of virtue, and which one is a greedy warlord . "

    "But, we can¡¯t guarantee that the emperor will take you in! Do you know how many beautiful maidens that Tong sent home? It¡¯s over 9,000!"

    "That¡¯s why I see it as our opportunity, father . Since he has a high standard, his royal harem won¡¯t be crowded with dirty women . "

    "... What about you?" The old man looked at his second daughter .

    The little girlughed, "As long as I¡¯m with my sister, I¡¯m okay serving someone as his little wife . "

    "... Fine . If his majesty sends you home, I¡¯ll marry both of you to Sun Ce and Sun Fang . "

    "Okay . "

 Chapter 412

    Chapter 412: 412

    Chapter 412 ¨C Athena and Liu Yang¡¯s Grudge

    March 10th, 192 AD .

    Liu Yang and her followers arrived at Ye after they had taken shelter during the harsh winter . Using Khan¡¯s token and their envoy status, she managed to obtain an audience with Tong .

    However, she did note here as a diplomat . Her followers, Hua Xin and Huang Wan, acted as the Xiongnu envoys instead and disguised Liu Yang as a follower .

    Hua Xin and Huang Wan were former Han Court¡¯s officials, who were swept by Dong Zhuo Army when they upied Chang¡¯An and Hongnong . They were also Lu Zhi¡¯s acquaintances and colleagues, who sided in the same faction .

    When Lu Zhi saw Hua Xin and Huang Wan, he eximed in surprise .

    "Ziyu! Ziyan! You are alive!"

    Hua Xin turned to Lu Zhi in shock, "Zigan? Wait, are you working here!?"

    "Damn right, I¡¯m working here . I¡¯ve been here since the Yellow Turban Uprising! Where have you been?"

    "We got stuck in Chang¡¯An, and we were forced to work in Chengdu with the Xiongnu . Now that we¡¯re here, we-"

    *AHEM*

    Sitting on the throne, Tong coughed to interrupt Huang Wan, Hua Xin, and Lu Zhi¡¯s reunion since it was not an appropriate time .

    The three stepped back and resumed their position . Lu Zhi returned to his post, while the two visitors adjusted their manner .

    Hua Xin was a middle-aged politician and a schr . In his mid-30s, he looked older than his age because he was a thinker and hard worker . A small portion of white hair mixing in his natural ck hair revealed that his job in the Xiongnu Army was stressful . Even his long goatee beard had white lines in it . Hua Xin was also a well-manner schr, who wore formal clothes like Lu Zhi .

    Huang Wan was a senior civil officer of the Han Court, whose age was 52 this year . His hair and his beard were already grey, but his well-dressed schr robes, neatly tied hair, demeanor, and clear eyes revealed that he was an upright person .

    It was unfortunate that these two honest officers fell to the hands of Xiongnu . Ironically, they visited Tong for Xiongnu¡¯s business .

    The senior Huang Wan kowtowed and stated his business, "My apologies, your majesty . We¡¯re a representative of Chanyu Khan of Xiongnu, and we¡¯re here to establish goodwill with the Han Empire . "

    He turned to Lu Zhi and Hua Xin before heughed, "That¡¯s what I wanted to say . That was a joke, your majesty . Honestly, we are using this opportunity to escape from the Xiongnu¡¯s very . Sir Huang Wan, his daughter, and I managed to get her using the stolen token from Khan . So, we hope that you can shelter us . We will also use our experience and knowledge to help you if you don¡¯t mind our old bones . "

    Hua Xin also exined, "Please forgive us for giving you false information . Without this excuse, we won¡¯t be able to meet you and clean our name . "

    Tong looked at the two with a smile, believing that more talented civil officers were presenting themselves, asking for a post in his ranks . Since they were honest officials who were his master¡¯s friends, there was no reason to decline their service .

    "Wee back to the Han Dynasty . Although I¡¯m not surnamed Liu, I hope you will work for me as if you are still serving the old emperor . "

    The two officers almost cried from this joyous asion . Still, they did not forget what they had to do to get their promised freedom from Liu Yang .

    Currently, their family members were being held hostages, which Liu Yang and her men kept them around in this city .

    To get their freedom, both officers had to help her infiltrate into Tong¡¯s harem . Once she got his baby, their family members would be freed .

    Now, Liu Yang had disguised herself as someone from the Qiang Tribe . Currently, she had the same age as Medusa, but her statue was as short as Dong Bai because she never exercised with her human body . Moreover, Khan¡¯s [Create Food] only summoned necessary provisions, such as vegetables, rice, and horse meat . Theycked variety as Khancked practical experience, which contributed to herck of nutrition .

    Still, Liu Yang was a loli beauty that could shine once she got older .

    Hua Xin raised his head up and spoke in a clear voice, "Your majesty, there is one thing that weighs my mind, and I have to ask you for a rude favor . I¡¯ve brought my daughter with me during my journey, and I hope that you can shelter her in your inner pce . "

    "In other words, you want me to take her as my concubine?"

    "Embarrassingly, I have to admit my shamelessness . Yes, your majesty . You don¡¯t have to bestow my friend or me anything . I just hope that she can find happiness with you . "

    Tong frowned because his excuse was odd and suspicious . Even Lu Zhi raised his eyebrows and looked at his friend in disbelief .

    While Tong¡¯s wry smile was apparent to everyone in the throne room, he asked the awkward father, "Do you even understand what you¡¯re requesting? You have served the former emperor for years, but haven¡¯t you learned that the inner pce is hell for new concubines? While we are struggling to unify thend, my concubines have been busy trying to kill their rivals to be my empress . She might suffer worse than death in my pce . "

    Hua Xin¡¯s face paled, realized that he had made a mistake or had picked a wrong excuse . He nced at Liu Yang, who hid her eyes from Tong .

    Huang Wan sensed that his colleague messed up . He raised his voice to cover for Hua Xin .

    "My junior has chosen the wrong wordings . I hope that you can forgive him, your majesty . Honestly, we are broke, homeless, and we have no servant . We want to get a good ce to start a new life as soon as possible, but my junior worries about his daughter that she might waste her life marrying a lowlife while she has the talent and beauty . Since it is a waste to give her to an unknown man, he tries to give her to you, so at least she can gamble her luck and disy her talent in your inner pce . "

    Lu Zhi sighed a relieved, learning that Hua Xin did not have a hidden motive . Still, it was odd since he could just give his daughter to a promising young official or a general among Tong¡¯s ranks .

    Young generals and strategists here were all pedigrees with high status . Therefore, Hua Xin¡¯s daughter could have a better life being the main wife of a general than being Tong¡¯s concubine, where the war of women was still ongoing .

    Tong also had the same thought as Lu Zhi .

    ¡¯Too suspicious . Heck, my schedule is full after Medusa and Friday havee here . I don¡¯t think I have the time to take care of another woman . I should decline and introduce the daughter to one of my generals . Come to think of it, most of them are still virgins, right? I should get them to marry someone, so they can have a family . ¡¯

    Liu Yang had been sensing Tong¡¯s fluctuate with her instinct . Although she could not use her power, her sixth sense was sharper than ordinary immortals .

    .

    In ancient times, the mother of Medusa was once a human with peerless beauty . Even young gods fell in love with her .

    However, one of the gods was driven by lust and ravished Medusa¡¯s mother in Athena¡¯s temple, which enraged the Goddess . Athena cursed Medusa¡¯s mother into an ugly Gorgon as in the legends, but she did not punish the assant .

    As for the assant god, he scotched free, using the faulty justice system in Heaven, testified that the cursed Gorgon seduced him first .

    It awoke conflicts between angels and demons as demons wanted to punish the assant, while the angels protected their god .

    Unfortunately, the victim, Gorgon, was killedter by humans and immortals . Still, she had given birth to a child before her death, a daughter between her and the rapist god . Afterward, her child continued her bloodline, which was the current Medusa, aka Diaochan, in the current world .

    Morning Star found Medusa first and sheltered her in his Hell Realm . For the sake of her safety, he sealed her divine power, inherited from her father . Instead of allowing her to use angelic cultivation, Morning Star taught her to cultivate demon wings, which guided her until she gained eight demon wings .

    Athena found out about the Gorgon and the rapist god¡¯s childter . The deities did not want the child to exist since it sullied their reputation, so both of them attacked the Hell Realm, tried to kill Medusa .

    In retaliation of the injustice, Morning Star led his hellspawn and archdemons to repel the gods and Athena Army . As Morning Star was stronger than the majority of gods, he killed the rapist father . He also crippled Athena, forcing her to stay away from Hell Realm for good .

    Since then, Athena held a grudge against Morning Star and Medusa .

    Time passed, Athena adopted an archangel as her daughter, who was the present Liu Yang .

    Among all eight-winged angels, Liu Yang had the most solid foundation, vast knowledge, and experience .

    Being taught by the Goddess Athena, who was a mother figure to her, Liu Yang¡¯s power and status rose . Liu Yang had obtained the status of a goddess with only eight wings because of this rtionship .

    One day, Athena assigned her a task, telling her to kill Tong, who was treasured by Medusa and Morning Star .

    As a reward of this job, Liu Yang inherited her foster mother¡¯s name as [Goddess Athena II], which was the honor for an archangel for getting such a sessor title .

    Because Liu Yang was under the influence of Athena, she inherited her grudge against Morning Star and Medusa . She plotted against Morning Star when she found out about Tong and their rtionship .

    However, an ident urred, and Liu Yang got stuck here because of her own scheme . She had to find a way to kill Medusa as her first primary objective . If possible, she nned to kill Tong and others as well, since Tong was Morning Star¡¯s favorite .

    .

    In the throne room, Liu Yang nned to fix Hua Xin and Huang Wan¡¯s scheme .

    ¡¯At this rate, Zhang Tong is going to chase me away! I have to do something to seduce him or tempt him! What to do?¡¯

    She looked into Tong¡¯s eyes for the first time . Upon seeing the depth within his eyes, she got more confident .

    ¡¯It¡¯s still shallow . He should believe my bullshit if I do something unexpected . ¡¯

    Liu Yang made the decision to take risks . She opened her mouth, "Your majesty, I hope that you can forgive these two seniors . I¡¯m not Hua Xin¡¯s daughter . "

    Tong squinted his eyes, but he raised his eyebrows and looked at Hua Xin in amusement . Now, his interest piqued .

    "What¡¯s your real name, and what¡¯s your purpose, then?"

    "My real name is Wang Yi . Chanyu Khan has ordered me to seduce you and tempt you to make errors in the military . He killed my fianc¨¦ and captured my real parents as hostages . If I don¡¯t be your concubine, he will kill everyone . Everything that senior Hua Xin said was my idea, so I hope you can forgive them . "

    Hua Xin and Huang Wan were shocked .

    ¡¯This isn¡¯t in our script . What is she doing?¡¯

    ¡¯Well, if she dies, we¡¯ll be free, right?¡¯

    ¡¯We have to report his majesty about that assassin, Hu Che-er . If he learns that she dies, our family will be in trouble . ¡¯

    ¡¯Don¡¯t overthink . We¡¯re safe the moment we¡¯re in Ye! We have Zigan here, so we have a backing . ¡¯

    ¡¯True . Let¡¯s find a chance to ask for helpter . ¡¯

    The two veteran politicians whispered among themselves while they observed the situation .

    Meanwhile, Tong frowned and sighed . Had his radar map not been given to Zhang He, he could have inspected this girl¡¯s name to check if she was authentic .

    Tong knew that Wang Yi in history was Zhao Ang¡¯s wife, and her hometown was somewhere in Liang Province, which was former Dong Zhuo and Ma Teng¡¯s territory .

    Wang Yi was a heroic woman . In the 210s, she even fought alongside with her husband against Ma Chao . With her brain, she repelled Ma Chao¡¯s invasion with her strategies .

    Her character was known to be an upright and steadfast person, which could be useful to Tong .

    ¡¯Is she really Wang Yi, or is she a liar? What to do?¡¯

    Tong hesitated if he should take her in .

    Then, he had an idea .

    ¡¯There is a way to verify this . I can still use this . ¡¯

    Tong used his n recruitment quota to invite Liu Yang into his n . If she were real, her name would disy in the n chat .

    >

    >

    >

 Chapter 413

    Chapter 413

    Chapter 413 ¨C Liu Yang¡¯s Enjoyable Infiltration

    >

    >

    >

    Liu Yang¡¯s face paled when the system messages appeared .

    ¡¯Oh, no!¡¯

    The secret was out, and she was busted!

    She turned around toward the exit, but Tong¡¯s injured souls had already blocked the path .

    Turning around and looking at Tong¡¯s grinning face, Liu Yang was terrified .

    "Well, well, well . What do we have here? Aren¡¯t you a cute little spy? Khan must have invested in you for this infiltration mission, right?"

    Tong chased everyone outside of the throne room, "Excuse us . We have something to talk with this young girl alone . Hua Xin, Huang Wan, you leave too . If you have any inquiries or if you need help, don¡¯t hesitate to ask my mentor . "

    Hua Xin and Huang Wan widen their eyes since it was the first time that they learned about this mentor¡¯s existence . Lu Zhi coughed and grinned at his two friends .

    "Surprised? I have good students . "

    Hua Xin and Huang Wan snickered, "You sly old bones! Now, I know why you never return!"

    "Hahaha! Well, I actually did, but many things happened . Come, let¡¯s talk outside . "

    .

    Liu Yang was drenched in sweat, believing that her identity had been discovered . With Tong¡¯s four souls blockading the exit, she had no chance to escape .

    Giving up her fate, she sighed and admitted her status, "Yes, I¡¯m from Chanyu Khan¡¯s n . You found me, so you can kill me . I have only a favor though, please make it painless . "

    "I haven¡¯t said anything about killing you, though . "

    "???"

    Liu Yang was confused . Since the system messages told her that Tong tried to recruit her into his n, her real name should have been exposed .

    While Liu Yang gazed at Tong in confusion, the clueless emperor proposed her, "Well, I know that you can instantly report everything through the n chat, so I can¡¯t let you roam free in my city . Still, it¡¯s a waste to have someone like you working for Khan . How about it, won¡¯t you work for me instead? At least, you can settle down in my inner pce with a noble title, and you won¡¯t have to risk your life wandering thend again . "

    Tong misunderstood Liu Yang, believing that she was Wang Yi, one of the historical figures in this world . Moreover, she was one of the rare beauty in this world, which Tong wanted to monopolize her .

    Liu Yang was 16 this year . Because she was once an archangel with eight wings and was blessed with Athena¡¯s power, her beauty was on par with Diaochan .

    She did not know that she had already seduced him .

    Liu Yang could notprehend why Tong was doing since she thought that her real name, "Liu Yang," should have been exposed by the system .

    Then, she heard a system message by Lilim, which was sent directly into her brain .

    >

    >

    >

    Liu Yang understood everything . Lilim had helped her since she had no chance against Tong¡¯s power at the moment . But with a bit of Lilim¡¯s assistance, they tricked Tong that Liu Yang was Wang Yi .

    ¡¯I see . I thought I would have been dead for a moment . ¡¯

    The former goddess kowtowed to Tong, "Thank you for your kindness . I¡¯ve currently enved by the Xiongnu, so I can¡¯t do much to help you . I¡¯ll do my utmost best to support the Han Empire with my body and my soul . "

    With her words, she stated that she did not mind bing Tong¡¯s concubine so that Tong would not suspect her . In this era, women¡¯s rights never existed . Unless they excelled in something, they were just tools for men .

    Liu Yang pretended that she was a local girl with this era¡¯smon sense .

    Tong revealed a broad smile, "Okay! For a starter, you can write down everything in your n chat, so my subordinates and I can analyze Khan and Liu Yang¡¯s ns . But first, I have to arrange a ce for you to stay and tell my wives about youring . "

    "..."

    .

    After the meeting, Tong announced to the public that he decided to take Wang Yi (Liu Yang) as his fifth concubine . With his decree, his eunuchs and servants prepared a courtyard for her .

    However, as a newbie, she had to visit Tong that night to perform her duty and prove that she waspatible with the emperor¡¯s nightlife .

    Liu Yang visited Tong¡¯s chamber for her first duty, but her expression was distorted .

    She was once a proud sessor of a goddess . For several thousand years, many gods pursued her, but she turned them all down .

    Unfortunately, her pride and her purity would be taken away because of Tong and Lilim .

    She fixed her expression and entered Tong¡¯s room .

    "Y-Your majesty . This concubine is here to serve you . "

    Tong grinned, "Come here . Rx, I¡¯ll be gentle . "

    Although he said that, he instantly stripped her and pushed the former goddess on his bed . Tong also summoned his soul, which Friday had returned to him, the [Soul of Lust] .

    The demon soul activated its unique power .

    Lust Curse

    Since Liu Yang looked tense, Tong cursed her, so she could enjoy the activities to the fullest .

    Liu Yang had not awakened her wings yet, so she was still vulnerable to all curses and system skills . As such, her eyes glowed in pink light, and her bodily sensitivity heightened .

    "Ah . "

    Liu Yang¡¯s body rxed as she was in a trance .

    Tong pped his hands, drooling as he was ogling at Liu Yang¡¯s peerless loli body .

    "Itadakimasu!"

    .

    .

    .

    That night, Liu Yang regretted her decision that she chose to conceive Tong¡¯s child . She also learned why Tong was so eager to take her in .

    She paid a high price for this discovery . Had it been an ordinary mortal emperor, Liu Yang¡¯s pride and her virginity would have been the only things that suffered .

    Unfortunately, Tong¡¯s sexual habit had been corrupted by Diaochan and Dong Bai after they had joined the harem . His libido rose to an abnormal state, which resulted in all-night activities .

    The next day, Liu Yang could not get up from the bed in the morning because of a certain lustful emperor .

    After Tong had left, the powerless Liu Yang panted as she copsed on her bed . Bodily fluid and the aftermath of the long night remained .

    The lust curse had already dispersed, and she regained her sanity . However, her wild night memory lingered in her mind .

    Liu Yang¡¯s body twitched and spasmed . Her eyes rolled upward, and her tongue stuck out . The mouth curved upward into a smile .

    ¡¯Damn you, Zhang Tong! I won¡¯t forget this humiliation!¡¯

    Her lower body shook as the pleasant sensation ran through her entire body, which dispersed her thought .

    [Your body says otherwise . It¡¯s crying for more . ], Lilim mocked her with the system message .

    ¡¯Who¡¯s asking for more!? I¡¯ll kill him next time if he revisits my room!¡¯

    [But you literally said "More" many times . I counted it 35 times tonight . ]

    ¡¯...¡¯

    [Unfortunately, you did it in your safe day . You¡¯ll have to do it again . You can¡¯t kill Zhang Tong yet . ]

    ¡¯NOOOOOOOO!!¡¯

    Liu Yang cried, but her mouth and her eyes expressed that she was looking forward to the next visit . Moreover, her lower body twitched again .

    .

    .

    Diaochan, Dong Bai, Du Shi, and Cai Wenji also visited her in thete afternoon to introduce themselves .

    When Diaochan saw Liu Yang¡¯s face, which was still suffering from the aftereffect, she frowned .

    ¡¯Where have I seen this girl? I think I knew her, but at the same time, I don¡¯t . ¡¯

    Diaochan also tried to probe with her n invitation, but she also got the same message that Tong had .

    >

    >

    >

    ¡¯Wang Yi? Oh, I see, a historical figure . No wonder Tong took her in without our consent . Oh, well, she¡¯ll be his stress reliever, but she¡¯s a member of the other n . Does Tong know about this?¡¯

    Diaochan decided to be direct, "Who is your lord? Sun Fang, Khan, or Pu Jing?"

    Liu Yang looked at Diaochan while her hands and her legs could not stop shaking from the fear of Diaochan¡¯s intimidation . One wrong move and she would be killed .

    "I-I¡¯m from the Xiongnu . His majesty asked me to work as his double-agent spy, so here I am . "

    "Oh?"

    Friday and Medusa were surprised . However, Cai Wenji and Du Shi had not learned about n chat and the rtionship between immortals yet, so they did not understand the underlying message .

    "What do you mean by double-agent spy?"

    "... I was originally Xiongnu¡¯s spy, but his majesty caught me red-handed . He spared me, but I have to tell everything I know to his majesty while I feed the Xiongnu false information . "

    Du Shi and Cai Wenji were impressed . However, Diaochan and Dong Bai did not like it . As this new girl could easily report everything to her lord with her n chat and the log messages could not be inspected by anyone, they could not trust this [Wang Yi] .

    Friday used her authority as Xiao Wu, who was Tong¡¯s trusted general of his Immortal Legion, to forbid Liu Yang from leaving her courtyard . Medusa also ced several maids to keep an eye on this new girl .

    Cai Wenji and Du Shi also did the same since the new girl was their rival . For the sake of bing Tong¡¯s empress, they also ordered their subordinates to join Liu Yang¡¯s courtyard as her subordinates . But in reality, these subordinates would monitor Liu Yang¡¯s every move .

    With the four concubines ganging on her, Liu Yang sulked and submitted to her fate, waiting for Tong¡¯s favor at night so that she couldplete her quest and get out of his inner pce .

    She had yet to notice that her facial expression was lewd when she thought of Tong .

    .

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, Tong was in a good mood .

    Believing that he had scored another historical woman, Tong was satisfied . Besides, it was more enjoyable to take the lead than being passive in bed activities . Sleeping with Diaochan and Dong Bai hurt his pride as a man because they always suppressed him, squeezed him dry .

    Moreover, Liu Yang¡¯s expression in bed deserved several tags as in a certain porn website in his old world, such as [Ahegao], [Mind Break], and [Mind Control], which urged him to vite this girl more .

    However, his instinct told him that he should mess up this new consort as if she was his nemesis . Although Tong did not know why he had a mixed feeling when he had sex with Liu Yang, he got addicted to her body and her reaction .

    Because of his excitement, Tong had to hide his erection during the meeting, but his eunuchs and his bodyguards behind him could see everything .

    Again, they pretended that they saw nothing .

    While Tong was daydreaming in the morning, looking forward to skinshipping this "Wang Yi" again, Lu Zhi brought his friends to the throne room .

    "Your majesty, there is an urgent matter that requires your assistance," Lu Zhi informed Tong .

    "What happened?"

    "My friends, Huang Wan and Hua Xin, has been ckmailed by the Xiongnu to escort your new consort . Their family is currently in the hands of an assassin organization . Although they are in Ye City, my policemen can¡¯t make a move on them since they are protected with a thousand guards . "

    "I thought we forbid private troops . How did they get inside without weapon confiscation?"

    "As I said before, they are assassins, your majesty . They are carrying hidden weapons and poison pills . "

    Tong turned to the two friends of his mentor, "Are you sure that they have weapons?"

    Huang Wan nodded, "Yes . They usually hid their short des in their hairband and clothes . When we came here, the sentry did not inspect their clothing and only confiscated their armor and obvious weapons . "

    "Ah," Tong sighed and turned to Sima Fang and Te Langpu at the side, "A new homework to you guys . "

    Both ministers cupped their fist and bowed .

    "I¡¯ll look into the inspection procedure and fix it . "

    "I¡¯ll fire the goddamn guards . "

    Tong returned his gaze toward Lu Zhi, Huang Wan, and Hua Xin, "I¡¯ll rescue your family at once . Stay here and wait for the good news . "

    Without using his imperial guards, Tong texted to Friday and Medusa, asking to borrow their souls to attack this assassin group and rescuing the hostages .

    Unfortunately, the two wives were busy bullying the neer, Liu Yang, so they werete to respond . In the end, Tong sent his four souls to attack the group himself .

    Even though his souls had not recovered from the injuries, 90% of the damages had been healed, leaving only superficial wounds on his arms and legs . Without exerting too much power, Tong could still fight .

    One of Tong¡¯s four souls raided the assassin hideout on broad daylight .

 Chapter 414

    Chapter 414: 414

    Chapter 414 ¨C Hu Che-er

    Hu Che-er was one of the historical figures that made a name of himself during this civil war period . In the other timeline, he served as one of Zhang Xiu¡¯smanders .

    When Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu plotted to kill Cao Cao at Wan, Hu Chu-er was the one who volunteered that he would poison Dian Wei, who was acting as Cao Cao¡¯s bodyguardmander . He stole Dian Wei¡¯s halberds, so their men could kill everyone .

    Hu Che-er seeded, but Dian Wei still had short weapons with him . Unfortunately, Dian Wei discovered Hu Che-er¡¯s plot and killed him, but the former still died by the overwhelming army of Zhang Xiu .

    In a way, Hu Che-er was the key contributor to Dian Wei¡¯s death .

    But in this world, Hu Che-er did not serve Zhang Xiu since Zhang Xiu did not dere independence from Li Jue and Guo Si¡¯s regime . Instead, Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji were sent to serve Tong as a tribute .

    Without a lord, Hu Che-er found a mercenary organization to make a living . Liu Yang and Khan found them and recruited them to their army .

    Now, Hu Che-er received amission from Liu Yang that he and his men had to keep Hua Xin and Huang Wan¡¯s family as hostages, so both Han loyalists could be ckmailedter .

    They could have kept their family members in Chang¡¯An to enve Hua Xin and Huang Wan forever . Also, Khan could have used his brainwash skill to tamper with these people¡¯s minds . Unfortunately, Khan declined all of Liu Yang¡¯s suggestions and kept on saving his lifespans to create more soldiers, so he could wage wars against Han citizens .

    In Liu Yang¡¯s mind, Khan was a mad man and untrustworthy .

    As illogical as it looked, Liu Yang took everything with her, so she could have more options to improvise to any situation .

    Hu Che-er and the family of the former ministers were also the variable options that she kept . However, she did not expect that Hua Xin and Huang Wan would be bold enough to take risks .

    .

    Inside the hideout, the assassins were resting . Although it was noon, most of them were sleeping, leaving only a few guards to monitor the Hua Xin and Huang Wan¡¯s family members .

    Everybody thought that no one would find trouble with them on daylight since this was Tong¡¯s capital city .

    The hideout was an open field inside of the city wall, which used for assembling the garrison army or erecting a temporary encampment for VIP merchants . At this ce, Hu Che-er had constructed wooden shacks and pitched several tents for his 1,000 men and their hostages .

    Liu Yang paid a high price to rent this space for these people, so the minor officials or lowly guards would not dare to offend them .

    Hu Che-er was in a bad mood because they were in a bad position in this territory . Since Ye City disallowed all civilians to possess any weapon, such as swords, spears, or even a short knife, they could not wander around the city to establish their dominance in this city . With policemen swaggering around with swords and shields, they did not dare to stir trouble .

    "What kind of city is this? Even Luoyang doesn¡¯t have this security . "

    Without proper weapons, Hu Che-er was afraid that Hua Xin and Huang Wan¡¯s family could escape if they fight back .

    The assassin leader looked at his men and voiced his thought, "We should leave that girl here and escape when we have the chance . I¡¯m sure those two geezers will rat us out . "

    His subordinates disagreed, "No, boss . I don¡¯t think they have the balls . We have the hostages here . "

    "These hostages are as good as none! All of them should have been imprisoned at Chang¡¯An, but that stupid girl took them here . It¡¯s like telling Zhang Tong¡¯s men that [We are offering these hostages back, so pleasee and kill us!] . You get it?"

    Unfortunately, Hu Che-er¡¯s men did not think that way . They still believed that Hua Xin and Huang Wan¡¯s family members were their trump card, and they could continue ckmailing these two ministers to do their bidding indefinitely .

    "You¡¯re overthinking, boss . Our princess is doing the right thing . Had she left them at Chang¡¯An, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to exploit those two bastards . With them here, we can enjoy our retirement without having to work, right?"

    Hu Che-er¡¯s face twitched, "Fine . I¡¯ll take a walk on the street . All of you keep guarding, then . "

    "Okay, boss . Buy us some women when you return!"

    "..."

    The assassin boss abandoned his men . Instead of visiting the town as he promised his goons, he took his horse, nning to leave the city before hell could break loose .

    Unfortunately, a transparent being appeared in front of Hu Che-er .

    It was one of Tong¡¯s souls, [Sloth] .

    Sloth pointed his index fingertip at Hu Che-er¡¯s head .

    Sloth Curse!

    It was a unique skill that only demons who overcame their [Sin of Sloth] had .

    Hu Che-er suddenly felt exhausted as if he had not slept for days . He copsed on the ground and fell asleep .

    Not only Hu Che-er was affected, but everyone in the camp, including all hostages, also was inflicted with the curse . Purple gas enveloped the hideout, putting all assassins and hostages asleep .

    It was a peaceful approach to rescue all hostages without a casualty .

    An hourter, Hua Xin, Huang Wan, Lu Zhi, and policemen with many carriages arrived . They separated all hostages from the assassins and escorted them to Lu Zhi¡¯s resident . As for the assassin group, they were tied and brought to the justice department for trial and interrogation .

    All assassins and Hu Che-er woke up at night .

    When they found that everyone was tied and locked in prison, they panicked .

    "What the fuck had happened!? Why are we here!?"

    "This is a dream, right?"

    "No way! I remember that I just went to sleep!"

    While everyone was in an uproar, Hu Che-er remembered thest thing that he saw .

    It was a ghost or a spirit that cursed them .

    ¡¯Come to think of it, Zhang Tong is known to be an immortal emperor . Many of his subordinates are rumored to be immortals, as well . Well, fuck . This trip was a mistake . That little girl must have already been caught . Hua Xin and Huang Wan should have ratted us out the moment they arrived . ¡¯

    The assassin leader sighed .

    ¡¯I should have migrated to this city and join them as a normal soldier from the very beginning . I¡¯m a stupid idiot!¡¯

    Soon, Sima Fang¡¯s men isted every prisoner for a separate interrogation . The investigationsted all night .

    When it was Hu Che-er¡¯s turn, it was already the morning of a new day .

    The assassin leader was brought to an open field with four of his subordinates . Each of them was still tied with ropes .

    Sima Fang, who had dark bags under his eyes, did not sleepst night . He was busy squeezing all information from this group . Several tight mouths were executed after a bit of torturing by slicing a piece of their skin, one piece at a time .

    The ground that Hu Che-er knelt on was soaked with blood . The stench of iron made everybody here nauseous, but they kept on working .

    As Hu Che-er looked at the floor, he found several white pieces of human skin .

    Sima Fang did not clean the floor on purpose . He left it to intimidate other prisoners .

    "What¡¯s your name?" Sima Fang red at Hu Che-er .

    Intimidated, the assassin leader had no will to resist . He confessed, "Hu Che-er . "

    "Are you a Han citizen, or are you from Xiongnu?"

    "Neither . I¡¯m from Turkic Tribe . "

    "How did youe to work with the Xiongnu?"

    "Well, I¡¯m the strongest warrior in my tribe, and these guys hired me . What can I say?"

    "From the records, you are their leader, right?"

    "Yes . "

    "Then, what¡¯s your objective in this city?"

    Hu Che-er gulped . Although he did not want to confess, surviving was more important . He was afraid that he might get killed if he was caught lying . Since they had interrogated many men, some of them should have spilled all the information already .

    "We¡¯re using Hua Xin and Huang Wan¡¯s family as hostages so we can manipte them to work for us . "

    "Is that all?" Sima Fang knew that there was more hidden info .

    "No . We¡¯re working for the princess . We¡¯re waiting for hermand, but we have lost contact with her . "

    Sima Fang got interested, "Who is she, then?"

    "She¡¯s called ... err ... I forgot . "

    Hu Che-er could not recall Liu Yang¡¯s name . Since everyone was calling her "Princess," no one paid attention to her real name .

    "Was her name Wang Yi?"

    " . . . I¡¯m not sure . "

    Sima Fang changed his approach, "Had shee together with you when you entered this city?"

    "Yes . The princess went to seek an audience with the emperor with Hua Xin and Huang Wan . She said that she nned to use both of them as her parent or something, so she can infiltrate the emperor¡¯s harem . "

    "Ah, we already know of that part . Well, do you have anything else to say?"

    "A-Are you going to let me live?"

    "If that¡¯s all the secret you know, then you¡¯re useless to us . If you want to live, you need to tell us something else that we didn¡¯t know . "

    Sima Fang used a mind game with Hu Che-er . With the psychological pressure, prisoners usually spilled random information or secrets to save their skins .

    "I-I know the Xiongnu¡¯s movement! Chanyu Khan has upied the Yi Province, and he is nning to strike Jing Province next! They are also using Yuan Shu¡¯s territory as a buffer, so Cao Cao and the emperor can¡¯t attack them while they are attacking other provinces!"

    Sima Fang nodded . His expression was as solemn as ever, "Keep going . "

    "Yes! Chanyu Khan is also a mad man . He doesn¡¯t care about his domestic affair at all! All of the captured Liu Yan¡¯s officers have been killed, and they are looking for survivors . All citizens have be the Xiongnu¡¯s ves or have been forced to join their military . Most of their cities have been reduced to ruins!"

    "Then, do you know about Khan¡¯s rtionship with this so call princess?"

    "T-They are not in good terms . The princess wanted to protect the people and improve the agriculture and finance of all regions, but Khan refused to follow her advice . "

    Sima Fang¡¯s subordinates grinned as they acquired a few more puzzle pieces regarding the Xiongnu . With this new Intel, they had just scored some achievements .

    "If you have a chance to work for the emperor, will you be his loyal subject?"

    "Yes! Yes! Definitely!"

    Sima Fang waved his hand, "Release this man . From now on, you work for me and his majesty . "

    "THANK YOU! Hu Che-er greets my lord!"

    The minister clicked his tongue, "Don¡¯t you dare to call me [My lord]! Do you want to make me a rebel!? Can someone take this brute away and give him a bath!?"

    The interrogation continued . In the end, Sima Fang executed half of the assassins as some of them had uneptable attitudes or suspicious background .

    As for the surviving prisoners, Sima Fang transferred them into his Intelligence Agency, nning to squeeze more information from them with a more extreme method .

    .

    .

    .

    The next day, Sima Fang presented his investigation result and brought Hu Che-er along so that Tong could interrogate this assassin leader himself .

 Chapter 415

    Chapter 415

    Chapter 415 ¨C Lustful Emperor

    Hu Che-er retold Tong everything he knew about the Xiongnu princess . Combined with Hua Xin and Huang Wan¡¯s testimony, suspicious on this Wang Yi grew .

    Still, their stories had one thing inmon .

    This Wang Yi did not get along with Khan .

    With this onemon point, Tong¡¯s advisors in the n chat had many opinions about her .

    Xun Yu analyzed that this new concubine plotted to get on Tong¡¯s boat before Khan¡¯s rotting ship sunk, so she came up with this scheme, using Lu Zhi¡¯s friends .

    Lu Zhi believed that this princess was smart and sincere enough to bring the family of his friends along . Although her methods were questionable, it benefitted them . Secondly, she did not order Hu Che-er to harm anyone without her consent, which proved her good intent .

    Te Langpu assumed that Wang Yi was just a gold-digging thot, which could only serve as Tong¡¯s bed warmer . He suggested that Tong should not trust this woman if she wanted to get involved in politics .

    Ju Shou saw Wang Yi as a heroine who fought for her people . With her method of bringing surviving former Han Ministers and their family out of the Xiongnu¡¯s grasp, she hadpleted a good deed .

    Jia Xu did not trust Liu Yang . In his opinion, had she been sincere from the very beginning, she could have been honest about her status and told everyone about the hostages .

    Simr to Jia Xu, Xun You wanted Liu Yang dead or be banished from Tong¡¯s harem . A dishonest woman did not deserve to be included among Tong¡¯s royal consorts .

    Li Feihong refused to give Tong a piece of advice regarding this matter since it involved Tong¡¯s family affair . He also abstained from all voting .

    Sima Fang, surprisingly, believed that the princessmitted a mistake because of her inexperience and naivety, which ended up making a dubious scheme . However, her goal aligned with Tong¡¯s objective, so they should work together to help the Han people .

    Hua Xin and Huang Wan were neutral about this . Although their family was unharmed, they still could not trust the princess, who was once the brain of Chanyu Khan Army .

    After the brainstorm, the majority of Tong¡¯s subordinates did not trust this new consort . Even Tong had a suspicion on her after hearing all thements .

    "I¡¯ve picked up a snake into my harem, haven¡¯t I?"

    Lu Zhi chuckled, "Every woman can be a snake . Many women fell a nation before in history, so don¡¯t let your guard down, disciple . "

    Tong sighed and turned to Hu Che-er, "Have you led an army before?"

    "Yes, your majesty . Unfortunately, my highest rank was a 5,000-manmander . "

    "That¡¯s good enough . Transfer him to the White Horse Legion . That group needs an experienced general to train their forces . "

    Hu Che-er thought that he got a promotion, he kowtowed and epted this favor .

    "Thank you, your majesty! I¡¯ll repay this kindness with my life!"

    "Hai, hai . Just take it easy . You¡¯ll be working with a bunch of monsters, so don¡¯t get disheartenedter, okay?"

    The former assassin did not understand what Tong implied . In the future, he would recall these words when he met Zhao Yun, Sima Yi, and Wei Yan in Ganling a few monthster . However, that was another story .

    To ensure Hu Che-er¡¯s absolute loyalty, Tong invited him into his n chat along with Wei Yan, Sima Yi, Liu Ye, and Liu Xie .

    With the additional five, all invitation slots this year were used up . Next year, Tong would get Hua Xin, Huang Wan, and other leftover officers to his nter .

    .

    .

    Back at home, Tong rearranged his nighttime schedule again . This time, he ced more importance on this suspicious Wang Yi, so she could reveal her true color soon . By cutting his time with Diaochan and Dong Bai to use them on Wang Yi, the four jealous wives would bully this girl and would force her tomit a mistake .

    If she was an honest girl, then he could apologize to herter . But if she had an ulterior motive, Medusa and Friday would not leave her alive .

    ¡¯Anyway, I like her Ahegao face . I¡¯ll do her again tonight . ¡¯

    Tong got addicted to Liu Yang¡¯s honest expression .

    Cai Wenji and Du Shi were the types who suppressed their emotions, so Tong felt that something was missing when he slept with them . Diaochan and Friday were the S-type, so he did not get to satisfy his alpha male role .

    However, Liu Yang was the answer to what Tong had been searching for . With her erotic expression, her youthful body, and her submissive nature, the pedophile spirit of Tong was fully awakened .

    Although Tong¡¯s heart was screaming that he should not trust the fifth concubine, his manhood¡¯s reaction proved otherwise .

    A dayter, Liu Yang was not able to sleep or walk straight as Tong enjoyed pumping his seeds into her stomach .

    Tong also paid the price for giving too much favor on Liu Yang as well . The four jealous wives got fired up and worked harder on their bed activities, which exhausted him in the daytime .

    Yet, like a young boy who had acquired his new favorite toy, Tong wanted to y more with Wang Yi¡¯s body .

    The habit of constraint sex every night had an influence on Tong¡¯s need at night . As his sexual urge rose and his nature corrupted by the carnal desire, Tong added a tag [Time Stop] on Diaochan and Dong Bai to subdue their S nature .

    Two weekster, the S wives, Friday and Diaochan, got the table turned on them . Both of them had the same state as Liu Yang after their night duty, unable to gather their strength in the morning .

    Diaochan, who was the strongest among all wives, evenined, "Don¡¯t use your [Time Stop] . It¡¯s cheating!"

    Herint did notst long . After Tong got a hold of their sexual traits, he exploited their weaknesses and got them on the passive side .

    After that point, both sadistic demonesses slowly transformed into obedient wives as Tong trained them to suit his pace .

    Even Cai Wenji and Du Shi became more expressive . These two had learned about Liu Yang¡¯s traits from their private spies that his fifth consort always moaned out loud and gave a lewd expression when Tong was with her . As a result, bothpetitive girls adapted to Tong¡¯s taste, throwing away their shame .

    As for the one who pulled the trigger of this lewd fest, Liu Yang got most of Tong¡¯s affectionate nights, but she failed to get pregnant . Still, her expression was as delightful as ever, to the point that Tong often asked for extended times, grinding her till noon .

    Sometimes, Tong used his souls to do the work while his real body sneaked to Liu Yang¡¯s room during the daytime, continuing what they left off at night .

    Instead of resisting, Liu Yang weed him with her wide open arms . . . and legs . Even without Tong¡¯s Lust Curse, Liu Yang forgot about her objectives every time she saw Tong¡¯s naked body .

    Aside from the four-winged Diaochan, the other four concubines never had enough strength to stand straight or cause trouble for their rivals anymore . Peace returned to the inner pce, along with never-ending lewd sound at night .

    All maids who worked in the inner pce could hear the sultry voice and sound from either Tong¡¯s chamber or the rooms of the concubines .

    The rumor spread that Tong was a wolf at night . All officials in the court learned about itter, which caused another wave of a new trend .

    .

    .

    .

    A month passed .

    After Tong had taken in Wang Yi, aka Liu Yang, many nobles and merchants attempted to introduce their rtives, daughters, sisters, granddaughters, or even picked up an unknown woman to Tong, hoping to establish a rtionship with the emperor .

    The rumor had been circting among Ye¡¯s citizens that the emperor was doing his best to produce an heir . With this kind of story going around, many opportunists tried to use this chance to connect their bloodline with Tong .

    Tong¡¯s queue was already full, and he was satisfied with five wives, so there was no reason to ept any more concubine .

    However, a few individuals got Tong¡¯s attention .

    Qiao Xuan, a former official from Lujiang Commandery, came to pledge allegiance to Tong . Because of Cao Cao¡¯s campaign to the Yangtze River Region, Lujiang and Shouchun were involved in the conflict and constraint war .

    Therefore, Qiao Xuan and his family migrated here .

    He also came with his two famous daughters, the elder Qiao and the younger Qiao, who was known as,

    Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao

    Da Qiao was 15 this year, while Xiao Qiao was still 14 . However, their pretty youthful face, their upbringing manner, and their colorful robes reminded Tong of how Cai Wenji impressed him when they first met .

    At first, Tong wanted to turn them away, but he had the urge to collect these famous beauties .

    Qiao Xuan bowed, "I will be frank, your majesty . I hope that you can take them under your wings . I don¡¯t hope for a grand position in the court in return . As a father, I want them to be happy . "

    Everyone in the throne room mocked Qiao Xuan, believing that he was another greedy noble who sought power by using a shortcut . Even Xun Yu, Te Langpu, and Sima Fang were disgusted by this action .

    Tong sighed, "I told this to many people before . Do you know that the inner pce is hell for all concubines and their servants? There is a hidden battlefield behind the court right now . My concubines are fighting for the vacant empress seat . If they join them now, I don¡¯t think they will find happiness there . "

    Qiao Xuan had a wry smile on his face . He understood this point well, which was why he was against his daughters getting into Tong¡¯s harem .

    On the contrary, Xiao Qiao had wide sparkling eyes as she gazed at Tong . She spoke without permission .

    "How many concubines do you have in your court, your majesty?"

    Many officials red at Xiao Qiao since she did not mind her manner . Also, the question was rude to the emperor .

    However, Tong did not mind it, "Five . Why do you want to know?"

    "Your majesty, do you know how many concubines all emperors in the past had?"

    "I¡¯m not into other¡¯s family affair, but I guess ten? Maybe?"

    "Wrong, your majesty . They averagely had hundreds! Five is considered too few!"

    All civil officers murmured . They agreed with Xiao Qiao in this regard .

    "You¡¯re funny . Is this how you want me to take you in?"

    "You¡¯re wrong again . I¡¯m simply stating the fact that you¡¯re more honorable than all previous emperors . "

    Tong snickered, finding that this cheeky girl had something wrong with her head, "How am I honorable? I was the previous empress¡¯ consort, and I stole the throne from her son . "

    "Wrong again, your majesty . His highness Liu Xie is the eldest son of consort Wang, which is not even her own son! You have done nothing wrong . In fact, you stabilized the country instead of letting an innocent child handling the throne, which benefits this country! Also, being on the top of the country for a long time can corrupt your mind and your heart, just like the first Qin Emperor . He had a good cause for unifying the country, but he was so addicted to sex that he sought immortality to have an evesting bedtime . However, you¡¯re different! That¡¯s why I admire you, your majesty . I trust that you¡¯re an honorable man who values your duties over your greed and lust! That¡¯s why I coaxed my father into offering my sister and me to you . "

    All officers and Tong¡¯s mouth turned into an O after they had listened to Xiao Qiao¡¯s logic .

    After ten seconds of awkward silence, everyone burst intoughter, including Tong, who held his stomach, dyingughing .

    Tong gasped as if he was dying, "Oh, god . You¡¯re an interesting girl . Hahahaha!"

    Even the stern Sima Fang had a faint smile on his face . He shook his head andmented, "So young, so na?ve . "

    Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao, and Qiao Xuan were surprised by their reaction .

    The youngest daughter¡¯s face reddened in embarrassment, "Did I say something wrong?"

    Xun Yu, who was trying to hold back hisughter, exined, "Little girl . Even though his majesty has only five consorts, none of them made their appearance at any meeting at all . Do you know why?"

    "Why?"

    Tong coughed, interrupted Xun Yu, "They ... are not in the condition to attend any public meeting . "

    "Huh?"

    All officials in the hall snickered as everyone knew about Tong¡¯s activities at night . They could im that Tong was more lustful than any emperor in history since he had infinite stamina at night . The loud moan of the consorts was the greatest proof that Tong¡¯s sexual desire was second to none .

    Had any of Tong¡¯s concubines recovered from the night activities, they would get exhausted, lying on their bed the next day, since Tong would visit them at night . Wang Yi had the most visits this month, followed by Diaochan, who had infinite stamina like Tong .

    When Xun Yu sent someone to whisper the details to Xiao Qiao, her face reddened like a tomato .

    Tong grinned, "Now that you know the truth, do you still want to be my concubine?"

    Xiao Qiao bit her lower lips, wanting to cry from the embarrassment .

    She wanted to give up and go home, but she noticed something .

    Tong did not force her to marry him . Instead, he gave her freedom of choice .

    ¡¯He¡¯s not abusing his authority . Well, that¡¯s good enough . I believe he¡¯s a reasonable man . ¡¯

    Xiao Qiao was about to dere, "Please take my sister and me as your wives," Qiao Xuan cut off her words .

    "Thank you for your offer . I shall take my silly daughters back to cultivate their manner first . When they learned the world better, I shall bring them here again . "

    With that, Qiao Xuan dragged both his daughters away amidst everyone¡¯sughter .

 Chapter 416

    Chapter 416

    Chapter 416 ¨C Cao Cao¡¯s Bargain

    While Tong was enjoying his peaceful period of domestic improvement policies, Cao Cao and Sun Fang¡¯s forces had trouble with their internal management .

    Sun Fangpleted the tasks that Zhou Yu had assigned to him . Currently, he was protecting Guangling Commandery from Cao Cao, who had upied Shouchun and Lujiang .

    Guangling located north of the Yangtze River and north of Jianye Commandery, which served as a foothold toward the central in . As long as the Sun n had this region under their control, they could use this area as a pivot to strike Xiapi, Langye, or Shouchun .

    However, their newly conquered regions had not fully supported the Sun n¡¯s management since the emperor did not give them the authority . As a result, all locals viewed Sun Fang and Sun Ce as rebels .

    Zhou Yu predicted this, so he sent Zhang Hong and Zhang Shao to appease the locals . As for himself and Sun Ce, they would begin their campaign to seize Yuzheng, Chaisang, and Jianan Commandery . Once these regions were under Sun Ce¡¯s control, they would ckmail Tong for an official titleter, which would solve the trust issue .

    After the unification, they would require at least three to five years to develop these territories, just like what Tong had done . While they were at it, Zhou Yu would reevaluate their future action against Tong, depending on the emperor¡¯s stance .

    .

    April 14th, 192 AD .

    Sun Fang collected enough lifespans and bought the cultivation technique for Sun Ce .

    Now, Sun Ce also gained his alternate world¡¯s memory . He recalled the experience of his fight in Jiangdong and his death .

    Sun Ce looked at Zhou Yu with a smile, "You knew about this, didn¡¯t you?"

    Zhou Yu chuckled, "Damn right, I did . Let¡¯s do it again . "

    "We¡¯re in trouble in this world, though . We have stronger foes and that Sun Fang is not supposed to be one of us . "

    "We¡¯ll get rid of him once he serves his purpose . For now, let¡¯s get stronger . I already have two wings, and I¡¯ll get them to four this year . "

    "Say, what about Zhang Tong? Should we surrender to him?"

    "Depends . We have to develop our military strength ASAP, or Cao Cao will kill us before that happens . "

    "Okay . By the way, which year that Qiao Xuan will bring them to us? Do you remember?"

    "Probably in three years or so . They should still be around 14-15 this year . What? The first thing you want after you get your memory back is your wife?"

    "Hahaha! I just miss them . I feel bad, you know . I died without leaving a descendant . "

    Zhou Yu had a wry smile on his face . He missed his wife, Xiao Qiao . Sun Ce also wanted to reunite with his lover, Da Qiao .

    "Pfft, you just want someone to hug at night . "

    "Hahahaha! That¡¯s right!"

    Zhou Yu sighed, "Forget those silly thoughts for now . Focus on our tasks . We have only one and a half till the deadline with Zhang Tong . Do you want to lose your father again?"

    "..."

    Sun Ce¡¯s face turned solemn . He returned to his men, preparing his troops .

    Two dayster, he and Zhou Yu mobilized out of Jianye with 10,000 men . Their next goal was Yuzheng .

    .

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, Cao Cao gathered his forces in Shouchun .

    Cao Cao deemed Guangling Commandery as a threat toward his kingdom . Without any ceremony or political usation, he nned to attack Sun Fang Army right away .

    Since Sun Ce and Sun Fang did not have a position in the court, Cao Cao could im that these people were rebels after he killed them .

    Unfortunately, Cao Cao also suffered what Tong had experienced, the maintenance issues . His taxes and provision were not enough to upkeep his army, subordinates, and his expanded territories .

    The public order under Cao Cao¡¯s control was poor . As he did not have the backup food or gold to recruit more militias or train new garrison forces, Cao Cao had to stop his expansion, adjusting the new regions into his system and developing their domestic finance and agriculture .

    Although peace temporary returned to the southeast area of the country, civilians in the regions migrated to Liu Biao¡¯s territory . The people were not stupid enough to ignore the troop movements between borders . Furthermore, merchants had loud mouths, which spread an exaggerated rumor about Cao Cao and Sun Fang¡¯s armies .

    In the end, more than half of Guangling and Shouchun¡¯s poption moved to other regions .

    Chain-reaction urred afterward . Without poption, Cao Cao and Sun Fang could not get their harvest taxes or household taxes, which sabotaged their finance and supplies . Both forces had to disband some of their men to lower their maintenance cost, which created more unemployed people . Some of the jobless men turned themselves into thieves or banditster, which reduced the public order . As the public order became almost non-existence, more people migrated to other provinces .

    This never-ending circle was the headache that Cao Cao and Sun Fang faced .

    Zhou Yu managed to stop this trend by using the connection with Zhang Hong and Zhang Shao to contact the local nobles and gangsters, but Cao Cao had another idea .

    Cao Cao turned to Tong, so he could borrow his gold and supplies to develop his territories .

    April 15th, 192 AD .

    Cao Cao visited Ye City himself, so he could negotiate the terms with Tong .

    Seeing this warlord again, Tong gave him a mocking smirk, "Need a hand, Mengde?"

    Cao Cao decided to be frank, "Your majesty, I need to borrow your gold and provision . Can you help this servant?"

    All officials in the throne room got mad . Since their master-servant rtionship was just a fa?ade, they had no obligation to help Cao Cao .

    Moreover, Cao Cao was still upying Xu Province, where Tong had bestowed to Sun Jian .

    Andstly, Cao Cao once crowned Diaochan as a false empress . From every officials¡¯ perspective, Cao Cao was an untrustworthy rebel .

    Sun Jian and his subordinates were attending the meeting in the throne room as well when they heard that Cao Cao had sought an audience . They wanted to see what this cunning fox was trying to do .

    "Nothing is free in this world . You may use the word [Borrow], but we know that you won¡¯t be able to return to borrowed funds . What¡¯s the coteral?" Tong snorted .

    Cao Cao paused and pondered . He frowned in silence for two minutes .

    "How much will you give me if I give you Luoyang?"

    All officers murmured . They understood that Cao Cao was selling one of hismanderies .

    "If you¡¯re selling amandery, I want Jibei and Puyang . "

    "Jibei and Puyang are developed territories . I¡¯ll sell it for a million gold coins and 500,000 tons of food . "

    "Isn¡¯t that kind of overprice? From my reports, Jibei and Puyang produce about 100,000 gold of household tax and 100,000 tons of harvest tax a year, not including the maintenance upkeep . I would have to wait ten years before I get back what I have invested . Heck, I can always send a decree to make you give up thosemanderies . Why should I pay you?"

    Tong abused his authority and threatened Cao Cao, which caused thetter to click his tongue in anger .

    Yet, Cao Cao regained hisposure and bargained, "How much can you give me for Jibei?"

    "300,000 gold and 300,000 tons of provision . "

    "..."

    Cao Cao did not want to ept it right away as the price was not fair . Still, he had to since Tong could always ask him to give his cities away for free .

    The only reason that stopped Tong from sending the decree to Cao Cao was the political bacsh . Had he done so, the news would be leaked by spies and his men . Civilians around the country would have assumed that Cao Cao was no longer Tong¡¯s vessel, and a war between the two would being soon .

    This would damage the public order and his development in border regions, such as Pingyuan, Ganling, Beihai, and Henei .

    Before Tong could go against Cao Cao in public, he had to finish developing these regions first . Then, he could snowball against Cao Cao Army without being hindered by his kingdom¡¯s internal affair .

    Cao Cao was aware of Tong¡¯s weaknesses, but he could not exploit it . His forces, too, were not ready to sh against a giant like Tong¡¯s half-a-million-man army .

    To defeat Tong, Cao Cao needed more territories and talented personal .

    Unfortunately, he had to sacrifice one for his growth .

    "Deal . "

    Cao Cao epted the unfavorable terms .

    Tong smiled . He scored anothermandery without shedding a drop of blood, which was ideal for his unification conquest .

    Still, he wanted to exploit Cao Cao right now as he was in his weakest state .

    "I doubt that 300,000 gold and provision is enough to attack Sun Fang . Do you have anything else to sell? I¡¯ll give you a better price . For example, Puyang produces the same value of taxes and harvest, but I¡¯ll give you 400,000 gold and 400,000 tons of food for it . "

    Listened to Tong¡¯s bait, Cao Cao was on the verge of snapping and punch Tong in the face .

    He slowly exhaled, ring at the emperor, "No . But I have something else to sell . Do you buy information?"

    Tong leaned back on his throne, not interested in information trade . Since he had many intelligence agents, he would eventually get all info on thend .

    "Depends . What kind of information?"

    Cao Cao gulped as he took risks telling Tong this information . In reality, Cao Cao wanted to keep it a secret .

    "Imperial Seal . "

    Two words silenced the hall .

    The seal had been lost for years, which worried many Han loyalists . The intelligence agents reported that it was with Yuan Shu, but Tong could not take it since he had to create another war front, which was unfavorable to Tong .

    Had he done so, Cao Cao would have acquired an opening . This cunning fox would have attacked his cities and found more weaknesses that Tong had .

    Not all legions had elites! There were some newbies and trainees among them . Furthermore, not everyone was outfitted with steel gears since cksmiths could not produce many knight armors and weapons within a short period . Some of them were still using bronze or iron gears .

    These were the weakness that Tong concealed from all intelligence agencies . Until they were ready, they had to hide and train . But that was another story .

    Now that Yuan Shu¡¯s forces were destroyed, they were looking for the seal¡¯s whereabouts .

    Tong clicked his tongue . Although the Imperial Seal was insignificant to him, to others like Lu Zhi and Sima Fang, it represented the emperor¡¯s authority .

    As the current emperor of the Han Dynasty, Tong needed that seal .

    "How much?"

    Cao Cao grinned, "I want Jibei back . "

    "In other words, you want 300,000 gold and 300,000 food for the Imperial Seal¡¯s whereabouts?"

    "Your majesty is wise . "

    "..."

    Tong rolled his eyes and shook his head, "No deal . "

    All officers and Cao Cao were surprised, "You don¡¯t want to seal back?"

    "A piece of jade doesn¡¯t worth more than the lives of my soldiers! I won¡¯t shed single blood for that stupid seal!"

    Militarymanders in the throne room shed tears of gratitude while Xun Yu and Lu Zhi nodded in approval . Had Tong and Cao Cao fought for Jibei, there would have been at least 100,000 casualties .

    "You are an unpredictable emperor, your majesty . "

    "I believe I¡¯m the opposite . I value my men over objects . "

    "Very well, I have nothing else to bargain . I¡¯ll concede with selling Jibei . "

    "Too bad . I want Puyang, too . "

    "That¡¯s unfortunate . "

    Cao Cao and Tong smiled at each other, but none of them hide their killing intent . Although Tong¡¯s warrior aura was more superior to Cao Cao¡¯s aura, thetter¡¯s mental strength was strong enough to withstand a four-winged demon¡¯s aura suppression .

    .

    .

    .

    Cao Ang visited Cao Cao after the meeting . They spent a day chatting, telling stories about their lives .

    Cao Cao was happy that Tong did not mistreat his son . Still, a sign of brainwashing could be noticed in Cao Ang¡¯s speech .

    His eldest son praised Ye¡¯s government system, which was free from private armies and the influence of all noble ns . All authority came from the perspective departments, which bnced the power between officials . Civilians got richer as Tong created more jobs for them . Idle farmers had something to do, including women .

    Still, there was some dissatisfaction . Tong did not allow nobles to acquirends for some reason . Te Langpu wanted Tong to sell properties to nobles and civilians, but Tong was against it since it might breed corruption and embezzlement . Until they unified the country, no one should possess anynd .

    Cao Cao took notes and left with caravans the day after, carrying boxes of gold . Wagons with provision also followed after them . However, Cao Ang remained in the city since he was still serving Tong as a hostage .

    Cao Cao texted his men in his n chat to evict from Jibei . Also, they had to take every soldier, gold, and supplies from the region, not leaving anything for Tong .

    Tong also texted Zhao Yun to move from Pingyuan to Jibei with their legion . Also, he sent the new guys, Huang Wan and Hua Xin, to fill the vacant governor roles .

    Hua Xin was transferred to Shangdang while Huang Wan was sent to rece Zhao Yun¡¯s role as a governor in Pingyuan .

    Now, allmanderies under Tong¡¯s rule had a governor .

 Chapter 417 Xiangyangâ€™s Hidden Strategists â€“ Part One

    Chapter 417: 417

    Chapter 417 ¨C Xiangyang''s Hidden Strategists ¨C Part One

    Sun Jian did not miss telling his sons about Tong and Cao Cao''s agreement .

    Sun Ce: "Why the hell is Zhang Tong helping Cao Cao!? They''re supposed to fight each other! Is he a retard? He should have formed a distant ally and attack the neighbors . "

    Zhou Yu: "From the details of the trade, Cao Cao''s loss is huge . Jibei will be Zhang Tong''s foothold to invade the central in . I think this move is logical . "

    Sun Jian: "Cao Cao also tried to trade the Imperial Seal''s info to get Jibei back, but Zhang Tong refused . "

    Zhou Yu: "I think Cao Cao made a mistake for offering Jibei as coteral before he offered the info to salvage the situation . I believe Cao Cao somehow already got the hands on the jade seal, but he didn''t want to lose it . "

    Sun Fang: "Let''s save your analysis for now . We know that Cao Cao is gathering funds, and my Guangling is going to get hit . Can you guys help me?"

    Zhou Yu: "Impossible . We haven''t taken Yuzheng and Chaisang yet . You will have to withstand their attack with your immortal skills . "

    Sun Fang: "For some reason, I think you''re overworking me . I have to gather lifespans to pay for the n leader transfer fee, too, remember? I don''t have enough time to run themandery!"

    Zhou Yu: "Bofu and I will collect the lifespans in your stead . Concentrate on protecting and developing Guangling . "

    Sun Fang: "Fine . "

    Despite the bad news, Zhou Yu disregarded Cao Cao''s movement and focused on conquering Jiangdong .

    It took time to use the 300,000 gold and 300,000 provision that Cao Cao obtained from Ye . Cao Cao''s forces had to conscript troops, train them, and gear them with proper weaponry . Also, his empire''s economy was weak, which required time and investment to strengthen their domestic growth .

    In summary, Cao Cao would not be able to attack Guangling this year . They had a bit more time to digest the southeast province and prepare for the future war .

    Zhou Yu: "By the way, senior Sun, do you have the urate intel about Zhang Tong''s total forces?"

    Sun Jian: "I have, but you don''t wanna know . "

    Zhou Yu: "Try me . "

    Sun Jian: "Over 500,000 . Each year, they produce 30,000 to 50,000 soldiers from Julu and Ye . Then, they send these men to guard othermanderies . "

    Zhou Yu: "That''s lower than what I estimated . I thought he would have conscripted about 100,000 to 200,000 people a year . "

    Sun Jian: "Then, your estimation might be urate . Zhang Tong never conscripts soldiers . All of his new soldiers were volunteers that were willing to pay to get into the military academy . None of them are farmer militias without training . "

    Sun Ce''s heart sunk when he learned about the difference in their military power . Right now, they only had about 20,000 elites and 10,000 conscripted militias .

    Each year, Tong produced at least 30,000 elites, which could overwhelm their army with ease .

    Sun Ce turned toward his sworn brother, "Do we even have a chance?"

    Zhou Yu chuckled, "Number isn''t everything . Zhang Tong may have a million elites when we finish reinforcing our foundation, but he can''t possibly send everybody . At best, he can just send two legions with 200,000 soldiers at us . Even if he has men, I don''t believe that he can produce enough weaponry to support his troops . "

    "But 30,000 can''t beat 200,000!"

    "Who said anything that we will get stuck at 30,000 men forever? By that time, we should have about 100,000 to 150,000 soldiers to defend the Yangtze River . Also ¡­"

    Zhou Yu nced at the west, looking at the direction of Xiangyang .

    "I know a few monsters that can help us . "

    .

    .

    .

    Hongnong City

    The banners on top of Hongnong city walls were not [Yuan] but [Liu] and [Cao] .

    Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei surrendered to Cao Caost year, and they were entrusted with a task, protecting the city from the western Xiongnu .

    As for the former governor, Yuan Yin was captured and killed by Zhang Fei . Although the governor pledged for his life and told them that he never mistreated them, Zhang Fei killed him anyway .

    Liu Bei also witnessed the execution . When he saw Yuan Yin''s head rolling on the ground, he found it ironic .

    Had it been the alternate world in his dream, he would have cried or stopped Zhang Fei from killing the kind governor . However, the experience from Liu Ping''s fragmented memories taught him that these people were preys that should be devoured whenever they had a chance .

    Moreover, he had the experience of himself in another world, who was once the Shu Han emperor .

    Liu Beibined his visions from both worlds together, which strengthened his mentality and the thickness of his face . Now, he would not shy away from killing his benefactors for his own gain .

    When Guan Yu returned and found out that the kind Yuan Yin was dead, he grimaced, "Is this even necessary? We could have spared him and turn him into our ally . "

    Liu Bei snorted, "He''s a rtive to the traitor Yuan . For the sake of our Han Dynasty, all nine generations of the Yuan has to be killed . No exception!"

    "He was our benefactor! He''s also an honest governor! Just because he''s a rtive of a bad guy, why did you have to kill him!?"

    Guan Yu did not like this version of Liu Bei . Although his loyalty toward his sworn brother did not change, he did not approve of Liu Bei''s surviving method .

    "I did what I could to allow us to fight again . You should have dreamed about the alternate world without the immortals, right? We were so closed to unify the country, but we messed up because of the Sun n . "

    Liu Bei had not obtained any immortal cultivation manual yet, as Zhang Fei and Guan Yu did not know how they could transfer their lifespans to Liu Bei or contact Lilim . However, Liu Bei had fragments of Liu Ping''s soul, which enabled him to recall the other timeline''s memories .

    "I do, but those times are different! We don''t have to be that ruthless to survive this period . Our real enemy should be the Xiongnu right now since they are rampaging the western regions . We don''t have to kill any more Han people!"

    "Wrong . Because it''s of our country''s fragile foundation, we have to kill these hypocrites first before we can face the Xiongnu . Unless we are unified under one banner, we won''t stand a chance . "

    "We''re weakening them . We''re doing the opposite!"

    "No, we''re cleaning the country from the scums . "

    "¡­"

    Guan Yu saddened . He did not like his brother''s new attitude toward people .

    "You''ve changed, Xuande . "

    "I''m always me . "

    Liu Bei nced toward the south, where Xiangyang located .

    ''My letter should have reached Kongming . Do I need to visit him three times again?''

    .

    .

    .

    Xiangyang''s outskirt, a bamboo courtyard on a mountain

    As usual, Sima Hui taught the kids about the worldly affair, and he added the stories of Sun Fang and Sun Ce, who were expanding their forces in Jiangdong .

    Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, and Pang Tong were the regr listeners, who never missed the stories . Every time that Sima Hui finished telling them about the world news, they always roleyed, ying a game that they were warlords .

    Sima Hui finished his stories, "Now that the Xiongnu took Yi Province . What do you think about Liu Biao? Can he handle to invasion from the west?"

    Pang Tong grimaced, "They have no chance! From what we know, Chanyu Khan is a mad man . He disregards his economy and his internal management . As long as Liu Biao can stop them in Yiling and Fangling County, the Xiongnu''s empire will copse from the inside . "

    Xu Shu nodded, "True . But let''s not forget that Chanyu Khan is rumored to be an immortal . Even Zhang Tong failed to kill him in the Battle at Ho Gate . If he leads his men and concentrates on one front instead of invading Xiangyang and Jiangling at the same time, I don''t think Liu Biao canst a year . "

    Pang Tong''s mouth curved upward, "You''re pessimistic, Yuanzi . War can''t be won by only one man . I don''t think this Chanyu Khan is that invincible on a battlefield . His forces will copse from the low morale and theck of supplies!"

    .

    In history, Xu Shu was the one who rmended Zhuge Liang to Liu Bei . He apanied Liu Bei in thete 200s when thetter sought shelter with Liu Biao in Xinye . As Xu Shu traveled thend and he was a schr with vast knowledge, Liu Bei recruited him as his advisor .

    After Liu Biao passed away, Liu Cong, the sessor of Liu Biao, surrendered to Cao Cao . Liu Bei had to flee from Xinye toward Xiangyang along with all of his followers . Xu Shu was one of them .

    Unfortunately, Cao Cao sent a battalion to chase after Liu Bei and captured Xu Shu''s mother . As a filial son, Xu Shu chose his mother over Liu Bei . He bid Liu Bei farewell and joined forces with Cao Cao .

    Under Cao Cao''s banners, Xu Shu did not have significant roles . He became a clerk, which served as a minor official .

    In the 14th-century novel version, at the Battle of Changban, Xu Shu devised a strategy, using Zhao Yun to route Cao Ren Army . When Cao Cao learned about Liu Bei''s strategist, he used Xu Shu''s mother as a hostage to draw the strategist to his side .

    The news reached Xu Shu that his mother was sick . Xu Shu regretted and believed that it was his fault that he left his mother behind, and he could not use his talent to the fullest if he stayed with Liu Bei . Xu Shu told Liu Bei that he had to care for his mother and left his forces .

    When Xu Shu joined Cao Cao and found that his mother was not sick, hemented in his foolishness . Afterward, he stopped ying any role in Cao Cao''s forces, refusing to use his talents .

    .

    This world, Xu Shu was still a wandering schr, who had befriended the two legendary teens, the fledgling phoenix and the hidden dragon, Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang .

    As Xu Shu was once a swordsman before he became a schr, he had seen many cruel things in this world, which corrupted his thought . Every time that he reviewed a strategy or a tactic, he always thought about the worse-case-scenario first .

    In other words, Xu Shu had Murphy''s Law as his core principle, which resulted in pessimistic strategies and opinions .

    "Because Chanyu Khan is a madman, he won''t wage wars using standard tactics . Also, in the past records, he always overwhelmed his enemies with his elites . "

    "Overwhelm? If I remember correctly, Liu Yan killed the Xiongnu men more than they killed his . Yet, Liu Yan lost . His elites are elites, but they are mobs! They can''t possibly train 200,000 elites in less than a year, right?"

    "Let''s recount . Khan lost about 100,000 to 200,000 men in the Battle of Ho Gate and Luoyang . Then, he lost another 200,000 in the Battle of Chengdu against Yan Yan, Zhang Ren, and Liu Yan . Now, the merchants from Yi Province are telling us that they still have at least 300,000 elites . Do you think this is normal?"

    Pang Tong frowned, "Wait, they have that many soldiers? I thought Zhang Tong has the most soldiers among all lords . "

    "Don''t you get it? The Xiongnu Army is something that defies all logic . Had Zhang Tong or Cao Cao been their leader, they would have scattered these 700,000 men into several legions and battalions . Then, they would have attacked several locations at once . Instead, Khan gathered his men into arge army and attack, which is also odd in my point of view . Judging from Khan''s characteristic, if he really has that 700,000 men from the beginning, he should have used everyone at the Battle of Ho Gate . "

    "Maybe he has a bit of conservative trait? Like, he thought that 200,000 men should be enough to attack the central in?"

    "No . If Khan had that army from the very beginning, Zhang Tong, Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao wouldn''t have yed that mind game and broke the alliance midway . Their intelligence agencies are more advanced than us, so they should know about the Xiongnu''s overall strength . If they really have almost a million men, I don''t think those overlords would have fought each other prematurely . "

    "¡­"

    Pang Tong pondered . Everything that Xu Shu said made sense, but theycked a few pieces of the puzzle . He turned toward the other friend, who had yet to speak .

    "What do you think, Kongming?"

 Chapter 418 Xiangyangâ€™s Hidden Strategists â€“ Part Two

    Chapter 418 - Xiangyang¡¯s Hidden Strategists - Part Two

    Zhuge Liang smiled at his friends, "Chanyu Khan has fewer troops than you thought. He didn¡¯t have 700,000 men from the very beginning. Everything was an illusion that Khan created."

    "How did you know?"

    "Well, Yuanzhi just said it himself. His movement is weird, right?"

    "Right."

    "Then, your instinct is correct. Khan didn¡¯t have that 700,000 men when the Battle of Ho Gate took ce."

    "Then, how did he get so many troops?"

    "Who knows? Maybe it¡¯s one of his immortal magic, perhaps?"

    "Geez! Do you know anything at all!?" Pang Tong and Xu Shu got annoyed since Zhuge Liang hardly contributed to the analysis.

    Zhuge Liang snickered, "Well, let¡¯s say Khan has a magic that can create troops. Will this theory fit with the movements?"

    "But they also needed food and weaponry. Khan didn¡¯t focus on his domestic affair, so he should have all of those."

    "Then, he has that magic that can create food and weapons, too."

    "That¡¯s absurd! No human can be that omnipotent! Is he a god or something!?"

    Zhuge Liang shrugged, "Eh, isn¡¯t he an immortal? He¡¯s not a human, right?"

    "..."

    "..."

    Xu Shu and Pang Tong could not retort. They fell into silence as they were reevaluating the Xiongnu invasion and their movements again.

    Seeing their troubled faces, Zhuge Liang held hisughter. He took out three pieces of clothes with letters on it and a golden scroll.

    "A confession. Actually, one of the warlords told me about this info. Sorry about that!"

    "Kongming, you cheating bastard!"

    "Ahahaha! I couldn¡¯t help it. I want to tease you."

    Pang Tong and Xu Shu shifted their attention to the cloth letters and the scroll, "Which one is the intel?"

    "Only in the scroll."

    "What about the papers? What are those for?"

    Zhuge Liang took one of the papers and patted it, "This one is from Cao Cao. It¡¯s an invitation letter, telling me to serve him."

    Xu Shu and Pang Tong were shocked.

    "WHAT!? THEY SCOUTED YOU!?"

    "Don¡¯t get shocked yet. The second letter is from Zhou Yu, the head strategist of the Sun n. And the third one is from Liu Bei, a governor of Hongnong."

    "Wow, you¡¯re popr! Are they all invitation letters?"

    "Yup. Liu Bei and Sun Fang want all of us three, but Cao Cao only wants me. Odd, right?"

    "Hell, you getting these three letters is the odd one! Why didn¡¯t they send it to senior Sima Hui or the others?"

    While Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang were focusing on the three letters, Xu Shu inspected the golden scroll.

    "Don¡¯t tell me that this is from the emperor?"

    Zhuge Liang made a post by pointing his index fingers at Xu Shu while pointing his thumbs upward.

    "That¡¯s right! It¡¯s from Zhang Tong."

    "WTF!?"

    Xu Shu and Pang Tong could not hide their envy anymore. They stared at Zhuge Liang with burning eyes.

    "Tell us! Is he inviting you, too!?"

    Zhuge Liang waved his hand, "Nah, it¡¯s a warning."

    "A warning?"

    "He tells me that I have three choices. One, serve him. Two, don¡¯t participate in this civil war or join anyone. And three, join someone other than himself."

    "..."

    Xu Shu and Pang Tong could notprehend the purpose of Tong¡¯s messages.

    Zhuge Liang continued, "Most of Zhang Tong¡¯s messages are updated information about every warlord¡¯s military strength, including his forces and Khan¡¯s forces. Zhang Tong also added immortal specialist abilities in the info, such as [Create Food], [Lifespans], [Private World], and [Inventory], which is groundbreaking."

    The two could not stay calm anymore after they heard Zhuge Liang¡¯s exnation. They took the scroll to read it.

    As Zhuge Liang stated, Tong told them about his system power, his economic strength, and weaknesses. It shocked them that Tong was willing to reveal these secrets to the outsiders.

    "What is he thinking?"

    Xu Shu sighed, "I think Zhang Tong is trying to win Kongming¡¯s favor by being honest."

    Pang Tong frowned, "Really? I think it¡¯s a threat. What do you think, Kongming?"

    "You¡¯re both wrong. He¡¯s probing us and telling us not to get involved in their fight."

    "Are you sure?"

    Zhuge Liang sighed, "Think about it. Zhang Tong is the current emperor, and he can always force me to serve him with just a simple mandate. Yet, he didn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t try to coax me to serve him with beautiful words either, like the other three letters."

    The three letters had beautiful handwriting, which they praised Zhuge Liang for being talented. All of them had the same purpose, winning his favor.

    However, Tong¡¯s letter did not care about praising Zhuge Liang or the other two. Instead, it was a general information report.

    Moreover, thetter part of the scroll contained a hidden challenge.

    "Look at the end of the scroll."

    "Huh?"

    The two looked at it.

    Tong left a message for everyone.

    [I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re going to work for anyone. But know this, I can take this country by force at any time, with or without your help.]

    [If you picked my first choice, then I¡¯ll put you to a job where it suits your talent.]

    [If you picked the second choice, I¡¯ll respect it and won¡¯t bother with your peaceful life again.]

    [If you picked thest option, I hope we can have a good fight in the future battlefields. Good luck.]

    Pang Tong was on the verge of anger, "This is a fucking challenge! Who does he think he is!? With or without our talent!? Goddamn, he¡¯s egotistic!"

    Xu Shu had a wry smile on his face, "He¡¯s telling us that he has enough strategists that we won¡¯t make a difference had we joined them."

    Zhuge Liang did not say anything. He enjoyed observing his peers in silence.

    Pang Tong noticed that and red at him, "What choice will you pick?"

    "I wonder."

    "Let me change the question. Which lord will you serve?"

    "I wonder."

    "You¡¯d better not fucking join Zhang Tong! I don¡¯t like his guts. He¡¯s disrespectful, you know? We are the future brains of their army, but he treats us as disposable objects? No, thank you! I¡¯ll pick someone that can be Zhang Tong¡¯s enemy. I want to beat his forces, so I can shove this intimidation letter down his ass."

    Listened to Pang Tong, Zhuge Liang had a wry smile on his face.

    ¡¯You¡¯re the egotistic one, Shiyuan. Don¡¯t you see the hidden messages? Didn¡¯t I tell you that he¡¯s probing us? He¡¯s testing our temper with provoking messages, and you¡¯ve failed his test. In battles, we can¡¯t be easily provoked with a few disrespectful words.¡¯

    Zhuge Liang turned to Xu Shu, who was rereading all letters in solemn.

    ¡¯He¡¯s calm, so he should be able to notice it.¡¯

    As Zhuge Liang had predicted, Xu Shu noticed Tong¡¯s irregr wordings. The pattern of the beginning was threatening, telling them outright that they had only three choices to pick. Yet, the middle section filled with information, which written in a formal tone. In the end, Tong used short messages to provoke them again, but it was softer than the heading.

    Moreover, Tong¡¯s tone was respectful in thest message.

    [If you picked thest option, I hope we can have a good fight in the future battlefields. Good luck.]

    It was a message contained his sportsmanship, praying for the opponent.

    "Zhang Tong is not an egotistic person, Shiyuan. You¡¯ve mistaken," Xu Shu looked at his angry friend.

    "He¡¯s an asshole to me. Your thought won¡¯t change my opinion!"

    "You¡¯re judging people by his messages? This is a tactical letter, you know? He wants to see our reaction to this information."

    "Then, he¡¯s an asshole for testing us! If he¡¯s a good emperor, why didn¡¯t hee and invite us himself!? At least, he should have given us a noble title, gold, and houses that we deserve!"

    "..."

    Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu sighed. Sometimes, having too much knowledge could corrupt their attitude.

    At this moment, Pang Degong, Pang Tong¡¯s uncle, visited their courtyard to pick up his nephew. When he heard the disrespectful words from his rtive, he hammered his fist on top of Pang Tong¡¯s head.

    "Who are you calling an asshole!? You¡¯d better be grateful that his majesty is fighting against Xiongnu at Liang Province right now. Or else, the Xiongnu would have enough supplies from the west, and we would have been in trouble! Come with me, I¡¯ll discipline you about people¡¯s judging and reading human characters!"

    Pang Tong screamed as he was dragged by his cor.

    Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu snickered at the demise of his friend.

    "Damn you, Kongming, Yuanzhi! I know that you¡¯reughing!"

    "Ahahaha!"

    "Have fun, Shiyuan!"

    .

    When Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu were left alone, the former turned to thetter, "Who do you want to serve if we have to serve someone?"

    Xu Shu had a bitter smile, "Any force that is willing to fight the Xiongnu."

    "Zhang Tong, then?"

    "Zhang Tong has enough talented people. I won¡¯t be able to do much under his rules."

    "Are you sure? He¡¯s the only force that is fighting against the Xiongnu right now."

    "It will change once Khan invades the Jing Province. They will understand the urgency, and I can use my talent."

    "I see ..."

    "What about you? Are you joining anyone?"

    "I¡¯m not ready to serve anyone. There are still too many things to learn. I haven¡¯t memorized the weather annuls yet."

    "Memorizing weather conditions can¡¯t bring changes to the battlefields."

    "Who knows? Maybe one day, I¡¯ll be able to predict a wind direction and calcte a fire tactic in the future."

    "Right. I wonder if you can burn anyone when Zhang Tong and Cao Cao are using magic weapons."

    .

    Meanwhile, a figure infiltrated Xiangyang City.

    It was Pu Jing, whom Cao Cao had sent to kill Zhuge Liang and his friends.

    Pu Jing¡¯s eyes glowed while his two angel wings behind his back fluttered.

    ¡¯I hope you ept our invitation, Kongming. Or else, I have to stain my hands again.¡¯

    The former KGB agent decided to put this legendary strategist on his cklist.

    .

    Cao Cao was not the only one who wanted Zhuge Liang dead. Zhou Yu also sent an assassin to Xiangyang.

    Gan Ning, a water bandit, hired by Zhou Yu, came here with the same mission as Pu Jing.

    This year, Gan Ning had turned 18. He had yet to give up piging and joining Liu Biao in history. As Zhou Yu obtained a reference from his dream, he pulled many talented officers to his sides, such as Lu Meng, Zhou Tai, Ling Cao, and many others.

    The water bandit was excited as he was recognized by a noble n.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t have to continue living as a pirate anymore. Once this job is done, I¡¯ll probably get promoted by the Sun n. Hahaha, sweet!¡¯

    .

    Both Cao Cao and Zhou Yu didn¡¯t know that their actions would provoke the sleeping dragon.

 Chapter 419 Their Decision â€“ Part One

    Chapter 419 - Their Decision - Part One

    At Xiangyang city hall, a eunuch had visited Liu Biao to negotiate peace.

    "Please tell his majesty that we are grateful for his kindness. We shall do our best to support his cause against the Xiongnu," Liu Biao stood and bowed to the eunuch.

    "I shall ry the message. His majesty would be delighted with your support."

    Tong had sent Wei You here to deliver a decree, giving a Liu Biao the title, [Marquis of Chu], which equaled the rank of Cao Cao. He also sent second-handed bronze armors and weapons to Liu Biao to support him in the future war against the Xiongnu.

    In exchange for the title, Tong demanded Liu Biao¡¯s allegiance that he had to lower the banners of [Liu] and raise Tong¡¯s gs on their wall, signifying that they were under Tong¡¯s government. Also, they would concede their government positions to Tong¡¯s men in the future. However, Liu Biao and his sessors got to keep Xiangyang and its properties. Also, Tong would not interfere with their affair.

    In conclusion, Tong wanted Liu Biao to surrender all of his territories whenever their borders connected.

    Liu Biao was already 50 this year, and he did not think that his life wouldst very long. Since he wanted his sons to live without worries and hand-free from wars, Liu Biao had no problem with these terms.

    He agreed!

    The officers celebrated that their lord got promoted, and they were on good terms with the emperor. With this connection, their Jing Province would prosper once the cold war between them and the Xiongnu concluded.

    Liu Biao waved his hand, "Please wait, Lao Gonggong. Can you ask his majesty to send reinforcement to my province? Our intel said that Chanyu Khan is preparing to attack my province next."

    Wei You nodded, "Sure. Please make a written request, so I can use it as proof that you require urgent support. With a written proof, I can push this request to his majesty faster."

    "Of course! I¡¯ll make one right away!"

    .

    After Wei You had finished his mission, he returned to his guest house, regrouping with his bodyguards.

    This eunuch traveled here along with a bald bodyguard, Zhou Cang.

    Initially, Zhou Cang was assigned to be a vicemander, assisting Zhang Liao with his Monster Legion in Henei. However, Wei You¡¯s job required absolute protection, so Tong sent Zhou Cang with Wei You. Once this job was over, Zhou Cang would return to the Monster Legion.

    After Zhou Cang got his other world¡¯s memory and the cultivation technique, he trained harder, and he sessfully awakened one virtue as a result. One of his remaining seven attributes was already at 90%, so he could gamble to get his second wing at any time.

    Furthermore, Tong published his brain overclocking technique in the n chat for all generals to train. Zhou Cang could also use it, but he was not at the level that he could use the Blood Maniption Technique, which controlled blood cells and elerate the body¡¯s recovery rate.

    Still, Zhou Cang, at the moment, was much stronger than the other timeline.

    "Let¡¯s go visit the boys that his majesty referred."

    Wei You took Zhou Cang and a squad of 100 men to visit Zhuge Liang at his bamboo hut, hoping to see what kind of person that Tong spoke highly.

    .

    Wei You and his bodyguards arrived at Zhuge Liang¡¯s courtyard unhindered. As they were official envoys from Ye, everyone in the mountain vige guided these people to the sleeping dragon¡¯s house.

    Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Xu Shu, and Sima Hui had toe out and wee them.

    "Lao Gonggong, please forgive us that we have not prepared to wee you. We didn¡¯t know that you woulde without notice."

    Wei You smiled, "Rx. We¡¯vee without an appointment. We¡¯re the rude one."

    "O-Okay."

    All of them entered the courtyard. The bodyguards did not pose any threat to the locals. Instead, they distributed their prepared souvenirs from their territories.

    Zhou Cang and his subordinates gave away tea leaves, bags of spice, and blocks of soap to the onlooking schrs and housewives.

    The locals cheered and took them since nobody hated free stuff.

    Because of this action, Zhuge Liang¡¯s neighbors liked these men. They remembered their faces that these soldiers were friendly guys.

    The strategists in the courtyard noticed Zhou Cang¡¯s action as well. Each of them had a different evaluation.

    Pang Tong was still affected by his bias point of view. He saw these actions as bribery, and he disapproved of it.

    Xu Shu thought it was a standard etiquette that visitors should bring gifts to the host. As long as these people were harmless, he did not care.

    Sima Hui liked what he saw. As all souvenirs suited the local people and spice was a rare product, he epted Wei You and Zhou Cang¡¯s sincerity.

    The majority of vigers on this mountain were retired schrs, women, and aspiring young schrs. As such, none of them would mind tea, soap, and spice. Had they brought something that signified bribery, such as wine, gold, or treasure, Sima Hui would have chased them away.

    As for thest one, Zhuge Liang had a simr thought with Xu Shu and Sima Hui. However, he did not like Wei You, who intruded into his privacy.

    When Wei You and the four schrs were alone, the eunuch stated his business.

    "I¡¯m here to listen to your reply to his majesty¡¯s invitation. Would you like to serve our emperor? Of course, this offer extends to seniors and everyone in this vige. You can bring your family to Ye with you, and we will prepare a suitable courtyard for everyone."

    Sima Hui¡¯s eyes gleamed. He heard that Ye City had many academies, which interested him. As a senior schr with positive thinking as his motto, attending academies in Ye would not be a bad idea.

    Xu Shu sighed while Pang Tong clicked his tongue. Both of them were not interested.

    Xu Shu cupped his fist and bowed to Wei You, "I wish to postpone my decision. I¡¯m still too inexperienced in the worldly affair, and I wish to continue being a ronin schr for a while."

    Pang Tong snorted, "Me, too."

    Sima Hui also bowed to Wei You, "I would like to visit Ye City and attend one of your academies. Although I don¡¯t know if I can be useful to his majesty, will you ept this old bone?"

    Wei Youughed, "Of course. His majesty said that he will wee everyone regardless of gender and age!"

    "Good! Very well, I¡¯ll be in your care."

    Wei You turned to Zhuge Liang, "What about you, young hero?"

    Zhuge Liang closed his eyes as he was in deep thought.

    Five minutester, when he opened his eyes, a question came out of his mouth, "What is his majesty¡¯s goal?"

    Sima Hui and Wei You¡¯s face changed. They understood that this question contained a deeper meaning behind it since Zhuge Liang took so much time thinking.

    As Tong¡¯s eunuch elder, Wei You had a right to answer this question in Tong¡¯s stead, but he could not possibly know the answer. After all, a personal goal could always change depending on time, location, character, and asion. Therefore, had Wei You answered this, he would have stepped across his boundary.

    At the same time, had he been unable to answer, Tong and Wei You could have been deemed as ipetent.

    Still, Wei You was not without fangs. Tong had bought him a cultivation manual, and he had the knowledge of the other timeline. With two worlds of experience, Wei You was not afraid to y this little game.

    "His majesty passed this year policy bill that we are focusing on domestic affairs. Also, we¡¯ve sent two legions to Liang Province to cut off the Xiongnu¡¯s supply lines."

    Wei You chose to craft his conversation, limiting information. Although he dodged the question, it was good enough to distract the young boy.

    Zhuge Liang grinned, "I see. Then, what is his viewpoint about the infighting between our countrymen?"

    Wei You was stillughing, "His majesty doesn¡¯t fight against his countrymen, only rebels."

    "You dodged my question again. I¡¯m referring to the civil war between all warlords at the moment."

    "Presently, there is no such thing as a civil war, only small skirmishes between rebels and his majesty¡¯s allies."

    "Sun Fang and Sun Ce are expanding their forces in Jiangdong while Cao Cao is targeting the Sun n. Isn¡¯t this a civil war?"

    "Cao Cao is his majesty¡¯s vessel forces, and the Sun n is expanding without our permission. Cao Cao¡¯s forces are trying to suppress the rebels. Therefore, no civil war happens."

    "You¡¯re being delusional. You and I know that Cao Cao and the Sun n are not Zhang Tong¡¯s vessels. They disregarded his authority and fought each other to expand their territories. If I can¡¯t call it a civil war, what do you call it? Hell, fighting a rebel army is already a civil war!"

    Zhuge Liang¡¯s tone became rude, which irked Wei You. Pang Tong evenughed out loud to mock the eunuch, but Sima Hui and Xu Shu remained silence.

    Wei You stopped continuing this debate. Since Zhuge Liang revealed his stance, the answer to Tong¡¯s invitation was clear. Furthermore, he could not answer that question since it was beyond his capability.

    With a sad smile, Wei You bid farewell, "I hope we don¡¯t have to fight in a battlefield. I wish you luck."

    Zhuge Liang did not expect that Wei You would abruptly leave after he had cornered him. He felt guilty.

    "Wait, please answer my questions first!"

    "I¡¯ve failed your test, so I shall excuse myself."

    "I didn¡¯t test you. I just want to know!"

    "A servant like myself can¡¯t possibly represent his majesty¡¯s vision and insight. If you seek the answer, visit us in Ye. Just tell the clerks that you know a eunuch named Wei You, they will allow you to see his majesty."

    "You are too tricky. I just want an honest answer. Don¡¯t trick me into joining his majesty."

    "Then, the answer is ... I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not the emperor."

    "..."

    Both Wei You and Zhuge Liang were disappointed as they parted.

    Meanwhile, Pang Tong kept mocking Wei You after thetter and his bodyguards had left.

    "They¡¯re stupid, Kongming. Sooner orter, they will be devoured by Cao Cao. That emperor is too weak!"

    Xu Shu and Zhuge Liang sighed, giving up on Pang Tong.

    Both of them could retort against Pang Tong all day, and they were confident that Pang Tong would shut his mouth when it was over. However, they decided to not wasting their time against a bias opponent.

    "Shiyuan, if you keep this biased attitude, it will lead to your demise."

    "Kongming is right, Shiyuan. You have a tunnel vision."

    "Ha! How about I prove you wrong. I¡¯ll join Liu Bei, and I¡¯ll defeat Zhang Tong with my brain! Wanna make a bet?"

    Xu Shu got annoyed by the provocation, "This is why I¡¯m telling you that you have a tunnel vision. Look at the big picture! We have to deal with the Xiongnu first, not supporting an unknown force."

    Pang Tong snorted, "You¡¯re the shortsighted one! Look at the map! Liu Bei¡¯s territory connects to the Xiongnu¡¯s borders. His forces will be the first one that gets hit if Khan wanted Luoyang. I¡¯m joining him to fight the Xiongnu, as well as proving my points."

    "What point?"

    "Without the right strategists and ploys, how can we fight against the Xiongnu? I¡¯ll make Liu Bei¡¯s forces stronger, and Zhang Tong will be crying, begging Liu Bei for his help when I finished developing their forces."

    "..."

    Zhuge Liang also had enough of this mess. Although he was mad, the sleeping dragon calmly asked his friend.

    "Why do you pick the Liu Bei?"

    Pang Tongughed, "Among all choices, they are the righteous one! Zhang Tong is a hypocrite idiot, while the Sun n are downright rebels. Also, Cao Cao is a power-hungry son of a bitch. On the other hand, Liu Bei nevermitted any crime! He never massacred innocent civilians like Zhang Tong. He never tried to create a false empress like Cao Cao, and he never tried to be a warlord at all! Look at Liu Bei¡¯s past records. He¡¯s clean, and merchants are calling him the Virtuous Liu! Did you know that Liu Bei is a distant rtive of the royal blood? I think he should sess the throne rather than Zhang Tong."

    "..."

    Everyone stopped arguing or trying to continue their conversation with Pang Tong.

    He was beyond help.

    .

    Pang Tong left the vige that day, traveling east toward Hongnong.

    His uncle, Pang Degong, was furious when he learned that the impulsive 14-year-old boy got so overconfident to the point that he thought he could make a difference with his brain alone.

    Still, Pang Degong did not stop this young boy. Instead, he moved his family to Hongnong as well, nning to support this child in the future. Pang Degong knew that his nephew would experience the cruelty of the real world soon, so he had to be there to pick him home.

 Chapter 420 Their Decision â€“ Part Two

    Chapter 420 - Their Decision - Part Two

    Pang Tong¡¯s decision triggered the desire of other vigers in Zhuge Liang¡¯s vige as well.

    Xu Shu worried about his friend, so he epted Liu Bei¡¯s invitation. He wanted to witness if this na?ve junior could turn an unknown underdog into a dragon.

    The majority of vigers had a good impression on Zhou Cang and Wei You. Most of them decided to follow them to Ye.

    The only ones that stayed were elders and their ves, who refused to part their hometown.

    Sima Hui and his family had not decided yet, but everyone in his family voted that Tong¡¯s side was the right choice.

    In the end, Sima Hui put more weight in Tong¡¯s academies and his title as the emperor. They epted Wei You¡¯s goodwill and followed them.

    Zhuge Liang could not decide since he understood that he was too young to participate in the grand war of hegemony. Thus, he stayed.

    .

    A weekter

    Pu Jing gathered information from Xiangyang, and he found Zhuge Liang¡¯s whereabouts. Without wasting his time, Pu Jing followed Zhuge Liang¡¯s trace to the mountain of Xiangyang outskirts.

    Many schrs settled down on this mountain, forming a small vige here. The courtyard that this young strategist resided in was in the middle of the bamboo forest.

    Pu Jing ran into many Zhuge Liang¡¯s acquaintances, which made it easier for him to find the target¡¯s resident.

    "Is this the one?" Pu Jing asked an elder.

    "Yes. Sir, are you from Ye?"

    Pu Jing got curious, "Why do you think that I¡¯m from Ye?"

    "Many people from Ye visited this ce a few days ago. Are you one of them, too?"

    "..."

    Pu Jing paused. His face was expressionless, but his mind was stirred.

    ¡¯Zhang Tong sent his men here, too!? I have to hurry.¡¯

    Fear that Tong would snatch all young strategists to his kingdom before Cao Cao, Pu Jing rushed into Zhuge Liang¡¯s courtyard.

    Betraying Pu Jing¡¯s expectation, Zhuge Liang was still there with many elders, ying weiqi (Go) together.

    Many old men frowned as they did not approve of Pu Jing, who interrupted their game.

    "Who are you? What are you doing here in our courtyard!?"

    Pu Jing¡¯s still had indifferent expression, "I¡¯m here to escort Zhuge Liang and all schrs in this resident to Xuchang. Pleasee with me and do not resist. Be warned that this is not a request. It¡¯s an order."

    "Xuchang? Not Ye City?"

    "Yes. Xuchang."

    "So, you¡¯re Cao Cao¡¯s man."

    "... You can say that."

    "We refuse."

    "Didn¡¯t I tell you that it¡¯s an order?"

    "We have no obligation to follow you there."

    "Very well," Pu Jing summoned his souls. He did not bother speaking with a clich¨¦ line, such as [All of you can die here]. Instead, heunched a preemptive strike at an elder to demonstrate his seriousness.

    The soul punched the elder through his chest, which killed him.

    Zhuge Liang and the others were horrified. This was their first time seeing an immortal at work.

    "I repeat. Come with me. That¡¯s an order."

    "..."

    No matter how smart Zhuge Liang was, he could not defy the mysterious power of Pu Jing. Furthermore, Pu Jing¡¯s intimidation aura told the sleeping dragon that the assant was a veteran fighter.

    Without a choice, Zhuge Liangplied, "Leave them alone. I¡¯ll go with you."

    "Good. First, ept the invitation."

    Pu Jing chose to bind Zhuge Liang with his n invitation.

    <[yes] no]="">>

    Zhuge Liang saw the system messages for the first time. He looked at transparent screens, astonished.

    "Wow."

    "Press [Yes], now!"

    Pu Jing did not like risk factors. He knew that Zhuge Liang could always betray him and Cao Cao at any time once they arrived in Xuchang. To stop this strategist from joining anyone, Pu Jing forced Zhuge Liang to join his n first.

    Afterward, they could slowly persuade this young genius to work with them.

    Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang hesitated. His instinct cried that as soon as he pressed it, his future would be grim.

    He prayed in his mind, ¡¯Is this the end of my future? Being enved by Cao Cao of all people?¡¯

    The face of Wei You and Zhou Cang appeared in Zhuge Liang¡¯s mind. He regretted that he did not ept their invitation a week ago.

    ¡¯No matter how smart or how skillful ones are, someone will best them one way or another. Fate is cruel.¡¯

    Zhuge Liang gained enlightenment as he shed a tear of regret.

    He raised his finger, pointing at the [Yes] button.

    At that moment,

    *WHOOSH*

    An arrow flew to the direction of Pu Jing¡¯s head at high speed.

    Someone ambushed the premiere!

    Pu Jing¡¯s second soul caught the arrow. The two souls turned toward the direction of the shooter.

    A muscr man, revealing his bare chest, red at Pu Jing from a distance. His left hand held a longbow, while his right hand pulled another bolt from his quiver.

    He had brown messy long hair and tanned skin. Aside from his naked upper body, he wore a belt with bells hanging from it. The shorts he wore were also made from old clothes which looked like a used rag.

    This man was the pirate that Zhou Yu scouted, Gan Ning.

    The pirate disregarded the souls and fired another arrow. As soon as the bolt was released, Gan Ning backpedaled, running away from Pu Jing.

    The former premier caught the arrow again.

    One of his souls pursued Gan Ning while the other remained by his real body.

    "HELP! SOMEBODY!!"

    The elders in the courtyard screamed. Their voice echoed across the mountain.

    Pu Jing turned around and sent his first soul to kill the elders.

    The massacred ended with all vige elders, who had chosen to remain in this vige,y dead in Zhuge Liang¡¯s courtyard.

    "Press the [Yes] button, or you¡¯re next."

    Witnessed the massacre, Zhuge Liang pulled his hand away from the screen.

    He red at Pu Jing, "Why did you have to kill them? They¡¯re harmless people."

    "They got on the way."

    "That¡¯s it?"

    "I hate variable."

    Pu Jing soul grabbed Zhuge Liang¡¯s neck, "Press it, or die here."

    Zhuge Liang spat at Pu Jing¡¯s face, "Kill me. I won¡¯t work for you, ever!"

    "..."

    Pu Jing snorted. He exerted his forces,manding the soul to choke Zhuge Liang.

    *SWUA*

    The soul of Pu Jing suddenly had a wound on his chest. His real body also suffered from the same injury.

    ¡¯What!?¡¯

    Pu Jing¡¯s conscience focused on the second soul, [Patience], which was pursuing Gan Ning. Because of the distraction by Zhuge Liang, Pu Jing did not pay attention to the automatic-moving soul.

    Before [Patience], a bald man cut him with a long sword.

    It was Zhou Cang, who had reinforced his body and weapon with his wing power.

    "As his majesty said, only immortals can kill immortals and ghosts. I don¡¯t know who you are, but you came to the wrong house, fool!"

    Using what he had learned from Tong and Medusa, Zhou Cang activated his overclock mode and chased after the injured soul. Although he was not aware that this person was Pu Jing, he wanted to kill it since it was a threat.

    Pu Jing unsummoned the soul to save his life.

    Meanwhile, Gan Ning was saved by Zhou Cang when he was running away from the ghost. He looked at Zhou Cang and Pu Jing with a horrified expression.

    ¡¯What the hell are these people!? Well, lucky me.¡¯

    Gan Ning ran back toward Zhuge Liang¡¯s courtyard as he had unfinished business.

    ¡¯I need that boy dead.¡¯

    .

    .

    Sima Hui looked at the disappearing Zhou Cang and Gan Ning in horror.

    He and Zhou Cang returned here because he forgot a treasure trove that he buried behind his courtyard. Because they were heavy, Sima Hui asked Wei You to give him a hand.

    Wei You sent Zhou Cang with Sima Hui as he was the strongest among all bodyguards.

    However, when they arrived at the vige, they saw Gan Ning running away from a ghost. Then, the desperate voice of an elder caught their attention.

    Zhou Cang jumped in to help Gan Ning by instinct. With his surprise attack, he managed to wound the ghost with his sword.

    Now, all of them ran back toward the mountain, heading to Zhuge Liang¡¯s courtyard.

    ¡¯Please be alright, Kongming!¡¯

    .

    .

    Zhou Cang reached Zhuge Liang¡¯s resident and found corpses of elders and a trail of blood. The trace led to the road, leading to Xiapi City.

    He broke into Zhuge Liang¡¯s house to check if there were survivors. Inside, five young female servants were hugging each other in fear.

    "What happened outside!?"

    "A-A ghost appeared and killed everyone!"

    Zhou Cang¡¯s mood was ruined. A ghost that could kill could only be one thing, a spirit of an angel or a demon.

    An immortal was here!

    He left the house and decided to follow the blood trail.

    When he got outside, Gan Ning appeared. From the looks of his eyes, he wanted to loot the house.

    "Get lost, homeless thief. I don¡¯t have time to y with you."

    Gan Ning was anger, "I only want some souvenirs. I don¡¯t mind taking used women."

    Thinking of the cowering women in the house, Zhou Cang activated his overclock mode and attack Gan Ning with a sword sh.

    "Shit!"

    Gan Ning dodged the sh in a panic. His opponent¡¯s speed was too fast.

    After he leaped backward, the pirate raised his hands to surrender.

    "Don¡¯t attack! I was kidding. I won¡¯t harm anyone!"

    Zhou Cang roared, "Get lost, motherfucker! I have a shitty mood right now!"

    "Oh, cool. I¡¯m in a shitty mood, too. Now that I¡¯ve failed my mission ..."

    Gan Ning kicked the ground, throwing dirt to the eyes of Zhou Cang with his foot.

    "Die!"

    Gan Ning switched his weapon to bow and arrow within a second.

    An arrow was fired!

    *POEK*

    A transparent third arm appeared from Zhou Cang¡¯s left shoulder and caught the arrow.

    Gan Ning had a chill running down his spine. He had killed many good fighters, but this was his first time fighting someone with supernatural power.

    "I can¡¯t leave you alive, or those women will experience hell. Die!"

    Zhou Cang summoned his virtue spirit and attacked Gan Ning together, turning the situation into 2-on-1.

    The spirit threw a punch at Gan Ning.

    As long as it hit, the punch would crush Gan Ning¡¯s flesh and bone like tofu.

    Gan Ning sensed dread in the punch. He rolled and ran away.

    Zhou Cang¡¯s real body already caught up to Gan Ling. He shed down with his long sword.

    Gan Ning took out short knives and parried it.

    *BOOM*

    The feedback force stunned Gan Ning¡¯s arms.

    The fledging Gan Ning was no match against the Zhou Can, who experienced two worlds. Furthermore, Tong trained Zhou Cang with a peculiar training style.

    Zhou Cang¡¯s daily training routine was 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and 10km running.

    It had been years that he had this routine added into his lifestyle. Although he could not produce the same result as Saitama, Zhou Cang was confident in his destructive power.

    Zhou Cang¡¯s left leg kicked Gan Ning¡¯s body midsection.

    It hit Gan Ning¡¯s rib cages and shook his liver.

    "Gah!"

    The pirate fell onto his knee as the excruciating pain stunned him again.

    Before Zhou Cang could deliver a finishing blow, Gan Ning begged.

    "Spare me! I give up. I surrender!"

    The bald man frown. He did not have a luxurious time to babysit this pirate as a captive.

    "Sir Zhou, what happened here!?"

    Sima Hui arrived and found the horrifying scene of corpses.

    "An immortal killed them, and he probably took the Zhuge boy away. Do me a favor. Tie this man and call my men. They will take it from here."

    Zhou Cang kicked Gan Ning¡¯s sr plexus, which knocked him unconscious. He turned around to chase after Pu Jing, who left a bloody trail on the ground.</[yes]>

 Chapter 421 Lu Buâ€™s Campaign

    Chapter 421 - Lu Bu¡¯s Campaign

    Zhou Cang followed the blood on the ground toward the north. However, no matter how fast he ran, he could not catch up with Pu Jing.

    ¡¯Bastard! Does he know the body enhancement technique?¡¯

    Zhou Cang was frustrated. He shouted, "FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN, YOU COWARD!!"

    His voice was so loud that Pu Jing, who was carrying Zhuge Liang on his shoulder and running with his full speed two kilometers away, could hear it.

    The former KGB nced back with a sneer, ¡¯Don¡¯t lump me with those braindead generals, sucker! No matter how Zhang Tong raised you, you aren¡¯t my match!¡¯

    Despite his thought, Pu Jing continued running away, using his wing power to boost his speed. Although the cut wound on his chest was still fresh and bloody, he ignored the pain and kept retreating.

    On Pu Jing¡¯s shoulder, Zhuge Liang bit his lower lips.

    To survive, he did something unforgivable.

    He pressed the [Yes] button and joined Pu Jing¡¯s n!

    Although it was vexing that he was enved, Zhuge Liang was still optimistic.

    By skimming through Pu Jing¡¯s n chat log, he learned many things about this n and their movements, which broadened his horizon. With the existence of this n chat and the long-distancemunication, Zhuge Liang thought of many strategies with the n chat as the key.

    Also, he found a loophole in Pu Jing¡¯s n!

    It had been only a few minutes after Zhuge Liang was kidnapped, he sneered at Pu Jing, who was still carrying him.

    ¡¯Ah, Pu Jing, Cao Cao. I know what you¡¯re trying to do. Unfortunately, you should have killed me instead. Hahaha!¡¯

    Zhuge Liang had a n to ruin Cao Cao and Pu Jing. Since they were so desperate to have him in their n, he might as well pretend to join them and destroy them from the inside.

    .

    The chasested for 50 hours without a rest. Unfortunately, Zhou Cang¡¯s one wing power boost was no match against Pu Jing¡¯s two wings.

    He returned with empty hands as he reported back his failure to the n chat.

    Zhou Cang: "I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ve failed everyone."

    Tong: "Don¡¯t be. It¡¯s my fault for letting my guard down. I didn¡¯t expect that the others would have been this ruthless."

    Zhou Cang: "What about the vigers and Sima Hui, your majesty?"

    Tong: "We¡¯ll take them to our kingdom as nned. It¡¯s a pity that we didn¡¯t get any of them back, but we got Liu Biao¡¯s promise to surrender. That¡¯s a good achievement."

    Tong did not me anyone for this failure. Even if Zhuge Liang died, he would lose nothing.

    However, had Zhuge Liang joined with other forces, at best, the future battles would have been a little more difficult.

    Tong was optimistic about his n. As long as his men continued to cultivate, their wings and their immortal power would help him unify this country and end this civil war.

    The only problem was the other reincarnators, especially the goddess Liu Yang.

    While Tong was reading the n chat, he was lying on his bed while his favorite consort, Wang Yi, aka Liu Yang, was riding him, drooling and smiling while her tongue was sticking out of her mouth. It was still daytime, but it was his day off today, so they enjoyed their extended sexy time.

    ¡¯I wonder where that goddess is. What is she nning?¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    April 15th, 192 AD.

    Ju Shou suggested that Lu Bu should march out of Wuwei after he had finished reinforcing the defense. Since Zhang He¡¯s unit would take a detour around the mountain ranges between the Bing Province and Liang Province, they should reach here in a month or two.

    By that time, Zhang He¡¯s Ghost Legion would rece Lu Bu¡¯s units in Wuwei as he could expand their territory south.

    Lu Bu and Gao Shun reviewed their military status. Currently, the Qiang Tribes from the west had surrendered to Lu Bu because of his fame. Aside from his 60,000 redhare horsemen, an additional 10,000 Qiang horsemen joined forces with the god of war.

    The Qiang Tribesmen were simr to Xiliang Cavalry, which excelled in speed and devastating charge. These riders were monstrous in the jousting abilities that they could puncture a standard iron imperial armor with their iron spear. However, they traded their speed with their defenses, which they were armed with light leather armor.

    Lu Bu transferred this unit to Gao Shun as he was an expert charger. As for the redhare knights, they separated into three regiments, each numbered 20,000.

    One of the regiments stationed in Wuwei to wait for Zhang He¡¯s units. As for the other 50,000 riders, they marched south, heading toward Jincheng County, the former territory of Han Sui, the sworn brother of Ma Teng.

    .

    May 13th, 192 AD.

    Lu Bu sieged Jincheng County and took over themandery. Since Khan¡¯s attention was on the Jing Province of Liu Biao, he did not reinforce Liang Province.

    Ju Shou noticed theck of defensive lines in the areas. He left a message in the n chat, asking Tong for permission to expand rapidly.

    Tong gave his permission. With the authority of the emperor, Ju Shou pulled the 20,000-man regiment from Wuwei to attack Anding Commandery, while Lu Bu and Gao Shun separated.

    Gao Shun took a regiment of 20,000 men and 10,000 Qiang Cavalry to attack Tianshui, a former headquarter of Dong Zhuo. As for Lu Bu, he took the other regiment to upy Wudou Commandery, which located south of Tianshui.

    Zhang He¡¯s Ghost Legion changed their n mid-way. With thepetent Lu Bu taking down counties left and right, they turned south, regrouping with a regiment of Lu Bu in Anding. Then, heunched an attack on Chang¡¯An.

    By the end of June, 192 AD, Lu Bu took down fourmanderies, while Zhang He imed Chang¡¯An, which shocked thend.

    Khan was caught off guard. He had to recall his troops, which was gathering at Yongan Commandery, located west of Jiangling of Jing Province.

    The n to attack the Jing Province was canceled, and his army, numbered 300,000 soldiers, gathered at Zitong to protect Khan¡¯s kingdom from the two legions.

    The brainwashed generals, Ma Teng, Ma Chao, Han Sui, and other vicemanders, followed Khan to Zitong, preparing for a decisive battle between 130,000 elites against their 300,000 cloned troopers.

    .

    July 4th, 192 AD.

    Zhang He¡¯s units of 60,000 men marched to Hanzhong, the former territory of Zhang Lu, the cult leader of Five Peck of Rice.

    Instead of defending this strategicmandery, Khan sent an emergency order to Hanzhong¡¯s governor to use a scorch earth tactic, burning the city and its granary. As for the garrison forces, they retreated to Jiameng Pass, which located north of Zitong Commandery.

    Jiameng Pass was the gate toward the inner Yi Province. Had Khan lost the control of this checkpoint, Lu Bu and Zhang He could puncture their territories with their overwhelming cavalries.

    Khan was aware of that, which was the reason he gathered his men at Zitong.

    .

    July 15th, 192 AD.

    The Redhare Legion and the Ghost Legion gathered at Jiange County, which was a minor county north of Jiameng Pass. All forces had to pass this county to reach the checkpoint. Thus, they decided to gather here for thest preparation, getting ready for a decisive battle.

    Lu Bu, Gao Shun, Ju Shou met with Zhang He and his subordinates. As this was the second time that Zhang He got to meet Lu Bu face-to-face and Lu Bu had once tried to recruit him, Zhang He was notfortable to work with this god of war.

    "Nice to see you again, kid. I can see that you¡¯re stronger than when we¡¯ve first met."

    Zhang He had a wry smile on his face, "You, too. How many wings do you have? I can¡¯t gauge your power with my meager skill."

    "Just four. I¡¯m reinforcing my foundation and basic skills before I climb to six wings. Well, what about you?"

    "Ugh, at the moment, three. You¡¯re still training the basics?"

    "Basic training and power management is everything. Without a solid foundation, those wings are nothing but a decoration. You should master the body enhancement technique before you get to four wings. Or else, you won¡¯t be able to handle the sudden jump in strength and speed. Also, if you can, try to master the blood maniption. You can recover from injuries faster with it. It¡¯s helpful."

    Lu Bu became talkative when he discussed martial arts. He was enjoying it since it had been a long time that he talked to a master martial artist.

    ".. Y-You¡¯re right."

    "How about it, wanna spar? Let me see your current strength and your wing mastery."

    "Err, we have to manage our troops. I don¡¯t think I have enough time-"

    While Zhang He was dragged into Lu Bu¡¯s pace of conversation, the white hair god of war forced Zhang He into a friendly duel.

    At the sides, all vicemanders gestured as if they were praying for Zhang He.

    "Rest in peace."

    .

    Two hours after the small talk, Zhang He copsed on the ground, panting in exhaustion.

    Lu Bu stood firm without wearing any armor. However, his wooden pike was broken in half.

    Despite Lu Bu¡¯s overwhelming angelic power, which reinforced the durability of the wooden pike, Zhang He broke it with his skills and polearm mastery.

    Both of them had sparred for two hours without rest, but Zhang He failed tond a blow on Lu Bu¡¯s body. It was a one-sided battle.

    Lu Bu used 30% of his strength in this duel, but Zhang He had spent 90%. Thetter even used the overclock mode to keep up with Lu Bu¡¯s speed, but the god of war took it with ease. Since a three-winged angel and a four-winged one was on a different league, this result was natural.

    Still, Lu Bu was impressed, "Well done, kid."

    "T-Thanks."

    "I can tell that you¡¯re good with your overclock mode, but a few strikes were unrefined. I¡¯ll write you a note about my personal techniques, so you can use it as a reference when you train. Oh, don¡¯t give it to Zhang Tong, though. I don¡¯t want him to know my secret technique yet. I need to get a rematch with him in the future."

    Zhang Heughed. After a long bout, he understood Lu Bu¡¯s character a bit.

    He was just like a lonely little boy without a friend to y with. Because he was too good at his craft, he did not have many people to share his interests.

    ¡¯He¡¯s actually a good guy. I wonder why his majesty and Lu Bu don¡¯t get along.¡¯

    .

    The cooperation between the two legions got smoother after Zhang He let go of his prejudice against Lu Bu. On the contrary, they got along after the friendly spar.

    At night, they had a drink together. As Lu Bu was drunk in a good mood, his tongue slipped, "I have a daughter, and I¡¯m worrying if she can find a good man. Say, Junyi, have you married?"

    "I¡¯m still single, senior Lu."

    "Wanna marry my daughter? She¡¯s only 10 at the moment, but I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll grow into a beautiful woman."

    *PFFFT*

    Zhang He spat his wine.

    ¡¯Does he think I¡¯m a lolicon like his majesty!? I have my fucking standard, dammit!¡¯

    Drunk and offended by Lu Bu¡¯s offer, Zhang He¡¯s tongue also slipped, "I¡¯m not his majesty, senior Lu. I¡¯m not interested in children. Heck, why don¡¯t you offer your daughter to his majesty? Maybe he can treat you better, or maybe he will see you in a better light. Cai Yan gave his daughter to his majesty, and he¡¯s enjoying his wealth, fame, and prestige! He¡¯s an important minister in the court now."

    Enlightened by Zhang He,bined with his drunk mentality, Lu Bu texted in the n chat.

    Lu Bu: "Zhang Tong, marry my daughter!! She¡¯s 10 this year, and she¡¯s pretty!! Then, give me a duke title as a wedding gift!!"

    Everyone: "..."

    .

    All n members in the n chat were astonished and shocked by Lu Bu¡¯s sudden proposal.

    Meanwhile, Tong was also drunk in lust as he was uniting with Diaochan¡¯s teen body and her endless stamina. Tong recalled that Lu Bu¡¯s daughter was Lu Lingqi, so he jested in the chat for augh, trolling Lu Bu.

    Tong: "I don¡¯t mind collecting famous women in my harem. Give her to me, and I¡¯ll make you a fucking Marquis of a Province."

    In an instant, Lu Bu replied.

    "DEAL!!"

    Everyone: "WHAT!?"

    Tong was bbergasted.

    ¡¯I was kidding. Wut?¡¯

    Medusa, in her Diaochan form, paused. She grabbed his testicles and clenched them in anger.

    "Oh? Taking another woman so soon? I¡¯m tolerant enough to overlook your favoritism treatment on Wang Yi, but you¡¯re taking in another under-aged girl again? My daughter and I have not been impregnated yet, but you want someone else to fuck!?"

    "Ow, Ow, Ow, I¡¯m sorry!!"

    That night, there was no sultry moan from a consort. Instead, it was Tong¡¯s crying voice as Diaochan tortured him an entire night.

    All officers in the court also could hear it.

    Te Langpu: "Press F to pay respect."

    Everyone: "F"

 Chapter 422 Battle of Jiameng Pass - Deploymen

    Chapter 422 - Battle of Jiameng Pass - Deployment

    July 17th, 192 AD.

    Khan finished setting up his defense lines.

    As he had once led an attack on Jiameng Gate before, he knew the weaknesses of this checkpoint.

    The Jiameng checkpoint was sandwiched by mountain valleys, which blockaded the main road to Zitong City. However, there were other passages around the mountain ranges.

    Khan and Ma Chao had led a force to bypass this checkpoint before, so they knew that these passages could not be overlooked.

    He decided to protect the main gate while Ma Chao, Ma Teng, and Han Sui covered the other passages. He splitted his force into three legions, 100,000 each, to protect all entries to Zitong City.

    Ma Chao covered the western mountain ranges, while Ma Teng and Han Sui covered the east.

    Now, Khan was ready, but he felt that something was off.

    ¡¯I can¡¯tunch an attack this way. Too bad that little bitch ran off, or I would have ordered her to protect the gate while I go on a rampage.¡¯

    .

    The same day

    Ju Shou and Xun You brainstormed and came up with strategies.

    Lu Bu¡¯s regiments of 40,000 redhare knights would attack Jiameng Pass with all their cannons.

    Gao Shun¡¯s regiment, Qiang Cavalry unit of 10,000 soldiers and 20,000 knights, along with Han Hao¡¯s 10,000 light cavalries from Ghost Legion would scout the west mountain range for a secret passage. If they could bypass the mountain, they had to do so and strike Zitong from behind.

    Zhang He, Qu Yi, Gao Lan, and 50,000 men would be their second main force. They had to force their way through the east mountain range and break through the enemies.

    Since Zhang He possessed Tong¡¯s system skill, the HUD radar map, he could detect enemies from far away, which was more suitable for guerri warfare.

    Although Zhang He protested that he was morepatible with scout missions, Lu Bu, Ju Shou, and Xun You disagreed. Since Lu Bu acknowledged Zhang He as a talented fighter, he should be put to good use on the fierce battlefields.

    With the arrangement, everyone moved to their new position, waiting for an attack signal from their strategists.

    .

    .

    Though the terrain was rocky and uneven, the redhare horses and the Qiang¡¯s horses did not have trouble trekking through the tight mountain passages to the west.

    Gao Shun and Han Hao kept an eye on the high ground while their men observed the surroundings with caution. Since Gao Shun were experienced in fighting in the mountain terrain in the Bing Province, he adapted to the environment and led Hao Han¡¯s forces further west.

    Han Hao¡¯s men had troubles climbing the mountains, unlike the others, which should have had the most problems bringing the heavily armored horses on elevated ground. It embarrassed this vicemander because they were lightly equipped, yet they were the cause of their slow marching speed.

    "Sorry for dragging you down, Sir Gao," Han Hao was ashamed.

    "Don¡¯t apologize. Everyone gets easily exhausted from climbing a mountain for the first time. We¡¯re wearing heavy armors and carrying weapons at the same time. It¡¯s natural to get tired."

    From 8 AM until noon, the west team managed to get everyone to a teau, where they could make camps and fortify their defensive line against a counter-attack from Khan Army.

    The teau was not wide enough to house all 40,000 soldiers, 40,000 horses, and their belongings. Still, many soldiers could rest inside the forest on the mountain without sleeping inside the camp.

    Gao Shun was not satisfied with the current location, but it was the widest space that they could fortify.

    "We¡¯re going to use this as a temporary resting spot. After we fortified this ce, we should move out."

    "What about the garrison?"

    "We won¡¯t garrison this camp. Instead, we will bait the enemy into attacking it."

    "Huh?"

    "I¡¯ve consulted with Ju Shou before our deployment. He has approved of this move. You can check with him in the n chat."

    "Well, let¡¯s report our movement to the n chat anyway, so they might have other opinions."

    Han Hao and Gao Shun decided to report everything to the n chat.

    As they had expected, Ju Shou agreed with Gao Shun¡¯s decision.

    Ju Shou: "Mountain battlefields are actually not suitable for horsemen, but I believe in your mobility and Sir Li Feihong¡¯s redhares."

    Han Hao: "My light cavalry unit is not doing well on this mountain. Are you sure?"

    Ju Shou: "From the testimonies of local vigers, there will be an open field after you get through this mountain range. It will be troublesome at first. But once you get through, all of you can shine."

    Lu Bu: "You should have sent me there and let Gao Shun and Han Hao attacking the gate instead."

    Xun You: "No. We¡¯ll need you to stop Khan when he appears. He will likely show up at the gate. Among all generals, you are the only one who can fight a four-winged angel, Sir Lu Bu."

    Lu Bu: "Fine."

    Ju Shou: "Well, Sir Gao, Sir Han, you should rest on that spot for a day. If you don¡¯t encounter any enemy, or Khan did not attack you, scout the perimeter first before you move forward.

    Gao Shun: "Okay."

    Lu Bu: "Pro¡¯s tips. Use your goddamn souls to scout ahead. All of you should have awakened at least one soul, no? Stop thinking like a mortal and act like an immortal for once. Use your force!"

    Everyone: "..."

    Everyone was speechless that Lu Bu was getting smarter.

    With the confirmation from the strategists, Gao Shun and Han Hao rested in the unfavorable terrain for the day.

    .

    Unlike Han Hao and Gao Shun, Zhang He already dispatched his three souls to scout ahead. Combined with the radar map, Zhang He¡¯s line of sight covered all east mountain range.

    Without much trouble, he was the first to spot Khan¡¯s defense forces.

    "Let¡¯s see ... 20km southwest from here, we have a massive army blockading the exit point of this passageway."

    Qu Yi and Gao Lan were surprised that Zhang He¡¯s soul already pinpointed their enemy¡¯s location so fast.

    "Already?"

    "You¡¯ve found them, sir?"

    "Aye. Too bad, my radar map doesn¡¯t count their troops for me, or it would have been easier to determine their number."

    "How many of them? Can you guess?"

    "Somewhat between 80,000 to 100,000. I¡¯m not sure. For now, let¡¯s report everything to everyone.

    After Han Hao and Gao Shun consulted with the others, Zhang He turned in his reports.

    Ju Shou: "Great job, general Zhang. Now, we wait for confirmation from the west team. If they find that Khan¡¯s men are blocking the exit point in the west, we can use many strike ns."

    Zhang He: "Care to exin before we strike?"

    Ju Shou: "No. You are a day away from those guys. Variable is still possible. Let¡¯s wait for the main battle to conclude for today, and we will decide what we will do."

    Xun You: "We have already drafted our counter-measures against the enemy¡¯s movements. You don¡¯t have to worry. For general Zhang, please move forward to the south, so you can be in a position to attack the defenders."

    Zhang He: "Roger that."

    .

    Meanwhile, Lu Bu patiently maintained his forces in front of Jiameng Gate. 50 Wheeled cannons, which transferred from the Ghost Legion and their logistic units, were being pushed to the front line.

    As Lu Bu¡¯s men took down manymanderies, they acquired more experience from the siege battles. Just like before, they positioned their cannon crews on the front to confuse the defenders while we¡¯re preparing to attack from a long-range.

    Should theye out and fight, Lu Bu and his redhare knights would butcher them. Should they hole themselves behind the walls like a coward, Lu Bu would crush them with cannons.

    A simple strategy for a simple man.

    Yet, it was so efficient to the point that Lu Bu had repeatedly used this strategy to take manymanderies within a short time. Furthermore, the local defenders either surrendered or ran away after a day of fighting.

    In the end, Lu Bu¡¯s troops maintained their full number throughout the campaign while many surrendered forces were waiting to be drafted into his legion in the future.

    But that was a job for the civil officers and another story.

    "General, all of our cannon crews are ready."

    Lu Bu nced at his cannons. When he saw that all of them got into their firing range, and Khan¡¯s defense force had note out to fight, he sighed.

    "Cannons, fire at will."

    .

    .

    .

    Khan arrived at Jiameng Gate after his men got to their position. He walked to the top of the wall, watching the attack force.

    When he saw the banners of Redhare Legion, Khan had a broad smile on his face.

    "Ah, my stupid self. You¡¯vee!"

    Khanughed like a madman. He ignored his subordinates and hired advisors, rushing down the stairs to get on his horse.

    He wanted to go out and challenge Lu Bu into a duel.

    For years, he had been cloning the soldiers and neglected his training. Since Lu Bu could rival him in military might, Khan wanted to go out and enjoy the duel.

    Unfortunately,

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The matured Lu Bu did not bother shouting or challenging the enemy generals into a duel before the fight. He simply attacked first, then he talkedter, like a particr civilized country in the modern world.

    Cannonballs mmed onto the stone walls.

    As the new clone soldiers were created from a high-level skill, they had no feeling. The garrison soldiers stared at the iing iron balls with an indifferent expression.

    None of them made a noise or panicked.

    Khan clicked his tongue as he red to the direction of Lu Bu in disappointment.

    "I wasn¡¯t aware that you¡¯re growing into a coward, Lu Fengxian. I¡¯ll beat you up, and I¡¯ll teach you a lesson that the immature you can¡¯t beat the enlightened me!"

    Khan got on his cloned Redhare King while the gate opened. He galloped out of the gate to challenge Lu Bu.

 Chapter 423 Battle of Jiameng Pass â€“ Lu Bu VS Chanyu Khan

    Chapter 423 - Battle of Jiameng Pass - Lu Bu VS Chanyu Khan

    Lu Bu could see a lone rider charging at his army. Had it been the past before he had met Tong, he would have mocked this person as a fool.

    After he obtained the cultivation method, Lu Bu knew that he should not underestimate a person who seemed to act like a fool on a battlefield. After all, that person might be an immortal.

    And his guess was right. Lu Bu could sense a threatening aura from that man.

    As he got closer, Lu Bu spotted the giant redhare, which was the same as his horse.

    ¡¯That guy.¡¯

    Lu Bu recognized Khan, who had fought with him when he was participating in the coalition against the Xiongnu period.

    He turned to his assistants, "Tell everyone to fall back 100 paces. Do not help me, no matter what will happen from now on. If I die, retreat immediately!"

    "S-Sir?"

    "Just do it."

    "SIR, YOU FORGOT YOUR HELMET!!"

    It was toote. Lu Bu kicked his horse and galloped forward, charging at Khan.

    The duel began without a verbal challenge!

    The two riders got closer, reaching 50 meters in the distance.

    40 Meters ...

    30 Meters ...

    20 Meters ...

    Once they got to the range of 10 meters, Khanughed, "LU FENGXIAN, YOU FOOL! [TIME STOP]!"

    It was Tong¡¯s copied skill!

    The world turned into a ck and white world as everything came to a pause, except Khan.

    Khan leaped from his horseback, jumping forward toward Lu Bu.

    "This is the difference between you and me! Die for me!!"

    Khan reinforced all of his power into one strike as Liu Yang had taught him years ago. He swung his halberd at Lu Bu, nning to chop him in half.

    50 Seconds of time-stopping was more than enough to kill this god of war!

    *BOOM*

    Khan shed down.

    But his halberd was stopped by something. He could feel a feedback impact through the halberd shaft.

    When Khan looked at the tip of his halberd, he was shocked.

    Lu Bu was unharmed!

    Furthermore, he was ring at Khan.

    Above his head, a faint thinyer of Lu Bu¡¯s angelic aura protected him from Khan¡¯s attack.

    Khan sensed a dreadful killing intent. He leaped backward in a panic.

    "Impossible! The [Time Stop] skill should have stopped everything! You shouldn¡¯t have this skill, too! How can he move!?"

    He took his time staring at Lu Bu as Khan thought that his opponent could counter-attack against him.

    However, his theory proved him wrong. Lu Bu did not move from the spot.

    30 Seconds remaining until the [Time Stop] skill worn out.

    Khan was relieved that Lu Bu could not do anything against him in this greyscale world. Heughed.

    "Oh, Lu Fengxian. You¡¯ve surprised the great me. I thought for once that you can still attack me in this world, but it seems that I had overestimated you. I don¡¯t know how you blocked my attack, but you won¡¯t be able to do it again!"

    Khan jumped at Lu Bu again, who was still on his horseback.

    He shed his halberd sideway, nning to behead Lu Bu in one blow.

    *BOOM*

    The halberd hit, but it was still stopped by the thinyer of Lu Bu¡¯s aura.

    Khan was infuriated that Lu Bu could still resist. He focused all of his forces andunched a barrage of attacks.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Every second passed, twenty impacts caused 20 shockwaves in the air. Yet, Khan could not kill Lu Bu.

    5 Seconds remaining

    Khan was so mad that he was mentally exhausted. After over 200 serious blows, Khan¡¯s weapon could not reach Lu Bu¡¯s skin.

    However, he could see a bit of a result.

    Blood flowed down from Lu Bu¡¯s nostrils!

    Lu Bu suffered some damages from the attacks!

    Khan burst intoughter, "HAHAHAHA!! I thought you were invincible. But in reality, you must have reached your limit! Very well, I will extend this time-stop-world indefinitely and torture you to death!"

    Khan could summon his souls and activated his [Time Stop] skill again by paying 10 times the activation price.

    Since the activation cost of the [Time Stop] was as meager as 100 years of lifespans, Khan stepped back and summoned his four souls.

    One of his souls cast the skill while the time remaining in this world was left with 2 seconds.

    Khan clicked his tongue, "Bah! Stupid system. Fine. I¡¯ll just activate it after the effect worn out."

    Two secondster, the ck-and-white world reverted back to its original, and the time continued to flow.

    At that moment

    "Time Alter: Triple el!"

    Lu Bu leaped off his horse and flew to Khan at the speed of sound!

    He trusted his halberd forward, and it pierced through Khan¡¯s chest!

    As the weapon punctured through Khan¡¯s ribcages, lungs, and spine, Khan¡¯s soul activated the time stopping skill.

    The time had paused once more!

    Within the colorless world, Khan¡¯s body was still pierced by Lu Bu¡¯s halberd, but only he could move.

    Slowly and painfully, Khan pulled himself out of Lu Bu¡¯s weapon.

    As soon as he got out, Khan activated Tong¡¯s regeneration skill, which healed his injuries instantly.

    "That was close, Lu Fengxian. I have to admit that I let my guard down for a split second there. To be honest, you would have killed me if I didn¡¯t have Zhang Tong¡¯s skills."

    Khan continued to mock Lu Bu. He walked to the floating figure in the mid-motion and pped Lu Bu¡¯s face.

    *PA*

    The p hit directly onto Lu Bu¡¯s skin without being protected by an aura.

    The eyes of Lu Bu still red at Khan with hatred.

    "Oh? Don¡¯t you have your shield aura on? Well, too bad. It¡¯s my win."

    Thinking that he had Lu Bu¡¯s life under his palm, Khan rxed as he caught his breath. After taking 10 seconds of rest, Khan brought his weapon and raised it overhead.

    Khan unsummoned his souls as he reinforced his halberd with all of his power.

    He swung it down, aiming to behead Lu Bu¡¯s neck again.

    *BOOM*

    Again, his halberd was blocked by Lu Bu¡¯s thinyer of shield aura.

    "WHAAAATTT!!??"

    In shock and frustration, Khan gritted his teeth as he spammed his attacks with his polearm.

    "I DON¡¯T BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DEFEND YOURSELF FOREVER! NO MATTER HOW STRONG YOU¡¯RE POWER WERE, IT¡¯S USELESS!!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    "USELESS!! USELESS!! USELESS!! USELESS!! USELESS!! WRYYYYYYY!!"

    For the remaining 40 seconds, Khan did not stop striking against Lu Bu.

    When there was one second remaining, Khan leaped backward as he summoned his soul again.

    The time resumed!

    LU BU SHOUTED, "SQUARE ACCEL!!"

    Khan bellowed, "TIME STOP!!"

    *SWUA!!*

    Lu Bu¡¯s halberd cleaved Khan in half, cutting from his left shoulder to his right lower waist.

    *VHOOM*

    The time had stopped, and Khan¡¯s severed body partsnded on the ground.

    "REGEN!"

    Khan used his life-saving skill from his soul, and his severed upper torso and lower torso reattached, healing itself in less than a second.

    The [Regeneration]¡¯s cost of activation varied depending on the injuries. Just now, Khan paid 150,000 years of lifespan as Lu Bu had cut through his heart. Also, it cost 10 times the original as he activated this skill via his soul.

    Now, he was left with less than 100,000 lifespans. Had he suffered more injury like this again, he would not have been able to self-heal.

    It would have spelled his death!

    "LU FENGXIAN!!"

    Khan did not know what he had to do to kill Lu Bu. He was so mad, yet he was helpless.

    His survival instinct kicked in. Instead of continuing fighting, Khan ran back to the gate with his full speed, escaping from Lu Bu.

    When the 50 seconds of time stop world was over, Khan had reappeared on the top of Jiameng Gate.

    "Close the door, NOW!!"

    Khan¡¯s emotionless subordinates did precisely as their boss said.

    Meanwhile, Lu Bu red at the wall of Jiameng Pass, clicking his tongue.

    He also used the [Regen] skill to recover from the internal bleeding in the brain because of his sudden skill burst.

    For a couple minutes, Lu Bu was in despair for the first time in his life. He could sense everything when Khan¡¯s time stop skill was in effect, but he could not move his body, only to stare helplessly at Khan.

    Fortunately, he had been cultivating his four angel souls and his wing power, so he could reinforce his defense when his physical body could not move.

    Still, Khan¡¯s attacks were deadly. Had it been the power of three-winged angel or weaker, the shield aura would have been broken in one strike. Even with the same tier of power, Lu Bu could still feel the impact throughout the muscles of his body.

    The damage umted to the point that Lu Bu had several broken bones before the [Time Alter, Square el]¡¯s activation. Had Khan continued his attacks, Lu Bu was not confident that he could oust another set of a time-stop attack.

    The fire of motivation had been ignited once more after Lu Bu discovered another worthy opponent among the enemy¡¯s ranks.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll focus getting to six wings. I can get the fifth one instantly, but it won¡¯t matter much if I have to fight that cheating skill again. If I get the sixth wing power, my speed would have been faster, and I could have cut his head the moment the time stopping skill wears out.¡¯

    Lu Bu did not pursue Khan. He turned back to his men, so they could maintain their army position. However, he stopped the attack for today, so he could recuperate and review the fight between Khan and himself.

    .

    .

    That night, Khan also reviewed his duel against Lu Bu.

    After he had calmed down and looked at the fight without a bias attitude, he found a problem in his system skills.

    In the past, Liu Yang used to warn him that system skills would not work against immortals as they were designed to spoil the sinners into thinking that they were invincible. Then, at the end of their life, they would reveal their true corrupted self to the immortal spectators in Heaven, disying their hypocrisy.

    This was a trap for sinners and the main entertainment of the immortals. Unfortunately, the game had changed, and Liu Yang did not know what had happened to Heaven.

    Still, it did not change the fact that the system skills were useless against angels and demons.

    Now that Khan was aware of the problem, he learned about the weakness of many skills he had.

    ¡¯My other self can react to my [Time Stop] because of this loophole. I can also react to Zhang Tong¡¯s [Time Stop] because I¡¯m a four-winged angel. Then, sooner orter, my other self should be able to move when the [Time Stop] was in effect when his power grows stronger!¡¯

    Khan broke a sweat when he imagined the worst-case scenario where he was killed when the time stop was still active.

    ¡¯No. I must sharpen my skills. But my soldiers and my ves are fighting, and I don¡¯t have enough time to train. What should I do!?¡¯

    Without someone to talk or consult, Lu Bu did not know what he should do.

    Then, he recalled his past actions. Then, he looked at the country map.

    Khan had a new inspiration.

    ¡¯What if I send all of my ves to their death and disguise myself as a Han citizen. Will I be able to use Cao Cao or Liu Bei to fight the others?¡¯

    Khan had a new n.Author: For a reference, use Dio Brando¡¯s voice and his "NANIIIIEEEE" when you¡¯re reading this.MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA

 Chapter 424 Battle of Jiameng Pass - The Ghos

    Chapter 424 - Battle of Jiameng Pass - The Ghost

    July 18th, 192 AD.

    Lu Bu resumed his cannon attacks, sending cannonballs onto the wall of Jiameng Gate.

    The defenders were, as usual, expressionless. None of them panicked despite the death of their colleagues.

    The cannon salvos went on to the point that they ran out of ammunition in half a day.

    Yet, the garrisoning soldiers held on, not panicking or screaming in fear.

    Lu Bu frowned, "These guys are either insane or not human. Men always fear death, but these guys are not scared of uncertainty and death by the unknown."

    He hesitated if he shouldunch an attack onto the garrison forces.

    Using his souls to attack the soldiers would also be a bad choice. As Lu Bu had fought Khan¡¯s soul before, he knew the weaknesses of using souls to attack the real body of an immortal.

    Any real body with reinforced power from souls could easily kill a detached soul from an immortal with ease, so separating a soul to kill fodders would be too risky. Since Khan could kill one of the soul with ease by focusing on all of his power into killing a weak soul, the move was tantamount to suicide.

    Still, the wall of Jiameng Gate was in ruin, and the majority of the garrison forces hid behind the rubbles, waiting to ambush the attackers.

    Since Lu Bu could not figure out how he could defeat almost 100,000 heavy-armored soldiers, he turned to his strategists.

    Ju Shou and Xun You were observing the gate by Lu Bu¡¯s side.

    "Do you think I should charge into that?"

    Xun You shook his head, "No. Both our forces and their forces are heavy armor troops. If you fight them head-on, it will be a battle of attrition, and we will be at a disadvantage because of our inferior number."

    Ju Shou nodded, "We have to ount the factor that they don¡¯t seem to fear death. Also, I have a better n to defeat these buffoons in front of us."

    "Tell me."

    Ju Shou continued, "Sir Te Langpu informed usst month that a new batch of ammunition is being transported from Chang¡¯An to Hanzhong. I also sent a messenger in advance and told the transporters that we are gathering at Jiameng Gate. They should arrive here shortly."

    "Will that make a difference?"

    "I¡¯m afraid not. The ammo was the regr round shots and slug shots. We¡¯ll get enough cannonballs to fight for another week."

    "If that doesn¡¯t make a difference. What¡¯s the point?"

    Xun Youughed, "You misunderstood us there. We haven¡¯t told you our main stratagem yet. You see, when people die, they rot afterward, right?"

    "Correct."

    "Then, let¡¯s look at the enemies in front of us. After fighting them for a day, have you seen them cleaning the battlefield?"

    "Huh?"

    Lu Bu¡¯s interest piqued. He gazed upon the ruin from afar.

    With the enhancement from his four wings, his eyesight expanded. Lu Bu could see everything in the range of one kilometer in detail.

    He saw corpses underneath the rubbles. Blood pools soaked the bricks and the dirt, yet, the defenders ignored them and stood firm as if they did not exist.

    Ju Shou smiled, "As you can see, those men disregarded the dead bodies, disrespecting their fallenrades. Well, you know what will happen if you stay near the uncleaned battlefield for too long.

    Although the three did not know about micro-organisms, such as germs, bacteria, and viruses, they knew that rotting bodies could cause sicknesses to the people nearby.

    It was amon practice that they had to collect all dead bodies and burn them after a day of battle, or they would bring diseases to their men. Sometimes, armies from both sides raised white gs for a temporary truce to clean the battlefield together.

    Lu Bu understood their points since he had experienced cleaning the battlefields after a fight. He was enlightened by their strategies.

    "We¡¯ll drag this war on our front, and we¡¯ll wait for them to get sick and die by themselves."

    Xun You and Ju Shou nodded, "Correct! However, we will have to be prepared as well. We have informed his majesty about deploying more assisting units to bring us medicines, clean water, and clean clothes. Once the epidemic starts, our men will be safe."

    "A sick n, literally. I never thought that this kind of strategy would havee from you two. If it were Jia Xu, I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised."

    "Ahaha! Actually, we learned a lot from him."

    "..."

    The more strategists learned from each other, the more broadened their idea and their stratagems were. The wickedest advisor Jia Xu had influenced their thinking and their tactic insight for years since he had too much free time at hand. As a result, the others also had a tinge of wickedness from Jia Xu.

    Even the upright Xun You and the honest Ju Shou was corrupted by Jia Xu!

    Lu Bu did not know if he should be proud of these advisors. Still, a good n was a good n.

    .

    .

    After Lu Bu, Ju Shou, and Xun You decided to use biochemical warfare, they ordered Gao Shun and Zhang He to stop their advance on the spot.

    Gao Shun did not mind the recall order. He was ufortable with the mountain terrain in Yi Province.

    However, Zhang He refused the order since he found the weakness in the enemy¡¯s ranks.

    Zhang He: "Sorry, I have to disagree with that tactic. I spotted a weakness, and I can breach their defense lines."

    Ju Shou: "Don¡¯t be rash, general. We have the advantage here. Let¡¯s pull back and force them into a prolonged war, so Liu Biao can attack the Xiongnu from the Jing Province."

    Zhang He: "I know that. But please let me fight! I know that I can beat them."

    Zhang He insisted that he could win and breached the Jiameng¡¯s mountain defense forces. However, Ju Shou and Xun You wanted him to pull back.

    The quarrel continued until Tong jumped into the fray.

    Tong: "I trust Junyi. Let him fight."

    Ju Shou: "Your majesty. It might cause unnecessary casualties."

    Tong: "I know, and I know that Junyi knows, too. Since he wants to prove his worth, let him do it. However, you will be held responsible for all of your actions, Junyi. You know what will happen if you fail."

    Zhang He: "Thank you, your majesty! I won¡¯t fail you!"

    With permission from Tong, Zhang He led his team down south.

    .

    .

    A dayter,

    East of Jiameng Pass,

    Ma Teng and Han Sui were watching the exit passage of the eastern mountain range with their 100,000 cloned cataphracts by order of Khan.

    Although all cloned troopers were emotionless, Ma Teng and Han Sui were real people with human¡¯s conscience, but their memories were influenced by Khan¡¯s brainwash skill. Both of them were a part of Khan¡¯s n, which had not many members left.

    Both generals sent many scouts to patrol the mountain range. However, anomaly happened yesterday.

    Several groups of scouts did not return. All of them disappeared into the mountain range, and no one could find them or their dead bodies.

    Today, too, a team of 100 scouts went missing.

    "Odd," Ma Teng grumbled.

    "Ah, damn odd," Han Sui grimaced.

    "I know right? If there were an ident, at least one of them should havee back to report."

    "Yeah, I think so. But had they encountered an enemy, there should have been clues or dead bodies around."

    "True. That¡¯s very weird."

    "Should we advance a toon into the mountain? We¡¯ve been defending here for a few days, but there is no news or order from our lord."

    Had it been the past decades, two or three days without contact from their superiors would be normal. However, they had the n chat system, yet Khan did not text any message to them.

    Theck ofmunication brought them anxiety.

    "Let¡¯s probe the mountain with a battalion. Send 5,000 men in there as a scout team. I don¡¯t believe that they can disappear without a trace or an exnation!"

    Five thousand cataphracts marched through the rocky terrain. As they did not care about their fatigue or self-interest, the troops kept their formation in order as they ventured to the mountain forest.

    Three hourster,

    A thousand birds flew away from a certain direction, which revealed a hint of arge group of soldiers or a battle.

    Ma Teng was watching the mountain forest from a tall watchtower. When he spotted the phenomenon, he pinpointed the location of the battle and ordered his men.

    "Send five battalions to surround that area! Be careful not to use any fire attack, or we¡¯ll burn ourselves! The wind is blowing southwest!"

    25,000 Cataphracts rushed to the location, hoping to find the hidden enemies.

    An hourter, all 25,000 horsemen came back with a thousand injured men from the first battalion.

    Han Sui rushed to the men to collect the information, and they found that they were ambushed by a group of spearmen and archers. When the 25,000 soldiers arrived, all of the ambushers had already retreated.

    Ma Teng and Han Sui were frustrated. After tallying their battalions, they found out that 95,000 men remained from 100,000. Losing 5,000 men without being able to identify the enemies was shameful and humiliating.

    Still, Han Sui and Ma Teng were elite generals who came from the Qiang Tribes. As tribesmen who excelled in horseback warfare and battles, they regained theirposure and came up with a new strategy.

    "We¡¯ll avoid fighting in forest mountain terrain. Withdraw from this point and move our camp back ten kilometers. I want to draw them to fight in an open field!"

    The order was passed on, and they set their retreat date as tomorrow morning. Since maneuvering a massive army took time to organize, the withdrawal process was dyed.

    The next day, at 6 AM.

    The soldiers packed their belongings and their camps after breakfast.

    The weather was cold and calm. A thick cloud of morning fog hindered their visuals, but they did not mind it. Since they were retreating, none of them was prepared for a fight.

    Han Sui and Ma Teng also did not think that something might appear in the early morning, where thick fog covered the entire mountain and forest. They took their time to gather supplies and fold their camps.

    *NEIIIIIIGH*

    *RUMBLE*

    A sudden sound of several horses¡¯ neigh and the earthquake of horse hooves shocked Ma Teng and Han Sui.

    In the next minute, a battle sound,ing from metal objects hitting each other, and death throes echoed on the mountain.

    They were raided by the enemies!

    "TO ARMS!! TO ARMS!!"

    Han Sui rushed to the battle first, while Ma Teng could not find his horse in the midst of the fog.

    The chaos kept on going, but Ma Teng did not know what had happened or who was who. He ignored themotion and ran toward his stable.

    Upon finding his horse, Ma Teng was relieved.

    "You¡¯re safe. Alright, let¡¯s go to the battle!"

    Ma Teng got on his horse and prepared to lead his troops. However, a figure with ck clothes covering his entire body appeared with his ck horse.

    The person before Ma Teng was as if an embodiment of a grim reaper. The killing intent and the warrior¡¯s aura from him also suppressed Ma Teng¡¯s reaction and put him into a state of panic.

    "W-Who are you!?"

    The ck clothes rider snorted, "A ghost."

    Before Ma Teng could react, a spear had already prated his chest and his heart.

    That moment, a notification message was sent to everyone in Khan¡¯s n.

 Chapter 425 Battle of Jiameng Pass - Enraged Ma Chao

    Chapter 425 - Battle of Jiameng Pass - Enraged Ma Chao

    The sudden n notification shocked Ma Chao, who was positioning on the Jiameng Gate¡¯s west mountain range.

    "FATHER!!"

    Although Ma Chao was brainwashed by Khan, he still had a human¡¯s conscience.

    The death of his father hit him hard. Ma Chao¡¯s lost his temper as he ordered all of his soldiers to rush forth, nning to counter-attack against Lu Bu and Zhang He¡¯s forces.

    He only had one goal in his mind.

    Revenge!

    "ZHANG HE!! I SWEAR, IF I CAN¡¯T KILL YOU, I WON¡¯T CALL MYSELF A MAN!!"

    Meanwhile, Han Sui was also shocked by the death notification. However, he did not have the time to mourn for his sworn brother.

    He was in the middle ofbat with Zhang He¡¯s elite soldiers!

    Because of the fog, Han Sui could not see very far. He could only fend off the horsemen¡¯s charge to keep himself alive.

    Han Sui¡¯s soldiers had not prepared for a fight. Most of them did not even carry a weapon with them as they were still helping others packing their tents. Some of them had not worn their cataphracts armors.

    As such, they were easy targets for the pickings. Han Sui and Ma Teng¡¯s camp were overwhelmed by the charge.

    Still, Zhang He¡¯s men seemed to be aware of their charging directions and could differentiate between friends and foes. Han Sui tried to observe their movements as he also tried to figure if the persons around him were hisrades or his enemies.

    Then, he found the clues. All of Zhang He¡¯s men embedded feathers onto their helmets, which was easy to see.

    It was an effective way to prevent a friendly fire situation.

    ¡¯I see. There is this stratagem!¡¯

    By the time that Han Sui noticed it, someone had blown a signal horn.

    *BWOO* *BWOO* *BWOOOOO*

    Then, there was an explosion to the north.

    *BOOM*

    All Zhang He¡¯s soldier turned around and galloped toward the sound of an explosion, withdrawing from the camp.

    Han Sui and his bodyguards did not pursue the raiders as their army had not even been organized. Rushing to counter-attack right now would be a suicide since they could barely gather a hundred men with this foggy environment.

    They had to wait for the fog to disperse and reorganize first!

    Watching the clearing fog, Han Sui had a heartache.

    7 AM.

    The fog had disappeared, revealing the carnage scene on Han Sui and Ma Teng¡¯s camps.

    There were ten camps, each housed 10,000 soldiers. However, three of them had beenpletely demolished while another four was half-destroyed. Only three camps remained intact.

    Corpses of their men were everywhere, even though the raid took less than an hour.

    Han Sui ordered a reorganization, so he could obtain the status of his remaining troops.

    Noon, the result came in.

    They lost 40,000 men in this raid!

    Had it been a normal raid, they should have lost less than 10,000 men. However, these clone troopers did not fear death or know about the meaning of a word [Escape], they charged blindly at the enemies and resulted in more death.

    Yet, they only found a few hundreds of Zhang He¡¯s dead soldiers and their horses. They also found a few banners, which were written [Ghost].

    "The Ghost Legion ... Zhang He ..."

    Han Sui recited these names. In the past, he thought of this Zhang He as an ipetent young general under Tong since he did not have any noteworthy achievements like other generals. He even mocked the "Ghost" name as something a pushover would name themselves.

    His underestimation came back to p him in the face. If Zhang He could utilize a fog raid stratagem in the foreign terrains, he had proved to be a talented man.

    Now, the "Ghost" nickname became a terror to Han Sui.

    Fortunately, his men were not ordinary humans. Had it been humans, they would have lost the will to fight and deserted the camps.

    The clone troopers did not fear death. They persisted on and followed every Han Shu¡¯smand.

    "I admit I was wrong about you, Zhang He. I¡¯ll be facing you seriously from now on!"

    Han Sui ordered his men to withdraw from the mountain to the lower in, so he could utilize his cataphracts better. Still, he left several men to hide in the areas as scouts, so he could detect Zhang He¡¯s movement.

    .

    .

    Zhang He, Qu Yi, Gao Lan, and their men returned from the raid. Although they were exhausted, their face was brimmed with joy.

    The fog raid tactic was a sess!

    Before, Zhang He hadbined his picture memory abilities with the HUD map system skill to create urate geographic mapping. After getting the map, Zhang He copied them to his vice generals, so they could also learn about the terrains.

    With the terrain knowledge and the pinpointed locations of their enemies, they took out all Ma Teng and Han Sui¡¯s scout teams, disabled their newswork.

    After Ma Teng deployed arger team, they probed Ma Teng¡¯s cataphracts strength by setting another ambush.

    Unfortunately, the heavy armors of the cataphracts were solid, which was difficult to kill the wearer. The ambush parties failed to wipe out all of the enemies before the reinforcements appeared.

    Still, they gained more experience dealing with these enemies.

    Then, yesterday evening, Zhang He noticed from the HUD map that Han Sui Army had movements. Upon scouting with his detached soul, he found that they were packing their belongings, nning to retreat.

    Since they were retreating, Han Sui and his men would let their guard down for a while, and that time was in the early morning when they woke up and had their breakfast.

    In the state of slumber and drowsiness in the morning, soldiers were rarely energetic in a long campaign.

    Thus, Zhang He ordered everyone to raid them in the early morning when the fog would be thickest. To prevent a fight between friendlies, they added feathers on top of their helmet to differentiate friends and foes.

    Afterward, it led to the present.

    Still, a thousand elites failed to return with them. They figured that the unfortunate soldiers might have died or run away during the chaos.

    Zhang He kept his eyes on the HUD map, watching Han Sui¡¯s every move. Upon seeing that Han Sui started retreating, he turned to his men, who were still celebrating.

    "Get a good rest, people! Be prepared to march atte noon. Our enemies have retreated back into their territories. They have given up fighting with us on the mountain."

    Qu Yi was surprised, "Sir, they have retreated, but why we have to be prepared? We have a bit of time to rest, right?"

    Zhang He shook his head, "Wrong. Don¡¯t forget what we¡¯vee here for. We¡¯re here as our force¡¯s secondary strike team. We have to push forward and pincer Jiameng Gate from behind. Since their nk has retreated, there is a brief opening in their defense gap. You know what I meant?"

    Qu Yi and Gao Lan were astonished by Zhang He¡¯s insight. None of them had thought about that.

    "O-Of course, general!"

    "Right away!"

    With the arrangement, Zhang He reported his sess to the n chat.

    .

    Xun You and Ju Shou were amazed by Zhang He¡¯s result. It was better than what they had expected.

    Lu Bu even revealed a faint smile. Since he liked this young general, he was looking forward to seeing his growth, and Zhang He did not disappoint him.

    Lu Bu: "Good job!"

    He even forgot his pride and praised Zhang He in the n chat.

    Tong: "Oh? You can praise someone?"

    Lu Bu: "That¡¯s rude. I always praised my subordinates when they did a good job!"

    Tong: "Since when has Junyi be your subordinate?"

    Lu Bu: "It¡¯s a metaphor and an example. Are you dumb?"

    Tong: "..."

    As usual, Tong and Lu Bu always bickered when they had a chance. Because Lu Bu had been influenced by Ju Shou for years and he was turning a new leaf, his intelligence and wisdom improved, and he could beat Tong in a debate sometimes. Furthermore, the angelic cultivation calmed his temper. He could not be baited or provoked easily anymore.

    To others, it became a friendly quarrel instead of insubordination. Therefore, no one minded their squabbles.

    Zhang He: "I have pushed back the nk troops. Requesting permission to pincer Khan¡¯s main forces at Jiameng Gate, your majesty."

    Tong: "Nah, you can¡¯t move in."

    Zhang He: "But we have an opening!"

    Tong: "Khan is still alive, and he is hiding in the main force, no? What do you think will happen if you go gung-ho on Khan in a one-on-one duel?"

    Lu Bu: "Tong is right, Junyi. Strategy wise, it¡¯s a good move, but the risk isn¡¯t worth it."

    Gao Shun: "I agree with general Lu. Also, I have something urgent to report."

    Gao Shun: "After I have retreated from my initial location, Khan¡¯s west nk army has mobilized. They areing for our west nk."

    Gao Shun and Han Hao reported their finding and their battlefront with Ma Chao. Although they had yet to fight in a direct confrontation, their scout teams had many skirmish battles, fighting to upy an advantage ground and rying information.

    Moreover, Gao Shun was on the losing side as Ma Chao¡¯s men did not fear death. Most of the time, they double-suicided with his men.

    Xun You: "Let¡¯s draw them to us, general Gao. We¡¯ll wee them with explosive traps."

    Ju Shou: "Bait a retreat and lure them to our main force, general."

    Lu Bu: "Let theme. Since chase after you, make use of traps and ambushes."

    Gao Shun: "Understood!"

    Xun You: "General Lu, we also need your men to ce traps in advance. Pleasee to ourmand tent, so we can discuss this."

    .

    In the end, Zhang He only scouted the abandoned camps to clean the battlefields and buried the deceases, even though Han Sui had already looted and taken every weaponry and supplies with him.

    As for Gao Shun, he baited Ma Chao deep north to where he ced several horse traps, gunpowder traps, and trenches.

    The clueless chasers fell into the traps as nned.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The rigged explosive traps stopped their advancement on their tracks. Unfortunately, only 5000 men were killed in the trap series.

    Ma Chao averted from the traps and changed his direction.

    "We¡¯re taking a detour! Rush through their gaps and attack Jiange County. We¡¯ll cut their supply line and attack them from behind!"

    .

    Meanwhile, Xun You had already taken a precaution. He had order Han Hao retreat ahead, so he could defend Jiange County with 10,000 men, just in case Ma Chao nned to steal their supplies.

    The moment Ma Chao slipped through their, Lu Bu was the first to react.

    He pulled back everyone from the main battlefield and chased after Ma Chao¡¯s 95,000 soldiers.

    Gao Shun¡¯s battalions also followed after them, nning to defend the county.

    After Lu Bu had pulled back from Jiameng Gate, Khan reappeared!

    Hemanded all his men to rush forward, chasing after Lu Bu!

    Zhang He noticed the opportunities. Instead of assisting Lu Bu and others, he sent his forces to Zitong!

    Han Sui received an order from Khan, so hemanded his remaining men to follow after the main troops, pushing the battlefield toward Lu Bu¡¯s territory. Upon spotting Zhang He¡¯s Ghost Legion moving toward their Zitong Commandery headquarter, he recalled his men back to defend their county.

    The exchange between these generals continued. The conclusion was far from over!

 Chapter 426 Beyond Jiameng Pass â€“ The Chase

    Chapter 426 - Beyond Jiameng Pass - The Chase

    North of Zitong County

    Han Sui¡¯s 55,000 cataphracts galloped in at their full speed, rushing back to Zitong.

    One kilometer away east of Han Sui¡¯s rushing army, Zhang He¡¯s 20,000 knights were moving toward Zitong as well. However, his other 15,000 footmen weregging behind, but they had not given up chasing after the knights.

    Also,

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    14,000 light cavalries, armed with repeating crossbows, chased after Han Sui Army from behind and east nk, shooting arrows as they followed after the retreating troops.

    The arrows did not harm Han Sui¡¯s men since cataphracts were immune to small projectiles because of their scale armors. However, a few arrows slipped through the gap of their defense and injured a handful of soldiers.

    "Annoying pest! Rearguard battalions, turnabout! Wipe those chasers!"

    10,000 heavy cavalries took a 180 turn, facing the pursuing horse archers.

    Like the Xiongnu riders, 14,000 light cavalries also took a U-turn and ran away while they harassed the cataphracts with arrows.

    "Right nk! Get rid of their horse archers!"

    10,000 more cataphracts turned 45 degrees right, putting pressure on Zhang He¡¯s horse archers.

    Again, the light cavalries utilized their superior mobility to keep a distance, but they did not stop shooting arrows at their soldiers.

    As 20,000 men had detached from Han Sui¡¯s main force, 35,000 riders maintained their course, rushing toward Zitong County.

    When they could see the wall of Zitong County from afar, a change urred.

    Zhang He¡¯s 20,000 knights took a sharp left turn and charged at Han Sui¡¯s right nk of 10,000 men. However, the 7,000 horse archers withdrew from the battle as they had used up their arrows.

    The knights reced the light cavalries and rushed toward the oing cataphracts head-on.

    *BOOM*

    They collided!

    Although their armors were solid, one side came prepared.

    *BOOM*

    The knights did not use spears or halberds. Instead, they used maces and hammers.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    As cataphracts used swords andnces, they ended up grazing the armors of the knights, unable to prate the armor tes.

    However, one hit from a hammer was enough to send a fully-geared cataphract flying off their horse. It also stunned the victim, causing internal injuries.

    From a bird¡¯s eye view, the group of silver knights slowly devoured the mobs of riders on the opposite side.

    500 Cataphracts fell.

    1,000 ...

    1,500 ...

    2,000 ...

    10,000 cataphracts were slowly chipped down as two armies rushed through each other¡¯s battalions.

    Han Sui already had reached Zitong by the time the two armies shed. When he got on the top of Zitong¡¯s battlements to observe the battle, he was shocked.

    His nk guards were being devoured by the wave of 20,000 heavy knights!

    "Signals! Call the rearguards to support the nk army! Rescue them!"

    *BWOOOOO*

    Han Sui¡¯s men blew their signal horns and waved their signal color gs, rying orders.

    A minuteter, the other 10,000 cataphracts, who were sent to chase away the pursuing horse archers, turned around, looking to assist the nk army.

    At that moment, the 7,000 horse archers that they were chasing also turned around and charged at them.

    Noticing their reaction and believing that these light cavalries would be no-match against their superior heavy armors, all cataphracts took out their swords, preparing to fight in close-rangedbat.

    However, the 7,000 light horsemen did not n to fight in meleebat. They switched out their primary weapon, the repeating crossbows, to something else!

    Each of them pulled out a pistol!

    They were the handguns that were created by the system skill, made by Medusa!

    Moreover, they were not a standard gun like Tong¡¯s Glock. Medusa created something with stronger firepower, the Desert Eagle series.

    All of them lined in rows, and the frontline pulled the triggers while the troops on the second row onward got into the position to switch rows.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    At 50 to 100 meters range, a volley of over 1,000 handguns was deadly against a group of mobs. Even the scale armor could not stop the bullets.

    Scale armors were, after all, made of small pieces of iron tes sewing together. The armor could protect them from arrows, sword sh, spear thrust, but they were not designed to fight against firearms of the future era.

    Small bullet holes appeared in the armors while the riders could feel something hot going inside their bodies, damaging their inner organs. Some resisted the impact and continued the charge against the light cavalries, but most of them fell from their horses.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    The light cavalries turned into cowboys or horse gunners as if they were from the Wild West Era.

    All rearguards fell from their horses. Even the cataphracts, who had not turned around, were also shot.

    Not all bullets found their targets. As the warhorses were galloping at their full speed, the soldiers could not handle the recoil and the aim properly.

    As a result, each of them required more than one shot to put down a cataphract.

    After each soldier had fired seven shots, the front row of 1,000 men ran out of bullets.

    Qu Yi, the one leading the 7,000 light cavalries, shouted as he gave a new order.

    "Second row to the front! First row, go back to the rear!"

    The front horsemen slowed their horses and shrunk to the back of their formation. Another toon of 1,000 men took over the front row as they aimed their pistol forward.

    Qu Yi withheld his order as he gauged the distance between them and the fleeing cataphracts. Thetter managed to gain a distance from them because of the previous shooting as the chasers had to avoid the obstacles, such as dead riders, fallen horses, and the stray horses.

    Now, they were 300 meters away.

    "Keep chasing! Don¡¯t shoot yet!"

    .

    Meanwhile, the 20,000 heavy knights were sweeping the cataphracts with their hammers and maces. However, one of the knights did not wield a blunt weapon like the others.

    Gao Lan rode to the forefront and disyed his angel power by swinging his aura-reinforced ive at the oing cataphracts.

    *SWUA*

    The ive cut through the scale armor like soft butter, severing the victim¡¯s body in half with one swing.

    Several colleagues of the dead cataphracts turned around to retaliate against Gao Lan.

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    All soldiers that wereing for Gao Lan were cut down.

    One swing, one dead cataphract.

    His polearm mastery was not as showy as Lu Bu, Tong, or other great generals, but it still got the job done.

    With Gao Lan being their spearhead, the heavy knights broke through the ranks of Han Sui¡¯s 10,000 nk battalions.

    Before the rearguards had arrived, all cataphracts were dismounted by the blunt weapons. Now, they were sitting ducks.

    *RUMBLE*

    The fleeing rearguards appeared on the horizon, along with the chasing 7,000 horse gunners.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    The chasers continued shooting at the backs of the cataphracts.

    Without a propermander, all of these clone soldiers could only follow orders of their superiors or signals. Qu Yi had it easy withering these groups with Medusa¡¯s guns.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Thest of the rearguard went down.

    The knights and the gunner cavalries regrouped as they surrounded the dismounted troopers.

    "SURRENDER! YOU ARE SURROUNDED!" Gao Lan yelled, trying to end today¡¯s battle early.

    The injured cataphracts nced at the signal gs on top of Zitong¡¯s walls. Since their general, aka their puppeteer, was still alive, they would follow their orders to the death.

    Upon seeing the signal, [Kill], they scraped any weapon they could find and charged at the nearest enemy.

    "KILL!!"

    Without a choice, Qu Yi and Gao Lan¡¯s soldiers did not leave anyone alive.

    .

    .

    Han Sui watched his men dying helplessly in the middle of his enemy¡¯s encirclement from the top of the city wall.

    Although it was vexing, he did not take it to heart as these soldiers were soulless drones. Khan could create new ones any time soon.

    "Seal the gate. Do not let anybody in or out."

    Han Sui opened his n chat and reported the current situation to Khan and Ma Chao, hoping to contribute to something.

    .

    Khan nced at his n chat feeds. Upon seeing Han Sui¡¯s reports, he clicked his tongue.

    ¡¯Useless bastard! I thought he was more talented than this. Thest life, I heard he was a brave general that stopped the Qiang from invading the Liang Province. Howe he is so weak here!?¡¯

    Khan did not reply or leave a word to Han Sui. Instead, he kept it to himself.

    .

    As Khan nevermunicated with Han Sui, thetter did not know what he should do next.

    Protecting Zitong with 35,000 soldiers were possible. Thus, he conscripted the local poption into militias to help them defend the walls.

    Han Sui was tempted to burn this city down to the ground and retreat to Chengdu, so they could regroup and recuperate before their remaining army could fight against Zhang He¡¯s knights.

    As he was pondering, Zhang He¡¯s main force, the infantries, arrived in front of the Zitong County¡¯s walls.

    .

    Looking at the corpses of the cataphract clones, Zhang He sighed.

    "We had surrounded them, but they didn¡¯t even surrender?"

    Qu Yi shook his head, "No. They just suicide-charged at us."

    Zhang He grumbled. Fighting against ordinary humans would have been a lot easier than fighting emotionless soldiers since thetter did not fear death. With that kind of mindset, they could potentially be dangerous in siege warfare.

    Zhang He sent his report to the n chat and sought a bit of advice.

    But before anyone could give Zhang He a good suggestion, Tong ordered him.

    Tong: "Send messengers to Liu Biao. Tell him that we¡¯re keeping the Xiongnu at Zitong. I want him to mobilize from Jing Province and invade Yi Province, starting from Yongan and Jiangzhou!"

    Qu Yi and Gao Lan¡¯s face paled. They did not expect that Tong wanted to involve Liu Biao in this conflict.

    Xun You: "What are you thinking, your majesty!? Why are you giving up Yi Province!?"

    Jia Xu: "Are you nuts!? Dragging Liu Biao into this fight is going toplicate our Yi Province acquisition!"

    All strategists objected to Tong¡¯s advice as it might harm them in the long run.

    First, Liu Biao might have agreed to surrender to Tong. However, once he acquired a portion of the Yi Province during this campaign, this warlord would have a stronger negotiation power to bargain for titles in Tong¡¯s court, making it harder to tame him.

    Secondly, there was no guarantee that Liu Biao might backstab them in the future. Therefore, letting an outsider obtain more territories was a bad idea, even if they could drive the Xiongnu faster.

    Tong: "Y¡¯all are overthinking. Do you think I¡¯m giving Liu Biao a chance to rebel or something?"

    Jia Xu: "Unfortunately, I do."

    Xun Yu: "Me, too."

    Tong: "You think we can defend all new territories with our current officers?"

    Tong exined his reason in the n chat.

    Currently, Tong¡¯s empirecked personals to govern all those territories. Since Lu Bu had conquered the Liang Province, they required more time to train and send more officers to manage this region. Also, they had to invest in the cities and counties in Liang Province to ensure their safety and prosperity.

    Therefore, Yi Province would be their burden had they upied it now! They could take it, but they did not have enough men to defend it!

    After the extermination of the Xiongnu, the next target would be Cao Cao and Liu Bei. However, those two would attack their kingdom first whenever they heard that Tong was too busy digesting Liang Province and Yi Province.

    In summary, Tong wanted to give away Yi Province to Liu Biao, so this warlord would clean up the mess in their stead while Tong¡¯s forces digested the Liang Province. Once Liang Province was secured, they would devour other lord¡¯s territoryter.

    Although Tong exined everything, all strategists still refused his idea.

    Tong¡¯s pace was slow and steady, but all strategists wanted Tong to have the absolute rule.

    Reading all the critics from their kingdom¡¯s strategists, Zhang He was saddened.

    "Damn politics. His majesty is trying to eliminate the Xiongnu here. Why are they overstepping their boundaries?"

    However, a new guy, whom Tong had invited this year, voiced his thought in the chat for the first time.

    Sima Yi: "Do it, general Zhang. Don¡¯t give an F about the politics and the theorists¡¯ bullcrap. Wipe the Xiongnu ASAP, and we¡¯ll clean up your messter!"

 Chapter 427 Battle of Jiange

    Chapter 427 - Battle of Jiange

    Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Ju Shou, and Xun You were shocked by Sima Yi¡¯sment.

    Before they could retort and debunk Sima Yi, Tong gave Zhang He another permission.

    Tong: "Send a reinforcement request to Liu Baio and finish off the Xiongnu ASAP. Our men will clean up the mess that you made. It¡¯s our job."

    Reading Tong¡¯sment, Zhang He, Qu Yi, and Gao Lan were delighted. They cupped their fists and knelt before the n chat interface by instinct.

    "Thank you, your majesty!"

    Their voice did not get through, nor did their words appear on the n chat.

    The chat was flooded with the four strategists trying to change Tong¡¯s mind. However, Tong¡¯s order did not change.

    .

    Ganling City

    Sima Yi read through the n chat with a faint smile on his face.

    "This emperor is bold. [Our men will clean up the mess that you made]? So much trusting to the point that I want to puke."

    Although Sima Yi¡¯s words were poisonous, deep down inside, he was impressed by Tong¡¯s way of governing.

    It was well-known that the most significant obstacle when they were in the war was their politicians. Many talented generals and strategists failed to win a decisive battle against their foes because of their country¡¯s internal struggle and their civil officers¡¯ foolishness.

    Whenever there was a chance to finish off a strong rival country, they should go all out regardless of the consequences.

    However, there was a limit. This consequence should not affect the big picture.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t hate the emperor, though. This is the right way. Still, I don¡¯t understand him.¡¯

    When Sima Yi returned to his resident that day, he reviewed the map of their country one more time.

    ¡¯Sharpening our weapons before a war is ideal. However, over-preparing is so inefficient. We could have wiped out Cao Cao long ago, but the emperor keeps dragging the conflict away ... This part doesn¡¯t make sense to me. What is he waiting for?¡¯

    Sima Yi had not obtained a cultivation manual yet this year, so he did not know about the power of Guan Yu and Pu Jing.

    Also, he did not know that Tong was hiding other secrets that only he, Medusa, and Friday knew.

    This emperor did not waste time having sex around all these years. He was preparing for another stage, which was a part of his endgame n.

    It would not take long until this game of [Heaven Festival] would be over.

    .

    With the support of the emperor, Zhang He dispatched a messenger to inform Liu Biao in Xiangyang.

    It was a pity that Wei You and Zhou Cang had already returned from their trip. Or else, they would have ryed his messages faster.

    "What¡¯s next, general?" Gao Lan was nervous about this move.

    "Take Zitong down with everything we have! We may want to get Liu Biao involved, but we will only need them as a distraction to draw the Xiongnu remnants in Yi Province. Our forces will take down this city and Chengdu ASAP, so these barbarians will be crushed by the pressures from all sides."

    "What about Chanyu Khan, sir?"

    "Leave them to Lu Bu. If he can¡¯t defeat Khan, we¡¯ll have to ept the humiliation and call the emperor for his help."

    "..."

    "For now, make camps, reorganize all soldiers with guns, and build arrow towers and prepare for the siege tomorrow. Also, Gao Lan, Qu Yi ... I have another task for you two. It rtes to a night raid tonight."

    .

    .

    Outskirts of Jiange County

    Ma Chao avoided all traps and rushed toward Jiange like a mad dog. Even though he knew that the murderer of his father was at Zitong, Ma Chao ignored him and pursued after Zhang He¡¯s colleagues.

    He did not want to kill Zhang He right away. He nned to kill every friend that Zhang He had.

    Ma Chao wanted to do everything to agonize Zhang He, making him feel the same pain.

    ¡¯Once I¡¯m done with these fools, you¡¯re next! Zhang He!¡¯

    The fierce general rode at the forefront. When he reached Jiange City and saw Han Hao¡¯s banners, Ma Chao smiled.

    He could siege this city right away, but he would be nked by Lu Bu and his men.

    But Ma Chao found a weakness in Lu Bu¡¯s legion and their deployment.

    Beyond this Jiange City, there were no back-up troops. If they could bypass this city, their territories north of Jiange were undefended.

    "Big mistake, fools! All troops! We¡¯ll keep heading northeast! Next destination, Hanzhong!"

    Currently, Gao Shun and Lu Bu were chasing Ma Chao from behind after thetter had slipped through their. Now, their city defense was the most vulnerable, as all battalions had been deployed.

    Hanzhong was undefended, so this was Ma Chao¡¯s golden opportunity!

    95,000 Cataphracts rushed northeast and ignored Jiange County, leaving Han Hao and his 10,000 men dumbfounded.

    Han Hao stared at the departing soldiers as he reported the breaking news to Lu Bu and Gao Shun.

    Han Hao: "They have ignored Jiange! The troops just now are moving northeast!"

    Ju Shou: "Not good! We¡¯ve been had! They¡¯re stealing our Hanzhong!"

    Lu Bu: "What¡¯s our next move?"

    Xun You: "I have a n. Since we won¡¯t make a difference with our number and our speed, we¡¯ll abandon Hanzhong, but we¡¯ll focus on eliminating Khan¡¯s main forces."

    Lu Bu: "And we¡¯ll be isted in the middle of the enemy¡¯s territory without supplies?"

    Xun You: "You have forgotten one thing. They had burnt down Hanzhong when we arrived. Do you remember?"

    Gao Shun: "I do."

    Lu Bu: "I do. What¡¯s wrong with it?"

    Xun You: "Our backup logistic route might have been cut off after they took Hanzhong, but those men will also be short of supplies since the city was burnt."

    Gao Shun: "AH!"

    Xun You: "All of their men rush there with only men, horses, and weaponry. Once we leave them alone, they will have to kill their horses to feed their men."

    Ma Chao¡¯s tactic was good, but he was not thorough with it. Although he took the opportunity to snatch Hanzhong from them, he went there without food. Also, Hanzhong was a burnt city, so they could not procure food or steal from the local citizens.

    Karma hit them hard on this one since they were the ones that burnt the city.

    Xun You: "We¡¯ve stored a few of our supplies in Jiange. Furthermore, we have another logistic route via Wudou County to the northwest. It¡¯s far, but we still have a way out."

    Lu Bu, Gao Shun, and Han Hao ryed these messages to their subordinates right away to maintain their morale and hope. Afterward, they turned toward the south, preparing to fight against Khan.

    The three forces regrouped inside Jiange County and formed temporary 70,000-soldier arrays, getting ready to wee another army of 95,000 cataphracts.

    .

    Khan arrived with 95,000 soldiers.

    Upon seeing the garrison army inside Jiange County, heughed.

    "A bunch of cowards! The moment they get counter-attacked, they hole themselves behind the walls! What a joke!"

    Although he mocked Lu Bu¡¯s forces, Khan no longer underestimated their knights¡¯ potential and their prowess in directbat. Since Han Sui was pushed to the limit and Ma Chao had to force an opportunity for their armies, these two legions were formidable foes that Khan had to use every mean necessary to take them down.

    ¡¯We don¡¯t have enough forces to siege a city defended by 50,000 to 70,000 soldiers. I don¡¯t have a problem dealing with food shortage since I have [Create Food]. And also ...¡¯

    Khan smirked as he nced at his skill list.

    It was the skill set that Sun Fang had, [The Cultivator].

    ¡¯Let¡¯s see how you deal with my power!¡¯

    Thatte afternoon, Khan¡¯s forces surrounded the county, nning to starve them.

    He nned to use Sun Fang¡¯s skills to fly and drop several [Qi st] into the city that night while his men continued to stop Lu Bu from getting out.

    The processed took time since Khan was the only one with a human¡¯s conscience. The rest of his men were just mindless drones.

    One hourter, Khan sent 50,000 men to surround the county¡¯s east, north, and west gate.

    As Khan¡¯s troops were busy forming ranks and marched to their designated position, Lu Bu appeared on top of the wall and red at Khan, who was monitoring the county 500 meters away from the south gate.

    "Haha. You appear. What are you going to do, Lu Fengxian? Stare me to death?"

    Khan smirked as he mocked the god of war.

    *BWOOOO*

    *BWOOOO*

    The sound of signal horns made Khan¡¯s smile stiffened.

    From the west gate and the east gate of Jiange County, two battalions of redhare knights charged out, rushing toward the detached cataphracts.

    Han Hao and 10,000 knights got out of the east gate, while Gao Shun led his 10,000 men from the west.

    The two reinforced their power with their wing power as they charged into the files of cataphract¡¯s formations.

    Sensing his men getting attacked by the small fries, Khan kicked his horse, trying to lead his troops to assist the other forces.

    As Khan moved, he noticed a reflecting light from the corner of his eyes.

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    By instinct, Khan parried a fast-moving object from hitting his face, and a small dented metal object was deflected away by his halberd.

    It was a bullet head!

    Khan turned around to look at the person who had attacked him.

    Upon turning to the assant, he found the soul of Lu Bu with a strange object in its hand.

    The soul pointed its desert eagle at Khan and pulled the trigger again.

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    *BANG*

    *CLANK*

    Panicked and confused, Khan parried every bullet, thinking it was a ranged attack.

    While the frantic Khan swung his halberd to swat away all bullets, three more souls from Lu Bu appeared and surrounded him from all sides.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Each soul had a desert eagle in their hands, firing at Khan without mercy.

    "AAAAHHHHH!!"

    Khan was in a frenzy, blocking all bullets and leaving after images.

    Suddenly ...

    *BOOM*

    A cannonball mmed onto Khan¡¯s chest and sent him flying off his horse.

    Lu Bu, walking on his feet, was carrying a cannon with a cloud of white smoke from its muzzle on his shoulder.

    Since the cannon had fired, Lu Bu tossed it aside and leaped down from the top of the wall. At the same time, he recalled all souls back to reinforce his physical body.

    *PA*

    Lu Bunded softly on the ground with one right leg. He raised his right hand above his head and waved it down.

    The south gate behind him opened, and 10,000 redhare knights charged out.

    Without a horse, Lu Bu ran ahead of his men. His enhanced speed surpassed all riders with redhares!

    All knights took out their hammers and swung at the front cataphracts.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The hammer knights sent the cataphracts off their horses as they broke through their ranks.

    Khan managed to get on his feet after getting a direct hit by a cannonball. His left arm and three ribs were broken, and the pain paralyzed his movement.

    "LU FENGXIAN!!"

    Khan mustered his strength and used Sun Fang¡¯s skill [Flight] to fly backward, escaping from Lu Bu, who was charging at him.

    Lu Bu red at Khan. His four angel wings spread as he flew after the Xiongnu King.

    "You¡¯re not getting away!"

 Chapter 428 The Fall of Xiongnu

    Chapter 428 - The Fall of Xiongnu

    Sometimes, staying behind the walls was a good psychological tactic that could create a misconception about the defender¡¯s stance.

    In this case, this was Ju Shou¡¯s idea that he had proposed to Lu Bu.

    Ju Shou believed that Khan would let his guard down when Lu Bu revealed a bit of weakness by garrisoning in Jiange County.

    Usually, orthodox generals would surround the county toy siege and starve the defenders, and Ju Shou predicted that Khan would do the same since Ma Chao had already slipped through their and tried to cut their supply lines. All their movements led to a starving tactic.

    However, Khan had a weakness that his siege tactic would not work against Lu Bu. In this orthodox move, the attackers required a massive army, which had to be at least five times greater than the defenders.

    There was a reason to have five times the number than the defenders.

    The attackers had to surround the city, and each side required equal or more troops than the total defenders.

    Khan did not have that!

    Once they spread their troops to surround their county, their formation would be thin and vulnerable. A concentrated attack from the defender¡¯s troops could easily route them had they used all of their forces to strike one spot.

    Lu Bu followed some of this strategist¡¯s advice. He hid his men behind the walls for a few hours.

    As they had predicted, Khan let his guard down and ordered his men to surround the county.

    Lu Bu immediately sent two toons to distract the detached forces while he rushed forward with the main force.

    His goal was simple, get rid of Khan ASAP.

    Once Khan fell, Zhang He at Zitong would have an easier time dealing with Han Sui, and Ma Chao would lose his direction.

    All Xiongnu would be a headless chicken, and their kingdom would copse!

    "DON¡¯T RUN, COWARD!!"

    Lu Bu bellowed as he flew toward Khan, who was also flying away.

    The scene of two immortals flying in the sky astonished the soldiers in the county and Lu Bu¡¯s men on the ground.

    "Our boss can fly!?"

    "Holy crap! Our general is a god or what?"

    "GET HIM, GENERAL!!"

    The knights cheered while they were fighting the foes before them.

    Meanwhile, Khan was in distressed as he feared his alternate self.

    "LU FENGXIAN, STOP!! I¡¯M THE FUTURE YOU!! I CAME FROME THE FUTURE!! DON¡¯T ATTACK ME!!"

    Lu Bu spat, "I DON¡¯T GIVE A FUCK!!"

    Lu Bu swung his halberd and collided with Khan¡¯s crescent halberd.

    The force sent Khan flying down and crashed onto the ground.

    Lu Bu dove down, chasing the Khan who had crashednding.

    "AHHHHH!!"

    Khan cast regen to heal all his injuries, wasting 5,000 lifespans. He gathered all his forces andunched a counter-attack.

    After swinging like trying to hit a baseball, Khan¡¯s full strength swing created a gust of storm.

    Since Lu Bu had not mastered his flight skills, the sudden tornado blew him backward, sending his body over Jiange County like a ragdoll.

    He managed to regain his bnce in mid-air as the wind force died down. However, when Lu Bu flew back toward Khan¡¯s former position, he could not find the Xiongnu King anymore.

    In frustration, Lu Bu asked the others through the n chat.

    "Has anyone seen Khan after I got hit by that tornado?"

    No one answered since their eyes could not follow Lu Bu or Khan¡¯s movements.

    "Shit! He got away again!"

    .

    .

    Without Khan¡¯smand and his control, the cataphracts fought without a direction. As they were provoked by Lu Bu and his men, they attempted to counter-attack andy siege without a siege weapon.

    The cataphracts yelled in a monotone, "KILL!"

    They could hardly fight back against knights with blunt weapons. At best, they managed to find an opening and killed a few redhares before they ganged on the fallen riders.

    Ignored all the consequences, all cataphracts, who was dismounted, charged at the nearest enemies with their swords and spears.

    This was a problem. Since they suddenly became madmen, and they did not fear death, they performed better than soldiers who had human conscience and angst.

    Several knights were tackled from their horses by the suicidal soldiers. The berserk cataphracts acted like zombies, using everything to beat the knights, even if they had to break their bones or die in the process.

    Casualties increased, and the redhare knights were pushed back.

    "All units, withdraw to the city!" Han Hao shouted, trying to get his men inside the city as Khan¡¯s men were in a frenzy.

    Lu Bu, Han Hao, and Gao Shun withdrew his knights from the drone army.

    However, they remained as the rearguards of their men.

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    The three immortals cut down all cataphracts that came their way without a problem. For hours, they kept on killing, piling militated corpses on the ground.

    Han Hao and Gao Shun ran out of stamina first. They retreated back to the city.

    Lu Bu remained in front of the south gate alone, venting his frustration on the oing soldiers.

    "KILL!!"

    Even after Han Hao and Gao Shun had retreated back into the city and closed the gate, the craze soldiers held their weapons with their teeth while they used their two hands to climb the wall!

    It was a suicidal action to do in direct siege warfare since they could not protect themselves from the defenders. Withoutdders, they would get tired before they reach the top of the wall, and the chance to get to the top was also slim.

    Moreover, their iron scale armors were at least 40kg in weight, including their arms and leg guards. It was not easy to climb the slippery mud wall in that condition.

    Archers on the wall simply peeked down and shot their arrows at the faces of their enemies. Boiled oil was poured down along with rocks and boulders.

    One after another, the cataphracts fell down to the ground and died from the fall damage.

    Han Hao and Gao Shun were relieved when they saw that the enemiesmitted military suicide. They reported the situation from their war-front to Lu Bu.

    Lu Bu saw the notification and the reports. He stopped fending off against the mindless army alone and got back into the city.

    Then, the same situation replicated at the south wall. Cataphracts acted like zombies, climbing the wall recklessly and fell to their death.

    From thete afternoon, the suicide climb continued and ended at 3 AM the next day.

    The result was obvious, Khan¡¯s robotic 95,000-man army died at Jiange County walls.

    .

    On the night of the same day, Zhang He was not idle.

    Realized that Han Sui and his men did not have anyone that could fight against their immortal generals, Zhang He, Gao Lan, and Qu Yi formed a 5-ghost team to raid Zitong County by sending only their souls to kill Han Sui¡¯s soldiers.

    At midnight, their souls rushed inside the county.

    Five white ghosts were easily detected by the garrison forces, but they could not harm them. All soldiers and conscripted militias swung their swords at them, but they only cut through the air.

    Zhang He wanted to use this chance to kill all soldiers, but they were restricted by Lilim¡¯sw. Had he killed too many innocents with his virtuous souls, Zhang He would not be able to continue cultivating the angel wings.

    After all, they were called [Virtuous Souls] for a reason. Angels were supposed to be saintly beings, who were disciplined in their moral conduct. Senseless killing even in wars was prohibited.

    Even though they refrained from direct killing, Zhang He and the other souls could do something else that would not vite thews.

    As the souls could not be stopped by mortals, they reached Zitong¡¯s granary.

    Zhang He¡¯s three souls took the lead. They stole torches and set the granary on fire.

    Meanwhile, Gao Lan and Qu Yi cultivated demonic wings. Gao Lan had awakened [Gluttony], while Qu Yi had [Sloth].

    Both of them use the curses to the garrisoning cataphracts, making them sleep or torture them with hunger.

    Qu Yi and Gao Lan also followed their general¡¯s example, burning more packages of Zitong¡¯s provision.

    Once the fire was lit, town guards rang the rm bell and summoned everyone to extinguish the me. Even the civilians were forced to help.

    The ghosts did not stop. They kept ring their torches as they burned more food warehouses.

    Garrison soldiers drew water from the town wells to douse the fire, but they were inefficient. As it took a minute to draw one bucket of water from a well, that one minute was enough to burn a 100kg of the provision in a warehouse.

    Even if they had 100 wells, it was not enough to extinguish all burning warehouses at once.

    Zhang He, Qu Yi, and Gao Lan unsummoned their souls as their tasks werepleted.

    Now, they camped in front of Zitong¡¯s north gate, challenging them toe out of the city tomorrow. Had they note out, they would starve them to death.

    Han Sui, who was watching the carnage, reported the incident to Khan. However, his lord ignored his plea as he never replied anything back.

    Khan¡¯s messages appeared the next early morning, which he seemed tomunicate with Liu Yang, but Han Sui did not understand what they were trying to do.

    Han Sui was too depressed to understand his lord.

    Without a wink of sleep, he watched the burned granaries with a heartache.

    At 6 AM, Han Sui received a shocking piece of news.

    Han Sui¡¯s eyes almost slipped out of his eye sockets as he widened his eyes.

    "WHAT!? BUT HOW!?"

    He had many questions.

    How did Khan encounter Zhang Tong?

    Since Zhang Tong never left Ye City, had Khan moved to Ye within a night?

    Or was it possible that Zhang Tong had hidden in Jiange and ambushed Khan?

    But Khan was an immortal with great skills, how did Zhang Tong kill Khan?

    Han Sui¡¯s mind was nk for a minute before several pieces of his memories came back.

    It was his memory before Khan had brainwashed them. It was about how he and Ma Teng were still friends.

    ¡¯Huh? What is this?¡¯

    The clouded memory that he had forgotten resurfaced. He remembered now that Khan and Liu Yang set him up and controlled everyone in Liang Province.

    "Oh, god. We¡¯ve been had!?"

    Horrified and disbelieved, Han Sui ran toward the north wall of Zitong.

    Upon climbing the stairs to the top of the wall, he saw Zhang He¡¯s camps, which blockade the northern passage toward Jiameng Pass.

    Han Sui gritted his teeth.

    ¡¯No point fighting anymore. I have to surrender!¡¯

    He walked toward a conscripted gate captain, who was responsible for protecting the north gate.

    This person was famous among the militias, but Han Sui did not want to know his background right now.

    "Raise white gs. We¡¯re surrendering."

    The conscripted captains stared at Han Sui in disbelief.

    "Really?"

    "Yes. Khan is dead. We don¡¯t have to fight anymore."

    "Khan is dead? How did you know?"

    "Let¡¯s say that I know! Just follow my order, goddammit!"

    "Oh, sure. But first ..."

    "Hmm?"

    The captain unsheathed his sword and stabbed into Han Sui¡¯s stomach.

    He smiled at Han Sui, "A little payback for what you did to our lord. I can¡¯t let you survive and enjoy your retirement life."

    "... Y-You!"

    The captain took off his helmet.

    It was Yan Yan, a former subordinate of Liu Yan and Liu Zhang, whom Khan had killed.

    He was one of the fugitives that Khan and Han Sui were searching for!

    "Your head wille in handy. My men and I will get free merit by giving it to his majesty¡¯s men. Thanks for your hard work."

    It was thest words that Han Sui had heard before his consciousness ckened forever.

 Chapter 429 Khanâ€™s Death

    Chapter 429 - Khan¡¯s Death

    Khan abandoned his 95,000 men and escaped toward the east, heading toward the Jing Province by flying in a low altitude.

    Mimicked Lu Bu, Khan stopped using the system skills and used his wings to fly after he had gotten away from the god of war¡¯s vision.

    ¡¯That was close. My alternate self is too strong in this world! I¡¯m not his match anymore!¡¯

    At this moment, Khan regretted gambling when he first obtained the cultivation manual. He should have slowly cultivated to get his virtues to 100% first before he attempted to activate the wings.

    Now, he could not grow wing anymore and got stuck with four while Lu Bu could get his 5th and 6th in the future.

    Saddened and depressed, Khan lost focus of his direction as he continued flying aimlessly. As he finished his battle in thete afternoon, the sky soon darkened as night arrived.

    Khan was too lost in thought that he did not know where he was heading. Following his instinct, he continued flying in the middle of the night, following the starlight and the moon.

    ¡¯What a beautiful moon. Well, I never thought that one day, I¡¯ll be able to fly like this.¡¯

    For the first time, Khan, aka previous life Lu Bu, had forgotten his worldly desire as he kept flying in the sky. Yet, his face was in tears.

    ¡¯What did I do wrong in this life? What did I mess up? What¡¯s the difference between this world¡¯s Lu Bu and me?¡¯

    For hours, Khan admired the starry sky and the shining moon, floating above the cloud with his four wings and howling out his pain. When the sun appeared from the horizon, Khan¡¯s mind was clear.

    He felt like he could restart over again, even without the ability to gain more wings.

    ¡¯Haha, wow. I never thought that crying helps. If I say this to my old friends, they would haveughed at me.¡¯

    Khan descended from the cloud as he was exhausted from the constant flying.

    As he came down, he found himself in the northern region of the country.

    Specifically, he was in Ye¡¯s airspace, a few kilometers near Tong¡¯s capital city.

    Khan recognized the city as he used toe here before in his previous life. Unfortunately, it was rough and short.

    ¡¯Ye City? Isn¡¯t this the city where Tong lives?¡¯

    Khan¡¯s smirk appeared for a second before it disappeared. His second thought refrained him from attacking Ye or trying to find Tong here.

    His inner desire sought peace as he was influenced by the calm night under the roof of stars and the full moon. However, his past kept urging him that it was his golden chance to eliminate the threat, Tong, before he could get stronger.

    He had two choices, attack Ye City to kill Tong or abandon this useless struggle and live in peace elsewhere.

    Unable to decide, Khan nced at his n chat interface by instinct. He asked the remaining survivors about the current situation.

    Ma Chao reported back that they had taken Hanzhong. However, the county was empty, so he nned to head northeast to attack Chang¡¯An, which Khan approved that.

    As for Han Sui, they were in bad shape. Zhang He stalked their Zitong, and they seemed to have sent a reinforcement request from Liu Biao. Soon, their Yi Province would be attacked from the east.

    Also, Zitong was raided that night. All their granaries were burnt.

    As for Liu Yang, she did not reply as usual.

    In frustration, Khan spammed the chat to force Liu Yang to reply.

    During the spam, Khan thought he had sensed a familiar presence from below in the middle of Ye Inner Pce.

    Curious, Khan hid his aura andnded on top of Ye Pce, scanning the inner city and Tong¡¯s government buildings.

    It was still early morning, at 5.30 AM.

    When Khan¡¯s feetnded on the government hall¡¯s roof, he made his decision. Since he decided to snoop around here, he might as well assassinate Tong to vent for his losses before he retired from the war of hegemony.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t stand Zhang Tong after all. He has to die, or I won¡¯t be able to sleep soundly in this life. Well, I can¡¯t defeat myself, so I don¡¯t mind if this world¡¯s me take over Zhang Tong¡¯s throne.¡¯

    Khan scouted for Tong¡¯s current whereabouts with his aura sense. Since he had dueled Tong in the Battle of Ho Gate, Khan remembered Tong¡¯s aura.

    In less than a minute, Khan found Tong within the inner pce along with a familiar presence that he had detected earlier.

    Liu Yang!

    ¡¯Huh!? What is she doing there!? Has she been captured!?¡¯

    Khan was delighted that he found Liu Yang again. He nned that once he got her back, he might as well take her as a wife in this life and retired from this immortal game together.

    Liu Yang was smart, and she was once a goddess, which suited Lu Bu¡¯s taste. Although he missed his former wives and daughter, being able to bang a goddess was more tempting.

    He typed to the n chat.

    Khan: "Liu Yang, I¡¯m inside the inner pce. I can assassinate Zhang Tong at any time."

    Khan: "Can you distract Zhang Tong, so I can kill him?"

    Khan: "If you are captured or restricted by Zhang Tong, just type anything to the n chat, so I¡¯ll know."

    He prayed that Liu Yang would reply to him or answer with anything.

    Then, his prayer had been granted.

    Liu Yang: "Zhang Tong is sleeping. However, there is a four-winged demoness nearby. Sneak into my room without activating your power, or they will detect it. Disable your aura and deactivate all your power."

    Khan clenched his fist.

    Khan: "Okay. I¡¯ll be heading there now! How are you anyway? Have you been captured all these times? You never texted back."

    Liu Yang: "I¡¯m busy. I can¡¯t stop grinding. Too much fun and addicting."

    Khan: "What grinding? Too much fun? Addicting?"

    Liu Yang: "Ah, you don¡¯t have to worry about that. I¡¯m alive and kicking. Hurry and cum."

    Khan: "Cum?"

    Liu Yang: "That¡¯s a joke. Just hurry, dammit!"

    Confused, Khan sneaked into Tong¡¯s room as ordered.

    Upon entering, he found the naked Liu Yang, whose body was smeared with white sticky liquid.

    The scene of a semen-soaked naked young goddess stunned Khan.

    Before he realized what the liquid on Liu Yang¡¯s body and the smell were, Khan heard the voice of a man and felt a sharp hand thrusting into his chest from the back.

    Tong¡¯s right hand stabbed into Khan¡¯s body and crushed his heart.

    "Well done, Yi¡¯er. I¡¯ll reward you after this."

    Liu Yang giggled, "You¡¯re wee, my dear. Please give me more of your love. I need it."

    Tongughed, "Of course."

    Khan was caught off guard and did not activate his defense aura in time. Still, he would not ept death that easily.

    He red at Liu Yang as he understood everything.

    ¡¯This bitch betrayed me!¡¯

    It reminded him of the time that Diaochan coaxed him into killing Dong Zhuo in hisst life. Now, someone else had plotted an assassination on him by using his trusted strategist girl.

    Still, it was not the time to reminiscing about the past. His life was in danger!

    Khan shouted, "TIME STOP!"

    Tong sneered, "ZA WARUDO!"

    Khan activated his [Time Stop] to buy some time. However, Tong could also move and activated the same skill to move in the time stop world.

    The former god of war managed to pull his body from Tong¡¯s hand, but he lost his heart and several ribcages in the process.

    Khan summoned his soul and used regen to heal his body.

    But Tong was also on to him.

    "Thanks foring and make it easier for us."

    Tong¡¯s body turned into scales as he teleported behind Khan¡¯s back.

    ¡¯WHAT!?¡¯

    Khan could see through Lu Bu¡¯s movements and followed his speed, but he could not do the same to Tong.

    *BOOM*

    A simple backhanded strike knocked Khan through the wall,unching backward like a ragdoll.

    The naked Tong hummed and disappeared again.

    This time, he reappeared behind Khan, who was still flying backward from the earlier impact.

    Not only Tong teleported behind Khan, but he also spread his ck wings, enhancing his physical body with the demon power.

    "MUDAMUDAMUDA!"

    Tongughed as he and all his souls punched Khan from all directions, crushing his bones and muscles.

    Khan stared at all the demon souls in disbelief.

    Behind Tong¡¯s back, there were six wings!

    SIX SOULS OF SINS!

    SIX-WINGED DEMON!!

    Khan vomited a fountain of blood as he muttered.

    "S-Since ... when ..."

    Still chuckled, Tong gathered all forces into his hand, turning it into a de.

    "Not too long ago. Well, I have to admit. Natural dual-cultivation helps a lot. Whenever I had sex, I gained a bit of enlightenment. You should have picked a demon path instead, Khan."

    Khan could not even reply or react because of the shock. Tong¡¯s hand shed.

    The neck of Khan was severed from his shoulder.

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    Tong¡¯s hands moved in lightning speed, cutting Khan¡¯s real body into thousand pieces, ensuring his death.

    The time stop power dispersed, and a pile of Khan¡¯s meat dropped onto the courtyard in front of Tong¡¯s room.

    Yet, Tong stared at the pile of mincemeat, watching and waiting.

    A couple minutester, the pile of corpse reanimated into aplete body of Khan.

    Li Feihong¡¯s copied skill, [Self-Resurrection], had activated!

    However ...

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    *SWOOSH*

    Tong chopped the regenerating body into pieces again.

    Then, he stood still and watched the chopped meat.

    *RUMBLE*

    Khan self-resurrected once more. Before the body waspleted, Tong interrupted it again.

    *SWUA*

    Khan¡¯s brain was destroyed, and all his flesh was cut to a thousand parts.

    The repeatedmotion attracted the royal guards¡¯ attention. A thousand soldiers, including Medusa, and Friday, rushed to Tong¡¯s side to protect him, but their worry was unnecessary.

    "What happened here?"

    Tong snickered, "Khan wanted to assassinate me, but Wang Yi set him up and let me ambush him. Then, you¡¯re looking at the aftermath."

    "Oh?"

    Both Friday and Medusa turned to see Liu Yang, who was still covered in white sticky liquid. She shamelessly strode in the courtyard naked.

    Liu Yang giggled, "I deserve some credits, right? Your majesty?"

    "Haha, indeed. Can I reward her with extra nights, you two?"

    Friday clicked her tongue, "Fine, but only I and Meddy can bear your sons."

    Medusa shrugged, "I¡¯m cool with it. For now, we should lead the royal guards away first."

    From 5.30 AM to 6 AM, Tong kept killing Khan over and over again until thetter ran out of lifespans.

    Medusa and Friday kept monitoring the number of survivors.

    Soon, from [9] immortals from theherworld, it changed to [8].

    That was the end of Khan¡¯s struggle.

    .

    .

    Lilim collected Khan¡¯s damaged soul andughed.

    "Well, that was your mistake, Lu Fengxian. You should have quit when you could, yet your pride led you to your death."

    The soul blinked as if it was protesting Lilim¡¯s words.

    Sheughed and tossed the corrupted soul into the steam of karma, sending Khan to the newherworld that she had created.

    Then, she looked at Liu Yang, who was enjoying her sex life.

    "What a slut. I thought she would have been a prideful goddess candidate, but she fell ... hard. Hey, Sunday, what do you think? Do you want her as your mother?"

    A bright soul, which was like a miniature of a white sun, appeared behind Lilim. It released a silent cry as if it cursed at her.

    Lilimughed for a moment before she looked at Tong in her observation monitor.

    "What should I do after the festival is over, I wonder?"

 Chapter 430 End Game Preparation

    Chapter 430 - End Game Preparation

    The death of Khan did not just influence the result of Zitong¡¯s battlefront. At Hanzhong, Ma Chao was rmed.

    He was in a panic for a minute before his real memories returned. The brainwashing effect from Khan¡¯s skill worn off.

    However, Ma Chao remembered everything that Khan had ordered him. All previous memory about his time under Khan¡¯s rules remained, including the death of his father, Ma Teng.

    The hatred of Zhang He and Tong did not disappear along with Khan¡¯s brainwashing effect.

    ¡¯I¡¯m free, but Zhang He and Zhang Tong are my enemies. I have to revenge for my father!¡¯

    Ma Chao tried to operate the n chat again, but his n had been disbanded. No game-like interface appeared in front of him again.

    ¡¯I no longer havemunication power. I guess I have to take these men and flee to somewhere else ... Somewhere else or a lord that is willing to fight against Zhang Tong and his men.¡¯

    Ma Chao turned toward the east.

    In his mind, he had four choices, Cao Cao, Liu Biao, Sun Ce, or Liu Bei.

    From what Ma Chao knew, Cao Cao was working as Tong¡¯s vessel state that controlled the central in. Although he was the strongest overlord among all choices, Ma Chao could not trust this man. Therefore, this choice was eliminated from the list.

    Liu Biao was a Han loyalist and possessed the [Liu] surname. Ma Chao did not know if Liu Biao was Tong¡¯s ally or not. But from what Han Sui had reported, they seemed to be working together, and Liu Biao might mobilize his army to upy Yi Province soon. Thus, this was not a good choice.

    Sun Ce¡¯s stance was dubious. He might be an upstart young lord, but he might also be Tong¡¯s ally. Since Ma Chao could not determine Sun Ce¡¯s stance on Tong, he postponed the decision for now.

    And thest lord, Liu Bei, was the only lord that had sent an invitation letter to him in secret. Because of Khan¡¯s brainwashing skill, Ma Chao had disregarded the letter. But now, he remembered it.

    The letter said that Liu Bei would offer a position under his wings, and he wanted to fight against Tong, who was a false emperor of the Han Dynasty. The right sessor of the Han Dynasty should be someone with the [Liu] surname and inherited the authentic bloodline of the first Han Emperor, Liu Bang.

    Although the letter did not say who the right sessor was, Ma Chao could guess that Liu Bei referred to either himself or Liu Biao.

    ¡¯Liu Bei is currently serving Cao Cao as a governor of Hongnong. Well, I¡¯ll upy Chang¡¯An as nned, and I¡¯ll ask to join him. Maybe he can dere independent from Cao Cao and fight against Zhang Tong.¡¯

    .

    When Zhang He had taken over Chang¡¯An and moved toward Hanzhong, Liu Bei¡¯s spies already reported their movements to their lord.

    Liu Bei, who had been appointed as the new governor of Hongnong by Cao Cao, saw a chance to break free from Cao Cao¡¯s leash. He borrowed the men from the city, numbered 30,000 soldiers, including Guan Yu¡¯s cataphracts, to move west.

    He imed that they would assist Zhang He and Lu Bu.

    Cao Cao saw through Liu Bei¡¯s n, but he allowed this greedy traitor to move freely. However, he did not allow Liu Bei to use [Cao] banners, but Liu Bei had to use his [Liu] instead.

    Liu Bei did not think much. He epted this opportunity and marched to Chang¡¯An with Zhang Fei, leaving Guan Yu to protect Hongnong.

    Without trouble, they stole Chang¡¯An from Zhang He¡¯s men.

    Inte September, Ma Chao and his 95,000 cataphracts reached Chang¡¯An and found Liu Bei¡¯s forces.

    Liu Bei was not panicked when he saw Ma Chao¡¯s men. He rode out with a broad smile as he recalled the memory of his alternate dimension.

    "Wee, General Ma! I¡¯ve been expecting you!"

    Ma Chao frowned as he did not like the overly familiar attitude of Liu Bei. After all, he wanted to use this man to seek vengeance for his father.

    "Tell me, Liu Bei. Are you willing to fight the emperor?"

    Liu Bei smirked, "Obviously. As the sessor of the great emperor Liu Bang, I won¡¯t allow someone with other surnames to sit on the throne. The Han Dynasty belongs to [Liu], not [Zhang]!"

    Ma Chao snorted. He did not like Liu Bei¡¯s excuse.

    Still, he felt a strong presence behind this long-ear man.

    Zhang Fei, who had already awakened three wings, rode behind his sworn brother as his bodyguard. He peered at Ma Chao, scanning him from head to toes.

    "Weakling," Muttered Zhang Fei.

    Ma Chao heard the insult, but he could not retort. His instinct cried that he was no match against this person.

    Humiliated, Ma Chao gritted his teeth and bowed to Liu Bei.

    "If you¡¯re willing to fight Zhang Tong, then I¡¯ll help you."

    Liu Beiughed and hugged Ma Chao, "Good! Then, little brother, let¡¯s bring your troops inside. Last month, I had just epted a few young men to my ranks, and they have great talent and insight. Come, we¡¯ll talk to them."

    Ma Chao led the 95,000 soulless cataphracts inside Chang¡¯An and integrated them into Zhang Fei¡¯s Army. Then, Zhang Fei led Ma Chao to the pce, where Liu Bei and his new young strategists were waiting inside.

    Xu Shu and Pang Tong were there!

    As Liu Bei remembered these people, he did not mind their current age and look. He nned to utilize them properly in this life.

    .

    .

    Back in time,

    That day after Tong killed Khan, Medusa, Friday, and Tong gathered for a private meeting.

    The agenda was the current Heaven Festival game, which almost reached its ending. By killing Liu Yang, Pu Jing, and Sun Fang, the game would be over.

    However, they were not ready to end the game ... yet.

    Friday snorted, "Should we end the game now? Tong, I think you can just fly to Pu Jing, Liu Yang, and Sun Fang to kill them all right now. With your six wings, no one should be your match anymore, right?"

    Medusa sighed, "Not yet."

    Tong had a wry smile on his face, "I¡¯m sorry. We¡¯re not ready yet."

    "But why!? We could have ended this farce years ago!"

    Tong pointed at the sky, "... Lilim."

    Medusa nodded, "Yeah, Lilim."

    "Lilim?"

    "Do you remember how many wings she has?"

    "Ugh ... ten, right?"

    "That¡¯s right. Ten wings. Also, there¡¯s that Zou Ci with 8 wings."

    Friday frowned. She still did not understand Tong¡¯s point.

    Medusa patted her daughter¡¯s head, "Defeating all otherworlders is not everything. There¡¯re several beings that we have to deal with in the aftermath. We also don¡¯t know what has happened to the other side, so we have to prepare a sizable army and be ready for it."

    "I don¡¯t understand."

    Tong drew a picture of two worlds on the table before them.

    "Your mother and I have talked about this many times. We think that we will need an army of immortals when the portal opens again."

    "???"

    Tong drew a tunnel from one world to the other world.

    "You see, Friday. This festival is rigged in unusual ways. Our enemies are not just the otherworlders. We believe that several immortals back home want us dead, and they will ambush us or try to kill us when we return. That might be why Morning Star is waging war against Heaven."

    "How did you know?"

    "Just a theory. But that¡¯s not the point."

    Medusa took a book and opened it on the table. It was a record of their great generals, vice generals, and other officers, who had a cultivation manual, which listed all of their wings and their attributes.

    "We¡¯re nning to let these generals gaining more experience in the battlefield in this world, so they can rediscover themselves and obtain more power."

    "You two are using this world as a training ground for them? But what for ... Ah!" Friday finally understood their hidden agenda.

    Tong was relieved that Friday finally understood it.

    "We¡¯re preparing a back-up army when the dimension gate reopens. If Morning Star defeats the angels, we might don¡¯t have to use them. But if he lost, those hypocrite angels and gods will be in on us."

    Both Medusa and Tong continued to exin their n about their goal after their unification of their country.

    First, when the year 200 AD arrived, many citizens and soldiers should have been able to grow wings, and a new chaotic age might begin. Tong suspected that other countries also had many immortals with many wings, just like Vida, whom Lu Bu had reported. The unification of China was just a start as the real world struggle would soon begin from that year.

    Secondly, they would train their generals and officers to the point that the weakest of them would have at least four wings. As for the great generals, they should have 7 or 8 wings. If anyone had the potential to grow more than 8, Tong and the two demonesses would nurture them into someone that could rival the gods.

    Third, when the dimension gate reopened, Tong should advance his power to the 12-winged demon tier at the minimum to prepare for the worst-case scenario had the gods wanted all demons dead. With 12 wings, Tong should be able to square against the gods and first-generation archangels like Michael.

    Andstly, Lilim and Lilith might be a hidden threat that could ruin them at any moment without prior notice. After all, they were in control of the system and the dimensionws. To be safe, they wanted to draw the battle royale game for a bit longer to buy times for their growth. They did not know that once the game ended, Lilim might do something absurd again.

    "You two are preparing for aherworld war or what?"

    "Nah, we¡¯re trying to survive."

    "But what about the unification n? So is this why we¡¯re not progressing at all?"

    "Not really. We¡¯re progressing just fine, but I need suitable ygrounds for my generals to y. After all, toying with the historical figures like Cao Cao and Liu Bei is fun."

    Tong turned to the country map, which was hung on the wall behind Tong¡¯s seat in the room. He pointed at Liang Province.

    "Right now, I¡¯m leaving Liang Province vulnerable for a reason. I also allowed Zhang He to contact Liu Biao for the sake of this n."

    Tong took a token of Liu Bei and marked it at the Liang Province.

    "I¡¯m giving this province to Liu Bei, and Yi Province will be devoured by Liu Biao."

    With two more factions expanded their power, the country was splitted into five factions;

    Liu Bei, whom Tong predicted that he would be expanding to Liang Province soon.

    Cao Cao, the overlord of the central in.

    Sun Ce, the little conqueror of Jiangdong.

    Liu Biao, who would rule Yi and Jing Province.

    And Tong, the current emperor.

    "Soon, Liu Bei will breakout from Cao Cao as he always did in history. Well, instead of stealing the Xu Province, he will attack our Chang¡¯An and steal our newly upied Liang Province."

    Medusa nodded, "That¡¯s why you didn¡¯t bother sending any civil officer there or trying to develop those regions?"

    "Yeah."

    "What about Zhang He and Lu Bu¡¯s legions? They will get isted there."

    "I have a new mission for them. I¡¯m nning to make them switch side to Liu Biao and test his loyalty."

    "Can you trust them?"

    Tong grinned, "Zhang He is a good boy. Lu Bu will throw a tantrum, but he won¡¯t betray me."

    Friday tilted her head in confusion, "Why?"

    Medusa rolled her eyes, "Lu Lingqi. This bastard promised to take her as his new concubine. All historical women in this world are like pokemon to him. Gotta catch ¡¯em all. No ... Gotta fuck ¡¯em all."

    Tong sweated bullets while his expression turned into a poker-face meme.

    "... You sure are having fun in this realm, Tong," Friday pouted as she took off her clothes, "You¡¯ve been with Wang Yi long enough. Impregnate me now, or I¡¯ll severe your junk permanently! Make me the empress already! I¡¯ve had enough!"

 Chapter 431 Yi Province Aftermath

    Chapter 431 - Yi Province Aftermath

    Lu Bu and Zhang He withdrew from the conflict in Yi Province after Khan was confirmed killed by Tong.

    Instead of going back to the northern mountain route, Tong ordered them via the n chat that they had to travel east toward the Xiangyang City of Liu Biao, then they would station there for the time being.

    Both of themplied with the order in reluctant. They regrouped and moved southeast, along with several new faces.

    They gathered at Zitong, then they moved to Chengdu, cooperated with Liu Biao¡¯s reinforcement before they head west to Jiangling. Afterward, they would leech off Liu Biao¡¯s supplies and garrison in Xiangyang, working as Tong¡¯s eyes and ears in the southern region.

    Yan Yan and Zhang Ren, the two capable generals under Liu Yan and Liu Zhang, who was hiding in Zitong, followed after Zhang He in secret. They disguised as 100-man captains of the surrendered garrison forces and managed to get absorbed into the ghost legion.

    They were curious about why Zhang He abandoned their territory, so they took this chance to tag along, hoping to find a new career under the wings of Tong¡¯s banners.

    .

    Liu Biao, as Tong had expected, sent reinforcement and took over Yi Province without difficulty.

    Zhang He¡¯s legion cooperated with their new allies and took over Chengdu before he handed over the ownership to Liu Biao. In exchange for such generosity, Liu Biao had to support Lu Bu and Zhang He¡¯s men as they secured a new route to retreat back home.

    Liu Biao was confused at first about why Tong allowed him to control this region. But when he witnessed the number of Lu Bu and Zhang He¡¯s soldiers, he understood the reason.

    As Tong had given a condition that Liu Biao had to support his men, the two legions leeched Liu Biao¡¯s supplies. Since supporting over 100,000 soldiers from two legions was costly, it crippled the warlord¡¯s finance.

    Liu Biao felt like he was fooled as these soldiers crippled his economic power. Because of the newnd acquisition, they required arge fund and manpower to clean up the mess in the Yi Province. And now, Lu Bu and Zhang He¡¯s men ate off their provision, which indirectly sabotaged their domestic power.

    Still, this warlord could notin as he already received the marquis title and the new territory as a bribe. As long as he governed two areas well, he would be a powerhouseter.

    Huang Zhong and Kuai n were sent to protect and govern Yi Province, while Liu Biao remained in Jing, keeping an eye on Tong¡¯s men in his territory.

    .

    Meanwhile, Pang Tong and Xu Shu became Liu Bei¡¯s advisors.

    As Lu Bu and Zhang He¡¯s movements were eyes catching, Liu Bei and his men learned about this news.

    "My lord, let¡¯s take over Liang Province now. All Zhang Tong¡¯s forces have moved south, and their reinforcement from Bing Province can¡¯t move to our region any time soon. It¡¯s our chance to steal their territory," Pang Tong suggested.

    Liu Bei nodded, "I¡¯m also nning as well. Let¡¯s reim your father¡¯s hometown, Mengqi. This Liang Province belongs to your family."

    As such, Ma Chao took half of his cataphracts to take Anding and Wuwei back from Lu Bu¡¯s men.

    Utilizing the chance while Lu Bu and others were absent. Liu Bei expanded west.

    Zhang Fei took 50,000 cataphracts to Hanzhong and Wudou, isting Lu Bu and Zhang He in Yi Province.

    As Tong had predicted the result, their action was futile as both legions already moved through Liu Biao¡¯s territory east. Moreover, Lu Bu¡¯s men left nothing but local civilians for Liu Bei to worry. All granary and treasury in all cities were empty.

    .

    November 1st, 192 AD.

    Liu Bei¡¯s forces sessfully stole Liang Province from Lu Bu, but they found outter that they were empty towns.

    Aside from the local poption that refused to migrate, nothing remained in the cities¡¯ treasury and granaries.

    Liu Bei was infuriated when he discovered that Lu Bu robbed all of these cities.

    "Bastard Lu Bu! Didn¡¯t he care for the people at all!? How are the locals going to survive!?"

    All Liu Bei¡¯s civil officers were helpless, as well. The deserted region became their burden as they had to restore this province after Khan had plundered it dry.

    Xu Shu realized about Tong and Lu Bu¡¯s scheme first. He reported his findings to Liu Bei.

    "My lord. I think we have fallen to the emperor¡¯s trap."

    "What trap?"

    "First, the emperor¡¯s domain doesn¡¯t directly connect with the Liang Province, so he can¡¯t govern this ce efficiently as it takes two or three months for transport from Bing Province gets here. With that in mind, it isn¡¯t weird that the emperor will want to delegate a viceroy or a vessel that can take care of these cities."

    Xu Shu drew a map between Liang, Bing, Hongnong, Chang¡¯An, mountains, and the Yellow River.

    He pointed at Henei, where Zhang Liao¡¯s Monster Legion was stationing, was in SI Province.

    "You see, this is the frontier of the emperor¡¯s personal army. It¡¯s in the Si Province that Luo Yang and Hongnong are a part of it. All main roads from Henei are all connected to either Cao Cao or our territories. Yet, they still managed to cross the mountain ranges and get to Liang Province. It shows that the war between the emperor and the Xiongnu is a long-term n. However ..."

    Pang Tong grimaced, "They didn¡¯t leave a single gold to maintain the cities."

    "Right. They defeated the Xiongnu and abandoned everything right away. I think they are expecting Cao Cao to expand to Liang Province and clean up the mess, but we ended up taking the hot potato."

    Liu Bei was on the verge of tears, "And what can we do in this situation?"

    "I suggest we send our envoys to Cao Cao, telling them that we request funds to restore the damaged cities. Since we¡¯re technically Cao Cao¡¯s subordinates, we can have him repairing these regions for us."

    Hearing that he had to continue serving Cao Cao, Liu Bei was infuriated.

    "And what about our independent!? We¡¯re supposed to restore the rightful Han Court to the right bloodline!"

    Xu Shu wanted to retort that his "Bloodline" was just an excuse to rebel against Tong. At the moment, Pang Tong gestured his senior to stop speaking and reced his duty.

    "Now, it is not the time, my lord. We¡¯re too weak to dere independence from both Cao Cao and Zhang Tong. We¡¯ll have to y their games while we¡¯re gathering our forces in secret."

    Pang Tong suggested a new n. He wanted Liu Bei to gather all poption in Liang and Yong Province to Chang¡¯An, so they could centralize their government system. It would also serve as their headquarter stronghold since it was an old capital city.

    Liu Bei agreed and dispatched a messenger to Cao Cao, borrowing his gold and provision. He also sent an envoy to Liu Biao, hoping to form an alliance between two Liu n, so they could fight against Tong together in the future.

    .

    The end of year 192 was memorable to Han citizens as news about the fall of Xiangnu spread. People celebrated and praised both Zhang He and Lu Bu for vanquishing the Xiongnu Army.

    The fame of Lu Bu rose as his men also leaked the rumors, retelling the stories about how their lord flew and fought against Chanyu Khan, exaggerating it as if it were a duel between immortals.

    Citizens in Jiang Province and Yi Province were astonished by the rumors, but they did not really believe in it.

    However, when both Lu Bu and Zhang He¡¯s legions reached Xiangyang City to recuperate, the townsmen witnessed their refined angel aura, especially Lu Bu, who broke his bottleneck and awakened his 5th and 6th virtuous soul, bing a six-winged immortal.

    Zhang He and the vice generals took lessons from Lu Bu, reinforcing their foundation abilities and getting used to the increase in speed and perception by practicing the [Double el] trick.

    The year ended as people hoped that the civil war was about to end soon.

    .

    February 1st, 193 A.D.

    Friday and Medusa got pregnant as they wished. However, the other consorts failed to conceive a child since Tong intentionally made his seeds infertile.

    Since Du Shi and Cai Wenji already had two daughters, Tong did not want to create more burdens to them. Until they grew up a bit, Tong wanted both of his concubines to spend time with their children.

    As for Wang Yi, who Tong had not learned her true identity yet, she got her egg fertilizedst month after Tong confirmed that both his main wives had a son.

    Still, Tong rigged the seeds and forced a daughter in Liu Yang¡¯s stomach, which aplished her initial goal.

    Also, a new year brought new faces to the n chat.

    Zhen Yi, the father of Zhen Fu, aka Zhen Ji, entered the n officially.

    Wei You, the eunuch, had gotten the recognition after many achievements. He got the invitation.

    And thest person, who Tong sent a decree to an audience, was Qiao Xuan.

    Today, Xiao Quan brought his two cheeky daughters to seek an audience with Tong again.

    They came here prepared. Both girls wore their best dresses to disy their beauty since the mandate was shockingly direct.

    [If you still wish to give your daughters to me, visit me with them. This is yourst chance.]

    Though hesitated, Qiao Xuan did not dare to defy the imperial decree. He came here to offer his daughters to Tong again.

    "Your majesty, this lowly servant, has brought my daughters to you as you have asked."

    Tong grinned as he nced at Sun Jian, who also attended this audience as an observer.

    ¡¯Sun Ce and Zhou Yu are going to get mad once they get their memory back. Oh well, I didn¡¯t order them toe here. They offered themselves to me first, and I just pushed it a little.¡¯

    He coughed and looked at the two Qiaos.

    "I call all of you here to listen to your reconsideration after that day. Are you two still want to join my royal harem?"

    Qiao Xuan sighed. This was it.

    If any of them refused, Qiao Xuan was afraid that their family would be in trouble in the future for sure since all officials here would bully him to death.

    They came here as a fallen noble family. Now, his only chance to rise back was selling his daughters.

    While Qiao Xuanmented to his fate, Xiao Qiao answered with her eyes glittered, "I do!"

    Da Qiao turned to her younger sister and looked at Tong in hesitation. When she met the eyes of her troubled grandfather, she also made her decision.

    "This lowly vessel is willing to serve his majesty."

    Tong nodded and invited Qiao Xuan to the n chat, weing him as a new member of his kingdom.

    Tong: "Qiao Xuan, wee to my kingdom."

 Chapter 432 Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang

    Chapter 432 - Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang

    February 15th, 193 A.D.

    Shouchun City

    Cao Cao received the help request from Liu Bei. He grimaced as he did not have enough supplies to support anothernd acquisition.

    "Tell Liu Xuande to solve the issue himself. We don¡¯t have enough gold or food to support his blind ambition!" Cao Cao yelled.

    They chased Liu Bei¡¯s messenger away.

    At the moment, Cao Cao could not afford to invest in other territory expansion. All his borrowed gold and provision from Tong were put in the southern war fund in Shouchun and Lu Jiang as they were facing a dangerous enemy.

    Sun Fang

    This immortal¡¯s power was no joke. With only him alone, he could decimate Cao Cao¡¯s forces by dropping his Qi Bombs.

    Without a choice, Cao Cao summoned Pu Jing to Shouchun, nning to use this immortal¡¯s power against Sun Fang.

    After Liu Bei¡¯s messenger was gone, Cao Cao consulted Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, Pu Jing, and the newest strategist, Zhuge Liang, for their opinion about how they could defeat Sun Fang at Guangling.

    "Last year, Sun Ce conquered the entire Jiangdong, and they are looking north. We¡¯re trying our best to withstand against Sun Fang, but we can¡¯t even defeat him and his puny forces. What do you think we can do at this point?"

    Cao Cao¡¯s question aimed at the teenager Zhuge Liang since the former had already heard the other advisors¡¯ thoughts.

    Zhuge Liang smiled at Cao Cao, "Simple. We don¡¯t fight the Sun n. Instead, we should form an alliance with them."

    Cheng Yu and Guo Jia red at Zhuge Liang in annoyance as they knew something that Zhuge Liang did not know.

    Sun Ce and Sun Fang were currently working to establish a new headquarter, which would reinforce the foundation of the Sun n. Oncepleted, both Tong and the Sun n could potentially collude and attack Cao Cao¡¯s territory in the central in together, and this would have spelled a disaster.

    As such, they wanted to eliminate the Sun n when they were at the weakest.

    Cheng Yu snorted, "If we ally with the Sun n, it will be like attaching wings to a tiger. It will give them too much time to prepare, and they will eventually backstab us any time when we¡¯re fighting against Zhang Tong."

    Zhuge Liang rolled his eyes, "You guys are obstinate of taking down the emperor, but you don¡¯t even have the guts to fight him in the open. Don¡¯t you realize that the Xiongnu is now history, and the emperor¡¯s hands are now free? If he wants to mobilize his force again, the next target will be us."

    "And what can we do!? If he stacks his forces into onerge army, we wouldn¡¯t have bothered avoiding the fight. That Zhang Tong is scattering his forces into legions, and they are staring into our borders! Attack one of their legions, and like ... four or five legions will be running rampant in our territories within a month!"

    Guo Jia frowned and red at Zhuge Liang, "A direct confrontation against the emperor at the moment is suicide. In case you don¡¯t know, we¡¯re pretending to be Zhang Tong¡¯s vessel states at the moment. We¡¯re trying to expand our forces as fast as possible to keep up with the northern threat."

    Zhuge Liang shrugged, "Then, all of you are focusing at the wrong point."

    "How so?"

    "You guys let the emperor grows too strong."

    "We can¡¯t change the past. It was a mistake to ignore Zhang Tong and leave the ipetent Yuan Shao to fight him."

    "That¡¯s just an excuse. You all didn¡¯t do a good job clearing the threat and med it on the deceased."

    "Stop trying to provoke us and tell us what you thought. You¡¯re wasting our time!" Cheng Yu bellowed.

    Cao Cao and Guo Jia red at Zhuge Liang, waiting for him to stop ying around.

    Zhuge Liang noticed that. He sighed, "I¡¯m being serious."

    "borate, then."

    "Well, first, our current diplomacy policies didn¡¯t make sense. The more we¡¯re fighting, the more the emperor gets stronger. Since people in our region migrate to the north every day, Zhang Tong¡¯s territory continues to flourish with more taxes and manpower."

    Cao Cao nodded, "I understand the point, and?"

    "Secondly, Zhang Tong doesn¡¯t have a foe to fight anymore at the moment, so he gets the room to focus on his domestic growth. Heck, he¡¯s been at it for years. I¡¯m surprised that he hasn¡¯t attacked any of your cities yet."

    Cao Cao shook his head, "There are still Xiongnu and Xianbei remnants north of Xiangping, Beiping, and Ji. Two legions of Zhang Tong are still stationing north. He is not free."

    "That¡¯s an illusion. If they want to, those legions can be at Shouchun at any given time. And my third point, do you know where Lu Bu and Zhang He¡¯s legions are?"

    "They are helping Liu Biao in Jing Province."

    "Nope! They are going to be in either Xinye or Xiangyang. Once they resupplied, their next targets will be Wan, Luoyang, and Xuchang. Now, if these two were to move, do you think those legions north of Yellow River won¡¯t move? They¡¯ll be parading in the central in, and you can say goodbye to your waste-of-time conspiracy. It¡¯s worthless."

    Zhuge Liang kept mocking Cao Cao and his men as he revealed his thought of their strategies. Cheng Yu and Guo Jia almost snapped many times as they did not enjoy being looked down upon by a brat.

    However, Cao Cao kept his cool and listened. Since he knew that this young brat in the other life gave him a headache to the point that he died from a brain tumor, Cao Cao could not underestimate this legendary strategist.

    "If you were me, what will be your move? Let¡¯s say we want to overthrow Zhang Tong¡¯s regime no matter what. Surrender is not an option."

    "..."

    Zhuge Liang froze as he reexamined Cao Cao¡¯s eyes and his demeanor. At this moment, he knew that Cao Cao¡¯s mental strength and patience were worthy of respect. Also, he had an aura of an emperor.

    Unfortunately, Zhuge Liang was not here to serve him.

    He wanted to ruin this warlord from the inside!

    Zhuge Liang nced at Pu Jing, whom he deemed as a threat.

    ¡¯My first goal is to eliminate Pu Jing, and Cao Cao¡¯s forces will copse by itself. But it¡¯s going to be difficult manipting this immortal tomit an error.¡¯

    He contemted a bit and began his scheme.

    "As I said, we are focusing on the wrong solution. The right way to defeat the emperor is to gather every force in the country and face him together. We have to ally with Liu Biao and the Sun n. Also, we have to stop Liu Bei from expanding his forces and join us in this coalition."

    Cao Cao was disappointed, "A coalition again? That¡¯s impossible."

    "How so?"

    "Liu Bei is an untrustworthy subordinate of mine. Just a moment ago, his messenger came and demanded us to support their cause, which I refused. Secondly, Liu Biao is known to be a Han loyalist, and he¡¯s working with Zhang Tong. Trying to make them fight Zhang Tong is difficult."

    Zhuge Liang smiled. He already learned about Liu Bei¡¯s personality from the daily discussion in the bamboo courtyard. However, he needed to confirm something from Cao Cao.

    "By chance, do you have the lost imperial seal?"

    Cao Cao was shocked, "I do. How did you know!?"

    The strategist chuckled, "I received a promation from the emperor, but the seal is not the same as the previous emperor Ling¡¯s seal. I just simply guess that the old seal must have been lost. Well, I didn¡¯t really expect that you would have had it, though."

    "..."

    "Since you have it, then everything is a lot easier. We can make both Liu Bei and Liu Biao fight Zhang Tong with that seal."

    Zhuge Liang exined his n.

    "Give the seal to Liu Bei and make him another emperor."

    "WHAT!?"

    Zhuge Liang borated.

    First, he knew that Liu Bei imed that he inherited the bloodline of Liu Bang, and he had the legitimate reason to fight against Tong, who did not have the surname [Liu]. Therefore, Liu Bei could be used as an excuse to rebel against Tong while Cao Cao could retain the support of his people.

    Secondly, Liu Bei was known among his civilians to be a benevolence ruler. By supporting Liu Bei, Cao Cao could gain those civilians¡¯ trust and draw them to his side easier. After all, persuading brainwashed civilians to join another side was harder than trying to convert a mountain bandit into a saint.

    Third, Liu Bei would sooner orter break free from Cao Cao. Instead of having another enemy to worry about, they should bribe this ambitious pretender and force him to fight Zhang Tong in the open.

    And most importantly, once Liu Bei became a new emperor, Liu Biao would have no choice but to support Liu Bei instead of Tong since they were from the same imperial n of Liu. With this, Tong would lose his only ally.

    "What about the Sun n?" Pu Jing was curious.

    Zhuge Liang shrugged, "Send a group of assassins to Ye City and kill Sun Jian. I don¡¯t mind if it fails. The Sun n should have this "n Chat" too, right? Once they are attacked, they will report to their n chat. Sun Fang and Sun Ce won¡¯t sit still if their hostage father is under attack by mysterious assassins. Who do you think will be their prime suspect had one of the hostages of the Sun n died?"

    Cao Cao closed his eyes to ponder.

    Ten minutester, after a period of awkward silence, he waved his hands, "We¡¯ll think about it. For now, you¡¯re dismissed."

    Zhuge Liang bowed and retreated. He sighed and nced at Pu Jing.

    ¡¯If I want to get this immortal killed, I have to force him to fight in a decisive battle. I can easily allow them to fight Sun Fang and watch them killing each other, but I will definitely get killed in the process when Zhang Tong mobilizes all his troops to the central in. Well, the basic of all strategies, dying in vain, is a no-go. I must live and see the end of my work!¡¯

    When Zhuge Liang returned to his residence, he walked toward his pet messenger doves.

    A dozen trained dove was resting on the edge of his room¡¯s window.

    The strategist wrote 12 same texts in a small paper and tied them on all dove¡¯s leg.

    Then, he chased the doves away, "Go to Xiangyang."

    All birds pped their wings as they were trained.

 Chapter 433 Provocation

    Chapter 433 - Provocation

    The inner pce concubine war had also developed to the next stage.

    With the neers, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao, Tong dismissed the pre-arranged schedules and left it to Diaochan to be the one who would decide the concubine¡¯s service nights.

    As a result, both Dong Bai and Diaochan monopolized their night jobs and barred Liu Yang from visiting Tong. However, they allowed the other four to attend the emperor twice a month to keep their rtionship friendly.

    Dong Bai and Diaochan were jealous of Liu Yang. None of them allowed Tong to call for her service, and they reced her schedules with theirs instead.

    However, they were not aware of a looming threat.

    After getting pregnant, Liu Yang regained her right to cultivate back her power.

    [You can start cultivating now. Bear in mind that you have 7 months left to get four wings. Failure is not an option.]

    Liu Yang mocked Lilim, "I can easily get to 6 wings in 3 months. Just watch!"

    [Oh, really? With your "Chastity" and "Honesty" at almost 0%? All of your attributes are less than 20%. I wonder how will you achieve that?]

    "..."

    [Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll pretend that I didn¡¯t see or hear your flex just now. Good luck and give birth to a taboo child, goddess! I¡¯ll hide your presence from Tong and others, so they won¡¯t detect you.]

    Liu Yang was on the verge of crying in embarrassment, "Damn you to hell!"

    After vented her frustration, she ordered everyone not to visit her at night. From that day on, she spent all nights cultivating under the nose of Tong and all demonesses.

    "Ah!"

    "Oh!"

    "Ahn!"

    Unfortunately, the sultry moaning of other girls always interrupted Liu Yang¡¯s concentration. After all, she also wanted to join them.

    "... I also want it, too ..."

    Liu Yang cried a bloody tear. She steeled herself.

    ¡¯Once I awaken my Chastity Soul, I swear I¡¯ll kidnap Tong and rape him to oblivion!¡¯

    Although it was twisted, Liu Yang gained a goal in life.

    .

    .

    .

    March 1st, 193 AD.

    It was after the Chinese New Year festival and the annualpetition of the young rising stars.

    Tong summoned a few individuals for an audience.

    Sun Jian and his subordinates were the first groups. They were led to the throne room in the morning assembly.

    Today, Tong wanted to send Sun Ce and Zhou Yu a message, just in case that Sun Fang had given them wings. He wanted to test the water.

    "Sun Jian and all of you, I don¡¯t need you here anymore. Go home and tell Sun Fang and Sun Ce that they don¡¯t need to bother disbanding your n."

    "What!?"

    Not only Sun Jian, everyone in the throne room was surprised by the sudden release. Since everybody knew that Sun Jian and his three generals were Tong¡¯s hostages, they were baffled by the emperor¡¯s action.

    "Are you sure?" Sun Jian could not believe his ears.

    "Yeah. Khan is dead, and the Xiongnu is no more. Thend is at peace, and there is no reason to keep you or fight against your n. Why don¡¯t you tell your sons now that the war is over ..."

    Xun Yu wanted to stop Tong, but he saw a chat message.

    Tong: "I¡¯ve nned to use Sun Jian to test the water. If Sun Fang and Sun Ce are honest, they will surrender to us naturally. But if they want to rebel, they will likely form an alliance with Cao Cao or some sort. As usual, we won¡¯t dere war on them first. We¡¯ll let them reveal their true color as rebels."

    Everyone who was in the throne room squinted their eyes. Tong was ying a game that they were not aware of.

    Te Langpu: "Any reason for letting a dangerous group away? If you want war, you could have killed them here to mess Sun Ce¡¯s future decision."

    Sima Fang: "I agree. Killing these four now is as if cutting all limbs of Sun Ce and Sun Fang. Why are you letting them go?"

    Tong smiled at his officers.

    Tong: "As I said, I¡¯m testing the water. I want to know if Sun Fang has given cultivation manuals to his nsmen or not. If he had, the first few, who would have gotten it, would have been Sun Ce and Zhou Yu. Then, what do you think will happen had they learned that I took their wives as my concubines?"

    Everyone: "..."

    All otherworlders in the n chat understood what Tong had nned.

    Te Langpu: "So, instead of killing Sun Jian to give Sun Fang an excuse to rebel, you want them to rebel without a good reason?"

    Tong: "Correct!"

    Tong exined everything to the n chat while he dismissed Sun Jian and others away.

    From citizens and ordinary officers¡¯ point of view, they did not know about the rtionship between the two Qiaos, Sun Ce, and Zhou Yu. Therefore, had these warlords suddenly proimed that Tong stole their wives as a reason to wage war, their reputation would have hit rock-bottom. People would have spread the news that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were selfish youths, who were jealous of the emperor, or they wanted to throw away the lives of their soldiers for their personal gains.

    Also, since Tong returned Sun Jian to them, all of their subordinates would view Tong with a favorable opinion, and the future persuasion and recruitment would be more manageable.

    With a simple big-heart move, Tong tied Sun Ce and Zhou Yu¡¯s next movement.

    Rebel against Tong and the Sun n would be forever a rebel n, which also would lose all supports from their people.

    Thus, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu¡¯s next move had to be sitting still and get humiliated, watching their former wives getting stolen by Tong.

    Lu Zhi: "Why provoking them, though? I don¡¯t see the point. If you want to make the Sun n hates you, you can just kill Sun Jian right here."

    Tong: "That¡¯s a waste. I want to entice some of Sun Jian¡¯s men to my side without causing a feud. Well, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu are elites. If I kill Sun Jian here, they will hate me for life. If I treat Sun Jian well, they will look at me favorably. Also, these three are not that close to Sun Ce or Sun Fang. If the two sons of Sun Jian are proven to be a disgrace of their family, I don¡¯t think their generals will remain loyal to those two, right?"

    It was a mind game to draw all Sun Jian¡¯s former subordinates to Tong¡¯s side to prepare for the aftermath of the unification.

    To Tong, destroying Sun Fang, Sun Ce, or Zhou Yu was as easy as snapping his fingers. However, attracting their talented personal would be another story.

    There were many promising youths in their ranks that had yet to shine, such as Zhou Tai, Lu Meng, Lu Xun, Xu Sheng, Ding Feng, Ling Tong, Zhu Ran, and many others. For the sake of getting these men to his side, Tong had to prove that Sun Ce and Sun Fang were trashy warlords unworthy of their services.

    It was a pity that this n would make Zhou Yu his enemy, but Tong had no choice. After all, Zhou Yu was Sun Ce¡¯s sworn brother, and thetter was an ambitious warlord that could potentially threaten the Han Dynasty.

    Lu Zhi and the officers in the chat understood a bit of Tong¡¯s vision. They nodded to Tong and receded.

    Xun Yu, at Tong¡¯s side, could not hide his proud smile as his lord was both wicked, yet merciful and farsighted. It suited his taste.

    Meanwhile, Sun Jian was delighted that he could return home.

    "Thank you, your majesty. We shall leave at once. Still, I¡¯ll tell my sons to disband our n and join you as soon as possible."

    "Please do. And also ... do me a favor. Tell Sun Ce and Zhou Yu that I¡¯ve taken Xiao Qiao and Da Qiao as my concubines. Tell them in the n chat, and thank them for me."

    "???"

    Sun Jian was confused. However, he followed Tong¡¯s order and told them in the n chat.

    After Sun Jian had told everything to his nsmen, as Tong had predicted, Sun Ce went ballistic.

    Sun Ce: "TELL THAT SON OF A BITCH THAT I¡¯LL BE COMING FOR HIS HEAD! I WILL SLICE IN A THOUSAND TIME!!"

    All their nsmen were baffled by Sun Ce¡¯s reaction.

    Huang Gai: "Calm down, young lord. What¡¯s wrong with you? Zhang Tong is releasing your father."

    Sun Ce: "THAT SON OF A BITCH HAS STOLEN MY WIFE!!"

    Huang Gai: "Whose wife? I don¡¯t remember you have a wife."

    Sun Ce: "DA QIAO IS MY WIFE!!"

    Everyone: "WHAT!?"

    Everybody in Sun Fang¡¯s n was shocked. At the same time, they did not understand when and how Sun Ce married to Da Qiao.

    Something was wrong!

    Sun Jian stared at Tong, who was smiling at him.

    ¡¯He knew!? But ... something doesn¡¯t make sense! It¡¯s obvious that Qiao Xuan was a former noble in Lujiang, and their daughters were maiden. Both Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao are also interested in Zhang Tong. But since when my son is married to Da Qiao!? What the hell!?¡¯

    Tong feigned innocence and asked, "Did he say something?"

    Sun Jian was not a fool. He understood everything by reading Tong¡¯s expression.

    ¡¯Just now, he intentionally said his concubine¡¯s nicknames and told me to ry his words. That¡¯s a provocation message to my son!¡¯

    He gritted his teeth. Since Tong was attacking his son, he would not take this lying down.

    "Your majesty, how can you be so cruel? Da Qiao has married to my son before you¡¯ve sent a decree to take her as your concubine. Then, you want to mock him that she¡¯s your woman now? That¡¯s immoral, your majesty."

    It was a direct nder against Tong in front of his thousand subjects in the throne room.

    The crowd was enraged!

    "BLASPHEMY!"

    "HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE HIS MAJESTY!?"

    "GUARDS!!"

    Pce guards, with shining knight armors, rushed in with their weapons. They pointed their spears and swords at Sun Jian and his generals.

    Tong raised his hand to stop themotion.

    "All of you ... stop!"

    The hall was silent. All royal guards, however, retained their fighting stance, but they stepped backward by one pace.

    Tong, who still had a sinister smile on his face, turned to Sun Jian.

    Sun Jian gulped. It seemed that he had stepped onto and mine.

    Han Dang, Cheng Pu, and Huang Gai had already drawn their swords and were ready to fight their way through. They nced at Tong and Sun Jian, hoping for a slim chance that this would not turn into a bloodbath.

    "I think there is some misunderstanding going on here, and you¡¯re ndering one of my wives that she¡¯s having an affair before she has met me. This is something that I can¡¯t overlook."

 Chapter 434 Scandal

    Chapter 434 - Scandal

    Tong summoned Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao, and Qiao Xuan to the throne room.

    When the three arrived, everyone looked at them with a mixed feeling, especially Sun Jian.

    "This lowly concubine greets his majesty."

    Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao took the lead as they knelt. After being here for a while, they learned the customs and Tong¡¯s ways of doing things, including bed activities.

    Both Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao already had their first night with Tong. Since they were noblewomen, there was no need to use the [Lust] curse like Wang Yi, who had an obvious connection with Khan.

    As a result, their grace, manner, etiquette, and beauty were intact, just like Cai Wenji and Du Shi.

    The two high-ss consorts and Qiao Xuan knelt and waited for Tong to speak.

    "Both of you."

    "Yes, your majesty?"

    "Have you married someone else before you came to Ye Pce?"

    "What!?"

    Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao were shocked by the sudden usation. Still, they regained herposure in an instant since they had done nothing wrong.

    Da Qiao spoke for both of them, "I was a pure maiden through and thorough before our first night. You should have known that, your majesty."

    She implied that Tong was the one who stole her virginity, and he should have known full well.

    Xiao Qiao was more direct, "My blood is still on your bed sheet this morning, your majesty. Have someone check it."

    The crowd murmured, while Qiao Xuan sighed in embarrassment.

    Tongughed, "Of course, I know. Unfortunately, someone has used you that you had married someone before you arrived here, so I need to rify it that you¡¯re innocent."

    Qiao Xuan widened his eyes and turned to Sun Jian and his men, who were sweating bullets.

    "Are you using my granddaughters of infidelity!?"

    Scandals and adultery were like death sentences in this era, especially to women. Any woman found having an affair always got executed without a trial. As for men, most of them scotched free if they were from a noble family. But formoners, the softest punishment was castration, while the cruelest punishment was death by a thousand slices.

    Something like this was uneptable to Qiao Xuan. He would never want his granddaughters to die because of a baseless usation.

    Sun Jian stuttered, "N-No, I didn¡¯t mean to ..."

    "MY GRANDDAUGHTERS NEVER TALKED TO A MAN OTHER THAN HIS MAJESTY!! HOW DARE YOU SLANDER THEM!!"

    Qiao Xuan was infuriated. He forgot where he was and stood up, pointing his finger at Sun Jian. The minister was confident that his granddaughters never had any rtionship with a man in their life as he raised them like his precious daughters.

    He wanted to kill Sun Jian and his followers right away.

    Tong pped his hands, snapping Qiao Xuan back to his sense.

    "Calm down, senior Qiao. I only need the testimony of your granddaughters. Obviously, I knew that they are not at fault. So rx."

    Qiao Xuan realized what he did. He kowtowed to Tong, "I swear that my granddaughters had never seen a man in their life before they came here, your majesty! Please believe me!"

    "I know. Just rx."

    "Thank you, your majesty!"

    Qiao Xuan nced at Sun Jian while he was kowtowing. His eyes did not hide his contempt.

    Sun Jian was ashamed for what he had done. He also knelt and kowtowed to both Qiao Xuan and Tong.

    "This is my mistake. Please ept my deepest apology!"

    Qiao Xuan snorted while Tong nodded.

    "Okay. The three of you can leave."

    Qiao Xuan and the two concubines excused themselves and left the throne room.

    After they had left, Tong turned to Sun Jian.

    "I think you should realize by now what your son has tried to do to them, but I have to exin to everyone here, so they won¡¯t get the wrong idea."

    Tong coughed and looked at his thousand retainers in the throne room. All executives, civil officers, minor officials, and many sergeants of his army were here.

    "I did some investigation on Sun Ce and Sun Fang long ago, and I found out that Sun Ce and Zhou Yu have been pursuing Qiao Xuan¡¯s daughters. I didn¡¯t pay attention to this intel at first until the girls in question showed up herest year. I sent my men to investigate further after these girls had said they wanted to be my concubines, and I found that they were trying to escape from Sun Ce and Zhou Yu¡¯s grasp."

    Tong left a hint that the two Qiaos were being pursued by two youths, who had a connection with Sun Jian.

    As all attendants in the throne room enjoyed overthinking, they widened their eyes as they obtained a scandalous scoop!

    Sun Ce wanted one of the Qiaos as his wife, but they ran away from him to join the emperor¡¯s harem. However, Sun Jian imed that his son had married one of them!

    This kind of drama was entertaining. All officers had something to gossip with their friends now.

    The murmurs echoed in the throne room after Tong had spread ill rumor for Sun Ce.

    Sun Jian could not retort or protect his son¡¯s reputation. He swallowed his shame and bowed to Tong.

    "This servant shall go back and reeducate my children. I promise you that this disgraceful son of mine will be strictly punished."

    "Please do. I don¡¯t want their names to be soiled by stupid gossips."

    .

    .

    Although Tong said that he did not want gossips, he told Xun Yu and all generals in the n chat to spread the scandal rumors. He also did not forget to tell his men to make Sun Ce the bad guy that tried to force himself on the Qiao sisters.

    Within a month, everyone in the northern region knew about the scandal. All soldiers,moners, housewives, and merchants kept gossiping about their rtionship, enjoying the drama and exaggerating events.

    "The two Qiaos ran away from Lujiang and asked his majesty for protection. That¡¯s why they became his concubines?"

    "Sun Ce and Zhou Yu wanted to rape those poor girls!?"

    "His majesty rescued the girls in a forest from a tiger. That¡¯s why they joined his majesty¡¯s harem?"

    "Where is this rescue storying from!? From where I heard, Sun Ce demanded Qiao Xuan hand over his granddaughters in exchange for his position in his ranks, but Qiao Xuan took them here."

    "The Little Conqueror of Jiangdong is actually a spoiled brat?"

    "Sun Ce is gay to Zhou Yu!?"

    "Wait a minute ... Thest guy, I have several questions."

    The stories varied, depending on the regions and the local¡¯s imagination.

    .

    April 14th, 193 A.D.

    Sun Jian, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu also arrived at Jianye, the capital of the Sun n.

    Also, they came with the leaked scandal stories from Ye City, which reached the ears of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.

    Both of their faces flushed in anger. Even the calm Zhou Yu could not take it anymore.

    Sun Ce bellowed in the middle of their meeting hall, "I¡¯ve had enough! We¡¯re not going to join forces with Zhang Tong anymore! I want him dead!"

    Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao squinted their eyes as they watched the ballistic Sun Ce go berserk in the meeting.

    The recent events were suspicious. At first, they thought that it was just another political usation from Tong¡¯s side to nder Sun Ce or frame him. However, Sun Ce¡¯s reaction was odd.

    It was as if this young lord and Zhou Yu really had a rtionship with the two Qiaos.

    They turned to Sun Jian, asking for what had happened at Ye.

    "What¡¯s wrong with him, my lord? What¡¯s his rtionship with the rumor and Zhang Tong¡¯s concubines?"

    Although Sun Jian was embarrassed, he whispered to the two elders, telling what had happened a few months ago. He recited the words of Qiao Xuan every word and Tong¡¯s reaction.

    "Do you think Bofu is in the wrong?" Asked Sun Jian.

    Zhang Zhao nodded, "From the looks of it, Bofu¡¯s reaction resembled of a broken heart youth. We can say the same to Gongjin if you look at his face."

    Sun Jian nced at Zhou Yu, who had also failed to keep his emotion in check.

    Traces of blood veins could be seen on this young strategist¡¯s face as his face was as red as Sun Ce. They could notice that Zhou Yu had been gritting his teeth and clenched his fists to the point that blood dripped from his palms.

    "This is not good. At this rate, they will really rebel against the emperor," Zhang Hong was concerned about the two.

    Sun Jian sighed, "What can we do? Should we tell his majesty to forgive them?"

    Both his advisors shook their heads, "We¡¯ll need you to take the helm and strip Bofu and Gongjin from power. They are not in the condition to govern our people. With their mentality, they will likely try to gather forces and rebel. Then, it will be the end of us."

    Sun Jian nodded and stood up. He walked to Sun Ce, who had been drinking and screaming at his subordinates.

    A fist connected to Sun Ce¡¯s face.

    *PA*

    After getting punched by his father, Sun Ce turned to Sun Jian.

    "Dad, why!?"

    "Shut up. From today onwards, I¡¯ll be the grandmander of all forces of our n."

    Zhou Yu stood up, "Senior Sun! We¡¯re in a critical situation. Please give us a few years to reinforce our foundation, so we can fight against both Cao Cao and Zhang Tong."

    "There is no fighting. We¡¯re working for the emperor from now on. That¡¯s an order!"

    Sun Ce was shocked. He could not ept surrendering, "We can¡¯t! We¡¯re supposed to break free from the Han Dynasty! Serving Zhang Tong is impossible!"

    "Who decides what is possible and what is impossible!? Are you my father or what!?"

    *PA*

    Sun Jian pped his son before he turned to his three generals. Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, and Han Dang stepped forward.

    "Separate Bofu and Gongjin and put them on a house arrest. From now on, I take charge here."

 Chapter 435 The Fall of Tiger

    Chapter 435 - The Fall of Tiger

    April 30th, 193 AD.

    An envoy from Cao Cao arrived at Jianye City, bringing gifts to the Sun n. They stopped in front of the city wall.

    At the gate of Jianye, merchants and civilians queued to get inside the city. When they saw a tribute convoy, they looked at the banners of the group and eximed.

    "Cao Cao!?"

    "Cao Cao¡¯s men are here!?"

    Themotion attracted the gate guards. They informed their superiors, who rushed into the pce and told their lord.

    Within an hour, Sun Jian came out to wee them.

    Cheng Yu led the group himself to ensure the negotiation. Behind him, Pu Jing also followed after the strategist, acting as his bodyguard.

    When Sun Jian met Cheng Yu, thetter cupped his fist and bowed.

    "I¡¯m here as a representative of Marquis of Wei. We¡¯re here to apologize for the past events and restore our rtionship."

    Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu had followed Sun Jian to meet them. When they heard that Cheng Yu wanted to apologize for the past, they snorted and spat in disgust.

    All of them almost died from Cao Cao¡¯s previous ambushes. Now, they simply wanted to beg for their forgiveness and wanted to end the feud just like that?

    "My lord, can we kill this bastard and send his head to Cao Cao?"

    "Yeah. We¡¯re supposed to be controlling Xu Province, but that bastard stole it from us!"

    "I don¡¯t think we can forgive them just like that, right?"

    Listened to his men, Sun Jian nodded.

    He, too, could not forgive Cao Cao for what he did.

    "I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯vee in vain. We have nothing to talk as long as you¡¯re still attacking our men in Guangling. If you want to talk, bring Cao Cao here!"

    Cheng Yu and Pu Jing frowned. Although they knew that this matter was not easy, they never expected that Sun Jian would be this direct.

    "Shouldn¡¯t you inspect what we¡¯ve brought to you?

    Sun Jian snorted, "Gold and provision? We don¡¯t need it here. Get lost before we kill you."

    Cheng Yu smiled and turned to Pu Jing. Thetter took out a cubic object, wrapped in clothes.

    Pu Jing peeled off the clothes and revealed what was inside.

    The Imperial Seal!

    Sun Jian was taken aback by the item, "What are you trying to instigate here!?"

    Because they talked in front of the city wall, many soldiers and civilians could see the seal and witness the secret deal. Many merchants paid attention to the detail as they would reap benefits selling this intel to other territories or other lords.

    Cheng Yu smiled. He did not bother trying to hide the seal. In fact, he wanted everyone to see it and spread more rumors.

    With a loud voice, the strategist dered, "I¡¯m here to form a friendly rtionship between Lord Cao Cao and Lord Sun Jian by gifting Lord Sun Jian the Imperial Seal!"

    Sun Jian widened his eyes in shock. He realized now that it was a scheme by Cao Cao to trick his people that they became allies.

    In anger, Sun Jian yelled at Cheng Yu, "GET LOST!! TAKE THAT SEAL AWAY AND TELL CAO CAO THAT I WILL NEVER FORGIVE HIM FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE!! GET LOST BEFORE I KILL ALL OF YOU!!"

    Soldiers were rmed by their lord¡¯s bellow. They drew their swords while the archers on the wall aimed at the visiting caravan.

    Cheng Yu¡¯s face was as calm as ever. He was not panicked in front of many soldiers.

    "Then, I shall inform our lord. What a pity."

    Cao Cao¡¯s caravan retreated from Jianye in peace while the citizens spread the news about the Imperial Seal¡¯s existence. They began to question the authority of the emperor and his rtionship with Cao Cao.

    .

    As the caravan got out of the range of Jianye¡¯s archers, Cheng Yu whispered to Pu Jing.

    "Kill Sun Jian and everyone inside the city."

    Pu Jing grumbled, "I can kill only Sun Jian. If I kill more than one person a day with my soul, I¡¯ll be crippled by the goddess."

    "Then, kill Sun Jian. Don¡¯t disappoint us."

    Pu Jing clicked his tongue. He regretted choosing to side with Cao Cao.

    ¡¯All of them never trust me, don¡¯t they? Well, they were merely tools for me. I don¡¯t care any of them dies anyway.¡¯

    He sent his souls to Jianye.

    .

    Meanwhile, Sun Jian reported Cao Cao¡¯s movements to his n chat. Also, he asked about Sun Fang¡¯s wellbeing in Guangling.

    Sun Jian: "Are you sure you¡¯re doing alright on your own? I heard Cao Cao is attacking that city at the moment. Do you need reinforcement?"

    Sun Fang: "Nah, I¡¯m fine. I¡¯ve been soloing 10,000 soldiers three times now. Cao Cao Army is currently crippled because of my Qi st, so you don¡¯t need to worry about me."

    Sun Fang: "By the way, how are Bofu and Gongjin? Are they throwing a tantrum again?"

    Sun Jian: "Yeah. Bofu keeps saying that Da Qiao is his even though she married Zhang Tong."

    Sun Ce: "She is my wife, Dad! She married me in her previous life!"

    Sun Jian: "Stop that previous life nonsense! I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re into something superstitious!"

    Sun Ce: "It¡¯s true, dad! We¡¯re all born in this era once without all immortals! Da Qiao is supposed to be my wife, and Xiao Qiao is Gongjin¡¯s wife! That bastard has stolen them from us!"

    Sun Jian: "That¡¯s enough, Bofu."

    Sun Ce: "What if someone steals your mom, dad? Won¡¯t you get angry like me?"

    Sun Jian: "You¡¯ve crossed the line, Bofu. Shut up and stop spamming the n chat!"

    Everyone was helpless against Sun Ce¡¯s ragingments. He kept drinking andining about his previous life and his memory about the past.

    It became worse as Zhou Yu also confirmed the story of their marriage life. They also med Sun Fang for the cause of this chaos and civil war, telling everyone that he should not have existed.

    This enraged Sun Fang. Because of their actions, Sun Fang stopped talking to them or confirming their stories, pretending that they had lost their minds.

    Sun Jian could tell what everyone was thinking from his observation.

    ¡¯Fang¡¯er and Bofu can¡¯t get along. Now, Gongjin is siding with Bofu and making things worse. What should I do?¡¯

    He had a severe headache.

    His family issues were troublesome enough. Then, Cheng Yu brought the Imperial Seal to stir chaos in his territory, which was even more disturbing.

    While Sun Jian was resting, 11-year-old Sun Quan and his wife, Wu Guotai, visited him.

    "Dad!"

    The boy was cheerful and outgoing. He ran to his father and jumped onto Sun Jian¡¯s seat, sitting on hisps.

    Sun Jianughed and hugged his son, "What are you doing here, Zhongmou?"

    "I wanna be with you! Let¡¯s y!"

    "Hahaha! Okay!"

    Among all of his sons, Sun Jian liked the innocent Sun Quan more.

    Being with his family let him forget the cruel world of chaos.

    Wu Guotai watched the two father-and-son ying a tag game with a bright smile. While she was watching, she touched her belly, savoring the happiness.

    This month, her period had note.

    To the local people in this world, this signified two things, a disease or a pregnancy.

    Wu Guotai¡¯s instinct told her that she had gotten another child with Sun Jian.

    Getting another child and watching her husband ying with her son, Wu Guotai, was a happy wife ...

    .

    .

    .

    Until a ghost being with a wound on its chest appeared behind Sun Jian.

    .

    .

    .

    *SWUA*

    The ghost¡¯s hand entered Sun Jian¡¯s body from behind and pierced through his front chest.

    Blood gushed out from the wounds from the front, and the back as his heart was destroyed.

    Sun Quan, who was running toward his father, froze. His eyes stared straight at the bloody hand as his father¡¯s red fluid sshed onto his face.

    Wu Guotai¡¯s world had frozen as she could notprehend what had happened. Her stomach churned, and her sight ckened.

    She fainted!

    Pu Jing¡¯s soul withdrew his hand. It waved its bloody hand to get rid of all liquid on its transparent body.

    It red at the shocked Sun Quan with a smile.

    The smile disappeared, reced with an angered expression.

    "Lucky you, brat."

    The soul spoke and left, disappearing into the ceiling.

    Sun Jian lost his strength. Yet, his body did not fall down to earth.

    He kept standing before his favorite son and used his final strength to smile at Sun Quan.

    For his one wish, even in his death, he did not want to show his son his weaknesses.

    Still, he regretted dying before he could see any of his sons thrived.

    ¡¯I¡¯m sorry, Zhongmou. It was my mistake. I should have surrendered to Zhang Tong and took all of you to Ye. I¡¯m sorry.¡¯

    As if Sun Quan could hear his thought, the boy¡¯s eyes swelled as tears rolled down on his cheeks.

    "... Dad?"

    Sun Jian burnt the image of his child¡¯s face into his mind, swearing that he would not forget his son¡¯s face in the afterlife.

    ¡¯If there were next life, I want to be a better father to you. I¡¯m ... sorry.¡¯

    Sun Jian¡¯s consciousness faded.

    .

    .

    "NOOOOO!!!"

    All members in Sun Fang¡¯s n, Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Han Dang, and Zhu Ran, could not believe what the system message told them.

    On the other hand, Sun Fangughed, celebrating his father¡¯s death.

    "Good job, Pu Jing! Now, the conquest is going to get easier!"

 Chapter 436 Mess of the Sun Clan

    Chapter 436 - Mess of the Sun n

    Lilim watched the fall of Sun Jian through her observation monitors, which revealed all immortals in this realm.

    Had it been local people or historical figures, Lilim would not have paid attention to them. However, she had sent someone to reincarnate as Sun Jian and Wu Guotai¡¯s child.

    Hua Shi!

    Lilim did her best to reincarnate Hua Shi as the official first recyble soul in this dimension, testing the stability of the entire reincarnation system by using the purest soul without a karma knot.

    Although many souls of the dead reincarnators had scattered and entered historical people¡¯s bodies, this phenomenon only gave the soulless people a new soul, which was not the true reincarnation of this world.

    Thus, Hua Shi¡¯s second chance was important. If Lilim seeded, this dimension would get closer to be a real alternate dimension, not a fragmented world under Heaven¡¯s jurisdiction.

    Then, Lilim would be a new creator of this realm!

    At first, she wanted to send her back as one of Tong¡¯s daughters, but Hua Shi refused.

    Since she wanted to reunite with Tong as his wife, Lilim sent Hua Shi to Wu Guotai, stealing the body of the eldest daughter of Sun Jian, Sun Shangxiang.

    However, an ident happened.

    "For someone who doesn¡¯t have a soul, you did better than those that reincarnated several times. But how the hell is this happening!?"

    A bright light that only immortals with 10 wings or higher could see shone from Sun Jian¡¯s dead body as his soul emerged.

    Lilim widened her eyes in disbelief.

    "Wait a minute. A soulless being just hatches a soul!? What the fuck!?"

    She rechecked Sun Jian¡¯s past and log files about his karma in this life. She summoned all her souls to scan through the billions of lines, inspecting every nook and cranny of Sun Jian¡¯s deed.

    Then, she found the cause!

    Lilim turned to Zou Ci, who was meditating alone on Mount Tai.

    ¡¯That geezer!¡¯

    A few years ago, Lilim told Zou Ci to distribute the soul seeds by spreading the angel¡¯s blood and demon¡¯s blood to the world. Once the year 200 AD arrived, more than 50% of the poption would possess a soul of their own, and they could also cultivate wings.

    However, someone had been a busy body as he hasted the progress of this mass awakening.

    Cao Cao had already been forced awakened, but he only got his memory in the otherworld back.

    As for Sun Jian, he had not reached the level of Cao Cao since his both lives ended prematurely. Still, a soul was there.

    While Lilim was in shock, the soul of Sun Jian entered Wu Guotai¡¯s womb!

    Lilim regained her sense after Sun Jian¡¯s soul merged with the embryo of Sun Shangxiang.

    "HOLY SHIT!! NO!!"

    Lilim teleported to the unconscious Wu Guotai. Shemanded her wings to enter the woman¡¯s body, trying to pry out Sun Jian¡¯s soul.

    But she was toote. Both Hua Shi¡¯s soul and Sun Jian¡¯s iplete soul had merged!

    For the first time, Lilim panicked. Her face paled and drenched in sweat.

    ¡¯Fuck! What do I do!? How is the karma system!? What¡¯s the stability of the reincarnation river!?¡¯

    Lilim was so absorbed in the new development, busy typing the 20 transparent keyboards around her with her fingers and her wings.

    She did not notice that the 11-year-old crying boy was looking at her.

    "Miss? Are you a goddess?"

    Sun Quan saw Lilim by his mother¡¯s unconscious body.

    "Miss Goddess, can you revive my dad? Please?"

    The sobbing voice of Sun Quan snapped Lilim back to her sense.

    "... *Hic*... Please help dad. Dad is bleeding. Please."

    Lilim wanted to scream that she wanted to, but she was powerless in this incident. Still, she operated her universe system, trying to find a way to secure Sun Jian¡¯s iplete soul.

    "Give me a minute child. I¡¯ll help your father... somehow."

    With her absolutemand of this universe, Lilim managed to separate the two souls. However, Hua Shi had already absorbed Sun Jian¡¯s memory while Sun Jian¡¯s soul weakened.

    However, instead of reviving Sun Jian, Lilim tossed Sun Jian¡¯s weakened soul into Sun Quan¡¯s body. Then, she told him.

    "I¡¯m sorry that I cannot revive your father since this is against thew of the living, but I have a piece of good news for you. Your father will be living together with you from now on, and he will appear in your dream often. Also, he asked me to tell you that he loves you, and he will always be with you forever. When you fall asleep tonight, you will be able to see him again."

    It was a lie. At the same time, it was not really a lie.

    With Sun Jian¡¯s iplete soul, Sun Quan¡¯s budding soul would be strengthened, and he would receive all memory of Sun Jian as a boost. Moreover, Lilim gave Sun Quan a choice to cultivate either angel or demon wings, depending on his decision in his dream tonight.

    She woulde back to settle thister. After all, the experiment on Hua Shi was necessary for the creation of this dimension and her creator¡¯s title.

    The boy was overwhelmed with sadness that his father could not be revived. He wailed as he hugged the lifeless body of Sun Jian.

    As Lilim had sessfully extracted Sun Jian¡¯s soul from Hua Shi, aka soon to be born Sun Shangxiang, she escaped from the scene.

    A few minutester, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Sun Ce, and all members in the Sun n rushed to Sun Jian and Sun Quan. Upon finding the deceased Sun Jian and the fainted Wu Guotai, they hurried to their sides.

    "CALL THE PHYSICIANS!! SAVE MADAM WU AND CHECK THE THIRD YOUNG MASTER¡¯S HEALTH, NOW!!"

    .

    .

    The Sun n was in an uproar after everyone had found out about their n lord being assassinated by Pu Jing of Cao Cao¡¯s forces.

    "We must revenge for our lord!"

    "Kill Pu Jing and Cao Cao!"

    "Hire every mercenary around here! Prepare for war!"

    All civil officers took it for granted that Sun Ce and Sun Fang would revenge for their father and wage war against Cao Cao.

    However, Sun Fang was still in Guangling, which was unable to attend the meeting.

    As a result, Sun Ce seeded the n lord title without Sun Fang¡¯s consent. With the support of Zhou Yu, nobody could say anything about Sun Ce¡¯s action.

    The heart of Sun Ce was burning with hatred.

    He hated Tong for stealing his wife.

    He hated Pu Jing for killing his father.

    And he hated all immortals, who had ruined their lives and future.

    He wanted all immortals dead!

    "Gongjin, what can we do to kill all immortals!?"

    Zhou Yu had a simr idea as Sun Ce. With his experience and his other life¡¯s memory, Zhou Yu¡¯s vision was not the same anymore. As such, he came up with a bold idea.

    "We should form an ally with Cao Cao, Liu Biao, and Liu Bei. In other words, we should form a coalition against Zhang Tong."

    Huang Gai stood up from his seat and yelled at Zhou Yu, "ARE YOU NUTS!? CAO CAO¡¯S MEN HAS JUST ASSASSINATED OUR LORD, AND YOU WANT TO ALLY WITH THEM!?"

    "Please listen to me before you object to my suggestion. First, our forces alone can¡¯t defeat either Cao Cao or Zhang Tong. So, instead of fighting them with only our forces, we should make the two giants fighting each other."

    Zhou Yu learned from what Zhuge Liang had done to the Wu Kingdom in the other life.

    .

    In history, Sun Quan wanted to surrender hisnds to Cao Cao when thetter upied Xiangyang in the year 208, as Liu Biao¡¯s son, Liu Cong, surrendered to Cao Cao.

    However, Zhuge Liang incited them that Cao Cao wanted to take both Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao as concubines, which enraged Sun Quan. Because of Zhuge Liang¡¯s words, they ended up falling into Zhuge Liang¡¯s provocation, and they ended up shing with Cao Cao at Chibi in the same year.

    Because of that battle, Liu Bei managed to secure Jing Province from Cao Cao and used it as a foothold for his empire, whichter became a part of the Shu Kingdom in the early Three Kingdom period.

    .

    With the lesson from the other life, Zhou Yu did not want his friends andrades to be used by other forces again. On the contrary, he wanted to use Cao Cao to kill Tong.

    "As you all know, the current political stance of Cao Cao that he is Zhang Tong¡¯s vessel is actually a farce. Both of them are at each other¡¯s throat while they were pretending to be friendly on the surface. Right now, Zhang Tong has an advantage in military, economy, and diplomacy since he is the current emperor. On the other hand, Cao Cao suffers from the political suppression and the neighbor issues since he¡¯s waging war on us to expand his influence and prepare to fight a decisive battle."

    Zhou Yu pointed out that Cao Cao and Zhang Tong were enemies, and they should manipte them into fighting each other prematurely while they could reap the profits by devouring Cao Cao¡¯s territory to the north.

    Zhang Zhao frowned and shook his head.

    "Sounds good in theory, but practically, it¡¯s impossible. Cao Cao won¡¯t cooperate with us since we¡¯re not really on good terms. Actually, it will be the opposite since Cao Cao wants to devour our forces as quickly as possible right now. Since the emperor had taken out the Xiongnu, his influence will expand into the north beyond the Great Wall, and his military power will get stronger as time passes."

    Zhou Yu snorted, "That¡¯s not impossible. After all, we just acquire an interesting intel regarding the event before our lord¡¯s death."

    He nced at Zhu Zhi, Sun Jian¡¯s former subordinate.

    The general stepped forward and reported thetest news.

    "Earlier today, Cao Cao sent an envoy to negotiate for a peace treaty and offered us the Imperial Seal as a gift. However, our lord chased the envoy away ..."

    Zhu Zhi nced at Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, hinting that it might be the cause of Sun Jian¡¯s death.

    All Sun n¡¯s officers were smart. They caught the gesture and understood the reason for Cao Cao¡¯s action.

    Half of them cursed at Cao Cao for using such a wicked scheme. Forcing Sun Jian into fighting against Tong was a despicable move as Tong and Sun Jian was on friendly terms, and these men thought that Sun Jian would have benefitted more if they had joined Tong¡¯s court.

    On the other hand, the other half of the officers thought that Cao Cao eliminated the stupidly honest lord to give a chance for their cooperation. A few of this group were enraged by such a vile tactic while the selfish politicians believed it was a good move since their forces could be at peace.

    Still, one thing attracted everyone¡¯s attention.

    The Imperial Seal!

    Sun Ce smirked, "We¡¯ll call the envoy back here and ask for the assassins that killed our lord. We¡¯ll demand that they hand them over with the Imperial Seal as an apology, then we shall pretend to form an alliance to Cao Cao and incite a war between him and Zhang Tong. How¡¯s that!?"

    Everyone stared at Sun Ce in doubt. The n was too bold and wed to the point that they could not see the chance of sess.

    Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao whispered to themselves.

    ¡¯Are the young lord and Gongjin too optimistic?¡¯

    ¡¯I think so. There is no way that Cao Cao will allow us to continue governing the south. If I were Cao Cao, I would have sent our generals to the north and fight against Zhang Tong first. When we¡¯re weakened enough, Cao Cao will deploy his men to reap the profits.¡¯

    ¡¯What if Cao Cao refuses to hand over the assassins? What if Cao Cao doesn¡¯t give us the Imperial Seal? What if Zhang Tong and Cao Cao nned our lord¡¯s death? There are many things that we haven¡¯t confirmed. Those two are too young and too rash!¡¯

    ¡¯The main reason for their rashness should be the two Qiaos that they imed to be their wives. Those two should still be too immature to control their desire, and they might be trying to find a reason to kill Zhang Tong by using this coalition farce.¡¯

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know them anymore.¡¯

    ¡¯Yeah, I¡¯m also confused. For now, let¡¯s keep quiet and observe them.¡¯

 Chapter 437 Broken Sun Clan

    Chapter 437 - Broken Sun n

    In the end, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu recalled Cheng Yu to Jianye to negotiate the peace treaty.

    When Cheng Yu arrived, all soldiers, officers, and generals red at him as if they wanted to stare at him to death. However, Cheng Yu kept hisposure, ignoring all the death stare.

    Pu Jing, the murderer of Sun Jian, also tagged along, acting as Cheng Yu¡¯s bodyguard. He did not care if someone had a silly idea of killing him since he could always summon his bears and use his system skills to ughter all officers here.

    Sun Ce gave a death stare to Pu Jing. He, too, wanted to revenge for his father, but it was not the right time.

    To kill all immortals, they had to incite a conflict between the strongest forces and make them fight each other. Trying to revenge for Sun Jian right now would be a foolish idea as they would end up fighting both Tong and Cao Cao¡¯s forces with their puny military power.

    Moreover, Sun Ce was aware of the wing cultivation technique. He could sense that Pu Jing was stronger than him and Zhou Yu.

    ¡¯It¡¯s impossible to kill him at the moment. But I learned my lesson from the other life. I won¡¯t make a mistake and get myself killed by my arrogance again!¡¯

    While the tension between the two forces was ongoing, Cheng Yu broke the ice.

    "I¡¯ll get to the point. We will give you the Imperial Seal as an apology token for the previous incident. However, we want to form a truce and an alliance treaty with you, so we can fight the false emperor Zhang Tong together."

    Huang Gai bellowed, "Do you think we will forgive you because of a single jade!? Do you take us for a fool!?"

    Zhou Yu red at the old general, "Silence! Do not interfere with our negotiation!"

    "There is nothing to negotiate! We should kill these men and sent their heads to Cao Cao! The Sun n is not some pushovers that they can offend and walk away by only giving us stupid bribery!"

    "Don¡¯t overstep your boundary, geezer! You¡¯re just a ve of the deceased. You hold no power here!"

    Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Zhu Zhi, and Huang Gai could not believe their ears. Calling the most loyal general a ve was uncalled for, and using the word "the deceased" for Sun Jian was also an insult to their former lord.

    Such disrespect remark from an upstart brat was unforgivable.

    All generals red at the youthful Zhou Yu. Their hatred directed to him instead of Pu Jing.

    At that moment, Zhou Yu sent a message in the n chat.

    Zhou Yu: "Forgive me for the drama. Pretend to be angry at me for now."

    Zhou Yu: "I have a n, but it needs your cooperation. I¡¯ll exin everything to you and take all the punishmentter."

    Zhou Yu: "y along with me!"

    Finished rying the messages in secret, Zhou Yu continued insulting Huang Gai.

    "For a ve that can¡¯t even differentiate between rights and wrongs, I doubt your former lord must have given you too much spoiled dog food to the point that your intelligence degrades to that of a child. Your dog family should have raised you better."

    "YOU WHAT!?"

    Huang Gai was mad for real.

    Insulting himself was fine, but insulting his lord and his family could not be tolerated.

    Still, Zhou Yu reminded Huang Gai in the n chat.

    Zhou Yu: "I¡¯m sorry. Keep getting angry and insult me."

    Zhou Yu: "After I punished you with a bit of whipping, I¡¯ll exin the detailster."

    The strategist hinted that he wanted to use the same n when he ordered Huang Gai whipped 100 times during the Battle of Chibi in the other life.

    Unfortunately, he overlooked one fact, which was the critical factor of this n.

    He had yet to earn Huang Gai¡¯s trust!

    In this world, Huang Gai had been following Sun Jian around, but he did not have any chance to work with Zhou Yu. Meanwhile, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu worked together with Huang Gai for a long time during their conquest of Jiangdong in the other world.

    Secondly, their age and maturity were different. Huang Gai in the Battle of Chibi was 15 years older than the current world, and his tolerance level was higher as he had been through a lot in life. Unfortunately, this middle-aged Huang Gai still possessed some uncontroble temperament, which affected his judgment.

    Andstly, Tong influenced Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu with Ye¡¯s culture and prosperity, which demonstrated the example of his domestic prowess. With the promise of giving the Sun n¡¯s people a better life, the four legendary figures believed in Tong¡¯s government more than the sugar words of an upstart strategist.

    As a result, their mentality was not the same!

    ¡¯Are you kidding me!? What kind of bullshit is this!? I ain¡¯t gonna work with that brat!¡¯

    Betraying Zhou Yu¡¯s expectation, Huang Gai stomped out of the meeting, refusing to cooperate with Zhou Yu¡¯s n.

    The strategist frowned when Huang Gai chose to leave.

    The walk-out of Huang Gai caused a chain-reaction. Han Dang and Cheng Pu also decided to follow after the old general. Several sergeants and lieutenants in the meeting also left the hall.

    Cheng Yu observed the internal conflict within the Sun Ce¡¯s forces. He mocked them in his mind.

    ¡¯Fool! Insulting their veteran is not something you should do when you¡¯re still relying on their strength to manage your troops!¡¯

    Cheng Yu took notes of this event, while Pu Jing stared at Zhou Yu with a frown.

    ¡¯It¡¯s almost like Zhou Yu is trying to use that 100-whip tactic in Chibi. Well, I can easily kill him if Huang Gai shows up and ask to surrender to Cao Cao, though.¡¯

    Everything seemed to be against Zhou Yu and Sun Ce, but all of them were wrong.

    Zhou Yu had prepared for all of this. Regardless of what reaction and the consequences that Huang Gai and his colleague will create, he would still obtain his objective.

    ¡¯He left, so this is better. If he follows through with the other timeline, Pu Jing and other immortals will be able to predict the oue, and the entire scheme will be ruined. Now, I have to fool Pu Jing and all immortals that the Sun n is breaking apart, and we¡¯re no longer a threat to Cao Cao.¡¯

    He coughed and bowed to Cheng Yu, "Please forgive us for the unsightly subordinates. We¡¯re having a lot of problems after the sudden death of our lord."

    Cheng Yu nodded, "I understand. It might be hard on you."

    "Then, I¡¯ll also get to the point. We will cooperate with you, but we want an additional condition," Zhou Yu nced at Pu Jing, "We want you to hand over the head of our lord¡¯s murderer."

    Pu Jing looked back at Zhou Yu, who was targeting himself.

    ¡¯Figured. Well, Cheng Yu won¡¯t agree with them on this since Cao Cao will need me to fight Tong.¡¯

    Pu Jing didn¡¯t give a cultivation manual to anyone for a reason.

    By being the sole immortal in Cao Cao¡¯s forces, Cao Cao could not betray him, and Pu Jing could continue manipting everyone into killing all immortals.

    Pu Jing¡¯s goal was not the unification of China. He wanted all otherworlders dead!

    Without otherworlders and immortals, he could slowly devour China and all neighboring countries, including the mother Russia, forming a new empire stronger than the other dimension.

    He was looking at the world on arger scale than Tong and Cao Cao. He wanted to top seat and the absolute dominant position as the liege, not a follower of someone else.

    Cao Cao was just a tool to destroy Tong¡¯s influence!

    Meanwhile, Cheng Yu nced at Pu Jing and chuckled.

    ¡¯To be honest, I want to kill this bastard right away, but he¡¯s too valuable as a chess piece. I need him to kill Zhang Tong and Sun Fang. Well, I can clean up his mess for once.¡¯

    He gazed and Zhou Yu, "We would like to postpone the handling of this matter until Zhang Tong is dead. We need this so-called "Murderer" for our future tasks."

    Sun Ce and Zhou Yu red at Cheng Yu and Pu Jing. Though they disagreed with Cheng Yu, both of them swallowed their pride and grudge.

    Sun Ce nodded at Cheng Yu, "I understand. We should discuss the details of our cooperation on papers."

    The meeting continued until night.

    .

    .

    All former subordinates were fed up with Zhou Yu and Sun Ce. They visited Wu Guotai and Sun Quan, telling them about the development.

    Sun Quan had already fallen asleep as it was nighttime. On the other hand, Wu Guotai recovered from the shock and could not sleep.

    She listened to the stories with a sad expression.

    "I read the n chat. Bofu is taking over as the n head, I assume."

    Huang Gai nodded, "Yes. This is getting out of hand. For now, mydy, let¡¯s move everyone to Guangling, so we can stay with the first young master."

    He wanted to evacuate all trustworthy n members to Sun Fang, so they could stay clear of Zhou Yu and Cheng Yu¡¯s schemes. None of them wanted to be a part of those hypocritical politicians, especially the disrespectful Zhou Yu.

    Wu Guotai shook her head, "No. I think Fang¡¯er will get involved in the struggle as well."

    "Then, would we be staying here? Watching the mess that Bofu and Gongjin make?"

    "No."

    Huang Gai was confused.

    Then, he noticed something.

    The tearful eyes of Wu Guotai revealed a tinge of determination and resolve. Those were not the eyes of someone who had given up.

    "Gongfu," She called Huang Gai¡¯s by his style name.

    "Yes, mydy?"

    "Tell me about Zhang Tong and his citizens. What did you see?"

 Chapter 438 Wu Guotais Decision

    Chapter 438 - Wu Guotai¡¯s Decision

    Sun Quan had a long nightmare.

    In his dream, he experienced what Sun Jian had gone through in the other timeline. He fought so hard for the country, but he died because of Liu Biao and Huang Zu.

    Then, Sun Quan went through a long journey of the other life as himself in the world without an immortal. He went through the turbulent of the Three Kingdoms Period, fighting against Cao Cao¡¯s Wei Empire and Liu Bei¡¯s Shu Han Kingdom. He also almost lost his life at the Battle of Hefei, where Zhang Liao defeated him with fewer men.

    In the end, he failed to aplish the unification goal, but Sun Quanpleted something for his descendants.

    Heid a foundation for his family and his subordinates to be happy. All of his people, citizens, merchants, and soldiers were smiling as his kingdom prospered.

    Although he did not know what the future of his descendants and the fall of the Wu Kingdom, he died a happy emperor.

    After the long dream, Sun Quan regained his sense and his memories of the two lives.

    Before he woke up, he heard his dearest father¡¯s voice.

    [I¡¯ll be with you, always.]

    Sun Quan¡¯s tears rolled down on his cheeks as he woke up from his long dream.

    "I won¡¯t disappoint you, father."

    His eyes and determination changed. From the innocent eyes of an 11-year-old boy, he became a veteran with years of experience in war and politics.

    Furthermore, he learned a cultivation method by instinct. Even without guidance, Sun Quan knew what he had to do.

    His white eyes ckened while his pupils turned silver. A bright aura and a dark aurabined into a Taishi diagram, forming Yin and Yang.

    One white wing and ck wing appeared behind Sun Quan¡¯s back!

    .

    .

    Lilim was surprised by the sudden awakening of a half-angel half-demon.

    This was not a part of her n.

    "WTF!? I TRIED SO HARD TO GET A TABOO CHILD!! THIS BASTARD GETS SUN JIAN¡¯S SOUL, THEN, HE CAN CULTIVATE BOTH PATHS NOW!?"

    She wanted to kill somebody after seeing Sun Quan¡¯s cultivation technique.

    Lilim thought that Sun Quan would learn one of the cultivation techniques from Sun Jian¡¯s soul like how Guan Yu and Zhang Fei got theirs. However, she did not expect him to be able topatible with both cultivation techniques.

    After staring at the little Sun Quan for a whole ten minutes, Lilim gained enlightenment.

    "Hua Shi!"

    Sun Jian¡¯s soul had been partly devoured by Hua Shi. When Lilim yanked his soul back and put it to Sun Quan¡¯s body, she believed that she might have taken a portion of Hua Shi¡¯s soul with it.

    Thus, Sun Jian¡¯s weakened soul contained Hua Shi¡¯s cleansed soul, which might be the catalyst for this phenomenon.

    Lilim scratched her head, messing her hair.

    "WHY DID I HAVE TO BOTHER CONNING THAT BITCH INTO GIVING BIRTH TO A NEW SOUL WHEN I CAN JUST CLEANSE ONE OF THEM CAN SCATTER THEM TO EVERYONE!?"

    She went ballistic for another hour.

    When Lilim calmed down, she turned her gaze to a monitor, which was spying on Liu Yang.

    Currently, the former goddess candidate worked hard to grow wings.

    Lilim mumbled for a while as she stared at Liu Yang¡¯s monitor.

    Then, she nced at Zou Ci.

    ¡¯I have a silly idea, but this bastard can ruin my n. I need someone trustworthy to take care of the system when I¡¯m away, but I can¡¯t trust anybody. Who can I use?¡¯

    Lilim searched for a human who had no worldly desire.

    She looked at several monitors.

    ¡¯Zhang Tong and his demon wives are no good. Those bastards are plotting to overthrow me when they reach my strength. If I give them this power, they will simply destroy everything I built, including me.¡¯

    ¡¯Te Langpu and Pu Jing are trash. They secretly want the world under their thump.¡¯

    ¡¯Sun Fang ... also trash.¡¯

    ¡¯Li Feihong?¡¯

    Lilim rechecked Li Feihong¡¯s behavior and his attitude. Upon reading all the logs about his thought and his rtionship toward Tong, she grinned.

    ¡¯I can use this man!¡¯

    .

    .

    A dayter, Pu Jing and Cheng Yu departed from Jianye, leaving the Imperial Seal here.

    Sun Ce stared at the seal.

    "How irony..."

    In the other life, he gave this seal to Yuan Shu to borrow his troops, so he could be a free man.

    In this life, Cao Cao gave this seal back to him, so they could borrow his men to fight his enemies.

    Even his wife and Zhou Yu¡¯s wife, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao, had been stolen by Tong!

    Many unexpectable things happened in this life. Sun Ce could not think of a way to utilize his old memory as a reference to get ahead anymore.

    He turned to his sworn brother, Zhou Yu.

    "So, what¡¯s next, Gongjin?"

    "We gather allies... young allies."

    Zhou Yu pped and summoned young men into the pce.

    Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin, two former pirates that Sun Ce had subdued during their campaignst year, joined forces with them and had been following Sun Ce and Zhou Yu around, entered the pce.

    Jiang Qin was in the mid-20s while Zhou Tai was only 23. Both men had scars all over their bodies, revealing their experience inbat.

    Lu Meng, a talented young soldier who served Sun Ce as a 100-man captain, was also summoned here.

    Despite Lu Meng being only 15, his face and his body looked as if he was a grown man in his 20s because of his full beard and hardened face. Had he not told anyone his age, he would have been treated like a grown man instead of a young man.

    Ling Cao, an ordinary 2000-manmander under Sun Ce¡¯s regiment, also joined the group as he was invited by Zhou Yu.

    He was in thete 20s, and he had a son, Ling Tong, who was only 4 this year. However, Zhou Yu knew what this father and son could do in the future.

    There were other military officers, such as Dong Xi, Chen Wu, and Song Qian, but they were only there toplement Sun Ce¡¯s forces as vicemanders.

    Zhou Yu paid attention to the earlier four as they would grow into prominent figures, which could serve as a pir of the Sun n in the future.

    It was unfortunate that Gan Ning went missing after Zhou Yu had sent him on a mission to kill Zhuge Liang. Also, he tried to invite Taishi Ci, who was currently serving Tong, to betray the emperor and join them. Sadly, the general declined.

    Zhou Yu did not only try to recruit Sun Ce and Sun Quan¡¯s talented subordinates who made a name of themselves in the other timeline, but he also tried to poach officers from Tong, Cao Cao, Liu Biao, and Liu Bei.

    Although he tried his best to give them a good offer, most of the officers refused to join Zhou Yu.

    But a few individuals gave him a positive reply.

    Huang Zu, a major general under Liu Biao, was not happy with his current position as Huang Zhong was still acting as the grandmander of all Liu Biao¡¯s forces.

    In this world, Huang Zu did not kill Sun Jian and Sun Ce, so his achievements were inferiorpared to Huang Zhong, who had been actively hunting bandits and participating in the campaign of Yi Province.

    Thus, Huang Zu showed interest in joining Sun Ce and Zhou Yu. With the bait of a grandmander position of a legion, Huang Zu hinted that he wanted to switch sides, but it was not the right time.

    Many of Cao Cao¡¯s officers, such as Chen Gong and Zhang Miao, replied to Zhou Yu that they also wanted Cao Cao dead since thetter plotted to betray the emperor.

    Zhou Yu tricked them that they also worked for Tong, so they should work together for the Han Empire.

    The two officials agreed to switch sides whenever Zhou Yu wanted. Since Zhang Miao currently served as the governor of Chenliu and Chen Gong was working as Puyang governor, they could hand over the cities once Zhou Yu was ready.

    With this preparation, Zhou Yu moved forward to the next phase of his n.

    "Gentlemen, I¡¯ve gathered you here for a mission. This is urgent, so you should pay attention to my every word."

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, Sun Quan, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Zhu Zhi, and Wu Guotai also had a private meeting.

    As Sun Quan was too young to make a decision, Wu Guotai led the agenda.

    "We discussed this yesterday, and I¡¯ve decided."

    She turned to Sun Quan and patted his head before she returned her gaze at Huang Gai and others.

    "All of us will surrender to Zhang Tong. We¡¯ll leave Sun Fang and Sun Ce to mind their own business while we will take shelter in Ye!"

    Huang Gai and the other generals were shocked. Even Sun Quan turned to his mother.

    "Are you sure, mydy!?"

    Wu Guotai nodded.

    "What about your other sons?" Zhu Zhi was concerned with Sun Ce and Sun Fang, who were still too young to handle the dirty politic world.

    "Those two have decided to fight for the hegemony, so they will end up killing each other one day..."

    Wu Guotai clenched her left chest as she had a heartache. Knowing that one of her sons, or both, might die for their ambition was painful for the mother¡¯s heart.

    No mother wanted to see their child dead!

    Still, this world was a cruel ce, unlike the modern world with civil rights and sacredws. Only those with military influence could defyws. As for the rest, they were at the mercy of others, who had more power.

    Sun Ce and Sun Fang had gotten involved in the conspiracy to betray the emperor, so they would not live a happy life. Staying with them and supporting them should be the right thing to do, but she could not stand seeing her sons working with the mastermind who had orchestrated her husband¡¯s death.

    Between living with her two sons and her revenge, Wu Guotai chose neither.

    After all, Sun Quan was still with her, and she was currently pregnant. She did not want innocent children to get involved.

    For the sake of getting away from this fight, joining Liu Biao should be a better choice, and the mistress of the Sun n had thought about it many times.

    However, Wu Guotai changed her mind after listening to Huang Gai¡¯s opinion about Tong and Ye City.

    She had been thinking all night, evaluating Tong and his character.

    Had Tong been a vile emperor, he would have already executed Sun Jian and everybody else on the first day that Sun Ce showed a sign of rebellion.

    Yet, Tong released all of them, returning them home.

    Secondly, Ye City was prosperous, which demonstrated his civil officers¡¯ abilities and Tong¡¯s skills in management. The people were happy, and the merchants spread the good news about his territory. This proved that Tong cared for his citizens and his people.

    Andstly, Tong never demanded high taxes from their territories. This action alone told many things about the new capital¡¯s economic power and finance.

    It was amon knowledge that had the capital demanded tributes from other counties, the emperor and the court¡¯s treasury might have been emptied, or someone inside the court spent too much gold and provision.

    Yet, after all these years, Tong never asked them anything.

    "Zhang Tong is a righteous emperor. I trust him more than my stupid sons."

    "M-Mydy, I¡¯m afraid that Zhang Tong might use you as a hostage when Sun Ce reveals his true color," Huang Gai was afraid of Wu Guotai and Sun Quan¡¯s safety.

    Wu Guotai scoffed, "If Zhang Tong were that evil, why are you all still alive?"

    "..."

    "Bofu has been delusional about his wife, right? He wants to rebel against the emperor because a girl he falls in love with married the emperor? If that is not foolishness, what should I call it?"

    "..."

    "Fang¡¯er also has been acting strangely after his wife¡¯s death. Well, since he¡¯s an immortal, I can¡¯t dwell into his "secret" and his struggle against other immortals. But I know one thing about his character. He¡¯s a fool! Other immortals can co-living with Zhang Tong under his banners, but why is Fang¡¯er still fighting? What¡¯s the point!?"

    "..."

    "Both of them are a disappointment and a disgrace to my husband¡¯s name. I won¡¯t be relying on them or supporting them anymore."

 Chapter 439 Three Lords Coalition

    Chapter 439 - Three Lords Coalition

    Sun Quan understood what his mother was trying to do, and he was interested in it.

    After regaining his memory and advanced his cultivation, Sun Quan recollected all info about the situation in this world andpared it to the world in his dream.

    He found many differences.

    At first, he was surprised that the immortals changed many events in this timeline. Many things event that should not happen happened. Other things that should have urred did not ur.

    Since Tong¡¯s territory reced Yuan Shao¡¯s and many generals of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan joined him, things became unpredictable.

    Still, Sun Quan was aware of a couple of facts.

    First, Tong went easy on other lords!

    Had Tong acted like Cao Cao or Yuan Shao in the other timeline, he would have invaded other cities non-stop, expanding his influence and abusing his authority as an emperor. Yet, this immortal emperor seemed to have an ulterior motive by not attacking anyone.

    Secondly, Tong tricked everyone in the Sun n!

    He knew that Xiao Qiao had married to Zhou Yu, and Sun Ce married with Da Qiao. Referring to Huang Gai¡¯s testimony, Tong seemed to have provoked Sun Ce and Zhou Yu on purpose by stressing that they were his wives now.

    This revealed several vital points to Sun Quan.

    Tong knew about the other timeline! Then, if Tong knew, other immortals should be aware of this different world, too!

    With Sun Ce and Zhou Yu¡¯s reaction so far, Sun Quan deducted that both of them might have realized what was going on in the other timeline. However, they mixed both lives together, which was a terrible practice.

    After all, each life was different. They should have been careful and taken responsibility for their current timeline, not the others.

    ¡¯Zhang Tong wants war, but he¡¯s baiting brother and Gongjin into taking action first, and both of them fell for it. Now that they¡¯re bing a rebel force in the eyes of ordinary people, Zhang Tong will get a legitimate reason to mobilize with the people¡¯s support.¡¯

    Sun Quan was calmer than Sun Ce, who was into martial arts. With his two lives worth of experience from Sun Jian and the other self, Sun Quan¡¯s analysis got closer to Tong¡¯s real intention.

    He sighed, disappointed by Zhou Yu and Sun Ce¡¯s inability to perceive the bigger picture.

    ¡¯Tunnel vision. I had that a lot in the dream.¡¯

    Sun Quan¡¯s attention turned to his mother, who was in charge of their current faction.

    It was unfortunate that Wu Guotai chose to break ties with Sun Ce and Sun Fang to save him and the child in her belly. Still, it gave Sun Quan many paths to choose for his future.

    ¡¯Should I protect my father¡¯s prestige, or should I value my mother and them?¡¯

    It was a tough decision. However, Sun Quan recalled that he was not in power anymore as he was still an 11-year-old boy in the eyes of others.

    ¡¯I¡¯lly low and protect my mother and my subordinates. Well, if my brothers win, it¡¯s all good. But if they lose, the Sun family can still survive from the rebel charge as long as I get on Zhang Tong¡¯s good side. There¡¯s a will, there¡¯s a way!¡¯

    .

    .

    Cheng Yu was not the only one that had been sent to gather allies, but Chen Qun was also acted as an envoy to negotiate with the troublemaker Liu Bei.

    At Chang¡¯An, Chen Qun also offered another Imperial Seal to Liu Bei.

    "We would like you to cooperate in a coalition against the false emperor. For the trouble, we will return this jade seal to the rightful owner."

    Unlike the real Imperial Seal in Sun Ce¡¯s hands, this one was a counterfeit that Cao Cao ordered to make specifically for Liu Bei. As for a reason for such deliberation, Cao Cao and his men kept them secret as this would be used against Liu Bei in the future once the war against Tong was over.

    Chen Qun was confident that this bait should interest Liu Bei, who seemed to be an ambitious warlord.

    Liu Bei frowned as he stared at the seal.

    In the other world, when Liu Bei became the Shu Han emperor, he had his men crafted a new seal for his dynasty. The seal did not resemble the current dragon jade cube, as his old item was made by a different style.

    Comparing the old seal and the seal from Cao Cao, Liu Bei was a bit embarrassed that the Shu Han version did not look as good as the old Han one.

    "I ept your goodwill. Tell Cao Cao that we need time for the preparation. Also, please ask him when he wants to mobilize and confirm the rally point for me."

    Without consulting with Xu Shu or Pang Tong, Liu Bei agreed to Chen Qun¡¯s offer.

    The negotiator thought that Liu Bei was a fool that agreed without a term. He bowed and was about to bid farewell to close the deal. However, Liu Bei stopped Chen Qun.

    "I almost forget. I need to borrow some gold from the Marquis. Please tell him that I need 500,000 gold and 100,000 tons of provision to support my men in this coalition, or we can¡¯t mobilize. After all, we are dealing with the remnants of the Xiongnu in Liang Province for him. Most of our supplies have already been spent."

    Chen Qun¡¯s jaw dropped as he didn¡¯t expect a counter-bargain. Again, he opened his mouth to speak, but Liu Bei interrupted him.

    "The deal is non-negotiable since this is a call for a rebellion. Unless Cao Mengde pays me with the expected amount I requested, I won¡¯t send the reinforcement."

    In a fury, Chen Qun¡¯s tone changed, "Lord Liu Bei, please don¡¯t forget that Cao Cao is your master. His order is absolute and non-negotiable!"

    Liu Bei smirked, "I never said anything about Chang¡¯An and Liang Province being a part of his jurisdiction. Everything that I have upied is mine, including Hongnong."

    Chen Qun wanted to curse at Liu Bei for being a shameless bastard. However, Zhang Fei, who had four white wings behind his back, sent a suppressing aura on Chen Qun.

    This schr, who had hardly trained in martial arts, had weak knees. He knelt and cough as he was suffocated by the overwhelming killing intent.

    Liu Bei revealed a gentle smile, but it was sarcastic to Chen Qun.

    "My words are final. Go back and tell your lord what I told you."

    Chen Qun gritted his teeth as he bid farewell.

    The negotiation was a sess, but they suffered a setback. Still, those promised gold and provision could be taken backter after the war with Tong.

    After leaving Chang¡¯An pce, Chen Qun reported everything to Cao Cao in the n chat.

    Chen Qun: "Negotiationpleted, but that shameless Liu Bei demanded 500,000 gold and 100,000 tons of provision."

    Cao Cao: "Agree with them. It doesn¡¯t matter."

    Chen Qun: "I already did, my lord. Liu Bei actually forced this deal on us."

    Cao Cao: "I expected as much. Don¡¯t worry."

    .

    .

    At Xuchang, Cao Cao was sipping his tea in his courtyard with two strategists by his sides.

    Guo Jia and Zhuge Liang joined the Marquis at this tea party. They, too, were enjoying their tea.

    The warlord ced down his teacup and stared at the two advisors.

    "If we fight Zhang Tong right now, what is our chance of victory?"

    Zhuge Liang smiled andughed, "None!"

    Guo Jia red at the teenager. Then, he turned to Cao Cao with a sad expression, "None..."

    Cao Cao snickered, "Really?"

    Guo Jia sighed, "I¡¯ve been trying my best to make you avoid confronting Zhang Tong in a direct fight and waiting for his empire to copse from the inside because of his weird government system. But it seems my n has failed since he has never recklessly expanded his territories ormitting an atrocity against his people and citizens."

    Zhuge Liang was as smug as ever, "I suggest you forget about this uprising and kill Pu Jing instead. Then, we can try to negotiate our surrender condition with Zhang Tong."

    Guo Jia snapped, "All your suggestion is either [Surrender] or [Give up]. Don¡¯t you have a better idea, Mr. Sleeping Dragon!?"

    "This farce is hopeless, to begin with. Why do you bother rebelling against the emperor anyway? Do my lord want to be an emperor that much?"

    "It¡¯s the fucking anti-noble system that Zhang Tong is doing! That government system shouldn¡¯t have even existed, and it needs to be eliminated for good! His dictatorship needs to stop!"

    "But the citizens are happy, right?"

    "Citizens can¡¯t be happy without the right ruler and nobles! Zhang Tong is not the one!"

    "Are you sure? You sound like a stuck-up power-hungry politician to me."

    "You..."

    "It¡¯s not that citizens aren¡¯t happy. It¡¯s more like nobles and warlords like you aren¡¯t happy, and our lord can¡¯t afford to give up your privilege as nobles. What¡¯s wrong with giving up private armies andnd ownership? You have fewer things to worry about, and your sry increases if you work under the emperor. The job is so easy there."

    Guo Jia stood up and ced his hand on his sword handle, nning to cut Zhuge Liang into pieces.

    Cao Cao raised his hand to stop.

    "You can sit down, Fengxiao."

    "..."

    Guo Jia nodded and swallowed his anger. Even though he had been provoked non-stop by this obnoxious neer, hisposure was as solid as mountains.

    "Speak, Kongming. What do I have to do to stand a chance against Zhang Tong?"

    Zhuge Liang smiled, "Well, for the starter, you should make all your generals immortals."

    "Isn¡¯t that impossible?"

    "I heard Sun Ce and Zhou Yu have some sort of secrets. Our spies sighted them having a pair of long white tails from their back... like Lu Bu and Zhang Tong."

    Cao Cao¡¯s eyes sharpened, "Continue."

    "For this topic, I think you should ask Pu Jing. I believe that he¡¯s hiding crucial information about immortals from you, and that¡¯s the key factor between our force and Zhang Tong¡¯s force."

    .

    .

    May 19th, 193 AD.

    Zhou Yu and Sun Ce gathered all forces and mobilized from Jianye to Guangling, where Sun Fang was protecting. From all cities, Sun Ce managed to draft 50,000 militias, consisted of mercenaries and noblemen¡¯s private armies.

    Combined with Sun Fang¡¯s 10,000 garrisons, they had 60,000 soldiers, but theycked training and equipment.

    For the time being, they wanted to gather everyone into arge army, so they could stand a chance against one of Tong¡¯s legions.

    Meanwhile, Cao Cao withdrew his forces from Shouchun and Lujiang, which eased the tension between the southern borders. The townsmen, however, did not celebrate as they knew what their lords were up to.

    They were nning to rebel against the emperor!

    The movement was so obvious that all merchants and schrs secretly cursed at Sun Ce and Cao Cao that they were too ambitious. Many nobles migrated from their territories to Jing Province or the north, where Tong was protecting.

    Still, the two forces were not the only active ones.

    Wu Guotai, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Zhu Zhi, and Sun Quan, along with 1,000 loyal bodyguards of Sun Jian, left Jianye and moved to Jiangxia County, which was a bordermandery west of Lujiang and northwest of Jiangdong.

    She wanted to avoid passing through Cao Cao¡¯s territory, so she chose to head west, moving toward Xiangyang, where Lu Bu and Zhang He were residing. Once they could reach them, they could escort them to Ye, or they could seek protection from the legionmanders.

    Unfortunately, Jiangxia was currently upied by Liu Biao¡¯s general, Huang Zu, which had secretly contacted Zhou Yu that he would join forces with them when everything was ready.

    Zhou Yu had predicted their movements and instructed Huang Zu to stop Wu Guotai from joining forces with Tong. As long as everyone stayed away from Tong, Sun Ce would not have any weakness for Tong to abuse.

 Chapter 440 World Stage and the Returner

    Chapter 440 - World Stage and the Returner

    In July, Xu Huang marched from Beiping toward the north beyond the Great Wall, probing into the territory of Xianbei Tribes. Also, Tian Yu mobilized his 30,000 men from Xiangping eastward to the Goguryeo Kingdom, aka the ancient Korean country located on the north part of the Korean Penins, as ordered by Tong to finish the job that Gongsun Du had supposed to do in the other historical timeline.

    Tong stressed that Tian Yu should use a pacifism policy with this neighbor while he established his military might against any possible hostile generals of Goguryeo. For the sake of gaining control of the Korean Penins, Tong summoned a naval specialist, whom Zhou Cang had captured to assist Tian Yu.

    Gan Ning

    At Ye Pce, Gan Ning was summoned to meet Tong and all officers in the throne room.

    "Have you adjusted to our culture, Xingba?"

    When Gan Ning had been taken to Henei by Zhou Cang, Tong asked Wei You, Zhang Liao, and Li Feihong to educate this general since they knew that Gan Ning would grow up to be another great general.

    In history, Gan Ning Xingba was originally from Yi Province. He did not serve anyone at first and lived his life as a pirate, plundering, and murdering people with his gang.

    He became a famous pirate leader as he was good innd warfare and naval warfare. The officials who had been sent to defeat Gan Ning was all perished by his military might and his martial art prowess.

    Gan Ning¡¯s career changed as he started epting bribes from the local officials. Those who treated him well were well-protected in Gan Ning¡¯s territory, while those who were hostile with him suffered a gruesome fate. The officials and nobles were no exception.

    He ended up working for Liu Yan as a mercenarypany in paper.

    After Liu Yan died in 194, Gan Ning attempted to rebel against Liu Zhang, who was the sessor of Liu Yan. However, he failed and retreated to Jing Province. He ended up serving Liu Biao afterward, quitting the pirate life for good.

    As Gan Ning had met many politicians, he was also good at reading people. During that year, many warlords took arms to fight for the hegemony and expanding their territory. Gan Ning predicted that Liu Biao would not survive the turbulence as he was only a schr, and the military personal of Liu Biao was not up to his standard.

    Gan Ning left Liu Biao¡¯s service and moved east toward Wu, where he encountered Sun Ce, who had conquered Jiangdong.

    The former pirate joined forces with Sun Ce and became a pir of Sun Quan¡¯s forces afterward.

    Gan Ning¡¯s achievements in history were abundant to the point that Sun Quan praised this general, "Cao Cao may have Zhang Liao, but I have Xingba!" as both of them were rivals in military might and tactics.

    Li Feihong was aware of this and managed to coax the ruthless pirate to their side with a bit intimidating assistance from Zhang Liao, who was once his nemesis.

    Now, the former pirate knelt before Tong, awaiting for his official post.

    "Your soldiers are monsters, your majesty. How dafuq did you train them!?"

    Gan Ning¡¯s manner was still unrefined, which caused many ministers to yell at Gan Ning in anger.

    But Tong did not mind that, "I¡¯m d you like them. Well, Ick a general that can fight in naval warfare in Liaodong. Are you interested in leading my navy forces?"

    Gan Ningughed, "Of course! Well, as long as your soldiers aren¡¯t a wimp and follow my orders, I can beat anyone!"

    "Okay? Then, I¡¯ll send you to Xiangping as a new navymander of a new legion. You¡¯ll be working with general Tian Yu. Remember that he is actually stronger than you, so be nice to him, or your head will roll. Be warned that I¡¯ve given him the authority to execute indiscipline subordinates."

    Gan Ning wanted to mock that no one could be stronger than him in a fight, but he recalled what Zhou Cang did to himself. As cautious as he was, Gan Ning asked, "Between Zhou Cang and this Tian Yu, who is stronger?"

    Tong pondered. Zhou Cang had one wing while Tian Yu had two. Obviously, Tian Yu¡¯s strength should be higher. However, Zhou Cang had a solid foundation in physical and mental strength, so he had the advantage over Tian Yu in raw power.

    "Both are equally matched in terms of strength. Well, you will know when you spar with him."

    Gan Ning had a wry smile on his face. He nced at the soldiers and Tong¡¯s bodyguards in the throne room.

    ¡¯All bodyguards here are so-so, but Zhang Liao, Li Feihong, and Zhou Cang are monsters! I guess he¡¯s a lucky emperor that has tamed good people, but I don¡¯t think he...¡¯

    The former pirate observed Tong, who had hidden his true aura of a six-winged demon.

    Tong sensed that Gan Ning was probing his strength. Pranking this overconfident youth a bit, he unleashed his suppression aura on Gan Ning.

    *RUMBLE*

    Gan Ning¡¯s stomach churned while his sweat drops rolled upward instead of falling to earth. Goosebumps appeared on his skin, and his face paled.

    Tong withdrew his aura before it broke Gan Ning¡¯s mind.

    "Just for your information, among all of my generals, I¡¯m the strongest here, and my prime consort is the second after me, followed by Lu Bu of Redhare Legion. Wanna test me?"

    "N-No, your majesty!" Gan Ning gulped and kowtowed to Tong. He was scared for real.

    .

    .

    After Tong had sent Gan Ning off to Xiangping, he continued the meeting.

    "Next agenda, I heard from senior Sima¡¯s agents that Cao Cao, Sun Ce, and Liu Bei are forming a coalition against me in secret. I need all forces to be ready for a country-wide scale war. What¡¯s our status on all fronts?"

    Lu Zhi stepped forward.

    "Henei¡¯s Monster Legion, 50,000 men, 70,000 warhorses, 30,000 fully geared, 20,000 basic geared. Training evaluation, above average. Provision supplies, 6 months."

    "Jibei¡¯s Demon Legion, 50,000 men, 20,000 warhorses, 15,000 fully geared, 25,000 basic geared, and 10,000cks equipment. Training evaluation, subpar. Provision supplies, 3 months."

    "Ganling¡¯s White Horse Legion, 50,000 men, 80,000 white horses, 20,000 fully geared, and 30,000 basic geared. Training evaluation, average. Provision supplies, 5 months.

    Lu Zhi stepped back as he only had the intel of the three legions.

    Tong chuckled, "Do our cksmiths can¡¯t keep up with our production demand?"

    "It¡¯s not that they can¡¯t keep up, your majesty. We don¡¯t have enough cksmiths that understand about steelmaking. Most of them are still refusing to forge steel weaponry."

    Tong sighed, "Send my decree. Tell all cksmiths that a newmission from me ising this year and next year. Switch all city¡¯s policies into war economy policy. Haste all productions for the future country wide war."

    All officers looked confused and surprised that Tong used this mandate, and his reaction toward the fight was somewhat exaggerated. In past conflicts, Tong did not seem to panic or fluster. However, this time, Tong was cautious.

    Xun Yu, Sima Fang, Lu Zhi, and Cai Yan did not understand why Tong dered a wartime policy, but Te Langpu had a suspicion.

    ¡¯Are you going all-out, or are you nning something? Why are you obstinate in letting your men fight when you can destroy the entire country by yourself? Are you training them for a bigger war or something?¡¯

    Tong could read Te Langpu¡¯s expression. He exined, "Unification of our country isn¡¯t everything. Mr. President, did you know that an envoy from the Roman Empire visited the Wu Kingdom in the year 226?"

    Te Langpu¡¯s face changed. He forgot about the threat from neighbor powerhouses.

    Had they had a short lifespan like ordinary humans, they would not have to worry about this as it was something for theter generation to take care of. However, they were immortals, and the other countries should also possess a few immortals with many wings.

    This changed everything!

    ¡¯I forgot that there are still the Parthians and the Roman! Fudge!¡¯

    Xun Yu and others did not understand Tong¡¯s hint, but Te Langpu knew that they were far from ready to square against these two powerhouses in the west. Should one of them alter historical events and invade China, they might be in trouble, especially if they had 8-winged angels or demons.

    Seeing that Te Langpu understood, Tong nodded, "We¡¯re training these legions with realbat. Through hardship and bloodshed, they will get stronger and be ready for the world stage."

    .

    .

    The year 193 passed peacefully on the surface, but all politicians knew that a decisive battle wasing.

    Liu Biao, the only warlord that was excluded from this conflict, was observing the situation with a headache. It was not like he did not get involved in this civil war since Cao Cao had also invited him to join the coalition.

    As Lu Bu and Zhang He¡¯s 100,000 men were protecting Jing Province¡¯s Capital, Xiangyang City, Liu Biao could not afford to offend Tong. Thus, he refused to join the coalition.

    Instead, he formed an alliance with Tong through the connection with these legions.

    Rewarding Liu Biao¡¯s loyalty, Tong secretly sent supply convoys to Yi Province and Jing Province by hiring merchants to transport goods, avoiding Cao Cao¡¯s eyes and ears.

    With Tong¡¯s support, the economy in Yi and Jing Province improved. The people and Liu Biao¡¯s subordinates were also grateful for their help and were in favor of joining Tong¡¯s side.

    Although Liu Biao was a pacifist, his subordinates were not.

    In Jiangxia, Huang Zu stirred trouble.

    .

    December 25th, 193 AD

    Jiangxia City.

    Huang Gai visited Huang Zu, the governor of Jiangxia, to request a departure permit again.

    "Idiot Zu! Give us a departure permit already! We got stuck in your godforsaken city for half a year now, and we want to move to Xiangyang!"

    Huang Zu shook his head, "That¡¯s no good. Lady Wu Guotai has not given birth yet. Are you going to risk miscarriage? Please think of yourdy."

    Huang Zu had been ordered by Zhou Yu, forbidding Wu Guotai and others from heading to Xiangyang. Thus, this governor-general used the excuse of Wu Guotai being pregnant to stop their caravan from heading further west.

    Huang Gai and others were helpless about this since they also worried about theirdy¡¯s health. The physician said that she should have delivered her childst month, but it was already a new month. The baby coulde out any day, and they were not ready to travel with a newborn baby or a pregnant woman.

    "Okay. When can we move then?"

    "Let¡¯s ensure yourdy and the baby¡¯s health first. Then, we¡¯ll have to wait for the child to grow up a bit to ensure his or her education and upbringing."

    "Are you telling me that we¡¯ll have to wait here for years!?"

    "No, no. I didn¡¯t say that!"

    Huang Gai felt like killing this junior who had the same surname.

    Before he could put his imagination to reality, Han Dang rushed to both of them.

    "Thedy¡¯s water broke!"

    .

    .

    .

    December 25th, 193 AD, a new baby was born.

    Sun Shangxiang, aka Hua Shi in the previous life, returned to this world.

 Chapter 441 The Hidden Sain

    Chapter 441 - The Hidden Saint

    By the end of the year 193, Wu Guotai was not the only one with a new child.

    In Ye City, Wang Yi, or Liu Yang, gave birth to a girl.

    In history, Wang Yi should have two sons, Zhao Ying and Zhao Yue. Disguising as a historical figure, Liu Yang named her daughter Zhang Ying to camouge the historical trend, so Tong would not suspect her.

    Still, Zhang Ying¡¯s innate power scared Liu Yang.

    "What kind of monster have I given birth to?"

    The baby girl already had two wings since birth, one white and one ck.

    .

    Meanwhile, Friday delivered a healthy baby boy, Zhang Guo, which had the same name as one of the eight immortals in Chinese mythology.

    Medusa also had a baby boy, Zhang Yi. She got this name from one of the legendary strategists in the ancient warring state era during 320 BC, since she wanted this boy to support Zhang Guo in the future.

    With two newpetitors, Liu Xie¡¯s standing in the court hit rock bottom even though he still had the title as the first prince.

    At Jibei County, the news about Tong¡¯s new children reached Liu Xie.

    Taishi Ci, Liu Ye, Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji, and Liu Xie were there as they were a part of Demon Legion. Also, all of them had already joined Tong¡¯s n chat and got the cultivation manual.

    Liu Xie got his memory back when he was once the true emperor of Han.

    Now, his status in the court got moreplicated.

    Liu Xie sighed as he was frustrated by his fate and his alternate world¡¯s memory. It was not something he wanted to know, and he could not unlearn it.

    ¡¯I was used by Cao Cao in the other life, and Zhang Tong is using my foster mother as a stepping stone to the throne. What kind of bullshitting lives I have been living?¡¯

    Emperor Xian of Han in history had a limited role and power after Cao Cao took over the court. Because he was inexperienced in worldly affairs and politics, Cao Cao took control of the government and used his name to expand his influence.

    Feeling threatened by Cao Cao¡¯s influence, Liu Xie conspired with Liu Bei and Ma Teng to assassinate Cao Cao, but they failed. As that event¡¯s consequence, his concubines were killed by this minister as a warning, and Liu Bei had to flee from Xu Province.

    Eventually, he lost the throne to Cao Pi and became thest emperor of the Han Dynasty, shaming all Han emperors.

    ¡¯Well, at least Zhang Tong preserves the Han Dynasty¡¯s prestige. I should be grateful for that...¡¯

    Liu Xie¡¯s eyes revealed determination.

    Unfortunately, the authority and privilege of an emperor could blind anyone¡¯s judgment, especially had someone tasted it. Liu Xie¡¯s 39 years of luxurious lifestyle got him addicted to the taste of power, even though he did not have the court control.

    Liu Xie nned that this grand war between them and Cao Cao¡¯s coalition would be his stepping stone to fame. With the Demon Legion, he should be able to obtain the recognition from his subordinates and the court.

    He focused on his cultivating technique. Two white wings fluttered behind his back.

    ¡¯But that doesn¡¯t mean I haven¡¯t given up the throne, father. Your "election n" will be your downfall. After all, that throne is rightfully mine!¡¯

    .

    Henei County, Monster Legion

    Li Feihong, as usual, was staying inside his private world, managing crops, and collecting provisions for Tong¡¯s forces.

    It was the system notification as Li Feihong¡¯s skill automatically-collected these crops.

    For a long time, Li Feihong was already aware that Zhang Tong was the same person whom he had falsely used in the previous life. Thus, he worked for Tong, repenting, and repaying for his crime. For years, he repeated this tedious process for the sake of Tong¡¯s kingdom.

    Yet, his eyes were dull. Li Feihong never celebrated or enjoyed what he was doing.

    ¡¯For how long do I have to work for him, I wonder?¡¯

    Tong never gave him any extra reward other than titles, sry gold, and the right to own mobilize soldiers of the legion.

    He felt that something was missing in his life!

    Li Feihong watched his spy monitors, which revealed the events in the outside world.

    At the maximum level of this [Private World] system skill, he could see everything in a radius of 10 kilometers.

    Again, he was bored.

    ¡¯So tiring. When will this job ever end?¡¯

    He sighed and exited the private world along with the food. He walked to the granary, nning to unload all of his harvests from his space inventory.

    As soon as he left his private world and appeared on the Henei government hall, a servant knelt before Li Feihong and reported an urgent message.

    "Sir Strategist, a Taoist visitor is here to see you."

    Li Feihong frowned, "I never associate with any religion. Who is this?"

    "He said his name was Zuo Ci, sir."

    "Zuo Ci!?"

    He recognized this sage as he was one of the famous people in this Three Kingdom period.

    Curious, Li Feihong summoned Zuo Ci to meet him.

    Twenty minutester, the old sage arrived.

    "I see that you¡¯re doing well, junior Li," the sage smiled and nodded at Li Feihong.

    Many attendants of Li Feihong were angry that the Taoists did not bow to their master. They yelled at the sage and summoned the guards to drag him away.

    Li Feihong raised his hand, stopping his subordinates from offending this person.

    "What can I do for you, great sage?"

    The sage smiled, but he nced at the surroundings.

    Li Feihong caught the hint, "All of you, leave us."

    All attendants and bodyguards were reluctant, "Sir?"

    "Leave us alone."

    "... Yes, sir."

    .

    Both Zuo Ci and Li Feihong were left alone as everybody left. The wide assembly hall looked deste with only two people inside.

    "You can get to the point, great sage."

    "Very well," Zuo Ci coughed, "Be my disciple, and I¡¯ll free you from this karma and Lilim¡¯s little game."

    "Err."

    Li Feihong was taken aback. It was something that he had never guessed that woulde out of Zuo Ci¡¯s mouth.

    "Why me?"

    "Because you¡¯re the strongest sinners among all surviving ones."

    "But Zhang Tong is way stronger than me."

    "Zhang Tong is deeply tied to his previous lives¡¯ karma. His sins are deeper than what you¡¯ve thought."

    "Isn¡¯t he someone with positive karma? I heard from one of the demonesses that Tong shouldn¡¯t have been sent to Hell."

    "That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong. He has ties with the local people, and he¡¯s destined toe back to repay for his crimes in this world. What he¡¯s doing right now are fate and karma. He has to pay for his old debts before he can move on."

    "I don¡¯t understand."

    "For now, it¡¯s something that we can¡¯t interfere with. Let¡¯s get back to the topic. Will you be my disciple?"

    "But others are..."

    "You are the only sinners among the rest that¡¯s free from greed and ambition. The rest may have awakened their souls of virtues or souls of sins, but their core and principle are corrupted. They can¡¯t be a sage."

    "..."

    Zuo Ci brought out a tea jar and a cup. He slowly poured rainbow tea into the container.

    "Drink this tea, and you¡¯ll be free from karma. However, you will spend eternity watching over mortals like me."

    Li Feihong froze when he heard [Eternity]. He had a second thought.

    "What kind of work do I have to do as a sage?"

    Zuo Ci shrugged, "Simr to what you¡¯ve been doing. Farming, fishing, rearing animals, and watching over mortals in this world. Well, sometimes, you have toe down and stop any heretic from ruining this world."

    "..."

    It was simr to entering monkhood in Buddhism. They had to cut ties with the worldly affair and study in the teaching of Buddha. In Li Feihong¡¯s situation, he got the immortality as a reward for cutting ties with everything.

    He reached his head out to take the cup.

    "Ugh!"

    Still, his legs refused to move forward. It was as if something had caught his ankles.

    As he was struggling, he saw an illusion of Tong¡¯s angry face in the trial court when Ping was freed from all charges.

    Then, he noticed several shadows, holding his ankles and legs.

    Li Feihong recognized all of them. One of the shadows was Ping, and the others were his dead family in his previous life.

    [You betrayed me!]

    [Dad, you killed us!]

    [Dear, why did you have to confess?]

    Everyone med Li Feihong for their death, even though it was not his fault.

    Zuo Ci looked straight, watching how Li Feihong struggled against his past. After all, this was the first hurdle of bing a sage, who governed a dimension.

    Wing power might be a factor of strength, but the true strength came from the purity of the soul. Tong, Friday, Medusa, Te Langpu, Liu Yang, Pu Jing, and Sun Fang were corrupted to the core, so they were disqualified.

    Only Li Feihong, who had been living in seclusion and being a semi-celibate, could walk the path of Nirvana, which would be free from all karma.

    Though the angry shadows tied Li Feihong, thetter did not try to force his way forward or resist against their pulling. He allowed the shadows to drag him backward.

    Simply, he turned around to look at them.

    "I¡¯m sorry."

    [...]

    It was simple words, yet they filled with his sincerity and regret.

    "Ping, I shouldn¡¯t have epted your bribe. I¡¯m sorry for taking your money."

    "Honey, children, I¡¯m sorry that I got you involved with the mafias."

    Then, he turned to the illusion of Tong, who was ring at Li Feihong.

    "Tong, I¡¯m sorry for lying that day in the court."

    The shadows froze and faded. However, Tong¡¯s illusion remained.

    Li Feihong took three steps forward and picked the teacup with rainbow tea. He turned to Zuo Ci and bowed to him.

    "I¡¯m willing to be your disciple, but I would like to postpone the apprenticeship until Iplete my goal."

    Zuo Ci widened his eyes in surprise, "Then, what do you want to achieve in this life, junior?"

    Li Feihong turned to Tong¡¯s illusion.

    "I haven¡¯t paid him back yet. I ruined his entire life, so I¡¯ll pay him back with my entire life. Until Tong has unified the world or what he¡¯s trying to do, I¡¯ll be working for him."

    He returned the teacup to Zuo Ci and nced at Tong¡¯s illusion.

    "Don¡¯t re me that much. I won¡¯t go anywhere any time soon. I don¡¯t care if I have to be a 1,000-year-old virgin, but I keep my promise."

    The illusion faded.

    After everything disappeared, Zuo Ci burst intoughter.

    "Good! Very good, junior! I¡¯m impressed!"

    Li Feihong blinked his eyes, "Err?"

    "Well, I¡¯ll revisit you in the next 100 years. I hope you don¡¯t marry anyone yet, or your karma will be impossible to cut."

    Zuo Ci faded to nothingness along with the teacup set.

    Li Feihong looked at the empty hall where Zuo Ci had stood. He sighed, "I should have drunk that. What the Hell am I thinking?"

    Despite having awakened four souls, Li Feihong could get another six right away.

    This did not happen recently. He could have acquired all souls sincest year. Yet, Li Feihong suppressed all of them and refused to get more wings.

    He could have gotten 10 wings, which could rival Lilim at any time he wanted to!

    "Silence, stupid system. Four wings are enough. I haven¡¯t mastered Tong¡¯s [Square el] yet. How can I get more souls right now when my foundation iscking."

    "OH, COME FUCKING ON!! SIX FREAKING SOULS ARE ALREADY DRIVING ME NUTS, AND YOU WANT TO BUG ME MORE WITH YOUR WARNING MESSAGES!?"

    Li Feihong¡¯s scream echoed in the assembly hall.

 Chapter 442 Goguryeo Campaign

    Chapter 442 - Goguryeo Campaign

    Zuo Ci returned to his abode with a wide smile. However, Lilim watched the entire event unfold with an annoyed expression.

    "Too bad, Goddess Lilim. He refused."

    Lilim groaned, "He has postponed. It hasn¡¯t set in stone yet."

    "Well, I¡¯ve just sensed that he has the same potential as Zhang Tong. I think he will surpass me soon."

    "..."

    "I suggest you forget about the silly idea about reincarnating into your dimension. I thought you are satisfied with only 10 wings."

    Lilim nced at her 10 ck wings. She might have stopped cultivating or trying to gain the 11th sin, but it would be a lie to say that she did not want to grow stronger.

    Her greed for power and the existence of two taboo immortals inspired her that she could reincarnate by using a body of someone with an angel and demon¡¯s bloodline. Then, she could get to 20 wings, which would be more than her 16-winged mother, Lilith.

    If Lilim¡¯s memory served her right, the creator¡¯s real body also had 10 angel wings and 10 demon wings!

    The absolute god, the goal that no one dared to dream or pursue, was right in front of Lilim.

    Zuo Ci could sense the immense greed and desire in Lilim¡¯s aura. He shook his head and sighed.

    ¡¯This is why I said immortals are so different than mortals. You were born into power, but you¡¯ve never experienced hardship. You will never reach the creator¡¯s level. Heck, Zhang Tong and Li Feihong will surpass you soon.¡¯

    Zuo Ci turned his attention to Tong and Li Feihong.

    ¡¯A repented demon king to be and a hidden savior. These two will be the pirs of our dimension.¡¯

    The future was hopeful, but it was also clouded with uncertainty, such as irregr entities like Sun Quan, Sun Shangxiang, and Zhang Ying. Zuo Ci could only hope that they would work together as one when their paths crossed.

    Moreover...

    Zuo Ci nced at the records of Tong¡¯s previous lives and counted the times that Tong had gone through the circle of reincarnation in his dimension.

    His death as a police officer was destined. His suffering in hisst life was also fate.

    In Tong previous life, that circle was meant to torture Tong as he hadmitted many grave sins in this Han Dynasty era.

    ¡¯Karma tribtion is cruel, but you will get through it soon, Zhang Tong. You are doing well.¡¯

    ¡¯Or should I call you by your true name...¡¯

    .

    .

    March 1st, 194 AD.

    Tian Yu and Gan Ning settled their 30,000-man army in Lng Commandery, recing the Gongsun¡¯s family duty to expand eastward to the Korea penins.

    Lng Commandery covered northwestern part of the modern-day North-Korea and its capital city, Pyongyang. As for Xuantu, it connected with to border of Xiangping, north of themandery.

    In this world, only Xuantumandery remained under Han¡¯s control since Gongsun Du had died before he could take over Lng Commandery in like in other world¡¯s history.

    Without the Gongsun n¡¯s influence, thesemanderies were being upied by the Goguryeo Kingdom. As a result, it was Tian Yu¡¯s job to repel these invaders and finish off the threatening empire northeast of the Han Dynasty.

    Upon arrival at Lng, they could see the tension as Goguryeo¡¯s armies also stationed within Lng Commandery. They had 20,000 professional soldiers, ring from Pyongyang from afar.

    "This is going to be tough," Tian Yu had a bitter smile on his face, "Well, if we can take over that city, construct a proper fortress, get our hwachas and cannons in position, and then we can reinforce Xuantuter."

    Gan Ning grimaced, "Won¡¯t they take Xuantu when we¡¯re busy here?"

    "No need to worry. The Silver Axe Legion is there, and they will take care of the rest."

    Tian Yu took it easy in this campaign as ordered by Tong.

    Instead of attacking Pyongyang and securing the city right away, he constructed a fortress right in front of the wall, intimidating the garrison forces.

    Yet, the loud sound of gunshots could be heard from inside the fortress once in a while. Sometimes, garrison soldiers on top of the wall fell after the mysterious sound.

    Nobody noticed the new weapon in Tian Yu¡¯s arms.

    .

    Gungnae City, the Capital City of Goguryeo Kingdom.

    This ce bes one of China¡¯s territories in modern days. Gungnae, aka Guonei in Chinese Mandarin, was still the old capital city of Goguryeo that stood against the Han Dynasty for ages in this era.

    The rtionship between the two kingdoms was not friendly. As the previous emperor Wu of Han had established fourmanderies in the penins, the conflict between Goguryeo and Han was frequent.

    Now that Gongsun Du was gone, Gogukcheon, the current Monarch of Goguryeo, nned to annex Xuantu next.

    The monarch was the inventor of the famous grain loaning system in Goguryeo. Although he was a benevolent king, he was also an ambitious king, who sought to upy the penins and annex the three southern kingdoms.

    Unfortunately, they gathered their forces too slow. By the time they were ready, Tian Yu had alreadye for Lng¡¯s capital city, Pyongyang.

    Now, Han Dynasty jumped into the fray of the beginning of Korea¡¯s Three Kingdoms period.

    "Those fools don¡¯t know what¡¯s best for them. Send our immortals to Xuantu and cut their supply route! Teach them a lesson!"

    Tong and others were not the only ones with wings. The Goguryeo¡¯s monarch also had 4 white wings, and all of his generals possessed at least 2. However, all of them had ck wings.

    Five demon generals stepped forward and epted themand tokens.

    "Bring me the heads of those Han!"

    .

    Xuantu Commandery

    Xu Huang¡¯s Silver Legion had a private meeting between themanders. Jia Xu, the venomous strategist, took charge of this gathering.

    He presented the map of the northeastern region beyond Liaodong, where they were not familiar with. Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang had trouble adjusting to the newyout of the foreignnd.

    However, Xu Huang had acquired enough experience from his previous life. He could adapt to the changes without problems.

    "Gentlemen, I hope all of you are ready for what I¡¯m suggesting," Jia Xu grinned.

    "... I hope you¡¯re not nning something crazy."

    "Oh, nothing much. We¡¯ll just be force-march for a few days, that¡¯s all."

    Everyone looked at each other, "That¡¯s it?"

    "Yup. That¡¯s it! We¡¯ll march straight to Gungnae and bombard those shitty bastards to smithereens ASAP!"

    "..."

    "I need our men to reach that city within this week."

    "And your reason for that rush?"

    "Well, you¡¯ll know when we¡¯re there."

    .

    .

    Gogukcheon and his five demon generals marched toward Xuantu County using the standard marching. 30,000 Soldiers from Gungnae sortied, hoping to score some achievements.

    One of the demon generals floated in the sky, scouting the surrounding areas for his men.

    He was a general with 4 ck wings, using his soul power to fly.

    Goguryeo¡¯s soldiers, generals, and officers were different than the Han Dynasty¡¯s officers as their country had suffered from frequent war with neighbors, so they united as one. Their disciplinary and upbringing were upright, which waspatible with demon and angel cultivation.

    As a consequence of their culture, they had many talented cultivators even though Zuo Ci only allowed a handful of people to obtain the cultivation technique.

    There were others with angel wings, but the Goguryeo monarch used them as supporting officers instead of using them in war. The reason for that was their abilities, the souls, and their curse.

    Demons could curse the opposition soldiers with their souls of sin, but angels were barred from harming mortals.

    This was how Goguryeo utilized his people!

    March 3rd, 194 AD.

    The flying general spotted an approaching army from the horizon. He flew down to report his king.

    "Your majesty, we have spotted an army. The distance is about 20 li (10km)."

    Gogukcheon nodded, "And their number?"

    "I can¡¯t see. We have to get closer. Please give me a thousand man, so I can survey and cast a few curses on them."

    "You go, then."

    One of four two-wing generals epted the order. He took a thousand horsemen departed.

    As they rushed to spy the iing force, they encountered the opponent¡¯s scoutpany as well.

    They were heavy cavalry group of 1,000 men in white clothes, wielding war axes.

    The demon general sneered, "Foolish mortals. Reveal your true desire, [Envy]!"

    The two-wing general cast a curse spell on the 1,000 knights.

    All riders froze and pulled the reigns in chaos, but one rider was unaffected.

    The white knight with a decorated silver armor slowly exhaled.

    "[Honesty] and [Humility] is the difference between learned people and scums. None of you should waver by this cheap trick."

    Four white wings spread behind the white knight¡¯s back as he gave a blessing to his scouts. The two of Xu Huang¡¯s virtuous souls canceled the effect of the curse.

    The minds of all knights were cleared of wicked thoughts, and they regained theirposure.

    .

    Xu Huang, the legionmander, watched the demon general at a distance before him.

    "As his majesty has predicted. There are other immortals in foreignnds."

    Without hesitation, he reported his founding to the n chat.

    Xu Huang: "I¡¯ve encountered a two-wing demon. Requesting permission to engage."

    Jia Xu: "Kill him ASAP. Don¡¯t let those guys curse our men!"

    Jia Xu: "Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, you two take the rest of our men to Gungnae. Ignore all battles on the way!"

    Receiving the order, Xu Huang galloped forward, charging at the demon general with his giant steel axe.

    With the reinforcing soul aura, the axe glowed in silver light.

    The demon general saw that Xu Huang was challenging him. He nced at Xu Huang¡¯s white wings with a mocking sneer.

    "Angels are not inefficient in war regardless of how many wings you have, fool! Now, I¡¯ll show you the difference in strength!"

    The demon gathered his dark aura. He grabbed his spear, injected his power into the weapon, and threw it at Xu Huang.

    A sharp whistling sound of breaking wind came with the dark spear, arriving before Xu Huang.

    "Double el!"

    *BOOM*

    Xu Huang swatted the spear away, but the contact between the holy aura from Xu Huang and the demon aura caused an explosion.

    The shockwave pushed Xu Huang backward and killed his horse. However, the rider was unharmed.

    The demon general took another spear from his subordinate. He enhanced it with his demon aura and threw it at Xu Huang once more.

    The spear was faster than the previous one. Xu Huang parried it, and the explosion urred again.

    *BOOM*

    Xu Huang took another step backward, but the demon general followed up with more dark spears.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    By sidestepping, Xu Huang dodged all empowered explosive spears from the ace Goguryeo¡¯s general.

    "Interesting. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have time to savor this duel."

    Xu Huang sighed in pity as he never wanted to use Tong¡¯s modern weapon.

    He took an S&W magnum pistol, which created by Medusa, and pointed at the demon. The silver aura entered the gun and reinforced the bullets and the long chamber.

    He pulled the trigger.

    *BANG*

    The bullet contained Xu Huang angelic power, which arrived in front of the demon general in less than a millisecond.

    The demon snorted and used his aura to block the bullet, believing that this peanut shell could not possibly hurt him.

    *PU*

    The bullet went through his brain and left a giant burning hole, revealing his inner skull and brain.

    Watching the death of this two-wing demon, Xu Huang snorted.

    "The fool here is you. Regardless of cultivation methods, two-wing immortals can¡¯t be a match for a four-wing immortal."

    He waved his hand, and all knights brought out their desert eagles, aiming at the panicking Goguryeo soldiers.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

 Chapter 443 The Tenacious Goguryeo

    Chapter 443 - The Tenacious Goguryeo

    Xu Huang watched the carnage as his 1,000 knights ughtered all Goguryeo¡¯s scouts without fighting them in meleebat.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    The gunshots continued until thest scout went down.

    Xu Huang had a new inspiration as he experienced the hot weaponry personally.

    ¡¯With this kind of weapons, I think deploying fewer men to a battle is more efficient. A rogue tactic is also applicable, or maybe we can defeat a 100,000-man army with a thousand man with enough ammo.¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    An hour passed since Gogukcheon had sent his scout team to check on Xu Huang, but no one returned to tell a tale.

    The king got fed up. He ordered his best general, the four-wing demon, to take charge.

    "Go with all demons. I want to know what has happened to that fool. While you¡¯re at it, curse those Han soldiers."

    Four demons departed with their bodyguards. 5,000 Light cavalries followed after them.

    One hourter, they arrived at the battle site where Xu Huang¡¯s men ughtered all of their scouts.

    Xu Huang had already retreated from the scene and followed after Jia Xu¡¯s group. Only the aftermath remained.

    Checking the corpses, they found out that their soldiers did not die by melee weapons but strange small leads.

    "What¡¯s this?"

    The demons picked up a lead bullet head and examined it.

    "Were they killed because of this?"

    Baffled and astonished, the group turned around, nning to retreat and report their findings to their king.

    *BANG*

    A gunshot sound came from a distance away. One of three two-wing demons felt something entering his skull before his consciousness faded forever.

    All demons turned to the source of the sound.

    *BANG*

    Another shot ended another lesser demon¡¯s life.

    The demon leader found the shooter. It was Xu Huang, who had been hiding his presence nearby.

    "BASTARD!!"

    The weapon that Xu Huang was using was unprecedented to all Goguryeo¡¯s soldiers. The demons rushed at the white knight in anger as they armed with their demonic soul¡¯s aura.

    Xu Huang squinted his eyes as he flew backward. At the same time, he aimed at the remaining two-wing demons.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Each bullet punctured through the chest of the chasing demons.

    Now, only the four-wing demon remained.

    Terrified by the gun in Xu Huang¡¯s hand, the four-wing demon flew away.

    Xu Huang frowned. He aimed at the fleeing demon, but thetter was too fast. He already escaped from Xu Huang¡¯s sight by the time that thetter¡¯s aura covered the new bullet.

    ¡¯This technique takes time. I should have practiced using guns more.¡¯

    .

    The demon general returned and reported everything to Gogukcheon.

    "A new weapon?"

    "Yes. The Han has brought a new weapon. It shoots small leads that can puncture through aura shield."

    "That doesn¡¯t make sense. I thought demons are superior in terms ofbat. Have you gotten shot by one of those?"

    "N-No..."

    Gogukcheon frowned, "Then, it¡¯s the difference in wings, you fool! That person has 4 wings, right!? Then, all dead demons were no match for him!"

    "R-Right, your majesty is wise."

    "But that doesn¡¯t mean we¡¯re losing the initiative! From here on out, you¡¯ll be working alone! Go and stalk their army. Curse their soldiers at night and leave the fighting to the men."

    "U-Understood, your majesty!"

    .

    Xu Huang also returned to his legion and reported his battle result.

    "A demon with four wings?" Jia Xu was surprised.

    "Yeah, he has the same wings as his majesty, demon wings."

    "That¡¯s annoying. Those curses are bad news."

    Jia Xu knew about Tong¡¯s souls of sins and their potential in warfare. He tried to force Tong into leading troops and finish the civil war many times in the past, but Tong, Medusa, and Friday kept postponing the emperor¡¯s private army deployment, excusing that it was not the right time.

    Still, he had counters and simr curse users.

    Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, Tong¡¯s uncles who were once yellow turban leaders, followed Tong¡¯s footsteps and took demonic cultivation techniques as their awakening choice. Each of them had gotten one soul, which was enough to curse Goguryeo¡¯s soldiers to oblivion.

    "We might be targeted by that demon again. For now, we¡¯ll haste our forced march! All footmen will ride together with the cavalry units. As for the supplies and logistic, I want you to be in charge of that, general."

    Xu Huang was surprised that he had to protect the reserve units instead of taking the lead.

    "What about the vanguard?"

    "Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang will take care of that. You will watch our rear and keep an eye for that demon. He¡¯ll be back on our tail tonight!"

    "Are you certain?"

    "I know he will! That bastard will appear again, and he will curse our men like those mini demons tried to curse your knights! That¡¯s their primary tactic in this war!"

    Jia Xu always put himself in opponents¡¯ shoes to predict the next enemy¡¯s movement. This forced march was also a part of his insight that once Tian Yu entered Lng Commandery, Goguryeo¡¯s king would attack Xuantu Commandery and Xiangping to cut off Tian Yu¡¯s supply lines.

    Since the enemy wanted to take their territory, they might as well rush Goguryeo¡¯s capital city and destroyed their pride, which could potentially ruin the enemy¡¯s morale and trust of their monarch.

    Also, from his old memory, Goguryeo Kingdom was a threat to Wei as it grew too strong. Even Sima Yi, in the other timeline, had to withdraw his troops and generals from Lng as he could not support the perpetual war with these people after they had defeated them so many times.

    Moreover, he heard the historical summary from Tong that the Sima descendants of the Jin Dynasty also failed to defeat them and lost Liaodong to Goguryeo.

    Thus, this empire had to be destroyed first! Tong might have ordered them to use a pacifism method, but in Jia Xu¡¯s point of view, subduing them by forces was more efficient.

    ¡¯I just knew it! That brat is still na?ve! Watch me destroy these barbarians, Mr. Emperor. Humph!¡¯

    .

    .

    At Ye¡¯s emperor¡¯s chamber, Tong, Medusa, and Friday read the n chat news regarding the war at Goguryeo with interest.

    In history, this empire was a powerhouse that stopped China from expanding east toward Japan. Many dynasties attempted to annex Goguryeo, such as East Han, Cao Wei, Jin Dynasty, Yan Dynasty, and Sui Dynasty. Yet, they all failed to eradicate this countrypletely. Some managed to temporary subdue them for a few years, but some of them were unable to earn a victory. Only when the Tang Dynasty schemed together with Si, a small kingdom southeast of the Korea penins, they managed to wipe Goguryeo from the map temporary.

    Goguryeo¡¯s foundation was simr to Xianbei and Xiangnu at the ancient time as a princess from Buyeo Country united all tribes and found a new country north of the Korea penins. They were ambitious people that continued to absorb all neighbor¡¯s territories and tribes, forging their way to a superpower country.

    They head-butted against emperor Wu of the East Han Dynasty in 100 BC, which put a stop to Goguryeo¡¯s campaign. The contest over Liaodong, Lng, and Xuantu Commandery became more frequent as they also formed a trade treaty with the Han Dynasty on the surface.

    They managed to take allmanderies from Han around the year 184 AD when Zhang Jiao rebelled against the Han Dynasty. That was when Goguryeo temporary imed Liaodong and many counties, officially established themselves as a powerhouse of the east, alongside with China.

    However, the Gongsun Family invaded Goguryeo and took themanderies back. Gongsun Kang was the one who pushed back these former tribesmen and reimed Pyongyang. The subordinates of Gongsun Kang were defeated by Sansang, the king of Goguryeo in 204, but they forced the king to move their capital city and yielded to Gongsun Kang in thete 200s.

    Goguryeo dered independence in 238 when Cao Wei, led by Sima Yi, formed an alliance with Goguryeo to attack Gongsun Yuan, the sessor of Gongsun Kang. The Wei-Goguryeo alliance defeated Gongsun Yuan, and Cao Pi imed all territories of Gongsun n.

    However, Goguryeo broke the alliance by raiding Liaodong of Cao Wei in 242, which led to a full-blown war.

    Hwando, the new capital of Goguryeo that king Sansang moved from the old city, was burnt down to the ground in 244. Guanqiu Jian, the great general of the Wei army at that time, managed to subdue Goguryeo once again, but he did not pull out the roots of this country.

    After Guanqiu Jian retreated from Hwando, the Goguryeo¡¯s current king, Dongcheon, attempted to restore the ruined capital, but Wei¡¯s new general pursued him. Without a choice, Dongcheon moved the capital to Pyongyang instead.

    This was thest time that Goguryeo lost to Cao Wei. As the country reorganized from the ruins, they adapted to Cao Wei¡¯s warfare and recovered from the long war devastation.

    They stopped sending tributes to Wei and rebelled against them yet again in 258. This time, they repelled the invading Wei Army in 259.

    After the Jin Dynasty took over Wei, Goguryeo took this chance to take territories back, rising to the top dog of the Korea penins once more.

    Afterward, they became a tough nut to crack that continued to upy Liaodong for centuries before the Tang Dynasty and Si Kingdom coalition deleted them from the world map for a short period.

    Goguryeo rose again from ashes in the 918 after breaking free from the Si Kingdom, the country that had conquered the Korea penins with the help of the Tang Dynasty.

    Goguryeo changed its name to the Goryeoter, which became one of the famous eras of Korea history.

    In summary, Goguryeo people were the tenacious bunches that Tong did not want to fight in a perpetual war through the centuries and watched their descendants rebelling against his empire one after another.

    "That idiot Jia Xu and Xu Huang. Can¡¯t you be more lenient? I only want them to know their ce, so we can tame their kings and recruit their immortals into our army. Goddammit."

    It was a pity that Xu Huang killed 4 of them before Tong could brainwash them with his modern philosophy. Moreover, they did not have the time to wage another war when they have not solved the civil war issue.

    Still, it was not that bad. Since they got the information about this neighbor¡¯s overall strength, Tong and others could soundly sleep as Goguryeo was no longer a threat with only a 4-wing demon.

    "Xu Huang alone should be able to handle that with all the guns," Medusa, who sat next to Tong with her baby in her arms, looked unconcerned with the development.

    "Shouldn¡¯t demons be superior inbat and warfare?"

    "True. But angels are better in reinforcing auras and blessings. Demons like us are good in 1-against-many situations, but we are not omnipotent in a 1-on-1 fight against an angel with the same strength. In the end, it¡¯s about experience and preparation."

    Tong nodded.

    "Maybe this will be a good experience to Xu Huang."

 Chapter 444 Youre a Meanie

    Chapter 444 - You¡¯re a Meanie

    Jiangxia City

    Sun Shangxiang blinked, looking at her mother and the surroundings with curiosity.

    "Dah?"

    "Ah, did she try to speak just now?"

    Wu Guotai was happy, seeing the smiling face of her daughter. She only had sons, so it was a new experience having a daughter, and it delighted her.

    Sun Quan was also there, watching over his sister and mother.

    ¡¯It¡¯s different, but she made it.¡¯

    Sun Shangxiang and Sun Quan were close in his previous life. Now that she was finally born, he was relieved.

    ¡¯This world is different, so I won¡¯t marry you to Liu Bei again. I hope you can be happier without getting involved in politics.¡¯

    Unbeknownst to Wu Guotai and Sun Quan, Sun Shangxiang inherited her memory as Hua Shi, but she forgot about the live experience as Sunday, the nurse.

    ¡¯I¡¯m alive.¡¯

    ¡¯I¡¯m a baby?¡¯

    ¡¯That means, I¡¯m back?¡¯

    ¡¯YAY!!!¡¯

    The baby girlughed and brought joy to her rtives.

    "Look, she¡¯sughing."

    "Very cute, haha!"

    Sun Shangxiang rechecked her status menu to see if her skills were still there. A transparent menu appeared before her, but Sun Quan and Wu Guotai could not see it.

    Upon seeing her skill list, the girl widened her eyes.

    ¡¯I thought I deleted most of them, but they are still there! Lilim, you rock!¡¯

    Celebrated for a minute, Sun Shangxiang noticed that one skill was missing.

    ¡¯Where is my [Regeneration]? Where are my ultimate yang vein thingy and my dual-cultivation!?¡¯

    Her favorite life-saving skill that she treasured was gone.

    ¡¯LILIM, YOU BITCH!! I WAS TRICKED!!¡¯

    Sun Shangxiang cried, which surprised the mother and the brother.

    "What¡¯s wrong with her?"

    "Maybe she¡¯s hungry?"

    .

    .

    .

    March 3rd, 194 AD.

    Jia Xu, Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang, and 50,000 elites rushed ahead toward Gungnae City while Xu Huang and 10,000 logistic reserves followed them with their casual pace as they guarded the army¡¯s supplies and provision.

    The four-wing demon stalked the reserve troops, waiting for a chance to strike.

    He wanted to ughter all soldiers right away, but he was afraid of Xu Huang¡¯s mysterious weapon.

    ¡¯That thing can instantly kill immortal demons. Then, it can kill me. I need to find that person and fight in a close range, so I can defeat him and steal the weapon. Once he died, all Han infidels can be easily killed.¡¯

    The unaware soldiers stopped and made a temporary resting camp at 7 PM, yet the demon did not attack at this period. He continued to watch the men from afar.

    He waited until 2 AM the next day.

    At that time, the majority of Xu Huang¡¯s men fell asleep, and the sentry guards looked tired. Some of them yawned and dozed off, but several hardened captains of the guards were wide awake.

    Xu Huang, as well, was still awake. He disguised himself as an ordinary sentry guard among the night patrol, and he pretended to yawn once in a while.

    As he was waiting for the demon to strike, he was also scanning the surroundings non-stop.

    ¡¯He¡¯s patient. If it were me, I would have attacked an hour ago. Does he want to attack at dawn?¡¯

    There were many kinds of strategies in night raids, which involved human psychology. People might be vulnerable during sleep, but there were other exploits that elitemanders and strategists enjoyed exploiting.

    The mostmon one would be somewhere between 10 PM to 2 AM when the moon could be seen in the middle of the sky, so the raiders could use the moonlight to guide their ways to the enemy¡¯s camps.

    Raiding at 5-6 AM when opponent forces were having breakfast was also a viable tactic as it was the time that people let their guard down the most. It could hinder their decision or force an error on them, resulting in making mistakes. Manymanders prepared this time of the day as they could use fog to hide their presence.

    3 AM to 4 AM was mostly avoided. Often, the starting daily routine of strong men in ancient times began at 3 AM in the morning. Many hardened soldiers usually slept early at 7 to 8 PM and woke up at this time, which increased the defense capability of the enemy camps.

    But nothing was certain in every war. Patterns and advice from old warlords were merely a guideline forter generations, not a rule to be followed.

    Xu Huang had this in mind and lurked within his patrol unit, ignoring all advice from books and ancient scrolls. Using his experience in the other world, he knew that those guideline patterns were for newbies in warfare.

    Real generals and ambushers always attacked whenever they wanted.

    ¡¯It seems I¡¯m up against an elite. I can¡¯t detect him, but I can vaguely sense his aura. Where is he?¡¯

    Xu Huang kept looking around. He parted from his patrol group and climbed the watchtower to get a better view.

    Upon getting on top of the watchtower, Xu Huang enhanced his eyes with his aura. He could see in the dark as if it was daytime.

    With such sight, his search radius expanded.

    ¡¯Hmm?¡¯

    Xu Huang saw a shadow 500 meters away.

    ¡¯Over there!?¡¯

    He took out his pistol and aimed at the shadow. Although it was not the rmended range for the gun, Xu Huang was confident that his reinforced bullet could still hit this man.

    As Xu Huang was aiming, the shadow came out from the shade.

    It was a bear.

    Xu Huang clicked his tongue and put the gun away.

    ¡¯Bummer.¡¯

    As he sighed, a familiar sensation hit him. It felt like something attempted to influence his mind and thoughts.

    It was a curse from a demon!

    Xu Huang turned to his men. Sure enough, all of the night patrols were affected by this sudden curse.

    .

    .

    The Goguryeo demonughed as he sessfully inflicted his curses upon the reserve soldiers of Xu Huang. His souls, [Pride], [Greed], [Wrath], and [Envy] affected everyone with the power of the souls, breaking their mind with their sins.

    Now, he could withdraw or watch the carnage from afar.

    ¡¯Too bad, I can only use this ability once a month. Well, you¡¯re done for, Han infidels!¡¯

    He was proud of himself that he was the only one who had this ability.

    Unfortunately, he never fought against an angel with the same power.

    "[Humility], [Honesty], [Valor], [Sacrifice]!"

    The demon heard the shout from someone inside the camp, and everyone who was about to berserk was glowing in white light.

    ¡¯A blessing? That fucking angel is here?¡¯

    The demon gritted his teeth in anger. He thought that Xu Huang had left with the main force, but he appeared here instead.

    ¡¯I wasted a month for that!? Curse you, Han infidels!¡¯

    There were pros and cons of being angels and demons.

    Demons were punishers that did not get punished by cursing people or killing mortals. However, their curse abilities had limited use of once a month.

    On the contrary, angels could not harm mortals, and their interference with mortal affairs was limited by karma. However, they could bless any human as many times as they wanted by sacrificing their lifespan.

    In other words, angels excelled at supporting people, while demons were good at creating chaos. As for theirbat prowess, it varied.

    The demon retreated, using the dark night as a cover.

    However,

    *BANG*

    "UGH!"

    Something hot punctured through his right leg and destroyed the leg bone. The demon fell on the ground as he lost his body bnce.

    "What!?"

    He looked back and saw Xu Huang flying above himself, looking down on him with the mysterious weapon in his hand.

    The demon took out a short knife, injected his aura into it, and tossed it at the general.

    *TINK*

    Xu Huang flew backward, and the knife missed.

    In retaliation, he pointed the gun muzzle at the demon again.

    "I hate this weapon, but it¡¯s efficient. I¡¯m sorry."

    *BANG*

    The bullet was too fast for the demon, who had never fought against a gunner, to dodge. He covered his body with his aura, hoping to defend against the oing shell.

    *TINK*

    He managed to block it, but he could also feel the impact on his forehead. Blood flowed down from his fresh wound.

    Seeing that the reinforced bullet could not kill the demon as he had done to the others, Xu Huang widened his eyes.

    *BANG*

    *TINK*

    *BANG*

    *TINK*

    *BANG*

    *TINK*

    Xu Huang took his time to focus his aura into each shell before he pulled the trigger, but he still failed to get through the demon¡¯s aura barrier.

    "Ho."

    The general smiled. He put the gun away and wield a poleaxe, which had been hanging behind his back from the very beginning.

    "Come! Let¡¯s fight in a fair duel!"

    The demon was on the verge of retorting in anger, "FAIR DUEL MY FOOT! YOU¡¯VE ALREADY AMBUSHED ME AND CRIPPLED MY LEG!"

    Before he could utter the words, Xu Huang¡¯s poleaxe was right before his face.

    *SOEK*

    The axe hit the ground as the demon general rolled to the side and dodged it.

    He drew his sword as he sprang up, standing on one leg.

    "YOU¡¯VE DONE IT NOW!! I HAVE BEEN TRAINING GUNGNAE SWORDMANSHIP FOR THIS DAY. MY GRUDGE FOR THE HAN BEGAN 30 YEARS AGO-!

    *POEK*

    The sound was simr to the noise of someone chopping a coconut in half. The head of the four wing demon was cleaved into two as his aura force could not withstand the sudden strike of an aura-reinforced axe.

    Xu Huang stared at the dead demon, blinking his eyes in confusion.

    "What were you talking about again?"

    He tilted his head to the side as he was interested in what the demon said, but thetter was already dead. However, he heard a wind whispering as if the soul of that demon wasining to him.

    [I haven¡¯t done talking. You¡¯re a meanie.]

    "..."

    .

    .

    The report of the four-wing demon¡¯s death relieved Jia Xu and others.

    Jia Xu proceeded forward for another day of forced march all night and arrived at Gungnae before Gogukcheon Army.

    Without the defending forces, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang did not have a problem taking over the city within a day. The difference from the other world¡¯s history, they did not sack the city, but they upied it.

    Tong: "You two disobeyed mymand once, and that¡¯s enough to execute both of you. From now on, your legion will be governing Gungnae and convert their citizens and officers into our systems."

    Tong ordered them to do so.

    Without a choice, Jia Xu and Xu Huang treated this as their punishment for viting Tong¡¯s peace policy.

    However, the war was not over yet as Gogukcheon was still with his army.

    After Gungnae had been captured, the Goguryeo king retreated to Lng, hoping to regroup at Pyongyang.

    They did not know that Tian Yu and Gan Ning¡¯s forces were sieging the city at the moment.

    .

    The Goguryeo monarch was in disbelieve that his strongest demon failed to curse Han¡¯s soldiers. Moreover, he lost his capital city in the process because his army could not return to Gungnae in time.

    7 Dayster, they arrived at Pyongyang, but they were greeted with another bad news.

    Pyongyang had fallen, and it was captured by Tian Yu!

    "What the fuck is going on!?"

 Chapter 445 Home

    Chapter 445 - Home

    Tong: "I see."

    Tong received all the reports from Tian Yu and Xu Huang. Both of them had captured two of the most important cities of Goguryeo, which would cripple their economy and growth. However, they had not dealt the finishing blow to the country as they had not defeated their main army and captured the king yet.

    Tong: "Where is the Goguryeo king?"

    Jia Xu: "He retreated north. We lost him."

    Tong: "You lost sight of an entire legion!? Are your wings for a decoration?"

    Xu Huang: "My apologies, your majesty."

    Not only they lost trace of their monarch, Jia Xu and Xu Huang vited Tong¡¯s primary policy, so they had to get punished for this.

    Tong punished Xu Huang by temporary demoted him to a new position, the governor of Gungnae. As for Jia Xu, he got demoted to the vice governor of Gungnae to assist Xu Huang.

    Tian Yu¡¯s post changed to Pyongyang, and he also inherited Xu Huang¡¯s legion to maintain order in Lng Commandery.

    Gan Ning was summoned back to Xiangping to manage a newly found navy force, and he had to train the transferred batch of graduated soldiers from Ye this year. Once they had been trained enough, Gan Ning would get promoted to a grandmander of the navy.

    For now, the conflict on the north was over. However, Tong would need to deal with this countryter.

    .

    .

    At Xuchang, Cao Cao visited Pu Jing¡¯s metallurgy factory, which was working on their new weaponry.

    He picked a long metal pipe and turned to the designer of this metal tube.

    "What¡¯s this?"

    Pu Jing rolled his eyes, "Gun chamber."

    "What¡¯s it for?"

    "Come with me."

    Pu Jing led Cao Cao and his followers to an archery range, where they had transformed it into a shooting range for another weapon.

    The former premier took a long weapon with the same long tube that Cao Cao had picked.

    It was a harquebus or arquebus, a Spanish rifle from the 15th-century.

    Currently, Pu Jing was nning to develop rifles and rece the cold weapons with these guns!

    In his thoughts, by being the first to employ a battalion of musketeers, they could overthrow Tong¡¯s kingdom with ease, even though they were at a disadvantage in both human assets and soldiers.

    Pu Jing aimed the harquebus at the scarecrow and pulled the trigger.

    *BANG*

    The preload ball hit the scarecrow¡¯s chest.

    Cao Cao observed the weapon with a frown, "That¡¯s it?"

    Pu Jing snorted, "This is the magic weapon that Tong used when he debuted into our politic world. He fought Yuan Shao with something more advanced than this."

    "Oh?"

    Cao Cao was interested. He took the harquebus from Pu Jing and learned how to shoot.

    20 Minutester, Cao Cao fired a gun for the first time.

    *BANG*

    His bullet missed the target.

    "Lame. Bows and crossbows are more reliable."

    "It takes a couple months for an uneducated peasant to master this weapon, but you need years to train a body of a bow user. Crossbows also require the user¡¯s strength to reload."

    "Repeating crossbows are still usable."

    "True, but the firepower iscking. They are only useful against random bandits, but they can¡¯t even prate this thing."

    Pu Jing pointed at a steel te armor, which he had bought from a scavenger merchant, who looted this from dead bodies from the battlefield in Yi Province.

    It was Tong Army¡¯s standard armor other than the imperialmer armor, which Tong treated as inferior armor type.

    For demonstration, Pu Jing took a repeating crossbow and fired at the steel te mail.

    *TINK*

    It could not prate the steel te.

    Then, Pu Jing reloaded the harquebus and aimed at the te mail.

    *BANG*

    The steel te dented, but the bullet failed to get through the thick metal.

    Cao Cao frowned as he inspected the armor.

    "What¡¯s this?"

    "Zhang Tong¡¯s armor."

    "Oh? So, he¡¯s wearing this to battles?"

    "No, all of his soldiers are."

    Cao Cao¡¯s face changed. So far, he only heard intel reports from Tong¡¯s battles, but he had never seen this armor¡¯s performance in real life.

    One thousand words could not bepared with real experience. Seeing with his own eyes, Cao Cao was rmed by Tong¡¯s kingdom¡¯s technology difference.

    They had to develop a more advanced weapon fast, or Tong would destroy their alliance soon.

    Also, Cao Cao was worried about Pu Jing¡¯s hidden secret.

    "When will you be able to give my men more cultivation manuals?"

    Pu Jing rolled his eyes, "I already gave them to Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan. I¡¯m out of lifespans."

    "Then, get more lifespans."

    "Impossible. I can only get enough for one person a year. If you want more, ask your cousins to buy you one or two."

    Pu Jing lied. He could easily cultivate 400,000 year-worth of lifespan each year, which tranted to 2 people. However, he did not need so many immortals in this world since he wanted to be the only immortal alive.

    Thus, he shoved the responsibility to someone else.

    Cao Cao groaned, "Fine! Have it your way! How long will we be ready to mass-produce a weapon to ovee this armor!?"

    It was the turn for Pu Jing to frown. He wanted to build modern bullets and guns, but hecked mercury. Furthermore, for the sake of mass-producing muskets and advanced rifles, Pu Jing needed steam engines and elite gunsmiths.

    It was a long road before they could reach that level. Pu Jing estimated that they required at least 10 years with their personal assets and workforces.

    "This weapon will be our general¡¯s assets for now. We need more time to research and mass-produce this," Pu Jing noted his requirements and passed it to Cao Cao, "I need these. Provide them for me."

    "..."

    Cao Cao red at this untrustworthy strategist. He snorted in frustration, but he took the notes anyway.

    .

    .

    April 1st, 194 AD.

    <<Ding>>

    <<Bo Cai has donated 50,000 lifespans to the n>>

    <<Cai Yong has donated 50,000 lifespans to the n>>

    <<Ding Yuan has donated 50,000 lifespans to the n>>

    <<Zhang Jiao has donated 50,000 lifespans to the n>>

    <<Kong Rong has ...>>

    It was a new custom of Tong¡¯s n. All angels and demons in the n had to contribute 100,000 lifespans a year, so Tong and others could use this avable fund to use several core system skills, such as [Create Food], [Firearm Creation], and [Private World] of Li Feihong. As for the leftover, they could keep it for emergency usage in the future.

    Sima Yi: "I just got the cultivation manual, and I don¡¯t have enough lifespans. Do I have to contribute?"

    Tong: "No. But you will have to do it next year."

    Sima Yi: "Right. Got it."

    Zhang Jiao: "Is it enough? Do you need more? I have two wings, and I can easily get 400,000 a year. I can put more if you want to."

    Tong: "You keep the rest, father. Donating 50,000 to the n already consumed 100,000 years of your lifespans. Everything you have is your profit."

    Zhang Jiao: "You look troubled, though."

    Tong: "We¡¯re fine. Don¡¯t worry. The kingdom¡¯s future is great!"

    Zhang Jiao: "If you say so. Well, I forgot to tell you this. Hua Tuo visited us in Julu. I told him to visit you in Ye, but he refused."

    Tong froze. I had been a while since hest saw his father-inw.

    Now that Hua Shi passed on, Tong was afraid if he should meet Hua Tuo or not.

    Tong: "Is he mad?"

    Zhang Jiao: "More like self-ming. You should visit this old coot when you¡¯re free."

    Tong: "Got it."

    .

    .

    Medusa took a million lifespan from the n chat to supply her [Create Food] and [Firearm Creation] budget. She was relieved that they finally got something in return after investing in all officers for a long time.

    She smiled as she nced at her system skills.

    .

    *******************************

    <<Firearm Creation>> Level 10 (MAX)

    Create a firearm or a bullet once a day.

    Upkeep: 5,000 lifespans a year.

    <<Firearm Cost>>

    A bullet of any size: 1

    A pistol: 20

    A shotgun: 50

    A sub-machine gun: 200

    A rifle: 1,000

    An automatic rifle: 5,000

    A sniper rifle: 10,000

    A .50 Cal rifle or a higher caliber: 50,000

    *******************************

    .

    This skill was expensive, and it was impossible to sport every soldier with automatic rifles since the cost was usually ten times higher than the listed prices.

    After all, Medusa was required to summon her souls to use this ability to cheat the daily usage, and it cost 10 times higher than the list as a penalty.

    So far, Medusa chose to create basic guns, such as pistols and shotguns for Tong¡¯s men. Now that Medusa had more funds, she had to make a tough decision if she wanted to get everybody a gun, or she could create a rifle battalion as a special force.

    As she could not make this decision alone, she consulted Tong when they were alone.

    .

    Upon hearing the trouble of Diaochan, aka Medusa, Tong answered without hesitation.

    "Create one M4 every day. Don¡¯t bother using your soul to create more unless it¡¯s emergency."

    "Are you sure? Won¡¯t it take long to assemble a special force like this?"

    "Just use your daily right to create something. I need about 50 of M4 for all our important officers for now. Since it cost 5,000 a piece, we can get about 200-300 every year. When we have more immortals in our force, our tax ie should be higher, and we can mass produce these."

    "Alright. But what about our factories? How are your factories?"

    Diaochan referred to Tong¡¯s steel factories, where Te Langpu had finished installing steam engines.

    "We¡¯re using them to create cannons and steel armors instead of guns. I think we can chug about 10 cannons a day now."

    Their military technologies were progressing step by step. They were grateful that Te Langpu contributed a lot these past years despite his obnoxious behavior.

    But there were problems. These technologies and blueprints of cannons should have been leaked to the other warlords, and Tong believed that Cao Cao and Sun Fang should have about the same cannon models by now.

    In the future war, it would be an exchange of firearms instead of melee warfare.

    With this cheating skill, Tong and Diaochan were confident that they had the upper hand. All they had to beware of was immortals and their strength.

    "I think you should participate next time."

    "... I know."

    Tong leaned over to Diaochan, nning to kiss her.

    At that moment, Dong Bai, aka Friday, burst into the room.

    "HEY, MOM! IT¡¯S MY TURN TODAY!!"

    Diaochan grinned, "Whoops. Well, can we 3P today?"

    .

    .

    April 15th, 194 AD.

    Tong, Friday, Medusa, all concubines, and all children journeyed to Julu to pay respect to the father of the emperor, Zhang Jiao.

    Julu City celebrated and weed the emperor¡¯s visit as they knew that this territory was Tong¡¯s true home. After all, this was where everything began.

    Tong walked toward Zhang Jiao and hugged him without caring about the world.

    "I¡¯m home, dad."

    "Hahaha! Wee home!"

    All Tong¡¯s wives and concubines greeted their father-inw and introduced themselves. The first princess, Zhang Min, also greeted her grandfather.

    As the family gathered, an old man with the odor of herbs and medicine observed them from afar, hiding among Zhang Jiao¡¯s retainers.

    Unfortunately for him, Tong spotted the old man.

    He walked toward him and cupped his fist, bowing at his father-inw.

    "This unfilial son greets father-inw."

    Hua Tuo closed his eyes to hide his tears. He nodded without saying anything.

    He lost his wife to bandits, and he lost his only daughter when he was traveling thend. He regretted not being with his family when he could.

    Now that he saw Tong¡¯s sad face. He could barely hold his tears.

    Unbeknownst to Hua Tuo¡¯s feeling, Tong waved his hands and called Zhang Min over.

    "Minmin,e here!"

    The 13-year-old girl ran toward Tong.

    "Yes, your majesty!"

    "Don¡¯t use honorific here. Greet your grandfather. He¡¯s the father of your mother."

    Zhang Min widened her eyes and looked at Hua Tuo.

    Hua Tuo was also surprised. He opened his eyes and looked at the little girl.

    Upon seeing Zhang Min¡¯s face, he could not withhold his tears anymore. Her face was a copy of her mother, and it resembled Hua Shi in her youthful days.

    The girl did not understand what had happened. Innocently, she kowtowed to Hua Tuo, "Zhang Min greets grandfather."

    Hua Tuo wailed and hugged his granddaughter.

    His family was still there with him. He was not alone.

 Chapter 446 Assassins?

    Chapter 446 - Assassins?

    April 16th, 194 AD.

    After staying with his new family, Hua Tuo made his decision. He visited Tong and Zhang Jiao.

    "I¡¯ll be working for you. Let me stay with my granddaughter in exchange."

    Tong and Zhang Jiao were delighted. They epted his service without hesitation.

    "Sure! How about I let Min¡¯er be your assistant?"

    Hua Tuo smiled, "That would be better! But..." He looked hesitant, "Isn¡¯t she the princess? Will it be alright?"

    Tong turned to Zhang Min, "Didn¡¯t you say that the inner pce and our tutors were boring? Want to try something new other than fighting?"

    The girl agreed, "I¡¯ll do it! It¡¯s suffocating over there! Do you even know that those banana stepmothers want to kill me!? I lost count how many times I killed random assassins on the street and chefs that poisoned my food!"

    Tong, Zhang Jiao, and Hua Tuo frowned, "Tell us everything. Who did this?"

    "Who else!? It¡¯s your banana wives!"

    Their frown deepened. Had it been normal circumstances, Tong would have believed his daughter. However, he had been watching Du Shi, Cai Wenji, Xiao Qiao, Da Qiao, and Wang Yi ever since the first two wives tried to kill each other. Ever since then, none of them could use their subordinates tomit any harm to Tong¡¯s wives or other children.

    "I¡¯ll look into this. For now, I¡¯ll establish a medical school here for father-inw to run, and you¡¯ll work here with your both grandpas, okay?"

    Zhang Min cheered, "YAY! YES, PLEASE!!"

    Tong whispered Zhang Jiao, "Don¡¯t let hermand troops. She¡¯s way toopetent that will make other captains ashamed."

    The former yellow turban founder gave Tong an odd look, but he agreed. Girls were not suitable on battlefields unless they were immortals like Dong Bai and Diaochan.

    .

    A weekter, Hua Tuo was promoted as the minister of medicine. His headquarters was found in Julu, and he would assist Zhang Jiao in the official works while he would teach the new generation schrs about his crafts.

    Zhang Min also announced a shocking piece of news that she would step down from the first princess position and lived as an ordinary noble of Hua House. Still, Tong recalled Redhare Legion from Xiangyang to station at Julu as a precaution.

    The movement was against the big picture and their prepared strategies. Even Lu Bu protested against this relocation.

    Lu Bu: "You¡¯re moving me because you¡¯re suspecting someone trying to kill your daughter!?"

    Tong: "Correct."

    Lu Bu: "Are you retarded!? We¡¯re about to fight against those wannabes. Why are you ruining your own n!?"

    Tong: "Actually, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s that simple. I think Cao Cao had sent assassins for my daughter and attempted to provoke infighting among my wives. I need you at Julu to watch over my non-border cities."

    Lu Bu: "That¡¯s still not making any sense. Instead of protecting your backlines, why don¡¯t I attack Wan, Luoyang, Xuchang, and make my way to the north?"

    Tong: "Leave those for our newbies to gain experience. You¡¯re already a veteran. There is no need to use you against cannon fodders like Cao Cao."

    Tong slipped his real n to the others in the n, which caused the strategists to go berserk.

    However, there was a particr strategist and a general who volunteered to protect Julu.

    Wei Yan: "Please send White Horse Legion there. We can protect the first princess."

    Sima Yi: "I agree. Please send our legion to Julu. Ganling is not an important city, and there are many capable generals around here, including your majesty¡¯s private army. Please leave it to us."

    Despite that both of them had obtained their other memory from the dream, their feeling for Zhang Min was still the same. Tong sometimes questioned their motive if they wanted to improve their career by marrying Zhang Min, or they were sincere.

    ¡¯Those two rebellions. What are they nning by pursuing Min¡¯er? Should I circumcise or castrate these fools to teach them a lesson?¡¯

    In the end, Friday and Medusa were sent to Julu and protected the city and Zhang Min. They took half of Tong¡¯s Immortal Legion soldiers, 50,000 men, to strengthen the garrison forces. As for the princes, Tong would protect them personally in Ye along with other princesses.

    As for the love-struck Sima Yi and Wei Yan, they had to remain at Ganling to train their soldiers. None of them was allowed to visit Zhang Min until the war was over.

    However, Tong promised them that he would choose Zhang Min and other princesses¡¯ prospects from one of his avable generals who contributed the most to the forces.

    .

    The investigation was swift. In June, Sima Fang came with the results.

    It was Cao Cao¡¯s doing!

    "I believe that he¡¯s trying to stir conflicts among your royal harem. Then, our officers will split into factions, and we¡¯ll be weaker as it progresses. It¡¯s a tactic to weaken our forces before the decisive battle that they are preparing."

    Tong was impressed by the Sima n¡¯s intelligence and deduction power. However, he still had doubts.

    "Is there any solid proof?"

    Sima Fang hesitated, but he answered, "None."

    "Then, how do you know it¡¯s Cao Cao?"

    "Thest assassin we caughtmitted suicide before we get any information. However, thanks to our household registration and city entry records, we found that this persones from the central in as a merchant. Therefore, we deduced that he¡¯s an agent from Cao Cao."

    "Fair enough."

    Tong was confident that the assassins were not from his men or his concubines. Therefore, it had to be an outsider.

    With the suspicion, Tong decided to teach Cao Cao a lesson.

    .

    .

    Xuchang Pce

    Cao Cao, Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang, and other officers gathered here to wee their ally forces.

    "Sun Ce of Jiangdong has arrived! He has brought 100,000 soldiers!"

    The visitors, Sun Ce, Sun Fang, Zhou Yu, and their officers, entered the assembly hall and were guided to their prepared seats, west of the room.

    "Liu Bei of Liang has arrived! He has brought 150,000 soldiers!"

    An hourter, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, and his strategists arrived, and Cao Cao¡¯s subordinates guided them to the eastern seats.

    All heavyweight warlords assembled today for one purpose.

    Overthrowing Tong!

    "Gentlemen, thank you for your cooperation and your time to attend this meeting," Cao Cao stood and bowed to all his nemeses in the other life, "With your troops and your talented generals, even those immortals will fear us!"

    Sun Ce and Liu Bei rolled their eyes.

    "We¡¯vee prepared. How are your troops? What can you contribute to our coalition?"

    Cao Cao snorted, "100,000 soldiers and magic weaponry!"

    "Magic weaponry?"

    Cao Cao waved, and his attendant presented an arquebus to Liu Bei and Sun Ce.

    A group of soldiers entered the meeting room with a set of shooting practice. They ced a scarecrow at the center of the room and a thick metal te behind it.

    Xiahou Dun also took one of the rifles. He positioned himself in the opposite direction of the metal te and the scarecrow. After he had loaded the gun with gunpowder and an iron ball, he aimed at the scarecrow, which had an imperialme armor on it.

    *BANG*

    The bullet prated through the armor and hit the metal te behind the doll.

    Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei narrowed their eyes as they recognized this kind of weapon. They recalled the past battle ten years ago when they fought against Tong.

    "Gun," Liu Bei muttered.

    Cao Cao nodded, "Correct! This weapon is not something exclusive to those disgusting immortals anymore. Right now, we can manufacture guns!"

    Sun Fang frowned. He stepped forward, "How many guns do you have? Can you share your manufacturing methods with us?"

    Although Sun Fang was from the modern world, he was not educated on gunsmithing or firearm manufacturing. He also wanted to build cannons, but he did not know the method.

    Pu Jing, who stood behind Cao Cao¡¯s officers, smirked, mocking Sun Fang in his mind.

    ¡¯Noob.¡¯

    Cao Cao continued, "Of course. We¡¯re nning to strike the hearnd of Zhang Tong soon, so we will share our knowledge with everyone. We called you here for this purpose!"

    Sun Ce and Liu Bei¡¯s eyes gleamed as they were interested in this new weapon. However, Zhou Yu and Pang Tong found this odd.

    ¡¯They had this technology that can change the entire warfare. Why are they sharing this knowledge with their future rivals?¡¯

    Both of them observed Cao Cao and Pu Jing¡¯s reaction. Although they could not get any hint from them, someone else was winking at them.

    Zhuge Liang!

    Zhou Yu was surprised that Zhuge Liang was serving Cao Cao in this world.

    ¡¯Dafuq is he doing here!? Did Gan Ning fuck up and force this bastard to Cao Cao¡¯s side?¡¯

    Pang Tong was shocked as well.

    ¡¯Kongming, you bastard! How could you serve Cao Cao of all people!? You should havee with us and join the righteous side!¡¯

    Unbeknownst to their thoughts, Zhuge Liang¡¯s lips moved, hinting them with his soundless words.

    [Zhang Tong too strong. No chance of victory.]

    Zhou Yu and Pang Tong caught that. Their frown deepened.

    ¡¯Too strong? Really?¡¯

    ¡¯I see!¡¯

    While Pang Tong doubted his friend, Zhou Yu understood the secret message.

    ¡¯Cao Cao doesn¡¯t think that our coalition can fight Zhang Tong, so he¡¯s desperate enough to give everyone a boost. Then, we can at least have a slim chance of victory? So, his forces are that threatening?¡¯

    Zhou Yu decided to be direct. He raised his hand and asked Cao Cao, "We don¡¯t have a chance against Zhang Tong, have we?"

    Cao Cao sighed and turned to Zhou Yu, "Haven¡¯t your mentor taught you not to discourage your allies before a war?"

    "If we don¡¯t admit that we have weaknesses or ws, we won¡¯t be able to fix it! Please get it straight, Marquis. Do we have a chance against Zhang Tong?"

    Cao Cao did not speak. However, Guo Jia stepped forward and confessed, "We don¡¯t."

    "Then, what¡¯s the purpose of this meeting?"

    Guo Jia snorted, "We need to boost our military power. Right now, all of us are too weak. Had we mobilized or dered our intention to the public, Zhang Tong will annihte all of us within a year... Two years at the longest."

    "I need info. What makes you think that he¡¯s so overwhelming to the point that youe up with such a conclusion?"

    Guo Jia turned to Pu Jing, Xiahou Dun, and Xiahou Yuan, "Can you reveal your power, please."

    The three spread their angel wings.

    Pu Jing had gambled and forced his way to be a four-wing angel. Meanwhile, the Xiahou brothers had 2 each.

    "I¡¯m sure that some of you have this [Secret] or [Cultivation Technique], so I won¡¯t get into how you acquired these wings. But as you know, the more wings you possess, the stronger you are."

    Zhou Yu, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Sun Ce understood what he meant. After all, they also had the cultivation technique.

 Chapter 447 Masquerade Party

    Chapter 447 - Masquerade Party

    Guan Yu had already reached the 6-wing tier while Zhang Fei still had 4. As for Sun Ce, he got 3 and almost obtained the 4th wing, but Zhou Yu got stuck with 2 because he rarely cultivated.

    Getting the first 2 was easy for everyone as long as their thoughts were as pure as crystalline water. However, the struggling to get the third andter wings was a challenge.

    Guan Yu had gone through various tests in the other life, so he had no problem adjusting his mind to the cultivation technique. As if he was a genius cultivator, he had no bottleneck. Soon, he would obtain the 7th wing if he had more time to meditate and gather more life force.

    Zhang Fei reached his bottleneck as his best traits had all been awakened. The rest of his potential virtues were something that Zhang Feicked, such as [Humility], [Abstinence], [Patience], and [Charity].

    Sun Ce was simr to Zhang Fei as he had a lot of pride and ego as the n head. Moreover, Tong¡¯s provocation disrupted his cultivation flow, and his anger toward the emperor was something that could never be quenched.

    Cao Cao resumed talking, "As my strategist stated, we don¡¯t have a chance against Zhang Tong¡¯s generals and his current immortal power."

    "Why?" Everyone was curious, but they could guess what Cao Cao was nning to say.

    "First, ourtest intel found that Zhang Tong is a 6-wing demon."

    "..."

    Everyone with the cultivation technique had a chill running down their spines. They knew that every two wings ones got, their strength multiplied, so Tong¡¯s power was beyond them many folds.

    However, Guan Yu¡¯s spirit got fired up as he saw Tong as a worthy opponent. He hoped that one day, he could challenge this emperor in a duel.

    Cao Cao continued, "That¡¯s not all. Our intel from Xiangyang also reported that Lu Bu is an eight-wing angel!"

    "WHAT!?"

    All sinners could not remain calm anymore. Even Guan Yu was shocked.

    None of the angels here forgot about this taboo name of the son of 3 fathers, Lu Bu. In the other world, all of them almost died trying to kill this god of war. Now, this embodiment of men¡¯s nightmare had angel wings, and he was stronger than Tong.

    One 6-wing immortal was manageable, but eight-wing one was impossible.

    They understood why Cao Cao¡¯s strategists hinted that they had no chance against Tong!

    However, they misunderstood something.

    Zhuge Liang, the one who reported this intel to Cao Cao, hid hisughter as he bit his lower lip.

    ¡¯Despair, fool!¡¯

    It was a part of his n to make the coalition force overestimating Tong.

    He had been exchanging information with his colleagues in Xiangyang via messenger pigeons, so he got the info about Lu Bu¡¯s power first.

    For the sake of ruining Cao Cao, Zhuge Liang had a n.

    By intimidating the coalition forces, they would be afraid to move, and their provision would dwindle each day they dyed. Ultimately, they would not have enough supplies to fight Tong this year.

    This would give Tong more time to react against these overlords, or he could do something to end this farce earlier.

    ¡¯He could have ended this thingst year. What¡¯s he doing over there?¡¯

    Still, Zhuge Liang was confused about why Tong was dying the unification conquest. Everything was ready, but Tong had not moved.

    ¡¯I hope the situation in his court and his harem alright. Guo Jia¡¯s assassins should have killed the first princess by now, and Tong¡¯s subordinates should have been splitted into multiple factions. He needs to move soon. Should I send him a warning?¡¯

    While Zhuge Liang was scheming in secret, Cao Cao continued presenting of what he found.

    "Secondly, his troop cement has already checkmated us. The moment we mobilize, all legions under his control will strike our hearnds and iste our forces. We might be able to take down Ye and Julu, but we will never be able to wipe out all of Zhang Tong¡¯s legions."

    This was amon knowledge that Sun Ce and Liu Bei were aware of. Lu Bu and Zhang He¡¯s legions stationed at Xiangyang to threaten every region in China as they could move to Jiangdong, the central in, or the Liang Province at any time they wanted to. Moreover, all garrison forces in Henei, Ganling, Jibei, and Ye could advance south and sweep away Cao Cao¡¯snd and Liu Bei¡¯s territory.

    Although the coalition managed to match Tong¡¯s troop number, theycked training, and their home cities might not be able to support them for too long. In prolonged war, they would be at a disadvantage against Tong¡¯s endless provision.

    "Andstly," Cao Cao nced at Pu Jing and Sun Fang, "Weckedpetent immortals."

    This was a provocation to Pu Jing and Sun Fang to take action or prove themselves. At the same time, it was Cao Cao¡¯s usual political scheme to get rid of both Sun Fang and Pu Jing during this war as he did not like the presence of otherworlders who interfered with their future.

    As long as Sun Fang and Pu Jing took the bait and volunteered to prove themselves, everybody here would send them to their death or use them as a part of their suicide army.

    Pu Jing, as an elite politician, was not perturbed by the provocation. He shamelessly closed his eyes and ignored the challenge.

    Sun Fang, however, was still rough in the edge. He mocked Cao Cao in retaliation, "What do you mean, ipetent? I fucked your 30,000-man army with only 10,000 men in Guangling. Tell me, who¡¯s the ipetent here!?"

    Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan spread their wings, nning to end Sun Fang¡¯s life.

    Cao Cao raised his hand to stop them, "I¡¯m sorry that my tongue gets ahead of myself. I hope that you ept my apologies. By the way, we need someone with otherworldly skills to handle Li Feihong at Henei. Could you be taking care of this threat?"

    "Ha! Who do you think I am!? I killed that goddess of death Hua Shi myself! Zhang Tong¡¯s underlings won¡¯t be my match!"

    Sun Fang did not say that he almost died that day as well. It took him years to recover from the soul injuries. However, he learned many things from that fight.

    Using souls to attack other immortals was the stupidest thing to do as the detached souls were weaker than an immortal who used their souls to reinforce their main body. As such, it was ideal for gathering every soul¡¯s power into oneself and fighting with their own flesh and blood.

    Secondly, system skills were something that Heaven gave them to protect themselves against the local poption in this world, but they were useless against other immortals with many wings. Yet, some of them could be used as an auxiliary skill to supplement their power, such as Sun Fang¡¯s [Cultivator] with many subskills or Tong¡¯s [Time Stop], which could freeze immortals with the same power or weaker.

    With that mindset, Sun Fang got more confident inbat.

    Seeing that Sun Fang got overconfident, Cao Cao, Cheng Yu, and Guo Jia grinned.

    ¡¯Fool. Now, let¡¯s see if you and Li Feihong can kill each other, or you can just get yourself killed.¡¯

    Cao Cao bowed at Sun Fang, "Then, can your force station at Luoyang and mark Zhang Tong Army in Henei? The Monster Legion¡¯smander is Zhang Liao, so we should not let our guard down."

    Everyone remembered what kind of general Zhang Liao was. With only 800 men, he could even repel Sun Quan¡¯s 100,000 soldiers in the Battle of Hefei. Now, with all the upgrades, Zhang Liao and Li Feihong¡¯s tag-team was a threat to Luoyang.

    Using the excuse, Cao Cao nned to make Sun Fang, Sun Ce, and Zhou Yu protecting the region and the Yellow River, so the two powerhouses could weaken each other.

    Sun Fang agreed to this deployment agreement, but Zhou Yu raised his hand.

    "We will match Zhang Liao and Li Feihong¡¯s troops. Lord Sun Fang, we will only allocate 50,000 soldiers to your battalions."

    "Huh? You¡¯re noting with me?" Sun Fang turned to Zhou Yu in shock.

    Liu Bei and Cao Cao were interested in the development.

    ¡¯I see. They also want Sun Fang dead.¡¯

    ¡¯Interesting. We have the same idea, after all.¡¯

    Zhou Yu shook his head, "No. Actually, we would like to propose a strategy."

    "What strategy?"

    "You see, among Zhang Tong¡¯s border cities, Beihei of Kong Rong has the weakest defense. We would like to ask if Sun Ce and I can lead our remaining 50,000 men to attack this region and secure the eastern coast. Then, our logistic sea route can be secured, and we can improvise better as we move in toward the northern region."

    Zhou Yu baited that they were willing to sacrifice Sun Fang for participating in a war against the weakest enemy.

    Cao Cao and all strategists believed it was fair, and it went along with their second goal. Therefore, they agreed.

    "We¡¯ll do that. Thank you for your contribution in advance."

    "No problem. We¡¯vee here with our sincere attitude, after all. However, lord Marquis, lord Liu Bei, what will you do in this coalition?"

    Zhou Yu might have sacrificed a chess piece to weaken Tong, but he would not allow Liu Bei and Cao Cao to sit back and watch their doom.

    They had to pay something for the coalition as well!

    The entire alliance was nothing but a farce. Everyone wanted to take a chance and weaken their future rival forces.

    Cao Cao and Liu Bei did not utter a word. They nced at their strategists.

    If possible, they did not want to contribute anything, but since Zhou Yu forced their hands in this negotiation, they had toe up with something as an excuse so that they could stay behind.

    Cheng Yu stepped forward, "Our borders connect with Zhang Tong¡¯s cities, so our forces will concentrate on protecting the Yellow River and all ports. Since our 100,000 soldiers are being the meat shields against Zhang Tong¡¯s half a million soldiers, we cannot change our deployment."

    It was another way to say, [We¡¯ve already contributed a lot, but all of you did nothing]. Cheng Yu gestured that Cao Cao Army would not move in this coalition, and they would only support Liu Bei and Sun Ce with their supplies.

    However, Pang Tong, Xu Shu, and Zhou Yu heard otherwise. To them, it sounded like, [We¡¯re going to sit back and protect our cities while we¡¯re watching you fight to the death].

    Yet, they could not retort either as he was the only one who had fought Tong in secret for years.

    Xu Shu walked out and suggested, "Our forces have the most soldiers, so we shall split ourselves into 2 armies. The first one will station in Hongnong and support lord Sun Fang in his fight against Henei¡¯s Monster Legion. As for the other one, it will be our elite cavalry unit, but they can only fight in open-in battles. If you wish to cross the river, please secure a foothold for our horsemen first. After all, we all know that horsemen are not best used in siege battles and naval battles."

    Xu Shu ced the main army of Liu Bei on Hongnong as insurance. Since their territory now located in Liang Province and the northwest, Hongnong and Chang¡¯An were perfect locations to be their back-up retreat route had something gone wrong in this coalition.

    As for the cavalry unit, it would be led by Ma Chao. The strategist limited their roles, so they would not fight in unfavorable battlegrounds. Then, their casualty will be minimized.

    It was another hidden message to Cao Cao forces, retaliating against their nasty deployment scheme.

    [We¡¯re not fighting on naval battles. If you want us to fight, cross the Yellow River with your armies first, then we will move.]

    Pang Tong nodded and added, "Also, currently, our forces have a poor harvest this year. I hope that lord Marquis could provide them with food, equipment, and new weaponry. I also heard the weapon called CANNONS, so I hope that you could share some of them and manufacturing methods with us. In the future, we will be able to contribute more."

 Chapter 448 Youve Crossed the Line, Bitch!

    Chapter 448 - You¡¯ve Crossed the Line, Bitch

    Zhuge Liang almost could not hide hisughter. He had to cover his face with his long sleeve clothes and pretended to cough.

    ¡¯Dear lord. You all are about to fight an impossible opponent, but you can¡¯t even abandon your selfishness. Can¡¯t you see that without fighting together as one, you won¡¯t have a chance at all? This is one of the reasons why Zhang Tong thrives, but you suck!¡¯

    Zhuge Liang had studied how Tong climbed up his ranks from being a son of a Taoist priest to an emperor.

    Tong¡¯s biography and achievements revealed that he always exploited the discord or infighting of his opponents.

    The Battle of Anping, when Tong participated in a war for the first time, Tong manipted Yuan Shao¡¯s men into supporting them indirectly, was proof.

    The overturn in Ye, where Zhang He betrayed Han Fu, was a proof.

    The constraint conflicts between Tong and Yuan Shao, yet thetter always failed to finish off the weaker forces due to the infighting between Tian Feng and Feng Ji, was a proof.

    After the copse of the Anti-Xiongnu Coalition, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao could have cooperated and killed Tong, yet they did not, was a proof.

    The uprising of Gongsun Du, which could have destroyed Tong¡¯s foundation, failed because the warlord and the Xianbei did not unite as one, was a proof.

    There were many asions that either Cao Cao or Yuan Shao could have killed Tong, but they all failed because they were too half-hearted in dealing the finishing blow as they looked too far ahead. Moreover, none of them let go of their fa?ade and wanted to keep the righteous image to manipte citizens.

    These were the ws that allowed Tong to survive this far!

    Zhuge Liang doubted why Tong was doing the same and allowing these people to grow. Now that he witnessed the disharmony between forces, the strategist understood.

    ¡¯Did he know that these guys will end up like this? Trying to fight each other and acting like hyenas? Much wow.¡¯

    Meanwhile, Tong also suffered from infighting incidents, such as the duel against Lu Bu in Jinyang, the second meeting with Lu Bu at Anping, theplication of Liu Xie and the throne, and currently, the assassination attempts by Guo Jia, which might create friction in Tong¡¯s forces. Yet, his empire was majorly united.

    One of the reasons for that was Tong¡¯s absolute rule that disallowed all nobles from possessing a private army, which prevented all evildoers from causing mischievous deeds. Moreover, he had the power to suppress all monstrous generals from rebelling.

    Zhuge Liang saw Tong as abination of Xiang Yu, the god of war during thete warring state era, and emperor Wudi, who had established a foundation for the Han Dynasty andter generations.

    Funny enough, the emperor Wudi¡¯s style name was also [Tong].

    From Zhuge Liang¡¯s superstitious point of view, this Zhang Tong might be the reincarnation of the emperor Wudi!

    ¡¯Kekeke! They¡¯re doomed. Your majesty, you are so wicked that I like you too much. Can¡¯t you be a bit more stupid, so I can be more useful to you?¡¯

    .

    The meeting concluded after a few hours of useless bickering and bargaining for Cao Cao¡¯s supplies and weaponry.

    In the end, Cao Cao had to pay for Sun Ce and Liu Bei for their cooperation. All subordinates of the two forces were angry and disgusted by their ally¡¯s greediness, but they did not have a choice as their armies got to protect their cities while the others had to work to earn their keep.

    After everyone had left to rest, Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, and Cheng Yu gathered to brainstorm about their next moves.

    "Any news about the assassins?" Cao Cao referred to their assassins, whom Cao Cao had sent to kill the first princess, Zhang Min, to stir the instability of Tong¡¯s royal harem.

    Guo Jia shook his head, "They stopped sending intel sincest week. I think they might have been found."

    "Then, has Zhang Tong moved against his concubines?"

    "No. He took the first princess to live with her grandfather and sent two of his consorts and 50,000 men from Ye to Julu. Other than that, we found nothing."

    "What about our contact with Liu Xie? He should have be more active since Zhang Tong has two new sons."

    "He killed our messengers."

    Cao Cao sighed, "Never mind, then. What a waste."

    The incident was Guo Jia¡¯s doing. As they were not Tong¡¯s match in terms of the military, they attempted to weaken him by creating friction and factions among Tong¡¯s subordinates.

    Unfortunately, their n bore no fruit.

    Cheng Yu raised his hand to share his ideas, "If internal discord doesn¡¯t work, how about we drag our neighbor countries into the fight?"

    Zhuge Liang was amused, "Which country are you referring to? Goguryeo? Xianbei? Xiongnu?"

    Cheng Yu snickered and ced the odd coins on the table.

    They were two types of coins.

    One was a silver coin with a carving of a Caucasian man with curry short hair and a sharp nose. The other was an uneven silver coin with a full-beard man with a war helmet.

    They were Roman¡¯s coin and Parthia¡¯s coin!

    "From my investigation, these empires have a high demand for our gold nuggets, and they have been smuggling our gold for years. Also, the Kushan Empire is overly relying on the Silk Road trade route. We can exploit their economy by stopping the trade and entice their local military to join us with gold and wealth."

    Not only Cheng Yu was eyeing the Roman and the Parthian, but he also wanted to involve the weak Kushan Empire, which had been neutral to all conflicts among the neighboring countries.

    Guo Jia nodded as he added, "I see. Since Zhang Tong doesn¡¯t dare to dere war on us despite our movements, we will hire more soldiers from the west while we entice them to plunder the north for us."

    "That¡¯s correct. Our investigation on the western kingdoms shows that we are not the only ones with immortals. They also have angels and demons of their own, so we should bring them to our war."

    Zhuge Liang gulped. This was getting out of hand.

    "Don¡¯t you guys afraid that they will invade us after they are done with Zhang Tong?"

    Cheng Yu and Guo Jiaughed, "They aren¡¯t that capable. Those western barbarians have fewer troops and less organized than us. An upstart like you might probably don¡¯t know about this, but their professional army only numbers less than 10,000 men. What kind of threat can they pose to us, the only civilized country?"

    Zhuge Liang wanted to retort, but he held back his words.

    ¡¯Well, fine. I don¡¯t need to protect you lots if things go south. I¡¯ll just use my messenger birds to inform Lu Bu and Zhang He about this, then.¡¯

    Cao Cao agreed to Cheng Yu and Guo Jia¡¯s n by dragging the Romans and Parthians into their wars.

    .

    A monthter, after the grand meeting, all troops departed from Xuchang and headed toward their designated deployment location.

    As everyone was busy with the dispatch, Cao Cao¡¯s servants were in a panic and asked to see their lord.

    A new incident had urred, which was the turning point of Cao Cao¡¯s forces.

    "MY LORD!! IT¡¯S EMERGENCY!!"

    Cao Cao frowned, "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "T-THE LADIES, THE PRINCESSES, AND THE YOUNG MASTERS!! T-THEY ...."

    Despite how the servant wanted to report the news, he could not bear to say it.

    The gesture rmed Cao Cao that something wrong might have happened to them. He rushed to his inner pce to check on his wives and his children.

    Upon arrival, he saw the corpses of his inner pce guards, whichprised of female soldiers. Their bodies were cut by one single sh, which either severed their heads or torsos.

    Cao Cao ran toward his main wife¡¯s room,dy Liu. As soon as he entered, he found nobody.

    He ran toward other rooms, where his consorts slept, such as Lady Bian and Lady Huan, but he also found no one.

    After 30 minutes of searching for his wives and children, Cao Cao could not find anybody.

    "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?"

    He went ballistic as his family was missing.

    .

    A dayter, when he calmed down, he finally noticed a golden scroll in his chamber.

    It was something that Cao Cao recognized, an edict of the emperor!

    Shocked by the scroll, he slowly walked toward it and spread it.

    [Cao Mengde, you¡¯ve crossed the line, bitch! I¡¯m fine with you conspiring behind my back and improving your military power, but I won¡¯t tolerate if you employ underhanded tactics like assassination on someone unrted to our fight!]

    [Since you¡¯re so desperate to the point you went on and tried to kill my daughter, I¡¯ll be taking your entire family here in Ye! If you still want to rebel against me that much, you can say goodbye to them and find yourself a new wife because I won¡¯t leave anyone alive!]

    [You have two options. One, evict yourself from your forces and surrender to me unconditionally. Then, you can retire from the politic world and reunite with your family.]

    [Or two, take this the hard way and continue what you¡¯re doing. If you make this choice, forget about them since they will no longer exist in this world!]

    [Also, you should have noticed by now. I came here personally and strolled in your goddamn pce, unhindered. I can im your neck any day I want to.]

    [Savor your life and pick the right choice. You have been warned, and this is myst warning.]

    From the tone, Tong was infuriated, and Cao Cao could sense the threatening force within the scroll.

    Cao Cao was angry, yet terrified by Tong¡¯s abilities.

    He was a mere mortal while Tong had almost reached the threshold of a god, who coulde and go at any time.

    From the beginning, he was powerless!

    It was his first time in two worlds that he faced despair.

    ¡¯Am I fighting against a god? Why am I fighting him!?¡¯

    Cao Cao recalled that Pu Jing manipted him into fighting Tong when he had nning to merge his forces with this emperor.

    He was angry, yet he was helpless.

    Although he had many theories that Tong might have bluffed by sending a group of spies to kidnap his family, Cao Cao believed that Tong hade here personally to take them away.

    The proof was clean-cut, and the swiftness of the operation. Had mortals taken this job, they would have alerted the guards and caused a lot ofmotion during the process. In this case, no trace was left behind. Only someone who could fly could aplish this kind of feat.

    Without a way out, he called his cousins and rtives.

    Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Hong, Cao Xiu, and Cao Ren rushed to see Cao Cao in secret.

    "Mengde, I heard what had happened with the guards. Do you know really happened?"

    Cao Cao tossed Tong¡¯s scroll at Xiahou Dun, "Read it yourself."

    After Xiahou Dun read all the messages, he was shocked, "This... Will you surrender to Zhang Tong?"

    Cao Cao shrugged, "Well, Zhang Tong was supposed to do this ages ago, but he purposely allows us to grow for some reason. It¡¯s a matter of time that we merge with them and let him absorb our forces."

    "Then, what about the coalition?"

    "I have an idea," Cao Cao¡¯s eyes revealed determination. Even the situation was hopeless, he never gave up.

 Chapter 449 Can We Talk?

    Chapter 449 - Can We Talk?

    Ye Pce

    Tong was exhausted, flying back and forth between Ye and Xuchang as he kidnapped Cao Cao¡¯s family here.

    Cao Cao¡¯s 4 wives, his sons, and daughters gathered in the throne room to receive their judgment as all officials gathered to be the witness of this asion.

    Tong looked at them and massaged his head, having a headache, "I won¡¯t kill any of you. From now on, Cao Ang will take care of you until Cao Mengde gives me the response. Well, if he mobilizes his forces before he gives me the answer, it means that he abandons you."

    20 Prisoners in the room were shaken in fear.

    Cao Ang rushed to the throne room when he heard that Tong summoned him. When he saw his rtives and his mother, Lady Liu, he was surprised.

    "Y-Your Majesty, what has happened?"

    "Your father attempted to kill Zhang Min, so I¡¯ve kidnapped your mothers, your brothers, and your sisters here."

    Cao Ang was panic as he thought that Tong would kill everyone. He knelt and begged Tong, "Please don¡¯t kill them! You can kill me, but please spare them! They have nothing to do with our conflicts!"

    "Eh," Tong waved his hand, "I never n to kill anyone. I call you here to shelter them in your courtyard. You¡¯re a pce guardmander, so your annual stipend should be able to support these people, right? From now on, they are your people. Protect them."

    "Y-Yes, your majesty!"

    Cao Ang thought that his family was a goner. He kowtowed to Tong and was about to guide everyone to his mansion.

    However, he was afraid that Tong might still ughter everyer had his father chose hegemony over his family members. He came up with a n to ensure all Cao n¡¯s safety.

    He turned toward his two sisters, Cao Qinghe and Cao Xian.

    Cao Qinghe was Cao Ang¡¯s sister with the same mother, Lady Liu. In her 18, she inherited her mother¡¯s beauty and manner as she was raised as a princess of the n. Meanwhile, Cao Xian was another sister from a different mother, who Cao Ang was not familiar with. She¡¯s 16 this year.

    In history, Cao Qinghe married Xiahou Dun¡¯s son, Xiahou Mao. As for Cao Xian, she was wedded to Liu Xie as a bribe to control the imperial court.

    Yet, in this world, both of them were currently young girls, whom Cao Cao had not given them to anyone.

    With his intelligence and his experience in Ye for years, Cao Ang understood Tong¡¯s personality and his traits. He came up with a n without consulting with anyone.

    "Your majesty, before I take them to my resident, I want to introduce two sisters of mine."

    Cao Ang patted Cao Xian and Cao Qinghe, gestured them with his sad look that they might have to sacrifice their purity for their family.

    Their mothers understood the gesture right away. They whispered their daughters about what Cao Ang was trying to do.

    The two daughters of Cao Cao were shocked.

    "What!? We have to ... do that?"

    "I¡¯m sorry. The situation is currently not in favor of our family. Father will likely abandon us, so we have to do it."

    Cao Xian was braver than Cao Qinghe. She stood up and looked at Tong.

    "Your majesty. My maiden name is Xian, the second daughter of Cao Cao. Will you spare my brothers, sisters, and my mothers? I will give you everything you desire, including my body, so please spare them."

    Cao Qinghe realized what was going on. She also stood up and walked forward, "You can also have me. Please spare my family!"

    Tong widened his eyes and looked at the development in shock.

    "What dafuq!? Cao Zixiu! What the hell are you thinking!? Do you think I¡¯ll kill you, so you¡¯ll bribe me with your sisters!? Who do you think I am!?"

    Cao Ang gritted his teeth and confronted Tong, "Your majesty. I know my father very well. He¡¯s a person who treasures his family, yet he can abandon us for the bigger picture. You kidnapped them to threaten my father, right? I think he will not yield easily and force you to kill everyone to soil your reputation. In my opinion, he will exploit this event and propaganda about this family execution about being unfair. Then, he will use this reason to mobilize his people to wage war against you in the open!"

    He went all out to save his family even though his father¡¯s potential n might be ruined.

    Cao Ang¡¯s insight and courage froze Tong on his track. It made Tong reconsider his options.

    Still, Tong was confused about why Cao Ang jumped the gun.

    ¡¯I never nned to kill anyone in the first ce. Why are they panicking? At best, I¡¯ll just change their name and have them live under my wings peacefully. What the hell?¡¯

    Tong turned toward the girls and opened his mouth, thinking about declining their offer.

    Looking at the princesses, Tong paused as another perverted idea came to his mind.

    He messaged to Friday and Medusa right away.

    Tong: "@Dong Bai, @Diaochan, My dear moms, requesting permission to add two new members to my harem."

    Everyone: "..."

    My dear moms?

    He called his wives, moms!?

    Everyone was speechless.

    Dong Bai: "It doesn¡¯t matter. Fuck them to your heart content, but you have to take care of our sons."

    Diaochan: "Take care of your kidneys, too. When the war is over, we will monopolize youter."

    Tong clenched his fist as his two main wives gave their permission so easily. However, there was a conflict about Cao Xian.

    ¡¯I wonder if Liu Xie will be alright if I steal his former wife. He should have obtained his past memory of his emperor¡¯s life right now.¡¯

    Tong: "Liu Xie. Are you there?"

    Liu Xie: "Yes, your majesty?"

    Tong: "Do you remember Cao Xian?"

    Liu Xie: "... Yes. She¡¯s my first wife in my previous life."

    Tong: "Do you want to marry her again?"

    Liu Xie: "I hate Cao Cao and his family. I don¡¯t want to see her again."

    Tong: "I just kidnapped all Cao Cao¡¯s family members, and they are in Ye City right now. Cao Ang has alsoe with a stupid offer that I should marry Cao Xian and Cao Qinghe, so I won¡¯t kill his entire family."

    Everybody: "WHAT!?"

    The entire chat was thrown into an uproar as all strategists advised Tong to ransom them for Cao Cao¡¯s surrender. Many generals also wanted to dispatch their men to attack Cao Cao¡¯s territory immediately as they had the upper hand.

    Yet, Tong stopped them.

    Tong: "I¡¯ll ask you again, Liu Xie. Do you want Cao Xian back?"

    Liu Xie: "No. You can take her."

    Tong: "Is this your final answer?"

    Liu Xie: "I don¡¯t care. Take her if you want to."

    Tong: "Be honest. Do you hate me like you hate Cao Cao, now? I stole your throne, and I¡¯m about to steal your former wife."

    Liu Xie: "Do whatever you want. I manage to survive so far, thanks to you. Take her as the repayment of my past debts. But once the election eventes, I won¡¯t hold back. I¡¯ll snatch that throne right from your ass, fair and square!"

    Tong: "I see. Then, do your best. I¡¯ll root for you."

    .

    Liu Xie currently sounded like a rebelling teenager in puberty. Everyone in the n chat was perplexed by theplication of this family, thinking if Liu Xie and Tong were still sane, especially Sima Yi.

    The strategist was reading the chat with interest.

    ¡¯An ipetent former emperor and a history-changing pedophile. Well, both are dumb in a way that they look so cute. Oh wait, I can¡¯t call them dumb since they are doing well by improving the quality of our citizens. No embezzlement, no triads, lessor bandits, and thieves on the outskirts ... Heck, no yellow turban!¡¯

    Sima Yi stopped snickering and turned his attention to Zhang Wang, an official who served as one of Tong¡¯s minor county governors.

    Zhang Wang was the father of someone Sima Yi knew well, Zhang Chunhua, aka Sima Yi¡¯s future wife.

    The little 5-year-old girl was with Zhang Wang as well. She sipped her tea and stuck out her tongue because the tea was too hot.

    "Are you sure about this, junior Sima? My daughter is too young to be your wife," Zhang Wang was concerned.

    "Ah, don¡¯t worry about it. Let¡¯s just say I hope that our Sima n can get the help of your family and your county. The engagement is my sincerity that I¡¯m willing to tie our bond with you. As for the wedding, I¡¯ll wait until she reaches adulthood. I¡¯m not a pedophile like a certain emperor, you know?"

    "Uh, well. That¡¯s unusual, so please forgive me for my odd manner. If you say so, then I hope for our future cooperation."

    "Hahaha. Don¡¯t be. I¡¯ll be the one who will actually rely on you."

    Under the radar, Sima Yi held on to his past rtionship. Unlike the others, he would not allow Zhang Chunhua to join Tong¡¯s harem and changed the course of history. After all, he still wanted his talented sons, such as Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, back to him.

    .

    Back at Ye Pce, Tong made his decision.

    He took a deep breath and looked at the hostages in his throne room.

    "If that relieves you from that stupid misunderstanding, then both of you can join my royal harem as my consorts. I¡¯ll ask my men to send your mother some betrothal giftster."

    Cao Ang and everyone was delighted that Tong epted. On the other hand, Cao Xian and Cao Qinghe looked bitter that they became sacrificialmbs for the sake of their family¡¯s survival. The twodies gave up their fate.

    Seeing the two girls¡¯ expressions, Tong had another headache.

    "You two."

    "... Yes, your majesty?"

    "From the start, I have no intention of killing Cao Cao or your family. As a matter of fact, I¡¯m trying my best to make him understand that he¡¯s no match against me, and he should surrender to me willingly. Then, I can work with him for our country¡¯s better future."

    "..."

    "To be honest, your sacrifice is not actually a sacrifice."

    Cao Xian was angered, "Are you looking down on your decision?"

    "Wrong," Tong stepped down from his throne and walked toward them, "Let¡¯s take it this way. I¡¯m taking your entire family hostage because I¡¯m smitten by the two of you. I desire you to the point that I have to kidnap you here and force you to marry me."

    Tong walked to Cao Xian and wrapped his arms around her slim waist, "You didn¡¯t sacrifice anything. It¡¯s me that is taking advantage of you two."

    "Y-You!"

    Tong covered his mouth over Cao Xian¡¯s and stuck his tongue in.

    A na?ve girl who never kissed anyone was shocked. She struggled to free herself from Tong, but she was powerless.

    After 2 minutes of kissing, Cao Xian was exhausted. Her face reddened as she was embarrassed.

    Tong parted his lips from her. Then he turned to Cao Qinghe.

    The same kiss happened in front of their family.

    After Cao Qinghe almost fainted from the embarrassment and the kiss, Tong turned toward the onlookers and smiled, "Please excuse us."

    Six ck wings appeared and wrapped around both Cao Xian and Cao Qinghe. Using Lamia¡¯s steps, Tong disappeared from the throne room and arrived at his private chamber in a few seconds.

    To get the two new consorts in the mood, Tong cast [Lust] curses upon them. What happened afterward was their first wild night.

    .

    .

    A weekter, Tong ced a new message scroll in Cao Cao¡¯s room at Xuchang pce.

    It said,

    [Hi, Father-inw. I slept with your daughters. Can we talk?]

 Chapter 450 The Trolling Emperor

    Chapter 450 - The Trolling Emperor

    Cao Cao read the new message from Tong with aplicated expression.

    He was angry that Tong imed his daughters.

    Yet, he was d that they were alright.

    But as a father, he wanted to beat Tong to a pulp.

    Still, he had the urge to celebrate that there was a way out for his forces and his family.

    Unfortunately, his bitter happiness came short as the next messages threatened Cao Cao.

    Aside from the obnoxious short message, there were other details, such as the status of his sons, Cao Pi, Cao Zhi, Cao Zhang.

    And also,

    [If you still won¡¯t talk to me and continue to wage war with my men, I promise that I won¡¯t kill your sons, daughters, or your wives. As a matter of fact, I can see that they have a proper manner, pleasant faces, and tasty bodies. I¡¯m thinking of taking all your wives and daughters to my harem in the case that you decide to abandon them. Please give me a reply by visiting Ye yourself before this winter. Once it snows and I don¡¯t see you here, I¡¯ll keep them warm at night. >:D]

    Tong threatened that if Cao Cao really wanted to wage war against him after this silly attempt to negotiation, he would take all Cao Cao¡¯s wives and other daughters as his concubines.

    "AAAAAAHHHHHHHRRRRRRGGGG"

    Cao Cao went ballistic. He swung his fists and kicked randomly, which ended up kicking a stone table and hit his pinky toe.

    "@%#@$!"

    ...

    Half a dayter, Cao Cao summoned his strategists and his generals to issue a new policy and tell them about the changes.

    Upon hearing the new development, none of them managed to close their mouths. Everyone¡¯s jaws dropped in disbelieved.

    "WHAT THE HELL!?"

    "DAFUQ!?"

    "WUT!?"

    Even Zhuge Liang was astonished by the new development. He could not stopughing.

    "DAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

    Cao Cao¡¯s face twitched in anger, but he managed to maintain hisposure.

    A few days earlier, Cao Cao had made several ns, preparing for many scenarios.

    In the first scenario, Cao Cao was going to abandon all his children and wives to fight for the hegemony as Tong¡¯s "No Private Force System" and "No Private Property" were not something that he approved. For the sake of maintaining the orthodox way of noble hierarchy and court power, Tong¡¯s dynasty had to be overthrown.

    However, this n would only serve as thest resort in the case that Cao Cao and Tong could never reconcile.

    The second n, Cao Cao would be Tong¡¯s prisoner, but his entire force would remain here to continue what they should be doing, fighting against Tong and all immortals in secret.

    About this choice, he had set it as the top priority as there could be many variables and branches to this n. For example, Cao Cao could offer one of his daughters as his concubine. Then, he could call off the brewing war between him and Tong, and he could also backstab Sun Ce and Liu Bei in exchange for a high-rank position in Tong¡¯s court. Or maybe, he could buy time for their men to mass-produce more advanced muskets, rifles, or modern world guns that Pu Jing was researching.

    And the third choice, which Zhuge Liang had suggested before Cao Cao received thetest update on his daughters, Cao Cao and all his subordinates would surrender to Tong and end this civil war, betraying Sun Ce and Liu Bei in the open. With Tong, Liu Biao, and Cao Cao forming alliance, the two ambitious overlords would have no chance against them.

    Obviously, Cao Cao declined Zhuge Liang¡¯s advice as this brat was untrustworthy. Still, he kept this choice in mind as it was not that bad to end the war. After all, his long career purpose of fighting all warlords was to stabilize the Han Dynasty and bring peace to its people.

    And now...

    Tong vited his daughters.

    Cao Cao was so mad that he wanted blood. But as an opportunistic shrew warlord, he wanted to seize this chance to bind his family with Tong, so the Cao n and Xiahou n would reap as many benefits as they could get.

    With Tong¡¯s offers, he would be able to salvage the situation and survive the civil war that was about to end.

    "REEVALUATION! I NEED ALL OF YOUR VIEWPOINT AND OPINION IN THIS ASAP!!"

    All advisors and generals flinched, intimidated by Cao Cao¡¯s foul mood.

    On the contrary of everybody else, Zhuge Liang pped andughed.

    "A golden chance, Marquis. You can just be the emperor¡¯s father-inw and enjoy your retirement. There is no need to struggle in this hopeless war. Let¡¯s surrender and make peace for the people."

    Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, Chen Qun, and other strategists wanted to retort. However, they kept their mouth shut as this development favored Cao Cao¡¯s forces as a whole. Though they could not influence or change Tong¡¯s systems, they could survive.

    Cao Cao and Tong were not nemeses, so they had no reason to refuse this peace talk.

    "If you don¡¯t mind yielding to Zhang Tong¡¯s government system of no private forces and limited assets, we don¡¯t see a problem with it," Cheng Yu summarized it for his lord.

    Seeing that only Zhuge Liang voiced his thought, Cao Cao turned to Pu Jing.

    "How is it, my invading immortal? Do you have any more reason to continue fighting?"

    Obviously, Pu Jing was against this n as his life would have been in jeopardy had Cao Cao seeded.

    However, his status in Cao Cao¡¯s court would still be questionable even if they agreed to fight Tong.

    ¡¯Manipting Cao Cao to weaken Zhang Tong is impossible now. I¡¯lly low and withdraw from this country since this is a lost cause.¡¯

    For Pu Jing, failures were normal things in life. He epted his mistakes and moved on.

    "I agree with Zhuge Liang. It is my mistake to pick a fight with Zhang Tong. I¡¯m willing to ept my punishment."

    Cao Cao and his generals scoffed at Pu Jing¡¯s slyness.

    "We¡¯ll deal with youter. For now, I¡¯ll head to Ye and talk with my audacious son-inw."

    .

    At night of the same day

    A group of ck cloth men slowly climbed down the wall of Xuchang, leaving the city. One of them was Pu Jing, who abandoned his posts to escape from Cao Cao and his men.

    Several officers who did not approve Cao Cao and Tong, such as Chen Gong and Zhang Miao, took many minor officers with them and followed after Pu Jing.

    A whole group of 100 men slipped out undetected.

    "Lord Pu Jing, where should we go next?"

    Pu Jing revealed a faint smile of confidence as he nced at his prototype musket, which he hid from Cao Cao.

    "We¡¯re abandoning this country and migrate west."

    Chen Gong was surprised, "Are we going to serve Liu Bei?"

    "No," Pu Jing snickered as he turned to the cksmiths, aka gunsmiths-in-training, whom he bribed with immortality promises, "We¡¯re moving to the Roman Empire. I¡¯ll teach you about theirnguage along the way."

    ¡¯And I¡¯ll spread firearm technologies to European countries. I wonder how those Romans and Parthians will do with this kind of weaponry.¡¯

    ¡¯Also...¡¯

    Pu Jing nced at his n chat menu.

    ¡¯I need to get rid of this. It gives too much information about otherworlders.¡¯

    .

    .

    The next day

    The disappearance of Pu Jing was within Cao Cao¡¯s calction. As the news of Pu Jing¡¯s desertion arrived, everyone could breathe a sigh of relief.

    "Good riddance."

    "Yeah. It¡¯s better this way."

    Pu Jing was not crazy enough to kill Cao Cao¡¯s officers, which avoided the worst-case scenario that many of them could have died by Pu Jing¡¯s angel power.

    They did not know that Pu Jing had received too many warnings from Lilim that he could no longer kill a civilian with his angel power. Had they knew, Cao Cao and others would have sent as many assassins to im Pu Jing¡¯s life long ago.

    Cao Caoter sent men to gather all cksmiths and Pu Jing¡¯s subordinates in Xuchang, nning to squeeze all information about this former premier.

    Unfortunately, their men came back with a piece of bad news.

    "My lord, all cksmiths have either died or disappeared."

    "Huh? What about the arquebus crafters or someone with the gun knowledge?"

    "Aside from the guys we sent to Liu Bei and Sun Ce, no one has survived."

    "Oh?"

    Cao Cao was amused. It seemed Pu Jing was in a rush that he was not thorough with his little escape-with-his-secrets-n.

    Still, having the arquebus makers were no longer important since they had decided to join forces with Tong.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter. All of you stay here and pretend that you are still preparing to wage war with Zhang Tong. I¡¯ll go see the emperor and decide our next move, depending on his action."

    Cao Cao red at Zhuge Liang, "Silly brat, since you want to join the emperor so much, youe with me!"

    .

    .

    May 31st, 194 AD.

    Ye Pce

    Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang had an audience with Tong in the throne room with all Cao n members and Tong¡¯s subordinates as witnesses. Cao Xian and Cao Qinghe were also there to meet their father.

    Tong and Cao Cao did not care about their manner. They stared into each other eyes.

    Each had different thoughts. Tong was thinking what he should say to break this awkwardness while Cao Cao just wanted to punch Tong to the face.

    Since Cao Cao was so mad that he refused to start the conversation, Tong coughed and got to the point.

    "Let¡¯s get it straight. Will your force surrender to us?"

    "... I will surrender to you, but my force will not."

    "Oh?"

    The officers and generals in the room were in an uproar as they did not like Cao Cao¡¯s attitude, but none of them voiced their dissatisfaction in the open.

    "borate, my father-inw. What do you want? What¡¯s your surrender condition?"

    "Three conditions. First, my family and my subordinates will still be with me after the handover. None of them won¡¯t be jailed, harmed, tortured, arrested, abducted, killed, or sold off as ves. Their status and ranks will be the same as when they are serving me."

    "That¡¯s already two conditions-in-one. I can agree with the part that I won¡¯t harm them, but I can¡¯t allow all your men to stick around with you 24/7. I¡¯ll allocate some of them to manage battalions or cities that need protection, so I can¡¯t 100% agree to that."

    "That¡¯s fine enough. Second condition, I want the status of the Chancellor of Han. I need to be the only second-inmand."

    "Impossible. All military departments and internal divisions are separated in my government system, so there is nobody that can control all departments but me. Second-inmand doesn¡¯t exist here."

    Tong lied. Second-inmand existed in the form of Prime Minister, which Te Langpu was holding. He did not want Cao Cao to fight for this position.

    "Then, I want to control your military department."

    "Impossible. Military units are under my direct jurisdiction. We can¡¯t allow an outsider to control all of my legions, can we?"

    "... Understandable. Then, what about the other domestic departments?"

    Tong pondered. At this moment, there were many upied spots in his minister¡¯s ranks.

 Chapter 451 Secret Deal

    Chapter 451 - Secret Deal

    Under the current government, Te Langpu and Tong managed to separate the works into divisions, simr to their modern world¡¯s system, with a few tweaks.

    They were as the followings;

    Ministry of Interior

    Ministry of Finance

    Ministry of Police

    Ministry of Justice

    Ministry of Culture and Arts

    Ministry of Public Health

    Ministry of Transport and Logistic

    Ministry of Agriculture

    Currently, the Ministry of Interior had the busiest jobs as all misceneous tasks that were not included in the other divisions piled up in this department. Local civilian registration, public safety,nd management, and other administration jobs were under this section of government.

    Te Langpu, whom Tong had made the Minister of Interior, reigned this department with his management skills from the modern world. Without this fat man, Tong¡¯s internal affair would have been in chaos.

    As for his "Prime Minister" title, it was a special rank, served for emergency situations. In the case that Tong, Diaochan, or Dong Bai were unavable due to wars, injuries, marathon baby-making, or cking, Te Langpu had to fill in the role as a temporary leader for the country.

    Xun Yu, Tong¡¯s chief strategist, was also entitled as the Minister of Transport and Logistic since he was in charge of managing all legion¡¯s provision and supply distribution. At the same time, he governed over the transit between cities, paving stone roads, designed by Tong, Te Langpu, and Li Feihong.

    Ministry of Agriculture took care of all farming rted duties, forestry, water resources, being the backbone of the country by feeding its poption with their food supplies. Li Feihong was the minister of agriculture, who never realized his importance and privileges as he was too dull tomunicate with Tong properly. Although he never understood what Tong had given him, Li Feihong continued to provide Tong with his farming goods, livestock, seeds, and water supply from his private world.

    As for the privilege that Tong gave Li Feihong, thetter would find out about it when he returned to Ye in the future.

    Sima Fang was still in charge of the Ministry of Justice. As stern as ever, his subordinates, the judges, could not afford to sentence any criminal incorrectly or their career, and their existence might cease to exist by this minister.

    Ministry of Police was under Lu Zhi¡¯s hands. The task of training new policemen, as well as establishing the city order of all territories, was his responsibility.

    Diaochan, aka Medusa, was actually the Minister of Finance. This department held the lifeline of Tong¡¯s gold, taxes, and ie, so Tong could not entrust this to someone like Te Langpu or other local officers. As a demon who had lived for countless years, managing numbers and trade policies were an easy task for her.

    A side note, Dong Bai was Diaochan¡¯s vice minister, and she was the only one who could embezzle Tong¡¯s money without getting punished.

    Culture and Art Division was taken care of by Cai Yan, the art master and the father of Cai Wenji. They took care of passing their arts and educating civilians by making books or recording the events into scrolls. This was one department with the most schrs and trainees as they required many hands to write or copy texts.

    As for the Ministry of Public Health, it was still new as Tong had just established it for the sake of Hua Tuo. After a year or two, Tong would make this department official and instate Hua Tuo as one of the ministers.

    Tong tried to think about what his government was stillcking by giving Cao Cao choices.

    "Pick one of the avable departments. Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour..."

    Cao Cao did not understand Tong¡¯s system and departments, so he interrupted, "Hold it! Exin which is which in mynguage!"

    Tong scratched his head. It might take all day to exin every department to Cao Cao, so he picked an alternative approach.

    "What kind of job are you looking for? I¡¯ll pick one that suits your desire."

    "Get me something that I can manage the welfare of civilians and public officers. I don¡¯t want to see any more corrupted crooks in the Han Court, especially your officers!"

    The crowd was offended as Cao Cao hinted that they were not honest officials even though Lu Zhi¡¯s Police Department and Sima Fang¡¯s Ministry of Justice had already wiped out all shady politicians from their ranks.

    Everyone here was a straight-like-adder officer with a clean background.

    "Minister of Labour, then," Tong snickered.

    "What¡¯s their responsibility?"

    "Ensuring the welfare of ordinary civilians, civil officers, and workers, regardless of social statuses."

    "... borate for me, your majesty."

    .

    .

    It took Tong an hour to summarize his government system and the Ministry of Labour¡¯s duties.

    Since Cao Cao was a smart overlord, he understood why Tong picked this system over the old one.

    "Your government is quite detailed."

    "Well, are you taking this job or not?"

    "To be honest, I want the police department or the ministry of justice. But since senior Sima and senior Lu are taking care of those, I can only humbly ept the inferior division."

    "Oi, Cao Mengde. Ministry of Labour is not little. You will manage the fucking 30 millionborers in our freaking country and ensure their welfare. Isn¡¯t this enough responsibility!?"

    Cao Cao shrugged, "My abilities are not limited to this meager job. I can do better."

    Tong could not refute that. Cao Cao, in his historical record, was a talented statesman, who had established the foundation for many generations of Cao n. Unfortunately, he was not good at passing his knowledge and insight to the next generations, and the Wei Kingdom was overthrown by Sima n when his descendants became too spoiled.

    ¡¯He¡¯s not suitable for education job. Well, his abilities are versatile, though.¡¯

    Tong continued the negotiation, "Now that the second condition is done, what¡¯s the third?"

    "Let me fuck your wives."

    Everybody was frozen.

    Tong clicked his tongue and gave Cao Cao a middle finger, "Fuck you, then."

    "Just kidding," Cao Cao burst intoughter since he managed to troll Tong. He looked at his two daughters, Cao Xian and Cao Qinghe. His expression changed from the mocking smile to a gentle father.

    "Make them happy."

    Tong nodded in understanding, "... That¡¯s for certain."

    "Don¡¯t let the inner pce war between your concubines reaches my daughters. They are too pure for that."

    "I know."

    "I also want five grandsons and ten granddaughters."

    Everyone in the hall stumbled from the unexpected shamelessness of Cao Cao. Even his daughters flinched from the unreasonable demand. Although the night activities were addictive, they were not a pervert like Liu Yang, who always volunteered for every night duty when she had a chance.

    "Your daughters will die frombor and exhaustion."

    "Well, then I can¡¯t help it."

    "Anything else?"

    "I also want to fuck your wives."

    "Ask me that question one more time, and you¡¯ll serve me as a eunuch instead of a minister."

    "Hahahaha!"

    .

    Zhuge Liang observed the negotiation in silence, astonished by the frankness of these two warlords.

    Usually, in negotiation, both sides would have worn some fa?ade and mind their manner. However, both of them had none. It was as if two hoodlums were messing with each other.

    ¡¯What a rowdy bunch. Well, they think outside the box, so I should at least expect this.¡¯

    He continued to watch Cao Cao and Tong finalizing the deal.

    .

    For the sake of securing political power after the surrender, Cao Cao exposed the coalition¡¯s n to attack Tong¡¯s cities.

    "Henei and Beihai?" Tong, Xun Yu, and other officers were surprised. They had predicted that Cao Cao and others would have gathered their forces and attacked Ye instead of other cities since it was Tong¡¯s headquarters.

    "Sun Ce and Zhou Yu will go for Beihai with 50,000 elites and their navy forces. 100,000 men of Liu Bei and Sun Fang will go for Henei, and 100,000 horsemen of Ma Chao are looking at the central in."

    "And, what about your armies?"

    "We are nning to stay at home and watch them die."

    "What about the mobilization date?"

    "None. I allowed Sun Ce and Liu Bei to move whenever they¡¯re ready. But I only promised them that I will only supply provision for them after they attacked you."

    Tong rolled his eyes, "Typical strategy. Say, what are you going to do with your forces now when I¡¯m keeping you and your family as hostages here?"

    Cao Cao shrugged, "Pretend to fight you."

    "Oh?"

    "For the detail, I think I¡¯ll have this brat exin."

    Cao Cao turned to Zhuge Liang, who was still 13 this year.

    Tong¡¯s brows furrowed when he looked at the boy, "Your secret son? I thought I had abducted all of your family."

    "Ha! I never want to have this cheeky brat as a son. Even if one of my daughters fell in love with him, I¡¯ll castrate this bastard and feed a duck with his junk!"

    The onlookers looked at Zhuge Liang and murmured.

    "Poor duck."

    Zhuge Liang widened his eyes and sweated, "Wait, poor duck? Not me?"

    Tong shook his head, getting tired of Cao Cao¡¯s sarcasm and his nasty attitude, "Who is he?"

    Zhuge Liang kowtowed to Tong, "I¡¯m Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Kongming, your majesty."

    "..."

    Tong¡¯s face twitched as he never expected to see Zhuge Liang at Ye.

    The meeting continued until the end of the day as Zhuge Liang exined his ns to Tong.

    .

    .

    .

    June 15th, 194 AD.

    Cao Cao returned to Xuchang, which surprised Xiahou Dun and everybody else.

    Due to the danger of the missing Pu Jing, none of them used their n chat anymore. As a result, they reverted back to the lifestyle before themunication system arrived.

    Xiahou Dun, Cao Cao, and all his generals gathered for a private meeting, so Cao Cao could summarize his next moves.

    "Where¡¯s the brat?" Xiahou Dun referred to Zhuge Liang, who did not return with Cao Cao.

    "He¡¯s staying in Ye from now on."

    "Ah, good riddance. How¡¯s the meeting with the emperor?"

    Cao Cao snickered, "I have a good son-inw."

    "So, we¡¯re not fighting against him anymore?"

    "No, but we will work with him to create apetitive environment."

    "Competitive environment?"

    "A cold war to be precious. He wants us to y along with his forces for a while and instigate Liu Bei and Sun Ce into making stupid moves."

    "..."

    "Before I exin, let me introduce someone we knew from our other life."

    Cao Cao gestured that his secret follower could reveal his appearance.

    Wearing ck clothes and a mask, Xun Yu took off his hood and face cover. He looked at Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan with aplicated expression.

    "Although I¡¯m not a believer, let¡¯s just say, nice to meet you again, Yuanrang, Miaocai."

    Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan were shocked.

    "Xun Wenruo!?"

    "Yeah. Let¡¯s work together again once more. For now, my ... former lord ... I¡¯ll be the one to exin since I can ask his majesty for a further exnation whenever we need it."

    Xun Yu revealed the secret ploy, which Tong and Cao Cao had conspired.

    As everyone continued to listen, they doubted their ears if these two warlords were sane.

    .

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, at Ye City, Cao Ang and all Cao family members were celebrating as his n had a high chance to thrive by serving Tong. As for Cao Xian and Cao Qinghe, they did not have to worry about them anymore as they could hear their voice, moaning in pleasure, from the inner pce miles away. Everyone was betting which one of them would have a child first.

    The deal between Cao Cao and Tong had been reported to every n member by Xun Yu, who infiltrated into the former¡¯s ranks as a coordinator between two forces.

    All former subordinates of Cao Cao, such as Xu Huang, Zhang He, Zhang Liao, and Jia Xu, were relieved that they did not have to fight against Wei Army anymore. As long as the two powerhouses joined forces, they could contribute everything they had for Tong and Cao Cao.

    Zhao Yun, Zhou Cang, and Taishi Ci could only watch these people in envy. If possible, they wanted their former lord to surrender as well.

 Chapter 452 Power of 6-Wing Angel

    Chapter 452 - Power of 6-Wing Angel

    The months passed by peacefully as Cao Cao and Tong stopped all military activities, hiding their movements inside their cities.

    Cao Cao managed to salvage arquebus technology by exchanging information with Tong and others in Tong¡¯s n, such as Jia Xu, Xun You, Xun Yu, Te Langpu, and even Li Feihong. With Xun Yu as their medium, their cooperation gave birth to a new development in Xuchang.

    It was a Taoist Institution, founded for the sake of researching in alchemy.

    Their goal was to produce as many gunpowders as they could since this powder was in high demand. Cannons and bombs that Tong and Cao Cao made required a high amount of crude gunpowder, so Cao Cao built this institution to attract more Taoist priests into the industry instead of preaching nonsense.

    Also, with Tong¡¯s help, Cao Cao acquired what Pu Jing was trying to make, a musket rifle blueprint.

    Although the months were stress-free, Cao Cao alwaysined that he was lonely at night, and he wanted to see his wives, which made all generalsughed, including Xun Yu.

    "Wenruo, can you tell Zhang Tong to give me back one or two of my wives?"

    "You can just visit the red light district if you need it."

    "They have no ss, Wenruo. Disease is everywhere! I don¡¯t want to share a hole with anyone!"

    "But, you always steal somebody¡¯s wife..."

    "Protecting a lonely widow is the duty of a nobleman! That¡¯spletely different!"

    Xun Yu rolled his eyes, "Go patrol the city and steal someone¡¯s wife, then. If you can¡¯t help it, just visit Ye for a week or two and let your wives milk you dry."

    "Eh? You¡¯re cruel, Wenruo. In the previous life, you were not this bold. What has happened to you after you joined forces with Zhang Tong?"

    "You have no idea..." Xun Yu shed a manly tear, traumatized by the random sultry sound from the inner pce. Sometimes, he wanted to kill Tong for having too much sexual drive.

    .

    .

    While Tong and Cao Cao¡¯s forces were rxing, manipting the other powerhouses in secret, Liu Bei and his men had it rough as their cities were underdeveloped.

    It was a nightmare trying to clean up what the Xiongnu and Dong Zhuo had done to Liang Province and the surrounding regions. Even though Liu Bei practiced populism policies, trying to earn favors from the citizens, most townies migrated from the areas to either Ye City or Cao Cao¡¯s central in.

    This sabotaged their growth in both economy and military power, including their gun development as talented cksmiths and craftsmen left Liu Bei¡¯s cities.

    Liu Bei had to summon Pang Tong, Xu Shu, Guan Yu, and all his subordinates for consulting.

    "Our finance and war fund is dwindling, and we won¡¯t be able to maintain our armies at this rate! What can we do?"

    Pang Tong nodded, "True. But don¡¯t worry, my lord. It¡¯s just temporary."

    "Temporary?"

    "Yes. Our economic crisis is due to our military size. If we want to increase our fund, we can just pige our neighbors."

    Liu Bei flinched. All his life, he had never stolen anything from townsmen or civilians directly. The only thing he robbed in his past life was the authority of other lords because the situations demanded it.

    Guan Yu, the one who managed to contact Lilim and imparted the cultivation technique to Liu Bei, was also disturbed by the advice. He nced at Liu Bei with worries.

    At this moment, Liu Bei already acquired his past life experience. However, his thoughts and intelligence did not seem to improve.

    Liu Bei shook his head, "I can steal territories from other lords, but I can¡¯t rob civilians."

    Guan Yu and Xu Shu were relieved. As long as Liu Bei had not stooped that low, they would continue to serve him.

    Pang Tongughed, "I didn¡¯t mean that our lord should steal from our people," he nced at Guan Yu, "Please deploy sir Guan Yu and send him to kill Liu Biao."

    "WHAT!?"

    "As you know, Liu Biao has allied himself with Zhang Tong, but Liu Biao¡¯s sons are all cowards and na?ve. As long as the stubborn Liu Biao is out of the picture, you can just march to Xiangyang and adopt Liu Cong and Liu Feng. Then, you can coax both stupid sons of Liu Biao to hand over their authority to you, and you will obtain Yi Province and Jing Province by killing only one person!"

    Everyone was shocked. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who had the memory of their other life, were astonished as well since this strategy was simr to what Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang proposed in that world.

    Last time, Liu Bei refused to steal Liu Biao¡¯snd. When Liu Biao died, Liu Cong immediately surrendered the Jing Province to Cao Cao.

    It was one of Liu Bei¡¯s regret that he did not seize the chance and throw away his fa?ade of a benevolent man. Had he been shameless, he could have obtained Jing Province without Sun Quan¡¯s help, and Guan Yu would not have died by their secret coalitionter.

    Remembered the mistakes, Liu Bei¡¯s eyes revealed determination.

    "Yunchang..."

    "Brother..."

    "Go and kill Liu Biao. Use your six-wing power to fly there and assassinate him."

    Guan Yu frowned, "The n has many ws. Liu Biao¡¯s subordinates won¡¯t surrender to us if they know that we killed their lord."

    Pang Tong clicked his tongue, "Just don¡¯t let them know it. You are an immortal for a reason, right? Can¡¯t you use your power properly?"

    Guan Yu red at Pang Tong, "You don¡¯t even have the cultivation technique and the memory. What do you know? You even died by the ambush in Yi Province."

    Pang Tong red back at Guan Yu, "I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re talking about, but my stratagem is always perfect. I know how to judge people, Sir Guan."

    Guan Yu scoffed, "Do you? Judging people? Ha! What a joke. You¡¯re all talk but no action!"

    The insult was getting out of hand. Liu Bei, Xu Shu, and others looked at the two with concern.

    "All talk? What¡¯re the ws then? Name one!"

    "A brat like you is too narrow-minded. First, you even forgot that Zhang Tong has ced Lu Bu and Zhang He there to assist Liu Biao for a reason! Do you know how many wings Lu Bu has? Fucking 8!"

    Pang Tong closed his mouth.

    Guan Yu continued yelling at Pang Tong, "Second, you didn¡¯t even know what power we, the cultivators of wings, have! We can fly, yes. We can detach our souls to attack people, yes. Can we assassinate people undetected? Yes. But, can we also detect someone with simr power from a distance away? YES!"

    Pang Tong understood Guan Yu¡¯s point now. Had Guan Yu gone there, Lu Bu would have detected him, and their assassination n would have failed.

    "Andstly, you underestimated me," Guan Yu walked away and picked a nearest potted nt.

    The nt was a decorative Feng Shui fern, which was believed to bring prosperity to the residents of this building.

    Guan Yu spread his wings. One of them touched the fern as he injected his lifespan into the nt.

    The fern grew at a speed that everyone in the room could see the changes. Within a minute, the fern grew as if it had lived for a decade.

    Everyone dropped their jaws as they could not believe what they had witnessed.

    Guan Yu turned to Liu Bei to exin, "When angels reach the 6th wing threshold, we can share our lifespans with any living being, including nts. I just gave 10 years of lifespan to it, and this happens."

    Pang Tong walked over and touched the fern to check if his eyes did not y a trick on him. Upon verified that they were real, he looked at Guan Yu, "This..."

    "I haven¡¯t answered another of your questions yet. You want to know a better solution, right?"

    "O-Of course. If you have a better alternative way, I shall apologize for being short-sighted."

    "As you can see, I can elerate the growth of trees. What will happen if I do the same with crops and farnds?"

    "!!!"

    "I¡¯ve been cultivated a lot, and I have collected about 150,000 years of lifespan at the moment. I can sacrifice 100,000 years to elerate 100,000 nts for a year worth of harvest. It will take a bit of time to gather all the crops, but it can serve as an emergency fund. After this, I will continue to cultivate and gather more lifespans, so I can use this again next year or the year after that!"

    Xu Shu was impressed by Guan Yu¡¯s selflessness and sacrifice. Although Guan Yu sounded like he could regain his lifespan back in no time, the action was praiseworthy.

    The quiet strategist interrupted Pang Tong and bowed to Liu Bei, "I think we should concentrate on developing our home bases first. Without a good foundation, our territories will not prosper. We can steal our neighbors or take over Liu Biao¡¯s provinces, but we will eventuallye back here and talk about the same problem again because our foundation iscking. Let¡¯s use Sir Guan¡¯s power to create an image that ournd yields a good harvest this year, so people can stop migrating to our rival territories."

    Guan Yu nodded, "That¡¯s a good n. I¡¯ll do that."

    Looking at how Guan Yu and Xu Shu got along, Liu Bei withheld his desire.

    "We¡¯ll follow after Guan Yu and Xu Shu¡¯s suggestion. Please concentrate on developing Chang¡¯An first since it¡¯s our capital city."

    At that moment, Zhang Fei raised his hand, "What about the war? We¡¯ve prepared our troops, right?"

    Everyone paused and looked at Liu Bei.

    Thetter sighed as he was reminded of the indecisiveness of Cao Cao.

    In the previous meeting, Cao Cao said that he would move whenever both Sun Ce and Liu Bei¡¯s forces mobilized. Therefore, had Liu Bei not invaded Henei within this year, nobody would deploy their troops.

    In reality, everyone was intimidated by Lu Bu¡¯s [8-Wing] news. They decided that their generals were not strong enough to take down this monster yet, so they withdrew their forces to cultivate all of their generals and develop their new weapon, arquebus.

    Liu Bei sighed, "We are not ready. Yide, I want you to focus on cultivating and get as many wings as possible before the next year¡¯s spring. Don¡¯t let Yunchang do all the work."

    "... Fine," Zhang Fei sulked.

    .

    .

    At Chang¡¯An, Guan Yu¡¯s n bore fruits, literally.

    By giving one year of his lifespan, a nt could grow further by a year.

    However, giving them to a rice stalk was too wasteful, so Guan Yu picked fruit trees, such as peaches and oranges.

    100,000 Lifespans tranted into 100,000 trees with abundant yields, which produced expensive food that they could sell to the local merchants. After harvested, each tree produced at least 200 fruits.

    Xu Shu was not stupid enough to distribute these fruits to the people. Instead, he traded these harvested goods with rice or gold, which attracted the greedy merchants to buy rice from Tong or Cao Cao¡¯snds to get these goodies for reselling.

    Slowly, the economic power in Chang¡¯An grew as more people flocked into the city. More words about these fruits also enticed many wandering farmers to migrate there, hoping to grow these fruits as well.

 Chapter 453 One D to Rule Them All

    Chapter 453 - One D to Rule Them All

    Not only Liu Bei was ying tricks to the alliance, but Sun Ce and Zhou Yu also experienced the setback of not having a strong enough economy and a proper chain of supplies from their homnd. They secretly withdrew their forces back to Jianye, refusing to attack Beihai this year.

    Moreover, they feared the god-of-war, Lu Bu, whom Cao Cao mentioned that he had 8 wings.

    Upon return, both Sun Ce and Zhou Yu did nothing but cultivate, trying to get stronger before the next spring.

    As for the domestic affair, they let Sun Fang and others take care of it. Moreover, they wanted Sun Fang to buy their men cultivation techniques, which angered the first son of Sun Jian.

    ¡¯Bastards. You treated me like crap, and you want me to gain lifespans for the others? Do it yourself!¡¯

    Sun Fang also disregarded the internal affair and cultivated for himself.

    .

    .

    At Jianye, the situation was the opposite of Liu Bei¡¯s Chang¡¯An.

    Sun Fang, Sun Ce, and Zhou Yupletely disregarded the internal affair, leaving all jobs to Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao.

    The two Zhangs were not happy about this since their lords and the upstart strategist did not treat them fairly. Moreover, the recent mobilization was pointless as they did not even attack Beihai as nned.

    As the two Zhangs cleaned up the messes that these young warlords made, they stumbled into a spy of Zhou Yu.

    That spy revealed a piece of shocking information about their missingdy and the young lord, Sun Quan.

    "Are you certain?" Asked Zhang Zhao.

    "Y-Yes. Lady Wu and young master Sun are currently residing in Jiangxia. They¡¯re nning to move to Xiangyang to seek Lu Bu¡¯s protection, but they are being held hostages by Huang Zu."

    "And this Huang Zu is our mole?"

    "Yes, sir."

    Zhang Zhao was interested in this development.

    The two elder brothers were trying to fight Zhang Tong, but the 3rd son and their mother were attempting to switch sides. Moreover, all former Sun Jian¡¯s subordinates supported Wu Guotai¡¯s decision, while the young officers supported Sun Ce.

    That was not all. It seemed that Sun Ce and Sun Fang wanted to kill each other, but none of them had made a move yet.

    "Zigang, I think the Sun n will copse if Sun Fang and Sun Ce continue to wage war against the emperor."

    Zhang Hong nodded, "Agreed. This won¡¯t do. This is not something that we should get involved if they end up fighting for the n head position, but I believe we already know which side we should join."

    "Ha! You don¡¯t say."

    A weekter, the two Zhangs took their private army of 1,000 men along with their family and subordinates northwest, heading toward Jiangxia.

    .

    .

    Jiangxia City

    Sun Quan always woke up at night as he kept having nightmares. He often dreamed that he was born as a girl and was killed by Sun Fang and Li Jing.

    They were the memory of Hua Shi¡¯s before her death!

    However, those were nothingparing to Sun Jian¡¯s memory. The death experience was useful to Sun Quan as well.

    The part that always gued and tormented his mind was that the girl in his dream slept with Tong!

    It was not a pleasant experience for a straight man to sleep with another man! This was the nightmare that Sun Quan always opened his eyes whenever the memory dream reached this part.

    Every time he woke up, he could see a semi-transparent square for a few seconds before it disappeared, which disyed something about his skill.

    [Immortal Yang Vein]

    It was the perverted skill that Hua Shi should have had, but Sun Quan had it instead.

    "What¡¯s this [Infinite Yang Seed] and [Regeneration]?"

    .

    Meanwhile, the baby, Sun Shangxiang, often had a bad mood as she knew why her [Immortal Yang Vein] was missing.

    A few days ago, in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping, Lilim came to Sun Shangxiang¡¯s side to apologize to her.

    "I¡¯m sowwy!!"

    "DAH!!" (YOU FUCKING RETARDED GODDESS!! I WANT MY SKILL BACK!!)

    "Give me a few years... Say, 16-17 years? I can¡¯t inject a system skill into your soul while your body has not matured yet. Can you wait until then?"

    "DAH!!" (BY THAT TIME, I WOULD HAVE DIED A HUNDRED TIMES BY DISEASES OR INJURIES!! DO YOU KNOW THE FATALITY RATE OF CHILDREN IN THIS ERA!?)

    "Ugh, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll keep healing you in secret. Don¡¯t be mad. Abu Abu?"

    "DAH!!" (DON¡¯T ABU-ABU ME, YOU DUMB BITCH!! I¡¯M NOT A CHILD!!)

    Due to the incident when Sun Jian¡¯s soul was about to be devoured by Hua Shi, Lilim yanked a part of Hua Shi¡¯s soul along with Sun Jian¡¯s soul, which caused one of her skills to be missing.

    Because of Lilim¡¯s intervention, Hua Shi, aka Sun Shangxiang at the moment, kept cursing at the goddess whenever she woke up.

    Had it been other circumstances, Lilim would have ignored Sun Shangxiang as herint was irrelevant. However, Tong¡¯s family was getting stronger, and they had the potential to surpass her strength.

    Furthermore, Lilim had long noticed that Li Feihong was hiding his power. He already had 10 wings in his grasp, and he could get to 12 in no time!

    Lilim could abuse the system to get rid of Tong and Li Feihong at any time, but she learned a lot from observing them. Instead of killing everyone or messing with their lives, she wanted to win their favor, so they could be her partners in the future when herherworld waspleted.

    She started by trying to win Sun Shangxiang¡¯s favor, but it seemed to fail.

    "Dah!" (You know what? I have an idea. Contact Tong for me and tell him that I reincarnated. I want to be with him again!)

    "Then, will you forgive me? Can we be friends?"

    "Meh!" (Fine. We can be cool if you can really take me to Tong¡¯s side.)

    "Hehe! No problem!"

    .

    .

    A dayter

    Ye City, the throne room

    Without Xun Yu, Tong¡¯s cking time was no more. He had to work for Xun Yu¡¯s parts and approved many documents from other divisions, which was his emperor¡¯s job.

    Zhuge Liang reced Xun Yu¡¯s duties. Unfortunately, he required time to learn about Tong¡¯s culture and government systems. At the moment, he attended one of Cai Yan¡¯s schools to learn aboutws and the economy in Tong¡¯s affiliate cities.

    While Tong was busy, a familiar John Cena¡¯s theme song echoed in his ears, stunned him.

    The volume and the bass were too loud. Tong, who was covering his ears, was crying in pain.

    All officers in the throne room could not hear or see what Tong could, so they thought that their emperor suffered from some kind of sickness.

    "Call the physicians!"

    Because of the uproar, news spread that Tong fell ill, and he was temporarily exempted from duties. Te Langpu, Lu Zhi, and Sima Fang were summoned to take over the jobs.

    Tong was brought back to his room to restter.

    Wearing white clothes and lying on his bed, Tong stared at his system message screen with hatred.

    Tong wanted to curse Lilim, but many of his officers and physicians were nearby, so he kept his mouth shut.

    Still, Lilim continued to bug him.

    Tong closed his eyes and took several deep breaths to calm down.

    Several hourster, Tong was finally left alone to rest. No concubine entered Tong¡¯s room to service him as all physicians rmended that Tong needed rest.

    "Stop trolling, Lilim. What do you want?"

    Tong widened his eyes, surprised, "WHERE IS SHE!?"

    "!!!"

    Tong would have been a dumb man had he not learned about this name.

    In history, she was one of Liu Bei¡¯s wife. It was recorded that Sun Shangxiang was an arrogant, spoiled princess as she was the only sister of the warlord, Sun Quan.

    In 209, Sun Quan wedded her to Liu Bei for the alliance against Cao Cao. However, she caused many problems in Jing Province because of her personality to the point that Liu Bei dreaded her.

    After Liu Bei mobilized his army to Yi Province, invading Liu Zhang, Sun Quan sent his men to retrieve her back home.

    Sun Shangxiang was different in the 14th-century novel as she was portrayed to be smitten with Liu Bei in this version. Zhou Yu also baited Liu Bei using Sun Shangxiang, so he could kill the warlord, but Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu saved Liu Bei and his new wife, getting away in the process.

    Now, Hua Shi reced this historical figure, and her existence could stir trouble.

    Lilim ended the transmission after she left the crucial messages.

    After being stunned for a minute, Tong jumped up and put on his clothes. He spread his ck wings and flew to the darkness sky.

    .

    .

    The next day, Jiangxia City

    Zhang Zhao and Zhang Hong managed to find Wu Guotai in Jiangxia with difficulties. However, they could finally convey their purpose.

    "We would like to follow you and join the emperor. Also, we¡¯ve brought our soldiers with us."

    Wu Guotai was delighted upon seeing more followers. With more people, she felt more reassured, "Of course. We wee on board. By the way, can you help us get out of this city? Huang Zu is trapping us in here."

    "That¡¯s simple. Huang Zu is currently paying attention to only you and your subordinates, but he doesn¡¯t know us. We¡¯ll contact Lu Bu and Zhang He in Xiangyang for you."

    "Thank you! Please do!"

    As everyone was happy with the meeting, a voice came from outside.

    "That won¡¯t be necessary. You can tell me what has happened here to me directly."

    Everyone was shocked that a stranger was intruding in their courtyard, which was heavily protected by Huang Gai and others.

    They looked at the neer. It was a young man in gold clothes as if he were an emperor.

    Behind him, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Zhu Zhi followed after him. Instead of stopping the young man, they seemed respectful toward the person.

    "Who are you!?" Zhang Zhao was cautious.

    The man simply muttered, but his voice was clear, "Zhang Tong."

    "Zhang.... WHAT!?"

    It was Tong, who flew his ways from Ye over the night.

    Wu Guotai nced at Huang Gai and others. Upon seeing thedy¡¯s eyes, they nodded and confirmed that he was the authentic emperor of Han.

    Wu Guotai, Zhang Zhao, and Zhang Hong knelt and kowtowed to Tong.

    "We didn¡¯t know that his majesty would visit us. Please forgive us for not preparing for your arrival!"

    "Eh, stand up. At ease, guys," Tong waved his hands and dismissed their formality. He looked at Wu Guotai, finding the right words to ask for her daughter, Sun Shangxiang.

    Still, it was weird, no matter how Tong looked at it. Sun Shangxiang was just bornst year, but he came here to propose her? It might cause some serious misunderstandings.

    ¡¯What should I use as an excuse to invite them all to my domain?¡¯

    Improvising, Tong came up with a n to invite them to his city on the spot.

    "Wu Guotai..."

    "Yes, your majesty."

    "How old are you this year?"

    Wu Guotai was surprised, "T-Thirty three, your majesty."

    "Cool," Tong inspected her face and her feature. As Wu Guotai was protected as thedy of Sun n, she was the same as He Xing, a pretty woman.

    Reminded of the passed He Xing, Tong felt guilty that he could not protect her. Looking at the widow in front of him, looking sad and nervous, he could not help but want to protect her as well.

    Tong whispered something to Wu Guotai, who could not believe what she was hearing.

    "Marry me."

 Chapter 454 Spoiling the D, Even without ST in Front, Youâ€™ll Still Be in Trouble

    Chapter 454 - Spoiling the D, Even without ST in Front, You¡¯ll Still Be in Trouble

    Huang Gai, Zhang Hong, Zhang Zhao, and everybody else could hear it. They widened their eyes and dropped their jaws in shock.

    It was rude for a man to propose theirdy. However, this was the emperor¡¯s words!

    The smart Zhang Zhao regained his sense first. This opportunity was something that they could not miss, so the old man bowed to Tong and Wu Guotai to seal the deal before thetter could refuse.

    "Lady Wu, congrattions!"

    Zhang Hong and Huang Gai understood Zhang Zhao¡¯s gesture. They also bowed to Tong and Wu Guotai.

    "Congrattions, mydy! Congrattions, your majesty!"

    Wu Guotai looked at her subordinates in astonishment and confusion at first. But as a wife of the tiger, she caught on what this action implied.

    She turned to Tong and opened her mouth, nning to refuse Tong¡¯s proposal.

    However, seeing Tong¡¯s smiling face up close, as a woman, her heart wavered.

    Tong sensed the fluctuation of hesitation in Wu Guotai¡¯s aura. He decided to be a bit more aggressive.

    His right hand untied Wu Guotai¡¯s hair knots and took off the hairpins, allowing her long hair toe down, revealing her natural beauty.

    He touched her hair and stroke it gently, "This is not a political proposal or a mandate of an emperor. I really like you as a man. You are too beautiful that I want to monopolize you."

    Wu Guotai froze. Aside from Sun Jian, nobody had everplimented her this way, so she could not react to Tong¡¯s words.

    Seizing the chance when Wu Guotai was caught off guard, Tong sealed his mouth with hers. Moreover, in secret, he cast his favorite curse on the widow.

    Lust Curse!

    It was a dirty and disrespectful move. However, the curse always got the job done. After all, noblewomen in this era became submissive and docile after they went through the baptism of night activities, which had been proved on Wang Yi, Cao Xian, Cao Qinghe, and others. Hua Shi, Medusa, and Friday were the exception, though.

    Injected by the curse, Wu Guotai¡¯s eyes blurred and mistook Tong as Sun Jian. The kiss became mutual as she abandoned her shame.

    Tong immediately parted his lips from the woman and turned toward the subordinates.

    "I know it¡¯s rude, but can you excuse us? We¡¯ll discuss the cooperation termster," Tong gestured that it was the time for theirdy and Tong to enjoy their first night.

    Huang Gai¡¯s eyes twitched, astonished by the perverted emperor. Although he knew that Tong had a strong sexual drive, seeing him in action still surprised him.

    "Yes, your majesty. Again, congrattions!"

    All of them left the two alone. Huang Gai rushed toward the other courtyard to inform their young lord, Sun Quan.

    .

    Fromte afternoon till the morning of the next day, their first consummation was wild.

    As a widow, Wu Guotai¡¯s sexual experience was on par with Medusa and Friday, which pleased Tong, who was always the aggressor. It was nice getting pushed down by a thirsty experienced woman for a change.

    Still, Wu Guotai regained her sense in the middle of the activities because of her strong will. When she discovered what she was doing, she was shocked.

    Feeling guilty for betraying Sun Jian¡¯s trust, she thought ofmitting suicide by biting her tongue.

    However, Tong¡¯s bedtime skills were second to none when he had the help of his demon power. Within 10 seconds, Wu Guotai¡¯s thoughts became hazy as the sensation from her entire body ignited her hidden carnal desire.

    After all, Sun Jian never had this kind of vitality. Her sexual experience with Sun Jian was mostly one-sided!

    Even without the curse, Wu Guotai fell and abandoned the thoughts of dying for her dead husband, enjoying the sensation of mutual consummation with her free will.

    In the morning, satisfied and exhausted from the intense activities, Wu Guotai fell asleep and had a good dream.

    As for Tong, he waltzed out with a lighted sensation as if he weighted 20kg less.

    He gathered all Wu Guotai¡¯s subordinates again to continue what they left off. Huang Gai, Zhang Zhao, and others, including Sun Quan, who heard about this incident, came to see Tong.

    Sun Quan was not happy with Tong as he still had his father¡¯s memory. It felt like Tong stole his wife.

    However, he could not say it either because Wu Guotai was his mother!

    Had he protested and imed that Wu Guotai was his wife, everyone would see Sun Quan as a wicked heretic.

    What kind of son would have desired for his own mother? This was too sick and twisted for the local native. Even in this world, the practice of incest was illegal and immoral. Anyone getting caught doing it would beshed and executed on the spot.

    Without a choice, Sun Quan yielded his mother to Tong, but he swore that he would never yield his favorite concubine in the other life, Bu Lianshi.

    Seeing the little Sun Quan face-to-face for the first time, Tong smiled at him.

    "Sun Quan, Sun Zhongmou, I assume?"

    "... Yes. Sun Zhongmou greets his majesty," Sun Quan swallowed his pride and kowtowed to Tong.

    "Your cultivation is unique. When have you started cultivating your wings?"

    Because of the aura emitted by Sun Quan, Tong could not tell if he was an angel or a demon as he had both kinds of power. It puzzled Tong to the point that he had to ask.

    Sensed that Tong¡¯s power was on a different level, Sun Quan sighed in resignation and confessed, "Last year, your majesty."

    "You¡¯re gifted, Sun Zhongmou. It takes me years to get my first 4 wings, but you¡¯ve done it in a year."

    A wry smile appeared on Sun Quan¡¯s face. He had two angel wings and two demon wings. Getting exposed easily by a senior with only a nce was awkward.

    "This junior still has a lot to learn. Besides, my foundation iscking. I can¡¯t get to the 5th wing any time soon."

    Sun Quan could not break through to the 5th wing yet because his constitution could not support the forces of the immortal power and the new souls. As a result, he had been building his physical strength.

    Tong understood what Sun Quan was experiencing since he also went through years of intense training with Medusa before he got his sixth wing.

    Without the right constitution and mentality, ones could not obtain the 5th wing tier, regardless of how morally upright they were. The body of Sun Quan was that of a teenager, which had not matured enough to contain power beyond 4 wings.

    Looking at Sun Quan and the others, Tong had this silly idea.

    ¡¯If I adopt Sun Quan as my son, won¡¯t these guys join me willingly?¡¯

    This was a dangerous idea. Since Tong already opened the Pandora Box by giving back memory to Liu Xie and Sima Yi, adding Sun Quan to the mix might arouse internal conflicts between the next generation youngsters.

    The War of Eight Prince in thete 3rd century to the beginning of the 4th century was the proof.

    In history, after Sima n dominated China and established the Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan, the grandson of Sima Yi, became the first emperor of the Jin Dynasty. After the death of Sima Yan, his wives struggled to obtain the power of the court, which resulted in an internal war between royalties.

    The aftermath of this court infighting led to the downfall of the Jin Dynasty as five major tribes of barbarians, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Di, Qiang, and Jie, entered China, creating a new era of Five Barbarians.

    As Tong kept predicting the future, he could see that he was repeating the same mistakes that Sima Yan had done, having too many sessors for the throne among the next generation.

    At this moment, he had too many contenders to be the next emperor after him.

    Liu Xie, the first prince, Tong¡¯s adopted son,

    Zhang Guo, the second prince, son of Friday,

    Zhang Yi, the third prince, son of Medusa,

    Zhang Min, the first princess, daughter of Hua Shi,

    Zhang Ai, the second princess, first daughter of Cai Wenji,

    Zhang Hui, the third princess, first daughter of Du Shi,

    Zhang Mei, the fourth princess, second daughter of Cai Wenji,

    Zhang Lan, the fifth princess, second daughter of Du Shi,

    Zhang Ying, the sixth princess, daughter of Wang Yi (Liu Yang),

    Those were the list of the present princes and princesses, which had not included the potential pregnancy of Xiao Qiao, Da Qiao, Cao Xian, or Cao Qinghe in the future.

    Also, Sima Yi and Wei Yan seemed to aim for the indirect session by marrying Zhang Min, which Tong had not approved their rtionship yet.

    ¡¯If there are too many sessors, my court will be weakened after my death. Is there a way to change this?¡¯

    Adding Sun Quan as a fourth prince wouldplicate his court power. However, he did not have a choice now that he imed Wu Guotai¡¯s heart and body.

    ¡¯Fuck it. As long as I don¡¯t die, none of them can hope to be the next emperor or empress. I¡¯ll test them with time and my immortality to see if any is worthy.¡¯

    Tong could only clean up the mess he made and hope that he would not die before he solved the sessor issues. Tong chose to focus on his survivability and his longevity for now.

    "Sun Zhongmou, I think you should have already learned from your generals," Tong made a tough decision, "I¡¯ll be your foster father from now on."

    "..."

    Sun Quan nodded and kowtowed to Tong again without saying anything. He tried his best to look at it from the bright side that he would be a prince by default, which would stabilize their Sun n¡¯s foundation in the court.

    Tong smiled and messed with everyone with another fact, "Also, Cao Cao will be considered as your grandfather since he¡¯s my father-inw."

    "WHAT!?"

    Not only Huang Gai and all officers were surprised, but Sun Quan was also speechless.

    This emperor fucked too many people!

    Thinking that he had to call his old nemesis Cao Cao as "Grandfather" one day, Sun Quan was on the verge of yelling at Tong. Fortunately, his patient and tolerant level kept his mouth under control.

    Sun Quan regained hisposure and epted his fate, "Sun Zhongmou greets father-inw."

    Zhang Zhao was impressed by Sun Quan¡¯s patience and the oue of this trip. The old schr entered the conversation, so Tong could notice them, "Your majesty, my name is Zhang Zhao, the head butler of the Sun n. I would like to express my gratitude for sheltering our n under your wings."

    Tong smiled at them, "Sure. Well, let¡¯s talk about how we can get all of you to my domain and why you all got stuck here, shall we?"

    Huang Gai and others were delighted, "Of course!"

 Chapter 455 Bringing the 9th Concubine Home

    Chapter 455 - Bringing the 9th Concubine Home

    Zhang Zhao and Huang Gai exined about theplication of the Sun Family and the infighting between Sun Fang and Sun Ce, including their n to invade Tong¡¯s territories.

    "So, Huang Zu has already been bought by Zhou Yu?"

    Huang Gai nodded, "Yes, your majesty. He has been stopping us from moving to Xiangyang sincest year. We can¡¯t even leave the city without his escort soldiers."

    "Ah, I get it."

    Tong understood why Zhou Yu did that. Had Sun Quan and Wu Guotai surrender to him, their forces and their officers would have lost the interest of joining either Sun Fang or Sun Ce in rebelling against Tong. Instead, they would have followed after Wu Guotai¡¯s example.

    "Please help ourdy and her children out of this city. We¡¯ll do anything for you!"

    They begged to get Wu Guotai and her children out of Huang Zu¡¯s influence, but they did not ask for their safety.

    It was admirable from Tong¡¯s point of view. These people were as he had expected, hardcore diehard loyal servants.

    "What about you people?"

    "We already have a n. Your majesty, since you can use your power toe here undetected, can you bring ourdy and her children to your city first?" Huang Gai kept asking the same question to get Tong¡¯s confirmation.

    "Won¡¯t it be easier if I just kill Huang Zu or cut a path for you?"

    The two Zhangs shook their heads, "No, your majesty. Currently, Huang Zu is still Liu Biao¡¯s subordinate. If you cause a scene here, your rtionship with Liu Biao¡¯s House will deteriorate. Then, Liu Bei and Cao Cao will coax Liu Biao to rebel against you! Please be careful with your actions!"

    Even though Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao were not even Tong¡¯s subordinates, they expressed their concern for him. Tong also respected that. However, they did not have thetest updated information about the current political trend.

    It seemed that they did not believe in Tong¡¯s words that he took in Cao Cao¡¯s daughters as his concubines, or they did not pay attention to his rtionship with Cao Cao.

    ¡¯Oh well, I can¡¯t me them. Cao Cao is doing well keeping his mouth shut. It¡¯s better this way that no one has a clue that we¡¯re conspiring.¡¯

    For now, there were too many nonbatants in the city. Remembered the incident when he lost He Xing, Tong agreed with Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao¡¯s suggestion.

    "Sure. I¡¯ll take them with me tonight."

    ¡¯I won¡¯t take risks. Safety first.¡¯

    .

    The group exchanged information and pleasantry before they came to the final agreement.

    Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Zhu Zhi, Zhang Hong, Zhang Zhao, and 2,000 soldiers would join Tong¡¯s forces. However, they will stay in this city to fool Zhou Yu that the Sun n was still stuck in this city until Tong came back to rescue them.

    Meanwhile, Tong would take Wu Guotai, Sun Quan, and Sun Shangxiang to Ye for safety. Then, he woulde back to help these men.

    Once Wu Guotai, Sun Shangxiang, and Sun Quan were out of danger, Tong and these officers could work their ways out of the city without worries.

    "I¡¯ll coordinate with Zhang He and Lu Bu in Xiangyang, so they can open a path for you. Don¡¯t do anything reckless before they arrived."

    Huang Gai appreciated it, but he had other ns, "It¡¯s alright, your majesty. Let us contribute something for you."

    Tong nodded, "No. Don¡¯t be reckless. That¡¯s an order."

    "... Understood."

    .

    .

    At night, Tong visited Wu Guotai and Sun Quan, nning to take them to Ye by flight.

    In Wu Guotai¡¯s arms, the baby Sun Shangxiang was there. When she noticed Tong, she stared at him with glittering eyes.

    "To-To!" (Tong, it¡¯s me! Look at me! Am I cute?)

    Sun Shangxiang kept waving her arms, trying to reach out to Tong.

    Looking at her daughter, Wu Guotaiughed, "She likes you, your majesty."

    Sun Quan smiled at his sister, but he could not help feelingplicated. He was d that he became Tong¡¯s fourth prince, but the rtionship between him and Sun Ce might be ruined.

    After all, Tong stole Xiao Qiao and Da Qiao, whom Sun Quan respected as his aunts. Even Sun Quan himself might not reconcile with Tong had thetter taken the former¡¯s favorite concubine in the other world.

    Fortunately, Bu Lianshi, Sun Quan¡¯s favorite concubine in the other life, was still living with her family. Now, Bu Zhi, the father of Bu Lianshi, who was only 9 this year, was still in Lujiang. The entire family had not been discovered by Tong yet, but Sun Quan knew where they were.

    Going through with the experience of Hua Shi, Sun Jian, and his alternate world, Sun Quan¡¯s mentality became stronger. He couldpromise with his former enemies and strangers to get the best benefit for his n, even if he might have to fight against his older brothers.

    ¡¯It¡¯s different, but it¡¯s better this way. Ensuring our family¡¯s prosperity has always been my dream and my father¡¯s goal. I might not be the king of Wu anymore, but I¡¯m still a prince of Han.¡¯

    He looked at his mother, who seemed brighter than before. She had that smile when she was with Sun Jian.

    ¡¯She¡¯s happy. That¡¯s all I ever ask for,¡¯ Sun Quan heaved a sigh of relief.

    While Sun Quan was appreciating the scene of his lovely mother and his sister, Tong patted his shoulder.

    "It¡¯s time for me to teach you about flying. Have you ever tried to fly yet?"

    "Err, no."

    "Spread your wings. Let me see your four wings."

    "Huh?"

    "Don¡¯t be embarrassed. I¡¯m your father now. See my wings?"

    Tong spread his six ck wings. He pped them and showed Sun Quan how it was done.

    "Did you notice the pping rhythm? Don¡¯t p them without reinforcing it. Inject your force into them and move all of them at the same time. Then, they will propel you to the sky."

    Sun Quan looked at Tong¡¯s wings in envy. Still, he was an ambitious warlord with many lives of experience, so he would not shy away from practicing something new.

    He spread his four wings in public for the first time.

    *SWOOSH*

    Upon seeing Sun Quan two types of wings, Tong was shocked.

    "H-How can you cultivate both demonic and angelic wings!?"

    "Huh? It justes to me after my father died. I think my father blessed me with this power since he passed on his memory for me."

    "What!?"

    Tong had to open his system menu to call Lilim and ask her about his new adopted son.

    But what he got was...

    Tong whispered, yet his tone was furious, "THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HIM!? DO YOU KNOW THAT HE CAN FUCKING SURPASS MY STRENGTH ONCE HE REACHES 18!? HE CAN FUCKING ANNIHILATE ALL SINNERS IN THIS WORLD IN A FEW YEARS!!"

    He was panicked, fearing the talent of Sun Quan.

    "Sixth daughter!? Wang Yi¡¯s daughter!?"

    "You... What did you do to my family!? What is your goal!?"

    "..."

    Tong doubted it.

    "What!?"

    Tong nced at Sun Shangxiang, who was still waving at Tong, wanting to hug him.

    "... If my family gets through this stupid reincarnation in peace, we¡¯ll talk about thister."

    Tong guessed that Lilim might have messed up something, judging from her tone.

    Fortunately, Sun Quan would not be a threat to him any time soon. As long as Tong could break through the 8th wing wall, his position as the current emperor would still be stable for a while longer.

    He also had another issue. Lilim just hinted that his sixth daughter, Zhang Ying, Wang Yi¡¯s daughter, had a simr power.

    Tong pped his forehead as he had a headache.

    ¡¯Now, I understand how those sick kings in my world killed their own sons.¡¯

    He thought about the several monarchs in his world that murdered their own children to maintain their authority, which he found disgusting. Now, Tong found out that he began to have such thoughts because of the fear of Sun Quan and Zhang Ying¡¯s cultivation talent.

    ¡¯No. I won¡¯t turn into one of them! I¡¯ll make sure to get stronger than them at least by one tier while I make sure that I get their loyalty. Well, I have to kill Sun Fang first and get Sun Quan into my n, so he won¡¯t be able to kill me.¡¯

    He turned back to Sun Quan, "For now. Let¡¯s try it one step at a time. Try moving your wings without reinforcing it first."

    .

    It only took Sun Quan 10 minutes to get used to flying. Tong stared at this gifted youngster in a daze.

    "I think I can handle it," Sun Quan was confident in his power.

    Wu Guotai was also impressed with her son¡¯s abilities. She waved her hand at Sun Quan,ughing.

    Meanwhile, Sun Shangxiang had never flown in her previous lives. She looked at them as she made a duck face, pouting.

    "TA-TO!" (DAMN TONG! TEACH ME HOW TO FLY TOO! I HAVE TWO WINGS, BUT I CAN¡¯T FLY!!)

    Ignoring Sun Shangxiang¡¯s strange cries, Tong nodded to Sun Quan, "Alright. I¡¯ll carry your mother. You focus on flying by yourself and follow me."

    He turned to Wu Guotai and gently embraced her in a princess-carry position. Meanwhile, in her arms, she had already tied Sun Shangxiang with her, ensuring that she would not fall.

    Tong spread his wings and flew upward. Behind him, Sun Quan followed.

    Flying at night was difficult for a newbie like Sun Quan. Thankfully, Tong kept his pace slow and made his wings glittered with white lights to give directions for Sun Quan. As a result, the fledging immortal managed to keep up.

    Within a few hours, the three of them reached Ye City.

    Upon arrival at Ye Pce, they found Te Langpu with a few servants, who had already prepared a banquet for them in advance. Surprisingly, Diaochan and Dong Bai were also there, ring at Tong and Wu Guotai.

    Tong had already informed everyone about his business in Jiangxia in the n chat yesterday when he was busy ying with Wu Guotai¡¯s body. It caused quite an uproar to the point that Medusa and Friday returned to Ye, nning to chastise Tong in jealousy.

    Te Langpu weed Tong first, "Wee home, my idiot emperor. How many wives do you n to have in the future? Please tell me a few days earlier ¡¯cause it¡¯s not easy to arrange a new lodge for neers."

    "Sorry about that, Mr. President. Thanks for the weing feast."

    "Yeah, yeah. Her courtyard is the 4th guest house on the west wing. I¡¯ll go to sleep now."

    "Okay. Good night."

    Te Langpu swaggered back with his retainers. Behind his back, two white tentacle wings fluttered and glowed in silver light, indicating that this fat man was cultivating life essence as he walked.

    Sun Quan and Wu Guotai were surprised by Te Langpu¡¯s manner and his power. Normally, the fat man would have been executed on the spot for such rude behavior. However, Tong did not do anything to him, but he treated the minister like friends.

    Secondly, Te Langpu had wings, simr to Tong and Sun Quan.

    Fortunately for Wu Guotai, she could not sense the threatening presence of two more figures in the middle of the crowd, who were ring at her and Sun Quan.

    Sun Quan could sense someone with simr power and another demon with 6 wings. Upon turning toward Diaochan and Dong Bai, he was surprised that the hostile aura came from those two.

    ¡¯Another 6-wing immortal!¡¯

    Sun Quan was overwhelmed with fear and intimidation from the unknown strangers. With Tong alone, he could handle it since he knew a bit about him from Hua Shi¡¯s memory. However, dealing with a mysterious 6-wing demoness might be too much for him.

    Diaochan and Dong Bai walked toward Wu Guotai to introduce themselves.

    "Hello, I¡¯m Empress Bai, and this is the Prime Consort Diaochan. We¡¯re the managers of the inner pce, and we¡¯ll take care of you from now on."

    Friday intimidated Wu Guotai right away even though Tong had not appointed her as the official empress yet.

    Unperturbed by the young girls before her, Wu Guotai snickered, "Wu Guotai greets her majesty and the prime consort. Say, what¡¯s my position in the court?"

    "You¡¯re the 9th concubine, so know your ce!"

    "Haha. Okay. Not too bad, I guess."

    Although Friday tried her best to intimidate Wu Guotai, thetter did not flinch a bit. Instead, she looked like she was enjoying it.

    The three wives stayed and chatted among themselves, getting familiar with each other. On the other hand, Sun Shangxiang was mad.

    ¡¯9th concubine!? How many wives does Tong have now!? That bastard, once I grow up a bit, I¡¯ll be sure to castrate him again!!¡¯

 Chapter 456 Zhou Yuâ€™s Thoughts

    Chapter 456 - Zhou Yu¡¯s Thoughts

    In the morning, Tong returned to Jiangxia and regrouped with Huang Gai and others.

    He did note here to ferry anyone this time. However, he acted as a messenger. Tong told Huang Gai, "I¡¯ve told Zhang He¡¯s team to mobilize here. Their legion will arrive in about half a month, so you should use the chaos to move out of the city when they arrive."

    Everyone bowed to Tong, "Thank you, your majesty!"

    As Huang Gai, Zhang Hong, Zhang Zhao were cheering, Zhu Zhi looked distressed.

    Among the crews, Zhu Zhi was also a subordinate of Sun Jian, but he leaned toward Sun Ce over Sun Quan after his lord had died.

    Thus, he did not want the n to split into two like this.

    When Tong left the city, Zhu Zhi dispatched a messenger to Jianye in secret, hoping to inform Sun Ce.

    ¡¯Please, stop them from splitting the n.¡¯

    .

    .

    A monthter, Sun Ce received the message from Zhu Zhi.

    Upon finding out that Tong took his mother as his concubine, Sun Ce screamed in anger.

    "ZHANG TOOOOOONNGGG!!!"

    Losing his former wife was not enough, Tong had disgraced him by taking his mother, too.

    It was an unintentionally indirect insult from Tong to Sun Ce, tranted as "I fucked your mom."

    Technically, he should have been d because his status was elevated to a rtive of the emperor. If he were lucky, his rank would have been raised to a prince.

    However, Sun Ce¡¯s anger clouded his judgment, which made him unable to realize this point.

    Meanwhile, Zhou Yu was calmer than his sworn brother. He wanted to grasp this opportunity to raise their status. Unfortunately, with Sun Ce¡¯s mentality, it would be impossible.

    ¡¯Has Sun Quan and Wu Guotai joined forces with Zhang Tong? This is interesting. Well, it¡¯s a pity that Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, and two Zhangs join that side. I still have the new generation, Zhu Zhi, and Huang Zu.¡¯

    It was a pity for Sun Jian¡¯s former subordinates. Zhou Yu could not force them toe back since their heart was not with Sun Ce anymore.

    Zhou Yu was aware that the foundation of Tong¡¯s affiliate cities were solid, but he also knew that Tong¡¯s sessor issues were his weaknesses. If Sun Quan could take over Tong¡¯s authority from the inside, they would still have a chance to destroy the Han Dynasty.

    ¡¯In the other world, Yuan Shao¡¯s sessors fought each other instead of continuing fighting Cao Cao. In the end, all Yuans ended up dead. Zhang Tong is repeating Yuan Shao¡¯s mistakes by having too many sessors in line, and I don¡¯t think that Liu Xie gets along with Tong.¡¯

    Zhou Yu thought of Liu Xie, who Tong adopted. He also recalled that Tong had two new sons.

    ¡¯Four sessors. His court will be in chaos. I should capitalize on this!¡¯

    He thought of the Imperial Seal in Sun Ce¡¯s hands. The strategist smiled.

    Zhou Yu patted Sun Ce¡¯s shoulder, "Bofu, calm down. This is a perfect opportunity for us!"

    "Perfect what!?"

    "Zhang Tong made a big mistake for taking in your mother. Do you realize that you¡¯re now a prince?"

    "Prince!? Do I have to call Zhang Tong FATHER!? NOPE! I¡¯d rather die than kowtowing to that horny bastard!"

    "Haha, you don¡¯t have to. Actually, can I have that Imperial Seal that Cao Cao gave us?"

    Sun Ce¡¯s face became solemn, "What are you trying to do with it? You won¡¯t use it to make me another emperor, right?"

    "Of course not. Proiming someone an emperor right now is stupid sincemoners believe that the civil wars are over. I just want to bait someone into taking actions against Zhang Tong."

    "Huh? Who?"

    Zhou Yu snickered, "You¡¯ll see. For now, let¡¯s summon Zhu Zhi back. Sun Quan and others are lost cause now."

    .

    .

    A few dayster

    Zhang He¡¯s Ghost Legion relocated from Xiangyang to Jiangxia as ordered by Tong. The sudden mobilization of 60,000 soldiers frightened the local civilians, Sun Ce, and Huang Zu.

    After a casual 10 days of marching, they reached Jiangxia.

    Huang Zu did not dare to intercept this army as he was working for Liu Biao on the surface. Had he picked a fight with Zhang He, he would be seen as a traitor or a rebel. Thus, he kept his private army in Jiangxia and rode out to wee Zhang He Army with a few men.

    Upon seeing the legionmander, Huang Zu stepped down from his horse and bowed to Zhang He.

    "H-Hello, great general. I didn¡¯t know that your army is moving here."

    Huang Zu was afraid that Zhang He might attack his city or steal it from his control, so he acted humble in front of this young man.

    Zhang He waved his hand, "It¡¯s me who has to apologize to senior that I didn¡¯t inform you before the dispatch. Well, there is nothing to worry about."

    "May I ask what mission you are doing here?"

    "It¡¯s a forced march drill. Staying idly in this region for too long will spoil the soldiers, so I have to keep them in shape."

    It was an excuse that Xun You thought up for him in this kind of scenario. After all, Liu Biao and Tong were allies, so there was no reason for Lu Bu or Zhang He to move around in Jing Province without Liu Biao¡¯s permission. However, training, drilling, and exercises were exceptions in the cooperation agreements between Tong and Liu Biao.

    Therefore, Zhang He and Lu Bu could still move their troops around in the guise of training!

    "W-Won¡¯t your army consume too much provision for the mobilization? You know, soldiers will eat all the reserved stocks instead of finding their own food."

    In this era, when soldiers garrisoned inside a city, it wasmon for the garrisoning soldiers to visit the town and buy food instead of eating the army¡¯s provision.

    Sometimes, armymanders limited the soldier provision by feeding them once or twice a day during a peaceful period. As for the rest of the days, they had to procure their own food from the city, using their own pocket money. This encouraged the soldiers to spend their hard-earned money on local food and lower their army¡¯s food consumption rate.

    Once mobilized, these kinds of policies would no longer be possible, so themanders had to use their provisions to upkeep the soldiers. Moreover, soldiers expected bonuses in war as they usually cut their enemies¡¯ heads, ears, noses, or body parts as their trophies or proofs, and generals had to pay extra wages for these submitted games.

    In summary, mobilizing consumed both fund and provision more than garrisoning inside a city!

    However, the supply lineing from Henei belonged to Li Feihong, who had an unlimited stock of provision. After getting the cooperation from Cao Cao, a new logistic route had been established, connecting a chain of cities between Henei, Luoyang, Wan, Xinye, and Xiangyang.

    Li Feihong sold food to Cao Cao¡¯s cities as a bribe while he supported Zhang He, Lu Bu, and Liu Biao from afar, which was a win-win agreement to all sides. Cao Cao¡¯s men also allowed Li Feihong¡¯s men to move around freely in their territories in secret, which benefited Tong as well.

    Xiangyang, where this trade route ended, received the boons from the channel. Liu Biao, Lu Bu, and Zhang He no longer had to worry about their food problems anymore.

    Thus, marching around like this would not trouble Zhang He at all.

    "It¡¯s fine, senior Huang. Our provision is not an issue."

    "O-Okay. Then, where will your army be staying?"

    "I want my soldiers to get used to Jing Province¡¯s culture and people. Do you mind if I allow my men to rest inside the city for a day or two?"

    "I don¡¯t mind... as long as they don¡¯t cause troubles."

    "Hahaha! They¡¯re my disciplined soldiers. Don¡¯t worry. If there is any issue, I¡¯ll punish them and hand them to you."

    "... If you say so."

    In the end, Zhang He¡¯s men entered Jiangxia unhindered.

    .

    The next day

    Zhang He¡¯s men were richer than the local soldiers as the sry from Tong was 3 times higher than other armies. Because of such status, rumors circted and spread by the visiting soldiers, who squandered their money for local products and food.

    Smart soldiers brought wares that they brought from the capital, such as house tools, soap, and medicines, to Jiangxia to exchange for pocket money. Although the same items were sold in Jiangxia, the margin of the item price was enough to get some profit.

    If only one or two soldiers brought in the goods, no one would have noticed it. However, out of 60,000 soldiers, one-fifth of them flooded the city with unique products from the north, which caused a stir in Jiangxia markets.

    The influx of ie boosted Jiangxia¡¯s economy, which was weed by the local merchants and the officials. As a consequence, the local poption got addicted to Tong¡¯s soldiers. They wanted more of them to visit this city. Local merchants also had an inspiration to travel north to procure goods from Ye and resell it here.

    This was a perk of tourist sites. By having visitors, the local businesses boomed. Coincidentally, Huang Zu discovered it by chance.

    ¡¯It¡¯s not so bad to reel in rich bastards from the north. I should create a campaign and bait schrs, soldiers, and Zhang Tong¡¯s citizens toe here and squander their money.¡¯

    Because of his greed, Huang Zu temporally forgot about the hostages, Wu Guotai, Huang Gai, and others.

    .

    Meanwhile, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Han Dang, Zhang Hong, and Zhang Zhao used this chance to mix in with Zhang He¡¯s soldiers.

    Zhang He also came here prepared. The moment he located the hostages, he sent soldiers to bring uniforms for Huang Gai and his men.

    Once everyone geared as Ghost Legion soldiers, they slipped out of the city and entered Zhang He¡¯s camp. Everyone, including their private soldiers, integrated with the army.

    Unfortunately, Zhu Zhi went missing after the arrival of the legion, but Huang Gai and Zhang Zhao knew where he went.

    "That guy isn¡¯t one of us, huh?"

    "He is on Sun Ce¡¯s side from the beginning. We can¡¯t help it."

    It was a pity that their colleague chose the others over theirdy and their third young master. They could only pray that they won¡¯t meet each other as enemies in the future.

    .

    Jianye City

    Zhu Zhi returned to Sun Ce¡¯s side. He knelt and reported the current situation in Jiangxia to Sun Ce and Zhou Yu.

    It was heartbreaking for Zhou Yu even though they had expected this departure. In the future, they knew that these formerrades would end up as their enemies instead of allies.

    In the other world, Sun Quan was also once his lord, and he even died trying to raise Sun Quan¡¯s status and protect his kingdom. Unfortunately, they could only be enemies now.

    ¡¯Sun Zhongmou. I respect your decision, but you picked the wrong side. I¡¯m afraid that I¡¯ll have to kill you along with Zhang Tong¡¯s children!¡¯

 Chapter 457 Developed Ye

    Chapter 457 - Developed Ye

    Zhang He and everyone returned to Xiangyang a few dayster, along with the extra men. Upon returning to Xiangyang, Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, and 2,000 mercenaries left the city by disguising as merchants, traveling via Henei-Xiangyang trade route.

    Huang Zu caught wind about the escape a dayter during a morning assembly. After a thorough investigation, he got so angry to the point that he punched his subordinates.

    "Useless bastards! How did you allow them to leave!?"

    "W-We didn¡¯t! We guarded the resident, but we didn¡¯t see anyone left the buildings!"

    "THEN HOW THE FUCK DID THEY LEAVE!?"

    "I-I don¡¯t know!"

    *POEK*

    Huang Zu punched his soldier again, knocking him out cold.

    He turned to the other subordinates, "Dispatch a messenger! Send them to Jianye and inform Sun Ce that his family ran away!"

    Because of the panicked, Huang Zu¡¯s voice was so loud that all officials in the assembly hall could hear it. They questioned Huang Zu¡¯s rtion with Sun Ce¡¯s forces and whispered among themselves.

    Then, one of them stepped forward.

    "My lord, what is your connection with Sun Ce? Why do we have to inform them about the Sun n¡¯s movements?"

    This was what everyone wanted to know. They looked at Huang Zu in doubt.

    "Moron! They are our friendly neighbors! If we don¡¯t inform them now, what will happen if Wu Guotai or Sun Quan¡¯s dead body is found in our territory!? Do you want to instigate a war between our lord Liu Biao and the Sun n!? GO AND TELL THEM THAT THEY HAVE ESCAPED FROM THIS CITY, NOW!!"

    It was a prepared excuse for this scenario in the case that he messed up. Huang Zu used it to cover his deep mole status.

    The officials in the room believed in Huang Zu. They followed his instructions and dispatched a messenger to Sun Ce. Unfortunately, their action was unnecessary as Sun Ce had already learned about it via Zhu Zhi.

    .

    .

    A monthter,

    On the outskirt of Ye City, the surroundings had transformed from empty lots into trading hubs, which was filled with stores, warehouses, inns, and stables of merchants.

    Farnds were also affected as Te Langpu converted the farms intomercial districts. Stone roads separated buildings into blocks while wooden buildings faced the streets, which was simr to a city arrangement of a metropolitan city in the modern world.

    There were downsides on this arrangement as trees and greeneries became scarce, and it might suffocate a portion of local citizens. Fortunately, there was nothing that could create air pollution aside from bonfires.

    A hundred meters away from the main road, a man-made canal with almost 200 meters wide directed flesh water from nearby rivers to Ye City and its surroundings, giving citizens a new source of water instead of gathering it from a well.

    Rowboats carrying vegetables, fruits, and goods traveled along the transparent river. Some had a hard time traveling upstream, but they did notin as it was their choice. Besides, rowing boats upstream was still morefortable than going on the main road as too many merchant caravans upied the road space. Traffic jams were frequent in most intersections.

    People were like ants, squeezing through the crowd to move around. Some stood still and bartered with local vendors, bing obstacles for the roadsides.

    Averagely, 2 people filled one square meter on the main road, which was 20 meters wide.

    *Piii*

    A garrison soldier, Ye City¡¯s police officer, blew a wooden whistle as he waved his hands.

    "Please stop and let the wagons go first! Watch the signboards!"

    He pointed at another officer, who was waving a red g, telling the crowd not to cross the main road at the moment.

    The pedestrians stopped and watched the wooden wagons of a merchantpany went by. After all of them crossed the intersection, the g officer put down his red g and waved a green g.

    *PiiPiiPii*

    The whistle policeman waved his hands again.

    "All wagons, stop and let the people cross the road! Watch the g color!"

    The wave of pedestrians moved along with the officer¡¯s signs. As citizens moved around on the outskirt of Ye City, they ran into this set of policemen controlling the traffic on every intersection.

    .

    Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu watched the chaotic outskirt with a bright smile.

    "Ah, we¡¯re finally back," Huang Gai heaved a sigh of relief andughed.

    "I think the town has expanded again. Last time we were here, the road wasn¡¯t this packed."

    "Right. See the canal? The water level wasn¡¯t this high, and that bridge wasn¡¯t even there. They must have constructed it recently," Han Dang pointed at a stone bridge, which formed another road, leading to the other side of the long canal. On the opposite side of the river, lines of wooden buildings could be seen.

    Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, and the 2,000 private soldiers gawked at the scene as they had never seen as a buzzing city before. Moreover, they had not seen Ye City wall yet!

    "Is this Ye City? Where are the city walls? Have we passed through the city gate?"

    Huang Gaiughed again, "The gate should be further away. We need two or three more days of traveling if we¡¯re going there via the merchant road or one day by the river. Well, we are soldiers, and we have the emperor¡¯s token. We can use the army road."

    "Army road?"

    "A road specially made for armies. They blocked all civilians from using it since it¡¯s for government¡¯s usage."

    "Oh!"

    Huang Gai led them through the crowd and reached another side of the district, west of the merchant hub district. Upon getting out of the zone, they were greeted with another wide stone road, but they were no one using it but patrolling police horsemen.

    When the policemen noticed Huang Gai and others, they rode toward the crews.

    "This road is reserved for military usage! Please go back and use the merchant route!"

    Huang Gai fished out a golden token with Tong¡¯s name on it.

    "I have permission from the emperor to use this road. Can you guide us to the city?"

    "!!!"

    The officers widened their eyes. They got down from their horses and saluted at Huang Gai¡¯s men.

    "Forgive us for our rudeness, sir! We¡¯ll guide you to the city! Please follow us!"

    "Thank you, soldier."

    "You¡¯re wee, sir!"

    One of the patrol officers jumped on his horse and galloped back toward the city to inform Tong about the visitors. As for the rest, they escorted everyone toward the town, using the empty military road.

    Zhang Zhao was still shocked by the development and the weird custom of Ye City. He looked at Huang Gai and began questioning non-stop.

    "Why aren¡¯t there any farnd around the city?"

    "Where do they procure food for the citizens?"

    "How can they self-sustain with these many poptions?"

    "What is this city¡¯s ie? Household taxes? Merchant tolls?"

    "What attracts them to this city?"

    "Why aren¡¯t there any ve or peasant? Are they all schrs or merchants?"

    "If there is no ve, how do they get around withbor jobs?"

    Han Dang and Cheng Puughed as they enjoyed seeing the troubled look of Huang Gai.

    Seeing that Huang Gai did not understand or know the answers, Zhang Zhao turned to the leading policeman, "Can you answer my questions?"

    "Err... Sure. Well, first ... His Majesty dered that we will use the unique local product policy, so each city has a differentyout and specialties. For example, Ye City is amercial city, so this region will focus on developing warehouses, merchant districts, medium ss residential areas, inns, and so on."

    "But what about food? How do they procure food?"

    "We just import them from agriculture cities, like Julu, Nanpi, or Ganling. These major cities are specialized in farnds and agriculture, so all food productiones from here."

    "But there won¡¯t be enough to sustain all these people! What about those cities¡¯ supply?"

    "Ahaha, you don¡¯t have to worry about that. Every month, Henei will transport them here to restock our granary. Even if the granary is depleted, the prime consort will fill the granary with her immortal power. There is nothing to worry about."

    "Huh?"

    "Any more questions?"

    "I do! Well..."

    Zhang Zhao kept asking. Surprisingly, the policeman was patient enough to answer all Zhang Zhao questions one by one. Even Zhang Hong and the questioner was shocked that a lowly officer knew so much.

    "Why do you know so much? Are you actually a schr?"

    "Ahaha, no. I¡¯m just another ordinary policeman captain in this city. See my rank?"

    He pointed at his shoulders, which had a star symbol attached to both of them, a sub-lieutenant rank, an advanced ss of a graduated police officer from Ye Police Academy.

    "Among most garrison soldiers, the patrols here are mostly my peers. All lower ranks are sent to manage the traffic in the merchant hub to gather experience dealing with people. For graduates like us, we are tasked to handle military affairs or official works like this, so we are knowledgeable somewhat."

    "T-Then, how many people are there among your peers. I meant people that have the same ranks or higher ranks?"

    "Eh... Every year, we have at least 10,000 to 20,000 graduated from our city, so averagely, there should be about 15,000 people with my rank a year if you count from only Ye City."

    "Wait! There are more!?"

    "Ah, yes. Julu also has academies, so there are also graduated officers from there. The number is a bit on the lower side since it¡¯s an agricultural city."

    "..."

    Zhang Zhao had goosebumps.

    Normally, soldiers and schrs did not mix. Most schrs were bad at athletic activities, martial arts, or physical strength, unless they were born in a noble family. Vice versa, martial artists, strong men,borers, or militias usually did not have educational backgrounds, so they were not suited to be amander or a captain of an organization.

    However, this young policeman showed that two of Tong¡¯s cities produced this kind of hybrid officers, who excelled in both fields annually. Moreover, there were not a hundred or a thousand, but over 15,000!

    "I-I thought his Majesty¡¯s affiliate cities recruit 50,000 militias a year. S-So, there are only 15,000 elites like you a year. Am I right?"

    The policeughed, "Ahaha, if youbined other academies in other cities, we indeed have over 50,000 graduates a year, but most of them chose not to pursue a military career since they just want to be able to read and write. For me, though, I had been studying for 2 years before I was sent to Red Hare Legion. Well, I got an arrow in the knee in a battle against Xiongnu in Liang Province, and I was sent back here to guard the city."

    "..."

    The face of Zhang Zhao twitched. This patrol soldier was a war veteran!

    Had it been in Sun Ce¡¯s forces, this man would have been promoted as a 1,000-man officer at the very least! Yet, Tong put him as a 5-man captain of a city guard!

    Zhang Zhao wanted to meet Tong now and scold him for misusing his subordinates, but he stopped himself.

    Zhang Hong, who was listening to the conversation, also had a question.

    "Are all guards here veterans like you?"

    The police nodded, "Aye. Most legionnaire soldiers sometimes rotate to work as garrison soldiers because of their health issues or injuries. All rookies that get promoted from those hubs are sent to legions and rece the returned soldiers. Well, none of those legion soldiers want toe back here because of the pay, though. I still want to go back there if I could, but thepetition is fierce these days. Unless I¡¯m in the top shape, I won¡¯t stand a chance against the other soldiers."

    "..."

    Zhang Hong and Zhang Zhao shut their mouths. From the tone, it seemed that more monsters lurked in Tong¡¯s forces to the point that this elite could not get a room for promotion.

    "I¡¯m getting scared, Zibu. What kind of soldiers Zhang Tong is rearing?" Zhang Hong muttered.

    "I want to know, too," Zhang Zhao nced at Huang Gai and thepany, who was enjoying the culture shock reaction from the two Zhangs.

 Chapter 458 Zhou Yu and Sun Ce Visiting Liu Xie - Part 1

    Chapter 458 - Zhou Yu and Sun Ce Visiting Liu Xie - Part 1

    Zhang Zhao and the others soon were weed into the city and were guided to the throne room right away.

    Upon arrival, they could see Tong sitting on the throne with a pale face. He seemed to be in pain, yet his smile was as bright as ever.

    Huang Gai looked at Tong¡¯s sides, Dong Bai sat on his right while Diaochan sat on the left seat.

    Dong Bai¡¯s dresses were the same as Tong, golden empress robes decorated by golden dragons embroidery. She wore a golden crown, which was designed for Dong Bai.

    The old two buns hairstyle of Dong Bai was no more as she wore her hair up, tying them inside the empress crown as it was a custom in this era that a married woman could not leave her hair down to cover her neck. Had she done that, it would signify that she was still unmarried, and it would insult Tong in the process.

    Diaochan was the same as Dong Bai, as she had to change her hairstyle to disy her marital status in public. She coiled all her hair and pinned it with a ruby hairpin. However, she still covered her face with veil clothes out of her habits.

    As for Diaochan¡¯s dresses, it was different than Dong Bai¡¯s golden robes. She had pink dresses, decorated with golden flower embroideries, which revealed her status of a consort.

    Usually, the emperor¡¯s consorts or concubines would not be allowed to join an official assembly as it was not their duty. However, Diaochan was an exception since she was known as an immortal, who had a simr strength as Tong. Moreover, she was the founder of the Demon Legion, which was under control by Taishi Ci at the moment.

    Even the Han Dynasty¡¯s culture forbad women from taking parts of the internal affairs or official jobs, with absolute strength, Tong, Friday, and Medusa bent the traditionalws with brute force.

    No one could refute their authority and their new custom.

    Both girls sandwiched Tong, who was wobbling on his seat, looking exhausted.

    Huang Gai could not help but worried about Tong¡¯s health.

    "Y-Your Majesty. Are you alright? You look pale..."

    Tong¡¯s smiley face was still as bright as ever, "I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s just that I gave a lot of love to my empress and my prime consort."

    Huang Gai and others looked around and met the eyes of the officials in the throne room.

    Tong¡¯s officers gave them a wry smile. One of them made a gesture with his hand, sticking his thump between his index finger and middle finger, hinting them that Tong¡¯s night activities took a toll on him.

    Zhang Zhao and everyone sweated as they could vaguely guess what had happened. These two girls could have been jealous of Wu Guotai¡¯s arrival, so they might have drained the emperor dry at night.

    "Please take care of your health, your majesty. We can¡¯t afford to lose you at the moment."

    The two Zhaos were worried about the future of the Han Dynasty. Had Tong fallen ill, the court would have been in chaos as a power struggle between sessors could have urred.

    "Eh, don¡¯t worry. Even if I were to copse, I have these two to handle the internal affair after me."

    Aware of his court issues, Tong had already dered that Dong Bai and Diaochan would be the sessors of his throne for now. Since both of them worked together as one, officials could not take sides with other concubines, princes, or princesses. Even if they wanted to support others to be in line for the throne, they had no chance against these two demonesses.

    In other words, Tong used Friday and Medusa as internal bodyguards, watching over all undercurrents in the court and potential infighting between fellow officers.

    Zhang Zhao had a bitter smile on his face. He understood why Tong did it, and he figured why Tong suddenly took Wu Guotai into his harem.

    ¡¯It seems that the emperor has already prepared for the worst-case scenario. The matter about ourdy is probably only for the political marriage. He probably takes in ourdy as a concubine to stop the future war between the Sun n and his n. Well, it¡¯s a good move, as long as Zhongmou behaves.¡¯

    With the surrender of Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Zhang Zhao, and Zhang Hong, Tong had more personal to protect Beihai, where every warlord deemed as one of Tong¡¯s weaknesses.

    Unfortunately, they were still stuck with Sun Fang¡¯s n system, so Tong could not invite them into his n chat yet. For now, Tong promoted the three veterans to generals and sent the two Zhangs to Cai Yong, so he could teach these two elders about Ye¡¯s culture andws.

    .

    Days went peacefully for peasants and all officials as the brewing war went quiet. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu stopped their military activities while Liu Bei focused on stabilizing his domestic affairs.

    However, Tong never had his peace anymore.

    Friday and Medusa disallowed Tong to visit all concubines as they monopolized him. Every time that Tong needed to relieve himself, both wives would take turns to drain him.

    Since Dong Bai and Diaochan¡¯s positions were the empress and the prime consort respectively, Cai Wenji, Du Shi, and others could not protest against their selfish actions.

    During the daytime, the demonesses forced him to work or cultivate instead of cking.

    It was alright in the beginning since Tong had the endurance of a six-wing demon. However, after a few months, he was mentally exhausted as the emperor¡¯s job had no holidays.

    In the past, Tong always cked twice a week, which Te Langpu and others found it reasonable for the emperor to rest periodically. After Friday and Medusa got instated as official empress and prime concubine, Tong could no longer sleep anymore.

    Tong could only hope that one day, there would not be anything for him to do in the court, so he could get a good sleep for once. He also wanted to see his other wives.

    ¡¯I missed my other wives. *Sniff*.¡¯

    Tong shed a tear in secret.

    .

    .

    September 11th, 194 AD.

    Jibei City

    After Cao Cao and Tong formed a cooperation agreement, the tension between borders calmed, and peasants were no longer afraid of Cao Cao¡¯s men in the area.

    Farmers and craftsmen continued their daily routines in peace, but a few men in the court wanted to stir chaos within Tong¡¯s ranks.

    In Jibei Assembly Hall, Liu Xie had rare visitors from the Sun n.

    It was Zhou Yu and Sun Ce!

    In the hall, Taishi Ci, Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, and Liu Ye red at this strategist in wary. All bodyguards ced their hands on their sword¡¯s hilt, ready to draw their swords at any time to kill Zhou Yu and Sun Ce.

    Behind Zhou Yu¡¯s back, two white wings fluttered. Still, they were not a threat to Taishi Ci, who had awakened 3 virtuous souls so far.

    The real threat was Sun Ce, who had 4 wings! This warlord did not hide his killing intent as he stared down at Taishi Ci, who was once his subordinate.

    "It¡¯s been a while, Taishi Ziyi! I didn¡¯t expect that you would have joined Zhang Tong in this life."

    Looking at Sun Ce, Taishi Ci sweated, "I¡¯m d you¡¯re fine in this world, my former lord. I assume that you havee here in peace, no?"

    "Obviously, I¡¯m here to take you back with me."

    "Then, I have to decline. Our countrymen have just ended this stupid civil wars between nobles. I don¡¯t n to fight in another pointless war!"

    "Then, you are going to vite your oath with me in the other life?"

    "That world has nothing to do with this world! We died trying to protect our family and our home from the traitor Cao, and that¡¯s that. Don¡¯t bring the irrelevant past to the present anymore, Bofu."

    The tension between Taishi Ci and Sun Ce was dangerous. A fight could break out at any moment.

    .

    Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu reported the matter to the n chat right away.

    Zhang Xiu: "S.O.S. AT JIBEI! SUN CE AND ZHOU YU INFILTRATED OUR CITY! WE NEED HELP!"

    Zhang Ji: "Sun Ce has 4 wings, but our Taishi Ci has 3. We might not be able to make it!"

    Both Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu had only one soul of sin. As demonic cultivators, their progress was much slower than angels.

    Tong: "I¡¯ll send my wives over there. I¡¯m not in a condition to fight ATM."

    The emergency request came at bad timing. As Tong was constantly drained by his two jealous wives for months, he was not in shape for a battle. Even during the daytime, Tong was monitored by the two demonesses and was forced to work.

    Still, he sent Diaochan and Dong Bai there as a punishment for deteriorating his health and rescue the crews.

    Dong Bai: "I¡¯ll go, but I¡¯m gonna need some rewards tonight."

    Diaochan: "Don¡¯t let us catch you visiting other concubines while we¡¯re away. I don¡¯t want to see a new prince or princess. We have too many sessors already!"

    Tong: "... Like I have the strength to make more babies TwT."

    .

    Reading the n chat and seeing that the reinforcement wasing soon, Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu were relieved. With hope, their panicked expression was no more, reced by a solemn confident look.

    The backup supporter of Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, had been observing the two generals¡¯ reaction. He noticed that their fingers moved as if they typed something in front of them before their expression changed for the better.

    ¡¯n chat... If they¡¯re rxed, then a reinforcement from Ye must have been on the way. We don¡¯t have time to mess around anymore.¡¯

    Zhou Yu sent a message via his n chat, ignoring the fact that Huang Gai and others might expose their conversation.

    Zhou Yu: "Reinforcement from Ye ising. Let me handle this, and we will leave this city."

    ncing at the n chat, Sun Ce clicked his tongue as his eyes darted around the room, searching for the culprits who told Tong about them.

    When his eyes met with Zhang Ji, Sun Ce noticed that his expression was different than the rest of the officials in the room, who were terrified by his presence.

    "Oh? Was it you?"

    Zhang Ji swallowed his fear as he drew his sword, "What do you want?"

    "Ha! It was you. Never mind, I¡¯m not here to seek trouble," Sun Ce turned to Zhou Yu, "Wee in peace, and we wish to negotiate with his highness, Liu Xie."

    Everyone in the room was silent, did not know what to respond to Sun Ce¡¯s words.

    Negotiation and foreign affairs were not their specialty or scope of duties, so they were confused about what they should do.

    Still, Liu Ye was there as the Demon Legion¡¯s strategist. Also, he was aware of the oing demonesses.

    ¡¯I need to buy time before the empress and the prime consort arrives.¡¯

    Liu Ye stepped forward to deal with this strange negotiators.

    "His Highness is not here, but I¡¯m his secretary. You can talk to me."

 Chapter 459 Zhou Yu and Sun Ce Visiting Liu Xie â€“ Part 2

    Chapter 459 - Zhou Yu and Sun Ce Visiting Liu Xie - Part 2

    "Who might you be?" Asked Zhou Yu.

    "Liu Ye, the secretary of his highness Liu Xie and the strategist of the Demon Legion."

    "Oh!" Zhou Yu knew this man.

    Liu Ye was a minister of the Emperor Xian¡¯s faction in the other world, but he also served Cao Cao at the same time, working as a double agent. However, he leaned toward the Liu House over the Cao n.

    Since Liu Ye dered that he represented Liu Xie, Zhou Yu believed that it held credibility.

    "Please forgive me for not recognizing you earlier. I have eyes, but I can¡¯t see Mt. Tai!"

    Liu Ye scoffed, "Then, what¡¯s the message. I¡¯ll deliver it to his highness for you."

    "Ah, right. Bofu, can I have THAT?"

    Sun Ce smirked as he passed a bundle of clothes to Zhou Yu. Thetter received it and revealed the content inside.

    It was the jade Imperial Seal!

    All officials murmured in shock as this item did not belong here but the pce of Ye or the emperor¡¯s side.

    Liu Ye was also astonished as well. His mind nked for a few seconds before he came back to his senses.

    "Why do you have this!?"

    Zhou Yu sneered, "We managed to extract it from our neighbor, Cao Cao. It seems that he vanquished Yuan Shu and took it from him, but we managed to retrieve it from this traitor."

    He did not know that Cao Cao and Tong were allies, so he made up the story.

    Liu Ye caught on to the lie, so he did not believe it. Yet, the minister pretended to follow along with Zhou Yu¡¯s pace.

    "I understand. What do you want to do with it? Trade something with us?"

    "No, no," Zhou Yuughed, "We¡¯re here to express our loyalty and sincerity to his highness, Liu Xie. We¡¯re giving this back to you."

    "Huh?"

    Liu Ye did not understand what Zhou Yu attempted to do as thetter¡¯s action did not make any sense.

    ¡¯Is he retarded? He¡¯s giving it back without a condition?¡¯

    The minister coughed, "Well, since you want to return it. Then, we shall ept it."

    "Ahaha. Well, there is a condition, though."

    Liu Ye¡¯s face twitched, "I thought you were giving it for free. What now!?"

    "You see, I want to express our goodwill to His Majesty as well. We wish to stop all these nonsense conflicts between our factions and make peace. Since His Majesty has taken our mistress as his concubine and adopted our third master as the fourth prince, we have no reason to fight among ourselves. Besides..."

    Zhou Yu intentionally stopped as he noticed someone among the bodyguards.

    Within the hall, a hundred bodyguards wore shining knight armor, which covered their faces and bodies. However, materials could not hide the presence of a cultivator, who had awakened at least one soul.

    Liu Xie was disguising among the crowd for the sake of his safety. Unfortunately, he had one demon soul, which revealed the aura of a half-demon.

    As a two-wing angel, Zhou Yu and Sun Ce located the prince the moment they stepped inside the assembly hall, but they were not sure that he was Liu Xie or one of Tong¡¯s generals.

    Just now, Zhou Yu noticed the ambitious aura from Liu Xie, which confirmed that he was not one of Tong¡¯s generals. Had it been a military man, he would have leaked a different vibe, which contained hostility, anger, and desire. Yet, Liu Xie failed to hide his greed for the jade seal, which exposed his identity.

    Zhou Yu pretended that he did not notice Liu Xie¡¯s identity and continued, "I heard about the future election thing that his highness bet with his majesty, so I would like to express my support to his highness."

    The crowd murmured again. Zhou Yu¡¯s action just now indicated that he wanted to join Liu Xie¡¯s faction, which might conflict with Tong¡¯s interest in the future.

    Liu Xie, unable to withhold his desire to defeat Tong in the court warfare, took off his helmet and exposed himself.

    "I am Liu Xie, the crown prince of Chenliu! State your true intentions, intruders!"

    Sun Ce and Zhou Yu almostughed as Liu Xie fell for their bait, but they did not show any disrespect behavior with this prince. They kowtowed to Liu Xie.

    "We wish to work for you, your highness Liu Xie. We believe that you are the legitimate sessor of the Han Dynasty! Even though our forces might surrender to Zhang Tong, but our hearts will always be with you! Please let us work for you!"

    Sun Ce and Zhou Yu came to the conclusion that it was impossible to fight Tong in direct warfare, even with Cao Cao and Liu Bei¡¯s coordination. Since they still believed that Lu Bu had 8 wings, it discouraged them from waging war against Tong¡¯s legions.

    Devouring Tong¡¯s forces from the inside was a better idea.

    Still, after the surrendering, picking sides or factions was crucial. They had to choose someone who would not be afraid of squaring against Tong in the open.

    And that person was Liu Xie, who they knew that the former was once an emperor. Someone who had tasted the privilege of an emperor would not miss a chance to get back to that status.

    Liu Xie¡¯s eyes gleamed.

    ¡¯If I have Sun Ce and Zhou Yu supporting me, my influence in the court will expand. It¡¯s not enough to contest with the empress and the prime consort, but once I awaken at least 6 souls like Zhang Tong, I can subdue them!¡¯

    Thinking about his stepmothers, he felt a burning desire concentrating on his crotch. He had seen Dong Bai and Diaochan a few times, and their faces were still in his mind.

    ¡¯His wives are desirable! Cao Xian is nothingparable to those demonesses! I want them!¡¯

    Liu Xie had an erection.

    Unfortunately, he forgot that he was wearing a full knight armor te, including the lower parts, which were hard leather pants, covered by anotheryer of chainmail. As a result, the tip of his tent hit the hard leather, and the pole bent.

    "@#!$%."

    Liu Xie bent forward while his face turned green. He bit his lower lip in pain.

    "I-I¡¯ll allow it! F-For now, you¡¯ll surrender your forces to my father first, but you¡¯ll work for me!"

    Zhou Yu and Sun Ce found Liu Xie¡¯s sudden reactionical, but they did notugh. After all, they wanted to use him to bring Tong down.

    Both of the warlords mmed their foreheads on the ground again.

    "We vow that we won¡¯t disappoint you!"

    Everyone cheered that another powerhouse yielded to their country. Their future looked bright as another war factor was cleared. As for the internal struggle for power, that was a private matter for Liu Xie and Tong to worry about. For minor officers in the room, it did not concern them as long as their infighting did not reach out to their family.

    While everyone was cheering, Dong Bai and Diaochan arrived. As usual, both of them were still in their uniforms, the golden empress dresses, and the pink/gold prime consort robes.

    Because they received a lot of love from Tong and they were immortals, their skin and face were smooth without a wrinkle or a dark spot. With the addition of their body¡¯s predecessor¡¯s pedigrees, their natural charm enhanced by many folds.

    All officials who had not seen the two dropped their jaws, astonished by the peerless beauties.

    Zhang Ji and Zhang Xiu were immune to their presence as these girls were Zou Shi¡¯s friends, and they had seen them many times in the past, so they reacted first.

    "We greet her majesty and the prime consort!"

    Others snapped back from their trance and kowtowed to the two.

    "We greet her majesty and the prime consort!"

    Taishi Ci, Sun Ce, Liu Ye, and Zhou Yu also kowtowed to Dong Bai and Diaochan. Only Liu Xie, who was awestruck by the two graceful stepmothers. His previous memory and imagination of the demonesses were nothingparing to the present.

    "L-L-Liu Xie greets her majesty!"

    The little pole in his crotch area throbbed as the tip rubbed with his hard leather pants. Because of the sense of touch, stimtion, excitement, fascination, admiration, and desire, white fluid gushed out and wet the area.

    The strong odor followed.

    Diaochan and Dong Bai¡¯s noses twitched as they detected something that should not have been here among the crowd.

    Friday cursed in her mind.

    ¡¯Who the fuck fapped in the middle of the meeting hall!? Disgusting!!¡¯

    Even the coolheaded Medusa was annoyed. She unleashed her wing power, creating a small whirlwind, circting the air in the hall to get rid of the odor.

    Unfortunately, the source was nearby, so she could not get rid of itpletely. When the wind subsided, the two women managed to locate the culprit.

    ¡¯Eww!! This brat... Did Sun Ce scare him to the point that he ejacted?¡¯

    Dong Bai pinched her nose and nced at Liu Xie with disgust.

    Diaochan pretended not to notice Liu Xie. She stood behind her daughter and faced forward, ying the role of Dong Bai¡¯s subordinate.

    "Who is Sun Ce and Zhou Yu!?" Yelled Dong Bai.

    Sun Ce and Zhou Yu raised their heads up to meet the eyes of the empress.

    "Sun Ce greets her majesty."

    "Zhou Yu greets her majesty."

    The two were speechless by the speed of these two demonesses. They had expected that they woulde, but they had never thought that all of them would have arrived this fast.

    It was only a few minutes after Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ji reported to the n chat!

    ¡¯One four-wing demon and a six-wing demon. We don¡¯t have a chance.¡¯

    Zhou Yu reevaluated their situation. Fortunately, they managed to transmit their intention to Liu Xie, so they seeded in nting a chaotic seed in Tong¡¯s ranks.

    "What are you doing here in our territory!? What is your purpose!? Talk!"

    Friday was as aggressive as ever since she did not want to leave Tong alone for too long. Or else, he would have gone to see other consorts and wasted his energy on them.

    Every seed that Tong had belonged to her and her mother. No one else should have it!

    Zhou Yu suffered from the aura oppression from Dong Bai. On the other hand, Sun Ce could handle it because he had the same strength as Friday.

    Sun Ce spoke for his brother, "We¡¯re here to negotiate a surrender treaty for our n. We don¡¯t want to fight you anymore."

    Dong Bai snorted, "You said that many years ago, but you are still plotting against my husband! How can I believe in you!?"

    "We¡¯re presenting the Imperial Seal to you as our apologies! Please forgive us and give us a chance!"

    Sun Ce handed the Imperial Seal to Dong Bai.

    Thetter narrowed her eyes and inspected the jade seal with doubt.

    "Doesn¡¯t Tong already have this? Why is there another one?"

    Diaochan shook her head, "The one in Ye is a replica. This one is the original."

    "Oh?"

    Tong was using another seal, which was newly forged for his emperor duties. However, the original seal was the one before them.

    Diaochan asked Zhou Yu, "I understand your decision. But I don¡¯t understand a few things. What is your purpose after surrendering?"

    Dong Bai frowned as she recalled that the power bnce between Tong¡¯s descendants had not been 100% solved. Sun Ce might want to abuse his connection as Wu Guotai¡¯s second son and instigate chaos within Tong¡¯s ranks.

    She red at Sun Ce, "I¡¯m sure you¡¯re nning something. Why should we ept you in our ranks when we could have just simply kill you two here?"

    Sun Ce gritted his teeth upon hearing the question.

    He gathered his strength as he nned to kill Dong Bai here to fight his way out and run away from Diaochan.

 Chapter 460 Father Loves You

    Chapter 460 - Father Loves You

    Before Sun Ce made things worse, Zhou Yu mmed his head on the ground and begged, "Please give us a chance! We know that we were wrong! Let us work for you and redeem our mistakes!"

    Dong Bai scoffed, "What can you redeem when there is nothing that you can contribute. Everything will soon convert to our husband¡¯s system, and your past experience won¡¯t even be useful anymore."

    "We¡¯ll kill Sun Fang for you!"

    Everyone in the meet hall froze.

    Sun Fang was one of Tong¡¯s cklisted individuals, who had a bounty of 100,000 gold. Anyone that could bring his head to Tong would be showered with statuses and wealth.

    An offer from a close aide of Sun Fang was tempting. Even Dong Bai hesitated.

    Without a solution, she asked Tong in the n chat.

    Dong Bai: "Tong, Zhou Yu said he wants to surrender to us, and he offers to kill Sun Fang for a redemption chance."

    Tong: "And what are they doing over there in Liu Xie¡¯s city?"

    The matter was too suspicious. Had Sun Ce and Zhou Yu been sincere, they should have talked to him directly.

    Then, the hotshot strategist voiced his thoughts.

    Sima Yi: "Kill those bastards ASAP. They are attempting to instigate infighting between you and Liu Xie!"

    Sima Yi: "It¡¯s a conspiracy attempt to separate our forces into smaller factions like how Cao Cao did to the Yuan n¡¯s descendants in the other world. His majesty¡¯s sessors are only her majesty and the prime consort ATM, so creating another faction will cause instability in our country."

    Typically, all strategists refrained from getting involved when Tong and his wives were having a conversation, but Sima Yi was an exception. He sometimes inserted himself into the discussion if the topics included the big picture.

    With Sima Yi¡¯s lead, other advisors also gave their opinion.

    Ju Shou: "ept the offer, your majesty. Let them fight and watch them kill each other."

    Xun You: "Kill them now might create enmity with his highness Sun Quan and consort Wu. Let them prove their worth for now and observe how sincere they are. As for Liu Xie¡¯s issue, we can solve it together after the election.

    Xun Yu: "I just talked to Cao Cao, Cheng Yu, and Guo Jia. They all said that we should hold Zhou Yu as a hostage and send Sun Ce back to Jianye to kill Sun Fang. Once Sun Fang is dead, we¡¯ll kill the hostage and hunt down Sun Ceter since there won¡¯t be a n notification. Sun Quan and Wu Guotai won¡¯t have a clue about this, and we can say that they were killed in the middle of the conflict between Sun Ce and Sun Fang."

    Li Feihong: "100% Infighting move. Zhang Ji, Zhang Xiu, did these guys attempt to speak to Liu Xie?"

    Zhang Ji: "They did."

    Zhang Xiu: "Absolutely. General Taishi Ci almost fought with Sun Ce when they first arrived, but Zhou Yu tried to have a negotiation and talk to his highness."

    Li Feihong: "That confirms it. Kill those bastards on the spot. Don¡¯t believe in their offers."

    Everyone had different thoughts about this handling.

    Sima Yi and Li Feihong wanted both Zhou Yu and Sun Ce dead right away.

    Xun You and Ju Shou were a bit more cautious, so they hoped for a wait-and-see policy.

    Xun Yu had many brains with him in Xuchang, including the schemer Cao Cao. As a result, they were more thorough with their thoughts and ns.

    But one piece of advice shocked all officers.

    Jia Xu: "Easy. Kill Liu Xie, Zhou Yu, and Sun Ce."

    Everyone: "WHAT!?"

    It was sphemy for requesting to kill Tong¡¯s first prince.

    Jia Xu: "Liu Xie has already obtained the other world¡¯s memory, and his attitude has changed. We don¡¯t need a risk factor in our n. Take this chance and kill him along with the other threats."

    Sima Yi: "ARE YOU NUTS!? LIU XIE IS OUR FUCKING FIRST PRINCE!!"

    Although Sima Yi also had a cultivation method and gained the dream memory, he separated the two worlds from each other. He prioritized how he could use the past experience as guidance for this world.

    Liu Xie was his friend in this life, and he was not happy about Jia Xu¡¯s opinion.

    Sima Yi: "I know that Liu Xie can be handy at times, but he has done nothing wrong!"

    Liu Ye: "I disagree with Sir Jia¡¯s suggestion. We can¡¯t kill the first prince."

    Zhang Ji: "Me too. I¡¯m here from start to finish. His highness had been hiding from Sun Ce and Zhou Yu before they discovered him, so I don¡¯t think he wants to rebel against his majesty."

    Wei Yan: "I¡¯m with Sima Yi in this case. He¡¯s our friend, and I know that he¡¯s a good guy."

    All Liu Xie¡¯s colleagues rebuked Jia Xu¡¯s harsh advice. Though it might be effective for weeding out risk factors, killing an innocent for it was crossing the line.

    Even Liu Xie was also shocked. Everyone seemed to forget that he was also in the n chat.

    Liu Xie: "Father, I haven¡¯t agreed to their offer."

    Even Jia Xu did not bother following up with his suggestion, many generals and officers chastised his idea. Some were even mad at this wicked strategist for being ruthless. As for the rest, they begged Tong not to agree with Jia Xu as they feared that Tong might favor this suggestion.

    As everyone was panicked by Jia Xu¡¯s vicious strategy, another newbie showed up.

    Zhuge Liang: "All of you suck."

    Everyone: "WHAT!?"

    It was like pouring oil into the fire. Everyone was already in a bad mood, so getting trolled by a new upstart youngster like Zhuge Liang infuriated them.

    Moreover, Zhuge Liang had not obtained a cultivation method. Everyone knew that he was still just a brat, not the legendary strategist in the other world.

    None of them was aware that it was a psychological method to gain their attention.

    And it was super effective!

    Sima Yi: "Do you have any better idea, Mr. sleeping dragon?"

    As a former nemesis, Sima Yi was curious about how Zhuge Liang coulde up with a better idea.

    Zhuge Liang: "We don¡¯t need to kill anyone or keep anyone hostage. Send them home without epting any of their offers. Let them prove their worth and bring us Sun Fang¡¯s head first, then we¡¯ll talk."

    Sima Yi: "That¡¯s it?"

    Zhuge Liang: "That¡¯s it. One move at a time."

    Sima Yi: "That¡¯s a disappointment. I thought you would havee up with aplex strategy."

    Zhuge Liang: "Best strategies are something simple, user-friendly, executable, and unconditional. Complex ones that can¡¯t be executed are as good as having none. Besides, conditional stratagems are easily thwarted when the chain-of-ploys are discovered. One of the processes is cut... Boom... the n is ruined."

    Sima Yi: "True."

    Sima Yi could not refute that.

    Sima Yi: "So, what do you think about the potential infighting between his highness and his majesty."

    Now, Sima Yi was crossing the line. From his tone, it could be implied that Sima Yi was sure that Liu Xie would rebel against Tong.

    Zhuge Liang: "What hasn¡¯t happened, hasn¡¯t happened. I see no rebellion in our ranks."

    Sima Yi: "..."

    The entire conversation was sidetracked by the advisors. Immediately, Tong concluded his policy and ended the argument before it escted.

    Tong: "Follow Zhuge Liang¡¯s idea. Send them home and tell them to kill Sun Fang first. Without his head, I won¡¯t ept their surrender. As for Liu Xie, he has done nothing wrong in this regard. No need to punish him anything."

    Tong: "Liu Xie, you don¡¯t have to worry about anything. Keep doing your job over there. Your father has your back."

    Tong: "Remember, I was, and I am never your enemy. No matter if your sword is pointing at me, I still love you and will always love you."

    .

    After reading all the messages, Liu Xie¡¯s emotion went through a roller coaster. He was mad by Jia Xu, who wanted to kill him. He feared of getting lynched by the strategists or killed by Tong because of Jia Xu¡¯s idea. Then, he was relieved that Tong, Sima Yi, Liu Ye, Zhuge Liang, and Wei Yan were on his side.

    Rereading Tong¡¯s messages, Liu Xie felt guilty. As he never received fatherly love in the previous timeline, he did not know how to react with such kindness.

    Uncontrobly, Liu Xie¡¯s eyes brimmed with tears. He sniffed hard, swallowing all watery fluid in his nostrils back into his throat.

    By instinct, Liu Xie looked at Sun Ce and Zhou Yu with red eyes. Since Tong expressed that he was not Liu Xie¡¯s enemy, the prince questioned why he even nned or tried to wrestling Tong for the throne.

    He looked at Dong Bai and Diaochan again. This time, his desire and lust dispersed.

    ¡¯Did I just want my stepmothers as my wives!? What was I thinking!? Didn¡¯t I have enlightenment that all women were the same when I was the emperor back then? Why do I have to bother trying to seize the throne when father is doing everything he could to end the civil war!?¡¯

    A change of heart usually urred when one sobered from evil thoughts or when someone dear to them was supporting their fragile heart with love.

    Sometimes, a simple sentence, [I love you], might stop someone frommitting a grave mistake.

    *FLASH*

    Behind Liu Xie¡¯s back, a soul emerged from him for the second time.

    With two ck wings, Liu Xie took another step to immortality as he became an official demon.

    The soul behind Liu Xie was his former self in the other world. It was the soul of an emperor with golden robes.

    Liu Xie and the soul gazed at Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, who were gobsmacked by the development.

    "I¡¯ve received an order from my father. You will have to prove your worth first by killing Sun Fang and bring his head to his majesty. Without Sun Fang¡¯s head, we have nothing to talk about!"

    Dong Bai and Diaochan were astonished by the change of Liu Xie¡¯s character. At first, they thought that this prince was just a good-for-nothing ex-emperor, which was there to be Tong¡¯s stepping stone. However, his attitude and charisma just now looked like a proper prince-in-training.

    Sun Ce and Zhou Yu were shocked as well. From their experience in the other world, they thought that this former emperor was an ipetent idiot that could be easily manipted.

    Since their n failed, Zhou Yu and Sun Ce bid farewell and retreated from Jibei.

    Diaochan and Dong Bai also allowed them to leave since it was Tong¡¯s order.

    .

    .

    Zhou Yu and Sun Ce returned to Jianye in November. Their expression did not look well after they confronted the six-wing demoness in person.

    "Bofu, we¡¯lly low and focus on cultivating."

    "I agree. Armies are not mattered now. I need at least six wings before I fight that woman!"

    "No... You¡¯ll need at least 8. If a six-wing demon can travel from Ye to Jibei in a sh, what about Lu Bu?"

    "..."

    The oppression of Lu Bu¡¯s existence scared them from taking any more risky action. None of them was aware that it was Zhuge Liang¡¯s false story since Lu Bu¡¯s real strength was still in the six-wing tier.

    Zhuge Liang¡¯s hidden stratagem seeded without anyone realizing it. The year ended without a war as the sleeping dragon had envisioned.

 Chapter 461 Leaving Battle Royale Zone

    Chapter 461 - Leaving Battle Royale Zone

    July 15th, 194 AD.

    Zhangye County, west of Wuwei County

    Danxia Landform, a series of rainbow hills and mountains, was a part of Zhangye County. The scenery of this province was one of the heritages that the world recognized as a natural wonder. Aside from merchants who traveled through here to the westnd, this ce was a tourist spot that many schrs came here to broaden their horizon.

    On the Silkroad, a group of wagons, carrying 2,000 men and their supplies, journeyed through the colorful valley of Danxia Landform.

    Pu Jing, Chen Gong, Zhang Miao, and their entourage continued traveling west, passing through the northwest territory of Liu Bei undetected. Because of their former wealth, they managed to amass their food supply and trade with the local merchants for profit.

    Now, they had more wares, pottery, gold, and resources to trade with the westerners. Chen Gong was positive that once they reached the Kushan Empire, they would be able to hire more mercenaries and formed a new noble house in the foreignnd. Then, they could start over by taking over weak countries in the west.

    However, Pu Jing opposed the idea as he had another n.

    "My lord, what is this Roman Empire that you¡¯re talking about?"

    Chen Gong still did not understand Pu Jing¡¯s goal.

    "It¡¯s an empire that is currently a powerhouse, stronger than Kushan or Parthian at the moment, but they are currently in declination. We¡¯ll fish in troubled waters, but the risk will be worth it. If we y our card right, the entire European countries will fall to our hands."

    "Yu-lo-pian? What¡¯s that?"

    "Kuku, it¡¯s a region. Let¡¯s say it¡¯s a name of western barbariannd."

    "Oh!"

    Pu Jing¡¯s vision was not limited to just a single country. He aimed for world domination as he was not satisfied risking his life for a small territory of China.

    The odds were against him in the previous political war between him, Cao Cao, and Tong. Since he could not win, Pu Jing did not want to waste his time struggling for a small piece of meat against elite yers.

    China possessed too many otherworlders and historical figures that regained their memories.

    However, Pu Jing believed he held more chances in the west since there was not any strongpetitor like Li Feihong, Tong, or Te Langpu. Without otherworlders, he could use his modern knowledge at his best advantage.

    Pu Jing had many backup ns in his sleeves. He could enter Rome as a merchant convoy, mercenary band, or ve traders. Although it was impossible for an Asian to rise in Roman¡¯s central government, he could always force his way in their court by expanding his wealth and military power. Then, the desired political influence would follow naturally.

    Or better, he could use his system skills to abuse the locals.

    Gods and religions in this period were still vague as they came from different sources. A random madman could establish his religion easily if he had a bit of magic trick knowledge and skills.

    Pu Jing, who could use system skills to either summon ice or bears, would be idolized as a prophet in an instant!

    As Pu Jing and his caravan crossed Zhangye County, a system notification arrived.

    Pu Jing scoffed, ¡¯What if I don¡¯t n to return?¡¯

    Reading the penalty warning, Pu Jing frowned. He operated his system menu and texted a message to Lilim.

    "Is there a way for me to leave China without getting my skills deleted?"

    Lilim responded to his inquiry.

    [I want a tribute of a hundred million lifespan. Then, I¡¯ll pull you off from this battle royale game.]

    Pu Jing had the urge to scold Lilim that it was impossible. However, his negotiation experience and the past discipline stopped the former premier¡¯s action.

    Negotiation was a form of agreement. If Pu Jing wanted to bargain with Lilim, the former had to givetter that the idea came from herself, and she profited from it. On the other hand, Pu Jing had to exploit this psychological thinking and get the best advantage out of it.

    "I¡¯ll send tributes to you, but I can¡¯t at the moment. Do you think you can make an arrangement or adjust a few terms? I don¡¯t mind if my n is disbanded in the process, but I want to keep my skills. I even paid my precious lifespans to buy them from you, remember?"

    [... Right. Well, if you only want to keep your skills, I can reduce the total payment a bit. How about 80 million?]

    "Can¡¯t it be lowered? 40 Million."

    [Nope. 80, no less, or no deal.]

    The terms were still not fair to Pu Jing, but he knew that he could always scam Lilim.

    "Can I pay by installment?"

    [Installment? Sure. I¡¯ll charge you with interests, though.]

    "I don¡¯t mind. At the moment, I¡¯m a 4-wing angel, and I can only cultivate 800,000 YLS (Years of Lifespans) a year max. Or, I can do 400,000 if I only cultivate during my sleeping time. I¡¯ll pay you 200,000 YLS a year. How¡¯s that sound?"

    [That will take you at least 400 years to pay me all of that, and I haven¡¯t added the interest rate yet.]

    "What¡¯s your price tag, then?"

    [10% interest rate a year!]

    "Don¡¯t be silly. Can you lower the total amount of lifespan fee and exempt the interest rate for the first 200 years? If you charge me a 10% rate a year, I¡¯ll have to pay you 8 million YLS of interest. That¡¯s a bit unfair to your customer, no?"

    [... You¡¯re right. But 200 years are too long. I don¡¯t think I can give you too much time for that.]

    "Try to put yourself in my shoes. 200 Years are 40 million YLS. Then, I still have another 40 million to pay off the debt, and the interest rate is still the expensive 4 million a year. Even if it¡¯s my term, I¡¯m still in trouble, no?"

    .

    Meanwhile, on Mt. Tai, Lilim was sitting in her floating ind, staring at a semi-transparent monitor before her, using a system calctor to check if this deal was profitable to her or not.

    "200 Years ... Then, he will pay me 40 million years, and he will have 40 million LS in debt ... The interest will be 4 million a year ... yikes!"

    Lilim attempted to put herself in Pu Jing¡¯s shoes. By calcting what he had to pay andpared with his increasing outstanding debt, she had an idea.

    "Can I make him my forever debt ve?"

    Sheughed as she pulled data from modern banks, researching a debt structure from the 21st-century world.

    .

    Back to Pu Jing

    [Hahaha! You¡¯re right. Well, you¡¯re quite smart, aren¡¯t you? I¡¯m surprised that you know a lot about this even though your previous government isn¡¯t into capitalism. I don¡¯t mind giving you two hundred years interest rate free!]

    "Then, what about the total debt? Can you reduce it a bit? I only ask for two nonsensical skills and your permission to leave the country. I don¡¯t mind if I¡¯m still in the game, you know."

    Pu Jing began bargaining. This was a crucial point if he could fool Lilim with his scam trick.

    [I won¡¯t reduce it, but I¡¯ll give you special interest rates.]

    "How special?"

    [First 200 years, interest-free. 1% Rate in the year 201 to 300, 5% rate for the year 301 to 400, and 10% rate afterward. The interest rate is so cheap that even loaners in your world are going to drool over this term, you know?]

    It was a progressive interest rate from a loan shark in the 21st-century, which was a capitalism trap. If the debtee could not decrease their outstanding debt on time before the interest rate rose, they would be forever a debt ve, which would have to work for the rest of their lives paying off their interests.

    However, Lilim overcharged the interest rate beyond the 400 years as she wanted to trap him.

    In reality, Pu Jing could not possibly pay off for the debt at the moment. The 1% interest rate a year would still be 400,000 lifespan, which was higher than Pu Jing had agreed to pay annually.

    "That¡¯s fine with me, but can I add a few terms?" Pu Jing pretended to fall for her n.

    [What terms?]

    "Well, the minimum payment is 200,000 lifespan, correct?"

    [Correct.]

    "Then, hypothetically in the future, I cultivate a lot and get 800,000 lifespans that year, and I want to pay more than usual, say, 500,000 instead of 200,000. The additional amount I pay will reduce the outstanding debt I have, and it won¡¯t be calcted in your interest rate in that year."

    [I get the picture. It¡¯s a modern loan payment system, right?]

    "Yes, very simr to that."

    [I see no trouble with that.]

    "Also, I would like to add that if I pay off the debt within the first 200 years, I hope to get a reward from you."

    [Extorting a reward from me?]

    "Correct. I want to cultivate demonic arts, just like how Zhang Tong is cultivating."

    [That¡¯s impossi-wait.]

    Lilim almost said that it would be impossible, but she had another idea.

    [I have another idea. Since this is a big tributeing from you, I can give you a reward if you seed in paying off the debt. I can make you cultivate both angel and demon wings, but you will have toplete the deal first to prove yourself.]

    Pu Jing snickered. Everything went ording to his n.

    "Alright. You promised."

    .

    Lilim cackled in a high pitch voice as she also conned Pu Jing.

    It was impossible to cultivate both angel and demon wings without a unique constitution or bloodline. However, she learned a few tricks after she had experimented with Liu Yang¡¯s daughter, Hua Shi, and Sun Quan.

    The resolution to this problem was simple.

    All Lilim had to do was to reincarnate Pu Jing as one of their sons or daughters!

    "HAHAHAHA! I know what you¡¯re trying to do, Pu Jing. Once you reestablished a new n and recruited a bunch of immortals, you can just pay off the debt in the first 200 years by having them donating lifespan for you! I saw what Zhang Tong has done to his n, fool!"

    She did not care if Pu Jing might extort an additional cultivation technique by bribing her with lifespan. As long as this dimension grew stronger, she did not mind giving leeway to these sinners.

    Moreover, she encouraged them to do it. Until thest otherworlder remained, she wanted them to abuse everything for the sake of their goals.

    .

    .

    Getting the approval from Lilim, Pu Jing crossed the sinner game¡¯s boundary and exited thebat zone.

    Pu Jing heaved a sigh of relief that he exited the civil war. For now, he was safe from Tong, Lu Bu, and other immortals.

    "Let¡¯s go. I want to conquer Europe within 20 years."

    Everyone followed after Pu Jing to the west.

 Chapter 462 Clan Invitation Queue

    Chapter 462 - n Invitation Queue

    A notification appeared before Cao Cao, who was patrolling his territory with his men in Xuchang.

    Not only Cao Cao got this announcement from the system, Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan by his sides also got the notification as they were in the n.

    "Good riddance. He finally disbands this stupid system," Xiahou Dun did not like the n chat as it disturbed his privacy. For him, it felt as if he was being watched by others whenever he used the n chat.

    "Ha! It¡¯s better for us. With this, we can jump to Zhang Tong¡¯s n, and our survival is guaranteed."

    As an opportunist and careerist, Cao Cao was happy on this asion. Once he became a member of Tong¡¯s n, he could obtain more support from this son-inw, social status, political influence, and prosperity for his Cao House, and Xiahou House.

    Not being the top dog or an emperor was not a problem. Being an inflexible politician in a troubled time was the problem.

    For someone like Cao Cao, who already had experienced thick and thins in the other world, struggling in a hopeless war gave him too much headache. He did not want to die by a brain tumor ever again.

    "So, are we working for Zhang Tong for real now?" Xiahou Yuan was concerned.

    "Half correct! We are still working for ourselves, but we will only bow to Zhang Tong when ites to the authority tier. We don¡¯t bow to others."

    "Oh?"

    Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan understood what Cao Cao had nned to do. Since they could not fight Tong anymore, they would not fight him.

    However, it could not be said that they would not fight against Tong¡¯s subordinates to expand their political influence. With both Cao Xian and Cao Qinghe in Tong¡¯s harem, Cao Cao pondered if they could use their identities as royal consorts to draw Tong¡¯s men to his side.

    Cao Cao thought about Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, and Zhang He, whom Tong had snatched from him in this life.

    "Very interesting, Kekeke!"

    The minister giggled to himself, enjoying this world¡¯s development. For the first time, he wanted to hug Tong and call him GOOD SON.

    "Mengde, what about Liu Bei and Sun Ce?"

    Xiahou Dun¡¯s question interrupted Cao Cao¡¯s happy fantasy. His face grimaced as he was reminded of unpleasant pasts.

    "Sun Ce will likely surrender to Zhang Tong since that motherfucker really fucked his mother. What a nasty bastard. I also want to bang Wu Guotai, but he took her first! Come to think of it, that motherfucker stole Cai Wenji and Du Shi from me, too!"

    "Cai Yan is not even your wife in the other life. She is just a sessor of Master Cai Yong, no?"

    "She¡¯s still a pretty woman, damn you!"

    Cao Cao threw a tantrum and pouted as if he was a child, which made both his cousinsugh. The gloomy atmosphere disappeared because of Cao Cao¡¯s yful action.

    Xiahou brothers did not know that Cao Cao did it on purpose, so they could rx a bit.

    Cao Mengde got back to the point, "Well, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu is not a threat since their n has splitted into two. We¡¯ll only need to worry about Liu Bei and Pu Jing. But since Zhang Tong is taking the helm, we¡¯ll sit back, rx, and enjoy a cup of tea while we¡¯re watching them fighting each other to thest man."

    "... If you say so."

    All of them returned to the city hall, so they could gather all of their officers and prepare for the uing development.

    Cao Cao¡¯s eyes now shifted from the northern provinces toward the northwest regions, looking at the Liang Province and Chang¡¯An.

    ¡¯Thetest intel said that Guan Yu has 6 wings. If he evolves into an 8-wing angel like Lu Bu, this can be troublesome. But he¡¯s only one man at the moment. As long as my men can reach the 6-wing tier, I can hold more bargain chips to deal with both Zhang Tong and Liu Bei...¡¯

    .

    Cao Cao returned to the assembly hall and gathered all executive officers for an emergency meeting.

    Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, and Xun Yu rushed there right away.

    Upon hearing that Pu Jing had disbanded the n, Xun Yu requested permission to report this matter to Tong.

    "Can I report this to the emperor?"

    "Go ahead. Tell him that I want to be in his n as soon as possible. I want to chat with his officers."

    "Understood."

    ...

    Xun Yu exined the new development to Tong. However, the former received an odd response.

    Tong: "Tell him that our queue is full at the moment. I can only take him and his nsmen to our system n in the next 3 years or so."

    Xun Yu: "Why, your majesty?"

    Tong: "I can only recruit 5 new members each year, and I only have one reserved for Zhuge Liang this year. For the next year, I n to pick up all leftover personals in other cities."

    Several new officers had not joined the n yet, such as Hu-Che-Er, Hua Xin, Huang Wan, and many others. Tong also nned to put his nonbatant concubines into the group, so he could ensure that they could be immortals and preserve their beauty.

    Moreover, he wanted to be closer to them and stop them from having a silly idea, such as pushing their daughters to the throne or make their future husband a new emperor and such.

    Infighting between his children was something that Tong wanted to prevent right now.

    Xun Yu: "But I thought that all senior officers have already been enlisted into our n?"

    Tong: "There are several governors that I need them into the n for the sake of far-distancemunication. Also, I heard from Zhang He that a few promising individuals are hiding in his legion, am I right?"

    Zhang He: "Affirmative. We¡¯ve found Yan Yan and Zhang Ren in our legion. They can be great assets to our kingdom if we assign them into the right job."

    Yan Yan was an elite general under Liu Yan¡¯s n while Zhang Ren was a talented officer was said to have killed Pang Tong in the other timeline. These two generals might not have as many achievements as the other great generals in the same era, but they were exceptionalmanders nheless.

    Tong: "Tell Cao Cao that I can¡¯t take him in just yet. Be a little patient."

    Xun Yu: "Yes, your majesty."

    ...

    Cao Cao rubbed his temples as he listened to Xun Yu. He was confused about why Tong did not want to put them into his n first since it would bar them from rebelling forever.

    Cao Cao thought that Tong should have known about the historical records since thetter came from the future. Therefore, picking generals and a few above-average officers over a dominant figure was a questionable move.

    "So, Zhang Tong did not see us as the top priority?"

    Xun Yu had a wry smile on his face, "I think his majesty prioritize the order of arrival. His officers are waiting to be invited into the n for years, but his quota each year was limited."

    "How many men can he invite into his n a year?"

    "The total of all otherworlders in his n. Currently, it¡¯s 5."

    "Ah, I can¡¯t help it then."

    It was disappointing, but Cao Cao could wait. Since they had Xun Yu as a mediator between the two factions, they did not need to rush.

    .

    .

    .

    Cao Cao and his men were not the only ones who received the disbandment notification.

    Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang was celebrating his freedom.

    "Kekeke! You should have done so a billion years ago, Pu Jing! Your ambition is a waste of time! You¡¯re inefficient, talentless, dumb, and inconsiderate! Kekeke!"

    Because of his frustration and a teenager¡¯s mentality, Zhuge Liang kept dissing Pu Jing behind his back.

    Soon, Zhuge Liang was summoned to the throne room.

    Last time, Zhuge Liang entered Ye Pce with Cao Cao as an extra. But now, he was taking the spotlight as he was explicitly summoned.

    The teenager strategist was in the center of the decorated throne hall. Golden pirs and civil officers surrounded him, which made it ufortable.

    Tong stared at this youth with aplicated expression.

    ¡¯Should I give him back the memory? Will he betray me and join Liu Bei afterward?¡¯

    He hesitated if he should hire Zhuge Liang and give him the cultivation method.

    There were pros and cons for giving Zhuge Liang the other timeline memory, but there were also cons for not giving this strategist what he deserved.

    This strategist¡¯s loyalty toward Liu Bei was known to be on par as Guan Yu¡¯s. Since Zhuge Liang was a sly nner, he could potentially work for Tong on the surface, but he might give Liu Bei¡¯s Tong¡¯s n chat information in secret.

    Not giving Zhuge Liang the cultivation method also had many cons as the strategist was still na?ve and inexperienced in this world. Tong did not know if he could be as talented as Liu Bei¡¯s Zhuge Liang.

    ¡¯Fuck it, I might as well risk it!¡¯

    Tong was about to press the invite button and give Zhuge Liang the invitation.

    At the split second before he hit the button, the corner of Tong¡¯s eyes saw Sima Fang, who was observing Tong with his emotionless expression.

    It reminded Tong that there was someone with the otherworld¡¯s memory, who was also Zhuge Liang¡¯s nemesis.

    Sima Yi!

    ¡¯Right. I should ask this guy if I should give him the memory right now.¡¯

    Tong put his thought to action right away.

    .

    Tong: "Zhongda, are you there?"

    Sima Yi did not reply right away, but his father answered for his son.

    Sima Fang: "Why are you asking for my son, your majesty?"

    Tong: "I need his advice before I do something stupid."

    Sima Fang: "Is this matter rte to Zhuge Liang?"

    Tong: "Yes. Now, Sima Zhongda! If you don¡¯t reply before I count to three, say goodbye to Zhang Min ¡¯cause I won¡¯t allow you to see her ever again!"

    Within a split second, Sima Yi appeared.

    Sima Yi: "What does the first princess have to do with this, your majesty? Why are you threatening me?"

    Tong: "Shut up! I have enough reasons to behead you for courting my daughter, you scoundrel! Don¡¯t you think I¡¯m not aware of your past deeds!"

    Sima Yi: "... My sincerest apologies, your majesty. I only apanied her as her retainer. I¡¯ll shut my mouth now."

    Tong: "Not yet! I need your thoughts on this matter."

    Sima Yi: "But you said I have to shut my mouth?"

    Tong: "Forget that order! Now, tell me, should I give Zhuge Liang the memory of the other timeline?"

 Chapter 463 Love-Hate Relationship

    Chapter 463 - Love-Hate Rtionship

    In the end, Sima Yi suggested that Tong should ept Zhuge Liang into the guild, but he should not give him the memory or the cultivation method just yet.

    As the rtionship between Tong and Zhuge Liang was not that close, thetter had a high chance that he would betray Tong for Liu Bei.

    Tong agreed to Sima Yi¡¯s advice and took Zhuge Liang into the n, hoping to brainwash this youth for a few years first before they could give him the memory.

    Zhuge Liang: "Hi! Nice to meet you all! I¡¯m looking forward to working with you!"

    The teenager was optimistic about this development. Unbeknownst to Tong and everyone, he had always wanted to work with these immortals to learn from them.

    Zhao Yun: "Wee, Kongming! I¡¯m d I can work with you again!"

    The white horse general was more than happy to see another Shu officer joining Tong. With this former pir of Shu, Zhao Yun was confident that the current Han Dynasty¡¯s future was looking bright.

    Wei Yan: "Wee, chancellor. I hope your subordinates won¡¯t execute me again in this life. I really did not n to betray Shu thest time after you died, and everything I did was a misunderstanding and mimunication. I hope you don¡¯t mind about my past mistakes."

    In the previous life, Wei Yan was in because of a misunderstanding.

    During thete year of 234, after Zhuge Liang died by illness during the campaign against Sima Yi at Wuzhang in, Zhuge Liang¡¯s subordinates, Jiang Wei, Fei Yi, and Yang Yi seeded the strategist.

    However, a misunderstanding urred. As Wei Yan, who was leading the vanguard troops, was not on good terms with Yang Yi, both sides used each other that they might betray Shu to Wei. In reality, Wei Yan never nned to surrender to Wei, but he wanted to continue fighting against Sima Yi and his generals while Yang Yi wanted to follow others and retreat.

    Yet, the majority believed in Yang Yi¡¯s usation over Wei Yan¡¯s words because Wei Yan¡¯s action was suspicious to others as well.

    The general was branded as a traitor. Shu generals chased after him and killed him in the process. Also, All of Wei Yan¡¯s family members were executed.

    Tragic as it might be, Wei Yan did not care about the injustice incidents anymore. After all, he of this world wanted to prove himself that he was a loyal man.

    The civil war went well, and he had a good career under Tong¡¯s government. He did not want to be in a precarious position like the past anymore.

    Zhou Cang: "Wee, brother! Let¡¯s fight together again. I won¡¯t die ahead of you this time!"

    As for Zhou Cang, he was once a retainer of Guan Yu. Unfortunately, he and Zhuge Liang did not have many chances to work together.

    At the end of 220, after Zhou Cang learned about Guan Yu¡¯s death, hemitted suicide.

    After he obtained the memory of the other lifetime, Zhou Cang regretted that he did not believe in Zhuge Liang¡¯s advice and warned Guan Yu to retreat from Jing Province on time when the secret alliance between Cao Cao and Sun Quan happened.

    Now, they got to work together again. Zhou Cang also hoped that Tong could convince Guan Yu to join him, too, so they could redeem themselves.

    Despite all former Shu officers weing him, Zhuge Liang was confused because he had not obtained the other memory yet.

    Zhuge Liang: "Eh? Do I know you?"

    Zhao Yun: "I forgot. His majesty hasn¡¯t blessed you yet, right? Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯ll understand after you get it."

    Zhuge Liang: "Blessing? What blessing?"

    Sima Yi suddenly inserted himself into Shu Kingdom¡¯s conversation.

    Sima Yi: "Something that makes you smarter. You¡¯re nothing but a stupid brat at the moment."

    Zhuge Liang: "Hey! That¡¯s rude! I don¡¯t even know you, and I¡¯m sure I never offended you. Why are you insulting me?"

    Sima Yi: "Huhuhu. Silly upstart strategist like you has no idea."

    Zhuge Liang: "What do you mean? I don¡¯t understand. Can someone borate on why this "Sima Yi" person is insulting me?"

    Sima Yi: "Don¡¯t tell him. I want to see him cry."

    Zhuge Liang: "Eh? You¡¯re cruel! I won¡¯t talk to you again."

    Sima Yi: "You will definitely need to talk to me a lot. After all, I have an official strategist position in a legion while you¡¯re not."

    Zhuge Liang: "Braggart!"

    Sima Yi: "Huhuhu!"

    Xu Huang: "..."

    Zhang Liao: "..."

    Zhao Yun: "..."

    Zhang He: "..."

    All elites and former participants of the early Three Kingdom Period was speechless by Sima Yi¡¯s childishness and bullying. Although thetter¡¯s action was somewhat harsh, they could sense happiness in Sima Yi¡¯s tone.

    Tong: "... Tsundere."

    Jia Xu: "What¡¯s tsundere, your majesty?"

    Tong: "An immortal vocabry. It depicts a cold person, but his heart can be the opposite. In this case ..."

    Jia Xu: "Ah, I get it! Someone with a mouth that doesn¡¯t go along with his heart."

    Tong: "Something like that."

    Sima Yi: "Your majesty. For some reason, I think you¡¯re discussing something rude about me. Are you secretly insulting me with your strange vocabry?"

    Sima Fang: "His majesty wasn¡¯t insulting anyone, but I will be insulting you! I¡¯ll visit Ganling in winter, and I want to see you there in one piece! Don¡¯t you dare running away, or I¡¯ll demote you myself, brat!"

    Sima Yi: "DEAR FATHER, WAIT! THAT¡¯S A MISUNDERSTANDING!!"

    Afterward, Sima Fang used the n chat to sermon Sima Yi for hours, which made all n membersugh.

    .

    .

    .

    Xiangyang City

    Ju Shou was interested in this Zhuge Liang and the story behind his deeds in the other life. As someone who died early, he was curious about how thend fared after his death.

    Since he had learned that Zhang He was the only one here who managed to live and see the birth of the Three Kingdoms Period, Ju Shou visited Zhang He, hoping to learn about Zhuge Liang and the war between Wei and Shu.

    Along the way, Ju Shou ran into Gao Shun and Lu Bu, who had just finished their daily training routine.

    "Strategist Ju? Where are you going? Are you dining out today?"

    It was almost 6 PM, so Gao Shun thought that Ju Shou was visiting the city for dinner.

    "No, I¡¯m visiting General Zhang today. I¡¯m curious about the other world. You see, I didn¡¯t live long enough to see the birth of Wei, Wu, and Shu Dynasty."

    Lu Bu¡¯s interest piqued, "Mind if I tag along?"

    "Sure. The more, the merrier!"

    The gang visited Zhang He, who was having dinner with his family in his new household.

    .

    Last year, Zhang He married a daughter of a local noble from Kuai House, who was a subordination n of Liu Biao.

    As this young general had been camping in foreignnds for a long time, his natural desire for a family came to him. Also, because Zhang He had to contact Liu Biao¡¯s executive officers for their cooperation in supply and military training, he got to meet the two advisors of Liu Biao, Kuai Yue and Kuai Liang.

    The two advisors took a liking of this bachelor general, so they tied him with their family by wedding Kuai Liang¡¯s daughter to Zhang He.

    Now, both Zhang He and Kuai House became rtives, and the former had something to protect in this city.

    .

    "My lord, you have visitors," A servant came to inform Zhang He anddy Kuai about their untimely visitors.

    It was rare for Zhang He to have guests as he was a workaholic, so the wife ordered her maids to prepare extra dinners for the visitors.

    A few minutes after Zhang He had told the servant to fetch the guests, Lu Bu, Ju Shou, and Gao Shun arrived.

    "Senior Lu, Sir Ju, Sir Gao? What bring you all here? Come, take a seat."

    ...

    The gang ended up having dinner at Zhang He¡¯s house. After they exchanged pleasantries and Zhang He¡¯s wife retreated, the three curious returners got to the point.

    "Junyi, we want to ask you about the Three Kingdoms Period. Can you tell us the story after thend had divided into three in the other world?" Asked Lu Bu.

    Zhang He was amused, "Oh? You¡¯re here because of that?"

    "I read the n chat, and I¡¯m curious about this Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi¡¯s rtionship. What happened between these two?"

    Zhang Heughed. As someone who died trying to capture Zhuge Liang, the general told his Three Kingdoms story from his point of view.

    ...

    An hourter, Zhang He finished his story, which ended in the year 231, three years before the death of Zhuge Liang.

    "You died by an arrow to the knee?" Gao Shun, Lu Bu, and Ju Shou were astonished.

    "A silly death, right? I was on Qi Mountain at that time, and we didn¡¯t have a proper wound dressing. I think it was because of wound poisoning."

    Lu Bu shook his head andughed, "No, your death was an adventurous one. You died in the middle of a battle, so there¡¯s nothing to be embarrassed about. Gao Shun and I got hung by Cao Cao. Strategist Ju got killed by Cao Cao¡¯s men. Heck, none of us got to die fighting."

    Gao Shun nodded, "Indeed, we should be the one embarrassed. Say, since this Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang were rivals in the previous life, will they get along this time?"

    "I don¡¯t know. We have to ask his majesty or Sir Li Feihong. Senior Lu, you are close to Sir Li, right? You should ask him for his other version of the Zhuge-Sima rtionship. He should know about this."

    Lu Bu chuckled, "I might as well ask Tong for it."

    "His majesty probably won¡¯t tell you in the n chat. Zhuge Liang is still there, and I think he has a reason for not giving this new guy a cultivation method yet."

    As Zhang He, Gao Shun, and Lu Bu discussed otherworlder¡¯s versions of the Three Kingdoms Period, Ju Shou reread the old log and figured out the absurd rtionship Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi had.

    "I think they saw each other at that time as a nemesis in the previous life, but Sima Yi is treating the new guy as apetitive rival now. The softcore bullying is the proof."

    Everyone got interested, "Are you sure?"

    "Yes. His majesty hinted with this "Tsundere" word and a short exnation. I think Sima Yi didn¡¯t mean to bully Zhuge Liang, but he is treating him like an old friend."

    The gang got the idea and burst intoughter.

    "Sima Yi is too childish!"

    "He¡¯s cute, though!"

    Because of the mood and the alcohol, Zhang He¡¯s tongue slipped, "Their rtionship reminds me of how his majesty treated senior Lu recently. Aren¡¯t they the same?"

    .

    .

    .

    Theughter stopped as the atmosphere went silent.

    .

    .

    .

    *RUMBLE*

    .

    .

    .

    Cold air enveloped Zhang He. Even though winter had not arrived yet, Zhang He¡¯s teeth were ttering.

    Lu Bu¡¯s face turned dark, "Junyi..."

    Zhang He¡¯s face also darkened, but he sweated bullets, "... I¡¯m sorry, senior."

    "Let¡¯s have an evening spar, shall we?"

    "I¡¯m still too full and too drunk. I don¡¯t think I can lift my halberd in this condition..."

    "Enemies won¡¯t wait for us to sober! Get your ass over here!"

    "I¡¯M SOWWWWWWYYYYYYYYY!!!"

    Lu Bu dragged Zhang He to an empty plot and began pummeling him with his detached souls.

    Gao Shun and Ju Shou gazed at them as they held their hands and prayed.

    "Rest in peace."

    "May you reincarnate to a better world."

    Both of them vowed that they would remember Zhang He¡¯s death date.

    Zhang He heard it and screamed in tears, "I¡¯M STILL ALIVE!!!"

 Chapter 464 Technology Race

    Chapter 464 - Technology Race

    December, 194 AD.

    Guangling County

    A hundred of burly master cksmiths, who would soon be gunsmiths, surrounded their team leader, observing what he was doing.

    On the cksmith¡¯s leader hands, gun parts were being assembled into one long item.

    *Click*

    Soon, a prototype musket of the Sun n waspleted.

    "Let¡¯s try to shoot it!" Asked an enthusiastic cksmith.

    The cksmith leader did just that. He poured a pinch of gunpowder and used a long thin pipe to shove an iron ball inside the long chamber. Clumsily, he aimed at a mud wall, where all cksmiths dispersed and gave this old man a room to shoot.

    *BANG*

    *PU*

    The iron ball punctured into the mud wall, creating a small hole in it.

    "Is it sessful?" An apprentice cksmith looked at the scene from afar.

    "Obviously, yes! It¡¯spleted!"

    Everyone celebrated that they achieved what Sun Fang had entrusted them to do.

    .

    Jiangdou Port, south of Guangling County

    500 Shipbuilders of this port were observing a new ship, which was sliding on wooden logs to the Yangtze River.

    The new ship did not have a square hull, which was an orthodox warship in this era. Instead, they had a narrow and curvy hull, sharp bow, and three tall masts on the front, center, and rear deck.

    Not only could this vessel sail by paddles, but the sailcloths on the mast could also be used to take advantage of the wind and propel the ship forward without paddles.

    This was the first galley that Sun Fang designed by using his modern world¡¯s knowledge. It took him and his men a decade through a difficult trial-and-error project. Yet, theypleted it nheless.

    Sun Fang gazed at the first galley of china with a proud look.

    ¡¯I can¡¯t fight Zhang Tong and Sun Ce head-on, but I can at least advance my colony¡¯s technologies. With this ship and my shipbuilders, even if Sun Ce and Zhou Yu backstabbed me, I can migrate to either Japan or South Asia with this.¡¯

    Pu Jing was not the only one that nned to escape from China and start over in other countries. Sun Fang, too, had his sight on the Yamato Kingdom, the ancient Japan.

    Sun Fang knew that the Yamato Kingdom valued shipbuilders and warships, so he could make it big there. Staying in China and fighting Tong with his current military strength was a foolish idea.

    Unlike persistent antagonists in some novels, Sun Fang had a brain. He knew when to retreat when he could not win.

    *ZAAAAA*

    The galley entered the Yangtze River. As it floated and maintained on the water, all shipbuilders shouted and cheered, celebrating their sess.

    Sun Fang clenched his fists, ¡¯Next, I¡¯ll cultivate to at least 6-wing tier ASAP. I can¡¯t trust anyone but myself now!¡¯

    .

    .

    Chang¡¯An

    A simr celebration took ce in a workshop as Liu Bei¡¯s elite cksmith grouppleted their research and forged a new musket, which was more advanced than the prototype arquebus that they obtained from Cao Cao and Pu Jing.

    Moreover, Liu Bei, who had obtained a fraction of Ping¡¯s memory, came up with a new item for his Qiang Cavalry units.

    The stirrup

    A pair of leather and iron rings, attached to a saddle with a strap, was a tool for horsemen as an extra foothold during their ride, which made their bncing easier and morefortable, increasing the rider¡¯s efficiency in horsebats.

    The stirrup was invented during the Jin Dynasty Period, which did not exist during the Han Dynasty or the Three Kingdoms Era. However, the constraint dream of Ping¡¯s modern world reminded Liu Bei about many things that he could apply to his kingdom.

    At first, Guan Yu, Pang Tong, and everyone were skeptical about Liu Bei¡¯s new invention. But once the first stirruppleted, it changed their opinion about this ambitious lord¡¯s intelligence.

    With stirrup foothold, their horse units could instantly be elites, rivaling Lu Bu¡¯s former Mountaineer Legion, as they could perform on horseback better.

    This was something that even Tong overlooked. Thetter had too manypetent officers that his angst disappeared from his mind. Without the anxiety and the pressure from strong rivals, Tongcked the motive to invest everything into his technology development.

    But Liu Bei, who was pressured by Lu Bu¡¯s absurd cultivation strength and Tong¡¯s military power, kept struggling non-stop. He scrambled for anything that could increase the chance to win against Tong¡¯s elite legions, and it paid off.

    On a training field, Guan Yu equipped a stirrup on his horse and tried it.

    As soon as he ced his feet into the foothold rings, his riding experience changed.

    "This isfortable. I don¡¯t have to adjust my legs while I¡¯m riding anymore."

    Zhang Fei nodded in agreement since he had already tried it many times before, "First brother is surprisingly a genius! If we can mass-produce this, our cavalry units will be unstoppable!"

    "Indeed, but we have to secure our counter-intelligencework. Zhang Tong¡¯s spies can just steal our items and copy this for themselves. By the way, Yide, how many lifespans do you have now?"

    "Something 500,000 years? Why?"

    "I¡¯ve been talking to the goddess recently, and she said that our men can learn this cultivation method if we pay her 200,000 years of lifespan per person. I¡¯m nning to give it to Pang Tong, Xu Shu, and Ma Chao."

    "This will take a while. I can only cultivate like 400,000 to 500,000 lifespan a year."

    "Try to awaken your 5th and 6th wing. Then, you can cultivate at least 600,000 lifespans a year."

    "I¡¯ll try, second brother... There go my wine sessions."

    "Don¡¯t drink too much. You¡¯re going to die pissing off your subordinate again."

    "... I know."

    .

    .

    .

    February, 195 AD.

    The news about the new development of neighbor countries reached the ears of Tong and his men.

    Even though the threat of their new technologies and new toys could harm his men, Tong was not flustered or panic. Instead, he was delighted that his n finally bore fruits.

    So far, Tong had been pressuring all hostile forces with his military might and the overwhelming number of soldiers so that Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and Sun Ce could hasten their city development and technology.

    And it worked.

    Without doing anything but sitting and training his soldiers, Liu Bei and Sun Fang did the work for him by developing new war tools.

    ...

    Throne Room, Ye Pce, Morning Assembly Meeting

    As Dong Bai and Diaochan stopped harassing Tong at night, the pervert emperor¡¯s health got better. Tong¡¯s face regained color, which delighted his subordinates that this pir of the Han Dynasty would not die any time soon.

    Zhuge Liang took over Xun Yu¡¯s job and reported the finding of Liu Bei and Sun Fang¡¯s movements.

    Finished listening to the report, Tong summoned Te Langpu, "Mr. President..."

    Te Langpu stepped forward, questioned Tong¡¯s motive, "Your Majesty?"

    "I think stirrup is something that I overlooked after all these years. We should add this to our current development projects and mass produce this along with horse saddles, so it can be a set."

    Te Langpu grumbled, "So, the designer task is on me again?"

    "It¡¯s an easy job, much easier than developing muskets and smooth bore drills to make cannons or muskets."

    "Fine. I¡¯ll add this to my projects this year."

    Tong turned to Lu Zhi, "Master Lu."

    Lu Zhi grinned as he predicted that Tong was up to no good again, "Will it be a sabotage job, assassination, or stealing someone¡¯s wife this time, disciple?"

    Everyone in the throne roomughed. They were expecting that Tong might have plotted something nasty again, like how he took Wu Guotai or Cao Cao¡¯s daughters as his wives.

    "I can¡¯t take in anymore concubine, or my empress and prime consort will kill me. For now, I just want to know how Gan Ning¡¯s navy fleet development is going."

    "Oh, that¡¯s a disappointment. I was hoping that you can have more children."

    All civil officersughed again.

    "That¡¯s not funny, master. Think of my children. They¡¯re going to start killing each other if I have too many sessors."

    Lu Zhi shrugged, "You can just make it clear who will your crown prince be. Write a mandate and publish it to your people. Then, no one can deny that order, or they will be charged as rebels."

    Liu Xie¡¯s secret supporters were interested in this conversation. They wondered if Tong and Liu Xie were on good terms or not after the former had two more sons.

    "I¡¯ll announce it after I tested all of my sons. Back to the main topic, how is Gan Ning¡¯s navy?"

    "The frigate development? We have 10 hullspleted, but our shipbuilders are confused about the mast setting and your interior design. Also, Sir Li Feihong¡¯s lumber supply isn¡¯t enough for the research because of thest winter. Our soldiers turned them into firewood and distributed them to the Xiangping, Ji, Beiping, and Pyongyang. We have to wait for Sir Li to bring out more lumbers, or we¡¯ll have to start cutting forests."

    Tong shook his head right away as he dreaded natural disasters. Cutting forests recklessly might causendslides, floods, or irregr seasons.

    "Don¡¯t cut the forests. Leave them be, so the gods won¡¯t curse us. We don¡¯t want to piss them off by destroying natural gifts."

    It was just an excuse for not cutting trees or expanding theirnd remation. Since people in this period believed in supernatural phenomenon more than science facts, using an excuse rting to gods worked better than exining physics and natural science.

    Tong continued, "But, we won¡¯t leave Sun Fang alone. I want a special troop to infiltrate Sun Fang¡¯s city and buy the shipbuilders. Make them migrate to Beihei, so they can make ships for us."

    "Why not kidnapping them?"

    "We need their heart, not their bodies. I want them to work for us willingly. Bribe those shipbuilders and entice them with our sry standard. Promise them that no ve exists in our country."

    "...Ah, an underhanded tactic, I see. I¡¯ll see to it."

    "It¡¯s not underhanded if we do it in the open. Just make it public that we want their shipbuilders, and we¡¯re paying a lot for their services. I want more people to migrate to us, so we can get more household taxes, merchant taxes, ie taxes, and VAT from the merchandise they buy from us!"

    "... I take that back. You¡¯re an evil capitalist emperor, disciple."

    "Their money is our sry, master."

    "... I also take that back. We should bring more people to our territory and squeeze more taxes back from their wages. Money cirction never lies!"

    Listening to the absurd conversation, all civil officers sweated. Somehow, Tong and Lu Zhi¡¯s noble image was slowly degrading into sly money-grubbing officials after their kingdom¡¯s financial power improved.

    Still, Tong did not allow anyone to own property ornd yet, which troubled all noble ns who were waiting to buy back territories that they used to own.

    One of the officials in the throne room mustered his courage and asked Tong.

    "Your Majesty, when will you allow us to ownnds? Now that all of your enemies are no longer a threat, shouldn¡¯t you allow us to own some assets?"

    The speaker was Zhuge Liang!

 Chapter 465 Reward for Li Feihong?

    Chapter 465 - Reward for Li Feihong?

    Capitalism usually came with ie disparity between wealthy people and the poor. The poor would get poorer as they were often exploited by the investors, merchants, and court officials. On the other hand, the upper-ss civilians¡¯ status and wealth would continue to rise as they took advantage of the mary system.

    Unless one obtained financial knowledge and the right career, allbor ss civilians would be nothing but capitalists¡¯ ves.

    Te Langpu had been encouraging Tong to change the current totalitarian dictatorship monarchy system to capitalism republic monarchy, so the Han Dynasty would enter a rapid development era.

    However, a former policeman like Tong did not have enough experience in dealing with sensitive politic issues in the modern world, so he was afraid if it was the right decision to switch the government system now. After all, people in this eracked education, and they might be exploited by merchants and nobles.

    From Tong¡¯s point of view, civilian¡¯s education standard needed to be higher, or some noble ns might cause trouble.

    "No. Givingnds back to you right now will bring chaos and instability in our chain ofmand. Triads and greedy merchants will exploit their property rights, and uneducated peasants will be in trouble."

    "Your majesty, you can just limit the property rights to nobles or your subordinates with great deeds. Please think of your retainers like Lord Li Feihong, Lord Lu Zhi, or Lord Sima Fang. Everyone has contributed greatly to your Dynasty, but they can¡¯t even settle their roots and call their resident their real home."

    Tong could not refute that as he felt bad for his friend, mentor, and his respectable seniors.

    Seeing that the emperor stopped speaking, Zhuge Liang continued, "Your majesty, you don¡¯t have to give everyone the rights. You can just select a few trusted officers or senior officers. With this, you will encourage all your subordinates to work harder to get your favor!"

    "So, it¡¯s a stick and carrot thingy?" Tong understood a gist of it.

    "Yes. As long as you don¡¯t give too many rights to your retainers, there won¡¯t be a problem."

    "... I see."

    Tong was convinced. As he took a step back and thought about how Li Feihong and others worked so hard for him, he felt guilty that none of them got their deserved rewards other than gold and titles.

    They should at least get something back for their services.

    "... I understand."

    Civil officers and generals in the throne room cheered that they could finally expand their influence and territory after all these years.

    Zhuge Liang continued, "First, you should give this reward to Lord Li Feihong since he is the most valuable asset of our kingdom. Please give him at least a province worth of territory!"

    "An entire province!?"

    Not only Tong was shocked, but all officials in the room were also astonished as well.

    "Lord Li Feihong has been contributing countless resources to our cause without asking anything back in return. Such dedication and sacrifice isn¡¯t something to look down upon. He deserves this reward."

    "..."

    Deep down inside, Tong agreed with Zhuge Liang¡¯s suggestion. However, giving an entire province to be Li Feihong¡¯s private properties andnds might be too much.

    Once he thought about others who deserved some rewards, some of them might demand a simrpensation or an entire city for themselves. Giving too much territory or properties might also breed corruption and open a room for infighting between his subordinates.

    "I can only give him a city or a county, but I won¡¯t give him an entire province."

    Sima Fang heaved a sigh of relief that Tong was strong enough to limit his rewards. Had Tong given Li Feihong an entire province, a new faction might be born under Li Feihong¡¯s gs.

    "That will do," Zhuge Liang was somewhat disappointed, but he was relieved that Tong was kind enough to share a bit of his authority to his subordinates.

    .

    .

    Tong: "Feihong, are you there?"

    Li Feihong: "What¡¯s up, your majesty? Need more resources?"

    As usual, Li Feihong was working hard to supply Tong with his private world¡¯s endless resources, food, spice, minerals, lumber, or even clean water. He thought that Tong wanted more materials for his development again.

    Tong: "No, I¡¯m nning to give you a city as a reward. Which city do you want to own? You can be andlord now."

    Li Feihong: "Why should I get a city? I¡¯m morefortable living in my private world."

    Tong: "Don¡¯t you want a reward at all?"

    Li Feihong: "Having this skill with me, the self-revival skill, your inventory skill, and your angelic cultivation are more than I ever asked for. I want nothing."

    Everyone in the n chat admired Li Feihong more as this minister refused Tong¡¯s offer over and over again. However, it was not good for Tong as he needed to set an example to his subordinates that major contributors got adequately rewarded.

    Tong: "There¡¯s a change in my policies. Officers with great deeds will have the right to ownnds, and I need to set an example, so I pick you as a role model."

    Li Feihong: "Ah, you should have said that sooner."

    Tong: "Then, which city do you want to own? I can¡¯t give you Julu or Ye, though."

    Li Feihong: "Why should I pick a troublesome ce like those two cities? Pick a deserted city for me. I don¡¯t want a big city or a city with too many people."

    All chan members were taken aback by Li Feihong¡¯s attitude as he looked like azy person with this tone.

    Tong: "I get it. You don¡¯t want to take any responsibility for your city¡¯s development or governance, correct?"

    Li Feihong: "Yeah. Let me enjoy my slow life. That¡¯s all I ask from you."

    Tong: "Slow life? Alone?"

    Li Feihong: "... Are you trying to say I suck, so I¡¯m single!?"

    Tong: "I didn¡¯t say anything. LOL!"

    This minister was getting too defensive as he was still single while his friends and colleagues all had a family. Tong could see why Li Feihong became like this now.

    Tong: "I have an idea. Feihong, interest in bing a prince?"

    Everyone: "!!!"

    Tong¡¯s message implied that he wanted to wed one of his daughters to Li Feihong, which was an insane development. Even Sima Yi¡¯s heart sank as he thought that Tong would marry Zhang Min to this minister.

    Li Feihong: "Sadly, no. Leave me be. I¡¯ll take my virginity in this life to the grave! I¡¯m a level 95 pdin! I don¡¯t need a wife!"

    Seeing that Li Feihong was being a silly nerd, he changed the topic.

    Tong: "You¡¯re being silly. Why do you want a deserted city anyway?"

    Li Feihong: "What¡¯s the point of getting a developed city? Give me something that I can start from scratch, so I can get the feeling of owning something that I built. Ever yed a city-building game? Do you find it fun ying a developed city from the beginning?"

    It seemed that Li Feihong was once a hardcore gamer. It was surprising that he managed to score a wife and had children in his previous life with this attitude.

    Tong: "Fine, you know what? I¡¯ll give you what you asked for. Take your entire legion and march to Hongnong. I¡¯ll send an edict to that city and tell Liu Bei¡¯s men that I assign you there as a governor. I¡¯ll force that city¡¯s citizens to migrate away, and you¡¯ll get your deserted city, deal?"

    Li Feihong: "Abusing your edict again? Who will govern Henei after I left then?"

    Tong: "I have too many idling Sun n generals with me. I can send them there to rece you. Sun Quan is also dangerously strong, you know. He has 4 wings now, and he can work there as a governor with his subordinates."

    Li Feihong: "Roger that. Bear in mind that Hongnong is far from Ye. Future supply convoys will take a longer time to get there."

    Tong: "I don¡¯t mind. I can solve the food shortage with [Create Food]. Other resources are just for researches and weaponry development. I¡¯m in no rush."

    Li Feihong: "Even though Sun Fang developed a galley?"

    Tong: "We¡¯re making frigates, bitch! Frigates with cannons and muskets, yarr!"

    Li Feihong: "Okay, I change my mind. Give me one of those frigates instead of a city! I want to be a pirate and find one piece!"

    Te Langpu: "..."

    Dong Bai: "..."

    Diaochan: "..."

    Somehow, Li Feihong seemed to be a nerd in anime or manga as well.

    Tong: "Frigate development hasn¡¯t beenpleted yet. Wait a few years."

    Li Feihong: "Lame. Well, I¡¯ll take Hongnong for now. Give me a frigate when it¡¯s done, okay?"

    Tong: "Sure. After that, I will marry one of my daughters to you."

    Li Feihong: "Don¡¯t joke around, Tong. Liu Xie will be in trouble if I do. I also don¡¯t want to call Cao Cao [Grandfather]."

    .

    .

    .

    In the end, Tong sent a decree to Hongnong, telling Liu Bei¡¯s subordinates to surrender the city to Li Feihong as he would be the new governor there permanently.

    March, 195 AD.

    Henei City

    A 13-year-old little girl traveled to Henei along with a hundred bodyguards. She was still 140cm tall and had a petite figure, but her pretty face, long braided hair, and her smooth skin revealed that she was from a noble family.

    Despite having a beautiful face and figure, she wore man¡¯s robes and wielded a foldable spear on her waist. Her expression also did not look as delicate as the other noble girls of her age.

    She was Lu Lingqi, who came here to visit Li Feihong and Zhang Liao of the Monster Legion. As she hade of age, Lu Bu sent a letter to his wife that Lu Lingqi should visit Tong and offer herself to be the emperor¡¯s concubine.

    However, this little girl refused. As Lu Lingqi still had a child¡¯s mentality, she left Ye City and came here so that she could tell on her father¡¯s irresponsible actions to her uncles, Li Feihong and Zhang Liao.

    She did not want to marry anyone yet since she still wanted to practice spearmanship and martial arts.

    Upon arrival, Lu Lingqi found out that all craftsmen andborers ran around, carrying and pushing wagons outside of the city. Soldiers gathered outside of the wall as if they were preparing to march out. At the same time, female civilians stood on the wall, waving their hands at their family members among the dispatched soldiers, bidding farewell.

    An army was about to march out of this city!

    In a hurry, Lu Lingqi asked a nearby pedestrian, "Are they sortieing?"

    A merchant turned around and answered her, "The emperor sent a promation that Lord Li Feihong will be a governor of Hongnong City. The Monster Legion will go with him, and Lord Sun Quan will be a new governor here."

    "What!?" Lu Lingqi was panicked, "Are uncle Zhang Liao and uncle Li Feihong going with them?"

    "Uncle?" The merchant was confused about why this girl called them uncle.

    It was toote for him to continue their conversation. Lu Lingqi took her bodyguards and ran toward the army.

 Chapter 466 Lu Lingqi Meets Li Feihong

    Chapter 466 - Lu Lingqi Meets Li Feihong

    "Halt! Who goes there!?"

    A captain of a patrol team stopped Lu Lingqi and her bodyguards from approaching the army battalions.

    "Make way, or I¡¯ll make it myself!"

    Like father, like daughter, Lu Lingqi¡¯s character was still unrefined in terms of manner and wisdom. Had she said that she was Lu Bu¡¯s daughter or Li Feihong¡¯s guest, the captain would have allowed her to pass after a bit of inspection protocol.

    "Get lost, brat! Don¡¯t make me whip you and send you to a whore house!"

    Offended by the little girl, the guard was as mad as Lu Lingqi. He extended his hand to grab her hair, nning to drag her away.

    *SHING*

    Lu Lingqi¡¯s bodyguards drew their swords, pointing at the patrol captain.

    "Are you serious, fool?"

    Offended by a little girl was not enough, this group¡¯s action angered the soldier.

    Nearby soldiers from the Monster Legion noticed themotion. Apany of a thousand men surrounded Lu Lingqi and her bodyguards right away, pointing their spears at them.

    Lu Lingqi and her bodyguards scoffed. None of these soldiers knew that these men were former soldiers from Lu Bu¡¯s battalion, so their battle experience and skill were far stronger than these trained recruits with no experience.

    Lu Lingqi assembled her folded spear and swung and the captain right away.

    *BOOM*

    Despite being a petite girl in her 13, she sent the captain flying like she was swinging a baseball bat.

    Homerun!

    The captain flew like a ragdoll and collided with the surrounding soldiers.

    "They¡¯re my uncle¡¯s soldiers. Just teach them a lesson, but don¡¯t kill them," Ordered Lu Lingqi.

    The one hundred bodyguards smirked. They warmed up their bodies and sheathed their swords, using them as their weaponry instead.

    Seeing that the little girl¡¯s group was looking down on them, the surrounding soldiers roared.

    "KILL!"

    The bodyguards sneered, "BOYS, LET¡¯S TEACH THESE BABIES HOW ADULTS FIGHT!"

    .

    .

    Five minutester, the one thousand men were crawling on the ground in pain while all bodyguards stood firm,ughing at the injured men.

    "I doubt they can go to war with these weaklings."

    "Ah, too weak."

    "They didn¡¯t even put a scratch on me. Look, I¡¯m not even wearing armor."

    "Hey, Ah-man got a cut on his shoulder!"

    "That¡¯s because I¡¯m standing on the edge of our formation. Had I gotten a shield, none of these babies could have wound me!"

    "A wound is a wound. You owe us a drink!"

    "I don¡¯t remember promising you a drink!"

    "Hahaha! Loser pays for the winners, right guys?"

    "Hahaha!"

    The rowdy bodyguards mocked the defeated soldiers,ughing at their pitiful performance in the previous battle.

    Themotion brought the attention to the main battalions of 5,000 men. A 1,000-manmander rode to their direction to inspect them.

    "What¡¯s going on here!?" Amander roared at Lu Lingqi and her bodyguards.

    A thousand archers, who were following themander around, nocked their arrows and aimed at Lu Lingqi¡¯s direction.

    The girl clicked her tongue. As Lu Lingqi got serious, she took a deep breath to pace her blood flow and heart rate, taking abat stance against the soldiers. This time, she emitted killing intent aura, which rivaled her father 10 years ago.

    Themander flinched from the oppression of aura and cold air. However, he regainedposure in a split second.

    As someone who had been trained by Zhang Liao and Li Feihong, he got used to this kind of oppression air. He was not afraid of a little girl with intimidating aura.

    The archers were also affected by the killing intent at first, but they controlled their breathing pace and got back to the zone, preparing for a life-and-death battle.

    Sensing that themander and their soldiers were not affected by the murderous intent, Lu Lingqi was shocked. Now, it was her who got intimidated by the discipline of this army.

    ¡¯Impossible! Howe why father¡¯s technique isn¡¯t working?¡¯

    Lu Lingqi had been relying on this skill to get away from trouble, but it failed this time.

    Before the fight broke out, a blue portal gate appeared between a thousand archers and Lu Lingqi¡¯s men. Two men walked out of the gate.

    One was a 185cm tall man with blue knight armor. He was not wearing a helmet, so everyone could see his ck scarred face without eyebrows. Had he strolled in Japan in the modern world, everyone would have mistaken him for a yakuza.

    It was Zhang Liao, the army¡¯s boogeyman and the grandmander of the Monster Legion.

    Another one walking out of the gate was a young schr in his 20s. He was a bit shorter than Zhang Liao as he was only 182cm tall. Yet, he hid his well-built muscles, six pacts, thick arms and legs under the robes. He had a full unshaved beard, nostrils full of snot, stacks of gum around his eyes, and ck dirt on his face.

    Unlike schrs in cities, he did not care about his clothes or his outward look. His hair was notbed. His old brown robes were dirtied with dust, dirt, and ck spots everywhere, which also reeked moldy odor,bining with his bodily smell, which had not taken a bath for a month.

    Had anyone not known this person, he would have been mistaken as a beggar.

    Still, this was the army¡¯s strategist, who was also Tong¡¯s close friend, Li Feihong.

    The strategist waved his hand and gestured the 1,000-manmander to pull back.

    "Scram, Wei Xu. This girl is Fengxian¡¯s daughter. If you don¡¯t want to die by a crescent spear shoving down your ass, leave now before her father got here."

    Wei Xu, the 1,000-manmander, jumped backward in horror, terrified by the taboo name, "Y-Yes, strategist Li!"

    Li Feihong picked his nose as he summoned one of his souls out. The soul [Diligence] floated toward the injured men on the ground and cast a blessing.

    The soul of Diligence had the form of Li Feihong in a ck leather leotard, ck leather high socks, heeled boots, holding a whip. The soul also wore a ck eye-mask, which resembled something that S&M club members loved.

    [Work harder, you pigs!]

    *PA*

    Diligence cracked a whip at the tumbling soldiers, one-by-one.

    Contrary to the angelic soul¡¯s divine image, the wordsing out of his mouth was as foul as the owner.

    As if the injured soldiers got injected by steroid, they stood up and ran away toward the other battalions, getting back into their formation even though the pain was killing them from the inside.

    The absurd scene made Lu Lingqi and her bodyguards sweat.

    Some of the bodyguards recognized Zhang Liao and Li Feihong. They knelt and cupped their fists.

    "We greet General Zhang and Strategist Li!"

    Atst, Lu Lingqi realized who she was facing. Her uncles were finally here.

    Thest time she saw these two, it was ten years ago when she was still too young to remember anything. Thus, the image of Li Feihong and Zhang Liao came from the rumor.

    Unfortunately, their image was different than what had been told in the rumor.

    Li Feihong was said to be a talented and handsome immortal schr, who was working as blood vessels of the Han Dynasty. Lu Lingqi also thought that Zhang Liao was a brave general with a good-looking scarless face, who would look good in a knight te armor.

    Reality betrayed the young girl¡¯s dream. Her eyes swelled in tears of disappointment as she bowed to them.

    "Lu Lingqi greets uncle Zhang and uncle Li."

    Zhang Liao noticed Lu Lingqi¡¯s expression and could guess what she was thinking. His mouth revealed a faint smile before it faded, returning his grumpy look.

    "Feihong, take a bath and change your clothes. We have a guest now."

    "Ha... How troublesome."

    "Do it. You smell more like a pig than our dirtied soldiers."

    "Okay, okay. I¡¯ll just use this instead."

    Li Feihong summoned another soul of his, [Chastity].

    The soul looked like a young boy in his 12, which was a simr age to Lu Lingqi. Instead of Li Feihong¡¯s current dirty look, the soul wore a grade-school uniform, white shirt, blue shorts, white socks, and ck shoes. His hair had beenbed in style, which made the boy looked like a young child of a noble family.

    Even Lu Lingqi¡¯s eyes glittered as she liked the boy spirit behind Li Feihong. Although the boy was not her type, which should be a strong man like her father, the innocent look of [Chastity] was charming.

    The soul innocently smiled at Lu Lingqi, which made her blush.

    But once he turned toward his master, Chastity¡¯s face distorted in disgust.

    [... Purification!]

    Light shone on Li Feihong¡¯s body. All mud, dirt, goo, dried sweat, and unknown substances flowed out of the strategist¡¯s clothes, hair, eyes, noses, and other body parts. The ck dust gathered into a ck ball. Afterwhich, it shot up to the sky as if it was a shuttle going to space.

    Li Feihong unsummoned both souls as hebed his hair, tying it into a knot and letting some of his hair down like a local unmarried man. The image of a beggar changed into a refined young schr in an instant.

    Lu Lingqi and her bodyguards dropped their jaws, astonished by the miracle.

    Zhang Liao shook his head in resignation.

    "Take a proper bath for once. Your soul skill is disturbing sometimes."

    Li Feihongughed, "Take a no-fap and no-sex challenge for a few years, and you¡¯ll awaken Chastity. It¡¯s the easiest virtue to get, you know? It¡¯s useful too."

    "Yes, it¡¯s useful for long-distance camping and expedition, but you need a proper bath. Don¡¯t abuse it to the point that you won¡¯t take a bath for years... Wait, when was thest time you took a bath?"

    "... I don¡¯t know. I even forgot what bathrooms in this world look like. If you count the time that I swam in ake to catch some rare fishes, that might have been two years ago, I think."

    Zhang Liao: "..."

    Lu Lingqi: "..."

    Bodyguards: "..."

    .

    .

    .

    Lu Lingqi reported what Lu Bu ordered her to do to Zhang Liao and Li Feihong, which made thetter two cringe.

    Both knew that Lu Bu was always ambitious. Even though he had changed for the better, he still aimed to obtain a high ranking position in the court.

    Fortunately, they had a conflict with Liu Bei that thetter stole Lu Bu¡¯s should-have-been territory. Until they recovered the western regions, Lu Bu would still get stuck in Xiangyang, watching the borders of Hongnong and Chang¡¯An, waiting to mobilize.

    Thanks to the conflict, Lu Bu never pushed Lu Lingqi to Tong, but he still wanted to tie his blood with thetter nheless.

    Now, listening to the little girl¡¯s problem, they also felt guilty that they never reprimanded Tong or Lu Bu.

    Li Feihong sighed, "I¡¯ll talk to Tong, so he can reject you. I think he already has enough sessors and headache, so I don¡¯t think he can take any more wife."

    Zhang Liao nodded, "Agreed. I¡¯ll talk to your father about this."

    "Thank you, uncle Zhang, uncle Li!"

    "No problem."

    Lu Lingqi regained hope. She was thrilled that she no longer had to marry anyone, so she could continue practicing martial arts.

    Then, she recalled that the Monster Legion was preparing to march somewhere.

    "Uncle, why are you mobilizing?"

 Chapter 467 Pitiful Li Feihong

    Chapter 467 - Pitiful Li Feihong

    "I''ve been assigned to be Hongnong''s new governor."

    While Li Feihong and others were returning to their men to oversee the mobilization, he told Lu Lingqi about the marching order and the assignments from Tong.

    After Lu Lingqi listened to the exnation, her opinion of Tong became worse.

    "This emperor is unreasonable! Why is he sending you to Hongnong!? Can''t he just send someone else!?"

    "It''s not the emperor''s fault, little girl. I was the one that asked him for that city."

    "Eh? Really?"

    "Yeah. Well, let me finish my job first, and we''ll talkter, okay?"

    Li Feihong excused himself so that he could continue his work.

    "Can I follow you around?"

    Lu Lingqi was still curious about how this schr controlled the legion, so she wanted to learn from them.

    "You probably won''t learn anything from me. As a matter of fact, you might get annoyed by my skills."

    After Li Feihong said that, he opened two more portals in front of all soldiers, who were standing in formation.

    Zhang Liao bellowed, "ALL UNITS! FORM TWO LINES! ENTER THE GATE ROW BY ROW, STARTING FROM FRONT BRIGADES!"

    As these soldiers had practiced using Li Feihong''s gates for countless times during these peaceful years, they did not panic or show confusion. Everyone marched in order, walking into the gates one by one.

    Lu Lingqi, who had never seen Li Feihong''s system skill, widened her eyes in shock.

    "U-U-Uncle Li!! They''re being spirited away!!"

    She thought that ghosts kidnapped the soldiers.

    Zhang Liaoughed, "Silly girl. This is Feihong''s skill. Just wait until everyone gets into the gates, and you''ll understand what''s inside."

    "¡­"

    Moving 50,000 people took time. After 3 hours of waiting, Lu Lingqi beganining about their waiting time and the slow mobilizing speed.

    Since the girl was still immature and impatient, Zhang Liao escorted Lu Lingqi into Li Feihong''s private world first, so she could rest over there.

    .

    .

    .

    Upon getting inside Li Feihong''s world, she found another city without walls.

    It was Monster Legion''s private town, belonged to the soldiers in this army. Not only the soldiers of this legion lived here, but their family members also resided here, working as farmers, craftsmen, orborers.

    Ordinary merchants and non-authorized civilians could not enter this world because of the limitation. As a result, no spy from other organizations managed to find this ce.

    Even without merchants, peddlers, or tourists, the local residents neverined about the environment as this world was without war, conflict, or taxes!

    Li Feihong never took taxes from his people, which was the greatest difference between Tong and him.

    This was a secret that Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, Bo Cai, Zhou Cang, and their soldiers hid from Tong since they did not want to trouble these people, who they considered as their family.

    It could be said that this world was an independent kingdom that Tong could not touch, but they were still working for the Han Dynasty, supplying the country with everything this world had produced.

    The more Lu Lingqi learned about the world, the more confused she was. It took Lu Lingqi a whole day to ovee her culture shock.

    "IS UNCLE LI A GOD!?"

    Li Feihong rolled his eyes, "I''m just a sinner¡­ I meant I''m an immortal. This much is nothingparing to the emperor."

    "No. The emperor is a lustful beast! You''re way better than that man!"

    "He can defeat every warrior in this world, Lingqi, including your father. He already defeated your father twice."

    "Then, he''s a cheater! If he were mortal, my father wouldn''t have lost!"

    "Haiz," Li Feihong shook his head in resignation. Talking to a teenager in puberty was tiring.

    Moreover, he sensed something odd. Whenever Lu Lingqi stared at him or when she mentioned how great Li Feihong was, her eyes were unusually bright. This girl was also overly clingy as she kept hugging his arm while holding his hand when they were talking.

    ''This is troublesome. Lu Bu is going to kill me if he learns about thister. Heck, I should message him and tell him that his daughter left Ye.''

    .

    Li Feihong: "Lu Bu, your daughter has run away from home."

    It did not take long for Lu Bu to reply.

    Lu Bu: "Do you know where she is? Since when has she left the house?"

    Tong: "Your wife reported this to me a month ago, and I sent 100 ex-soldiers from Mountaineer Legion to her. She should be at Henei by now. Right, Feihong?"

    Li Feihong: "Yeah, she''s with me."

    Lu Bu: "And you didn''t tell me this when she left!?"

    Tong: "No point telling you when I secretly flew to your daughter and protected her in secret. She''s unharmed."

    Lu Bu: "I''ll fly to Henei. Wait for me there!"

    Li Feihong: "I already took her inside my private world. You will only find me, though."

    Lu Bu: "It doesn''t matter. I can wait for you to open your portal for me."

    Li Feihong: "Sure. Come along with me then. I was worried that I might end up fighting Guan Yu or Zhang Fei in Hongnong. Youing along is reassuring."

    Lu Bu: "Youe too, Tong!"

    Tong: "I''m busy."

    Lu Bu: "Busy with what? Baby-making?"

    Tong: "Emperor''s duties, fool! I have a goddamn country to run. Cao Cao is behaving, but he''s plotting something behind my back. Sun Fang has built a galley, but our frigate production hasn''t evenpleted. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu are indecisive and haven''t killed Sun Fang yet, so I don''t know what to do with them! There is also this ongoing war in Pyongyang that I need to allocate a chain of supply to support Tian Yu and Xu Huang. Liu Biao is going to die in 10 to 12 years, and I haven''t contacted Liu Cong or Liu Fang yet. I have a lot of things to think about. Wanna work in Ye and suffer together with me?"

    Lu Bu: "Good luck, then. IDGAF.

    Tong: "No fuck to give to you, too! Well, do me a favor if you found Liu Bei. Just kill the fool and get this civil war over with."

    Lu Bu: "Why don''t youe here and kill him yourself."

    Tong: "Busy."

    Lu Bu: "¡­ Well, I change my mind. Feihong, you deal with this matter for me."

    Li Feihong: "¡­"

    Lu Bu: "You know what? Feihong, take my daughter as your wife."

    Li Feihong: "DAFUQ!? What about your deal with Tong?"

    Lu Bu: "IDGAF. Just make my daughter happy. Since she has run away from home, I think she doesn''t want to marry Tong, so there is no point pushing it."

    .

    Li Feihong, who has been reading and texting, was speechless by this development. Tong and Lu Bu ended up bickering like children, resulted in Li Feihong taking the short end of the stick in the process.

    Zhang Liao, Bo Cai, and Zhou Cang also saw the n chat messages and the exchanges. They looked at Li Feihong, waiting for how he would deal with this situation.

    The victim of this fight could only give up to his fate, "We''ll take care of Lu Lingqi in this world for now. Once we took over Hongnong, we''ll think about how we can send her home."

    Zhang Liao grinned, "You can just make her your wife, though."

    "Are you nuts!? She''s freaking 13!"

    "13 is already an adult. Do you know that one of my soldiers have an 11-year-old wife?"

    Li Feihong wanted to retort, but he could not as it was amon sense in this world.

    The age standard in this era was so different than the 21st-century as women were considered adults as soon as their monthly menstruation came.

    Women''s rights did not exist in this ancient world, and they were treated as tools. It was a harsh world for them.

    Li Feihong nced at Lu Lingqi, who was still clinging his arm.

    "This can be troublesome¡­"

    .

    .

    .

    The Monster Legion''s mobilization speed was unparalleled in this world. As long as Li Feihong traveled to a designation unharmed, he could reopen portals, which could allow the resting soldiers in the private realm to teleport outside by Li Feihong''s current position.

    With only Li Feihong and a few bodyguards, they managed to cross the Yellow River undetected.

    3 Dayster, they reached Hongnong City, which usually took armies weeks to arrive.

    Upon arrival, Li Feihong could see the banners, Liu, on top of the walls. It seemed they either had arrived before the messengers or Liu Bei ignored the edict.

    ''Should I just open portals in front of the city or inside the city? Oh wait, I can sense strong angels in there. The two options are no-go. I''ll wait for the promation to arrive first. Then, I''ll get inside the city.''

    Even though Li Feihong had a self-resurrection skill, he chose not to risk waging war with Liu Bei Army without thorough preparation. In this case, it was too risky, especially when they had Guan Yu and Zhang Fei on their side, who could fly to reinforce this city in an instant.

    Li Feihong and Zhang Liao had 4 souls each, but Zhou Cang and Bo Cai had 2. They were at a disadvantage against Guan Yu''s six wings.

    ''Should I awaken two or three more wings, so I can get a better standing if I have to negotiate my way into the city?''

    With such thoughts, Li Feihong withdrew his men and himself into his private world.

    He nned to cultivate a bit, so Guan Yu would not be a threat to the Monster Legion.

    .

    Five minutester, Guan Yu arrived at the location where Li Feihong had opened a portal and retreated.

    He looked around and tried to expand his senses, but he detected no one butmoners.

    "Odd. I thought an emissary from Zhang Tong was here¡­"

    Because Guan Yu had detected a 4-wing angel in the area, he came to investigate, thinking that Tong had sent an envoy for a negotiation.

    Yet, he found nobody.

    "Someone is spying on us?"

    Guan Yu rushed back to Chang''An to report Liu Bei about this event.

 Chapter 468 Zhang Feis Recklessness

    Chapter 468 - Zhang Fei¡¯s Recklessness

    Guan Yu flew back to Chang¡¯An and told Liu Bei and others about his finding right away.

    At Chang¡¯An government hall, Liu Bei was resting after he hadpleted daily tasks of approving documents for his civil officers. When everyone saw Guan Yu¡¯s arrival with a panicking expression, they stopped what they were doing.

    ...

    5 Minutester,

    "A 4-wing angel at Hongnong? Are you sure?" Liu Bei was panicked.

    "Yes. My sense wasn¡¯t wrong. I clearly sensed someone outside of the gates."

    "How many angels did you sense? Is there any troop following him?"

    "No, just one. I found no soldier in the area, which is odd."

    Hearing that an angel came to Hongnong to spy on their affiliate city, Liu Bei was enraged.

    "Zhang Fei, Ma Chao!"

    Two generals walked out from the crowd and presented themselves at the center of the hall.

    "Aye!"

    "Ma Chao, present!"

    "We take all soldiers to Hongnong! Prepare for the possible invasion from Zhang Tong!"

    The generals smiled, "Yes, my lord!"

    Guan Yu frowned as he raised his hand to stop Liu Bei, "Wait a second, first brother."

    "What?"

    "You didn¡¯t ask for your advisers¡¯ opinion. Isn¡¯t this a bit rash?"

    Liu Bei came to his senses. He turned around and looked at Xu Shu and Pang Tong with an apologetic smile, "I¡¯m sorry. I didn¡¯t ask you for your thoughts on this."

    Pang Tongughed, "There is no need for apology, my lord. I would have suggested that you should gather all your forces there as well. You have ordered the same thing that I would have suggested."

    Liu Bei was relieved that his thoughts were the same as Pang Tong.

    However, Xu Shu ruined their merry mood.

    "I hope that you would not dispatch troops at the moment. I think it¡¯s too risky to move our entire forces to Hongnong."

    Pang Tong and Xu Shu¡¯s faces changed. Pang Tong¡¯s face was already ck and ugly by nature. Combined with his distorted expression, no one thought that this fat ck man could be a human.

    "Why?" Asked Pang Tong. He did not like how Xu Shu interrupted his idea as he lost face.

    "Please do not forget that the immortal Li Feihong is nearby. From our intel, both Li Feihong and Zhang Liao are 4-wing angels. One of them might be scouting our city by flying here."

    After Guan Yu had reached the sixth-wing tier, all officers here learned about the capabilities and the potentials of immortals, angels, and demons. As a senior officer, Guan Yu had taught all Liu Bei¡¯s subordinates about his power and his ability to fly.

    It was shocking and vexing to non-cultivators, such as Ma Chao, Xu Shu, and Pang Tong, as they also wanted to get one of those powers.

    But they obtained good news. As Guan Yu managed to contact Lilim, thetter offered that they could buy cultivation rights for others for a price.

    Now, Ma Chao and Liu Bei obtained the proper cultivation technique, but they were not on a level where they could fight against both Li Feihong and Zhang Liao yet.

    From Xu Shu¡¯s perspective, it was too risky fighting the unknown head-on, especially when they knew that Tong was a 6-wing demon. As for Lu Bu, Xu Shu doubted that he had 8 wings since this info came from Zhuge Liang long ago without solid evidence. He estimated that Lu Bu might have 6 wings at best.

    Two 6-wing immortals outmatched Guan Yu, so it was a bad idea to wage war against Tong without supports from Cao Cao or the Sun n.

    Pang Tong ceased his ill thoughts and spoke with a calm voice, "Senior, this is the most excellent opportunity to cripple Zhang Tong Army. If we can kill one or two of Zhang Tong¡¯s generals, his force will be weakened. The so-called "Monster Legion" will be nothing but a joke!"

    Xu Shu sighed, "Don¡¯t you think that Zhang Tong and Lu Bu will retaliate? Zhang Liao and Li Feihong were once Lu Bu¡¯s subordinates, so they will definitely seek revenge."

    "You¡¯re na?ve, senior. In war, anger and hatred are the major reason for great heroes¡¯ downfall. Making Zhang Tong and Lu Bu mad is a good strategy since we can force them to make mistakes and ill judgment!"

    Liu Bei nodded in agreement. As he experienced this face himself in the other life, he knew how vexing it was when he was overwhelmed with anger when Guan Yu died. Instead of swallowing his pride and grudge and continuing the alliance with Sun Quan, he invaded Jing Province and lost Zhang Fei in the process.

    He would not make the same mistake again.

    And now, Liu Bei learned that they could kill one or two of Tong¡¯s subordinates to anger him. This former Shu King wanted Tong to suffer the same fate he once had had.

    "I agree with strategist Pang. We will bait Zhang Tong by gathering all our forces in Hongnong. If he took the bait, we¡¯d use Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to assassinate one of his generals."

    Xu Shu still protested, "What if Lu Bu or Zhang Tong shows up instead of sending his generals?"

    Pang Tong sneered, "Then, we¡¯ll kill him! Lord Guan, do you think Zhang Tong is good at martial arts?"

    "Why do you ask?"

    "Just tell me, do you think that someone who is dwelling in lust and carnage is good at martial arts?"

    Pang Tong had been keeping an eye on Tong¡¯s movements, and he invested into intelligence in Ye, so he could learn what Tong did in the court. Thus, he learned about Tong¡¯s night activities.

    From his experience, Tong¡¯s health should be out-of-shape. Even if he was once a fierce fighter, night activities and the emperor¡¯s lifestyle should have ruined his health andbat potential.

    Guan Yu¡¯s thought was also simr. As prideful as he was in the previous life, he did not think that Tong was his match even though they had the same number of wings.

    "I can kill him if he appears."

    Pang Tongughed, "See? Senior Xu, you¡¯re overly cautious. Sometimes, we have to be bold to get things done!"

    Xu Shu sighed and retreated, "Very well. But please, be careful."

    .

    .

    .

    Guan Yu and Zhang Fei flew ahead to Hongnong, so they could alert the militias in the city to prepare for war. As for Liu Bei, Ma Chao, Pang Tong, and Xu Shu, they organized all Qiang cavalry units and their elite soldiers. 150,000 men marched from Chang¡¯An to Hongnong.

    Meanwhile, Li Feihong decided to get his 5th and 6th wing by awakening the souls of virtue, [Loyalty] and [Abstinence]. Ironically, the soul of Loyalty¡¯s appearance was Li Feihong cosying as Guan Yu. As for Abstinence, it was a monk version of Li Feihong.

    After getting the sixth wing, Li Feihong felt that his body was on the verge of breaking into pieces as if he was a swollen balloon, which was about to explode.

    In a panic, he consulted this matter with the elites in the n chat.

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯ve just awakened my 6th wing, but my body is in pain. Is there something wrong with me?"

    The n never disappointed him. His seniors came out right away.

    Tong: "You¡¯ve reached your constitution limit. Stop using your muscles and rest for a week. Afterward, start cultivating your physical body and mind. Don¡¯t try to increase your lifespan at the moment, or your body will explode."

    Diaochan: "Souls are like water, but your body is the container. You¡¯ve reached the bottleneck. Stop cultivating souls and concentrate on bodybuilding."

    Lu Bu: "Congrats, Feihong! Now, rest and recuperate! Afterward,e and spar with me daily. Junyi is too weak for me, and I need extra hands!"

    Everyone: "... RIP, Zhang He."

    Zhang He: "Thanks... I¡¯m still alive, BTW."

    With the hints, Li Feihong was relieved that he was not sick or was dying.

    ¡¯I wonder how far they have gone through the bodybuilding progress. Lu Bu and Tong are too energetic! Wait a second, Diaochan is stronger than me!?¡¯

    The revtion about Diaochan¡¯s current constitution gave a clue that she was a monster beyond his imagination, who was on par or stronger than Lu Bu. It scared Li Feihong that Tong had been handling this woman for years, and he was still alive.

    ¡¯Scary family. I will never marry someone stronger than me like you, Tong!¡¯

    .

    .

    Because of Li Feihong¡¯s condition, the Monster Legion hid in the alternate dimension, waiting for Ye¡¯s messenger to arrive and tell Hongnong¡¯s governor to move away.

    A weekter, the chief eunuch, Wei You, arrived here with a hundred bodyguards.

    Upon getting detected by Hongnong¡¯s guards, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei came out of the city to confront them.

    Guan Yu took the lead, "What are you doing here?"

    Wei You smiled and bowed at Guan Yu, "We¡¯vee here to deliver a decree from the emperor. May I see the current governor of Hongnong?"

    "I¡¯m the governor of Hongnong."

    "I see. Then, please receive the mandate of heaven..."

    Wei You spread a golden scroll in his hand, nning to read it out loud.

    Guan Yu frowned and red at Wei You, refusing the kneel and ept Tong¡¯s edict.

    Seeing Guan Yu¡¯s action, Wei You was dissatisfied, "You know that refusing to kneel is an act of treason, right?"

    "Zhang Tong is not the true emperor of the Han Dynasty. We don¡¯t serve him."

    Wei You was taken aback, "Ah, you¡¯re quite straight forward. I like you. You¡¯re way better than Cao Cao and the Sun n. Well, since you¡¯ve refused our promation, we shall excuse ourselves."

    "..."

    Guan Yu nodded and gestured that they should leave.

    Wei You bid farewell and bowed to Guan Yu as if they were on good terms.

    At that moment, Zhang Fei kicked the ground and dashed toward Wei You.

    He thrust his serpent spear!

    "YIDE, NO!!"

    Guan Yu could not react in time. Zhang Fei¡¯s action was too sudden.

    *SOEK*

    The spear punctured an arm that appeared out of a portal, which protected Wei You from Zhang Fei¡¯s spear.

    Zhang Fei¡¯s spear stuck in the arm¡¯s flesh, unable to pull it back.

    Another portal appeared and pulled Wei You into it. Also, a man¡¯s voice that was familiar to Guan Yu could be heard.

    "Men, enter the portal."

 Chapter 469 Consequences

    Chapter 469 - Consequences

    Li Feihong took the hit from Zhang Fei to save Wei You¡¯s life. He increased his aura output and reinforced his injured flesh and muscles.

    The spear lodged in Li Feihong¡¯s flesh, and Zhang Fei could not pull it out.

    "Let go, you bastard!"

    Another hand of Li Feihong pointed at Zhang Fei. Li Feihong mimicked Tong¡¯s tactic in the battle against Huangfu Song and others.

    He activated his inventory skill and released burning oil on Zhang Fei¡¯s face.

    *ZAAAA*

    No matter if Zhang Fei¡¯s aura protected him from harm, the temperature of the oil still burnt his skin.

    "AAAARRRRGGGHHH!"

    That was not all. Li Feihong summoned a weapon that Medusa created for him.

    A magnum pistol appeared, and the hand that had just released hot oil grasped it. After pointing at Zhang Fei¡¯s head, Li Feihong pulled the trigger.

    *BANG*

    Zhang Fei felt as if he had a d¨¦j¨¤ vu. However, this time, he failed to react, and a bullet punctured his brain.

    Li Feihong followed the double-tab rule, pulling the trigger three more times and aimed at Zhang Fei¡¯s left chest.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    The chain of events was too sudden that Guan Yu could not react. By the time he regained his senses, Zhang Fei¡¯s body already copsed into a pool of his blood.

    "YIDEE!!!" Guan Yu screamed in shock. He tried to chase after Li Feihong and Zhang Liao, who was migrating all bodyguards into the portals.

    But the hand with a gun pointed at Guan Yu.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    "Ugh!"

    Guan Yu took leaned backward and leaped to the side. After dodging the bullets, he turned around to revenge for his brother.

    Another gun appeared on Li Feihong¡¯s hand. As for the old one, it ran out of bullets.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Li Feihong kept shooting, suppressing Guan Yu as Zhang Liao escorted all soldiers out of this area.

    "Don¡¯t get cocky!"

    Guan Yu roared and covered his entire body with his aura.

    *DINK*

    *DINK*

    *DINK*

    Upon shell touching Guan Yu¡¯s skin, they ricocheted and failed to harm him.

    Guan Yu dashed toward Li Feihong, ignoring all bullets.

    "Yikes."

    Li Feihong closed his portal. When Guan Yu reached his previous location, he only grasped nothing but air.

    Meanwhile, Zhang Liao finished evacuating all personal. His gate also closed.

    Mission had beenpleted. Li Feihong¡¯s assassination technique was a sess.

    At first, Li Feihong did not want to do this since he only wanted Hongnong City for his little city-building game in real life, but Zhang Fei¡¯s action was unforgivable.

    Killing a messenger was a heresy, and Zhang Fei attempted to kill Wei You, whom Tong respected as his private butler.

    Thus, Zhang Fei had to die!

    Li Feihong¡¯s action was without Tong¡¯s authorization, but he did not care.

    Still, he reported this to Tong nheless.

    .

    .

    Li Feihong: "Tong, bad news."

    Tong: "Yeah?"

    Li Feihong: "Please don¡¯t get mad, alright?"

    Tong: "Yeah? What¡¯s up? Something happened?"

    Li Feihong: "I killed Zhang Fei."

    Tong: "..."

    Li Feihong: "Zhang Fei tried to kill Wei You, so I gave him a hand, but I killed Zhang Fei in the process."

    Tong; "..."

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯m sorry. I think I¡¯ve ruined our chance to convert Liu Bei to our side."

    Tong: "Is that true, Zhang Liao, Wei You?"

    Wei You: "Your majesty, Lord Li¡¯s words are correct. Guan Yu has rejected your decree, and Zhang Fei attempted to kill me. He saved my life."

    Zhang Liao: "I also witnessed the event. Zhang Fei attempted to kill our messenger. That¡¯s crossing the line."

    Tong: "... Fine. I understand. You¡¯ve done well escaping from Guan Yu."

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯m sorry."

    Tong: "Don¡¯t be sorry. It bounds to happen sooner orter. You happened to kill him before I do."

    Li Feihong: "... Thanks."

    Tong: "You¡¯re wee, buddy."

    .

    .

    While Li Feihong was relieved that Tong did not me him, thetter had a headache.

    Tong had prepared that this day would have happened sooner orter, but it was too sudden. He only wanted to intimidate Liu Bei to take a step back, but they were too aggressive. Unlike Cao Cao and Sun Ce, Liu Bei¡¯s subordinates did not care about politics or the big picture, which threw off his n.

    ¡¯Dealing with idiots is more troublesome than dealing withpetent overlords.¡¯

    Now that an irreconcble enmity had been made, it was the time to finish off Liu Bei¡¯s forces as soon as possible.

    Tong: "Monster Legion, Ghost Legion, Redhare Legion..."

    Lu Bu: "What do you want?"

    Zhang He: "Yes, your majesty?"

    Zhang Liao: "Monster Legion, reporting."

    Tong took a deep breath, hesitated to make a big move. He did not know what Zhao Yun, Lu Zhi, Wei Yan, or Zhou Cang would do after he dered war with Liu Bei, but he had no choice.

    Tong: "Attack Hongnong with everything you have! Coordinate with each other! I want Hongnong and Chang¡¯An to fall within this year."

    Lu Bu: "HAHAHAHA! It¡¯s about time to finish that motherfucker!"

    Zhang Liao: "Affirmative."

    Zhang He: "My old battlefields. Leave it to me."

    Lu Bu had a deep grudge against Liu Bei in the other life, so he was more than happy to take this job. Zhang He was also familiar with Chang¡¯An region as he used to be a grandmander, who fought in these territories against Zhuge Liang¡¯s forces in the other world, so he was pleased to fight in familiar terrains.

    As for Zhang Liao, he did not mind working with Lu Bu and Zhang He. Moreover, he used to break out from Chang¡¯An with Lu Bu in the other life, so he was confident in his knowledge of geography.

    Moreover, they had 3 elite strategists with them, Xun You, Ju Shou, and the wild card Li Feihong.

    No matter how strong Guan Yu and Ma Chao were in this world, they were confident that Liu Bei was not their match.

    .

    .

    Ganling City

    At this ce, three monsters resided under the banners of [White Horse Legion].

    Zhao Yun, the white horse gentleman, reigned as the grandmander of the 50,000-man army. His insight and the other life¡¯s experience were put to good use as he trained his men personally.

    Sima Yi, the ex-pir of Wei and the grandfather of Sima Yan, the first emperor of Jin in the other world, controlled the army policies with his knowledge and insight.

    Wei Yan, a former grand general of Shu, worked as the vicemander of the legion. His expertise in the previous life was useful in training new troops.

    The three created a professional army of unique gun knights, who armed with light armors, repeating crossbows, and pistols. None of them was trained to fight in directbat, but they were elite ambushers and raiders.

    Tong designed this legion, mimicking Genghis Khan¡¯s Mongol army, which terrorized Asia and East Europe during the 13th century. Instead of using bows, Tong reced them with his repeating crossbows and Medusa¡¯s pistols, so theirbat prowess would be stronger than Genghis Khan Army.

    Unfortunately, the sudden war against Liu Bei dissatisfied Zhao Yun and Wei Yan. Both of them met and talked to each other in secret.

    Wei Yan questioned Zhao Yun directly, "Will you be on Liu Bei¡¯s side or Zhang Tong¡¯s side after this?"

    Zhao Yun grumbled, "None. I won¡¯t participate in their fight."

    "Are you sure?"

    "Why do you want to know? Are you going to jump ship or what?"

    "I¡¯m just asking. I need to know where I am standing."

    "What the hell? If I said that I¡¯ll join Liu Bei, are you going toe with me or something?"

    "Hey, I¡¯m just asking. We¡¯re both ex-Liu Bei¡¯s generals, so we should stick together. You know that most of the emperor¡¯s officers were once Cao Cao¡¯s men. We just can¡¯t talk to them about this."

    "You¡¯re making it too suspicious. If I were ex-Cao Cao¡¯s men, I would have reported this meeting in an instant! Do you want to be executed because of a misunderstanding again?"

    "Err, no. Sorry. I just want someone to talk to."

    Zhao Yun sighed. Wei Yan was too tactless that always caused a misunderstanding between his subordinates. Without Zhao Yun¡¯s assurance and Sima Yi¡¯s help, Tong might already have executed him because of false allegations from others.

    "You shouldn¡¯t visit anyone during this period. Until the war between Zhang Tong and Liu Bei is over,y low."

    "...Can¡¯t we talk about who wille out on top? So we can pick the right side-"

    "Don¡¯t ever mention that. Whoever wins, it doesn¡¯t matter. Besides, his majesty mobilized Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, and Li Feihong together. Their fate is sealed!"

    "So, you¡¯re on Zhang Tong¡¯s side?"

    "I¡¯m just... Ugh, you¡¯re hopeless," Zhao Yun was tired talking to the clueless general. He wanted to protect this old friend, but his attitude was troublesome, "Let¡¯s just say, I¡¯m on his majesty¡¯s side. Now, it¡¯s my turn. Will you be on his majesty¡¯s side or Liu Bei?"

    "Err, I¡¯ll be wherever you¡¯re siding."

    Zhao Yun facepalmed, "Are you gay or what?"

    "..."

    .

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, Guan Yu flew back to Liu Bei¡¯s side along with Zhang Fei¡¯s dead body.

    At the moment, their main forces were camping a kilometer west of Tong Pass, east of Chang¡¯An, west of Hongnong.

    Upon finding out about Zhang Fei¡¯s death, Liu Bei wailed.

    "WHYYYYY!?"

    Guan Yu gritted his teeth. It was a mistake on Zhang Fei¡¯s part that he attempted to kill Wei You without his consent. Then, Tong¡¯s men retaliated and killed Zhang Fei in the process.

    It was also his fault for not remaining alert at all times. Had he knelt and epted the decree, things might have turned differently.

    Guan Yu reported everything to Liu Bei and their strategists from the beginning to the end, starting from the detection of a 4-wing angel, the arrival of the envoy, the rejection of Tong¡¯s mandate, and the fight.

    Liu Bei¡¯s eyes were bloodshot as his anger went through the roof. He wanted to order Guan Yu and Ma Chao to attack Tong¡¯snds at once, but he refrained himself.

    He red at Guan Yu as he had another idea.

    "Strategist Pang, Strategist Xu."

    Pang Tong and Xu Shu bowed to Liu Bei, "Present!"

    "I want to send Guan Yu to assassinate Zhang Tong¡¯s generals and civil officers! I need to know where we should send him!"

    Pang Tong nced at Liu Bei, "Do you want revenge, my lord?"

    "Of course, I want revenge! I want to see Zhang Tong suffer!"

    "Ah, that¡¯s simple," Pang Tong giggled, "Send him to kill Ding Yuan in Jinyang first. Then, move east to Ji City and kill any governor you find. Keep moving east and kill every officer in the northern region!"

    Guan Yu opened his mouth to protest as he did not like this kind of tactic, but Liu Bei red at him.

    "Go. Assassinate Zhang Tong¡¯s officers. When you¡¯re at it, sneak into Julu and kill Zhang Tong¡¯s father!"

 Chapter 470 Guan Yu, the Spy?

    Chapter 470 - Guan Yu, the Spy?

    Guan Yu was taken aback by Liu Bei''s ruthlessness and his assassination order. As a man of virtue, he disagreed with his elder brother''s method.

    "I don''t think this is the right n! We might be contending against Zhang Tong for supremacy, but assassination and killing his father is too much!"

    He was also angry that Zhang Fei died, but he did not allow hatred to consume his judgment.

    Guan Yu might be a prideful general in the previous life, but he was not a person who never learned from his mistakes. By taking a step back to look at what he had done or what everyone was doing, he could see the bigger picture and a better solution.

    It was not the right move to take revenge now. They did not need to strike back instantly after Tong''s men had provoked them.

    Liu Bei yelled at Guan Yu''s face, "THEN, WHAT ABOUT YIDE!? THE LAST LIFE, HE DIED TRYING TO AVENGE YOU, YOU INGRATE BASTARD!! NOW THAT HE DIED, YOU DON''T EVEN ATTEMPT TO AVENGE FOR HIM AND RETURN THE FAVOR!? IS THIS HOW A MAN OF VIRTUE ACT!? IS THIS HOW THE SO-CALLED VIRTUOUS GOD OF LOYALTY BEHAVE!?"

    Getting yelled in the face, even the stoic Guan Yu got irritated. He red back at Liu Bei in the eyes and released his killing intent.

    "I also want to do something for Yide, but revenge is not the only solution! This time, Yide was in the wrong since he tried to kill Zhang Tong''s messenger and got himself killed instead! If we harm any of Zhang Tong''s men now, you can forget about your previous Shu Han Kingdom or reiming the throne. We''re not in the condition to fight Zhang Tong with only our forces!"

    "We''re weaker than him because he has too many capable generals and soldiers! Unless we kill some of them, we will get stuck in this situation forever! Are we going to allow them to kill one of us whenever they want, but we cannot retaliate? Are you out of your mind!?"

    "¡­"

    Liu Bei was not wrong. They had to retaliate!

    Guan Yu agreed to Liu Bei''s point that Tong had too many good generals, and they had to weaken him somehow. As Tong had snatched good generals early, he amassed several strategists and generals under his banners. Combined with the angelic and demonic cultivation factor, Tong''s forces already toppled everyone in thend.

    As long as Tong''s arms and legs, his generals and his strategists, were still alive, Liu Bei would not be their opponent, even if he had Zhuge Liang back on his side.

    After all, mortals had limited power. They could never content with the absolute forces of high ranking angels or demons.

    However, he was afraid of a dire consequence of using this assassination method.

    "I understand that, but we should not provoke Zhang Tong to a fight between angels and demons. Right now, Zhang Tong refrains himself from participating in a direct fight, so we shouldn''t use our power recklessly for the sake of getting back at him."

    The ability to fly threatened everybody, including Tong''s subordinates, that any 6-wing angel or demon could easily assassinate anyone in this country, and their raw physical strength could also annihte an army of 10,000 men with ease.

    Guan Yu was aware of his power and potential, but it horrified him to know that Tong and Lu Bu could also do the same!

    Presently, Tong demonstrated his respect toward other forces by not using his demon power to suppress them directly, which Guan Yu was grateful for it.

    If Guan Yu started using his angel power to assassinate Tong''s subordinates, he assumed that Tong and Lu Bu would definitely do the same, and Liu Bei would die.

    Yet, Liu Bei failed to understand this point.

    "This is my order, Yunchang. Sneak inside Zhang Tong''s cities and kill every general and officer you can find. Target all angels and demons in his territory!"

    Hearing the entire order, Guan Yu closed his eyes and sighed. He did not want to be an assassin since it vited his principle.

    Since he did not have a choice, he spread his wings and flew away toward the north.

    Seeing that his sworn brother was obedient, Liu Bei turned around to see Ma Chao, Pang Tong, and Xu Shu.

    "We''ll resume our march. Once we reach Hongnong, we''ll fortify the region and prepare to attack Henei! Pang Tong, contact Cao Cao and tell him to support us when we start our campaign. Xu Shu, you go to Sun Ce and force him to move, too!"

    The strategists acknowledged, "Understood, my lord."

    "Ma Chao!"

    Ma Chao''s eyes beamed, "Present!"

    "Your time hase! You''ll be the grandmander for my army. Once we reach Hongnong, lead your soldiers north and cross the Yellow River. I want you to sneak into Zhang Tong''s territory, so you can ambush Henei''s forces!"

    Ma Chao was surprised that Liu Bei could think of a tactic.

    This general managed to obtain his other world''s experience not too long ago, so he understood Liu Bei''s character somewhat. Unfortunately, his cultivation had not improved because of his grudge toward Zhang He, who killed his father in this life. With this mentality and his brewing hatred, the angelic cultivation did not suit him.

    "Is Zhang He there, my lord?"

    Liu Bei shook his head, "No."

    "I see," Ma Chao was disappointed. Still, he epted the dispatch order anyway.

    Everyone was happy that they would get to fight Tong, but Xu Shu was not so sure. His instinct was screaming at him that they would meet with a disaster.

    "My lord, maybe we should¡­"

    Liu Bei nced at Xu Shu.

    Although Liu Bei did not use his killing intent aura, Xu Shu was intimidated. As he was still an inexperienced schr, Xu Shu''s courage was not on par with his other self in the other world.

    Hecked the self-confidence of a war strategist!

    This was another mistake that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei made as they did not give a cultivation method to Pang Tong or Xu Shu. None of them had the same ability as their counterpart in their prime!

    "N-Nothing. I shall go to Jianye and inform the Sun n¡­"

    .

    .

    After Guan Yu had left Liu Bei, he did not rush toward any of Tong''s cities. Instead, he was absentminded and flew without a destination.

    Daydreaming, Guan Yu thought of hisrades in the previous life, Zhou Cang, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, and many others.

    He missed them. He wanted to see them again and talk about their new life in this world.

    Unfortunately, Zhou Cang and Zhao Yun joined forces with Tong, so he could not meet them now.

    ''Should I head to Cheng Du and meet with Huang Zhong? His fate has changed, so he should still be serving Liu Biao¡­''

    Guan Yu changed his course and headed toward the southwest, nning to visit Chengdu first.

    But then, he thought about his children and his wife in the other life. Ten years ago, he should have married his wife in Ji, where he started an army with Liu Bei. Then, two yearster, he should have a son, Guan Ping.

    His fate changed, and he did not meet his wife nor had a son, which saddened him.

    Emotionally chained by his previous life, Guan Yu turned around and flew toward Ji City, which was currently protected by Sima Lang, Sima Fang''s son and the elder brother of Sima Yi.

    .

    Upon arriving at Ji City, he went to a cloth shop and disguised himself as a schr.

    Unfortunately, his disguise failed. As someone who was 190cm tall and muscr, schr robes did not suit him. Moreover, his red face and long beard stood out like a sore thumb.

    Secondly, Ji Commandery was the current Sima House''s secondary headquarters, which Sima Fang and Sima Yi coborated with Sima Lang, the governor of Ji, and built a subsidiary force there in the case of emergency.

    Not only Ji City housed the basic 10,000 policemen to overseer themandery and the affiliated cities around the region, they secretly trained an army of 20,000 men, who were serving as intelligence agents for Tong''s forces on paper.

    Guan Yu infiltrating the Sima n''s headquarters was like pping Sima nsmen in the face. It did not take long for Sima Lang''s men to discover of Guan Yu''s presence and reported their governor.

    A squad of ten policemen rushed to Sima Lang''s office and reported their findings.

    "My lord, we found a suspicious individual inside the city, but we are afraid that we can''t apprehend him without a casualty. Please advise."

    The policemen described Guan Yu''s look, height, statue, and his natural intimidating aura. They even had an artist to sketch a picture of Guan Yu''s face and showed it to Sima Lang.

    Sima Lang observed and analyzed the description. Since this person could intimidate his elites, Sima Lang decided to spy on this person himself.

    By detaching his only awakened virtuous soul, Humility, Sima Fang sent his soul to check this person of the report.

 Chapter 471 Sima Lang, the Mediator

    Chapter 471 - Sima Lang, the Mediator

    Guan Yu managed to find his former wife in the other world, but he suffered from a shocking discovery.

    She already married amoner in the city, and they already had several children together, living a peaceful, happy life.

    Heartbroken, Guan Yu clenched his chest and gritted his teeth. He walked away from the family and walked straight to a tavern for a drink.

    Surprisingly, Guan Yu¡¯s drinking habit stopped him from drinking alcohol. He ordered several jars of tea instead of wine, which was odd for someone who came to a tavern for food and liquor.

    The tall schr did nothing but drinking all day without causing trouble to the locals. Still, everyone was wary of him because of his tall and muscr statue.

    Sima Lang¡¯s soul found Guan Yuter when thetter was drinking quietly by himself.

    Guan Yu also detected Sima Fang¡¯s soul spying on him, but he ignored it, continuing drinking tea as if they were wine.

    It was weird to the locals and Sima Lang. They could tell that Guan Yu wanted to get drunk, but he drank tea instead of wine, which was absurd.

    ¡¯Does he have a screw loose? If I remember correctly, he was a valiant general, but he was too prideful in the other life. Howe he is acting like a fool here?¡¯

    Curious by the action of Guan Yu, Sima Lang decided to take risks. He unsummoned his soul back into his body and visited Guan Yu with his real body.

    The governor barged into the tavern and stood by Guan Yu¡¯s side, cupping his fist and greeted him.

    "Greetings, great angel. Mind if I join your table?"

    Guan Yu slightly nodded, but his eyes and attention were still somewhere else.

    Sima Lang sat on the seat across Guan Yu¡¯s table and ordered another sea of tea. When he looked at Guan Yu¡¯s face, he saw sadness and reluctance.

    "You¡¯ll feel better if you have someone to talk to. Do you want to tell me what bothers you?"

    Guan Yu took a deep breath as he pulled himself back from his daydreaming. He looked back at the young man¡¯s eyes without releasing his killing intent.

    His stance was neutral. He did not want to harm Sima Lang, nor did he want to befriend him.

    "Have you regained your previous life¡¯s memory, young man?"

    Guan Yu knew that Sima Lang was a weak angel, so he figured that this man should have the other life¡¯s memory as well.

    "Of course I do. Every cultivator gets their memory back."

    "Have you everpared which one is superior?"

    "Always. Every past experience I have is a lesson for the future. I always recalled my mistakes in the other life, and I never repeated them."

    Guan Yu chuckled, "Is that so? Have you ever found yourself in a predicament at all in both lives?"

    Sima Lang gulped. Although both of his life experience was peaceful, it was full of obstacles, betrayal, and infighting among the officials, especially when he was serving Wei.

    Fortunately, nobles could not hire mercenaries in Tong¡¯s kingdom, and he was the only n who had the authority. Therefore, his life was morefortable here.

    Sima Lang did not have to worry about any mini-civil war, revolt, triads, or death threats from his colleagues anymore.

    He gave Guan Yu a wry smile, "Yes, and no. My previous life was somewhat treacherous since I have to be wary of my colleagues. This life is better."

    "So, you are doing well."

    "...Yes."

    Guan Yu sighed.

    "I envy you, young man," He did not hide the envious look in his eyes, "I may have the power, I may have the experience in the previous life, but I obtained it toote."

    He told Sima Lang about his previous life how he fought so hard for Liu Bei, but they ended up dying in vain. The story included his personal life story about his wife and his children, whom Guan Yu could never see them again as his fate changed.

    Unknowingly, he shed a manly tear as he wanted to see Guan Ping and other children again.

    Sima Lang was astonished. Despite not being drunk, Guan Yu talked as if he had already emptied several jars of wine. Fortunately, he had not tasted one of those expensive whiskeys in the central shopping mall, or it might have been worse.

    "You know, sir..." Sima Lang had an idea, "Since you can¡¯t reunite with your wife, why don¡¯t you move on and find another wife? If you have a son, you can name him Guan Ping or so."

    The red-faced man shook his head, "But what about their souls? They won¡¯t be born if their mother is not the same person!"

    "Are you sure?"

    "HELL! I¡¯M SURE!!" Guan Yu mmed his fist on the table, destroying it as it broke in half.

    Everyone in the tavern jolted and stood up in fright. They paid the tavern master and left the building in a hurry, afraid that a fight might break out.

    Sima Lang scratched his cheek, thinking of a way to appease Guan Yu.

    Then, he recalled that Tong had stolen many charming women from other Han officials, such as Du Shi, Cai Wenji, Xiao Qiao, Da Qiao, and Wang Yi. Yet, one of them named their daughter the same as how she named her son in the other life.

    It was Wang Yi, who was supposed to be the wife of Zhao Ang.

    Although Sima Lang was not close to Zhao Ang, they were once worked for the Wei Kingdom, so he remembered the name. Moreover, this matter rted to Tong¡¯s daily life, so the intelligence agents dug through the background of this concubine, including the intel in the other world, which came from Te Langpu and other cultivators from Tong¡¯s forces.

    Thus, Sima Lang obtained the family tree detail of Wang Yi in both worlds, and he discovered something funny.

    In the other world, she had a son, called Zhao Ying.

    In this life, she had a daughter, named Zhang Ying.

    Both her children had the same name, [Ying], despite the gender, which baffled Sima Lang.

    At first, he thought that it might be the work of fate, but Cai Wenji and Du Shi¡¯s children did not have the same name as their other counterparts in another world.

    Sima Lang had an idea. Even if the theory was wed, he should be able to encourage this person.

    "You know, one of his majesty¡¯s consorts married someone else in the other life."

    Guan Yu¡¯s attention piqued as this topic rted to Tong, whom the former treated as a worthy opponent and a threat.

    Sima Fang continued, "In the other life, she had a son, called Zhao Ying. But in this world, she had a daughter."

    "And what¡¯s that has to do with this?"

    "Hahaha! Do you know that his majesty always allowed his consorts to name their children?"

    "What about it?"

    "Do you know what¡¯s funny? The consort named her daughter [Zhang Ying]."

    "...?"

    "Don¡¯t you get it? The consort did not even have a cultivation technique, nor can she remember anything about the other world. Yet, she chose the same name for her child! In the other world, Zhao Ying, in this world, Zhang Ying!"

    "!!!"

    "I meant, look at you. You can still remember your son, right? Don¡¯t you believe in fate? Who knows whether your son might reincarnate in this world again if you have a new son. If you give up now, you are giving up his entity altogether. You can start over."

    Guan Yu¡¯s eyes brightened as he regained hope. He stood up and cupped his fist and bowed to Sima Lang.

    "THANK YOU FOR YOUR ADVICE, SIR!!"

    Sima Lang stood up and epted the gesture, "You¡¯re wee, sir cultivator."

    Although he helped this suspicious stranger in his private matter, he did not dare to probe into his business in this city.

    At this moment, Sima Lang wanted to p himself that he should have reported this incident to Tong, and many other generals could fly here to help him right away. Yet, he risked his life here and talked to a potential enemy.

    Guan Yu looking at Sima Lang¡¯s wry smile, heughed, "Since I owe you a favor, I shall return it right away. I¡¯ll tell you what my brother is nning."

    As a fair man, Guan Yu always repaid debts with 10 times the favor, even if the debtor were his enemy. He confessed everything that Liu Bei nned to do, including the assassination order.

    Sima Lang¡¯s jaw dropped from the shocking revtion. He took a handkerchief to wipe his sweat while his face turned into a sweating towel guy meme.

    "T-Then, are you going to hunt for our officers or generals?"

    Guan Yu revealed an awkward smile, "I¡¯m afraid I have to, but I have another idea."

    "What will be your suggestion?" Since Sima Lang could not fight against this person, he did not hesitate topromise with Guan Yu.

    "I wish to duel with his majesty and settle this conflict without harming our soldiers or people."

 Chapter 472 Challenge Accepted

    Chapter 472 - Challenge epted

    Sima Lang: "This is the jest of it, your majesty."

    After obtaining the challenge from Guan Yu, Sima Lang reported the urgent news to Tong and everyone in the n chat right away. He told Tong about the assassination order from Liu Bei and the duel challenge.

    Lu Bu: "Let me do it! I want a rematch against this red-face again!"

    As expected, Lu Bu was itching for a fight against a worthy opponent.

    Tong: "Nah. He''s my prey. I''m bored with sparring against my wife. Let me fight against a real opponent, or I''ll get rusty."

    Lu Bu: "If you''re getting rusty, I''ll be d to grind the shit out of you when I''m free."

    Tong: "Nope! You have that REGEN skill now, while I don''t!"

    Lu Bu: "Don''t be a coward. I fought you when you still had this skill! Now, it''s my turn to fight you while you don''t have a cheat skill!"

    Diaochan: "If you want to fight that much, I''ll be your opponent."

    After Medusa appeared in the conversation, Lu Bu stopped texting as he knew that he would never be this demoness''s opponent. Moreover, getting beaten by a woman was humiliating, so he chose not to fight her again.

    Tong: "Tell Guan Yu that I ept his challenge. Let him stay in that city for a few days."

    Sima Lang: "Understood, your majesty. When will you be arriving?"

    Tong: "Tomorrow. Let me prepare myself for a night. This will give him enough time to be in his best shape, so no matter what the result is, he can''tin."

    It was settled that Tong epted Guan Yu''s challenge, but none of them had ced any stake yet. Everyone guessed that this deal would be decided on the scene, so nobody voiced their opinion.

    Still, Sima Yi and Sima Fang were concerned about their family member''s safety.

    Sima Fang: "Did he harm you, Boda?"

    Sima Lang: "No. He''s a virtuous man as the rumor. He didn''t harm me or my subordinates."

    Sima Yi: "Why the heck did you meet that guy before you report to us!? You could have just texted a few words, and a dozen generals will be there to deal with Guan Yu!"

    Sima Lang: "I''m sorry. I jumped the gun, and I panicked."

    Sima Fang: "Control your emotion and breathing whenever you deal with an important task next time. Remember, if you are not calm, you are as good as dead. Anger is a contagious disease that will make you inflict harm to others or make them angry at you. Hatred is a source of anger and illogical judgment. Panicking is a reaction of an untrained and uneducated peasant. Hesitation and indecisivenesse when youck courage and knowledge. Cowardice appears when youck self-confidence. Theck of self-confidence shows when youck practice and experience. Theck of practice onlyes when you arezy! Andziness only appears in your thoughts when you are selfish! Think about what youck, Boda!"

    As usual, Sima Fang lectured his son using the n chat again. Even Tong felt like he got the sermon from this minister, too.

    Sima Yi: "That''s right, father. If your physical body suffers, your mind iscking. If your mind suffers, your body iscking. If your body and mind are suffering, youck money, women, beers, and vodka! Get your ass to a red-light district or go find a wife, my brother! I''ll send a few boxes of my good vodka to Ji in a month or two!"

    Everybody: "¡­"

    Not only all elite strategists were speechless by Sima Yi''s silly proverbs, but Zhuge Liang was also confused by this logic.

    Zhuge Liang: "WTF was that, senior?"

    Sima Yi: "A profound thought of a genius schr, brat."

    At this moment, every member of the n chatughed as they predicted that this foul mouth upstart strategist would get himself into trouble again soon.

    Even the old snake, Jia Xu, could not stop snickering and held back hisughter.

    Xun Yu, who was in the middle of retelling the n messages to Cao Cao, had to stop andughed.

    Everybody waited for the promised message from a certain individual.

    ''Is this idiot blind? Isn''t his father''sment right fucking there?''

    ''Wait for it.''

    ''That fool did it again.''

    ''Daddy''s sermon in 3¡­2¡­1¡­''

    It did not take long for Sima Fang to press ENTER and sent another sermon message.

    Sima Fang: "Son, I''m d that you''re exploring the world for enlightenment. But if I remember correctly, vodka is a restricted product that his majesty has stopped distributing due to the highly toxic level of alcohol. How did you acquire "a few boxes" of those, I wonder?"

    Sima Yi: "¡­"

    At this moment, someone realized that his tongue or fingers had slipped yet again.

    Sima Yi''s face drenched in sweat as if a waterfall located on the top of his crown.

    Sima Fang: "I guess that I haven''t trained you as much as Boda. I''ll be visiting you again next month, and I''ll shift my administration headquarters to Ganling, so I can get more time with you."

    Sima Yi: "¡­"

    Sima Fang: "Also, don''t send those vodkas away. I have a feeling that I want to taste some of those. Mind if you share it with your father?"

    Sima Yi: "But you don''t drink, pops."

    Sima Fang: "OF COURSE I DON''T DRINK, YOU DEGENERATE PRE-EJECULATOR PEDOPHILE SHITBREAK-ASS FUCKBOY!! I GUESS YOU WENT ON THAT PATH, HUH!? I ALSO HEARD FROM A CERTAIN COLLEAGUE OF MINE THAT YOU FORCEFULLY ASKED A LITTLE GIRL TO BE YOUR FIANCE. IS THIS HOW YOU BEHAVE IN THIS LIFE KNOWING THAT THE HAN DYNASTY IS MORE FLOURISHED THAN THE OTHER ONE!? YOU-(Further messages are omitted)

    ....

    ¡­.

    ..

    The sermon messages were 10-screen-panel long, which everyone had to scroll up-and-down to read the entire paragraph of non-stop dissing and cussing from an angry father.

    Still, it was the best entertainment for all officers in the n. More than half of the n members coughed and choked as they almost died fromughing.

    As for the receiving end of this sermon, he was in tears.

    Zhao Yun and Wei Yan looked at this famous strategist from afar with aplicated expression. In the other life, this man was a dignified strategist that destroyed Shu Han''s northern campaigns over and over again. Yet, he was there right in front of them, crying because of his father''s sermon.

    Moreover, this freak actually read through Sima Fang''s messages in earnest. Had it been others, they might have closed the chat menu and ignored the entire wall-of-text altogether.

    ''What a psycho,'' Zhao Yun cringed.

    Wei Yan was impressed, ''Is this how he became an elite in the other world? I guess I have to be harsh on my sons and daughters in the future, too!''

    .

    .

    .

    The next day, Tong flew to Ji City as promised.

    Upon arrival, Sima Lang and his men had already prepared the reception for him inside their assembly hall. Everything inside was decorated and refurnished to wee the emperor, even though Tong never asked Sima Lang to do this.

    A wee banquet was ready, and the attendants were all present.

    Surprisingly, there were many observers and over-paranoid generals here, who had arrived before Tong.

    Dong Bai, Diaochan, Xu Huang, Taishi Ci, Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, and even Lu Bu were present in this gathering.

    Tong could understand that his wives were worried, so they came here as an assurance, in case that Tong might get injured. As for Zhao Yun and Wei Yan, it was also understandable as they were once generals from Shu Han, and they were Guan Yu''s friend.

    However, the busybodies, Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Taishi Ci, and Lu Bu were uninvited, and they had no reason for being here other than curiosity.

    Still, Tong was happy that these men cared for him, even though a certain someone might have an ulterior motive. It was so easy to detect Lu Bu''s enthusiasm as he kept smiling and warming up his muscles among the crowd.

    *WHOOSH*

    Another group of peoplended inside the city. Three peoplended, two 4-wing angels carried their lord here.

    Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun, and Xiahou Yuan came here to spectate the duel.

    Tong had a wry smile when he saw Cao Cao, "Has Xun Yu told you about this?"

    Cao Cao shrugged, "Such an important event, why should I miss it?" He also looked around and met the eyes of his former subordinate generals, Zhang Liao, and others.

    "Hey, you lots. Having fun in this life, huh? I looked away for a few years, and you motherfuckers jumped ships as soon as you had the chance!"

    Cao Cao teased Xu Huang, Zhang He, and Zhang Liao. Thetter three drylyughed in awkwardness and embarrassment.

    But this careerist minister could not enjoy himself for too long as an old nemesis of his stood behind him and patted his back.

    "Good to see you being healthy as well, Cao Mengde. How about it? Wanna fight me again?"

    It was Lu Bu, who teased back at Cao Cao.

    Had it been before, Lu Bu would have killed Cao Cao without hesitation. Now, the enlightened man did not care about the past life as he only looked at the future.

    Being bullied by the embodiment of his other world''s nightmare was not fun for Cao Cao. He had a shiver running down his spine as this brute with a weapon got behind him unnoticed. Even Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan got into a stance and ready forbat.

    "Geez, you lots. It was a joke. Unless you two want to spar with me, that will be another story," Grinned Lu Bu as he cracked his knuckles.

    Xiahou Yuan immediately jumped back and raised his hands, "We''re kidding, too! Let''s be friends, ''kay?"

    Xiahou Dun clicked his tongue and sheathed his sword.

    All four-wing angels, six-wing demons, and the six-wing angel entered the assembly hall for a banquet.

    Inside, Guan Yu was already waiting for them.

 Chapter 473 Guan Yu VS Zhang Tong â€“ Part 1

    Chapter 473 - Guan Yu VS Zhang Tong - Part 1

    As usual, Guan Yu never drank wine. He only had a teapot, a teacup, a te of roasted duck, and a te of a sliced extra-cheese spicy chicken pizza on the table.

    Upon noticing Tong and his entourage, he stood up and bowed, "Greetings, your majesty. I am Guan Yuncheng, your duel opponent."

    Tong looked at his food table with aplicated smile, "Eating before a duel? Won¡¯t it affect your performance?"

    Guan Yu snickered, "To be honest, it probably will. Well, I just treat them as myst meal before an important fight. Do you mind if I finish my tes first and allow me to meditate and digest the food?"

    "Take your time. Well, your old friends are already here, so you should talk to them," Tong nced at Zhao Yun and Wei Yan behind his back.

    Guan Yu smiled and greeted the two.

    .

    .

    It was like a reunion between graduated students who had not met each other for years. Everyone formed a click and reminisced of their past life.

    Even Lu Bu had fun picking a fight with Xiahou Dun, and they ended up taking their weapons outside of the banquet hall for a quick spar. The result was obvious, but they enjoyed themselves.

    Cao Cao kept teasing the three great generals, Xu Huang, Zhang He, and Zhang Liao. Still, they chatted about how they became Tong¡¯s subordinates in this life and recalled their funny events, including Tong¡¯s clich¨¦ lines that he wanted to be an immortal king.

    Surprisingly, Taishi Ci got along with Xiahou Yuan well since both were master archers. They talked about how they should hold an archerypetition sometimes in the future.

    As for Zhao Yun and Wei Yan, they did their best, attempting to persuade Guan Yu to Tong¡¯s side.

    As prideful and loyal as ever, Guan Yu refused.

    "I¡¯m a man of duty, Zilong, Wenchang. I swore that I¡¯ll bring peace to the people with my brothers. I will see it through to the very end."

    Zhao Yun retorted that peace had returned. They could just stop all the hostility between Liu Bei and their forces, and everyone would be happy. They also identally blurted out that Cao Cao and Sun n were also on their side.

    Tong did not mind the two motormouths. Since Cao Cao showed up here, Guan Yu already guessed that they had formed an alliance in secret, just like how Wu and Wei came to an agreement to hunt him down in Jing Province.

    Ironically, in Guan Yu¡¯sst life, he died because of Wei-Wu coordination. Now, it became the Han-Wei alliance against Liu Bei¡¯s forces.

    The red-face god-of-war felt the bitterness of his fate. No matter how he and Liu Bei struggled, they could not seem to get an advantage in this civil war.

    ¡¯Fate, huh?¡¯

    Guan Yu ced his chopsticks down and turned to Tong, who was eating his food quietly despite being pampered by Dong Bai and Diaochan.

    "Your majesty, we haven¡¯t talked about our bet yet."

    Tong raised his eyebrows and nodded, "What do you want, then?"

    "I will be direct, your majesty," Guan Yu paused to muster his courage as what he was about to say would ruin the party.

    "I want both of your arms aspensation for killing my younger brother. You will also have to give the throne to Liu Bei."

    As Guan Yu had predicted, the music ceased, and everyone stopped drinking and eating their food.

    The hall fell to silence. All banquet participants looked at Guan Yu and Tong, listening to the development.

    Strangely, nobody reprimanded or yelled at Guan Yu for being audacious like usual. After all, officers, minor officials, and others already left them alone. Only maids, performers, and misceneous servants remained in the hall.

    Everything was fair-game this time. Only strength talked!

    "And what if I win?" Tong asked back, "What can you give me in return?"

    Guan Yu gritted his teeth and fell into deep thought. It did not take long for him toe up with a solution.

    "I willmit suicide. After my death, my brother won¡¯t stand a chance against your forces."

    Tong nodded. The bet was fair since they would lose everything they had.

    For Tong, losing the throne would hurt him since it was something that he earned it through his hard work and effort. He had raked his brain and trained hard before he got to this point, so losing it was like losing his only child. Moreover, giving Liu Bei the throne would ensure chaos and infighting among Tong¡¯s subordinates, which was not a good idea.

    As for Guan Yu, he ced his life on the line for his brother. Even if he were to defeat Tong, there was no guarantee that Lu Bu and the two demonesses would spare his life.

    As long as he could kill Tong in the duel, his sacrifice was worth it since the Court would copse to pieces because of the infighting for the sessor position. Even if Liu Bei failed to inherit the throne, Tong¡¯s forces would be weakened.

    Cao Cao¡¯s eyes gleamed as he was aware of the aftermath. Deep down inside, he prayed for Guan Yu¡¯s victory. But if Tong won, it was fine either way.

    ¡¯Go on. Kill that otherworlder and make this world fun!¡¯

    Xiahou Dun, who had been beaten ck and blue, smacked the back of Cao Cao¡¯s head, warning him.

    "Don¡¯t ever wish for more chaos. We fought enough. I want to retire one day as well. I want to live with my both eyes intact this time, mind you."

    The back-head p was so hard that Cao Cao¡¯s face mmed onto the food on his te. Pizza¡¯s ketchup sauce and cheese got stuck on his face.

    "I know, goddammit!"

    .

    .

    An hourter, both Tong and Guan Yu rested enough. They walked toward the entrance of the assembly hall, leaving the building.

    Sima Lang had already been waiting for them, "I shall lead you to our prepared stage."

    Tong and Guan Yu shook their head, "We¡¯re fine. We¡¯ll be fighting here."

    Both sides took their weapon from the nearby guards. Afterward, they stood still, watching their opponent in solemn.

    In front of the assembly halls in every city, the locals always left the area open, which had the same structure as the Forbidden City Royal Pce.

    Therge open area was there for the local garrison forces to form ranks and train. This time, it was used for a duel stage between the god of war, Guan Yu, and the self-proimed immortal king, Zhang Tong.

    There was no referee. Only participants could start the match.

    All spectators gathered on top of the stairs in front of the building, watching them with interest.

    Diaochan and Lu Bu paid attention to their wings and their distribution of aura in detail as they could use it as a reference in the future.

    .

    Tong took a deep breath as he held his halberd as it were a spear, pointing its tip forward while holding its shaft with two hands.

    Guan Yu also took the same stance even though his weapon was a ive.

    Both duelists stopped moving, staring into the eyes of their opponent.

    As if the time had stopped, their motion paused. However, all angels and demonesses could see the fluctuation of their aura and their inner forces.

    Guan Yu and Tong were testing each other by moving their inner force toward different parts of their body, probing their reaction speed and their foundation, feinting future movements, and baiting the opponent to take actions first.

    Tong¡¯s ability to distribute his forces into all parts of his body was not surprising as Medusa was his private coach. However, Guan Yu managed to allocate his power like fluid, which astonished everybody, including Lu Bu.

    Because of the talent of Guan Yu, Tong¡¯s concentration slipped for a split second.

    A fracture of a second gave an opening for Guan Yu to strike. Before anyone could realize Tong¡¯s mistake, Guan Yu already appeared before Tong with a thrusting strike.

    *WHOOSH*

    The thrust missed.

    Guan Yu frowned as he could see that his ive went through Tong¡¯s flesh, but he did not get the feedback that his weapon cut through anything.

    Tong¡¯s afterimage faded as his real body had already side-stepped and left enough distance for him to thrust his halberd.

    *WHOOSH*

    The halberd went through Guan Yu¡¯s body, but it missed.

    Like how Tong dodged the previous attack, Guan Yu¡¯s speed left an afterimage as he took a few steps backward, resetting their distance.

    .

    Lu Bu touched his chin as he analyzed their movements just now.

    ¡¯Tong hasn¡¯t used his cheat skill nor the [Square el] yet, but he already possesses this kind of speed without them.¡¯

    He nced at Diaochan, his former concubine in the other life.

    ¡¯This demoness should have imparted a footwork skill to Tong. Without that kind of foundation, he shouldn¡¯t be able to move this fast. Still, that how did that Guan Yu manage to keep up with Tong¡¯s footwork and speed?¡¯

    Medusa and Friday also had the same thoughts. Since Guan Yu never had a proper trainer or an instructor, they were confused about why this historical figure could utilize a footwork technique.

    ¡¯As expected of a god-of-war. Guan Yu¡¯s martial art talent is peerless,¡¯ Diaochan clenched her fist in nervousness. Even though she was a demon, she prayed for Tong¡¯s safety.

    .

    Meanwhile, Tong did not care how Guan Yu managed to keep up or able to use a footwork technique. Since Guan Yu proved to be a dangerous opponent, Tong discarded his honor and decided to fight for his life.

    Everything is fair in war!

    "Don¡¯t me me, Guan Yuncheng. Time Stop!"

    The entire world lost its color as the flow of time paused. However, all angels and demons here could still see the movements and were aware of the frozen time flow. Their eyes could follow Tong even though they could not move.

    By the time that the spectators regained their senses and awareness, Tong already rushed before Guan Yu and concentrated his aura into his halberd.

    Moreover, he did not allow Guan Yu to react as he boosted his speed by another notch.

    Square el!

    Tong¡¯s halberd shed down while Guan Yu had yet to react.

    Tong¡¯s steel halberd hit Guan Yu¡¯s neck. Yet, no sound came out from the sh between the steel and human flesh.

    Although Tong injected his aura into his halberd, the halberd de could not cut through Guan Yu¡¯s skin.

    Something was wrong!

    Guan Yu was unharmed. Fortunately, he managed to move his inner aura to protect his neck on time.

    His eyes red at Tong with resentment, believing that Tong had cursed him or had done something unfair to soil this sacred duel.

 Chapter 474 Guan Yu VS Zhang Tong â€“ Part 2

    Chapter 474 - Guan Yu VS Zhang Tong - Part 2

    Guan Yu forgot that this was no longer a fair fight between mortals. This was how a battle between a demon and an angel, and they could use supernatural abilities!

    Guan Yu attempted to move, but he felt as if his physical body was restricted or bound by invisible chains.

    As he was struggling to move, Tong, who did not care if Guan Yu could defend himself or retaliate, swung his halberd again.

    This time, the impact that hit Guan Yu¡¯s flesh was stronger than thest time since Tong did not have to strike while moving. The halberd de managed to cut half a centimeter into his flesh.

    ¡¯Damn you, Zhang Tong!¡¯

    Guan Yu circted his angelic power and all lifespan forces to break the shackle of the Time Stop skill. His body moved a bit, and he could feel the strength in his arms.

    Tong did not wait for Guan Yu to react inside his grey-scale world. After he had pulled his halberd our of Guan Yu¡¯s flesh, he circted more of his power into the next strike.

    The halberd was swung down while Guan Yu could not regain his movement.

    The polearm de hit the same spot, which dug into Guan Yu¡¯s flesh and hit the cervical spinal, his neck bone. The weapon cut through a nerve line inside his flesh, disabling Guan Yu¡¯s nervous system below his neck.

    Sensing the pain and the danger, Guan Yu decided to risk everything.

    At the moment, he had an 80% chance of breaking through and awaken his 7th virtuous soul, even though his physical foundation was not 100% ready.

    Since all of his 6-wing power could not free himself from this mysterious shackle, he forcefully awakened the 7th soul, so he could break free from this skill.

    Before Tong could pull his halberd and hacked Guan Yu¡¯s neck for the 4th time, Guan Yu¡¯s body shone in bright light as he awakened the 7th soul duringbat.

    The moment Guan Yu¡¯s new soul emerged, he regained control of his body. Moreover, he recovered from neck injuries.

    Even though Guan Yu suddenly awakened his 7th wing, Tong rushed his power cirction and aura enhancement to swing his halberd down for the 4th time.

    But Guan Yu also swung his ive, aiming at Tong¡¯s side ribcage. The force of a newly awakened 7-wing angel threatened Tong¡¯s defensive aura.

    "Tsk!"

    It became a chicken race,peting who would retreat first. Had they not retreated, they would be hacked by the opponent¡¯s reinforced weapon.

    Tong had a disadvantage in the overall raw power since he was still an immortal at the 6th tier, but Guan Yu had already reached the 7th level.

    The demon canceled his halberd swing and kicked the ground.

    He retreated first!

    Guan Yu¡¯s ive missed, but he regained everything back, his movement, his speed, and the momentum.

    Tong¡¯s system skill only worked with someone in the same tier of power or lower. Against a stronger opponent, it was no longer useful!

    Since it did not work against Guan Yu anymore, Tong canceled the skill effect to relieve his mental burden.

    The world regained its color, and all spectators could move again.

    .

    .

    Only one second passed so far, but many things had happened in the fight.

    Lu Bu felt like he experienced a d¨¦j¨¤ vu as he had been in Guan Yu¡¯s shoes, getting stuck in this time stop world, unable to retaliate against Khan.

    However, Guan Yu did better than what he did against Khan. Lu Bu never thought of this method in that fight. Or else, Khan would have been dead by his hands that day.

    Still, the brief contact between the duelists gave Lu Bu another inspiration.

    ¡¯I know how to counter that annoying ability now!¡¯

    .

    .

    ¡¯Once a god, forever a god, even if it¡¯s only his shadow.¡¯

    Diaochan gritted his teeth in nervousness as she hid a vital intelligence from Tong and everyone else.

    In the Heaven Realm of the other world, the real Guan Yu¡¯s soul resided there as one of the gods.

    His real strength was a 10-wing god, the same tier as Lilim!

    Even though this world¡¯s Guan Yu was just an ipleted copy of God Guan Yu, a memory fragment of an iplete universe, he inherited the talent and a noble heart, which made him stronger than everybody else in this world.

    Unlike Lu Bu, who had just repented of his sins, Guan Yu hardly sinned the other world. As such, the virtuous cultivation road was sopatible with him to the point that he almost had no bottleneck.

    The only good news that Diaochan could give Tong right now was, had the real God Guan Yu reincarnated here with his real soul, not the ipleted memory fragment soul, he would have regained his 10-wing power years ago.

    In other words, Tong was fighting a weaker version of this god.

    Still, Guan Yu was a god¡¯s shadow. His potential was not something that could be looked down upon.

    ¡¯It¡¯s risky, but if you can ovee this ordeal, you can reach my realm, Tong. 8 and 9 Wings are the real immortal. 10 and 11 is the god tier, and anything higher is the pinnacle of all entities. Everything else is non-entity!¡¯

    .

    .

    Guan Yu did not follow up using the momentum to finish his opponent off as his body could not handle the increased surge of power. He had to solidify his foundation and calm the tidal wave of forces inside his body and souls.

    As Guan Yu had not trained his body intensively like Tong, this awakening was premature, which damaged his foundation and constitution in the long run.

    Tong paced his breathing as he regained his stance. He observed Guan Yu¡¯s circting aura and found that his opponent was not in the top shape.

    Even if Guan Yu had 7 souls at the moment, he could only utilize 6 and a half.

    Moreover, the strength gap was not toorge. Had Guan Yu possessed another wing to be a pair, then he could call himself an arch-angel. For now, he barely stepped into that realm.

    ¡¯He¡¯s internally injured because of the breakthrough. He dug his own grave.¡¯

    Not showing mercy toward his weakened opponent, Tong activated his Square el and rushed at Guan Yu again.

    *CLANK!*

    Tong¡¯s halberd met with Guan Yu¡¯s ive, which thetter countered with a strike of his own.

    The gap in strength showed on Tong¡¯s weapon. His halberd cracked.

    Still, Tong did not give up. He added more tricks into his footwork.

    Lamia Step!

    His body left another afterimage as he slithered behind Guan Yu.

    *SWUA!*

    Tong¡¯s halberd grazed through Guan Yu¡¯s back armor and left a trail of open wound behind his back.

    Unfortunately, it was shallow. Guan Yu¡¯s natural aura protected him from the deathblow, which forced Tong¡¯s weapon to slip off, missing the vital organs.

    Tong repositioned his weapon to follow up, but Guan Yu turned around with a horizontal sh.

    *BOOM*

    The dragon ive hit Tong¡¯s halberd shaft, which Tong raised to block the strike.

    The attack sent Tong flying like a ragdoll and shattered his weapon.

    Tong allowed his body to fly backward by the impact, so he could recover his momentum in midflight.

    But Guan Yu spread his wings and chased after Tong.

    .

    Since the battle shifted from the ground battle to into a dog fight in mid-air, all spectators also spread their wings and took flight. All generals, angels, and demonesses went after the duelists, but they forgot one person.

    Cao Cao watched his cousins and everybody else flying away with a poker face expression.

    "..."

    Nobody could tell what he was thinking. In reality, he was crying internally.

    ¡¯I wish I could to fly, too.¡¯

    Only immortals with at least 4 wings could fly. Cao Cao had not reached the tier yet.

    .

    Above Ji City, Tong kept flying backward, dodging Guan Yu¡¯s attacks.

    Guan Yu did not care that Tong was weaponless at this time. Normally, he would have stopped attacking since his opponent was unarmed. However, this was a fight between an immortal, and Tong had used a weird ability to shackle his movements.

    It was karma. Since Tong yed dirty, Guan Yu would not y fair.

    All is fair in war!

    "Really? I don¡¯t have a weapon, you know?" Tongined as he dodged another swing from Guan Yu¡¯s ive.

    "Then, admit defeat! You have lost!"

    "Too bad, you¡¯ll have to get your victory over my dead body."

    "You¡¯re dead, then!"

    Guan Yu changed his approach. Instead of focusing on each attack to deal a death blow, he increased his speed.

    Previously, he struck at a speed of 10 strikes per second. Now, it became 20.

    The super-speed attack and dodging exchange kept on going as Tong tried to flee from Guan Yu while he was looking for a new weapon.

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    Guan Yu¡¯s ive was faster than Tong¡¯s reaction. Fresh wounds began to appear on his body, but none of them was fatal.

    Then, a change urred.

    As Guan Yu was in the middle of finishing off Tong, he sensed a flying objecting in his direction.

    Being cautious that he was fighting the emperor in their home territory, Guan Yu stopped attacking and dodged the iing object.

    *WHOOSH*

    The mysterious object missed Guan Yu and went after Tong.

    *PA*

    Instead of dodging the object, Tong caught it as he saw the culprit who threw this thing at them.

    It was Lu Bu.

    And the object in Tong¡¯s hand was a steel crescent halberd, Lu Bu¡¯s personal weapon!

    Lu Bu winked at Tong as he typed in the n chat.

    Lu Bu: "You owe me a duel, or you can spar with me without using that stupid time stopping skill."

    Tong had a wry smile on his face. Now, Tong had cheated the duel for the second time. Moreover, he owed Lu Bu a favor, and it would be torturous to pay him back.

    "Oh well. Sorry, Guan Yuncheng. This is my home game, after all."

 Chapter 475 Zhang Tongâ€™s Karma

    Chapter 475 - Zhang Tong¡¯s Karma

    Guan Yu had guessed that Tong would continue to cheat in the duel after thetter used the Time Stop skill. He no longer cared what Tong might do to achieve his victory anymore.

    All he had to do was to kill this emperor. Then, whatever happened next was none of his business!

    "Ah, I don¡¯t mind. No matter how many weapons you get from your goons, you will die here!"

    "Don¡¯t get cocky because you brokethrough in the middle of a fight!"

    Tong¡¯s crescent halberd and Guan Yu¡¯s ive collided again.

    *CLANK*

    The impact forced both immortals away from each other.

    Tong had more experience in flight. He regained his body bnce first and chased after Guan Yu, whocked training in flight skills.

    *CLANK*

    The crescent halberd mmed onto Guan Yu¡¯s front armor, and themer scale armor broke into pieces.

    The impact sent Guan Yu¡¯s body to the ground.

    *BOOM*

    Guan Yu¡¯s body crashed through the roof of a civilian wooden building. The people inside the wooden house was panicked and ran away from the stranger, not knowing what had happened.

    Tong did not follow through after Guan Yu crashed inside the city. Since their fight might harm innocent civilians, Tong decided not to push it.

    "Oh well, nice timing. But do I really need it?"

    Tong hesitated if he should get a new soul at the moment to match Guan Yu¡¯s current strength since he had just found out that Guan Yu¡¯s reaction was slower when he was flying.

    He could just use the sky as their fighting ground and exploited Guan Yu¡¯s weakness.

    However...

    *BOOM*

    Guan Yu¡¯s body shuttled through the sky with the speed of sound. A dozen wooden houses in the city were destroyed by the sonic boom shockwave, and many innocent civilians got caught in it.

    *CLANK*

    Guan Yu¡¯s ive hit Tong¡¯s halberd shaft, but the de entered thetter¡¯s shoulder, causing a deep wound.

    Tong flew backward to soften the impact, but Guan Yu continued the chase again.

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    Guan Yu¡¯s ive cut several parts of Tong¡¯s armor even though Tong parried all of it. Still, Tong¡¯s eyes kept ncing at the wrecked houses in the city, worrying about the people below.

    "Pay attention, Zhang Tong. What are you looking at!?"

    *SWUA*

    Another wound appeared on his right arm. Now, Tong¡¯s body had many bloody wounds, and his clothes and armor reddened because of the wearer¡¯s blood.

    Tong red at Guan Yu, getting angry.

    "Have you realized that you might have killed a few civilians just now?"

    Guan Yu flinched as he recalled that he kicked the ground too hard. He turned around to see the people below and found out that all immortal spectators had rushed to rescue the injured civilians and other people.

    There was a child that got stuck under a copsed rooftop, but Zhang Liao lifted the heavy log and pulled the child out of danger.

    Seeing the mess he made, Guan Yu¡¯s heart sunk.

    *POEK*

    Guan Yu felt something hard hitting the back of his head. It was Tong¡¯s crescent halberd, which failed to cleave through Guan Yu¡¯s head into two as the defensive aura was too tough for Tong¡¯s current strength.

    Even though the weapon could not cut his flesh, the impact of the sneak attack dizzied Guan Yu.

    "COWARD!!"

    "THAT¡¯S THE PRICE FOR HARMING MY PEOPLE, YOU IGNORANT FOOL!!"

    *BOOM*

    Because Tong was mad, he also decided to awaken his 7th soul. He did not waste time to get used to the new surge of power and swung his weapon at Guan Yu again.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    For the first time, Guan Yu was pushed back by Tong¡¯s raw strength in a direct confrontation.

    *CLANK*

    The weapon in Guan Yu¡¯s hands had already been damaged from the exchange with Tong¡¯s steel halberd earlier. With more oppression and concentrating counter-attacks from Tong, Guan Yu¡¯s green dragon ive shattered to pieces.

    *SWUA*

    The crescent halberd cut through Guan Yu¡¯s shoulder down to his belly, causing a deep wound. Yet, Guan Yu¡¯s subconsciously circted his aura to stop the bleeding and concentrated on thebat.

    But without a weapon, Guan Yu was a sitting duck.

    *SWUA*

    Lu Bu¡¯s halberd tip stabbed Guan Yu¡¯s chest center, but it got stuck at thetter¡¯s ribcage.

    Guan Yu grabbed the crescent halberd and attempted to stop it from reaching his inner organs, such as lungs or his heart.

    "Now, you¡¯ve lost. Surrender!" Yelled Tong.

    Guan Yu sneered at Tong. He had already bet that he would die if he lost, so there was no point to surrender.

    He might as well die fighting!

    "8th-wing... GO!!"

    "!!!"

    Guan Yu gambled and activated his 8th soul, which only had a 50% chance of awakening.

    *FLASH*

    Yet, he seeded!

    Guan Yu¡¯s 8th soul materialized, and he became a full-fletch archangel!

    But it came with a severe price to pay as Guan Yu¡¯s foundation was not ready to handle the jump in power, aura, and the new abilities of an 8-wing archangel.

    Guan Yu¡¯s vision blurred as he could see more things that ordinary humans or immortals with less wing could see. From his perspective, Tong¡¯s face was not the young man that he knew.

    Tong¡¯s face and appearance appeared to be an old fat man with an ugly face, full beard, and rough dark skin.

    Although Guan Yu had never seen this person before, his mouth subconsciously called out Tong¡¯s old name, whose owner of this name was not even aware of his other identity.

    .

    Diaochan looked at Guan Yu with 8 wings with a concern.

    Upon noticing Guan Yu¡¯s reaction after he saw Tong¡¯s face, the demoness¡¯ heart sunk.

    ¡¯He found out! Please, don¡¯t blurt it to Tong! Don¡¯t let him know!¡¯

    ¡¯If he is aware of his other life, he will get that memory back!!¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    Zuo Ci wryly smiled as he witnessed the iplete awakening of an archangel, Guan Yu.

    "Too hasty. Too immature. He will die in ten minutes."

    The sage turned around to look at his master, "Goddess. May I save this immature archangel?"

    Lilim shrugged, "Go then. Zhang Tong and Guan Yu shouldn¡¯t be killing each other in the first ce. Don¡¯t let Zhang Tong sin any more than what he had done, or my new demon king will be nothing but an ipetent fatass pedophile."

    Both Zuo Ci and Lilim could see what Tong¡¯s [Other Form] as they had more than 8 wings.

    Anyone with 8 wings or more would be able to see the past forms of all souls, which might be cleansed due to the circle of reincarnation.

    No soul in the Netherworld had only been reincarnated once or twice. All of them had been through the karmic tribtion for countless times.

    Due to the creator¡¯s interference with the karmaw, all souls would take the shape of their previous reincarnated body. Had a soul reincarnated more than once, they would take thetest form as their default soul appearance.

    Tong was the same. He took the default form as a policeman in the modern world.

    From Zuo Ci and Lilim¡¯s perspective, they could see Tong¡¯s other appearance, who had once sinned in this timeline.

    He was someone who had tortured and ughtered innocent civilians for his entertainment. Thus, he spent many lives, working in a policeman or rted upations to protect innocent civilians. Because of the evil deeds in the past, he always ended up getting killed or tortured, living painful lives. And in the end, Tong was sentenced by his karmic fate toe here and save the innocent civilians from the civil wars.

    Tong once abused the Han Court¡¯s authority and used Liu Xie as a puppet. Thus, he had suffered torture from other¡¯s maniption or someone with political powers, such as Ping and his family. In this life, he ended up protecting Liu Xie as his own son and saved the Han Court¡¯s authority from declining.

    In the other life, Tong did not treat his adopted son very well. So, he had to teach thetter again and make him walk the right path. He was fated to be a parent who had to teach many children, spending his time imparting his knowledge for every child he had, including Lu Bu.

    Still, he was betrayed and killed by Lu Bu in the other life because of the temptation of a woman and power. Therefore, karma brought both of them back and had the victim turned the table on the betrayer. In this life, the father killer, Lu Bu, reincarnated as Khan to be fooled by Liu Yang. Then, Tong killed him in the process, getting the karma served to the child killer as the father paid back the deed.

    Tong once had close ties with Diaochan and Dong Bai as they were a family. The incident, which Friday and Medusa reincarnated as these twodies, was not a coincidence as fate influenced them into choosing those bodies as their hosts, making them a family again one way or another.

    Tong¡¯s army brought the fall of the Han Court and triggered the civil war. As a result, karma brought him back here to end it with his own hands.

    There were other deeds and karmic ties that needed to be solved. However, twists and turns happened along the way as Tong repented for his old sins that he had forgotten. Some were interfered by other sinners, but some were cleansed by his own subordinates.

    The demon king who once terrorized the Han Court and ordinary civilians now came back as a sinned saint in a demon clothing.

    Tong¡¯s redemption trial was far from over.

    Lilim sighed, "Go and stop Zhang Tong from killing Guan Yu. I don¡¯t want to see my pawn getting tied by another karma. It¡¯s frustrating."

    Zuo Ci snickered, "Toote. There is no way that he can live a life without tying another karmic knot or two. He killed Liyang¡¯s citizens and stole many wives from others. He has a lot to repent."

    "Just make it done in his current life. I don¡¯t want to reincarnate him like Hua Shi."

    "Understood, goddess."

 Chapter 476 Zuo Ciâ€™s Interference

    Chapter 476 - Zuo Ci¡¯s Interference

    "Dong Zhuo?" Guan Yu muttered in confusion.

    Tong frowned and spat, "Are you hallucinating or what?"

    Unlike thest time, Guan Yu¡¯s body was bloody. Even after he had awakened a new soul, his wounds did not recover. Instead, Tong could see that his wings had cracked lines, signifying that Guan Yu¡¯s souls were damaged.

    "You have lost, Guan Yuncheng. The moment you forced awaken your soul, you no longer in a condition to fight."

    Guan Yu roared, "I DON¡¯T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM A TYRANT!! DIE!!"

    The god of war attempted to fly toward Tong and kill him with brute force.

    Before Guan Yu could reach Tong, bright light stunned both Tong and Guan Yu. Even when Guan Yu and Tong attempted to enhance their eyesight or sixth-sense to detect their opponent, they could not break through this curtain of light.

    Another entity appeared before both duelists.

    Zuo Ci spread his 8 wings and ced his palm on top of Guan Yu¡¯s head.

    "Sleep, child."

    The oppressing aura from Guan Yu dispersed as if they evaporated into nothingness. Guan Yu¡¯s wings retracted into his body while the consciousness of this general fell into slumber.

    The old sage carried the unconscious war god on his shoulder while he nced at the spectators and Tong.

    "Please excuse us. All immortals with eight wings are necessary to this dimension at the moment. I can¡¯t allow both of you to kill each other."

    Before Tong could say anything, Zuo Ci activated his system dimension authority and teleported away, leaving the confused crowd.

    Tong, Diaochan, Dong Bai, and other generals were looking lost, ncing at each other.

    "It¡¯s over?"

    "That¡¯s it?"

    Lu Bu groaned, "Disappointing! Hey Tong, give me back my weapon, and let¡¯s spar!"

    Tong yelled back as he threw Lu Bu¡¯s crescent halberd at the owner, "Piss off! I just broke through, and I just fought a life-and-death battle! No sparring today!"

    *PA*

    Lu Bu caught his weapon andughed, "I don¡¯t give a fuck! You have 7 wings, but I have 6, so you will have to give me some handicaps! Prepare yourself!"

    .

    .

    .

    In the end, Diaochan and Dong Bai carried Tong¡¯s exhausted body home after he was beaten by Lu Bu. As for thetter, the brute activated his regen skill to heal all of his injuries, caused by Tong¡¯sbination of [Time Stop] and his raw demonic power.

    Lu Bu lost the sparring match, but he managed tond a few punches to Tong¡¯s face, using his own derived version of Square el, which satisfied this war god nheless.

    He did not know why. Every time Lu Bu heard of Tong¡¯s name, he got irritated and wanted to beat him to a pulp. Even though Tong and Lu Bu were no longer seeing each other as a foe, both men could not hang around together peacefully for more than a day.

    As for the other generals, they helped the local garrison force rebuild the city before they returned to their post.

    Cao Caomented in disappointment since the result of this duel did not satisfy him. He wanted to see a bloody battle. He wanted to see the fall of Liu Bei, and he wanted to see Tong get himself killed.

    In other words, Cao Cao still wanted to see the world burn, so he could benefit from the chaos.

    As for Zhao Yun and Wei Yan, they were relieved that both participants ended up in a draw.

    Taishi Ci and others did not say or react to the result. Since Zuo Ci hinted that 8-wing immortals were important to the realm, they got inspired to work harder, hoping to reach Guan Yu¡¯s level one day.

    .

    The news of the battle result spread among Tong¡¯s nsmen and Cao Cao¡¯s subordinates.

    As Guan Yu¡¯s threat was gone, many generals and strategists voiced their opinion that they should kill Liu Bei now.

    Xun Yu: "Let¡¯s get rid of Liu Bei¡¯s forces now, your majesty. We should return the favor and deploy our immortals to assassinate Liu Bei and his generals, so we can end this civil war for good."

    Ju Shou: "I agree. After Liu Bei¡¯s death, we can publicly announce that Cao Cao is our ally. Then, Sun Ce and Sun Fang will have no choice but surrender to us!"

    Jia Xu: "I suggest we abduct Liu Bei in secret and kill him without letting their generals know that he¡¯s dead. Afterward, their men will begin fighting among themselves. That way, we can destroy his reputation and brainwashing effects."

    Zhao Yun: "I agree with the abducting option, but we should inform him about Guan Yu¡¯s status. If he learns that the reincarnation system exists and Zhang Fei can be reincarnated, we can still reconcile with Liu Bei and bring him to our side."

    Sima Yi: "@Zhao Yun, Not possible. Why do we have to waste our time converting him when we can kill him and unify the country before the end of this year?"

    Zhao Yun: "That¡¯s true, but shouldn¡¯t we try a peaceful method first before we choose thest option?"

    Sima Yi: "I¡¯d love to if Liu Bei were not an obnoxious power-hungry son of a bitch. Right now, I¡¯m not certain that Guan Yu will abuse the heaven¡¯s authority ore back to bite at us in the future. If Liu Bei learns that Guan Yu has be a god, that bastard will definitely extort tributes from us by using the god¡¯s existence as an excuse!"

    Zhao Yun could not retort since he knew what Liu Bei¡¯s personality was. He would definitely act as Sima Yi had predicted.

    Many other generals also joined the conversation and suggested that they should assassinate Liu Bei. Even though Wei Yan and Zhou Cang protested, their opinion was nonexistent.

    But one person silence all reincarnated officers.

    Zhuge Liang: "As much as I want to join the conversation, I¡¯m feeling like I¡¯m missing the vital info here. Your majesty, can you share any intel about the heaven realm or the goddess?"

    The topic interested everyone. n members stopped quarreling to wait for Tong or other otherworlders¡¯ messages.

    Te Langpu: "Lilim manages the system of this dimension. You can say that what we¡¯re using now is one of her powers."

    Zhuge Liang: "Other than this thing that we¡¯re using, anything else that I should know?"

    Te Langpu: "I understand your anxiety. You haven¡¯t gotten your previous life¡¯s memory back like the others, so you¡¯re missing info about the other world¡¯s events."

    Zhuge Liang: "Previous life?"

    Te Langpu: "I¡¯ll summarize it for you, for now. When Liu Bei¡¯s matter is done with, I think his majesty will give you the memory of your other life."

    The former president summarized the history lesson of the Three Kingdoms Period for Zhuge Liang.

    Reading the story from Te Langpu, all ministers, who had yet to receive the cultivation method, were amazed.

    Wang Yun, the current governor of Nanpi, heard this tale from his adopted daughter many times before and was aware of her real identity. Although he had not obtained the cultivation technique, he had 1,000 years of lifespan as a reward for his loyalty and troubles.

    Still, this ambitious minister desired the knowledge of this previous life.

    Wang Yun: "Your majesty, Prime Minister Te Langpu, how many officers in this chat that has not received the cultivation technique yet?"

    Te Langpu: "I need to check with his majesty. He handles the lifespan distribution."

    Tong: "@Wang Yun. Mostly civil officers. I gave the privilege to military officers first since they can utilize them to their advantage faster than civil officers."

    Wang Yun: "Isn¡¯t that a bit bias, your majesty?"

    Tong: "I don¡¯t see any of our strategists with 4 wings or higher. How many wings do you have, Jia Xu?"

    Jia Xu: "... One."

    Tong: "Xun Yu?"

    Xun Yu: "Two, your majesty."

    Tong: "Anyone else with two wings or higher?"

    Ju Shou: "... I have two wings."

    Xun You: "Two wings here."

    Sima Yi: "Bitches, I have three!"

    Sima Fang: "Excellent, my child. I only have one wing. I see that yournguage is somewhat embarrassingly uneducated. I¡¯ll add this to our private lesson in my next visit."

    Sima Yi: "... I¡¯m sorry, dad! (T_T)!!"

    As usual, the rude Sima Yi got scolded by his father again.

    Tong: "Back to the topic, as you can see, martial artists have a stronger constitution, so their advancement rate is faster than frail schrs. Well, Sima Yi is still in histe teen, so his physique is in his prime, and he can adapt to the changes."

    With the new info, Wang Yun was heartbroken. He thought that Tong might give him the cultivation technique if they reminded him about the bias treatment. Since Tong had his reasons, Wang Yun conceded.

    Still, Tong did not forget about them.

    Tong: "Currently, we are using our n lifespans for the sake of domestic stability and weapon making. Next year, I¡¯m nning to invest in our n level. It has been level 1 for a long time, and the upgrade price is too high for me in the past. But I think we can afford it if everybody helps."

    Tong: "Afterward, I¡¯ll make sure that all officers in this n can get the cultivation technique. I won¡¯t leave anyone behind!"

    All lurking governors in the n chat, Hua Xin, Huang Wan, Kong Rong, and others, cheered. With Tong¡¯s confirmation, they were looking forward to obtaining their other world counterpart¡¯s memory in excitement.

    Tong: "Back to the original topic before we lost track of our n. About Liu Bei..."

    Everyone stopped typing and waiting for Tong to finish.

    Tong: "I¡¯m sorry, Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, Zhou Cang, Zhuge Liang. We will kill Liu Bei as nned."

    Tong: "Monster Legion, Redhare Legion, Ghost Legion, you have my order. Kill Liu Bei and his followers."

    Diaochan: "What about Guan Yu and his god status?"

    Tong: "We¡¯ll deal with itter. For now, I will be hibernating and entering a secluded cultivation period to rush my 8th wing and stabilize my foundation. I¡¯ll let my prime minister deal with the internal affair. As for the Sun n¡¯s matter and other n matters, my prime consort will handle it."

    Tong: "As for the military campaign against Liu Bei ... Li Feihong!"

    Li Feihong: "Yes, your majesty?"

    Tong: "You are the grandmander of all three legions in this campaign. Bring me Liu Bei¡¯s head and capture the Liang Province and Yong Province!"

 Chapter 477 Duck You, Tong

    Chapter 477 - Duck You, Tong

    "Oh, well. Tong is finishing this unification game."

    Li Feihong tilted his neck, creating a cracking sound. He was warming up for a serious fight against Hongnong garrison forces.

    As Li Feihong was stretching, he turned toward Bo Cai and Zhou Cang before he confirmed hismand.

    "I''ll open two portals inside Hongnong City. Prepare your troops. Give me your fastest deployment time, so I can time the portals."

    Bo Cai was also in the n chat, and he knew that Tong made Li Feihong their grandmander in this campaign. He cupped his fist and saluted.

    "Understood, grandmander Li! It will be done in 10 minutes!"

    "Make it 30. No rush. We''ll have to wait for Zhang Liao to return from the observation trip."

    "Thank you, sir!"

    Bo Cai kicked the ground and dashed toward his army.

    However, Zhou Cang did not move. As a formerrade of Liu Bei, he did not want to betray his old lord nor Tong.

    "You can stay, Zhou Cang. I understand your feeling."

    Zhou Cang bowed and left quietly. He returned to his residence and drowned himself with Li Feihong''s wine.

    Meanwhile, Lu Lingqi was still by Li Feihong''s side, clinging to his arm. She looked at this charming otherworlder with sparkling eyes.

    "Are you deploying your troops? Can I go with you?"

    Li Feihong rolled his eyes, "If you''re with me, then you''ll be staying here. I won''t join the battle, but I''ll monitor andmand the fight from this world."

    "Eh? Shouldn''t you join the assault, too? My father said generals must lead their men on the frontline. Anymander that hide behind their soldiers is a coward."

    "I''m a coward, then."

    "Aren''t you ashamed of being a coward?"

    "Hah! If being a coward gets things done, so be it. I''ll happily be the strongest coward of the Han Dynasty!"

    "¡­"

    Lu Lingqi was disappointed that she could not see Li Feihong in action. Also, she still did not understand Li Feihong''s character, but she found his mystery persona attractive.

    .

    .

    30 Minutester, Bo Cai assembled the Monster Legion''s 50,000 men. However, Zhang Liao had not returned from Ji yet.

    Still, he sent a message to Li Feihong.

    Zhang Liao: "Attack Hongnong without me. The city is undefended since Guan Yu is captured by Zuo Ci. Bo Cai and you should no problem raiding it from the inside."

    Li Feihong: "Okay. Raiding Hongnong Operation is a go!"

    After finished typing, Li Feihong opened two portals in Hongnong City. These gates directed to the front yard at Hongnong''s government buildings, where all civil officers and the acting governor were working inside.

    The first batch of 20,000 men, including Bo Cai, rushed out of the portals and entered the buildings.

    Fortunately, Bo Cai was not leading a cavalry unit this time. As Li Feihong heeded Tong''s warning, Bo Cai had nevermanded a cavalry unit after he fought alongside Tong in his early days.

    Or else, Bo Cai would have just simplymanded his horse unit to "CAVALRY CHARGE," and he might ruin the n.

    *TATATATA*

    Soldiers entered government buildings as nned.

    "What''s wrong, soldiers?"

    At first, the officials in the city thought that they were their militia guards that came to report something. But when they saw the unsheathed des and swords, they realized that they were under attack.

    "Drop your weapon!"

    "On the ground!"

    "Get down on the ground!"

    As trained, Gao Shun and his men did not cause damage to the local officials since they had to upy this city. For the sake of smooth acquisition, they avoided killing innocent workers.

    The men acted as if they were from police officers in the modern world. They shouted and threatened the officials and their bodyguards to discard their weapons before they apprehended them.

    The bodyguards in the buildings saw that their enemies were too many. Not wanting to risk their lives fighting in vain, they dropped their weapons and surrendered.

    Bo Cai gathered all prisoners on the field before the main city hall and forced them to sit. 10,000 of his men surrounded these local men to maintain order while the rest of the crews searched through the government building area, hunting for stragglers or hiding officials.

    Sounds ofbat asionally urred due to desperate bodyguards and officials who panicked and took out their weapons. As a consequence, Bo Cai''s men did not hesitate to strike.

    Bloodshed happened, but they kept it as minimal as possible.

    Meanwhile, the other group of 30,000 exited Li Feihong''s world using the gate that opened within Hongnong''s military barracks. These men with swords and spears captured every militia soldier and forced theirmanders to surrender.

    "Surrender! You''re surrounded!"

    "Drop your weapon! NOW!!"

    A simr shouting and threatening took ce here. However, the result was different.

    Hongnong''s garrison soldiers consisted of hired mercenaries, noble''s private soldiers, and drafted militias without proper training. As a result, their reaction varied.

    Mercenaries did not value loyalty but money and their lives. They also did not care about politics. Moreover, nobles in this world had a tradition of sparing the losing side''s mercenaries, so they could recover their troop number after battles by turning them into their professional army toon or ve soldiers.

    These hired swords grew up in that custom.

    Seeing the soldiers attacking them from the inside, they thought that some nobles in the city rebelled against Liu Bei. Realized the difference in number and preparation, these mercenary leaders did not hesitate to save their men''s lives by giving up fighting, hoping to join their new lord.

    Local militias did not hesitate to surrender since they were not professional soldiers. Obediently, most of the militias dropped their spears and followed the raider''s instruction. Weak-willed men attempted to flee the scene or desert the garrison army, which forced Gao Shun''s men to chase and catch these cowardly soldiers.

    On the contrary, the noble''s private armies resisted against Bo Cai''s men since they thought that someone staged a coup d''¨¦tat. These people were like triads in ancient times. They did not want to surrender their local authority to anyone.

    Thus, small skirmishes between a few hundred triad members and Gao Shun''s toons made the town acquisition hectic.

    But the chaos in the city did notst long.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Gunshot sounds echoed throughout the city.

    While a group of Bo Cai''s soldiers was inbat, a small portal always opened behind their enemy''s ranks, and a hand with a gun appeared from the gate.

    It was Li Feihong''s hand with his pistol.

    As Li Feihong was sitting inside his private dimension, he provided cover fire for the teams, who had difficulty taking down the resisting local troops.

    This coward otherworlder had the strength and skills to fight in the open, but he always picked this fighting method since it was more convenient, even though it cost him 100 years of lifespan every time he opened a new portal.

    It was like ying a game. Li Feihong watched the monitors in his world to find a threat. Upon locating any suspicious individual, he opened a portal behind the guy and shot him to death.

    After sniping ringleaders of noble private soldiers, their morale and formation copsed within a couple of minutes.

    The entire city acquisition processsted an hour, much less time consuming than conventional siege warfare.

    Lu Lingqi witnessed the entire fight from start to finish.

    At first, she was skeptical about Li Feihong''s cowardice, sitting back without joining the troops. After Lu Lingqi saw how this charming schr fought, she admired him more.

    The little girl jumped on Li Feihong''sp and hugged him as usual.

    "Haven''t your father taught you how to behave? I''m busy here." Li Feihong got annoyed.

    "Let me stay here with you! I want to see you fight in more battles!"

    This girl forgot about her previous marriage issues. Now, she wanted to tag along with the Monster Legion and experience more wars.

    "Well, sure. Like I have a choice."

    Li Feihong gave up dealing with this cheeky girl. He opened his n chat menu and reported the battle result to Tong.

    .

    Li Feihong: "@Tong, Hongnong is down. What should I do next?"

    Tong: "(?w?)!?"

    Tong: "I made you the grandmander, so you can do everything yourself. Why asking me?"

    Li Feihong: "Oh, never mind, then. My bad habit."

    Tong: "If you need consultants, you have Ju Shou and Xun You. Ask them for their opinions if you don''t know what to do with your men."

    Tong: "I''ll remind you again in case you forgot. I want you to eliminate Liu Bei''s forces, including the capture of Liang Province and the nearbynds that Liu Bei has upied."

    Li Feihong: "Can I give my authority to Lu Bu or other generals?"

    Tong: "(?w?)!?"

    Tong: "If you''rezy, go for it."

    Tong: "But if those guys mess up, you will be taking full responsibility for that."

    Li Feihong: "Neat! Thanks!"

    .

    The cowardly grandmander stretched his arms above his head and yawned. He patted Lu Lingqi''s head and nced at her.

    "Can you stand? I have work to do."

    The girl smiled, "Nope! I like sitting on yourp!"

    "I have to deal with the aftermath, little girl. See the monitors? I have to get there and exin to those local officials that they''re working for the emperor now."

    "Eh? That pervert emperor again? Why are you working for him anyway?"

    "He''s my boss. What else?"

    "Someone like you should be the emperor instead!

    "Oi! If anyone hears it, you and I will be dead!"

    "I don''t care! I hate Zhang Tong, but I like you more! Marry me, so I don''t have to marry Zhang Tong!"

    Lu Lingqi tightened her hug and squeezed her chest with Li Feihong''s chest. The small butts rubbed thetter''s private area, causing the Li Feihong to jump in a panic.

    The girl''s attitude and behavior was too dangerous. Without hesitation, heined to her father right away.

    .

    Li Feihong: "@Lu Bu, your daughter is too assertive. Come and get her back ASAP before I snap and rape her!"

    Lu Bu: "Bastard! If you''re going to marry her anyway, do it for all I care! If you don''t, I kill you and your 9 generations!"

    Everyone: "¡­"

    Li Feihong: "Her butt is rubbing my D!! I can''t hold!!"

    Everyone: "¡­"

    Tong: "How old is Lu Lingqi again?"

    Lu Bu: "... I forgot."

    Li Feihong: "... A middle schooler age, I think."

    Tong: "(?w?)!?"

    Tong: "I''ve changed my mind. Li Feihong, can you escort her to the pceter?"

    Everyone: "¡­"

    Li Feihong: "I''ve also changed my mind. Fuck you, Tong! I''m taking her!!"

    Lu Bu: "That''s more like it!! Breed with my daughter, Feihong!! Your seed is superior to that asshole emperor!!"

    Everyone: "¡­"

    Li Feihong: "You know what? On second thought, I''m taking my virginity to the grave!!"

 Chapter 478 Lilimâ€™s Motive

    Chapter 478 - Lilim¡¯s Motive

    At Mount Hua.

    On the yin-yang stone altar, four human-sized cauldrons situated there at the square edge. Each contained many colorful mes, blue, red, green, and gold.

    No smoke came out of the me since they were not physical me. In fact, these colorful lights were the spirits that Lilim created to maintain the stability of this world.

    In the middle of the altar, the yin-yang formation diagram looked like a stone sculpting art, made by men. However, several gears rotated left and right as if they were alive.

    *Click*

    *VHOOM*

    White light shed above the altar, and two humanoid figure manifested. One was the white hair sage in a daoist robes. As for the other, it was a red-face warrior, whose wounds were all over his body.

    Zuo Ci and Guan Yu appeared on a yin-yang altar. The former took thetter here per Lilim¡¯s order.

    "He¡¯s here, goddess," Reported Zuo Ci.

    The long wavy blond hair woman in modern clothing descended. Her ck t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans did not suit this ancient world.

    This was Lilim, the troublemaker that messed with everyone¡¯s life for the sake of repairing the iplete dimension.

    Lilim nodded to Zuo Ci, "Take him to your abode and treat his soul. Once he¡¯s healed, persuade him to swear allegiance to me. You can bait him with revenge. If he epts, take him to me. If he doesn¡¯t, throw him back to the mortal world, but don¡¯t let Zhang Tong or Li Feihong kill him."

    "... I see. So our priority is to nurture a demon king and a messiah?"

    "Indeed. We need those two for our newherworld. I don¡¯t want them to get entangled by another chain of karma."

    "Is that really necessary? Once they get to 10 wings like you, they can forcefully tear off their karma chain by themselves."

    "Karma made by 8-wing immortals are deadly. Zuo Ci, you haven¡¯t seen the karma snake of an 8-wing demon yet. I¡¯ve seen the karma snake of Morning Star and Michael. Those two almost died trying to break through their 13th wing and failed because of those snakes."

    Zuo Ci gulped. Although he had not faced the karmic tribtion yet, he learned many things from Lilim.

    The first 8 virtuous souls or the souls of sins could be obtained by having a strong constitution. However, breaking through the ninth wing or higher required the help of their karma.

    Merits and good deeds came into y in the cultivation world at this stage. Positive karma became the most precious asset to cultivators, which was the reason why Morning Star valued Tong so much.

    Getting tied by a chain of karma lowered their breakthrough chances while having positive karma raised their luck. Still, even if ones had positive karma but they had unpaid debts, they might have to pay back for those favors and grudge first.

    If someone forcefully attempted to obtain the 9th wing or higher without solving their old debts or favors, the karmic snakes would manifest from the karma chains, and they would attack the immortal with the strength of the tier, which the immortal attempted to breakthrough.

    For example, if Zuo Ci attempted to obtain his 9th virtuous soul by using a system awakening process, bypassing the standard cultivation method, he would be attacked by the snakes with the power of a 9-wing angel.

    To avoid this, Zuo Ci had to cut all karmic ties that bound him with others, such as Lilim¡¯s favor, Liu Yang¡¯s grudge, and Tong¡¯s debts.

    The debt karma was easy to solve since Zuo Ci only needed to pardon them for what they had owed.

    The grudge karmic knot was also easy to revoke. Zuo Ci¡¯s good deeds and merits had to surpass what he had sinned in the case that what he did was justified. Or, he could tear it apart by overpowering the karma chain, just like how Lilim did with Liu Ping¡¯s karma snake.

    However, favors were challenging to deal with.

    Favor karma knot was impossible to break by force. Unless the debt owner pardoned them for the favor, the debtee would not be able to advance their ranks.

    Lilim stabilized this iplete dimension and made Zuo Ci an immortal, who could use a bit of dimensionw, the system, so he had to return this favor by working under her for the time being. Until the goddess was satisfied, Zuo Ci could not break free from this karmic knot.

    Medusa was the same as She also had encountered this karmic knot obstacle during her time in Hell. Since Medusa owed Morning Star her life, she worked for him and ended up bing his adopted daughter, hoping to get rid of this debt one day.

    To all immortals, favor karma was the same as very!

    "Understood. I shall inform Guan Yu when he wakes up."

    Zuo Ci retreated along with the unconscious Guan Yu.

    Lilim looked at both departing Zuo Ci and sighed. This matter did not only rte to Zuo Ci¡¯s karma knot, but it also helped Lilim for her advancement.

    The path of immortal cultivation wasplicated.

    At first nce, everyone should have cultivated in secret without contacting anyone, so they would not get entangled by karma. Yet, the cultivation breakthrough conditions forced their hands.

    In the beginning, virtuous souls and demonic souls were easy to acquire since everyone could just perform certain good deeds over and over again until the soul hinted that it existed.

    But the requirement for getting the 11th soul and 12th soul was harder than the 9th and 10th. Being worshiped by mortals and obtaining an oath of loyalty from either a 10-wing god or a 10-wing demon was the key. To be a real god, one needed at least one vessel with the power of 10 wings.

    However, all gods were known to be arrogant and prideful. They refused to bow their heads for others.

    Secondly, giving a sacred oath to swear allegiance to the others was an act of giving up cultivating and their breakthrough rights.

    Moreover, their lives would bind with their liege for the rest of eternity. If their lord got injured, the god could transfer their injury to the oath subordinate, making them a scapegoat. In addition, the lord gods could make their oath subordinates die instead of themselves. On the contrary, if the oath subordinate was harmed, the lord would not suffer the same injury.

    The rtionship was not fair. No one wanted to be someone else¡¯s vessel and give up their future.

    This was something that stopped all gods and demon gods from ascending to the same level as the first generation archangels.

    Even Lilim also got stuck at a 10-wing tier for a long time. Although she satisfied with her position as a 10-wing demon goddess, it would be a lie if she said that she did not want to get the same tier as Michael and Morning Star.

    It was questionable how Lilith obtained 16 wings through crimes and atonement. Even Lilim, the favorite daughter of Lilith, did not know about the details. Moreover, the mystery about Morning Star waging war against the Heaven was illogical from her point of view since he would havemitted more sins and got entangled by other gods¡¯ karma.

    Something was going on at the other dimension, which Lilim feared that it might connect to the creator¡¯s n or her mother¡¯s secret.

    Still, Lilim had backup ns. The experiment of dual-wing immortals, Sun Quan and Liu Yang¡¯s daughter, was one of them. Once Lilim got the result of this research, she might acquire a method to surpass her mother and the creator.

    Next, Seducing Tong or Li Feihong scheme was on the way. As long as one of them swore allegiance to her, Lilim could break through her bottleneck, bing a 12-wing demon goddess.

    Lilim sighed again, "Getting Tong on my side isn¡¯t going to be easy. Should I just disguise myself as a mortal and be his wife?"

    She groaned as she spied on Tong, contemting the n to gain his favor.

    Then, her eyes panned toward a semi-transparent monitor beside her, which was disying Hua Shi, aka Sun Shangxiang¡¯s daily life.

    As usual, Sun Shangxiang was in a bad mood as she did not want to be treated like a baby. Moreover, she was pissed that Tong had too many wives.

    "Kekeke. Well, I can¡¯t get Tong¡¯s favor, but I can always trick this girl. She¡¯s usable. Well, once I get her to 10 wings, I can make her my vessel easily."

    Then, she turned toward the other monitors, which were broadcasting the other individuals with exceptional talent in cultivation. These men were foreigners, the Roman Empire¡¯s officers, the Parthian Empire¡¯s princes, and the queen of the Yamato Kingdom.

    Lilim had more options. Since this dimension was isted, she could exploit it without interference from the creator and the jealous gods.

    She could easily brainwash and fool the local cultivators here into bing her followers. If she was lucky, a 10-wing angel or a demon might be born among the vessels, and Lilim would achieve her goal ofpleting this dimension as well as bing a 12-wing immortal.

    A system message from Tong¡¯s n system warned Lilim that Tong was checking the n¡¯s privilege, the system that Lilim had long banned all sinners from using it.

    It included the system shop, n level, and many other cheat skills.

    At first, Lilith nned to let them buy all the cheats they had created, so it could spice the live show and pleased the spectators.

    But after Lilim had taken over, she banned them since it caused the domain instability. Creating objects from thin air consumed too much lifespan from the universe.

    Now, Lilim managed to obtain a billion years of lifespan from the taxes, cultivating, converting unuseds to lifespan, and harvesting from the recycling center, aka the river of reincarnation. She had a bit of room to add a few features for Tong and others.

    "Right. I can use this tactic, don¡¯t I?"

 Chapter 479 Oh? Master Plan? *Nom-Nom*

    Chapter 479 - Oh? Master n? *Nom-Nom*

    Two kilometers west of Hongnong City, Liu Bei¡¯s forces of 150,000 were hoping to enter their border city and recuperated from the long march.

    It also had been a week since Guan Yu¡¯s departure. Liu Bei, Ma Chao, Pang Tong, and Xu Shu were eager to hear about Guan Yu¡¯s news and his progress in this assassination mission.

    Unfortunately, they did not have a n chat system like Tong or Sun Fang. They could only wait until the general came back and reported the tasks himself.

    They could also use the spies or local merchants to gather news about the recent events within Tong¡¯s forces, but it would also take months until the intel could be passed down to them.

    Themunication system in this ancient world was like that, inefficient and time-consuming.

    With such an outdated method, Liu Bei patiently waited for his brother¡¯s return.

    "Xuande," Ma Chao galloped his horse and stopped before Liu Bei.

    Many of Liu Bei¡¯s followers cringed when they heard that Ma Chao addressed Liu Bei by his given name instead of addressing his title.

    Calling someone by a given name was a rude action in this period. In ancient Chinese culture, only the seniors or superiors could call the younger juniors by their given name.

    For example, Tong, as an emperor, could call anyone by their given name, including elders, such as Wang Yun, Sima Fang, or Jia Xu. Yet, Tong had to demonstrate respect toward these seniors by calling them by their official names to uphold the tradition. In order to avoid theplication, Tong chose not to use their given name unless they were younger than himself. Noticeably, Tong never called his mentor, Lu Zhi, by his given name because of the seniority and respect.

    Close rtives, such as Xiahou Dun and Cao Cao, could call each other by given names. However, they could not call senior strangers, such as Sima Fang, by his given name. Unless they had a superior rank, none of them should call Sima Fang by his other name, or they would be branded as disrespectful nobles.

    Ma Chao broke this tradition and called Liu Bei, who was older than him and held the higher official post, as Xuande. This action alone could lead to Ma Chao¡¯s arrest and public execution.

    In the other world, Ma Chao and both Liu Bei¡¯s sworn brothers were not in good terms. As Ma Chao was an arrogant youth with no respect, he always treated Liu Bei as his peers by calling thetter Xuande.

    Guan Yu wanted to kill Ma Chao many times, but Liu Bei stopped his brother. As Liu Beicked good generals at that time, he needed Ma n¡¯s help to fight against Cao Cao.

    Now, it happened again. It displeased all Liu Bei¡¯s followers to the point that many of them drew their weapons, expecting Liu Bei¡¯s wrath and execution order.

    Fortunately, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, or Zhao Yun were not here. Or else, Ma Chao would have been dead.

    "What¡¯s the matter?" Liu Bei raised his eyebrows in surprise.

    "Our scout has detected the anomaly inside Hongnong City! We¡¯ve also found several migrating Hongnong civilians. They said that the city has been taken by Zhang Tong¡¯s army."

    "..."

    Had it been the past, Liu Bei might have been fumed with rage. But now, he got used to expecting the unexpected. Such a shocking development could not fluster Liu Bei anymore.

    "Which legion took the city?" Sighed Liu Bei.

    "The Monster Legion, my lord."

    "Zhang Liao and Li Feihong?"

    "Yes. These guys are their generals."

    "..."

    Liu Bei¡¯s Shu Han Empire rarely fought against Zhang Liao, who had served the Wei Empire. He did not have much information regarding this general other than him being a nightmarish bogeyman for Sun Quan and his men.

    He knew that Zhang Liao was once a friend of Guan Yu, and Li Feihong was one of the otherworlders. However, Liu Bei was not smart enough to use this information to his advantage.

    No matter which world, Liu Bei was never good at war strategies.

    "Where are Yuanzhi and Shiyuan?"

    Hearing the call, Pang Tong and Xu Shu immediately rode their horses forward and stopped beside Liu Bei.

    "My lord?"

    "I need your advice. What should we do to defeat Zhang Liao and Li Feihong? They have captured Hongnong!"

    Xu Shu nodded, "We should gather the intel about our enemies first. For now, let¡¯s retreat back to Tong Gate and organize our men."

    Pang Tong shook his head, "No! We don¡¯t need to waste our time gathering information! We already knew that the Monster Legion only has 50,000 elites, and Zhang Liao is an immortal with 4 wings! We should destroy this legion when we have a chance!"

    "Wrong! Thest intel said that Zhang Liao may have 4 wings, but they can¡¯t be applied to the present. Who knows if that information is outdated or not! Remember that Lord Guan Yu has gotten his sixth wing recently, so Zhang Liao could also grow stronger during the time we confirmed the previous intel."

    Xu Shu protested this time.

    Information war was an element that these ancient people were not familiar with. Coincidentally, the cautious Xu Shu did not want to take chances, so he wanted to update their intelligence report first before they could make an important decision.

    On the other hand, Pang Tong valued swiftness and initiative over the intelligence as the process took too long. By the time that they obtained the right info, Zhang Liao could have reinforced the city with more militias or constructed weaponry. Then, Liu Bei would have to invest more resources in taking down these soldiers and Tong¡¯s generals.

    Xu Shu¡¯s envision long term strategies while Pang Tong¡¯s one was situational. No one was wrong, but their turning point waspletely opposite.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter if that Zhang Liao has 4 wings or 8 wings! We¡¯ll hide our lord and othermanders among the troops. Then, Zhang Liao won¡¯t be able to locate our generals, and he won¡¯t be able to utilize his power properly against a massive army! What can he do with 50,000 men when he had to fight against our 150,000 soldiers?"

    Pang Tong¡¯s logic was not wrong, only he did not know the most crucial fact about Zhang Liao¡¯s true potential and his achievements when he fought against Sun Quan Army in the other life.

    At this point, Ma Chao inserted himself into the conversation, "This is where your recklessness bes your weakness, Pang Tong! I¡¯ll tell you about Zhang Liao¡¯s deeds in the other world."

    .

    Ma Chao was one of the few generals who experienced the Three Kingdoms Period. He managed to live and hear the tales of Zhang Liao, who repelled Sun Quan¡¯s massive army of 100,000 men with only 800 soldiers.

    And here, Zhang Liao had 50,000 strong men. With the help of Li Feihong, even the reckless Ma Chao could tell that this fight was unfavorable.

    After telling the story of Zhang Liao¡¯s otherworld deeds, Pang Tong, Xu Shu, and Liu Bei were astonished.

    "Why are my enemies always so strong!?" Lamented Liu Bei.

    "It¡¯s not that they were strong, they just have more experience in warfare. Zhang Liao served Lu Bu and fought against the Xiongnu on many battlefields. After joining Cao Cao, he also inherited Lu Bu¡¯s leadership and prowess in battles. It¡¯s not strange that he is a monster of a general."

    Obtaining the vital information from Ma Chao, Xu Shu was taken aback.

    "Let¡¯s retreat back to Tong Gate. Let¡¯s draw them to our advantage ground."

    On the contrary, Pang Tong confirmed his idea.

    "Let¡¯s attack Zhang Liao and his men now!"

    Everyone turned toward Pang Tong, "What!?"

    Pang Tong sniggered, "It¡¯s because he¡¯smandingrge troops. We actually have a chance of victory if we fight Zhang Liao¡¯s forces inside the city."

    "Are you insane!? Do the calction! If Zhang Liao can beat Sun Quan¡¯s 100,000 soldiers with 800 men, how can we defeat those 50,000 elites!?" Even Liu Bei could do a bit of math. He did not believe that they had a chance against this legendary general, especially the best general of Wei.

    "At first nce, it seems that Zhang Liao is invincible. But in reality, he is not! He actually has many weaknesses!"

    "Huh?" Everyone was confused, "What weaknesses? What is your n, then?"

    "From the words of Sir Ma Chao, I believe that Zhang Liao is not good at defensive warfare."

    Xu Shu¡¯s nose red as he shouted in anger, "Are you nuts, Shiyuan!? If he¡¯s not good at defensive warfare, how did he repel Sun Quan¡¯s army with only 800 men!?"

    Pang Tong was stillughing, "General Ma, tell me, has Zhang Liao ever won a siege battle in the other life?"

    Ma Chao paused, trying to recall Zhang Liao¡¯s feats and achievements in the other world.

    Surprisingly, he did not remember that Zhang Liao had ever won a siege battle. Instead, he always fought on the field with his men.

    "No. I don¡¯t remember."

    With that confirmation, Pang Tong¡¯s corner of the mouth arched up.

    "If Zhang Liao was so invincible, Cao Cao would not have lost Jing Province in the Battle of Chibi. This general could have defended Xiangyang and other cities, no?"

    Liu Bei tried to refute, "... Didn¡¯t Cao Cao lose that battle because of the gue?"

    "gue or not, from what I heard from Lord Guan, Cao Cao didn¡¯t lose many men from Zhou Yu¡¯s fire attack. He has more than enough soldiers to defend the Jing Province from the coalition forces, but he chose to abandon the entire province altogether."

    "..."

    "And Zhang Liao was there. He could not defend against Sun Quan¡¯s counterattack!"

    "Wasn¡¯t that because of Cao Cao¡¯s order? Didn¡¯t he order everyone to retreat?"

    "Cao Cao excels at reading people¡¯s talent. He never misjudges his officers! Had he believed in Zhang Liao¡¯s abilities, he would have ordered everyone to defend Xiangyang and maintain the Jing Province!"

    "..."

    Everyone nced at each other, hesitating if they should believe in Pang Tong¡¯s theory.

    This move was risky. If Zhang Liao were a six-wing angel and he were good at siege warfare, Liu Bei Army would face a disaster.

    But if Pang Tong were right, this victory would prove that Tong¡¯s forces were not so invincible.

    Liu Bei realized this and made the riskiest move he had done in this world, "Tell me what you¡¯ve nned, Shiyuan."

    "Hahaha! Of course!"

    .

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, Zhang Liao and Li Feihong were spying on Liu Bei and his men¡¯s conversation through their private dimension¡¯s monitors. Their voice was loud and clear.

    Li Feihong raised a teacup to his mouth and sipped it. Then, he ced the cup back to the side table on his left side before he picked a cookie from a snack bowl nearby.

    As for Zhang Liao, he was eating popcorn in the bowl on hisp. After he finished chewing thest batch of what in his mouth, he grabbed the ss of cold beer on the side table to drink its content.

    "So, I¡¯m bad at defensive warfare?"

    "Are you?"

    Both Li Feihong and Zhang Liao grinned.

 Chapter 480 Merciless

    Chapter 480 - Merciless

    Two dayster, Liu Bei¡¯s 150,000 soldiers finished producing siege weaponry. Siege towers, trebuchets,dders, and ten million of arrows.

    With such preparation, they marched toward Hongnong City, provoking Zhang Liao¡¯s men to a decisive battle.

    Ma Chao, the leadingmander of Liu Bei Army, held a weapon that did not suit this era.

    An arquebus, the firearm that Cao Cao had shared the blueprints to Liu Bei, came into y in this battle.

    Although Liu Bei possessed the blueprints and manufacturing methods, due to the unfamiliarity of the production process, only 20 crude rifles were made.

    Moreover, the ammunition was limited to 10 bullets per gun, as Liu Bei¡¯s men did not understand chemistry or gunpowder recipe. As Liu Bei hated Tong and his yellow turban family, he also disliked taoist priests, who had the production methods of gunpowder.

    Because of his bias treatment toward the priests, not many of them were willing to work for Liu Bei.

    As a consequence of theck of educated poption, Liu Bei¡¯s forces suffered from their empire¡¯s slow research and productivity, unable to build advanced weaponry fast enough for sudden war.

    Still, thanks to Xu Shu and Pang Tong¡¯s insight, they had already instructed their cksmiths to build blunt weapons for their cataphracts and heavy footmen.

    They knew that Tong¡¯s soldiers were sporting heavy armors, so ordinary spears and halberds would not be able to kill these men easily. Maces and hammers were a better solution to fight against knights.

    With half-done preparation, Liu Bei was looking forward to crippling one of Tong¡¯s legions, so the others could have the courage to rebel against this emperor in the open.

    "Surround the city! Cut off their chain of supplies!"

    Ma Chao immediately used the number advantage to seal the city, hoping to starve Zhang Liao¡¯s men.

    150,000 men divided into three regiments, 50,000 men each, and barricaded Hongnong City west, east, and south gates.

    Per Pang Tong¡¯s instruction, he intentionally left the north open, so Zhang Liao could flee toward the north. Had thetter done so, his army would get sandwiched between the Yellow River, Hongnong City, and Liu Bei¡¯s armies. Then, they would be a sitting duck, waiting to be ughtered.

    The 50,000-man regiments also served another purpose, baiting Zhang Liao to leave the city. Since Zhang Liao only had 50,000 men, he should not be able to sortie with all of his men to cripple one of the regiments.

    Tong had done this before when Han Fu¡¯s men had attempted to surround Tong¡¯s fort. Because Han Fu¡¯s men spread out too thin, Tong sortied and finished off one of the regiments, causing critical damage to the sieging army.

    Being aware of such tactic, Pang Tong would not allow his men to suffer from such a basic stratagem.

    Also, Ma Chao, Liu Bei, Pang Tong, and Xu Shu disguised themselves as reserve soldiers, hiding behind the main regiments. This was to prevent Zhang Liao from assassinating their important officers.

    The three regimentspleted their formation within 3 hours. Yet, the Monster Legion inside the city had not shown any sign of movement. Only their banners fluttered, and their garrisoning soldiers on the wall looked at them in solemn.

    All routes but the north had been sealed. Liu Bei and Pang Tong looked at the city, waiting for the reaction of Zhang Liao and Li Feihong.

    They did not attack the city right away. Instead, he wanted to intimidate Zhang Liao and Li Feihong with their number.

    If possible, Liu Bei wanted Zhang Liao and Li Feihong to betray Tong and surrender to him!

    "Send an envoy. Ask them to open the gates and surrender, or we shall begin the siege."

    Pang Tong epted the order and sent his men right away.

    The messenger approached the gate by himself and shouted toward the defending soldiers.

    "OPEN THE GATE AND SURRENDER!! LORD LIU BEI HAS PROMISED THAT WE WILL TREAT ALL PRISONERS FAIRLY!! WE WILL NEVER EXECUTE ANY PRISONER OR CAPTIVE SOLDIERS!!"

    The garrison soldiers looked down upon them, but none of them uttered a voice of protest.

    Ten minutes of awkward silence passed. Yet, no one replied to the messenger¡¯s demand.

    The messenger treated the awkward silence as a refusal. He turned around and prepared to leave.

    At that moment, the creaking sound of moving metallic doors was audible. The bronze gate behind him opened.

    The messenger looked back in delight, believing that Zhang Liao had surrendered.

    However, what came out of the gate shocked the messenger and everyone in Liu Bei¡¯s forces.

    They were former Liu Bei¡¯s officials and civilians, who still believed in Liu Bei¡¯s leadership. These peasants slowly walked out of the gate and headed toward Liu Bei Army.

    One of the officials reached out for the messenger and bowed to him, "General Zhang Liao has told us to evacuate from this city if we still want to follow Lord Liu Bei, so we won¡¯t get caught in the battle. I hope that Lord Liu Bei can ept us."

    Unable to respond, the messenger looked back toward the main army, asking for help with his gesture.

    Pang Tong noticed that. He galloped his horse forward to talk with the leaving officer himself, which exposed his identity in the process.

    The strategist approached the official, "What¡¯s going on!?"

    "We¡¯re former subordinates of Lord Liu Bei! General Zhang expelled us from the city since we¡¯re not willing to join him in this fight. Please help us!"

    Pang Tong widened his eyes and gazed at the crowd, who was waiting to leave the city.

    "So, Zhang Liao won¡¯t surrender?"

    "He asked us to deliver you a message. He said that he would fight to the very end, but he did not want to get the bystanding innocent involved in this fight."

    "..."

    Pang Tong was taken aback by Zhang Liao¡¯s action of expelling the citizens back to Liu Bei. It sounded righteous and fair in a sense. But strategic wise, it was a cunning move.

    Without a hostile civilian inside the city, Zhang Liao Army¡¯s food consumption rate would be lesser than when they had to protect these peasants. Their army would also be able to sustain longer in prolonged siege battle without supplies from their forces.

    In turn, Pang Tong and his men¡¯s provision would be eaten away by these people, the nonbat civilians.

    Liu Bei would not be able to refuse their migration either. Had he done so, the image that Liu Bei had recently built after he stole the Liang Province from Tong would be for naught.

    Pang Tong red at the garrisoning soldiers as he gritted his teeth. But a smile appeared on his face.

    "Fool!! Zhang Liao, you have lost!"

    The strategist kicked his horse and galloped back toward Liu Bei¡¯s men.

    He bellowed, "ALL HORSEMEN, CHARGE!! THE GATE HAS OPENED!! RUSH INSIDE THE CITY, NOW!!"

    Among the regiment of 50,000 soldiers, half of them consisted of cataphracts. These former Khan¡¯s creation kicked their horses and rushed toward the opened gate.

    The peasants screamed in a panic upon seeing the iing soldiers. They ran toward the sides, getting away from their charges.

    However, most of these civilians carried carts, wagons, and other belongings. Their luggage got on the way of their running, hindering their speed. Moreover, the gate was narrow, and over ten thousand people were still queueing to leave the city.

    As a result, thousands of peasants could not clear the way on time.

    *BOOM*

    Mercilessly, the horses ran over the crowd, killing the innocent civilians as they rushed through the gate. Screams and death throes echoed. Blood sttered and corpses were sent flying by the cataphracts.

    Yet, the garrisoning soldiers on top of the wall red at them and clicked their tongue in disgust. They turned around and entered the gatehouse on top of the main gate. None of them reappeared on the wall again.

    The cataphracts managed to get inside the city by running over the obstacle peasants, but none of them faced a resistance. The town seemed unguarded.

    They entered the inner city. Yet, no soldier had been found.

    But these cataphracts could not think since they were only soulless dolls that followed their master¡¯smand. They entered the government houses and upied them as instructed.

    When the banners of [Zhang] was reced with [Liu], it signified that the city had been taken sessfully.

    Pang Tong watched the city banners on the wall taken down by his men as heughed.

    "Ha! Zhang Liao, the monster? He¡¯s a foolish monster that only knows how to raid, then!"

    The strategist had yet to notice the carnage and the crying people along the path inside the city. Many civilians were hugging their dead family members. Some were searching for their loved ones and shouted for their names, while some lucky family looked at Liu Bei¡¯s soldiers with hatred as they cursed them.

    "MURDERERS!!"

    "LIU BEI, YOU SCOUNDREL!!"

    "WE WERE BLIND!! WE SHOULD NOT HAVE TRUSTED YOU!!"

    The swearing got louder each minute as the civilians and officials did not approve of Pang Tong¡¯s heartless action.

    Soon, the strategist finally realized what was wrong.

    Still, he sighed and feigned ignorance.

    "A sacrifice is needed in war. Winning without a casualty is ideal, but it¡¯s impossible in reality. Without the sacrifice of a chess piece, the other pieces on board won¡¯t be able to move forward! Lord Liu Bei will do his best to ensure theter generation¡¯s prosperity in your ce. You should be honored that your family members contributed to this victory!"

    Many officials and schrs heard Pang Tong¡¯s remarks. Afterward, the swearing got louder as these people joined in the dissing.

    Liu Bei, the innocent lord, did not know what Pang Tong had done as he only watched his men from the sideline. However, themotion and the people¡¯s voices got clearer each minute, and one of them was audible.

    "GO TO HELL, LIU BEI!!"

    Liu Bei widened his eyes in shock, "W-What did that person just say?"

    For Liu Bei, his image and reputation were as important as his entire Shu Han Dynasty. Because of his righteous and kind lord image, Liu Bei managed to climb up the ranks and became one of the Three Kingdoms that recorded in history.

    However, that reputation might end today after Pang Tong¡¯s mistake.

    The lord stared at the wall and attempted to listen to the sound ofbat.

    He heard none! Only the crying voices of the peasants entered his long ears.

    All of them were cursing and swearing. All their hatred directed toward himself.

    The inferiorplex of Liu Bei kicked in. Combined Liu Bei¡¯s failure experience from both worlds and Liu Ping¡¯s memory, his instinct cried that he had just fallen into a trap.

    "WHERE ARE YUANZHI AND MENGQI!?"

    Both Xu Shu and Ma Chao rode to Liu Bei right away.

    Liu Bei roared, "KILL ALL PEASANTS! DON¡¯T LEAVE ANYONE ALIVE TO TELL A TALE ABOUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED TODAY!!"

 Chapter 481 Portals of Death

    Chapter 481 - Portals of Death

    Ma Chao and Xu Shu could not believe their ears. None of them could ever dream that such an order coulde out from Liu Bei¡¯s mouth.

    Xu Shu jumped down from his horse and knelt, "My lord! They are harmlessmoners! You¡¯ve already won the city. Please spare them!"

    Ma Chao was about to beg Liu Bei as well. However, his overbearing attitude stopped him from doing something embarrassing. He only looked at Liu Bei in solemn, hoping that his lord would not do something too cruel.

    Unfortunately, Liu Bei¡¯s mind had long been corrupted by Liu Ping¡¯s remnant soul. Had it been his usual self without the external influence, he would have cried and wailed for the dead people and med Pang Tong for using the unauthorized order.

    But now, Liu Ping¡¯s cruel nature merged with Liu Bei¡¯s hidden desire, creating a new persona.

    Liu Bei sneered, "Don¡¯t worry, you two. Dead men can¡¯t tell a thing about today¡¯s event. As long as our men kept their mouth shut, we can spread words that Zhang Liao murdered all of these people like how Shanyue Khan and Dong Zhuo killed their innocent civilians."

    Xu Shu¡¯s face paled while Ma Chao¡¯s expression turned rigid. This dark side of Liu Bei was not within their evaluation.

    The honest strategist saddened that he had just witnessed the hypocrisy of Liu Bei. He always hated this kind of warlords, which was the reason why he refused to join Tong up till now.

    Ma Chao also did not like this side of Liu Bei. Still, for the sake of his revenge, he could tolerate a couple of Liu Bei¡¯s dark secrets.

    "Mengqi, go and kill those men."

    Ma Chao sighed and pulled his reign, guiding his horse toward the civilians.

    *VHOOM*

    A weird sci-fi sound came from behind Liu Bei, and a hand reached out and grabbed his cor.

    With inhuman strength, the hand yanked Liu Bei off his horse and pulled into the blue portal behind his back.

    Before Liu Bei could utter a sound, the abductorpleted his objective, snatching Liu Bei into Li Feihong¡¯s private dimension.

    The blue warp hole immediately closed as soon as Liu Bei¡¯sst leg entered the gate.

    Xu Shu witnessed the entire process. His jaw dropped, and his legs became stiff due to shock.

    "L-L-Lord L-Liu."

    Another portal appeared before Xu Shu. Another hand grabbed his neck and pulled him inside as well.

    Unable to resist this power behind that arm, Xu Shu allowed himself to be dragged into the other world.

    Ma Chao heard the weird noise, so he turned around, only to find masterless horses.

    "!!??"

    The general was baffled. He looked around in confusion if Xu Shu and Liu Bei went somewhere without him realizing it, but he failed to locate both of them.

    Ma Chao got panicked. He abandoned the peasant-ughtering order and rode around the perimeter, searching for Xu Shu and Liu Bei.

    10 Minutester, he returned to the previous location.

    "Where did they go!?"

    While Ma Chao was still looking for both of them, Pang Tong came back to report his achievement to Liu Bei, hoping to get some credits.

    He had already ordered some cataphracts to organize all civilians in one ce inside the city, and the city acquisition was going smoothly. As for the missing Zhang Liao and their garrisoning soldiers, Pang Tong guessed that they might have escaped to the north toward the Yellow River as nned.

    As for the remaining footmen, Pang Tong had them continue to guard the perimeter and maintain their formation, in case Zhang Liao were to appear with an ambush force.

    Pang Tong also had a following up preparation in his mind. From now on, the south regiment would enter the city. The east regiment would barricade Zhang Liao from moving toward Luoyang, and their units would blockade the passages toward Tong Gate.

    With this kind of encirclement, Liu Bei Army could have forced Zhang Liao to a desperate fight on an open field, where they had the number advantage. If Zhang Liao and Li Feihong were stupid and attempted to cross the river, Pang Tong could annihte them by using all three regiments to push them down the river.

    ¡¯Easy! What¡¯s so hard about war anyway? Those central-in schrs are all stupid!¡¯

    Confident with his result and the future prep, Pang Tong also looked for Liu Bei to flex his fantasy.

    However, he only found Ma Chao and his retainers. Xu Shu and Liu Bei were nowhere to be found.

    "Where is our lord, General Ma Chao?"

    Ma Chao shook his head, "I don¡¯t know! They just vanish to thin air!"

    "Vanish to thin air!?" Pang Tong was on the verge of swearing and dissing Ma Chao as a dumb general. From his point of view, no one could simply disappear without reason.

    "Didn¡¯t he tell you where he is going?"

    "Xuande ordered me to kill all peasants, but he and your friend disappear afterward. How should I know?"

    "..."

    Pang Tong was shocked when he heard that Liu Bei wanted all those people dead. Then, he realized what Liu Bei might be aiming for and what his real aim was.

    ¡¯Reputation and image. I get it. Very nice follow-up, my lord.¡¯

    He grinned and nodded, "Alright! I¡¯ll handle this task myself! You should also lead our men to the city and control the mindless goons."

    The strategistughed and adjusted the horse reign, nning to turn around and inform the footmen to kill everyone.

    *WHOOM*

    Another portal opened above Pang Tong¡¯s head and two hands came out of it. From those hands, a rope circled around the fat strategist without him realizing it.

    Suddenly, the rope tightened, squeezing Pang Tong¡¯s neck and pulled this strategist upward, but the assant did not drag him into the gate. Instead, Pang Tong was being choked by the mysterious arms. His body was dangling in mid-air!

    This time, Ma Chao could finally see the reason how Liu Bei and Xu Shu disappeared.

    A kidnapper!

    Someone used a supernatural power to abduct Liu Bei and Xu Shu. And now, he was taking Pang Tong right in front of Ma Chao.

    "STOP RIGHT THERE, FIEND!!"

    Ma Chao roared and rode toward Pang Tong.

    But before he reached the strategist, arge circr gate opened on the ground.

    Ma Chao¡¯s horse did not expect that the solid ground could turn into a hole. It fell into the warp gate along with its master.

    As for the horse¡¯s master, he widened his eyes and stared into therge portal in shock before he fell.

    Pang Tong, who was being straggled, moved his legs while his hands tried to undo the rope by his neck. The power of the mysterious hands was too strong for the frail strategist. Pang Tong¡¯s face turned blue within a few seconds.

    Yellow warm water leaked out from Pang Tong¡¯s crotch, wetting his pants. Saliva, snorts, and tears dirtied the blue face while the man¡¯s tongue stuck out from his mouth.

    *KRUK*

    A bone-cracking sound was audible to the nearby soldiers, who were petrified by the sight of the mysterious execution of the blue gate.

    The hands untied the rope and allowed Pang Tong¡¯s body to fall to earth.

    *POEK*

    Pang Tong¡¯s neck was twisted, and it leaned backward over 120 degrees, dangling like a doll without a neck bone. Blood came out from Pang Tong¡¯s nose and mouth.

    .

    .

    .

    *VHOOM*

    *VHOOM*

    *VHOOM*

    More portals appeared along with 1,000 soldiers with light leather armors and their new weapons. These mysterious people silently formed a line behind Liu Bei¡¯s soldiers and pointed the gun muzzles.

    The weapons in their hands were the new rifles that Medusa produced with [Firearm Creation] skill. A thousand of M16A4, each loaded with a magazine of 30 bullets, aimed at the clueless footmen.

    Their vice general, Bo Cai, led this toon himself. He gestured his men with his fingers, counting down.

    When Bo Cai lowered his index finger into a fist, thunderous gunshot sound echoed throughout the battlefield.

    *TA-TA-TA*

    *TA-TA-TA*

    *TA-TA-TA*

    Several thousands of yellow needles flew across the battlefield, pinning down anyone in their line of fire.

    The sudden appearance of the enemies and the new weapons shocked Liu Bei¡¯s men. Allmanders had no experience dealing with this situation, so they screamed and looked around in confusion.

    After Bo Cai Unit ran out of ammo, they swiftly reloaded another magazine and relocated from their position. As for Liu Bei¡¯s battalion of 10,000 men that Bo Cai¡¯s soldiers maimed, no one survived the hail of 30,000 bullets.

    Bo Cai moved toward the other battalion and repeated their action.

    *TA-TA-TA*

    *TA-TA-TA*

    As Liu Bei¡¯s men stood in a densely packed formation, it was easy to maim and kill these soldiers. Some of them ran away from the army, but they could not escape from the 1,000-man¡¯s line of fire.

    However, thest 5,000 footmen managed to scatter and flee in every direction. Some were caught by Bo Cai and killed, but many fled toward the south regiment.

    It took only a few minutes to drop most of the remnants of Liu Bei. Bo Cai¡¯s unit immediately withdrew into the city.

    Unfortunately, a few stray bullets traveled further than Bo Cai and his men¡¯s expectations. They hit the stone wall of Hongnong. A few even hit or killed innocent civilians, who already had suffered from Pang Tong¡¯s onught order.

    It was a tragedy for Hongnong people. None of them even realized that they became victims in an ident that Li Feihong had not imagined.

    .

    .

    .

    Inside Li Feihong¡¯s domain, six men were on an empty field.

    Zhang Liao sat on his horse, looking down on the copsed Ma Chao.

    Li Feihong was still holding on Liu Bei¡¯s cor and Xu Shu¡¯s neck.

    Zhou Cang stood still with trembling arms, crying. A long rope was still in his shaking hands.

    The two angels watched their prisoners with hatred. Li Feihong red at Liu Bei and muttered, "Should I just kill you here? Scum!?"

 Chapter 482 Wrath

    Chapter 482 - Wrath

    = A few minutes ago =

    Ma Chao attempted to help Pang Tong from the mysterious hands that were strangling the strategist with ropes.

    As the general was galloping forward, he found himself falling down into a hole.

    At first, Ma Chao could see a blue static portal, but his vision changed after he went inside.

    As soon as Ma Chao¡¯s eyes could see the other world within the gate, he found a blue sky without a cloud or sun.

    But it did not change the fact that he was still falling down to earth.

    Ma Chao looked down. He did not know why, but he and his favorite horse were over 10 meters in the sky. The gravity was pulling them down to earth fast!

    "ARGH!!"

    Even though Ma Chao wanted to save his horse from falling to death, he decided to save his life first. By leaping off his horse at thest second before it crashed the ground, Ma Chao negated some falling damage. When his body was about the drop on earth, he managed to push his hand on the ground and rolled sideway, breaking the fall.

    But what awaited him was a nightmare.

    *WHOOSH*

    A long halberd, carrying the power of a 4-wing angel, wasing toward Ma Chao¡¯s face.

    *CLANK*

    Ma Chao parried the strike by using his forearm supporting his halberd shaft from behind.

    The force sent Ma Chao flying backward, but the assant did not let the general escape. He galloped his horse and chased after Ma Chao.

    Ma Mengqi backflipped, adjusting his posture and stance. When he could take a good look at his enemy, he found the hardened face of a former Wei¡¯s general, who had scars and traces of war all over his face.

    Zhang Liao

    While Ma Chao was still astonished by the identity of his enemy, he failed to notice the weapon in Zhang Liao¡¯s left hand.

    It was a long ck object with two holes, which was pointing at Ma Chao¡¯s chest. The distance between Zhang Liao and Ma Chao was only 5 meters apart.

    A shotgun!

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Two loud bangs were audible before Ma Chao felt that many small objects bit into his chest. Moreover, these small pieces of iron balls carried tremendous forces that pushed his body backward.

    Those shells that hit Ma Chao were two shotgun rounds.

    Themer scale armor that Ma Chao was wearing was useless against these powerful bullets, which also carried the inner force of a 4-wing angel. Even if Ma Chao could use his 1-wing power to increase his physical defense, it was still not enough to protect his flesh and inner organs.

    As a result, Ma Chao¡¯s lungs, stomach, liver, and many blood veins were riddled by the slug shells.

    "Kuk!"

    This time, Ma Chao could not break the fall or soften hisnding due to injuries and the surprise element of the shotgun. He crashed onto the ground with his back and vomited out a mouthful of blood.

    Zhang Liao¡¯s horse stopped as the rider point his halberd tip at Ma Chao¡¯s neck.

    "Anyst word?"

    The voice of Zhang Liao was as cold as ever.

    Ma Chao red at Zhang Liao. Because his lungs had been flooded with his blood, he could not speak.

    Still, the resentment and the angry stare from Ma Chao told enough stories.

    "I take it as a no," Zhang Liao gathered his force into his halberd, preparing to behead Ma Chao.

    At that moment, Zhou Cang had finished killing Pang Tong. The former yelled at the dead strategist in anger.

    "SHAME ON YOU, PANG TONG!! SHAME ON YOU, LIU BEI!! I THOUGHT BOTH OF YOU WERE FIGHTING FOR THE COMMON PEOPLE!!"

    Zhou Cang was disappointed by Pang Tong¡¯s ruthless order.

    In the other world, he followed Guan Yu and Liu Bei as thetter was working to bring happiness to their people. As for Pang Tong, aside from the fact that this strategist was a prideful drunkard, he was still a talented adviser worthy of respect.

    However, in this world, both of them ignored the big picture. Instead of ending the civil war by epting Tong¡¯s rulership, they kept on fighting and even resorted to harming citizens for the sake of reiming their territory.

    At first, Zhou Cang thought that Pang Tong was the sole rotten fish that deserved death.

    But Liu Bei¡¯s follow up order broke Zhou Cang¡¯s heart. Killing all innocent people to shut their mouth was uneptable!

    Zhou Cang cried, regretting that he worked for Liu Bei in the other life. At the same time, he wanted to go back to the old days where Guan Yu, Liu Bei, and Zhou Cang were working under the same banner.

    He missed theughter of Shu Han citizens.

    He missed the parties that Guan Yu, Guan Ping, and their legion had.

    He missed the green uniform and Liu Bei¡¯s old slogan.

    He missed the old Shu Han!

    But that dream shattered because of this world¡¯s vile Liu Bei. For Zhou Cang, this Liu Bei was not HIS Liu Bei. It was an imposter with the same face!

    "WHY!? LIU BEI!! WHY!!!??" Zhou Cang¡¯s face turned ugly because of his tears, drools, and snorts.

    The voice of Zhou Cang distracted Zhang Liao from killing Ma Chao. The general stopped his halberd while his eyes were still looking at his opponent, but his attention was on the vice general.

    While Zhou Cang was screaming in heart pain, the strategist behind this army maneuvering was holding Liu Bei and Xu Shu with his hands.

    Li Feihong was frustrated. Everything was ruined because of Pang Tong¡¯s ruthlessness.

    Everything happened because his n had gone wrong.

    .

    When Liu Bei Army was about to arrive, Li Feihong hatched a n to wither down Liu Bei¡¯s provision, just like what Pang Tong had predicted.

    Li Feihong wanted to release the unfaithful citizens and officials to Liu Bei, so they could eat up thetter¡¯s provision and hinder their mobility. Secondly, to prevent the unforeseen uprising or potential sabotage from the local people, sending away these citizens benefitted his city.

    Along with the pros, there were also the cons.

    Since the poption would rejoin Liu Bei, some of these men might be conscripted to be Liu Bei¡¯s soldiers during the siege battle, which might increase their number from 150,000 to 200,000 or so.

    Andstly, Information about Zhang Liao, Bo Cai, and Zhou Cang might also be leaked by the leaving citizens.

    Still, this move was like hitting two birds with one stone. A bit of disadvantage still worth the pros that the Monster Legion would benefit. So, Li Feihong decided to go along with this policy.

    When the townsmen and the local officials heard that Li Feihong would let them go, everyone rejoiced. They epted Li Feihong¡¯s offers and spread words immediately.

    Hongnong City was the capital of Hongnong Commandery. Thus, the majority of its poption concentrated in this town. When Hongnong¡¯s prosperity was in its peak before Emperor Ling began extorting taxes, 500,000 people used to live in this area.

    Even if this city was ransacked by Khan and Dong Zhuo, 200,000 people chose to migrate back into this town when Liu Bei reimed it.

    And 80% of its poption wanted to rejoin Liu Bei!

    Li Feihong did not know if herd psychology was in effect or they had faith in this lord. Still, he allowed these men to leave.

    But Le Feihong faced another hurdle.

    They had already packed their belongings, but they refused to leave until Liu Bei¡¯s forces showed up before the gate.

    The officials gave an excuse that they were without mercenaries or bodyguards because Li Feihong confiscated all weaponry and personal. Everyone was afraid of bandits outside of the city.

    They had no choice. Li Feihong again allowed them to wait for Liu Bei Army.

    When Liu Bei Army arrived, Li Feihong immediately opened the east gate, the opposite direction of the iing forces.

    But the people refused to exit in that direction. Everyone gathered before the west gate, hoping to rejoin with Liu Bei Army right away.

    Because of their stubbornness, the crowd of migrating townsmen and Zhang Liao Army got stuck in traffic. Since these citizens got on their way, Li Feihong changed his battle n and ordered his men to enter his dimension world again.

    Unintentionally, Li Feihong used an empty castle tactic. He was hoping that once these townsmen got out of the way, he would redeploy the Monster Legion outside of the city while he and Zhang Liao would assassinate Liu Bei and his generals.

    But Pang Tong ruined everything. This fat strategist ordered the charge, killing many innocent bystanders, who should not be a part of this war.

    Li Feihong admitted that his wits and intelligence were not on the same level as these historical figures, but murdering innocent people for the sake of winning a city was uneptable.

    In anger, Li Feihong sacrificed more of his lifespan, opening more portals. He abducted Liu Bei and Xu Shu with his own hands. As for Ma Chao, he created a pseudo pitfall trap to cripple the general and let Zhang Liao take care of the rest.

    Zhou Cang, who did not want to fight Liu Bei, was watching the conflict from the beginning. When he heard that Liu Bei ordered to kill everyone to hide the events here, this vice general was infuriated.

    He was disappointed in his former lord and Pang Tong.

    Because of his fury, he volunteered to kill Pang Tong with his own hands, and he did it literally.

    .

    Now, Ma Chao was half-dead, while Liu Bei and Xu Shu¡¯s life was in Li Feihong¡¯s palms.

    However, this otherworlder did not want Liu Bei to die a quick death!

    While multi-tasking, managing portals for Bo Cai and his ambush party, Li Feihong tossed Xu Shu aside. He did not hate this strategist since he had protested against the peasant-killing idea.

    But Liu Bei had to suffer!

    *PA*

    While Li Feihong¡¯s left hand was still holding on Liu Bei¡¯s cor, the right hand pped this warlord¡¯s face.

    The power of an immortal stunned Liu Bei. Two of his mrs moved and slipped out of his gum.

    As Liu Bei¡¯s face turned toward the left side of Li Feihong, thetter¡¯s right hand turned into a fist as he swung it back toward his prisoner¡¯s nose.

    *PEUK*

    Liu Bei¡¯s short nose was broken. Blood sttered and dirtied Li Feihong¡¯s fist.

    But he was not satisfied!

    Six angel wings spread behind Li Feihong¡¯s back. He gathered all forces into his right fist again and mmed it onto Liu Bei¡¯s left shoulder.

    *CRACK!*

    Liu Bei¡¯s left corbone shattered. The victim screamed in pain, but his voice did not enter Li Feihong¡¯s ears at all.

    *CRACK!*

    The left arm

    *CRACK!*

    The left forearm

    *KRUK*

    The left hand

    *POK*

    *POK*

    Five left fingers

    All Liu Bei¡¯s bones on the left side of his body, where Li Feihong¡¯s right fist could hit or grab, was destroyed.

    The bloodshot eyes of Li Feihong stared into Liu Bei¡¯s crying eyes.

    "I¡¯ve finished the left. Now, your right..."

    The torture continued.

 Chapter 483 Li Feihongâ€™s Cruelty

    Chapter 483 - Li Feihong¡¯s Cruelty

    Bo Cai returned with their assault toon a few hours after Li Feihong had abducted important personnel of Liu Bei Army.

    Upon arrival, he found Liu Beiying on the ground with his broken limbs. Xu Shu and Ma Chao were tied with ropes, and they were kneeling on both knees.

    Xu Shu was trembling in fear. However, Ma Chao kept ring at Zhang Liao and Li Feihong with hatred.

    "Oh, are you done, Bo Cai?"

    Li Feihong did not even turn around to check who had returned. He was slowly carving letters on Liu Bei¡¯s forehead.

    It was Chinese letters, tranted as [Shameless Mutt].

    Zhou Cang was also beside Li Feihong. His face had a trace of tears, and his eyes were still red from the excessive crying.

    "His majesty said we have to kill Liu Bei and his followers. Shouldn¡¯t we finish them off and be done with our job?" Asked Bo Cai.

    Li Feihong stopped what he was doing and nced at the vice general, "I want to. But at the same time, I don¡¯t want to."

    "What do you mean?"

    "My inner instinct keeps telling me to spare this motherfucker, but my reason tells me to kill him ASAP. Tell me, what would you do if you were in my shoes?"

    Bo Cai almost uttered, "Just kill these idiots," but he stopped.

    As a cultivator, he understood what Li Feihong referred to. The instinct of cultivators, especially a high ranker, was sharper than ordinary mortals.

    It was different than pure luck. Cultivator¡¯s instinct was a premonition of something important that might help themter on.

    Bo Cai had experienced this many times when he was cultivating his wing power. Like other elite generals in Tong¡¯s forces, he could have awakened at least 4 wings or higher, but he maintained his rank as a two-wing angel to reinforce his physical foundation and mentality.

    This action came from his instinct, and it proved to be the correct choice.

    Later when Bo Cai was reinforcing his constitution, Medusa advised all n members about cultivating, which she stressed about the foundation and constitution of all cultivators. The earlier that they focused on muscle building and getting used to the cirction of life forces in the atmosphere, the more their potential could expand, which they could break through thetter stages morefortably.

    Not only that incident that proved Bo Cai¡¯s instinct right, but his stance with Yellow Turban was also correct.

    There was an incident that was kept secret among former Yellow Turban colleagues.

    At first, when the former yellow turban colleagues contacted him via letters, they invited Bo Cai to reform the organization again since Zhang Jiao and his brothers refused to rebuild it.

    One of the merchants in Julu wanted to steal Julu from Zhang Jiao, so he bribed many officials inside the city to cause an uprising, hoping to use the chaos to boost his political power.

    It would be a lie if Bo Cai said he was not tempted at that time since the bribe was huge, 200,000 taels of gold.

    At that time, Bo Cai¡¯s instinct stopped him from joining the rebelling merchant. He refused and continued serving as a vice general in the Monster Legion.

    Afterward, no letter came from his former colleagues ever again. Only Sima Fang, the counter-intelligence minister, sent him a letter of praise.

    [You¡¯re a trustworthy man.]

    It was a short letter, but Bo Cai remembered that he had a chill running down his spine at that time. He did not want to imagine what might have happened to those former Yellow Turban members and that merchant.

    Two incidents of experience were enough for Bo Cai to put his faith in Li Feihong¡¯s guts feeling.

    "Do what you must. I won¡¯t interfere or object."

    Li Feihong nodded. He clicked his tongue and summoned one of his virtuous souls, Charity.

    The soul came out in the form of an old man. The soul¡¯s appearance was Li Feihong¡¯s 80-year-old version.

    The soul smiled at the half-dead Liu Bei and poured a handful of sparkling sand on his body. Liu Bei¡¯s body covered in a silver light before his injuries disappeared.

    This was the same ability that Zuo Ci used to cast it on Tong when he was ambushed by 8-wing Liu Yang.

    Liu Bei regained his consciousness right away and sat up in a panic. When he saw Li Feihong¡¯s face, he jumped back in fright.

    "D-Don¡¯t kill me! I surrender! I surrender!"

    As shameless as he was, Liu Bei begged for his life. On the other hand, Xu Shu and Ma Chao never uttered a word or beg for mercy. They only waited for the judgment of the victors.

    "Zhou Cang..."

    "Yes, grandmander Li?"

    "Tie him up. We¡¯ll send all of them back to Ye."

    "... Understood."

    Zhou Cang looked at Liu Bei with cold eyes. He was too disappointed in Liu Bei that he did not care for this former lord anymore. However, he had not yet reported anything to the n chat or tell the other colleagues, Zhao Yun and Wei Yan.

    .

    While the four were busy dealing with the prisoners, on the outside world, the 100,000 soldiers, who were without generals tomand, assumed action and raided Hongnong City.

    Those Liu Bei¡¯s soldiers had heard themotion from the western battlefield. Although most of them were the mindless cataphracts that could not move without someone¡¯smand, several of these men were originally followed Liu Bei for years.

    Many sergeants could think for their own. They thought that the west side already began the siege battle, so they should start fighting too.

    "ATTACK!!"

    The south regiment of 50,000 men charged at the undefended city.

    "CHARGE!!"

    The remaining 50,000 men, the eastern front, also pushed their siege towers toward the east walls.

    Without Li Feihong¡¯s soldiers, the city fell within minutes.

    .

    After the prisoners had been sorted, Li Feihong, Zhang Liao, Bo Cai, and Zhou Cang resumed the eradication n.

    However, the city had already fallen. The remnants of Liu Bei were plundering the city as they pleased.

    The non-participant and the only rightful observer of this entire battle, Lu Lingqi, watched the events through the broadcasting monitors in Li Feihong¡¯s world with worries.

    "Uncle Zhang, why won¡¯t we rescue those civilians?"

    Lu Lingqi referred to the peasants of Hongnong City. Now, they were being ughtered and robbed by the uncontrolled soldiers of Liu Bei.

    Zhang Liao revealed a bitter smile and shook his head, refusing to answer.

    Zhou Cang and Bo Cai also averted their eyes from the carnage.

    However, Li Feihong embraced the entire tragedy from the beginning. His bloodshot eyes kept staring at the monitors.

    One of them revealed an event, in which a teenage girl in the city was ravished and killed.

    Another one showed that a child, whose age was no more than 5-year-old, was stomped to death by a cataphract¡¯s horse.

    A crippled old woman, about 60-70 years of age, could not get out of her burning house. Her hoarse voice screamed for help, but no one appeared to save her.

    Massacres continued. Yet, Li Feihong did not send his men to help the local townsmen.

    "Brother Li! Why aren¡¯t you helping them!?"

    Impatient, Lu Lingqi asked the question that Zhang Liao, Zhou Cang, and Bo Cai wanted to hear, but they did not have the courage to ask this otherworlder.

    "I¡¯m destroying Liu Bei¡¯s fame. Be patient," Li Feihong shed a tear of regret and frustration.

    From the beginning, this cowardly strategist never wanted to kill the local people. But because of Liu Bei and Pang Tong¡¯s ruthlessness, several townsmen began cursing at Liu Bei, which inspired Li Feihong.

    Since Liu Bei¡¯s fame spread across the Liang Province and the nearby cities, it might be hard for Tong to pacify these local peasants after they executed Liu Bei. However, a rare chance presented right in front of Li Feihong.

    As long as these uncontrolled soldiers destroyed the town, all Hongnong¡¯s poption would hold grudges for Liu Bei for eternity. Moreover, the surviving merchants would spread words to other Liu Bei¡¯s affiliate cities, discrediting this lord with their words of mouth.

    Afterward, Li Feihong nned to send an official publication along with Liu Bei¡¯s head to the capital of Liang Province to me Liu Bei for the massacre. With two sources of information, those brainwashed citizens in the Liang Province might abandon the thought of avenging for Liu Bei and his men.

    Without this n, Tong might have to repeat what he did to Liyang¡¯s citizens. Li Feihong ensured that Tong would not dirty his hands.

    ¡¯Will they believe me if I tell them that I¡¯mmitting a sin, so Tong doesn¡¯t have to dirty his hands?¡¯

    Li Feihong closed his eyes. Another teardrop rolled down on his cheek.

    Meanwhile, Lu Lingqi had another change of heart after she witnessed all the cruelty of war. Her impression of Li Feihong hit rock bottom as she saw him as a hypocrite.

    "You... I¡¯m disappointed, Li Feihong. I thought you were a good man!"

    "War doesn¡¯t differentiate good or evil. Only the smarter or stronger side wins."

    Lu Lingqi¡¯s face distorted in disgust. She stomped away and returned to the courtyard resident that Li Feihong prepared for her.

    Zhang Liao, Zhou Cang, and Bo Cai shook their head and sighed.

    "Feihong, they¡¯ve killed enough. Shouldn¡¯t we rescue the townspeople?"

    Zhang Liao could not hold it anymore. He wanted to stop this cruelty as soon as possible.

    Li Feihong nodded and opened 100 gates in a row, sacrificing another 10,000 years of lifespan.

    "Go. Take no prisoners. These three are enough."

 Chapter 484 Hongnong Decisive Sweeping

    Chapter 484 - Hongnong Decisive Sweeping

    "Commander Li, I request permission to migrate Hongnong civilians here."

    Zhou Cang knelt and cupped his fist toward Li Feihong. The carnage scene was too much for this bald general to bear, so he wanted to ease their pain.

    "Permission denied. I need them to stay out and spread an ill rumor about Liu Bei. Never let any civilian enter this dimension."

    Zhou Cang bit his lower lip and bowed before he left.

    As Zhou Cang was about to lead his toon to enter the gates, he nced at Li Feihong with resentment. He would remember this incident, and he nned to report this to Tongter.

    All Zhang Liao, Bo Cai, and Zhou Cang¡¯s men packed their ssic repeating crossbows along with their melee weapons. As for the modern rifles, they ran out of bullets, so they were useless in this battle.

    The group rushed into the gates without caring where it led them to.

    Upon getting out of the gates, they found themselves on top of the east wall, where no soldier presented.

    Zhou Cang took 5,000 men to rescue the civilians right away. Without caring about Li Feihong¡¯s primary order, he ignored the city-capturing objective and brought all the crying peasants to the front of the west gate.

    When Zhou Cang appeared in front of the troubled civilians, they cheered and immediately cooperated with him. Although he went missing during Pang Tong¡¯s charge, not many people hated him for his absence.

    Still, a few selfish civilians wanted someone to me. They cursed at Zhou Cang for not helping them earlier.

    "Where have you been when Liu Bei attacked us!? You¡¯re supposed to protect everyone!"

    "Deserter! You onlye back because there are no more enemies! Shame on you!"

    "My children died because of you. Had you defended the city properly, those men would have killed my children!!

    Zhou Cang did not argue with them. Instead, he pulled a pistol and aimed toward the sky.

    *BANG*

    The noisy crowd stopped cursing Zhou Cang. The thunderous bang frightened them.

    "SHUT UP, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!! YOU ASKED TO REJOIN LIU BEI, WE GAVE UP THE CHANCE. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? THIS IS HOW LIU BEI REPAYS YOUR LOYALTY!! IF YOU WANT TO BLAME SOMEONE, BLAME YOUR GODDAMN LORD FOR KILLING YOU!!"

    The civilians that never med Zhou Cang nodded in agreement. Zhang Liao and Zhou Cang allowed them to rejoin Liu Bei, but thetter refused their loyalty. Instead, Liu Bei¡¯s men saw them as a road into the city.

    However, haters were always hating. The previous swearing citizens continued to vent their anger on Zhou Cang¡¯s soldiers.

    One of the strong men among the crowd attempted to steal a soldier¡¯s sword from the sheath on thetter¡¯s belt.

    But that person awoke the wrath of the soldier. He kicked the men away and pulled his sword before he cut the man down.

    The killing created amotion. Many weak-willed women screamed in a panic.

    Zhou Cang was already in a bad mood. He pulled the trigger and fired two more shots.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    "SHUT DA FUCK UP!! IF YOU KEEP ON SCREAMING, I¡¯LL SILENCE YOU MYSELF!! I¡¯M TRYING TO SAVE YOU HERE!! IF YOU DON¡¯T COOPERATE, YOU CAN MIGRATE SOMEWHERE ELSE FOR ALL I CARE!!"

    The threat worked like magic. Everyone stopped creating noise and followed the army¡¯s instruction, gathering and treating the injured people in order. Though many of them nced at Zhou Cang in resentment, they did not dare to voice their opinion anymore.

    .

    Meanwhile, Zhang Liao and Bo Cai led the other 45,000 elites to deal with 100,000 soldiers inside the city. These men were facing a tough challenge.

    Urban warfare was not their forte, and they were dealing with strong foes who doubled their number. This fight might not end without a casualty as usual.

    But Zhang Liao was calm. He arranged 40,000 men to protect the west gate zone while the remaining 5,000 men would be the assault force to create chaos inside the city.

    All 5,000 men were infantry under Bo Cai¡¯smand.

    "I trust that you excel inmanding footmen. When you were a yellow turban in previous life, did you have experience in urban warfare?" Asked Zhang Liao.

    Bo Cai nodded, "I do. I remember raiding viges and small towns, but I have no experience saving citizens in a big city like this."

    "That¡¯s good enough. I want you to look at the entire city as many viges bundling together as one. Separate them into sections and focus on clearing one section at a time."

    "Understood, sir!"

    "I¡¯ll provide support when more of our enemies notice your movement. First, we¡¯ll start with our entrance zone and we¡¯ll expand south!"

    Zhang Liao did not use all of his men right away. Instead, he micro-managed small units to clear one objective at a time. His real specialty was notmandingrge troops but coordinating small units for best efficiency.

    .

    Zhang Liao¡¯s tactic and battle ns had always been simr to the present during his previous life, including during the Battle of Hefei, year 214 when Sun Quan invaded Wei with 100,000 men. At that time, there were about 5,000 to 7,000 men at Hefei Fort. Yue Jin and Li Dian were also there with him.

    Cao Cao instructed the trio via a letter beforehand that Yue Jin should protect the fort while the other two had to head out and fight.

    The situation looked hopeless at that time. However, the three generals chose 800 men to sortie with Zhang Liao. The next day, Zhang Liao and his 800 men rode out and attacked Sun Quan Army before they could get into a formation.

    They worked as if they were assassins. Every time Zhang Liao killed an officer, he kept shouting his name, "I am Zhang Liao!", terrifying Sun Quan¡¯s men as Zhang Liao maneuvered his unit within Sun Quan¡¯s encirclement.

    Sun Quan Army attempted to surround and kill Zhang Liao, but they failed. As Zhang Liao was trained under Lu Bu for years, his martial arts and hisbat prowess were only second to that god of war. Thus, Sun Quan Army failed.

    Although Zhang Liao could not inflict significant damage to Sun Quan Army at that time, the valor that Zhang Liao had disyed was enough to raise everyone¡¯s morale inside Hefei Fort. On the contrary, Sun Quan Army¡¯s morale was poor because of Zhang Liao¡¯s threatening image.

    The siege continued for days, yet Wu Army could not defeat the smaller army with stronger willpower.

    Sun Quan decided to retreatter, but Zhang Liao, again, did not miss this chance. He rode out with his men to assassinate Sun Quan for good.

    During the chasing battle, Zhang Liao almost had Sun Quan in his palms. Because Sun Quan had many talented bodyguards, the warlord managed to survive that day.

    At the end of the battle, Zhang Liao¡¯s fame skyrocketed and became a legend.

    .

    In this world, Zhang Liao had all the experience of the old world, and he also had the power of a 4-wing angel. He had the confidence that he could annihte all 100,000 soldiers inside the city on his own.

    However, he deemed that it would be inefficient since he had to rescue all civilians inside the city, not winning a simple battle.

    A rescue operation like this was something new to Zhang Liao.

    He looked at his remaining 40,000 men as he contemted the next move.

    ¡¯I can use Tong¡¯s FBI tactic at that time, but I have to secure an exit point for Bo Cai first. Also...¡¯

    Zhang Liao opened the map of Hongnong City and began drawing lines on it. The lines separated the city map into blocks, and the general wrote numeral letters, which Tong and Te Langpu had taught them about the new way of identifying their location.

    He wrote numbers on the top of the blocks and the sides of the blocks.

    Then, it became a 20x20 chessboard.

    Afterward, he marked their position with a cross. Their current position could be read as [10-1].

    Zhang Liao picked Bo Cai¡¯s token and ced it on the center between [9-2], [10-2], [9-3], [10-3].

    "We¡¯ll secure all [X-1] spaces! Detach 1,000 men and secure each sector that I pointed to. One toon, one block! Come and see me when you¡¯re done!"

    Many 1,000-manmanders looked confused at first, but they caught on Zhang Liao¡¯s intention a few secondster. Neenmanders took 1,000 men each and moved toward the general location on the map.

    After 19,000 soldiers left Zhang Liao¡¯s main army, a messenger from Bo Cai¡¯s unit came back.

    "General, Vice General Zhou has secured the perimeter, and the civilians are being guided back to the west gate as ordered. He asked you what will be our next move."

    Zhang Liao nodded and taught the messenger about the map he created. Five minutester, the messenger left with a new order.

    The bogeyman general ced Bo Cai¡¯s token on [10-5] next, but he picked a pen and painted the previous locations that Bo Cai was on with ck ink. Four squares became ck, signifying that these areas were secured.

    More men came back and reported thepletion of their orders. As usual, Zhang Liao gave them a new order and ced new tokens on the map. Afterward, he painted all the secured square blocks into ck.

    The sweeping continued without the help of Li Feihong.

    .

    While everyone was busy, Li Feihong was still observing the work of his generals in his private dimension. He did not need to step out of this world to participate in the battle himself.

    The captives, Liu Bei, Ma Chao, and Xu Shu, were watching as well. These men were shocked by the real-time broadcasting.

    "This... This power of immortals is..." Xu Shu muttered, "...Really unfair."

    Li Feihong sneered, "From the beginning, you¡¯ve already lost."

    "... I can see that."

    "Then, I¡¯ll get to the point. Xu Yuanzhi, you¡¯re different from the others. Swear allegiance to the emperor and I¡¯ll set you free."

 Chapter 485 Urban Battle in Hongnong

    Chapter 485 - Urban Battle in Hongnong

    The city acquisition progress was not smooth. Soon, Liu Bei''s remnant soldiers noticed the uninvited guests inside the city.

    "Over there!"

    Finally, Bo Cai''s 5,000 men ran into a toon of Liu Bei''s remaining men.

    Bo Cai activated his wing force and enhanced his physical body. He led the charge and leaped into the group of soldiers.

    *BOOM*

    Ordinary humans were no match against a trained angel. Bo Cai''s long sword cleaved the oing cataphracts and Liu Bei''s footmen like tofu.

    A hundred soldiers followed after Bo Cai''s lead, pushing their spears into the flesh of the charging enemies.

    However, not all soldiers could utilize their formation properly as the fighting ground was a narrow road.

    The opponents were also smart. Liu Bei''s men began moving through other alleys and roads to nk Bo Cai''s men.

    Still, Bo Cai came prepared.

    Half of Bo Cai''s units climbed wooden buildings, standing on top of them while pointing their repeating crossbows at the moving enemies.

    *WHOOSH*

    *WHOOSH*

    Rain of arrows poured on the running soldiers. Liu Bei''s footmen cried in pain the moment arrows lodged into their flesh.

    Meanwhile, cataphracts ignored the arrows and mindlessly charged forward. The arrowheads could not prate their scale armors!

    A thousand cataphracts rode on main roads, detouring the mainbat zone where Bo Cai was fighting. When they reached a corner that they could turn and nk Bo Cai, they ran into a formation of shield bearers and spearmen.

    The road was too narrow for 10 horsemen to move in a single row. As such, they formed several rows of 7-8 riders and pushed forward.

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    The armored horses hit the shields, but they could not break through the ranks of shieldsmen''s formation. The following riders ran into theirrades and got stuck in traffic, losing the running momentum.

    The shield carriers did not do anything fancy but holding their shields to protect theirrades. Five lines of soldiers pushed a hundred shields to cover every ce that a cataphract could attack their friends.

    Spearmen mixed within their ranks. They passed their spears to the shieldbearers.

    As if they knew what the spearmen were up to, they epted the spears and used it against the horsemen, stabbing horses and riders through the gaps of their shields.

    Meanwhile, the soldiers on the building rooftops rushed toward the scene, but they did not continue to shoot at the armored riders with their puny arrows. Instead, every soldier picked a sack hanging on their belt and looked for a torch.

    The captain of each archer units lighted a torch and passed it to their squad.

    Everyone lit the fire with a rag cloth, making it a fuse. Then, one of the soldiers tossed a sack toward the group of horsemen.

    *BOOM*

    An explosion erupted the moment the content inside the sack touched the fire.

    They were handmade bombs that Yuan Shao Army had, but Bo Cai took their recipe to use it for his men!

    The explosive could barely harm the riders since their scale armors absorbed some of the impacts.

    But not one bomb bag was thrown at them, a hundred bomb sacks flew at the horsemen.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The road erupted. Pieces of red flesh, horses and their riders alike, flew in the air. Blood and innards scattered along with its owners.

    The explosion scared Liu Bei''s men and the hiding civilians. Several of Liu Bei''s soldiers fled the scene to avoid the fighting upon seeing the destructive weaponry.

    Still, more mindless cataphracts kepting after themotion. Ten thousand riders flooded the city and moved toward Bo Cai''s units.

    *VHOOM*

    One flying man flew from the west wall andnded before the approaching soldiers. An angel with 4-wings entered the battlefield. Coincidentally, he appeared before the rushing horsemen.

    Zhang Liao was holding two halberds, but the weapons were glowing in red light.

    The light was Zhang Liao''s aura, which reinforced the weapons.

    "I AM ZHANG LIAO!!"

    Zhang Liao transformed into red light as he dashed into the ranks of cataphracts. Horse blood and fluid of the riders sshed as he went through.

    Blood rain kept pouring along with red after images of Zhang Liao''s weapons. As if he were the embodiment of carnage, everywhere Zhang Liao went, fountains of blood followed after him.

    Yet, the cataphracts knew no fear. They blindly rushed at Zhang Liao one after another.

    The general grinned. Since the enemies were rushing to their death, he would dly send them on their way.

    "I AM ZHANG LIAO!!"

    .

    .

    .

    Inside Hongnong treasury building, Liao Hua, a 5,000-manmander, a subordinate of Liu Bei, was searching for valuable items for his lord.

    Unfortunately, Li Feihong had stored all of them in his inventory. Nothing remained in the building.

    "Fuck! This city is too poor! How the hell did Zhang Tong manage this city without food and gold!?"

    Liao Hua strode out of the building in a bad mood.

    As soon as he stepped his feet outside, a flustered soldier knelt before him.

    "Commander! The west units have encountered an ambush! We''ve found Zhang Liao and his men!"

    Liao Hua frowned. The west region should have been under the control of Liu Bei and Ma Chao''s main forces, so their troops should have quashed these ambushers long ago.

    "Where are Ma Chao''s units? Why haven''t they dealt with those fools!?"

    The messenger looked distressed, "I-I don''t know, sir! We''ve lost contact with the main units!"

    Liao Hua clicked his tongue, "Go and tell my toon. Oh, bring 2 units of cataphracts with us. I''ll deal with this myself."

    "Y-Yes, sir!"

    Liao Hua, a former self-proimed yellow turban leader, had been serving as one of Liu Bei''s subordinates. As a bandit, who had raid many towns, he was also experienced in fighting within urban regions.

    Themander took his own 5,000 footmen and 10,000 soulless riders toward the west area.

    Soon, Liao Hua could see and hear themotion from a distance. The group in front of him was fighting against a unit with [Bo] banners.

    "Bo? Bo Cai?"

    Liao Hua squinted his eyes. He knew this person, but the other did not know him. Since Liao Hua was a yellow-turban-wannabe, he studied about the founders and their members.

    Bo Cai was a yellow turban elite, and he served under Zhang Jiao before thetter disbanded them. Liao Hua respected this general, but he was also disappointed in Bo Cai.

    "A washed-up yellow turban as a general? Ha! I''ll show you that you don''t deserve to wear that yellow scarf!"

    Liao Hua did not know that Bo Cai no longer wore yellow clothes. At the moment, the Monster Legion''s uniform''s main theme was ck and blue. All soldiers wore blue outer garments while themanders had ck clothes.

    The wannabemander ordered his footmen to support the fighting troops. As for himself, he climbed a wooden building to observe the battle from afar.

    ''No matter how strong you are, you can''tst forever. Soon, you will get tired, and I will use the cavalry units to crush you!''

    Liao Hua grinned and waited.

    30 Minutester¡­

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Bo Cai''s men were still fine, and the general had not retreated.

    One hourter¡­

    *BOOM*

    Three hourster¡­

    *BOOM*

    "..."

    The previous unit that Liao Hua sent entered the casualty list. Bo Cai broke through their defense line and was approaching Liao Hua''s horse units without fear.

    "The heck!? All units, charge!!"

    Liao Hua was in a panic when he discovered that Bo Cai''s men could still continue fighting within the cramped city area. Normally, soldiers would get tired after getting squeezed in a limited space for a long time because theycked air to breathe. Yet, Bo Cai''s breathing had not changed.

    The cataphracts charged at Bo Cai, but thetter sneered.

    "KILL!! HEAVEN IS DEAD!! LONG LIVE THE CHILD OF HEAVEN!!"

    Again, this former yellow turban general led the charge and massacred the cataphracts as if they were cows in a ughterhouse.

    When several pieces of cataphracts'' innards and horse corpses started to fly, Liao Hua''s feet kicked the rooftop floor, running away from the battle.

    *BOOM*

    Liao Hua could hear another battle at a distance away, also a loud hoarse voice of a man was audible.

    "I AM ZHANG LIAO!!"

    *BOOM*

    "¡­"

    Liao Hua stopped saying anything and ran away from the scene at full speed. However, he did not ignore his men.

    As he encountered several colleagues along the way, he yelled, "RETREAT WITH ME!! TAKE ALL UNITS AND RUSH TOWARD THE EAST GATES!!"

    A chain reaction urred.

    Cataphracts and surviving soldiers stopped rushing toward the battle. They turned tail and followed after Liao Hua. When more soldiers saw their friends retreating, they also withdrew from the city, chasing after the fleeing units.

    .

    .

    .

    It took Zhang Liao and Bo Cai half a day to reim the city, but they could not kill or capture everyone.

    Out of 100,000 soldiers inside the city, 60,000 of them escaped through the east gate and went toward the direction of Luoyang.

    Liao Hua''s action did not escape Li Feihong''s observation monitors. Yet, he did not hinder them, only watching everything in his dimension with a hardened expression.

    At the moment, Li Feihong was still sitting on his usual wooden chair, sipping tea from his teacup. Next to his right side, a small round table was ced there, so Li Feihong could rest his cup of tea on it.

    The otherworlder nced at another semi-transparent screen, which was broadcasting Zhou Cang''s unit.

    Zhou Cang did well handling the civilians. Potential rioters had been arrested, and the injured people had been treated.

    Still, Li Feihong could feel the killing intent within Zhou Cang''s heart, and it directed toward him.

    ''Haiz. I thought this won''t happen in this life, but it still exists.''

    Someone who Li Feihong could never get along finally appeared.

    Moreover, Lu Lingqi seemed to hate him as well.

    ''Well, good riddance. I don''t want to marry anyone anyway. I don''t want to call Lu Bu [father-inw].''

    Li Feihong turned to a schr, who was standing behind him.

    Xu Shu observed the battle in earnest to learn Li Feihong''s tactic style and the capabilities of all generals in the Monster Legion.

    This schr had been set free as he agreed to join Tong''s forces. However, Liu Bei and Ma Chao were still tightly tied with ropes.

    "Do you regret it after seeing our men at work?"

    Xu Shu shook his head, "I don''t feel anything. Our loss is guaranteed from the very beginning. Our stupidity and ignorance made us fight the emperor."

    "Very well. I''ll bring you and the two prisoners to Yeter. For now, help me pacify the Liang Province and the nearby regions."

    "¡­ As you will."

 Chapter 486 Final Battle?

    Chapter 486 - Final Battle?

    Zhang Liao: "Urgent report! Remnants of Liu Bei¡¯s soldiers are fleeing toward the east."

    Zhang Liao: "Expecting that they will move toward Cao Cao¡¯s territory."

    Zhang Liao: "@Xun Yu"

    Xun Yu: "Acknowledged! I¡¯ll move Cao Cao¡¯s forces to intercept!"

    Zhang Liao: "What¡¯s the location of Lu Bu and Zhang He¡¯s legions?"

    Lu Bu: "Wan County."

    Zhang He: "Xinye County."

    Zhang Liao: "You¡¯re noting together?"

    Zhang He: "My units are acting as rearguards. We don¡¯t need to cram together, or we won¡¯t have enough space for camping."

    Lu Bu: "^As he said."

    Tong: "@Lu Bu, @Zhang He. Ignore Liu Bei¡¯s remnant units. Focus on regrouping at Hongnong and annex Liang and Yong Province."

    Tong: "@Xun Yu. I¡¯ll leave the clean up to Cao Cao¡¯s forces. Tell him that I¡¯ll invite him and his mates into our n next year."

    Xun Yu: "Yes, your majesty."

    .

    .

    Xuchang, Cao Cao¡¯s headquarters

    After Xun Yu had received the order, he ryed the intelligence to Cao Cao right away.

    Beside Cao Cao, all elite generals were there with him, including his favorite bodyguards, Xu Chu and Dian Wei. His cousins and n members, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Xiu, and many others were also present.

    Cao Cao¡¯s officer distribution was different than Tong¡¯s system. His government system still relied on noble hierarchies, private forces, and delegation. As such, Cao Cao¡¯s officers had more freedom, and they did not have to manage their affiliate counties themselves. Everything was delegated to minor civil officers and the local nobles.

    As for the military organizations, Cao Cao did not make his armies into legions like Tong. He spread all elite soldiers to every city, so they could enlist local militias and mercenaries, who were interested in being professional soldiers, and turned them into permanent soldiers of that region.

    Whenever Cao Cao deployed troops, he would send his generals there. Then, those generals could take over the local forces and fight independently.

    However, there were disadvantages. If Cao Cao ever needed to assemble forces into arge army, it would take months to gather 100,000 soldiers, whereas, Tong could mobilize his legions on the spot, taking less time to assemble a massive army.

    Meanwhile, Tong relied on his central government to manage all officers. All civil officers in each county were assigned by Te Langpu, Lu Zhi, and Sima Fang, so local nobles had no authority. Because of the tight security, the three ministers and the assigned officers had no free time. The tree ministers had to keep exchanging reports and orders to their secret agents, who they had sent to monitor the local mayors and governors in each city. As for the assigned governors and mayors, they were always busy dealing with the local nobles and officials.

    For the importantmanderies, only n members were sent to manage those territories. As a result, not many talented civil officers stayed in Ye or Julu for a very long time.

    By sacrificing the convenience of his officers, Tong¡¯s government system was more stable and rarely suffered from embezzlement or corruption.

    Still, the noble suppression and property confiscation bred resentment among old nobles. Many old factions migrated toward Cao Cao¡¯snds and reformed their military forces.

    Little did they know, Cao Cao secretly converted these hidden powers into professional soldiers, serving under his name. These nobles thought that Cao Cao would eventually fight against Tong in the future, so they invested everything in Cao Cao¡¯s territories. By the time that they realized it, Cao Cao already plundered their resources into his armies, making these nobles powerless.

    In the end, both forces coincidentally coordinated to weed out the hidden powers, bing yin and yang and stabilizing the bnce of the country.

    "My lord, the Monster Legion has fought against Liu Bei¡¯s main forces at Hongnong."

    Cao Cao stood up in delight, "Finally! I was dying of anticipation! Holy shit, Zhang Tong took too much time preparing!"

    He thought that Tong finally decided to finish this farce and end the civil war for good.

    "... I haven¡¯t finished, my lord."

    "Oh? Continue, then," Cao Caoughed off the embarrassment.

    "A remnant force of Liu Bei is moving toward Luoyang. I think they will reach Xinan in a few days."

    Cao Cao paused and rolled his eyes, "Has Zhang Liao let them slip?"

    "... I don¡¯t know the details, but from Zhang Liao¡¯s tone, the legion wasn¡¯t thorough with their jobs."

    "Eh, he¡¯s capable, but he is bad at dealing with loose ends. Well, Miaocai, head to Xinan and set up the defense. Yuanrang, fly to Luoyang and gather an army. Take the local troops and reinforce Xinan."

    Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan nodded. They spread their wings and flew toward their destinations.

    Cao Cao turned back to Xun Yu, "Any other info in the n chat?"

    Xun Yu nodded, "His majesty said that he will invite everyone here to his n next year."

    "Ah, fucking finally! What about my daughters? How about Zixiu? Any news?"

    "... His majesty rarely mentioned his concubines. The empress and the prime consort also refuse to reveal their status. As for Lord Cao Ang, he¡¯s with your family members."

    "... I guess I¡¯ll visit them once Zhang Tong unified the country."

    The day of his dream came earlier than he had expected. Cao Cao might have failed to unite everyone under his rules, but he did not mind being a "Number Two" or "Number Three." Once Tong ended the civil war, Cao Cao could always battle the other civil officers and slowly raise his ranks through politics and hard work.

    "I¡¯m still mad that Zhang Tong stole Du Shi and Cai Wenji from me. Wenruo, can you trick Zhang Tong, so I can visit his concubines?"

    Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and everyone panicked, "Don¡¯t do it, Mengde! Zhang Tong is going to kill you."

    "Bah! Cheapskate!" Cao Cao pouted as he sat down on his throne.

    Cao Cao lost interest in Tong¡¯s affairs. He changed the subjects and continued reading the scrolls, correcting the documents of his officers.

    Civil works never ended in this era.

    .

    Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, and Chen Qun observed their lord with a sigh.

    They had done everything they could, but the pressure from the immortals and the difference in technologies disheartened Cao Cao to continue fighting.

    In the end, everyone prepared to merge their forces with Tong.

    "I guess, this should be thest campaign," Muttered Chen Qun.

    Guo Jia shook his head, "No. Sun Fang and Sun Ce are still around. They haven¡¯t confirmed their stance in this yet."

    "What¡¯s there to decide? Are they stupid? Their mother is Zhang Tong¡¯s concubine now. All her sons are practically princes! They should bow their heads to Zhang Tong now and ept the new statuses."

    Cheng Yu chuckled, "It¡¯s not that simple. Zhang Tong still wants Sun Fang dead, and Sun Ce is probably too immature to handle politics. They will eventuallye back for more war."

    "Are you sure?" Chen Qun still could not buy it.

    "We have many years to figure it out," Cheng Yu burst intoughter, "The moment we enter Zhang Tong¡¯s n, we¡¯ll be immortals as well. It won¡¯t be so bad serving two lords at once!"

    "..."

    .

    .

    .

    A couple days had passed since the urbanbat in Hongnong.

    Since Liao Hua retreated without taking any provision wagon with them, the army marched eastward without food. Many of Liao Hua¡¯s soldiers deserted his army because of the food shortage and their copsed morale.

    Some threw away their uniforms and disguised themselves as peasants. A few smart guys hid their weapons and armors, pretending to be wandering merchants, so they could sell their weaponry for money. But the majority of them kept the weapons and transformed themselves into a band of bandits, nning to rob any local vige they could find.

    This was the nature of deserters. Either they returned to being a peasant or they became a bandit.

    Still, the mindless cataphracts followed after Liao Hua withoutints. Thirty thousand horsemen remained with the army.

    The general looked at the starving mindless soldiers with a smile.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter. I can just plunder a town for riches and food, right guys?"

    "..."

    The cataphracts did not answer.

    "Che! Boring."

    Liao Hua continued to lead the men toward the east. Soon, they reached arge county with a high wall, Xin¡¯an County.

    This county located between Hongnong and Luoyang. Although it served as a checkpoint during this age, it used to be the capital of the Zhou Dynasty (1049-256 BCE). Traces of prosperity, developed roads, and remnants of sophisticated architectures could be seen.

    Moreover, the Silk Road expanded to this county as well. Many western merchants and local merchants expanded their markets from Wuwei and reached the inner territories, including Xinan.

    This city had been sacked by Khan and Dong Zhuo. However, the local poption and their city geography favored trade, so it restored itself faster than other cities. Combined with the influence of Cao Cao, the county owner at the moment, Xinan became a trade hub, which gathered merchants from various cultures and backgrounds here, just like Julu or Ye.

    Looking at the caravans before the county gate, Liao Hua drooled.

    "Rich people! Rich people are everywhere! Rejoice, men! Today, we dine in that city! Kill everyone and loot everything!!"

    The former bandit cheered and ordered all horsemen to attack the county right away.

    .

    On top of the Xinan stone wall, Xiahou Yuan was observing the peasants in front of the gate. His four wings spread wide without caring if ordinary peasants would gossip or make up a story of his white wings.

    He red toward the west in anticipation.

    "Last battle... I hope I don¡¯t have to fight again. A shame that we will lose everything to Zhang Tong, though."

    Xiahou Yuan warmed up his arms and fingers before he took his bow-shooting stance.

    He aimed at the oing deserters, targeting the leader of the group.

    The four white wings behind Xiahou Yuan¡¯s back glowed in silver light. The aura covered his longbow and his arrow.

    "Goodbye!"

    Xiahou Yuan released his arrow.

    *WHOOSH!*

    The arrowhead broke the wind. Sharp whistling noise was audible to all peasants and soldiers nearby.

    The arrow punctured through the head of the chargers. The guy with the odd yellow clothing fell down from his horse.

    Xiahou Yuan did not know that he had just killed Liao Hua, the only sane person among the chargers.

    "Next..."

    The archer general continued shooting.

 Chapter 487 Temporary Peace

    Chapter 487 - Temporary Peace

    After Liao Hua died, all cataphracts stopped charging. However, Xiahou Yuan thought that they panicked because they had lost their leader.

    The archer general calmly sniped cataphracts one after another while the local garrison forces evacuated all civilians from the wall area.

    By the time that the gates were closed, Xiahou Yuan already killed 500 soldiers on his own.

    "Eh¡­ I don''t know if they''re stupid or they have a genius n. I''ll just kill them when I can."

    .

    In the end, Xiahou Yuan stopped killing when 5,000 of cataphracts died. He finally noticed that they just waited there, looking back at Xiahou Yuan with nk eyes.

    When one of his scouts approached the cataphracts to negotiate with them, thetter did not react. Instead, they fell from their horses as if they ran out of strength.

    In reality, all of them had not eaten anything for days because of Liao Hua''s selfish leadership. Since they could not voice their opinion or had sentience desire, they ran out of strength and died from exhaustion and dehydration.

    Xiahou Yuan was confused. He rushed toward them, but it was toote.

    Thisst batch of created soulless soldiers passed away in peace, which marked the end of Khan''s remnants.

    Just like that, the storm dispersed.

    "Welp! That''s anti-climactic!" Xiahou Yuanughed. He did not have to put more effort into the war anymore.

    Xiahou Dun and his army arrived a weekter after they forced-marched their ways from Luoyang.

    Upon hearing that his brother had taken care of everything already, Xiahou Dun screamed in frustration and took Xiahou Yuan for a marathon drinking contest to vent his anger.

    Thus, thest war of this year came to a close.

    Peace returned to the Han citizens ¡­ temporarily.

    .

    .

    .

    A monthter, Lu Bu and Zhang He''s units regrouped at Hongnong as nned. The two generals entered Li Feihong''s space to visit the prisoners.

    When Lu Bu and Liu Bei met, both had a different expression.

    Lu Bu felt that it was ironic. In the other world, he was captured while Liu Bei was the victor.

    But here, everything reversed. Lu Bu sided with the victors, while Liu Bei was left with nothing.

    "How ironic," Lu Bu grinned, "Have you ever dreamed about this day, Xuande?"

    Liu Bei did not say anything even though he could remember the other life''s events.

    "Oh? ying mute now?" Lu Bu found it amusing, "I wonder what will happen once Tong finds out about your current status."

    He put his n to action right away.

    Lu Bu: "Tong, we''ve captured Lu Bu and Ma Chao. Liu Bei''s forces are pretty much done for. What''s your next n?"

    ¡­

    Surprisingly, Tong did not answer.

    After 5 minutes of dead chat, Medusa replied.

    Diaochan: "Tong is currently in the middle of secluded cultivation. He won''t be avable for a while."

    Diaochan: "As for the matter about the prisoners, we''ll lock them up for the time being."

    Diaochan: "After Tong finishes his cultivating session, we''ll let him decide their fateter."

    Lu Bu was disappointed. He wanted to see how Liu Bei would struggle in front of Tong.

    Lu Bu: "A pity. Any idea when he wille out?"

    Diaochan: "Not any time soon."

    Lu Bu: "Any estimation? You once had 8 wings, correct? How long does it take to reinforce one''s constitution for the 8 wings?"

    Diaochan: "Years. I can''t say how long. It depends on the cultivators and their foundations. If it''s someone like you, I can say you''ll need only five to ten years to get to 8 wings. As for others like Zhang Liao, Zhang He, or Xu Huang, I think they might take 20 years or less with the current assisting systems."

    Medusa had not realized this yet. She had just dropped a bomb that might disrupt Tong''s peaceful empire forever.

    By just saying that Tong would not be in his office for years, it gave many n members an idea that their boss would not pay attention to their actions for a while.

    This awakened the secret desire among Tong''s loyal officers. They might have sworn allegiance to Tong, but they never said that they would follow the other colleagues or be at peace with them.

    The harmony among Tong''s crews began to crack as of today!

    Without any demon realizing it, a new curtain had opened, which invited a new conflict among Tong''s men.

    .

    .

    .

    By the end of year 198, Li Feihong sessfully spread the rumor about Liu Bei''s merciless killing to Liang Province and Yong Province regions.

    As they had expected, words of mouth from the native locals were more effective than ndering them without baseless rumors. The survivors from the massacre exaggerated the news and made Liu Bei the hypocrite bad guy.

    Li Feihong''s men ended up being called heroes, who rescued many civilians from the senseless killing. Still, many survivors did not like their forces because they failed to protect Hongnong civilians in the first ce.

    Prized opinions spread, but the local peasants cared more about their livelihood over politics. Thus, the trending rumor did notst long.

    Nevertheless, the discredit mission was a sess. Liu Bei''s influence died down.

    .

    Spring, 199 AD

    The Monster Legion, the Redhare Legion, and the Ghost Legion marched toward the northwest regions. Each unit upied differentmanderies.

    Li Feihong insisted that he wanted Hongnong as his home, so the Monster Legion only helped the other two reiming the lost cities from Liu Bei''s men before they returned to Hongnong.

    Lu Bu took Wuwei and Jincheng Commandery, which ultimately united the Liang Province under his rules by default.

    Zhang He chose to pacify Tianshui, Anding, and Chang''an Commandery, the Yong Province since he was familiar with these regions. As someone who squared against Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wei, and Wei Yan during Shu''s Northern Campaign period, he was confident that his unit could stabilize the cities in this area.

    .

    Summer 199 AD

    Cao Cao and his men joined Tong''s n as promised. He conceded Luoyang to Li Feihong, so thetter could be the official overlord of Si Province.

    Diaochan appointed Cao Cao as the lord of Xu Province to limit his influence. Meanwhile, she sent Liu Xie to be the new lord of Zhongyuan, the central in where Cao Cao had once owned. The Demon Legion also moved along with Liu Xie to be to local defense forces.

    Zhao Yun''s White Horse Legion dispatched to the north and reced Xu Huang''s duty. This former Liu Bei''s bodyguard and Sima Yi received a new order from Diaochan.

    Take over the Korea Penins!

    The White Horse Legion relocated to Lng County, east of Liaodong as ordered.

    Xu Huang received a tiring order as well. He and his men had to move back and rece Lu Bu''s duty in Jing Province, the territory of Liu Biao. This unit had to convince Liu Biao that it was the right time to officially surrender his territories to Tong, so they could dispatch their officers to the regions.

    Gan Ning and Tian Yu also received a new order from Diaochan. They had to hasten their progress on developing their warships and help Zhao Yun taking over Korea.

    .

    Autumn 199 AD.

    Sun Quan and others were summoned back from Bing Province to receive their new posts.

    Diaochan allowed them to create a new legion using their names, so Sun Quan could have a force to protect his nsmen and his followers.

    She also transferred 25,000 elites of the Immortal Legion to Sun Quan''s new ''Wu Legion'', so they could get adapt to their culture faster. As for their posts, Diaochan wanted them to control their rightfulnds, Jiangdong, where Sun Jian gained his fame. However, they had to train at least 50,000 soldiers of their own and be a professional army worthy of Tong''s trust first.

    This delighted Huang Gai and others as this was their first step to reim their influence in Tong''s court. Everyone swore that they would not disappoint Tong and Diaochan.

    Sun Quan did not return to Jiangdong right away. He stayed in Ye to learn the culture of this new Han Dynasty. Also, he worried about his mother, who still lived inside the inner pce.

    .

    Winter 199 AD.

    Diaochan reached the bottleneck of her cultivation, so he passed her duties to Te Langpu, Sima Fang, and Lu Zhi. The trio took over the tasks as usual.

    However, after Diaochan shut herself in her pce and entered secluded cultivation to awaken her 8th wing, many officers in the court began revealing their true nature.

    Te Langpu immediately proposed all court officials that they should begin distributingnds for nobles and Tong''s loyal subjects, especially those that had contributed greatly to the Han Empire as rewards.

    This former president bribed Lu Zhi and Sima Fang by offering them the right to had additionalnd deeds first.

    Surprisingly, Lu Zhi and Sima Fang epted. They thought that it might be a good idea to distribute wealth to their followers and the people under their domain. As the war was over, there was no need to hold back all authority at the central government.

    The order immediately triggered corruption. Many officials sought and audience with Te Langpu, so he could distribute somends for them. All of them offered Te Langpu various kinds of bribery, such as women, gold, and treasures.

    And Te Langpu epted bribes from many wealth seekers, giving awaynd deeds without Diaochan or Tong''s approval!

    Dong Bai, the watchdog of Tong and Diaochan, immediately reported this incident to Tong and Medusa using the n chat, which frightened the Prime Minister.

    However, they were too busy cultivating! No one paid attention to the n chat!

    Without a consultant or a way out, Dong Bai reached for Zhuge Liang. She vited Tong''s order that she should not give this man a cultivation method until Tong gave her permission.

    Dong Bai used her n authority and gave a soul to Zhuge Liang anyway, hoping to get him to her side, so he could help her deal with these unruly servants.

    This action further triggered more chaos¡­

    Moreover, Te Langpu now was watching Dong Bai''s action since she was against his ideal.

    The war with foreign warlords was over, but the infighting war had started.

 Chapter 488 Dark Zhuge Liang

    Chapter 488 - Dark Zhuge Liang

    "Ah, so this ce is an alternate world? Many people from the future messed with our livelihood, I see."

    Zhuge Liang muttered after he woke up from a long dream.

    Yesterday, Dong Bai asked Zhuge Liang if he wanted to be a demon or an angel. She even described the traits and the perks of each cultivation.

    The innocent Zhuge Liang of yesterday picked the demon''s side, so he could walk the same path as Tong.

    But now, Zhuge Liang regretted it.

    "Oh boy. I should have picked the simpler path. Angel cultivation techniques should have been easier and more beneficial! What''s the point of taking the curses and act against my desire!?"

    He was in a bad mood, not because of the wrong choice of cultivation technique, but because of Tong and other reincarnators'' existence.

    Those people were not supposed to exist in this world. Yet, they were here, exploiting their futuristic knowledge and ruined the historical trend. Moreover, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang''s former lord, was captured and branded as a traitor.

    Zhuge Liang felt like his future was robbed by Tong and otherworlders. He felt cheated.

    "Ah¡­ I''m pissed," He sulked and sat idly on his bed.

    As his imagination wandered through the flow of his old memory, he recalled Sima Yi, who allegedly acted as if he knew everything. Zhuge Liang remembered that this obnoxious youth always bullied him whenever he used the n chat.

    Everything made sense now.

    "That bastard knew!! Dammit, Sima Yi!!"

    Zhuge Liang jumped up with his reddened face of fury, but he calmed down after a bit of recollection.

    After sitting still for half an hour, a cunning smile finally appeared on his face for the first time after he became aware of the world.

    "Kekeke! Ah, interesting. Very interesting! Zhang Tong, you''ve messed up big time!!"

    No one knew what he was thinking. But one for sure, he was up to no good.

    .

    .

    That afternoon, Zhuge Liang visited Dong Bai, the current empress, at her private office to report for his duty.

    Dong Bai had seeded the authority from Tong and Medusa, who were at the critical state of breaking through to be an 8-wing demon. Although Friday was inexperienced at managing, she was much older than every mortal here. As such, she had been reigning the unstable empire and kept it mostly in check.

    But she needed Zhuge Liang''s skills now. Or else, Tong''s hard work would be ruined because of a few selfish officers.

    "I''ve obtained my memory and the cultivation technique. I''m here to report for duty."

    The cunning strategist bowed his head to this teenage girl in front of him. Zhuge Liang did not look like an innocent youth in his puberty anymore.

    Dong Bai nodded, "I need your brain, Zhuge Liang! My husband''s domain is in trouble because of that capitalist Te Langpu. I''m looking for a way to correct our government system, so those greedy bastards can''t abuse their authority. I can tell that ournds are being handed over to unworthy local nobles, but I don''t have proof who embezzled it!! Help me!!"

    Zhuge Liang nodded, "That''s simple. We''ll need to execute the ringleader of this mess and show our retainers that we''re serious."

    "Ah!! Right. Killing a chicken to scare monkeys?"

    "That''s correct."

    "So, who should we kill?"

    "Don''t you already know who to kill? You said a ringleader of this mess, and you mentioned the name."

    "I do?"

    "Yes."

    "Then who?"

    "Te Langpu. Please send an order to kill this man immediately before he ruins his majesty''s empire any further."

    "!!!"

    The proposal was audacious and bold. Had she killed Te Langpu, she might have upset many officials in Ye, including Sima Fang or Lu Zhi, who had been working together for years. Moreover, Te Langpu had been contributing a lot to Tong''s domestic stability. Bacshes and dire consequences would surely await them if they really push this n through.

    "No, no!! Bad idea! Executing him will make our officers revolt!! Do you remember that I said we don''t have proof?"

    "Hahaha, your majesty. You''re still too na?ve. Who said anything about killing him directly?"

    "Oh?"

    "We have a few loose cannons. Zhou Yu and Sun Ce are still around, right?"

    "Huh!?"

    "We''ll summon both of them here, and we''ll make them do it for us. If they can''t, we can just frame them."

    "Bah! No! Framing is impossible. Whenever a n member dies, the killer''s name will show up in our n notification. Have you checked the two names with red strikethrough? Hua Shi and He Xing?"

    Zhuge Liang checked them as Dong Bai advised. Sure enough, he found the names of the murderers, Gongsun Du and Sun Fang.

    He squinted his eyes at Sun Fang''s name, ''If I remember correctly, Hua Shi was Zhang Tong''s first wife¡­ Interesting. I didn''t know that Sun Fang and Zhang Tong has this kind of grudge.''

    Dong Bai was still also reluctant of killing Te Langpu, "Anyway, it''s a bad idea. I don''t think we should kill Te Langpu without proof and provoke another civil war."

    "There''s no need to be afraid, your majesty. You are an immortal with great strength. His majesty and the prime consort are also stronger than all of our generals. Once theye out from their secluded cultivation, they will take care of the rebels."

    "¡­"

    "Honestly, we don''t even need Zhou Yu or Sun Ce. You can simply use Te Langpu of treason and kill him outright. That way, the court officials have to think twice before they do something stupid under your watch."

    "Ugh!"

    Dong Bai had a dilemma. She could wait for Tong or Medusa toe out and deal with these troublemakers themselves. But if it took years to break through, Te Langpu and other nobles might steal the all cities and territories for themselves.

    Still, she did not trust this capitalist fatso that started all of this mess. Personally, Dong Bai wanted him dead.

    "Good. I''ll kill him!"

    Zhuge Liang revealed a faint smile, "Very well. I shall draft your new edict."

    .

    .

    .

    December, 199 AD

    At the throne room, Dong Bai summoned all officials and used her authority to announce a shocking promation.

    "Te Langpu hasmitted treason against the Han Dynasty by distributingnd deeds without the emperor''s consent. This action leads to embezzlement and corruption throughout thend! He and his 3 generations are to be arrested and executed while all deeds are to be confiscated back to the royal court!"

    As she had expected, Lu Zhi stood up for Te Langpu and protested right away.

    "Your majesty, please quell your anger. What Prime Minister Te did was to stabilize Han''s foundation. Our officers had worked hard for uniting thend under one banner, and they deserve some reward. Givingnds as rewards are themon practice of our ancestors."

    Sima Fang stood up to support Lu Zhi, "Indeed. Your majesty, I understand your anxiety. I know that bestowing properties andnd deeds aren''t something you''re familiar with, but this is the only way to ensure that your retainers will be happy working under your banners. Furthermore, all nobles withndowners will have to pay extra taxes to us. You can delegate the tasks we do to them without a cost, and we can still receive the same tax rate."

    Dong Bai yelled at them, "Aren''t both of youndlords, too!? Te Langpu must have bribed you with Ye''s properties, right!? That''s why you are so supporting his action!"

    Lu Zhi shook his head, "No, your majesty. We do have some of Ye''s farnd as our n''s territory, but that is to relieve the government from the centralized management. The war is over, the government has no need to withhold their resources for wartime anymore. You can delegate some of your farnds to your officers as a reward, so they have to take care of that tedious harvest and tax collecting for you. Not only the court''s workload will decrease, but you can also enjoy the same taxes you get from the harvest."

    Sima Fang added, "Your majesty, if you are worried about the production rate and harvest rate, we can employ a guarantee system. For example, all noble ns withnd deeds have to provide a fixed rate of harvest. Or else, theirnds will be confiscated. Also, if you''re worried about the harsh treatment of the local nobles, we can enforce the police to arrest the nobles who vite orders."

    Hearing the advice from the experts, Dong Bai''s anger subsided. She was more rxed and relieved that they meant no harm.

    On the other hand, Zhuge Liang nced at these two elite ministers with his cold eyes.

    ''Hmm. This can be a tough nut to crack. Those two''s suggestion is solid, and this stupid empress won''t dare to kill Te Langpu. Well, I can start with these two first.''

    Zhuge Liang did not press on with his idea. Instead, he hid behind other officers as usual.

    Dong Bai believed in Sima Fang and Lu Zhi. Although she did not like Te Langpu, she conceded and allowed them to prove themselves.

    "I''ll withdraw my order. But bear in mind, I want to see your new "system" at work next year. If the harvest result is less than what we used to have, I''ll confiscate everything back to the central government!"

    Sima Fang and Lu Zhi acknowledged the warning. After the meeting, they sent their words to their n members and other noble ns, reminding them that they had to contribute taxes and harvest to the central government. If they failed, theirnds would be taken back.

    .

    The wrath of Dong Bai almost destroyed Tong''s country, but the judgment day was postponed. However, many minor officials spread the news among their colleagues, which soon reached the ears of outsiders.

    Noble ns and greedy merchants panicked when they heard that Dong Bai aimed to confiscate their boughtnds back had they not contributed enough harvests.

    Te Langpu immediately sent secret letters to all of his colleagues, telling them to boost their production rate, or their new assets would be seized.

    Wang Yun, the current governor of Nanpi, had obtained 30% of Nanpi''s farnds from Te Langpu distribution. When he heard about the contribution order, this governor sweated bullets.

    "I thought I could enjoy my retirement in peace! Why are they asking for more taxes when I gave them everything I had!?"

    Wang Yun was one of the many, who was dissatisfied with the sudden development. He had nned that he would use the harvest the local taxes to raise his n power by bribing the local policemen to join his noble house.

    But Lu Zhi and Sima Fang''s project ruined his n.

    "Dong Bai, Lu Zhi, and Sima Fang¡­ I need to kill these idiots!!"

    "I knew it!! Dong Zhuo''s descendants are no good!! Zhang Tong is a devil!! He is not a good emperor!! This dynasty is also ruled by a tyrant!!"

    "I shall save the Han Dynasty!!"

 Chapter 489 Wang Yun and Zhen Yi

    Chapter 489 - Wang Yun and Zhen Yi

    January 15th, 200 AD.

    Lilim observed the world with a solemn expression. Today marked the day that all the seeds she and Zuo Ci had spread would bear fruits.

    The seeds were their blood, and their fruits were the awakening of the local poption''s souls.

    *RUMBLE*

    In the space, a transparent ghostly river flowed in a circle, surrounding the earth. At its surface, water boiled and jumped as a billion of snakes bared fangs at the earth and Lilim.

    The river and snakes of karma danced in the space as if they were anxious about this development. Yet, Lilim was unfazed.

    "It''s time. I''ve been collecting lifespan for this."

    Lilim rechecked her dimension system one more time to ensure that her program worked as nned. As her eyes were on the semi-transparent menu before her, a crack appeared in the space.

    As if the space was made of sses, the crack expanded.

    "Injecting one billion lifespans to every star of our sr system," Lilim muttered.

    The shaking stopped and the dimension mended itself. However, the river of karma was leaking its water toward the universe.

    This river was an ethereal object with sentience. The leaking water transformed from its ghostly appearance to a form of icicle asteroids, which could destroy any if they crashed them. Each of them came out with the size of two Suns.

    "Injective a trillion years of lifespan to the universe karma river."

    The manifested asteroids faded back and merged with the karmic river. Yet, the snakes of retribution looked restless.

    They red at Lilim with hatred.

    "I hereby sever all ties you have with the people of this world. All souls here shall start anew."

    The snakes screamed. All minor karmic snakes sunk to the deepest depth of the karma river.

    Still, a few giant snakes did not flinch. They were the karma knot of angels and demons with 8 wings or higher.

    These snakes belonged to Medusa, Zuo Ci, Liu Yang, and Lilim.

    Lilim frowned as she observed these karma snakes. She was hesitating if she should eliminate these hindrances in this asion, or should she wait for another chance.

    Thinking for a while, she sighed, "I can''t risk it. I''ll leave you be for the time being."

    The snakes only stared at Lilim, but they did not do anything to harm the universal harmony.

 Chapter 490 Lu Zhi, the Watchdog

    Chapter 490 - Lu Zhi, the Watchdog

    Lu Zhi sat in his room, writing notes on a scroll.

    On the scroll, it was a report of his colleagues'' behavior after Tong had shut himself in his chamber.

    .

    Te Langpu

    (1) Sold government assets to outsiders. All mary gained are sent to the treasury.

    (2) Established illegal casinos in Zhongyuan and Ji Province.

    (3) Interfered with the police department. 30 officers in the department were found epting Te Langpu''s bribes. The motive is unknown.

    (4) Established an intelligence agency without the court''s consent. Name of the agency - CIA.

    (5) Had a feud with Dong Bai. We often found Te Langpu contacting his CIA agents after the feud had started.

    (6) Never been found in any embezzlement act. All bribes came from him were his assets.

    Evaluation: Odd way of management. Some see him as a devoted minister, but many see him as an untrustworthy rebel. We should investigate further about his true motive.

    Zhen Yi

    (1) Hiding Sun Ce and Zhou Yu inside Zhongshan. Motive - Unknown. Army - 2,000 Men.

    (2) Raising Zhen Fu to be the emperor''s concubine.

    (3) Bought 50% Zhongshan farnd and 80% Zhongshan businesses from Te Langpu

    (4) Embezzled 50,000 gold for the sake of gambling in one of Te Langpu''s casinos.

    Evaluation: A crooked governor and a potential rebel. Get rid of him ASAP.

    Wang Yun

    (1) Bought 80% Nanpi farnd and 60% Nanpi businesses from Te Langpu

    (2) Dissatisfied with his governor status. Servants often heard hisints and curses.

    (3) Rarely performed his governor''s duties.

    (4) Often attempted to contact Diaochan. Reports said he wanted promotion using her status as the prime consort, but thetter always refused.

    (4) Found visiting Zhongshan in early January.

    Evaluation: Untrustworthy. He should be put in the elimination list.

    Cai Yong

    (1) Bought only farnd, but share them with the local peasants. He allowed farmers to cultivatends with low taxes.

    (2) Refused to enlist mercenaries when urged by Te Langpu.

    (3) Was contacted by Cai Wenji''s servants. He informed his daughter to form an alliance with other concubines during the time you are away.

    (4) Forbade his subordinates from causing troubles.

    Evaluation: Honest nobleman. He can be trusted.

    Sima Fang

    (1) Bought all businesses and farnd in Ji, Beiping, and Xiangping.

    (2) All governors in themanderies are Sima Fang''s subordinates.

    (3) Reduced all tax rates in the threemanderies. Peasants are happy under his rule.

    (4) Half of the policemen in You Province were once Sima n''s private forces.

    (5) No military activities.

    Evaluation: Dubious, but he meant no harm. We can trust this man and his nsmen.

    Zhuge Liang

    (1) Begin contacting Dong Bai after the mass awakening had started.

    (2) Acted as Dong Bai''s supporter on the surface. True motive - Te Langpu''s death (as reported by Dong Bai)

    (3) Never spoke or contributed in any meeting.

    (4) Borrowed Dong Bai''s authority to mobilize her intelligence agents.

    Evaluation: A chaos factor and a maniptor. Demotion or imprisonment is advised.

    .

    Lu Zhi sighed as he put his ink brush away. He folded the scroll and brought it with himself.

    The minister moved his tea table to the side and opened an underground door, where the table used to stand on.

    He carried the scroll and walked down the stairs with a torch.

    The light illuminated the underground passage, which led toward a secret chamber.

    Upon reaching the secret room, Lu Zhi could see his disciple, who was sitting cross-legged, meditating.

    The person was Tong!

    Behind Tong''s back, 8 ck wings fluttered. However, red lines had appeared all over Tong''s body as if he was about to shatter into pieces like broken sses.

    The breakthrough was a sess, but it was not perfect. Tong suffered soul injuries, just like Guan Yu did.

    It would take a while before he could recover. However, he could spare a bit of time to converse with Lu Zhi now.

    "Disciple, I''ve brought the summarized report."

    Tong slightly opened his eyes, but he shut them down because of the pain.

    "I can''t use my eyes just yet. Can you read them for me?"

    "Sure."

    Lu Zhi began citing what he wrote without opening the scroll. He also added morements that he forgot to write.

    ¡­

    After Lu Zhi had finished telling Tong what he thought of the current movements in the outside world, Tong sighed.

    "Ha¡­ They''re at it."

    "¡­ Yeah. Without a cat, the rats are on the loose."

    "I let my eyes off them for a year. They''re already showing their true colors."

    "You can''t me them, though. Diaochan''s breakthrough timing was bad. Had she dyed it for a year or two, this wouldn''t have happened."

    "No. It''s cool. It''s better to flush them out earlier than allowing them to settle their roots yearster. It would have been more troublesome had Zhen Yi and Wang Yune out when they had many wings and immortal subordinates."

    Tong had already expected everyone''s reaction and steeled his heart for facing betrayals and unruly opportunists, but he did not expect that Te Langpu, Zhen Yi, and Wang Yun would be one of them.

    It was fortunate that Cao Cao was not a part of the list. Or else, Tong would have died by headache.

    "True. The mass awakening is confusing our civilians and officers. Many of them died early in the other world, and some of them were killed by yellow turbans. I think a few of them will probably hold a grudge against your father and you."

    "We can''t help it. This is Lilim''s work, so we will have to clean this up ourselves."

    Lu Zhi''s face grimaced when Tong mentioned Lilim''s name. He had learned about this individual from Tong, Friday, and Medusa that she was the mastermind behind this reincarnation mess and the mass awakening.

    From the locals'' point of view, Lilim could be their goddess, but she was also a devil who brought chaos to this world.

    "Can you defeat her with your current power, disciple?"

    "No. Lilim has 10 wings. We''re not ready yet."

    "I see. Well, let''s be patient and y her game for now. Keep cultivating, Tong."

    "I will, master. By the way, can you ry some words to my empress?"

    "Sure. What is it?"

    "Kill Zhen Yi and find Sun Ce''s whereabouts. Don''t be afraid of the bacshes. End the rebellion before they bud."

    Lu Zhi had expected this. He nodded, "What about Zhuge Liang, Sima Fang, or Te Langpu?"

    "Sima Fang is fine. He''s just keeping the royal court in check, so I can''t abuse my power. Te Langpu is doing his things. His methods might be immoral to others, but he wants the best for our country. Let him loose for a while, so we can weed out hidden crooks that Te Langpu can fish out."

    "I see. So Te Langpu is our double-agent without him realizing it?"

    "Sort of."

    "What about Zhuge Liang?"

    Tong sighed, "This brat wants to test us. Leave him be."

    "Should we demote him or imprison him?"

    "Don''t provoke Zhuge Liang for now. Concentrate on eliminating Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, and all our rebelling officers."

    "Who should we send? Sun Ce and Zhou Yu should have about 4 wings by now."

    "Sun Ce might have 6, actually. Summon Lu Bu. Tell him that I''ll make him the grandmander of all legions. He will do it."

    "Are you sure? Won''t he rebel when he has too much power?"

    "Eh, he might act tough and unruly, but his sincerity is genuine. He never killed Ding Yuan, so he won''t dare to betray anyone in this world."

    "All right. I believe you. Hurry and get back on your feet. The country needs you back."

    "I know. I''ll do my best."

    .

    .

    Lu Zhi did not bother hiding his intent and order. He delivered Tong''s messages in the n chat.

    Lu Zhi: "Zhen Yi!! You have been found colluding with the wanted Sun Ce and Zhou Yu! The emperor has ordered, you are to surrender immediately or face the consequences!"

    Lu Zhi: "Lu Bu!! The emperor has summoned you to Zhongshan!! Locate Sun Ce and Zhou Yu! He wants them dead!!"

    Lu Zhi: "Wang Yun, Te Langpu, Zhuge Liang!! You have been warned by the emperor!! Don''t cross the line, or he wille and get all of you himself!! He has broken through and gained his 8th wing, so don''t you dare thinking he won''te out within this year!!"

    Lu Zhi''s public warning was like lightning during a clear sky. It came out of nowhere that it caught everyone off guard.

    Te Langpu: "I did everything for the sake of this kingdom, Zhang Tong."

    As a former businessman, Te Langpu excused that he was innocent. He had no reason to yield to Lu Zhi''s threat since his position was above the angry minister.

    In fact, he did not believe that Tong woulde out this year.

    Lu Zhi: "Including gambling dens?"

    Te Langpu: "I confess that I''m running those dens. But it brings tourists and more tax ie, no? Come and visit my casinos, and you''ll find many foreigners and merchants from the west spending their money. I''m doing you a favor!"

    Lu Zhi: "His majesty will deal with your illegal business matterster. For now, stop what you''re doing. You''ve given too manynds to our officers!!"

    This was Te Langpu''s weak point. He sold too manynds to fellow nobles in the guise of contribution rewards. Even if he gave away all profits from the real estate and brokerages to the government treasury, his action was still uneptable to the local ministers.

    Te Langpu: "¡­ Fine."

    Thus, Te Langpu yielded, for now.

    But Lu Zhi did not stop. He switched his target to Zhuge Liang.

    Lu Zhi: "Zhuge Liang!! We found you attempting to manipte the empress. This is myst warning. Don''t cross the line!!"

 Chapter 491 Coincidence

    Chapter 491 - Coincidence

    Lu Zhi hated corruption and immoral maniption attempts with a passion.

    In the previous life, he suffered from the ten eunuchs and Dong Zhuo''s dictatorship. With the second chance, he swore that he would forgive no one who vited his principle.

    And Zhuge Liang fell into this category!

    Zhuge Liang: "I merely gave her my advice because she asked for it. How is it my fault?"

    The young strategist was not afraid of Lu Zhi. As he had solid proof that the empress was the one summoning him to give his opinion, it would never be his fault.

    Lu Zhi: "Don''t pretend ignorance. My agents reported that you advised her to kill Te Langpu in the previous meeting!"

    .

    Zhuge Liang was reading and replying to the n chat while he was working in the central government office. Fortunately, minor officials here were not members of the n, so they could not see themotion.

    Still, Zhuge Liang''s calm expression had a tinge of sweat. He had never expected that Lu Zhi would have dared enough to nt spies by the empress'' side.

    He waited for the empress to react andsh on Lu Zhi. Yet, it did not happen!

    ''Had the empress colluded with Lu Zhi all along? Wow, I didn''t see thating.''

    Zhuge Liang had a new retrospective of Dong Bai now. At first, he thought she was only a na?ve girl, whom Zhuge Liang could easily manipte or tricked, just like Liu Shan, Liu Bei''s son.

    But the rtionship between the empress and Lu Zhi was not so simple. Thetter seemed to be fond of Tong''s entire family as if he were Tong''s father.

    ''Very good, senior Lu. You''ve passed. I thought you were nothing but a greedy politician. It seems I misunderstood you.''

    He snickered and replied.

    Zhuge Liang: "I merely advised her to deal with the origin of this mess. Lord Te Langpu is the Prime Minister of our country, so if his subordinates began embezzling government assets, it is his responsibility to deal with the uproar. However, he didn''t do shit. Thus, he deserves punishment!"

    Te Langpu: "Dafuq!? Kongming, you little brat!! What have I ever done to you!?"

    Finally, Te Langpu could not resist anymore. He joined the conversation.

    Zhuge Liang: "Nothing. But you''ve caused this whole mess. Why did you allow outsiders to possess the property assets!? They were supposed to be the rewards of our officers!"

    The strategist shifted the me to Te Langpu, controlling the subject and the pace of the chat.

    But Lu Zhi stopped the conflict and reigned it back to his topic.

    Lu Zhi: "Whatever Prime Minister Te did, his majesty will decide what to do with himter when hees out of his secluded cultivation. As for you, Zhuge Liang, we will ban you from visiting the empress from now on. If you have any suggestions or opinions about the way we''re working, do it in the n chat. All of your vocal advice will be ignored for one year. Any furthermore vition is capital punishment!"

    Zhuge Liang: "Meh, fine. I''ll use this channel from now on."

    Lu Zhi: "And Prime Minister, his majesty sent words that you should refrain from making any risky moves. He understands that you want the best for our country, but your methods and cultures are too new to the local poption and our officers! Slow down and teach us what you''re thinking, so we can adapt to the changes!"

    Te Langpu: "Bah. Do I have to teach all of you again?"

    Lu Zhi: "Yes! Your ''Real Estate'' project is still questionable even to his majesty. We need a thorough exnation and economic ss why we should follow through with your current project. Jeez!"

    Lu Zhi: "Wang Yun!! You''re next!!"

    .

    .

    Zhen Yi and Wang Yun were reading the n chat while sweating bullets. When they reread the section where Lu Zhi ordered Lu Bu to hunt for Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, they were panicked.

    "How did they know!?" Zhen Yi was baffled, "I remember that I weeded out all agents from Ye and Julu. How did they find out about both of you!?"

    Zhen Yi looked at Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, who were cultivating at the corner of his office.

    "Had you gone out recently? Lu Zhi has already found out about you two!"

    Zhou Yu opened his eyes after a long meditation. His four angel wings fluttered behind his back, while another soul was floating around Sun Ce, protecting his brother from any potential spying soul.

    The five-wing angel woke up.

    "Tell me about themotion."

    ¡­

    Wang Yun and Zhen Yi spent 10 minutes recounting everything that had happened in the n chat during these few days, including Dong Bai''s attempts to reach out to Tong.

    "I think they found us because of your greediness, Governor Zhen. From your words, Lu Zhi made this move because he suspected Te Langpu''s motive, and you got caught in this mess."

    "But he said that as long as I contribute enough taxes to Ye, no one will say anything!"

    Zhou Yu sighed, "That''s where you messed up. You should have taken it moderately and made it as if you are using your new properties for the people. Because you''ve bought more than half of the city, obviously, they investigated you. If I were them, I would have looked into your activities, too!"

    Te Langpu''s project timing coincided with their movements.

    Zhen Yi bought thend deeds from Te Langpu as he thought he would profit from the tax rights, but the governor ended up getting investigated.

    Afterward, Lu Zhi found out about Zhen Yi''s secret n!

    Zhen Yi did not know if this was an ident or spies had infiltrated their ranks, but they were in trouble.

    "But how did they found us!?"

    "Who knows," Zhou Yu shrugged, "Lu Zhi and Sima Fang''s intelligence agency is rumored to be efficient, but I think it has to do with the inner pce servants and bodyguards around here."

    Zhen Yi gulped. He red at the bodyguards, who were standing outside of his office building.

    "Don''t bother. It''s useless trying to find the spies now. Let''s change the subject¡­ Did Lu Zhi im that everything was Zhang Tong''s order?"

    "He ims that he received the emperor''s order, but the emperor himself hasn''t spoken in the chat for over a year now."

    "Is Lu Zhi the only one who can contact the emperor?"

    "It seems that way. Let''s forget about how he can contact the emperor. We need to prepare for Lu Bu! He''s the third strongest guy in our n! If we want to survive, we have to take him down before Zhang Tong or Diaochan got back from their shut-in cultivation!"

    "Ah¡­ You don''t have to worry about that," Zhou Yu grinned, "Right? Bofu?"

    Sun Ce opened his eyes. He looked tired, but his presence scared Zhen Yi and Wang Yun.

    Six white tentacle wings extended from Sun Ce''s back, but that was not his true strength. Another soul was hiding inside his body.

    This young conqueror had awakened 7 souls, and he was preparing to break through the 8th wing.

    "Lu Bu is at best a 7-wing angel like me. Since he gets stuck in this realm for a long time, I doubt that he is stronger than I am."

    Zhou Yu nodded, "Right. If I want to, I can get my 6th wing and support you had Lu Bue here personally."

    He nced at his followers inside the room.

    Lu Meng, Lu Xun, Zhou Tai, and many young talented officers were also cultivating.

    Since fighting against Tong''s armies in the open was impossible, they hid everyone within Tong''s deepest territory, Zhongshan, where the security was weakest among all cities.

    Zhou Yu had bribed Zhen Yi into sheltering them for a while, hoping to weaken Tong''s forces from within.

    "I doubt he can defeat all of us if webine forces."

    Zhen Yi and Wang Yun looked at these young officers, trembling in nervousness. Each of them had at least 4 wings behind their back.

    And the man behind all of them, who seemed to be the 2nd strongest among the group, was peeking outside with a deep frown.

    Sun Fang was also here!

    "I actually wanted to incite a misconception that Lu Zhi was lying about Tong''s order. But since the cat is out of the bag, let''s prepare to fight Lu Bu."

    Sun Ce and all his officers looked at Sun Fang, but they did not say anything.

    Zhou Yu smiled at Sun Fang, "Any confidence?"

    "If I weren''t confident, I wouldn''t have reconciled with you lots. I could have escaped to Japan without you," Sun Fang snorted.

    In fact, Sun Fang lied. He finished building his galley ship and sailed toward Japan as nned. When he reached to border of China Sea, Lilim''s system threatened him to strip his cultivation and system skills, just like what it did to Pu Jing.

    Sun Fang did not have enough lifespan to pay for the fee. Thus, he returned to Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, and he asked for peace.

    The two factions ended up together again. This time, Sun Ce became the ringleader, while Sun Fang was a follower.

    Zhou Yu took a deep breath as he looked at everyone in the room.

    "Let take the initiative. We should strike at Zhang Tong''s heart before he gets the chance to break through."

    He walked toward the wall where the country map was hanging. He pointed at a county nearby.

    Julu

    "First, we will ignore this city and attack Julu with all of our elite officers! We will kill Zhang Jiao and interrupt Zhang Tong''s cultivation!"

 Chapter 492 Julu Crisis

    Chapter 492 - Julu Crisis

    Hours passed after Lu Zhi hadshed out in the n chat.

    North of Ye, Julu was still as peaceful as ever.

    Julu city had long be the calmest town in Ji Province. Traders, merchants, and tourists often visited this ce along with Ye, the capital of Tong¡¯s empire.

    Taoist temples, military schools, food stalls, and the old battle site, Anping Fort, where Tong fought the turning point battle against Han Fu Army and his allies with fewer soldiers and won, were the main attraction for tourists and schrs.

    Not only this city was popr among the tourists, but medicine practitioners also came to Julu because of one person.

    Hua Tuo

    Tong¡¯s father-inw had opened a medical school as suggested by Tong and Zhang Jiao. He finally had a ce to call home and enjoy his semi-retirement.

    Hua Tuo passed down his techniques and knowledge to all physicians and all schrs, but he epted nothing in return, which earned him a title, medicine saint. His disciples became teachers for the physician trainees while Hua Tuo sometimes gave his disciples tips and advice.

    By Hua Tuo¡¯s side, Tong¡¯s eldest daughter, Zhang Min, always attended to her grandfather. Her copy-image of Hua Shi became a recement for Hua Tuo¡¯s daughter, which soothed his fragile heart.

    This medicine saint was a happy man. If God could grant him one more wish, he would have asked for these days tost forever.

    He had friends.

    He had a family.

    He had disciples.

    He had everything he had always dreamed. As long as Tong was still the Han Dynasty emperor, nothing could go wrong.

    "Grandpa! Look at my wings! Is it pretty?"

    Despite all the happiness, Hua Tuo also had worries.

    "Look! There were four yesterday, but I have six now! Cultivation is so easy. You should cultivate, too!"

    Hua Tuo sighed, "I¡¯m too old topete with youngsters. I¡¯m satisfied with having a couple of thousand years of lifespan, Min¡¯er."

    Zhang Min was now a full-fledge 18-year-old maiden. Her glossy long ck hair, pretty face, smooth white skin, and the perfect S-curve body created a stunning beauty that could fall any nation.

    Yet, this princess was still single, and Tong had not wedded her to anyone.

    In fact, Hua Tuo found it hard to rmend any worthy man to be her husband. He also wanted to cherish this granddaughter longer.

    "But you can¡¯t fly with only one or two wings, grandpa! You need at least 4 wings to fly!"

    "Haha! True. Well, how about you carry me when you fly, so I can fly, too?"

    "Don¡¯t bezy, grandpa! Sitting and ying chess all day will ruin your bones and muscles. You need to exercise. Come! I¡¯ll teach you basic muscle training for elders that I learned in school!"

    Zhang Min grabbed Hua Tuo¡¯s hand and pulled him off his chair.

    "Okay, okay! Don¡¯t pull so hard. I¡¯ming with you."

    Both of them had a fun workout. But in the end, Zhang Min carried her grandfather and flew in the sky, pranking her grandfather.

    .

    .

    Another semi-retired man, Zhang Jiao, was puffing smoke. A new product that Te Langpu had invented became his favorite rxant, a cigar.

    The old man gazed into a distance while he was standing in front of the assembly hall. As usual, he was still donning in daoist robes but with a different color than the old yellow. His white outer robe and red inner robe contrasted, but it looked cleaner than the old uniform.

    His hair was still ck even though he was already in his 60s. Because of the extra lifespan that Tong had distributed to his father, Zhang Jiao¡¯s appearance was that of a man in his 40s. His face and body slowly regressed back to his youth each year. Zhang Jiao would look as young as Tong in the next 20 years.

    His long ck hair was tied and kempt, unlike the past when he worked as a physician and a daoist priest. Traces of the angry sect leader was gone, leaving with the only satisfied and dignified look of a retired man.

    Zhang Jiao was still working as the governor of Julu Commandery. Still, he entrusted most of his tasks to his deputies.

    Just like others, Zhang Jiao also had his memory back, but he did not mind having Tong as his son in this life.

    What was there to regret when his son had be an emperor? No sane father would be sad when their sons seeded in life.

    "SLOW DOWN, MIN¡¯ER!!"

    "HAHAHAHAHA!!"

    The voice of his friend and his granddaughter was audible from afar. Zhang Jiao could see that Zhang Min was flying in the sky while piggybacking Hua Tuo.

    Zhang Jiao sighed, "She won¡¯t be able to find a husband if this keeps up. Should I arrange a marriage partner for her?"

    He looked at the n chat menu, which he rarely used.

    Deep down inside, Zhang Jiao wanted to talk to Tong and consult him about Zhang Min¡¯s future. He was worried that she might stay single for life if she still had this childish attitude.

    Zhang Jiao hesitated to send texts in the chat. Recently, the situation in Ye did not look well because of Te Langpu¡¯s movements.

    Zhang Jiao also took 100% of Julu farnd and all businesses as his n assets when Te Langpu had offered him the deal. Theypleted the transaction in the open, but no official dared to object since Zhang Jiao was Tong¡¯s father.

    He felt guilty because his action aroused the jealousy of other governors. As a result, many of them took advantage of Te Langpu¡¯s project and bribed the prime minister to gain extra territory for their ns.

    In other words, Zhang Jiao was also the indirect cause of the mass embezzlement.

    ¡¯Bah, forget it. I¡¯ll just write a letter to Tong or Lu Zhi. Come to think of it, Sima Yi is interested in Min¡¯er...¡¯

    He rubbed his chin and thought about Sima Fang.

    ¡¯Should I tie the Sima n with the royal court? Sima n was the winner of the civil war in the alternate world, so their descendants arepetent.¡¯

    A smile appeared on this former yellow turban leader¡¯s face.

    ¡¯Sima Yi is a good candidate for Min¡¯er. He did well in the other life, so he should be able to do the same here. I¡¯ll contact Sima Fang and talk to him about this arrangement.¡¯

    After Zhang Jiao made his decision, he used the n chat and invite Sima Fang for a private talk.

    Zhang Jiao: "@Sima Fang. Excuse me, do you have any ns to visit Julu? I would like to reserve a bit of your time for a private matter."

    Sima Fang: "What a coincidence. I¡¯m on my way to Julu at the moment. I¡¯ll visit you after I finish dealing with the police department over there."

    Zhang Jiao: "Thank you. I¡¯ll see you soon."

    He smiled, looking forward to seeing Sima Fang here. Zhang Jiao was sure that Sima Fang would be delighted if his son could marry the first princess.

    While Zhang Jiao was fantasizing, a loud scream came from a distance.

    This former yellow turban leader turned toward the source of themotion. The voice just now came from Zhang Min.

    The girl in question was flying toward Zhang Jiao. Hua Tuo was also with her.

    Upon hernding, her panicked expression surprised Zhang Jiao. She never showed this kind of face when she was with him.

    "Grandpa! We¡¯ve got to run! Bad guys areing to our city!"

    "What?"

    "I saw many angels flying here. Two of them have six wings and the rest has 4 wings!"

    Now, Zhang Jiao understood why. His face changed. He had been reading n chat whenever he had free time, and he often exchanged news with Lu Zhi and Sima Fang, so he knew that they were not a part of their forces.

    The only six-wing angels in Tong¡¯s forces were Lu Bu and Li Feihong. As for other elite generals, they got stuck at the 4-wing tier.

    First, since both of them had been assigned to the western province and Si Province, those two six-wing angels were not Lu Bu or Li Feihong. Second, whenever an elite general wanted to visit any city, they always reported in the n chat about their destinations and their purposes.

    But no one reported anything in the chat, which meant ... those men were not Tong¡¯s subordinates!

    "Let¡¯s head to our secret room. We¡¯ll leave this city using the emergency passage."

    Zhang Jiao referred to the underground passage that Lu Zhi designed for Tong¡¯s family as a token of friendship. The passage route structure mimicked Luoyang¡¯s secret underground tunnel for the emperor and the royalties, but Lu Zhi made it for Zhang Jiao.

    No one would have thought that this token of friendship would be useful in this situation.

    Hua Tuo gulped and nodded. Although he did not know what this emergency passage was, it was better than nothing.

    Zhang Min also listened to her grandfather. She might have the strength to fight, but she chose not to get involved with her father¡¯s war. Zhang Min was not afraid of the invaders, but she worried about her elders since these two old men were too weak to fight against even an ordinary angel with 2 wings.

    With Zhang Min and Hua Tuo¡¯s consent, Zhang Jiao led the group to his bedroom, where the door toward the secret passage located.

    As they were escaping from the city, Zhang Min did not forget to borrow a spear from a nearby soldier. But, they did not bring anyone with them.

    It took them only a minute to reach Zhang Jiao¡¯s courtyard since his resident was nearby.

    Zhang Min, Hua Tuo, and Zhang Jiao hid their presence as they sprinted toward the secret passage.

    *RUMBLE*

    Threatening aura from two 6-wing angels was noticeable. The trio flinched and nced at the city assembly hall¡¯s direction.

    The uninvited guests might have reached there.

    "Let¡¯s hurry. I think they also saw me when we were flying."

    Zhang Min guard bedroom door while the two elders opened the underground passage under Zhang Jiao¡¯s bed.

    After Zhang Jiao and Hua Tuo rushed down the stairs toward the underground level, Zhang Min, who was sweating in nervousness, followed her grandfathers.

    "There you are."

    The cold voice of a young man sent a chill running down Zhang Min¡¯s spine.

    Zhang Min spread her wings, gathered his force to reinforce the spear, and threw it toward the source of that voice.

    The spear traveled toward the entrance doors that Zhang Min had guarded.

    *BOOM*

    The wooden doors exploded. When the dust dispersed, Zhang Min could see a middle-aged man with 4 white wings behind his back.

    The man ignored the injured arms, which he had used to blocked Zhang Min¡¯s strike. He bellowed.

    "I FOUND THE GOVERNOR AND A SIX-WING CULTIVATOR!! I NEED HELP!!"

 Chapter 493 Zhang Min in Danger 1

    Chapter 493 - Zhang Min in Danger (1)

    Ling Cao was a mercenary in the Jiangdong region. He had tanned skin since he was young since he grew up in a fisherman family. His wide chest andpact muscle showed that he got used to swimming in a raging sea for fishes.

    When Sun Ce rallied his forces to unite the southeast provinces, Ling Cao, as a courageous man, joined forces with this warlord.

    In history, he served both Sun Ce and Sun Quan before he died in a battle against Huang Zu and Gan Ning, Liu Biao¡¯s elite subordinates.

    In this world, Zhou Yu changed the historical trend by hiring Huang Zu and avoided the confrontation against Liu Biao. Moreover, the threat of otherworlders was greater than their old grudge, so Zhou Yu prioritized killing every reincarnators first.

    Ling Cao never took part in a battle against Huang Zu. On the contrary, Huang Zu became his colleague.

    After Sun Ce, in this world, had promoted him and Huang Zu, the lord gave them a mysterious cultivation technique.

    Ling Cao and Huang Zu obtained the memory of the other timeline, and they could be immortal.

    At first, Ling Cao wanted to kill Huang Zu, but thetter begged him for forgiveness. Although Ling Cao was unwilling, Zhou Yu acted as a middleman to end the grudge.

    Both generals shook hands and amended from the past rivalry.

    It took them years to get their first 4 wings, but the hard work paid off. They became immortals who could fly.

    Now, Ling Cao came to Julu with several friends, whom he knew in the other timeline.

    Zhou Tai,

    Lu Meng,

    Lu Xun,

    Pan Zhang,

    Song Qian,

    Chen Wu,

    And Jiang Qin.

    His son, Ling Tong, also tagged along with the group. Combined with Sun Ce, Sun Fang, Huang Zu, and Zhou Yu, 13 elites aimed to cause chaos within Julu.

    By the order of Zhou Yu, Ling Cao and others separated and searched for the flying cultivator they spotted when they first had arrived.

    And Ling Cao found Zhang Min first!

    "I FOUND THE GOVERNOR AND A SIX-WING CULTIVATOR!! I NEED HELP!!"

    Pieces of iron and sharp woods lodged into Ling Cao¡¯s arms because of Zhang Min¡¯s previous attack. He tried to regenerate his lost blood and heal his wounds, but Zhang Min did not give him a chance.

    She charged toward him.

    *BOOM*

    A reinforced punch of a six-wing cultivator smashed Ling Cao¡¯s face, breaking his nose.

    The fist sent Ling Cao flying while a trail of blood followed his disfigured face.

    Zhang Min¡¯s face hardened as she steeled her heart for the kill. She gathered her force into her hands as she kicked the ground, sprinting toward Ling Cao.

    Lamia Steps!

    Medusa¡¯s footwork showed its effect. Zhang Min caught Ling Cao within 2 seconds.

    *PU*

    Zhang Min¡¯s left hand stabbed Ling Cao¡¯s left chest, piercing through thetter¡¯s heart.

    She pulled her hand out and turned around, not waiting for Ling Cao¡¯s helpers to arrive. Instead of going back with Hua Tuo and Zhang Jiao, Zhang Min flew toward the north, nning to escape toward her friends¡¯ domain, You Province.

    She nned to seek help from Sima Yi¡¯s family.

    As for Ling Cao, he did not have a chance to leave his final words to his son, who came along with Sun Ce.

    A few seconds after Zhang Min flew away, a young man with four wingsnded next to the dead body of Ling Cao. His trembling hands touched his father¡¯s wound while his eyes widened in disbelief.

    This young man¡¯s face resembled Ling Cao, but his skin color was lighter. His 185cm tall and his muscle mass also differentiated from his predecessor.

    "Father!"

    The person was Ling Tong, Ling Cao¡¯s son.

    Two more men also arrived. A rough man with long hair and a red headband and bald young man with a naked chest rushed toward Ling Tong.

    They were Pan Zhang and Jiang Qin, officers under Sun Ce who also had 4 wings.

    As soon as they found Ling Cao¡¯s corpse, they turned toward the direction of fleeing Zhang Min in anger.

    "That six-wing woman should be the murderer! We¡¯ll chase after her!"

    Ling Tong raised his head and red at Zhang Min¡¯s back, "You can¡¯t escape!"

    The three leaped to the sky and pursued after Zhang Min. None of them paid attention to Zhang Jiao¡¯s room.

    As for the two elders, they already understood Zhang Min¡¯s intension. They sprinted with all their might, running away using the underground passage under Zhang Jiao¡¯s room.

    Zhang Jiao also did not forget to operate the n chat. He typed only one word.

    "Emergency."

    It was vague and iprehensible. However, it came from Tong¡¯s father, so it carried significant meanings.

    .

    Within a few seconds, replies from Tong¡¯s strongest officers appeared.

    Lu Bu: "I¡¯m nearby. I¡¯ll head to Julu!"

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯ll be there in a few minutes."

    Not only the fighters answered the emergency call, but another one also noticed themotion.

    Sima Fang: "I¡¯ll lead my men to the exit passage. Are youing out from that path?"

    Zhang Jiao: "Yes."

    Sima Fang: "Is there a pursuer?"

    Zhang Jiao: "No. Zhang Min is leading them away. Only Hua Tuo and I are escaping.

    The moment Zhang Jiao mentioned Zhang Min, a couple of love-struck youths showed up.

    Wei Yan: "Requesting permission to deploy!"

    Sima Yi: "Requesting permission to dispatch White Horse Legion!"

    Of course, Friday knew what to do.

    Dong Bai: "White Horse Legion, move out and recapture Zhongshan! I want Zhen Yi¡¯s head!"

    Dong Bai: "Demon Legion, head north to Nanpi! Find Wang Yun!"

    Dong Bai: "Cao Cao! I want your elite cultivators at Ye! Get over here and stand by for orders!"

    Dong Bai: "Lu Bu! Rescue the first princess ASAP!"

    Dong Bai: "Li Feihong! Protect Sima Fang and Zhang Jiao¡¯spany!"

    .

    While Tong¡¯s backups were rushing to help, Zhang Min flew away from Julu at her full speed.

    Behind her, three angels were chasing, but their speed was much slower than Zhang Min.

    Still, the girl did not let her guard down. She knew that two six-wing angels were hiding somewhere.

    As she had guessed, a figure swooped from higher altitude, trying to tackle Zhang Min from above.

    Zhang Min rotated her body to the right and pped her wings hard one time. Her body propelled away from the charger.

    She found the attacker. It was a burly man in red clothes and amer armor set. His short hair did not suit someone in this era as everyone here not cut their hair.

    Sun Fang had appeared!

    "Qi st!"

    Even though Sun Fang missed his tackle, he flipped his body around and fired an energy ball at Zhang Min.

    "Tsk!"

    Zhang Min descended, evading the iing sphere.

    *BOOM*

    The qi ball exploded, but it did not harm Zhang Min.

    However, Sun Fang bought enough time for others to catch up, and another person arrived at the scene.

    Another angel with six wings chased after Zhang Min on foot. A muscr man in unique chain mail, red clothes, and brown hair gave away his identity.

    Sun Ce

    "Surrender, or die!!"

    Zhang Min¡¯s eyes reddened in anger, "Go to hell!"

    Instead of running away, she flew toward Sun Ce and rotated her body.

    A spinning kick!

    *PUA*

    "What!?"

    The attack was too sudden that Sun Ce was caught off guard. Zhang Min¡¯s foot nted into Sun Ce¡¯s chest, breaking a few ribcages before sending him flying backward.

    The force behind the kick was reinforced by Zhang Min¡¯s flying momentum, speed, and her six-wing power. Any unprepared angel of any cultivation would naturally be injured by such a strike.

    At this moment, Ling Tong, Jiang Qin, and Pan Zhang caught up with Zhang Min.

    "DIE!!"

    "KILL!!"

    The three drew their dadaos,rge one-edge swords, and hacked at Zhang Min, who was unarmed.

    "TRIPLE ACCEL!"

    Zhang Min had been trained by Medusa and Tong. Everything that they had used in the past, she could do it, too. Although her skill mastery was not up to the level of her mentors, Zhang Min was strong enough to use [Triple el] without a repercussion.

    Combining the overclocked-brain and demon wings, Zhang Min¡¯s speed increased.

    Using the speed advantage, Zhang Min charged toward the three pursuers. She concentrated her forces into her hands, just like how she did against Ling Cao.

    Her power enveloped both hands, creating ayer of de aura.

    Her right hand found the first victim.

    *SWUA*

    It went through Pan Zhang¡¯s left chest, punctured through his heart.

    Zhang Min did not pull her hand out, but she shed it to the side, cutting Pan Zhang¡¯s torso and his left arm in the process.

    Meanwhile, the free left hand found Jiang Qin¡¯s neck. She stabbed into his neck and beheaded him.

    Two angels went down in an instant!

    From the beginning, after Zhang Min had activated [Triple el], everything happened within one second!

    Two bloody hands of Zhang Min came after Ling Tong, who failed to react against her sudden burst of speed.

    *PA*

    Before Zhang Min could end Ling Tong¡¯s life, semi-transparent arms and hands of fading Pan Zhang¡¯s souls and Jiang Qin¡¯s souls restrained the girl.

    8 Virtuous souls of dying two men looked at Ling Tong with a bitter smile. One of them shoved Ling Tong out of the way and moved their mouths, ordering him with a soundless voice.

    "Live on!"

    Realizing that they were dying, the two men decided to use a deadly skill that any angel could use. It was the same skill that had crippled Tong for years in the past.

    Soul Detonation!

    8 Souls exploded at the same time as they were restraining Zhang Min!

    *BOOM*

 Chapter 494 Zhang Min in Danger 2

    Chapter 494 - Zhang Min in Danger (2)

    "AAAAAHHH!!"

    The soul explosion did not harm her physical body. However, her demon souls suffered from the detonation.

    Red lines crept on her arms, legs, face, and torso. The same wounds that had inflicted on her souls appeared on her physical body.

    Zhang Min lost her strength and fell to the ground.

    Sun Ce, Sun Fang, and Ling Tong descended and surrounded her.

    The little conqueror, Sun Ce, had a distorted expression, "I lost three good men to subdue one six-wing demon? Zhang Tong, I will definitely kill you!"

    Ling Tong red at the crippled Zhang Min as he shed the tears of anger, "My lord. Please let me kill this wench and avenge for my father!"

    Sun Fang clicked his tongue and shook his head, "Be careful, brat. She can also self-detonate and kill you. We should use ranged-attacks and kill her before she has a chance to suicide-bomb us."

    Sun Ce nodded in agreement. As he nned to find a bow to finish Zhang Min off, he finally noticed her beauty.

    "Hey, isn¡¯t this girl kind of pretty? Mind if I take her as my wife?"

    "Didn¡¯t you listen to what I said!? She can Ah-Akbar you!"

    "Ar-what?"

    "SHE. CAN. DETONATE. HER. SOULS."

    Sun Ce clicked his tongue, "Okay... Bah, what a waste."

    As they were bickering of how they should kill Zhang Min, Zhou Yu and other officers arrived to inspect the aftermath.

    Zhou Yu wore simr gears as Sun Ce, red scale armor and red clothes. However, he also wore an iron helmet for self-protection.

    Upon seeing Zhang Min crawling on the ground inside the city, Zhou Yu nodded in satisfaction.

    "A six-wing demoness. This must be Zhang Min or Diaochan."

    "Do you know her, Gongjin?" Sun Ce nced at his sworn brother, but he did not let his guard down.

    "From our intel, Zhang Jiao and Zhang Min live in this city. However, we don¡¯t know how strong Zhang Min is, but we knew that the prime consort Diaochan is as strong as Zhang Tong. My deduction concludes that this girl should be one of them."

    "Oh? Well, whoever she is, she has to die!"

    Zhou Yu grinned, "No. We¡¯ll use her as our bargain chip."

    Ling Tong and Sun Ce turned to Zhou Yu with a deep frown. They lost three officers to cripple this girl. Yet, Zhou Yu wanted to spare her.

    Had Zhang Min recoveredter on, they might have been in trouble!

    "Are you nuts!? We lost so many people to take her down! What if she recovers!? Do you think an ordinary dungeon can hold her for long!?"

    Zhou Yu was stillughing, "Who said anything about letting her recovering? I asked you to spare her, but I didn¡¯t tell you not to cut her four limbs."

    "Oh!" Sun Ce and Ling Tong were enlightened. Their dissatisfaction was no more.

    Still, the threat of soul detonation had not changed. Zhang Min could always self-explode to cripple them, just like how Jiang Qin and Pan Zhang sacrificed themselves to take down Zhang Min.

    "How do we capture her or cut her limbs?"

    Sun Ce looked at Zhang Min, who was crying without uttering a voice.

    .

    The girl suffered an immeasurable pain from the soul injuries. As a maiden who had been sheltered as a princess, she never faced hardship or serious wounds in her entire life.

    This blunder confused and shocked her. Zhang Min was lost what she should do to get out of this situation.

    ¡¯Mom... Dad...¡¯

    Zhang Min¡¯s tears dripped as she huped. She thought of Tong and the deceased Hua Shi. She also missed Medusa, her step-mother and her mentor.

    ¡¯Dad... help...¡¯

    Unfortunately, she was not a part of the n chat member. She could not ask anyone for help.

    But then, she heard a loud bell ringing in her head.

    ¡¯Who?¡¯

    ¡¯Lilim?¡¯ This voice confused her, but she could see the light of hope.

    ¡¯Really?¡¯

    ¡¯...¡¯

    ¡¯...¡¯

    Zhang Min did not vow or say anything. Her thought was as calm as a calmke.

    At this moment, she remembered her father¡¯s teaching. Tong used to teach her after Hua Shi passed away, "Never trust Lilim or her words. Everything thates out of her mouth can be a trap. I and your mother have been facing hardship because of her, and I don¡¯t want you to be like us."

    Recalling important words from her father, Zhang Min doubted Lilim.

    ¡¯Did you kill my mother?¡¯

    ¡¯How did my mother die?¡¯

    Just then, Zhang Min raised her head to look at the surrounding men. She found several angels, but she could not tell which one was Sun Fang.

    ¡¯Really?¡¯

    ¡¯...¡¯

    .

    .

    "Wait for a while. Let our men take care of the city first."

    Zhou Yu stopped Sun Ce from cutting Zhang Min¡¯s arms and legs himself since it was too dangerous.

    The waiting game made Sun Ce impatient, "Can¡¯t we cut her limbs and be done with it?"

    "Who will do it, then? You said it before that she can explode herself, right? Whoever gets closer to her will suffer a serious soul injury."

    "Hmm."

    Ling Tong looked at Zhou Yu, "Can I do it?"

    Zhou Yu and Sun Ce yelled at him, "No!"

    "But she killed my father! She has to pay!"

    "You will get your revenge soon enough. For now, we need her alive, but she has to be thoroughly crippled. How about this? You can ravish her to your heart content after we severed all her limbs."

    Ling Tong red at Zhang Min with hatred. He did not care about her beauty at all, "I¡¯d rather torture her!"

    Zhou Yu snickered, "Raping is an act of humiliation for women. If this wench is Zhang Min, you will be pping Zhang Tong to the face if you make his daughter your wife!"

    The eyes of Ling Tong brightened in enlightenment.

    "Is that so?"

    "Yes. Save yourself for now. We¡¯ll find a local man to chop off her limbs first. Then, you can do whatever you want with her. Don¡¯t kill her, though. We¡¯ll ransom herter."

    .

    While Zhang Min was conversing with Lilim in secret and Zhou Yu was plotting to torture Zhang Min, Zhou Yu¡¯s elite generals, Lu Meng, Lu Xun, Song Qian, Huang Zu, and Chen Wu had captured all executive officers inside Julu.

    The process was slow since they came with 13 men, but now, 10 remained.

    Policemen and noble bodyguards resisted against the five angels, but they could not fight against the group. Even if some of them had awakened a soul because of the immortal blood, they could not use their power without training.

    In the end, the soldiers who protected the government houses and local officials were killed. Everyone else was forced to surrender.

    After the inner city was under Lu Meng¡¯s control, Song Qian and Chen Wu flew over to Zhou Yu¡¯s location and reported their missions.

    When they first arrived, they were shocked by the scene. After they regained their senses, theypleted their jobs.

    "We¡¯ve taken the inner city. Most officials have surrendered to us."

    Zhou Yu nodded, "What about the local soldiers?"

    "They¡¯ve organized and escorted some civilians outside of the city. It seems they are nning to withdraw."

    "Can you control them?"

    "We tried, but we can¡¯t. We¡¯ve killed all of their 5,000-manmanders, but all their subordinates refused to serve us."

    "Did you kill them as well?"

    "... Not yet. Their soldiers are nning to fight to the death, but Sir Lu Meng stopped us and told us to ask you first. We¡¯re trying to corner them right now."

    "How many soldiers are there in this city?"

    "We don¡¯t know. But from what our eye-estimation, at least 40,000 to 50,000 remaining."

    Zhou Yu signed and bit his lower lip. Tong¡¯s military strength was too strong that Sun Ce could never match him in an open war. This city should have had weak defenses because its borders were safe, but so many militias rested in this city. It baffled Zhou Yu how Tong could amass so many soldiers everywhere.

    In the end, they could only resort to terrorism or guerri warfare against Tong¡¯s armies.

    Zhou Yu nced at Zhang Min, who was coughing blood non-stop, "Other than weak schrs and 5,000-manmanders, has anymander surrendered to us?"

    Song Qian shook his head, "Unfortunately, no. They all died fighting."

    "I see."

    Zhou Yu pondered as his eyes gazed upon the blue sky. After a few seconds of thinking, he grinned.

    "Capture me a few strong men. Bring me a few axes, too."

    Song Qian raised his eyebrows in confusion at first. But after he noticed the injured girl with 6 ck wings on the ground, he gulped and nodded, "Understood, my lord."

    As Song Qian and Chen Wu were about to fly toward the outer city area and capture a civilian, a loud voice roared at them.

    "WHO DARES CAUSING TROUBLES HERE!?"

    After the thunderous yell, a tall, muscr man in red knight armor with a 2.5-meter steel crescent halberd descended to the ground in front of Zhang Min. This person did not hide his killing intent.

    Sun Ce and Sun Fang had to leap back to keep a distance away from this person. Their instinct cried that they could not fight this beast head-on.

    Six white wings fluttered behind the red knight and one extra soul detached from his body, ring at all invaders.

    Lu Bu entered the scene!

 Chapter 495 Thwarted Plan

    Chapter 495 - Thwarted n

    = A few months earlier before Zhou Yu raided Julu =

    Zhou Yu, Sun Ce, and Sun Fang were hiding in Zhongshan as they bribed Zhen Yi with their treasures and their assets. They had collected everything in Jiangdong and fled to this city, hiding from the eyes of Tong and other immortals.

    All of them refused to surrender to Tong even though Wu Guotai had be Tong¡¯s consort and Sun Quan had been titled as a prince.

    As long as Sun Ce and Sun Fang surrendered, they could be princes as well. Yet, they denied Tong¡¯s authority.

    Sun Fang was afraid that Tong would kill him to pay back for what he did to Hua Shi and Tong in the previous life.

    Sun Ce was also too prideful to give up his reign. He was still mad at Tong because thetter stole his wife.

    Zhou Yu was the same as Sun Ce. Tong stole Xiao Qiao from him, so this strategist did not want to bow his head to the emperor.

    "How long do we have to hide?" Sun Ce grew impatient, "Zhang Tong is already trying to break through his 8-wing cultivation."

    "Just a little more. Once our men have at least 4 wings, I¡¯ll tell you what to do."

    ...

    The waitsted until Wang Yun arrived and asked Zhen Yi if he was willing to rebel against Tong.

    That day, all talented generals under Zhou Yu and Sun Ce obtained 4-wing strength, which was enough for them to fly. However, their foundation was stillcking as they had not enough time for the training.

    Zhou Yu wanted to wait a bit longer and allow them to reinforce their foundation. However, Lu Zhi found out about their presence andshed out in Tong¡¯s n chat.

    Without a choice, Zhou Yu began his n.

    That day when Lu Zhi wanted Zhen Yi dead, they had a meeting. Sun Ce, Sun Fang, Zhen Yi, Wang Yun, and all their subordinates sat in a circle.

    "I have a confession," Zhou Yu revealed the truth that he had been hiding from Sun Ce and Sun Fang, "I¡¯ve been dealing with the goddess."

    Sun Fang stood up as he could not believe his ears, "You-what!?"

    "Pipe it down," Zhou Yu sighed, "I swore an allegiance to her that our forces will be her subordinates. Once we have 8 wings or 10 wings, we will be her apostles. In exchange, she gave us enough resources for our men, and she will give us some system perks."

    Zhou Yu gazed at his officers, Huang Zu, Ling Cao, Ling Tong, Lu Meng, Lu Xun, Zhou Tai, and many others, "Everyone here cultivates and obtains wings faster than usual because of that deal. Had everyone here cultivated normally, you would have had only 2 wings or so."

    Sun Ce frowned, "Is that really the case? I got to 4 wings easily."

    "That is you. They don¡¯t have your talent."

    "Eh, fine. Continue."

    "Okay. Everyone here should have learned the deadliest skill that I taught all of you already..."

    Ling Cao and others gulped. Zhou Yu referred to the only one skill that they had, the self-detonation.

    It was a suicide skill, which self-explode their souls to harm their opponents. However, upon using it, they would die.

    "I¡¯ve already paid what we¡¯ve agreed upon. Your family has already received 20,000 gold in advance. As long as you do your job correctly, they will get another 20,000 gold, which is more than enough to live freely for the rest of their lives."

    Zhou Yu nced at Ling Tong, "Are you sure you want to follow your father along?"

    Ling Tong gritted his teeth. He lost his father in the other timeline, so he did not want to lose him again in this world, "I¡¯ll be with my father."

    Ling Cao sighed, "We all will surely die if we use that skill. I hope you can leave my son out of this."

    Zhou Yu¡¯s face hardened. He shook his head as he refused to lie, even if it might be a white lie, "He might die. We all might die, including me, if this mission fails."

    Sun Ce grew impatient. He stood up and red at Zhou Yu, "Tell me what you¡¯re nning. Don¡¯t waste our time. They will being after us in a few hours. Do you know how fast a six-wing angel can fly?"

    "... Alright. Be prepared to be disappointed. This mission will be costly," Zhou Yu paused, "We will attack Julu and capture Zhang Jiao, but that¡¯s not our aim. We will intentionally leak info that we want to interrupt Zhang Tong¡¯s cultivation, but our aim is elsewhere."

    "We will sacrifice our officers to take down Lu Bu."

    .

    .

    .

    The suppressing aura of Lu Bu overwhelmed Sun Ce and Sun Fang. Even though they had a simr cultivation strength, their foundation was on a different level.

    Lu Bu had been reinforcing his foundation, mimicking Tong¡¯s training and following Zuo Ci¡¯s advice. Thus, his current 7 souls¡¯ strength could rival any 8-wing angel. Combining with Tong¡¯s system skill, Yang Divine Vein, Lu Bu could also sacrifice some of his lifespans to heal his physical wounds instantly.

    This ultimate war machine unknowingly worked as one of Tong¡¯s trump cards.

    Meanwhile, Zhou Yu squinted his eyes. He also swallowed his saliva in nervousness.

    Zhou Yu had predicted that Lu Bu would appear here, and he had prepared a countermeasure against this monster. However, facing the real beast was not the same as facing Lu Bu in Zhou Yu¡¯s imagination.

    ¡¯Can it work against this monster? No, it has to work! If it doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯re doomed.¡¯

    He looked around and calcted. Sun Ce was a bit injured from the fight against the 6-wing demon girl. Song Qian, Chen Wu, and Ling Tong could act as sacrificial pawns to cripple Lu Bu here as nned.

    However, witnessing Lu Bu¡¯s six wings and one additional soul behind his back, Zhou Yu reevaluated his ns.

    They were fighting against a 7-wing angel, not 6!

    They needed help from Lu Meng and Lu Xun, who were taking control of Julu city. If their aid, they could subdue Lu Bu with more rooms of margin.

    Zhou Yu summoned his four wings and flew away. As he was retreating, he yelled at Sun Ce and Sun Fang.

    "RETREAT!! REGROUP WITH THE OTHERS!!"

    Sun Ce and Sun Fang flinched as they understood what this "Retreat" implied. Their hardened expression gave away the severity of this situation.

    Sun Ce ground his teeth in frustration as he looked at Chen Wu and Song Qian with a guilty look.

    On the contrary, the two subordinates smiled at his lord. It was bitter, but it contained pride and sincerity.

    "We¡¯ll be off. Take care, my lord."

    "Thank you for supporting our family. Please take care of them for us."

    Sun Ce nodded, "Your name will be remembered for a thousand years!!"

    Both Sun Ce and Sun Fang spread their wings and followed after Zhou Yu. Chen Wu, Ling Tong, and Song Qian looked at each other and followed after them, too. Still, they intentionally slowed down and acted as their rearguards.

    Lu Bu watched the drama before him with a puzzled look.

    ¡¯What was that all about? Those two seem like they were preparing for a suicidal charge or something, but they turn tail and run?¡¯

    He had the urge to pursue, but his instinct told him that Zhou Yu plotted something sinister.

    Being wary of this strategist that he had heard from Li Feihong, Lu Bu chose to be cautious.

    Had it been many years ago, Lu Bu would have chased after Sun Ce and killed Chen Wu and Song Qian without hesitation. At present, his temper was under his control as if he were a disciplined general.

    He knelt and examined Zhang Min¡¯s condition, prioritizing his rescue mission.

    The lining wounds on her body resembled soul injuries, which Lu Bu also had once suffered from battles against Tong and Khan.

    However, his former injuries were from a weapon strike, which contained soul power. Zhang Min¡¯s wounds came from another type of attack, which damaged her souls directly.

    Lu Bu had not seen this kind of injury before, but he remembered the time when Tong had to seek shelter for years to recover. That time, Tong also reluctantly distributed his system skills to his generals.

    From the chat logs, Lu Bu learned that Tong had a serious injury because of an otherworlder¡¯s soul detonation.

    Using his conjecture, Lu Bu guessed that Zhang Min might have suffered a simr injury.

    "Girl, was it soul-detonation?"

    "..."

    Zhang Min expressionlessly gazed at Lu Bu. She was in pain that she could not speak.

    "Just blink once if it¡¯s correct. Blink twice if I¡¯m wrong."

    Zhang Min blinked once.

    "I see. I¡¯ll take you back to Ye, okay? You¡¯re safe now."

    Zhang Min blinked again. As the tension died down, Zhang Min heaved a sigh of relief and fell unconscious.

    Lu Bu hung his halberd on his back. He princess-carried Zhang Min and flew south, heading toward Ye.

    As for Sun Ce and Sun Fang, he nned toe back and settle the scoreter. For now, he entrusted the task to Li Feihong.

    .

    .

    Zhou Yu, Sun Ce, and Sun Fang gazed toward the south, where they could see Lu Bu flying away. Behind them, Lu Meng, Lu Xun, Chen Wu, Song Qian, and Ling Tong stood ready, preparing to sacrifice themselves to kill this monster.

    Unfortunately, Lu Bu got too far that they could not pursue both Lu Bu and Zhang Min now.

    "Unbelievable," Zhou Yu muttered, "Howe Lu Bu doesn¡¯t chase us?"

    Zhou Yu was shocked that Lu Bu did not chase after them.

    They had spent so many resources for today, hoping to assassinate Lu Bu, but they failed. Lu Bu straightforwardly ignored them and returned to Ye with the six-wing demon girl.

    The raid n and the hunt of Zhang Jiao was a distraction to bait Lu Bu into the rescue. Then, they nned to sacrifice a few officers, forcing them to self-detonate to cripple Lu Bu and kill him.

    After Lu Bu died, Tong would lose his strongest officer that kept the bnce in Tong¡¯s forces in check, and all remaining generals might hesitate if they should stay under Tong¡¯s faction or rejoin their previous overlord, causing internal chaos.

    Unfortunately, two factors led them to their failure. The first was Zhang Min¡¯s cultivation strength, which Zhou Yu possessed no data.

    Because Zhang Min never participated in any military activity and the fact that she was a princess, nobody paid attention to her martial art prowess like Hua Shi, Xiao Wu, Diaochan, or Dong Bai.

    As Zhang Min showed up in the sky when they first arrived, it ruined Zhou Yu¡¯s momentum and confidence, forcing them to chase after Zhang Min to subdue her before Lu Bu could arrive.

    As a result, they lost 3 strong officers, who should have sacrificed themselves to kill Lu Bu.

    The second factor, Lu Bu¡¯s insight and his behavior were out of Zhou Yu¡¯s calction. He was supposed to be a reckless and stupid brute, who would be relentless when it came to confronting an enemy.

    Yet, Lu Bu ignored them and retreated with Zhang Min, just like that.

    "Is that really Lu Bu? Are you sure that he¡¯s not someone else?" Even Sun Ce was confused. The god of war he knew never retreated before a fight against a worthy opponent.

    "We should have just killed that woman!" Sun Fangined, "What¡¯s with your genius n, Gongjin!? We¡¯ve lost 3 officers in vain because you insisted on capturing that woman!"

    Sun Ce also red at Zhou Yu as he had the same question.

    But the strategist revealed a faint smile, "It¡¯s not over yet. I sent Zhou Tai and Huang Zu out to scout outside the city for a reason."

    Just a few seconds after Zhou Yu said that the Sun n¡¯s chat notification rang a sound.

    Zhou Tai: "I¡¯ve secured Zhang Tong¡¯s father and his follower."

 Chapter 496 Deaths

    Chapter 496 - Deaths

    Outside of Julu city walls, two men walked out from an abandoned shack.

    Zhang Jiao and Hua Tuo exited the secret passage and appeared inside a dummy vige, located outside of Julu south walls, which was protected by intelligence agents of Lu Zhi and Sima Fang.

    Nobody paid attention to this dummy slum, which was a perfect ce for an emergency exit route.

    "We should be safe now," Zhang Jiao looked around, but he found no one nearby, "Wait a minute. Something is not right."

    The dummy vige should have many agents disguising as beggars, but Zhang Jiao could not find anyone. Moreover, the iron scent in the air rmed Zhang Jiao.

    It was the smell of blood!

    "No! Go back to the passage. This ce isn¡¯t safe!"

    "It isn¡¯t safe, indeed. As long as you don¡¯t run, I can ensure your safety."

    A burly man in a ck leather armor was floating over the building that Zhang Jiao and Hua Tuo had exited. His four ck wings fluttered behind his back.

    He looked down on them and oppressed them with his killing intent.

    "Sloth curse!"

    A soul detached from the mysterious ck armor man, pointing his finger at Zhang Jiao and Hua Tuo. Dark gas enveloped thetter, forcing them into a slumber.

    Both elders copsed and fell asleep.

    Zhou Tai looked at the two elders, expressionless. He descended and entered the shack to inspect the hidden passage.

    Indeed, he found the underground route toward the city.

    As Zhou Tai seeded what he was tasked to do, he reported his duty to the n chat.

    Zhou Tai: "I¡¯ve secured Zhang Tong¡¯s father and his follower."

    Zhou Yu: "Bring them to the government house. We¡¯ll use them as hostages to bargain with Zhang Tong."

    Zhou Tai: "Understood."

    After getting the new order, Zhou Tai walked toward the two unconscious elders, nning to carry them.

    *VHOOM*

    A strange sound came from the ground below Zhang Jiao and Hua Tuo.

    The moment Zhou Tai got a closer look, the two unconscious old men fell into blue holes. The portals immediately closed after the two men sunk into the warp gates.

    Zhou Tai widened his eyes in shock. He sat and scoured for Zhang Jiao and Hua Tuo, but he could not locate them.

    ¡¯How!?¡¯

    Baffled and confused, Zhou Tai reported to Zhou Yu right away.

    Zhou Tai: "I¡¯ve lost the hostages!"

    Zhou Yu: "What!? How!? What happened!?"

    Zhou Tai: "I don¡¯t know. Some kind of blue things expanded and devoured both of them!"

    Zhou Yu: "Get out of there! That must be Li Feihong!"

    Reading to this point, Zhou Tai kicked the ground in panic,unching himself to the sky.

    But a blue gate opened, blocking his flight path. As Zhou Tai had not mastered in flying skills, he entered the portal unwillingly.

    As soon as Zhou Tai entered the portal, he found a flying angel with six wings waiting for him. In the angel¡¯s hand, a strange object with a thin barrel of an unknown metal was aiming at his face.

    ¡¯Not good!¡¯

    Zhou Tai shifted his head to the left side to avoid the barrel.

    *BANG*

    He could see somethinging out of the hole at a frightening speed. It grazed his helmet, creating a loud nk noise.

    The iron helmet of Zhou Tai echoed, numbing his eardrums.

    The second that Zhou Tai flinched, the gun barrel of the angel pointed at Zhou Tai¡¯s chest.

    *BANG*

    *PU*

    Zhou Tai could feel that something hot punctured through his chest and exited his back. The leather armor could not defend against the bullet.

    Zhou Tai¡¯s opponent, Li Feihong, was holding an AK-47 in his hands. Just now, he just fired two shells in a single-mode, probing Zhou Tai¡¯s fighting strength.

    Li Feihong sighed in disappointment. He had expected that Zhou Tai could dodge the bullets, even though he reinforced every shell with his power.

    It seemed that Li Feihong overestimated his enemy.

    "Eh, boring."

    He flipped the gun-mode switch, changing it to semi-auto.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Li Feihong pulled the trigger, maintaining the initiative in this brief battle.

    Zhou Tai was too confused about what was happening around himself. He failed to react against the follow-up shells.

    *PU* *PU* *PU*

    Two bullets pierced Zhou Tai¡¯s chest while thest one went through his forehead.

    The legendary bodyguard of Sun Quan ended his story before he could disy his true potential.

    Li Feihong¡¯s apathetic eyes nced at the dead body. He put the rifle back in his inventory and picked up a rolled cigarette from his chest pocket.

    He put the joint in his mouth and searched for a lighter.

    "Ah, I forgot. I don¡¯t have a modern lighter."

    He reported his progress to the n chat anyway.

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯ve secured Hua Tuo and Zhang Jiao."

    Hua Tuo and Zhang Jiao were sleeping on the ground as Li Feihong teleported them there. Next to them, Zhang Liao arranged a couple of physicians to look after their conditions.

    Lu Zhi: "Good work. Please find Minister Sima in the area. He should be around there somewhere."

    Lu Zhi: "Minister Sima Fang, please tell us where you¡¯re at, so Li Feihong can pick you up."

    No answer came from Sima Fang.

    A few minutester...

    .

    .

    .

    Wu Guotai, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, and Han Dang were reading the recent n messages in astonishment.

    Although these people had joined forces with Tong, they were still members of Sun Fang¡¯s n. However, as they kept their mouth shut all the time, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu ignored their existence and used the n chat to ry instant information.

    Currently, Sun Fang¡¯s n members increased. More people strangely entered the n.

    Sun Fang

    Sun Ce

    Zhou Yu

    Zhou Tai

    Huang Zu

    Lu Meng

    Lu Xun

    Chen Wu

    Song Qian

    Jiang Qin

    Pan Zhang

    Ling Cao

    Ling Tong

    Lu Su

    Those were the members that were not a part of their faction. It was questionable how Sun Fang invited all of them into the n in a short amount of time since Sun Fang could only bring in one person a year.

    Something was fishy, and Wu Guotai suspected that Sun Fang did something to the n.

    And the answer lied on the n detail, which had been changed after Lu Zhi demanded Zhen Yi dead in Tong¡¯s n chat.

    n Level 2.

    The n features that Lilim had locked suddenly increased its level and all new members entered the n at the same time!

    It was a cheating move that Wu Guotai found. However, she and all her subordinates had not informed Tong or his allies yet.

    After all, Wu Guotai was still Sun Ce¡¯s mother. Even if she vowed that she would abandon him, Wu Guotai still wanted to help Sun Ce.

    Wu Guotai had summoned all her former subordinates and Sun Quan to her courtyard, so they could follow the movements of this battle together.

    Another one fell, which indicated that Tong¡¯s trump cards were at y. With both Li Feihong and Lu Bu in action, Sun Ce would not have a chance.

    "That makes it four," Huang Gai inhaled heavy air. His heart sank as he witnessed another old friend falling in the hopeless battle.

    Wu Guotai bitterly smiled, "I have to admit. Zhang Tong¡¯s bloodline is worthy to be called the immortal bloodline. Even his daughter killed three of our former elites."

    "Ah, they¡¯re not going to make it. Should we help?"

    "... I¡¯ll convince them to surrender."

    "Please do. I don¡¯t want to see anyone dying pointlessly anymore. The war is over. Why are they insisting on fighting?"

    "..."

    Wu Guotai operated her n menu and was about to type, but a new message from Huang Zu interrupted her.

    Huang Zu: "Report! I¡¯ve found a suspicious group approaching a slum. I¡¯ve killed all of them, though."

    Huang Zu: "Requesting permission to retreat. Zhou Tai is dead, and I don¡¯t want to get entangled with Li Feihong!"

    Zhou Yu: "Permission granted. Meet us at the government house."

    Wu Guotai stopped her fingers. She had a bad feeling about this report.

    "Say, Gongfu."

    Huang Gai raised his eyebrows, "Yes, mdy?"

    "Isn¡¯t Sima Fang heading over to Julu?"

    "... I¡¯m not sure."

    "I heard it from Dong Bai that Sima Fang is visiting Zhang Jiao. Is he still in this city?"

    "..."

    A bad omen loomed.

    .

    .

    .

    Huang Zu was busy searching through the wagons of the dead men he had killed.

    As reported, he ughtered a group of suspicious convoys, which traveled with many bodyguards to Zhuo Tai¡¯s designated zone. Each of them was armed with a pistol, and they injured him.

    Panicked and flustered by the sudden barrage of ranged attacks, Huang Zu unleashed the power of a 4-wing angel, killing everyone in the group, including a middle-aged man, who seemed to be their leader.

    He was not aware of it yet. The leader of that convoy was Sima Fang, the father of Sima Yi.

    "Ah! Found them!"

    Huang Zu found a wagon, which carried many boxes of gold nuggets. The wagon was Ye city¡¯s distribution wagon, which brought excess money to other regions to promote the development of rural viges and northern regions.

    The greedy general picked one of the boxes and flew away, ignoring the advanced weapons.

    .

    .

    .

    Meanwhile, north of Zhongshan

    A battalion of 20,000 horsemen galloped from Ji city toward Zhongshan at a full speed. They rushed south without caring about their provision as they hoped to reach the city within a day.

    Sima Yi¡¯s eyes were bloodshot when the n system rang and delivered a piece of shocking news. His red face and bulging veins said it all.

    Still, he swallowed his tears and inhaled a deep breath, stopping his thoughts and fantasies of killing Huang Zu and Sun Ce.

    Two minutes after a systematic breathing routine, Sima Yi turned toward Zhao Yun, the grandmander of the White Horse Legion.

    "I¡¯m going to be ruthless as I used to when I served Cao Pi. I hope that you don¡¯t mind."

    Zhao Yun gulped and nodded. He used to work with Zhuge Liang in the other timeline, but he had no idea how Sima Yi operated in the other world.

    He hesitated, but he did not have a choice. The situation had escted to the point that Sima Yi¡¯s father died in the raid.

    Someone had to pay!

 Chapter 497 Li Feihongs Intimidation

    Chapter 497 - Li Feihong¡¯s Intimidation

    "Are you cking again, Zhongda!? How many times I have to tell you not to procrastinate? It ruins your work. It ruins your habits, and it ruins your future! Finish whatever your assignment whenever you can!"

    ...

    "ytime is over the moment you are 12, Zhongda. You¡¯re an adult now. Had you been a farmer¡¯s son, you would have been thrown outside to plow the fields!"

    ...

    "Stop crying! Men don¡¯t cry! Whatever troubled you, you defeat them in your fantasy. Then, you solve them in your mind. Then, you ovee all of that and make your fantasy reality!"

    ...

    "All stratagems and schemes have one most important aspect, execution process. It¡¯s true that without the right person, the right time, and the right ce, you can¡¯t execute your ns. But if you don¡¯t execute it at all, everything on papers is just fantasy."

    ...

    "Anger is the greatest enemy of mankind, Zhongda. Whatever happens to you or anyone in the future, never get angry. Anger is a disease, not emotion. Once you¡¯re angry, you will desire to vent or harm the others, one way or another. People around you will be infected if yoush it out, and they will also get angry. All your knowledge and experience will be useless the moment your emotion takes over your body. It takes decades to memorize every word of Buddha¡¯s scriptures, but you will forget all of it within a minute when you¡¯re losing control of your mind."

    ...

    "Zhongda... never mind. Take care of yourself in that army, okay? Don¡¯t embarrass our ancestors when you¡¯remanding your subordinates."

    ...

    "Stop flirting with the first princess for once, you idiot! Do you want to anger the emperor!?"

    ...

    The memory of Sima Fang¡¯s scolding came back as Sima Yi reread the n notification for the 100th time.

    As Sima Fang had taught him over and over again regarding his anger management, Sima Yi paced his breath, keeping his temper in check.

    He might have not lost control of his emotion, but the death of Sima Fang influenced Sima Yi¡¯s life goal.

    ¡¯Sun n, Sun Ce, Sun Quan... I took it easy against you in thest life since I didn¡¯t want to stand out. Don¡¯t you expect that I¡¯ll go easy on you this time!¡¯

    No one knew what Sima Yi nned to do with Sun Ce and his nsmen. However, his expression revealed a hint of cruelty.

    .

    .

    = Julu Government House =

    Sun Ce checked the current survivors after the brief contact against Li Feihong, Zhang Min, and Lu Bu. Out of the initial 13, nine survived.

    Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, Ling Cao, and Pan Zheng, who had so much potential in their martial arts and leadership, lost their lives in vain.

    When Huang Zu arrived with a box of gold nuggets, Zhou Yu¡¯s face grimaced.

    "We won¡¯t take this with us. It¡¯s time to retreat."

    "Retreat?" Everyone was puzzled, "We¡¯vee this far, but we¡¯re going to retreat?"

    "Li Feihong ising after Huang Zu, and he can ambush us at any ce, any time. We have to leave, or we will all die!"

    As he had collected all information about otherworlders from Lilim, Zhou Yu was wary of Li Feihong. The alternate pocket dimension world, private inventory, self-resurrection, teleportation portals, and Li Feihong¡¯s monitors posted a greater threat than Lu Bu, who was only good atbat.

    Fighting Li Feihong was impossible for them at the moment. Still, Zhou Yu had a way to deal with this otherworlder.

    "Until Lilim sends us a reinforcement, we will focus on hunting Lu Bu. For now, we will separate our ways to avoid Li Feihong¡¯s pursue!"

    Behind Zhou Yu, two young men, who wore a simr leather armor as Zhou Tai, frowned in dissatisfaction.

    One of them was a 17-year-old teenager with a beautiful face, Lu Xun. Combining his silky long ck hair, thin eyebrows, delicate nose, and white skin, he would look like a pretty maiden had he worn a woman¡¯s makeups.

    On the other hand, Lu Meng was 22 this year, but his rough tanned skin, thick eyebrows, circle beard, and hardened face often made him look like he was a scary middle-aged man. Light scars and blisters on his hands revealed that he was a hard worker.

    The two did not like Zhou Yu from the start as they were unwilling to sacrifice their lives to kill Lu Bu.

    Most importantly, their loyalty was with Sun Quan, not Zhou Yu, Sun Ce, or Sun Fang! The only reason they tagged along up until now was because of their naivety before their soul awakening.

    Now that they had the other life¡¯s memory, they were looking for a chance to break free from this group, hoping to reunite with their former master, Sun Quan, once more.

    "After we separated, what¡¯s next?" Lu Xun probed Zhou Yu.

    "Our purpose won¡¯t change. We will bait Lu Bu, so we can ambush him. For now, Lu Xun and Lu Meng, I want both of you to leave this city and head southeast. You will raid Hongnong and Luoyang while Li Feihong is busy chasing us!"

    Lu Xun¡¯s eyes glittered. He nced at Lu Meng and nodded, "We understand."

    Zhou Yu looked at the general with a treasure box, "Huang Zu."

    "Yes, sir?"

    "You will return to Liu Biao¡¯s side. Try to coax both his sons to antagonist Zhang Tong. Make up a story that Zhang Tong is an immoral tyrant emperor. I don¡¯t want to see Liu Cong and Liu Qi joining Zhang Tong after their father died."

    Huang Zu recalled the other timeline. As Liu Biao¡¯s sons were too na?ve in politics, they were easily swayed by the pressure from Liu Bei, Liu Biao¡¯s subordinates, and Cao Cao.

    Liu Qi was manipted by Zhuge Liang, who was serving as Liu Bei¡¯s strategist. He moved to Jiangxia after Huang Zu¡¯s death, avoiding the politic infighting between him and his brother. Liu Bei influenced Liu Qi and turned Jiangxia into his stronghold under the disguise of Liu Qi¡¯s forces.

    On the other hand, Liu Cong favored the Kuai family, believing in their every advice. As a result, Liu Cong was spoiled and became indecisive. When Cao Cao¡¯s armies arrived at Xiangyang, Liu Cong surrendered Jing Province without a fight.

    Huang Zu was aware of his young lords¡¯ behavior. He knew how he could manipte these young lords when they were still young.

    "Oh! I know! I understand now!"

    Zhou Yu moved on to the other officers, "Chen Wu, Song Qian. You two head north to Zhongshan. I need you to protect and hide Zhen Yi and Wang Yun. Those two can ess Zhang Tong¡¯s n chat, so they hold vital information."

    Song Qian and Chen Wu nodded. Without waiting for Zhou Yu¡¯s next order, they flew away.

    Zhou Yu gazed at Sun Fang and Ling Tong next, "As for you two, go to Jinyang. Kill Ding Yuan and retreat back to Jianye!"

    Sun Fang clicked his tongue, "So, you want me to be the bait this time?"

    "Bofu and I have another task. I need you to draw out Lu Bu, but we¡¯ll be dealing with Li Feihong."

    Sun Fang snickered, "Like you two can fight that guy. Didn¡¯t you say we don¡¯t have a chance against Li Feihong?"

    "... Just do what I said."

    "Eh, fine."

    Ling Tong red at Zhou Yu, "What about my revenge? I want Zhang Min dead!"

    As they had more time at hand, they reread the chat log and found the name of the six-wing demoness, Zhang Min. With the info, they learned about this new threat of Tong¡¯s family and his bloodline.

    Before Zhou Yu could answer, Sun Ce patted Ling Tong¡¯s back, "We¡¯ll deal with Zhang Tong¡¯s daughterter. For now, she¡¯s as good as a crippled helpless girl. Your father¡¯s death isn¡¯t in vain."

    "... I hope that¡¯s the case."

    Ling Tong and Sun Fang left, heading northwest toward Jinyang.

    Lu Xun, Lu Meng, and Huang Zu departed afterward, leaving only Sun Ce and Zhou Yu there.

    Thest two schemers looked at each other.

    "What¡¯s next?" Sun Ce awkwardly smiled, "Are we fighting Li Feihong?"

    "No. We¡¯ll head back to Jiangdong and hide. We¡¯ll gather more sacrificial pawns to be suicide-bombers. Then, we¡¯ll fight against Zhang Tong in the open. As long as we can defeat one of his legions, Zhang Tong¡¯s hidden enemies will be our allies and destroy his empire from the inside!"

    Sun Ce grinned. This year, many ordinary civilians could cultivate wing power, but they did not have a cultivation technique. If they could extend their hands to these local peasants, they would have a strong army of cultivators, which should be more superior to Tong¡¯s current advanced soldiers with modern weaponry.

    As long as they had more soul-bombers, they would not have to be afraid of Tong¡¯s cultivation strength or Li Feihong.

    "Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll tell Zhu Zhi and Lu Su about our next move. By the way, should we tell my mother, too?"

    "No. She is siding with Zhang Tong right now. We can¡¯t trust her."

    "...Okay."

    Sun Ce and Zhou Yu spread their wings, nning to leave.

    *VHOOM*

    The rming sci-fi sound of an opening portal made Zhou Yu and Sun Ce jump. They turned around and found a thin rifle barrel pointing at them.

    "STAND BEHIND ME!!" Sun Ce shouted as he spread his wings and crossed arms, creating a thinyer of a barrier to protect himself by casting strengthening blessing from his virtuous souls.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    The barrel spat fire, shooting a dozen bullets at Sun Ce.

    Sun Ce¡¯s barrier deflected the shells, but they left red marks on his skin as all bullets carried Li Feihong¡¯s angel power.

    "Ah, so you know how to use your soul abilities. That¡¯s fishy. I thought only angels or demons from the other side know..."

    Sun Ce and Zhou Yu heard Li Feihong¡¯s remarks, but they could not see him. Li Feihong was still hiding behind the blue portal.

    The warp gate closed as Li Feihong retracted his gun and his arms.

    Before the portal closed, Li Feihong teased them, "Let¡¯s dance, bitches. Let¡¯s see how your guerri warfare tactics fare against mine!"

    Ten more portals opened, surrounding Sun Ce and Zhou Yu from all sides. Ten barrels of AK-47 pointed at them.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

 Chapter 498 Crippled Conqueror

    Chapter 498 - Crippled Conqueror

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Hundreds of AK-47 shells rained upon Zhou Yu and Sun Ce.

    Sun Ce, with the cultivation strength of six wings, managed to deflect all of the bullets as his strength was on par with Li Feihong.

    However, Zhou Yu was a lot weaker than Li Feihong and Sun Ce. Even though he reinforced his body with ayer of barrier, the enhanced shells riddled Zhou Yu¡¯s body with holes.

    *PU*

    One of them entered Zhou Yu¡¯s brain.

    Zhou Yu burned thest image he saw in this life. For a split of a second, he could see the sneer of Li Feihong behind one of the portal.

    ¡¯Lilim, why haven¡¯t you helped us when we need you the most!?¡¯

    ¡¯Li Feihong!! Otherworlders!! Why do you all exist in this world!!?¡¯

    ¡¯The heaven is unfair!! I curse you all!!¡¯

    His consciousness faded forever.

    Sun Ce widened his eyes and screamed, "NOOOOO!!"

    *Click*

    All ten AK-47s reentered the portals as they ran out of bullets.

    Before all portals closed, Sun Ce kicked the ground and dashed toward the nearest blue gate, hoping to catch Li Feihong.

    As Sun Ce was about to enter the gate in front of him, he sensed an oppressing killing intent from the gate¡¯s other side. His feet stopped, and his wings pped,unching himself to the sky.

    *BOOM*

    Something exploded inside the portal, but Sun Ce did not care. He flew away, leaving his sworn brother at the government hall.

    The portal faded away. A tongue clicking noise was audible in the hall, but no one was there to hear it.

    .

    .

    .

    The moment Zhou Yu¡¯s death notification informed Wu Guotai, Sun Quan, and Huang Gai¡¯spany, everyone¡¯s stomach churned.

    This was a nail to the coffin. Without the brain, Zhou Yu, Sun Ce would be helpless against Li Feihong and Lu Bu.

    Sun Ce could rely on Lu Meng or Lu Xun, who had inherited Zhou Yu¡¯s position in the other timeline. However, Sun Ce was not that close to these men as he treated them asmon soldiers, not important key personnel.

    Lu Meng and Lu Xun got promoted when Sun Quan was the lord. Thus, their loyalty was with the younger brother!

    Sun Quan shook his head, "Pitiful Bofu. You¡¯ve done this upon yourself."

    Wu Guotai nced at her son. As she knew that Sun Quan had his memory back, she did not treat him like a little boy anymore.

    "That¡¯s still your elder brother."

    "He was. He¡¯s our enemy the moment he points his sword against Zhang Tong... Ah, should I call him "Father" now?"

    Sun Quan snickered as he sarcastically sneered at his mother, "You see, mother. I¡¯ve been investigating the events after we had died. I heard that my descendants were so ipetent to the point that our loyal peasants revolted everywhere. What was his name? Sun Hao, right?"

    In history, Sun Hao seeded the throne of the Wu Dynasty in the year 280 after Sun Quan, Sun Liang, and Sun Xiu¡¯s reign. Sun Hao was Sun Quan¡¯s grandson, but he did not inherit the Sun n¡¯s motto of harmony and peace.

    Sun Hao was a tyrant emperor that ruled his people with fear, simr to Dong Zhuo. The Wu Kingdom in his reign often dealt with the uprising of the peasants, which ruined Wu¡¯s economy and military power.

    The Jin Kingdom, ruled by Sima Zhao at that time, sent his elite generals and conquered Jianye, finishing the three kingdom era for good. After a few skirmishes, Sun Hao ended up tying himself and surrendered to the Jin Empire while his men were still fighting on other frontlines.

    Sun Quan in this world learned about Sun Hao¡¯s ipetency, and he was not happy about it.

    As Sun Quan had been staying in Ye and learning the modern culture and Te Langpu¡¯s insight, he had an inspiration for how the Sun n could prosper in this world.

    Everything depended on Tong, Liu Xie, and Tong¡¯s descendants¡¯ performance. If their empire was too strong, Sun Quan could y a fool, enjoying his prestige as a prince and ensuring his family¡¯s prosperity as long as he could. But if Tong¡¯s allies showed signs of weaknesses, Sun Quan would not mind exploiting them and raise his standing in the court, wresting for power and the sessor right to the throne.

    At present, Sun Quan was coaxing Du Shi and Cai Wenji by using his mother as a mediator, hoping to marry one of their daughters to solidify his status.

    As for Tong¡¯s favorite daughter, Zhang Min, Sun Quan did not dare to get involved as he knew that Sima Yi and Wei Yan were pursuing her.

    "You will create a scandal at this rate. What will people talk behind our back if you marry your step-sister?"

    "Hahaha! Cousins marrying each other is amon thing in the noble¡¯smunity, mother. We¡¯re not technically rted by blood, so there is no problem with that."

    Wu Guotai sighed, "Anyway, I¡¯ll visit minister Lu again. I¡¯ll ask him to spare our family after they are done with Bofu."

    "Sure. Tell my step-mothers that I send them my regards, and I hope to meet their daughters again."

    "..."

    .

    .

    .

    Sun Ce flew southeast, heading back to Jianye at full speed. He ignored everything as the only thing in his mind was his life.

    ¡¯WhatcanIdowhatdoIdowhyisthishappeningfuckmylifeIdon¡¯tknowwhattodonextshouldIjustgobacktoJianyebymyselforshouldregroupwithmymenisLiFeihongstillchasingaftermehowcanIfighthimifhecanattackusanywherethisisnotfair!¡¯

    Sun Ce¡¯s thought was in a mess as he was panicking.

    Seven blue gates opened before Sun Ce, and seven souls, carrying AK-47, left the portals. They pointed their gun at Sun Ce.

    "DON¡¯T GET COCKY!"

    Sun Ce turned toward the nearest soul andunched his body toward it. He gathered his force and created a soul barrier around himself once more.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    A hundred of bullets rained upon Sun Ce. As if they were ordinary stones, they could not prate into Sun Ce¡¯s body. However, flesh wounds, caused by the burning shells, began to appear.

    "YAAAHH!!"

    Sun Ce drew his sword, gathered his aura, and shed toward one of Li Feihong¡¯s souls.

    *Whoosh*

    The sh missed.

    The soul sneered at Sun Ce as it retreated back into the blue portal behind its back.

    Sun Ce had the urge to chase into the portal, but he was afraid of the unknown. He gritted his teeth and continued to flee southeast.

    More portals opened. As if they were trying to trap Sun Ce there, they surrounded him. Some of the blue gates appeared in front of Sun Ce, trying to lure him into entering them. Yet, Sun Ce avoided them like gues.

    The more Li Feihong attempted to drag Sun Ce inside his world, the better Sun Ce¡¯s flying skill was. Through struggling and fighting for his life, Sun Ce¡¯s strength continued to grow.

    .

    Li Feihong was calmly observing Sun Ce¡¯s reaction through his dimension monitors. Before his expression was as if he were a supreme being watching a worthless insect struggling for his life. But now, he doubted that if chasing after Sun Ce was a good move.

    Li Feihong nced at Xu Shu, "I think this bastard is getting stronger. For some reason, he dodges all of my traps."

    Xu Shu, the former Liu Bei¡¯s strategist, was now working exclusively for Li Feihong in exchange for sparing Ma Chao and Liu Bei¡¯s life.

    The new adviser shook his head, "It¡¯s natural for someone who¡¯s fighting for his life to experience a rapid evolution or growth. You are cornering him and awaken his true potential indirectly. I suggest that you should get out there with General Zhang Liao, so you two can defeat him together."

    "What is the chance that Zhang Liao will get killed in the process?"

    "50-50."

    Li Feihong clicked his tongue, "No gambling. I won¡¯t risk it."

    "Then, Sun Ce will continue to be his majesty¡¯s threat. He will be a dangerous factor that can influence Sun Quan and Wu Guotai to rebel."

    "...Sun Quan, eh."

    Li Feihong groaned as he was aware of Sun Quan¡¯s potential. However, he had not learned that Sun Quan possessed dual-cultivationpatibility, which could obtain angel and demon wings.

    Had Li Feihong been aware of Sun Quan¡¯s true potential, he would have spared no effort to ughter this entire family bloodline.

    "That¡¯s impossible. Any woman entering Zhang Tong¡¯s bed will be his love-ve. By now, Wu Guotai should have been craving for more night activities with him."

    "..."

    Believing that the Sun n would pose no threat to Tong, Li Feihong stopped chasing after Sun Ce. He left his private dimension to fly to Ye, hoping to deliver his prisoners and Lu Lingqi.

    As Li Feihong was busy flying back home, Zhang Liao, who remained inside Li Feihong¡¯s world, reported the development to others in the n chat.

    Zhang Liao: "Viceroy Li Feihong has killed Zhou Yu. Sun Ce and others have escaped."

    Lu Zhi: "That¡¯s good enough. Any idea where the others went?"

    Zhang Liao: "We overheard their conversation. Sun Ce is heading southeast, so he might be going home. Sun Fang and Ling Tong are moving to Jinyang to assassinate Sir Ding Yuan. I suggest Sir Ding evacuate and hide ASAP."

    Ding Yuan: "The hell!? I¡¯m minding my own business here in peace. Why are they going after me!?"

    Zhang Liao: "From their conversation we had spied on them, they¡¯re trying to iste General Lu Bu and assassinate him by soul-detonation."

    Zhang Liao: "We¡¯ve also learned that they are nning to gather a suicidal armyprised ofmoners who can cultivate souls. Zhou Yu wanted to use them as living bombs."

 Chapter 499 Lu Buâ€™s Ignorance

    Chapter 499 - Lu Bu¡¯s Ignorance

    While the chaos was ongoing, Lu Bu, who was still carrying Zhang Min, noticed the expanding red lines on Zhang Min¡¯s skin.

    Her body began to crack as if she would shatter like sses at any moment.

    Lu Bu frowned. He brought Zhang Min on the ground, so he could use his angelic power to heal her first.

    He summoned all 7 souls and used every buffing abilities he had learned.

    "Come on, heal!"

    The souls ce their hands on Zhang Min¡¯s body as they injected their life force. Lu Bu¡¯s lifespan was decreasing at a rapid rate, and Zhang Min¡¯splexion got better.

    However...

    *PU*

    Blood veins burst and the red lines reappeared. The injuries rpsed within a few seconds.

    ¡¯Was that a coincidence? She should be in the middle of a rpsing session.¡¯

    As Lu Bu had experienced a few slight soul injuries in the past, he understood how these wounds reappeared on Zhang Min¡¯s body. Since the damaged souls always influenced the host¡¯s physical body, these wounds would continue to appear as long as the souls had not been treated.

    The injuries could reemerge randomly. Sometimes, it rpsed once or twice a day. In the past, when Lu Bu¡¯s luck was bad, the injuries reappeared every minute.

    Lu Bu thought that Zhang Min¡¯s rpse might be coincident, so he continued transferring his lifespan into her souls.

    The red lines faded.

    *PU*

    Again, Zhang Min¡¯s wounds reemerged. She woke up from the pain and coughed a mouthful of blood. Her right hand disconnected with her right arm and disintegrated into glittering dust.

    Lu Bu widened his eyes. For the first time, he panicked.

    ¡¯What do I do to save her!? At this rate, she will die!¡¯

    He wanted to save Tong¡¯s daughter, but he ran out of ideas.

    A female voice rang in Lu Bu¡¯s head. It was Lilim¡¯s voice.

    "Who?" Lu Bu was not familiar with Lilim.

    Lu Bu rejoiced. He did not care who this voice owner was. As long as she could save Zhang Min, he did not mind it, "Yes. Tell me how!"

    "What do you want, then? My lifespan?"

    "That¡¯s it?"

    "Only a vow? That¡¯s it?" Lu Bu frowned in disbelief, "Sure."

    "That¡¯s simple... [I swear allegiance to you.]"

    *RUMBLE*

    As soon as Lu Bu finished his words, the ground below him shook. Semi-transparent chains emerged from the ground and entered his body.

    A tattoo appeared on Lu Bu¡¯s back. It was Lilim¡¯s insignia, which she had acquired when she had awakened the 10th wing.

    The insignia was a diamond crest with a demoness picture, who was sitting cross-leg on a pile of snakes.

    Upon thepletion of the crest, Lu Bu could locate Lilim¡¯s existence with his sixth sense. He turned toward Lilim¡¯s direction in astonishment.

    "What¡¯s this?"

    "... I did what you asked me to. Now, heal her."

    "... Okay."

    .

    .

    .

    Above Ye city, two young angels ignored all potential threats from the local immortals andnded on a rooftop of a tall building.

    A beautiful male angel and a rough 4-wing angel gazed at the city scenery, admiring the view of the developed town.

    "Otherworlders are really something. Our old Jianye can¡¯tpare to this town," Lu Xun sighed, impressed with the number of neatly arranged buildings and crowded road.

    Lu Meng looked around and counted the people on the street below them. He stopped when it went over 1,000.

    "Is this a business district? How many people are there?"

    Lu Xun had a wry smile on his face, "This should amon district or a peasant area. The real business district should be the glittering buildings over there."

    Lu Meng turned toward the direction where Lu Xun was pointing. Lines of 4-5 story buildings stood tall. Although their outward appearance looked like they were wooden buildings, Lu Meng and Lu Xun could notice the brick walls, which they rarely used to build houses.

    They were taught that bricks were usually used for defensive walls as they were difficult to procure, and they often fell from the arranged wall. However, they were sturdier than the ordinary city wall, which was made from mud. This was the first time seeing bricks being used for tall buildings.

    None of them understood the concept of concrete or cement, which glued these bricks together.

    "Bricks? Won¡¯t the buildings copse? Those bricks are slippery and they won¡¯t be a good material for tall buildings."

    "Then, how are you going to exin those?"

    "..."

    It baffled Lu Meng how the civilians managed to construct those buildings using bricks.

    As the two lingered above Ye city flying space, sightseeing in leisure, five angels and one demoness surrounded them.

    Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and Cao Ren were staying in Ye city after Lu Zhi and Dong Bai had ordered Cao Cao in the n chat. Now, they spread their wings, showing off the strength of Cao Cao¡¯s faction.

    Aside from Dian Wei, the other four generals each had four wings. On the other hand, six white wings behind Dian Wei¡¯s back hinted that he worked harder than everyone.

    As for the sole demoness, it was Dong Bai.

    Simr to Dian Wei, through her hard work and the assist of this world¡¯sws and system, Dong Bai had obtained six ck wings, revealing to the world for the first time that she was not a pushover.

    The golden robes and the empress crown glittered in the sunlight. Her shining dresses stunned Lu Xun, Lu Meng, and the innocent civilians who noticed themotion in the sky.

    "I-Immortals!"

    "Gods! They¡¯re gods!"

    The crowd in the city looked up and noticed them. They knelt and kowtowed without anyone forcing them.

    Dong Bai red at Lu Xun and Lu Meng, "ves of Sun Ce. Surrender now, or we¡¯ll ughter your nine generations!"

    Lu Xun and Lu Meng nced at each other as many things went out of Zhou Yu¡¯s calction. None of them had expected that more six-wing immortals were hiding in Tong¡¯s ranks other than Li Feihong, Diaochan, and Lu Bu.

    With Dian Wei and Dong Bai¡¯s threat, no scheme could ovee their absolute strength.

    Lu Xunughed as he bowed to Dong Bai, "Our purpose here is to submit to you, your majesty. We¡¯ve abandoned Sun Ce, and we would like to work for you."

    Lu Meng nodded. He also cupped his fist and bowed, "Zhou Yu and Sun Ce ordered us to attack Luoyang, but we fly here to report this to you."

    Dong Bai raised her eyebrows in doubt. She reread the chat log to make sure.

    Dong Bai did not know if it was a coincidence or the two young angels were sincere. Zhang Liao¡¯s report aligned with their confession, which gave Lu Meng and Lu Xun some credibility.

    "Other than that, what did Zhou Yu and Sun Ce order the others?"

    "Sun Fang and Ling Tong are heading northwest to kill Ding Yuan. Huang Zu is going back to Jing Province to coax Liu Biao¡¯s sons not to surrender to his majesty. Chen Wu and Song Qian are heading north to protect Zhen Yi and Wang Yun."

    Dong Bai and other Cao Cao¡¯s generals squinted their eyes, "So, Zhen Yi and Wang Yun are working with Sun Ce?"

    "Correct. Zhen Yi has been sheltering us for a few years. As for Wang Yun, he suddenly showed up in Zhongshan to persuade Zhen Yi to overthrow his majesty¡¯s regime."

    "Oh? Interesting," Dong Bai widened her eyes, "Good. Dian Wei, tied them up. You two, you¡¯d better be telling me the truth, or your head will roll."

    Cao Cao¡¯s officers tied Lu Xun and Lu Meng. Afterward, Dong Bai brought them back to the government hall, nning to let these two men retelling their stories before Lu Zhi and other strategists.

    .

    The moment Dong Bai and all Cao Cao¡¯s elites returned to the government hall, where Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao, Te Langpu, Lu Zhi, and others were waiting, Lu Bu also returned with Zhang Min, who was panting in exhaustion.

    "Ah, you¡¯re finally back. Howe you¡¯re slower than these guys?"

    Dong Bai red at Lu Bu, who was still carrying Tong¡¯s daughter. It was odd that a 7-wing angel reached Ye cityter than Lu Meng and Lu Xun, who had only 4 wings. Moreover, thetter two should have gotten out of Juluter than Lu Bu.

    Currently, Lu Bu was half-naked, but he still had his pants and legging armor on.

    Dong Bai noticed that Lu Bu¡¯s condition was odd. She nced at Zhang Min, who was still being princess-carried.

    As soon as Dong Bai saw Zhang Min¡¯s condition and her remaining clothes, she yelled at Lu Bu, "What the fuck did you do to her!?"

    Lu Bu scoffed, "Saved her life."

    "And why is she in her underwear and your armor!?"

    Zhang Min was only wearing Lu Bu¡¯s chest te and her undergarments. Her clothes were nowhere to be seen.

    Most importantly, a trail of blood flowed down on her thighs, and the source came from her crotch area.

    It was not hard to tell that Zhang Min¡¯s purity might have been soiled!

    Lu Bu clicked his tongue, "Her clothes got soaked with her blood! I have to tear them off since they were dirty. Her soul injuries worsened, so I have to heal her!"

    "Soul injuries can only be cured by cultivating, you fool!" Dong Bai observed Zhang Min¡¯s skin. Thetter did not have any physical wound other than the bloody crotch, which was more unusual.

    Normally, soul injuries would break the host¡¯s physical body and create red lines on the injured ces. However, no damage appeared on Zhang Min¡¯s physical body.

    Something fishy was going on.

    "What did you do to heal her?" Dong Bai probed as she had a bad feeling about this development.

    "Dual-cultivation."

    *Shank*

    Dong Bai pulled a long dadao from Xiahou Dun¡¯s back and pointed at Lu Bu¡¯s neck, "You¡¯re under arrest for treason and immoral conduct to the royalties. Surrender, or I¡¯ll kill you and your entire family."

    Lu Bu gently put Zhang Min down, "I¡¯m busy. I need to save my father, and I don¡¯t have the time to y with you."

    Without bothering with Dong Bai¡¯s threat, Lu Bu spread his wings and flew away.

    Friday wanted to kill Lu Bu for ruining Zhang Min¡¯s purity, but thetter¡¯s life took priority. She rushed to Zhang Min¡¯s side to examine her condition.

    "... Step-mother, I¡¯m sorry," Zhang Min cried, "I couldn¡¯t protect myself."

    Dong Bai hugged Zhang Min, "It wasn¡¯t your fault! It¡¯s Sun Ce and Lu Bu¡¯s fault!"

    Zhang Min sobbed as she buried her face into Dong Bai¡¯s bosom.

    Dong Bai grounded her teeth as she turned to Lu Xun, Lu Meng, and Cao Ren¡¯s crews, "Bring them to the throne room first. I¡¯m not in the mood to judge your fate just yet."

    The empress carried Hua Shi¡¯s daughter to the inner pce as this matter was delicate. Zhang Min¡¯s body, soul, and mental were unstable.

 Chapter 500 Price of Survival

    Chapter 500 - Price of Survival

    As the matter was urgent, Friday carried Zhang Min to her room and chased all attendants away. After shey the injured girl on the bed, Dong Bai scanned through thetter''s naked body.

    "That son of a bitch!"

    As expected, Zhang Min was ravished. Traces of the deed was still there.

    Zhang Min sobbed and gritted her teeth, "I''m so sorry, mother."

    "It wasn''t your fault, dear. It wasn''t your fault!"

    Even a ferocious demoness cried for Zhang Min in this situation. She hugged the step-daughter and wept, "He will pay for what he has done!"

    Zhang Min nodded.

    *PU*

    As the two women were hugging and crying, Zhang Min''s injuries rpsed. Red lines reappeared on her body and blood seeped out from the wounds.

    Dong Bai widened her eyes in panic. She released Zhang Min, "I''ll call physicians and other angels to help you, okay? Wait for me here."

    Zhang Min shook her head, "It''s alright. There''s no need¡­ Regen!"

    A familiar word came out of Zhang Min mouth, shocking Dong Bai. Moreover, the injuries disappeared as if they never happened!

    "H-How!? What did you do!? How did you use that skill!?"

    Dong Bai would be a fool if she had not recognized this unique ability. It was once Tong''s signature system skill that he had given away to Lu Bu.

    Immortal Yang Vein!

    "I learned it after he did that," Zhang Min blushed in shame. She nced at her status menu, which appeared after Lu Bu had done the deed.

    .

    Partner: Lu Bu

    Expired in: 23 Hours

    .

    With the soulmate contract and yang vein''s dual-cultivation ability, Lu Bu copied his system skill and gave it to Zhang Min through the intercourse.

    Yang Vein allowed Zhang Min to spend her lifespan to restore her physical body whenever the soul injuries rpsed, saving her life.

    Zhang Min was angry, yet she was grateful. It was a love-and-hate rtionship that she was confused about what she should do with this man.

    Dong Bai also understood the situation, but something did not make sense.

    Lilim had abolished systems, shops, and contract systems, so this privilege should not have existed.

    Unless Lilim rekindled these features¡­

    After Dong Bai had put all pieces of puzzles together, she stared at Zhang Min in solemn.

    "Have Lilim contacted you and offered you something?"

    Zhang Min nodded.

    "What did she offer you?"

    "She wanted me to swear allegiance to her, and she would save my life."

    Dong Bai sweated, "Did you ept it?"

    "No. I refused."

    Dong Bai heaved a sigh of relief, "Good. That was a close one. Had you epted, your future would have been ruined."

    Zhang Min bitterly smiled, "I remember my father''s teaching."

    They did not know if they shouldugh or cry. By sacrificing Zhang Min''s purity, she obtained a life-saving skill that she could rely on it in the long run. However, their rtionship with Lu Bu becameplicated.

    Moreover, Dong Bai did not want to raise Lu Bu into a prince by having him marrying Zhang Min. If this matter reached Tong''s ears, thetter would have gone berserk and kill Lu Bu right away.

    Moreover, it was well-known that Sima Yi was pursuing Zhang Min, and everyone was specting that Tong would give her to the Sima n eventually to tie this family with the royalties.

    "About this matter, let''s keep it a secret for now," Zhang Min sulked, hiding her face in shame.

    "I''ll see what I can do with Cao Cao''s men. I hope they keep their mouth shut¡­"

    "¡­"

    Cao Cao: "Hey! I heard Lu Bu vited the first princess! What the fuck is going on!?"

    Dong Bai''s face twitched. She nced at Zhang Min, who was still oblivious to the n chat messages as she had not been invited to the n yet.

    A split secondter, Dong Bai realized what Cao Cao had awakened.

    "Oh, shit¡­"

    .

    .

    .

    = North of Zhongshan =

    The White Horse Legion arrived at the north of Zhongshan as scheduled, but their sergeants and soldiers had a rigid expression.

    In front of them, two of their leaders, one general and one strategist, were emitting dark killing intent everywhere. They were ring at Cao Cao''stest message with bloodshot eyes.

    Wei Yan clenched his fists to the point that his nails wounded his palms. As for Sima Yi, his breathing became rough and short as he was doing his best to calm his temper.

    He had just lost his father. Now, someone ravished his crush! Sima Yi''s blood pressure spiked, and his heart rate went beyond 200 BPM. It was a miracle how the blood vessels in his brain had not burst yet.

    Their face turned from red to blue while their bulging blood veins were visible.

    No one dared to talk to them anymore.

    Zhao Yun and Hu Che-er were sweating as they looked at their friends.

    "Boss¡­" Even a hoodlum like Hu Che-er was intimidated by their aura.

    "You saw it in the n chat. Don''t say anything."

    "¡­"

    Everyone sat on their horses and waited for Sima Yi''s words.

    Although Sima Yi and Wei Yan did not type orment on anything to the n chat, they watched the chaotic messages flooding the chatbox without caring about the world.

    Ten minutester, a threatening presence of an angry 8-wing demon exploded out their killing intent. Allmon soldiers behind Zhao Yun and Sima Yi almost fainted from fear.

    The origin came from Ye City''s direction!

    ''Zhang Tong or Diaochan must have learned about the news. Lu Bu is as good as dead.''

    Zhao Yun shook his head and nced at Sima Yi and Wei Yan, who also wanted to vent his frustration, humiliation, and heart pain. These two fell in love with Zhang Min, but they could not express their feeling because of their statuses.

    Wei Yan and Sima Yi had been working their hardest to raise their ranks, proving themselves to Tong that they were worthy to marry his daughter. Yet, Lu Bu soiled Zhang Min and indirectly pped them in the face.

    Someone had to die! Or else, this scandal would be a thorn to their heart for the rest of their lives.

    With trembling hands, Wei Yan slowly typed to the n chat.

    Wei Yan: "@Lu Bu, you''re dead."

    Sima Yi stopped breathing and turned toward Wei Yan. As if the former knew what thetter was thinking, Sima Yi nodded.

    "Good. Let''s deal with these insects first, then we''ll take Lu Bu''s head."

    "Agreed. What''s the n, by the way?"

    Sima Yi paused and gazed at the top of the wall. Banners of Zhen Yi were still there.

    "You and General Zhao will fly in there and capture Zhen Yi. If they resist or Sun Ce''s officers are still there, withdraw. Do not engage if there are two or more immortals with 4 wings inside. However, if there is only one, take him down."

    "Understood!"

    Zhao Yun and Wei Yan nodded. They spread their wings and flew over the walls.

    After the vanguards had left, Sima Yi turned to the vice general, Hu Che-er, "Tell the soldiers to construct siege towers. If our vanguards retreat, we will begin the siege."

    Despite being angry, Sima Yi maintained his cool and could still utilize his logical thinking. He simted more scenarios in his mind and thought about his future.

    ''One at a time. I''ll get rid of Zhen Yi and Sun Ce''s remnants here first. Lu Bu and Zhang Min are not my priority, but I won''t forget them!''

    .

    .

    = South Gate of Zhongshan City =

    Civilians, merchants, and various travelers entered and left the city through Zhongshan''s southern gate as it was the main road to Julu and a detour road toward Nanpi.

    The road was not a red-dirt path those other regions had, but it was a stone pathway with 8 vehiclenes. The width of this pavement was the symbol of Julu''s prosperity as every street that connected to this city would have this luxurious stone-paved passageway.

    Ye also had these paved roads, but they were concrete ones, which Te Langpu designed. Julu-Zhongshan road was based on Tong''s old design, which he left behind for his father a decade ago.

    Because of the massive crowd, no one noticed a group of 20 men and women walking out of the city.

    Zhen Yi disguised himself and his family asmoners and left the city via the south entrance. His wives and Zhen Ji were also among the crowd.

    The reason for their escape was the recent n chat messages from Dong Bai and others, threatening him to surrender and ept the punishment. Zhen Yi knew full well that he and his entire family would have been executed had they surrendered, so he chose to flee.

    Still, he had no idea where he could go. Tong had unofficially unified the country already, so they would not be able to enjoy a lifestyle of Han''s nobles anymore. The only way they could survive would be living asmoners.

    Zhen Yi sighed and looked at Zhen Ji in regret. He should not have told Tong and others when Sun Ce had first appeared in his city and threatened to kill his family. He was scared out of his wits and yielded to Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, which led to this situation.

    He could only me his indecisiveness and bad luck.

    "Where are we going, father?" Zhen Ji was confused about why her father abandoned his post and fled the city.

    "Anywhere but here."

    Zhen Ji squinted her eyes, "Did you do something that angered the emperor?"

    "¡­ You can say that."

    "Was it because of Sun Ce''s goons?"

    "¡­ Yes."

    Zhen Ji shook her head, "You should have reported this incident to the emperor. You sheltered them, and now, he found out about it. Obviously, we will all die."

    Listening to his daughter''s lecture, Zhen Yi''s face gloomed.

    "I''m sorry."

    "Don''t be. We''re still living because you yielded to Sun Ce," Zhen Ji knew that her father saved her life and others at the price of betrayal. Even though it was a bad move, Zhen Ji did not take it to heart.

    "I have a connection with Cao Pi. Let''s move to Xu Province, so we can join the Cao House."

    "Okay¡­ Wait! How did you know about-!?"

    Zhen Ji smiled at her father, "You''re not the only one with the other world''s vision. You see, I was once the empress of Wei. I know what I can do."

 Chapter 501 New Demon God

    Chapter 501 - New Demon God

    = Tong''s Underground Private Chamber, Under Lu Zhi''s Bedroom =

    "Everyone is in an uproar, aren''t they?"

    Tong opened his eyes as he looked at his mentor, Lu Zhi.

    "We''ve too many matters that we have to conclude at once. First, Sun Ce''s raid, Sima Fang''s death, and then, your daughter¡­"

    Lu Zhi could not continue as he was afraid of angering Tong. He observed thetter''s expression, but Tong did now show any sign of disturbance.

    On the contrary, his disciple looked like an exhausted worker, who had been through a harshbor and family problems. It was as if Tong wanted to give up living.

    Unbeknownst to Lu Zhi, Tong could see another form of his souls, and he regained the memory of the past ursed life. Tong also connected the dots of why angels in heaven threw him to hell, which might rte to his sins before other reincarnations.

    "Maybe I deserve it," Tongmented, "After all, I was a heck of a tyrant."

    "N-No! You did everything for the people! You didn''t recklessly wage war, but you dominate them through your strength and wisdom. You''ve saved millions of lives! Did you know how many innocentmoners died in the other timeline? Over 10 million! How many have died in this world? I doubt a million has died! You''ve done nothing wrong!"

    Lu Zhi misunderstood Tong that thetter regretted what he had done in this world.

    Tong gazed at his mentor with a bitter smile, understanding that Lu Zhi referred to this world, not his Dong Zhuo''s life.

    "I know, master. I know," Tong stood up after the long years of shut-in cultivation. Although his souls had not recovered yet, the frequent rpse injuries never urred after Tong stabilized his physical foundation.

    He was ready for another action.

    "I''ll be off for half a day. Please take care of the prisoners and Zhang Min''s matter for the time being."

    Seeing that Tong wanted to go out, Lu Zhi widened his eyes in shock, "Are you sure that you''re ready?"

    "It''s fine. I''m not at my 100% condition yet, but it''s enough for taking care of a few 6-wing angels and Lu Bu."

    "¡­ I see. Take care of yourself, disciple."

    .

    As soon as Tong could see the sunlight again, he could see more mysterious things than what he could not see in the past. Every people he met were tied with ethereal dark chains on their ankles, but none of them was aware of them.

    Moreover, peasants, who had obtained a soul recently, had another hidden form other than their soul appearance.

    Some appeared as cute animals, but some showed up as hideous monsters. Even Tong''s master, Lu Zhi, had a hidden soul of a domesticated dog.

    As for Tong''s souls, all of them had the appearance of a fat man instead of himself in the previous life.

    Tong closed his eyes and disabled his eye abilities for a moment. Yet, images of people around the country shed as if he was dreaming.

    The eight-wing archangels and archdemons in Netherworld had this ability. It was the true sight, which enabled them to observe everything in the range of 500km.

    Tong could now see every mortal and their true form, including Liu Yang in disguise!

    Tong frowned for a moment as he was surprised. Still, he rxed when he saw that Liu Yang was ying with her daughter as if nothing had happened.

    Liu Yang''s souls did not contain any malicious intent toward Tong or Medusa anymore.

    When he reopened his eyes again, the weird ovepping vision faded.

    He resummoned his soul to examine their appearance. Sure enough, their figures returned to Tong''s original form.

    ''No matter who I was, my purpose here doesn''t change.''

    Eight ck wings spread and pped,unching his body to the sky. Tong pped his wings one more time. Unlike other 4-wing or 6-wing immortals, the 8-wing power propelled his body forward at a Mach speed.

    A sonic boom shockwave distorted the air.

    *BOOM*

    The loud noise of a sound barrier being broken was audible in Ye for the first time. However, no one but Dong Bai, Sun Shangxiang, and Diaochan understood this phenomenon.

    .

    .

    .

    = Jinyang City =

    This border city was once a rural area, where every young local had wanted to migrate away as soon as possible. Now, it became an industrial hub, producing important resources for Julu and Ye. Jobs, such as mining supervisors, logistic managers, and warehouse officers became the popr career thatmoners sought as their wages were highest among all jobs that peasants without status could do. As such, young people, who didn''t want to pursue a military career, came here to test their luck.

    Copper, iron, coal, and misceneous minerals were gathered from the nearby mines in Jinyang Commandery and collected in this city. Afterward, the city officials would transfer these resources to Julu and Ye, so these cities could refine them into valuable wares, ingots, or weaponry.

    However, today, Ding Yuan was not present in his office or the working sites. Instead, he was hiding underground, taking shelter in a panic room that Sima Fang had developed for all governors.

    Ding Yuan kept his eyes on the n chat menu as he was following the news, waiting for Lu Bu or any rescuer to deal with Sun Fang and Ling Tong.

    Footstep sound was audible in the room as Sun Fang and Ling Tong were searching for Ding Yuan in his bedroom.

    "Where the fuck is that bastard!?"

    Sun Fangint as it had been 30 minutes since they had been searching for Ding Yuan. However, they could not locate him even though Ding Yuan''s subordinates confessed that he returned to his room.

    *BOOM*

    Ling Tong destroyed Ding Yuan''s room, bookshelves, beds, and tables to find a secret door or a hidden passage. Still, he could not find any.

    "Let''s look for a hidden door or something simr. Those men didn''t seem to lie, so Ding Yuan should have escaped through a hidden door somewhere."

    Six feet below the ground, Ding Yuan''s heart skipped a beat after he had heard the conversation. He held his breath and slowly typed to the n chat.

    Ding Yuan: "They are about to find me. I need help ASAP!"

    Ding Yuan: "I''m below my bedroom. The invaders are above me!"

    After sending the messages, Ding Yuan slowly exhaled, minimizing his breathing and lowering his noise.

    The reply message with @-tag made Ding Yuan jump.

    Tong: "@Ding Yuan. I''ll be right there. Give me a few seconds."

    Ding Yuan widened his eyes in shock and delight. He did not expect that Tong woulde to rescue him personally. Moreover, he came out of his secluded cultivation.

    The n chat was in an uproar after Tong had appeared for the first time in years. Everyone congratted him, believing that an 8-wing demon had finally emerged from his long slumber.

    *BOOM*

    Ding Yuan could not celebrate with them as he was about to be found by the two angels. He only prayed that Tong would appear as soon as he could.

    In Ding Yuan''s room, Ling Tong and Sun Fang punched the ground floor at random. Decorated wooden nks shattered into fragments.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    After two more punches, Sun Fang found the stairways to Ding Yuan''s current hidden room.

    "Found it!"

    Without hesitation, Sun Fang leaped down and sprinted through the passageway.

    Three secondster, he found Ding Yuan!

    "Ha! There you are!"

    Ding Yuan gritted his teeth and spread his two white wings, nning to fight to the death.

    "I''m not afraid of you brat!" Ding Yuan pulled out his long sword, "I am the grand general of Bing! I won''t surrender to you traitor!"

    Sun Fang sneered. He pointed his palm at Ding Yuan.

    With one Qi st, Ding Yuan would be dead.

    *BOOM*

    It was not an explosion that caused by Sun Fang''s Qi st. Someone caused a scene above the ground.

    A loud boom came from above, followed by a brief earthquake as if something hadnded.

    "WHO ARE YOU!?"

    Sun Fang heard a panicking voice of Ling Tong from above. He figured that reinforcement from Tong''s force might have arrived.

    "Tsk!" Sun Fang dashed and punched Ding Yuan''s stomach.

    "KAH!"

    Sun Fang grabbed Ding Yuan''s dominant arm and broke it, disarming thetter''s sword.

    *CRACK*

    "AAAHHH!!"

    "Come with me!" Sun Fang squeezed Ding Yuan''s neck with one hand and dragged him to the surface, nning to use this old governor as a hostage to deal with the reinforcement.

    He wanted to use Ding Yuan as a bargaining chip if Lu Bu or Li Feihong were to appear.

    The moment he climbed the stairs and see the sunlight again, he was greeted with another system notification and shocking sight.

    Before Sun Fang, a demon with 8 ck wings had punched through the chest of Ling Tong.

    The demon swiped the fledgling officer away as if he were nothing. Ling Tong was sent flying to the sideline and vomited thest cough of his life.

    "WHAT!? HOW!?"

    Sun Fang reread the n message in disbelief.

    "YOU''RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE MIDDLE OF CULTIVATING!!"

    Tong raised his eyebrows, "Oh? What makes you think that I wouldn''te out?"

    Without waiting for Sun Fang to react, Tong teleported and appeared behind Sun Fang.

    Just like what Zhang Min did to Ling Cao, Tong enveloped his aura around his left hand and stabbed through Sun Fang''s back, exiting his chest. As for the other hand, Tong cut Sun Fang''s hand, which was holding Ding Yuan''s neck.

    Sun Fang stared at Tong''s hand in confusion and shock.

    "You know, I have been thinking about this day. I always have this fantasy about finding you and killing you, but I can''t seem to find the right words to mock you at this final moment," Tong muttered as he had aplicated feeling at the moment.

    Tong recognized Sun Fang right away by just a simple nce. With his new vision of 8-wing cultivation, he could see through Sun Fang''s past lives.

    It was the person who killed Tong when he was a police officer.

    Moreover, it was the very asshole that killed Hua Shi!

    "To be honest, I want to torture you. I want to cut you a thousand times and force your intestines and your shit back to your mouth¡­ Well, for some reason, I''ve lost all the drive for revenge, you see."

    Tong slowly pulled out his hand and allowed Sun Fang to copse on the ground.

    "Ugh! Self-Heal!"

    Sun Fang regenerated his wound. He spread his wings to escape.

    But Tong jumped and appeared behind Sun Fang again.

    Tong''s right foot stomped on Sun Fang''s back and sent him back down to earth.

    Tong reinforced his hands and turned them into knives once more. He cut Sun Fang''s wings, one by one.

    All wings were plucked out!

    All Sun Fang''s souls were destroyed!

    The consciousness of Sun Fang shook as his souls disintegrated. His death was imminent!

    "Self-Heal! Self-Heal!"

    In a panic, Sun Fang kept casting his life-saving skill, but it didn''t work anymore.

    "I want to forgive you, but you''re too stubborn. Had you begged me for mercy, I would have amended for what you had done and sheltered you as we do with Li Feihong, Te Langpu, or Liu Yang. Well¡­"

    Tong gazed at Sun Fang in a pity, "Goodbye. I hope we won''t run into each other again in the next life."

    Sun Fang looked at Tong, burning his face into hisst memory.

    He had many things to say to Tong, but no word coulde out from his mouth anymore.

    Before his consciousness faded forever, the past memory when he was with Li Jing shed back. It was the best time he had in this life and all the lives he had experienced.

    ''Li Jing¡­ we should have abandoned our greed and lived in peace¡­''

    .

    .

    .

    >

 Chapter 502 Vow of Amendmen

    Chapter 502 - Vow of Amendment

    "Are you okay, senior Ding?" Tong extended his hand to Ding Yuan.

    "Oh? Thank you, your majesty!"

    Ding Yuan could finally breathe after the imminent crisis. He was only a few inches away from death, but he was saved.

    "Say, senior Ding, have you read the n chat recently?"

    The face of Ding Yuan cramped as soon as Tong mentioned the recent n chat. He would be a fool had he not realized that Tong referred to the scandal, which Lu Bu vited his daughter.

    This was a sensitive matter. A wrong reply could spell death to his entire family.

    "¡­ Yes."

    "Do you understand what your son just did?"

    "¡­ Yes."

    Tong sighed, "You don''t have to be afraid. It''s not like I''ll kill Lu Bu or something."

    "Then?"

    "When I heard that Min''er has been soiled, I examined her condition. Do you know what''s funny?" Tong snickered, "My daughter learned the system skill that I gave to Lu Bu."

    "¡­"

    "To be honest, I''m pissed. Well, since he somehow saved my daughter''s life, I can''t really me him¡­" Tong looked up and smiled at another angel, who was floating in mid-air, "Do you have a minute, Fengxian?"

    Lu Bu arrivedter than Tong as his speed was much slower. By the time he arrived, Tong had finished killing both Ling Tong and Sun Fang.

    Lu Bu looked at Tong and nodded with a bitter smile on his face. He was aware of what he had done, but he didn''t regret it. He descended and stood in front of Tong.

    "I''m sorry. Zhang Min almost died from soul injuries. I had to."

    Tong shook his head, "Don''t be. Say, Fengxian¡­"

    "What?"

    The atmosphere was awkward as Lu Bu didn''t know what he should react or say to Tong. On the contrary, Tong seemed to have many things to talk to him.

    Moreover, Tong''s eyes contained doubt and hesitation. Lu Bu could tell that he was making an important decision regarding this event.

    "I have a confession. I need your forgiveness as well."

    "¡­"

    "Will you believe me if I say that I''m the reincarnation of Dong Zhuo from the other timeline?"

    "!!!"

    Ding Yuan and Lu Bu widened their eyes in disbelief and astonishment. This came out from the left field, and they had never dreamed about this kind of confession.

    In the other timeline, Dong Zhuo incited Lu Bu to betray Ding Yuan to join his side. However, Lu Bu overworked himself and killed Ding Yuan, proving his loyalty to Dong Zhuo.

    Ding Yuan had aplicate thought as he stared into Tong''s eyes. Since thetter did not hide his emotion and facial fa?ade, the elite governor could read his expression and confirmed that Tong did not lie.

    "Good lord¡­" Ding Yuan was speechless, "Then, have you been tricking us?"

    "Don''t mess around, Tong," Lu Bu red at Tong and almost released his killing intent. However, he refrained from doing so.

    "I never trick you, senior Ding. This is something that I have just discovered recently. I''m not messing around. You see, when one''s cultivation reaches 8 wings, they will obtain their previous life''s memory."

    "But I do have the previous life''s memory!" Lu Bu yelled.

    "Those were the OTHER timeline''s memory, not yours. They were the memory of someone else entirely. Lilim has simply copied their memory and imnted it to all of you, so your soul can bepleted."

    Ding Yuan and Lu Bu frowned as he did not understand Tong''s exnation.

    "Let''s do it this way," Since both of them had no clue about the concept of karma, reincarnation, and multiverse theory, Tong ced his hand on Lu Bu''s naked chest, "I''ll force awaken your 8th wing. You will understand everything yourself."

    *BOOM*

    Without waiting for Lu Bu to react, Tong injected some of his lifespans into Lu Bu, forcefully awakening the 8th virtuous soul that Lu Bu had been dying its awakening.

    Eight white wings fluttered behind Lu Bu''s back. However, some of them suffered minor injuries since the container was not ready for the weight of 8 souls.

    Lu Bu coughed a mouthful of blood and crouched down. He activated his regeneration skill to self-heal right away.

    "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!? I WAS DELAYING ¡­ my ¡­."

    Lu Bu widened his eyes after he gazed at Tong. His vision blurred, and he could see more strange objects and beings around Tong and Ding Yuan.

    Tong''s souls no longer had the appearance of policemen. Instead, they were fat and muscr ugly men, the previous form of Dong Zhuo in his prime.

    Lu Bu recognized those people right away since he hated Dong Zhuo more than anything. Thetter had abused his power, bullied him with authority, and exploited his status.

    Still, Lu Bu could not bring himself to hate Tong this time. After all, he had gain enlightenment and more knowledge regarding karma and the universe through his multi-life recollection.

    Karma snakes floated around them. At first, Lu Bu thought that they were wandering souls. But after they gazed back at Lu Bu, thetter obtained the shback of their resentment, hatred, and their memory.

    They contained the grudge of the animals and people that he had killed, the karma chain!

    Finally, Lu Bu realized that all the previous memory he had obtained were nothing but a hoax. They were not his, but a borrowed recollection from someone else entirely!

    He turned around to look at his true form, the 8 virtuous souls he had.

    They were not in their human forms. Instead, they were grey wolves! He was not a human in the past, but animals!

    Lu Bu closed his eyes, trying to remember what it was like in the previous lives. He remembered walking on all four, sniffing and hunting for meat, day by day.

    He gritted his teeth, unable to ept the reality, "What is karma, Zhang Tong? What are we!?"

    Tong sighed, "We are toys, being yed by gods. Actually, we are Lilim''s toys."

    "Lilim!?"

    Lu Bu paused as he recalled that he made a deal with this mysterious existence. She taught him a way to save Zhang Min''s life with a price of him bing her servant.

    His face paled, realizing that he had agreed into something bad.

    Noticing the change of expression, Tong squinted his eyes, "Have you ever talked to Lilim? She always talks directly to our head."

    "Yes. Actually, I made a deal with her¡­"

    Lu Bu exined the incident of why and how he passed the Immortal Yang Vein to Zhang Min. Ding Yuan could only look at his adopted son speaking something iprehensible, but Tong nodded as he understood why Lilim did that.

    "You fucked up, Fengxian."

    "Wasn''t that just a vow?"

    "It rtes to the advancement beyond the 10th wing. The only way to get from 10 wings to 11 and 12, we need a pledge of an immortal with 10 wings. The subordinate immortal will be forced to give up their future cultivation rights and get stuck to 10 wings for the rest of eternity! However, the one being the boss can use the vowed subordinates as their scapegoats. Whenever they die, the subordinates will die for them instead!"

    Tong exined what he had learned from Medusa to Lu Bu, whose jaw dropped in astonishment and regret.

    "I-I was fooled!"

    "Damn right, you fucked up!"

    "Then, how can I cancel it!?"

    "¡­"

    Tong bit his lower lip and shook his head, signifying that he did not know.

    Looking at Tong''s gesture, Lu Bu''s eyes were bloodshot, "I''m going to kill that wench! I know where she is, and I''ll fucking kill her!"

    Tong grabbed Lu Bu''s shoulder before thetter could fly, "Stop! What do you think you can do against her with your current power!? She is a demon goddess with 10 wings and the help of the universe system! We can''t fight her head-on!"

    Lu Bu turned around and red at Tong, "Very well, then, my father-inw, how are you going to deal with Lilim!? Don''t tell me that you''re going to surrender to her."

    "Of course not! Why do you think I''ve been dying the unification for so long!? I''ve cultivated my ass off, so I can fight against her before she advances the battle royale game and ruins everybody here!"

    The two former nemeses red at each other in the eyes. Both of them had been through thick and thin together for years, and now, they had amon enemy.

    "Return to Ye with me for the time being. I need to solve the problem about you raping my daughter."

    Lu Bu scoffed, "Are you going to make me a prince or something?"

    "Idiot. I have to officially log you a few hundred times to soothe my daughter and every officials'' anger, but I won''t kill you or your family. I can''t give Min''er to you, though, since Sima Yi and Wei Yan are fighting over her favor. They''re going to rebel if I marry her to you."

    "¡­ I get it¡­ so, are we cool?"

    Tong snickered, "Yeah, I forgive you for whatever you did to me or my other life. I fucked you over in the other life. Now, now you fucked my daughter and messed up my rulership, so we''re pretty much even. Will you forgive me for my past deeds when I was Dong Zhuo?"

    Lu Bu looked up and gazed at several karmic chains around himself. He sighed before he looked back at Tong in the eyes.

    However, Lu Bu noticed that Tong''s karmic chains were fading after the former said that he forgave thetter.

    Instead of speaking with his usual voice, he grinned and empowered his voice with his souls, "[I, Lu Bu Fengxian, forgive you, Zhang Tong, Dong Zhuo, for whatever you had harmed me in the past lives and this life.]"

    *RUMBLE*

    Several karmic snakes around Lu Bu paused. They smiled at him and nodded before they disintegrated into nothingness, signifying that they were freed from this unending karma tribtion.

    The soul injuries that Lu Bu had faded as well.

    Lu Bu''s strength soared as his foundation solidified right before Tong''s eyes.

    "That''s how it works! HAHAHAHA!"

    Lu Bu was satisfied with his newfound power. Now, his foundation ended up bing stronger than Tong, who was still slightly injured.

    "Well, shit. How the fuck did you¡­"

    "It''s the vow, fool. The cultivation for the next wing is karmaw, right? I just have to free these souls around me and repent for what I did. Now, I feel like I want to join a monastery or something."

    Lu Bu thought about the vow that he gave to Lilim. A faint smile appeared on his face as he had an inspiration.

    He might have made a mistake, but there might be a trick that he wanted to try.

    "Let''s go home."

    "Yeah."

    Both of them fist-bumped and bid farewell to Ding Yuan, who stood there, confused about what had happened.

    Before Tong and Lu Bu could fly and head home to solve this issue with Zhang Min, Lilim''s voice rang in their heads.

    *VHOOM*

    A red portal opened five meters nearby. The size and the effect were simr to Li Feihong''s abilities, which rmed Tong and Lu Bu, forcing them to leap backward in a panic.

    A demoness with 10 ck wings behind her back stepped out, followed by two angels with 8 wings.

    Guan Yu, Zuo Ci, and Lilim appeared!

    "Lu Fengxian, you''re now my subordinate, soe this way, Tsktsktsk." Lilim wiggled her finger, gesturing Lu Bu to walk toward her as if he were a pet animal.

    Lu Bu sneered, "What if I refuse?"

    "We''ll kill you and your family, including your wife, your foster father, and your daughter."

    Looking and listening to the conversation, Tong gathered his power and reinforced his body. His new ability of 8-wing demon, snakes of karma, gathered around himself as if he were the king of all snakes.

    ck pythons, which had chains instead of the fleshly body, surrounded Tong, forming a natural barrier against Guan Yu and Zuo Ci, who had already drawn their weapons.

    Lilim nced at Tong, who was ready forbat, with a sneer, "Oh, look! A little imp has managed to tame baby snakes. How adorable!"

    Tong clicked his tongue, "The game is over, Lilim. Leave us alone. All hostile otherworlders other than my allies are now on my side."

    "How did you know? Don''t you know that Pu Jing and Liu Yang are still alive?"

    "I know that Liu Yang is Wang Yi and Pu Jing has already left thebat zone. My n is thest one standing, so end the game already!"

    After getting the 8th wing, Tong''s insight and vision covered the entire country. As if he had the perception ability of a god, he could see everything whenever he closed his eyes.

    It was a magical skill worthy of being called a god''s gift.

    With this new third eyes, Tong saw through Liu Yang''s disguise right away. He even nned to persuade Liu Yang to be his permanent wife after Friday and Medusa, so they would not have to fight each other again.

    Unfortunately, Lu Bu and Zhang Min''s incident upied him. And now, he ran into Lilim.

    Lilimughed, "Oh, dear lord. A demon with a heart of a saint, forgiving all his former enemies no matter who they were and what they did. Don''t you know that many of your subordinates n to kill each other on a daily basis?"

    "I''ll deal with them after I reveal myself as a demon god. Now, I''ll ask you again politely. Please end the game and let us live in peace until we''re summoned back to theher realm. After that, you can do whatever you want with the local people."

    "Hahaha! Sure! But you will also have to swear allegiance to me! Make a vow with your power and be my subordinate. Then, I''ll leave you and all of your family alone. However, your Han Dynasty belongs to me."

    "¡­"

    Tong squinted his eyes.

    Lu Bu turned back and looked at Tong.

    The two''s eyes met. For some reason, they exchanged words without uttering a word or relying on the system.

    Tong smiled and turned to Lilim. He had made his decision.

 Chapter 503 Buying 10 Years

    Chapter 503 - Buying 10 Years

    Lu Bu gestured through his eyes that he wanted to fight. Unfortunately, Tong did not think it was a good idea.

    This was a 3-on-2, rather, 3-on-1 situation, it would be stupid to crash with Lilim head-on. Moreover, Lu Bu might be useless in this fight since Lilim might be able to manipte his action because of the oath.

    Whenever the situation looked hopeless, Tong never fought his enemies directly.

    "I have conditions," Tong proposed, "It isn¡¯t fair that I have to entrust everything to you without knowing what I can get in return. I worked so hard for the unification, so I demand some rewards."

    Lilim nodded, "Of course. A greedy fat ass bastard like you won¡¯t surrender without gaining some profits first. Just say it. What do you want from me? I¡¯ll use the systemw to grant your wish."

    Tongughed, "Well, I have five wishes, my dear goddess. First, I want you to make an immortal vow that you or your subordinates will not use your system authority to directly or indirectly cause material damage or non-material damage to me, my subordinates, and my family. This includes harming, harassing, threatening, ckmailing, killing, and making something inconvenient to me, my subordinates, and my family members, and all of their descendants."

    "For that, I¡¯ll make that oath after you. I know what you¡¯re thinking. You think I¡¯ll make that vow, and then, you will go back on your words?"

    Tong empowered his words, "[I vow that I willplete this transaction with Lilim after she makes the oath I told her to.]"

    After saying the words, the sky and earth trembled as they acknowledged Tong¡¯s oath.

    On the other hand, Lilim¡¯s face grimaced, "You¡¯re ying with your words, aren¡¯t you? You didn¡¯t say that you will be my subordinate afterward. Instead, you used this "Transaction" instead of using the other phrase or words that you¡¯ll be my subordinate."

    Tong shrugged, "All transaction is equal. Why should I lower my position before I get what I can bargain?"

    "Hmm! Well, I¡¯ll do that after I consider all of your conditions. What¡¯s next? I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll only ask for these trivial matters."

    Tong squinted his eyes. As expected, Lilim was not an easy opponent to trick.

    The first condition was to ensure that Lilim could not use her trump card, the dimension system, to deprive Tong and others of their cultivation power since Lilim could delete their skills and cultivation with a few consolemands.

    As long as Tong could trick Lilim into making that oath, they would have a chance against this dimension administrator.

    "Second condition, I want my Immortal Yang Vein skill again, and I want it to be embedded to my souls, so this skill can go with me if I were to reincarnate again."

    Lilim sneered, thinking that Tong¡¯s lust overtook his brain. She added the skill to him again.

    "The second condition is done. Now, tell me the third."

    "Third condition, you will make an immortal oath that you will be my wife for at least 10,000 years and bear 10,000 of my children at the minimum."

    Lu Bu and Zuo Ci coughed, holding back theirughter. Guan Yu¡¯s face turned into a poker face, while Lilim was livid.

    "YOU FUCKING SEX FIEND!! DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE IN YOUR HEAD BESIDE YOUR LIMPING PENIS, DONG ZHUO!?"

    Lu Bu held his stomach as heughed. Dong Zhuo was always Dong Zhuo, a perverted sex fiend.

    "Oh, please. Who do you think I am? All beautiful girls in this world once belonged to me. You see, you are quite a pretty girl yourself. Just by seeing your beauty for real, my boy is getting excited," Tong ced his hands on his hips and leaned back, which attracted the others to look at his stomach and the below area. Sure enough, the pitched tent was the center of everyone¡¯s attention.

    Lilim¡¯s face reddened in anger and embarrassment as it was the first time that someone wooed her directly with his erected penis under his pants. Though she had seen many mortals copted, it would be a lie if she said that she did not interest to have one.

    "That won¡¯t do! I won¡¯t be your wife!"

    "Controlling the Han citizens will be hard if you don¡¯t have a legitimate reason to take the throne, you know? By being my wife, I can rece Medusa and make you the empress. Afterward, you can make a sect, force my subordinates to be your subordinates, or abusing the imperial authority to make an official immortal sect to worship you easily."

    "I can easily kill you right now! Why should I even lower myself to bed a bastard like you!?"

    "And you¡¯ll face the resistance from the people. Many families will hate you forever and write records about your doing. Your name will be symbolized as a viin goddess that killed a good emperor, and you won¡¯t be able to form an empire on top of my Han Dynasty within a few hundred years."

    "Fool! I can just wipe out mankind and rece them with more stupid goris."

    "Goris won¡¯t be able to cultivate. Only intelligent humans can. Trust me, you need my people as your subordinates in the future. Unless I¡¯m there to persuade them, you can¡¯t take over the throne without a resistance."

    "I don¡¯t need to literally fuck you to be your wife in-name! You can just officially appoint me as the empress and leave everything to me!"

    "Unfortunately, all empresses in history bore at least one child of the emperor, and it is already a custom of this country. Without my child, everyone won¡¯t see you as a legitimate empress. You know, Medusa and Friday each have a son. You can¡¯t wrestle their position away without my golden seed!"

    "..."

    Lilim was about to castrate Tong to teach him a lesson, but she paused as Tong¡¯s words reminded her of her goal. She nned to create a sect to entice followers, so she would have more chance to break through beyond the 12th wing tier, surpassing the first generation archangels.

    The 11th and 12th wing requirement was one immortal follower with the strength of 10 wings. But the conditions to reach 13th wing and beyond remained a mystery, which Lilim was trying to tackle.

    Lilim believed that it might rte to the number of followers since her mother¡¯s name was a well-known being among mortals of many worlds, and many cults worshiped her.

    Although Lilim wasn¡¯t sure about her theory, she wanted to test it on this dimension. After all, founding a grand religion that would worship her for millennia was a difficult task, and she would never get this chance again in the other dimension.

    "...kay."

    Lilim leaked a fainted voice, but it was audible to Lu Bu, Tong, Guan Yu, and Zuo Ci.

    "WHAT!?" Everyone was in shock as Lilim held the image of a pure and innocent young goddess. They could not believe that she would agree to this absurd demand.

    "Hmm? Pardon?" Tong feinted ignorance as he wanted to shame Lilim.

    "...okay," Lilim¡¯s voice was still soft.

    "I didn¡¯t hear you. What did you say?"

    Lilim¡¯s face reddened. She stomped her feet and screamed, "I SAID, FINE! [I PROMISE THAT I¡¯LL BE YOUR WIFE!!]"

    In embarrassment, Lilim¡¯s tongue slipped and made the immortal vow by reflex. She widened her eyes in disbelief after she regained her senses.

    *RUMBLE*

    It was toote for Lilim to retract her words. The sky and earth ounted for her oath into the karmaw.

    Moreover, Lilim could see a new chain of karmaing out of her belly and tied a knot with Tong¡¯s belly, signifying that they were destined together as couples.

    "NUUUUUUUOOOOOO!!"

    At this moment, Lilim knew that she fucked up. She went down on her knees and ced her hands on the ground, forming a perfect [Orz] pose. As if heaven was mocking her, the sun shone as if it was a spotlight focusing on Lilim while the cloud dimmed the surrounding light.

    Using this chance, Tong knelt beside Lilim and hugged her, "Don¡¯t worry, my wife. You will forget about this shame after a few days. I know a few tricks that can make you forget about all bad past events. You see, even Liu Yang changes her mind after I bedded her a few days-OOOF!"

    *CRACK*

    Lilim punched Tong¡¯s stomach, which destroyed his innards and ruptured his spine. Fortunately, Lilim did not use her force, or Tong would have been dead. Also, the vitality and the regeneration rate of an 8-wing demon was five times stronger than any 7-wing cultivator. In ten seconds, Tong¡¯s damaged intestines and spine healed themselves.

    Tong coughed and held his stomach in pain. The punch just now almost sent his soul to the river of karma.

    Lilim yelled at him, "Tell me the fourth and fifth condition!"

    Tong nodded. His face turned solemn, "Make everyone forget about the incident that Lu Bu did to my daughter. Also, restore Zhang Min¡¯s purity."

    "Brainwashing and restore Zhang Min¡¯s virginity?" Lilim was amused, "That¡¯s it?"

    "Yes. That¡¯s my fourth condition."

    "Hmm."

    Lilim could finally smile as this request was too easy. She opened her administrator console and input a few lines ofmands before she pressed enter.

    *RUMBLE*

    The earth and the sky shook again. This time, Tong could see several green karmic chains flying toward Ye City and other ces. Two of them also came for Lu Bu and Tong.

    Still, they touched Tong and Lu Bu¡¯s body and whimpered in pain before they faded.

    Everyone but Lilim was baffled by the phenomenon.

    "What are those?"

    "Man-made karmaw. I tampered thew a bit and granted your request. Unfortunately, this won¡¯t work with any cultivator with 8 wings or higher."

    "So, everyone will forget what I did?" Lu Bu was curious.

    "Yeah, moron. Even if Zhang Min is pregnant, none of the mortals will realize that it¡¯s yours. Hehehe!"

    Tong¡¯s face twitched when Lilim hinted that Zhang Min might be pregnant. He red at Lu Bu for a second before he pulled back his killing intent.

    "Thest condition..." Tong muttered.

    "Sure. What is it?"

    The atmosphere became tense as Tong¡¯s face turned solemn.

    "I want to test my endurance as an 8-wing demon, so I demand a 10-year marathon fucking session with you! Please vow that you¡¯ll copte with me for at least 10 years as our first sex!"

    *BOOOM*

    As if someone dropped an atomic bomb, everyone widened their eyes in astonishment, awe, and shock.

    Lu Bu and Zuo Ci copsed on the ground, dyingughing. Guan Yu, as usual, facepalmed as he was disappointed in Tong.

    As for Lilim, she recalled that she had just vowed to be this pervert¡¯s wife, and now, Tong wanted to fuck her for 10 years straight.

    "DAMN PERVERT!! I CHANGE MY MIND, I¡¯LL KILL YOU NOW!!"

    Tong jumped back, "If you kill me now, my n members will know about this, and your takeover n can go down the drain!"

    Lilim teleported before Tong and choked him, raising his entire body with one hand. Her breathing was rough as her anger went through the roof, "If you y any trick, even if I have to break the oaths and suffer from tribtions, I¡¯ll kill you and your entire family."

    The power difference between a 10-wing demon and an 8-wing demon was disyed through Lilim¡¯s speed and Tong¡¯s reaction. Even though Tong had been on vignce on Lilim, he failed to react when Lilim suddenly grabbed his neck.

    Tong was aware of the current situation. Had he fought Lilim now, he would be instantly killed by Lilim¡¯s raw power and speed.

    Surviving was the priority in this situation. As long as he was alive, Tong and others would have a chance for aeback.

    He could only pray that his silly n would benefit Friday, Medusa, Li Feihong, his subordinates back home, and his children.

    ¡¯Guys. My cultivation road probably ends here. Liu Xie, Min¡¯er, Friday, Medusa, from now on, I¡¯ll leave everything to all of you!¡¯

    Tong struggled and opened his mouth. He empowered his words, "[I vow that I will be Lilim¡¯s subordinate as long as she epts my five conditions by every word! If she does not follow my five conditions, I will never be her vessel!]"

    *RUMBLE*

    Lilim tossed Tong on the ground. She gritted her teeth and also made an oath, "[I and my subordinates will not use my system authority to harm, harass, threaten, ckmail, kill, or cause trouble or difficulty to Zhang Tong, his subordinates, his family, and their descendants! I will also be his wife and bed him for at least 10 years to satisfy his submission conditions!]"

    *RUMBLE*

    More karma chains tied Lilim and Tong together as both sides exchanged their oaths. However, Lilim had notpleted her 4th condition yet as she had toplete the 10-year session.

    Lilim red at Tong with hatred, "After the 10 years, you¡¯ll give the throne to me!"

    "I know," Still coughing, Tong revealed a bitter smile.

    However, in his mind, he mocked Lilim, ¡¯Not even a bargain or a haggle? Lilim, you¡¯re a na?ve bitch! I¡¯ll make sure to mind-break you!¡¯

 Chapter 504 Lilimâ€™s Cheats

    Chapter 504 - Lilim¡¯s Cheats

    Tong: "I killed Sun Fang and another intruder. We¡¯ve run into Lilim."

    Tong: "I¡¯m negotiating with Lilim at the moment. Things aren¡¯t in our favor."

    While Tong was tricking Lilim into bing his wife, he reported the deal to others, using his free hands, typing behind his back. He did not forget to include the 10-year time that Tong would keep Lilim upied.

    Zhuge Liang: "Are you surrendering the throne to the goddess?"

    Tong: "I¡¯m trying my best not to, but I don¡¯t have a choice. Lu Bu is tricked into bing her vessel, so he can¡¯t fight her. I¡¯m also surrounded by two other 8-wing angels, so I¡¯m buying time for the rest of us to catch up with their cultivation."

    Tong: "I told her to..."

    Tong exined what his true goal behind the conditions. At nce, it sounded like Tong was throwing away his throne for the sake of bedding the goddess. However, Tong tricked Lilim into giving up her system power and trapped her by his side for at least 10 years.

    By sacrificing his future, Tong gave Li Feihong, Friday, Medusa, and other cultivators 10 years to grow stronger, hoping that they could surpass Lilim¡¯s current strength.

    Although Tong came up with this n, he had expected that Lilim would be aware of the ploy, and she would mark all cultivators as threats. Once the time was up, Lilim might risk breaking her oath and kill all talented cultivators to suppress Tong¡¯s hidden forces.

    But had Lilim vited her oath, a karma tribtion would befall upon her, and she might die or be crippled, which benefitted Tong anyway.

    Furthermore, Tong had rooms to avoid the submission. As long as he could exploit the agreement and make Lilim fail to satisfy one of the conditions, Tong would win big.

    Diaochan: "I got your message. I¡¯ll rush my cultivation to 10 wings ASAP. I have to travel around the world and solve my mother¡¯s karma knots, though."

    Li Feihong: "That¡¯s a tall call, Tong. I¡¯m not abatant! You¡¯re overestimating my abilities. I¡¯m only a trashy 7-wing angel. (T_T)"

    Dong Bai: "If that is called trashy, the rest of us are insects, then? I cultivated longer than you, but I only have 6 wings, mind you!"

    Dong Bai: "Anyway, I got the hint. Who are those two 8-wing angels?"

    Tong: "Guan Yu and Zuo Ci."

    Li Feihong: "Welp, shit! I¡¯m d I haven¡¯t killed Liu Bei yet. I have Liu Bei and Ma Chao in my dimension. You can use them to bargain with Guan Yu, Tong."

    Tong: "Noted. Everyone, be ready for changes. I don¡¯t know what Lilim will do to all of you and the n after this."

    .

    .

    .

    *VHOOM*

    Afterpleting the oaths, Lilim opened a red gate, "Get in, both of you."

    Lu Bu snorted as he nned to fly away. However, his body moved against his will and followed after Lilim into the portal.

    Lu Bu gazed around himself. He found that karma chains bound him and Lilim was holding another end of the chains.

    "Damn you! Let me go!"

    Lilim snickered, "You¡¯re now my ve, bitch. Follow me obediently, or I¡¯ll destroy you!"

    "Fool! I¡¯m Zhang Tong¡¯s subordinate! You can¡¯t kill me!"

    "Ha! Think again! You are now my ve, not Zhang Tong¡¯s bitch!"

    Lilim injected some of her power into the chains and electrocuted Lu Bu. Thetter almost screamed in pain as his body was burning from the inside.

    After five minutes of torturing, Lilim stopped and allowed Lu Bu to recover from his external wounds.

    "Get the fuck in, bitches."

    Lu Bu bit his lower lip and followed Lilim into the red gate.

    As for Tong, he still could control over his body as Lilim had notpleted all 4 conditions that he had demanded from Lilim. As such, Tong was not yet her subordinate.

    Still, he entered the portal anyway as he did not want to risk fighting against Lilim, Zuo Ci, and Guan Yu when his soul injuries had not beenpletely cured. For now, he yed along with this group as he nned to contain their movements.

    After the group had entered the red portal, they found themselves on top of a mountain in.

    Tong looked at the sky by reflex as he found the atmosphere and the air unusual.

    "This ce is not the world."

    Lilim snorted, "Correct. This is Li Feihong¡¯s skill, [Private World]."

    "So, you can use anyone¡¯s system skill?"

    "That¡¯s a given. I¡¯m the administrator, so I can use pretty much all the skills that all reincarnators have, including yours, Dong Zhuo."

    "Ah. So that movement from before was my skill? I can¡¯t react to that footwork at all."

    "..."

    Lilim did not answer, but Tong figured that Lilim might have activated his [Time Stop] skill to appear in front of himself earlier and forced him into submission.

    Tong sighed as he thought about the past. Before Lilith left this dimension, she persuaded him to be her subordinate as well.

    ¡¯I¡¯m d I didn¡¯t ept her invitation back then. Or else, I would have been tricked into making a vow without realizing the consequence.¡¯

    Both Lilith and Lilim could not be trusted, but Tong nned to exploit Lilim as best as he could.

    While Tong was scheming in his mind, Guan Yu walked behind Tong, keeping him in check.

    Although this god of loyalty did notment on anything as they proceeded forward, his mind was not as calm as his expression.

    Guan Yu wanted to return to Liu Bei¡¯s side, but he could not find Liu Bei after he had activated his god eyes around the country. Unbeknownst to Guan Yu, he could not peek into Li Feihong¡¯s dimension, which was hidden beyond this universe.

    Just like the current Lilim¡¯s dimension, Tong couldn¡¯t see anyone after he had peeked outside with his god eyes. This was why Tong noticed that this was not the same world.

    "Dong Zhuo. Where is my elder brother?"

    Finally, Guan Yu lost his patience and asked Tong.

    "My current name is Zhang Tong. Stop calling me as Dong Zhuo, please."

    "... Fine. Where is my brother?"

    Tong shrugged, "I have no idea."

    "Know your ce, prisoner! Confess, or I¡¯ll cripple your cultivation!"

    "Ahaha! You can¡¯t, buddy. Lilim made an oath that she and her subordinates can¡¯t harm me in any way. If you do, Lilim will face a karma tribtion."

    Hearing the mockery, Lilim turned around and red at Guan Yu, "Leave him alone. If I die by the tribtion, you will die first. Don¡¯t forget that you can be injured or die in my ce if anything happens to me."

    Guan Yu clicked his tongue as he nced at Tong with resentment, "If I find out that my brother dies, I don¡¯t mind dying, but I¡¯ll make sure that you¡¯ll suffer the same death!"

    Tong raised his hands and rolled his eyes, "Stop with the clich¨¦. He¡¯s fine."

    Lilim snickered and blurted a secret, "Both Liu Beis is still alive and kicking. You don¡¯t have to worry about them."

    "Both?" Tong and Guan Yu frowned.

    Something was not right. Tong knew that Liu Bei was captured, but he hadn¡¯t heard about two Liu Beis.

    Zuo Ci, who had been quieted for all this time, interjected, "You¡¯re up for some surprise if you know about Li Feihong¡¯s alternate form. He¡¯s in a simr position like you, Zhang Tong."

    "Is he someone from this timeline?"

    "You can say that. Now, you have all the hints. You should understand who Li Feihong was."

    "..."

    From the hints, Tong could guess that Li Feihong might have been once born as Liu Bei. Still, it was a surprising discovery.

    "Wow, really? I had that son of a bitch as my subordinate after all this time. I should have killed that fool a long time ago."

    Lu Bu was shocked as well. He recalled the day that Liu Bei coaxed Cao Cao into executing him after the Battle at Xiapi in the other timeline, and he wanted to kill Liu Bei to pay back for the deed. Still, as he was aware that it was someone else¡¯s memory, Lu Bu treated this event as a joke.

    Feeling frisky about the discovery, Lu Bu opened his n menu and nned tomunicate with Li Feihong in the n chat, hoping to bully this coward.

    But Lilim noticed that, "Oh, I forgot about the n chat. I¡¯m sorry. From now on, you can¡¯t use that anymore."

    Both Tong and Lu Bu widened their eyes as their n chat option in the system menu disappeared. This was their lifeline and the only way for them tomunicate with others.

    "Oi. Won¡¯t my n disband itself after I left? Isn¡¯t this viting your oath?"

    Lilim sneered, "It did since I "harassed" you. Well, as long as your family and your subordinates are unharmed, or my action isn¡¯t proved to be inconvenient toward your family or your subordinates, it doesn¡¯t count as a breach of oath."

    Tong frowned. Lilim¡¯s action just now clearly breached the oath since she cut off Tong¡¯smunication method to his family members and his men. The agreement was that Lilim could not trouble Tong, but cutting off themunication system counted as one.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Two lightning bolts appeared out of nowhere and struck at Lilim twice. Two of her wings cracked as she suffered a direct punishment from breaking her oath.

    "Whoops. I guess that depriving you of n chat counts as troubling you. Well, I don¡¯t mind."

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    The same two lightning bolts appeared from Lilim¡¯s damaged wings and struck Lu Bu and Guan Yu instead. Both men vomited blood and copsed on the ground, falling unconscious.

    As for Lilim¡¯s previous injuries, they were gone.

    Lilim sneered at them before she coyly smiled at Tong, "As you can see, they will be scapegoats if I vite a couple of oaths. I can kill you or your family at any time that I want as long as I have these fools as my goons. Now, follow me to my room, so we can get these 10 years of fucking done ASAP! Afterward, I¡¯ll give you back the n chat, and all the agreement will bepleted!"

    Tong¡¯s face was full of sweat drops after he realized that Lilim could cheat the tribtion. Now, he could only rely on his third leg to tame this demon goddess.

    ¡¯Never put a D in crazy... Now, I¡¯m about to put one in a lunatic. Buddha, Ah, Jesus, wish me luck!¡¯

 Chapter 505 Gathering of Legends

    Chapter 505 - Gathering of Legends

    While Tong and Lu Bu were stranded in Lilim¡¯s private dimension, n notifications rmed all n members, including Diaochan and Dong Bai.

    Even though Tong had warned them that changes wereing, this was too sudden.

    Diaochan stopped cultivating and ordered everyone right away.

    Diaochan: "Put me as the n leader. I¡¯ll take it over."

    Cao Cao: "What about his majesty? Why did he leave?"

    Diaochan: "Reread the logs. He is trapping Lilim at the moment, so we only have 10 years to ovee the difference in strength."

    Cao Cao: "We? Shouldn¡¯t it be you?"

    Zhuge Liang: "Please don¡¯t feint ignorance, Wei Chancellor. We¡¯ve learned that Lilim got Guan Yu, Lu Bu, and might have enved our emperor. Sun Ce is also working for her. We should start preparing for another war with the goddess faction now."

    Te Langpu: "By the way, what about the battle at Zhongshan and Nanpi? What¡¯s the result?"

    Sima Yi: "I¡¯ve sent Zhao Yun and Wei Yan to subjugate the local resistances. I¡¯m waiting for their result."

    Sima Yi: "Also, I have a weird feeling that I forgot something very important. Is there something happening to Zhang Min recently?"

    Dong Bai: "Aside from being rescued by Lu Bu, Zhang Min is fine."

    Sima Yi: "Is that all? Nothing happened to her?"

    Dong Bai: "Do you want something to happen to her or what?"

    Sima Yi: "Nothing. Just asking."

    Diaochan: "..."

    .

    .

    .

    = At Diaochan¡¯s room =

    Diaochan was swift. Even though she was cultivating, she still paid attention to all changes and reacted to it.

    But now, Diaochan frowned as she looked at the wiggling karmic snakes on the floor. These things attempted to invade her body, but they were repelled by her karmaw¡¯s resistance from her 8 wings.

    ¡¯Aren¡¯t these memory snakes?¡¯

    Behind Diaochan, eight ck wings fluttered, but they had red lines on them. The breakthrough was sessful, but her foundation was still unstable.

    Fortunately, the constitution of 8-wing immortal could self-heal faster. From now on, she did not have to worry about rpsing soul injuries.

    Still, the brainwashing karma snakes rmed Diaochan. The only one who could use this technique was a 10-wing immortal or someone with a higher cultivation base.

    ¡¯Lilim must have done something, or this is Tong¡¯s work.¡¯

    Medusa closed her eyes and concentrated on healing and reinforcing her foundation. Once she recovered, she nned to head west toward her mother¡¯s homnd to solve her bloodline karma.

    .

    .

    .

    While Tong was bargaining with Lilim, the situation at Zhongshan progressed.

    Song Qian and Chen Wu flew above Zhongshan¡¯s airspace. By the order of Zhou Yu and Sun Ce, they were supposed to be here and secure Wang Yun, Zhen Yi, and their family. However, the recent system messages told them that Sun Fang and Zhou Yu were dead, so they hesitated if they should continue fighting.

    "Brother Song, do you think we should look for those old men?"

    Chen Wu grumbled, "Let¡¯s just snatch the city gold and return to Jianye. Zhang Tong has appeared, and we¡¯re at risk of being hunted down."

    "Right. Man, Zhou Yu in this world sucks. He was smarter in the other world."

    "Can¡¯t help it. He¡¯s blind with rage. Zhang Tong stole his wife after all."

    "By the way, what are we going to report to Sun Ce if we return empty-handed?"

    "Just tell him that Zhen Yi and Wang Yun are dead or captured. Or we can make up a story that we fought Zhang Tong and survived. Then, we can get a bit of credit for standing against a stronger cultivator."

    "Good idea. Let¡¯s rob this city and go home."

    Both mennded inside the government building area as they beelined toward the treasury.

    As they had expected, Zhongshan City¡¯s treasury stored many treasures, supplies, and gold nuggets inside. However, gold chests werecking as Zhen Yi had taken most of them with him.

    Still, Song Qian and Chen Wu took one chest each. They left the building and soared to the sky right away.

    On their way, out of the city, two angels chased after them from behind.

    "FBI, FREEZE!!"

    Strange words came from the angel with white clothes, which confused Song Qian and Chen Wu.

    "Dafuq? Speak a human¡¯snguage, fool!"

    They turned around and prepared to engage inbat.

    When Song Qian and Chen Wu noticed that the two pursuers had the same 4-wing strength, their face turned solemn. Both of them began thinking.

    Since they were carrying a gold chest, they were not in the best condition to fight in aerialbat. On the other hand, two angels came with their weapons.

    "Let¡¯s bail."

    "Yeah."

    Song Qian and Chen Wu turned tail and flew away. They also separated, so the pursuers could not catch both of them at once.

    .

    The pursuers, Zhao Yun and Wei Yan, looked at each other.

    "Should we chase?"

    Zhao Yun shook his head, "Leave them. Our speed is simr, so it will just be a wild goose chase. No pun intended."

    "..."

    Zhao Yun and Wei Yan, who were ordered to find Zhen Yi and Wang Yun, ran into Chen Wu and Song Qian. As the four men had the same strength and it would be risky to fight them head-on, Zhao Yun and Wei Yan retreated and reported the matter to Sima Yi.

    "We¡¯ve run into two angels in the city. Strategist Sima, what¡¯s our next move?"

    Sima Yi¡¯s face grimaced as he was still confused about the recent changes of the n and his weird feeling about his memory. His instinct cried that he lost something important, but he could not remember.

    Though distracted, he could still focus on the matter at hand.

    "Did you fight with them?"

    "No. They ran away as soon as we noticed them."

    "How about the citizens and the local troops? Are they hostile?"

    "No. They simply mistook us as gods and prostrated to us."

    "Are you sure?"

    "Yes."

    "..."

    Sima Yi shook his head in disappointment, "How durd. Tell the men to enter the city. Find Wang Yun and Zhen Yi if you can. If they have escaped, capture their family and their subordinates."

    .

    The White Horse Legion entered the city without facing resistance from the local army. Fortunately, Sun Ce and Sun Fang could not gain control over the local policemen and Zhen Yi¡¯s men.

    Upon entering Zhen Yi¡¯s resident, Sima Yi and Zhao Yun found Wang Yun, who had already tied himself and surrendered. No family member of Wang Yun was in sight.

    "Just you?" Sima Yi frowned, "Where are Zhen Yi and his family?"

    Wang Yun bitterly smiled, "They ran away south."

    "Why don¡¯t you escape, then?"

    "There is no point in escaping. My timing was bad. My luck was bad. Everything was against me."

    Sima Yi and Zhao Yun pitied him. This man did well in the other timeline, but his ambitious dragged him down.

    "I understand that you want to gain a higher noble tier. But what¡¯s the point? Aren¡¯t you satisfied with themandery governor position? No one can do anything to you since you¡¯re the father of the prime consort. Why rebelling?"

    Wang Yun snickered, "When you have tasted the absolute power of controlling the court and the royalties, can you give them up?"

    "... Silly old fool. Your previous authority in the other world belongs to the young Liu Xie, but you only borrowed it from him for a short moment. If you desire power, you have to earn it with your brain and your hands. Instead of abusing your connection, you could have proved your worth by developing yourmandery and gain Zhang Tong¡¯s trust."

    "But I¡¯m Diaochan¡¯s father!"

    "Authority through connection breeds corruption. You can only obtain authority yourself, or your heart will be spoiled rotten. This is your mistake, senior Wang."

    Wang Yun scoffed, "Hah! Hypocrite! You¡¯re the one to talk! Don¡¯t you think everyone didn¡¯t know that you¡¯re pursuing the first princess for authority! Everyone can see that you¡¯re more corrupted than the rest of us!"

    Zhao Yun, Hu Che-er, and Wei Yan, who was tagging along with Sima Yi, nced at the strategist as they knew why Wang Yun said that. They, too, agreed with Wang Yun¡¯s criticism.

    Instead of getting angry, Sima Yi sneered, "I¡¯ve been raising my status and noble tier through my hard work, but you didn¡¯t. I had proven my worth in the other timeline and this world, but you had barely done anything worthwhile. Everywhere that I went, I made sure that the local poption is well-fed and prosper, but you have done shit! You¡¯re in the position to criticize my love life and my dream, retard sloth!"

    Sima Yi didn¡¯t bother arguing with Wang Yun. He turned around and left the residence. As for Wang Yun, he continued to curse Sima Yi as an ingrate traitor and spat various profanity.

    Hu Che-er had enough of Wang Yun. He drew his sword and swung it to cut this old man¡¯s neck.

    "Tsk!"

    The sword in Hu Che-er¡¯s hand could not harm Wang Yun as it stopped 2 centimeters before it could reach Wang Yun¡¯s neck.

    Sima Yi stopped his feet. He also got a simr message that Hu Che-er attempted to kill Wang Yun.

    "Use your men to execute this fool. We can¡¯t harm each other directly."

    Hu Che-Er nodded and dragged Wang Yun away.

    .

    .

    .

    30 Minutes after the White Horse Legion entered Zhongshan, a system message announced that Wang Yun had been killed by an unknown person.

    Before anyone could make a fuss, Sima Yi reported his deed.

    Sima Yi: "We¡¯ve captured Wang Yun and executed him on the spot. Sorry that we can¡¯t kill him directly."

    Diaochan: "Good job."

    Sima Yi: "Are you fine with it? He¡¯s your father."

    Diaochan: "He¡¯s no longer my father when he asked Zhen Yi to join his rebellion."

    Sima Yi: "Alright. Have it your way. By the way, can I propose a southern campaign in advance? I believe we need to prepare a force to annihte Sun Ce¡¯s remnants in Jianye soon. Also, I don¡¯t trust Liu Biao."

    Diaochan: "We¡¯ll deal with the current issues of newly awakening immortals among the citizens first. As for the campaign, save it for the next year. Gan Ning should have finished constructing warships for the campaign by then."

    Sima Yi: "Understood. By the way, can¡¯t you just fly south and assassinate Sun Ce?"

    Dong Bai: "We¡¯re running out of time, Zhongda. She only has 10 years to cultivate 10 wings and match Lilim¡¯s strength. Getting to 8 wings is easy but 10 wings can take forever. The shortest record in the Netherworld was 8 years and a half, so we can¡¯t waste our time now. We¡¯ll use our other immortals to get rid of this threat instead."

    Sima Yi: "What about Li Feihong, Dian Wei, and you, your majesty? I heard that you have 6-7 wings."

    Dong Bai: "We¡¯re facing a self-detonation risk factor. Assassination n might be too risky if Sun Ce has prepared many soldiers that can self-detonate."

    Diaochan: "I¡¯ve used my vision to spy on Jianye¡¯s people. I can confirm that many immortals are lurking in that city. From the intel from Lu Xun and Lu Meng, Lu Su and the Zhu family are still there. I¡¯ve also spotted a gathering of a wild sect with at least 500 cultivators around Jianye. Since Sun Ce is Lilim¡¯s subordinate, they might have other trump cards other than self-detonation."

    Sima Yi: "I see."

    As the three were having a serious conversation about the southern campaign, Cao Cao invited more of his subordinates into the n chat.

    Cao Cao: "Please brief about the current conflict and all forces to my men. I¡¯ve invited all of them into the n now."

    Dong Bai: "Wait a sec, how the hell did you invite them!? I thought only otherworlders like me and Diaochan can use the invite option!"

    Cao Cao: "n level 3? Hasn¡¯t it been upgraded? I just explored the system a bit. It seems that there¡¯s no limit for the invitation now."

    Dong Bai: "..."

    Cao Cao: "Anyway, we¡¯ve gotten ourselves the most fucking dream-team that I, in the other timeline, would have vomited blood from being jealous. Kongming, Zhongda, Fengxiao, you three motherfuckers should work together ande up with a battle policy and stratagems to invade Wu! Old coots, Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, you guys too!"

    Zhuge Liang: "..."

    Guo Jia: "..."

    Sima Yi: "..."

    Not only Cao Cao¡¯s subordinates entered Tong¡¯s n, but the former Sun n members also joined as Dong Bai rushed to invite them after she had realized that the limitation was gone.

    Cao Cao: "Oh great, more hotshots entering the league."

    Sun Quan: "Hello. We can finally speak, Wei Chancellor."

    Cao Cao: "Hey, you brat. Good fight in the other world. Too bad we both kicked the bucket before it resolved."

    Sun Quan: "Same. Good fight. Too bad my descendants are morons."

    Cao Cao: "Likewise. We also lost to those ingrates Sima! A pity that bastard Liu Bei is too stupid to join us. Or else, it would have been the hell of a party."

    Sun Quan: "Haha. I know."

    Li Feihong: "..."

    Without Tong realizing it, his former n expanded and all members who Tong had postponed inviting now joined the n.

 Chapter 506 Cao Cao and Te Langpuâ€™s Suspicious Move

    Chapter 506 - Cao Cao and Te Langpu¡¯s Suspicious Move

    While the n members increased as many talented officers joined, Liu Xie led his Demon Legion and entered Nanpi City. His generals and strategist, Taishi Ci, Liu Ye, Zhang Ji, and Zhang Xiu also apanied him.

    "Arrest all Wang Yun¡¯s subordinates and his hidden family. Interrogate them if they know about Wang Yun¡¯s rebellion n."

    Liu Xie did not waste his time on formality. He sent his order to Liu Ye right away.

    "Your highness, Wang Yun might be a rebel in this world, but he¡¯s still your benefactor in the other life. I hope that you can spare his family."

    "I know. I¡¯ve never forgotten how he saved me from Dong Zhuo. But he has made a mistake, and we have to punish him to set an example."

    Liu Xie never wanted to harm Wang Yun and his family since thetter saved his life from Dong Zhuo¡¯s tyranny in the other timeline. Unfortunately, fate guided them to this undesirable oue.

    The army took over the city as nned. All local officers gave up their authority to Liu Xie without resistance as he was the first prince.

    As Liu Xie was busy handling the interrogation and remnant searching, a new system message rang in his head.

    ¡¯Election?¡¯

    Liu Xie frowned. The promised election was scheduled next year as Liu Xie would be a full-fledge 20-year-old adult. However, he had already abandoned the thought of fighting Tong for the throne.

    Still, Liu Xie was curious about the private group. He epted the invitation as he wanted to check who might be plotting against his father again.

    A new group appeared in Liu Xie¡¯s system. He had one more icon appeared next to Tong¡¯s n.

    The new group was named as [Election Team], and the leader of this group was Cao Cao!

    Liu Xie scanned through the member list right away.

    Te Langpu

    Cao Cao

    Guo Jia

    Three people were in this group other than himself.

    Te Langpu: "Wee, your highness."

    Liu Xie: "What¡¯s this all about?"

    Te Langpu: "As the group title said, election team."

    Te Langpu: "A friendly reminder, the next election ising next year, so we would like to prepare you for the campaign, speech, and trivial matters."

    Liu Xie: "I thought we¡¯re preparing for the decisive war with Sun Ce and Lilim. Why are we holding an election in this crucial time? WTF?"

    Liu Xie could guess that these people wanted to use him as a puppet, judging from their past and their behavior in the other world, including Te Langpu. Tong had always warned Liu Xie that Te Langpu was smart, but his methods and execution processing could be suspicious and stupid sometimes. Therefore, Liu Xie should not believe in everythinging out of Te Langpu¡¯s mouth.

    Cao Cao: "That¡¯s the point. The current emperor is not in a condition to unite the people and the court for this important period. We need a new emperor to rece his majesty Zhang Tong as soon as possible."

    Liu Xie scoffed. It seemed that Cao Cao plotted to make him a puppet again.

    Liu Xie: "Not interested. My two mothers are doing well. We have 2 6-wing demonesses controlling the court, and all idiots are under their control. There is no need for me to enter the political infighting scene."

    Cao Cao: "You¡¯ve misunderstood us. We didn¡¯t want you to fight or rebel against your mothers or your father. Instead, we want you to take the lead and support your parents in their endeavor."

    Liu Xie: "???"

    Guo Jia: "Would you give me permission to exin, your highness?"

    Cao Cao¡¯s current best strategist, Guo Jia, who had been inactive during the conflict between Tong and other forces, finally stoppedying low.

    Guo Jia: "Currently, the prime consort should be the strongest immortal in our current force after his majesty and Lu Bu. By his majesty¡¯s order, she should be busy cultivating to reach the 10-wing cultivation as soon as possible."

    Liu Xie: "And?"

    Guo Jia: "During this period, she will be unavable for most of the time, and the empress Dong Bai alone will have her hands full controlling rowdy officials."

    Liu Xie: "I heard that she also has 6 wings. I don¡¯t think she¡¯ll be in trouble or anyone will have the guts to cause a scene."

    Guo Jia: "Imagine that more 6-wing cultivators emerge during this period. Most of our elites already have 4 wings. It won¡¯t be long before they catch up with her majesty¡¯s cultivation."

    Guo Jia: "Because of this, her majesty will also be busy trying to get herself the 8th wing, so she could stand on top of all generals. What do you think would happen when the two strongest immortals of our forces were to focus on cultivating without managing the court properly?"

    Liu Xie: "What will happen?"

    Guo Jia: "Chaos. We can expect various hidden power to make their moves. Remember when his majesty and the prime consort were away? Many officers did whatever they pleased!"

    Liu Xie: "Don¡¯t make it sound like this was something that you had never gotten involved. Te Langpu was the cause, wasn¡¯t he!? Why should I work with someone who troubled my father and my mothers!?"

    Te Langpu: "This is where you were wrong. It was a necessary move to pacify those greedy officials, and I managed to flush out opportunist idiots like Wang Yun and Zhen Yi! Without my move back then, everyone would still have been clueless about these two bastards!"

    Guo Jia: "The prime minister has done nothing wrong, your highness. He did everything to eliminate the hidden threats. Now, by looking at their currentnd, assets, and armies, we can tell who is trustworthy and who¡¯s not."

    Guo Jia: "For example, the Sima n is currently under suspicion of employing a private army without his majesty¡¯s authorization. Moreover, Sima Yi is known to be an ambitious person that has been chasing after the first princess."

    Guo Jia: "More example, Kong Rong bought all Beiheind for himself, and he allowsmoners to rent them for agriculture or farming. However, he declines all merchants that wanted to buy thend off his hands. You see, we tested our governors, and they revealed their true color if they were honest officials or not."

    Guo Jia: "Secondly, Liu Biao has not officially surrendered to us. We still can¡¯t control the Jing Province and Yi Province! Unless we have an active emperor who can issue imperial edicts, these forces will expand. Please note thatmoners are now able to cultivate wings. We can expect that many forces will employ more immortals. Her majesty and the prime consort won¡¯t be able to deal with everybody!"

    Guo Jia: "Please understand that we are trying to help you and your father, your highness. All you have to do is taking the helms and issue royal decrees to control their movements. As for the rest, you can leave it to her majesty, the prime consort, and us."

    Reading the chat messages, Liu Xie spat and clicked his tongue. He never trusted these men since their reasoning was one-sided. No matter how Liu Xie analyzed their words, they clearly wanted him as their puppet again.

    Liu Xie nced at Liu Ye and Taishi Ci, "Some bastards want me to be the new emperor next year."

    "WHAT!?" Both officers were shocked and enraged, "Who is troubling you, your highness. We can report this to her majesty and the prime consort right now!"

    "Te Langpu, Guo Jia, and Cao Cao. They are using the new private chat feature to coax me," Liu Xie copied their messages and sent them to Liu Ye and others through the private chat.

    "..."

    All officers read the log messages in astonishment. None of them could have thought that Te Langpu, Cao Cao, and Guo Jia were plotting to rece Tong with Liu Xie.

    "I¡¯m going to report this to my mothers," Liu Xie grumbled as he operated his n menu to send a private message to Dong Bai and Diaochan.

    "Please wait, your highness," Liu Ye grabbed Liu Xie¡¯s hand.

    "What?"

    "Please listen to me. Say, why don¡¯t you pretend to be their puppet?"

    "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?" Taishi Ci, Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji, and Liu Xie red at Liu Ye as if they were ready to kill this strategist.

    Liu Ye shrunk back in fear, but he mustered his courage and expressed his insight, "I think Cao Cao and Guo Jia are giving you onest chance before they usurp the throne!"

    "WHAT!?" Everyone froze.

    "You see, we have just learned that Dian Wei has 6 wings, and many of Cao Cao¡¯s men have 4-wing cultivation. Don¡¯t you think that he also has enough manpower to defeat his majesty¡¯s subordinates?"

    "... But we have my mothers."

    "Please don¡¯t forget about the variable, Lilim."

    "!!!"

    Liu Xie and everyone¡¯s face turned solemn when they heard of Lilim¡¯s name. All their killing intent toward Liu Ye ceased as they continued to listen to his advice.

    Liu Ye continued, "I¡¯m afraid that Lilim can hear and see everything that we do, and she is definitely not a fool. Cao Cao, Guo Jia, and Te Langpu should also be thinking the same, so they are making a decision if they should continue to serve his majesty or switch sides to Lilim!"

    "T-This..."

    "I think they are probing you if they can use you. If they can¡¯t, they will cooperate with Lilim in secret and backstab his majesty during the critical time."

    "But that is just a theory. We can¡¯t assume that they will use this move without proof."

    As Liu Ye was giving Liu Xie his advice, someone sent Liu Xie a private message.

    Zhuge Liang: "Your highness. By any chance that Cao Cao or Te Langpu attempt to talk about the next election, let them use you."

    Zhuge Liang: "I just had a conversation with Jia Xu, Ju Shou, and Xun Yu. All of them including me received Cao Cao¡¯s invitation to join his private group chat between strategists, and he mentioned the election. I suspect that he¡¯s testing the water to see who he can use."

    Zhuge Liang: "I assume that he¡¯s plotting to use the next year¡¯s election to rece his majesty with you. For now, y along with his scheme if he contacts you. Or else, Cao Cao is likely to switch sides and join forces with Lilim behind our back!"

    Zhuge Liang: "This n level 3 and perks are suspicious! I doubt that Lilim must have already poached many of our officers in advance, and she is allowing them tomunicate in private with this feature! Please be careful, your highness!"

    Liu Xie had a chill running down his spine when the legendary strategist, Zhuge Liang, gave him the same advice that Liu Ye was telling him.

    While Liu Xie was astonished by Zhuge Liang¡¯s warning, Liu Ye continued, "I suspect that Lilim might have upgraded our n to level 3 on purpose, so moles inside our forces canmunicate without being detected. I think some of our men have already been bought to the other side."

    "..."

    Liu Xie¡¯s face changed from red to white as his anger turned into fear. He wanted to protect Tong¡¯s kingdom, but the pressure was overwhelming his decision.

    With trembling hands, he slowly typed and replied to Cao Cao¡¯s group.

    Liu Xie: "I understand. Tell me what you¡¯re nning."

    Liu Xie epted Zhuge Liang and Liu Ye¡¯s advice!

    .

    .

    .

    =Meanwhile, in another dimension=

    If anyone got near the courtyard on the top of this mountain teau, they would be able to hear the lewd conversation and sultry noise from the sole building around here.

    "Lust Curse!"

    "Hahaha! It won¡¯t work. I have stronger cultivation. I¡¯m immune to all of your curses."

    "Are you sure? Why is it so wet down here?"

    "S-Shut up! Hey! I haven¡¯t told you to insert it yet-A-Ahhhh! It¡¯s too big!? Why is it getting bigger inside!? Ah! Don¡¯t move!"

    "Lilim. Trust me. Let the lust curse take effect. It will be more fun. If you don¡¯t allow it, it will get dull over time. We have 10 years to work on, remember?"

    "Ahhhh! Wait! I haven¡¯t-Ahhh!"

    "If you resist, it will hurt. Come on, let the curse run its course. It will only increase your sensitivity and make it enjoyable."

    "Ahh! O-Okay-Ahh! Be gentle!"

    "Of course. Lust Curse!"

    "Ugh...Hmm? Eh? AHHHH!! AIE! WAIT! THIS ISN¡¯T ONLY A BIT-AHHH!!"

    "You resisted some of the curses, so the effect is only 2 to 5 times the usual. Don¡¯t resist, my dear. Let it run wild. If you do, you¡¯ll forget about the 10 years¡¯ time. Actually, you might want to extend it, Hehehe. Lust Curse!"

    "Hieeee!! AHHHH!! OH-WOW! AHHH!! MORE!!"

    "That¡¯s right. Let it sink in, and-"

    "Lust Curse!"

    "Wait! Don¡¯t use it on me-Oh shit!"

    "AHAHAHA! GIVE ME MORE!!"

    ...

    The under-the-belly war went on with their sanity on the line.

    ...

    Lu Bu, Guan Yu, and Zuo Ci plugged their ears and meditated at the edge of Lilim¡¯s dimension as Tong and Lilim¡¯s bed activity had started. From the moan and the brief conversation, it wasn¡¯t hard to guess who had the upper hand.

 Chapter 507 Pre-Election Rumble 1

    Chapter 507 - Pre-Election Rumble (1)

    Winter, 200 AD.

    Months had passed since Sun Ce¡¯s raiding incident.

    After Sun Ce and his goons ran home, none of them make any military movement as if they never existed.

    As for news about the missing Tong and Lu Bu, there was none. Both pirs of the Han Dynasty never returned to Ye again.

    = Ye City, Throne Room =

    A grand meeting was held today. All legion leaders, military strategists, governors, princes, and political leaders from various branches attended this gathering as Liu Xie summoned them using his authority.

    He had to since Cao Cao and Te Langpu demanded it. Per Liu Ye and Zhuge Liang¡¯s advice, Liu Xie pretended to act as their puppet and let them abuse his power for now.

    In the beginning, the meeting was a stage for honest governors and civil officers to report their achievements and their city development. Followed by the summarized report, legionmanders briefed about their army size, supply status, and their preparation for the grand war with Sun Ce.

    Everything was in order. Usually, Tong or his wives woulde out and bless them with gold, lifespan, or noble tiers as their rewards.

    However, this meeting was staged by Cao Cao and Te Langpu. Instead of rewarding all officers, they switched the agenda to another matter that they had prepared.

    "Next agenda, the emperor selection next year, I would like to propose the next year election regtions, qualifications, and the creation of the Federal Election Commission organization to administrate this matter."

    "WHAT!?"

    It immediately threw the officers to an uproar. Zhang Jiao, Lu Zhi, and the new minister of medicine who was promoted after Sun Ce¡¯s raid, Hua Tuo, led Tong¡¯s supporters to protest.

    Lu Zhi stood at the forefront of his faction, "Don¡¯t be ridiculous! His majesty has never confirmed or entrusted us with this election project! You can¡¯t just select a new emperor when his majesty has not abdicated!"

    Zhang Jiao also followed suit. As Tong¡¯s father, his standing in Tong¡¯s faction was the same as Lu Zhi.

    "Her majesty has ordered us to begin the southern campaign against Sun Ce next year. We will not discuss this matter until we have truly unified thend!"

    More Tong¡¯s supporters protested against this event, but Te Langpu grinned.

    "Unfortunately, by our constitutionws, the emperor¡¯s mandate takes priority over the mandate of the empress. Even if her majesty sent a direct promation, we will abide by his majesty¡¯s decree! And Senior Lu, his majesty has given us a royal edict here! See this? This is the seal!"

    He showed the golden scroll with a handwritten edict, which stated that the election was to be held next year. Nobody knew that it was written by Liu Xie and stamped with the Imperial Seal in his possession. In other words, it was a fake decree.

    Lu Zhi continued to bicker, "Even if that¡¯s the case, the decree was years ago! His majesty¡¯s motto and guidelines were [Urgent First, Large Projects Later]! We need to solve the urgent issue of Sun Ce¡¯s rebellion before the election since it will create internal conflicts and freeze the economic growth!"

    "The economic growth won¡¯t be affected by the election since we won¡¯t allowmoners to participate! Besides, we need a proper leader to unify our men before the southern campaign. Without his majesty, her majesty, and the prime consort¡¯s presence, our grandmanders will be confused since they don¡¯t know whichmand they have to follow! If their orders contradict, you can expect chaos!"

    Lu Zhi had enough of this fat minister, he bellowed, "Why does it sound like you are trying to select somebody else to rece his majesty!? Are you trying to rebel!?"

    "Wrong! It¡¯s just a temporary procedure to solidify our kingdom foundation."

    Te Langpu sneered and nced at the throne, where the princes were sitting, "We have many candidates for the throne. We will elect a new emperor or reelect the previous emperor every 4 years. When his majestyes back, we can give the authority back to him. Isn¡¯t that right, your highness?"

    While they were discussing, Friday and Medusa were not present in the throne room. Instead, the three princes, Liu Xie, Zhang Yi, and Zhang Guo sat on the throne together, monitoring the meeting. As for Sun Quan, he stood by their side, acting as their protector.

    Zhang Guo was Friday¡¯s son, while Zhang Yi was Medusa¡¯s. Both were 7-year-old this year. Since their mothers were busy cultivating, Liu Xie took them to this meeting, so they could gain some experience.

    Liu Xie did not want his younger brothers to suffer the same fate he had in the other timeline. He was worried that Cao Cao and Te Langpu might trick these two innocent princes like how Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo manipted him.

    For the sake of their growth and experience, Liu Xie brought them here to face reality as soon as possible, so they would have some immunity to trickeries, wordy, and fa?ade.

    The two young princes cling to their elder brother as they were not familiar with administering the political meeting and old strangers. Thus, Liu Xie acted as their parent, protecting them from any greedy minister who might try to trick them.

    Liu Xie¡¯s cold eyes look at Te Langpu in disgust. Then, he nced at Zhuge Liang, who was hiding among the crowd.

    ¡¯I¡¯ll believe in your words for once! When fatheres back, I¡¯ll fucking kill you all!¡¯

    With the cold expression, Liu Xie stood up and bowed toward Zhang Jiao.

    "Grandfather, I¡¯m very sorry. For the sake of our country, we cannot mobilize our forces without an active supreme leader. We will select a new emperor, so the chain ofmand issue can be cleared. As soon as fatheres back, we¡¯ll return the authority and the throne to him. Also, both mothers will still be in power after whoever gets selected as the new emperor. Their authority will be prioritized over the new selected emperor."

    "..."

    "Everyone, you don¡¯t have to worry about a thing! As I said, both my mothers will still have thest saying no matter who the new emperor is. The new emperor has to yield his authority to father when hees back! This will be a temporary solution for the chain ofmand issues. Also, my father has appointed Li Feihong as the grand general of all legions, and his position will not change! Anyone defying his order equals defying my father¡¯s mandate! The new emperor will only have the authority to control the internal affair. For the military, Li Feihong is going to be the one supervising until my father returns!"

    Everyone, including the colluded Cao Cao and Te Langpu, widened their eyes and turned toward Li Feihong.

    This was not a part of their n when they coaxed Liu Xie to support the election scheme! None of them had heard anything about Li Feihong¡¯s position in the military!

    Li Feihong, who was attending this grand meeting, was also surprised. In reality, Tong had never entrusted this position to him other than giving him free-reign authority to do whatever he wanted in his territory.

    This was the first time he heard that Tong gave him this kind of privilege.

    Still, Li Feihong squinted his eyes as he noticed a subtle gesture from Liu Xie¡¯s aura fluctuation.

    ¡¯Something is fishy. Does he want me to y along?¡¯

    Reading Liu Xie¡¯s gesture, Li Feihong improvised, "As his highness said. His Majesty has entrusted with the armies. No matter how the internal affair goes, all military officers will only be taking orders from me. Any vitor will be treated as a rebel."

    Cao Cao and Te Langpu widened their eyes as they red at Li Feihong. Now, thetter had dered officially that his standing was on Tong¡¯s side, and they could not use him.

    At the sideline, Guo Jia, who kept his mouth shut during his meeting, sent private messages to Cao Cao.

    Guo Jia: "It¡¯s fine. We can still proceed with the n."

    Guo Jia: "Te Langpu has written the election rules. Zhang Yi, Zhang Guo, and Liu Xie are the defaultpetitors, but we will put Sun Quan in there."

    Guo Jia: "Also, I¡¯ve talked to Sun Quan and Wu Guotai as you requested. They¡¯ve agreed to cooperate with us. In this election, Te Langpu will promote Sun Quan as another candidate, and our n will give the vote for Sun Quan instead of Liu Xie. Then, the Sun n will support Sun Quan to the throne."

    Guo Jia: "It doesn¡¯t matter what Liu Xie is nning. In the end, we will push Sun Quan to trigger internal conflict as nned. As for Li Feihong¡¯s matter, we have to wait until Dian Wei and others¡¯ cultivation reaches 8-wing or above. After that, we¡¯ll kill him after the Sun Ce campaign."

    Reading the private messages, which nobody but Cao Cao and Guo Jia could see, the Wei Chancellor¡¯s revealed a faint smile.

    Cao Cao and Guo Jia had a mastermind n.

    Before Cao Cao hade up with this n, Lilim contacted him as Zhuge Liang and Liu Ye had predicted. She offered him a ce in her ranks, permanent immortality, and cultivation assistance, which benefitted him more than him serving Tong.

    As shrew as he was, Cao Cao postponed his answer. Afterward, he probed Liu Xie if he was usable.

    Fortunately, Liu Xie agreed. Had Liu Xie refused, he would have epted Lilim¡¯s invitation and be her subordinate, just like Sun Ce, Guan Yu, or Zuo Ci.

    Still, even though Cao Cao had Liu Xie¡¯s help, he chose not to rely on thetter since Liu Xie in this world was more mature than the other timeline. Cao Cao turned toward Sun Quan, who had been acting suspicioustely.

    And it was as Cao Cao had guessed. Sun Quan was also hesitating if he should continue working for Tong or usurp the throne.

    Now that Guo Jia sessfully drew Sun Quan as a coborator, the next step was crucial.

    Cao Cao aimed to push Sun Quan to the throne!

    With Sun Quan on the throne, the Sun n would be forced to fight against Sun Ce¡¯s armies, which would ruin their reputation and create a scandal story of the war between brothers.

    Not only that, but this election would also create friction between Sun Quan¡¯s faction and Tong¡¯s supporters. Both sides would go into conflict and destroy each other like how all lords in the past tried to fight for supremacy.

    Once both sides weakened, Cao Cao¡¯s faction would rise. They could expand their political influence and take over Tong¡¯s hard-earned empire from the inside!

    This was once Sima n¡¯s master n. Cao Cao stole it and adapted it into his own!

    But now, Li Feihong emerged as their threatening obstacle. Without taking down Li Feihong, Cao Cao could not move Tong¡¯s armies.

    Cao Cao: "Aside from waiting for Dian Wei¡¯s breakthrough, find a way to get rid of this bastard ASAP!"

    Guo Jia: "I know. Be warned, though. Everyone in the main n will learn about his death the moment he dies. We will also need to remove Dian Wei and our agents from the n list before we assassinate him."

    Cao Cao: "I¡¯ll talk to Lilim about it."

    Guo Jia: "So, are we going to work for her?"

    Cao Cao: "Nope! We¡¯ll be using her. From my talk with this wench, she wants everybody to worship her as a god. We can just create a cult for the fool, and we¡¯ll keep the authority to ourselves."

    Guo Jia: "Don¡¯t harm the innocents in the process, my lord."

    Cao Cao: "I know. I¡¯ll never harm the people! Why do you think we¡¯ve joined Zhang Tong¡¯s forces? If not for the people, I would have continued fighting."

    Guo Jia: "You¡¯ll lose."

    Cao Cao: "..."

    Guo Jia: "Anyway. Everything is evolving. Soldiers can now cultivate, so direct assassination using high ranking immortals will be an obsolete tactic because of the self-explosion threat. We should focus on creating private forces with only cultivators. I¡¯m going to copy Zhang Tong¡¯s military school system and apply it in Xu Province."

    Cao Cao: "Fine."

 Chapter 508 Pre-Election Rumble 2

    Chapter 508 - Pre-Election Rumble (2)

    Unlike Cao Cao who wanted to weaken Tong¡¯s forces and strengthen his, Te Langpu simply wanted to rece the monarchy system with the good old democracy. Then, he could enjoy the capitalist environment and acquire rich resources by abusing the mary system.

    For Te Langpu, Cao Cao was just a stepping stone toward his great goal, "Make capitalism great again."

    As Cao Cao was secretly texting messages to Guo Jia, Te Langpu also had a secret partner.

    Te Langpu: "Howe Li Feihong is on Liu Xie¡¯s side? You¡¯ve never reported this to me before!"

    Sima Yi: "This is the first time I¡¯m hearing that Li Feihong has this kind of authority. I¡¯m running a legion, but I¡¯ve never heard of this. I think this is something that Liu Xie improvises on the spot, and Li Feihong follows through with it."

    Te Langpu: "Are you certain?"

    Sima Yi: "Positive. I have spies in every legion. There is no such thing as the suprememander of all armies. Only the grandmander of each army can control their perspective troops, but no one else in the other armies can."

    Te Langpu: "Then, why haven¡¯t other guys in the army protest?"

    Sima Yi: "Look carefully. Li Feihong¡¯s hands were busy typing something before himself. He should be texting to othermanders to y along with him."

    While Cao Cao had Guo Jia as coborator and assistant, Te Langpu colluded with Sima Yi, forming another secret alliance.

    Te Langpu needed manpower and Sima n¡¯s agents while Sima Yi wanted the entire Sun n destroyed, including Sun Quan, Sun Ce, and Wu Guotai.

    Revenge for his father was not the only reason. Sima Yi was not fond of having Sun Quan as a prince since it post a threat to Liu Xie, one of the few friends he had.

    For Liu Xie and Zhang Min¡¯s future, Sun Quan and his nsmen had to die!

    Since both men¡¯s interests coincided, they worked together temporarily. The private message option of level 3 n came in handy as they could avoid all eyes.

    Sima Yi: "For now, y along with Li Feihong and Liu Xie. Let them think that they are still controlling all legions."

    Te Langpu: "Can you move without the court¡¯s order? I meant, your legion."

    Sima Yi: "I don¡¯t need to move the OFFICIAL legion. I have my own legions in You Province. It¡¯s you who have to put some chips on the table. You don¡¯t have anything right now."

    Te Langpu: "Wrong. I have the money! I had talked to the merchant alliance in Nanpi. They are going to contribute to our cause as long as they can get a piece ofnd."

    Sima Yi: "I didn¡¯t mean YOUR coup prep or whatsoever. I meant, the election. Give me the details and don¡¯t forget to add what Cao Cao and Guo Jia are doing."

    Te Langpu: "Hey! I¡¯m not your goon."

    Sima Yi: "You¡¯re the only one inside that 4-man group chat. Be a spy for us. Work harder, bitch!"

    The prime minister clicked his tongue and focused on the meeting instead of bickering with Sima Yi.

    As everyone was busy chatting in private, Liu Xie took control of the meeting, "Since this is our first election, I believe everybody here might have not understood the rules. I will exin. First, the participants or the choices that you can vote-"

    At that point, Cao Cao stepped forward and interrupted Liu Xie, "Please wait a moment, your highness. About the rules and the entire election, we¡¯ve already drafted the n."

    Guo Jia also walked out of the crowd and presented Liu Xie with a scroll. Thetter picked it to read.

    Cao Cao recited what written in the scroll for everyone without missing a word. The summarized rules were as the followings;

    1. All princes, princesses, and Zhang Jiao were the candidates of the next emperor.

    2. A total of 10,000 voters would be selected from the court officials, military generals, governors, ministers, and chief strategists.

    3. Each voter had one vote. They could vote for their desired emperor.

    4. One vote equaled one point.

    5. The top candidate with most votes would be selected as the new emperor.

    6. The terms of the new emperor were 4 years. Afterward, they had to select another one.

    7. A neutral party/organization would be responsible for this election. All election organization members could not vote or possess the right to vote.

    Listening to the brief constitution, everyone was puzzled as they were too new for them. Even to Te Langpu, this system was weird, vague, and wed.

    Still, it was half of his work since Te Langpu was the one suggesting the idea to Cao Cao, but thetter made it practical.

    "All princes, princesses, and senior Zhang!?" Lu Zhi caught onto the issue, "Does this include his highness Zhang Guo, Zhang Yi, and Sun Quan!?"

    Lu Zhi¡¯s remark threw the court into an uproar. As usual, Tong¡¯s supporter faction threw a fit since Sun Quan was not Tong¡¯s legitimate son but an adopted son. Moreover, he came from a concubine¡¯s family.

    In the hall, Huang Gai, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, and Sun Quan¡¯s subordinates nced at each other, astonished, surprised, and rejoiced.

    Lu Xun and Lu Meng, who were once prisoners, were now serving as court officials and joined the main n. Immediately recing the decreased Zhou Yu¡¯s former ranks, Lu Xun became Sun Quan¡¯s advisor while Lu Meng was instated as vice general of Sun Quan¡¯s private army. As for the grandmander, Huang Gai was still holding the reign.

    They were also in the room, attending this meeting.

    When they heard that Sun Quan was also the running candidate, a bright smile appeared on their faces. Although they were new to the n chat system, they quickly adapted to the new environment and mastered it.

    Lu Meng: "Young master, did you have a deal with Cao Cao in secret?"

    Sun Quan also created a private group for his subordinates and n members. All of his former retainers were the members of this chat.

    Sun Quan: "Oh? How did you know?"

    Lu Meng: "I can tell from the content of this constitution. They are tailored so that you can be one of the candidates. It¡¯s too vague that it leaves many spaces to be interpreted this way."

    Since Lu Xun and Lu Meng had their memory and experience of the other timeline, picking clues from political movements was as easy as breathing. They could tell what Cao Cao was trying to do.

    Sun Quan: "Cao Cao offered that he will push me to the throne. I think he¡¯s up to something though."

    Lu Xun: "I think he wants to make you fight Sun Ce and ruin our foundation. If you get voted, Liu Xie and Zhang Tong¡¯s supporters won¡¯t see us as their allies anymore. I believe that Cao Cao wants us to collide with Zhang Tong¡¯s faction to weaken our forces. Please don¡¯t take the bait, young master."

    Not only Lu Meng doubted Cao Cao¡¯s motive, but Lu Xun also suspected that thetter might scheme to instigate conflicts between the royal faction and the Sun Family.

    Sun Quan: "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯m not stupid enough to bite the bait. Those demonesses will kill my mother for real with I get chosen. Do you know that there¡¯s another tigress in Zhang Tong¡¯s harem? Aside from Dong Bai and Diaochan, Wang Yi is also a cultivator with 7 wings, and her daughter has mixed wings like me!"

    Currently, Sun Quan¡¯s cultivation strength was 6-wing, 3 angel wings and 3 demon wings. His cultivation progress was smooth until he got to this point as Sun Quan reached the bottleneck like others. Unless he had a solid physical strength and soul foundation, he could not awaken his new wings without a repercussion.

    Sun Quan could always push to 8-wing, but his body could not contain the strength. Had he done so, his body and soul might shatter to pieces. For now, he could only patiently wait and cultivate.

    As a 6-wing cultivator, Sun Quan could detect others with greater strength, and he found Wang Yi. Strangely, thetter didn¡¯t seem to bother hiding her aura or cultivation strength now.

    Lu Xun: "Consort Wang? The mixed wing daughter, is it the sixth princess?"

    Sun Quan: "Yes. Zhang Ying. She has 4 wings now, and she was the same age as the second and third prince."

    Lu Meng: "HOLY SHIT! SHE¡¯S AS STRONG AS US!?"

    Sun Quan: "Indeed, you fool. Don¡¯t you dare messing with them, or we¡¯re doomed."

    Learning the harem¡¯s secret, Lu Meng and Lu Xun had a scare. Surrendering to Tong was the right decision as his allies were too strong.

    Wu Guotai: "What did Cao Cao offer you, Zhongmou?"

    Sun Quan¡¯s mother joined the conversation. Since concubines were not allowed to join the grand meeting, she was curious about what happened in the throne room and other movements.

    Sun Quan: "Aside from the throne and authority tomand Zhang Tong¡¯s armies, he didn¡¯t promise anything. Heck, Li Feihong shows up and just tells everyone that he has the power to control all legions. I think either Cao Cao or Li Feihong is lying."

    Wu Guotai: "Don¡¯t take the bait. We¡¯ll support Liu Xie. All of us willy low until Shangxiang is old enough to get married. We¡¯ll give Shangxiang to Liu Xie and reinforce our rtionship with the loyalties."

    Sun Quan: "You stopped me from pursuing other princesses, but you want to give Shangxiang to Liu Xie? Are you serious?"

    Wu Guotai: "Women can be used as political tools, but men have a reputation to uphold. You can¡¯t afford to create a scandal, but Shangxiang can never be someone famous. Your positions are different."

    Sun Quan: "... Did Shangxiang know about this?"

    Wu Guotai: "No, but she will eventually."

    Sun Quan: "She will throw a fit for sure."

    Wu Guotai: "She will. By the way, pay attention to the meeting."

    Warned by his mother, Sun Quan came back to his senses. He nced at Zhang Zhao, who was observing the meeting, hoping to get a briefing of what he had missed when he was not paying attention.

    .

    .

    The meeting was in chaos. As Tong was not a candidate to be selected as the emperor but Cao Cao put Zhang Jiao to represent Tong, all officers from various factions yelled and voiced their anger.

    At nce, Tong¡¯s supporters could simply vote for Zhang Jiao, so thetter could seed what Tong was doing. But the officials in this world were educated, and all of them had their other timeline counterpart¡¯s memory. These officers were not stupid enough to not find the hidden scheme in this election.

    First, Liu Xie and Zhang Jiao were on the same side. Making them candidates was like splitting the votes between the faction¡¯s supporters.

    Secondly, putting all princes as candidates would include Sun Quan, Zhang Yi, and Zhang Guo in the mix. This left room for an outsider to steal the throne. Even if one of the young princes won, someone might show up and mimic Dong Zhuo, manipting the Han Court like in the other timeline.

    Thus, everyone was thinking that Cao Cao nned to enthrone the young princes or gave the throne to an outsider. Many ministers pointed their fingers and Cao Cao and cursed him.

    Yet, Cao Cao was unfazed. He simply smiled and appeased the crowd.

    "You all have misunderstood me. Since you are afraid of me manipting the new emperor, I shall make a statement. I promise you that I will not ept any official position in the court after the new emperor has been selected. Instead, my men and I will continue working as a humble administrator of Xu Province. Of course, I will not dib my hands in the military since Chancellor Li is taking care of that."

    Cao Cao vowed that he would not manipte the new emperor or ept any promotion. With just a simple empty promise, he calmed themotion.

    Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang, the hidden dragon, was monitoring this meeting as well. He was lurking in the group of officials.

    He, too, had already made several moves on his own.

    Zhuge Liang had a bolder agenda than his peers, which could turn the court upside down.

 Chapter 509 Pre-Election Rumble 3

    Chapter 509 - Pre-Election Rumble (3)

    Zhuge Liang: "I need Ma Chao¡¯s help. Do you think you can persuade him to our side?"

    While others were conspiring with each other, Zhuge Liang was not idle. He also sent private messages to many people, including Li Feihong.

    Li Feihong: "Don¡¯t be ridiculous. Zhang He killed his father. Then, I killed Pang Tong and Zhang Fei. That guy hates us to the guts. Keeping him in jail is already pushing it."

    Zhuge Liang: "I see. How about this? Can you escort me to see him after this mess? I¡¯m bored of this farce."

    Li Feihong: "You don¡¯t care at all about who is going to be your new boss, do you?"

    Zhuge Liang: "Isn¡¯t the new emperor decided? Cao Cao is leading them by the nose to that extend. I¡¯ll be surprised if Zhang Guo or Zhang Yi is not the next emperor."

    Li Feihong: "You think? I¡¯m sure everybody here is specting Sun Quan since Cao Cao is hinting it."

    Zhuge Liang: "Not possible. Sun Quan won¡¯t take the bait. Unless we are doing nothing, Sun Quan will be the new emperor."

    Li Feihong: "You know that your words are contradicting, right?"

    Zhuge Liang: "I never contradict. I¡¯m merely stating the fact. Back to the topic, will you guide me to Ma Chao or not? If so, please make sure nobody sees us. Thank you kindly."

    Li Feihong: "Is this Sun Quan thingy rtes to Ma Chao?"

    Zhuge Liang: "Not directly. Answer my question, will you? Yes or no?"

    Li Feihong: "Fine. But you have to tell me what you¡¯re scheming in full. I don¡¯t like secrets."

    Zhuge Liang: "Will do thatter. Please be patient."

    Li Feihong: "..."

    After Zhuge Liang arranged a meeting with Li Feihong, he closed the chat window and opened a new one. This time, he sent messages to Sima Yi.

    Zhuge Liang: "Yo, buddy. Do you still want Sun Quan and his family dead?"

    Sima Yi: "Noment."

    Zhuge Liang: "Are you sure? I¡¯m willing to help, ya know?"

    Sima Yi: "Dafuq? What do you want?"

    Zhuge Liang: "Now, you¡¯re acting stupid. Reread my messages above, dummy."

    Sima Yi: "I can read, but I know that it isn¡¯t your true goal. What the fuck do you want?"

    Kongming snickered as Sima Yi was as sharp as ever. Thetter saw through his intention and forced him to reveal his motive right away.

    Zhuge Liang: "Let¡¯s trade. I want Te Langpu dead, but I¡¯ll give you Sun Quan."

    Sima Yi: "Why do you think that I can help you? Te Langpu has nothing to do with me."

    Zhuge Liang: "You sure? If so, I¡¯ll go find another guy. I¡¯m sure Guo Jia or Cao Cao won¡¯t hesitate to ept my deal."

    Sima Yi: "Stop, you prick! Fine! Tell me the details!"

    .

    .

    The meeting concluded at 11PM as Liu Xie adjourned the meeting in exhaustion, tiring from yelling.

    All participants left the building in a simr condition, cracked voice and sore throat. No one was energetic or happy after the meeting but one person, Te Langpu.

    In the end, Te Langpu managed to promote himself as the new Federal Election Commission¡¯s chief chairman. Within three months, he needed to finish the entire details and election regtions, including managing the event.

    Although it was a tough job in this world, Te Langpu was still cheerful. After all this time, the absolute authority fell into his hands. He was now the kingmaker, who could create any rule that would influence the oue of this election now.

    ¡¯Hehehe! Let¡¯s see. I can just give the majority of voter rights to Sun Quan¡¯s men and be done with it, but it will arouse suspicion. Counterfeit votes shouldn¡¯t be possible here either since everyone and their grandmothers have sixth senses now. Eh, I can just use the good old pay-to-vote trick, scandals, or external influence like the old world. Just you watch. I¡¯ll make capitalism great again!¡¯

    Even after the meeting had ended, the private messages did not stop. This time, it was another private group, in which only 3 members were in the chat.

    Guo Jia: "Can we talk?"

    There was a limit on how Te Langpu could tolerate. Overworking wasn¡¯t one of those.

    Te Langpu: "How about - Can I rest? You motherfuckers overworked me!"

    Cao Cao: "Unfortunately, not yet. Something urgent has juste up."

    Te Langpu: "What is it now?"

    Guo Jia: "We¡¯ve found that Sun Quan, Sima Yi, Li Feihong, Liu Xie, Lu Zhi, and Zhuge Liang also used private chat during the meeting. We¡¯re not the only one scheming, so our n can fail if they interfere."

    Te Langpu: "No shit, Sherlock! Did you think you guys are the only ones with a private messenger feature? News sh! Every motherfucker in the main n can use it!"

    Guo Jia: "Please be civil, Prime Minister. How about this? We are nning to abolish Zhang Tong¡¯s No-Private-Armyws, but we won¡¯t get rid of thempletely. Instead, we will leave some rooms for only nobles and generals from our sides. We will give you some privileges after the election end. Can we get your attention now?"

    Te Langpu: "You should have said that earlier. Well, what is it?"

    Guo Jia: "Our agents managed to contact Cao Xing and Cao Qinghe in the inner pce. We¡¯ve got a piece of interesting information from the harem."

    The strategist continued to exin.

    All these years, Ye City¡¯s inner pce had been quiet and peaceful since all concubines behave under the absolute political dominance of Diaochan and Dong Bai.

    However, one more powerhouse emerged while thetter two were busy cultivating. Wang Yi revealed herself as a cultivator with 7 wings. The sixth princess, Wang Yi¡¯s sole daughter, also showed her innate talent, disying her mixed 4 wings to everyone in the pce.

    By increasing one 6-wing or 7-wing immortal, it changed thendscape of all factions. As long as Wang Yi joined any faction, the tip of bnce might change.

    Currently, Tong¡¯s supporter factions, Lu Zhi¡¯s faction, Zhang Jiao¡¯s Yellow Turban, Hua Tuo¡¯s physicians, Liu Xie and his two brothers¡¯ loyalists, and Li Feihong¡¯s Monster Legion were dominating over other ns and families.

    This was where things were strange to Guo Jia and Cao Cao.

    First, Tong¡¯s supporters did not bothermunicating with Wang Yi or meeting with her in private.

    Secondly, despite her power and influence, Wang Yi did not show interest in the power struggling behind the court. Instead, she acted docile, following Diaochan¡¯s orders obediently.

    Andstly, Tong or his supporters never invited her to the main n!

    Te Langpu: "Doesn¡¯t Zhang Tong want to keep his family away from politics? Remember Zhang Min? She has 6 demon wings, but none of them invite her here."

    Cao Cao: "That¡¯s what we thought about it at first, but I change my mind. This afternoon, I slipped out of the meeting and met Wei Yan."

    Te Langpu: "Isn¡¯t that guy from the White Horse Legion of Sima Yi?"

    Cao Cao: "Yes. Here¡¯s the interesting part. He¡¯s not happy with Sima Yi since they are love-rival. He is willing to cooperate, but he wants us to help him get rid of Sima Yi."

    Te Langpu: "Lame."

    Cao Cao: "There¡¯s more. He has been exchanging letters with Zhang Min, and he knows a bit of insider info. He knows why Wang Yi is like that."

    Cao Cao: "News sh again, Zhang Min slipped info to Wei Yan by ident that Wang Yi is also an otherworlder! That consort is Tong¡¯s sex ve through and thorough, so it¡¯s impossible for anyone to bright her to their sides!"

    Te Langpu: "I still see no point in this."

    Cao Cao: "Wow. You¡¯re an idiot. Don¡¯t you get it? Since Wang Yi can¡¯t be moved by trickery, bribery, or persuasion, what do you think will happen if someone shows up on her door and want her to betray Zhang Tong?"

    Te Langpu: "Obviously, she¡¯s gonna kill that fool."

    Te Langpu: "Wait."

    Cao Cao: "Hahaha! Now, you get the picture! We can use her!"

    .

    .

    .

    The next day

    The inner pce where men could not enter without permission, a legal loli, who had a middle-schooler appearance despite being in herte 20s, was ying with her 7-year-old daughter.

    Wang Yi, aka Liu Yang, was enjoying her slow-life. She had forgotten about her duties and Athena¡¯s mission as she was too happy living a normal life with her daughter.

    This was her first time having a warm family, not being tainted by political struggle or fa?ade.

    The 7-year-old daughter, Zhang Ying, was unlike her mother. She had a tall stature, which was taller than children of her age. With her height and slim constitution, Zhang Ying could be misunderstood as Wang Yi¡¯s little sister from the onlooker¡¯s perspective.

    "Is sister Mining today? Can we y flying tag again?"

    After the raid incident, Zhang Min moved back to Ye City and lived with Diaochan. After her soul had partly recovered, Zhang Min visited Tong¡¯s other concubines to kill time and got acquainted with Wang Yi¡¯s family.

    Zhang Min, Zhang Ying, and other princesses became friends and usually yed together, except for Sun Shangxiang, who was always busy practicing her martial arts or cultivating.

    However, Zhang Min had been shutting herself indoor during the past few months. Aside from Diaochan and Wang Yi, no one knew about her condition.

    The only thing everyone heard about Zhang Min was - She became a bit chubby.

    "I¡¯m sorry, Ying¡¯er. She is going to be busy for a few years. She will y with you again after she has finished her job."

    "Boo! I¡¯m bored! I want to fly! I want to y flying tag again! Mom, y with me!"

    "Okay, okay. I¡¯ll be it, and I¡¯ll count to five. Are you ready?"

    "YAY!!"

    Zhang Ying shuttled to the sky as fast as she could. Within a few seconds, she left the inner pce fly space and got to the government building area.

    Wang Yi shook her head and sighed. She spread her wings and stretched them to warm up.

    Behind her back, 8 white tentacle wings stretched as if they just woke up from a good nap.

    ¡¯Whoops. I¡¯m supposed to hide my cultivation.¡¯

    Wang Yi hid a pair of her white wings, leaving out only 6.

    Simr to others, Liu Yang also broke through and regained her 8 wings about the same time that Medusa got her cultivation back. Despite that, she remained in the harem and waited to confront her former nemesis.

    Still, both of them had not met each other face-to-face yet as Diaochan avoided her, continuing cultivating to get more wings.

    ¡¯Haiz. I¡¯m tired. I want to apologize to her. She should have found my identity once she got her 8th wing already but why is she avoiding me?¡¯

    Liu Yang, too, had a change of heart after she had given birth to Tong¡¯s daughter. Now, she only sought peace, so her daughter could live free in this troubled time.

    Also, she missed the hot nights with Tong. She was willing to abandon her pride, missions, or duties for the sake of obtaining Tong¡¯s love.

    Love was strange. It could change a person.

    *Whoosh*

    Liu Yang took flight and chased after her daughter. Everything was calm until a system message shed in front of her face.

    <[yes] no]="">></[yes]>

    For the first time, someone attempted to recruit Liu Yang into the n chat.

    "Dafuq is this? Is this Lilim¡¯s prank again?"

    Without hesitation, she pressed [No].

    <[yes] no]="">></[yes]>

    "..."

    Again, Liu Yang pressed [No]. She realized what it was now as she had seen many festivals with this simr feature.

    Liu Yang could not ept this invitation since it would reveal her true name to the other n members, exposing her identity as the false Wang Yi. As for the real Wang Yi, the true historical figure, she should still be living in Liang Province.

    <[yes] no]="">></[yes]>

    "..."

    Now, the third attempt got on her nerve. Still, she was smart enough to minimize the semi-transparent menu and flew after her daughter, ignoring the invitation.

    However, she did not forget the names of the inviters.

    ¡¯Sima Yi and Wei Yan. Those fuckers! Once I¡¯m free, I¡¯ll teach those morons a lesson!¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    = Meanwhile =

    Sima Yi: "Why doesn¡¯t she ept our invitation?"

    Wei Yan: "She might be confused or she¡¯s too busy ying with her daughter."

    Sima Yi: "Forget it. I have another idea."

    .

    .

    Sima Yi: "Can you spare a bit of your time?"

    Xu Chu: "Yes?"

 Chapter 510 Pre-Election Rumble 4

    Chapter 510 - Pre-Election Rumble (4)

    "Huh?"

    .

    "What¡¯s this?"

    .

    "Oh?"

    .

    Not only Liu Yang got Wei Yan¡¯s n invitation, but Cai Wenji, Du Shi, Xiao Qiao, Da Qiao, Cao Xian, and Cao Qinghe also got the messages.

    For not getting suspicion upon himself, Sima Yi asked the fat bodyguard of Cao Cao, Xu Chu, to invite more people, such as Cao Ang, and Cao Cao¡¯s officers who had not received the invitation yet.

    This move was to me Cao Cao for abusing the n¡¯s feature, and all attention would be on him instead of himself and Wei Yan.

    When everyone in the main n noticed the influx of neers, they were shocked. Still, each member had a different reaction.

    Jia Xu: "Who the hell invited all the consorts here!? Zhang Tong¡¯s going to be pissed when hees back!"

    Ju Shou: "Probably invited by mistakes. Look at these new people."

    Xu Chu: "I invite all people here. The more, the merrier, right?"

    Xun Yu: "Oh boy. @Cao Cao. Please don¡¯t abuse the n invitation. You¡¯ve invited too many people."

    Cao Cao: "Dafuq!? I didn¡¯t do anything!"

    Xun Yu: "Look at the people¡¯s name. All of them are your subordinates. Please refrain from inviting too many people!"

    Xun Yu: "Look above. Xu Chu just confessed that he did it."

    Cao Cao: "The heck?"

    Cao Cao: "Whatever, IDGAF! @Cao Qinghe, @Cao Xian, wee! How¡¯s life?"

    Xun Yu: "..."

    Guo Jia: "@Cao Cao. Please use the private message feature for a private matter. This channel is for an urgent announcement or public information."

    Jia Xu: "@Guo Jia. He¡¯s just flexing as usual."

    Cao Cao: "@Jia Xu. Be quiet, you traitor."

    Cao Cao: "@Xu Chu. Read DM."

    Cao Cao: "@Cao Qinghe, @Cao Xian. Let¡¯s talk in a private chat."

    Jia Xu: "Someone is pissed. @Cao Qinghe, @Cao Xian, wee to your father¡¯s workce. Don¡¯t mind if we curse your father. HAHAHAHA!"

    Sun Quan: "@Da Qiao. @Xiao Qiao. Wee. Please read PM."

    Jia Xu: "Herees another one. Hahahaha!"

    Sima Yi¡¯s move was a sess as Jia Xu and others mistook Xu Chu as the culprit of this incident. Although he did not know why Cao Cao was ying ignorant, Sima Yi proceeded to the next phase of his n.

    While he was waiting for others to arrive in the throne room and resume the yesterday¡¯s meeting, he fidgeted the n menu, adding Cai Wenji and Du Shi in his contact list.

    He sent a private message to Cai Wenji and Du Shi, inviting them to another private group chat.

    Sima Yi: "Hello. Could you help me invite Consort Wang to this n chat? We were ordered to invite everyone including royal consorts to the n, so we can discuss the future election."

    After Sima Yi had sent the message, he waited for 10 minutes before both consorts managed to reply. It took time for them to figure out how they could use the n system.

    Cai Wenji: "What¡¯s election?"

    Du Shi: "What is this thing?"

    Sima Yi: "The blue box with texts before you is his majesty¡¯s immortal power. He blessed us with this power, so we canmunicate without seeing each other face-to-face. You can reply to my message by typing on the letters below the screen."

    Sima Yi: "As for the election, his majesty has left a word that we have to select a new emperor by voting instead of selecting a sessor directly. He simply gave the authority to his ministers."

    ...

    10 Minutester

    ...

    Cai Wenji: "I get it. So this is how you type messages?"

    Cai Wenji: "My apologies for the dy. I can¡¯t find the right characters."

    She referred to the traditional characters, which was used in writing. However, the simplified characters on their keyboards were different, so it took time to figure it out. Moreover, as Cai Wenji and Du Shi were new to the system chat, it took them a long time to type.

    Yet, Sima Yi was patient. For the sake of achieving his goal, he waited for them to learn typing.

    While he was waiting for the two consorts to figure out the toy, the meeting resumed as Te Langpu started it again.

    Sima Yi no longer paid attention to this fat man¡¯s babbling. He stared at his chat screen, waiting for Cai Wenji or Du Shi¡¯s reply.

    Du Shi: "Who is his majesty¡¯s sessor?"

    Sima Yi: "We have no idea yet. The election hasn¡¯t started, but we¡¯re discussing it."

    Du Shi: "What will happen to us once the emperor is instated?"

    At this point, Sima Yi clenched his fists in delight as Du Shi revealed her vulnerability by showing concern about her future. As long as he could manipte this concubine, he would have an edge to persuade Wang Yi to his side.

    Sima Yi: "Currently, we are discussing the rules of the election. As for the aftermath, we haven¡¯t talked about it yet, but I¡¯m nning to maintain everybody¡¯s status quo in the inner pce. I took the liberty of sending you messages to warn you about the potential changes in advance."

    Now, Sima Yi hinted that they might lose their position in the inner pce, indirect ckmail.

    Cai Wenji: "Lady Du, it¡¯s fine. Even if we lose our title and power, we can move to my father¡¯s ce. He¡¯s still the Minister of Arts and Culture. He can shelter us and our children."

    ¡¯Dafuq!?¡¯ Sima Yi¡¯s face twitched, surprised by Cai Wenji¡¯s suggestion as it could foil his ckmail n.

    Sima Yi: "Please don¡¯t worry, mydies. I¡¯m nning to protect his majesty¡¯s family with my life, and I¡¯ll rmend everyone that we should keep your noble tier as it is. Even if the new emperor has his concubines, we¡¯ll make them live in another pce while your current pce will be your forever home."

    From the intentionally-leaked information, Cai Wenji understood that the crisis of all concubines was at hand. Whenever a new emperor took the throne, all concubines of the deceased or the dethroned emperors were usually dismissed, killed, or exiled. Only the lucky ones would be taken in by the new emperor.

    Cai Wenji: "Then, please get to the point and stop ckmailing us. What do you want us to do for you, and what you can do to return our favor?"

    Still, as Cai Wenji was a grand schr¡¯s daughter with two lives of experience, she could see through Sima Yi¡¯s baseless bluff and call him out.

    Sima Yi: "Very impressive, mydy. Then, I¡¯ll be direct."

    Although Sima Yi was surprised by Cai Wenji¡¯s sharp wits, he improvised and adapted to the change on the spot with ease.

    Sima Yi: "Please invite Consort Wang to this n chat personally. I would like to have a word with her in private. In return, my faction will guarantee you and Consort Du¡¯s safety after the election."

    Cai Wenji: "I need proof. How many soldiers do you have? Who are your subordinates? How many cities are under your control?"

    The consort attempted to squeeze Sima Yi for more information, which irritated thetter more. Patiently, Sima Yi revealed 50% of his personal and military power, but he revealed all cities that Sima n was currently governing.

    Cai Wenji: "Very well. I¡¯ll contact Consort Wang for you. I hope you can keep your end of the bargain."

    Sima Yi: "Thank you very much. I owe you one."

    The two consorts were decisive. Once theypleted their transaction and objectives, they left without saying goodbye.

    ¡¯Well, shit. Come to think of it, Chunhua was simr to them. A pity that I have to wait 7-8 years before I can marry her. Eh, I wonder if Zhang Min has those traits.¡¯

    Not only Sima Yi invited many people, but he also tried to get Zhang Min into the n. However, she did not decline or ept the invitation message. Zhang Min simply ignored him as if nothing had happened.

    ¡¯What¡¯s wrong with Zhang Min? Fuck, should I cultivate like those buffoons? Do I need at least 6 wings before I can see her again? Fuck you, Zhang Tong! Give your daughter to me already!¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    While the meeting was ongoing, Li Feihong was sneaking through the tight security of Ye City¡¯s underground prison using his private dimension and warp gates. He breezed through many squads of prison guards undetected. It wasn¡¯t hard for him to locate Ma Chao and Liu Bei¡¯s cell.

    Ma Chao and Liu Bei were considered VIP prisoners that were capable of breaking out with their brute force and cultivation strength. Therefore, Lu Zhi ced Cao Cao¡¯s officers with 4-wing cultivation there.

    Cao Chun, Zhu Ling, and Yu Jin were Cao Cao¡¯s elites, who had scored many achievements in the other timeline. This time, they were ordered to be Ma Chao and Liu Bei¡¯s prison wardens, so these prisoners could not escape.

    Inside the private dimension of Li Feihong, a schr youth in white robes, carrying a feather fan stood behind Li Feihong.

    Another schr, which had refused to join the main n, was still residing in this dimension. Xu Shu stood by Zhuge Liang¡¯s side, watching Li Feihong¡¯s spy monitors.

    And one more bipr girl, Lu Lingqi who had lost contact with her father, was sitting nearby, watching the screens with interest.

    Lu Lingqi was also not a member of the main n even though she gained the cultivation method at the same time as manymoners. With her memory and experience from the other timeline, she decided to abandon her immature thoughts and hid in here, pretending that she was already dead in the real world. Her mother, Lu Bu¡¯s wife, had already relocated to Li Feihong¡¯s world though.

    As for other Monster Legion officers, only Zhou Cang remained here, protecting Li Feihong on the sideline. Since Zhang Liao was once Cao Cao¡¯s general, Li Feihong and Zhuge Liang didn¡¯t trust him. The general was told to attend the meeting along with other former Cao Cao¡¯s generals and report them the result of today¡¯s farceter.

    "What¡¯s next, Kongming?" Asked Li Feihong. He was following Zhuge Liang¡¯s advice word-by-word during this operation.

    "Can you zoom in, so I can see their expression and their face color?"

    "Ok."

    In one of the monitors, Li Feihong controlled the camera to focus on Ma Chao and Liu Bei¡¯s faces. As the men had expected, they were paled because of malnourishment and stress.

    "Good. He¡¯s only exhausted, but his eyes are alive."

    Zhuge Liang admired Ma Chao¡¯s fighting spirit. Even though the situation was hopeless, he had not given up living. On the other hand, Liu Bei looked like he had been crying. He was too dehydrated to shed a tear though.

    "General Li, please kill Liu Bei."

    Hearing the next move, Li Feihong, Zhou Cang, and Xu Shu were stunned. None of them could have believed that Zhuge Liang wanted to kill his former lord!

    "Are you sure? You died fighting for him in the other world."

    "In this world, he is a scum. I don¡¯t give my loyalty to a greedy, selfish, pretentious mutt that never valued a bigger picture over their desire. To be honest, I¡¯d rather serve you or Zhang Tong."

    "..."

    Li Feihong gazed at the monitor, which disyed Liu Bei¡¯s despair expression. For some reason, he pitied this guy even though he messed up many things that he shouldn¡¯t have done with his character.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t want to kill him. I have a feeling that killing him will lead to a cmity.¡¯

 Chapter 511 Awakening Li Feihong 1

    Chapter 511 - Awakening Li Feihong (1)

    "Can I refuse?"

    Li Feihong did not want to gamble against his instinct.

    "We need him dead," Zhuge Liang insisted.

    "If I kill him, Guan Yu will know since he¡¯s with Lilim, and he wille after me and Zhang Tong."

    Li Feihong took a stand and declined the suggestion. He red into Zhuge Liang¡¯s eyes to hint that he was serious.

    The hidden dragon shook his head in disappointment.

    "Why are you getting scared of Guan Yu for? Are you too weak to contend with him?"

    "Duh! That¡¯s obvious! He¡¯s at least at 8-wing cultivation but I only have 7! He¡¯s a veteran, but I¡¯m merely a schr with barely martial arts training. How can I beat him when my foundation and cultivation strength are weaker than him!?"

    "Then, please cultivate and get that wing right now. We need you as a pir of his majesty¡¯s forces as soon as possible. Unless you can match your strength with Guan Yu, his majesty¡¯s kingdom will be in peril."

    "Oi! You think cultivation is as easy as talking? All you have to do is to cultivate your mind to awaken souls, but you forgot that we have to convert that soul energy and lifespan to reinforce our physical body to maintain that power. My body and souls are not ready for the 8th wing!"

    "What will happen if you breakthrough right now, then?"

    "I¡¯ll die."

    "That¡¯s an exaggeration. From my investigation, Guan Yu forcefully broke through when he was fighting against his majesty, but he was still alive afterward. All he suffered was soul injuries."

    "Soul injury can be fatal. Zhang Tong got injured after the Anti-Khan Coalition disbanded, and it took him years to recover from that."

    "But he is still alive, no?"

    "..."

    "How about this? We¡¯ll postpone our initial n for now and focus on helping you get your 8th wing. We¡¯ll use our power to keep healing and reinforcing your body during the process."

    Li Feihong hesitated if this was a good idea.

    Seeing that Li Feihong was depressed, Zhou Cang patted the former¡¯s back and showed off the four white wings. He, too, was a hard worker, and he had been cultivating hard for the legion.

    Zhou Cang didn¡¯t know that the soft touch (that he believed to be) made Li Feihong spat a mouthful of blood.

    "I have Sacrifice, Charity, Loyalty, and Valor. I can use Charity to heal you and Sacrifice to transfer a portion of your injuries to me. Let¡¯s do it, Grand General!"

    Not only Zhou Cang had useful souls and abilities, but Xu Shu also summoned his only virtuous soul, Sacrifice, which he had acquired after the mass awakening.

    "I also have Sacrifice. I can share a bit of your pain, general."

    Lu Lingqi, the only observer, clicked her tongue in disgust as she still did not like Li Feihong. Moreover, she had awakened a soul of sin, a demonic soul, Wrath.

    She was not suited for any support mission. Instead, she excelled in battles and curses.

    ¡¯, , . Idiots. Cultivation is likeying the groundwork for tall buildings. You can¡¯t rush it, or you¡¯ll lose those potential souls forever if you fail! I doubt this hypocrite has that many unawakened virtues to grow more wings.¡¯

    Unbeknownst to Lu Lingqi¡¯s thoughts, Li Feihong believed in Xu Shu and Zhou Cang and prepared to breakthrough.

    "Okay, I trust you. Please help me if something goes wrong."

    Xu Shu and Zhou Cang nodded. They summoned their souls and were ready to help Li Feihong at any moment.

    "Oh, you remind me of a proverb. I think there¡¯s a saying in the other world, "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong", so please get ready to cast your blessing as soon as he starts."

    "..."

    Xu Shu, Zhou Cang, and Li Feihong¡¯s faces twitched in frustration. All of them were thinking, "Would it hurt if you shut your mouth?"

    Li Feihong ignored Zhuge Liang¡¯s trolling remark and contemted if he should rush his 8th wing.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t like him, but he has a point. Cao Cao and Te Langpu are up to something, but I can¡¯t stop them with my current power. Everyone is catching up with my cultivation so fast, but they will eventually get stuck at my stage. If I have 8 wings, at least I can force them to submit or get rid of all greedy bastards. I still have to prepare for the worst-case scenario if Tong and his wives fail to subdue Lilim.¡¯

    Li Feihong bit his lower lip,menting his fate that the world was too cruel. He just wanted to repent for his past sins, but Tong and Li Feihong might face doom because of theirck of power.

    Making up his mind, Li Feihong sat crossed-legs, attempting to awaken his 8th soul right away.

    The process of breaking through was as simple as before. By only cultivating the awakening chance of a virtuous soul to 100%, Li Feihong could just press one button on his system panel and allow the dimensionw of Lilim to help him through the process.

    *BOOM*

    Li Feihong had been dying the 8th soul for years. Now, it emerged andpleted another pair of his wings. Eight white wings glowed and extended from his back.

    Lu Lingqi¡¯s jaw dropped, shocked. Since she was cultivating demon wings, she didn¡¯t know that the growth rate of all angels was faster than demons.

    ¡¯He seeds? Just like that?¡¯

    While Lu Lingqi was admiring the wings, the hard part of the breakthrough began.

    *PUKI*

    *CRACK*

    Li Feihong¡¯s 8 wings cracked as if they were sses which was on the verge of shattering to pieces.

    "Ugh!!"

    As Li Feihong had expected, the iplete physical body bacsh hit him hard. His body was now riddled with holes and cracking lines.

    "Hnnn!!"

    He gritted his teeth and cast every soul blessing he knew onto himself.

    At first, the cracks covered 80% of his wings. But after Li Feihong began healing himself, it reduced to 60%.

    The entire processsted only 10 seconds.

    Still, it was far from enough. The cracks could expand at any moment. Had it expanded to 100% or had one of them shattered, Li Feihong would have died!

    "CHARITY, HEAL GENERAL LI!!"

    Zhou Cang was not idle. He activated his soul ability, assisting Li Feihong on the side.

    The cracks slowly mended.

    55%

    50%

    45%

    The damage stopped at 40%. This time, they spent 6 hours healing Li Feihong.

    Zhou Cang panted as it drained his strength and lifespan more than he had imagined. He wanted to use Sacrifice to share the pain next, but he had to pace his breath.

    *CRACK*

    Suddenly, the soul injuries rpsed and transferred the damages to Li Feihong¡¯s physical body.

    "AAAAHHHH!!"

    The pain was unbearable to this cowardly otherworlder. Even though he was raised in Lu Bu¡¯s army for years, soul injuries brought the new sense of pain, far worse than broken bones or torn muscle.

    Li Feihong¡¯s upper teeth dug into his lower lip. Blood seeped out from the wound, but the tiny itching pain was no match against the torture of shattering the body.

    60%

    The previously hard work was in vain as the cracks expanded. It continued to develop without stopping.

    Li Feihong shed a tear of pain as he gazed to the sky, roughly breathing.

    As he looked up, he recalled Tong¡¯s face after he had suffered from soul injuries for the first time.

    Tong never revealed his pain during that time, only exhausted expression. Li Feihong still remembered that he never gave up hope even when his condition was far worse.

    ¡¯Were you dealing with this pain all the time, Tong? Were you this injured when you got hurt at that time? Did you face this on your own when you got your 8th wing?¡¯

    Thinking how Tong went through the ordeal and rose to the top, Li Feihong had a second wind. Mysterious strength gushed out from his exhausted body and souls, helping him recover from the physical and soul wounds.

    50%

    40%

    30%

    It healed faster than usual, but it stopped at 30%.

    Li Feihong panted and almost copsed to the ground. The sudden surge of strength just now was gone.

    "SACRIFICE! SHARE ME HIS PAIN!!"

    "SACRIFICE! LET ME BEAR SOME OF HIS BURDEN!"

    Xu Shu and Zhou Cang summoned their soul and transfer some of Li Feihong¡¯s injuries to themselves. Each bore 10% of the wounds to themselves.

    "AHHHH!!"

    "UGH!!"

    Xu Shu screamed in pain while Zhou Cang groaned from the torture. Both now had simr wounds on their physical bodies, and their souls had small red lines on them.

    Because of their effort and sacrifices, Li Feihong¡¯s injuries stabilized at 10%. The cracks on his souls stopped expanding, and no rpse urred again.

    The hard part was nowpleted. What was left was reinforcing his foundation and stabilizing his cultivation as the newfound power could go berserk.

 Chapter 512 Awakening Li Feihong 2

    Chapter 512 - Awakening Li Feihong (2)

    It took Li Feihong three days to settle down with his new power and self-healing. Xu Shu and Zhou Cang also rested nearby, concentrating on recovering from the injuries as well.

    Lu Lingqi sat behind Li Feihong, watching over him while he was cultivating the whole time. She didn¡¯t know what attracted her to this otherworlder, but she didn¡¯t hate his hard-working face.

    Although everything seemed to not go ording to Zhuge Liang¡¯s n, the strategist was smiling from ear to ear.

    While Li Feihong was cultivating, the throne room meeting had concluded, but none of the people in this dimension cared anymore.

    Finally, Li Feihong reopened his eyes after he got used to the new power, his other life¡¯s memory, and karmic sense, and the god¡¯s eyes.

    Looking at the karma chains and everyone¡¯s real souls, Li Feihong had aplicated emotion. He summoned his 8th soul, which had the appearance of Liu Bei, to stand before himself.

    "Goddammit! Why was I Liu Bei!? Just ... How!?"

    Li Feihong couldn¡¯t help but scream as he didn¡¯t like what kind of person he was in the other previous lives. Li Feihong couldn¡¯t ept the fact that he was once Liu Bei.

    It hurt him more when he recalled that he killed Zhang Fei and Pang Tong with his own hands. Yet, the swelling anger stopped his tear and override the guilty feeling he had.

    Zhang Fei and Pang Tong might have been Liu Bei¡¯s loyal retainers, but they had unforgivable ws.

    Zhang Fei was a hoodlum through and thorough. His excessive violence also cost Liu Bei his post when he started his career as a town official. When Liu Bei entrusted him to protect Xiapi, Zhang Fei drank too much wine and lost the city to Lu Bu. Then, his cruelty and harsh treatment toward his soldier subordinates ended up killing him before Liu Beiunched a revenge campaign on Sun Quan.

    From Li Feihong¡¯s point of view without Liu Bei¡¯s bias memory, Zhang Fei was just a strong brute, which was more suited as a vanguard, not a general of an army. For the other fields, he was useless.

    Pang Tong was not any different. He enjoyed appraising people to the point that it inted his pride. He also misjudged the abilities of many people by his bias virtues, prioritizing thetter over the former. As a result, he performed poorly when he was a minor official in Jing Province under the Sun n during his early career.

    In this world, Pang Tong mistreated Tong¡¯s ways of government. He never forgot one mistake that Tong had made in Liyang, the town massacre incident, and overlooked the achievements that Tong hadid the groundwork for the people.

    Pang Tong ended up joining this world¡¯s Liu Bei, who had barely demonstrated his kindness and love for the people. After all, among all warlords, Liu Bei didn¡¯t have as many tarnished reputation as Cao Cao, Tong, or others. Again, Pang Tong¡¯s pride made him overlook what was the most important for the country, the talents.

    Andstly, the order of Pang Tong at Hongnong contradicted his beliefs. He wanted to kill the townspeople for the sake of capturing the city even though he proimed that he hated evil acts.

    The hypocrisy made Li Feihong disgust. He got angry by just remember Pang Tong¡¯s face.

    ¡¯Those assholes don¡¯t deserve to live! I did nothing wrong! I¡¯m here to repent for what I did to Tong, and that hasn¡¯t changed! No matter who I was, I AM LI FEIHONG, A FUCKING SINNER!! GO AHEAD AND TORMENT ME, YOU FUCKS!! I REGRET NOTHING KILLING ALL OF YOU HERE!! UNTIL ZHANG TONG FORGIVES ME, I WILL STILL BE HERE WORKING FOR HIM!!¡¯

    Unbeknownst to Li Feihong, Zhuge Liang, or anyone, three chains of karma, which had the resentment of Tong¡¯s former friends and rtives in the other world. They released Li Feihong from their bind as if they wanted to approve Li Feihong¡¯s mindset.

    *BOOM*

    One of the karma chains other than the fading ones shattered and freed Li Feihong from its binding. They belonged to Tong¡¯s former parents who resented him because of this previous life¡¯s deed.

    The fragments of the broken karma transformed into glittering light and entered Li Feihong¡¯s body. As soon as they be one with him, the remaining soul injuries disappeared like magic.

    The development shocked Li Feihong as well. He opened his eyes and examined his souls and his physical body.

    He was healed!

    While Li Feihong was confused about his past and the karma knots on himself, Zhuge Liang knelt and prostrated to his lord.

    "Wee back, my lord. I¡¯m d to be your vessel again in this life."

    When Zhuge Liang kowtowed to Li Feihong, Xu Shu and Zhou Cang also got back to their senses even though they were still in the middle of healing their soul injuries.

    "What?"

    "Why are you...?"

    Something was not right with Zhuge Liang¡¯s behavior. Even Li Feihong squinted his eyes in suspicion.

    Although Li Feihong could see his other form of his souls, the others should not be able to identify his true identity without having the same cultivation or higher. Yet, Zhuge Liang¡¯s action indicated that he knew something.

    "First of all, how do you know that it¡¯s me? Normally, you can only see my appearance as Li Feihong, not Liu Bei."

    For now, Li Feihong put the fact that he was once Liu Bei to the back of his head. He wanted to interrogate Zhuge Liang for what he was nning.

    "I just knew, my lord."

    ¡¯Just knew?¡¯

    Li Feihong had a suspicion. Zhuge Liang shouldn¡¯t be able to identify his other pasts with his cultivation, so the only answer should be the external influence - Lilim!

    Since many people were acting suspiciously in the election meeting, Li Feihong got paranoid if someone might have a deal with Lilim while Tong and other demonesses were not paying attention.

    "Was it Lilim who told you?"

    Nonchntly, Zhuge Liang smiled, "Impressive deduction my lord. That¡¯s correct!"

    Hearing that Lilim and Zhuge Liang made a contact, Li Feihong was enraged. He armed his right hand with his aura and ced it on Zhuge Liang¡¯s neck, threatening to kill him.

    "Did you sell us to Lilim!? What the fuck did she tell you or trade with you!?"

    "Hahahaha! I¡¯m a happy man, my lord. You, in this world, is so smart! I¡¯m d I¡¯ve picked the correct Liu Bei!"

    Li Feihong moved his hand and cut a bit of Zhuge Liang¡¯s white neck, telling him to be serious.

    "Okay. Enough joke. I¡¯ll tell you everything. Let¡¯s begin with what I have traded with Lilim, shall we?"

    Li Feihong refused to withdraw his hand. His eyes were still ring at this strategist.

    "Haiz. It seems you start to act like Zhang Fei these days. Please calm your heart and your thoughts. Your anger can ruin you again if you¡¯re not careful."

    Reminded of the mistake Liu Bei had made because of anger, Li Feihong withdrew his aura and hand.

    "Tsk! Go on."

    "Hahaha! Alright. Let¡¯s start with Lilim¡¯s offer. She promised to bestow me 2 or 3 system skills of my choice. She gave me a list of 100 skills. Well, to be honest, I¡¯m surprised to find your dimension skill in the list, too, my lord."

    The offer was tempting even for Zhuge Liang. As all 100 otherworlders had a good imagination, most of their created system skills were useful.

    Some could create weaponry, such as Tong¡¯s former [Firearm Creation], or [Grenade Creation].

    Some assisted them in their daily life or survivability, such as [Create Food], [Private Dimension], and [Self-Resurrection].

    Some were purely wicked. [Necromancy], [Die for Me], [Immortal Yang Vein], or [Eyes of Dominance].

    These skills could corrupt any local civilian with ease. It wasn¡¯t strange for Lilim to tempt the stoic Zhuge Liang with these perks.

    "Did you ept it?"

    "No. I postponed my decision."

    "Then, how did you know I¡¯m Liu Bei."

    "Haha. First, let me continue what I left off. In exchange for those skills, she wanted me to either kill Liu Bei or swear allegiance to her by making an oath with my immortal voice, but I said I need to cultivate a bit to understand everything."

    Again, Lilim seemed to have contacted many officers, trying to poach Tong¡¯s subordinates.

    "As I said, I declined the offer. She insisted that I should ept it since Zhang Tong would face his demise soon. Well, I¡¯m kind of doubt her, so I asked her why."

    Zhuge Liangughed again, "She blurted that you are the reincarnation of Liu Bei, and you might end up fighting against Zhang Tong. Therefore, I probed Zhang Tong¡¯s officers to see if there are trustworthy,petent, or simply useless. Well, I¡¯m surprised that all of Zhang Tong¡¯s wives never wanted to let their children sitting on the throne. Even his father declined the offers of my agents. Lu Zhi and Hua Tuo are good, too. Eh, except for Cao Cao and Te Langpu¡¯s goons. These guys have to die ASAP."

    Zhuge Liang confessed that Lilim had contacted him the moment that he obtained the other timeline¡¯s memory and experience. She pestered him many times, but Zhuge Liang kept dying his answer.

    In the end, Lilim asked him to do one thing, either kill Liu Bei or make an oath to be Lilim¡¯s subordinate.

    But it revealed one ugly fact that Zhuge Liang almost made Li Feihong kill Liu Bei!

    "Say, Kongming. What do you think will happen if I really kill Liu Bei in this world?"

    "Some freaky thing might happen, perhaps?"

    Li Feihong facepalmed as Zhuge Liang was too reckless. He nced at the monitor, which was disying Liu Bei. He could see thetter¡¯s true soul.

    It was not an animal like other people in this world. Instead, it was a heinous blob monster as if it came from Resident Evil¡¯s T-Virus Series. Moreover, it had Liu Ping¡¯s face!

    Liu Ping was inside Liu Bei!

    Li Feihong had a scare. Had he killed Liu Bei, the monstrous soul would escape from the body and might possess somebody else.

    Moreover, Liu Ping might get his chance to reincarnate as a local with his old memory! This might spell a disaster for Tong and his allies!

    "You almost made me do something stupid, Kongming."

    "Why?"

    "You have no idea... Anyway, we¡¯re not going to kill Liu Bei. What are you trying to achieve anyway?"

    "That¡¯s a pity. I was hoping to get a few skills from Lilim. I want that [Immortal Yang Vein], too!"

    "... Don¡¯t mess around."

    "I was kidding. For now, let¡¯s give Ma Chao my prepared note, so he can work for us."

 Chapter 513 Prison Break

    Chapter 513 - Prison Break

    ¡¯Should I steal their weapon first? No, I should convert lifespan into physical energy for now. Not getting any food hurts.¡¯

    In the cell, Ma Chao managed to break free from the restraints. Broken chains and pieces of wooden boardsy on the ground as Ma Chao destroyed all of them.

    Yet, he could not escape from the prison.

    In front of his prison cell, three angels, Cao Chun, Zhu Ling, and Yu Jin, were sitting there, meditating while they were guarding. If Ma Chao wanted to flee, he had to go through these three men first.

    It was an impossible task at the moment as he was too weak.

    Ma Chao was starving as he hadn¡¯t eaten anything for days. By the order of Cao Cao, the three wardens were told not to give Ma Chao any food to sabotage his strength.

    Still, Ma Chao was a cultivator with 4 wings. No matter how hungry he was, he could ovee it by converting lifespan into life force, feeding the exhausted body some energy.

    Unfortunately, the process prevented him from cultivating or gathering more lifespan as the life force in the underground prison was too thin. Moreover, three cultivators with 4 wings were absorbing most of the flowing life force in the air into themselves, obstructing Ma Chao from getting any lifespan.

    ¡¯Despicable! Once I can get out, I¡¯lle back and kill these sons of bitches!¡¯

    As Ma Chao was fantasizing about killing his prison wardens, a hand-sized portal opened and ejected a small piece of paper into his hand.

    *VHOOM*

    The mini gate immediately closed without waiting for Ma Chao to react.

    ¡¯What?¡¯

    The blue hole just now reminded Ma Chao of Li Feihong¡¯s ability, which could abduct anyone into a mysterious ce.

    Ma Chao nced at his wardens. As usual, the three Cao Cao¡¯s underlings were meditating, concentrating on absorbing the surrounding life force, hindering Ma Chao from gaining any lifespan or recovering himself.

    Using this chance, Ma Chao read the paper.

    [Ma Mengqi, this is Zhuge Liang. I¡¯ll help you escape from this prison, but you¡¯ll have to work for me in return. If you ept this deal, blink three times. If you don¡¯t, just toss this paper away.]

    Ma Chao¡¯s pupils expanded as he finally found hope. Although he doubted Zhuge Liang¡¯s motive, thetter was still a former colleague, who went through several campaigns in the other timeline together. Ma Chao could still remember the Southern Campaign, where he was the vanguard against Meng Huo, the southern barbarian.

    It was a good time since Ma Chao disyed his full potential and won several battles for Shu Han Dynasty.

    ¡¯Kongming, I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re working for Zhang Tong, but I¡¯ll believe you.¡¯

    He blinked three times as instructed, gesturing that he agreed. He nced at Liu Bei in the other cell, worrying about his lord.

    *VHOOM*

    A small blue portal opened again and spat out a sword and a pistol.

    *VHOOM*

    Another gate opened behind Ma Chao. He could feel that someone ced a hand on his back and inject some life force into himself.

    Ma Chao¡¯s eyes widened. He could feel that his strength return and his injuries disappeared. Moreover, the hunger subsided as the life force energized him.

    Then, he could hear a whisper.

    "To use it, inject your force into that pistol. Then, aim the muzzle at your target and pull the trigger. Help me kill these men, and I¡¯ll get you out of here."

    Ma Chao remembered the voice. It was from Li Feihong, the one who had abducted him and Liu Bei!

    He did not know why Li Feihong was helping him, but he was not against his instruction.

    On the contrary, Ma Chao rejoiced that he could finally have a chance to kill Cao Cao¡¯s goons!

    "With pleasure!"

    Ma Chao spread his four wings and injected his life force into the pistol along with the resentment toward Cao Cao¡¯s men.

    The killing intent from Ma Chao rmed the three officers. They woke up from their meditation and pulled out their sword in reflex.

    But it was toote.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Although Ma Chao had not learned how to shoot, aligning the gun barrel was a simple task for him. Furthermore, the men were only less than 50 meters away. Aiming at three big men was easy even for a rookie.

    The shells pierced into their bodies, damaging their internal organs.

    "CHARITY! HEAL!"

    "PATIENCE! ENHANCE!"

    The three used their soul abilities to save their life, but the shooting had not ended.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Ma Chao could see that one bullet could not take down a four-wing angel easily, so he focused firing at the weakest officer among the group.

    .

    Cao Chun, the younger brother of Cao Ren, followed after Cao Cao when thetter raised an army to subdue the Yellow Turban in the other timeline.

    Unlike other generals under Cao Cao, Cao Chun¡¯s few achievements came from the campaign against Yuan Shao¡¯s sons, whose armies were already on the verge of self-destructing. Cao Chun¡¯s position at that time was the Tiger and Leopard Unit, one of Cao Cao¡¯s favorite cavalry toons, and he yed a small part of hunting down Yuan Tan.

    In this world, the Yuan Family was destroyed by Tong, so Cao Chun didn¡¯t have any noteworthy achievement. He ended up working alongside with other minor generals.

    Cao Chun might have two lives of experience, but he could not change the fact that he had less experience than the others among his peers.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    More bullets punctured Cao Chun¡¯s chest area. Cao Chun could feel the burning metal passing through his body and exiting from the back.

    He could hardly breathe as blood got into his lungs!

    Desperate, Cao Chun sent his four souls to Ma Chao, hoping to kill him before he died.

    But that was amon mistake that all newbie immortals usually make. Detached souls were weaker than concentrated force in one¡¯s physical body. With just a single direct hit, one of Cao Chun¡¯s souls could be destroyed, which could lead to Cao Chun¡¯s death.

    Ma Chao saw that four souls were rushing at him. He grabbed Li Feihong¡¯s sword, enchanted it with cultivation force, and shed at one of Cao Chun¡¯s souls.

    *SWUA*

    Cao Chun thought that the souls were immune to physical attacks, so the souls didn¡¯t defend themselves. As a result, one of them was severed in half from head to groin.

    A chain reaction urred. All Cao Chun¡¯s soul received the same damage as the cleaved soul.

    *SPLAT*

    The damage transferred to Cao Chun¡¯s physical body. He got splitted into two.

    This was the reason why Li Feihong and Zhuge Liang couldn¡¯t kill these men himself.

    First, Li Feihong couldn¡¯t harm fellow n members, either by melee or ranged skills. But most importantly, the murderer of a n member would be automatically identified to other n mates.

    An outsider like Ma Chao was the best scapegoat for this kind of incident.

    "CAO ZIHE!!" The two officers shouted in shock.

    Ma Chao didn¡¯t let Zhu Ling or Yu Jin react or call for reinforcement.

    After firing several bullets, Ma Chao learned the basics of aiming. He pointed at Yu Jin¡¯s head instead of shooting their body.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Two shells punctured through Yu Jin¡¯s skull and brain.

    *CLICK*

    Unfortunately, the pistol ran out of the bullet.

    "Tsk!"

    Ma Chao was about to break the iron bars and charge at Zhu Ling, but a new gun suddenly dropped from a portal above his head.

    Li Feihong dropped another loaded gun for Ma Chao!

    "How considerate..."

    Ma Chao grabbed it and aimed.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Zhu Ling managed to react and leaped toward the side, dodging the bullets. The shells dig into the stone wall, creating small holes.

    The survivor didn¡¯t bother trying to fight Ma Chao. He turned tail and ran while he opened his n menu to ask for help.

    But a giant blue portal appeared before him. Zhu Ling¡¯s feet were already in auto-mode as he was running for his life, so he dashed into the other dimension without realizing it.

    Upon getting inside Li Feihong¡¯s world, he found a schr with a strange ck and brown weapon. Its long muzzle was pointing at his face. Behind him, one girl and two men were watching him.

    "Aim at his legs and hands. Don¡¯t kill him."

    "Ah, I forgot."

    Zhu Ling stared at the people before him in shock. He recognized two of the four.

    "Li Feihong!? Zhuge Liang!?"

    *TATATATATA*

    It was toote for Zhu Ling to react. The AK-47 in Xu Shu¡¯s hands spat fire. However, they did not hit Zhu Ling¡¯s body. The shells tore his legs and forced him to copse on the ground.

    *VHOOM*

    When Zhu Ling copsed on the ground, Ma Chao entered the portal after he had broken out from his cell. As soon as he found the injured officer, he plunged the sword tip into Zhu Ling¡¯s skull.

    The sword pierced through Zhu Ling¡¯s head as it was soft tofu!

    A system message shed before Zhuge Liang and Li Feihong, but the two master-and-servant didn¡¯t care about it anymore. Their attention shifted toward Ma Chao and another person.

    It seemed Ma Chao had freed Liu Bei and brought him into the dimension as well.

    Zhuge Liang sighed as he was disappointed in Ma Chao, "We didn¡¯t tell you to bring that man along."

    "If I leave him there, he will die."

    "That¡¯s none of our concern. Oh well, we can keep him as a pet for now. We don¡¯t want him to bad mouth us when Cao Cao¡¯s guyse."

    "Zhuge Kongming! He was your lord! How could you abandon him!?"

    "Ma Mengqi. That was the other timeline. In this world, I serve his majesty and General Li. This moron here doesn¡¯t deserve my loyalty!"

    While Ma Chao and Zhuge Liang were bickering, Li Feihong opened several more portals to collect bullet shells in the prison. As for the corpses, Li Feihong got out of the gate and used a sword to cut them to several parts and tossed them all over the ce, destroying any evidence that might lead to himself.

    He was hiding the traces of bullet holes in their body. If someone saw them, they would believe that it was a work of an insider as only Tong¡¯s trusted men had guns.

    Li Feihong wanted to cover the holes in the wall, but he rushed back into his private dimension in a hurry.

    Someone wasing, and Li Feihong didn¡¯t want to be seen.

    *WHOOSH*

    Li Feihong returned to his world and closed all gates.

    .

    .

    10 Secondster, a burly man with 6 wings rushed to the prison area and found the traces of battles.

    "AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"

    Dian Wei shouted in anger as soon as he saw the dead bodies of his colleagues.

    "MA CHAO!!"

    The bodyguard expanded his sense to find the runaway prisoners, but he found no one.

    .

    .

    Li Feihong watched Dian Wei swinging his axe around and destroying the prison, going berserk. Walls and iron bars were wrecked by the monstrous force of this muscr man.

    n chat notifications alerted Li Feihong non-stop as the n members were also in frenzy, shocked that Cao Cao¡¯s men suddenly died.

    Li Feihong didn¡¯t dare to open the n menu to read the messages as he expected that someone might suspect him for this deed.

    An odd notification sounded. Li Feihong flinched when he heard it as it was a private message alert.

    He looked at Zhuge Liang and Ma Chao, who was still debating if rescuing Liu Bei was a good idea. Aside from Xu Shu and Zhou Cang, nobody paid attention to him at the moment.

    As for Liu Bei, the loser, he was fidgeting as he stood behind Ma Chao, terrified that he might be killed.

    Since the suspicious bunch was not paying attention to him, Li Feihong mustered his courage and read the private message.

    Diaochan: "Feihong. Swear allegiance to me using your empowered voice or be forever our enemy."

    Diaochan: "I knew from the beginning that you were once Liu Bei, but I allowed you to live since you were working hard to repent of your sins. But since you¡¯re now an 8-wing angel now, it¡¯s time to take sides. Pick one. Join us or die."

 Chapter 514 Stance of Li Feihong, Zhuge Liang, and Cao Cao

    Chapter 514 - Stance of Li Feihong, Zhuge Liang, and Cao Cao

    Diaochan: "I repeat - Swear allegiance to me. Or else, we¡¯ll hunt you down!"

    Diaochan: "I also know that you were the one who killed those men. Choose wisely!"

    Li Feihong wanted to cry but he had no tear. Just now, he went out of his private dimension, so he was aware that Medusa might have found him by using her all-knowing eyes.

    This was a scary part of all 8-wing immortals since nobody could escape their absurd detection range. Their third eye could see everything, everyone, and every soul, including inner souls. This ability made Li Feihong¡¯s monitors and his system skill a joke.

    Without hesitation, Li Feihong replied.

    Li Feihong: "I surrender. I didn¡¯t expect that I was Liu Bei. I¡¯m sorry!"

    Li Feihong: "I did it because of Zhuge Liang¡¯s advice! Please forgive me!"

    Not only Li Feihong begged Medusa for mercy, but he also vowed with his empowered voice.

    "[I swear allegiance to Miss Diaochan!]"

    Li Feihong¡¯s voice was soft, but Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei, Ma Chao, and everybody else in his dimension could hear it. The dimension shook for a minute as karmaws were at work.

    From now on, Li Feihong could sense Medusa¡¯s whereabouts whenever he went out of his dimension. However, he didn¡¯t want to step out of his safe-haven at the moment since Dian Wei was trying to track him.

    Diaochan: "Good. I¡¯ve received your karma knot. I¡¯ll treat you fairly."

    Diaochan: "Actually, I didn¡¯t me you for what you¡¯ve done. I think it¡¯s a good idea to reduce some of Cao Cao¡¯s men."

    Diaochan: "Transfer me to your dimension tomorrow afternoon. I want to talk to you and your [nsmen] in private and teach you a few abilities that 8-wing immortals like us can do. This world is within Lilim¡¯s detection range, so I can¡¯t talk much."

    Li Feihong: "Yes, ma¡¯am!"

    Li Feihong was relieved that Medusa was in favor of killing Cao Cao¡¯s subordinates. He sighed and turned toward his men, who were looking at him in shocked, puzzled, and confused.

    "What did you do, my lord?"

    Even Zhuge Liang was baffled by his lord¡¯s action.

    "Surrendering to the empress, of course. She found us the moment I stepped outside for a few seconds."

    Zhuge Liangughed and shook his head, "You never and will ever n to betray his majesty Zhang Tong at all, don¡¯t you?"

    "Backstab Zhang Tong and all meanie women wille after my life! Do you think I¡¯m stupid!?"

    "Not at all! A wise choice, my lord!"

    "What is your goal? I meant, for real. I thought you wanted to rebel against Zhang Tong, but it seems you have too many ulterior motives."

    Everyone turned toward Zhuge Liang, who was the mastermind of this rescue mission.

    While everyone¡¯s red at the schr, thetter was unfazed. On the contrary, he was enjoying being at the center of attention.

    "First goal, wipe out Cao Cao and his nsmen. These ambitious fools are a concerning threat toward our Han Dynasty."

    Li Feihong, Xu Shu, and Zhou Cang nodded in approval. Since these men were untrustworthy to the point that they dared to bite the hands that fed them, they shouldn¡¯t allow them to enjoy the aftermath of the unification.

    Liu Bei and Ma Chao were also happy with Zhuge Liang¡¯s goal. The more Tong and Cao Cao fighting each other, the better the chance that they could thrive.

    "Second goal, get rid of all unruly factors, such as Te Langpu, Zhen Yi, Sun Ce, Sima Yi, and the cultivator cult in Jiangdong."

    Again, Liu Bei and Ma Chao delighted by the discovery. Now, they understood that Tong¡¯s subordinates were not in harmony. Instead, they were trying to kill each other to thest man.

    But Xu Shu managed to notice another hidden agenda within the limited information.

    "No Sun Quan in the list?"

    Zhuge Liang didn¡¯t mention Sun Quan or his nsmen, only Sun Ce.

    "Nah, Sun Quan is smarter than those idiots. I talked to him in private chat, and he ratted out that Lilim and Cao Cao are trying to instigate chaos in our country. He also didn¡¯t fall to Lilim¡¯s temptation."

    "Lilim?"

    Their conversation caught Li Feihong¡¯s attention, "What else do you know about Sun Quan and Lilim?"

    Zhuge Liang shrugged, "Not much. He told me that Lilim tempted him with system skills, but he declined since she wanted his immortal oath. Oh, he told me that he was in trouble with having two types of wings, and he was hoping to get Diaochan¡¯s advice. I think Sun Quan wants to be Diaochan¡¯s apprentice and get closer to the royalty."

    "So, he¡¯s not a threat?"

    "He¡¯s never a threat. I can tell that he only wants the best for his nsmen and his mother. He will y it safe and secure his position in the court as it is. Aside from his attempts to pursue the princesses, he won¡¯t try anything stupid or gamble it all like Cao Cao or others. We can count on them."

    This was a piece of good news to Li Feihong and Zhou Cang, who were concerned about the empire¡¯s harmony.

    "Are you certain? If he¡¯s going after the princesses, won¡¯t he try to fight for the throne?"

    "He won¡¯t. At best, he will just demand a title, like ... the King of Wu or something and still be taking orders from the higher-ups as usual."

    "..."

    "Well, back to the main topic, I can¡¯t reveal my other ns. It¡¯s not the right time."

    Zhuge Liang smiled and pointed at Liu Bei and Ma Chao, who were the outsiders.

    Li Feihong and Xu Shu understood that Zhuge Liang wanted to keep his n a secret, so they didn¡¯t press for more info. After all, knowing that Zhuge Liang was still their ally was good enough.

    Ma Chao and Liu Bei looked at the crews in wary. They realized that they were being used, but they had to work for Li Feihong and Zhuge Liang for now. After all, they were still Li Feihong¡¯s prisoners.

    Even if Ma Chao wanted to act unruly, he was no match against Li Feihong¡¯s 8-wing cultivation.

    "Anyway, let¡¯s move to our next target. Should we kill Te Langpu next? What do you think, Kongming?"

    Li Feihong changed the subject and asked Zhuge Liang for his approval.

    "To be honest, I want to kill Te Langpu right away, but doing so will bring suspicion on you, my lord. If we kill Te Langpu within a short period after Ma Chao got out of prison, those over-thinkers in the n would have deduced that you were behind this escape n since you¡¯re the only one with teleportation ability. Right now, you are the only one who can rescue Ma Chao and Liu Bei out without getting detected."

    "What is your suggestion, then?"

    "The most dangerous ce is the safest ce. We should camp inside this prison for a while and spy on Cao Cao¡¯s movements. We¡¯ll n our next move ording to their reaction and investigation. Also, please use your gates to recover those bullet heads inside the wall. If they find it, you¡¯re busted."

    "..."

    Li Feihong observed Dian Wei¡¯s reaction from the spy monitors. The 6-wing angel wasn¡¯t paying attention to the corpses or the wall as he ran around, searching for a secret passage that he thought Liu Bei and Ma Chao had used to escape.

    He didn¡¯t notice the bullet holes in the wall!

    ¡¯I should rece the bullet heads in the wall with these...¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    = 10 Minutester =

    The dead of Cao Chun, Zhu Ling, and Yu Jin was bad news to Cao Cao as Ma Chao had a vendetta against him in the other timeline, and he might carry it over to this world as well.

    Cao Cao inspected the prison personally after Dian Wei had confirmed that Ma Chao and Liu Bei had escaped. He crouched and examined the corpses.

    Aside from Cao Chun¡¯s dead body, Zhu Ling and Yu Jin¡¯s remains were cut into small pieces. Over a hundred human parts scattered throughout the prison.

    "These cuts were not frombat. Aside from the cleave cut on Zihe, the others should have died before these wounds happened. What do you think, Yuanrang?"

    "These dead bodies were chopped to pieces to disguise the true cause of death. If they had a sword fight here, they should have had enough time to inform us in the n chat since their strength is equal."

    "Right. Three 4-wing immortals can¡¯t even stop a weakened 4-wing immortal. I doubt it¡¯s the work of Ma Chao alone."

    Xiahou Dun was looking left and right, searching for a trace of Ma Chao¡¯s helper.

    "Ma Chao couldn¡¯t break out of this alone. Someone should havee and helped him out."

    Xiahou Dun¡¯s eyes stopped at the wall in front of Ma Chao¡¯s former cell. He walked toward it and touched a hole in the wall.

    Deep holes, each with a diameter of a finger, could be seen in several areas. Xiahou Dun dug one of the bullet holes as if he wanted to get something inside.

    Xiahou Dun¡¯s action attracted Cao Cao¡¯s attention. Thetter stopped what he was doing and observed his cousin.

    "Huh?"

    Xiahou Dun found what he was looking for, the cause of these holes.

    Bullets!

    "..."

    But Xiahou Dun was disappointed as he looked at what in his hand was.

    They were lead balls, which they used for musket shells.

    "Musket ammo?"

    Cao Cao also frowned in disappointment. He was hoping for a cylinder pointy shell, which were modern bullets, created by Diaochan¡¯s [Firearm Creation]. If that were the case, Li Feihong would be the prime suspect of this prison break.

    Unfortunately, a musket was not Li Feihong¡¯s primary weapon. Therefore, the prison break should have been done by someone else.

    "Yeah, musket shells."

    "So, it can¡¯t be our men since we¡¯ve contacted all of them. Can it be Sun Ce¡¯s guy?"

    "Maybe. Zhang Tong¡¯s men don¡¯t use muskets, but those otherworlder¡¯s guns. Only Sun Ce or Liu Bei¡¯s forces use muskets."

    "What about Lilim¡¯s servants?"

    "... No idea."

    "..."

    Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun clicked their tongues in frustration. Had they found a modern bullet head in the scene, they would have used it to me this prison break on Li Feihong and strip him from the legion suprememander position.

    Since they found round musket shells instead of modern lead bullets, Cao Cao could only specte that Sun Ce¡¯s men busted Ma Chao and Liu Bei out as they had the same enemies.

    "Let¡¯s go back. Liu Bei and Ma Chao will show up to fight Zhang Tong eventually."

    Cao Cao shook his head as he wanted to remain here for a while longer. Although he wasn¡¯t sad that his cousin and his subordinates died, the loss was a p to his face.

    Moreover, this incident revealed that the infighting had beplicated as many factions started to move.

    Emperor¡¯s supporters,

    Sun Quan¡¯s faction,

    Cao Cao¡¯s faction,

    Sima Family,

    Te Langpu,

    Sun Ce¡¯s remnants,

    And Lilim¡¯s.

    ¡¯I should contact Lilim and ask her about the situation with Lu Bu and Zhang Tong. If those two are taken care of, I can proceed with the n. If not, I should abort the mission and kill both Te Langpu and Sima Yi.¡¯

    Cao Cao hesitated if instigating chaos within Tong¡¯s nsmen was the right move. He contemted if Tong or Lilim woulde out on top in their struggle for power.

    ¡¯Zhang Tong or Lilim? If Lilim can defeat Zhang Tong, overthrowing his throne is the right move. If Zhang Tong wins, I¡¯m dead.¡¯

    Although he could maintain his position as Tong¡¯s retainer, the reward he could get from supporting Tong¡¯s side was minuscule. However, joining Lilim had huge perks, included system skills, cultivation guidance, and authority.

    Theparison between the two forces aroused Cao Cao¡¯s desire. Since everyone would be immortals, it would have been a shame if he had to live as Tong¡¯spdog for the rest of eternity.

    Why not betting everything in this huge gamble? He could win big and enjoy all the skills and perks of being an immortal with absolute authority, second after Lilim. He could even steal Zhang Tong¡¯s wives once Lilim took over his throne.

    The choice was obvious.

    Win big or die fighting!

 Chapter 515 The Rise of Li Feihong 1

    Chapter 515 - The Rise of Li Feihong (1)

    "Outstanding move, my lord. I didn¡¯t even think of that."

    Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu were impressed by Li Feihong¡¯s quick wits as thetter swapped modern bullet heads in the holes with musket shells. It disguised the scene that someone else used muskets inside the prison.

    It was a pity that they couldn¡¯t forge the crime scene that Ma Chao broke out on his own. Still, it was enough to fool Cao Cao.

    "You have 8 wings now. Why don¡¯t you just kill Cao Cao and Dian Wei?"

    Ma Chao was also watching the monitors in Li Feihong¡¯s world. He was puzzled since Li Feihong had enough strength to kill Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun, or Dian Wei. Yet, he chose to hide.

    "n system. We can¡¯t kill members of the same n. That¡¯s why we need you," Zhuge Liang answered in Li Feihong¡¯s stead.

    "I see. So, you need me to be your hitman."

    "That¡¯s correct."

    "Then, let¡¯s get this deal straight. I help you kill Te Langpu, and you¡¯ll set us free."

    "That¡¯s also correct."

    Ma Chao and Liu Bei¡¯s eyes glinted with hope. However, the former thought of his dead father, which foiled his mood. He recalled that he had to avenge for Ma Teng.

    "If I want to kill Zhang He and Cao Cao, what do you want in return?"

    This time, Ma Chao offered his service to get their help.

    Li Feihong didn¡¯t like Ma Chao¡¯s goal since Zhang He might still be loyal to Tong, so he attempted to negotiate.

    "Zhang He might be impossible since he¡¯s on our side. For Cao Cao, we can help you."

    Ma Chao was a bit disappointed, but getting rid of one of the targets was good enough. After all, he didn¡¯t have many choices.

    "I¡¯m fine with only killing Cao Cao. Then, what do you want in return?"

    Li Feihong fell into deep thought for a while before he had an idea.

    "Swear allegiance to me by empowering your voice with your immortal force."

    "That¡¯s it?" Ma Chao was surprised.

    "That¡¯s it."

    Ma Chao sneered since the condition was so simple. However, before he couldplete the oath, Liu Bei closed his mouth and stopped him.

    Liu Bei didn¡¯t have enough power to contain Ma Chao, so thetter shook him off with ease.

    "What are you doing?"

    "No, it¡¯s you. What do you think you¡¯re doing!?"

    "That¡¯s none of your business, Xuande!"

    "Hey! I¡¯m still your lord! Why are you swear allegiance to this guy!?"

    "Ha! You¡¯re not my liege now. You¡¯re just a "former" employer. You¡¯d better be grateful that I dragged you out of that prison."

    "But I¡¯m your emperor!"

    *POW*

    Ma Chao punched Liu Bei to the face. Thetter was knocked unconscious.

    Li Feihong had aplicated feeling as he watched his counterpart getting punched. He blinked several times and used his god eyes on Liu Bei¡¯s unconscious body to inspect his soul.

    As usual, it was Liu Ping¡¯s monster soul.

    ¡¯I¡¯m me, but that guy is just someone else.¡¯

    Li Feihong reminded himself that he was not this world¡¯s Liu Bei, so he should not holdpassion toward this stuck-up warlord.

    "Tsk! Pathetic!" Ma Chao turned toward Li Feihong, "[I swear that I¡¯ll work for you!]"

    *RUMBLE*

    Another oath waspleted. Li Feihong could feel a sense of connection between him and Ma Chao as if they were sharing five senses.

    Li Feihong could now locate Ma Chao¡¯s whereabouts without using his third eye or a spy monitor. Vice Versa, Ma Chao could also sense Li Feihong¡¯s presence and could see his true form.

    Ma Chao realized that he might have been tricked into doing something irreversible. He wanted tosh and cuss Li Feihong, but he noticed something odd.

    He could Li Feihong¡¯s other appearance beneath his souls.

    "Why does your soul look like Xuande?"

    "..."

    Li Feihong didn¡¯t expect that his first karmic subordinate could see his alternate form. He looked back in astonishment.

    Before Li Feihong could answer the question, Zhuge Liangughed as he revealed the truth.

    "That¡¯s because Lord Li Feihong IS Liu Xuande! He¡¯s the real one while that asshole is a fake! Do you think our previous lord is this pathetic as that fool? Our lord is the virtuous saint who sacrifices everything for his people! Look at this world and his farnds. Look at yourself! Think of the past treatments that he had given you!"

    Ma Chao¡¯s jaw dropped.

    He didn¡¯t believe Zhuge Liang at first. But when he thought about Li Feihong¡¯s personality, speech, and behavior, it indeed resembled Liu Bei in the other timeline.

    .

    Liu Bei¡¯s character was kind and charismatic tomoners, so was Li Feihong as many civilians and nobles wanted to give their daughters and granddaughters to him in the past.

    Liu Bei was a vengeful person who could move because of his anger, so was Li Feihong as he disyed in the battle of Hongnong, killing Zhang Fei and Pang Tong in cold blood.

    Liu Bei was a tterer who always avoided infighting conflicts by sheltering under a stronger powerhouse, so was Li Feihong who had beenying low under Tong and immediately surrendered to Medusa to save his life when he was threatened.

    Liu Bei enjoyed socializing with gangsters, rangers, and hoodlums, such as the drunkard Zhang Fei and the narcissist Guan Yu. Li Feihong also ended up hanging out with the arrogant Lu Bu and the scary Zhang Liao in his early days.

    And most importantly, Liu Bei was an ambitious man, who desired to be a free lord. In the case of Li Feihong, the secret town and his hidden soldiers in this dimension proved that the hidden ambition still lingered in his heart, but it was contained under Li Feihong¡¯s new personality.

    His created skill, [Private Dimension], was the embodiment of Li Feihong¡¯s dark side, which desired a world for himself.

    .

    "Yeah, he¡¯s simr to THAT Liu Bei."

    "I know right? His dimension world skill tells everything about his personality!"

    Li Feihong¡¯s face twitched, "Alright. Enough. Since Cao Cao¡¯s attention is on Sun Ce, we should capitalize on that. Kongming, Yuanzhi, brainstorm for the next target. Give me the time, ce, and procedure of the next n."

    Zhuge Liang bowed to Li Feihong as he was pleased with his hardworking attitude, "Of course, my lord. For now, I¡¯m going to discredit Cao Cao for theck of security in this prison and demote him from Sima Fang¡¯s former post. And then, I¡¯m going to contact his highness Liu Xie for his cooperation..."

    The strategists draw a chart, which disyed several phases of his scheme.

    He encircled a few names.

    Zhao Yun

    Wei Yan

    Hu Che-er

    And the White Horse Legion

    .

    .

    .

    The next day, Cao Cao announced that Ma Chao and Liu Bei were rescued by Sun Ce¡¯s men, and their whereabouts were unknown. This piece of news threw the court into an uproar.

    As a part of Zhuge Liang¡¯s n, many of Tong¡¯s faction opportunists med Cao Cao for theck of security, discrediting his authority. This angered Cao Cao¡¯s minor officials and created useless debates between the two factions, which worsened their rtionship.

    Cao Cao ended up apologizing to Liu Xie and everyone in the court for his subordinates¡¯ failure.

    Per suggested by Zhuge Liang in a private chat, Liu Xie reced Cao Cao¡¯s post with Sima Yi, the new head of Sima n. Thetter became the next Ministry of Justice¡¯s secretary, which held the authority over all police officers and the security of the entire kingdom.

    However, Sima Yi was removed from his adviser of the White Horse Legion as he held too much authority.

    Again, following Zhuge Liang¡¯s secret instruction, Liu Xie merged the White Horse Legion with the Monster Legion instead, so Li Feihong¡¯s army could be the strongest force, which could intimidate other minor factions.

    Unbeknownst to everyone, Liu Xie¡¯s action brought back all former Liu Bei¡¯s subordinates to the reincarnated Liu Bei. Zhao Yun and Wei Yan were now transferred to work under Li Feihong.

    Nobody knew that everything was under Zhuge Liang¡¯s maniption!

    .

    "This has gotten weird, isn¡¯t it?"

    Li Feihong came back to his dimension to rest during the lunch break. He was so exhausted that he didn¡¯t want to join the afternoon meeting.

    The quarrel between politicians had gotten out of handstely that his name sometimes got dragged into the fights. Thus, he stepped out and exin things that he didn¡¯t do often.

    It was tiring and troublesome.

    Still, the transfer order of Zhao Yun and Wei Yan made Li Feihong cringe. He didn¡¯t know what he should do or exin to them about Ma Chao and Liu Bei here.

    "I think it¡¯s fate, my lord. They are destined to serve you again, so karma brings them back to you!"

    Hearing Zhuge Liang¡¯sment, Li Feihong got even more mentally exhausted.

    "Fate my ass! It¡¯s all your doing! Heck, what am I going to exin about Ma Chao and Liu Bei in my dimension, then?"

    "Just tell them the truth. They will understand our objectives. Also, don¡¯t forget to tell them that you¡¯re their former liege, my lord."

    "Like hell, they¡¯ll believe me! They can¡¯t see my true form like Ma Chao or other 8-wing immortals!"

    "Then, just tell them to swear allegiance to you like how Ma Chao did."

    "Their cultivation will stop at 10 wings, you know?"

    "But you will grow further. Get yourself 12 wings, and you¡¯ll be invincible under the heaven."

    "..."

    Li Feihong sighed. He stopped talking to Zhuge Liang and concentrated on resting. He prepared for the next appointment, picking up Diaochan and hearing what she was plotting.

    .

    Afternoon, Li Feihong skipped the assembly meeting and picked up Diaochan as promised since thetter wanted to meet in private.

    As Li Feihong¡¯s karma connected to Medusa, he located the demoness and open the gate for her inside her cultivation chamber under her bedroom.

    *WHOOSH*

    A stunning beauty stepped into the gate, but another pretty person also followed.

    Zhang Min

    The moment Zhang Min entered the dimension world, Li Feihong could detect an anomaly.

    She was pregnant!

    Li Feihong frowned as he was about to remember something but he couldn¡¯t. He felt like he had lost something important.

    Diaochan could read Li Feihong¡¯s mind. She walked toward him a pressed her right palm on his forehead. She inserted her power and drove something inside his brain out.

    Then, something was ejected from Li Feihong¡¯s body.

    *SCREECH!*

    A green karmic snake ejected from Li Feihong¡¯s brain and dropped on the ground. It wiggled as if it was in pain before it died.

    However, that was not something that Li Feihong paid attention to. He was shocked when the lost memory came back.

    Lu Bu

    Zhang Min

    And that belly

    With his bbergasted expression, he looked at Zhang Min.

    "Holy Sweeting Jesus."

    Diaochan bitterly smiled, "We¡¯re demons. Don¡¯t call us Jesus."

 Chapter 516 Rise of Li Feihong 2

    Chapter 516 - Rise of Li Feihong (2)

    "Is it Lu Bu¡¯s?"

    Diaochan nodded, "It¡¯s his."

    "Then, that snake just now..."

    "It¡¯s the work of Lilim. She has brainwashed everyone with her system authority. I don¡¯t know why she did that, but it¡¯s working in our favor. At least, it¡¯s covering the scandal between Lu Bu and Min¡¯er."

    "But the child will be without a father."

    Li Feihong gazed at Zhang Min, who had dead eyes. She seemed like a broken doll without an emotion.

    Diaochan took a deep breath as she gave Zhang Min a sympathetic look. Then, she turned to Li Feihong.

    "This is an order. Marry Zhang Min and adopt her child."

    "WHAT!!!??"

    This ambush came out of nowhere and stunned Li Feihong, Zhuge Liang, and other people in the dimension. Even Lu Lingqi¡¯s jaw dropped.

    "I¡¯m serious, Feihong. Once she gives birth, we will need to publicize who this child¡¯s father is. It will create a scandal, but it¡¯s better than her being called that type of a woman."

    This was an issue that Zhang Min and Diaochan had to solve before the delivery. If the news about Zhang Min¡¯s pregnancy was leaked, the next question in everyone¡¯s mind would be "Who is the child¡¯s father?"

    Reputation was everything in this world. If Zhang Min were to appear as a single mother, she would have been branded as a loose woman, unworthy of the princess title.

    Furthermore, women were unjustly treated in the ancient era. Every time that a woman was found guilty of something, the result was usually capital punishment.

    Diaochan and Dong Bai could alter thews to force their verdict to the court, but it would give Cao Cao, Te Langpu, or any hidden faction an excuse to revolt. Thus, she wanted to y it safe.

    "W-What about Sima Yi?"

    "I want to give her to Sima Yi at first, but he is scheming against Wu Guotai and will ruin the rtionship I built with the Sun n. I don¡¯t want to marry her to a rebel."

    Diaochan wasn¡¯t only focusing on cultivating, but she also observing the movement of all officers, evaluating their behavior and motive when their lords were away.

    Surely enough, she marked Sima Yi as an untrustworthy individual after the pass of Sima Fang.

    Had Sima Fang not died, she would have treated Sima Yi differently. Without the fatherly love, Sima Yi was on the verge of transforming into a wild dog, which might bite the feeder¡¯s hands.

    Thus, in Diaochan¡¯s point of view, the Sima n had to perish, and Zhang Min shouldn¡¯t be associating with the rebel family. After all, the Jin Dynasty of Sima Yi¡¯s grandson didn¡¯tst very long because of the corruption and infighting. His bloodline was not desirable after Diaochan thought it through.

    "Is she okay having me as her husband?"

    Li Feihong still had the modern world¡¯s logic in him. He didn¡¯t think highly of forced marriage as his partner didn¡¯t have the freedom of choices or love for him.

    "That¡¯s not for her to decide. If she wants to live, she needs to marry you and make it public before she gives birth."

    "..."

    Li Feihong still hesitated. Even though this marriage could save lives, he still felt wrong.

    Without knowing what to do, he turned to Zhang Min, who was still in a daze.

    "Are you alright with this arrangement? Are you okay with me being the father of your child?"

    The light in Zhang Min¡¯s eyes flickered for a second when Li Feihong asked about her feeling.

    So far, Zhang Min was confused about how or why she had gotten pregnant as Lilim¡¯s snake erased her memory about the incident. Moreover, Diaochan didn¡¯t tell her anything.

    She was worried and ashamed that she suddenly became a mother without realizing it. Zhang Min didn¡¯t know what to do or had anyone whom she could rely on.

    But Li Feihong had a good reputation. Tong always praised Li Feihong and told her about his story whenever they were alone. He sometimes teased Zhang Min that he wanted to marry her to Li Feihong.

    Now that Li Feihong was in front of her and she was aware that he was arranged to be her future husband, she blushed. Her clouded eyes slowly regained light.

    Li Feihong¡¯s current appearance and political status could be considered an ideal bachelor. Clean smooth skin, refined muscle, gentle expression, neat clothes, and 8 white wings of Li Feihong charmed Zhang Min instantly. She had the same reaction when Lu Lingqi met him for the first time.

    Love at first sight! Zhang Min¡¯s puberty hormone was at work.

    "... If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯m okay with it. Please take care of me and my baby."

    "..."

    Li Feihong widened his eyes in shock as Zhang Min epted him too easily. He didn¡¯t realize that Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu were grinning from ear to ear as their lord would suddenly slingshot from being a suprememander into a prince after this marriage.

    Diaochan and Li Feihong also noticed the change in Zhang Min¡¯s mood. Everyone was surprised that her dead eyes finally revealed light.

    "Huh? That¡¯s interesting. I thought you liked Sima Yi," Diaochan was amused.

    "... I¡¯m not interested in that Lolicon. I heard that he proposed to Zhang Chunhua years ago. That girl is not even 10!"

    "Good. Then, the first matter is settled. Well, what about this young girl? Is she your concubine?"

    Diaochan nced at Lu Lingqi, the young girl with demon cultivation.

    Lu Lingqi had always been hanging around Li Feihong and Zhuge Liang since she enjoyed eavesdropping their conversation. The two men ignored her antics since she was harmless.

    And now, the grand demoness had an eye on her.

    "That¡¯s Lu Lingqi, Lu Bu¡¯s daughter. She ran away from home because she didn¡¯t want to marry Tong, so I shelter her for the time being."

    "Oho?"

    A strange gleam of light shed in Diaochan¡¯s eyes after she heard that she was supposed to be one of Tong¡¯s concubines.

    "Let me introduce myself, girl. I¡¯m Diaochan, the prime consort of his majesty. In other words, I run the emperor¡¯s harem and inner pce. Nice to meet you."

    The aura of an 8-wing demoness oppressed Lu Lingqi¡¯s mind. Yet, she did not show fear.

    "Oh, you¡¯re that old slut. I thought you were more refined than this. Did Zhang Tong thoroughly excavated your cave that it bes too loose for him? Since Zhang Tong has been taking in too many consorts recently, it must have been so because he¡¯s bored with you."

    "..."

    Everyone closed their mouths when Lu Lingqi¡¯s foul words slipped out of her tongue. Even Zhang Min, who had 6 demon wings, shrunk in fear and hid behind Li Feihong.

    Cold air enveloped Li Feihong¡¯s dimension as if someone had turned on the air conditioner to minus 50 degrees Celsius, transforming the private world into the South Pole.

    "It seems that Lu¡¯s bloodline needs some education. Feihong, I¡¯ll talk to you about our next moveter. Please excuse "us" for a moment."

    Diaochan grabbed Lu Lingqi¡¯s cor and flew toward Li Feihong¡¯s only town in this world, located a bit over a kilometer away. However, everyone in the dimension could hear Lu Lingqi¡¯s screaming voice after a few minutes of their departure.

    None of them wanted to imagine what might have happened to Lu Lingqi. They could only pray for her peaceful rest.

    .

    .

    The others also excused themselves. Zhuge Liang returned to the outside world to attend the afternoon meeting while Zhou Cang and Xu Shu escorted Ma Chao and Liu Bei back to their resident.

    This left Li Feihong and Zhang Min alone.

    "Err."

    "Eh..."

    Both Li Feihong and Zhang Min didn¡¯t know what to speak. Thetter never had a boyfriend before while the former got nervous, afraid of mistreating his boss¡¯s daughter.

    "Let¡¯s rest in my vi over there," Li Feihong mustered his courage and started the conversation.

    In Li Feihong¡¯s world, his vi was the center of everything.

    Endless farnd, a pasture, and ake surrounded Li Feihong¡¯s resident while the monitors were floating around the vi. All farm management, fishing, and animal rearing were delegated to Li Feihong¡¯s automatic system, so the master didn¡¯t have to lift a finger to do anything.

    The timid Zhang Min followed after Li Feihong. As he led the way, the girl stared at his back in a daze.

    Although Zhang Min had associated herself with Sima Yi, Wei Yan, Cao Ang, Liu Ye, and Liu Xie, she never saw them as a potential partner. Only after she found herself pregnant, the girl began to pay attention to the opposite sex.

    Her heart pounded as she was nervous and embarrassed that Li Feihong would be her husband soon. In her eyes, Li Feihong was dazzling.

    ¡¯He¡¯s so dreamy. He¡¯s as good as father said! Thank you Diaochan mother! Thank you, father! I like him! I like him a lot!¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    "What a windfall. Do you think what I¡¯m thinking, Kongming?"

    "Hahaha! Surrendering to the prime consort was an absolutely outstanding move! I like this world¡¯s Liu Bei."

    Xu Shu and Zhuge Liang were reevaluating their schemes to adapt to Li Feihong¡¯s sudden promotion and Diaochan¡¯s coboration. Although Li Feihong might have to square against the Sima n after the marriage, getting the full support from Diaochan and Dong Bai would strengthen their faction further.

    Shu Han could rise again under the disguise of Zhang Tong¡¯s Han!

    "We¡¯ll change the n. We won¡¯t push the weak princes to the throne," Proposed Xu Shu.

    "Ah, we push our lord instead."

    "Yup. This is going to be fun. Well, just don¡¯t fight against the demonesses and the Sun n, though. We need their support."

    "I know. I¡¯ll contact Sun Quan and tell him about the changes. I want to see his shocking face. Hehehe!"

 Chapter 517 The Rise of Li Feihong 3

    Chapter 517 - The Rise of Li Feihong (3)

    The next day, a meeting was held again. This time, all agenda focused on Ye Commandery security after Ma Chao¡¯s prison break incident.

    Li Feihong, Zhuge Liang, and Zhou Cang attended the meeting as usual. Today, he had to pick up Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, and Hu Che-er into his dimension as the merge order would be effective as of the end of the day.

    The morning meeting was uneventful as everyone cooperated to deal with Ma Chao¡¯s issue and the security issues.

    100,000 Elites from Tong¡¯s Immortal Legion, 50,000 men from Li Feihong¡¯s unit, and 50,000 former soldiers of White Horse Legion were dispatched to garrison in Ye Commandery for the time being.

    This dispatch order was suggested by Sima Yi, who preferred a calm working environment over equally distributed troops over the country. Li Feihong didn¡¯t mind it and approved the advice.

    200,000 Soldiers were allocated toward the capital legion. Half of them were already present, but the other half would travel from their perspective cities to Yeter on.

    Reinforcement of the three legions calmed the panicking officers and Cao Cao¡¯s subordinates. The matter of security was solved, but no outsiders were aware that Ma Chao was under Li Feihong¡¯s dimension yet.

    "Next agenda, Ma Chao¡¯s whereabouts," Te Langpu moved on to the next issue.

    But before they continued, the empress showed up and interfered with the meeting.

    "HER MAJESTY DONG HAS ARRIVED! KNEEL AND PRAISE HER MAJESTY!" The guards shouted, warning the court officials in the throne room about Dong Bai¡¯s arrival.

    Cao Cao, Te Langpu, Sima Yi, Li Feihong and all officers stopped what they were doing and prostrated on the floor.

    "Love live your majesty! May you live a long and prosperous life!"

    An etiquette greeting was in order. Dong Bai strode into the room while Liu Xie and the other princes stood up, giving up the seat to their mother.

    As Dong Bai was walking pass Li Feihong, whose position was on the forefront next to the stairs to the throne, she winked at him as she learned what had happened yesterday from Diaochan.

    Excited by development, she stopped cultivating mid-way and appeared in the court to cease all conspiracy.

    Since they had one extra move that could checkmate and destroy all schemes behind their back, Dong Bai sacrificed her precious cultivation time to finish the internal fighting business once and for all.

    Dong Bai: "I gotchu, fam! Congrats on the first night, BTW."

    Li Feihong¡¯s face twitched when Dong Bai¡¯s private message popped up in front of him. He wanted to retort that he hadn¡¯t done anything to Zhang Min yet.

    However, he couldn¡¯t say anything as they did cuddle togetherst night. Zhang Min seemed to be happy with it since she snored while she snuggled against his chest with a drooling smile.

    Dong Bai sat on the throne and smiled at everyone, especially Li Feihong, who would be the main character in the uing election and political infighting from now on.

    "You may rise. We have another important announcement to make."

    Everyone looked nervous as they thought that Dong Bai would have been busy cultivating in her room, preparing to fight against Lilim. Having Dong Bai appearing in the meeting today was bad news to every schemer.

    "Li Feihong has found a trace of Ma Chao and Liu Bei yesterday. A group of cultists from Jiangdong raided the prison and rescued both of them. Our supreme general managed to kill a few on his pursue, but he ran into Lilim and Sun Ce. They got away afterward."

    Obviously, it was a made-up story to boost Li Feihong¡¯s reputation, giving him another reason for Dong Bai to bestow Li Feihong another reward.

    Still, the majority of the officials believed in the fabricated story. They looked at Li Feihong in a positive light even though he failed to apprehend Liu Bei and Ma Chao.

    A few ministers, including Sima Yi, Cao Cao, and Te Langpu doubted in this information since they had nted spies everywhere in this country. Had such a fight had happened, they would have learned about it yesterday as well.

    Zhang Jiao and Lu Zhi, who also had intelligence agencies, also doubted Dong Bai¡¯s story. But since she was plotting something to promote their ally, Li Feihong, they kept their mouth shut.

    Dong Bai continued, "It¡¯s unfortunate that we can¡¯t recapture the runaways, but we know now that Sun Ce and Lilim have recruited Ma Chao and Liu Bei to their side. With this intel, we have to be extra cautious about the southern campaign."

    All civil officers nodded in agreement. In the next fight, they were expecting heavy resistance from multiple immortals and armies of cultivators. It would be the toughest war that they would face.

    "Unifying the armies and fight themon enemies is a difficult task. We need a leader with charismatic, talented, smart, and reliable cultivation strength. After all, in all wars, we should not be afraid of invincible enemies, but we should fear ourrades-in-arm with the brain of a pig. A trustworthy and reliable leader is needed!"

    Everybody agreed again. Even Cao Cao concurred with the remark [Comrades with a brain of a pig are the worst foes] as he had seen many foolishmanders turning a sure-win battle into a loss.

    However, Te Langpu detected a subtle gesture that Dong Bai was giving.

    ¡¯Not good! She¡¯s going to cancel the election andmand the troops herself, isn¡¯t she?¡¯

    Even Sima Yi doubted Dong Bai¡¯s motive, ¡¯She is confident enough to stop cultivating. Did they gain another trump card against Lilim? Has someone be another 8-wing immortal? Wait ...¡¯

    Sima Yi had enlightenment after he connected the prison break incident with the theoretically deduced 8-wing immortal together. Not many 6 or 7-wing immortals had the potential to get to that point, but Sima Yi thought of one of them.

    Li Feihong!

    ¡¯SHIT! She¡¯s going to promote Li Feihong again! But his suprememander position is already the highest he can get. What else can she ... NOOOO!! PLEASE DON¡¯T MARRY ZHANG MIN TO THAT GUY!!¡¯

    Sima Yi wanted to scream, but he couldn¡¯t utter a word. However, the eyes which almost slipped out of the sockets revealed the state of his mind.

    Dong Baiughed as she turned to Li Feihong, "Fortunately, we have such a charismatic and talented man among us! Not only he squired against the goddess with 10 wings to a standstill, but he has also managed to breakthrough because of the battle experience with the stronger foes!"

    At that moment, everyone turned toward Li Feihong in shock. They knew what the presence of an 8-wing cultivator meant to the political war behind the scene.

    No scheme could content against absolute power! Li Feihong could destroy everybody here with ease!

    The emperor¡¯s faction would suppress all opportunist politicians once again!

    Lu Zhi revealed a wide smile and heaved a sigh of relief. The election struggle was meaningless now under the presence of the empress and Li Feihong.

    ¡¯It¡¯s over, Te Langpu. I hope you¡¯re ready for the repercussion.¡¯

    The empress continued, "Such an exemry man deserves recognition and status! But recently, I heard that one of our princesses is thinking highly of this person, and the man is also interested in our daughter..."

    As soon as Dong Bai hinted that she was about to give Li Feihong one of the princesses, the loud sound of cheers and buzzing noise of the crowd erupted. Everyone went hysterical that Li Feihong would get to marry a princess.

    This changed the politicalndscape even further. With Li Feihong as a royalty¡¯s rtive, the emperor faction would be invincible as long as Li Feihong and Liu Xie stood on the same side.

    Checkmate!

    "Li Feihong. Since you and Zhang Min have been seeing each other in secret, will you take the responsibility?"

    Dong Bai dropped another bomb.

    When Dong Bai revealed the name of the princess, the face of Sima Yi lost the color of blood. His body temperature dropped from 36 degrees Celsius to 32 as if he was about to get a seizure.

    Wei Yan had a simr state. However, instead of having a paleplexion, his face reddened in anger.

    Ignored themotion in the throne room, Li Feihong stepped forward and knelt toward Dong Bai.

    *WHOOSH*

    Li Feihong revealed his 8 majestic white wings to everyone. He cupped his fist and vowed with his empowered voice.

    "Please entrust her to me! [I, Li Feihong, swear by the name of my ancestors. Let heaven be a witness of my oath! I shall make her highness Zhang Min the happiest woman in the world!]"

    *RUMBLE*

    The karmic voice echoed in the throne room along with an earthquake. Everybody was astonished by the phenomenon since it was the first time they witnessed a grandeur oath.

    "H-H-Heaven acknowledges his oath!"

    "This is an auspicious sign!"

    "Heaven and earth favor their rtionship! A match made in heaven!"

    All Tong¡¯s supporters cheered as they were overwhelmed with emotion.

    On the other hand, Cao Cao and Te Langpu grimaced, fearing their future with Li Feihong on the top of the food chain.

    Cao Cao abandoned his election n and operated his menu, trying to contact Lilim and inform her of the changes.

    He wanted to join her side now. Or else, Dong Bai and Li Feihong would slowly hunt him and his subordinates down one-by-one.

    Cao Cao¡¯s blood veins almost burst as his anger shot through the roof. This demon goddess was too unreliable as she never replied to his messages. Moreover, she was vulgar to the point that it offended Cao Cao as well.

    .

    .

    .

    "They are never your opponents, aren¡¯t they?"

    While Li Feihong was attending the meeting, Diaochan and Wu Guotai were having a tea party as they observed the meeting from the private dimension monitors in front of the vi.

    Diaochan invited Wu Guotai to Li Feihong¡¯s dimension before the meeting this morning, so the Sun n could learn about the true strength of Tong¡¯s faction. With the demonstration of the absolute forces, Wu Guotai might understand the difference in strength and persuade Sun Quan not to take any foolish action against the royalty.

    "From the beginning, they never have a chance. I¡¯m surprised that they are stupid enough to fall for Lilim¡¯s temptation. By the way, has Lilim contacted you or Sun Quan?"

    "Yes, but only Zhongmou though. He said he declined the offer, but I don¡¯t know the full details."

    "Did she offer system skills as usual?"

    "I think so."

    "Ah, predictable. For now, can you persuade Sun Quan and Sun Shangxiang to be my disciples? They will have to make an immortal oath that they cannot rebel against Zhang Tong or our family, though."

    "I¡¯ll try. But can you spare Shangxiang?"

    "She¡¯s destined to marry Zhang Tong. You don¡¯t need to keep her as a prince¡¯s bride."

    "..."

    "Don¡¯t make that face. You know how he is, a pervert bastard that fucks anything that moves."

    Wu Guotaiughed, "True. He¡¯s a beast. But can you borate? Why is his majesty desiring my daughter? He never even meets her."

    Diaochanughed, "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

 Chapter 518 Family Gathering

    Chapter 518 - Family Gathering

    The marriage was settled, but Dong Bai insisted that the wedding ceremony would be held in private among the royalty due to the danger of Ma Chao and Sun Ce¡¯s rebellion.

    Many court officials wanted to participate, but Dong Bai refused. Not a single of her faction supporters could enter the wedding.

    This move was to hide Zhang Min¡¯s pregnancy status. As for the baby, they would announce its birth date a few months after it was born, so nobody would suspect that it might not be Li Feihong¡¯s baby.

    However, the private wedding aroused suspicion. Cao Cao, Te Langpu, and even Sima Yi questioned why it had to be too secretive, but they got no answer.

    The meeting ended in the early afternoon as Dong Bai sent everyone away to resume their work. She ordered that no assembly meeting would be held until the private wedding was over.

    Also, the inner pce was now considered a no-fly-zone. Any flying cultivator in the area would be arrested and executed.

    .

    .

    .

    *VHOOM*

    Liu Xie, Zhang Yi, Zhang Guo, Liu Ye, Lu Zhi, Zhang Jiao, and Hua Tuo entered Li Feihong¡¯s private dimension as instructed by Dong Bai. Thetter also came with them to have their secret meeting with everyone.

    Sun Quan and Sun Shangxiang also came to this world because of Wu Guotai¡¯s instruction. She demanded the two that they had to surrender to Diaochan, or she would be killed.

    Without a choice, Sun Quan dragged his sister here to submit to Medusa.

    Other consorts, Cai Wenji, Du Shi, Xiao Qiao, and Da Qiao also joined them. The former two saw Diaochan as their big sister and supported Tong¡¯s endeavor, so they had no problem joining Tong¡¯s political faction.

    As for Xiao Qiao and Da Qiao, they epted Wu Guotai and Sun Quan¡¯s invitation since they needed a benefactor to survive in this infighting war.

    Without the empress faction¡¯s help, they might be in danger, just like Cao Xing and Cao Qinghe.

    The twotest consorts, Cao Xing and Cao Qinghe, couldn¡¯t participate in this meeting because of their rtionship with Cao Cao. They isted these concubines for now until further changes.

    Most of the political leaders who supported Tong¡¯s regime gathered. Unfortunately, several strategists and generals, such as Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, Ju Shou, Jia Xu, Xun Yu, and former Cao Cao¡¯s generals, were not invited as Diaochan didn¡¯t trust them.

    *VHOOM*

    Another mother and daughter also joined them.

    Surprisingly, they were Liu Yang and Zhang Ying. Diaochan invited them herself, so she could dissolve their past enmity and clear out a couple of karma knots they had.

    Zhang Min was also waiting for everyone there, standing next to Li Feihong, disying her status as his official wife.

    When the neers noticed Zhang Min¡¯s condition, they understood why the wedding had to be held in private.

    \"Was it yours, General Li?\" Lu Zhi asked what was in everybody¡¯s mind.

    \"Yes. I¡¯m sorry.\"

    Li Feihong hid the secret of the incident and took responsibility.

    \"I see. Everything makes sense now,\" Lu Zhi turned to Diaochan and bowed, \"Congrattions, your majesty. You have an admirable son-inw.\"

    Liu Xieughed and patted Li Feihong¡¯s back, \"I guess you¡¯re now my brother-inw. Should I call you big bro?\"

    \"... Just call me Feihong as usual. No weird title for me, please.\"

    While Lu Zhi and Liu Xie didn¡¯t mind that Zhang Min and Li Feihong had a baby in secret, Hua Tuo and Zhang Jiao were a bit angry.

    \"You should have told us that you were seeing each other. We could have amodated you in Julu.\"

    Hua Tuo misunderstood that his granddaughter secretly met Li Feihong behind his back.

    However, Zhang Jiao had his suspicion since his intelligence agency reported that Zhang Min never had any rtionship with a man.

    \"Since when have you two been going out?\"

    Zhang Min smiled as she was about to tell them the truth, but Li Feihong interrupted her.

    \"Since his majesty entered his secluded cultivation. I¡¯ve been going back and forth between Julu and the frontline to see her.\"

    Zhang Jiao shrugged as he didn¡¯t want to make it hard for Li Feihong. Since Zhang Min looked so happy being by his side, he was satisfied.

    \"Take care of them, okay?\"

    \"Yes. Grandfather.\"

    \"You know. It feels weird having someone with my son¡¯s age calling me a grandfather.\"

    Hearing the remark, Li Feihong rolled his eyes, \"You have no idea how hard it is for me to call Tong FATHER. We have the same age.\"

    Everybodyughed, amused by theplicated rtionship between Tong and Li Feihong. Both were at the same age, but thetter had to call the former as a father.

    .

    .

    \"I¡¯m sorry,\" Liu Yang apologized to Diaochan. She prostrated on the ground without caring about her former pride as a goddess candidate.

    \"I¡¯m curious. What changed your mind? How did you end up in the harem anyway?\"

    Thinking of the past when Tong was obsessing on entering Liu Yang¡¯s chamber whenever he had a chance, she couldn¡¯t help but get jealous. Still, Medusa was amused about how and why Liu Yang surrendered herself to Tong.

    \"At first, Lilim tricked me into joining Zhang Tong¡¯s harem. She wanted to experiment with something about mixed wing cultivators.\"

    \"Making a high ranking demon copting with an angel, perhaps?\"

    \"Yeah. She forced me to cultivate until I get 4 wings or higher after I got pregnant. You can see the result.\"

    Liu Yang introduced Zhang Ying to Medusa. The little daughter revealed her mixed wings, which was the same with Sun Quan¡¯s wings.

    \"... Creator¡¯s wings.\"

    \"Pardon?\"

    \"She has the same wings as the creator. Lilim is experimenting with something dangerous.\"

    \"Eh?\"

    \"I¡¯ll exin everything. For now, don¡¯t tell anyone.\"

    \"How did you know-O-Okay!\"

    Both Diaochan and Wang Yi chatted in secret while Zhang Ying flew around and yed with the two young princes.

    While Diaochan and Wang Yi were conversing in private. A few immortal oaths were audible to others in the dimension, but they thought it was Li Feihong¡¯s system doing to work, so no one noticed it.

    Nobody but the two 8-wing immortals were aware that these two former nemeses amended for their past grudges and joined hands. Moreover, they got one step closer to get their 9th wing.

    .

    .

    Sun Quan could finally see his sisters-inw, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao. The two concubines looked more refined than when they were in the other timeline because of the immortal cultivation and extra lifespan.

    \"How¡¯s life in the harem? Did Zhang Tong bully you?\"

    \"To be honest, it¡¯s better than when we were in Jiangdong with your brother. The prime consort treats us well, but Bofu just saw me as a political tool,\" Da Qiao was frank as she felt morefortable in Ye over the other past.

    \"Bofu is going to be sad to hear that.\"

    \"He¡¯s dumb enough to abandon us. He should have picked us up ages ago, but he was too engrossed in power struggling. Well, firste, first serve.\"

    Da Qiao med Sun Ce for their current situation, but she was covering up her sister¡¯s mistake. It was Xiao Qiao¡¯s fault that came up with the silly idea that Tong was a good warlord and led them to this mess.

    Xiao Qiao was also aware of that. She kept her silence and pretended ignorant even though she regretted her decision of betraying Zhou Yu.

    \"That wasn¡¯t his fault. When he got his first wing, you guys already had joined Zhang Tong¡¯s harem.\"

    \"N-No! Zhang Tong refused to ept us when we first arrived! It was because Sun Ce and Sun Fang¡¯s resistance against Zhang Tong¡¯s expansion, so Zhang Tong married us to spite them!\"

    Xiao Qiao¡¯s mouth slipped, which caused the atmosphere to be awkward.

    Da Qiao facepalmed as her sister just confessed that they came here for the sake of joining Tong¡¯s harem from the very beginning.

    The disgrace and embarrassment were unbearable. Xiao Qiao¡¯s eyes became watery as she regretted what she had just said.

    \"I-I-It¡¯s okay, sister-inw! I understand why you did that! You didn¡¯t have the other life¡¯s memory, so it¡¯s a very logical choice. Yes, it¡¯s nothing to be ashamed about!\"

    Sun Quan soothed Xiao Qiao as he was afraid that she might create amotion, and everybody would me Sun Quan that he made Xiao Qiao cry.

    .

    .

    Wu Guotai nced at Sun Shangxiang, who ignored all themotion and sat cross-legs, cultivating in earnest.

    After Wu Guotai had learned about reincarnation and the afterlife, she finally noticed that her daughter seemed more mature than everybody else at her age. Sun Shangxiang also oddly obsessed about cultivating to the point that she rarely spoke to her mother.

    ¡¯Another reincarnator, I see. Oh well, Shangxiang in the other world was spoiled rotten because of Sun Quan and the generals. I like this serious hardworking daughter more.¡¯

    Wu Guotai didn¡¯t mind that Hua Shi stole Sun Shangxiang¡¯s body. Instead, she was grateful.

    Had Hua Shi never used Sun Shangxiang¡¯s body, Tong might never have epted Wu Guotai and the Sun n under his wings but ughtered everyone, including Sun Quan long ago.

    In a way, Hua Shi ended up saving the Sun n indirectly.

    ¡¯But seriously, do I have to call my daughter \"Sister\" when Zhang Tonges back and marry her?¡¯

    The familyplex continued.

    ...

    The big family exchanged pleasantry for an hour before Diaochan stopped the party and got to the main point of this gathering.

    \"Alright. Enough party. Take a seat. From now on, listen carefully because it rtes to thete stage of cultivation preparation.\"

    Everybody stopped talking and paid attention to Diaochan¡¯s lecture.

    Medusa taught Li Feihong, Sun Quan, and everybody about karmic chains and soul utilities. She exined how karma and cultivation rted in thete stages.

    Although most of them were not into martial arts, the info was helpful as they could raise their cultivation faster.

    \"Some of you are still in the early stage, but if you can get your mindset straight and abandon all of your past grudge or resentment toward the others, your cultivation will progress faster. Also, if you express the regret of your past mistakes through your empowered words with sincerity, there are chances that spirits or souls within the karma river can hear you and forgive you from the deeds. Then, the karma chains will free you from their shackles...\"

    Both demons and angels had the same cultivation foundation. They had to abandon their worldly desire and walk the higher path as saints, able to forgive and forget. They also had to repent from their past sins or prove themselves that they had changed.

    Angels were saints that refined their good karma to obtain miracle power.

    Demons were redeemed sinners who epted the curses, so they could understand the way of the karma.

    In the end, they walked on the same path that the creator had paved for them, the wing cultivation system.

    The essence of their redemption and karma would bolster their physical constitution, turning them into a proper immortal, which was the traditional cultivation technique without the universe system¡¯s help.

    Those were the basic knowledge that everyone in Heaven and Hell knew, but Medusa was aware of a few secrets as she was taught by the former first-generation archangel, Morning Star.

    \"Zhongmou, Feihong, Shangxiang, Ying¡¯er, Friday, you fivee with me. As for the rest of you, Wang Yi will teach you about the basics and improve your cultivation techniques.\"

    Diaochan separated the group, so she could tutor these promising allies into their trump cards against Lilim.

 Chapter 519 Hidden Battle in Lilimâ€™s Dimension

    Chapter 519 - Hidden Battle in Lilim¡¯s Dimension

    \"Redemption and forgiveness, huh?\"

    Liu Xie got enlightened by Diaochan¡¯s lecture about karma and cultivation. He kept thinking about the other timeline¡¯s experience and this life.

    He was dissatisfied with Cao Cao¡¯s dictatorship and Dong Zhuo¡¯s tyranny, but he couldn¡¯t do anything against them. In the end, Cao Pi kicked him out of his throne and killed him and his families.

    ¡¯Mother told me in private that father was once Dong Zhuo, and he came here to repent for his crimes by unifying Han Dynasty as one and saving themoners. I guess he owes me a lot.¡¯

    Liu Xie recalled that everyone had been using empowered words to make oaths recently. Thinking about redemption and forgiveness, he muttered.

    \"[I, Liu Xie, the former Emperor Liu Xian, amend you from your past mistake, father. No matter who you were in the past, I don¡¯t hate you. I hope that we can still be father and son forever.]\"

    *RUMBLE*

    The earthquake and the trembling sky shook longer and harder than usual. Yet, Diaochan, Wang Yi, Dong Bai, and everyone else didn¡¯t care about it since everyone was making a vow left and right to solve their karmic knots.

    His allies were raising their cultivation at a rapid rate!

    .

    .

    .

    Late-January, 201 AD.

    A year had passed since Sun Ce¡¯s sudden raid. Although Tong had won the survival game by uniting all remaining otherworlders under his banners, Lilim had not officially announced that the game was over yet.

    In Lilim¡¯s private dimension, Tong did his best to contain Lilim by corrupting her mind and sanity via sex. By relying on his [Immortal Yang Vein] and 8-wing cultivation strength, Tong could keep on going without sleeping or eating.

    Still, Lilim was a tough nut to crack. As she had a higher cultivation base than Tong, Lilim often turned the table and injected curses on him, exhausting his strength more than necessary.

    But Tong¡¯s hard work was not in vain. By tricking Lilim into epting his lust curses, she began to enjoy drugged sex. Sometimes, Lilim inflicted lust curses upon herself to increase her sensitivity to the max. With the addition of Tong¡¯s endless vitality, she had lost count how many times she had gone to heaven.

    Yet, she did not seem to lose her rational thinking as she sometimes operated her admin menu to spy on Tong¡¯s subordinates in the outside world or chatted with someone with her messenger menu.

    On the other hand, Tong no longer paid attention to the times he inseminated Lilim. No matter how many times he poured in his seed into her belly, Lilim¡¯s lower stomach devoured them as if they were her favorite food. Moreover, he almost lost his sanity. He often cked out and woke up, finding Lilim riding him without resting.

    The battle was not going well. At this rate, he might be corrupted first.

    *Piki*

    A few invisible chains of karma, which had been binding Tong¡¯s neck, snapped. These karmic knots belonged to the victims whom Tong had killed or taken advantage of when he was Dong Zhuo.

    Tong did not know why, but many angered souls had forgiven him for his misdeeds. He could even see the smile on their faces.

    ¡¯I don¡¯t know why, but thank you. Also, I¡¯m sorry for what I had done.¡¯

    Tong expressed his wholehearted apology in his mind as he could sense that these invisible spirits departed in peace.

    *RUMBLE*

    Tong could feel that his strength soared as one of the wing restrictions was gone.

    He broke through and got his 9th wing!

    \"Huh? How did you breakthrough?\" Even Lilim was baffled by the sudden change, \"Why did they forgive you? Who, what?\"

    Lilim opened her administrator menu to check the backlog.

    At that moment, Tong pushed Lilim, who was riding on top of him down.

    \"I AM GROOT!!\"

    While was at it, he summoned the newly awakened soul, his 9th wing.

    Sin of Insanity!

    Insane Curse!

    Tong injected an additional curse on Lilim!

    Getting ambushed off guard as she never expected any other abilities but lust curses from Tong, Lilim¡¯s mind went nk.

    But the effect would soon wear off as Tong¡¯s cultivation strength was still much weaker than Lilim.

    Tong inserted his fingertip into Lilim¡¯s mouth and injected more curses in desperation.

    Lust Curse!

    Corruption Curse!

    Sloth Curse!

    Among Tong¡¯s souls, 9 types of sins could be used as curses.

    Sloth

    Lust

    Greed

    Pride

    Wrath

    Gluttony

    Corruption

    Cruelty

    Insanity

    As such, Tongbined four relevant curses and influenced Lilim¡¯s mind.

    \"Ah? Eh? AHAHAHAHA!!\"

    Lilimughed as she hugged Tong with her legs, tying him with her lower body. Their lower parts did not stop moving as Tong and Lilim¡¯s hips memorized the movements, synchronizing their automatic pumping activity.

    She stopped using her admin menu as she indulged herself in the drugged sex.

    Thanks to the sloth curse, Lilim stopped bothering casting curses back at Tong. She simplyy down and took in whatever Tong was doing to her, beingzy.

    \"I love you, Lilim.\"

    Tong whispered to her ear as he licked it. Then, he massaged her naked chest.

    \"I love you.\"

    \"~~~~!!!!!!!\"

    One trick that could make any woman¡¯s heart melt, whispering love as they were having sex. Tong learned this technique from Medusa, who usually dominated him on the bed.

    By using it on Lilim while she was influenced by the four curses, it confused her as if she was intoxicated by hundreds of narcotic substances, increasing her sensitivity and pleasure. Even though she never liked Tong, it felt good when a handsome guy was trying hard to win her heart.

    She was on cloud nine!

    \"Let¡¯s be soulmates, so we can be together forever.\"

    \"Ah! Ah! Aie! Not too-Ah!-fast, my dear!! Ah!\"

    \"Let¡¯s make it permanent with your system, so nothing can separate us in this dimension.\"

    \"YES! ~!!! Ahh!! Faster!! I¡¯m cumming again!\"

    \"You are so beautiful.\"

    \"AHHHHH!!!!\"

    \"Your voice is so sweet.\"

    \"~~~~!!!!!!!\"

    \"I¡¯ll be yours forever,\" Tong sealed his mouth with Lilim¡¯s, sending his tongue inside.

    \"~~~~!!!!!!!\"

    Tong kept showering Lilim with sweet words as if she was the only woman in the universe. Thebination of four curses and flirting during sex went on for another 10 months. He also didn¡¯t forget to inject a new set of curses each month, making it a routine.

    Water could prate a stone. The repeated act and their bodily connection slowly influence Lilim¡¯s mind. Through persistence, hard work, and sweet sexes, Tong¡¯s existence found itself in Lilim¡¯s heart.

    And one day, Lilim finally decided to bind him with her forever.

    ...

    ...

    Tong grinned as hepleted one of his ns. Although it was a pity that Lilim was smart enough to ce restrictions on Tong, preventing him from taking his life and killing Lilim in the process. Getting the soulmate contractpleted Tong¡¯s second objective.

    The first objective was to keep Lilim at bay for 10 years.

    The second was to get the soulmate contract.

    Now, it was the time for the third phase: harvesting some profits.

    While Lilim was intoxicated by his third leg and his seed inside her stomach, Tong secretly operated his system menu.

    In his mind, Tong could not stopughing. Before his eyes, a long list of 98 skills that all otherworlders had or used to have appeared.

    Now, he could learn one skill a year, just like when he had this contract with Hua Shi.

    ¡¯Eyes of Domination first, so I can brainwash Lilim when I get my 10th wing. Next year, Self-Resurrection. Then, Private Dimension. Necromancer is also nice. Wait a sec, what is this skill, [Die for Me]? This is practically [Death by Snu-Snu]! Holy shit, if Lilim uses this on me, I¡¯m fucked!¡¯

    Eyes of Domination was a skill that an otherworlder attempted to brainwash Lu Bu into bing his subordinate, which ultimately led to the duel between Tong and Lu Bu during their early encounter in Jinyang.

    Self-Resurrection and Private Dimension were two strong skills that Li Feihong had.

    Necromancer skill used to belong to an otherworlder whom Zuo Ci had killed before he could expand his forces. No one had used this skill in this world yet.

    And the [Die for Me] was once a trump card of Wang Li, a former consort of Liu Ping. Fortunately, she fought Liu Ping and died prematurely before she could exploit her skill and ruin mankind. This skill could rob all otherworlders¡¯ system skills and kill her victim through sex.

    Tong almost had a heart attack when he read the skill description. It was fortunate that Lilim had never used it on him. Or else, his entire n would have been ruined.

    Because of this discovery, Tong became more vignt. He would only copy Lilim¡¯s system skill when Lilim was drunk by his curses.

    = 30 Minutester =

    \"Woo! That was refreshing. My turn, dear husband! Lust! Corruption! Chaos! Insanity! Pride! Wrath!\"

    Lilim suddenly woke up from Tong¡¯s monthly curses and counterattacked Tong with six curses of her own. She didn¡¯t care if the curses rted to sex or not since she wanted to break him and make him hers alone.

    Tong¡¯s consciousness went nk as his inner desire took over his body. His attack on Lilim¡¯s body got wilder.

    \"AHAHAHAHA!! I LOVE YOU, MY BABY!! HARDER!! LOVE ME MORE!!\"

    As crazy as she was, Lilim cast the same curses upon herself and enjoyed the extreme activity. They were so engrossed into sex that they didn¡¯t notice a little baby, which was born from Lilim during the middle of their battle.

    The child was different than mortal human babies. It didn¡¯t have soft skin and adorable features of a human, but it was born with red skin. Above its buttock, a tail was wiggling as if the imp baby was in a good mood.

    The child didn¡¯t cry or try to get Lilim or Tong¡¯s attention, but it tore its umbilical cord and ate its raw centa as if it were a zombie.

    *Nom-Nom*

    After finishing the meal, the little devil revealed a smile with sharp fangs in its mouth. It gazed at their parents, who didn¡¯t even pay attention to themselves.

    Curse aura enveloped the child as it was born from Tong and Lilim¡¯s various curses. Both of the parents didn¡¯t realize that they injected their curses into this child as well during their activity.

    Itughed and crawled outside of the resident.

    .

    .

    .

    \"Hey, can we go out? I¡¯m bored.\"

    Lu Bu got bored listening to Tong and Lilim¡¯s mating sound. He wanted to return to his family and inform others about the changes.

    \"I also want to, but I can¡¯t control Lilim¡¯s dimension.\"

    Zuo Ci sighed and shook his head. He, too, didn¡¯t want to stay here for more than a second, but he was powerless against Lilim¡¯s dimensional system.

    \"Don¡¯t you have a system skill?\"

    \"Lilim has never given me one.\"

    \"Wow, she¡¯s a cheapskate, isn¡¯t she?\"

    \"True. Well, if you¡¯re that bored, why don¡¯t you spar with Guan Yu?\"

    \"We did it 600 bouts already.\"

    \"Oh? What¡¯s the result?\"

    \"Hahahaha! 512 Wins, 88 Loses. I have more wins, of course.\"

    \"Impressive! Is it because of that unknotted karma before you got here?\"

    \"Yup! That¡¯s the one!\"

    Lu Bu and Zuo Ci got along well as they were bored to death.

    On the other hand, Guan Yu was about to lose his sanity. He still couldn¡¯t match Lu Bu¡¯s strength and speed even though they had the same cultivation strength, which revealed his inadequate aptitude and foundation.

    Moreover, he was tired of listening to the sultry noise.

    Fed up with Tong and Lilim¡¯s antic, Guan Yu stomped the ground and strode toward Lilim¡¯s resident to stop their sexual activity.

    But his feet stopped when he located a young monster in front of the house.

    The anger in Guan Yu¡¯s heart subsided as he found the monster cute. He suspected that it was a monster that Lilim was raising

    He picked it up to examine him up close.

    Upon closer inspection, Guan Yu identified that it was a baby monster. Although it had a humanoid figure, its red skin, sharp fangs, and tail were not something a human baby had.

    \"What are you? Little guy?\"

    *NOM-NOM MEW!*

    The baby¡¯s head suddenly splitted open in half, revealing its true mouth, consisting of a hundred of small fangs and one barbed tongue.

    It lunged at Guan Yu.

    \"WHAT!?\"

 Chapter 520 Cleaning Up

    Chapter 520 - Cleaning Up

    Mid-January, 201 AD.

    Guo Jia: \"Want me to switch sides now?\"

    Zhuge Liang: \"Nah. Continue ying your role for a bit longer. Try to persuade Cheng Yu and Chen Qun to our side, please.\"

    Guo Jia: \"Chen Qun is doable, but Cheng Yu is impossible. That guy is a diehard loyalist.\"

    Zhuge Liang: \"Ah, a pity. I was hoping for another helper.\"

    Guo Jia: \"Was he really that good? I looked into his achievements in the other world. His jobs were so-so at best.\"

    Zhuge Liang: \"Think of thebination of Jia Xu and Xun Yu. He can be ruthless, insane, and cruel to his allies like Jia Xu, but his long-term insight is on par with Xun Yu.\"

    Guo Jia: \"Ah, I remember. He ransacked his hometown after Lu Bu has stolen Cao Cao¡¯s Yan Province to win the battle. But are you sure about his talent? He was defeated in Chibi.\"

    Zhuge Liang: \"That was because of an epidemic issue that Cao Cao had to burn his ships on purpose to secure his army¡¯s retreat. Cheng Yu didn¡¯t do anything wrong in that battle. Zhou Yu just took all the credits and covered the facts.\"

    Unbeknownst to all n members, Guo Jia and Zhuge Liang had been working together since the day Te Langpu had pushed the election bill in the court.

    Surprisingly, Guo Jia disapproved of Cao Cao¡¯s conspiracy against Tong as the conflict was unnecessary. From his point of view, Cao Cao should have served Tong obediently and enjoyed his immortality.

    In this world, Guo Jia had nned to join Tong after the Battle of Anping Fort, but he was too young at that time. Cao Cao tempted him to join his side a few yearster, in which Guo Jia naively jumped to Cao Cao¡¯s side.

    He regretted that decision, but he was d that Cao Cao and Tong had joined forces, ending this civil war for good.

    Yet, Cao Cao chose to submit to Lilim for more power when the Han Dynasty had already restored.

    Since it came to this point, Guo Jia decided to sabotage Cao Cao¡¯s faction in secret by not disying his full potential, giving his lord faulty suggestion and ruining Te Langpu¡¯s faction at the same time.

    It wasn¡¯t hard for Zhuge Liang to catch the hints and contacted Guo Jia and cooperated with him without anyone knowing.

    Guo Jia: \"Anyway. I need some of your men as my bodyguards in the case Cao Cao finds out about my intension. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m safe with Cao Cao now.\"

    Zhuge Liang: \"No problem. Stay safe.\"

    .

    Guo Jia closed the n chat menu and leaned back on his wooden armchair. He was alone in his room in Ye City. However, he might have to move to Xu with Cao Cao soon.

    His mission had been achieved as Tong¡¯s retainers dominated the court. In the future, Cao Cao, Sima Yi, or Te Langpu would be helpless against their counterattacks. It was a matter of time that these forces would be wiped out by Li Feihong and Dong Bai¡¯s secret agents.

    ¡¯Their next move should be the internal stabilization and the election abolishment. Te Langpu will go down first. Then, it depends on Cao Cao¡¯s next action. If he¡¯s smart, he will surrender to the royalty and retire from the political world. If he¡¯s blind, he will join forces with Sun Ce and Lilim. And then, Dong Bai and Li Feihong will invade Jiangdong. Once Sun Ce and Cao Cao are out of the picture, they will turn around and take down Sima Yi next.¡¯

    Guo Jia predicted the royal faction¡¯s next moves as he analyzed when he could move to Tong¡¯s side.

    Cao Cao¡¯s ship was sinking. Only fools would sell their souls for this overly ambitious minister and Lilim.

    ¡¯There¡¯s a fine line between boldness and stupidity. Unfortunately, Mengde, you¡¯ve made the wrong decision, and I won¡¯t help you.¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    = A weekter after the shocking assembly =

    Even after Li Feihong officially supported the royal faction, Te Langpu¡¯s \"democracy pursuers\" didn¡¯t stop scheming or conspiring against Dong Bai, Diaochan, or Li Feihong.

    \"Will Li Feihong be another emperor candidate?\"

    \"That¡¯s impossible. Li Feihong is an outsider. He can¡¯t be a candidate.\"

    \"But Sun Quan can?\"

    \"Sun Quan can be a candidate because of his mother. Li Feihong is aplete outsider!\"

    Te Langpu¡¯s subordinates discussed in private among themselves as they were specting the next election result. Since the overall situation looked grim for them, they were brainstorming what they should do next to get the upper hand.

    Still, they were helpless against the military forces under Li Feihong. Had it been the older days when they could possess private armies, they could have instigated a revolt or a coup d¡¯¨¦tat.

    *VHOOM*

    While they were talking, they heard a strange sound. As officials usually held a banquet during their free time, they thought that the noise was from musical instruments of their neighbors.

    The group of three men continued their political discussion.

    \"Should we go and consult Sun Quan¡¯s men? They should support their young lord, right? At least, we can drive a wedge in their rtionship, so we can reap some profitster.\"

    *VHOOM*

    \"Good idea. Is there anyone acquainted with them?\"

    *VHOOM*

    \"I know a minor official under Zhang Zhao. I can visit him.\"

    Everyone¡¯s mood got better as they still had hope in this fighting for political influence. They were confident that Sun Quan would ept their support and steal the throne from Tong¡¯s other sons under Li Feihong¡¯s nose.

    Unfortunately, theycked the updated information and the intel about Sun Quan¡¯s stance. They had no idea that Sun Quan and his family had already migrated to Li Feihong¡¯s dimension and used it as their new home. The residents in Ye City were merely dummies.

    *VHOOM*

    *VHOOM*

    \"Eh? What kind of guqin our neighbor is ying? Someone is trying to mimic a battle drum or what?\"

    \"Dunno. But it sounds kinda ... vibrating. Drum beating has a deeper sound.\"

    \"It¡¯s simr to a sound when you rub a deepest note with a metal.\"

    \"...\"

    *VHOOM*

    A sci-fi sound was audible behind the gossiping men.

    A man rushed out with a sword. Within a second, he shed three times.

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    *SWUA*

    The scheming officials copsed on the ground without being able to scream or shout for help. Their eyes widened in shock and despair.

    It was toote for them to move as their heart stopped beating.

    The murderer of these three men, Ma Chao, slowly picked up their dead bodies and threw them into the blue portal. Five soldiers, each with a bucket of water and a mob, ran out of the gate.

    The frantic team mobbed the bloody area. The five men ran back to the gate with their tools after they had erased all the blood on the floor.

    Ma Chao, who was acting as the cleaning team¡¯s rearguard, returned to Li Feihong¡¯s dimensionst. The process of the assassination and cleaningsted only 2 minutes.

    *VHOOM*

    The gate closed.

    The room became silent as no guard was present in the area. In fact, there were guards, but they also disappeared without a trace.

    ...

    Xu Shu, Ma Chao, and Li Feihong tossed the corpses to a plot ofnd, which had fences surrounding the square.

    \"Yes, please.\"

    Upon Li Feihong answering, the system transformed the dead three men along with their bodyguards into a pile of brown dirt.

    \"Put all of it in the fertilizer slot in the auto-nting warehouse.>>

    Li Feihong nodded in satisfaction as he finished getting rid of Te Langpu¡¯s supporters and their bodyguards while adding resources to his dimension at the same time.

    Just now, Li Feihong cooperated with Ma Chao, Xu Shu, and their soldiers in assassinating these untrustworthy politicians. Xu Shu managed the team of the janitors. Ma Chao was in charge of taking down the leaders, while Li Feihong controlled the portals.

    Since the meeting, this was their 44th job. However, Te Langpu had not found out about the death of his subordinates yet.

    The clock was ticking as Te Langpu¡¯s faction members were taken out one after another.

    \"Who¡¯s our next target?\" Asked Xu Shu. After he had learned about Li Feihong¡¯s other identity as Liu Bei, he was always enthusiastic about his work. Moreover, he, too, swore allegiance to Li Feihong with his immortal oath.

    \"We¡¯ll call it a day. Let¡¯s head back and secluded cultivate. I hope both of you can get your 7th or 8th wing before the southern campaign starts.\"

    Ma Chao and Xu Shu bowed deeply to Li Feihong before they returned to their residents.

    Ma Chao¡¯s behavior got more tamed as he was afraid of the greater power, such as Diaochan, Dong Bai, and Li Feihong. He no longer disyed his rough manner in front of Li Feihong or the other demonesses anymore.

    .

    .

    .

    February, 201 AD.

    A monthter, Te Langpu realized that his people, who supported democracy, went missing.

    At first, Te Langpu thought that they were too busy negotiating with other retainers from other factions. However, when he attended the monthly assembly meeting in February, he couldn¡¯t find his aide, who managed his intelligence agents.

    At that point, Te Langpu was aware that they were either abducted or killed.

    .

    .

    = In the assembly meeting =

    \"Your majesty. I would like to file awsuit against General Li Feihong for assassinating 75 of our court officials.\"

    Te Langpu was decisive and frank as he collided with the royal faction head-on. Heined and used Li Feihong that he was bullying his retainers. Although he didn¡¯t have a piece of solid evidence, he knew that Li Feihong was the only one who couldplete such tasks.

    Dong Bai didn¡¯t say anything. She nced at Zhuge Liang, who was standing next to Li Feihong.

    Zhuge Liang nodded, epting the debate task, \"Where is your proof or witnesses, Prime Minister?\"

    A simple question from Zhuge Liang was enough to silence Te Langpu as thetter didn¡¯t have proof to back up his im.

    Yet, Te Langpu didn¡¯t give up. He ignored Zhuge Liang and cupped his fist, continuing talking to Dong Bai.

    \"Your majesty. All 75 court officials have one thing inmon. They worked for me! Last month, they have gone missing one after another, but none of our agencies has managed to locate them! You see, your majesty... General Li Feihong has the ability to transport people to another dimension, and he is the prime suspect of the 75 men¡¯s sudden disappearance. I wish to put General Li to the trial, so we can investigate the matter!\"

    Many of the royal faction officers snickered and sneered at Te Langpu. They didn¡¯t know who or how Te Langpu¡¯s subordinates went missing, but they enjoyed watching his demise.

    Again, Dong Bai didn¡¯t speak. She left everything to Zhuge Liang.

    \"This is a baseless usation, senior Te. I cannot hold a trial without a piece of evidence or an eye-witness. Moreover, your subordinates WENT MISSING! We haven¡¯t found them or their dead bodies. How can you assume that General Li killed them?\"

    \"Then, I hope to borrow the prime consort¡¯s power and your men to investigate in this matter as soon as possible. I also wish to mobilize policemen and detectives from academies to scan through their houses for clues.\"

    \"We have more important tasks than chasing after deserters this year, senior Te. We have yet to decide the date of the uing election and mobilization of the southern campaign.\"

    \"Urgent matter and public order take priority over other projects! This is a matter of life and death here!\"

    \"We see no dead body, Prime Minister. No dead body, no crime. You¡¯re making a baseless assumption that hinders our work. Please stop drinking liquor before work. It ruins your character and your intelligence.\"

    Zhuge Liang proceeded to provoke Te Langpu, trying to make him angry and discrediting him in the process.

    The bicker went on, but Te Langpu failed to get his purpose across.

    In the end, he went home, disappointed in Dong Bai¡¯s inaction and the oppressing government. He stoppeding to work after that day, spending all day drinking.

 Chapter 521 Cao Familyâ€™s Determination

    Chapter 521 - Cao Family¡¯s Determination

    March 201 AD.

    Months had passed since Li Feihong and Zhang Min¡¯s wedding. The ceremony alsopleted in secret within Li Feihong¡¯s private dimension.

    Despite the absence of the emperor and Lu Bu, the coalition of Dong Bai, Li Feihong, Liu Xie, and Sun Quan suppressed all scheming officers. Many unfaithful officials were forced to retire as Dong Bai returned to her duty, supporting Liu Xie and Li Feihong from behind.

    Zhuge Liang moved behind the scenes. Nobody knew what he did or what he plotted. But since Diaochan said he was trustworthy, everyone left him alone.

    Changes also urred in the army.

    Zhang Liao was transferred from the Monster Legion to be the grandmander of Redhare Legion, recing Lu Bu¡¯s position.

    The merged unit of White Horse Legion and Monster Legion changed its name. Using the trantion of Li Feihong¡¯s name, tranted as red, the new unit was called [Crimson Angel].

    The Crimson Angel Legion became the second unit that was authorized to have more than 100,000 soldiers along with Tong¡¯s personal Immortal Legion.

    Zhao Yun and Hu Che-er worked as vice generals for the new unit. Strangely, Wei Yan got sent away to support Tian Yu in Pyongyang. Everybody in the court believed that he got demoted because he used to pursue Zhang Min in the past, but no one knew the reason behind this demotion.

    The Silver Axe Legion of Xu Huang was also summoned back from the barbariannd to guard You Province, the home of the Sima n, despite the objection of Sima Yi. Again, everyone thought that Li Feihong wanted to restrain Sima Yi¡¯s secret forces in the province since thetter also once chased after Zhang Min.

    Zhang Jiao, who everyone had thought that he was a toothless tiger, suddenly raised a new legion by the order of Dong Bai and Liu Xie. The Yellow Turban Legion emerged once more, but they were now working for the Han Dynasty. Bo Cai, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang also transferred to this unit to support Tong¡¯s father.

    Two hidden officers under the Ghost Legion, Zhang Ren and Yan Yan, also got their promotion. Li Feihong sent them to the Silver Axe Legion to rece the two vice generals, who moved back to the Yellow Turban unit.

    And Lastly, Sun Quan¡¯s officers, such as Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, and Han Dang got a huge promotion. Dong Bai and Liu Xie allowed them to form two legions, which would add two more armies for the Sun n.

    This promotion was a deration to all officers that Sun n were supporting the royalty, Tong, and Li Feihong. Should anyone offend them, all hell would befall on them and their families.

    The unity of Tong¡¯s family scared all ambitious ministers, including Te Langpu, Cao Cao, and Sima Yi.

    .

    .

    .

    = Xiapi City =

    Late-January, 201 AD.

    Cao Cao and his men left Ye City and returned to their home province for self-protection. Unlike Te Langpu, Cao Cao had already assumed that Te Langpu¡¯s retainers were abducted and killed by Li Feihong in secret, but he didn¡¯t dare to stay behind and help the minister.

    He, too, was afraid that Li Feihong would target him and his men, too.

    Li Feihong¡¯s skill threatened Cao Cao to the point that he got paranoid and couldn¡¯t sleep for days. In the end, he had to flee. Or else, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get a wink of sleep.

    .

    Cao Cao was sitting in his office, looking at the blue semi-transparent monitor before him.

    He wasmunicating with Lilim through a messenger system, which only Lilim¡¯s subordinates could use.

    As Cao Cao was cornered, he didn¡¯t hesitate to ept Lilim¡¯s invitation. He already vowed with his immortal oath to be her subordinate.

    Lilim: \"Migrate everyone to Jianye. I built a supporter cult called Gan Sect. Find Yu Ji and you¡¯ll find Sun Ce and everybody else.\"

    Cao Cao didn¡¯t know why Lilim was so difficult to contact. However, she still reached out to Cao Cao from time to time to advise him.

    Today as well, Lilim sacrificed her time to check the situation in the outside world while she was suppressing Tong on the bed.

    Cao Cao: \"Who¡¯re our remaining allies? I need to know who else is working with you.\"

    Lilim: \"Zhen Yi, Sun Ce, Huang Zu, Liu Biao, Wei Yan, Sima Yi, Guan Yu, Zuo Ci, Yu Ji, and Liu Bei.\"

    Lilim didn¡¯t only contact Cao Cao, but she also tempted many people. However, not many of them epted her offers. Most of the members were someone that Cao Cao had already deduced that they didn¡¯t want Tong¡¯s regime.

    However, Cao Cao was surprised that Liu Biao and Wei Yan were on the list. Also, someone he had thought that would submit to Lilim wasn¡¯t a part of this group.

    Cao Cao: \"No Sun Quan?\"

    Lilim: \"He¡¯s on Zhang Tong¡¯s side. Don¡¯t count on him.\"

    It was surprising that Sun Quan wasn¡¯t tempted by Lilim¡¯s system skills and the promising future. Judging from Sun Quan¡¯s character from the other timeline, Cao Cao recalled the time when his envoy visited Sun Quan and asked him to surrender.

    Before the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan nned to surrender, but Zhuge Liang incited the former into waging war against Cao Cao.

    This warlord was originally a pacifist,pletely different from the ambitious Sun Ce. Without Sun Quan¡¯s pro-war advisors, Sun Quan wouldn¡¯t wage any war against Shu or Wei.

    Cao Cao forgot about this minor detail and misjudged Sun Quan¡¯s character. He facepalmed after he realized his blunder.

    Lilim: \"Also, Ma Chao is siding with Li Feihong. You have been duped about the previous prison break incident.\"

    Again, Lilim revealed Li Feihong¡¯s hidden trump card after she had scanned through the system log files. The advantage of the system administrator over the residents was huge.

    However, it didn¡¯t help Cao Cao in this situation. Had she been more diligent and not indulged in sex, Cao Cao could have foiled Dong Bai¡¯s n that day and discredit Li Feihong for sheltering criminals.

    It was toote now as the event had long passed. The lie became reality as everyone in the court and the citizens epted the news.

    Cao Cao wanted to curse Lilim out loud that she was so unreliable that she ryed this important intel toote, but he couldn¡¯t do anything to Li Feihong now as his supporters and backing were too strong.

    Cao Cao: \"Are my subordinates trustworthy?\"

    Because of the heart pain and the frustration, Cao Cao asked this question for the sake of confirmation. He got more cautious as he didn¡¯t want to overlook any missing information now.

    Lilim: \"No. Your strategists are secretly working with Zhuge Liang.\"

    Cao Cao: \"WHAT!? WHO DARES BETRAY ME!?\"

    Again, another piece of shocking information stunned Cao Cao.

    Lilim: \"Guo Jia and Xun Yu.\"

    Cao Cao: \"GUO JIA!? SINCE WHEN!?\"

    Lilim: \"From the very beginning, he has been working with Zhuge Liang to test your character and ambition. Since you¡¯re so obstinate with the election conspiracy, he¡¯s cooperating with Zhang Tong¡¯s men to sabotaging your forces from the inside. You¡¯re screwed.\"

    Lilim: \"Whoops. Zhang Tong has pushed me down again. Later!\"

    Cao Cao: \"Wait! Tell me the details! What are they nning?\"

    \"FUCKING SLUT!!\"

    Cao Cao stood up and threw away his favorite teapot to the ground in anger. He was so infuriated to the point that he wanted to kill somebody.

    Themotion in Cao Cao¡¯s office rmed the guards. Several soldiers rushed in, thinking that something might have happened to their lord.

    \"My lord, are you okay!?\"

    \"What happened!?\"

    Cao Cao grumbled and waved his hand, \"Ah, I¡¯m fine. You¡¯re dismissed.\"

    \"... Yes, my lord.\"

    .

    .

    = 2 Hours Later =

    Three men visited Cao Cao in his office. Two of them were young men with a simr face outline as Cao Cao when he was young, Cao Pi and Cao Ang.

    Cao Pi was the sons of Lady Bian, Cao Cao¡¯s concubine. While Cao Ang was Lady Liu¡¯s son, who was once served as a hostage in Ye City.

    This year, Cao Ang had reached 26 years of age. Cao Pi was still 14, but his outward appearance was that of an 18-year-old teenager.

    The two men were the sessor candidates of the Cao House, but everyone knew who would win in the end ording to the other timeline¡¯s information.

    Other than Cao Cao¡¯s sons, Zhen Yi, who had migrated from Zhongshan, was also with them. He was now a retainer of Cao Pi as thetter took Zhen Ji in as his wife.

    \"Father, are you alright?\"

    Cao Ang was worried about Cao Cao¡¯s health and his future after Li Feihong got into power. Thetter had been suppressing their Cao House and stripped them from most of their rights, so Cao Ang thought that his father might be stressed because of it.

    \"I¡¯m sorry, Zixiu, Zihuan. I¡¯ve failed you guys. I shouldn¡¯t have surrendered to Lilim.\"

    Both Cao Pi and Cao Ang knew why Cao Cao did that as thetter told his two sons about Lilim¡¯s promise and system skills of otherworlders. Even Cao Pi approved of Cao Cao¡¯s decision because he also wanted those powers.

    Unfortunately, their future was grim. As Lilim was too unreliable that she neglected her subordinates, they could not use her system authority or power to counterattack against Dong Bai and Li Feihong.

    \"But I¡¯ve learned something from Lilim just now. It seems that Zhang Tong is with her or something and he¡¯s keeping her busy. I think the reason why Lilim didn¡¯t help us is because of Zhang Tong again.\"

    Cao Cao had a headache as he reread the chat log.

    \"Whoops. Zhang Tong has pushed me down again. Later!\"

    Then, he recalled the vulgar automatic system message.

    It wasn¡¯t hard for Cao Cao to deduce that Tong and Lilim might have that kind of rtionship while Cao Cao and Tong¡¯s subordinates were fighting in the court.

    \"You two. I want both of you to surrender yourself to those demonesses or Li Feihong before it¡¯s toote.\"

    Cao Pi didn¡¯t understand Cao Cao¡¯s intention or words, \"Why do we have to surrender to those robbers? They stole our fates and our throne! We still have our soldiers and officers, right? Let¡¯s unite our forces with Sun Ce and counterattack! We have enough immortals to contend against Li Feihong!\"

    Zhen Yi nodded in agreement. He, too, didn¡¯t want his new lord to give up easily.

    \"Many of Zhang Tong¡¯s generals used to serve you, my lord. Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Han Hao, and Zhang Xiu were once your subordinates, so they could switch sides to us. Please don¡¯t give up yet!\"

    Listening to Cao Pi and Zhen Yi, Cao Cao sneered, \"What if I tell you that Guo Jia and Xun Yu have already turned their back on us. They are fucking colluding with Zhuge Liang sincest year!\"

    Cao Pi scoffed as he didn¡¯t care about these strategists, \"It doesn¡¯t matter! I¡¯ve talked to Sima Yi, and he¡¯s willing to cooperate with us! He¡¯s more dependable than those ingrates!\"

    The personality of Cao Pi had not changed. In the other timeline, he depended on Sima Yi a lot during the campaign against Shu Han. The strategist proved himself over and over again by repelling Zhuge Liang¡¯s armies even though he lost some of their talented generals.

    The victories over Zhuge Liang crippled Shu Han¡¯s military power for years, which could be considered great merit to the Wei Dynasty.

    The father might have given up, but the son still persisted in fighting.

    Cao Cao gazed into Cao Pi¡¯s eyes. Upon seeing the me of courage, the former finally smiled.

    \"I see. We haven¡¯t lost yet.\"

    \"That¡¯s right. We haven¡¯t lost yet!\"

    \"Oh, since you¡¯re so riled up. I have some interesting info. I know a few men in Zhang Tong¡¯s ranks that can help us.\"

 Chapter 522 Dictatorships Cruelty

    Chapter 522 - Dictatorship¡¯s Cruelty

    March, 201 AD.

    \"Long live your majesty! May you live a long and prosperous life!\"

    Hundreds of officials in the throne room prostrated to Dong Bai as usual before the monthly assembly.

    Li Feihong, Sun Quan, and Liu Xie stood by Dong Bai¡¯s sides, dering to the world that they were backing her faction. As for the other participants, no Cao Cao¡¯s supporters, Sima House members, or Te Langpu¡¯s subordinates were present.

    There was a reason for that.

    \"Cut the formality. I¡¯ll get to the point, so we can finish this early. As you know, several of our ministers have been missing during thest few months, and it threatens our city¡¯s order. How is our investigation?\"

    During the few months after Dong Bai wedded Zhang Min to Li Feihong, Cao Cao retreated all of his men back to Xu Province as it was too dangerous to hang around within Dong Bai¡¯s domain.

    Without the surveince of Dian Wei and other cultivators with 4 wings, Li Feihong didn¡¯t hold back anymore. Thetter went on a killing spree, assassinating Anti-Tong faction members, including Te Langpu¡¯s subordinates, Sima n¡¯s members, and Cao Cao¡¯s spies.

    All the deeds were done by Xu Shu, Ma Chao, and Li Feihong as they were the only ones who could abduct and kill anyone without leaving a trace.

    However, the town order went down as the disappearance of these members aroused the suspicion toward Dong Bai and Li Feihong. Everyone was thinking that they were responsible for this unusual event.

    Still, none of them had a piece of solid evidence or proof. No one also dared to use them as they were the major powerhouse in the court.

    Should anyone speak up, their head would roll.

    \"Aside from the servants¡¯ testimony, we can¡¯t find any trace, your majesty.\"

    \"We¡¯ve deduced they ran away at night because they are afraid of the political repercussion. We¡¯ve interrogated all guards, merchants, and policemen, but all of them had no clue, your majesty.\"

    The court officials understood what Dong Bai was trying to do. They feinted ignorance and pretended that they found nothing worthwhile.

    Te Langpu, who was hiding among the crowd, also knew what was going on. His subordinates died one after another during the past few months, but none of the royalty faction members died at all.

    It was so obvious that Dong Bai was crippling all opposition factions, breaking every other faction apart and forcing everyone to switch sides.

    ¡¯Despicable! If only I have my secret service guys from my old world, these yellow monkeys won¡¯tst a day!¡¯

    Te Langpu had hired a thousand policemen to guard himself 24/7. But as time passed, he doubted if it was a good idea.

    Cao Cao fled the city and Sima Yi returned to his You Province. Te Langpu was stranded in the middle of his enemies.

    Te Langpu¡¯s grimace didn¡¯t escape Dong Bai¡¯s eyes. She sneered at him before she announced a major change.

    \"Since we can¡¯t find a clue of this mass disappearance, we will cancel the election event this year. Until we can find the missing court officials, we will refrain from holding any major event in this city. What do you guys think?\"

    All court officials grinned and nced at Te Langpu, mocking this fat minister. They cupped their fist and bowed toward the empress.

    \"We shall obey your order!\"

    \"A wise decision, your majesty!\"

    \"Of course, your majesty! A good idea!\"

    Liu Xie and Sun Quan nced at each other with a wry smile.

    \"I see no problem with it.\"

    \"We don¡¯t need to choose a new emperor at this troubled time.\"

    As dirty as underhanded as it might be, the long-term political suppression was efficient. By taking down all potential hostile officials in the city, no one could object Dong Bai¡¯s decision in the meeting.

    Nothing special, only steamrolling!

    The bills issued by Dong Bai and her supporters got easily approved by the court.

    After the monthly assembly ended, nobody talked to Te Langpu anymore.

    ...

    At night, Te Langpu drank alone in his courtyard as his servants quit their jobs after they had learned about Te Langpu¡¯s situation in the court. His resident became a quiet and eerie ce.

    For the first time, Te Langpu reevaluated his past actions.

    ¡¯What did I do wrong? I did my best to improve this country! Dictatorship and Monarchy system is so bad. Why are they still protecting this ancient government system!?¡¯

    He didn¡¯t understand that his project conflicted with the royalty faction¡¯s interests. Te Langpu envisioned too far ahead that he missed the basics of people¡¯s needs.

    Had he slowly transformed the country step-by-step, no one would have questioned his motives or objected it. Unfortunately, Te Langpu still had the same IQ as his previous life.

    Stupidity was still his forte. He might use to be a sessful businessman, but he was terrible at politics. The reason he got sentenced to hell was that his decisions that affected his country and the deaths of many people during a period of a certain virus outbreak.

    While Te Langpu was drinking on his own, a blue portal opened behind him.

    Li Feihong walked out of the gate. He took a chair and sat in the opposite direction of the table.

    Li Feihong sat down and looked at Te Langpu in the eyes.

    \"Mister President,\" Li Feihong greeted him.

    \"Ah, greeting, your highness. What do you want from this lowly loser?\"

    Te Langpu sneered at Li Feihong with his sarcasm attitude. Although he had lost everything, he still acted arrogantly in front of his political enemy.

    \"I¡¯m here to ask you a few questions. If you answer me honestly, we will retire you and leave you alone.\"

    \"Pfff! Go ahead. The world is yours!\"

    Te Langpu didn¡¯t even look back at Li Feihong. He indulged himself with thest whiskey bottle he had.

    \"Has Lilim contacted you?\"

    \"Noment!\"

    In reality, Lilim had once contacted Te Langpu. However, thetter mistook her for a silly game, so he simply made the oath and forgot about it.

    Again, stupidity was his best strength.

    \"I¡¯ll assume that it¡¯s a yes. Then, next question. Do you know about others who might have contacted Lilim?\"

    \"Noment!\"

    \"...\"

    Te Langpu was too prideful that he didn¡¯t cooperate with Li Feihong¡¯s interrogation.

    Li Feihong sighed in regret. Since the talk was useless, it was time to move on. He ced a handgun on the table.

    \"There is only one bullet in the chamber. You can keep your pride with this.\"

    Te Langpu sneered as he nced at the gun, \"You want me to shoot myself? Ha! What will you do if I shoot you?\"

    \"It¡¯s impossible for fellow n members to harm each other. The bullet will stop before it hit me.\"

    \"But I can kill myself, eh?\"

    \"...\"

    \"You have the inventory skill, right? Do you have a few more bottles of this?\" Te Langpu waved the almost-emptied bottle of whiskey.

    Without saying anything, Li Feihong ced two more bottles on the table. He gazed at the former president one more time before he opened the gate and left Te Langpu alone.

    Te Langpu snickered as he continued to enjoy the liquor.

    ...

    Six hourster, Te Langpu downed thest drop of alcohol he had. However, he wasn¡¯t satisfied.

    Because of the angelic cultivation, he couldn¡¯t get drunk by normal alcohol formoners.

    \"Bah! I should have asked for a dozen bottles! I asked too few, goddammit!!\"

    Te Langpu threw the empty bottles and his bowl away.

    \"Hah... Boring.\"

    He raised his head and looked at the starry sky to admire the view. However, faint light already mixed in, covering the stars. It was 5.30 AM, and the sun was rising.

    \"Fuck! I want to see stars, not the sunrise!\"

    Te Langpu took the gun and examined it. As Li Feihong had said, it was loaded with only one bullet.

    \"Cheapskate. You should have loaded with more bullets. I want to practice shooting, too.\"

    He sighed with a sarcastic smile. He thought about his time in hell, which was a torture.

    ¡¯Why should I shoot myself when I can live free? Asshole, do you think I¡¯m stupid? I can just leave this city and go back to America! Wait, the Indians are still there... How am I going to get to that side of the world anyway?¡¯

    Te Langpu sneered as he watched the sunrise in solemn. The stress and the regret he had was gone by admiring nature.

    ¡¯I just wanted to make our country great again... Oh well, life sucks. How about I build a wall in hell? A casino in hell is also interesting.¡¯

    ...

    *BANG*

    ...

    ...

    .

    .

    .

    \"Do you pity him, Feihong?\"

    Zhang Min was carrying a baby boy with two mixed wings in her arms. It was the child that Lu Bu gave her. However, he was Li Feihong¡¯s son now.

    By Zhang Min¡¯s side, Li Feihong was gazing at a burning incense stick with a nk expression as if he was praying for a dead person.

    \"In business, he was bold and ruthless. In politics, he was always overconfident, stupid, and audacious. He wanted the best for the country, but he was too insensitive at times. Had he been less prideful and consulted with the others before he acted, things would have been different.\"

    \"Father once told me that he indirectly killed his citizens during the world epidemic outbreak. Was it true?\"

    \"... Sort of. He just failed to protect his countrymen while he was at the top.\"

    Li Feihong shed a tear as he wished for Te Langpu¡¯s peaceful rest.

    ¡¯Whatever you did to me directly or indirectly in the past life, I forgive you. Also ... I¡¯m sorry. I never wanted to get it to this point. I also want the best for this country, but you¡¯re destroying it.¡¯

    ¡¯And... thank you for your hard work for our kingdom. Rest well, Mr. President. After this stupid game is over, I¡¯ll visit you in hell with more beers and whiskeys. I wonder if you¡¯re going to build another wall over there when you got to that side.¡¯

    *Piki*

    A karmic chain that had been restraining Li Feihong¡¯s ankles disintegrated. As it transformed into dust, a transparent figure with the face of Te Langpu nodded and smiled at Li Feihong as if he was bidding farewell.

    Li Feihong could even hear a whisper.

    ¡¯Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll make Hell great again! By the way, bring me premium wines and cigars next time. Whiskey hurts my throat.¡¯

    After the parting of the two men, an additional wing grew from Li Feihong¡¯s back. The breakthrough automatically urred without Li Feihong¡¯s intention.

    Realizing that Te Langpu blessed him with a huge gift, Li Feihong wailed.

    .

    .

    .

    \"Why didn¡¯t you let me kill him? I thought you wanted me to be your hired sword.\"

    Ma Chao spied Te Langpu and Li Feihong¡¯s conversationst night through the dimension monitors. He was curious why Zhuge Liang stopped him from killing Te Langpu directly.

    \"If you had done that, other n members would have learned that you are working for us.\"

    Zhuge Liang was enjoying his tea as he watched the dead body of Te Langpu through the monitors.

    \"How so?\"

    \"We had fabricated a rumor that you are working for Sun Ce and Lilim, so they believe that you are in Jianye. However, if you show up here, everyone will question the empress and our lord if they are hiding vital information. When they realize the truth, Cao Cao will definitely exploit this fact and use it against us.\"

    \"But Cao Cao ran away.\"

    \"He has many underlings in our n. Don¡¯t forget that two of his majesty concubines are Cao Cao¡¯s daughters.\"

    \"...\"

    The conspiracy and politics were tooplex andplicated that Ma Chao couldn¡¯t understand. Still, he was happy that he didn¡¯t have to do all the works.

    Meanwhile, twenty semi-transparent system monitors in front of Zhuge Liang shed non-stop as the strategist was chatting with my people from different groups at once. Most of them were Diaochan and her allies.

    ¡¯Ah, so busy. Well, now that Te Langpu is dead. It¡¯s time to move on to the next target. Let¡¯s see... Next stop, Jiangdong! We¡¯ll hunt down Sun Ce and force Cao Cao to choose sides.¡¯

    Spring had arrived, and it was the right time to mobilize their forces.

 Chapter 523 Cao Cao on the Run

    Chapter 523 - Cao Cao on the Run

    Mid-March, 201 AD.

    Zhuge Liang stood before a thousand official in the court in Ye throne room, reading a golden scroll in his hands.

    It was the imperial edict.

    \"Ghost Legion and Red Hare Legion are to head toward Yi Province and Jing Province to solicit the area from Huang Zhong and Liu Biao. Navy Legion shall depart from Xiangping port and move south to reinforce our forces at Guangling. Wu Legion and Red Tiger Legion will act as reserve forces to support Gan Ning and other legions freely. Immortal Legion and Monster Legion will move to Lujiang and take the lead in this southern campaign. Also, the prime consort, Diaochan, and the 6th consort, Wang Yi, will head out with the Immortal Legion!\"

    \"All ministers must abort the tasks at hand and support the mobilization! We shall now change our domestic policies into wartime policy! Concentrate on producing weaponry and food supplies for the soldiers on the frontline!\"

    A grand mobilization order was finally issued and shocked thend once more.

    Unlike Tong, who was overly cautious about everything and solved all problems using pacifist methods, Dong Bai was bolder as she utilized everything she had to vanquish her enemies.

    Dong Bai didn¡¯t bother trying to negotiate or give a chance for Cao Cao to surrender. Instead, she assumed that Cao Cao would join forces with Sun Ce in Jianye.

    Of course, she didn¡¯t listen to all advice from the n¡¯s strategists, who wanted to negotiate with Cao Cao first.

    However, Dong Bai liked some of their suggestions. They wanted Dong Bai to eradicate Cao Cao as soon as possible, but they wanted Dong Bai to issue another edict and im that Cao Cao became a rebel first. Then, they could have a cause to fool their subordinates and hunt them down.

    But Zhuge Liang had another idea. He gave Dong Bai his advice, and she allowed Zhuge Liang to act as he pleased.

    \"In addition, Sima n is to form a legion and head to Xiapi to apprehend Cao Cao, his subordinates, and their families. He is currently under the suspicion of colluding with Sun Ce, and we need Cao Cao and his men contained during the southern campaign. We will investigate if he had any dealings with Sun Ceter.\"

    Dong Bai didn¡¯t allow Cao Cao to roam free or dered war against them. Instead, she sent their hidden threat, Sima n, to sh against Cao Cao¡¯s forces, so these two forces could weaken each other while they were busy fighting against Sun Ce.

    \"As for the Silver Axe Legion, they will move to Yan Province to protect the central in and the logistic supply routes.\"

    Xu Huang and his soldiers would be their backup army in case something went wrong. For example, Sima Yi and Cao Cao might not fight each other but cooperate to strike Ye and the northern regions while all forces were away. In such a case, Silver Axe Legion would be their rearguards against this threat.

    Even if everything went ording to the n, Silver Axe Legion would still attack the Xu Province and kill the victor of Sima-Cao battle.

    In other words, Xu Huang was the executioner who would hunt down Sima Yi, Cao Cao, or both, regardless of whatever oue.

    .

    .

    .

    = Xiapi City, Xu Province =

    \"They¡¯ve moved. We have to make the decision, now.\"

    Cheng Yu warned Cao Cao as he got the information from various former colleagues, such as Xu Huang, Zhang He, Zhang Liao, and many others who had submitted to Tong and his family.

    As these generals didn¡¯t want to see their lords ended up fighting each other, they wanted Cao Cao to stop what he was scheming. Unfortunately, Cao Cao¡¯s n was already in motion.

    \"We¡¯ll leave Xiapi and head to Jianye. Zihuan, gather our n members and abandon everyone else. We can¡¯t trust those betrayers.\"

    Cao Cao had already packed his belonging and informed his men in advance. He also managed to draft 100,000 strong men from the entire province to join his forces using everything in his treasury. In addition, the Xu Province was an agricultural region, so Cao Cao stockpiled more than enough provision for the next war with every gold he had.

    He was broke, but he got enough resources for another major war.

    With such preparation, Cao Cao asked Cao Pi to begin their migration to regroup with other Lilim¡¯s subordinates in Jianye.

    \"I¡¯m going to spread a rumor that those generals are plotting to disobey Dong Bai. Then, we can get a bit of time.\"

    Cheng Yu was not without fangs. As an elite strategist with two worlds of experience, he could still find weaknesses in Tong¡¯s ranks.

    Currently, the stance of Xu Huang, Zhang He, Zhang Liao, and many other former Cao Cao¡¯s officers were still questionable as they usually acted neutral in every political conflict that Cao Cao had with Tong¡¯s wives. However, this uing war would force them to take sides if they wanted to continue serving Tong or rejoin with Cao Cao¡¯s armies.

    As long as Cheng Yu could make Dong Bai suspect these valuable generals, the men would be forced to migrate to Cao Cao¡¯s side to save their own skins.

    \"Very good. I¡¯ll leave it to you,\" Cao Cao rejoiced that Cheng Yu was still as good as ever.

    \"I also would like to add that Sima Yi also doesn¡¯t like Li Feihong since he has a crush with Princess Zhang Min. I hope you could secret messages to him and persuade him to join our side.\"

    \"Already done a long time ago. He refused to migrate with us, but he will act on his own.\"

    \"I see. What a pity.\"

    The mobilization started, but Cao Cao didn¡¯t look sad. Instead, he smugly grinned and texted messages to a couple men, who betrayed his trust.

    Cao Cao: \"Good luck, Fengxiao. You¡¯d better not cry and beg for my forgivenesster on.\"

    Guo Jia: \"You¡¯ve made the biggest mistake of your two lives, Mengde. Surrender now, or your family will be extinguished. Think of your two daughters in Zhang Tong¡¯s harem.\"

    Cao Cao: \"Toote. I heard Dong Bai is going to send Xu Huang to Yan, so they will hunt me down regardless if I surrender or not.\"

    Guo Jia: \"You¡¯re an idiot! Is Lilim¡¯s promise more important than your family¡¯s lives? Think about your two daughters in Zhang Tong¡¯s harem! What do you think will happen to them if you really revolt!? You¡¯re killing them!!\"

    Cao Cao: \"I only have two choices, Fengxiao. Be a second man under an absolute immortal and enjoy system skills, immortality, and infinity bedtime... Or I have to be Zhang Tong¡¯spdog for all eternity without any other reward than being able to live forever. Why should I torture myself by picking the second option when the former gives me more benefit!?\"

    Guo Jia: \"This gamble is pointless. You know who¡¯s going to win.\"

    Cao Cao: \"Obviously, Lilim will defeat Zhang Tong¡¯s dogs.\"

    Guo Jia: \"You¡¯re overestimating Lilim. Did you forget what I told you about thest life? In wars, never trust your friends, especially if they had a brain of a pig! Lilim isn¡¯t someone you can rely on! She¡¯s stupid enough to get trapped in her dimension with Zhang Tong, and she never cares about our lives but our immortal oaths!\"

    Cao Cao: \"I know. And I don¡¯t regret my decision.\"

    Guo Jia: \"Mengde! Are you insane!?\"

    Cao Cao: \"I¡¯ll see you on the battlefield, old friend.\"

    Cao Mengde closed the chat and opened an extra option on Guo Jia¡¯s name. He cklisted Guo Jia from sending him private messages as he didn¡¯t want to continue chatting with him anymore.

    ¡¯I¡¯m disappointed, Fengxiao. You¡¯ve missed the opportunities! You¡¯ve got to take risks if you want to win big! If I fail, at best, I¡¯ll just die and reincarnate like those otherworlders. But if I win ...¡¯

    The burning ambition soared. Cao Cao no longer feared death.

    .

    .

    .

    In the same month, Cao Family, Xiahou Family, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, Li Dian, Yue Jin, Cheng Yu, and a massive army of 100,000 soldiers left Xiapi, heading toward Jianye in Yang Province.

    As for Guo Jia and Chen Qun, they didn¡¯t follow after these men as they refused to rebel against the royal family. Zhuge Liang had already sent a rescue squad and got them out unharmedst month.

    The migration of Cao Cao rmed Dong Bai¡¯s retainers since they didn¡¯t expect that Cao Cao would be this decisive. Moreover, facing 100,000 soldiers with cultivation power would be difficult than usual since this type of war was new to everybody in this world.

    .

    Cao Cao¡¯s massive army terrified local mayors to the point that they didn¡¯t dare to resist against Cao Cao¡¯s troops.

    The warlord didn¡¯t let this chance slip by. On the way from Xiapi to Jianye, he forcefully conscripted local policemen, strong men, and hidden private troops of local nobles into his army from five cities in Shouchun Commandery. Cao Cao also didn¡¯t forget to ransack provision and gold from these cities to replenish his resources.

    However, Cao Cao didn¡¯t get away without a consequence. Since 90% of the local policemen were from Ye and Julu academies, their loyalty belonged to Tong and his n. The moment Cao Cao conscripted them into their armies, these men immediately deserted and ran away with Cao Cao¡¯s provision the day after.

    In the end, Cao Cao increased his soldier number by 100,000 and plundered 100,000 gold from Tong¡¯s minor cities. However, his food supply decreased by half, which would onlyst them for 3 months with thisrge army.

    Thus, Cao Cao didn¡¯t wait for Cheng Yu¡¯s n to take effect. He moved his armies south across the Yangtze River and reached Jianye inte April.

    There, he was weed by a mysterious old man, the cult leader of Gan Sect.

    He was a cultivator with 8 demonic wings.

    .

    .

    Immortal Legion and Crimson Angel Legion chased after Cao Cao¡¯s trail and recaptured all cities. By the time they reached Lujiang, it was the end of May.

    All Cao Cao¡¯s men had already crossed the Yangtze River and fortified their defense on the other side, which barricaded Dong Bai and Li Feihong¡¯s troops from advancing any further.

    Tension brew as two major forces began to spread out their troops, fortifying the river banks, building warships, and getting ready for the next grand war.

    On both sides, soldiers with two white wings or two ck wings became amon sight as everyone could cultivate. Some even detached their souls to scout the perimeters around their units.

    From now on, warfare and strategies wouldn¡¯t be the same.

 Chapter 524 Sima Yiâ€™s Struggle 1

    Chapter 524 - Sima Yi¡¯s Struggle (1)

    Early June, 201 AD.

    Traveled from You Province of Sima n, Sima Yi, Sima Lang, Sima Fu, 50,000 policemen, and 100,000 mercenaries arrived at Xu Province, where Cao Cao used to reside.

    Sima Lang was Sima Yi¡¯s elder brother while Sima Fu was Sima Yi¡¯s younger brother These three brothers were the only ones who had the influence in Ji and Beiping Commandery. They secretly trained 100,000 men and disguised them as mercenaries to keep the royal n in check by the order of Sima Fang.

    The Sima household had this privilege since Tong had authorized them to do so since the beginning of their services,pensating for Tong¡¯s past offense of killing Sima Xin.

    However, this army became Sima Yi¡¯s assets after Sima Fang¡¯s passing, which threatened Dong Bai and her authority.

    .

    As ordered Sima Yi lead his family and his nsmen to upy Cao Cao¡¯s headquarters, so they could secure a major agriculture region for the next harvest season in July. Then, the vanguard troops in Lujiang wouldn¡¯t have to worry about their provision.

    But when Sima Yi found out that the cities¡¯ treasuries left them with nothing, he could only grumble and ask Dong Bai to send him more supplies.

    Sima Yi: \"Cao Cao left nothing in Xu. I need gold and a provision to maintain the territory. Please send supplies to my province.\"

    Even though Sima Yi swore allegiance to Lilim, he didn¡¯t flee along with Cao Cao to regroup with Sun Ce. He knew that he would be targeted after the war, but he had his agendas for staying within Dong Bai¡¯s ranks.

    After all, he still wanted Sun Ce dead. He couldn¡¯t stand working together with his father¡¯s murderer.

    Moreover, he didn¡¯t have to fight against Tong¡¯s wives head-on even though he was Lilim¡¯s subordinate. From Sima Yi¡¯s perspective, Lilim hadn¡¯t given him any reward, so there was no need to fight for her at the moment. He could as well resume his duty as Tong¡¯s retainer and persuade Dong Bai to leave him alone.

    Dong Bai: \"The Silver Axe will head there along with supplies. Hand over your soldiers and province authority to them, and they will handle the rest. After you pass the authority over, join me on the frontline since I need there.\"

    \"...\"

    Sima Yi wasn¡¯t satisfied with Dong Bai¡¯s order as she just asked him to strip his power to her underlings.

    ¡¯Am I the next target after Te Langpu? Are they suspecting me? Well, shit. Don¡¯t me me if I have to use this method. I still want to live.¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    Three armies from Ye stopped at Qiao Commandery, which located southwest of Xiapi.

    Xu Huang led his Silver Axe Legion here as ordered by Dong Bai. As for the other two armies, they were the newly formed troops, the Wu Legion, and the Red Tiger Legion.

    Sun Quan acted as the grandmander of Wu Legion personally as he had the highest cultivation and status among the group. Lu Xun followed Sun Quan as the unit¡¯s strategist, and Cheng Pu acted his Sun Quan¡¯s aide.

    As for the Red Tiger Legion, named to honor Sun Jian, Huang Gai became the grandmander. Lu Meng was his strategist, and the old veteran Han Dang worked with Huang Gai as his aide as usual.

    Thetter two armies were established after Sun Quan and Wu Guotai had agreed to submit to Diaochan and gave their immortal oath. From now on, they worked directly for the grand demoness.

    Each army consisted of 50,000 mixed infantry and cavalry. All units also had reserve troops of 20,000 men to guard their army provision.

    As such, 210,000 soldiers got into a position to guard against Sima Yi¡¯s 150,000 men in Xiapi. The rest depended on Sima Yi¡¯s action if he wanted to cooperate with Dong Bai in this campaign.

    In the case if Sima Yi tried something stupid, Xu Huang, Sun Quan, and Huang Gai would attack Xiapi and destroy Sima Yi¡¯s entire n.

    .

    .

    .

    = Meanwhile =

    Xu Huang: \"I refuse! The Han Dynasty has already restored! There¡¯s no need for another civil war!\"

    Xu Huang: \"Surrender now, and I¡¯ll persuade her majesty to spare your life!\"

    Cheng Yu: \"We¡¯re not trying to rebel or anything. We¡¯ve just sent our army south to Jianye and searched for Sun Ce¡¯s whereabouts. Why are you so agitated? A good general like you shouldn¡¯t point your sword against your former lord.\"

    Xu Huang: \"Stop the charade, Senior Cheng. We¡¯ve worked together in thest life, and I know Cao Mende¡¯s personality! Your escape is nothing but a tactical retreat before a counterattack against the royal family forces. That¡¯s Mengde¡¯s favorite strategy in war!\"

    Cheng Yu: \"Your usation is baseless, General Xu. Please don¡¯t be so hostile. Mengde also wants peace, so he is working hard to prove himself. We need all the forces in Jiangdong, so we can search the region thoroughly.\"

    Sitting in his resting tent, Xu Huang was debating against Cheng Yu using the private chat messenger.

    Cheng Yu attempted to freeze Xu Huang¡¯s military activities while Xu Huang convinced Cheng Yu, trying to make thetter surrender.

    Unfortunately, things did not go well for both sides.

    Xu Huang: \"I can¡¯t trust Cao Mengde anymore, Senior Cheng. You and Mengdemitted too many atrocities in the other world, but I already turned a blind eye and ignored it. To be honest, I still regret it even now. I shouldn¡¯t have worked for genocidal lunatics like you and Cao Mengde!\"

    Xu Huang referred to the genocide incidents that Cao Cao and Cheng Yumitted during their early career in the other timeline.

    The first major incident was the ughtering after Cao Song, Cao Cao¡¯s father, was killed by Tao Qian¡¯s men. Not only Pengcheng City was burnt down, L¨¹, Julin, and Xiaqiu, people of these three cities were hunted and killed to thest man. Even dogs and chickens couldn¡¯t escape.

    Cao Cao¡¯s infamous deed was not the only genocide in Xu Province.

    In 194, Lu Bu robbed Cao Cao¡¯s cities when thetter sent out his troops to attack Tao Qian. At that time, Cao Cao fought losing battles against Lu Bu and Chen Gong one after another. Moreover, a famine broke out in Yan Province, which was the roughest time of Cao Cao¡¯s life.

    Cao Cao was on the verge of surrendering to Yuan Shao to save his skin at that time, but Cheng Yu stopped Cao Cao from relinquishing his position.

    In addition, Cheng Yu came up with an inhumane idea. He sent his troops to pige viges, including his hometown, to replenish their food supply.

    Killing innocents for food was terrible enough, but Cheng Yu went further. Some of the food that Cheng Yu had plundered were consisting of human meat of the townspeople.

    Andstly, after Yuan Shao died, 80,000 former Yuan Shao soldiers gave up fighting and surrendered to Cao Cao. Yet, ruthlessly, Cao Cao killed them all.

    This was the main reason why Liu Bei resisted Cao Cao to the very end as he was afraid that thetter wouldn¡¯t have let the former life had he been captured.

    As for Xu Huang, he joined Cao Cao in the year 196 after his former lord was defeated.

    In the previous life, Xu Huang had limited information about his lord, so he believed that he served the righteous liege. But afterparing Tong with Cao Cao, Xu Huang could see the great difference between the two.

    Both Tong and Cao Caomitted some atrocities. Both regretted it and attempted to redeem themselves. However, Tong did a better job by not approving peasant ughtering after he had done it once. Meanwhile, Cao Cao massacred more peasants and helpless soldiers a few more asions before he stopped.

    Tong overwhelmed and suppressed his adversary with his absolute military strength and economic power, but he rarely promoted wars. However, Cao Cao waged war everywhere to scare his enemies into submission.

    Tong¡¯s semi-pacifism method won Xu Huang¡¯s heart.

    Xu Huang: \"This conversation is going nowhere. I¡¯m blocking you, now.\"

    Xu Huang cklisted Cheng Yu as he no longer wanted to continue the pointless chat. Since thetter didn¡¯t want to surrender, they could only be enemies.

    ¡¯I would have been a fool if I betray the immortal emperor! The past is the past. This world has nothing to do with the previous life!¡¯

    Chat messenger kept shing as one more person wanted to have a word with Xu Huang.

    Xu Huang opened the messenger to see who wanted to conspire with him in secret this time.

    Sima Yi

    ¡¯What now? Another bastard trying to backstab my emperor?¡¯

    Currently, Sima Yi was under the suspicion of masterminding, scheming with Te Langpu, and plotting a rebellion due to the Sima n¡¯s army size.

    When Sima Fang was still alive, he always reported back to the court that he limited the troop size to 50,000 to optimize the military budget. But when Sima Yi took over Sima Fang¡¯s duty, he drafted more soldiers than necessary, which threatened the capital. Combined with his descendants¡¯ rebellion deed, all court officials didn¡¯t trust the Sima n anymore.

    Sima Yi: \"Excuse me, General Xu. Please don¡¯t mind my overly-paranoid tone, but am I a marked man? Does Dong Bai want me dead?\"

    Xu Huang was surprised that Sima Yi¡¯s tone seemed distressed and worried, which was different than his usual snarky attitude.

    Sima Yi: \"Was it because I used to chase her highness Zhang Min¡¯s skirt? Can you tell me?\"

    Although Xu Huang knew that Sima Yi was cunning in the other timeline, he pitied this world¡¯s Sima Yi as thetter had done nothing wrong. Everything was still a baseless suspicion.

    Suddenly, Sima Yi sent his messages to the public chat.

    Sima Yi: \"I¡¯vepleted my duty and upied Xu Province. However, I would like to relinquish my position in advance after this job. I would like to retire from the political world for good.\"

    This shocked Xu Huang even further as Sima Yi¡¯s tone was really desperate. From Xu Huang¡¯s point of view, Sima Yi looked like an innocent official who gave up after he was bullied by the higher-ups.

    Sima Yi: \"I also wish to return all of my assets,nd, and soldiers in my n¡¯s possession. I hope that her majesty could pardon me for whatever I had done in the past. I¡¯m willing to make my immortal oath I¡¯ll never harm the Han Dynasty or the royal family in the future.\"

    Reading the messages, Xu Huang sympathized with Sima Yi. It seemed that the royal family was too excessive in their purge and harmed the Sima n, who was innocent in this political conflict.

    Thus, Xu Huang chose to reply to Sima Yi using the private message option.

    Xu Huang: \"What can I do to help you?\"

 Chapter 525 Sima Yiâ€™s Struggle 2

    Chapter 525 - Sima Yi¡¯s Struggle (2)

    = Lujiang Government House =

    An 8-ck-wing stunning beauty and a cute legal loli with 8 white wings were sitting in a guest room, drinking tea and discussing the movements of other forces among themselves.

    \"What a load of bullshit.\"

    Diaochan clicked her tongue as she read Sima Yi¡¯s public messages. Not one second that she believed in Sima Yi¡¯s promise as she could see thetter¡¯s demeanor with her immortal sight.

    The immortal sight was the power of an 8-wing immortal, which Liu Yang, Medusa, Tong, Lu Bu, and other cultivators with 8 wings or higher could use. With this kind of power, the HUD map in Zhang He¡¯s possession became an obsolete tool.

    \"What¡¯s the matter, sister?\"

    The jail-baiting legal loli wife of Tong, Wang Yi, aka Liu Yang, was sitting next to Medusa, sipping tea as she observed the country with her god¡¯s eye as well.

    \"Sima Yi is ying a victim. He¡¯s begging us to spare his life and promising that he will retire from the politic world.\"

    Liu Yang shrugged, \"Want me to kill him for you?\"

    Diaochan hesitated. She too wanted to weed out the source of trouble right now, but the situation didn¡¯t look right.

    Currently, Sima Yi was telling everyone that he wanted out. If they were to kill him right now, everyone in the n would have thought that Diaochan, Dong Bai, and Li Feihong were bullying Sima Yi because he used to woo Zhang Min. Then, repercussions would be dire as they hadn¡¯t settled the score with Cao Cao and Sun Ce yet.

    They could expect that several more generals would consider jumping ships to Lilim¡¯s side!

    Diaochan didn¡¯t forget that the key officers of their legion used to work for Cao Cao. She couldn¡¯t risk ruining Tong¡¯s hard-earned image and resulting in Zhang He, Xu Huang, or Zhang Liao switching sides. After all, she needed their help to fight Lilim in the uing years.

    \"No. Sima Yi is ying a mind game with us since he knew that we have to fight against Lilim next. We¡¯ll y along with him and try to extort his immortal oath.\"

    \"Okay... By the way. Who is this guy next to Sun Ce? How does he have the same cultivation as us?\"

    Liu Yang referred to the mysterious cult leader, who was currently sheltering Sun Ce. It was an old man whose appearance was in his 80s. He had long white hair, long white full beard, and a wide forehead.

    She was wary of this old man. Thetter also gazed back at them while he was revealing his 8 ck wings, disying his power without fearing Diaochan and Liu Yang¡¯s immortal sight.

    \"He is going by the alias of Yu Ji, but his real name is Gan Ji. He is leading the current Gan Sect in Yang Province.\"

    Diaochan had been doing her homework. She investigated this mysterious cult, which popped up in Jiangdong out of nowhere. Shockingly, by the time that Diaochan entered this dimension, she found out that Gan Ji had already had 8 wings from the start.

    She could also sense a familiarity between Zuo Ci and Gan Ji. Diaochan spected that this man should also be another local cultivator who initially served the dimension administrator, Lilith.

    Facing against another hidden enemy, Diaochan couldn¡¯t afford to let her guard down. She required all the help from all remaining generals to vanquish Lilim¡¯s followers.

    Therefore, Diaochan couldn¡¯t afford to handle the consequences of killing Sima Yi right now. Until Gan Ji, Sun Ce, and Cao Cao were killed, they had to put up with Sima Yi¡¯s tantrum.

    Still, if push came to shove, they could always assassinate Sima Yi and his brothers any time since they outnumbered Lilim¡¯s 8-wing cultivators at the moment ... as long as Zuo Ci and Guan Yu didn¡¯t join the battlefield.

    Suddenly, someone sent Diaochan a private message.

    Guo Jia: \"Please excuse my rudeness, but I have a suggestion to make regarding Sima Yi and his family.\"

    .

    .

    .

    Two kilometers east of Jianye, a cultivator town situated there. These settlements had been built during the time that Sun Ce snuck into Zhongshan and coaxed Zhen Yi to join their side.

    The white hair sect leader, Gan Ji, was gazing back at Diaochan and Liu Yang¡¯s god eyes while he was spying on Dong Bai¡¯s military activities and searching for Li Feihong¡¯s whereabouts.

    In the face of the three 8-wing cultivators, Gan Ji didn¡¯t look stressed. Instead, he revealed a mocking smile andughed at the eyes of the two immortals.

    \"My, oh my. We¡¯re pretty much screwed, Bofu.\"

    Gan Ji cackled and teased Sun Ce, who was sitting cross legs and recovering from soul injury bacsh. Behind Sun Ce¡¯s back, 7 cracked white wings fluttered.

    \"Please be quiet, Great Sage. I¡¯m trying to recover here.\"

    \"Look, kiddo. Had I not helped you, you would have been dead. Who asked you to attempt the ascension breakthrough prematurely? It¡¯s your fault for trying without a firm foundation.\"

    Sun Ce had tried to get his 8th wing, but he failed because of his unstable foundation. Without the guidance of a master like Diaochan, he didn¡¯t know about the consequence of rushing awakening.

    In the end, he lost one of his virtues permanently. Sun Ce now had to perform more good deeds to obtain a new virtue.

    Lilim was also at fault for neglecting Sun Ce as she never taught anyone about thete-stage cultivation nature. The dimension system ended up spoiling every cultivator without a master to the point that none of them was aware of this bacsh.

    .

    In the other timeline without the cultivation and Lilim, Gan Ji was an ordinary Taoist priest, who acted as a local healer just like Zhang Jiao. However, he was influenced by the Yellow Turban¡¯s trickster way, in which Gan Ji practiced simr feats, and the townspeople mistook him for a sorcerer.

    Sun Ce was afraid that Gan Ji would incite the local peasants and create another rebellion cult simr to the Yellow Turban. He sent his men to capture Gan Ji and execute him on the spot.

    Ironically, Sun Ce¡¯s life was in Gan Ji¡¯s hands in this world. Had Gan Ji not been there for Sun Ce, thetter would have died from the bacsh.

    Karma

    .

    \"... I¡¯m sorry.\"

    Sun Ce didn¡¯t know what he should say to this sage. He owed too much to Gan Ji that he had no way to repay this debt.

    \"You¡¯d better recover as soon as possible. From the looks of it, they will attack us next month. The only reason that they haven¡¯tunched their assault is because of Sima Yi and Cao Cao. You should be thankful to them that they bought time for us.\"

    \"I understand that Cao Cao has decided to join us, but is Sima Yi trustworthy? He swore allegiance to Lilim too, right?\"

    \"Haha! Unfortunately, no. He hasn¡¯t done that yet.\"

    \"Then, can we trust him!?\"

    \"That¡¯s also NO. He still wants you dead since your men killed his father. This is your mistake, Bofu. Hadn¡¯t your men killed Sima Fang, we could have drawn the entire Sima n to our side.\"

    Gan Ji stopped talking and shifted his god¡¯s sight toward other regions.

    Currently, the Red Hare Legion under Zhang Liao and Gao Shun were entering the city without a fight. It seemed that Liu Biao surrendered to Zhang Liao despite the fact that this warlord had sworn allegiance to Lilim.

    At Zitong, Yi Province, the Ghost Legion of Zhang He was weed by Huang Zhong with open arms. Moreover, this old archer general agreed to join Tong¡¯s side, judging from the conversation Zhang He had with Huang Zhong.

    \"I have more bad news. Yi Province and Jing Province have fallen to Zhang Tong. We can¡¯t expect reinforcement from them now.\"

    Gan Ji was aware that Huang Zhong had promised Tong that if thetter became a good liege, he would offer his service to Tong. And now, Huang Zhong adhered to hismitment.

    The seed that Tong had nted in Huang Zhong¡¯s heart many years ago had grown and bore fruits.

    It was a matter of time that all Tong¡¯s supporters gathered in Lujiang and the Jing Province. Then, they would march toward Jianye to finish off Sun Ce and Gan Ji.

    \"How can we fight them without Lilim¡¯s help!? Where is she when we need her the most!? Was her promise just a farce!?\"

    Hearing Sun Ce¡¯sint, Gan Ji cackled again.

    This sage had been trained and appointed as a deputy administrator in this fragmented dimension together with Zuo Ci since Lilith¡¯s reign, so he understood Lilith¡¯s personality and Lilim¡¯s temperament.

    This demon family had a few things inmon - Lunacy, shrewdness, and responsibility. Their behavior was unpredictable, yet they always got things done in a remarkable way.

    For example, when Lilith was asked to handle to trial, she maintained the system and protected the civilians from wicked otherworlders¡¯ skills without ying favoritism. All evil otherworlders who killed random civilians to get stronger were all killed by her and Zuo Ci.

    When Lilim reced Lilith, the former immediately prioritizedpleting this dimension, and she seeded by abusing the system administration to draw in lifespan from various cultivators and unuseds. Then, she gave souls to the local civilians and finished the project.

    Thus, Gan Ji had faith that Lilim would help them eventually. The reason she ignored their plea should be the mating session with Tong that he had learned from Lilim¡¯s auto-messages.

    Gan Ji believed that Lilim might have schemed something so that she had to y along with Zhang Tong. Therefore, he didn¡¯t mind it.

    \"Have faith, Bofu. We¡¯re not outnumbered. In fact, Lilim is probably letting Medusa and Liu Yang get the upper hand first. Then, she will destroy them and give them despair. Imagine, if you were to fight an army of peasants without proper weaponry, would you destroy them right away?\"

    \"Of course not! I would have tortured their 9 generations in front of them and ...\"

    Sun Ce paused. He understood Gan Ji¡¯s point.

    \"Lilim gives them a handicap ... They are never her opponent! She¡¯s ying with her prey!\"

    Gan Ji¡¯sughter got louder, \"Of course! When you¡¯re absolutely sure of your victory, why not ying with your prey?\"

    \"AHAHAHAHA!!\"

    \"KYAKAKAKAKA!!\"

    .

    .

    .

    Eavesdropping and peeking Gan Ji and Sun Ce¡¯s action through their senses, Diaochan and Liu Yang¡¯s faces grimaced.

    They were aware that their current cultivation level was not a match for Lilim since she could singlehandedly kill all of them without the dimension system¡¯s help. However, hearing the words right from their opponent¡¯s mouth shook their spirits.

    \"C-Can we defeat Lilim, sister?\"

    Diaochan groaned, \"Don¡¯t lose hope. We still don¡¯t know how Tong is doing in Lilim¡¯s space, and we have another trump card.\"

    She prayed that Li Feihong could obtain his 10th wing soon.

    Also, they had faith in their mixed wing cultivators.

    Local strategists and Li Feihong would take care of Sima Yi.

    Mixed wing cultivators, Zhang Ying and Sun Quan would be their reserve forces against Lilim.

    And two more joker cards appeared in their hands.

    Sun Shangxiang

    And the newborn baby of Zhang Min...

    .

    *Flutter*

    At Qiao City, Sun Quan¡¯s private quarter in his army, the grandmander of the new legion, Wu Legion, was busy cultivating during his free time.

    Sun Quan¡¯s wings were no longer ck and white. Instead of having 6 mixed wings, he had three glowing rainbow wings. His strength also degraded into that of a 3-wing cultivator.

    However, something was different in his life force. It leaked out lifespan instead of gathering the life essence in the air. The cultivation power in Sun Quan¡¯s body now generated life force, bing a lifespan factory.

    *VIIIIING*

    The fourth rainbow wing manifested andpleted the pairs.

    Sun Quan broke through, returning his cultivation strength to a 4-wing immortal. However, his strength could match that of an ordinary 6-wing cultivator.

    The life essence around Sun Quan became thicker. Confidence and hope glittered in Sun Quan¡¯s eyes.

    Diaochan: \"Good job. Now, stabilize your foundation. Don¡¯t forget to use your sense to locate nearby karmic chains and attract all lingering souls to yourself.\"

    Sun Quan: \"Can I rest? I can barely maintain my sanity right now.\"

    Diaochan: \"No. You have to continue until you can stand without getting distracted by the wandering karma chains. If you can¡¯t, your memory will be erased by all the reincarnation wine inside you. Keep going!\"

    Sun Quan: \"Okay, master.\"

    ...

    Sun Quan closed the private chat messenger as he panted in exhaustion. The unified cultivation method thatbined angel blessings and demonic curses together was harder than what it seemed to be.

    He wished that he should have declined Diaochan¡¯s tutorship and continued his angel cultivation normally. Now, he regretted that decision.

    ¡¯Damn it. Did Zhang Tong go through this kind of training, too?¡¯

    He shifted his gaze toward his little sister, Sun Shangxiang.

    *RUMBLE*

    7 Wings glowed behind Sun Shangxiang¡¯s back. However, there were a few differences between an ordinary angel and her wings.

    Common angels had white glowing tentacle wings as their status indicator, but Sun Shangxiang had silver feather wings!

    It was a matter of time that she would be another key yer in this new world.

 Chapter 526 Sima Yiâ€™s Struggle 3

    Chapter 526 - Sima Yi¡¯s Struggle (3)

    Dong Bai: \"We won¡¯t harm you and your family. You can rest assured. If you really want to have an early retirement, we can amodate you.\"

    Sima Yi: \"Thank you. Then, I would like to leave the Xu Province to other units right away. If possible, I would like to have some gold, so my family can livefortably after the war.\"

    While everything was going on, Dong Bai and Sima Yi were discussing the retirement conditions.

    Dong Bai received advice from her mother that they shouldn¡¯t kill Sima Yi as thetter had the upper hand. Diaochan also suggested that Dong Bai had to y along to buy time for the other units.

    No matter what Sima Yi was nning, Diaochan could handle them since she could send Liu Yang to ughter their entire family at any time.

    Dong Bai: \"You haven¡¯t stabilized the Xu Province¡¯s domestic and economic for themoners yet. Why do you want to leave so early?\"

    Sima Yi: \"Even if I stay here for another year or two, it wouldn¡¯t make a difference since Cao Cao has left every city with emptied treasuries. I can¡¯t possibly ask the locals to pay extra taxes, and I can¡¯t pay my soldiers¡¯ wages. So, it¡¯s best for me to take responsibility for this failure by relinquishing my noble status and all official positions.\"

    As usual, Sima Yi yed the victim, pretending that the royal family was bullying him. He yielded to Dong Bai in public, so she couldn¡¯t kill him and his family right away.

    Had they done so, Xu Huang, Zhang He, Zhang Liao, and many other generals would question the royal family. After all, their true loyalty lied with Tong, not Dong Bai or Diaochan.

    Dong Bai: \"I understand. Then, here is yourst duty. Return to Ye along with your family, and I¡¯ll grant you 10,000 gold nuggets, but I need you to leave all your mercenaries behind. Sun Quan and Xu Huang will take over your posts.\"

    Sima Yi: \"Thank you for your understanding, your majesty. I wish you good fortune in this uing war.\"

    .

    .

    .

    Sima Yi closed the semi-transparent panel, which disyed the public chat channel.

    This move was humiliating as he had to beg Dong Bai to spare him and his family, but it worked nheless.

    Before Sima Yi came to this point, he had calcted and simted many scenarios. However, Sima Yi couldn¡¯te up with a way to win without sacrificing his family members.

    Had he fought, Xu Huang and Sun Quan would have ganged on him. Then, Sima Yi¡¯s 150,000 soldiers would die in vain regardless of the oue of the battle.

    Had he escaped, Li Feihong¡¯s dimensional skill and Diaochan would have haunted Sima Yi for the rest of his life. There were also chances that Sima Yi would be killed instantly by Ma Chao or other assassins.

    Fighting and escaping were not the way out. Therefore, Sima Yi paid the price, which was his entire Sima n¡¯s assets, to save his family.

    However, he was far from being safe as old foxes and predators were waiting to tear his flesh apart.

    After the public chat concluded, Sima Yi received private chat messages non-stop. Some of them came from other strategists, such as Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Ju Shou, and even Zhuge Liang.

    Jia Xu: \"Nice move, brat. I know what you¡¯re doing. If you tell me what you have dealt with Cao Cao and Lilim, I can shelter you and your family. To be honest, I¡¯m interested in what Lilim had offered you.\"

    Jia Xu: \"You can tell me everything. I promise that I¡¯ll keep it a secret.\"

    Ju Shou: \"I would like to buy the intel that you have been keeping it a secret for 20,000 gold for one piece of information. Please send me a reply if you¡¯re willing to sell.\"

    Ju Shou: \"I understand that her majesty¡¯s 10,000 gold won¡¯t be enough for someone with your status. I¡¯m willing to pay more if you¡¯re not satisfied with the price.\"

    Zhuge Liang: \"How durd. Are you quitting already? I thought we were friends. You know what? I can talk to Zhang Tong and Dong Bai about it and persuade them to return you your posts.\"

    Zhuge Liang: \"All you have to do is making an oath with your empowered voice that you are loyal to Zhang Tong and Dong Bai, and you will never betray them no matter what.\"

    Zhuge Liang: \"Do you get it? It¡¯s only a vow. Right now, I¡¯m inside Li Feihong¡¯s private dimension. I can make up a story that you¡¯re no longer interested in Zhang Min. And then, I can vouch for you to get him on your side. I can also tell Zhang Min to help us persuading Li Feihong to leave you alone.\"

    Zhuge Liang: \"Don¡¯t forget. I¡¯m always your friend.\"

    Xun Yu: \"Comrade Sima. I know that you have been treated unfairly by the royal family, but please don¡¯t hate them. Right now, we are about to fight against Lilim¡¯s henchmen, so everyone is on edge.\"

    Xun Yu: \"You can hide under my Xun household if you don¡¯t a ce to go. We can amodate you and your family. Our household is always opening for you.\"

    ...

    Reading through these messages, Sima Yi was infuriated.

    From Sima Yi¡¯s perspective, all these invitations and persuasion were traps.

    Jia Xu was frank as he extorted the information at the price of his wellbeing. Ju Shou attempted to buy his secret by using money. Zhuge Liang dropped a honey trap to seduce Sima Yi, while Xun Yu pretended to invite him and his family to serve their n.

    Everyone was untrustworthy! Had Sima Yi epted, he would have been in a disadvantaged position no matter what deal they had prepared for him.

    ¡¯Bastards! Just you wait!¡¯

    Sima Yi swallowed his pride and anger.

    At first, Sima Yi didn¡¯t know that Diaochan, Li Feihong, and Sun Quan were targeting him.

    But after Te Langpumitted suicide, Sima Yi was sure that the royal family was serious and more ruthless than Tong, who was more cautious and favored pacifism.

    As such, Sima Yi was sure that they woulde after him and Cao Cao during this grand mobilization. When he analyzed Dong Bai¡¯s deployment arrangement, Sima Yi was certain that he was right.

    The arrangement was illogical. Instead of sending Cao Cao and Sima Yi to fight against Sun Ce in Jianye, Dong Bai to send him to Cao Cao¡¯s Xu Province, but she didn¡¯t order Cao Cao to do anything.

    It was so obvious that she wanted Sima Yi and Cao Cao to fight each other!

    Fortunately, Cao Cao predicted Dong Bai¡¯s moves and relocated his forces in advance, so Sima Yi didn¡¯t find them here.

    Moreover, Dong Bai was overlooking a major w in her ns.

    The private messenger was a double-edged sword. It could help Tong¡¯s allies, but it could also help Lilim¡¯s moles.

    Xu Huang: \"If you have nowhere to go, you and your family can take shelters under my unit. I promise you that the royalty faction can¡¯t harm you here.\"

    Sima Yi was grateful that Xu Huang was willing to help him. At least, he knew that there were friends left in this world.

    But there were also other cunning foxes that wanted to exploit his abilities.

    Cao Cao: \"Good job. That was a good move, Zhongda.\"

    Cao Cao had contacted Sima Yi many times to recruit him into his army many times in the past. Lilim also tempted him with system skills to buy his submission oath.

    Because Sima Yi was afraid that the greater power could trample Tong and his kingdom, he submitted to Lilim prematurely. He still regretted his decision even now.

    As he and Cao Cao now had the same master, Cao Cao thought that Sima Yi was on the same side as theirs. Thus, they worked together for their own interests.

    Sima Yi: \"Temporarily, that is. They wille after me after they kill Sun Ce and Gan Ji.\"

    Sima Yi: \"Anyway, how are those buffoons over there?\"

    Cao Cao: \"The situation is hopeful. Gan Ji is an 8-wing demon just like Diaochan. Sun Ce is still stuck at 7-wing, though. He has failed to breakthrough.\"

    Sima Yi: \"Any word from Lilim?\"

    Cao Cao: \"No. Zhang Tong is still distracting her, it seems.\"

    Sima Yi: \"Can you leave a message and borrow her Guan Yu and Zuo Ci? We need more firepower against Zhang Tong¡¯s three 8-wing cultivators.\"

    Cao Cao: \"I¡¯m trying. BTW, Gan Ji has ryed a piece of good news.\"

    Sima Yi: \"Oh?\"

    Cao Cao: \"He has system skills. Also, if I were you, I would get out of that ce ASAP. You¡¯re not in the safe yet.\"

    .

    .

    .

    \"How fun.\"

    Zhuge Liang reread his sent messages andughed. He had expected that Sima Yi would ignore him, and thetter did.

    \"Don¡¯t underestimate Sima Yi, Kongming. You¡¯ve never defeated him, so you should treat this seriously.\"

    Li Feihong and Ma Chao were standing behind Zhuge Liang as the two were monitoring Sima Yi¡¯s movements in their dimension, ready to assassinate Sima Yi at any moment.

    A private message alert rang. Li Feihong looked at the sender.

    Surprisingly, it was from the newest member of their group, who had defected from Cao Cao¡¯s side.

    Guo Jia: \"Abduct Sima Yi, cut all his four limbs, and destroy his vocal cord. Don¡¯t leave a room for Sima Yi¡¯s nsmen to get back on their feet.\"

    Li Feihong flinched as the idea was too cruel, yet efficient. A man without a limb wouldn¡¯t be able to use the n menu, so this move would destroy Sima Yi¡¯s potential and prevent him frommunicating with other coborators in the future.

    Li Feihong: \"That¡¯s a bit too cruel, isn¡¯t it?\"

    Guo Jia: \"Or do you prefer to sacrifice at least 750,000 soldiers to take down Sima Yi in the future? Please don¡¯t forget that the longer you procrastinate his death, the stronger his forces will be. Peasants andmoners can now cultivate, and their strength will catch up to our elites in a few years. We have to weed out potential rebels as soon as possible.\"

    Li Feihong: \"750,000?? Where did you get this number from?\"

    Guo Jia: \"Soul detonation can kill one to five cultivators of any cultivation strength. Therefore, from my rough calction, 10,000 gold that Sima Yi extorted from her majesty can be used to enlist 100,000 uneducated peasants from the countryside easily. Then, 100,000 conscripted militias can kill averagely 300,000 elite soldiers if they are tricked to sacrifice themselves. And I know that Sima Yi won¡¯t hesitate to use that move.\"

    Guo Jia: \"Also, Sima Yi¡¯s 150,000 elites can also be tricked to do the same. Add that to the sum, another 450,000 potential death plus 300,000. Then, you have a rough number.\"

    Li Feihong was astonished by Guo Jia¡¯s estimation. Although the calction and the prediction were shocking, he still couldn¡¯t believe in this former Cao Cao¡¯s best strategist.

    After all, his advice came out of nowhere. Even if he was once a legendary strategist, it didn¡¯t mean that his idea would be always right.

    As if Guo Jia could sense that Li Feihong doubted him, he revealed another secret.

    Guo Jia: \"Please be decisive, Lord Liu Bei. You have experienced more lives than us, so you should be more firm with your stance. Don¡¯t be like your old self.\"

    Li Feihong: \"Wait! How the hell do you know my identity!?\"

    Guo Jia: \"The prime consort told me everything after I pledged my immortal oath to her. Now, please follow my instructions. I have already ryed my idea to Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu, so they should understand what to do next.\"

    Li Feihong¡¯s fingers typed on the transparent keyboard to ask for more questions, but Zhuge Liang patted the former¡¯s shoulder.

    \"Are you talking to Guo Jia by chance?\"

    Getting interrupted by Zhuge Liang, Li Feihong got annoyed, \"So what?\"

    \"My lord, you should follow Guo Jia¡¯s suggestion. He has already informed me of his idea, and I concur with him. Let¡¯s cripple Sima Yi and his entire family in secret, so we can get rid of a future threat.\"

    \"...\"

 Chapter 527 Sima Yiâ€™s Struggle 4

    Chapter 527 - Sima Yi¡¯s Struggle (4)

    = East of Xiapi =

    Sima Yi, Sima Lang, and Sima Fu left Xiapi before dusk as if they were in a hurry. They rode out without any followers but their siblings.

    \"Keep going east! Hurry!\" Sima Yi hastened the group.

    Because of Cao Cao¡¯s warning, Sima Yi had a scary thought when he put himself in Li Feihong¡¯s shoes. He imagined for fun what Li Feihong would do to efficiently silence him and his family.

    The conclusion of that thought terrified him as Sima Yi had a dangerous idea.

    Since Li Feihong and Dong Bai couldn¡¯t kill Sima Yi in the open, they could always abduct and imprison him until the end of the southern campaign. Then, it would be safe to murder him and his family without caring about the repercussion as the major threat was no more. Even if Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, and Zhang He betrayed the royalty faction, Diaochan, Li Feihong, and Wang Yi could destroy them singlehandedly.

    Next was the major problem in that n. Since the n chat did not have a RETIREMENT or QUIT CLAN feature, Li Feihong and Dong Bai might have to cut Sima Yi¡¯s four limbs and destroy his vocal cord to disable him from using the n chat.

    His instinct cried that Zhuge Liang or other strategists mighte up with this idea and suggested to those people. Sima Yi immediately called his siblings and bailed from the city even though he knew that it was a bad idea.

    Escaping right now meant death. But by staying behind, he and his family would face a fate worse than death!

    Cao Cao: \"Support ising from the southeast. Head to Guangling and wait for the pickup. Gan Ji is heading there at the moment.\"

    Sima Yi nced at the private message. He exhaled deeply and steeled his heart, preparing for a long night.

    Fortunately, Cao Cao extended a helping hand. He asked the mysterious sect leader to protect them while they were escaping.

    Sima Yi: \"Can I trust this bogus taoist?\"

    Cao Cao: \"Like it or not, he¡¯s the only 8-wing demon of our coalition. Be prepared for some surprise, though. It won¡¯t be a pleasant experience.\"

    Sima Yi: \"Why?\"

    Cao Cao: \"You¡¯ll know when you see him in action. His system skills are ... terrible.\"

    .

    .

    .

    = Xiapi City =

    An angel was floating above Xiapi, scanning through this city and checking if there was any ambusher in this area.

    Li Feihong rushed here when Sima Yi and his siblings suddenly took their horses and rode out at full speed. He didn¡¯t know why, but it seemed that Sima Yi had discovered their scheme and took the initiative to escape.

    By the time that Li Feihong got here, Sima Yi and his siblings had already fled three kilometers.

    Moreover, in the direction that they were fleeing, a dangerous being was heading there as well.

    An 8-wing demon was heading there!

    ¡¯That should be Lilim¡¯s servant. I should y it safe and chase after Sima Yi with the warp gates.¡¯

    He shifted his immortal sight from Gan Ji to the flying people nearby.

    Wang Yi and Diaochan were rushing toward the new demon as well.

    Diaochan: \"We¡¯ll intercept that old man. You catch that Sima Yi.\"

    Li Feihong: \"Roger that.\"

    Li Feihong opened a portal and entered his dimension world.

    *VHOOM*

    Two portals opened a kilometer east Xiapi City. Li Feihong exited from one portal and entered the other one.

    *VHOOM*

    Another set of portal opened a kilometer southeast. Li Feihong exited and entered gates again.

    This was Li Feihong¡¯s way of traveling. It consumed a lot of lifespans, but it was safer than flying on the open sky, risking himself to be ambushed by other no-name suicide bombers.

    *VHOOM*

    Li Feihong¡¯s pair of blue portals opened and closed. He managed to cover 3 kilometers within a few seconds and caught up to Sima Yi, Sima Lang, and Sima Fu.

    The three men had not realized his presence yet.

    Li Feihong gazed at his monitors and nced at Ma Chao, who was waiting for action.

    \"Get ready. I¡¯ll open three gates at once to draw them here. I want you to knock Sima Lang and Sima Fu out first. I¡¯ll get Sima Yi myself.\"

    \"Kakaka! Got it!\"

    Li Feihong pinpointed Sima Yi¡¯s location and opened three portals below their horses.

    Just like how Li Feihong practiced this move over a thousand times, Sima Yi, Sima Lang, and Sima Fu fell into the portal holes, entering his dimension without being able to retaliate.

    Ma Chao had suffered from this trick before, so he knew how deadly the dimensional pitfall could do against the victims. He charged at the nearest rider, Sima Fu.

    *POEK*

    Ma Chaonded an uppercut punch and shook Sima Fu¡¯s brain. Thetter was knocked out in one hit.

    Meanwhile, Li Feihong already seized Sima Yi¡¯s neck. Unfortunately, he could not harm thetter as they were still in the same n.

    Still, Li Feihong managed to restrain Sima Yi from using his hands or voice to send system messages to others.

    *POEK*

    Ma Chao reacted fast and put Sima Lang unconscious with ease.

    Now, they only had to deal with Sima Yi. Once his four limbs and his voice were sealed, the Sima n would be finished.

    \"LI FEIHONG!!\" Sima Yi shouted with hatred. He had suffered too many setbacks that he wanted to kill somebody, \"I DID EVERYTHING FOR THE KINGDOM, BUT YOU ARE TREATING ME LIKE THIS!? IS THIS HOW YOU OTHERWORLDERS TREAT YOUR LOYAL RETAINER!?\"

    Sima Yi wasn¡¯t wrong. Aside from the fact that he wanted Sun Quan and Wu Guotai dead to avenge for his father, he didn¡¯t really harm Tong¡¯s kingdom like Te Langpu or Cao Cao. Yet, he was treated unfairly.

    \"I understand where thates from, and I¡¯m sorry that we are treating you this way. I¡¯ll give you one more chance. Stay in this dimension and don¡¯t use the n chat until we deal with Lilim¡¯s goons. Then, I¡¯llpensate you and your family. Right now, Dong Bai and Diaochan are on edge because of Lilim¡¯s henchmen.\"

    \"AND WHY THE HELL SHOULD I BE CONTAINED IN THIS STUPID PLACE!? IT¡¯S NOT MY FAULT THAT MY FAMILY HAS AN ARMY!! WE ARE FOLLOWING ZHANG TONG¡¯S ORDER BY EVERY WORD TO CREATE A FORCE TO KEEP THE ROYAL COURT IN CHECK!! WE ARE YOUR LOYAL SUBJECTS!!\"

    Despite being captured, Sima Yi¡¯s tongue was sharp and slippery enough toe up with logic and reasons behind his armies and his family heritage.

    Furthermore, it was the truth. Tong gave Sima Fang this authority to get thetter¡¯s trust and loyalty.

    Li Feihong¡¯s grip softened. Forcing Te Langpu tomit suicide already tormented him enough, and he didn¡¯t want to kill any more of his former colleagues.

    \"I¡¯m so sorry, Sima Yi. I don¡¯t me you for Zhang Min¡¯s matter. I don¡¯t me you for doing your jobs. I just hope that we can trust you that you haven¡¯t given Lilim an immortal oath or joined forces with Sun Ce and Cao Cao.\"

    \"WHY SHOULD I WORK WITH SUN CE WHEN HIS MEN KILLED MY FATHER!? ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?\"

    \"...\"

    Li Feihong loosed his grip and let Sima Yi go.

    Sima Yi sat on his butt and touched his neck, fearing that his neck might have been broken. However, he was unharmed as the system barred them from hurting each other.

    \"Swear it,\" Li Feihong muttered, \"Swear with your immortal oath that you¡¯re not Lilim¡¯s subordinate or work with her. If you do, I¡¯llpensate you for this incident ... except giving back Zhang Min to you.\"

    Sima Yi wanted to continue shouting, but he stopped when he noticed the sincerity, guilt, and sympathy in Li Feihong¡¯s teary eyes.

    ¡¯Are you serious? This is his golden chance to silence me for eternity. Why is he hesitating?¡¯

    For the first time, Sima Yi questioned Li Feihong¡¯smon sense. He was d that he got to save his skin, but he doubted if Tong¡¯s right-hand man was this stupid.

    ¡¯It seems I¡¯ve overestimated this fool, but I don¡¯t hate this kind of person. He doesn¡¯t look like a two-face cunning bastard like Zhuge Liang.¡¯

    Sima Yi knew that Li Feihong used to serve as Lu Bu¡¯s strategist, so he had expected that his intelligence was on par with Jia Xu, Guo Jia, or Zhuge Liang. But the reality told him otherwise.

    \"Alright. If you spare me and my siblings, I will make an immortal oath for you ... [I, Sima Zhongda, hereby revoke my immortal oath to Lilim. I shall bear all the consequence of canceling the previous oath and I shall vow that I will now serve the royal house of Zhang Tong and Li Feihong with my life and my soul!]\"

    *Rumble*

    Ma Chao and Li Feihong widened their eyes when Sima Yi confessed that he pledged an oath to Lilim. Still, Sima Yi yed with his words and shamelessly canceled the oath without fearing the consequences.

    Thunder manifested in Li Feihong¡¯s dimension even though the sky was clear.

    It struck at Sima Yi!

    *BOOM*

    \"Pfffft!!\"

    Sima Yi spat blood. All of his veins ruptured and burst from the inside while deep wound appeared on Sima Yi¡¯s face and skin. His clothes became bloody because of a single thunderbolt.

    This was a heaven punishment for annulling an immortal oath with a 10-wing demoness!

    Li Feihong learned from Diaochan that breaking off an immortal oath would destroy their cultivation foundation, which usually resulted in death. Even if Sima Yi could survive, he could never cultivate more than 2 wings because of this punishment.

    \"... Now ... will you ... trust me?\"

    Sima Yi¡¯s bloodshot eyes stared straight into Li Feihong¡¯s eyes.

    The former Liu Bei couldn¡¯t help but weep. Li Feihong cried as he knelt, prostrating and mming his head on the ground. He didn¡¯t forget to detach his souls and used his abilities to heal Sima Yi.

    \"I¡¯M SORRY!! THIS IS MY FAULT!! I¡¯M SO SORRY!!\"

    After head-butting against the pseudo-earth for ten times, Li Feihong raised his bloody forehead to look at Sima Yi with determined eyes.

    \"[I SWEAR THE GODS THAT I WILL PROTECT YOU AND YOUR SIMA HOUSE!! I¡¯LL MAKE UP FOR YOUR LOSSES!!]\"

    *RUMBLE*

    Sima Yi, who was on the verge of falling unconscious, could hear the oath. His blurry eyes could see two people ovepping each other for a brief moment.

    One of them was Li Feihong.

    The other one was a long-ear man with long arms that reached his knees.

    ¡¯Huh? I have heard about this man from somewhere before. Long ears and long arms...¡¯

    Sima Yi fainted because of the overwhelming pain, but he passed out with a smile that he managed to survive once more.

    He was also d that Li Feihong was a good man. He didn¡¯t regret that he switched side from Lilim to another new lord.

    A new dream budded in Sima Yi¡¯s heart. He wanted to see Li Feihong rise to the top.

    Li Feihong rushed to help Sima Yi and conjured various blessings to heal the physical wounds. While he was at it, Li Feihong kept crying and calling Sima Yi¡¯s name, begging for his forgiveness.

    Behind Li Feihong, Zhuge Liang, Zhou Cang, Xu Shu, and Ma Chao looked at their lord with a bitter smile. They had a sense of nostalgia that they could experience this side of their former lord once more.

    ¡¯My lord. Your old Liu Bei side is taking over your new persona. Well, it¡¯s not like I hate this side of yours. You¡¯re more sincere than your other counterpart.¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    = Guangling City =

    The wide-forehead elder with long hair and long beard, Gan Ji, was floating in mid-air, spreading his majestic 8 demon wings. He stared at the two cultivators, who were ring at him 500 meters away.

    Medusa and Liu Yang confronted him with their aura-coated spears. The two women didn¡¯te here to y but to finish off Gan Ji.

    \"Two on one isn¡¯t fair, mydies,\" Gan Ji snickered.

    Diaochan snorted, \"Then, you can annul whatever oath you have for Lilim and cripple your cultivation. We¡¯ll let you live after that.\"

    \"I heard those simr words from many idiotstely. Do you know what happened to them?\"

    \"All dead, I assume.\"

    \"Correct,\" Gan Ji sneered as he pulled out two wooden canes from his long sleeves.

    The brown canes looked ordinary with naked eyes, but the two immortals could sense threatening aura within those woods.

    \"Be careful, Yang,\" Medusa warned Liu Yang.

    \"You, too.\"

    Both of them never dreamt that there would be a day that they had to help each other against a strong foe. But that day became a reality.

    \"COME, MY FAIR LADIES!! LET ME TEST HOW OTHERWORLDER SYSTEM SKILLS FARE AGAINST REAL IMMORTALS!!\"

 Chapter 528 Gan Ji, the Mad Demon Lord 1

    Chapter 528 - Gan Ji, the Mad Demon Lord (1)

    "SLOTH CURSE!!"

    Gan Ji shouted as he pointed his palm at Diaochan.

    Medusa was ready for the curse attack. She covered her body with the same curse, absorbing the power from Gan Ji.

    But as she did so, she lost track of the old demon.

    "ENLIGHTENMENT!"

    Liu Yang blessed Diaochan with her virtuous ability to increase her sense. At the same time, she blocked a strike from Gan Ji¡¯s cane with her steel spear.

    *CLANK*

    Gan Ji reappeared behind Diaochan and attacked her with his canes, but Liu Yang protected her partner by deflecting the canes.

    The goddess candidate¡¯s arms were numb after the contact. Her eyes locked on Gan Ji¡¯s two canes, which were glowing in a strange purple light.

    Gan Ji sneered at Liu Yang.

    "CORROSIVE TOUCH!!"

    The spear shaft that touched Gan Ji¡¯s canes melted. Within half a second, the aura-coated spear became two pieces of useless rods.

    Liu Yang frowned in confusion. The aura around the spear sent feedback to her psych that this phenomenon was an enhanced curse from someone with a higher cultivation base than this 8-wing demon. However, this skill clearly belonged to Gan Ji.

    One thing came to Liu Yang¡¯s mind.

    System Skill!

    Ordinary system skills created by reincarnators were usually harmless to immortals since they could simply envelop their bodies with their aura to neutralize the effect. Then, all skills would be rendered useless.

    But that only applied to reincarnators without a cultivation base!

    Once a cultivator got their hands on these skills, they could be a deadly weapon if they applied their forces into their abilities.

    Attack skills, such as Qi st of Sun Fang or Homing Arrow of Hua Shi could inflict damage on immortals with the same or lower cultivation base.

    The same was also true to disruption skills. Tong¡¯s signature skill, Time Stop, also fell into this category.

    Then, there were enhancement skills or abilities that add a special characteristic to the user. Khan¡¯s True Strike almost killed Tong when they first fought.

    And now, Gan Ji¡¯s Corrosion Touch was a buff type skill. It bestowed melting ability of his weapons.

    Once his weapons touched any part of his opponents, he could activate it and make it dissolve into liquid.

    Liu Yang tossed the spear away before the corrosion could reach her hands.

    "Good reaction, little goddess. But this is just the beginning of despair! TIME STOP!!"

    Liu Yang widened their eyes in shock when Gan Ji uttered the name of Tong¡¯s skill. As soon as the world lost its color, she found herself unable to move.

    However, Liu Yang could still see and sense the surroundings. Still, she could break free from this time and space shackle if she exerted some strength.

    Unfortunately, that would take her too long as the battle between 8-wing cultivators could be decided in a split second.

    "KEHAHAHAHA! REMEMBER THIS SKILL!? GIVE MY REGARDS TO ZHANG TONG THAT I SAID THANK YOU!!"

    Gan Ji teleported and reappeared in front of Liu Yang before she could regain her mobility. He swung his wooden canes at her.

    But it seemed that he had forgotten someone.

    Medusa¡¯s spear tip also appeared 2 centimeters left side of Gan Ji¡¯s neck. She thrust her spear forward as she had prepared for this kind of tactic.

    Medusa had sparred with Tong many times, and she got used to dealing with this skill¡¯s effect.

    Gan Ji sensed the iing attack. He held back his strike and bent his body backward.

    The spear grazed Gan Ji¡¯s neck.

    *SWUA*

    The spear left a one-centimeter deep cut, but it wasn¡¯t fatal enough to kill the old sage.

    Medusa¡¯s eyes followed after Gan Ji¡¯s movement. She converted her energy into the spear, creating a red poleaxe-shaped aura covering of the spear.

    An ordinary steel spear had be a ming poleaxe!

    Then, she swung it.

    The glowing poleaxe chased after Gan Ji¡¯s head.

    "QI BARRIER!!"

    A blue dome manifested and blocked Medusa¡¯s strike.

    *BOOM*

    The sphere shield managed to stop the attack.

    Gan Ji sneered as he thought that the system skills that Lilim had bestowed him were invincible, but what urred afterward shocked him.

    A system message warned him that he had just lost several millions of lifespan years.

    Gan Ji was stunned by the sudden loss.

    "HOW!?"

    He didn¡¯t have enough time to read the skill description and the weakness of Sun Fang¡¯s former skill. Medusa expressionlessly hacked down and with her full force.

    From Medusa¡¯s perspective, Gan Ji shouldn¡¯t have gotten his wings for very long. She estimated that he shouldn¡¯t have more than 10 to 20 million years of lifespan in him.

    She aimed to deplete all lifespan that Gan Ji had. Once anyone ran out of their lifespan, they would die!

    Gan Ji¡¯s brain reacted fast. By reflex, he canceled the skill and flew backward.

    *WHOOSH*

    The swing missed.

    Still, Gan Ji believed that he had the upper hands. He smiled at Medusa to mock her.

    "I praise you for your reflex. But how about this move? EXPLOSIVE CREATION!!"

    It was a skill from an otherworlder, whom Tong had killed during his early days. One of them could create many modern grenades at once.

    Gan Ji didn¡¯t create only just one or two bombs, but he summoned 100,000 grenades at once.

    Green objects appeared everywhere in the sky, surrounding Gan Ji, Medusa, and Liu Yang. All of their pins had already been pulled out!

    Gan Ji injected his power into all bombs, depleting most of his lifespan. Once they detonated, these enchanted weapons could even kill immortals with the strength of 8-wing or lower.

    "HAHAHAHAHA!! TOO BAD, MY LADIES!! GO TO HELL!!"

    Gan Ji¡¯s body faded into nothingness as he used another system skill to teleport away.

    Time resumed again, but the grenades hadn¡¯t exploded yet.

    This was where Gan Ji made a mistake. Modern grenades took 2-6 seconds to explode after the pins got pulled out.

    Two seconds were enough for Medusa and Liu Yang to react. They pped their wings hard and flew away from the area.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Thunderous explosions created a massive cloud of ck smoke and shrapnel.

    Medusa and Liu Yang were separated, but they didn¡¯t let their guards down. Their god¡¯s sight caught the presence of Gan Ji in the area.

    Gan Ji was using one of the otherworlder¡¯s skills, Concealment. It worked as if the user were a chameleon by blending the caster with the environment. As a result, his body became transparent and undetectable with naked eyes.

    But his opponents were veteran demi-gods!

    "THERE!!"

    Liu Yang found Gan Ji first. She pulled out a pistol that Diaochan had given her and rapid-fired at the waving air behind her.

    Gan Ji swatted the 15 consecutive bullets away with his cane and charged at Liu Yang.

    "THE WEAKEST LINK IS YOU, MY LADY!! WRATH CURSE!! SLOTH CURSE!!"

    "PATIENCE BLESSING!! CLEAR MIND!!"

    Liu Yang dispelled the curses right away and dodged the cane strikes.

    However, because she was distracted by the curses, her speed was slower than Gan Ji¡¯s by one breath.

    "TRUE STRIKE!!"

    Another skill enhanced Gan Ji¡¯s canes. This was a skill that Khan had used against Tong during their first encounter, which could ignore their opponent¡¯s all kind of defensive abilities.

    *SWUA*

    A cane sh grazed Liu Yang¡¯s clothes and left a deep cut on her chest.

    Liu Yang¡¯s face paled as she knew what mighte next.

    "HAHAHA!! CORROSION TOU-!!"

    Before Gan Ji could finish his sentence and activate his skill, Medusa¡¯s poleaxe spear cleaved Gan Ji¡¯s head and torso in half.

    She reappeared behind the sage and ambushed him when his attention was on Liu Yang.

    Although the attack connected, Medusa¡¯s face grimaced.

    "YANG, RETREAT!!"

    Liu Yang¡¯s hands pressed onto her wounds as she flew away at her full speed. Medusa also followed after her, acting as a rearguard.

    The two severed pieces of Gan Ji¡¯s body detonated, which created another explosionrger than the previous one.

    This time, it was anotherbination of system skills.

    System Skill: Double Body!

    System Skill: Necromancy: Corpse Explosion!

    System Skill: Necromancy: Remote Soul Detonation

    "Kahahaha! Nice reaction. You almost fell for it."

    Gan Ji¡¯s transparent body revealed in the sky three kilometers away from the battle site. He observed Medusa and Liu Yang with his immortal sight until they got out of his reach.

    In the previous battle after the grenade explosion, Gan Ji had created a duplicate body with the hidden soul of a native local. He nned to make it a suicide-bomb against either Liu Yang or Medusa. However, Medusa saw through his n and dragged Liu Yang away before the Corrosive Touch or the soul detonation could im their life.

    Despite his failure, Gan Ji was satisfied with this battle result. He lost almost 10 million years of lifespan from the mistakes, but he managed to injure Liu Yang and hinder their movements for a while.

    Still, Liu Yang could still self-heal ande back for another rematch. Gan Ji was still at a disadvantage against three 8-wing cultivators.

    Moreover, more hidden cards, such as Sun Quan, Sun Shangxiang, and other generals were about to catch up with his cultivation strength. Gan Ji had to do something to ovee this difference in their firepower.

    ¡¯It seems that I can¡¯t defeat them with normal means. Time to use extreme measures.¡¯

    Gan Ji returned to Guangling City, which was still under Sun Ce¡¯s control.

    The city located north of Jianye, and it was one of the east coast cities. South of this ce was the Yangtze River, where it connected to the China Sea.

    While floating above Guangling City, Gan Ji flickered his fingers and activated Sun Fang¡¯s basic skill.

    Qi st

    Several energy balls floated before him.

    "Your death will bring us victory. You all should be honored to be Goddess Lilim¡¯s sacrifices!"

    Gan Ji threw the balls to the center of the town.

    *BOOM*

    A massive explosive me devoured 300,000 lives in the city. The ck mushroom cloud covered the sky as if it was mocking all mortals on earth.

    Gan Ji cackled as he drew all newly born 300,000 souls to himself. Instead of letting them entering the reincarnation river of Lilim, he kept the souls for future use.

    "More sacrificialmbs, Kekekeke!! Oh, I almost forgot..."

    Gan Ji waited for the heat to subside and went back to the ruin of Guangling City. He stood at the center of this town and activated another system skill.

    Necromancy: Undead Awakening

    Necromancy: Bone Reconstruction

    "Arise, my ves! We have a war to fight! We have mortals to kill! We have a world to dominate!"

    Burnt bodies and bones of dead townspeople gathered and mended into each other. 300,000 Soulless undead zombies and skeletons stood up.

    They howled and screeched as if they wanted something to kill. Yet, they looked at Gan Ji, waiting for hismand.

    "We¡¯ll use this momentum! Go, my soldiers! We march west, and we shall kill every human we find! Leave none alive!!"

 Chapter 529 Gan Ji, the Mad Demon Lord 2

    Chapter 529 - Gan Ji, the Mad Demon Lord (2)

    \u003c\u003cDing\u003e\u003e

    Diaochan: "Feihong. I need you in Lujiang and help me ASAP! Stop chasing after Sima Yi!"

    While Li Feihong was busy crying and healing Sima Yi, Diaochan sent him an S.O.S. message after she had escorted Liu Yang to Lujiang.

    Strangely, she used the public chat channel instead of the private one.

    Li Feihong came back to his senses. He returned to the real world and scanned through the Guangling area, where Diaochan and Liu Yang fought against Gan Ji.

    When Li Feihong found the ruined city and the undead army, his jaws dropped.

    Li Feihong: "What happened!?"

    Diaochan: "We went and tested Gan Ji¡¯s skills, but Wang Yi has been injured in the process."

    Medusa recounted everything including Gan Ji¡¯s skills during the fight. She also warned Li Feihong that this old sage could also use necromancy.

    Li Feihong: "Then, that army is his?"

    Diaochan: "Yes. He killed Guangling civilians to create that undead army."

    Li Feihong understood now why Diaochan used the public chat. She utilized this chance to inform all betrayers, Cao Cao, Cheng Yu, and other men, about the atrocity that their colleague hadmitted.

    Diaochan: "@Cao Cao, @Cheng Yu. Do you understand who you are working with!? That genocidal maniac has just killed everyone in Guangling for the sake of creating an army to fight us! Are you this desperate!?"

    While she was at it, she reprimanded the two betrayers that they had joined the wrong side.

    Zhuge Liang: "Please tell us about the details in private."

    Guo Jia: "Take me to General Li¡¯s world. I need to know the details."

    Zhao Yun: "Bring me too."

    Zhang Liao: "@Li Feihong. Can youe and take my army with you? We want to fight!"

    Huang Zhong: "I¡¯m new here, so I don¡¯t know much. But that sounds troubling. I¡¯m with Zhang He at the moment, so I¡¯m willing to go with them."

    Zhang He: "My unit will head east to support you!"

    Jia Xu: "@Zhang Liao. @Huang Zhong. @Zhang He. Please refrain from leaking our military movements in the public chat. Keep in mind that there are traitors in this channel. Also, shame on you, @Cao Cao."

    Xun Yu: "If Gan Ji is Lilim¡¯s subordinate, then @Cao Cao, @Cheng Yu, you¡¯ve fucked up big time. How could you support a madman?"

    The chat was thrown into an uproar as more officers began insulting Cao Cao and Cheng Yu for their betrayal. Everyone had been keeping it quiet about Cao Cao¡¯s traitorous action due to their previous life¡¯s rtionship. However, they couldn¡¯t stand genocidal atrocity.

    Yet, no response came from Cao Cao and his men.

    Diaochan stopped sending public messages, but she invited all ally officers into another group chat.

    Then, she began sending new orders without caring if the info might be leaked.

    Diaochan: "@Li Feihong, head to Yi Province and Jing Province. Pick up all legions, generals, and necessary supplies from there. Bring them to Jiangling, so they can be pincer units to attack Yan Province from the east. Then, rendezvous with me in Lujiang. We will focus our attack against Gan Jiter."

    Diaochan: "@Zhuge Liang, @Guo Jia, you two are now the chief advisors of our armies. Zhuge Liang will monitor the pincer units in Jiangling, and Guo Jia will handle the main forces north of the Yangtze River. All battle policies are now in your care."

    Diaochan: "@Sun Quan, @Sun Shangxiang, stop cultivating and concentrate onmanding your army. We need your skills against the undead army at Guangling."

    Diaochan: "@Huang Zhong, I know that you¡¯re new here and you are still confused about our culture. For now, tag along with Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang from now on, so you can learn things from your friends."

    Diaochan: "@Gan Ning, rush your advance and report me your status!"

    The arrangement was rushed since Gan Ji had used a wicked art. Medusa needed to go all out against this Lilim¡¯s subordinate. Or else, Gan Ji could expand his troops by killing more civilians or their soldiers to turn them into undead monsters.

    Things had gotten out of hands!

    .

    .

    .

    = Jianye Port, West of Jianye City =

    This port located east of Lujiang City, which was the frontline that blockaded the Immortal Legion and Li Feihong¡¯s Crimson Angel Legion.

    Currently, Cao Cao¡¯s 200,000 soldiers formed barricades along the southern Yangtze¡¯s river banks to stop Dong Bai¡¯s advance. Cao Ren, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, and other generals brought cannons, modern guns, and muskets that they had piged from the Xu Province here and distributed them to the troops.

    However, beyond the northern river, Dong Bai¡¯s 200,000 elites also brought simr weaponry. Moreover, reinforcement from Sun Quan and Huang Gai would arrive soon, which would increase their number by at least 140,000.

    The situation in Xu Province was also unknown. Cao Cao was concerned if the oue of Sima Yi¡¯s fate would be unfavorable to him.

    If Sima Yi failed to sabotage Xu Huang¡¯s troops, Cao Cao would face another unit of 70,000 elites.

    If a worst-case scenario came true, all Sima Yi¡¯s forces might be absorbed into Xu Huang¡¯s unit and the number would increase by another 100,000 to 200,000.

    In the end, Cao Cao prepared his heart and brain that he might have to fight against arge army with the size twice of his own. However, those concern was now thrown to the back of his head as Diaochan¡¯s messages worried him.

    Cao Cao frowned as he reread Diaochan¡¯s public messages for the 10th time, confused about what had happened to her and Gan Ji.

    While Cao Mengde was still clueless about what was going on, a cultivator flew by andnded before him.

    Gan Ji returned to report about his mission.

    "Lord Cao. I¡¯m afraid that I have to apologize to you. I couldn¡¯t bring Sima Yi here."

    Gan Ji¡¯s tone was polite, which was the opposite persona that he had disyed when he fought against Liu Yang and Medusa.

    "What happened to him, then?"

    "I¡¯m afraid that he has already been captured by Li Feihong. I can¡¯t find him with my god¡¯s sight anymore."

    The worst-case scenario that Cao Cao had predicted became reality. He closed his eyes and sighed.

    "What about Sima Yi¡¯s men? Was there a fight?"

    "No. Sima Yi and his siblings left the city by themselves. Right now, Xu Huang Army is entering Xiapi. He¡¯s going to reim everything soon."

    "What is an undead army thingy and what the genocide in Guangling is about, Great Sage?"

    Gan Ji revealed a faint smile, "I merely turned nonbatants in Guangling into brave soldiers. There¡¯s nothing to worry about."

    "By killing the townspeople?" Cao Cao probed this demon lord for information.

    "Mortals are born cowards. I simply get rid of their fear and worries. Now, they no longer fear death since they are already dead. They are now reborn as fearless puppets, a perfect army for us, the immortals!"

    Without thinking, Cao Cao drew his sword and hacked at Gan Ji.

    *CLANK*

    The de hit Gan Ji¡¯s wrinkle neck, but it couldn¡¯t cut through his skin.

    Cao Cao¡¯s cultivation was only at 2-wing since he didn¡¯t spend his free time practicing martial arts. Thus, he wasn¡¯t a threat to a grand demon.

    "Kekeke. What was that for?" Gan Ji was amused by Cao Cao¡¯s reaction.

    "Killing innocent civilians is against my principle," Cao Cao¡¯s eyes were burning with anger.

    "Oh, please. Cao Hypocrite Mengde. You also killed innocent civilians! Oh, wait. Heck, you even ate human meat to survive against Lu Bu¡¯s encirclement, right? At least I didn¡¯t sink that low."

    "That was my counterpart in the other timeline. I haven¡¯t done anything of the sort! You¡¯ve crossed the line, you lunatic!"

    Cao Cao stubbornly attempted to hack at Gan Ji again.

    Thetter caught Cao Cao¡¯s sword with a bare hand and crushed it to pieces.

    Gan Ji extended the other hand and seized Cao Cao¡¯s neck. He pped his wings and floated 2 meters above the ground as he was choking Cao Mengde with one hand.

    "Listen here, you brat. I¡¯m d that you¡¯ve picked the right side, but you can¡¯t go around and swing your sword at your superior officer. I AM THE VICE ADMINISTRATOR OF THIS WORLD, SO I AM YOUR GOD!! DRILL THAT INTO YOUR HEAD!!"

    Gan Ji threw Cao Cao away before he got suffocated to death.

    Cao Cao¡¯s body rolled on the ground like a ragdoll. By the time he could regain his senses again, Gan Ji had already left him.

    But a voice echoed in his mind.

    [Bring all of your forces to Chaisang and leave this ce to Sun Ce! Coordinate with Huang Zu in Jiangxia and form a defense line against Zhang He and Zhang Liao at Wulin Port! They are likely to gather in Jiangling first and move east to Chibi City!]

    Although Cao Cao wanted to swear at Gan Ji and refuse his order, his brain froze when Gan Ji told Cao Cao to gather his troops at Chibi, aka the Red Cliffs.

    Nostalgic feeling hit him as the Battle at Red Cliff was one of Cao Cao¡¯s biggest military blunder. In the other timeline, he was the aggressor. But this time, he had to defend the location.

    Ironically, the royal faction soldier number overwhelmed Cao Cao Army by two to three folds, which was simr to Cao Cao and Sun Quan in the other world.

    Cao Cao¡¯s mouth dried as he was lost in thought. He simply lied on the ground for hours, recalling the scene of his ships burning down in the Yangtze River.

    ¡¯A second chance? A redo? A redemption? Or is this my curse?¡¯

    His anger toward Gan Ji subsided as everything in his brain was reced by various defense ns and tactics.

    Cao Cao sat up and staggered toward his cousins¡¯ barracks. Upon getting there, he ryed Gan Ji¡¯s orders.

    ...

    A weekter, Cao Cao and his men left the river defense sites to Sun Ce while his army moved southwest, heading toward Chaisang City to reorganize. Then, he would dispatch his newly reformed armies to Chibi for the decisive battle against his former subordinates and Zhuge Liang¡¯s units.

    All generals flew to major cities, such as Chaisang, Yuzhang, and Jiangxia to conscript more troops. They drafted every able man to join their army with every gold they had. In the end, they gained 300,000 more untrained militias as their cannon fodders.

    200,000 Soldiers from Xu Province and 300,000 conscripted militias would fight at the famous battle site soon.

 Chapter 530 Gan Ji, the Mad Demon Lord 3

    Chapter 530 - Gan Ji, the Mad Demon Lord (3)

    Transportation for Li Feihong was an easy job. He simply flew to the destination, sacrifice a few hundred thousand years of lifespan to open a thousand of dimensional gates for a few hours, then flew to another destination and repeat.

    It took Li Feihong half a day to bring two legions from the Yi Province and Xiangyang to Jiangling, where Cao Cao had once used this ce as their operation base before the Battle of Chibi.

    Still, Li Feihong was confused about why Diaochan didn¡¯t allow him to send these soldiers behind the line of Sun Ce¡¯s troops. They could have ambushed them and destroyed their bases.

    Li Feihong: "Can I send them inside Jianye and wreck everything?"

    Again, Li Feihong asked Diaochan, hoping that she could approve his idea.

    Diaochan: "Negative. Gan Ji is going to destroy them with his system skills and turn them to zombies. We¡¯ll leave these men to fight on their own battle while all of our 8-wing personal will handle Gan Ji."

    Li Feihong sighed in disappointment. Diaochan was afraid of Gan Ji¡¯s system skills that she became overly cautious like Tong.

    Still, being cautious was better than being reckless. Limiting casualty in wars was never wrong.

    Li Feihong: "Okay, then. I¡¯ve brought them to Jiangling as ordered. What¡¯s next?"

    Diaochan: "Drop off all your officers in your dimension in Jiangling, except Ma Chao, Zhang Min, Zhang Ying, Xu Shu, Lu Lingqi, Sima Lang, Sima Yi, Sima Fu, and Liu Bei. Don¡¯t you kill Liu Bei, or we¡¯ll be in trouble."

    Li Feihong: "I know. I saw his true soul. BTW, how the heck has his soul be like that?"

    Diaochan: "That¡¯s probably Lilith or Lilim¡¯s doing. Any 10-wing demon can transform a sinner with negative karma into a monster, so she might have tampered Liu Ping¡¯s soul."

    Diaochan was half-correct. Lilim destroyed Liu Ping¡¯s soul when she seeded in her mother¡¯s job. However, she forcefully severed the chains of karma between him and Tong, which ended up tampering Liu Ping¡¯s soul in the process.

    It created an unusual karma knot that couldn¡¯t be released normally. Only Tong and Lilim could solve Liu Ping¡¯s monster curse issue, but the two hadn¡¯t realized this yet.

    Soon, this prolonged karma knot would haunt them.

    Diaochan: "Well, be sure to remind Zhang Min not to use curse skills on herself or on you. If you have a baby while you¡¯re on lust curse or something rted to sexual desire, your child mighte out as a monster. This ident usually happens in Hell, so don¡¯t you turn this world into a monster paradise, okay? Until one of us gets our 10th wing, keep Liu Bei alive."

    Currently, Liu Bei was being held in Li Feihong¡¯s dimension as a prisoner of war. This former warlord always begged Li Feihong for his forgiveness whenever thetter visited them.

    Li Feihong also wanted to free Liu Bei, but he was afraid of Liu Ping¡¯s monster soul. Had Liu Bei gotten himself killed, Liu Ping might be reincarnated as someone¡¯s child and he mighte back to haunt their kingdomter on.

    For the sake of precaution, Li Feihong trapped him here and forced him to cultivate some lifespan, hoping that this counterpart of himself could change for the better.

    Li Feihong: "Gotcha. I¡¯ll rush to Lujiang ASAP. BTW, how¡¯s Liu Yang?"

    Diaochan: "She has recovered somewhat, but she won¡¯t be any use for future battle against Gan Ji. I need you to rece her here."

    .

    .

    .

    In the sky above the destroyed Guangling City, Gan Ji was monitoring his undead soldiers.

    The zombies and walking skeletons crawled and staggered toward Shouchun at a slow pace. The entire troops could only travel 5 to 10 kilometers a day even though they didn¡¯t rest or sleep.

    This was their full speed, which was a downside of this army.

    The necromancy system skill that Gan Ji had was simr to thebo skill of Sun Fang. Sub-skills with various usage could be unlocked at a higher level.

    Necromancy: Undead Awakening

    Necromancy: Bone Reconstruction

    Necromancy: Berserk Blessing

    Necromancy: Undead gue

    Necromancy: Corpse Explosion

    Necromancy: Soul Harvest

    Necromancy: Soul Injection

    Necromancy: Remote Soul Detonation

    Necromancy: Dead Ascension

    Necromancy: Flesh of Doom

    The first subskill was already deadly on its own as it could create undead soldiers from dead bodies. Bone Reconstruction could reanimate mutted corpses into aplete undead, and Berserk Blessing could rejuvenate the animated corpses and enhance their abilities.

    Undead gue was a disaster that could cause an apocalypse as they spread undead viruses. Corpse Explosion was as its name as they turned dead bodies or undead creatures into explodable weapons.

    Soul Harvest, Soul Injection, and Soul Detonation were taboo skills that could threaten weak immortals. By using thebination of these soul maniption abilities, they could use local souls as anti-immortal grenades.

    And Gan Ji had already stored 300,000 souls for this reason!

    But that was not the strongest arsenal of this necromancy skillset!

    Dead Ascension could bestow sentience to the animated undead soldiers while Flesh of Doom couldbine undead creatures into a new being, which could be anything but a normal living animal. If Gan Ji gave a soul to it, a bio-organic weapon might be born.

    These ten subskills were a threat of humanity and even immortals, which was why Zuo Ci decided to kill the creator of this system skill before he grew up.

    However, Zuo Ci wouldn¡¯t have dreamt that Lilim had given Gan Ji this system skill to help Sun Ce.

    Fortunately, Medusa came to this dimensionte. She had seen the broadcast show in Heaven and memorized all otherworlder skills before she reincarnated in this world.

    Because of her awareness and memory, she was busy blocking Gan Ji from heading toward the central in and other provinces.

    Currently, she was floating 500 meters in front of Gan Ji, harassing this old man as usual.

    Liu Yang didn¡¯te this time since she dragged Medusa down. Thetter ordered Liu Yang to concentrate on self-recovering, so they could fight Gan Ji and Cao Cao¡¯s goons together afterward.

    Diaochan looked rx despite the threat of Gan Ji¡¯s system skills and his cultivation strength. Several private messages floated around her, but she answered all officers¡¯ questions with ease.

    "You seem rxed, my devil princess," Gan Ji mocked Medusa, "I heard that Morning Star treats you like his daughter. I¡¯m jealous of you."

    Medusa rolled her eyes, "You haven¡¯t even been in the Netherworld. That¡¯s none of your business."

    "Oh, your highness. Every demonic cultivator has to learn about your fame and your father¡¯s prestige. Your father is the true founder of this cultivation system, not the creator, so we have to honor our benefactor."

    Medusa closed allmunication windows and red at Gan Ji. This old sage had touched a secret that only a handful of immortals in Heaven and Hell knew, "Did Lilim tell you?"

    "Of course! Who else?"

    "I see. That¡¯s the more reason that I can¡¯t let you live!"

    Medusa disappeared from where she was flying and teleported behind Gan Ji. A steel spear in her hand punctured through Gan Ji¡¯s back and exited his chest.

    However, she immediately pulled back her spear and flew away 2 kilometers within a split second.

    *BOOM*

    Gan Ji¡¯s body exploded, but Medusa didn¡¯t let down her guard. She thrust her spear at her left side, targeting nothing but thin air.

    Yet...

    *CLANK*

    Gan Ji¡¯s transparent body manifested as Medusa¡¯s weapon hit his canes.

    "That¡¯s my 15th cloned body today. How many more do you have to kill to be satisfied, your highness?"

    "Until all 300,000 souls and your lifespan are exhausted."

    "That might take years, your highness. After you otherworlders havee here, I¡¯ve been doing nothing but cultivating lifespans. Not gonna lie, I still have 500 million years remaining."

    That was a straight bluff from Gan Ji. In reality, he had less than 100,000 years left, but he could use a demonic art to replenish his lifespan by consuming the harvested souls.

    Each soul could be converted into 100 years of lifespan. Gan Ji had 30 million years in his pockets as a backup.

    Obviously, Medusa didn¡¯t believe Gan Ji, "I¡¯ll see through it if it¡¯s real or not."

    Medusa¡¯s superior martial art broke Gan Ji¡¯s aura-coated canes, and her spear punctured through his brain.

    One more time, she fled away after she killed Gan Ji. She believed that this was a clone.

    *BOOM*

    The body exploded. That wasn¡¯t an ordinary explosion that she could withstand.

    ¡¯Another soul detonation.¡¯

    Gan Ji had many weaknesses. One was his cloning skill, which could only create one copy of himself at a time. Moreover, he had to be in the range of 3 kilometers of his clone or the skill would be canceled.

    Secondly, remote soul detonation of Gan Ji¡¯s necromancy skill activated only one soul, and it had a long cooldown timer of 5 minutes. As a result, Gan Ji had to summon his soul to activate the detonation, which revealed his true body.

    ¡¯There!¡¯

    Medusa found Gan Ji¡¯s life signature and flew after him.

    Gan Ji also flew away and canceled his camouge form, but he wasn¡¯t fast enough to evade Medusa¡¯s sense.

    *CLANK*

    Gan Ji¡¯s real body parried Diaochan¡¯s spear. Although he was at a disadvantage, his mocking sneer was still on his face.

    "CORROSIVE TOUCH!! TRUE STRIKE!"

    The same skill that almost killed Liu Yang appeared once more.

    Medusa¡¯s wings glowed. She dashed backward and dodged the attack with ease, but her weapon disintegrated because of the corrosion skill.

    Moreover, the attack gave Gan Ji enough time to get away from Medusa. He cloned himself and became invisible again.

    ¡¯This is troublesome, but I have to buy time for Li Feihong and Liu Yang. Once they got here, we can finish this quick.¡¯

    Medusa activated [Firearm Creation] and created an AK47. She continued to chase after Gan Ji and upied him in a dog fightbat.

    .

    .

    .

    Li Feihong returned to Lujiang. Rushing to finish his job, he opened his portals and distribute food supply to the main legions in the city. It took him an entire day toplete his tasks.

    At night, he visited Liu Yang, who was in the middle of self-recovery. He didn¡¯te here for lewd stuff like Tong. But instead, he came here to help this goddess candidate.

    Liu Yang was lying on her bed as if she was sleeping. However, in reality, she was cultivating and converted avable life essence to heal herself.

    Liu Yang¡¯s pale face revealed the seriousness of her injury. Her physical wounds had been treated, but the corrosion skill effect was dire. Her former wound could act up any time had Liu Yang lost her focus.

    "I¡¯m here to help. Is there anything I can do for you?"

    Liu Yang opened her eyes and nced at Li Feihong, "Bless me with every virtuous souls you have. You¡¯ve got 9 wings, so you¡¯re stronger than me."

    "Alright."

    Li Feihong proceeded to heal Liu Yang in earnest.

    During the process, Liu Yang sighed, "[I¡¯m sorry for everything.]"

    It was not an ordinary apology. Liu Yang used her immortal words to demonstrate her sincerity.

    Li Feihong could sense that the other one of his karma knots had been released, but the chains between him and Liu Yang were still there.

    "What for?"

    "For messing with the trail. All of you are supposed to y a single-yer game, but I made all of you join the battle royale game."

    Li Feihong took a deep breath. It would be a lie if Li Feihong said that he wasn¡¯t angry.

    Yet, Li Feihong empowered his voice and amended for her evil deed.

    "[I forgive you for whatever you did to me. I also want to thank you for giving me the chance to repent for what I did to Tong.]"

    All karma knots between Liu Yang and Li Feihong disappeared. Both sides could sense that their cultivation base grew stronger.

    Li Feihong was a step closer to his 10th wing, but the oath he had with Medusa stopped him from his advancement. Until Medusa got her 10th wing, Li Feihong could not grow stronger.

    On the other hand, Liu Yang¡¯s injury became easier to manage. She was 90% ready to breakthrough and get her 9th wing. Only a few preparations were needed.

    The two grinned and snickered. Letting go of their past hatred was the right choice.

    "I¡¯m going to help Medusa at Guangling. Rest well, sister-inw," Li Feihong stood up and left.

    Liu Yang didn¡¯t say anything. She sat up and focused cultivating, nning to get her 9th wing within this week.

    .

    .

    .

    Li Feihong got to where Medusa and Gan Ji were fighting. As usual, he hid in his dimension.

    Li Feihong: "I¡¯m ready. Give me a signal when you need help."

    After sending the private message, Li Feihong waited for an opportunity to ambush Gan Ji.

    Diaochan: "Send me blessings and transfer our n¡¯s lifespan pool to me."

    Diaochan: "Don¡¯te out. Gan Ji is using remote soul detonation."

    ...

    The duel between Medusa and Gan Ji went on.

 Chapter 531 The Foul-Mouth Little Goddess

    Chapter 531 - The Foul-Mouth Little Goddess

    A dayter after the battle against Gan Ji, Xu Huang reimed the Xu Province from the Sima n. All 150,000 soldiers surrendered and joined the Silver Legion, increasing its size from 70,000 men to 220,000 men.

    Xu Huang immediately ryed his order to his troops.

    "We¡¯ll deploy right away and march south! Our next goal is Lujiang, but be ready to fight arge horde of monsters if we run into them!"

    The Silver Axe Legion didn¡¯t understand what a fiend army or a horde of monsters was. However, judging from their general¡¯s tone, they spected that it might be a tough fight.

    Cannons, modern guns, muskets, spears, swords, warhorses, hwachas, repeating crossbows, mini-crossbows, gunpowder bombs, everything that Tong¡¯s armies had was brought along with the Silver Axe Legion.

    .

    Sun Quan and Huang Gai¡¯s units of 140,000 men departed from Shouchun and headed east, moving toward Guangling, where Gan Ji¡¯s undead army located.

    Along the way, they didn¡¯t forget to conscript local men as their reserve soldiers and perform a public duty.

    "This decrease is caused by mosquitoes. All infected mria patients havemon symptoms, like headache, vomiting, and high fever. But don¡¯t worry. It can be prevented by using mosquitos to cover your beds. For those that are already infected, I¡¯ve already taught the local priests and physicians about the treatment and gave them the necessary medicines. You can ask them to if you..."

    Sun Shangxiang, aka Hua Shi, was teaching the local civilians about mria disease, which was amon sickness in this area of the country and killed thousands of people each year. She also distributed medicines, which were created by her system skill, Medical Gift.

    All pills, medicinal liquid, herbs, and everything that Sun Shangxiang created were also enhanced by her blessing. Therefore, the effect was a hundred times better than modern medicine.

    A simple Aspirin or Ibuprofen tablet could cure inmmation and relieve pain instantly without causing a side effect like ordinary medicine.

    Other types of drugs for treating deadly diseases, such as cholera, pneumonia, influenza, mria, and others could also cure patients within a few seconds after consumption.

    The miracle medicines impressed the townspeople. Many of them wanted to repay Sun Shangxiang¡¯s kindness.

    Able men offered themselves to join the military. Elders, women, and children volunteered to assist Sun Quan¡¯s troops. Some of them donated food and money to contribute, hoping to help Sun Shangxiang and her family.

    Everyone loved her and wanted to protect her. Even dogs, cows, and chickens flocked around her as if she were Doctor Dolittle.

    Still, Sun Shangxiang declined them all. Instead, she gave them suggestions.

    "If you wish to help us, I hope that all of you to stay healthy and develop your farnds and your businesses. Don¡¯t take advantage of others and help your neighbors when they need it. If youck money, visit the authority and ask them for a job. If youck money and food, visit the authority again and tell them your situation. Our government takes taxes from the rich people to help the poor, so don¡¯t be afraid to ask for help if you really need it. Don¡¯t ck off and be a beggar, though. We don¡¯t help thugs and beggars."

    Hua Shi was aware of the karmaw, reincarnation, and life after death. She didn¡¯t forget to sow good karma whenever she had a chance.

    Moreover, after Medusa taught her about karmaws and thete-stage cultivation without the help of Lilim¡¯s dimension system, Hua Shi avoidedmitting serious crimes. She made a vow to herself that she would never leave bad karma that mighte back to haunt her again.

    As a result of various good deeds and her image, Sun Shangxiang, who was only 8-year-old this year, made a name of herself. Combining with her 7 feather wings and the medicine¡¯s miracle, the local people gave her a nickname once again.

    The Little Goddess

    .

    .

    .

    = Sun Shangxiang Resting Quarter =

    The little girl with 7 silver feather wingsid down on her cotton bed, exhausted from the public services.

    She buried her face in her pillow before she yelled.

    "FUUUUUUUUUUCCCKKKK!!! ANNOYINGGGGG!!! I DON¡¯T WANT TO WORK!!!! I¡¯M TIRED OF BEING A KID!!!! I WANT TO BE AN ADULT!!! I WANT TO SEE TONG!!! I¡¯M HORNY!!! I WANT TO FUCKKKKK!!!"

    Four maids and two female soldiers in front of the quarter flinched and sweated profusely.

    This was amon urrence for those who served Sun Shangxiang. They knew the true face of this "Little Goddess" that she didn¡¯t have the halo like how the others believed.

    Instead, she was the "Little Devil Princess" that had deceived everybody. Not one day that profanity and vulgar words stoppeding out of her mouth.

    No one could reprimand her or report her action to Wu Guotai either. Although Sun Shangxiang never threatened her servants, her malicious killing intent hinted everybody that they had to keep their mouth shut. Vition might result in their heads separating from their necks.

    However, one man knew about Sun Shangxiang¡¯s true face.

    Sun Quan heard the yell while he was walking nearby his sister¡¯s quarter. He came here to invite her to join their war meeting at the mainmander tent.

    ¡¯I¡¯m d she¡¯s a reincarnator. If she were the other Sun Shangxiang, mother would have cried for days.¡¯

    Sun Quan¡¯s paled face sweated as he knocked on the door.

    "Shangxiang, we¡¯re having a meeting in an hour. I need you at the central tent."

    A loud voice from the room prated Sun Quan¡¯s eardrums.

    "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!"

    All servants and bodyguards¡¯ mouth foamed and passed out as they couldn¡¯t handle the noise anymore. Sun Shangxiang¡¯s voice was too powerful for ordinary cultivators to withstand for a long time.

    As for Sun Quan, he got dizzied and staggered backward.

    Frustrated by Hua Shi, Sun Quan kicked the doors open, "SHAADDDDUUUUUPPP!!"

    As soon as Sun Quan got inside, he was greeted by a foot on his face.

    *BOOM*

    Sun Quan¡¯s body got sent flying 10 meters.

    "DON¡¯T BARGE IN A LADY¡¯S ROOM WITHOUT HER PERMISSION, YOU IMBECILE FUCK!!"

    Sun Quan stood up and yelled back, "A BITCH IN HEAT DOESN¡¯T DESERVE A GENTLEMAN¡¯S COURTESY!!"

    "YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME, MAMA TIT SUCKER!!??"

    "I DON¡¯T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM A CHILD SLUT!!"

    The two siblings got into a fistfight.

    ...

    Half an hourter, Sun Quan and Sun Shangxiang arrived at the meeting tent.

    Bruises and scratches were visible on their faces, and their hair became messy.

    Huang Gai, Han Dang, Cheng Pu, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, Lu Xun, and Lu Meng were already there, waiting for their young lord. All of them maintained their pokerface in front of their scrubby siblings.

    "Ahem," Lu Xun began the briefing, "Now that we¡¯re all here, I would like to review the current cement of our enemies and their locations..."

    Gan Ji¡¯s undead army moved surprisingly slower than their average marching speed. The scouts, who detached their souls to check the army¡¯s location, found out that they only traveled 5 kilometers a day.

    From the direction they were heading, the undead seemed to target Shouchun, which was their supply center headquarters for the southern campaign.

    The distance between Guangling and Shouchun was about 250 kilometers. With a rough calction, they would take 50 days in total to reach there.

    As for Sun Quan¡¯s troops, they were resting 50km east of Shouchun, and their military camp was 200km away from the undead army. If they were serious, they could intercept Gan Ji¡¯s army within 10 days.

    They had rooms to act, but Lu Xun wasn¡¯t happy with their current speed advantage.

    "I¡¯ve also scouted their soldiers with my detached soul. Those monsters don¡¯t need provision, and they don¡¯t need rest. Their primary weapons are clubs, rusty pikes, and farmer forks. They don¡¯t have cultivation power. However, some local policemen who fought against these soldiers reported that they couldn¡¯t kill a single of them with arrows."

    Lu Xun bit his lower lip and gazed at Sun Quan and Sun Shangxiang.

    "To be honest, weck intel about these monsters. We don¡¯t know how to kill them."

    Sun Quan raised his eyebrows in doubt, "Are they that invincible?"

    "Arrows couldn¡¯t harm them. We clearly shot them, but they could continue fighting."

    "How about swords and spears?"

    "No local militias had tried that yet since they were scared of those monsters."

    "..."

    While everybody¡¯s mood was serious, Sun Shangxiang¡¯s face was distorted as she was picking her nose.

    She flickered a half-finger-size booger, which hit Sun Quan¡¯s forehead.

    "Oi!" Sun Quan got angry, "Stop messing around! Everyone is working here!"

    "Then, work smarter! Why the hell are you dumb motherfuckers afraid of zombies anyway? If it were my old world, all children and their grandmothers would have celebrated and finished gearing up to fight before the military!"

    Everybody in the tent got offended that the little girl belittled their intelligence and courage. Lu Meng stood up and cupped his fist at Sun Shangxiang, asking his youngdy about her opinion.

    "Do you know a way to defeat these monsters?"

    Sun Shangxiang snorted. She ignored Lu Meng and turned toward Lu Xun, "You said that those soldiers couldn¡¯t be killed by arrows. Can you confirm something for me?"

    "Uh, yes?"

    "Where do the soldiers usually aim?"

    "... Pardon?"

    Sun Shangxiang got annoyed, "Which part of enemies did our soldiers usually aim!? Head? Body? Penis? Or your limb dick!?"

    Lu Xun sweated, "T-The heart. We always aim for the chest and body since it¡¯s easier to aim."

    "THAT¡¯S WHY THOSE MEN COULDN¡¯T KILL THEM, YOU DUMB SISSY!! WHEN YOU FIGHT ZOMBIES, SHOOT THEIR FUCKING HEAD!! USE A BIT OF LOGIC, DAMN TIT SUCKING CUNT!!"

    "Ugh, what¡¯re zombies again?"

    "DID YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND HUMAN LANGUAGE!? LET ME ASK YOU THIS. WHAT ARE THE DESCRIPTION OF THOSE SO-CALLED MONSTERS!?"

    "T-They are living corpses-"

    "THAT IS THE DEFINITION OF ZOMBIES, YOU DUMB BUTT-CRACKING FUCKER!!

    "..."

    All the profanity and vulgar swearing came out of Hua Shi¡¯s mouth for another 30 minutes.

    ...

    Sun Shangxiang got tired after she screamed at everyone non-stop. She picked up a 2-liter bowl of grape wine and poured them all in her little mouth to quench her thirst.

    Then, she turned toward Lu Meng and continued yelling.

    "YOU WANT MY OPINION? HERE IS MY ADVICE, PRE-EJECULATING GREENHORNS. GATHER THOSE GUNS AND BULLETS AND GIVE THEM TO SHARPSHOOTERS. TELL THEM TO FUCKING SHOOT THEM IN THE HEAD. TREAT THE BULLET AS IF THEY WERE PENISES SEEKING TO ENTER A BUNCH OF VIRGINAS ON THOSE ZOMBIES BRAINS!! NOW, I WANT YOU TO SELECT ALL PEACOCK-BUTT-HUMPING MINIONS WITH 2 ERECTING PENIS WINGS OR HIGHER AND ARM THEM WITH DIAOCHAN¡¯S GUNS. ASSIGN THOSE ANIMAL RAPERS TO ME, AND I¡¯LL SHOW THEM HOW TO RESIDENT-EVIL LIKE A BOSS!!"

    Everyone: "..."

    The scene lookedical to outsiders as a little girl was scolding all grown-up men as if she were a drill sergeant. However, all officers in the tent didn¡¯t dare to voice their objection or refute against Sun Shangxiang¡¯s rude behavior.

    Everybody here had learned that this girl was the reincarnation of Hua Shi, the former Goddess of Death. As Tong¡¯s first wife, her words were the same as Tong¡¯s mandate even though Dong Bai held the title as empress and Diaochan was the mastermind.

    Sun Quan understood only 30% of Hua Shi¡¯s words, but he agreed to the proposal anyway. If this girl said so, then they might have a way to defeat this undead army.

 Chapter 532 Three Battlefields Prelude

    Chapter 532 - Three Battlefields Prelude

    = 6 Hours after Li Feihong had arrived to help Diaochan fighting against Gan Ji =

    *VHOOM*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *VHOOM*

    Li Feihong opened his portals and ambushed Gan Ji, assisting Medusa. He also brought more spare weapons for her since Gan Ji¡¯s skill could destroy their weaponry with a light touch.

    His battle tactic was simple - Open a few gates, shoot Gan Ji, and close the gates.

    Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t effective.

    "Hahaha! Liu Bei, your ipetency and cowardice precede the rumor! You aren¡¯t abatant in your timeline, and you aren¡¯t a proper fighter in this life. You can¡¯t kill me with those tiny peas without showing yourself!!"

    Gan Ji deflected all bullets with ease.

    Currently, Li Feihong¡¯s tactic was too slow for any 8-wing immortal as the portal skill always released a sci-fi sound, which warned Gan Ji about the skill activation.

    It was like a telephone punch that alerted his opponent before the attack could hit.

    As such, Li Feihong could do nothing against Gan Ji but distracting him from Medusa.

    *SWUA*

    Medusa managed tond a hit on Gan Ji¡¯s back with her sword. The wound was deep enough that she could see Gan Ji¡¯s white bones.

    Being in danger, Gan Ji absorbed more souls and replenished his lifespan. Then, he rushed into the crowd of zombies and skeleton soldiers.

    Medusa chased after the injured old man, but Gan Ji¡¯s clone appeared again.

    "DIE!!"

    The clone activated the remote soul detonation skill.

    Li Feihong opened a portal and pulled Medusa into his dimension.

    The clone self-detonated. But Medusa was already out of range as she was in Li Feihong¡¯s dimension.

    After the explosion ended, five more portals opened 100 meters away, and Medusa exited from one of the gates. As for the other four, Li Feihong¡¯s detached souls pointed their rifles at Gan Ji¡¯s real body.

    "HAHAHA!! TOO LATE!!"

    Gan Ji had already activated Sun Fang¡¯s self-healing skill and recovered from the previous injury. He dodged and blocked Li Feihong¡¯s bullets again while hiding among the undead crowd.

    "TSK!"

    Li Feihong got annoyed that he wanted to jump out of his dimension gate and fight Gan Ji himself, but Medusa reminded him.

    "Don¡¯t get agitated. He¡¯s provoking you, so he can cripple you first. Be patient and continue pressuring him. He will run out of lifespan eventually."

    Li Feihong grumbled and continued battling in this endless dogfight where the losing side would run out of lifespan first.

    .

    .

    .

    = Meanwhile =

    Sun Quan selected 10,000 elite soldiers who had 2-wing cultivation base to follow after Sun Shangxiang. Huang Gai and Lu Meng also tagged along with this detached unit to observe how this little girl would deal with these so-called zombies.

    Sun Shangxiang didn¡¯t waste time. She sent down a forced march order and had this unit rush east. Everyone had to bring their own food, and they had tost about a week.

    Lu Meng ended up bing a temporary logistic officer as he had to arrange supply transportation for this sudden mobilization so that these 10,000 soldiers wouldn¡¯t starve after 7 days.

    The forced march under Sun Shangxiang wasn¡¯t as harsh as Jia Xu¡¯s since she didn¡¯t have them walk 60 kilometers with loaded bags on their back. She only allowed them to walk 20km a day to save their stamina and condition.

    5 Days of marching was smooth before she detected amotion on the 6th day. Arge group of peasants on the distance was approaching them.

    Sun Shangxiang, Huang Gai, and Lu Meng rushed at the fleeing peasants to investigate.

    "Who are you people?" Lu Meng asked the people, "Why are you grouping up here?"

    A female elder staggered forward while several men supported her. She knelt on the ground and plead for their safety.

    "Sir, a monster army is chasing us! Please help us!"

    Lu Meng and Huang Gai immediately helped them up and asked about the monster army¡¯s location.

    "Where is this army?"

    "Sir, they¡¯reing from Guangling direction. The immortals are also fighting over there!"

    Sun Shangxiang¡¯s face changed when she heard that immortals were fighting in that direction.

    Currently, Li Feihong and Diaochan were risking their lives to contain Gan Ji for everyone.

    Liu Yang had recovered from her injury. She was currently staying behind to stabilize her foundation and protect the main forces from unforeseen circumstances. Yet, a few days ago, she visited Sun Shangxiang and warned her that Diaochan and Li Feihong were fighting Gan Ji in this area.

    ¡¯This must be them.¡¯

    The risk of this mission skyrocketed. Gan Ji could turn his attention from Li Feihong and Diaochan toward them at any moment.

    "We will retreat from this spot ASAP. General Huang, please escort these people away from this area. General Lu, organize the troops and prepare to withdraw. We can¡¯t get in the way of their battle, or our units will be wiped out."

    Sun Shangxiang didn¡¯t stop there. She sent n messages to Sun Quan and others.

    Sun Shangxiang: "Li Feihong and the prime consort are fighting Gan Ji nearby. We¡¯re going to escort civilians back with us. I want all of you to construct fortifications and barricades ASAP. Prepare for the uing monster siege and be wary of the coteral damage of their fight!"

    She chose not to get involve with Gan Ji and focused on the undead army instead.

    "What about our test..." Lu Meng still wanted to know about zombies and the headshot test.

    "Three 8-wing freaks are fighting nearby. Do you want to get in the middle of that!?"

    "Uh, of course not."

    "Then, do what I said if you want to live. We¡¯ll test whatever you want to knowter."

    Sun Shangxiang¡¯s unit and escorted the civilians and withdrew from the area. She didn¡¯t care about the humiliation that she went back on her words since the situation was not in their favor.

    .

    .

    .

    At Lujiang Battlefront, the Immortal Legion and the Crimson Angel Legion still maintained their formation, waiting for the reinforcement from the Navy Legion of Gan Ning.

    From Gan Ning¡¯sst month¡¯s report, the shipbuilders hadpleted a total of ten 18th-century frigates, which could carry cannons on board. The warships and 500 standard vessels were on its way from the east coast toward the Yangtze River.

    From Dong Bai¡¯s initial n, this unit would rendezvous with Sun Quan¡¯s two legions at Guangling and attack Yang Province from the eastern front.

    However, the interference of Gan Ji thwarted their move. Sun Quan¡¯s armies had to defeat the undead army first before they could enter Guangling. Moreover, Gan Ji, Diaochan, and Li Feihong were fighting in this area, which made it difficult for Sun Quan and Sun Shangxiang to get there.

    Guo Jia, the appointed grandmander of the main forces, gazed at the strategic map on the table in front of him. On the opposite side of the table, the loli goddess was standing on top of a box, looking at the map as well.

    "Most of our generals are with the pincer units... so we¡¯re nothing but a distraction, eh?" Guo Jia muttered to himself after he analyzed the personal assets Diaochan had given him.

    At Lujiang, Liu Yang, Taishi Ci, Zhang Xiu, Zhang Ji, Liu Ye, and Liu Xie were the onlymanders, not including Guo Jia and Dong Bai.

    The Silver Axe unit was still on its way to Lujiang, so Guo Jia added Xu Huang, Jia Xu, Yan Yan, and Zhang Ren as his future chess pieces. As for Sun Quan¡¯s two armies, Guo Jia didn¡¯t count on them since they got entangled with the undead unit on the other front.

    "Goddess, can you spy on our enemy south of the river. I need to know the number of their 4-wing cultivators or higher."

    This was the advantage of having an 8-wing angel in the army. Liu Yang alone could see everything through her immortal sight without the need of a scout or a spy.

    "All Cao Cao¡¯s men have left and are currently at Chaisang. His army is still marching on the way, though. As for our enemymanders, I see only five. Sun Ce, Song Qian, Chen Wu, Lu Su, and Zhu Zhi."

    Chaisang located in the south of Jiangxia and southeast of Lujiang. It was a major city with 200,000 poption, where Cao Cao could conscript more troops. However, it was almost 200 kilometers away from Chibi, where Zhang He and Zhang Liao¡¯s units were heading.

    "What is their strength?"

    "Sun Ce, 7 wings. Song Qian, 5 wings. Chen Wu, 4 wings. Lu Su. 4 wings. Zhu Zhi, 6 wings."

    "What about ours?"

    "Taishi Ci, 7. Zhang Xiu, 6. Zhang Ji, 5. Liu Ye, 3. Liu Xie, 4. Dong Bai, 6."

    "Where is Cao Cao Army¡¯s current position?"

    Liu Yang pointed at Pengze County on the map, which was 120 kilometers away from their frontline. They were marching toward Chaisang to regroup with Cao Cao¡¯s new unit.

    "How long does it take for a 4-wing cultivator to fly 200 kilometers?"

    "At a casual pace, 20 minutes. If they rush it, 10 minutes."

    "What about 5-wing or higher?"

    "5-wing has the same speed. 6-wing can cut the time in half."

    "Hmm."

    Guo Jia pondered. He had many ideas that he could destroy Sun Ce¡¯s forces within less than a month, but the problem was their casualty. He wanted to limit the loss of the ally soldiers.

    After 10 minutes of silence, Guo Jia decided, "Send words to our soldiers. Have them gather all lumber and disassemble all wooden houses. Use those woods to craft as many catapults as we can."

    "Catapults?" Liu Yang was puzzled, "What are you using them for? We have cannons. Catapults are outdated weaponry."

    "If we¡¯re using it as a weapon, then yes. But I have another use for them. Please be sure to modify their strength, so they can shoot across the river. Also, don¡¯t bother about warships. We will not fight in the water."

    "Huh?"

    "Have faith in me. I know what¡¯s I¡¯m doing."

    "Oh, limiting the intel, eh? I¡¯m fine with it."

    Although Liu Yang didn¡¯t know what Guo Jia was scheming, she trusted him.

    The order was passed down afterward. Their 200,000 soldiers used their wooden resources to make catapults as ordered.

    After a few weeks of preparation, 10,000 catapults were made.

    Xu Huang¡¯s unit also bypassed the undead army and arrived at Lujiang to reinforce the frontline. Now, 420,000 soldiers assembled and ready to cross the Yangtze River.

 Chapter 533 Gan Jiâ€™s Last Dance

    Chapter 533 - Gan Ji¡¯s Last Dance

    Several weeks of 24/7bat exhausted Gan Ji, Li Feihong, and Diaochan.

    Because of the dogfightbat and the power of 3 immortals, some of the undead creatures in the area got hit by stray bullets and Gan Ji¡¯s soul detonation attacks.

    Gan Ji¡¯s backup souls dwindled. From 300,000 souls and 100,000 years of lifespan, he had 5,000 souls left. However, because of the soul-devouring technique, his lifespan increased to 500,000.

    Meanwhile, Diaochan and Li Feihong had their other sources of supply, the n lifespan pool. With many cultivators in their n, their public lifespan pool kept increasing as more n members donated some of their unused life force to help the twobatants.

    As such, they didn¡¯t have a problem with their limited lifespan in their arsenal. Moreover, Diaochan didn¡¯t spend as many lifespans as Li Feihong and Gan Ji since she rarely used her system skills that she had inherited from Tong, [Firearm Creation] and [Create Food].

    Li Feihong spent the majority of the n¡¯s lifespan pool because of his portal gate system skillset. Yet, the ability was the reason why Gan Ji couldn¡¯t harm Diaochan and Li Feihong.

    Inte-July, Gan Ji finally lost his patience. Instead of targeting Diaochan, he tried to find Li Feihong¡¯s portals.

    ¡¯I¡¯VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR COWARD TACTIC, LIU XUANDE!! I¡¯LL DRAG YOU OUT OF YOUR DIMENSION!!"

    Gan Ji consumed all backup souls to increase his lifespan again. His remaining years increased to a million.

    *CLANK*

    *CLANK*

    Gan Ji parried Diaochan¡¯s relentless attacks, pretending to be on dead legs.

    *VHOOM*

    Gan Ji¡¯s baiting worked. Li Feihong thought that he found an opening and opened a portal to snipe the old sage.

    Gan Ji fled from Diaochan and shuttled toward the opening warp gate.

    "HAHAHAHA!! YOU¡¯VE MESSED UP, FOOL!!"

    Without defending himself, Gan Ji braced all aura-coated bulletsing from the gates.

    Gan Ji¡¯s body was riddled with bullet holes, but his n seeded.

    He got inside Li Feihong¡¯s dimension world!

    His right hand also seized Li Feihong¡¯s neck.

    "Not good!"

    Diaochan reacted half-a-breathe toote. She followed after Gan Ji and entered Li Feihong¡¯s dimension as well.

    "DIE!! LIU XUANDE!!"

    Gan Ji activated [Corrosive Touch] skill.

    Li Feihong widened his eyes in shock as his neck slowly melted into a murky liquid.

    Soon, his entire body, armor, and clothes became nothing but yellow goo.

    "HAHAHAHAHA!! I¡¯VE KILLED LI FEIHONG!! MY LADY!! I¡¯VE KILLED LIU XUANDE!!"

    Gan Ji staggered as he concentrated his power to heal his bullet wounds in his body.

    Diaochan entered Li Feihong¡¯s dimension gate and found Gan Ji. She gazed at the murky pond of Li Feihong¡¯s remaining.

    In anger, she chased after the old man.

    "Tsk!"

    Gan Ji was aware that he couldn¡¯t keep up with Medusa. He suppressed the pain and flew away.

    However, he had nowhere to go. The portal gate had closed, and they got stuck in this dimension.

    "You can¡¯t escape now, morn!!"

    Medusa shouted as she pointed her pistol muzzle at Gan Ji.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Half of the fired bullets hit Gan Ji as he was too tired to parry all of them.

    The injuries slowed Gan Ji¡¯s reaction speed. Combining with his exhaustion, he was on the verge of copsing.

    Gan Ji couldn¡¯t retaliate but keep fleeing from Diaochan!

    ¡¯I guess this is the end!¡¯

    Gan Ji resolved himself that he would die soon. He grounded his teeth and looked for a chance to detonate his souls to kill Medusa.

    But as he was looking for an opening, his immortal sight found many individuals in this dimension.

    Ma Chao

    Xu Shu

    Zhang Min

    Zhang Ying

    Lu Lingqi

    Sima Yi

    Sima Lang

    Sima Fu

    And ... another Liu Bei!

    ¡¯Two Liu Bei? Oh, right. Li Feihong was the reincarnated Liu Bei, but this one is a native... Hmm!?¡¯

    Gan Ji found another interesting thing. The native Liu Bei had a peculiar soul, which was in a form of flesh monster.

    A wicked idea popped up in Gan Ji¡¯s mind.

    "What are you looking at!?"

    Medusa exploited the moment that Gan Ji got distracted by Liu Bei. Her spear prated into Gan Ji¡¯s heart.

    She twisted her spear and widened the wound. At the same time, she injected half of her lifespan into the spear to create aura spikes.

    Ten red aura spikes grew from the spear pole and pierced through Gan Ji¡¯s innards. Ten red spikes exited Gan Ji¡¯s torso.

    Yet, Gan Ji sneered at Medusa. His hand reached out and grabbed her cor cloth.

    Seven souls of Gan Ji detached from the sage¡¯s body andtched on Medusa.

    But one headed for Liu Bei. Itughed at Liu Bei as it thrust its hand into Liu Bei¡¯s chest.

    "HAHAHAHAHA!!! DIE!!!"

    Gan Ji detonated all his souls!

    Diaochan¡¯s face paled. She muttered a few words, but a sentence was audible to everyone in this dimension.

    "I¡¯m sorry, Yang, Feihong. This might cripple all of us... [Share my injuries to my subordinates]!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Seven explosions engulfed Diaochan, but the other one destroyed the clueless Liu Bei.

    .

    .

    .

    = Lujiang =

    Liu Yang was minding her business inside her resting tent, cultivating life essence. She was the main contributor to the lifespan pool as she could cultivate the fastest.

    Everything was in order. Guo Jia was overseeing to armies, and Xu Huang¡¯s men had already reinforced the frontline.

    But suddenly...

    "Pffft!"

    Liu Yang vomited blood. The familiar sensation of torturing pain came back.

    Red lines appeared on her body, and blood gushed out from the wounds.

    Soul injuries!

    "The fuck!?"

    Liu Yang was confused about why she suddenly suffered from soul injuries. However, she recalled something.

    ¡¯The immortal oath!? What happened to Medusa!?¡¯

    \u003c\u003cDing\u003e\u003e

    A private message from Diaochan arrived as Liu Yang had expected.

    Diaochan: "Sorry for the sudden injuries. Gan Ji suicide-bombed on me."

    Diaochan: "I have to share our injuries to stay alive. This is my blunder. I¡¯m sorry."

    Liu Yang heaved a sigh of relief that Medusa was alive. Had her oath master died, she would die as well.

    Liu Yang: "Thanks for the gift, you dumb snake!"

    Liu Yang: "Is Gan Ji dead?"

    Diaochan: "Deader than dead. But we have a new problem."

    .

    .

    .

    Li Feihong¡¯s melted body slowly reformed as his system skill, [Self-Resurrection], activated. A naked man with ripped muscle emerged from the pool of yellow goo.

    However, he wasn¡¯t safe from the shared damage from Diaochan. As soon as he came back to his senses, the soul injuries rpsed right away.

    Li Feihong copsed on the ground and puked out blood in his stomach and lungs.

    After coughing and wheezing in pain for 10 minutes, Li Feihong¡¯s condition stabilized.

    "Are you alright?"

    Zhang Min and Lu Lingqi were by his sides, looking confused and panicked. They didn¡¯t care about Li Feihong¡¯s naked butt as the injuries seemed serious.

    Ma Chao and Xu Shu were also there, sweating as they were casting various blessings on Li Feihong non-stop.

    "My lord!"

    "Xuande!"

    Li Feihong grinned, "I¡¯m fine, you all. Thanks for worrying."

    Everyone was relieved. Ma Chao and Xu Shu carried Li Feihong to his mansion, so he could rest.

    ...

    An hourter after the battle against Gan Ji, Diaochan visited Li Feihong in his room.

    Li Feihong red at her as if he wanted to me her for his soul injuries. However, after seeing Diaochan¡¯s paleplexion, he shut his mouth. Medusa didn¡¯te out unscratched as well.

    "Sorry for the shared injuries, Feihong."

    "... Don¡¯t worry about it. How¡¯s Gan Ji?"

    "Dead. But I have bad news."

    "Yeah?"

    Diaochan revealed her rare nervous expression, "Liu Bei is dead."

    "..."

    "Remember his soul?"

    "Yeah..."

    "His soul has disappeared from this dimension. I searched for his trace, but he isn¡¯t here anymore."

    "He¡¯s better not reincarnated as my son!"

    Li Feihong referred to the newborn child of Zhang Min and Lu Bu. It was a healthy boy.

    He named his adopted son as Li Xin, the same name as a general of Qin Shi Huang during the Warring State Era. Li Feihong hoped that the mixed wings and the legendary name could be a reminder for the child that he was born as someone with responsibility.

    Li Feihong immediately checked his son¡¯s soul with his immortal sight. Fortunately, it was a newborn soul without any taint of bad karma.

    "Your son is safe. I¡¯ve also checked the people in your vige, but I found nothing."

    "Can a soul slip through dimension skill?"

    "... I don¡¯t know. But it might be possible since it¡¯s created by Lilith¡¯s dimensionw."

    "..."

    What they had feared became reality as Liu Ping¡¯s soul was on the loose. They didn¡¯t know where it went, but nothing good woulde out of it.

    "How is your injury?" Li Feihong changed the subject.

    "As bad as you. I can¡¯t fight for a few months."

    "So, was all the damage shared?"

    "Yeah. Had I not shared them with you and Liu Yang, I would have died, actually."

    "Ah... Soul detonation sucks."

    "I know."

    Li Feihong, Diaochan, and Liu Yang were out ofmission after the incident. In this war, they could only rely on their generals and strategists.

    .

    .

    .

    Diaochan announced in their group chat that all 8-wing cultivators got injured in the fight against Gan Ji. However, no 8-wing cultivator remained on the opposite side.

    Sun Shangxiang: "Y¡¯all suck!! How dafuq y¡¯all motherfuckers get injured because of one limped-dick demon! Aren¡¯t there 3 of you tentacle lovers!? Are you only good at dick-sucking that you got wet during the fight and get your sandy asses raped!?"

    As usual, Hua Shi¡¯s foul mouth knew no bounds. Even the n chat couldn¡¯t escape her obscene swearing.

    Cultivating alone for years and maintaining her image as a saintess in public stressed out Hua Shi to the point that she had mental issues. Moreover, she didn¡¯t want to continue living as a child. From time to time, she vented her frustration by cursing other people without a reason.

    Everyone could only pray, hoping that Tong woulde back and soothe this girl soon.

    All n members ignored Sun Shangxiang¡¯s remarks and proceeded with their next battle n.

    Guo Jia: "Now that the biggest threat is gone. @Sun Quan, please wipe out the undead army. We¡¯llunch our assault as soon as the navy unit and your armies upy Guangling."

    Guo Jia: "@Zhuge Liang, what¡¯s your battle policy?"

    Zhuge Liang: "Our pincer units will remain in Jiangling until the main forces begin the assault. I don¡¯t want to repeat Cao Cao¡¯s mistake at Chibi."

    Guo Jia: "Indeed. I suggest that you should avoid the river route and march normally to Wulin Port at the opposite side of Red Cliffs. If Cao Cao counterattack with the river route, you know what to do."

    Zhuge Liang: "Aye. Spreadings is my forte. No problem."

    Zhuge Liang: "By the way, where is Gan Ning¡¯s units?"

    ...

    = East Coast, 100km northeast of Guangling =

    "You¡¯re so generous, my queen. I don¡¯t know what to say."

    Currently, Gan Ning was conversing with a VIP guest in his gship living quarter.

    The VIP was surprisingly the Queen Himiko of the Wo Kingdom, ancient Japan.

    The queen was also a cultivator with 6 white wings, but she hadn¡¯t tainted her hands with blood or killing like Tong¡¯s generals. She was a priestess, who upheld morale, etiquette, and purity like a saintess.

    Himiko found Gan Ning¡¯s fleet while she was exploring the west sea, so she visited him to establish a good rtionship with a foreign country.

    In the ship, Himiko gave Gan Ning local products, such as dried fishes, fruits, and trinkets as a gift of friendship.

    Gan Ning, as a former pirate, valued these goodies over gold. He weed her with open arms.

    "You¡¯re wee, friend. I just simply hope that our countries can be friends for ages toe. Lately, cultivators and immortals have emerged, so we might need help if unforeseen circumstances were to happen. Could you please inform your king that we¡¯vee in peace?"

    "Of course! Of course! I¡¯m sure his majesty will be pleased that a beautiful queen is our friend! I¡¯m sure he will wee you to his pce."

    "Please don¡¯t jest, General Gan. I¡¯m a devoted priestess. I can¡¯t get married."

    "Hahaha! I didn¡¯t say anything about marriage. Don¡¯t worry. We keep our rtionship professional. I¡¯m not into that sort, and my emperor is a kind man."

    Behind everybody¡¯s back, Gan Ning took the liberty to negotiate peace with the Wo Kingdom. He didn¡¯t forget to scout a potential concubine for Tong to gain his favor.

    Himiko was in her early 30s, but her face and appearance were youthful as if she were a high-schooler. Her hair braided and tied into knots, but her priestess clothes revealed a bit of her jade white skin, but her body was tightly covered. Still, the smoothness of Himiko¡¯s hands, shoulders, neck, and face sometimes made Gan Ning drooled.

    She was ripe for the picking, but Gan Ning did his best to contain his lust. After all, he valued noble tiers and ranks more than a woman. Once he got plenty of gold and fame, beautiful women would flock around him, and he would get many women for himself eventually.

    ¡¯Ah, your majesty. I found a good woman for you. I hope youe back soon. I need more promotion.¡¯

    Gan Ning continued to waste time entertaining Himiko. He didn¡¯t even realize that over a hundred system messages were shing in his menu.

 Chapter 534 Sun Quan Army VS Undead Army 1

    Chapter 534 - Sun Quan Army VS Undead Army (1)

    The shared injuries from Diaochan didn¡¯t affect other officers that had sworn allegiance to her as she limited the damage transfer to only Liu Yang and Li Feihong.

    This was the perk of being the superior, who was acknowledged as an immortal liege. She could choose which vessels that would bear her injuries.

    Had she been selfish, she could have transferred all damage to one person. However, that person would have died from soul injuries.

    Diaochan understood the fundamental strength of her subordinates. She had faith that Li Feihong and Liu Yang could recover from the damage within a few months, which would be faster than weaker officers, who might need several years.

    The sacrifice of the three strongest fighters might hinder the entire army as a whole, but it prevented unnecessary casualties.

    Sun Quan was thankful that Diaochan didn¡¯t pass on the soul injuries to him and his officers. Or else, he would have been crippled.

    \u003c\u003cDing\u003e\u003e

    Zhuge Liang: "By the way, where is Gan Ning¡¯s unit?"

    Diaochan: "His fleet is still far away from Guangling. That¡¯s odd. He should have gotten therest month."

    Diaochan: "Never mind. I knew why he¡¯s dyed. He ran into a foreign cultivator, the queen of Wo at that."

    Diaochan: "From their conversation, Gan Ning is doing well gaining the favor from the queen. We can let it slide for now."

    Guo Jia: "Wo Country? I remember them. They¡¯re friendly inders. We can leave them alone."

    Zhuge Liang: "Give me the details of this country. Maybe we can trade with them to acquire extra resources for the southern campaign."

    The chat kept on going as Diaochan ryed her vision to the two strategists.

    However, Sun Quan didn¡¯t pay attention to the current n messages since he was busy organizing the troops to construct a fort. A big fight wasing.

    ...

    = Jiujiang County, East of Shouchun =

    2 AM.

    Jiujiang County was an agriculture county that specialized in farming. Farnds were everywhere, yet arge wooden fort stood out like a sore thumb in the middle of farm fields. Spike barricades, trenches, and watchtowers formed three lines of defense toward the east.

    Many days had passed since Sun Shangxiang¡¯s humiliating retreat. She swallowed her pride and helped Sun Quan constructing a defensive fort and traps for the uing battle.

    They couldn¡¯t mobilize their armies due to the threat of Gan Ji.

    But today, they received a piece of good news. Diaochan had sessfully killed Gan Ji in Li Feihong¡¯s dimension.

    Without Gan Ji or the threat of an 8-wing cultivator, Sun Quan and Sun Shangxiang were free to engage against the zombie horde.

    Unfortunately, the news came a bitte. Before the sun had set, the zombie horde was already upon them.

    "UUUuuuuUUUgggHHH"

    A deep howl came from 250,000 remaining zombies who survived the coteral damage from the fight. When these monsters saw arge structure and various watchtowers, they screeched and began to run.

    Despite being zombies, the running speed was on par with Usain Bolt.

    On the other hand, skeletons formed ranks and marched forward as if they were trained as a proper army.

    Their distance was 500 meters away from the firstyer of fortress traps and barricades.

    ...

    100 Meters behind the first line of barricades, five hundred arrow towers linked together into a long wall for boarding 10,000 crossbowmen and 100 rookie snipers.

    Behind these towers, several wooden bridges connected the formation of watchtowers to the second line of the defense mud wall. This was their escape route in the case that the undead army could break through their defense.

    In front of the watchtowers, harvested paddy fields had been transformed into a 5-meter-deep and 50-meter-wide moat, protecting the east side of Sun Quan¡¯s new fort.

    Inside the moat, underground water flooded the bottom moat, which turned the soil into a muddy swamp. Thousands of bamboo pikes pointed to the sky, waiting for any foolish invader to fall and be impaled by them. This was the giant pitfall trap waiting for the mindless zombies.

    The preparation was set. The rest was up to the performance of the soldiers and their generals.

    "Watch closely how my arrows hit."

    From one of the watchtowers, Sun Shangxiang demonstrated how to kill zombies by activating her homing arrows. Fifty silver arrows flew and created a glittering arc and precisely plunged the arrowheads into 50 zombies¡¯ foreheads.

    50 targeted zombies copsed with only one hit.

    "See? You only need to aim at their heads."

    Huang Gai, who was standing by Sun Shangxiang¡¯s side, squinted his eyes to see the dead zombies from over 300 meters away.

    "Are they dead?"

    "Obviously."

    "But, princess... Our archers are not that urate. A volley of 1,000 arrows usually hit only 400-500 soldiers, and only less than a half can precisely hit the heads."

    Huang Gai and his soldiers got used to ancient warfare tactics.

    A toon of 1,000 archers always fired their arrows at a targeted area at the same time, which was amon arrow volley. Archers only took aim when they were defending against a few enemies. Most of the time, they aimed at a general direction and fired randomly since most shots were likely to hit someone among a crowd of a chaotic battlefield.

    The zombie army countered this tactic since their bodies could withstand projectiles. Only their brain was vulnerable.

    "Use the guns," Sun Shangxiang rolled her eyes, "Diaochan¡¯s rifles are there for the tasks, right? Have the elite riflemen gun down those zombies. As for archers, be prepare to use cannons against those skeletons."

    Huang Gai nodded and ryed his order to his elites to swap out repeating crossbows for sniper rifles.

    Although not many soldiers had trained with this weapon, a hundred snipers were enough to wither down running zombies.

    100,000 Running zombies charged forward. 200 Meters remained until they would reach the first line of spike barricades.

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Rookie snipers got to use their live bullets for the first time. Unfortunately, the first volley wasn¡¯t urate as only 50 zombies died.

    These soldiers got nervous as they were standing on the top of watchtowers. Seeing the massive troops rushing at them frightened them that their performance dropped.

    150 Meters remained. The zombies¡¯ dashing speed got even faster when they found Sun Quan¡¯s soldiers.

    Crossbowmen and archers on towers didn¡¯t wait for snipers to do all the work. They unleashed everything they had to the zombies.

    As Sun Shangxiang¡¯s words had already been passed down, all soldiers didn¡¯t shoot in a general direction. They properly aimed at the heads of the zombies.

    Still, the majority of zombies braced the attacks and charged at the watchtowers. They ignored the arrow rain and ran in frantic, drooling and screaming in delight by the smell of the living soldiers on the watchtowers.

    But one remaining obstacle stopped the zombies¡¯ advance, the trap moat.

    Several thousands of zombies fell into the moat and were slowed down by the mud. Half of the victims got impaled by bamboo spears.

    Archers on the watchtowers sneered at these stupid zombies. They took their time and aimed.

    As their targets were less than 50 meters away, their uracy got sharper. Several thousand arrows found their ways into the brains of the zombies.

    Sun Shangxiang¡¯s homing arrows kept pouring onto the undead. She also detached her souls to increase her firepower.

    At the firing rate of 175 arrows per second, Sun Shangxiang became a ughtering machine, who gave her subordinates hope and courage.

    Corpses began to pile on top of another as more zombies fell into the moat. Rain of arrows and bullets hailed onto the neers without stopping.

    The battle seemed easy at first as the zombies couldn¡¯t climb up the moat and die one after another. But 20 minutester, Sun Shangxiang¡¯s soldiers began to run out of ammunition.

    Zombies started to climb on top of each other to reach the watchtowers. From the depth of 5 meters, the corpses and struggling zombies piled up, bing stairs for others. The bamboo spears inside the moat also became useless.

    At that point, Sun Shangxiang sent out her new order before the soldiers could react.

    "Retreat to the second line of defense! Don¡¯t bother going into melee with those zombies!"

    Huang Gai and his men abandoned the first wall of watchtowers and retreated in order. The soldiers looked disappointed that they didn¡¯t get to fight in meleebat.

    Sun Shangxiang was afraid of one characteristic of zombies, which she had seen a lot in modern movies, the zombie virus. Once bitten, the victim could mutate into one of them, and that could cause a snowball effect on the whole army.

    In Japanese chess, shogi, a king¡¯s early escape is worth eight moves. Sun Shangxiang applied this principle to warfare.

    And her judgment was correct. A group of the surviving zombies managed to get out of the ditch 5 minutester after the retreat order was in motion. These frantic deadmen began climbing the watchtowers.

    On the other side of the moat, 150,000 skeletons stopped moving. They gazed nkly at the zombie-filled moat.

    Sun Shangxiang and Huang Gai retreatedst since they could fly. When they took flight and saw the action of the skeleton soldiers, Huang Gai questioned Sun Shangxiang¡¯s strategy.

    "Are you sure those monsters will fall to our traps?"

    Sun Shangxiang shook her head as she wasn¡¯t confident, "For zombies, they will. But for those guys, I don¡¯t think so. You go lead the second line. I¡¯ll just float around here and shoot at those bones."

    As Sun Shangxiang was speaking, she unleashed another batch of magic arrows at the skeleton soldiers, who were standing still in formation.

    50 arrows prated into 50 skulls.

    Yet, their glowing red eyes stared at Sun Shangxiang. They grabbed the light arrows and yanked them out as if they were a nuisance. Only one of them looked confused before it copsed on the ground.

    "DAFUQ!?" Sun Shangxiang was shocked.

    "Did you empower your skill with life force?"

    "Well, shit. I didn¡¯t. DAMN YOU, BONER BASTARDS!! YOU¡¯VE FORCED ME TO SPEND MY PRECIOUS LIFESPAN!!"

    Sun Shangxiang shot 50 more magic homing arrows. This time, she enhanced her light arrows with her life force, which consumed 500 years of lifespan per shooting one homing arrow.

    50 Arrows made an arc and hit the same targets that Sun Shangxiang had failed to kill.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    49 Skulls shattered by the impact of 50 enhanced arrows. Only one arrow missed its target as it wasying on the ground, so the arrow hit another skeleton instead.

    "I see. So that¡¯s how it is," Huang Gai was enlightened. He rushed back to inform the men that they need to spend some lifespan to kill the skeletons. As for zombies, a simple arrow in the brain was enough to down them.

    But Huang Gai failed to notice that all skeletons at the back of the undead toons had faint glowing red eyeballs inside their skull.

    They gazed at Huang Gai and Sun Shangxiang in the sky. The jaws and teeth ttered as if it muttered some unknown words.

    As if they had intelligence, 10,000 of the bone soldiers detached from their formation and jumped into the moat. The group piled the corpses of zombies to make bridges for their colleagues. They also didn¡¯t forget to disarm the bamboo spear traps.

    Another batch of 10,000 skeletons also jumped into the moat. They picked up the used arrows of Sun Shangxiang¡¯s soldiers and dissected the remaining corpses, prying off bones from the dead zombies.

    Leg bones, rib cages, spines, and various parts of human bones were brought back to the skeleton army.

    The rest of the skeletons began to assemble the collected parts into their new weapon. Many of them began sharpening the newly acquired bones into a make-shift spear, and a dozen of them merged their skeleton frame with small bone pieces, enhancing their strength.

    Every action of the skeleton army didn¡¯t escape Sun Shangxiang¡¯s keen eyes.

    "Motherfuckers," Sun Shangxiang cursed as she sent a private message to Sun Quan to give him the authority. The foul mouth goddess continued spending more life forces into her homing arrow skills and sniped the bone soldiers.

    The bone army red back at Sun Shangxiang with hatred. Yet, they ignored her and continued working on their new weapons and the bridge.

    The bone soldier, who was shot by Sun Shangxiang¡¯s dud homing arrow, also nced at her. It was still alive.

 Chapter 535 Sun Quan Army VS Undead Army 2

    Chapter 535 - Sun Quan Army VS Undead Army (2)

    After Huang Gai¡¯s soldiers got back to safety, they cut off the wooden bridge passages, so no zombie could use it to get to their position.

    The second line of defense was a mud wall with a height of 5 meters. However, the width of this moat was 200 meters and two kilometers long, which was many timesrger than the first trench. This trap was also ced 50 meters away from the mud wall, which was made by using the dirt, mud, and soil of the twobined moats.

    50,000 Archers and Lu Xun were in charge of protecting this area. Also, the soldiers had prepared more toys to y with the berserking zombies and skeletons. On the bottom of the moat, sacks of ck powder piled in groups. Archers on the wall also covered their arrowhead with crude-oil-soaked clothes. Several soldiers also carried torches, getting ready to light their friends¡¯ oiled arrows.

    Fire arrows and gunpowder in the ditch were another preparation.

    Behind the mud wall, a hundred trebuchets were arranged in a line formation. A thousand barrels carrying crude oil were also nearby.

    An artillery unit was in ce, and they were ready to shoot at any moment.

    *BOOM*

    70,000 Surviving zombies climbed up from the first moat. Some of them climbed the watchtowers while the others bypassed the structures and charged at the mud wall.

    As the wooden bridge was cut off, the zombies on the watchtowers couldn¡¯t chase after Huang Gai¡¯s soldiers. They jumped down from the towers and dashed forward, heading toward the mud wall as well.

    Both groups of zombies soon fell into the second moat with gunpowder.

    Lu Xun was overseeing this line of defense. Seeing that the zombies fell into their trap, he rechecked the battlefield.

    10,000 of surviving zombies were struggling below the wall, but more goons were rushing and falling into the moat.

    "Light the arrows. Do not fire yet."

    Lu Xun stopped his soldiers from shooting. He waited for more zombies to fall into the moat.

    However, the nervous archers on the wall were sweating, being intimidated by the noise of a massive group of crazy undead monsters.

    A minute passed. 30,000 zombies almost filled the long moat, but some of them had already stepped over their colleagues and got out of the trap hole.

    Lu Xun¡¯s archers got more nervous as they nced at their general. Their hands and arms were shaking, and their teeth were ttering.

    The general darted his eyes around, checking the entire battlefield once more.

    "Fire."

    An order finally arrived. All soldiers released their fire arrows.

    Not all arrows hit the gunpowder bags. Some of them hit the zombies in the pit, but a few managed to find their targets.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Explosions erupted from inside the moat. Arms, legs, torso, innards, and pieces of human flesh scattered.

    But that was not enough to kill all zombies in the moat. Only 20% of the gunpowder bags detonated.

    Lu Xun shook his head, disappointed by his mistake. He overestimated his archers a bit.

    Still, he had a backup n, which he regretted that he should have done this first.

    "Trebuchet squads, fire at will."

    Sergeants ryed Lu Xun¡¯s order by shouting at the units behind the wall. The trebuchet crews loaded the oil barrels and operated their machines.

    A hundred barrels were hurled over the wall.

    As Lu Xun had calcted his trebuchet firing range distance beforehand, he knew that these barrels would go into the moat.

    And the oil barrels indeednded onto the zombies that survived the prior explosion.

    "Second fire arrows, get ready."

    Lu Xun didn¡¯t bother waiting for the oil to leak and contact the fire arrows in the moat. His soldiers reloaded their bows with prepared arrows with ming clothes.

    5,000 Zombies managed to cross the moat, but the rest of the group was still stuck inside the hole.

    At this point, most zombies in the moat were soaked with crude oil. Some of them had been hit by ming arrows, and they were engulfed in hellfire.

    "FIRE!! EVERYONE, GET DOWN!!"

    As soon as the archers released their arrows, they jumped off from the top of the wall and ducked.

    The second volley arrived. This time, everything in the moat erupted. Thebination of crude oil and gunpowder created a massive fire explosion and the thunderous noise.

    *BOOOOOOMM*

    Corpses of zombies, dirt, shrapnel, and stones flew everywhere. The explosive shockwave destroyed the eardrums and body bnce of 5,000 zombies that had crossed the moat. All of them copsed on the ground as their legs failed to maintain their bnce senses.

    Hellfire devoured all zombies in the moat. Some of them braced the me and tried to climb the dirt trench, but their brains were cooked before they could get out.

    Out of 70,000 surviving zombies from the first line of defense, Lu Xun instantly dropped them to less than 10,000 within a few minutes!

    The mud-wall took the impact of the shockwave of the explosion. It cracked and almost fell apart. Fortunately, Lu Xun and the troops made it thick enough that not all parts of the wall copsed from the shockwave.

    Soldiers were frightened by the explosion. They covered their ears in pain as the loud noise almost broke their eardrums.

    *PA*

    *PA*

    *PU*

    Blood and body parts of zombies rained down upon them.

    "WTF!!?"

    "AAAAHHH!!"

    Despite being grown-up macho soldiers, they were shocked upon the sight of raining human corpses.

    Lu Xun climbed back to the top of the mud wall, which was partly destroyed by the explosion. He rechecked the situation and the battlefield.

    Upon seeing that some of them were still alive, he passed down another order.

    "Archers! Get back on the wall! Bring those barrels with you. We¡¯ll toss them to the remaining monsters!"

    Archers climbed back on top of the half-wrecked wall. Some of them carried barrels behind the trebuchets with them.

    They leaned forward to see the result of the explosion. When they saw the aftermath and the raging me in the moat, they cheered as if they had won the battle.

    "DON¡¯T CELEBRATE!! WE HAVEN¡¯T WON YET!!"

    Lu Xun shouted. He spread his wings and flew 100 meters above the ground to scout the entire battlefield.

    At a distance away, Sun Shangxiang was still busy shooting the skeletons with her homing arrows. The skeleton army, however, ignored her existence and slowly marched forward, crossing the first moat with their newly crafted weapons.

    Sun Shangxiang¡¯s killing rate was only 175 per second, but the skeleton army had 150,000 soldiers strong. She would run out of her lifespan before she could kill every single of them.

    Oddly enough, the skeletons seemed to be aware of Sun Shangxiang¡¯s shorings. They didn¡¯t care about her even after she had killed 20,000 of them already.

    On the contrary, a group of skeletons was collecting bone parts from their fallen friends to craft more bone weaponry. Something was not right about this group.

    "MY LADY, DON¡¯T PUSH YOURSELF!!"

    Sun Shangxiang didn¡¯t listen to Lu Xun. She continued firing at the skeletons.

    Lu Xun sighed and gave up persuading the princess. He turned his attention to the zombies.

    Most of the zombies were in, but a few of them were still crawling.

    "Pour the oil on them. Don¡¯t light them on fire just yet. Make sure the entire field is covered!"

    The archers poured crude oil onto the crawling zombies below the wall. Some soldiers opened the lids and tossed the entire barrels at them.

    The prepared oil barrels behind the trebuchets were used up within a few minutes as over 10,000 archers coordinated and carried them to the frontline.

    After pouring everything to the zombies and the field below the wall, Lu Xun sent another order.

    "Retreat to the fort! Evacuate everybody here and leave the trebuchets!"

    Lu Xun lighted a torch and flew above the defensive wall, watching his men retreating back to thest line of defense.

    10 Minutester, all soldiers got back to the fort, where Sun Quan and others were protecting. Lu Xun tossed down the torch in his hand.

    The oilednd was ignited. Crawling zombies screamed and howled as if they were in pain before their brain was fried to crisp.

    The army of zombies was wiped out easily. Even Lu Xun was somewhat disappointed.

    He regretted that he overestimated this army when he first had heard about them.

    ¡¯Next... Those monsters.¡¯

    Lu Xun squinted his eyes and red at the approaching skeleton army.

    Sun Shangxiang now stopped shooting at them as she was low on lifespan. She ignored Lu Xun and flew back to Sun Quan¡¯s fort.

    However, her effort was not in vain. From 150,000 skeleton soldiers, she decreased them to 50,000. This feat alone was already praiseworthy.

    However, the skeleton army got more resources to build more weapons. Some of them even crafted bone armors for theirrades.

    These skeleton soldiers started with only basic weaponry when they had first arrived. Now, they were fully equipped with sinister-looking bone armors and bone spears.

    Lu Xun returned to the fort and reported the status to the army.

    ...

    "About 50,000 left? That¡¯s good!"

    "Well done!"

    Sun Quan, Cheng Pu, Lu Meng, and Han Dang rejoiced that Lu Xun, Huang Gai, and Sun Shangxiang almost wiped out the undead army.

    Yet, Sun Shangxiang¡¯s face gloomed. She had spent the majority of her lifespan to kill 100,000 skeletons. Now, she was left with less than 100,000 years.

    "My 5 million years," Hua Shi cried, "My five million years of fucking!! Five million years to make Tong¡¯s babies! GIVE IT BACK!! WAAAA!!"

    Everybody sweated, speechless. The scene of an 8-year-old little girl wanting to have a baby was so wrong and twisted to the point that everyone wanted to rebuke out loud.

    Yet, nobody dared to mess with Sun Shangxiang. This little devil¡¯s true status in the court was too high. They were afraid that Tong might kill them if someone offended the girl.

    Lu Meng coughed, "Well, we have only 50,000 monsters to deal with. What¡¯s the next n?"

    Huang Gai smacked his chest, "We should ride out and fight those fools! We have the number advantage now!!"

    Lu Xun disagreed, "No. We have our preparation ready, so we can use it to our advantage. Your highness, I need all cultivators with me. I need them for the next task."

    ...

    50,000 Skeleton soldiers slowly climbed over the first barricades. Then, they stopped at the second moat, where the fire was still raging.

    They stared at the fire wall at first, but a group of 10 skeletons suddenly tossed all its equipment away and walked into the me.

    Their action baffled Lu Xun, Lu Meng, Sun Quan, and everyone else, who had prepared to defend at their main fort with 140,000 soldiers and advance weaponry.

    But the puzzled look on their face turned into a shocked er. The skeletons who had jumped into the fire climbed up and crossed the moat without suffering any damage.

    The fire couldn¡¯t kill them! Instead, the fireballs in their eye sockets red.

    It ttered their jaws as if it wasughing. They nced at humans inside the fortress, sneering at them.

 Chapter 536 Sun Quan Army VS Undead Army 3

    Chapter 536 - Sun Quan Army VS Undead Army (3)

    = Lujiang =

    Diaochan and Liu Yang were recuperating in their room, but their immortal sight was observing the battle at Jiujiang Fort.

    Sun Quan, Sun Shangxiang, and the Sun n were doing well against the undead army. However, the two 8-wing girls were worried about the casualties, which was likely to happen soon.

    The skeletons had proved that they had intelligence. Also, these 50,000 undead soldiers couldn¡¯t be killed by normal means. Only weapons, enhanced by strong cultivators, could damage or kill them.

    Medusa used to control many skeleton warriors in hell, and she trained Tong by using them. She knew that these skeleton soldiers could get stronger over time, and they were ideal for being vanguards of any army.

    "Should we give the n¡¯s lifespan to Hua Shi? Her homing arrows can deal with this army," Asked Liu Yang.

    Diaochan summoned a n menu and check the remaining lifespan they had in the n pool.

    200,000 Years.

    Diaochan sighed in regret. The battle against Gan Ji consumed the majority of their n asset, and most of the contributed officers didn¡¯t have enough lifespan to spare anymore.

    "We don¡¯t have enough lifespan for Hua Shi. We have 200,000 years left. It is wiser to give them to Lu Xun or other generals, so they can empower their cannons and guns."

    Hua Shi¡¯s skills wasted a lot of lifespans. Summoning a batch of 50 magic arrows with her soul required 200 years, but enhancing several arrows at once with wing aura cost only 10-20 years for cultivators.

    Her fighting style was not efficient in terms of lifespan usage, but it was more effective against cultivators because of the homing utility.

    Diaochan distributed the lifespan to Lu Xun anyway. She also messaged him, Lu Xun, Lu Meng, and other generals.

    Diaochan: "Enhance your cannons and guns with these. Those skeletons have physical damage immunity, so use magic and your force."

    ...

    Lu Xun read Diaochan¡¯s message and got an inspiration. He reorganized all troops in the fort.

    "Lu Meng, I need you to lead a unit of 30,000 infantry to the north nk. Take a detour and position your troops behind the second wall. I want you to block their escape route."

    "Senior Han, take all 30,000 men from the front trenches into the fort. Then, exit through the north gate. Encircle the north nk, and stop them from slipping through the. You can take the enhanced cannons from the fort with you."

    "Senior Cheng, bring 30,000 men and block our enemies at the south. Take all our hwachas with you."

    "Your highness, please give sniper rifles to our elite cultivators. Be sure to teach them how to enhance weaponry with our power. Senior Huang, I need you to guard the fortress with our remaining troops, but I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t attack us head-on."

    "Mydy, please act as a scout for us. I need you to fly over the undead army and keep dropping bombs at them. You don¡¯t need to destroy all of them. Just harass them to the point that they have to move around."

    Series ofmands came from Lu Xun in session. Yet, nobody rebuked or protested against his order even though Lu Xun had no authority to do so. Everyone trusted Lu Xun¡¯s insight since he was once a sessful grandmander, who had repelled Liu Bei Army at the Battle of Yiling in the other timeline. This man also inherited Zhou Yu¡¯s duties after the Battle of Chibi, so his talent was trustworthy.

    The group returned to their perspective units for the uing invasion of skeletons.

    .

    .

    .

    50,000 skeleton soldiers crossed the burning moat. They brought their bone weapons forward and stopped before the trenches, thest line of defense of Jiujiang Fort.

    The trenches this time were not a single long and deep moat. Instead, it was a small maze underground.

    A dozen of two-meters-depth passages intersected, while bunkers, several lines of wooden palisades, and wooden spike traps on the ground blocked the skeleton army¡¯s vision from getting an urate mazeyout.

    Behind the trenches, a giant star-shaped fortress stood tall. Abination of a V-shaped mud wall, wooden fences, and archer towers formed another sophisticated array.

    This fortress was an upgraded version of Tong¡¯s fortress in Anping, where Tong had fought against Han Fu and other forces during his early days. Lu Xun and Lu Meng copied Tong¡¯s idea and improved it.

    It was no longer a small fort for a few thousand people, but a massive fortress city that could house over 100,000 men.

    The skeletons red at the trenches and the fortress, analyzing the structures. A hundred bone soldiers marched forward to probe the traps.

    When they got close to the outeryer of trenches...

    *BANG*

    *BANG*

    Gunshot sound came from the top of the fortress as snipers did their job. Five yellow light went through five skulls, shattering them to pieces.

    Those were empowered bullets from the snipers!

    The bone soldiers copsed, and the soldiers on the wall cheered. They had found another way to defeat the undead army.

    "ck! ck!"

    The rest of the skeletons ttered their jaws as if they weremunicating. They pointed their fingers at the general direction of the shooters.

    However, their reaction was pointless.

    *BANG* *BANG*

    *BANG* *BANG*

    More bullets hailed at the probing group. Within a few seconds, all of them copsed on the ground after their skulls had been destroyed.

    Behind the scout unit, the rest of the bone soldiers observed the situation. Seeing that their friends died after they went to check the trenches, the army reacted.

    Instead of trying to cross the trenches, they splitted their forces into two units. One moved north, and the other went south. The skeletons avoided a direct confrontation and tried to find another waypoint to the fort.

    But then...

    *PU* *PU* *PU*

    An angel with 7 wings dropped a glowing sack of gunpowder into the middle of their army.

    The skeletons looked at Sun Shangxiang in the sky, and then, they gazed at the sack.

    The bone soldiers leaped away from the colorful sack. Even though they didn¡¯t understand what kind of radiation the gunpowder was emitting, but they had learned that these sacks were the cause of the explosion.

    Sun Shangxiang dropped a torch and fled from the area.

    *BOOOOOM*

    Skeletons in the explosion radius shattered into pieces. The aura-coated gunpowderpleted its job.

    Sun Shangxiang flew back to pick up more oil barrels from the fort. She went back and forth all night, harassing the skeletons.

    "ck! ck!"

    The undead soldiers red at Sun Shangxiang in the sky in frustration. They endured her assault and continued marching.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    For 10 minutes, Sun Shangxiang bombed the two units of bone warriors. A few thousand of them couldn¡¯t walk again.

    But the harassment didn¡¯tst long. One of the injured skeletons suddenly ate its friends and merged their bones together.

    Seeing the action of the oddball, several bone soldiers did the same.

    The phenomenon shocked Sun Shangxiang. She stopped attacking to see what they were trying to do.

    30 Minutester, the massive army of 50,000 skeleton soldiers transformed into 10,000 green skeletons. Their bones emitted purple aura, which was simr to demon cultivators.

    "Well, shit."

    Sun Shangxiang could sense that these bone soldiers evolved into demons with 1-wing strength, and their aura was poisonous to the living. The battle might get tougher.

    \u003c\u003cDing\u003e\u003e

    Lu Xun: "Your highness. I might sound rude, but I have to ask you for a favor."

    Lu Xun: "I need you to support our soldiers. You can stop bombing them now."

    Even Lu Xun adjusted his n after witnessing the evolution of these soldiers.

    Sun Shangxiang retreated and regrouped with Cheng Pu, who wasmanding a south nk unit.

    ...

    Cheng Pu¡¯s 30,000 swift soldiers used the time that Sun Shangxiang had bought, forming a formation 500 meters south of the detached skeleton unit.

    This unit also brought 100 hwachas, which was pre-loaded with two hundred arrows each. They pushed the wagons to the front and prepared the fuses.

    Cheng Pu enhanced everything with his aura. He also had taught his cultivators in his unit how they could use their power. As such, the eyes of these men brimmed with self-confidence. Facing the mutated monsters was not as scary as before.

    Cheng Pu¡¯s battalions stopped marching and set up their formation. Crossbowmen and archers positioned themselves behind the hwacha units.

    Sun Shangxiangnded by Cheng Pu¡¯s side and reported for her duty.

    "The sissy wants me to support you."

    Cheng Pu chuckled, finding Lu Xun¡¯s nickname funny, "Aye. Please take care of me, princess."

    10,000 evolved skeletons fearlessly marched forward. They carried bone shields, which were crafted by using bones of their fallen friends, and ced them in front of themselves.

    A fish-scale formation of 10,000 bone warriors slowly advanced. Purple aura enveloped their entire forces.

    As their boney feet moved, nts withered, plowed soil rotted, rocks decayed into ck goo. Everything was corrupted by the demonic aura.

    Seeing the changes in the environment, Cheng Pu and Sun Shangxiang¡¯s face sunk. They didn¡¯t know that a demon cultivator could corrupt materials andnd to this extend.

    Still, they didn¡¯t falter. Sun Shangxiang nocked an arrow and aimed at the approaching skeletons while Cheng Pu floated in the air, so his soldiers could see and hear hismand.

    "HWACHA UNITS! LIGHT THE FUSE!!"

    A hwacha, aka rocket pods, had a maximum range of one to two kilometers. At the range of 500 meters, they were within the artillery range.

    The skeleton army¡¯s speed was slow. They ignored what Cheng Pu¡¯s troops were doing and advanced with their shields covering their heads and front.

    It didn¡¯t take long for fuses to ignite rocket arrows.

    *FWHOOSH* *FWHOOSH*

    *FWHOOSH* *FWHOOSH*

    As if hwachas were machine guns, 20,000 rocket-propelled arrowsunched in session.

    Enhanced by Cheng Pu¡¯s angelic blessing, the randomness flying of these arrows didn¡¯t exist. As if their targets were pinpointed or locked-on, 20,000 arrows rained upon the fish-scale-formation unit of 10,000 skeletons.

    *PU*

    *CLANK*

    *PU*

    *PU*

    *CLANK*

    Not all arrows punctured through their defensive aura and their shields. Still, 60% of the arrows managed to destroy bone shields and the evolved skeleton soldiers.

    The formation of the skeletons crumbled, but Cheng Pu didn¡¯t let his guard down.

    "ARCHERS!! FIRE!!"

    Over 20,000 soldiers enhanced their repeating crossbows and bolts with their lifespans. Then, they aimed up and pulled the triggers.

    Surviving thousands of crippled skeletons gazed at the raining light arrows. Nobody could tell what they were thinking from their red fireball eyes.

    ...

    Cheng Pu¡¯sbination of arrow rain and hwachas wiped out the detached army before they could harm them. They passed on the good news to Lu Xun and Sun Quan in the fortress.

    As they were informing their colleagues, the thunderous sound of cannons came from the northern front. It seemed that Han Dang used cannons against another separated unit.

    Within 5 minutes after the series of cannon sound, Han Dang also reported that the other 10,000 evolved skeletons were vanquished.

    Everybody was relieved that this battle was easy since they simply charged directly to their death.

    However, they could not celebrate. Lu Meng, who wasmanding the nk unit that was supposed to stay behind the skeleton army, sent an urgent message.

    Lu Meng: "One of the skeletons has slipped through our! There¡¯s a lurker at the first line watchtower wall! It didn¡¯t march along with the others!!"

 Chapter 537 Return of Liu Ping

    Chapter 537 - Return of Liu Ping

    Liu Bei lost his will to live after he had been captured by Li Feihong. He thought that his career was over because of all otherworlders¡¯ interference.

    He med Tong and Li Feihong for it. He also med Sun Quan for supporting Tong

    Liu Bei even med Lilim for not helping him when he needed her the most although he had vowed that he would be forever Lilim¡¯s servant. She nevermunicated with him after she got his oath.

    For a long time, Li Feihong imprisoned Liu Bei in a nk house - A house arrest. Liu Bei couldn¡¯t catch a glimpse of his counterpart¡¯s beautiful world.

    He could hear various system notifications, immortal oaths of Li Feihong¡¯s friends, and the happy conversation of local peasants, who had migrated to live in Li Feihong¡¯s world.

    Liu Bei envied these people. He hated them with a passion.

    It wasn¡¯t fair from Liu Bei¡¯s point of view. He believed that he fought for them, but the people forsook him.

    Now, he harbored nothing but hatred and grudge. He prayed that one day, he could have a power that could destroy his nemeses, including Tong, Sun Quan, Li Feihong, Lilim, and everyone who didn¡¯t help him.

    And one day, a savior arrived. An old soul of a sinister sage visited him.

    Gan Ji sneered at Liu Bei without saying anything. The soul simply pierced Liu Bei¡¯s chest with its hand. Then, it self-detonated.

    Liu Bei died, just like that.

    That was supposed to be the end of his chapters. However, he regained his sentience and consciousness.

    A miracle happened! His soul didn¡¯t die!

    Unfortunately, Liu Bei¡¯s memory was jumbled. Liu Ping¡¯s soul fragments devoured Liu Bei¡¯s weakened soul and transformed into something anew.

    Liu Bei couldn¡¯t recall his name, but he remembered something.

    He remembered Tong¡¯s face in the modern world. He could even draw Tong¡¯s portrait with his thought.

    Also, Liu Bei remembered another important information that he had neglected in the previous life - Liu Ping¡¯s memory!

    ¡¯Ping... I was once Ping... Liu Ping, the emperor.¡¯

    ¡¯Tong, I remember you. I remember that I hate you. I want to torture you. I want to kill you a hundred times.¡¯

    Liu Bei¡¯s monster soul recalled himself as [Liu Ping]. He abandoned Liu Bei¡¯s memory, but he took the identity of Liu Ping.

    ¡¯But... where am I?¡¯

    Liu Ping¡¯s vision blurred as he tried to observe his surroundings.

    When he came to his senses, he found out a shocking development.

    His body became a naked skeleton!

    Surrounding himself, other skeletons were standing in a formation. They were gazing at the wall of arrow towers in front of them.

    Liu Ping suppressed his shock and followed their eyes. In front of them, a zombie horde was attacking the chained watchtowers.

    ¡¯Zombies? Skeletons?¡¯

    Modern knowledge slowly came back. Ping recalled about zombie movies and horror movies.

    ¡¯An undead army? I¡¯m one of them. But I remember that I was once a human. Why am I dead?¡¯

    Questions flooded Liu Ping¡¯s mind. Yet, he wasn¡¯t confused. Ping slowly adjusted to the new information and the current situation around himself.

    ¡¯I see. I¡¯m dead, and I¡¯m now a skeleton soldier in this army. Are they doing something I don¡¯t know?¡¯

    Ping observed the surroundings once more. As he looked around, he found a little angel girl with 7 wings with a longbow. She was looking back at him.

    ¡¯???¡¯

    Something was not right about this girl. Ping could detect her malicious intent.

    *PU*

    An arrow hit his forehead. The arrowhead got stuck in his skull, but he wasn¡¯t dead yet.

    Ping¡¯s survival instinct kicked in. He pretended to copse on the ground and stop moving.

    *PU* *PU*

    *PU* *PU*

    Hundreds of light arrows rained upon other skeletons. All of their skulls shattered into pieces upon touching with the homing magic.

    Liu Ping had a chill running down his naked spine. He wanted to flee from this spot, but he was scared of the angel in the sky.

    A familiar name came to him.

    The Goddess of Death

    ¡¯Do I know her? Have I seen her before?¡¯

    Another name also came to him along with the familiar title - Hua Shi.

    ¡¯Hua Shi?¡¯

    Upon recalling the name, he remembered the experience when he was killed by Friday and Hua Shi at Jinyang Mountain Range. He was impaled by a spear and got burnt alive.

    Phantom pain struck him. He could sense the burning pain and the torture that day.

    When he sneak-peeked at the angel again, for a second, Liu Ping could see Hua Shi¡¯s appearance ovepping with Sun Shangxiang.

    ¡¯T-That¡¯s her!¡¯

    Liu Ping recalled his murderer. His teeth ttered in anger and hatred. The fear in his mind dispersed as if they had never existed.

    He wanted to tear her apart, but he was currently too weak.

    Sun Shangxiang¡¯s homing arrows were endless. Fortunately, she didn¡¯t pay attention to any skeletons that had copsed.

    After a while, she retreated back to the fortress.

    Ping stared at Sun Shangxiang¡¯s back, frustrated by his powerlessness.

    ¡¯I want to get stronger, but what can I do?¡¯

    The skeleton army was in tattered. The majority of the troops were destroyed.

    "ck! ck!"

    One of them picked up a bone from a fallen colleague. The leg bone looked fragile in its hands as the skeleton could snap them into pieces and shape it into whatever it wanted.

    More bone warriors also copied its action. Several of them collected bones from their fallen colleagues and merged them into new weapons.

    Ping was shocked. He sat up and tried as well.

    A new discovery, his undead physical strength was on par with his old body with [Superior Plot Armor] skill buff. Ping could squeeze and crush a thigh bone with his weak-looking boney hands.

    The crushed pieces also merged with his hand. Ping could sense that his mass got tougher, and his vitality soared.

    ¡¯Interesting.¡¯

    Instead of making weaponry like to others, Ping busied himself destroying bone corpses and devoured everything to increase his strength.

    Unfortunately, he had too manypetitors. Friendly skeletons also snatched everything on the ground and crafted them into weapons and shields. They also didn¡¯t forget to eat small fragmented bones to enhance their body as well.

    In the end, Ping managed to eat 2 entire skeletons before everyone crossed the first moat.

    Ping wanted to follow them at first, but he stopped his feet. As soon as he saw what bridge was made of, he had another idea.

    ¡¯Corpses? So many corpses!¡¯

    Ping nced at other skeleton soldiers. He pretended to lose his bnce and fall into the moat. Then, he stopped moving, pretending to be dead.

    All skeleton soldiers ignored him and marched forward.

    When the army left him, Ping stood up and gazed at the corpse bridge in glee.

    ¡¯Mine! It¡¯s all mine!¡¯

    Ping began digging into the mountain of dead zombies, dissecting corpses for bones.

    ...

    Several hourster, Ping lost count how many dead bodies he had eaten. His bones shone in a green light, and he could sense unknown energy within himself.

    Ping could see everything in the dark, and he could even sense the surrounding without using his me eyes.

    Unbeknownst to himself, Ping acquired the strength of a 1-wing demon through an irregr method.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    The battle at a distance away got more intense. The ground shook several times, and the night sky got brighter.

    At the moment, Lu Xun Army was burning the zombies at the second line of defense. Ping could even see the [Goddess of Death] flying around and shooting at his skeleton colleagues.

    ¡¯Ha! I¡¯ve made the right choice! Fighting in an unknown battle is stupid.¡¯

    Ping was d that he deserted the army. Had he followed the others, he would have died a pointless death.

    He kept on digging for more bones to eat.

    ...

    *Rumble*

    Ping stopped eating and peeked outside when he heard the footsteps of arge army.

    On the surface, Lu Meng¡¯s 30,000 soldiers reupied the second line of defense and surrounded the remaining skeleton soldiers. They were still a distance away from the corpse bridge.

    ¡¯None of my business, then. They¡¯re close, but they haven¡¯t noticed me yet.¡¯

    Ping ignored Lu Meng¡¯s activities and returned to his meal.

    The food was plenty as countless zombies had died in this moat. This buffet boosted Ping¡¯s vitality to the point that his skeleton hue turned dark green, and purple gas emitted from his body.

    Now, he had the strength of a 2-wing demon, minus the curse abilities. Nheless, his corroding touch made up for hisck of soul skills.

    The devour rate of Liu Ping got faster. He could absorb dead flesh and bones by just touching instead of breaking them into small fragments. Everything that Ping touched instantly melted and merged into his bones.

    As if Ping was a ck hole, 10,000 zombie corpses disappeared into his body instantly. The skeleton frame Ping slowly generated soft muscle, steadily regenerate his fleshly body.

    Ping could sense the pain and numbness of his self-regeneration. Yet, he was delighted by the evolution ability.

    "ck! ck!" Liu Pingughed. His dream became reality as he acquired a new power - A power to fight against Tong and Hua Shi.

    ¡¯Soon, Zhang Tong! I¡¯ll find you, but I won¡¯t kill you! I¡¯ll capture your wives and rape them before you! I¡¯ll turn them into my bitches right before your eyes! Then, I¡¯ll kill your friends and your family right in front of you! I¡¯ll make you beg me to kill you, but I won¡¯t! I¡¯ll cripple you and make your life a living hell!¡¯

    The malicious intent of Liu Ping erupted. The purple gas around him expanded and covered the entire firstyer of the moat.

    ...

    The expanding purple gas caught Lu Meng¡¯s attention. The four-wing general flew from the second line mud wall to the first moat and scouted the area.

    "What the hell?"

    rmed by the phenomenon, Lu Meng cast all blessing skills on himself and tossed a torch into the moat to disperse to purple fog.

    The gas dispersed for a moment, but it was enough for Lu Meng to find what inside was.

    He found an odd green skeleton.

    Without hesitation, he charged at Liu Ping.

    As he dove down from the sky, he inhaled a bit of purple gas. As soon as the gas entered his lung, it corroded them as if they were acid fluid.

    Lu Meng had to back off and sacrificed a few years of his lifespan to heal himself and drive away from poison gas.

    The lone skeleton red back at Lu Meng. He picked up a bamboo spear, but it melted in his hands.

    The skeleton looked puzzled, but he smacked his forehead as if he had realized his mistake.

    Seeing the behavior of the skeleton, Lu Meng concluded that this thing had intelligence and sentience. He passed on this intel to the n chat, asking for assistance.

    \u003c\u003cDing\u003e\u003e

    Lu Meng: "One of the skeletons has slipped through our! There¡¯s a lurker at the first line watchtower wall! It didn¡¯t march along with the others!!"

    Lu Meng: "Be warned. This one can use poison gas ability. The purple gas is poisonous. Don¡¯t breathe in when you¡¯re nearby!"

 Chapter 538 Crippled Liu Ping, Beginning of Navy Warfare

    Chapter 538 - Crippled Liu Ping, Beginning of Navy Warfare

    Everyone in the Sun n group wasn¡¯t worried about Lu Meng¡¯s notification since it was only a skeleton at first. As they had destroyed 20,000 evolved bone soldiers, they thought that it was another weakling that slipped through theirs.

    However, another member of the group didn¡¯t let her guard down. Diaochan, as the leader of this faction, immediately checked this entity with her immortal sight.

    And she discovered the person she was looking for!

    \u003c\u003cDing\u003e\u003e

    Diaochan: "Heads up! That skeleton is the reincarnation of Emperor Liu Ping! Do not let him get away! Kill him before he causes more harm to our people!"

    Although Diaochan wanted to capture Liu Ping¡¯s soul, the skeleton¡¯s evolution ability was a threat. She couldn¡¯t afford to let Ping get any stronger, or he would be a thorn to Tong and his allies.

    For now, she wanted Liu Ping to be sent away to the reincarnation river. Even if he reincarnated again, she could apprehend him when he was a baby. Then, Tong, Medusa, and Friday could cripple or imprison him for the rest of eternity.

    Diaochan: "Shangxiang, use everything to kill Liu Ping!"

    Sun Shangxiang: "Roger that, dear mom."

    Diaochan: "..."

    Everyone: "..."

    ...

    Sun Quan, Sun Shangxiang, Huang Gai, and all generals rushed to help Lu Meng. When they arrived, they found the skeleton, who had climbed up from the moat. As for the zombie corpses, they already disappeared.

    "What happened here?" Asked Sun Quan.

    Lu Meng¡¯s face was dark. The damage in his lung wasn¡¯tpletely healed yet, "That skeleton is stronger than the rest of them. It can emit poison gas."

    Without waiting for others to make the first move, Sun Shangxiang activated her homing arrow skill and empowered it with her 7-wing aura. 50 Light arrows flew toward Liu Ping.

    *BOOM* *BOOM*

    *BOOM* *BOOM*

    Liu Ping¡¯s skeletons shattered into pieces in an instant. 10 of the arrows destroyed Ping¡¯s skull.

    Liu Ping was unable to retaliate. He copsed on the ground, and his spirit eyes dimmed. The purple gas dispersed afterward.

    "That¡¯s it?" Sun Shangxiang was disappointed, "I thought he was stronger than this."

    Sun Quan shrugged, "You¡¯re the strongest cultivator among us. If he¡¯s stronger than you, we would have died ages ago."

    Everybody nodded in agreement. If the skeleton could withstand Hua Shi¡¯s attack, then they would need Diaochan, Li Feihong, and Liu Yang¡¯s help.

    "Bah, boring. Let¡¯s clean up the battlefield. We need to extinguish the fire before it spread."

    Sun Shangxiang led the generals to the fortress. They had a lot of work to do.

    ...

    A month passed since the annihtion of the undead army.

    All remaining bones and corpses were gathered and buried in the moat. The Sun n Army helped the local restoring the farnd and marched southeast, heading to Guangling and rendezvous with Gan Ning¡¯s fleets.

    Everyone believed that Liu Ping had been vanquished. He should have passed on, and the soul should have entered Lilim¡¯s reincarnation river.

    *Pu*

    5 meters underground, a piece of bone absorbed soil nutrition and the buried corpses.

    Bones, rotten flesh, mud water, and rocks merged with the small bone piece.

    From a small fragment, it increased its mass and transformed into a skull frame.

    The skull slowly took shape as it consumed everything to regenerate. Two fireballs lit up inside the skeleton¡¯s eye sockets.

    Liu Ping groaned as he opened his eyes.

    He died, but his soul didn¡¯t enter samsara. Instead, he was trapped in this piece of bone.

    His strength degraded to the previous state before he got his corruption aura and poison gas. He had to start over, and he had to regenerate his entire body back.

    ¡¯...¡¯

    No one knew what the skull was thinking. He continued to heal himself in secret.

    ...

    Without the threat of the undead army and Gan Ji, Guo Jia pushed the main forces forward. 200,000 Elites from the Immortal Legion and Crimson Angel Legion pressed southward. They loaded cannons on their battleships.

    The current warships that Guo Jia¡¯s forces used were called Mengchong, aka covered assault ships. They were row ships that had a wooden roof to cover the ship from arrows. However, each of them wasrge enough to carry 50 - 100 soldiers.

    But Guo Jia removed the space for soldiers to load cannons on the front deck, so the ships could be sailing artillery against Sun Ce Army.

    The sight of 2,000 warships already intimidated the defenders enough, but Guo Jia wanted to give them despair. He sent a special unit in the water in advance and had them wait for instructions.

    On the opposite side, 1,000 simr warships lined up in an array along the riverside, blockading Guo Jia¡¯s forces from crossing the Yangtze River.

    Sun Ce¡¯s forces didn¡¯t consist of only 1000 mengchong ships, but they also had ram boats, floating fortress ships, and 18th-century galleys. They also had stolen cannons on the galleys and the fortress ships.

    But Guo Jia¡¯s enemies weren¡¯t just Sun Ce and his subordinates. Huang Zu, who was the governor of Jiangxia, mobilized his forces east, heading toward Lujiang.

    Xu Huang¡¯s legion and Sima Yi¡¯s former soldiers, numbered 200,000 men, dispatched from Lujiang, heading west to intercept Huang Zu¡¯s 50,000 men.

    Number was in Guo Jia and Xu Huang¡¯s favor, but that was not their trump card.

    Gan Ning: "Our unit is at the entrance. Want me to enter the river?"

    Gan Ning¡¯s fleets had reached the mouth of the Yangtze River, where the Yellow Sea met the flesh water. From this point, the fleets could change course from the sea coast to the river route.

    Guo Jia: "Where are Sun Quan¡¯s units?"

    Gan Ning: "They¡¯ve boarded our ships. We¡¯re ready."

    Guo Jia: ??Ignore the river. Keep sailing south andnd the troops on Wu shore."

    Guo Jia: "@Sun Quan, your units will capture Wu, Huiji, and Jianye while their attention is on us."

    Guo Jia: "@Li Feihong, sorry to trouble you. You have two objectives. First, assist the front line and protect our men with your gate abilities. Concentrate on taking down those galleys. Second, I need you to bring a 10,000-man task force behind the line of Sun Ce. Burn every granary or warehouse you find and destroy their backup weaponry after this today¡¯s battle ended."

    Guo Jia: "@Taishi Ci, you will mark Sun Ce. Do not allow him to help his troops. Kill him if you can!"

    Guo Jia: "@Everyone, move out! From this day onward, we won¡¯t rest until Sun Ce¡¯s forces are destroyed!"

    ...

    Dong Bai received the mobilization policy from Guo Jia. She turned toward Taishi Ci.

    "Don¡¯t worry about my safety. I¡¯m strong enough to protect myself. Go find Sun Ce and kill him."

    Dong Bai sent Taishi Ci to fight his former lord.

    Taishi Ci took themand token and flew toward Sun Ce¡¯s fleets without hesitation.

    Even though he used to serve Sun Ce in the other timeline, he refused to acknowledge Sun Ce in this world. He disliked Sun Ce¡¯s greed and ignorance.

    Within a few seconds, he found Sun Ce in the sky, ring at him and Dong Bai Army.

    "Traitor! You still have the face to fight me?"

    Taishi Ci brought out his two halberds. He red back at Sun Ce, "You are the traitor. For our future and the peace of people, you and Lilim have to die!"

    The two rushed at each other. Both 7-wing angels collided in mid-air.

    ...

    The Yangtze River was averagely 800 meters wide. The long river and the deep water was enough to sailrge ships in it, which made the river suitable for navalbat.

    The wind blew from east to west, from the sea tond, but it wouldn¡¯t influence the uing battle as both factions upied north and south cliffs and banks. To cross the river to the other side, they had to defeat the other forces first.

    2,000 Cannon mengchong ships sailed toward Sun Ce¡¯s fleets. Countless oars rowed the boats south.

    At the same time, Sun Ce¡¯s fleets reacted. 1,000 mengchong ships, 100 fortress warships, and 500 ram boats moved north, challenging Guo Jia¡¯s navy forces head-on.

    Several ram boats took vanguard positions. They rushed toward Dong Bai¡¯s warship vanguards, nning to ram them directly.

    The boat crews ignited dried haystacks on the ships when they elerated to the right speed. Then, they jumped off their boats.

    Had it been normal warfare, this would have been a perfect tactic against big battleships.

    However...

    *Zaaa*

    *Zaaa*

    The unit that Guo Jia had deployed them in the water long before the battle started finally took action. A thousand soldiers emerged from the water. They were the special force from Immortal Legion, who were trained rigorously for years for this one battle.

    Tong and Te Langpu used to call this unit [Navy Seal], which specialized in amphibious warfare. Everyone in this unit also mastered diving techniques and learned Medusa¡¯smia steps, which worked even in the water.

    Unfortunately, they didn¡¯t have the luxury to sport modern waterproof rifles for everyone. However, they weren¡¯t ipetent enough not to learn meleebat and wing power.

    They spread their wings, each with two each, and swung their reinforced ives at the burning boats.

    The approaching boats were destroyed and sunk before they could reach Dong Bai¡¯s vanguard fleets. In addition, the seal team dragged the boat crews, who had abandoned ships, down into the bottom of the river, and killed them with their knives as if they were angry river spirits.

    The destruction of ram ships disrupted the south fleets, but it wasn¡¯t enough to stop their advance.

    As mengchong warships on both sides got closer to the others, 10 galleys, Sun Ce??s trump cards, sailed forward at a high speed from behind the fortress vessels.

    Galley ships got into their firing range first as they had superior mobility. They turned their sides to Dong Bai¡¯s mengchongs, baring their side cannons toward their enemies.

    *VHOOM* *VHOOM*

    *VHOOM* *VHOOM*

    Before they could unleash their cannons, several blue portals appeared under the galleys, and all warships fell into the holes.

    *VHOOM* *VHOOM*

    Li Feihong didn¡¯t forget to add giant fortress ships into the mix. Everything fell into the blue sinkhole.

    As soon as all advanced ships disappeared, the mysterious sci-fi portals closed.

    Just like that, Li Feihong sent all advanced warships into his private dimension. What happened to the ship crews afterward was not pleasant as Ma Chao, Lu Lingqi, Zhang Min, and Li Feihong¡¯s Special Forces of 10,000 elites were waiting for them.

    Still, that didn¡¯t prevent Sun Ce¡¯s cannon vessels to harm Dong Bai¡¯s fleets.

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Both side¡¯s mengchong ships exchanged their cannon fires. Thousands of cannonballs flew and wrecked the others.

    2,000 Dong Bai warships against 1,000 Sun Ce¡¯s warships. The result was obvious. Casualties urred everywhere, but Dong Bai¡¯s ships outgunned her enemies, so her fleets sunk more Sun Ce¡¯s warships.

    Several rowboats from Sun Ce tried to approach Dong Bai¡¯s cannon vessels, hoping to raid them. However, the Navy Seal unit in the water ambushed them and dragged the fight into the water.

    Archers, musketeers, and crossbowmen on the warships coordinated with the seal team. They provided covering-fire for these brave men in the water and shot down any enemy near their ships.

    However, Sun Ce¡¯s forces also had a unit that excelled in underwaterbat. They rushed at the seal team and got into a melee battle.

    Soul detonation also randomly urred throughout the battle as they fought in the water. Cultivators from both sides fell like flies.

    The exchangested for half-a-day before they ran out of cannonballs. Still, Sun Ce¡¯s navy units were routed and were forced to retreat back to the southern riverbanks.

    Dong Bai lost 500 cannon vessels, while 90% of Sun Ce¡¯s ships sank into the bottom of the Yangtze River or disappeared into Li Feihong¡¯s dimension. She might be victorious in this exchange, but she didn¡¯t chase after Sun Ce¡¯s forces.

    The battle was far from over. In the sky, another battle was still ongoing.

    Two 7-wing cultivators were shing their des in the sky. Sound of metals hitting each other resounded throughout the battlefield below.

    The duel between Taishi Ci and Sun Ce had not finished yet.

 Chapter 539 - The Collapse of Sun Ce Army

    <h4>Chapter 539 - The Copse of Sun Ce Army</h4>

    Chapter 539 ¨C The Copse of Sun Ce Army

    *CLANK*

    Taishi Ci''s halberd smashed Sun Ce''s polearm away.

    After getting disarmed, Sun Ce drew a sword from his belt. As soon as he injected his force into it, he vomited a mouthful of blood. Several wounds on his body gushed out more red liquid.

    In the sky, Sun Ce was panting in exhaustion. His soul injuries had yet to heal, but he had to fight against someone with the same strength. Just now, he experienced a soul injury rpse because he had exerted too much wing power.

    Flying in the sky and survive was the only thing he could do. He could barely lift his arm and swing a sword again.

    Sun Ce didn''t just get injured from failing his 8-wing breakthrough. This was the result of rushing cultivation without a thorough understanding of power utility and the right physical body preparation.

    Also, Sun Cecked the experience of fighting in high-speed battles. His reflex was still the same as when he had 4 wings, and his eyes couldn''t adapt to the changes. For the sake of matching against Taishi Ci''s agility and superior reflex, Sun Ce had to pay some lifespan in enhancing his body and perform some extreme movements, such as juking backward while flying forward at the speed of sound, which caused bacsh damage to his physical body.

    On the other hand, Taishi Ci was still in good shape. The guidance of Medusa helped him a lot. He mastered the life force cirction technique, which made his lifespan usage and body enhancement more efficient. His lifespan stock was still abundant as he still had a million years to spare. If he had to, he could keep on fighting at his peak strength for a week without resting or eating.

    Training under Medusa and Friday helped Taishi Ci understand his limits. He mastered aerialbat, in which he didn''t need to expend too much energy for such trivial movements or techniques that Sun Ce couldn''t do.

    Sun Ce''s cultivation base might be the same as Taishi Ci''s, but thetter had a firmer foundation. The difference in strength was apparent when they fought.

    "Give up, Bofu. You''re not my opponent!"

    Taishi Ci wanted to finish to a duel by having Sun Ce submitting to him. If thetter was obedient, there were chances that Diaochan and Dong Bai would spare his life.

    "Otherworlders have ruined our destiny! They killed my father! They killed Gongjin! They stole my wife and my future! I have no intension of working for the likes of Zhang Tong!!"

    Unfortunately, Sun Ce refused to ept reality.

    Sun Ce also took pride that he was a gifted fighter. He even believed that he was stronger than Lu Bu without the cultivation factor.

    Thus, he had a misconception. Sun Ce thought that since he was tired, Taishi Ci, who was supposed to be inferior to him, should have been exhausted as well.

    From Sun Ce''s perspective, Taishi Ci was below him!

    "Also, Ziyi. You are thinking too highly of yourself! A weakling like you can never defeat me!"

    Sun Ce waved his hand, sending his signal to his subordinates.

    ¡­

    Song Qian, Chen Wu, and a former subordinate of Sun Jian, Zhu Zhi, flew forward to assist their lord.

    Song Qian had 5 wings, while Chen Wu had 4. However, Zhu Zhi, the hidden elite, revealed his 6 wings.

    The three men were weaker than Taishi Ci and Sun Ce, but they jumped into the battle as their lordmanded them.

    As soon as these men came forward, Dong Bai, Zhang Ji, and Zhang Xiu rushed to stop them from interfering.

    Dong Bai and Zhang Xiu revealed their 6 ck wings. Zhang Ji was weaker than the two as he had 5 demon wings, but he was confident that he could contribute to the fight.

    Liu Xie and Liu Ye stayed behind, but they were ready to participate as well. No one in Tong''s forces shied away frombats and wars.

    Dong Bai marked Zhu Zhi as her opponent. She appeared directly in front of Zhu Zhi and thrust her spear.

    *SWUA*

    The spear grazed Zhu Zhi''s chest. The initiative was in Dong Bai''s hands.

    She didn''t allow Zhu Zhi to regain his stance. Follow-up attacks rained upon him as a dozen spear tip afterimages cut and stabbed Zhu Zhi.

    "Nnn!!"

    Out of 100 strikes, 70 of them left deep wounds on his body.

    Zhu Zhi retreated, flying backward and decreasing altitude to catch his breath. He fled back to his men, hoping to use his soldiers as temporary meat shields.

    Dong Bai chased after him. She also didn''t forget to cast a few curses to the soldiers on the southern riverbank, who had retreated from the battle.

    "Wraith! Corruption! Envy!"

    The surviving soldiers'' cultivation base was weaker than Dong Bai. In an instant, several thousands of Sun Ce''s men went berserk and attacked each other.

    "Despicable!"

    Zhu Zhi turned around in anger. He forgot that Dong Bai took advantage of her initiative and momentum to the point that he couldn''t counterattack.

    The distraction on the ground created another opening for the veteran demoness. The moment Zhu Zhi lost his focus, her spear tip found its way into his chest.

    The spear punctured through Zhu Zhi''s heart!

    Yet, Zhu Zhi gritted his teeth and grabbed Dong Bai''s spear. He summoned all his souls to catch the empress.

    "You''re going to hell with me!"

    Zhu Zhi injected all his life force into the souls, preparing to self-destruct and kill Dong Bai!

    "Predicable," Dong Bai snorted. She released her spear.

    *VHOOM*

    As Dong Bai had expected Li Feihong to help her, she flew backward and entered a blue portal, which opened behind her. It immediately closed when she entered Li Feihong''s world.

    Zhu Zhi widened his eyes in shock. He had already activated the soul-detonation, and he couldn''t cancel the skill.

    "NOOO!!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Zhu Zhi''s 6 souls exploded above the Yangtze River''s southern bank. Several of his soldiers got caught in the explosion and died from soul destruction.

    ¡­

    *SWUA*

    Another battle also concluded. Zhang Xiu cleaved Song Qian in half from head to groin.

    As Zhang Xiu had 6 demon wings, an angel with 5 wings wasn''t his opponent. This general had it easy in this fight.

    Meanwhile, Zhang Ji, who had 5 wings, paired up with Chen Wu. Simr to his nephew, Zhang Ji used his superior cultivation base to dominate the duel.

    Unfortunately, Zhang Ji''s talent in martial arts was below average for a general. As his skills weren''t as good as his nephew, his battle had not finished yet.

    "Eh, just surrender, will you?" Zhang Ji got annoyed that he kept missing a vital strike here and there.

    Chen Wu had wounds all over his body, but they were superficial. None of Zhang Ji''s attack hit his vital organs.

    Chen Wu nced around. Upon seeing that his two colleagues had already died, he shed a tear.

    "Why are you keep bullying us!? What have we done wrong!?"

    Zhang Ji clicked his tongue, "You''re a moron. You''re following a rebel lord. I know that you''re a good guy. Just surrender, and we willpensate what you''ve lost. Our emperor and empress are kind. They will forgive you and employ you."

    "¡­"

    Chen Wu''s heart wavered. He nced at Sun Ce, who was far away, but he turned to Zhang Ji and nodded.

    "Please spare me."

    Zhang Ji beamed with a bright smile, "That''s more like it! You''ve made the correct choice! Now, go tell your men to surrender as well. The more troops you can persuade, the more good men''s lives that you can save."

    "¡­ Okay."

    Chen Wu reluctantly turned around. Yet, he expanded his sense to check Zhang Ji''s movements.

    Zhang Ji let down his guard after he assumed that Chen Wu had surrendered. He wiped his halberd tip and checked the cracks on his weapon.

    At that moment, Chen Wu exerted his strength and charged at Zhang Ji. He raised his long ive to cleave Zhang Ji in half.

    *SWUA*

    A thin silver line afterimage shed.

    Chen Wu''s both arms and his neck separated from his torso. The silver line just now beheaded him and cut through his arms in one strike.

    Zhang Xiu was floating behind Chen Wu''s headless floating corpse. The dead body parts fell into the river as the owner could no longer fly.

    "Uncle, if you want to make someone surrender, please extort an immortal oath first. You can''t trust anyone''s empty words."

    Zhang Ji gazed at his nephew in shock. Then, he looked at Chen Wu''s dead body in a pity.

    "Shame. We could have been friends if he didn''t lie."

    "Let''s head back to our men. If we''re staying out for too long, they might suicide on us. Don''t forget thatmon soldiers can cultivate and use soul-detonation."

    .

    Sun Ce witnessed how his subordinates died one by one. He hated how his forces were underprepared and how Tong''s generals overwhelmed them.

    Everything was in Tong''s favor. Sun Ce wanted to scream that this war was unfair.

    Infuriated by the situation, Sun Ce charged at Taishi Ci. He ignored his defense as he wanted to turn the tide of this battle by killing his former subordinate.

    *CLANK*

    Taishi Ci swatted Sun Ce''s sword away. With a solemn expression, he swung down his halberd.

    *SWUA*

    Taishi Ci cut through Sun Ce''s right shoulder and severed thetter''s right arm.

    It was over.

    "You''ve lost, Bofu."

    Taishi Ci reminded Sun Ce once again.

    "I NEVER LOSE!!"

    Sun Ce summoned all of his souls, nning to use the number advantage. However, he forgot that detached souls were weaker than a concentrated force within one''s body.

    Taishi Ci inwardly shook his head.

    *SWUA*

    For the sake of not torturing his former lord, Taishi Ci beheaded Sun Ce''s real body in one strike.

    "Goodbye, Bofu."

    Sun Ce''s 7 injured souls froze in mid-air. They wanted to self-detonate to bring down Taishi Ci with them, but their ethereal bodies shattered into pieces before they could gather their strength.

    Taishi Ci bathed in the sparkling fragments of Sun Ce''s souls. He closed his eyes and shed a tear.

    "When you reincarnate again, I hope that you will live a better and modest life. Don''t let your ambition and grudge blind your judgment."

    ¡­

    As the core leaders of Sun Ce''s forces were all defeated, half of the retreating soldiers deserted the army.

    Some threw their weapons and surrendered to Dong Bai''s soldiers.

    Some disguised as local peasants to avoid getting captured.

    Still, half of them insisted on fighting. These soldiers had criminal records and warrants on them since they were recruited bandits in this area.

    A dayter, Li Feihong did what Guo Jia had asked. He ransacked all Sun Ce''s supply bases, stealing all their food and weaponry.

    The remnants of Sun Ce ran away without looking back. They scattered as if they were ants that their nest had been destroyed.

    Guo Jia sent his men to chase after the deserters. Other than those who had surrendered, they were all killed.

    Still, many shrew deserters retreated to Jianye, where Lu Su, thest officer of Sun Ce, was protecting.

 Chapter 540 - A Ghost

    <h4>Chapter 540 - A Ghost</h4>

    Chapter 540 ¨C A Ghost

    A weekter after the river battle, Sun Quan Army swiftly took Wu and Huiji Commandery. A dozen small cities also surrendered to Sun Quan without resisting.

    These southeastern cities were the lifeline of Sun Ce Army. Without them, there would be no food supply supporting their Capital City, Jianye.

    Yet, Sun Quan didn¡¯t stop there. Ordered by Guo Jia, Sun Quan¡¯s forces rushed to Jianye along with the navy escort unit, led by Gan Ning.

    Gan Ning didn¡¯t contribute much during this campaign as his fleets only acted as Sun Quan Army¡¯s ferries.

    Byte August, Sun Quan and Gan Ning¡¯s 200,000 soldiers reached Jianye City. In the same month, Dong Bai also led her three legions, the Immortal Legion and the Crimson Angel Legion to siege Jianye as well.

    Massive joint armies of over 400,000 elites surrounded the former Capital City of Wu Kingdom.

    ...

    In front of Jianye City, a city gate was wide open, and a young schr was standing alone in front of his city.

    He was Lu Su, a former officer under Sun Ce. Although his forte was a negotiation, Sun Ce put him as his strategist to rece the deceased Zhou Yu.

    Obviously, Lu Su was skeptical about Sun Ce. After all, his true lord was Sun Quan.

    In the end, Lu Su failed. He couldn¡¯te up with a n to defeat the overwhelming army of Dong Bai, and all his generals died.

    Lu Su sighed as he waited for Dong Bai to send someone to capture him or talk to him. His soldiers already waved white gs on top of the wall.

    At longst, an angel and a demon flew toward him. They were Dong Bai and Sun Quan.

    Sun Quan took the lead. Hended on the ground first and greeted Lu Su.

    "It¡¯s been a while, Zijing."

    Lu Su was once Sun Quan¡¯s aide. He and Cheng Pu seeded Zhou Yu¡¯s position and responsibility in the other timeline before Lu Xun and Lu Meng rose to power in thetter years.

    "It¡¯s good to see you again, my lord. Also, Lu Zijing greets her majesty," Lu Su prostrated to Sun Quan and Dong Bai.

    Dong Bai nodded as she nced at the top of the wall, "I assume that you are surrendering."

    "Indeed. What¡¯s the point of fighting a hopeless battle and kill my men. I¡¯d rather save them and save myself."

    "Then, I¡¯ll cut the chase. Did you swear allegiance to Lilim as well?"

    Lu Su looked confused at first, but he understood everything after he recalled Sun Ce¡¯s words.

    "No. Only Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, and the other generals did. I was merely a civil servant when Lilim visited Sun Ce."

    "So, you¡¯re saying that you haven¡¯t vowed anything to her?"

    "That¡¯s correct."

    "What about Gan Ji?"

    "If I had had, I would have died a long time ago. He¡¯s dead, no?"

    Dong Bai grinned. She had a way to prove if Lu Su was lying or not.

    "Then, swear allegiance to me with your immortal oath. Empower your words and swear that you didn¡¯t lie."

    "..."

    Lu Su gulped. Since Dong Bai was serious, he had no choice but to yield to her threat.

    "I¡¯m sorry. I did swear to Lilim. Please forgive me."

    Dong Bai nodded in satisfaction. Although Lu Su lied to her, he was courageous enough to acknowledge his mistake and apologize.

    "I don¡¯t mind. But you¡¯ll have to renege your oath with Lilim and swear allegiance to me instead. You¡¯re going to suffer from the tribtion thunder, though. If you survive the lightning, I¡¯ll wee you as one of us."

    Sun Quan nced at Dong Bai and bit his lower lips. Reneging an immortal oath was simr to a death sentence.

    He heard about what had happened to Sima Yi in Li Feihong¡¯s world. Currently, Sima Yi was still bed-ridden as his cultivation was crippled for eternity.

    Lu Su was about to suffer the same fate as he had picked the wrong side. Sun Quan wanted to help his former subordinate, but he couldn¡¯t find an excuse to beg Dong Bai.

    Dong Bai patted Sun Quan¡¯s shoulder, "I know what you¡¯re thinking. But if he¡¯s still Lilim¡¯s vessel, he will die when we fight her in the future. Don¡¯t forget that an immortal liege can transfer their injuries to their vessels at any time they like."

    "Ugh."

    Sun Quan gave up. He could only pray that Lu Su could survive the tribtion.

    Lu Su was also aware of such danger. He braced himself and opened his mouth.

    "[I hereby withdraw my oath with Lilim. I will no longer work for her, but I will now work for her majesty for the rest of my life!]

    *BOOM*

    Thunderstruck on Lu Su right away. The schr¡¯s wings cracked as he copsed on the ground.

    Sun Quan summoned his souls to cast every blessing skill he had on Lu Su.

    While looking at the copsed schr, she felt somewhat itchy in her ears since this master-servant oath was new to her. She hadn¡¯t gotten used to having other lives binding to herself.

    Lu Su also gazed back at Dong Bai, "I... entrust my... family... to you."

    He revealed a bright smile as if he had done something right. He fell unconscious afterward.

    But the war was not over yet. Elsewhere, battles were ongoing.

    ...

    Lu Su¡¯s condition stabilized, but his cultivation was crippled forever. From now on, he couldn¡¯t cultivate more than 2 wings.

    Lu Su remained as a minor official in Jianye for the rest of his life. When a major war took ce in the west in the next 80 years, Lu Su was in charge of handling Sun Quan Army¡¯s supply, and he took the role of a diplomat. Still, that was for another story.

    .

    .

    .

    = Eastern Jiangxia =

    Huang Zu Army of 50,000 soldiers was in a bind. Two kilometers east of them, Xu Huang¡¯s 200,000 soldiers upied nearby hills and vantage points.

    His soldiers were outnumbered. His cultivation base was inferior to Xu Huang, who red his 7 white wings to intimidate all cultivators in Huang Zu¡¯s forces.

    Moreover, Xu Huang¡¯s new vice-generals, Zhang Ren and Yan Yan, had already cultivated to 4 wings, which was the same strength as Huang Zu.

    "I¡¯m f.u.c.k.i.e.d. I shouldn¡¯t have sworn allegiance to Lilim!"

    Had he learned that Sun Ce was already dead, he would have had a heart attack.

    Since Huang Zu realized that he was at a disadvantage in this field skirmish, he chose not to engage against Xu Huang directly.

    "All units! We¡¯re retreating! We will fight them in a siege battle!"

    Despite giving a retreat order, he summoned several conscripted militias to his tent.

    "Guys, I want to buy your lives," Huang Zu smiled at his men, "I¡¯ll pay anyone who is willing to self-detonate your soul for 1,000 gold. This money will be given to your family!"

    "WHAT!?"

    Several of these men were originally a farmer. None of them could earn one nugget of gold in their entire life even if they would continue working for another 30 years.

    1,000 Gold was attractive, but they had to die to earn it.

    The deal didn¡¯t make sense. Why should they sacrifice themselves to earn something that they couldn¡¯t use?

    Single men refused this bribery right away. However, many good men who had old parents at home or had a poor family background. It would be a lie if they told Huang Zu that they weren¡¯t interested.

    However, they had to die for their family to get the gold.

    "I¡¯ll do it," One of the militias agreed, "But you¡¯ll have to make sure that my wife and my children get the gold."

    The militia wanted to sacrifice himself, so his family could be happy. It was a noble thought for an uneducated peasant.

    Huang Zuughed, "Of course. Tell me the names of your wife and where they live. I¡¯ll write it down, so I won¡¯t forget them. Do you have any rtives in this army?"

    "Y-Yes. I have a brother."

    Huang Zu snapped his fingers. Five sergeants immediately brought out a giant chest, filled with gold nuggets.

    "I¡¯ll give the gold to your brother and send him home. I¡¯m also giving you the best wine in my collection as a token of my respect for your sacrifice. I¡¯ll make sure that these evildoers can¡¯t touch Jiangxia!"

    "T-Thank you, my lord!"

    Seeing that their colleague volunteered and got the gold right away, several men followed suit.

    "I¡¯ll do it!"

    "Me, too!"

    Huang Zu grinned as he had many sacrificial pawns to suicide-bomb on Xu Huang Army.

    "Of course! I have gold for everybody! We shall record your name and your tales, so your descendants can worship you as heroes!"

    ...

    From 50,000 soldiers, Huang Zu managed to persuade 5,000 militia soldiers tomit suicide for gold.

    Although Huang Zu didn¡¯t have enough gold to give everyone, he promised them that their families would bepensated for their sacrifice.

    The promise was a lie. He had no intension of giving his gold to anyone!

    As for the few people who had already been given gold, Huang Zu told his close subordinates to confiscate their gold after they died. Should one survive, they had to kill them and bring the gold back.

    "Hehehe! I¡¯m a genius!"

    Huang Zu celebrated by himself, thinking that he could at least decrease Xu Huang¡¯s troops by a lot if all 5,000 men could self-detonate properly in his nned ambush, which he had set up today.

    Mountain ranges and the Yangtze River sandwiched the road between Jiangxia and Lujiang. As such, Huang Zu had many ces that he could set an ambush, just like his counterpart did in the other timeline, and killed Sun Jian.

    "Guards. Go fetch me another jar of wine. Tell the cook to prepare another dish for me."

    Huang Zu was tipsy. He ordered his bodyguards outside of his tent to bring him more food and wine.

    A soldier, wearing Huang Zu¡¯s bodyguard uniform, returned 10 minutester. He came with a jar of wine and a roasted pig on a giant te.

    But Huang Zu was still sober enough to notice that he wasn¡¯t one of the guards in charge of protecting his tent. He ced one of his hands on a hilt of his sword in precaution.

    "Oh! Awesome! Good job! What¡¯s your name, soldier?"

    The bodyguard was a tall muscr man. He covered half of his face with a piece of ck cloth and wore a battle helmet, but his eyes were visible. However, the serene eyes of this soldier didn¡¯t belong to an ordinary soldier.

    "I¡¯m Gui Junyi, sir."

    "Oh? I¡¯m surprised that you have a surname."

    Not every peasant in this ancient time had a surname. Mostmoners without a surname were considered as ves, which most aristocrat families abused them as free servants andborers.

    However, a conscripted soldier with a surname was rare.

    "Ah, I got that a few years ago. My benefactor blessed me with this name."

    "Cool! Do you know how to write?"

    Huang Zu wondered if he hit the jackpot. If this man had some education, he could raise him into his aide or a vice general.

    "I do, sir!"

    "Good! Very good! Write your name on the sand, so I can make a token badge for youter on! Not everyone has an officer token, you know. With a token, you can be considered as a noble!"

    Huang Zu probed Gui Junyi. Although he looked promising, Huang Zu couldn¡¯t trust this man yet.

    "There¡¯s no need, sir."

    "Huh?"

    "My surname trantes as a ghost. I¡¯m just a ghost doing my job, sir."

    Gui Junyi revealed his 7 wings behind his back and kicked the ground. He reappeared behind Huang Zu in a sh.

    Huang Zu failed to react. His hand pulled his sword, but his body froze.

    Two knives slipped out of [Junyi]¡¯s sleeves and stabbed Huang Zu¡¯s neck. The weapons punctured through thetter¡¯s vocal cord and artery.

    Junyi pulled the knives, and blood gushed from the two wounds. He leaned toward Huang Zu¡¯s ear and whispered.

    "Zhang He, Zhang Junyi of the Ghost Legion, at your service."

    Huang Zu widened his eyes in shock. Before he could recall the style name of the Ghost Legion¡¯s grandmander, his consciousness faded because of the shock.

 Chapter 541 - Zhuge Liang and Jia Xus Insight

    <h4>Chapter 541 - Zhuge Liang and Jia Xu''s Insight</h4>

    Chapter 541 ¨C Zhuge Liang and Jia Xu¡¯s Insight

    <<Ding>>

    Zhang He: "Mission aplished. What¡¯s the next job?"

    Zhuge Liang: "Well done. Leave Huang Zu¡¯s camp and return to Jiangxia and take over the city with your men. When Huang Zu¡¯s remnants return home, don¡¯t harm them. They¡¯re mostlymoners and non-military personal."

    Zhang He: "I know. They¡¯re just innocent peasants."

    The infiltration and the assassination was one of Zhuge Liang¡¯s scheme.

    ...

    While Dong Bai, Guo Jia, and others attacked Sun Ce Army, Zhuge Liang wasn¡¯t idle. He had so many good chess pieces in his arsenal.

    Zhang Liao

    Zhang He

    Zhao Yun

    These great generals had boosted their cultivation to 7 wings regardless of their physical preparation since the other forces also rush-cultivated their generals. It might harm their future development, but they had no luxury to take their time enhancing their bodies.

    Aside from these great generals, several elite officers, such as Gao Shun, Han Hao, Gao Lan, and Qu Yi, increased their strength to 6 wings to match up with Cao Cao¡¯s elites.

    As for Huang Zhong, his power remained at 4 wings since he was new to the group. It was a direct order from Diaochan that Huang Zhong shouldn¡¯t rush like the others as she didn¡¯t want to ruin this old veteran¡¯s future.

    With so many exceptional generals, Zhuge Liang had rooms to send a couple of officers out in a covert operation.

    Since Zhang He had Tong¡¯s HUD map system skill, Zhuge Liang came up with a scheme. Instead of using him tomand his troops at Wulin Port, he sent Zhang He and a few hundred men to infiltrate Jiangxia.

    Zhang He entered the city and purposely got himself drafted into Huang Zu¡¯s troops. It wasn¡¯t hard for a cultivator with great strength to rise up in ranks and got closer to Huang Zu. Moreover, Zhang He still had his HUD map system skill that Tong had given him. Sneaking in as Huang Zu¡¯s bodyguard was a simple task.

    Meanwhile, the rest of Zhang He¡¯s covert unit secretly assassinated Huang Zu¡¯s supporters. Now, with Huang Zu¡¯s death, they had no problem stealing the city from the local officials.

    "As expected of his majesty¡¯s [Ghost]. Kekeke!"

    Zhuge Liang snickered as he operated his system menu to send more private messages.

    <<Ding>>

    Zhuge Liang: "General Xu, we have assassinated Huang Zu. You begin the mop-up operation."

    Xu Huang: "I haven¡¯t heard anything about this assassination and this operation. I thought I am to eliminate Huang Zu myself."

    Zhuge Liang: "I¡¯m sorry about the abrupt change, general. Huang Zu¡¯s unit can nk us from the north, so I sent someone to take him out while he was focusing on you."

    Xu Huang: "I assume that you used me as bait while you finish off Huang Zu on your own? What about the higher-ups? Do they know about this?"

    Zhuge Liang: "Yes. I¡¯ll talk to her majesty and Strategist Guo after this. I just want to inform you first since you¡¯re currently fighting with Huang Zu."

    Xu Huang: "Alright. I¡¯ll wrap this up. I¡¯ll report to Guo Jia and you when I¡¯m done with the work. What about Jiangxia City, though?"

    Zhuge Liang: "Zhang He¡¯s units should be taking the city from the inside. He is the assassin, by the way."

    Xu Huang: "You used a great general as an assassin?"

    Zhuge Liang: "Why not? His majesty named him "Ghost" for a reason."

    Xu Huang: "..."

    ...

    Settled with Xu Huang and Jiangxia¡¯s matters, Zhuge Liang proceeded to the next phase of his n.

    So far, he yed a cold war game with Cao Cao Army.

    All Zhuge Liang¡¯s forces, the Ghost Legion, the Red Hare Legion, and Zhao Yun, were blockading Wulin Port. 150,000 Elites and 50,000 Huang Zhong¡¯s soldiers built 1,000 mengchong cannon warsh.i.p.s and 10 fortress sh.i.p.s to protect their defensive line.

    On the opposite side of Wulin Port, the Red Cliff, aka Chibi Port City, stopped Zhuge Liang¡¯s advance toward the east. Within this port city, Cao Cao¡¯s 200,000 soldiers gathered here. All of his officers, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Xu Chu, Dian Wei, Cao Ren, and many others were here as well.

    Unlike Sun Ce¡¯s weak subordinates, most of these officers increased their cultivation base to 6 wings. Dian Wei and Xu Chu were stronger than the rest as they had 7 wings.

    Also, Cao Cao had learned a lot from his defeat in the other timeline. He didn¡¯t use warsh.i.p.s, but he barricaded Chibi Port with traps, trenches, bunkers, and fortification instead.

    Cannons, trebuchets, and ballistae were everywhere on the east bank of the Yangtze River. Cao Cao also stocked many barrels of crude oil, arrows, and buckshot cannonballs to contest against Zhuge Liang Army.

    Also, Diaochan warned Zhuge Liang that Cao Cao and Cheng Yu had gathered animal corpses, human feces, and rotten mushrooms within one of their warehouse. They were mixing some sort of chemical weapon or a poison.

    Zhuge Liang was concerned about Cao Cao and Cheng Yu¡¯s scheme, so he stopped his advance and avoided a direct confrontation for now. Once Xu Huang and Dong Bai finished their battles, they could nk Cao Cao Army from the north and the east. Then, Cao Cao Army would be overwhelmed by all Tong¡¯s elite officers and almost a million cultivators.

    "I just hope that they aren¡¯t doing something immoral."

    Zhuge Liang wasn¡¯t sure if Cheng Yu might try to poison the water source or the Yangtze River to cripple his armies. Still, physical bodies of ordinary cultivators could repel mild poison or virus with ease. Zhuge Liang didn¡¯t think that Cheng Yu overlooked this fact and went on with the poison n.

    "I should ask Jia Xu for this. He¡¯s a master of vile tactics."

    ...

    <<Ding>>

    Zhuge Liang: "Senior Jia. I would like to consult with you regarding this battle."

    Jia Xu: "That¡¯s rare. What in the world can trouble a hot-shot like you? Ask away."

    Zhuge Liang: "If you were to defend against my armies at Chibi and you have the possession of deadly poison, what would you do with it?"

    Jia Xu: "I¡¯ll assume that those sons of bitches Cao Cao and Cheng Yu are brewing some sort of poison, yes? If I were them, I would have added demon curses into the poison, then I would have enhanced them with angel blessings. I¡¯ll mix that poison with projectile weapons and shoot them at you. While I¡¯m at it, I¡¯ll order my men to bath in this poison liquid and send them to suicide-bomb at your granaries or water sources, such as public wells, Yangtze River, or the ally wells. I can also use the scorch-earth tactic by spilling this poison all over the crops, ally granaries, andmoners¡¯ food sources before I retreat to the south. Even if you win, your army will suffer a lot of casualties from spreading epidemic or some sort of diseases."

    Jia Xu: "Want me to continue?"

    Zhuge Liang was d that he asked the right person for his advice. This scary venomous strategist coulde up with many ways to exploit Zhuge Liang Army with little information.

    If Cheng Yu nned to do the same as Jia Xu had thought, then, Cheng Yu and Cao Cao might be nning to abandon this battlefield and retreat to a foreign country while harming their armies at the same time - A nasty hitting-two-birds-in-one-stone type of stratagem.

    Zhuge Liang: "Thank you, senior. I¡¯m d you¡¯re not my enemy."

    Jia Xu: "Bah! I lost to you and Zhou Yu at Chibi. I merely thought of the simr tactic that you used to destroy my armies."

    Zhuge Liang: "But I didn¡¯t use poison against you."

    Jia Xu: "My troops got sick by the local diseases at that time, so it¡¯s the same. Well, good luck on your part. I¡¯m still helping the doofus Xu Huang. If you encounter anything funny, tell me or Guo Jia, okay?"

    Zhuge Liang: "Sure."

    ...

    = South of Chibi Port City =

    Cheng Yu was administrating a concoction of a chemical weapon within a warehouse, located far south of Chibi City.

    As Jia Xu had predicted, Cheng Yu and Cao Cao schemed to poison the entire Yangtze River to damage Tong¡¯s soldiers. This poison was enhanced by Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, and various demonic cultivators that recently awoke their souls.

    Gan Ji¡¯s former 2,000 sect members also followed after Cao Cao and his troops after their migration from Sun Ce¡¯s frontline. These disciples were all demons with 2 wings, and they were responsible for casting every curse they could to all chemical fluid within a hundred giant cauldrons.

    As for Cao Cao, he was reading the country map, searching for a sweet spot to pour the content of those cauldrons into the Yangtze River.

    "We¡¯re evil, aren¡¯t we?"

    Cao Cao felt bitter. He never dreamt that he had to kill innocent civilians to harass Tong¡¯s subordinates.

    Cheng Yu scoffed, "We¡¯re working for the sake of true immortality and freedom. This world is nothing but a ranch, and humans are livestock. We¡¯re the chosen one with the awareness of this universe."

    Both Cao Cao and Cheng Yu abandoned their humanity and embraced the genocidal mindset. For the sake of obtaining Lilim¡¯s skills and absolute authority over the world, they chose to be as selfish as Dong Zhuo in the other timeline.

    Of course, this sinister scheme was without Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, or other officers¡¯ approval. None of them knew of this warehouse and the poison.

    "By the way, Zhuge Liang seems to take too much time on his preparation. Why aren¡¯t they attacking us?"

    Cheng Yu pondered after hearing Cao Cao¡¯s question, "They have many eyes, so they probably are cautious about our fortification and cannons. From ourtest intel, Sun Ce and Gan Ji should be already dead, so Zhuge Liang is likely waiting for other units to nk us from the east."

    "What about Huang Zu and Liu Biao? What are they doing?"

    "I think Liu Biao isn¡¯t decisive enough to bet his life for Lilim. He should be cowering in fear in Xiangyang and refuse to utter a word about Lilim or the war. As for Huang Zu... I think he¡¯s dead as well."

    Cao Cao had a headache. His allies were unreliable.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter. Let¡¯s begin our migration before winter."

 Chapter 542 - Cheng Yus End

    <h4>Chapter 542 - Cheng Yu''s End</h4>

    Chapter 542 ¨C Cheng Yu¡¯s End

    Yangtze River was wide and long. The great river was the main water source for the local people, including Jiangling townspeople.

    South of Jiangling, the Yangtze River route connected this city and Lake Dongting. Then, the river route flowed northeast and passed Chibi.

    This was a strategic route from Jiangling toward Jianye that Cao Cao had once used to attack Wu in history. However, Cao Cao in this world backtracked the route to attack Jiangling instead.

    They were not simply attacking using an ordinary fleet, but they were using fisher boats, which were carrying several barrels of poison liquid.

    Cao Cao detached his troops into three units. The main forces were staying behind to defend Chibi City, acting as a distraction.

    The other unit was an envoy, which departed from Chibi to the southern region, where Shanyue Tribe located. Cao Pi took the role of a diplomat on this trip.

    Shanyue Tribe lived in a mountain region between South China and Northern Vietnam. They lived on hills in this area for generations, and they were the experts when it came to warfare. However, they made a living by piging nearby towns and viges for extra food as theirnd couldn¡¯t produce enough for their people.

    Sun Quan, in history, had a hard time subduing this tribe. No matter how he attacked them, they always went into hiding and ambushed them, utilizing guerri warfare.

    In this world, this tribe had a rtionship with Khan and helped him attacking the Han Dynasty. They were unchallenged by the local government, including Sun Jian, and Sun Quan. Thus, they were thergest mountain bandit forces in South China.

    Cao Cao wanted to hire them as cannon fodders while his real forces and families would move to Vietnam, then proceeding to Southeast Asia, where China in ancient times mistook them as their vessel states.

    But they were not important at the moment.

    Thest detached force was a group of sailors, traveling west via the Yangtze River. A dozen finish boats were heading toward Jiangling. However, they were carrying barrels of poison liquid, brew by Cheng Yu and Cao Cao.

    Their objective was simple. They had to tamper the water source in Jiangling!

    Currently, Jiangling was Zhuge Liang¡¯s supply headquarters, where provision from other regions was sent here to support the southern campaign.

    Since Zhuge Liang¡¯s supply was endless because of Li Feihong and Diaochan¡¯s system skills, Cao Cao couldn¡¯t burn them and hope that their soldiers would starve. Water poisoning or spreading an epidemic would be more effective.

    However, these fishing boats were not the only ones with the poison.

    ...

    Zhao Yun and a unit of 1,000 men were hiding north of Lake Dongting, southwest of Chibi Port.

    Zhuge Liang had ordered him and his men to wait in this area. Anyone sailed west along the Yangtze River, Zhao Yun and his men had to intercept and seize everything that they were carrying.

    "They¡¯re here."

    A dozen fishing boats reached Lake Dongting area. Zhao Yun¡¯s ambush unit rushed in and apprehended the fishermen.

    "Freeze! FBI!"

    "Drop your weapon!"

    The fishermen drew their weapons to resist despite being outnumbered.

    Zhao Yun made quick work out of them. His soldiers found the suspicious barrels, reported by Li Feihong and Diaochan.

    "Sir, we¡¯ve found the poison!"

    Having the all-seeing eyes was the best advantage in warfare. They could counter against Cao Cao¡¯s dirty schemes with ease.

    "Good. Take them with us. We¡¯ll dispose of these vile weapons."

    Zhao Yun¡¯s soldiers carried the barrels and retreated back to Wulin Port.

    ...

    "Load the trebuchets!"

    On Chibi Port, 100 giant counterweight trebuchets were pushed forward. Cao Cao ordered his men to load the sling with barrels, which contained crude oil.

    From the on looker¡¯s perspective, Cao Cao was trying to throw the oil at Zhuge Liang¡¯s fleets at Wulin Port.

    "First trebuchet. Test firing, go!"

    One of the weapons hurled an oil barrel across the river. Unfortunately, the wide of this river section was still over 800 meters. A normal trebuchet couldn¡¯t throw anything further than that.

    Thus, the barrel sshed in the middle of the river water.

    "Adjust the aim! Reinforce your trebuchet frames and the counterweight with your lifespan!"

    Cultivators with 1 and 2 wings injected their forces in the wooden frames of all trebuchets as instructed.

    "Second trebuchet. Testing fire! Release!"

    The second trebuchet hurled a crude oil barrel. This time, the barrel flew across the river. The distance of this test fire was almost 2 kilometers, which was much farther than they had expected.

    As soon as the first barrelnded on the side of Wulin Port, Zhang Liao, acting as the grandmander of the defenders, retaliated against the provocation.

    "Cannons! Catapults! Trebuchets! Remember your training! Adjust your life force to the weapons as you were trained! Aim at the center of Chibi Port!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Over a thousand projectiles flew to Chibi Port and sent carnage to Cao Cao¡¯s troops.

    Xiahou Yuan, the grandmander of Chibi Port, authorized the grand scale artillery fire.

    "All trebuchets, cannons, and catapults units! Empower your weapons and shoot! Fire at will!"

    *BOOM*

    *BOOM*

    Both sides exchanged projectiles. Various kinds of burning barrels, arrows, buckshot, cannonballs, and boulders flew across the river andnded on the opposition forces. Artillery crews from Cao Cao¡¯s forces and Zhuge Liang Army shouted and screamed in chaos.

    me and explosion appeared everywhere. Yet, Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Liao never tried to cross the river.

    A group of Cheng Yu men snuck a couple of poison barrels among the ammunition for the trebuchets. During the long exchange fire, the two barrels were hurled to Zhang Liao¡¯s side.

    The content of the two barrels sshed on the empty ground inside Wulin Port. Zhang Liao¡¯s men ignored the green liquid as they thought that they were failed explosive barrels.

    However, three 8-wing immortals were observing the battle. Cheng Yu¡¯s men¡¯s action didn¡¯t escape their eyes.

    ...

    Diaochan: "@Sun Shangxiang, I need you at Wulin Port."

    Sun Shangxiang: "What for?"

    Diaochan: "Someone is using chemical warfare. I need your medical skill."

    Diaochan: "I¡¯ll have the nonbatant officers contribute some more lifespan into the pool. I¡¯ll transfer them to you."

    Sun Shangxiang: "Are those f.u.c.kers spreading Eb or what?"

    Diaochan: "From our intel, I think it might be some sort of fecal bacteria disease type since they¡¯re ying with human feces. They¡¯re also using snake venom and poison mushroom into the mix."

    Sun Shangxiang: "They want to make it more potent, but most of the bacteria will probably be dead before they can spread."

    Diaochan: "They¡¯re cursed poison. The bacteria might mutate into something else. For now, move to Wulin and help Zhuge Liang boy."

    Sun Shangxiang: "Give me a few hours. I have to cross half of the f.u.c.k.i.n.g country."

    Diaochan: "You¡¯d better hurry. The disease is spreading."

    ...

    "Oh? They¡¯re using the same tactic that I thought."

    Guo Jia received the ryed message from Diaochan and Zhuge Liang, which reported the current situation at Wulin Port.

    He was amused that Cheng Yu used the bio-warfare tactic before he did.

    During the preparation against Sun Ce Army, Guo Jia ordered his men to construct a thousand catapults to be used as a backup n in the case that Dong Bai and others failed to kill Sun Ce.

    He discarded this n since Dong Bai and her officers wlesslypleted the objectives, but he never expected that Cheng Yu would employ this tactic as well.

    Since that was the case, Guo Jia had an idea.

    <<Ding>>

    Guo Jia: "@Li Feihong. Could I ask you for a favor?"

    Li Feihong: "Depends. I¡¯m in the middle of self-healing. My souls are still not stable."

    Guo Jia: "Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s just a simple task."

    Li Feihong: "What is it, then?"

    Guo Jia: "I have several thousand jars of Gu poison that I need you to transport them."

    Li Feihong: "Gu Poison? You¡¯re ying with poison?"

    Guo Jia: "I nned to, but I didn¡¯t have a chance. Anyway, I don¡¯t need you to poison anyone. I just need you to drop some of those in Cao Cao¡¯s food supply."

    Li Feihong: "You said you didn¡¯t want to poison anyone, but you want me to sabotage Cao Cao¡¯s food supply!? That¡¯s the same thing!"

    Guo Jia: "No, no. They won¡¯t have a chance to consume the sabotaged provision since it will rot before they could get their hands on it. You can rest assured."

    Li Feihong: "..."

    Guo Jia: "And do us a favor. Abduct Cao Cao and Cheng Yu if you can. Open your portals below their feet and set the gates in your world as high as you can. Let them fall to their death."

    Li Feihong: "My soul injuries won¡¯t heal at this rate."

    Guo Jia: "Please, just a few more pushes, and you can enjoy your retirement. Not gonna lie, this entire war should have ended if you simply use your gate abilities wisely. We¡¯re already wasting too much time."

    Li Feihong: "..."

    ...

    The artillery bombardment stopped at night. Both sides stopped shooting and cleaned their camps.

    Since Zhuge Liang and Cheng Yu didn¡¯t n tounch an all-out attack or use the infantry, only a few thousand artillery crews died in this exchange.

    However, wooden weaponry and fortification, such as catapults, trebuchets, fences, and arrows were burned to ash. White smoke and ck smoke fumed from the ruined camps.

    Yet, Cheng Yu and Cao Cao were smiling. They gazed at their half-destroyed fortification, looking forward to their scheme to take effect.

    "How many?"

    "20."

    Those were the number of poison barrels that Cheng Yu snuck into the fight.

    "I expected 200. Well, it¡¯s good enough. Pour the rest in the river and the local farnd. Prepare to migrate south."

    "Got it."

    After rying their new orders, everyone returned to their tents and rest.

    Cao Cao¡¯s generals didn¡¯t bother guarding Cao Cao or Cheng Yu today since there were movements in the night sky.

    Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, Gao Shun, and Huang Zhong floated in the sky over their base, watching Cao Cao¡¯s camp in Chibi City.

    Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Xu Chu, and Dian Wei had to stay awake andpeted with the four men at a staring contest. They didn¡¯t know when their opponent would strike, but they didn¡¯t dare to take the first move either.

    After all, Xu Huang, Sun Shangxiang, Zhang He, and many other generals were not here. They were afraid if Zhang Liao and thepany might just be a distraction while other generals sneaked in their camps.

    Their prediction wasn¡¯t wrong. Someone indeed infiltrated Cao Cao¡¯s camp.

    ...

    "Ouch! It hurts!"

    Li Feihong¡¯s soul injuries rpsed the moment he was about to open a portal under Cheng Yu¡¯s bed.

    "Owowow! My back," Li Feihongined as he cried, "I need a vacation."

    *VHOOM*

    Despite the torture, he activated his skill.

    Cheng Yu, who was sleeping, fell into Li Feihong¡¯s gate and appeared in his dimension. The clueless strategist was sent a kilometer above the ground and fell at a rapid speed.

    Cheng Yu thought that he was dreaming, so he didn¡¯t pay attention to his surroundings. By the time that this man realized that everything was real, his head already smashed on the floor.

    Unfortunately, Cheng Yu was still Tong¡¯s n member. Li Feihong¡¯s skill could not harm him, even if it was an indirect attack.

    But Ma Chao was there. He immediately swung his halberd at Cheng Yu¡¯s head.

    *BOOM*

    Skull cracked, and his brain sttered. Unable to react, thest of Cao Cao¡¯s strategists got his head shattered like a watermelon.

    Ma Chao, who was always by Li Feihong¡¯s side, cackled as he enjoyed the sweet revenge. He couldn¡¯t kill any of Cao Cao¡¯s elite officers in the other timeline, but he was more than happy to kill a few of them under Li Feihong¡¯smand.

    As for Li Feihong, he mumbled as he circted his life force to heal his physical wounds and mend his soul injuries.

    "Next... Cao Cao. Eh, after I kill Cao Cao, do I really need to sabotage their supply?"

 Chapter 543 - Fanning the Flame

    <h4>Chapter 543 - Fanning the me</h4>

    Chapter 543 ¨C Fanning the me

    <<Ding>>

    <<Your n member, Cheng Yu, has been killed by Ma Chao!>>

    The system notification rmed Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, and all Cao Cao¡¯s who were in Tong¡¯s n.

    This was the greatest issue that Cao Cao was facing ¨C They couldn¡¯t directly kill the same n members. Only wild cards like Ma Chao or non-n members could kill them.

    The current war between Cao Cao and Tong¡¯s subordinates were different than Huang Zu, Gan Ji, and Sun Ce, who were non-n members. No matter how their generals wanted to kill each other, they couldn¡¯t do anything when thew of this universe was at work.

    Unless Lilim could tweak something for Cao Cao...

    Cao Cao: "Curse you! Li Feihong! Ma Chao!"

    Cao Mengde couldn¡¯t help but swear at Li Feihong in the public chat.

    Li Feihong: "Surrender, then. Don¡¯t waste my time if you know what will happen to all of you."

    Li Feihong also had enough of this farce. He wanted to finish everything, so he could focus on recuperating himself.

    Cao Cao ignored Li Feihong¡¯s provocation as he got up from his bed. He rushed out to find his cousins and other officers, so they could guard him against Li Feihong¡¯s system skill.

    "Yuanrang! Miaocai! Come back and protect me!"

    Not knowing when Li Feihong¡¯s portal would appear, Cao Cao could only rely on his best officers.

    Unfortunately, he was toote. Li Feihong already found Cao Cao.

    *VHOOM*

    A portal opened where Cao Cao was standing. Thetter immediately fell into Li Feihong¡¯s world.

    Xiahou Dun and Dian Wei saw how their lord disappeared into the blue portal. They shouted in frustration.

    *VHOOM*

    The portal closed.

    ...

    A minuteter...

    Ma Chao¡¯s right foot was on Cao Cao¡¯s head as thettery prone on the ground. This general beat Cao Cao to the point that he begged Ma Chao to stop.

    As for Li Feihong, Xu Shu, Lu Lingqi, and Zhang Min, they watched the torturing of Ma Chao and waited for this rude general to be satisfied.

    An hourter, Ma Chao had enough.

    In the public chat, all Cao Cao¡¯s rtives got desperate. They kept begging Li Feihong to release their lord.

    Cao Ren: "Let¡¯s talk, General Li. We will surrender, but please spare Cao Mengde."

    Cao Xiu: "General Li. I know that you¡¯re a kind man. I¡¯m willing to work as for you as your ve or your servant for the rest of my life. Please spare my uncle!"

    Xiahou Dun: "We give up, Li Feihong. You can kill me, but don¡¯t kill Mengde!"

    Xiahou Yuan: "I know that we¡¯re in the wrong, and we¡¯re willing to atone for our crimes. We will ept any punishment, but don¡¯t kill him."

    Cao Ang: "Spare my father, Sir Li."

    Oddly enough, Cao Pi never begged for his father¡¯s life after an hour.

    Curious by Cao Pi¡¯s inaction, Li Feihong operated his monitor to find this prodigious son.

    Unfortunately, Cao Pi was not in Chibi Camp.

    Since Li Feihong couldn¡¯t find Cao Pi, he texted Diaochan and Liu Yang to use their abilities. Although he could always get out of his dimension to use his all-seeing eyes himself, using others to work was a better choice. Moreover, his soul injuries got worsen the point that he couldn¡¯t use his portal skills for a while.

    He needed some rest.

    <<Ding>>

    Diaochan: "Cao Pi, Zhen Ji, and Zhen Yi are disguising asmoners. They are moving along with their envoys to Changsha at the moment."

    Diaochan: "Cao Pi isn¡¯t a n member. I¡¯ll send Zhang He to kill them."

    Diaochan: "Also, I know what Guo Jia was trying to do. Don¡¯t kill Cao Cao yet. Go ahead and sabotage the provision, and let Guo Jia finish his work."

    Li Feihong: "Is that really necessary?"

    Diaochan: "You¡¯ll see. Just do it."

    ...

    Li Feihong used his skill a few more times even though he felt like his souls might shatter to pieces at any moment.

    By the time hepleted his task, his injuries rpsed once more.

    *Cough*

    Li Feihong vomited several mouthfuls of blood. He sat on his butt and gasped for air as if he almost fainted.

    <<Ding>>

    Diaochan: "Well done. Leave the rest to me and others. You can rest."

    At longst, Li Feihong could finally rest. He fell on his back and fainted. Ma Chao immediately transferred some of Li Feihong¡¯s injuries to himself. As for the rest of the crews, Zhang Min, they carried him back to recuperate in his mansion.

    ...

    The next day, more chaotic ensued.

    Provision managers reported to their generals that their food had be bad, and they also found poison cauldrons that Cheng Yu had used.

    Then, Cheng Yu¡¯s subordinates thought that their master had poisoned their food supply. Afraid to be punished, they informed Xiahou Dun and others about what Cao Cao and Cheng Yu had ordered them to do.

    Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, and every general wasn¡¯t aware of Cao Mengde¡¯s dirty schemes They were shocked when many soldiers told them that Cao Cao wanted to poison civilian¡¯s water sources.

    Cao Cao¡¯s scheme might have been effective had Li Feihong never abducted both culprits. However, now that Cheng Yu died and Cao Cao went missing, their subordinates panicked and didn¡¯t carry on with the ploy.

    After all, only Cao Cao and Cheng Yu were the only ones who knew about this master n.

    "Cao Mengde..."

    Everyone was disappointed in their lord. They thought that Cao Cao had been fighting for the people.

    "Is this why Li Feihong and the royal family abducted Mengde?"

    "They haven¡¯t killed Mengde yet, so they might know something. Let¡¯s send an envoy to negotiate with the Empress."

    Since Cao Cao had nned to use a scorch earth tactic and retreat south. Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan suspected that Cao Cao would me Dong Bai Army for the poisoning to entice clueless civilians to join their army. Then, ill rumor would spread after this battle, which would discredit the royal family¡¯s conduct. Officials might doubt them, and many generals might rebel against them.

    But the testimony of the soldiers proved otherwise. Everyone doubted if they were fighting on the wrong side.

    ...

    Half a dayter, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, and all officers under Cao Cao flew across the Yangtze River to meet Zhuge Liang at Port Wulin.

    At the port, several generals, such as Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, and even Xu Huang were there. The Silver Axe unit already reinforced Wulin Port, which increased the number of troops.

    Since they couldn¡¯t harm each other, Zhuge Liang told other non-n-members to leave them alone.

    Everybody gathered at a meeting tent.

    "Are you all here to surrender or a negotiation?" Asked Zhuge Liang, who had a bright smile on his face.

    "Where is Cao Mengde?" Xiahou Yuan took the negotiator role as he was the most cool-headed person among all generals.

    "In the suprememander¡¯s dimension world. Don¡¯t worry, he¡¯s alive."

    "I know. No n notification appears yet. Can we see him?"

    "Not possible. The suprememander has suffered great injuries. He can¡¯t bring Cao Cao to see you."

    "..."

    Xiahou Yuan sighed. As Xiahou Yuan and everybody had guessed, Zhuge Liang wanted to capitalize on the captive of Cao Cao. Since Zhuge Liang had an absolute advantage over their forces, his words didn¡¯t contain negotiation power.

    "What do you want us to do so you can release Cao Mengde?"

    "Swear allegiance to our empress. Empower your voice and say that you¡¯re not Lilim¡¯s servant, and you¡¯ll work for our empire for the rest of eternity."

    "I expect as much. But I have a question."

    "Go ahead. Ask away."

    "Do you know anything about the recent food sabotage and poison?"

    "What sabotage?" Zhuge Liang feinted ignorance. Although he knew what Guo Jia and Li Feihong did, he still pretended that he didn¡¯t know, "So far, we tried our best to overwhelm you with our number and our generals, but we haven¡¯t sent anyone to do anything with your supply camps yet. Did something happen?"

    "... Never mind."

    Seeing that Zhuge Liang didn¡¯t know, Xiahou Yuan guessed that the recent food sabotage was Cheng Yu and Cao Cao¡¯s doing all along. However, Xiahou Yuan hadn¡¯t ruled out the possibility that Li Feihong sabotaged their food supply with his skill and med it on Cao Cao and Cheng Yu.

    ¡¯Personal reason? Well, if Mengde really nned to kill millions of innocents and his own soldiers, it¡¯s not strange that Li Feihong interfered. But ... what if it was Li Feihong¡¯s work?¡¯

    Still, eyewitnesses and several soldiers all pointed out that it was Cao Cao¡¯s doing.

    ¡¯All evidence leads to Mengde. It was his doing.¡¯

    Xiahou Yuan gave up thinking. He turned toward hisrades and bowed to them.

    "I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m going to surrender to Zhang Tong."

    Xiahou Dun, Cao Ren, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and others didn¡¯t like it since they could still fight. They didn¡¯t believe that they would lose to their former friends and former nemeses like this.

    Zhuge Liang could read through their expression and thoughts. He pressured them, "If any of you refuse to surrender, you can leave. But we will resume the war."

    Prolonged war without food was a suicide. Only insane warlords would want to take part in this crazy gamble.

    "We surrender. Please spare Cao Cao and all of us."

    "Spare our soldiers, too."

    Everyone knelt and surrendered unwillingly. Had their food supply not sabotaged and their army¡¯s morale not copsed because of Cheng Yu¡¯s underhanded ploy, they would have continued fighting.

    ...

    <<Ding>>

    Zhuge Liang: "Good job, Sir Guo. That was brilliant."

    Guo Jia: "All credits go to Supreme Commander Li. I merely give everyone my thoughts."

    Zhuge Liang: "Don¡¯t be humble. You created all those poisons, and that counter n was the killing move. None of them has even realized that it was your doing."

    Guo Jia: "Let¡¯s stop the pleasantry for now. We have to prepare for the aftermath since Cheng Yu¡¯s poison can spread."

    Zhuge Liang: "Aye. Our work is done now. The rest is up to the goddess."

    Aside from Zhuge Liang, Guo Jia, Diaochan, Li Feihong, and a few top generals, nobody knew that Li Feihong was the one who sabotaged Cao Cao Army¡¯s food supply and med everything to Cao Cao and Cheng Yu¡¯s poisoning plot.

    This was Guo Jia¡¯s master n. By using Cheng Yu¡¯s men as evidence against them, Guo Jia corrupted Cao Cao¡¯s food supply and brainwashed everyone that Cao Cao was a vile warlord. Then, his subordinate surrendered as they questioned the morale of their lord.

    In Guo Jia¡¯s mind, he recited this metaphor that he came up with. Sometimes, ones only needed to add some oil to the fire and let the arsonist burn themselves at the cost of a house that the arsonist wanted to burn.

    ...

    Early September, 201 AD.

    Over 150,000 former Cao Cao¡¯s soldiers at Chibi surrendered after they had no food left.

    All Cao Cao¡¯s generals gave their immortal oath to Dong Bai as Tong was not presented.

    As for Cao Cao, he was forced to annul the oath with Lilim.

    Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t so lucky as Sima Yi or Lu Su. When Cao Cao made the oath, the lightning killed him on the spot.

    Only Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, and other rtives cried for Cao Cao¡¯s death. As for other former generals or distant colleagues, they only looked at Cao Cao in a pity.

    He fought for supremacy. He bet everything even his own life and soul. Yet, he failed because of Li Feihong¡¯s cheating skill and Ma Chao¡¯s existence.

    They brought his body back to his hometown at Qiao. Then, they retired from the political world as they had no reason to continue fighting anymore.

    As for Cao Pi, Zhen Yi, and Zhen Ji, Zhang He managed to capture all of them. Zhen Yi and Cao Pi were executed by Ma Chao, but Zhen Ji was sentenced to serve as Tong¡¯s newest chambermaid, ordered by Diaochan. Unfortunately, Zhen Jimitted suicide a few dayster.

    Sun Quan Army arrived at Chibiter, but his forces became humanitarian army as they had to provide food and relief to the surrendered soldiers.

    The poison that Cheng Yu and Cao Cao had brewed spread many deadly diseases to the surrounding areas. Many innocent civilians suffered from various deadly diseases, such as typhoid, cholera, septicemia, and diphtheria.

    Wulin Port and Chibi Port suffered the most from this epidemic outbreak. A million soldiers and civilians got infected within less than a month. Moreover, the report said that several cities near the Yangtze River showed signs of infection.

    Rumor spread that Cao Cao had nned to kill his soldiers and millions of civilians for the sake of winning the war by intentionally poisoning them with various diseases. Schrs even recorded this event and portrayed Cao Cao as a selfish viin, who betrayed the Han Dynasty and nned to kill innocent people to achieve his goal.

    Sun Shangxiang got busy creating vines and medicines for millions of people and soldiers from both factions. At one point, she almost snapped and cursed Cao Cao out loud in public, but she managed to keep her saint image till the end.

 Chapter 544 - 10-Year Battle Result

    <h4>Chapter 544 - 10-Year Battle Result</h4>

    Chapter 544 ¨C 10-Year Battle Result

    Nine years had passed since the chemical warfare at Chibi.

    Sun Shangxiang, Hua Tuo, Zhang Jiao, and all physicians managed to subdue the massive outbreak in the southern provinces after years of hard work.

    Five million people got infected and a million civilians died by the empowered diseases, created by Cheng Yu and Cao Cao. It was nine years of nightmare that taught many people about hygiene awareness. However, the life quality of the country got better as the court paid attention to water filter technology, water treatment nts, and sewage system, introduced by Diaochan.

    Li Feihong and Dong Bai also added cement technologies to the mix, which enhanced the life quality to the civilians.

    Even without Tong¡¯s presence, the country advanced forward. No officers dared to conspire against the royal family anymore.

    During these years, Wei Yan and Liu Biao, hidden Lilim¡¯s subordinates, confessed to the court that he had sworn allegiance to Lilim without knowing, and he wanted to clear his name.

    Thanked to his inaction during the Cao Cao¡¯s uprising conflict, Dong Bai pardoned them from their crime by having them annulling the oath right in front of all court officials.

    It was a cruel sentence since Wei Yan¡¯s cultivation ended up being crippled, just like Sima Yi and Lu Su. However, Liu Biao died trying, which saddened his retainers and his family.

    ...

    June, 210 AD.

    At longst, Sun Shangxiang vinated all Han civilians.

    "I can finally rest!"

    The 17-year-old Sun Shangxiang now became a stunning beauty, worthy of being called [The Goddess]. Many artists drew her portraits and exaggerated her pretty face to the point that Sun Shangxiang sometimesmented that they were made by drunk Picasso.

    Still, she was proud of her new look. Sun Shangxiang was looking forward to weing Tong¡¯s return. She wanted to brag how much she had changed.

    10 White feather wings fluttered behind her back. Her various good deeds and good karma blessed her with the current cultivation base, which was the highest she could get.

    To advance further, she needed immoral subordinates, which she had none. Only Diaochan, Dong Bai, and Li Feihong had them.

    Still, among all current 10-wing cultivators, she was the strongest. She could defeat Dong Bai and Li Feihong, who currently also had 10 wings with ease. As for Diaochan, she was already an 11-wing demon.

    The world of cultivation had advanced a lot. Many sects and organizations appeared to entice ronin cultivators in this world, even though most of them were founded by elite generals with 8 wings, such as Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Zhang He, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, and many others.

    Peace brought a new era upon the Han Dynasty.

    ¡¯When will he return? It¡¯s been 10 years.¡¯

    Ten years had passed since Tong and Lu Bu went missing. Yet, none of them contacted them.

    .

    .

    .

    = Lilim¡¯s Dimension =

    "Good job for entertaining me for a decade, my darling. Now, the oath isplete."

    Lilimughed as she watched Tong panting in exhaustion. Even though he managed to awaken his 10th demon wing, Lilim¡¯s current 11-wing strength dominated him throughout the 10-year session.

    Tong¡¯s n failed. Lilim¡¯s mind was way stronger than all girls he had met.

    Still, Tong sneered at Lilim. In fact, the 10 years deal was over a few months ago, but they were so into it that they forgot about time.

    Moreover, Tong hadpletely tricked Lilim since the day that she agreed to establish the oath.

    "No, my wife. We¡¯ve yet toplete my conditions. I¡¯m not yet your vessel."

    Lilim frowned and stared into Tong¡¯s eyes, "What condition? The ten-year deal is done. It¡¯s over."

    nning to demonstrate her authority, Lilim focused her forces into the karmic chain that tied Tong and Lilim together. She wanted to electrocute Tong with a bolt of karmic lightning to prove that their oath was in effect and prove that she was his master.

    *Rumble*

    The lightning that Lilim was looking for didn¡¯te despite how much power she input.

    "Huh?" Lilim doubted about her karma chain and Tong¡¯s condition, "Why!?"

    While their bottoms were still connecting, Lilim activated a system skill that Tong dreaded, [Die for Me]. It was draining his lifespan at a rapid rate.

    Yet, Tong was unfazed. He smiled at Lilim as if nothing had happened.

    "What¡¯s wrong, honey?"

    "You... What did you do!? Why aren¡¯t you my subordinate!?"

    "As I said, you haven¡¯tpleted my conditions."

    "WHAT CONDITION!? I F.U.C.K.I.E.D YOU FOR 10 YEARS AS YOU ASKED!!"

    "Yes, you did. But not that condition, my dear. It¡¯s the other one."

    Lilim summoned a great sword from nothingness and pointed the sword tip at Tong¡¯s neck, threatening to kill him.

    "What is "The other one"!? I remember that this was the only thing we had to do!? What trick did you use!?"

    Tong rolled his eyes and sighed, "Did you pay attention to my oath by every word? Check your log file and disy my words, so I can exin."

    Lilim did what Tong suggested and reyed the scene when Tong extorted the s.e.x.u.a.l conditions from Lilim.

    ...

    "[I vow that I will be Lilim¡¯s subordinate as long as she epts my five conditions by every word! If she does not follow my five conditions, I will never be her vessel!]"

    ...

    Lilim squinted her eyes as she found the oddness of Tong¡¯s oath.

    It was the five conditions!

    Lilim reyed the five conditions that Tong had proposed her one by one.

    ...

    "Well, I have five wishes, my dear goddess. First, I want you to make an immortal vow that you or your subordinates will not use your system authority to directly or indirectly cause material damage or non-material damage to me, my subordinates, and my family. This includes harming, harassing, threatening, ckmailing, killing, and making something inconvenient to me, my subordinates, and my family members, and all of their descendants."

    ...

    The first condition was clean. Since she didn¡¯t tell her minions, such as Gan Ji or Cao Cao, to harm Tong¡¯s subordinates or his family, this condition wasn¡¯t vited.

    ...

    "Second condition, I want my Immortal Yang Vein skill again, and I want it to be embedded to my souls, so this skill can go with me if I were to reincarnate again."

    ...

    Tong also had his system skill back. Moreover, she even added a soulmate contract to bind him with her life forever. This condition was cleared.

    ...

    "Third condition, you will make an immortal oath that you will be my wife for at least 10,000 years and bear 10,000 of my children at the minimum."

    "Make everyone forget about the incident that Lu Bu did to my daughter. Also, restore Zhang Min¡¯s purity. That¡¯s my fourth condition."

    "Thest condition, I want to test my endurance as an 8-wing demon, so I demand a 10-year marathon f.u.c.k.i.n.g session with you! Please vow that you¡¯ll copte with me for at least 10 years as our first s.e.x!"

    ...

    As soon as Lilim reread these conditions, her face extorted in anger.

    The fourth condition was cleared, but the third and the fifth were the tricks that Tong had fooled Lilim.

    Although Lilim made an oath that she would be his wife, she had yet to conceive 10,000 children or be his wife for at least 10,000 years. Because of the 10 years of non-stop s.e.x condition, she didn¡¯t pay attention to this minor detail.

    Moreover, another trap wasid on top of all conditions in advance.

    ...

    "[I vow that I willplete this transaction with Lilim after she makes the oath I told her to.]"

    ...

    The transaction was the wordy. Unless both sidespleted the transaction, everything that they had done counted as nothing.

    And now, Tong¡¯s [Transaction] referred to the oaths. Both Tong and Lilim had toplete their oath conditions, so the [Transaction] could bepleted.

    Then, the third condition trap took effect. Tong demanded 10,000 years of marriage life and 10,000 children from Lilim, which had notpleted yet.

    "BASTARD!!"

    Lilim realized what was going on. She was tricked.

    It was not just to buy 10 years, Tong aimed to buy 10,000 years!

    Furthermore, she was tricked twice during the s.e.x.u.a.l sessions as Tong seduced her into making a soulmate contract. She couldn¡¯t kill him.

    Still, Lilim could always dissolve the contract by using her administrative authority. This dimension was still under her palms.

    She operated her admin system menu right away to cancel the soulmate contract so that she could kill or torture Tong. She didn¡¯t care about controlling the Han Dynasty through him anymore.

    <<Ding>>

    <<You have canceled the soulmate contract.>>

    But Tong was ready for it.

    "L.u.s.t! Corruption! Insanity!"

    Tong injected 3 curses into Lilim once more.

    However, Lilim didn¡¯t allow herself to be cursed this time. She resisted the power and disconnected her body from him.

    "I don¡¯t know how you cultivate to 10 wings, but I¡¯m still stronger than you! Your power is useless!"

    The sneer on Tong¡¯s face didn¡¯t fade. Instead, he was grinning from ear to ear while he was staring into her eyes.

    "I was waiting for you to look into my eyes again," Tong¡¯s eyes shed in a strange light, "[Eye of Domination]!"

    Lilim¡¯s mind shook as something invaded her memory. Oddly enough, her cultivation power and her life force couldn¡¯t resist this system skill despite her being stronger than Tong.

    She stopped doing everything and allocated all lifespan into her mind and memory, repelling this system power.

    Unfortunately, her mind seemed to be weakened. She felt like eye power was simr to water while her mental shield was a leaking boat. No matter how she tried to fend it off, the invading force kept entering her mind.

    Within 10 seconds, Lilim¡¯s mind became nk. Her heart pupils stared at Tong in a trance while blood dripped from her nostrils since a part of her brain was damaged.

    Tong sat up and patted Lilim¡¯s head. He smiled at her, "Do you love me?"

    Lilim nkly replied, "I do, my dear."

    "Do you remember your oath?"

    "... Yes. [I will love you forever.]"

    This wasn¡¯t the first time that Tong used [Eye of Domination] on Lilim. For the past 10 years, Tong copied this skill from Lilim and used it on her when she was under the influence of various curses.

    Because of the repeated usage, Lilim¡¯s mind was riddled with traces of system infiltration. The eye power could enter her brain regardless of her attempts to defend herself.

    Although this skill would permanently brainwash the victims after 10 usages, Lilim managed to snap out of it even after the 100th attempt. However, the effective durationsted longer each time.

    During thetest use, Lilim was brainwashed for half a year. When she regained her senses, she thought that she was under the effect of Tong¡¯s curses, and didn¡¯t pay attention to the details.

    "Good. Can you transfer your admin authority of this universe to me?"

    "Yes, my dear."

    Since Tong had failed to Mindbreak Lilim with s.e.x, he chose to use his backup trump card that he had prepared, [The Eyes of Domination].

    However, the effect was limited. He had to do something extreme to get the permanent effect and stop Lilim¡¯s craziness for eternity.

    "This is my new orders, Lilim. Make an oath that you shall forget your past and entrust your present and future to me. You will be my faithful wife, my loving wife, and my sweetest wife that will never betray her husband. After that, hand over the system authority to me."

    The system authority!

    This was Tong¡¯s final aim. Once obtained, he wouldn¡¯t have to be afraid of anything.

    "[I shall henceforth be your faithful wife, your loving wife, and your sweetest wife that will never betray my husband. I shall forget everything in the past and entrust my present and future to you.]"

    Lilim also operated her system admin menu and reassigned the new admin.

    ...

    [Administrator] ¨C Zhang Tong

    [Vice Administrator] ¨C Zuo Ci, Lilim

    ...

    "It¡¯s over."

    It was as easy as taking candy from a child. But that was not important right now.

    <<Ding>>

    Zuo Ci: "Tong, are you done? I guess I should call you my boss now, right?"

    Zou Ci seemed to be aware of the changes. He adapted fast.

    Tong: "Almost. What¡¯s up?"

    Zuo Ci: "Your monster children almost killed Lu Bu and Guan Yu. They¡¯re getting too strong as ofte. I need your consent before I use my system authority to cripple them."

    Tong: "Ah, that. Just weaken them for now. I¡¯m going to tweak the system and free all of you from the oath with Lilim. BTW, Has Guan Yu said that he wanted to withdraw his oath yet?"

    Zuo Ci: "No. He said he had sworn allegiance to his benefactor, and he wouldn¡¯t take it back even though I told him that Lilim let him go."

    Tong: "Bummer. Well, how is everyone?"

    Zuo Ci: "All of us have 10 wings, but all your nine children are also as strong as 8-wing demons with permanent curse aura. Also, one of them even said they wanted to eat us."

    Tong: "Okay. I¡¯ll get out. That fool needs some beating."

 Chapter 545 - Returning of Tong

    <h4>Chapter 545 - Returning of Tong</h4>

    Chapter 545 ¨C Returning of Tong

    Tong explored the admin system menu and was shocked by the privileges.

    The absolute dimensional authority was too good. By typing a few words, Tong could make what everything reality without exception.

    Tong checked Lilim¡¯s cultivation strength in his admin menu. He could see the [+], [-], [Edit], and [Del] buttons. If Tong wanted to, he might be able to erase Lilim¡¯s cultivation to zero with just a single button.

    Just for a safety measure, Tong tried to reduce Lilim¡¯s cultivation strength to 10 wings.

    <<System denied. You can only tamper with immortals with 9 wings or less. Tampering with karma brings instability to the dimension.>>

    He was disappointed. It seemed there were still ws, but that was good enough. He didn¡¯t forget to delete all quests that Lilim had imposed on him.

    *RUMBLE*

    Tong¡¯s action made the dimension a bit unstable, but it stabilized after Tong allocated some lifespan in the admin system pool into the karma river.

    Also, Tong released all vessels who had pledged to Lilim so that her cultivation would return to 10 wings.

    *RUMBLE*

    It worked this time. Under the effect of the eye skill, Lilim released them on her own.

    Finished what he had nned to do, he got out of Lilim¡¯s mansion for the first time after a decade.

    Outside the mansion, nine giant monsters were ying bites with each other.

    On the sideline, Lu Bu, Guan Yu, and Zuo Ci were resting.

    Guan Yu and Lu Bu panted in exhaustion. Their bodies had bite wounds and superficial injuries. As for Zuo Ci, he was perfectly fine since he could use his system authority to self-heal.

    "ZHANG TONG BRAT!!" Lu Bu screamed at Tong in anger. He forgot about his exhaustion and grabbed Tong¡¯s cor clothes, "ABOUT TIME YOU¡¯RE F.U.C.K.I.N.G DONE F.U.C.K.I.N.G!! I WAS ABOUT TO GO INSANE IN THIS SHIT HOLE!! GET ME OUT OF THIS WORLD!!"

    "Rx. You¡¯ll get out of this hell hole soon enough. For now, how are they?" Tong pointed at nine red dragons.

    Tong was aware that he and Lilim conceived some sort of monsters during their sessions. However, the parents entrusted the children¡¯s fate to the whim of Zuo Ci, Lu Bu, and Guan Yu.

    Guan Yu, Lu Bu, and Zuo Ci refused to kill them regardless of their appearance. To them, these monsters were innocent children, but they were just born handicapped.

    The three believed that if they treated them well, they could tame these unusual dragon children.

    "First off, they can talk. They¡¯re actually fast learners that I¡¯m scared that we might have raised monsters. No pun intended," remarked Zuo Ci.

    The monster children that came out of the mansion were simr to demigorgons at first. After a few years, their mass expanded, and they ended up bing something simr to drakes.

    Yet, they were no drake. They had four legs, one long tail, but their bodies could suddenly change shapes and send out tendrils tosh at their enemies. Their heads also still retained the Demogorgon characteristic, the mouth flower. Andstly, their skins could transform into mouths and chomp on anyone that touched them.

    In other words, they were mass that could freely transform their bodies into anything. They were abominable beings that everyone questioned their existence.

    Tong strolled forward to examine his children.

    The nine monsters sniffed as they caught a whiff of their parent¡¯s smell. The nine drake-like beings wagged their tails and charged at Tong.

    *Mew!*

    *Meow!*

    *Mii!*

    Oddly enough, they released a cute voice as if they were kittens.

    Tong doubted his ears for a moment and stepped backward in reflex. But after one of them bump its giant head with Tong¡¯s, he found them cute.

    "So cute!"

    Zuo Ci, Lu Bu, and Guan Yu¡¯s face twitched. When they were with them, these beasts bared fangs as if the three cultivators were food. Had it not because of Zuo Ci¡¯s system authority, they would have been eaten ages ago.

    These monsters had infinite stamina and their aura power was limitless. Even if they had 10-wing cultivation strength, they couldn¡¯t fight these monsters forever despite that the monsters¡¯ individual strength was only 8 wings.

    Tong turned around to ask Zuo Ci, "What do they usually eat?"

    "Livestock. Cows. Sheep. Alligators. Tigers. And humans. Anything that moves," Zuo Ci spoke in a monotone.

    "Cool!"

    "COOL MY ASS!! WE ALMOST DIED. WHAT ARE YOU, SON OF A BITCH!?" Lu Bu snapped again.

    Tongughed as he patted one of the monsters. It purred in happiness and rolled on the ground, showing its belly.

    "Has anyone named them yet?"

    Zuo Ci shrugged, "You¡¯re the father. You name them."

    "Alright. Hahaha!"

    Tong began naming them one-by-one.

    "You¡¯re Lilith! You¡¯re Uriel. You¡¯re Michael. Raphael. Gabriel. Adam. Eve. Samael. And, you¡¯re Joshua."

    Zuo Ci sweated by Tong¡¯s naming sense. He just named these monsters with archangels¡¯ names and certain gods¡¯ names. Moreover, he named one of them as Lilim¡¯s mother.

    "Are you sure?"

    "That¡¯s the way I can remind myself of where I came from. At least, I don¡¯t name one of them, [Lucifer]."

    "It¡¯s good that you respect your benefactor. But, what will you exin to Lilith when the Netherworld Gate reopens? She has 16 wings, and she can reim this dimension¡¯s authority on the fly, you know?"

    "... I¡¯ll just say that I f.u.c.k.i.e.d her daughter, and I¡¯m now her son-inw. If she kills me, that¡¯s that."

    "..."

    The nine drakes cheerfully meowed and purred around Tong while Zuo Ci and others sighed in regret. They didn¡¯t care what would happen to Tong anymore.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    *VHOOM*

    Tong forced Lilim to open her dimension gate and transport them to the real world.

    Lu Bu and Guan Yu immediately took flight as soon as they returned.

    Guan Yu rushed toward Li Feihong, who was now the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, recing Te Langpu. Guan Yu could see that Li Feihong was the reincarnation of Liu Bei, so he wanted to return to his brother, even though the local Liu Bei was nowhere in sight.

    Lu Bu followed after Guan Yu since Lu Lingqi and his wife stayed in Li Feihong¡¯s city, Luoyang. He wanted to tell them that he was freed from Lilim¡¯s grasp, and he was still alive.

    As for Zuo Ci, he remained by Tong¡¯s side, acting as his aide.

    "Won¡¯t you return to your family?" Asked Zuo Ci.

    When Tong stepped into the real world again, he nned to return to his wives and his children. However, his all-seeing eyes caught something in the direction of Jiujiang.

    Something ominous underground leaked the same aura as his nine monster children. Tong¡¯s instinct cried that he shouldn¡¯t leave it alone, or he and his family would face a serious problem.

    "There¡¯s something at Jiujiang. Come with me. You, too, Lilim."

    Tong dragged Zuo Ci and Lilim with him. However, he didn¡¯t release his monster children outside of Lilim¡¯s dimension.

    Their movements were noticeable from the direction of Ye and Luoyang. Tong could see from his immortal sense that Diaochan, Dong Bai, Sun Shangxiang, Li Feihong, and many other 8-wing cultivators were rushing toward himself.

    Yet, Tong disregarded them and flew to Jiujiang at his max speed.

    Upon arrival, Tong and Zuo Ci could see the problem. The soil beneath the ground emitted strong purple miasma fog, which was hazardous to the livings. It was unnoticeable if one didn¡¯t pay attention to the soil since it was ck. However, Tong could sense the familiarity with this type of smog.

    It was the same fog that covered the Hell Realm, the eternal poison gas.

    But when Tong got near, the purple aura receded back into the underground as if it was a mole hiding from predators.

    Tong¡¯s heart pounded at a rapid rate as if it was about to burst. He could sense some familiarity with this aura.

    He could never forget the smell and the aura of his nemesis, who he had once repeatedly killed for several thousand years in Hell.

    Ping!

    "Oi, Ping. How long are you nning on hiding?" Tong yelled at Ping, "I¡¯m here, asshole. Come out and meet your daddy."

    *RUMBLE*

    The ground shook for a brief moment. However, everything stopped as if the lurker changed his mind.

    "If you don¡¯t want toe out, I¡¯ll just spread words that you¡¯re nothing but a coward sissy who is only good at using his father¡¯s authority. When you¡¯re on your own, you¡¯re nothing but a pushover."

    *RUMBLE*

    An earthquake urred again. Yet, Ping calmed down and went into hiding once more.

    Tong sneered. He opened his system admin menu and searched for all surviving otherworlder names.

    Unintentionally, he found Pu Jing, who was rampaging the European countries at the moment. It seemed that this former premiere was doing well abusing his modern knowledge along with Chen Gong and Zhang Miao.

    ¡¯None of my business. Where is Liu Ping¡¯s name?¡¯

    Tong couldn¡¯t find Liu Ping¡¯s name among the list.

    ¡¯Bah, I¡¯ll just manually locate you with the universe map and delete your existence from this dimension.¡¯

    It took Tong a few seconds to find Liu Ping underground.

    Currently, Liu Ping had mutated into a giant skeleton dragon tree. He spread his bone roots everywhere underground and absorbed nutrition from buried corpses, livestock, animals, and humans who wandered into Ping¡¯s hunting area.

    Judging from Ping¡¯s aura, he was as strong as an 8-wing demon. Tong didn¡¯t know if Ping had the same stamina characteristic as his children or not, but that didn¡¯t worry him.

    After all, the admin system ruled over the entire universe, and that tool was in Tong¡¯s control.

    ¡¯I can get used to this.¡¯

    After pushing a few buttons, the system began itsbat program. It uprooted Liu Ping¡¯s bones from the ground by forcing the soil the push Ping on the surface.

    A humongous 50-meter-tall bone tree emerged from the ground. On top of the tree, Liu Ping¡¯s skull took the shape of a dragon skull. His red ming eyes red at Tong while his tree trunk transformed into a torso, two arms, and two legs. All bone roots retracted into his body to increase Ping¡¯s mass and strength.

    *VHOOM*

    *VHOOM*

    Li Feihong, Diaochan, Dong Bai, Liu Yang, Sun Shangxiang, Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Guan Yu, Lu Bu, Zhao Yun, Sun Quan, Zhang Min, and many other officers rushed out of Li Feihong¡¯s dimension gates. They regrouped behind Tong, wanting to ask about his 10-year disappearance and the monster bone tree.

    "Seriously, this bastard has been lurking here for years, but none of you noticed him?" Tongined before anyone spoke up.

    Zhang Min and Zhang Ying ignored allmotion and hugged Tong from the front, "Wee back, dad."

    Sun Shangxiang also hugged Tong from behind, "Wee home, Tong. We need to talk about your harem and your next castration schedule. You need to be neutered."

    "..."

    Liu Ping got annoyed that he was ignored. Yet, he transformed his skeleton body into a giant bone saucer airne before he flew away, running away from Tong.

    "Oi, Ping! I¡¯m not done with you! Why are you turning into a UFO!?"

    Tong freed himself from his daughter and the yandere wife before he chased after Liu Ping.

    ...

    Zhang Min gazed at her father with a sad expression, "Mom. Don¡¯t threaten father. See that? He¡¯s run away from you."

    The girl already learned about Sun Shangxiang¡¯s previous life after she had gotten her 8th demon wing. She threw a tantrum to Hua Shi that thetter never visited her or revealed her identity. Butter on, they reconciled and got their mother-daughter rtionship back.

    "He deserves it, though. If we don¡¯t cut it off, he will spread his seed everywhere. Once he gets his 16 wings, even Lilith might end up bing his wife."

    "..."

    Zhang Min gazed at Lilim, who was still under the effect of Tong¡¯s [Eyes of Dominance]. She nced at Lilim¡¯s round belly and sighed.

    ¡¯Indeed. How many children are you nning to have, dad?¡¯

 Chapter 546 - Game Over

    <h4>Chapter 546 - Game Over</h4>

    Chapter 546 ¨C Game Over

    "It¡¯s done. What¡¯s next? Recreate everything from scratch?"

    Morning Star heaved a sigh of relief after he had killed thest god in Heaven. He sneered at the creator in sarcasm.

    The once peaceful yet corrupted realm was now a half-destroyed dimension as Morning Star and Lilith eradicated all immortals, including all first-generation archangels.

    Michael was killed by Lilith per ordered by the creator.

    Morning Star destroyed Heaven by the order of the creator.

    The creator, in turn, destroyed Hell and all demons, emptying the Netherworld.

    On a ck, no civilization remained. Only ruins, corpses, and soul fragments were left behind.

    Karma River no longer existed in this realm. No karmic chain or snake presented to give any immortal karmic power.

    Mortals in this universe were still clueless about what had happened to the afterlife worlds. They continued living their lives and enjoyed their ignorance. However, two of the culprits were exhausted even though their cultivation base was stronger than everybody else.

    16 broken ck wings of Lilith no longer revealed their majestic aura. Their color dimmed as if she was on the verge of death from various soul injuries.

    Morning Star was in the worse shape. He lost count how many times that his soul injuries rpsed during the fight against a thousand 10-wing gods.

    On the other hand, the creator, currently appeared as a bald genderless humanoid being without an eye, a nose, hair, or an ear, smiled from ear to ear.

    "Well done, my children. Now that I have obtained all the lifespan I need, the next Heavenly Dragon Gathering Festival will be easy."

    Heavenly Dragon Festival?

    Lilith knew of this festival. It was something that she wanted to join, but the creator never revealed any information about its existence or detail."

    "What¡¯s that festival anyway? Why did you have to kill off everything? If I had known that you wanted to free me to kill everyone, I would have stayed in that godforsaken dimension and raised Zhang Tong," Lilithined in frustration.

    No monitor or any tool could open a portal to Tong¡¯s universe unless the creator, the one who was holding the administrator power of this universe, created a new system skill and connected them.

    In fact, Lilim¡¯s system and the creator¡¯s system was the same. Each universe had one karmic river, one managing system, and one administrator. They were the three "One Law" that controlled the entire universe¡¯s fate.

    But now, the creator¡¯s universe turned into a broken one, while Tong¡¯s universe waspleted.

    "It¡¯s an emergency, my children. You see, the festival is more important than managing this corrupted universe. Once I get a high rank in the festival, we can always recreate lives and repair the karmic river. I might even get to rule the higher dimension and other dragons!"

    The creator slowly transformed into a dragon, and his voice turned into that of a female. He revealed that he was a she. Her true form appeared as a one-kilometer-tall rainbow scaled fairy dragon.

    16 Rainbow wings slowly merged into a pair of semi-transparent sparkling wings. Her scales looked soft and fragile, yet they could withstand a full-power strike from any 12-wing immortals with ease.

    Her dragon figure was simr to Tong¡¯s nine cursed children. Only, her skin color was different. Tong¡¯s children were all red drakes, but the creator was a full-fledge fairy dragon. They were on a different level.

    The humongous size shocked Morning Star and Lilith.

    "What are you?"

    This was the first time that the creator revealed her identity.

    "Your creator, your ancestor, and your administrator, my foolish children. It has been fun ying with all of you for trillions of years. But it¡¯s time that we have to part."

    The creator opened her mouth. A ck hole emerged and pulled Morning Star and Lilith into it.

    Morning Star, aka Lucifer, stared at his father (now mother) with a bitter smile, "We did everything for you. I punished evildoers for you. I even betrayed my brothers and sisters for you. Is this how you repay us?"

    Lilith didn¡¯t say anything. She mumbled something to herself before a red semi-transparent screen opened before her.

    [Will you transfer the Lilim Heritage Universe?]

    Lilith snickered. She was the one who renamed the fragmented universe as her daughter¡¯s heritage. It would sound like an online game had she reced the [Universe] with [Online].

    This was a fail-safe program that she had rigged the creator¡¯s universe in the case that something bad might happen to her in this realm. She could abandon her body and send her soul into that world regardless of the dimension rift condition. With 16 wing strength, she wasn¡¯t afraid of the risks during the transfer.

    "Yes!"

    [Rebirth in ... 3 ... 2 ... 1]

    [Enjoy your new life in Lilim Heritage Universe]

    Lilith¡¯s body slowly disintegrated into nothingness. Yet, she sneered at the creator.

    "You can go and enjoy that stupid festival, mother! Once I see you again, you¡¯ll pay for what you¡¯ve done to me a billion times!"

    Lilith¡¯s body and soul were no more.

    As for Lucifer, he closed his eyes and shed a tear. For the first time, he prayed for Tong, Friday, and Medusa¡¯s safety.

    ¡¯Medusa, I¡¯m sorry that I¡¯m a failure of a father. I should have allowed you to cultivate both arts.¡¯

    ¡¯Friday... I hope that you can mature and be strong like your mother.¡¯

    ¡¯Tong... Dong Zhou. I hope you can cleanse your soul and start anew. You have done your time... more than enough.¡¯

    ¡¯All of you can¡¯t return to this universe anymore. No matter what the future brings, live strong.¡¯

    That was Morning Star¡¯sst thoughts before he was sucked into the ck hole in the creator¡¯s mouth.

    The creator closed her mouth and scoffed, "Good riddance."

    <<Ding>>

    <<Warning, Lilith has transferred her soul to Lilim Heritage Universe>>

    <<Termination is impossible. Please input a new action against the illegal transfer>>

    She clicked her tongue and dismissed the system menu in annoyance. However, she resummoned it again to peek at what Tong and others were doing.

    Several live broadcast screen appeared. The inter-universe link was never broken. Instead, it was her who told Athena to interfere with the trial and sent a backup goddess and Lilim into that universe.

    Everything was for the sake of creating a backup n. The entire trial world that Tong was living in was there to serve as her new home in the case that she had died in the uing festival.

    ¡¯Dong Zhuo is indeed a good seedling. Sending him to train in Hell and tossing him there was a good choice. Now, keep breeding and raising more monsters for me. Make them stronger than me or Lilith, so I can reincarnate as one of them. Oh, if I win at the festival, I won¡¯t need them anyway. HAHAHAHA!!¡¯

    .

    .

    .

    Lilith¡¯s soul went through a dimension warm hole and arrived in Tong¡¯s universe.

    Unfortunately, due to the hacking program that she had installed in the creator¡¯s system in advance, she arrived at Lilim¡¯s sub-dimension world, where Tong and Lilim kept their nine monsters here.

    Since Lilith¡¯s real body was destroyed to trigger the transfer, her souls entered one of the drake monsters.

    Coincidentally, she got the body of Lilith, the monster with the same name.

    Lilith immediately disposed of the owner¡¯s baby soul and took over the physical body.

    Upon gaining control of her new form, Lilith grumbled.

    ¡¯8-Wing strength? Howme! I had 16, damn it!¡¯

    The other eight siblings stared at Lilith as if they were aware of the change. They walked backward and hissed at Lilith.

    ¡¯How cute! They sound like cats!¡¯

    At first, Lilith wanted to kill all of them. But after seeing their innocent action, she changed her mind.

    ¡¯I should improve this race. They¡¯re so cute!¡¯

    Lilith approached one of them. She got in front of Adam, a drake who stood in front of other siblings to protect them.

    *HISSS!* (You, who are you!?)

    Lilith smiled at Adam, "Rx. I¡¯vee in peace. I¡¯m sorry that I¡¯ve taken the body of your sister, but I mean no harm."

    .

    .

    .

    Tong, Medusa, Friday, and even Liu Yang felt as if they almost had a heart attack.

    Liu Yang widened her eyes as she tried to locate the cause of the sudden shaking heart. Upon finding nothing, she bit her lower lips and gazed at the empty sky.

    ¡¯This feeling, something is terribly wrong! It¡¯s like one of my biggest karma chains has been forcefully cut off!¡¯

    Dong Bai also clenched her heart and panted. Uncontrobly, teardrops rolled down on her cheeks as an image of Morning Star appeared in her mind. She wailed in front of other confused allies.

    As for Medusa, aka Diaochan, she frowned and swallowed her tear. She took a deep breath and looked at the North Star.

    ¡¯Was it you, father?¡¯

    .

    Tong stopped chasing Liu Ping and clenched his chest, thinking that Liu Ping might have done something to him.

    "What the f.u.c.k did you do, Ping!?"

    The dragon skull on a flying bone saucer turned around. Its teeth ttered, yet Tong could hear Ping¡¯s voice.

    "Leave me alone, Zhang Tong! We¡¯ve fought enough! I want to live in peace!"

    It was a lie. Liu Ping could sense that he wasn¡¯t strong enough to fight against Tong at the moment, so he was buying time.

    "Oh, really? Then, why is the system log record tells me that you¡¯re nning to r.a.p.e my wives and torture me?"

    Tong flipped his admin monitors to Ping and revealed the detailed log file, which disyed Ping¡¯s thoughts when he reincarnated into a skeleton body.

    "..."

    Ping stopped running away and transformed into a n.a.k.e.d human. He retained his previous life¡¯s physical body and appearance, but his strength was that of an 8-wing demon even though he didn¡¯t have any wing.

    Had Ping been able to cultivate, he would have be a true monster that Tong wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat in his lifetime.

    Ping was also aware of this fact, and he was hoping to buy time until he could get his first wing.

    Unfortunately, Ping didn¡¯t know that Tong and Lilim had the power to delete his cultivation strength. The power of the administrator was absolute.

    "You¡¯re getting c.o.c.ky, Zhang Tong. You¡¯re just a coward who relies on others to do your job!"

    "Are you sure? I killed you once in the previous life myself, and I killed you a billion times in Hell, no?"

    Ping¡¯s anger soared. He stopped bickering with Tong as he had another idea.

    He nned to consume Tong¡¯s body and get his revenge today! As long as Ping could touch Tong, thetter would die regardless of his cultivation strength.

    Ping charged at Tong at his full speed.

    Although surprised by the sudden attack, Tong¡¯s muscle memory reacted in time. He dodged Liu Ping¡¯s hand that came for his neck.

    Ping¡¯s body expanded outward like a balloon. His skin transformed into bone frames before they detonated into small fragments, leaving only one human skull that was storing Liu Ping¡¯s soul inside.

    A million bone fragments scattered everywhere. A hundred of them hit Tong¡¯s body, but they couldn¡¯t even cause a scratch mark on his skin.

    However, they got stuck to Tong¡¯s body like glue, which was Ping¡¯s aim.

    "I GOT YOU NOW, ZHANG TONG!! YOUR BODY IS MINE!!"

    The bone fragment began to absorb Tong¡¯s life force. One piece of bone could drain 1,000 years of lifespan per second, and over a hundred of them got stuck on Tong.

    His attack was effective against stronger foes!

    But still, Tong didn¡¯t look fl.u.s.tered. He raised his eyebrows, amused by Ping¡¯s struggle.

    "Is that all you can do?"

    Tong fiddled his admin menu. He clicked Ping¡¯s name, which was highlighted as an [Error Reincarnator].

    [Will you disable [Error Reincarnator]¡¯s abilities?]

    "Yes."

    *RUMBLE*

    All bone pieces fell off from Tong¡¯s body. They also released the life essence that they had drained from Tong back into the air.

    Tong didn¡¯t mind that he lost half a million years of lifespan just now. After all, an administrator could deposit or withdraw lifespan from the universe pool.

    In the pool, Lilim stacked over a billion years in there to maintain the entire universe and the karma river. Tong could embezzle a few any time he wanted to.

    <<Ding>>

    Zuo Ci: "Don¡¯t waste your lifespan, Dong Zhuo. Every year is precious. Think of the time when you¡¯re still a mortal with less than a hundred years of life force."

    Tong: "I know. Ping just caught me off guard."

    As usual, Zuo Ci observed the situation and advised Tong from the sideline via the adminmunication channel, which was simr to the n chat system.

    Meanwhile, Ping sensed that something had infiltrated his mind. All of a sudden, he couldn¡¯t feel the connection between his bone fragments and his power.

    "NOOOO!!"

    Ping screamed as his power slowly faded. The me in his skull dimmed, and his consciousness blurred.

    Without special abilities, the skeleton, which was created by [Necromancy] system skill, disintegrated into dust. Ping¡¯s soul was released into the world.

    Tong didn¡¯t let Ping get away this time. He manipted karma chains, which tied him and Liu Ping together for many decades. Although some of them were severed by Lilim, the grudge that they had formed a new chain.

    "Jesus Christ. I finally catch you, my boy. It¡¯s time for some Hell!"

    Tong wouldn¡¯t send Ping back to the river of reincarnation as the other otherworlders. After all, this bastard was beyond help.

 Chapter 547 - Epilogueception (1) (Yellow Turban Family / Former Enemies)

    <h4>Chapter 547 - Epilogueception (1) (Yellow Turban Family / Former Enemies)</h4>

    Chapter 547 ¨C Epilogueception (1) (Yellow Turban Family / Former Enemies)

    Tong got back to his kingdom atst. His family, wives, children, subordinates, friends, and his people celebrated for his return.

    Commoners cheered that their emperor was still alive and kicking. The majestic 10 demon wings were the proof that he was still in power.

    Everybody inquired about what had happened after his disappearance, and Tong told them about the deal he had with Lilim.

    When Diaochan, Dong Bai, and all officers heard that Tong tricked Lilim into giving him the system authority, theyughed for days.

    Tong resumed his emperor position and abolished the election n to maintain his authority. Still, he started distributing wealth andnd rights tomon people, merchants, and his loyal subordinates.

    Since the country was unified, no one argued about their rewards.

    ...

    Years passed, yet the promised gate never opened. Tong, Medusa, Friday, Li Feihong, Liu Yang, and even Pu Jing waited for the home trip, but it never appeared.

    Tong tried to enhance his universe admin tools to see the other side, but he couldn¡¯t find anything.

    Confused and baffled, they turned to Lilim, who was still under the influence of Tong¡¯s brainwashing effect.

    Lilim regained her senses after 500 years of everyone¡¯s help. Unfortunately, the [Eye of Domination] with the enhancement of a 10-wing demon at that time damaged her soul and her memory. She only remembered that Tong was supposed to be her husband, and they promised to be together forever.

    Without Lilim¡¯s knowledge and experience about the administrator system, everyone was at a loss.

    By the time that it reached 1000 AD, all otherworlders gave up waiting to return to the Netherworld.

    Still, everyone had a different future and fate after the civil war had ended.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Zhang Jiao, Zhang Liang, Zhang Bao, Bo Cai =

    Five years after the southern campaign ended, the four reestablished a cultivator sect, called [Zhang Han Heaven], which represented the royal family sect.

    Zhang Jiao acted as the sect master, which his brothers became his assistance, just like when they had found the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Bo Cai worked as the chief elder, and he passed down the story of Tong¡¯s deeds to theter generations.

    The sect dominated in Julu, their hometown. Yellow banners along with their new slogan ¨C Heaven is Eternal. Han Dynasty is Invincible. Everyone in the town wore yellow bandanna or yellow clothes to show respect to Zhang Jiao and Tong.

    After Tong had returned and hugged his father in front of all nearby civilians, Bo Cai sculpted a giant stone statue of Tong and Zhang Jiao hugging, and it triggered a new culture. Children were more outgoing and weren¡¯t afraid to hug their parents in public. Vice versa, parents always hugged their children to express their love.

    Misunderstanding urred. Julu ended up bing the city of love from the outsider¡¯s perspective. Many young couples and their families came here to celebrate their wedding here, believing that was a sacred ground for lovers.

    Zhang Jiao adapted to the changes and the misunderstanding. He changed his sect¡¯s guideline and favor love-and-peace principle.

    Unfortunately, he messed up and formed a Yin-Yang Sect, which encouraged dual-cultivating instead.

    In the end, Tong returned to Julu and tweaked a few guidelines and its teachings so that his father¡¯s sect wouldn¡¯t be branded as an evil or an immoral sect.

    The sectsted for a thousand years before a multi-dimensional gate finally opened in 1200 AD.

    Zhang Jiao and others didn¡¯t know what his descendants and their friends dealt with the dimension gate, but Tong looked distressed when he visited Zhang Jiao and bestowed various system skills to him.

    Zhang Jiao received [Private World] system skills and other necessary abilities from Tong. He was ordered to migrate his entire country into his private world. But that was thest time that the Zhang Tong and Zhang Jiao could be together.

    Fifty years after Zhang Jiao migrated everyone into his dimension, Li Feihong visited Zhang Jaio and his sect in their dimension world to inform a piece of shocking news.

    Zhang Tong was dead.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Sima Family =

    After being crippled, Sima Yi, Sima Lang, Sima Fu, and all Sima n quit their jobs and migrated to Xiapi.

    Yearster, Sima Yi married Zhang Chunhua and had prodigal sons as in history. Sima Shi and Sima Zhao expressed that they wanted to be an official and uproot all the corruption and Tong¡¯s dictatorship.

    However, Sima Yi advised them not to as Tong was too powerful for them to handle.

    Sima Zhao believed in his father, but Sima Shi didn¡¯t. Sima Shi attempted to take the imperial exam to take an official job.

    Unfortunately, Sima Shi was killed on the road while he was on the journey to Ye City.

    Surprisingly, the culprit of the incident was Xu Chu, who everyone believed to have retired along with the Cao Family.

    Sima Zhao wanted to avenge for his elder brother. But again, Sima Yi advised him not to. Sima Yi told his son to report this incident to the officials, so Tong and others could handle it instead.

    Sima Zhao didn¡¯t believe in his father. He hired various cultivators and searched for the murderer.

    Unfortunately, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and Cao Ren raided the Sima House and killed everyone, including Sima Yi, Zhang Chunhua, and Sima Zhao.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Cao Family, Xiahou Family =

    After losing Cao Cao, all Cao and Xiahou House retired from the political world and lived in Qiao City, Cao Cao¡¯s hometown.

    They made a tomb for Cao Cao to respect for his deeds in the other timeline even though this world hated him.

    When Tong returned and resumed his duty as the emperor, Xiahou Dun visited Tong and asked to clear Cao Cao¡¯s name.

    Tong demanded that Xiahou Family and Cao Family had to serve him if he did so, which Xiahou Dun epted.

    As promised, Tong published a new statement at Chibi and Wulin Port, telling the local poption that they hadpletely investigated the epidemic outbreak during the southern campaign and found out that Cao Cao wasn¡¯t the creator of those poison barrels. Instead, it was the work of Gan Ji, who plotted to use them as a sacrifice to kill Dong Bai¡¯s soldiers. Unfortunately, the masterminds died, and Cao Cao ended up taking the mes.

    Tong even built Cao Cao¡¯s statue at Chibi Port and created a story that Cao Cao tried to collect all poison barrels in one ce so that Gan Ji couldn¡¯t use it against the people. Tong went all-out to the point that he erased several soldiers¡¯ memory about the incidents.

    Cao Cao¡¯s name was cleared after a few years. Xiahou n and Cao n adhered to their promises, in which they became Tong¡¯s subordinates.

    A year before the East-West war, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Dian Wei, and Xu Chu increased their cultivation strength to 10 wings.

    One day, they found out that the surviving Sima n¡¯s descendants were plotting rebellion. They assassinated Sima Shi as a warning to Sima Yi.

    Unfortunately, Sima Zhao insisted on going through with his brother¡¯s goal. The two ns acted on their own and avenged for Cao Cao¡¯s children in the other timeline by killing all Sima n members.

    From that day, they continued to act as Tong¡¯s hidden swords.

    But when Cao Cao was reborn as Cao Xian and Tong¡¯s son, Tong appointed Xiahou Yuan as a temporary grandmander of a new legion ¨C Wei Han Legion. Jia Xu and Xun Yu were also reassigned to support this unit as they were from the old Wei.

    Cao Mengde redeemed himself and worked for Tong this time. He grew up and took the helm of Wei Han Legion, which would take an important role in the 300-Year East-West War in the future.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Liu Ping =

    After getting caught, Tong forced him to reincarnate as a dung beetle so that Ping had to live by eating feces forever. Tong also sealed Ping¡¯s bug body in a small ss box.

    At first, Ping resisted by not eating any food provided by Tong. After all, they were human dung.

    Although Ping no longer had any special ability, Tong kept injecting lifespan into him. Ping wanted tomit suicide by starving himself to death, but the starvation torture was too unbearable. Ping ended up eating the poop to live.

    The taste was awful. He could hardly digest it since human poop wasn¡¯t a dung beetle¡¯s primary food. They only ate herbivore creatures¡¯ feces.

    Ping wanted to die, but he couldn¡¯t die. He embraced this humiliation and torture.

    Somehow, Ping got used to eating human feces after 500 years. At that point, Tong got bored torturing Ping. He squeezed the bug and used the system authority to shatter Ping¡¯s soul to pieces.

    Ping got his peaceful death, and his soul fragments entered the reincarnation river. He didn¡¯t remember anything afterward as all his past and present memory was erased forever.

    Unfortunately, Ping didn¡¯t forgive Tong for what he had done. The karma chain between Tong and Ping remained, which woulde back and haunt Tong in thetter days.

    Because of that karma, Zhang Tong died in the fight against the creator in the higher dimension.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Pu Jing, Chen Gong, Zhang Miao =

    Pu Jing had once dominated the declining Roman Empire and almost restored it to the former glory with his intelligence alone. Unfortunately, Romans hated other races and believed that their race held the supremacy over the Asian and ck people. Some of the Romans even envied him because of Pu Jing¡¯s modern knowledge that outshone their culture. They saw Pu Jing as a ve-born Asian man and refused to ept his leadership.

    Pu Jing proved them wrong by killing many hostile roman aristocrats secretly and openly. With Chen Gong and Zhang Miao¡¯s help, they took over the Kushan, allied with the declining Parthian Empire, and destroyed half of the Roman Kingdom during the 10 years that Tong was away.

    However, cultivatorsplicated the war. Septimius Severus, the rising emperor of the Roman Empire, dered that Pu Jing and his forces were the nemeses of the Romans. He united the native cultivators and pushed back against Pu Jing¡¯s mercenary forces.

    In 220 AD, the Immortal Emperor Severus bribed the Parthian Empire and had them backstab Pu Jing Army, excused that Pu Jing was a Han Dynasty¡¯s spy that came to ruin their forces.

    Afterward, the Romans assisted the new rising country, the Sassanid Empire, the descendants of the glorious Persian Empire. They reced the weakened Parthian with the Sasanians. Then, Severus appointed the Sassanid Emperor, Ardashir the First, as their vessel.

    History changed. Sasanians became a vessel state for the Romans. Ardashir raised his weapons against Pu Jing and coordinated with Severus Army. Against the two giants and various native cultivators, Pu Jing¡¯s western campaign failed.

    Chen Gong and Zhang Miao were captured and killed during the fight, but Pu Jing managed to flee and return to where he had started, China.

    Pu Jing decisively surrendered himself to Tong, who had returned from Lilim¡¯s dimension. He even swore allegiance to Tong with his immortal oath.

    Tong appointed Pu Jing as the overseer of the west. He ended up in charge of monitoring the Silk Road and the rtionship with the western countries.

    After maintaining his position for more than thirty years, in 255 AD, the Roman Empire and the Sasanid Empire and waged war against Tong¡¯s Han Dynasty as they were afraid of Pu Jing¡¯s influence.

    The East-West War urred. All Tong¡¯s elite generals and strategists were sent to fight against the Romans.

    Supported by Tong¡¯s elite officers, strategists, and advanced weaponry, Tong¡¯s forces utilized their modern military knowledge and trampled on the countless soldiers of the western alliance army. Romans and Sasanians experienced a disaster campaign and returned home with only a few thousand men. Out of a hundred 8-wing cultivators, only a handful of them managed to scrap their skin and went home alive.

    Pu Jing suggested to Tong that they should destroy the western world and dominate the world, which many strategists agreed.

    Seeing that everyone supported Pu Jing¡¯s suggestion, Tong sent Pu Jing with Wei Han Legion to destroy the Roman Empire. Many 8-wing elites, such as Zhang He, Xu Huang, and Zhang Liao, also apanied them.

    The campaignsted 300 years as Severus proved himself to be worthy opponents. It was recorded in history books as the 300-Year East-West War. As for the result of this historical event, no one could im that they won.

    Tong and Pu Jing failed to control the annexed countries as revolts kept urring. Meanwhile, western countries lost most natural resources to the Han Dynasty.

    In the end, Pu Jing withdrew his forces back to China. Roman, Sasanian, and Kushan ceased to exist afterward, but several new countries emerged on top of the fallen ones.

    For the sake of not having another East-West War, Tong ced a restriction in the admin system that nomoner could cultivate more than 2 wings without his authorization. As for the cultivators, who had already attained a higher cultivation base, they could retain their strength.

    War never urred again under Tong¡¯s watch, until the multi-dimensional gate opened and an outsider informed Tong about the Heavenly Dragon Gathering Festival invitation.

    As for Pu Jing, Tong executed him after he had learned about what Pu Jing had done to the native Romans during the war.

 Chapter 548 - Epilogueception (2) (Small Wives)

    <h4>Chapter 548 - Epilogueception (2) (Small Wives)</h4>

    Chapter 548 ¨C Epilogueception (2) (Small Wives)

    = Lilim =

    Lilim¡¯s personality changed after she had regained her senses.

    After being brainwashed and abused by the system, Lilim had lost most of her previous memory. The only thing in her mind was the love for Tong and her children.

    She gave birth to her tenth cursed son, and she named it "Tong" since she loved him so much.

    Lilim spent most of her time in her private dimension, enjoying her slow life with all the children, who evolved into fine dragons.

    Tong visited her once a week, and he didn¡¯t forget to love her. Sometimes, Tongined about other wives to Lilim that he was always bullied at home.

    She listened to all Tong¡¯s bbering and treasured every moment. As long as Tong was with her, she was happy.

    Although Lilim didn¡¯t know why, her daughter, Lilith, always visited her and yed with her. Lilim enjoyed Lilith¡¯spany and thought that this child just wanted motherly love.

    One day, Lilith tried to tell Lilim that she was her mother, and Tong had tricked Lilim.

    Lilim didn¡¯t believe it. She scolded Lilith for looking down on Tong.

    From that day, Lilith stopped visiting Lilim. The child isted herself and focused on cultivation.

    Lilim could sense that Lilith began to cultivate, but Tong had restricted all children that they couldn¡¯t get immortal wings. She pestered Tong on his next visit that she wanted Lilith to be able to get immortal wings.

    As Tong hadn¡¯t met Lilith before, he didn¡¯t know that Lilith was that [Lilith]. Thus, he adjusted his permission and allowed Lilith to get wings, but he posted some restrictions that she couldn¡¯t harm anyone without his permission.

    For a thousand years, Lilim shut herself in her private dimension. Yet, Tong didn¡¯t fail to visit her once a week. He blessed her with a thousand more cursed children, which became the main poption of Lilim¡¯s world as her children, Friday¡¯s children, and Medusa¡¯s children mated with each other, increasing their numbers rapidly.

    Dong Bai and Diaochan also transferred some of their children here. Surprisingly, they were cursed children as well.

    Medusa, Friday, and Lilim became good friends because of the child-rearing. They often visited Lilim when they had free time. By the time that they realized it, they had already be a big family.

    Years went by, and a mysterious portal opened without Tong¡¯s permission.

    A being, who looked simr to her children, sent her an invitation.

    The Heavenly Dragon Gathering Festival

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Cai Yong, Cai Wenji =

    Cai Yong managed to retain his position as the Minister of Culture and Art throughout his two hundred years of service. He created so many works that people admired him and titled him as [The God of Art].

    Cai Yong retired in 450 AD as he wanted to give his position to theter generations. Also, he had many children that entered the court, who wished to seed in his ranks.

    Tong bestowed him an official title as [The God of Art] as his nickname before his retirement. He enjoyed arge monthly pension for the next 500 years.

    As for Cai Wenji, she remained a permanent beautiful concubine in Tong¡¯s harem. Her etiquette and her manner never changed throughout the long years even though Tong broke her on the bed once a month.

    Cai Wenji managed to attain 6 angel wings, but she stopped cultivating since it wasn¡¯t necessary. Moreover, getting 8 wings might get her into trouble as many generals failed to get their 8th wing. She didn¡¯t want to be sent into a battlefield like Dong Bai, Liu Yang, Zhang Min, Zhang Ying, or Diaochan.

    Tong also bestowed her [Self-Resurrection] system skill as a reward for her dedication.

    Cai Wenji had five more children, three boys and two girls. She had a total of 7 children before she decided that she had enough. Tong respected that decision and controlled himself not to i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.e her again.

    The four princesses married to Tong¡¯s elite generals, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Guan Yu, and Tian Yu. As for the boys, they didn¡¯t get the prince title until they got their 8th wing in thetter years.

    One day, a multi-dimensional gate opened. Cai Yong and Cai Wenji didn¡¯t know why, but Tong sent them to another private world with Zhang Jiao and others.

    Yearster, Li Feihong brought them a piece of bad news.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Du Shi =

    Just like Cai Wenji, she remained as Tong¡¯s concubine regardless of the situation outside the pce.

    Du Shi, too, managed to cultivate 6 wings. As an elite harem politician, she stopped getting another wing to maintain her status quo with other concubines as getting another pair meant war.

    However, she was more fertile than Cai Wenji. Even after giving birth to her 20th child, she quickly recovered her health to her prime by spending a few lifespans. She didn¡¯t miss a night-visiting schedule since she was afraid of falling out of Tong¡¯s favor.

    Du Shi¡¯s personally was outgoing. She wasn¡¯t afraid of partaking a s.e.x.u.a.l act with Tong in an open area. She was one of the few concubines that got more service schedules than others because of her outgoing traits, where others only got once a month.

    Combining her once-a-month schedule with her outdoor ys, her time with Tong could rival that of Lilim or Liu Yang.

    Du Shi even got nicknames from Sun Shangxiang as [Outdoor Girl] and [Exhibitionist], but she didn¡¯t know the hidden meaning behind the titles.

    Simr to others, Tong sent her and her family to Zhang Jiao¡¯s private dimension after an outsider appeared in their universe. Du Shi could never see Zhang Tong again afterward.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Da Qiao / Xiao Qiao =

    After the death of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, the two felt guilty that they betrayed them. Both concubines didn¡¯t care about their duties for years.

    When Tong returned, they cried to Tong and begged him to let them go.

    Tong brought them over to the battle sites near Jianye, where they killed Sun Ce. Tong personally made tombs for Zhou Yu and Sun Ce, and he even showed the location of their souls in the karmic river.

    Tong consoled them that they didn¡¯t do anything wrong, and the counterpart life had nothing to do with their current self and their world.

    Da Qiao was more understanding. She got better and returned to Tong¡¯s harem.

    As for Xiao Qiao, she didn¡¯t believe in Tong for a while. But when she heard that her elder sister got pregnant, she returned to Tong¡¯s harem and demanded a child as well. Herical behavior amused Tong and Da Qiao to the point that they arranged 3P schedules for Xiao Qiao instead of one-on-one sessions.

    Unfortunately, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao got twice-a-month schedules, so their time with Tong was less than other girls. However, Tong always used the [Time Stop y] to make up for the loss of time, which awakened a rare fetish in them.

    Sun Quan found out about their strange behaviorter on and went on scolding Tong for days for ruining his sisters-inw¡¯s characters.

    Both girls bore 4 daughters each. Afterward, they refused to bear another one.

    The same as others, they stopped cultivating after they got their 6th wing. Tong even doubted that it was a culture of his harem that everyone refused to get their 7th wing.

    These two also migrated to Zhang Jiao¡¯s dimension along with other concubines when the portal incident happened. They inquired about the outsider, but Tong never told them anything.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Cao Xian, Cao Qinghe =

    At first, the two concubines refused to service Tong after the death of Cao Cao. They tried tomit suicide, but other concubines stopped them in time.

    After Tong cleaned Cao Cao¡¯s name, their mood got better. They visited Cao Cao¡¯s grave at Chibi and bid their farewell.

    Still, Tong showed them Cao Cao¡¯s soul in the reincarnation river and promised them that he would reincarnate in a good family.

    Cao Xian was smart. She demanded that Cao Cao had to be reincarnated as her and Tong¡¯s son, which shocked everyone.

    Tong agreed nheless. After 10 years, Cao Xian carried the newborn Cao Cao in tears. She named him Cao Mengde instead of using his formal name.

    Still, the reincarnated Cao Cao didn¡¯t have his previous life¡¯s memory. Cao Xian was sad that he couldn¡¯t remember her, but she was d that she got her father back with her.

    Cao Xian retired from the harem afterward, but Cao Qinghe stayed behind to ensure the survival of the Cao House and Xiahou House.

    Because of the political marriage, Cao Qinghe wasn¡¯t enthusiastic about baby-making activities. Despite being warned by Du Shi and Cai Wenji many times, Cao Qinghe wasn¡¯t fond of lowering her status in bed.

    As a result, Tong taught her the hard ways ¨C The Curse Way, the Time Stop Way, and the Outdoor Way.

    Cao Qinghe got broken like Liu Yang after a week. It took her 40 years before she recovered her temperament, but what she did during the time was beyond shameful.

    Cao Qinghe never revealed herzy attitude ever since. But she ended up getting the cultural once-a-month schedule, which was understood as the ursedmon concubine.

    Still, Cao Qinghe, Cao Xian, Cao Mengde, Cao Family, and Xiahou Family were ordered to migrate to Zhang Jiao¡¯s dimension on that certain day.

    At first, Cao Qinghe didn¡¯t think much since Zhang Tong could ovee all adversary every time.

    But she was wrong this time...

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Himiko, Queen of Japan =

    Introduced by Gan Ning, Tong visited the Wo Kingdom after he settled with everything in his country.

    Tong found outter that Himiko was a shaman queen, who acted as an emissary in various asion. The one who actually ruled Japan was still Emperor Chuai of Yamato House.

    Himiko weed Tong with open arms at first. But upon finding out that Tong possessed the administrative authority, she became wary of him.

    Tong promised that he wouldn¡¯t use the system for the sake of his self-interest. It relieved Himiko a little, but she was still afraid of him.

    Fortunately, Zuo Ci tagged along with Tong and ensured that this perverted pedophile wouldn¡¯t use that sort of trick since it would harm Tong¡¯s karma and the karma river. Hearing the sound promise, Himiko trusted Tong a bit more.

    In the beginning, Tong visited Japan for the sake of establishing a profitable trade route.

    But as he visited Japan on work trips often, Emperor Chuai grew wary of Tong and Himiko. The Japan Emperor envied the fame that Himiko had, so he ordered his men to capture and kill the priestess, ming that she had betrayed the Yamato Kingdom.

    As a cultivator, Himiko fled the country and begged Tong for a ce to stay.

    Mimunication happened along the way as they spoke differentnguages. Tong mistook that Himiko wanted to enter his harem, so he took her in his chamber and snu-snued her to his heart content.

    He found out from a trantorter that Himiko only wanted to seek shelter.

    Embarrassed and ashamed by his perverted action, Tong took responsibility and officially titled her as his new concubine.

    As for Himiko, she was confused, angry, embarrassed, and ashamed. Yet, she was d that he was a righteous emperor of a beautiful country, not some fat selfish emperor.

    Unlike the others, she was a diligent cultivator who had simr feather wings as Sun Shangxiang. To respect Himiko¡¯s cultivation schedule, Tong put her on the once-a-month tier. She also refused to get pregnant since it might hinder her cultivation time.

    Himiko was shocked when she found Tong¡¯s true soul. But since Tong was in the middle of redeeming himself, she epted his past.

    Himiko ended up getting 10 wings before the gate incident happened. Still, Tong forced her to enter Zhang Jiao¡¯s dimension along with the others.

 Chapter 549 - Epilogueception (3) (Friday and Liu Yang)

    <h4>Chapter 549 - Epilogueception (3) (Friday and Liu Yang)</h4>

    Chapter 549 ¨C Epilogueception (3) (Friday and Liu Yang)

    = Friday / Dong Bai =

    The empress duties drove Dong Bai nuts. Never in her wildest dream did she expect the job would be so busy to the point that she had to work from 4AM to 8PM.

    More cultivators brought more trouble. Senseless killing and power abusing were everywhere, and Dong Bai was tired of keeping tabs on all civilians.

    Dong Bai couldn¡¯t help but scold Tong every time that she found him cking or mating with other concubines in the daytime.

    Unfortunately, Tong was a sly pervert. He partook of Dong Bai and turning the activities into 3P or 4P, depending on which partner he was doing. Most of the time, Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang, Jia Xu, Lu Zhi, and other civil officers had to clean up the mess and the jobs, left behind by their empress and emperor.

    Fortunately, Li Feihong was there to solve everything. Most of Dong Bai and Tong¡¯s tasks were shoved to this poor man.

    After a year of pressure, Dong Bai finally rearranged and abolished some of her duties. Several superstitious traditional ceremonies were axed, but some creative ones remained. Half of the doc.u.ment jobs were assigned to power-hungry officials, who were fighting for influence, such as Zhuge Liang, Guo Jia, Jia Xu, Ju Shou, Xun Yu, or Xu Shu.

    Although this move was risky since they could wield too much authority, the same as the 10 eunuchs and emperor Ling, Dong Bai wasn¡¯t afraid of them. After all, Tong had the system in his control. The entire universe was his.

    The men also understood this point. Moreover, everyone was busy finding faults of their rivals, so they were careful not to show a slight weakness to others.

    The job handover went well. Dong Bai freed up 10-hour worth of daily work within one go.

    She visited Tong and wanted to brag about it. But then, she realized that Tong only worked one hour a day for years since he came back from Lilim¡¯s dimension.

    Getting angry by herzy husband, Dong Bai assigned the rest of her remaining duties to him and forced him to work in the throne room. She forbade Tong from having outdoor s.e.x with any concubine until he finished his daily work.

    The trick worked like a charm. Aside from diplomacy meetings, ceremonies, or official visits, Tong finished 5 hours-worth of daily jobs within one hour every day so that he could get more time with his wives and families.

    Dong Bai got the boon as she didn¡¯t have to work anymore. She also conspired with her mother, Medusa, to increase her night visit schedules.

    In the end, she got the rare once-a-week tier with Tong. On the bed, Dong Bai was always the attacker, but she always passed out when Tong got serious.

    For a thousand years, Dong Bai bore almost 1,200 children alone! Shepeted with Lilim, Liu Yang, and Diaochan to get the most number of kids, and she won by miles. She couldn¡¯t remember her children¡¯s names, though.

    A side note, half of Dong Bai¡¯s children were cursed children. Tong bestowed Dong Bai [Private Dimension] skill to store these troublemakers, but Dong Bai refused.

    She transferred all her children to Lilim¡¯s dimension. The monster gangs mixed in and yed together, bing the same family.

    When the multi-dimensional gate opened, Dong Bai wanted to enter it right away, but she was stopped by Diaochan.

    Tong, Dong Bai, and Diaochan confronted the outsider, a gigantic dragon that stood several kilometers tall. However, they didn¡¯t fight.

    Tong and the dragon seemed to know each other, but Friday and Medusa didn¡¯t remember where they met. They asked Tong, but he never told them anything.

    The dragon invited them to a higher dimension and participated in a big event, called [Heavenly Dragon Gathering Festival]. It exinedplicated rules and rewards that Dong Bai got confused about.

    Still, she remembered a few rewards that caught her attention.

    Universe Administration System

    It seemed that administrator authority was amodity, and the higher beings were treating them as rewards.

    Tong and Diaochan asked something about universe size, upgrades, karma, and stability assistance tools, but Dong Bai couldn¡¯t understand anything.

    Dong Bai wasn¡¯t so fond of this [Higher Being Competition Event], so she advised Tong and Diaochan to turn the invitation down. Tong also agreed with her and turned it down.

    Unfortunately, before Tong could hand over the invitation card back to the dragon, Diaochan took it and expressed that she wanted to join.

    Dong Bai doubted her mother for a moment. For a second, her eyes looked malicious as if she wanted to kill someone. Dong Bai discoveredter that the dragon ryed the news about Morning Star¡¯s fate to Diaochan, which angered her as well.

    In the end, Tong, Li Feihong, Diaochan, Liu Yang, Sun Shangxiang, Zhang Min, and Zhang Ying followed after the outsider dragon into the dimensional rift.

    Dong Bai stayed behind to take care of Tong¡¯s empire as usual.

    But that day became Dong Bai¡¯s greatest nightmare. Many yearster, she cursed herself from letting Tong and others attending the event. It wasn¡¯t something that they should have participated in.

    Li Feihong, Medusa, Zhang Min, Zhang Ying, Sun Shangxiang, and Liu Yang returned with heavy injuries all over their bodies. However, Zhang Tong never returned.

    Zhang Min cried as she told Dong Bai the sad news.

    Zhang Tong had been killed by the creator!

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Liu Yang =

    Aside from the usual once-a-week duty, Liu Yang¡¯s life was dull and boring.

    Her strength boosted to 10 wings, but she got stuck there because of the oath she had with Medusa.

    Since she had free time, Liu Yang tried to practice double cultivating by trying to awake a demon wing, as trained by Medusa.

    One day, Liu Yang¡¯s doubt of Medusa¡¯s knowledge. Thetter seemed to know something that nobody else knew. Thus, Liu Yang jested that Medusa was in the middle of transmigrating inception or an otherworlder of a higher dimension other than the Netherworld or some sort.

    She got a reaction from Medusa. Thetter sent a killing re at Liu Yang before she retracted them.

    Ever since then, Liu Yang was sure that Medusa hid a secret that no one knew about. She wanted to probe Medusa further, but she was concerned about Zhang Ying.

    Medusa also warned Liu Yang once.

    "Don¡¯t stick your nose where it doesn¡¯t belong. If you value Zhang Ying, stay out of my business."

    It was a direct threat to Zhang Ying. Liu Yang got a scare that Medusa might kill her daughter, so she kept her distance from this former gorgon.

    Still, Liu Yang kept the fa?ade when Medusa and she were in front of others. They pretended to be a big warm family. But deep down inside, Liu Yang was wary of Diaochan, while thetter kept tabs on the former.

    Nobody realized that cracks had divided Diaochan and Liu Yang.

    After a thousand years of s.e.xes and boring charade, Liu Yang bore 800 children for Tong. Unlike the demon mothers, all of her children could cultivate both angel and demon techniques.

    Tong enrolled all of them in a special academy in Zhang Jiao¡¯s dimension. He also brought Liu Yang to live in that ce and begged her not to leave here when the time came.

    Tong¡¯s action was suspicious, so Liu Yang squeezed the info from him on the bed.

    His tongue slipped and confessed his secret. A few years after he had returned to the world, an administrator from another dimension sent him a congrattory message about his victory in this world. They also informed him about the uing [Heavenly Dragon Gathering Festival], which could benefit a newborn universe of his.

    Tong also knew about the situation in Heaven as the sender was someone from a higher dimension.

    Heaven, Hell, Netherworld, everything was gone. Nobody would pick them up from this universe anymore. From now on, they had to self-sustain.

    However, the informant was kind enough to send info before the event had started. He wanted Tong and others to train and get ready for the festival, and he woulde to this world to train Tong¡¯s subordinates personally.

    Liu Yang doubted that it was a good idea since she wasn¡¯t sure if the informant was trustworthy. However, she couldn¡¯t utter a word about Medusa since she might be watching from afar.

    In the end, Liu Yang didn¡¯t snitch Medusa.

    When the dragon visited their dimension, Liu Yang tagged along with Tong and others to see what the higher dimension and what the festival looked like.

    Curiosity kills the cat. Liu Yang regretted her decision.

    The festival was as its name, a gathering of powerful dragons of various universes. All of them were administrators, entities, and strong dragons.

    Tong and his friends stood out like a sore thumb since they came here as humanoid cultivators. All dragons mocked them and called them as [Non-Entities].

    Liu Yang wanted to teach these monsters a lesson and was on the verge of challenging one of the dragons.

    However, Medusa suddenly transformed into a giant snake, a gorgon dragon. She stood up for others and bickered with the offending dragons.

    Enmity was in the air.

    Before they started a fight, all of them were pulled into their seats, which was a small. Representatives from all universes were dragged into their perspectives, which orbited around a nk silver star.

    The grand emperor of all administrators and universes appeared and exined the rules of this festival. Each universe could send one representative at a time to contest for a prize.

    Thepetition was like a mixture of a battle royale and an auction. The grand emperor would put a bait reward on a pedestal. Then, those universe admins who desired the prize would send one representative into the silver world within a minute after the prize wasid out. Only one final victor could im the reward.

    Tong and others didn¡¯t participate in any of thepetitions at first since millions of dragons kept jumping into the. All the prizes were tempting, such as 20 digits years of lifespan, new admin system features, expanding universe size, karma severance tools, cultivation techniques, and absurd weapons that could destroys with one swing.

    This was a contest between overlords from all universes. This ce was not where they belonged!

    Tong told everyone that they would not participate in any of the fights since there was no rule that they had to join one. Everyone agreed to stand aside and observe the festival.

    The eventsted a few decades as some fight took longer than they had expected. A million of dragons died in the battles.

    During this time, Tong and others pestered Medusa to exin her identity and situation.

    Medusa patiently exined about her real identity...

    ...

    Liu Yang, Tong, and others couldn¡¯t ept the truth. They bickered with Medusa for a while before they gave up.

    After 50 years of watching idly, the festival was over. From that point on, it was a free challenge and betting. Any universe could challenge other universes, but the challenged could always decline without repercussion.

    Unlike the real festival, everyone wasn¡¯t in the mood of fighting anymore as champions from various dimensions died.

    Yet, one of the universes challenged Medusa.

    It was a fairy dragon that came from the universe [Netherworld Heaven]. The challenger provoked Medusa that her father died pointlessly.

    The dragon revealed herself as their [Creator]. She had imprisoned Morning Star¡¯s soul, killed all gods, and destroyed their Heaven and Hell. She staked a universe bet ¨C The victor could im the loser¡¯s universe.

    The creator¡¯s move reeked [Trap] from a mile away. Yet, Medusa, Liu Yang, and Tong lost their cool when she mentioned that Morning Star was trash.

    Everyone jumped into the fight since the creator challenged everyone in the universe.

    ... The result was a disaster. Tong died.

 Chapter 550 - Epilogueception (4) (Medusa)

    <h4>Chapter 550 - Epilogueception (4) (Medusa)</h4>

    Chapter 550 ¨C Epilogueception (4) (Medusa)

    Medusa held many secrets ever since she was born.

    As Liu Yang had suspected, she was an otherworlder, a reincarnator of a higher dimension who came to y in the lower dimension. She had been roleying as Morning Star¡¯s adopted daughter for countless years.

    Medusa once participated in the Heaven Dragon Gathering Festival and died. However, she had prepared a backup body prepared in this dimension in advance, but she had to restart from square one.

    But her life wasn¡¯t worry-free. Many local gods and goddesses wanted her dead because of her race and her inheritance. Fortunately, Morning Star, aka Lucifer, saved her and took her in as his daughter.

    Medusa was trained under Morning Star despite that her former body was stronger than him. Yet, she pretended to be weak and continued training diligently. Medusa wanted to train her former art, the rainbow wing cultivation, but she was afraid of the creator, who was the administrator of this domain. Thus, sheid low.

    Later on, Medusa adopted a newborn demon girl as her daughter, Friday, to kill her boredom and wait for the day that she could regain her former glory and fight on the glorious stage once more.

    Still, the father-daughter rtionship softened her heart. After a thousand years, she forgot about the festival and focused on living her life as a good demon king¡¯s daughter.

    Then, Tong came by. Medusa was shocked when she found out that Tong was once Dong Zhou, but he had more karma points than she had expected.

    Morning Star ordered her to rope him in and convert Tong so that they could gain another potential 10-wing demon.

    Medusa sent Friday to seduce Tong and she seeded. However, it seeded because of the iing trail, which was rigged by one of the goddesses.

    It was dubious how a newly recruited angel could sabotage the trial under the watch of many 10-wing and 8-wing angels and gods. Medusa suspected that someone with a higher power might have interfered, and the prime suspect was the creator.

    Still, Morning Star trusted the creator as she was the founder of Heaven, Hell, and their cultivation techniques.

    Afterward, Medusa and Friday followed Tong into the current world despite her doubts. As someone from a higher dimension, she believed that the creator was probably aware of her existence in the domain.

    Moving to the trial world was risky since she didn¡¯t know Lilith very well. She was rumored to be a dangerous individual, but she was sealed by the creator.

    ...

    The trial was rough, but Tong made it to the end. He managed to unify the country and entrapped Ping¡¯s soul.

    Medusa admired how Tong got through predicaments using his perverted and trolling mindset. She was amazed that Tong even forced Liu Yang and Lilim into submission with his Johnny.

    Along the way, Liu Yang caught the hints of Medusa¡¯s secrets, but she left her alone. After all, Liu Yang was perfect for being Tong¡¯s seedbed to popte more rainbow wing cultivators. She could always send them to various habitables to create more mortals, expanding soul cirction and life force.

    Still, Medusa enjoyed the post-marriage life. For a thousand years, Medusa manipted Tong¡¯s night activities, and gave birth to 1,100 cursed babies.

    Medusa was overjoyed that these babies were actually evolvable drakes, which could grow up into dragons. However, they could also devolve into hydras, a sub-species of demon dragons.

    For the sake of ensuring their growth, Medusa entrusted them to Lilim. She also found out that Lilim and Friday also gave birth to many cursed children.

    East-West War urred on the way. Medusa, Liu Yang, and Friday wanted to join the fun and kill some Roman soldiers. However, Tong stopped his family from interfering in this war, telling them that it would harm their karma.

    It was suspicious. They tortured Tong to squeeze the information, but Tong¡¯s mouth was too tight. In the end, Zuo Ci pledged to spare Tong, so everyone left him alone.

    The war ended with no decisive winner, but the western world was half-destroyed.

    Everything was in their favor. Unfortunately, the sudden festival ruined Medusa¡¯s mood.

    At first, she only epted the invitation so that she could spy on others and the current powerhouses. Medusa didn¡¯t expect that the creator would show up and challenged her.

    Of course, she nned to decline the pointless bet since she was currently much weaker than a 16-wing cultivator with a fairy dragon physical body.

    But once the creator told them that she had Morning Star¡¯s soul and she had destroyed Netherworld, Tong, Liu Yang, and Medusa were enraged. The creator even gave them a handicap by fighting all of them at once.

    Everyone epted without hesitation. They didn¡¯t believe that a 16-wing dragon could contest against their intelligence, thebination of cheat system skills.

    The grand emperor allowed them to use system skills of their universe without restraint, so Tong, Medusa, Liu Yang, Zhang Ying, Zhang Min, Li Feihong, and Sun Shangxiang went all out.

    Medusa used her natural power to the fullest. The gorgon dragon kept interrupting the creator¡¯s abilities while Tong and others continued to harass their enemy.

    The fight was in their favor in the first half. But once the creator had enough, she summoned a ck hole over the stadium.

    The ck hole couldn¡¯t harm the stadium, but it drained Tong and others¡¯ lifespan at a rate of a million years per second, and it created an attraction force that tried to suck them into the abyss.

    Li Feihong opened a sub-dimension portal and put half of the creator¡¯s body into it. Then, he closed the portal, which severed her body in half.

    The creator screamed in pain. Yet, she didn¡¯t stop the ck hole skill. She activated a detonation sequence, which would create a supernova out of the exploding condensed ck hole.

    The ck hole gravity got more intense. Zhang Min, Zhang Ying, and Hua Shi almost got pulled into the abyss.

    Seeing that everyone was in a pinch, Tong summoned dimensional gates and pulled everyone into Li Feihong¡¯s dimension. He jumped at the fairy dragon¡¯s head and activated his [Eyes of Dominance].

    Using the few precious seconds of confusion, Tong forced the creator to stop the explosion and spat out Morning Star¡¯s soul.

    He got everything he wanted, but the fairy dragon snapped out of Tong¡¯s brainwashing skill. She returned the favor and used the same skill on Tong.

    Tong was ready for the retaliation as he activated his soul detonation in advance. He activated his admin macro program to automatically send Morning Star¡¯s soul and his soul into Li Feihong world. He also didn¡¯t forget to release all of his karmic subordinates and cancel the soulmate contract, so no one would die along with him.

    Tong¡¯s soul detonated before the domination effect took ce. The enhanced explosion destroyed the remaining fairy dragon body, but it failed to kill her soul.

    The creator¡¯s soul flew away to reincarnate in a backup body in her universe. As for Tong¡¯s soul fragments, they went to Li Feihong¡¯s private dimension.

    Medusa and the crews were shocked by the sudden self-sacrifice. However, she was d that his soul fragments were still around, and Morning Star¡¯s soul could still be healed.

    Without iming their prize, everyone asked the universe emperor to send them back home.

    Thus, everyone came home, tattered and injured. They also brought everyone a piece of bad news.

    Tong was killed by the creator. However, they could reincarnate him since they had the system authority. Medusa and everyone visited Zuo Ci, who was promoted as a new admin by default.

    Zuo Ci was nice enough to pass on his authority to Medusa, so she could tamper with the karma river herself.

    Medusa spent a hundred years, repairing Tong¡¯s soul and Lucifer¡¯s soul.

    When she sent both of them to the reincarnation river and arranged new bodies for both of them, Lilith visited Medusa and confessed about her secrets.

    Lilith revealed that she was the [Lilith], the 16-wing demoness that the creator had trapped. She inquired about the creator¡¯s current status.

    Medusa recounted the story about their bet and the battle result since they were now allies.

    Lilith said that the creator would be back. She, too, was a reincarnated dragon that was living in the creator¡¯s domain.

    Lilith volunteered that she would participate in the next festival as their vanguard. She wanted to get her revenge.

    Medusa wasn¡¯t against it. She allowed Lilith to prepare for the next festival since they had resources.

    Tong reincarnated into this universe a hundred yearster. Medusa stayed as the system administrator for the next millenniums.

    Medusa, Li Feihong, and Lilith continued participating in the festival for two more times. In one of the festivals, Medusa managed to score a big win and obtained a brand new universe with an advanced system.

    She moved with her family to the new universe and became a new administrator there. As for the current universe, [Chaos Gxy Universe], she gave it to Li Feihong as the new Tong refused to inherit it.

    In the new universe, Medusa and some of her children got their peaceful and tranquil life. She stopped attending the festival events as everyone managed to obtain what they wanted.

    Medusa refused to live with Tong again since she was ashamed of her hidden secrets. She distanced herself from everyone else, but she kept in touch by using admin messenger to chat with them once in a while.

    Tong refused Medusa¡¯s divorce proposal. He insisted that they should reunite as one family again. Yet, Medusa kept refusing. She remained as a single mother for the years toe.

    Until Medusa ran into the reincarnation of the creator...

    As for what Tong, Morning Star, Lilith, and the other family members did afterward, it was another story.

 Chapter 551 - Epilogueception (5) (Li Feihong)

    <h4>Chapter 551 - Epilogueception (5) (Li Feihong)</h4>

    Chapter 551 ¨C Epilogueception (5) (Li Feihong)

    Working as a prime minister was a tough lifestyle. Li Feihong had to go throughints and faulty usations on a daily basis as he cleaned up for Dong Bai¡¯s mess.

    Yet, he neverined or voiced his opinion. Li Feihong was a happy man.

    After the grand war between their forces and the western alliance, Li Feihong married Lu Lingqi and took her in as his concubine.

    With two beautiful wives, Zhang Min and Lu Lingqi, he was living a dream life.

    After he got his 10th wing, Diaochan released him from his subordination. He was free to cultivate his 11th wing.

    However, Li Feihong didn¡¯t try to get his 11th wing right away. He reviewed the demonic path and tried to get rainbow wings like his two sons.

    One of them was Lu Bu¡¯s son, but the other was Zhang Min and Li Feihong¡¯s son.

    A couple years were enough for Li Feihong¡¯s rigorous research. He managed to cultivate both paths and got himself 10 rainbow wings, which became a target of envy by other generals.

    Lu Lingqi pestered Li Feihong to open a sect to teach everybody. Then, no one couldin about his newfound power.

    Li Feihong refused. Instead, he gave his techniques to Zhang Jiao, who already had a sect that was supporting the royal family.

    This angered Lu Lingqi. She got into a fight with Li Feihong, which ended up in divorce.

    Lu Lingqi returned to Lu Bu and lived a solitary life afterward, but she hoped that Li Feihong would visit her and beg for forgiveness.

    Yet, the dimwit Li Feihong couldn¡¯t understand a woman¡¯s thoughts. He went into depression, which interrupted his cultivation momentum. He failed to notice that his wife was waiting for him.

    Then, the dragon arrived.

    Li Feihong and Zhang Min tagged along with Tong and Medusa since they had 10 wings. Surprisingly, Himiko expressed that she wanted to stay behind with Dong Bai, so they could maintain the empire and ensure its safety from foreign invasion.

    The festival was an eye-opener for Li Feihong and the crews. All overlords from various universes disyed their imagination, cheat skills, and supreme cultivation strength.

    Li Feihong took notes that the highest cultivation base was 20 wings, but the grand emperor only had 14 wings. It seemed that in thetter stages, it was apetition of foundation and system skills. Only ones who took their time reinforcing their foundation won the race.

    This inspired Li Feihong that he might be able to defeat stronger foes. He nned to return home and visit Lu Bu to ask for a spar, and he might as well reconcile with Lu Lingqi.

    Unfortunately, the creator appeared and challenged Medusa and Tong into a fight. She even allowed everyone to take part in their handicap battle.

    Li Feihong didn¡¯t hesitate when Tong and Medusa jumped into theary stage.

    The battle was a new experience for all participants. Li Feihong wasn¡¯t the only one who gained something from observing other overlords fighting as Sun Shangxiang, Zhang Min, Zhang Ying, and Liu Yang coordinated their teamwork and pinned a stronger foe to a corner.

    Li Feihong used his warp gates and his tanky self-resurrection to confuse the creator. But that trick didn¡¯tst long.

    When the creator summoned a massive ck hole, she disabled Li Feihong¡¯s self-revive skill since the lifespan drain was his kryptonite.

    Li Feihong didn¡¯t have enough lifespan to resurrect anymore. Still, he didn¡¯t give up.

    Li Feihong used hisst few remaining years to open arge portal and pushed half of the fairy dragon¡¯s body into it.

    Then, he closed it!

    The theory worked as Li Feihong had predicted. The dragon¡¯s body was cut in half.

    Half of her lower parts stayed in Li Feihong¡¯s world, while the rest was still on the stage!

    Still, Li Feihong was out of lifespan. He was helpless in this battle.

    Suddenly, Tong used his authority to manipte his skill. He shoved everyone into Li Feihong¡¯s world and closed it.

    When Li Feihong came to his senses, Tong¡¯s soul and Morning Star¡¯s soul entered his world. That was enough to tell a story of what had happened.

    Zhang Min and Zhang Ying wailed uncontrobly as they med themselves for their powerlessness.

    Sun Shangxiang was indifferent since she had once experienced a reincarnation. She believed that Tong would be back in a few years. Still, she was annoyed that she had to wait again before she could be together with him.

    Liu Yang screamed in frustration. She, too, had the same thoughts as Sun Shangxiang.

    Everyone returned home, dejected.

    But when Li Feihong heard that Tong could be reincarnated into this world again, he was delighted.

    Unknowingly, Li Feihong resumed his lifestyle as if nothing had happened. He also reconciled with Lu Lingqi and brought her back to his dimension again.

    Li Feihong and Lu Lingqi had a child as a result. However, twisted development ensued.

    Medusa reincarnated Tong as Li Feihong¡¯s son!

    As soon as Tong opened his eyes again in this world, he smiled at Li Feihong and uttered the first words, using the help of his force cirction knowledge to rece his vocal cord.

    "What¡¯s up, bitch?"

    Lu Lingqi refused to raise Tong as she hated him. She dumped Li Feihong yet again.

    Li Xin and Li Huang, the two sons of Li Feihong, danced in joy as their new brother was once the legendary emperor Zhang Tong. They looked forward to assisting this former emperor.

    Li Feihong had a headache. He couldn¡¯t name Tong as [Li Tong] as it might anger Tong¡¯s subordinates.

    For the sake of staying neutral, Li Feihong named Tong as [Xian Tong], using the word ¨C Xian ¨C as the Immortal Xian.

    [Zhang Tong] might have died, but [Xian Tong] reced him. Funny enough, Tong¡¯s former wives expressed that they wanted to raise him.

    It baffled Li Feihong that they wanted to keep Tong. Since it was impropriated to keep Tong around, he gave him to the concubines.

    Again, Li Feihong angered Zhang Min and Lu Lingqi. This time, Zhang Min dumped him.

    Li Feihong was confused, questioned his wives what he had done wrong. Unfortunately, Lu Lingqi and Zhang Min didn¡¯t talk to him again.

    Sad and depressed about his marriage life, Li Feihong abandoned everything and cultivated like a mad man.

    A thousand yearster, another festival invitation arrived.

    Li Feihong entered the festival again as a changed man. He wielded 16 rainbow wings, which was the same rank as the creator. Although Lilith, Medusa, Lu Bu, and a few curious generals took part in it this time, Li Feihong ended up taking the spotlight.

    Li Feihong jumped into the firstpetition without caring about what reward was ced on the pedestal. He fought without caring for his life and in a thousand cultivators and dragons with various strength alone.

    He won the first battle, but Li Feihong went insane. He jumped into the next fight without rest.

    Again, he won. At that point, all dragons¡¯ attention was on Li Feihong and his madness.

    The grand emperor got amused. He put his crown on the pedestal, cing his throne on the line. He also jumped into the stage to challenge all greedy dragons if they desired his throne.

    Once more, Li Feihong jumped into the battle. However, no dragon dared to interfere with this madness.

    This time, Li Feihong got beaten ck and blue, but the emperor didn¡¯t kill him. Instead, he gave the throne to Li Feihong to reward his madness bravery.

    The grand emperor said that he wanted to retire from this festival thingies, so he left it to a madman like Li Feihong. He mocked thetter that he was looking forward to the future festivals under his reign.

    Li Feihong got back to his senses a few dayster. When he found out that someone had entrusted a difficult task for him again, he wailed.

    "WRRRRYYYYYYYY!!!"

    ...

    Many festivals took ce under Li Feihong¡¯spetition formats. Instead of auction-like battles, Li Feihong used tournament temtes, round-robin temtes, ser temtes, and evendder temtes in mobile games¡¯ PVP system.

    Every festival was no longer the same. It sparked interests from more dragons and cultivators in various universes, including the former emperor.

    As a supreme being with an almighty system, Li Feihong created random nonsensical items as rewards ¨C Zombie Virus, Timefreezing watch, realistic attachable male genital for girls, iPhone666, or a collection of dragon art from human worlds.

    As madness as it looked, many lunatic dragons desired those items. They didn¡¯tin as they participated in the tournaments in earnest.

    One of the festivals, Lilith and Medusa asked Li Feihong to set up a trap to kill the creator.

    Li Feihong did just that. He put a new reward, a nk body with 20-rainbow-wing physical strength, into a special tournament with an expensive entrance fee. All participants had to pay five billion years of lifespan to join.

    However, Li Feihong didn¡¯t take any from Lilith. He also allowed her to hide an assistant within her dragon body before the game had started.

    The creator took the bait and joined. She ended up fighting Lilith.

    Lilith sessfully killed the creator, avenging for her previous death. However, Li Feihong had to ban her for ten future festivals as she vited the rules in front of other dragons.

    Medusa was also satisfied with the result despite that the creator¡¯s soul managed to reincarnate into another nk body. She returned to her universe and never participated in another festival again.

    Li Feihong visited the creator, who was now a powerless girl. Thinking that this girl might cause trouble if he left her alone, Li Feihong tricked her into joining Lilim¡¯s universe to recuperate from her loss of power.

    Currently, at Lilim¡¯s universe, several thousand years had passed, and many habitable worlds had changed. Tong¡¯s subordinates and his civilians migrated to Zhang Jiao¡¯s sub-dimension and abandoned the old world. They moved into Xian Tong¡¯s new domain, [Old Heaven], a renamed universe, which the creator had ced as a bet in the first festival. It was also the domain where Heaven and Hell used to exist.

    As for the current Lilim¡¯s domain, Li Feihong renamed it as...

    Lilim Heritage Online

    Lilith was now the administrator of this universe. Li Feihong was sure that Lilith would have a good time torturing her nemesis in here.

    Li Feihong forgot that Tong¡¯s cursed children ran rampant in this universe. By the time that he discovered the new mess, Lilith already created multiple sub-dimensions and almost destroyed everything for the sake of ying with her nemesis.

    Also, Medusa sent him a warning message as she had discovered a piece of pressing news.

    Morning Star had reincarnated into Lilim¡¯s universe. It was likely that the two would run into each other again.

 Chapter 552 - Epilogueception (6) (300 Years East-West War Part 1)

    <h4>Chapter 552 - Epilogueception (6) (300 Years East-West War Part 1)</h4>

    Chapter 552 ¨C Epilogueception (6) (300 Years East-West War Part 1)

    Tong¡¯s life was good after he trapped Ping¡¯s soul in a dung beetle and put him in a ss box. He believed that Ping got what he deserved ¨C eating shit for the rest of eternity.

    Guan Yu pledged to Li Feihong as expected, but the former joined Tong¡¯s rankster as Li Feihong forced him to.

    Tong admired how Li Feihong was so loyal despite his ambitious instinct. He wanted to give Li Feihong another daughter of his to reward his loyalty. Unfortunately, Zhang Min threatened to sever ties with Tong, so he backed off.

    Tong officially married Sun Shangxiang the next year. She was so happy that she cried during the ceremony.

    However, on their first night, Sun Shangxiang did what she wanted to do for years, castrating Tong.

    All male pce officialsughed and saluted to Sun Shangxiang as they wanted to do what she did. She satisfied everyone who was tired of Tong¡¯s loud night activities.

    But they changed their mind and felt sorry for Tong the next day. Sun Shangxiang stuffed all Tong¡¯s severed regenerated genitals and put them as her room decorations.

    The number of Tong¡¯s things was shocking ¨C 666.

    When the officials saw Tong¡¯s paleplexion and withered skin. They cried and begged Sun Shangxiang not to torture their emperor as he looked too pitiful.

    Sun Shangxiang stopped torturing Tong afterward, but she demanded extra time with Tong. He had to skip work and be with her to make up for their lost time.

    Diaochan allowed Sun Shangxiang to monopolize him by giving a special schedule for her, once-a-week. Thetter didn¡¯t know that others also had simr schedules.

    ...

    Zhen Ji and Himiko joined Tong¡¯s haremter on. Diaochan arranged Tong¡¯s schedule as the followings;

    Dong Bai ¨C Once a week.

    Diaochan ¨C Once a week.

    Sun Shangxiang ¨C Once a week.

    Lilim ¨C Once a week.

    Liu Yang ¨C Once a week.

    Du Shi ¨C Once a month + daytime outdoor y.

    Cai Wenji ¨C Once a month.

    Da Qiao / Xiao Qiao ¨C Twice a month + 3P y.

    Cao Qinghe ¨C Once a month.

    Cao Xian ¨C Retired ¨C No schedule.

    Himiko ¨C Once a month.

    Wu Guotai ¨C Once a month.

    Four weeks, 27 days, all Tong¡¯s schedule was set in stone, and nobody could change it. No concubineined about it either.

    ...

    The surprise return of Pu Jing brought Tong a new headache. At first, Tong put Pu Jing to clean up his mess and manage the Silk Road.

    However, The Romans and the Sassanid thought that Tong sent Pu Jing to ruin their countries. They sent an envoy to demandpensation or they would dere war.

    Of course, Tong killed the envoy and sent it back to mock the aggressive empires.

    However, Diaochan and Zhuge Liang informed Tong that it was a trick of Septimius Severus, the Roman emperor. Tong was framed and the Romans used this excuse to gather allies to invade China.

    Pu Jing also described the culture of the west cultivators. Unlike them who emphasized solid foundation, they focused on the number of 8-wing angels and demons over the quality. As such, aristocrat families sacrificed many ves to increase their lifespan, giving their children more chances to be elite immortals with 8 wings.

    The number of 8-wing cultivators in the west was a staggering 100!

    Many officials wanted to delete the Roman army with his system authority, but Tong mysteriously refused. He said that it would leave bad karma on him, and it would weaken his cultivation strength.

    Without a choice, everyone dropped the admin power out of their chess piece. Tong mobilized everyone instead.

    The Sun n

    The Cao n

    The Xiahou n

    Guan Yu

    Zhang Liao

    Zhang He

    Xu Huang

    Zhao Yun

    Huang Zhong

    Lu Bu

    Dian Wei

    Xu Chu

    Ma Chao

    Over one million soldiers, whose strength was between 2 to 4 wings, gathered at to contest against the uing Western Army.

    The West Alliance prepared a million cultivators with 4 wings and 100 8-wing cultivators. Severus went all-out to destroy the East Empires.

    However, the quality between the east and the west was different. All great generals had at least 8 wings while some of the royal families, such as Tong, Lilim, Diaochan, Li Feihong, and even Sun Quan, were rocking 10 wings.

    Zuo Ci acted as the East¡¯s diplomat. He negotiated with Severus to stop this senseless war.

    Severus refused and attempted to kill Zuo Ci.

    Zuo Ci was offended. He killed a few generals of Severus and returned to inform his failure to Tong.

    The 300-Year East-West War took ce afterward and was recorded in this world history.

    Pu Jing took full responsibility for this war. With the help of Tong¡¯s quality generals, he led the Wei Han Legion to attack Rome.

    Ten millions of civilians died in the crossfire. Less than ten western cultivators managed to scrap their lives back home.

    Some of Tong¡¯s elite generals died during the war.

    ...

    = Zhang He / The Ghost Legion =

    Zhang He brought fear to his enemies and was nicknamed as the ghost of the battlefields. With his 8 wings and his geography insight, his unit of 50,000 cavalries decimated northern European and British Isle cities. He killed 20 8-wing cultivators alone by assassinating them in the dark while his army routed over 100,000 Immortal Praetorian Guards of the Roman Army.

    Unfortunately, while trying to kill his 21st target, he ran into the only 10-wing cultivator of the west and a strategist that no otherworlder could believe that he should be here in this period.

    The cultivator was the emperor Severus himself, and his strategist called himself as the reincarnation of a great person - Hannibal Barca.

    Zhang He, Xun You, Qu Yi, Gao Lan, and Han Hao were killed. Out of 50,000 soldiers, only a thousand managed to return home and informed Tong of the disastrous campaign.

    Tong sent all these loyal officers¡¯ soul to the karma river, and used the system authority to reincarnate them as his descendants. These men rejoined the war in theter years, carrying Zhang surnames and the royalty banners.

    All of them lived on and saw the end of the long war. They moved to Zhang Jiao¡¯s dimension several hundred yearster after the first festival started.

    ...

    = Zhang Liao, the Invincible Rider =

    During the first few years of the East-West War, Zhang Liao took the vanguard role to spearhead against Sassanid and Kushan¡¯s coordinating invasion.

    Sassanid and Kushan bribed their ways through the Xiongnu territories and attacked China from the north. The massive army of 500,000 soldiers reached China¡¯s northern borders.

    Tian Yu, Wei Yan, and Liu Xie, who were protecting the Pyongyang, were attacked by the coalition of three Korea kingdoms. Combined with the surprise attack of Hannibal Barca, Tian Yu, Wei Yan, and Liu Xie were killed.

    Severus breached into the You Province, but they ran into Lu Bu Army.

    Lu Bu used the familiarity of the terrain and drove Hannibal¡¯s forces back outside of the great wall. But more roman, Sassanid, and Kushan¡¯s soldiers kept pouring onto the battlefield.

    The northernnd was mostly prairie, so Guo Jia sent Zhang Liao and Lu Bu along with 100,000 Red Hare Riders to push back against their attack.

    For the first time, Guo Jia and Hannibal Barcapeted in their troops maneuvering skills. However, Guo Jia had the upper hands as his soldiers possessed advanced weapons and a firmer foundation.

    Lu Bu immediately routed Sassanid Army and Kushan Army. He pushed the battle back further into the Xiongnund.

    Guo Jia ced Zhang Liao behind to protect the supply fortress, so Lu Bu Army¡¯s chain of supply wouldn¡¯t be cut off.

    However, Hannibal sent air forces of 100,000 4-wing cultivators from Kushan¡¯s remnants to bomb Zhang Liao¡¯s supply camps, using Tong¡¯s old tactic, oil barrels, and fire.

    Facing against airborne units, Zhang Liao wasn¡¯t afraid. He deployed make-shift AA battalions, created by system skills. Tong also adjusted Red Hare¡¯s genes and made them into flyable horses to surprise the invaders.

    Zhang Liao led the 2,000 Flying Red Hare unit and challenged the cultivator army in the sky while the rifle squads released hell to the sky.

    Getting out-teched, Hannibal retreated his air unit, but he drew Zhang Liao away from the base. While he was retreating, he sent another underground unit, which had been digging for 5 kilometers to ambush Zhang Liao¡¯s camps from below.

    The moles suddenly appeared when Zhang Liao was away. The camps were burnt to the ground, and some of the modern rifles were stolen. The ambush unit also sessfully retreated before Zhang Liao could return to kill them all.

    At the end of the raid, Lu Bu Army¡¯s supply ran out while Zhang Liao¡¯s bases were destroyed. However, Hannibal paid a heavy price of 50,000 lives for this result.

    Zhang Liao Army suffered much fewer casualties as Hannibal only targeted structures and supplies. Five thousand of his troops died.

    However, they got into a predicament the next day. As their ammunition, weapons, and food were destroyed, Hannibal used this chance and isted Lu Bu. He pushed Lu Bu Army to Siberian, aka modern world Russia.

    Lu Bu¡¯s soldiers were forced to retreat back home by flight and abandon their precious warhorses and cannons. However, Lu Bu pressed back against Hannibal¡¯s weak soldiers and in over 100,000 men by himself.

    But that was Hannibal¡¯s trap. Septimius Severus brought 20 8-wing cultivators and 1,000 6-wing demons to hunt down Lu Bu.

    Lu Bu killed 500 demons, but their soul-detonation injured him. He was on the verge of being defeated.

    But then, Zhang Liao led a small task force of 800 flying riders, breaking through Severus¡¯ elite praetorian army.

    Zhang Liao saved Lu Bu, who was on the verge of death despite being a 10-wing angel. During the fight, Zhang Liao awakened his 9th and 10th wing, bing another powerhouse. His warcry, [I am Zhang Liao!], frightened every roman soldier he came across.

    Severus saw that his troops suffered too many casualties because of these two men. He decided not to push his luck and didn¡¯t pursue Zhang Liao¡¯s task force.

    The next day, Severus regretted his decision. Zhang Liao came out again with his flying red hare unit and dropped Pu Jing¡¯s newest creation, a napalm bomb, onto the roman legions.

    While Severus Army was in confusion, Zhang Liao got close to Severus and almost killed him. Unfortunately, by Severus¡¯ side, another veteran general, Quintus Anicius Faustus, who had conquered half of the Africa Continent, protected and escorted his liege out of the danger zone.

    Anicius Faustus was simr to Zhang Liao. He got his 10th wing during the war.

    Zhang Liao and Anicius Faustus got into a duel. Both injured each other, but Zhang Liao had the advantage of weapon choices. His modern rifle and his HE grenades crippled Faustus and Severus, which forced them to run for their lives.

    Zhang Liao didn¡¯t pursue since he managed to destroy Severus¡¯ main forces in Xiongnu and Siberian regions. Severus also retreated his tattered army back to Rome to recuperate from the loss.

    During the northern campaign, Severus brought over 500,000 alliance soldiers while Lu Bu and Zhang Liao had 100,000 men.

    The alliance army¡¯s casualty rate was 80%. Most of Lu Bu¡¯s soldiers also died, but Zhang Liao only lost a couple ten thousand men. During the rescue napalm-bomb-charge, he didn¡¯t even lose a single man, which became a new legend.

    Zhang Liao returned home as a hero. Soldiers, civilians, merchants, and schrs retold Zhang Liao¡¯s feat in the battles for generations.

    Zhang Liao participated in a counterattack campaign in the middle-eastter on, but most of his enemies surrendered because they were afraid of his fame.

    After the 300 Years War, Zhang Liao seeded Li Feihong¡¯s Supreme Commander Position. He married one of Tong¡¯s daughters and held great influence in the court.

    Just like others, he and his men migrated to Zhang Jiao¡¯s dimension yearster. He never returned to this world again.

 Chapter 553 - Epilogueception (7) (300 Years East-West War Part 2)

    <h4>Chapter 553 - Epilogueception (7) (300 Years East-West War Part 2)</h4>

    Chapter 553 ¨C Epilogueception (7) (300 Years East-West War Part 2)

    = Lu Bu =

    After the country unification, Lu Bu resumed his work as the grandmander to the Red Hare Legion.

    Due to the authority conflict between Zhang Liao and Lu Bu, Zhang Liao got a new army of his own, which dissatisfied Lu Bu as he wanted to use his former subordinate.

    He got into the fight with Tong several times, but Lu Bu couldn¡¯t beat Tong anymore despite having the same cultivation base, 10 wings.

    Lu Bu isted himself to cultivate some more, but he reached the bottleneck because of his immortal oaths. He could not raise his strength more than 10 wings unless Lilim released him from her subordination.

    Lu Bu visited Lilim and begged her to release him. However, she refused. The brainwashed girl wanted to keep Lu Bu in check for her husband, so she kept him as it was.

    The god of war quit his job after that. He retired and returned to Jinyang to live with his father, Ding Yuan.

    Years passed. The East-West War began.

    Because of the emergency, Tong summoned Lu Bu back and returned his position. Topensate for his service, Lilim voided Lu Bu¡¯s oath, and allow him to cultivate more wings.

    Delighted by the war and the freedom, Lu Bu returned to the battlefield with his father, Gao Shun, and othermanders.

    The first battle he fought was the Southern Xiongnu Defensive Campaign. Guo Jia sent Lu Bu and Zhang Liao¡¯s unit to fend off against Severus Army and the coalition forces from Kushan and Sassanid.

    As prideful as Lu Bu was, he didn¡¯t listen to Guo Jia or Ju Shou, who were supposed to assist him on stratagem and troops cement. Lu Bu allocated his best units and dumped all weaker soldiers to Zhang Liao before he rushed out to kill his enemies.

    Ding Yuan, Lu Bu, and Gao Shun massacred and routed Sasanian and Kushan Army with ease due to Tong¡¯s advanced weapons, such as modern rifles, night goggles, grenades, and 20 year-worth of food in Lu Bu¡¯s new [Inventory] skill, bestowed by Tong.

    With such supplies, Lu Bu got c.o.c.kier. He charged at Severus Army head-on.

    Little did he know that it was Hannibal¡¯s schemes. Severus drew Lu Bu¡¯s forces into Siberian and isted him during winter. The coordination between Hannibal and Severus stopped Lu Bu¡¯s momentum, and they killed both Ding Yuan and Gao Shun during the counterattack. At the same time, he sent his main forces to strike Zhang Liao to destroy Lu Bu¡¯s main supply base.

    When Lu Bu heard that his father was killed and Zhang Liao¡¯s base was destroyed, he sent his forces back home and fought against Severus on his own, nning to kill as many soldiers as he could to avenge for his father¡¯s death.

    He ran into another trap. Severus and elite cultivators surrounded him.

    Desperately, Lu Bu fought to save his own skin. He lost count how many men he killed, but they kept self-detonating before they died.

    Fortunately, Zhang Liao busted him out of trouble. Lu Bu returned home with a humiliating defeat.

    Angry and sad, Lu Bu got depressed. He isted himself and cultivated like a mad man. Yet, he couldn¡¯t progress further as he didn¡¯t have an oath subordinate.

    When Lu Bu heard that his father and Gao Shun could reincarnate with Tong¡¯s system power, he recovered. He reflected on his mistake and asked Tong for another chance to lead troops against Severus.

    However, the war had already tipped to their favor at that time, thanks to Pu Jing, Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang, Jia Xu, and the navy forces of the Sun n. Tong didn¡¯t need to deploy more troops or send Lu Bu to the battle again.

    Yet, after seeing Lu Bu¡¯s enthusiasm, Tong allowed Lu Bu to fight again, but he was not allowed to lead any unit. Lu Bu had to fight on his own.

    The good news was ¨C Lu Bu could do anything he wanted or roam the battlefields. However, he couldn¡¯tmand soldiers.

    Lu Bu agreed. He traveled west, searching for a battlefield that he could fight. Also, he nned to kill Severus and Hannibal, who killed many of his men and his father.

    Jia Xu learned that Lu Bu was on his way. He sent some info of Severus Army location to Lu Bu and told him that Severus was vulnerable there.

    Learning Severus¡¯ location from Jia Xu, Lu Bu rushed to Constantinople, Greece, where Severus was preparing his forces to fight against Sun Quan, Lu Xun, Gan Ning, and the Sun n Army in Karap?nar Forest, Turkey.

    Lu Bu barged into the city and killed soldiers, civilians, and officers. He destroyed half of the city on his own before Severus showed up with his elite bodyguards.

    Like a mad dog, Lu Bu fought everyone without caring for his life.

    In the end, he killed Severus as he wished, but he was killed by Severus¡¯ no-name bodyguards. Still, he died smiling, knowing that he could reincarnate again.

    Thanked to Lu Bu¡¯s contribution and self-sacrifice, the Roman Empire went into chaos as ambitious senates fought each other to seed Severus for a whole year. The prepared troops deserted their armies, while many senates drew them to their sides to increase their political power.

    Lu Xun, Guo Jia, Zhuge Liang, and Jia Xu went into action and intervened with Roman¡¯s internal affair. Each of them pretended to support different factions and put them to fight each other.

    However, Hannibal thwarted their n and raised a puppet emperor, Caraca, the eldest son of Severus, as the new emperor before civil war broke out.

    But the effort was futile as more new forces and countries emerged from the ruined cities that Cao Mengde and Pu Jing destroyed. Hannibal went missing afterward.

    This development led to the downfall of the Roman Empire. Lu Bu was given the full credits for dealing the decisive blow, which triggered this event.

    Ding Yuan, Lu Bu, and Gao Shun¡¯s statues were built in Jinyang to honor their glorious achievements after the war.

    Lu Bu¡¯s reincarnation was dyed due to the death of Tong during the festival. But after Tong reincarnated as Xian Tong and reimed his old universe, including the admin position, Lu Bu was born as Tong¡¯s 2,005th son.

    Lu Bu changed his name into Xian Fengxian, who became a dominant figure among Tong¡¯s descendants. But that was for another story.

    ...

    = Shu Han Legion =

    After Tong¡¯s returned from Lilim¡¯s dimension, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, and Ma Chao were repositioned and assigned into a single unit ¨C Shu Han Legion.

    This was to honor Liu Bei¡¯s former generals. Even though Zhang Fei was killed by Li Feihong, nobody minded it since Li Feihong was Liu Bei. Master killing a bad subordinate was a normal thing.

    Xu Shu, Zhuge Liang, and Zhou Cang were transferred to help this unit as well.

    Li Feihong¡¯s Crimson Angel Legion was disbanded, but Li Feihong was transferred to be Shu Han Legion¡¯s grandmander instead. Since they were all Shu-Han, they should have a better affinity than working with other former Wei generals.

    This move was to gather potential threats into one unit, so Li Feihong, a loyal buddy, could control them.

    Unfortunately, Li Feihong saw it as a burden. Heined a lot to Tong that thetter overworked him. He already had the title of Prime Minister, and he had to clean up Dong Bai¡¯s mess. Now that Tong put him in charge of these rowdy people, Li Feihong threatened tomit suicide.

    Facing Li Feihong¡¯s protest, Tong put Zhuge Liang in charge of this legion instead.

    And Tong did not disappoint. Although Zhuge Liang¡¯s action seemed dubious and ambitious, he was a hardcore loyalist. As long as Tong put him in a high-ranking position with heavy responsibility, Zhuge Liang¡¯s loyalty wouldn¡¯t waver.

    Zhuge Liang requested to transfer them to Yi Province, the old Shu. Tong allowed it and sent them to their former kingdom.

    Zhuge Kongming then made several bold moves. He recruited his brothers, Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Dan into his forces. Then, he found Fa Zhang and Jiang Wei in the Shu area.

    Just like in history, Zhuge Liang mobilized to Nanman and subjugated Meng Huo and his tribes. Thetter and Zhurong joined forces with them afterward.

    That was not all, Zhuge Liang snatched Zhong Hui and Deng Ai, great generals of Wei¡¯ster generation, into his ranks a few decadester.

    The court went into an uproar as they thought that Zhuge Liang was nning to rebel, but Tong, Diaochan, Dong Bai, and Lu Zhi trusted them. Not because of his trust did Tong allow Zhuge Liang to do whatever he did, but Tong was aware of the uing trouble, which Pu Jing caused during his time in the west.

    Pu Jing returned to China along with a new war as Tong had expected.

    Immediately, Tong put Zhuge Liang into good use. He sent Shu Han Legion to Kushan Empire while Guo Jia deployed Zhang Liao and Lu Bu to the north.

    Tong demanded that Zhuge Liang had to settle down in the area and form a new route toward the west other than the Silk Road or the sea route. In other words, Tong wanted Zhuge Liang to conquer India¡¯s regions.

    Zhuge Liang didn¡¯t disappoint Tong. He conquered ancient Burmese and Tibetan Tribes in Tibet. Even small tribes of a few hundred people in Nepal, Bandesh, and Bhutan didn¡¯t escape his grasp.

    Shu Han Legion spent 20 years annexing 12 major kingdoms in India Penins, including Gupta, who should have dominated India in history in a few years. In the same year, reports said that Zhang Liao achieved a major victory over Severus Army in Southern Xiongnu.

    Afterward, it was an easy task for Zhuge Liang to wipe out the weakened Kushan, who was being attacked by the expanding Sassanid Kingdom.

    From that point, Shu Han Legion buttheaded against the two father and son, Ardashir and Shapur, the emperor and the prince of the Sassanian Empire.

    Shockingly, Ardashir and Shapur had prepared a massive force of a million Neo-Persian war-ves, and they waited for Zhuge Liang¡¯s arrival to fight in a decisive battle.

    Guan Yu, who was a 10-wing angel at the time, found shocking info by using his immortal sight. They ran into a trap, orchestrated by Hannibal Barca. Both Shapur and Ardashir retained their counterpart memory and managed to acquire 8 wings. However, they swore allegiance to Severus, so they couldn¡¯t progress through their cultivation fast enough.

    Zhuge Liang, Fa Zhang, Jiang Wei, and Xu Shu found it cute. Despite having only 200,000 soldiers, Zhuge Liang declined Ardashir¡¯s open battle challenge and forced them to fight in their turf, where his forces had the advantage ground.

    After all, they knew that their Shu Han Legion¡¯s duty was just a distraction for Sassanid. The real attack forces were the navy unit of Wu Han Legion of Sun Quan.

    Using the advantage of superior cultivators and technologies, Zhuge Liang dragged the campaign and withered Sassanid¡¯s food supply.

    Every day, they fought in Zhuge Liang¡¯s home ground, but he kept on defending. Cannons, guns, ranged weapons stopped the massive army of cultivators and ves on their track.

    8-wing and 6-wing cultivators couldn¡¯t infiltrate Zhuge Liang¡¯s airspace either as monster generals, Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, Deng Ai, Jiang Wei, and Zhong Hui revealed their 10 wings, intimidating the little angels and demons.

    Hannibal visited Sassanid to observe the campaign with his own eyes after the Sassanid emperor informed them that they couldn¡¯t crack Zhuge Liang¡¯s defense. Thus, they couldn¡¯t send help to Constantinople, where Severus was gathering his troops.

    Hannibalmented, "If my men are as strong as theirs and I have the same weaponry, I could have conquered Han many years ago."

    Hannibal didn¡¯t stay behind or help the Sassanid royal family. He returned to Constantinople and didn¡¯te back again.

    Without the aid of the monster, Ardashir and Shapur couldn¡¯t keep up with Zhuge Liang¡¯s never-ending traps, arrays, and WW-I¡¯s trenches and barbed wires mazes.

    By 320 AD, Ardashir and Shapur stopped attacking as his army suffered heavy casualties. They sent a diplomat and asked for a truce.

    Fa Zhang had an idea. Instead of having truce, Fa Zhang persuaded Ardashir to join their side instead.

    By bribing them with outdated weapons, such as muskets, Ardashir wavered. However, Shapur saw through Fa Zhang¡¯s scheme, so he suggested to his father that they should decline.

    Fa Zhang pushed further. He revealed that Tong was the king god that could manipte universews that he could create water and food from nothingness.

    The temptation of [Create Food] system skills attracted both father and son. As the majority of theirnd was desert and wastnd, theycked a major source of food.

    As such, the Sassanid Empire switched sides. They formed an alliance with Shu Han Army in exchange for Tong¡¯s skill.

    Tong gave the skill to the father and son as requested by Zhuge Liang. Using this chance, Jiang Wei and Xu Shu also showed off their skills by coaxing the Sassanid emperor to attack the Roman Empire together with them.

    Drunk by the abundance of created food, Ardashir sent his forces to attack Greece as requested.

    Both Roman and Sassanid ended up killing each other for a year before Anicius Faustus captured Ardashir and told them that they were tricked.

    Roman released Ardashir and signed a peace treaty with each other afterward.

    Sensing that their n had failed, Shu Han Legion repositioned themselves in India. , just in case the Sasanian father and son would turn against them in the future.

    As Zhuge Liang had predicted, Sassanid eventually backstabbed them in the year 500 after Pu Jing, Cao Mengde, Sun Shangxiang, and Sun Quan broke the Roman Empire into pieces.

    Since they asked for it, Shu Han Legion finally attacked the Sassanid Empire.

    The Glorious Neo-Persian Empire fell apart in a year. Shu Han returned home afterward as Zhuge Liang refused to stay in this aridnd for more than necessary. They didn¡¯t bother ruling over the territories as Tong warned them about thetter generation European countries.

    Many years after the war, Hannibal Barca returned and visited them, not with his human form but his other form. It was the day that a giant dragon opened a rift to invite Tong and others to the [Festival].

    Tong didn¡¯t allow native subordinates to join the festival, but he sent everyone into Zhang Jiao¡¯s dimension.

    Seeing Tong¡¯s action, Hannibal Barca, the dragon, left a sarcastic remark to Tong, "How does it feel to be on the powerless side for once, administrator?"

 Chapter 554 - Epilogueception (8) (300 Years East-West War Part 3)

    <h4>Chapter 554 - Epilogueception (8) (300 Years East-West War Part 3)</h4>

    Chapter 554 ¨C Epilogueception (8) (300 Years East-West War Part 3)

    = Wu Han, Wei Han, and Roman =

    Sun Quan and his subordinates¡¯ status rose after Sun Shangxiang wedded Tong. Although it caused a scandal that Tong married both Wu Guotai and Sun Shangxiang, mother and daughter, no one dared to use it to revolt against the royal family.

    Sun Quan and his men were assigned to govern his former territories, the former Wu Kingdom. Sun Quan was delighted to reim his favorite home ground, Jianye City, Yang Province, and Jing Province.

    Just like others, Sun Quan, Huang Gai, and Lu Meng upgraded their cultivation base to 10 wings, while Lu Xun, Cheng Pu, and Han Dang reached the 8-wing tier.

    Taishi Ci and Gan Ning also got to 10 wings during the pre-East-West War period. Tong also transferred them to Sun Quan, so these Wu officers could enjoy their job and social life.

    Latter generation officers, such as Zhu Ran and Xu Cheng, also joined them in thetter years. They had no problem obtaining 8 wings as well.

    When the war took ce, Guo Jia advised Tong to use the system authority to eliminate Severus. However, Tong was against it as it would sow bad karma, and it would hinder him from getting his 11th and 12th wing.

    Sun Shangxiang also wanted to create modern jets, tanks, and aircraft carriers using his system authority. Yet, Tong strangely disagreed.

    Tong¡¯s action was suspicious to everyone, but he only said that he couldn¡¯t reveal it yet. He would tell everyone when the time was right as it rted to his administrator position.

    Tong ordered Diaochan, Dong Bai, Sun Shangxiang, Zhang Min, Zhang Ying, Li Feihong, and other sons and daughters of Tong that had more than 8 wings not to participate in this conflict to prevent sowing bad karma. However, Sun Shangxiang disapproved. She insisted on helping other officers.

    Without a choice, Tong sent Sun Shangxiang to Sun Quan¡¯s Wu Han Legion.

    Guo Jia immediately came up with a n. He deployed Zhang Liao and Lu Bu to defend the north. Shu Han Legion was sent to India. Pu Jing and Wei Han Legion were tasked to detour north of the Caspian Sea, digging deep into the country Scythians, located in the territories of modern West-Kazakhstan, Southwest Russia, and Eastern Ukraine.

    It was a risky move since Wei Han had to spearhead into neutral countries. Many officers disapproved of Wei Han¡¯s deployment.

    However, Pu Jing exined why Guo Jia suggested it. He revealed that it was his idea, which was inspired by Adolf Hitler¡¯s famous Blitzkrieg Tactic.

    Since Severus allied with Sassanian and Kushan, they wouldn¡¯t have thought that Tong would dare to create more enemies by attacking neutral country states, so they wouldn¡¯t defend their borders against these territories.

    Thus, their borders next to these countries were vulnerable. It would be a perfect opportunity to deal with a massive blow to the Roman when their attention was in northern China.

    Everyone admired Pu Jing¡¯s insight. Tong gave Wei Han officers a few system skills, so they could self-sustain during this difficult campaign.

    [Create Food], [Weapon Creation], [Explosive Creation], and [Inventory] were given to Cao Mengde, the reincarnation of Cao Cao, who was the grandmander of Wei Han. Elite officers, such as Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Xiu, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Ba, Xu Chu, and Dian Wei also received the same skills.

    However, Guo Jia wasn¡¯t satisfied with just that. He wanted Wu Han to sail half of the world, going through China Sea, passing through a Strait, crossing Bay of Bengal, Ladive Sea, and the Arabian Sea toward the Red Sea.

    Wu Han Legion had the freedom tond on Africa Continent, entering the Mediterranean Sea, or attacking Roman in Egypt directly. The choice was up to Sun Quan and Lu Xun.

    Because of such a long and arduous journey, Tong gave the same system skills to Wu Han officers as well.

    Such a grand voyage excited Sun Quan and his men. Even other generals envied Wu Han¡¯s soldiers.

    However, Zhuge Liang and Xu Huang protested as they wanted those skills as well. Without a choice, Tong ended up giving every participating officers the skills.

    All troops dispatched at the same time, but Zhang Liao and Lu Bu encountered Severus Army first.

    Shu Han ran into Sassanian Emperor and his princeter on, and Wei Han made a contact with the Scythian.

    Xu Huang¡¯s Silver Axe tagged along with Wei Han Legion. The heavy gunman cavalry of Xu Huang surprised the native and left carnage on the path they took.

    When they got through the Scythian¡¯s territories, Jia Xu devised a sick n.

    He sent Zhang He to Rhine Region, where Burgundians, ancient Germans, settled in this area. His objective was toy waste and pige northwest Roman Empire, which was modern France and Ennd. As for Xu Huang, Jia Xu sent the Silver Axe northeast, nking Severus Army, which was still fighting against Lu Bu and Zhang Liao.

    As for the rest, Pu Jing and Wei Han beelined toward Rome in Italy.

    Zhang He allied with the local tribes and attacked the Roman Empire together with their help. He surprised the local defenders and ransacked various cities in Western Europe and the British Isles.

    The garrisoning roman soldiers retaliated against Zhang He¡¯s surprise attacks, but Zhang He used his cultivation advantage to hide his army¡¯s presence and annihted Roman battalions with 20 10-wing generals, crippled Severus¡¯ backup armies.

    While Hannibal was contenting against Zhang Liao¡¯s counterattack, he noticed the arrival of Xu Huang¡¯s Silver Axe unit. He asked Severus to retreat despite having a bit of setback against the boogeyman general.

    Quintus Anicius Faustus, the elite general of Severus, repelled Zhang Liao and led his emperor in an escape. Their remaining forces boldly sailed along the coasts of the Kara Sea, Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea, North Sea, andnded on Ennd¡¯s shore, which ultimately avoided Xu Huang¡¯s pursue.

    The arrival of Hannibal¡¯s fleet surprised Zhang He, who was piging in this area.

    Xun You, the adviser of the Ghost Legion, suggested that they should avoid a direct confrontation with Severus¡¯ main forces and focused on guerri warfare.

    Zhang He agreed and hid his troops again.

    It was a mistake. As Hannibal learned about Zhang He¡¯s deeds in the area, he summoned all backup and scattered troops from Western Europe to gather in Londinium, a great roman fort in London.

    Severus and Anicius Faustus proceeded to cut off all port ess, bought shipbuilders and fishermen, and migrated all craftsmen away, which isted Zhang He¡¯s Ghost Legion, who was still hiding in the British Isles.

    Hannibal then used Severus as a bait to draw Zhang He out in the open. He disguised his emperor as a general and led a small searching party of 1,000 men.

    Zhang He bit the bait. Hannibal ambushed him and his force with elite cultivators with 6 wings and 8 wings.

    Zhang He might have been terrified as the ghost of battlefields, but he and his vice generals were killed by Severus and Hannibal.

    Still, the casualties of back-to-back battles against Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Zhang He crippled Roman¡¯s military might. Severus even coughed blood when he learned about the death of his elites.

    After the battle in the British Isles, Hannibal suggested that they should recruit barbarian tribes and give them Roman citizenship.

    Anicius Faustus disagreed immediately as it went against Roman¡¯s principle, which only native Romans were the superior to the nomadic tribes, aka the German People of ancient times. They didn¡¯t need to lower themselves to ask beggars for a favor.

    Surprisingly, Severus epted Hannibal¡¯s suggestion and employed all local tribesmen to fill his ranks.

    A few months after the death of Zhang He, Xu Huang, who had failed to keep Hannibal and Severus in check, pursued after their trails and found Severus¡¯ main forces near Colonia Agrippinensium in the modern world Germany.

    During the same month, Pu Jing and Wei Han Legion already burnt Rome to the ground and destroyed Roman¡¯s pride hearnd.

    Using the intel that the Wei Han unit was doing, Xu Huang didn¡¯t engage against Severus and Hannibal.

    Xu Huang returned the favor with a simr trick. He blockaded Severus Army from marching south toward Rome. Xun Yu, the strategist of Silver Axe Legion, intentionally leaked the news of Rome¡¯s destruction to the western emperor.

    Anicius Faustus flew into a rage and wanted to challenge Xu Huang Army.

    However, Severus and Hannibal didn¡¯t lose their cool. Both of them had the same idea that Rome was a lost cause since the Han Dynasty came prepared.

    Severus wanted to regroup the Romans in Burdig, aka Bordeaux, but Hannibal insisted that Constantinople had better strategic advantage points that could defend any invader, as long as they never invited them in.

    The emperor didn¡¯t listen to Hannibal this time. He force-marched southwest to Burdig and avoided confrontation with Xu Huang.

    When they almost arrived, Xun Yu intentionally leaked more intel to Severus again. He told them the fact that Sun Quan and Sun Shangxiang¡¯s Wu Han hadnded on Africa Continent, and allied with the African tribes, promising them about freedom and liberty.

    African people grew up living as ves for the Egyptians and the Romans. Upon hearing that they could live free, they joined forces with Sun Quan.

    While Severus was busy with Zhang He, Sun Quan and Sun Shangxiang annexed Egypt, Alexandria, and got ess to the Mediterranean Sea. Their fleets were ready to storm any city of the Roman, which concentrated around this water.

    Severus was distressed. He changed his mind and epted Hannibal¡¯s advice.

    However, Hannibal advised Severus to rest in Burdig and recuperate from their losses. Otherwise, their entire army might perish.

    Severus questioned Hannibal¡¯s words since thetter flipped their tongue.

    Hannibal exined that it was Xun Yu¡¯s ploy that he wanted them to move around and wore down their psyche. Once they were mentally exhausted, Xu Huang would strike, and that would be their end.

    Severus had a scare and believed in Hannibal.

    It was just like Hannibal had predicted. Xu Huang had already set up ambush and traps on the way toward Constantinople.

    Xu Huang discoveredter that their ploy had been found. He changed his battle policy and began recruiting nomadic tribes, who were hostile against the Romans.

    The Silver Axe Legion ignored Severus Army and plundered nearby roman settlements, which crippled Roman¡¯s economy forever.

    Cao Mengde and Pu Jing also coordinated with Xu Huang¡¯s movements. They marched along the Mediterranean shoreline and plundered every city they found. At the same time, they pressured Severus to migrate from the Bordeaux area, or they would be cornered in Western Europe.

    Severus and Hannibal saw that Xu Huang and Wei Han attempted to corner them. Although they had enough strength to fight back, they gathered their able troops and flew to Constantinople. As for the rest of the weak cultivators, Severus ordered them to retreat on foot.

    Of course, all of them never reached Constantinople because of a certain girl.

    Wu Han also splitted their forces into two units. Sun Shangxiang led 20,000 men west. She annexed towns along the southwestern Mediterranean shoreline.

    Unlike others, Sun Shangxiang was more merciful to the local Romans. She even taught roman schrs about medicines and cured many deadly diseases for the townspeople.

    Sun Shangxiang Army ended up being called, the Saint Army. Some local men even mistook her as an apostle of Hestia, the Goddess of Health.

    As such, Sun Shangxiang¡¯s journey was peaceful as native Romans opened their city gates to surrender to her and treated her as a goddess. Sun Shangxiang ended up pilgrimaging from Libya to Spain, and from Spain to France. However, she stopped after realizing that she was supposed to destroy the Romans.

    Sun Shangxiang deserted the troops and returned to Ye by flight afterward. As for the rest of the men, they either flew home or sail from West Europe to China Sea.

    But the seed had been nted. Many Romans admired Sun Shangxiang and epted her as one of their goddesses. Many troops who were supposed to regroup with Severus switched sides and joined the cult, living in the west roman forever.

    As for Sun Quan Army, they fought a long difficult campaign east against Severus and Hannibal, who flew to the eastern roman area to support the local troops. They eventually came to a stop at Constantinople.

    By the time that they got to Syria, Zhuge Liang already got into a prolonged-war with the Sassanid Empire. Severus tried to ask for their help, but they were too busy getting trolled by the turtle Shu Han.

 Chapter 555 - Epilogueception (9) (300 Years East-West War Part 4)

    <h4>Chapter 555 - Epilogueception (9) (300 Years East-West War Part 4)</h4>

    Chapter 555 ¨C Epilogueception (9) (300 Years East-West War Part 4)

    = Decline of Roman =

    After returning to Constantinople, Severus, Hannibal, and his elite generals squared against Sun Quan Navy¡¯s relentless attacks.

    For a hundred years, Sun Quan and Severus continued to fight in a tug of war. Sun Quan almost cornered Severus countless times, but Hannibal seemed to have an answer to their ploys every now and then. Every time Hannibal moved, Sun Quan had to withdraw his army back two steps.

    Gan Ning also made his appearance in a navy seal style. However, he failed to crack Constantinople¡¯s defense as he couldn¡¯t hide his presence like Zhang He. Anicius Faustus found him with his immortal sight and intercepted all Gan Ning¡¯s water raid attempts.

    In the end, Sun Quan and Wu Han Army retreated to recuperate in Antioch, modern-day Antakya City, Turkey.

    But that didn¡¯t discourage Sun Quan as Wei Han, Xu Huang, and Sun Shangxiang had already half-destroyed the great empire. Once Severus died, the Roman would end.

    Prisoners of war, roman soldiers, women, children, and elders were brought back to China by Pu Jing¡¯s order. This former premiere aimed to cripple Roman¡¯s economy and growth for good as continued to drag on the war to wither Hannibal¡¯s forces.

    Guo Jia, the policymaker of this war, sent a request to Sun Quan that they should stop attacking Severus for now as Shu Han came up with an interesting scheme.

    All of a sudden, the Sassanid Empire turned on the Roman. They deployed their forces and attacked Constantinople and Roman cities in this area.

    For once, Sun Quan sat back and enjoyed the show. Both sides killed each other without realizing that it was Fa Zhang¡¯s ingenious n.

    Yet, a yearter, they signed a peace treaty and turned on Tong¡¯s Han Dynasty again.

    But that was enough time for Sun Quan to lick his wound and reform his armies. As soon as Sun Shangxiang¡¯s detached units regrouped with them, Sun Quan marched out to fight Severus once more.

    Zhang Liao also joined them. However, as a defense master, he fortified Antioch for Sun Quan to protect their campaign headquarters.

    Lu Xun sent requests to Wei Han and Xu Huang, asking for reinforcement. Unfortunately, these units had a rough time trying to pacify the local poption. After all, western culture was not the same as the Han. Cao Mengde and Xu Huang regrettably declined as they couldn¡¯t help it. Shu Han also had to defend India, in case Sassanid suddenly attacked West China.

    Still, with Zhang Liao¡¯s assistance, Wu Han Army¡¯s morale soared. Sun Quan pressed against Severus again.

    This time, Sun Quan moved toward Konya Province. Instead of upying advantage points or high ground, he emphasized on fortifications and draining Severus¡¯ resources.

    Konya Province geography was a strategic location as the terrain was mostly forest during this ancient era (Currently a half-desert in modern time due to deforestation in the 20th-century.). Thendmark, Karapinar Volcano Field, was also nearby.

    Lu Xun also copied Zhuge Liang¡¯s stratagem in his fight against the Sassanid Empire. He started using WW-I tactic ¨C digging trenches and barricading them with barbed wires. Combining with the forest in this area, attacking forces would be vulnerable to ambushes.

    Since they had infinite provision and ammo, they didn¡¯t care if they would be isted in the middle of the Karap?nar Forest. Sun Quan might not be able to push back Hannibal, but thetter couldn¡¯t drive away from the former from Konya Province either.

    Hannibal proposed that they should burn the forest to drive Sun Quan out, but Severus disapproved of the idea right away. Severus believed that destroying forests would harm their natural resources ¨C food and lumber.

    The prolonged war dragged on as Sun Quan kept hiding in the natural fortress.

    Severus got impatient after Sun Quan didn¡¯t move for 10 years. He dispatched Anicius Faustus to reim Europe from Wei Han Army.

    Still, Hannibal and Severus stayed behind to protect Constantinople from Sun Quan.

    When Cao Mengde and Jia Xu found out that Anicius Faustus led an army for them, they retreated west, heading toward Spain. However, they didn¡¯t withdraw normally as Pu Jing employed the scorch earth tactic, burning cities, crops, and food storages and they ran away.

    Pu Jing didn¡¯t forget to use Cheng Yu¡¯s tactic ¨C tampering with the water source and spreading diseases to the local people.

    Anicius Faustus was enraged. He pursued Wei Han Army despite having limited food supply.

    Cao Mengde stopped periodically to draw Faustus deeper. Eventually, Faustus Army reached Gallia Narbonensis, aka modern Toulouse Prefecture.

    At that point, Faustus ran low on provision as he couldn¡¯t replenish them via the local channel. Furthermore, when he reimed most of Roman Cities, he had to distribute some food to the remaining sick poption.

    This good deed action harmed his army. He was not ruthless enough to carry the responsibility of cruel warfare.

    Soon, Cao Mengde and Pu Jing Army changed course and left the European continent via sea route. They didn¡¯t dare to touch Sun Shangxiang¡¯s former territories in southwest France and Spain, which idolized her as their goddess.

    Still, Cao Mengde sent messages to Sun Shangxiang and asked her for a favor. Guo Jia also requested her aid in Spain region.

    Sun Shangxiang returned to Caesaraugusta, aka Zaragoza. She appeared in public and announced that Faustus Army was carrying diseases toward them, and they were here to plunder their food.

    The Romans were skeptical at first as they knew that Wei Han and Faustus were at war, and Sun Shangxiang was Wei Han¡¯s ally.

    But when Faustus traveled to Zaragoza Prefecture and forced the local people to hand over their food, all townspeople recalled Sun Shangxiang¡¯s warning. Within a month, over 10,000 roman citizens revolted.

    The anarchic incident got worse when Faustus¡¯ soldiers spread their cursed diseases to the local poption. The legate of Caesaraugusta allied himself with the Gothic refugees, a small mercenary force, and established Visigoths, the same name as the Visigoths of ric in history.

    Although history changed a lot because of immortality and East-West War, ric got back into power as he was the current captain of Gothic Thervingi Mercenary. His people selected him, who had 8 demon wings and the memory of his counterpart in the other world, as their king once more.

    All roman cities with Sun Shangxiang religion switched sides to ric, and the new empire, the Visigoths, emerged once as in history. ric, the new king, dered war against the Roman Empire and announced that they would be the Han Dynasty¡¯s ally.

    This sudden development shocked Faustus and even Sun Shangxiang, who was used by Guo Jia. She returned home and scolded Guo Jia in Ye for a whole day.

    When the news reached Cao Mengde and Jia Xu, they almost diedughing as this incident was not a part of their n. In reality, it was Guo Jia¡¯s machination as usual since he had been watching everything and learned all otherworld history from Diaochan.

    Faustus suffered a humiliating defeat because of the famine and epidemic, but he managed to deal a critical blow on ric. The new king suffered from soul injuries and had to recuperate for years toe.

    Faustus retreated with a few thousand men to Constantinopleter, but he returned home toote.

    By the time he arrived, he found that Gan Ning, the navymander of Wu Han, had bombarded the great city with cannon artilleries from countless frigates.

    The great city wall was tattered with traces of cannonballs and explosives, and the gate was destroyed.

    When Faustus was away, Lu Bu ransacked the great city and killed Severus. However, Lu Bu also died in the rampage. As for Hannibal, he disappeared.

    Fortunately, the city had not fallen yet as Sun Quan didn¡¯t send his soldiers into the city. Faustus reorganized the civilians and the surviving troops and prepared to have a peace talk with Wu Han Army.

    No more major war urred afterward as Roman senators began to tear each other for the throne. With immortal life, no one satisfied with being a lowly servant.

    All of Tong¡¯s troops returned to China¡¯s homnd. What happened from that point was left to the local poption to fight it out. Although Zhuge Liang, Guo Jia, Jia Xu, and Xun Yu messed with the internal affair of the Romans, no general cared to continue the war anymore.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    = Tong and Hannibal =

    "Do you mind if I y in your universe?"

    That was a mysterious voice message that Tong heard in his head after Pu Jing swore allegiance to him. It was many years before Severus even prepared his forces to invade Han Dynasty.

    "Who are you? What do you want?"

    "I¡¯m a peer of your creator. I have a proposal for you."

    "... Don¡¯t you want to introduce yourself first?"

    "You can call me [yer One]. I¡¯m just a tourist who wants to experience life in your universe. Unfortunately, I need your permission, who is the current administrator of this dimension."

    "Oh? Then, what is it that you want, and what is your offer?"

    "As I stated before, I want to y a game in your universe. I¡¯ll be reincarnated as someone with the same name in the west, and I¡¯ll enjoy my life there."

    "Tell me what you¡¯ll be giving me, and I¡¯ll decide. I don¡¯t trust strangers, so my game will be pricy."

    "Fifty billion years of lifespan, a million barrels of purified 20-wing entity¡¯s holy water for karmic river cleansing, and the news from your home universe. Aren¡¯t you curious why you aren¡¯t summoned back home?"

    "You seem to know a lot. Do I know you?"

    "You¡¯ve already learned about what I did in a history book, you see. My name is Hannibal Barca. I¡¯m also an administrator from another universe."

    After the conversation, a few decadester, Hannibal Barca appeared in this world despite the timeline error.

    Hannibal forbade Tong from using system authority or his rtives to directly harm Hannibal and his allies, but Tong could bestow a few support skills to his subordinates if he needed to. Tong also couldn¡¯t participate in the uing war either since his power was cheating, and Hannibal found it boring to fight a cheater.

    Hannibal promised that he wouldn¡¯t use his 16-wing power and his otherworldly knowledge against Tong, but he would fight using the local weaponry and the technologies that had already existed or developed in Tong¡¯s world.

    The game began with Tong¡¯s universe as a gaming server host for the first time. Hannibal became the [yer 1] and enjoyed the East-West War thoroughly.

    The war changed Tong¡¯s perspective of native people, souls, and the nature of this universe. Aside from his wives and his subordinates, he distanced himself from the local poption.

    Millions of souls circted through the river of karma as Tong maintained its stability in secret. He found out that the more people died, the more stable the river became.

    He felt nothing when Zhang He and his men died. Tong felt like they were NPC game characters, who would respawn at some point.

    Still, the policeman-self pulled him back from the apathy syndrome. He took the hobbies of impregnating his favorite wives and collecting cursed children in Lilim¡¯s dimension to maintain his sanity. He even released Liu Ping out of misery, but he forgot to sever the karma.

    The East-West War ended after Lu Bu killed Severus. Hannibal visited Tong personally and revealed his 16 ck feather wings, which was the opposite of what Sun Shangxiang had.

    Hannibal gave Tong what he had promised andmented that Tong¡¯s support system skills were interesting, and he would create them in his universe. Heined, though, that the Romans in this agecked talented generals, good strategists, and hot weapons. Or else, he could have defeated Tong¡¯s minions.

    Hannibal [logged out] from this universe, but he returned in his true form a few hundred yearster.

    This time, Hannibal came to give the festival invitation to Tong and his subordinates.

    As Tong had enlightened from the recent war and the truth of the universes from Hannibal, Tong denied his subordinates¡¯ entry and sent everyone to Zhang Jiao¡¯s dimension so that they wouldn¡¯t lose their sanity and humanity mindset like him.

    He went to the [Higher Dimension] with his trusted family members.

    Unfortunately, the creator challenged Medusa and got Tong involved in their affair.

    Tong wanted to breakthrough during the fight, but the karma knots he had with Ping hindered his growth. Even after Tong severed the ties with his retainers and immortal subordinates, he couldn¡¯t get his 11th wing.

    In the end, Tong suicide-bombed the creator. He even saw Liu Ping¡¯s smirking face before his consciousness faded away.

    When he reincarnated as Xian Tong, he was a bit upset that resting in the karmic river was more peaceful than struggling in the world of the living.

    Hannibal even visited Tong when he was still a baby. He came here under Medusa¡¯s supervision.

    Hannibal invited Tong to y in the future festival when he grew up. He wanted to challenge Tong in another war game again, but he would bring his top generals and strategists to fight against Tong¡¯s best officers.

    Tong refused at first, but he eventually snuck out when Medusa and others went to another festival. As Xian Tong, he ended up evolving into another dragon among the higher dimension by training in Hannibal¡¯s game universe.

    The two became friends without anyone realizing it. When Tong migrated his former retainers and his wives to the [Old Heaven], aka Morning Star and the creator¡¯s old universe, he took the role as an admin once more.

    He stayed out of the festival and enjoyed his freestyle "Sim Universe" afterward. Medusa dumped him along the way, which depressed him for a millennium.

    But he returned to a new conflict once more when he discovered Morning Star in a new reincarnated body and Lilith¡¯s little game. Surprisingly, he found Medusa and Hannibal at the new festival.

    Tong found out that Lilith had brought up the reincarnation of Morning Star as her representative. Meanwhile, Medusa allied with the reincarnation of the creator. As for Hannibal, he brought his best officers as promised. Thetter even challenged Tong for an all-out war between universes.

    Xian Tong and Hannibal¡¯s brought their elite generals and strategists soldiers into another war. Amid their conflict, another war between Lilith and the reincarnated creator took ce while a new actor, the reincarnation of Lucifer, emerged as the new rising star.

    ...

    "Wanna y a game?"

    *Nom-Nom Mew!* (I¡¯m hungry! Get me food, banana Mia!)

 Chapter 556 - Epilogueception (10) (Liliths Diary)

    <h4>Chapter 556 - Epilogueception (10) (Lilith''s Diary)</h4>

    Chapter 556 ¨C Epilogueception (10) (Lilith¡¯s Diary)

    = Lilith =

    Life is hard. Revenge is hard. But watching my daughter getting f.u.c.k.i.e.d by that bastard is harder.

    I still can¡¯t believe that Zhang Tong tricked Lilim and has reduced her to this extend. When I found out about the brainwashing effect at first, I thought of a hundred ways to kill this asshole literally.

    Well, I hate my powerlessness. If I had my old strength, I would have killed him long ago. You can count yourself lucky, Tong!

    ...

    I don¡¯t hate my changed daughter. She¡¯s so cute and adorable with her new personality.

    I hate to admit that she has changed for the better. I don¡¯t like the fact that I have to give credits to Tong.

    Just you wait, f.u.c.ker! I¡¯ll get my strength back ASAP, and I¡¯ll torture you to the point that you¡¯ll beg me to kill you!

    ...

    Never mind that. I think Hua Shi has done it for me. Good job, girl!

    I heard from Friday and Medusa that Hua Shi has bullied Tong a lot. That¡¯s good to hear.

    I like it when Medusained. It¡¯s good to see how these idiots running around and gossip about their stupid husband. How does it feel when another girl constantly castrating you man, bitches!?

    ...

    I take that back. Hua Shi, you fool! You haven¡¯t tortured Zhang Tong enough! How the f.u.c.k does he visit my daughter so often!? Take him away! Leave us alone!

    ...

    I guess seeing him once a week for a decade dulls my frustration. I hate to admit it, but Lilim is so happy when Tong is around. Their children dance around every time that Tong shows up.

    Should I really ept this? Dong Zhuo as my son-inw?

    F.u.c.k!

    ...

    Okay, you two. I know that seeing each other only once a week improves your desire...

    BUT KEEP IT DOWN!! WHY ARE YOU TWO M.O.A.NING WHEN YOU¡¯RE JUST TOUCHING HER BUTTHOLE!?

    YOU SICK! SON OF A BITCH, Y¡¯ALL NEED JESUS!!

    ...

    One of these days, I¡¯ll create a barbed dildo and shove it in Zhang Tong¡¯s ass.

    Lilim, stop doing it outside! You¡¯re setting a bad example for your children!

    ...

    Welp, these creatures have done it. Sibling f.u.c.k.i.n.g. How precious.

    At least, Medusa and Friday¡¯s children are in the mix. I don¡¯t want to see everyone f.u.c.k.i.n.g their rtives.

    I¡¯m wondering what kind of cripples wille out of these things. Will they evolve into dragons or will they devolve into monsters?

    Wanna bet? I bet 1 day of lifespan that Hydras or Krakens wille out of those monsters¡¯ pussies. I¡¯m sure tentacle monsters will be the mainstream in the few thousand years.

    I also had a dream. I saw eggs, a lot of them. Egg creatures with a hundred tentacles. Some are big. Some are small. Some even be parasites. I don¡¯t hate symbiosis creatures, but if you have to rely on mortal hosts, you suck, my children.

    ...

    At longst, I can cultivate. It took me 200 years in this stupid body! Why was it so easy in humanoid bodies but this one!?

    Eh, I doubt I can make it to the next festival. I won¡¯t be strong enough to fight for a prize.

    Lame.

    Lame.

    Lame.

    Three times is a charm. Fourth time is a d.i.c.k.

    Next objective: 10 Wings!

    Here I go!

    ...

    Life sucks. Cultivation in this body takes so much time!

    Everyone has gone to the festival. I want to go, too, but not in this condition.

    I need to learn how to polymorph into a human soon.

    Life sucks.

    ...

    Zhang Tong is dead.

    I should have been d, but I¡¯m sad.

    The children are sad. Their children¡¯s children are sad.

    F.u.c.k you, Zhang Tong! How dare you die before I kill you!?

    I¡¯m not crying. You¡¯re crying.

    ...

    F.u.c.k you, Li Feihong! F.u.c.k you, Medusa!

    You two should have told me that you¡¯ve got his soul! I wouldn¡¯t have cried for him!

    ...

    I get the whole story now. Zhang Tong did it again, it seems.

    He ALLAHU-AKBARed Misha and got double-KO. Good job, my son!

    They got Lucifer¡¯s soul out of that mess, too. Well, he¡¯s a pitifuld. He deserves some love, seriously.

    When and where are they going to reincarnate, I wonder?

    ...

    Medusa is the new admin. Life sucks.

    I think she found out about my hiding spot, but she¡¯s keeping it to herself. This wrenched bitch! I know that you¡¯re a yer. Stop pretending to be a good native!

    Don¡¯t you dare to treat me like a yer! I¡¯m a native, through and thorough!

    Is it wrong for me for trying to kill my mother several times?

    None of you can me me, alright? She wanted to kill me first! This is my family¡¯s business!

    ...

    HAHAHAHA!!

    HAHAHA!!

    HAHAHAHA!!

    10 WINGS, BITCHES!!

    ...

    I guess Li Feihong has gone nuts.

    I understand him though. His boss bes his son, and that stupid boss retains his memory. How the hell can he raise Zhang Tong with his memory intact? This is some mindf.u.c.kery.

    If I were him, I would have dumbed Zhang Tong on the spot. Giving him to his harem is the right choice.

    Poor Lu Lingqi. You should have married that pedo Tong. At least, he doesn¡¯t make anyone reincarnate as his son or daughter. Oh, wait, Cao Mengde is an exception.

    I wonder if the concubines will ruin Tong¡¯s new body. It¡¯s definitely a shota x harem tag.

    ...

    I guess everybody and their grandmothers can get 10 wings so easily now. How many of them are there in the world!? No wonder Zhang Tong¡¯s men migrated the f.u.c.k out of this. This is so disgusting!

    Is our hard work so easy that a five-year-old girl can awaken 10 wings on the fly!?

    JESUS F.U.C.K.I.N.G CHRIST, MEDUSA!! YOU¡¯RE RUINING THIS DIMENSION!!

    ...

    Oh, I take that back. Good job, Medusa! Good girl!

    I have 16 wings now!! YAYYYYY!!

    ...

    Finally, another festival. It¡¯s been ages. My diary is dusty.

    Li Feihong, your life sucks. How can you still continue living? If I were you, I would havemitted suicide by now.

    ...

    You¡¯re a badass son of a bitch, Li Feihong! I love you!!

    I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re married. I love you!!

    Be my concubine!! Let me have your baby!!

    BTW, Adam, you suck. Once I¡¯m done with the revenge, I¡¯ll dumb you ASAP!

    ...

    Holy shit. You¡¯re crazy, Li Feihong. Two in a row?

    I know that you¡¯re strong, but you¡¯re defo crazy.

    I don¡¯t hate crazy badass men. My hole will be waiting for your stick!

    Whoops. I¡¯m wet. Boy, I love Li Feihong. MARRY ME ALREADY!!

    ...

    Third time is a charm, but you¡¯re fighting the top dog, Li Feihong.

    Thank you for thest two fights, by the way. The previous betting was 1 to 1105 against you. Of course, I bet on you.

    Do you know how many lifespan years I got from that?

    19 Digits!

    I¡¯m good for life, yo!

    I don¡¯t care about the revenge or the festival anymore, yo!

    Just kidding. Killing my mother takes priority. I¡¯ming for you, Misha! Where the f.u.c.k are you BTW? Why haven¡¯t you participated in this festival?

    ...

    Li Feihong is the supreme god now, and Tong is Li Feihong¡¯s prodigal son. What a f.u.c.k.i.n.g plot twist.

    I like them though. They¡¯re goofy.

    I like theirplex family. I stillugh when Li Feihong calls Tong¡¯s wives as sisters-inw. They¡¯re supposed to be your DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW!!

    But some of them are older than Li Feihong...

    I need to stop trying to figure out their rtionship. I have a headache.

    I still love you, though. Li Feihong, marry me!

    Oh, wait! If I marry Li Feihong, I¡¯ll be Tong¡¯s mother...

    Ah... My head.

    ...

    Li Feihong and I rigged the festival, and I got to fight Misha!

    YAAAAAYYY!!

    Dealing with Misha was tough. I don¡¯t know how many backup bodies she is hiding, I will destroy them all.

    Mother, I hate you.

    But I killed you. So, we¡¯re even.

    No, we¡¯re not. I need to torture you for a billion years to make it up for the time you imprisoned me.

    ...

    Li Feihong is such a dreamy man! I¡¯ve dumped Adam. Please marry me!

    Oh well, I¡¯ve found Misha again.

    I killed her too many times that I lost count. Mother, are you a c.o.c.kroach? How are you still alive after I chopped you up a thousand times?

    Well, since you¡¯re in my daughter¡¯s realm, I release all her children and destroy everything you hold dear. Will you die a heartache, mother?

    ...

    OH

    MY

    F.U.C.K.I.N.G

    SWEETING

    LUCIFER

    WHY

    THE

    HELL

    AND

    WHAT

    THE

    HELL

    HAVE

    YOU

    REINCARNATED

    INTO

    !?

    Welp, this is going to be fun. For the sake of my entertaining, I¡¯ll seal all your previous life¡¯s memory. It¡¯s cheating for an NPC to have a yer like your grandmother. Does she know that her backup body has a god-like soul in it? I guess not.

    Let¡¯s see if I can send Misha to you.

    I wonder what you two are going to do when you meet each other again.

    Good luck, Uriel Mia.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!