Liu Bei POV

I looked over and saw seaspray everywhere along the side of the boat as a blue-green figure leap out from the waters. Because of how quickly she travelled, the water on her clothes was left behind and she was not all too wet.

“Ahhhhh!” She continued to roar out as she slashed down at a warrior general nearby with gleaming weapons in both hands.

“Kuh! When did she!” The warrior general gasped as he pulled out his sword to block the attack.

The sword met the 2 white lights with a loud clang, sending out sparks as they did so. Immediately after the initial attack was stopped, another one was dealt, resulting in an even more thunderous clang as the steel sword broke into 3 pieces and the white light pierced through and cut down that person.

The blue-green figure swung her weapons to the side, sending the drops of fresh blood flying. Surprisingly, there was not a single drop of blood on her.

And now as she faced her weapons away from the sun, I could finally get a good glimpse of the forms of her weapons, which were a set of hookswords…

Eh? Hookswords?!

Lu Meng? I muttered under my breath, as she suddenly looked over, giving me a terrible shock and I hurriedly got into a stance and called for help from nearby soldiers.

“My lord! Be careful!”

At this time, my mind froze and before I could react to Chen Dao’s roar from some distance away, an enemy soldier had gone around Zhou Cang and slashed at me.

Geh! I couldn’t dodge in time, and tried to step back–

Eh?!

Just as I tried to take a step back, something blocked my heel and I keeled over backwards. Only now did I know that I had backed up to the edge of the deck.

Yaaa!

“My lord!”

And at this critical juncture, that enemy soldier slashed down at me once more. No matter if Zhou Cang and Chen Dao yelled at me, my feet were stuck and I couldn’t move at all–

“Imperial Uncle!”

*Sou*–

The sound of air being cut followed by a loud yell filled my ears as the soldier in front of me cried out.

I looked out to the distance and saw Chen Gong with her crossbow in a corner on the 2nd storey of the s.h.i.+p. Looks like she saved me.

“Thanks, Chen Gong!”

“Imperial Uncle! Stop looking about!”

“Ah… Got it.”

I didn’t think that she saw what happened before as well… Looks like I really can’t slip up at all–

“Get away! My lord!”

Un? Why is Chen Dao still yelling out at me?

Just as I was pondering why, I felt a pressure on my body and saw that it was the enemy who Chen Gong shot down.

He did die, but he was falling over at me.

Wu!!!

I tried to push him off but I couldn’t make him budge at all.

And just then, my feet slipped.

“Ah!!!!!”

My whole body was pressed down and I fell over with the dead man into the river.

As I fell, I could hear several people yell out to me.

Ah… It’s no good… I don’t know if I said this before, but I’m from the north and I don’t know how to swim…

If I fall into the water like this, I’ll probably sink into the depths. Even if I somehow manage to stay on the surface, I’ll probably be shredded by the dozens of Jiangdong naval troops in the waters.

As I thought about this, my heart rate was surprisingly stable. Perhaps I’ve been through many of such situations so I’m no longer as nervous as before when I meet with such situations.

I don’t know from when this began but my heart seems to have accepted that dying in war is something normal. But perhaps that is indeed the truth.

*Putong*

Before my thoughts could finish, I had completely submerged into the water.

The current was stronger than I expected and I tried to struggle against it but found that I was powerless to do so. Water began to seep into my nose and my body began to react as I began to drown and my eyes shut tightly, forcing tears out.

This is too much.

Instead of drowning, I’d rather have met a swift end like that dead enemy who fell down with me.

Wu!

In the next instant, my body was dragged down deeper into the waters and the bubbles from my mouth floated up to the surface.

I said to cut me down not drown me!

I tried to hold my breath at first but at the end, it still left my mouth and I didn’t continue to think about and let out my breath just like a final sigh.

And after that, I closed my eyes.

…

“Puaa!”

After a long while, my body emerged out of the water once more. I instinctively opened my lips and let in fresh air into my lungs the moment I recognised that I was out.

I was currently floating on the water. I don’t know how to swim but I can still try to maneuver about and try to keep my mouth pointed upwards.

Ah… What the heck is going on?! Why did the one who drag me down let me go?

“What the heck is going on?! Why is Imperial Uncle here!”

A voice that sounded just as surprised as I was came from beside me. I reached out and wiped away the water from my eyelids and looked into the direction where the voice came from.

What entered my sight was a delicate face with eyes wide open staring at me as though she were trying to bore holes through me with her eyes. This person was one that was very familiar. I’d seen her before in Jiangdong and I just saw her as well.

“Lu Meng?! It really is you!”

“Of course it’s me! Who else would use such difficult weapons!” She said as she raised her weapons from the waters, and then yelled angrily at me, “What about you?! Why are you here?! Shouldn’t you be in Xiangyang now?”

“I’m here to reinforce Jiangxia…” I said reluctantly. For some reason, I still felt very uncomfortable telling someone who was once a friend but now an enemy that I was here to reinforce the one they were fighting against.

“Reinforcements? You mean that meager 5,000 men?” Lu Meng seemed very puzzled and sized me up without bothering about proprieties.

“Look at how pathetic you are now! How do you look like an Imperial Uncle now! Is this how that Liu Biao Liu Jing Sheng treats his esteemed guests?!” She roared out angrily once more.

I didn’t think that an enemy who was once a friend would speak up for that former friend who was now reinforcing their enemy. Well, that was one confusing sentence.

“That’s… A little difficult to explain in a short amount of time.” I wanted to say that I couldn’t turn it down but this was difficult to say do I tried to dodge the issue.

But it seems like Lu Meng had different considerations from me as she shook her head.

“No, how could he have let an esteemed guest lead his troops out to war for him! That’s simple too much!” She grabbed my arm as she said so, “Imperial Uncle! You should come to Jiangdong with us! The seat of joint ruler will forever be open for you!”

“No, I turned down that seat. Leaving Jiangdong should have demonstrated my intent.” Though I said as much, I was filled with complicated feelings. My troops and companions were still in Xiangyang and I have thrown in my lot with Liu Qi as well.

Be it reason or emotion, I can’t accept this proposition. Nor can I leave just like that.

“But look at how Jing state is slighting you! If I hadn’t come to save you, you would have sunk to the bottom of the river!” She said as she grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently, “Instead of being Liu Biao’s meat s.h.i.+eld, why not come back with me to Jiangdong? My lord will definitely be very happy!”

In my mind, I could see very clearly Sun Quan’s happy expression. And similarly, Bo Fu’s smile as she stood beside Sun Quan.

“This…” I found it really hard to refute at this time.

“But what about my troops in Xiangyang?”

“There won’t be any problem! As long as you follow me to Jiangdong. they will follow you. I know full well how strong those warrior generals are! At the very least, they are more st.u.r.dy than Imperial Uncle!”

This…

I was being cornered pretty badly here as I looked at Lu Meng fixedly. She too was staring at me and it seemed like she was waiting for the slightest indication that I would accede.

“My lord! My lord!”

“Imperial Uncle~~~”

“My lord! Where are you!”

At this critical juncture, several yells could be heard in the distance. I felt deeply touched when I heard these voices and looked over even though I already knew who they were.

Chen Gong, Zhou Cang and Chen Dao had leapt into the water and were frantically looking about.

Ah… That’s right.

“Lord Lu Meng, please allow me to turn down your good will.”

“Eh? Why?!” Lu Meng seemed puzzled but I was very clear about my choice.

“We may lose this battle, but even so, I must still share the pain of loss with my companions.” I said as I s.h.i.+fted my gaze to look into the distance, “I don’t belong anywhere but where my companions are. I cannot simply choose to change where we will be unilaterally.”

“… Imperial Uncle, you really are– Eh!” Lu Meng still had more to say but she looked at me, and then at my companions before giving a long sigh and said, “I understand.”

“I see, thanks a lot for–”

“In that case, I’ll have to cut you down here, to prevent trouble down the road.”

“Wu!”

She drew her hookswords which she had sheathed at her back before and pointed them at my throat. I got a shock, and only just remembered that we were enemies.

It wouldn’t be strange is she were to just kill me in the next instant right?