Liu Bei POV

*Tatatatata*

Along with a loud bellow, the earth seemed to shake behind me with the sound of many horse hooves. No matter how fast Dilu is, it would never be able to make such a thunderous sound.

— Halt, Imperial Uncle! Return to the banquet at once!

Another yell came from behind. I know that things aren’t going well now.

I nervously turned around and saw a band of men in military uniforms with their swords drawn galloping towards me on horses. Their faces were devoid of smiles and even anger; in their eyes, all I could see was the intent to kill.

“Whom do you serve?” I asked as my heart continued racing, in the hopes that this might just be a beautiful coincidence and they aren’t Cai Mao’s troops.

“… We are the subordinates of General Cai and we are here to bring Imperial Uncle back!”

But reality hardly goes as one hopes and they are, as expected, Cai Mao’s troops.

I blinked a few times to wake myself up and calm down. If I don’t pay attention, I’ll get caught and be killed on the spot.

Jia! I just kept swinging the reins and getting Dilu to gallop as fast as he could in the hopes of making it out somehow.

“Troops at the tower! I’m Liu Bei Liu Xuan De! Please open the gates!” I yelled at the troops stationed in the tower when I saw the gates before me who hurriedly signaled to the troops near the gates to open up when they saw me.

“You are forbidden to open the gates! The General has orders! Orders for me to bring the Imperial Uncle back to the banquet! The Governor is present at the banquet as well! Are you going to show disregard for the Governor!”

Eh! The head of the troops behind me also yelled up at the troops in the tower. I turned back and saw that he was brandis.h.i.+ng what looked like a command tally.

I looked at the tower and saw that the 2 troops were completely befuddled. Looks like Liu Qi only instructed them to open the gates and not why. That’s to be expected since our side’s knowledge of Cai Mao’s plan is needed to be kept secret. If it were me, I wouldn’t be divulging these things to ordinary soldiers as well.

“Close the gates!” After a moment, another yell came from the tower. I don’t if it’s because of the command tally or the hearing Liu Biao’s name but the guards seemed to have yielded to Cai Mao’s troops and gave the command to shut the gates.

When I looked back at the gates, I saw that the gate was half open and there were 8 troops in total, 4 on each side, reversing their previous efforts in opening the gates.

— Kuh! I’ll do it!!

I resolved myself and decided to bet on Dilu’s prodigious speed. I was already very close to the gates and clenched my teeth as I raised the reins. I then swung them down as hard as I could and bellowed out a “Jia!”.

*Neigh*~~~

Surprisingly, Dilu actually flew out and further accelerated when I did so.

In my eyes, all I saw apart from Dilu’s mane, were the 2 red gates that were slowly closing. The white light in between grew closer and closer by the second but it also grew narrower and narrower.

Behind me, Cai Mao’s troops continued yelling.

Haa– I took a deep breath.

In the next instant, I felt difficulty breathing and my heart seemed to stop. My eyes bulged and it seemed as though the world had stopped moving–

Then light filled my surroundings!

*Dang*!

The gates slammed shut tight behind me as I continued galloping away on Dilu. Outside the city, a picturesque scene of mountains, clear stream

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s, birds singing and bright flowers greeted me, standing at sharp contrast with the people and civilisation in the city.

“Haha, I made it.” I said to myself. I wanted to praise myself a little more but my lips were trembling so I gave up.

Yes, I’m still very much trembling in fear from what just happened. If possible, I hope that I never have to do that again.

Haa… I gave a long sigh and took several deep breaths to calm myself down.

Alright, now that I’m out of the city, everything will be a lot easier. Next, all I need to do is to get on the small road to the left as Liu Qi said and I’ll be able to make it to my army’s encampment.

Once I get there, I’ll be safe. And everything is thanks to Dilu. I thought as I looked at Dilu and its white patch gleefully and felt that Dilu was a really special horse. Yi Ji said before that it brings bad luck to its owner but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

No, perhaps I’m not a normal person. Hahaha, just kidding. Gradually, I grew more relaxed as I rode on and searched for the small road Liu Qi spoke of.

Ah! I see it!

On the left was a forest and there was a small dirt road there. It was narrow but a single man and horse would be able to make it. Now all I have to do is to steer Dilu there.

As I thought so, I began to pull on the reins–

… Eh? I was pulling hard on the reins but Dilu didn’t react at all. What’s going on? Could it be that I made it go too fast earlier?

“Dilu! Dilu! Turn left! Turn!” I screamed and panicked as the small road grew closer and closer. But no matter what I did, Dilu didn’t turn at all and continued galloping straight ahead.

*Neigh*~~~

Dilu cried out and then doubled down on its gallop as it further accelerated, rendering the option of jumping off invalid. In this sandy terrain, I would probably lose good chunks of my flesh and break my bones if I were to jump off from this speed. My abilities and guts are limited so this was impossible for me to gamble.

All I could do was to hug Dilu tightly as we pa.s.sed the small road. I didn’t stop trying to steer Dilu to the left but it was all in vain.

As I looked ahead, I saw a rapid flowing river up ahead. In front of the river was a tall, vertical cliff that was impossible to climb.

“Dilu! Dilu!” I howled at Dilu in a panic in the hopes of Dilu stopping before the river when I realised that we would be swept away by the river if we were to enter it.

But then all my efforts were in vain once again as water splattered with a *Pu* and drenched my clothing. I closed my eyes instinctively and when I opened them a moment later, I found that we were in the water. The river was deep and we hadn’t even reached the middle when the water level was at my calves.

What was scary was that Dilu continued to make its way deeper into the river even as the water level rose.

Ahaa… Ahaa… I was gasping from terror and couldn’t think of any solution.

Calm down! Calm down, will you! Calm down! Don’t forget, you’re Liu Bei! And this is Dilu! If Liu Bei met with this sort of mishap while riding on Dilu, wouldn’t that mean that a miracle will happen?!

As I convinced myself, I began to feel hopeful and grabbed the reins as I called out to Dilu, “Dilu! Dilu! Come, jump up the cliff! Come!”

— Halt, Imperial Uncle!

Before I could finish, several shouts came from behind. I anxiously turned around and saw that my pursuers from before had caught up. They found where I was and were currently galloping over!

Ah! There’s no worse predicament than this!

“Dilu! Jump! Dilu! I’m Liu Bei! Jump!” I was practically pleading with Dilu at the top of my voice and pulling on the reins with all my might now that I saw the pursuers were here.

*Neigh*~

But Dilu had no intentions of answering to my expectations and only gave a low neigh as it continued to make its way deeper into the river. Isn’t this practically suicide!

What’s going on! History isn’t supposed to go like this! I’m Liu Bei! How can I die here like this!

“Dilu! Give me a hand will you!” I tried over and over but nothing changed from the status quo.

When I turned back, I saw that the pursuers were now close and I was practically exhausted by now. All I could do was lament angrily, “Dilu! Dilu! Are you going to bring me bad luck today!!”

*Neigh*~~~

Just as I finished, Dilu took another step out–

Ah! I lost my balance and fell head first into the water. I instinctively grabbed on to the reins and tried to regain my balance but found that Dilu too had lost its balance and fell into the water. Only then did I realise that we’d reached the deep end and Dilu lost its footing.

But even so!

I pulled on to the reins, hoping to help Dilu reverse its steps. But even then, even in such a scenario where it is about to drown, it still continued forward.

“Dilu! Dilu!” I yelled out a few more times before I felt that I lost my balance completely and plunged into the water.

I knew that I’d fallen into the deep end of the river and flailed about as I struggled to stay afloat in the hopes of grasping onto a fallen branch. But for some reason, there was only water and Dilu around me and all I could grasp were the currents and bubbles.

Wu! Wu!

Un?!

In the distance, several grunts could be heard. This was definitely not from the currents and so I forced my eyes to open up and saw a man in a long gown swimming towards me. His hair was long and he was rather good looking with a thin stubble on his chin.

Lu Su?! Why is Lu Su here?! Could it be that he’s the representative for Jiangdong?!

Wu! Many thought swirled in my mind but now I was most concerned about getting saved. And so I stretched my hand out to grab onto Lu Su who was here to save me. But the distance between us slowly widened thank to the current–

Wu! Wu!

Wu…

He kept grunting towards me and I too did my best to respond but the distance between us continued to widen.

Wu… *Ke* *Ke*…

After struggling for G.o.d knows how long, Lu Su disappeared from my view and I felt myself being swept by the currents and I began to choke.

My nostrils and lungs were burning and very soon, I found myself sinking to the depths.

…

I couldn’t make any sound and could only force my eyes open just a little. As I looked at the darkness before me, various random thoughts filled my head but they quickly disappeared as I struggled to think.

Just before I closed my eyes, only one thought was left in my mind–

The Leap across Tan Stream… Is clearly impossible…

(TL: See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fict.i.tious_stories_in_Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms#Liu_Bei.27s_horse_leaps_across_the_Tan_Stream)

“Eh! What is this!” At the same moment, a young girl in Nanyang frowned as she exclaimed in her home.

Though she’s been frowning a lot of late, this is the tightest of frowns. She didn’t sigh nor did she get angry this time. She was only shocked.

“Liu Bei… Died again?”