Li Dian POV

As I said so, I shot Lu Kuang a glance. He understood and nodded.

“Yes! Lord Li Dian.” After he answered me, he turned to his little sister and said softly, “Alright, I’m going into battle now.”

“Be careful.” Lu Xiang said as she leapt off his horse and somersaulted in the air before landing on her own horse.

“Jia!” Lu Kuang yelled out as he swung his reins, sending his horse into a gallop, “Jia! Jia, jia!”

When I looked over, I saw that it was Zhao Yun who stepped up just as expected.

*Tatata*

*Tatata*

Both horses flew out into the center so quickly that the 300 or so paces between them evaporated in a second. In the next moment, the sun peeked out from between the clouds–

Before the rays of sunlight could fill my eyes, the gleaming reflection of the spearheads caught my eye. In the next instant, their spears clashed together 4 times in quick succession. The spearheads clashed from head to shoulders and from waist to abdomen in what seemed to be a roughly equal exchange.

*Tatata*

*Tatata*

They then separated and went towards the opposing side’s army before turning around and charging at each other again. When Zhao Yun came towards us, I looked at her eyes and saw that the refined air I felt before was no longer there. Her aura and gaze felt cold and sharp like her silver spear.

“Yaa!”

“Un!”

Lu Kuang yelled out as they both clashed again. Both aides twirled their spears in the air as they turned around and stabbed at each other once more.

“Haa! Haa! Yaha!” As Lu Kuang roared, the spear in his hands grew faster and he stabbed over and over, at her vitals, her heart, abdomen and throat.

“Un!”

When I looked at Zhao Yun again, I saw her dodging each of Lu Kuang’s attacks ever so slightly before delivering a counterattack each time. She kept groaning over and over as she stabbed with great force.

Compared to Zhao Yun’s deft movements, Lu Kuang seemed to have trouble. Zhao Yun’s attacks were both fast and very precise. She would stab left, then again at his lower right. This would go on and on and after about 3-5 bouts, Lu Kuang would suffer wounds which made it even more difficult to deal with her attacks.

He should be pulling away at this time. There is no room to think of a way to counter her techniques when she is attacking so viciously.

“Big brother…” Lu Xiang looked on with worry as she clasped her hands in front of her chest, her face devoid of any of the cheer from before.

“Wu!”

“Big brother!”

Suddenly, Lu Kuang moaned which made Lu Xiang yell out. This yell turned my irritation into panic. When I looked over, I saw that they were both still at it, but Lu Kuang was now bleeding at the shoulder. His expression was also extremely grim as he continuously gasped for air. Looks like his stamina is running out.

“Yaa!”

“Haa!”

Just then, Zhao Yun roared out and slashed upwards at Lu Kuang, who hurriedly blocked it with great difficulty, almost losing his spear in the process, and quickly backed up after he did so.

It was clear that Zhao Yun was only just beginning to attack a.s.sertively and she did not seem tired in the least. It is also clear not even I am a match for her. From the beginning, it has been about a dozen bouts. Lu Kuang should be at his limit soon…

If that is the case, then… As I thought so, I slowly reached into my bag and took out my bow and a single arrow.

When I looked over, I saw t

hat they were still fighting. It was a good thing that they were both using mid-range weapons. I would not have the confidence to interfere otherwise.

My eyesight is not as good as Xiahou Yuan’s but my marksmans.h.i.+p was acquired through extensive training by a renowned archer I paid good money for. Well, all this is just me trying to encourage myself, I thought as I took a deep breath and put the arrow to the bow as I drew back and aimed.

“Yaa!”

*Deng*!

Zhao Yun slashed down viciously once more with so much strength that it forced Lu Kuang’s block down and landed hard on his shoulder. It was lucky that there was a gemstone fixed there so he did not get a serious injury from that attack.

“Uwa!” Lu Kuang counterattacked by stabbing out but Zhao Yun casually avoided it.

No, I cannot wait anymore. The chance of a successful intervention will only diminish rapidly over time.

“Lord Li Dian, please hurry up…” Lu Kuang pleaded desperately with tears in her eyes.

“I know…” I responded, feeling more anxious from her begging. I did my best to be as serious as possible and pulled up my hat slightly to widen my field of vision before raising my bow and waiting for a chance to come.

*Dang* *Dang*!

*Ding*!

Both of them continued to stab and slash at each other when just then, Zhao Yun was able to react quicker than Lu Kuang and raised her spear above her head with both hands and slashed down at Lu Kuang who was not able to pull his spear back in time.

“Yaaaaaaaaaaa!” Zhao Yun gave a thunderous roar and as the spear slashed down with lightning speed, Lu Kuang was able to lean to the side and narrowly avoid it.

Now! My eyes bulged when I realised that this was the chance I was waiting for. This attack meant that Zhao Yun was serious and would only attack with greater ferocity than before. This was perhaps the only chance left before Lu Kuang would inevitably fall to her spear!

I held my breath, drew back fully, raised the bow and aimed for Zhao Yun’s chest–

And released the arrow which flew forth with a tw.a.n.g right for her chest as I intended. At the same time, Zhao Yun seemed to have detected my attack somehow either from my killing intent or the sound of the bowstring and looked over.

Kuh! She frowned and immediately pulled back her spear from her attack to defend herself. Be it Zhao Yun or I, neither of us believe that she could dodge the arrow.

But even if she does pull back her weapon in time, what can she do to an arrow that has already been shot? As I thought so, I could not help but think that her action of pulling back her spear was just wishful thinking on her part.

As the arrow neared Zhao Yun, my heart thumped harder and harder and I grew so anxious that I stopped breathing. Even though I was the type that hardly ever got nervous, I kept muttering in my heart for her not to be able to defend against it–

“Un!”

Eh?!

At the same time, Lu Kuang who had leaned over got up and raised his spear to attack Zhao Yun who was not looking at him as he did not make any sound.

“Haa!” Before my brain could process all that I saw, Zhao Yun bellowed out as she knocked down the arrow which split with a *kacha*.

“Ah! Big brother!!!!!!” Lu Xiang screamed when she saw what happened, something that made my eyes bulge wider than I ever thought was possible.

Lu Kuang was sitting motionlessly on his horse with his spear just an inch or 2 away from Zhao Yun. It was clear, even where we were, that there was a wound on Lu Kuang’s neck.

I saw everything as it happened. Just as Zhao Yun skillfully knocked down my arrow, her long spear happened to slash Lu Kuang’s neck.

(TL: In case my translation is not clear enough, what happened is like this: 1) Zhao Yun slashed down at Lu Kuang, 2) Lu Kuang dodged to the side, 3) Li Dian shoots Zhao Yun, 4) Zhao Yun senses it and pulls her spear back, 5) Lu Kuang gets up and attacks Zhao Yun, 6) Zhao Yun knocks down the arrow with the hilt of her spear, slas.h.i.+ng Lu Kuang’s neck simultaneously before Lu Kuang is able to attack Zhao Yun.)

Lu Kuang had now fallen in battle, with his eyes wide open as he sat on his horse. The drum beats from Zhao Yun’s camp grew louder and louder making their 6,000 strong seem much larger than it actually was.

I cannot believe that it ended like this…

“Li Dian! You dare to interfere with a 1-on-1 duel?!” Before I could regain my senses, Zhao Yun began yelling at me, “Are you lot only capable of dirty tricks like that?!”

It was clear that Zhao Yun was still fazed by the arrow.

“You despicable fiends! You dare to interfere with a duel!” The lieutenant added in as well and yelled at us.

“…” However, I am unable to respond at all as what I did was not right by my own principles. The only reason why I did so was so that I could achieve victory.

But now, not only have we lost 1 of our generals, we also damaged our reputation. This sort of ending that has resulted in damage to my lord’s name is a demerit that warrants deduction of points.

Ah… Looks like I am only left with 30 points… But now is not the time to be talking about points.

“Lord Li Dian.” Lu Xiang called out to me in a pained and tearful voice.

“Lu Xiang, calm down.” But I was now the commanding officer and not just one of the generals so I had to think of the big picture, “Calm down. If you charge out now, you will only die in vain.”

“I know. I am a general after all. No matter how naive I am, I still know some things.” Lu Xiang responded in a trembling voice that made me feel even worse from hearing it, “But big brother’s eyes are still wide open…”

(TL: In case you don’t know, there’s this superst.i.tious belief where people can’t rest in peace if their eyes are wide open when they die. The first thing to do with such corpses is to physically close their eyes for them.)