Li Dian POV

“So what?”

“… Eh?”

Un? All of a sudden, strong and powerful voice filled the air. I was very surprised to hear someone speak as I was certain that Cao Ren’s logic was insurmountable and felt tense once again. I looked over and saw that it was Lu Bu who had spoken.

“To be frank, I did not really understand what you both were saying. Nor do I know what is honourable and what is not, much less why I have to defend a tiny city that doesn’t have anything at all. To put it simply, I have absolutely no idea why we are fighting at all.” Lu Bu continued plainly.

“But,” She stared intensely at us as she continued, “Since Xuan De wants us to defend the city, we will do so. To me, Xuan De’s honour is ours. I do not care about Liu Biao or anybody else. All I can do now is to defend Xuan De’s honour. Is that not what a retainer ought to be doing?”

“Wu…” Cao Ren was now rendered speechless. She did not reveal it and continued to smile but she froze in place for a long while.

What surprised me was that she was able to speak so plainly and justly. Perhaps this is the warrior’s way. And we can also be sure that this general is loyal to Liu Bei and impossible to recruit.

“Besides, Xuan De isn’t dead.”

Eh? All of a sudden, Lu Bu continued to speak, and she said something that made me look up instantly out of shock.

What did she just say? Liu Bei is not dead?

I looked up and saw that Lu Bu was expressionless as usual. Her lieutenant, on the other hand, had a bewildered expression on.

“I have deep respect for your dedication and loyalty. But that is one thing, your lord’s survival is another. The dead will not revive and all that remains is their will.” Cao Ren said.

When she finished, the lieutenant hurriedly spoke, “O-our lord’s fate is not set in stone yet. He may yet live and we will never give up.”

The way she spoke was rather stiff and unnatural and when she finished, she seemed very uneasy. It feels like there is something that she did not say. And was what Lu Bu meant really about not giving up hope? Could it be that Liu Bei did not die…

But if he did not die, then where could he be right now? This is the 2nd time we have attacked Xinye city yet there is no sign of him at all.

“It’s about time.” Just then, Cao Ren slowly backtracked and spoke to me, “The enemy’s momentum is weaker than ours but I’m afraid we can’t lower it any further at this stage, much less recruit them…”

Cao Ren shook her head when she finished. I agree with her a.s.sessment.

“I’ll go up first for a duel,” Cao Ren said as she spun her spear, “Just stay at the back. You don’t need to do anything. If I really can’t win, then just order the troops to charge.”

“Ah, Lord Cao Ren.” I said as I hurriedly grabbed her reins before she could gallop off, “Lord Cao Ren, let me go instead. If you go, you will have to face that Lu Bu, which will not yield a good result for us. If I go, I’ll be fighting the lieutenant. At least there will be a chance for us to get an early pre-battle victory there.”

Cao Ren stopped and sank into thought as she released the grip she had on her reins before nodding, “Alright, we’ll go with your suggestion. Be careful.”

“Of course.” I said and went up before announcing my intentions, “I am Li Dian, a Cao general, is there anyone willing to do battle?”

When I finished, the lieut

enant stepped out as expected. She seemed to wear light plate that afforded decent but not complete protection. The reason for this is probably so that her movements will not be hindered.

As I thought so, she smiled and saluted me, “I am Zhang Liao Zhang Wen Yuan, and I will be your opponent.”

As she smiled, she swung her weapon, a Green Dragon blade. Good, that should be interesting. I was not able to fight with Guan Yu this time but this Zhang Liao fellow will do. Well then–

“Yaa!”

“Haa!”

Neither of us wasted our saliva on saying more and swung our reins as we charged at each other. In the small s.p.a.ce in the battlefield, the both of us separated from our troops and as we got closer, the emotions in my heart blazed more intensely.

*Dang*! *Dang*!

In an instant, sparks flew as our weapons clashed.

Wu! Her blows were strong. This lieutenant was no pushover. If I had underestimated her and used just a little less strength, I would have been forcefully disarmed by her blow.

“Yaa!” That person was already charging back at me while I was recovering and pointed her blade to the ground to deliver an upward attack.

*Dang*!

Our blades met yet again but it seemed like her blow this time was harder than the one before. Looks like this lieutenant is slowly easing improving her form.

“Yaa– Hah!” When I tried to push her weapon away, she withdrew her blade and I used the opening to stab and slash at her in quick succession. She dodged the first attack and blocked the second before knocking away my blade and slas.h.i.+ng down diagonally.

*Dang*! *Dang*! *Dang*!

Another 3 diagonal slashes but I was somehow able to block all of them. Her blade always changes paths mid-slash, making it difficult for me to predict where her blade would land and block her attacks but I was somehow able to do so thus far.

After that, we continued to exchange another 10-20 blows. I initially thought that Zhang Liao liked to attack from the side but she deliberately changed her attack patterns halfway through and I was forced to adapt to her new style. By now, she was completely silent and did not even make any grunting noises as she continued to attack over and over. And because of that, I lost 1 source of information and was finding it even more difficult to deal with her attacks.

“…”

Wu! She’s going for my face!

*Dang*!

I was in realising where she was stabbing at and hurriedly raised my blade, somehow managing to deflect it away in time. At the same time, my hat was nearly blown away by this attack.

Kuh! It’s becoming too much for me to handle!

As expected, Lu Bu’s lieutenant is no cakewalk. But there is no choice but to fight on as it is still far too early to bite the bullet and retreat.

“Yaa!” I roared as I swept my blade out and did a horizontal slash at Zhang Liao, who showed an opening after her weapon was deflected. She was not able to dodge and was forced to lean to the side.

Alright! That should do it!

“Watch out! Li Dian!”

Un?

“…”

Just as I was thinking that Zhang Liao was forced to leap off her horse from my attack, Cao Ren yelled and I saw that she was holding her breath again, which meant that she was going to attack. I looked closer and saw that as she leaned over, she swung her blade for me–

Wu! I hurriedly pulled my blade back to block–

*Dang*!

Because my strength was insufficient, and thanks to the additional momentum from her body weight, my arm felt numb when her blade slammed into mine. Immediately, I lost my balance and keeled over.

It’s over, I thought as I reached out and tried to grab my reins but to no avail.

But an idea flashed in my head and I turned my weapon around so I could use my hilt to grab the reins. Immediately, my body shook as it came to a stop thanks to my quick thinking. At the same time, I turned and looked at Zhang Liao. She did indeed lean over to the side and was holding on to her reins with 1 hand and 1 foot as she smiled mischievously at me.

“Hmhm~ You’re pretty good huh?” She said as she pointed her blade at me with her free hand.

“Li Dian!” Just then, Cao Ren yelled out from behind. Naturally, I knew what she meant and hurriedly pulled myself up before I turned my horse around and left.

I looked at the lieutenant out of the corner of my eye. She seemed like she understood why Cao Ren yelled to me as well but she merely stood rooted to where she was and looked at us. Is she not going to retreat to where her troops are?

When I looked ahead, I saw Cao Ren with her blade raised and pointing in my, or to be more precise the enemy’s, direction, “Everyone! Charge!”

After Cao Ren roared, the troops yelled with a single voice that pierced the heavens as the layers of cavalry and heavy infantry troop lines waved their weapons and charged. As expected of Cao Ren, she seized upon the perfect time to charge. If I were to continue fighting any longer, I would have been exhausted.

When I saw this, I turned my horse around and waited for the troops to reach where I was before joining the charge at its head.

Kill!!

In a moment, the enemy troops yelled as they began charging as well. When I looked in their direction, I found that Lu Bu was at the head of the charge.