Liu Bei POV

It was now the early hours of morning and the moon began peeking out of the clouds, and shone moonlight upon the snowy landscape.

I was still on the same horse which was headed in a direction I knew not where. Its gallop was too quick for my blockheaded self to grasp what the surroundings were.

Every step forward brought great pangs of pain, and the intense gyrations threatened to throw me off. All my limbs were numb by now and I wasn’t sure how long more I could last.

And I could feel that there was something very wrong with my back and tried to turn and have a look.

Ouch…

As expected, my back was wounded by Li Dian’s spear before. But what was scary was that the burning pain had disappeared and cold dread filled my heart as I realised this.

No good, I’m starting to feel faint.

I used my bloodied hand to rub my eyes and shook my head while I forced my eyes wide open, hoping that would keep me awake.

Yun Chang… Yi De… I couldn’t find you all.

And I don’t even know if Feng Xian and Zhang Liao made it to Yuan Shao.

Speaking of which how are Hua Tuo, Gan Qing and Mi Zhen doing in Xuchang? Would they be treated poorly? I hope nothing untoward happens to them.

The Xu state 3 were in distant parts of the country now as well. I wonder how they’re doing.

As I thought of such things, I buried my head into the horse’s mane…

“Ah!”

All of a sudden, a jolt by the horse made me loosen my grip on the reins.

No!!

In an instant, I lost all balance and my legs which were clinging on to the horse finally gave way and I fell off the horse onto my back.

“Kuh!”

It hurts!

I fell heavily onto the dirt road but luckily snowfall had created a decently thick layer of snow that cus.h.i.+oned my fall and I didn’t break any bones.

I gingerly felt my back and an intense wave of pain a.s.saulted me. I looked at my palm and saw that it was covered in fresh blood.

“Haa… Haa…” My breathing grew increasingly ragged and I was starting to suffer from oxygen deprivation.

If I keep on losing blood like this, I’ll probably die.

I lay on the dirt road spread-eagled in a ‘大’ shape, completely drained. There was no living thing all around, only a man about to die from excessive blood loss.

…

Was it just me here now? As I thought so, I took out the feather fan that had accompanied my journey in this era all this while.

I really didn’t think I would die in an era that is over 1,000 years before my birth, how ridiculous is that~~

As I laughed at my predicament, I understood as well. That I was not Liu Bei, and it would not be possible for me to make it as far as he did.

Liu Bei seems to have made it as a king in Yi state in actual history but from all the twists and turns I’ve experienced, it wouldn’t be too strange for me to die here as Liu Bei. Or perhaps, things would work out as long as another person takes my place as Liu Bei.

Just like how I, who is not Liu Bei, am here as Liu Bei.

My consciousness grew hazier as I was thinking about this.

… I’m sorry.

For some reason, I apologised.

And finally, I lost consciousness.

Geh…

A piercing white light shone on my eyelids and I slowly opened my eyes.

It’s so glaring.

In the instant when I opened my eyes, I shut them tightly again because of the glare.

Un…

Un? Aren’t I supposed to be on a dirt road? This is…

As realisation hit me, I sprang up and tried to look about but fell back down instantly due to an intense wave of pain from my back.

“Don’t move about too much, I just applied medicine for you.” A familiar female voice came from beside me.

“Ya!” She flicked my forehead and then sank into silence.

“Did you save me?” I asked with my eyes still closed.

“Ah, I found you lying on the dirt road and I dragged you back.” The more I heard this girl’s voice, the more familiar she seemed. She placed a towel on my forehead as she continued, “This is the inn of Ye city. You can stay here and recover for a few days in peace.”

“Ah, thanks for saving me.”

“Hahaha, what is there to thank me about?” The girl gave a refres.h.i.+ng yet refined laugh, “My lord has benefitted much from your kindness. It’s I who should be thanking you.”

Un? Your lord?

“You are…” My eyes were by now accustomed to the light and I slowly opened them and looked at the person before me.

She was wearing a set of curvaceous silver plate, and had taken off her helmet which revealed a head of beautiful straight golden yellow hair. Her eyelashes were long and proper. Her aura felt like something in between that of Yun Chang and Meng De, n.o.ble but resolute, refined but without airs. All this, was the image of a certain person I knew.

— Zi Long?!