One Who Cannot Be Recklessly Opposed
I charged straight at Guan Yu, spear thrust forward, with only one thought burning in my mind: stop him and save Cao Ang.
My spear screamed toward his throat.
“Hmph!”
With a thunderous BOOM, Guan Yu’s Blue Dragon Crescent Blade swept my spear aside and came crashing down toward my head. It was the same strike that had crushed Lu Bu and taken his life. I met it with everything I had, then twisted to let the blade’s teeth slide past me.
But that was only the beginning.
He had declared he would show no mercy, and he meant it. Every blow came with lethal intent. A single heartbeat of hesitation and I would be carved apart without even realizing how it happened, my life ending right here on Mangdang Mountain.
Yes. This was war.
The moment I held Guan Yu here, the entire Liu Bei army—including their vanguard—would be annihilated. If I could just block his attacks and force him to retreat, complete victory would be ours!
CRAAAAASH!
I blocked another strike that exploded like a bomb and shouted at him.
“As expected of you, Uncle Yunchang! You truly understand loyalty and romance!”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“No one else is attacking me except you, Uncle!”
“!?”
CLANG! CLANG!
The instant I thrust my spear at him, Guan Yu parried it and leaped back. He turned to the nearby cavalry commander and barked an order.
“Yuanjian!”
“Yes, General of the Side.”
“Take command of the cavalry in my place and descend the mountain!”
“General, the battle is critical. We must rescue the Imperial Uncle at once.”
“I know! That’s why I will deal with this bastard myself. Hold off the pursuers until I finish!”
Guan Yu spoke with iron resolve. He handed command of his troops to Liao Hua, then turned back to me, Blue Dragon Crescent Blade leveled.
“For the sake of my sworn brother, the Imperial Uncle of the Han imperial house, I must end this here.”
“And I must hold you here, Uncle Yunchang, to save my own brother Zisu, whom I barely protected moments ago.”
If I staked my life to pin Guan Yu down, victory would be certain. If I failed, he would trample my corpse, cross Mang Mountain, break through the Cao army, and charge straight for Cao Cao. Or he might go after Cao Ang, who had barely escaped with his life, to claim equal merit.
If possible, I prayed the main Cao force would crush the Liu Bei army before Liao Hua’s troops could shake off our pursuers.
CLANG—CLANG!
Our bodies had already clashed many times, and I was growing more familiar with his rhythm. Had my condition been perfect, I might have caused a real upset. But feeling was rapidly fading from my left arm.
Every time I blocked a full-power strike, my entire body buzzed as if struck by lightning. My pulse raced more than twice its normal rate in extreme excitement. And before me stood a god of war with bloodshot eyes, fighting with all his might.
Still, I was not fated to die here.
I knocked aside Guan Yu’s latest blow with raw strength and closed the distance. Our horses collided head-on with a violent crash.
Guan Yu staggered but planted both feet firmly, regaining his balance and blocking my spear with the shaft. In that instant I slid my blade past his guard and drove it straight toward his chest.
SHRRK—
The dark-green silk robe tore open, revealing the armor beneath. The spear point bit in but could go no deeper.
“Your arm lacked power,” he said.
“Damn it…”
It had been the perfect chance, but the grip in my left hand had gone slack. I could already feel thick, sticky blood flowing inside my armor all the way down to my abdomen.
KWAAAAAANG!
This strike carried Guan Yu’s full power as well. I barely blocked it, but—
HIHIHIHIIIIING!
“Ugh!”
My horse lost its footing, legs buckling, and collapsed. While I was still airborne, I tried to strike with the spear shaft—
WHOOSH—CRAAAASH!
My body flew through the air and slammed into a tree.
“Khhk…”
Guan Yu looked down at me, then dismounted and strode forward, Blue Dragon Crescent Blade in hand. He raised the weapon high, but for some reason he hesitated and did not strike.
Our eyes met.
The eyes of the god of war—who had been slaughtering every enemy before him without hesitation—were trembling.
“Khh… Uaaah… Damn it all!”
BOOOOM!
Guan Yu suddenly drove his blade into the ground, his face twisted in terrible agony.
“Why did it have to be you standing in my way? Did Cao Cao order this? Did he deliberately send you to block me?”
He’s shaken. He truly cannot bring himself to kill me.
“Zayul—no, Cao Xiu! I clearly told you I would show no mercy! Must I truly cut down the disciple I raised with my own hands?!”
I tested both arms. The right moved freely. The left… I clenched and opened my fist. It still worked. Bracing my back against the tree, I slowly stood up.
“Uncle, it seems I truly cannot escape being a member of the Cao clan.”
“!”
“In the end, isn’t this what war in a chaotic age is all about?”
Shing—
My spear lay somewhere outside reach, so I drew the sword at my waist.
“Grrrr… You truly—!”
SWOOOSH!
At that moment an arrow flew at Guan Yu. He swatted it aside with his hand. Beneath his sleeve I caught a glimpse of the bracer covering his wrist and forearm. The archer was Xiahou Yuan, leading a unit of mounted archers up the slope of Mang Mountain.
“Guan Yu!!!”
“!?”
“The instant you lay a single finger on that child, you die!”
“…”
“It’s over. The Imperial Uncle has likely been routed, and his army annihilated.”
I had kept Guan Yu occupied so he could not strike our main force’s flank. We had only repelled his soldiers; he had not managed to slay a single one of our generals.
“You bastard, Guan Yu!”
Xiahou Yuan switched from bow to iron staff and charged. Guan Yu yanked his blade from the ground and shattered the incoming strike with a single sweep. Then, glancing at the staggering Xiahou Yuan and me, he mounted his Red Hare and shouted.
“Tell Lord Chancellor Cao! Guan Yunchang has slain no one today. This is the final act of loyalty I will show the Chancellor!”
“!?”
Guan Yu immediately spurred his horse and galloped toward Liu Bei’s position. The Liu Bei army’s vanguard had been crushed and their forces largely annihilated, but the key generals including Guan Yu would somehow survive.
“Zayul, are you all right? Damn it… you fought in this condition?”
Xiahou Yuan hurriedly stripped off my armor and pressed a torn strip of his own robe against the wound on my shoulder.
“Call the army physician! Call the physician!”
While staunching the bleeding, Xiahou Yuan lowered his head.
“I am sorry. The moment you captured Mang Mountain, I misjudged the situation. I thought Guan Yu would come up the flat ground, so I ordered Zisu to follow you over the mountain.”
“It seems Imperial Uncle Liu anticipated that from the start and set up his formation accordingly. No matter which direction we approached from, our movements would be clearly visible.”
There was no point now in arguing who had judged wrongly or who had made a mistake. If we were keeping score, I had been the one who abandoned a nearly captured Liu Bei because Cao Ang was in danger, turned back to save him, and ended up fighting Guan Yu like this.
“Get on my back. I’ll carry you down the mountain.”
“No need. Just give me a horse.”
“As you wish. But if you don’t get treatment immediately, you could die. And you’re a father now, you fool.”
I told you I’m not fated to die yet…
Despite his high rank, Xiahou Yuan willingly carried me on his back, mounted a horse with me, and rode down. The plain below was already covered with countless corpses of Liu Bei’s soldiers. It was a perfect display of what total annihilation looked like.
“My lord, congratulations on your victory.”
“We won, but the bleeding was heavy. We brought thirty thousand men and lost three out of every ten.”
“My lord, Liu Bei lost nine-tenths of his troops. He barely escaped with a few hundred riders.”
“Tsk!”
Though it was clearly a victorious battle, Cao Cao wore a somewhat uncomfortable expression as he gazed toward Mangdang Mountain.
“Zayul, how is your body?”
“I can endure it.”
“Go straight to Yenan and receive treatment. I have heard the full story.”
Cao Cao approached, firmly clasped my hand, and nodded.
“Also, someone captured an enemy archery commander. A Commandant of Xuzhou named Mi Fang. We have just secured his head.”
Ah. So the man I trampled to death with my horse’s hooves was Mi Fang.
“It was you who took him, wasn’t it?”
I smiled quietly and was carried to the rear for evacuation.
After returning to Yenan, physicians rushed over at once. They cleaned the wound and began urgent treatment, but every one of them frowned deeply.
“This is… the wound is far too deep.”
“After the arrow was pulled out, he engaged in violent movement. His internal condition is twisted.”
“What kind of talk is that? You can’t heal an arrow wound?”
Xiahou Yuan snapped, but the physicians only looked troubled. To suffer such a severe wound on the front lines… truly…
“Zayul? Is Zayul inside?”
Cao Ang burst into the tent in a hurry.
“Ah, Brother!”
“What is it, Zisu?”
“I came to check on Zayul’s condition. How is the wound?”
“Not good.”
Cao Ang looked at me, saw the injury, and lowered his head with a face full of complicated emotions.
“Uncle, I have urgently brought a physician. He was traveling through Jiangdong and had just crossed the Yangtze. I detained him immediately.”
“What kind of physician warrants such urgency?”
At that moment the physician Cao Ang had brought entered the tent. A small-statured old man who appeared well over sixty stroked his white beard and carried what looked like a medical kit.
“Hmm, this old man usually cannot tend to many patients amid the chaos of war…”
“Master Hua! That you were here is truly heaven-sent fortune. I beg you, please treat my brother! I implore you!”
The man Cao Ang had brought… was Master Hua… Hua Tuo?
He had coincidentally come up from Jiangdong and been discovered at just the right moment?
“Hmmm. Even so, how can a physician simply pass by a patient in such condition? Let me examine him.”
Hua Tuo approached, took one look at the wound on my shoulder, let out a long breath, and nodded. Then he opened his bag and took out numerous surgical tools.
“I-is treatment possible?”
“Master Hua—Hua Tuo, is it? Then this Xiahou Miaocai also entrusts my nephew to you.”
“I shall do my utmost.”
Hua Tuo looked at me and began preparing for surgery.
And so the battle against Liu Bei ended with the near-total annihilation of Liu Bei’s army. They were driven out even from Yenan and could no longer operate north of the Yangtze. They would probably head to Jingzhou, but it would take them a full decade of bitter hardship—recruiting from scratch, gathering private troops, and rebuilding from the bottom.
However, I had no intention of allowing Liu Bei to enter Shu. Fate or not, I wanted to settle everything within Jingzhou. To do that, I would need to become even stronger.
First, I would heal this arm. Then I would undergo intense training in the capital at Xudu.