Liu Bei POV
This is probably the moment that all the troops have been waiting for. From their perspective, they have probably thought all along that we would win. All that was needed was 1 final push and 1 final grand speech by Yuan Zhi. And when she did so, that was it.
AS I thought so, I felt more and more hot-blooded and charged closely behind Yuan Zhi. I never knew that treading the thin line between life and death in battle would be this thrilling.
“Hmph! No matter what, 1/3 of the troops here were trained by me.” Zi Long bragged without me saying anything. But I have to admit that our troops really are impressive.
“Yaa!” I yelled out as well.
“Oi…” Zi Long called out to me as she looked at me with contempt.
“Aya!” Yuan Zhi gave out a strange cry as her sword danced about, landing an innumerable number of blows on the shield warrior in front of her. He quickly lost balance and when the shield in his hands slipped off, Yuan Zhi disposed of him with ease before continuing to charge ahead.
Our troops were also charging very quickly despite fighting for almost the entire day now and filled up the gap that Yuan Zhi had made before the enemy could regroup. This is mainly thanks to the insanely high morale of our troops.
“To think that the enemy troops were this few and they collapsed so quickly…” I gasped as I looked about.
The enemy troops scattered quickly but they still tried fervently to regroup and maintain the formation. Looks like the enemy still trumps us in terms of the quality of troops.
“No. It’s already very impressive how they were able to control the battle situation for as long as they did with so few troops.” Zi Long said as well, “But what’s more impressive is Lord Xu Shu.”
I agree with her on both counts. I sat up and looked into the distance. Yuan Zhi was about several dozen paces ahead and there was a ‘吕’ flag not too far from where she was. Looks like we are about to link up with where Feng Xian is, somewhere to the center of the entire original formation. As for us, we were originally to the left of the original formation and charged towards the middle.
Like this, the 8 Doors Golden Lock formation will very soon–
“Xuan De! Watch out!” Yuan Zhi yelled out to me just as I was feeling complacent and elated.
“Un, you better be careful.” Zi Long said and pointed at a clump of enemies to the side. An ashen-faced Li Dian was standing right there, exuding hatred and murderous intent at us. And then, she charged at us without a word as she raised a rather simple spear.
“Incoming!” Zi Long yelled as she hurriedly readied her sstance.
Well then, me too–
“Yaa!” Just then, a loud roar could be heard from the other side and i hurriedly turned to look.
*Ding* *Ding* *Ding*!
3 clear sounds rang out as Cao Ren charged out of nowhere and attacked Zi Long who was ready to intercept Li Dian. By the way, when Cao Ren popped up all of a sudden and smiled, I thought it was Meng De for a moment and got quite the shock.
“Watch out!” Zi Long yelled as she fended off Cao Ren and when I turned back, I saw a spearhead coming right for me. Unfortunately, by the time I turned to look, it was just centimeters away from me.
Kuh! This is Li Dian’s spear– Fast!
I hurriedly raised my sword but I would never make it in time.
“Xuan–!” Zi Long roared out as she tried to charge over but was blocked by Cao Ren and was unable to move. As for me, all I could do was watch as death came to me once more–
*Ding*!
A gust of wind blew past me but there was no pain from being pierced. Out of nowhere, a black figure leapt over and the spear before me broke into 4 parts. When I saw who it was, I was shocked. She should still be 20 over paces away from me just seconds ago.
“Yuan Zhi?!”
How did she cover over 20 paces in such a short span of time?!
“Hei! Haa!” Yuan Zhi did not reply and yelled out as she stabbed at Li Dian.
*Ding*!
Li Dian calmly raised a broadsword to block before retreating.
“The battle is over! Your formation has been broken by us! What use is there to continue struggling!” Zi Long yelled to Cao Ren who only smiled and continued dueling with Zi Long.
“It’s still to early to say that!” Li Dian yelled as she began to close in again. Even though Yuan Zhi was standing in front of me, Li Dian’s eyes never left me and it felt like she was trying to find something from inspecting me.
“Li Dian! Hand over your life!” Yuan Zhi roared as she charged for Li Dian shakily.
Li Dian launched a wave of successive attacks that were both complex and vicious but the tipsy Yuan Zhi was always somehow able to dodge the attacks at the very last minute. And every time she did so, her body would collapse onto the horse as though she were liquid.
By now, the surrounding enemy troops have re-formed the surround and the hole we had made was being filled up.
It was difficult to say who was having the upper hand between Li Dian and Yuan Zhi but it seems like Li Dian is the one who has been attacking more often. I turned back to see the other duel and felt the air blowing out from their powerful stabs. If this were a game, I would have thought that they were doing some sort of aura or energy attacks. It’s not like it’s the first time I am experiencing this but the wind I am feeling from the attacks of Cao Ren and Zi Long is rather strong.
Additionally, I can finally confirm that it is not my misconception that Li Dian is looking at me. Even while fighting Yuan Zhi, she would constantly steal glances at me.
“Ya!” Li Dian roared and suddenly stabbed at Yuan Zhi who wordlessly dodged by making her horse move to the side. The movement was so precise and swift that I am sure only someone of the likes of Yuan Zhi and Zi Long can accomplish that. Someone like me can only count on myself.
*Da*!
Un? When Yuan Zhi dodged to the side, Li Dian immediately swung down her reins and kicked her horse into a frenzied gallop, charging past Yuan Zhi and headed straight for me.
Eh? Really?!
“Ah…” Yuan Zhi’s reactions were slow by just 1 second but that was more than enough for Li Dian to pull away enough that Yuan Zhi would not be able to catch up.
“Wu!” My heart began to race again and I felt like a security guard who had always had a cushy job but had to deal with armed robbers all off a sudden.
Even so, there was no choice and I drew my sword as I steeled myself. I am also sure now that Li Dian suspects me of being Liu Bei. If not, she would not be so attached to a random Nanman general.
The first blow, will it be left or right?!
I thought as I stared at Li Dian but could not find any weakness in her stance. This was almost like a repeat of our duel in the city. I have to admit here that my martial prowess is not as good as Li Dian’s.
“Haa!” Li Dian bellowed as she slashed down.
— Right! I immediately dodged when I saw the trajectory of her blade. But just then, the blade gleamed as Li Dian turned and swung her blade up at me again immediately.