Chapter 497 - Li Feihong's Intimidation

"Are you slacking again, Zhongda!? How many times I have to tell you not to procrastinate? It ruins your work. It ruins your habits, and it ruins your future! Finish whatever your assignment whenever you can!"

…

"Playtime is over the moment you are 12, Zhongda. You're an adult now. Had you been a farmer's son, you would have been thrown outside to plow the fields!"

…

"Stop crying! Men don't cry! Whatever troubled you, you defeat them in your fantasy. Then, you solve them in your mind. Then, you overcome all of that and make your fantasy reality!"

…

"All stratagems and schemes have one most important aspect, execution process. It's true that without the right person, the right time, and the right place, you can't execute your plans. But if you don't execute it at all, everything on papers is just fantasy."

…

"Anger is the greatest enemy of mankind, Zhongda. Whatever happens to you or anyone in the future, never get angry. Anger is a disease, not emotion. Once you're angry, you will desire to vent or harm the others, one way or another. People around you will be infected if you lash it out, and they will also get angry. All your knowledge and experience will become useless the moment your emotion takes over your body. It takes decades to memorize every word of Buddha's scriptures, but you will forget all of it within a minute when you're losing control of your mind."

…

"Zhongda... never mind. Take care of yourself in that army, okay? Don't embarrass our ancestors when you're commanding your subordinates."

…

"Stop flirting with the first princess for once, you idiot! Do you want to anger the emperor!?"

…

The memory of Sima Fang's scolding came back as Sima Yi reread the clan notification for the 100th time.

As Sima Fang had taught him over and over again regarding his anger management, Sima Yi paced his breath, keeping his temper in check.

He might have not lost control of his emotion, but the death of Sima Fang influenced Sima Yi's life goal.

'Sun Clan, Sun Ce, Sun Quan… I took it easy against you in the last life since I didn't want to stand out. Don't you expect that I'll go easy on you this time!'

No one knew what Sima Yi planned to do with Sun Ce and his clansmen. However, his expression revealed a hint of cruelty.

.

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= Julu Government House =

Sun Ce checked the current survivors after the brief contact against Li Feihong, Zhang Min, and Lu Bu. Out of the initial 13, nine survived.

Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, Ling Cao, and Pan Zheng, who had so much potential in their martial arts and leadership, lost their lives in vain.

When Huang Zu arrived with a box of gold nuggets, Zhou Yu's face grimaced.

"We won't take this with us. It's time to retreat."

"Retreat?" Everyone was puzzled, "We've come this far, but we're going to retreat?"

"Li Feihong is coming after Huang Zu, and he can ambush us at any place, any time. We have to leave, or we will all die!"

As he had collected all information about otherworlders from Lilim, Zhou Yu was wary of Li Feihong. The alternate pocket dimension world, private inventory, self-resurrection, teleportation portals, and Li Feihong's monitors posted a greater threat than Lu Bu, who was only good at combat.

Fighting Li Feihong was impossible for them at the moment. Still, Zhou Yu had a way to deal with this otherworlder.

"Until Lilim sends us a reinforcement, we will focus on hunting Lu Bu. For now, we will separate our ways to avoid Li Feihong's pursue!"

Behind Zhou Yu, two young men, who wore a similar leather armor as Zhou Tai, frowned in dissatisfaction.

One of them was a 17-year-old teenager with a beautiful face, Lu Xun. Combining his silky long black hair, thin eyebrows, delicate nose, and white skin, he would look like a pretty maiden had he worn a woman's makeups.

On the other hand, Lu Meng was 22 this year, but his rough tanned skin, thick eyebrows, circle beard, and hardened face often made him look like he was a scary middle-aged man. Light scars and blisters on his hands revealed that he was a hard worker.

The two did not like Zhou Yu from the start as they were unwilling to sacrifice their lives to kill Lu Bu.

Most importantly, their loyalty was with Sun Quan, not Zhou Yu, Sun Ce, or Sun Fang! The only reason they tagged along up until now was because of their naivety before their soul awakening.

Now that they had the other life's memory, they were looking for a chance to break free from this group, hoping to reunite with their former master, Sun Quan, once more.

"After we separated, what's next?" Lu Xun probed Zhou Yu.

"Our purpose won't change. We will bait Lu Bu, so we can ambush him. For now, Lu Xun and Lu Meng, I want both of you to leave this city and head southeast. You will raid Hongnong and Luoyang while Li Feihong is busy chasing us!"

Lu Xun's eyes glittered. He glanced at Lu Meng and nodded, "We understand."

Zhou Yu looked at the general with a treasure box, "Huang Zu."

"Yes, sir?"

"You will return to Liu Biao's side. Try to coax both his sons to antagonist Zhang Tong. Make up a story that Zhang Tong is an immoral tyrant emperor. I don't want to see Liu Cong and Liu Qi joining Zhang Tong after their father died."

Huang Zu recalled the other timeline. As Liu Biao's sons were too naïve in politics, they were easily swayed by the pressure from Liu Bei, Liu Biao's subordinates, and Cao Cao.

Liu Qi was manipulated by Zhuge Liang, who was serving as Liu Bei's strategist. He moved to Jiangxia after Huang Zu's death, avoiding the politic infighting between him and his brother. Liu Bei influenced Liu Qi and turned Jiangxia into his stronghold under the disguise of Liu Qi's forces.

On the other hand, Liu Cong favored the Kuai family, believing in their every advice. As a result, Liu Cong was spoiled and became indecisive. When Cao Cao's armies arrived at Xiangyang, Liu Cong surrendered Jing Province without a fight.

Huang Zu was aware of his young lords' behavior. He knew how he could manipulate these young lords when they were still young.

"Oh! I know! I understand now!"

Zhou Yu moved on to the other officers, "Chen Wu, Song Qian. You two head north to Zhongshan. I need you to protect and hide Zhen Yi and Wang Yun. Those two can access Zhang Tong's clan chat, so they hold vital information."

Song Qian and Chen Wu nodded. Without waiting for Zhou Yu's next order, they flew away.

Zhou Yu gazed at Sun Fang and Ling Tong next, "As for you two, go to Jinyang. Kill Ding Yuan and retreat back to Jianye!"

Sun Fang clicked his tongue, "So, you want me to be the bait this time?"

"Bofu and I have another task. I need you to draw out Lu Bu, but we'll be dealing with Li Feihong."

Sun Fang snickered, "Like you two can fight that guy. Didn't you say we don't have a chance against Li Feihong?"

"… Just do what I said."

"Eh, fine."

Ling Tong glared at Zhou Yu, "What about my revenge? I want Zhang Min dead!"

As they had more time at hand, they reread the chat log and found the name of the six-wing demoness, Zhang Min. With the info, they learned about this new threat of Tong's family and his bloodline.

Before Zhou Yu could answer, Sun Ce patted Ling Tong's back, "We'll deal with Zhang Tong's daughter later. For now, she's as good as a crippled helpless girl. Your father's death isn't in vain."

"… I hope that's the case."

Ling Tong and Sun Fang left, heading northwest toward Jinyang.

Lu Xun, Lu Meng, and Huang Zu departed afterward, leaving only Sun Ce and Zhou Yu there.

The last two schemers looked at each other.

"What's next?" Sun Ce awkwardly smiled, "Are we fighting Li Feihong?"

"No. We'll head back to Jiangdong and hide. We'll gather more sacrificial pawns to be suicide-bombers. Then, we'll fight against Zhang Tong in the open. As long as we can defeat one of his legions, Zhang Tong's hidden enemies will become our allies and destroy his empire from the inside!"

Sun Ce grinned. This year, many ordinary civilians could cultivate wing power, but they did not have a cultivation technique. If they could extend their hands to these local peasants, they would have a strong army of cultivators, which should be more superior to Tong's current advanced soldiers with modern weaponry.

As long as they had more soul-bombers, they would not have to be afraid of Tong's cultivation strength or Li Feihong.

"Let's go. We'll tell Zhu Zhi and Lu Su about our next move. By the way, should we tell my mother, too?"

"No. She is siding with Zhang Tong right now. We can't trust her."

"...Okay."

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu spread their wings, planning to leave.

*VHOOM*

The alarming sci-fi sound of an opening portal made Zhou Yu and Sun Ce jump. They turned around and found a thin rifle barrel pointing at them.

"STAND BEHIND ME!!" Sun Ce shouted as he spread his wings and crossed arms, creating a thin layer of a barrier to protect himself by casting strengthening blessing from his virtuous souls.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

The barrel spat fire, shooting a dozen bullets at Sun Ce.

Sun Ce's barrier deflected the shells, but they left red marks on his skin as all bullets carried Li Feihong's angel power.

"Ah, so you know how to use your soul abilities. That's fishy. I thought only angels or demons from the other side know…"

Sun Ce and Zhou Yu heard Li Feihong's remarks, but they could not see him. Li Feihong was still hiding behind the blue portal.

The warp gate closed as Li Feihong retracted his gun and his arms.

Before the portal closed, Li Feihong teased them, "Let's dance, bitches. Let's see how your guerrilla warfare tactics fare against mine!"

Ten more portals opened, surrounding Sun Ce and Zhou Yu from all sides. Ten barrels of AK-47 pointed at them.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*