Chapter 495 - Thwarted Plan
= A few months earlier before Zhou Yu raided Julu =
Zhou Yu, Sun Ce, and Sun Fang were hiding in Zhongshan as they bribed Zhen Yi with their treasures and their a.s.sets. They had collected everything in Jiangdong and fled to this city, hiding from the eyes of Tong and other immortals.
All of them refused to surrender to Tong even though Wu Guotai had become Tong"s consort and Sun Quan had been t.i.tled as a prince.
As long as Sun Ce and Sun Fang surrendered, they could become princes as well. Yet, they denied Tong"s authority.
Sun Fang was afraid that Tong would kill him to pay back for what he did to Hua s.h.i.+ and Tong in the previous life.
Sun Ce was also too prideful to give up his reign. He was still mad at Tong because the latter stole his wife.
Zhou Yu was the same as Sun Ce. Tong stole Xiao Qiao from him, so this strategist did not want to bow his head to the emperor.
"How long do we have to hide?" Sun Ce grew impatient, "Zhang Tong is already trying to break through his 8-wing cultivation."
"Just a little more. Once our men have at least 4 wings, I"ll tell you what to do."
...
The wait lasted until w.a.n.g Yun arrived and asked Zhen Yi if he was willing to rebel against Tong.
That day, all talented generals under Zhou Yu and Sun Ce obtained 4-wing strength, which was enough for them to fly. However, their foundation was still lacking as they had not enough time for the training.
Zhou Yu wanted to wait a bit longer and allow them to reinforce their foundation. However, Lu Zhi found out about their presence and lashed out in Tong"s clan chat.
Without a choice, Zhou Yu began his plan.
That day when Lu Zhi wanted Zhen Yi dead, they had a meeting. Sun Ce, Sun Fang, Zhen Yi, w.a.n.g Yun, and all their subordinates sat in a circle.
"I have a confession," Zhou Yu revealed the truth that he had been hiding from Sun Ce and Sun Fang, "I"ve been dealing with the G.o.ddess."
Sun Fang stood up as he could not believe his ears, "You-what!?"
"Pipe it down," Zhou Yu sighed, "I swore an allegiance to her that our forces will become her subordinates. Once we have 8 wings or 10 wings, we will become her apostles. In exchange, she gave us enough resources for our men, and she will give us some system perks."
Zhou Yu gazed at his officers, Huang Zu, Ling Cao, Ling Tong, Lu Meng, Lu Xun, Zhou Tai, and many others, "Everyone here cultivates and obtains wings faster than usual because of that deal. Had everyone here cultivated normally, you would have had only 2 wings or so."
Sun Ce frowned, "Is that really the case? I got to 4 wings easily."
"That is you. They don"t have your talent."
"Eh, fine. Continue."
"Okay. Everyone here should have learned the deadliest skill that I taught all of you already…"
Ling Cao and others gulped. Zhou Yu referred to the only one skill that they had, the self-detonation.
It was a suicide skill, which self-explode their souls to harm their opponents. However, upon using it, they would die.
"I"ve already paid what we"ve agreed upon. Your family has already received 20,000 gold in advance. As long as you do your job correctly, they will get another 20,000 gold, which is more than enough to live freely for the rest of their lives."
Zhou Yu glanced at Ling Tong, "Are you sure you want to follow your father along?"
Ling Tong gritted his teeth. He lost his father in the other timeline, so he did not want to lose him again in this world, "I"ll be with my father."
Ling Cao sighed, "We all will surely die if we use that skill. I hope you can leave my son out of this."
Zhou Yu"s face hardened. He shook his head as he refused to lie, even if it might be a white lie, "He might die. We all might die, including me, if this mission fails."
Sun Ce grew impatient. He stood up and glared at Zhou Yu, "Tell me what you"re planning. Don"t waste our time. They will be coming after us in a few hours. Do you know how fast a six-wing angel can fly?"
"… Alright. Be prepared to be disappointed. This mission will be costly," Zhou Yu paused, "We will attack Julu and capture Zhang Jiao, but that"s not our aim. We will intentionally leak info that we want to interrupt Zhang Tong"s cultivation, but our aim is elsewhere."
"We will sacrifice our officers to take down Lu Bu."
.
.
.
The suppressing aura of Lu Bu overwhelmed Sun Ce and Sun Fang. Even though they had a similar cultivation strength, their foundation was on a different level.
Lu Bu had been reinforcing his foundation, mimicking Tong"s training and following Zuo Ci"s advice. Thus, his current 7 souls" strength could rival any 8-wing angel. Combining with Tong"s system skill, Yang Divine Vein, Lu Bu could also sacrifice some of his lifespans to heal his physical wounds instantly.
This ultimate war machine unknowingly worked as one of Tong"s trump cards.
Meanwhile, Zhou Yu squinted his eyes. He also swallowed his saliva in nervousness.
Zhou Yu had predicted that Lu Bu would appear here, and he had prepared a countermeasure against this monster. However, facing the real beast was not the same as facing Lu Bu in Zhou Yu"s imagination.
"Can it work against this monster? No, it has to work! If it doesn"t work, we"re doomed."
He looked around and calculated. Sun Ce was a bit injured from the fight against the 6-wing demon girl. Song Qian, Chen Wu, and Ling Tong could act as sacrificial p.a.w.ns to cripple Lu Bu here as planned.
However, witnessing Lu Bu"s six wings and one additional soul behind his back, Zhou Yu reevaluated his plans.
They were fighting against a 7-wing angel, not 6!
They needed help from Lu Meng and Lu Xun, who were taking control of Julu city. If their aid, they could subdue Lu Bu with more rooms of margin.
Zhou Yu summoned his four wings and flew away. As he was retreating, he yelled at Sun Ce and Sun Fang.
"RETREAT!! REGROUP WITH THE OTHERS!!"
Sun Ce and Sun Fang flinched as they understood what this "Retreat" implied. Their hardened expression gave away the severity of this situation.
Sun Ce ground his teeth in frustration as he looked at Chen Wu and Song Qian with a guilty look.
On the contrary, the two subordinates smiled at his lord. It was bitter, but it contained pride and sincerity.
"We"ll be off. Take care, my lord."
"Thank you for supporting our family. Please take care of them for us."
Sun Ce nodded, "Your name will be remembered for a thousand years!!"
Both Sun Ce and Sun Fang spread their wings and followed after Zhou Yu. Chen Wu, Ling Tong, and Song Qian looked at each other and followed after them, too. Still, they intentionally slowed down and acted as their rearguards.
Lu Bu watched the drama before him with a puzzled look.
"What was that all about? Those two seem like they were preparing for a suicidal charge or something, but they turn tail and run?"
He had the urge to pursue, but his instinct told him that Zhou Yu plotted something sinister.
Being wary of this strategist that he had heard from Li Feihong, Lu Bu chose to be cautious.
Had it been many years ago, Lu Bu would have chased after Sun Ce and killed Chen Wu and Song Qian without hesitation. At present, his temper was under his control as if he were a disciplined general.
He knelt and examined Zhang Min"s condition, prioritizing his rescue mission.
The lining wounds on her body resembled soul injuries, which Lu Bu also had once suffered from battles against Tong and Khan.
However, his former injuries were from a weapon strike, which contained soul power. Zhang Min"s wounds came from another type of attack, which damaged her souls directly.
Lu Bu had not seen this kind of injury before, but he remembered the time when Tong had to seek shelter for years to recover. That time, Tong also reluctantly distributed his system skills to his generals.
From the chat logs, Lu Bu learned that Tong had a serious injury because of an otherworlder"s soul detonation.
Using his conjecture, Lu Bu guessed that Zhang Min might have suffered a similar injury.
"Girl, was it soul-detonation?"
"…"
Zhang Min expressionlessly gazed at Lu Bu. She was in pain that she could not speak.
"Just blink once if it"s correct. Blink twice if I"m wrong."
Zhang Min blinked once.
"I see. I"ll take you back to Ye, okay? You"re safe now."
Zhang Min blinked again. As the tension died down, Zhang Min heaved a sigh of relief and fell unconscious.
Lu Bu hung his halberd on his back. He princess-carried Zhang Min and flew south, heading toward Ye.
As for Sun Ce and Sun Fang, he planned to come back and settle the score later. For now, he entrusted the task to Li Feihong.
.
.
Zhou Yu, Sun Ce, and Sun Fang gazed toward the south, where they could see Lu Bu flying away. Behind them, Lu Meng, Lu Xun, Chen Wu, Song Qian, and Ling Tong stood ready, preparing to sacrifice themselves to kill this monster.
Unfortunately, Lu Bu got too far that they could not pursue both Lu Bu and Zhang Min now.
"Unbelievable," Zhou Yu muttered, "How come Lu Bu doesn"t chase us?"
Zhou Yu was shocked that Lu Bu did not chase after them.
They had spent so many resources for today, hoping to a.s.sa.s.sinate Lu Bu, but they failed. Lu Bu straightforwardly ignored them and returned to Ye with the six-wing demon girl.
The raid plan and the hunt of Zhang Jiao was a distraction to bait Lu Bu into the rescue. Then, they planned to sacrifice a few officers, forcing them to self-detonate to cripple Lu Bu and kill him.
After Lu Bu died, Tong would lose his strongest officer that kept the balance in Tong"s forces in check, and all remaining generals might hesitate if they should stay under Tong"s faction or rejoin their previous overlord, causing internal chaos.
Unfortunately, two factors led them to their failure. The first was Zhang Min"s cultivation strength, which Zhou Yu possessed no data.
Because Zhang Min never partic.i.p.ated in any military activity and the fact that she was a princess, n.o.body paid attention to her martial art prowess like Hua s.h.i.+, Xiao Wu, Diaochan, or Dong Bai.
As Zhang Min showed up in the sky when they first arrived, it ruined Zhou Yu"s momentum and confidence, forcing them to chase after Zhang Min to subdue her before Lu Bu could arrive.
As a result, they lost 3 strong officers, who should have sacrificed themselves to kill Lu Bu.
The second factor, Lu Bu"s insight and his behavior were out of Zhou Yu"s calculation. He was supposed to be a reckless and stupid brute, who would be relentless when it came to confronting an enemy.
Yet, Lu Bu ignored them and retreated with Zhang Min, just like that.
"Is that really Lu Bu? Are you sure that he"s not someone else?" Even Sun Ce was confused. The G.o.d of war he knew never retreated before a fight against a worthy opponent.
"We should have just killed that woman!" Sun Fang complained, "What"s with your genius plan, Gongjin!? We"ve lost 3 officers in vain because you insisted on capturing that woman!"
Sun Ce also glared at Zhou Yu as he had the same question.
But the strategist revealed a faint smile, "It"s not over yet. I sent Zhou Tai and Huang Zu out to scout outside the city for a reason."
Just a few seconds after Zhou Yu said that the Sun Clan"s chat notification rang a sound.
Zhou Tai: "I"ve secured Zhang Tong"s father and his follower."