Chapter 41: The Enmity of Wife-Killing

Liu Bei launched himself forward in a sudden, flying leap, throwing his entire weight onto the captain before the surrounding soldiers could react.

He slammed the blade of his sword flat against the man's throat.

"How did you know I was a bandit?"

Since he had already succeeded, Liu Bei simply embraced the role of a kidnapper. He grabbed the back of the captain's collar and slowly pulled him to his feet, keeping the sword pressed against his windpipe. "Tell them to drop their weapons. I'm terrified of weapons, and whenever I get scared, my hands start to shake..."

His hand was indeed shaking; the edge of the blade had already broken the skin on the captain's neck.

Yet, frail as he was, the captain showed no fear. He shrieked arrogantly, "How dare you not recognize Cao Poshi! Grand Officer Cao Changqiu is my elder brother! Surrender immediately, or your entire clan will be wiped out to the last!"

Ah, Cao Jie's younger brother, Cao Poshi.

An eunuch's younger brother certainly bore the responsibility of spreading seed for the family.

That look of overindulgence suddenly made sense.

Still, since he had already clashed with this arrogant scion, there was no turning back.

"I don't care whose brother you are; my brother is Yuan Benchu... Tell them to drop their weapons, back away, and lie down on the ground!"

Liu Bei pressed the edge of the blade a bit deeper into Cao Poshi's neck.

It did not matter that they had seen his face. Liu Bei cared little whether these men recognized him; after all, there were no photographs in this era, and he had no intention of returning to Luoyang anytime soon anyway.

As long as he wasn't caught on the spot, it mattered little. He already had plenty of enemies; one more wouldn't make a difference.

"Back away, all of you, back away..."

Cao Poshi's neck was covered in a bright smear of blood. Presumably feeling the sharp pain, he finally stopped screaming.

There had been other people inside the relay station. Seeing the soldiers retreat, the rest of the occupants swarmed out, fleeing far from the building.

A few glanced back from outside the station, only to be dragged away by their companions.

Seeing that the soldiers had all withdrawn to the sides and no one else remained, Liu Bei felt he had regained control of the situation. He exchanged a glance with Zuo Yuan, and, holding Cao Poshi hostage, retreated out of the relay station as well.

Zuo Yuan pressed her back against Liu Bei's, guarding him as they backed outward.

At that exact moment, however, the Yueqi sergeant who had first entered the relay station suddenly lunged forward with his spear, thrusting straight at Liu Bei from his blind spot on the side: "Vile thief, forfeit your life!"

"Young master, watch out..."

Zuo Yuan had been facing the rear and noticed the attack early. She let out a startled cry and intercepted the sergeant.

The sergeant flicked his spear, using the shaft to sweep Zuo Yuan aside before thrusting again, aiming directly at Liu Bei's face.

This man was an expert. Wielding a long spear indoors, he could execute rapid sweeps and thrusts without a hint of hesitation!

Yet, buying a fleeting moment of buffer time, Liu Bei had already turned around. He reached out and heaved with all his might, spinning Cao Poshi around to use him as a human shield in an attempt to force the sergeant back.

To his utter astonishment...

The sergeant did not hesitate for a fraction of a second; his spear pierced straight through Cao Poshi's throat!

The spearhead burst out from the back of Cao Poshi's neck, continuing its relentless trajectory straight toward Liu Bei's face!

Liu Bei was startled. He jerked his head back, narrowly dodging the spearhead, and shoved Cao Poshi's corpse forward with both hands in an attempt to halt the bizarre sergeant.

Simultaneously, he kicked backward hard with his foot, soaring through the air and crashing outside the doorway.

His foot seemed to catch on something, sending a wave of excruciating pain through his ankle.

The sergeant pressed the pursuit, but Cao Poshi's corpse was impaled on the blade. As the sergeant drove the spear shaft forward with a fierce charge, the shaft snapped with a loud crack.

It did, indeed, disrupt the momentum of his pursuit.

The sergeant kicked the corpse away. Seeing only a broken shaft in his hands, he roared at the surrounding soldiers: "The Cao thief... Grand Overseer Cao has been murdered by this villain! Why haven't you killed the assassin yet?!"

The other soldiers looked shocked and terrified, seemingly hesitating, while several others closed in around the sergeant.

Only the initial squad of soldiers charged rapidly toward Liu Bei.

Liu Bei parried a spear thrust aimed at his chest, rolled across the ground, and struggled to his knees.

He had intended to use the sergeant's shouting as an opportunity for a counterattack, but when he put weight on his left foot, a stabbing pain flared up, robbing him of his strength.

Deciding to roll across the ground twice more to evade the surrounding soldiers, he gathered his strength and leaped toward the stables outside the relay station.

Liu Bei truly had not expected that Cao Poshi's own subordinates would dare to kill him?!

What kind of soldiers were serving this pampered fool, anyway?

Could it be that the sergeant had intended to lure and kill Cao Poshi all along? The way he had referred to him as "the Cao thief"... The sergeant harbored a deep grudge against Cao Poshi!

Had he himself merely been used as bait simply because he was traveling with a beauty like Zuo Yuan?

Damn it all... This situation was even more troublesome than someone trying to kill him directly!

The sergeant turned to glance at Zuo Yuan, though he did not give her a hard time. Instead, he shouted to the remaining hesitant soldiers: "This villain has murdered Grand Overseer Cao! If we do not execute him, none of us will find a burial place!"

With that, he stepped onto Cao Poshi's body and forcefully yanked out the remaining half of the spear.

As the bloody spearhead slid free, the metal collar at the base mangled Cao Poshi's neck into a shredded mess, tearing the throat into a sharp angle.

The Yueqi soldiers outside watched the sergeant's actions, then looked at Liu Bei. After a moment of hesitation, they all let out battle cries and swarmed toward the stables.

Liu Bei's foot was indeed sprained, leaving him with no choice but to rely on the stable railings to parry and dodge the attacks.

The stables were small, and the Yueqi soldiers' long spears could easily pierce inward from the outside, leaving him no opportunity to mount a horse.

Seeing this, the sergeant let out a breath and walked toward Zuo Yuan.

"Forgive me... I must kill you."

He actually apologized to Zuo Yuan, though the murderous intent in his eyes had not diminished in the slightest.

"Weren't you here for Grand Commandant Duan? Was it only to kill Cao Poshi?"

Zuo Yuan remained quite composed at this moment; she had already seen her share of terrifying storms in the imperial prison.

She slowly got to her feet and picked up the captain's dropped sword from beside Cao Poshi's corpse. She had already realized that the sergeant had deliberately used her as bait, but she purposefully steered the conversation toward Grand Commandant Duan.

The sergeant, holding the bloody half-spear and preparing to strike, hesitated upon hearing Zuo Yuan's words: "Grand Commandant Duan?"

"What, you didn't know?"

Zuo Yuan asked deliberately, "You didn't know about the fire at the imperial prison?"

The sergeant's eyes lit up at these words, and he shouted loudly toward the outside: "Take him alive! Do not let him die!"

With that, he reached out to grab Zuo Yuan's arm, though he refrained from harming her: "Cao Poshi forced me to offer up my wife, driving her to hang herself. My original plan was merely to exact revenge for her murder, but I never expected this unexpected windfall!"

"He drove your wife to her death, yet still dared to keep you as his subordinate?"

Zuo Yuan found it somewhat inconceivable. A Yueqi sergeant actually held a fairly high rank; a captain of the elite imperial guards was generally equivalent to a battalion commander among the county troops.

"Ha... Which of the soldiers present hasn't been abused and oppressed by him? Why do you think they didn't come to kill me, but instead all chose to help me?"

The sergeant chuckled bitterly. "Cao Jie holds immense power; anyone showing the slightest dissatisfaction faces the extermination of their clan. I had no choice but to seize this opportunity... Yet I never imagined I'd blindly stumble upon the right person! If we capture the two of you, I suppose I shall have earned a great merit!"

In the span of these few exchanges, Liu Bei inside the stable was beginning to reach his limit.

With his sprained ankle reducing his agility, he had already sustained two more wounds. He relied on the obstacles and horses inside the stable to barely dodge and maneuver, even slicing the reins to let loose the horses in a cavalry charge to disrupt the enemy.

However, the soldiers outside the stable were skilled fighters—especially the squad the sergeant had brought initially, who were the first to attack and possessed extraordinary martial prowess.

Releasing the horses bought only a brief respite; Liu Bei still found himself unable to break out.

Fortunately, Zuo Yuan's remark had planted the idea of taking him alive in the sergeant's mind, or Liu Bei might truly have been unable to hold out much longer.

However, releasing the horses had indeed served a purpose.

"Hey, this horse is magnificent! Why is it running out all alone?"

"An ownerless fine steed? Hehe... Then I must catch it for myself!"

"Feilang, this horse probably just bolted from that relay station over there. Go return it to its owner..."

"Wait... No! This is Eldest Brother's horse?! Eldest Brother!!"

"Look at the stable!"

"Aaaaaah! Zhang Fei is here! Who dares to fight me to the death?!"