Tongniang choked again, she couldn't even enter...
"Lord..." The scene of him initially coming to serve Yuan Shao flashed through Yann Liang's mind. Born into poverty, he and Wen Chou weren't looked down upon by Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao, who formed connections with heroes all over the world, looked at the two men's ragged clothing and, without any hesitation, took off his own brocade robe and bestowed upon them his precious horse.
At that time, Yann Liang and Wen Chou swore that as long as they were alive, they would never let Yuan Shao suffer any harm.
"I'm still alive!" The severely injured Yann Liang radiated bloodlight, and the wounds on his body quickly healed. However, in the bloodshot eyes of Yann Liang, there were only two people: his lord Yuan Shao and Lyu Bu, who had defeated him.
A massive and solid blood-colored light blade sliced towards Lyu Bu.
"Ding!" Lyu Bu, riding his horse, shattered the light blade and looked at Yann Liang, who was covered in blood with crimson eyes, with a trace of admiration. His strength was enough to crush the other's confidence, yet the other had actually ascended to a higher realm.
"If you want to harm my lord, first step over my dead body!" Yann Liang's eyes flickered with madness as he mounted his Azure Dragon horse, positioning himself in front of Lyu Bu.
"So that's it, this is your conviction?" Lyu Bu looked at Yuan Shao not far away, "You have a good subordinate! But he alone can't stop me!"
The moment Lyu Bu spoke, Yann Liang instinctively felt fear, but the presence of Yuan Shao behind him made him dismiss the fear of death.
"Thump!" Yann Liang's Blood Blade struck forcefully against Lyu Bu's halberd.
"Not bad, the power," Lyu Bu, holding the halberd in one hand, pushed back Yann Liang with the other hand, "State your name, you've earned the right to let me know your name."
"Yann Liang from Hebei!" Yann Liang said in a muffled voice.
Lyu Bu transferred the halberd from his left hand to his right, a golden-red glow engulfing it. The meteoric iron-coiled dragon on it seemed to come to life in that moment, bursting with golden-red dragon flame.
Similarly, Yann Liang was also accumulating power on the other side. He understood that if no one came to his aid within fifteen moves, he might die here. He could die, but his lord was right behind him.
"Kill!" Yann Liang couldn't hold back any longer and exploded with a shout, attacking first. If Lyu Bu's limitless growing momentum continued, he might not even have the confidence to strike.
Like a storm, Yann Liang could only manage five strikes before he was completely pushed back by Lyu Bu, then like a violent rainstorm, blows rained down on Yann Liang's head.
Without radiating too much light, Lyu Bu wrapped every whip of inner qi around his body like an instinct, with not a trace wasted. Every bit of his force was utilized without waste, perfectly suppressing Yann Liang's counterattack.
Ten moves, fifteen moves, twenty moves, twenty-five moves, thirty moves. Yann Liang could only feel the attacks from Lyu Bu becoming heavier and heavier, so heavy that he couldn't spare thought for anything else, only able to desperately hold on.
If he knew he had already blocked thirty of Lyu Bu's moves, he would have been astounded, but the only thing he could remember now was to block. Before he fell, he absolutely couldn't let anyone harm Yuan Shao.
"Too boring." After pushing Yann Liang back again, Lyu Bu finally grew bored of him and placed his left hand on the halberd as well.
"Ding!" With a crisp sound, Yann Liang's knife broke, followed by Lyu Bu flipping his halberd and cutting diagonally upwards.
Yann Liang exerted his strength to retreat, but the tip of Lyu Bu's halberd still swept across Yann Liang, instantly splitting his already shattered battle armor into two halves, leaving a massive wound from Yann Liang's chest to his waist.
"Big brother!" Wen Chou, who had rushed over frantically, felt his eyes nearly burst upon seeing this scene, while the fallen Yann Liang, hearing that blur of Wen Chou's voice, allowed a curve to form at the corner of his mouth, and then slowly fell, never to stand up and fight Lyu Bu with reckless abandon like before.
"Ah!" Wen Chou completely lost his sanity, disordered qi bursting forth from his body, a tinge of bloodlight now mixed within his originally pure golden Inner Qi.
"The righteousness between brothers, huh?" Lyu Bu watched the charging Wen Chou and thought pensively. He was already beyond the mere stage of Inner Qi Manifestation, far different from others who were still contemplating how to achieve breakthroughs; he had already organized a complete set of plans for breaking through the body's limits, allowing more people to reach the stage of Inner Qi Manifestation, aspiring to create more experts to challenge himself.
If anyone else knew of this idea, they would indisputably call Lyu Bu crazy, but for this man who stood at the peak, looking down upon the heroes, this was merely a game; a game to select challengers. He firmly believed that he would be the strongest martial artist.
Wen Chou's frantic attacks lasted only five moves before Lyu Bu suppressed him, even though Wen Chou's strength had leaped qualitatively due to reaching the height of Inner Qi Separation, there was still a vast gap between him and Lyu Bu.
"Second Lord, where are Zhang Fei and the others?" Chen Xi, having stabilized his soldiers, asked the subordinate general next to him with curiosity. With such commotion, why weren't those two super experts seen?
"The second and third brothers have gone to assist Alliance Leader Yuan," Liu Bei rode over in his military garb, "Thank you, Zichuan, for steadying the soldiers."
"Oh, it's nothing. We should hurry up and help drive out Dong Zhuo's troops who launched the night attack, otherwise, if they manage to cause a camp breach, it'll be troublesome," Chen Xi shrugged.
Liu Bei understood Chen Xi's implication well, this was the best opportunity to show off, and also the best time to form connections with various Feudal Lords, showcasing his own powerful side to them. Liu Bei now not only possessed some of the best military generals in the world but also some of the most elite troops.
"Zilong, I'm entrusting half of the infantry to you to protect the military advisor! I'll go repel the external enemies," Liu Bei said to the Capital Chief next to him, whom Gongsun Zan had assigned to lead the White Horse Righteous Followers.
"What?" Chen Xi was startled, "Are you Zhao Zilong of Changshan?"
Under the moonlight, Chen Xi carefully examined the Capital Chief next to Liu Bei. With a towering height of eight feet, thick eyebrows, big eyes, a broad face with a strong jaw, and an imposing air, he wore silver-white armor; his left hand loosely held a Precious Sword while his right clutched a Bright Silver Spear, and he rode upon a white horse.
"Has the military advisor heard of me?" Zhao Yun asked with a hint of curiosity.
"The precious horse beneath you, is it the Night Illuminating Jade Lion?" Chen Xi looked curiously at the tame white horse he had once played with.
"Indeed it is," Zhao Yun nodded.
"Oh, good. I'm relying on you for my safety," Chen Xi said with a smile, thinking that at this point, Gongsun Zan had no idea his White Horse Righteous Followers included such a mighty Capital Chief.
"Rest assured, military advisor, I will not allow you to suffer the slightest harm," Zhao Yun stated solemnly.
"I'm even more confident than you are," Chen Xi murmured, "Let's go to the Central Camp and see how our Alliance Leader Yuan is faring. Within this short time, I've seen several differently colored energy bullets. By the way, Zilong, what color is your qi?"
"Silver-blue," Zhao Yun said with a smile, making no attempt to hide his power. Had it not been for understanding his duty, he would have already gone to the Central Camp like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to witness Lyu Bu for himself.