Chapter 33: Thirteen Swords

  Wu Junhou was confused by the conversation between Mao Niang and her sister, but the two girls lowered their voices to talk in the tent, obviously not wanting him to hear. He didn't dare to intentionally eavesdrop, only knowing that Mao Niang was furious, but he had no idea what happened. Before he could figure it out, Mao Niang suddenly rushed over, angrily asking: "You said that kid is stronger than me? Fine, let me try against him first."

  Wu Junhou was dumbfounded, what does this mean?

  "If he can't even beat me, what makes you think he can beat Yan Rou?" Mao Jian's face was extremely unpleasant as she twisted her neck and snapped her fingers.

  Wu Junhou furrowed his brow and fell silent for a moment: "Miss, are you worried that I will make fun of the reputation of our manor?"

  Mao Jie's face changed color as soon as she heard this, and she was immediately at a loss for words. Wu Junhou's words were very severe, and with his identity, he was practically accusing Mao Jie to her face. However, Mao Jie did not dare confront him directly either. Although Wu Junhou was a guest, the Mao family still did not dare treat him as just a guest.

  Achu listened and pulled at Maoqiang's sleeve from behind, her face red as she softly reminded: "Sister..."

  Mao Jie was not unaware of the weight of things, although she was extremely angry about Liu Xiu's sneaky peek at Ah Chu, but also knew that since Wu Jun Hou wanted Liu Xiu to welcome Yan Rou, it must be because he thought her strength was insufficient to defeat Yan Rou. She had just seen how Yan Rou defeated Gong Sun Zan in the cavalry battle, although she felt that Yan Rou's final move to defeat Gong Sun Zan was a bit shameless, but couldn't deny that with his ability to remain undefeated in the first two rounds, he was not someone she could compare to.

  In front of personal grievances and family honor, she can only swallow this bad breath first, wait for the matter to pass before seeking justice from Liu Xiu.

  Liu Xiu didn't know that he had already been hated by someone, and was still astonished at the somewhat inexplicable defeat of Gongsun Zan. He was weighing whether he could beat Yan Rou when Wu Junhou sent someone to summon him over.

  Standing behind the curtain and looking at some suspicious Wu Junhou, Liu Xiu always felt that he was a bit unnatural.

  "What are your thoughts on Gongsun Zan's defeat earlier?" Wu Junhou raised an eyebrow, his tone carrying a hint of provocation as he asked, "Do you still dare to come out and fight?"

  Liu Xiu knew he was being provocative and ignored him, simply saying: "Gongsun Zan's martial skills are no weaker than his, he just isn't as cunning."

  "This isn't called cunning. If on the battlefield, Gong Sunzhan died not even a bit unjustly." Wu Junhou interrupted his vilification of Yan Rou, saying very seriously: "Having the upper hand doesn't equal winning. On the battlefield, before the enemy is killed, any carelessness can be fatal."

  Although Liu Xiu was somewhat dissatisfied, he had to admit that Wu Junhou's words were correct. It was Gong Sunyan who lacked experience and was too careless. He met Wu Junhou's gaze and fell silent for a moment: "I think I have a 50% chance of winning him."

  Wu Junhou secretly let out a sigh of relief, rarely revealing a hint of a smile. He patted Liu Xiu's shoulder: "I believe you, go ahead and take care of this... traitor."

  "Yes." Liu Xiu bowed his head and saluted, nodding vigorously. He turned around and walked back to the center of the empty ground, took the shield and ring-headed knife from Mao Zong's astonished face, swung it twice, struck the shield with the knife, making a "thud" sound, then took two steps forward, pointing at Yan Rou with the ring-headed knife in his hand, slightly raising his chin.

  Yan Rou's face sank, Liu Xiu's action was extremely rude, even on the battlefield where enemies meet, it was rare to see such a rude gesture. He turned his head and took a look at Mao Qin, who was also somewhat surprised, subconsciously glancing at Lu Zhi.

  Lu Zhi stroked his beard discontentedly and cleared his throat.

  Yan Rou was getting angry, thinking it was the Mao family's deliberate intention. He didn't say anything else and stood up to take the knife and shield from the attendant. With a big stride, he walked in front of Liu Xiu, gave a perfunctory bow, then let out a loud shout and swung his battle knife down at him.

  Liu Xiu was somewhat nervous, he had been in this world for so long, and his fists and feet had only been trained for over a decade. He had also learned some knife techniques from Gong Sun Zan and the others, but wielding a knife to slash at people was absolutely a first for him. Yan Rou's face was ashen with rage, her anger boiling over, and she was completely different from the polite and courteous person who had faced off against Gong Sun Zan earlier. Would she end up chopping herself down with one swing of her knife instead of just knocking away Gong Sun Zan's long spear like before?

  He couldn't think much and instinctively raised his left hand's shield to block Yan Rou's angry slash.

  "With a 'ding' sound, Yan Rou's knife chopped down heavily on the shield. Before Liu Xiu could raise his battle knife to counterattack, another knife followed closely. "Ding ding ding!" Yan Rou chopped out seven knives in one breath, each knife using full force, so fast that it made people gasp for air, and the power was so great that it made people's hearts jump with fright. At a glance, it could be seen that he had become truly angry, not having any intention of sparring, and each knife seemed to want to chop Liu Xiu down."

  Mao Qin and others were shocked, even Li Ding couldn't help but change his expression, worried about Yan Rou's sudden burst of anger. Wu Jun hid behind the curtain, motionless, but his focused eyes revealed his inner tension.

  Liu Xiu, facing Yan Rou directly, felt the pressure brought by her anger even more intensely. He held up his shield and listened to the continuous loud crashes, his arm numb from the shock, his heart racing wildly, and the killing intent that came at him made him subconsciously grit his teeth.

  However, he didn't retreat a single step and had no regrets. On the contrary, Yan Rou's fierce attack only fueled his anger. He forcibly suppressed his instinct to retreat, using all his strength to raise his shield and withstand Yan Rou's relentless attacks, refusing to back down. In his heart, he was indignantly cursing the women of the Yan family.

  Traitor, I want to see what you're capable of today. Do you think you're impressive just because you've surrendered to the Xianbei people and become their dog? I don't believe it, I want to humiliate you, even if I'm not your match. Even if I lose, I'll still beat you up a bit, bite you a couple of times, and spit at you.

  Liu Xiu glared fiercely at Yan Rou, gripping his shield tightly. Although the ring-headed knife in his hand had not had a chance to attack, he gritted his teeth and persisted, not retreating an inch. His usually gentle face was distorted by anger and tension, looking extremely ferocious.

  Yan Rou didn't say a word to him, but he saw anger and contempt in Liu Xiu's eyes. He couldn't understand why this stranger was so angry, it was just a test, why did he make such an impolite move? But he was a bandit, facing such intentional provocation, he never liked verbal disputes, instead, he was used to defeating his opponents with force, letting them suffer the consequences of making him angry.

  Yan Rou never thought of killing Liu Xiu, after all this was not a battlefield, and the young man was Lu Zhi's student, not a true enemy. He only wanted to defeat Liu Xiu with the most brutal and direct attack, making him kneel down in front of him, regretting his previous rudeness and arrogance, begging for his forgiveness.

  So Yan Rou didn't use any fancy techniques, he just used the most overbearing knife skills, one knife after another chopping towards Liu Xiu. He saw Liu Xiu's tension, but became even more determined, he wanted to use his knife to chop away Liu Xiu's arrogance, chop him until he was exhausted, chop him until he collapsed in front of him.

  One knife cut, another knife cut, and yet another knife cut.

  Yan Rou cut out thirteen knives in one breath, like a stormy rain of thirteen knives.