Chapter 37: Half Sea Water, Half Flames

  Under the Sheep's Head Peak, Liu Xiu and Liu Bei stood shoulder to shoulder, watching the white horse gradually disappear into the distance, with a figure sitting upright but looking somewhat lonely on its back. Neither of them spoke, and the atmosphere seemed somewhat oppressive. This was where they first saw Gongsun Zan, and it hadn't even been a month yet, but Gongsun Zan had become the first to leave Taoyuan Jing She.

  Mao Zong rushed over, panting, and looked at Gong Sunzhan disappearing into the distant mountain road. He was so anxious that he stomped his feet: "Alas, one step late, one step late! De Ran, Xuande, you two are also... why didn't you advise Bo Hai? Just watching him leave like this? Even if he had to leave, it wouldn't be too late to attend the banquet first!"

  "How did the pig die?" Liu Xiu asked seriously.

  Liu Bei hesitated for a moment: "It should be stupid to death."

  Mao Zong looked at the two of them in a daze, and it wasn't until after a while that he suddenly came to his senses. He lifted his leg and kicked out, cursing loudly: "You two bastards, dare to call me a pig? Have you ever seen such a majestic pig?"

  Liu Xiu and Liu Bei exchanged a glance and shook their heads.

  "Moreover! Don't drag me into this, what's the urgent matter that makes you leave in such a hurry?" Mao Zong's face showed regret: "I was planning to get him drunk with a few more cups of wine at the banquet and then ask him about the ultimate technique of his iron spear."

  "Wait until you go to Liaoxi and then talk." Liu Xiu pulled Mao Zong back, thinking that you are really stupid, why is Gongsun Zan in such a hurry to leave? Isn't it just because he feels ashamed to attend the banquet? Even Liu Bei can see it, what's the point of shouting loudly? However, on the other hand, Gongsun Zan's actions do make people feel sorry for him. Although he lost to Yan Rou, everyone can see that he didn't lose in terms of martial arts skills, but rather in experience. If he hadn't been careless and given Yan Rou an opportunity, I'm sure he would have won in the end.

  Unfortunately, there aren't so many ifs in this world.

  Liu Xiu walked while thinking, was the failure of Gongsun Zan later on, including his eventual death in such a sorry state, due to his personality? He subconsciously glanced at Liu Bei, who happened to be looking over at him, and they both quickly looked away, as if they had discovered something about each other. Liu Xiu found it strange that he was thinking of Gongsun Zan's personality and then thought of Liu Bei's unyielding and shameless tenacity, while Liu Bei was looking at him for some reason.

  Liu Bei remained silent. Among his peers, he respected Gong Sun Zan the most, and in every aspect, Gong Sun Zan was the most outstanding among them. This time, facing Yan Rou, he originally thought that Gong Sun Zan would surely win with flying colors, defeating the notorious bandit Yan Rou and proving his own strength. He never expected that Gong Sun Zan would actually lose, and what's more, it was a defeat when he still had an advantage.

  Recalling Yan Rou's sudden strike, Liu Bei still felt a little palpitation. At that moment, he had unknowingly linked his own fate with Gongsun Zan's, and he felt an icy chill run down his spine. Yan Rou's spear was pointing at Gongsun Zan's back, but it also seemed to be pointing at his own back, making him feel the danger of life and death for the first time, a suffocating danger that left him breathless.

  Liu Bei had never thought that he could be as brave and powerful as Gongsun Zan, so he admired him. But at that moment, when he found out that whether one could survive or not and whether one was brave or not were not necessarily related, he felt a hint of fear.

  What about reading books, isn't it safer? Like Liu Xiu, work hard to read books, strive to become a disciple of Lu Zhi's promotion hall, and later become an assistant official in the county or prefecture. Maybe one day you can become a great official like Gong Cao or Zhu Bo, and then you won't have to go to battle to kill people. As soon as this thought emerged, he remembered that Liu Xiu had just defeated Yan Rou in an unbelievable way, and it seemed that he had made significant progress in martial arts again. This made him feel a bit incomprehensible: Liu Xiu was strong, but didn't have much martial arts skills, how could he defeat a horse bandit who lived by the knife, just because Wu Jun pointed out a few sentences to him?

  His changes over the past few days have been too great. Liu Bei recalled Liu Xiu's performance over the past few days, and suddenly a hint of doubt arose. When did Liu Xiu practice such good calligraphy? When did he learn these martial skills? And how did he transform from a rough man who got headaches when seeing books to a good student who could recite the "Classic of Filial Piety"?

  Liu Bei glanced at Liu Xiu, but as soon as he met Liu Xiu's gaze, he inexplicably felt a twinge of guilt and instinctively looked away. Immediately afterwards, he felt extremely regretful and was very dissatisfied with his own fearful attitude towards Liu Xiu.

  He had to go back and ask those fellow students how Liu Xiu defeated Yan Yu. Liu Bei thought to himself.

  Mao Zongyi was disappointed and clicked his tongue, while inviting Liu Xiuer to attend the banquet later. He then hurriedly went to invite other classmates. This time, Li Ding's visit to the Mao family was a rare opportunity, as the Mao family had tied with them in the competition.

  Liu Xiu walked out of the temple, stopped in his tracks, and said something to Liu Bei. He then went alone to the mountain valley where he usually practiced martial arts. After turning a bend, he sat down on a large rock, dangling his feet in the clear stream water. Liu Xiu silently recalled the scene of his battle with Yan Ruo earlier, and his heart tightened wave after wave.

  Wu Junhou taught him for an hour, not teaching any new moves, but explaining to him the strengths and weaknesses between him and Yan Rou, pointing out how to play his own strengths, how to provoke Yan Rou's anger, how to seize the opportunity, and defeat Yan Rou in one fell swoop. He did all of this, although when he counterattacked, he used too much force and cut off his own battle knife, almost being turned over by Yan Rou. However, relying on his superior strength, he instinctively made use of the most familiar cross-step punch he had practiced, striking three times in a row, and severely beating Yan Rou until he spat up blood.

  He defeated Yan Rou, who was rampant on the grasslands, and restored the reputation of the Mao family. He successfully implemented Wu Jun's almost pipe dream plan, becoming a celebrity among his peers. However, he didn't feel happy about it, but instead felt an inexplicable fear.

  Because he knew that at that moment, the almost crazy person was not him, but the one who could endure ten years for revenge.

  Who is that? Is it the original Liu Deran? No. The last time at Yangtoufu, when facing Wu Junhou for the first time, Liu Xiu felt an urge to fight Wu Junhou. Later, he asked Liu Bei if "he" was also so impulsive when fighting in the past. Liu Bei said that although he fought fiercely, he had never been in a situation where he knew he was no match for his opponent yet still insisted on fighting hard. Once he found out that the other side had too many people, he would turn around and run, and he ran faster than anyone else.

  Why did it become like this now? Yan Rou cut out thirteen knives in one breath, but he didn't even cut out a single knife at that time. Why didn't he turn around and run away then, but instead gritted his teeth and stubbornly persisted, not retreating a single step? In the end, he seized the moment when Yan Rou's old strength had gone and new strength had not yet been born, suddenly exerted force, and turned the tide of battle in one move. Even when his war knife was smashed, he didn't retreat, but instead became even more wild and angry, and even made that ordinary cross-step punch burst forth with a power no less than that of Wu Jun's.

  Yes, he hated Han traitors, hated Yan Rou and other Hans who came and went with the Xianbei people, and even hated the Xianbei people. However, this anger was enough to make him accept Wu Jun's plan to try it out, but not enough to make him burst out with astonishing combat power in that situation.

  He is not a person who fights without confidence, this kind of good bravery and fierce behavior does not conform to his fighting philosophy, it is not his character.

  Neither the original Liu Xiu's personality nor his own, then... whose personality is this? Is there another person hidden in his body, an impulsive and violent one, who normally hides without showing, but when it comes to fighting, he will emerge from the depths of consciousness and seize control of this body?

  Liu Xiu's hair stood on end, and he was even more terrified than when he had first discovered that he had traveled through time and space to the late Eastern Han dynasty.

  "Boy, sitting on this stone, have you recalled your past evil deeds?" A cold voice suddenly sounded from behind.

  ————

  Add one sentence:

  Regarding the protagonist's character, I originally posted a special post about it, and I think I made it very clear. I don't know if you guys didn't see it or simply disagree with my interpretation. These two days, the book review section is still most concentrated on the issue of the protagonist's character, among which some are extremely indecent, so I deleted a few posts, possibly including one that wasn't indecent itself but was implicated by indecent replies, which is quite regrettable.

  Let's go back to the protagonist's character. Before this, I suggest you take a look at the chapter I posted earlier in the related works section. Then I want to say that previously, the protagonist was a standard historical extra, my setting is that he has always been following Liu Bei, and indeed had a bit of an idiotic flavor to him. In this situation, if the protagonist were to suddenly become powerful after crossing over, it would probably be inappropriate. The initiative is being gradually gained, and I also wrote about Liu Bei's reaction in the process, I believe careful readers should have noticed.

  I won't explain this issue anymore, whether you can accept it or not, I've written it like this and it's unlikely to change now. Just hope that everyone will be considerate when commenting, if there are still some unbearable ones, I'll delete them.