บท 4: Chapter 4 Encounter
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By the time Chen Xi arrived at Chenliu, the ride he'd hoped to catch had already left, and Cao Mengde had already issued the proclamation. Considering the pace, if Chen Xi really could make it to Hulao Pass, he was likely to encounter the Liu Xuande brothers, who were still nobodies at the time.
"Young Master, where shall we go now?" After brewing a pot of tea for Chen Xi, Chen Lan stood by and asked. As for sitting down, Chen Xi had told her many times, but to no avail.
"Let's head to Sour Jujube. We don't have much of a reputation, but luckily, I'm a scholar, and I've got the backing of the Yingchuan Chen Family. Mixing in should be no problem," Chen Xi said helplessly. Originally, he had planned to follow Cao Cao's troops, who, as one of the famous righteous gentlemen of the time, had not yet turned into a cunning hero and thus wouldn't kill him just for hitching a ride.
"Oh, Young Master, shall we leave now?" Chen Lan asked, tilting her head.
"Let's go, let's go. Let's see if we can run into another group that could give us a lift along the way." Chen Xi finished his tea in one gulp and then walked towards the carriage. Fan Liang had given him plenty of travel expenses before he left, enough to last him for three to five years.
With a casual wave, he cloaked his carriage with a layer of spiritual power to avoid drawing attention and then settled inside. He continued to explain the knowledge of spiritual extraction to Chen Lan, although progress was evidently slow.
"Young Master, we may have to spend the night outdoors," Butler Chen said with a wry smile. "We must have taken a wrong turn at the crossroads earlier."
"Ha, it's alright," Chen Xi admitted with some embarrassment, as he was the one who had insisted on this route. He picked up some rice cakes, handed them to the two of them, and began swallowing them down with cold water. "Well, rice cakes are not too bad."
"Eh, Young Master, isn't that smoke over there?" Chen Lan, after taking a couple of bites of a rice cake, glanced northward unintentionally and spotted a wisp of smoke rising in the distance.
"There are people, let's mooch a meal. The rice cakes are just too hard to swallow," Chen Xi immediately contradicted what he had just said and then directed Butler Chen to head towards the smoke.
There's a saying, "A distant hill may kill the horse you chase," and running toward smoke seemed just as bad. From afar, it looked like a thin trail of smoke, but up close, it turned out to be a vast expanse.
"This scale… could it be one of the Feudal Lords?" Chen Xi hesitated, stopping not far from the smoke. Feudal Lords at the time could be good or bad; some would protect you if you followed them and they were in a good mood, some would drive you away, and others might even rob you…
"Young Master, shall we go take a look?" Chen Lan asked with some curiosity.
"Let's have a look. We're this close; it'd be a shame not to check it out. I don't know which lord it is, but never mind, I'll cast a little spell and have a look." Saying this, Chen Xi cloaked himself with a layer of spiritual power, slowly blending into the surroundings. The spell was full of loopholes originally, but with Chen Xi's improvements, it had become exceptionally useful.
After Chen Xi sneaked over, he looked around the large military camp and the white horses. Gazing at the flag in the center, he stroked his chin and felt much better. He had come upon a staunch nationalist—the White Horse General, Gongsun Zan.
"Who's there!" Just as Chen Xi was planning to call his butler and maid over for a free meal and a ride on the wind, a thunderous shout resounded through the air. Heavens have mercy, Chen Xi swore he had never heard a louder roar in his life, his ears still buzzing.
Before Chen Xi could react, he saw a brawny man with a dark complexion leap over ten meters from within the military camp, charging toward him.
"Boom!" Without relying on any weapon, the brawny man landed and directly created a crater several meters wide in the ground.
Chen Xi's figure was also shaken by this strike, looking rather disheveled. Frowning at the brawny man opposite him, he felt his spiritual power boil over the instant the man appeared. Almost all his nerves were signaling one thing: very dangerous, extremely dangerous, exceedingly dangerous.
"Who are you, to dare spy on our camp?" The voice that thundered like a storm enveloped Chen Xi. As soon as these words were out, a troop of cavalry swiftly exited the camp, surrounding Chen Xi.
"Would you believe me if I said I came to scrounge a meal?" Although Chen Xi was afraid, he actually calmed down after being surrounded. After all, to a certain extent, in these chaotic times, a person like him was a resource. As long as he demonstrated his value, these Feudal Lords wouldn't fuss over such small matters.
Without waiting for a response, Chen Xi said with a smile, "It's sparsely populated around here. I saw the smoke from afar and thought it was someone's home, hoping to stay there for the night. I didn't expect to find a military force, so I had no choice but to come over and find out. After all, not all military forces are the same. Some might offer protection to wandering scholars like us, while others, well, let's not talk about them."
The brawny man across from Chen Xi furrowed his brows upon hearing this, looking at Chen Xi and asking, "Do you have any proof?"
"With that move just now, you should realize that what I practice is different from what you do. If we practiced the same thing, I would hardly be able to harm you, and as for spiritual power, as long as I stay by your side, I think given your strength, you would be confident in subduing me at any time, right?" A glint flashed in Chen Xi's eyes as he gambled whether the man in front of him was Zhang Yide. With such strength and such a presence, it was very likely it was him in this place.
"That makes sense. Since you're a scholar, tell me, where are you from? Our Liaoxi troops will not harm you." The brawny man nodded in agreement with Chen Xi's words, very confident, supremely confident in his own strength.
"Yingchuan Chen Xi, Chen Zichuan," Chen Xi replied reluctantly, "I assume you must be Zhang Yide."
"Eh? You actually know me?" The brawny man was taken aback, then his face lit up with joy, although he had no idea about what Chen Xi mentioned about Yingchuan.
"Alright then." Chen Xi shrugged noncommittally, having escaped Cao Cao and now running into Liu Bei, it was another good option. Besides, Gongsun Zan had not yet become tyrannical as he would later, so he wouldn't mind a few people following behind.
"Third brother, did you catch a spy?" Just as Zhang Fei was about to speak, another voice came from behind.
He looked ordinary with quite large ears and long arms, Chen Xi muttered softly. A red-faced brawny man followed behind, definitely Lord Guan. Thinking further, Chen Xi sighed. He was certain now that this world was more aligned with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
"Scholar Chen Xi, Chen Zichuan, pays his respects to Lord Xuande." Chen Xi saluted Liu Bei, for no matter what, he was still in their custody, and could not afford to offend them.
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