บท 173: Zhurong vs Cao Ren

Yun could see Hua in the distance before turning his full attention to Cao Ren and his troops as they encircle him performing a strategy which Yun gave Cao Ren in the past himself since he couldn't implement this strategy with his army.

'If I knew that I would end-up on the receiving end of the Eight-Triagram-Strategy made by Guo Jia I would have never given Cao Ren the plans Guo Jia gave me,' thinks Yun as he sees the soldiers close to him engage him.

The attacked him only to find Yun impersonating the God of Fire, Zhurong, raise his arms to block the incoming blades with his forearms.

The blades impact with the robes which didn't even cut through them while Yun was pushed back for a bit before stopping.

'I am lucky to have the Dragon Skin and Reinforced Bones,' thinks Yun thanking Ysmrgra and Baldr before thanking Ythyleit for helping change his armor into those robes so he wouldn't catch Cao Ren's and everyone's else attention.

Yun then pushes his arms upward and forward at the same time bringing the attacking soldiers to lose their footing as Yun gathers Fire Qi into his fist before taking a familiar stance.

His fists turned into a palms with having his left hand beside his ribs while his right pme was pointing at the enemy. His feet stood strongly on the ground showing a stable stance while having his right foot infront of his left one.

He began to gather more Qi which created an Aura behind him which looked a lot like a Blond Demon while saying to himself, "Baldr Art: Arthur-Style: Lightbringer's Sixty-Four Palm Strike."

Yun stroke sixty-four times into the air striking all soldiers before him with only two palm strikes before the other sixty-two palm strikes only created more palms made out of Fire Qi which traveled forward disrupting the formation in a hundred-eighty degree angle.

Cao Ren seeing that reinforced the front to stop Yun from escaping not knowing that Yun was only creating a distraction. Yun didn't even kill the soldiers but pushed them back while using as little Qi as possible since Cao Ren is a friend.

He didn't want Cao Ren to be punished by Cao Cao because he lost too many men and failing to catch up to Liu Bei.

'He is strong,' thinks Cao Ren as he dismounted from his horse and took his shield and sword before looking at a younger man beside him.

"Xu Huang, I want you to retreat with the army if I get defeated by that man," says Cao Ren to a young man maybe in his mid-end twenties or early thirties.

He has long black hair a mustache and a beard that covered his chin. He was holding an great ax in his hands looking nervous at his superior.

"Are you sure?" asks Xu Huang nervously not noticing that he was holding his ax tightly in his hands.

"Yes, he seems to have avoided from killing our soldiers and he could have escaped easily just a moment ago. That means that he doesn't want to fight but keep us from advancing," says Cao Ren looking at his sword seeing his own reflecting in it before sheathing it again.

"What will happen if you lose?" asks Xu Huang now worried that he wouldn't see Cao Ren again.

"I might die," says Cao Ren knowing the consequences of a duel as he walks forward.

He was radiating Earth Qi and confidence from himself as his soldiers made way for him before he stood in front of the man named Zhurong.

Cao Ren looked at Zhurong when he noticed a feature that doesn't appear normally on people as the eyes in which he was looking in had a different shape compared to his.

He was sure that the person before him was Yun the whole time but the shapes of his eyes threw this theory out of the window and he prepared himself.

He unsheaths his sword and rushes in to attack first when he sees the man change his stance with the left palm now forward and the right placed near the left elbow with some space between the right palm and left elbow while both feet got closer with the left leg being now infront.

Cao Ren seeing this stance realized something which made a smile appear on his face as he was midswing. It was too late for him to stop his attack so he put all his strength in this attack when he sees his opponent stepping in closing the distance while lifting his left hand.

The left hand guided Cao Ren's right hand and sword away from his body while the right hand went directly for Cao Ren's head who blocked the attack with his shield.

The soldiers heard a two loud sounds one was the sound of metal hitting the ground and the other resembled a gong as the palm crashed into the shield.

Cao Ren felt that his left arm went numb from the impact between his shield and his opponent's palm when he notices that his opponent's fingers appeared at the top of his shield grabbing the shield with tremendous strength.

He let go of his sword which was stuck on the ground and tried to punch his opponent when he realized something crucial which was that he couldn't reach his opponent's head so he went for his chest.

But his opponent saw the attack coming so he evaded to the right not letting go of Cao Ren's shield while dodging the attack when Cao Ren feels more strength pulling on his shield which gave him an idea.

He let go of his shield which made the opponent lose his footing giving him the opportunity he was looking for as he went for his opponent with all he had by using both hands to attack his opponent's chest and head while moving in.

Cao Ren connected his fists striking both areas making his opponent take three steps back and the dirty cloths around his opponents head slowly came off.

Cao Ren now saw a short haired man with dirty blond hair color his face seemed rough but still handsome but his expression seemed to speak volumes as it was a sad expression he was having on his face.

The man before Cao Ren spit on the ground before he let go of the shield Cao Ren let go when he stretches his hand out and a great ax appears out of thin air which suited the man's height before the man grabs it with one hand while the head of the ax was resting on the man's shoulder.

Now everyone believed that they were facing a God as no normal man could ever materialize a weapon out of nowhere.

The man walked calm and collected forward when Cao Ren hears a whisper coming from the man, "Duck."

Cao Ren follows the advice and the ax missed him barely when he hears, "Roll."

He followed the command almost as the ax went for his head rolling out of the way making the ax hit the ground which created a small hole.

Cao Ren was feeling shivers run down his spine as he looked at the crate the ax created but he didn't show it to his men as he wanted to die with dignity of it came to it but the 'God' standing before him only felt pity it seemed.

The 'God' let go of his ax before grabbing him and lifting him up easily with one hand before opening his other hand. The ax began to tremble wildly before it freed itself and flew into the open hand.

Cao Ren thought that it was over now since the 'God' seemed to have played with him the whole time but the expression on his face didn't describes it. It was only pity or sadness the 'God' had for him it seemed when he hears, "Retreat for today and continue your chase tomorrow and maybe we won't meet again."

The 'God' let Cao Ren down and his ax disappeared while the people seemed to feel fear when Cao Ren asks, "Does the Heaven favor Liu Bei?"

"NO!" shouts the 'God' before saying, "I only descended to help the civilians. If you had ignored them. I wouldn't have needed to descend to protect them. But since you, Warlords, don't care for the normal people and are using them as pieces in your game. I broke the 'Heavenly Laws' and I will be punished for it but it was worth it since I could safe a lot of lives."

The 'God' turned away from Cao Ren and walked toward the troops which made way for him as he walked away before stopping and saying, "Your name is Cao Ren, am I right? I will remember this duel forever. I hope to meet you again once your time is up. You are worthy of joining us since you didn't show your fear even in the face of your death. I also hope that you keep your courage when you face your lord."

The 'God' then begins to walk again leaving the army behind him before becoming a dot in the distance for the army who only watched as he left them.

"Do we gave chase?" asks Xu Huang who went to Cao Ren's side to see if he was alright.

"No, he is a God after all. I think that even General Zhao wouldn't be able to win against him," says Cao Ren feeling relieved that he was still alive.

He went for his sword and shield and felt honored to have fought against a God and to survive it as he sheaths his sword when Xu Huang arrives at his side again with his horse.

"We will retreat for today, I would rather face my cousin instead of facing a God again," says Cao Ren as he mounts his horse before commanding his troops to retreat for today.

Yun, on the other hand, was feeling exhausted as he leaned his body against a tree to rest for a moment. He used too much Qi to maintain appearances to intimidate them all to retreat.

What Yun didn't know was that his army was slowly approaching Liu Bei's army while he closed his eyes for a while.