Choose Liu Bei at the start, I am the only one who knows the plot of the Three Kingdoms.

Chapter 438 Huang Zhong's decision! Red Blood Knife: Blood-eating Knife!

Unlike the madness of the Wuhuan and Xiongnu in the north, in the southwest, Sun Ce and Sun Quan led an army of 30,000 and swept across the entire southwestern barbarians. Those barbarian soldiers were not even able to withstand a single blow in front of the soldiers led by Sun Ce and were no match for Sun Ce at all.

Because the elite forces of the southwestern barbarians had long been taken away by Meng Huo who had risen up in Yongchang County, those who remained here were nothing more than barbarians from small tribes, whom Meng Huo looked down upon, or there were some medium-sized tribes that the two sides did not like, but there was no large tribe at all, which led to the uneven strength of the barbarians fighting against Sun Ce now.

Some were destroyed by Sun Ce in one encounter, some could last a few moves, but basically none of them could last too long. Although Sun Ce killed all the barbarian tribes with great force, he did not have any high-quality generals, not even second-rate generals.

Sun Ce led Sun Quan in a rampage against the southern barbarians, slaughtering more than twenty tribes, but failed to kill any generals, and Sun Jian's goal was thus frustrated.

The barbarian soldiers recruited by Meng Huo to Yongchang County were now facing an attack from an army of more than 100,000 led by Liu Zhang. Liu Zhang had just returned from the Western Regions and learned that his Yizhou had been occupied by someone and had become a king. How could he tolerate such a thing? Therefore, he led almost all of Yizhou's troops to Yongchang County.

After the Battle of Jingzhou, this was the only war that took place within the territory of the Han Dynasty. Moreover, the battle was very fierce at the beginning. The eight generals under Liu Zhang led their soldiers into Yongchang County from eight directions and started the attack on Yongchang County at the same time.

Although Meng Huo had brought large armies and tribes of the southern barbarians under his command, the number of their soldiers was far less than that of Yizhou, including top-notch generals. They could only rely on the rugged terrain of Yongchang County to fight against the soldiers of Yizhou.

At this moment, in Buwei County, the seat of Yongchang County, Meng Huo was putting on his armor, preparing to join the battle with the eight first-rate generals of Yizhou. Three of them had entered Yongchang County from the north, which was also the location of Liu Zhang. Meng Huo was going there to fight against Liu Zhang.

Sun Ce was also preparing to return to Yangzhou at the same time. In the southwest of Yangzhou, there was a race called Shanyue, which divided the land and governed itself. It was there that Sun Ce stacked up his heroic characteristics. The southwestern barbarians were too weak, and there were no generals who could allow Sun Ce to stack up legendary general points. It was meaningless for Sun Ce, but Sun Quan gained a lot from this battle.

Sun Quan had followed Zhou Yu to fight against Zhang Liao many times before, and each time ended in a great defeat. Moreover, each time Zhang Liao defeated the larger force with a smaller one, which left a great psychological trauma on Sun Quan. Now Sun Quan saw that he could lead his troops to defeat the barbarians easily, which gave Sun Quan unprecedented confidence. Sun Quan was also promoted to a second-rate general in the battle.

The peace in the southwest and the violence in the north formed a very sharp contrast. At this moment, Huang Zhong and Ma Chao were facing the pursuit of three famous generals. They had been fleeing for a day and a night without any pause. They were intercepted twice, but they finally fought their way out.

This reduced their already small number of cavalry to only 800, and most of them were injured. They had been fighting continuously for a long time. When they were fighting against the Wuhuan cavalry, it was still okay, as they had basically no physical energy consumption. However, on the way of escape, they had no way of killing people to restore their strength, and now their physical strength was on the verge of collapse.

Huang Zhong and Ma Chao were at the end of the team. They set an example by blocking Cao's pursuit and striving to allow more comrades to escape.

"Mengqi, this is not a solution. We must make a decision!"

"No, if we go, we go together, if we die, we die together!"

Of course Ma Chao knew what Huang Zhong meant, and he immediately expressed his disagreement. While speaking, he turned around and stabbed out with his spear, throwing out Cao Jun who was making a suicidal charge to delay time. His corpse knocked down a group of Cao Jun who were behind him and had the same idea.

"Meng Qi! If this continues, we will all die here!"

"Then we'll all die here!"

Ma Chao waved his spear and shouted at the top of his lungs. Huang Zhong simply turned around and rode his horse backwards, completely trusting the prairie fire. After turning around, it was much easier for Huang Zhong to shoot and kill the pursuing Cao troops. But problems also followed. Huang Zhong simply did not have so many arrows to use. Even the remaining arrows of the cavalry were given to Huang Zhong, but they were still not enough for Huang Zhong to use. At this moment, there were only 6 arrows left in Huang Zhong's quiver, which were used to use the meteor arrow skill. He could no longer shoot and kill Cao troops.

Huang Zhong saw that Ma Chao disagreed and had no choice but to speak again.

"Mengqi, the lord asked us to come here to train us. If we all die here, all the lord's efforts will be in vain."

As he spoke, Huang Zhong had already drawn the bright red Blood Sword from his back. The sound of the Sword being unsheathed was like the roar of a ferocious beast. This was already the third time the Sword had been unsheathed in the past few days. Before this, the Sword had never been unsheathed so frequently. The frequent unsheathing and long-term use had made it almost impossible to suppress the murderous aura within the Sword.

"Old General, you are right."

Ma Chao spoke in a deep voice and no longer objected to Huang Zhong's words. Huang Zhong smiled and was about to ask Ma Chao to retreat first, but before he could finish his words, he was blocked by Ma Chao's next words.

"Old General, you retreat first. I will cover you. We will meet at the Bingzhou border military town in two days. If I am not there in two days, then you don't have to wait for me."

"No, this is absolutely not allowed!"

Huang Zhong quickly refused, but Ma Chao spoke in an unquestionable tone.

"Old General, I heard from my lord before that your son had just been cured by the great doctor Hua Tuo. You didn't even have time to enjoy the joy of family life for a few days, and the battle for Jingzhou started again. If you die here, what will happen to your son and sister-in-law? What do you want them to do? I am a lonely man, so I am just suitable for doing things like covering the rear."

Ma Chao spoke with a resolute tone and a firm look in his eyes. He was about to turn his horse around and take Li Feisha to fight against Cao's army. Huang Zhong hurriedly tried to dissuade him.

"Even if I'm ill, my lord and clan members will take care of my family and will never let them suffer any injustice. Besides, I'm already so old, it's worth it for you young people to survive."

Huang Zhong's face was full of smiles, but beneath the smile was a hint of sadness. Huang Xu's illness had just been cured, and he had not had time to enjoy the time with his child by his side. Now they were to be separated forever. No matter which of the two stayed behind to stop Cao's army, the final result would be death. It was impossible for them to survive under the siege of Cao's three famous generals and tens of thousands of cavalry.

However, thinking that Huang Xu could grow up well and take care of his mother until her death, he had nothing to regret. Since the lord gave him such an opportunity, he must repay the lord. Ma Chao was so young, and he would definitely be more useful to the lord than himself. There was only so much he could do for the lord. He could only use himself to exchange for a young man with higher potential. Ma Chao would definitely grow into a stronger general than himself, and would naturally be of greater help to the lord. Thinking of this, Huang Zhong no longer hesitated, and immediately turned his horse's head and rushed towards the enemy with the red blood knife.

"No! Old General!"

Ma Chao looked at Huang Zhong's departing figure, his eyes were bloodshot and his eyes were red with anger.

"Mengqi, go! Don't let my death be in vain!"

Huang Zhong stopped trying to persuade him kindly and instead rebuked him harshly. Ma Chao, who originally wanted to turn back to help Huang Zhong, hesitated for a moment. Yes, if he turned back, Huang Zhong's death would undoubtedly be in vain, and the final result would be that both of them would die here together. Gritting his teeth, Ma Chao growled.

"go!"

After hearing Ma Chao's voice, Huang Zhong finally felt relieved. He waved his red blood knife and started fighting with Cao's army that had surrounded him. Looking at Huang Zhong who rushed into the middle of the army, Cao Ren's eyes were stern.

"Huang Zhong wants to use his own life to buy time, giving Ma Chao time to escape."

"No, the Prime Minister has ordered that they must all be killed. No one can be left alive! If we leave anyone alive, Liu Bei will seize this opportunity and launch a large-scale attack on Xuchang. That will be very difficult!"

Xu Chu said in a stern voice that before they came, Cao Cao had given them a death order that Huang Zhong, Ma Chao and the people they brought must all die here no matter what, otherwise Liu Bei would certainly be furious, and in a rage he might lead all the troops including Guan Yu to attack Xuchang. By then, with Guan Yu there, they really had no confidence that they could win.

"We're going to chase after Ma Chao. Zhongkang, you lead the troops to kill Huang Zhong. The first one we kill is the first one we can kill!"

Cao Ren made a decision immediately and took Xiahou Dun with him, preparing to bypass the battlefield opened up by Huang Zhong and go straight to chase Ma Chao. Huang Zhong watched the two of them taking a detour and immediately understood. He found the right position, put one foot on the saddle of a Cao soldier, the second foot on the horse's back, and the third foot took advantage of the Cao soldier's arrow to jump high. While jumping, he bit the Red Blood Knife with his teeth and at the same time took off the Eight Treasures Kirin Bow on his back, drew the bow and put an arrow on it, and a blue light suddenly burst out.

The blue light went straight to Cao Ren who took a detour from the left, blocking Cao Ren's pursuit route, but Xiahou Dun on the right had no way to stop it. However, if only one person was chasing, Ma Chao's chance of survival was still very high. This was all Huang Zhong could do.

Huang Zhong put away the longbow and took the Red Blood Knife out of his mouth. Looking at the blood-red knife in his hand, Huang Zhong smiled bitterly, then turned around and slashed with the knife. All the Cao army within a few meters were killed.

"Until now, I have not been able to figure out what your limit is. Today, let's try it. I will satisfy you with as much blood as you want."

As Huang Zhong spoke, he sheathed the Red Blood Sword, then unsheathed it again, and then slashed the sword across his palm. This scene stunned the Cao army that had just surrounded them.

The sharp blade passed by, but no blood was seen. The blood oozing from Huang Zhong's palm began to fly towards the Red Blood Knife, as if the Red Blood Knife was actively absorbing Huang Zhong's blood. Before this, the Red Blood Knife could only obtain temporary effects after being stained with blood, but it had never actively swallowed blood. Today was the first time.

Watching his blood continuously flowing out, the blood in Huang Zhong's palm stopped flowing only when the Red Blood Sword broke automatically. Huang Zhong took a deep breath and tried to keep himself in the best condition. The Red Blood Sword had swallowed too much blood just now, so much that Huang Zhong felt dizzy.

After swallowing the blood, the Red Blood Sword changed from scarlet red to golden yellow. Huang Zhong didn't know what to call this sword. How could a golden sword be called a Red Blood Sword? At the same time, he felt a little disappointed. Why didn't he figure it out before? A Red Blood Sword, a blood-eating sword, must eat blood, right? And how could the blood of those minions be worthy of it?

Huang Zhong still had many things he hadn't figured out, such as why he didn't trigger this state when he cut his palm last time. He had used the Red Blood Knife in this way more than once. Before this, he had discovered that the stronger the owner of the first drop of blood that stained the Red Blood Knife after it was unsheathed, the stronger the temporary effect would be.

That's why he cleared out the cavalry near him just now, and then sheathed the Red Blood Sword and then unsheathed it again. Only in this way could the Red Blood Sword be stained with his blood and provide him with a more powerful temporary effect.

However, this time, it was obviously different. Not only did the color of the Red Blood Sword change, but even the temporary effect that was supposed to be provided did not provide it. More importantly, even if there was no temporary effect, Huang Zhong was sure that he was much stronger now holding the Red Blood Sword than before.

"kill!"

Huang Zhong shouted loudly and stopped thinking about these things. Holding the Red Blood Knife and straddling the prairie fire, he started fighting with Cao's army again. A golden light kept flying in the battlefield, and wherever it passed, there were corpses of Cao's army. As more and more people were killed, the dizziness that Huang Zhong had felt at the beginning due to lack of blood was no longer there. Now Huang Zhong only felt that he was full of energy, his blood and energy were bursting all over his body, and he had endless strength.

Moreover, a golden light visible to the naked eye appeared around the Red Blood Sword. The golden light was like a real sword light and could also kill the enemy.

"Don't be so violent! I'll kill you!"

Xu Chu no longer allowed Huang Zhong to slaughter his soldiers. He raised his Pifeng Knife and killed Huang Zhong in the crowd. The surrounding Cao soldiers retreated one after another and did not dare to approach the battlefield between the two. The aftermath of the fight between the two could knock them to the ground, not to mention they participated in the fight between the two. They would be real cannon fodder.

“Hahaha, I didn’t expect that I would accidentally discover the secret I’ve been seeking for so long today! Come on, let’s fight to the last minute!”

Huang Zhong wielded the golden Blood Sword and slashed at Xu Chu. Xu Chu also wielded the Wind-Splitting Sword and confronted Huang Zhong head-on. The moment the Blood Sword and the Wind-Splitting Sword collided, the golden light of the Blood Sword began to shatter into pieces, and then the two swords really collided with each other.

The Red Blood Sword was very light, so light that it was almost as heavy as a feather arrow, so Huang Zhong was able to hold the Red Blood Sword with his teeth effortlessly. However, such a light Red Blood Sword was not at all inferior when it collided with Xu Chu's heavy Wind-Splitting Sword. Sparks flashed, and the two swords intertwined, then they both turned around and slashed backwards at the same time, colliding to create a series of sparks again.

(End of this chapter)