Battle Royale of the Sinners

August 10th, 182 A.D.

Sun Jian Army moved into Ganling City ahead of the schedule. Because of the quietness and their scout reports, they found out that Zhang Tong and his army had withdrawn a few days ago.

As soon as they entered the city, they were shocked by the remaining citizens as there were only less than 10,000 townspeople remaining. Furthermore, the majority of the city had been burnt to the ground, only the remaining people's houses were intact.

The people also treated Sun Clan soldiers with a strange attitude. They avoided Sun Jian and his men as if they had done something bad to the people.

Li Jing walked around the city and tried to interact with the people. Because of her look and her existence as a girl, a few elders talked to her and told her about what actually happened to the city before they came in.

After the investigation, Li Jing returned to Sun Jian and Sun Fang to give them a report.

"We've been had. Zhang Tong has left a mess for us."

"How?" The two father and son was puzzled.

"First, Zhang Tong spread bad rumors about us while he appeared to be a saint in their point of view. Since we suddenly come and chase them away, the people treat us as corrupted officials who bullies the honest hard working officials."

"What!? That's absurd! We haven't done anything yet!" Sun Fang was infuriated.

Sun Jian shook his head and tapped Sun Fang's shoulder.

"We've made a big mistake on our part. From the very beginning, we shouldn't have demanded the city from Zhang Tong. If we negotiate and coexist normally in the city from the start, the people would have looked at us differently."

Li Jing shook her head.

"Father-in-law, though it was a mistake, it was a necessary mistake. If we had tried to coexist with them, our trip would have been wasteful. Then I, Hanfang, and you might have died already."

"Why would Zhang Tong want to kill us? We've never had a feud with each other." Sun Jian doubted.

Sun Fang and Li Jing had a wry smile on their faces as they knew about Tong's motive and the reason to kill all of them. If they died, the Sun Clan would be finished as Sun Ce and Sun Quan would not be able to rise. Once that happened, the Kingdom of Wu would not exist. It was the best tactic to weed out a potential enemy before it grew stronger.

"Because Zhang Tong knew that if he left us alone, we will become a threat to him in the future."

Li Jing decided to confess to Sun Jian about the true history of the three kingdoms and about the kingdom of Wu's fate.

Sun Jian listened to the tales of his sons in astonishment. After he listened to the end of the story where the Wu Kingdom fell, he shed a tear. It was not a tear of sadness. It was a tear of happiness and pride. His descendants did their best and lived proudly.

'So my efforts are not in vain!'

He smiled to Li Jing and Sun Fang, then he told them to stop.

"I've heard enough now. You can stop."

Li Jing nodded and continued. "The second reason is, they are wary of us and afraid that we will steal their food and water. It seems Zhang Tong has given them enough food supplies for them to live through this ordeal for 8 to 9 months. And also…"

Sun Jian raised his hand. "I said, you can stop now."

Li Jing and Sun Fang were taken aback.

"Father-in-law?"

"Father?"

Sun Jian smiled at them again. However, this time, a dominant aura leaked out of him which made both otherworlders suffocated.

"Hanfang, Jing'er, both of you has done enough. I think I will take this from now on."

"Eh?"

"Err… Father?"

Laughed Sun Jian, "You two kids have tried hard, but sometimes you are overthinking. You see, I appreciate that you contributed to our family, but you'll have to believe in us, adults, too. Hanfang, I believe in your prowess and your mystic powers, but your power alone has a limit of what you can achieve. You only know how to fight and destroy, but you don't know about the management, domestic affair, and leadership abilities to win the heart of the people. Jing'er, you too, although you are the brain of our family, relying on yourself for too long will narrow down your vision and your mind."

The two otherworlders were sullen as they were given a sermon.

"It's true that this time it was a necessary mistake, but you also overlooked one fact. It was also possible that Zhang Tong could have been our friend if we could have forgotten our differences and have a good drink and chat for a day. Did you forget that Zhang Tong used to ransom Yuan Shao's followers to get his father back home? Someone who is filial is a person with a learned mind. He is not a reckless person who will kill someone in the first time meeting unless he shows up as an obvious enemy. To be honest, I don't think he will kill me or you two if we were to meet him and talked first."

Sun Fang and Li Jing's face gloomed further as they reflected of what they had done.

Sun Fang thought that he was too overbearing as of late, so it started to become his habits. Cultivating alone for a long time made him lost touch of his social skills and his attitude toward strangers.

Li Jing also reviewed her past strategies. She found out that she always made an assumption of the other party's actions before she could get more concrete evidence or intel. As a result, she became an over-paranoid lady. If she was not so afraid of the power of other reincarnators, she would have come up with a different strategy.

Seeing that the two children fell into deep thought, Sun Jian smiled in approval.

"I'll say again. The army policies will be handled by me from now on. You two will have to step back and learn from the adults, and I forbid you from using your powers. Try to achieve something without your power for once, so you will understand the hardship of the soldiers and the commoners. Once you understand, you'll be a better leader in the future."

Sun Jian returned to his men and also left them with a lesson. Both Sun Fang and Li Jing bowed to the back of Sun Jian in respect until he was out of their sight.

They lifted their head up and looked at each other with a wry smile.

"Sometimes I think I have chosen a wrong husband. I should have become Sun Jian's concubine instead." Li Jing mocked Sun Fang.

"What the hell!? I've never asked you to marry me. You just showed up out of nowhere, beat me up, and force a marriage and a soulmate contract on me out of the blue!"

"So, do you want to break up?" Li Jing asked with a sinister grin. Her killing intent locked on to Sun Fang which almost made him pissed his pants.

"Err… I'm sorry. Please forgive me…" Sun Fang kowtowed.

Li Jing sighed and chanted.

"[Shadow Teleport]"

She sunk into her own shadow and disappeared from Ganling City. She returned to Xia Pi as she had no reason to bother with the military affair and Ganling city anymore.

Once she returned, she pondered.

'Sun Jian is too gentlemanly, honest, and steadfast. He will be used as a tool by Tao Qian and other old foxes and died in vain at this rate.'

'He has to experience a setback or a betrayal from an ally to wake him up from his rainbow bubble.'

She let her thought and her imagination ran wild for 30 minutes. Then she had an inspiration.

'Liu Ping is still useful at this situation. I'll use him then.'

'I'll have to write a letter first.'

…

Sun Fang, who was left behind, stood alone in silence.

He contemplated if his decision for joining this civil war was a good idea. After he experienced a setback for the first time in this life, he became aware of the necessity of the politic skill and the leadership.

His skill template was based on a character in an eastern fantasy novel which depicted his narrow mind and his self-important attitude. Even after he was born, he still put himself first before the others.

Sun Fang finally realized, he was no different from a selfish brainless battle-maniac.

'So, this is why wifey keeps calling me a muscle-brain.'

'If I make my status into numbers, my INT status would have been something like less than 50 and she would have something like 80 to 90s in all status.'

'But what's wrong with it? I can be another Lu Bu if I simply concentrate on improving my fighting skills.'

'Instead of being a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none, I'll be the invincible fighter for my family!'

'Who cares about management? Who cares about tactics? Who cares about the strategy and politics?'

'As long as I have to absolute power, I can blast through all of my opponents!'

'That's how a cultivator should be!'

'If I don't like someone, I kill!'

'If they dare to pick a fight with me, I kill!'

'If they dare to snatch my woman, I kill!'

'If anyone dares to step on my foot, I kill!'

'If anyone dares to call me a virgin, I kill!'

Instead of reflecting on what he lacked, he decided to focus on improving his specialties, which was his fighting skills.

He looked at his status menu to make his future plans.

'13,000 Lifespan upkeep a year, that's rough.'

'But it won't affect me! All I have to do is to sit and cultivate! One minute of meditation and increase my lifespan for one year. All I have to do is to sit still for 9 to 10 days, then I'll get back all of my upkeep lifespans!'

'Once my [Cultivator] reaches max level, I'll be invincible under the Heaven! I'll be the only immortal in this world!'

…

…

On a distance, Zuo Ci watched Sun Fang and shook his head.

"What a simpleton. Cultivation is more than just sit still and cultivate."

Disappointed with Sun Fang, Zuo Ci left.