Battle Royale of the Sinners

= Earlier when Zhang Fei was taunting Tong =

Tian Feng rode toward Liu Bei.

"Lord Liu, Lord Yuan Shao wishes to entrust 10,000 soldiers to you. He would like to borrow your leadership and your charisma to command this army to attack Zhang Tong at the front."

"At the front!? My brother hasn't even come back and you're asking me to commit suicide?"

"No, Lord Liu Bei. My Lord will command the other half of his army to attack the flank of Zhang Tong Army. We will be moving toward the east side first, and we would like you to wait for our signal. Once your brothers create the right situation, we will attack together."

"Hah! That still doesn't change the fact that he wants to use me as bait!"

"After this battle, we also would like to talk about our reconciliation and our misunderstanding in the past. Lord Yuan is willing to give you one of his affiliate cities and appoint you as a governor."

"Please, Lord Tian. I'm not that stupid. You plotted against me and stole my Pingyuan, then you want me to follow your suicide attack plan? Who do you take me for!?"

"I'll be honest, Lord Liu. Are you stupid enough to fight both my Lord and Zhang Tong at the same time?"

"What did you just call me!?"

"I called you a stupid Lord, Liu Bei."

"You!"

"You are Lord Lu Zhi's disciple, so you should have at least learned how we politicians work, right? Will you be so obstinate to the past grudge and refuse to adapt to the changes? We are willing to offer our apologies for the sake of our long-term plan, yet you still hold that little incident inside your heart?"

"…"

"We are taking over the central plain. Are you willing to work with us, or will you want to be surrounded by Zhang Tong, the Xiongnu, and our forces without an ally? Pick one."

"…"

"You don't need to answer. We have already allocated the troops to you. Lead them to attack Zhang Tong at the front. If you survive this, we'll give you a city and other boons as our apologies."

"…"

"From the beginning, you don't have a choice, Liu Bei."

Finished belittling Liu Bei, Tian Feng rode away as he tossed his army command token to the ground, below Liu Bei's horse.

Liu Bei gritted his teeth in anger. He wanted to retort at Tian Feng, but he did not have anything to come back.

His army was weak.

His generals were all his sworn brothers.

He had too many enemies.

Yet, he had no ally. Even his mentor was serving under his enemy!

"Damn you all!"

Liu Bei swallowed his pride and got down from his horse, picking Yuan Shao's wooden command token. As long as Liu Bei had this token, he could command 10,000 soldiers of Yuan Shao.

"Fine. I'll send them to their death for you."

…

…

…

"CHARGE!"

Yuan Shao's 10,000 soldiers were dashing at full speed, rushing at Tong's disarrayed knights. However, Liu Bei did not send his own militias.

Seeing that Liu Bei Army was getting closer, Tong shouted, "ALL COMMANDERS, TAKE OUT YOUR GUNS AND AIMED AT THEIR GENERAL! ALL ARCHERS, FIRE EVERYTHING!"

Xun Yu also followed up, "IGNORE THOSE TWO WARRIORS JUST NOW! AIM EVERYTHING AT THEIR GENERAL!"

Words from Xun Yu and Tong brought back the sense of the soldiers. All officers pulled out their shotguns and pistols to aim at Liu Bei's direction.

Hearing the commanding orders from Tong and Xun Yu, Guan Yu's face paled as he knew the horror of those weapons.

Tong had been shooting at them with it a few seconds ago. Now, more people were about to use it against Liu Bei.

"XUANDE! DON'T GET CLOSER!"

Guan Yu roared with everything he had, fearing for Liu Bei's safety. As Tong and all commanding officers in his army wielded pistols and shotguns, Liu Bei was vulnerable to their sniping.

During the previous clash, both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei used the surprise element to catch the soldiers off guard. However, these knights had regained their logical sense and moral, which Liu Bei's life would be in peril if they battled.

"IDIOT XUANDE! GO BACK!"

*BANG* *BANG*

*BANG* *BANG*

*BANG* *BANG*

Ten shotguns and twenty handguns unleashed their wrath, sending bullets at the charging army of Liu Bei. Behind those gunmen, Tong's archers also released their remaining arrows, flying at the footmen.

The arrow-rain and hail of bullet combination took down thousands of Liu Bei's soldiers in one volley.

*PU*

One of shotgun fragmented shell bit a piece of Liu Bei's proud ear, cutting his left long earlobe.

Liu Bei screamed in pain and fell off his horse. As the luck protected him, footmen soldiers charged without caring about Liu Bei's well-being, covering the line of bullets and other projectiles.

"XUANDE!!"

The second volley of arrows arrived at Liu Bei's forces, taking down another one thousand soldiers.

Liu Bei gritted his teeth and crawled away from the battlefield, dodging all the projectiles.

'I'll survive this! This is not the end!'

Because of many corpses of the fallen soldiers, Liu Bei's body blended with Yuan Shao's dead men. He continued moving back while the rest of the footmen fought with Tong's knights.

All projectiles could not stop all footmen. In a few seconds, they collided with the shield wall formation of the knights head-on.

*CLANK*

*CLANK*

Metallic crashing sounds of swords, spears, and shields echoed through the battlefield. Though the supposed to be their generals fell from his horse, none of them paid attention to it as their life was on the line.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei got to Liu Bei's side. They dragged the mud-soaked Liu Bei out of this battlefield as they retreated back to their militias.

Meanwhile, the cavalries that were sent to intercept Yuan Shao's main troops found a surprise.

Yuan Shao Army was not attacking them. Instead, they were fleeing!

Jia Xu and Xun Yu were baffled by this maneuver of Yuan Shao.

"What the hell?"

"What are they doing? Sending their men to their death, but they don't follow up?"

Jia Xu glanced back and forth between Yuan Shao's main force and Liu Bei's forces. It was not hard for Jia Xu to find the answer.

"That asshole Yuan Shao wants to kill Liu Bei. He borrows our knife."

Xun Yu glanced around, trying to find Liu Bei and his brothers.

"Where are those assholes now?"

Tong sighed as he watched his radar map. The marking of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei were flashing and moving away from their location.

"They ran away."

"Should we chase? Our cavalries can still chase after them."

Tong had a dilemma.

As Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had awakened the power of wings, Tong did not want to sacrifice thousands of soldiers to kill all of them at once. There was also the risk that one or two of his generals might die from the direct confrontation with these three brothers, so Tong did not want to push it.

On the other hand, if Guan Yu and Zhang Fei grew stronger, they might kill more than just a few thousands of Tong's soldiers. The casualties could possibly reach over ten thousand or more!

With a bitter expression, Tong sounded his order through his teeth.

"Send the Zhang He and Zhang Liao after Yuan Shao. Ignore Liu Bei!"

"Are you sure?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure. Still, I have an idea. We won't fight those three brothers for now, but I'll make our generals immortals! All of our officers should at least grow wings!"

Xun Yu and Jia Xu stared at Tong in confusion, "Wings?"

"The secret of our immortality. I'm going to sacrifice my lifespans to get you all awakened!"

…

…

Ten minutes later, Zhang Liao and his horsemen arrived at the battlefield. Unfortunately, the battle had already finished as Tong's knights chewed the footmen of Yuan Shao with ease.

On the way of coming here, Zhang Liao spotted Liu Bei and his brothers. As Tong had ordered them through the clan chat, they avoided contacting with those three since they knew that they were not Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's match in the melee fight.

Even if they had guns and bullets, Tong still ordered them not to push their luck.

Zhang Liao sighed in regret. Had Lu Bu been healthy and active, he would have no problem crashing with those three sworn brothers.

"A pity."

Zhang Liao observed the aftermath of the battle. Upon seeing many dead knights, he was astonished.

"This … How!?"

As someone who possessed a set of knight steel plate mail, Zhang Liao knew how sturdy this new metal was. Yet, these soldiers' bodies had been cut by something so sharp that their cleaved armors did not have a dent.

Tong rode forward to greet Zhang Liao and his riders. Seeing the shock expression on Zhang Liao's face, Tong gave him the answer.

"Those were the work of Zhang Fei and Guan Yu."

Hearing Tong's words, Zhang Liao turned to look at his boss.

"Tong, are they a monster? Even I can't cut through one of these armors!"

"It's the power of wings. Say, Wenyuan. Can I experiment something on you?"

"What are you planning to do with me?"

Zhang Liao had a wry smile on his face, thinking that Tong might do something weird to him.

Betraying his expectation, he heard a system voice in his mind.

<<Your clan has transferred 100,000 lifespans to you.>>

"What?"

While Zhang Liao was in shock, Tong muttered something to himself. Soon, Zhang Liao could hear a female voice ringing inside his head.

[Hi, hi! This is the goddess of this world, Lilim! I'll be taking your 100,000 lifespans. But in exchange for that, I'll leave an angelic cultivation manual in your system, and I'll activate the angel power within your soul, okay? Thanks for doing business! GLHF!]

The heart of Zhang Liao shook from the sudden change within his body. Afterward, he could see a screen in front of him. They were the numbers of percentage and his virtues.

"Tong, what is this?"

"Read the cultivation manual. I gave one to Fengxian, and he became stronger, right? Now, it's your turn."

…

Meanwhile, Zhang He and his 20,000 horsemen galloped toward the east, moving toward Hulao Gate.

While he was paying attention to the surroundings and the trail of Yuan Shao's fleeing footmen, a similar situation occurred.

<<Your clan has transferred 100,000 lifespans to you.>>

"Huh?"

<<Ding>>

[Hi, hi! This is the goddess of this world, Lilim! Your boss chose not to wait for your natural awakening and paid 100,000 lifespans to get the angelic wings for his men. Oh wait, it's not his lifespans, but your newly acquired lifespans. I'll take those 100,000 lifespans off you, but I'll leave the angelic cultivation manual here. I've also activated your angel power! Bye!]

"What?"

<<Ding>>

Tong: "Don't be surprised, Junyi."

Tong: "From now on, you'll also be an immortal."

Tong: "Demonic cultivation takes times and effort, so I paid some lifespans to give you that power instead. Don't bother with it for now and concentrate on ambushing Yuan Shao."

Tong: "Also, all legion leaders will also get this power. Please wait for your turn patiently."