The Enemy General is a Bondservant

Events of days past (4)

As that deep voice rumbled in his ears, Zhan Tianbai collected his wits again. In that split second, Duanmu Li had already flashed forward and was standing right in front of him.

“What?” Zhan Tianbai said. He hadn’t realised how intently he had been looking at Duanmu Li.

“This Wang thinks… that you might be interested in him!” Duanmu Li said. His powerful internal force was flowing strongly out of his body, and every blow he struck with it against Zhan Tianbai was lethal.

Duanmu Li certainly wasn’t playing nice.

Because if he did play nice, he’d be dead.

Zhan Tianbai also released his own internal force, and it howled out of him to counter Duanmu Li’s attack. The entire brothel house shook with the impact.

“Oh, I am very interested in you,” Zhan Tianbai said, smiling dangerously as he leapt away to put distance between the two of them. “I am very interested to know if chopping off your head or digging out your heart to feed to the three great armies of Nanchu would be a greater insult to Nanchu!”

Even in the midst of a fierce internal force battle with Zhan Tianbai, Duanmu Li’s lips were still able to turn upwards in a cold smile. “Your outward appearance is beautiful, but your personality is anything but!” he said.

“The mercy you show to enemies is the cruelty you do to yourself,” Zhan Tianbai replied. As the words left his mouth, Zhan Tianbai suddenly changed stance and attacked Duanmu Li in a completely different manner, putting him on the defensive. 

Duanmu Li was still able to withstand this attack, and did not become flustered as a result. He in fact still had the presence of mind to reach into Zhan Tianbai’s clothes.

“You lecher!” Zhan Tianbai exclaimed, his face flushing red.

In truth, all Duanmu Li was doing was taking back the Tiger Seal and the military maps that Zhan Tianbai had filched from him earlier.

“Huh? What did you think I was doing?” Duanmu Li asked, raising an eyebrow.

Zhan Tianbai’s face became even redder.

“You feeling shy because you and I nearly had some skinship?” Duanmu Li smirked.

“Shut the hell up!” Zhan Tianbai said angrily, charging hard at Duanmu Li. His fierce attack knocked the military maps out of Duanmu Li’s hands.

Duanmu Li couldn’t help feeling some admiration for Zhan Tianbai.

This man… he really was not easy to deal with!

He had never met Zhan Tianbai on the battlefield before, and he had no idea why Yao Country had put this clearly outstanding general in cold storage.

Was it because they were keeping their trump card under wraps?

Those fierce, dark eagle eyes were fixed squarely on Zhan Tianbai, and the killing aura that emanated from them made Zhan Tianbai shiver.

This man was incredibly dangerous.

As Zhan Tianbai thought this, Duanmu Li had the exact same thought in his mind.

This man was incredibly dangerous!

However…

“It’s a man like you that can arouse my desire to make you submit,” Duanmu Li said, smiling now. Interest and desire surged in Duanmu Li’s eyes.

Zhan Tianbai knew exactly what kind of interest and desire this was.

“Are you looking down on me?” Zhan Tianbai asked coldly. He was angered, and he charged at Duanmu Li again. His attack and internal force wavered a little, however.

“This Wang isn’t looking down on you. I’m praising you. Even though I’m fond of men, I’m extremely picky. You should thank this Wang for going along with your little act, really. If I had dragged it out and not pretended to faint until much later, wouldn’t you and I have actually done the deed?” Duanmu Li said.

“DUANMU LI!!” Zhan Tianbai roared. Those words were incredibly humiliating, and he couldn’t help recalling how he had acted towards Duanmu Li just moments before.

In that brief moment whilst Zhan Tianbai was distracted, Duanmu Li grabbed both his wrists from the back.

Chu!

Duanmu Li planted a kiss on Zhan Tianbai’s neck, and the latter felt like his whole body had received an electric shock.

“Get lost! Get off me!!” Zhan Tianbai yelled.

Zhan Tianbai concentrated his internal force in his palms and hit out behind him. The blow contacted Duanmu Li’s shoulder.

He took advantage of this momentary reprieve to pick up the fallen military maps from the ground and leap out of the second floor window of the brothel.

“Ah, wait…” Duanmu Li stretched out a hand, but Zhan Tianbai was already nowhere to be seen. “You haven’t told me what your real name is!”

There was a twinge of regret in his voice, but in the next moment, an icy, almost evil smile spread over Duanmu Li’s chiseled face. “I think… we will be meeting again very soon,” he mused.

Very, very soon…

Duanmu Li and Zhan Tianbai indeed met again, but this time, it was on the battlefield.

Duanmu Li was Nanchu’s Great Fuguo General, and Zhan Tianbai was Yao Country’s Great Crimson Flame General.

It was only then that Duanmu Li found out that the beautiful youth who had tricked him in the brothel was the famous War God of Yao.

The Zhan Tianbai on the battlefield he saw now didn’t have any birthmark on his face. His skin was fair, and his features beautiful and handsome all at once. The tear mole at the corner of his left eye somehow became even more attractive and alluring when he was in his war garb.

Zhan Tianbai won that first battle. Many of Duanmu Li’s soldiers were left dead or wounded.

Thereafter… this war lasted a whole five years.

Five years later, Duanmu Li was thirty one, and Zhan Tianbai was twenty five.

Duanmu Li was still a noble Wangye and Great General, a man above all men, second only to the Emperor, whilst Zhan Tianbai had become a invalid who had nothing.

When Zhan Tianbai awoke again, he felt like he had dreamed a very long dream.