Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 279 - 267: The World’s Brave Generals

Wei Yan, leading more than three thousand seasoned soldiers who were barely wounded and high in morale, followed behind Guan Yu. Under Guan Yu’s command, they arrived outside Leling City. As the city walls were lit by torchlight, Guan Yu could see the panic among the soldiers on the ramparts.

Guan Yu spurred his horse forward, riding within bowshot range, and bellowed at the military marquis standing below the city gate tower, "I am Guan Yu! Your chief general, Zhang He, has been slain by my hand. Surrender at once! Otherwise, when the city falls, it will be your time to die!"

"Thwack!" An arrow struck right at Guan Yu’s feet, and soon a torrent of arrows engulfed him. Unfortunately for his attackers, Guan Yu merely waved his great sword, deflecting all the incoming arrows with ease. Without a contingent of elite archers, Guan Yu was not worried about being hit.

"Let me show you the disparity between us!" Guan Yu deflected all the arrows, his voice tinged with anger, then suddenly a burst of azure light erupted from his body. The light blade of the Green Dragon Crescent Blade crazily swelled in size as Guan Yu, transformed into a streak of light bearing the huge blade, ferociously crashed into the city wall of Leling. Accompanied by an explosive rumble, under the incredulous eyes of soldiers from both Yuan Shao’s Army and Liu Bei’s Army, he directly shattered the wall.

"Attack the city!" Guan Yu roared. The soldiers from both sides, who had been stunned, instantly snapped back to reality. Liu Bei’s Army, led by Wei Yan and shouting "General’s divine might," surged toward the breach with sky-high morale, while the sounds of ironware clattering to the ground could be heard from Yuan Shao’s Army.

Guan Yu stood at the breach in the city wall, his complexion slightly pale and his breath somewhat ragged, but his eyes sparkled with a keen light. The frustration that had built up in his chest had been entirely expelled with that previous strike.

The wall was broken, and even Guan Yu himself was astonished. This was probably the first and last time someone had broken through a city wall in this manner. Just as Confucius’s father was the only one who lifted a city gate alone, a feat he surely couldn’t replicate, some things can only be done once.

"Indeed, there is still room for improvement." Guan Yu reflected on the emptiness within, his ultimate knowledge constantly being refined. Three strikes were too many—one strike, only one strike was needed. An unrivaled strike to crush the opponent, any additional moves were all flaws!

"Lyu Bu, I must kill you!" Guan Yu caressed his Green Dragon Crescent Blade. The great sword, forged from refined iron, seemed to possess spirituality at that moment. As Guan Yu’s fingers traced over it, a tranquil luster flickered across the blade. "The Sky Piercer with its twin dragons entwined, my Green Dragon Crescent Blade will not be inferior to yours!"

Grasping the hilt tightly, a cyan flame emerged upon the Green Dragon Crescent Blade. The tail of the dragon coiled around the base of the hilt, and the dragon’s head clenched the tip of the blade.

In that moment, Guan Yu finally understood what the golden and red dragons on Lyu Bu’s Sky Piercer were all about. They were not simply for show, but rather a manifestation of the halberd’s power. Now that Guan Yu’s blade had integrated his own Essence, Qi, and Spirit, it too had birthed its own power—the Azure Dragon.

Guan Yu stroked the sacred beast that had emerged from his blade, viewing it as a legitimate member of the Four Spirits of Heaven and Earth, far superior to Lyu Bu’s Golden Dragon or Fire Dragon. Although currently feeble, without fully developed dragon scales, a dragon was still a dragon. Guan Yu clearly felt an increasing aura of might, and a transcendence in his realm began.

Truth be told, Guan Yu knew nothing about divine or sacred beasts; it was all his own wishful thinking. Everything has spirituality, true, but to birth an Azure Dragon from a Green Dragon Crescent Blade was sheer fantasy. However, because the blade was nurtured by Guan Yu, and he wished for it to become so, the blade became just that. The supposed dragon was none other than Guan Yu’s own power, and the supposed might was but the latent power within Guan Yu himself. Sometimes, such suggestions were necessary...

Just like how Guan Yu now felt as though he was possessed by the Azure Dragon, his strength surged dramatically, his presence increasingly immense. Even a mere glance from his opened eyes could deter soldiers from acting rashly across him – this was the authority he had always sought, the imposing power he had longed for.

"Advance into the city!" Guan Yu, who had been meditating with closed eyes, no longer heard the clangor of steel and blades around him. He slightly opened his eyes to see Wei Yan waiting by his side.

When Guan Yu’s gaze swept over Wei Yan, Wei Yan suddenly felt an oppressive weight. His former reverence for Huang Zhong completely shifted towards Guan Yu upon witnessing the latter’s astonishing authority.

"Acknowledged!" Wei Yan looked up at Guan Yu, who had closed his eyes again, with reverence. He finally understood why everyone spoke of Guan Yu with such respect when he had first arrived. This feeling of confronting a divine being, of facing overwhelming power, was truly befitting of General Guan. As he gazed at the breached wall, Wei Yan respectfully bowed his head.

Guan Yu was unaware of the shock his actions had caused throughout the land. Firstly, Zhang He had brought five thousand troops, not three thousand half-trained scouts that had been counted in darkness by Guan Yu’s trusted aides. That meant Guan Yu had first tackled an entire well-organized legion solo, directly crushing it in combat, before then storming a city alone, smashing through the city walls...

This was why Wei Yan held Guan Yu in such awe. Without fully grasping the situation himself, Guan Yu had accomplished two astonishing feats that were unprecedented in history. Wei Yan couldn’t help but admire him. In his eyes, even though Huang Zhong’s strength might not be inferior to, or could even surpass Guan Yu’s, Huang Zhong lacked Guan Yu’s domineering spirit, his imposing air!

However, Wei Yan also felt a tinge of regret that Guan Yu hadn’t directly killed Zhang He. It would have been perfect if he had – facing an elite force of five thousand soldiers single-handedly, especially when the enemy’s chief general was an Inner Qi Manifestation master, to slay the opponent’s leader with a single strike, breaking the Command Banner, that would have been truly earth-shattering!

On the other side, Zhang He, with several broken ribs and an arm that was already fractured, was finally helped by his subordinates to meet up with Gao Lan. Both wore bitter expressions. Given the current situation, if Guan Yu was not foolish, he would undoubtedly lead an assault on Leling City. With only a thousand soldiers defending Leling and lacking a competent general to lead them, the likelihood of losing the city was alarmingly high.

"Jun Yi, are you alright?" After hearing about the previous day’s events from Zhang He, Gao Lan’s face showed helplessness. It was unbelievable that someone would have the audacity to charge into battle alone and almost succeed in killing Zhang He. Facing such a situation, what could anyone do? This was no longer a case of catching the enemy off guard—typically, it would have been a suicide mission.

"I won’t die." Zhang He replied with a bitter smile. "Guan Yunchang is indeed among the bravest under the heavens. Courage, strength, wisdom – lacking any of these would be insufficient to achieve anything. We have all underestimated him."

"But you..." Gao Lan looked at the protruding rib fragments in Zhang He’s chest. This seemed quite different from not dying. If left unattended, he would surely die soon.

"Rest assured..." Zhang He raised his only functioning right hand, on which a dark Inner Qi appeared. "By a stroke of luck, if I hadn’t made a breakthrough on the battlefield, I would have been slain by him. By returning like this, our lord will understand what we have endured. Hopefully, we can avoid punishment."(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit to vote for it with your recommendation tickets and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)