Chapter 8 A Thrilling Night

  Liu Jiong gently patted Zhao Yun's hand and stood up to walk outside the cave, "What's going on?"

  "Look quickly, young master!"

  Wu Xu pointed to the foot of the mountain, extremely frightened. Liu Xuan followed his pointing finger and looked over, feeling a chill in his heart. He saw that on the mountain path, there appeared long rows of torches, stretching for several miles, like a dragon of fire, with tens of thousands of people. Countless torches were already moving up the mountain, this must be Cao's main force arriving, to conduct a thorough search of the mountain.

  Tens of thousands of people with a majestic momentum scared Wu Zhi's face pale, his legs trembling. He could no longer bear it and turned around to plead: "Young master, this must be Cao Cao coming. I don't want to take care of him anymore. He will drag us down. With him, we definitely can't escape..."

  Before he could finish, Liu Xuan fiercely punched him to the ground and pointed at him in anger: "You ungrateful wretch! If it weren't for him saving you, you would have died in the chaos of war. Dare to speak nonsense again, I'll behead you with one slash!"

  Wu Xiu slowly lowered his head, a flash of hatred in his eyes. If he wasn't afraid of not being able to explain himself when he got back, he would have run away long ago. Would he still come back to find this stinky little brat?

  Liu Xuan turned around and walked into the cave, pulling Zhao Yun's hand and smiling: "It seems we need to change places."

  Zhou Yu heard their conversation outside and was moved in his heart. He forced a smile and said, "Actually Cao Cao won't kill me either, it doesn't matter even if I get caught."

  Liu Xuan ignored him and directly carried Zhao Yun on his back, "Let's go! If I don't die, you won't be able to die either."

  He carried Zhao Yun out of the cave, Wu Xiu led the way in front, and the three continued to climb towards the top of the mountain.

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  On the mountain path, dozens of generals surrounded a middle-aged man with a one-foot-long beard under his chin, a high nose bridge, and a pair of slender eyes that shone very brightly. He wore a golden helmet, a yellow gold chainmail armor, and had the Equilibrium Sword at his waist, riding the Yellow Flying Thunderbolt Horse.

  It was Cao Cao himself, Liu Bei had already escaped far away, he chased and killed him but couldn't catch up, so he led his troops back to Yangshan, but heard that General Zhao Yun was injured and hiding in the mountains, accompanied by a young man, who turned out to be Liu Jing's nephew, Cao Cao was very interested.

  This place is not far from Jingzhou, if he can capture Liu Biao's nephew, it would be better to use the name of sending his nephew to meet with Liu Biao on the Han River and exchange him for Liu Bei.

  Cao Cao was on horseback, and Yu Jin knelt down on one knee. At this time, he was filled with regret, thinking that if only he had known earlier that his lord valued the young man so much, it would have been better to let him go, and now he was extremely foolish!

  He didn't dare to conceal it, so he told Liu Xuan's words in detail, and said with great frustration: "I was given a soul-drinking potion by him, which caused Zhao Yun to escape from under my nose. I regret it too late, I am foolish and have ruined the important matter of our lord, please punish me."

  Cao Cao's eyes showed some surprise, this young man not only had extensive knowledge but also was bold and meticulous, extremely clever, Liu Jing Sheng actually had such a nephew, it made one look at him in a new light. Cao Cao's interest grew even thicker, he must capture this nephew of Liu Jing Sheng.

  He immediately ordered: "Pass on my order, do not allow the burning of the mountain with fire, must capture alive. Whoever captures Zhao Yun will be rewarded with 300 catties of gold, whoever captures Liu Biao's nephew will be rewarded with 500 catties of gold!"

  Cao Cao ordered General Li Dian: "You can lead three thousand troops to take a shortcut, go up the mountain from behind, and cut off their retreat route to the south."

  "Yes sir!" Li Dian led three thousand soldiers along the mountain road southwest.

  Under the heavy reward, there must be brave men. Tens of thousands of Cao army soldiers held torches and climbed up the mountain in a dense manner. The entire hillside was like a fire tree with silver flowers blooming, exceptionally magnificent.

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  Liu Jue and the other two had already crossed the mountain slope and arrived at the saddle of the mountain on the other side, where this side was covered with pine forests. At this time, Zhao Yun's wound poison began to take effect, and he was in a semi-comatose state, with a string of blisters growing on his mouth, sometimes confused and sometimes clear.

  Silent when awake, murmuring in confusion, "Water! Water!"

  His whole body was burning, and he looked like he was about to dehydrate. Liu Jue's heart was racing with anxiety. Zhao Yun now urgently needed water and medicine, but the medicine was all gone. At least they had to have water. If they didn't find water soon, Zhao Yun would lose his life. He stood up straight and looked around in all directions.

  He was originally a young hunter, with some experience. It had rained the day before yesterday, so there wouldn't be any water in the pine forest, but perhaps he could find some accumulated water in the saddle-shaped mountain depression.

  He took the kettle and said to Wu Xiu: "Take good care of General Zhao, he has saved our lives, we absolutely cannot abandon him, I'll go find water and bring it back."

  Wu Xiu nodded, "Don't worry, young master! I'll take good care of him."

  Although Liu Jiong was still worried, he had no choice but to hurry back and forth. He jumped down a mound of earth and rushed towards the mountain valley.

  Looking at Liu Xuan's receding back, Wu Xiou's face changed, becoming extremely ferocious, with a fierce glint in his eyes, "You little brat, you want to die, but I don't!"

  He pulled out a dagger from his bosom, which he had found in the saddle bag of the war horse he was riding and had been hiding on himself. He hid the dagger behind his back and walked towards Zhao Yun step by step.

  Liu Xuan was very lucky, having just run over a hundred steps, he discovered a small puddle with a little shallow rainwater. He was overjoyed and carefully poured the water into his canteen, but unfortunately, there was too little water, and only half a canteen was filled before it ran out.

  Liu Jue knew that as long as he found one place, there would definitely be a second place nearby, but he didn't trust Zhao Yun, turned around and rushed away.

  Wu Xu crouched in front of Zhao Yun, his hand gripping the dagger tightly behind his back, and shouted in a low voice: "General Zhao! General Zhao!"

  He saw Zhao Yun's high martial arts with his own eyes, and he was still worried in his heart. If Zhao Yun could still resist, he would be dead for sure.

  At this time, Zhao Yun was in a period of clarity. He slowly opened his eyes and asked in a low voice: "Where is Master Jing?"

  "He went to fetch water, I'll take care of you."

  After finishing speaking, he gently pressed on Zhao Yun's wound. Zhao Yun endured extreme pain but bit his teeth tightly and didn't make a sound.

  "General Zhao looks like he's badly hurt, why don't I help you walk a couple of steps? Get the blood flowing."

  Zhoa Yun's experience was extremely rich, and he saw the fierce light in Wu Xiu's eyes, his facial muscles were distorted, his appearance was ferocious, and Zhoa Yun immediately understood that this person had evil intentions.

  Zhao Yun's heart was in a hurry, and he immediately shouted in a low voice: "Gongzi Xing is behind you!"

  Wu Xiu was shocked, suddenly turned around, and behind him was empty, no one was there. Where was Liu Xuan's shadow? Wu Xiu's eyes revealed a sly smile, "So General Zhao was playing a joke on me!"

  At this time, he already understood that Zhao Yun had seen through him, but he also saw that Zhao Yun was powerless to resist. Wu Xiu sneered and said, "General Zhao, sorry about that, I'll burn more paper for you."

  He raised the dagger high, and Zhao Yun's heart let out a mournful cry. He had not died on the battlefield, but was to die at the hands of a petty man. Just then, Zhao Yun's eyes suddenly lit up, fixed tightly on Wu Xiu behind him.

  Wu Xiu sneered, "You can't fool me! Go die!"

  Just as he was about to stab down, a severe pain suddenly came from his back, and he slowly lowered his head to find that the tip of a sword had emerged from his chest.

  Wu Xiu turned his head and only then discovered that Liu Xuan was standing right behind him, staring at him with a face full of anger. Wu Xiu raised his hand and pointed at Liu Xuan, finally shouting loudly, "You are... an impostor!"

  After shouting this sentence, Wu Xiu fell to the ground and died.

  Liu Xuan pulled out a short sword from behind his back, kicked the man away with disgust, and the corpse rolled over twice. However, a package fell out of the man's arms. Liu Xuan picked up the package, smelled it, and his eyes suddenly lit up - it was a pack of high-quality wound medicine that this person had been carrying on him.

  "Damn it!"

  Liu Jue cursed loudly. He couldn't find any medicine anywhere, and Zhao Yun's injuries would only worsen because of this idiot who was secretly hoarding the medicine but refused to bring it out.

  With the excellent Golden Creation Medicine, Liu Xuan's heart suddenly ignited with hope. He hastily stepped forward to support Zhao Yun and anxiously asked: "General Zhao, are you alright?"

  Zhao Yun said in a low voice: "You saved me again."

  "No!"

  Liu Jiong bitterly said: "To know a person's face but not their heart, I was blind to bring this poisonous snake by my side, nearly harming the general's life."

  Liu Jue took the water jug and carefully gave Zhao Yun a few sips of water, smiling: "The accumulated rainwater probably doesn't taste good, when we get to Xiangyang City, I'll buy some fine wine to make it up to you, General."

  Zhao Yun smiled slightly and said, "I'll invite you for a drink then!"

  Liu Xuan then applied the wound medicine to Zhao Yun, and the water and golden creation medicine quickly took effect. Zhao Yun's body temperature gradually returned to normal, no longer scorching hot, which greatly relieved Liu Xuan's mind.

  At this time, the sky seemed to have brightened up, Liu Jue turned his head around and saw that both sides of the mountain were filled with torches, Cao's army had taken a shortcut from behind and climbed up the mountain, blocking his way back.

  Liu Jue sighed bitterly, and indeed Cao Cao liked to do such things as attacking from behind.

  "Master Liu, you go! Don't worry about me anymore." Zhao Yun also realized their situation was extremely dangerous and didn't want to implicate Master Liu further.

  Liu Xuan smiled and shook his head, "Don't say that, on the battlefield you didn't abandon me, how could I abandon you now?"

  Zhao Yun silently watched this young man, his nostrils filled with a wave of sourness, this young man was so grateful and righteous, how could he repay this kindness.

  Liu Jue pondered for a moment and said to Zhao Yun, "Now that things have come to this point, I can only take a risk and try. Whether we can escape this disaster depends on our luck."

  Zhao Yun let out a soft sigh, "To be able to die in battle together with you, young master, I, Zhao Yun, will have no regrets in death!"

  Liu Jue stood up and smiled: "The Cao army wants to kill us, but it's not that easy."

  He looked around and found that they were between two hills, with Cao's army mainly concentrated on the northern hill. Although there were also soldiers on the southern hill blocking their escape route, the number of troops was not large, especially in the southeast direction, where torches were even more sparse.

  "Brother Zhao, can you walk a few steps?"

  Zhao Yun felt that his legs had a bit of sensation, so he nodded, "I'll give it a try!"

  Liu Jiong helped Zhao Yun up and tucked Wu Xiu's body under his arm, supporting Zhao Yun as he hobbled away to the southeast.

  Liu Xuan supported Zhao Yun as they walked along the mountain waist for a while, and then he discovered a cave. The cave seemed to be bottomless, so Liu Xuan picked up a stone and threw it in. It took half a day before the echo came back.

  "This cave is pretty good for hiding a corpse. Liu Jue found a low-lying area next to it and smiled at Zhao Yun, saying: 'Brother Zhao, take a nap first, I'll be right back.'"

  Zhao Yun lay down and closed his eyes, at this time he had already entrusted his honor and life to Liu Xuan.

  Liu Jue covered Zhao Yun and Wu Xiu's bodies with branches, then identified the direction and rushed southeast.

  Cao Jun's search for soldiers in the southeast was not many, only over 300 people, mostly scattered, which gave Liu Jing an opportunity.

  About two hundred steps away from the mountain cave, Liu Jue found a lone Cao army soldier. He casually threw Zhao Yun's helmet to the ground, drew his short sword and climbed up the tree.

  Before long, Cao's soldiers came over with torches in their hands. He found the helmet on the ground, bent down to pick it up, and just as he was examining the helmet, Liu Jiao jumped down from the tree, knocked the soldier to the ground, pressed his face into the mud, and stabbed a sword through his back.

  He quickly stripped off the armor of Cao's soldiers, put it on himself, looked around and saw another lone torch not far away.

  Liu Jue flew away quickly and soon arrived near the Cao army soldiers, hiding behind a tree. As they approached, he suddenly flashed out, pointing his knife at their chest and shouted: "Password!"

  Cao Jun's soldiers were startled and saw it was one of their own, hastily responding: "Withdraw the net!"

  The original password was "collecting nets", not "chicken ribs". Liu Xuan smiled and suddenly pointed behind him in horror, saying: "What's behind you?"

  Cao Jun's soldiers instinctively turned their heads, and Liu Xuan seized the momentary opportunity to slash his knife fiercely, sending his opponent's head flying out more than ten feet away.

  At this time, Liu Xuan's heart was extremely tense, and Cao Jun's search was getting closer and closer. He had little time left, so he shouldered the two corpses and turned to run towards the mountain cave.

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  A moment later, Liu Jue carried Zhao Yun on his back, wearing the same Cao army armor and helmet, holding a torch in his hand, rushing south along the mountain waist. He gambled that these soldiers would never dream of it, and the prey would jump into the net by themselves.

  Several Cao army soldiers confronted him and loudly ordered: "Who are you? What's your password?"

  "Reap!"

  Liu Jiong waited anxiously for the other party's response, just like entering a password, and apparently, the password was correct.

  Several Cao army soldiers walked up and asked with concern: "What's wrong with him? He seems to be in a bad way."

  Liu Jiong sighed bitterly, "He is my brother. When we were searching the mountain, he was bitten by a snake and the venom has taken effect. Even bloodletting didn't work for him. I must go see the military doctor immediately."

  Just then, a shout came from afar, and someone was heard shouting: "Found it!"

  The Cao Jun soldiers suddenly became anxious, and without paying attention to Liu Xuan and the others, they dropped them and rushed towards **place**, that's a reward of 800 catties! The urgency of getting rich made the soldiers' eyes red.

  In an instant, all the Cao army soldiers nearby fled. Liu Jue saw that there were no more torches blocking the way ahead and put Zhao Yun on his back, laughing: "Brother Zhao, now we can go on our way!"

  Zhao Yun also smiled: "It seems we won't have to die on the battlefield."

  The two of them burst out laughing, and Liu Xuan took big strides, walking towards the vast mountains in the south.

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  At the foot of the mountain, General Le Jin and Li Dian knelt down in front of Cao Cao, Le Jin said with great shame: "We have searched the mountain twice, every corner has been turned over, but we can't find their trace. We only found two dead bodies, one is a middle-aged man, the other is our brother, wearing Zhao Yun's armor, the soldiers thought they had caught him, but..."

  Next to him, Li Dian also shamefully said: "Your subordinate was ordered to intercept from the south, and some soldiers have already discovered Liu Jing and Zhao Yun. They were wearing our army's armor and knew the password, so they let them go. It is estimated that Liu Jing and Zhao Yun have escaped over the mountain. Your subordinate does not dare to conceal this, and is willing to accept punishment from the Prime Minister!"

  "A bunch of useless things!"

  Cao Cao was extremely enraged, and he scolded loudly. More than 10,000 people searched the mountain but couldn't catch them, and they were still able to escape. He looked at the two corpses on the ground and turned back to ask Yu Jin, "Who is this middle-aged man?"

  Yu Jin hastily bowed and said: "It should be the people who broke through with them, I infer that it is Liu Biao's subordinate, but I don't know why they had an internal conflict."

  Infighting!

  This word made Cao Cao think of something, he pondered for a long time and asked his advisor Cheng Yu, "What does Zhongde think?"

  Cheng Yu understood Cao Cao's thoughts, and lightly stroking his white beard, smiled and said: "As General Yu and General Li have said, this young man is indeed bold and has a clever plan. He was able to escape twice when surrounded, and it must be admitted that he is a rare talent.

  "If he is Liu Jing's son, the Prime Minister must catch him to eliminate future troubles. But if he is his nephew... actually letting him go to Jingzhou isn't a bad thing either. If our inference is correct, this young man will surely trigger chaos in Jingzhou."

  Cao Cao stroked his beard and nodded in agreement, thinking that Liu Jing's son was just a foolish child, but with a formidable nephew by his side, it would be like throwing a black fish into a fish pond - sooner or later, it would stir up great chaos in Jingzhou.

  "Zhong De thought, can I help him again?"

  Cheng Yu shook his head and smiled, "I think it's not the right time yet. We should focus on eliminating Yuan Shao and pacifying the north for now. As for Jingzhou, we can observe from a distance. If you're interested in this young man, you can send someone to keep an eye on him. When the time is ripe, we can take advantage of the situation and use him to stir up trouble in Jingzhou. Since ancient times, the downfall of a country has always started with internal strife. Why must you rush into this now?"

  Cao Cao deeply believed in Cheng Yu's words. After a long period of contemplation, he finally gave up the pursuit and immediately ordered, "Withdraw troops, return to Xuchang!"