Chapter 85: Rescuing Lu Bu

Seeing the Wolf Shadow fighters display such combat prowess, even Lu Bu was genuinely astonished.

He had always believed himself to be ferocious in battle.

But the methods these men were showing before his eyes now stirred within him, little by little, a rising battle spirit.

“Gentlemen, you need not shield me!”

“Lu Bu will break out with you!”

With one swift motion, Lu Bu snatched a long spear from a Cao soldier’s hands.

Then he joined the Wolf Shadow fighters and began a furious slaughter.

They had come to rescue Lu Bu and protect him.

Now Lu Bu had joined the fight as well.

Though he carried many wounds, his imposing might, as though able to tear down mountains and rivers, and his fierce skill were in no way inferior to the Wolf Shadow fighters.

A dozen or so men cut a bloody path outward.

“Hurry and stop them!”

“Kill them!”

Cao Cao was shouting in a frenzy.

At the sight of those black-clad men, rage surged uncontrollably within him.

He knew they all belonged to Liu Xie.

And Liu Xie had already caused him immense trouble.

The mere sight of them made him think of Liu Xie, and thinking of Liu Xie made him burn with anger.

He swore that he would kill both the Wolf Shadow fighters and Lu Bu here and now.

But the Wolf Shadow fighters were too formidable, and Lu Bu’s charge was like that of a tiger.

His soldiers could not even get close.

“Report!”

“Bad news, My Lord!”

“Lu Bu’s remaining forces have gathered.”

“They are already fighting their way toward the city gate.”

“There are more than a dozen black-clad men there as well!”

A subordinate rushed over with a panicked report.

“What, what did you say?”

“Another dozen?”

Cao Cao could no longer remain calm.

Only now did he understand.

Twenty black-clad men.

Ten of them had come to rescue Lu Bu.

The other ten had gone to rescue Lu Bu’s subordinates and troops.

Striking from both sides.

And so, with merely twenty men, they had thrown Cao Cao’s tens of thousands of troops into utter chaos.

“Cao Ren!”

“Take men to hold the city gate at once.”

“Show no mercy. Leave none of Lu Bu’s men alive!”

“Kill them all!”

Cao Cao issued the orders in haste.

Cao Ren immediately drew troops from elsewhere to reinforce the gate.

At the same time, the Wolf Shadow fighters, who were still cutting their way through the enemy, overheard Cao Cao’s words.

“General Lu, let us head for the gate!”

One of the Wolf Shadow fighters shouted.

“Good. Then let us cut our way to the gate!”

Lu Bu roared.

After that, the group swiftly slew more than a dozen Cao cavalrymen.

Then they mounted their fast horses and charged toward the city gate.

Countless Cao soldiers rushed forward to block them.

Without exception, none of them could get near.

Once mounted, the Wolf Shadow fighters carried not only curved blades, but also long spears forged of pure iron.

Curved blade in the left hand, spear in the right.

The two weapons complemented each other perfectly.

In both long-range and close-range combat, no Cao soldier could possibly break through to them.

Watching the Wolf Shadow fighters carry Lu Bu farther and farther away, Cao Cao grew increasingly agitated.

“Pursue them! Hurry and catch up!”

“Archers!”

“Archers, prepare!”

“Loose!”

“Shoot them to death!”

Cao Cao no longer cared about anything else.

Right now, he wanted only Lu Bu dead.

He knew better than anyone how much trouble Lu Bu had caused him.

If Lu Bu escaped here today, then in the days to come, the trouble would never end.

So he had to kill Lu Bu as quickly as possible.

Yet under the protection of the Wolf Shadow guards, killing Lu Bu was no longer such an easy matter.

Whoosh!

Arrows darkened the sky.

They completely covered the heads of the Wolf Shadow guards and Lu Bu.

At the sight, Lu Bu’s eyes widened.

He had no way to evade.

But the Wolf Shadow fighters reacted swiftly.

They immediately raised their shields and held them above their heads.

However, when they saw Lu Bu following behind them, all of their expressions darkened.

One Wolf Shadow guard beside Lu Bu said nothing at all and simply hurled his shield to Lu Bu.

“General Lu!”

“Hold it over your head and break through!”

he shouted.

“And you?” Lu Bu cried hurriedly.

“Do not worry about me!”

“I was ordered here to rescue General Lu.”

“If General Lu dies, we will have no face to return and report.”

“General Lu, remember this!”

“You are a loyal servant of the Han. Please assist His Majesty in restoring the Han!”

The words had barely left his mouth before the rain of arrows fell.

The Wolf Shadow fighter was riddled like a hedgehog.

He died.

“We cannot leave anyone behind!”

“Take him with us!”

The other Wolf Shadow fighters, who had been charging ahead, all stopped at once.

They lifted up the fallen Wolf Shadow guard from the ground.

Then they continued their assault.

At the sight, Lu Bu was deeply moved.

He could hardly imagine what sort of men these were.

He had no time to think further.

He followed them onward in the slaughter.

They were getting closer and closer to the city gate.

By then, the gate area had already been occupied by a large number of Cao soldiers.

They would not be able to get out.

But at that moment, there was movement on the other side as well.

“Soldiers of the Breakthrough Battalion, seize the city gate!”

“Let us break out!”

A thunderous shout rang out.

Lu Bu suddenly turned his head.

He saw a figure very familiar to him.

Or rather, many familiar figures.

Gao Shun. Zhang Liao.

And all the men who had once followed him.

They had all joined the charge.

Among the Breakthrough Battalion, there were also ten other Wolf Shadow fighters.

The Breakthrough Battalion was the most formidable force under Lu Bu’s command.

Though not numerous, their strength was truly fearsome.

With the aid of ten Wolf Shadow fighters, even though there were many Cao soldiers at the gate, they still forced the gate open under the relentless assault.

The moment the gate was flung wide, Lu Bu and several thousand troops burst out of the city in a single wave.

Under the leadership of the Wolf Shadow guards, the battle moved with such blinding speed that the Cao soldiers could not react in time.

By the time everyone had charged out of the city, the Cao army was already too late.

When Cao Cao arrived, only a crowd of stunned Cao soldiers remained at the gate.

“Where are they? Where are they!”

“What are you all doing!”

“My tens of thousands of troops, and you let twenty men turn things into this!”

Cao Cao raged in fury.

Xun Yu and Guo Jia, standing beside him, exchanged a subtle glance.

They both knew this had been Liu Xie’s doing.

And they had never imagined that Liu Xie would personally come here to rescue Lu Bu.

Elsewhere, under the guidance of the Wolf Shadow guards, Lu Bu and his generals rode for dozens of miles before entering a mountain region.

Only after confirming that the Cao army had not pursued them did everyone finally stop.

Lu Bu immediately dismounted and came before the Wolf Shadow guards.

“Gentlemen, Lu Bu thanks you for saving my life!”

“Only, may I ask who you are?”

he asked, curious.

At that moment, the Wolf Shadow fighters all wore grim expressions.

None of them could bring themselves to feel joy.

Just then, from not far away, Liu Xie rode over on horseback.

“Master!”

The Wolf Shadow guards all knelt in unison.

“Your Majesty?”

The moment he saw Liu Xie, Lu Bu was stunned beyond measure.

Indeed, back when Liu Xie had been under Dong Zhuo’s control in Luoyang, Lu Bu had seen him often.

So he recognized him.

He had never expected the one who had come here to be Liu Xie.

Liu Xie did not speak to him at once.

Instead, he looked at the two corpses lying beside the Wolf Shadow guards.

“What happened?”

Little by little, a heavy sorrow settled in Liu Xie’s heart.

Even pain.

“Answering the Master,” one of them said.

“Old Six gave his shield to General Lu.”

“He died under the rain of arrows.”

“As for Old Eight, he died trying to save General Gao Shun.”

“He was stabbed to death by a flurry of spears.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the remaining eighteen Wolf Shadow guards all slammed their foreheads to the ground.

Liu Xie’s heart tightened.

He could understand their grief.

These twenty men had depended on one another for more than a year.

They had eaten together, slept together, carried out missions together, and faced life and death together.

Their bond...

As a soldier himself in his previous life, he could understand that feeling all too well.

And losing two Wolf Shadow fighters filled Liu Xie’s own heart with unbearable sorrow.

To everyone else, they were merely two ordinary soldiers.

But to Liu Xie, these men were far too important.

“From this day on, the Wolf Shadow guards shall never lose another man.”

Those words were spoken as much to the Wolf Shadow guards as to Liu Xie himself.

These people were too important to him.

He would not let another of them die.

“From this moment forward, you shall be the eighteen Wolf Shadow guards!”

“I will see to it that you become the strongest men under heaven!”

“No one will be able to defeat you!”

At this moment, Liu Xie’s heart overflowed with bold resolve.

In ancient times there had been the Eighteen Riders of Yanyun.

Now, he would establish the Eighteen Wolf Shadow Guards.

Lu Bu and the others standing nearby did not know what to say.

Liu Xie drew a deep breath and slowly calmed himself.

Then he stepped before Lu Bu and the others.

“General Lu.”

“To speak plainly.”

“You are a general of my Great Han.”

“I hope you will aid me in restoring the Han.”

“Gentlemen, you may not understand.”

“To me, these twenty men were each and every one my brothers.”

“And now two of them have died here.”

“I will not permit any more of them to die.”

“My resolve to restore the realm cannot be changed.”

“I will destroy every obstacle in this world.”

“Fengxian, all of you.”

“I hope you will join me.”

Liu Xie did not waste any more words.

He stated his purpose directly.

He simply wanted them to follow him.

“His Majesty has come at the risk of his own life to save us.”

“Chen Gong is willing to follow His Majesty!”

Chen Gong was the first to step forward.

He expressed his position.

Immediately after, Lu Bu dropped to his knees.

“Your Majesty’s great kindness is such that this lowly general could never repay it, even in death!”

“Lu Bu is willing to follow His Majesty!”

Lu Bu agreed as well.

At this very moment, Liu Xie believed he was sincere.

As for the future, that was another matter.

For Lu Bu, following Liu Xie right now was the best choice.

His army had suffered a crushing defeat, and his reputation was abysmal.

He had nowhere else to go.

So now, following Liu Xie was his best path.

“Good!”

“I came here this time to bring you all back to Jingzhou!”

“Jingzhou will become our foundation!”

“From there, we shall restore the Han.”

“General Lu, I will be relying on you heavily from this day forward.”