Chapter 400 (1/2)

Although Liu Mang had been eager, he soon found out that Zhang Fei’s reputation was accurate. The sword in Liu Mang’s hands immediately felt extremely heavy. On top of that, Liu Mang was using a sword and not his usual s.h.i.+eld. This further puts him at a disadvantage.

“Haha! Little boy Liu Mang. If you were to die by my hands today, do you think that Slave of Three Surnames would weep?” Zhang Fei laughed malevolently and placed more force into his Serpent Spear.

“You want to take revenge for Chen Dao by killing me?” Liu Mang knew he was no match for Zhang Fei but he would not just allow himself to be killed so easily. He pushed away Zhang Fei’s spear with his sword. Both of them tried to provoke each other. Although it would be bad for Liu Mang if Zhang Fei were to get stronger from anger, it would be good enough if Zhang Fei loses his reasoning. That way, Liu Mang might be able to escape.

“Shuzhi!” Zhang Fei’s expression changed the moment he heard Liu Mang mention Chen Dao.

“That Chen Dao from Runan? What a pity! He had such a good appearance but got turned into minced meat during that chaos. How tragic!”

“Liu Mang! I will have your life!” Zhang Fei angrily jumped towards Liu Mang.

“You want my life? You are still lacking!” Liu Mang ran straight to the edge of the s.h.i.+p. As water had already entered the s.h.i.+p, the s.h.i.+p slanted to a side. On even grounds, Liu Mang would not be able to defeat Zhang Fei which is why he changed location. However, the enraged Zhang Fei would not take notice of this.

“Zhang Fei Zhang Yide! You always curse my father-in-law as the Slave of Three Surnames. Do you think you are such a good person yourself?” Liu Mang ridiculed.

“The Slave of Three Surnames is at least a man who can take charge! But you, Zhang Fei, are a man with no b.a.l.l.s!”1

“Nonsense! Since when do I have no b.a.l.l.s?”

“Zhang Fei Zhang Yide! Didn’t you always call yourself a castrate (yānrén)? Since you already admitted to be a castrate, how could you have b.a.l.l.s?”

“I said I am a Yan person (yànrén)2! Not a castrate!” Zhang Fei retorted. Unfortunately, he was one of the people who had difficulty differentiating between tones3.

Of course Liu Mang knew that Zhang Fei was a Yan person. Zhang Fei originated from Youzhou that was once Yan and Zhao during the Warring States period. If Liu Mang were to say this to a scholar or a poet, he would be ridiculed very badly. However, the only scholar here was Jia Xu while the rest were uncouth people that only knew vulgarity. Not only did Liu Mang’s men laugh. Even Zhang Fei’s own men laughed at him.

“You are not allowed to laugh! Little boy Liu Mang! I will flay you alive!” Zhang Fei roared and advanced.

“Not good!” Liu Mang became alarmed when he saw Zhang Fei’s actions. He had gone too far and caused Zhang Fei display even more strength. Liu Mang was forced into a defensive position. However, Zhang Fei was so powerful that Liu Mang was losing his grip on his sword.

“Die!”

At that dire moment, a man with a fierce scar across his face rushed in to attack Zhang Fei and reduced the pressure on Liu Mang. “Zhang Fei! Do you remember this Guan Hai?”

“Guan Hai?” Zhang Fei glared at the man and tried to remember this person. In the end, he could not remember who this person could be in the Liu Mang’s Army. “This nameless scoundrel dares to interfere?” He replied in disdain as he moved in to kill Guan Hai.

“Nameless scoundrel?” Guan Hai also became angry. He had crawled out of a pile of corpses and trained like mad in the mountains. He did all this even though his comrades were all dead. All of this was just for revenge. Yet, his sworn enemy could not even remember him. It was certainly a kind of mockery.

“Zhang Fei Zhang Yide! I will definitely pay you back for that time at Beihai!”

“Beihai?” Zhang Fei finally remembered that he and his brothers had gone to save Kong Rong at Beihai. Kong Rong had requested for help when he was besieged. Liu Bei who knew Kong Rong had immediately set out to save him despite being outnumbered. “So you are that Qingzhou idiot! That survivor or the Yellow Turbans!” Zhang Fei did not bother remembered Guan Hai’s name. There was no need to do so as Guan Hai had chosen to fight a duel despite having superior numbers. In the end, he was defeated by Guan Yu. Zhang Fei never expected him to have survived.

“Hahaha!” Guan Hai laughed in ridicule. He had thought that he could be acknowledged by the opponent did not even care about him. He was not able to accept such a discrepancy. Fortunately, Guan Hai had already experienced death once.

“What are you laughing for? Since you survived, let your Grandfather Zhang Fei send you off!”

“The only one that will die here is you, Zhang Fei!” Liu Mang shouted and attacked. He wanted to team up with Guan Hai to kill Zhang Fei. However, his sword was stopped by Guan Hai’s own sword before it could reach Zhang Fei.

“Guan Hai?”

“Milord. Leave this to me.” Guan Hai said towards Liu Mang. Liu Mang frowned at this but then he saw Guan Hai seriously request. “Please!”

“Alright! Guan Hai, I will leave Zhang Fei to you. However, you must promise to come back alive!” Liu Mang replied to Guan Hai and then fought his way to Zhou Cang and Jia Xu. Only about ten of his soldiers were left while the enemy still numbered in the hundreds. It was fortunate that Jia Xu and Zhou Cang could hold back the enemy but the pressure was enormous. Jia Xu was also already injured. Since he was just a scholar, he would naturally get injured after fighting for so long.

“Zhou Cang! Join me in killing the enemies!” Liu Mang joined the battle and reduced the pressure. Zhang Fei had brought many soldiers with him but Liu Mang and Zhou Cang made it evenly matched.

Meanwhile, Guan Hai and Zhang Fei fought for over a hundred rounds. Neither could gain the uppder hand over each other. Their battle caused the s.h.i.+p to shake.

“Ha!” Both men were evenly matched and fought till they both tired out. Both the sword and the Serpent Spear dropped to the ground. In the end, two warriors could only glare at each other murderously.

“Third General!” Zhang Fei’s men immediately surrounded Zhang Fei to protect him. Similarly, Liu Mang, Zhou Cang and the others did the same for Guan Hai. Liu Mang had also picked up Zhang Fei’s Serpent Spear. Without the Serpent Spear, Zhang Fei’s fighting capabilities had reduced by a large margin. He would no longer be able to fight at his best for as long as Liu Mang had possession of his weapon.