527

Chapter 527 - Sima Yi's Struggle (4)

= East of Xiapi =

Sima Yi, Sima Lang, and Sima Fu left Xiapi before dusk as if they were in a hurry. They rode out without any followers but their siblings.

\"Keep going east! Hurry!\" Sima Yi hastened the group.

Because of Cao Cao's warning, Sima Yi had a scary thought when he put himself in Li Feihong's shoes. He imagined for fun what Li Feihong would do to efficiently silence him and his family.

The conclusion of that thought terrified him as Sima Yi had a dangerous idea.

Since Li Feihong and Dong Bai couldn't kill Sima Yi in the open, they could always abduct and imprison him until the end of the southern campaign. Then, it would be safe to murder him and his family without caring about the repercussion as the major threat was no more. Even if Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, and Zhang He betrayed the royalty faction, Diaochan, Li Feihong, and Wang Yi could destroy them singlehandedly.

Next was the major problem in that plan. Since the clan chat did not have a RETIREMENT or QUIT CLAN feature, Li Feihong and Dong Bai might have to cut Sima Yi's four limbs and destroy his vocal cord to disable him from using the clan chat.

His instinct cried that Zhuge Liang or other strategists might come up with this idea and suggested to those people. Sima Yi immediately called his siblings and bailed from the city even though he knew that it was a bad idea.

Escaping right now meant death. But by staying behind, he and his family would face a fate worse than death!

Cao Cao: \"Support is coming from the southeast. Head to Guangling and wait for the pickup. Gan Ji is heading there at the moment.\"

Sima Yi glanced at the private message. He exhaled deeply and steeled his heart, preparing for a long night.

Fortunately, Cao Cao extended a helping hand. He asked the mysterious sect leader to protect them while they were escaping.

Sima Yi: \"Can I trust this bogus taoist?\"

Cao Cao: \"Like it or not, he's the only 8-wing demon of our coalition. Be prepared for some surprise, though. It won't be a pleasant experience.\"

Sima Yi: \"Why?\"

Cao Cao: \"You'll know when you see him in action. His system skills are ... terrible.\"

.

.

.

= Xiapi City =

An angel was floating above Xiapi, scanning through this city and checking if there was any ambusher in this area.

Li Feihong rushed here when Sima Yi and his siblings suddenly took their horses and rode out at full speed. He didn't know why, but it seemed that Sima Yi had discovered their scheme and took the initiative to escape.

By the time that Li Feihong got here, Sima Yi and his siblings had already fled three kilometers.

Moreover, in the direction that they were fleeing, a dangerous being was heading there as well.

An 8-wing demon was heading there!

'That should be Lilim's servant. I should play it safe and chase after Sima Yi with the warp gates.'

He shifted his immortal sight from Gan Ji to the flying people nearby.

Wang Yi and Diaochan were rushing toward the new demon as well.

Diaochan: \"We'll intercept that old man. You catch that Sima Yi.\"

Li Feihong: \"Roger that.\"

Li Feihong opened a portal and entered his dimension world.

*VHOOM*

Two portals opened a kilometer east Xiapi City. Li Feihong exited from one portal and entered the other one.

*VHOOM*

Another set of portal opened a kilometer southeast. Li Feihong exited and entered gates again.

This was Li Feihong's way of traveling. It consumed a lot of lifespans, but it was safer than flying on the open sky, risking himself to be ambushed by other no-name suicide bombers.

*VHOOM*

Li Feihong's pair of blue portals opened and closed. He managed to cover 3 kilometers within a few seconds and caught up to Sima Yi, Sima Lang, and Sima Fu.

The three men had not realized his presence yet.

Li Feihong gazed at his monitors and glanced at Ma Chao, who was waiting for action.

\"Get ready. I'll open three gates at once to draw them here. I want you to knock Sima Lang and Sima Fu out first. I'll get Sima Yi myself.\"

\"Kakaka! Got it!\"

Li Feihong pinpointed Sima Yi's location and opened three portals below their horses.

Just like how Li Feihong practiced this move over a thousand times, Sima Yi, Sima Lang, and Sima Fu fell into the portal holes, entering his dimension without being able to retaliate.

Ma Chao had suffered from this trick before, so he knew how deadly the dimensional pitfall could do against the victims. He charged at the nearest rider, Sima Fu.

*POEK*

Ma Chao landed an uppercut punch and shook Sima Fu's brain. The latter was knocked out in one hit.

Meanwhile, Li Feihong already seized Sima Yi's neck. Unfortunately, he could not harm the latter as they were still in the same clan.

Still, Li Feihong managed to restrain Sima Yi from using his hands or voice to send system messages to others.

*POEK*

Ma Chao reacted fast and put Sima Lang unconscious with ease.

Now, they only had to deal with Sima Yi. Once his four limbs and his voice were sealed, the Sima Clan would be finished.

\"LI FEIHONG!!\" Sima Yi shouted with hatred. He had suffered too many setbacks that he wanted to kill somebody, \"I DID EVERYTHING FOR THE KINGDOM, BUT YOU ARE TREATING ME LIKE THIS!? IS THIS HOW YOU OTHERWORLDERS TREAT YOUR LOYAL RETAINER!?\"

Sima Yi wasn't wrong. Aside from the fact that he wanted Sun Quan and Wu Guotai dead to avenge for his father, he didn't really harm Tong's kingdom like Te Langpu or Cao Cao. Yet, he was treated unfairly.

\"I understand where that comes from, and I'm sorry that we are treating you this way. I'll give you one more chance. Stay in this dimension and don't use the clan chat until we deal with Lilim's goons. Then, I'll compensate you and your family. Right now, Dong Bai and Diaochan are on edge because of Lilim's henchmen.\"

\"AND WHY THE HELL SHOULD I BE CONTAINED IN THIS STUPID PLACE!? IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT MY FAMILY HAS AN ARMY!! WE ARE FOLLOWING ZHANG TONG'S ORDER BY EVERY WORD TO CREATE A FORCE TO KEEP THE ROYAL COURT IN CHECK!! WE ARE YOUR LOYAL SUBJECTS!!\"

Despite being captured, Sima Yi's tongue was sharp and slippery enough to come up with logic and reasons behind his armies and his family heritage.

Furthermore, it was the truth. Tong gave Sima Fang this authority to get the latter's trust and loyalty.

Li Feihong's grip softened. Forcing Te Langpu to commit suicide already tormented him enough, and he didn't want to kill any more of his former colleagues.

\"I'm so sorry, Sima Yi. I don't blame you for Zhang Min's matter. I don't blame you for doing your jobs. I just hope that we can trust you that you haven't given Lilim an immortal oath or joined forces with Sun Ce and Cao Cao.\"

\"WHY SHOULD I WORK WITH SUN CE WHEN HIS MEN KILLED MY FATHER!? ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?\"

\"…\"

Li Feihong loosed his grip and let Sima Yi go.

Sima Yi sat on his butt and touched his neck, fearing that his neck might have been broken. However, he was unharmed as the system barred them from hurting each other.

\"Swear it,\" Li Feihong muttered, \"Swear with your immortal oath that you're not Lilim's subordinate or work with her. If you do, I'll compensate you for this incident … except giving back Zhang Min to you.\"

Sima Yi wanted to continue shouting, but he stopped when he noticed the sincerity, guilt, and sympathy in Li Feihong's teary eyes.

'Are you serious? This is his golden chance to silence me for eternity. Why is he hesitating?'

For the first time, Sima Yi questioned Li Feihong's common sense. He was glad that he got to save his skin, but he doubted if Tong's right-hand man was this stupid.

'It seems I've overestimated this fool, but I don't hate this kind of person. He doesn't look like a two-face cunning bastard like Zhuge Liang.'

Sima Yi knew that Li Feihong used to serve as Lu Bu's strategist, so he had expected that his intelligence was on par with Jia Xu, Guo Jia, or Zhuge Liang. But the reality told him otherwise.

\"Alright. If you spare me and my siblings, I will make an immortal oath for you … [I, Sima Zhongda, hereby revoke my immortal oath to Lilim. I shall bear all the consequence of canceling the previous oath and I shall vow that I will now serve the royal house of Zhang Tong and Li Feihong with my life and my soul!]\"

*Rumble*

Ma Chao and Li Feihong widened their eyes when Sima Yi confessed that he pledged an oath to Lilim. Still, Sima Yi played with his words and shamelessly canceled the oath without fearing the consequences.

Thunder manifested in Li Feihong's dimension even though the sky was clear.

It struck at Sima Yi!

*BOOM*

\"Pfffft!!\"

Sima Yi spat blood. All of his veins ruptured and burst from the inside while deep wound appeared on Sima Yi's face and skin. His clothes became bloody because of a single thunderbolt.

This was a heaven punishment for annulling an immortal oath with a 10-wing demoness!

Li Feihong learned from Diaochan that breaking off an immortal oath would destroy their cultivation foundation, which usually resulted in death. Even if Sima Yi could survive, he could never cultivate more than 2 wings because of this punishment.

\"… Now … will you … trust me?\"

Sima Yi's bloodshot eyes stared straight into Li Feihong's eyes.

The former Liu Bei couldn't help but weep. Li Feihong cried as he knelt, prostrating and slamming his head on the ground. He didn't forget to detach his souls and used his abilities to heal Sima Yi.

\"I'M SORRY!! THIS IS MY FAULT!! I'M SO SORRY!!\"

After head-butting against the pseudo-earth for ten times, Li Feihong raised his bloody forehead to look at Sima Yi with determined eyes.

\"[I SWEAR THE GODS THAT I WILL PROTECT YOU AND YOUR SIMA HOUSE!! I'LL MAKE UP FOR YOUR LOSSES!!]\"

*RUMBLE*

Sima Yi, who was on the verge of falling unconscious, could hear the oath. His blurry eyes could see two people overlapping each other for a brief moment.

One of them was Li Feihong.

The other one was a long-ear man with long arms that reached his knees.

'Huh? I have heard about this man from somewhere before. Long ears and long arms…'

Sima Yi fainted because of the overwhelming pain, but he passed out with a smile that he managed to survive once more.

He was also glad that Li Feihong was a good man. He didn't regret that he switched side from Lilim to another new lord.

A new dream budded in Sima Yi's heart. He wanted to see Li Feihong rise to the top.

Li Feihong rushed to help Sima Yi and conjured various blessings to heal the physical wounds. While he was at it, Li Feihong kept crying and calling Sima Yi's name, begging for his forgiveness.

Behind Li Feihong, Zhuge Liang, Zhou Cang, Xu Shu, and Ma Chao looked at their lord with a bitter smile. They had a sense of nostalgia that they could experience this side of their former lord once more.

'My lord. Your old Liu Bei side is taking over your new persona. Well, it's not like I hate this side of yours. You're more sincere than your other counterpart.'

.

.

.

= Guangling City =

The wide-forehead elder with long hair and long beard, Gan Ji, was floating in mid-air, spreading his majestic 8 demon wings. He stared at the two cultivators, who were glaring at him 500 meters away.

Medusa and Liu Yang confronted him with their aura-coated spears. The two women didn't come here to play but to finish off Gan Ji.

\"Two on one isn't fair, my ladies,\" Gan Ji snickered.

Diaochan snorted, \"Then, you can annul whatever oath you have for Lilim and cripple your cultivation. We'll let you live after that.\"

\"I heard those similar words from many idiots lately. Do you know what happened to them?\"

\"All dead, I assume.\"

\"Correct,\" Gan Ji sneered as he pulled out two wooden canes from his long sleeves.

The brown canes looked ordinary with naked eyes, but the two immortals could sense threatening aura within those woods.

\"Be careful, Yang,\" Medusa warned Liu Yang.

\"You, too.\"

Both of them never dreamt that there would be a day that they had to help each other against a strong foe. But that day became a reality.

\"COME, MY FAIR LADIES!! LET ME TEST HOW OTHERWORLDER SYSTEM SKILLS FARE AGAINST REAL IMMORTALS!!\"

Chapter 527 - Sima Yi's Struggle (4)

= East of Xiapi =

Sima Yi, Sima Lang, and Sima Fu left Xiapi before dusk as if they were in a hurry. They rode out without any followers but their siblings.

\"Keep going east! Hurry!\" Sima Yi hastened the group.

Because of Cao Cao's warning, Sima Yi had a scary thought when he put himself in Li Feihong's shoes. He imagined for fun what Li Feihong would do to efficiently silence him and his family.

The conclusion of that thought terrified him as Sima Yi had a dangerous idea.

Since Li Feihong and Dong Bai couldn't kill Sima Yi in the open, they could always abduct and imprison him until the end of the southern campaign. Then, it would be safe to murder him and his family without caring about the repercussion as the major threat was no more. Even if Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, and Zhang He betrayed the royalty faction, Diaochan, Li Feihong, and Wang Yi could destroy them singlehandedly.

Next was the major problem in that plan. Since the clan chat did not have a RETIREMENT or QUIT CLAN feature, Li Feihong and Dong Bai might have to cut Sima Yi's four limbs and destroy his vocal cord to disable him from using the clan chat.

His instinct cried that Zhuge Liang or other strategists might come up with this idea and suggested to those people. Sima Yi immediately called his siblings and bailed from the city even though he knew that it was a bad idea.

Escaping right now meant death. But by staying behind, he and his family would face a fate worse than death!

Cao Cao: \"Support is coming from the southeast. Head to Guangling and wait for the pickup. Gan Ji is heading there at the moment.\"

Sima Yi glanced at the private message. He exhaled deeply and steeled his heart, preparing for a long night.

Fortunately, Cao Cao extended a helping hand. He asked the mysterious sect leader to protect them while they were escaping.

Sima Yi: \"Can I trust this bogus taoist?\"

Cao Cao: \"Like it or not, he's the only 8-wing demon of our coalition. Be prepared for some surprise, though. It won't be a pleasant experience.\"

Sima Yi: \"Why?\"

Cao Cao: \"You'll know when you see him in action. His system skills are ... terrible.\"

.

.

.

= Xiapi City =

An angel was floating above Xiapi, scanning through this city and checking if there was any ambusher in this area.

Li Feihong rushed here when Sima Yi and his siblings suddenly took their horses and rode out at full speed. He didn't know why, but it seemed that Sima Yi had discovered their scheme and took the initiative to escape.

By the time that Li Feihong got here, Sima Yi and his siblings had already fled three kilometers.

Moreover, in the direction that they were fleeing, a dangerous being was heading there as well.

An 8-wing demon was heading there!

'That should be Lilim's servant. I should play it safe and chase after Sima Yi with the warp gates.'

He shifted his immortal sight from Gan Ji to the flying people nearby.

Wang Yi and Diaochan were rushing toward the new demon as well.

Diaochan: \"We'll intercept that old man. You catch that Sima Yi.\"

Li Feihong: \"Roger that.\"

Li Feihong opened a portal and entered his dimension world.

*VHOOM*

Two portals opened a kilometer east Xiapi City. Li Feihong exited from one portal and entered the other one.

*VHOOM*

Another set of portal opened a kilometer southeast. Li Feihong exited and entered gates again.

This was Li Feihong's way of traveling. It consumed a lot of lifespans, but it was safer than flying on the open sky, risking himself to be ambushed by other no-name suicide bombers.

*VHOOM*

Li Feihong's pair of blue portals opened and closed. He managed to cover 3 kilometers within a few seconds and caught up to Sima Yi, Sima Lang, and Sima Fu.

The three men had not realized his presence yet.

Li Feihong gazed at his monitors and glanced at Ma Chao, who was waiting for action.

\"Get ready. I'll open three gates at once to draw them here. I want you to knock Sima Lang and Sima Fu out first. I'll get Sima Yi myself.\"

\"Kakaka! Got it!\"

Li Feihong pinpointed Sima Yi's location and opened three portals below their horses.

Just like how Li Feihong practiced this move over a thousand times, Sima Yi, Sima Lang, and Sima Fu fell into the portal holes, entering his dimension without being able to retaliate.

Ma Chao had suffered from this trick before, so he knew how deadly the dimensional pitfall could do against the victims. He charged at the nearest rider, Sima Fu.

*POEK*

Ma Chao landed an uppercut punch and shook Sima Fu's brain. The latter was knocked out in one hit.

Meanwhile, Li Feihong already seized Sima Yi's neck. Unfortunately, he could not harm the latter as they were still in the same clan.

Still, Li Feihong managed to restrain Sima Yi from using his hands or voice to send system messages to others.

*POEK*

Ma Chao reacted fast and put Sima Lang unconscious with ease.

Now, they only had to deal with Sima Yi. Once his four limbs and his voice were sealed, the Sima Clan would be finished.

\"LI FEIHONG!!\" Sima Yi shouted with hatred. He had suffered too many setbacks that he wanted to kill somebody, \"I DID EVERYTHING FOR THE KINGDOM, BUT YOU ARE TREATING ME LIKE THIS!? IS THIS HOW YOU OTHERWORLDERS TREAT YOUR LOYAL RETAINER!?\"

Sima Yi wasn't wrong. Aside from the fact that he wanted Sun Quan and Wu Guotai dead to avenge for his father, he didn't really harm Tong's kingdom like Te Langpu or Cao Cao. Yet, he was treated unfairly.

\"I understand where that comes from, and I'm sorry that we are treating you this way. I'll give you one more chance. Stay in this dimension and don't use the clan chat until we deal with Lilim's goons. Then, I'll compensate you and your family. Right now, Dong Bai and Diaochan are on edge because of Lilim's henchmen.\"

\"AND WHY THE HELL SHOULD I BE CONTAINED IN THIS STUPID PLACE!? IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT MY FAMILY HAS AN ARMY!! WE ARE FOLLOWING ZHANG TONG'S ORDER BY EVERY WORD TO CREATE A FORCE TO KEEP THE ROYAL COURT IN CHECK!! WE ARE YOUR LOYAL SUBJECTS!!\"

Despite being captured, Sima Yi's tongue was sharp and slippery enough to come up with logic and reasons behind his armies and his family heritage.

Furthermore, it was the truth. Tong gave Sima Fang this authority to get the latter's trust and loyalty.

Li Feihong's grip softened. Forcing Te Langpu to commit suicide already tormented him enough, and he didn't want to kill any more of his former colleagues.

\"I'm so sorry, Sima Yi. I don't blame you for Zhang Min's matter. I don't blame you for doing your jobs. I just hope that we can trust you that you haven't given Lilim an immortal oath or joined forces with Sun Ce and Cao Cao.\"

\"WHY SHOULD I WORK WITH SUN CE WHEN HIS MEN KILLED MY FATHER!? ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?\"

\"…\"

Li Feihong loosed his grip and let Sima Yi go.

Sima Yi sat on his butt and touched his neck, fearing that his neck might have been broken. However, he was unharmed as the system barred them from hurting each other.

\"Swear it,\" Li Feihong muttered, \"Swear with your immortal oath that you're not Lilim's subordinate or work with her. If you do, I'll compensate you for this incident … except giving back Zhang Min to you.\"

Sima Yi wanted to continue shouting, but he stopped when he noticed the sincerity, guilt, and sympathy in Li Feihong's teary eyes.

'Are you serious? This is his golden chance to silence me for eternity. Why is he hesitating?'

For the first time, Sima Yi questioned Li Feihong's common sense. He was glad that he got to save his skin, but he doubted if Tong's right-hand man was this stupid.

'It seems I've overestimated this fool, but I don't hate this kind of person. He doesn't look like a two-face cunning bastard like Zhuge Liang.'

Sima Yi knew that Li Feihong used to serve as Lu Bu's strategist, so he had expected that his intelligence was on par with Jia Xu, Guo Jia, or Zhuge Liang. But the reality told him otherwise.

\"Alright. If you spare me and my siblings, I will make an immortal oath for you … [I, Sima Zhongda, hereby revoke my immortal oath to Lilim. I shall bear all the consequence of canceling the previous oath and I shall vow that I will now serve the royal house of Zhang Tong and Li Feihong with my life and my soul!]\"

*Rumble*

Ma Chao and Li Feihong widened their eyes when Sima Yi confessed that he pledged an oath to Lilim. Still, Sima Yi played with his words and shamelessly canceled the oath without fearing the consequences.

Thunder manifested in Li Feihong's dimension even though the sky was clear.

It struck at Sima Yi!

*BOOM*

\"Pfffft!!\"

Sima Yi spat blood. All of his veins ruptured and burst from the inside while deep wound appeared on Sima Yi's face and skin. His clothes became bloody because of a single thunderbolt.

This was a heaven punishment for annulling an immortal oath with a 10-wing demoness!

Li Feihong learned from Diaochan that breaking off an immortal oath would destroy their cultivation foundation, which usually resulted in death. Even if Sima Yi could survive, he could never cultivate more than 2 wings because of this punishment.

\"… Now … will you … trust me?\"

Sima Yi's bloodshot eyes stared straight into Li Feihong's eyes.

The former Liu Bei couldn't help but weep. Li Feihong cried as he knelt, prostrating and slamming his head on the ground. He didn't forget to detach his souls and used his abilities to heal Sima Yi.

\"I'M SORRY!! THIS IS MY FAULT!! I'M SO SORRY!!\"

After head-butting against the pseudo-earth for ten times, Li Feihong raised his bloody forehead to look at Sima Yi with determined eyes.

\"[I SWEAR THE GODS THAT I WILL PROTECT YOU AND YOUR SIMA HOUSE!! I'LL MAKE UP FOR YOUR LOSSES!!]\"

*RUMBLE*

Sima Yi, who was on the verge of falling unconscious, could hear the oath. His blurry eyes could see two people overlapping each other for a brief moment.

One of them was Li Feihong.

The other one was a long-ear man with long arms that reached his knees.

'Huh? I have heard about this man from somewhere before. Long ears and long arms…'

Sima Yi fainted because of the overwhelming pain, but he passed out with a smile that he managed to survive once more.

He was also glad that Li Feihong was a good man. He didn't regret that he switched side from Lilim to another new lord.

A new dream budded in Sima Yi's heart. He wanted to see Li Feihong rise to the top.

Li Feihong rushed to help Sima Yi and conjured various blessings to heal the physical wounds. While he was at it, Li Feihong kept crying and calling Sima Yi's name, begging for his forgiveness.

Behind Li Feihong, Zhuge Liang, Zhou Cang, Xu Shu, and Ma Chao looked at their lord with a bitter smile. They had a sense of nostalgia that they could experience this side of their former lord once more.

'My lord. Your old Liu Bei side is taking over your new persona. Well, it's not like I hate this side of yours. You're more sincere than your other counterpart.'

.

.

.

= Guangling City =

The wide-forehead elder with long hair and long beard, Gan Ji, was floating in mid-air, spreading his majestic 8 demon wings. He stared at the two cultivators, who were glaring at him 500 meters away.

Medusa and Liu Yang confronted him with their aura-coated spears. The two women didn't come here to play but to finish off Gan Ji.

\"Two on one isn't fair, my ladies,\" Gan Ji snickered.

Diaochan snorted, \"Then, you can annul whatever oath you have for Lilim and cripple your cultivation. We'll let you live after that.\"

\"I heard those similar words from many idiots lately. Do you know what happened to them?\"

\"All dead, I assume.\"

\"Correct,\" Gan Ji sneered as he pulled out two wooden canes from his long sleeves.

The brown canes looked ordinary with naked eyes, but the two immortals could sense threatening aura within those woods.

\"Be careful, Yang,\" Medusa warned Liu Yang.

\"You, too.\"

Both of them never dreamt that there would be a day that they had to help each other against a strong foe. But that day became a reality.

\"COME, MY FAIR LADIES!! LET ME TEST HOW OTHERWORLDER SYSTEM SKILLS FARE AGAINST REAL IMMORTALS!!\"