Chapter Thirty-Four: Dong Zhuo and Li Ru

When Lu Bu was in a state of unbridled confidence, looking down upon all heroes, he was capable of dominating the world alone. However, once he began to doubt his own perception, his strength would inevitably decline. As his strength waned, his self-doubt would only deepen, drawing him into a fatal cycle.

Zhao Yun had won his gamble. Since intense confidence brought forth immense power, the decay of that confidence would naturally strip away every ounce of that strength. Lu Bu had fallen into this second, inescapable cycle; once a crack appeared in his flawless confidence, it could no longer be stopped.

Frantic, furious, and volatile, Lu Bu fought Zhao Yun and Guan Yu with his halberd, yet he felt increasingly overwhelmed. Conversely, the coordination between Zhao Yun and Guan Yu grew ever more seamless. Zhao Yun countered Lu Bu’s attacks, while Guan Yu built up his momentum, carving perfect arcs with each swing of his blade.

"Clang!" With a deafening roar, Lu Bu finally felt the internal energy that had never once failed him begin to falter. At the same time, his seemingly inexhaustible stamina reached the point of depletion. For the first time, he felt a crushing heaviness in the halberd he held.

"I am Lu Bu!" Lu Bu bellowed, his eyes bloodshot with rage, as he slashed at the pair, utterly disregarding the massive opening in his defense!

"Die!" Guan Yu swung his Green Dragon Crescent Blade in a wide circle, the tip clashing against Lu Bu’s halberd.

Zhao Yun showed no reaction to Guan Yu’s maneuver, but his own movements did not slow in the slightest.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp..." A series of bird calls echoed as Zhao Yun was gradually enveloped in a glow of fire. A colossal image of a phoenix spreading its wings manifested amidst the battlefield.

"Boom!" As the phoenix beat its wings, a line of fire streaked through the air. The attack, condensing seventy percent of Zhao Yun’s power, enveloped every possible escape route for Lu Bu. This was the strongest technique he could currently unleash: "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix." It was one hundred strikes condensed into a single thrust.

In legend, the power of a hundred moves was compressed into the final strike. Zhao Yun knew better; he had practiced this technique more thoroughly than his master, and he knew it only allowed his final strike to reach twelve or fifteen times its base power—but for him, that was enough.

Lu Bu was a pathetic sight, yet he remained alive. His armor was largely shattered—not by the phoenix’s beak, but by the glancing brush of its flaming feathers. The Red Hare was truly a legendary steed; at the final moment, it dodged the lethal blow. Had it not, Lu Bu would surely have lost half his life. Behind him, the city wall had been pierced by a hole the size of a bowl, the edges smooth as a mirror.

As Zhao Yun silently regulated his breathing, the dust began to settle. Seeing Lu Bu’s flickering gaze, Zhao Yun did not hesitate to unleash the "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" once more. Before the phantom phoenix could even fully form, Lu Bu turned his horse around without a moment’s hesitation. In his mind, to continue fighting was to invite certain death.

"Kill!" The moment Lu Bu turned to flee, before either Dong Zhuo or the allied forces could react, Liu Bei charged forward. He remembered Chen Xi’s words: when suppressing Dong Zhuo, one must seize every opportunity to stand in the spotlight—it was all for the sake of future renown!

"Kill!" As Liu Bei charged, the others blinked and followed suit. They could not let him steal the glory; he was, after all, a member of the Han imperial clan!

Zhao Yun silently leveled his spear and charged toward Hulao Pass. Guan Yu followed, dragging a half-dead—no, Zhang Fei had revived. Though he was covered in blood and looked ghastly, he was clearly alive. He rode his horse, charging toward the pass with all his might, shouting as he ran, "Dong Zhuo is on the gate! Kill him and peace will return to the world!"

Dong Zhuo was startled and turned to flee the gate, only to be blocked by Li Ru.

In Li Ru’s view, no matter how fierce a single warrior might be, he was no match for a well-formed battle formation. Once the ranks were arrayed and their spirits linked into one, any warrior who dared to charge would meet only death.

Dong Zhuo’s face turned ashen. The previous battle had left him pale with terror; since the uprising in Xiliang, he had never seen such brutal combat. The two sides had fought until the heavens grew dim. He realized that if anyone breached the gate, they would surely come for him, and he would be powerless to stop them. With that thought, he shoved the frail Li Ru aside and fled down the pass without a backward glance.

Li Ru stood stunned, watching Dong Zhuo’s trembling back. A sense of desolation rose in his heart—when had he, Li Ru, reached such a state?

Below Hulao Pass, boulders and logs rained down, stubbornly holding back the Allied forces. As for top-tier experts like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, the moment they made a move, over a hundred archers with internal energy would focus their fire upon them.

Guan Yu tried to charge once, but a volley of over a hundred arrows blanketed him from every direction. Though he whirled his Green Dragon Crescent Blade, he could not block them all. Relying on his internal energy to deflect them for a moment, he was still struck in the left arm by a hidden arrow. The "Second Brother" grew sullen and ceased his assault.

The fierce battle ended just like that. Li Ru was no fool, nor did he have the habit of pinning his safety on the bravery of warriors; he preferred to settle matters with his own intellect.

Having repelled the Guandong Allied forces, cheers erupted atop Hulao Pass. Truth be told, Li Ru was a capable leader; he treated the soldiers he had brought from Xiliang with great care.

This was why the Xiliang soldiers did not fear death. They served for a full belly, and Li Ru provided that. No one dared to withhold their pay under his watch. He understood better than anyone that in a chaotic world, military force was everything; everything else could be obtained through power.

Li Ru sat despondently on the stone floor of Hulao Pass, lacking his usual scholarly grace. Never before had he sat in a corner with such disregard for his status, but now he was tired. The moment he had been shoved aside by Dong Zhuo and fallen, he had grown weary.

"Military Advisor!" Gao Shun said, cupping his hands. "The Allied forces have retreated."

"Let me collect my thoughts, Gongzheng," Li Ru said with a gloomy expression. Gao Shun stood behind him, motionless.

After a long while, Li Ru looked up at Gao Shun. "You are the officer under Lu Bu that I admire most. Tell me, will we lose?"

"The defenses of Hulao, the wealth of Luoyang, and our elite troops—the Allied forces will surely be defeated," Gao Shun replied with iron certainty.

"Surely defeated, indeed," Li Ru gave a bitter smile. "Yes, surely defeated. Gongzheng, hold this position well."

Li Ru rose and walked unsteadily down from Hulao Pass. For some reason, as Gao Shun watched his back, he felt the sorrow of a hero entering the twilight of his life.

Li Ru walked to the administrative hall established within the pass. Hearing Dong Zhuo’s roars from within, and Lu Bu’s desperate excuses about his own carelessness, he felt an immense exhaustion. His heart was tired.

Entering the hall, he found all the officers who had come to Hulao present, except for one. Li Ru sat calmly in the seat of honor on the left. This time, however, the person sitting behind him was Li Su, not the portly Jia Xu.

*He must have returned to Chang'an, perhaps not even bothering to go back to Luoyang. As expected, his grasp of human nature is superior to mine. Dong Zhuo... alas...* Li Ru sighed inwardly, no longer harboring much hope for Dong Zhuo.