Chapter 842: The Great Victory

"Ow, ow, ow! One really needs to be careful on the battlefield. Luckily, I noticed just before the arrow hit me, or I would’ve been in serious trouble," Fazheng remarked, looking at the arrow that had pierced through under his shoulder blade. If he hadn't used his spiritual energy at the last moment to deflect it slightly, it would have struck his heart. "Catch that guy for me! Make sure he's alive!"

Seeing Fazheng still moving energetically, despite the arrow through his shoulder, Gan Mou, a veteran soldier, knew it was merely a superficial wound.

Soon after, Fazheng, with an arrow still stuck in his shoulder, met up with Gan Ning, who had captured Li Tong and threw him in front of Fazheng. To be fair, Li Tong's strength was not bad. If the suppressive force of the auspicious clouds had been present, he might have been able to hold his ground against Gan Ning. However, in the midst of the chaotic collapse, both sides’ auspicious clouds had dissipated, and Gan Ning had knocked Li Tong off his horse with a single move.

After sealing Li Tong’s internal energy, Gan Ning bound him with his weapon, the Iron Chains of Crossing the River, and brought him before Fazheng.

"Xiaozhi, are you sure you’re okay?" Gan Ning frowned as he looked at the arrow embedded in Fazheng’s shoulder.

"Don’t even mention it. I’m embarrassed beyond words. Someone like me, getting hit by an arrow? I’ll be laughed at for ages!" Fazheng responded in exasperation.

"You seem fine, still lively enough," Gan Ning said, holding Li Tong in one hand while stroking his beard with the other.

"What’s your name?" Fazheng asked Li Tong as he commanded his soldiers to capture more prisoners, turning to the man who had shot him.

At this point, Li Tong, bound tightly like a caterpillar, looked in shock at the young man in front of him. Earlier, when they had been farther apart, he hadn’t seen clearly, but now that they were close, he realized the person before him was merely a youth, barely in his twenties.

However, captured and disheartened, Li Tong felt utterly defeated. His earlier carelessness had largely contributed to their collapse, and with his mind in disarray, he ignored Fazheng's question.

"I’m talking to you! What’s your name?" Fazheng asked again, this time with more curiosity. Gan Ning, lacking patience for idle talk with captives, suddenly yanked on the Iron Chains of Crossing the River. The sound of the chains tightening was audible, and Li Tong’s face turned ashen, but he still refused to utter a word.

"Stubborn, huh? Let’s see how long that lasts!" Gan Ning sneered as the Iron Chains of Crossing the River shimmered with a faint blue light, preparing to deal a fatal blow.

Given Gan Ning’s strength, binding someone with the Iron Chains of Crossing the River would be fatal unless they were an extraordinary warrior like Dian Wei or Lü Bu. Even for someone in the Qi Condensation Realm like Li Tong, having his internal energy sealed would mean being crushed into meat paste under such force.

"Enough, Xingba, stop playing around. How are the ambush troops you prepared? They will likely retreat toward General Zhang, then head north to Xu County. After that, they’ll mistakenly believe they’re safe and continue east to Guangling, planning to cross the Yangtze River and retreat to Danyang," Fazheng interrupted, stopping Gan Ning before he could kill Li Tong. Fazheng was rather impressed by Li Tong’s ruthlessness and decisiveness. Though his martial skills were lacking, Fazheng had taken a liking to him.

"How do you know?!" Before Gan Ning could respond, Li Tong, who had remained silent, suddenly spoke.

"It’s not that hard to figure out. Anyone with half a brain could guess it. Didn’t Zhou Yu tell you I’ve already taken control of the entire Huaibei?" Fazheng yawned as he spoke casually.

"Impossible!" Li Tong roared in disbelief.

"Whether you believe it or not, it’s a fact. Huaibei is under my control. The only question is whether my side forces have killed Sun Ce by now," Fazheng continued nonchalantly, though his arrogant tone had clearly rattled Li Tong.

"That’s impossible! Impossible..." Li Tong muttered in disbelief, his body trembling as he struggled violently.

"Silence!" Gan Ning shook the Iron Chains of Crossing the River again, and Li Tong let out a pained scream.

"You may not believe me, but I thought you had a good head on your shoulders. Didn’t you realize? Can’t you see that Zhou Yu is merely consolidating internal control over Yu Province? You were all just pawns, cast aside as sacrifices," Fazheng continued, subtly sowing discord. Once he started talking, he could manipulate almost anyone.

"That’s not possible!" Li Tong’s bloodshot eyes were wide with rage.

"Why not? What’s more important—ten thousand troops, or consolidating internal control over Yu Province? Most of those ten thousand troops are likely private soldiers. Even if they’re lost, it won’t hurt the foundation, and it would actually give them more control over Yu Province," Fazheng explained earnestly, though much of what he said was misleading.

Sometimes, reversing the order of events can make good deeds seem evil. For example, a hospital researching a certain virus develops a cure after many people fall ill and earns a lot of money by selling the cure. If you reverse the order, it sounds like the hospital created the virus, causing people to get sick, and then profited from the cure.

See? It’s completely different. And what Fazheng was telling Li Tong was a similarly reversed narrative. As for verifying the truth, by the time the results came out, it would be too late. Sometimes, all it takes is planting a seed of doubt, and that seed can grow into a crack that eventually shatters trust entirely.

"I don’t believe it!" Li Tong suddenly raised his head, glaring at Fazheng.

"You’ll see soon enough," Fazheng said indifferently. After all, the facts were there. Whether Li Tong believed or not, he would eventually have to face the truth. Fazheng’s ability to shape reality wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

Meanwhile, the battle between Li Yan and Zhang Fei had not been particularly intense. However, things escalated when Pan Rui arrived with reinforcements.

"Hahaha! Our reinforcements have arrived! Zhang Fei, you’ve lost Xiapi and are now isolated. I’d like to see how you plan to escape!" Li Yan laughed triumphantly when he saw Pan Rui’s troops arrive.

"Hahaha! Reinforcements? More like retreating soldiers!" Zhang Fei laughed back. His sharp eyes had already noticed the disarray in Pan Rui’s forces—evidence that Fazheng’s plan had succeeded!

Li Yan squinted and immediately saw the chaos, his face turning pale with shock. He shouted, "Retreat!" But it was too late. From the southeast, northwest, northeast, and southwest, countless torches suddenly appeared, and soldiers shouted for Li Yan not to flee.

"Zhengfang, Sutu! We’ve fallen into a trap!" Pan Rui shouted in panic.

Troops surged from all four directions, combining with Zhang Fei’s forces in a fierce assault. After a brief clash with Zhang Fei, Li Yan and Pan Rui led their troops eastward in retreat, though they lost Liang Xi in the process.

Zhang Fei, holding Liang Xi like a helpless chick, glanced at Chen Deng with a look of resignation. Pursuing an expert at the level of Internal Energy Dispersal was no easy task, but capturing a deputy general was at least a small victory.

"General, it’s best not to pursue further," Gan Lan said, stopping Zhang Fei after a twenty-mile chase.

"Why?" Chen Deng asked, still confused.

"Our forces are small. If we don’t take in the retreating soldiers and the enemy reorganizes, everything we’ve done tonight will be for nothing. Keep in mind that the four ambush forces combined only number around two thousand men," Gan Lan explained with a bitter smile.

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