Insufficient balance

  Outside Yucheng City, the Chen brothers had already surrendered, and Ma Chao himself was in an unprecedented predicament.

  Zou Yuniang was as beautiful as a flower, with skin as white as snow. Wearing a white robe and silver armor, she looked incredibly charming and alluring (the kind of beauty that could make Cao Cao lose his great general Dian Wei). But the long spear in her hand seemed to be fluttering about unpredictably, like a startled bird or a flash of lightning, making Ma Chao think of the creature that people feared most - the venomous snake!

  Ma Chao finally realized how lucky he was to have defeated Guan Yu initially, and if the two were to engage in combat again based on their martial arts skills, he might not be able to withstand even three moves from Guan Yu.

  In a chaotic world, Ma Jue's only reliance was his brute strength. Since crossing over to this world, Ma Jue discovered that his power had become even more formidable than before. Perhaps it was an unexpected change in his physiological functions during the space-time leap, which could be considered a blessing in disguise. It was precisely by relying on this formidable strength that he repeatedly carved out a bloody path through the chaotic army and escaped death multiple times.

  But now, the powerful strength is useless!

  "Flat!"

  A dull thud, Zou Yuniang's silver spear curved into a bow shape again, piercing through Ma Yue's defense once more, and landed heavily on his back. Although the force was not great and did not cause Ma Yue too much physical harm, the psychological pressure it brought upon him was enormous.

  This was already the tenth time, Zou Yuniang's silver spear could easily pierce through Ma Chao's knife net that he wielded with great force.

  Ma Yue began to feel desperate, due to the disadvantage of his sword's length, he was now completely at a passive state of being beaten. If this little girl had changed her sweeping motion to stabbing or thrusting, he would have already added ten more wounds to his body. It was unknown whether he still had the strength to fight again. What made Ma Yue puzzled was that this pretty and formidable little girl did not seem to be in a hurry to kill him, but instead seemed to be intentionally teasing him, playing with him like a top spinning around. Was she trying to wait for him to exhaust himself before capturing him alive?

  Captured alive?

  A flash of cunning suddenly crossed Ma's eyes, and he thought of a desperate plan to escape from death. Although the risk was great and the possibility of success was extremely small, even if it failed, the situation would not be worse than it is now, right? In these chaotic times, life is just a gamble, and since it's a gamble, there must be wins and losses, so let's go for it!

  "Ah!"

  Ma Yue exerted himself and swung his knife again, once more falling short without any suspense, not even touching the shadow of Zou Yuniang's silver spear. What was even more miserable was that this time Ma Yue used too much force, or he had already exhausted himself. After missing with his knife, he couldn't stop his momentum and stumbled forward two steps. His originally tight defense immediately became disorganized, leaving a huge opening on his back.

  Zou Yuniang's beautiful eyes sparkled, and the corners of her mouth bloomed into a charming smile. The silver spear in her hand drew a large circle in the air before sweeping down towards Ma Chao's back with great force. Zou Yuniang was confident that if this spear struck its mark, this powerful man would be forced to surrender.

  Zou Yuniang intended to capture this imperial fugitive wanted by the government, in order to persuade her brother Zou Jing to allow her to go into battle.

  Ma Yue seemed to sense something was wrong, but it was too late for him to turn around and dodge. Instinctively, he dragged his heavy feet forward two steps, but Zou Yumang's silver spear had already swept across and landed heavily on his back, producing a loud "thud". Ma Yue let out a muffled groan, his body falling forward and collapsing onto the ground, after which there was no movement, as if he had fainted.

  Ma Yue was of course pretending to be dead, this shot was indeed ruthless enough to make him suffocate in his chest, almost unable to breathe, but it did not cause him any substantial harm. He lay on the ground with his head sideways, his eyes slightly closed, waiting extremely tensely for the verdict of fate, if this little girl directly fired another shot or gave an order to have him tied up, then he would be considered to have lost the gamble and be completely finished, what good outcome could there be in falling into the hands of the government troops in such a way?

  Zou Yuniang flashed a triumphant smile on her powdered face, urging her horse forward with the silver spear in hand. She wanted to turn the bandit over and take a good look at his desperate appearance - this was, after all, a fugitive wanted by the imperial court for his crimes. It was said that he had even single-handedly turned the tide of battle against the government forces at Baidongtan, and that even Zhu Yun, the illustrious Left Central Lang General of the Han Dynasty, considered him to be a thorn in the side of the Han court. What kind of person could this be?

  When Ma Yue saw the silver gun that was already close at hand with the corner of his eye, the cherry-red tassel almost swept across his face. His heart couldn't help but start racing wildly. It seemed he had gambled correctly and there was hope! This little girl, despite her impressive martial arts skills, was indeed a novice with not much real combat experience! Whether or not he could escape with his life depended on this one move.

  Zou Yuniang, who thought the other party had passed out, did not notice at all that Ma Chong's muscles were tense like a cheetah about to sprint.

  Zou Yuniang's silver spear had just reached Ma Yue's shoulder when the originally still Ma Yue suddenly moved, his right hand swiftly reaching out to grab Zou Yuniang's silver spear. At the same time, he flipped his body upwards, causing Zou Yuniang to be shocked. Seeing her opponent reach out to grab the silver spear, she quickly used both hands to exert force, instinctively using the silver spear to strongly parry upwards, wanting to avoid Ma Yue's claw-like hand.

  But it was too late, Ma Yue had a heart but no preparation, and the reaction time left to Zou Yuniang was really too short.

  When that upward force was transmitted to Ma Chong's hand through the silver spear, Ma Chong was overjoyed and almost wanted to shout to the sky. After all, a young girl is still a young girl. If Zou Yumao had abandoned her spear at this time, Ma Chong would have been hopeless for escape. But now, Zou Yumao instinctively raised her spear upwards, giving Ma Chong an opportunity to suddenly attack.

  Now, Ma Yue has succeeded halfway, and next it depends on whether he has the strength to suddenly attack and subdue this delicate but powerful beauty. Although Zou Yuniang's martial arts are strong and her marksmanship is extraordinary, once Ma Yue gets close to her body, she loses the advantage of her long gun, plus her innate physical disadvantage, Ma Yue is confident that he has at least a 70% chance of subduing her.

  With Zou Yuniang's powerful upward thrust, Ma Yue's body seemed to lose its gravity and stuck to the silver spear, floating lightly in the air. As soon as his body was airborne, Ma Yue used both hands to climb up along Zou Yuniang's silver spear, and in an instant, he had already climbed to the end of the spear. Zou Yuniang was now within arm's reach!

  Zou Yuniang only realized the danger, hastily dropped her gun, but unfortunately it was too late. Ma Yue had already flown over her head, like a big bird landing behind her, his thick arm had reached out to her slender waist, once he wrapped himself around Zou Yuniang tightly, this little swallow would find it hard to fly out of his palm even if she grew wings.

  Zou Yuniang let out a loud shout, her left hand controlling the reins as she squeezed the horse's belly with both legs. At the same time, her right elbow shot out like lightning behind her. Although Zou Yuniang was an inexperienced young girl, this didn't mean she would surrender easily! Even if she was at a disadvantage in terms of strength, her martial arts skills were still there.

  Ma Yueh was hit by Zou Yuniang's elbow strike, although it was painful, but not without cost. He finally stuck to Zou Yuniang and fell on the horseback. When Zou Yuniang's mount galloped due to pain, Ma Yueh's strong arms had already tightly wrapped around her waist.

  "Let go!"

  Zou Yuniang's heart was in disarray, her jade face flushed red, and she struggled with all her might to break free from Ma Chong's embrace. But soon she stopped struggling, for a sharp dagger had been pressed against the tender skin of her neck. In this world, no one is not afraid of death, and when the shadow of death looms, few people can persist in their futile struggles.

  Haha... Let's go!

  The situation was settled, Ma Yue laughed loudly towards the sky, and at the same time, he exerted force with both legs, clamping the horse's belly. The horse felt pain and opened its four hooves to rush forward quickly. At this moment, the 300 righteous soldiers who followed Zou Yuniang to the training ground and the county soldiers who arrived hastily only woke up from their dream, shouting to chase Ma Yue, but what was left for them was only a piece of trampled snow by horse hooves.