Chapter 8: Fierce Battle

  The next day.

  A spirited colt carried a sturdy youth to the outskirts of Zhengyang Valley outside Jiuyuan.

  The horse was all white, with only a tuft of golden hair on its forehead, shaped like a crescent moon. It was indeed the Snow Dragon Colt. The young man on the horse held a long spear in his hand and wore an iron sword at his waist, sitting upright on the horse's back - it was Ao Lie. The man and horse complemented each other perfectly.

  "You're here." A deep and powerful voice broke the tranquility of the valley.

  Aolai stopped the horse, Snow Dragon, as if sensing danger ahead. Aolai leaned down and whispered a few words into Snow Dragon's ear before dismounting and looking towards the entrance of the valley.

  Yesterday, the tall and majestic young man slowly walked out of the valley, as if every step contained the ultimate principle of heaven and earth. He continued walking until he was about ten steps away from Ao Lie, then stopped. After taking a glance at Ao Lie's Zhaoye Snow Dragon Colt, his eyes lit up, and he praised: "The horse is not bad, but unfortunately it's just a colt."

  Ao Lie let go of the reins, allowing the Snow Dragon Colt to graze on its own. Then he turned his head and looked at the young man, saying: "I don't know why you called me here, what's the matter?" The young man showed a rare smile and teased: "Oh? You're not here for the incense money?" Ao Lie shook his head seriously and said: "Although I'm stupid, I can still hear the implication behind your words."

  The young man nodded and said: "That's right, yesterday at the market, I indeed had this intention, inviting you here for a chat." Ao Lie asked again: "I don't know what advice Brother Ren has?"

  The young man didn't respond, reached back and took down the long spear on his back, grasped it with his right hand, and pointed the spearhead slantingly towards the sky. His left hand stretched out flat and beckoned to Ao Lie. Ao Lie knew that this was an invitation to battle, but also a gesture of extreme contempt.

  Then Ao Lie didn't waste any more words, twisting the long spear in his hand, with his left hand gripping the front section of the spear handle and pressing the spearhead down, pointing at the ground. His right hand gripped the end of the spear handle, holding the entire long spear diagonally across his chest. This was a clever move from the Taiji Spear Method that could both attack and defend — "Like Sealing Like Closing".

  Seeing Ao Lie's gun style, the young man nodded slightly and praised again: "Not bad." After finishing, he didn't wait for Ao Lie to respond. The long spear in his hand changed its stance, and the originally slanted spearhead suddenly fell down, carrying a swift and fierce wind and thunder, stabbing towards Ao Lie's chest. Ao Lie tightened both hands, but his stance didn't change, using the gun rod to block the young man's incoming long spear. The young man said with a hint of surprise: "Good gun technique."

  Ao Lie's body moved, swinging his long spear in a half circle, then shaking the spearhead from under his ribs and stabbing out. He said, "Coming but not going is impolite, take my spear." The young man showed no fear, shouting "Come on!" as he swung his long halberd. The halberd suddenly shook violently like it had been electrified, chopping towards the incoming spearhead.

  Clang, clang, clang, accompanied by a burst of metallic friction, the spear and sword collided, sparking a shower of sparks. Then they each trembled again, continuing to make slight collisions. It was as if two giant pythons were entwined together, determined to swallow each other whole.

  After the spear clashed seven or eight times, Ao Lie's momentum in his spear technique had already dissipated, and he was forced to withdraw his long spear. The spear handle touched the ground, and he borrowed force to jump out five steps away. Then, standing on the ground, he panted heavily. Although they had only exchanged two moves earlier, it was already Ao Lie's limit at this stage. Don't forget, although Ao Lie had excellent physical quality, experience in practicing ancient martial arts from his past life, and a body modified to be incredibly powerful after crossing over into another space, he was still just an eight-year-old boy after all.

  The young man was also slightly panting, and his heart was greatly surprised: this young man has such great strength! Such exquisite gun skills! What a strange and mysterious way of using force! Although he was surprised in his heart, the long spear in the young man's hand did not slow down. Accompanied by a burst of breaking wind sound, the long spear howled again towards Ao Lie. When it reached halfway, the young man's two hands shook, and the spear technique changed again. In Ao Lie's eyes, it suddenly turned into two spear tips, one on the left and one on the right, respectively attacking Ao Lie's left and right shoulders.

  With a fierce cry, he grasped the gun handle with both hands and swung the long spear up with all his might. With a loud shout, he exclaimed: "Open!" It was a rare move in Tai Chi spear technique that used brute force to break through cleverness - the "Movable Hammer Block".

  A loud clang resounded throughout heaven and earth. Like the evening drum and morning bell, it shook the deaf and startled the dumb.

  The sound faded away, and only Ao Lie and the young man were seen standing on their original ground, as if they hadn't just exchanged blows. The only difference was that although the young man's breathing was slightly disordered, he seemed to still have some strength left. On the other hand, Ao Lie was panting heavily, his hands holding the gun also trembling slightly, clearly somewhat exhausted.

  The young man made some adjustments and launched another attack, this time using the same tactics as Ao Lie's earlier "One Power to Suppress Ten Wisdoms". He used the strength of his twisted waist and striding steps to concentrate all his power into the long spear, striking straight at Ao Lie's head. The reason he adopted this tactic was also because he had noticed Ao Lie's weakness. Even for someone born with divine strength, the difference in power between eight years old and over twenty is not something that can be compared. The young man clearly intended to overpower him.

  Looking at the long spear that was about to strike, Ao Lie saw that there was no way to avoid it and hastily summoned a burst of energy, finally using his killer move, the most profound and unpredictable move in the Taiji Spear Technique - Six Paths Reincarnation. The power of this move lay in its combination with the Wuji Jiu Yang Skill; on the surface, the spear shaft continuously vibrated due to high-frequency vibrations, giving it a spiral force characteristic; secretly, in conjunction with the Wuji Jiu Yang Skill, another hidden energy was infused into the spear shaft, which would burst forth at the critical moment, injuring the internal organs and making it impossible for the opponent to defend.

  The spear and halberd collided again, producing a loud clanging sound. Ao Lie felt an unstoppable surge of power emanating from the young man's halberd, causing his hands to crack open and lose grip on his spear. The spear was knocked back by the halberd's impact, flying towards Ao Lie himself. In the next instant, the halberd that had broken through Ao Lie's spear technique sliced the spear shaft into seven or eight segments, sending them flying off in all directions. Ao Lie realized that the young man had risked being counterattacked to forcibly change his move, transforming a battle-axe-like strike into a cut as swift and agile as a butterfly flitting from flower to flower. The difficulty of this feat was by no means ordinary.

  "Luckily," the young man panted violently, wiping away the blood from his mouth. It was clear that he had also been injured in the previous collision. The ultimate skill that Ao Lie had learned from Wudang Mountain was not so easily broken? Especially the last move of Wuji Jiuyang Gong, which formed a silent and invisible force that struck the young man's body. If the young man hadn't discovered it quickly and dissipated the force in time, he would have probably spat out blood nonstop. Moreover, the young man had even forcibly changed his move to save Ao Lie; if he didn't suffer some injury from this, then there was no justice in heaven!

  "Are you alright?" Ao Lie and the young man asked in unison.

  Hearing the same question from each other, they were both taken aback for a moment before bursting out laughing simultaneously.

  The young man laughed loudly and said: "Great, great. It's been a long time since I've met a worthy opponent like you, kid, you're really strong!" Ao Lie hastily humbly replied: "I'm ashamed, thank you for your timely rescue, brother, otherwise I would have been in trouble, how can I deserve your praise?"

  The young man waved his hand and said with emotion: "If you say you're strong, then you're strong. No need to be humble. If I were of the same age as you, I'm afraid it would be me who loses. However, there's one thing I don't understand, please enlighten me."

  Ao Lie heard this and hastily said: "Brother Ren, what are you unclear about? I naturally will speak without reserve, and say everything that needs to be said."

  The young man interrupted Ao Lie's words and said: "Don't keep calling me brother, it sounds awkward. If you don't mind, just call me big brother."

  Ao Lie's heart skipped a beat as he tentatively said: "Yes, younger brother will obey, but may I ask for elder brother's name?"

  The young man inserted the long spear in his hand into the ground, took out a piece of golden ointment from his bosom and handed it to Ao Lie. He said: "My name is Lü Bu, my style name is Fengxian, I am from Wuyuan."

  After listening to Lü Bu's self-introduction, Awu shouted in her heart: It's him! It's really him! Flying General Lü Bu! The first fierce general of the Three Kingdoms! Since Cai Yong, another famous figure of the Three Kingdoms that she had seen, and it was a world-renowned one.

  Lü Bu looked at áo Liè in the bunker, gently patted áo Liè's shoulder, and asked in surprise: "Brother, what are you spacing out about?" áo Liè finally came back to his senses, took over Lü Bu's golden wound medicine, and said vaguely: "Nothing, little brother was just shocked by big brother's martial arts."

  Lü Bu looked at áo Liè after he finished applying the wound medicine, and only then asked: "Brother's martial arts skills must have been taught by a famous master, but I don't know whose son you are?" áo Liè replied: "My name is áo Liè, and I am the second son of Liu Gong, the governor of Jiuyuan. As for my lineage, my master and I were separated, and I fear we will not meet again in this life."

  After listening to Ao Lie's words, Lü Bu raised an eyebrow and revealed a look of sudden realization: "So it was the son of Bo An Gong, no wonder he was so outstanding. I've long heard that Bo An Gong has two sons as talented as dragons and tigers, today I see one, and indeed his reputation is not in vain."

  "Even so, under Big Brother's hands, you can't even last five moves." Lü Bu waved his hand and said: "Younger brother must not belittle himself, I've said it before, younger brother has innate divine strength, spear techniques are divine, if we were the same age, victory or defeat would still be uncertain."

  Ao Lie listened to Lü Bu's consolation, thinking that this Lü Bu seemed not as arrogant and self-important as the history books said. After these two days of interaction, Ao Lie had a deeper understanding of Lü Bu, who was indeed somewhat proud but also warm inside, and was truly a good man with a genuine temperament. It seems that one can't completely believe what's written in history books either.

  At this point, Ao Lie got rid of the knot in his heart and asked Lü Bu: "By the way, big brother said earlier that there was something unclear, but I don't know what it is?" Lü Bu hesitated for a moment before saying: "Earlier when we exchanged blows, the shockwave from our weapons caused them to produce a self-generated vibration. This technique I only grasped ten years ago. With a famous teacher guiding you, it's naturally not surprising. What puzzles me, however, is that in your final blow, there was a hidden force stored within your weapon - how did you manage to do that?"

  Ao Lie heard this and suddenly became confused, how could he explain it? It's worth noting that although the inner skill and mental method are said to be invented by Laozi, the founder of Taoism, they actually spread during the Tang and Song dynasties. If Ao Lie were to talk about these things with Lü Bu, would he even understand?

  Lü Bu saw Ao Lie's face turn difficult, thinking that Ao Lie had a hard-to-speak secret, and smiled casually: "I just asked out of curiosity in my heart. If it's inconvenient for you to say, then forget it." It should be known that in this era, people attach great importance to the inheritance of their own school, often the master will secretly reserve one hand when teaching his disciples, let alone someone they have only met for two days.

  "Brother, don't misunderstand, it's not that I'm having a hard time, it's just that I don't know where to start. How about this: tomorrow I'll send you a book, and after you've read it, you'll understand."

  Lü Bu looked at áo Liè's sincere face, and a warmth rose from the bottom of his heart. Lü Bu was also an orphan like áo Liè in his previous life. He had been wandering the grasslands since childhood, living with wolf packs, becoming increasingly ruthless and cunning. But he was also deeply influenced by the wolves in his dealings with people, attaching great importance to emotions, and once a wolf pack recognized him as one of their own, he would never abandon them.

  At this moment, Lü Bu was like a wolf, and áo Liè had already gained the recognition of this wolf and won Lü Bu's brotherly affection.