The Great War of Three Kingdoms Chapter 42: Yin and Yang have Nan Hua, Huo Xiuer changes her name and surname.

  And that day, the assassin wanted to follow Cai Yong's prisoner cart all the way and assassinate Cai Yong. Unexpectedly, he met Wei Kang escorting a salt cart back to He Dong, and his assassination attempt was thwarted. Again, just as he was about to succeed, he encountered Yan Luo Wang Lü Bu. All of his subordinates were killed, and the leader of the assassin not only suffered serious injuries but also lost the Yuzhang treasure sword.

  The assassin was injured and traveled east back to Luoyang, entering a large mansion, where he saw an old man with a long face.

  That old Taoist had a youthful face with piercing green eyes, holding a staff made of mulberry wood. Seeing the assassin's appearance, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. He asked: "How did you end up in such a sorry state? Didn't you fail?"

  Kneeling on one knee in front of Lao Dao, Ci Huan said: "Huo Chang is incompetent and failed to complete the task assigned by Your Majesty. I beg for death."

  Lao Dao's eyebrows furrowed even more as he listened, and he asked in puzzlement: "With your martial skills, you can't even kill a useless scholar? What's going on here?"

  Huò Jīng said: "If killing a corrupt Confucian, it would be easy to capture him, but just as Huò Jīng was about to succeed, Lǚ Bù appeared out of nowhere. This man claimed to be the Governor of Beidi, and his martial arts skills were far superior to those of Huò Jīng."

  Lao Dao asked: "Lü Bu? The governor of the northern region? Isn't he the one who with ten riders captured the Xianbei's thousand-strong camp, and with three hundred riders greatly defeated the Xiongnu's three-thousand-strong Lü Bu?"

  Huò Jīng said: "Whether it is Lǚ Bù, Huò Jīng cannot know. Huò Jīng only knows that this person wields a strange and mysterious spear, with an unpredictable style, too fast to be defended against. Moreover, Huò Jīng sees that the spear of this person should come from the hands of Mò Jiā."

  The old man nodded and asked: "If so, who is that person? What about others?"

  He said with shame: "I... I have already lost everything at this person's hands."

  The old man seemed to have seen something again and asked: "Was your injury also given by him?"

  Huo Chang said: "Yes."

  The old man said again: "What about your fish intestines?"

  "A sharp pain pierced his heart as he thought: 'It... it has already been obtained by him.'"

  The old man furrowed his brow and sighed, "You are one of the top two masters of my Yin Yang sect, how could you lose so miserably? How did you manage to escape?"

  "He said that if he couldn't kill Huo Chang in three moves, he would let him go. Huo Chang relied on the power of Yu Chang to barely block his three moves. Only then could he return and report to the lord that there was a man named Lü Bu in the north."

  Lao Dao was shocked and said: "Three moves? Lü Bu wants to take your life in three moves? If you go all out, how many moves can you withstand?"

  Huo Tong said: "Lü Bu's initial surprise attack caught me off guard. But if both sides were to go all out, he would have the intention to kill, and I believe that within ten moves, I would definitely be dead."

  The old man's face turned pale and he muttered to himself: "I didn't think there was such a formidable character in the world."

  Huò Jīng knocked his head on the ground and said: "Huò Jīng has failed Your Majesty's great expectations. I beg Your Majesty to grant me death."

  Lao Dao sighed, "I've heard of Lü Bu in Luoyang. His bravery and strategy are not to be underestimated. This is not your fault. Now that your whereabouts have been exposed, hide for a while. Go back and tend to your wounds. It seems that our sect will have to re-examine the situation."

  Huo Chang raised his head and asked: "How did the official's residence respond?"

  The old man smiled and said: "These trivial matters, I have a way to deal with them."

  Huò Jīng stood up and bid farewell. The old Taoist looked up at the starry sky, furrowed his brow, let out a soft sigh, and also left the residence, heading towards an official mansion. The old Taoist entered the mansion through a side door, and the guard at the side door apparently recognized him, not blocking his way, leading him to see the master of the mansion. It turned out that the master was Yang Qiū, the great builder.

  Yang Guo saw Lao Diao come forward and knew what it was about, so he invited Lao Diao to take a seat and asked: "Did Nan Hua Zi come to see you in the middle of the night? Is everything over?"

  Nan Hua Zi sighed and said: "I have failed to fulfill the heavy trust placed in me by Master Yang."

  Yang Qi angrily said: "Hmph! A corrupt Confucian who cannot be eliminated, how humiliating to the reputation of your Yin and Yang school!"

  Nan Hua Zi didn't get angry either, and said: "This matter can't be blamed on us for not handling it well, but rather because something unexpected happened. The matter was originally unlikely to have any unexpected events, but then Lv Bu suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I suppose Lord Yang is also familiar with the name Lv Bu."

  Yang Guo's brow furrowed upon hearing this and he asked: "Lü Bu? What does this have to do with him?"

  Nan Hua Zi said: "Lü Bu is the governor of Beidi, also in charge of Shuofang. Cai Yong was captured by Lü Bu in Shuofang, how could he not be involved in Lü Bu's affairs? We were just passing through the territory of Beidi when we encountered Lü Bu and thus failed."

  Yang Ju thought to himself: Now that things have been exposed, and Lü Bu has intervened, it won't be easy to get rid of Cai Yong. Yang Ju also knew that the Yin-Yang family had a lot of power behind the scenes, and this Nan Huazi was the leader of the Yin-Yang family, so he would rather not offend him as it would not be beneficial to himself either. So he pretended to laugh and said: "Hehe, since things have been exposed, there's nothing we can do about it. But I wonder who is in charge of this matter?"

  Nan Hua Zi said, "Alas, the rest are all dead, and the person in charge is also injured and returned. However, if Yang Da Ren feels at ease, then the matter will be settled, and we will also ensure that this matter does not leak out."

  Yang Qiu smiled secretly: Can this matter be kept confidential? Humph, only the dead can keep secrets. But he said on his mouth: "That's it, that's it, how can I, Yang Qiu, not believe in Yin Yangzi's words. Since it's like this, let's just drop the matter."

  Nanhuazi saw that things were said and done, so he stood up to bid farewell. Before leaving, he caught a glimpse of Yang Qiu's eyes revealing a murderous intent, and his heart was filled with doubts.

  As soon as Nan Hua Zi left, Yang Fu summoned the housekeeper and said to him: "Cai Yong has a certain reputation. If he finds out that I am the mastermind behind the scenes, he will certainly be very unfavorable to me. Cai Yong is already under Lü Bu's protection, so it's hard to get rid of him. Now the only way is to silence him, which is the best strategy."

  The housekeeper nodded in response, and Yang Qiu said: "Nanhuazi is the leader of the Yin-Yang family, I don't want to offend him. However, that assassin, humph! Can't be kept here."

  Guanjia Dao: "Since the master of the house doesn't want to offend Yinyangzi, if he knows that we are going to silence him, then..."

  Yang Qiu smiled and said, "Huo Chang is just a lone assassin. In the eyes of Yin Yang Zi, he's just a chess piece. Now that things have failed, it's only natural to silence him. How can that old thief blame me?" After finishing speaking, Yang Qiu secretly sent someone to find Huo Chang and kill him to silence him.

  Huò Jìng suffered a severe blow from Lǚ Bù, not only was his arm injured, but also his internal organs were damaged. He rushed back to Luoyang, and his illness became more serious. Now that the assassination of Cài Yōng had failed, he obtained an order from Nán Huá Zǐ to return home for recuperation, and then he returned to Bīngzhōu Xīn County once again.

  Huo Zhen was originally a skilled assassin, but unfortunately suffered serious injuries and had many inconveniences with his ears and eyes. He didn't even notice when someone followed him, and when he returned to his hometown of Xinzhou County in Pingzhou, two killers followed closely behind.

  Huò Jī returned home, his wife and daughter Huò Xiù ér saw Huò Jī severely injured, hurriedly came forward to care for him. Unexpectedly, his wife was about to go out to find a doctor when she invited assassins to kill him. Huò Jī heard the miserable cries outside the door, knew that someone had come to silence him, and hastily called his eight-year-old daughter to hide in the wardrobe, himself drew out a sword he wore at his waist, went out the door to meet the assassins.

  Huo Chang had just stepped out the door when he saw his wife lying dead in the courtyard, two masked men in black clothes were walking towards the house with swords. Huo Chang was an assassin and knew someone wanted to silence him, so he didn't hesitate and stabbed the killer with his sword. The killers attacked Huo Chang from both sides. Huo Chang knew he couldn't escape tonight's fate, all he could think of was saving his daughter Huo Xiuer, so he fought the killers desperately.

  The assassin thrust his sword at Huo Tuo, who didn't dodge and instead countered with a fatal blow to the killer's heart. The assassin thought that Huo Tuo was severely injured and should be easy to defeat. Unexpectedly, Huo Tuo fought back with all his might, and although he was stabbed in the abdomen by the assassin, he also managed to stab the assassin in the heart, killing him instantly.

  Another assassin took advantage of the opportunity to strike from behind, stabbing Huo Tuo in the back. Huo Tuo suffered two severe wounds, both of which were life-threatening. However, Huo Tuo was no ordinary person and relied on his fierce determination to pull out the sword that had been plunged into the assassin's heart.

  With a surge of strength, he turned around and stabbed backwards, hitting the other assassin in the chest. The assassin didn't expect Huo Tuo to be so ruthless and, before dying, pulled himself closer to Huo Tuo as a shield. In the end, all three men died together.

  Huo Tui's daughter, Huo Xiuer, was exceptionally talented and intelligent from a young age. Hiding in the wardrobe, she heard the fight outside the house, but it subsided after just a moment. Worried about her parents' safety, she waited for a long time without hearing any movement, then secretly climbed out of the wardrobe to sneak a peek outside.

  Huo Xiuer took advantage of the moonlight to see her mother fall in the courtyard, and not far away, her father also fell to the ground with two other men in black clothes. She rushed out crying and shook her parents.

  Huo Xiuer cried miserably, one moment shaking her mother and crying out "Mother... wake up... wu wu wu... Mother, get up..." Then she ran to Huo Chang's side and shook him, crying "Father... wu wu wu... get up... Father, you get up..."

  Perhaps Huo Chang was not willing to die like this, and after being shaken by Huo Xiuer several times, he slowly came back to life. Looking at his daughter, he had no strength to comfort her, but could only gaze at Huo Xiuer with a benevolent expression.

  Huò Jīng was a ruthless killer of the Yin-Yang School. After leaving Yang's mansion, Nán Huá Zǐ noticed that Yang's face didn't look pleased and suspected that he would kill Huò Jīng to silence him. Therefore, he also followed them all the way to Xīn County.

  Unfortunately, when they arrived at the Ho's house, it was already too late. They saw Ho Xiuer crying on Ho Chang's body. Nan Huazi saw that Ho Chang and the two assassins had returned together, and quickly came up to feel Ho Chang's pulse. Seeing that Ho Chang still had a faint pulse, he took out a lifesaving pill unique to yin-yang masters from his bosom and pressed it into Ho Chang's mouth. Before long, Ho Chang slowly regained consciousness.

  Huò Jīng was about to die, and saw Nán Huá Zǐ arrive before his eyes. He hastily grasped the hand of his daughter Huò Xiù ér and said: "My only daughter... I hope that the Emperor above will take pity on her... raise her to adulthood..."

  Nan Hua Zi knew he was a killer by fate, and wanted to die with peace of mind before his death. He nodded slightly. Only then did Huo Chang close his eyes and die.

  Nanhuazi saw that although He Xiuer was only 7 or 8 years old, she had a natural beauty. Her father had already died and her mother had also passed away, so it would be easy to take her in and educate her, and later send her into the palace, where she could become a useful piece.

  Nanhuazi then buried the couple, changed Huo Xiuer's name to Ren Hongchang and took her back to Luoyang for training. He taught her martial arts and passed on the unique mind-controlling secret techniques of the Yin-Yang masters.

  Huo Xiuer was soon sent to the palace by Nan Hua Zi as a female official, and later due to the disaster of the ten eunuchs and Dong Zhuo's attempt to overthrow the emperor. Huo Xiuer was adopted by Wang Yun as his righteous daughter and became a pawn buried in the high-ranking officials of the court. This is a story for later.