The Big Shot

The spirit of Nine Phoenix emerged from the sword, circling above its hilt.

The Life Bead activated, its Destruction attribute poised to erupt.

Qi Fei used the power of his soul to stir the nascent Legion Talent, and a savage force circled around him.

At that moment, he had nearly brought the power of the Supreme God of Destruction within himself to its limit.

This was the preparation Qi Fei had made to lure that thing out.

The effect was quite obvious. All sorts of chaotic forces surged into Qi Fei's body as if they'd gone mad.

Even Nine Phoenix was getting stuffed.

The only problem was that in this state, Qi Fei looked like a demon god. Any ordinary enemy who saw him would probably turn and run.

"Zihong, are you sure it'll be drawn over here, instead of you scaring it away?"

Liu Bei circled around Qi Fei, sizing him up.

This form was powerful and fierce—so much so that it was hard not to love it.

"It won't."

Qi Fei's voice drew an eager response from the surrounding forces, turning it into a vast, strangely layered chorus.

"My ability to attract it is strong enough that it'll ignore the danger."

To those things, Qi Fei was now their direct superior.

When their boss summoned them, how could they refuse to come, no matter how dangerous it was?

"Still, it'd be a bit troublesome if it kept hiding."

"Are you worried we won't find it?" Liu Bei asked.

"Not that."

In fact, if he spent enough time checking the soldiers one by one, Qi Fei was confident he could find the person it had possessed.

The host would have their Essence, Qi, and Spirit continuously drained. There was no way to hide that.

What worried Qi Fei was that its ability to refuse the summons meant its sense of Self had developed to an extraordinary degree.

In other words, the one coming might not be a remnant left behind after Lord of Martial Peace finished killing, but the part suppressed by the big shot, Sun Wu.

That part had once been the army Sun Wu brought with him, an elite force that accompanied the big shot all the way through the conquest of Chu.

They'd fought from beginning to end, until they were forced to turn into those inhuman beings.

A considerable part of the reason the big shot had sacrificed himself was for their sake.

Before their transformation, these tens of thousands had been elite soldiers under the God of War. Afterward, they'd spent who knew how many years being trained by the big shot.

Qi Fei could hardly imagine how strong tens of thousands of them might be.

"But there's no need to worry about that now."

Qi Fei turned his gaze outside.

Just moments ago, a peculiar presence had appeared right outside the door.

"Has it come?" Liu Bei drew the remaining Twin Sword.

"Yeah."

Qi Fei tossed Liu Bei the other sword from his waist.

It was absurd that the thing could command an army, but its individual strength was nothing special.

Liu Bei could handle it easily.

So if Liu Bei wanted to take it on, Qi Fei would let him.

After capturing it, they would separate it from the soldier and use soul-searching to inspect its trail. As well as erasing those traces, they would use it to develop a Secret Art for searching, to make sure no others had followed it here.

"Drawing your swords on a guest isn't very hospitable."

An unremarkable-looking soldier pushed open the door and entered.

Though it looked no different from a human, Qi Fei immediately sensed its inhuman nature the moment it spoke.

But it could speak normally, and it wasn't possessing a living person. Could it be...

"An unwelcome guest deserves no better."

Liu Bei moved to attack.

The Twin Swords each formed a blade of Internal Qi, which inexplicably reminded Qi Fei of some black-clad swordsman who could draw out beams of light with his blade.

"Wait, don't attack! I mean no harm."

The newcomer immediately surrendered.

He couldn't beat someone who'd reached Internal Qi Separation.

"Lord Xuande, please wait a moment."

Qi Fei stopped Liu Bei, who had been about to attack.

If this really was that big shot, they couldn't just attack and offend him.

"Zihong?" Liu Bei looked puzzled, but still obeyed Qi Fei and lowered his Twin Swords.

"Thank you, young friend."

The newcomer let out a sigh of relief.

If Liu Bei had really beaten him to pieces, his arduous journey would have been for nothing.

"You're welcome. So, who exactly are you?"

Qi Fei asked directly.

If he really was a big shot, he wouldn't hide his name.

"I don't know," the newcomer answered at once.

"I've lost some of my memories, including who exactly I am."

"Then why did you come here?"

Qi Fei wasn't surprised by that answer.

Before the Marquis of Huaiyin was summoned out of the Heirloom Seal of the Realm, these big shots had mostly yet to recover their memories.

The Heaven and Earth Essence hadn't risen to a suitable level yet.

"I just sensed something here attracting us, so I sent an awareness over to take a look. I didn't expect you to notice me as soon as I arrived," the newcomer said frankly.

"You only came to take a look? You had no other purpose?"

Qi Fei was now almost certain the newcomer was the big shot, Sun Wu.

The "us" he'd mentioned clearly meant more than one person, and among that group of gods and demons, Sun Wu was the only one free to move about.

"None," Sun Wu replied honestly.

"Did you leave any traces along the way? Possess anyone?"

Qi Fei asked two more questions.

The big shot would never do such a thing, but it was hard to say about him before he recovered his memories.

"No. Though my memories haven't fully returned, I know that ordinary people shouldn't learn of beings like us."

Sun Wu looked at his hands.

His remaining memories told him that he'd been forced to become what he was to keep these things from harming the human world.

"That's good."

Qi Fei immediately felt relieved.

No need to clean up any traces along the way. Great.

"You believe me just like that?"

Sun Wu looked at Qi Fei in disbelief.

Had this man never been deceived before?

"If you can fool me, then I'll accept it," Qi Fei said casually.

Who'd be foolish enough to lie in front of a God Boundary Breaker?

Besides, it was possible for that little rogue, the Marquis of Huaiyin, to lie. After all, he'd lied to people before just to dance on Liu Bang's grave.

But saying that the venerable Sun Wu would lie? That was complete nonsense.

"I like your confidence."

As an old man, Sun Wu liked young people with that kind of energy.

And for some reason, Qi Fei attracted him not only with his power, but also with an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

It made Sun Wu feel like offering him some guidance.

"Still, young man, your abilities don't quite match your confidence."

Sun Wu deliberately provoked him.

"Zihong is the strongest person alive today. Please take back that remark," Liu Bei said coldly.

My boy is so impressive. Who were you to criticize him as you pleased?

"Haha, I'm sorry. I didn't make myself clear."

Sun Wu laughed twice.

"I wasn't talking about personal strength, but commanding troops. Your command skills are too poor."

From what he'd just seen, anyone could've crushed them without even thinking.

"Then you're skilled in the art of war?" Qi Fei's eyes lit up.

He'd originally planned to bring Huangfu Song over as a teacher, but now it looked as if he could get guidance directly from the God of War.

"I suppose you could say that. My fragmentary memories contain plenty of scenes of me leading troops," Sun Wu said modestly.

"In that case, why not test yourself against Zihong?" Liu Bei offered.

He wanted to see how this braggart planned to defeat Qi Fei.

"Fine. A wargame, or an actual battle?" Sun Wu readily agreed.

"I once heard of a Secret Art used by an immortal called Dream of the Yellow Millet. It can create a world in a dream. Can you use it?"

Qi Fei had chosen option C: both A and B.

A wargame would take too long, while an actual battle might hurt the soldiers.

So he'd ask whether they could use a dream-entry technique.

In the novel, the Marquis of Huaiyin had used this technique to create a battlefield for real combat, training the younger generation.

Later, Bai Qi, the Lord of Martial Peace, used a Secret Art with a cute makeover mod to run a gambling den and win money from young women.

He'd won the private savings of nearly every wife of the people who remained in Chang'an—Liu Bei, Chen Xi, Zhuge Liang, Jia Xu, and the rest.

That was a separate matter.

"Wait, I think I came across one."

Sun Wu rummaged through his memories.

He seemed to have picked up a similar skill from some Immortal Yinghuo.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, sir."

Qi Fei's mouth twitched.

Had that come from Immortal Yinghuo too?

It seemed the Immortal Yinghuo persona had once been created specifically to fish out these unlucky people from the Military School.

Bai Qi had spent some time active as Yinghuo.

But not long after Bai Qi broke out of his coffin, a new Yinghuo appeared. That one seemed to be Wu Zi, one of the Four Sages.

Of course, after Lord Shang reported him, Wu Zi had no choice but to keep playing Yinghuo.

In fact, if Zhang Liang and the others hadn't fished the Marquis of Huaiyin out, Qi Fei reckoned he would've had to take on the Yinghuo persona too.

"Found it. Don't resist."

As he spoke, Sun Wu used his ability on the two of them.

Liu Bei was wary at first, but when he saw Qi Fei accepting it without hesitation, he made no attempt to resist the pull.

The next moment, they found themselves in an immensely vast world.

Yet only the ground beneath the three of them was solid; everything else was void.

"This world probably can't withstand you going all out," Sun Wu said, sizing up Qi Fei.

He'd noticed the young man's strength earlier, but now he could see that it was far beyond what he'd imagined.

Were kids really this powerful these days?

"It doesn't matter. We're only competing at commanding troops."

Qi Fei had expected as much.

In the original novel, Dream of the Yellow Millet had needed Lu Bu's help for Guan Yu to bring his full strength to bear.

Qi Fei was weaker than Guan Yu had been back then, but he was still a God Boundary Breaker.

It was only natural that the dream couldn't withstand him.

"This was my fault. As compensation, you may have an additional ten thousand troops."

Sun Wu said apologetically,

"Does Your Excellency mean to bring out your army and fight me directly?"

Qi Fei couldn't help asking.

"Why not?"

Sun Wu asked.

"I'm better at training troops. This kind of contest wouldn't let me bring all my strengths to bear."

Qi Fei said tactfully.

As if. If Sun Wu really brought out his army, Qi Fei doubted he'd last through the first wave.

"Then what do you suggest?"

Sun Wu asked Qi Fei directly.

Qi Fei's personal martial strength was already restricted. If he couldn't even use what he was best at, what was the point of competing?

"First, I'd like to know whether Your Excellency's Dream World can simulate the environment as it is now, as well as the process by which various talents take shape."

As he spoke, Qi Fei demonstrated his Mental Talent and his unformed Legion Talent to Sun Wu.

Sun Wu adjusted the Dream World, then replied, "More or less."

"In that case, let's each start with twenty cities, each holding ten thousand people. No soldiers or generals—only ordinary civilians. The winner will be whoever captures all of the opponent's cities or leaves the opponent unable to resist. How does that sound?"

Qi Fei unhesitatingly scaled the starting conditions down to the bare minimum.

He wanted to see what he could accomplish starting from nothing, as he was now.

"Fine. What about the map?"

Sun Wu asked again.

"We can each set it up as we see fit."

Qi Fei replied casually.

There was no need to worry about the other man tampering with the map in a contest like this.

"Very well. I'll trouble you to serve as the referee, Lord Xuande."

Sun Wu said to Liu Bei.

As they spoke, the ground beneath their feet expanded rapidly, and Qi Fei was given permission to adjust the map.

"No problem."

Liu Bei nodded.

Once Liu Bei agreed, Sun Wu also gave him permission to observe the entire map.

"Lord Xuande, I'll be going now."

Qi Fei took his leave of Liu Bei.

"Zihong, please don't be too hard on yourself."

Liu Bei had meant to wish Qi Fei victory, but the words changed before they left his mouth.

"Don't worry, Lord Xuande."

Qi Fei said.

He was only going to play a highly realistic real-time strategy game.

Then Qi Fei and Sun Wu went off to adjust their respective maps.

Aside from adding a few coal and iron mines and a river for water-powered forging, Qi Fei didn't create any unusual terrain.

Soon, the twenty cities and the surrounding terrain had been generated. Qi Fei submitted his map to Liu Bei.

On the other side, Sun Wu had also finished designing his map early.

The contest officially began.

"First, let's screen the entire city."

Qi Fei went to the first city and immediately activated his Mental Talent.

He shared his Mental Talent and Internal Qi Separation realm with all the civilians in the city, then observed how quickly their Internal Qi and mental power grew.

This was something Qi Fei had discovered.

By sharing the same realm with different individuals, then observing how quickly the power within them grew, he could determine which areas they were most gifted in.

He simply hadn't had a chance to use this method in Mount Tai yet.

To put it to use for the first time against the God of War was certainly something.

While waiting for the talent screening, Qi Fei set the city's production in motion.

He might not be as capable as Chen Xi, but he was at least a modern man who had gone through Nine-Year Compulsory Education. He had a general grasp of what needed to be done.

Besides, the people in the Dream World could carry out his orders to the letter, making them much easier to manage.

"Time to get Soviet-style mass production going, get the steel furnaces going, get the water-powered lathes going..."

Qi Fei quickly organized the civilians under his command.

The corresponding production orders were also sent to the other nineteen cities.

By the time the production system was nearly ready, Qi Fei had also confirmed the talents of everyone in the city.

He took the fifteen hundred people with the best aptitude for Internal Qi, along with the ten most gifted in mental power.

Besides having Internal Qi Separation shared with them, the fifteen hundred also each carried a trace of Qi Fei's mental power.

With that trace of mental power, they had already begun to coordinate with one another and gained an initial degree of combat capability by the time Qi Fei reached the other cities.

Liu Bei watched, repeatedly marveling.