Lü Bu said to Chen Gong, "Fa Zheng and Li Yan come from the Great Han's great aristocratic clans."
"Yet just because of a Heavenly Screen, they actually killed Liu Zhang outright and went over to Yang Feng."
His voice brimmed with undisguised fury and the humiliation of being looked down upon.
"Don't these people look down on me, Lü Bu, a little too much?"
"The screen said yesterday that today it would reveal my joint attack on Yang Feng with Cao Cao. It's not as though they didn't know."
Lü Bu slammed his fist into a battlement, making the bricks and stones rattle.
"He has absolutely no regard for me, Lü Bu."
As Chen Gong listened to Lü Bu's furious remarks, an almost imperceptible trace of mockery flashed deep in his eyes, but he quickly concealed it perfectly.
What a joke.
Have any regard for you, Lü Bu?
Don't you have the slightest idea what sort of thing you are?
Brave but witless, stubbornly self-willed, impulsive and quick-tempered-apart from your peerless martial prowess, you're utterly worthless.
You're only fit to be a high-class thug, a super bodyguard.
Chen Gong coolly analyzed the situation in his mind.
The only reason I'm still here with you, Lü Bu, is as an expedient, a temporary place to stay.
To put it plainly, you're just a stepping stone.
The realm was in chaos, and heroes were rising everywhere. Chen Gong needed somewhere to put all his strategies to use, and Lü Bu's martial prowess happened to offer temporary shelter.
But that was all.
He would watch carefully. Once someone more suitable appeared in the realm, someone who truly had the makings of a mighty ruler, Chen Gong would absolutely be the first to pack his bags and run.
In the eyes of a strategist like him, so-called loyalty was always reserved for someone worthy of his trust.
Clearly, Lü Bu was not that person.
Naturally, however, he could not reveal a single word of these thoughts buried deep in his heart.
For now, soothing this enraged tiger was what mattered.
Thus, Chen Gong immediately put on a respectful, sincere smile and bowed deeply to Lü Bu.
"Marquis of Wen, please calm your anger."
"In my view, the likes of Fa Zheng and Li Yan are merely capering clowns, men who can see no farther than a rat."
"They see only that Yang Feng gained Yizhou by riding the Heavenly Screen's momentum, but fail to see that his hour of death is already approaching."
"Marquis of Wen, you and Cao Mengde have joined forces-one a peerless god of war of our age, the other a formidable overlord whose calculations never fail."
"With such a king-bomb combination of civil and martial prowess, who in all the realm could stand against you?"
"Yang Feng is merely a slave leader content to rule a remote corner, who gained power through luck. How could he possibly be your match, Marquis of Wen?"
"Once the Heavenly Screen descends and announces your great victory, Fa Zheng and Li Yan will surely regret it until their guts turn green."
This torrent of rainbow farts left Lü Bu feeling comfortable from head to toe, and most of his anger instantly dissipated.
He nodded heavily, his angry expression turning into an arrogant sneer.
"You are absolutely right, Gongtai."
"Once the Heavenly Screen reveals that I can defeat Yang Feng, let's see what Li Yan and Fa Zheng do then."
Greed glittered in Lü Bu's eyes, as though he could already see the future before him.
"Hmph, didn't they offer Yizhou to Yang Feng?"
"Once I've slaughtered Yang Feng, let's see what face they have left."
"Then our great army will march west and simply swallow up that masterless Yizhou."
He seemed to regard that fertile land of heavenly abundance as already in his pocket.
Yet a thousand li away, atop the city tower in Chengdu, Yizhou, the atmosphere was entirely different from that in Xu Province.
Liu Zhang's head, its eyes still open in death, hung high at the very top of the flagpole on the city wall. It had already dried somewhat in the wind, yet the terror and unwillingness before his death were still visible.
However, the countless commoners below turned a blind eye to it, even letting out waves of cheers.
They gazed up at the enormous banner bearing the character "Yang," newly raised atop the city tower and fluttering in the wind, their eyes filled with hope and fervor.
To them, who became their lord did not matter. What mattered was that this new lord was Yang Feng, the "one emperor through the ages" from the Heavenly Screen.
That was enough.
Atop the city tower, Fa Zheng and Li Yan stood shoulder to shoulder, likewise staring intently at the empty sky, waiting for the Heavenly Screen to appear again.
Their faces, however, lacked the pure fervor of the commoners below and were instead filled with complicated emotions.
Nervousness, anticipation, and a trace of worry they could not conceal.
They, too, were wavering inwardly.
Yes, they had made their choice, killed their former lord, offered up the city, and staked everything on Yang Feng.
But this was, after all, an enormous gamble.
They did not know whether the new lord they had only just begun serving could withstand the allied army of Cao Cao and Lü Bu, that king-bomb combination.
Those two represented the greatest martial valor and the greatest political cunning in the realm today.
"Xiaozhi, tell me... can this new lord of ours really win?"
Li Yan's voice was somewhat dry, his heart clearly far from calm.
Fa Zheng did not answer immediately. He narrowed his eyes, feeling the fierce wind atop the city tower, and only spoke slowly after a long while.
"Zhengfang, things have come to this. There's no point saying any of that now."
"We've already killed Liu Jiyu and submitted our pledge of allegiance. Now we're in the same boat as Lord Yang."
"If the boat capsizes, none of us will survive."
The two exchanged a glance, each seeing a trace of resolve in the other's eyes.
Yes, an arrow loosed from the bow could not turn back.
But they were both clever men, and clever men always left themselves a way out.
"However..."
Fa Zheng shifted the conversation, lowering his voice.
"Although we've submitted to Lord Yang first, if by chance... I mean, if by chance Heaven toys with us and Cao Cao and Lü Bu really win..."
"Once Lord Yang dies, our Yizhou will become a masterless land."
Li Yan immediately grasped his meaning and picked up where he left off.
"When that happens, Cao Cao will surely send a great army to take possession of it."
"If we can offer up the city again, that will still count as a great merit. Better than being destroyed alongside Lord Yang."
Both understood that this was their second plan beneath the ultimate high-stakes gamble.
First, join Yang Feng and bet on his victory.
If Yang Feng lost, they would immediately change allegiance and join the ultimate victor, Cao Cao.
No matter what, they had to ensure that they stood on the winning side of this great chess game of the realm.
Still, that was only their plan for the worst.
Deep in their hearts, they were more willing to believe in the Heavenly Screen.
After all...
That earth-shattering appraisal from the Heavenly Screen involuntarily echoed in Fa Zheng's mind.
"Yang Feng, the one emperor through the ages."
Could someone upon whom the Heavenly Screen had bestowed such a title truly lose to Cao Cao and Lü Bu?
He did not believe it.
Meanwhile, it was as though the entire world had had its pause button pressed.
Cao Cao in Xu Capital, Yuan Shao in Ye City, Liu Biao in Jing Province, Liu Bei in Yuzhou... all the lords still struggling on the chessboard of this chaotic age, wherever they were and whatever thoughts filled their hearts, performed the same action at that moment without prior agreement.
They stared fixedly at the sky, every pair of eyes filled with complicated, unfathomable emotions.
They were all waiting, waiting for that screen capable of deciding everyone's fate to descend upon the world again.
Suddenly, a tremendous boom rang out, like the first thunderclap when heaven and earth first parted.
Within that cloudless sky stretching ten thousand li, a dazzling golden light abruptly burst forth, instantly illuminating the entire vault of heaven.
The Heavenly Screen had appeared again.