Chapter 514 Stance of Li Feihong, Zhuge Liang, and Cao Cao
Chapter 514 - Stance of Li Feihong, Zhuge Liang, and Cao Cao
Diaochan: "I repeat - Swear allegiance to me. Or else, we'll hunt you down!"
Diaochan: "I also know that you were the one who killed those men. Choose wisely!"
Li Feihong wanted to cry but he had no tear. Just now, he went out of his private dimension, so he was aware that Medusa might have found him by using her all-knowing eyes.
This was a scary part of all 8-wing immortals since nobody could escape their absurd detection range. Their third eye could see everything, everyone, and every soul, including inner souls. This ability made Li Feihong's monitors and his system skill a joke.
Without hesitation, Li Feihong replied.
Li Feihong: "I surrender. I didn't expect that I was Liu Bei. I'm sorry!"
Li Feihong: "I did it because of Zhuge Liang's advice! Please forgive me!"
Not only Li Feihong begged Medusa for mercy, but he also vowed with his empowered voice.
"[I swear allegiance to Miss Diaochan!]"
Li Feihong's voice was soft, but Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei, Ma Chao, and everybody else in his dimension could hear it. The dimension shook for a minute as karma laws were at work.
From now on, Li Feihong could sense Medusa's whereabouts whenever he went out of his dimension. However, he didn't want to step out of his safe-haven at the moment since Dian Wei was trying to track him.
Diaochan: "Good. I've received your karma knot. I'll treat you fairly."
Diaochan: "Actually, I didn't blame you for what you've done. I think it's a good idea to reduce some of Cao Cao's men."
Diaochan: "Transfer me to your dimension tomorrow afternoon. I want to talk to you and your [Clansmen] in private and teach you a few abilities that 8-wing immortals like us can do. This world is within Lilim's detection range, so I can't talk much."
Li Feihong: "Yes, ma'am!"
Li Feihong was relieved that Medusa was in favor of killing Cao Cao's subordinates. He sighed and turned toward his men, who were looking at him in shocked, puzzled, and confused.
"What did you do, my lord?"
Even Zhuge Liang was baffled by his lord's action.
"Surrendering to the empress, of course. She found us the moment I stepped outside for a few seconds."
Zhuge Liang laughed and shook his head, "You never and will ever plan to betray his majesty Zhang Tong at all, don't you?"
"Backstab Zhang Tong and all meanie women will come after my life! Do you think I'm stupid!?"
"Not at all! A wise choice, my lord!"
"What is your goal? I meant, for real. I thought you wanted to rebel against Zhang Tong, but it seems you have too many ulterior motives."
Everyone turned toward Zhuge Liang, who was the mastermind of this rescue mission.
While everyone's glared at the scholar, the latter was unfazed. On the contrary, he was enjoying being at the center of attention.
"First goal, wipe out Cao Cao and his clansmen. These ambitious fools are a concerning threat toward our Han Dynasty."
Li Feihong, Xu Shu, and Zhou Cang nodded in approval. Since these men were untrustworthy to the point that they dared to bite the hands that fed them, they shouldn't allow them to enjoy the aftermath of the unification.
Liu Bei and Ma Chao were also happy with Zhuge Liang's goal. The more Tong and Cao Cao fighting each other, the better the chance that they could thrive.
"Second goal, get rid of all unruly factors, such as Te Langpu, Zhen Yi, Sun Ce, Sima Yi, and the cultivator cult in Jiangdong."
Again, Liu Bei and Ma Chao delighted by the discovery. Now, they understood that Tong's subordinates were not in harmony. Instead, they were trying to kill each other to the last man.
But Xu Shu managed to notice another hidden agenda within the limited information.
"No Sun Quan in the list?"
Zhuge Liang didn't mention Sun Quan or his clansmen, only Sun Ce.
"Nah, Sun Quan is smarter than those idiots. I talked to him in private chat, and he ratted out that Lilim and Cao Cao are trying to instigate chaos in our country. He also didn't fall to Lilim's temptation."
"Lilim?"
Their conversation caught Li Feihong's attention, "What else do you know about Sun Quan and Lilim?"
Zhuge Liang shrugged, "Not much. He told me that Lilim tempted him with system skills, but he declined since she wanted his immortal oath. Oh, he told me that he was in trouble with having two types of wings, and he was hoping to get Diaochan's advice. I think Sun Quan wants to be Diaochan's apprentice and get closer to the royalty."
"So, he's not a threat?"
"He's never a threat. I can tell that he only wants the best for his clansmen and his mother. He will play it safe and secure his position in the court as it is. Aside from his attempts to pursue the princesses, he won't try anything stupid or gamble it all like Cao Cao or others. We can count on them."
This was a piece of good news to Li Feihong and Zhou Cang, who were concerned about the empire's harmony.
"Are you certain? If he's going after the princesses, won't he try to fight for the throne?"
"He won't. At best, he will just demand a title, like … the King of Wu or something and still be taking orders from the higher-ups as usual."
"…"
"Well, back to the main topic, I can't reveal my other plans. It's not the right time."
Zhuge Liang smiled and pointed at Liu Bei and Ma Chao, who were the outsiders.
Li Feihong and Xu Shu understood that Zhuge Liang wanted to keep his plan a secret, so they didn't press for more info. After all, knowing that Zhuge Liang was still their ally was good enough.
Ma Chao and Liu Bei looked at the crews in wary. They realized that they were being used, but they had to work for Li Feihong and Zhuge Liang for now. After all, they were still Li Feihong's prisoners.
Even if Ma Chao wanted to act unruly, he was no match against Li Feihong's 8-wing cultivation.
"Anyway, let's move to our next target. Should we kill Te Langpu next? What do you think, Kongming?"
Li Feihong changed the subject and asked Zhuge Liang for his approval.
"To be honest, I want to kill Te Langpu right away, but doing so will bring suspicion on you, my lord. If we kill Te Langpu within a short period after Ma Chao got out of prison, those over-thinkers in the clan would have deduced that you were behind this escape plan since you're the only one with teleportation ability. Right now, you are the only one who can rescue Ma Chao and Liu Bei out without getting detected."
"What is your suggestion, then?"
"The most dangerous place is the safest place. We should camp inside this prison for a while and spy on Cao Cao's movements. We'll plan our next move according to their reaction and investigation. Also, please use your gates to recover those bullet heads inside the wall. If they find it, you're busted."
"…"
Li Feihong observed Dian Wei's reaction from the spy monitors. The 6-wing angel wasn't paying attention to the corpses or the wall as he ran around, searching for a secret passage that he thought Liu Bei and Ma Chao had used to escape.
He didn't notice the bullet holes in the wall!
'I should replace the bullet heads in the wall with these…'
.
.
.
= 10 Minutes later =
The dead of Cao Chun, Zhu Ling, and Yu Jin was bad news to Cao Cao as Ma Chao had a vendetta against him in the other timeline, and he might carry it over to this world as well.
Cao Cao inspected the prison personally after Dian Wei had confirmed that Ma Chao and Liu Bei had escaped. He crouched and examined the corpses.
Aside from Cao Chun's dead body, Zhu Ling and Yu Jin's remains were cut into small pieces. Over a hundred human parts scattered throughout the prison.
"These cuts were not from combat. Aside from the cleave cut on Zihe, the others should have died before these wounds happened. What do you think, Yuanrang?"
"These dead bodies were chopped to pieces to disguise the true cause of death. If they had a sword fight here, they should have had enough time to inform us in the clan chat since their strength is equal."
"Right. Three 4-wing immortals can't even stop a weakened 4-wing immortal. I doubt it's the work of Ma Chao alone."
Xiahou Dun was looking left and right, searching for a trace of Ma Chao's helper.
"Ma Chao couldn't break out of this alone. Someone should have come and helped him out."
Xiahou Dun's eyes stopped at the wall in front of Ma Chao's former cell. He walked toward it and touched a hole in the wall.
Deep holes, each with a diameter of a finger, could be seen in several areas. Xiahou Dun dug one of the bullet holes as if he wanted to get something inside.
Xiahou Dun's action attracted Cao Cao's attention. The latter stopped what he was doing and observed his cousin.
"Huh?"
Xiahou Dun found what he was looking for, the cause of these holes.
Bullets!
"…"
But Xiahou Dun was disappointed as he looked at what in his hand was.
They were lead balls, which they used for musket shells.
"Musket ammo?"
Cao Cao also frowned in disappointment. He was hoping for a cylinder pointy shell, which were modern bullets, created by Diaochan's [Firearm Creation]. If that were the case, Li Feihong would be the prime suspect of this prison break.
Unfortunately, a musket was not Li Feihong's primary weapon. Therefore, the prison break should have been done by someone else.
"Yeah, musket shells."
"So, it can't be our men since we've contacted all of them. Can it be Sun Ce's guy?"
"Maybe. Zhang Tong's men don't use muskets, but those otherworlder's guns. Only Sun Ce or Liu Bei's forces use muskets."
"What about Lilim's servants?"
"… No idea."
"…"
Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun clicked their tongues in frustration. Had they found a modern bullet head in the scene, they would have used it to blame this prison break on Li Feihong and strip him from the legion supreme commander position.
Since they found round musket shells instead of modern lead bullets, Cao Cao could only speculate that Sun Ce's men busted Ma Chao and Liu Bei out as they had the same enemies.
"Let's go back. Liu Bei and Ma Chao will show up to fight Zhang Tong eventually."
Cao Cao shook his head as he wanted to remain here for a while longer. Although he wasn't sad that his cousin and his subordinates died, the loss was a slap to his face.
Moreover, this incident revealed that the infighting had become complicated as many factions started to move.
Emperor's supporters,
Sun Quan's faction,
Cao Cao's faction,
Sima Family,
Te Langpu,
Sun Ce's remnants,
And Lilim's.
'I should contact Lilim and ask her about the situation with Lu Bu and Zhang Tong. If those two are taken care of, I can proceed with the plan. If not, I should abort the mission and kill both Te Langpu and Sima Yi.'
Cao Cao hesitated if instigating chaos within Tong's clansmen was the right move. He contemplated if Tong or Lilim would come out on top in their struggle for power.
'Zhang Tong or Lilim? If Lilim can defeat Zhang Tong, overthrowing his throne is the right move. If Zhang Tong wins, I'm dead.'
Although he could maintain his position as Tong's retainer, the reward he could get from supporting Tong's side was minuscule. However, joining Lilim had huge perks, included system skills, cultivation guidance, and authority.
The comparison between the two forces aroused Cao Cao's desire. Since everyone would become immortals, it would have been a shame if he had to live as Tong's lapdog for the rest of eternity.
Why not betting everything in this huge gamble? He could win big and enjoy all the skills and perks of being an immortal with absolute authority, second after Lilim. He could even steal Zhang Tong's wives once Lilim took over his throne.
The choice was obvious.
Win big or die fighting!