Chapter 397: Jump Ship
Zhang Liao in Miaomiao's world was a war hero and one of the five tiger generals of Cao Cao. During the Three Kingdom Period, he, with a small platoon of 800 men, managed to defeat Sun Quan's troops of 100,000 men!
The general achieved other merits during his lifetime, but the tale of him defeating an overwhelming army made him a legendary figure. Rumor said that, during the period, whenever a parent mentioned Zhang Liao's name, babies stopped crying.
In short, he was so strong and so famous that the ancient people treated him as the Boogeyman.
Miaomiao splashed some spring water on Zhang Liao's wound to heal him. After all, it would have been a waste to kill the counterpart of a legendary historical figure.
"You see, I've been informed," Miaomiao sat in front of Zhang Liao and lightly patted the latter's head with Killer Queen, "If I win, I get to do anything I want to the losers. Am I right?"
Zhang Liao knitted his brows and glared at Miaomiao. Only then, he realized that he could sense his Qi again.
Moreover, the wound was healed. Zhang Liao could talk again.
"What do you want!?"
Zhang Liao was paranoid. He had heard a bit of Miaomiao's infamous deeds that he tortured before he killed Nie Ping. As such, he was afraid that Miaomiao healed him as a part of his sick torturous session.
"So, are you going to admit your defeat, or are you going to keep on fighting. Make your choice first, so I can decide what to do with you."
"… I admit defeat. As I said before, kill me!"
"Haiz," Miaomiao sighed as he found Zhang Liao boring. "Why do you want to die so badly? Do you think dying is fun?"
Zhang Liao lost it. He stood up and grabbed his halberds, awoke their power again, "I'm a warrior! I can die, but I will not tolerate humiliation and disgrace! If you aren't going to kill me, I'll kill-"
"Shut up."
Miaomiao had enough of Zhang Liao's tantrum. He slowly stood up and locked his killing intent onto the annoying guy.
RUMBLE
Suddenly, Miaomiao released a bright golden aura around himself. It was the combination between Light Element Qi, Gold Element Qi, and Miaomiao's killing intent. Yet, it emitted the presence of a dragon's will.
The eyes of Miaomiao were akin to the eyes of a predator, staring down at his prey.
Zhang Liao forgot what he was about to say. His legs trembled while his jaw clattered.
Miaomiao raised Killer Queen up high. He adjusted his wrist, directing the blade part to face Zhang Liao. Then, he swung it down!
Zhang Liao shrieked by reflex. He shut his eyes and fell on his butt.
BOOM
The swing just now landed a few centimeters in front of Zhang Liao. It was a normal swing with no essence or technique. Yet, the latter was panic-stricken.
"Warrior? You?" Miaomiao snorted, "A true warrior would have at least retaliated or accepted their death with their open eyes looking at the face of their enemy. But you…"
Miaomiao clicked his tongue and walked toward Siren City's side, passing by Zhang Liao as if he was a useless rock on the road, "You disappointed me. You're not even worth killing."
"…"
Zhang Liao's face turned white, then red. He felt insulted, enraged, yet scared.
For a split second, a thought came to his mind.
He didn't want to die!
Zhang Liao tried to get back on his feet again, but he couldn't stand up. His leg muscle suddenly felt like jelly as he couldn't even gather his strength to stand.
He sat there and slammed his fist on the ground, ashamed of his helplessness. Indeed, he wasn't worth killing as he felt like everything he had done was meaningless.
"BOOOOOOOOO!!"
"You're a disgrace to the Great Clan! You're a disgrace to the alliance! Kill yourself!"
"GO DIE, INCOMPETENT FOOL!"
"IS THIS THE POWER OF ZHANG CLAN!? PATHETIC!!"
As Zhang Liao was struggling to stand, the crowd from Yuan Shaoqing's side mocked him again. This time, they fearlessly taunted him, treating him like a weakling despite them being a lot weaker than him.
Zhang Liao glared at the people from his side. As soon as he could get back on his feet, he would slaughter every single of them on the spot!
As if anger fueled his willpower, Zhang Liao managed to stand up. His dao avatar and his nascent soul emerged from his body. They combined and transformed into a 3-meter tall giant halberdier in a plate mail. However, both Zhang Liao and the transformed soul faced the people from Yuan Shaoqing's side as he directed his killing intent at them.
"SILENCE, YOU MONGRELS! DO YOU THINK I'M A PUSHOVER YOU CAN INSULT!?"
"!!!"
The bellow caused a shockwave, knocking several weak 5th-stage cultivators from the sky. Even several 6th-stage cultivators faltered and were frightened by the killing intent.
After silencing the annoying spectators, Zhang Liao turned around and looked at Miaomiao and Fang Yanxu.
"Per the prior agreement, the losers have to abide by every order of the victors. Tell me, Mao Miaomiao. Do you want me to commit suicide right here, or do you want me to do anything?"
"…"
As Zhang Liao mentioned the rules, Fang Yanxu descended and landed in front of Miaomiao. The immortal reminded him of the previous agreement.
"Mao Miaomiao. Your opponents have conceded. You have the right to do anything you want with them, or you can give them one order, and they will complete it without fail."
"… Ah."
Miaomiao rolled his eyes as he disliked this rule. From his point of view, it was created by Fang Yanxu for the sake of bullying his people like how he should have bullied the main characters or the protagonists.
Unfortunately, Miaomiao had been living a storyline of a certain dead protagonist's whom he had stolen the Heavenly Fate Fragment from.
"This is why I don't want to be a protagonist. Well, whatever," Miaomiao grumbled and looked at Zhang Liao. "I was planning to beat the shit out of you again to teach you the value of life. Since this asshole wants me to demand something from you, I'll just get it done first, so I can beat the shit out of you later. Zhang Liao, from now on, you're my servant!"
"…"
Zhang Liao was speechless. Instead of killing himself, Miaomiao simply asked Zhang Liao to switch sides!
Yuan Shaoqing and the crowd was shocked as well. They had never expected Miaomiao to recruit his enemy during the match.
Still, none of them complained since the clansmen of the Zhang Clan lacked unity. They usually acted independently, just like Zhang Junyi, Zhang Yide, or Zhang Jue.
It was a matter of time before Zhang Liao betrayed Miaomiao. Therefore, there was no reason to refute. The spectators grinned, thinking that Miaomiao was too na?ve.
Next, Miaomiao turned to Qu Yi, who had surrendered earlier, "And you. Qu Yi, right?"
After seeing that Miaomiao forced Zhang Liao to join him, Qu Yi had high hope, praying that the former could spare him as well.
The cavalry archer cupped his fist and bowed, "What would you like me to do?"
"Are you a part of a sect or a clan?"
"I'm the patriarch of the Qu Clan. We're not a part of any sect."
"Why are you participating in this stupid war game, then?"
Qu Yi bitterly smiled, ashamed of himself, "We… are commissioned to join. We don't like this war either, but our financial situation is a bit… troublesome."
"How bad is your financial status?"
"We have less than a hundred people to feed, but we don't get many jobs from the locals because of our territory circumstances."
Qu Yi paused and glanced at Yuan Shaoqing for a moment. He bit his lower lips in reluctance before he decided to reveal a secret.
"Yuan Shaoqing has stolen all our cities, villages, and businesses. Then, he gave us a plot of land to migrate to as compensation, but it was too close to the Centaur Prairie. Because of the repeated conflicts with the perverted centaurs, we are broke."
Miaomiao snickered as he understood Qu Yi's intention. The guy threw dirt at Yuan Shaoqing, playing a victim.
Since Qu Yi had offered him a reason to defame Yuan Shaoqing, Miaomiao was happy to play along, "I get it. Yuan Shaoqing unreasonably forced you to fight the impossible foes, you are manipulated, yet again, to join this war FOR THE SAKE OF YUAN SHAOQING, correct!?"
Qu Yi smiled and nodded, "Correct!"
After Qu Yi and Miaomiao set up a backstory and indirectly accused Yuan Shaoqing of blackmailing and orchestrating the Qu Clan to join this war, the people from the alliance peered at the Yuan Clan's lord.
None of them voiced their opinion, but the seed of doubt had been planted. Everyone started to question the alliance leader's motive as he was the one who had started this war.
Without saying anything, they believed that Yuan Shaoqing wanted to sacrifice his allies for his personal gain.
Yuan Shaoqing also didn't say anything to defend himself. After all, excuses would worsen his image and reputation. He would rather correct it through his action after he dealt with Siren City and Mao Miaomiao.
Seeing that Yuan Shaoqing and the spectators didn't comment on their story, Miaomiao proceeded as plan.
"Oh, I see," Miaomiao rubbed his chin for a moment, pretending to be in deep thought. Then, he gazed at the Qu Clan patriarch, "Qu Yi, you and your clan will be serving me! Migrate all your families, your clansmen, and your servants to Siren City! From now on, your clan shall serve me!"
Qu Yi laughed and deeply bowed to Miaomiao, "This servant accepts his order. I, Qu Yi, greet my new master!"
The archer flew from Yuan Shaoqing's side and hovered in front of Siren City, acting as if he was one of Miaomiao's men.
The Qu clansmen among the spectating crowd stared at their patriarch in shock. For a few seconds, they were frozen in confusion, but they swiftly joined their leader.
Because of the promise of the riches and the orderly nature of the promised tournament or a war game, Qu Yi brought most of his family, servants, and people from his side to broaden their horizons. Only a few non-combatants were left at home.
Thus, Qu Yi no longer worried about his family, only a few people would be sacrificed in the aftermath because of this JUMP-SHIP incident.
Miaomiao nodded at Qu Yi in approval. As he had expected, the cavalry archer and his men switched sides faster than Fire Emblem characters.
Though Miaomiao didn't need Qu Yi and his clansmen, stealing top fighters from Yuan Shaoqing's side and increased his army's strength was never a bad move. As for the loyalty and trust issues, he could always extort for their dao oaths later on.
Meanwhile, Zhang Liao stared at Qu Yi and his men in astonishment. He was frustrated by Qu Yi's traitorous action at the same time.
"You recruit me to spar with me in the future. For that, I understand. But you recruit the guy that surrendered without a fight. What the fuck are you thinking, Mao Miaomiao?"
"You'll understand soon enough," Miaomiao turned to Fang Yanxu as he had dealt with the issues at hand, "Give me my next match. I need to fight two more times, yes?"
…
Fang Yanxu frowned and clicked his tongue. He looked at Yuan Shaoqing's remaining fighters and inspected them.
'Aside from Yuan Shaoqing, all of them will probably be killed in one move. None of them, even Yuan Shaoqing, knows a way to counter the Stripper Swordsmanship. Even if they can block its Qi-Sealing or Qi-Suppression effect, they won't be able to get through metal dragon's scales and Dragon Metal Element Qi. They need soul Qi to bypass those dragon scales, too.'
As Fang Yanxu was about to give up on killing Miaomiao today, he sensed a 9th-stage cultivator, who had been flying toward them.
It was Huang Hansheng. He was dragging two young men with his chains along with him.
'Hmm…'
An inspiration came to Fang Yanxu. He had an idea.
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