Online Game: Unrivaled Gods

"Young master, ah... who are you?"

The maid Xiaohua held the dagger in her hand warily, staring at Sun Rui. Xiaohua's hands trembled slightly. She could sense that the man in front of her, who was not very burly, contained great power. Her combat talent as a native told her that running away was no match for him, but she couldn't move her feet. She was afraid that if she left, this man would disappear.

"What did you do to the young master? Tell me." Although her voice trembled, her attitude was very firm.

"Sister Xiaohua, I am Lu Bu. I don't know how I became like this."

Sun Rui was helpless about Xiao Hua's misunderstanding. After all, he had suddenly grown so big, but he didn't know where to begin explaining. He couldn't very well say it was a problem with the system.

"Stop right there, don't move."

Hearing Xiaohua's rebuke, Sun Rui stood helplessly in place, fearing that Xiaohua might react too strongly.

A series of footsteps approached, and dozens of soldiers appeared from all directions of the courtyard. More than twenty soldiers, armed with spears, surrounded Sun Rui, while the remaining soldiers stood on the wall, holding bows and arrows. Even with his abnormal eyesight, Sun Rui could clearly see the cold glint on the arrowheads.

Surrounded by soldiers, Sun Rui dared not make any rash moves. One wrong move and he would be pierced by a thousand arrows. It would be too unjust to be killed by his own people.

"What's going on?" The soldiers made way for Lü Liang and Huang Shi to walk out. The two looked at the maid Xiao Hua with questions in their eyes.

"He came out of the young master's room, but I haven't seen him before." After Sun Rui was surrounded, Xiao Hua relaxed and pointed at Sun Rui to explain to the Lu couple.

After hearing the explanation, the couple quickly turned their attention to Sun Rui. Huang asked Sun Rui anxiously, "Who are you? What have you done to Bu'er?"

"Are you someone sent by the Xiongnu? Release Bu'er, and we can discuss everything." Compared to Huang's eagerness, Lü Liang appeared much calmer.

Listening to the couple's words, Sun Rui smiled bitterly and said, "Father, Mother, I am Bu'er."

Everyone was shocked by Sun Rui's words. After a moment of realization, the soldiers tightened their grip on their weapons, while the Lu couple clearly did not believe it.

"How could you utter such an outrageous lie? Do you think I'm a fool?"

Lu Liang's eyes were filled with rage. In his view, since this person had not made any demands, it proved that his child had most likely been killed.

"I can't explain it either. Otherwise, I'll surrender, and you can search me at your leisure." Sun Rui put his hands behind his head, indicating that he would not resist and would surrender without resistance.

"Hmm." The Lu couple exchanged a puzzled look, not understanding why Sun Rui had surrendered so easily. The man in front of them had obviously increased in strength and could no longer suppress his aura, and judging from the aura they sensed, he was not without the ability to resist.

"Master, don't act rashly." Madam Huang was starting to waver; otherwise, she couldn't understand why Sun Rui would surrender so easily.

"Impossible, that's too much." Lü Liang was clearly about to refute, but he paused halfway through his sentence, seemingly thinking of something, and lowered his head in thought.

"What kind of internal energy do you practice? Let me see." After thinking for a while, Lü Liang looked up and asked Sun Rui a question, reaching out to Sun Rui's hand and channeling his internal energy into it.

Sun Rui understood that this was a test of his abilities, so he began to circulate the energy path of the "Overlord's True Scripture." Under Sun Rui's manipulation, the purple mist-like internal energy slowly began to flow through his meridians. During this flow, the purple mist-like internal energy gradually assimilated Lü Liang's cyan internal energy, making it a part of his own. This is a characteristic of the "Overlord's True Scripture's" internal energy—the assimilation of different types of internal energy, which can neutralize the internal energy that an opponent throws into one's body during combat.

"Alright." After feeling his internal energy being assimilated, Lü Liang was not surprised but delighted. What he wanted to test was the special application of the internal energy of the "Overlord's True Scripture". Although he could not practice the "Overlord's True Scripture", he had been reading this internal energy manual for more than ten years and he still knew its characteristics. He used this method to test the truthfulness of what Sun Rui said.

"Not bad, not bad." Lü Liang patted Sun Rui's shoulder happily, looking very excited. Lü Liang's sudden change confused everyone, who didn't know why the contrast was so great.

"Husband," Huang asked Lü Liang, her expression conflicted, seeking an answer.

“Yes, Madam, this is our child.” Lü Liang stood with Sun Rui, reassuring Madam Huang with a reassuring tone.

"But you're not." Madam Huang was still a little confused. How could her husband be so sure? He hadn't believed her at all just now.

"Madam, have you forgotten what Heaven announced to the world this morning? Didn't it say that an extraordinary person has entered our world, and that there will inevitably be conflict in the world afterward? So the growth cycle of newborns has been changed to one year?"

Lu Liang spoke to Huang Shi with a beaming smile, clearly very pleased and satisfied that Sun Rui had grown into a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy.

"Ah, Bu'er, it really is you."

After the misunderstanding was cleared up, the soldiers dispersed and returned to their posts. Through his conversation with the Lu couple, Sun Rui understood that the system's rules had been directly communicated to the natives, saving him the trouble of explaining them, which he himself could not explain clearly.

"Ugly Girl, how come you haven't changed?" Sun Rui's eyes twitched as he looked at the little black girl standing in front of him. Before he quit the game, Ugly Girl was only half a head shorter than him. Now, let alone half a head, she was half a body shorter. He had gone from a cute boy to a young man, but the little girl was still a little girl.

"Who...who are you?" Ugly Girl looked at Sun Rui with her bright, star-like eyes, full of vigilance. She pulled a dagger from her waist and pointed it at Sun Rui.

Seeing this, Sun Rui's lips twitched. This was what he had taught him: to be wary of strangers and not to easily trust them. He never expected that Ugly Girl would be so wary of him.

"Ugly girl, this is the young master, he just grew up overnight." Xiao Hua, who came from behind, understood what was going on as soon as she saw the situation, and quickly stepped forward to explain to Sun Rui.

When Ugly Girl saw a familiar face, the wariness in her eyes disappeared, replaced by a look of confusion. She looked at Sun Rui as if he were a rare animal, and Ugly Girl's gaze made Sun Rui feel very awkward.

The maid Xiaohua held Chouya's hand and whispered something. Although it was a whisper, Sun Rui could hear it clearly. Xiaohua was simply talking about what had happened that morning, and Chouya's eyes grew brighter and brighter as she listened to Xiaohua.

After listening to the maid Xiaohua's words, Chouya ran to Sun Rui's side with small, quick steps, pinching and kneading her hands with great curiosity, and then asked Sun Rui a question that he could not answer.

"Brother Bu, why have you grown up while I haven't?"

Sun Rui couldn't answer this question either. Although he had a vague answer in his mind after seeing Chou Ya, he couldn't tell her. He couldn't very well tell her that he was a famous historical general and therefore his growth cycle wouldn't change under normal circumstances.

"Look, didn't the heavens (system) announce that there might be great chaos in the world? War is a man's business, and I'm a man, so of course I grow up fast."

Sun Rui racked his brains to come up with reasons, but he felt that his reasons were full of loopholes.

"Oh, is that so?" Ugly Girl nodded, not understanding the difference between boys and girls at all, but simply trusting Sun Rui out of habit.

Little girls are so easy to fool, but not so easy to coax, Sun Rui thought to himself.

"Chouya, let's go, brother will take you to level up." After the system update, a team system was added, and experience could be split equally when teaming up. Previously, Sun Rui and Chouya leveled up separately for four months, but now with the team system, Sun Rui can take Chouya with him to level up together.

"Young Master, the Master wants you to go to his study." Just as Sun Rui was about to take Ugly Girl to fight monsters, Little Flower spoke up.

Sun Rui led Chou Ya and Xiao Hua to Lü Liang's study. He saw Lü Liang looking at an official document and asked, "Father, what brings you here?"

“Oh, Bu’er.” Lü Liang looked up from his official documents at Sun Rui. “You’re a young man of fifteen or sixteen now, it’s time for you to contribute to Jiuyuan County.”

As he spoke, Lü Liang tossed the official document in his hand to Sun Rui. After catching the document, Sun Rui looked at the text on it. It said that a group of bandits had set up a small stronghold in the mountains near Jiuyuan County and frequently plundered the surrounding villages. He requested that they be wiped out.

"Player Lü Bu has found a quest. Do you want to accept the bandit suppression quest?"

Hearing the system notification in his ear, Sun Rui realized that the official document Lu Liang threw at him was a mission book. This was a good thing. Missions were a valuable resource in "Global Hope," offering a wide variety of rewards and reputation. In the Three Kingdoms period, reputation was essential to obtaining an official position, which was very important. Even during the period of warlordism, ordinary people still considered the Han Dynasty to be the legitimate dynasty, and having a legitimate identity was the best way to expand one's power.

"My son, I have a question." Although the mission had many benefits, Sun Rui did not rush to accept it. He wanted to find out the difficulty of the mission first.

"Ask away." Lü Liang's eyes showed approval, and he was very satisfied that his son hadn't blindly accepted the mission.

"What I want to ask is, how strong is the small mountain stronghold?" Knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure victory in every battle. This is a wise saying. Although Sun Rui did not have a clear assessment of his own strength, he was certain that he had the strength of a Qi Accumulation Stage general. Moreover, this was only a minimum estimate. With his full martial prowess attribute, he was likely even stronger.

"Those bandits, according to our reconnaissance, are at most Tier 3 soldiers, and their leader should be a general in the Qi Accumulation stage. How about it, are you confident?"

Lu Liang sensed that Sun Rui was not yet in complete control of his aura and felt that this kind of mission would be a piece of cake for Sun Rui. However, since the original purpose was not to have him suppress bandits, he naturally chose an easy one.

"Your son obeys." After inquiring about the strength, Sun Rui felt there were no problems at all, so he confidently accepted the mission.