Three Kingdoms: Rebirth of Liu Bei, the Zhaolie

Before the attack, Luo Shi left a corporal with four or five light cavalrymen, ostensibly to guard the horses, but in reality to monitor Liu Bei, Geng Yong, Qian Zhao, Zhang Fei, and Wu Tu Lu.

The remaining thirty-odd light cavalry, under the command of Chu Yan and Luo Shi, charged into the depths of the dense forest.

Halberdiers and shieldmen were in front.

When Luo Shi encountered retainers and servants of Qingxi Manor lying on the ground wounded by crossbow bolts, he would order the halberd-shield soldiers to first stab them to death with divination halberds, and then order the sword-shield soldiers to finish them off by slitting their throats with ring-pommel swords, to make sure they were 100% dead.

At this moment, the group of retainers and followers of Qingxi Manor, led by the swordsman Cuan Heizi, faced crossbow bolts from the bandits of Baishi Mountain ahead, and the Iron Wall Dock rebels led by Chu Yan and Luo Shi advancing from behind.

At first, Cuan Heizi and the others were happy to see the light cavalry of Tiebiwu arrive, thinking they were there to help them suppress the bandits. However, the more they looked, the more something seemed wrong. These garrison soldiers of Tiebiwu, which belonged to Zhuojun, were actually finishing off the half-dead retainers and retainers one by one.

The joy on their faces vanished instantly, replaced by inexplicable fear.

As the rebel army led by Chu Yan and Luo Shi advanced step by step, Cuan Heizi and the others increasingly felt the approaching aura of death.

Their survival instinct led them to decide to fight to the death.

The remaining dozen or so retainers and followers, brandishing their swords, charged fiercely towards the rebel army led by Chu Yan and Luo Shi.

"Release the arrows!"

Seeing them rushing towards him, Chu Yan immediately ordered the crossbowmen to fire.

The crossbow bolts shot out rapidly.

The first few retainers and servants who rushed forward fell to the ground.

The rest of the people quickly ducked down and hid behind trees and in the bushes.

At this moment, the bandits from Baishi Mountain behind them also began to advance steadily.

The encirclement is getting smaller and smaller.

When the two sides were about seven or eight steps apart, they stopped using crossbows and instead drew their ring-pommel swords, engaging in a bloody close-quarters melee.

Most of the retainers of Qingxi Manor had poor martial arts skills and were the first to be killed by the bandits from Baishi Mountain and the rebels from Tiebiwu, who attacked from both sides.

Most of the retainers of Qingxi Manor were former wandering knights, so they were skilled with swords and blades. During the fierce battle, they killed several bandits from Baishi Mountain.

Seeing their ferocity, Luo Shi ordered three soldiers with hooked swords and shields to surround each of them, and they killed the retainers one by one.

In the end, only Cuan Heizi remained in the arena, still wielding his sword with both hands, relentlessly fighting.

Cuan Heizi's longsword had already killed four or five bandits from Baishi Mountain and six or seven light cavalrymen from Tiebiwu rebels.

His sword was too fast.

The attackers were barely preparing to swing their swords when their throats or hearts were pierced by Sakaiko's longsword.

Therefore, everyone surrounded him from a distance, not daring to approach him at all.

Even the halberd-shield soldiers with shields and the sword-shield soldiers with hooks could not stop Cuan Heizi's longsword from piercing from an unbelievable angle.

Archers fired long arrows at Cuan Heizi from all directions, but he always managed to cunningly dodge them, despite Cuan's thin frame.

In the end, they ran out of arrows and crossbow bolts, but they still couldn't kill Cuan Heizi, whose figure was as elusive as a ghost.

Enraged, Luo Shi brandished his ring-pommel sword and launched a fierce attack on Cuan Heizi.

Cuan Heizi smiled coldly, took a side step, neither parrying nor blocking, and directly thrust his sword with great speed and precision, striking Luo Shi's right wrist, which was holding the knife.

Luo Shi felt as if he were on fire, the pain piercing to his very bones.

He couldn't even hold onto the ring-pommel sword; it slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground.

After Cuan Heizi's pointed thrust, he immediately followed up with a sudden circular motion of his longsword, followed by an upward slash that aimed directly at Luo Shi's throat and neck.

He's too fast.

Luo Shi was completely unaware of the impending danger.

As soon as Cuan Heizi successfully stabbed Luo Shi with his sword, Chu Yan pounced and tackled him to the ground. Luo Shi rolled several times before getting far away from Cuan Heizi.

Fortunately, three halberd-shield soldiers each extended their halberds in a forward thrusting posture, which made Cuan Heizi decisively abandon Luo Shi and not pursue the victory.

Luo Shi stood up from the ground, looked at his right wrist that was still bleeding, frowned and cursed angrily:

"That black bamboo pole's two-handed sword is incredibly sharp!"

Chu Yan, who was standing nearby, quickly bandaged his wound.

In fact, Cuan Heizi's point-and-stab technique is just the most basic technique in two-handed swordsmanship, often used to stab the opponent's wrist or throat.

When using the point-and-thrust technique, one must "concentrate force on the tip of the sword, with a crisp and swift strike like a pecking motion," resulting in an extremely short but precise strike.

Enraged, Luo Shi was stabbed by Cuan Heizi's sword and never dared to underestimate him again.

At this moment, Sun Qing and Wang Dang walked over and said to Luo Shi:

"Brother Luo, are you alright?"

Luo Shi's expression was pained:

"Cuan Heizi's thrusting sword should have injured the wrist bone on the back of my hand, but it shouldn't be broken yet. His swordsmanship is extremely high, and his footwork is unpredictable. If we keep fighting him, we'll lose many more brothers... Has the general arrived?"

The "general" he mentioned was the nickname of Zhang Niujiao, the chief leader of Baishi Mountain, also known as "General Niujiao".

Sun nodded slightly and said:

"The general has arrived. He is currently whipping Wen Xuan and Wu Guang behind a large tree not far ahead, along with his brothers Zhang Leigong, Zhang Baiqi, Li Damu, and Yu Digen."

Chu Yan glared fiercely at Cuan Heizi, who was sitting there looking completely smug, shook her head, and said resentfully:

"Although I am known as 'Flying Swallow' and have learned martial arts from the Yue people in Danyang County, my footwork and swordsmanship are still far inferior to this despicable Cuan Heizi. Why don't we have General, Lei Gong, Bai Qi, Da Mu, Di Gen and the others come over, and the nine of us can gang up on Cuan Heizi together? I don't believe we can't kill him."

"No!"

Sun Qing had already witnessed Cuan Heizi's formidable swordsmanship back at Qingxi Manor, and still felt lingering fear. "Now, we've all seen Cuan Heizi's swordsmanship. Even if all nine of us attack together and manage to kill him by sheer luck, several of us will be killed or injured in the process. It's not worth it."

Wang Dang said in a deep voice:

"We can't just let him go like this. This Cuan Heizi is a major menace. If we don't get rid of him now, he'll become a serious problem in the future."

"I do have an idea..."

Sun Qing frowned and pondered, "Now, the only one capable of killing Cuan Heizi is Liu Bei."

Chu Yan asked:

Who is Liu Bei?

Sun Qingyi pointed to where Liu Bei and the others were standing not far away and said:

"Among those people, there was a young man with big ears and long arms—that's Liu Bei. I've witnessed his swordsmanship; it's even more formidable than Cuan Heizi's. If we want to kill Cuan Heizi, all we need to do is get Liu Bei to take action. I just don't know if he'll be willing to help us with this."

Upon hearing this, Chu Yan said to a squad leader:

"Go and call Liu Bei and his group over."

The sergeant accepted the order and immediately hurried away.

At that very moment, Cuan Heizi, who was surrounded by the crowd, launched a surprise attack on several swordsmen while Chu Yan and the others were discussing the matter.

Although those swordsmen and shield bearers held hooks in their left hands and ring-pommel swords in their right, they were completely unable to withstand Cuan Heizi's sharp attacks, and their swords and shields were rendered useless.

With just a few swift thrusts, Cuan Heizi killed three more swordsmen and shieldmen.

Four or five halberd and shield soldiers had no choice but to hide behind their shields and extend their halberds from a distance, thrusting them at Cuan Heizi's upper, middle, and lower positions, blocking all his attack routes, and barely managing to force him back.

Upon seeing this, Chu Yan, Luo Shi, Sun Qing, and Wang Dang became even more anxious.

Not long ago.

Liu Bei, Geng Yong, Qian Zhao, Zhang Fei, and Wutulu, under the watchful eyes of five or six rebel light cavalrymen, approached Chu Yan and his group.

Seeing the corpses scattered on the ground, Liu Bei knew that the group of retainers and followers from Qingxi Manor who had been chasing after him, except for Cuan Heizi who was surrounded in the field, had all been killed.

When Cuan Heizi caught sight of Liu Bei approaching, a hint of fear flashed in his eyes.

He was originally Liu Bei's defeated general, and he knew that Liu Bei's two-handed swordsmanship was far superior to his own.

At this moment, he was surrounded by bandits from Baishi Mountain and rebels from Tiebiwu. The only way to escape was to fly over their heads.

Thinking of this, Cuan Heizi didn't say a word. He inserted his six-foot-long sword into the scabbard at his waist, grabbed a tree with both hands, and began to climb up.

His thin, bamboo-like body scurried up the tree like a mouse.

Cuan Heizi stood on a tree branch, grabbed another branch, and with a swing, like a monkey, leaped onto the branch of another tree, seemingly about to escape over the heads of the crowd.

……

The sword should be drawn as lightly as a dragonfly skimming the water, touching the object and then withdrawing; one should not be greedy for depth.

—"Dual-Handed Sword Techniques: Pointing and Thrusting"