Chapter 21

Liu Xun felt the joy filling his chest rapidly drain away.

The moment his arrow struck Pang Tong, causing him to fall from his horse, Liu Xun had been relieved to have overcome a crisis and overwhelmed with a sense of achievement for killing one of Liu Bei’s closest confidants.

The sight of Liu Bei’s army, losing their heads and retreating in disarray, was utterly delightful.

Thinking of how Liu Bei, who had been so insufferable, would suffer from losing his cherished troops and failing to capture Chengdu, Liu Xun felt as if a weight had been lifted from his chest.

Of course, Liu Xun had also lost a general, Zhang Jin, but when comparing Zhang Jin to Pang Tong, it was clear who had gained the upper hand.

If Zhang Jin hadn’t led the troops out, they might have ventured outside the city to increase their achievements, but that was regrettably impossible. Of course, without Zhang Jin, Pang Tong’s sniping would also have been impossible.

But the joy was short-lived.

The unknown general beside Pang Tong—no, as she called herself, the marching marshal Chang-ran. Liu Xun hadn’t even known such a person existed in Liu Bei’s camp.

The name sounded vaguely familiar, but after all, she was just a woman. How much strength could she possibly exert on the battlefield?

With their commander fallen, Liu Bei’s army, already in disarray, had lost their will to fight.

As he had thought, the girl general leading the charge and climbing the ladder initially only managed to turn around a mere two or three squads.

But following her, more and more turned, spreading like ripples from a single drop of water.

From squads to platoons, platoons to companies, companies to battalions, and finally the entire army.

Led by Chang-ran, Liu Bei’s army charged back toward the fallen city, completely overwhelming the defenders who had grown complacent in their relief.

“Haha…”

Hatred, resentment, and emptiness melted away. Liu Xun didn’t know how to process this situation.

It wasn’t the renowned strategist Pang Tong, nor the enemy leader and seasoned veteran Liu Bei, but merely the fierce fighting of this young girl that had brought the fallen city to the brink of collapse. It was simply absurd.

“But I can’t go alone.”

Chang-ran swept through the soldiers frozen in shock on the city walls, creating space, and the following Liu Bei troops quickly occupied the walls using her as a foothold.

The fallen city was done.

Even if Liu Xun fought desperately, it was impossible to reverse the tide of battle that had already turned so decisively, like trying to scoop up spilled water.

Knowing this, Liu Xun still fought. One by one, he took down Liu Bei’s soldiers, heading toward where Chang-ran was.

And it was the same for Chang-ran. From the beginning, her target had been Liu Xun.

The two ordered their subordinates to clear a path for them.

“I’ll take you with me.”

Squeezing out the last of his anger, Liu Xun looked at Chang-ran’s face and nearly dropped his sword as his strength drained from his grip.

‘How could such a young lady… do such a thing…’

The Chang-ran he saw was a demoness.

With a single sword stroke, she cut down soldiers, slaughtering enemies like a wolf among sheep. It was a level of martial prowess that even Liu Xun himself couldn’t be sure of defeating.

But the Chang-ran he faced directly was a girl whose appearance didn’t match her ferocity. If he had met her in Chengdu’s market rather than on the walls of the fallen city…

“Useless thoughts.”

Liu Xun deliberately bit his tongue to snap himself back to attention.

Waiting for Liu Xun to regain his composure, Chang-ran finally thrust her spear as he properly gripped his sword.

Clang!

“Ugh!”

Liu Xun barely blocked the lightning-fast spear thrust, but his arm trembled from the impact transmitted through his sword.

Astonishingly, the 14-year-old girl Chang-ran far surpassed Liu Xun in strength.

As Liu Xun deflected the spear, Chang-ran twisted it while still in contact with his sword.

After a long battle, fatigue had built up, and Liu Xun’s arm, numbed by Chang-ran’s initial strike, could no longer hold out.

Following the rotation of Chang-ran’s spear, Liu Xun’s sword slipped from his hand and fell below the city wall.

Liu Xun tried to grab another sword or spear lying on the ground, but Chang-ran’s follow-up strike was faster, slamming into his body.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Struck in the torso by the spear shaft, Liu Xun expelled all the air from his lungs and crumpled to the ground, curling up.

It wasn’t an act or a desperate attempt to survive—his body simply gave out.

“Capture him alive, make sure he doesn’t die. Then go down and open the city gates to welcome our allies.”

The soldiers, watching Chang-ran bring down Liu Xun in just three strikes, were filled with awe.

Chang-ran’s command, proven by her astonishing martial prowess, now carried authority.

The soldiers followed her orders, opening the gates of the fallen city, and Liu Bei’s troops outside flooded in like a breached dam.

As the gates of the fallen city swung wide open, Pang Tong, who had just regained consciousness in the distance, watched intently.

‘Phoenixes do not appear in times of peace. Only when the world is chaotic and turbid do phoenixes emerge, displaying their azure feathers and singing beautifully and sorrowfully. And when the phoenix appears, the world regains peace.’

Pang Tong saw it.

The azure wings sprouting from the girl’s back as she stood atop the city walls, commanding the world. The azure feathers that held the sky.

‘Become the phoenix. The phoenix that will devour this chaotic era.’

That day, Liu Bei’s army crossed the fallen city.

It was the spring of 214 AD.

§

Liu Bei, who had entrusted Pang Tong with command and observed the battle for the fallen city from afar, was filled with regret for the first time in a long while.

He should have taken the field himself. Even if it meant losing more soldiers.

When he first heard the news that Pang Tong had been struck by an arrow and fallen from his horse.

And when he saw the soldiers retreating as if confirming the news.

Liu Bei lamented the cruelty of heaven.

What a talent, what an opportunity he had gained.

Wolong and Fengchu were his brains. While Guan Yu and Zhang Fei fought enemies as his arms, Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong were the ones who charted his path forward through administration and strategy.

It was because of them that Liu Bei had endured and risen through countless trials, and it was because he had gained them that he had laid the foundation for his great undertaking.

And standing on that small foundation, Liu Bei had finally built a force spanning Jing and Yi, reaching the starting point of Zhuge Liang’s grand plan for unifying the realm, the Longzhong Strategy.

But it wasn’t just the Longzhong Strategy. Liu Bei had his own vision.

He had entrusted his chief strategist Zhuge Liang with overall control of state affairs, while Pang Tong provided the practical means to realize Zhuge Liang’s vision through grand strategy and military tactics.

Following this framework, Liu Bei led his loyal and valiant generals like his sworn brothers, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, and Wei Yan, to strive for the realm.

Even without Pang Tong, there were talents to fill his place.

Fa Zheng, whose abilities Liu Bei acknowledged as rivaling his own, and Yi Yan, who had recently surrendered, were no less capable.

But in Liu Bei’s grand vision, no one was as suitable as Pang Tong.

Wise yet bold, friendly with both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and the greatest confidant of Zhuge Liang, with whom he had studied.

The only talent who could foster camaraderie with all the key figures of Liu Bei’s faction and maximize their cooperation was Pang Tong.

‘My advisor…’

That Liu Bei, at the rear, had come to where the battle for the fallen city was raging was proof of how much he cherished Pang Tong.

To personally welcome Pang Tong if he had been struck by an arrow, to be by his side if the injury was fatal.

Thanks to that, Liu Bei saw it.

The figure of the girl charging forward when all others were retreating.

The soldiers she led in a countercharge.

As she fearlessly scaled the city walls, displaying peerless martial prowess, and flung open the gates of the fallen city, Liu Bei received word that Pang Tong was safe. Thanks to Chang-ran shielding him, he had survived.

‘Heaven, have you finally recognized this Liu Xuande’s dream?’

He had always smiled. Because he had to.

Losing his base, being driven out, scattered and lost, living pitifully under others’ feet, Liu Bei himself had to smile and remain composed.

Even if inside he was crumbling and weeping tears of blood, as a leader he had to believe in his destiny and stand firm.

How long had he watched Cao Cao’s rising sun with anguish?

How many times had talents left him, and how many moments had seemed utterly hopeless?

But now, Liu Bei felt that a light was finally shining on him.

Since Chibi, he had known no defeat. He had repelled Zhao Ren and gained Nan Commandery, seized southern Jing Province.

Now, Yi Province was almost within his grasp.

“Yi De, was it you who birthed the phoenix? For this foolish brother?”

Gazing at the girl who had saved Pang Tong, rallied the crumbling army, and captured the fallen city, Liu Bei projected a distant past.

The days when the three sworn brothers had faced the Yellow Turbans together. Zhang Fei had been like that.

With courage that defied ten thousand, he had swept through the Yellow Turbans. Just as Chang-ran was doing now.

So much time had passed that Liu Bei, watching his sworn brothers’ children in action, pictured their dear faces.

“You take after him, Yi De.”

With light steps, Liu Bei approached Pang Tong, smiling.

Not a false mask, but a genuine, joyful, and satisfied smile.