Chapter 35: Suiyang
The next day they left Zhending as their destination was Xiangyang. They were riding through Ji entering Yan when the sky was turning red because the sun was about to go down.
They entered Puyang to find an inn and sleep there as they both were exhausted from riding the whole day. Yun paid the innkeeper for a room and meal when they sat down at a table and they began to eat.
Yun was listening to what the others were saying but nothing of interest was caught by his ears until someone says, "Have you heard, the Liu family of Changyi and Li Yong from Suiyang have a grudge between each other."
This was all Yun needed to pinpoint Dian Wei as he looked at Diao Chan who was eating quite elegantly making Yun feel lust just from seeing her like that.
He shakes his head while telling himself that he had to wait a bit longer when he says, "We will go to Suiyang before going to Xiangyang."
"It seems you found what you were looking for," says Diao Chan as she knew that Yun wasn't going to visit Xiangyang while stopping somewhere first.
"So what are we going to do in Suiyang?" asks Diao Chan as Yun smiled at her.
"We are going to attend an assassination," says Yun as Diao Chan was surprised.
She was so surprised that her chopsticks fell out of her hands when she hits the table with both her palms while saying, "Are you crazy!"
The people turned to their table making Diao Chan turned a bit red from embarrassment as she sits down and says, "Are you crazy. We could be killed just because we are there."
"We won't," says Yun as he takes a sip from his wine before continuing, "I want the assassin to join my troops."
"Can you even trust him?" asks Diao Chan worried that Yun would have someone dangerous behind him.
"I can and you will see it soon enough," says Yun with a smile that reassured Diao Chan.
"I trust you, but please be careful," says Diao Chan as Yun nods and they finished their dinner before going to bed.
They traveled for another day to reach Suiyang. The city guards were quite cautious of who enters the city as they send people without identification away if they were too suspicious for them.
"You are?" asks the guard as he looked at Yun and Diao Chan.
"I'm Zhao Yun from Zhending and this is my future wife, Diao Chan. We are traveling to Xiangyang to meet Liu Biao," says Yun but the guards stopped listening to him when he heard his name and from where he was from.
He looked behind Zhao Yun and saw Thunder and Shadow and stood up rapidly as he saluted to him out of respect as he says, "Welcome to Suiyang, General Zhao. It is an honor to have you here."
"A bit lower, please. I am here privately to see the land with my wife," says Yun wanting the guard to stop making Diao Chan giggle as she sees Yun behave like that.
"You can enter the city. One of the best Inns is just two streets away. Turn right and you won't be able to miss it," says the guard as Yun nods and the couple enters the city on foot guiding their horses.
"It seems we are lucky to sleep in a city twice in a row," says Diao Chan as they arrived at the inn and let the horses at the stable.
"Have you noticed how cautious the guards were?" asks Yun as Diao Chan nods.
"They sent a suspicious merchant away. Is it because of that 'thing' you mentioned before?" asks Diao Chan as Yun nods.
"Most likely," says Yun as they rent a room and sit down at a table to eat like yesterday.
"How long are we staying?" asks Diao Chan as she knew that the assassin wouldn't appear out of thin air just for him.
"We will stay for three or four days but not longer or we won't make it to our own wedding," says Yun as they couldn't stay any longer.
He really hoped that Dian Wei will appear before they leave or he will lose his chance to recruit him into his troops. They finished their meal and retire for today.
The next morning they eat and feed Shadow before walking around Suiyang to explore it while Shadow was guarding them from the air. Yun bought some jewelry for Diao Chan as well as for his mother and sister.
They got a discount from the seller making it obvious that they already knew who he was making him feel awkward since he wasn't accustomed to being treated this way outside of Zhending.
"It seems news travels fast in this city," says Yun making Diao Chan chuckle from hearing him say that.
"It would be easier to keep your identity secret if Shadow wouldn't follow us around," says Diao Chan as Shadow was a big giveaway to identify Yun.
"You are known to have a nightblue horse and a black eagle. Have you ever heard of another person in this Empire having an eagle by his side?" asks Diao Chan as Yun sighs.
"At least we didn't bring Snow with us or a bigger story would be traveling around of me owning a pet tiger," says Yun as the rumors of Thunder were already scary.
Some saw how Thunder ate human flesh on the battlefield making rumors go around that he was a demonic horse between the troops. Yun when asked couldn't agree nor deny said accusations against his horse.
They walked through the city when a carriage passed them and Yun was on alert as he says towards Diao Chan, "We should return to the inn."
"But we have only seen a glimpse of the city," says Diao Chan as she turns around and sees Yun's serious face.
"He has arrived," says Diao Chan as Yun nods making Diao Cham understand why Yun was so serious from one moment to another.
"Then let us go," says Diao Chan as they returned to the inn as fast as possible.
Yun paid the innkeeper what he still owed him and they got Thunder and Huntress. They walked towards the main street when they hear the uproar going on in the city.
"It seems he killed the person he wanted to kill," says Diao Chan hearing the people.
"Then I have to capture him now," says Yun as he gave Thunder's reigns to Diao Chan while his armor appeared on his body.
"I still can't believe that an immortal is your Godfather and that he gave you that ring," says Diao Chan as she has seen Yun do that before at home.
She was so surprised that she called him a devil for being able to do that until Madam Su told her that Yun was protected by an Immortal as his Godson giving him Thunder and Shadow as well as his magical ring.
Yun was holding his spear as he smiles at Diao Chan and kisses her before saying, "I will see you in a second."
Yun then goes back into the city as he finds a tall man holding a dagger tainted in blood in one hand and a halberd in the other. He was walking down the street looking at the people intimidating them.
"Who dares to stop me from leaving will suffer the same fate as Li Yong and his wife," says the man as the people made way for him.
The man smiled as he thought it was as easy as stealing candy from a child. He walked down the streets when he saw Yun holding his spear in his black armor when suddenly an eagle landed on his shoulder.
"You really have bad luck to kill him when I was around," says Yun as he looked at the man knowing it was Dian Wei.
"I really must have bad luck to meet with General Zhao," says Dian Wei as he looked at Yun and continues, "But maybe I am lucky. I always wanted to test my strength against you after hearing about your achievements."
Dian Wei goes into an unorthodox position to fight as Yun just stood there taking no battle stance. Dian Wei rushes at him as he swings his halter at Yun who avoided it by a hair making Dian Wei spin as now the dagger went for Yun.
Yun on the other hand attacked the moment Dian Wei showed his back while blocking at the same time the dagger that was coming for him. Dian Wei felt the blunt end of Yun's spear in his back as he felt a pressure so hard to resist that he was sent to the ground and couldn't stand up.
Dian Wei was struggling as he couldn't fall here when Yun felt Dian Wei struggle to get up but Yun just put more strength into his spear trying to see how much more strength Dian Wei would be able to mobilize as a cornered beast is more dangerous because it could grasp strength to fight back and kill you.
Dian Wei suddenly activated his Earth Qi unconsciously as he grew stronger making him push his body away from the ground making Yun smile as he found a rough diamond right now. He infused Earth Qi unto his spear and pushed Dian Wei back down making Dian Wei give up.
"I would normally execute you for assassinating someone and even confessed it almost like bragging about it. But I like you and I need people like you that's why I am roaming the land right now to recruit people with the potential to become someone great," says Yun as he removed the spear from Dian Wei's back.
Dian Wei wanted to stand up but Yun placed his foot on Dian Wei's back making him eat earth again while saying, "You still haven't answered. Are you going to follow me or will you perish here?"
"I will follow you," says Dian Wei with difficulty as Yun smiles.
"Good, but be warned, if you betray my trust, you won't be able to escape from my spear. Now stand up we need to meet my wife before she worries too much," says Yun as Shadow was still sitting on his shoulder not moving while Yun took care of Dian Wei.
"What is your name by the way?" asks Yun knowing it already.
"Dian Wei," says Dian Wei as he stood up when Yun saw the guards coming their way.
"Shit, we should leave," says Dian Wei nervous as Yun was calm as the water.
"We won't," says Yun so calm that Dian Wei felt shivers about how calm Yun was in this situation.
Yun could see that one of the guards was the one who let him enter the city.
They surrounded Dian Wei when Yun says, "Let him go he is now under my protection."
"But he killed Li Yong," says one of the guards when they felt a cold aura coming from Yun.
"Li Yong knew that it would happen sooner or later. No one is dumb enough to antagonize the Liu family," says Yun as the guards knew he that when Yun continues, "Now think clearly if the Emperor heard that you killed the man that killed the man that antagonized his family members. What do you think he will do with you if he paid this man to kill Li Yong?" says Yun making the guard think with wrong information as they were quite pale thinking about how they and their family could be executed for this.
They back away from Dian Wei as Yun says, "You won't see him again so don't worry about what happened here today."
Yun then looked at Dian Wei and tells him to move with him. They walked towards the gate where Diao Chan was waiting for Yun as Shadow took flied again.
"I know that you have some people waiting for you outside of the city. Tell them to go to Zhending and find a man named Tang Shi. They shall tell him that I send them to join the Deathseekers," says Yun as Dian Wei was surprised that Yun knew that.
"How did y-," says Dian Wei as Yun interrupted him with a glance.
"It would be hard to prepare all this alone. Now go and return you will come with me to Xiangyang," says Yun as he let Dian Wei go.
Diao Chan saw what Yun did and asks, "Was it smart to let him go like that?"
"It isn't but he knows that he can't escape me since I would find him and kill him for breaking my trust. But now we need to buy another horse for our new companion," says Yun as he went to the stable buying a horse for Dian Wei that will be given later to the cavalry.
'I should have sent Hua to Yong or Liang Province to buy some horses there. But let's think about getting Huang Zhong first,' thinks Yun as he came back with the horse as Diao Chan was mounted on Huntress.
"I think your new man is coming back," says Diao Chan as Shadow was watching Dian Wei the whole time from the air, and with Shadow returning slowly it meant that Dian Wei didn't break the trust Yun put in him.
"Then let us ride towards him," says Yun as he mounted Thunder while holding the reigns of the other horse while riding towards Shadow's direction.
They arrived at Dian Wei's position as Yun hands over the reigns and says, "Welcome to the Deathseekers. You will be my guard from now on."
"Your guard?" asks Dian Wei being confused why Yun would need a guard as Yun smiled.
"Only for now. Once I have a stronger force you will be a Commander under me like many other people," says Yun as Dian Wei mounted his horse finding it quite small compared to Thunder and Huntress.
"And the madam is your wife," says Dian Wei as Yun nods.
"Diao Chan, this is Dian Wei. Dian Wei, Diao Chan my future wife. We are getting wed in less than a month," says Yun as Diao Chan was keeping a close eye on Dian Wei.
"Just because my husband trusts you, doesn't mean that I will yet. If you want to gain my trust you will have to keep my husband alive," says Diao Chan as Dian Wei scratches the back of his head.
"I will try my best to win your trust, madam," says Dian Wei as he was a bit younger than Yun now that he could look at him clearer without having his face covered by rags.
Dian Wei was smaller than Yun but had a stocky build showing that he was born with more strength than other men would. He had short black hair and dark brown eyes.
"So next destination is Xiangyang?" asks Dian Wei to make sure he heard Yun right.
"Yes, I want to talk to Liu Biao about a man he has in his ranks. I really need him since he has more experience than anyone else and he needs me because I can do something that could save someone important to him," says Yun as they rode away from Suiyang towards the next city to collect themselves before going to Xiangyang.
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