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Xiang Bo originally wanted to make a more thorough plan, but he couldn’t care about it so much right now.
He thought that since he was, after all, Xiang Yu’s blood-related uncle, and had made significant contributions, he could get away with it as long as he steadfastly refused to admit anything even if others slandered him.
This wasn’t the case for Zifang.
He had witnessed the killing intent Xiang Yu had shown at the banquet — if that scheming, deceitful Lü Bu hadn’t suddenly got some bad idea and stopped him, Xiang Bo wouldn’t have dared to protest to his face.
Since he understood very well the cruelty Xiang Yu held towards his enemies, how could he sit back and allow Zifang to stay?
When he thought of Zifang’s kindness in saving his life that year, Xiang Bo became even more determined.
He hardened his heart and decided not to hesitate anymore. As the saying went, it was better to act than to dawdle, so he chose a time when Xiang Yu had summoned all his ministers and the guards were most lax.
In order to avoid attracting attention, he only brought twenty men with him to the prison.
After descending into the prison and coming face to face with the greedy jailers, he only needed to give a pointed look for the soldiers behind him to understand. When the jailers bent to salute, the soldiers killed them all neatly and took out the keys from the corpses.
Although Zhang Liang was meditating in his cell with his eyes closed, he could not have missed these movements. Upon opening his eyes, he saw Xiang Bo, whom he had seen just the day before, nervously unlocking his cell door. “Zifang, are you well?” he asked hurriedly.
“Xiang-xiong, you are…” Zhang Liang started, surprised.
“King Xiang has a violent temper and already has murderous intentions toward you,” Xiang Bo explained quickly as the heavy lock finally opened. “Even if I’m risking my life, I can’t see Zifang being threatened again… the door’s open, dear brother, follow me!”
Things happened too quickly even for someone as resourceful as Zhang Liang to react. He could only forcibly suppress his unease as Xiang Bo pulled him out of the cell, put on a Chu soldier’s uniform over his prison clothes, and mixed him into his personal entourage to leave the prison. There was no time for him to come up with any better suggestions.
This was the first time Xiang Bo had directly violated Xiang Yu’s wishes and committed treason with no decent explanation except for ‘repaying a life debt’, so one could imagine the tension in his heart.
The group walked out of the prison as if nothing had happened and headed towards the palace gates.
Although Xiang Bo wasn’t as close to Xiang Yu recently as he was in the past, he was still the respected Minister of the Left who had been deeply trusted for many years; thus, while the Chu soldiers who saw him and his entourage walk quickly towards the palace gates with serious faces had doubts in their hearts, no one dared to go up and ask.
And because Xiang Bo usually gave people a friendly and easy-going impression, his unusually sullen expression also attracted the soldiers’ attention, so they had no time to pay attention to the unfamiliar face in his entourage, nor to the man’s out-of-sync gait.
Xiang Bo was tense throughout, and with the sun high overhead in addition to the hot weather, his military uniform was soon soaked with sweat.
He didn’t speak. Zhang Liang was still digesting the sudden changes and was similarly silent.
After all, he had been held imprisoned for half a month. Even if his spirit wasn’t much depressed, he still struggled to walk in step with the soldiers around him as he tried to adapt to the dazzling sunlight outside.
For this group of people who were well aware of the seriousness of what they had just done, this familiar journey seemed to take an extremely long time until, eventually, the least guarded South Gate finally came into view.
As soon as he saw the familiar palace gate, Xiang Bo — who had been anxious the entire time — immediately relaxed, forced his lips into a smile, then turned to look at Zhang Liang behind him. “Zi–”
Before he could finish the name, everyone heard the sound of something sharp piercing through the air. At the same time, a slender shadow appeared out of nowhere and flew dangerously close, barely brushing against the cheek of Xiang Bo who had just turned his head.
And after it scratched his sweaty skin and caused a thread of blood to spill down his face, the slender shadow which carried the strength of thousands yet moved at tremendous speed continued to flash by everyone’s eyes.
–Like lightning piercing clouds, like fire sparking against rocks.
It wasn’t until it embedded into a solid brick an inch away from the tip of Xiang Bo’s boot that it finally stopped.
This was also the moment that everyone saw its true form.
It was an ordinary arrow used by the Chu army, but its arrowhead was now completely buried in the clay brick, and the wisps of white smoke it stirred up hadn’t yet dissipated.
Such an accurate arrow, such an arrogant warning, they went from uneasy straight to frightened out of their wits.
They’d been found!!!
Xiang Bo felt as if he had been hit in the head with a sledgehammer. His mind buzzed, and he was soon covered in a new layer of sweat.
One moment things were going smoothly and they were on the verge of success, but a threatening arrow blocked them the next. The feeling of despair brought by the extreme ups and downs was hard for anyone to bear, let alone for someone like Xiang Bo whose life had always gone according to his whims.
He couldn’t have cared less about his companion at this moment. Like a rabid dog, he twisted his body this way and that, trying to find the person who shot the arrow. “Who is it?! Who!!!” he yelled.
“Up here,” someone drawled, followed by a playful whistle. The nonchalant voice was in stark contrast to how fierce the arrow was just now, still fresh in Xiang Bo’s memory, and at a noticeable distance. “Your grandpa Fengxian is here.”
Xiang Bo gasped, jerked around, and looked up towards the source of the voice!
The tall Chu general who sat on the eaves of a palace roof one hundred and fifty paces away, with his legs propped up leisurely and a face filled with contempt, wasn’t it Lü Bu whom Xiang Bo hated deeply?!
Holding a bow and humming an unknown tune, he took another arrow from the quiver and unhurriedly nocked it.
“Impossible!” Xiang Bo blurted out as his eyes widened into saucers.
When talking about talented marksmen, the first one who came to mind was Yang Youji from the previous dynasty.
The tale of Yang Youji accurately shooting down willow leaves from a hundred paces away spread far and wide, fascinating soldiers everywhere.
He had once witnessed Lü Bu smashing the King of Chu’s head open with a broken guqin without a blink; he had also witnessed Lü Bu, alone, killing over sixty professional guards with a sword he had picked up off the ground in less than the time it took to brew a cup of tea. In addition, he had inspected the dismembered bodies of Liu Bang’s most trusted officers, including Fan Kuai, who was hailed as the best warrior standing beside Liu Bang.
But he never dared to imagine even in his dreams that there was someone so blessed with talent that he could not only use longswords, but also hid an archery skill that could rival Yang Youji and not show his edge until today!
How could he dare to believe it, how could he be willing to believe it?
When Lü Bu heard Xiang Bo’s remark, he wasn’t annoyed at all. He even raised his eyebrows and lifted the corners of his lips into a smile. “Oh?”
If he knew what Xiang Bo was thinking, he would definitely feel that the man was being unreasonable, maybe even incomprehensible.
How could this be called hiding it? It was just that there hadn’t been an opportunity to show it.
Moreover, he was under someone else’s roof — if he could do one thing less then he would do one thing less, he wasn’t so idle as to show off any special skills. He had learned from his own actions towards Gao Fuyi the true meaning behind the phrase ‘the capable work hard’.
To be honest, he had only placed himself under Xiang Yu to kill Liu Bang, he didn’t really want to serve him for the rest of his life. It was more than enough to get a low officer’s rank so he could go kill Liu Bang, why should he bother working hard and exhausting himself just to get a few more servants?
Lü Bu didn’t bother defending himself against Xiang Bo’s roar of an accusation.
When he shot the tip of his halberd from more than a hundred paces away at Yuanmen,1Referring to an incident in the Romance whereby Lü Bu broke up a fight by betting that he could hit the left tip of his Sky Piercer halberd with an arrow shot from 150 paces away; he succeeded. See glossary for more details. this little brat still hadn’t been… had already been dead for hundreds of years.
Although he disliked this bow that he borrowed from Han Xin for being so fragile that he couldn’t use more than 60% of his strength for fear of breaking it, he could still use it.
His only response was to straighten his legs, raise his bow with another arrow nocked, and take aim at Xiang Bo who was still frozen in place. “Go!” he shouted.
A sharp arrow’s shadow similar to the one before flew out as fast as a comet, as cold as frost, and unceremoniously rushed straight to Xiang Bo once again!
Although Xiang Bo had his doubts, he understood it in his heart, so he was more or less prepared.
Even so, he still couldn’t dodge Lü Bu’s second shot!
When the whoosh came and Xiang Bo threw himself to the ground in a panic, yelping, Lü Bu only raised his eyebrow and muttered, “Too slow! He’s eaten so much until his head’s this big, but he’s still moving this slowly. Is he even older than that old man Fan Zeng?”
Compared to the swift-moving arrow, Xiang Bo’s reaction was indeed too slow.
When Xiang Bo, soaked in cold sweat, stood up again with the help of his entourage, he didn’t even have time to pat away the dirt stained on his clothes before stinging pain from his scalp made him suck in a deep breath.
Just like the first arrow which flew provocatively close to his cheek, this divine marksman’s second arrow seemed to have been aimed at his face but had only scraped his scalp.
The gash on his head wasn’t small. As drops of sweat flowed into it, the burning sensation forced a few tears from Xiang Bo’s eyes.
He clutched at his wound and, not daring to look at Lü Bu anymore, searched for the second arrow.
What scared him was that the second arrow had landed precisely one foot behind him with greater force than the first arrow, such that the clay bricks had cracks spider webbing throughout.
These two arrows had fenced him in to a space of two feet.
Xiang Bo’s soldiers, who had also witnessed this shocking scene, were too frightened to move.
Merely two simple arrows had driven him to this point, until he dared not take half a step forward.
He was in great pain, and knew that it would be the simplest thing in the world for Lü Bu to take his life with his superb marksmanship; however, for some reason, Lü Bu only kept playing tricks on him…
Xiang Bo didn’t know why, but it was impossible for Zhang Liang to not know.
He ignored Xiang Bo, who had now slumped to the ground after being teased by Lü Bu like a trapped beast. Now he raised his head and braved the sting of bright sunlight to look in the direction of Bashu.
Sighing softly, he closed his eyes and suppressed the reluctance in his heart. When his eyes opened again, there were only peace and indifference within.
There was only one reason why Lü Bu would shoot at Xiang Bo but not kill.
And that was…
Just as Lü Bu was weighing his quiver, wondering why that person hadn’t yet arrived, and thinking of whether he should shoot another arrow to scare Xiang Bo a bit, he caught sight of something at the corner of his eyes.
It’s done.
When he saw that the main character had arrived, he stood up leisurely, hung the bow back on his body, and neatly rolled off the roof.
Although it took some effort, he had scared the piss out of Xiang Bo and stuck him with the crime of helping an enemy prisoner escape. No matter what happened to Xiang Bo now, at least he had the joy of appreciating that guy’s miserable look with his own eyes.
Heheh, if Xiang Bo wants to blame anything, blame Xiang Yu’s bitchy attitude, Lü Bu thought. He tormented me like that, and even made me listen to those scholars blathering on for ages.
He had been so irritated. If he couldn’t take his grievances out on the brainless hegemon-king, he could at least take it out on a piss-poor traitor like Xiang Bo right?
Lü Bu retreated from the stage with great satisfaction.
And the people still at the scene were left with things so horrific that it might as well have come out of purgatory.
After Xiang Yu had received a report from Han Xin, he rushed here with a wooden face and the last embers of hope, only to catch the criminals red-handed.
The moment Xiang Bo saw that familiarly stalwart figure, he also understood everything.
He knelt at Xiang Yu’s feet, ashen-faced, trembling, knowing that he had no way of denying anything. Xiang Yu himself was expressionless and inscrutable.
“Uncle,” Xiang Yu finally said after a long silence. He didn’t invite Xiang Bo to get up. Instead, there was a trace of confusion clear to everyone as he asked softly, “…Why?”
The Xiang clan had splintered one by one, so in his younger years, he had lived in exile with his uncle Xiang Liang as they sought refuge all over the land, and he had grown into an exceedingly suspicious person.
Among the confidants of his army, he had doubted Fan Zeng, doubted Zhongli Mo, doubted Ying Bu, doubted Long Qie, and doubted many, many more.
The only person he had never doubted was his blood-related uncle, Xiang Bo.
But it was his most beloved uncle who had betrayed him. The evidence was conclusive and without doubt.
Xiang Bo, faced with this simple question, finally felt a bit of shame and regret amidst his overwhelming fear.
But at this moment, even he himself didn’t understand why he was so obsessed with his life-and-death friend and the in-laws of whom he had hardly seen a shadow, to the point that he had completely betrayed his nephew who relied on him the most…
Translator:
That’s all the free chapters of Unparalleled Conqueror, this novel translation is officially dropped. Next up is National Teacher Returns at Warp Speed, I’ll be translating 22 chapters. There are two chapters up as of this post.
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- 1Referring to an incident in the Romance whereby Lü Bu broke up a fight by betting that he could hit the left tip of his Sky Piercer halberd with an arrow shot from 150 paces away; he succeeded. See glossary for more details.
suiruo says:
Thank you for all the chapters!
27 October 2023 — 19:51