My brothers are all warriors capable of taking on ten thousand men; I'll roam freely in the Thr

The seventh year of the Guanghe era of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was the year of Jiazi.

Thirty li outside the city of Zhuojun in Youzhou, there is an unnamed hill.

"The mighty Yangtze River flows eastward, its waves washing away the heroes of the past. Right and wrong, success and failure, all vanish in the blink of an eye. The green hills remain, witnessing countless sunsets. White-haired fishermen and woodcutters on the riverbank are accustomed to the autumn moon and spring breeze. A pot of wine brings joyful encounters: how many events of the past and present are all consigned to laughter and conversation."

The person reciting the poem was a young man, dressed in white, wearing a fox fur coat, his face as pale as paper, yet unable to conceal his stunning beauty—his eyebrows were like distant mountains shrouded in mist, his eyes like autumn waters rippling, his nose like a hanging gall, and his lips like a dot of vermilion.

This person's name is Ji Xuanyuan, courtesy name Wenlie, and he is sixteen years old.

He has another identity: a time traveler!

He was originally a history master's student on Earth. He died suddenly from staying up all night writing his thesis. When he woke up again, he had transmigrated into the body of a 7-year-old child.

When Ji Xuanyuan woke up, he felt like the sky had fallen. According to the original owner of this body's memories, his parents had both died tragically in the war.

Ji Xuanyuan immediately took up the old profession of the Hongwu Emperor after transmigrating: begging...

Seven-year-old Ji Xuanyuan, wrapped in tattered burlap, squatted at the foot of the earthen city wall of Wuyuan County in Bingzhou, with a chipped pottery bowl in front of him.

He hadn't been able to get any decent food for three days, and the rumbling of his stomach was accompanied by the howling of wolves outside the city.

After a few months in this era, he finally understood what it meant to "be a dog in times of peace than a human in times of chaos."

The original owner's parents died in the Qiang rebellion, leaving him with a congenitally weak body and the terrifyingly grand name "Ji Xuanyuan".

It is said that his father, who had served as a village head, flipped through the fragments of bamboo slips and chose the most prestigious name from among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

"Ji Xuanyuan...why don't you just call him Pangu?" The boy smiled bitterly, his pale face turning blue from the cold wind.

As darkness fell, he put away the empty bowl and prepared to spend the night in the dilapidated temple outside the city.

Just as I got up, I suddenly heard mournful wolf howls and children's screams coming from the mass grave on the west side of the city wall.

If it were the history master's student from before, he would have run away without looking back.

But the original owner of this body seems to have left him with a strange kind of stubbornness.

Ji Xuanyuan gritted his teeth, picked up a thick tree branch, and tiptoed over.

The scene at the mass grave was horrifying.

Two emaciated gray wolves were circling around a child.

The child was about five or six years old, dressed in rags, but he clung tightly to the corpse of an adult woman.

Even more chilling was that he was clutching a sharp piece of bone in his hand, baring his teeth and growling at the wolves like a small animal guarding its prey.

"Mother...Mother..." the child cried, but his voice was fierce.

A gray wolf, unable to resist, pounced.

Instead of retreating, the child advanced, his broken bones piercing the wolf's eye!

"Awooo—" the gray wolf howled and retreated.

Another wolf took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack from the side and rear.

Just as the claws were about to fall, Ji Xuanyuan used all his strength to swing and smash the wolf in the waist.

With a "crack," the branch broke, and the wolf was knocked off balance.

The child seized the opportunity, flipped over and straddled the wounded gray wolf's back, and frantically stabbed the wolf's neck with broken bones.

Blood splattered all over his face, and his eyes shone frighteningly brightly in the blood.

After one of the wolves died and the other fled, Ji Xuanyuan collapsed to the ground, trembling like a leaf.

The child wiped his face, revealing delicate features.

He walked up to Ji Xuanyuan, stared at him for a long time, and then suddenly knelt down and kowtowed three times.

"You..." Ji Xuanyuan gasped for breath, "What's your name?"

"Lu Bu." The child's voice was hoarse.

Ji Xuanyuan's mind went blank for a moment.

Lü Bu?

The Lü Bu who was described as "among men, Lü Bu; among horses, Red Hare"?

"How old are you?"

"Six years old." Lü Bu stood up and pointed to the female corpse on the ground. "My mother died, and I got separated from my father." (P.S.: In the original history, Lü Bu should have been 14-15 years old at this time, but this has been slightly adjusted for the needs of the plot.)

His tone was calm, unlike that of a child.

Looking into those still somewhat immature but already wolfish eyes, Ji Xuanyuan suddenly recalled the line from the Book of the Later Han Dynasty: "Lü Bu has the courage of a fierce tiger, but lacks the strategy of a hero."

If this really is Lu Bu...

"Come with me," Ji Xuanyuan heard himself say.

"I...I am Ji Xuanyuan, I will take you to find your father."

Without hesitation, Lü Bu took one last look at his mother's body, then pulled half of the broken jade pendant from her neck and put it in his pocket.

That night, in the dilapidated temple.

Ji Xuanyuan broke the only half of the cake in half and handed the larger piece to Lü Bu.

The wolf cubs wolfed down their food, choking so badly their eyes rolled back.

"Eat slowly." Ji Xuanyuan patted his back. "From now on... I'll call you Fengxian, okay?"

Lu Bu raised his head, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes, then nodded: "Mm."

Why is he called Fengxian...?

Ji Xuanyuan gazed at the drafty temple roof and murmured to himself, "Perhaps it's because... they hope you can honor your ancestors and not forget your roots."

He himself felt guilty about saying that.

The real reason was that he only knew Lü Bu's courtesy name was Fengxian—he couldn't possibly give the future Marquis Wen a courtesy name, could he?

In June of the same year, in Ye City, Ji Province.

Ji Xuanyuan led Lü Bu south, and they survived by begging for food, digging for wild vegetables, and occasionally stealing chickens from farmers.

Although Lü Bu was young, he was incredibly strong; a six-year-old child could lift an adult's bucket of water.

Once, when he encountered a stray dog ​​trying to steal his food, he actually snapped the dog's neck with his bare hands.

This made Ji Xuanyuan even more certain: this Lü Fengxian must be the same Lü Fengxian.

On the day they arrived in Ye City, they heard a deafening commotion at the vegetable market in the west of the city.

Upon squeezing inside, they discovered that the government was dealing with a group of "foreign spies."

A dozen or so people, men, women, and children, were tied to wooden stakes.

"The barbarians burned down Wangjiazhuang, and these people are accomplices!" an official shouted.

"We're innocent! We're just refugees!" an old woman cried out.

A flash of light, and a head fell to the ground.

Among the onlookers, a child about the same age as Lü Bu bit his lip hard, his eyes bloodshot.

Ji Xuanyuan noticed him because of his eyes; those were not the eyes of a child, but eyes filled with deep-seated hatred.

The execution ended, and the crowd dispersed.

The child remained standing there, staring at the bloodstains on the ground.

"You..." Ji Xuanyuan stepped forward.

The child turned his head sharply, like a wounded young animal: "All the barbarians deserve to die!"

His name was Ran Min, he was six years old, and he was originally from Youzhou.

Three months ago, a group of Xianbei cavalry raided his village, and his parents died protecting him.

He wandered all the way to Ye City, where he made a living by stealing.

"The Xianbei people... should all be killed." Ran Min said this while his teeth were grinding together.

Ji Xuanyuan was shocked once again.

Ran Min...the Martial King Ran Min issued the "Order to Kill the Hu," and slaughtered the Jie people.

Is it someone with the same name?

"Come with me." He said this for the second time.

"I will teach you skills so that in the future... you can go and kill the barbarians."

Ran Min stared at him for a long time before finally nodding.

That night, the three spent the night at the City God Temple.

Lu Bu and Ran Min stood on either side of the sleeping concubine Xuanyuan, like two small beasts that were wary of each other yet had to get close.

"Why did you take me in?" Ran Min suddenly asked.

Ji Xuanyuan looked at the moonlight filtering into the temple and said softly, "Because... I can't survive alone, and neither can you. If we get together, perhaps we can survive."

"Will you teach us how to kill the Hu people?"

"I will teach you how to survive." Ji Xuanyuan turned to the side, looking into Ran Min's bright eyes in the darkness.

"But remember, killing is for survival, not for hatred."

Ran Min seemed to understand, but didn't ask any further questions.

Ji Xuanyuan gave him the courtesy name: Yongzeng.

He will forever cherish the filial piety of Zeng Shen—even though he knew that the path this child would take in the future was far removed from the concept of "filial piety."

In November, the three returned to Youzhou.

Ji Xuanyuan decided not to go further north, as the harsh winter in Bingzhou had already caused him great suffering.

They traveled eastward along the Taihang Mountains, intending to spend the winter in the Zhuojun area.

While passing through Guangchang County, I spotted a huddled figure by the mountain road.

It was an even smaller child, about five years old, almost frozen, holding in his arms the already stiff corpse of a woman.

Ji Xuanyuan checked his breathing; there was still a faint breath.

"Quickly, start a fire!"

Lu Bu and Ran Min gathered dry branches, and Ji Xuanyuan used a stolen flint and steel to light a campfire.

The three of them surrounded the child, rubbing his hands and feet and pouring hot water into his mouth.

After a long while, the child slowly woke up.

"Mother..." His first reaction was to touch the corpse beside him, and then he burst into tears.

The child's name is Li Cunxiao, he is five years old and comes from Yanmen County, Bingzhou.

His hometown suffered a drought, and his parents took him to escape the famine. His mother starved to death three days ago. His father entrusted him to a fellow villager and went to find food, but never returned. The fellow villager gave the last food to Li Cunxiao and starved to death himself.

"My fellow villagers buried my mother and gave me half a cake..." Li Cunxiao sobbed.

"But I can't find my way..."

Ji Xuanyuan felt a mix of emotions.

"Jingsi." He patted the child's head.

"From now on, your name will be Li Jingsi. Follow your older brother, and you won't go hungry anymore."

"Big brother..." Li Cunxiao threw himself into his arms, crying his heart out.

That winter was exceptionally cold.

The four hid in a cave north of Zhuojun, surviving on wild rabbits caught by Lü Bu's traps, coarse salt stolen by Ran Min, and wild vegetables dug up by Ji Xuanyuan.

During the coldest days, the mountains were blocked by snow, and they could only survive on melted snow.

It was Li Cunxiao who saved them.

One morning, this five-year-old child smashed the frozen icefall at the entrance of the cave with a single punch.

Later, he broke off a dead tree as thick as a bowl with his bare hands.

Later, he chased a roe deer into the deep mountains and returned with the roe deer on his shoulder and two pheasants in his hands.

"Jing Si...you..." Ji Xuanyuan stared in disbelief.

"I...I don't know either..." Li Cunxiao himself was also at a loss, "I just feel like...I have inexhaustible strength."

Lu Bu and Ran Min's gazes towards him changed—they now held a mixture of awe and defiance.

On New Year's Eve, the cave was filled with the aroma of meat.

Ji Xuanyuan gave the best meat to his three younger brothers and gnawed on the bones himself.

The firelight illuminated four dirty little faces, creating a sense of warmth reminiscent of home.

"We'll go south when spring comes," Ji Xuanyuan said.

"The south is warm, so it's not easy to freeze to death."

"Are there any barbarians in the south?" Ran Min asked.

"There are mountain bandits and outlaws, but... it's better to live than in the north."

The three children seemed to understand, but they all nodded.

For them, following their elder brother was the only way to survive.

In May of the second year of the Xiping era, the four of them traveled to Wuling County in Jingzhou.

Spring in the south is humid and warm, and wild fruits and vegetables appear more abundantly along the roadside.

Ji Xuanyuan relied on his knowledge of wilderness survival from his previous life to identify what was edible and what was poisonous, and miraculously, no one starved to death anymore.

On this day, by the Yuan River, they encountered a child squatting on the riverbank, crying.

He was about five years old, dressed in fairly neat coarse cloth clothes, but the soles of his shoes were already worn through.

He cried as he threw pebbles into the water, muttering, "Father...Mother...where are you..."

"Child, where are your parents?" Ji Xuanyuan asked.

The child looked up, eyes red and swollen: "We...we got separated..."

His name is Yang Zaixing, he is five years old, and he is from Changsha County.

His parents took him north to visit relatives, but they were separated by the crowds at the ferry crossing.

He waited there for two days, but no one came, so he had no choice but to walk along the official road.

"Do you remember where you live?" Ji Xuanyuan's heart sank—from Wuling to Changsha, it's hundreds of miles, and a five-year-old child...

Yang Zaixing shook his head and cried even harder.

Ji Xuanyuan sighed.

Another one.

"Follow us for now." He crouched down.

"We'll help you find your parents."

They said they were looking, but they had absolutely no clue what to do.

They stayed in Wuling County for half a month, inquiring at the market and ferry every day, but to no avail.

Yang Zaixing gradually fell silent, his initial anticipation turning into despair.

This child's personality is different from the other three.

Lu Bu was arrogant, Ran Min was extreme, Li Cunxiao was honest, but Yang Zaixing had a calmness that was beyond his years.

He was not talkative, but he had excellent observation skills. He could distinguish the calls of different birds within a ten-mile radius and remember a route he had traveled once.

"Zai Xing," Ji Xuanyuan thought for a long time when choosing a courtesy name for him.

"You shall be named Zongxing. May your clan prosper—I hope you can find your family."

Yang Zaixing nodded, his little face expressionless.

In June, they continued their journey eastward.

Ji Xuanyuan was planning to go to Xuzhou, where it was relatively stable and he might be able to find a way to make a living.

They traveled at a leisurely pace, stopping frequently along the way, until they reached Sishui County in Xuzhou, which was already the height of summer in July.

There is a jujube grove on the outskirts of Sishui County, and it is currently the season for the jujubes to bear fruit.

Ji Xuanyuan planned to pick some dates to exchange for money, but he saw that there were already people in the woods.

It was a boy of seven or eight years old, picking dates.

Instead of using a bamboo pole, he simply hugged the tree trunk and shook it—the jujube tree, as thick as a bowl, was shaken so violently that the branches and leaves trembled and the jujubes fell to the ground in a flurry.

What's even more amazing is yet to come.

Several teenagers, seemingly local bullies, dared to jump out of the woods and try to steal the dates.

The boy who was picking dates didn't waste any words; he knocked down three of them in the blink of an eye, one punch each.

The rest dispersed in a chaotic uproar.

"What superb skills..." Ji Xuanyuan couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

The boy heard the sound and turned around.

He was tall; although he was only seven or eight years old, he was already the size of an ordinary ten-year-old child.

Especially those eyes—they have double pupils!

"Who are you?" the boy asked warily.

Ji Xuanyuan was stunned for a moment.

Double pupils...

"We were just passing by and wanted to pick some dates," he said, trying to remain calm.

The boy looked them over and, seeing they were all children, his expression softened slightly: "Go ahead and pick them; this grove is unclaimed."

During the conversation, it was learned that the boy's surname was Xiang, his given name was Ji, and his courtesy name was Yu.

He was from Xiaxiang County, Sishui Prefecture, and his parents died early.

"You...are you naturally strong?" Ji Xuanyuan probed.

Xiang Yu nodded: "I could move a millstone when I was three years old. My father once said that there were generals in the Xiang family. This is hereditary."

Ji Xuanyuan remained silent.

Same name, double pupils, innate superhuman strength... this can no longer be explained by coincidence.

That night, they camped by the jujube grove. Ji Xuanyuan roasted a wild rabbit and gave Xiang Yu a hind leg.

The boy ate with grease dripping from his mouth and became more talkative.

"Where are you going next?"

"I haven't decided yet," Ji Xuanyuan said.

"I guess... I'll find a place to settle down."

"Stability?" Xiang Yu scoffed.

"Where can there be peace in this world? The government requisitions grain, powerful families seize land, and barbarians plunder... If you ask me, we must become strong ourselves, strong enough that no one dares to bully us!"

These words, coming from the mouth of an eight-year-old child, were particularly jarring.

Ran Min was the first to respond: "Yes! Kill all those who bully others!"

Lu Bu muttered, "Whoever bullies me, I'll kill them."

Li Cunxiao waved his fist: "I can kill a wild boar with one punch!"

Yang Zaixing didn't speak, but he gripped the wooden stick in his hand tightly.

Looking at the group of children, Ji Xuanyuan suddenly felt a heavy responsibility.

"Then let's get stronger first."

He said, "I will teach you to read and write, and I will teach you principles. When you grow up..."

He didn't go on.

What will happen when they grow up?

For the next three years, the six of them migrated like migratory birds.

In spring, they head north; in autumn, they return south, avoiding the harsh cold and scorching heat.

Ji Xuanyuan taught them to read and write the Thousand Character Classic on the ground with twigs.

Teach them arithmetic by using pebbles for addition and subtraction.

Teach them the simplest principle: don't bully the weak.

But he gradually realized that something was wrong with his younger brothers.

In the winter of the fourth year of the Xiping era, they returned to Youzhou and stayed in an abandoned earthen fort outside Zhuojun City.

One night, Xiang Yu suddenly woke up, covered in sweat.

"I dreamt..." His voice trembled.

"I dreamt I was by a river, surrounded by many enemies... I picked up a sword..."

Ji Xuanyuan's heart sank.

"You're still growing, it's normal to dream," he forced a smile.

Soon after, Ran Min also began to have nightmares. He dreamt that he was riding a horse, wielding a spear, and slaughtering the Hu people on the battlefield: "They knelt down and begged for mercy, but I couldn't stop..."

"You hate the Hu people, and you think about them all the time," Ji Xuanyuan comforted him.

Li Cunxiao's dream was even more bizarre. He dreamt that he was being pulled by five oxen: "Those oxen were huge, and the tendons in my hands and feet were severed. I couldn't break free..."

Ji Xuanyuan simply said, "When we stole and killed the landlord's cow a few days ago, you were the one who ate it the most. That cow held a grudge and came back to haunt you in your dreams."

Yang Zaixing's dream was relatively "mild": "I dreamt that I was poking a metal can with a gun, and the metal can was riding a horse..."

Only Lü Bu rarely dreamed; when he did dream of his parents, he couldn't remember the details when he woke up.

Ji Xuanyuan finally confirmed: This was not a case of someone with the same name; this was indeed the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, the Martial King, one of the Thirteen Protectors, and a renowned general who resisted the Jin Dynasty...

But why don't they have any memories?

Why is it that only I remember everything?

The only consolation is that these children's martial arts talent is simply terrifying.

Eight-year-old Li Cunxiao and nine-year-old Xiang Yu actually teamed up to hunt down a fully grown tiger.

Lu Bu could draw an adult's bow at the age of eight, Ran Min killed a wolf with a sharpened wooden stick at the age of seven, and Yang Zaixing, although the youngest, had an extremely high talent for spearmanship. Ji Xuanyuan only explained the principles of spearmanship, and he was able to apply them to other situations.

"Brother, I had another dream last night." Xiang Yu sat by the campfire, looking puzzled.

"I dreamt that I became a king, and I appointed many generals... There was also a woman who called me 'Your Majesty'..."

Ji Xuanyuan patted his head: "Brother Yu, dreams are always the opposite of reality. You will be a hero in the future, but not a king."

He himself didn't believe what he said.

In the fifth year of the Xiping era, Ji Xuanyuan was ten years old.

That year, they arrived near Yingchuan, intending to find a place to spend the winter.

One day, while gathering herbs in the mountains, he met a middle-aged scholar in his thirties.

The scholar, dressed in a blue robe and cloth shoes, with a face as fair as jade and a long beard, was sitting by the stream fishing.

His eyes lit up when he saw a few children passing by.

"Young friend, please wait." The scholar stood up, his gaze lingering on Ji Xuanyuan's face for a long time: "Judging from your appearance... tsk tsk, quite remarkable."

Ji Xuanyuan warily shielded his younger brothers behind him: "Is there something you need, sir?"

"I see you have extraordinary talent; you're a rough gem," the scholar said with a smile. "Would you be willing to become my disciple?"

"don't want."

"Hahaha!" The scholar laughed instead of getting angry.

"Interesting, very interesting. Do you know how many people in this world want to become my apprentice?"

"You're kidding me."

Ji Xuanyuan thought this person was some kind of human trafficker who thought his children were easy to bully, so he immediately ordered his brothers to teach him a lesson.

He later learned that the man's name was Sima Hui, or perhaps he could be called Mr. Shui Jing, or Mr. Nice Guy...