New Three Kingdoms Tales: Starting as the expressionless Liu Bei

Upon thinking of Guan Yu, Liu Bei immediately connected the current situation with him.

Guan Yu's strength of being able to defeat 30,000 men could deceive Liu Bei, who was previously able to defeat 20,000 men. But now that Liu Bei has reached the level of defeating 100,000 men, it is no longer difficult for him to see through Guan Yu's deliberate concealment of his aura.

But how exactly did Guan Yu rise to the level of a warrior capable of defeating 30,000 men in such a short time? Liu Bei still couldn't figure this out.

He guessed that this must be related to divine will.

It's highly likely that fate is helping Guan Yu grow, and that he will betray him at a crucial moment.

Heaven was always intent on turning him into a puppet, a fact Liu Bei was well aware of. And to become a puppet, it seemed there were only two paths.

The first rule is to increase the erosion of Heaven's Will within Liu Bei to 100%. Once that happens, he will automatically become a puppet of Heaven's Will.

The deceptions of benevolence and righteousness, as well as the cricket that burst forth after Chen Gong's death, are all subject to being corrupted by the will of Heaven each time they are used.

This path is still manageable, as long as it's used sparingly. Try to avoid touching crickets as much as possible, and as for the strange power, for now we can rely on the strange one left behind by the First Emperor.

But the second one is much more dangerous.

Looking back, fate had already warned him:

"If you are killed by the supernatural, you will be assimilated by it, your soul will be extracted by the will of heaven, and you will be rewarded with watching the new 3rd episode 10,000 times and listening to the Guan Yu song 10,000 times."

The words couldn't be more straightforward, without any beating around the bush. It was simply telling him clearly, "Don't die, or you'll be watching the new 'Three Kingdoms'."

Judging from the current situation, it seems that fate has largely abandoned the first path and is now trying to use the second path to turn Liu Bei into a puppet.

The most obvious manifestation was that at the beginning, Liu Bei was able to hold his nerve and not break the rules, but after he learned the tricks of benevolence and righteousness, he became restless and repeatedly broke his composure.

Fortunately, he was protected by the methods left behind by the Venerable One, which saved him from death.

Even the Venerable One's methods are not omnipotent. The puppets of Heaven's Will are everywhere. The best way to defeat Heaven's Will is to eliminate the puppets and make many allies.

But the problem comes full circle. Liu Bei could certainly kill Guan Yu and Zhang Fei on the spot, but if he did, fate would play the Song of Guan Yu and reverse time.

Once these two scourges are dead, the plot will be unable to proceed, and fate will surely turn back time, rewinding everything to before the Battle of the Wine River.

As expected of the wise and cunning Venerable Zhidao, who is capable of defeating millions, he has calculated everything flawlessly. Perhaps the current situation is a part of the plan that was designed by fate long ago.

A sense of fear rose in Liu Bei's heart, followed by hesitation and confusion.

Can someone like him truly overcome fate and escape the cycle of eternal reincarnation?

Nowadays, apart from his strength and good looks, he is practically useless.

He didn't know the conditions for becoming a Venerable One; he also didn't know how to remove the corrupting influence of Heaven's will from the cricket.

He sighed inwardly, wishing he could leave this awful place as soon as possible and return to Earth.

As a time traveler, he longed to hear those words: "Wanderer from afar, you are just like me..."

That way, he could at least get some hints and find a direction.

He encouraged himself, telling himself that as long as he persevered, he would eventually see hope.

So, now we should think about what to do next.

Liu Bei stopped daydreaming and instead scanned his surroundings for clues.

After searching around, to his surprise, he actually found something that looked like a clue.

A pool of shimmering, fine wine.

To outsiders, this might seem perfectly normal; after all, who doesn't love alcohol? Perhaps it was just some drunkard who spilled it.

But Liu Bei knew that his two treacherous brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, were even more fond of drinking than ordinary people.

Perhaps one of the conditions for their rise to power was alcohol.

Liu Bei walked quickly to the pool of wine, lost in thought.

He could clearly sense that the wine contained a rich elemental force of water.

This water is no ordinary water, but the seawater of the primordial womb from ancient times.

Liu Bei had heard a legend that only the Five Spirit Kings, who could defeat 100,000 men, could control this primordial seawater.

Unless one is a Five Spirit King, even a master of water-based magic like Wan Ren Di cannot use this holy water.

Moreover, legend has it that there was a mysterious being of the ocean and water, the guardian of holy water, in the primordial sea.

I heard that she is the third guardian under the Five Spirits Throne, and has always protected the primordial womb.

Besides her, there are also the Fire Guardian, the Rock Guardian, and so on.

Combining the primordial seawater mixed in with this fine wine, Liu Bei had a bold conjecture.

Could Guan Yu be the legendary Five Spirit King? But that doesn't make sense either.

He had witnessed Guan Yu unleash the Heavenly Flood, a deadly water technique, before, but at that time he hadn't sensed even the slightest fluctuation of the primordial seawater above. How come he could now?

Liu Bei shook his head, no longer thinking about it deeply, but kept a watchful eye on it and turned his attention to the cricket system's storage space.

After a moment's thought, he quickly devised a countermeasure.

The ultimate move of the Mind Technique: Elemental Vision.

For outsiders, it is extremely difficult to create a killing move using crickets, because they have no idea what the attributes of the crickets they have are, or even what their names are.

However, Liu Bei possessed the cricket system, which was both a good thing and a bad thing.

The advantage is that he knows the role of each cricket clearly, making it as easy as drinking water to assemble a killing move.

The downside is that every time a killing move is used, it will be tainted by a trace of divine will.

Although it may not be much, over time, quantitative changes will eventually lead to qualitative changes.

However, they can hold on for now. Liu Bei believes that when the time comes to use decisive measures, they cannot hold back.

As multiple crickets chirped simultaneously, a glint of light flashed in Liu Bei's left eye.

Elemental vision, as the name suggests, is the ability to see the direction of element flow.

Under normal circumstances, even someone with the strength of 100,000 men would not be able to accurately find the specific element they are looking for among the myriad elements in the air.

But with the elemental vision, Liu Bei was able to clearly find that specific route.

He glanced around briefly, and a surge of joy filled his heart.

Got you.

His left eye caught a faint green trail, as if someone had deliberately left it there.

He didn't chase after it immediately. Instead, he carefully checked the surroundings to make sure there were no other routes before mounting his horse and galloping along that route.

On the way, Liu Bei went over the legend in his mind again.

Legend has it that when the world was in chaos, the Destiny Ghost created five secret realms to maintain the balance of all things.

Water is the source of all things, and the first secret realm of heaven and earth is the primordial womb sea.

The Destiny Demon created the Demon of Ocean and Water, protected by holy water, and bestowed upon her a sacred mission: to guard the Fetal Sea until the Five Spirit Kings appear in the world.

The second secret realm is the Blazing Ridge Volcano, guarded by the Crimson Abyss and the Demon of Fire, protected by raging flames.

His mission is the same as that of the Holy Water Guardian: to guard the volcano and await the arrival of the Five Spirit Kings.

Further on, the mysteries of the earth and mountains, the mysteries of mineral deposits and gold, the mysteries of forests and wood—all of them bear the responsibility of awaiting the Five Spirit Kings.

These five are all messengers of the Five Spirit Kings, and can also be called the guardian spirits of the Five Spirit Kings.

The Destiny Creator created them to support the Five Spirit Kings in becoming Venerable Lords, so that they could serve the Destiny Creator.

Unfortunately, the Five Spirit King later broke with the Destiny Demon due to a certain incident and was sealed by a powerful figure. Since then, his whereabouts and fate have been unknown.

As for the Five Spirit Kings' surname and given name, it is not written in the legend, and Liu Bei had no way of knowing.

At present, it seems more likely to be Guan Yu.

Liu Bei gazed at the vast sky, spurred his horse onward, and silently prayed that it was not too late.

On the other side, in a dimly lit cave, the Wood Demon Ape suddenly opened its eyes.

He had been in a semi-conscious state, and he could hear the conversations around him clearly, but he just couldn't open his eyes. His consciousness seemed to be pressed into a state of chaos by something.

Fortunately, a light appeared, and a being who called himself "The Fool Above the Sky" helped him, allowing him to secretly activate the power of the Wood Spirit and sprinkle a faint elemental mark on the ground to await rescue.

Now that he was regaining consciousness, he looked around and found that the surrounding area was still pitch black.

He couldn't tell whether he was truly awake or still trapped in a dream.

Just as they were wondering, they suddenly heard footsteps above.

The Wood Spirit Ape looked up and saw a faint light shining in from above.

It seems the entrance is above, and I'm trapped at the bottom of this cave.

His heart tightened. Who was coming? Could it be that cunning and treacherous Guan Yu?

How hateful, how utterly hateful! If his guardian, the "Forest and Wood Demon," were here, if he held the secret realm of the wood element, how could he allow this Guan Yu to act so recklessly?

The power of the Five Spirit Kings was divided into five. Whether it is the civil Guan Yu, the military Guan Yu, or the standard Guan Yu, regardless of the form, they are all successors of the Five Spirit Kings.

The guardians of raging fire and holy water are guardians of a certain form of Guan Yu.

Only when the power of the Five Spirit Kings is reunited will these five guardians pledge allegiance to one person, who is the true Five Spirit King.

In other words, the current struggle between the standard Guan Yu and the literary Guan Yu is nothing more than a "struggle for the heir" among the successors of the Five Spirit Kings.

The Five Spirit Kings did not designate a successor. Among the five Guan Yus, whoever gathers the power of all five elements will become the new Five Spirit King and inherit all the power of the Five Spirit Kings. The five guardians will also switch allegiance to him.

This was originally a contest among five people, but fate seemed to favor Guan Yu to rise to the top.

The price was that Guan Yu had to betray Liu Bei and, in accordance with Heaven's will, turn Liu Bei into a puppet.

The truth is gradually coming to light.

The footsteps above suddenly stopped. In the darkness, a pair of scarlet eyes snapped open.

The Wood Spirit Ape sensed the approaching aura and frowned slightly.

Strange, the visitor is actually a black bear without any strange powers?

He sneered inwardly. What an arrogant Guan Yu! He thinks he's still unconscious and can be dismissed with just a black bear?

He was about to unleash his strange power and deliver a fatal blow with his wooden technique to kill the black bear on the spot. But at that moment, a sudden change occurred.

"Waterway Killer Move - Heavenly Flood!"

An attack formed from solidified wine suddenly struck. The Wood Spirit Ape was startled and quickly raised its arms. The vines wrapped around its wrists grew rapidly, transforming into a thick vine shield that firmly blocked its path.

To his astonishment, this Heavenly Flood Wine actually fused with the power of the Wood Spirit, faintly revealing the aura of the Primordial Sea Water.

After blocking the attack, the Wood Spirit Ape's expression darkened, and it looked in the direction from which the force had come.

On the right, Guan Yu slowly emerged from the darkness, his face full of arrogance, holding the gleaming Green Dragon Crescent Blade upside down in his right hand, and coldly snorted:

"Wooden Ape, what else do you have to say? Today, you are doomed to die."

The Wood Demon Ape sneered, its face showing disdain: "Want to kill me? You probably can't even stop me!"

After saying that, he immediately activated the power of the wood spirit, shattered the wood spirit shield in his hand, and several vines shot out, wrapping around the surrounding rock walls. He then leaped up and climbed towards the top of the cave entrance.

Guan Yu remained calm and composed, and unhurriedly took out a few crickets from his sleeve.

"Forbidden Path Killing Move - Five Elements Heavenly Barrier!"

As soon as this move was made, the entire cave was immediately sealed off by the power of the five elements, preventing those outside from entering and those inside from leaving.

Of course, Guan Yu's Five Elements Power was not the true Five Elements King's Five Elements Power; he merely borrowed the power of a few Five Elements Crickets to temporarily seal off this area.

The truly complete power of the five elements must be called the power of the divine five elements.

Divine fire, divine wood, divine water, divine earth, divine metal.

What does that mean? For example, under normal circumstances, fire can overcome wood, and water can overcome fire.

Ordinary water cannot extinguish divine fire, and ordinary fire cannot burn divine wood. Only divine water can subdue divine fire, and so on.

However, there are always exceptions, and that is the power of the uncanny.

This mysterious power can subdue all elements, including divine fire, divine water, and divine metal.

No one knows where this power comes from, not even the all-knowing Destiny Ghost.

We've strayed from the topic; let's get back to the Wood Spirit Ape.

Once he realized that this place was completely sealed off, he understood that he was most likely not able to escape.

To break through the Five Elements Forbidden Heaven Barrier, one either needs to possess enough strength to forcefully break through, or one must kill the caster, Guan Yu, on the spot.

Unfortunately, neither of these two paths is currently viable.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

Several flaming arrows shot out from Guan Yu's hand, clearly indicating that he had received divine guidance and activated a new killing move.

The Wood Demon Ape dodged repeatedly, but was still hit by an arrow. In the pain, its grip loosened, and it fell downwards.

Beneath his feet lay a bottomless abyss of darkness. Once he fell, it would be difficult to climb out again, and Guan Yu would drain the wood spirit power from his body.

No, I absolutely cannot fall here!

A strong will to survive jolted the Wood Spirit Ape awake in mid-air, and it grabbed a protruding rock, preventing it from falling further.

Just as he was about to shoot out vines to continue moving along the rock face and buy time, a large amount of soil mixed with rocks poured down from above.

The Wood Sprite Ape couldn't dodge in time and was hit squarely. It could no longer hold onto the rock wall and plummeted straight down.

This time, he couldn't stand up at all.

Guan Yu raised his hand to catch the falling wooden ape, and then ordered the black bear to jump down.

The black bear died instantly upon landing, but Guan Yu didn't care at all.

A cold light flashed in his palm, and with a single strike, he ripped open the black bear's belly.

Then, he formed his right hand into a claw and fiercely tore open the Wood Spirit Ape's chest, ripping out the still-beating Wood Spirit Heart.

The Wood Demon Ape only had time to let out a soft hum before its scarlet eyes went completely extinguished.