Dueling Yan Zheng

Chapter 19 – Dueling Yan Zheng

"Make me."

Tong wiggled his fingers, challenging the scolding middle-age man.

Tong didn't know that the person was called Yan Zheng. He was Zhang Bao's subordinate who would lead troops against the Imperial army and Liu Bei volunteer army in the future.

Yan Zheng had once been a mountain bandit but was enticed by Zhang Bao and ended up working for him.

In the late year of 184 AD, Zhang Bao and his troops were besieged by the Imperial army leaded, by Zhu Jun, and Liu Bei's forces. They were on verge of losing and had no choice but to barricade themselves in a castle.

Yan Zheng was arrogant and selfish by nature because he grew up in a bandit camp. When he saw that there was no hope and defeat was inevitable, he killed Zhang Bao and surrendered to the Imperial forces.

If Tong knew that the person was Yan Zheng who would betray and kill his uncle in the future, he would have drawn his gun and shoot him dead on the spot.

Yan Zheng was furious seeing the young brat provoking him. He grabbed his giant long blade on the rack and swung it towards Tong, wanting to cut Tong in half.

Seeing the giant blade coming towards him, Tong side-stepped and dodged to the side. Then he stole a sword from a nearby guard and swung it back at Yan Zheng.

Tong could easily take the blow head on, but he wanted to test his close-combat martial arts that he was taught in Hell by Medusa. So he pretended that he didn't have any cheat skill and fought Yan Zheng as if it was a life-and-death fight.

The two exchanged twenty blows but no one managed to gain an advantage against each other.

Yan Zheng felt humiliated for not being able to defeat the teen in front of him. He started to push on the offensive without caring about his defense.

He didn't know that Tong already spent his full strength but he wasn't able to take advantage of Yan Zheng. Tong's current body lacked training and his stamina was short. So he was about to reach his limit.

Tong used to spar with Medusa's skeletons. Those skeletons were once elite warriors in the past life that was sent to Hell and lost their sanity. Medusa brainwashed them and turned them into mindless skeleton warriors that she could control.

By having experience of having 500 ex-elites ganging up upon himself when his feet was always stuck in the mud, dueling Yan Zheng on an even ground was an easy feat for Tong.

However, Tong's current body couldn't keep up with his skill.

After another 10 blows, Yan Zheng managed to deflect Tong's sword out of his hand. Yan Zheng moved in for the kill, making a sword arc towards Tong's neck.

*Clank*

The giant sword managed to land on Tong's neck, but the sword was cracked and broken while Tong was still fine. He didn't have a single wound on his skin while Yan Zheng had a few cuts on his arms, shoulders, and face.

Zhang Bao had expected this to happen. He laughed merrily while the other middle-aged man, who seemed to be another Zhang Bao's subordinate, was shocked.

*PA!* *PA!*

Zhang Bao clapped his hands.

"Alright, that's enough, both of you."

Yan Zheng stopped his action. He looked at his blade in shock. He did use all his strength in the last swing but he couldn't cut through Tong's skin.

Meanwhile, Tong's face was gloomy. He was panting and was out of breath. His arms and legs were shaking. His stamina and power were lower than Tong's initial estimated. He overestimated himself.

Tong felt irritated by the result of this duel. He couldn't even defeat a third-rated Yellow Turban officer in a one-on-one fight with his pure martial art skills on an even ground. Then how could he fight against monstrous generals like Guan Yu, Zhang Fei or Sun Jian in the future if he was unfortunate enough to meet them on the battlefield.

Tong took a deep breath to calm himself, trying to recollect and review the fight he had in his mind.

There was nothing wrong with his techniques or movement. But his power was too low and his stamina was terrible. He could have done better and finished the fight in less than ten moves if he had more power.

This had inspired Tong another goal, buff up his body.

Tong wished to make his body stronger and sturdier, a body that could run ten kilometers without getting out of breath, and muscles which could burst forth in strength, reflex, and agility.

However, his current age got in the way of his training. He couldn't intensively train like he was in the police-military school in his previous life or it might impede his bodily growth. Tong had to wait a few years before he could do heavy weight lifting training to build more muscles.

At his current age, Tong could only try running to increase his stamina and soft exercises for firmer muscles.

Thinking up to this point, Tong sighed. There were so many things he wanted to do but so little times he had left.

Yan Zheng glared at Tong with his red eyes, feeling humiliated and frustrated. The entire commotion already attracted all soldiers in the camp and they were spectating from afar. Everyone just witnessed that one of their commanders couldn't even beat a 16-year-old teen.

"Yan Zheng! That brat is indeed my nephew. Treat him with respect!"

Zhang Bao declared in front of everyone, shocking all soldiers. Yan Zheng was not a nobody commoner but a famous fighter among bandits. His swordsmanship was the reason that he could climb up from an ordinary bandit into a commander.

Gao Sheng, the remaining officer who had been standing beside Zhang Bao, managed to come back to his sense. He cupped his hand to pay respect to his young lord.

"Gao Sheng greets young master Zhang!"

Tong's eyes flickered. He tried to recall the information he had gathered beforehand before coming to his world.

Gao Sheng was also one of Zhang Bao's officers who would lead his troops against Liu Bei forces. But he had an unfortunate fate. He would be killed by Zhang Fei of Liu Bei's force in one of the battles in the future.

Tong cupped his hands and greeted Gao Sheng back with respect. He couldn't hate a warrior who died fighting on a battlefield.

Meanwhile, Yan Zheng scoffed and walked away, refusing to bow his head to Tong.

Tong looked at the back of the leaving Yan Zheng, thinking how to deal with him in the future.

By the time Tong heard Zhang Bao calling the name "Yan Zheng", he managed to recall the history of this man.

'This arrogant backstabbing thief! I should have killed him earlier.' Tong thought.

…

[*Ding* *Ding* I sense great anger coming from you, young Padawan.]

The sudden message from the system made Tong jumped. But he cringed after. What the heck is a Padawan? Are you a freaking J*di now?

[All 38 young Padawans has already undertaken a new mission. However …]

[YOU, SIR, are a lazy bastard who did absolutely nothing for a month!]

'You was out-of-character the last line, wasn't you roleplaying a J*di master?'

[…]

[Oops.]

[…]

[Now, young Padawan. The council has issued a mission for you.]

"…"

'… Mr. System, are you okay with your brain?'

[Quiet when I'm concentrating!]

[… It wouldn't be fair for all apprentices to go for a mission while you are resting alone.]

[Therefore, I shall issue a special mission for you.]

[Consider it a training for your future.]

[Now go forth and bring the glory to the J*di.]

[May the burritos be with you.]

'... Did you mean force?'

[If I said 'FORCE' this novel will get DMCAed, you dimwit!]

"…"

[Don't make me break the 4th wall too often. The author is trying hard, you know?]

[Anyway, here's your precious mission!]

************************************

**Main Mission No.17**

Yan Zheng has joined the dark side. Do the republic a favor, get rid of him ASAP.

Clear Condition: Kill Yan Zheng.

Failure Condition: Time limit runs out.

Clear Reward: 10,000 years of lifespan. You can buy one item from PTW Shop.

Mission Failure: All of your skills will be erased

Time Limit Remaining: 1 day

System Note: I am not your father! I'm a virgin you idiot! *cries in a corner*

************************************

"WTF!"

Tong couldn't help but scream out loud. He wouldn't mind if a mission demanded him to kill someone. But the time limit was so short that Tong had to take action as soon as possible.

Zhang Bao and the crowd were surprised when Tong suddenly shouted. They fixated their eyes on Tong in curiosity.

"Why did he shout?"

"Did someone step on his foot?"

"Idiot! No one was there. Did you have eyes?"

"Did he try to curse Yan Zheng?"

"I heard he was a prankster when he was little. He hasn't grown up yet?"

"Shh, moron. Pipe it down."

Tong facepalmed himself. He was embarrassed by his sudden action.

'Damn system.'