The Search for Yuan Shao

Yun was standing in the middle of the city surrounded by corpses when he was back in control of his body which was covered in the blood of his enemies. He didn't know how much time passed since he lost consciousness but he knew that it was far too long gone because of all the blood and gore sticking to his body and armor.

"What happened?" asks Yun himself after seeing all the carnage around him not believing that he did that while he was out cold for some hours.

'I just helped you out for a little while. I couldn't just let you fall from your horse and waste your effort,' says Ysmrgra to Yun before memories of what happened flashed before his eyes.

He saw himself covered in red Qi which worked as armor while the Qi around his hands manifested in a darker red looking more solid than the normal Qi he was acquainted with as they turned into claws with which he clawed his enemy apart.

He saw himself on top of a pile of corpses roaring at the sky terrifying not only his enemies but also his allies as they saw a different facade of the Yun they all know.

This was a more instinctual or better said primal Yun and not the cool and collected Yun that normally stands on the battlefield or at least that's what everyone was believing with only Yun knowing the truth about his primal side being a Dragon that can take control of his body.

'What about Yuan Shao? You didn't kill him by accident, did you?' asks Yun wanting to know where Yuan Shao is.

'Yuan Shao wasn't in the city when we entered it. He must have escaped it in all the turmoil I created,' says Ysmrgra quite proud of his work which he wouldn't call a masterpiece but it was a beginning.

'That Bastard escaped! I need to catch up to him!' shouts Yun in his mind before he looked around searching for Thunder.

'Your horse won't be of much help at the moment. He is outside the city after he threw me off its back,' says Ysmrgra as Thunder cooperated with him only until they got into the city after that Thunder threw him off before joining the battle outside not wanting to be near the pretender.

Yun was holding his head feeling defeated even when he won the battle since his objective escaped him. He stretches his hand out and his spear flies toward him. He catches his spear in mid-air before looking for Dian Wei who must be nearby since Dian Wei normally doesn't leave his side.

He finds him soon catching his breath now that the battle was over beside him was Zhang He. Zhang He seemed to be in disbelief because of what he witnessed since his brain was fighting against the miracle Yun produced by protecting his army and destroying the enemy's army.

"Dian Wei," says Yun making Dian Wei stand up.

"Yun, you are back to normal. I tried to keep up but you were just more ferocious than normal. I was almost reminded of the night when you lost control and went after everything that moved," says Dian Wei worried about Yun forgetting to use Lord or General as he would normally do when speaking to Yun.

Yun just placed his hand on Dian Wei's shoulder reassuring him that everything was alright while saying, "You have done enough my friend."

"Have I? I am always looking out for you keeping your rear clear but this time I couldn't even catch a glimpse of you even while using all my Qi," says Dian Wei defeated as he looked at Zhang He who was laying on the ground completely exhausted.

"What about Yuan Shao?" asks Dian Wei curious since Yun attacked Yuanwu because of the Head of the Yuan household.

"He escaped it seems," says Yun unhappy about it as he sat down on a corpse not carrying about how it looked when Hua rides towards them.

He sees the group and asks, "Have I arrived at a bad time?"

"*sighs* Yuan Shao escaped, we are standing at the beginning again," says Yun calm since he released all of his rage in his last attack which devastated everything on its way.

"What are you talking about? I heard from a messenger that Yuan Shao was captured when he tried to cross the Yellow River," says Hua being better informed than Yun and Dian Wei.

Both stood up in surprise while the third tried to but failed falling back to the ground when Yun asks, "Who got him?"

"Who do you think got him, it was our naval force," says Hua looking confused at Yun and Dian Wei's reactions while holding his laughter back to not hurt Zhang He's feelings.

"Gan Ning!" shouts Yun since he was the only Naval General he has in his ranks.

"Exactly, Yueying send a messenger the moment they touched shore to inform us," says Hua when he sees a grin appear on his brother's face who jumped upon his horse's back.

"Dian Wei, you look after Zhang He and no word to Cao Cao. Hua, take me to Thunder. Afterward, we will find Gan Ning and Yueying," says Yun to them as Zhang He seemed to only give Yun a thumbs up while Dian Wei picked him up.

Hua rides out with Yun behind him as they find Thunder outside the city feasting on some corpses when Yun jumps upon his back. Thunder was showing hostility at first thinking that Ysmrgra was on his back as he tries to shake Yun off.

"Wow, slowly," says Yun while placing one hand on Thunder's sweet spot making Thunder understand that it was really Yun riding him since only Yun knows his sweet spots.

Thunder gave some scolding noise from himself which made Yun happy seeing that his horse cared for him before reassuring him that he was alright and that they needed to go somewhere.

Hua went to get the messenger in the meantime Yun was bonding with Thunder so they could leave right away. He returned with the messenger and they left rapidly it took them two hours to reach the shore on which Gan Ning landed.

Gan Ning was still on his ship watching the prisoners as they all seemed to have quieted down after all their whining. It could also be because Gan Ning killed one of them because of their whining.

Yun boarded the ship with Hua and the messenger when Yun only asks, "Where is he?"

"Who?" asks Gan Ning joking around still not knowing that Xian was dead.

"The man that killed my father," says Yun destroying the good mood everyone had after capturing Yuan Shao thinking that they made a great catch only to find out that the great catch was a cask of black powder which was lit and about to blow up right in front of their eyes.

"Wait, your father should have been in Puyang defending the city," says Gan Ning shocked after hearing that before fury gathered in his eyes.

Gan Ning as well as the first Generals under Yun's command were close to Yun's family to some degree. Xian took great care of Gan Ning since he was the youngest of all the Generals under Yun with exception of Wei Yan who was Yun's responsibility since he was Yun's student.

Gan Ning learned a lot from Xian and Huang Zhong on how to command people on firm ground which was different from commanding people on a ship. This news hit Gan Ning hard as he went for his sword which was on his belt.

Yun stopped Gan Ning from pulling his sword and says while glaring at the prisoners since he didn't know who Yuan Shao is between them, "Simply killing him won't still your anger nor mine. He needs to pay the price for starting a war and taking important people from us."

Yun then looked at Yueying and says, "It seems that you made yourself comfortable on the deck of this ship."

"I am responsible for the ships after all," says Yueying with conviction in her voice.

"The last time I checked it was I who was responsible for the ships," says Gan Ning jokingly as the tension in the air broke again turning more pleasant than before.

"Now then, who is Yuan Shao?" asks Yun as Gan Ning walks towards a man which looked like a man that could be depicted as Yuan Shao with his mustache and elegant face but once Yun looked at his hands he could tell that he wasn't Yuan Shao.

Yun grabbed Gan Ning's sword and killed the man surprising everyone on the ship when Hua asks angrily, "What are you doing? It was you that said that killing him would be far too simple."

The body falls over and Yun cleans the sword on it before saying, "That wasn't Yuan Shao."

"Explain," says Gan Ning curious why Yun thought that it wasn't Yuan Shao.

"Yueying, show me your hands," says Yun as they were all puzzled.

Yueying shows her hands and Yun says, "Those are the hands of a person that never plowed a field or trained until their palms were sullied with their own blood. Now, look at the corpse's hands."

They looked at them and see that they were showing marks on them and Yun says, "Would someone like Yuan Shao have hands as someone like the corpse or some that look almost like Yueying's hands? Remember he comes from a Noble Household not like us that have worked hard to get where we are now."

This opened their eyes and Hua was the first to say, "He is a stand-in for Yuan Shao. The real one is between the prisoners and is most likely not wearing his normal armor."

"That is right, Yuan Shao wanted to trick us but now we know the truth. We just need to find the real one between all of the prisoners," says Yueying already knowing how to do that.

"That will be a difficult task," says Gan Ning when the trio looked at him confused when he asks, "What?"

"You haven't listened to what I said before, did you? Just look at their hands and we will be able to find him. Just look at well-kept hands and sort them out. Yuan Shao must have shaved to look like d different person," says Yun giving them a warning before they began to look for Yuan Shao between the fifty prisoners.