Xu Chang • The Xun Residence
“Our lord still seems to have made no reaction at all to Senior Brother Jia’s defeat this time. Even so, our lord is probably in for another stretch of nightmares. What a pity.” Guo Jia spoke with genuine regret, though his tone was thoroughly relaxed.
Guo Jia and Xun Yu had studied together under the tutelage of Shuijing, and their friendship ran quite deep. Now that both served under Cao Cao, their collaboration was seamless. Jia Xu was a different matter from Xun Yu — Guo Jia knew that working alongside that Senior Brother Jia in the same court was never going to be simple.
“When it comes to military strategy and cunning, Senior Brother Jia is the most formidable among the Eight Prodigies. Had he not mastered the inscrutable Dark Formation — a technique lost to the world — who on the battlefield could ever have subdued Lü Bu?” Xun Yu said, turning a white chess piece over and over in his fingers.
“Jia Xu is the only person in the world who knows the lost Dark Formation — the one they say, ‘enter the Dark Formation, and death is certain.’ Yet Lü Bu walked out unscathed, losing only his army and the battle. In my view, he is even more inscrutable than Jia Xu, the so-called ‘Formation King.’” Guo Jia had no heart for chess and simply cradled his teacup to warm his hands.
“It seems Junior Brother has quite an admiration for Lü Bu.” Xun Yu smiled, adding a few pieces of charcoal to the tea brazier, and feeding the warming stove he had specially prepared for Guo Jia’s visit, making the study all the more comfortable.
“Any true hero in this world would know how to appreciate him.” Guo Jia raised an eyebrow, his cheeks growing rosy in the warmth of the fire. “Moreover — had Lü Bu not fallen for Jia Xu’s ‘Offering the Head’ stratagem, how could he have been lured out of Chang’an? And without that, how could Jia Xu ever have had the chance to deploy the Dark Formation? Who could have foreseen that Niu Fu, in order to avenge his father-in-law, would be willing to use even his own head as a tool to deceive Lü Bu?”
Guo Jia set down his teacup and slapped the chess table with one hand, his dissatisfaction plain. "One time could be forgiven — but who could have imagined the same stratagem would be played twice? That even the head of Liang Zhou’s supreme commander Dong Yue could be borrowed for the purpose?! That was what truly stripped Lü Bu of his greatest chance at a reversal.
Who could have foreseen that a tyrant like Dong Zhuo would have two fools around him, willing to die for the sake of avenging him?..Truly, this was a defeat that had nothing to do with the art of war." Guo Jia sighed deeply.
“That is not foolishness — that is loyalty and righteousness. Lü Bu did not believe in loyalty and righteousness, and so he was defeated by loyalty and righteousness.” Xun Yu offered his assessment with cool composure.
“Defeated by loyalty and righteousness, or defeated by having too many enemies?” Guo Jia still seemed far from satisfied. “It was Sima Yi who first obtained the edict in which Dong Zhuo accused Lü Bu of treason, and passed it to Wang Yun. After Wang Yun’s death, it was passed to Jia Xu. Without that, how could he have borrowed the head of Liang Zhou’s commanding general Dong Yue?”
“Oh? It seems Junior Brother feels quite aggrieved on Lü Bu’s behalf!” Xun Yu narrowed his eyes and looked at Guo Jia.
Guo Jia pointed a finger at him, a sharp, crafty flash crossing his fox-like eyes. “What I am saying is — that time, Lü Bu lost mainly because of luck, and Jia Xu won mainly because of luck. Nothing more.”
He had stopped calling Jia Xu “Senior Brother” and was now addressing him by name alone.
“As for what followed…that Chen Gong whom Lü Bu placed such trust in — the man had his share of intelligence, but he was too upright and principled, too contemptuous of scheming and deception. He and Lü Bu’s style were entirely at odds. If the military advisor he had used were me?..Heh heh…” Guo Jia fixed his gaze on Xun Yu with a sly smile. “Who would have won and who would have lost — that would not have been so certain!”
Xun Yu burst out laughing. “Junior Brother is something else! Lü Fengxian is a fierce tiger, and you, Guo Fengxiao, are a cunning fox — if the two of you combined the fox’s cunning with the tiger’s might, wouldn’t that be the perfect match?”
“What a pity we met too late. Besides, I don’t have the audacity to single-handedly turn the tide — better to shelter under a great tree.” Guo Jia gave a helpless sigh and took another sip of hot tea.
Xun Yu knew that this frail and frequently ill junior brother of his harbored within him a dark, unruly heart that defied all convention — which was precisely why he would feel an instinctive, heartfelt resonance with Lü Bu.
Yet his physical frailty was also a constraint on him, forcing his recklessness to bow before reality. Unlike Lü Bu, who had pursued the wild ambitions in his heart without hesitation or regret — and shattered himself to pieces in the process.
"A person’s luck is, in truth, Heaven’s own choosing. To win all under heaven, it is not a matter of who has the greatest ambition or the highest ability — it is a matter of who can provide the world with an order that fits it.
A person of Lü Bu’s nature cannot bring order to the world — he can only be its destroyer. And so Heaven will not choose him. That is the reason he lost his luck."
Layer upon layer of cloud, the wind picking up — and yet the rain still would not fall… Xun Yu thought to himself.
From Xun Yu’s study, the whole city of Xu Chang could be seen stretching into the distance.
Guo Jia was visibly moved.
He looked at the kind and upright senior brother before him and recalled what their teacher Shuijing had once said — that among the Eight Prodigies, the one who could truly be called wise was Xun Yu alone.
“There’s no need to look at me like that. What I’ve said is simply the nature of the Way of Heaven. And all the schemes and stratagems in the world are less important than seeing clearly the nature of things.” Xun Yu, amused to see Guo Jia wearing such a rare expression of genuine awe, couldn’t help but smile.
He continued, “Though it is said that Jia Xu once defeated Lü Bu, he has never truly seen Lü Bu’s nature. And so this time…he will fail.”
“Lü Bu’s…nature…? He is a man who forgets his roots and abandons all loyalty, is he not?”
“That is his behavior — not his nature. Guess again.” Seeing Guo Fengxiao make a gesture of surrender, Xun Yu asked, “Do you still remember the battle of Puyang — that Lü Bu whom ten thousand men could not stop?”
“How could I forget? Every one of our generals surrounded him at once, and still none of us were a match for him. I never imagined that Xu Zhu — built like a mountain — could be picked up and hurled away in a single move.” Even now, Guo Jia was still shaken by the God of War’s invincible power, and spoke of it with a lingering unease.
“He rode alone and dared to come and hunt down our lord — because he himself is an army!” Guo Jia said this with undisguised admiration.
“Think about it — where does the power of ordinary people come from? Nothing more than status and wealth, or schemes and stratagems. We use external things to construct our strength. But Lü Bu — he is strength itself.”
Xun Yu knew this junior brother’s gifts were extraordinary, and so he hoped to guide him toward a still deeper understanding. "Other military commanders compete for merit on the battlefield — the higher their rank, the greater their military authority, and the greater their power. But all military ranks, all wars, all command over troops and armies — for Lü Bu, these are in truth nothing but shackles.
The Lü Bu of the battle of Puyang was Lü Bu approaching his peak — because that was the moment when he was least encumbered by restraints."
At this, Guo Jia was utterly in awe of his senior brother. A thought struck him, and he said with a sudden gravity, “So — the Lü Bu who now has nothing at all…is the truly invincible Lü Bu.”
"The notion of having and not having belongs to the thinking of ordinary minds. Ordinary people need to possess external things to prove themselves — bound by those things on one hand, and drawing strength from them on the other. Lü Bu does not know that the power he has always pursued is in fact the greatest shackle restraining his true strength. Now that shackle is gone.
When this wild beast follows its own instincts and pursues life and freedom for their own sake — who can stand against it?" Xun Yu gazed out the window at the cloud-laden city of Xu Chang, his eyes reaching far into the distance.
“So…this is the real reason Senior Brother released the tiger back to the mountains…” Guo Jia felt a deep, shuddering impact, and took another sip of tea to steady himself.
“True wisdom gives rise to true benevolence — this too is the Way of Heaven.” Xun Yu said with quiet conviction.
“Indeed — Lü Bu was defeated by the Dark Formation, defeated by the Offering the Head stratagem, precisely because any military technique or scheme, for him, is a fetter locking away his true power.” Xun Yu’s expression grew grave.
“…Then what Senior Brother is saying is that all of us, right now, have already entered…Lü Bu’s absolute domain…” The color drained from Guo Jia’s face, and even the warmth of the fire could not drive away the chill in his heart.
Guo Jia had once heard it said that there was no one Lü Bu could not kill. The last exception had been LiaoYuan Fire — but only because Lü Bu at that time had been far too calculating of costs and benefits.
“And so I have no choice but to do my utmost to distance myself from Jia Xu — to quietly let it be known that this was an operation Jia Xu undertook on his own initiative, with no connection to the rest of our camp.”
“Do you think Lü Bu will believe that?” Guo Jia smiled bitterly.
“It is all one can do. On the bright side — to witness the true ‘Lü Bu among men’ is a rare and precious opportunity indeed.” Xun Yu gave a tranquil smile.
BOOM——!
Without any warning, a crack of thunder exploded through the air. Both men startled so sharply that half the tea in their cups spilled over.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip, drip, patter, patter——
The rain grew denser by the moment, and soon became a torrential downpour.
End of Chapter 17
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Chapter 17 of Burning Dream Records, “Breaking Free,” is an original work written by Jing Xixian (Vampire L). All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, reprinted, adapted, redistributed, translated, or used for commercial purposes in any form without the author’s prior written authorization.98Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDJw8tuihI
© Jing Xixian (King Heyin) (Vampire L), All rights reserved.
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