164 Talking with Cao Cao final part

"Now what is your answer?" asks Cao Cao seeing the hesitation on Lu Bu's face while looking at Yun who wasn't showing his emotions on his face at the moment.

"I am not a nobleman. I am a warrior and I will always be a warrior. I don't need a fancy title to know who I am. I rather edge my name into history to be remembered forever as the greatest warrior the world has ever seen instead of becoming a nobleman and being forgotten by everyone," says Yun rejecting Cao Cao's reward openly while giving an explanation on why he rejected it.

"I think that you haven't thought it through completely which benefits it could give your family by becoming Marquis of Xu," says Cao Cao trying to lure Yun to his side.

"If my sons want to have a noble title they should earn it on their own as I have earned my rank in the military serving the Emperor before," says Yun earnestly not sounding hostile at all just determined to not accept the title of Marquis.

Yun could feel that Cao Cao wasn't happy with him as Cao Cao turned to Lu Bu who lifted his left hand stopping Cao Cao from asking while saying, "I will join my friend in this decision. I would love to be a Marquis again but it doesn't feel like I earned it by just conquering some cities which didn't have much resistance."

"Fine, then what do you want as a reward, you two?" asks Cao Cao not showing his emotions.

"I just want to be excused from paying taxes for the next four winters while increasing the monthly salary I receive by a hundred taels of gold. My army has grown bigger and I need to be able to feed them all," says Yun trying to negotiate which confuses Cao Cao since the poison Yun has taken it could weaken a man drastically.

He tested this poison on some of his prisoners who seemed to lose their strength before collapsing and slowly dying in their cells. But Yun wasn't showing any symptoms at all in Cao Cao's eyes.

"How many men do you have under your command again?" asks Cao Cao curious as a servant placed tea before Yun and Lu Bu while another two retrieved the empty dishes.

"It should be around a hundred thousand men when we combine them all into one army. If we split them up then it should be sixty thousand men on my side and forty thousand men on Lu Bu's side," says Yun as he takes a sip from his tea before giving Lu Bu a sign that it wasn't poisonous.

Lu Bu joined Yun in drinking the tea as did Cao Cao before he says, "I can give you fifty tael of gold every month and the tax evasion I give you is for two winters instead of four."

Now the conversation turned into a negotiation. Cao Cao now remembered that Yun was a mercenary and not one of his subordinates like everyone else.

"That would be too low of a raise to feed everyone and the tax evasion would be too short how about you give me ninth taels of gold and three and a half winters," says Yun trying to negotiate which made Lu Bu feel nervous since he wasn't accustomed to negotiate a price with a Lord.

He would just accept what he would get and get it over himself while Yun was trying to get the best deal out of Cao Cao when he hears, "Too high, my best offer would be seventy-five taels of gold and an evasion of three years. Then I would suffer no deficits in the coming years since I have great plans in the future."

"I can go with that," says Yun as he finishes his tea when Cao Cao looks at Yun seriously when Yun says, "Our contract is running out soon. It made me curious if you want to extend said contract or-"

"I would love to extend said contract for another ten years," says Cao Cao revealing that he had big plans in the future.

"Ten more years, that is a long time for those turbulent times we are living in. How much are you willing to pay me for the next ten years?" asks Yun since this was now a new negotiation between Yun and Cao Cao talking about a new contract that Yun will be breaking in the near future.

"What do you have in mind?" asks Cao Cao back waiting for the poison to finally kick in.

"I would say that beginning the new contract we raise the salary by another fifty taels of gold every month I will be under your service. I don't need anything else than that," says Yun seriously after finishing his tea.

"Nothing else?" asks Cao Cao confused as Yun stood up and walked toward the door while placing his hand on the handle of his sword.

"There is only one more thing," says Yun before unsheathing his sword.

He swings his sword and splits the door apart before revealing two guards behind said door waiting for their signal to attack but Yun surprises them completely when they hear, "The next time you try to poison and ambush me. I will show you why I will be known as the God of War by the future generations."

Cao Cao could feel Yun's threat as Yun sheathed his sword again. He walked through the door followed by Lu Bu who was holding his halbert just in case since Yun was resting his hand on the handle of his sword.

Cao Cao was furious with Yun but didn't do anything because Yun extended the contract with for another ten years which meant that Yun was going to follow his orders as he did before since he was bound to him by contract.

Yun on the other hand was annoyed with how Cao Cao was trying to play him and Lu Bu. He wanted to decapitate Cao Cao a moment ago but he held himself back since he would get his chance soon to do what he was thinking about.

Lu Bu on the other hand was annoyed with both Cao Cao and Yun for playing with his life as if he was a piece on a board of chess. Yun waited for Dian Wei and the others to reunite with them while holding the handle of his sword showing that he wasn't happy.

"Where are they?" asks Yun himself loud enough that Lu Bu and the servants could hear him.

They could feel that Yun was getting nervous when they heard wood breaking and they turned toward where the sound came from before seeing Gan Ning holding in one hand a cup of wine while in the other was the jar containing it.

Lu Bu began to laugh out loud seeing Gan Ning doing that while Dian Wei and Zhang He were holding him back knowing full well that Yun would kill them if he ever found out.

"Gan Ning," says Yun in a low tone which made all three feel shivers run up and down their spines seeing Yun look at them seriously while breaking some property that wasn't even his.

Zhang Liao now joining the trio could feel Yun's glare on him as well before Yun's expression changed into a smirk. They all sighed in relief when they saw Yun's expression change as Yun suddenly unsheathed his sword again before engulfing it in Qi and throwing it at them.

They all looked shocked and fell backwards trying to find cover from the sword that entered the room before it went mad flying through the room destroying it and leaving through a wall before returning to its sheath.

"It feels good to release your anger on things," says Yun venting his anger on Cao Cao's property when Gan Ning suddenly stood back up.

"Are you crazy!?" shouts Gan Ning angrily out of the window holding only the broken jar in one hand and an empty cup in the other.

"Come down we are moving out," says Yun back to Gan Ning who let go of the broken jar.

"Already?" asks Gan Ning not knowing how long they stayed when Yun nods before Gan Ning turns around toward the others and says, "Time to move guys. Take all the jars that you can carry we will continue our party at the inn."

Gan Ning grabbed some jars filled with wine which weren't destroyed by Yun's sword while Dian Wei and Zhang He grabbed him by his armpits before dragging him away.

Zhang Liao joined them while taking some jars with him not wanting them to go to waste while Lu Bu was scratching his head now while saying, "Cao Cao won't be happy."

"He should be since that room could have been his head for trying to poison us," says Yun feeling better now that he vented his rage at something.

Yun could have killed Cao Cao then and there but it would created a big power vacuum that nobody would have been able to fit making many of his subordinates take sides between his sons.

It would benefit him only a bit but not as much as it would with him alive since he needed Cao Cao for a longer time to stabilize the north for him while he could help Sun Quan take control of the south.

They left for the inn where they got their horses before riding out of the city since Cao Cao could have schemed to attack them in the inn. Yun wanted to make as much distance as possible with Xuchang before resting for the day.

"So do you think Cao Cao will retaliate for what you have done?" asks Gan Ning drinking from one of the jars he stole from Cao Cao.

"He will but not yet. Cao Cao is a person who values talent and knows how to use it rather than just blindly eliminate it. He will use us until we aren't necessary any longer and then try to eliminate us. The contract was just a feint which we both used effectively," says Yun seriously as they were opening their camp to rest for the night.