Liu Bei has won a decisive battle against Cao Cao, and the prime minister is in danger of losing everything. But like a cornered animal, Cao Cao is at his most dangerous with his back against the wall. What he does next will forge an unlikely alliance, and cost the life of one of China's most legendary heroes.
Cao Cao is so overwhelmed by anxiety and grief at the sight of Guan Yu's severed head. Cao Cao had little regard for the hundreds of adversaries he's defeated in his life, but he considered Guan Yu as a true equal, a legend in his own time. And the two men have fought for so long that Cao Cao finds it impossible to believe that Guan Yu could succumbed to something as petty and human as death. But death is inevitable, and Cao Cao must confront this truth by acknowledging that what he is and what he convinced himself he was are two different things. Cao Cao feels grief at seeing someone he admired reduced to mere lifeless body parts, but he also grieves for the way he has lost sight of the person he once was - an ambitious but idealistic young military commander and, prior to that a child wide-eyed at the wonders of the world.
