Li Tong had also climbed up from the ground, only to see Liu Xiu weaving his way through the crowd. There were also the sound of painful screams and curses came from all around from time to time. Li Tong was stunned and dumbfounded by this for a while.

When he was at home, he thought his martial arts were already amazing, since it was common for him to defeat the followers and servants of his family.

But after he came out of the Li Family and really fought with others, he found out the fact that the followers and servants of his family were just fooling and coaxing around him. When they were competing against him, they didn't use their real skills at all, they were totally cajoling a child.

Liu Xiu applied the skills that Long Yuan had taught him to the actual fight. The more he fought, the more he felt he was pretty handy with that. When he had the chance, he swayed and flicked his figure between the two big fellows, slashing out with two hand knives, hitting them squarely in the back of their head.

The two of them did not say anything, and they fell head first down to the ground, lying on the ground and passing out on the spot.

Liu Xiu's sudden counterattack made the remaining four big fellows suprised and startled at the same time, and just at the moment they were dazed, Liu Xiu beat one of them down with a punch.

The remaining three men grinned darkly, not expecting that they had met with a tough target today. One of the three big fellows walked around to Liu Xiu's back, and suddenly rushed over, trying to hold Liu Xiu in his arms.

He rushed up fast but retreated even faster, only to be kicked back by Liu Xiu.

The big fellow tumbled out of the ground more than two meters away, lying on the ground with his face turned to the sky, his gaze scattered and his face was dumbfounded, as if he had no idea what had just happened.

The remaining two big fellows no longer had the heart to fight. Both of them backed up in succession while pointing at Liu Xiu and cursing loudly, "You son of a bitch! Don't run away and wait here until we get back if you have any fucking guts!"

Liu Xiu snorted coldly and stepped forward. The two big fellows shrank their necks in fear, no longer dared to continue to give scathing words over Liu Xiu, then turned around and ran away, as if they were two stray dogs.

Among the seven big fellows, five was knocked down by Liu Xiu and two was ran away. Liu Xiu looked around, clapped his hands, and turned his head to look at Long Yuan.

With a smile on his face, Long Yuan nodded deeply to Liu Xiu, and his eyes were full of admiration.

Long Yuan thought to himself that Liu Xiu, whom I regarded as the Lord, was really something, and in just two months, he had practiced the skills that I taught him so skillfully and superbly. It was not about talent alone, but also about perseverance and effort.

Receiving Long Yuan's affirmation, Liu Xiu was in a better mood. He walked up to Li Tong and asked, "Brother Li, are you all right?"

Li Tong swallowed his spittle and looked at Liu Xiu up and down again. The two of them were obviously similar in age, but Liu Xiu was able to fight seven people alone and won them in the end, while he couldn't even beat one of them.

While sighing in his heart, he bowed to Liu Xiu and said, "Thank you for your help, Brother Liu. Otherwise, I am afraid I would have collapsed here and died just now!"

Liu Xiu waved his hand and said, "Brother Li, your moves are exquisite, it is just that your strength is a bit small, otherwise, your one move would be enough to make those big fellows fall to the ground, then where need I to do somthing?!"

Upon hearing this, Li Tong's affection for Liu Xiu increased greatly. He lifted his hand and took out the dragon coin in his girdle, handed it to Liu Xiu, and said:"There is nothing I can do in return for your saving grace. Here is a thank you gift, and I hope Brother Liu you can kindly accept it."

Liu Xiu froze for a moment, waved his hand to Li Tong with a smile, and said, "That's very kind. Brother Li, you really don't have to do this. It's just a show of hands, there is no need to say thank you, Brother Li, just take it back!"

"Brother Liu, are you thinking that a dragon coin is not enough for you?"

"Brother Li, don't you think of me as a friend?"

Li Tong blinked his eyes, paused for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing and said with an arching hand, "Brother Liu, a friend as good as you, I, Li Tong, am definitely willing to be friends with you! Zaixia Li Tong Li Ci Yuan!"

"Zaixia Liu Xiu Liu Wen Shu!"

As this little episode passed, Liu Xiu and Li Tong's relationship was invisiblely pulled a big step closer. The three of them continued on their way to the registration office while talking.

On the way, Li Tong then asked Liu Xiu about his family background. After learning that Liu Xiu and Liu Yan were descendants of the Han Dynasty, Li Tong's mind was suddenly changed, and his eyes looked at Liu Xiu was somewhat different.

When they returned to the registration office, Liu Yan and others were no longer there. They asked the officials of yamen about it, and found out that his eldest brother and others all went to the military camp of the Volunteer Army.

The three were about to head to the barracks when someone suddenly shouted, "Ci Yuan!" With the words, a young man ran over at a fast pace.

Li Tong raised his eyes, smiled and said, "Elder cousin!"

When the young man came closer to them, Li Tong introduced, "Brother Wen Shu, this is my cousin, Li Yi, Li Ji Wen!"

And then, he introduced Liu Xiu and Long Yuan to the young man:"This is Liu Xiu Liu Wen Shu, and this is Long Zhongbo, both of them were friends I just met."

The young man named Li Yi swept a glance towards Liu Xiu and Long Yuan, and after taking a good look at what the two were wearing, a glint of contempt unconsciously flashed in his eyes.

He shook his hand casually, sort of saluting Liu Xiu and Long Yuan, then looked at Li Tong, and asked with dissatisfaction:" Ci Yuan, where have you been? I have been looking for you for a long time!"

"Just went to the casino and tried my luck, and not only did I win a dragon coin, but I also made two new friends."

Li Tong was a very optimistic person, and the encounter and the distress just now has been completely put behind him. He said, "Elder cousin, do you know who Brother Wen Shu's elder brother is?"

"Who?" Li Yi asked subconsciously.

"Liu Yan Liu Bosheng!"

"Ah?" Li Yi was stunned when he heard that, and subconsciously looked at Liu Xiu, reassessing him once again.

Just in a moment, no one in the Volunteer Army had ever heard of Liu Yan Liu Bosheng's name.

After Li Yi stunned for a moment, this time he arched his arms, bowed to Liu Xiu and said, "So it is Liu Xiu, young Lord Liu. Sorry zaixia didn't recognize you and I was really disrespectful just now."

Liu Xiu returned the salute with an arch hand and said with a smile:" Brother Li, you really don't have to do this."

"Brother Wen Shu, let me go to the bathroom first, and please wait here for me for a while." Seeing that Liu Xiu nodded, Li Tong said to Li Yi again:" Elder ousin, take me to the toilet!"

Didn't you know where the toilets were around here? Li Yi muttered in confusion, but he was not stupid, and soon reacted that his elder cousin must have something to say to himself.

He nodded and pointed casually with a finger, said, "The toilet is over there, let's go, I will take you there."

Watching the two of them walked towards the latrine, Long Yuan came close to Liu Xiu and reminded him in a low voice:" My Lord, this Li Yi is not as good as Li Tong."

When Li Yi didn't know the fact that Liu Xiu was Liu Yan's younger brother, he just glanced at their dresses, and then casually arched his hands on Liu Xiu and Long Yuan, sort of saluting them.

After learning that Liu Xiu was Liu Yan's younger brother, his attitude immediately turned a 180-degree turn and solemnly bowed down to the ground. In Long Yuan's point of view, Li Yi was a hypocrite, flattering superiors and trampling on juniors, not worthy of close friendship.

Liu Xiu also felt that Li Yi's temperament was not as good as Li Tong's, but after all, they just met with each other by chance like patches of drifting duckweed. If their personalities were as different as chalk and cheese, it was not a big deal to be a bowing acquaintance.

He smiled blandly and said, "It doesn't matter."

Now speaking of Li Tong and Li Yi, the two walked quickly towards the toilet, seeing that there was no one around, Li Tong tugged on the sleeve of Li Yi and asked him to get closer to himself, then asked in a small voice, "Elder cousin, do you still remember the reason why my father resigned from his post?"

Li Yi's face paled, and he glanced subconsciously to the left and right, then said slowly and stressed each syllable:" The Liu Family will revive, assisted by the Li Family!"

Li Tong answered:" Liu Xiu and Liu Yan are descendants of the Han Dynasty."

Li Yi sniffed a shape intake of breath.

Li Shou's father, Li Shou, was a master of metaphysics, and he got such a quote from Tu Chen: The Liu Family will revive, assisted by the Li Family

The Chen words was very popular during the Western Han and Wang Mang periods, and the so-called Tu Chen meant the prophecy.

Wang Mang was very superstitious about the Tu Chen. During his reign, researching Tu Chen had become the most popular academic literature in the country, and there was even a special discipline emerged at the right moment, Chen-ology.

Li Shou was indeed an avid fan of Chen-ology. After seeing the prophecy of 'The Liu Family will revive, assisted by the Li Family', he immediately resigned from his post and returned to his hometown, accumulated money, hoarded grain, recruited talents, and made great preparations to assist the Liu Family in their fight against Wang Mang..

However, in the two hundred years of the Western Han Dynasty, as an imperial family, the descendants of the Liu family were countless, and they were everywhere. Which lineage of the Liu family should be assisted by the Li family, Li Shou had no idea, and he could only wait and see what would happen.

The sudden appearance of Liu Yan has made Li Tong keenly aware that the Liu family, which to be assisted by the Li family, was probably the branch of Liu Yan and Liu Xiu.

Li Yi asked, "Ci Yuan, do you think the Liu Family that will revive mentioned in the Tu Chen means Liu..."

"Elder cousin!" Li Tong interrupted Li Yi, and there was exactly two people in front of them walking out of the latrine. After the two men passed, Li Tong nodded to Li Yi and said tacitly:" Nine times out of ten, I believe."

Li Yi asked no further questions. Although he also believed in the prophecy of 'The Liu Family will revive, assisted by the Li Family!', he was not so sure if the Liu Family mentioned in the Tu Chen referred to the lineage of Liu Yan and Liu Xiu, so he still need to observe it carefully before making a judgment.

After going to the toilet, Li Tong and Li Yi returned to join Liu Xiu, and then the four of them went together to the barracks of the Volunteer Army.

The barracks of the Volunteer Army was located outside the city, and there was a large camp. There were more than 10,000 volunteers recruited here from Xiangyang City, which was a relatively large contingent of volunteer army.

The group of Liu Xiu had just walked to the entrance of the camp when they saw Zhu Yun stepping out of the barracks from inside the military camp towards them. When Zhu Yun got close to Liu Xiu, he asked, "A'xiu', where have you been? Your elder brother is looking for you!"

Saying that, Zhu Yun turned his gaze to Li Tong and Li Yi, and asked, "These two are?"

"Zaixia Li Tong!"

"Zaixia Li Yi!"

Li Tong and Li Yi arched their hands and saluted Zhu Yun. Zhu Yun arched his hand and returned the salute, saying, "My name is Zhu Yun!" As he spoke, he looked at Liu Xiu in a puzzle.

Liu Xiu explained, "These two Brothers Li are both from Nanyang Prefecture, and we are fellows."

Nanyang Prefecture, this was a key word. There would be two major factions under Liu Xiu in the future, and the Nanyang Sect was one of them.

Zhu Yun smiled. Among these Xiangyang Volunteer Soldiers, there were many fellow villagers from Nanyang Prefecture.

He waved his head and said, "Come with me!" Zhu Yun took Liu Xiu and the others into the military camp. Since the camp had just been built for a while, it was in disarray everywhere.

After all, the Volunteer Army was not a regular army, and didn't know how to set up a camp. They were all basically going their separate ways, cluttered.

Zhu Yun led Liu Xiu and the others to a large tent. To say it was a large tent was to say it was slightly larger than a normal camp tent. There were a lot of people gathered inside, and the one who was sitting in the middle was exactly Liu Yan.

Seeing that his younger brother finally came back, Liu Yan was relieved. Of course, he also noticed that there were two strangers he had never seen before who had come in with Liu Xiu.

He did not immediately ask questions, but cleared his throat, and said in a straight voice:" Since everyone is here, there are two things that I will announce. First of all, I have requested some equipment and food from Xianwei Lord Peng."

With that said, he turned his head to look at Zhang Ping and said, "Jingzhi, the weapons and grain are under your charge, so you are responsible for distributing them to everyone here."

Notes:

1 Xianwei 县尉: referring as the name of a local official just below the head of the county in ancient China

2 zaixia在下: a self address denotes humbler and lower than you

3 yamen衙门: the government office in feudal China

4 Tu Chen 图谶: Books on prophecies, omens that propagate superstition in ancient China