In the month after Guan Yu (關羽) had briefly lodged beneath the robe of Cao Cao's (曹操) main camp, Yuan Shao's (袁紹) seven hundred thousand great army crossed the Yellow River (黃河).

Yuan Shao's main army arrayed itself before the hill of Baima (白馬). His vanguard general was Yan Liang (顏良). Yan Liang's martial valor (武勇) was known widely across the north. A saying circulated in the northern camps: that only a Green-Dragon Crescent Blade could reach the neck of Yan Liang.

Cao Cao sent the three generals Cao Ren (曹仁), Xiahou Dun (夏侯惇), and Yu Jin (于禁) toward Baima. The blades of the three generals fell wide before Yan Liang one after another. Cao Ren retreated; Xiahou Dun retreated; Yu Jin retreated. Cao Cao's eyes sank deep. "The single blade that can break Yan Liang is only Yunchang's Green-Dragon Crescent Blade."

Cheng Yu (程昱) continued in a low voice. "My Lord. Let Guan Yunchang ascend the hill of Baima. Even within the three covenants, a single blade can move beneath the weight of Xudu (許都)."

Cao Cao summoned Guan Yu before the table of the main camp. "Yunchang. Today Yan Liang stands upon the hill of Baima. Will you lift your single blade?" Guan Yu nodded deeply. "General Cao. I shall lift today's blade. Even within the three covenants, a single blade can move."

Guan Yu mounted the Red Hare horse (赤兎馬). The Green-Dragon Crescent Blade lay across his shoulder. His eyes turned toward the northern hill. Upon the hill of Baima, Yan Liang's single red robe (袍) showed in the distance.

Guan Yu spurred the Red Hare forward. Its four hooves raised dust. Yan Liang's red robe drew near. Before Yan Liang could lift his blade, the edge of the Green-Dragon Crescent touched beneath his neck.

Yan Liang's head fell upon the hill. Guan Yu wrapped that head in a cloth and delivered it into Cao Cao's main camp. Cao Cao spoke low. "Yunchang. That a single blade could move this fast, I did not know."

Guan Yu bowed his head low. "General Cao. Today's single blade is the first line of a repayment beneath the weight of Xudu. On the day Liu Xuande's (劉玄德) whereabouts are made known, my single step shall set out upon the road of a thousand li (千里)." Cao Cao nodded in silence.

Meanwhile, inside Yuan Shao's main camp, Wen Chou (文醜), receiving the news of Yan Liang's death, demanded vengeance with great fury. Yuan Shao nodded. Wen Chou's fifty thousand cavalry moved toward Yanjin (延津) south of the Yellow River. Guan Yu once again laid the Green-Dragon Crescent Blade across his shoulder. Behind the single blade at Baima, the single blade at Yanjin was drawing near.

At Jizhou, Liu Bei (劉備), inside Yuan Shao's tent, received the news of Yan Liang's death. His eyes sank deep. Yuan Shao asked low. "Xuande. What do you make of today's news?" Liu Bei answered low. "Lord Benchu (本初). Today's blade seems to be the blade of my younger brother. Do not lay any decision today. Please wait for one more word to come."

Outside the tent, a long grey rain began to fall upon the northern plains. The earth behind Yuan Shao's tent absorbed the first of the rain without sound. Mud lifted beneath the tent rope; the rope held. Some ropes, laid well in dry earth, hold beneath a season's rain. In the coming seasons, Yuan Shao would be tested by a harder rain than this; the ropes of his larger tents would not all hold. Tonight, only the lightest rain fell, and tonight only the rope of the main tent was tested.

At the river-crossing below the hill, the shield of a Yuan Shao soldier floated upon a dark current for perhaps an hour and then sank. A river patrol of Cao Cao's side watched it from the opposite bank without speaking. A patrol soldier who has watched a defeated enemy's shield sink at a river's edge rarely speaks in the same hour. He only noted the place in his memory so that, if the current shifted, he could report it the next morning. In the coming week, more shields would float past this place; but tonight only one floated, and the patrol watched it alone.

The eighty-fifth evening of Book 3 deepened quietly upon the hill of Baima. The three characters Baekmain (白馬刃, the blade of Baima) were planted as a seed: the breath on which the four hooves of the Red Hare, the Green-Dragon Crescent Blade, a red robe, and a head wrapped in a cloth lay at one seat. The three covenants of Day 84's Dunsan-sam (屯山三) had, this evening, laid down the first repayment of a single blade.

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