"Can you make the unleashed cloud energy even more violent?" Gan Ning asked, quickly manipulating the cloud energy while glancing to the side.
"As long as you can control it!" Chen Xi replied with a smile. He then split his spiritual power in half, then into four parts, and then even more, intertwining the cloud energy with each thread of his spiritual power as they moved together.
"It's done!" Gan Ning shouted in surprise. He hadn't expected Chen Xi to achieve this level of control in an instant—this wasn't humanly possible.
"I'm stabilizing the structure of the cloud energy. It seems I've developed a new formation—a highly advanced variation of the Xuanyang Formation!" Chen Xi laughed aloud.
Chen Xi hadn't anticipated such a shocking effect when he fully expanded his spiritual power. What was once a complex operation of cloud energy had become even more intricate in his hands, and he fed this refined complexity into Gan Ning's control, leaving only the most violent aspects.
"Forget the military formation—I'm at my limit!" Gan Ning's eyes flashed with madness as he struggled to maintain control. Chen Xi's speed far exceeded his expectations.
"I'll stabilize it for you!" At this point, Chen Xi also sensed the danger from the whale-like cloud structure above Gan Ning's head. Realizing the vastness of his spiritual power, Chen Xi poured in a large amount of it to help Gan Ning stabilize his technique.
"There's no time!" Sun Ce, who had just arrived through the rain, could already see the figure of the man charging ahead of him. He also noticed the massive cloud structure above Gan Ning's head. Seeing Zhou Yu struggling to control the cloud energy, Sun Ce knew that if they were hit by this attack head-on, his forces would surely collapse!
"Gongjin, channel all the cloud energy now!" Sun Ce, decisive as ever, shouted to Zhou Yu.
"Understood!" Zhou Yu also knew the situation was critical. The timing of Liu Bei's forces was perfect—right when they were breaking camp. If they had arrived a bit earlier or later, they wouldn't have been caught in such a vulnerable position.
Zhou Yu channeled all of the available cloud energy into Sun Ce's body. Originally clad in golden armor, Sun Ce absorbed the cloud energy, and amidst the torrential rain, a brilliant golden sun rose.
"There's no way I'll let you succeed!" Gan Ning roared as he unleashed the massive blue cloud whale. The torrential rain was instantly blown away by the fierce energy, and the ground outside the city of Lujiang was left pockmarked with craters.
"Break!" Sun Ce thrust his spear, his essence and spirit merging with all the accumulated cloud energy of his army, transforming into a colossal golden spear that struck the cloud whale.
A deafening boom echoed across the battlefield. Sun Ce's side was then hit by chaotic spiritual waves and a violent level-12 storm.
If it had been only the storm, their remaining cloud energy shield would have protected Sun Ce's forces from too much damage. At most, the dispersed troops would have been blown away.
Unfortunately, the chaotic spiritual waves struck first, destroying most of the cloud energy shield. Many of the front-line soldiers collapsed without resistance, and if Zhou Yu hadn't intercepted the majority of the spiritual shock, they would have been incapacitated, if not killed.
As the mud and debris finally stopped falling, torrential rain continued to pour over the area hundreds of steps in front of Gan Ning, where hardly any enemies were left standing.
"Phew!" Gan Ning exhaled deeply, pulling on the reins as he surveyed the massive crater over a hundred meters wide. "Although we didn't hit them directly enough to completely destroy them, they won't be regrouping after this. Time to charge in and finish them off! Surrounding and attacking without properly blocking reinforcements—what were they thinking?"
Zhou Yu couldn't hear Gan Ning's words right now, but if he could, he would have been furious. Gan Ning's timing was just too perfect. If he had arrived earlier, Zhou Yu's rear guard would have been caught outside the camp. If he had arrived later, Zhou Yu would have already been stationed inside Lujiang City. In either case, they wouldn't have been this vulnerable.
"Bofu, let Youping hold off Gan Ning! Neither side has cloud energy left now. Although we've suffered heavy losses, they won't be able to suppress experts at the Internal Qi Manifestation level anymore," Zhou Yu said, pressing his temples in pain. Even though he had blocked most of the spiritual shock, the sudden attack had left him dizzy.
Upon hearing this, Sun Ce and Zhou Tai rushed toward Gan Ning. Their horses had perished in the initial spiritual shockwave, and both had suffered significant mental impacts due to being on the front lines. Sun Ce, in particular, was weary after his hasty clash with Gan Ning's charged attack and the subsequent spiritual shock.
Zhou Tai charged toward Gan Ning with a grim expression, while Sun Ce, understanding that this was no time to maintain decorum, forced himself to gather his internal energy and also charged at Gan Ning.
"Spread out and focus on killing the enemy soldiers first!" Gan Ning commanded his troops. He knew the opponents charging at him were all experts, and without cloud energy to protect his soldiers, even heavily injured foes could slaughter them like cutting down grass.
"So, it's really you, Gan Xingba!" Zhou Tai roared as he swung his broadsword at Gan Ning.
"Zhou Youping! Get out of my way!" Gan Ning shouted back, grabbing his Hengjiang Iron Chain with his left hand and swinging it toward Zhou Tai's head, while his right hand wielded a massive cleaver against Sun Ce.
The clash of weapons echoed as Zhou Tai deflected Gan Ning's chain with his broadsword, then countered with a dark blade of energy. However, Gan Ning had anticipated this, pulling back his chain to block Zhou Tai's strike while the deflected chain, seemingly with a mind of its own, shot toward Sun Ce's head from behind.
Sun Ce nimbly dodged, slipping through the blue-green blade energy and the chain whip. Gripping his spear with both hands, he lunged at Gan Ning, delivering five consecutive strikes, each faster than the last, piercing through the air toward Gan Ning.
"Get away!" Gan Ning roared, his body suddenly enveloped in a shimmering blue aura. The spear tips that Sun Ce thrust at him veered off course, while the massive energy wave Zhou Tai unleashed was also diverted, carving a deep trench into the ground several hundred meters away.
"Is this all you've got, Zhou Tai?" Gan Ning laughed loudly. When he had first arrived at the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, he had clashed with Zhou Tai and harbored a grudge ever since. Back then, he had barely managed to hold his own, but now he realized that even if Zhou Tai were at his peak, they would be evenly matched!
Zhou Tai pushed his internal energy to its limits, but each time he attacked, the blue aura around Gan Ning diverted his strikes. Even when Zhou Tai managed to break through the aura, it was difficult to land a direct hit on Gan Ning.