Liu Bei: I Think There's Something Going On Between You Two

"Crossbows? Without a talent to provide targeting and boost their power?"

Sun Wu's first reaction was one of bewilderment.

Archers with a targeting talent could hit whatever they aimed at, and their firepower was terrifying. But without a talent, weren't their power and accuracy just a joke?

The Deflection Formation activated. The Cloud Qi Armament Formation activated.

Cloud Qi settled over some of the soldiers, forming a layer of protection across their shields and bodies.

Then the arrows arrived.

Most of the incoming arrows were deflected into gaps in the formation. A few still struck the soldiers, even after being knocked off course.

But Sun Wu had prepared defenses for those soldiers long ago.

Cloud Qi, wooden shields, and Leather Armor—those two layers of protection were more than enough to stop the arrows.

Had a few unlucky fellows with only one layer of Cloud Qi Armament not happened to take arrows to the body, Sun Wu's troops could have taken those ordinary arrows without a scratch.

The real damage to Sun Wu's formation came from the arrows as thick as a forearm.

The Deflection Formation struggled to knock these arrows aside, and Cloud Qi Armament couldn't stop them either.

The soldiers they struck, along with several behind them, were skewered on the spot.

But the arrows weren't very accurate, either.

Out of a hundred or so, hitting ten was about the best they could manage.

Even so, the enemy's crossbow fire didn't let up.

It was as if the arrows cost nothing.

Once again, Sun Wu felt the unmistakable aura of money washing over him from the youngster on the other side.

(Qi Fei: "You mean I can use crossbow bolts to wear down the God of War's army's Cloud Qi and deal damage at the same time? What are we waiting for? Fire! Fire!")

"It seems we can't wait any longer."

Looking at the seemingly endless arrows, Sun Wu sighed.

Deflecting the arrows and spending Cloud Qi to create Cloud Qi Armament were still within what he could handle.

But the loss of morale from being attacked without being able to fight back was much harder to control.

He could keep rearranging the army and further improve the conscripts' abilities, but if their morale broke, all that improvement would be meaningless.

Of course, Sun Wu had brought archers, too.

But after seeing the enemy's heavy armor, he'd decisively broken up the Archer Legion and folded them into the main force.

One-talent archers simply didn't have enough killing power against those lumps of iron.

They were better used to organize the conscripts and bolster the army.

So the current situation had been within his expectations.

At Sun Wu's command, the Cloud Qi overhead shifted again, and another formation was layered over the one already in place.

This time, it boosted the legion's marching speed.

"Attack."

At Sun Wu's order, the thirty thousand soldiers moved like a single entity.

They launched themselves at Qi Fei at astonishing speed.

Once they started moving, Qi Fei's already poor hit rate dropped even further.

As the distance closed, Sun Wu controlled the Cloud Qi to form a slanted surface in front of his formation, deflecting every arrow except those fired by crossbows.

He reduced the crossbow bolts' effectiveness as much as possible.

"The enemy's power-draining strategy has succeeded. Prepare to switch to melee."

At Qi Fei's command, the heavy crossbowmen at the front of the formation fell back to rest and change weapons.

As for the hundred or so Huangfu Personal Guards, the crossbows were taken away by the men who had been using them. The guards then took man-high shields from their teammates.

The Huangfu Personal Guards who gave up their shields took up long-handled battle-axes with blades wider than ordinary wagon wheels.

Sun Wu no longer had the heart to complain about it.

He focused on maneuvering his soldiers, intent on surrounding these Metal Dumplings and taking them on head-on.

He wanted the youngster to understand that a battle between commanders of great armies couldn't be won by relying on a single legion to do everything.

Of course, Qi Fei's preparations weren't over yet.

With the only Civil Official No. 1 to have successfully formed a Mental Talent assisting him, Qi Fei manipulated the Cloud Qi overhead.

The prepared Cloud Qi formation quickly took shape.

But the formation seemed to have no effect at all.

Sun Wu couldn't help feeling confused.

Was the kid planning something big?

As the two armies were about to clash, Qi Fei's actions confirmed Sun Wu's guess.

A dark power erupted from Qi Fei, covering nearly twenty thousand soldiers. At the same time, the Cloud Qi formation overhead began frantically drawing in Heaven and Earth Essence from outside.

The next moment, the leading Metal Dumpling, who had reached Internal Qi Separation, broke through to Boundary Breaker.

Then, starting with him, every soldier covered by the dark power began to advance.

The ordinary soldiers at Internal Qi Condensation advanced to Qi Solidification; the core soldiers at Qi Solidification advanced to Internal Qi Separation; and the four legion leaders at Internal Qi Separation broke through to Boundary Breaker on the spot.

Their breakthroughs further increased the density and reach of the Cloud Qi.

As a result, the Cloud Qi spread directly over most of Sun Wu's vanguard.

"Hahaha! What do you think of the surprise I prepared for you?"

Qi Fei shouted to Sun Wu.

Over the past year or so, he'd developed a formation around his Mental Talent and his not-yet-formed Legion Talent.

This formation had only one effect: drawing in Heaven and Earth Essence.

Using it anywhere outside the navy was usually suicidal.

Drawing in Heaven and Earth Essence from the surroundings consumed one's own Cloud Qi, weakening both one's own forces and their ability to suppress the enemy.

Meanwhile, the Heaven and Earth Essence drawn in gathered into a dense area.

Within that area, both sides grew stronger during close combat as the concentration of Heaven and Earth Essence increased.

And the enemy had one less Cloud Qi drain to worry about.

It was like everyone was filling the same swimming pool with water, except your own pool was also draining at the same time.

Of course the enemy would beat you to a pulp.

But when combined with a Mental Talent and a Legion Talent, it could produce this result.

Everyone's level went up by one.

Naturally, the enemy's Cloud Qi would restrict their Internal Qi cultivation, so they couldn't bring their full strength to bear.

But it was enough to change the course of the battle.

Sun Wu's mouth twitched.

The youngster's abilities were far too frightening.

The best fighters on his side had only just begun to develop Internal Qi, while over there, men with Qi Solidification were nothing but foot soldiers.

If he'd known you could pull this trick, why the hell would I have fought you?

But it was too late to retreat now. He had to break Qi Fei's momentum if he wanted to withdraw safely.

Sun Wu drew power from the soldiers in the rear and poured it into the vanguard, which was about to make contact.

At the same time, Cloud Qi flowed, and Sun Wu activated an incredibly complex formation.

The vanguard's potential was forcibly brought out. This allowed them to withstand the power of the rear ranks and advance to Imperial Guard on the spot.

Even Sun Wu had only just managed to pull off that much in the time available.

(Liu Bei, the referee, was nearly dumbstruck by the moves both sides had pulled.)

Once Sun Wu had done all this, the two armies finally clashed.

The Huangfu Personal Guards struck first.

With gigantic axes—super-heavy weapons—and formidable Internal Qi cultivation, one swing shattered both Cloud Qi Armament and metal armor.

They were terrifyingly fierce.

But the attacks of the Imperial Guard that Sun Wu had brought forth were blocked by their own teammates.

The result was a one-sided slaughter.

But that didn't matter.

However fearsome the Huangfu Personal Guards were, there were only a little over a hundred of them. Sun Wu would draw them into a siege, split them up, and pick them off.

At that moment, Sun Wu demonstrated the utterly terrifying command skills of a true God of War.

He wasn't just directing his own troops; he was guiding Qi Fei, too.

It didn't take long for Sun Wu to split Qi Fei's battle line apart.

The Huangfu Personal Guards' formation was forced into a wedge.

If Qi Fei hadn't firmly remembered that ordinary people like them had no business trying to exploit the God of War's formation weaknesses, and never gotten greedy or advanced recklessly, always trying to keep his forces in a standard square formation,

the Huangfu Personal Guards would have been lured into a long line and slaughtered by Sun Wu's troops on both flanks.

On top of that, Sun Wu's forces had surrounded Qi Fei's other legions.

Even though each individual soldier was completely outclassed by the enemy, Sun Wu used his command skills to keep all those legions in check.

He precisely chose which soldiers needed to unleash the full strength of the Imperial Guard, having them hold off Qi Fei's troops.

After a brief burst of effort, he immediately switched them out and had the next group take over.

He also sent out decoys with just the right level of strength in suitable places for the enemy to kill.

An ordinary commander couldn't completely control his soldiers, even if he resisted the temptation himself.

After all, the soldiers were only doing what they were supposed to do.

But Qi Fei was different.

To Qi Fei, every weakness in the God of War's formation was a trap. Even those hard targets that seemed to require real strength were traps.

What opportunity? He couldn't see one. He was just going to fight you head-on.

Even so, Qi Fei's legions were being inexorably drawn into Sun Wu's formation.

The two weakest legions were nearly at the center of the formation.

That was where the enemy's Cloud Qi was thickest, and where it suppressed Qi Fei's forces the most.

It seemed Sun Wu planned to start by devouring those two legions.

"So that means they've completely taken over command, huh?"

Qi Fei sighed helplessly.

Even though he kept his own plan firmly in mind and issued orders every so often to stop the soldiers from advancing, the two legions had still been pulled into that position.

Apparently, the other side's commander had taken control of his troops.

It looked as if he was the one deciding what to do, but every order he gave produced the result the other commander wanted.

And Qi Fei didn't rely entirely on Command Flags and drums to command.

His Mental Talent also let him share his mental power, enabling long-range communication.

Although Cloud Qi interference made this form of communication fluctuate wildly, it still gave Qi Fei a chance to contact his legions instantly.

The other commander could only use traditional methods.

To put it in modern terms, it was like playing StarCraft against an artificial intelligence while using an old person's phone with a network delay of over two hundred milliseconds.

And he was still just barely holding the advantage.

Now that was terrifying. The God of War really was something else.

"But this was within my expectations, too."

Qi Fei sent the orders he'd prepared long ago to the two legions.

He'd specially prepared those two legions for this battle.

The first two thousand were the Pathfinding Legion. Their Elite Talent was Instant Power Burst, letting them unleash terrifying damage in a single instant.

The other legion had barely killed anyone and looked pretty weak. It was called the Crimson Blood Guard, and had three thousand men.

As for their talent, the big shot would find out soon enough.

When they received Qi Fei's order, the Pathfinding Legion exploded into action. They broke through the legion Sun Wu had stationed in front of them to block their advance, then charged straight toward the commander's central formation.

But they didn't kill the soldiers directly in front of them.

They simply knocked them flat with a hammer.

As soon as those soldiers got back up, the Crimson Blood Guard, following close behind, killed them.

The victims' Essence, Qi, and Spirit were instantly drained and absorbed into the bodies of the Crimson Blood Guard.

This was the Slaughter Absorption talent Qi Fei had been developing for Zhao Yun.

Its effect was to kill enemies and absorb their Essence, Qi, and Spirit, killing intent, baleful aura...all kinds of miscellaneous energy, growing stronger in the process.

But while it did that, the soldiers also absorbed the victims' negative thoughts, and generated a large amount of negative thoughts of their own.

As a result, they usually went mad after killing just a few people.

Fortunately, both Zhao Yun and Qi Fei had ways to deal with that.

Qi Fei further activated his not-yet-formed Legion Talent.

Born under the influence of the Supreme God of Destruction's power, the Legion Talent easily suppressed the negative thoughts, allowing the Crimson Blood Guard to keep killing.

At first, Qi Fei had planned to reverse the direction of his Mental Talent and have the Crimson Blood Guard share their negative thoughts with him.

But when he realized his not-yet-formed Legion Talent could suppress them, he changed his mind.

After all, those negative thoughts could still be useful.

And so, the Crimson Blood Guard followed the Pathfinding Legion, killing as they went.

After only a few exchanges, the second talent Qi Fei had long been cultivating for the Crimson Blood Guard emerged.

Berserk.

Its effect was to completely release the brain's restrictions on the muscles, allowing the body to exert its full strength.

This talent was a little different from the second talent of the original Crimson Blood Cavalry.

The main issue was that he still hadn't figured out that Blood Fiend Heavenly Demon Qi Fei, so he could only cobble together something similar based on his own understanding of the human body.

But it was close enough. Both were super-negative Talents that dealt a thousand damage to the enemy at the cost of eight hundred to themselves.

And so, the situation on the battlefield changed abruptly.

The berserk Crimson Blood Guards replaced the Pathfinding Legion. With a single blow, they easily smashed the enemies in front of them to death, at the cost of wrecking their own muscles and bones.

But with their Qi Solidification physique and the life essence drawn in by Slaughter Absorption, injuries that would have left someone bedridden for months healed in an instant. The Crimson Blood Guards were even strengthened in the process.

Then they picked up their hammers and went on killing.

During the battle, Sun Wu tried to project his power onto the central army to stop this legion, which was clearly growing stronger the more it killed.

But it was no use.

Aside from the Huangfu Personal Guards, the Pathfinding Legion was the toughest force in Qi Fei's army. On top of that, they had the explosive Talent Instant Power Burst.

Under the Cloud Qi now covering the battlefield, only top-tier legions with Three Talents could stop them.

But Sun Wu, who needed to hold off Qi Fei's vanguard, couldn't spare that much strength.

By the time the Crimson Blood Guards' second Talent had taken shape, the Pathfinding Legion had officially stepped down, and the Crimson Blood Guards had become the main force.

And this lot were even harder to deal with.

What's more, Qi Fei had now abandoned his earlier caution, and every legion launched an all-out assault on Sun Wu's army.

Sun Wu had no choice but to direct his forces in the front to resist while trying to throw the Crimson Blood Guards into the fray.

Qi Fei naturally wouldn't let Sun Wu do that.

The Crimson Blood Guards could only grow stronger by killing. Without kills, they were just cannon fodder.

So he deliberately directed them toward the places where the enemy was most concentrated.

No matter how strong the enemy was, they'd trade injury for a life and kill them outright.

Thus, the Crimson Blood Guards kept inflicting casualties on Sun Wu's central and rear armies.

Finally, after killing twice their own number in enemies, the Crimson Blood Guards began to smoke.