Chapter 960: A Desperate Struggle

“Foolish!” Just before Ma Chao’s strike could reach Lü Bu, he heard Lü Bu’s scolding voice. Then, Lü Bu vanished from before him. Suddenly, Ma Chao felt an immense force strike his back, making him spit out blood. The internal energy that had been coursing through his damaged meridians was forcibly interrupted by Lü Bu’s blow.

With another resounding crash, Ma Chao was once again slammed into the ground by Lü Bu. But in the very next moment, Ma Chao shot out from the crater as if nothing had happened, madly launching another attack toward Lü Bu.

His internal energy surged endlessly, his meridians breaking and healing repeatedly. Amidst the pain, Ma Chao's strength kept reaching new peaks. His ferocious attacks were enough to suppress even a skilled warrior like Zhang He within thirty moves.

But unfortunately, Ma Chao’s opponent was Lü Bu. Despite Ma Chao’s savage strikes, every attack was futile. Though Lü Bu had not yet drawn his famed Sky Piercer halberd, his mastery of internal energy made his strikes, even without a weapon, several times more powerful than those of a peak internal energy master wielding a divine weapon.

As Ma Chao’s fighting spirit surged, his internal energy began to dwindle. Even though the divine stone he carried continuously restored his energy and healed his injuries, the strain was becoming too much. Slowly but surely, the stone’s power began to fade.

Lü Bu, however, watched Ma Chao with interest. He had realized that Ma Chao was carrying a divine stone, but Lü Bu had no desire to take it from him.

One reason was that Lü Bu found himself liking this young man. In Ma Chao, Lü Bu saw someone who, in terms of personality, gaze, and strength, reminded him of his younger self. Having developed an affection for the talented youth, Lü Bu held back in their fight.

Otherwise, given Ma Chao’s reckless attempt to break through to the peak of internal energy mastery, without even being able to control his body properly, Lü Bu could have killed him many times over. Instead, Lü Bu continued to test Ma Chao, allowing him to learn to harness his newfound power.

If Lü Bu had wanted to, even without Ma Chao’s breakthrough, he was confident he could defeat him in thirty moves. After Ma Chao’s forced breakthrough, when his body and reactions were out of sync, Lü Bu could have finished him with a single blow.

Another reason Lü Bu wasn’t interested in the divine stone was that it no longer held much value for him. Unless it was a core stone like the one possessed by the legendary Xiang Yu, the divine stone wouldn’t significantly enhance Lü Bu’s abilities.

At this point, Lü Bu had already surpassed Xiang Yu in terms of mental discipline and spiritual strength, becoming the foremost in this domain. His internal energy had reached the physical limits of his body, constrained only by his physique—an obstacle faced by all martial artists who focused solely on internal energy cultivation without equally developing their bodies.

The divine stone could enhance Lü Bu’s physique, but it wouldn’t result in a fundamental transformation.

For internal energy masters who had reached the pinnacle, their limits varied. For instance, if Dian Wei ever reached the peak of internal energy mastery, his combined blood and energy would allow him to strike down a typical master with a single blow.

Dian Wei’s training method was the most correct—his extremely powerful physique allowed him to contain more internal energy, and his body could unleash that energy with terrifying force. However, after strengthening his body to such an extent, his body would naturally absorb much of the internal energy he produced.

Dian Wei generated internal energy every moment, which explained why he could explode with such incredible strength. The value of his powerful body lay in the fact that a single unit of his internal energy could produce ten times the destructive power.

However, the downside of such a strong body was the need for sufficient internal energy. Dian Wei’s body produced about as much internal energy as a normal martial artist at the Qi-Condensing stage, meaning that in battle, he could unleash the strength of a peak internal energy master using ten times the energy of someone at the Qi-Condensing stage.

This explained why Dian Wei’s combat endurance was so exceptional—he could fight as long as he was alive.

In contrast, for internal energy masters like Guan Yu or Zhao Yun, if they were reduced to the Qi-Condensing stage’s internal energy levels, even if they retained all their skills, their strength would drop drastically. For a peak internal energy master, the internal energy of a Qi-Condensing warrior was practically negligible.

Thus, for Lü Bu, taking the divine stone from Ma Chao would only marginally increase his internal energy threshold. Since that threshold was already expanding, he saw no reason to take the stone, especially from someone as interesting as Ma Chao.

“This can’t go on! Lü Bu is toying with me like I’m nothing more than a fool!” Ma Chao’s eyes were bloodshot as he raged internally.

At first, Ma Chao had believed that as long as the divine stone hadn’t run out of energy, it would keep replenishing him. However, after forcefully breaking through to the peak of internal energy mastery, he realized that wasn’t the case. The stone had a limit to its output!

Now, Ma Chao was nearing that limit. He could no longer fully recover both his internal energy and his injuries.

“I can’t keep going like this. I’ve fought Lü Bu for over a hundred moves. Even though he hasn’t gone all out and I have the divine stone, this is enough to prove my worth. I need to retreat, or I’ll really die here!” Ma Chao thought in a panic.

In Ma Chao’s mind, Lü Bu was definitely trying to kill him. What he didn’t realize was that Lü Bu was simply enjoying the challenge of fighting a strong opponent, not the idea of snuffing out a rising star. Killing a talented warrior didn’t give Lü Bu the same satisfaction as killing a strong one, and for now, Ma Chao was still just a talented youth.

“I have to wound Red Hare first. If not, there’s no way I’ll escape with its speed. Last time I only grazed its back, but this time I need to aim for its shoulder!”

Determined, Ma Chao stopped healing his injuries and instead channeled all his internal energy into attacking Lü Bu, all the while edging closer to Red Hare as he fought.

“Red Hare’s strength is nearly equal to a peak internal energy master, and it’s incredibly fast. I only have one shot!”

Though proud, Ma Chao understood that he couldn’t afford to die here. With that thought, he calculated his moves and, at the perfect moment—just a hundred paces from Red Hare—he clashed with Lü Bu and used the force of the blow to propel himself toward the horse.

As Ma Chao flew toward Red Hare, Lü Bu instantly realized he had been tricked. “I held back too much, and this brat still doesn’t understand!”

Ma Chao’s spear thrust toward the unsuspecting Red Hare, and just as a gleam of triumph crossed his face, Lü Bu appeared before him in a flash. The suddenness of it shocked Ma Chao, but he didn’t hesitate. His instincts kicked in—decisiveness had always been one of his strengths.

“Die!” Ma Chao roared, thrusting his spear toward Red Hare, completely ignoring the golden halberd of internal energy that Lü Bu had hurriedly swung toward him.

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