Chapter 822: Gaining the Upper Hand

After the sudden drop in temperature, Lu Su wrapped himself tightly in a blanket. He couldn't help but marvel at the incredible effectiveness of his spiritual ability. The cooling effect was no joke—just moments ago, it had been over 20 degrees Celsius, and now it had plummeted to below zero. And from the look on Lu Su's face, he could clearly push the temperature even lower.

The sudden temperature drop of over 30 degrees caused immediate chaos among Yuan Shao's soldiers, who were unprepared. While sudden weather changes were not unheard of, this drastic shift took them completely by surprise.

Tian Feng, Shen Pei, and the others immediately stopped their orders and focused on dispelling the fog. However, despite their efforts, Liu Bei’s side, bolstered by the spiritual powers of Chen Xi and others, was able to suppress Tian Feng's attempt to regain control of the battlefield's weather.

"My lord, send in the hidden cavalry! This freezing fog does not discriminate between friend or foe. Although we are at a disadvantage due to it, the enemy is also affected," Shen Pei suggested to Yuan Shao, realizing that they had lost the initiative.

"Send the spear cavalry!" Yuan Shao barked at his messenger, the icy fog already affecting him as well.

Within moments, the spear cavalry positioned on the flanks mounted their horses, grabbed their seven-to-eight-foot-long lances, and quickly formed a tight spear formation. Shouting battle cries, they began circling around to attack Liu Bei's army.

The freezing fog had not only caused disruption to Yuan Shao’s army, but it also affected the visibility of Liu Bei’s forces.

As the first lance pierced through the fog and into Liu Bei’s army, over a thousand cavalrymen in heavy armor wielding long lances charged through, leaving destruction in their wake.

Without waiting for Liu Bei’s orders, the archers and crossbowmen stationed at the rear launched a barrage of arrows at the spear cavalry.

The cavalry responded by lowering their heads slightly, continuing their charge toward the juncture between Liu Bei’s flanks and center. The arrow storm had little effect, with only a few cavalrymen being dismounted.

"They're a type of heavy cavalry, though not fully developed. Their combat range is broader, but they are easier to handle," Chen Xi explained, seeing Liu Bei frown.

He immediately ordered a repositioning, and soon, a squad of pure archers appeared at the juncture between Liu Bei’s flanks and center. Unlike the standard archers with regular bows, this group of 500 archers wielded five-stone bows.

This was a true elite archer unit, and the cost of training them had been a great burden on Chen Xi, leaving him heartbroken. Even after careful selection from all of Liu Bei’s territories, they could only form a little over a thousand of these archers. Even with their internal energy, they could only shoot about ten arrows from the five-stone bows before tiring.

As soon as this elite unit appeared, they each drew special arrows as thick as an egg and aimed at the oncoming cavalry. With the power of the five-stone bows, Yuan Shao’s cavalry armor provided little defense—it would be pierced through completely.

With a sound of bowstrings twanging, all 500 arrows hit their marks. Yuan Shao’s elite cavalry was thrown into chaos, and the veteran soldiers around them seized the opportunity to strike back—some speared the horses in the belly, while others hacked at the legs with their sabers. Any opportunity was met with a counterattack.

"Heh, these archers, trained to work in unison, could take down even Lü Bu. Those lightly armored cavalry were asking for death," Chen Xi smirked, watching as the 500 archers quickly withdrew. He was satisfied; the money spent training them had not gone to waste.

"Chen Xi, can you still draw in more moisture?" Guo Jia asked, turning his head. "In about thirty seconds, the cold fog will freeze into sleet and fall, and it won’t obstruct visibility anymore."

"I probably can’t. I have a lot of spiritual energy, but there are still limits to what my body can handle. In terms of short-term output, two strategists with spiritual abilities can definitely overpower me," Chen Xi said, squinting. "But at this point, it doesn’t really matter."

It didn’t matter because Guan Yu had already broken through Yan Liang's defenses, leading his blade-wielding soldiers toward Yuan Shao's central forces. Seeing this, Chen Xi grew excited. Whether Yan Liang had been injured by Zhao Yun the previous day or for some other reason, he failed to block Guan Yu today. Cutting through the enemy forces would be far more satisfying than hacking through city walls.

Yan Liang, meanwhile, was being held off by Zhou Cang, Liao Hua, Pei Yuanshao, Jiang Gong, and Sima Ju. Some, like Zhou Cang, were almost at the point of breaking through, while others, like Pei Yuanshao, were barely at the later stages of Qi Refining. But regardless, Yan Liang found himself surrounded and unable to escape, a tiger brought low by these "dogs."

No matter how furious Yan Liang was, no matter how loudly he roared, he couldn’t break through this group. It wasn’t just because of the sword wound Zhao Yun had inflicted the previous day; it was also due to the heavy cloud energy that blanketed the battlefield, making it impossible for him to fully unleash his inner energy techniques.

Both Guan Yu and Yan Liang were powerful, not because they had the overwhelming inner energy of someone like Lü Bu or Zhao Yun, but because they could utilize their spiritual strength to maximize their abilities.

But in today’s battle, with the cloud energy of 100,000 troops suppressing their powers, both Guan Yu and Yan Liang were limited to their raw physical strength, with little ability to unleash their usual devastating techniques. Though still formidable, they were nowhere near as overwhelming as they usually were, capable of splitting mountains and cutting through rivers.

"It’s your turn now," Chen Xi said as he withdrew his spiritual energy. Almost immediately, the cold fog, which had been thinning, was dispelled by Yuan Shao’s strategists, allowing the summer sun to shine down again. The soldiers were briefly stunned, and then, within a hundred-mile radius, the air grew sweltering once more.

"It’s up to you now. At this point, there’s nothing else for us to do," Jia Xu said casually, glancing at Chen Xi.

After nodding to Liu Bei, Chen Xi began to use his spiritual ability to connect with the beliefs of each soldier, linking them to Guan Yu.

Chen Xi had long pondered the concept of a "military soul." In essence, it was faith and willpower, but in this world, due to the mutation of the Divine Stone, such faith and willpower could manifest tangibly. The so-called "military soul" was essentially a highly unified form of belief and determination.

Once a military soul fully formed, the reason it became nearly indestructible was likely due to the purity of its belief and will. As long as even one person remained, this pure belief could inspire and spread to others, making it nearly impossible to annihilate.

Previous Chapter | | Next Chapter