Mythical Three Kingdoms

Dian Wei charged at Sun Ce and Ma Chao with a ferocious grin. This time, Ma Chao felt truly embarrassed. He knew Dian Wei was adept at physical cultivation, so he understood that the cloud suppression on Dian Wei was much less than on them.

After all, Dian Wei, who focused on physical cultivation, retained only the Inner Qi naturally generated with each breath. This trace of Inner Qi, if not used by Dian Wei to unleash a more powerful and frightening force, would be refined into his body for further enhancement.

Even after the Cloud Qi rose, the Inner Qi generated with each breath in Dian Wei’s body couldn’t be used for battle, but his body remained. Even without Inner Qi, the strength that Dian Wei’s body, refined to its peak, could unleash was already overwhelming.

Yet without the enhancement of Inner Qi, Dian Wei’s body is essentially flesh and bone; though it was difficult to injure with swords and blades, it wasn’t impossible. This is why, under the cloud suppression, even though Dian Wei was formidable, being surrounded by thousands of elite troops could still spell his doom.

The moment Ma Chao landed, he realized that it was too late to say anything now. Yet, considering his relationship with Sun Ce, Ma Chao still attacked Dian Wei.

The outcome was different from before, where there was some resistance. This time, with just one punch, Dian Wei floored Ma Chao. Then, with another punch, he knocked Sun Ce down too. Dian Wei picked Sun Ce up single-handedly and slung him over his shoulder, stacking Ma Chao on top of Sun Ce like a pile, intending to carry them back. It was then that Wang Yue, who had been watching, finally stepped forward.

”General Dian, Lord Cao said you don’t need to carry the two back.” Wang Yue coughed a couple of times and said to Dian Wei.

”Do you have the lord’s hand token? If not, I’ll just carry them away.” Dian Wei entirely disregarded Wang Yue’s command. Under the entire Cao Army, he only obeyed Cao Cao’s words.

Wang Yue took out Cao Cao’s command talisman; he knew well there was no point in explaining to someone like Dian Wei, so he just followed the procedure.

Dian Wei glanced at the talisman and confirmed that it was genuine, then casually tossed Sun Ce and Ma Chao to the ground. They were his second and third success in defeating those with the Ultimate Inner Qi Manifestation. As for the first one, that was Zhang Xiu; at any rate, facing Dian Wei while suppressed by Cloud Qi, the chances of kneeling were high.

Wang Yue watched Dian Wei leave, and to be honest, he hadn’t intervened earlier mainly because he knew even if he did, it would be futile. Under the Cloud Qi, Dian Wei’s advantage was too pronounced. Other than being worn down by a large army, defeating Dian Wei by other means was nothing but a dream.

Using secret techniques to awaken Sun Ce and Ma Chao, both of them still seemed somewhat disoriented.

”Generals, earlier General Dian got carried away with the excitement of the hunt. I hope you’ll forgive his lack of restraint.” Wang Yue said with a gentle demeanor to Ma Chao and Sun Ce.

Sun Ce and Ma Chao exchanged glances, their faces somewhat gloomy. In that final moment, it took only two punches for Dian Wei to defeat them both, and it wasn’t to kill, but to capture them. Such an outcome was hard for the proud men to accept.

”Isn’t this too strong?” Sun Ce finally spoke after a while.

Ma Chao remained silent; to be honest, he hadn’t fought Dian Wei under the restrictions of Cloud Qi before, so he hadn’t anticipated that Dian Wei, even when both sides had their Inner Qi restrained, would still be invincibly strong. He finally understood why Zhang Xiu looked at Dian Wei with that particular expression.

It wasn’t because Zhang Xiu was weak; it was just that under Cloud Qi, without Inner Qi methods, and with Dian Wei still possessing physical cultivation methods, the extent of weakening was completely different.

”Actually, there’s no need for you to feel this way.” Wang Yue said to Sun Ce and Ma Chao with a smile, ”He follows physical cultivation while you follow the orthodox Inner Qi path. Different approaches lead to different results. Although General Dian is powerful, he cannot fly.”

Sun Ce looked at Wang Yue in disbelief; he had been about to say Ma Chao’s words, that Dian Wei had beaten him with one strike, was actually modest. In that situation where you hit the opponent, the opponent didn’t defend, and the opponent hit you and knocked you out with a single punch, it wasn’t even a match.

”You don’t need to feel that way. The downside of physical cultivation is that the Inner Qi generated isn’t enough to sustain long-term use. Every moment, General Dian’s body generates Inner Qi, and as long as he doesn’t exhaust it, he can leverage several times in the air, but this is still far from flying.” Wang Yue said with a grin, for some reason he was very satisfied with Sun Ce’s expression.

”But even so, with Cloud Qi, our cultivation method is directly weakened by ninety-nine percent, while his loss of that trace of Inner Qi is only a ninety percent weakening. Yet, even with just ten percent remaining, he is essentially still in the realm of Inner Qi Manifestation, while we are close to Qi Refining to Gang.” Ma Chao said, somewhat speechless.

”Therefore, I do not recommend those in the state of Inner Qi Manifestation to spar with General Dian under Cloud Qi; under such conditions, it’s almost impossible for anyone to defeat him.” Wang Yue said with a chuckle.

”Then, under Cloud Qi, does that mean we have no way to counter him at all?” Sun Ce said with a serious expression; he had already foreseen Dian Wei rushing into military formations causing havoc.

”Not exactly, legion attack and arrow rain can still be effective; after all, he is still in human form.” Wang Yue didn’t intend to hide anything.

”I meant one-on-one.” Sun Ce explained, and upon hearing this, Ma Chao also looked at Wang Yue. Although they didn’t know who Wang Yue was, after he woke them up, they were inclined to listen to him.

”In that case, don’t even think about it.” Wang Yue glanced at Sun Ce and Ma Chao, ”There are indeed ways in the world where a manifestation of Inner Qi can achieve this, but neither of you is among those people.”

Sun Ce and Ma Chao nearly spat out old blood; it felt like he was looking down on them.

”Dare to ask, sir, how did those people you mentioned achieve this?” Although Sun Ce often acted foolishly, his instincts and intuition were always sharp. Hence, he respectfully saluted Wang Yue as he inquired.

”You’re clever.” Wang Yue said with a smile, ”The method is actually quite simple. Think about how to unleash power equivalent to Inner Qi Manifestation within Cloud Qi, that’s all. As for the specifics, I cannot divulge them to you, but in general, mastering this skill will suffice.”

Ma Chao was taken aback and was about to refute Wang Yue’s words when he suddenly recalled something. Back then, Zhang Xiu indeed unleashed Inner Qi Manifestation power directly under Cloud Qi; if it weren’t for him and Pang De suddenly making breakthroughs, Zhang Xiu would have definitely gone into mowing mode.

”It seems somewhat reasonable!” Sun Ce, being straightforward and simple-minded, could grasp such matters more easily. As for how to achieve it, the opposing party’s hints were already generous.

”Later, treat the elder to a drink, I’ll go back and ponder over it.” Sun Ce said with great satisfaction, ”What kind of wine do you like, elder?”

”Uh, Bofu, I recall someone using this move...” Ma Chao turned his head to say to Sun Ce, and instantly Sun Ce was overjoyed. However, both, being thick-skinned, had pushed the earlier incident of Dian Wei’s attack to the back of their minds.