NOVPUBZhou Yu felt a sudden cold wave assault him as he spoke, and the fog covering the Yangtze River instantly turned into frost. Even the sky, thick with fog, began to ice over and snow flurries of ice particles started to fall. The unprepared Zhou Yu’s Navy even felt their bodies becoming less agile in that moment.
"It’s all up to you now!" Zhuge Liang abruptly sensed impending doom and decisively stopped using his Spiritual Talent. His face turned somewhat pale, but he did not feel his life draining away as he had expected. He then leaned on the railing of the ship and laughed loudly.
"This feeling." Chen Xi wrapped himself with spiritual power and reached out to the slowly falling ice flowers from the sky, for the first time feeling that this power should not belong to this era. If one called it Summoning Wind and Rain, then was this midsummer blizzard of ice and snow really a normal power?
"Hahahaha, Zichuan, this is the first time I see a look of shock on your face. It’s just a blizzard, right?" Zhuge Liang laughed heartily, supporting himself on the ship’s railing. Chen Xi’s shocked expression made him very satisfied.
"Charge through them, take advantage of their confusion and discomfort to crush them!" Chen Xi shouted to Gan Yi, his face losing its shock. Regardless of how Zhuge Liang had accomplished this, it was an excellent opportunity, a truly great chance!
"All forces, charge! Do not dodge the ships, ram and sink them!" Gan Yi bellowed with all his might.
Regardless, Gan Ning’s Army now had their opportunity. Although most had not taken Gan Yi’s previous order to prepare for the cold seriously, they had at least made some mental preparations!
In contrast to Sunx Ce’s men, who were wearing short garments, this was a much better situation. The sudden drop in temperature meant the leather and armor on the opposition must be sticking to their skin, and their bodies would be suffering from the dramatic change in temperature!
At the same time, Lyu Fan realized that things had taken a turn for the worse. Without mentioning anything else, except for Gan Ning who would bring a large supply of ships and could spare some extra clothes, which regular army would prepare a set of robes for battle? And even less so for these water pirates, who sailed on small ships and bore average weapons. The so-called battle armor was nothing more than a few layers of thin hemp robes, utterly insufficient to ward off the cold.
Zhou Yu himself had been planning to purge the disloyal water pirate leaders from his ranks. How could he possibly have provided them with supplies that he already scarcely had?
Once Zhuge Liang, using Fa Zheng’s Spiritual Talent, accurately understood what Zhou Yu intended to do, he didn’t hesitate at all to use Lub Su’s Talent, utilizing the mist as a precursor to unleash the Ice Frost Talent.
In short, if Lub Su used his Spiritual Talent to make it rain, the chill would have dissipated considerably over a long period of time in the high altitude. But by applying the mist directly over a ten-mile radius, turning midsummer into deep winter was not just for fun. Although the time it could be maintained wasn’t long, it was extremely effective for sneaky attacks, whether for covering a retreat or for a charge.
"Disperse quickly, the leading ships close in, the ships in the rear retreat!" Lyu Fan yelled. Without a second thought, he planned to abandon the front-line ships to preserve the main body of the navy, which was what he most needed to do at that moment.
Following the order, Lyu Fan had already begun his move. The howling west wind, laden with frost, inflicted pain like a knife’s cut on Lyu Fan. However, facing the situation now, Lyu Fan had no inclination to dwell on that discomfort. If he couldn’t break through the western wind and frost, he estimated that even if Sun Ce’s navy wasn’t completely wiped out, it would still suffer severe losses!
Lyu Fan suddenly unleashed his spiritual power, unexpectedly dispersing a large patch of cold fog. Regrettably, this move caught Chen Xi’s attention. The just-scattered cold fog pressed down once again, sweeping over Lyu Fan and leaving his body covered in frost.
"This damn weather!" The moment the frost swept past, Gan Ning shuddered violently and involuntarily released his inner Qi. Shortly afterward, Zhou Yu, who was not too far away, suddenly noticed that Gan Ning, who had been keeping his Qi under wraps, had drawn close to him, and was instantly horrified.
"Not good, Youping, prepare to sound the gong to retreat. The enemy is slaughtering towards our Central Army!" Zhou Yu yelled to Zhou Tai beside him. He knew now was definitely not the time to engage. The soldiers under his command were almost all chilled to the bone with barely a fragment of their combat power left. Only if the soldiers were united and the legion talent was fully activated could they resist this kind of spiritual talent-induced cold.
"The mist is the biggest problem. Without it, this cold air would have dispersed long ago. Now, it’s getting colder and more concentrated—and with Chen Zichuan present, there’s no way to dispel this chill!" Pang Tong said grimly. He wasn’t worried though; since the cold was caused by a spiritual talent, he could protect himself with spiritual power without an issue.
"We’re in trouble this time!" Zhou Yu said with a wry smile, "We’ve underestimated the situation. Although I don’t know what’s going on, things don’t look good right now."
Zhou Tai leapt off the warship, leading dozens of small boats towards the direction Zhou Yu had indicated. However, it was clear that the men he led were mostly frozen stiff. The cold, if not confined by the fog, should have started to dissipate by now. Yet, it remained bitterly cold to the point that many were shivering violently.
"Who goes there? Announce your name at once!" Zhou Tai stood at the bow of the ship, shouting into the mists. He too knew that delaying even a moment would help. Once Zhou Yu’s navy regrouped and retreated downwind, with the light and swift boats, as long as they stuck together without breaking formation, the losses wouldn’t be great!
"Zhou Youping, hahaha, thanks for revealing your exact location to me, my friend. Now, let me send you to feed the fish!" Gan Ning’s wild voice echoed across the Yangtze River, startling Zhou Tai. Then he heard Gan Ning’s loud laughter, "Ram into them! Sink their ships! Even if there were divine beasts ahead, I’d have them overturned!"
As Gan Ning spoke, his fleet was enveloped in his deep blue legion talent, absorbing all cloud Qi. The speed and sturdiness of the ships increased dramatically, rushing forward full speed towards the source of the sound, protected by a light shield, heedless of what was in front as Gan Ning had said—ram first, ask questions later!
"Crack!" With a series of crisp sounds, Gan Ning knew he had collided with the opposition. However, his speed didn’t decrease in the slightest; his large ship crushed the smaller ones—it was unstoppable!
Following a continuous stream of crisp "crack" sounds, Gan Ning, without even glimpsing the cloud Qi and legion talent-restrained Zhou Tai, simply crushed him into the waters of the river. Then, Gan Ning’s ship collided with the warship occupied by Zhou Yu, and with a "crack" sound, Zhou Yu’s warship was split in two. Yet precisely because of this collision, Gan Ning’s ship finally came to a halt.
"Crossbows, bed crossbows, bring them all out! Cover every area and don’t spare the arrows. Whoever kills Zhou Yu gets a reward of a million in cash and a warship!" Gan Ning also nearly fell on deck due to the violent shaking caused by the collision. After steadying himself, he bellowed. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your vote of recommendation and monthly pass. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)
