Chapter 965: The Death of Yu Ji

At that moment, if Ma Chao had been able to instantly summon his usual strength to break through the thunderclouds, he might have avoided mortal danger. However, the lightning was too fast. After the first strike, Ma Chao’s entire body became numb, and then countless bolts of lightning surged toward him!

Facing an endless sea of silver-blue, wrapped in a red ocean of lightning, Ma Chao could only barely defend himself. But the lightning was relentless, coming at him without end. If not for the life force that the Divine Stone had released after being struck by the heavenly thunder, Ma Chao would have perished.

However, while the Divine Stone could repair his body, it couldn’t prevent the accumulation of lightning in his body. By the time the Divine Stone was half depleted, the lightning within Ma Chao and Li Feisha had reached its limit. A few more bolts of ordinary lightning would likely turn both of them to ashes.

Of course, if it had been a super bolt of lightning, not even the Divine Stone could save Ma Chao. The first strike from a superbolt, with its trillions of watts, would be enough to obliterate everything.

Even ordinary lightning bolts are not something mortals can withstand. Without external help, Ma Chao and Li Feisha, wrapped in lightning, would have had no way to escape, and their annihilation would have been a matter of seconds.

However, fate did not abandon Ma Chao. Just as he was about to be turned to ash, Sun Ce’s golden spear shattered the thunderclouds, giving Ma Chao a chance to escape. Though struck by several more bolts of lightning as he broke free, they were not enough to push his body and soul to the point of disintegration.

The moment Ma Chao burst out of the thunderclouds, he felt the infinite lightning within his body about to explode. His consciousness grew hazy, but his survival instinct as a top warrior kicked in. Before he completely passed out, Ma Chao desperately expelled the lightning from his body.

"Boom!" As Sun Ce's golden spear pierced the sky, a bolt of lightning several meters thick was released from Ma Chao. Immediately following that, countless bolts of lightning shot down toward the ground, twisting and converging on Yu Ji. This nearly superbolt-level power was something Yu Ji could not possibly withstand.

As the lightning struck Yu Ji, the dark clouds split open, allowing sunlight to shine down on Sun Ce. Meanwhile, Yu Ji, hit by the catastrophic force of nature, stood unharmed, while Sun Ce and the others, only a few dozen meters away, were completely unscathed.

"Is this fate?" Yu Ji didn’t move his lips, but his voice, filled with loneliness and resignation, echoed across the battlefield. Then, Yu Ji slowly disintegrated into dust, vanishing into the wind.

"This is fate..." Zhou Yu quietly took over the conversation. He had already concluded Yu Ji’s defeat the moment the formation shattered. Sitting down, Zhou Yu prepared to play his lute, at least to stabilize Zhou Tai’s injuries. As long as Zhou Tai didn’t die now, Zhang Zhongjing would have the means to save him.

"Get out of the way!" Sun Ce, still stunned by Yu Ji’s death by lightning, suddenly sensed an attack coming from above. Without hesitation, he lifted Zhou Tai and lunged toward Zhou Yu and the others.

"Boom!" Ma Chao and Li Feisha crashed down from several thousand meters in the sky without any protection. Luckily, Li Feisha, unlike the exhausted Ma Chao, still had some strength left. Though the landing was rough, it wasn’t a complete faceplant.

Even so, the impact knocked Li Feisha unconscious, and Ma Chao had already passed out. The Divine Stone in Ma Chao’s hand was dislodged upon impact and ended up falling directly into Zhou Tai’s wound. Such fortune could only be described as miraculous!

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! A man and a horse just fell from the sky! Gongjin, stay here, I’ll go check it out!" Sun Ce placed Zhou Tai on the ground and quickly reverted to his carefree self, completely unconcerned about the assassination attempt by Yu Ji moments ago.

As for Zhou Tai, Sun Ce had been very worried about him at first, especially when he realized how weak Zhou Tai’s pulse and life force were. But in the next moment, Sun Ce noticed that Zhou Tai’s weak pulse and life force were slowly recovering.

As long as recovery was possible, an Internal Energy Manifestation expert like Zhou Tai wouldn’t die. Though his life force had become incredibly faint—seemingly on the verge of death—Sun Ce focused carefully and indeed found Zhou Tai’s life force steadily increasing.

Sun Ce cursed silently to himself, realizing that Zhou Tai had never gone all out in their previous sparring sessions.

That overwhelming strength Zhou Tai had shown earlier, even if it had involved using a secret technique, must be something he could safely use under normal circumstances. Since Zhou Tai was still recovering, there was nothing seriously wrong. Even the most severe injuries were just a matter of time. The real problem would be if he couldn’t recover at all.

This is ridiculous! Yo Ping still had that kind of strength? In that state, even if he couldn’t kill Lü Bu, he could definitely beat Lü Bu into a bloody pulp. And yet, he kept it hidden, Sun Ce thought as he casually tossed Zhou Tai aside.

"Brother, how can you treat General Zhou like that? He just protected us!" Sun Quan, seeing Sun Ce carelessly throw Zhou Tai to the ground, expressed his discontent. "He’s severely injured, maybe even..."

"Don’t worry, he’ll be fine in a few days. This guy only has superficial wounds. Just ask Gongjin—his life force is steadily recovering. Just make sure he eats some good medicine later," Sun Ce said dismissively.

To Sun Ce, Zhou Tai’s injuries were nothing more than superficial. The reason he hadn’t woken up yet was because he was exhausted, not because he was gravely injured.

"Brother-in-law..." Sun Quan blinked his green eyes at Zhou Yu, unsure if his frustration was from Sun Ce or something else. Today, his eyes seemed especially bright.

"Although it’s hard to believe, General Zhou has indeed begun to recover from his injuries, despite being in a state of near-death when he fell. It’s probably some sort of custom-tailored secret technique," Zhou Yu speculated, recalling the time when Zhou Tai had demonstrated a rapid recovery. Judging by the current situation, it seemed to be an upgraded version of that ability. Zhou Yu couldn’t help but curse inwardly, realizing how exaggerated Zhou Tai had made his earlier "noble sacrifice" seem.

Neither of them could have expected that a Divine Stone would fall into Zhou Tai’s wound, and that the remaining life energy from the stone, activated by the heavenly thunder and the sight of blood, would fuse into Zhou Tai’s body, causing this miraculous recovery.

However, even though Zhou Tai’s body was recovering, his mind had not yet awakened. It was uncertain when—or even if—he would regain consciousness, and there was a chance he might remain in a coma.

But in this era, common belief held that physical recovery indicated a return to consciousness. Therefore, Zhou Tai’s condition wasn’t treated with much caution. As long as he wasn’t further injured, there was no need for delicate treatment—after all, with Zhou Tai’s tough body, what could go wrong?

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