While Sun Ce and Taishi Ci were locked in their intense battle, elsewhere, Zhuge Liang had already easily suppressed Pang Tong's harassing attacks. However, it was precisely because he had managed to suppress Pang Tong's spiritual counterattacks that Zhuge Liang began to feel something was off.
The familiarity between Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong allowed Zhuge Liang to know that Pang Tong's abilities were not inferior to his own. Therefore, Zhuge Liang found it hard to believe that he had managed to suppress Pang Tong so effortlessly.
Meanwhile, although Zhou Yu had weakened Zhuge Liang's mental capabilities and enhanced Pang Tong's abilities, Pang Tong was still multitasking. Given the situation, he was already doing exceptionally well to hold out to this extent.
If their intelligence levels were to be translated into numerical values, even after being subtly weakened by Zhou Yu, Zhuge Liang still hovered around ninety, while the boosted Pang Tong had yet to reach a hundred. He wasn't at the level where he could effortlessly overwhelm Zhuge Liang. However, Pang Tong was never aiming for a direct confrontation; he knew that the outcome of his duel with Zhuge Liang was far less important than the overall battle. After all, he had faced Zhuge Liang countless times.
"Kongming, you look troubled. Is there something you're unsure about?" Now that Zhou Yu was no longer disrupting him, Chen Xi finally had the chance to speak.
Zhou Yu's legion talent, which bolstered the morale of his troops, had left Gan Ning and Chen Xi slightly bewildered. After all, in this era where morale played a critical role, Zhou Yu's talent had raised his troops' fighting spirit to such an extent that Gan Ning's navy was struggling to hold its ground.
However, Chen Xi didn't lose heart. Zhou Yu's legion talent seemed strange in several ways. According to Zhao Yun, without reaching the level of an inner-energy expert, it was impossible to unify a legion's will to such an extent. And Chen Xi refused to believe that Zhou Yu was not only a top strategist but also a top-tier martial artist!
With this in mind, Chen Xi didn't stop his spiritual intrusion. As he poured more spiritual power into the fight, he began to erode Zhou Yu's legion talent. It didn't take long for Chen Xi to understand the essence of Zhou Yu's talent.
Although he couldn't immediately find a way to counter it, he realized that Zhou Yu's talent essentially used an unknown method to align his spiritual will with that of his soldiers, boosting their morale. And that was all Chen Xi needed to start disrupting it.
Such feats are challenging to achieve; otherwise, more people would be able to infuse their will into their troops. Zhou Yu's method of doing so without relying on his own will as the focal point was unique.
Unfortunately for Zhou Yu, Chen Xi's spiritual talent naturally fostered affinity with others' spiritual wills. By harnessing his immense spiritual power, it didn't take long for a pale, moonlit glow to spread from Chen Xi, connecting the wills of Liu Bei's forces.
Whereas Zhou Yu had used his musical talent to resonate with his soldiers' beliefs, forming a power akin to a legion talent, Chen Xi employed his vast spiritual power to forcibly link the similar wills of his soldiers, merging them.
With both sides activating their talents, Liu Bei's forces, which had been fragmented, seized the opportunity to surround several of Sun Ce's attacking points as they withdrew. The battle became less clear-cut.
"Pang Shiyuan has a backup plan, but I don't know what it is!" Zhuge Liang hesitated.
"Then let's force it out!" Chen Xi cleared a patch of fog and turned to Gan Yi, asking, "Can we deploy fire ships now? If we can, force them back. Our large ships lack agility."
Gan Yi glanced at the area where Cheng Pu's forces were engaged and hesitated. "Military Advisor, we need to divert the enemy's commanding general first, or it will be difficult to succeed."
Cheng Pu and Huang Gai were both excellent naval commanders, but due to Sun Ce's impulsive charge, they had followed him. As a result, they were now reduced to acting as combatants rather than commanders, leaving Ling Cao to take command of the fleet. Despite this, Ling Cao's command was impressive enough that Gan Yi's forces were starting to falter.
In a battle involving hundreds of ships, albeit small ones, the fact that Ling Cao could gain the upper hand so quickly showed he was no pushover.
"It's up to you now. Their forces aren't weak," Chen Xi said, turning to Guan Hai. "But don't worry, no one knows who you are."
"Leave it to me. He's weaker than me, with unstable energy—he must have just recently broken through!" Guan Hai sneered. Despite not having the strongest foundation, his spirit was incredibly resilient due to his commitment to sacrifice, making his inner energy exceptionally pure, rivaling even top-tier martial artists like Guan Yu, though lacking in quantity.
With that, Guan Hai leaped off the flagship and charged toward Ling Cao's warship, avoiding the dense fog. He burst through the clouds of energy and landed on the ship. "Ling Cao, dare to face me in battle?" Guan Hai's roar echoed across the river as he landed on the warship.
"Zi Heng, take command! There's no room to fight here; I'll deal with him!" Ling Cao handed over the command to Lü Fan and leaped into the river, heading northward. For Sun Ce, every warship was a crucial asset that could not be wasted.
As Ling Cao glanced back at Guan Hai, who was following closely behind, he sneered, realizing they were evenly matched in strength—both having just recently broken through.
"Chen Zichuan must be extremely important to Liu Bei, bringing a force capable of waging a war just for a journey." Zhou Yu, who had also heard the echoing roar from the river, couldn't help but smile.
Zhou Yu had anticipated that Chen Xi would try to divert Ling Cao. After all, for someone from the north, skilled naval commanders were scarce, making it crucial to draw away the enemy's navy commander. However, Zhou Yu also knew that Lü Fan was even more adept at naval command than Ling Cao.
"Hmph, you're no different," Pang Tong grumbled. "Zhuge Kongming must be suspicious by now. I'm very familiar with him, so he's probably guessing what my next move is. Although I'm confident he won't think of targeting the river beneath our feet, you can never be too sure with that guy—he always comes up with something unexpected."
"Let's test out the fire ships first. I think I understand what Xingba is planning. That guy really is bold yet meticulous!" Chen Xi laughed as he glanced at the dozens of small ships docked beneath his supply vessels.