Chapter 2361 2088: The Mandate of Heaven Revealed

Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others flew to where they could see nothing but a giant pit nearly a hundred meters wide, where Zhang Xiu lay covered in blood, his aura declining, looking like a ragged piece of cloth.

"What the hell happened here?" Zhang Fei bellowed down to Tong Yuan.

"Master." Zhao Yun instantly appeared by Tong Yuan's side, completely ignoring his half-dead second senior brother. At this moment, Tong Yuan was also bewildered, not understanding how his second apprentice could self-destruct just like that, it was truly a mess.

"Ah, Zilong, quickly go check on your second senior brother!" Tong Yuan, upon seeing Zhao Yun, was reminded to quickly check on Zhang Xiu's condition. God knows if this explosion had killed Zhang Xiu; from the power of it, it didn't look like Zhang Xiu would fare well.

"Huh, second senior brother?" Zhao Yun paused, then appeared at the center of the pit as if teleporting, seeing his second senior brother Zhang Xiu blown up to look like a rag doll.

"Damn, second senior brother, are you alright!" Zhao Yun lifted Zhang Xiu's upper body; Zhang Xiu's golden armor, nurtured for years, was twisted from the explosion, but at least he was still whole.

"Ugh, Zilong." Zhang Xiu opened his eyes with difficulty, seeming conscious.

"Thud!" The dense sound of feet hitting the ground as a group of people surrounded Zhang Xiu, all in shock. Zhang Xiu had been beaten to such a state; he was one of the top experts below the Breakthrough Level.

"Speaking of which, who did you fight with to end up like this? Do you need us to take revenge for you?" Zhang Fei, seeing Zhang Xiu's miserable state, was incredulous and asked out of consideration for the Zhang family.

Given the current situation in the Central Plains, such a clearly fatal battle shouldn't be possible, yet the size of the pit indicated the severity of the attack Zhang Xiu suffered.

Zhang Xiu coughed blood, and seeing this, Zhao Yun quickly helped Zhang Xiu up, protecting him with Inner Qi, flying towards Ye City.

"Brother Tong, long time no see." Huang Zhong raised a hand in greeting, after all, they were among the few Inner Qi Manifestation Generals of their generation, so even if they weren't close, they were somewhat familiar, "With you present, it shouldn't have ended like this."

Though Huang Zhong didn't know what Tong Yuan had been doing in recent years, he himself had wasted twenty years but had now reached the Breakthrough Level; even if Tong Yuan was in similar straits, he should still be able to handle Breakthrough Level threats.

Besides, there was also Zhang Xiu, whose strength was terrifying. Together, in just a few breaths, Zhang Xiu was left on the brink of death; even if the opponent was Lyu Bu, it wouldn't be this exaggerated.

"It's precisely because I was there that it ended this way; without me, Boyuan wouldn't have dared to showcase such an unverified move." Tong Yuan sighed, feeling exasperated, as his apprentice seemed to never grow up in front of him.

Tong Yuan, while speaking, directed Zhang Xiu's subordinates to tidy up, heading towards Ye City, as he and Zhang Quan followed Huang Zhong and the others, chatting along the way.

By the time Tong Yuan flew back, Zhang Xiu was bandaged up like a mummy, bragging with Zhao Yun.

"So that's how it is, played too hard and ended up self-destructing, but I figured with my master there, nothing would happen." Zhang Xiu, wrapped in bandages, boasted to Zhao Yun.

Tong Yuan felt inexplicably weary upon hearing this and casually threw a short dagger, the hilt hitting Zhang Xiu's head, knocking him to the ground. This was how he used to educate disobedient apprentices, and Zhang Xiu had been hit plenty like this.

"That's the situation." Zhang Xiu, wrapped up like a mummy, explained to the onlookers helplessly.

"So this is how to reach Breakthrough Level?" Ma Chao and Sun Ce exclaimed excitedly; Zhang Xiu's method seemed particularly simple, as if they could even do it.

"First, you have to divide your Will into two parts, then you need two different attribute Inner Qis, plus your Will must be strong enough to envelop a large amount of Heaven and Earth Essence after outer body manifestation, forcibly swallowing it back into yourself, and the most important is that it might result in self-explosion." Zhang Xiu laughed as he explained to everyone.

"But why do you look unharmed even though you self-exploded?" Hua Xiong asked with a dark face, "Thick-skinned, right! You dare to show such dangerous stuff without thorough research, is your skin getting loose?"

"Haha, wasn't my master there?" Zhang Xiu replied somewhat awkwardly, as Hua Xiong was after all his uncle. Though not much older than him, before Zhang Ji died, he told Hua Xiong and others to educate him on his behalf.

"The method has reference value, but if you can't restrain that massive inner Qi, it will end up like this." Tong Yuan said, feeling weary, "This method doesn't require a high degree of refinement of the divine essence but requires a large quantity, and the physical quality must not be poor, with a sufficiently pure Inner Qi."

"In short, this method was tailor-made by Boyuan for himself based on his circumstances, and after a few more attempts, he might be able to control it." Tong Yuan said exasperatedly.

"Yeah, yeah, because my conditions are neither good nor bad; to say orthodox cultivation can achieve Breakthrough, I have no confidence at all, but I thought I could rely on other ways. So after research, it's like this." Zhang Xiu said with a smile, "But Physician Hua is indeed amazing; I feel like I'll be fine in a few days."