Battle Royale of the Sinners 328 Jiang Man's Soul Detonation

Tong did not like Xun Yu's plan, so he postponed his decision and dismissed Xun Yu.

After Xun Yu left, Jia Xu came.

Opposite from Xun Yu, Jia Xu proposed that all of the lords should be dead.

"Let's get rid of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. Since Cao Cao's action during the battle is the evidence that he hasn't given up fighting, so you should assassinate them as soon as possible."

Tong nodded, "That's what I have in mind. But, Wenhe. Do you know what Wenruo proposed to me?"

"Hmm?"

"He wants me to give Luo Yang to Yuan Shao and manipulate him into fighting Cao Cao."

"Oh? That's doable. It's a long run tactic to preserve your reputation. But if we talk about efficiency, it's lame."

"If you want to preserve my reputation as Xun Yu did, what will you do?"

"Assassinate Yuan Shao, don't get caught, and blame everything to Liu Bei."

"Will that even possible? Liu Bei is known to be a useless bum. Can other lords believe this?"

"We don't need them to believe. We only need to throw a bait and watch all the fishes fight for it."

"Tell me the details."

…
…
…

A day later, the coalition army entered Luo Yang City.

The city had become a ghost town as Khan and Dong Zhuo took all citizens of this city to Chang'An long ago. There was no merit of occupying this city unless anyone wanted to use it as a fortress for their troops.

Jiang Man and Pu Jing sent men to search every water well inside the city, hoping to find the Imperial Seal as in their historical records.

Betraying their expectation, none of them could find it as it was in Khan's hands.

Since they could not find it, both of them withdrew their men and resumed their duties.

At night, most of the coalition lords celebrated for taking the empty capital city back. Yuan Shao, Zhang Miao, Kong Zhou, Tao Qian, Liu Bei, and Qiao Mao joined this banquet.

Cao Cao and Tong refused to participate in it as they did not like crowded places. Gongsun Zan and Kong Rong withdrew from the coalition and left yesterday.

That night, Tong decided to employ Jia Xu's plan.

As the warlords were celebrating and drinking in the party, Tong sent one of his souls and hid it inside the ceiling. He observed the crowd below.

All generals and Jiang Man was there, which could be troublesome if they could sense Tong's presence.

'50 Seconds. A simple trick. [Time Stop].'

Tong activated the time stopping skill.

Once the world came to a stop, Tong's soul of Greed got down from the ceiling.

Now, this was the tricky part. From Jia Xu's plan, Tong had to arrange the scene to make it appeared that Jiang Man assassinated Yuan Shao.

To set this up, Tong had to shove a bag of poison in Jiang Man's drink clothes and puts the same poison in Yuan Shao's drink and clothes as well. Once the poison took the effect, both of them would die, and they would be the prime suspect for the assassination.

Yuan Shao's subordinates and Liu Bei forces would start fighting each other, sowing discord among Tong's rivals.

An easy and a simple trick!

'First, I'll poison Jiang Man ...'

While Tong was fumbling with the poison bags, he sensed that something moved within his [Time Stop] world.

"What?"

Tong did not have enough time to surprise. The soul of Kindness and the soul of Loyalty exited Jiang Man's real body and rushed at Tong's soul.

"You! How can you move!?"

Jiang Man's souls did not answer. It did not attack Tong nor showing a sign of hostility. Instead, it simply paused in front of Greed and stared into the soul's eyes with hatred.

Upon closer inspection, Tong found that Jiang Man's soul was trembling as if it wanted to move, but it could not. Jiang Man's real body also had a similar reaction as well as if they could see everything during the time stop period, but they could not move.

This was not the first time that Jiang Man experienced this sensation. He felt it the first time when Tong used it against Khan. Unbeknownst to Tong or Khan, both Jiang Man and Pu Jing could sense the stagnate of the time when the [Time Stop] was in effect.

Tong did not know this. All system skills were ineffective against awakened immortals with wings. Therefore, his [Time Stop] could be sensed by anyone with wings like Jiang Man or Pu Jing!

Fortunately, both of them had not touched the concept of time-and-space law and mastered the angelic cultivation technique. Because of that, they could not fully counter this ability.

"I see. So I'm Dio Brando, and you're Kujo Jotaro. Is that right?"

Tong laughed as he found the situation ironic. It was similar to the confrontation between the main characters from Jojo.

"Too bad, I'm a bit stronger than Dio. Your skill is promising, Jiang Man. Blame your bad luck for facing me before you have matured. Well, I'm sounding like a villain these days. Now die!"

Greed was about to rush at Jiang Man's main body and kill him on the spot, but the trembling mouth of Jiang Man uttered a couple of words.

"Soul Detonation!"

Jiang Man was aware of this [Time Stop] 's effect and knew that he had no chance against Tong. Therefore, he planned to destroy Tong's soul with his suicide-bomb.

The soul manipulation of the suicide bomb was more straightforward than using unique virtue support or curses of sins. By accumulating his lifespans into the souls, it could cause the detonation of the soul.

'I have no chance against you, but I can take you to hell with me! Die, Zhang Tong!'

Jiang Man's souls detonated, causing the purple flame to rush at Greed.

Greed received the impact from the point-blank shockwave. Tong unsummoned Greed right after the flame had caught it to avoid the injuries.

.

= Tong's Resting Tent =

Tong puked a liter of blood and collapsed on the ground. The damages from the soul explosion were no joke!

"Damn it! Regen!"

Tong closed his eyes and activated his regenerate skill. It healed most of the parts, but he could feel that something could not be recovered.

'Odd. Something is wrong. I just used my regen, but my injuries are still remaining!?'

Tong circulated his sense within his physical body. After sitting cross-leg and meditating, he could not find anything. But deep down inside his mind, he could still feel the injury.

Because of his suspicion, Tong summoned his Greed once again. As soon as Greed got out of his body, he was shocked.

The soul of Greed had cracked lines on its body! All the injuries from the soul-detonation remained the same!

In a panic, Tong also summoned his Sloth. As same as Greed, Sloth also had the same injuries!

That suicide-bomb just now caused damages to all of his souls!

"Damn it! Lilim, I need an explanation! Is this a soul injury?"

No word came from Lilim or the system messages. She ignored him.

Without a choice, Tong asked Friday and Medusa in the clan chat.

Tong: "I suffered an injury, and my souls have cracks on it. How can I heal this?"
Diaochan: "That's soul injuries."
Dong Bai: "How did you get those!? Was it the Xiongnu?"
Tong: "No, I tried to assassinate all warlords, but Jiang Man exploded his souls at me."
Diaochan: "Soul Detonation. That's a suicide move, and you're in big trouble."
Tong: "How big."
Diaochan: "If you use your curses again, you might die."

Tong sucked in a cold breath. That was severe trouble as she said.

Tong: "How can I heal this?"
Diaochan: "It's easy to heal if you can control yourself. Stay away from troubles and don't use any curses or skills that have been attached to your souls, the injuries will heal naturally."

Hearing a solution from an elite demoness, Tong sighed a relief. Still, not being able to use any skill could be annoying since he still partly relied on his [Create Food] to run the economy of his government. Without Tong's [Create Food], he could always use Li Feihong's secret food stockpiles as an emergency reserve, but Li Feihong would not be able to help the Mountaineer Legion anymore.

Tong: "Will it take long for the injuries to heal?"
Diaochan: "A year at the earliest. It depends on the level of your injuries. I have to see it with my own eyes to judge."

A year was a short time for Tong, but if he had to live without using his souls, he would be vulnerable to Pu Jing or Khan's soul attacks.

'I guess I have to continue laying low for another year. Well, we have to absorb Gongsun Zan and Kong Rong's territory anyway. Resting a bit wouldn't hurt.'

Tong: "Alright. I'll lay low for a while. Is there anything I should know about this soul injuries?"
Medusa: "Be careful. Don't summon your souls again and avoid physical injuries. You're vulnerable right now. Also, be prepared for the frequent relapse of the injuries. You'll have to use your own blood circulation cultivation to heal yourself next time."

…

Meanwhile, Tong's time stop skill had expired, and everyone inside the hall returned to normal.

The soul detonation was an ethereal attack, which caused no damages to physical beings. However, Jiang Man collapsed on his food table and puked a river of blood.

Red liquid leaked from his orifices and his blood vessels burst. He was in a comatose.

At Jiang Man's side, Liu Bei noticed how injured Jiang Man was.

"LITTLE JIANG!? WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU!?"

The scream of Liu Bei woke the other lords and officers inside the banquet hall. When they saw the bloody Jiang Man, they were shocked.

"H-He's poisoned!?"

"Someone has poisoned Lord Liu's brother!?"

"Audacious! Get the cook and the servants! Arrest them all and interrogate them!"

Everyone mistook the soul injuries as a poison since no one had seen what really had happened during the effect of time stop.

Soon, they found Tong's bags of poison near Jiang Man's table. Everyone assumed that they belonged to the culprit.

Jiang Man struggled to speak, but he could not. He wanted to warn Liu Bei about Tong, but no word came out of his mouth.

Meanwhile, Yuan Shao also rushed by Jiang Man's side. He knelt down and examined this reincarnator.

"This is a vicious poison! I promise you, Lord Liu. I shall find the culprit behind this!"

Liu Bei was in tears as he feared that Jiang Man might not make it.

"Is there any antidote!? Does anyone have an antidote? Please!"

As Liu Bei looked around, all participants of this banquet gazed at him with sympathy, yet no one volunteered to help since they did not carry any antidote or medicine with them.

Even if they knew about the source of poison, they could not help. Moreover, none of them wanted to take part in this conspiracy. These people's lives were none of their business.

Liu Bei could notice their hidden emotion and the thought in their eyes. The anger had kept in his heart swelled, yet his crying face remained the same.

He turned around and avoided the eyes of these lords, coming back to his fourth brother.

Liu Bei held Jiang Man in his arms, "Summon a physician. I need help!"

Jiang Man's trembling right eye, which was his only remaining eye, looked into the eyes of Liu Bei and Yuan Shao.

For some reason, their face looked sad, but their eyes were smiling.

Even Liu Bei's eyes were somehow smiling!

This was the last faces he could see before he blacked out, ending the journey of his life forever.

Chapter end