Chen Chuan stood upon Su Kuo's shoulder, plunging the Xuejun Saber down through the side of his neck as wisps of the fire of spirituality seeped downward along the blade.
Yet he knew it was not over. The sinking fire of spirituality was blocked by wisps of deep-red spiritual flames, and a thick, surging power churned within the massive frame, like a volcano on the brink of erupting.
He could sense that this force was vastly more violent than the spiritual burst from moments before.
*Is it finally coming?*
Withdrawing his saber, he stomped hard against the body, instantly launching himself far away.
Almost in the very next instant, billowing mist poured from Su Kuo's body, blanketing a vast stretch of ground and spreading upward. Within it, faint scarlet flashes like bolts of lightning flickered, accompanied by a thick, perilous aura radiating outward.
Even the Old Imperial Household soldiers watching from a distance showed expressions of terror. Mr. Zhuan and the others turned grim, feeling the intense oppression rolling from that dispersing mental and force-field might.
Chen Chuan watched the transformation with calm eyes. With this intensity of spiritual impact constantly expanding outward, even if he charged forward, he could not stop the process. That did not mean, however, that he could do nothing.
He raised his hand. Light flared in his palm, and a moment later, a platinum sphere of light hurled violently forward, slamming into the mist in the blink of an eye.
Yet from within the mist, an equally fierce scarlet blast of light erupted, dispersing the spiritual sphere. It flashed several more times in rapid succession, warding off the subsequent spiritual impacts that followed.
By then, the mist had begun to disperse as a heavy, crushing presence blanketed the surroundings. A colossus over thirty meters tall, enveloped from head to toe in scarlet fires of spirituality, appeared upon the plains.
Its head resembled a cross between a flood dragon and a horse, with three horns sprouting from its brow, blazing fires in its eyes, and a wrathful countenance. Intricately tangled mutated tissue formed armor over its body, while wisps of long, black-and-red whiskers draped down from all over its frame to trail upon the ground.
Flanking it were two additional heads, each controlling two arms. In their hands they held weapons—rings, swords, spears—wreathed in crimson smoke, half-illusory and half-real.
This was what Su Kuo visualized: the demon general from Chan Sect lore, the "Tianxuli Demon," said in ancient legends to be the offspring of a great demon and an aberrant dragon.
He had withheld this Visage of the Aberrant until now because the Tianxuli Demon was said to possess the divine ability of "turning death to rebirth, gaining greater strength through endurance."
While he could not reach that legendary extent, his second anomalous power served a similar purpose. If he fought with all his might in his normal form and still fell short, facing an acute mortal crisis, the stimulation would trigger his Visage of the Aberrant to feed back even greater power. In truth, the strength of his opponent directly determined the strength of his Visage of the Aberrant.
To amplify this power, he had sworn a bound oath: he could not actively summon his Visage of the Aberrant on his own. In other words, without grave danger, he was forever confined to his ordinary form and could only cultivate within that normal body.
When xuanji martial artists at the realm of the Longevity View cultivated, the role of an external visage was indispensable. Without it, gaining every ounce of strength was excruciatingly difficult. Yet sacrificing that ease had granted him immense recompense, bestowing upon his external visage a combat prowess virtually unmatched among his peers.
This approach had proven infallible in the past. It effectively allowed him to counter his foes only after they had fully revealed their strength, seizing control after being struck. And this time, the sheer force of Chen Chuan's might had provoked a tremendous stimulus, unleashing power far surpassing anything he had wielded before.
Such a gargantuan entity standing upon the plain brought an incomparable visual shock. The troops and commanders of the Old Imperial Household, who had verged on collapse once the Great Shun martial artists began storming the battlefield, were now revitalized, erupting in roaring cheers that shook the heavens.
Chen Chuan glanced at it. An external visage of this caliber must have reached the profoundest depths of visualization, exceedingly close to the gods and demons conceived in thought. This meant the man also possessed a measure of divine-demonic anomalous power.
He did not know what techniques or tricks the other party commanded, but now that the Visage of the Aberrant had revealed itself, the faint sense of unease that had nagged at him had dissipated.
In that case, there was no longer any need for restraint.
With a shift of intent, his second self merged with him instantly.
At the same time, his brow flashed. Mist billowed outward around him as well, and from within that haze, a spirit visage nearly thirty meters tall condensed in the void behind his back.
Armor of gleaming radiance draped over it; one hand held a saber, the other a long mace, while floating ribbons of cloud wound about its shoulders and back. With the emergence of this spirit visage, a dense mantle of the fire of spirituality instantly draped over Chen Chuan. Raging platinum light and flames soared into the sky, and rising vapors mounted straight into the vault of heaven.
The two colossal spirit visages stood facing each other. The spectacle seemed nothing less than legendary immortals and gods descending upon the mortal realm.
Eyes wide with astonishment, Mr. Mask looked up, speaking with fervent excitement: "Old Zhuan, the Longevity View! This is the Longevity View!"
Mr. Zhuan raised his head to gaze at the figure standing proud upon the plains like a divine general of myth, his own spirits stirred with profound agitation.
On the side of the Old Imperial Household, the cheering abruptly died away. In dead silence, they stared at the towering spirit visage in utter terror.
Gai Shuhe had been retreating all along. Seeing Su Kuo rally, he had felt a glimmer of hope and decided to observe for a moment; but the moment Chen Chuan's spirit visage manifested, he uttered not a word, whirling around to flee toward the rear with redoubled speed.
The embroidered-uniform envoy shot him a sidelong glance, yet she did not linger either, retreating just as swiftly.
Su Kuo glared at the spirit visage before him. Raising the long spear in his front arms, tip pointed straight ahead, he charged forward with heavy strides. Each thundering step seemed to shake the earth and mountains, sending out rolling rumbles.
On Chen Chuan's side, he stood blade in hand while the spirit visage behind him held its ground, arms raised in a guarding posture. As the enemy spear thrust forward, the long saber snapped out to intercept it head-on, while the long mace knocked it aside with a sharp clack. The flames on the weapons crashed into one another, the impact booming like colossal thunder.
The spirit visage stepped forward, slashing its saber upward in flowing motion. With his spear deflected to the side, Su Kuo simply twisted half his torso, bringing another head and set of arms to bear as he raised his ring to parry.
Yet when saber met ring, with a resounding boom, a force as vast and unyielding as a mountain surged through. Su Kuo shuddered violently, his body thrown backward.
Chen Chuan's spirit visage pressed forward, pivoting on its heel to whip its mace across. Su Kuo twisted halfway again, bringing two heads and four arms facing front as his rings and swords exerted combined force to block the mace's trajectory. Another dull detonation erupted like rolling thunder across the vault of heaven; under the weight of this strike, Su Kuo was whipped backward, stumbling clumsily.
He was both shocked and infuriated. He had assumed that once his Visage of the Aberrant was unleashed, it would surely crush his opponent. Never had he imagined that the other's Visage of Man would possess an even fiercer, more ferocious combat power—and that the fluidity of its movements resembled not a spirit visage at all, but a living body.
Chen Chuan's saber-and-mace techniques were tailored specifically for spirit visage combat, emphasizing relentless, unbroken momentum once a blow found its mark. Having just driven his foe back with the mace, the long saber followed in immediate pursuit.
Su Kuo scrambled to stabilize his footing, turning another body to thrust his spear straight at Chen Chuan's visage. Yet Chen Chuan's lower mace snapped upward with astonishing speed, knocking the spear aside. As the long saber feigned a downward cleave, Su Kuo's flanking heads and arms urgently brought their swords and rings up to ward it off.
Yet the descending blade carried no real force; halfway down, it merely gave a phantom jab forward. Then, with a sudden spin of the spirit visage's torso, the mace whipped across once more. With a deafening crash, it struck Su Kuo squarely in the chest and abdomen, sending sparks and flames scattering in all directions as his armor ruptured.
Reeling from the blow, Su Kuo staggered backward involuntarily. The blade held by Chen Chuan's spirit visage had already rested against its shoulder during the spin, and now cleaved forward with full force. It struck true upon his shoulder; amid flying sparks and flares, with a sharp slice, half the shoulder and an attached arm were sheared clean off.
The colossal arm tumbled from above, crashing onto the ground with a massive thud that kicked up billowing dust and set the earth trembling.
Having lost an arm, Su Kuo knew he was in dire straits. Channeling his anomalous power once again, he drifted evasively backward, disengaging from the spirit visage's onslaught.
At the same time, he wheeled his torso around to present an uninjured set of heads and arms to the front.
While three heads and eight arms might not seem suited for concentrated power, they could contend with foes attacking from different directions; when facing a single enemy, combined with his anomalous power, it offered an immense advantage.
Furthermore, the body of the Visage of the Aberrant was formed from interwoven mutated tissue, exerting force in ways that defied conventional understanding.
Yet fast as he retreated, Chen Chuan's spirit visage closed the distance with blinding speed. The saber and mace rained down in rapid succession. Su Kuo scrambled to parry with his rings and swords, employing four arms in unison to block multiple strikes. With every collision, visible shockwaves rippled outward through the air, sending sparks of spiritual fire scattering across the sky.
After parrying a few blows, he felt his strength flagging once more. As another flash of saber light descended, he raised his sword with both hands to block. With a sharp clang, because the guard had been raised in haste and the fire of spirituality was insufficient, the incoming blade sheared right through, snapping his sword in two!
Without letting up for an instant, the opposing assault continued as the mace whipped across right behind the blade, slamming into one of his arms. Amid a thunderous roar, dense spiritual fire exploded, instantly twisting the arm out of shape and knocking him off balance, sending him stumbling sideways.
Yet by now, the severed arm had covertly regrown. Even as he stumbled backward, a fierce glint flashed in his eyes. Gripping his spear with both hands, he spun around and thrust backward with all his might!
Yet only halfway through, an extending saber flicked upward and deflected the spear aside, leaving his defense wide open.
Chen Chuan's spirit visage gathered its momentum for a fraction of an instant, then whipped its mace across, striking squarely against the head facing forward. Spiritual radiance burst apart as the head detonated with a thunderous blast. A rain of blood showered down; drops as heavy as liquid mercury gouged deep craters into the earth, while those splattering into the distant battle lines crushed soldiers and warhorses into paste.
Chapter 1031