What Gluttony had laid out there earlier was far more than just an esoteric ritual for entering the Throat of the Star Spirit. If that had been all, it wouldn't have taken him nearly as much time; he was there to complete and activate a ritual meant to trap and restrain nature spirits.
This ritual was not something that could have been improvised on short notice. It had been inscribed here long ago, though it had never ended up being used.
Now, having sensed Chen Chuan's threat—along with having other motives—he had uncovered it once again. Although the target it had to counter was different, the power it commanded was very real.
To ensure that the esoteric ritual took effect and persisted long enough, he had even tossed in a third-class relic.
He hadn't known whether Chen Chuan would actually come here, but he had to prepare a contingency for himself. Even if it went unused in the end, it wouldn't hurt.
What he hadn't expected was for Chen Chuan to arrive so quickly. Since the ritual had only just been restored, activating it required a bit of time. When he had stepped in to assist the other two earlier, he had in truth been trying to stall.
And now, those two had won him that window of opportunity. Both had been slain, but Chen Chuan was bound by the ritual. The outcome was nearly flawless.
Now, as long as he brought Chen Chuan down and eliminated the obstacle before him, the entire Throat of the Star Spirit could be swallowed by the Primitive Sect—no, devoured in one gulp by him alone.
With a raspy chuckle, Gluttony raised both hands and leveled his palms at Chen Chuan. A faint light began to flicker in the center of his palms. At that same moment, his already somewhat thinned cheeks hollowed out drastically, and the fat across his body withered away at terrifying speed.
Chen Chuan spared him a glance, then looked down at the radiance enveloping his own form. This binding indeed possessed a restraining effect.
Still... it was somewhat too flimsy.
Though he could break free using his second self, he chose not to. Taking a gentle breath, not only did his breathing rhythm shift, but even his external implant caught the cue and turned scalding hot in an instant. The plates of armor beneath his long coat flashed with brilliant light, plumes of steam rising from his body as a daylight-like radiance burst outward, illuminating the entire cavern in a single stroke.
With a direct heave, he ripped one arm clean out of the clinging radiance. The subsequent tendrils of light that sought to wrap around him were kept at bay by that fierce, blazing glow.
Gluttony's face changed instantly. Clamping his other hand around his faintly trembling wrist, he saw Chen Chuan's other arm break free as well. Waiting no longer, the radiance in his palms detonated forward. A highly concentrated spiritual impact surged forth with unprecedented fury, slamming toward Chen Chuan in an instant.
Seeing this, Chen Chuan did not block or simply brace himself defensively this time. Instead, he raised a single hand ahead, and an identical brilliance burst from his palm.
The next instant, the two forces collided. Rather than detonating right away, they ground against each other under mutual compression. Chen Chuan held it at bay for a brief moment, and then, beneath Gluttony's wide, incredulous gaze, slowly pushed forward. His fingers snapped shut, and the entire mass of light was crushed and blasted out of existence by his bare grip!
A few streaks of piercing light leaked through the seams of his fingers, followed by a muffled thunder of residual shockwaves detonating across the cavern floor, setting the surrounding stone walls humming and trembling.
Terror instantly washed over Gluttony's face, forcing him two steps back. Blocking a spiritual impact with his bare hand?
Such a feat wasn't impossible, but it required the blocker's life energy to overwhelmingly crush that of his opponent.
If that was the case, when facing those two just now, had this man not even used his full strength?!
Regardless, he knew his plan had failed. If he retreated right now—no,
he knew that was impossible. Given the speed Chen Chuan had shown, catching up to him would be child's play, and that might not even be the man's limit.
In that case, he had to stake everything on one desperate gamble!
Gluttony opened his mouth wide, tearing his jaws open until it seemed large enough to swallow his entire self. At the same time, his body abruptly expanded by an entire ring!
Jet-black spiritual radiance surged from deep within his body, wrapping around him from head to toe. This power seemed to consume him endlessly, making his entire being appear as though it were burning ablaze!
When he looked forward again, all that remained were a pair of blood-red eyes and a gaping, crimson maw. With a roar that set the cavern reverberating, he stomped the ground and charged toward Chen Chuan. Along the way, he scooped up the war club lying on the ground and swung it down squarely at Chen Chuan's head!
Chen Chuan stared ahead, watching the pitch-black shadow plunge down upon him. He stood rooted in place, not yielding an inch.
The radiance cast over his back shattered and peeled away piece by piece. Both hands gripping the hilt, he raised the Xuejun Saber and swung it upward to meet the dark silhouette head-on!
Boom!
The point of impact exploded with blinding brilliance, illuminating the entire cavern as bright as day. A visible shockwave swept outward, tearing and scattering the air in its path. The cavern walls shuddered violently, and the nearby lake waters boiled into a froth.
The rumbling reverberated endlessly. Web-like fissures spread across the cavern ceiling, raining down sand and gravel as though the roof were on the verge of collapse. Yet amid this violent upheaval, an invisible force barely held the cavern together, preventing it from caving in entirely.
When the commotion gradually settled, neither stones nor weeds remained where the blows had met—only a smooth, gleaming floor resembling vitrified glass, where wisps of their scattered fire of spirituality continued to seep from the hairline cracks.
At this moment, Gluttony seemed reduced to a charred skeleton, kneeling on one knee with the war club held aloft,
while the dazzling, mirror-bright blade of the Xuejun Saber pressed down upon it.
Chen Chuan watched him, his arms applying gentle downward pressure. With a sharp snap, Gluttony's arm holding the club fractured, sending the weapon clattering to the floor. Immediately after, the rest of his skeletal frame seemed unable to bear the strain, emitting a rapid succession of cracking sounds before crumbling completely to pieces.
Finally, from within the fleshless skull, a puff of transparent vapor shot out from a seam in the bone, darting away at breakneck speed.
Yet the air was still saturated with that intense, sun-like radiance, which not only illuminated the vapor with crystal clarity,
but also slowed its flight as if an unseen force were dragging it down.
Before it could travel even halfway out of the cavern, a saber flash blazing with platinum aura trailed close behind. Slicing clean through it, an ethereal scream seemed to ring faintly through the air. In an instant, the vapor disintegrated into a puff of ash-like residue and melted into nothingness.
Chen Chuan swung his saber and lightly settled onto the ground. His gaze flickered thoughtfully. That final cut had felt neither like a pure Visage of the Divine nor like a fragment of power split from one.
Instead, it felt like an independent entity.
It was somewhat similar to the seeds he had once split off, and he could faintly sense that the master behind this seed was likely of a formidable tier.
Still, there was no need to dwell on that now. He reached out, and the scabbard flew over from the distant dirt. With a flash of the blade, he sheathed the weapon. Sweeping his gaze around, the war club floating nearby drifted slowly toward him, coming to a halt before his eyes.
At the same time, the two short swords Iron Raven had held flew up from the sand and gravel in the distance.
Though both weapons had sustained damage in the earlier clash, their mutated nature meant that the chipped portions would slowly regenerate over time.
He inspected the weapons for a moment and nodded in satisfaction.
Coming to the Throat of the Star Spirit this time had brought unexpected spoils on top of securing the medicine. It was quite a harvest. Before setting off, he had contemplated establishing a collection gallery here in the Federation akin to the one back home; perhaps that aspiration was truly within reach.
In truth, he hadn't felt much pressure during this battle. The strongest attacks from all three adversaries hadn't stood a chance of piercing his fire of spirituality. That was a fundamental disparity; no matter how the fight played out, the outcome was predetermined.
Of course, that didn't mean there were no variables at all. Without his Pure Spiritual Light to neutralize it, unraveling that Aberrant Visage's corrosive power would have been far from simple. Yet had he not possessed such a safeguard, he wouldn't have granted his opponent the chance to unleash it in the first place.
As he pondered this, a thought struck him. He walked back toward the ritual array Gluttony had prepared earlier. After scrutinizing it, he swept the tip of the Xuejun Saber through the dirt. The sand and soil parted to reveal a lead-gray ring, no larger than a bracelet.
He raised an eyebrow. A relic?
Considering the context, it must have been left behind by that man just now.
He picked it up for a brief inspection, finding that it had the properties of insulating and amplifying ritual energy while also drastically stabilizing aberrant forces.
No wonder.
The cavern he occupied was actually blanketed by a grand esoteric ritual, something that typically required state-level resources to design and construct. For ordinary esoteric rituals to function within a grand ritual—let alone unleash such power—was practically impossible, unless one knew the vulnerabilities in the grand ritual and utilized auxiliary items to unlock that potential.
With this ring, it all made sense.
As he examined it, his pocket shifted slightly. The transparent civet urban legend leaped out, circling eagerly around the bracelet.
Chen Chuan glanced at it, caught the creature by the scruff of its neck, and tucked it back into his pocket.
How to put this thing to use would require further consideration.
He took another walk around the perimeter. Seeing that all was quiet outside and no one else was present, he began making his way back.
There was still work to be done upon his return. Just because this wave of enemies had been wiped out didn't mean others wouldn't come.
Before that happened, he needed to make some preparations.
Chapter 1088