Once the purple qi clinging within his body was brought into full circulation, it did not merely augment Chen Chuan's strength; it also greatly elevated his spirit, allowing him to draw even more energy from beyond the layers of heaven.
Through his previous battle with the Wanderer, he had also realized something: this mist-like mutated tissue would actually adapt and elevate continuously during combat.
So long as his body could endure it, he could keep ramping it up. This bore some resemblance to the state his opponent was currently displaying, yet he likewise did not know just how far this elevation could reach.
He had not had the chance to test it in combat before, but this time, he could verify it against the man before him.
His fingers gripped the saber's hilt as he stared intently at his opponent.
At this moment, Krosal sensed a change in the aura before him, along with an intensely perilous premonition of danger. It made the mutated tissue throughout his entire body perceive a grave threat. Under this stimulation, it was as though a valve had been thrown open, and a vigorous, surging vitality nearly erupted forth.
In truth, that gradual elevation had served both as a restraint and as a means of preserving this avatar's longevity. Now, however, he threw caution to the wind, letting go of all restraint. This might cause this body to dissipate after the battle, but in his view, winning this duel was clearly far more important.
He had originally thought taking down Chen Chuan would be easy, yet now signs were showing that things were slipping out of control. This was absolutely impermissible!
At this moment, perhaps due to the sheer intensity of their clash, a pitter-patter of raindrops began falling from what had been a clear sky, striking their bodies and instantly vaporizing into steam.
Only now could the spectators in the stands finally see the two figures facing each other midair. Sunlight streamed through the rifts in the broken clouds, shining directly upon them and making the fiery brilliance enveloping them blaze even brighter.
Yet as the crowd watched, a sudden, blinding flash erupted before their eyes. The two spheres of radiance seemed to merge abruptly together, becoming intensely dazzling. Most spectators could hardly keep their eyes open and were forced to shield them with their hands.
Only the powerful martial artists kept their eyes locked on the sky above, yet they, too, could see nothing clearly.
Instead, booming crashes like rolling thunder echoed above the stadium, as though everything within the arena were trembling.
High in the sky, this exchange of attacks was arguably the most violent since the duel began.
With every slash Chen Chuan delivered, he cleaved through the viscous spiritual flame enveloping Krosal, fracturing the limbs beneath with spiderweb cracks and even carving out massive gashes.
Yet in almost the very next instant, those fractures would seal shut, and the fire of spirituality would knit itself back together.
This was not because Chen Chuan's blade lacked sharpness, but because his opponent possessed consummate skill, constantly using movement and jin shifting midair to avoid suffering a decisive blow. Now that Krosal's speed and strength were so close to his own, finding an opportunity for a fatal strike was extraordinarily difficult.
Another issue was that once the potential of Krosal's manifested body was fully unleashed, it possessed near-infinite stamina and vitality. Even if he could not defeat his opponent outright, maintaining such a high-tempo combat rhythm would ordinarily be more than enough to grind and exhaust anyone to death.
Yet Chen Chuan also sensed that his opponent's growth had ceased. He did not know whether this was Krosal's absolute limit, but—he himself had not reached his!
Pouring strength into both hands, he slashed Krosal backward. Before the chilling gleam flickering on the blade could even fade, a brilliant radiance burst from Chen Chuan's body, while a force field expanded outward, enveloping himself and pulling Krosal's form inside as well.
Krosal immediately sensed something amiss. The Grand Radiant Light Forms disturbed his spirit slightly, weakening his ability to draw energy from the other world, while the force field of the Grand Firmament Forms exerted a subtle interference upon his movements.
Due to his prior consecutive surges, his mutated tissue had undergone advanced metamorphosis. Under normal circumstances, someone in his current state could completely ignore such marginal influence. However, he was directly facing Chen Chuan. The two were essentially on the same tier, balanced on a razor's edge where any minute increase or decrease could completely upend the battle.
Before he could adapt, Chen Chuan's blade surged forward once more!
Confronting the slash cleaving straight toward him, Krosal raised his guard just as before. The fire of spirituality was severed, and the blade bit into his limb. Cracks webbed across his arms even more densely than before, yet the only thing he could do now was expend more energy to bridge the deficit.
Paying no heed to anything else, Chen Chuan pressed forward with over a dozen consecutive slashes. He soon discovered that no further changes occurred on Krosal. Even when brought to the brink of death several times, Krosal showed no corresponding improvement.
Thus, he could be virtually certain that the full potential of his opponent's manifested body had been exhausted; there was no possibility of further elevation.
Yet Chen Chuan himself, although his purple qi had been stimulated to a considerable degree, felt that he had still not reached his limit. If he continued driving it relentlessly, even he did not know what heights he might reach.
His current opponent, however, was no longer qualified to push him. As Chen Chuan ascended, Krosal appeared slower and slower in his eyes, his resistance growing increasingly feeble.
Under his relentless slashes, a dense mesh of cracks spread across Krosal's body, radiating outward in all directions. Though the fractures continued to knit, they could no longer heal completely.
Krosal fought barehanded against a weapon. With every clash, he was forced to expend more fire of spirituality and consume more energy. Previously, he had managed to hold on through the continuous elevation of his mutated tissue, but now he had hit a wall.
As Chen Chuan's offensive grew ever more fierce and swift, the energy Krosal expended far outstripped his absorption rate, and the foundation sustaining his body was steadily destabilizing.
Chen Chuan noticed these signs as well; the situation felt rather reminiscent of his fight against the Wanderer.
The closer it came to the end, the steadier and more resolute he became. Every chop and slash was delivered without the slightest flaw, backing his opponent step by step into a dead end.
After another half minute of oppressive offense, there came a moment when the hands Krosal raised to parry suddenly hitched, his power failing to muster in time.
Beset by internal exhaustion and external pressure, Krosal suffered a breakdown in rhythm. Chen Chuan did not let the opportunity slip. Deflecting with his blade hand, he knocked aside the weakly parrying arms, then drove his saber straight in, plunging it into Krosal's chest!
Krosal's hands instinctively clamped around the blade, trying to prevent the force from penetrating deeper.
Chen Chuan stared cold-eyed at him. After driving him forward through the air for some distance, he jerked both arms upward, hoisting Krosal's body aloft. Spinning around, he swung the long saber, hurling him bodily from the sky toward the ground!
The instant he broke free from the blade, Krosal felt there was still a sliver of hope. Drawing a sharp breath midair, he rapidly knitted and restored the cracks running inside and out across his body. Yet before the recovery could finish, he crashed into the ground with a thunderous boom, shockwaves and dust churning violently outward.
The moment he hit the ground, the muscles of his back snapped taut, flipping him back to his feet. But at that very instant, a line of light appeared within the thick curtain of dust ahead. Then, gleaming with radiant flames, a snow-bright long saber tore through the atmosphere and dust, cleaving toward him with the earth-shattering momentum to split heaven and earth!
He knew that even if his current body dodged this strike, he could not evade the follow-up assault. His only chance to turn the tables was to stop it cold. He crossed his arms and threw them upward in a block, the fire of spirituality across his body instantly surging in reverse, channeling completely into his arms.
The saber whistled down, striking against his forearms. Yet this time, what the blade carried was not mere cleaving force, but a penetrating jin poised between hardness and softness.
This was equivalent to the entirety of both sides' power concentrating onto a single point, colliding head-on without the slightest evasion!
Boom!
A violent vortex detonated from the point of their clash, ripping through the surrounding atmosphere as scorching airwaves surged wildly in all directions. The field ritual barrier shielding the arena could finally bear the strain no longer; it shattered apart with a deafening rumble, shooting outward in jagged fragments.
Everyone on the stands was shocked. The fighters around the arena stepped forward to shield those behind them. Gui Zihan raised his sword blade, expanding his field outward to protect the entire delegation within.
Once the disturbance settled slightly, they could not help looking toward the site of the clash. There, two figures remained frozen in postures of parry and descent. Chen Chuan gripped his saber with both hands, leaning slightly forward, while opposite him, Krosal half-knelt on the ground, his arms bracing against the falling edge.
In that moment, everyone's expressions froze.
Moments later, faint cracks appeared where Krosal's arms met the saber blade. The cracks rapidly spread across his entire body. Although a force still attempted to repair them, new cracks emerged just as fast as the old ones closed, defying all attempts to mend.
Chen Chuan gazed down at Krosal beneath his blade. With this strike, he had driven virtually all of his jin into the man's body. Though Krosal's form appeared relatively intact on the outside, inside it had already shattered completely.
Right now, all Chen Chuan needed to do was give him a firm push, and this opponent would likely collapse entirely, disintegrating into a pile of ruined shards.
Yet he did not do so. Straightening his posture, he faced the kneeling Krosal and slowly raised the Xuejun Saber above his head.
Though violent currents still swirled in all directions, they swept the arena clear of smoke and dust, allowing everyone in the spectator stands to see this gesture clearly.
And then they saw Chen Chuan snap both arms down. An arc of blade light slashed across—and Krosal's head flew clean off!
Those who witnessed this widened their eyes in absolute horror, and some even cried out in disbelief.
Krosal's headless body swayed, then slowly pitched forward. With a dull thud, the severed neck struck the soil, leaving him kneeling prostrate before Chen Chuan.
Chapter 1167