The fissure flickered amid tumbling boulders and swirling dust. Torn open even wider, the light leaking from within wavered erratically, surging into the sky one moment and scattering aimlessly the next, appearing exceptionally unstable.
Under these conditions, the surrounding field and spirit were thrown into utter turmoil, making it even harder for Chen Chuan to locate the core.
He glanced at the fissure. The Xuejun Saber did possess the ability to erase fissures, but this was near the Federation Capital. Although no one was watching him right now, it was ill-advised to expose such a power.
Furthermore, the fissure was far too massive and sustained by the power of the entity on the other side. Even if he went all out, the difficulty would be immense.
By comparison, finding the core was relatively easier.
A light flickered between his brows as the Grand Radiant Light Forms and Grand Firmament Forms expanded outward around him. Inside his body, the purple qi mutated tissue continuously lent him strength. The Two Great Stances seemed capable of expanding without limit, their brilliance gradually blanketing the light of the fissure before spilling out beyond the collapsed mountain.
Driven by his full effort, the force field caused everything around him to float into the air.
Meanwhile, several combat airships from the Federation Capital were closing in from outside.
As they drew nearer, their crews couldn't help but widen their eyes at the miraculous spectacle before them.
Though it was night, the flanks of the airships facing that direction were illuminated brilliantly by the opposing glow, the radiance intensifying the closer they got.
Around the fractured mountain, rock fragments large and small hovered in midair as if weightless, rotating slowly.
Arranged from dense to sparse, they orbited a single center in concentric rings, forming a grand, spherical shape that looked truly magnificent.
Through the thick haze of dust that also hung suspended, they could see a silhouette cloaked in piercing light from their distance.
It wasn't hard for them to deduce that this figure was the one who had arrived earlier.
Even for a Secret Palace martial artist... wasn't this display of power a bit too exaggerated?
"It's not exaggerated in the slightest."
Turning their heads, they saw a young man squatting on the airship's broadside platform. Facing that direction, his face and half his body were bathed in a golden-red glow from the light ahead.
"Mr. Joel!"
The airship's crew immediately recognized him as a martial artist affiliated with their Border Defense Bureau.
Though Joel maintained a relaxed posture while squatting, his eyes remained fixed ahead, unblinking.
"That is a Secret Palace martial artist capable of clashing against part of a Throne martial artist's power. He's probably trying to handle something. If I were you, I wouldn't disturb him right now."
"Y-Yes, sir!"
The captain was quick to heed good advice, immediately ordering the airship to decelerate.
Suppressing his nervous apprehension, he looked across again and asked, "Is he dealing with the fissure?"
Joel kept his eyes fixed forward. "Likely something far trickier than the fissure itself."
Once Chen Chuan unfurled his power, every subtle shift was clearly reflected within his field and the Two Great Stances.
Gradually, he sensed where that core was. It seemed to wander all about—or more precisely, to leap among the drifting crystalline mist, as if any part of the vapor could serve as its vessel.
Moreover, the thing was acutely sensitive to spiritual force within the field. Whenever he detected it and focused his attention, it would dart off elsewhere like a startled fish, making it elusive to pin down.
The object grew stronger with each passing moment. If left unchecked, bolstered by the power cast over from the other side of the fissure, mind and matter would interweave and snowball larger and larger, reassembling in no time.
The crux lay in its connection to the power on the other side, allowing it to evade spiritual detection at any moment. As long as he could disrupt the entity behind the fissure, he would have an opportunity to draw it out.
Crossing over in person was out of the question. Who knew how formidable the entity's true form was? Here, the Ring of the World offered protection; on the other side, there was none.
Fortunately, he didn't need to cross over himself.
Casting a glance toward the fissure, an identical phantom of himself suddenly appeared and charged straight into the rift, saber in hand.
This was an image simulated using the relic gifted by Gao Xinjian. If the simulated figure could fool the entity on the other side, an opening would appear.
The instant the silhouette plunged inside, the opposing power surged abruptly, caught off guard by his sudden move. Yet an instant later, Chen Chuan felt the phantom shatter; it had likely been seen through.
Even though it lasted only a heartbeat, that fraction of a second gave him his opening.
Without looking, he slashed along that thread of sensation. The Xuejun Saber carried his body forward, bringing him instantly before the sensed location. As the cold gleam of the blade swept past, a long tear cleaved through that hazy, radiant mist!
A moment later, amid rolling rumbles of thunder, a crisp sound like shattering glazed glass echoed clearly in his ears. At the same time, he felt something shatter against the saber, while a larger fragment fell away into the distance.
After delivering that single slash, Chen Chuan held his follow-through stance. The surrounding mist seemed stirred by an invisible force, whirling like a tempest. Yet he knew this was merely the residual power running rampant after losing its constraint.
After a long while, the fierce vortex lost its driving momentum and slowly settled. All the crystalline dust drifted feebly in every direction, forming clusters of luminous glowing vapor under the radiance surrounding his body.
He flicked his long saber and glanced at the fissure. Deprived of this core, pushing the immense power on the other side through the Ring of the World would no longer be an easy feat.
Of course, a fraction of its power could still trickle through and coalesce much faster, just like certain entities he had encountered in the past.
Yet while opponents of that caliber had once required his full effort, now they merely served to pad his record of victories.
The entity on the other side evidently understood this as well; within the fissure, the light merely flickered with varying intensity, with no further movements.
Chen Chuan watched for a moment. As long as the entity didn't emerge, he would leave it alone for now. In any case, this place had already been exposed.
How to handle it specifically would naturally be the Federation's headache.
Lowering his gaze, he looked down at the Xuejun Saber in his hand.
In the past, almost every time he slew an entity from the other side, the Xuejun Saber would absorb something from it, which served as an indirect confirmation of the kill. Yet this time, there was no such reaction.
Recalling the commotion just now, he swept the saber, instantly blowing away the surrounding dust and crystalline mist.
Under the clash of forces, the ground around him had turned into fine gravel and clusters of glassy crystals.
In the gravel not far away, he immediately spotted a corner of something moist and lustrous peeking through.
Raising his hand, the object flew into his grip with a soft swish. Bringing it before his eyes, he saw a piece of fine jade the size of a pigeon egg.
This object had very likely served as the core for that entity's power entering the world.
Holding it in his hand gave him a peculiar sensation—somewhat like a relic, yet subtly different.
With a slight twitch between his brows, the Heavenly Eye opened to take a look, revealing numerous intricate seal-script characters traced across the jade's surface, as if drawn in cinnabar.
An item of the Xuan Sect?
He was somewhat surprised. How had something from the Xuan Sect fallen into the hands of such an entity? Had it been offered by someone from the Primordial Sect, or had the entity seized it from a cultivator of the Xuan Sect?
After a moment's thought, he decided to stow it away for now.
He then reached out, and the cross-shaped longsword flew up into the air; he caught it firmly by the hilt.
Examining it for a few moments, he nodded slightly. Being able to withstand strikes from the Xuejun Saber was proof enough of the weapon's quality; it made for top-grade spoils of war.
Meanwhile, that entity on the other side hadn't observed much etiquette—arriving empty-handed and leaving empty-handed.
In truth, the master of this sword was not simple either. He likely hailed from the same origin as the Primordial Sect member Chen Chuan had slain previously. In other words, both were merely different external vessels of a single martial artist of the Divine Visage.
Yet the emotions displayed by the two were completely different, each skewed to an extreme.
Judging from the impressions conveyed through their spirit and fields, one possessed an insatiable appetite, while this one harbored utter, unadulterated arrogance.
He couldn't help but recall that the Primordial Sect preached the liberation of desire. According to their doctrine, mortal life contained seven desires constrained by morality. Perhaps this martial artist had substantiated these desires and converted them into his own external vessels.
What purpose this served, he didn't know—perhaps to cultivate some secret art, or perhaps to facilitate preaching doctrine.
Assuming each desire corresponded to an external vessel, there should be five remaining.
As for whether the two he had slain could manifest again, each vessel currently appeared unique, existing as an independent individual. Furthermore, suitable hosts to bear the power of a Throne martial artist were hard to come by; it was unlikely that replacements could be found in a short span of time.
While he was lost in thought, inside the Great Shun Embassy in the Federation Capital...
The assistant to the delegation head set down the telephone receiver and turned to Jiang Yuezhi. "Head Jiang, it has been confirmed that a fissure appeared at Daluo Island. Powerful martial artists from the Federation Capital may have already rushed over, and Crossal appears to be among them."
Jiang Yuezhi turned immediately to Fan Zhentong, who stood nearby. "Old Fan, I'll need you to go take a look."
"No problem, I'll head over right away."
Fan Zhentong turned and walked out the door. Because the delegation still required his protection, he could not go in person and could only dispatch a part of himself.
Wisps of fresh blood seeped from his body, drifting into the distance. As soon as they drifted out of the embassy, they rapidly condensed into a figure identical to him. With a flash of spiritual radiance, it soared into the sky and flew off.
Chapter 1198