What Crossal had just said was merely what he was obligated to say as an official representative. Since Chen Chuan refused to listen, he had no reason to hold back anymore—an outcome he had welcomed all along.
In truth, he had long wanted to make a move against Chen Chuan. While that past battle had not represented his full strength, it had still made him a laughingstock among upper-echelon martial artists.
This time, Chen Chuan had delivered himself to his doorstep. Killing him here would not only serve their objectives, but also wash clean a blemish that should never have existed.
As he struck, his eyes stayed fixed on Chen Chuan. Given the capability Chen Chuan had displayed when blasting Igor apart just moments ago, Crossal did not underestimate him simply because his cultivation had not yet reached the Throne level.
Even so, having fought Chen Chuan before, he believed he understood the young man's techniques and combat reflexes.
Chen Chuan made no move to dodge. Facing the ferocious onslaught of Crossal's fist, he simply raised an arm to block.
Their spiritual fire clashed instantly, and Chen Chuan's torso tilted back slightly under the impact of the incoming force.
Compared to their previous clash, this time he genuinely experienced Crossal's true strength. He was a Visage of Man martial artist after all; the power and speed he could unleash far surpassed the man from before, and compared to Xiang Boqing, there was little difference.
Or rather, when martial artists who followed the same path reached a certain threshold of power, the individual differences between them were usually quite limited, without any vast disparity.
If it was only this much, it was essentially equivalent to fighting Xiang Boqing all over again. Last time, he had relied on merging with his second self to secure victory, but things were different now. His strength and skill had advanced considerably compared to back then.
Within a split second, Crossal unleashed dozens of frenzied punches at Chen Chuan. Chen Chuan's gaze remained calm as he blocked them without giving up virtually half a step. The intense brilliant glow sparked and spilled outward around them with each collision, sending concentric ripples tearing through the surrounding atmosphere like water.
Chen Chuan could feel Crossal's power climbing as they traded blows. This was a hallmark of Throne martial artists—they could adapt to their opponent's strength and grow progressively stronger the longer they fought.
Yet with the experience gained from fighting Xiang Boqing, Chen Chuan timely circulated the Heaven and Earth Furnace breathing method within his body. His speed and strength surged abruptly, and he threw a simple, direct straight punch right toward Crossal.
The strike tore through the barrage of fist shadows in an instant, barreling straight for Crossal's face. The latter's pupils contracted. Driven by his mutated tissue, he only had time to lean backward, yet the spiritual fire and explosive jin upon the fist still sent him stumbling backward, breaking his fluid offensive momentum.
Sensing danger, Crossal rode the momentum of his stumble to actively retreat, crossing his forearms as his spiritual fire surged forward in a rapid converging flow. Barely had he adopted the guard when a colossal force slammed into his arms.
With a resounding boom, the concentrated spiritual fire detonated instantly. He was forced backward again, desperately attempting to neutralize the penetrating jin. Before he could shake off the impetus, Chen Chuan drove a horizontal kick across. Crossal raised a knee to block; another blast of spiritual fire erupted with a bang, sending him flying sideways through the air.
When he finally stabilized himself, he snapped his head up, looking at Chen Chuan in shock.
From that close-range exchange, he could tell clearly that Chen Chuan was still only at the Longevity View, yet the strength the young man displayed was far beyond merely "not weak"—it was egregiously powerful, enough to knock him back in a direct clash.
One had to know that this time he was fighting in his complete body, with only a small portion of mutated tissue left elsewhere. His combat power was virtually undiminished!
Chen Chuan slowly drew back his kicked leg and cast a glance toward Fantner in the distance.
He had originally intended to press his advantage and sustain a continuous assault on Crossal, but an intangible mental threat had radiated from that direction, causing his movements to pause for a brief instant.
However, he was already prepared for such interference, and the exchange just now had been nothing more than a warm-up.
Turning back to Crossal, he said, "Mr. Crossal, is this all the strength you have? If so, I must say I'm somewhat disappointed."
The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere shook with a violent shudder. Crossal appeared before him in the blink of an eye, his torso pitched sharply forward as he hurled a single-handed punch straight at Chen Chuan.
His speed was so extreme that the highly condensed spiritual fire over his body took on a fluttering, ethereal blur; even some of the martial artists watching from behind were unable to track his motion clearly at that moment.
Yet in the next instant, he ground to an abrupt halt. His fist had been caught and held firmly in place by Chen Chuan's outstretched palm, unable to advance even half an inch further.
When Chen Chuan intercepted the punch, his frame did not waver in the slightest. By now, the purple qi within his body had begun to surge actively, fine wisps of violet light seeping through the surface of his skin.
Though his cultivation had peaked for his current realm, his purple qi mutated tissue had continued to grow and expand during this period.
Now, it had surged to a level just sufficient to overpower Xiang Boqing—which meant it was also more than enough to overpower Crossal.
Watching this scene unfold, the surrounding martial artists grew solemn. Crossal was a Visage of Man martial artist, after all; while they may have ridiculed him in the past, none doubted his strength.
Yet the sight before their eyes completely overturned their understanding.
And while the crowd stood stunned by the power Chen Chuan displayed, Ming alone noticed the violet flow of light drifting from Chen Chuan's body, a flicker of startled suspicion passing through his eyes.
With his forward impetus obstructed, Crossal knew that the moment his momentum expired and his power ebbed, Chen Chuan would surely seize the opportunity to launch a devastating counterattack. His only option was to blast away the obstacle in front of him.
Mutated tissue within his body surged in violent pulses, accompanied by the eruption of an esoteric art. Flames of light flickered wildly across his frame, blue veins bulged across his face, and his muscles visibly swelled outward.
Chen Chuan's eyes glinted. Rather than continuing to block, he tilted his body to the side. At the very moment he shifted away, a pillar of spiritual impact erupted from Crossal with a deafening roar, shooting straight into the vault of heaven—a flash that seemed to pierce the firmament, visible even to onlookers far in the distance.
This spiritual impact erupted directly from the body without any preceding limb movement, its buildup masked under the churning aura. Had Chen Chuan's combat instincts not warned him in advance, he would have taken a direct hit.
Though Crossal had unleashed the spiritual impact, having employed an esoteric art allowed him to recover his balance in an instant. Leveraging his accumulated forward momentum, he charged toward Chen Chuan once more.
Chen Chuan executed several evasive maneuvers, effortlessly dodging the continuous flurry of attacks. As the purple qi inside him grew increasingly active, his strength and speed consistently held the upper hand over his opponent.
Ducking under an overhead punch, he surged forward with the momentum and buried a fist into Crossal's ribs. Crossal scrambled backward, attempting to open up distance midair, but Chen Chuan's next punch followed immediately, followed by yet another blow, surge after surge of jin smashing into his body.
The roles of offense and defense reversed in an instant.
Crossal was instantly swallowed up in Chen Chuan's tempestuous onslaught. It was only due to his dense, solidified spiritual fire, his seasoned skill, and his path as a Visage of Man martial artist that he could still mount a defense. Anyone following a different path would never have endured such a sustained, ferocious barrage head-on.
Yet even so, after enduring for a short while, he began to falter. He attempted to counterattack into the onslaught, but every time he tried, Chen Chuan's fists battered him back, throwing his stance off-balance and causing his spiritual fire to show signs of scattering.
Crossal knew full well that he could not hold out like this. Shifting his thoughts, a colossal silhouette materialized out of the atmosphere behind him with a thundering boom—he had manifested his spiritual visage.
Taking advantage of his backward momentum, he merged into the spiritual visage, while one of the visage's massive hands reached toward Chen Chuan, clearly intended to obstruct his pursuit.
Unfazed, Chen Chuan maintained his advance and raised an arm to block. A massive phantom materialized around his arm. With a thunderous boom and an explosion of spiritual fire, he swept the spiritual visage's giant hand right aside.
What?!
Crossal's pupils shrank. The power of a spiritual visage vastly exceeded his own physical strength, yet what was he seeing? Chen Chuan had actually deflected the spiritual visage's attack?!
Chen Chuan's gaze remained utterly placid. This technique had been devised specifically to counter Xiang Boqing's final "union of man and visage." Although it suffered from the limitation of being unable to be used in rapid succession, neither the physical body nor the spiritual visage on its own could possibly withstand it.
This time, he had no intention of giving Crossal any room to breathe. With the purple qi continuously surging, his strength and speed escalated further. Accelerating abruptly mid-charge, he arrived right before Crossal in a flash of light.
Then, a vicious punch slammed squarely into the arm Crossal raised to defend.
The spiritual fire cloaking Crossal's body rippled violently in layered waves before detonating with a roar.
However, for a martial artist of his caliber, besides the surface defense, there were one to two additional layers of spiritual fire within his body. Thus, Chen Chuan followed with another punch, fine specks of radiance gleaming across the face of his fist.
This was the technique he had used earlier to crush Igor—the fist carried a spiritual impact that detonated upon striking the target. Delivered with startling speed and abruptness, even a formidable Throne martial artist caught off guard could easily be blasted apart at point-blank range.
Crossal suddenly felt an acute premonition of mortal danger. Having witnessed Chen Chuan use this technique just moments ago, the moment he saw the strike coming, he instantly triggered an explosive secret technique and dodged sideways. Yet the light glimmering upon Chen Chuan's fist remained gathered without releasing.
Caught completely off guard once more, Crossal watched as Chen Chuan abruptly shifted techniques: a fierce, sweeping kick whipped across and struck his right shoulder with pinpoint accuracy. Amidst a blinding flare of spiritual fire, nearly half of his upper body instantly blew apart!
Chapter 1306