Three sharp rays of spiritual impact shot toward Igor in succession. After his brief exchange with Chen Chuan earlier, he already knew how formidable the young man was, so he had naturally been on high alert.
The legendary Veluhor was cunning and ferocious, possessing immense physical strength and extraordinary agility. Igor's Aberrant Visage mirrored these traits to perfection. Almost the instant Chen Chuan made his move, Igor leaped into evasive action, dodging two of the spiritual impacts with successive bounds.
Yet as a martial artist of the Human Visage, Chen Chuan unleashed his spiritual impacts with staggering swiftness, and the distance separating them was exceptionally short. Igor had no chance of dodging the third.
With a feral roar, all the spiritual fire covering Igor surged forward, and his body swelled to several times its original size in an instant.
The next moment, the violent spiritual impact slammed directly into him.
After unleashing those three slashes, Chen Chuan flickered and vanished from his spot. When he reappeared, propelled by the Tianji fish, he was positioned right behind Igor.
It was a spot where he had previously set foot.
Those earlier three slashes had never been intended to slay Igor. Their sole purpose was to herd him precisely into this position.
To ensure the strike's success, Chen Chuan had also commanded the relic to project an illusory phantom directly toward Irose.
Unable to discern fact from fiction on such short notice, no one could afford to ignore it. The phantom lacked his true strength, but it replicated his current appearance down to the smallest detail, even enveloped in a convincing layer of spiritual fire that kept the pervasive blinding radiance at bay, making it virtually impossible to tell apart.
More importantly, neither the Tianji fish nor the relic demanded Chen Chuan's own energy to deploy, meaning there was zero friction or delay between actions.
At that exact instant, the spiritual light-fire erupted across Igor. Under his full-strength defense, his surface was blown into a gory mess, but his limbs remained reasonably intact. For a Throne martial artist, such an injury was negligible; fresh flesh was already rapidly regenerating beneath his ruptured skin.
Yet right then, a cold shudder seized Igor's heart, and his mind screamed with the warning of extreme danger.
Chen Chuan stood less than ten meters behind him. For combatants of their caliber, that was practically face-to-face.
Gripping the Xuejun Saber with both hands, Chen Chuan whipped around in a ferocious pivot. Another spiritual impact burst from the blade—a direct continuation of the previous chain, yet undeniably the most devastating blow of all!
A blinding flash detonated against Igor's barely shielded back. Even Crossal would have had a portion of his body blasted apart by such a strike, and Igor was no exception—more than half of his torso was blown straight to pieces.
Simultaneously, a speck of mystic flame drifted off the blade's glare, trailing immediately behind the impact to settle upon Igor.
The moment that spark made contact with the shredded flesh, it flared into roaring flames. It seared the psyche clinging to the remains while spreading unseen toward the ultimate source of Igor's mind.
After unleashing several consecutive spiritual impacts and invoking the Mystic Void Fire, Chen Chuan inevitably stiffened for a fraction of a second, paused in the follow-through of his slash while wrapped inside a colossal phantom form.
This inevitably granted an opening to the other three. Prepared for their counterattack, Chen Chuan had manifested a portion of his spiritual visage in advance. It might not withstand multiple spiritual impacts and could only act as a buffer; even if he ultimately escaped into a fissure, he would surely suffer injury. Still, taking one enemy off the board was a price well worth paying.
Irose, Merton, and Drakholm reacted with lethal swiftness. The moment Chen Chuan paused, their attacks followed in hot pursuit. Yet just as the incoming spiritual rays were about to engulf him, the Tianji fish beside him leaped onto his body, directly pulling him across into another fissure.
The next instant, Chen Chuan's figure emerged at another location he had previously visited.
The Tianji fish could not keep him inside the fissures for long; it could only ferry him rapidly between fissures where he had already established a presence. Yet that brief reprieve was all Chen Chuan needed to recover his footing.
Furthermore, as he passed through the spatial rift, he noted with surprise that the resistance within had significantly weakened. Where there had once been slight friction and sluggishness, the transition had become remarkably smooth and fluid—as though a mere thought could carry him anywhere across this domain.
As the thought crossed his mind, the Tianji fish beside him transmitted a wisp of information.
Only then did he understand the reason: the two zhenren of the Tianji Sect were actively coordinating with him from within. This provided an enormous advantage, allowing him to traverse the fissures with far greater speed and unpredictability.
Back in the combat zone, Igor's burning flesh dissolved into scattered clusters of ash, drifting in all directions amidst fluttering sparks.
Durant and the other onlookers had never imagined that, facing the concerted siege of four Throne martial artists, Chen Chuan could not only hold his ground, but also find an opening to take one of them out of the fight entirely.
When the Mystic Void Fire flared once more, that unsettling, repulsive dread washed over them again, leaving them profoundly ill at ease.
They did not yet realize Igor had been permanently erased, but the turn of events gave them a distinct sense of foreboding.
Chen Chuan did not pause. With the Tianji fish's assistance, he could focus his attention entirely on his current offensive, sparing several contingency measures he had originally prepared.
After a brief realignment, he immediately unleashed a fierce assault on the remaining three, flickering into and out of their proximity in relentless strikes.
Igor's removal had visibly affected the trio. They grew more conservative and cautious, biding their time until the light permeating the fissures took full effect.
Consequently, though it was a battle of several against one, an outsider would see the lone fighter functioning as the aggressor.
Even with the initiative, Chen Chuan discovered that once the three adopted a defensive posture, openings became harder to exploit.
With Hongfu's assistance, tactical proposals formed before his eyes, only to be rejected one after another. Those simulations relied purely on existing data, whereas his instincts told him these opponents were still holding back many hidden cards. His only viable course was to maintain overwhelming pressure and force those cards out rather than rushing into an overextension, for he could not afford a single mistake.
From the start of the battle until now, his mind and body had remained wound tight as a bowstring, his aberrant tissues enduring relentless external stimulation every passing second. Yet he entertained no stray thoughts, focused purely on how to confront and defeat his foes.
Under these extreme conditions, the barrier enveloping him showed the faintest signs of loosening.
Watching the battle intently, Durant suddenly spoke into his comms channel: "Has Crossal returned yet?"
A voice replied from the other end: "Mr. Durant, not yet."
Durant sensed that something was amiss. However, Crossal would never reveal where his backup tissues were hidden, nor could anyone know how or when he would recover, leaving Durant unable to confirm his suspicions.
While he was pondering this, Cassian's voice broke into the channel. "Mr. Durant, I must inform you of an urgent development. Two minutes ago, Meteora, head of the International Investigation Delegation, crossed the border and reached the capital."
Durant frowned. "What does he intend to do?"
"He demands that we immediately halt this operation against the Tianji Sect in the name of the Federation."
Durant said coldly, "And if we refuse?"
"He said..." Cassian drew a breath. "If the federal government will not stop it, he will use his own methods."
"Oh? And what methods would those be?"
Cassian hesitated for a moment, then spoke a sentence in a faintly trembling voice.
Upon hearing it, Durant's expression shifted drastically, as if he had just heard something utterly inconceivable.
Cassian said with evident strain, "The Executive Office is trying to stall for time. The Consul hopes we can resolve this matter within an hour. Otherwise—"
"Understood."
Durant abruptly cut the communication and looked toward the distance. He knew they could wait no longer.
Turning decisively to Fantner, he commanded, "I will handle Capa. You keep Valchi contained." Then, addressing Field standing farther away, he added, "Go lend a hand. Seize the Tianji fish as quickly as possible."
Seeing his shift in posture, Emperor Capa smiled faintly. "It seems you have changed your mind?"
Facing him directly, Durant said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty Capa, I told you: this is no longer your era."
As he spoke, spiritual light began to shimmer across his frame, radiating a formidable field of pressure that caused even Ming in the distance to glance his way. Judging by the sheer resonance of that field, Durant was undeniably approaching the threshold of breaking through his limits.
Emperor Capa raised his long cross-hilted sword to his forehead with a faint smile, offering a respectful salute. "Please."
Fantner paid no mind to the two of them, instead turning his gaze toward the colossal vermilion bird soaring in the sky.
Field, having watched someone step in to block Capa, asked no questions. He pivoted and surged toward the ongoing clash. Within a few strides, a cloud of vapor billowed around him, rapidly morphing on the move into a muscular, stag-headed humanoid monster.
A crown of thorns rested upon its brow, its branch-like antlers spreading outward, while its skin took on a bruised, purplish-blue hue.
Arriving near the periphery of the battle zone in an instant, Field bounded forward and plunged directly into the fissure where Chen Chuan was stationed.
In truth, any Throne martial artist could tear open a fissure given enough time; it simply required preparation, and the exit point could rarely be controlled with pinpoint precision.
Field was different. As an Aberrant Visage martial artist, his visage was the Demon Stag of Yono legend—a creature reputed to walk between two worlds and step into dreams. One of its unique powers was the ability to hunt those traversing between realms.
With a thunderous roar, as though the fissure itself had detonated, two figures came hurtling out together into the open sky.
Chapter 1312