After Chen Chuan recited those lines of text, the Golden Seal-Script Book above slowly descended, finally coming to rest in the palm of his hand.
At that moment, he stood there as if entirely alone, yet the powerful aura radiating from his person and the unmistakable manifest signs made it utterly impossible to ignore him.
The onlookers along the perimeter stared fixedly at him.
What set Throne—or rather, Dongxuan View—martial artists apart from all others was an overwhelming sense of presence. In the eyes of everyone watching, every Dongxuan View martial artist was a dazzling orb of light. Even if one could conceal it at first, once they took action or unleashed their power, it could no longer be hidden by any means.
And right now, in their eyes, Chen Chuan standing there was practically a blazing sun, radiating an intensity that even brought a stinging prickle of pain.
What was more, this light and heat continued to expand ceaselessly, as though all of this were still far from reaching its peak.
How could they fail to understand? Standing before them was an absolute, true Throne martial artist!
Before this, Chen Chuan had fought them merely at the Secret Palace tier. Now that he had achieved the Throne, what kind of terrifying power would he display?
The battlefield fell dead silent for a moment, save for the fierce air currents sweeping across the open expanse, whipping up dispersed dust and flurries of dancing flames.
Just as Chen Chuan held the book, wind pressure abruptly surged from his flank. The six-winged messenger was charging toward him from the distance, raising its war hammer.
The Throne martial artists present could all sense the immense mental pressure radiating from Chen Chuan and did not dare act rashly. But the six-winged messenger was a purely conscious entity; as long as its power was not suppressed, it would relentlessly pursue its established objective and keep attacking.
Yet even so, as it charged forward, the divine qi attached to its body from Irose showed signs of instability.
Chen Chuan, meanwhile, seemed to still have his attention on the volume before him, as if he hadn't reacted at all.
In the blink of an eye, the six-winged messenger passed right through his body and instantly hurtled into the distance, carving a dazzling stream of light through the air. Yet Chen Chuan still stood perfectly fine where he was, appearing as if he had not moved at all.
The onlookers were taken aback. Had he dodged? Or had it happened so fast that no one could clearly see what had transpired in that split second?
Chen Chuan flicked his fingers, snapping the Golden Seal-Script Book shut with a crisp rustle before slipping it inside his coat.
Having surged forward some distance, the six-winged messenger did not comprehend what had just happened. But it would not ponder such things and prepared to wheel around to attack again. At that moment, however, it suddenly froze—because a massive cavity had appeared through the center of its body at some unknown point.
It was not that it had passed through Chen Chuan; rather, Chen Chuan had torn straight through it. And the cause of it all was simply Chen Chuan standing motionless.
The six-winged messenger immediately tried to mend the cavity, but an invisible force seemed to obstruct its recovery. Tiny flecks of light could be seen flickering along the inner edges of the breach, surging deeper into its body and continuously destroying artificial mutated tissue along their path.
Thus, far from shrinking, the gaping hole expanded rapidly, and fissures spread across its body in seconds.
Only a moment later, beams of light seeped out from the cracks in its body, growing brighter and brighter. When the radiance reached an extreme peak, it shuddered violently and detonated into fragments.
With a flash of light, the blasted tissues dissolved into nothingness, leaving not even the smallest scrap behind.
And at this moment, the scattered beams of light seemed drawn by an unseen force, flying toward Chen Chuan and landing upon his body, blending right into him.
The onlookers were struck with horror. What was that?
The fire of spirituality?
They had never heard of spiritual fire being able to return to its source on its own after being unleashed. It was as though it had become a living thing.
Chen Chuan was currently experiencing the power he now possessed.
After attaining the Dongxuan View, his physical durability had increased by leaps and bounds. Even when struck head-on by the six-winged messenger, he hadn't suffered the slightest harm, and the opponent's strength seemed utterly negligible compared to his own.
At the same time, his body had become highly vitalized. Not only could his bodily tissues differentiate at any time into a complete physical form, but even his fire of spirituality carried a semi-vitalized quality.
In the East Continent, the fire of spirituality was also known by another name: "Holding Unity True Force." This power was unified and indivisible, reputed to be eternally enduring and never lost. Even when seemingly expended, it remained an integrated whole, and thus could naturally return on its own.
Yet this was merely theoretical; no one had ever accomplished it. Divine Visage and Exotic Visage martial artists broke through using the spirit and the flesh respectively, each sacrificing the other. Meanwhile, although martial artists of the Visage of Man cultivated both, most broke through by using the body to drive the spirit.
He, however, had mastered the balance between the two beforehand, breaking through with spirit and flesh as one cohesive whole. In doing so, he crossed into the new realm with an unprecedented foundation, granting his fire of spirituality the power that had previously existed only in theory.
He lifted his arm slightly, and the golden chains stretched to their limit finally snapped completely. As he turned, the chains binding him elsewhere also shattered one after another.
He turned back toward Tianji Peak. The Xuejun Saber stood plunged into the ground not far ahead, the fluttering red streamer on its hilt exceptionally striking.
Once he settled into place, the onlookers seemed to hear faint, ethereal murmurs. Radiance flashed behind him, followed by a colossal, translucent phantom in golden armor slowly rising from the ground. In one hand it held a long mace, and in the other, a long saber. Jade ribbons fluttered around its arms, and behind its back hovered a faintly discernible wheel of flames.
The onlookers' gaze unconsciously rose with its emergence. Once it ceased shifting, they realized its height exceeded well over a hundred meters, and their hearts shook with shock. Was this a spirit visage?!
Such a colossal spirit visage reminded them of the Tianji Sect's Empyrean Lord Visages. The only difference was that everyone knew the Tianji Sect's Divine Visages drew upon the power of esoteric rituals, whereas Chen Chuan appeared to rely purely on his own strength.
Such a spirit visage not only shocked them, but also stunned Gao Xu and Long Xian inside the fissure.
A spirit visage this formidable could no longer be called a mere spirit visage. According to the ancient records of their Xuan Sect, those exceeding fifty zhang were known as Dharma Visages. Even if it had not quite reached that mark yet, it was barely short of it.
Moreover, Chen Chuan had only just stepped into the Dongxuan View. His power had not yet peaked, and there was clearly room for further elevation.
Long Xian could not help but grow excited, muttering, "So that was it! So that's how Senior Brother's Tianji method was meant to unfold!"
A spirit visage was the truest reflection of a martial artist's strength, especially for the Visage of Man. It required no superfluous flourishes; its sheer magnificence was plain for all to see. Unless deliberately inflated, a spirit visage of such immense scale inevitably possessed strength to match.
Consider this: what kind of terrifying might would a martial artist possess in the mortal world if they commanded the power of an Empyrean Lord Divine Visage, yet remained entirely unconstrained by movement?
Seen this way, it was entirely possible that the Tianji Sect's tribulation today would be surmounted through him!
Across the field, Ming's true body also gazed fixedly at Chen Chuan. He knew that at this stage, the young man could no longer be restrained. He had been difficult enough at the Longevity View; now that he had reached the Dongxuan View, his power went without saying.
Ming's hand trembled faintly, as if something were about to force its way out from beneath his skin. But he reached over and clamped down on the back of his hand, staring hard at Chen Chuan while seemingly struggling to suppress himself.
Drakholm, Irose, Merton, and the others who had taken part in besieging Chen Chuan now found themselves caught in a dilemma.
What should they do now?
The strength Chen Chuan had shown earlier was already staggering. He had been impossible to strike down quickly, requiring all of them to coordinate, restrict his movements, and rely on battle tactics to slowly grind him to death.
Now that he had broken through that barrier and achieved the Throne, one look at his presence made it obvious that there was virtually no hope of victory.
Yet even if they chose to retreat, would they truly be able to escape?
Just before the spirit visage fully manifested, a streak of light shot across the heavens, flashing once in the distant sky before arriving nearby in the next moment.
It was Field, who had returned. Replenished by the esoteric ritual field and high-energy nutrient solutions within his airship cabin, he had managed to recover swiftly.
Yet the instant he returned and looked up, he saw that gargantuan spirit visage. His heart shuddered. Radiance flared around him, and he fled once again into a fissure.
Chen Chuan cast a glance. He remained standing motionless, but the colossal spirit visage behind him wheeled around with a speed belied by its titanic size. The long mace in its hand swung abruptly outward, striking the atmosphere with a thunderous boom.
Yet the blow struck as if impacting solid matter, ringing with a dull, heavy crash and sending out a radiating halo of lightning that splintered outward like cracks across the dome of the heavens. With a resounding boom, a figure was blasted straight out of the fissure.
The spirit visage released the long saber in its grip and reached out, seizing the plunging figure midair. Refusing to be outdone, Field rapidly expanded his Aberrant Visage, swelling in an instant to several dozen meters in height as he began continuously siphoning the fire of spirituality from the spirit visage.
With its other hand, the spirit visage drove the long mace into the ground and reached up as well. Gripping him firmly, it hoisted him directly overhead.
At this sight, everyone's expressions froze. With a ferocious wrench of both arms, the spirit visage tore the massive Demon Deer cleanly in half!
The two halves of the Demon Deer's severed body writhed independently, seemingly growing back at rapid speed.
Yet before it could recover, dazzling light flashed in the spirit visage's hands. An instant later, accompanied by a deafening roar, the two halves of its body were blown to bits, exploding into a sky full of minced flesh that rained down alongside specks of sparkling fire.
And at that very moment, the faint wheel of flames behind the spirit visage abruptly blazed into sharp clarity. Swirling upon it were the very same ethereal flames that onlookers had witnessed before. The instant the mangled flesh touched them, it was incinerated into a sky of ash!
Chapter 1318