Chen Chuan could clearly track Durant's incoming trajectory. Remaining motionless, the spiritual visage manifesting outside his body raised its arms to parry, intercepting the exact line of the incoming fist.
Upon impact, the highly concentrated spiritual fire wreathing the spiritual visage's arms did not waver in the slightest.
Seeing his strike thwarted, Durant immediately retracted his fist and shifted his assault to other vitals, unleashing hundreds of punches in the blink of an eye.
Yet every single blow was intercepted by Chen Chuan, who used the opportunity to adapt to and familiarize himself with his current state.
Having two extra arms from the spiritual visage not only made parrying far more effortless, but also granted him far more tactical options.
Moreover, because the spiritual visage could seamlessly phase between substance and illusion, it did not hinder his physical body in the least.
Through these exchanges, he gained an intuitive measure of his opponent's power. Among the Throne martial artists he had faced so far, none could rival this man's might.
Whether it was Crossal, Drakeholme, or Xiang Boqing, even with their visages fully merged with their bodies, none of them could likely have withstood a casual punch from Durant.
Had he clashed with Durant from the very start, he likely would have had to deploy his second self just to trade blows with him head-on—and even then, victory would not have been guaranteed.
If others had joined the fray under such hypothetical conditions, and if he had not sought a breakthrough, he essentially would have had no way to resolve today's predicament.
Yet upon deeper reflection, he knew such a scenario was unlikely to have occurred anyway.
First, given the speed and power Durant displayed, once the two of them began trading blows, no one else would have been able to intervene. Furthermore, Durant's own status dictated that as long as the others could keep the situation under control, he would never have taken the field himself.
Durant threw punch after punch, yet each burst of force was parried with ease by Chen Chuan. His strikes seemed utterly ineffective, failing to make Chen Chuan yield even an inch of ground.
Yet Durant did not stop, nor was his resolve shaken in the slightest. In the process, his strength began to rise steadily; with every punch he unleashed, his power seemed to grow.
Though Durant had attacked so many times without revealing anything extraordinary, Chen Chuan did not let down his guard.
After all, this man possessed an Aberrant Visage. While Durant displayed tremendous physical might, that was likely because the Titans were renowned for sheer strength to begin with.
Every martial artist of the Aberrant Visage inevitably possessed aberrant power as well. At Durant's level, his aberrant power was bound to be formidable. It was just that it had not shown itself yet. Was it some kind of passive aberrant power?
It was entirely possible, but Chen Chuan would not hold back his offense over a mere possibility. It was about time. With that thought, the spiritual visage above swept aside an incoming fist with one hand while simultaneously hurling a counterpunch straight at Durant.
A dazzling glare flashed across the high sky as deep-blue spiritual fire detonated violently. With a thunderous boom, Durant was sent hurtling backward through the air.
In a flash, Chen Chuan appeared right before him, delivering a second blow that sent Durant flying further back. Yet like a shadow clinging to its caster, Chen Chuan closed the distance once more and drove a third punch into him.
Blow by blow, he hammered Durant across the sky, returning in kind every punch Durant had thrown at him earlier. Each strike slammed squarely into Durant's body.
In fact, by the second punch, the spiritual fire shielding Durant had already been shattered, and Chen Chuan knew with certainty that his power had driven straight into the man's flesh.
Yet no matter how many punches landed afterward, no injuries appeared on Durant's body—not even a single scratch or tear in the skin.
This was extraordinarily abnormal. He dared say that even someone of equal strength to himself could never endure such an onslaught unscathed. That left only one possibility.
An aberrant power?
The indestructible physique Durant displayed was indeed reliant on an aberrant power—one known as "Titan's Body."
As long as he possessed physical stamina, then for the one hour the power remained active, no attack would inflict any injury upon his body so long as it did not reach the level of higher-tier power.
Having deduced that an aberrant power was likely behind this, Chen Chuan did not stubbornly persist in trying to resolve the fight with ordinary strikes.
While keeping Durant pinned under continuous assault to prevent him from taking any other action, he shifted his focus, and an ethereal flame rose and hovered over his fist.
Decisively, he summoned the Mystic Void Fire.
Based on the information obtained from the Tianji fish, the Mystic Void Fire very likely involved higher-tier power and possessed absolute destructive efficacy against the vast majority of insufficiently potent aberrant powers.
When the heavy fist crashed down, the Mystic Void Fire clinging to it landed entirely upon Durant's body.
Yet this time, the normally unstoppable Mystic Void Fire failed to produce its intended effect, flickering out in an instant.
Chen Chuan raised an eyebrow. Even if the Mystic Void Fire could not affect his opponent, it shouldn't have behaved like this. It looked more as though the flame had been absorbed by something.
A purely defensive aberrant power should not have been able to stop it. With that ruled out, it could only be the effect of a relic.
His deduction was spot-on. As an executive officer of the Hazard Affairs Operations Directorate and a personal advisor to the Consul, Durant was entrusted with carrying out a critical mission for the Federation. To ensure success and guard against every contingency, the Federation had equipped him with a Grade 1 relic.
This relic possessed a unique function: any aberrant power, or even raw force, that exceeded the bearer's defensive threshold would be absorbed by it first.
Although it would break if pushed beyond a certain limit, as a Grade 1 relic, its upper threshold was exceedingly high. So long as an attack lacked the power to shatter it in a single strike, it would fulfill its duty.
Having observed this, and not knowing the relic's exact mechanisms, Chen Chuan recognized that continuing to use the Mystic Void Fire was ill-advised, as the flame drained his stamina.
Unlike spiritual fire, which could return to its user once expended, the Mystic Void Fire consumed energy every time it was called forth.
In that case, he would simply maintain his current assault. Whatever aberrant power Durant possessed, it too had to cost energy. Chen Chuan did not believe Durant could hold out indefinitely.
Altering the direction of his assault, Chen Chuan battered Durant downward out of the sky, crashing along with him onto a mountain ridge rising from the terrain below.
While Tianji Peak was unquestionably the tallest mountain in the Weishu Continent, lower massifs and rolling hills dotted the surrounding area.
Their impact blasted a colossal crater into the mountain face. In an instant, rubble sprayed across the sky, dust billowed high into the air, and dull concussions rippled out from the point of collision, as though the entire range were trembling while massive boulders sheared away and tumbled downward.
Having driven Durant here, Chen Chuan continued his relentless barrage, pummeling Durant's body at will like a practice dummy.
It was not that Durant didn't attempt to fight back; he simply could not keep up with Chen Chuan's pace. Before each counterpunch could even be thrust outward, a blow crashed into him, completely stifling the retaliation before it could take shape.
Amid this intense barrage, low, rolling thuds echoed continuously, hurling vast amounts of dust and stone skyward.
Yet amidst the onslaught, Chen Chuan gradually noticed that Durant's strength was steadily rising. From having virtually no means of resisting at the outset, now—over a minute later—he was already able to manage slight evasions and defensive maneuvers.
This was Durant's second aberrant power, known as "Titan's Heart." It granted him the ability to grow increasingly formidable the longer he fought, far surpassing the standard progression seen in Throne martial artists.
In theory, whatever level of power his opponent possessed, he could elevate himself to reach that very tier in the course of confrontation.
Moreover, this increase would be indelibly etched into his body, allowing him to tap into that level of strength in future battles as well. In other words, theoretically speaking, as long as the fight dragged on, Durant could reach whatever peak of power Chen Chuan demonstrated. In past battles, he had repeatedly relied on this aberrant power to defeat formidable adversaries and grow steadily stronger.
And to prevent opponents from noticing this and withdrawing prematurely, he possessed a third aberrant power: "Titan's Vow." Once an enemy entered intense combat with him, any thought of retreating or fleeing would vanish, compelling them to fight him to the bitter end.
Chen Chuan soon realized that Durant's growth was abnormal, clearly exceeding the boundaries of a Mystic Profundity View martial artist.
Yet he did not halt his strikes. Even though his opponent seemed to be growing stronger by the moment, he was certain that, aberrant power or not, there had to be an upper limit.
Even if Durant could catch up and match his current baseline state, reaching the strength of his second self merged once more was an impossibility.
Furthermore, such enhancement could not come without a price; he refused to believe it cost nothing. Under such high-intensity combat and punishment, even a Mystic Profundity View master could not endure indefinitely.
Aside from himself, no one possessed the quality of eternal permanence without loss. Without it, there would inevitably be flaws and exhaustion. Now, pitting his flawlessness against Durant's vulnerabilities, who was strong and who was weak was plain to see.
With punch after punch raining down, no matter how much Durant's power grew, Chen Chuan shattered his stance with merciless strikes. Even when Durant managed an occasional block, the sheer force drove his own arms crashing back into his face and chest.
Under this unbroken pounding, the stretch of mountainside where they fought collapsed completely, forming distinct fault lines and gaping craters as dislodged earth and rock poured down like a ruptured torrent.
Chen Chuan was in no rush to wrap things up quickly. He knew that as time passed, the likelihood of Heavenly Master Lu's return grew ever higher.
Moreover, this opponent provided the ideal foil for him to fully express his newfound might. He unleashed all manner of force techniques, alternating between them as he rained blows down upon Durant.
At this point, he felt the rate of Durant's strength growth slowing down, no longer as rapid as it had been at the start.
Noticing this, Chen Chuan's eyes flashed. Sweeping aside Durant's guarding arms, he reached out, seized him by the head, and shoved him forward. With a resounding crash, he slammed Durant into the rock face, remarking in an indifferent voice, "Is that all you have?"
Chapter 1323