On the field screen of the flagship, footage of Chen Chuan on Tianji Peak was playing—clips obtained by the former imperial household through foreign channels.
Prior to this, Yuan Congye and the others had already reviewed several gathered reports.
In this battle between Chen Chuan and the Linakes Federation, the opening stages may have been an entangled struggle where his performance was still within reason, but the subsequent battle was nothing short of an absolute rout.
According to intelligence reports, Chen Chuan was still only in the Longevity View when the engagement with the federation began, and broke through to the Dongxuan View only mid-battle.
This meant that even back in the Longevity View, Chen Chuan had been capable of taking on several Dongxuan masters single-handedly. Such prowess was inhuman. And now that he had broken through to the Dongxuan View, his present strength was almost unimaginable.
Yuan Congye stared at the screen and said, "Chen Xuanji follows the Visage of Man. He moves like lightning and strikes like thunder. If we wish to defeat him, we must use entrapment techniques to check his momentum.
"Once his pace is slowed, his myriad means will become difficult to unleash. Only then can we move in to slay him."
Everyone present agreed. The Visage of Man lacked overly complex methods, so it was enough to target its essential traits.
Chen Chuan might possess relics used for evasion, but they carried relics of their own as well. In the end, it would come down to who wielded them better. Therefore, their opening tactic was to ensure their own preservation while seeking ways to probe his capabilities.
Yuan Congye said, "Once we reach the pass, I will step forward to engage him, fighting him directly in an effort to uncover his depths.
"Yet from what I have seen, Chen Xuanji's martial might is awe-inspiring, unmatched in this age. I fear my strength alone may prove lacking. To guard against any mishap—" He looked toward Tie Rugan. "General Tie, I will need you to assist me from the flanks and cover my shortcomings."
He did not mind acknowledging his own inadequacy in the slightest; facing an enemy like this demanded utmost caution and modesty.
General of the Guard Tie Rugan cupped his fists in salute. "This subordinate obeys."
Yuan Congye then turned to look at Yuan Rong, a plump, prosperous-looking middle-aged man. Yet the gleam in his eyes betrayed a cruel savagery. His ears were particularly striking: the earlobes drooped all the way to his shoulders, resting there like two fleshy cushions.
Yuan Congye said, "Third Imperial Uncle, among our generation, your strength rivals mine. If General Tie cannot hold out, I will need you to step up and shield us."
Yuan Rong gave a low chuckle. "Leave it to your Third Uncle. I might not have such boundless strength, but withstanding a few punches is something I can still manage."
Yuan Congye nodded and looked toward Chu Xianyun. "Ambassador Chu, combat opportunities flash by like lightning and situations shift unpredictably. When the time comes, I will need your keen insight to grasp every minute detail, paving the way and setting the stage for Shen Xian to strike."
The Shen Xian he spoke of was the goat-bearded old man standing beside the two imperial clansmen. Hunched and with eyes small as beans, he was the smallest person present, yet no one dared look down on him.
For he was one of the two attendants who had escorted the former imperial household on their retreat a century ago. Having served three successive emperors, including the Last Emperor, he was someone the imperial house trusted implicitly. His strength went without saying; that the imperial household had dispatched him this time was testament enough to how seriously they viewed this matter.
Chu Xianyun's expression turned solemn. "General Yuan, rest assured. Before our departure, I received His Majesty's personal decree. At this time of grave peril for our dynasty, he instructed me to assist you with all my might, withholding nothing. As His Majesty's loyal hound, I naturally follow orders without question."
Because their departure had been rushed and time waited for no one, they had no choice but to formulate their battle plan en route. Once the rough outline was established, they used a specialized field creature similar to an active conscious entity to optimize every tactical detail.
***
In the convergence zone, outside the Xianglan Mountain Pass.
Jiang Linghuai gazed at the colossal external visage—at least a hundred and fifty meters tall—the shock in his eyes lingering long without fading.
And while Mu Xiaoren showed nothing on the surface, the flickering reflections glinting off his glasses hinted at his inner turmoil.
Just now, the two of them had mainly assisted in assessing Chen Chuan's performance across destructive power, defense, and speed. For the Visage of Man, these three aspects alone were sufficient.
The results had left them utterly shaken.
Chen Chuan's strength went without saying; one needed only look at the newly formed basin in the distance to understand its sheer destructiveness.
His speed had reached a degree far beyond anything they could match—simply put, it defied observation.
His defense was the most exaggerated aspect of all: even when Chen Chuan simply stood in place, allowing the two of them to attack with every means at their disposal, they could not breach the defensive perimeter formed by his spiritual fire.
From their initial cautious probing to pushing their offensive power to their absolute limits—even resorting to spiritual impacts—everything proved completely ineffective.
Mu Xiaoren, following the Visage of the Divine, might have accepted this with equanimity, but Jiang Linghuai was a fighter of the Visage of Man whose specialty lay precisely in frontal assault and devastation. Previously, he had possessed supreme confidence in his ability to breach defenses; in his team, holding off hordes of enemies and delivering decisive blows had always fallen to him. Yet before Chen Chuan, he felt a profound sense of powerlessness.
He even wondered whether Chen Chuan belonged to that legendary class of individuals.
Among the entities from the opposite side they fought at the Ring of the World, most were nowhere near this formidable.
Jiang Linghuai could not help asking at this point, "Officer Chen, may I ask a question? Was what you showed just now your full power?"
Chen Chuan admitted candidly, "No." What he had shown just now was merely his baseline power without unleashing everything; furthermore, there was naturally no need to reveal his second self.
"As expected, then?"
Though he had anticipated this answer, hearing Chen Chuan confirm it in person still made Jiang Linghuai look at him several more times.
He felt Chen Chuan truly belonged at the Ring of the World, battling those entities from the other side, for only there could Chen Chuan unleash his strength to his heart's content.
Moreover, this man likely had no need to rely on teammates; he could probably hunt those mighty entities all on his own.
As an evaluator, Mu Xiaoren found nothing amiss with Chen Chuan not displaying his full strength, because what Chen Chuan had shown already exceeded conventional limits.
Barring obstruction from alien forces or relics, his conventional combat capabilities were enough to crush most opponents underfoot.
He said, "Officer Chen, I have a rough grasp of things now. The former imperial household's team will have gathered information on you in advance, which shouldn't be difficult to obtain. Their primary battle plan will almost certainly aim to restrict your strength and speed.
"However, the relics you demonstrated earlier should circumvent that effectively. Still, they will have other tricks up their sleeves, so we must devise appropriate countermeasures based on our present conditions."
If battles in the past had typically been contests of martial prowess between fighters, this confrontation was a national war, bound to involve rituals, relics, alien forces, fields, and even aberrant creatures in multifaceted combat. A single mistake could tip the scales of victory.
Naturally, without sufficient intelligence, he could not anticipate every scenario in advance, but formulating a detailed plan based on their own capabilities and assessments of enemy motives could never go wrong.
Chen Chuan said, "Staff Officer Mu, I'll trouble you with that, then."
Mu Xiaoren nodded solemnly. "Leave it to me."
***
Several hours slipped by in the blink of an eye. It was already four in the morning, two hours before dawn.
After returning from outside, Chen Chuan, Jiang Linghuai, and Mu Xiaoren had been waiting in chairs atop the elevated platform of the fortress wall.
Looking out into the pitch-black night sky of the convergence zone, there had been no disturbance so far, yet he could sense that something was already drawing near.
After a few more minutes, Chen Chuan's expression suddenly shifted. Chaoming's glowing figure abruptly appeared, streaking through the distance at high speed. Upon drawing near, it let out a whistling cry of warning.
Seeing this, Chen Chuan immediately tapped into their spiritual connection to capture the images appearing in the far distance through Chaoming's sight.
There were more than a dozen gigantic airships, flanked by two-winged, two-legged wyverns circling alongside them. Beneath the airships swarmed densely packed schools of multi-finned fish, their heads displaying grotesque human faces, layered over one another and jostling together. So numerous were they that from afar, they looked like rolling dark clouds.
Through his boundary credential, he immediately spoke to Jiang and Mu: "They're here."
Jiang and Mu quickly appeared at his side.
Chen Chuan took out one of the relics the government had given him—an object shaped like a coin.
Pinching it between his fingers, he flicked his thumb, sending it shooting into midair. With a flash of light, it vanished in an instant.
This Grade 1 relic could only be used once every six months. After being activated, it vanished, only to reappear somewhere in the vicinity half a year later.
However, Great Shun possessed a corresponding relic capable of retrieving it, so there was no fear of losing it.
Its function was to project detailed information about the enemy forces he observed directly into his mind.
The longer it remained active, the deeper his understanding grew and the more information he gained. Theoretically, without interference during the process, he could even peer into their personal memories.
This could truly be called a strategic-grade relic.
As soon as the object flared, a wealth of information flooded into him, beginning with the names of many figures and the paths they walked.
General of Agile Cavalry Yuan Congye, thirty-nine years old, Aberrant Visage, adept with the spear; General of the Guard Tie Rugan, forty-eight years old, Aberrant Visage, adept with the battleaxe; Imperial Clansman Yuan Rong, sixty-two years old, Aberrant Visage, adept with the war hammer...
Before this relic, information on all incoming combat personnel—and seemingly even certain special entities—gradually surfaced in his mind.
Yet the more powerful the observed subject was, the more abundant the information they carried, and thus the more time it required to absorb.
Earlier, by leveraging Chaoming's ability to observe from a distance to spot the enemy first, he had managed to seize an initial advantage.
Among them, he also caught glimpses of certain peculiar entities: the Zhuanlinghong, the Yuelong, the Wusheng Insects...
This was—
Just as he prepared to delve deeper, the information was suddenly disrupted and blocked, as if obstructed by something, making further discernment impossible.
He raised an eyebrow. Without a doubt, the other side had sensed something and deployed some countermeasure—most likely a relic of their own. Even so, what he had seen just now was already more than enough.
Chapter 1400