Chen Chuan fixed his gaze on the Kui plunging toward him; he had no intention of dodging.
Moreover, under the constraint of the opposing relic, his movements at this moment were restricted; dodging would be useless anyway.
In the blink of an eye, the massive serpent head was right before his eyes. Its amber serpent eyes brimmed with vicious ferocity, and before its body had even closed in, the insidious, corruptive aura surged forth, causing the luminous flames over his body to waver.
The moment its single horn thrust toward him, Chen Chuan gripped the Xuejun Saber with both hands and slashed upward.
When standing firmly in place, his body's speed and power were brought into perfect play. As it turned out, even though the opponent had revealed a visage body, it still could not withstand his standard attacks.
With a deafening boom, without even a perceptible unfolding of the act, the instant the blade touched the horn, the Kui's massive body shattered apart, bursting in the sky into a cloud of foul, turbid vapor.
Yet the Kui fed on injury and pain, all of which served as nourishment for its growth. The more it swallowed, the stronger it became, so destruction of this degree posed no real problem to it.
Thus, as wisps and strands of foul vapor gathered once more, the outline drawn in the atmosphere grew even more immense than before.
Of course, there were kinds of damage it could not digest—such as the Mystic Void Fire.
This was precisely what Yuan Rong was wary of. Since they were going to battle Chen Chuan, they had naturally gathered plenty of intelligence beforehand, aware that Chen Chuan possessed an absolute destructive force like the Mystic Void Fire. But if one came prepared, things would be different.
He had been guarded from the very start. Were Chen Chuan to use this technique now, he could cast off a portion of his body to expel the Mystic Void Fire. And so long as the flames failed to slay him in one fell swoop, the pain and wounds would still bolster his power.
One could say that with the aid of the relic, he believed he didn't need anyone else; by his own strength alone, he could pin down this formidable foe, and turning the tables to suppress him was by no means impossible.
Chen Chuan watched the writhing, regenerating serpent body. Yet he did not resort to the Mystic Void Fire. Instead, his eyes flashed, and a pure glow suddenly flared behind him. Ripples of Pure Spiritual Light radiated outward, shining upon that twisting figure.
In an instant, like boiling oil splashed into a scorching pan, wisps of smoke hissed up from the turbid, foul vapor. The serpent's entire outline contorted violently, losing massive swaths of mass.
It was evident that this secret art of the Purist Faction possessed an exceptionally potent suppressing effect against it, though had it been anyone else, it would hardly have produced such exaggerated power.
Given that Chen Chuan was a member of the Purist Faction, the former imperial household was not unprepared for the abilities he possessed. Yet they had never imagined such sheer potency. Bathed in this light, though the Kui was not instantly dispelled and could even swallow the damage to keep regenerating, under this continuous radiance it clearly could not reconstitute its body in short order, let alone exert any meaningful restraint on Chen Chuan.
Right at this moment, General of the Guard Tie Rugan returned from the distance, seemingly intending to launch an attack on Chen Chuan and tie him down from the flank. Just then, another figure appeared there—Mu Xiaoren.
He opened emotionless eyes, enveloped in blue-and-white flames.
Tie Rugan had no desire to tangle with him, so he immediately chopped down with his axe. Yet mid-swing, he sensed something amiss and abruptly pulled back some of his strength.
Because at that very moment, he suddenly felt as though multiple Dongxuan View martial artists had locked onto him, instilling an instinctive wariness.
Mu Xiaoren had brought nine active conscious entities this time, every single one crafted with his own hands; only a member of the Implant Faction could afford such extravagance.
The application of the Visage of the Divine was the most unpredictable, with an endless variety of secret arts; beyond fundamental traits, each practitioner could be entirely unique.
His particular capability lay in the fact that, when using these active conscious entities as his vessels, in a given instant, each could exert abilities equal to his own. This was in fact a secret technique that rapidly circulated his consciousness and divine qi among various vessels.
It was for this reason that he had been confident earlier when claiming that, so long as he spared no cost to his life, he alone could hold back everyone for at least half an hour.
This naturally gave Tie Rugan a sense of threat—a spiritual one, no less—causing his strikes to turn conservative.
With a bang, the axe cleaved into a buckler. The blue-and-white light flames gathered upon it were instantly shattered. Even with his strength reined in, Mu Xiaoren's conscious entity was knocked flying by the axe, the fire of spirituality on its body erupting and scattering in great flares.
Yet he had already accomplished what he set out to do, successfully obstructing Tie Rugan's advance.
In the window of opportunity thus won, Chen Chuan seemed to do nothing at all, merely watching in calm silence as the serpent shadow struggled, shattered, and expanded anew within the Pure Spiritual Light.
In another conscious entity body—where Mu Xiaoren's primary divine qi was concentrated—he knew the opportunity had arrived. A bizarre light gradually gleamed in his gaze toward the Kui.
Over on Jiang Linghuai's side, knowing full well what they intended to do, he resolutely barred Yuan Congye's path.
Yuan Congye's eyes hardened. Guided by his sharp battlefield instincts, he sensed something was off. Though he could not pinpoint the problem at once, he certainly could not allow the situation to develop like this.
With a flick of his spear, he deflected Jiang Linghuai's staff aside.
Jiang Linghuai inwardly admired him. In both skill and power, Yuan Congye surpassed him by a notch; it was no wonder the man was the former imperial household's General of Agile Cavalry, with true mastery through and through.
Yet his own foundation was rock-solid, backed by years of combat experience in the Ring of the World. Although the other was stronger, driving him back so easily was no simple task.
Facing the thrusting spear, light suddenly flared around him, and the immense outline of the Visage of Man manifested.
He had no fear of the enemy discerning his path; the Visage of Man was exceedingly pure, making no difference whether the opponent knew it or not.
The spear plunged forward, instantly piercing the fire of spirituality outside the phantom visage and striking a flash of golden light against the arm, failing to injure the true body behind it.
Jiang Linghuai focused solely on defense without attacking, having learned of the potential variations in the enemy's aberrant power through prior mental communication with Chen Chuan.
Furthermore, with the aid of his external visage, his combat capability was multiplied; serving as a pure shield was well within his means. If the enemy wanted to take him down, they would have to reveal their external visage as well.
That, however, would be a good thing. Once an external visage appeared, one could ascertain which god or demon they visualized, potentially allowing Chen Chuan to prepare in advance or devise a countermeasure.
On Mu Xiaoren's side, when the light in his eyes concentrated to its utmost, a technique of spiritual possession was instantly unleashed, forcibly invading the Kui's psyche.
The Kui went blank. Almost the very instant it suffered the invasion, it lost its self-awareness for a fleeting moment.
It could absorb damage, but conversely, that meant its resistance against various forms of harm was low.
One could even say that possessing the ability to absorb damage and feed upon it obviated the need for formidable defenses; furthermore, seizing its spirit was itself a form of harm, which it could also absorb.
Yet following such a simple attack, the situation underwent a shift entirely unforeseen by the former imperial household.
Suddenly, all sounds vanished from their surroundings. The already dark night sky seemed to grow even gloomier and more eerie, and everyone saw a deathly pale entity emerge into the field.
It vaguely resembled a humanoid figure. At the very top sat an impossibly enormous head, while the body beneath was gaunt, shriveled, and utterly inconspicuous.
Yet its head occupied virtually the entire sky, sending a chill through everyone's heart.
This entity opened its mouth and swallowed the Kui below—which looked no larger than an earthworm in comparison—and after chewing twice, it slowly dispersed.
And Yuan Rong's aura seemed to vanish along with it.
Aboard the airship in the rear, Mystic Mi Zhuzi witnessed this scene and snapped his head back toward an altar behind him. Seeing the jade plaque suspended there representing Yuan Rong shatter with a snap—its broken piece clattering crisply onto the surface below—he could not help frowning slightly.
On the battlefield, this turn of events horrified the former imperial faction. What was that thing?!
Then it dawned on them—an anomaly?!
Chen Chuan remained calm, not surprised in the least by this outcome. For the fight just now was based on a tactic Mu Xiaoren had formulated by combining Chen Chuan's combat traits, destructive power, and all available conditions on the field—and in the end, it had proven exceptionally effective.
He didn't need to display too much power, nor did he need to employ a relic; through a simple tactical coordination, they had eliminated a formidable opposing combatant.
What they primarily relied upon was that anomaly. While aberrant power was unreasonable in many respects, certain powerful anomalies were equally unreasonable once their conditions were fulfilled.
According to Wen Mingzhong, what lay beneath their feet was one of the three major anomalies contained and painstakingly nurtured by the General Esoteric Cult Bureau, named the "Diner." Once its activation conditions were met, one would be devoured by it.
The conditions required by the Diner were twofold: first, the target's body had to be broken and battered; second, it had to lack self-awareness. So long as both criteria were satisfied simultaneously, it could serve as food.
Earlier, the Kui into which Yuan Rong transformed had been shattered by Chen Chuan's attack right from the start, sending a strong invitation signal to the Diner; then Mu Xiaoren caused it to briefly lose consciousness with a spiritual attack, fulfilling the second condition, so it appeared immediately.
Of course, after this anomaly appeared once, it would not be hard for the former imperial household to deduce its prerequisites from the outcome. Borrowing its power next time would not be so simple.
Even if they could no longer summon this entity, it didn't matter, for the tactics they had prepared in advance were not limited to a single set.
Having confirmed Yuan Rong's complete disappearance, Chen Chuan immediately released his hold on the Xuejun Saber, raised both hands, and aimed his palms at Yuan Congye and Tie Rugan respectively. A dazzling light flared to life in the centers of his palms.
Chapter 1403