In the airspace permeated with gray mist, a colossal creature manifested in Chen Chuan's mind.
It seemed to be fast asleep at this moment. Its trunk was broad, thick, and fleshy, and its coarsely contoured body meandered and stretched like a black, undulating mountain range lying athwart the void.
Within his mind, he could clearly perceive every single detail of its form.
The surface of its body was covered in thick, solid scales, between which intertwined faint red, root-like meridians that squirmed slowly, resembling living organisms parasitizing and coexisting with it.
Drifting around its exterior was a dense, blood-red vapor from which one could distinctly sense a boundless, vigorous vitality far beyond that of ordinary creatures.
This had to be the Yuepinlong indicated in the intelligence he had received.
Even among the aberrant creatures of the Confluence, this thing qualified as a mid-sized beast. For the party from the Former Imperial House to bring it here in such a short time was truly no small feat; they must have paid a considerable price.
In Chen Chuan's perception, its internal aura was highly unstable. Though it was slumbering, the eyeballs beneath its eyelids were darting violently.
This was because massive gashes were tearing open inside its body—almost certainly the damage transferred over after his spiritual impact harmed Tie Rugan.
In truth, once an aberrant creature's size and vitality grew to a certain point, if its regenerative ability was even slightly stronger, ordinary martial artists would indeed find it exceedingly difficult to inflict any harm upon it.
Yet to him, dealing with this thing merely required a little more effort.
At that moment, the prismatic object suddenly turned into a point of light and plummeted downward.
Compared to that gigantic form, the prismatic object was barely equivalent to a needlepoint, yet as it pierced through, it tore through the thick exterior scales with utter ease and plunged into its interior.
The instant it penetrated inside, the spiritual fire upon it flared abruptly, transforming into a brilliant, resplendent blaze. Driven by a supreme force, it darted back and forth within its body over a hundred times in the blink of an eye.
Beneath the Yuepinlong's skin, gleaming rays of light suddenly surfaced, filling almost its entire body before growing ever more dazzling.
Yet it still lay sprawled there as if feeling nothing at all. At that point, the prismatic object swiftly flew out from inside it.
In that split second, it seemed to finally detect something amiss, snapping its eyes wide open and twitching its body.
Yet with just that slight movement, the rays of light that had been lying quietly dormant beneath its hide detonated all at once—like a sun blooming in the dead of night.
With a resounding boom, the colossal beast shattered into countless fragments.
At this moment, the gazes of everyone present shifted toward that direction.
Mu Xiaoren looked up sharply at the shattered pieces within that ball of radiance, a faint glint flickering in his eyes.
He had employed a parasitic invasion technique, attempting to seize the creature's consciousness for a fleeting moment. However, upon entering its interior, his mind felt as though it had stepped into a boundless ocean, utterly unshakeable.
He had anticipated such a scenario, so he made use of a relic he carried on his person. This relic could magnify his spiritual power in an instant, though at a price—the greater the magnification, the higher the cost.
Since he had come to participate in this battle, he was already mentally prepared, and thus used it without hesitation.
As his spiritual power surged like a rising tide, expanding to a certain degree, it finally shook the variant beast's mind for a fraction of an instant.
And at that very moment, the massive white phantasm materialized once more. The anomaly's enormous head opened its maw, swallowing whole all the flesh and blood that the Yuepinlong was trying to regenerate.
Chen Chuan watched this unfold, but his eyes stirred slightly. Everything appeared to be proceeding smoothly, yet he sensed a discordant note.
The moment he realized this, the third eye at the center of his forehead twitched faintly. And right then, the anomaly's figure turned ethereal and unreal.
His eyes flickered. It seemed that ever since he stepped into this field, everything presented to him had been an illusory spectacle.
In fact, everything prior—including the Yuepinlong—had been constructed to be virtually indistinguishable from reality, nearly fooling even him. Yet in the end, the other party had still left behind a flaw.
Namely, the manifestation of that anomaly at the end. The opponent was likely quite familiar with anomalies, as the manifested "Diner" was identical in appearance to the one seen before.
Yet the opponent had not anticipated that his understanding of anomalies was rather profound; in particular, he knew well that every anomaly was unique. The one manifested this time possessed a field subtly different from the real one—similar in form, but lacking the true spirit—which ultimately gave it away.
Besides the main entity generating the field, that illusory scene had also incorporated techniques of the Visage of the Divine. To combine the two and apply them to such an extent truly warranted being called miraculous.
Furthermore, he was certain that there was more to this artifice than met the eye. It was unlikely to be deception for deception's sake; more probably, once the trick succeeded, deeper changes exceedingly unfavorable to him would unfold.
He raised his head and glanced toward a distant part of the sky. The one who had set this up was likely one of the individuals among the names he had seen earlier.
With that thought, the person's profile surfaced in his mind:
Mizhuzi, Visage of the Divine, two hundred and twenty-one years old, high master of the Xuan Religion.
Aboard the airship concealed in the rear, Mizhuzi stood holding a bamboo sword.
Simulating the Yuepinlong this time could be considered one of his proudest masterworks. It had utilized both the Zhuanlinghong's field and his own secret arts, even blending in a wisp of an ancient god's aura to produce such a near-authentic illusion.
He felt a touch of regret. If Chen Chuan had also accepted it as real, then with the secret arts he would unleash thereafter, Chen Chuan would have found it difficult to distinguish truth from illusion. Repeated misjudgments would cause him to sink deeper and deeper until he fell into an illusory realm, completely under his control.
Yet he had not expected Chen Chuan to see through it. He deduced that the issue must have lain with that anomaly.
"A flaw slipped through after all."
He shook his head with some regret, though this stemmed from his secret art still having imperfections, rather than failing to restrain Chen Chuan. Although he was a Xuanist of the old dynasty, he had agreed to come here at the Former Imperial House's invitation to crack certain esoteric rituals and anomalies; thus, countering rituals and anomalies was his primary duty.
What he had done just now was merely an itch of curiosity, done on a passing whim. Since it had failed, he would no longer meddle in that battle, turning his full focus to breaking that anomaly instead.
On the other side, thoughts raced through Chen Chuan's mind. Though the surprise attack had not succeeded, he had not come away empty-handed.
To set him completely at ease, the other side seemed to have revealed the aberrant creature's true condition.
Whether he knew it or not made all the difference.
In that case...
He looked up. Yuan Congye had not halted his assault, still charging toward him.
Chen Chuan stood motionless where he was, extending a hand to point forward—boom!
Overwhelming mystic flames surged forward.
Mystic Void Fire!
Yuan Congye's heart tightened, and he immediately veered away to evade.
Mystic Void Fire was one of the Five Refinements, a power hailing from an even higher tier. Such flame was not something he could withstand—let alone in such an overwhelming torrent, which was far beyond ordinary means to counter.
Yet he noticed that this display of Mystic Void Fire was far too vast. Could someone beneath that higher realm truly wield so much? Reason told him it was impossible, yet he still chose to keep his distance.
What Chen Chuan had used this time was indeed merely an illusion of Mystic Void Fire, but he knew his opponent dared not take the gamble.
Seizing this moment, he drew a deep breath. His aura surged abruptly, sending a chill of dread through everyone present.
Yet the aura receded just as quickly, making one wonder if it had merely been an illusion.
Chen Chuan naturally would not perform a pointless action. At this very instant, Jiang Linghuai and Mu Xiaoren, standing behind him, saw a figure identical to him appear by his side.
Chen Chuan had first used the relic Gao Xinjian gave him to release a simulacrum of himself, then utilized the relic bestowed by Great Shun to imbue it with the power he had unleashed for that fleeting split second.
This meant that from this moment until it dissipated, this simulacrum possessed the full might he had exhibited in that single instant.
His power clone could be considered him, but the simulacrum was not him, so it was naturally unrestricted by the relic.
Although it could only exist for a few brief breaths, that was more than enough for him.
The simulacrum shot toward Tie Rugan in an instant. The latter was horrified and scrambled to dodge, but to no avail—a single punch sent him hurtling backward.
And the harm inflicted upon him naturally triggered the field link. In the blink of an eye, the simulacrum appeared at the other end of the resonance, smashing open the entire field space there by sheer force.
The Yuepinlong appeared right there. Expressionless, the simulacrum brought down a fist enveloped in a colossal platinum flame. In that moment, as though heaven and earth had overturned, the entire airspace shattered violently!
Not good!
Everyone who witnessed this turned pale with fright. Yet before they could react, a flash of light erupted, and the simulacrum burst out from within, rocketing toward Tie Rugan.
Tie Rugan's scalp tingled with dread. Without the Yuepinlong to absorb the damage now, how could he possibly withstand the assault?
Yet before he could even react, his body blew apart with a deafening boom.
Almost simultaneously, the body of Yuan Zhao standing on the other side likewise detonated into a shower of pulverized fragments.
Nor was it just them; within sight, the airships of the Former Imperial House exploded one after another.
Yuan Congye watched this scene with grim eyes. At this very moment, he snapped his head around to look back.
Chen Chuan stood motionless where he was, while the simulacrum returned to his side and slowly dispersed. From the moment it set out until now, a mere three breaths had passed.
Chapter 1406