Even though Yuan Congye's head had not yet reformed, the menace posed by the Mystic Void Fire caused him to instinctively sense that something was terribly wrong.
Yet at this moment, Chen Chuan held him in a state of near-total suppression from every angle. The outer force fields of the Grand Azure Void Forms were purely binding power, which still fell within his realm of understanding. But the purple qi invading his body was an attack method unlike anything he had ever seen before.
Under the infiltration of this purple qi, the mutated tissue across his body fought desperately to expel it, as if this were the threat demanding their immediate attention.
Although the mutated tissue was compelled to follow his commands under the force of his personal will, his visage form—which should have moved as effortlessly as he willed—became sluggish and stilted, entirely stripped of its former nimbleness and ease.
His eight arms flailed in unison and his massive frame swelled once more, striving to burst free of these restraints from within and without.
At the same time, within his blown-apart skull, five eyes rapidly coalesced and fixed their gaze straight upon Chen Chuan, shooting forth swirling beams of smog-like, eerie light that spun ceaselessly.
This was another of his aberrant powers: "Unbound Spirit." Under certain conditions, this aberrant power could seize and invade an opponent's physical body. The prerequisite, however, was that he had to establish dominant control over the opponent on the battlefield.
If one could not even hold their ground in a direct clash, how could there be any talk of seizing the opponent's body? The Great Xuantian Demon God would never permit it.
Yet even if it could not achieve total possession, the aberrant power was still at work; it could exert a heavy influence upon the foe and sap their physical strength.
Unfortunately for him, Chen Chuan was presently safeguarded within the duration of the relic. No aberrant powers or rituals could touch him in the slightest, rendering these efforts utterly pointless.
Regardless of how Yuan Congye struggled, Chen Chuan kept both colossal hands planted firmly down upon him. Even without fully manifesting his own external visage, he held absolute superiority in strength.
Moreover, as he maintained the Grand Azure Void Forms, their power was actually steadily compounding. Arriving at this stage, he smoothly brought forth the Grand Radiant Light Forms as well, severing his opponent's psychic communion with the world on the other side.
Perceiving its master's dire straits, the Feilangjiao beneath hissed from within its coiled bulk, thrashing to carry its rider away. Yet held down beneath the crushing force field of the Grand Azure Void Forms, it too was pinned completely immobile—pressed so hard it could not even raise its eyelids.
Cluster after cluster of Mystic Void Fire tumbled from above. Incapable of movement, Yuan Congye could only endure the brunt of it. Massive plumes of fire landed upon his body and erupted into roaring conflagrations, forcing him to cast off huge billows of black vapor to peel the flames away.
Yet this maneuver carried a heavy price. In truth, it amounted to relentlessly stripping away parts of his own flesh and relying on the restorative prowess of the Dongxuan View to regrow what was lost.
Now, however, the circumstances were drastically different. Not only was his mutated tissue constrained by the purple qi, but his mental communion with the world on the other side had also been severed, grievously hampering his regenerative ability.
Furthermore, the Mystic Void Fire cast aside did not burn itself out. Once it consumed the expelled plumes of black vapor, it surged right back toward him. This meant the surrounding void-fire would only multiply. Before long, he was bound to be swallowed whole by a tidal sea of Mystic Void Fire.
As long as he could not shake off Chen Chuan's grapple, that doom was sealed.
Only now, as Yuan Congye was pinned, did Jiang Linghuai and Mu Xiaoren finally grasp the situation before their eyes.
Everything had unfolded at such blinding speed that they simply had had no time to react. If the two had not come to a dead standstill, it would have been near impossible to tell who held the advantage.
Seeing that Chen Chuan had seized total dominance, they instantly realized what they needed to do.
From the information Chen Chuan had shared just moments ago, it was obvious that the party sent by the Former Imperial House did not consist merely of the few fighters before them.
Someone had stepped in to intercept Mu Xiaoren's strike earlier, and they might very well act to sabotage Chen Chuan at any moment.
Even if they did not, the fact that those individuals had not shown themselves or joined the assault meant they were undoubtedly scheming behind the scenes. Finding them now was imperative if unforeseen crises were to be avoided.
Though Chen Chuan had shot down the Former Imperial House's airships earlier, that was merely on the surface. There had to be hidden airships lurking in the rear—perhaps together with the remaining two variant beasts—and most likely sequestered within isolated spatial fields.
Mu Xiaoren thought calmly for a moment and concluded that the two of them could not find them alone. But someone else could lend a hand.
He immediately established telepathic contact with Wen Mingzhong in the rear: "Mr. Wen, the enemies are hiding in a concealed location. Can you help us smoke them out?"
The basis for this request was that the moment the Former Imperial House had stepped into this territory, they had been marked by the anomaly.
The fighters might not know their exact coordinates, but the anomaly did.
Wen Mingzhong's steady voice resonated in his mind: "Gentlemen, I can seek the answer from the anomaly, but it requires a sacrifice. I need time to prepare..."
Mu Xiaoren cut him off at once: "No need, there's no time. I will sacrifice an active conscious entity—a host body at the Dongxuan View level. That should be more than enough, right?"
Mr. Wen drew in a sharp breath and responded rapidly: "More than enough." No matter how many ordinary offerings he prepared, none could rival an active conscious entity capable of housing the Dongxuan View level. It was not merely sufficient; it far exceeded the requirement.
However, doing so might cause the anomaly to fix its gaze on Mu Xiaoren. But with two nations locked in battle, now was no time to hesitate over such consequences. If possible, they could deal with it after the combat concluded.
Through their telepathic link, he relayed the exact method to Mu Xiaoren, who sacrificed a surrogate body on the spot without the slightest hesitation.
At that exact instant, an icy chill gripped him, as though he had established a tether to something unfathomable, while an alarm of supreme mortal peril flared from the depths of his soul.
He paid it no mind, gazing straight ahead instead. In his perception, several presences and two immense biological fields occupied a certain vector ahead—and one of them gave him a sense of extreme, lethal danger.
He immediately transmitted these impressions to Jiang Linghuai through their mental link, designating that presence as their primary strike target.
Within a spatial field further in the rear, the stooped Shen Xian stood in the airship's cabin hall with his hands clasped behind his back. His eyes resembled bottomless vortices, deep and profoundly murky.
He had remained stationary ever since the battle began, taking in every single move, posture, and shift Chen Chuan made.
He possessed a secret art known as the "Mirror of Qibo," which allowed him to discern the hidden vulnerabilities within an opponent's spirit and flesh.
However, executing this art required uninterrupted, fixated observation of the target until his inspiration and spirit converged into a single strand. Only then, amid countless unfolding variables, could he seize that fleeting trace of a fatal flaw.
The deeper he observed, the higher the odds of success.
Yet up until now, his eyes had grown bloodshot from staring, yet he could not find the slightest imperfection in Chen Chuan. He had no choice but to keep watching.
And all of this hinged entirely on whether the fighters in the field could hold Chen Chuan at bay.
As time slipped past, it seemed he was finally beginning to perceive something.
Yet precisely at this juncture, Mizhuzi's voice rang out: "They have come for you."
A tremor shot through his heart. Instantly, he sensed a sinister aura rising directly behind him, and its appearance triggered a field resonance with two incoming forces.
The surrounding spatial field shattered in an instant, revealing two silhouettes hurtling toward him at blistering speed.
If he stopped right now to deal with them, even if he could not defeat them, evading their assault would not be difficult. But doing so meant aborting his current endeavor, rendering all his preceding efforts entirely in vain.
Thus, in this crucial split second, he chose to press on. The vortices within his eyes spun frantically, and under the spur of this desperate crisis, his ability was pushed to greater heights.
He felt he had seen something—could that be the flaw? He could not be entirely certain, yet there was no time left to verify it.
He snapped his jaws wide, and a brilliant radiance erupted from his facial orifices.
This was another of his secret arts: "Parting With Thee"!
Using his entire life essence as a conduit, it forged a malevolent blade aimed straight at the flaw reflected by the Mirror of Qibo. It required no physical contact; as long as it entered the radius of the target's spiritual field, it would strike home!
A brilliant shaft of light lanced out from between his brows.
At that exact instant, a long staff swung down from above and struck his frame, blowing him entirely apart with a tremendous crash.
Mu Xiaoren's gaze locked intently onto that streaking beam of light. Instinct told him the thing was perilous, and he attempted to warp it with a secret art. Yet under the backlash of his mental tether, hairline fractures spiderwebbed across his body, failing to halt its flight.
Left with no other recourse, he hurled a warning toward Chen Chuan across their mental link.
Meanwhile, in mere moments, more than half of the demon god's external visage before Chen Chuan had been corroded away.
Yuan Congye had never managed to break free from his grip. He had originally held the option of invoking a sliver of the Great Xuantian Demon God's power nestled in his flesh, which might have tipped the scales. Yet no matter how desperately he called upon it, he failed to stir it.
He understood then: his poor showing in this battle had failed to satisfy the demon god, and he had been denied its favor.
Even so, he refused to surrender the struggle. Yet beneath the crush of absolute force, all of it was an exercise in futility.
A few breaths later, his battered form—gnawed through inside and out by Mystic Void Fire—could hold together no longer. The internal balance collapsed, and with a thunderous boom, his entire visage shattered into countless plumes of black vapor, each instantly set ablaze by the surrounding void-fire.
Chen Chuan stood amidst the fluttering sea of flames, blade in hand, the faceplate of his armor betraying not the slightest change in expression, only the red sash tied to his hilt fluttering outward in the draft.
He had barely exerted any effort in this battle. Once he saw through the opponent's aberrant powers, there was no way for the man to contend with him unless higher forces were brought to bear.
Just then, Mu Xiaoren's warning rang out through his mind. Chen Chuan shifted his gaze, only to see a strange, piercing beam of light hurtling straight toward him.
Chapter 1408