At this moment, Prince Yong was pleasantly surprised to discover the anomaly within himself.
Previously, even though he had acquired the Heavenly Being secret diagram bloodline, to be frank, aside from faster growth and a stronger physical constitution, he had never noticed anything particularly extraordinary about it.
At one point, he had even felt somewhat disappointed.
Now he understood: those were not the only changes. The power had simply remained dormant within his body, never having encountered a situation where he needed to call upon it.
Feeling the abundant energy continuously supplied to him beneath that phosphorescent glow, he was immensely grateful to Chen Chuan for pushing him. Had it not been for this opponent, he would never have awakened these powers.
All of this bolstered his confidence tremendously. A somewhat ferocious grin surfaced on his face; he would be sure to repay his opponent generously for this gift.
Majestic spiritual flames abruptly erupted across his body, and he effortlessly arrested his backward momentum. With a slight adjustment of his center of gravity, he transformed into a streak of flowing light, hurtling straight toward Chen Chuan.
Chen Chuan watched the approaching radiance with a calm, profound gaze. Although Prince Yong had noticeably accelerated compared to before, in his eyes, it was still not enough.
Fixing his eyes intently on Chen Chuan, Prince Yong drew ever closer. He had learned from his previous mistake: even while thrusting forward, he managed to preserve some room to maneuver and adapt.
Seeing that he was about to enter an ideal striking distance, he mobilized the power throughout his body. Yet at that very instant, Chen Chuan vanished from before his eyes.
Before he could react, he felt a crushing blow to his flank. The dense fire of spirituality coating the surface of his body was effortlessly torn open, and a brutal surge of force blasted deep into his internal organs.
Had the phosphorescence inside him not spontaneously discharged a tremendous burst of energy to reinforce his defenses, that single strike would have obliterated half his body. Even so, the violent force caused him to lose control of his physical form in an instant.
Chen Chuan looked down at Prince Yong's body, buckled beneath his fist. He had remained standing where he was earlier solely to test the lower limits of his opponent's power. Only now had he revealed his true speed.
Nor did he stop there. Following that punch, another fist smashed in, initiating a relentless barrage against Prince Yong.
He kept his power reined within a specific threshold and refrained from deploying lethal arts such as the Mystic Void Fire. He wanted to observe what else was unique about his opponent beyond what had already been displayed, so that he would be suitably informed if he encountered similar individuals in the future.
Under his dense assault, Prince Yong's bodily tissues were repeatedly demolished, only to be continually repaired under the influence of the phosphorescence. Yet this could only keep him temporarily intact; it offered no answer to the penetrating force coursing through him, preventing him from ever reclaiming control of his body.
Pressed so relentlessly, his emotions fluctuated violently. The phosphorescence no longer emerged merely within his body, but began flickering across its surface as well, producing an even denser crystalline mist.
Chen Chuan could clearly perceive that this mist seemed faintly capable of tapping into some higher power.
Before he had invoked the Mystic Void Fire, the mutated tissue inside his own body had displayed a similar reaction.
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. He genuinely wished to see what this ultimate power was. Yet despite his continuous attacks and relentless pressure, he was never able to coax it out of Prince Yong.
Normally, when a martial artist faced overwhelming pressure where their life could be extinguished at any moment, it would inevitably ignite their inherent resilience and defiance, squeezing out their full potential to avert death.
Yet at this very moment, Prince Yong was not driven to unleash his potential by the crushing weight. Instead, extreme terror took hold of him. Every strategy and ounce of arrogance vanished from the depths of his consciousness, leaving only a primal instinct urging him to put distance between himself and his opponent—the farther, the better.
With the emergence of that thought, his morale collapsed entirely, and the power he had originally unleashed began to wane.
Chen Chuan raised an eyebrow slightly. At his current tier, he had never seen a martial artist lose their fighting will after mere moments. His past adversaries, even when acutely aware they were outmatched, had almost always fought fiercely to the bitter end.
How could someone like this have become a Dongxuan View martial artist? Was it solely due to the potential of the secret diagram bloodline?
Once he was certain Prince Yong could no longer provide any further insight into the bloodline, the man ceased to be of any value to him.
He no longer held back his strength. A formidable field erupted from his frame, instantly trapping Prince Yong within its grip. The aura around Chen Chuan surged violently, billows of white steam rolling off him.
Immediately after, a white-gold luster flickering with purple qi welled over his fist as he drove it straight toward the man's chest and abdomen. A single strike tore through both the external fire of spirituality and the external visage; even the phosphorescence shattered outward under the impact of the purple qi.
Upon making direct contact with the body, the full force detonated, burrowing inward to shatter three defensive layers of spiritual fire in succession. Prince Yong's frame shuddered violently as the punch blew a gaping, hollow void straight through his torso, front to back.
Amid the fluttering flesh and spiritual flames blasted outward, wisps of glistening, crystalline light flickered.
Maintaining his punching posture, the fire of spirituality surged violently across Chen Chuan's body, and right from his forearm into the interior of Prince Yong's torso, a spiritual impact erupted!
*Boom!*
Prince Yong's body shattered midair. At the same instant, clusters of Mystic Void Fire manifested from the void, instantly igniting all the shattered flesh. More than that, even the glittering, crystalline lights were engulfed in roaring flames.
Chen Chuan's heart stirred slightly, for he suddenly noticed an anomaly.
After the Mystic Void Fire consumed that glowing radiance, it seemed to burn noticeably brighter, and its potency appeared to have increased ever so slightly.
Ever since obtaining the Mystic Void Fire, he had learned techniques from the Tianji Sect to wield it, and as his realm and tier advanced, the volume of flame he could command grew accordingly.
Yet he had never known how to increase the intrinsic power of the Mystic Void Fire itself. He had originally assumed it was immutable, but what had just transpired changed his understanding.
It was not that it could not be enhanced; it had simply never encountered fuel capable of nurturing it.
To confirm this, he waited deliberately for a moment. It proved to be just as he thought: after burning away that phosphorescence, its potency saw a minute increase. Though faint, it undoubtedly existed.
Did this mean the mutated tissues within possessors of the secret diagram bloodline could all serve as kindling for the Mystic Void Fire?
With only a single case, he could not yet be certain.
What he could confirm was that immense power had been buried inside that body, though Prince Yong had been incapable of bringing it to full fruition.
The man might have even possessed the ability to commune with a higher power to some degree. Although it was not the Mystic Void Fire or any of the other four refinings, it was still a force originating from higher realms, carrying absolute oppressiveness over lower tiers.
If that was the case, the advantage granted by a secret diagram bloodline was indeed immense. The difference lay in the fact that Chen Chuan had cultivated his strength on his own, whereas their bloodlines possessed it innately, requiring only gradual awakening.
He had a faint feeling there were further secrets he had yet to uncover, but he did not expect to master the full picture in a single encounter. At the very least, he had gained a baseline understanding of such beings today.
He turned his gaze toward the airship flotilla. From his first clash with Prince Yong to the man's utter destruction, barely a dozen breaths had elapsed.
Having arrived right behind him, Jiang Linghuai and Mu Xiaoren had taken immediate action. The combat airships screening the *Fangzhang* were currently tumbling down one after another, trailing smoke and flame.
The *Fangzhang*'s cannons and machine guns roared outward, but it was all in vain. As a wave of mental force brushed over the hull like a gentle breeze, every gun and cannon fell silent, and the entire airship plunged into dead stillness.
Jiang Linghuai hovered above the vessel, his expanding field seizing the entire airship out of thin air to keep it from crashing.
Before undertaking the mission, they had already agreed on this precaution: they could not be certain whether the airship carried large-scale pollutants or special relics. Even though this was Haixi Dao, they needed to remain prudent.
Furthermore, prominent figures of the Former Imperial House might be aboard—such as Emperor Wenguang himself—and their identities had to be confirmed before any disposition could be made.
With a single turn, Chen Chuan arrived before the *Fangzhang* in an instant.
Jiang Linghuai now set the airship down gently on the terrain. Meanwhile, besides watching for anyone rushing out from within, Mu Xiaoren directed part of his attention toward Mingchengzi.
He knew this man bore a sea of hatred toward the Former Imperial House. Should Mingchengzi lose control, he would intervene to stop him; after all, the occupants of the airship were now their prisoners of war.
Fortunately, Mingchengzi waited in silence throughout the process.
Even with the destruction of his sect weighing upon him, knowing the chief culprit was likely inside that vessel, he exercised utmost restraint.
He understood this operation relied primarily on Great Shun, with Chen Chuan leading it. Unless Chen Chuan gave the word, he would not act on his own initiative.
Chen Chuan drifted down, landing upon the open-air deck of the main cabin. Seeing this, Mu Xiaoren and Mingchengzi followed suit, flanking him from behind.
The curtain obstructing their view was swept aside by an invisible surge of field power, revealing the scene within.
Most of the attendants and palace staff inside lay sprawled haphazardly across the floor under the assault of mental force, leaving only an elderly attendant standing near the cabin doorway.
In the center of the hall, seated upon a dragon-carved throne, sat a middle-aged man clad in gray-white Xuanist robes. His hair was bound in a topknot, and a long beard trailed below his jaw. His entire presence appeared austere and otherworldly, yet his gaze was deep and inscrutable, displaying not the slightest flicker of joy or anger.
The moment Mingchengzi laid eyes on him, a cold sneer broke across his face. Taking a step forward, he raised a finger to point at the man and bellowed, "Fatuous tyrant! Do you still recognize me?!"
Chapter 1429