The fire of spirituality was able to scatter and pursue each strand of divine qi, every single one appearing like a living creature. This gave Pilingzi a start.
It was the first time he had ever seen the fire of spirituality possess such an extraordinary degree of activation and refinement.
He could not help but praise inwardly, *As expected of a Xuanji General. Such capability can almost be called a divine ability!*
Even when dispersed, the speed of the spiritual impact was extraordinarily swift, shattering the strands of divine qi scattered in midair one by one. Some underwent a second division, becoming even tinier and greater in number.
Yet the fire of spirituality similarly dispersed, pursuing them relentlessly. In barely a flash of light, aside from a few strands of divine qi that vanished without a trace, the vast majority were blasted apart into nothingness.
In particular, those platinum-gold rays of light did not halt after piercing the divine qi. Instead, they circled in the air, shattering and obliterating the floating stones suspended there one after another, leaving behind not even a fleck of debris.
Seeing this, a strand of Pilingzi's divine qi gave an inward nod. This was indeed the correct approach, showing respect for and utilizing the rules of this place. If all the floating stones were shattered by Chen Chuan, Pilingzi would have no footing left, and in theory, there would be no need to fight further—he would be eliminated in an instant.
Yet it was not that simple. Since he had set these rules, how could he not guard against such a move?
He had long since concealed a stone using a displacement-and-hiding method, attaching a strand of divine qi to it. For someone intimately familiar with the ritual, pulling off such a trick in advance was not the least bit difficult. Thus, even if Chen Chuan shattered all the stones in the arena, it would still be impossible to cast him out.
As for his mental field being unable to sense Chen Chuan's location, he possessed a secret art of his own to observe him, which also served as the groundwork for another concealed secret art.
In less than a single breath, Chen Chuan had shattered all the peripheral stones he could sense.
Yet he could tell the opponent had not withdrawn because of this; there had to be hidden stones remaining. Thus, he immediately sought them out.
Pilingzi relied on an evasion secret art to hide for a moment. Once his divine qi was fully restored, he revealed himself.
If he did not coalesce his figure now, that concealed strand of divine qi truly might be uncovered by Chen Chuan, so he had to stand firmly at the forefront to confront him.
As he revealed himself, he cast another secret art toward Chen Chuan's position. This offensive art was the Duanchen Sect's "Sense Disruption" method.
This art could slightly disrupt Chen Chuan's mental field's perception of him, allowing him to better conceal himself. Winning aside, only by ensuring his own persistence could he continue to fight.
Seeing him appear, Chen Chuan naturally showed no courtesy, immediately unleashing another spiritual impact blasting toward him, this time faster than before.
He had already tested him earlier: in a state where his divine qi was dispersed, the opponent could not actively attack, likely due to the constraints of the ritual space. Therefore, once the other party resorted to such an evasive measure, Chen Chuan would follow up with even more spiritual impacts, conducting a sweeping barrage across the surrounding ritual space.
Even if he could not destroy the ritual space itself, he would scour every potential hiding spot.
Though Pilingzi did not know Chen Chuan's specific plan, he cultivated the Xuan Sect's "Calamityless Spirit Body." Having attained his current depth of practice, he had long possessed the ability to discern omens of danger.
The moment Chen Chuan's fire of spirituality surged, he anticipated it, instantly realizing that if he dodged right now, something terrible would happen—he might even lose the fight then and there.
Fortunately, he had already considered the necessity of taking a frontal impact head-on, so he had been preparing from the start.
Drawing a circle with both hands, a void instantly opened before him. When the spiritual impact arrived, it did not strike him directly; instead, it abruptly curved, appearing as though it would sweep around his front to strike his back.
Even having witnessed such exquisite restraint and control over the fire of spirituality once before, Pilingzi still could not help but marvel inwardly. Yet his secret art was not so easily broken. That void actually expanded outward at tremendous speed alongside it, widening wherever the spiritual impact traveled.
Seeing this, Mingchengzi blurted out, "The Pocket Void Technique!"
This was an exceedingly profound secret art of the Xuan Sect, specifically designed to counter high-potency spiritual impacts.
Once unleashed, it could automatically absorb any external impacts and shunt them into the opposite realm.
To master this art, beyond having sufficient personal aptitude, one also needed to capture a divine demon called a 'Wandering Sight Sky Demon' from the opposite world and employ its remnant hide to perform the technique.
To some extent, such a thing was even more precious than relics, because without the aid of upper-tier powers, such spirit demons were utterly impossible to capture.
Seeing this, Chen Chuan realized the opponent possessed a countermeasure. In that case, he should switch to another method of attack.
He did not disperse the spiritual impact immediately, but maintained it there, forcing Pilingzi to sustain his secret art as well.
Chen Chuan's mind nudged the relic Gao Xinjian had gifted him. In an instant, a simulacrum flew out from the side.
Once this form emerged, its observation of Pilingzi was completely uninhibited, proving that the ritual space required only his true body to stand on a stone, while a duplicate was exempt.
Since that was the case...
He drew a breath. The radiant qi around him erupted, his presence instantly leaping an entire tier. The Grand Radiant Light Forms and Grand Firmament Forms unfolded fully, blanketing toward the other side.
At the same time, he used another relic to bestow his own strength upon the simulacrum.
Because the simulacrum's duration was limited, it wasted no time, charging forward almost instantly.
Seeing this, Pilingzi's expression hardened. The moment the simulacrum appeared beside Chen Chuan, he instantly recognized it as the effect of a relic.
He had ways to dispel it, but they required performing rituals and directing ceremonies; the opponent would never give him that time.
Moreover, an intense sense of danger surged in his heart. Judging by experience, this simulacrum might possess the very same power as the original body.
This was exceptionally perilous. The home-field advantage he had constructed thus far was entirely to prevent Chen Chuan from closing in for melee combat. Without that restriction, he knew full well just how terrifying the explosive close-quarters power of a Xuanji martial artist walking the Visage of Man could be.
Facing that figure surging with torrents of fiery light, advancing with an almost invincible momentum, Pilingzi was forced to deploy a secret art he had prepared long ago. In this split second, although his figure still remained where it stood, his very sense of presence was cleanly drawn out from Chen Chuan's field and mind.
This move was called the "Spirit Accord Technique." So long as the opponent perceived him as having vanished, and he held that same belief, he would truly vanish for an instant. When the perceptions of both sides reached accord, the opponent's power could not touch him. As a result...
The simulacrum skirted past the Pocket Void in front, appeared right before him, and threw a punch. Yet this punch passed directly through his body, as though striking nothing but thin air.
Pilingzi looked at the figure with unrippled eyes. Failing to land a blow would only deepen this perception; as long as he aligned with that perception, he could naturally evade all subsequent attacks.
He surmised that the power held by the simulacrum likely could not last long, so he needed only to dodge through it. Furthermore, this was not without benefit to him.
From the very start, he had employed a secret art suited to the ritual space, known as the "Nine Thrusts Technique."
It required only that the opponent attack him nine times, while he remained stationary to counter or respond each time. Once nine turns had passed, merely uttering the words "Pray take your leave" would cast the person out of this place.
This rule was fair to both sides. Had Chen Chuan mastered the method, he could have ejected Pilingzi just the same. But not knowing it, Chen Chuan could only let him work his art.
Even so, Pilingzi was not without risk. If he did not move, he might not endure all nine exchanges, and could even be slain prematurely. One could say that while the secret art's reward was immense, the cost was just as great.
Chen Chuan's eyes shifted slightly. After that punch struck empty air, an odd sensation arose within him, as though he himself did not believe his own power could hit the opponent.
*So this secret art is tied to me?*
He did not know the conditions, but it certainly depended to some extent on his own perception. Breaking it was simple: with a light tap of his toes, he immediately stepped off the stone. In that brief instant, his perception was severed from the other party.
Yet the simulacrum was already right before the opponent and had been given orders beforehand, so it simply needed to continue throwing punches.
The moment Chen Chuan made this move, Pilingzi immediately sensed danger. He instantly abandoned the Spirit Accord Technique, switching instead to a secret art called "Identical-Difference Generation."
At this moment, his body turned like vapor. As the simulacrum's fists struck, his form dispersed outward like light smoke in rippling rings.
Chen Chuan had already landed back upon the stone. Seeing the change in the opponent's defensive technique, he knew his response had been correct.
Yet he also saw that the simulacrum unleashed a flurry of strikes, but no matter how it attacked, it only stirred ring after ring of ripples across Pilingzi, failing to inflict any substantive harm.
The Visage of the Divine possessed no physical body to begin with, so this seemed natural on the surface. Yet even if he had truly turned to mist, he should still have been blasted apart by the simulacrum's fists. This, then, had to be another protective secret art.
Judging from the situation so far, the opponent's secret arts were all marvelously effective, yet once the crux was found, they could be unraveled. This one was likely the same.
The simulacrum had launched its assault the moment Chen Chuan left the stone, so this was definitely not an art relying on mutual perception like the previous one.
Aside from that fleeting moment earlier when the opponent vanished from perception, the Grand Radiant Light Forms and Grand Firmament Forms had remained draped over Pilingzi, constantly contending with the cyan-blue flames leaking from him, a contest that persisted even now.
At this thought, a spark of insight struck his mind. The simulacrum abruptly halted its movements, and even the Two Great Forms were drawn back to a stop.
And the moment he did so, Pilingzi's body naturally solidified. At the same time, an expression of astonishment and admiration surfaced on his face.
Right then, the simulacrum moved once more, driving a fist straight toward his face!
Chapter 1449