Group Assault

Chang Kuanghai, Nagahide Miyahide, and Astrid looked toward the front of the fissure. At this very moment, Chen Chuan stood there alone holding his saber, yet his presence was so imposing that a profound feeling welled up from deep within them that they could not get past him. Among the three, Nagahide Miyahide possessed the sharpest perception of momentum and spirit, and right now he felt extremely uncomfortable. Mental auras were exceedingly delicate and subject to psychological sway. He knew that if he did not move now, Chen Chuan would suppress him in presence, and his subsequent application of spirit would be adversely affected as well. Thus, light flashed in his eyes, and an invisible surge of mental power thrust toward Chen Chuan. This was the "Shadow Strike Arrow," a technique unique to the Ghost Body that could pierce and shatter an opponent's spirit across empty space without relying on any medium. Clashes of the spirit were exceptionally perilous. If one's defense wavered and their heart jade was shattered, they would lose consciousness entirely, rendering any further effort in battle moot. He did not expect to shatter Chen Chuan's spirit in a single strike—thrusting across distance lacked sufficient power and bore heavy limitations—but this was not the entirety of his offensive. It was enough if it could merely rattle him slightly. The instant that mental power shot forth, he moved as well, gripping his spear with both hands as he surged forward in a leaping rush. Before the eyes of the onlookers, his figure pulled out countless afterimages in an instant, stringing a continuous chain of Nagahide Miyahides from his original position, up into midair, and finally descending right in front of Chen Chuan, impossible to tell which was real. The one that arrived first had already raised a spear and jabbed forward. In truth, they were all Nagahide Miyahide; it was simply that his mental power had arrived first. If his attacks in his mortal human body had relied almost entirely on physical moves with mental power acting only as support, then now the dynamic was reversed: mental assault had become dominant, and the martial forms, beyond their inherent potency, served primarily as a conduit for the mental strike. Chen Chuan stood rooted in place, his eyes profoundly still. When the incoming Shadow Strike Arrow slammed into Chen Chuan's field, it failed to elicit the slightest reaction. Then he saw the foremost afterimage thrust a spear toward him, yet he remained motionless, letting the spear tip thrust at him. Waves of mental shocks surged over him in succession, while his second self turned ethereal and erratic in that instant, nearly dissolving into nothingness. In the eyes of those present, the afterimages raised their spears and thrust one after another, only to vanish one by one. But when a certain afterimage thrust forward once more, Chen Chuan's eyes flashed, and the Xuejun Saber in his grip suddenly lifted, wedging firmly against the sickle-blade of the cross spear with a sharp clang. The cross spear possessed hooking and locking techniques; under normal circumstances, when colliding like this, Nagahide Miyahide should have twisted the spear to lock the blade and control the enemy's weapon. At this moment, however, he could do nothing of the sort. For upon that collision, the force transmitted from the saber blade was overwhelmingly immense. The Ghost Dance spear buzzed and vibrated violently, as if about to tear free from his hands. Nagahide Miyahide fought desperately to maintain his grip, yet the transferred jin battered him so hard that his feet nearly left the ground, throwing off his center of balance. Next, he saw Chen Chuan raise the Xuejun Saber high overhead, pausing for what felt like a fleeting beat before cleaving it down with a sharp swoosh! All these movements unfolded with utter clarity before his eyes, yet he could not raise the spear in his hands. Chen Chuan was simply too fast; though his mental consciousness could keep pace, his physical body could not, leaving him to watch helplessly as the blade fell. His pupils constricted sharply. At this critical juncture between life and death, the space between his brows twitched as though about to burst, and his accumulated changeless mind erupted violently. Triggered by this, Ghost Dance suddenly produced a burst of strength, which, riding the residual vibrations, pulled his body backward into a lean just as a flash of blade-light swept across his front. A deep, long bloody furrow opened down the center of Nagahide Miyahide's torso. Penetrating an inch deep, the cut ran in a straight line from between his brows straight down to his abdomen. Had he dodged even a fraction of a second slower, he would have been cleaved clean in two. And as he tilted backward, a tremendous tremor shook the ground. Seizing the opening created by Chen Chuan's slash, Chang Kuanghai behind him unleashed an Elephant-Bull Ram, propelled by an eruption of jin as he drove a fist straight toward Chen Chuan! Chen Chuan neither dodged nor evaded, blasting out a punch of his own from where he stood. In an instant, fist collided against fist! Chang Kuanghai's body shuddered violently. A string of explosive cracks rippled along his punching arm—from the knuckles to the forearm, and from the arm to the shoulder, flesh and skin burst apart, leaving the bones exposed beneath a dense web of hairline fractures. The residual force of that single punch sent his entire body flying backward through the air. Almost at the very moment their fists clashed, a flicker stirred behind Chen Chuan. Astrid materialized there, her rapier stabbing down toward his shoulder! Chen Chuan did not pay it the slightest mind. The moment the rapier struck his shoulder, it snapped inch by inch from the tip inward, shattering into flying fragments. The immense counter-shock transmitted along the blade nearly fractured Astrid's arm, forcing her to ride the recoil and retreat. Thud, thud, thud. Almost simultaneously, all three crashed to the ground, stumbling unsteadily before either tumbling backward, sprawling flat, or rolling across the earth to end up half-kneeling. Chen Chuan stood upon high ground. Just now, without moving a single step from where he stood, he had repelled the assaults of all three. Wisps of vapor still curled from the surface of his knuckles. His gaze drifted down to the three disheveled figures below, and he said calmly, "Is that all?" Doubt and terror mingled in the eyes of all three. Yet by now they all understood that his strength was far beyond what any of them could handle alone. Even without conferring aloud or exchanging glances, they knew the only correct course of action moving forward. The skin and flesh on Chang Kuanghai's arm rapidly pulled together and restored themselves, his bones setting straight and repairing. Seeing his axe embedded in the ground not far ahead, he took several strides forward, ripped it free, gripped it firmly, and drew a deep breath. Nagahide Miyahide had nearly been split open moments ago. His wound was currently knitting closed and healing as he stared intently at Chen Chuan. Raising Ghost Dance, he took a staggered stance and leveled the spear forward once more. Yet he could feel that the spear in his grasp was still trembling faintly, seemingly having not yet recovered from the previous clash. Astrid felt a knot of tension tighten in her chest. Had it not been for her armor's protection, the recoil alone would have dislocated her arm; even so, the armor seemed slightly warped. And that was merely a probing strike. Still, she knew that without relying on these two, she could forget about breaking through to seize what lay behind him. There was only one option left... She spoke into her comms: "Sigi, back me up in a moment. I'm going to use that." "Be careful. Don't take too large a dose." "I know." Astrid exhaled, then slammed a fist hard against a specific spot on her armor's gauntlet, injecting the stored drug directly into her body through the micro-needles. In an instant, her spirit surged, accompanied by a chorus of indistinct murmurs and sounds. She shook her head. Although the drug's entry brought some degree of external contamination interference, it drastically enhanced her sensory perception. Due to the drug's side effects, however, she dared not use too much; once the burst began, she might have only about half a second. Thus, her mind was made up: the moment she got her hands on the item, she would leave immediately without lingering for a second. The three paused to adjust for a moment, and then moved almost at the exact same instant! Nagahide Miyahide and Chang Kuanghai flanked Chen Chuan from his left and right. Since the distance was short, they seemed to appear at his flanks in an instant. And with a flicker from behind, Astrid materialized at his back. Due to their blistering speed and phasing maneuvers, all three were suspended mid-leap at varying heights, forming a staggered, multi-tiered assault. Tuning into one another's rhythm, they thrust their weapons toward Chen Chuan in the center at the very same time! Yet just as their attacks descended, Chen Chuan raised his eyes to cast them a glance. Then, his figure seemed to blur, vanishing abruptly from their line of sight—he was no longer in that spot. "What?!" All three were shocked. When Chen Chuan reappeared, he was already standing behind Nagahide Miyahide. The convergence with his second self and the full eruption of the Furnace Breathing Technique brought not only explosive power, but also a corresponding leap in speed! Nagahide Miyahide's expression shifted. He sensed Chen Chuan arriving behind him, but that was purely mental perception. His consciousness registered the truth, yet the cross spear in his hands was still thrusting forward, his physical body still carrying out the command of his preceding thought. Thus, he could only "watch" as Chen Chuan calmly gripped the Xuejun Saber and swung it in an upward diagonal slash across his back, cleaving him clean in two! And then he "watched" as Chen Chuan passed right between the two halves of his body, slashing his saber toward Chang Kuanghai just behind! Facing Chen Chuan, Chang Kuanghai seemed to let out a furious roar. The muscles of his arms swelled as he raised his axe to meet the strike. Once again the two weapons clashed, but this time, under the immense force and astounding speed, the long axe was sheared clean through in an instant by the Xuejun Saber! The saber's momentum did not abate in the slightest, continuing its slash toward its target. Chang Kuanghai's expression twisted into something monstrous, his muscles tightening like steel and taking on a faint iron-gray hue as he pushed Tianshu external conditioning to its absolute limit. Chen Chuan's gaze was deep and profound. The long saber descended, and with a thunderous crash, Chang Kuanghai was cleaved straight into the ground beneath him! Without pausing, Chen Chuan stepped across the back of the man's head and spine, then reached forward to seize the ankle of Astrid just as she was about to phase away. He slammed her into the earth with tremendous force, sending a massive cloud of dust and debris billowing upward! When the dust gradually settled, Chen Chuan stood alone with his saber, a vast column of white vapor steaming up behind him like a pillar of smoke. Within the fissure, currents of light flickered and surged intermittently. As for the three who had just besieged him, all lay strewn across the ground. Astrid's armor was shattered, exposing the body and face beneath, her fate unknown. Chang Kuanghai lay level with the ground, the back of his head and his spine deeply caved in from being trampled, showing no signs of life. The two halves of Nagahide Miyahide's severed body lay cast to either side, threads of fleshy tendrils extending from his internal organs as if struggling to knit himself back together. Chen Chuan turned his gaze and walked over at a leisurely pace. Looking down at Nagahide Miyahide's upper torso, which included half a shoulder, he said earnestly, "Mr. Miyahide, I hope you will come looking for me again." "Wait, I didn't—" Before he could finish, Chen Chuan brought his foot down. With a crisp crunch, he crushed Nagahide Miyahide's head into a pulpy paste. ... ...