Chen Chuan's feet remained firmly planted on the ground, bracing against the sudden surge of force transmitted through the long sword.
Although the jin within seemed all-pervasive and possessed immense penetrative power, the force had not been fully delivered. As such, he managed to block it even without deploying his second self to divert it.
Just moments ago, he and Nie Guanshan had stepped forward to intercept. Though there was a slight disparity in their timing, Chen Bitong traversed so swiftly that everything appeared to unfold almost simultaneously.
Originally, when his blade crossed Chen Bitong's short sword and his jin landed, a counter-shock of jin had transmitted back from his opponent. Yet he was not held back by it; instead, he tracked the man's subsequent shifts with his spirit. Sure enough, he caught the leading tip of the long sword piercing through space and blocked it in time.
His performance could hardly be called anything short of superb; even Nie Guanshan behind him would admit it was done brilliantly. Yet it seemed all for naught, as Yang Shen, standing not far behind, had still interrupted his chanting ritual.
It was not that Yang Shen had failed to see Chen Chuan step in to intercept. Rather, he simply did not trust Chen Chuan. He did not believe Chen Chuan could truly withstand Chen Bitong's String-Void Jin and the shifting sword technique. When all was said and done, his own life was far more important, so he gathered his jin a step ahead to brace for the clash.
Yet the outcome was entirely unexpected.
Chen Chuan glanced back at him. It was a glaring display of distrust, but he did not care.
He had his own principles. Right now, the two were indeed carrying out a mission for the Defense Department. So long as neither did anything out of line, he would cooperate and fulfill his duties rather than drag his feet.
Having missed with this strike, Chen Bitong knew no further openings remained. He decisively broke off the offensive. Even though he had not achieved his objective this time, he had not come away empty-handed.
Through these two attacks, he had already gauged the speed, rhythm, and jin dynamics of both opponents, and had even discerned part of the internal dynamics among the three. Now, he could unleash a far more targeted offensive.
Nie Guanshan resumed his Immortal-Worshiping Stance, and Yang Shen began chanting once more.
Though Chen Bitong had refrained from attempting a breakthrough via Chen Chuan in two consecutive attacks, the two men were not in a hurry. Faced with such an obvious opening, Chen Bitong's caution was only natural.
They believed that as long as they defended their positions securely, if Chen Bitong wanted to break the stalemate, he would sooner or later have to attempt a breakthrough against Chen Chuan.
Even if Chen Bitong completely abandoned that angle, their three-man tactic was still progressing smoothly for now. Once the Coiling Dragon Cords were brought into full play, none of that would matter anyway.
Standing at the rear, Yu Lie watched the four-way standoff. A heavy tension gripped him, though he could not say whom he was nervous for; his emotions were a tangled mess.
Just then, as if remembering something, he cast a few glances toward the fissure.
During this time, the other side had been quiet. It seemed the forces sent forward had met with a setback and, realizing something was amiss, ceased pushing in.
Had they truly given up? Hardly likely. Furthermore, he was certain that if another wave came, it would far surpass anything seen before.
In the distance, a metallic clatter rang out. Surprised and doubtful, he turned his head and saw Chen Bitong toss both swords onto the ground.
Yang Shen and Nie Guanshan were taken aback by the gesture.
Chen Bitong's twin blades were exceptionally lethal because they could traverse fissures. Although both had devised counter-strategies, they had no complete certainty. They never anticipated he would voluntarily discard them.
Yet far from letting down their guard, their vigilance spiked. This could only mean the man possessed an even more formidable technique.
Chen Bitong spread his arms out to both sides, looking like a bird spreading its wings. They could feel his spirit soaring upward, transforming from its previous restrained focus into something fiercely aggressive and ascendant.
After pausing on the spot for a brief moment, his figure flickered and abruptly vanished from the scene, yet nowhere else could his outline be seen.
The three relied not merely on sensory sight, but on their spirit to sense his presence. Right then, all three detected an abnormality. How could he be...
All three snapped their heads up.
Up in the sky!
Roughly twenty to thirty meters up in the air, Chen Bitong's figure appeared. Silhouetted against the blood-red glow of the twilight, arms spread wide, his entire body hung horizontally across the sky.
He had not leaped up there; he had used his fissure-traversal ability to arrive there directly. After all, fissures dotted the sky as well.
Yang Shen and Nie Guanshan both felt a shock in their hearts. They immediately realized what Chen Bitong intended to do: launch an assault from the sky.
That would be very difficult to block. It meant Chen Bitong could adjust his attack distance at will, vastly increasing the threat to each of them.
To shield Yang Shen from the onslaught, one would have to intercept Chen Bitong midway or from even farther away, which inevitably required leaping into the sky. Yet going up was easy; coming down entailed a descending arc.
Chen Bitong, however, had no such limitation. The moment he slipped into a fissure again, he could return to the ground in an instant, staying a step ahead no matter what.
Just then, bathed in the twilight glow, Chen Bitong suddenly plunged downward, accompanied by the faint rumble of wind and thunder. At the exact same time, three silhouettes of Chen Bitong materialized almost simultaneously above each of the three men, followed by a punch blasting down at each of them together!
In that moment, each man's spiritual perception convinced him that the one before him was the real one.
Chen Chuan watched the fist descending upon him. The jin burst through the empty air, carrying an immense oppressive weight, feeling as though it were loaded with full force.
He had seen how Old Hu had been incapacitated by a single blow earlier; even with his second self, he was unwilling to endure it directly, so he took a step back.
On the other sides, Nie Guanshan naturally did not dodge, relying purely on the Immortal-Worshiping Stance to weather the strike. He allowed Chen Bitong's fist to smash into the crown of his head. A fierce, powerful jin seeped into his body, causing his knees to bend slightly, but his frame immediately surged as he thrust both fists upward—only to punch through a phantom silhouette flickering in the light and shadow.
On Yang Shen's side, his eyes narrowed, and he was forced to abandon his chanting to gather jin and evade. He knew that as long as he continued the ritual, he would remain Chen Bitong's primary target. Unlike Nie Guanshan, he dared not take Chen Bitong's fist jin head-on; Old Hu's fate was a stark reminder.
Having suppressed all three with a single move, Chen Bitong did not halt. Because his attacks were so blindingly fast, before the previous phantoms could fade, new ones appeared. For a time, it seemed as if multiple Chen Bitongs were striking down at them from the sky, and the manifestation of these silhouettes further disrupted their spiritual tracking.
He hovered aloft in the sky without descending, his figure weaving and pivoting with fluid grace, elusive and unpredictable. Every punch carried a different posture, accompanied each time by the booming roar of wind and thunder tearing through the air—like a dragon coursing through the heavens!
Yang Shen and Nie Guanshan both realized what it was.
This was... Flying Dragon Jin?!
Flying Dragon Jin was a jin technique handed down from the former imperial house, originally carved upon the screen wall of the palace city.
Because most of its techniques involved leaping into the air to strike down at enemies, it was an offensive jin technique that defied common sense. Almost no one practiced it; it was even dismissed as an impractical fantasy, created purely to display the mysterious majesty of the imperial house.
Yet Chen Bitong's combination of this boxing jin with fissure traversal had breathed real life into the technique, turning it into an art of devastating power.
Attacking three opponents simultaneously, his figure darted through the air. As his fists flew, sonic booms rolled without cease, sending shockwaves rippling out through the surrounding air in visible circles—a display of unmatched ferocity.
Below, Chen Chuan shielded, shifted, and parried the occasional blow. He could sense that the attacks aimed at him were primarily meant to pin him down; the vast majority were borne by Nie Guanshan and Yang Shen.
Yang Shen in particular received special attention, whether due to his earlier taunts or because of the Coiling Dragon Jin ritual.
Yet breaking through this assault proved difficult. Because of Chen Bitong's relentless onslaught, the sky was filled with his spiritual afterimages, while his true body traversed at high speed, making it nearly impossible to pinpoint where he would actually land.
Let alone Chen Chuan, even Yang Shen and Nie Guanshan could not locate Chen Bitong amid the chaos. They could only endure the beating passively. As time passed, the two noticed something even more troubling.
Chen Bitong's offensive was growing sharper and fiercer. While there had been a slight stiffness at the outset, as the exchanges went on, his movements grew increasingly varied and ingenious.
He was clearly optimizing and refining this boxing jin in the heat of combat. Such battle instincts and depth of foundation left them astounded. If this continued, disaster was inevitable.
If they scattered and put distance between one another, they could avoid being caught together under this barrage. But scattering also meant forfeiting mutual support, allowing Chen Bitong to pick them off one by one unhindered—hardly a viable option.
Under such relentless pressure, Yang Shen could no longer maintain his chanting ritual, meaning their original plan had ground to a halt. However, they were not without a contingency.
He exchanged a glance with Nie Guanshan. Once confirmed, he flung both hands upward, hurling the Coiling Dragon Cords on his fingers toward the sky. Slender though the cords were, when snapped out, they extended at least seven or eight meters. Driven by his jin, each cord moved with extraordinary agility, fanning out to blanket a wide swath of airspace.
Once the long cords made contact with Chen Bitong, so long as enough force was applied, they would wind around him; if he failed to break free in time, they would bind him tighter and tighter. But Chen Bitong needed to be halted, even for a single instant.
Nie Guanshan suddenly shouted, "Captain Chen, hold him off!"
With that cry, an invisible wave of spiritual force radiated from his body.
He knew Chen Chuan could discern their intentions, but what of it? Coiling Dragon Jin had its own ritual, and the Immortal-Worshiping Stance had one as well. The former required chanting, while for the latter, the ritual had begun preparing the moment he assumed the stance, and was now virtually complete.
This ritual could influence the consciousness of a nearby individual, compelling them to obey commands subconsciously. If that person's spiritual strength was inferior to his own, the effect would be even more pronounced.
Hence, he had no fear of Chen Chuan refusing to cooperate; once the time came, the young man would have no choice. All they needed was for Chen Chuan to step up and take a punch from Chen Bitong with everything he had. The moment Chen Bitong unleashed his jin would be their prime window to strike! As for whether Chen Chuan lived or died, that was none of their concern.
When Chen Chuan heard the shout, he saw an illusory blur suddenly manifest over his second self. His gaze flickered. Holding his saber in a reverse grip with one hand, he met Chen Bitong's punch plunging from the sky with his other hand, clenching his fingers into a fist and striking right back!
Chapter 552