Sublimation

Chen Bitong withdrew his hand and straightened up. He looked toward Chen Chuan, before whom that faint phantom was slowly fading away. "Captain Chen, both of them have fallen. Do you still intend to carry out your mission?" Chen Chuan looked at him and said, "I intended to cooperate with them, but they had no desire to cooperate properly with me. In that case, I will just have to handle this on my own." Chen Bitong seemed about to speak, but at that moment, the fissure suddenly flickered, drawing both of their gazes. At the same time, inside a vehicle in the distance, a lookout was peering through binoculars. Due to field interference, conditions in the area could not be transmitted directly to the command center, leaving direct visual observation by stationed personnel as the only option. However, battles at the third limit were simply too fast, and with the rain falling, he had been unable to make sense of the situation, only now gaining a clear view. Shifting his binoculars back and forth, he startled in shock and hurried to report over his boundary credential: "Report! Status of Team Two is unclear. Both officers appear to have fallen. Only Captain Chen is left. He... he is still holding out! "And..." He seemed to spot something. "What is that...?" A massive burst of orange-red fire suddenly erupted from the fissure. Even standing tens of meters away, Chen Chuan and Chen Bitong could feel a blast of scorching heat. Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie, who were positioned closer, hastily leapt back. As they dodged, a rumbling sound echoed from behind the wall of flames. Moments later, a line of soldiers armed with flamethrowers marched out. Behind them loomed two hammer-wielding warriors over three meters tall. They were clad from head to toe in heavy armor, their faces concealed behind demonic masks, and each bore in both hands an intimidating, spiked maul. As they strode forward, the earth trembled under their boots. With their staggering bulk and height coupled with those hideous masks, they looked like fiends stepping into the mortal world. Both were vanguard warriors of the former imperial house, formidable fighters steeped in body-hardening arts and grappling. In battle between armies, they were invariably deployed at the very forefront. Now, the forces of the former imperial house clearly intended to use them to breach an opening or secure a beachhead to facilitate the passage of those behind them. Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie exchanged a glance. As soon as the flames dispersed, both charged forward at the same time. Sweeping their arms outward as they ran, they sent the flamethrower soldiers tumbling aside. Arriving before the two giants, their punches and kicks landed almost simultaneously upon them. Yet despite the blow, the two warriors merely swayed slightly, seemingly suffering little harm. The giants then swung their massive mauls forward. Startled, Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie immediately dodged aside. As the two armored warriors advanced with relentless swings, the crushing pressure forced both fighters to keep retreating. Movement stirred from the fissure once more. Ranks of armored infantry wielding spears and shields poured out and fanned into formation, with even more soldiers surging from behind. Watching this unfold, Chen Chuan's expression remained unchanged. He turned to Chen Bitong and asked, "Teacher Chen, allow me to ask: what is it you actually want to do?" Chen Bitong shook his head. "There is no need for you to know too much right now. It would not do you any good. In time, you will understand." "Is that so?" Chen Chuan said. He turned his gaze toward the soldiers and warriors of the former imperial house rushing in. With a thought, his second self merged into him in an instant. At the same time, his spiritual power radiated outward, blanketing the entire area in a heartbeat. The soldiers who had charged out with fierce momentum suddenly faltered; the soldier at the very front pitched forward and hit the ground with a thud. As if by contagion—thud, thud, thud, thud... A rapid cascade of falling bodies rang out as rows upon rows of the former imperial house's soldiers collapsed to the ground. The two maul-wielding vanguard warriors tangled with Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie swayed, the massive mauls slipping from their grasps. Their consciousness vanished, and their colossal bodies crashed heavily to the ground, shaking the earth twice. In mere moments, the hundred-plus soldiers of the former imperial house who had surged forth were all sprawled on the ground, and silence returned to the scene once again. Watching this, Yu Lie and Fang Zhixin stood frozen, nearly unable to believe their eyes. Chen Chuan withdrew his gaze, the sharp gleam in his eyes slowly receding. Spiritual power stemmed from the physical body; only a powerful physique could nurture sufficiently potent spirit. Although his second self had not yet attained the stage of cultivating spiritual power on its own, once it merged with him, it bolstered his physical foundation, passively magnifying his spirit. Those who possessed no spiritual power were utterly incapable of withstanding such a ferocious spiritual blast. He looked back toward Chen Bitong and said, "I once said that I hoped to ask for Teacher Chen's guidance in a match when the time came. Now is that opportunity." Chen Bitong looked at him and said slowly, "It would actually be better for you to leave. But since you have said so, I will give you this opportunity." Chen Chuan took a deep breath. Billowing white vapor instantly rose from his body, drifting toward the sky and holding together without scattering in the wind. Watching him, Chen Bitong raised a hand to adjust the brim of his cap. His eyes carried a hint of surprise and a touch of nostalgia. "Furnace Breathing Technique... Purist Faction, is it...?" Seeing that Chen Bitong was bare-handed, Chen Chuan planted the Xuejun Saber into the ground. Furthermore, ever since absorbing the split offspring, the mutated tissue within the blade had fallen into dormancy; earlier, when he wielded it, the transmission of jin had always felt slightly lacking. Under such circumstances, he was better off relying directly on his fists. He took two steps forward, and his speed abruptly surged. Amid an explosive sonic boom, he crossed twenty meters in an instant and threw a punch straight at Chen Bitong. Chen Bitong raised his arms in a block, and their jin collided. Feeling the fierce impact crashing through, he could not help but stumble backward. At the same time, a surge of String-Void Jin fed back into Chen Chuan's body. Yet with the formidable physical prowess granted by merging with his second self, Chen Chuan withstood the jin head-on, while any excess damage was shunted away to his second self. On the surface, he appeared entirely unaffected. Driving his knee upward, he slammed it toward Chen Bitong. Chen Bitong blocked once more and took another step back. In that instant, Chen Chuan followed through with a straight punch. Amid a thunderous sonic boom, Chen Bitong shuddered and was forced back more than ten steps in succession. His feet sank into the ground, shattering layers of brick and stone into a depressed hollow before he finally stabilized himself, the arm he had used to block trembling faintly. He looked up across from him. Chen Chuan still maintained his punching posture, faint wisps of vapor drifting upward from the surface of his fist. Both Yu Lie and Fang Zhixin stood dumbfounded. What were they seeing? Teacher Chen had actually been forced back step by step by Chen Chuan's onslaught?! The observer watching through binoculars could not follow the rapid exchange, but seeing that final image, he too was left slack-jawed. Under the broad brim of his cap, Chen Chuan's calm, deep eyes fixed upon Chen Bitong. He knew, however, that the man had not used his full strength just now. Chen Bitong's true power lay in whatever technique he had deployed to strike down Guan and Yang earlier; the state he had displayed back then was far superior to what he showed right now. Never mind that Chen Chuan had chosen not to intervene at the time—even if he had wanted to, he might not have arrived in time. That was why Chen Chuan had unleashed his full power right from the start. Yet his opponent had not used that technique again. Did he have some sort of reservation? Chen Bitong spoke up then: "Captain Chen, I have raised my evaluation of you several times, but this time, I must raise it once again. "I have to say, if those two lying on the ground had possessed the strength you possess right now, it would have been enough to strike me down or severely injure me just now. "Your foundation is exceptionally strong. Among the people I have met, perhaps only one person can compare with your physical conditioning. Yet you still lack one technique..." He lifted his head. "And that is channeling spiritual power into your jin, using your spirit to sublimate your martial art. Combining the two will drastically enhance your offensive capabilities." "Spiritual power..." Chen Chuan pondered for a moment. What Chen Bitong described had to be the kind of manifestation Old Hu had shown. On his way here, he had seen that beetle cleaved cleanly in two; that level of power indeed far surpassed what ordinary jin could achieve. Chen Bitong seemed to be instructing him now, speaking slowly: "The key to merging spiritual power with one's own jin lies in conviction. You must believe you can do it. Your will must be unshakably firm, and your goal must be clear. Just like this..." As he spoke, he raised a hand. With the deployment of his String-Void Jin, a subtle shift rippled through the surrounding air. He detailed no specific steps or processes, as though it were something remarkably simple, an act that followed naturally. Chen Chuan considered this, then extended his hand, his gaze focusing on it. "Spirit, is it...?" As his jin surged, he poured his spirit into it. Instantly, the air around his palm hummed with a low buzz, seeming to expand outward by a fraction before swiftly contracting. Yet as he steadily concentrated his spirit, permeating it into every measure of jin like waves surging outward one after another, the surrounding air vibrated once more, constantly displacing and pushing outward. Finally, he clenched his fist. A concussive crack erupted like a thunderclap on dry ground, the echoes reverberating through the surrounding space. Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie watched in shock. They knew vaguely that only those whose spiritual power and physical bodies had attained perfection could reach this level. Could Chen Chuan have already attained this state? Yet how old was he? Not even twenty! They had never even heard of someone like this before. Chen Chuan was clear in his own mind: in truth, he had not yet reached perfection. However, his inherently formidable body combined with the merger of his second self had forcibly pushed him across this boundary. Even if he had not attained the true, substantive peak he recognized within himself, he had nevertheless reached—or even surpassed—the line attained by fighters who had reached perfection. He felt this power. This was not a technique gained through training; the prerequisite was simply possessing a certain foundation. Once such a person received a bit of guidance, it could be grasped immediately. Those who could not master it simply had not reached this threshold, and no amount of grueling practice would help. "Just like that," Chen Bitong said. He extended a hand and adopted a stance facing Chen Chuan. "Now, let us test it."