Chen Chuan had used the Furnace Breathing Technique as his foundation and the destructive jin taught to him by Chen Bitong as his method to deliver that ferocious strike.
This kind of jin could kill even massive creatures in a single blow, let alone being delivered as Mind Jin this time. Thus, upon taking the strike, Number Nine was blasted apart on the spot.
However, for this jin to unleash sufficient power required a full buildup of momentum. In conventional combat, while he could use the Second Self to absorb damage and launch such an attack, it usually couldn't achieve such an effect.
From the distance, Xiang Tiancheng watched with lingering shock. With such immense destructive force, if it hit him, he truly had no confidence he could redirect or guide it away. But upon thinking carefully, he relaxed slightly.
He could tell this attack wasn't ordinary standard fare; as long as he didn't give his opponent enough time to build momentum in combat, it couldn't normally be brought to bear.
Reasonably speaking, he should steer clear of such an opponent—after all, he hadn't come today for a duel, but to rendezvous and retrieve the item. Yet as a fighter, when encountering a formidable master, how could he willingly let the chance slip by?
He raised both hands, pressed two fingers together on each, and jabbed them into a specific spot on the back of his head, driving his fingertips directly in.
In that instant, his eyes snapped wide open, his heart pounded frantically, blood flow accelerated within him, and mutated tissues across his entire body sprang into excited activity.
This was a secret acupuncture point stimulation method passed down within the Resistance Front, used to unlock the body's latent potential and elevate combat capability.
He exhaled a breath, stretched his limbs, and proactively strode toward Chen Chuan.
After disposing of Number Nine, Chen Chuan set down the briefcase, unbuttoned the duster he wore, and tossed it aside, revealing the enforcement captain's uniform underneath.
When Xiang Tiancheng saw it, understanding dawned. An enforcement captain... no wonder...
Still, to his knowledge, enforcement captains were usually accompanied by squad members. Not seeing any now, it was likely because the situation in the city was tense and manpower was short, so they had been dispersed elsewhere.
Thinking this, he didn't pause his stride, continuing to close in on Chen Chuan.
Chen Chuan observed the rhythm of his movement as he walked over. Though there were no exaggerated motions, Chen Chuan could discern that the man's power and speed had noticeably increased. At the same time, compared to its earlier steadiness, his biological field carried a fiery, scorching heat, constantly radiating outward.
This seemed to be the result of taking some drug or unlocking latent strength.
Not surprising—many fighters with deep backgrounds possessed a trick like this.
Moreover, once physical attributes improved, technique would be executed at a correspondingly higher level. This wasn't merely a small boost; if he could perfectly coordinate and harness this power, he would essentially become an entirely different opponent.
Within ten meters, Xiang Tiancheng's figure flashed as he surged forward, chopping a hand blade toward Chen Chuan.
Chen Chuan took a half step back, raised an arm to block, sank his stance, and upon seeing the other hand thrusting forward, reached out to intercept. Parrying and slipping through his opponent's guard, Chen Chuan thrust his fingertips straight toward Xiang Tiancheng's face.
Xiang Tiancheng snapped his head aside to evade, shifting swiftly to the other side.
In these two exchanges, their arms had only lightly collided, yet the jin contained within penetrated into muscle and bone. Had either failed to withstand even a fraction of it, their subsequent moves would deform or falter, leaving them finished by their opponent in the blink of an eye.
Xiang Tiancheng's offensive this time was far fiercer and swifter than before. One strike followed another, continuous follow-ups always delivered with sound, efficient mechanics.
With his physical attributes boosted, his strikes were faster and his efficiency in redirecting jin was greater. With every clash, the reverberating jin from Chen Chuan was shifted to other parts of his body and converted into his own offensive power. As a result, his motions would often accelerate abruptly, creating an erratic cadence of fast and slow strikes.
Behind this, however, lay astonishing combat coordination and mastery of rhythm.
Through the continuous exchange of moves, Chen Chuan had now largely gauged Xiang Tiancheng's capabilities. Techniques that redirected and guided an opponent's jin were exceptionally useful whether in one-on-one duels or melee scuffles.
In particular, dispersing invading jin into different parts of the body so it wouldn't detonate immediately required an exceptionally robust physique and superior judgment as prerequisites.
Yet, in the end, it was still a fraction too slow.
Chen Chuan's eyes flashed, his speed abruptly surging. Sensing this, Xiang Tiancheng hastened his pace as well.
It wasn't that Xiang Tiancheng couldn't go faster, but rather that he needed to keep his body within a range he could properly coordinate. But now that Chen Chuan had sped up, he was forced to match him.
Consequently, the frequency of jin collisions inevitably soared, causing bursts of formidable jin to infiltrate his body one after another.
Xiang Tiancheng gradually found it grueling to guide and redirect these forces. Before the previous surge could be channeled away, the next one was already crashing in, and the unneutralized jin began accumulating inside him.
Yet he couldn't stop. Because Chen Chuan had initiated the acceleration, Xiang Tiancheng was swept along by the momentum; if he lagged behind by even a fraction, Chen Chuan would unleash a devastating blow.
The scene from moments ago was etched deeply into his mind. Under these circumstances, he had no confidence he could withstand such an assault, leaving him no choice but to keep up.
After only a short while, his body grew flushed and scorching hot, as though he were being steamed alive. So much jin had been absorbed that his physique was buckling under the strain.
If he didn't find a way to break the pattern, his body would sooner or later burst from the jin. But attempting a shift would almost certainly mean being smashed to death by Chen Chuan's fist.
At this perilous juncture, Chen Chuan suddenly seemed to sense something and raised a hand, catching an incoming throwing knife with a sharp crack. Yet his other hand still collided with Xiang Tiancheng's fist.
By now Xiang Tiancheng's face was turning purplish, but seeing the knife create a diversion, he seized the opening. The moment his fist clashed against Chen Chuan's arm, he channeled every ounce of strength into his feet. With a thunderous boom, he discharged all the jin he could redirect into the ground and leaped backward.
Simultaneously, a crack sounded as his elbow snapped, and blood squirted out like water from a nozzle. Nor was that all—flesh ruptured in over a dozen places across his body. In the end, there was still a portion of jin he couldn't vent, forcing it to discharge outward in this brutal fashion.
The instant his feet touched down, without the slightest hesitation, he turned and fled into the distance. Knowing he was outmatched, staying to fight would be pure madness.
Chen Chuan looked in the direction of his retreat, but didn't pursue him. Instead, he stood quietly in place—not because the man had cover, but because he had something far more important to attend to.
Just as his opponent was defeated and retreating, his spirit elevated once again.
And this time, he felt himself cross that boundary entirely. His spirit seemed to arrive in an indescribable realm—a domain that felt capable of holding everything, brimming with endless possibilities, yet beneath it all, seemed to harbor countless entities that could swallow him whole at any moment.
He cleared his mind, regulated his breathing, and calmly operated the Spiritual Illumination Reflection Method, keeping his spirit suspended there.
He could clearly feel that with his current capacity, reaching this point was his limit; unless his physical condition improved further, he could climb no higher right now. Thus, following his intent and heart, with his spiritual illumination settling into place, he left an imprint within this realm.
After doing so, he closed his eyes, focused his spirit to probe into this domain, and attempted to draw down a wisp of power from it.
Moments later, a faint glow appeared around his palm. He lifted his hand, examined it before his eyes, and clenched it tight.
Drawing spirit to perceive truth, remaking life anew.
Spiritual perception!
Previously, he had already hovered at the threshold of breaking through this layer, lacking only a tiny bit. The appearance of Xiang Tiancheng—a sufficiently formidable opponent—had spurred his spirit to elevate once more, finally allowing him to successfully take this step.
He tested the sensation. This power required focused guidance to be brought into full play, and it felt as though his spirit were continuously bearing a heavy weight, requiring constant support lest it scatter at the slightest lapse in attention.
Of course, this might also be because he had only just grasped it and was unfamiliar with it, needing time to gradually adapt.
Yet without a doubt, drawing upon such power required the support of a formidable body and spiritual strength; in even slightly compromised condition, one might fail to achieve it.
At present, he relied on merging with his Second Self to forcibly elevate his spirit, meaning his spirit still needed further tempering. Even so, having reached this stage, he was now equipped to compete with others for the pure substance that would soon arrive.
Furthermore, with this accomplished, he felt he was now capable of reading the spiritual message Chen Bitong had left him. But now was not the time; he could attend to that after returning.
He lowered his hand, dispelling the faint glow, and glanced toward where Xiang Tiancheng had fled. Who knew where that man had sprung from, but his strength was undeniably formidable.
He didn't seem like someone from the corporations, nor did he look like a mercenary.
His thoughts turned, and an inkling of a guess formed in his mind.
However, the Defense Department had only asked him to recover the split sub-body. Now that the item was securely intercepted, the rest was none of his concern.
He walked over to the briefcase, lifted it from the ground, opened it, and checked inside, finding a sealed metal box.
He had encountered split sub-bodies twice before. As his spiritual power brushed against it, he immediately felt a familiar, immense field, confirming the item was indeed inside.
Looking around, this was not the place to deal with it; being outside the city, the field monitoring systems of the Defense Department and the municipal government likely couldn't detect this area.
So he draped the duster back over himself, pulled the Xuejun Saber from the ground, and headed back toward the tunnel he had arrived through.
Chapter 572