With a deafening boom, the section of the airship where Chen Chuan unleashed his strength suddenly shattered. The entire vessel shuddered from the impact as his figure plummeted downward.
Howling gales surged against him, whipping his hair and clothes violently backward under the ferocious air pressure, while plumes of clouds and mist before his eyes shattered one after another in his descent.
After he fell a certain distance, the wisp of vermilion haze behind him flashed, instantly carrying him into a fissure. A vast expanse of blinding light sprang up before him, and he seemed to dissolve straight into it.
It felt like an eternity, yet seemed like the very next instant, when the brilliant light abruptly shattered and he re-emerged into the outside world. But merely a heartbeat later, the vermilion haze swept him forward, plunging him into another fissure once more.
This near-luminal shuttling repeated several times in succession. When he emerged from the fissure for the final time, he was already directly above the Ferris Wheel.
In his eyes now, it appeared only as an upright vortex radiating intense brilliance, from which countless threads of white light surged forth and converged upon a certain entity.
It was a colossal entity standing over two hundred meters tall. Its lower body was like a surging, streaming torrent of air currents spreading outward, while its upper body coalesced into a mass that seemed formed of multiple spiraling tentacle-like structures—coiling, unfurling, and expanding at turns, causing its silhouette to contract and shift continuously.
It radiated brilliant flashes of various colors from deep within itself, illuminating the sky and sea in dazzling hues.
Upon those spiraling tentacles were multiple luminous eye-like organs. The surface of its body was clad in shifting layers of air currents possessing the texture of fluid liquid, while the clouds surrounding it assumed unnatural forms, gathering in surging clusters to buoy it between sea and land.
Yet Chen Chuan knew that all of this remained illusory and unfixed—a physical manifestation projected by its mind as its field shone through from another world. However, if not dealt with in time, the entity would truly transform into this state.
Right then, the entity seemed to sense something. Its body tilted upward, and the eyes across all of its spiraling tentacles lifted in unison. It appeared poised to take action; dense clusters of flashes ignited one after another from the centers of its countless spirals.
Yet at that exact moment, an invisible force suddenly erupted from the grounds of the Ferris Wheel Building. Surging toward the heavens, it resembled a pillar of light piercing the sky under the vortex's glow.
Simultaneously, at twelve locations across the peninsula, twelve beams of light flared up, establishing a tight resonance with one another.
Guided by this pull, the central pillar of light suddenly dispersed outward upon reaching its zenith, cascading downward in countless fine strands that locked the colossal entity firmly within.
Whether it was the massive vortex, the entity itself, or the anomalous phenomena swirling around them, everything ground to an abrupt halt for an instant.
Chen Chuan gazed intently at the colossal being. Raising both hands, he lifted the Xuejun Saber high into the air.
At this moment, his mind was focused as never before. Driven by his fierce willpower, power from another world was drawn downward, descending directly onto the blade. Merging with a certain power latent within the saber, it burst into resplendent radiance.
Right at this moment, the time struck twelve o'clock sharp. The Second Self behind him instantly restored itself to its prime, and the wisp of vermilion haze also seemed to sense something; an overwhelmingly potent force empowered his body, and the light on the Xuejun Saber abruptly surged, extending outward for over ten meters in an instant!
His strength and spirit soared to an unprecedented peak. Trailing vermilion and white mist behind him and brandishing a blade light that seemed capable of cleaving the clouds of heaven, he slashed down from the sky with the momentum of a plummeting meteor.
In the next instant, the strike slammed violently into the very crown of the entity. The dazzling blade light cleaved straight into the apex of the vortex and the colossal being, continuing in a straight line all the way downward until it struck the earth with a tremendous boom.
To the onlookers watching from afar, it seemed as if a slightly curved streak of vermilion-and-white lightning had plunged from the sky, ripping through the dense mist and glaring light to strike the ground. After what felt like a momentary pause, a blinding burst of brilliance erupted from that spot, forcing everyone to squeeze their eyes shut and instinctively shield their faces with their hands.
They felt a violent gust of wind sweeping from the horizon, as if threatening to shove them backward, while nothing but howling roars filled their ears.
Only after quite a while, when the intense light finally began to fade, did everyone open their eyes again.
Someone involuntarily cried out, "Look!"
As the crowd looked up, expressions of shock washed over their faces. The Ferris Wheel standing over two hundred meters tall along the coast now appeared severed down the middle by an invisible blade, a massive cleft running straight through its center.
Moments later, it let out a screeching groan. Accompanied by buckling trusses and tumbling components, the two semicircular halves slowly parted to either side. Amid flashing sparks and the shrieking groan of twisting metal, amidst billowing dust and the ground's persistent tremors, the massive structure tilted and toppled before the stunned gazes of the onlookers, crashing down with immense weight.
The half crashing onto shore threw up immense plumes of dust and debris with a thunderous rumble, while the other fell into the sea, churning up colossal spouts of water and crashing waves. White foam and surging breakers tumbled endlessly, battering the shore again and again until even those watching from a distance felt droplets of spray hit their faces.
Across every department monitoring the battle, the light screens projected by their field organisms shuddered and blurred violently, leaving them unable to discern the situation within.
Even so, everyone stared unblinkingly, refusing to miss a single detail. Most of them were fraught with anxiety and suspense, desperate to know the outcome.
After quite some time, the interference finally began to subside, and the light screens steadied. As the smoke, dust, and mist slowly drifted away, the scene inside was at last revealed in full. Everyone who saw it caught their breath.
Upon the grounds of that peninsula lay a crater so massive it looked as if blasted open by a meteorite—so vast that seawater from the perimeter had begun seeping inside. And amidst the slowly thinning dust stood a solitary figure.
Chen Chuan stood in the crater, maintaining the posture of a downward cleave with both hands gripping his saber. Swirling about him were wisps of ascending white mist and a band of vermilion light revolving around his body.
Across from him, Wu Qi stood motionless, the countless compound eyes covering its head and chest staring unblinkingly at him. Behind it, that even more gargantuan psychic manifestation loomed, seeming to blot out the entire view ahead, the innumerable glowing eyes across its spiraling tentacles fixed squarely upon him.
Yet Chen Chuan's gaze met it without the slightest flinch.
After a tense standoff, the phantom image seemed to waver slightly. Accompanied by a faint, elusive shriek of indignation, it slowly dispersed and faded away into a sweeping gust of wind.
Once the phantom vanished completely, Wu Qi seemed to regain self-control and twitched slightly. Yet that single movement brought a crisp snap—a fissure split open right down the center of its forehead.
What was exposed within that fissure was neither mutated tissue nor flesh and blood, but only dry scorching.
The fissure propagated rapidly downward, traveling all the way down its body. First, half of its head broke off and tumbled down, followed by its broad shoulders. Its body was like rotted wood, shedding chunks piece by piece.
As its powerful legs snapped with a crack, unable to support the heavy torso any longer, the entire frame collapsed completely and toppled forward with a crash. Countless brittle, withered fragments smashed into the ground, kicking up rolling plumes of dust.
Seeing that it had completely fallen, Chen Chuan flicked his saber and slowly stood upright. At that moment, spurred by the surge of air currents from the earlier collision, the sea mist dispersed unnoticed, and countless gray fragments swept up by the wind swirled about him like snowflakes.
Farther away, Xu Chan and his squad had already retreated to the perimeter the moment they sensed something amiss earlier, though they had not left the area.
Their chests heaving slightly, they gazed from afar at this awe-inspiring sight, staring at the figure standing there with saber in hand.
They had known someone would deliver the decisive killing blow, but they had never imagined it would be struck in such a manner.
To tell the truth, they had almost believed the operation had failed just moments before.
After a long pause, Xu Chan calmed his breathing. He looked at the cleaved ruins of the Ferris Wheel, then at Chen Chuan. Recalling that earth-shattering slash of peerless audacity, he murmured softly, "Magnificent!"
Inside the combat command center, the personnel watched this scene. After a prolonged silence, a burst of ecstatic cheers suddenly erupted.
Watchtower's voice chimed in right on cue: "Field of active conscious entity detected as dissipated. Incursion of external unpredictable entity detected as dissipated. Elimination and expulsion confirmed. Based on feedback and evaluations from all departments... Operation Horizon is complete."
These words triggered an even louder roar of celebration. Standing on the second floor above, Commissioner Liang also wore a look of relief, as though a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
Yet his expression promptly straightened again, and he said in a deep voice, "The Fumu fission is not over yet. All departments, keep your spirits up."
However, his tone carried no real severity.
The personnel acknowledged loudly, unable to keep the broad smiles from their faces.
This time, both the Ferris Wheel Company's active conscious entity and that eldritch presence had been wiped out together. Even though the Fumu fission was still ongoing, could any internal threat possibly surpass those two?
After issuing his reminder, Commissioner Liang said nothing further on the matter. Thinking for a moment, he said to his female assistant, "Dispatch a medical team to check on Old Xu's squad and Captain Chen. Make sure they are unharmed."
As long as a third limit fighter remained alive, their injuries would gradually heal. Nevertheless, having made close contact with an entity like that, it was difficult to say whether any hidden dangers had been left behind, making a thorough examination essential.
Pausing, he added, "Tell them to take care. They are pillars of Great Shun. Once this affair is over, I will personally request commendations for them."
Chapter 591