Lodgment

Beyond a fighter in the ordinary sense… Chen Chuan noted the phrasing. The human body naturally possessed its limits, meaning there was theoretically always an apex. What Teacher Xue meant was likely beyond that threshold. This was plainly evident from the body teeming with spiritual perception power. It was worth noting that transcending this limit did not necessarily make one a martial artist. From what he understood, a martial artist represented a difference in stage in the truest sense. Just then, the earth beneath his feet suddenly heaved upward, and several charred-looking corpses crawled out. Nor was it just here; numerous similar things were emerging across the perimeter. The first few to crawl out were already charging toward him. Seeing this, Chen Chuan waved a hand outward. A rumbling crash like rolling thunder swept through the air, and the corpses were hurled backward with an explosive boom, as if violently shoved by an irresistible force. This was merely a straightforward strike of Cloud-Dispersing jin, delivered as an airborne shockwave, yet the resulting effect on the scene was staggering. The dirt beneath his feet rippled out in the shape of a blast wave, and the scorched corpses had shattered to pieces by the time they hit the ground. Even so, the other charred corpses around them seemed entirely unaffected, appearing ready to continue their assault. Beside him, Teacher Xue remarked, "You have entered that entity's field. This is what entities from that other side excel at using most. You should have seen simulation training with active conscious entities back at school. That, too, is the power of a field, but employing it here in the Confluence makes it far sturdier and more potent than in Center City. "Within this field, everything favors her. She can even regenerate ceaselessly and send these things to attack you without pause. So long as the field's power remains unexhausted, you will never eliminate them all. Since this is maintained by her spirit, and her spirit is superior to yours, she will not run out before your stamina is depleted. However… "It is far too unstable." He reached out and tapped lightly against an empty patch of air. A crisp chime rang out at once, like the sound of shattering glass, and tiny fractures abruptly crept across the entire field. He continued, "Her technique is too crude, likely lacking a solid foundation of power to construct it. This stems from the disharmony between her physical strength and her spirit. There are flaws in many places, so all it takes is a little interference." As his words fell, the surrounding scene shattered and dissolved completely. Chen Chuan found himself back in the camp where he had just set foot. He looked at the woman ahead, who had evidently been possessed by the power of some entity from the other side. He drew the scabbard off the Xuejun Saber, set it to the side, and pointed the blade outward. "Does she seem to be craving something?" Xue Shou replied, "It is not she who craves it, but the entity on the other side. If these entities wish to infiltrate our world, they must possess a body capable of bearing them. That leaves them with two choices: either invest vast amounts of power into modifying one, or seize a more suitable vessel. "This body appears substandard, requiring the consumption of her own kind just to sustain it. But a fighter—especially one with a robust physique—is far better equipped to endure their power. You have clearly caught that entity's eye; it wants you to become its next vessel." He regarded the monstrous woman. "Though this physical body surpasses the limits of an ordinary person at the third limit, it has clearly undergone little refinement, resulting in an uncoordinated whole. "As for her spirit, while she holds an absolute advantage, unleashing it recklessly would only cause her body to collapse prematurely. You are by no means without a chance of winning." He smiled faintly. "I leave the rest to you. I trust you can handle it." Chen Chuan said without hesitation, "Of course." Even setting aside his position as an Investigation Supervisor of the Disposal Bureau, he was a member of the Purist Faction. Faced with such an alien presence, he held both the duty and the responsibility to eradicate whatever tried to seep through. Xue Shou smiled and stepped behind him. When Chen Chuan glanced over his shoulder, the teacher was already gone. The woman ahead seemed to have sensed something when the field shattered earlier, showing a degree of wariness toward Chen Chuan. Only when Xue Shou's projection vanished did she appear to spring to life. With a grotesque shriek, she swung the long staff in her hands and smashed it violently toward him. Watching the incoming blur of the staff, Chen Chuan noticed a faint glimmer wrapping its tip. With a thought, his Second Self merged with him in an instant, and he took two steps back. The head of the staff slammed into the ground ahead with a resounding boom. A circular shockwave rippled out, shoving the dirt aside at blinding speed amidst billowing clouds of dust. Yet she did not stop. Riding the rebound, she realigned the staff, twisted her torso, and thrust it toward him once more. Chen Chuan did not rush forward, choosing instead to evade backward again. He recognized that she was using a staff technique distinct to the First People. This style was designed for battling perilous beasts rather than human opponents, which was why it incorporated many seemingly pointless movements. For instance, while this strike was clearly a thrust, it was not sharp or penetrating; rather, it carried an upward-scooping force—a technique meant to topple large beasts. Having missed him a second time, the woman jerked the butt of the staff upward, spun the shaft in a reverse arc, and brought it crashing down at him with a whistling roar, the ferocious jin instantly tearing through the air. By now, Chen Chuan had largely discerned her technique. No wonder Xue Shou had called her uncoordinated. Her strength was immense, yet she could not bring her full power to bear cohesively. Facing the staff cleaving down from above, he did not use the Xuejun Saber to block. Instead, clenching his fist as a faint radiance bloomed across his knuckles, he met it with an upward punch. As the staff descended, the spiritual perception powers on both sides instantly clashed and eroded each other. Though the woman possessed an overwhelming abundance of spiritual perception power, very little of it could bleed into the staff. Such power required mutated tissue to serve as a conduit; the mutated tissue on the staff was limited, which naturally capped the power that could gather there. Furthermore, this might not have been a weapon she was accustomed to using, making the conduit even poorer. By the time staff met fist, the spiritual perception power on the weapon had already been ground away, while the faint glow on Chen Chuan's fist remained intact. With a heavy crack, Chen Chuan was shoved back half a step, while the staff was knocked high into the air by the force of his spiritual perception, dragging the woman backward along with it. Seeing this, Chen Chuan kicked off the ground and surged forward, closing the distance to her body in a flash. Despite her massive build and overwhelming advantage in raw strength, that very same lack of coordination made her sluggish—a fatal flaw in actual combat. The moment he drew near, he slammed a fist into her shoulder. It was likewise protected by spiritual perception power, but unlike on the staff, the reserves here were abundant enough that a single blow could not dissolve them. Without waiting for the first punch to fully settle, his other hand released the Xuejun Saber and delivered an immediate follow-up strike. The last remnants of spiritual light clinging to the area were instantly ground away, and his fist drove solidly home! The woman was already stumbling backward, and this blow shattered what remained of her balance, forcing her to lean back. Chen Chuan snatched the falling hilt of his saber, raised the blade in a swift motion, and unleashed a massive diagonal slash across her body! The point of entry was the exact spot where her spiritual perception power had just been erased. The blade cut cleanly into the flesh and sliced all the way through without the slightest resistance. With a sharp slice, that entire section of shoulder and arm went flying! Deprived of an arm, the woman found it even harder to steady herself. She staggered sideways for a few steps before tumbling to the ground, propping herself up with her remaining hand. Having landed a decisive blow, Chen Chuan gave her no room to breathe. Riding the momentum of his charge, he turned the blade and cleaved down at her once more. Just then, a sharp glint of light spilled from both of the woman's eyes. At that instant, Chen Chuan's Second Self turned abruptly ethereal. Yet he appeared entirely unaffected. His blade first chopped across her skull, swiftly dissolving the spiritual perception power shielding it. Then he pulled back, gripped the hilt with both hands, drew on his strength for a fraction of a second, and lunged violently forward! The saber stabbed directly into the woman's eye socket, tearing a shrill howl of agony from her throat. Yet after penetrating only a short distance, the blade met fierce resistance. Chen Chuan's eyes flashed. Without hesitation, he sprang backward, clearing four or five meters in an instant. Just then, an explosive boom tore through the air ahead as the long staff swept beneath his feet, the violent slipstream kicking up a gale that whipped his clothes and scarf behind him. Touching down steadily, he shifted the saber to his right hand and looked forward. The woman had risen to her feet once more. A faint glow surfaced within her ruined eye, and a similar light flickered over her severed shoulder. Flesh writhed over the wound as tentacles sprouted outward, rapidly coalescing into a new arm. It looked nothing like the original, resembling a tangled mass of gnarled tree roots twisted together. A frenzied roar tore from her lips, and she charged at him, raising the staff to swing it once more. Chen Chuan backed away while observing the flaws in her form. He soon noticed that after suffering a setback, her technique had noticeably changed. Many redundant movements had been stripped away, proof that she was adapting and adjusting. If that was the case, he could not afford to give her the time or opportunity to keep adapting; he had to finish her off swiftly while he still held the upper hand. He had also realized that although her spiritual perception power was vast, the disharmony between her body and spirit caused it to fluctuate erratically. Wherever she needed it, she would direct it in a reckless surge. In that case… Pausing in his retreat, Chen Chuan drew a breath. As a scorching heat surged across his skin, he gripped the hilt with both hands, raised the blade high, and locked it horizontally across the path of the incoming staff.