Yao Zhiyi and Xiao Wan watched as Chen Chuan sent Wei Guochan flying into the distance with a single punch. Even as they remained locked in a standoff with Zhao Zhenye, they could not help turning their heads in astonishment.
Now they could see clearly: this martial artist was indeed the very same young man they had just encountered earlier.
When they had first caught sight of him, they had found it hard to believe.
Having passed through this stage themselves, both knew full well that someone who had just become a martial artist would likely struggle even to master and stabilize their own power and breath. Their body would at best be suffused with spiritual perception power leaking out of its own accord; managing to shield oneself from head to toe was already commendable, while displaying any real, devastating might was virtually impossible.
Under normal circumstances, due to disparities across all fronts, such a person was practically a newly hatched cub—utterly incapable of measuring up against a seasoned, formidable martial artist like Wei Guochan.
Yet reality had shattered their assumptions. The radiance Chen Chuan projected was astonishingly potent, dense to the point of flowing like molten liquid. Such sheer intensity was far beyond anything displayed by someone who had merely broken past the limit—even Yao Zhiyi and Xiao Wan could not compare to it.
In the massive crater ahead, the billowing plume of dust had yet to disperse. The black-armored general shook his head and hauled himself up from the soil in which he was half-buried. Numerous fractures crisscrossed his armor now; with every slight movement, broken armor plates fell away, and fine grit trickled through the breaches with a soft rustle.
A gaping void had been blasted through his vambrace and cuirass in particular. Specks of golden brilliance lingered across the shattered sections, and faint wisps of breath steamed outward, as though persistently corroding his flesh.
Yet the moment he stood up, he saw a tall, upright silhouette appear at the crater's rim. Though somewhat obscured by the churning dust, the figure stood poised at the edge, looking down on him with a commanding gaze.
The light in the black-armored general's eyes flared behind his visor. Black, smoky radiance emanated from his body, distorting the light along its fringes, while an invisible barrier shoved aside gravel and rocks meters away. Dropping his center of gravity slightly, he charged up at that silhouette with a resounding roar.
Seeing this, Xiao Wan could not resist shouting a warning: "Careful!"
He recognized the technique: the Triple Golden Terrace. The spiritual assault struck first, followed closely by the physical body in a second wave, before the two merged to unleash a third surge of power.
These three tiers of force could also be layered to erupt simultaneously, generating several times one's usual offensive power. In a frontal clash, it was practically unstoppable—especially lethal at close quarters, truly capable of shattering anything in its path.
Standing above, Chen Chuan watched the silhouette surge toward him. He made no move to dodge, nor did he even intend to parry. The first tier—the spiritual assault—arrived first, crashing against the field surrounding him. The impact caused a shimmering, invisible barrier to manifest around his form.
At that moment, the black-armored general's second tier arrived. Facing this onslaught, Chen Chuan leaned slightly forward and thrust one palm ahead. Instantly, the field swirling with black smoke and the brilliant white field collided. At the point of contact, a dense network of fractures formed, spreading outward thread by thread.
Right then, the general's forward momentum synchronized with the spiritual force, and his six arms shoved forward in unison, erupting with the third tier of power!
Chen Chuan still showed no inclination to yield. The very instant his opponent exerted force, he lunged forward at the same time, slamming in like a fiery sphere of golden molten rock.
As the full might of both sides collided without reserve, the superior force was determined in an instant. The field around the black-armored general shattered with a sharp crack, and the colossal force driving back against him lifted his feet clean off the ground.
Chen Chuan's calm, profound gaze locked onto the levitating, massive figure. He clenched his other hand behind his back into a fist, channeled the momentum, and struck upward with a thunderous roar, delivering an exceptionally ferocious blow!
Sensing danger, the general crossed his upper four arms before him. Yet the blow was astonishingly fierce, driving his own arms back into his chest and sending him tumbling through the air.
Chen Chuan launched him far into the distance, his own momentum carrying his torso forward. Watching the figure rapidly recede, he stamped both feet downward. With a sharp snap, a ring of air exploded beneath him, the ground blowing open like a crater.
In an instant, he overtook the hurtling body and delivered a sweeping kick in midair, striking squarely against the general's ribs. The general's torso twisted into a contorted shape before accelerating through the air with another deafening boom. After skipping and tumbling over a dozen times across the earth, he slammed into a gravel-strewn knoll, sending a vast cloud of dust and debris blasting into the air.
Though Yao Zhiyi and Xiao Wan were locked in combat with Zhao Zhenye, they had kept an eye on the other clash. At this sight, their brows twitched. They knew full well how formidable Wei Guochan was—he had traded blows evenly with them just moments ago, yet now he was being utterly dismantled in a one-sided beatdown. Did this mean the same would happen if either of them stepped up?
Chen Chuan landed lightly on the balls of his feet, stabilized himself, and walked forward at an unhurried pace. By now, the molten golden radiance shimmering across his form had subsided, yet a dense, mist-like white vapor continued to drift around him, dispersing into a faint jade-white glow as it spread outward.
He had previously made efforts to learn about the state of affairs after becoming a martial artist.
The outermost invisible barrier was actually his own biological field. Unlike fields of the past, however, this type was practically tangible, possessing extraordinary defensive power.
In truth, it was a protective field generated by a martial artist's robust vitality. As long as the martial artist drew breath, it would persist without the need for conscious control. The stronger one's fundamental life essence, the firmer and more resilient the emitted field.
Such biological fields were difficult to breach even with standard firearms. As for fighters below the limit, they could pound on it all day without making a dent.
When two martial artists clashed, this barrier was typically the first point of contact.
Within the field lay another form of power akin to spiritual perception power—the dazzling, lava-like golden liquid and the wisps of white vapor that had just leaked from his body.
Because this force was generated from within the martial artist, though fundamentally similar in essence to the powers of the other realm, it was already an independent entity. Ancient texts referred to it as the "One-Embracing True Force" or the "Flame of Spirituality."
In modern parlance, martial artists occasionally referred to it by simpler terms such as "refined jin."
This true force embodied a martial artist's willpower as well as their own unique jin. Once it contaminated an opponent during a clash, it wrought immense destruction and suppressed the regeneration of mutated tissue.
Thus, combat between martial artists revolved around using various techniques and advantages to breach this defensive layer, drive one's own true force into the opponent's body, and destroy their physical tissue.
Deep within the knoll, the black-armored general lay embedded in the earth. Shards of his broken visor had dug into his face, three of his arms were twisted and fractured, and his flank had suffered catastrophic trauma, caved in by a massive depression.
Moreover, white luminous vapor rose across his entire body. Though the black smoke on his skin fought back, the true force had penetrated too deeply to be eradicated completely.
Yet as a general of the former imperial house, he could hardly be considered a pure human; he was a hybrid fused with another mutated organism, endowed with far more versatile capabilities.
At this moment, dense clusters of white mutated tissue surged outward across his frame, filling the gaps in his shattered armor. His broken arms snapped back into place with alarming speed, propping his entire body upright once more.
Beneath his visor, his eyes tracked the figure strolling toward him. But in an instant, the silhouette vanished. His pupils dilated, and he twisted around violently, only to see a fist plunging downward from above. His fully mended six arms shot upward together to meet it.
With a heavy bang, their fields clashed violently. Bolstered by the mutated tissue, the general's field cracked with countless spreading fissures, yet held together for the moment.
However, the downward force showed no sign of abating. Under the steady, grinding pressure of that fist, the earth caved in around him in vast swathes, and his entire body slowly sank into the ground.
Throughout the struggle, the general seemed to exert every ounce of his strength to resist. His body went rigid, his teeth clenched tight, and the veins along his forehead and neck bulged violently. Strands of white mutated tissue swelled one after another, making his frame appear a size larger and causing his metal armor to burst open intermittently.
Yet even so, he could not halt the descending weight. Before long, his knees buckled, and his lower legs were pressed deep into the soil.
Chen Chuan kept one hand pressing downward while raising his other arm, clenching it into a fist. A sphere of radiance flared to life upon it, a brilliant blaze of golden-white light illuminating half his body and the surrounding clearing with blinding brilliance.
In the distance, Xiao Wan had just traded a heavy blow with Zhao Zhenye, rebounding backward. Catching sight of this, he could not help muttering, "Hey, isn't that a bit..."
Before he could finish, Chen Chuan's radiant fist slammed down with crushing force!
With a deafening roar, the earth shook violently. A towering pillar of smoke churned skyward, accompanied by a tremendous blast and a violent gale of shockwaves that persisted for a long time before finally settling.
The sheer commotion caused the three combatants nearby to halt in unison and step back from one another.
Xiao Wan stared ahead at the crater, which looked as though it had been struck by a naval cannon, and the barren expanse of vaporized earth surrounding it, finally finishing his sentence:
"...a bit excessive?"
Chapter 768