As soon as Chen Chuan finished speaking, Xiaoyuezhai seemed to sense something ahead of him and suddenly held his horse-cutting saber horizontally before himself.
The next instant, a thunderous boom erupted across the courtyard.
Hu Kan was off to the side taking medicine. His hand shook, nearly dropping the pill to the ground. His gaze happened not to be on the courtyard just then, so he couldn't see what had happened clearly—all he saw was that both figures had vanished.
A huge crater had appeared right where Chen Chuan had been standing, encircled by radiating cracks. Strands of scorching golden-white light seeped into the fissures between the flagstones.
Behind Xiaoyuezhai had stood an elongated spirit screen carved all over with dragons and serpents, but now a breach seven or eight meters wide was smashed through it. Shattered chunks of stone had burst through to the other side, scattering noisily across the ground, some still bouncing and tumbling about.
Immediately afterward, rolling booms echoed from further back, as if thunder in the sky were detonating mere inches away. Continuous tremors shook the ground beneath his buttocks and the soles of his feet. This wasn't the intermittent rumbling from earlier, but an unrelenting vibration that nearly knocked him off balance.
"Holy mother of..."
Hu Kan rubbed his head in a daze, thinking to himself: *Is this little brother who just arrived really this fierce?* He hastily swallowed his medicine, sat for a brief moment, and then bellowed, "All set!"
As he stood back up, his body rapidly swelled once more. Ignoring the armor discarded on the ground, he scooped up his two giant hammers and strode after them.
Further in the rear, with a deafening crash, Xiaoyuezhai slammed into a smooth stone cliff engraved with scriptures. Threadlike cracks spiderwebbed across the wall behind him. He slid down, the purplish-white light around him flickering erratically.
Looking up, he saw Chen Chuan's figure land on the ground ahead with a thud, then walk slowly toward him. But after merely two paces, the figure vanished once again.
Xiaoyuezhai's pupils constricted. Yet he didn't try to track him with his eyes, because he simply couldn't. At this moment, his spirit sensed a silhouette rapidly closing in from the front. The horse-cutting saber in his grasp trembled slightly.
In that instant, he didn't move his physical body, but a phantom silhouette emerged from within him, brandishing a phantom blade to slash at the incoming figure.
A crisp shattering sound echoed in the air. The blade's phantom struck the incoming figure with a sharp crack, but like colored glaze smashing into something far harder, it shattered completely along with the blade-wielding phantom. Even so, it successfully halted the oncoming silhouette for a split second.
Granted this brief reprieve, Xiaoyuezhai took a step back—and that single step was enough for him to readjust. At first, he hadn't anticipated that Chen Chuan would possess such terrifying speed and power. The main reason was that he had still been locked into the rhythm of his fight with Hu Kan and hadn't adapted in time. Had his spiritual instincts not driven his body's reflexes and wrung out enough fire of spirituality for protection, an instant's carelessness might very well have seen him hammered into a pile of mangled flesh just now.
He had not expected Great Shun to dispatch such a powerful martial artist this time. He realized he could not keep defending passively; once Hu Kan recovered and it became two against one, he would stand no chance at all.
Having readjusted—right as that phantom shattered—he took a step forward, his horse-cutting saber hacking toward the slightly slowed Chen Chuan. At the same time, a dazzling glare flared from the blade.
This brilliant light emanated not only from the blade, but also burst from his entire body. Accompanying the radiance, a resonant chanting hummed and vibrated in all directions.
Chen Chuan instantly felt a binding force converge from all directions, seemingly intent on suppressing his body. This force was clearly meant to coordinate with the opponent's incoming strike. Watching the blade light descend—seemingly slow, yet deceptively fast—his eyes flashed. He made no attempt to block, but instead allowed a surge of jin to instantly flood his entire body.
When Xiaoyuezhai brought his saber down, the purplish-white light all over his body abruptly gathered onto the blade. Highly condensed fire of spirituality formed an extraordinarily sharp edge, easily slicing through the outer biological field. Even the outermost golden-white fire of spirituality around Chen Chuan was cut through as it rapidly melted away.
Using firmness to overcome softness, striking the void with substance, entering where there is space with that which has no thickness!
Yet, though this blade sliced through most of Chen Chuan's fire of spirituality, just as it nearly touched his skin, it was stopped by a thin, resilient radiance and failed to penetrate.
Spiritual true force, external conditioning embracing oneness!
Realizing something was wrong, Xiaoyuezhai moved to pull back, but at that exact moment, Chen Chuan leaned forward, brushing past him. Reaching out, Chen Chuan's trailing hand locked around Xiaoyuezhai's neck while the other wrapped around his waist. In an instant, his jin shifted into the power of a grappling throw. As his hands locked into place, the One-Embracing True Force penetrated inward layer by layer, and the fire of spirituality across Xiaoyuezhai's body rapidly snuffed out as though doused in water.
In that breath, Xiaoyuezhai was already gripped horizontally against Chen Chuan's waist. Harnessing his forward momentum, Chen Chuan spun outward with sudden violence. A series of sharp crackles snapped through the air—from neck to spine, Xiaoyuezhai's bones were entirely broken, and his entire body instantly went limp.
Chen Chuan released his grip and tossed him onto the ground. Gazing at the lifeless, discarded husk lying silently before him, his eyes flickered.
"A Divine Visage, is it...?"
He nodded. No wonder.
The techniques Xiaoyuezhai had displayed earlier during their exchange had hinted at this, but only now had his true foundation been laid bare.
Until one attained the deepest realms of the Divine Visage—reaching the point where one's own spirit substituted for the gods of heaven—the mortal husk remained relatively important. Even so, once a certain level was reached, destruction of the vessel would not bring about instant death. If a suitable vessel could be found to anchor the spirit, one could still remain in this world, though future cultivation would no longer proceed as smoothly.
Still, that was vastly better than being beaten to death on the spot.
Rumbling thuds sounded from behind as Hu Kan finally caught up. He stared dumbfounded at Xiaoyuezhai, whose spine had been snapped backward like a reverse-curved bow. "Brother," he gasped in shock, "that raw strength of yours has really opened my eyes. In just the blink of an eye, you've already dealt with him?"
"Not yet," Chen Chuan said, looking into the distance. "He cultivates the Divine Visage. He's likely escaped to find another vessel."
Hu Kan took a closer look. "Well, I'll be damned, you're right." He rubbed the stubble on his chin. "I heard Anyao Arena has some 'Heaven Returning Body' technique, babbling about 'crossing life and death, untouched by spirit lords' and all that nonsense. Couldn't tell at all earlier—I thought he cultivated the Human Visage. Crafty bastard."
He glanced around. "Problem is, where's the old codger going to run? Anyone who cultivates the Divine Visage can temporarily possess someone as long as that person is willing to host him. This whole island is crawling with devotees of the Mingguan Main Hall and disciples of Anyao Arena. Every single one of them could serve as his vessel; he could pick anyone at random. In a place like this, if someone who cultivates the Divine Visage wants to hide, he can lead you around by the nose like a dog on a leash."
"I can roughly guess where he went," Chen Chuan said.
Every major arena across the Outer Ocean with an enduring heritage possessed its own fissure. Not only was it the foundation of the sect, but it might also hold vessels left behind by predecessors. An ordinary person's body would be of little use to him; it wouldn't accomplish anything and would only needlessly drain his mental power.
Therefore, he was very likely heading toward the fissure.
Although Chen Chuan didn't know the fissure's exact location, it had to be underground and situated within the arena's core area to ensure it could be guarded and protected.
He shared his thoughts with Hu Kan, who paused for a moment before saying, "Core area? This is the Mingguan Main Hall, right at the center of the island. Shouldn't this already be the core area?"
Chen Chuan pondered, then raised his head to look upward. There, carved along the stone cliff face, sat a colossal seated statue whose features were virtually identical to those of Master Hongfa outside.
"Is that Master Hongfa?" he asked.
"Yep, carved by later generations," Hu Kan replied. "Pretty high up, isn't it? Windy up there, too. I reckon Master Hongfa wouldn't fancy having his bald head chilled like that, but what could he do if his disciples and grand-disciples insisted on lifting him up so high?"
"It should be right there," Chen Chuan said.
He took two steps forward, about to pick up speed, but as if recalling something, he turned back, picked up the horse-cutting saber, examined it briefly, and thrust it into an adjacent wall all the way to the hilt before striding forward again.
Seeing Chen Chuan move, Hu Kan had subconsciously moved to follow. When Chen Chuan abruptly stopped, Hu Kan's massive frame ground to a halt so violently that he nearly wrenched his back. Seeing Chen Chuan take off again, he called out hastily, "Slow down, Brother! Ah, forget it..."
Seeing Chen Chuan already vanish from view, he resignedly propped the giant hammers on his shoulders and thundered after him toward the spot where he had disappeared.
Though massive in build, his speed was by no means slow; he was merely less nimble when leaping and turning. Carrying a trail of rumbling thuds in his wake, he quickly arrived beneath the statue of Master Hongfa.
Arriving here, one didn't even need to search to know they had come to the right place, for unmistakable traces of mental power lingered upon a certain spot of the lotus pedestal beneath the statue.
Though the Divine Visage discarded the mortal vessel, it remained poised between existence and nonexistence—a martial artist's field and spirit condensed to an extraordinary degree. Before one reached a sufficient level of mastery, it would inevitably leave faint traces wherever it passed.
Chen Chuan stepped past the surrounding candle flames, walked up, and placed a hand lightly on the structure. The fire of spirituality about him flickered, and with a low rumble, one of the lotus petals was pushed inward by his force, revealing an opening wide enough for them to pass through.
Stepping inside, he saw a stone-paved passage stretching ahead, flanked by illuminated lotus lamps. At this point, he could feel his second self showing faint signs of incorporeality. Without a doubt, Anyao Arena's fissure lay just ahead.
……
……
Chapter 812