Qi Huishi watched Chen Chuan's oncoming fist. He held the initiative in the assault right now, confident he could land his blow on Chen Chuan first. If he channeled enough fire of spirituality into this strike to deal a sufficient blow, then even if Chen Chuan's fist hit him, it might not inflict much harm.
Without hesitation, he prepared to do just that. Yet the very instant he mobilized the fire of spirituality across his body, he saw the fire of spirituality flickering atop Chen Chuan's fist, looking as though it were about to erupt outward. His heart leaped into his throat.
This was clearly the precursor to a spiritual impact. Thoughts raced through his mind. If that were the case, the destructive force of Chen Chuan's blow would be immense. Clashing head-on would hardly grant him an advantage; most likely, both would suffer grievous harm. His foundation might not match his opponent's, and losing the clash would mean taking the brunt of the damage.
That judgment instantly prompted him to change tactics. With a tap of his foot, his body drifted lightly to the side while he pulled back the fire of spirituality he had intended to unleash. Shifting from advance to retreat inevitably broke the rhythm of his continuous assault, which would typically grant his opponent an opening.
Yet it did not matter. Once Chen Chuan threw his strike, it would be just as difficult for him to rein it in. Qi Huishi would still have the opportunity to press forward and resume the offensive he had just mounted. As long as he suppressed Chen Chuan, he would inevitably find flaws and chances.
However, what unfolded next completely defied his expectations. The flickering light upon Chen Chuan's fist abruptly dimmed. Qi Huishi's pupils constricted. That had seemingly been nothing more than a feint!
In truth, it was not entirely a feint. The results of Chen Chuan's cultivation of Great Radiance and the Grand Firmament Forms showed their value here. His acute spirit not only enabled him to accurately gauge the movements of his opponent's attacks, but also enhanced his ability to mobilize, gather, and release the fire of spirituality, allowing him to produce far more variations.
Had Qi Huishi not backed down just now, the blow could have transformed into an authentic spiritual impact. If he retreated as he had just done, Chen Chuan could immediately rein in the power on the verge of erupting, switching instead to a more rational mode of attack. His techniques adapted entirely to the opponent.
Stepping forward, Chen Chuan threw another punch at Qi Huishi. The tables had turned in an instant: Chen Chuan sustained an aggressive offensive, while Qi Huishi, his rhythm disrupted, was reduced to the defending party.
Qi Huishi cursed inwardly. If he chose to dodge now, he would only fall into greater passivity going forward. Under no circumstances could he allow himself to be trapped in such a disadvantaged situation.
Thus, instead of retreating, he executed a secret technique. In an instant, he concentrated the majority of his spiritual power throughout his body, raising a hand and thrusting outward to clash head-on with Chen Chuan to curb the latter's offensive momentum.
With a thunderous crash, fist and palm collided. Their fires of spirituality scattered and splashed outward under the impact, the brilliance at the point of contact rapidly melting away. Yet before this clash could even subside, Chen Chuan's second punch was already following through.
Refusing to show any weakness, Qi Huishi mobilized the fire of spirituality in his other hand to meet it. Even knowing full well that doing this put him at a disadvantage and consumed tremendous spiritual power, tactically, his choice was sound.
As the two collided for the second time, overflowing light warped the air around them. The ground beneath their feet caved in, concentric fissures spreading outward at high speed, shot through with flickering radiance as copious slush and chunks of mud were violently forced out.
Yet it was far from over. Chen Chuan's third punch was already coming. Qi Huishi could only choose to keep fighting back. However, after two punches, he had not fallen into an outright disadvantage; instead, as the distance between them gradually widened, it granted him an opportunity to readjust.
He was certain Chen Chuan's attacks would not cease. After the third punch, the distance between them would inevitably grow even greater, at which point he would have the chance to evade and reorganize his offense.
Yet right at that moment, brilliance flared on Chen Chuan's fist, and a spiritual impact blasted forth!
Qi Huishi's pupils snapped tight. A spiritual impact usually required prior preparation and could rarely be unleashed in haste. Never had he imagined that after those two consecutive clashes, Chen Chuan could still launch such an attack so swiftly.
The spiritual impact was swift and violent, and blasted out at such close range, dodging was entirely impossible. He was forced to gather all his remaining fire of spirituality in one place once more, shoving both hands outward to block the incoming sphere of radiance.
That brilliance shoved him backward over a hundred meters, carving a raw trench in the ground between them before finally bursting apart with a loud bang.
The light clinging to Qi Huishi had noticeably dimmed, and his breathing was somewhat ragged. Yet floating around his body now were twelve black beads of varying sizes, all flickering with spiritual luminescence.
These were Sky-Traversing Beads, mutated weapons that only a martial artist could wield. Coordinated with his spirit and field, they could streak back and forth through the air, possessing formidable penetrating and breaching power. To prevent Chen Chuan from seizing the momentum to press his advance just now, he had been forced to deploy them.
Although he had not suffered any injury thanks to his sound response, it had come at the expense of a massive consumption of spiritual light. Tactically he had not lost, but if the fight dragged on, the other party could wear him down and grind him to death on stamina alone. Thus, he had no choice but to thicken his skin and draw his weapons.
Looking up at Chen Chuan standing calmly ahead, he offered an explanation. "Section Chief Chen, my apologies, but I must resort to weapons."
Chen Chuan glanced toward him and responded, "Mr. Qi, before our duel, we never said weapons were forbidden. You need not apologize for that."
Aboard the Yuangan Company airship, although the onlookers could not discern the exact details of the exchange just now, they could understand the scene before them. The assistant said, "Supervisor, it seems... Section Chief Chen is somewhat stronger?"
Supervisor Bao nodded. "So it appears for now."
In truth, he remained extremely tense. He had witnessed many contests between fighters; before victory was decided, no one could make definitive conclusions. Someone had told him that until the very last moment of a battle, no one could decide who the winner was. Even though martial artists were of a different breed, the same concept presumably held true.
Qi Huishi adjusted his breath slightly and spread his hands. The Sky-Traversing Beads immediately dispersed outward, settling along an outer perimeter seven or eight meters away.
Twelve Sky-Traversing Beads amounted to having twelve attack vectors at once. Combined with his own techniques, they yielded numerous permutations and allowed him to unleash even sharper, more destructive offensives.
With a mental tug of his spirit, six of the softly glowing beads shot toward Chen Chuan with a whoosh. These weapons contained his mutated tissue, and even when outside his field, they maintained a distant resonance with his spirit, moving in accord with his conscious intent.
Chen Chuan's eyes flickered slightly. He took a step back. With several sharp hisses, deep pits instantly pierced the ground where he had just been. As he took another step back, those small beads shot right through the spot he had just vacated.
Before the beads could continue pressing their assault, his silhouette vanished from the spot. When he reappeared, he had already reached a massive tree. Kicking into it, he sent the upper half of its thick trunk flying toward Qi Huishi's position. Without pausing, he delivered kick after kick, launching severed trunks one after another crashing toward Qi Huishi.
Qi Huishi parted his hands, batting the flying trunks aside. Although the trees blocked his line of sight, martial artists did not rely solely on visual perception; their spirits remained firmly locked onto each other's aura and field. Yet in a single instant, he suddenly realized Chen Chuan had vanished from his senses.
"What is this...?"
Startled, he snapped his head up. Chen Chuan's figure was nowhere to be seen, only another flying trunk hurtling toward him. His gaze narrowed. Two of the Sky-Traversing Beads orbiting on the perimeter instantly shot toward the trunk, while another two looped outward to form a flanking pincer.
Trusting his keen instincts, he judged that Chen Chuan might be hiding right behind the trunk, using its cover to close in on him!
And indeed, that was the case. Chen Chuan had stepped aboard the flying trunk, riding it over. He had gambled that without confirming his true position, his opponent would never dare commit all the Sky-Traversing Beads at once, giving him the chance to dismantle them piecemeal.
Facing the two incoming beads, Chen Chuan punched out, hitting one square on, then raised an elbow to deflect the other. Spinning on his heel, spiritual radiance converged in his hand, and as he wheeled to face front, he hurled it toward Qi Huishi!
Qi Huishi had intended to charge in and launch a joint offensive alongside the Sky-Traversing Beads. Yet faced with the incoming spiritual impact, he was forced to halt and ward off the blast once more. Even so, he forcefully channeled his spirit, sending the two beads that had flanked around to attack Chen Chuan from behind, while the last two beads hovering near him surged forward as well.
Chen Chuan's eyes glinted faintly. In an instant, he side-stepped, using his movement to force the beads—which should have struck simultaneously—into a staggered sequence. Then, in the breadth of a hair, he threw four consecutive punches. Every punch struck dead center on a bead's surface, and with each impact, the fire of spirituality upon it was extinguished by the shock, neutralizing them from posing any threat for the immediate moment.
Chen Chuan then kicked off the ground and charged at Qi Huishi with a boom. Qi Huishi had only just dispersed the sphere of spiritual impact. His gaze flickered. Confronted with the fist expanding rapidly before his eyes, he raised both arms, the fire of spirituality surging up to block the blow and halt Chen Chuan's momentum.
Yet the moment Chen Chuan's fist reached him, it shifted mid-strike. Instantly converting from a strike to a seize, he grabbed Qi Huishi's arm. Loose-hand jin transformed in a flash into grappling jin, and his fire of spirituality underwent a corresponding shift in tandem.
This shift in technique was startlingly abrupt. Qi Huishi had no time to adjust the fire of spirituality across his body; the fire of spirituality upon his arm was snuffed out in an instant, and a surge of jin penetrated through the limb into his torso.
Almost at the very same time, the beads originally far behind flew back from the distance, striking Chen Chuan all over. This had been Qi Huishi's planned finishing maneuver—block Chen Chuan's advance first, and then strike with the beads at that exact moment. Even if it failed to severely wound Chen Chuan in one stroke, it would suffice to force him onto the back foot.
Yet the moment Qi Huishi was subdued, the luminescence on the beads dissipated by more than half. The meager power remaining was nowhere near enough to pierce through the fire of spirituality covering Chen Chuan, and they dropped to the ground one after another.
Chen Chuan raised a hand, hoisted the paralyzed and numb Qi Huishi into the air, and slammed him down into the earth. An explosion that shook the icefield immediately detonated, and a colossal pillar of dust billowed upward from where the two stood.
Chapter 855