At this moment, Chen Chuan had an inexplicable feeling that the yaogui had remembered him.
Judging from how it ceased pursuing the moment he reached the area's perimeter, Wei Guochan and Gai Shuhe had likely chosen to pull out of here for the very same reason.
Battling such a foe wasted life energy and posed mortal danger. They had been forced to make that choice.
As for why they hadn't found a way to eliminate this yaogui? Well, that was no easy feat. Mobilizing more and stronger martial artists would inevitably draw a reaction from Great Shun, and in the end, neither side might be able to make a move.
Furthermore, given the resources of the former imperial house in the Jibei Circuit Confluence, they likely couldn't sustain three or more martial artists stationed here over the long term.
Besides, even if those conditions were met and stronger individuals were brought in, a portion of this hunting ground would have to be shared with others, leaving very little for themselves. Rather than that, it made more sense to preserve the status quo. Once their own strength was sufficient down the road, they might be able to fight their way back in.
Yet they would never have that chance now.
He gave it some thought. Formidable as the yaogui was, possessing a degree of combat skill, it was ultimately driven by fighting instinct rather than the mind of a true martial artist. Strictly speaking, it probably couldn't even unleash half the strength it possessed before mutating. It was by no means insurmountable.
Having gone several days and nights without rest, followed by sprinting for an entire night, he had expended a great deal of stamina. He decided to replenish himself, rest, and make thorough preparations before returning to confront it.
Thus, he headed back to the sentry fort atop the cliff. Since the next batch of condemned prisoners had not yet arrived, the outpost remained spacious and quiet.
He took out all the food ingredients and high-energy nutrients he carried on him. Previously, with fresh game available, there had been no need to eat these, but he wouldn't let them go to waste. To deal with the enemy, he needed to store up more energy, so in a single breath, he consumed half of what was meant to last him an entire month.
Having sensed danger moments ago, the mutated tissue in his body absorbed these nutrients much faster than usual, storing away all the excess that could not be immediately digested.
Sitting down cross-legged, he slowly guided his breathing. When over an hour had passed, he opened his eyes. Light overflowed from his gaze, making the interior of the sentry fort seem to flicker in response.
He stood, took up the Xuejun Saber, and walked out of the fort. This time, he didn't let Chaoming follow, leaving it behind instead.
If the enemy attacked Chaoming, the bird wouldn't be able to dodge. While the yaogui might not bother with an unthreatening creature, there was no reason to take the risk.
Descending from the cliff fort, he walked back toward the dense forest. At first, as he went deeper, he felt nothing unusual. But after walking a certain distance, he sensed a powerful spiritual force lingering in the surroundings.
The owner of that spiritual force had to be just ahead. Exactly as he had thought, the yaogui hadn't gone far, lingering in the vicinity.
This time he did not evade, actively walking forward to meet it.
Ten minutes later, he saw the colossal yaogui once again. It sat upon a shattered tree stump, its giant hammer resting before it. Prior to his arrival, it had sat motionless, seemingly lost in slumber. But the moment it sensed him, every eye on its face snapped open. Its hand grasped the hammer's haft, and it rose to its feet.
Chen Chuan drove the Xuejun Saber into the ground and continued walking forward, golden-white mist steaming upward from his body. This time, he made no deliberate effort to keep his distance, steadily closing in on the creature.
His pace was neither hurried nor slow, and before long, he entered the danger zone. With a booming roar, the hammer smashed toward him. With a simple side step, he slipped cleanly past it.
At that instant, the dense cluster of eyes on the yaogui's face fixed upon him once more, unleashing that bizarre force.
Having prepared for this, Chen Chuan reacted to the premonition by causing his Flame of Spirituality to flare outward in counteraction. The foreign force merely compressed the golden-white radiance against his body's surface without extinguishing it. As long as this layer of protection held, his movements would not be restricted.
Facing the sweeping horizontal backswing of the great hammer, he merely ducked. The immense shadow swept over his head, accompanied by ferocious wind pressure. Yet just as the hammer drew past behind him, it suddenly ground to a halt.
Chen Chuan's eyes flashed. Without any broad motion, his toes lightly tapped the ground, sending him gliding to the side. With a thunderous crash, the hammer abruptly shifted course mid-swing and plunged straight down, slamming precisely into the spot where he had just stood, blasting up soil and rock like an explosion.
Suspended in midair, he analyzed the situation calmly. To control such massive bulk with such fluidity had to be the result of this body's past training. This being's Visage of the Aberrant had reached a profoundly deep stage.
Yet instinct was merely instinct. Tactically, it could produce brilliant, intricate maneuvers, but over the course of an entire battle, that was another matter.
Before landing, his body executed a midair flip. The moment his feet touched down, he shifted his center of gravity forward with practiced precision and stamped down hard. Without waiting for the opponent to pull back the hammer, his entire form surged forward in a shroud of golden-white flame, instantly closing the distance and lashing out with a kick straight at the yaogui's ankle!
With a loud bang, the cyan-crimson light collided with the Flame of Spirituality at the tip of his foot, violently erupting. Fully prepared this time, Chen Chuan's intensely condensed spiritual power ripped through the opposing barrier and struck home. As his jin surged inward, the armor of mutated tissue shattered in an instant. The yaogui's massive frame stumbled, its balance compromised.
Chen Chuan tapped his toes, leaping into the air. Spinning laterally, he channeled the rotational momentum into another kick, driving it directly into the side of the creature's knee.
Another scalp-numbing blast detonated. As if struck by a tremendous force, the already unsteady yaogui crashed forward onto one knee. Its hammer thumped into the ground, bracing its weight.
This was the prime moment to press the advantage, perhaps by targeting vital spots above the neck. Yet Chen Chuan chose not to follow through. The moment his feet touched the ground, he sprang backward. A long arm swept down from above, slicing through the afterimage he left behind and carving a deep furrow into the earth, sending clods of dirt flying in all directions.
Chen Chuan glanced over. As the yaogui leaned forward, more than a dozen arms of varying lengths along its back and sides all aimed in his direction, shielding its head, face, and other critical areas.
Recognizing that the opening to press the attack was gone, he retreated farther, casting his gaze toward the spot he had just struck.
Though it had blown open, the damage appeared limited. After breaking through the outer layer of mutated tissue, he found a thin layer of the Flame of Spirituality persisting beneath it. As a result, much of his penetrating jin had been blocked, preventing heavier injury.
Had that not been the case, that concentrated burst of energy—which had cost him a fair amount to unleash—would have brought the creature down completely, according to his calculations.
Such was the formidable strength of the Visage of the Aberrant. It focused primarily on the physical body. Once practiced to a certain stage, some could construct multiple internal and external defensive layers of the Flame of Spirituality. This effective buffer was more than enough to withstand powerful external assaults.
Under such circumstances, an attacker had to breach multiple defensive layers in a single breath to inflict substantial and effective damage.
Having steadied itself, the yaogui exerted force through its feet, waist, and back simultaneously, lifting the great hammer and charging toward Chen Chuan, sweeping the hammer forward with a howling rush of wind.
The attack looked no different from the previous ones, but Chen Chuan caught a subtle irregularity in its stride. Its center of gravity seemed... too far forward?
Just as the thought crossed his mind, the massive frame leaped forward in the direction of the hammer's descent, descending upon him like a collapsing mountain. Reacting instantly, Chen Chuan dodged sideways. Barely clearing the area, he heard the deafening crash of impact beside him. Yet no sooner had the creature landed than it went into a roll, its colossal bulk grinding directly toward him!
This strike made full use of its physical advantages. Even if an image-conscious martial artist could execute such a move, they would rarely resort to it in combat. The yaogui, however, had no such qualms, and it was undeniably effective. With numerous arms extending from its back, it could mount an effective offensive at close quarters.
Confronting the oncoming onslaught, Chen Chuan uncoiled his retreating frame, leaning backward before thrusting one hand downward to press against the ground.
With a muffled roar, a crater blasted open beneath his palm. His entire body shot upward, ascending more than ten meters in an instant while the massive bulk rolled beneath him.
Halfway through its roll, several arms reached into the air to swat and snatch at him. But having reached the apex of his leap, Chen Chuan gathered a brilliant cluster of radiance in his palm and fired it downward in a sudden burst. The beam collided with the reaching arms, blasting them aside and blowing one shorter limb into several severed fragments. Tucking himself into a tight roll, he landed steadily on the ground.
Without waiting for the yaogui to rise, he planted his feet apart, lowered his center of gravity, and gathered radiance in his hand once more. After a brief pause, he thrust it forward with tremendous force!
At such close range, the yaogui had virtually no room to evade. An intense, dazzling brilliance erupted before it. Without waiting to see the outcome, golden-white energy trailing behind him, Chen Chuan tore through the air and ground, surging forward once more with unstoppable momentum!
Chapter 883