Chen Chuan charged forward at extreme speed. Judging by his previous attempt, a spiritual impact of this scale was sufficient to scatter the protective Flame of Spirituality shrouding the yaogui.
That way, when he arrived before it, he could follow through with a secondary strike. Lying flat on the ground, the yaogui would have no way to evade. If he could heavily injure it here, it would dictate the course of the battle to come.
Yet when he was only halfway through his charge, he discovered that the spiritual impact had failed to disperse its protection entirely. A thin layer still enveloped the yaogui.
He understood immediately. Because the yaogui was rolling along the ground, half of its body required no protection. By gathering all of its Flame of Spirituality onto the side facing him, its defense was doubled in thickness, naturally neutralizing the impact just now.
This, in turn, compromised his follow-up assault. Sticking to the original strategy and continuing the charge wasn't impossible, but if the strike failed to produce its intended effect and halted his momentum, the yaogui's massive bulk would instantly crush down upon him, putting him on the defensive. Worst of all, this rare opening to attack would be squandered.
Before mutating, his opponent had undoubtedly been an exceptionally experienced martial artist. A single, simple response had successfully blunted his offensive.
And yet... that didn't mean he was out of opportunities.
His gaze fixed forward, he maintained his initial momentum without altering course. The moment he reached the yaogui's body, most of the spiritual flames across his frame surged like flowing water, instantly concentrating upon his knuckles before slamming heavily into the barrier.
Because he unleashed it in a concentrated burst at a single point and pooled the vast majority of his spiritual power into it, he breached it in an instant, scattering both layers of the Flame of Spirituality protecting the target zone in one blow. But that was as far as it went; his force also dissipated entirely in the collision, unable to penetrate deeper and inflict harm.
Right at that moment, the yaogui suddenly flipped backward. At such close quarters, Chen Chuan seemed to have nowhere to dodge. Yet in this dire predicament, he made an unexpected maneuver. Riding the last vestige of his forward momentum, he leaned in with a shoulder check, scooped downward with his hands, and drove upward with his back. Just as the creature rolled over to crush him with its entire frame tensed, Chen Chuan actually heaved the monster's colossal body right off the ground!
This was an extraordinarily ingenious shift between hard and yielding jin, adapting to the enemy's change and turning the impossible into reality. It fully showcased his superb tactical instincts in combat. But it was far from over. Digging his feet into the earth, he straightened his torso and used that momentum to heave upward with both arms, launching the yaogui's colossal frame high into the air!
Under the tremendous exertion, Chen Chuan's feet sank into the ground. Looking up at the massive silhouette soaring upward, he drew a deep breath. A scorching warmth instantly spread across his body, and waves of heat steamed outward accompanied by golden-white light.
Sinking his weight once more, he leaped into the air. The ground exploded beneath him into a massive crater, fissures spidering outward amid billowing dust as he appeared behind the airborne yaogui in a flash. Twisting midair, he kicked upward toward the sky!
BOOM!
Though the yaogui's Flame of Spirituality had reconverged upon its back after being launched into the air, Chen Chuan's leaping kick shattered it once more.
Using the counterforce, Chen Chuan accelerated his descent toward the ground, only to rebound into the air the instant his feet touched down, without the slightest pause in between.
The yaogui sensed his intent and tried to struggle. But suspended in midair with nothing to push against, it could mount no effective defense and was propelled higher by Chen Chuan's relentless blows.
Once again, Chen Chuan appeared behind it. This time, he delivered a flying knee strike infused with formidable jin, driving his foe higher still before flipping around and dropping back toward the ground.
Looking up, he saw the massive silhouette had reached a significant height. He slowly lowered his stance, the blinding radiance in his hands condensing once more.
Driven by his intense channeling and the Heaven and Earth Furnace breathing technique, the ground rumbled beneath him, and loose pebbles and dust floated into the air under the influence of his biological field.
His eyes remained locked upward at the falling body. Only when it had almost reached his head did he thrust the spiritual radiance in his hands violently upward!
BOOM!
Having had ample preparation and the freedom to strike without restraint, he poured far more spiritual power into this blow than in any previous attempt.
In an instant, a miniature sun seemed to detonate above the clearing. Dazzling light flared ceaselessly, rippling outward in expanding rings of shockwaves.
Under the force of this impact, the yaogui's descending bulk even hung suspended in midair for a fleeting moment!
Chen Chuan drew a heavy breath and leaped back a step. Even he felt slightly drained of stamina after such a strike, forced to pause briefly to recover his breath.
Above him, a shadow fell. With a thunderous crash, the yaogui slammed into the ground before him. Countless scattered sparks of spiritual fire drifted outward, and billowing clouds of dust rolled away under the displaced gale.
A gaping, charred black hole had been blown open on the yaogui's back, as if gouged out by force. Wisps of golden-white light drifted from the cavity, and the arms attached to its back had been blown entirely to pieces.
Yet cyan-crimson spiritual flames still flickered across other parts of its body, rapidly converging toward the damaged areas. The stubborn golden-white energy within the wound was smothered like water poured over fire, quickly fading away to be replaced by surging cyan-crimson radiance from below.
Stirring, the yaogui gripped its hammer and rose once more, turning to face him.
Watching the towering shadow loom over him again, Chen Chuan thought to himself: *It really isn't going to be that simple.*
This yaogui could no longer be regarded as a mere human; it lacked any definitive vital points. It was an aberration formed entirely of spirit and mutated tissue. As long as it possessed an abundant Flame of Spirituality and mutated tissue connecting its frame, it could fight on indefinitely.
Yet his strike had not been without results. As early as his first hit against the creature, he had noticed that any area he damaged showed virtually no sign of regeneration. The gaping hole torn open just now showed no signs of new mutated tissue growing to fill it.
This confirmed his suspicion.
The yaogui could no longer be considered a living creature of the material world. Its recovery did not rely on biological regeneration, but required energy from the other world to sustain and mend itself.
Therefore, for now, every bit of damage dealt to its body was permanent loss. He could fully adopt a strategy of repeatedly striking the same location.
Moreover, the Flame of Spirituality had to anchor itself to physical form and mutated tissue. If its very foundation ceased to exist, the fire would naturally be scattered once and for all.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, he had already caught his breath. Vanishing from his spot, he surged toward the yaogui's front like a fleeting shadow.
This time, the yaogui did not bring the massive hammer down on him, instead using it as a shield.
Seeming to deduce his intent, it took extra care to guard its heavily damaged areas. Though most of the arms on its back were gone, several powerful arms remained along its ribs, serving both for offense and defense.
Chen Chuan probed several times in succession without finding a viable opening. After all, when a yaogui with martial instincts turned from offense to defense while holding absolute superiority in raw strength, breaching its guard within a short span was extraordinarily difficult.
Seeing this, he immediately shifted his approach. Ceasing his direct attacks, he leveraged his speed advantage to circle the yaogui.
Judging from the severed stumps at its neck, it originally had three heads. For some unknown reason, only one remained now, and the others had never grown back. But those extra heads had certainly served a purpose in the past.
For instance, the technique that had previously restrained his movements, or providing a 360-degree field of vision that allowed it to manipulate limbs on three sides to counter attackers from any direction.
Since those heads were gone, that created a blind spot he could exploit.
As he circled, the yaogui's massive, cumbersome frame was forced to turn with him. In particular, the gaping hole on its back had to be shielded at all costs, so it had to keep itself facing Chen Chuan.
Yet Chen Chuan did not run in a predictable circle; he frequently changed direction. Lacking speed and agility, the yaogui fell increasingly behind. Instinctively recognizing the disadvantage, it mounted a countermeasure after only a brief moment.
Its response was simple: the chaotic cluster of eyes across its face began to glow once more.
Chen Chuan's gaze sharpened. This was undoubtedly the precursor to that binding technique.
The creature had not used this move again after the first time. Chen Chuan had deduced that it consumed excessive energy and that the mutated tissue responsible for it likely couldn't bear the strain repeatedly in a short period. But that didn't mean it couldn't be used at all, so he had remained on guard.
The instant he sensed it, the spiritual power across his body surged, clashing directly against the incoming psychic force.
Yet this time, the incoming force was significantly stronger than before—so much so that more than half the eyes on the yaogui's face snuffed out instantly, leaving only a scattered few lit.
The cost of that sacrifice was that Chen Chuan's Flame of Spirituality was once again suppressed. And in that fleeting instant, the giant hammer swept right before his face!
……
……
Chapter 884