Deep-cyan flames radiated from Skarson's body, dense and viscous, bearing all the marks of extensive tempering and refinement.
He had become a martial artist at twenty-seven. After nearly twenty years of training and cultivation, his technique, will, and experience were at their absolute peak today, giving him unconditional confidence in his combat prowess.
Yet although he was a martial artist, he was not someone who revered violence.
Through their earlier conversation, he had concluded that Chen Chuan believed in martial force above all else; that was why he had proposed settling the matter through combat. Now, as he gazed forward, Chen Chuan's tall, upright figure stood before him, shimmering with platinum-white flames. Dense billows of white steam surged upward, rolling and drifting into the air as if driven by boundless underlying power. Reflected across the lake, it cast a hazy white veil between water and sky, making the scene feel like an ethereal mystical realm.
He said in a deep voice, "Section Chief Chen, as a martial artist native to Great Shun, you likely know very little of combat arts from abroad. I, however, have studied Great Shun's martial arts in great depth. So be on your guard."
Looking at him, Chen Chuan replied, "Thanks for the reminder."
Perched at the edge of the airship's upper balcony above, Corva crouched eagerly, watching the two men standing atop the lake's surface.
Judging by their aura and the fires of spirituality radiating from them, he was amazed to find that Chen Chuan was not lagging behind Skarson in the least.
A heartfelt gasp of admiration rose within him.
Such a display far exceeded more than ninety percent of martial artists who had only advanced within the past year. But all the better—that was what made it worth watching. His anticipation for the bout grew even keener.
Neither Chen Chuan nor Skarson carried weapons this time, but that hardly mattered. It was merely a sparring match after all; whether they brought weapons made no difference.
After confronting each other for a moment, seeing that Chen Chuan remained stationary, Skarson recognized the Eastern Continent's etiquette—the host deferring to the guest. So he waited no longer.
Leaning his upper body forward, he placed his hands one in front of the other, adopting a stance that outwardly bore some resemblance to Eastern continental martial arts, yet possessed a fundamentally different inner core.
In the next instant, with a thunderous rush, he crossed a hundred meters in a flash, arriving right before Chen Chuan. The entire lake surface behind him seemed sliced down the middle, leaving behind only a thin white line; a moment later, that line churned into rolling waves surging to both sides, accompanied by a rumbling roar.
Watching the momentum of the incoming charge, Chen Chuan split his stance front and back into a loose sparring guard. Just as Skarson was about to reach him, his fist was already poised to strike, and at that very moment, his speed surged another notch, thrusting forward like a lightning bolt.
The strike struck abruptly, body following fist, closing the distance to Chen Chuan in an instant, while their external fields shattered on collision.
Just as that fist was about to brush against Chen Chuan's face, a hand met it with a crisp smack, parrying the punch solidly. Their fires of spirituality collided, mutually dissolving and spraying in all directions, illuminating their close-set features in a radiant glow.
Their eyes locked.
Though his punch was blocked, Skarson's assault did not falter. His trailing fist came right behind it, seemingly just as fast, yet right as it approached Chen Chuan's chest, it slowed with an uncanny pause. Then, with a concussive boom, a kick from below lashed out ahead of it, its blinding speed causing the air to turn scorching hot in an instant.
This style, which wove together feint and truth, speed and stillness, was known as the North Island Kagg technique. Many martial artists found it deeply disorienting upon their first encounter.
He was now capitalizing on that initial unfamiliarity to seize the offensive tempo, aiming to take his opponent down before Chen Chuan could adapt to his patterns.
Chen Chuan raised a knee, blocking the kick from below. Meanwhile, the fist that had hung momentarily in mid-stroke abruptly accelerated at point-blank range, driving straight toward him.
Chen Chuan slapped it aside with a hand, but no sooner had he neutralized it than the lead fist that had attacked first pressed toward him once more.
This rapid barrage severely tested his reaction speed and coordination. If he failed to defend in time or let his balance waver even slightly, his structure could be pried open completely, collapsing his defensive stance—and from there, defeat would not be far behind.
This time, he did not rely on the Second Self or any other secret arts, engaging solely through his innate physical prowess and reflexes. In mere moments, he parried and dismantled over a hundred of Skarson's strikes without a single misstep. Between the clashes of limbs and torsos, afterimages blurred into a hazy flurry; the surrounding air and water were displaced by the violence of their blows, vaporizing into billowing heat that rolled away.
As this was the first time Chen Chuan had encountered such a fighting style, he prudently chose to defend first before launching an offense.
Through careful observation, he recognized that this was an exceptionally brilliant technique. Speed alone was not uncommon, but the ability to decelerate was the true challenge. It demonstrated flawless command and grasp over distance, rhythm, and jin; beyond pure skill, it demanded an impeccably conditioned physique.
Moreover, alternating between fast and slow during combat was maddening to face. He noticed that the slowdown was designed not only to keep the opponent guessing, but also to build up energy. When the strike accelerated into an explosive burst, it was immediately followed by a seamless transition, sustaining an unbroken, relentless offensive posture. Executing this effectively required extraordinary coordination.
Chen Chuan was certain that even against someone faster and stronger, if caught off-guard and dragged into this rhythm right from the start, there was a high probability of suffering defeat.
Having observed and grasped the essentials, he now had a countermeasure. After deflecting yet another flurry of fists and kicks, he ignored the incoming momentum of Skarson's follow-up and drove a punch straight toward him.
Skarson did not pull back to guard either. In his past battles, opponents unable to adjust to his relentless rhythm often resorted to trading blows head-on, hoping to forcibly shatter the unfavorable bind.
A pragmatic choice. But how could his offensive be broken so easily? He possessed abundant experience against such tactics; one could even say he had been waiting for Chen Chuan to do precisely this.
In that split second, the fire of spirituality blanketing his body flowed at extraordinary speed, converging instantly upon the exact point about to receive the impact, as well as onto his own attacking limbs.
It was an astonishingly bold decision. By completely abandoning defense over the rest of his body, he maximized the concentration of spirituality on both offensive and defensive fronts. Only someone with exceptional combat literacy and vast experience could pull this off; otherwise, it was tantamount to suicide.
Seeing this, Chen Chuan inwardly praised the feat. It was an exceptionally masterful maneuver. Even if Chen Chuan were to mobilize his fire of spirituality in an instant, he could not achieve such accuracy and efficiency. This was not merely a matter of jin, but an instinct forged through countless battles.
However—
His punch blasted forward without the slightest hesitation or change in trajectory!
In the very next instant, both struck each other almost simultaneously.
When Chen Chuan's fist slammed into Skarson's chest, it was stopped as expected by Skarson's highly concentrated fire of spirituality. Meanwhile, Skarson's punch struck Chen Chuan's shoulder just as squarely. Yet though the collision sent brilliant plumes of light scattering in every direction, it failed to shatter Chen Chuan's defenses; instead, even more fire of spirituality surged forth from beneath the point of contact.
Zhouyuan Jin technique—external conditioning jin!
Having struck without result, Skarson was just about to follow up when he suddenly felt an inexplicable force field emanate from Chen Chuan. The force arrested his movement, giving him the chilling sensation of an insect in flight engulfed beneath a boundless, overarching sky—humble, insignificant, with nowhere to run.
His eyes snapped wide.
Purist Faction, Grand Firmament Forms?!
Even if Chen Chuan could not condense absolute spirituality with the same instantaneous precision as his opponent, his reservoir of spiritual fire was incomparably vast. Seizing that momentary stall, his fire of spirituality surged endlessly toward the front of his fist, relentlessly melting away the barrier before it.
Seeing his spiritual power rapidly eroding at the point of contact, Skarson's heart gave a violent thud, as though unlocking some internal seal. An even greater torrent of power burst forth from his body, and the areas previously left unprotected by his fire of spirituality flared bright once again.
With this protective shroud restored, he broke free of the force field's suppression, reinvigorating his body into action.
Chen Chuan seized upon that brief readjustment to launch an unyielding offensive. To counter the explosive surge in power Skarson had gained through some secret technique, Chen Chuan activated his Furnace Breathing Technique at the same time.
Now, as long as he stayed close to his opponent, he could ensure that the Grand Firmament force field exerted continuous pressure. In a battle as blistering fast as theirs, the margin for error was razor-thin; even the slightest imbalance could dramatically tilt the outcome between victory and defeat.
His strategy proved entirely sound. Driven by the breathing technique, he successfully suppressed Skarson's soaring power. Under the influence of the force field, the freshly flared fire of spirituality Skarson produced could only be expended on offsetting the field's pressure, leaving none to spare for concentration or reinforcing other areas.
Under his smothering offense, after more than a dozen exchanges, Chen Chuan finally spotted another opening. With a heavy bang, his fist slammed into that exact same spot once more. The fire of spirituality gathered there trembled violently, showing signs of destabilization.
Skarson shuddered, forced to retreat to buy space, his hands and feet desperately parrying the ferocious onslaught. In a single stroke, the roles of attacker and defender had completely reversed.
Though he attempted to rely on experience and technique to reverse the tide, the enduring presence of the Grand Firmament force field compelled him to distribute a vast amount of his fire of spirituality around his body. As a result, the strength he could allocate to active offense and defense was sharply diminished. What was more, Chen Chuan was not only significantly faster and stronger than before, but as the aggressor, his momentum surged higher and higher, growing ever more ferocious and piercing.
After a few more exchanges, another gap appeared in his defense. Chen Chuan lashed out with another kick; with a loud crash, the pre-gathered fire of spirituality was shaved down once again. Shuddering from head to toe, Skarson was forced into another violent backward retreat, churning a massive shockwave across the lake's surface that made it appear as though Chen Chuan had blasted him clean out of the water with a single blow!
Chapter 944