Chen Chuan was advancing when he suddenly felt a repulsive force pushing him outward.
This force came not only from his opponent, but from himself as well. The forcefields of their two Grand Firmament Forms intertwined and whirled against each other at this moment; the harder he pushed, the faster they were likely to be driven apart.
Yet if he withdrew his forcefield, his overall power might prove insufficient. Thus, he could not constrain his opponent in this regard and could only allow him to pull away.
This time, relying purely on his own skill and combat instincts, Zhao Zhenye had neutralized all of Chen Chuan's prior efforts by exploiting a single characteristic of punching jin. Yet the grasp of combat timing and the exquisite application of force he demonstrated were nothing short of breathtaking.
Chen Chuan fixed his eyes on his retreating opponent. Though Zhao Zhenye had indeed managed to disengage—he reached out, snatched the Xuejun Saber as it hung in the air, and slashed straight ahead!
In an instant, a brilliant streak of snowy light swept across.
Even though the repulsive force had driven him back, with the Xuejun Saber in hand, the blade made up for the distance between them.
As his slash whipped forward, Zhao Zhenye fell squarely within the blade's reach!
Chen Chuan had not known for certain that Zhao Zhenye could exploit the traits of the Grand Firmament Forms to produce such a shift, but in his simulated deductions, he had foreseen this possibility. He had arranged his offensive measures in advance, and this was far from his only contingency.
For Zhao Zhenye, this fight was an encounter battle against an opaque opponent. For Chen Chuan, it was a premeditated ambush waged with prior intelligence!
Zhao Zhenye had just repelled them apart, but no matter how impeccable his timing or how ingenious his exertion of force, it had still cost him strength. At this moment, he was in a state of exhaustion after his force had been spent, having had no chance to catch his breath and readjust. As the saber light descended, he could only raise an elbow, channeling the as yet unreplenished fire of spirituality on his body to ward it off. The collision sent flashes and sparks flying, and the radiance that had already been repeatedly eroded shattered once more in large swathes.
More critically, despite his brilliant counter, he had still failed to break free from Chen Chuan's offensive tempo. His fundamental predicament had not improved in the slightest. Right at that moment, Chen Chuan cleaved down with another strike.
Zhao Zhenye had no choice but to retreat while blocking. He had already been suffering steady depletion of his fire of spirituality when fighting barehanded; now, pitted empty-handed against a weapon, it faded even faster.
After several more exchanges, their external visages collided overhead, scattering countless specks of spiritual light. Down below, through repeated clashes and attrition, only a thin veil of the fire of spirituality remained on Zhao Zhenye's body.
From the look of things, he had been pushed to the brink of collapse. In another three to four strikes, before their spiritual visages above clashed once again, this protective layer might be utterly shattered.
Yet just as the silvery-white light seemed on the verge of dying out, a surge of the fire of spirituality cascaded down like a waterfall from his spiritual visage overhead! Bolstered by this influx, the waning spiritual flame roared back to life with a resounding boom, blazing bright once more!
The spiritual visage was inherently one with the self, and having reached the Longevity View realm and connected the celestial bridge, the two were virtually indistinguishable. Though Zhao Zhenye did not have time to mobilize his inner strength, he could borrow a portion of the fire of spirituality that already existed on his spiritual visage.
Though his spiritual visage was likewise pinned down by Chen Chuan's, he could sense that the pressure Chen Chuan exerted through the spiritual visage was far weaker than that of his physical body. The two were likely not seamlessly unified, resulting in an uneven balance of strength.
He could easily siphon away the power residing in his spiritual visage first; even if it was temporarily outmatched above, it would not collapse within just a few exchanges.
That window would be more than enough for them to trade over a thousand moves. Once he regained his tempo, he could return the power and replenish the losses before his spiritual visage gave out.
With his exceptional powers of observation and combat instincts, he had once again found a gap in an apparently seamless offensive, turning around a seemingly irreversible situation!
Witnessing this, Chen Chuan's eyes flickered with light. He showed not the slightest discouragement, nor did he ease his assault in the least, pressing forward with another lethal slash.
Even if the man had replenished the protection of his fire of spirituality, the momentum was still in Chen Chuan's grasp. It was merely a matter of beating it down all over again!
Zhao Zhenye's replenishment was not merely a matter of restoring power. It meant he now possessed adequate defense, freeing him from having to parry every single blow and allowing him to draw forth more power from deep within his body during the intervals.
He had been unable to do so earlier because Chen Chuan's immediate, violent clashes had kept him constrained. Now, he would not let himself be hemmed in again. Yet just as he moved to do so, a low humming resonance rang out from the sea below.
It was the Mind-Knocking Block, discarded into the waters below, which had activated at this very instant. So long as one left a spiritual imprint on it and remained within a certain range, a single call in one's mind was enough to trigger it.
Since Chen Chuan had devised a plan to defeat his enemy, how could he fail to account for his own shortcomings?
Certain assets were meant to be deployed at just such pivotal junctures. He needed to ensure absolute suppression over his opponent throughout the battle.
Beneath his bangs, Zhao Zhenye narrowed his eyes slightly. Earlier, when he had seen Chen Chuan arrive carrying that familiar case, he had already suspected that Chen Chuan might have met Mr. Zhuan and brought along the Mind-Knocking Block. However, the object had a flaw: it only took effect if the physical body perceived it. And right now, with his perception extending beyond his field, he sensed the disturbance an instant ahead of time.
Therefore, he swiftly retreated backward. So long as he moved faster than the sound could travel and put enough distance between them, he could naturally evade its effects and then muster his strength with composure.
Chen Chuan immediately pursued with saber in hand, flashing blade cleaving forward in transit. It appeared to be the exact same move as before, and Zhao Zhenye prepared to block it, but as he shifted his body, he seemed to be affected by something. Both his physical body and the spiritual visage above hitched for a brief instant.
Chen Chuan had activated another relic at that precise moment—the Cold Claw!
This relic had the effect of hindering a martial artist's movements. Chen Chuan knew that relying on the Mind-Knocking Block alone would likely fail to catch Zhao Zhenye, who had already suffered from it once, so he used the Cold Claw in tandem with it.
For a Longevity View martial artist like Zhao Zhenye, the Cold Claw's impact was actually limited. Used on its own, it might achieve little. Yet in such an intense clash, neither side could afford the slightest misstep; a minuscule delay or lapse could expose a fatal flaw.
Chen Chuan was thoroughly prepared. In an instant, his blade cleaved down straight at Zhao Zhenye's head. Zhao Zhenye's guard, which should have been in place, lagged by half a beat, leaving both his blocking angle and force insufficient. The slash struck with tremendous force, violently jolting his body and severely checking his retreat. A rapid succession of relentless strikes followed immediately, bringing him to a dead halt.
At that moment, the sound from the block finally arrived, sweeping over both men. Yet this time, the effect merely stripped away their hearing. To two fighters of their caliber, this was negligible—practically of no consequence at all.
Chen Chuan had considered this eventuality beforehand. He could not control the Mind-Knocking Block's effects, so staking victory or defeat entirely upon it was out of the question—that would be pure gambling.
Fortunately, there was more than one relic on the battlefield. The Cold Claw's effect was not instantaneous; it exerted a lingering hindrance.
Yet his opponent was a Longevity View martial artist, so that window would not last long. He had to thoroughly suppress Zhao Zhenye during this period and hold out until the Mind-Knocking Block's next chime.
With sufficient backing from his fire of spirituality, Zhao Zhenye could hold his ground for a time even if he could not turn the tables yet. The Cold Claw's effect certainly lingered, but he was adapting to it at astonishing speed.
Yet at this point, a problem arose that he could not ignore.
Because a portion of its fire of spirituality had been siphoned away, the spiritual visage overhead inevitably fell into a disadvantage in the direct clash. Although it could employ force-deflection techniques, the void left by the drained spiritual fire could not be replenished in time. In the fierce exchange, it grew weaker with every clash, leaving Zhao Zhenye in a dilemma on both fronts.
Chen Chuan sensed this as well. At this stage, the opportunity for victory was already emerging. Naturally, his momentum grew ever more imposing, each slash rattling his opponent to the core.
After several more cuts, Zhao Zhenye's spiritual visage tottered in a heavy collision, while he himself was pressed so hard that he had no room to evade.
Right at this moment, the chime of the Mind-Knocking Block sounded once more. What it stole this time was the sight of both combatants.
Chen Chuan had his second self to bear the brunt of it, but Zhao Zhenye inevitably lost the perception of his eyes; even the spiritual visage above was plunged into darkness.
Yet beyond the five senses, martial artists possessed spirit and their fields, so this impairment was actually minor.
Chen Chuan was not bothered that the effect was sub-optimal. If this chime did not do the trick, he would simply wait for the next. The crucial point was that through his relentless onslaught, the fire of spirituality Zhao Zhenye had replenished had been ground down once more.
Zhao Zhenye sensed the impending danger. He had not expected Chen Chuan to force him to such extremes. The first two chimes of the Mind-Knocking Block had not affected him severely, but the artifact was inherently dangerous and unpredictable. If the next chime made him forget his fire of spirituality, he would suffer immediate defeat.
During his defense, he had attempted several times to use the Grand Firmament jin to push them apart and break free. But having learned from the first time, Chen Chuan never gave him another opening. If Zhao Zhenye were on the offensive, he might have forced it through; trapped on the defensive, it was practically impossible.
It seemed impossible for him to reverse his decline. But right then, he suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp brilliance flashing within them.
The forgotten sight had returned.
Raising a hand, he blocked before the saber light. Though his body inevitably trembled, the impact he sustained this time was not nearly as severe.
What he wielded was Fuming Jin, one of the Purist Faction's three great esoteric arts. After having endured so many impacts of jin against his spiritual visage and body, he was steadily growing familiar with and adapting to it. In just a little longer, it would lose all effect against him.
Chapter 989