Book 3, Chapter 325: Transcendence
Chen Bitong pulled his hand back and straightened his back before turning to Chen Chuan. The afterimage in front of him was slowly fading away.
“Captain Chen, they’re out of commission now. Do you intend to continue your mission?”
Chen Chuan looked him in the eye and said, “I wanted to cooperate with them, but they didn’t want to. If that’s the case, I can only do this myself.”
Chen Bitong seemed to want to say something, but the rift flashed, and both of them looked over.
***
An officer stationed in the area was watching the fight through a pair of binoculars while sitting in the car.
Due to domain interference, they couldn’t send live footage of the fight back to the command centers, so an officer had to observe the situation.
But Third Limit martial artists moved too quickly. It was also raining, so the officer couldn’t tell what had happened. It was only when things calmed down that he was able to see clearly.
He moved his binoculars back and forth to observe the situation. Shocked, he quickly reported what he saw back to the command center.
“Sir, Unit Two’s status is unknown. The two officers have collapsed. Captain Chen is the only one left, and it looks like he intends to continue fighting!”
He paused for a moment. “Also, something’s coming...”
***
A large ball of fire shot out of the rift. Even if Chen Chuan and Chen Bitong were standing dozens of meters away, they could feel the heat.
As for Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie, they jumped back, since they were closer to the rift.
While dodging the fireball, they heard thunderous thumps behind it. A row of soldiers walked out with flamethrowers.
Behind them were two spiked warhammer-wielding cavalrymen standing at more than three meters tall.
They were covered head to toe in thick armor, and their faces were covered by a demonic mask.
The ground trembled from their footsteps. Their astonishing weight and height, along with their savage-looking masks made them look like demons who had crawled out of hell.
The two were line breakers from the old era. They were powerful warriors skilled in body hardening and takedowns. When two armies fought against each other, they usually appeared at the forefront of the military formation. The royal family’s goal was clearly to use the two line breakers to tear open a gap in their defenses and occupy a spot outside the rift so that the ones at the back could have an easier time getting out.
Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie exchanged a glance. Once the fire disappeared, they charged forward at the same time. They flung their arms, and the flamethrower troop was thrown to the side. When they reached the two line breakers, their fists landed almost at the same time, but the giants only swayed a little. They didn’t seem hurt.
Then, they swung their warhammers. Surprised, Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie dodged to the side. The two line breakers advanced as they attacked. Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie could feel a heavy, overwhelming pressure coming from them, and were forced to retreat.
More noise came from the rift, and infantrymen wearing armor, holding shields, and bearing spears rushed out before spreading out into a formation. By the looks of it, more soldiers were charging after them.
When Chen Chuan saw this, his expression didn’t change. He just turned to Chen Bitong and asked, “May I know what exactly you are trying to do, Instructor Chen?”
“You have no need to know that. It’s not good for you. You’ll understand it in the future,” Chen Bitong refuted with a shake of his head.
“Is that so?” Chen Chuan mused before turning back to watch the warriors and soldiers who had charged out. With a single thought, he merged with his second self. At the same time, he released his mental energy so that it could encase the entire area.
The soldiers had rushed over aggressively, but at that moment, the first one suddenly tilted forward and crashed into the ground.
As if it was an infectious disease, the other soldiers collapsed in rows after him.
The two line breakers fighting against Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie swayed a bit before the warhammers slipped from their hands, and they lost consciousness. Their huge bodies collapsed with a bang, and the ground trembled a bit.
More than a hundred imperial soldiers had charged out of the rift, but in an instant, all of them fell limp on the ground. The area returned to silence once more.
Yu Lie and Fang Zhixin were stunned in disbelief.
Chen Chuan looked away. The light spilling out of his eyes faded.
Mental energy came from the body, so only a strong body could contain powerful mental energy. While his second self hadn’t reached the state of possessing mental energy of his own, after they overlapped, he strengthened his physical foundation, and Chen Chuan’s mental energy became stronger as well. Those without mental energy could not block such a powerful mental attack.
Chen Chuan turned to Chen Bitong again and said, “I mentioned before that I would like to spar with you. This is an opportunity for me.”
Chen Bitong turned to him too and said, “It’d be better for you to leave this place, but since that’s your wish, I will acquiesce."
Chen Chuan sucked in a deep breath. White smoke rose from his body and drifted into the sky. Even when wind blew against it, it remained a steady pillar and didn’t scatter.
Chen Bitong righted his hat while watching Chen Chuan. There was shock in his eyes, along with nostalgia. “The Furnace Breathing Technique? You’re part of the purity faction, then...”
Since Chen Bitong was barehanded, Chen Chuan plunged the Frost King Saber into the ground. After the blade absorbed the propagated offspring, its mutated tissue had entered dormancy. When he used it earlier, pushing refined force into it didn’t feel quite right, so it would be better for him to just use his fists.
He took two steps forward before accelerating. As a sonic boom tore through the air, he crossed twenty meters and threw a punch at Chen Bitong.
In a quick motion, Chen Bitong brought his arm up to block the attack. Their refined forces crashed into each other, and he sensed a powerful impact coming from Chen Chuan’s punch. It forced him to step back.
At the same time, a wave of Void String Force charged into Chen Chuan’s body.
After overlapping with his second self, his powerful body allowed him to endure it head-on. Even if there was some damage, he could transfer it to his second self, so he didn’t look affected in the slightest. With a lift of his leg, he charged at Chen Bitong.
Again, Chen Bitong blocked the attack and took a step back, only for Chen Chuan to deliver a straight punch. It led to a thunderous explosion, and Chen Bitong trembled. He lowered his center of gravity, and the tiles underneath shattered layer by layer. A huge pit formed under his feet before he was finally able to regain his footing ten steps later. Meanwhile, the arm he used to block the attack was trembling slightly.
When he looked over, Chen Chuan was still in the same stance as he was when he threw the punch. Wisps of smoke drifted up from him.
Yu Lie and Fang Zhixin were stunned. What did they just see? Did Chen Chuan really force Chen Bitong back?
The officer observing the fight through his binoculars couldn’t see what had happened, but he saw the end result, and he was shocked.
Chen Chuan watched calmly. He knew that Chen Bitong wasn’t using his full strength. Back when he defeated Nie Guanshan and Yang Shen, he had displayed much greater strength.
Honestly, considering the strength Chen Bitong displayed at that time, Chen Chuan wouldn’t have made it in time even if he had wanted to help.
That was why he had used his full power the moment he engaged Chen Bitong.
But Chen Bitong wasn’t using any of his powerful attacks anymore. Was he wary of something?
“Captain Chen, I have, on more than one occasion, raised my opinion of you, and now, I’m doing it again,” Chen Bitong said.
“I have to say, if those two possessed your current strength, they could have defeated or at least severely wounded me.
“You have a strong foundation. Perhaps only one person among all the people I’ve ever met could compare to your physical abilities, but you lack a technique right now.”
He looked up. “You need a technique to inject your mental energy into your refined force. You can use your mind to evolve your attacks. Once the two merge, your offensive abilities will increase by a large margin.”
“Mental energy...” Chen Chuan thought about it and guessed that Chen Bitong was talking about what Lao Hu did. When he just came here, he saw the beetle being split in half. Lao Hu’s move was far stronger than what the average refined force could do.
Chen Bitong seemed to have entered lecture mode and said slowly, “The key to blending mental energy and refined force is your belief. You must trust that you can do it, and your willpower must be incredibly strong. You need to be sure of your goal, just like this.”
As he spoke, he brought his hand up. As he activated the Void String Force, the air around him changed.
He did not mention any specific steps or procedures, as if it was an easy thing that could be done naturally, like breathing.
Chen Chuan pondered over it before stretching his arm out. His gaze was fixed on his hand. “The mind, is it?”
As his refined force churned, he poured his mental energy into it. In an instant, the air around his palm hummed, as if it had expanded, but soon, it went back to its original volume.
But as he continued gathering his mental energy together and pouring it into every inch of his refined force, it started churning outward like waves. The air around his palm buzzed once more and started pushing outward.
In the end, he punched the air, and it let out a loud shockwave, as if thunder had cracked. There were even echoes.
Fang Zhixin and Yu Lie watched in stunned silence. Only those who had perfected their mental energy and bodies could do this. Had Chen Chuan already reached that state?
But he was less than twenty years old.
They had never heard of anyone capable of doing this at his age.
Chen Chuan, though, knew that he hadn’t reached perfection. It was just that after his second self overlapped with his body, he had managed to force himself to reach that state.
Even if his physical body hadn’t reached what he believed was the peak of the human body and mind, when overlapping with his second self, he reached or even crossed the threshold for martial artists who had reached perfection.
As he got a good feel, he figured out that this technique couldn’t be learned through practice. Anyone could pick it up, though they would need to have a certain foundation. All it required was a bit of guidance. If they couldn’t, it just meant that they hadn’t reached the state. This also meant that as long as one hadn’t reached the state, no matter how hard they trained, it was useless.
“That’s exactly it,” Chen Bitong said and moved into a stance while raising his fists at Chen Chuan. “Try it.”
