Book 3, Chapter 326: The Heartborn Force
Crackling lightning flashed in the rift, which had grown to twice its original size. Strong gusts of wind rushed out, swept up the red rain, and brought it upward into the sky.
Chen Chuan and Chen Bitong stood on each side of the rift, facing each other. The howling wind made their coats and hair dance, while the light shining from the rift basked their bodies and faces in a dazzling glow.
As Fang Zhixin watched both of them move into their stances, he started getting worried for Chen Bitong.
Chen Chuan was intimidating enough before learning how to inject mental energy into his refined force, especially when he encased the entire area with his mental energy to disrupt the invading soldiers’ mental awareness. That had been a huge shock to him.
Now that he had picked up such a strong technique, would Chen Bitong be able to put up a fight against him?
Yu Lie was feeling the same way.
Logically, Chen Bitong should have been the one who needed to be taken out as quickly as possible, while Chen Chuan should have been the one he supported, but Yu Lie had forgotten about his true identity and instinctively got worried for Chen Bitong.
“Instruction Chen, I look forward to your guidance,” Chen Chuan said.
While speaking, he clenched his fists and dashed forward. With a loud bang, he crossed dozens of meters in an instant and threw a punch.
Chen Bitong did not dodge. As the tiles under his feet shattered, he rushed forward and met Chen Chuan’s punch with his palm.
Neither of them used their refined force at full power, but before their fist and palm even collided, their refined forces spilled outward and clashed. The air detonated with successive shockwaves and spread outward.
This was practically a repeat of Chen Bitong’s fight with Lao Hu.
The two didn’t let their hands touch. After a brief stalemate, they exchanged another attack. Just like before, they only let their refined forces touch, and heavy thuds tore through the air.
While his palm was still stretched out, Chen Bitong said, “We usually call this the Heartborn Force. The effect you create depends on what sort of refined force you learned, as well as what you want to do.
“There is no Heartborn Force that can help you do everything. Only refined forces that suit your ideals and fighting style.”
Chen Chuan could sense a clear characteristic to Chen Bitong’s Heartborn Force. It could penetrate all parts of his enemy’s body and destroy it. While it didn’t stand out in a head-on fight, when paired with his elusive and swift attack style, it suited him.
Meanwhile, Chen Chuan had the All-Encompassing Force, which was special in the sense that it could imitate all sorts of refined forces. The refined force he was using right now was something he picked up and merged with the Cloud Ripping Palm taught to him by Wen Tong. That was why it looked like he could tear through the air with every attack. He also had an easier time generating his attacks while using the Furnace Breathing Technique.
But that wasn’t the limit of the All-Encompassing Force’s potential.
He had to figure out what else it could do through real fights.
Chen Chuan continued raining down a barrage of attacks on Chen Bitong, who kept blocking them.
Since Chen Chuan’s physical strength was greater than Chen Bitong’s at this point and he had picked up the Heartborn Force, whenever he delivered a punch, it would be with astonishing momentum. Soon, he overpowered his opponent.
Chen Bitong refused to block Chen Chuan’s attacks after a while. The next time Chen Chuan threw a punch, he left behind an afterimage and ducked into the rift.
Chen Chuan immediately spread his biofield outward to sense where he was.
Chen Bitong’s voice came from everywhere around him.
“There is also a technique for locating someone with your biofield. If you use only your mental perception for it, you need to confirm it with your physical senses later, and that creates a time gap. When you eventually locate your target, you will have missed your chance. Those two made that mistake.
“Once your mental energy is strong enough, everything around you will appear like a web. Everything will vibrate once your mental energy touches it, allowing you to sense it. All you need to do is pay attention to those vibrations and pinpoint your target based on what is being fed back to your mind. Don’t use your physical senses to confirm where they are.”
Upon hearing this, Chen Chuan shut off his physical senses while elevating his mind.
The prerequisite for doing this, though, was having enough mental energy. Fortunately, he had enough after overlapping with his second self.
As he took time to feel around his surroundings, he detected a spot that was clearly different from the rest of the area. While that spot was moving swiftly and remained elusive, Chen Chuan no longer found himself affected by the afterimages around him.
He turned around, and with a loud bang, he blocked Chen Bitong’s punch with his arm. The backlash went straight back into Chen Bitong, forcing him to retreat into the rift.
“Just... Like... That...”
Each word came from a different location, and each was accompanied by an attack, but Chen Chuan was able to block them. Whenever they exchanged blows, the sensitivity of his mind grew, so much so that as time passed, the spot became even more clearly reflected in his mind.
Chen Chuan stopped defending and switched to looking for chances to attack. Every time Chen Bitong showed up somewhere, Chen Chuan was able to locate him immediately and chase after him to attack.
Honestly, even if Nie Guanshan and Yang Shen knew this technique, they wouldn’t have been able to do this, because they didn’t have Chen Chuan’s coordination and reflexes. They may have been able to catch up to Chen Bitong once or twice, but the moment he increased his frequency of moving through the rift and gaps, they wouldn’t have been able to keep up.
After dodging Chen Chuan’s attacks multiple times, Chen Bitong found it difficult to shake him off anymore. When they exchanged yet another attack, he used the force generated from the attack to jump backward and disappeared.
Chen Chuan then sensed the spot appearing in the sky, and he whipped his head upward.
Chen Bitong was right there, with his back against the bright red light. He positioned himself into a coiled stance, and a moment later, he plunged down to throw a punch at Chen Chuan. In an instant, wind and lightning roared.
Once more, he used the Flying Dragon Force.
Earlier, he had used this refined force to overpower the trio, and now, its full power came at Chen Chuan alone.
Chen Chuan didn’t dodge. Instead, he threw a punch forward. As their refined forces clashed, he immediately sensed layers of power pushing down on him and causing him to freeze for a moment.
After Chen Bitong threw the punch, he moved, and multiple afterimages showed up. While airborne, he no longer bothered to avoid fighting against Chen Chuan head-on. Whenever he attacked, Chen Chuan engaged him with a punch. The refined force coming from Chen Bitong was stronger and heavier each time, and it seemed to be neverending.
Chen Chuan could also sense that his refined force never landed solidly.
This was because there was a unique technique to the Flying Dragon Force. After Chen Bitong released his refined force, he could use the momentum to jump further up into the air and negate the refined force inside him before plunging down to attack again.
Meanwhile, Chen Chuan had to endure the full force of Chen Bitong’s refined force. This led to a scenario where Chen Bitong could hit him, but Chen Chuan couldn’t deal any damage back.
Nie Guanshan and Yang Shen had sensed that if the fight continued this way, even if they didn’t lose, they wouldn’t be able to subdue Chen Bitong. That was why they had been in a hurry to turn the tides. Now, Chen Chuan had to face the brunt of Chen Bitong’s attacks alone.
However, even if those two couldn’t subdue Chen Bitong, that didn’t mean that Chen Chuan couldn’t do it as well.
After forcing Chen Bitong back, Chen Chuan looked up at the sky. With his mental energy covering the entire area, he was able to locate Chen Bitong in an instant.
This time, he didn’t stay in place. Instead, he used the force from the collision to bend his body forward slightly and lower his center of gravity. After gathering a bit of power, he jumped into the air, and with a power that could tear through all things, he threw a punch.
Chen Bitong was at the highest possible point he could be at that moment. He didn’t avoid Chen Chuan’s attack. Instead, he jumped back, flipped in the air, and threw a punch down. The moment their refined forces came into contact, the rain blasted outward in waves, and Chen Bitong flipped over again and used the momentum to jump up even higher.
As for Chen Chuan, he remained still in the air for a moment before falling, but before he landed, Chen Bitong had already neutralized the refined force from his punch. Once he reached the highest point of his jump, he vanished, as if he had jumped into the sunlight.
The next moment, he appeared next to Chen Chuan and tried to attack his back.
It was difficult for Chen Chuan to generate power while in midair, so it left him a sitting duck. That was why his act of jumping into the air to attack Chen Bitong looked stupid to everyone else.
But Chen Chuan wanted Chen Bitong to think that way. He knew that as long as Chen Bitong remained airborne, he would have an absolute advantage. Chen Chuan wouldn’t be able to catch him no matter how hard he tried.
He also decided that instead of going up to catch him, it was better for Chen Bitong to come down and fight him.
The palm hit his body, and refined force charged into him, but Chen Chuan had his second self bear the attack. At the same time, his mutated tissue churned, allowing him to turn around in midair and face Chen Bitong. He went to grab Chen Bitong, but before he could get a solid grip, he felt a wave of refined force penetrate his body.
While in the air, Chen Chuan couldn’t use any Sanshou-type refined forces, since his feet weren’t on the ground, but he practiced the All-Encompassing Force, and it specialized in letting him switch to or simulate other refined forces.
This time, he used a grappling-type refined force.
It wasn’t a simple one either. It had his mental energy injected into it, and he executed it right after Chen Bitong attacked, so he didn’t have the time to duck into a gap in the air. Once Chen Chuan grabbed him, he trembled and couldn’t break free immediately.
Chen Chuan moved his hands upward and grabbed Chen Bitong’s shoulders. Once he seized them in a tight grip, he pulled Chen Bitong over, clasped his hands together, switched to a takedown-type refined force, twisted his waist, spun in midair to position his head downward, and dragged Chen Bitong down to the ground with him.
