Book 4, Chapter 224: He Gets Beaten The Moment He Builds His Momentum
Book 4, Chapter 224: He Gets Beaten The Moment He Builds His Momentum
Chen Chuan looked forward. The newcomer was rather tall and lean. He had fair skin, a rather tall forehead and long chin, along with multiple braids.
His limbs, too, were quite long and thin. He was wearing Veshahan’s traditional sleeveless long robes and large, golden hoop earrings. His hair was dyed white, while on his back was a huge silver ring weapon.
Based on his appearance, he didn’t look like a pure Veshahan, but a mixed blood.
From their conversation just now, he should be Saybal, another one of Veshahan’s martial arts masters. He was siding with Norland.
If Saybal killed Atamur, he could turn this into the martial arts master in Vakrahn working together with the martial arts master from the Great Shun Republic to kill Atamur. Once this spread worldwide, their enemies would only need to fan the flames a bit, and Saybal could return to Vakrahn in the name of righteousness. Then, the political situation would change drastically.
From what they said, Saybal might be able to obtain some sort of power by killing Atamur. This would complicate the situation even more and make things more unpredictable.
Saybal turned around and looked at Chen Chuan warily.
He wasn’t expecting this. He had watched the foreigner leave, but then he came back. This might mean that Chen Chuan had actually sensed his presence earlier. The thought of it shocked him.
His expression was stern as he took a few steps backward to try and find a position that would be beneficial for him. Light shone on his body.
The fight between Chen Chuan and Atamur had ended in an instant. Atamur hadn’t been able to fight back at all. Saybal was of similar strength to him, so if they fought, he wouldn’t be able to win either.
However, that didn’t mean that he was entirely without a chance of winning.
Chen Chuan should have used a lot of his energy for the spirit flame blast and be running low now. What Saybal needed to do was to hold steady and drag out the fight while avoiding short and explosive exchanges.
As he shifted back, smoke gushed out and wrapped around his body. This only lasted for the span of a breath before the smoke retreated to reveal a woman of around seven meters tall. A pair of brown eagle wings grew out of her back, while her feet were wolf paws covered in white fur. Her upper body remained that of a human, but there were two other faces on the sides of her head. One was angry, and the other was smiling.
The silver hoop on Saybal’s back was now in her hands. A gentle, drifting green light shone from her entire body.
This was Piro the Immortal, another figure from Veshahan’s legends.
Chen Chuan wasn’t surprised by this. Gender didn’t decide what sort of other forms a martial arts master could take. The person alone picked how their bodies should change. However, the transformation could affect their real bodies. If Saybal stayed in Piro’s form for too long, he could truly end up as a woman.
Of course, many martial arts masters didn’t mind that. What they sought was to become a higher being. If those taking the path of the mental form could even cast aside their bodies or possess other bodies, switching genders was nothing. After all, what the martial arts masters walking down the paths of the mental form and other form had to maintain was the version of the self in their minds, not the physical self. Only the ones walking down the paths of the human form had to stay true to their original selves.
The face on the left let out some unique sounds. Meanwhile, the face on the right released clouds of colorful smoke that spread through the hall. It let out crackling sounds as they went toward Chen Chuan.
The golden-white smoke and light around Chen Chuan started flickering because of the sounds. Clearly, they were some sort of attack, and the smoke was definitely not harmless either.
His gaze sharpened, and he struck the broken wall beside him. With a loud snap, it shattered to pieces. Each one of them was wrapped in spirit flames and flew toward a specific target.
Saybal brought the silver hoop up to block them. To his surprise, the spirit flames in the stones were highly condensed and had great penetrative power. Whenever one struck his hoop, it weakened the spirit flames around him. They also caused his silver hoop to let out loud buzzing sounds.
He was shocked. He wasn’t expecting the spirit flames to be so dense. This meant that Chen Chuan hadn’t actually used up a lot of his energy during the previous fight. He might still have the power to deliver another concentrated spirit flame attack. Because of this, Saybal didn’t dare to get into a war of attrition with him. Even if he knew that engaging Chen Chuan in close-quarters combat might not be beneficial for him, he had to charge forward, because he had to overpower Chen Chuan to prevent him from gathering power.
In truth, his best choice was to retreat, but the speed Chen Chuan displayed earlier and the throwing art he used made it clear to Saybal that he had no chance of escaping, so it was better if he took the risk.
With this decision made, he moved decisively. With an aesthetically pleasing turn, he threw the silver hoop.
Chen Chuan didn’t avoid it. He simply flung an arm outward.
Clang!
The silver hoop was sent flying back. Saybal arrived in front of him at this point and grabbed the silver hoop coming right back at him. He then used the momentum to swing it down at Chen Chuan.
As Chen Chuan watched the silver hoop getting closer with green light shining on it, he thought that it resembled a giant wheel of fire. Even so, he didn’t avoid it and simply kicked at it.
Boom!
The spirit flames gathered on his leg crashed into the burning hoop. Light shone brightly on his body at the moment of impact.
This time, he used the power granted to him by the Blinding Blaze. The spirit flames on the silver hoop started fading away rapidly, like they were melting. Then, Chen Chuan’s refined force charged into the silver hoop.
All of Saybal’s refined force was gathered on the silver hoop, but his expected point of impact was slightly different. Chen Chuan’s kick had not only destroyed the spirit flames’ protection, but landed on the silver hoop before Saybal could gather enough power for his attack.
When Chen Chuan’s refined force charged into him, he froze and instinctively adjusted his body to fight back.
But Chen Chuan didn’t stop there. Once he disrupted Saybal’s rhythm, he lowered his leg and jumped forward with his elbows to the front. Like a cannonball, he slammed into Saybal.
The spirit flames Saybal gathered at his abdomen melted quickly from the elbow strike. Even though he had moved them as quickly as possible, he couldn’t quite keep up, and the opposing spirit flames entered his body. Because of it, his large form was thrown off by the firm and powerful force.
With the help of his jump, Chen Chuan started raining down a barrage of punches at Saybal’s stomach. He didn’t use a lot of strength in each punch, but his strikes were quick. The thunderous booms were all connected and struck Saybal so hard that he trembled nonstop while being suspended in the air.
Saybal thought that he could withstand this, so he kept drawing spirit flames to fill up the holes left in his stomach’s defense. However, whenever his spirit flames filled the openings, they were soon shattered, forcing him to keep repeating the process. He couldn’t stop for a moment.
This led to him draining his energy to defend against the punches, which were just normal attacks. Just as the momentum of their jumps was about to reach its peak height, Chen Chuan bent his elbows, brought his palms outward, and struck Saybal’s now defenseless neck.
Bam!
Saybal’s nape bulged outward, and the last bit of green light on it scattered.
With what he had left of his momentum, Chen Chuan pushed himself above Saybal. After a bit of adjustment, he brought a leg down and kicked Saybal so hard that he shot down. A large hole formed on the floor as debris and dust rose up.
Chen Chuan landed firmly on two feet. Then, he walked over slowly.
Just as he was about to reach the edge of the pit, a large figure rose from the dust that still lingered in the air instead of being sent away by the wind.
He looked up, but his gaze remained calm.
A moment later, loud cracks and snaps came from the large body. Wisps of golden-white light shot out of it.
Saybal grunted and took a few staggering steps forward. He reached out and tried to grab Chen Chuan, but failed. After a few swipes, he fell forward and crashed onto the floor. As smoke came out of his body, he returned to his original shape.
The golden-white light on Chen Chuan’s body slowly faded away. He hadn’t used as much energy now as he had done to defeat Atamur. Aside from using the Blinding Blaze for his first hit, the speed and strength he used in his subsequent attacks were similar to those of Saybal.
Right from the get-go, he had created a beneficial situation for himself. During his subsequent attacks, all he did was to continue building on his advantage until it was impossible for Saybal to turn the tide, and he lost. Hence, this fight wasn’t just Chen Chuan overpowering Saybal with his strength and speed. He had used strategy and technique to win.
In the beginning, he didn’t understand these Veshahan martial arts masters’ strength, so he didn’t hold back against Atamur. But after gaining some understanding, he could start using tactics that didn’t need him to waste so much energy. After all, while he wasn’t lacking in energy, he didn’t have a reason to waste it.
Saybal let out a sad, dejected chuckle. His mutated tissue had been largely destroyed, but he remained conscious.
“It’s a pity that you won. It seems like no matter how much we try, we can’t break free of the Great Shun Republic’s control.”
Chen Chuan observed him. “I’ve heard about you. You’ve sided with Norland. Even if you succeed, you will just gain a new master for your country, no?”