Book 4, Chapter 26: Drained

Chen Chuan seemed to have known this would happen, for he stopped paying attention to the person after the poke and turned to Yejian Hong.

If the punch had been full of firm force, then the poke was filled with yielding force. It was a refined force Chen Chuan had derived from Chen Bitong’s Void String Force.

In his mind, this refined force was supposed to be used together with grappling techniques and Sanshou techniques. It was more stealthy than the firm force, and he had already used it once on Urtik.

Once the refined force hit the opponent, it would gather in secret in their body. When the opponent used their mutated tissue, it would explode and injure or kill them.

Yejian Hong kept his eyes trained on Chen Chuan, while the red mist became so thick that it was practically a fog. It filled up the entire space and enveloped everyone inside it. The fog was thicker the closer it was to his body, which made him look like a blazing sun.

Shiyuan Ba’s eyes were entirely bloodshot as he suppressed the strange power, because he knew that if he attacked, he was just going to die. He wouldn’t be of any use in turning the tide of the fight.

He was sure that Yejian Hong knew this as well, so why...

Shiyuan Ba did his best to look at Yejian Hong. When he saw his eyes, he trembled, because the eldest disciple’s eyes were filled with hatred and madness.

Right away, he realized what was happening. His senior brother was made to carry their master’s mental energy, so he was usually not in control of his own body, and he was now even being used as a tool. That was why Yejian Hong was making them, the ones who had autonomy over their own bodies, go through the same torment to take revenge on their master.

This might be the greatest, most secret wish in Yejian Hong’s heart, which he usually had suppressed and hidden. Right now, the shock to his mind made this wish surface without a care about the consequences.

Yet even after guessing the reason, Shiyuan Ba couldn’t do anything to change the situation. A few breaths after their fellow disciple collapsed, Shiyuan Ba and the other disciple stood up, drew their sabers, and ran toward Chen Chuan.

The last thing he saw was the finger going for the center of his brow.

Thud! Thud!

Shiyuan Ba and the other disciple fell down. Their offensive achieved nothing of significance, only delayed him a little.

Chen Chuan turned to Yejian Hong. He had a feeling that the disciples hadn’t been used as just cannon fodder.

Once the blood from the dead disciples spread out, the sounds coming from Yejian Hong grew louder. The entire space started shaking.

Sensing something, Chen Chuan looked to the side. The silhouette of a person appeared at the top of the space. It was the same person Chen Chuan had seen before. He started demonstrating various moves, and the parts symbolizing the mutated tissue in the body started glowing.

Delight shone in Yejian Hong’s eyes.

This was it!

Serene Radiance School’s techniques were incomplete, but not because of a lack of training. It was because of a gap in knowledge. Everyone could sense that there was something imperfect about their techniques.

Just like during the solar and lunar eclipses, while the sun and moon remained whole, they looked incomplete when parts of them were hidden by the other celestial body. Serene Radiance School has always sought to perfect their techniques, but the parts needed for that were in Single Flow School’s secret legacy.

The figure above was showing precisely what he needed.

He didn’t even need to practice them properly. Once a martial artist learned the crux of a technique, they would be able to mend their flaws.

This required some sacrifices. Originally, he had wanted to offer the blood of the disciples from Single Flow School. Later on, when he saw Chen Chuan, he had wanted to sacrifice him, but he showed up to be a tough nut to crack. Because of this, he turned to his fellow disciples.

It wasn’t Yejian Hong alone who wanted to drive his fellow disciples to their deaths. The mental energy projected onto him had the same wish.

Chen Chuan could guess Yejian Hong’s intentions, but he didn’t stop him. Instead, he loosened his collar, removed his torn jacket, and tossed it aside before exercising his limbs.

Yejian Hong could improve his technique and the power of his refined force all he wanted, but at the end of the day, he still needed to rely on his body’s strength and speed to win. As long as he didn’t get stronger or faster, the power of his attacks would be limited.

Besides, Chen Chuan would happily experience more advanced techniques.

Yejian Hong watched for a while and figured out something. His mutated tissue changed and even grew a little. It was just a minute adjustment, but everything made more sense, and he felt more in sync.

After a moment, he let out a long breath and threw his short saber on the ground before turning to Chen Chuan again.

He moved so fast that he left behind an afterimage. He appeared in front of Chen Chuan and reached for his head.

Yejian Hong was much faster than before, and when Chen Chuan brought his arm up to block, he felt a powerful, penetrating power gush into him. Right behind it was a shove. While Chen Chuan’s feet didn’t leave the ground, he was pushed back more than ten meters, and two long gashes were left on the sturdy ground.

Single Flow School’s two-tier force...

Serene Radiance School’s penetrating refined force was also contained in the attack. Since both refined forces were contained in that attack just now, it seemed like Yejian Hong had truly blended them into one.

Yejian Hong’s palm remained stretched outward. Then, he grinned and jumped forward again.

Chen Chuan wasn’t too bothered by the change in Yejian Hong’s refined force. What caught his attention was that Yejian Hong had gotten faster and stronger again, which surpassed Chen Chuan’s current state.

This should be due to the mental energy supporting him.

The stronger a physical body was, the stronger mental energy it could release. Similarly, a strong mind needed to be sustained by a strong body. Once there was an imbalance, the mental energy would go past what the body could bear, and the body would falter.

Chen Chuan switched tactics and released the restraint over his mutated tissue. In the face of Yejian Hong rushing over, he tapped against the ground and dashed forward as well.

The moment they threw their fists at each other, Yejian Hong noticed something wrong. He changed his movements and brought an arm up to block the attack. The other arm went downward to block the punch to his stomach.

Yet even though he used his Heartborn Force to block the attacks, he couldn’t withstand their impact. The skin at the contact points tore open, and his fingers started twisting.

His gaze sharpened. He knew that he couldn’t let this refined force enter his body. His mutated tissue pulsed, and a wave of power exploded from it to push Chen Chuan away. Meanwhile, he slid backward. As blood essence flowed out of his heart, his twisted fingers let out a series of snaps to quickly repair themselves.

He only stayed still for a moment before stomping on the ground and shooting toward Chen Chuan like a cannonball.

When Chen Chuan saw that he had gotten faster again, he guessed that if Yejian Hong continued getting stimulated by the fight, the mental energy would give him another boost in power.

However, Yejian Hong’s blood had become hot. It should be due to him mobilizing his mutated tissue, which meant that he was about to reach the limit of what he could endure.

Chen Chuan stared at Yejian Hong. This time, he didn’t use firm force to fight head-on. Instead, he used grappling and takedown techniques to block and counterattack. After a while, Yejian Hong noticed something wrong and stepped back, but Chen Chuan didn’t give him a chance to regulate his breathing. He immediately went forward to continue fighting.

This forced Yejian Hong to fight back with the same intensity and rhythm. If he wanted to break free, he needed to increase his strength and speed again.

In just half a minute, blood oozed out of Yejian Hong’s eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. A metallic scent also started filling the fog around him.

Chen Chuan increased his rhythm further and completely ignored the attacks coming at him. He started going blow for blow with Yejian Hong, regardless of the injuries he may sustain.

Since he had the body-hardening-type Heartborn Force protecting him, the hits would just polish his refined force. Meanwhile, whenever Yejian Hong was hit, the struck part would be heavily injured.

This continuous pressure made Yejian Hong gasp for breath. His muscles began twitching at odd points, and bloody lines appeared on his body, as if they were about to crack open.

Tiny cracks opened up on his face and exposed torso, and blood oozed out.

Yejian Hong noticed this, but he couldn’t stop fighting back against Chen Chuan’s offense. If he wanted to break free, he needed to be stronger and faster, but it would just make his body collapse faster.

After a few more minutes of fighting, a bloody hole exploded on Yejian Hong’s shoulder. Then, a few breaths later, another part was blasted open on his back. It didn’t look like he could repair it.

A strange expression appeared on his face. He looked terrified but also thoughtful.

A part of his mind seemed to be fighting back and trying to say something, but failing, while the other part kept urging him to continue fighting.

This led to the cracks on his body expanding. More bloody holes tore open, but his mind became incredibly focused, as if he was trying to build up to something. The terrified expression slowly disappeared, and the thoughtful look fully took over.

Chen Chuan acted as if he didn’t notice anything and just continued his offense.

The moment his power reached its peak, Yejian Hong howled and threw a punch at Chen Chuan.

This punch was ready to boil Yejian Hong’s body to get enough energy. It even wanted to inject all of his life into it so that it could become an unparalleled power. It was so fast that it couldn’t be avoided.

Chen Chuan sensed a huge fist coming at him and encasing his entire body. He couldn’t evade it.

But he didn’t intend to dodge it. Just like Yejian Hong, he threw a punch forward.

Their fists clashed.

Boom!

The entire space rattled. Yejian Hong was torn to shreds and bloody bits that flew everywhere. Some of them even splattered against the walls.

Meanwhile, Chen Chuan remained still with his fist outstretched. It shone with a faint light.

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