Book 3, Chapter 310: Gathered Together

Chen Chuan had used the attack Chen Bitong taught him to fight against large creatures with the two punches.

Such creatures had incredibly sturdy mutated tissue and only destructive power could kill them in one hit.

To use such an attack, though, he needed to accumulate power for a while. It was absolutely impractical against regular martial artists, because they wouldn’t give him the chance to do that.

Still, he could deliver the attack without accumulating power. First, accumulation was only necessary for those who didn’t have enough mutated tissue and needed time to mobilize it from other parts of their bodies. Second, they needed to accumulate power to protect themselves from being injured by the backlash of the attack.

Chen Chuan’s mutated tissue provided sufficient coverage, and he could also use his second self to transfer damage, so he could deliver two punches without fear.

Still, this was built on the foundation of his fight against Chang Kuanghai before this. It provided him with a clear understanding of Chang Kuanghai’s strength. Otherwise, Chen Chuan wouldn’t have wasted his stamina on such attacks.

Thud!

Chen Chuan landed on the ground. Before Chang Kuanghai could recover, he jumped forward and shoved aside his arms. Then, he threw a punch at Chang Kuanghai’s chest with his other hand. Powerful refined force rammed straight into Chang Kuanghai’s body.

Chang Kuanghai’s face turned red as he curled up. He even staggered as he was forced back.

Chen Chuan closed in and used Principal Sanshou’s Coiling Palm Lift.

Boom!

It struck Chang Kuanghai’s chin, and he fell backward. His feet were even knocked off the ground.

Just then, he felt a chill down his spine, and he forced his head to tilt back, but Chen Chuan still brushed against one of his eyes when he dragged his hand down. The refined force contained within it charged in, and his eyeball was torn to shreds.

Immediately after, he felt a pressure around his arm, and half of his body went numb. Chen Chuan had seized him with a grappling-type refined force before yanking his body by his arm and slamming him on the ground.

Despite the blood muddling Chang Kuanghai’s vision, he saw a fist coming down. He brought his arms up to block the attack, but since he couldn’t get his refined force to where it was supposed to be, the flesh on his arms was shredded, and he could no longer keep his blood locked. It sprayed everywhere.

Chen Chuan didn’t stop attacking. He threw punch after punch, each being faster than the last. Each punch also contained incredible power. For a time, all that could be heard were nonstop explosions.

The rapid, nonstop attacks led to cracks showing up on Chang Kuanghai’s arms. In the end, they shattered with two loud cracks.

With nothing standing in his way anymore, Chen Chuan’s eyes hardened. He punched Chang Kuanghai’s chest, and dust exploded outward. Chang Kuanghai’s back sank deep into the ground forming a pit.

For a time, he lost all power to defend himself.

Chen Chuan clenched his fist again and aimed at Chang Kuanghai’s face. After a brief pause, he threw his punch downward. Just then, he sensed something and flung his arm outward. A sharp wave of air grazed him and left a faint, white gash on the ground.

This interruption caused Chen Chuan’s punch to lose much of its power. Even so, he slammed Chang Kuanghai’s head deeper into the ground.

He looked over.

At some point in time, a martial artist dressed in the islanders’ martial arts uniform and holding a cross spear had come over. Even though his face was covered by long hair and he appeared a little thinner than before, Chen Chuan could still identify the man based on his clothes and biofield. The realization made him raise an eyebrow.

Gongying Changxiu raised his face slowly and pushed away his hair to reveal a bizarre smile on his now demonic-looking face.

***

“Gongying Changxiu?!”

The people in the command center were shocked. Some even shot to their feet and cried out, “Why is he still alive?!”

A lot of them were in disbelief. They had watched Chen Chuan behead Gongying Changxiu, so why was he here again?

Liang Guanghai’s expression turned stern. After some thinking, he turned to his assistant. “Has he inherited Windforest School’s secret technique?”

The assistant nodded before answering, “Captain Chen has fought two consecutive fights, and he rushed over at full speed, so he must have used up a lot of stamina. He might be in a bit of trouble.”

***

Chen Chuan straightened his back. Gongying Changxiu’s face and body weren’t the only things different about him. His biofield had also become elusive and grotesque. He seemed more dangerous than before.

He contacted Yuan Qiuyuan, Qin Qingque, and Su Wei. “Where are you guys?”

“After killing those four people, we started heading to your side, but we ran into some obstacles. We got held back by an unidentified force,” Yuan Qiuyuan answered.

Chen Chuan could hear gunshots and explosions in the background, along with the alarms from armored vehicles.

“We’re trying to break through, but we... might need around five or so minutes to reach your side.”

They needed to avoid the ever growing number of gaps on their way, and they had even run into long cords blocking their way on one of the main roads, which forced them to take a detour.

After taking the detour, though, they encountered more organizations heading over. Once they realized that Yuan Qiuyuan’s group belonged to the government, some of them attacked, which led to them being caught in constant fighting.

Once Chen Chuan heard that his team was fine, he told them to be careful and returned his attention to Gongying Changxiu.

The man cast a glance at the gap behind Chen Chuan, and a blatant, possessive look appeared in his eyes. Since he possessed Windforest School’s legacy, he could clearly sense that it was beneficial to him.

This place could provide him with the nutrients for his mind. If things went smoothly, he could even achieve the Heavenly Body through this and reach the state where his mind and self merged into one.

But instead of two people sharing such a good place, it was better for him to occupy it himself.

He turned to Chen Chuan, and the bizarre smile widened on his face as he tightened his grip over the cross spear. He bowed, then looked up and said, “Mr. Chen, please don’t be surprised. I was able to come back because of a secret technique from Windforest School.”

“I’m honestly happy that you were able to come back, Mr. Gongying,” Chen Chuan said.

His fight against Chang Kuanghai had helped his mind grow. While there was a lot of quintessence coming from the gap, it wasn’t enough for him. Only by continuing to expand the depth of his mind could he do what he needed to do.

Powerful opponents were the fuel for his training, and there was no better fuel than opponents like Gongying Changxiu. Even after Chen Chuan killed him, he managed to come back alive and show up in front of him again.

Upon hearing this, Gongying Changxiu narrowed his eyes and scoffed before lifting the cross spear.

“Looks like you haven’t enjoyed our fight to the fullest, Mr. Chen.” He lowered the spear until it was positioned horizontally, with the tip pointed at Chen Chuan. “Shall we have a second round?”

Chen Chuan unbuttoned his collar and took a few steps forward before grabbing the Frost King Saber. Then, he sensed something and looked into the distance.

“Come out. There’s no need to hide there,” he said calmly.

Approximately a hundred meters away was a house, from which a person in armor walked out. It was the shepherdess who had stopped him on the way.

She had donned back the armor she had shed in the fight and had changed into another helmet, since Chen Chuan crushed the previous one.

Astrid looked at Chen Chuan standing ahead of her, then at the ghastly Gongying Changxiu standing on the other side and grumbled into her Realm Pass, “I think I’m done for, Sig.”

“Don’t say that. I’ll be supporting you from the back. Besides, as long as you’re careful and don’t reveal your fighting patterns, he won’t be able to catch you.”

“It’s not as if you’re the one fighting,” Astrid grumbled.

“There, there. As long as you find a chance to retrieve the propagated part, you’ll be done. You don’t need to defeat them,” Sigrid said, safe from where she was in the rear.

The company had sent them here not just to collect data but also to grab the propagated offspring in the gap.

While there weren’t multiple, scattered gaps here, there was a large, steady gap, and a large area around that gap could be considered to be part of it. Astrid could use its power to move about as she pleased, so it wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that she was in her element. The main factor was whether her senses and reflexes could react to the situation.

Just then, they heard cracking sounds, as if bones were twisting and scraping against each other.

Gongying Changxiu and Astrid looked over to see the originally half-dead Chang Kuanghai pushing his head out of the pit and sitting up slowly. His broken bones were swiftly correcting themselves and healing.

The missing flesh on his arms had grown back, and even the tissue in the shredded eyeball was pulsing as it healed. He slowly got to his feet and turned to Chen Chuan.

At that moment, Chen Chuan’s three enemies stood in three different directions. Even though they showed no intention of working together, occupying the gap was the most important task for them, so they didn’t mind working together to get rid of their biggest threat first—Chen Chuan.

***

When the people in the command center saw this, they became nervous and anxious for Chen Chuan.

The three were difficult enough individually, but now Chen Chuan had to fight them all at once.

Liang Guanghai stared at the screen and remained silent.

Someone snapped his head up and said urgently, “Captain Chen’s team members have almost arrived. ETA is three minutes! As long as Captain Chen can last for three minutes, things will be fine!”

Three minutes...

The group stared at the screen. Could Chen Chuan last that long?

Chen Chuan stood in front of the gap and stared at the three people in front of him. If he fought them individually, he would do it in his usual style, but now that he was one against three, he chose another strategy.

He overlapped with his second self and sucked in a deep breath. His skin started burning.

Boom!

White fog shot up in waves from his body. Behind him was the expanding gap, and the large expanse of light flickered about like lightning.