Book 3, Chapter 155: Arcane Snake Force

The people stationed in front of the motorcade stared ahead, though they didn’t see anything at first. Instead, they heard it.

They heard the clear crunch of feet stepping on leaves. After a while, they saw a person in a black jacket and mask slowly taking shape within the fog. In his hand was a long saber.

There was a vertical red line at the top of the mask, but what shocked the group was that the person was dragging over Lao Han’s corpse. His head had been split open, and they could see the scorched brain tissue inside. Instinctively, they stumbled back and pointed their guns nervously forward, but no one dared to fire the first shot.

When Chen Chuan drew closer, he threw Lao Han’s body aside and walked toward one of the cars while ignoring all the guns pointed at him.

Xu Xianwen stared at Chen Chuan through the window. After a long while, he unlocked the car door and got out.

With a twirl of his staff, he tugged his coat down and headed over to Chen Chuan. His gait was relaxed, as if he didn’t care about Lao Han’s death at all.

Chen Chuan recognized Xu Xianwen as the boss of the Viper Order. The man seldom fought in public, so there was practically no footage of his fights, but he had defeated quite a number of famous martial artists before and was publicly acknowledged as a powerful martial artist. This was why the Resolution Department was so cautious and wary of him.

Xu Xianwen showed no intention of attacking immediately. He stopped around ten meters away from Chen Chuan and propped his cane on the road, then placed both hands on it. While staring at Chen Chuan’s mask, he said, “I know you. I heard that you defeated Tan Wang of the Secret Python Cult before even reaching the Third Limit. While Tan Wang took the wrong path and was weaker than the rest of the Third Limit martial artists, the fact that you defeated him is still worthy of praise.

“I hold you in high regard, you know? What about joining my side?

“Your client cannot pay you much, but mine is generous. As long as you’re willing to work, he’ll give you all sorts of training resources. I’m also not stingy toward my subordinates. As long as you’re willing to join me and kill your client, I’ll be your referrer, and we can split the rewards in half.”

“Have you considered the possibility of your split of the rewards eventually becoming mine too?” Chen Chuan asked coolly.

Xu Xianwen was taken aback, but remained smiling politely. Even so, his gaze turned sharp.

He brushed against the smooth surface of the cane and said languidly, “Seems like negotiations have broken down.”

Chen Chuan slowly brought his saber up and pointed it at Xu Xianwen. This action was his answer. At the same time, he released his biofield.

The next moment, he touched a dark, deep biofield. It felt like a large, impenetrable, perpetually slithering snake.

Xu Xianwen narrowed his eyes. Chen Chuan’s biofield was average and far from the aggressive, awe-inspiring impression he gave.

He immediately realized that Chen Chuan had changed it, but he had done it so naturally that Xu Xianwen detected no flaws. This made it clear that Chen Chuan had practiced transforming his biofield.

Slowly and in a seemingly relaxed fashion, he brought his cane up. He twirled his wrists while looking at Chen Chuan with a smile. The Viper Order members behind saw a blur, and Xu Xianwen vanished from their sight.

Chen Chuan had only seen Xu Xianwen put a foot forward, as if he was doing a simple adjustment of his stance, but he somehow managed to charge at him from a stationary stance.

He was as fast as lightning, and he arrived in front of Chen Chuan in an instant. With both his hands at the end of the cane, he thrust the tip at Chen Chuan’s neck with a savage expression.

Chen Chuan had wanted to use the saber’s length to block Xu Xianwen’s path, but he sensed something and leaned back while also taking a step backward.

When Xu Xianwen was about to slam into Chen Chuan’s saber, a blade shot out of the tip of the cane with a loud whistle and went straight for Chen Chuan’s face, like a viper striking with its tongue. The attack was sudden and fast. If Chen Chuan hadn’t retreated in time, he would have been hit.

Chen Chuan flipped his wrists around and brought the saber up to parry the cane, but when the saber touched it, he felt a gargantuan force charging down from it.

Surprise shone in his eyes. This force was the strongest he had ever faced. If he had just reached the Third Limit, he would not have been able to parry it fully. But with his current strength, he could. His arms didn’t waver in the slightest, and his mutated tissue was able to negate the refined force that came crashing into him.

After extending the blade, the sword cane’s length was about the same as that of the Frost King Saber. Xu Xianwen also had the initiative. He spun the sword cane around to drag the saber away and pushed the sword cane forward again.

Chen Chuan brought his wrists down and positioned the saber diagonally in front of himself to block the attack. The sword cane touched the saber, and a great force rushed into Chen Chuan, pushing him several meters back.

Once again, Xu Xianwen jumped forward to chase after. His face was still twisted with savagery as he thrusted and slashed at Chen Chuan. His attacks were as fierce as a torrential downpour.

But Chen Chuan wasn’t in a hurry to counterattack. He just defended himself at a steady pace. Since they kept sending waves of refined force into each other and clashing weapons, the road under their feet started cracking.

As time passed, their bodies warmed up, and their speed and strength kept increasing. The area of their fight also grew larger. Whenever they moved, they ended up more than ten meters away from where they originally stood.

The other Viper Order members could only hear a continuous wave of clashes coming from the fog around them but not see Chen Chuan and Xu Xianwen. Occasionally, they saw the road cracking and stones flying, while shredded red maple leaves danced around them like blood.

Chen Chuan noticed that Xu Xianwen was incredibly fast and used minimal movement to generate power. Usually, all he needed was a tilt of his body, and he could deliver a full-powered strike. Even if he was using a sword cane, whenever Chen Chuan parried his attack, he felt as if he was being struck with a hammer.

His aggressive attacks weren’t the only threat. Xu Xianwen was also constantly trying to put pressure on his mind through his profound biofield. He was a powerful martial artist from all aspects. The pressure Chen Chuan felt from him was far greater than anyone else he had ever faced.

Even so, he wasn’t so strong that he was beyond what Chen Chuan could handle. With the complementary techniques for the Furnace Breathing Technique, he had no openings.

After around a minute of parrying, Chen Chuan got used to Xu Xianwen’s attack rhythm, to the point of getting familiar with it. He even started sensing Xu Xianwen’s breathing to search for a chance to counterattack.

His mutated tissue was also stirring up and getting excited, perhaps due to him fighting against such a powerful foe. His strength and speed kept increasing.

This was due to him not having a sparring partner, even though he had been training hard recently. He hadn’t had a chance to familiarize himself with his new strength and how to use it properly in a fight. Now, he was able to slowly activate his mutated tissue and fight for him.

While Xu Xianwen was attacking Chen Chuan, he had also been observing, and he sensed the changes. This discovery surprised him somewhat. He had been attacking aggressively for so long, but Chen Chuan was able to keep up and show no openings. He wasn’t overpowered for even a moment. Instead, he was showing signs of getting stronger as time passed. If Xu Xianwen let things continue this way, the tides might turn.

Then…

His gaze turned dark. Suddenly, he thrust forward so fast that no one should be able to react to it. He even gave up on protecting himself and forming any sort of backup plan.

He had put everything he had into this one attack.

Chen Chuan had been keeping his eyes on Xu Xianwen, so he knew that if he dodged, he would, once again, be forced into the defensive. That was why he showed no intention of moving back and thrust his saber forward as well.

Their weapons passed each other by, and they struck each other at the same time. Chen Chuan could feel his saber sinking into Xu Xianwen’s flesh, but it felt like his blade had sunk into mud. The power of the thrust was instantly absorbed.

But Xu Xianwen’s sword cane didn’t pierce Chen Chuan’s body either. This wasn’t just because of his second self, but also because he had summoned his mutated tissue together with blood essence, thereby producing a body hardening effect.

Their gazes met, and they pushed at each other, leading to them taking a few steps back and widening the distance between them.

Chen Chuan brought his other hand over and put it on the saber hilt as he kept his eyes trained on Xu Xianwen. From the attack just now and their entire fight, he had figured out what Xu Xianwen practiced.

It was the Arcane Snake Force, one of the most secret refined forces of the Secret Python Force.

Those who practiced it could generate maximum power from every part of their body. They could also dissipate most attacks that hit them to other parts of their body, so that their entire body bore the attack instead of one singular part.

This meant that even if Chen Chuan racked his brains to find a chance to hit him, he would have a hard time dealing a fatal blow.

But…

Just then, they heard cars coming over, and gunshots rose all around them. Xu Xianwen was also shot a few times.

Around two minutes ago, with the help of the domain boosting entity, Wu Bei had managed to contact the Resolution Department, which immediately contacted Motie Mountain’s security team. Hence, the patrol cars closest to them had rushed over.

The moment they arrived, they started identifying the people in the area and shooting the intruders. Due to Chen Chuan being part of the Resolution Department, the security guards ignored him. Xu Xianwen, however, had so many crimes to his name that it would make a person dizzy just looking at the sheer number. Because of this, the security guards immediately started firing at him and his subordinates.

Xu Xianwen looked over coldly before vanishing from the spot. The next moment, a patrol car was flipped over, and the security guards were thrown into the air. At the same time, a huge pit appeared beneath another patrol car, and it started tumbling to the side, as if pushed by some invisible force.

The security guards were also thrown out. When Xu Xianwen was about to throw a punch at a collapsed man, Chen Chuan grabbed his wrist. At that point, there was barely any space left between Xu Xianwen’s fist and the security guard’s forehead. Even so, the security guard’s features twisted from the force of the punch, and cracks formed on his goggles.

Xu Xianwen turned to Chen Chuan and declared, “You can’t stop me.”

Right then, his head fell back from a gunshot.

The security guard he had been about to hit had brought his gun up and shot at Xu Xianwen without hesitation.

Slowly, bit by bit, Xu Xianwen righted the position of his head. The bullet lodged into his forehead was forced out and fell on the road with a clatter. As his forehead wound pulsed, it closed up, and he sneered. “I told you before: None of you can stop me.”

The moment he said it, Xu Xianwen saw a fist charging at him and slamming into his face. It threw him more than ten meters back.

Chen Chuan pulled his saber out from the road and walked slowly toward him. “Is that so?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep