Book 3, Chapter 208: Fight

Chen Chuan was still affected by the Iron Monster’s refined force and rooted in place. As he stared at the spear coming his way, he seemed to be unable to avoid it.

Just then, his gaze turned incredibly calm. The moment the spear was about to pierce through his face, his second self blurred out.

As quickly as lightning, Chen Chuan blocked the spear with a clang and lunged while swinging his saber forward.

With his spear pushed up high, the Iron Monster’s face was open and defenseless. Ripples appeared on his still biofield, and he quickly turned to the side. At the same time, he used the hand on the lower half of the spear as a pivot to move the spear and block the saber coming for his face.

The amazing spear technique he displayed allowed him to use the power generated from the clash to take two steps back. At the same time, he lowered the center of his gravity, whipped an arm outward, and the spear moved again to block the saber that came thrusting at him.

But at the end of the day, he was just salvaging the situation to make sure that he didn’t lose immediately. He was still forced into a defensive position. Chen Chuan had seized the chance to close in on him. Even if the Iron Monster managed to parry his saber, as long as he wasn’t able to widen the distance between them, he would be forced to continue facing Chen Chuan’s never-ending offense.

After having his second self absorb the refined force, Chen Chuan no longer froze when the Iron Monster’s refined force crashed into him as their weapons clashed and could bring out his full power without worry.

For a time, the Iron Monster was only able to fend against Chen Chuan’s swift offense. Yet despite being at such a disadvantage, he was able to keep up with a tight defense and did not panic, which showed just how great his technique was.

But if this continued, he was going to show an opening sooner or later. So, after around a dozen of Chen Chuan’s attacks, his eyes turned bloodshot, and ripples appeared on his biofield. When Chen Chuan’s next attack came, he didn’t bother defending. Instead, he let the saber land on his neck.

Even though the armor was thick and he had protective gear underneath it, Chen Chuan’s saber was able to cut through it and slice into the Iron Monster’s neck.

Chen Chuan sensed that his saber was only able to cut into the neck slightly, but not go any further. The Iron Monster used the chance to pull his spear back and shifted the lower end of the spear further back. He grabbed the middle section, brought the spear up, and thrust it forward.

Chen Chuan pulled the saber out and parried it, only to sense a refined force crashing into him with the force of a bulldozer. At this point, he knew that he had lost his chance to attack, so he didn’t fight against the Iron Monster head-on anymore. Instead, he moved back.

The Iron Monster didn’t chase after Chen Chuan after he stepped back. He moved backward as well with the spear still in the same position before shifting his hands and grabbing the lower section again. With a snap and a swing, the white tassel on the spear trembled a little. Then, he pushed forward slowly to point forward.

Chen Chuan slowly shifted his saber back to the front from his side and picked it up with both hands before positioning it in such a way that the tip was tilted slightly upward. His eyes were trained on the Iron Monster.

From the attack to his neck just now, he could tell that the Iron Monster wasn’t a body hardening expert, but he could use his refined blood to gather his mutated tissue together to form an unyielding defense.

This wasn’t an enemy Chen Chuan could defeat by just seizing an opportunity to attack. The Iron Monster was unlikely to fall until his refined blood and mental foundation were completely drained.

At the same time, he noticed that the Iron Monster had used some form of power-boosting technique to get himself out of the defensive position. That in itself was nothing, but Chen Chuan had seen ripples on his seemingly sturdy and thick biofield, as if a crack had shown up.

From this, it could be guessed that the Iron Monster wasn’t as perfect as Chen Chuan thought he was. When his mind and body were at the peak of their condition, he had no flaws to be exploited, but he had to spend energy to stay in that condition, and no one’s condition was a fixed state. It changed as a person’s stamina was drained and their mental state fluctuated.

If the Iron Monster wanted to maintain the perfect state, he had to make sure that every aspect of him aligned perfectly with the rest. Once something went wrong with any part, the balance would be destroyed, and he wouldn’t be able to remain in that perfect state anymore.

With that thought in mind, Chen Chuan came up with a strategy.

At this point, both of them had finished composing themselves and readjusting their stances. Once again, they slowly shifted forward, then lunged forward almost at the same time. As their weapons clashed again, a shockwave blasted outward.

They seemed to have released some sort of restraint during the clash this time. Neither of them stayed in place and vanished from the spot.

More accurately speaking, they had vanished from their team members’ sights and senses. All they heard was the sound of a saber clashing against a spear in the air around them.

The two were also moving further away from the place where their team members fought, as if they had reached a silent agreement about it. As they moved, the dirt on the ground exploded upward, causing dust to fill the air and spread out along the shockwaves.

Once Chen Chuan and the Iron Monster left the area, the remaining four people felt a weight being lifted from their shoulders.

The power and biofields that the Iron Monster and Chen Chuan had displayed were incredibly intimidating, which forced all of them, even the Iron Monster’s right- and left-hand men, to divide a bit of their attention to their fight.

This was an instinctual reaction toward danger, and they weren’t able to suppress it just because they wanted to. Once the two left the place, they felt that they could finally let loose a little.

This was especially the case for Yuan Qiuyuan and Qin Qingque. They took advantage of the fact that the two royally appointed warriors weren’t that skilled in offense to adjust their breathing and lower their vitalization rates. Then, they sharpened their focus and threw themselves into battle once more.

***

Chen Chuan and the Iron Monster had been a distance away from each other in the beginning, but they quickly drew closer and crashed into each other.

A loud explosion tore through the air, and they passed one another.

While they charged forward, they used the momentum to negate the refined force in them before turning around to face their opponent again and launching their next round of attacks.

As they moved, the powerful force in their legs plowed through the ground under their feet. Trenches were left in their wake, and the area was covered in rolling dust.

During the exchange of attacks, they used the power generated from their swift movements to overpower the other.

If the first round had been a contest of pure strength, this time, they added speed into the mix. Whoever was faster would be able to readjust his stance quicker and draw out more power.

Chen Chuan was using his second self to absorb the refined force from the Iron Monster, while the Iron Monster had to rely solely on himself to withstand Chen Chuan’s refined force. After every clash, Chen Chuan could see a violent ripple in his biofield.

He also knew that the Iron Monster couldn’t use the power-boosting technique indefinitely. It would use up his refined blood and mental foundation. Even if there was something about the Iron Monster that made him different, he couldn’t avoid this fact.

Hence, even if Chen Chuan didn’t deliberately look for a chance to win and just kept fighting this way, there would come a time when the Iron Monster wouldn’t be able to continue the fight. All Chen Chuan needed to do was wait patiently.

At that moment, he also noticed something else. The Iron Monster’s spear was a mutated weapon, which was why it could withstand the clash of power between them. As Chen Chuan brandished the Frost King Saber at full power, the mutated tissue in his saber and the thing that had attached itself to it started becoming more active, and with each clash, the thing absorbed something similar to life force from the spear. Even though it was a very small amount, it took a bit more with every clash.

Perhaps it was precisely because of how little it was that the Iron Monster never noticed this fact.

Chen Chuan didn’t know what the thing was, but as long as it didn’t stand in his way, he was going to let it be.

The exchange of blows continued for around twenty minutes. Then, with refined force filling their weapons to the brim again, they attacked each other.

Snap!

The spear shattered at the point where the weapons clashed.

The Iron Monster was caught off guard by it, while Chen Chuan was ready for it. With a vicious flash in his eyes, he pushed in with his saber and swung it at the Iron Monster’s neck, right where he had cut into him earlier.

The Iron Monster’s gaze turned grim. He ignored Chen Chuan’s saber and grabbed the two broken sections of his spear, then thrust them at Chen Chuan’s chest.

Chen Chuan didn’t change the direction of his saber, and it cut into the Iron Monster first. This time, his attack was faster and stronger. The blade cut into the Iron Monster’s neck muscles and struck his cervical bones. But when Chen Chuan wanted to cut further, something sturdy wrapped itself around his blade, and he couldn’t drive his saber any further into the Iron Monster.

The two broken sections of the spear had also reached his chest and pierced through his protective coat and gear. A faint, blurry hole appeared on his second self’s chest.

But Chen Chuan ignored it. He pulled his saber out and brought it down. The Iron Monster did the same.

He ignored Chen Chuan’s saber, pulled the spear parts back, and thrust them at Chen Chuan again.

Both of them had completely given up on defense and just used their weapons to attack each other while enduring the brutal attacks from their opponent.

Even so, they were unable to deal substantial damage to the other. Every time Chen Chuan was able to cut through the Iron Monster’s flesh, his wound healed rapidly. As for Chen Chuan, while different parts of his second self blurred out, his skin didn’t even tear. He only got some bruises that faded away swiftly.

This was a contest of their refined blood, mental foundation, and raw strength, but their foundations seemed to be unshakeable. Their clothes and armor were torn to shreds as they continued cutting and piercing with their weapons.

Several minutes passed like that, and once again, their weapons clashed. They engaged in a brief contest of strength before pushing against each other and using the momentum to step back. Then, they stood where they were in a standoff.

The Iron Monster cast Chen Chuan a glance. This was the first time he met an opponent of equal strength. He threw the two broken sections of his spear on the ground before removing his helmet and revealing his topknot.

At the same time, he tore his armor off. He let the heavy but severely damaged pieces fall on the ground with loud clatters. Next, he removed the protective gear underneath to reveal his toned and sturdy torso. Only his iron mask and armored skirt remained in place.

Chen Chuan plunged the Frost King Saber into the ground and unbuttoned his collar to remove his damaged stab proof shirt and coat. With a casual fling, he threw them to the side. As for his mask and hat, they had fallen off a long time ago during their fight.

He rolled up his sleeves before grabbing his saber again and lifting it with both hands. Slowly, he brought the saber to the side of his head and pointed the tip at the Iron Monster.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep