Book 3, Chapter 209: Brutal Struggle

The Iron Monster stared at Chen Chuan with bloodshot eyes. He grabbed the two broken sections of his spear from the ground and started some form of internal and external breathing technique.

In just a moment, red wisps of air rose from his skin, and the smell of blood or rust became thicker.

But he appeared even more imposing than before, and the pressure from his biofield became even stronger.

Meanwhile, Chen Chuan’s skin burned. Wisps of white steam rose from his body and surrounded him.

In the beginning, the white steam was just heat and moisture, but now, it wasn’t just made of those two things. There was also the mutated energy from his mutated tissue after he used them at full force.

If Chen Chuan didn’t have enough coverage, a strong foundation, and a unique breathing technique, the mutated energy wouldn’t have come out of his skin.

As they stood across from each other, the white and red wisps from their bodies rose into the sky.

This standoff lasted for a short moment before they charged at each other, and the sound of their weapons clashing rose into the air again.

As they attacked and retreated, the white and red wisps clashed as well. Yet no matter how intense the fight got, they never merged. Instead, there was a clear line between them. They twisted around each other for a while before spreading outward, dragged forth by the sweeping air, but the next moment, they crashed into each other again.

This time, though, Chen Chuan’s Furnace Breathing Technique was clearly able to bring out more power and gave him a slightly higher boost of strength compared to the technique of the Iron Monster. While their speed remained matched, he had also become slightly faster.

If one side suddenly became even slightly stronger than the other when they had been of equal strength earlier, that slight difference was enough to tilt the scales in favor of the one faster and stronger.

The Iron Monster seemed to not be used to this. In the past, he had always overpowered his enemies with strength and speed. Now, Chen Chuan was overpowering him

in both aspects.

Chen Chuan’s strength and the Iron Monster’s worry that his spear would be broken further forced him to use techniques to negate Chen Chuan’s attacks.

Yet even though he had great techniques, he needed to use his mutated tissue to negate the impact from the refined force. At the same time, he had to be in a state of intense focus, causing him to rapidly deplete his mental foundation and refined blood.

As they continued exchanging blows, more than ten minutes passed, and Chen Chuan could sense a clear change. The Iron Monster was no longer as aggressive as he had been in the beginning of their fight.

Even though the Iron Monster had used his breathing technique to give himself a boost in power and speed, while they continued fighting and he kept healing himself, he was forced to keep drawing on his strength and using up a lot of energy. By this point, he had already passed his peak and was in a decline.

As for Chen Chuan, since he had his second self to absorb part of the damage, he hadn’t used up too much of his refined blood and mental foundation. He could keep using the Furnace Breathing Technique.

As the Iron Monster grew weaker and Chen Chuan stayed in the same state, the change became obvious. Before, the number of times they attacked and defended were about the same, but as time passed, the Iron Monster started defending more, and the number of times he counterattacked grew less.

This wasn’t just a problem brought by his waning state, but also because of his weapon. The two broken sections of his spear might make it look like he had gained two weapons, but he wasn’t used to fighting in this way, causing him to be unable to bring out the full power of his techniques.

After a few more minutes, the Iron Monster parried another one of Chen Chuan’s attacks, but this time, he hadn’t been able to summon enough strength, and the saber cut into his shoulder.

With a grunt, he gathered the mutated tissue on his shoulder to stop the saber from cutting further into him. Then, he brought the broken sections up to shove the saber away before thrusting one of the broken sections at Chen Chuan.

However, Chen Chuan pulled back. Then, with a twist and a sweep, he deflected the spear before following up on it with a horizontal slash. This chain of movements was quick and powerful. He was relying solely on his speed and strength to overpower his opponent.

The Iron Monster’s pupils shrank, and he retreated quickly, only to feel a chill on his torso. The cut on his shoulder hadn’t completely healed yet, and another deep, long gash had been left on his torso.

Chen Chuan didn’t stop after this. He continued pressing in as the Iron Monster kept retreating while blocking his attacks. More wounds were left on his body, and even though he was healing them, anyone could tell that if this continued, he wouldn’t be able to turn the tides.

The Iron Monster realized that something was off. His gaze turned fierce, and a powerful force burst out from his body. With two swings from his spear, he deflected Chen Chuan’s saber.

Chen Chuan didn’t wait for him to charge over. Instead, he retreated. He was already used to sudden bursts of power. Before the Iron Monster used this power-boosting technique, violent ripples would always form on his biofield.

With the saber in hand, he stared at the Iron Monster. Regardless of whether he was a human or something else, Chen Chuan was a martial artist and had basic combat sense. From the fight just now, he was sure that the Iron Monster had figured out that if he didn’t do something to change the situation, it would be difficult for him to threaten again. It was time for him to use whatever tricks he had left.

So, Chen Chuan planned to wait.

After the Iron Monster forced Chen Chuan to leave, a dull thud came from his torso, and his body swelled up before contracting. Then, something horrifying happened. Long, thin flesh buds and tentacles appeared from under his skin and started spreading outward while wriggling about.

Chen Chuan’s gaze sharpened. He recognized this. The Iron Monster’s mutated tissue was extending outward.

Once the tentacles extended outward, some of them wrapped around his torso and limbs, while some merged together to form tough-looking limbs. One of them grew out from one of his arms before falling on the ground to form a whip.

Another one went to the broken sections of the spear, wrapped itself around them, and red wisps of fog came out from it.

The sight reminded Chen Chuan of the existence that had attached itself to Meng Huang. There was something similar between them, but they gave off different feelings. The existence in Meng Huang had leaned toward the mental plane, while this one leaned toward the physical plane.

The Iron Monster’s biofield was no longer steady and calm, like it had been before.

While it could still be considered a solid barrier, Chen Chuan could sense multiple cracks. Manic aggression and brutality seeped out eagerly through the cracks.

The two completely different auras in the same biofield created a stark dissonance.

Also…

The center of Chen Chuan’s brow twitched. He felt as if he could see something squirming on the Iron Monster’s back, as if it were attached to him, but it was incredibly vague and faint.

The Frost King Saber started trembling, and Chen Chuan cast it a quick glance. The bloodred line on the back of the saber was so bright and full that it looked like it was about to ooze out. Wisps of faint light also spilled out of the saber.

He then turned his gaze forward to stare at the Iron Monster. At this point, his body had almost completely mutated. Chen Chuan decided to no longer hold anything back and overlapped with his second self.

Even if it didn’t double his strength anymore, overlapping with his second self gave him a significant boost in power.

He brandished his saber. When it was cutting through the air, the white fog danced with it. Then, Chen Chuan strode over.

The Iron Monster also brandished the spear and his whip arm while walking forward.

Once they were closer to each other, the Iron Monster moved first. With a whoosh, he flung his whip arm. Chen Chuan cast it a quick glance and took a step to the side. The whip struck the ground with a snap, and the dirt instantly shot up before blasting apart. Then, with another crack, the whip came at him again.

Chen Chuan stomped on the ground and moved to the side to avoid it, but the Iron Monster didn’t want him to get out of his attack range. He stomped on the ground as well and followed Chen Chuan, moving so fast that he seemed to be slightly faster.

Chen Chuan spun around and changed his direction. Since the Iron Monster was keeping a close eye on him, he changed direction as well, but for some reason, he wasn’t able to adjust his position in time, which led to him being slightly slower.

Chen Chuan’s gaze sharpened. He turned around and closed in on the Iron Monster. With a slash of the saber, he deflected the spear before pressing in even closer and punching the Iron Monster’s stomach.

Boom!

The impact caused the Iron Monster to curl into himself.

Despite landing a successful attack, Chen Chuan didn’t continue attacking. Instead, he jumped back and quickly retreated.

Almost at the same time, the whip arm swung past the area where his feet originally were. He could feel a wind strong enough to cut into skin from it. The stones and earth on the ground were cut cleanly in half, and the entire area was filled with dancing dust and dirt because of the hit. He even heard a sonic boom, which proved just how powerful that attack had been.

But no matter how strong the attack was, as long as it didn’t hit, it was useless. Once his feet landed on the ground, Chen Chuan lowered his center of gravity. After a brief pause, he jumped forward with such force that he blasted through the dust, and his saber clashed against the spear.

Chen Chuan immediately felt a wave of powerful refined force charging into him, but he noticed that while the Iron Monster’s strength was greater than before, his refined force wasn’t as solid. It was quite scattered.

His mutated tissue could negate it in an instant, and he didn’t even need his second self to absorb it. He pushed his saber forward and delivered waves of refined force, which pushed the Iron Monster several steps back.

Chen Chuan closed in and delivered a horizontal slash that cut into the Iron Monster’s ribs, only to have it blocked by his dense muscles. Still, he was able to keep pushing the Iron Monster back.

After falling back around eight steps, the Iron Monster planted his back foot firmly on the ground and stopped. When he was about to swing his spear to counterattack, Chen Chuan retreated. Once the Iron Monster pressed in, he quickly shifted to the side. With a swing of his saber, he cut through his armored skirt, and blood instantly poured out.

The Iron Monster turned around to continue chasing, but at that moment, Chen Chuan thrust his saber forward and plunged it into his shoulder. Since he had delivered the attack along the flow of his movements, the Iron Monster’s center of gravity tilted slightly, which took away all the power from his attack, and he was forced to readjust his posture.

A saber flashed again, and it cut through his shoulder and chest. The tendons were sliced through, and the bones underneath shattered with a snap.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep