Chapter 203: Advantage

Chen Chuan’s attacks were basic, and he only used the simplest, most direct moves. After all, he was going for speed and strength. He didn’t want to fight Luo Qi with technique.

When Luo Qi gave up on fighting Chen Chuan head-on and chose to change his attack at the last second, he was pushed into a disadvantageous position. As he watched the saber get closer to him, his muscles tensed, and he moved his body back. He also did his best to pull his sword back, even though it had almost been knocked out of his grasp, just so that he could block Chen Chuan’s saber.

But toughing out this sort of fight was the hardest. His opponent would always attack ahead of him, and he could only parry. As time passed, he would be forced into an even more defensive position, while his opponent would gain an edge over him with each blow exchanged. Such fights usually ended in just a couple moves.

Chen Chuan was going with the momentum to attack at high speeds. When he brought his wrists up, he delivered another two downward slashes. Even though Luo Qi managed to block them, the strength he put into his sword became increasingly weaker, and his parries grew weaker as well.

When Chen Chuan brought his fourth slash down, he knew that if nothing else happened, he would be able to cut Luo Qi. But Luo Qi had yet to lose his center of gravity. As long as he avoided getting his vitals injured, he could get out hurt but not dead.

Just as Chen Chuan’s saber was about to touch Luo Qi, things changed. Luo Qi suddenly moved and appeared several meters away. All Chen Chuan cut into was empty air.

When he missed his swing, he felt as if his strength had lost its anchor. The momentum dragged at his center of gravity and pulled him forward into leaving himself wide open, but his outstanding coordination and the mutated tissue covering his entire body allowed him to stop himself from falling forward. But his originally smooth offense was forced to halt.

Lao Feng had followed Chen Chuan, but he stayed further away. He watched as they exchanged a few words before drawing their weapons. Then, they vanished from his sight, and a series of continuous clashes between steel reached his ears.

The cement where the two had stood cracked, and large clumps of dirt and dust blasted outward before swirling in the air like a tornado.

A moment later, Lao Feng could see them again.

They were standing in different places. Their clothes were stuck to their bodies from their high-speed movements and only returned to their original states after getting tugged around for a while by the momentum.

Chen Chuan had his eyes trained on Luo Qi. Even though he had been unable to see Luo Qi’s movements, he could tell that the refined force he channeled wasn’t the type noted in his information. Most likely, he didn’t have it but was able to use it due to an implant.

Luo Qi was also keeping a close eye on Chen Chuan. He had always been really cautious when it came to implants. He only had tendons implanted into his waist, back, and legs, which were matched well with his mutated tissue.

Their effects were apparent. They could give him an extra boost of speed, just like he had moved a second ago.

But using them continuously over a short period of time put a huge burden on his body. Thus, it was impossible for him to use them nonstop. There was another problem to this: He couldn’t fully control his movements like this, not with his reflexes and coordination. Hence, he only used it for ambushes or to dodge attacks.

During the short fight, he had used his implants twice, and he could sense his muscles getting swollen.

He twirled his long sword as his mind raced for a plan. He had wanted to kill Chen Chuan the moment the fight started, but judging from the situation now, it was clear that Chen Chuan had no fear of death. Perhaps the National General Affairs Bureau had already brainwashed him.

Meanwhile, Luo Qi wanted to stay alive to enjoy his life. He had no intention of dying with Chen Chuan. If that was the case, he could only drag out the fight until the medicine’s effects wore out or the person he’d come out to meet arrived. Both options worked for him. Luo Qi had things that the person was interested in and needed. There was no way his ally would give up on him.

Chen Chuan could tell from the way Luo Qi changed his center of gravity and from how he adjusted his stance that he intended to drag out the fight.

Luo Qi could widen the distance between them whenever he wanted, which was the true test for Chen Chuan’s skills. Even if Chen Chuan could seize a good opportunity to attack, Luo Qi could avoid him at the final moment. No matter what, he wouldn’t lose, and as the number of times they clashed weapons increased, Luo Qi would gradually regain his rhythm. Then, killing him would become more difficult.

Chen Chuan couldn’t let the fight drag out. His only option was to cast aside all scruples and end the fight as quickly as possible.

So, he brought his hand up, grabbed the mask, and threw it away. At the same time, he used both internal and external breathing and activated the Furnace Breathing Technique.

It had only been a few days since he defeated Tan Wang, so he didn’t have much extra energy stored. The breathing technique mainly drew on the large amounts of energy from the medicine he had just taken.

Before the fight, Chen Chuan had taken enough medicine to kill an average martial artist, and his second self had blurred out because of it. Now, through the Furnace Breathing Technique, he released all of that energy at once.

In an instant, his breathing became hot, and wisps of steam came out from under the black trench coat. Slowly, Chen Chuan brought the saber up and pointed it at Luo Qi.

He had figured out that there were no fundamental differences between Tan Wang and Luo Qi. Tan Wang had been unable to catch up to him once Chen Chuan’s speed increased, which meant that it would be the same for Luo Qi.

When Luo Qi saw that Chen Chuan was about to launch another barrage of attacks, he was immediately on full guard, only for Chen Chuan to vanish from his sight.

A jolt of shock ran through him. Before his mind could register what had happened, his body moved back to widen the distance. This was the best option, but when he couldn’t figure out Chen Chuan’s offense and where he was coming from, all he was doing was stalling the inevitable clash.

Chen Chuan appeared in front of him. During the high speed movement, his scarf broke free from his neck and flew away. When he charged forward, he used the momentum to bring his saber down in a powerful and beautiful arc to cut Luo Qi down.

Luo Qi’s eyes flew wide open. Based on his experience and instincts, he brought his sword up to parry the attack and used his skill to neutralize the force while also redirecting it with the blade. He used his modified tendons to move back as well.

But no matter where he retreated, Chen Chuan caught up to him. Once he became much faster, he gained a significant advantage. After overlapping with his second self, Chen Chuan could easily adapt to his current speed, which allowed him to seamlessly coordinate his every move.

Meanwhile, Luo Qi’s weakness of only being able to move at high speeds for short periods of time was completely exposed. He could only rely on his instincts to parry Chen Chuan’s attacks while he retreated in a pathetic fashion.

He didn’t even need to think to know that Chen Chuan had used some method to stimulate his potential. Even though Luo Qi could do the same, he would need time to adjust to it. It was impossible for him to bring out such power instantly.

This crazy brainwashed bastard from the National General Affairs Bureau! It’s not as if he can earn a lot of money by risking his neck! Can’t he see that if he dies here, everything will be meaningless?! he cursed inwardly.

In this life-and-death battle, his priority was to stay alive. He was a man with a lot of experience, so he immediately came up with a strategy. Since his defenses were bound to fail sooner or later if he continued parrying Chen Chuan’s attacks and he couldn’t avoid getting slashed later on, what he needed to do was to make sure his injuries were kept within an acceptable range. Then, he might get a chance to turn the tide.

Once Chen Chuan was in the zone, he stopped thinking about anything unnecessary. He only focused on the target before his eyes. As he kept increasing his advantage over Luo Qi, after six slashes, he found an opening. Or rather, Luo Qi gave him that opening.

If he let this chance slip from his fingers, he would have to waste time waiting for another one.

Chen Chuan didn’t hesitate.

He thrust his saber forward and pierced through the left side of Luo Qi’s stomach. The Heavy Slash Force helped him cut through Luo Qi’s uniform, the protective gear underneath, and his mutated fascia as if they were paper. They didn’t slow his attack at all.

Luo Qi was prepared for this. The thrust didn’t damage any of his important organs and wasn’t enough to kill him. Since he had mutated organs, he wouldn’t even call this a serious injury. He was still in perfect condition, so he grabbed the saber and stopped his wound from expanding. At the same time, he swung his sword.

Chen Chuan then did something that took him by surprise. He gave up on the saber and charged into him. The violent crash tilted Luo Qi back. He tried to steady himself, but when he took a step back, his foot landed on air, and he found to his shock that his continuous retreats had brought him to the river.

Chen Chuan couldn’t stop himself after crashing into Luo Qi, and both of them fell into the river. Since they were tall and carried quite a lot of things on them, they immediately started sinking.

The moment Chen Chuan fell into the water, he naturally shifted to internal breathing. Then, he moved behind Luo Qi and wrapped his arms around Luo Qi’s neck.

Luo Qi jolted in shock. Martial artists weren’t normal people. All they needed to do was tighten their arms around their target’s neck, and they could snap it. They didn’t even need to use an ounce of their strength to squeeze.

Luo Qi hurriedly forced a hand up between Chen Chuan’s arms and his neck so that his relatively fragile neck wouldn’t have to bear the force from Chen Chuan’s arms. At the same time, he used every ounce of his strength to try and break free from Chen Chuan’s legs, which held his body in a tight lock. He didn’t even care about his stomach injury anymore.

But not only was he unable to find any foothold to generate strength, but whenever he tried to gather it, all Chen Chuan did was sway a little, and Luo Qi’s energy was directed elsewhere. His movements became awkward and distorted.

The biggest problem for Luo Qi was that he didn’t know internal breathing and could only hold his breath. Without a steady supply of oxygen, using up his energy continuously to break free became a huge burden on his body.

Meanwhile, Chen Chuan had trained underwater for a month and was used to this sort of environment. He knew how to channel his strength effectively and how to use the water flow to get an edge over Luo Qi.

The water was his home ground.

He didn’t panic at all when Luo Qi struggled. He just let the man channel his strength in desperation. When necessary, he threatened him a little, and the man responded with full seriousness.

Soon, Luo Qi was unable to persevere anymore, and his movements lost their strength. Chen Chuan saw his chance and tightened his arms around Luo Qi’s neck. His actions were followed by a snap.

***

Lao Feng rushed to the river. He saw splashes everywhere, but nothing else could be seen from the surface. When he realized that this meant that the two fighters had fallen into the river, he held up his handgun and stood beside the port with it pointed downward. The ripples soon calmed down.

After watching for a while, he noticed movement in the corner of his eye and turned in that direction. A hand broke out of the water to grab the metal ladder by the bank. Chen Chuan then pulled himself out. The water evaporated off him due to his scorching skin, and wisps of steam rose around him.

In his free hand, he held Luo Qi’s collar. The man’s head was slumped to the side, and his limbs hung limply. By the looks of it, he was dead.

When Lao Feng saw this, he sighed in relief before smiling and running over to grab Chen Chuan’s arm. He hoisted him up.

Once Chen Chuan’s feet were on solid ground again, Lao Feng cast a glance at the dead Luo Qi. Even if he knew that Chen Chuan was fully capable of killing him, he still found it surreal that Luo Qi was dead.

Chen Chuan pulled out the Frost King Saber from Luo Qi’s body and flung off the blood on it before asking, “Should we bring his body back with us?”

Lao Feng stuffed his gun back into the holster on his waist and said, “Best that we do. Lao Cao might need it. Don’t forget the documents he brought with him. We have to take them with us.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep