Book 4, Chapter 76: Repeat

It was as if lightning had struck in the tunnel. Thin cracks appeared on the walls around them.

Fan Mo’s shout seemed to be a secret technique from the former national religion. It could be said to be a sound-type Heartborn Force. Its foundation lay in training up a group of mutated tissue that could only be used once to defeat the enemies nearby through sound waves. This sort of attack could not be defended against with weapons.

However, there was a price to pay. Even if Fan Mo was using special mutated tissue, it was in the body, and the body was one whole unit, which meant that the mutated tissue in the other parts of the body would participate in the attack.

This led to Fan Mo being unable to dissolve the Heartborn Force that permeated his body in time, since he didn’t have enough mutated tissue left for defence, and he felt as if his body was being torn apart. He stumbled back and nearly slammed against the tunnel wall. For a time, he was unable to catch his breath.

Chen Chuan had never encountered this sort of Heartborn Force before, but his mutated tissue was incredibly sturdy. With an inhale, he activated his body hardening-type Heartborn Force to block the attack. Then, as he exhaled, he strode over.

In Fan Mo’s eyes, Chen Chuan had only stopped for a moment before the sound attack. Then, he came over, as if the attack had meant nothing.

This caused his heart to race.

Chen Chuan arrived in front of him, and he brought up the sheathed Frost King Saber high above his head before swinging it down.

Due to the impact from Chen Chuan’s Heartborn Force, Fan Mo couldn’t dodge the attack. He could only bring his saber up.

Bam!

His feet sank, and his body fell back hard against the wall. Dust and debris fell down.

The Frost King Saber came swinging down again, and Fan Mo brought his saber up in a hurry to block it. When their weapons clashed, he could feel his mutated tissue trembling and turning sore. This was due to him forcing his mutated tissue to negate the Heartborn Force charging into him before recovering fully.

But there was simply no time for his mutated tissue to get ready for the next attack, because Chen Chuan’s swings came endlessly. All Fan Mo could do was to keep parrying them.

Soon, he noticed that Chen Chuan’s attacks were all perfectly controlled to make sure that Fan Mo could block them, but have no chance to catch his breath and recover. He was squeezing out Fan Mo’s power like he was wringing a towel dry.

Prior to this, Chen Chuan had put most of his energy into polishing the refined forces for bare-handed combat, since the Frost King Saber was in hibernation. He had simply been unable to work on his saber-type refined forces.

That was why he could only simulate Single Flow School’s two-tier refined force in place of his saber-type refined force, and its specialty lay in whittling down the enemy bit by bit until they lost their ability to fight back.

From a theoretical point of view, this was the correct choice, because martial artists had to make sure not to get hurt in a fight before thinking about killing their enemies. This was a praiseworthy fighting tactic.

However, it was torture to the enemies, because they knew that they were being dragged to their deaths, but they had no way to fight back. They could only endure the torture.

Fan Mo knew that he was a fish caught in a net and was going to die. Even if he still had some tricks left and found a chance or two to counterattack, he wouldn’t be able to win against Chen Chuan. Once he realized this, he ignored the pain in his body and forced his mutated tissue to squeeze out power for him again so that he could redirect Chen Chuan’s saber, even if it was just slightly to the side. But he didn’t counterattack. Instead, he threw away his saber and fell on his knees. “I surrender.”

Since he had thick eyebrows and big eyes, he appeared to be a righteous man. He had also presented himself to be incredibly strong-willed, so when he knelt down, the contrast between his image and his actions was incredibly great.

But Chen Chuan showed no intention of stopping. He brought his saber up and swung it down again.

Fan Mo’s eyes turned bloodshot. He had surrendered in order to get a chance to fight back, but Chen Chuan did not fall for it. Fan Mo pushed his knees against the ground and shot diagonally upward to slam his forehead against Chen Chuan’s body.

When he fell to his knees, he had done so in a specific way to prepare for an attack called the Rising Hammer. When kneeling down, he could accumulate power and then jump up at such a great speed that it would catch his opponent off guard.

In the former religion’s teachings, worshippers were only supposed to kneel in worship of their deity. Hence, if they knelt down to someone else, they were supposed to kill them. This act of kneeling was mixed with a ritual that could provide a large amount of power, which led to his entire body becoming as sturdy as steel when he knelt down, so he wouldn’t need to worry about any refined force or Heartborn Force crashing into him.

If Chen Chuan had stopped attacking or relaxed, Fan Mo’s plan would have worked.

Yet while his attack was fast, Chen Chuan swung his saber down first and struck Fan Mo’s head. A powerful refined force slammed down into Fan Mo, and he was forced onto his knees again. Two pits were created on the road.

The saber did not slow down and continued pushing down. In the end, Fan Mo’s face crashed heavily into the road, as if he was kowtowing to Chen Chuan.

Thanks to the ritual, Fan Mo didn’t get hurt. He tried to gather power again, but before he could get up, Chen Chuan brought his saber up and swung it down once more.

Boom!

Debris flew everywhere. The strike not only sent Fan Mo’s head back down on the road, but left behind a face-shaped pit with cracked edges.

Fan Mo felt his refined force scattering, but if he relaxed one bit, what awaited him would be defeat and death. He grabbed the ground, gathered refined force again, and tried to release it in a counterattack.

Before he could finish, a powerful and fierce saber-type refined force came swinging down, and he felt his back twist. He sank into the ground. It felt like he was going to be embedded into the tunnel.

He let out a tense growl and got ready to release another wave of power, regardless of the risks, but at that moment, he felt his chest tighten, and a sharp pain tore through his body.

Since Chen Chuan simulated Single Flow School’s two-tier refined force, he sent his refined force deep into Fan Mo’s body, where it could numb as well as damage mutated tissue.

Even though Fan Mo had used his weapon to negate some of Chen Chuan’s refined force, it didn’t mean that no refined force entered him. Whenever Chen Chuan’s Heartborn Force entered his body, it dealt a tiny amount of damage. Fan Mo had also drained his potential for a boost in power multiple times, so his mutated tissue had long since become unable to tolerate external refined forces, which was why, this time, he was unable to summon his strength.

Since he was unable to complete this step, all his refined force scattered, causing him to be unable to complete the motions needed for the Rising Hammer. The regression in his mental energy and physical attributes caused his originally sturdy body to lose its tight defenses.

When Chen Chuan swung his saber down again, Fan Mo’s upper body sank into the pit with a crash. The back of his overcoat was torn along with the flesh on the back of his head, and a long gash was created. Blood poured out of it.

Chen Chuan looked down. His still sheathed saber was on the back of Fan Mo’s head.

Fan Mo turned his head to the side a little. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have any counterattacks left. Beneath his loose overcoat was a bomb created from a special powder. If he sent his refined force into it, it would explode. Even if it couldn’t kill Chen Chuan, it would collapse the tunnel, and he would drag Chen Chuan to hell with him.

But when he was about to do it, hesitation appeared in his eyes. At that moment, the saber swung down again and pierced through his brain before stabbing into the pit. Refined force blasted apart the brain tissue. Fan Mo spasmed violently a few times before he stopped moving.

Chen Chuan waited for a while before pulling his saber out. With a light swing, he shook off the blood and flesh on the sheath and bent down to pick up Fan Mo’s torn overcoat to wipe his sheath clean. “I gave you one last chance, but you refused to take it.”

When Fan Mo was heavily injured, he could no longer control his movements and emotions, so Chen Chuan could see the tiniest of his moves, which meant that he noticed Fan Mo’s final act. It caused his instincts to scream at him.

At first, Chen Chuan had wanted to take a step back to deal with the upcoming danger, but Fan Mo hesitated at the last second. It led to him being unable to do whatever it was that he wanted to do, and Chen Chuan swung his saber down to end his life without any hesitation.

Fan Mo was strong, but he liked to use underhanded tactics and other methods to achieve his goals instead of using his own strength to do it. Hence, he didn’t have the unwavering heart of a martial artist.

If Fan Mo had cast aside everything else to fight against Chen Chuan, his mental energy would have made him stronger, and the results might have been different.

...In the sense that he wouldn’t have died such a horrible death.

Once Chen Chuan finished wiping the sheath, he inspected Fan Mo’s corpse and found a few things. Since he was unable to determine what they were, he was going to bring them back for identification.

Then, he grabbed Fan Mo’s saber and took a closer look. It was an heirloom saber that should have come from some martial arts faction from the old era. It was wasted in Fan Mo’s hands.

Chen Chuan removed the sheath from Fan Mo’s belt and put the saber back in before straightening his back and tapping on his Realm Pass to ask his teammates to collect the corpse.

This was the lower city district. If he left Fan Mo’s corpse alone, someone might grab him and dissect him to sell his parts. Chen Chuan had no interest in showing Fan Mo respect, but because there might be clues on him, they needed to bring him back for examination. That was why he couldn’t let anyone destroy him.

While he was talking to his teammates, Yuan Qiuyuan said, “Captain, we got rid of the Tunneling Queen, and I promise you that we didn’t leave a single cell behind. What about the nutritional cans, though? How should we deal with them? We found two more storehouses filled with them.”

Chen Chuan considered it before saying, “Send them all to the rear.”

He needed some nutritional cans to feed the Frost King Saber. He could already sense the benefits his saber brought him, so if it grew even stronger, it would naturally be better. Of course, his teammates and the Resolution Department should have a share of all they confiscated, but this could be easily settled. He just had to compensate them with something else later.

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