Book 4, Chapter 146: Kill And Chase Away

The girl seemed to have learned her lesson from last time and sent a large amount of spirit sense to the tip of her staff. Her powerful mental energy seemed to be forcefully changing the mutated tissue in the staff, which made the light on it far stronger than before.

Chen Chuan continued standing still with the saber positioned horizontally above him as he looked up. In just a moment, the staff slammed down on the saber. Their spirit senses pushed against and ate at each other. In an instant, all of it was gone, and what came next was the clash of refined forces.

Clang!

A powerful force came swooping down into the saber. A shockwave blasted out from between the weapons. Loud explosions tore through the air, and Chen Chuan sank into the earth. His second self turned faint as the dirt around him was pushed outward. His feet were entirely buried.

The girl seemed to have reclaimed her confidence after this hit. She grinned savagely, brought the staff up high, and swung it down again.

When Chen Chuan saw that she was not changing her stance, his gaze sharpened, and he resumed his previous stance, as if he intended to fight head-on with her until the very end. The staff came down once more with the power to crush everything in its wake, and at the moment their weapons touched, their spirit senses neutralized each other again. Again, their refined forces surged into each other without any problem.

This time, the girl played to her strength by focusing all of her power into this one attack. She wanted to defeat Chen Chuan in one blow.

But when the staff hit the saber and her refined force charged in, she felt as if she had hit something incredibly flexible instead of something hard.

Chen Chuan had used a yielding force to drag the girl’s refined force down. In an instant, the staff got stuck to the saber, and Chen Chuan spun on his feet to twirl his blade around the staff several times before dragging it outward. The staff was pushed to the side, and even the air around them was yanked aside.

The girl had a monstrous grip, so the staff didn’t fly away. Even so, she was dragged two steps forward by the force pulling the staff about.

Chen Chuan was prepared for it. He tightened his grip around the saber. While it was lifted up high on one side, he watched the girl as she approached, spun on his feet, and swung the saber at her neck.

The girl had released all of her strength and didn’t have the time to avoid Chen Chuan’s attack or make any adjustments. At the crucial moment, though, the muscles on her nape rippled in a bizarre manner. They shrank in, and her neck sank into her chest. Chen Chuan’s saber cut through the girl’s face instead of the neck.

Since most of her spirit sense was spilling outward, there was only a thin layer of spirit sense on her head. Chen Chuan had no difficulty melting it away, and his saber cut into flesh. The blade sank easily and cut halfway through her head until it encountered something similar to last time. When Chen Chuan was about to cut into the girl’s brain, he ran into a wall of some sort.

Once he noticed this, he didn’t continue. Instead, he pulled his saber out. While the girl still couldn’t control her strength, he delivered a few more slashes at that part of her head. A large portion of it was cut off, and her brain was revealed.

Her head started squirming, like it had a mind of its own. There was also a faint light coming off it.

Chen Chuan’s eyes narrowed. This was a vitalized brain. Even though it looked like it was one with the body, it was an independent entity. This explained why it had its own spirit sense protecting it and why Chen Chuan hadn’t been able to kill the girl twice in a row.

Since this was what was going on, he had to change his strategy.

At that moment, the girl finally got a good grasp of her staff again. She grabbed the end of it, pivoted sideways, and swung at Chen Chuan.

Just like before, the staff contained great power, but Chen Chuan could tell that she wasn’t fully in it. This was a counterattack born from frustration. While she had some technique, she didn’t have the qualities of a martial artist.

Chen Chuan seized an opening, stepped back, and swung the saber down while concentrating all his mental energy on the blade. The light on it was much brighter than before, and as the staff came swinging at him horizontally, he brought the saber up diagonally.

This time, he targeted the spot the girl used to attack. Once the saber hit, a portion of the staff was cut off with a loud whistle.

The remaining part of the staff shot past him.

Since Chen Chuan had been prepared for this, he simply adjusted his breathing in a relaxed fashion, took a step forward, and swung the saber down at the exposed brain.

Bang!

The light on the saber struck the brain, and sparks flew everywhere. Most of the light instantly melted away, and before the brain could make any adjustments, Chen Chuan shifted his breathing. Light shone on the saber again, and he swung down once more. This time, there was only a faint layer of light on the saber.

If the girl could turn around and parry his attack, he wouldn’t have the chance to deliver a third slash, but Chen Chuan was prepared for this.

However, something unexpected happened. Fear rose on the girl’s face. She screeched and chose to run away.

It caught Chen Chuan by surprise, but after some thinking, it made sense. The girl was no martial artist, so it was impossible for her to have one’s firm will.

Besides, the brain was the one calling the shots now. When it no longer had anything to protect it and was exposed to danger, it chose to escape instead of fighting to the bitter end.

But this was the worst choice it could make, because running away during a battle without any preparation led to the worst possible outcome, especially when the girl didn’t have an obvious advantage over Chen Chuan in terms of speed. Her trying to escape was basically her handing over her head to him on a silver platter.

When the girl turned her back toward him, Chen Chuan showed no mercy and cut right into it. Her spirit sense had gathered on her back, so he dragged the saber further down and cut into her calves, instantly cutting through her muscles and tendons, which caused her to stumble.

Then came another swift slash, and Chen Chuan cut off her unprotected calf. The girl lost her balance and crashed into the ground before tumbling forward. Dust flew up all around her.

She pushed her body up, but before she could shuffle away, Chen Chuan shot forward, and a swift slash tore through the dust-covered air and her damaged jaw. The top half of her head flew high into the sky, along with the brain, then fell down with a loud thump.

Her huge body lost all of its vitality, and she collapsed bonelessly.

Chen Chuan slowly walked over to the severed top half of the head and looked down. The brain was trying to make itself smaller, which was an obvious sign of its fear.

It seemed to also be using some sort of attack, because Chen Chuan’s second self’s entire body was turning fainter. It was likely a mental attack of sorts.

Chen Chuan brought the saber up. Right away, the brain leapt up from the skull, as if it wanted to attach itself to him, but Chen Chuan sent it right back down with a stomp. The spirit sense around it melted away because of the light at the bottom of his foot.

He grabbed the saber hilt with both hands, positioned the tip downward, and thrust down.

This time, the blade sank in without any problem. The brain let out an almost painful, deafening screech as it started thrashing about, but Chen Chuan remained unaffected. He just gripped the hilt tightly and twisted it back and forth.

After a while, the brain stopped moving. Wisps of light came out of the Frost King Saber and enveloped the brain, as if it was absorbing something. It sent waves of satisfaction to Chen Chuan.

A moment passed, and the brain lost all moisture. It became a shrivelled mess. When Chen Chuan brought the saber up, he heard a snap. The brain shattered all over the floor.

When he turned around, he saw that the body further away was going through the same thing. It, too, had become really brittle. The moment the wind blew at it, the body fell apart and was swept away. Soon, only a black stain was left on the ground.

The upper jaw didn’t disappear, though. It was the only thing that remained. Chen Chuan picked it up and put it away.

Since he was part of the purity faction, he had to bring back something from an existence from the other world whenever he killed or chased one away. Even if there were only ashes left, he had to gather them up and hand them over to the purity faction as proof of his deeds. It was all to show that he had carried out his duties.

Just then, he heard an enraged growl from the upper jaw. It had to have come from the existence.

It probably hated him for destroying its host, but that didn’t matter. Since Chen Chuan was a member of the purity faction, he would have plenty of chances to run into the existences from the other world in the future. He might even have a chance of hunting them down, so he didn’t have to worry.

Chen Chuan walked back, picked up his sheath, put the Frost King Saber inside, and checked the place. Since the ritual might still be in effect, he destroyed some of the important nodes.

Once he was sure that it was impossible for the ritual to be restored, he turned around and started looking for Lead Investigator Wen’s body.

The campsite hadn’t been attacked, so most of the items weren’t damaged. After checking through every nook and cranny, Chen Chuan went to Skin Flayer’s tent.

Few tents belonged to powerful martial artists, and there were a couple winged skeletons hanging outside his tent. They had been disassembled and reassembled repeatedly, so they stood out in a military camp.

After going inside, Chen Chuan found the boxes containing Lead Investigator Wen’s remains.

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