Book 4, Chapter 246: Retreating After Knowing His Strength

The key in the stone stood out under the winter sun with an obvious logo of Grand Prosperity Finance.

Chen Chuan turned back to Qi Huishi. It seemed like the man was really determined to get the woman.

Martial arts masters wouldn’t fight unless absolutely necessary, which meant events that included major benefits or reasons that forced them to fight.

It seemed that the two martial arts masters were quite valuable. Otherwise, Qi Huishi wouldn’t be willing to offer up so many resources.

Chen Chuan saw no reason to say no. His second self needed to get stronger, and he would gladly spar against people of the same level. The two ancient martial arts masters were far too weakened, so he hadn’t used much strength to deal with them. It could not even be considered a warmup, so he hoped that Qi Huishi could bring him a surprise.

“Okay, Mr. Qi,” he said.

Qi Huishi guessed that Chen Chuan would most likely say yes to the spar. No martial arts master could say no to more food and medicine. Besides, at the end of the day, they both belonged to the Great Shun Republic and didn’t have any bad blood between them. They might even work together in the future, so if they could show each other some respect and dignity, they should.

In reality, if it weren’t for certain special reasons, Qi Huishi wouldn’t have said anything about Chen Chuan taking the woman with him. There was no reason for him to get into such trouble, but now, he had to challenge him.

Qi Huishi didn’t know much about Chen Chuan and hadn’t known that he would show up here. All he knew was Chen Chuan’s position from Enclosed Shore’s telegram.

Even though he had never heard of him before and was sure that he wasn’t one of the famous and reputable martial arts masters, he didn’t look down on him. Chen Chuan's position meant that either the higher-ups valued him greatly, or he had made some major contribution to the country. Either way, he wouldn’t be weak.

But all martial arts masters were confident in themselves, and they were always going to fight as long as they had a reason for it, even if they knew that their opponent was stronger than they were. The latter was even more of a reason to fight. No one who didn’t have the confidence to challenge an opponent but cowered before the fight had even started could reach the Fourth Limit.

Once Chen Chuan set the white-haired woman down, he and Qi Huishi moved away from each other. Since they needed to gather their mental energy together and get ready for the fight, they released their biofields. This caused the fallen leaves and snow to rise up into the air.

At that moment, they heard the clear sound of propellers coming from behind Chen Chuan. Enclosed Shore’s airship had arrived.

Enclosed Shore’s scout had seen the airship from Haixi Road and realized that something might have happened, so the airship drew closer. However, once they saw Chen Chuan and Qi Huishi in a standoff, along with the abnormal sight around them, all the people in the airship tensed up.

Bao Ning’s heart leapt to his throat. He quickly asked the pilot to stop getting closer.

Then, he cast his eyes forward. Judging by the situation, Chen Chuan was facing off against another martial arts master, who was likely from Haixi Road. Why would Haixi Road’s martial arts master suddenly show up here? Haixi Road’s government hadn’t mentioned anything of the like in their reply.

He thought of a possibility, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

His assistant also saw that something was off and suggested, “Should we stay away from the area?”

That might have been what he said, but he was actually hinting that they should just run away and hide from this crisis.

“Stay away? We can’t! We have to wait here!” Bao Ning hissed, even though he didn’t know whether Chen Chuan and Qi Huishi were just trying to intimidate each other or the worst case scenario had just happened.

If Haixi Road really wanted to target Enclosed Shore and Chen Chuan couldn’t stop them, could they even run away?

It would be better for them to stay and show unwavering support toward Chen Chuan.

“Get the weapons on the airship ready and point them downward. Wait for my orders and be ready to give support to Director Chen at any moment,” he ordered.

Regardless of whether it was useful or not, they should at least show their stance.

The two people in a standoff ignored everything that went on around them.

Qi Huishi slowly brought a leg up. At the same time, he spread his arms and put one arm forward while the other went above his head. The hem of his shirt covered his lifted knee. Skyblue light shone around him in a steady and strong manner.

Chen Chuan didn’t move into a stance, but just stood there. Regardless of whether it was the Blindling Blaze or the Fist of the Vast Sky, both required him to burn a large amount of energy, and he saw no need to use them here.

Golden-white light shone from him like fog before spreading outward, as if to cover the entire space.

Chen Chuan observed Qi Huishi. His breathing was steady and showed no signs of flickering or change.

The human form, huh?

Yao Zhiyi had mentioned that the human form was the most popular path, but those who took this path were divided into two extremes. Most ended up mediocre, while only a handful had great achievements in this path.

He wondered which extreme Qi Huishi belonged to.

There would be no figuring it out until they fought.

He brought his hand up, and spirit flames gathered on his palm. He flung them forward.

When Qi Huishi saw the move he used, he schooled his expression. This meant that Chen Chuan had plenty of spirit flames and didn’t mind this bit of expenditure.

He didn’t try to block them head-on. Instead, he stepped to the side. When the light brushed past him, his biofield shattered it.

Just then, wind pushed at him. Chen Chuan had rushed over to him. Since Qi Huishi had just dodged the spirit flames, it seemed like he wouldn’t be able to avoid Chen Chuan, but at the last moment, he spun to the side with natural ease and pushed his shoulder outward. His spirit flames shot forward. Cracking sounds rose as it crashed into Chen Chuan’s biofield, then rammed into his glowing fist.

Their spirit flames ate away at each other before scattering. Qi Huishi had handled the attack. He had used the appropriate amount of strength and did everything in time, so his spirit flames didn’t scatter immediately, unlike those of some of Chen Chuan’s previous opponents.

After blocking the attack, Qi Huishi stepped back and avoided Chen Chuan’s upward kick. Then, he ducked down. A powerful gust of wind blew over his head with a loud whoosh. He immediately stepped back and brought his knee up. Spirit flames blasted outward from his knee, and he managed to block the kick that came sweeping at him. He used the force from it to retreat a certain distance. With a flick and spread of his arms, strong gusts of wind circled around him, and he moved into his stance again.

Chen Chuan brought his leg back down and cast a glance at Qi Huishi’s spirit flames flickering at a rhythmic beat.

A solid foundation.

Qi Huishi had managed to predict every single one of his attacks. This was a sign that he had mastered his techniques to such a degree that he could use them to make up for his lacking speed and power.

Qi Huishi was shocked. While he might have predicted all of Chen Chuan’s attacks, he had only managed to barely avoid them without any chance to counterattack. Also, he had created an opening when he retreated at the end and prepared a move to end the spar. If Chen Chuan had chased after him, Qi Huishi would have been able to use it. Yet even though Chen Chuan had the initiative, he didn’t press in.

He couldn’t really tell whether this was because there was a break in Chen Chuan’s refined force, which caused him to stop, or whether he had noticed something.

Chen Chuan hadn’t chased after Qi Huishi because he had noticed that his opponent hadn’t run out of strength. He was keeping something ready, and his instincts in this regard were always accurate.

Of course, if he continued attacking, he might still have won. There wasn’t just one way to fight, and he might have been able to ruin whatever Qi Huishi had ready for him, but Chen Chuan didn’t intend to waste too much energy on this, which was why he decided to hold back.

Qi Huishi switched his plans. Chen Chuan’s offense was fierce. If he let him continue attacking, he would be forced into a passive situation, so he decided to attack first this time.

He slightly turned his body and moved one arm in front and above his head, while the other to the back and below the navel. Suddenly he shot forward, like a sparrow that was flying close to the ground and was going to fly up at any moment.

When Chen Chuan saw him dash over, he didn’t move right away. Only when Qi Huishi sent a fist hurling toward his stomach did Chen Chuan shoot a hand downward and push it against the top of Qi Huishi’s fist.

The momentum from Qi Huishi’s charge was contained in the fist. Most of his spirit flames were gathered at the tip of it as well. When they made contact, he didn’t wait for all of his energy to leak out. Instead, he moved lightly, like a crane in flight, and went to Chen Chuan’s side. The moment he planted one leg on the ground, he threw another fist forward.

Chen Chuan blocked this attack as well. Spirit flames flew everywhere from the point of contact, and Qi Huishi moved his other leg forward. The movement let him guide his body to another spot. This time, with a tilt of his body backward and a twist, he swung a palm at Chen Chuan’s nape. Just as he was about to hit, Chen Chuan brought one hand back to block the attack trajectory and catch the palm.

Qi Huishi turned around and went to Chen Chuan’s other side. With a pinch of all fingers, he flung his arm and aimed his fingers at Chen Chuan’s waist, like a crane aiming to peck at something. Chen Chuan moved his elbow down to block it.

Qi Huishi’s movements were beautiful and smooth. Whenever he attacked, he only had one foot land on the ground while the other allowed him to adjust his balance and move his body around wherever he wanted. With swift movements and rapid shifts, he made up for his weaker spirit flames.

Attacks were usually faster than defensive moves. If a martial arts master noticed that their opponent couldn’t catch up or found an opening in their defense, they could immediately increase the density of their spirit flames and claim victory.

But Chen Chuan was different. He stayed still and didn’t move much, but he was able to accurately block all of Qi Huishi’s attacks.

Through it all, he never made use of his superior speed and didn’t display too much power. He simply made use of his combat judgement to block the attacks.

After exchanging dozens of attacks, he pretty much figured out Qi Huishi’s attack rhythm and way of generating power. After blocking yet another one of his attacks, he changed to offense. While ignoring the fingers going straight for his eyes, he threw a fist at Qi Huishi’s face.

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