Book 4, Chapter 198: Thunder Among Waves

“Demons are no longer human. They don’t share our thoughts and desires. To reach a higher limit in martial arts, we need to maintain our sense of self. Without it, all our efforts will be for nothing.

“Many of my predecessors chose to take their own lives when they discovered that they were about to become demons. They chose an end they could decide for themselves. This is a choice many martial arts masters make.

“But some of my predecessors couldn’t accept this end and bound themselves to this gap to protect the ones after them. They also hoped that by delaying their transformation, they could wait it out until someone found a solution to their problem.

“This, too, is a test. It’s an incredibly long trial. If they can maintain their true form and will, they can delay their transformation for decades or even centuries. If they can’t, their bodies and minds collapse. Then, they can’t even bring about their own release and can only turn into demons.

“This predecessor of mine couldn’t maintain his true form and went to a place he shouldn’t have gone to.

“When we first reached the Fourth Limit, we kept pushing boldly with indomitable spirit, but after getting to the advanced stages, it feels like we’re walking on thin ice. We’ve become filled with reverence and don’t dare to act recklessly.

“In the future, this will be my end as well. I picked the path of the human form, though, so I might be able to hang on longer than my predecessors.”

He walked forward and soon disappeared into the light.

Chen Chuan looked around before walking in after him. Once he was inside, he noticed that the light had gotten dimmer. That might be because there was plenty of algae around him. It seemed to absorb the omnipresent light.

But that wasn’t the most important thing. They had arrived on a spacious platform with colossal figures of various shapes surrounding it. Over ten of them blocked the light coming from the distance.

Fenghe Shou looked ahead and said, “Over the course of the six hundred years, aside from Master Chan Dao, the ninth, twelfth, and fifteenth masters, the other masters and predecessors who became sabermasters all chose to end their lives here.”

Chen Chuan observed them. The figures were all giants standing quite close to the platform. If he wanted to see their full forms, he had to look up.

Only a handful of them retained their human forms. The others had bizarre shapes, just like the demons in legends.

“Where did the other school masters go?” he asked.

“Master Chan Dao might have gone deeper into the other world to seek a new path. I don’t know what happened to him. The other school masters didn’t want to end their lives. Aside from the one I mentioned who guarded the entrance of the gap, the others chose to chase after Master Chan Dao. They’ve never come back, and I don’t want them to,” Fenghe Shou replied.

As Chen Chuan stared at the light coming out of the giants, he found himself agreeing to what Fenghe Shou said. Could they really find a path after going to the other world? Not finding one was one thing. If they came back, they would surely have become some eldritch abomination.

Fenghe Shou turned around. “Let’s fight here, Mr. Chen. It might just be a spar, but I won’t hold back.”

He schooled his face and drew his saber before positioning it beside his waist and bowing to Chen Chuan. “Fenghe Shou of Fierce Wave School.”

Chen Chuan drew his saber as well, but he wasn’t going to use it. He stabbed it into the platform before bringing his hands up and giving a fist-and-palm salute. “Chen Chuan of the purity faction.”

Since they were sparring today, he was going to stand here as a martial arts master.

Fenghe Shou straightened his back. Faint light shone on him before it was replaced by aquamarine light resembling waves. Once the light encased him, he seemed to have become fainter. Thunderous rumbles came out of his saber, and he said, “The light serves life and death; the blade moves at a moment’s intent.”

Suddenly, he leaned forward. His sleeves fluttered, and he delivered a slash. Light shone from his saber, and spirit flames gathered in the arc. In an instant, it traveled dozens of meters.

Chen Chuan had no intention of avoiding it. Instead, he smacked it with a palm that had concentrated spirit flames on it, and the aquamarine spirit flames dispersed.

A loud explosion rose from where he swung his arm.

Spirit flames released from the saber required the participation of some of the saber’s mutated tissue, and they were highly concentrated. To scatter them, Chen Chuan didn’t just need quick reflexes, but also power that was many times greater than them.

This was a losing move, but using such a brute defense would make his opponent more cautious when weighing his options. He might even give up on the original strategy.

After dismantling Fenghe Shou’s momentum, Chen Chuan’s aura rose. Golden white light shone from him and flickered about like steam.

Fenghe Shou’s expression grew stern. He had attacked so quickly that to smack away his attack would have required superhuman reflexes, speed, and a foundation so great one wouldn’t mind draining it. Just as he had thought, Chen Chuan was an opponent worthy of his attention. His chance of victory wasn’t going to appear right away. It was going to come slowly, so he had to attack steadily.

He needed to find a point for a breakthrough.

Well then...

While he was thinking, he didn’t stay still. He switched to a two-handed hold and brought his saber to his face. The tip pointed forward, and he turned his body to the side before lowering his center of gravity to position himself in Fierce Wave School’s Wave Breaker.

As he was looking for an opportunity to attack, his gaze changed, and he took a step backward. Chen Chuan appeared in front of him.

Boom!

The area in front of him exploded. At the same time, their biofields shattered, and the ground where their biofields crashed collapsed. A huge pit formed.

Dust scattered. Chen Chuan remained standing with golden-white smoke curling up from his fist. He cast a glance at Fenghe Shou, who had to regain his footing. If it had been Long Xiang or Wei Guochan standing in front of him, they wouldn’t have been able to avoid it, but Fenghe Shou did.

This wasn’t because he was faster than the other two, but because his mind could predict danger ahead of time and let him avoid it.

That alone wasn’t enough, because Chen Chuan could make adjustments. At most twice more, Chen Chuan would be able to catch up, but Fenghe Shou gave him the feeling that up to the point of his attack, he didn’t move. That was why Chen Chuan had thrown his punch without holding back. It had to be some kind of mental technique.

Fenghe Shou retreated far away, as if to prevent Chen Chuan from getting into his space again. He then brandished his saber. Suddenly, fog tumbled outward and hid his body.

Chen Chuan didn’t move. When the fog crashed into his biofield, it didn’t manage to press inside. Instead, it moved around and only left behind some slight traces of it.

Chen Chuan stared at the fog. He had to admit that Fenghe Shou had some tricks. When he brandished his saber, he had severed Chen Chuan’s mental link to him, so he could use the fog to hide himself. Otherwise, even if he released it, he wouldn’t have been able to conceal himself.

It looked like some powerful force pushed against the fog, and it spread outward with a bang. In that instant, a blurry figure appeared above it.

It was no one else but Fenghe Shou.

He looked as large as the giants behind them. Thunder Listener, too, had become larger as it came swinging down at Chen Chuan.

There were dozens of meters between them, but as the saber came down, it instantly reached its target. This didn’t seem like an illusion either. The powerful wind caused a large amount of dust and smoke to stir, and as the saber cut through the air, it turned scorching hot.

But Chen Chuan’s gaze remained calm. As he stared at the saber coming down at him, he didn’t choose to dodge it. Fenghe Shou was a sabermaster, which meant that he was incredibly familiar with saber techniques. If Chen Chuan dodged, he would be forced into a defensive position and give Fenghe Shou a chance to win.

Chen Chuan spread his legs, lowered his center of gravity, and had the white smoke rise from him. Spirit flames burned as he stared at the saber. Then, he crossed his arms and pushed them up.

Boom!

The saber touched his arms, and the platform trembled. Clouds of smoke rolled out. Chen Chuan remained standing steadily, even though he looked tiny in comparison to the huge saber.

Just as he expected, while the saber had become large, which made it seem like its power had increased, the real fight was still between their spirit flames. The ones on the saber didn’t grow and remained the same as before.

As spirit flames melted on each side, sparks flew, but due to the difference in their foundations, the spirit flames on the saber disappeared first.

The moment Chen Chuan saw this, his gaze sharpened, and he threw a punch encased in golden-white light at the blurry outline of the saber. It caused the saber to bounce back.

He then stomped down and charged forward like a cannonball. The spirit flames around him crashed into the giant behind the saber, causing it to shatter.

Fenghe Shou’s real body appeared. Chen Chuan didn’t stop and pressed forward to throw a punch at him.

Fenghe Shou’s gaze changed, but he managed to bring his saber up to block.

Boom!

Even though he was more than four meters tall and twice Chen Chuan’s size, it was difficult for him to block the punch because of how powerful it was. He fell backward against his will. Even though he remained standing, the blue flames around him swayed violently.

Chen Chuan leaned forward as he threw another punch.

Boom!

Again, Fenghe Shou managed to block it, but the repeated clashes caused his aquamarine flames to flicker like a candle in the wind. In comparison, Chen Chuan just continued pressing forward and kept hitting the saber.

The aquamarine flames were unable to hold back the aggressive assault and scattered. Chen Chuan’s fist rammed into the saber and pushed it back until it touched Fenghe Shou’s chest. The refined force in the fist gushed into Fenghe Shou’s body, and a loud, thunderous clap tore through the air. Fenghe Shou flew off the platform.

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