Book 4, Chapter 205: Overlapping Shadows In The Gap

The passage might have had a lot of twists and turns, but it didn’t have any forks. The remaining traces of mental energy even pointed them in the right direction, so Chen Chuan and Hu Kan were able to reach the end of the passage before long.

Once they were there, they slowed down.

Chen Chuan remembered that a predecessor’s mutated body was in Single Flow School’s gap, and that Fierce Wave School’s gap also once had a predecessor guarding it.

Serene Radiance School’s legacy was longer, and its foundation was greater than that of the other two schools, so Chen Chuan wouldn’t be surprised if it had a guardian as well.

Whether there was one or not, all they needed to do was to be careful. The guardians were simply the mutated bodies of martial arts masters. Chen Chuan was eager to challenge live people, and these were already half dead.

Just as Chen Chuan expected, there was a thick wall at the entrance keeping it tightly shut.

Hu Kan took a look and asked, “What do you say, brother? Want me to break it open with my hammer?”

Chen Chuan’s gaze was trained on the wall as he spread his biofield and mental energy outward. After a while, the wall creature trembled, and wisps of light spilled out of the originally thick wall. The wall creature slowly slid aside to reveal an opening that grew larger with every passing second.

Hu Kan stared at the blinding light and mumbled, “Looks like this leads straight to the other world, not the merged space. They have quite a solid foundation, alright.”

Chen Chuan hummed in agreement.

For a gap to lead straight to the other world, a number of conditions had to be met.

First, they needed an existence with some kind of mental communication link with someone from the physical world. Second, a mutated martial arts master to block the gap, like the wall creature. Third, a predecessor to have left their body and mental energy in the other world as an anchor.

These conditions weren’t necessary before the World Ring was set. The factions could determine whether their gap should lead to the merged space or the other world based on the strength of their mental energy.

This was like digging a well. The owner could decide the depth of it. However, the World Ring pushed down the originally high water level. If the owner of the well couldn’t sustain the necessary mental energy, they couldn’t go further than the merged space.

There was a price for everything, though. In their era, whenever they went to the other world and communicated with the existences there, they wasted whatever was left of their predecessors’ mental energy. Even worse, the mental energy would slowly be drained out even if they just used it to keep the gap blocked.

The predecessor guarding Single Flow School’s gap was still around only because the gap went missing for a long time and wasn’t opened frequently. Fierce Wave School’s guardian predecessor didn’t have such luck, so he reached his limit and disappeared.

For the time being, it seemed like Serene Radiance School’s guardian predecessor could still hold on. Even so, the school was relying on their past glory. It was only a matter of time before they finished using up their predecessor’s mental energy.

When the gap was wide enough, Chen Chuan said, “Let’s go, Mr. Hu.”

“Sure thing.” When Hu Kan walked through the gap, he tapped against the thick wall with his hammer. “You should have been this sensible from the start, seriously.”

They didn’t need to worry about their path back being cut off. If anything happened, they would notice immediately and would just go back from whence they came. Besides, there were no martial arts masters aside from Xiaoyue Zhai on the island. All the Great Shun Republic needed to do was to send a squadron of soldiers to figure out the situation, and they wouldn’t have a difficult time securing the island.

The place became much brighter after entering. Chen Chuan could see a large, arched wall of dirt in the distance. It was like a dam that blocked off most of the light shining on them.

A large figure sat in front of the wall. It was similar to the predecessors of Fierce Wave School.

The difference was that Serene Radiance School was clearly rich. Every predecessor had embroidered robes covered in incantations. There were also altar pedestals dug out of the walls that were a perfect fit for them.

The seated predecessors were around a hundred steps away. Since they were all between twenty to thirty meters tall, Chen Chuan and Hu Kan looked tiny in comparison upon coming to them.

Hu Kan looked warily back and forth between the predecessors. If Xiaoyue Zhai had come here, it was highly likely that he had possessed one of them.

One of the bodies twitched. Clouds of dust fell from it, and loud creaks came from rusty joints. The body slowly stood up.

Hu Kan hurriedly took a few steps back and shifted his hammers to his sides to enter his battle stance. While doing that, he didn’t forget to trash talk the predecessor. “Hey, old man, you sure are nice to your successor! Can’t believe you’re letting him use your body after your soul walked out and left it here to rot!”

Chen Chuan stood still and just stared at it calmly. Once the large predecessor stood up, he didn’t immediately attack. Instead, clouds of steam gushed out as his body started shrinking.

This was likely due to Xiaoyue Zhai’s spirit flames not being enough to sustain such a large body, but also because it wasn’t agile enough. He shrunk it down until it was at a size suitable for combat.

This was a fight to the death, not a spar, so Chen Chuan wasn’t going to let Xiaoyue Zhai complete the process. He jumped forward, brought his elbow to the front, and slammed it into the predecessor’s stomach. The powerful blow caused the predecessor to lose his balance, and he stumbled two steps back before crashing into the wall behind him.

Boom!

Dirt and dust fell down in a waterfall.

Right away, Chen Chuan noticed something off. While the body was tough, it didn’t have any spirit flames defending it.

His gaze sharpened. This could only mean that Xiaoyue Zhai wasn’t really possessing this body. He had just used it to attract their attention.

It was just as he suspected. The moment his attack landed, another predecessor appeared behind them and swung a saber at Hu Kan’s neck.

Xiaoyue Zhai did all of it in order to get this one chance. He wouldn’t be able to win against two martial arts masters at once, so he had to get rid of one of them first.

Despite the saber coming straight for his neck, Hu Kan was oblivious and stayed still. When the blade was about to touch him, he suddenly leaned forward and avoided the attack. Then, he twisted his waist in the direction of the saber and swung his upper body along with the hammers.

Xiaoyue Zhai brought the saber back just in time, and the first hammer struck it. Sparks flew everywhere, and the saber was knocked away. Because of it, he couldn’t block the second hammer. With a loud crash, it slammed into Xiaoyue Zhai’s chest. Spirit flames flew everywhere as he was sent flying.

“I was waiting for you!” Hu Kan roared.

He wasn’t all brawn and no brains when it came to fighting. He was only beheaded earlier because he didn’t understand how Xiaoyue Zhai fought. The same trick wasn’t going to work on him a second time.

Chen Chuan landed and looked over. Xiaoyue Zhai was sent flying for more than a hundred meters back. Smoke and dust rose from the wall he crashed into, but while Hu Kan had managed to hit him, Xiaoyue Zhai had pulled his spirit flames back in time. It was likely that he didn’t suffer much damage.

Of course, this was also because Hu Kan hadn’t attacked with his full strength. This was the correct strategy when he had Chen Chuan with him. Before they figured out what was truly going on, all they needed to do was to make sure that they didn’t die. As long as they didn’t show any openings, they would have victory firmly in their grasp.

A figure stood up in the dust cloud. It was around two meters tall. The man’s face and body shape were pretty similar to those of Xiaoyue Zhai, but that wasn’t all. Even his weapon was almost the same as the one Xiaoyue Zhai had used.

Perhaps it was because this body had some kind of blood ties with Xiaoyue Zhai that he could bring out more of the body’s original power.

Xiaoyue Zhai looked at both of them and brought his saber up before flipping it and brandishing it. It cast a shadow on the ground that continued flickering about even after he moved the saber to his side. It looked as if there were countless invisible sabers in the air around him.

“Huh... If I’m not mistaken, that’s Serene Radiance School’s Overlapping Saber. I’ve never heard that Xiaoyue Zhai knew it... Most likely, it’s that body who knows how to use it, so now Xiaoyue Zhai can also use it. If I knew such a technique in the past, I would’ve been so full of myself,” Hu Kan commented.

Chen Chuan observed it for a bit. If Xiaoyue Zhai didn’t know this technique before taking over the body, then what Hu Kan said might just be the truth. However, his mind needed to be highly compatible with the body. The conditions were quite harsh for such a thing to happen.

Picking up techniques from another body could only be useful if the mind’s strength and speed matched those of the body it possessed. If there was a disparity between them, all the techniques they picked up would only be decorations. The only exception would be techniques specifically targeting their enemy.

After observing it for a bit, Chen Chuan decided not to wait any longer. With a tap against the ground, he shot forward.

The moment Xiaoyue Zhai saw this, he swung his saber up, even though they were still more than a hundred meters apart. The overlapping saber shadows rushed forward.

Chen Chuan wasn’t intending to just endure them, but the saber shadows came with some kind of mental attack. This made it difficult for him to avoid them as long as he remained within Xiaoyue Zhai’s line of sight, so he decided not to dodge. His spirit flames flared as he continued forward without slowing down.

When the saber shadows crashed into him, they shattered layer by layer, but Chen Chuan’s spirit flames also flickered violently.

Xiaoyue Zhai wasn’t hoping to stop Chen Chuan with that attack alone. His goal was only to slow him down a bit and buy some time for himself.

His eyes remained glued to him, and when Chen Chuan was about to reach him, he brought his saber high above his head. At the same time, he let out a strange shout, and a bright light shone from the blade.

The gigantic bodies of the predecessors started trembling as they resonated with the light. More light shone from them, and the entire place turned blindingly white. It was impossible to see anything anymore.

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