Chang Kuanghai's stab wound above the collarbone healed. Not even a single drop of blood had spilled out because the tissue there had locked even the blood vessels.

In the blink of an eye, Chen Chuan couldn’t even see any traces of the wound ever existing.

Chang Kuanghai cast a glance at the axe still buried in the ground and thought about how to get it back, because he was at a disadvantage fighting against Chen Chuan barehanded. Even though he could close his wounds, it took time, and if he got a lot of wounds, it would affect his ability to fight.

But he also noticed that while Chen Chuan had retreated, he was clearly waiting for him to go and retrieve the axe. If he spent a brief moment getting his weapon, Chen Chuan could find a chance to overpower him again.

So, after some thinking, Chang Kuanghai decided to give up on his axe. He would look for a chance to pick it up during the fight.

Chen Chuan adjusted his posture before brandishing the Frost King Saber and moving forward. The first two steps he took were quite slow, but when he took his third step, he sped up and charged at Chang Kuanghai head-on.

He had his saber in hand, but Chang Kuanghai had nothing, so he didn’t have to worry about executing certain attacks.

Chang Kuanghai spread his legs front and back before bending his knees a little. Then, he pushed one arm up while moving the other down. His eyes were trained on Chen Chuan through the gap between his arms as he prepared to receive the attack.

When the saber tip came straight at him, Chang Kuanghai narrowed his eyes and bent his back to face the attack head-on. At the same time, he pushed his arms outward while spreading his fingers. He was planning to use his body to block the saber while using his hands to grab it and yank it out of Chen Chuan’s hands.

Chen Chuan didn’t let this plan come to fruition. With a sideways swing and a turn, he cut into the skin of Chang Kuanghai’s arm. A thin, bloody gash immediately formed, but Chang Kuanghai didn’t even bat an eyelid at that. The wound healed almost at the moment the weapon left.

Chen Chuan then stepped to his side and swung the saber at the back of Chang Kuanghai’s knees, but the man pushed his knee outward to block the slash.

Chen Chuan pretended to lean forward, as if he wanted to move behind Chang Kuanghai, but when Chang Kuanghai shifted the center of his gravity to follow him, Chen Chuan suddenly retreated. At the same time, he lowered the center of his gravity and brought the saber down. A chilling light went straight for Chang Kuanghai’s ankles.

Chang Kuanghai’s expression hardened, and he immediately activated his refined force before sending it downward. His feet were planted firmly on the ground as he prepared himself to withstand the attack. His body was sturdy, and that slash wasn’t going to sever his ankles, but it had enough power to make him lose his balance.

When the saber was about to cut him, he saw a flash, and the weapon swung up to deliver a diagonal slash at his stomach. Chang Kuanghai immediately brought his hands down to block the blade, but Chen Chuan suddenly moved forward and arrived beside him. The saber cut into the side of his other knee.

Chen Chuan had made full use of the Frost King Saber’s long blade and his own strength for these attacks, which let him succeed each time. Besides, while he was holding the saber, Chang Kuanghai couldn’t hope to touch him with his bare hands. He couldn’t use any effective counterattacks either. Hence, Chen Chuan was the one attacking while Chang Kuanghai could only passively defend.

Even so, Chang Kuanghai remained calm. Such an injury was nothing to him, especially since body hardening experts’ strength was their durability. Even if he had to fight a few days and nights in succession, he could do it without batting an eyelid.

But there was a problem: Chang Kuanghai had come here in order to reach a breakthrough in mental energy and perfect his body so that he could reach greater heights.

The Heavenly Pardon Fist was a fist technique that placed an emphasis in taking the initiative in a fight, which meant that he needed to activate his mind during battle to make it transcend. The steadier his will was and the more intense a fight, the more energized his mind would be.

Right now, all he could do was get hit, which didn’t fit the principles of his fist technique, so he couldn’t get any benefits from the opened Gate to Heaven.

He had to try and change the situation.

After several more slashes, Chang Kuanghai’s chest heaved, and Chen Chuan thought he heard thundering sounds from the man’s heart.

He also looked thinner. When the saber came charging at him again, Chang Kuanghai used his elbow to block it and deflected the blade with a clang. Then, he positioned both elbows in front of him, making them look like a bull’s horns. He remained still, but he tensed his feet in secret and lunged forward with an explosive bang.

This short, explosive lunge was an ultimate technique of the Heavenly Pardon Fist, known as the Bull’s Charge. If the practitioner was trapped within enemy lines and surrounded by rows of spears and shields that left them no space to use their skills, they could use this move to instantly destroy the enemy’s formation and break out.

In an instant, Chang Kuanghai’s speed and strength increased.

He appeared in front of Chen Chuan in a flash, and Chen Chuan could no longer avoid him. So, he took a step back and leaned forward before reaching out with one hand to push against Chang Kuanghai’s incoming elbow. Waves of dust and air shot out. Even though Chen Chuan managed to block the attack, the force from it still forced him back.

This time, he was pushed eight meters back. The asphalt under his feet broke and flew away as Chen Chuan’s legs created a deep trench in the ground.

When he stopped, Chang Kuanghai tensed his core and unfolded his raised elbows to bring his forearms swinging down. The fists appeared suddenly and came rushing down with the force of hammers.

This was the Heavenly Pardon Fist’s unique Air Shattering Strike. Since Chang Kuanghai was much taller and the attack came from above, Chen Chuan was caught in its range.

Chen Chuan didn’t have anywhere to run, but his gaze remained calm. When the fist was about to land, he shifted to the side and avoided it, as if he hadn’t been affected by the impact from the charge just now.

Chang Kuanghai wasn’t expecting Chen Chuan to still be able to avoid the attack, but he was an expert at the Heavenly Pardon Fist and could control his refined force at will. The moment he saw this, he halted his attack and stopped his body from being dragged forward by inertia.

Even so, there was a brief pause in his movements. Chen Chuan let go of the Frost King Saber and grabbed Chang Kuanghai’s elbow with both hands, with one above, and the other under. His fingers dug deep into Chang Kuanghai’s sturdy muscles, and he executed a grappling-type refined force.

Alarm bells screeched in Chang Kuanghai’s head, but he had a hardened body. Even if a grappling-type refined force surged into his body, it couldn’t make him lose his ability to fight back. He activated his refined force to throw a punch at Chen Chuan with his other hand in order to force him to let go.

Chen Chuan brought his elbow up to block the attack. The clash caused the two sides to tremble, but Chang Kuanghai didn’t break free because of this. Chen Chuan shifted his hands upward while he alternated grabs and strikes on the pulse points on Chang Kuanghai’s arm. Soon, he moved up to the neck while injecting grappling-type refined forces.

It led to one side of Chang Kuanghai’s body going numb and limp. Once Chen Chuan grabbed his throat, there was no need for him to continue fighting anymore.

With a shout, he tensed the muscles of the apprehended arm and unleashed a powerful tremor-type refined force outward.

Chen Chuan’s fingers bounced off, but he didn’t stop. While Chang Kuanghai generated power in his arm, he leaned forward and stuck close to his body. He brought his hands down and grabbed Chang Kuanghai’s waist.

He was going to use takedown-type refined force.

Chen Chuan shifted from a grappling-type refined force to a takedown-type refined force seamlessly and naturally.

Chang Kuanghai’s expression changed. If Chen Chuan secured his hold, Chang Kuanghai wouldn’t be able to use his refined force anymore, and he would become a lamb waiting for slaughter.

At that crucial moment, he executed reverse breathing [1] and his body turned from a tough wall into something soft and pliant. It was as if he had become boneless. The takedown-type refined force that had seeped into him disappeared. Then, he readjusted his breathing and turned his body back into the unyielding fortress from before. With a single breath cycle, a powerful force exploded out of his body.

This was the Heavenly Pardon Fist’s Heaven-and-Earth Pull. Through reverse breathing, the practitioner could turn the body pliant to deal with different types of refined forces.

After sensing the change, Chen Chuan learned that it would be difficult for him to succeed in killing Chang Kuanghai like this, so he retreated and grabbed the Frost King Saber before it could fall on the ground. He only stopped moving when he was at a comfortable distance from which he could swing his saber fully.

Due to the repeated explosive generations of power, Chang Kuanghai also needed to recollect himself, so he didn’t chase after him.

As he stared at Chang Kuanghai, Chen Chuan found himself thinking that if Wei Wusheng sought for a perfect blend of both firm and yielding forces, Chang Kuanghai had trained both firm and yielding forces to perfection, which led to his hardened body. It could be said that he already had the two forces existing in him in harmony.

He practically had no weaknesses. Since his mind was also sturdy and focused, unless his stamina and blood essence were drained, no matter how much external damage he took, he wouldn’t fall.

If that was the case, Chen Chuan only had one move left.

He brought his hand up and plunged the Frost King Saber into the ground.

Upon seeing this, Chang Kuanghai asked, “Aren’t you going to use your weapon anymore?”

He was quite curious. Chen Chuan had an obvious advantage with a weapon in his hand, so Chang Kuanghai couldn’t understand why he would forgo using it.

“There’s no need for that anymore,” Chen Chuan said.

He had used his saber to cut into Chang Kuanghai with the clear intention of dancing around him in circles, though in truth he was trying to lure Chang Kuanghai into attacking him so he could use a takedown-type refined force and grappling-type refined force to kill him.

Since that didn’t work, there was no need for him to continue fighting that way.

While Chang Kuanghai might appear to have no weaknesses, it wasn’t as if Chen Chuan was really out of options.

No matter how strong a body hardening expert was, they had a limit as to how much damage they could take.

Chen Chuan sucked in a deep breath. After releasing all his mutated tissue, he activated the Furnace Breathing Technique at full force. Wisps of white smoke rose from him.

Then, he looked up, and his hair started dancing because of the powerful wind from the gap. The next moment, he turned into a blur.

Chang Kuanghai’s instincts screeched at him. He lowered his center of gravity and leaned forward to fend against the charge.

Halfway through, he noticed that Chen Chuan had already arrived in front of him after having jumped into the air. His raised fist seemed to freeze for a moment before it came plunging down.

At that moment, it was as if all the air around them exploded.

Even so, Chang Kuanghai reacted in time. As he breathed, refined force rose from his feet, and he brought his arms up to parry the attack.

Bam!

When the fist collided with Chang Kuanghai’s arms, a great power came charging over. Chang Kuanghai grunted, and his nostrils flared. Blood flowed to his face, and he sank down into the ground as it shattered and caved. His muscles bulged, and his trousers rippled open.

Before he could recollect himself, Chen Chuan threw a second punch. Since the first one had been too fast, the aftershocks from it still hadn’t faded away. Chang Kuanghai didn’t even have the time to negate the refined force yet. Momentarily overwhelmed, he fell on one knee with a loud bang.

1. a technique where the abdomen contracts during inhalation and expands during exhalation, reversing the natural diaphragmatic pattern ☜