Chen Chuan had a feeling that the demon was going to remember him.
Based on the fact that the demon stopped chasing him after he left the undeveloped area, Wei Guochan and Gai Shuhe should have also done the same. After that, they decided not to train inside anymore.
Fighting against an enemy like that not only wasted their energy, but also put their life at risk. In other words, they had been forced to make that decision.
As for why they didn’t think of ways to kill the demon? Because it wasn’t going to be easy. If the imperial army sent many martial arts masters to one place, the Great Shun Republic would have reacted to it, and they might have ended up not being able to fight the demon because of getting into a standoff.
Considering the amount of resources the imperial army got from the merged space in Jibei Road, it might have also not have been enough for them to keep three or more martial arts masters stationed here long-term.
Besides, even if they had enough resources and managed to bring over stronger martial arts masters, they would have to give up part of the hunting ground to those martial arts masters, and they wouldn’t be able to get much of the pie. Instead of letting that happen, it would be better for them to keep the status quo. Once they were strong enough, they could kill the demon themselves.
Unfortunately for them, they weren’t going to get that chance anymore.
Chen Chuan spent some time reviewing the fight. While the demon was strong and had some technique, it was fighting according to his instincts, which meant that he was no longer a pure martial arts master. Strictly speaking, the demon might not even be able to bring out half of his original strength from before the mutation. So, it wasn’t as if Chen Chuan didn’t stand a chance at winning...
He hadn’t rested for several days and had spent the entire night running, so he had used up quite a lot of energy and decided to first rest and replenish his energy. Once he was ready, he was going to track down the demon again.
He settled down in the fort. Since the next batch of criminals hadn’t been sent over, the place remained deserted.
Chen Chuan took out some ingredients and calorie-dense nutritional fluid. Before this, he had plenty of fresh ingredients, so he didn’t need to touch them, but he wasn’t going to waste them. In order to fight against the demon, he needed to store up a lot of energy, so he ate up half of a month’s worth of ingredients.
Due to sensing danger earlier, his mutated tissue absorbed the nutrients much faster than before and stored the nutrients that it wasn’t able to digest.
Chen Chuan sat down in a meditative position and guided his breathing. An hour passed. When he opened his eyes, light shone from them, and the fort lit up.
He stood up and walked out of the fort with the Frost King Saber. This time, he didn’t have Dawncall follow him. Instead, he asked it to stay.
If the demon attacked Dawncall, his Bird Reptile wouldn’t be able to dodge. While the demon was unlikely to focus Dawncall, which wasn’t a threat to him, Chen Chuan wasn’t going to take the risk.
After walking out of the fort, he went into the forest. In the beginning, he didn’t sense anything different, but after some time, he sensed a powerful mental energy around him. Its owner should not be too far away.
It was just as he expected. The demon lingered in the area.
This time, Chen Chuan didn’t run away, but went straight toward his enemy.
Around ten minutes later, he saw the giant demon again. He was sitting against a large stump with the large hammer in front of him. Before Chen Chuan arrived, he was still, as if he had entered a state of dormancy again. But once he sensed him, all his eyes opened at the same time, and he grabbed the hammer’s handle before standing up.
Chen Chuan plunged the Frost King Saber into the ground and continued forward. Golden-white fog shone from him. This time, he closed the distance between them.
He moved at a moderate pace, and the moment he entered the danger zone, the hammer came swinging at him. With just a side step, he managed to dodge it.
All the eyes on the demon’s face swerved toward him, and the strange energy was released.
But this time, Chen Chuan was prepared. Once he noticed the signs of the attack, his spirit flames spread out and pushed back. The energy was able to suppress his spirit flames until only a layer was left on his skin, but it didn’t smother them completely, unlike last time. With this layer of protection left, Chen Chuan was able to keep moving undeterred.
When the hammer came swinging again, all he needed to do was to duck. The large weapon zipped past the top of his head with a violent gust of wind in its wake, and he stopped.
Chen Chuan’s gaze sharpened. With a small movement, he tapped at the ground and jumped to the side.
Boom!
The demon had managed to switch the hammer’s direction and slam it at the ground where Chen Chuan was standing a moment ago. Dirt and stones shot up like a bomb had exploded over there.
While Chen Chuan was airborne, he thought calmly, His ability to control such a large body so easily should be the result of his training before the mutation. The demon must be really far down the path of the other form.
However, he was moving only based on his instincts. While his tactics were brilliant and intricate, they were not so useful on a battlefield.
Before Chen Chuan landed, he did a sideways flip. The moment his feet touched the ground, he shifted to the front and lunged forward. Before the demon could bring his hammer back, Chen Chuan arrived in front of him wrapped in golden-white spirit flames. He kicked the demon’s ankle.
Bang!
The green-red light crashed against the spirit flames on the soles of his feet and exploded. Chen Chuan was prepared for it, and his dense spirit flames were able to tear apart the green-red light, so his kick landed. As refined force poured in, the greave shattered. The demon staggered, and his balance faltered.
Chen Chuan jumped, flipped to the side, spun, and delivered another kick to the back of the demon’s knee.
Boom!
Yet another loud explosion rose. The demon looked like someone had shoved him, and he fell on one knee with a loud bang. He then slammed the hammer on the ground to keep himself up.
This was supposed to be a good chance to continue attacking. Perhaps he could attack vital parts like the neck or head, but Chen Chuan didn’t continue. Instead, he jumped back after landing and avoided a long arm swiping at him from above. It cut through the afterimage he left behind and left a deep ditch in the ground. Dirt immediately flew everywhere.
Chen Chuan looked ahead. As the demon leaned forward, his arms shielded his head and other vital points from his enemy.
Knowing that his chance to continue attacking had disappeared, Chen Chuan retreated further while looking at the spot he just attacked.
While the greave had shattered, the kick didn’t have much of an impact. After the outermost layer of mutated tissue was destroyed, a thin layer of spirit flames protected the innermost layer, which led to most of Chen Chuan’s refined force being blocked. He didn’t deal much damage to the demon.
If this hadn’t happened, the explosive attack he delivered by sacrificing a large amount of his energy would have sent the demon sprawling on the ground.
This was the strength of the other form. Its focus was on the physical body, so once a practitioner reached a certain degree of mastery, they could form multiple layers of spirit flame defenses inside and outside their bodies. With this effective buffer, they could fend against many powerful attacks.
Unless Chen Chuan could tear through all the layers of defense in one go, he wouldn’t be able to deal any effective damage.
Once the demon regained stability, he used his legs, back, and waist to generate power to bring the hammer up. Then, he dashed at Chen Chuan and swung the hammer at him.
The attack didn’t seem that much different from the previous ones, but Chen Chuan noticed something off from his steps.
His center of gravity... was a little too much to the front.
Just as he noticed this, the demon jumped while swinging the hammer, and his shadow swallowed Chen Chuan whole. Upon seeing this, Chen Chuan dodged to the side. The moment he escaped, he heard a loud crash. Upon landing, the demon rolled toward Chen Chuan and closed in on him again.
The demon was making full use of his body’s advantage. If a martial arts master cared about their image, they would seldom use such a tactic in a fight, but the demon didn’t mind. It was also more useful for him because of the extra arms on his back, which could deliver an effective offense if they got close enough.
In the face of the fearsome attack, Chen Chuan relaxed his body and tilted backward before pushing an arm backward to push against the ground.
Boom!
A pit exploded, and he shot more than ten meters up as the demon’s huge body tumbled past him.
After half a roll forward, the arms tried to grab and strike their target, but once Chen Chuan was in the air, a bright light gathered in his hands and shot out at the arms. It pushed them all away, while one of the shorter, smaller ones was even blasted to pieces. Chen Chuan curled up and tumbled a few times before landing firmly on the ground.
Before the demon could get up, Chen Chuan spread his legs and lowered his center of gravity. More light gathered on his hands, and it stayed for a moment before he pushed it forward.
The demon couldn’t dodge an attack delivered at such a close distance. A powerful, blinding light exploded between them, but Chen Chuan didn’t stay to wait for the results. As golden-white light swayed around him, he tore through the air and ground in front of him. With fearsome momentum, he charged forward again.