Celestial Human Diagram

Chapter 347 - 78: Severing the Toad

Zhao Qian looked toward the man, but he was too weak to speak. His lips moved, but only a hoarse sound escaped as blood seeped from his mouth.

The man waved his hand. "Enough. Don’t talk. I know what you want. Don’t worry. Now that I’m here, I’ll fulfill your request, whether you live or die. Worst-case scenario, I’ll even make sure your body gets back home."

Chen Chuan glanced at the man. He had no intention of interfering, clearly showing no respect for his employer.

Chen Chuan didn’t know what the man was thinking, but since he’d clearly signaled his intent to fight, Chen Chuan wouldn’t just ignore it.

He retracted his blade, letting Zhao Qian collapse to the ground. Then he walked over, grabbed Zhao Qian by the collar, and began dragging him toward the car.

The man simply stood on the guardrail, watching with rapt interest.

After walking a short distance, Chen Chuan flicked his foot, kicking up the fallen Long Sword and catching it. He reached the car and tossed Zhao Qian onto the trunk lid. Then, with a CLANG, he plunged the Long Sword through his chest, pinning him there.

Zhao Qian only trembled for a moment before going still.

His injuries were so severe that he had almost lost all ability to move. There was no way he could pull the sword out himself. However, as a Third Limit Fighter, his Life Force was exceptionally strong, so he wouldn’t be dying anytime soon.

Chen Chuan returned to his original position, gripping the Snow Monarch Blade, and faced the man.

"Oho."

The man looked at Chen Chuan and knocked his Arm Blades together. "With no one to interfere, we can have some real fun. I hope you don’t disappoint me. It’s not every day I get to make a trip like this. You know how it is—it’s hard for people at our level to find a worthy opponent."

Chen Chuan looked at him. "And what do you go by?"

The man said, "Toad Blade!" It was obviously a codename, like You Xing, but on the platform, a name like that was what truly mattered.

Chen Chuan raised his blade, holding it level with his eyes. He angled his body slightly, and a glint of light flashed across the steel. "Chen Chuan," he said.

Lying on the car, Zhao Qian strained to turn his head and stare at Chen Chuan. ’He must have taken a drug in advance,’ he thought. ’It was enough to deal with a half-dead man like me, but now he’s facing a proper Third Limit Fighter. Once the effects wear off, he’ll be exposed for what he really is.’

’I can still live! I can make it back alive!’

Toad Blade spread his Arm Blades and slowly sank into a crouch. His thigh muscles tightened and bulged, looking as if they would burst through his pants. Then, with an explosive leap, he launched himself from the guardrail, clearing the twenty-meter distance in an instant.

Chen Chuan spun in place, thrusting his Long Blade upward to meet him. Toad Blade crossed his Arm Blades in a downward block, his spine arching like a shrimp’s.

CLANG! The Arm Blades met the flat of Chen Chuan’s blade. A direct surge of Power pressed down, carrying not only Toad Blade’s full body weight but also the momentum of his powerful leap.

Chen Chuan instantly assessed the situation. If Toad Blade forced the blade down, he could slide along the steel and press the attack up close. His arched back was clearly coiling for a strike, ready to unleash its stored power in a sudden, brutal attack.

Therefore, instead of retreating or changing his technique, he relied on his formidable physical strength to hold firm. Stomping his foot, he engaged his core and flicked the Long Blade slightly upward.

Toad Blade felt his downward force stall. Using the rebound, he flipped up and over Chen Chuan’s head, flashing a grin at him in mid-air.

He completed the somersault, landing lightly on the other side. He didn’t stop there. The moment his feet touched down, he began circling Chen Chuan at high speed. The blades on his arms hung low, their tips dragging on the ground and kicking up a trail of sparks.

Having trained with Teacher Zheng recently, Chen Chuan had learned about various fighting styles. He immediately recognized that his opponent was trying to establish a rhythm. If he moved to follow, he would be drawn into Toad Blade’s tempo.

While this maneuver consumed more of his opponent’s stamina, for a Fighter of their caliber, such a small expenditure was negligible.

Teacher Zheng had taught him to ignore his opponent’s rhythm and just attack according to his own tempo and instincts.

So, he refused to be led. He stood his ground, gripping the hilt with both hands and holding the blade ready, carefully sensing the shifts in his opponent’s presence.

Seeing that Chen Chuan was unfazed and waiting attentively, Toad Blade didn’t continue his circling. After two laps, he suddenly darted in from Chen Chuan’s rear flank.

Chen Chuan sensed the attack and immediately spun to slash. But something felt wrong. He instantly changed his move, bringing his blade up in a horizontal block. CLANG! He had parried a Mutated tongue that Toad Blade had shot from his mouth. It was stopped barely a hand’s breadth from his face.

Toad Blade himself used the opening to surge forward, breaking past the reach of the Snow Monarch Blade and scissoring his two Arm Blades at Chen Chuan.

Chen Chuan slid one hand up from the hilt to grip the back half of the blade. With a quick twist, he parried the incoming Arm Blades and retreated at the same time.

Having gained the upper hand by closing the distance, Toad Blade accelerated his assault. He maintained a forward lean, his feet pushing off rapidly behind him, while his twin Arm Blades continuously swung and chopped at Chen Chuan in tight arcs.

The advantage of two weapons was the ability to attack in sequence, serving as both offense and defense. Once he was in close, his assault was fast, fierce, and relentless.

Chen Chuan focused on his defense, trying to backpedal and create space to prevent Toad Blade from staying on top of him. He did his best to turn the tables. As their blades clashed, a dense flurry of metallic impacts echoed through the area.

Despite the ferocity and speed of the assault, his defense was rock-solid. The fruits of his training with Teacher Zheng were on full display. No matter how tricky the Power behind the Arm Blades became, or how swiftly the attack patterns changed, his two separate internal Mutated Organizations could repeatedly absorb, neutralize, and adapt to the blows.

As long as his Mutated Organizations were resilient enough, he could quickly adjust and compensate for any openings he failed to notice immediately.

Furthermore, because his Mutated Organizations were so comprehensive, he was able to keep a portion of them dormant, lying in wait for the right opportunity.

He calmly felt the force on his blade and the flow of his opponent’s Power. ’Even a Third Limit Fighter has to breathe, has to readjust their Mutated Organizations. That moment of transition is the opening.’

Toad Blade unleashed a barrage of killing blows, but he could never break through Chen Chuan’s solid defense. A few times, it seemed he was about to land a decisive strike, only to be blocked at the last second. Through the constant push and pull of their movement, Chen Chuan was gradually creating more distance between them.

He was astonished by Chen Chuan’s tenacity, but it only made him more excited. After one more powerful strike that forced Chen Chuan into a full-strength parry, he took a sharp breath. His heart began to pump furiously, preparing to flood his body with greater power and speed.

Chen Chuan immediately sensed him gathering his strength.

’An opening!’

In that instant, he mobilized his dormant Mutated Organizations. As he parried one Arm Blade to the side, he unleashed a sudden diagonal slash, cutting swiftly into the gap between Toad Blade’s weapons!

One of Toad Blade’s Arm Blades was now wide, and the other was just moving to follow up. But Chen Chuan’s slash was faster; it would strike Toad Blade’s torso before the other Arm Blade could reach him.

Toad Blade was stunned. Chen Chuan’s sudden burst of speed had completely shattered his rhythm, catching him at the precise moment he was readjusting and gathering power.

He had been certain that his rapid assault had revealed all of Chen Chuan’s tricks; there was no way something could go wrong. But it had.

It was like trying to catch a bucket of water you’d just thrown, moments before it hit the ground. The feeling was deeply unsettling. In that instant, his only choice was to forcibly wrench his Mutated Organizations back into a defensive posture. This move not only risked self-injury but also sacrificed all his fluid momentum.

Chen Chuan saw the unnatural contortions of his opponent’s body and limbs. He was all too familiar with such movements; he himself had relied on his solid foundation to pull off similar desperate maneuvers in the past.

’The difference is, I have my Second Self as a safety net, allowing me to push myself without reservation at critical moments. He doesn’t.’ This disruption would shatter his opponent’s breathing and the control over his Mutated Organizations.

So he immediately followed up with a second slash. The goal of this strike wasn’t to wound his enemy, but to solidify his advantage while simultaneously giving him a moment to regulate his own breathing and Mutated Organizations.

By his third slash, he had fully mobilized his strength and seized control of the fight’s tempo. But it wasn’t enough. If he couldn’t finish his opponent in this single flurry, allowing him time to recover, they would be drawn into a protracted battle of attrition.

His opponent was, after all, his superior in experience and technique. A prolonged fight would not be to his advantage. He had to secure victory during this assault.

Thus, he released the restraints on his Mutated Organizations. A torrent of chaotic emotions instantly flooded his mind, but under his cold, calm control, he converted them into even greater power and speed.

Toad Blade knew something was wrong. The rhythm and power of Chen Chuan’s attacks had abruptly jumped to a whole new level.

This fast and powerful offense needed no complex Power techniques. The simple, direct slashes were enough to force him to use all his strength to defend. After only seven or eight strikes, he could feel his own Mutated Organizations struggling to dissipate the force of the blows.

If this kept up, he knew he would inevitably be cut down. He immediately took action to save himself. His upper body remained stationary, but powered by the Mutated Organizations in his legs, his toes curled up and his heel slammed down. With an instantaneous burst of power, he attempted to leap backward and escape the engagement.

Once he created some distance, he could regroup and launch a counterattack.

But just as he began to launch himself away, Chen Chuan’s breath turned scorching hot. He took a step forward, his form blurring into what looked like an afterimage. His Long Blade swung down in a vertical cleave, and a flash of light streaked across Toad Blade’s body.

Toad Blade froze in place.

He wore blue-purple protective goggles that hid his eyes, but Chen Chuan’s reflection was clearly visible in them. After a moment, a crack appeared on one lens with a sharp CRACK. The shattered piece popped out and fell to the ground.

A line of blood appeared down the center of his face, starting from between his eyebrows and running down to his abdomen. The line widened, and blood began to well up from within. On the surface, the wound looked minor, but in reality, his head had been split in two.

Toad Blade dropped to one knee, then pitched forward, slamming heavily onto the ground and sending up a cloud of dust.

Chen Chuan flicked his wrist to clear the blood from his Long Blade, then looked at the fallen man and said with a hint of apology, "Sorry. You were strong. I couldn’t afford to hold back."

Toad Blade twitched once, then moved no more.

...

...