NABC Chapter 2126 Unstoppable Momentum
Chapter 2126 Unstoppable Momentum
Facing the terrifying beast that charged forward with overwhelming momentum, seemingly integrated with the entire ruins, Chen Fei's expression remained unchanged, and even his eyes remained calm as still water.
He slightly raised his eyelids, his gaze sweeping over every detail of the ferocious beast's body, as if measured by the most precise ruler, and its eerie fusion with its surroundings.
"It's still an illusion, but used in a different way."
Chen Fei knew perfectly well that the core of the ferocious beast before him was still Shi Junqing's true form and that bronze demon hammer. However, the beast had completely concentrated the previously wide-ranging and deceptive illusionary power onto itself.
Combined with its own immense deathly energy and resentment, it conjured this ferocious beast body, which is even more intimidating and powerful, and can draw upon the negative energy of the ruins.
This is no longer a simple interference with the soul, but a combination of the illusionary form and the real power of the user, forming an attack form that is both illusory and real, and more deceptive and destructive.
But the essence remains the same no matter how things change!
Just as the ferocious beast, carrying the force of world destruction, rushed to within ten feet of Chen Fei, its sharp claws about to tear through space...
Chen Fei made a move.
He stepped back with his right foot, seemingly casually and lightly.
"Boom!"
A deep, resonant sound, like the muffled beat of an ancient giant's war drum, echoed outwards from the spot where Chen Fei's right foot landed.
Not only did the incredibly hard floor beneath his feet ripple violently like water, with bricks and stones cracking and bulging, but even the space behind him seemed unable to withstand the force of his step, visibly twisting and rippled.
This step was not only an exertion of force, but also a leveraging of momentum. By taking advantage of the earth's reaction and the ripples in space, he instantly elevated his power and momentum to their peak.
In the next instant, Chen Fei, like an arrow released from a bowstring, transformed into a faint golden afterimage that was difficult to detect with the naked eye. Instead of retreating, he advanced and charged head-on at the enormous ferocious beast.
During the charge, the Devouring Heaven Divine Forging Technique within Chen Fei's body was already operating at an unprecedented speed. A massive amount of pure Yuan energy, mixed with boundless blood and qi, surged out from his limbs, bones, dantian, and sea of consciousness.
"Buzz!"
Chen Fei's body suddenly radiated a dazzling yet not blinding pale golden light.
Within the radiance, faint shadows of mountains and rivers rose and fell, the orbits of the sun, moon and stars rotated, and the Daoist rhythm of the primordial chaos flowed. It was an astonishing phenomenon formed by the outward manifestation of his own Daoist domain power, intertwined with the physique and divine light of his boundless blood and immortal essence.
At this moment, Chen Fei seemed no longer to be a person, but a rapidly moving world, carrying a magnificent momentum to suppress all evil spirits and destroy all laws.
The distance between the two was reduced to zero in a fraction of a second.
With his right fist bolstered by extreme speed and overwhelming momentum, Chen Fei's fist, like a divine axe splitting the heavens and earth, trailed a long, pale golden tail of flame, and without any frills, slammed into the ferocious beast's massive, monstrous head.
Wherever the fist passed, the space groaned under its strain, leaving behind a long, dark trail.
"boom!"
This time, the collision was no longer the crisp clang of metal against metal, but rather like billions of thunderbolts exploding at the same instant.
An indescribably terrifying energy storm erupted from the point where their fists met, spreading wildly and indiscriminately in all directions.
The entire sturdy hall, reinforced by layers of ancient restrictions, now groaned and trembled like a small boat in a storm.
The ground, walls, dome—everywhere visible to the naked eye—was instantly illuminated with dense, complex, and profound defensive runes. These runes flickered wildly, desperately absorbing and dispersing the force of the impact, but they were still affected by the impact, their brightness fluctuating as if they were about to collapse at any moment.
"Snap! Snap!"
The chilling sounds of bones cracking and scales bursting rang out like popping beans.
The beast's seemingly indestructible forelimbs and claws, capable of tearing gold and splitting rocks, were as fragile as paper and clay before Chen Fei's fist. It only lasted for less than a moment before being shattered and exploded inch by inch by the overwhelming and extremely concentrated terrifying power. Gray-black death energy and broken scales and bone fragments flew everywhere.
Shattering the forelimbs that were blocking, Chen Fei's fist continued its momentum almost without weakening. With an indomitable will to crush everything, it struck the center of the ferocious beast's head squarely amidst the sudden widening of horror and disbelief in the beast's crimson eyes.
"boom!"
A louder, more muffled, yet more deadly explosion followed.
The beast's enormous, ferocious head, like a watermelon struck with the full force of a hammer, instantly deformed and dented before exploding open with a deafening roar.
There was no flying blood and flesh, only a massive amount of pure and violent gray-black death energy and resentment, mixed with the mournful and desperate screams of countless vengeful spirits, like a black tide that had been unleashed, sweeping and dissipating wildly in all directions.
The beast's enormous, mountain-like body swelled and twisted violently, then, like a punctured balloon, it exploded with a silent wail, transforming into a sky full of churning death clouds.
However, amidst the deathly clouds that filled the sky as the ferocious beast's head exploded and its body disintegrated, a disheveled figure, whose deathly aura had dimmed considerably, shot backward like a kite with a broken string, even faster than it had come, and slammed heavily against the palace wall dozens of feet behind it with a loud boom.
It was Shi Junqing's true form.
At the last moment, in the nick of time, relying on his fighting instincts and extreme fear of death, he managed to forcefully turn his head an inch to the right just as the fist was about to strike his body.
It was this insignificant inch that saved him from having his head smashed open on the spot like a ferocious beast phantom, and his soul scattered.
But the power of Chen Fei's punch was truly terrifying.
Even though he was only grazed by the edge of the fist, and even though most of the force was depleted by the beast illusion and his own arms, the remaining force still surged into Shi Junqing's soul like a world-destroying torrent.
"puff!"
Shi Junqing suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a large mouthful of thick, ink-like black blood mist that emitted a chilling and foul stench. The blood mist even contained fragments of soul light.
His tattered armor, formed from death energy, was now covered with spiderweb-like cracks, as if it would shatter completely at any moment.
The soul beneath the armor was covered in wounds, with terrifying cuts and burns from the pale golden fist energy, from which black blood seeped and dripped continuously.
The dense aura of death surrounding him had thinned and dimmed considerably, and his aura had become extremely weak, like a candle flame in the wind, which could be extinguished at any moment.
In just one move.
The Vengeful Demon Shi Junqing, who was guarding the main hall and was skilled in illusionary attacks, was already seriously injured and on the verge of death, and had completely lost the ability to fight again.
He leaned against the wall, his scarlet eyes fixed on Chen Fei, who stood in the distance with his fists clenched and his breathing steady. His eyes were filled with horror, resentment, and a hint of deep-seated incomprehension and despair.
"Cough cough... Heh..."
Shi Junqing struggled to his feet, his legs wobbling, and with each movement, his soul was torn apart by excruciating pain.
His instinct was to blend back into his surroundings, using illusion magic and his familiarity with the terrain to launch a sneak attack—his usual tactic. But the thought was immediately suppressed.
"It's useless... He can see through the illusion at a glance. Now that I'm seriously injured, my illusions are even more likely to show flaws. Hiding in the environment is just self-deception and a waste of energy..."
Shi Junqing stared intently into Chen Fei's calm and profound eyes, a sense of powerlessness rising within him. The other man's gaze, seemingly able to see right into one's very being, made him feel that any concealment or trickery he might employ was like a child playing tricks before a giant—childish and laughable.
“I am stationed here... how can I allow you thieves to run rampant?”
In his desperate situation, Shi Junqing's remaining pride from his previous life, his obsession bound by the restrictions, mixed with his fear of death, ultimately transformed into hysterical madness.
He looked up and let out a roar full of resentment and bitterness, the sound penetrating the hall and echoing in the empty ruins.
The next moment, Shi Junqing suddenly opened his arms, no longer suppressing his connection with the ruins, and instead completely released his resistance to the omnipresent aura of the ruins outside his body, which contained strong corrosive and deathly power.
"laugh!"
Outside the main hall, in the long corridor, the gray-black aura mixed with malevolent energy, the resentment of the fallen, and the decaying power of time, like sharks smelling blood, frantically converged on Shi Junqing, transforming into viscous, tangible black streams that rushed to penetrate his shattered soul.
"Uh ah ah!"
Shi Junqing let out a bloodcurdling scream. These foreign, mottled, and violent corrosive forces clashed violently with his own relatively pure resentful demonic energy, frantically eroding his soul and bringing him boundless pain as if he were being torn apart and his soul was being burned.
But his scarlet eyes flashed with a mad light. Instead of resisting, he actively activated an ancient secret technique that could be described as self-harm.
"Burning the soul and tempering the demon, seeking life through death, open the gate for me!"
As the secret technique was activated, the violent corrosive power surging into the body ignited as if a spark had been thrown into boiling oil.
It wasn't a real flame, but a more terrifying soul fire that burned the very essence of the soul.
Shi Junqing's entire illusory body emitted a deep and violent black light from within. This light grew stronger and stronger until, with a loud boom, it transformed into a raging black flame that completely enveloped him.
The black flames burned silently, yet they emitted an intensely high temperature and a destructive aura that sent chills down one's spine. The surrounding space was distorted by the heat and emitted a sizzling sound.
Shi Junqing's tattered armor rapidly melted and disappeared in the black flames. His already illusory soul twisted and deformed violently in the black flames, as if it would be burned to ashes at any moment, but his aura was surging wildly at an astonishing speed.
"Boom!"
A terrifying aura, far more powerful and violent than before, filled with destructive and unstable fluctuations, surged into the sky from Shi Junqing's burning body. This aura forcefully broke through the invisible boundary, reaching a completely new level: the late stage of the Tai Cang Realm.
The black flames surged, gradually receding and condensing on his body, as if draping him in a flowing, burning black armor.
Shi Junqing's originally illusory soul body became much more solid under the tempering and enhancement of the black flames. Although the internal distortion and pain could still be seen, the surging power was real.
Those scarlet eyes, enveloped in black flames, were fixed on Chen Fei, burning with a madness that wanted to destroy everything, and a renewed confidence.
"Power...this is the power of the late stage of the Tai Cang Realm."
Shi Junqing felt the surging, roaring power within his body, a power that seemed capable of destroying everything. Although this power was full of violence and instability, and was burning his soul essence every moment, bringing excruciating pain.
But he was still so excited he wanted to tremble. The fear and frustration he felt from being defeated by a single punch seemed to be completely suppressed in the face of this power.
"Even if you can see through the illusion, it's all in vain in the face of an absolute power difference. Die! You must die!" Shi Junqing roared in his heart. The confidence he had just regained swelled into blind madness under the stimulation of the black flames and pain.
"die!"
Shi Junqing squeezed out a hoarse roar from deep in his throat, a mixture of pain, madness, and murderous intent.
Without another word, he made a grasping motion with both hands, and the bronze demon hammer that had been knocked away earlier, sensing the surge in its master's aura, hummed and flew back on its own, landing in his hands enveloped in black flames.
The moment the bronze hammer was in hand, the same chilling black flames ignited on its body. Infused with the black flames, the hammer seemed to come alive, trembling with excitement, and expanding wildly at a visible speed.
In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a colossal hammer, over ten feet in diameter, engulfed in raging black flames, capable of destroying the world.
Shi Junqing flexed his muscles, pouring all the power he had just acquired at the late stage of the Tai Cang Realm into the black flame giant hammer without reservation. Then, he raised it high above his head and smashed it down on Chen Fei's location with the force of splitting the heavens and earth.
Even before the giant hammer arrived, the terrifying sense of oppression had already descended.
Facing this seemingly destructive hammer blow, Chen Fei remained standing firm, his body as steady as a rock. He slightly raised his head, his calm gaze meeting the rapidly enlarging black flame hammerhead.
Just as the hammer shadow was about to strike, countless streams of black light, seemingly capable of reflecting the essence of all things, suddenly flashed and intertwined deep within Chen Fei's eyes.
Under the divine insight of the Undying True Light Mirror, Shi Junqing's terrifying attack was instantly dissected and analyzed in his eyes.
He saw the trajectory of the black flame giant hammer's surging power, saw several points where the power flow was not smooth enough due to the forced enhancement, and saw Shi Junqing's soul body trembling in pain and experiencing unstable fluctuations in its origin under the burning black flames.
The flaws are clearly visible and readily apparent.
Chen Fei did not choose to retreat, nor did he use any sophisticated defensive techniques; he simply took a step forward.
This step landed precisely in the tiny gap created by the disharmony in the flow of power within the Black Flame Giant Hammer's power, like finding the only calm ripple on a stormy sea.
As he took a step forward, Chen Fei raised his right arm, his five fingers slowly clenching. There was no earth-shattering burst of power, no dazzling brilliance; he simply threw a punch towards the sky, meeting the world-destroying black flame giant hammer.
On the fist, golden patterns, seemingly containing the ultimate truths of heaven and earth, flashed by.
"boom!"
Fist and hammer collide once more.
This time, the explosion was more violent than any before.
Like two burning stars colliding and annihilating at extremely close range, a terrifying energy storm instantly exploded, with black flames and pale golden fist energy frantically eroding and annihilating each other, emitting a hissing and ear-piercing sound.
Mixed with violent shockwaves, like a tangible ring of waves, it swept outwards in all directions from the point of impact.
Shi Junqing's狰狞扭扭 (狰狞扭扭 is a phrase that doesn't translate directly, but it implies a grotesque, twisted expression or a distorted face covered by black flames) face stiffened the moment the two made contact. The madness and confidence in his scarlet eyes receded like a tide, replaced by an even more intense horror and disbelief than before.
The scene he had envisioned—a scene of utter destruction, where he would smash the opponent and the space itself into dust—did not occur.
On the contrary, Shi Junqing felt that his black flame giant hammer, which seemed capable of splitting the heavens and the earth, was not hitting a flesh and blood body, but the foundation of an ancient and unshakable divine mountain.
A refined and pure, domineering power easily pierced through the violent energy layer on the surface of the Black Flame Giant Hammer, and advanced forward unstoppably along the meridians through which the power of his soul flowed.
The resentful demonic energy he relied on, which was in the late stage of the Tai Cang Realm, appeared to be riddled with holes and full of loopholes in the face of this power. It would often dissipate on its own with just a light touch, and it was difficult to form an effective resistance.
"puff!"
Shi Junqing was struck as if by lightning. His body trembled violently, and he spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with burning black flames. He involuntarily staggered back a large step, causing the ground to crack.
Before he could even stand firmly, he couldn't suppress the second mouthful of blood mist that he spewed out. This mouthful of blood mist was even lighter in color, and it even contained tiny specks of soul light, like stars. This was a sign that the origin of his soul body had been completely damaged.
As he spat out those two mouthfuls of blood, the already extremely unstable late-stage Tai Cang Realm power within Shi Junqing's body, which had been forcibly enhanced, began to fluctuate violently, become disordered, and decline, like a punctured balloon.
The disorder of power backfired on him, worsening his already severe injuries. The wounds on his soul body that had been torn apart by Chen Fei's first punch worsened and expanded under the burning of the black flames and the backlash of power, with black soul power constantly dissipating.
"This is impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Shi Junqing let out a shrill, unwilling, and desperate roar.
He couldn't accept it, couldn't understand it. He had already paid a heavy price by burning his soul to gain the power of the late-stage Tai Cang Realm, so why did the result not only fail to reverse but instead lead to an even faster and more miserable defeat?
Why does that seemingly ordinary punch possess such strange and terrifying power?
Madness and despair overwhelmed his last shred of reason. He no longer cared about the excruciating pain and backlash from his body, which felt like being gnawed by ants, nor did he care that his soul was rapidly collapsing. His crimson eyes were filled only with hysterical madness and a resolute determination to perish together with his enemies.
"I don't believe it! Die!"
Shi Junqing roared hoarsely, forcibly suppressing the rampaging power within his body with the remaining power of his divine soul. He gripped the black flame giant hammer, whose light had dimmed considerably, with both hands once again, pouring all the remaining power he could muster into it without hesitation.
Then, like a madman, he slammed his fist down again at the figure in the green robe ahead. This attack was completely haphazard, a pure, brutal outburst of power, carrying his final resentment and bitterness.
Faced with this attack that was already at its last gasp, Chen Fei simply raised his fist again. This time, he didn't even bother to find any opening; he simply threw another punch, meeting the massive hammer that crashed down with a deafening roar.
"Boom!"
This time, the sound of the collision was unusually dull, unlike the explosive sound before. Instead, it sounded like a heavy hammer slamming into a huge drum covered with a thick cloth, or like the final desperate beat of a powerful heart.
Shi Junqing's powerful and frantically slamming black flame hammer was not knocked away. Instead, it mysteriously stopped in mid-air. At the point of contact with his fist, the black flame and the pale golden light silently annihilated each other.
Shi Junqing himself was not sent flying backward as before, but stood frozen in place. The same domineering force as before once again slammed into his body through the bronze hammer.
Unlike before, this time, after the power entered his body, it did not rush around recklessly, but instantly spread and permeated every corner of his soul.
He wanted to ease his tension, to back down, but found he couldn't do it at all.
His soul was firmly bound by invisible shackles, nailed to the spot. The violent impact was not diverted, but instead forcibly locked within his body by this intruding force, and his soul bore the brunt of it.
"Ho...ho..."
Shi Junqing tried to roar, but could only manage a hoarse, bellowing sound. He stared intently at Chen Fei, who was standing right in front of him, with his scarlet eyes filled with despair and incomprehension.
Chen Fei looked at him in return, his gaze calm and unwavering, devoid of either the triumph of a victor or pity for a dying enemy, as if he were looking at a lifeless stone. (End of Chapter)