Chapter 2043: 2043

The experts present were all excited to see the upcoming battle. They would finally get to personally witness a battle between monsters.

Long Chen walked into the sky. He said, “I was originally in a good mood, but now it’s ruined. Be prepared.”

“Hahaha!” The mysterious man laughed. “I heard that you have the nickname the Eastern Madman. Let me tell you, that little bit of power you have is nothing in front of the everlasting families.”

“To tell the truth, I have no desire to fight you. You’re too weak,” said Long Chen. He slowly extended his right hand and beckoned for the mysterious man to attack. “Even if you are an Empyrean with an awakened manifestation, you aren’t qualified to be arrogant in front of me. I’m not even interested in teaching you a lesson, but with how much you’re begging me to, I feel like not doing so would be letting you down. Since it seems that you can receive divine items with your bare hands, your fists must be your strongest point. I won’t bully you. I will teach you how to be a person using your strong point,” said Long Chen. His right hand slowly curled into a fist, taking on a striking posture.

That posture immediately elicited a burst of laughter. That posture wasn’t for fighting. It was more like one for beating a child.

“What wild arrogance. Today I’ll show you what true power is.”

The mysterious man’s manifestation suddenly activated. Facing Long Chen, he chose to no longer be so exaggerated as to not even use his manifestation.

Even more divine light condensed around him, making him look like he was blazing with divine fire. He stamped on the ground and suddenly dived down like a falcon, smashing a foot at Long Chen’s head.

His power compressed space to the point that ripples continuously spread from him. It also contained an intention to humiliate, indicating that he wished to trample Long Chen beneath his feet.

Lightning wings spread on Long Chen’s back. He seemed to teleport, avoiding this attack. But most importantly, he calmly rolled up his sleeves without even looking at his opponent.

His opponent wasn’t startled at having missed, and he punched straight toward Long Chen’s face. His movements flowed well, showing that he was clearly someone with plenty of combat experience.

Just as his fist was about to strike Long Chen, Long Chen turned, seemingly to coincidentally avoid the punch. It was like that person’s attack was well within his predictions.

Long Chen didn’t immediately counterattack. Instead, he continued rolling up his sleeves. They were finally rolled up to his elbows.

“Courting death!” The way Long Chen had avoided the attacks unintentionally infuriated his opponent, and now his palm sliced toward Long Chen’s head. He used the side of it like a blade, and blue light began to shine from it.

The first two attacks might be enough to crush the regular experts here, but they had just been probing blows. Now in his fury, he was unleashing a killing move.

The sharp air that came from his palm showed that this was an extremely terrifying magical art. His palm was like a bolt of lightning hacking at Long Chen, and yet Long Chen continued to not even look at him. He finished rolling up his sleeves and then randomly swung his hand from left to right.

This was not exactly an attack. Long Chen hadn’t stored up any power at all. His hand simply swung through the air in a beautiful arc that looked so slow that others could savor the beauty of it, yet it was so fast that it struck his opponent’s face before he even knew what was happening.

A clean and crisp smacking sound rang throughout heaven and earth. Everyone saw Long Chen’s hand strike that mysterious man’s face first, while that man’s attack ended up swinging past Long Chen’s face due to being struck. The wind from it blew back Long Chen’s hair but didn’t harm him in the slightest.

The mysterious man was sent flying, smashing into the ground and leaving a long ditch.

This strike from Long Chen had been seen clearly by all. It was just a simple slap without any power or trick to it. However, this powerful opponent who had dominated other Empyreans was unable to block it.

That mysterious man’s power had reached a level that no one was able to comprehend. He had been fighting here for days without anyone being able to receive a single attack from him.

Although it was true that Long Chen had an impressive battle accomplishment fending off the attacks of thirteen awakened Empyreans, those were people who had just awakened their manifestations back then, while this mysterious man was someone from the everlasting families. His foundation was unimaginable.

Many people thought that Long Chen would more likely be the winner, but there would have to be an immense, heaven-shaking battle to determine the winner. This current scene was not within their predictions.

“You bragged so hard, so let me ask you now, does your face hurt?” Long Chen was still in his slapping posture. He looked down on that distant figure that was still tumbling back.

The mysterious man slammed his legs into the ground, finally managing to stop his momentum. “Long Chen!”

A furious roar rang out, and the divine light enveloping him grew as intense as the sun. He stamped on the ground, leaving a giant hole, and shot toward Long Chen like a flaming shooting star.

“Go back!” When he had finally reached Long Chen, Long Chen once more raised his hand and slapped him.

Long Chen’s palm struck him in the exact same spot, sending him flying back.

“How is that possible?!”

The experts present felt like they were going crazy. They even pushed their Spiritual Strength to the max as they attempted to figure out what was going on.

This time, they had clearly seen that man raise his hand to block Long Chen’s slap, but Long Chen’s palm had still managed to strike his face. That made no sense.

“Can senior apprentice-brother Long Chen’s attacks bypass other people’s bodies?” Cries of disbelief rang out.

“That’s impossible. No attacks can do that. It should be that he’s just too fast, resulting in a spatial illusion. It looked like his opponent blocked it, but he only blocked an afterimage,” guessed someone.

The mysterious man once more slammed into the ground, coincidentally striking the exact same spot that he had the last. But this time, he went even further, leaving an even deeper ditch.

“The eighth form of Split the Heavens really is amazing. This one move can be said to relate to all other techniques. Hehe, the old man is hidebound by convention, but I’m not the same.” Long Chen was delighted at this success. What he had found was that the eighth form of Split the Heavens was not something inflexible. If he focused on his elbow, it would have the greatest power, but focusing on his shoulder would give it greater range, while focusing on his wrist would give it more agility.

Long Chen had already tested the principles twice now. Although this new method meant that he couldn’t quite use that much power, it actually had more than enough effect. His divine face-slapping art had taken another step closer to perfection.

This excited Long Chen more than learning any other heaven-shaking divine ability. After all, this was his own self-made technique. This feeling of success was amazing.

As Long Chen felt overjoyed inside, the surrounding experts were simply dumbstruck. They had never seen or heard of such a fight.

“Long Chen, I’ll kill you!”

A heaven-shaking roar rang out. That mysterious man’s manifestation shook intensely, and like a whale sucking in water, all the surrounding Heavenly Dao energy was absorbed without leaving a drop.

The expressions of the surrounding experts changed. They could no longer sense any Heavenly Dao energy. Some rank nine Celestials were unable to even summon their manifestations.

A cold killing intent filled the air. The mysterious man’s manifestation rumbled, and it was like thousands of devils were screaming. A pair of giant runic wings appeared behind him, and with a flap, he soared toward Long Chen.

Seeing this, Long Chen’s expression changed ever so slightly. This fellow’s cultivation technique was very strange. He was actually able to use his manifestation so effectively.

The surrounding experts retreated. Without any Heavenly Dao energy, they might be killed by shockwaves.

The mysterious man had already gone crazy. He no longer cared if anyone died because of their fight.

Just as everyone was retreating, a slightly serious expression appeared on Long Chen’s face. His left foot stepped forward while his back foot retreated. He learned forward slightly, taking on a strange position.

“Since you want to go all-out, I won’t hold back. Let me show you my peerless technique!” shouted Long Chen.

“Die!” Flames suddenly burst from the mysterious man’s wings. Strange marks appeared on his right arm, and golden armor covered it. He smashed a fist at Long Chen.