137: Chapter 137 One Punch Turns Back Three Minutes, I Changed My Fate

Chen Fan's pupils constricted to pinpoints the moment the thousand tribulations sword was fully unsheathed.

Dark red patterns suddenly surfaced on the Sword Platform's black crystal floor, looking like a spiderweb soaked in blood.

The phantom behind Ling Wuchen stretched longer and longer. When those scarred features overlapped with his, Chen Fan heard the hair on the back of his neck stand on end—this aura was more than ten times stronger than when he was besieged by the afterimages last time.

"Thousand Tribulations: Soul-Severing Array." Ling Wuchen's voice sounded like crushed ice scraping against a blade. He flicked his wrist, and the thousand tribulations sword hummed, shaking off three drops of sword essence. "You should be glad you can die under the twin swords of him and me."

Before his voice faded, a hundred streaks of azure sword qi burst from the phantom's fingertips.

Chen Fan instinctively leaned back, only to see those sword qi streaks twist into the shape of chains in mid-air, "clanging" as they coiled around the ground by his feet—the tips of the chains glowed with an eerie blue light, each one binding a translucent remnant soul, which were exactly the Previous Generation Newcomers he had just defeated.

"Blocking the path?" Chen Fan grit his teeth and spun around, his left punch shattering the chain on his left, but his right palm was grazed by a chain attacking from behind, leaving a bloody mark.

He only realized with a start when the system notification blared that these chains were actually absorbing his stamina—every time one broke, his temples throbbed with pain.

"Don't face it head-on!" Su Shuang's remnant soul blue flame suddenly shrank. "The chains are connected to the Sword Slave's resentment; the more you struggle, the tighter they bind!"

Chen Fan's sweat dripped from his chin onto the black crystal.

He stared at the red cord around Ling Wuchen's waist, suddenly remembering the left ribs the other had protected during the last regression—was the same red cord wrapped under the fabric there too?

"To hell with your path blocking!" he roared, Fox Fire erupting into crimson flames in his palm.

The critical hit system vibrated wildly in his sea of consciousness. The experience points from defeating the afterimages just now were surging at a visible rate.

Chen Fan stared at the gaps between the chains and slammed his left foot onto the ground—the shockwave from the Heart Returning Blast overturned three sections of chains, and he used the recoil to charge toward Ling Wuchen's face.

The change happened in the blink of an eye.

A streak of dark azure sword qi shot out from a crack in the Sword Platform, accurately piercing Chen Fan's calf.

The sharp pain made him stumble to his knees. Blood dripped down his trouser leg onto the chains, and those translucent remnant souls suddenly opened their mouths, emitting a shrill screech like a crying infant.

"A sneak attack?" Chen Fan looked up and saw a flash of reluctance in Ling Wuchen's eyes—but that emotion was quickly replaced by cold hardness.

He grit his teeth and tore away the sword qi on his leg. The system notification finally blared in his ear: [Defeated previous generation newcomer remnant souls × 7, Experience +2100 (Critical Hit × 3.8) → Memory Anchor generated].

The vision before him began to blur.

The last thing Chen Fan saw were the bulging veins on the back of Ling Wuchen's hand as he gripped the thousand tribulations sword, and the half-piece of jade pendant faintly visible under the red cord at his waist.

When he opened his eyes again, Chen Fan was standing in the center of the Sword Platform.

The wound on his calf had disappeared, the chains had not yet formed, and Ling Wuchen's thousand tribulations sword had only been unsheathed by three inches.

He looked at the faint pink old scar on Ling Wuchen's shoulder—during the last battle, this scar had been sliced open by sword qi, and the seeping blood had stained his white clothes light red.

"This time..." Chen Fan wiped away non-existent cold sweat, his gaze sweeping over the faint phantom behind Ling Wuchen, "it's your turn to be surprised."

He did not charge straight at Ling Wuchen, but instead turned and rushed toward the Sword Slave phantom.

The shockwave of the Heart Returning Blast exploded beneath his feet. Chen Fan's figure turned into an afterimage, his fist wrapped in Fox Fire, aimed straight for the phantom's heart.

The phantom's pupils suddenly trembled.

They were a pair of gray eyes soaked in resentment, but at this moment, a flicker of clarity surfaced.

When the wind from Chen Fan's punch brushed past the phantom's chest, he clearly heard a very faint "save me" escape the other's throat.

"You want to escape too, don't you?" Chen Fan growled, intentionally shifting his aim by half an inch, his fist slamming into the phantom's left arm.

The phantom retreated in pain, and the chain array that was about to form developed spiderweb-like cracks.

"Stop!

He is my sword!" Ling Wuchen's voice cracked.

He swung his sword at Chen Fan, but the thousand tribulations sword paused for a moment before the cracks—it was this fraction of a second's hesitation that allowed Chen Fan to seize the opportunity, using the recoil from the cracks to pounce straight at Ling Wuchen's right shoulder.

"Last time you protected your left ribs because the old injury on your right shoulder hadn't fully healed." Chen Fan's fist brushed past Ling Wuchen's collarbone, accurately slamming into that faint pink old scar, "Right?"

Ling Wuchen groaned and was sent flying backward.

The thousand tribulations sword hit the ground with a "clang." He stumbled a few steps and only managed to steady himself by leaning against a sword pillar.

The blood overflowing from the corner of his mouth dripped onto the black crystal, blossoming into a small red flower.

"Su Shuang's Spiritual Consciousness Points are dropping!" Black Crow's voice transmission suddenly blared. "Every time she takes a heavy hit, she gets one step closer to dissipating!"

Chen Fan's heart tightened suddenly.

He turned to look at Su Shuang's remnant soul; the blue flame was indeed twenty percent dimmer than before.

Just as he was about to charge again, a black shadow suddenly pounced from a corner of the Sword Platform—it was the Echo Armor. Dark red blood-rust seeped from the gaps in the armor, and from the cracked heart-protecting mirror came Ling Wuchen's roar from a hundred years ago: "I refuse to accept this—!"

Chen Fan's movements froze.

In that roar, there was unwillingness, regret, and deep sorrow, like a blunt knife scraping across his heart.

He suddenly understood that these remnant souls, Sword Slaves, and the Echo Armor were all people Ling Wuchen wanted to save but couldn't.

"You think you can win like this?" Ling Wuchen picked up the thousand tribulations sword, complex emotions swirling in his eyes. "Thousand Tribulations: Samsara Slash—"

The Sword Platform suddenly fell into a state of gray and white.

In Chen Fan's vision, Ling Wuchen's figure began to overlap; there was a younger version of him, a heavily injured version of him, and even one covered in blood, crying while holding a broken sword.

"A Time Illusion?" Chen Fan bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, the sharp pain keeping him conscious.

He swung his fist at the nearest Ling Wuchen, only to see it pass through the body and hit the sword pillar behind—it was actually an afterimage from three seconds ago.

Three heavy blows landed on his back almost simultaneously.

Chen Fan was smashed to the ground, blood splattering on the gray-white floor, blooming into eye-catching flowers.

The critical hit system flashed wildly. The notification [Experience Critical Hit × 5.1 → Memory Anchor cooldown ended] made his eyes light up.

"One more time." Chen Fan closed his eyes tightly and voluntarily triggered the regression.

The familiar sense of dizziness washed over him.

This time, he didn't rush to act. Instead, at the moment of regression, he buried the energy of the Heart Returning Blast into the black crystal beneath his feet—during the last battle, he had noticed subtle cracks on the Sword Platform floor, which were the tracks of energy flow.

The scene from three minutes ago reappeared.

Chen Fan looked at Ling Wuchen opposite him, who was raising the thousand tribulations sword over his head, preparing to execute the Samsara Slash.

"Now!" Chen Fan growled, and the black crystal beneath his feet suddenly shattered.

The buried Heart Returning Blast energy turned into a shockwave, propelling him into the air.

He crashed into Ling Wuchen's embrace like a cannonball, his right fist condensing Fox Fire as it aimed straight for the other's heart.

Ling Wuchen's pupils shrank abruptly.

He wanted to draw his sword to block, but found that the thousand tribulations sword had only been unsheathed by three inches—the starting posture of the Samsara Slash made it impossible for him to change moves.

"Bang!"

The muffled sound echoed across the Sword Platform.

Ling Wuchen was sent flying backward, crashing into a sword pillar.

The thousand tribulations sword hit the ground with a "clang." He knelt on one knee, the front of his robes completely blown open, revealing a patch of purplish-blue bruising.

Chen Fan stumbled and supported himself against a sword pillar, wiping away the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He looked at Ling Wuchen, who was looking up at him. The cold hardness in the latter's eyes had mostly faded, leaving only exhaustion and a hint of relief.

"You... are stronger than me." Ling Wuchen coughed up a mouthful of blood and reached out to grab the thousand tribulations sword, but his hand dropped powerlessly. "But do you really think that by defeating me, you can break the cycle of reincarnation?"

Chen Fan wiped his face, blood mixing with sweat and dripping onto the black crystal. "No, what I'm going to break is the rule that 'someone must be sacrificed'."

Ling Wuchen's smile held a hint of bitterness.

He reached out to press against the old wound on his shoulder. Blood seeped through his fingers, spreading a large red stain across his white clothes.

The thousand tribulations sword hummed as it stabbed into the black crystal by his feet, the blade vibrating incessantly as if responding to its master's unwillingness.

The red light on the Sword Platform suddenly intensified.

Chen Fan looked up and saw the blue flame of Su Shuang's remnant soul suddenly brighten for an instant before quickly dimming again—Black Crow's voice transmission sounded once more, but this time, he couldn't hear the content clearly.

His vision was entirely drawn to the blood blossoms continuously blooming on Ling Wuchen's shoulder.

The blood droplets slid down his collarbone and dripped onto the scabbard of the thousand tribulations sword, landing right next to that section of red cord.

Ling Wuchen looked at Chen Fan and opened his mouth, but said nothing.

He reached out and gripped the hilt of the thousand tribulations sword, slowly pulling it out.

Blood droplets on the blade fell, splashing tiny droplets on the black crystal floor.

The critical hit system suddenly vibrated.

He looked at Ling Wuchen's blood-stained white clothes and suddenly had a premonition—this battle was far from over.