Chen Xuan watched the elephant's trunk, wrapped in dark-gold runic patterns, smash down with a howl of wind. He raised a hand and pushed forward.
Scarlet-gold immortal power surged from his palm, forming an invisible wall between the trunk and his head.
The Celestial Talisman Colossus's full-strength blow struck it like a child's fist hitting an iron wall. The recoil drove his enormous body stumbling several steps backward, his four feet plowing deep furrows in the ground.
A flicker of terror flashed through the colossus's huge golden eyes. The searing pain in the tip of his trunk made him realize that this seemingly unremarkable figure was someone he could not afford to provoke.
He let out a short trumpet, wheeled his massive body around, and tried to flee the way he had come.
Chen Xuan gave him no chance.
He took a step forward and appeared beside the colossus like a phantom. Holding the fingers of his right hand together like a blade, he gathered scarlet-gold immortal power at their tips and thrust them into a seam along a natural runic pattern on the colossus's neck.
The Celestial Talisman Colossus's hide was indeed tough. The natural runes on his dark-gold skin possessed formidable defensive properties; even a True Immortal of the same rank wielding an immortal artifact might not easily cut through it with a full-strength strike.
But infused with Divine Immortal Realm power, those fingers pierced the runic hide's defenses without resistance, like a red-hot iron needle sinking into wax, and severed the immortal-power channel in the colossus's neck.
The colossus's enormous body crashed to the ground. As his last breath faded, his dark-gold skin dimmed slightly, and the natural runes that had flowed as though alive froze into permanent brands embedded in his petrified hide.
Chen Xuan withdrew