With hair dripping and eyes bright, Bubai gazed down from his elevated position, grinning half smug.

  Like he said: the wall is his best friend.

  All thanks to dear Xiao Lan sensei, of course. What a brilliant skill she taught him.

  Seriously. This sort of wall-sticking technique was a straight-up dimensionality-reduction cheat when used against those who ck skills to reach this height!

  And since flying magic tools are banned in this tourney… hehe.

  That’s why this counted as a trump card – the best ace to avoid battle and dey time!

  As, dey is just deying. It won’t solve the root of the problem.

  Bubai looked down at the ke covering the entire arena. “What now?”

  It’s not like he can just camp up here forever. His blue bar only sts so long.

  Perhaps his vast main dantian could sustain him for days, but the vase-like counterpart that was installed in his physical form?

  He’ll be lucky if it can st even an hour!

  And that’s if he doesn’t use his Qi for anything else, like spells or to boost recovery!

  Regardless, even if he pyed conservatively, it can’t change the inevitable.

  Once he runs out of gas, he’ll end up like a motor boat stranded at sea…

  Add a bloodthirsty shark into the equation and it almost spelled certain doom.

  Like seriously. Bubai saw no way out.

  Back in the fog-of-war stage, he at least had solid ground to py on. Now?

  He can’t even stand down there! How to fight? Hah! He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t drown!

  Try some cliché wuxia water-gliding BS? Treat the water like a wall? Tree-walking upgrades to water-walking?

  Oh, if only it were that easy.

  This world wasn’t like a certain ninja universe next door.

  Can’t just apply one skill to all and call it mastering Qi control!

  Well, perhaps it might be possible at higher levels, but at his beginner’s level?

  Since he cked a deep foundation and there’s no one-click-master-it-all blessings from the heavenly dao, he could only follow the plug-and-py scripts molded by the predecessors.

  The script he got from Xiao Lan? There was only wall-walking.

  As for water-walking arts or lightness skills that he could just cut, paste, and adapt to all terrains?

  Yeah… he got none of those.

  Obviously, this meant this umi field spell was utterly unfavorable towards him, even more so than the earlier foggy map.

  That’s why he chose to expose his hidden wall-one-up card to buy himself some thinking space.

  “What to do… what to do…? Ugh. There’s no way around it. If I wanna even out the pying field, I gotta change the battlefield…”

  But how?

  Open a hole in the arena’s barrier to let the water drain? With his half-baked knowledge and power? Dream on.

  Bubai’s eyes searched around.

  He’s already at the top of the wall. Behind, he can even make out the faces of the angry audience silently roaring at him to fight.

  Ignore them and there was nothing else here except the invisible barrier that he can’t stick to.

  Finding no feasible way in the environment, Bubai shifted to checking his own gear.

  “Hmm…” There wasn’t much to look at. Half-cooked skin. Singed and soaked tatters of his inner robe.

  His gaze soon fell on the undamaged bck storage pouch.

  “Aha! Hello, hello little genius…”

  Down on the ke, Wu Dawei gred up at the battered, wet cockroach sticking to the wall far above the water surface.

  “Hey! You cheeky rat! Get down here and fight if you’re a man!”

  No answer.

  “Oi! Are you listening?!”

  Wu Dawei was sure the other heard his provocation.

  Yet the other ignored him and acted like there wasn’t even a battle going on.

  Heavens! That dirty vermin even dug out a coarse storage pouch from his underwear and was quickly transferring stuff from one pouch to another!

  What is this rat up to now? Who knows.

  He only knows that he felt his anger boiling from getting treated like air. Who wouldn’t?

  The time ticking away only riled him up even more.

  But after living for so long and experiencing so much, he learned to channel this anger at his enemy.

  “Heh! Are you just gonna hide up there like a coward until time runs out? Do you think the elders will let you off for tarnishing the sun’s sacred ritual with such a cowardly act?!”

  Hearing the crime that got pinned on him, Bubai finally looked at his foe and shrugged.

  “Hey, don’t speak nonsense. I call this utilizing my field advantage, just like you. I’m sure even the elders would agree that this is better than being a sitting duck in your oversized bathtub.”

  “Sophistry! Hiding like that is against the rules!”

  “Rules? Here, the winner makes the rules. Even I understand this, how could you not?”

  “...”

  That shut the man up.

  Bubai fshed a cheeky smile. “Hey, looking at your ugly face... unhappy? Then feel free to come hit me, well... if you can! Haha.”

  Wu Dawei’s teeth clenched with a sound like cracking ice and a suppressed growl came from the man.

  “Little cheeky rat. Do you really think I can’t do anything to you if you hide up there like a monkey? Heh...”

  The man’s stance changed. His hands started a blur of seals and a faint chant accompanied them. “Spirit of water, heed my call...”

  The water around him bubbled and streams of water started snaking up like coiling dragons, weaving together and gradually growing into two thick tentacles that towered into the arena’s skies...

  A hand then plunged into each one, turning the watery limbs into extensions of his own arm.

  The panting man then gred at the cockroach.

  “Wuhah… hah… since you don’t want to come down… then I’ll drag you down myself! Taste my ultimate move! Water Style: Storm-Taming Whip!”

  His roar barely left his lips when his arms swept forward.

  The towering water tentacles simirly whipped forward toward the cockroach on the wall!

  Seeing the water whip that was thicker than a tree trunk smashing down at him like a cudgel, Bubai greased the soles of his feet and fshed to the side like a startled gecko!

  SPLOOSH!

  The wave of water spshing just inches behind almost made his foot slip from the wall!

  Lucky for him, Bubai had plenty of experience in dealing with slippery and wet wall-combat. Ahem. Ahem.

  Quickly finding his bance and grip, Bubai sprung forward with no problem.

  But that first whip was only the opening stanza.

  Bubai’s steps barely took him a few meters forward when he skidded to a halt and scrambled back the other way, barely in time to avoid the second cudgel that came crashing down right in his path!

  SPLASH!

  The narrow escape drenched his back cold, but Bubai didn’t have the time to celebrate because he sensed that thick, watery tentacle sweeping over and chasing his back!

  At the same time, the first tentacle already made a round trip and was already spping over to block off his escape!

  Danger from both sides! There’s no need to guess. It’ll be a bad ending if he gets caught in between!

  Bubai’s eyes sharpened. A tap of his foot unched him off the wall! Leap of Faith!

  “Bye, wall. I’ll miss you...”

  A free-fall all way until – Plop! He dove right back into the water.

  And smashing down right behind were the twin tentacles!

  SPLOOSH! They were a beat too te, but just the impact split the water apart into violet waves!

  Underwater, Bubai felt the shockwave sp his back and smashing him all the way down until he hit rock bottom!

  “Urgh…” He blinked through the bubbles. Okay... That wasn’t that bad.

  Standing on solid ground once more, Bubai gazed up and saw that the water tentacles already merged back into their origin like they never existed.

  Nothing was chasing him anymore. A big ultimate move gone just like that.

  This water was his enemy, but it was also his friend. That’s good news.

  Even better? When the enemy uses an ultimate and misses, that’s the best feeling, no?

  Bubai grinned and opened his storage pouch.

  Just earlier, the perishables got moved out. Spatial pouch usage was no longer restricted underwater.

  Now, let’s get things started...

  His legs bent and a kick unched him forward like a torpedo, aiming for the walls once more...

  Above, seeing drenched figure pop out from the water and climbing back up the wall again, Wu Dawei frowned. “Pesky rat! Why can’t you just stay down?!”

  His fingers fshed through seals again and two tentacles arose at his side.

  This time, their thickness, height, and size got shaved down somewhat.

  But that didn’t reduce their lethality.

  In fact, the slimmer tentacles seemed even more agile and whipped towards Bubai even faster than before!

  Bubai zipped sideways mid-run and unched himself away from the first whip, but this time... the second whip came too fast!

  There was no sound. Just raw force from the impact swatting him off the wall!

  Spsh! He hit the water like a boulder.

  The impact made his bones ache, but… it was a long shot from being enough to kill him.

  What can he say? That whip’s power was a bit watery?

  Heck, even those explosive tags were more lethal than this!

  If his life was digitized into a 100 HP bar, those explosive tags would’ve been a -50 damage while this hit was only a -10.

  Sometimes, the power of money just trumps skill.

  After loosening his bones a bit, Bubai then zip-lined to the walls once again.

  Vaguely sensing what’s happening underwater through his spiritual sense, Wu Dawei frowned even more.

  The hands stopped forming mid-seal. There’s no point. It can’t achieve what he pnned because that slippery cockroach simply swam too fast!

  Repeating this cycle was a meaningless waste of Qi! So—

  Wu Dawei pulled out a talisman.

  “Fine. No more games. Since pying it safe didn’t work, then let’s end this the direct way! Hoo...”

  A sharp exhale. A shift of weight. Then—Shua!

  Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap—

  The killer skimmed across the ke surface like a skipping stone and sparks electrified the paper…

  Prey locked on! Go! Death in one strike!

  Just when Bubai popped back out of the water, a spear of lightning was already there to greet his skull!