Inside the Arena.

  Creak. Creak. Creak… Dun!

  The gate shut, leaving the contestants trapped in the isoted battlefield.

  Bubai observed the nky cultivator at the other side.

  Wu Dawei. On public records, an early stage foundation builder, but suspected to have already broken through to the mid-stage of foundation establishment realm.

  Worse news? He cultivates the notorious Seed of Pleasure Art.

  Just based on his own experience with this Dawei’s younger brother who practiced that same accursed series, one can imagine the horrors a foundation realm version will have.

  By all the heavens and Merlin’s fraying beard, if he can’t solve this guy in one go, this will turn out to be a very, very troublesome opponent.

  "Begin!"

  Hearing the signal, Wu Dawei rolled his neck with a cold sneer.

  “Let’s make this quick, shall we? My little brother’s getting impatient down there and can’t wait for you to accompany him on the road!”

  “Is that so?” Flipping his knife back and forth, Bubai sported an almost-bored smile and fired back.

  “Sorry, I have no pns of going down anytime soon. If you’re in such a rush to join him, go ahead. Don’t let me stop you. I’ll even help you. No need to thank me.”

  Wu Dawei ughed disdainfully. “Heh. Such brazen words. No matter. Talk all you like. But in the end, you are just a mantis trying to stop a chariot.”

  One hand unhooked the wine gourd from his waist and the other hand’s fingers shaped a seal.

  “Now, let me show you the immensity of the gap between heaven and earth!”

  Just when his words finished, pale mist started spewing out from the gourd’s mouth like a flood rushing to reincarnate.

  A breath ter, the gourd’s owner got swallowed whole by a dense fog.

  Watching the foggy domain growing rger and rger as if eager to drown the world, Bubai frowned.

  “A big move right off the bat, huh? That magic gourd… must be an assistive casting medium?”

  If so, it meant trouble.

  Not the worst-case scenario. No inexplicable sealing power. But it wasn’t much better.

  After all, to cast spells of this scale—to encompass an arena this rge—wasn’t simple.

  Even a mid-stage foundation builder would be temporarily drained dry if they want to fuel such coverage in one go.

  But assistive magic tools change the story because they can reduce or even bear most of the cost for certain spells!

  This allowed their owners to spam spells beyond their own capacity and even transform the pying field in their favor, like now...

  As, there was nothing Bubai could do to stop the sea of fog rolling across the arena like a tsunami.

  One breath… two breaths… three…

  When the fog swallowed the skies above him, Bubai’s heart sunk like a stone into a bottomless sea.

  No more sunlight. Just the soft suffocation of fog pressing in from every direction.

  A wall of white that reduced his line of sight to barely a few feet.

  This was bad news.

  Against a Foundation Builder who could cover meters in a heartbeat, this level of restricted visibility was basically fighting blind!

  Even worse news?

  Bubai would bet his stinking boots that his opponent definitely wasn’t shackled by the same issue.

  Heavy fog. Thick as lies, and twice as treacherous.

  This was the kind of battlefield completely tailored in favor of those owning perception skills like spiritual sense!

  Since most Qi refiners ck such perception skills, this was a deadly tactic that turned them into sitting ducks!

  Fortunately, Bubai was no mere Qi-Refining duck, but a full-fledged foundation builder.

  Of course, using his spiritual sense or divine sense was out of the question.

  But even if he handicapped himself, his astute senses were no joke.

  He felt the presence of the line of sight locking onto him. The minute sound of breathing. The wrongness in the fog where it stirred unnaturally…

  All these let him figure out his opponent’s general location.

  This snake thought he was encroaching upon the rabbit stealthily, but too bad, he was not nearly as stealthily as he thought.

  Of course, Bubai did not let his eyes betray him at all and pretended to be blind as a bat with eyes darting around nervously.

  Though his stance stayed guarded, he even went as far as leaving a few openings.

  Now… it was just a matter of waiting for the hunter to take the bait…

  Silence bnketed the world like a coffin lid.

  It was the silence of a killer holding his breath, letting dread ferment in the dark like steam beneath a sealed kettle.

  A typical tactic used by hunters to slowly build pressure, forcing their prey to make that mistake.

  Impatience could lead to demise, but Bubai happily stepped into the trap known as fleeing.

  Just when he took that first step, his Bubai tingle triggered. Danger!

  His hand reacted faster than his brain and his knife whipped out to bat the volley of silver that bolted out from the white!

  Ding! Ding! Ding!

  Needles bounced off his bde and their disturbingly purple tips spun off into the fog like rejected offerings.

  “Oh? Good reaction, but I wonder… can you keep it up?”

  Bubai looked in the direction of that mocking voice, only to sense the danger coming from the side!

  A quick step back let a pair of needles whiz past his nose and heart.

  But before his foot fully nded, Bubai whipped around, just in time for his knives to meet the needles coming from behind!

  Ding! Ding! Ding!

  By the time the needles hailed to the ground behind, Bubai already rushed forward, only to find nothing but the arena walls.

  Like a wolf ughing from the edges of the woods, the hunter’s distant voice sounded from behind.

  “Meaningless struggle. It’s impossible for you to find me in here running around blind like that. Not now. Not ever. Give up and just accept your fate. You have no chance.”

  Bubai kept his back to the wall and sneered back. “Heh. Big talk for a coward who doesn’t even dare to show your ugly face. Want to win like this? Dream on.”

  “Wuhahaha!” A wicked cackle echoed from the depths of the fog.

  “Heh! Just a dying rat’s st squeaks. No matter. Go on, squeak all you like. Your end’s already inevitable. Just one hit is all it takes.”

  Fwoosh! Needles tore through the curtain of fog from multiple directions like a swarm of angry hornets!

  Shua! Bubai didn’t stand still, becoming a blur that sped alongside the wall, dodging what he can and deflecting what he can’t.

  Ding! Ding! Ding!

  Twack! A handy wooden board got whipped out to help collect the barrage that pelted him like a machine gun.

  Tak! Tak! Tak!

  It all sounded like nails being hammered into a coffin, but not a single one scratched his skin.

  He can’t do anything to the serpent in the mist, but as long as he concentrated, this level of sneak attack simirly can’t do anything to him!

  When his board became a porcupine, the barrage of needles abruptly cut off.

  Then came the voice.

  “Seems I’ll have to do it in person.”

  Low. Cold. Close… Behind!

  Mid-sprint, Bubai spun around, but a fraction of a second ter, his eyes contracted when he sensed the danger coming from the other side!

  The board whipped around and his knife followed—

  Pak! A short curved dagger diced the makeshift shield in half—Deeeng!

  Steel kissed iron! The dagger screamed against the knife with sparks flying!

  Everything happened in the span of a heartbeat, and Bubai barely managed to parry the fatal blow aimed at his heart!

  “Tch.” Failing to push through, Wu Dawei’s cold face darkened, but he didn’t give his foe a chance to strike back.

  Just as quickly as he came, the phantom leapt back and the fog swallowed him once more.

  Chasing was an option, but Bubai didn’t bother pursuing.

  He stayed rooted where he was, back tight against the wall like a wounded beast daring the world to come closer.

  Seeing the alert prey that gave up the chance to chase, a taunt drifted over, cool and calm as frost.

  “Oh. I underestimated your strength. No wonder you dared to talk so brazenly. I can see where your confidence lies, but, what a pity... that cheap toothpick you call a weapon—how long can that st?”

  Bubai gnced at his knife and can’t help but frown.

  This was part of the higher-quality weapon set sponsored by that poison hand Du Ge. Much better than the cheap daggers he stocked up on.

  Yet just one csh and the knife already got chipped bad! It won’t st two more hits!

  This is why stronger cultivators don’t use mortal-grade weapons.

  Not all weapon were powerful enough to withstand their intense cshes!

  As for those that can… they were no longer mere mortal weapons, but true blue cultivator artifacts.

  Bubai only had one such weapon on hand, the flying knife sponsored by that arrogant Long Batian.

  But that hidden ace wasn’t a part of today’s deck.

  He can only make do with quantity over quality.

  Another knife got whipped out, and Bubai lowered his stance, baring his twin knives like fangs.

  “Worried about me? Don’t be. I got plenty more where that came from. Come. I can dance with you all day.”