Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Howling wind blades slashed through the mud over and over, but all failed to damage the tank bulldozing over.
Honestly, from a spectator's viewpoint, Bubai felt that the power of this Qian Feifu's wind spell was much weaker than what he expected from a mid-stage foundation realm cultivator.
After all, even a late-stage Qi Refiner's wind spell was lethal enough to cut through his own tough skin.
Yet here, all that fanfare didn't even leave a single scratch!
Was the stoneskin skill really that strong?
Or was this Qian Feifu not much of a spellcaster? Or... is he hiding his power for some reason?
From Bubai's standpoint, it really did seem to be the case.
That Liu Jin was chasing and chasing like a pig after a carrot on a stick, but even with the field spell's speed debuff on his enemy, that poor soul was still having a hard time closing the gap!
In fact, it even looked like that Qian Feifu was controlling the distance between both sides like a veteran ranger kiting a poor noob.
Clearly, even if it's merely a small realm apart, the gap between the mid-stage and early-stage was real!
Of course, purely kiting doesn't work if the ranged damage can't even break the defense.
So why is this Qian Feifu going through all the trouble?
It didn't take long for the answer to that mystery to surface.
"Coward, you can't run forever! Kehahaha!"
Liu Jin got closer and closer to his prey, but just when he thought close combat was imminent—
He suddenly choked and slipped on the mud!
Splat! Liu Jin barely prevented himself from falling face-flat in the mud, but that did nothing to stop the ugly purplish-black blood spraying out from his mouth!
"Ghh—! P… poison?!"
Coughing in pain on his knees, Liu Jin glared at the hunter that leisurely stopped a few paces away and growled, "When?! I even made sure to seal off my breath—kek!"
"Ay? Thought I'll use the air?" Qian Feifu smugly grinned like a cat that successfully cornered a mouse.
"The special poison brewed by my cutie only needs a touch to take effect. When combined with my Heart-Poisoning Palm, even stoneskin can't block it."
"Kekek. So it was then..." Liu Jin lowered his head and let out a bitter, self-mocking chuckle.
Smiling like a winner, Qian Feifu readied his dagger and took a step closer. "Any last words?"
"Last words? Kek-kehaha..." Liu Jin knelt there and cackled like a fearless maniac, raising Qian Feifu's vigilance to the max!
But just when Qian Feifu thought the man would self-destruct or do something along those lines, the maniac changed faces and slammed his forehead down in kowtows and started wailing!
"W-Wait! Lord Qian, I was blind! I was blind! I have eyes, but failed to recognize Mount Tai! Kek—I don't know what ghost or devil possessed me to actually dare challenge a noble lord like you!"
"A great man like you surely has a heart as magnanimous as the heavens! Please have mercy and spare this lowly dog's pitiful life!"
The shameless groveling wrinkled Qian Feifu's expression, as if he ate some disgusting bug.
But he didn't rush to do it. Now that the dog was willing to surrender, everything was much easier to talk about.
"Che. What a spineless dog. Wouldn't it have been better if you had done this from the start?"
"Kekek. Yes, I am just a spineless dog! Kek—Just a lowly dog not worth dirtying your hands over!"
"Tsk. No fun." Qian Feifu smirked and toyed with his dagger. "Fine. Want to surrender? First, tell me—who's behind you."
"B–behind me?" The kowtowing Liu Jin went stiff and he started stammering in a panic. "T-that... t-that lord is—"
Just when Qian Feifu thought the answer will finally come to light, the panicking man glared up with a face burning with ferocity and lunged forward with sickles swinging!
Crazy?! Qian Feifu was shocked and was about to back away, but his pupils shrank when he felt he couldn't!
Through his spiritual sense, he detected the mud quickly climbing up to cake his feet, hardening like a shell to trap him in place!
Earth Style: Leg Restriction Technique!
But all that was needed was a quick burst of his True Qi to his feet to shake off such a pathetic, low-level snare!
Still, there was that single heartbeat of pause and that was all Liu Jin needed to get up close and personal!
Qian Feifu braced for the obvious—guarding himself from a fatal blow, but...
Who would've thought the maniac's sickle didn't go for his throat, heart, or family jewels! Instead it went for his foot!
Qian Feifu reacted instantly and hastily jerked his foot away!
But even though his foot escaped getting chopped off, his ankle still couldn't escape getting nicked by the sharp sickle that cleanly teared through his boots!
The light sting crawled down to his soles like an omen, but Qian Feifu didn't think much of it at first.
His full focus was on widening the gap and bracing for a follow-up attack, but…
There was none.
Instead, his enemy only knelt there coughing blood and gave him that strange gloating look.
Qian Feifu had a bad feeling and glanced down, only to see his foot being corroded black all the way down to the soles and that darkness was even spreading up through his meridians like rotting vines!
Not good! The sickle was poisoned!
He hastily tried to use True Qi to clear the toxin, only to feel... it can't! It even ate away at the supplied Qi!
"Qi Poison?!"
His head snapped up and fiercely glared at the beggar on his knees. "Where did you get something so rare and valuable?!"
"Keke. Sah... who knows. I only know if you don't get that treated, your foot will soon be wasted—Kekek!"
Liu Jin was hacking up black blood like no tomorrow, but the mad grin on his face only widened.
"How? Like my little gift? Dear noble lord Qian, if you want to keep that pretty foot of yours, I suggest you—kekek—exchange antidotes with me soon, or else—Kekeke!"
Liu Jin coughed once, then twice, then more and more like it couldn't stop...
Deng-clang! Sickles fell.
His eyes gradually widened in horror and both hands clawed at his throat like he wanted to get an invisible noose off...
The next moment, his mouth got forced open against his will and a bloody centipede burrowed out from his mouth!
The man stared wide-eye in pure horror at the writhing nightmare until his world tunneled into darkness...
Even in death, he didn't understand how or why it happened so suddenly!
Watching the corpse finally topple over, Qian Feifu spat out a mouthful of tainted blood and coldly sneered. "Negotiate? I, Qian Feifu, never show mercy to my enemies."
Even if it meant he lost the chance to get the antidote forever!
Not that he had hopes of there being one in the first place.
"Clean up." Qian Feifu strode over to the corpse to let the bloody cutie skitter back up his arm and into its home on his waist.
Next, the corpse got casually packed into the same storage pouch.
"Enjoy the midnight snack, my little cuties."
After doing all that, the winner turned around and limped out of the arena.
Observing all this from the private box, Qian Zhongta paced back and forth like an angry tiger with nowhere to vent.
"I can't believe it! Lao Wu is too careless! And curse that filthy maggot! Why was he targeting Lao Wu's leg this entire match?! Even at the end! What is he even trying to achieve?!"
Qian Fusha sat still, but his frown was deep. "There's no need to guess. Lao Wu relies on his speed the most. Now that his leg is like that, I'm afraid it'll affect his performance in the coming fights."
"This…" Qian Zhongta froze mid-step and his outrage boiled over. "Blasted moon! I call foul play! That's foul play I say!"
His brother didn't refute that. His silence said enough.
Even Bubai felt that this was too fishy to not be foul play. Seriously, was this not going overboard?
"This…" Bubai glanced at the elders on their lofty sun disc platform outside. "Will the elders not intervene?"
Qian Fusha followed his gaze and his face hardened even more.
"No… it's not against the rules for lone sharks to band together to tear at the meat of the weak. Besides a lineup like this… it's impossible without the consent of an elder or two."
"And not just anybody can do this. I'm afraid this should... just be the beginning."
The start? Bubai sorted out the clues in his mind. Perhaps, this is the true start of the factional disputes?
But between which factions?
The Qian Clan should belong under… the Mo Faction?
Right. They're technically on the same team. No conflicts here.
But who's the enemy?
Bubai observed the elders who were mostly sitting there like silent statues, save for the two bickering old geezers: the horse fart and the scarecrow.
Um? No way? Could it be the Taiyin Clan?!
"That… Is the Mo Faction not on friendly terms with the Taiyin Faction?"
"Huh? That's what it looks like, yeah?" Qian Zhongta scratched his head with a perplexed face. "But I once heard from Lao Wu that—"
"Sidi, what did Lao Da always teach us? Don't gossip about the strong!"
The stern warning from his brother made the honest man shrink his head.
"Ahaha…" Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, Qian Zhongta shot an apologetic smile at Bubai, clearly not daring to say more.
But that only made Bubai's mind spin even more. Is it? Or is it not?! It is, isn't it?!
Just when Bubai started debating whether a small fry like himself should meddle in the business of a great clan, Qian Fusha cut in right there.
"Xiao Bai, I know what you're thinking, but don't worry. It shouldn't be those doll-lovers. If I'm not wrong, it should be—"
His words got interrupted by the challenge notice that reached them all.
Next up, we have a best-of-three clan competition! First match, we have Jin Shamo challenging Qian Fusha!"
Both the Qian brother's faces turned ugly on the spot and spat out together.
"The Jin Clan."