Oblivious to what shamelessness those above had in store for him, Bubai popped another recovery pill and turned his eyes to the corpse.

  This Du Ge guy... actually felt way more annoying to deal with than all his predecessors.

  His ranking definitely didn’t match the lethality of his skills!

  If anything, since this viper climbed over fifteen seats to get his spot, it wasn’t too exaggerated that he had a deadly trick or two.

  Skills aside, what really sets him apart from others was his cunning.

  "Fifth seat instead of second? That’s probably no coincidence, huh?"

  Bubai’s lips quirked into a faint, almost mocking smile.

  Not too early to avoid the edge of a dark horse.

  Not too late, lest they miss out on the easy opportunity after letting the other cannon fodders ahead scout out and wear down the target.

  In competitions like this, it’s not always the early bird that gets the worm.

  A spot smack dab in the middle was indeed the optimal choice.

  Not that it mattered in the end.

  Just another greedy fool blinded by the grim reaper’s wealth.

  Silly goose never had the chance after his flashy combo failed at the start.

  If only he’d aimed for the head. That perhaps might’ve been a sliver of hope.

  Too bad he chose wrong and opted for a war of attrition.

  Playing the waiting game indeed favored poison users, but…

  That viper really thought his poison would work? Cute.

  Perhaps against others, it was a fragrant promise of death.

  But against the cheater? Please.

  Since Bubai can smell the fragrance from a mile away… the game was set from the very start.

  Don’t look at how dramatic all that blood-spitting was.

  Every mouthful spat out looked like he took another half-step towards death, but it was actually him expelling toxin from his system!

  Everything was, of course, all part of an act - one that bet lives.

  Sure, Bubai didn’t escape from suffering through a little pain here and there.

  But his special physique’s natural resistance coupled with his hidden repertoire of skills gave him much more tolerance for errors.

  This eventually let the real hunter come out on top.

  Ironically, the poor poison user fell to a sword coated with another hunter’s special toxin.

  “Hey, smiley face’s heart was really black, but he’s still deader than dead.”

  Bubai smiled when the stripped-bare corpse went into the storage bag without arguing back. No problemo here.

  But the problem came when he tried stuffing the guy’s outer robe into his bag.

  It felt like trying to push together two magnets of the same pole.

  “This feeling…” Bubai’s eyes lit up.

  He hurriedly flipped the robe inside-out and easily found the little pouch sewn to the insides of a sleeve.

  Storage pouch!

  When Bubai opened it and peeked inside, he was greeted by a space of approximately two by two cubic meters.

  Here, he quickly counted seven of his favorite, shiny spirit stones!

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Adding these to his arena loot box, his total plunder now stood at 20 spirit stones.

  That’s a sum enough to make even normal inner disciples drool!

  "Biiiiig money." Bubai grinned and didn’t shy from transferring each one over to his high-grade pouch.

  Everybody, come and help him count!

  Haha. Bubai could almost imagine all the bloodshot eyes staring at the target on his back.

  And the best part? The pouch didn’t stop giving.

  Inside, there were also a variety of poisonous ingredients and rare herbs, enough to mix a variety of toxins and antidotes.

  There was naturally an assortment of ready-made but unidentified antidotes and poisons.

  “This Du Ge really didn’t shame his poison hand title. Too bad there’s no recipes or instruction manuals in here.”

  Bubai didn’t know about others, but the details for both the Trinity Fragrance of Death and its antidote definitely existed.

  Otherwise, the viper wouldn’t dare to use this airborne poison that indiscriminately affected everyone and was deadly enough to bring down any peak late-stage Qi refiners!

  Not everyone dared to blindly touch the field of poison because a novice might unalive themselves by accident!

  Even Bubai didn’t dare to blindly use any poison where he lacks the knowledge.

  Fortunately, the Trinity Fragrance of Death isn’t under this category.

  As luck—or fate—would have it, this fragrance mixture was one of the many minor components of the Hundred Poisons Manual in his possession.

  There was naturally no issues when it came to convenient plot hand-outs like these.

  So, that’s a clean 3% progress on his collection side quest.

  Alas, aside from other mundane everyday items like mortal currencies, rations, knife sharpening tools, pharmacy mortars and pestle, there wasn’t much else in the packed pouch.

  But don’t think for a sec that his gains were little.

  All these leftovers in the bag were just a sideshow. The real harvest already went into his inventory!

  Let’s not mention the set of throwing knives he conveniently picked up on the fly. That’s just appetizers.

  The main menu was Du Ge’s final trump card: the hundred-needles mechanical contraption!

  It wasn’t quite enough to be classified as a magic tool, but it was still better than most low-grade weapons once it came down to lethality!

  Just wind it up, load the needles, then aim outwards, press, and... wala.

  Coupled with a deadly, quick-reacting poison, this was a certain killer against most mortals!

  Even if a single needle doesn’t kill, enough ants can mow down an elephant!

  Once hit by a heavy dose of poison from the entire barrage, even careless foundation builders will fall!

  The best part?

  This was a legitimate killer he can put to use immediately in the upcoming rounds!

  No need for refining nor tweaking. No need for stabby-stabby any longer.

  All those needles idling in his inventory can now be loaded! Even the needles he just scavenged could be recycled! How eco-friendly!

  "Good stuff. Good stuff! Ahem..."

  Bubai coughed lightly and did his last survey of the field. Not even a scrap was left behind.

  “Job’s done.”

  Letting the bitter tang of another recovery pill dissolve, Bubai headed out, already reviewing the flip side of the matter.

  The spoils of war were rich, but all battles were essentially a consumption of resource.

  This victory wasn’t without cost.

  Let’s skip over the stamina drained by the intensive evasive mechanics and blood pumped for micromanaging the toxin.

  The Qi expenditure alone was not not low, especially considering the card he had shown at the very end.

  It was inevitable. Safety first was his motto.

  Even if the end seemed certain, Bubai always prepared a back-up hand.

  That’s why the dagger was never the real killer.

  Whether he landed that hit or not, Illusory Beast Steps had already been channeled for that very moment, all to bait out the opponent’s ult!

  He expected it to be another knock-back Galestorm. Instead, he luckily fished out an even deadlier surprise!

  Glad he took safety precautions against death rattles!

  But when Bubai thought about the cost, he sighed inwardly.

  Illusory Beast Steps required molding fire-attribute Qi to generate heat for the mirage.

  Since his fire-attribute conversion efficiency was rather abysmal, casting the spell devoured half of the Qi strands in his external dantian!

  That’s almost 2% of his core dantian’s reserves, translating to a spirit stone per cast! That’s a lot!

  But for a lifesaver and killer assist skill, this was a cost-effective bargain he’d pay anytime in a heartbeat.

  Nearing the exit, Bubai flexed his fingers and rolled his shoulders to shake off any fatigue.

  "All in all, a decent fight. But if this is the pattern, the next round won’t be so easy..."

  Hey, Bubai swears to Merlin: he’s not setting flags!

  Anyone would fully expect challengers to get increasingly weaker when going down the ladder, but in reality?

  Nobody is stupid enough to take the gamble if they had no confidence.

  So, either he scares off all the small fries or… hook big fishes one after another.

  As fate would have it… there just so happened to be a big fish waiting in the corridor ahead.

  Bubai paused in the corridor, watching an all-too-familiar Officer Ponytail slink out from the shadows like a wraith emerging from the void.

  Swhoosh… Snap. Bubai caught the little pendant box and looked to the lady in black for an answer.

  Those sharp, jade-green eyes giving him a once-over darted away. "Antidote."

  After her curt announcement, she blended back into the darkness and vanished in a breeze.

  The service attitude wasn’t great, but...

  Bubai snapped open the pendant box and tipped out the lone pill.

  Rolling the pill between his fingers, he chuckled softly. “Can’t complain when there’s profit.”

  He’s lucky it’s not a Qi-rooted poison. Basic bronze insurance didn’t cover that.

  Still, an antidote of this caliber was definitely worth more than the two spirit stones he paid.

  The start-up company suffered a loss. Seems the clauses for the insurance aren’t perfect yet.

  No wonder it’s only a small-scale trial phase during this tournament rather than a full-blown sect-wide rollout.

  With a shrug, Bubai sat down and popped the pill.

  The cool bitterness barely seeped onto his tongue when the announcement thundered down.

  “Next match! Sun Snake List, sixth seat, Tai Yingui, challenging… Mo Bubai!”

  Bubai massaged his temples and sighed inwardly.

  Injured or not, the wolves will never let him rest.

  After all, in this arena, rest... was a luxury reserved for the dead.