Seeing the opponent being swallowed by the expanding radius of smoke, Lian Ke stopped his fire-breathing and popped a Qi recovery pill while backing off.

  “Smoke bomb?” Just a mortal escape tool that leaves harmless smoke in a small area.

  With his speed, rushing right through that smokescreen was easily achievable, but when Lian Ke thought of the sly ear-to-ear grin he saw, he can’t help but raise three points of vigilance.

  As a survivor in the rough-and-tumble outer sect, he knew never to rush in blind like a hot-head.

  It’ll be too late to cry if a powerful counterattack gets slapped in his face. Better safe than sorry.

  Since the smoke was bound to vanish sooner or later, Lian Ke chose to wait and see.

  Of course, Lian Ke didn’t forget to let his mouth run.

  It was all about getting under his opponent’s skin and dampening the other’s morale.

  “Delaying time will get you nowhere! Obediently come out and kowtow to your father, and I’ll consider sparing you!”

  Whoosh! A hole opened up in the smokescreen and out flew an iron sword tailed with a cloth sack!

  Lian Ke instinctively took a step to evade, but realized the weapon wasn’t even aimed at him!

  It arced upwards and just when it sailed past overhead, a shuriken whistled past and ripped through the bottom of the sack.

  Puff!

  White smoke made another grand entrance, followed by a rain of reddish powder!

  “Itching balm?!” Lian Ke’s face changed and beat a hasty retreat!

  Once Lian Ke escaped out of range, he shrugged off his stained tops and tossed it aside.

  Feeling some itchy bumps already blossoming along his arms and the back of his neck, Lian Ke’s face darkened, but he simply tightened his grip on his machete to resist the urge to scratch and spat back.

  “Just dirty tricks one after another! But I’ve grown up facing far worse! Come out and face me if you’re a man!”

  Answering him were a volley of kunai tied with little pouches that drew tails of smoke wherever they sailed!

  Ding! Clang! Deng!

  One after another, smoke clouds bloomed wherever they landed, forming a crescent smokescreen all around Lian Ke and backing him up against the walls of the arena!

  Lian Ke frowned. “Huh? This setup… want to sneak attack? Like anyone’s going to fall for that.”

  Despite his bravado, his body was still honest enough to stay vigilant, and his Qi detection skill activated to search for any signs of Qi.

  Unfortunately, what came out from the thick haze was not any spell, but more shurikens and wire!

  A quick step to the left was all it took for Lian Ke to evade, but such lackluster attacks really ticked him the wrong way.

  "Again with these pathetic toys? You just never learn!"

  A series of hand seals flashed by and Lian Ke’s fingertips whipped out a thick stream of fire that he sent snaking into the smoke where the attack just came from!

  The flames cut open the curtain of smoke, but... nobody was there.

  Instead, shurikens shot out from the smokescreen at the very edge of his vision!

  Ding! Dink!

  Shurikens ricocheted off his machete, and Lian Ke’s eyes narrowed. “Another feint? Think you’re clever, huh? But… I gotcha!”

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  The seals for his signature skill was completed. Fire Style: Torch Blowing Technique!

  A breath of fire grew into a wall of flame that surged toward the center of the curtain where Lian Ke believed was the only transit for the lurking foe!

  The thick, hot flames ate away at the smoke and ripped a large hole in the curtain, just to hit… empty space.

  But Lian Ke wasn’t done!

  A turn of his head walked his fiery breath from one section of the smoke to another, bisecting a good part of the smoky shroud!

  His wall of flames was wide and tall enough that no acrobatics can jump over or dive under!

  So, Lian Ke expected to hit or at least force out the opponent, but…

  The only thing he torched was empty air.

  The Qi supply to his lungs was cut off, and the gasping Lian Ke popped another Qi recovery pill.

  His vigilant gaze darted over to the untouched segment of smoke on the other side where he believes his opponent should be hiding now.

  Lian Ke was really a bit befuddled.

  How could that guy have slipped past to the other side so fast? He didn’t know.

  Heck, he didn’t even know if the opponent ran over at all or if that devious guy was out of the smoke!

  Being blind like a bat is really... really annoying.

  The real nuisance that grated on his nerves was the sequential puffing sounds of more smoke bombs bursting out there!

  Those smoke pellets weren’t cheap! Every three pops was at least a spirit stone! That’s literally burning money!

  That jerk looked like a beggar but turned out to be a rick jerk!

  Man, he hates these soft rice freeloaders the most!

  Lian Ke really wanted to take out his anger by using his signature skill to roast the cockroach back and forth, but…

  Even if he had stocked up on Qi recovery pills, it wasn’t enough to pop them like candy!

  Plus, casting spells over and over will only drain him all around, which will put him at a disadvantage against his foe who is clearly conserving energy.

  A war of attrition will only favor the rich.

  But... don’t look down on the poor! He’s been holding back a trick just to teach this backdoor loser a lesson!

  And now, the time was about right!

  Feeling that the recovery pill did its job, Lian Ke channeled his Qi and sneered. “Hiding, are we? You think I really don’t have ways to flush you out?”

  Another series of hand seals were completed and Lian Ke puffed his chest.

  This time, it wasn’t fire that came out but a whirling gust of air! Wind Style: Galestorm!

  Whoo! Compared to his fire style, his wind style was far, far weaker due to a lack of affinity.

  But weak as it was, the light breeze was still strong enough to gradually blow back the smoke!

  The breeze didn’t even spare the field of itching powder, leaving only scattered caltrops waiting to be stepped on!

  Lian Ke didn’t expect his skill to blow away all of the other’s hard work, but it dispersed the smoke enough to let him see an unguarded path out of the stubborn smoke encirclement!

  “Hahaha, this arena is so big! I don’t believe you have a bag full enough to cover it!”

  Lian Ke grinned and rushed out!

  Even the new smoke pellets exploding in his path did little to dampen his confidence.

  So what if his vision gets swallowed. It’s too late because he already knows the way out!

  The game of patience has turned. Now, if the other jerk doesn’t want all his spirit stones to go to waste, then he could only…

  Out of nowhere, a thick blade came swinging right from the front!

  A menacing smile jumped onto Lian Ke’s face. Heh. Finally can’t help it! This is exactly what he wanted!

  Machete already ready, Lian Ke spun on his heels to block the attack. Clang!

  The staggering impact force made his eyes widen. What?! So heavy?!

  Instinct barely kicked in, and Lian Ke could only forcefully disperse some of the force by letting himself slide backward!

  Even so, when his stance stabilized, his arms buzzed with soreness and were still shaking from the shocking gap in strength.

  What in heavens just happened? Where did all that power come from?!

  Lian Ke didn’t know, but his instincts was screaming for him to book it out of there!

  But just when he wanted to run, he found feet entangled by wires! What the- When?!

  Knowing it was too late to disentangle them, Lian Ke’s instincts kicked in.

  From his pant’s hidden patchwork pocket, a talisman was pulled out and aimed at where he noticed a flash of bright yellow light in the smoke.

  The next thing he knew, shock ran through Lian Ke and every muscle in his body went numb!

  He gritted his teeth and decisively activated his bottom of the box!

  An omni-directional barrier appeared just in time to block the heavy sword barreling toward him like a ballistic bolt!

  The rippling bubble only stopped the blade in its tracks for a heartbeat… then it popped!

  But that sliver of time bought by the emergency barrier was enough for Lian Ke to fire up his last-ditch power!

  Burn the life blood! Power explodes from the heart! Blood Sage Ritual! “Kaiiiiiiii!”

  His blood boiled and the numbness went away!

  Without even thinking, Lian Ke’s fist raised just in time to swat aside the heavy sword like a fly and his other hand met the sneak-attacking claw head-on!

  Wham! Claw locked the fist!

  In the next instant, the whole world changed…

  The battlefield smoke melted into misty steam and he found himself immersed in a steamy wooden tub with a demonic enchantress riding him hard!

  “Hehehe, come… let it out... wash and smear it all over WeiWei…”

  Feeling the dark and seductive abyss beckoning to him, Lian Ke’s heart thundered. This was… an illusion?!

  He wanted to lash out, to break free from the twisted wonderland, but before he could....

  The scene was shattered by an agonizing pain searing his neck.

  Blinking back into reality, Lian Ke felt all the blood-boiling strength drain away...

  His eyes dropped and stared, wide-eyed, at the dagger running straight through his throat.

  “Cough- Kek… Cough…” His hand went to his throat in a desperate, futile attempt to stop the bleeding, but his vision gradually blurred.

  His dull eyes dragged upward to gaze at the grim reaper’s face and left his last weak croak.

  “Sorry... mum.”